EPC Resources
Ruth Chapter 1
Notes:
Study questions can be found below.
1st set
The stories of the Bible go for a kind of honesty that we do not often see in historical accounts.
The mothers and fathers of our faith grappled with personal flaws and inner darkness that we often forget about.
What is the price we pay when we gloss over their personal and historical struggles?
How can we see ourselves as living through a history much like theirs?
How can we be as honest as the Bible about our social location and personal flaws?
What do you do when you are faced with a troubling truth about yourself, your community, your nation or human nature?
How can you use this troubling truth to draw closer to the God who knows and loves you?
2nd set
When have you seen Christian values exhibited more by people who are not Christian?
What do you think Mahatma Gandhi meant in his interview with Dr. J.H. Holmes when he said "I like your Christ, but not your Christianity.”?
How do you limit the action of God outside Christianity?
What benefit do you see in limiting God to Christian beliefs, doctrines, and believers?
3rd set
How can you take the story of Ruth personally, for your life and for the world in which we live? Where in your life has one loss or trouble followed another? That is the place where the Spirit is walking with you through dark. Where are your creative ideas coming from? Where is your heart opening in compassion regardless of what the law books say? Regardless of what your tradition has said, where is your caring heart insisting on the power of God’s love in the face of indifference, despair and division? The Holy Spirit is breathing into this hope and pain with you. Stay with it. Where are you the one who is the outcast? The illegal one the disapproved of one? The Spirit is with you there, as you struggle to find a way forward, the Spirit is there at your back. As close as your breath. The Spirit is here.
10/04/20
Sermon Notes:
For our service on Sunday we will hear from Paul’s letters to the Philippians and another of Jesus’ parables from the Gospel of Matthew, the parable of the wicked servants.
One of the ideas connecting these two passages is the notion of our human tendency to fall into self-absorption. Paul talks about the uselessness of having all the “it” factors a culture might hold in esteem, and Jesus tells of the folly of those who do not recognize the truth when they encounter it because it does not “look” a certain way.
When we are young, it is natural to imagine oneself at the center of it all. As infants, we even believe the mother is simply an extension of ourselves. It is a matter of survival. As we grow in stature and in grace over the decades of life, our sense of life expands and we sense that our own experience and existence occurs within a larger stream of life that contains others who have similar or very different lives. As Christians, we believe all these lives of all the different people are held in one love, the love of God.
It would be nice if we came to that realization and lived in that acceptance, but often we do not. Instead, we develop ranking systems of worth, we fail to see with God’s eyes of love and abundance, or we imagine that somehow we are more or less important to God than others. Both Paul and Jesus (through his parable) ask us to step into the mystery of acceptance, accepting that God is in charge and that God is leading us somewhere good.
I pray you sense this goodness in your life this week, and always.
See you Sunday!
Jane
9/27/20
Sermon Notes:
The sermon this Sunday will be based on Matthew 21:23-32. In this passage we see the tension building between Jesus and the chief priests and elders of the synagogue.
They seem to be really upset with the “good news” Jesus is bringing. In their questions they try to depict him as a fraud or even a heretic.
These leaders get a bad reputation with good reason, but it is still important to be discerning when we consider them.
For this newsletter, I would like to share with you something I think is really important about how the New Testament addresses “chief priests and elders” in this case, and “the Jewish people” or “the house of Israel” in other places.
If we do not carefully consider the time and place of the Holy Word, we may end up falling into antisemitism or supersessionism.
The books that make up the New Testament were internal documents, or family stories. The early Christians were Jewish. Jesus was Jewish. When the writers of the books of the New Testament wrote, they were writing to themselves about themselves.
My mother had many sayings about our various family lines that are something like what the New Testament writers do. She might say “well, the Myers men communicate by joking,” or “the McCarley women have a temperamental streak,” or “you would not want an Irwin in charge of what’s to eat.”
Thinking of these family sayings helps me remember that when I read about the tension between Jesus and the chief priests and elders, I am reading about Jesus being at odds with his own people. And now, thanks be to God, we have been adopted, grafted onto that vine. We too are “his own people.” We are blessed to apply Jesus’ teachings and wisdoms to ourselves and our own lives when we are in positions that resonate with the actions and attitudes of those in the stories and parables, even those of the chief priests and elders.
I am grateful to discern the Word of God with you all every week. It is a joy and an honor.
Peace of Christ to you, and see you Sunday!
Jane
9/20/20
Sermon Notes:
On Sunday we will hear passages from Exodus and Matthew.
Exodus 16: 2-15 gives an account of how the freed Israelites get along when they find themselves out from under the control of Egypt. They are so happy? Right? They flourish in the freedom to build their own lives? Right? They start each day with praise and humble gratitude? Right?
Alas, no. God’s miraculous provision for them falls short of their wants and their romanticized memories of life as slaves in Egypt. All manner of grumbling ensues.
In the parable Jesus tells from Matthew 20: 1-16, a landowner pays all the workers the same. No matter what time a worker shows up, no matter how much work the worker does, each worker is paid the same. In the parable, the workers who arrive first are less than happy.
Not unlike the Israelites who complain even after the prophet Miriam models for them praise and thanksgiving to God who has provided for all, the workers are unable to be happy that everyone gets the same amount of money.
We have such powerful minds. We can remember days and years. We have magnificent powers of observation, attending to the smallest details of what someone wore at an event long ago or the color of the sky on a given day. These are gifts, but they are also gifts that can be used to compare and criticize in ways that leave us questioning God and unhappy with our lives. This makes us vulnerable to bitterness and envy.
The good news is this: we can engage our God-given gift of creative thinking to take what the day brings, thank God for what we do have, and rejoice that God has a plan of goodness for all of us, no two alike, no one better than the other.
We will ponder these ideas more on Sunday. For now, I will leave you with these questions that have proven to be a blessing in my spiritual journey.
When have you been confident of God’s love and presence in your life?
When have you been uncertain?
See you Sunday!
Yours with love in Christ,
Jane
9/13/20
Sermon Notes:
Dear EPC,
Here are the passages for Sunday’s lectionary readings: Exodus 14:19-31, Psalm 114, Romans 14:1-12, and Matthew 18:21-35.
For Sunday, we will hear from Exodus and Matthew. The readings seem pretty different on the surface. Exodus tells of God parting the waters of the sea to deliver the Israelites out of slavery. In Matthew, Jesus tells a story about forgiveness, forgiveness given and forgiveness withheld.
As different as these two stories may seem, they have some things in common - surrender and courage. There is no way the Israelites would have dared to follow Moses out between the walls of water if they had not surrendered themselves to God and stepped out in courage.
Likewise, the kind of forgiveness Jesus asks us to accept and offer requires us to surrender ourselves to God and to step out in courage. In some ways, it seems forgiveness takes more courage than leaving Egypt. Forgiveness is a risk - a risk that somehow letting go of bitterness will, in fact, make room for joy; a risk that once we forgive a person or situation we might truly let them go and be free of that hurt and pain.
We will talk about these passages more on Sunday. For now, take a look at Romans 14: 1-12 In this portion of the letter to the Romans, Paul sees there are some matters that are not hard and fast rules. Some people feel freedom in areas that others do not, and we are not to judge one another for these differences. It reminds me of a saying Stan has: Do you want to be right or happy? He doesn’t mean the two are mutually exclusive. This is a saying for times when insisting on being right reaches proportions that begin to overshadow human connection and mutual well-being. It can be hard to live in connection to others in God. We do not always agree, but God calls us to love and respect one another, honoring that each of us is guided and grown in God, by God. Come to think of it, surrender and courage are pretty necessary to this type of living.
Yours with love in Christ
See you Sunday -
Jane
8/30/20
Sermon Notes:
Last week we read the first part of the story (Matthew 16:13-20): Simon declares Jesus the son of God and Jesus in turn gives him a new name: Peter, the Rock.
Peter must have been very brave and very passionate to step up and call Jesus the Messiah. To call someone Messiah could get you hurt, or even killed.
Remember the story of King Herod killing all the male children when he heard the promised one had been born somewhere in a manger far away? That is how dangerous it was to be the Messiah – powerful people would want the Messiah dead, and they would not mind slaughtering innocents to be sure of it.
When Jesus begins to talk to Peter about this, about the dangers ahead, about his upcoming death, Peter rejects it. Not his Messiah! Not Jesus!
That is where we will pick up the story on Sunday with verses 21-28. Peter takes Jesus aside and tells him these terrible things cannot come to pass. In an instant, Peter goes from being called the cornerstone to the stumbling block, from Peter the Rock to Satan himself.
Poor Peter. He must have been so shocked. Shocked to hear what Jesus had to say about his suffering, and shocked to be called Satan. On the other hand, we know Peter and Jesus remained close. Jesus even went to so far as to prepare Peter for other things he would do and say that would be wrong, like denying he even knew Jesus.
It was as if Jesus was seeing the work of Satan in Peter, but still viewing Peter himself with eyes of mercy and grace. And he still had a plan for Peter to be part of the plan for salvation and goodness, as much as Peter messed up, missed the point, and ran from difficulty.
May God grant us, too, in these hard times, Jesus’ eyes of mercy, that we may see where we or others have done wrong but are still God’s beloved children. It is not an easy prayer, nor is it easy to believe that through the bad behaviors of ourselves and others God might yet work some victorious goodness over the evil powers of ignorance, greed, violence, and fear.
But this is our Christian faith, the faith to confess that God, through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the love of the Holy Spirit, is already victorious.
See you Sunday, Friends.
Peace of Christ to you,
Jane
8/23/20
Sermon Notes:
Dear EPC Family,
The readings for this Sunday are as follows:
· Exodus 1:8-2:10 and Psalm 124 •
· Isaiah 51:1-6 and Psalm 138 •
· Romans 12:1-8 • Matthew 16:13-20
The sermon will focus on the passage from Matthew 16:17-20. On Sunday, I’ll talk about who the disciples say Jesus is and who Jesus says Peter is, and who, in turn, we are.
What I won’t talk much about is the last line “Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.” So I thought I’d use the space to talk about it a bit.
It’s strange, isn’t it? To be silent about Jesus is not exactly evangelistic.
We know, of course, that the disciples do eventually become the agents by which a belief in Christ is spread, and through whom Christianity is eventually formed.
It could be that the disciples are told not to talk about Jesus’ identity until they have more time to understand more about him and his mission, and that he will die on the cross. Perhaps Jesus knows that the powers who might obstruct him should not yet be awakened to his presence? Perhaps Jesus knows something about himself, the he needs more time before so many people know his true identity?
We don’t know.
What we do know is that sometimes we too are called upon to live as silent witnesses to Christ’s nature as Savior. As Christ’s witnesses we must sometimes live in a Christlike manner without declarations about Christ, allowing God to reveal through us Christ’s love and meaning.
In Christ, the victory of heaven over hell is accomplished. This work is already complete and we are held fast in this truth by God’s love, even as we make our way through this life.
How can we live this day in a manner that reflects our heartfelt and silent declaration, " Christ Jesus, You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”?
See you Sunday!
Yours in Christ,
Jane
7/26/20
Sermon Notes:
This week’s readings, particularly the reading from Genesis and the one from Matthew, are core stories for us to ponder God’s great love for us and God’s mysterious abundance.
In Genesis (32:22-31), we read the iconic story of Jacob wrestling the strange being, perhaps God, perhaps an angel. We feel his anxiety as he prepares himself to see Esau for the first time since cheating him out of his birthright so many years ago. We may relate to the confusion felt by his people as he leaves them and crosses the river for the night. And we may connect to the exhaustion of wrestling with hopes and fears. What a story, what a life! What a life we live as well! This is our story too.
In Matthew (14:13-21) We bear witness to Jesus teaching a crowd spiritual truth and then tending to their physical needs as well. As the disciples try to help Jesus, they see only lack. To everyone’s surprise, Jesus shows them that what they have is not only enough but, in fact, more than enough.
For the sermon this week, we will delve into Jacob’s story and what his journey has to teach us about our own.
As we make our way to Sunday, think about the story in Matthew. Read Matthew 14:13-21. Think about some times in your life when small acts of sharing have led to big feelings of being provided for by a force bigger than yourself (i.e. God!).
Stay cool and safe dear friends.
Yours in Christ,
Jane
7/19/20
Sermon Notes:
Here are the Old Testament, Psalm, Epistle and New Testament lectionary readings for this Sunday:
Genesis 28:10-19a and Psalm 139:1-12, 23-24 , Romans 8:12-25 , and Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
In the Genesis passage we read of Jacob’s ladder and God’s promise extended from Abraham and Isaac down to Jacob.
The psalmist considers the mystery that God knows us from before time began, and is everywhere, always.
The selection from the Letter to the Romans is Paul’s continuing meditation on our immortal lives in the Spirit, even as we live in the flesh: the flesh God created and the same flesh that also thinks (and often convinces us) that it has a life apart from the Spirit.
In Matthew, we hear Jesus tell another story, the story of the weeds among the wheat.
For today, take a look at the reading from Psalm 139. Linger over verses 7-10.
If you had a parent, grandparent, or other role model who was “there for you” these verses may feel familiar. If you were “on your own” emotionally or otherwise, these verses may seem foreign, comforting, or even threatening.
Let the idea sink in that God has always been with you, at your darkest moments and greatest heights, when you felt lost and when you felt secure. Take a moment to let that “idea” sink into your heart.
Just take a few seconds to breathe and tune in to your own heart. Can you feel God holding you, walking with you, knowing your best and worst intentions, and loving you through all the confusion, chaos, achievements and blessings?
My prayer for us is that we do feel God abiding with us in this very intimate way. The truth is, though, we do not always feel God. Therefore, our joy is that we have each other.
As the body of Christ, we hold the light and knowledge of God’s love for each other. In those times that you cannot feel God’s love, you can know that someone else is holding you in that Truth. In times you do feel God’s love, you can rest assured that this is a blessing to all believers.
On Sunday, we will read the passages from Genesis and Matthew, so tune in for the beautiful account of Jacob’s dream and another puzzling parable from Jesus.
See you Sunday!
Yours with much love, In Christ –
Jane
7/12/20
Sermon Notes:
There are plenty of stories in the Bible that show us examples of ways to live. One of the aspects of the Bible I have found the most helpful, though, is that many of the stories of the people with whom God interacted are not examples of how we ought to live. Many of God’s people are not perfect.
As many times as not, the Biblical stories tell us how NOT to behave. The defining trait of God’s people is not their perfection, it is their care and their persistence in being in relationship with God, even if that includes periods of running, hiding, denying, and generally making life miserable for themselves and others.
The passages from the lectionary for this week provide interesting material for just this kind of consideration: Genesis 25:19-34 and Psalm 119:105-112 , Romans 8:1-11 and Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
The story from Genesis this week (chapter 25, verses 19-34) is the story of Jacob taking advantage of Esau. Jacob should have fed his brother out of concern and generosity, but he takes advantage of the situation and robs Esau of his birthright, instead. This will not be the last time the themes of trickery and theft will show up in Jacob’s story and the stories of his descendants.
The psalmist (119) asks the Lord to show him how to live. Is it that hard to simply live? Well, as it turns out, yes, it can be. Each of us has personality traits that make us blind to ways we may be selfish, over-indulged, angry, resentful, prideful, or lacking in enough self-love and self-esteem to appreciate fully who God made us to be. Besides this, each of us has life experiences that further blind us, hurt us, unfairly shield or expose us.
The Psalmist says that God’s word is “lamp to his feet and a light to his path.” The lamp to which the psalmist refers would have been a small, earthen vessel suspended from twine and would have, indeed, only given off enough light to illuminate one’s feet and the very next step. How are we to live with God’s word? One step at a time.
Paul, in the passage from Romans (Romans 8: 1-11) contrasts the life of the flesh with life of the spirit. He believes that the mistakes of the flesh are inevitable, and that we are doomed to be lost in them unless the Spirit intervenes to free us.
As for the reading in Matthew, this is a passage that can be looked at in a number of ways. It is the parable of the sower and what happens when seed falls on different types of soils. Is this a parable about how we must sow the seeds of the gospel wherever we go, no matter what the soil looks like? Is it a story about how we should try to be good soil for God’s seed? Or is it the assurance that God sows seed graciously, abundantly, without regard to whether or not we can produce in that moment. Does this parable make you a little nervous? Does it make you feel superior to other “types of soil?” Or does it give you hope that God will never give up on us?
Take a look at the lectionary passage from this week and see what you think. As for Sunday, we will hear a reading of the story from Genesis and the parable of the story from Matthew. Stay tuned!
7/5/20
Sermon Notes:
Take a look at the lectionary readings for this week: Genesis 24:34-38, 42-29,58-67 ; Song of Solomon 2:8-13; Romans 7:15-25a; and Matthew 11: 16-19, 25-30.
In Genesis, we read about Abraham sending his servant to find a wife for Isaac. It is Rebekah’s kindness and hospitality that let the servant know she is the right one.
Then, the reading from Song of Solomon celebrates nuptial love as a symbol of God’s love.
Paul, making a departure from these themes of relational harmony, in Romans, takes a very unromantic look at the human condition. We desire to do the right thing, but we fall short again and again.
In Matthew we read about the solution to this age-old problem: Jesus Christ. Jesus emphasized the intimate nature of God’s love for us and invites us in, all who are weary of the heaviness of this world and the heaviness of our own hearts.
On Sunday, our readings will focus on Romans and Matthew, and we will again take communion together. Gather some simple elements, bring all of who you are and all that makes your heart heavy at this time. Come to the table to remember the God who loves you, covers you, calls you in to rest and be renewed for the faithful living of this life.
See you Sunday!
Peace and Grace to you,
Jane
6/28/20
Sermon Notes:
Psalm 13 narrates the way a feeling can move and transform when we are willing to feel that feeling, express it to God, and allow it to give way to God’s healing. The Psalm begins with a wail, or at least a whine “how long is this going to go on…forever?” The psalmist feels cut off from God. Lonely. The last lost soul on earth.
Have you ever felt that sort of gloom come over you? Given all we have been through, I bet more than a few of us have been taken by surprise by just such an emotion. Maybe you are going along fine, holding it all together pretty well, and then…seemingly out of nowhere…some dark feeling or disappointment or fearfulness threatens your peace and energy for living.
We are typically socialized to get busy, push it down, find something else on which to focus our attention. And these are good remedies when we need productive coping mechanisms. But every once in a while, our souls simply need to give way to the feeling. Name it. Write a psalm about it. Ask God questions about it. Sit with the feeling and name its features. Is it more fear or sadness? Is it more a feeling of loneliness or having gotten things wrong? Is this an old feeling or a new one?
If you can sit with the feeling for about 2 minutes, and better yet, have a good cry or scream into a pillow, you will most likely experience the fresh breeze that comes along behind it to bring release. The feeling does not last forever. No feeling does. We actually keep “icky” feelings in place by resisting them. Like getting our fingers stuck in Chinese finger traps, the harder we resist, the tighter the trap.
Another way to help feelings move along, once we recognize we are in the midst of a feeling, is to ask ourselves what need this feeling indicates? Do you need more rest? Do you need more interests? More time with kindred spirits? Do you need more solitude?
The psalmist lets his feeling go to the worst-case scenario: my enemies will crush me and laugh. This gives way for him to realize that even this is not bad enough to keep God away. Even at the worst, God is lovingly busy working out our goodness. Even as we wonder if the bad feeling will ever end, this very honesty is drawing us back to God where we are safe and well and loved and can feel it.
On Sunday we will read Genesis 22:1-14 and Matthew 10:40-42. Each of these stories looks at ways of being obedient to God. In one, Abraham follows God’s command all the way to the bottom of his deepest fear, the fear of losing his longed-for son. In Matthew, obedience comes in the form of welcoming all who work in the name of the Lord.
This week, friends, may we be open to finding time to let our feelings unwind and give the outcome to the Lord who, we know for sure, desires good for us, every ready to deal bountifully with us.
See you Sunday!
Peace and Grace to you,
Jane
6/21/20
Sermon Notes:
The lectionary passages this week take us deep into the heart of what it means to walk with God, receiving God’s beautiful love and forgiveness, and yet living all the while in such a difficult, often sorrowful world.
Genesis 21:8-21 tells the story of Isaac and Ishmael, two sons of Abraham. While we too often dismiss Ishmael as Sarah’s attempt to play God, we must read the text fearlessly and see that God loves the boy and his mother Hagar, that God protects them and makes a great nation of them as well. We are not called to put anyone above us but God, and it can be difficult to come to terms with the fact that God’s great plan for humanity goes beyond what we are comfortable understanding. Hagar is our model here: when we are lost and alone, we can call out to God for help, and know that help does come.
In Psalm 86 the psalmist cries out for help in just this way. There is desperation in this call. Exhaustion. Fear. And yet there is the sure and certain hope that confidence in God will deliver us.
In the selection from Romans (6:1b-11) Paul takes on the question of what we do with ourselves after God has forgiven us. He is addressing the issue called “cheap grace.” Cheap grace is the kind that gets bandied about when someone wants sinful actions to be overlooked or absolved because “Jesus died for our sins.” Paul talks about the real and rewarding work of responding to God’s grace by living in integrity and honesty about a part of human nature that persists in sin and death, even as we are raised with Christ.
The Gospel reading of Matthew 10:24-39 continues the difficult theme of seeing that the love of Jesus does not grant an immediate utopia. Christ calls us to lose our lives that we may gain something deeper and more wonderful. Like any living, dynamic process, it is hard to describe the exact process of dying to the egocentric self and coming to life as our authentic selves in God. It is a lifelong process, and unique in many ways to each individual, except the steadfast truth that God walks with us as we go.
On Sunday, Matthew will be our first reading, and the sermon will delve into Paul’s notion that in our baptism we died with Christ, and are being raised with Christ as well. In all its difficulty and pain, this is a beautiful life. It is made all the more beautiful that we have each other as examples of what it is like to be “being raised” in Christ day by day.
See you Sunday.
Grace and Peace,
Jane
6/14/20
Sermon Notes:
The Lectionary readings for this week seem less thematically cohesive than usual. I thought it was just me until I began consulting commentaries and found other readers/writers having the same response. However, all of the Bible concerns God’s dealings with and great love for humanity: and this week’s readings are no exception. Here are some brief gleanings…
Genesis 17: 1-15 - The Genesis account tells the story of Abraham and Sara given a promise by God that in very old age they would become parents (and Sara laughs!). Not only would they be parents, but they would be the founding father and mother of a great nation God would build up from them and their offspring.
Psalm 116 - The psalmist cries out with gladness to the Lord for the unending faithfulness God shows humankind. The psalmist marvels that God listens to our prayers and hovers near us as we live the joys and sorrows of life.
Romans 5: 1-8 – Paul, too, expresses gladness, explaining that we can have peace with God through our trust and faith in Jesus Christ. The covenant promises God made to Abraham and Sara to raise up Israel extend through Jesus Christ to all.
Matthew: 9:35 through 10:8 - In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus calls his disciples and declares that God’s harvest is vast and that there are not enough workers to gather in this great harvest.
We too are called. Called to share the centering, healing, encouraging love of God to all and to each other, called to invite the people we encounter to God’s table. In this long reading, Jesus gives the disciples instructions and bestows upon them the power to heal in God’s name.
The beginning lines of the reading from Matthew have been ringing in my heart all week thus far. “As Jesus saw the crowds, his heart was filled with pity for them, because they were worried and helpless like sheep without a shepherd.” Something about this verse brings tears to my eyes and opens my heart. Perhaps it is just knowing that Jesus sees our human condition and aches for us, knowing we need a true shepherd and offering us his very own body and blood to show that, despite our darkest fears, nothing comes between us and the love of God, neither powers nor principalities.
See you Sunday!
Yours in Christ,
Jane
6/7/20
Sermon Notes:
Dear EPC family,
This Sunday, June 7th, is Trinity Sunday.
Trinity Sunday is the first Sunday after Pentecost in the Western Christian liturgical calendar (which we follow), and is celebrated on Pentecost Sunday in Eastern Christianity.
Trinity Sunday celebrates the doctrine of the Trinity, the three Persons of God: God the Creator, God the Christ, and God the Holy Spirit. It is the first Sunday of Ordinary time, that long season of “green” we move into after Pentecost and do not leave until we get back to Advent again. That means we have a long time of no seasonal celebrational holy days until Advent.
I was once told that this long season of green (I say green, because that is the color of the paraments for this season) indicates a time of deepening our roots during the “everyday’ness” of life. When we do not have the special messages, devotionals, and services of the holy seasons, we simply live our lives and have the opportunity to rest and wrestle in God as our lives dictate.
In years past, as Presbyterian churches everywhere entered Ordinary Time, church folk got busy with plans for Vacation Bible School, youth retreats and family outings, mission work and mission trips, ice cream suppers on the lawn, and picnics at the creek. This year, our church yards and hallways are mostly quiet. Many churches are still not having in-person worship, and those who do have very few in attendance. We deliver our mission projects in masks and do not get to interact much.
We are still wondering how to live with the presence of a difficult virus and the cultural and economic uncertainties of the effects of our response to the threat of that virus. Many of us are struggling spiritually, mentally and emotionally with feelings of anger, confusion, and powerlessness – sometimes directed at the virus, at others, or at political parties/government groups.
To add to this weight, our nation is now facing an eruption of feelings and actions around the long-entrenched sin of racism, even to the point of entering dialogues about whether or not the laws of our country can ever be truly just when city, state, and national budgets shape cultural and economic forces that favor or oppress unfairly, or when the legal system tends to favor people with money and means for lawyers or lobbyists, or when politicians – liberal and conservative – seem to have price tags rather than actual lived values. Conversations are tense, and facts seem to shift.
Recently, at peaceful protests calling for the end of race-based violence, some people burned and looted public and private properties, and instigated even more violence.
Some say these violent actions are the only options for people whose government does not respect them (likening it to the violence early Colonial Americans chose to engage when unfairly taxed by England), some say these destructive actions are the actions of mentally ill, violent anarchists who seek to dismantle our culture for the love of destruction, still others say they are the actions of white supremacists who seek to frame the protestors and depict their cry for reform as a threat to all who respect the rule of law.
We are in a time in American history of turmoil, pain, and confusion. Some have borne this pain in various ways for years already; some are only now affected.
And yet.
God is still God.
Regardless of what you believe as an American or as a citizen of the world, regardless of your take on covid-19, God is still God.
As a Christian, this truth reigns in your life above all cultural, racial, economic, political or health events of your time.
All are born and live and die. Each has a unique life span and circumstances in the life.
Christians live in the deep security of God, hidden in God with Christ, as Apostle Paul says. This does not mean we are exempt from suffering, nor that we never doubt. We grieve, we lament, we suffer. We learn. We act. We rest. We rejoice. In God.
The Christian struggles with the core sin of idolatry throughout life. We all do.
One may idolize white culture, another may idolize being right, another may idolize food, drink, drugs, sex, certain types of human interaction, or power. Any aspect of human life – physical, mental, emotional, cultural, personal, interpersonal, political – can be the arena of the struggle against idolatry.
The Christian holds to the knowledge that God is God as one would hold to a life raft in the midst of the sea. Right now, for many of us, the seas are stormy.
Emmanuel, we cling to God together.
Even as we might have different views, suffer differently, have different challenges or graces in our lives or be impacted by current events in different ways, we cling to God.
We center on God’s word and pray that the Holy Spirit leads us to light and illumination for our time. And we ask the great LOVE of our GOD to pour through us for we know, as simplistic as it sounds, it is the powerful, active LOVE OF GOD that heals us.
I pray this for me and my family and for you. I pray this for unjustly murdered and for the degraded souls of murderers. I pray healing by the LOVE OF GOD for our nation, for our race relations, for sick, unstable people, for progressives, conservatives, for all who sin, for all who rage, for all who suffer or who harm in any way – by word or deed, I pray for the LOVE OF GOD to heal us and deliver us into the light of true understanding and life abundant, God’s Kingdom Come.
Friends, please do what you can to stay inwardly strong in this time. Rest, pray, take care of yourself. Grieve. Create. Find gratitude. Find joy. Talk to a friend who will let you complain, but will pull you back from the edge of idolizing your complaint. Talk to a friend who will encourage you to dream again. Listen for God’s truth in your life. Breathe. Claim again and again, God’s promise of life abundant.
And please pray with me for each other and our hurting world.
On Sunday we will have Communion and hear readings from Genesis and Matthew, and we will cling together to God who longs to be in relationship with us and never quits calling us to the table to renew ourselves in God, in Love.
Yours in Christ,
Jane