Category Archives: Lifestyle

November 1, 2021 · 8:08 pm

Jesus’ Parable: Light under the Basket

Introduction

Recently Jimmy Fallon shared that France is sending another Statue of Liberty to the United States.  I had not heard that in the news, so off I went to double check the reference, and sure enough, there it was in news reports from NPR, CNN, New York Times, Washington Post and other news sources.  Granted, Fallon was including the story as part of his opening monologue and was able to put the news into a humorous twist, but the news reports provide the details:

“The smaller statue, based on the original 1878 plaster model by the sculptor Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi, was installed just outside the museum’s entrance in 2011. This statue was cast using a 3-D scan of another model in Paris, the news release said. It will be exhibited on Ellis Island from July 1-5, facing its much bigger sibling on Liberty Island. Then, it will be moved to the French ambassador’s residence in Washington, where it will be on display from July 14, France’s Bastille Day, until 2031.”

Today is this country’s birthday, it is 245 years old, and France gave us the first Statue of Liberty 135 years ago; the statue represents the values this country has long held for the people who have journeyed into this country and today, we can read the words inscribed on the tablet that speak to not only the immigrants who have made the trip to be Americans, but also to all Americans whether native or multi-generational citizens.

The inscription is the concluding lines of the poem “The New Colossus” created by Emma Lazarus:

. . .  ‘Give me your tired, your poor, 
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, 
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore, 
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, 
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!'”

As Americans we celebrate our freedoms, but with freedom comes responsibility.  Our founding fathers understood the significance of respecting one’s freedoms and include them in the documents that serve as the very foundations of our country: 

From the preamble of the Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness

From the preamble of the US Constitution:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

The challenges to the choice of words has expanded as our culture evolves through the centuries.  Through the shifts in our society we know that the historical use of “men” is now “humans” in every shape, size, culture, gender, age–each human has all the legal rights of any other human.

Our Bible has provided us the same foundation for us to love one another unconditionally.  We have watched the language be adapted through the various translations as we work to assure the value of each human, as we strive to treat one another with grace, respect, compassion, and love.

John Wesley, this denominations founder, was an activist for the individual.  He stepped out of the cathedral and went to the streets to do all he could to share God’s love in any way he could.  He focused on sharing God’s message, but he added to that the very actions that demonstrated that Christians do love one another.  

Today, the rule has not changed.  The methods of serving one another now have global reach, but the work we have to do is as critical right here in our own community as it is anywhere the connectional church can reach.  

I ask you to join with me in repeating the social creed which is reviewed every four years and remains part of the United Methodist’s doctrine 

We believe in God, Creator of the world; and in Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of creation. We believe in the Holy Spirit, through whom we acknowledge God’s gifts, and we repent of our sin in misusing these gifts to idolatrous ends.

We affirm the natural world as God’s handiwork and dedicate ourselves to its preservation, enhancement, and faithful use by humankind.

We joyfully receive for ourselves and others the blessings of community, sexuality, marriage, and the family.

We commit ourselves to the rights of men, women, children, youth, young adults, the aging, and people with disabilities; to improvement of the quality of life; and to the rights and dignity of all persons.

We believe in the right and duty of persons to work for the glory of God and the good of themselves and others and in the protection of their welfare in so doing; in the rights to property as a trust from God, collective bargaining, and responsible consumption; and in the elimination of economic and social distress.

We dedicate ourselves to peace throughout the world, to the rule of justice and law among nations, and to individual freedom for all people of the world.

We believe in the present and final triumph of God’s Word in human affairs and gladly accept our commission to manifest the life of the gospel in the world. Amen.

As we prepare to review how we take the parable, “Light under the Basket,”

I hope you have your favorite translation of the Bible, but maybe more importantly your notetaking supplies.  We need to consider how we, as Americans, but more importantly as Christians live as the light in today’s culture.  Please join in an opening prayer:

Dear loving Father, 

As we look to the Statue of Liberty,

we see the raised torch lighting the way

for those seeking a new life in a new world.

Yet we know you are the light

and we are the way that you shine

right here in our community.

Be with us, speak to us, guide us

as we seek to shine brightly 

in all the ways we can.  –Amen

The Message

As we focus on Jesus’ parables, we learn how we can live our faith in community with each other.  This week’s scriptures have shared various ways light is used as a symbol as we tackled the parable, “Light under the Basket,” Matthew 5:14-16. 

The first three gospels are considered the synoptic gospels.  The message presented in each of them is written for a different audience, and yet they agree on the theme:  we are the light of Christ and we must not hide the light.

The scripture from Matthew was written to the Jewish people.  The language is specific for those who were familiar with the Law of Mosses, with the prophecy, the expectations for the Messiah, and now how they are to live their faith openly.  

14 ‘You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

As Americans we are free to be the light in our communities.  There is nothing that prohibits us from seeing the needs of one another and finding a way to be God’s light in the world.

John Wesley was an activist in his lifetime–his understanding of God’s love for us led him to love all individuals not just those who were members of the Church of England.  He stepped into the streets, into the coal mining communities, to do whatever he could to take God’s message to them.  He started working to feed and to address the medical needs of those people.  He was God’s light in a dark world.

In Manfred Marquardt’s book, John Wesley’s Social Ethics, Wesley’s standards for social ethics are based on his understanding of God’s grace which is given to all people at birth.  Marquardt states

[Wesley] attributed to everyone the possibility of responsible action.  . . . The Christian has been given biblical commandments to guide moral behavior.  However, because of historical conditions . . . the commandments vary in their applicability.  . . .[and] in light of the ethical demands of a new situation, to see standards that can provide a basis for ethical action in different social settings.” (p.103)

Being the light of Christ in the world is how we share God’s love.  We receive his love unconditionally and he asks us to love one another unconditionally, too.  Jesus uses the parable to strengthen the disciples’ confidence to go out and serve one another in love–to be the light.  The question is how do we shine our light.  

In the Life Application Study Bible, one of the notes outlines six ways that we fail to shine our light:

“Can you hide a city that is sitting on top of a hill?  Its light at night can be seen for miles.  If we live for Christ, we will glow like lights, showing others what Christ is like. . . . “  (p. 1652)

I challenge us to consider in our own lives and as a church whether we are the light in our community.  There is no reason for us to hide as Americans, either.  We are free to be the light and to let it shine.

Let’s stop and ask these questions:

Q.  Are you quiet when you should speak up?

A.  As a church, we tackle difficult topics.  In Missouri, the conference has identified topics that are addressed by the social justice mission:  [insert the icons]

Missouri Social Justice programs:

  • Disaster Response
  • Festival of Sharing
  • Journey 4 Justice
  • Next Generation Ministries
  • Open Hearts, Open Books
  • Planting Academy
  • Restorative Justice Ministries
  • Rural Missouri Connection
  • Soul Connections
  • Special Advance Giving

Global Social Justice programs:           

  • Global Connect
  • Haiti Water Plus
  • Mozambique Initiative
  • Ludhiana Christian Medical College and Hospital
  • Imagine No Malaria

Q.  Do you just go along with the crowd?

A.  We try to teach our youngsters not to just go with the crowd, but in our adult lives do we just go along with the crowd?  

Q.  Do you deny the light, do you deny God?

A.  This particular question is personal.  How well do we openly share about our faith?  Do we testify that God is part of our life.

Q.  Do let sin dim your light?

A.  When we sin, do we go to God and ask forgiveness?  Do we find ways to change our lives so we sin no more?  Do we seek help?  Do we join small groups so we can be held accountable and continue to grow in our faith journey?

Q.  Do you explain your light to others; do you explain God to others?

A.  Confirmation Class.  Do you serve as a mentor for a confirmand?  Do you encourage your children to be learn more about faith?  Do you just show up for service and then go home without learning more or volunteering to teach/to lead others in their faith journeys?

Q.  Do you ignore the needs of others from the rest of the world?

A.  Monthly Disciple Gifts:  Jamaica Medical Mission, Open Hands, Open Books,

UMCOR, CROP Walk, Heifer International, Survival House, Undies Sunday no in July and five more months to complete the calendar year.

As Methodists, we agree to support our local congregation.  We are asked two questions:

  1. As members of Christ’s universal Church, will you be loyal to The United Methodist Church, and do all in your power to strengthen its ministries?
  2. As members of this congregation, will you faithfully participate in its ministries by your prayers, your presence, your gift, and your service?

We must honestly reflect upon our behaviors as Christians asking ourselves if we are the light of Christ not hidden under a basket.  

If we agree to the two membership questions, we are being the light of Christ.

If we honor our Christian responsibilities and try to actively serve as God’s hands and feet, then we are the light of Christ shining brightly from the hilltop.

We are fortunate to live in a country that legislates the freedom so we can be be the light of Christ.  Therefore, today, the Fourth of July, as citizens of the United States, we answer God’s call to be the light of Christ right here in our own church, in our own community.

As we close out our morning service, we will join in the sacrament of communion.  Communion is a uniting act of worship that all Christians, regardless of the denomination, use to affirm our belief that God has loved us so much that he gave his only son so we can be forgiven of our sins.  This is why we choose to shine our lights rather than hide them under the basket.

Please join me in a closing prayer:

Dear loving Father,

Thank you for all the freedoms we have

and for the grace you have given us.

May we find your light within us

so we may do all we can to shine that light

even on the darkest of days.  –Amen.

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November 1, 2021 · 7:54 pm

Handling a Cultural Shift

The Introduction

Today is one of those transitional days.  We are honoring our dads and their influences in our lives, and we are closing out spring and moving into true summer.  It is interesting how we mark our calendars and how pivotal days like today keep us connected to traditions and guides us through our lives.  If we seem so glued to our calendars, then how come things change?

Most of you know that I took a vacation–a pandemic-delayed vacation.  This trip was never one I had considered, but my close friend encouraged or pushed me to go to Disney World.  (It did not help that my daughter joined her efforts.)  

Still, this trip demonstrated to me that I had been unaware of a cultural shift that was playing out in front of me.  I had not been in a setting outside of our local community for well over two years, primarily because of the pandemic.  I had not stepped outside of my culture and looked at the larger, global culture until I spent these days people watching.

What did I see?  Certainly, I saw an environment that focused on fun, but I saw much more.  I saw families in an entirely new light.  The families came in all shapes, sizes, and cultures.  The stereotypical Midwest family image with which I grew up and worked around has become redefined; and after a week, I am glad to report that it is better than my own preset image.

One morning I woke up to a dream and a new insight because I realized that we are undergoing a cultural shift in defining the family, but maybe more specifically a shift in the roles of the 21st century parents. A cultural shift is nothing new, but the evolution can be so slow we fail to acknowledge it and then inadvertently do not understand it–maybe even fight it whether good or bad.

Today, I am going to share some of the evidence I witnessed and then relate it to how God is always present with us, even when we are in the midst of a cultural shift.

I suggest that you have your favorite Bible at hand as well as notetaking supplies.  You may need to make a note to read more details or to ask questions as we dig deeper into God’s presence during a cultural shift.  Let us ask God for understanding:

Dear Loving Father,

Open our minds to your wisdom preserved in scripture.

Open our hearts as we seek to understand your presence.

Open our eyes that we may see you in the lives of others.  –Amen

The Message

            Throughout these months of the pandemic, the term pod has become synonymous with that of family.  The CDC has encouraged us to stay within our close-knit family and friends.  Certainly, the family are those living under the same roof; but as the months of shutdown continued, the boundaries of our homes began to shift and the term pod became more common.  Pods grew to include close friends and then even our working peers.  Our culture shifted and is shifting.

            In the Bible, the first five books lay out the beginning history and even the laws that the Israelites were to follow as they managed the challenges of living faithfully among pagan followers.  The Israelites were those who followed God, lived by his laws, and worked together in maintaining that close relationship with God.

            In the selection from Deuteronomy 11:18-21 we read about the Laws of Moses, and these verses are just a small piece of the laws:

18 You shall put these words of mine in your heart and soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and fix them as an emblem[a] on your forehead. 19 Teach them to your children, talking about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. 20 Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, 21 so that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land that the Lord swore to your ancestors to give them, as long as the heavens are above the earth.  –NRSV

            As the generations of the Israelites continued, the success of their faithfulness was challenged.  The culture was tribal and the laws that developed were to keep the tribes together and to define the various roles of those within the tribes.  

For instance, there are 11 tribes, and each one has a specific geographical location, but the 12th tribe is that of the Levites.  The Levites were the priests and could not hold property.  They lived to serve the other tribes in the practices of worship–which included the sacrifices and distribution of food from those sacrifices as outlined in the laws.

The tribal culture provided order for the people and the laws created became more and more specific, challenges to the culture came from other cultures’ attacks.  When the Israelites were overpowered by the pagan cultures, they were often taken in as slaves.  The challenge then became how to maintain the faithful God-centered culture while living among pagans.

In Daniel, we see a model of how to live faithfully even among the pagans: 

8 But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the royal rations of food and wine; so he asked the palace master to allow him not to defile himself.  . . . 11 Then Daniel asked the guard . . . 12 “Please test your servants for ten days. Let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. 13 You can then compare our appearance with the appearance of the young men who eat the royal rations, and deal with your servants according to what you observe.”  –NRSV

Even though captured by King Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel remained faithful to his culture and led his friends Meshack, Shadrach and Abednego, demonstrating their culture’s diet is superior to that of even the pagan king’s personal diet.

Between these two Old Testament scriptures, we see how the ancient culture of the Israelites evolved.  No longer was the faithful bound by the tribal culture, now they could live their faith even among the pagans.  The culture was shifting, the faithful Israelites were adapting to new cultures while maintaining their own.

Of course, today’s cultural shift follows another shift outlined in the New Testament.  The global cultures continue to evolve as the influences from one culture meet other cultures.  As the travels of the ancient people continued to expand, the tribal culture and the ancient Law of Moses begin to evolve.  The evil influences become invasive and the Jewish religious leaders exercised control by adding more and more restrictive laws.  God saw a need to step in.

Jesus, God as man, is born and his purpose is to teach the people, not only the Jewish people, but all people, a new law: 

“In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.  –Matthew 7:12, NRSV

A cultural shift begins to evolve again.

As King David shared in Proverbs:  basic life instructions to preserve the God-centered culture of the Israelites:

1Listen, children, to a father’s instruction,
    and be attentive, that you may gain insight;
2 for I give you good precepts:
    do not forsake my teaching.  –Proverbs 4:1-2, NRSV

Now Jesus began teaching the new law of the faithful.  He lived his message teaching the disciples how to love one another, how to shift the culture away from the minute, excessive, restrictive laws the Jewish leaders had created over the generations.  One simple law encompasses all other laws:  love one another.

            The culture shifted.  In three short years of ministry, Jesus moved the faithful into a new structure for everybody.  The culture of the Israelites simplified as the global influences broke down geographical boundaries, peoples moved in and out of other cultures.  

            Today, we see how effective following Jesus’ one law has changed the global community.  What started as a movement in one small region along the Mediterranean Coast grew.  The faithful disciples continued Jesus’ work and the Christian faith expanded in all directions until it wrapped around this globe.

            So why do I believe we are in a cultural shift?  The pandemic has forced us to stop and re-evaluate our lives.  First, we lived within the geographical boundaries of our houses, then slowly expanded to our immediate neighbors, and grew into tight-knit pods of those with whom we live, eat, work, and play.  The boundaries were defined physically, but the human relationships defined the pods. 

We discovered that our faith family no longer was simply those who met once a week in a church sanctuary to worship together as we began worshipping with a global community through the internet.  

We redefined our definition of family as a pod.  Now a pod may have been a small group that maintained its connection through Zoom and then, thanks to masks and vaccinations, slowly became that close-knit pod meeting in person once more.  The faith community has evolved into a new culture, just as our families have.  

This brings me back to my vacation.  As we moved into the airports, we witnessed a culture shift.  Pods sat together.  Close inspection of the pods showed families, but also working teams, small groups such as a Christian school taking the seniors on a trip.  

The next step was to reach Disney World itself where I saw a new culture unfolding before my eyes.  I witnessed new family structures.  I watched parental roles shift.  I found hope.  I found compassion.  I found a world where Jesus’ commandment was being lived out each loving one another as they want to be loved.

“Here is a simple, rule-of-thumb guide for behavior: Ask yourself what you want people to do for you, then grab the initiative and do it for them. Add up God’s Law and Prophets and this is what you get.  –Matthew 7:12 from the Message translation

What proof did I have that our 21st century culture is living out the Golden Rule.  Well, the temperature on those days at Disney World averaged about 93 degrees.  We carried water bottles and all the travel blogs assured visitors would be able to get fresh water simply by asking.

            At one point, my friend asked a server for a glass of ice water–the reply was no, but she could go over to another line and ask for it over there.  Not wanting to disrupt that line, we found a spot around the corner and managed.  While sitting there, a young couple spotted us, came up and gave her a bottle of cold water.  They said they heard the server tell her no, so bought one for her, not knowing exactly where we had landed.  They sought us out, they paid it forward.  They loved as they wanted to be loved.

            The culture shifted.  There is a culture existing within a pandemic that does look out for one another.  There are young people being trained by parents and pods that are stepping forward to love one another as Jesus asks us to do.

            Today we are returning to life as we knew it pre-pandemic.  But I am confident that the pandemic did not suddenly, artificially impose a cultural shift.  As I walked the various parks, 

  • I saw generations loving one another.  (even using the circumstances to make the gender reveal)
  • I saw blended families loving one another.  
  • I saw multicultural families walking and laughing together.  
  • I saw mixed gender couples, even with children, walking freely among the masses without fear, without guilt.  
  • I saw strangers treating others as pod members standing in lines trying to manage fussy kids, and the newly-created friendships for the moment working together to make the vacation memorable.
  • I witnessed a cultural shift.

            How did this happen?  I firmly believe that the parables we have in the New Testament have taught us how to live God’s love for one another.  I believe that we have fathers who have discovered the value of being fully engaged in the teaching of Christian values to their families–another cultural shift.

            The fathers walking with their wives and the kids do not follow the stereotypes of fathers I grew to know.  The role of father is now as equal as that of the mothers.  The fathers carry the babies.  The fathers walk the kids to the restroom.  One father allowed his toddler daughter to put lipstick on him even though it missed and hit the cap.  Fathers play openly with the kids.

            Maybe my stereotypes are just mine, but I believe that when Jesus used the parables, he was trying to break stereotypes.  Jesus wanted us to see each other just as we see ourselves.  As I witnessed a shift in cultural stereotypes, I am reminded of the parable of the blind leading the blind:

“Can a blind person guide a blind person? Will not both fall into a pit? 40 A disciple is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully qualified will be like the teacher. 41 Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? 42 Or how can you say to your neighbor, ‘Friend, let me take out the speck in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye.–Luke 6:39-42, NRSV  

Those days of walking around the various parks, watching the mingling of peoples, I found that my own stereotypes were making me blind to the cultural shifts that have continued to evolve even and maybe even assisted by a pandemic.

            In Matthew 15, the parable of the blind leading the blind is wrapped in the middle of another lesson from Jesus.  The restrictive laws for the Jewish diet were challenged when Jesus and his disciples broke some of the laws as they ate together.  The Jewish leaders were offended and challenged Jesus.  A cultural shift was needed, and it includes a warning for us yet today as we teach our next generation:

10 Then he called the crowd to him and said to them, “Listen and understand: 11 it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.”  . . . 15 But Peter said to him, “Explain this parable to us.” 16 Then he said, “Are you also still without understanding? 17 Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach, and goes out into the sewer? 18 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. 19 For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. 20 These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.”

Today is Father’s Day, and as I have thought about the vacation and what I witnessed, I know that Jesus’ parables provide us with the very rules for establishing new cultural standards away from the name-calling, bullying, angry, hateful behaviors we have watched our pre-pandemic world had become.

            Maybe the pandemic slowed us down, forced us to reevaluate how we have been living, and showed us that we can raise our families to love one another and to love others outside our pod just as we want to live.  We must not continue leading by outdated laws, outdated stereotypes, instead we must be the leaders in our community showing those who are blind God’s love.  

We need to re-evaluate how we speak and act in front of our children–not just those in our homes, but to our community’s children.  We need to speak in words loaded with love, grace, and compassion.  We need to live our faith openly by our actions so future generations will model those same behaviors breaking stereotypes that restrict us from living in Christian community with each other.

Our culture is shifting, and God depends on us to teach one another in our families, in our pods, and across the globe the one commandment:  love one another as you want to be loved.

Even as Jesus led the ancient people in a cultural shift, we continue to use our Heavenly Father’s words to learn how to live out God’s one commandment through the parables.  In Proverbs, David goes on to clarify that a father’s–earthly and heavenly–instruction brings wisdom 

“Let your heart hold fast my words;
    keep my commandments, and live.
5 Get wisdom; get insight: do not forget, nor turn away
    from the words of my mouth.
6 Do not forsake her, and she will keep you;
    love her, and she will guard you.  –Proverbs 4:4-6, NRSV

            As we end today, think about the way cultures have shifted since the scriptures began sharing the story of God’s faithful.  The words share our Heavenly Father’s wisdom, and our earthly fathers, mothers and more help us keep God-centered even as the culture evolves–we are all part of God’s world.  Please join me in prayer:

Dear Omnipotent Father,

Guide each of us to follow Jesus’ teachings

so the words of our mouths speak love

   to one another.

Open our eyes to the world around us

so we may see your love in action.

Let each of us grow in faith

so we may be the agents of change,

teaching our children to love one another.

Let us be the agents of change

working to expand your kingdom

even here on earth.  –Amen

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February 23, 2021 · 8:01 am

How gluttony becomes a sin

Good morning, Church Family, I am Susan Smith, the associate pastor and I know you are all as tired of the cold and snow as I am, but we are looking forward to Spring like weather this week.  

Sadly, though a quick google search reveals the behaviors of people partying with drinks in hand and an old phrase comes to mind:  They are just gluttons for punishment

Today we are looking at the sin of gluttony.  The word itself gets caught in your throat as you say it, and chances are that when you say it pictures pop up in your mind that show wild beach parties, office parties where the alcohol flows freely, or possibly an image of a patron going through a buffet line with two plates piled high.

How easy it is to feel self-righteous when we think about gluttonous behaviors of others.  We don’t do that do we?  Or do we have gluttony in our lives?

As we begin looking closely at gluttony and how it is a sin that we accept in our daily lives, let’s take a moment to collect ourselves.  Grab your Bibles, your note supplies, and join me with a prayer:

Dear Lord God our Father,

Quiet our minds from all that floods us–the weather, the pandemic, our relationships, and our daily lives.  Open our ears to your whispers as we reflect on our lives and how easy it is to sin.  Open our hearts to forgive ourselves so we can heal and transform our lives so we may truly live a Christ-centered life.  In your name we pray, amen.

Typically the subject of gluttony does not pop up in our daily conversation therefore let’s begin with looking at what our culture defines as gluttony

“Gluttony is the habit of eating and drinking too much.”  Such a simple definition.  Now remember I am a retired English teacher and one of my personal interests is to understand the background of a word so I go to an online etymological dictionary.

There I found a few interesting pieces to share:

  • Glutton first was used in early 13th century and evolved from an Old French word meaning “one who eats and drinks to excess”.
  • Glutton is related to the term ‘scoundrel’ which is a general term of abuse in Modern French.
  • Glutton evolved from the Latin term gluttonem meaning overeater

Finally, as I mentioned earlier, when I hear the term gluttony it triggers an old cliché, “Glutton for punishment.”  And from the entry in that etymological dictionary there is another point to learn about that phrase.  The old phrase we use in casual conversation moves the original definition of glutton referring to eating and drinking and expanded it to anything to excess.  That broadens gluttony to an entirely different mindset–anything to excess.

Gluttony is a behavior that separates us from God–and that is the sin.  Gluttony is a behavior that takes over our personal discipline and puts self before God–and that is the sin.

I am not trying to guilt trip any of you into saying that you are sinful, I am just trying to establish why gluttony is considered one of the deadly sins.  Honestly, I have long struggled understanding gluttony as a sin and wondered why anyone would say that overeating is a sin as I have always battled weight.  Isn’t overeating the trigger for gaining weight?

Using the Life Application Study Bible, I turned to the back and looked up gluttony.  Here I found a slightly different definition for gluttony that helped guide me to better understanding how a behavior can slide into sin:  one given habitually to greedy and voracious eating and drinking.

During the Ash Wednesday service, the message focused on pride as a sin that can easily become accepted as okay in our daily lives.  Still pride, like gluttony, becomes sin when it separates us from God.  When anything, not just eating and drinking, takes over our willpower and interrupts the very disciplines that keep us connected to God, we slip into a sinful pattern of behaviors.

John Wesley created methods to keep believers connected to God thereby avoiding sin.  He believed we should follow practices that held us accountable for our behaviors.  

When developing a personal relationship with God, Wesley felt it was essential to read scripture and pray daily.  He believed that one should attend worship regularly, to fast, and to maintain healthy living–remember he even wrote a health manual.  He also developed small groups in which members were accountable about their faith to each other: sharing faith within that group but also openly with others.

As I continued studying gluttony, I returned to my concordance.  There I found  only three references to gluttony:  Proverbs 23:20, Matthew 11:19, and Titus 1:12.  Not only just three references but three verses.

First, I noticed only one was in the Old Testament, Proverbs 23:20:  

“Do not be among winebibbers, or among gluttonous eaters of meat.”

In all the various definitions this is the first reference to the type of foods that are included in gluttony.  The reference to winebibbers is more familiar as we think of the definitions referring to drinking too much which we now usually refer alcoholic beverages.  But, the old Jewish laws were very particular about what one could eat.

Matthew 11:19:

“. . . the son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!. . . “

In this verse’s reference to gluttony is even in reference to Jesus himself.  No longer bound by the ancient Law of Moses, Jesus ate and drank with even those who were not Jewish, who were not living under the Law of Moses.  

The act of eating and drinking is not gluttony, and in this story, Jesus’ behaviors among tax collectors and sinners becomes a model for Christian living.  There is no separation from God in the practice of eating, drinking and sharing with others.  The sin is when gluttony causes us to break our relationship with God, to turn our actions into those that cause pain and loss of one’s Christian disciplines as Wesley defined with the acts of piety.  

The third reference to the term glutton is also found in Paul’s letter to Titus who was left to serve in Crete. 

Titus 1:12–“it was one of them, their very own prophet who said, “Cretans are always liars, icious brutes, and lazy gluttons.”

Paul was warning Titus to be alert to the motives of those pretending to be Christians in order to get “more money, business, or a sense of power” as the study notes in Life Application Study Bible notes (p. 2717):

These three references to gluttony in the Bible builds up our understanding how gluttony can interfere in our lives even in today’s culture.  As we take the next few weeks to reflect on how well we are living our Christian faith publicly and privately, we need to consider how gluttony can creep into our lives and disrupt our relationship with God.

I admit.  I myself had to work with scripture and spend some time thinking about how gluttony could be sinful.  Then I started going through my own history and I discovered that gluttony is not always about eating and drinking too much.  Gluttony is anything that separates me from God.  Anything–not just food and drink.  Anything.

My stash of yarn.  Oh oh, I began to realize that knitting could be contributing to a shift in my Christian discipline. I am tactile and love natural fibers.  I struggle with so many new fabrics that have only synthetic fibers.  As I began knitting, I discovered a passion for looking at, touching, and purchasing various types of yarn.  In the knitting world, the yarn that one purchases and puts away for future projects is known as a stash.  

Every time I went into a store that had yarn, I was pulled to walk through the aisles looking and touching them imagining them knitted into a scarf or a wrap or a baby blanket.  The yarn was beautiful, it was ‘calling’ me.  I began searching for yarn shops, just to go look, and would come home with sale items or a skein that was so beautiful or soft that surely I could find a way to use it.

The truth is out now.  But I also have to tell you the rest of the story.  I had to stop and reflect on my pull to yarns.  I realized I could justify it because I bought it on sale, or I knew it was a color so-and-so would like, or it was a yarn that was difficult to find such as bamboo or silk, or it was given to me.  I could justify the purchases, what I did not realize is that it was causing me to make unhealthy choices in relation to how I was using my resources.

This shifts the discussion about gluttony as a behavior to how it becomes sinful.  Anything we do to excess, anything that becomes such a habit that we lose our focus on God can turn into a sin.  As we continue into Lent as the season for personal Christian reflection, we have the perfect opportunity to consider if we have a form of gluttony that is separating us from God.

Another example that I think many of us can relate to is our fascination with our favorite sports team’s swag.  As we watched and cheered for the Chiefs these last few months, we found ourselves drawn to those tee shirts, the team’s swag, and the memorabilia.  In fact I have the “Run it back” flag still flying outside my front door.

Team spirit seems so innocent, good fun.  What could be wrong with a new tee shirt?  But consider those fans who place team spirit into an entire lifestyle, not just for themselves, but for our entire family.  The news shares their stories and the pictures.  We recognize these fans as ‘superfans’, but God knows everything.  God knows whether they are superfans or whether they have stepped over the line and the mania reaches a sinful level separating them from God, possibly even destroying their own family relationships 

Today, February 21, we stop and review what is controlling our lives.  Have we maintained the very practices that Wesley developed to guide us in growing stronger in our faith?  

  • Are we reading scripture, studying it, reflecting or meditating on it, discussing it with others?
  • Are we in conversation with God through formal and informal prayers?
  • Are we fasting, which is a discipline that subtracts or adds in a change to our daily routine for a set timeframe such as Lent?
  • Are we attending worship services regularly?
  • Are we living a healthy lifestyle?
  • Are we sharing our faith with others?

During the week, our pastor suggested a reading from the gospel of John.  He broke the passage of John 4:1-45 into three readings which includes the story of the Woman at the Well.  The middle section, verses 31-38 speaks to how our true nourishment comes from God:

“Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, “Rabbi, eat something.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33 So the disciples said to one another, “Surely no one has brought him something to eat?” 34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. 35 Do you not say, ‘Four months more, then comes the harvest’? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. 36 The reaper is already receiving[a] wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”

This scripture teaches us that nothing is more satisfying or fulfilling than our relationship with God.  Jesus tells the disciples that he does not need food because it is God that takes care of him:  

Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. . . “

Then he asks them that they, too have work to do using the metaphor of planting and harvesting:

“. . . But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting.  The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life . . .I sent you to reap . . .

God created us, he loves us, he waits for us, and he grants us grace for when we sin.  Our lives are filled with influences and interests that capture our attention and can easily step in between God and us. Let us carefully consider whether we need to make adjustments in our lives to reconnect or to strengthen our relationship with God.  

And God sends us out to reap.  We are called to share our faith with others just as Wesley asks us to do.  We are to avoid the gluttonous behaviors that get between us and God, but also we are to step out and help others to find that God is the food that satisfies the souls. 

Let us use this Lenten season to reset our practices, define our priorities, and rebuild the relationship with God so we can be disciples of Christ, so that we may live that others may know Jesus.  We know the joy of God’s grace and mercy.  We anticipate the life of salvation that leads to eternal life.  Let us be gluttonous with God’s love.

Will you join me in a personal prayer:

Dear patient and loving God, I know that I have been weak and allowed this world to step between you and me.  Speak to me, guide me, and forgive me as I work to listen and to strengthen my faith in you.  It is through your grace, through your son Jesus Christ, and with the Holy Spirit, I pray, amen.

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January 8, 2021 · 8:26 am

Yes, 2021 arrived, now a few musings for a new year

For a week, I have thought about how to look at 2021.  One challenge that showed up in my inbox was to identify one word for the new year. 

Immediately one popped up:  Resilience.  Why?  Think about the history of our country.  How many times has a challenge presented itself and the very principles that established this country sustained it for over 200 years.

Think about the history of Christianity, even it began with the resilience of the Jewish faithful who endured challenge after challenge without all the technology and global interaction or support available today.

Resilience.  

One word to guide my thinking in the midst of a pandemic, in the midst of governmental change, in the midst of economic challenges, not to mention just the issue of the life challenges of growing older or recovering from a medical challenge or even loneliness we endure with the pandemic.

Resilience is essential for all of us.  Interestingly this is a trait, quality, life skill that is ignored in our educational system.  We need to teach resilience to our students, to the future generations.

There typically is not a set curriculum for teaching resilience, but it can be developed.  In literature, selections can be read and discussed using the word resilience as a connecting theme.

In all classes, resilience can be taught in how to manage difficult lessons, disappoint grades, life challenges like absences due to illness or to circumstances beyond the student’s control. Each failure becomes an opportunity to develop resilience whether in a classroom, in a personal relationship, in a family, in a neighborhood, in a community, or even in a country.

Resilience.

Personally, my belief in Jesus Christ and participating in a Christian community provides me the strength and even the skills needed to be resilient.  I just pray that my children and their families have come to know resilience in their lives, too, as they have witnessed in mine and their extended families.

We may be looking at 2021 through cracked lenses right now, but with resilience we will take the world as we see it and do whatever we can to make it better.

Isn’t that what Jesus would do?

Isn’t that what our founding fathers would do?

Isn’t that what the Greatest Generation would do?

We have an opportunity to take something that has challenged our very inner beings, our sense of safety, our sense of identity, and make a difference.

John Wesley, founder of Methodism, called his faithful to love one another by doing all we can do for all we can whenever we can for as long as we can.  This is how we become resilient as individuals, as a faith community, as global citizens.

My word for 2021:  Resilience.

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December 25, 2020 · 12:16 pm

Christmas Day musings 2020:

An exercise in stream of conscious writing

When I woke up at 4:30 this morning, I could not help but remember how many times as a kid that 4:30 did not seem so early for Christmas morning.  This time I did not run to the living room to see what Santa had brought.  This time I laid in vws and started thinking about a range of things.

Now it is six hours later, I have fixed a Christmas morning brunch, started sourdough bread, and am just generally relaxed.  Christmas no longer resembles the ones from my childhood.  Circumstances have forced Christmas to be refocused.

The Upper Room devotional reaffirmed this may be a natural transition in our lives as we age (at least I translated that from the narrative), but I had to remember this was written at least a year ago–before the pandemic.  Here is the final statement in this reflection:

“For a long time, Christmas was just an annual tradition with to-do lists and performances. This year, I experienced Christmas from another perspective as I let myself come as a person longing to see the Savior.”

In the midst of the pandemic, we have been called to change our patterns of behavior.  We are to stay away from our annual family gatherings–and some easily add up to over 20.  We wear masks wherever we go, even into the bank lobbies.  And we stay home.  

I cannot imagine how this year’s experience is going to transform our lives as we move forward, but it must.  We must all refocus our values; to put our faith in God first, our family next, and then we can begin developing our individual goals, passions, bucket lists, and so on.

Personally, I cannot seem to think ahead right now.  We have become fixated on the immediate situation of the pandemic with no defined end in sight.  Yes, we need to get vaccinated, but it is not yet readily available.  Instead, masks, social distancing, and washing hands become our norm–not bad but good habits, really.

Oddly, as I had to face a quarantine before Christmas, I could not help but compare it to an experience when I was in 6th grade.  I had the lead role in our elementary Christmas play, and I got German measles–my brother and myself.

Two weeks we were at home.  We had a hide-a-bed sofa in the front room.  Mom pulled it out and we stayed there most of the time.  There were some behaviors that had to change then too.

For instance, at that time the medical field thought we should not use our eyes much so the lights were dimmed, no TV watching (it was fairly new in our household and it was only on in the evenings–after supper), and no one could come around because it was so contagious.  We even had a doctor who made a house call and we lived 8 miles out of town.

For two weeks before Christmas, we were confined to the house on the farm.  Mom read us a book.  We ate meals on that hide-a-bed sofa, stayed in our pajamas, and waited for the measles to go away.  And they did.  The doctor gave us the ok on Christmas Eve to go out.

Dad took us shopping in town.  I can remember vividly going to Ben Franklin to Christmas shop.  I can’t remember what we got except for one thing–the Brach’s Christmas star chocolates from the bulk candy counter.  Odd that that stands out over any other shopping we did.

Yes, I had missed my star role in the Christmas play.  My brother and I had two weeks off school.  It was a very different Christmas, but we had the old-fashioned measles healed just in time for Christmas.

This year I got out of quarantine one week before Christmas Day.  We did not get to shop very much.  I did not get to bake like I usually do.  We did not have social gatherings.  We have not even gone to see Christmas lights.  Why I did not even put up the Christmas tree!

  • A year ago, I would never have expected our year to be transformed like it has been.  
  • A year ago, I would have never thought I would miss participating in our church’s Advent and Christmas Eve services.  
  • A year ago, I never dreamed getting COVID-19 would change my Christmas routines.
  • A year from now, I hope to have the vaccine.  
  • A year from now, I hope my values remain focused on the reason for the season–the birth of Jesus Christ who taught us how to love one another.

A year from now . . . well who can tell.  I just hope we can preserve some of the positives that can protect us from losing the focus on our values:  faith, family, and friends.

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December 20, 2020 · 7:58 pm

Blue Christmas thoughts

All the world seems excited to celebrate Christmas with family and friends, holiday traditions, and the excitement of Christmas, but for others the holiday season is a struggle. 

The reasons for feeling blue in the midst of all the holiday hype ranges from the loss of a spouse, family member, empty nest syndrome, health diagnosis, distance, loneliness and the list grows.

Churches have acknowledged that Advent and Christmas can be difficult and lead to depression, therefore, a Blue Christmas worship service has developed to help those struggling.  

According to the UMC Discipleship website, “There is a growing attentiveness to the needs of people who are blue at Christmas.  Increasing numbers of churches are creating sacred space for people living through dark times.  Such services are reflective, accepting where we really are, and holding out healing and hope.”

The Blue Christmas worship is typically offered on the Winter Solstice which is Monday, December 21, the shortest day of the year.  According to the world clock, our latitude indicates that there will be only about 9 hours and 28 minutes of daylight.

Admittedly I struggle, especially after the loss of my mother and a divorce all at once–and that was almost 30 years ago.  Still, I had young kids and we powered through the life changes and celebrated as if nothing had changed.  

Life hands us challenges consistently, and we muster through.  That does not mean we honestly feel happy, we just ride the current that pushes us forward.  How do we do it?  With our faith in God.

On Monday, stop and reflect on how your faith sustains you throughout the wide range of life challenges.  Take a few moments and consider not only how you manage, but those around you who struggle during the season. 

When churches provide a Blue Christmas service, the most common reference in the Bible is to the story of Job.  Remember how he maintained his faith despite all the challenges he endured.  His friends kept thinking that he must have been doing something, sinning, that was causing God to punish him.

Yet Job lived faithfully throughout every challenge thrown at him.  He was able to fend off the negative pressure from his friends.  He trusted God.  In the end, he was restored to the wealth and the success he had experienced before the challenges.  His life was a living testimony to his friends how faith in God carries us out of the darkness and into the light.

Christmas is filled with the symbolism of light and maybe that is why we love the candles and all the light displays inside and outside our homes during these short days.  Adam Hamilton speaks to the light of Christ in his book Incarnation:

“Darkness is most often (but not always) associated with evil, adversity, ignorance, despair, gloom, and even death.  Light, on the other hand, is usually associated in scripture with God, goodness, joy, knowledge, hope, and life.” (p. 124)

Hamilton goes on to explain two forms of darkness, which during these shortest days of the year, seem to lend towards the second form he refers to as existential or situational darkness “. . . associated with grief, sadness or despair, or the feelings of being lost or unloved.” (p.126)

As December 21 gives way to the 22nd and then Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, look to the light.  Know that God is the light and he pulls out of our darkness–even during a pandemic.

Hamilton defines Christmas as light: “Christmas is the celebration of light piercing our darkness, God’s light coming to us to enlighten our lives.” (p. 130)

The concept of the incarnation, God as human, is one of the most compelling arguments to celebrate Christmas.  God loves us so much that he walked along side of us as the man Jesus Christ.  He experienced all the life challenges we do, even the most horrific as he died on the cross so that we may believe in him and know that he is with us.

Hamilton challenges us to walk in God’s light and to share that light:

“Jesus is God’s Word to us.  In that Word, we see not only the love of God, but the light of God illuminating our moral and existential darkness.  Our task is to accept that light, to allow it to illuminate our lives, to walk in this light, and to then share this light with others.”  (p.136)

I chose light even on the shortest, darkest day of the year.  I know the challenges of darkness, but I look toward the light.  Maybe that is why the words of John speak to me:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.  What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.”  –John 1:1-5

Please join me in prayer, not only for yourself but for all those feeling blue during this Advent season.

Dear Lord, our father and our light, thank you for shining bright even in the darkest of days.  Guide us and enlighten our heaviness of spirit as we look to your glory and celebrate the birth of your son, Jesus Christ.  –Amen.

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December 15, 2020 · 9:45 am

Thoughts from Quarantine 2020

Waking up this morning, I feel Christmas sneaking in on me.  There are clouds and the possibility to see snowflakes in the air, and it is cold–24 degrees.  And yet, I am in quarantine.

Christmas has been central to my life forever.  Growing up on the farm, Christmas was a time we developed all those traditions that seem to make a Norman Rockwell painting–cutting the Christmas tree out in the woods, snow falling, popcorn snacks, Christmas baking.  You get the picture.

But then 2020, a year that we all suspected would be filled with clarity and hope simply based on that nice, round number and the metaphoric connection to clear vision, hit us hard.

News reports of a highly contagious virus started creeping into our psyche, and in March a shut down.  We did not understand the full ramifications of a nation-wide shutdown but what was a nation to do.  Shut down.

Then slowly, life adapted.  Fear subsided a bit, but caution was maintained.  In my world, masks stay in the car, in my purse or pocket, and they go on when I get out of the car.  Even at the office, the mask went on when someone walked into our bubble or we had a conversation–still 6 feet apart, too.

Months slid past, then we got bit by the bug.  COVID hit us both and in very different ways.  My husband coughed and coughed and coughed until he thought he had broken ribs.  He was totally wiped out.

Then just a few days later, I started questioning how I felt.  I thought it was mild sinus problem and started the sinus meds with Mucinex.  A conversation with the county health nurse pushed me to test–positive, too.

So we found ourselves in an honest, full-fledged quarantine.  Smack dab in the middle of one of the busiest seasons in my life–Advent.  For a pastor this just seemed surreal.  How was I going to contribute to the season’s worship?

Well, I can now tell you that there are ways to make things work and work well.  True I have given up the in-person element, but the months of preparation made it possible to still provide an element of input–Zoom, videotaping at home, and emailing.  I can work at home.

Still, quarantine has dramatically changed our lives in so many ways.  Working is one thing but stop and consider all the other affects that COVID-19 has created in our world.

Health:  I seriously doubt that our news channels have ever spent so much airtime explaining how to be healthy, the specifics of the coronavirus, how it spreads, how the medical field is managing, and how to know when you are sick and when to get tested.  I have to admit I would never have thought the symptoms I was experiencing were anything to be concerned about except I had been informed.  Thank you to the information flood.

Work Force:  Our economy is challenged.  We had been living in a society that could ignore the lowest economic strata convincing our middle class and affluent selves that we are privileged to live in our nation free from extreme poverty–and then the pandemic.  Our work force has been depleted.  Families are in crisis with job losses, income loss, and so many more problems.  

Our culture is being redefined.  I have witnessed one young family become one victims and then watch the church family rally around them.  As I sit here with the news on, I am watching a country learn how critical it is to provide food for the masses.  City after city is being featured for their food drives and it is shocking to see the massive lines of cars.

2020 is going to redefine the work force culture and I pray that the CEO’s and boards understand that our world can collapse if they do not value the employees as the most important component of their industries.  

Medical Services:  Because we are a democracy and capitalism is the base of our culture, we have a medical industry that has focused on profit not on service.  Then the pandemic shifted the focus to the frontline workers.  For the first time in my life, I see our country value the nurses, the doctors, the EMTs, even the nurses’ aids who clean the patients, the technicians, the custodial staff and so many, many employees essential to the wellbeing of our family and friends.

Hopefully this will force our culture to redefine their values.  Our medical industry needs to be identified as a necessity and be aligned to the utilities that are necessary for a society to function.  The profit margin needs to be monitored and the medical workers should be valued as highly as they are now on throughout history.

Education:  Teachers are frontline workers, too.  Our country guarantees a free education to all who live within our boundaries.  Why have we failed to acknowledge the critical role of our teachers?  Why are our teachers one of the lowest paid professionals?  Why do we put educational requirements on our teachers but do not support that financially?

When the pandemic shut down our world, the teachers had to keep teaching.  But the teaching shifted to an entirely different platform for which the majority of teachers were never trained.  We forced in-person teaching to turn on a dime (pardon the cliché) to teach virtually.  And some of the teachers did not even have the actual technology they needed to teach from a remote setting.

I could rant and rave about this issue even more because I know education personally having spent 35+ years in education, but I know each family knows what happened in education with the pandemic.  I know that the kiddos are suffering.  I know that the level of education with which we think or even expect our students to graduate has been severely damaged and will not be able to rebound even within a couple of years.

We have failed our students because we failed to teach them to learn, to take safe risks, and now to be resilient.  

We must teach our kids how to learn so when forced to step away from the classroom they can learn independently.  Teachers have long been forced to teach to tests and state standards; saddly we have forgotten the components on which we must build.

Maybe the pandemic will serve as a magnifying glass for our culture.  

Maybe we can stop and reassess the values that we have said we support, but failed.  

Maybe we can begin 2021 with a new mindset and go back to what our American values were just 244 years ago, when our founding fathers declared their independence and wrote a constitution that continues to be the backbone of our nation.

Therefore, to conclude, I am in quarantine with a mild case of COVID-19.  I do not feel guilty because I followed the recommendations.  I do not feel alienated because I tested positive.  But I do feel a responsibility to do all that I can for all I can in any way I can as we move into 2021.  I am Methodist after all, and John Wesley led his world to be healthy, to serve and to be the hands of feet of God.  It is one of our American values.

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December 5, 2020 · 8:43 am

Happy Thanksgiving–a little late

     Typically we would begin sharing thoughts about all the positive outcomes of the year today, but the 2020 year has certainly challenged us to find positives to share.

     When we last visited, I did share that even through this COVID season, there are some positives developing.  It is so important to use an optimistic a twist as we can put for the year.  

     Therefore, let’s look at this holiday weekend as one to rest and resolve to look for ways to reboot our lives despite the pandemic.

      Right now, I am sitting in the backseat of the car while waiting for my husband to complete another round of testing–this time a physical therapy form of testing.  Our year has been challenging since the truck wreck July 26, 2019; but the rehab is basically completed; and today’s results will guide us forward.

     The sun is out, the wind is whipping the car, but the temperatures are mild; and the car provides an excellent mini-office environment.  What if it is was like so many other cold, grey November days?  I would not be able to do this.

     Add to this the flexibility that a laptop computer provides.  I am a Mac user; and it works like a champ sitting here in the car.  I can even link to WiFi–either through my phone or the guest server at the facility.

     Despite all, I am happily sitting here working away.  Seems pretty good.

     Thanksgiving, itself, may look a little different for most of us this year.  I know that our entire society is considering whether or not to meet with their usual family members or if the risk of developing COVID, 

     What makes us happy?  This is what we need to remember.  Happy is family, good food, and knowing that God is with us all the time. 

     Even if we meet just as a small family group, isn’t that worth celebrating.

     Maybe our traditional Thanksgiving meal is pared down to just the basics:  turkey, mashed potatoes, dressing, and pumpkin pie.  The taste is the highlight and the reduced work load makes for a happy Thanksgiving.

     How often do we ever take a day just to relax?  All too often we use the full seven days of a week.  God told us to take a sabbath each week. 

     This is a bonus day to use as a sabbath.  The best-case scenario is that you honestly get to rest from Thursday through Sunday before resuming a normal work week schedule.

     Yes, here in 2020 we can honestly wish one another a Happy Thanksgiving.  And then we move into Advent and the Christmas season.  Next thing you know, we will be saying farewell to 2020 and welcoming 2021 filled with hope for relief.

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December 5, 2020 · 8:41 am

Positive Twists COVID-19 Season

     The last seven months our comfortable American lifestyle has redefined itself.   The daily routines have shifted, schools are in crisis, economy erratic, families rattled–the list grows.

     Yet, there is an irony to the entire situation, and I pray that there are some dramatic shifts for the positive in our lifestyle that are and have been desperately needed.

     First and possibly most important, families are being forced to redefine their structure.  When the first mandates were put into place, schools closed.  Immediately, without any warning, families had to figure out how to manage the children at home.

     Certainly not every family unit had two parents working outside of the home, but many did.  Not every family had elementary kids who needed supervision at home.  But for many, the immediate decision had to be who was staying home.

     Then comes the next crisis:  how to teach all the students.  Maybe teaching elementary schools does not seem so daunting, but it is.  How one generation learned does not match the generation currently in school.  

     Add to that the teachers knew teaching as person-to-person.  In a weekend, the teachers had to transform into virtual teachers and nowhere in the college curriculum did education students learn about virtual teaching.

     Often in schools the technology teams were paid staff who installed, updated, and repaired all the district’s hardware.  Librarians were the other staff members who were often the more tech savvy in the district, but even now their job has been redefined by the need to substitute in a classroom or supervise lunch.  The library is not the first priority.

     As the months continue to roll along, families adapt and thankfully businesses do too.  A second positive developed–work at home became a viable option.  Productivity proved possible, and workers discovered that commute time became family time or productive work time.

     My brother’s work is a global company and there is some belief that the changes COVID has forced has rewritten many practices like travel, working meals, face-to-face sales calls, and even the office costs will be minimized.

     Speaking of commuting, consider the changes in driving.  Not only has commuting time and miles been dramatically reduced, COVID has lowered consumption of gas, oil, tires, and so on.  Not to mention the dramatic change in traveling for pleasure.

     That brings another major change to mind–the cost of entertainment.  Maybe the shift is really in priorities, which can be a positive considering how much emphasis and money has been spent on professional sports.

     In fact, COVID is forcing us to slow down and re-evalute our priorities.  Over the years, we have chosen to spend our money for making our lives comfortable, enjoyable, almost luxurious especially in relation to so many millions and millions of people.

     We have invested in entertainment with abandon.  We even choose to spend more money on sporting events than we tithe to the church.  We have chosen style over frugality.

     During this COVID season, I have discovered that I do not need to go shopping for clothes.  I do not need to take off for random weekend runs.  I do not need to the latest appliances.  I do not need . . . and the list continues to grow.

     What I have also learned is that I value my home much more.  I use the space more completely than I did before.  I take more pride in the yard and the small amount of vegetables I plant and harvest.  I look around and discover the fun I can have with what I do have.

     Oh, there are disappointments and losses that I can list, too.  But today, I want to see the positives that COVID has forced me to see.  I prefer looking at the good not the bad.  I see hope not despair.  I see God, not the evil.  I pray that others see the lessons we can learn and make changes that will improve the quality of our lives that will carry forward.

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July 24, 2020 · 9:51 am

Psalm 42: Prayers for help

Hello, Friends,

     I know I am way behind sharing with you, but these past months have greatly altered our daily lives.  After I started working with the local UMC, my time use has shifted.  Anyway, I will continue to share whenever I can, and today is the sermon I gave on July 19.  Hope you are all well and know you are in my prayers even when I do not connect every week.

                                                      Susan

Summer with the Psalms:

Psalm 42–Prayers for help

     Growing up in the 1960s, music seemed to fill my world.  Mom and Dad sang in the church choir, so my brother and I sang in the choirs throughout our school years.  We wore those little white robes, too.  

     We also took piano lessons from Mrs. Updyke, who lived in Wellsville.  My cousins and I would even carpool from our Buell farms and have to sit on the front porch while we would wait through the half hour lessons one at a time.

     This was the time when the world seemed filled with strife–Vietnam and race riots filled the evening news.  And we farmed, so we had the typical ups and downs of drought, Army worms, weeds, and the flies that seemed to swarm the cattle constantly.

     Troubles are simply part of our life and music seemed to soothe the days.  And music changed a great deal during those years between World War II and the 1970s:  from big band music to the advent of rock and roll, from steel guitars of country to electric guitars of heavy metal.

     What did I pick?  Even though my very first cassette was Jimi Hendrix, I quickly settled into easy listening; and Simon & Garfunkel rose to the top of my listening.  Music lifts our spirits and are our prayers for help.  The psalms, with which we are spending our summer, are the ancient hymns filled with praise and prayers.  Please join me in prayer: 

Dear God, 

     When time gets tough and we seem lost,

     You are there.  

     When we feel alone, 

     You are there.  

     Open our hearts to your words,

    Knowing you are always there.  –Amen

                  Spending the summer with the psalms is spending the summer with music.  If there was ever a time we need to sing, it is now–and ironically that is one of the very things we are asked not to do during public worship for fear of spreading COVID-19.  That puts us in a bit of a predicament as the psalms were the earliest hymns of the Israelites, but we read them today and can ‘hear’ the lyrics in our minds.

     Therefore, since we can’t even reach out and pick up a hymnal while sitting in our pews, let me share words from one of its introductory pages which lists the directions for singing written by John Wesley in 1761.  The first one reads, “Learn these tunes before you learn any others; afterwards learn as many as you please.” 

     That line reflects what we know about Jesus and his knowledge of the psalms.  Even as a pre-teen, when he stayed behind in the temple “sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.”  (Luke 2:46) 

     Jesus learned and used the psalms in his ministry.  We need to follow his example and know the psalms well enough that we can turn to them when we face difficult times.  As Pastor Peter began this sermon series, he provided the daily scripture readings aligned to the six themes found in the psalms.

     Our first week focused on the wisdom psalms and the second week centered on the hymns of praise.  This week’s theme is prayers for help.  The human condition, as explained through various sources, simply means dealing with the positives and the negatives which are experienced throughout one’s life.  Knowing the psalms, provides us the words we need to manage the positives and negatives that pop up in our lives.  

     Just like when we were kids and we fell and scraped our knees, we turn to our parents for comfort, for wiping away the tears, for cleaning up the torn skin, and for assurance that we are going to be ok.  Turning to the psalms is going to our Father for comfort.  

As a deer longs for flowing streams,

     so my soul longs for you, O God.

My soul thirsts for God,

    for the living God. (Psalm 42:1-2)

Words comfort us and for me these first two verses make my heart sing, because I am immediately taken back to my childhood on the farm.  The words trigger connections to my mom who loved the deer, the birds, the trees, the wildflowers and all nature.  These are my comfort images, so to speak.

     Throughout history, psalms have provided God’s people the words to express what ails them.  Psalm 42 was transformed into a hymn that is now included in numerous hymnals of various denominations including the Faith We Sing hymnal usually found in our pews–number 2025 to be exact.

     Marty Nystrom, a music graduate from Oral Roberts University, transformed this psalm in 1984 into the modern hymn we now use.  The opening words:

                  As the deer pants for the water

                  So my soul longs after You

                  You alone are my heart’s desire

                  And I long to worship You . . . 

This hymn and Psalm 42 have become connected to my own spiritual life because it takes me close to my own family experiences and Mom’s passion for the deer.  I see deer, and I hear these opening words of the psalm and the hymn.  I know the meaning of God’s presence in my life just like the deer turn to water for their sustenance.

      We must deal with the reality of life and it can exhaust us, physically and mentally.  Using the psalms can direct our energies to stay focused on God, to talk with God, and to trust God.  Psalm 3 tells us this:  

                  But you, O Lord, are a shield around me,

     My glory, and the one who lifts up my head. . . 

                  I lie down and sleep;

      I wake again, for the Lord sustains me.

When we are challenged with an ongoing issue, the days can be drained of any joy that we typically experience.  The sunshine can be clouded when we are facing a long-term problem.

     On the farm, there is always the looming concern of a drought.  The days, the weeks, and the months without rain can drain a farmer’s resolve and even love for nature.  Watching the crops struggle, wither, and fail makes an entire lifestyle difficult as it effects the land, the livestock, and even the soil itself. 

     Getting up each morning, knowing that there is nothing one can do to effect a positive change can destroy not just the farmer, but his entire family and even a community.  Trusting God is the shield. Does not that trigger another familiar hymn?  

“Trust and obey, for there’s no other way

To be happy in Jesus,

But to trust and obey.” ( UMH #467) 

Trusting God makes it possible to lie down, sleep and wake again happy.

     Turning to the psalms guides us to find comfort and assurance in challenging times.  Even as a drought looms ahead of us even today, we know that the cycles of life continue.  The dry days may seem to last forever, but rain will once again soften the soil:

                  O God, you are my God, I seek you,

                       My soul thirsts for you;

                  My flesh faints for you,

                        As in a dry and wary land where

there is no water.

                  So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,

                       Beholding your power and glory.

                  Because your steadfast love is better than life,

                       My lips will praise you.

                  . . . for you have been my help,

                       And in the shadow of your wings I sing for joy.  

[Psalm 63:1, 3 & 7]

These are the words David wrote while in the wilderness.  The trials of the ancient world are the same as those today.  The words build us up, give us confidence as we continue to manage the daily challenges.  

     In more recent history, but not specifically the last century, the challenges of the American slaves reflects how the psalms provided them the spiritual prayers and the comfort of a relationship with God.  Do you recognize these words?  

                  Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen;

                  Nobody knows but Jesus.

                  Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen; 

                  Glory hallelujah.

                  Sometimes I’m up; sometimes I’m down;

                  Oh yes, Lord.

                  Sometimes I’m almost to the ground; 

                  Oh yes, Lord.

                  Although You see me goin’ along,

                  Oh yes, Lord.

                  I have my troubles here below;

                  Oh yes, Lord.

                  What makes old Satan hate me so?

                  Oh yes, Lord.

                  He got me once and let me go;

                  Oh yes, Lord.

                  Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen;

                  Nobody knows but Jesus.

                  Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen; 

                  Glory hallelujah.

How many times have you thought the very same thing?  How many times have you turned to this hymn in your soul and sang it out loud?

     Turning to Psalm 34, we hear David teach us how to use the psalms and even how to teach the psalms as a way to deliver or to keep us from trouble

                  Come, O children, listen to me;

                       I will teach you the fear [respect] of the Lord.

                  Which of you desires life,

                       and covers many days to enjoy good?

                  Keep your tongue from evil,

                       and your lips from speaking deceit.

                  Depart from evil, and do good;

                       seek peace, and pursue it. (Psalms 34:11-14)

The psalms we study are filled hymns of praise and prayers for deliverance.  We are the 2020 version of humanity and there is the common reality of the human condition that exists since the beginning of humanity.  We experience the positives and the negatives of our earthly experience, and we can rely on these ancient words to keep us grounded in faith.

     Just as the American slaves lived through trying times, we all live through trying times.  Rely on the words of the psalms to guide us.  Rely on the lyrics of the hymns to deliver us from troubles and from our enemies.  David knew how difficult it is to defend one’s self:  

                  How long, O Lord?  Will you forget me forever?

                       How long will you hide your face from me?

                  How long must I bear pain in my soul,

                       And have sorrow in my heart all day long?

How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?  

(Psalm 13:1-2)

Yet his words continue to show that remaining faithful will lead to triumph over the troubles and even over one’s enemies:  [

                  But I trusted in your steadfast love;

                       my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.

                  I will sing to the Lord,

                       Because he has dealt bountifully with me. 

(Psalm 13:5-6)

     Spend time with the psalms, look up your favorite hymns, and listen to the music of our times knowing that we are never alone.  This is the final direction for singing that Wesley shared

Above all sing spiritually.  Have an eye to God in every word you sing.  Aim at pleasing him more than yourself, or any other creature.  In order to do this attend strictly to the sense of what you sing, and see that your heart is not carried away with the sound, but offered to God continually; so shall your singing be such as the Lord will approve here, and reward you when he cometh in the clouds of heaven. (UMH p. vii)

Today our troubles and our enemies are looming all around us.  Spending time with the psalms and with our hymns lifts us up and keeps us grounded.

     In closing, I cannot ignore another set of lyrics that surface

                  When you’re weary, feeling small

                  When tears are in your eyes, I will dry them all, all

                  I’m on your side, oh, when times get rough

                  And friends just can’t be found

                  Like a bridge over troubled water

                  I will lay me down. . . 

                  I will comfort you.

These words from Simon and Garfunkel may never have been written in our ancient psalms or be found in our pew hymnals, but the lyrics are a prayer and God will be our bridge over troubled waters.  We long for God, especially when we are down and out, when we are on the street, when darkness closes in on us.

     As we close today, let us return to Psalm 42, but this time from Eugene Peterson’s 

                  A white-tailed deer drinks from the creek;

                  I want to drink God, deep draughts of God.

                  I’m thirsty for God alive. . . . 

                  “Why am I walking around in tears,

                       harassed by enemies?”  

                  They’re out for the kill, these

                       tormentors with their obscenities,

                  Taunting day after day,

                       “Where is this God of yours?”

                  Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul?

                       Why are you crying the blues?

                  Fix my eyes on God–

                       Soon I’ll be praising again.

                  He puts a smile on my face.

                       He’s my God.

Let us close with this as our prayer:

                  Dear Lord, our God,

                  Thank you for the words of the psalms

                  Thank you for the words of the hymns

                       we sing today.

                  Thank you for these bridges

                      that carry us over troubled waters.

                  Let us sing out loud,

                       fixing our eyes on you.

                  Let our words be your words

                       so others may hear you speak.  –Amen.

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