Do no harm. Do good. Stay in love with God.

​Rueben P. Job based on John Wesley

These three simple and yet complex rules have the power to change ourselves and our world.  I try to live them out every day, and it is difficult and easy all at the same time.  It is also how I keep sane during this time of social isolation, conflicting information, and unrest.

Trying to live into these rules is not easy and no one does it fully.  Our actions can have consequences that we never intended or didn’t even realize.  However, that is no excuse for me not to try to live into these rules each day.  It is in the trying that I find peace. In these times when I feel I can’t control anything; I can control my actions and how I relate to others.  I try to do what I can do and leave the rest to God.  That is how I keep on going through these difficult times, that right now we don’t see and end coming anytime soon.

Since I am trying to do no harm, I wear my mask, so as not to infect others.  I speak positively, and with hope, while not trying to be a Pollyanna, for that can give us false hope, which doesn’t do anyone any good.  I try to realistically hopeful. I treat everyone with respect and try to see that Christ is in them, even if they don’t see Christ in themselves.

By doing good I am trying to be helpful to others in this life.  Trying to ease the burdens of others. This for me is really the easiest of the rules.  I have always been a person who likes to help others.  I think that is because I knew what it was like to need help and not get it as child, and that even as a child I didn’t want other people to experience that.  For whatever reason that I am wired that way, I am thankful that helping others is just part of me being me.

Doing good is one way that I connect and stay in love with God.  The different ways people connect with God are as varied as there are people.  Also, the ways we connect can differ in our season of life.  The one constant connector is prayer.  Prayers help me to connect and love God, more than I can ever explain.  Sometimes I don’t even talk or try to think, I just let my mind go and be in God’s presence.  For some this is meditation, for me it is just being still and feeling God’s loving presence envelope me, which these days brings me to tears, most of the time. Listening to sacred music, be it contemporary or classical, can help us feel God when God might feel distant from us, and remember when God does feel distant from us, it is us who have moved away, not God. Being in nature, the artwork of God can calm the soul and helps me through a tough day.  There are so many ways to connect and stay in love with God, and we all have ones that touch us deeply.  We are blessed to have so many different ways to God and feel God’s love.

So that is how I get through these difficult times of closing, opening and closing again, of not knowing what or who to believe.  I know that God has not given up on us and doesn’t want us to give up on him or on each other. So, I just keep my head down, wear a mask, wash my hands, and live out my faith to the best of my ability. I try to live by those three simple, but not so simple rules and let God handle the rest.

Gracious & Loving God, Help us to trust you, help us to live out our faith in real tangible ways so that others will know that we are Christians by our love.  Give us grace to be able to let things go that are not in our control.  Create in us a heart that will be still and know that you are God, so that we can be filled with your Holy Spirit and live out our faith in you another day. Amen

Be safe, stay well.  

Suzanne

“Praise the Lord! Let my whole being praise the Lord!2 I will praise the Lord with all my life; I will sing praises to my God as long as I live.”          Ps 146:1-2

Good Day to you all!

A few years ago I began helping to decorate our worship space in the sanctuary. This is something that I love to do. I love the creativity of placing many different types of textiles and colors together to create a visual, an imagery that can evoke a fresh or new or different way of seeing something. In the case of the sanctuary, I attempt to bring a visual, a sense or a feeling to the liturgical seasons of the Church and or to the scriptures that are being focused upon.    

The season we are in right now ironically is called Ordinary Time. I think we all would agree that these times have been anything but “ordinary,” but for the church this is the season that we are in. In the Christian Church there are two cycles of celebration: the Christmas Cycle (Advent-Christmas-Epiphany) and the Easter Cycle (Lent-Easter-Pentecost). After each of these cycles there is an ordinary time of growth symbolized by the color of green, we are in the second cycle.

Ordinary time, sounds so, plain and simple, a bit ho-hum. But I believe Ordinary Time matters deeply, both in the Church calendar and in our personal walks. It is time that matters, time that is to be counted and measured. It is our ordinary, common, routine of everyday life, life that matters in our spiritual walk and life that matters deeply to God.

This Ordinary time comes after Pentecost, the birth of the Church, empowerment of the Holy Spirit that sent the Apostles and disciples out to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ. This is the longest season of the Church calendar, it is a celebration of how our work for God in daily life matters. It is not a season of big events like Christmas of Easter, it is a season of doing, each and every day, the little things that Christ has called and commissioned us to do. The color green is a symbol of new growth, of becoming enlightened through change and new understandings. 

During this unusual Ordinary time, while we are social distancing and staying healthy, it may also be a time of reflection into our own personal walk, our spiritual journey, in light of current events may we be reminded of the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives and our calling to love all of humanity to further God’s Kindom on earth.

Holy and Ever Present God, may you walk with us through these unordinary day of our lives. Surround us with your Holy Spirit as the very air we breathe. Remove our fear and sorrow, fill us with your joy – joy for life – joy for creation – joy for the common good of all for You are good all the time. We ask these things in the name of Jesus the Christ. Amen.

Blessings, Brenda

Things I Have Learned From My Garden

One of the things that I brought back to life during this stay at home time was my vegetable garden.  This involved having to move its location because over the years my neighbors’ tree has grown and now produces constant shade, which is not great for a vegetable garden. Before I moved my garden boxes, I laid black plastic down to kill the grass underneath.  I used this technique with my original garden, and it worked great. When I lifted the plastic off, the grass was dead, so I cleaned the dead grass out as best I could and proceeded to add the soil and plant my vegetables. Gardening had begun by a very novice gardener at best.

My first lesson I learned is patience.  Looking back I should have kept the plastic down longer than I did but I was in a hurry to get going and pushed on even though there was still grass that I could not remove but I figured that it would be 6-8 inches under soil. I reasoned that all plants need 3 things, soil, water, and sun.  The grass wasn’t getting sun so all should be good.  Wrong! I now have grass coming up in my vegetable garden. So instead of pulling out weeds I pull out grass. 

This past Sunday I was out removing grass when I started reflecting on relationships and learned a few more things in the process. Relationships like gardens need to be tended to and nurtured. As I looked at a green bean plant that was truly not doing well, it was time to acknowledge that its time had come to an end. I thought about how God has put into my life different people during times when I needed their gifts the most.  For some of those people, our relationships have come to an end.  It wasn’t that they weren’t tended or nurtured, it was just that they did the work that God was asking them to do. I learned that even though the bean plant had come to an end, just like some of my personal relationships, the time that we shared together was a gift.

As I trimmed off dead leaves on my zucchini plants, they pricked and poked my arms.  I learned that just like zucchini plants some relationships are scratchy.  They don’t always go smoothly and there can be some uncomfortable times.  But the pricks and pokes aren’t lasting. As I looked at my tomato plant full of tomatoes, I thought about how some relationships flourish. I learned that there are relationships that produce meaningful dialogues and memories and, in these relationships, both people nurture each other just like the relationship between the plant and gardener.

Some of my relationships have required patience and not all of them have lasted forever and some have had their scratchy moments, while some have really flourished. Sometimes my relationship is like that with God too.  I sometimes lose my patience and think God isn’t doing enough or doing it fast enough. There have been times in my life that I have let my relationship with God end and times where it has really flourished.  I am thankful that through all these different experiences that God has remained patient with me tending and nurturing me like a gardener to their garden.

“Thanks be to God for God’s inexpressible gift!” 2 Cor. 9:15

 Dear God, We have many different relationships with many different people, and you have been there with us through them all. You have guided us through the hard and difficult times and have celebrated with us when relationships flourish. That brings us comfort to know that you walk with us in those relationships. God, we give thanks for the relationship we have with you and the patience that you grant us when we stray away.

Many blessings, Marty

“Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
   I fear no evil;
for you are with me;
   your rod and your staff—
   they comfort me.”
— Psalm 23:4 NRSV

The other day Kathy and I headed out to the hardware store. As we got into the parking lot, I realized that I didn’t have my mask with me. But Kathy was prepared: she had a stash in her glove box. Of course, these were all mass produced to fit the heads of children and normal-sized people. There was no way that this was going to work. “That’s OK,” she said, as she pulled off a shoe and took out one of the laces, “I wasn’t going inside anyway!” So I tied Mickey Mouse’s face across mine. My love had my back – or at least the back of my head.

As I picked up the materials and stood in line, I considered all of the face-masks I usually wear. Each one of these has been hand made by someone I know, and many have been made extra-extra-large, just for me. I was struck by how many opportunities we have in these times for simple acts of grace, mercy and love. Wearing a face-mask at this time is an act of love and care for others. We also keep from touching our faces. But it occurs to me that in this time of new disciplines, you who have been making masks are able to touch, again and again, the faces of those who wear your masks. Your handiwork provides comfort to the wearers and a sign of love to all who meet them.

Pastor George

Dear God, we thank you for discipline. We ask that in our regular practices we may find comfort in your guidance and your presence. Allow us to know that as we do what is necessary to protect our families and those we meet, that we may perform these as a gift of love. May we thereby share your comfort in difficult times. This we offer in Jesus’ name. Amen.

“For here we have no lasting city, but we are looking for the city that is to come. Through him, then, let us continually offer a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.”
— Hebrews 13:14-16

I am thankful for all who participate in our Lectionary Lunch Wednesdays at Noon on Zoom. We read through four Scripture passages, and share out thoughts, reflections, and questions. This week we paused for a moment to think about Psalm 119:108, “Accept my offerings or praise, O Lord…”

In this section of Psalm 119, the author alternates between recounting afflictions and celebrating   attendance upon God. In this back-and-forth, the goodness of God is directed at one’s problems in the way that an ointment is applied to a wound. We talked about how “offering praise” reminds us that praise is something precious we have. The offering of this gift is not something God needs, but something we need to do. Offering praise affirms our relationship with God, and opens a conduit with the Divine.

The author of Hebrews puts this even more clearly, in a way that is particularly applicable to our moment. In this letter, the Hebrews are the “wandering people of God.” They have no permanent earthly home, indeed there is no such thing as “regular life.” They live in extraordinary times, cut off from what has been, and not yet in the place of promise. They are like their ancestors: freed from captivity, but not yet in their homeland, with no permanent place to gather. The Letter to the Hebrews reminds them and us, that even in such circumstances they can still make their offerings and sacrifices to God. They can remember and proclaim who they are through a different kind of sacrifice: a “sacrifice of praise” where they give over their precious pride in praise to God, which rises as the smoke from a burning offering.

An offering we can make to God in this time, our sacrifice of praise is now as it was then: to do good and to share what you have.

Pastor George

Merciful creator, our burden is so heavy right now. We want to do the right thing, but that seems to change on a weekly basis. We feel overwhelmed with painful news and an ever-increasing counting of death. We can’t even connect with you in all the ways we have before. We want this to be over, but we fear what the future will hold. Remind us that you are our rock. You will be with us forever. No matter what may come, your truth will last. Help us to see in the sacrifice of praise that we are yours. Help us to celebrate that connection through our works of mercy and justice. We pray this in the name of Jesus our Savior and friend. Amen.