Pastoral Thought--November 10

I once heard on my favorite soccer podcast, author John Green encourage the audience to find a way to live in a state of constant learning. I have tried to adopt his advice through many practices of my life—some have been more helpful than others. But sometimes the learning happens in a situation that does not seem to teach anything of substance in the moment. . . Such was today’s lesson for me that I want to share with you. 

The teacher of my lesson was our loving, little Shih Tzu, Bianca. To say that Bianca is a bit “chunky” and/or lazy would be akin to affirming that the sky is blue or that water is wet. These are truths that we cannot get around. They are just facts. Bianca does not like walks; she does not like exercise in any form. She would prefer to run to her bowl, empty it, then empty another dog’s bowl, and then return to laying on her back in the sunlight so that you can pet her. She’s a simple little dog. . . and a dog that we love so much. So here’s the lesson. . . 

Part of the fun (or struggle) of Bianca happens at night. She sleeps at the foot of our bed in a ring of blankets. Every night she ’sighs’ and then starts snoring. But somewhere throughout the night, Bianca gets down and wanders around the house. I wonder if she’s thirsty or if she is just making sure things are good. Then she barks to get back on the bed. But there is a problem with that—we sleep in a very dark bedroom. So she cannot easily see to jump back up, so I must raise my iPhone so that it can light her way back to bed. She returns to bed. . . sighs. . . starts snoring. It happens every night (and I mean every night). 

But last night it happened three times (I guess she was overly restless). We don’t get angry with her; this is just part of Bianca’s personality and quirks.  

As we awakened today, Bianca seizes upon the moment to strike—that moment being, when I go to make coffee. She hopes onto my pillow. . .sighs. . . and yes. . . begins to snore. I have been evicted from my side of the bed. But she is part of our family so I don’t move her, I just continue my morning ritual. With one eye open she looks so happy as I return with coffee. She loves laying on my pillow. I could get angry because I did not sleep through the night. I could be irritated that I cannot lay back down. After Jennifer goes to work, I could get even more irritated when she begins to bark at me that its 30 minutes past feeding time. But again, I don’t do any of that. We are family. . . a family with dogs and there is a simple joy to Bianca and being part of her world. She accepts us and identifies with us.   

In the book The Company of Strangers: Christians and the Renewal of America’s Public Life, Parker Palmer, while reflecting on the work of Thomas Merton, writes: 

“The gaps and divides of our outer world are so often projections of divisions within ourselves; as our inner world is healed by spiritual discipline and experience, our public world will be healed in some measure as well. In prayer and contemplation we begin to understand that our identity is not to be found in our differences from others—in our superiorities and inferiorities—but in our common humanity. In contemplation and prayer we can cease the anxious, competitive, and ultimately violent struggle to claim a name over and above others, and relax into the good news that God names us all as brothers and sisters. . . The major outcome of such an insight [is] —joy, pure and simple joy, the joy of no longer having to struggle for a sense of separate selfhood, but of being able to proclaim, ’Thank God, thank God the I am like other people, that I am only a person among others!’ “ 

We as the church are part of a family. . . the family of God. It may not look always look the same family, and it may have quirks and things that frustrated us. But it is a family. Like my experience this morning, the struggle can be lessened when we pray and contemplate what we are experiencing and notice the uniqueness of the family. Again, I could have become quite irritated because I was tired and annoyed at Bicana. She mad me get up three times last night. But, then when I stop and think about it, all she wanted was to to be close to us again. She wanted to be loved by us. I wonder where today is God offering you the chance to affirm that you are part of a larger family and how will you respond?

Blessings

Rev. Derek