hope

Times, they are a-changin’….

Changing time

Tonight people in my part of the world will change their clocks forward one hour before they go to bed (or their computers and smart phones will do this automatically, in the middle of the night). I have to admit, this is a nervous time for me. I once messed the time change up so bad that I arrived at the church where I was doing pulpit supply the next morning, 10 minutes before worship. Usually, I’d be there a good hour in advance. To say it was nerve-wracking is to understate it in the extreme.

So tonight will be a somewhat restless night for me. I know this. I suffer through it when the time changes twice a year. It is not my favorite night of the year, by far.

But there is something good – no, something GREAT – about the time change. It is sign of Spring. It is a sign that though the snow and ice are still present all around us, thought the wind may still be bitter at times, Spring is coming. The time is passing. Not long, now, until plants start to bud and the world grows green again.

Though we might not see the change, looking out our windows to a world that still resembles winter, the change is happening. Even now, the world prepares for new life.

I am reminded of a verse in Isaiah:

I am about to do something new.
It is beginning to happen even now.
Don’t you see it coming?
I am going to make a way for you
to go through the desert.
I will make streams of water in the dry and empty land.
Isaiah 43:19 NIRV

The journey through Lent is like this. We journey toward new life. Even now, we are drawing towards the Empty Tomb. Even now, God is preparing an Easter Sunday for us to celebrate. That has always been God’s work, and always will be.

I pray your eyes – my eyes! – will be open to seeing the new thing God is doing, even as it begins to happen. (Please take a moment to pray for the pastor(s) in your life…we really do struggle on Time Change Sundays!)

I am, you are…

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I came across this on Facebook recently. It was one of those days when things weren’t going right, and I needed something to let me know it’s all going to be okay.

You know days like this? They start when you get out of bed and knock over the glass on your bedside table…spilling water and shattered glass everywhere. Then you find you are running late and no matter how hard you try to rush, you fall further and further behind. When you try to get a bit of grocery shopping, you discover you left the list at home and though you try to remember it all, you aren’t able to do so and you know you’ll have to find time to make another trip to the store. Someone makes a remark, and it’s the kind of thing that would normally slide right off your back, but this time it digs beneath your skin and you feel the sting of it hours, or even days, later. The dog bites, the bee stings, and you’re feeling sad.

Instead of thinking of brown paper packages tied up with strings on days like that…I want to remember whose I am. Because at the end of the day, when everything is a mess, if I belong to God – who is peace, joy, strength, comfort, creator, and all the other things that God is revealed to be in the Bible – then the forgotten groceries, the shattered glass, the cutting remark, the bee sting…they all lose their power over me. The power rests instead with the One who created it all, who sent His Son to lay down his life that I (and you!) would be able to be with him forever. I am His. And in that I find my true identity, my true rest, my true hope.

So whether you’ve had one of those days, or whether everything has been just fine – be encouraged my friends. You are HIS. Nothing can ever change that.

When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Ephesians 3:14-19 NLT

Troubled waters…

I always find January a difficult month. I think it is a bit of lag from the excitement and busy-ness of the Christmas season. I think it is partially that I really struggle with the winter season – I don’t like having to put on hat, scarf, mitts, coat and sensible boots every time I want to go outside. I love that in summer all I have to do is grab a pair of flipflops and go.

Right now, in my town, there is ice EVERYWHERE. As a dedicated walker, this makes my day much more difficult. I am managing to get my walks in, but I am only going half the distance I usually would, and a good part of the time on my walk is spent concentrating on not wiping out.

I think it is also a little bit of the fact that it gets dark early and the days are often grey and dull here. I don’t think I have full-on Seasonal Affective Disorder, but I know I struggle more during the winter months.

I was thinking on this morning’s walk that I need to spend some time in gratitude. That is usually a great solution for the difficult days or the times of struggle.

And then, I found this on pinterest:

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Can I tell you how much I love this theology? For me, any time of struggle is an opportunity to draw closer to God, to depend upon Him, to learn from Him. And any time spent drawing closer, depending upon and learning from God results in cleansing. Sometimes the learning is as simple as: I have forgotten gratitude, and I need to return to it. Sometimes it’s more difficult to figure out what the learning is meant to be.

But either way, I believe that any time we are facing trials – whether we’d term them troubled waters, wandering in the wilderness, or something else entirely – God has a good purpose to redeem our suffering.That doesn’t make the suffering easy, it doesn’t make it fun, but it does make it worth going through.

So today I choose to be thankful. And here’s my list of things I am thankful for on this day:
-good friends who speak wise, comforting and supportive words (you know who you are!)
-my best friend, a boxer-mix named Koski who always knows when I need an extra cuddle (how DOES she do that?)
-a community of faith that reminds me that I never walk this journey alone
-improvement (slow though it may be) in the state of the sidewalks where Koski and I walk each day (improvement, slow or fast, is always a good thing…it’s moving in the right direction)
-a gym that is close by, has a great class schedule, and doesn’t cost an arm and a leg (take any one of those details away, and I bet my fitness routine would tank!)
-sunshine on our walk this morning – the light shines in the darkness, my friends, and the darkness has never been able to put it out.

I encourage you to take a moment to think about things you are grateful for this day. Try to be specific. For example, “faith” is always a reason for gratitude, but focusing that down to something like “the knowledge that God is with me and others are praying for me,” will help you see the details that make “faith” a reason for gratitude.

And I leave you today, with this – my life verse, which always reminds me that even in tough moments, God is with me and for me:

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
Romans 8:28

So many good things…

Yesterday was a great day. One of those days when your heart is so full and your spirit so uplifted that you wonder if you might just break apart at the seams. I fell into my bed exhausted last night without enough energy to eek out a blog post, so I am doing what I have rarely done, and blogging in the morning rather than the evening. I will try to round up all that happened yesterday (and I already know I will fail to convey it properly!).

This year General Assembly took time to highlight some “good news” stories within the Presbyterian Church in Canada. Here is what I heard:

-congregations CAN change and grow and experience new life…often (sadly) this happens once the stench of death is in the nostrils of the congregants, once they are staring at their tombstones. With so many of our congregations in dire straights…maybe (just maybe!) we are on the door of a true revival in the PCC

-Ministers need to be healthy – emotionally, spiritually and physically. I know this, but my friend and colleague the Rev. Matthew Ruttan spoke boldly and honestly about his own time of failing health, his struggle and the steps he took to regain his health. He spoke about getting a counselor and a mentor, he told us that the provisions made for clergy to get counseling in our benefits package is not enough. It made my heart sing to see a colleague willing to make himself vulnerable at the front of the court, for the sake of bringing an important message to those who needed to hear it. He reminded us that our congregations cannot be healthy if our clergy are not healthy.

-small churches can make a big difference through strategic partnerships with community organizations. Lynn Donovan’s story of St. Andrew’s Picton’s “circle of friends” – a term used to describe the church’s relationship with artists, musicians, and organizations within Prince Edward County, who help the church make a difference to the community around them – was nothing short of inspiring.

-Kennon Callaghan has important things to say. His name came up in many of the good news stories. I would encourage churches to check him out and see if they might learn from him.

-good news is life-giving. Again, this is obvious…but also vitally important to remember. We are good at beating ourselves up. As a denomination we suffer from low self-esteem. But low self-esteem is not healthy. It is not life-giving. Negative talk becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. We NEED to hear the good news. We NEED to share the ways that God is at work among us. We NEED it like we need water or air or the news of the Resurrection.

There is more that I could share, I’m sure. But in the interest of keeping this to a digestible length, I will share just one more thing. Our worship last night was beautiful. There was such diversity in that service – there was a rockin’ praise band, classical instruments, a mass Korean choir singing The Battle Hymn of the Republic in Korean, there was printed responsive liturgy, there were extemporaneous prayers. The word was passionately preached. There was silence. There were men’s voices and women’s voices.  There were lay leaders and ordained leaders. There were younger voices and older voices. And over all of it, was the unifying Spirit of the Almighty God. I wish I could have brought every Presbyterian into the room. It was easily one of the best services I have been at in my life.

I need to express my deep gratitude to God, who indeed made us one in worship last evening.

Longings…

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Currently I’m sitting in a gym in Scarborough at Seneca College. I am here for the 139th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Canada. For the un-initiated, the General Assembly (I will refer to it as: GA, Assembly, #ga139) is the superior court of the Presbyterian Church in Canada. The Assembly meets once a year (near or at the beginning of June) and consists of 1/3 of the ordained ministers in our church and an equalizing number of elders (lay leaders within the church). We meet to discern God’s will for our church and to rule on points of church governance. The Assembly meets in a different location every year (the last time I was at Assembly, it was in Sydney, Nova Scotia!).

Assembly can be mind-numbing and frustrating at times, but it can also be a place of hope for the future of our church, a place where we remember that we are in this together, a place where we can encourage each other in being the hands and feet of Jesus reaching out to a world in need.

One of things I have heard more than once in conversation so far in this Assembly, is the longing for our church to be healthy and vital. This makes me smile. Because I have heard so often the concerns and problems that we face. I have heard so often the fear and the frustration with our church. I have heard so often the difficulties and the lack of solutions.

To hear, instead, a longing for health and vitality is a very good thing. Two years ago I longed to be healthier, to be slimmer, to be stronger. And then I made some decisions about how I eat and what I do with my time. Today I am healthier, slimmer and stronger. This trend in my personal life will only continue.

As a church, as we long for health and vitality, we also have the ability to make some good decisions about how we do things. And if we follow through on those decisions, we will find ourselves healthier and more vital. I believe this is what God longs for, for us. I believe there is hope for our future. I believe that the honest, heart-felt longings that I am hearing expressed may be the powerful catalyst that this church needs to embrace a better future.

Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself
and God our Father,
who loved us and by his grace
gave us eternal comfort and a wonderful hope,
comfort you and strengthen you
in every good thing you do and say.
2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 NLT

Spring!

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I have made it clear, I think, that I am not a big fan of the winter. If I had my way, it would last until about Jan. 7th and then we would head right into Spring.

Clearly that’s not what happens in the part of the world where I live. And since I am not all that interested in moving elsewhere, I will probably always find myself a little grumpy in February, March and April.

But right now I am so very pleased. The past two days have seemed to skip past Spring and head right on into summer. The skies have been blue, the birds have been singing, the breezes have been warm. And it does my heart so much good. My spirits lift and I am reminded that God is here. In every new flower, every bursting bud, every bright birdsong, I see the fingerprints of joy creator and I am thankful for new life.

I hope that you have been able to get outside in the last couple of day – to go for a walk or simply sit in the sunshine.

I hope, no matter what life is throwing at you, that your spirits are lifted by the natural beauty that surrounds us. I hope you are at to accept the gift God is giving us.

O Lord, what a variety of things you have made! In wisdom you have made them all. The earth is full of your creatures.
Psalms 104:24 NLT

For Boston…

Boston

Yesterday was the Boston Marathon. And someone decided it would be a good idea to set off some bombs near the finish line. People bled, people were seriously wounded and people died.

It’s all that the media is talking about, and on social media there is post after post. Some are angry that someone decided to do something so senselessly hurtful. Some are frustrated that the media becomes so focused on the tragedy – repeating the same facts over and over, perhaps giving too much attention to the perpetrators of the attack. Some just want to express sorrow that we live in a world in which things like this happen. And some vow to never allow incidents like this to dull or defeat the human spirit.

I have to admit, those are my favorite posts. Whether it’s the quote from Mr. Rogers about how his Mom taught him to always look for the helpers in these situations; or the comment that if someone was trying to defeat the human spirit with these attacks, perhaps marathon runners were not the right targets; or the endless posts declaring the prayers being said for the city and its inhabitants – I like this line of thinking. I like the reaction to terrible things that says “I will not let the terrible thing be the end of the story, I will find something good to focus on, even in the midst of this tragedy.”

I think Jesus would have liked that line of thinking too. I am praying for the individuals affected by this tragedy. I am praying for the families who have lost someone they love. I am praying for the city, that it might heal and endure. But most of all, I am praying for humanity. That we can learn to find a better way. That we will live to see a day when stories like this only exist in history books. That we would not allow this to turn our hearts to anger or cruelty, but that we would learn to love each other more, and to sow kindness and reap its rewards.

I am praying.

 I’m not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back.

Philippians 3:12-14 MSG

Legacy…

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In the community of faith, where I serve as Associate Minister, we have suffered a number of losses in the past 9 months or so. Many of these have been sudden and unexpected. Death comes to us all, and the Bible tells us that our days are numbered. No one knows when or how their life will end.

Most of us live as though we have an endless supply of time. But we don’t. And I’ve been thinking about what it means to leave a legacy once you are gone. When I think of the church members we have lost, I am touched to be able to say that each one made an impact on me. If asked, I could speak about the legacy these followers of Jesus built up over their lifetime…even though I only knew them for a couple of years.

I am not saying they were perfect people – none of us are – but they lived and loved in ways that would cause God to say “Well done!” when their lives were over.

Though I often get a lot of good-natured teasing in the church about my age (people always think I’m younger than I am, but at 37 years old, I am still on the very young end of the scale in church world), I feel like I am more aware than I have ever been about the passing of time and how very short life can be.

Each kindness we do to another, each time we give a little hope to someone in despair, each time we great another with a smile or a hug – we are building up a legacy. When we do these things we are being Christ to others. And that is the best legacy of all. As we do these things, we are ‘storing up treasures in Heaven’ and putting our hearts in exactly the right place.

So if there is someone in your life who could use a kindness or a word of hope, or a hug or a smile, do not hesitate to be generous with these things. Time may be short, but we all can choose to live in a way that brings Heaven to Earth and gives glory to God.

But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven,
where moths and vermin do not destroy,
and where thieves do not break in and steal.
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Matthew 6:20-21 NLT

Emotional complications…

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With the tragic shootings a Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut have come a whole slew of different reactions. Some call for the banning of assault weapons, others wonder whether teachers should carry guns. Some find comfort in the thought of these children being united with Jesus in heaven, others cannot find any comfort at all. I read an article today that said this is not the time for dancing or celebrating anything. I certainly respect anyone who feels their grief too keenly to engage in any celebration at the moment, but I also know there are others who find that even in their sorrow there is cause for celebration…there are reasons to smile and laugh. Life never occurs in a vacuum, or in neat, compartmentalized boxes.

It’s kind of a mess, and things are mixed up together. At every funeral I have ever presided over, there has been laughter through the tears. And I believe that’s the way it is meant to be. A life lived fully is a life where conflicting emotions are experienced together. Where joy and sorrow meet. Where the cradle dwells in the shadow of the cross. Where defeat and victory are experienced in the same event. That’s what Jesus’ story is all about. We have a way of white-washing it, of making it all pretty and nice, but the mess always existed in the story.

Take the shepherds and the angels for example:

That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”

Luke 2:8-12

Do you see that little phrase in the center of the passage? “They were terrified.” All heaven is breaking loose, with the best news ever, but the shepherds were terrified.

Because life is kind of messy, and you don’t expect all heaven to break loose in the midst of the night shift. Terror in the midst of joy. That is the mess of life. These things go together, and make the story more beautiful, in the end.

Not to give tomorrow’s passage away, but the shepherds will turn from terror into rejoicing. They will find their joy.

But for me, I’m glad to read that little phrase in the center of this passage. I am glad to know that I’m not the only one who knows what it means to feel more than one emotion at once. I’m glad to get to live this messy, confused, crazy life. And to know that it doesn’t always have to make sense.

Joy and sorrow can coexist within us, because God made us to be emotionally complex beings. I hope you can find some joy, even when sorrow seems to be all around. I hope, like the shepherds, though you may feel terror, you will not dwell there indefinitely. I hope you can hear the good news of great joy that is for all the people.

Sunday of Joy…

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I always appreciate being at church after a tragedy. Not that I ever want a tragedy to occur, but when they do, being in worship with my family of faith is a blessing. I remember my Dad preaching words of hope and comfort after 9/11, in those first few weeks when it still felt like maybe the world was ending. I remember how beautiful it was to sing and pray and read words of hope and of peace in that very troubling time.

On the one hand it was hard to be at worship today – my emotions over the Connecticut school shootings are still very close to the surface. On the other hand, I was so relieved and blessed to be there. For some it might have felt like it was ironic in a terrible, terrible way that today is the Advent Sunday of Joy.

But for me, it felt right. Not because I want to just smile and laugh and ignore the pain. But because I believe that joy is stronger than pain. That joy can be felt in the midst of pain. And that joy can help to heal our wounds.

So my smile was wobbly today in worship. My tissue was drenched by the end of the service, and my eyes and nose were red. But there were so many good things that happened in my community of faith today. We baptized a baby. We listened to our children sing and play the handbells. We laughed. We danced (does this mean our Presbyterian card will be revoked?!). We sang Go Tell It On The Mountain at the top of our voices and clapping broke out.

And God was with us. God was drawing us together. God was healing us. God was blessings us.

In the Gospel According to Matthew we find these words:

All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet:

“Look! The virgin will conceive a child!
She will give birth to a son,
and they will call him Immanuel,
which means ‘God is with us.’”

When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife. But he did not have sexual relations with her until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus.

Matthew 1:22-25 NLT

Jesus came so that we would know that God is with us. On the good days, on the bad days, on the ordinary days. Jesus came so that we would know God cares and so that we would know what it is to experience the joy of being unconditionally loved.

So that we would have a joy inside us that shines in the midst of darkness, that smiles through the haze of tears, that sings and claps, even when our hearts are broken.