What can you do, connect to, center yourself around, make space for and give time to that lifts you? Your spirits? Your hope? Your strength? Your peace?
What lifts you?
Adam Schmidt has a great musical offering of the song “I’m So Glad Jesus Lifted Me” that you can enjoy by clicking HERE. Maybe it’s music that lifts you up? If so, enjoy!
But whatever it is, create some time for it today. Don’t wait for it. Make it.
We’ll hear another lesson this weekend where Jesus is calling the disciples. He just says: Follow me! Don’t wait. Don’t stall. Let’s do this! He knows that following him will lift them and that together, they will lift others.
Over the past few days at home recovering, I had several opportunities to watch videos and reflect on the power of MLK Jr’s call for those that needed to be lifted to follow him. And when they did, it changed the world. It not only lifted them, but it lifted generations to follow.
What lifts you? My sense of how we work as humans in the world goes like this: when we allow ourselves to be lifted up, we put ourselves in better mental, spiritual and physical space. And when we are in that better space, we have a better opportunity to lift up others. A greater chance to reach beyond ourselves.
Today, Jesus calls us to Follow Him and be lifted up. Don’t wait. Don’t delay. Don’t postpone. Let yourself go to that healthier space.
ps from ps How refreshing. A “ps from ps” without a weather update in it.
Those weather updates, worship cancelations and schedule changes were tough on our plans and disrupted our idea of how things were going to roll out. Ask anyone sitting in an airport today.
But not all interruptions are bad. Sometimes they invite us to come and see something else. Something better. Something transformational.
John the baptizer (Official First Pointer toward Jesus) was standing with a couple of his disciples and Jesus walked by them. I’m picturing the three of them at Spot Coffee on Main St in Snyder sipping a nice house blend with the whole day of fishing planned out. They were just caffeinating up before they went to mend their nets and get going.
Then Jesus walks by. The one they’ve heard of. The One that was promised. John points. Jesus invites. They follow. And the rest is history.
Maybe that’s how your faith journey started? Someone pointed out Jesus, you heard him invite you to follow, you did and the rest is history. But many times it’s not that simple. Sometimes (like in my case) the invitation was answered with: “Well, I’m sorta busy” or “It’s not the right time” or “I’ve got super important other things right now.” Sometimes I had so much other noise going on that I couldn’t hear the invite in the first place. Sometimes I followed for a minute but my Spiritual A.D.D. got me distracted by a squirrel running by. Sometimes I just didn’t get what he was offering.
Sometimes it’s not as simple as: point, invite, follow, history.
So sometimes we need to restart our journey. Have you done that lately? In a culture that invites us to “redo, recalibrate and redirect” in our New Year’s Resolutions, have you given yourself that opportunity in your faith journey?
Because the invitation is STILL there. Wherever you are drinking your coffee this morning, Jesus is walking by.
This weekend at both campuses of St. Paul’s, new missionaries will be renewing their faith and affirming their baptisms. Dozens of people that were a part of Amherst Lutheran Church will be joining St. Paul’s to follow and create the next history. Several families that have come from other “coffee shops” will restart their journey at St. Paul’s as they follow and create history with Jesus. And one young man will finally have an opportunity to confirm his faith and celebrate his Confirmation after several years of Covid/church transitions keeping him from it. Someone, maybe some baptizer, maybe someone sipping coffee, has pointed them all toward Jesus. Jesus has invited them. They will follow him in a new way again. And God will create a new history.
Sometimes it’s not as simple as: point, invite, follow, history. But the one piece of that formula that does not change is the invitation from God. Again and again and again. May we each hear it today. May we begin the following again. And with the grace filled future God is calling us into, may the rest be history.
Lord, thanks for the invitation coming again to me. I will follow you! Amen
ps from psHere is a little time to relax and reconnect to the season. Maybe you are busy with lists and details and weather forecasts and shopping lists and to-do’s and anxiety and anticipation and 100 other things? Whatever it is, give yourself a few minutes and reconnect. Reconnect to the Holy Night that is coming and the Holy Night that has come. Thanks to Adam Schmidt for our Musical Devotions this week. Click HERE to enjoy them.
You’re going to hear that word a lot more in the days to come, if you haven’t already. It’s linked to Christmas. Emmanuel – God with us – in the flesh! Right in our stories. Right in our imperfection. Right in our day to day need.
I saw it unfolding today and I wasn’t in an Advent service and I also haven’t even left 4007 Main St today. It was everywhere I looked at the Eggertsville Campus.
The social work staff was meeting up with Amherst families at the Family Support Center and sharing boxes of produce and gifts that the church and school put together. Emmanuel.
A family was gathering in the sanctuary to mourn the loss of their mother/grandmother/friend, to share her story of 99+ years and to hang onto the power of the resurrection. Emmanuel.
Summit Center was gathering with their 12 young adult participants who are dealing with some extra daily challenges and giving them community, grace and learning. Emmanuel.
The Daily Bread kitchen and volunteer staff were getting more soups ready for those that will pull through the parking lot on Monday, hungry and looking for some “good food and love.” Emmanuel.
Staff and volunteers were scattered around the building being about and doing the behind the scenes work of the mission. Emmanuel.
It’s just a Wednesday. A regular day. And God’s with us-ness was everywhere I looked.
Do you see it? Are you giving yourself time to see it?
If you do….you will.
I wonder how much more I’ll see when I pull out of the driveway?
Lord, thanks for being with us on Christmas…and on Wednesdays. Amen
ps from psSometimes for me, Jesus is amazing/annoying/inspiring all mixed together.
“Come away with me and rest…” (Mark 6 and a bunch of other places to his disciples)
Makes it seem easy right? Resting. Recovering. Rejuvenating, Sometimes the schedule doesn’t match up though. Sometimes the demands of the day don’t seem to allow it. Sometimes recovery and rest get pushed down the list by things that claim to be more important or that our ego or trauma have elevated.
My greatest challenge is recovering from “life stuff” is making/finding/creating time. Or the fallacy that I have to create some new sort of time to make it happen. “Come away” barely fits into the schedule unless it’s time for vacation or an occasional day off.
But what if “Come away” is closer than we think?
I like to use the second definition of recovery in the Dictionary: the action or process of regaining possession or control of something stolen or lost. Something stolen or lost. Ever feel THAT way?? Recovery is important! Renewal is crucial. Because if we keep allowing things to be lost or stolen, there’s soon nothing left.
What I’m finding in Jesus’ invitation is that this “Come away” is not ONLY geographical/physical. It’s spiritual. It’s emotional. It’s mental. It’s INTENTIONAL. He asking the disciples all the time to be more intentional about following him, loving others, taking time and finding space so that they will be able to recover what is missing. And also realize what has actually been there the whole time!!
When I’m training and I run a “recovery run,” I don’t go away to a separate bike path or road. I run the same streets and miles that I usually do. But my intention is different. My intention is to come away and recover what was lost, used up and void. My intention is about healing, mindfulness and sacred space. And all the while, my geography didn’t have to change a bit.
Yours doesn’t either. You can “Come away” and recover right where you are. There’s many ways to do it. Jesus offered his disciples a ton of options. The one I offer you today is: Thankfulness.
We just saw it happen a couple weeks back for Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving heals us. It invites us to focus on the blessings we have and the blessings we can share. But Thanksgiving doesn’t need to just be a day. It can be a mindset. It can be a recovery run…right where you are. Today. The only thing is takes is intention.
I had the privilege to sit with someone last week that is going through lung cancer treatments. We got talking about how thankful they were, even through all of these hardships and treatments they were facing. Were they tired? Absolutely. But still thankful. As we were talking, they coughed a couple times due to the illness. But after regaining stability, they looked at me and said: “See! I’m still coughing. If I’m coughing, I’m alive! And that’s why I’m thankful!” In Latin, it is said: dum spiro spero – “While I breathe, I hope”
Today I invite you to recover! Recover through a few moments of thankfulness. Set your intentions to come away into that space. You might have a way you want to do it. Great. If not, here’s an option. Contact the following five people and text/email/call them to tell them you’re thankful for them. 1. Close friend you haven’t talked to in while 2. Family member 3. Someone that taught you…anything 4. Someone that works for good in the world 5. Someone that might need some encouragement. And if you really want to go crazy, write them a note with paper and pen. Remember those?
So come away. Recover. Set your intention for thankfulness. And allow healing to occur.
Lord, thanks for invite me to come away for recovery. Amen
ps from ps It’s that time again to be devoted toward Jesus’ call to “feed the hungry.”
So thankful to be partnering with WBBZ (the channel that airs WNY Church Unleashed) for our third annual event. I’m hoping that we have an incredible turnout of gift cards, cash gifts and bags of non-perishable food. Thanks to Delta Sonic’s generous sponsorship, the first 100 people bringing in gifts of $50 (or more) in cash/gift cards will receive a Delta Sonic car wash gift card.
We’ve even had people mail in the store gift cards with a self-addressed, stamped envelope and we’ve sent the car wash gift card back! So if you’re not able to come Sunday, that’s a great way to still help.
Please help out in anyway that you can. The food will go to FeedMore of WNY which supplies the food for the Tiger’s Den Food Pantry. The Tiger’s Den had a 20% increase in families last month and we expect increased demand as we move through the winter.
Just drive around the parking lot of St. Paul’s on Sunday morning and folks will unload the food right from your car.
Thank you in advance for sharing your blessings. May we devoted to battling food insecurity in WNY.
Lord, thank you for my blessings. Lead me to share them Amen
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