Living into Lent

Living into Lent this year has been different than any other year.  I've taken on the practices of the Lent photo-a-day (which you can see in my posts), but because of the corona virus and the need to change life and ministry, so many things have changed, for all of us.

Where I would have been going into hospitals or doing visitation, that stopped abruptly.
Where I would have been going into businesses or homes, that stopped, though I can (to this point), go order food, flowers, etc. and support businesses where I live and serve.
Where I would have met with folks in person for coffee and conversation, that is no longer.
Yesterday was my last socially distanced lunch with a church member prior to the new mandate of no gatherings.

I do not begrudge these changes.  These are good for all of us.  It is simply different. 

As if it wasn't difficult enough already to interpret how to live, love, and lead like Jesus, these days I find myself wondering what that means in a time when I can only reach out by calling, Zooming, texting, FB live, or FB regular, or FB messaging, or other technology.

I think back to my sermon several weeks ago at the beginning of Lent and I gave the analogy of us being on a roller coaster, so buckle up.  I had NO idea that the ride would become this wild.  Who knew that we would be giving up church for Lent?!?! Well, we didn't really give up church for Lent, but from my perspective (and many of my colleague's perspectives), when you look out upon an empty sanctuary while folks are at home watching, you at least joke about it. 🙂

It has been a good challenge and learning curve to do church on FB live for the past two weeks.  We've done well.  It was great to add music this past week.  We haven't been without technical difficulties, but there is a huge learning curve and it is in the midst of everything else.

Getting outdoors when it isn't raining has been life saving for me, allowing me to connect with God through creation, restoring my soul.  I didn't know how much I needed that until I got to do it and then until I shared about this past Sunday in my sermon.  It took me by surprise as I shared.  Restoration is healing, as is sharing about it.

Sometimes we give up things unintentionally or because of situations.  I mentioned that we've given up meeting in person for church this Lenten season.  But we haven't given up church or BEING the church.

I have seen the church BE the church in SO MANY ways these past several weeks, in spite of the different and difficult times.  That encourages me.

We have given up the physical touch (outside of our immediate household) of hugs, high fives, fist bumps, and handshakes, etc.  For non touchy folks, this is great.  Though there is physiological research that says we all need touch, so not so fast there.  I have been amazed and proud of my huggy little self for stepping back and not hugging, not fist bumping and not high fiving.  For a Mama Bear, a Free Hug Mom, that is a big step.

As I've said from the pulpit, I try to see the Lenten season as a time of not giving up things, bur rather as a time of taking something on.

I had no idea I would be back into distance learning (I taught online through beadisciple.com and as a language teacher at Chattanooga State and took seminary classes online) offering "Shepherd Check-in and Prayer Request" sessions, our Disciple's Path class, and meeting with multiple other groups via Zoom.

I had no idea I would be going FB live and learning new technology for preaching.

I imagine we are all doing things we had no idea we'd be doing.  Some are cleaning and cooking.  I'm doing some of the latter.  I actually spent time doing the former in my office yesterday.

When I am at work, I am alone, so it's a party of one.  No spreading anything or getting anything.

When I am at home, it is great family time and we try to negotiate study/work/family/etc. time around everything.  Mainly at home, it's all about Cliff.  Cliff rules our home, if you didn't know.

As I live into Lent this year, I continue to see some things unfold that began many years ago and last year.  I recognize things working in me and through me.  It is humbling and exciting, all at the same time.

To live as a beloved child of God who seeks to walk with other beloved children of God is an incredible adventure.

I know things aren't easy right now.  I know things are topsy turvy.  Hang in there.  Take a deep breath.  Breathe in. Breathe out.  Do it again.  It's okay to not feel okay.  Rest.  Allow others to encourage you.  Be.  Simply be.

In closing, I'll share the prayer that I closed out Sunday's sermon with.... I just started praying, but later someone asked me for it.  I told them that it wasn't written down, so they went back and watched the video and transcribed it for me.

Creator God, we come before You this morning, submitting ourselves to You; submitting our needs to You; submitting the many names on the prayer request list; submitting our community to You; submitting the prayer requests that have been sent in via email. We pray for those who are down and in despair. We pray for protection. We pray for healing. We ask that we would stop and listen. Yes, God, that we would stop and listen and that we would know that in this time that we as the church are a faith community and not a building - and that we would not forget that EVER; that we make ways to help those who feel isolated to feel connected and in community more so than ever that we truly are more the church now than we were ever before. God may your Holy Spirit infuse us. May we glow in the dark. May we be the light that you're calling us to be. And all God's children said AMEN.

May the peace of Christ be with you on this adventurous journey,

Rev. Deb

Do We Truly Welcome All to the Table?

A few weeks ago (8/8/17) I wrote a post about the Sidewalk Prophets song, "Come to the Table" because I had first heard it and it struck me as a powerful and inviting song. It also strikes me as a challenging one as I continue to hear it on the radio.

The song invites people to come to the table, all are welcome.  Who they are, how they are.  Welcome.  That's how God accepts them.  What if someone happens to hear that song, believes it, and goes to a church?  Will they find that same grace and acceptance?

What if they aren't dressed the same as those in the church?

What if they have a disability?

What if they are of a different income or perceived standard?

What if they are of a different race, color, or culture?

What if they struggle to speak "our" language?

What if they are different in any way to what we perceive is "the way"?

According to God, all are welcome.  God's grace extends to all people.  If God is willing to be open and loving, then why are we cutting people off from the table?  Why are we putting up walls, rules, boundaries where God did not and does not put them up?

My heart breaks when I am in a room full of Jesus-loving folks who have left the church because the church has betrayed them, hurt them, and/or is no longer a place where God came first and all were welcome at the table.  This gathered body of Jesus followers was and is church, yet with no community because community wasn't living as Jesus instructed.

I understand.

I have seen it recently.  And my heart breaks.

It doesn't matter what you wear.  Come to the table.

It doesn't matter who you are or what you've been through or what you're going through now.  Come to the table.

You are welcome to the table.  God's table.  You are loved.

I hope to live into loving God and loving others (as I love myself) as Jesus taught.

Jesus invited the disciples to breakfast on the beach, he fed folks on the hillside, and in the upper room.  Jesus was about relationship with others around the table.  These were teaching moments for the disciples and others.

As we look around our tables, who is missing? Why are they missing?  Have we forgotten to invite someone to the table?  Have we excluded someone who was previously at the table?  Have we not made room at the table?

May we open ourselves up truly to God as we make our way to the table, seeking forgiveness and grace for those we've ignored, excluded, and turned away.

Then, let's make sure our tables, our churches, our lives are open to God to work in us and through us for the glory of God and the good of the kingdom.

Blessings on your journey,

Debra


Lyrics to "Come to the Table" by Sidewalk Prophets:

We all start on the outside
The outside looking in
This is where grace begins
We were hungry, we were thirsty
With nothing left to give
Oh the shape that we were in
Just when all hope seemed lost
Love opened the door for us

He said come to the table
Come join the sinners who have been redeemed
Take your place beside the Savior
Sit down and be set free
Come to the table

Come meet this motley crew of misfits
These liars and these thiefs
There's no one unwelcome here
So that sin and shame that you brought with you
You can leave it at the door
Let mercy draw you near

Come to the table
Come join the sinners who have been redeemed
Take your place beside the Savior
Sit down and be set free
Come to the table
Come to the table

To the thief and to the doubter
To the hero and the coward
To the prisoner and the soldier
To the young and to the older
All who hunger, all who thirst
All the last and all the first
All the paupers and the princes
All who fail you've been forgiven
All who dream and all who suffer
All who loved and lost another
All the chained and all the free
All who follow, all who lead
Anyone who's been let down
All the lost you have been found
All who have been labeled right or wrong
To everyone who hears this song

Ooh
Come to the table
Come join the sinners you have been redeemed
Take your place beside the Savior
Sit down and be set free
Oooh
Sit down and be set free
Come to the table
Come to the table
Just sit down and rest a while
Just sit down and rest a while
Come to the table

Who Is My Neighbor?

With last Sunday's sermon and Scripture still in my mind, I drove around Rossville, GA today looking for folks who might be out in the parks and need some cold water on this hot day.  Even though I have been in this appointment one year now, I still have lots of places to get to know in the three towns.

That became very obvious just now.

But, before I share that story, I will share that I was able to hand out one bottle of water to a woman at the park who was waiting to go to go her cleaning job. We spoke only briefly.

As I headed back to the office for a meeting, I noticed an "open" neon sign in English on the window in a building next to the church.  In Spanish were the letters "Salon de belleza". I had never noticed that before.
I parked the car and walked over. The front door was locked, but they motioned me around back.

When I went in, there was a guy signing in and another in one of the chairs. I started speaking Spanish with them immediately and explained I had just noticed the sign. I told the I was still getting to know the area after being here a year. I asked how long they had been in business here, right next to the church.  12 years was her reply. 12 years?!? Wow. I guess others in the community who learned I spoke Spanish hadn't noticed it either because nobody has told me about the Spanish shop next door. Now I know.  We spoke briefly.  I left a card and told her I would be back to talk more later.

What a pleasant surprise for me to find out today that a literal neighbor to Simpson UMC is a Spanish beauty shop.

I look forward to getting to know these neighbors.

Have you been surprised by anything in your journey recently?

Blessings on your journey,

Debra

P.S. Here is an article I read about 25 Ways to be missional in your neighborhood. It can be applied to churches too, many of the ideas can be. Get creative and see what you can do in your unique situation.

Study Break... sharing life's lessons from the comic strips

I don't get to read the daily paper thoroughly as often as I'd like.  I want to know what is going on locally, nationally, and internationally.  I also enjoy reading the editorials, the various columns, and the comic strips.  I get lots of life's lessons from the newspaper.  Often, many of them come from the comic strips.  Sometimes there are just some chuckles as I read "Baby Blues" or "Zits" and can relate to the life situations and challenges.  At other times there are things that make me stop and think, those "cause for a pause" moments.

There was a comic strip in the Sunday paper a couple of weeks ago that caught me attention.   It was February 22, 2015.  The comic strip was "Jump Start".  Take a look:

 

http://www.gocomics.com/jumpstart/2015/02/22

Wow!  That last block left me paused, sitting there in silence, waiting.  Waiting for the next frame to miraculously appear and begin to tell me a story of desegregation in the church, but nothing appeared.  It could be that the author did intend to share with us that the young man's church was also desegregated, but the lesson here felt rather like, 'we have learned to live out desegregation in the community, yet we haven't done so well in the church.'  

That's the message I took away from the comic strip.  I don't know if it was the intended message or not.

I am a proponent for multicultural worship.  Add multigenerational to that.  You can add multidenominational (ecumenical) and multilingual if you'd like.  We can learn much from one another when we come together in worship.   Worship for people of different cultures and languages has components of worshiping with heart, mind, soul, and body.  People worship differently.  People tend to worship within their comfort zones, on many levels. 

I also know that for some folks it is important to worship in within one's community, to share the deep and rich traditions, to be able to express oneself freely without feeling out of place.

It's not an either/or situation for me, but rather a both/and. 

An example.  I am Caucasian.  Or white if you prefer that term.  Or non-hispanic as it is listed on some forms.  Most of my life I have worshiped in primarily white congregations.  That is mainly because of where I have lived.   However, take me to to an African American church, a Spanish speaking church,a Native American worship gathering or to Jamaica or Costa Rica and my spirit finds its home in worship there.  I can easily and freely worship within those contexts.  I may look out of place, but my spirit is at home.  

I love the spirituals from the African-American culture.  I enjoy the songs from the African culture that have life in them.  There is a Zulu song, "Walking in the Light of God" (Upper Room Worship Book #433) [similar to "We are Marching"] that I cannot stand still when I hear.  I have to walk.  At our 2 year Academy we would walk around the worship space when we sang that song.  At Soulfeast this past summer, when that song was sung, I couldn't remain still, I started walking.  

If I hear the gospel song "I'll Fly Away", I'm likely to fly.  Yep.  It's true.  I don't always "fly" when I hear that gospel song. In fact, since I felt spirit-led to "fly" a couple of months back in my home church and did..... and later realized the District Superintendent was worshiping with us that morning (GULP!), I am sometimes more hesitant to fly. ☺  However, having said that, if it truly is spirit-led, then my worship is not about me or others, it is about God.  So if you see me skipping, flying, walking, or marching, you can guarantee the Holy Spirit has "ahold" of me.

Worship for me is a time and place to surrender it all to God.  For me to be in community with others who are open to the moving of the Spirit is truly a joyful thing.

Spanish is my 2nd language and I am able to engage in worship in that language.  Another language, silence, has become a powerful language of worship for me over the past several years, teaching me that as I listen and wait in the presence of God I am transformed.

The comic strip "Jump Start" makes a point.  I think the point is that we are a little too segregated still in our worship.  I think we can do more to bring together the kingdom for worship and learn from one another aspects of worship.

The purpose of coming together at church for worship is not about us or our comfort, but rather about God.  Maybe if we were able to keep that perspective, we would be able to be more open to worshiping with others that look, speak, and worship different than ourselves.

Maybe, just maybe, we could get to the point where our churches are desegregated. 

I realize that some churches are doing it well and others are growing in their desegregation, little by little.  I also realize that some folks are happy where they are, regardless of race or language.  

My point in sharing is that this comic strip got me thinking.  Not only did it get me to thinking about how we don't share with one another in worship often enough and therefore miss out on some significant kingdom sharing, but it also got me to reflect on how the Spirit has worked and moved in my own spirit to allow me to worship among God's people.

What about you?  As you read the comic strip, what strikes you?  What reflections does it bring to your mind?

Blessings on your journey!

Debra

P.S.  I thought I would share the Zulu song with you.  I found a version of it.  ☺