I remember a time when I was having a particularly difficult time in a relationship.  It was suggested to me that I find things about this person that I am grateful for.  I couldn’t come up with one thing.  This scared me. How could this person be such an important part of my life, and yet I couldn’t list one thing? I spent that evening thinking and searching.  Finally, I was able to come up with one thing I was grateful for; and then, I discovered that I had another item to add to the list and another and another.   I realized that once I was able to find that first piece of gratitude others began to stick to it like snow sticking to a snowball rolling down the hill. Just as the snowball grew as it rolled down the hill, my list grew too. I was aware that grateful thinking bred more grateful thinking. 

Scientists have studied the benefits of gratitude and have discovered when people live in gratitude, they have stronger immune systems, sleep better, experience feelings of optimism and happiness.  They have increased feelings of forgiveness and feel less loneliness and isolation. In this time of social distancing and constant changes, it might be difficult to be thankful. But God has blessed us with so much. Yes, even during a pandemic we have been blessed.  We are warm in our homes with people whom we love and love us. We have the opportunity to read, binge watch our favorite show, try out new recipes, still get an education all while we have well stocked cupboards. Ok, maybe not well stocked with toilet paper, but with food.

When we begin to look at our daily lives through the lens of thankfulness, we can see God at work even in the mess of it all. So, take this time to start a gratitude list and find those blessings and thank God for them.

I will thank you, Lord, with all my heart; I will talk about all your wonderful acts. Psalm 9:1

God is good all the time.

All the time God is good.  

Marty

I lift up my eyes to the hills—
   from where will my help come?
My help comes from the Lord,
   who made heaven and earth. 

He will not let your foot be moved;
   he who keeps you will not slumber.
He who keeps Israel
   will neither slumber nor sleep. 

The Lord is your keeper;
   the Lord is your shade at your right hand.
The sun shall not strike you by day,
   nor the moon by night. 

The Lord will keep you from all evil;
   he will keep your life.
The Lord will keep
   your going out and your coming in
   from this time on and for evermore.
— Psalm 121 NRSV

I have lived in the greater LA Basin for much of my life. Growing up in Lakewood, I remember how one could judge the air quality by how clearly – if at all – one could see the San Gabriel Mountains. I remember how glorious it could be to drive to church along the 405 on a Sunday morning after a rain. Sundays were best, because there were fewer cars on the road, and most of the factories were closed for the weekend. Looking out the back-seat window as we passed the Long Beach Airport, I could take in the splendor of the skyline of snow-capped peaks. It was a great way to appreciate God’s majesty and prepare to worship the Creator!

Thanks to the efforts of so many, our skies have become more clear in recent years. Still, we all have likely noticed just how sparkling the world seems in these recent days. It makes sense: with many businesses shuttered, and orders to stay at home, we have no place to go. So we are pumping out less pollution. Perhaps, also, we notice more because we have the time to appreciate the world around us. 

When you are feeling frustrated, afraid, angry, helpless… or any others of these “big emotions” which can overwhelm us, take a moment to step outside and look to the North. Lift your eyes to the hills as a reminder of God’s creativity and strength. Rely on that power. And know that God’s creative imagination is at work in the many who are seeking cures and spread prevention for that which afflicts us. Know that people are drawing on that power to bring aid and comfort to others. Know that God is at work in you.

We look to the mountains, O God, from whence comes our strength. We look to you, our Rock and our Redeemer, for your tender love and guidance. We look to you, Wind that blows the impurities away, to give us a fresh indwelling of your Spirit. Amen.

So here we are at the end of week two. I know that there is talk of packing the churches for Easter in two more weeks. I just don’t think that is going to happen. I thought for a bit we might be able to celebrate the following Sunday, along with our Orthodox kin, but that, too is looking unlikely to happen. When will our time of physical isolation be over? We don’t know. As one of the epidemiologists said the other day, “That is up to the virus.”

We really don’t like waiting. We like not knowing even less.

We were watching “Walk the Line” the other night. As you may recall it is the story of the romance between Johnny Cash and June Carter. One scene portrays Cash (played by Joaquin Phoenix) and Carter (played by Reese Witherspoon) singing “It Ain’t Me, Babe.”  The first lines of this song, written by Bob Dylan, jumped out at me as being applicable for this moment:
               Go ‘way from my window
               Leave at your own chosen speed…

It wasn’t just because this could be used as another song about social distancing that caused me to pause; it was the strangely formed direction. I have decided that you should leave, but you get to choose how fast you do that.  How polite.

It made me think of how we talk with God. We tell God exactly what we want, and when we want it. You know the old prayer: “Lord, give me patience… and give it to me NOW!”

And then the words of the Psalms came to mind. I remembered sitting in a hospital waiting room as a chaplain intern in Chicago, with a woman I’d just met, whose husband’s surgery was going on much longer than expected. I could see the panic rising in her each moment she sat there. She felt completely in the dark, not knowing what was going on and not knowing how much longer it would be. She told me she did not know how to pray. So I opened the words to Psalm 69, and read them aloud:
               Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck,
               I sing in deep mire; where there is no foothold;
               I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me.
               I am weary with my crying; my throat is parched.
               My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God.

The Psalmist, David, recounts all of the troubles and turmoil around him, but then turns in request to God,
But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord.
               At an acceptable time, O God,
               in the abundance of your steadfast love, answer me.

It is almost as though we, through the psalm, are praying: “Answer at your own chosen speed.”
In the hospital, in that moment, those words of David were enough. There was no immediate news of miraculous recovery. But a soft blanket of peace seemed to settle on the woman who waited. It was enough for her to know that God was waiting with her. And, at the same time, was working through the hands of the surgeons.  This is the feeling that this psalm conveys. Just knowing that God, in abundant grace, will answer, is enough. We don’t know much, but we know that God hears our prayers, and God is with us as we wait.
                I will praise the name of God with a song;
               I will magnify God with thanksgiving.

Let us be still, and know that God is with us:
Calm us, O God. Do not stop our thoughts from wandering, but accompany us on that journey. When the waters of fear overwhelm us, when we sink in the mire of cynicism and dread, when we disappear in the darkness of ignorance and frustration, come to us.  Remind us of your promise to be with us. Show to us your love, your mercy, your grace, as we connect electronically with others. May your Word bring us light, and may we feel the arms of Jesus lift us. Heal us, we pray. In the time of your acceptance answer us. This we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Pastor George

During these past weeks it has been a little crazy to say the least. Our regular schedule has been thrown out the window.  Our days and nights have a different feel now.  The pace of our lives has been slowed way down.  We have time to breathe and walk around our neighborhoods (practicing social distance).  In some ways, we are living now what we have often said we wanted to do – slow down our lives.  We have to stay home and not go out, the problem is it is not on the terms we would like it to be. It is not on our own terms and it has made anxious and fearful because we don’t know how long this will last.

I have been reading Psalm 46 daily.  It has truly spoken to my heart lately. For I now have more time to be still and listen to God and not just talk to God in prayer.  Being still and not talking can make us uncomfortable; however, the more we practice it the easier it becomes.  I often go outside in my backyard to do this, so when the sun pops out from behind the clouds I head to my back patio.  I listen to the fountain, see the birds at the feeder and enjoy the flowers that are beginning to bloom.  The clouds in the sky have been so big and fluffy.  The sun on my face can feel like a warm hug.  I am reminded that God is in all these things and it warms my soul.  God calms my fears and lets my heart know that everything will be alright. I think about how blessed I am to have a close relationship with God and feel for those who don’t. I honestly don’t know how I would be able to handle life without my relationship with God.  For God is indeed my refuge and source of strength. Now, that I have a little more time to be still and connect with God I realize how much peace that brings my soul, how much comfort God brings to my life. 

It should not have taken a pandemic for me to slow down and take the time to be still on a daily basis, but it did. Hopefully when this time is a memory and we are back to our normal crazy schedules I will remember to take more time to be still and just be with God.

When you read Psalm 46 what words touch your heart? How is God speaking to you through this scripture written so long ago?  Take the time and ponder what you feel while reading and perhaps you will feel more peace, strength and hope.  God is with us through all of this, we just need to be still and notice. God’s peace & grace to you all, Suzanne

Psalm 46

God is our refuge and strength,
    an ever-present help in trouble.
² Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
    and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
³ though its waters roar and foam
    and the mountains quake with their surging.^[c]

⁴ There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
    the holy place where the Most High dwells.
⁵ God is within her, she will not fall;
    God will help her at break of day.
⁶ Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
    he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

⁷ The Lord Almighty is with us;
    the God of Jacob is our fortress.

⁸ Come and see what the Lord has done,
    the desolations he has brought on the earth.
⁹ He makes wars cease
    to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
    he burns the shields^[d] with fire.
¹⁰ He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
    I will be exalted among the nations,
    I will be exalted in the earth.”

¹¹ The Lord Almighty is with us;
    the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Dear Friends,

The Spirit in me greets the Spirit in you.

As a young girl my family never really observed this season nor did my church for that matter. It was a foreign thought to me to give something up, which I didn’t understand at the time, or to dwell on what I was lacking in my spiritual life. But I have always had a sense of God’s presence and knowledge of whose I belong to.

Now many years later I understand Lent to be a gift, a gift of in-between-time. Which I think is interesting, for such a time as this, because we certainly find ourselves in an in-between-time right now. All humanity seems to be in a place of uncertainty and waiting. 

Lent last forty days, a long time, because we need a good stretch of time to step back from our usual routine, to be neither here nor there. We need this time to stop our old ways of doing things and live in-between, not yet knowing what the new ways of doing things will be. Living in-between can be scary. But taking the full forty days, and beyond, of Lent is important; not to do so would be like denying ourselves a spiritual adventure, which is the gift of in-between time.

In this in-between time you might be feeling anxious and life around you seem chaotic, may I remind you of the Genesis story that out of chaos God created the heavens and the earth, there became order out of chaos. May I encourage you to find a spiritual rhythm in your day of taking time to read scripture and a quiet moment for prayer. Find comfort and peace in knowing that “You who live in the shelter of the Most High, who abide in the shadow of the Almighty, will say to the Lord, “my refuge and my fortress; my God in whom I trust.” And he will cover you with his love and under his wing you will find refuge. Ps 91:1-2,4

In closing I will leave you with this as a Lenten thought to dwell and or to journal on; In what ways and areas in your life have you found God to be your refuge and strength?

Comforting God, guide us during these days of unknowing and set a spirit of peace upon your people. Lead us into a journey that will bring us to a place of deeper love. Show us ways to be a comfort to those around us and bind us together in the shelter of your love. Amen.

May God bless you in the in-between and always.

Brenda Spencer