So today I went to the hand specialist that performed the surgery on my right wrist in early January. He examined the hand briefly, asked how things were going, agreed with my wife's strong suggestion that the paraffin bath would help, and asked me to show my grip on his fingers. In the end, he announced all was progressing well, continue the massage on the scar tissue and the exercises to strengthen the wrist, and come back if there are future problems!
Such a feeling of freedom in that little comment! And he genuinely seemed pleased that things are progressing as they are - and that can sometimes be a rare gift from a doctor! They are so busy trying to care for patients that they sometimes forget how helpful a little sincere attention can be to the healing process. I still recall the doctor my beloved brought up short for his inattention to the patient - his preference was to focus on the chart and his knowledge - until she informed him he would listen to her or she was leaving. She then shared how his handling of her case came across, and I think it was a bit of a eye-opener for him. I hope he remembered it!
Sometimes in our lives, we need someone to "release" us from something that is hindering our ability to live life fully and with contentment. My beloved has done that for me repeatedly and I think I've grown from each experience of that. My faith has also provided release on more than one occasion from burdens I tried to carry even when they weren't mine to carry. It has been hard for me to learn that I'm not capable of being all things to all people. It has been difficult to let go of the social definition of success in my role as a pastor. It has been difficult accepting some of the limitations age has placed on me. We all know it's easier to shove our heads in the sand, ignore the unpleasant and escape into fantasy - after all, why else would "reality" shows be so popular?
But reality has a way of coming back to bite us in tender places when we try to ignore for too long! Witness the person who lives constantly filled with stress, angst and the demands of those who recognize an obsessive-compulsive - who has a heart attack and is forced to change or die! Witness the spouse who cannot turn loose of past pain or parents or children or outside interests until their spouse declares that the marriage is a sham and over! Witness the athlete who will not listen to those who say you're pushing too hard, until the career is suddenly over because of a injury that might have been avoided by better care taken for the body! Witness the pastor that pushes and pushes - and either loses family who never really see them, or life because they didn't eat right, didn't get exercise, didn't take care of their overtaxed biological systems. God promises to be with us, but not when we determine we better than God know our own limits!
Yes, I know I've been there! Early in my career, my comment to people was that I ran for about 2 years as fast as I could go and God would hit me with some sickness that caused me to slow down for a week or so and then I'd repeat the process. It took my beloved telling me I had a covenant I had said was based in love that had prior commitment to my "successful pastor" model and I would either honor it or lose it! My eyes started opening, but she has had to open them even after to other areas where I'm still captive to things I need freedom from and control over. I'm truly blessed that God brought this lovely lady into my life, and blessed that I'm learning how good it feels to be released from what I don't need to struggle with!
May you find release, may your eyes open to the ways you are over-controlled by things you need be controlled by at all, and may God give you someone who will walk with you to find that release!! Peace!
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Winter Musings
With winter comes weather that sometimes forces us to stay in, or to adopt a much more cautious approach to moving about. When snow and ice start to make their appearance, I want to be safer in moving around. Many never seem to learn that a little less speed makes such travel a lot safer. We lived in the southern tier of New York for over a decade, and it never failed to amaze me that people who lived in the area their entire lives forgot from one year to the next how to drive on snow and ice.
Yet isn't that also true of the way we approach difficult times in our lives? We have a bad experience, and think we have learned our lesson. But another similiar occasion arises, and we may very well react as badly as we did the last time, as if we hadn't been through it before.
My wife recently sent me a post that spoke of our need to take responsibility for our choices, because we cannot control what happens around us. I reflected on that for a good bit, mulling it over in relation to my own life. I had to reluctantly agree that I needed to understand I couldn't control other people, but I can control my choices in responding to them. I choose not to respond as a victim, but to continue to do the best I can to guide them in the directions that will bring the success and growth they desire. That's the calling I have - to shepherd a people toward the kind of life I believe God would have them live. I can show them refreshment, shelter, and offer love - what each chooses to do with that offering is up to them. All I am required to do is continue to following the calling.
What a challenge! It isn't easy! It is far easier in today's culture to look for the culprit for our difficulties, but we need to recall the Pogo cartoon where that wonderfully articulate muskrat announced sagely, "We has met the enemy, and he is us!"
Peace!
Yet isn't that also true of the way we approach difficult times in our lives? We have a bad experience, and think we have learned our lesson. But another similiar occasion arises, and we may very well react as badly as we did the last time, as if we hadn't been through it before.
My wife recently sent me a post that spoke of our need to take responsibility for our choices, because we cannot control what happens around us. I reflected on that for a good bit, mulling it over in relation to my own life. I had to reluctantly agree that I needed to understand I couldn't control other people, but I can control my choices in responding to them. I choose not to respond as a victim, but to continue to do the best I can to guide them in the directions that will bring the success and growth they desire. That's the calling I have - to shepherd a people toward the kind of life I believe God would have them live. I can show them refreshment, shelter, and offer love - what each chooses to do with that offering is up to them. All I am required to do is continue to following the calling.
What a challenge! It isn't easy! It is far easier in today's culture to look for the culprit for our difficulties, but we need to recall the Pogo cartoon where that wonderfully articulate muskrat announced sagely, "We has met the enemy, and he is us!"
Peace!
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Sunday in the Snow
We are currently under a blizzard warning here in the heartland, and I'm sitting in the office waiting for people to show up for Church School and Worship. The snow started flying after I got here, though the wind was blowing soundly as I drove down. The wonderful thing about Sunday is a chance to share with some people who have developed a hunger for digging into scripture, who are no longer afraid to consider something outside the scope of tradition. I'll begin the process of putting my Lenten Bible Study group back together starting in the morning, when I can start to resurrect the materials I was developing.
This time of year is always a bit depressing for me, though not as much as some years back, because it was right after Easter that my father died. It took several years for me to get beyond the connection, and now I remind myself of the promise of the Savior. But one of the things churches aren't always good about - let's just say people - is considering that someone else might still be having difficulty with an important death in their life - actual death, divorce, plant closing, etc. When we lived in small villages, we looked out for one another. We took food over, watched the kids, did a little extra hunting, made some decoration or clothing item. Now, we might - MIGHT - take something over, but are more likely to say, "They just need some time to get over it."
Perhaps part of the breakdown of our society is the lessening circle of those who reach out to the hurting ones around them. After all, how do you draw closer to someone you pull away from? How do we express concern when the first words out of our mouths are castigation for not fully disclosing what was happening?
I would like to suggest that we start making a personal intentional effort to be there for the hurting ones, with compassion, empathy, and resources - whatever our resources might be - so that they will KNOW someone is interested, cares, and is willing to help. When you see a neighbor who has had surgery, ask how they are doing, and what you can do to help. When you know someone's loved one has died, reach out through a phone call, a card, a doorstep visit just to say, "Gee, I'm so sorry this has happened, because I know it can be devastating. If there's a way I can help you - a cup of coffee and conversation, company on a visit somewhere - please let me know, because I want to help you if I can." And most importantly, make sure when you say that you really mean it - because it will show and be heard if you aren't.
I've been graced in life with some people who truly showed me that while we might not see eye to eye on everything - they at least are genuinely interested and concerned with what happens to me. May you discover such people in your own life!
Peace!
This time of year is always a bit depressing for me, though not as much as some years back, because it was right after Easter that my father died. It took several years for me to get beyond the connection, and now I remind myself of the promise of the Savior. But one of the things churches aren't always good about - let's just say people - is considering that someone else might still be having difficulty with an important death in their life - actual death, divorce, plant closing, etc. When we lived in small villages, we looked out for one another. We took food over, watched the kids, did a little extra hunting, made some decoration or clothing item. Now, we might - MIGHT - take something over, but are more likely to say, "They just need some time to get over it."
Perhaps part of the breakdown of our society is the lessening circle of those who reach out to the hurting ones around them. After all, how do you draw closer to someone you pull away from? How do we express concern when the first words out of our mouths are castigation for not fully disclosing what was happening?
I would like to suggest that we start making a personal intentional effort to be there for the hurting ones, with compassion, empathy, and resources - whatever our resources might be - so that they will KNOW someone is interested, cares, and is willing to help. When you see a neighbor who has had surgery, ask how they are doing, and what you can do to help. When you know someone's loved one has died, reach out through a phone call, a card, a doorstep visit just to say, "Gee, I'm so sorry this has happened, because I know it can be devastating. If there's a way I can help you - a cup of coffee and conversation, company on a visit somewhere - please let me know, because I want to help you if I can." And most importantly, make sure when you say that you really mean it - because it will show and be heard if you aren't.
I've been graced in life with some people who truly showed me that while we might not see eye to eye on everything - they at least are genuinely interested and concerned with what happens to me. May you discover such people in your own life!
Peace!
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Love in the air
Ah, love is in the air! Today I took my beloved wife to the dentist, and as I dropped her off at home before returning to work, she reminded me that is our six month anniversary - No, not really 6 months, actually 34 years and 6 months! We do this with each other, and the sparkle always comes to our eyes when we do!
Then she chimed, "By the way!" And we gave simultaneous Valentine's Day greetings to one another. She's really something, my brown-eyed girl!
May the greatest love come to each of you! May your life's companion become your best bestest friend and your fire!!
Peace!
Then she chimed, "By the way!" And we gave simultaneous Valentine's Day greetings to one another. She's really something, my brown-eyed girl!
May the greatest love come to each of you! May your life's companion become your best bestest friend and your fire!!
Peace!
Computer Lessons
I don't know how it happened, because we supposedly have a firewall, and I had Norton 360 protection, but a major infestation caused my computer to require a complete wipe of the hard drive on Monday. Then I learned that simply plugging in all the stuff in and trying to run doesn't work! Imagine!
I went back and got further instruction, and now am slowly putting things to rights now, so I can function as I was when this beastie was new! Email is set up, and I have a printer I can use. So, now on to setting Word up for my work.
This is another time when something that seems so simple causes us to learn humility. I am humbled, and learning more lessons on patience and attention the lessons others try to teach this salty old dog!
Peace!
I went back and got further instruction, and now am slowly putting things to rights now, so I can function as I was when this beastie was new! Email is set up, and I have a printer I can use. So, now on to setting Word up for my work.
This is another time when something that seems so simple causes us to learn humility. I am humbled, and learning more lessons on patience and attention the lessons others try to teach this salty old dog!
Peace!
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Thinking or Coasting
I recently shared with those I serve that I was blogging and invited them to consider what I said. One reader commented that my thoughts were thought-provoking, and mentioned that she noticed my inclusion of one I count friend who is differently abled - missing an arm and being a person of incredible creative genius and compassion. Still another simply challenged my understanding, noting that we need to understand that civic society corrupts God's intent for us.
I appreciated the first reader, and understand that she is one who truly strives to allow her faith to grow by the different elements that are offered through Sunday School, Bible Studies and Discussion groups. We don't always agree, and have even had a couple of sharp exchanges on points. We always come back to our ability to disagree and still see each other as friends and colleagues in the life of disciples of Jesus.
I grew with a strong, simple faith and it definitely needed to be challenged to grow. I recall the Senior in College who challenged my simplistic understanding of creation, and stopped me cold by suggesting that insistence on six 24 hours days of creation was limiting God's ability. What a breakthrough for me! Then there came college and seminary professors that furthered my awakening spiritual hunger.
Yet today we are part of a society that increasingly wants a simplistic faith full of black and white, right and wrong. If one doesn't agree with me, then they must be wrong. People seem more willing to see Jesus as a simple teacher/healer, than to understand he boldly, knowingly challenged the status quo in what would amount to martyrdom at the hands of the empire he challenged along with the religious empire of the Saducees, Pharisees and scribes. They refuse to see the vast panorama of his new teaching, the number of times he threw ice water in the face of the social cream of the crop in society.
I honor all who stand for their faith, but wish they would be willing to afford the same honor or respect to others who stand equally as strong, without looking down or judging that different understanding. I will defend their right to hold their beliefs, and pray that God will help them to begin to help them be more willing to defend others in their right to hold and express their faith.
May the Savior who took in Greeks, Romans, Samaritans, Zealots, fishers, men, women, scholars and laborers finally help us to walk with him, rather than dictate the steps of others. May we learn to honor and learn from all the faithful around us!! Peace!
I appreciated the first reader, and understand that she is one who truly strives to allow her faith to grow by the different elements that are offered through Sunday School, Bible Studies and Discussion groups. We don't always agree, and have even had a couple of sharp exchanges on points. We always come back to our ability to disagree and still see each other as friends and colleagues in the life of disciples of Jesus.
I grew with a strong, simple faith and it definitely needed to be challenged to grow. I recall the Senior in College who challenged my simplistic understanding of creation, and stopped me cold by suggesting that insistence on six 24 hours days of creation was limiting God's ability. What a breakthrough for me! Then there came college and seminary professors that furthered my awakening spiritual hunger.
Yet today we are part of a society that increasingly wants a simplistic faith full of black and white, right and wrong. If one doesn't agree with me, then they must be wrong. People seem more willing to see Jesus as a simple teacher/healer, than to understand he boldly, knowingly challenged the status quo in what would amount to martyrdom at the hands of the empire he challenged along with the religious empire of the Saducees, Pharisees and scribes. They refuse to see the vast panorama of his new teaching, the number of times he threw ice water in the face of the social cream of the crop in society.
I honor all who stand for their faith, but wish they would be willing to afford the same honor or respect to others who stand equally as strong, without looking down or judging that different understanding. I will defend their right to hold their beliefs, and pray that God will help them to begin to help them be more willing to defend others in their right to hold and express their faith.
May the Savior who took in Greeks, Romans, Samaritans, Zealots, fishers, men, women, scholars and laborers finally help us to walk with him, rather than dictate the steps of others. May we learn to honor and learn from all the faithful around us!! Peace!
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Troubling Paradigm
There is a troubling paradigm developing in our country that sees spiritual statements as political and understands only certain political positions as acceptable in Christian settings. At a recent meeting comments supported by many studies about the manner of passing on one's religious point of view were challenged as being political statements. I have seen the same occurrence in society. Certain groups can throw their political aspirations into the religious context and that is acceptable, but if that other side does the same thing, woebetide the poor soul who is target for allowing such to happen!
Now, let's be clear, I don't think it is possible to separate one's faith from one's political persuasion - not really! - but I do think most of the major themes in our nation's current milieu are also major themes in Jesus' new vision of what the world could and should be. I believe that one cannot follow Jesus and avoid speaking of poverty and systems that abuse the poor, about hospitality and the treatment of "illegal aliens" - did they drop off of Mercury with a criminal record? - about personal integrity and the current state of our nation's leadership.
If, in the course of a sermon, I speak of the call of Jesus to reach out to and share our abundance with the poor, it is not a support of socialism, but an echoing of the call to be like Jesus in feeding the multitudes! If I speak against the discrimination leveled at a person based on race, religious background or sexual orientation, it isn't pie-in-the-sky, Pollyanna mush but a recognition that we are as apt to make arbitrary, hateful, emotionally charged distinctions that set people into disadvantaged, ostrachized settings as the people of Jesus' day when he met with drunks, prostitutes, social outcasts and hated enemies of the state!
It is time for us to STOP the artificial separation of our faith and our politics, as well as to desensitize ourselves from looking for reasons to tackle someone who voices a different opinion - after all, that only affords both parties a chance to discuss their differences and see if one or both might need to reconsider some of their positions -- heaven knows I've had to more than once! When the gospel is preached, it will pinch, squeeze and nail us for our imperfections, but that is not reason to see it as attack any more than our parents correcting the manner we tied our shoes was viewed as an attack.
May the Spirit of the Holy One abide in people of faith, and may people of faith live in that faith, not apart from its call! Peace!
Now, let's be clear, I don't think it is possible to separate one's faith from one's political persuasion - not really! - but I do think most of the major themes in our nation's current milieu are also major themes in Jesus' new vision of what the world could and should be. I believe that one cannot follow Jesus and avoid speaking of poverty and systems that abuse the poor, about hospitality and the treatment of "illegal aliens" - did they drop off of Mercury with a criminal record? - about personal integrity and the current state of our nation's leadership.
If, in the course of a sermon, I speak of the call of Jesus to reach out to and share our abundance with the poor, it is not a support of socialism, but an echoing of the call to be like Jesus in feeding the multitudes! If I speak against the discrimination leveled at a person based on race, religious background or sexual orientation, it isn't pie-in-the-sky, Pollyanna mush but a recognition that we are as apt to make arbitrary, hateful, emotionally charged distinctions that set people into disadvantaged, ostrachized settings as the people of Jesus' day when he met with drunks, prostitutes, social outcasts and hated enemies of the state!
It is time for us to STOP the artificial separation of our faith and our politics, as well as to desensitize ourselves from looking for reasons to tackle someone who voices a different opinion - after all, that only affords both parties a chance to discuss their differences and see if one or both might need to reconsider some of their positions -- heaven knows I've had to more than once! When the gospel is preached, it will pinch, squeeze and nail us for our imperfections, but that is not reason to see it as attack any more than our parents correcting the manner we tied our shoes was viewed as an attack.
May the Spirit of the Holy One abide in people of faith, and may people of faith live in that faith, not apart from its call! Peace!
Monday, February 4, 2008
Legacies
What legacy do we leave? Is it something we create? Is it something someone creates about us?
I'd like to suggest that we leave a component of our legacy by how we act, how we relate, and what we are, but in a very real sense our legacy is also impacted in an important way to the manner of those around us and how they interact with our efforts and lives. For example, Gandhi lived to exemplify non-violence, and the use of non-voilent civil disobedience to change resistant majorities or powers. We remember that legacy, but we also remember that those who didn't like his message resorted to the very violence he abhored to end his own life. Recently, Bhutto returned to Pakistan from exile. Watching the news stories of her efforts to affect the politics of her nation, to help her people, my wife commented, "It's almost as if she's courting martyrdom." She was, in the same sense that Jesus courted it on his final trip to Jerusalem.
How's that? Well, to be true to themselves and what they stood for, they each (Gandhi, Bhutto and Jesus) had to do what they did! Jesus had to preach, to heal, to love, to admonish and face the consequences - and anyone who doesn't think Jesus didn't know what lay ahead, is Pollyanna to the extreme - and the same holds true of Gandhi, Bhutto and Martin Luther King, Jr. - to be true to themselves and their chosen path, they had to go and do just what they did -- knowing the potential costs and accepting that if it must be, it must.
Can we do the same? Some of us do, some blindly believe that who they are and how they act has no bearing on life, that there are no costs associated and anyone who points out the costs, the risks and challenges them to greater maturity in their lives are simple rabblerousers and troublemakers. So be it! Jesus walked boldly to confront the powers that be, and paid for it, but also turned the world on its ear! I know I cannot walk as he did, because I'm not made of quite that stern material - at least I don't think I am - but I will walk as closely to him as I may, knowing many will never understand, never want to understand.
My legacy? A combination of one who tried to be what he said he was and one who drew forth irritation from those who refused to see beyond an elementary level of understanding. One who remained true to the message I felt I was given to share, and one who staunchly refused to back down to emotional outcries against change. My only prayer is that God will give me the strengthy, that Jesus will stand close beside me in the way, and that the Spirit will ever boost my flagging faith and zeal.
Peace, and travel well! You never know whose watching and might just follow!
I'd like to suggest that we leave a component of our legacy by how we act, how we relate, and what we are, but in a very real sense our legacy is also impacted in an important way to the manner of those around us and how they interact with our efforts and lives. For example, Gandhi lived to exemplify non-violence, and the use of non-voilent civil disobedience to change resistant majorities or powers. We remember that legacy, but we also remember that those who didn't like his message resorted to the very violence he abhored to end his own life. Recently, Bhutto returned to Pakistan from exile. Watching the news stories of her efforts to affect the politics of her nation, to help her people, my wife commented, "It's almost as if she's courting martyrdom." She was, in the same sense that Jesus courted it on his final trip to Jerusalem.
How's that? Well, to be true to themselves and what they stood for, they each (Gandhi, Bhutto and Jesus) had to do what they did! Jesus had to preach, to heal, to love, to admonish and face the consequences - and anyone who doesn't think Jesus didn't know what lay ahead, is Pollyanna to the extreme - and the same holds true of Gandhi, Bhutto and Martin Luther King, Jr. - to be true to themselves and their chosen path, they had to go and do just what they did -- knowing the potential costs and accepting that if it must be, it must.
Can we do the same? Some of us do, some blindly believe that who they are and how they act has no bearing on life, that there are no costs associated and anyone who points out the costs, the risks and challenges them to greater maturity in their lives are simple rabblerousers and troublemakers. So be it! Jesus walked boldly to confront the powers that be, and paid for it, but also turned the world on its ear! I know I cannot walk as he did, because I'm not made of quite that stern material - at least I don't think I am - but I will walk as closely to him as I may, knowing many will never understand, never want to understand.
My legacy? A combination of one who tried to be what he said he was and one who drew forth irritation from those who refused to see beyond an elementary level of understanding. One who remained true to the message I felt I was given to share, and one who staunchly refused to back down to emotional outcries against change. My only prayer is that God will give me the strengthy, that Jesus will stand close beside me in the way, and that the Spirit will ever boost my flagging faith and zeal.
Peace, and travel well! You never know whose watching and might just follow!
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