ps from ps… Well…..here we go! Looks like we’re in for a few days of Messy. Many people predicted this was coming and now we enter into a few days of wandering and wondering post-election.
So this morning, I just want to offer you some suggestions for the next couple days. Some come from a Jesus perspective and some from a mental health perspective. Most are a mix.
1. Set your intentions for the day. Take control of what you want to do and who you want to be today. Live into God’s calling and commission for you today and don’t let the things of the world distract you from that.
2. Be kind to yourself today. Practice self-care. Let those baptismal waters wash over you today and be the reminder that you are a child of God first and foremost.
3. Be kind to others. Someone said to me yesterday: “I don’t care who you voted for; I care how you treat the person that voted differently from you.” Or as Jesus was known to say: Love God, love your neighbor.
4. Find your win today. Times like this get us focused on the “loses” of life. So finding, naming and making space for a “win” today is important. A walk outside on a beautiful day. A call to trusted friend. A random act of kindness you can perform. Every Bills fan knows even after 4 or 5 losses in a row, when we get a big win (like how we crushed the Patriots this past Sunday), you feel like you are Super Bowl caliber all over again. So find your win.
5. Remember the whole story. When the two disciples walked away from the Good Friday cross and wandered their way to Emmaus, Jesus showed up next to them to walk along side. When they shared their grief and confusion, he just told them the whole story of God again. A story where God has a plan for goodness and love and hope. (For quick review, if you read the whole Bible from cover to cover today, you’ll also hear this story)
6. Shut the TV off for awhile. You didn’t catch Jesus watching a lot of TV during these types of times, did you? Social media, TV, radio, etc can all continuously wear on us. Suddenly before we know it, we own that frustration and it seeps into us and we kick the cat or something. Don’t kick the cat. Instead, give yourself a break from the news cycle. (Refer to point #2 for more details)
7. And lastly, remember you’re not alone! This is what church does….we struggle through the tough parts of life together.
Keep the faith. Pray for our country and leaders. God’s got this.
ps from ps… Here’s one thing I’ve learned about 2020 – it’s been a rough year. And even though in a few weeks we will flip the calendar to 2021, my guess is that some of the “rough” will overlap into the new year. Some have asked “can’t we just unplug 2020, count to 20, plug it back in and it will reboot correctly?” Despite that magically working with our computers and TV’s, there’s not much of a chance it works with the mess that has been/is 2020.
With that said, it’s even more important that we have a way/place/space/plan to make sure we are finding those moments of “peace like a river.”
As we approach All Saints Sunday this weekend, I’ve been reminded of so many of you that lost someone important/close to you in this past year. On paper or from our ears as they are read, it looks and sounds like name after name. But it’s actually story after story, love after love, memory after memory. It’s a sacred and important time to remember. And a time to dwell in that peace like a river.
As we do that remembering and as we move through these pandemic times, darker days and shift to more indoor moments with less interactions again, find your peace like a river. Jesus said in John’s gospel: “My peace I give to you, my peace I leave with you; I do not give as the world gives, so do not let your hearts be troubled and do not let them be afraid.”
Here’s what that tells us: We have been given God’s peace! It’s here, right around us. It’s unlike the crazy ways of the world. So, we don’t have to let fear, grief, anxiety and trouble overwhelm us.
It doesn’t mean we won’t face difficult moments that bring on that range of emotions. But it does invite us to let a river of peace wash them away. So find your peace like a river that reconnects you to that promise for you from God.
One of my places I go to is music. Recently, I just listen to songs like this one, “It is well.” You are welcome to listen to it HERE. I think I’ve shared it before, but I return to it time after time. If you are struggling to find that peace like a river, please reach out. Check in with me, a loved one, a counselor or a trusted friend. You are not alone!
Together, we will move through whatever this world brings and paddle down that river of peace.
ps from ps… Change. Some people thrive on it. Some people dread it. And yet as we approach the celebration of the first Reformation, it’s all about change.
Continue. Usually for the people that love change, continuing is challenging. But for those that dread change, continuing can bring comfort. And yet as we approach the celebration of the first Reformation, it’s all about continuing. The assigned text is from John 8 where Jesus says: “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples.”
So which word more clearly reflects the spirit of celebrating the Reformation this coming Sunday?
Maybe both.
When I do make the effort to look up words in the dictionary, I’m often drawn to the second definition. It’s usually there that I find a deeper, challenging, meaning for the word. The second definition for continuing is: recommence or resume after interruption. Recommence. Resume. AFTER an interruption.
And what does that interruption call us to do? Maybe change? Inspect? Evaluate? Reflect?
Have you been interrupted recently? Like maybe with a pandemic? Or political divisions? Or a health crisis? Or a loss of someone close/loved? Or a shift in job responsibilities? Or plans being thrown off?
And through any or all of those things, has your faith life been interrupted recently then too?
I believe one of Martin Luther’s purposes in posting those original 95 thoughts on needed changes in the Church was to interrupt it, invite the Church into reflection, evaluation and inspection so that it could recommence and resume in God’s word, and more truly be Jesus’ disciples.
That interruption set off the entire Protestant Reformation! Change and Continuing all mixed together.
What are the interruptions in your life right now? Has something been posted on your door? Is it God calling each of us into a period of change so that we can continue?
As we move into this reformational time, may what happen over 500 years ago happen for you today. May the gift of reflection, evaluation and inspection in our own lives BLESS US to be able to continue, to recommence and resume living into the discipleship to which we are all called.
Yesterday as Pastor Julius led the prayers as we recorded worship, he kept saying this phrase time after time. “Lord we are thankful for the blessing you give, but sometimes we aren’t ready…..” “God you call us to share our gifts in the world, but sometimes we are ready….” “Holy Spirit, you invite us to care for the hungry and sick, but sometime we aren’t ready….”
There’s a great and challenging story in Matthew 22 about a king that hosted a banquet and invited people, but they were all distracted. So instead of responding to the gift of this invitation, they wandered off to other things calling out to them. And sometimes we aren’t ready. And the king was less than thrilled about it.
I think back to the 2,147 times Michelle or I made dinner for the kids after tailoring dinner around their work, school or practice schedules and everything’s a go and you yell upstairs….”Dinnnnnnnner”…only to get the response “I’m not quite ready yet.” (Editor’s Note: Steve may or may not have echoed the same phrase 2,147 times as he grew up)
Sometimes we aren’t ready.
And yet we continue to make dinner night after night after night.
God readies that banquet for me and you night after night, day after day, AGAIN and the invitation is coming. It came. And it’ll come over and over again. Are you ready? Am I?
Am I ready for the blessings to pour over today because they will? How will I respond?
Am I ready to be accepted, forgiven and loved for just being me, because I am? How will I respond?
Am I ready to maximize and cherish the relationships surrounding me, not waiting until someone’s wake or funeral to say/share all the good stuff? How will I respond?
Am I ready to let go of the hate, acknowledge my privilege, and listen with love? How will I respond?
Or will I today, like the others who were distracted, walk away from this gift because I’m not ready.
Today a banquet is prepared for you – love, grace and compassion is served from a Savior who went to the cross to show it. Will you be ready?
ps from ps… “Form is static. Movement is fluid.” – Coach
On a run the other day, my Coach asked me to pay attention to my “movement.” And that was a fairly new request. Often for runners, coaches will help them pay further attention to their “run form.” Run form is how your body moves as you are in motion. Do your heels strike the ground first or your midfoot? Do your knees drive forward? Are your arms brushing by your hips and engaging your core. Run form. Usually at some point on a run, coaches will ask you to check in on your form.
But during this run, Coach asked me to pay attention to my movement instead of form, because for him, form sounds static.
Movement is about how our body is flowing. And it’s about how our body adapts to the circumstances around us. Constantly changing circumstances. Does our stride shorten as we go uphill? Do we lean into it a little bit more? Do our arms drive a little bit harder as we move toward the finish line?
Movement adapts.
I got thinking about that on the run as I started doing some church planning in my head. Thinking about how to re-do a Confirmation celebration. Or how best to offer Advent experiences outdoors for people who don’t feel comfortable inside yet. The old “form” doesn’t work well anymore. It was good and solid and successful. But that form needs to change and adapt. It needs to move and flow. It needs to pivot.
I thought about the disciples following Jesus. Every form they knew of from reading Torah and the church of the day was needing to adapt: reaching more, judging less, feeding all, and forgiving every. And just when they thought they learned a new form, Jesus would do something new and movement was needed.
Movement adapts.
How are you doing in these Covid times as a follower of Jesus? Still on the bike path or road or treadmill with the same run form? Or have you started to adapt and focus on the movement of being a pivoting church and a flowing follower?
Take time today to pay attention to your movement.
Lord, help me to focus on my movement as I follow you in these times. Amen
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