Wonderings--January 26

Rusty George in his book, Better Together: Discover the Power of Community, tells the following story: 

"We headed into the drive-through line. As we waited, I began asking for orders. . . The order was locked and loaded when I pulled up to the speaker. "Welcome to Wendy's. May I take your order?" a young voice said. "Yes, I'd like two orders of chicken nuggets. . ." at which point I was interrupted. 

"You said a chicken sandwich?"

"No, two chicken nuggets," 

"Two chicken sandwiches?" I smiled at my family trying to be patient. I thought I would mix it up to help him out.

"Let's go with two fries, a chicken salad, a chili, and two orders of chicken nuggets."

"Would you like the comb meal with the chicken sandwiches?" he queried. 

"No," I said, "It's two chicken nuggets." 

"Oh, okay, chicken nuggets." It was at this point that my six-year-old yelled out from the back seat loud enough for the speaker to pick up, "What to go, genius!" 

Now that's an experience many of us have been through. Perhaps we have even joined the six-year-old in disgust because let's face it, the person behind the speaker might an 'idiot.' Now I am using this term gently because Rusty places it at the center of his argument. . . .Let's follow Rusty's thought-line and see where it takes us. . . 

He continues in the rest of the chapter talking about how everyone is an idiot but me. And if they are all idiots in our community, and I am not, that creates a relational-divide. It creates an us/them dichotomy. Defining someone else negatively is an isolating practice. If they are all idiots, and if I am not, then I am the only person who I can rely upon throughout my day. I have the answers that the foolish, idiot, does not. 

Can we see how separating this thought can be. But if we follow the line of thought to its natural conclusion then we join Rusty in worrying about the future of evangelism and the church: 

"When we are left with questions about how to deal with our depression, handle our addiction, resolve our marriage tension, or help our kids with their anger, we wonder, What good can anyone else do? I'll just figure this out on my own. After all, everyone is an idiot."

And now we see how serious this can be. The young man in our story was just not hearing everything correctly. The child did not need to jump down his throat (and the parents did step in properly). But often times the temptation arises to join in with the community in labelling others as 'idiots.' 

I wonder what might happen if empathized more, listened more, and sough out the 'other person' for help and their presence? 

Blessings

Rev. Derek

Wonderings--January 25

I want to share a story that I read that was originally printed in Christian Century. 

"Some time ago I was approached by a man I’d never met before. I quickly realized that he was frightened. His voice quavered; he was reluctant to hold my gaze. He had in his hand a box, and it was clear that whatever was inside the box was very precious to him. He had a strong accent, and I struggled at first to understand what he was saying. Gradually I learned why he was so scared. 

He told me that he came from a country where democracy was unknown and the rule of law was a joke, where being opposed to the regime was a dangerous thing to be. He had observed many ways in which the government oppressed its people, and he’d compiled a dossier which had got him into trouble. I could almost feel him looking over his shoulder during the conversation.

Eventually I asked him what was in the box. 

With gentle hands, entrusting something very precious to me, he handed it to me. Inside was a small animal. By this point I wouldn’t have been surprised if it were alive. But it turned out to be a toy, to which he’d given it his own name, because he identified with its vulnerability and tenderness. He wanted me to keep the box, and the creature inside it, so that a part of his heart could be safe with me even if the rest of him was in danger in his home country. I said the only words he wanted me to say: 

“Leave it with me.” 

I still have that box. I keep it in the safest that place I know."

This pandemic has altered our lives--and it continues to do so nearly 2 years on. It has caused us to remember and affirm that what we see with our eyes and lives out in the community is not what we will see forever. As we confront the pandemic we remember that God is still with us and we will be with God someday. . . Covid, all the baggage and all struggles that it has brought upon us, won’t last forever. The truth of our lives is hidden with Christ in God and He will be there for us always. He is the one who accompanies us through our days and into the uncertainty that we face.  

As I finish the story that I began above, my mind begins to ask questions. Each question designed to fill in the remainder of the story. 

What became of the frightened man? 

Is he still in danger because he returned? What about his family?  

Is he alive or dead? 

I don’t know the answers to any of these questions, but I can, and we should, join the story-teller. “Leave it with me.” These might be the best words that we can offer when the burdens of another person are placed before us and the tension is so high. 

“Leave it with me” because God is still present whether we are afraid or anxious, whether our fears rule our hearts or we find ourselves steeled by faith. Those words become the words of Jesus when we bow our hearts and silence our minds. “Leave it with me.” 

Blessings

Rev. Derek

Wonderings--January 24

So how do we know what we claim to know? And further, how do we, or how could we, break that model as we work toward faithfulness in God's kingdom? 

This is probably not the first time that you've heard a question of this type. I bet when confronted by this idea you sat back in your chair, gazed out at nothing in particular across the room, and engaged in the philosophical debate with yourself. 

I've been thinking about this question all morning based on something that I read. 

In the introduction of Daniel Kahneman's new book, Thinking Fast and Slow, he tells the story of daily walks that he took with a colleague and friend Amos. The two loved the walks and spend the long hours together thinking and reflecting on their combined research and theory. On one such walk, they created the following experiment. As you read it, I would like you to engage in with me: 

"An individual has been described by a neighbor as follows: "Frank is very shy and withdrawn, invariably helpful but with a little interest in people or in the world of reality. A meek and tidy soul, he has a need for order and structure, and a passion for detail." Is Frank more likely to be a librarian or a farmer?"

Now as. you re-read this challenge, I wonder if you can offer up an answer? 

As you offer your answer to the question, perhaps you brought your own person feelings, thoughts, and biases into the conversation? Perhaps you wondered about a particular 'meek and tidy person' who has 'a need for order and structure' into your mind and that helped inform you as to whether Frank could be a librarian or a farmer? 

But let's go back to Amos and Daniel on one of their long walks. . . . 

As they walked together and talked out the problem, they added some details to Frank's biography. For instance they offered the following statistic: Did you know that there are 20 male farmers for every one male librarian in the US? Because there are so many more males on a tractor who could identify as 'meek and tidy' we might not find them at help desks in a library. . . 

The whole experiment got me thinking--as I imagine you are doing right now. 

Perhaps we bring certain biases into our conversations with the people of our local community. And perhaps as we do so, we limit what might be possible in their lives? I imagine that this is done subconsciously, but as we project Amos and Daniel's thoughts out into the world of outreach and evangelism, we might begin to see that God is asking us to conceive of things differently. . . or dream bigger. 

Maybe God wants us to look out further and stop limiting what we think the outcome of our evangelism and outreach might be?

Blessings

Rev. Derek

Wonderings--January 20

Sitting with my Bible open today, I find my heart in two places. 

The first place is simple "with" God. My morning devotions involved reading a couple Old Testament passages from Nehemiah. I sit with that text now. I noticed where my attention rested and prayerfully approached God about what I was reading and considering. As I listened to the gentle rain falling and heard the heater in my office hum, I closed my eyes and continued to read. This first place that I find my heart in could best be described as Communion with God. 

But there is also a second place. . . 

The second place my heart finds itself in is the world. Today I have read the news from a couple sources that I find to be reputable. I sigh as I read it. . . I think about how the Omicron variant has again altered our worship and communal practices. I purse my lips as I think about how long it has been since worship felt 'normal' (whatever 'normal' actually is). I think of how last night I saw a church family who I have not seen for two weeks because of a positive covid diagnosis and how much joy my heart felt in seeing them again. The second place that I find my heart I describe as conflicted. 

Maybe today you understand those two places and perhaps have been there yourself. Perhaps you are still struggling to name that which causes this dichotomy in your heart to surface. 

Author and speaker Jeffery Olsen offered me some help today with this conflict in my heart. He wrote: 

"I used to believe [that] God was testing me in some way and wanted me to prove my faith somehow. I have come to a deeper truth; God isn't testing me at all. God knows me perfectly. It was me who didn't know myself. We come from perfect love, and we will return to it someday, but for now, we love imperfectly, beautifully flawed in this lower dimension. Yet our skinned knees and scraped palms are not signs of shame, but rather badges of courage for having come to play the game. We are beautiful in our brokenness and perfect in the chaos regardless of the judgments we may put on it. Each moment is sacred. Each moment is a gift. Life is not a test. It is a gift.

"Every little thing is of the light; there is divine order in every single experience and every soul who crosses my path. Everything in my existence has a gift for me. Otherwise it would not be so. Being open to that divine gift in each moment is what brings life profound meaning."

I wonder if we can find our own 'profound meaning' in the place where our social suffering meets with God's perfect presence? I wonder what that might look like for the church? And for you?

Blessings

Rev. Derek

Wonderings--January 19

Yesterday while watching a Zoom talk on how to nurture spiritual health, the following story was shared. As I share the story with you, I invite you reflect upon it. . . 

Our story is about a woman who we will call Clair. Throughout her life, Clair worked in many secular fields and was happy. With a keen intellect and a suspicious heart, Clair and her husband made a great life for themselves in the world. Eventually they had children, and as is often the case, those children were the reason the family returned to church. 

But for Clair there was a problem. . .

Even though worship space was beautiful, and the preaching engaged the mind, and the music and singing were well-planned and supported the service well, and even if the church had ample programming for this young family, Clair could not get past her problem. So she scheduled some time with the pastor. 

Sitting down in the pastor's office the two exchanged pleasantries and small talk before Clair dropped her bombshell on the pastor. She confessed that while she enjoyed the service, and liked the preaching, and said that her children loved the programs at the church, she wasn't sure that God existed. Obviously this created a great conflict in Clair. 

She could see that her family was blessed tremendously by everything that this church offered, and was happy to bring them to church, she just did not know if God existed. So she sought the pastor for help.

Rather than trying to fix her problem, or prove God's existence to Clair, the pastor smiled and asked if she would be willing to do an experiment for 30 days. Shrugging Clair agreed--what did she have to lose? 

The pastor gave her this assignment:

For 30 days spend time talking to God in the morning. Don't worry about whether God exists or not, she was told, just talk to God for 30 days. 

30 days later, Clair scheduled time with the pastor to share her experience. She said that for the first week it felt like she was talking to her imaginary friend--someone wasn't there truly. But she kept at it. Kept talking to God each day, and then something happened. . . but not what you might expect. 

She said that she loved to garden and that was the place where she had those talks with God each morning. After a week or so, Clair noticed that the color of the flowers that she cared for was brighter and more vibrant. The song of nature was richer. All around her, the world seemed to open up in new ways as she talked with this God who didn't exist. 

It was a simple practice--one not based on anything more just showing up and being with God. We are so busy in our days, I wonder what might happen for you, if you took some time today just to have a talk with God? Walk with God? Perhaps God will transform you as well? 

Blessings,

Rev. Derek

Wonderings--January 18

If you have been following along with me since the beginning of this blog you know that I believe in the power and necessity of presence. It is part of how we strive to live faithfully and continually as Christians in a world that rejects us often. I believe strongly that a more effective methodology to engage our community involves leaving behind the transactional mentality of evangelism and instead opting to dwell, to listen, and be present with another person. 

I further believe that this is the way forward for the church as we find our influence and presence in the community diminishing. 

As the church, in a general sense, we are fairly good at showing up when the people of our community are suffering. We know what do to and have been trained well to do it. Recently I received a phone call here in the office that let me know that a member of our larger Christian community has passed away. While death was coming for this family, that knowledge did not help prepare them against the pain. 

Yet without knowing this person, I know that the Church will be present in the life of that family. 

Food will be brought. Prayers offered. Words of condolence and love expressed. Phone calls will become part of the healing balm that God uses to care for His children as they suffer even as covid variants keep us physically separated. 

Then when the time comes for the funeral service I know that members of the Church Universal will gather around that family and offer more than just Christian platitudes; they will offer what they have--the love and presence of Jesus Christ. Freely they will, we will, give what we have away so that the 'other person,' the one who suffers can heal. 

This is what we do and we do it well--for the most part. 

But what about those times in which we are not directly offering care and support during a painful, emotional time? How do we confront them and live faithfully in a world that is so polarizing and so divisive? Again I think the option is right before us if we are willing to seek it and adopt it. Rather than shy away because of what we do not know, or what we cannot fully articulate, can we lean in and communicate the love of God to the other people that we see every day? I wonder what the church might become when we follow this process forward. . . 

Dr. King says it this way: 

"People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other."

We have the presence of Christ. We understand how that presence is manifested in us specifically. I can talk about how Christ is with me to most people because I understand how "Christ being with me" lives in my heart. But that is because I choose to take the time and make the space to listen and be with another person. I wonder today also if God might be asking you to make the same choice? To dwell with another and by dwelling you care for them. . . 

Blessings

Rev. Derek

Wonderings--January 13

A winter storm is coming. It is coming toward the Eastern part of the country and, according to reports, this storm is going to dump inches of snow and ice from as far north as New England and as far south toward us here in York.

Last week we gathered for worship with masks in place and with social distancing re-introduced in the sanctuary. A plexiglass sheet met me on the pulpit and it seemed like I was watching myself in my reflection as I led worship. I am not at all complaining about these safety precautions. They are necessary and I a thankful that this church takes covid so seriously as to want to keep everyone safe. I continue to rely on this church to help keep each other safe while still working to live faithfully in God's community. 

But because covid cases rose this past week so dramatically in South Carolina, our in-person worship attendance was down. We had about half of what we normally might have. Again, I know why and I agree with the rational. Yet now with this storm bearing down upon us, I wonder about community. 

Again it seems that we will be separated from one another physically this weekend--this time because of weather as it mixes with covid and creates something that divides us. But as it does I want to offer you the words of Wendell Berry. In his essay "Economies and Pleasure" he gives us these words about community and how community works. He writes 

"Community, however, aspires toward stability. It's strives to balance change with constancy. That is why community life places such high value on neighborly love, marital fidelity, local loyalty, the integrity and continuity of family life, respect for the old, instruction of the young. And vital community draws its life, so far as possible, for the local sources. Prefers to solve his problems, for example, by non-monetary exchanges of help, not by buying things." 

 Like you I strive to 'be' the community for another person. I strive to listen, to pray, to be present and pay attention to the gentle nudging of the Holy Spirit as we build community. I seek to notice the mystery that God brings each day to us. But yet, I wonder about how that is being accomplished as we are not able to be close in proximity to one another? 

As I meditate on Berry's words, I find my mind drifting around ways that I can foster 'exchanges of help' in my daily life? 

Perhaps that is the great gift that God is bringing to us in this pending storm? The chance to help other another and by helping we build community in a time of struggle. . . 

Blessings

Rev. Derek