ps from ps: “Self care” – got my run in this morning. Check mark! My self care is done.
But the term was broken open today for me by my Coach. For years and years, I’ve loosely defined self care as “sustainability.” You know, if I don’t take care of myself, I can’t keep this up. Or, I have to practice to self care to take a break from the chaotic days, scenes, news and events or I’ll have a mental/physical/spiritual health melt down. But the problem with that is then self care only becomes a pause. A time out for a few seconds or minutes so you don’t implode and self destruct before jumping right back into the same exact thing you were doing before. What’s the defination of insanity?
True self care is change. It moves us from rest to renewal. It recenters and adapts you. It becomes fulfillment and not just refilling. It regains health and invites you to carry that heralth forward. True self care puts you at a different place and going back to the exact same pace, place, spot, routine and process is just incongruent.
We’re moving into the season of Pentecost where the Holy Spirit inspires change and renewal in people for what will become generation after generation. The Holy Spirit doesn’t invite us into a pause or a rest stop or a moment. Instead, we are invited to a new type or care for ourselves and the world around us. We are invited to be a church. Not the brick and mortar type but instead the flesh and blood type.
That flesh and blood needs care too.
With all the universe has thrown at us in these days, it’s more important now than ever. Don’t take a “time out” or “practice” self care. Be changed by it. Be fulfilled by it. Be recentered by it. And be released to be the church through it.
Dear God, allow space for self care that full changes me. Amen
I know I’m supposed to write something inspirational to you today. But I got nothin’.
I guess I just want you to know that it’s ok to not be ok today. Or any day. Every time. Each instance. When evil crawls out from under a rock, grabs a weapon that can enhance that evil and takes lives. Again.
I know God stands with us during these times. I know it. And count on it. I couldn’t continue without it.
But for the love of all that is good, can we get an intervention here Lord? A path to fix this? A plague against those who hurt so many? Anything??
I guess that’s up to us. Again. To be hands, feet, presence, votes, action, teachers, watchers and lovers as the intervention. Again. But dear God, this is not easy right now and we sure could use some strength.
Dear God, this is not easy now. Give us strength. Amen
ps from ps:This is more information than devotional today.
If it would be helpful in your healing and grieving, I would invite you to join us anywhere in Amherst on the sidewalks this Saturday afternoon. If you’d like to bring a canned good or non-perishable item, we will collect those and get them straight to FeedMore for the Jefferson St area.
Daily Bread will begin working with FeedMore to take prepared meals down the area starting later this week. Please talk with Leslie Boynton if you can volunteers with prep, service or clean up time.
We will be ready to unleash heaven into this hatred for weeks and months to come. Once this goes off the news cycle, St. Paul’s will still be there.
In the weeks to come, we will be taking the lead of our Cultural Awareness Team on some of our next steps forward. But the work to battle racism and hatred like this needs to go deeper than the quick vigils and memorials. I hope you will join me in this work.
Please keep praying for our City’s recovery and healing as we grief together.
ps from ps:For those of you who attend St. Paul’s with regularity, you may or may not have noticed that the worship leader the past two weeks was a tad older than usual, but still bore the last name Biegner. Very thankful for Biegner – Chick Version that covered for me as I experienced some super fun Covid and migraine issues these past couple weeks.
With that said, I have two sermons that I prepped and never preached. So this Sunday I will preach three sermons and the service will be most likely 90 minutes. Just kidding! Talk about disincentive eh??
Side note: as we started to return to a more normal worship pattern this year, I realized that my preaching in church had become a bit shorter. I used to preach for 12-13 minutes each service. But once Covid hit and I had to adjust for a 30-minute TV Church format, I slimmed them down to 8-9 minutes. I shared that with Michelle one evening and told her I should probably start to lengthen my sermons back out in church. She subtly and gracefully said: “Has anyone asked you to lengthen your sermons back out?”
I reflectively paused. I understood. They are still 8-9 minutes.
But this week, I’m ready. With multiple messages! Maybe during the Children’s Time, I’ll have them pick one out of a hat?!
It’s rare that I’m ready with multiple options. Sort of exciting.
Are you ready with multiple options? Are you excited about those options? Are you ready to preach?
In John’s gospel (one of the potential sermon texts) Jesus shares that classic instruction for the disciples: “Love one another as I have loved you.” And he does that in a context of just recently washing their feet and pointing them to focus on the least, little, lonely, lost and left behind.
What does your sermon looks like for that verse? And I DON’T mean from some dude rambling on for 8-9 minutes in a monologue in front of church! I mean what does YOUR sermon look like? A sermon is merely an interpretation, explanation and connection of a text to the reality of the moment. If that is the case, what does your sermon look like?
What does your foot washing-like service in the world look like today? What illustrations and connection points do you have and will you live out in today’s moment? How will you interpret God’s love for the world to those you interact with? Will your actions and presence explain a risen Lord and Savior today, maybe without even using words? And might you just have multiple sermons to preach?
See, I can’t preach a sermon from two weeks ago. Can’t even use the one from last week. Because the moment changed. The world changed. The opportunities change. The ability to love changes.
But what is consistent in all of it, in every week, is a God who invites us ALL to preach. Interpret. Explain. Show. Illustrate. Connect. Be in God’s moment. All to love our neighbors.
ps from ps:Very thankful to Mary Wolf, who once again this Lenten season wrote and posted daily a devotional reflection. Next week, we will add a visual component to Monday through Saturday to those lessons. You can find those on our FB page or YouTube page each day.
Here is the Holy Week schedule for both St. Paul’s and Amherst Lutheran churches:
Holy Week Schedule: Palm Weekend: Saturday, April 9th: 5:00 pm Service at Amherst Lutheran Church Sunday, April 10th: 10:00 am Service at St. Paul’s Maundy Thursday, April 14th: 6:30 pm “Dinner Church” (Pot-luck with Communion) at St. Paul’s Good Friday: April 15th: 12:00 pm Service at Amherst Lutheran Church 7:00 pm Service at St. Paul’s Easter Sunday: April 17th: 6:00 am Sunrise Service at St. Paul’s 10:00 am Worship Service at St. Paul’s; 10:00 am at Amherst
Please take part in as many offerings as you can. See you at the cross!
ps from ps: A priest, a Levite and a Samaritan walked into a bar. No wait, they walked down a road.
At least, that’s what the story in Luke 11 tells us. Three different people walking down the same road seeing the same hurting person. Three people – two church types and one culturally outcast by the church. And only one helps out. And splicer alert – it’s not the church guys.
The story is called the Good Samaritan. But I could come up with a few other names:
“Two dopes and one good human” “Strike two for the church; home run for unchurched” “Why did the Samaritan cross the road? To get to the other side and love someone”
OK, let’s just go back to the Good Samaritan as the title.
I’m hoping you know this story. (You can read the whole thing HERE for review or if you’ve never read it.). But more importantly than remembering the story, I’m hoping you are living the story. Crossing the road. Allowing yourself to be “moved with pity.” Showing mercy.
It’s not easy crossing the road. I know I have found myself saying: There are too many things going wrong on the other side of the road! Too many needs. Too many bleeding and beaten. Too many homeless in 716. Too many needing meals. Too many. Too many. Maybe you have said/thought/felt this too? It can stifle us from crossing the road. Our pity and mercy can get overwhelmed.
But maybe that was going on in this story too. We only hear about the one beat up guy? But maybe there were dozens? Maybe those dozens were next to a bunch of lepers? Who were next to the hungry? Next to the outcast?
And yet this one dude still crossed and changed someone’s life. Maybe saved it.
I want to invite you to cross the road with me today. Whatever road you’re on. I will tell you when you look over there, it might seem overwhelming. But can we just focus on one life? Start with one today? Show that mercy and grace one person at a time?
St. Paul’s will begin crossing the road as a church in the days ahead. We are ready to launch the St. Paul’s Resettlement Mission. This Sunday in worship, I want to invite you to be a part of the conversation, prayer, learning and “road crossing.” As a community and partnered with another church and agency, we will begin helping a family resettle in 716 through the blessing we have of an empty Olin House. Come this Sunday or join in the live stream to hear more about that new venture.
But even before we gather, look across the road this week. As a loved, blessed child of God, allow the view of one or more in need move you with empathy and drive you forward with mercy. May each of us be the next one to cross that road.
Lord, help me have the strength and mercy to cross the road Amen
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