PASTOR'S THOUGHTS
Slippery Slopes
Pastor’s Letter
May, June 2011
I looked out my back porch door early this morning. A light mist glimmered, and set my hopes in motion. Spring was finally touching the earth with buds and birds and something inside rose and released in an anticipatory sigh. Easter renewal was in the air after a long period of focused preparation. I was so ready to shed my Lenten skin!
As I opened the sliding glass door leading to my deck, I glimpsed movement. Searching for a robin or a rabbit ~ certain signs of Easter, my eyes found far more of a Good Friday sight. An old fox, trembling and bone weary. She was standing, transfixed in the middle of my back parking lot. Her tail caught my attention – thin and ragged, patches of crusted skin exposed where fur might have been - as if it was a reflection of her soul. What had been a bright, soft auburn in youth had turned thin and grey, gritty with age and dirt. Her nose twitched, perhaps at the wafts of garbage and recycling nearby. She has come out of the nearby woods into treacherous human territory to look for something to eat. Her hunger is palpable. I can see her desire. Yet before she moves toward the scents, she crouches to clean her paws as if washing her hands in ancient, religious devotion. I gingerly stepped forward on my porch to take a closer look. She notices, startles and darts away – as afraid of me as I would likely be of her if she wasn’t so hungry. Gone. I wanted to set out some food for her but knew that I would be traveling down a slippery slope.
Slippery slopes are all around. You know what I mean. Those ridges where, if we get too close we may just fall over and be swallowed alive. Need, poverty, sorrow, death, loss. As your pastor, as a mother, as a friend I have been known to fall precipitously down well worn slopes as I overstep a tradition, overreact to an incident, embarrass my child with exuberance, push too hard for change or recoil in angry impatience. I often wish that life was easier to navigate and the wide open spaces of my faith could assure me what slope was right to slip down. How far dare I follow my kingdom hopes? How far dare I place my bets on the justice that is promised to come? How far dare I let myself love? How far dare I fall into the depth of need that can suffocate as easily as liberate? I sometimes must make myself search for the edges where I know I can stop. And remember that it is not all up to me.
It seems that finding the balance in life between emptiness and abundance, between Good Friday and Easter, between dying and rising is what most of us are looking for on a daily basis. A way of moving through life reaching for the Easter moments, but holding in respect the challenges that get us there. Sometimes we find ourselves locked in the Saturday in between – described by the early Christians as a kind of purgatory. We are in a holding pattern – making it, but not loving it. Sometimes not making it at all. And then God’s dreams are forced upon us as we cycle back to Easter. Everything in the natural world implores us to leave the tomb and find Easter again, that place where our self imposed edges crumble and we discover green grass and tulips on the other side.
I hope and pray that we, as a church community, can continue to search for the edges that define who we are in Christ. Then decide to tumble on over and down that slippery slope that leads to….?? Well, I place my bets on life. With all my love, Your Pastor….
What Would Jesus Cut? A budget is a moral document...
"What would Jesus cut? A budget is a moral document..."
This full page ad/article appeared in Politico magazine on Feb.28 - p. 5. A provocative question indeed. If Jesus was commanding the budget process (which he, or rather, his disciples are clearly not) what would, according to his teachings and values, he recommend to our state and federal leaders? The ad says: "Our faith tells us that the moral test of a society is how it treats the poor. As a country, we face difficult choices, but whether or not we defend vulnerable people should not be one of them." It was signed by 26 signatories, including our current General Minister and President, Dr. Sharon Watkins, our former GMP, Dr. Richard Hamm, and our highly regarded Disciple, who is the General Secretary of the National Council of Churches, Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon.
What do you think? Is a budget a moral document? Is defending the poor and marginalized a command of the Christian faith?
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Blessings ~ are they a pure gift from God through no merit of our own or do we co-create them with God?
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, the meek, the hungry...for they shall inherit the earth."
Reading the beautitudes in Matthew 5 (Jesus' inaugural sermon on the Mount), at least today, an old Chinese proverb comes to mind: "If I keep a bare branch in my heart, then the singing bird will come." How I love the imagery of this poetry, and of Jesus' words. According to Jesus, comfort comes to mourners; the whole earth comes to the meekest/humblest; righteousness comes to those hungry for it; mercy to those who show it; the capacity for perception of God to those without selfish agenda; and intimacy with God to those who make peace. Jesus’ implication seems to be that blessings are a gift, that is for certain—but also something we create or draw to ourselves by the way we are in the world.
In the picture Jesus paints, he seems to see potential in what might otherwise be interpreted as emptiness or lack. It is as if it is within these "empty" spaces that Jesus suggests lies the potential to be filled by a richness rushing in. So that we, too, can help to produce the blessings we so long for. Just a thought, not a sermon...
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Why do we wait until people die before we take the time to really know them?
Today I buried one of our charter members of First Christian. I had known Walt Follin for the 7 1/2 years I have been the pastor here. He was 92 years old and when I met with the family I learned amazing things about his life. I wonder why people have to die before we take the time to really get to know them?
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365 Thank You's
"John Kralik's life was falling apart. He was going through a painful second divorce. His girlfriend had left him, his law firm was failing and he was growing apart from his children. One day he decided to focus not on what he didn't have but on what he did have. to express his gratitude, he wrote a hand-written thank you note each day to someone who had shown him a kindness - a relative, a colleague, a coffee shop barista. Immediately after starting this note-writing, positive developments began to take shape in his life. His book about his experience is 365 Thank Yous: The Year a Simple Act of Daily Gratitude Changed My Life." (USA Today, December 8)
I do believe that intentionally re-focusing our attention away from that which we are in the midst of feeling (if it is destructive) can truly transform our experience. Over time, if practiced faithfully, our hearts will be reshaped. Becoming conscious of our internal power to change our outcome is meeting God half-way.
Is there a time in your life when you were able to re-focus your well trained and habitual thoughts from one well worn pathway to another ~ and experience a startling renewal?
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