Set us Free

For the Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany:
http://lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Epiphany/BEpi5_RCL.html

So, here we find ourselves in midwinter and the crazy Texas weather has us turning on the AC one minute and the heater the next. We have to look at the daily forecast before getting dressed so we know if we need shorts and flip flops or big sweaters and fleece leggings. And if we weren’t confused enough, the prayer assigned for today for those who follow the Revised Common Lectionary sounds more like it is for the Fourth of July. At least my coffee supply is consistent.

“Set us free, O God, from the bondage of our sins, and give us the liberty of that abundant life which you have made known to us in your Son our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.”

The Book of Common Prayer, page 216

Freedom and Liberty. These two words can can spark some lively conversations, can’t they?! I think for most folks these words conjure political debate, flag waiving, enthusiastic speeches, and defensive, fist-shaking postures to protect what is ‘mine’. Don’t tread on ‘me’. Give ‘me’ liberty or give ‘me’ death. ‘My’ country ‘tis of thee, sweet land of liberty.

The American culture, as a sweeping generalization I admit, understands freedom and liberty to be for the individual. We live in a society and abide by or tolerate certain laws in order to protect me the individual from those whose behavior would threaten my ability to do as I please. And somehow we’ve come to believe that one group claiming to deserve the same freedom and liberty we have somehow threatens our freedom and liberty as if there were a limited supply to go around.

But freedom and liberty are like love – the more we give the more there is and there’s always a sufficient supply for everyone. As followers of Jesus, we need to stop and consider whether we let the civil or cultural understanding of freedom and liberty inform the way we follow Jesus or do we let Jesus’ teachings to inform the way we live into the gifts of freedom and liberty given us by God?

In God’s kingdom, societies and cultures don’t exist for the benefit of the individual. As native born citizens of God’s kingdom we are created by God as unique individuals and in God’s image for togetherness, collectiveness if you will. We are most fully human in community with each other and with God.

When we choose to live in the awareness of God’s kingdom on earth as in heaven, we come to realize that we are most free when we let go of our ego which demands we get what we want (this is “the bondage of our sin” that we ask God to set us free from) and live in a way that ensures WE are all provided for. This is abundant life!

This is the good news that Paul talks about proclaiming. This is the good news that Simon’s mother-in-law celebrates as she is made well and able to live into her gift of hospitality and care for her family.

The abundance of life that God has for us isn’t about fighting to ensure I have all I want and more but working together so that everyone (yep, even ‘those’ folks) has what we need to be well and good as we build each other up in community bound together by the life of Jesus.

Whatever the weather where you are, proclaim the freedom and liberty of God’s kingdom with the same confidence as Paul knowing that in God we all have an everlasting supply of love to share with our neighbors.

Why Lent?

Hi,Y’all! How’s your week going? How’s your coffee supply? Yes, the answer to those questions are directly related.

As I try to be aware of the use of church jargon in my posts, I’d like to take a few minutes to answer what some may be asking: What’s the point of this Lent thing and why do I care?

Lent, the forty days before Easter not counting Sundays, is not something that Jesus ever told us to observe. Of course, he didn’t ever tell us to celebrate his birth (Christmas) or his resurrection (Easter) either but that hasn’t stopped us, has it1?

Jesus did however tell us to follow him and to deny ourselves and take up our cross daily as we follow him (see Luke 9:23). Being told to deny our self sounds harsh to our 21 century ears. Taking up a cross has become wearing a necklace or putting a sticker on our car. Just how many crosses do we need to hang around our house to make us good Christians? Now, don’t get your feelings hurt. I have a least a gazillion.

So, to help us get the hang of denying ourselves, the church came up with a whole season to do it! Most folks tend to approach Lent with the idea of giving up something we really, really like for 40 days only to gorge on it on day 41. But all that does is turn what is supposed to be a season of growth into yet another way to brag about our own abilities and self-control. Social media has proven we don’t need a special season for promoting ourselves. Social Media has also proven the necessity of taking time to focus on our dependence on God.

Denying ourselves isn’t saying we are worthless. It is the understanding that our full value, our pricelessness, is found in the image of God at the core of each of us. Denying ourselves is knowing we can only be fully, truly, really human with God and each other.

When we approach Lent as a spiritual growth activity by setting aside our immediate wants and desires so that we can make more room for the awareness of God’s presence in our lives, we maintain the right focus on God our Creator, all God has given us, and all that we are able to do with God’s help.

If we can with God’s help give up those things that are harmful to us, whether physically, emotionally, or spiritually, for 40 days, we learn we can with God’s help do without them forever.

And so, in place of whatever it is you give up, spend that time/energy/money doing something that will strengthen your relationship with God, in study, prayer, meditation, and service to others. Make this Lent a time of renewal, to go deeper as followers of Jesus, to make our Christian life our whole life, giving all of ourself over to God’s transforming power.

Let’s journey this Lent together, with intentionality, and with God. If you haven’t already signed up to receive these blog posts in your email, I invite you to do so and join in on the conversation. I really do want to hear your thoughts and comments. Between now and February 17, I’ll post a few more “getting ready” before starting daily posts for the 40 days of Lent. And, I’d really appreciate you sharing this blog with your family and friends, if you are so inclined.

1The only things Jesus tells us to observe is the Holy Eucharist (also known as the Lord’s Supper or Communion), Footwashing, and Baptism.

An Invitation

Hey, Y’all. One month into this calendar year, how are you? Really, how are you?

Has the glittery promise of a new year faded into the ordinary routine of your day-to-day?

I don’t mean that to sound negative at all. I like ordinary and routine. It’s where life happens the most. It’s what makes the special days special and the extraordinary events extra-ordinary. And although I’ve come to appreciate much of this new way of things living through a pandemic, I’ll be so grateful when we can confidently say the danger is passed.

And as I sit here this morning looking at my calendar to begin preparing for the coming season of Lent11 my first thought is, “Haven’t we been in Lent for a year now!?!” (I actually asked that out loud to my dogs with much emotion in my voice. They don’t seem the slightest bit concerned. Or else they just can’t hear me over their snoring.)

Last year, (it feels like an evil incantation to even say the numbers, not that I believe in such things …) just as we had begun the season of Lent, our world shut down in an attempt to get COVID19 under control. Many of us have given up so much for the greater good.

And a year later, we are still … hmmm … I really don’t know how to articulate this with the proper decorum my grandmother would expect, but I’ll give it a shot: Many of us are still working hard at avoiding the virus, staying home as much as possible, avoiding crowds, wearing masks, having grown weary of it all, and wishing others would stop being so self-centered, face the reality of the science, and do what has been proven to curb the spread of this dangerous disease so we could finally exit this perpetual time-out!!

Deep breath …

Right, yes, this seemingly eternal season of Lent … How are we possibly able to enter into a NEW season of growth while it seems we are stuck in this one feeling more like we are buried in a pile of manure rather than planted in nurturing soil (too graphic?)?

Here’s the best answer I can give: Together, intentionally, and most importantly, with God. Would you repeat that out loud to me, please? I need to hear it and my dogs have gone back to sleep. Thanks. I especially like the “together” and “with God” parts, how about you?

So, to help us with the “intentionally” part, beginning on February 17 (Ash Wednesday for you liturgically minded folks), I’ll be posting daily reflections through the season of Lent (with a few ‘getting ready’ posts like this one between now and then) that I pray will help us all seek a deeper knowing of God and a better understanding of ourselves as God’s beloved children. I’d be so grateful if you’d to join me.

The easiest way to ensure you don’t miss out on our conversation is to subscribe to this blog so the posts are magically delivered to your email. And when you get these magic emails, click through to the blog and post your thoughts and comments. That’s the ‘together’ part! We can only be wholly (and holy!) ourselves with each other. The posts will also be shared magically on Facebook if the email thing isn’t for you so follow Mother Nancy’s Coffee Thoughts there to see them. And, I really appreciate it if you’d share the posts with your family and friends. There’s room enough for everyone!

Thank you for journeying with me. God is with us as we go!

1Lent is the church season that comprises the 40 days before Easter, not counting Sundays. It echoes the 40 years God’s people wandered in the desert after being rescued from their slavery in Egypt and the 40 days that Jesus spent in the wilderness after his baptism and before beginning his ministry. I’ll post more about the purpose of Lent on Wednesday.

Possessed by Love

Sunday, January 31, 2021
The Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany

http://lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Epiphany/BEpi4_RCL.html

As we continue our Sunday stroll through Mark’s telling of the good news story, it strikes me just how clipped it sounds if the Sunday readings are our only experience with this story. Mark’s is the shortest of the 4 tellings of the story. In approximately 20 sentences1 Mark introduces the story (the beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, Son of God), has Jesus baptized and sent into the wilderness for 40 days, and returns him to Galilee to recruit disciples and begin his ministry. Whew! I need more coffee to keep up.

So, the first thing Jesus and his disciples do is go to Capernaum, a fishing village on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. And, on the sabbath they did what they’d probably done every sabbath of their whole life – they went to the synagogue for prayer and study.

Different from some of us may be used to at church, any member of the synagogue could read from the Torah and offer the meaning of God’s word to the congregation. This particular sabbath, Jesus read and taught.

Mark tells us he taught with authority and not as the scribes. Scribes were torah scholars who taught with the authority of the rabbi whom they followed, much like we modern day preachers regularly quote theological texts to lend our words credibility. But Jesus didn’t do this. He didn’t offer anyone else’s teaching but his own as he shared the meaning of God’s word.

The congregation was astounded. We like to keep ourselves comfortable and read this in a positive light thinking that the congregation was pleasantly surprised, even proud of by the way Jesus spoke. But that probably wasn’t the case. First of all, he’s going against “the way we do things around here” and we know how well that typically goes over in church.

We can hear the whispers and see the looks that express so loudly “who does he think he is?!” But the only one to actually speak is one described as someone with an “unclean spirit.”

We don’t put a lot of stock in demon possession these days and so most of us pass over these stories as archaic and having no purpose for our well-educated, enlightened 21st century lives. But, I’d venture to say, that we can all picture at least a couple of folks we’d describe as having an unclean spirit – those people who are angry at everyone and everything, who look for what’s wrong in every situation and are’t shy about saying what they think it is.

I wonder how Jesus would re-tell this story today?

Imagine with me, if you will, sitting around your dining table or in your living room with five or six of your favorite people. There’s lots of yummy snacks and beverages and everyone is sharing stories as the conversation flows naturally from topic to topic. One of your favorite people, sharing the charcuterie board and drinking a glass of wine2, is Jesus. (Please, picture him dressed in modern clothes and a decent haircut and facial hair. And, please, for the sake of all that is well-educated, do not make him fair-skinned with blue eyes and a spiral perm. However, I must admit to giving Jesus a west-Texan accent saying “y’all” a lot.)

We step into the scene in your house with Jesus saying, “that reminds me of the time early in my ministry. I was in the synagogue on the sabbath and it was my turn to read and speak. It went ok but I could sense the people squirming in their seats a bit as I finished and a few of them were whispering about which rabbi I might have gotten my information from.

After the final blessing, as we were heading over to the coffee station, this one man started to come toward me and from across the room we could all tell he was very angry. People stepped aside to give him room and he walked right toward me shaking his fist.

“Why are you here and why are you trying to shut me up?” he yelled, “Your words of love and kinship with God offend me.”

I let him walk right up to me and I looked him in the eyes and said, “you are God’s beloved child.”

The silence in the room was deafening. He stared at me for a long time and then his features began to soften. His fists opened and he put his hands on my shoulders, holding on for dear life as his knees buckled under him. “No one has ever told me that before. Is it really true?3”

The people who had just minutes before stepped back, came toward us, encircling this man in their community, letting go of their own anger toward this man for disrupting their comfort, amazed at what they had just witnessed.

Anger and hate possess us and stop us from hearing God’s loving voice. Jesus speaks into the shouts of anger and the silence of resentment and can dispel them both. God’s love transforms our shaking fists into hands open enough to both receive and give love.

Imagine how the conversation in your living room will continue as y’all discuss those things that get in the way of hearing that you are God’s beloved child. What do you need to have replaced by the power of God’s love?

God’s peace,
Mtr. Nancy+

1Depending on which translation you are reading.
2I offer as my authority: What Would Jesus Drink? A Spirit Filled Study by Joel McDurmon
3This retelling comes from a true story shared with me by a friend.”

Livin’ Life 150 Words at a Time?

Way back when when I was in seminary the first sermon I had to give for a grade in preaching class was on these verses from Peter’s second letter (you remember Peter, he’s the fisherman formerly known as Simon who when Jesus said “follow me” he dropped his fishing nets and followed and then Jesus changed his name):

Don’t overlook the obvious here, friends. With God, one day is as good as a thousand years, a thousand years as a day. God isn’t late with his promise as some measure lateness. He is restraining himself on account of you, holding back the End because he doesn’t want anyone lost. He’s giving everyone space and time to change.

2 Peter 3:8-9 The Message

If we look at what Peter writes before this section, he is addressing people dear to him whom he feels are growing skeptical in their faith, questioning God’s abilities because God wasn’t doing what they expected. Peter is wanting to keep them focused on the long game, reminding them that just because we don’t see God doing what we’d do or what we’d expect God to do doesn’t mean that God has forgotten the promise to set all things in proper order or ignoring our cries to smite those with whom we disagree.

Quite the contrary. It is precisely because of God’s love for us, for every human being the ever was, is, and will be (yep, even that person) that God gives us the gift of time. Time to discover who God is and who we are as God’s beloved children. It’s a lifelong journey and it doesn’t matter when you begin or when (or how often) you choose to resume The Way if you’ve spent some time on another path.

So much in this world tries to convince us that we have to encapsulate each experience into 150 words1 or a single picture or a single, pithy phrase. I don’t think that’s how God wants us to experience this amazing abundance of life God created us for.

Now, I’m not just saying all this to justify my wordiness. I’ve been trying out the 150 word thing and it just doesn’t feel authentic. So, I’d like to offer this for all of us to consider: perhaps one of the causes of all of our collective stress and anxiety is because we are trying to force fit the life God wants for us into a container not designed to hold it. What if we all poured ourselves another cup of coffee and sat with that thought for a few minutes? Would it ruin the rhythm of your day or reset it? Please, take as many words as you need to let me know. I’d love to hear from you.

God’s peace,
Mother Nancy+

1Supposedly, according to the latest research, people won’t read anything over 150 words. Personally, that statement makes me say, “let’s all stop being a statistic and live life as God intends for us to.” I may lose out on some followers because I’m too wordy, but there’s plenty of folks who can reduce life down to a few sentences. That isn’t apparently my strength. And if you are still reading this, thank you. Your endurance and commitment mean the world to me.

Hello?

For the Third Sunday after the Epiphany
January 24, 2021
http://lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Epiphany/BEpi3_RCL.html

Remember way back before caller ID when our phones rang and we had no idea who was on the other end? If you are under the age of 35ish and can’t remember these ancient times, call your grandmother and ask about it. (And while you’re in the conversation ask what it was like to have the phone tethered to the wall in your home, it’s not part of my point here but it will lengthen your conversation and you’ll learn something and make your grandmother happy.)

When our phones rang, we answered. Nowadays if we don’t recognize the number, or we are avoiding the person calling, we just don’t answer. We choose our calls.

Let’s take another step back in time – when as kids we spent the whole of our non-school days outside playing with our neighborhood friends. When my parents needed us, they couldn’t call or text us. They might try calling a neighbor or two (from that phone tethered to the wall) to see if we’d been through their kitchen for a beverage or snack recently but the most effective thing was to walk outside and call our names. Most of the time when we heard our names we’d respond, stop whatever it was we were doing, and follow them home because we knew it meant supper and family time. But if it was for dentist appointment or grocery shopping, we’d pretend like we didn’t hear them, the precursor to choosing not to answer our phones.

In two of the stories from our readings today, we see different responses to a call. Jonah didn’t want to respond to God’s call. Jonah didn’t want to do what God was asking and so he tried to pretend he hadn’t heard his phone. Look how that turned out for him. Yet, even though Jonah was reluctant, God didn’t reject him. God still chooses to work through us even when we send the call to voicemail.

In the story from Mark’s telling of the good news, Jesus is walking the neighborhood and calls out to Simon (who gets his named changed to Peter later), Andrew, James, and John and immediately they stop what they are doing and follow him. Imagine being so dissatisfied with life that at the word of a stranger we’d drop everything for something better.

These men are the lowest of the working order. They spent every waking moment of every day fishing for food that wouldn’t even feed their families but was for the top of this governmental pyramid scheme. They weren’t even paid enough to purchase back that which they had caught, born into a system that loved power and money and used people to get it. These men were cogs in the machine that made the rich richer and kept the poor poor. Sounds shockingly familiar?

Jesus comes along and offers them the opportunity to trade their transactional life for a life centered in relationships. He says, “follow me and I’ll show you how to fish for people, how to cultivate real relationships, how to live in a world where people are loved and money and things are used instead of the backwards way you are caught up in. I’ll show you what life is supposed to be as God intends it.” This was very good news for them.

It is very good news for us. Your phone is ringing. Don’t be afraid or annoyed. Don’t pretend you don’t hear it.

Remember when calls enabled us to sit and rest for a bit?

At the center of God’s call to us, isn’t a list of rules or demanding duties1. At the center of God’s call is love and relationship. This is why God calls us – because we are beloved children and it’s time for supper and family time. Sometimes, though, we need to go to the dentist because it’s good for us.

We have a choice. We can keep struggling to do things our way and pretend like we don’t hear God. Or we can let go of those things which are keeping us too busy to be aware of God and hear the good news that we are loved, as we are, where we are. We aren’t just a piece of a machine built for others. We are citizens of God’s kingdom made up of people in relationship with God and each other.

Come on home for supper and some family time.

God’s peace,
Mtr. Nancy+

1If you want to read an excellent book on God’s call for all of us, I highly recommend Os Guinness’ The Call: Finding and Fulfilling the Central Purpose of Your Life. You can also find videos on Youtube of Os talking about our calling. It is time well spent.

Inauguration Day

It’s gonna be a day, y’all. A day of meaningful and extraordinary events to be sure, but still a single day. Our future, whatever it may hold, isn’t contained in today. Now, don’t go fussing at me and saying I’m downplaying the importance of today. I’m just trying to calibrate our perspective.

With the same earnestness we are seeking God’s presence in the events of today, we should cultivate our awareness of God every day: the God who loves, who brings peace, who sees us with compassion, the God who is the antidote for anger and hate.

Together let’s offer each other the compassion necessary (yep, even that person) to heal the hurt and division in this country. Let’s participate with God in building each other up and offering each other the hope that comes with living on earth as it is in heaven. Today and every day.

God’s peace,
Mtr. Nancy+

Come and See

Sunday, January 17, 2021
The Second Sunday after the Epiphany
http://lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Epiphany/BEpi2_RCL.html

We are halfway through the first month of the new calendar year and things were supposed to be different, better even. But the days of 2021 aren’t looking any different to the days of 2020. The pandemic is still very, very real with a new variant that is more contagious. The vaccine rollout is not going smoothly and our frustration levels are rising along with the number of folks testing positive, hospitalizations, and deaths. Our law enforcement agencies are on high alert as Inauguration Day approaches because some people want to violently force their way of hate and anger on the rest of us.

Where is the good? Where is the peace? Where is the compassion? Where is the hope?

It is in each of us – it is in the Image of our loving and compassionate God in each of us.

In the reading from the gospel story today, Jesus is beginning his traveling ministry program by selecting his ministry team – the 12 individuals who would work closest with Jesus to spread the good news message of love and compassion as they themselves learn to live on earth as it is in heaven by learning to live like Jesus.

And, believe it or not, Jesus’ invitation wasn’t always met with enthusiasm and trust.

Philip wanted his friend Nathanael to join their band but Nate wasn’t so sure.

Nathanael responds to Philip’s invitation with skepticism based solely on his ideas of the place where Jesus grew up: “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” But Philip doesn’t get upset or angry or attempt to argue Nate into submission. He doesn’t even unfriend him. Philip keeps it simple. As Jesus had said to him, he extends his invitation with, “come and see.” Check this Jesus gig out and make your own decision.

The first part of this exchange could be heard in so many introductions today. Can there be anything good about that person because:
They are from (insert that place you don’t like).
They went to (insert that school you don’t like).
They voted for so and so.
They commented against my best friend’s facebook post.
They posted something I disagree with.

Like Nathanael, we’ve decided that nothing good can come from certain people groups, even though most of us get more than a little irritated when we are characterized by a single aspect of our multi-faceted personality.

We’ve let go of the fact that people experience and interact with the world differently. We want to claim our uniqueness and then get angry when people don’t see things as we do. Sure, there are similarities that come from the family, society, and culture we’ve grown up in but we each add our own flavor. It is part of being the humans God created us to be, each of us bringing a needed and necessary part to the collective whole. Being human is complicated. When we demand that everyone think and behave exactly like us, we are denying their humanness and our own.

“When we demand that everyone think and behave exactly like us, we are denying their humanness and our own.”

Our meme and twitter culture exacerbates this. We think we can boil down our life’s philosophy into a few pithy words that define everyone and if we post that catchy phrase on social media, that we are changing the world. I know this is a bit ironic coming from someone who has ventured into the writing world through social media, but I write what I do with the full acknowledgement that it is my point of view.

I know that you will translate my words from your own perspective. And, yes, I do want to hear your perspective. I need you and your perspective to be fully who I am.

“I need you and your perspective to be fully who I am.”

With the knowledge that we are all different, I know, too, that there is much between us that is the same – we are all uniquely created by a loving and compassionate God, in the very image of God, who wants us to participate in the purpose and plan of all of creation. We each have skills and talents and ways of seeing and experiencing the world that enable all of us to be fully who God created us to be.

When we seek to see the world as Jesus does, with eyes of compassion, we are better able to see the totality of each person. We all have both positive and less desirable traits, we all have good days and bad days, we all at times perform at our best and at others fail completely and most days are somewhere in between.

Come and see how following Jesus, learning to live as he teaches, can better equip us to walk the path of 2021 with compassion and love for ourselves and others.

Come and see this world through the lens of knowing we are all God’s beloved children and find the peace of being loved.

Come and see what it is to participate with God in answering our prayer that it be on earth as it is in heaven and find hope in knowing God is with us.

Come and see.

God’s peace,
Mtr. Nancy+

Baptism is a Beginning

Sunday, January 10, 2021
The first Sunday after the Epiphany
http://lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Epiphany/BEpi1_RCL.html

In the beginning, the earth was formless and void and darkness covered the face of the deep.

And God said, “Let there be light.”

Today, this first Sunday after the feast of the Epiphany, we officially celebrate the Baptism of Jesus.

Mark begins his telling of the Gospel story with the words, “the beginning,” a clear echo of the creation story. A new beginning, a new day, a new dawning. Let there be Light in the darkness of the Roman world in which people lived under the shadow of fear.

We’ve seen a lot of chaos this past year, this past week. Where have you looked for light and for order amidst the chaos?

Our sure and certain hope is knowing that God brings order from chaos and shines light in the darkness. Let there be Light in the darkness of today in which we live under the shadow of fear.

As I often say, ours is a faith of movement, of following Jesus, following God’s light even when we aren’t sure where it is taking us. The creation story tells us that God created in progression, a series of actions rather than one giant “tada”.

Jesus called his disciples with the words “Follow Me” and he took them on a journey teaching them to love actively.

After his resurrection, Jesus commissioned his followers to “Go” (see Matthew 28:16-20).

I was talking with a friend just yesterday about our children growing up and we both said that we didn’t grieve the past ages of our children but celebrated the age they are because we found joy in watching them grow. We don’t have children to keep them as babies but to guide them as they grow into adults.

Life – the life God created us to live – is growth and movement. This doesn’t mean we forget or ignore the past. Each moment, each encounter, each joy and pain, prepares us for the next. We grow progressively. We crawl before we walk. We are nourished by milk before we can eat steak. We learn single syllable words before we can say “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.”

We never stay at the beginning. Mark’s new beginning is the baptism of Jesus, the beginning of this Good News sent to us by God to remove the barriers between God and us, between heaven and earth.

We follow Jesus into and through Baptism so that we can go into the world to teach what Jesus teaches us by the way we live. Baptism isn’t the goal but the beginning of a life-long journey.

Somewhere along the way we decided that change, any type of change, is negative, even the growing up of our children, even our continued growth and development as adults.

We like the way things are. We find comfort and security in the organization and rhythm of our life and we decide this is the way we will always be. It’s why we use the phrase “when things get BACK to normal.” Staying the same isn’t normal. Growth and renewal are normal. The seasons of the year change. Day becomes evening, evening becomes night, night becomes morning.

If we’ve learned anything this past year and even this past week, I pray it is that sometimes the way things are isn’t the way they should be; the way things are isn’t the best we can all be. Holding onto the way things are and trying to get back to normal isn’t how God designed us to live.

Jesus teaches us that each day is a new day, not the same day it was yesterday. We aren’t stuck in Groundhog Day – thanks be to God! Jesus says “follow me, follow me into heaven on earth, here and now, follow me and hear God say, ‘you are my beloved child.’”

A New Day

I’m still a bit numb from yesterday, how about you? What began as a day in which I was focusing on the Feast of the Epiphany and working on some spiritual formation curriculum became a time of staring, dumbfounded at the news reports of our capitol building being besieged.

At one point my husband said, “this happens in third world countries, not here.” And I agreed. And then I thought, we shouldn’t insult third world countries like that. When people rise up against their sitting government, it is generally because of atrocious violations of basic human rights. The people who stormed our capitol weren’t looking to overthrow a corrupt government. They wanted to upend the legal process which keeps our government in checks and balances and honors the voice of the people who duly elected the government (yes, I know our system doesn’t work perfectly but it does work and there are non-violent and legal paths to change if we want to change it).

These were people throwing a violent tantrum because the results weren’t what they wanted. They followed the direction of a narcissist who can’t bear the thought of giving up control so he’s narrating a false reality and inciting his followers to violence. And just to be clear, anyone who preaches hate and violence and follows someone who does is not following Jesus, regardless of what they write on the signs they hold up while committing hateful and violent acts.

These are the same people who mocked the other side in 2016 as they voiced their sadness and despair over the election results when Mr. Trump won calling them snowflakes and worse.

The people who attacked a building and human beings and our very system of government yesterday aren’t fighting for human rights. They are demanding privilege and violently seeking to take away equal rights for every human being, encouraged by a man who continues to speak hate and encourage violence toward others.

This morning, as I sat in prayer, I prayed for God to increase my own compassion because I’m not feeling very compassionate toward these people. They must be held accountable, they must face the consequences of their actions. Mr. Trump must be held accountable and face the consequences of his actions.

And in my cry for accountability, I find the compassion. Compassion enables us to seek the best FOR and the best OF others.

I know the hate and anger comes from a place of human brokenness and I pray for the softening of their hearts. AND I know that their words and actions cause great harm and I pray for those who have been belittled and degraded by their hate, for those physically assaulted by their actions, and the emotional wounds of all of us who watched in shock yesterday.

Last evening, in our first conversation of HOPE through the season of Epiphany (https://www.facebook.com/OdessaEpiscopal/videos/872539536831311/), Padre Ricardo and I talked about the certainty of our Christian Hope. In this sure and certain hope we know that God can and will redeem the events of yesterday and that God will do this through the behaviors and actions of those of us who work to see the world through a lens of compassion as Jesus teaches us to do. In our compassion we seek the best for and the best of everyone, starting with ourselves.

Every day is a new day in God’s Kingdom and God invites us to participate in the answer to the prayer “your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” God’s will is for love to ground and guide us and in that love is our sure and certain hope that together with God we can learn from yesterday to live more like Jesus today.

What can you do today to show the world God’s compassion and love?

God’s peace,
Mtr. Nancy+