Pastoral Ponderings—Dreary

“’Tis the season to be … dreary?”—not quite how the song generally goes, but it certainly could be an appropriate song hereabouts for this time of year. Someone I was talking with recently we bemoaning the weather, and I quipped back, “We’ll likely get to see the sun again around the middle of March…” For some strange reason, she didn’t find my response very helpful.

Sometimes it’s more than just the weather that feels dreary in our lives—whether your life situation, an illness, depression, current events or whatever. I was feeling a bit of that on one of the more dreary days recently when I took the attached picture, with the intent of the reminder that the sun will shine again, and that poem I recently mentioned floating through my head—“I believe in the sun, even when it is not shining, I believe in love even when no one is there, I believe in God even when He is silent…”

I’ve been in an airplane more than enough not to doubt that the sun still shines, when, on dreary days like that, taking off and climbing in altitude until all of a sudden we break through into the brightest of sunshine. The sun does still shine—even if to say so is a statement of a faltering faith.

Thanksgiving reminds us that it is in GIVING thanks—not in “feeling” thanks—that we find the blessings! (Besides, a holiday called “Thanks-FEELING” just doesn’t have much of a ring to it!). Have you noticed how much it lifts your own spirits when you deliver a smile or laugh to someone else who needs it too? Give it a try if you haven’t lately!

Find someone to bless this Thanksgiving, and find yourself even more blessed! After all, the sun IS still shining, even when we don’t see it, and it always starts to shine through the clouds when you help others see it too. Let your little light shine!—Pastor Jim

PS—Though we’re still eager to clearly discern and share the kind of vision that helps us better share with others, we’ve not had any takers on the leadership retreat, so we’ll need to pray, discern, and talk more about it among ourselves—which we can continue both in informal conversation, as well as in our times together, so keep on praying!

Pastoral Ponderings—What’s next?—Nov. 5, 2024

So the big day is upon us—time to vote!  The way things have been looking in the past few weeks and months, no matter what happens, many of our friends and neighbors will be happy, many will be angry.  Yet some way or other, we’ve got to move forward.  No better time than this to remind all, ourselves included, of our Campaign for Kindness—and the bit of wisdom on our sign, and similar signs from more than a thousand other churches around the country—“Do unto others” as you would have them do unto you.

Such a simple rule, yet so powerful, you might even call it “golden”!  I’ve a professor whose life’s research was focused on truth, beauty and goodness across time and cultures.  One of the books he wrote coming out of this life of research, was focusing on the fact that most cultures and religions around the world have some version in their own words expressing that same virtue—to treat others in kind, respectful ways, as we ourselves would like to be treated.  Regardless of whether we agree with those others or not, whether they are friends or not, whether we like them or not—still, treat others with the same respect and kindness that we ourselves might want.

And regardless of which way the election goes.  Isn’t that what Jesus would do?  And isn’t that our primary calling in life—to be like Jesus?  Regardless of how this or any election, or any worldly mess turns out.  Be like Jesus.

So what’s next?  I don’t know, but whatever it is, I hope it includes loving your neighbor, regardless of how you or they voted!

Do unto others.  It’s the Jesus way.  And no matter what, keep on praying!–   Pastor Jim

Pastoral Ponderings–Clinging to the Good

Darling Wife Karol has been preparing for a hike that I don’t get to go on.  Karol is helping our Army kiddo move across country for the new assignment in California—and they’re doing a stop by the Grand Canyon for a hike to break up the drive—I’m jealous!  So we’ve been taking some hikes to help her get ready, and rediscovered I suppose you might say, the Nelson Ledges trail, only about a half hour from our place.

I’ve always found such rocky wonderlands fascinating in so many ways, not the least of which is how huge trees can seemingly defy gravity, and cling to the walls of such cliffs.  Is there a message in that phenomenon for us?

If huge trees can defy the powerful forces of gravity to cling to rock walls, can’t we perhaps do the same?  Our faith proclaims in so many ways, to cling to the GOOD, live a love that encompasses everyone, including our enemies.  Is our faith as strong as these kind of trees, or will we instead, lose grip on the good, and fall away?  Which is stronger, our faith, or those pernicious forces that would glorify the language of hate, prejudice, fear-mongering, and other nasty things?

Dig our roots deeply into the good, into the grace that God offers, into the love God calls us to, whether in good times or bad, whether we agree or disagree, whether we are welcomed or disparaged, this is the way Jesus showed to “hold fast to the good” (I Thes. 5: 21)!

Keep on keepin’ on in our Jesus walk—Rev. Jim

Pastoral Ponderings—Liquid Church?

Have you ever wondered what is so mesmerizing about the beauty of a river scene, especially at sunset?  This attached photo is of the Cuyahoga River at sunset from our recent hike in the CVNP.  Many of my favorite pictures are water scenes at sunset, and as I’m looking at it, I’m thinking that part of what is so mesmerizing is the interplay of the different facets and colors in the image, and that it almost feels like you can see the movement and hear the gurgling and the breeze, even though it’s just a picture.

You may have heard Karol or I mentioning something about “Liquid Church,” and been wondering what that might be about.  You have the chance to begin to get the feel of Liquid Church this Sunday, when we are beginning to demonstrate facets of what that might mean.  The label “Liquid Church” is what was used at a service we attended during our continuing education time away this summer.  Maybe it earned that name because it is a way of doing church that builds on the beauty of the interplay of different reflections of light, in the same way that the beauty of a river scene grows out of the interplay of different reflections of light on and around the river.

“Break-Out Church” was suggested for what may be a more helpful description of Liquid Church, because in its full-blown format, it may have two, three or even four break-out sessions running at the same time, exploring different facets of the same theme.  We’ll only be looking at one of the ways that these break-outs might look this Sunday, but each facet is intended to be a bite-sized piece of the theme under discussion that can be led by most anyone.

In the same way that a river scene is a thing of beauty to draw you in, Liquid Church (or “Break-Out Church”), while a little different, is also designed to be a thing of beauty to draw you in—in this case, to better draw you into the experience of the Gospel in our worship setting.  I look forward to this experiment in worship with you, and to the opportunity to experience many more reflections of the light and beauty of God’s Good News as presented in this form of worship.  See you Sunday!—Pastor Jim

Pastoral Ponderings—Sourpuss

Have you ever been somewhere that’s supposed to be a healing, helping place, but instead, was a place that exuded negativity and a sour feel?  We had an emergency room visit recently where I want to use the word “curmudgeon” to describe the staff, but while that would fit the men (seems to be a masculine term), there were many “sourpuss” types of all kinds “helping” as well.

That was NOT a very helpful experience, so when it looked like it would still be untold hours until we got real help, we went to a different emergency room, and got in right away.  At this facility, the security guard was the first one to greet us with the biggest of jovial smiles, and his kindly greeting was only the first of many, where the whole staff greeted us and helped us with the most caring, positive of spirits.

You’ve likely experienced this kind of dramatic difference that attitude makes in places of hope and healing.  We’ve used a Bible study in recent years called “Lord, Change my Attitude,” that you’ll be hearing more about in the coming months, and which recognizes that some attitudes can not only get in the way of our walk with God, but hurt others as well, while other attitudes can bring the hope and transforming grace from God—just with a change of attitude.

What attitudes are you expressing and living?  How do your attitudes impact yourself, your loved ones, even strangers? Do your attitudes bring hope, healing and grace, or  might they put obstacles in peoples’ lives, and in their relationship with God?  And did you know that you can change your attitudes, to bring blessings to others, rather that wounding?

Sometimes we wonder if we really can have much of an impact on others, wondering, “who do I know,” but even when we might feel like we’re hermits, our paths do, and CAN cross a variety of others’ paths each day!  Though living alone for 8 years, my mom blessed countless dogs (and their people!) every day with her daily walks, with only the expense of a hot dog or two each day (broken into bits for her canine friends…).  Most anyone can take a walk—and share smiles and blessings each day—with both two-legged and four-legged friends.  And that can be all it takes and change sourpusses into smiles!

Might not be easy to change attitudes—but as with the title of this study, we can all pray—“Lord, Change my Attitude,” to bring divine help to this difficult challenge.

Lord, change my attitude—that I can shine the Light of Your blessings wherever I am!

—Pastor Jim

Pastoral Ponderings—Wild Turkeys

It may seem strange to think of a sighting of something as ugly as wild turkeys the kind of blessing to get excited about, but I’ve been called wors

e than strange before, and I get it naturally from my mom.  During her visit, she’s been eager for any sighting of wildlife other than the typical squirrel, chipmunk or bird, and she’s been disappointed not to have seen any deer yet.  But yesterday, I was excited to be able to share a sighting of turkeys wandering across our yard yesterday.

I’ve seen turkeys wandering around a few times each year, and this time with my mom here, I got more curious, so looked up a bit about their roosting habits and more, and found a posting on the yelps and cackles turkeys make in their version of “Good morning” to their turkey families, and realized I’ve heard that a number of times before without even realizing what it was, and in fact heard it again this morning, though without a sighting.  Blessings I’ve been missing from just not knowing what to notice!

Isn’t that the way with so many other blessings—we miss so many from just not noticing, or not knowing what to look (or listen) for!  In generations past, it was pretty common for people in their ordinary conversations to share about God’s blessings around us, but as our society has become more secularized, that kind of language has fallen into disuse, with the consequent loss of our being as aware of, or of noticing God’s blessings in our ordinary lives.

Jesus often used the phrase “he who has eyes, let them see,” or likewise, “he who has ears, them them hear.”  Maybe we’re not the only ones who have a hard time noticing what God is up to around us!  I challenge you to keep your eyes open—learn the signs of how to see or hear God’s blessings, as I’m learning more about recognizing the presence of wild turkeys around me, to be able to be more aware of how God is at work today, even in our ordinary lives—might even make for some good “God sightings” to share!

Keep your eyes peeled or you might not see it!  Pastor Jim

Pastoral Ponderings—Why? 

As my mom is recovering from her not-so-terrible bout with COVID, I couldn’t tell you how many episodes of Dick Van Dyke she watched, but they did bring her first giggles after COVID.  But as much as I love Dick Van Dyke, the same series over and over was getting a bit much.  So, exploring more, we stumbled into a semi-documentary type series about mysteries found at museums.

My mom and I share a deep love of museums of all sorts, so the show caught our attention.  The several episodes of the show we watched were full of fascinating mysteries.  One of the museums they took us to was outside of Niagara Falls, with artifacts of people who had willingly gone over the falls, whether in barrels, giant rubber balls, steel boats, and more.  But why?

Why willingly, even eagerly enough to invest significant money and energy into the effort to risk life and limb, leading to likely death or painful bodily crunching are people so drawn to the risks of daredevils?  And as for everyone watching on, why?  What were they hoping to see when they opened that barrel, boat or ball?  People are really weird!

I know what I think when people carelessly handle or MIS-handle something I’ve carefully pored over, crafted and loved.  What must Jesus think about how we so carelessly MIS-handle His beautiful human creations?  And yet against all odds, He loves us still.  Does that make Jesus a daredevil too, that He would so carelessly risk shattering His great love on the treacherous rocks below?

With Jesus’ daredevil antics of careless, risky love, are we those who are eager to watch on with gruesome glee to see what will come of Jesus’ perilous love?  We might also be those who stay in town, shaking heads and the silliness of such thrill-seekers—but either way, or even if we are like those risking it all going over the falls—do we realize that we are the ones whom Jesus is risking it all to love?  Jesus must be crazy too—crazy in love with me and you!    — Pastor Jim

Pastoral Ponderings—Pollen Pockets

I have one bee hive going right now because I lost one earlier in the summer, and this one is not in the best shape, so likely has only around 15,000 bees in it (a typical healthy hive has between 30-40k bees).  I’m hoping the hive will be able to survive the winter, and to do that, they are busy as bees collecting pollen and making honey.

I’ve been fascinated this week when checking the bees to see big, bright pouches of pollen on their little bee legs (likely from the goldenrod my allergies hate!).  Well, “big” is quite the relative term—on bees’ knees, a “big” pollen pouch is the size of a pin-head.  But that little pin-head’s worth of pollen, tiny as it is, along with thousands of other pin-heads’ worth of pollen collected over time, is usually enough to many feed thousands of tiny little bee tummies all winter, to set the stage for a wonderful honey harvest the following season!

Do you ever feel like what little you do for God’s sake—maybe just a pinhead’s worth of good, is hardly even noticeable, let alone worthwhile or meaningful?  If those bees thought that though, and stopped collecting their little bits at a time, their hive would starve!  Likewise, there’s a wonderful little story about a squirrel sitting on a branch in a heavy snow, asking the wise old owl how much a snowflake weighs.  “Nothing,” replied the owl, “Less than nothing.”  They continued to watch together in silence as the snow continued to collect on the branch, until a few more wet snowflakes landed, and the branch broke off and fell to the ground.

What seems like nothing, even less than nothing– whether bee pollen, snowflakes, or the small blessings and kindnesses we share with those around us—does add up!  Keep on keepin’ on—and as each of us stays busy as bees doing our little parts of God’s work, those little bits of blessing build up together to do Great Things to nourish others through the dark, cold seasons we all experience, and bring about a great harvest in due time!  Keep being a blessing—or to paraphrase Dr. Seuss’s memorable line—“A blessing’s a blessing, no matter how small!” (BONUS POINTS for identifying where the quote came from!).              — Pastor Jim

Pastoral Ponderings—Recipe for Gold

Take three eggs, a bit of water, mix’em up real good, dip your bread in it, lightly soaking both sides, then toss it on the griddle; repeat.  Dress it up with a bit of powdered sugar sprinkled on top and some home-made blackberry syrup (that’s optional—the mama just wanted it plain anyway!), and serve it up with one of your favorite humans.  Enjoy a giggling breakfast together—simple as that!

Cooking up golden moments is probably not what alchemists of old had in mind, but sharing such moments with my visiting mom is even more valuable than anything all the alchemists put together could ever come up with.  While you’d likely enjoy sharing such golden moments with my mom too, you probably have some of your own favorite humans that might work out better for your golden moments.

I can imagine Jesus having cooked up such golden, giggling moments with his mom too—and He could have even used the same ingredients—though it likely would have been date syrup rather than blackberry syrup.  After all, Jesus was well aware of the Big Ten calling us to “honor your father and mother” too.

And we even see such a moment at the end of the Gospel of John when He’s cooking up a golden moment of breakfast with other of His favorite humans on the beach. Likely they were also giggling together over “throw the net over the OTHER side,” the look on the guys’ faces when they recognized Him, and Peter putting his clothes ON to jump in the water, and sputtering his way to shore (have you ever tried swimming with your clothes on?  Peter was obviously NOT thinking clearly!).

Our lives are usually too rushed.  Cook up a few golden moments of your own, and share a few giggles while you can.  A part of the value of such moments is in how fleeting they are.  Bless someone with golden moments today! – Rev. Jim