Mother Nancy's Coffee Thoughts

Peace

If you’ve ever attended an Episcopal worship service, you will have witnessed what we call “Passing the Peace,” a part of the service when we move from hearing and reflecting on God’s word to gathering at God’s table to give thanks and receive the gift of Holy Communion. In some churches, folks stand in their place and smile, nod, and shake hands with those in close proximity while saying “the peace of the Lord be always with you.” In a lot of churches, it becomes a lengthy love fest where everyone moves around hugging and greeting each other in the name of God and return to their seats only after greeting every single person. And, I’m sure there are many churches that fall along the spectrum between these two situations (that should include everyone!).

As a priest, I especially like the latter version – to watch the people I am charged with shepherding and loving joyfully greet each other in the name of God fills my heart to bursting each time I witness it.

The theology of Passing the Peace is this: that whatever may have transpired since the last time I saw you, regardless of the ideas and concepts over which we may disagree, in spite of our joint broken humanness, I offer to you peace and accept yours so that we can come together around God’s table in unity to offer ourselves over to God’s holy presence in humility and repentance (and if the word ‘repentance’ makes you squirm, please see my post from December 6).

Peace, as it is understood scripturally, isn’t a complete absence of conflict. Jesus’ life was constant conflict – the government and the religious leaders wanted to silence his ministry; his own family called him crazy; he was so upset that people were profiteering from the sale of religious rites that he flipped tables and cracked the whip (literally); even his own disciples regularly questioned his choices and methods.

And yet Jesus says to us, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you” (John 14:27).

Peace, as we offer it in the name of God, is an understanding that we are bound together through the power of the Holy Spirit and the love of God which is greater than any disagreement or conflict we may have with each other.

Peace is a state of being in which we are not completely undone by the changes and chances of this life.

Peace is the confidence that God is always with us and it comes from the hope we have that God brings newness and goodness to all things.

Peace is believing that there is no situation we can mess up so badly that God can’t redeem and bring good from (don’t be judging me for ending that sentence with a preposition – that is a grammar rule up with which I will not put), and that even when we “lose the peace” God is with us to remind us and draw us back into spiritual peace.

Peace is trusting that in spite of how we may perceive ourselves or how we think others see us, God sees us, each of us, only and always as God’s Beloved Child, wonderfully created in God’s own image, unique with gifts necessary for the completeness of God’s Kingdom.

Peace is knowing we are loved, not in spite of or regardless of anything, but because God is love.

As we continue our Advent Journey, consider where in your life you need to receive Jesus’ Peace. Consider how God’s Peace equips you to love through the conflicts and challenges you face.

The themes of Advent are Hope, Peace, Love, and Joy.

May the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God and of God’s son Jesus Christ our Lord.

(And, as I always sign off, even if it may seem repetitive in this post, it can never be said enough)
God’s peace,
Mtr. Nancy+

Not to be Difficult, but …

Sunday, December 6, 2020
Isaiah 40:1-11
Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13
2 Peter 3:8-15
Mark 1:1-8
http://lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Advent/BAdv2_RCL.html

How’s your Advent journey going? What surprises has God revealed to you about how divine love comes into this world? How is your view of ‘normal’ being interrupted?

In today’s Gospel reading, we jump back to the beginning of Mark’s version of the story and get introduced to Jesus’ cousin John the Baptizer. He’s quite the character, paying no attention to current fashion or dietary trends, proclaiming uncomfortable yet essential truths.

A lot of people would describe John the Baptizer as a difficult person. He confronted people head on with the message of God. He didn’t mince words or sugar coat anything. He spoke of repentance and sin and called out the religious leaders for their hypocrisy. And yet he models for us the true meaning of humility, always, only, directing everyone’s attention toward God.

John the Baptizer models for us the true meaning of humility, always, only, directing everyone’s attention toward God.

John didn’t do what he did for his own glory but because he passionately believed with every cell of his being that he was preparing others to see and experience God. He felt an urgency in this message of hope. Prepare the way! The kingdom is at hand! Make ready! Repent! John knew that God’s Love requires us to respond, in one way or another.

In this season of anticipation, John the Baptizer’s message is so big it gets two Sundays, today and next Sunday. That’s a lot of press for someone who today would more than likely be told his message was too harsh, to tone it down, to quit being so critical, quit trying to change people and just let everyone be.

To us, in our twenty first century western mindset, the word repent feels like a weapon not a beacon of hope. We don’t like to be told we have to change or that we could possibly be wrong. And we label anyone who says things like this to us as a difficult and demanding person.

The word that John spoke, metanoia, that we translate into English most often as repentance means a change of mind. The Common English Bible translates John’s charge as “change your hearts and lives”. John knew that God’s way of seeing the world was better than anything the people listening to him could ever imagine. He believed that Jesus was coming to show us all how to be who God created us to be.

And John also knew that this change we are all called to face isn’t some instantaneous magic trick. To prepare ourselves for God takes work, continuous, lifelong, ongoing, difficult work. It requires us to face the difficult questions. There is no quick fix. This metanoia God calls us to is a way of living as we follow Jesus with our whole being, all the time.

The first step is to admit we need to change, to accept that God calls us to be different from what the world tells us we should be, to change our heart and mind about what success looks like, what money is for, how we view other people, and how we view ourselves. The most difficult question ever asked is ‘why’. Why do we do the things we do? Do we live, like John the Baptizer, directing other people’s attention toward God with all that we do, with all that we have, and with all that we are?

Do we live, like John the Baptizer, directing other people’s attention toward God with all that we do, with all that we have, and with all that we are?

John’s urgent proclamations come from the understanding that unless we can see a purpose for changing we won’t be willing to do the difficult work. The reason repentance is necessary as a starting point for our ongoing relationship with God is because repentance is our recognizing that we need God.

God’s gifts of love and compassion and forgiveness are always available to us. We benefit most fully from these gifts when we actively use them. And we can only fully grasp the meaning of them if we know how desperately we need them to live into our whole and holy humanness as God created us to live.

As we continue our Advent journey toward Jesus, how are you preparing the way? As you light your candles and reflect on the themes of Advent, I invite you go a little deeper into the work of asking yourself difficult questions.

The good news is that we don’t face these questions alone nor do we have to find our own strength or courage. God is with us saying to us, “you are my beloved child and together we can live in hope and peace and love and joy. Walk with me on this journey. It isn’t always easy but it is always worth it. Use my strength. I will give you courage.”

Do not be afraid. Take heart. The Kingdom of God is at hand. God is with us.

God’s peace,
Mtr. Nancy+

Scrabble Theology

I love to play Scrabble. There’s just something exciting to me about the possibility of the words to be found, the anticipation as I watch what my companion spells out and discovering how I can build on that, and the revealing of the layout of all the words in an interconnected pattern created by our minds working in concert. Of course, my husband, the competitive one of us, gets really excited when he gets more points than me.

I’m a fan of words. My undergrad senior paper was about the 50 or so words that remain in use in the English language that were spoken by the first European tribes to settle Britain. (I can sense how excited you are to hear more about and perhaps even read such a paper but I’m going to have to save that for another time. Don’t be too disappointed.)

The writer of Genesis tells us that God spoke all of creation into existence.

In telling his version of the Gospel Story, John says, “In the beginning was the Word.”

One of my favorite descriptions of God’s use of language is from Dr. Francis Collins, Director of the NIH, who says that as he and his team mapped out the human genome in the letter sequences used to denote DNA, he saw the language with which God spoke us into being¹.

Words matter. The words we choose in life can build and create beauty. They can heal and repair. And they can cause great damage, tear down, and destroy. Our words are so very powerful and yet words are commonplace and ordinary so we often forget how much power they have.

Each week in Advent, we focus on one of four theme words and this week’s word is HOPE. This is one of the words I think we use so casually that the deeper meaning is overlooked. It’s become merely a synonym for “I want”.

The deeper meaning of the word, and how it is used in scripture, is to trust that things will turn out a certain way.

Tikva, literally translated from Hebrew as a cord or attachment and figuratively as an expectation, is the word we translate into the English hope. The first use of it in scripture is in the telling of the story of Ruth, Jesus’ great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-I-don’t-know-how-many-actually-but-you-get-the-idea-great grandmother. When Naomi is in despair and tries to send her daughters-in-law away, she sees no hope, no reason to trust that good will come of their situation, no reason to remain attached to each other. But Ruth found hope. She could see what Naomi could no longer see, that in their love for each other, God would protect and provide for them.

God’s promises often interrupt our despair as they did Naomi’s. When we reach a point of despair (defined as the complete loss of hope) the people around us can remind us that God’s light is still on the horizon.

God’s promises often interrupt our despair through the words of the people around us.

So many of us are in despair after this year we’ve had and with the need to stay home and physical distance from those we love it is more challenging to keep pointing each other toward God. My faith isn’t “all about me and God” it is about God and all of us. In response to Naomi’s urging to leave her, Ruth says, “Do not press me to leave you or to turn back from following you! Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God.” (Ruth 1:16 NRSV)

Ruth had no idea what was in store for them as they returned to Naomi’s hometown of Bethlehem but she believed, she trusted, she had HOPE in the God whom she had come to know through Naomi.

Ruth knew that going “back to normal” wasn’t an option and that maintaining the hope in God meant going forward. She knew she and Naomi couldn’t even begin to imagine the fulfillment of God’s promises ahead if they were stuck in the past.

We cannot even begin to imagine all that God has in store for us if we are busy trying to ‘get back to normal’.

Hope is knowing that even in the darkest of times – losing loved ones to a disease that we could control if only we all worked together, losing a job and a home, not knowing what is next – in whatever the circumstances in which we find ourselves, God is with us and is true to God’s promises. Although God’s plan may not be what we envision for our future (or even just tomorrow) our HOPE lies in the wisdom that God’s way of love can make all situations better, here and now, on earth as it is in heaven.

When you can’t remember how to HOPE, when you struggle to find even a glimmer of God’s light, let me know and I’ll remind you. And when I can’t remember, I’ll call on you as well. Perhaps we can figure out how to play Scrabble online, or just talk and really listen to each other.

Together with God’s help we continue on this journey speaking love and compassion into the darkness so the light of heaven shines for all of us.

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13 NRSV)

God’s peace,
Mtr. Nancy+

¹I highly recommend The Language of God by Dr. Francis Collins as well as the website biologos.org

Living in Anticipation

Sunday, November 29, 2020
The first Sunday of Advent
Isaiah 64:1-9
Psalm 80:1-7, 16-18
1 Corinthians 1:3-9
Mark 13:24-37

Each Sunday of the church year has an appointed prayer called a Collect.

In the Episcopal Church, we follow a church calendar that begins each new year not on January 1 but four Sundays before Christmas Day (the date can be from November 27 to December 3, depending on which day of the week Christmas falls on for the particular year).

We call these first four weeks of the church year Advent (Christmas begins on Christmas Day and goes through January 5, which are the real 12 days of Christmas but we’ll save that for another discussion).

I’m sure y’all are familiar with Advent calendars which count down the days in December until Christmas as a way to build anticipation with a hidden treat to be discovered each day. Your church may make an Advent Wreath part of their worship services the Sundays before Christmas and your family may even have an Advent Wreath at home.

Advent means “the arrival” from the Latin adventus, translated from the Greek parousia (the language lessons are free). In this season, we anticipate the coming of Jesus from different perspectives: the prophets proclamation of the Messiah throughout Isreal’s history, the birth of Jesus to Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem, the arrival of God’s kingdom through the life and ministry of Jesus to all of us (the kingdom is at hand), and the establishment of the New Heaven and New Earth as the culmination of God’s plan for all of Creation.

The season of Advent and the new church year begins in the dark and stillness of winter. For those of us who live in regions where winter is more of a picture postcard than reality, it’s tough, I think, for us to really step into this meaning. Our grass is still green as are many of our trees, we don’t need a coat most of the time, and we still have 10 hours of good daylight every day. We may have the occasional ‘freeze” of a day or two over the coming months but we return to warm days quickly in between. This year, however, it may be easier to live into the anticipation of the amazing and promised goodness breaking into the dark and decay.

This pandemic began during the church season of Lent and we talked about how to let the forced giving up of so much deepen the transformative time of Lent, to deepen our understanding that all that we are and all that we have comes from God, to deepen our awareness of God at all times.

Through the summer and fall as we journeyed through Ordinary Time (the time in the church calendar between Pentecost and Advent) we talked about how to live all that Jesus’ teaches in the regular and routine events of our life even though this year wasn’t at all regular or routine. We talked about using this pandemic time to evaluate what we want to be regular and routine and how to (re)ground ourselves in the Gospel message so that our lives are shaped by God’s love.

And so we find ourselves, still deep in the grip of the sickness and death of the pandemic; the anger and hate of the most embittered and divisive political wars of our nation’s history; facing the fallout of the systemic racism and injustices in our society that we just can’t keep hidden any longer.

And it’s the season of Advent, the season of anticipating the arrival of God’s promises.

The themes of Advent – HOPE, PEACE, JOY, LOVE – are the very things that will heal us and our world, not just from our immediate circumstances but our past and our future as well. These are God’s promises for us, for this world, gifts given in compassion to shape us so that we can participate with God in transforming this world “from the nightmare it often is to the dream that God intends” (Bishop Michael Curry).

As we journey together toward the coming of Jesus, I invite you to choose a way to mark Advent in your home. You don’t need to buy anything fancy. To make a wreath you just need 5 candles, one for each Sunday and one for Christmas Eve, (traditionally 3 purple, one pink, and one white but don’t fret if you only have orange and yellow candles left from your Thanksgiving table, use what you have. God will be ok with that, even if my Liturgy professor wouldn’t be). Arrange them in a circle with one in the middle. Each week beginning on Sunday, light a candle and pray/talk/write about one of the words – HOPE, PEACE, JOY, LOVE.

Use whatever calendar you have to mark each day and pray/talk/write about what it means to you to anticipate the promises of God.

There are numerous online resources to incorporate scripture readings into your reflections, some free, some paid. Here are my favorites:
https://adventconspiracy.org/devotionals/
https://episcopalchurch.org/library/document/journeying-way-love-advent-curriculum
http://ccca.biola.edu/advent/2020/#
https://www.saltproject.org/progressive-church-print-resources

Anticipate the arrival of God.

Welcome the interruption of how we define “normal”.

Stay alert for the presence of the divine and holy in all people and events.

Let yourself be surprised by God’s love, by Jesus’ compassion, and by the Spirit’s power to make thin the veil between the Kingdom at hand and the circumstances in which we find ourselves.

Let God’s light shine into the darkness and all will be made new.

God’s peace,
Mtr. Nancy+

Getting Thanks in Order (no, that’s not a typo)

Happy American Thanksgiving! Do you want to knock the “happy” out of that sentence? I have to admit it’s hard work to feel the “happy” even as I smell pumpkin bread in the oven. This isn’t the day any of us would have envisioned way back in January or even in May or June …

Last week I referenced the narrative in Luke’s telling of the Gospel story that has some good intentioned folks telling Jesus that they needed to first get things “in order” so that they could follow him. Jesus pointed out to them that they had it backwards. It is as we follow Jesus that all of the routines, events, and happenings of our life are finally put in proper order; we can’t do it the other way around.

So many of us are lamenting that Thanksgiving this year isn’t what it has been in the past. We have had so much loss this year and lamenting is a healthy and necessary part of the grief process. So, say out loud those things about Thanksgiving that you miss the most, cry if you need to (I have), shake your fists and yell why (done that, too), eat a huge bowl of fresh-made mashed potatoes with lots of butter, crisp crumbled bacon, and cheddar cheese (I refuse to respond on the grounds I might incriminate myself).

And then we ask the question that helps us move through lamenting to continue on our journey of following Jesus: in the circumstances in which we find ourselves, how can we love as Jesus loves?

In the circumstances in which we find ourselves, how can we love as Jesus loves?

And, yes, I believe that gratitude is a necessary part of love – loving God, our neighbor, and ourselves.

One way we express our love for God is to give thanks for what we have. One way we express our love for our neighbor is to value them enough to look out for them in every way possible. One way we express our love for ourselves is to take proper care of our whole being – body, mind, and soul.

I am so very thankful for the people I am most sad about not being with. And this year, I am expressing my thankfulness and love for them by not being with them. Physical distancing is a way I can keep all of our risk of contracting COVID to a minimum. It won’t be forever and I’m so very grateful to know that. I’d much rather give up being with them now and be able to gather with them in a few months time so I will not risk their health or death to insist on getting what I want right now.

I’m grateful for the scientists and doctors and study volunteers that have worked so hard on a vaccine so that it will be sooner rather than later that we can be together. (Here’s a good article for understanding the process: https://biologos.org/post/i-am-in-a-covid-vaccine-trial-my-take-on-the-testing-experience)

I’m grateful for the technology that allows me to call and text and video chat and email with folks most any time I want to.

I’m grateful we have a comfortable home to physical distance in and the sewing skills and creativity to make masks with my existing craft supply stash (perhaps my husband will be grateful for my stash now, too?) so we can be safe when we must go to public places. I’m grateful for stores and restaurants who adapted to curbside transactions as a way to keep us all, including their employees, a little safer.

I’m especially grateful that I’ve learned that by focusing on what I have, I find I always have enough. I’m grateful I’ve learned that generosity comes from being grateful, that abundance isn’t about excess, and that God provides what we need to be who God calls and created us to be.

I am grateful I know (even if I forget from time to time) that I am infinitely valuable to God (and so are you) and that it is God’s abundant love for me (and you) that equips me (and you) to abundantly love others and myself.

I am grateful I have learned to have my thanks in proper order (again, not a typo), grateful for what I have instead of thinking that getting what I want will equip me to give thanks.

Being grateful and giving thanks doesn’t deny our grief; it is a necessary part of the process; it helps our wounds heal; it makes us more resilient; it enables us to find joy so that we aren’t stuck in the past, blinded to the future, missing out on life now.

Our days and routines and holidays aren’t what they were. Together, let’s follow Jesus and allow God’s Way of Love to set things in proper order for us. Find Joy in giving Thanks. I’m grateful you are journeying with me.

God’s peace,
Mtr. Nancy+

“I call heaven and earth as my witnesses against you right now: I have set life and death, blessing and curse before you. Now choose life—so that you and your descendants will live— by loving the LORD your God, by obeying his voice, and by clinging to him.”
‭‭Deuteronomy‬ ‭30:19-20‬ ‭CEB‬‬

Who’s the Boss of You?

Sunday, November 22, 2020
Christ the King Sunday
Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24
Psalm 100
Ephesians 1:15-23
Matthew 25:31-46
http://lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Pentecost/AProp29_RCL.html

Every year, when this last Sunday after Pentecost rolls around, it seems I find it more and more challenging to talk about what it means not just to say Christ is King but to live it.

In first century Palestine, when Jesus walked this earth, kings ruled. The Israelites themselves had begged God for a king so that they could be like all the other nations. In 313CE, Constantine issued the edict of Milan which legalized Christianity across the Roman Empire. For most of its first 2000 years, Christianity existed alongside monarchs and emperors. It was the norm.

In the United States, we live in a country that threw off the rule of queens and kings over 200 years ago. Our society fought to not be ruled by a monarchy. Throwing off the rule of England empowered us along a path of believing more and more that each individual is an autonomous individual, coexisting alongside societal laws but being ruled by no one. We no longer place much, if any, value on discipline (please don’t confuse discipline with punishment) and cry out that our liberties are being threatened when anyone asks anything of us to contribute to the greater good of all.

Most of us in the United States are overwhelmed by this life we think we should be living. Most of us live in a perpetual state stress and we see no end in sight. We are bombarded with advertisements that tell us we need a new wardrobe, a new face, a new car, a bigger house, fancy jewelry, the latest gadgetry, etc. We are bombarded with messages of anger and fear in the news and on social media that tell us we must be angry and fearful, too. We are taught that we need to attack those who disagree with us because their disagreement is somehow a threat to our very existence.

Like tired and hungry 5 year olds, we yell “you’re not the boss of me” when someone, anyone, says we need to do one more thing, follow a new rule, give up something we like, or inconvenience ourselves for the sake of someone else.

In our finger-pointing, foot-stomping tantrums, what we really mean is “I’m too overwhelmed right now to do this thing you are asking of me.”

We’ve not been taught how to follow a leader the way Jesus invites us to follow him, with complete trust and faith in unconditional love and compassion. We’ve been taught that compassion and empathy are signs of weakness in a leader.

We’ve been taught to be suspicious of those who claim authority over us. We’ve been taught that happiness is the ultimate goal for our life and that we will find it in material things or by some external source that we are ever at risk of losing. We’ve been taught we must fight against anything that threatens our individual happiness. And so we’ve let some illusive ideal that we can’t even name or articulate become our ruler.

Jesus teaches us to let go of the fight and instead to work for the good of all. The life God intends for us isn’t a competition or a fight, but a shared journey looking out for each other, grounded in the confidence of God’s love for us.

Jesus teaches us that joy, the everlasting peace of knowing that even in difficult times God loves us and values us more than anything, is the reward for following him and that nothing or no one is powerful enough to to take that from us.

Jesus teaches us that by giving up our way for God’s Way, we will be set free from the overwhelming stress and anxiety our culture imposes upon us.

Jesus teaches us how to be ruled by Love.

The life God intends for us isn’t a competition or a fight, but a shared journey looking out for each other, grounded in the confidence of God’s love for us.

I keep this picture framed on my bathroom counter so that I see it often. It encourages and empowers me whatever is going on. It helps me keep the right perspective, my compass calibrated to the Kingdom of God.

To live with Jesus as our King is so much more than a praise song or a focus one Sunday each year. It means we give up our own rule over ourself for God’s rule of Love.

To live with Jesus as our King means we have our perspective set straight so that following Jesus isn’t an add-on but the very foundation from which we see and do and hear and experience everything: from our regular daily and seasonal routines to the most exciting life events to the most defeating and every moment in between. (See my previous post.)

Following Jesus isn’t an add-on to our life but the very foundation from which we see and do and hear and experience everything.

To live with Jesus as our King means that we know that whether we have everything or have lost it all, our worth and value comes from God’s everlasting love for us.

We are beloved children of God and when we choose to let God “be the boss of us” we find rest for our weariness, peace in place of our stress, and love instead of fear. We are living what we learn in Sunday School.

God’s peace,
Mtr. Nancy+

This is Personal

Coffee, prayer, and a fire – it’s a good morning, y’all.

Can we talk about the Coronavirus, please? Nothing political, I promise. This is personal.

Please don’t let statistics dehumanize the victims of this virus. In a family of four a .0004% national death rate becomes 25%, someone’s mother, father, child, or sibling. Every ‘case’ is a person, a family member, a friend, a coworker. Every death is 100% of the life of that person. We all need to take this pandemic personally because the virus sickens and kills persons not statistics.

We all have pandemic fatigue. I definitely do. I want to be able to come and go without worry. I want to have people over to our house for what my grandmother called “a good visit” with lots of yummy food. I want to enjoy eating out again and travel and take mission groups to Guatemala and go to lunch with my friends and have game night.

AND I want to protect these same people I am sad about not being face to face with.

AND I want to protect this community so that this virus gets under control.

The vaccine is coming but not yet.

And we must work together to remain in this liminal space in which we find ourselves.

Richard Rohr defines Liminal Space this way:

“It is when you have left, or are about to leave, the tried and true, but have not yet been able to replace it with anything else. It is when you are between your old comfort zone and any possible new answer.”
Richard Rohr

I’ve let go of the idea that anything will be as it was, that we will go “back to normal.” At the very beginning of this, back when we were naive enough to think it was just going to be a few weeks or a month, I talked about using this time to examine what we call normal and ask ourselves if that is the life we really want and if not then take this opportunity of interruption to redirect our life, re-sculpt it, reshape it so it is what we want.

In the Gospel story as Luke tells it, Jesus tells some folks who are fired up to follow him that it won’t be the easy way. In The Message, Eugene Petersen translates Jesus’ response as “No procrastination. No backward looks. You can’t put God’s kingdom off till tomorrow. Seize the day.” (Luke 9:62) (And if you want to read a really good book on the theology of “Seize the Day” I highly recommend Os Guinness’ Carpe Diem Redeemed.)

Jesus is not saying that their “normal” activities aren’t valid or aren’t important. He’s helping us understand that following him into God’s Kingdom in the here and now means that we live the kingdom in all that we do. These folks had said “first” let me do such-and-such and “then” I’ll follow you. Jesus asks us to follow him AS we do the things which are our regular things to do. Kingdom living isn’t an add-on or a hobby. It is to be the guiding principle of all that we do, of who we are.

Labyrinths are a spiritual walk intentionally into liminal space. If there is one in your area, make walking it in prayer a regular part of your spiritual formation practices.

What then shall we do?

Let’s continue to follow Jesus through this pandemic, doing those things which put the greater good of our community and country first: stay home as much as you can. When you go out to work or shop for necessities, wear a mask and practice physical distancing and use lots of hand sanitizer. Stop seeing these things as inconveniences (and don’t you dare talk ‘liberties’) and see them as Jesus would, through the eyes of compassion that keep us all safe and protected.

Continue to get creative with family and friend gatherings. Use the technology we have. Instead of saying “social” distancing, use “physical” distancing. Our words matter. Put a big screen on your dining table and host an online dinner. Bake your grandmother’s best recipes together with a Zoom cooking show! Have an online craft or puzzle night.

Together with God we can do this – and that’s a joyful message that even with the necessary physical distancing we are never alone! Thank be to God! We can endure. We can reshape the way we gather and support each other. We can look to Jesus and move forward, further up and further in to God’s Kingdom in the here and now.

God’s peace,
Mtr. Nancy+

Do not be Afraid

Based on the RCL for Sunday, November 15, 2020
Matthew 25:14-30

Jesus tells a parable of investing in relationships: a man goes away and leaves each of three servants with something to care for based on their abilities. Two of them take what they’ve been given and “traded” with it – I imagine a bustling marketplace, the hub of society and human interaction in their world. If you’ve ever been to a local market place in places like Guatemala, you know what I’m talking about. Market day is the central focus of the community. It is the time the people both earn money and find what they need. Relationships are cultivated through the interactions and exchanges. When we go to Guatemala, we regularly return to the same stalls for what we are looking for, remembering the people by name.

Sorry, got sidetracked a bit … we didn’t not make it to Guatemala this year (the first year in 8 years) and I’m desperately homesick for my “other” country and the wonderful people there.

Back to Jesus’ story: Two of the people made use of what they’d been entrusted with and what they started with increased.

The Greek word we translate to ‘talent’ means the scale of a balance or that which is weighed (Ref: Strong’s G5007). It is often assigned a specific amount of money.

With the parables, we need to look at the interactions though the lens of God’s Kingdom, where ‘treasure’ is relationship based – love, compassion, justice, mercy, etc., not material goods. The abundance we are promised is the never ending supply of these. God’s love for us is unconditional and unending. When we base our own value on God’s love for us, we come to understand that the more love we give, the more we have to give.

The servant who hoarded away what was given, had the ability to give it away, too, but he let fear rule the day. And in his fear, he rewrites the narrative to justify his fear driven action (or lack thereof). He recreates his master to be an angry, manipulative thief.

Jesus tells us over and over “do not be afraid” not because he wants us to deny the fear we feel but because he is asking us to trust God’s presence and promises. When we find our greatest security in the size of our bank accounts, we can never have enough because we live with the fear of losing it all. When we find our greatest security in the image we portray with the “right” clothes, cars, houses, friends, or job, we must always struggle to have the latest and best. But when we find our greatest security in God’s love, we never need to be afraid of losing everything because God’s love is everlasting.

(I like the word ‘everlasting’ so much more than ‘eternal’. I think we get stuck in thinking ‘eternal’ means sometime in the future (it doesn’t). To accept God’s everlasting love means that regardless of what we do, God’s love will endure.)

When we invest God’s love for us by loving others, we will always have more than we need. Our treasure will not be in money or cars or material things. We will value our relationship with God and others more than anything else.

When we begin to see life relationally rather than transactionally, we find the freedom that the Gospel message gives us. We don’t have to work to earn God’s love. We don’t have be good enough or wealthy enough or pretty enough. You don’t have to drive the right car or live in the right house or wear the right clothes. God loves us. Period. Full Stop. And God desires nothing from us but to be in relationship.

God entrusts us with immeasurable love so that we will trade it with everyone we encounter in the every day circumstances of our daily rhythms and routines. Trading love makes it grow. The more we trade the more we have. Well done, good and faithful servant.

God’s peace,
Mtr. Nancy+

Further up and Further in

“I have come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it till now…Come further up, come further in!”
― C.S. Lewis, The Last Battle

Here’s hearty and hardy question for us to ponder:

How can we make this the country the land we’ve been looking for all our life?

Do we really believe that the answer to that question is entirely dependent on who occupies the White House or who fills Congress?

I think that thinking that way is a cop out. There, I said it out loud. Are you still with me?

To say that the greatness of this country depends entirely on the White House or Congress denies our responsibility as citizens to make this place, in the here and now, in the circumstances in which we find ourselves, the best place to live for all people.

Our country is US, you and me and all of us together. We have the right and freedom to vote for who we choose and if you attempt to limit that right for others who think differently than you, you are putting your own rights and freedoms as risk.

Let’s stop thinking of ourselves as red and blue and remember that we are all human beings created in God’s image, called to follow Jesus in the Way of Love, letting the Holy Spirit transform us into compassionate people who look out for each other and the greater good. Yes, even if you don’t think of yourself as a Jesus Follower or a Christian, I believe with every cell of my being that every human being (yes, even ‘them’) is created by God in God’s image.

Once when Jesus’ disciples were complaining that some other folks were loving on and caring for people in the name of Jesus in a different way than the disciples thought they should, Jesus tells them, “whoever is not against us is for us.” Whenever we act compassionately toward others we are following Jesus, whether we claim we are or not. (I believe that it is the folks that spread hate and division because somewhere along their path they were taught or decided that they are worth more than others that are “against us” but I’d like to stick to the positive of spreading love.)

Seeing other people through the lens of compassion, treating others with the same dignity and respect we want to receive, and just choosing to be kind are the Way of Jesus, the Way of Love. The more we give this kind of Love, the more and more we have to give. That’s how genuine love works.

Yes, even in the midst of a worldwide pandemic (is that redundant, I’m not sure), the aftermath of a heated election, and the tantrums of our national leadership (add to this all of your personal and family struggles), we stand in the sure and confident hope that God is with us and loves us.

And we are called to follow Jesus into the world (even as we physical distance and wear our masks) to share God’s love with others in any and every way we can. In a world of unavoidable change we know that this never changes.

In a world of unbearable uncertainty we know that God’s love for everyone is certain and unshakeable.

So, instead of labeling other people’s behavior as left or right or liberal or conservative, let’s ask ourselves “am I loving my neighbor?” Treating all people with dignity and compassion isn’t a red or blue thing or a left or right thing. It is a God’s Kingdom thing.

God’s peace,
Mtr. Nancy+

Keeping our Lamps Ready

I’m late with this week’s Living Sunday School post (using the lectionary readings from November 8, 2020). I was hanging out with my 2 year old granddaughter (ok, and my son, too) so I know you’ll understand. But I didn’t want to skip it all together because this particular parable teaches us so much about how to live Sunday School! It offers us encouragement and hope in this time of great uncertainty.

So, grab your coffee and perhaps a snack and let’s chat.

Throughout the gospel as Matthew tells it, Jesus says “the kingdom of heaven is like” and “the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Jesus speaks in present tense, revealing the idea that we are already to live as citizens of God’s kingdom in this world, here and now, in all circumstances.

In the parable of the ten maidens (or bridesmaids or virgins depending on the translation you are reading, meaning someone, who like a bridesmaid, waits to usher in the groom to the wedding, a metaphor often used to describe Jesus’ second coming to bring the new heaven and new earth into being) Jesus says, “Then the kingdom of Heaven will be like”. Future tense, with a pre-condition ‘then’.

Therefore (always pay attention to transition words in scripture), to see the wisdom of this parable, we need to know what Jesus says before it¹.

Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up²: Jesus and the disciples have just left the Temple and Jesus has spoken to them about the temporary nature of this world – buildings and leaders and traditions and ways of thinking. He tells them,

“beware that no one leads you astray” and
“because of the increase of lawlessness, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved” and
“about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” and
“Therefore (transition word!) you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”

AND THEN, he tells them what it will be like when this unexpected time comes: there will be those who are ready and those who are not.

Who doesn’t need a lamp made from a coffee pot?!?!

So what does it mean to be ready? The answer is what Jesus has spent the previous three years teaching – that we live every day, here and now, to the best of our ability with God’s help as citizens of God’s kingdom: Loving God, our neighbor, and ourselves as God loves. The answer to being ready is to work at seeing the world we live in through the eyes of compassion as Jesus sees.

The wise maidens were prepared for the wait to be longer than they expected. They brought along extra oil for their lamps, meaning they were intentional about refilling their spiritual cups so their lives shine brightly with what they say they believe. In contrast, the foolish maidens expected that the supply they had at one point in their life was sufficient. To put it in modern ideas, they expected that the Bible stories they learned as children, or their parents’ or grandparents’ faith, or showing up at church on Christmas and Easter would be sufficient to sustain their faith so that they are equipped to live what they say they believe.

(Alright, let me take a side-step to clarify here – I am in no way saying we earn God’s grace and salvation by going to church or by doing anything. We don’t and we can’t. God’s grace is so much bigger than anything we can imagine and we, as humans, can’t decide who’s got “enough” faith to be saved because that’s not how God’s grace works.)

The wisdom of this parable is to help us understand that walking with Jesus is a lifestyle in which we participate in the answer to the prayer “Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” It isn’t a checklist of certain behaviors that earns us a “get into heaven” pass sometime in the “no one knows the day or time” future.

Being ready for God to show up means we cultivate our awareness of God in all people and places and time because we know that God is always and already present. Keeping our lamps filled means we understand that our ongoing relationship with God is our source of true life here and now and we regularly work at that relationship so we can shine God’s love into the darkness of this world.

When the wise bridesmaids refuse to share it isn’t because they are selfish but because they understand that relationships can’t be borrowed or lent, they have to be cultivated and lived.

Spend time every day preparing your lamp to shine at its brightest with the fuel of God’s love. Together with God we can live on earth as it is in heaven, we can be a Living Sunday School.

God’s peace,
Mtr. Nancy+

¹Remember that the chapter and verse designations are to help us find specific things in Scripture and were added long after the stories, poems, and letters were first written. We can’t let them cause us to see scripture in segments rather than an all encompassing story.

²When you can, make time to read Matthew 21-25 all in one sitting. Oh, yeah, and for those who don’t know this is a quote from The Princes Bride, the best movie ever.