Pastoral Ponderings—“Baby, it’s COLD outside…”
On days like today, “Baby it’s COLD outside…” is usually among the first things out of my mouth along with the icy fog on my breath. I want to sing “O what a beautiful morning!”—but it’s the cold that strikes first!
Or not—because cold doesn’t really exist! Use your favorite search engine or ask your favorite science teacher if you don’t believe me. What we describe as “cold” is really the absence of heat. “Heat” is a measure of energy, a “thing” that “is,” while since cold is not a thing, but an absence, it cannot actually be measured. I was shocked when someone first pointed this out to me! How can something so real as our experience of cold, not be real at all! The thermometer says it’s only 9 degrees out this morning– if that’s not COLD, what do you call it?!
My favorite artificially intelligent internet scientist friend says “Temperature is a measure of the average kinetic energy of atoms in an object or space. The more energy the atoms have, the hotter the temperature.” The more the movement, the more energy that we perceive as warmth is present.
So why the science lesson, when we just want to bundle up in our blankies with our hot cocoa? For the spiritual insight “cold” brings, of course! (even though cold doesn’t exist!) We often either hear or bemoan the fact that “it’s a cold, hard world,” which all too often seems so true. And when loneliness, the lack of human warmth and connection is called an epidemic by our most senior public health officer, perhaps it’s as factual as can be.
If people around us experience the world as a cold, hard place, and warmth comes from movement, what movement are we making in relation to those around us, to help bring warmth into their lonely lives? If we’re being blessed in our churches, or helping people in some distant place, but our cold, lonely neighbors aren’t there, sure, that’s warmth, but at best, only the warmth of a fire in the distance. Doing for others, even in the distance, is always a great thing—but when Jesus calls us to love our neighbors, I doubt He just means our neighbors in the distance. He likely also means our neighbors in the most ordinary sense of the word, our neighbors breathing the same air we do.
Make the movement to bring some warmth to your neighbors. On a day that the temperature never makes it out of the teens, even the warmth of store-bought cookie dough creations would certainly be welcome! Keep being a blessing of warmth!
–Pastor Jim