Pastoral Ponderings—Alone, but not…

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It was too early for Karol to join me, so I was alone for the hearty tasty start to my Veterans Day rounds.  Shout out to Dennys, and the many other places who show appreciation in hearty and tangible ways!  Yet I was not alone.  I was one of the first to enjoy Denny’s hospitality on this cold, icy morning.  But I was seated by the door—and received many nods of greeting and welcome from others coming in—strangers, yet comrades to the core.

While I waited for the tastes and aroma of hospitality and appreciation, I was reconnecting online with several of my friends in uniform from days gone by.  So while I was physically alone, I was not really alone at all!  I often heard in my Ohio Guard and my deployment days “One team, one fight!” recognizing that while we were all coming from different places, settings and backgrounds, together we were a team—and now, spread out all over, we are still “together” as a team, even in our diaspora.

Why is it so rare, even in the church world, to recognize that same camaraderie, that same “one team, one fight” spirit, despite differences in settings, contexts, backgrounds, and focus?  Why can the mere call of “O-H” elicit such a sense of camaraderie–even if far from OH?  Yet such obvious markers of faith can be so divisive—especially when Jesus Himself, in one of His most important prayers, says with the power of Gospel Truth, “I pray that they might be one, even as You and I are One”?

Happy Veterans day—and thanks to those who served and sacrificed so much.  Any praying that one day, veterans of spiritual battles may one day also feel such strong camaraderie.   – Pastor Jim, Chaplain (Lt. Col., retired)  USAR, OHARNG

 

Pastoral Ponderings– Morning Fog

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Pastoral Ponderings– Morning Fog

I’ve always loved catching pictures of the morning fog—other than pictures of my favorite people in memorable situations, morning fog pics are among my favorites.  I’ve sometimes wondered what it is about such pictures that I love so much, and it might be how the fog, by how it obscures the background, highlights whatever the focus really is.

I wonder if a morning fog picture can help us better navigate life?  I’m not thinking here of any high-brow understanding of how “art” helps us see what is real, but what the importance of focus is in what we actually notice.  You know how when you’re in a crowded or high-stimulation place—a store, a mall (do people still go to malls?) an airport, a city street—and you’re having a conversation with Someone Truly Important?  There may be a plethora of things going on around you that COULD command your attention (squirrel!), but you’re focused, and can see and actually hear and attend to what is Important.

That seems natural enough—yet how often do we go through life distracted by that which is less important, including pain of whatever sort—rather than focusing on Truth, Beauty and Goodness.  I’ve been reflecting on my dad’s death, now almost 12 years ago, the family gathering around his hospice been, soaking in the love, the laughter, the precious time.  Despite his impending death, it was a Truly Happy and Blessed time.

How could that be?  Because of our focus—perhaps the morning fog was obscuring all that was distracting and inconsequential, so we could focus on the Truth, Goodness and Beauty of the moment.

Thank God for the morning fog, and what it highlights!  Pastor Jim (Philippians 4:8-9)

Pastoral Ponderings—Trunk or Treat!

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Pastoral Ponderings—Trunk or Treat!

I must confess, I was one of the skeptics this year.  When we had done Trunk or Treat on rainy nights in the past, our turnout has been as dreary as the weather, so when the forecast for Sunday night when Trunk or Treat had been scheduled had been nothing but rain all afternoon and all night, I was voting for a postponement.  But we didn’t, and that’s my God-sighting for the week!

Our Twin Falls church still held Trunk or Treat despite the rain, but moved it inside, and had more than fifty participants at best count, with half of them being folks from the neighborhood who are not a part of the church.  For an outreach event, that’s a wonderful turnout!

For churches eager to connect with young families in the community, there’s not much better than a trunk or treat type event that kids and adults can look forward to and eagerly explore a place even as scary as a church!  But when we can welcome catacorns (that’s a cat unicorn-didn’t even know that was a thing!), alicorns (that’s a flying rainbow unicorn), skeletons, giant pizza slices and “Ice, Ice Baby” all at once, that seems to both alleviate the intimidation factor, and add to the fun factor.  The event, fueled by the warmth of our inviting church folk, was a great way of demonstrating the breadth of the welcoming nature of God’s grace!

If this sounds like a great way to be the Church, but you weren’t able to make it, it’s not too late!  You can join us at our Charlestown Church on Sunday afternoon at the park next door at 2 for their community Trunk or Treat, where the church is an integral part.  Looks like it will be dry, but cooler—so you could try a warm and toasty marshmallow costume and have a great time putting skin on the Body of Christ!  Will we see you there?

Keep being a blessing—I’ll be having a ball this time and making a racket, if you’d like a clue to what should easily top my “fork in the road” failure!

(see more about the event on our facebook page- https://www.facebook.com/TwinFallsUnitedMethodistChurch#  )

Pastoral Ponderings—Did you Hug?

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Pastoral Ponderings—Did you Hug?

I had a visit with my dad a couple nights ago.  It was a nice visit, except that it was one in which his–and my—imperfections and anger were showing.  It made me feel like a kid again, back in some less-than-ideal time with him.  Yet nonetheless, in the midst of it, he asked a profound question—“Did you hug?”  It was profound in that the intent was not just to suggest to “hug and make up,” to bring reconciliation, but to recognize through a hug, an abiding care and shared humanity despite hurts and differences.

Even in his less good times, he often shared deep wisdom, as was the case here.  This conversation a couple nights ago, though, was even more remarkable in that he died more than ten years ago.  While this did come in a dream, it was not a memory as one might think, nor had he ever pointed to this facet of wisdom in his more lively days.  Now some of you who have lost loved ones can certainly relate to having this kind of living conversation with one long gone, but it still makes me wonder about what’s going on here.

Our world is full of arguments and disagreements, as it ever has been.  There’s probably a lost, longer version of that memorable passage in Matthew 18 where Jesus LIKELY originally included in that discussion about wronging one another, “Wherever 2 or 3 are gathered together, there will be hurt and disagreement, and/but (then the part we remember–) wherever 2 or 3 are gathered together IN MY NAME, there am I in the midst of them.”

Whether among friends, in a church, in a family, in a marriage, in our political world, wherever 2 or 3 are together, there will be hurt and disagreement—true whether or not that lost segment of Matthew 18 is ever found.  Might this be true today more than ever?

I’m not so sure about that.  But regardless of the context, my dad’s wise and insightful question still applies—“did you hug?”  Disagreements and hurt are a part of the human condition.  They only become demonic when we dehumanize and vilify the Other.  When we remember we’re all imperfect, broken, and nobody has a corner on the market of God’s perspective, when we realized that compromise is a gift rather than an evil, then we can recognize Jesus’ peace among us.

“Did you hug?”- if even in a figurative sense, when you can’t hug a group!  It might not fix everything—but it could make all the difference in the world!  Thanks, Dad.  See you soon–                     Pastor Jim

Pastoral Ponderings—Rooted

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We recently rented a trencher to dig a trench through our yard to take electric out to where we’re often “camping” by the pond, and where we’re putting a permanent pavilion out in that area.  Since the yard is full of beautiful trees, we knew it would be full of roots, so rather than struggling with a simple shovel and pick, we rented this trencher that SHOULD have made the task easier.

I’ve seen these things being used—looks a lot like a giant chainsaw on a small tractor-like base for digging through the ground.  Seeing how they worked, knowing the limited area of our trenches, and that it only had to be an 18” deep trench, I thought it would be a pretty easy 2 or 3 hours’ job.  But it was an EXAUSTING, all day event, and with some of the roots and rocks the machine couldn’t get past, it’s still not done!

I wasn’t surprised at how MANY roots these trees have spread out even far from the tree trunk, but was surprised how even small roots, the diameter of pencils and nails, were giving that piece of heavy equipment such a hard time!  Though each small root might have been easily cut through, even without heavy equipment, together, they form quite a durable source of rootedness that has helped these trees last through all the storms of life for almost 100 years.  And other trees with great roots in other places make these trees look like babies.  When we were visiting the Holy Land, it was common to see olive trees well over 1000 years old, some even old enough to have had Jesus walk in their shade!

So how rooted are you?  It’s not just about having one great tap root, nor even the spread of the huge roots I was desperately trying to avoid on this project—it’s the abundance of tiny roots that both provide strength, and the source of sustenance for the trees.  The same is also true for us.

It’s not just the handful of our most primary strengths, but the abundance of those Little Things that provides the strength and sustenance to make it through.  Are you spreading your roots through all of life’s nooks and crannies, finding strength and sustenance from the abundance of bite-sized blessing God pours out on us each day?  Staying deeply rooted in Jesus is certainly important—but it is in counting our small blessings and reflecting on our daily God Sightings that really bring our strength!

Stay rooted—Pastor Jim

Pastoral Ponderings—Trapped!

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Pastoral Ponderings—Trapped! 

Before the summer is too far gone, I’ve to share these ponderings with the attached picture of the racoons in the dumpster.  Many of you may have seen this coon-sized conundrum before–some more than once, as it’s not too uncommon—racoons who follow their noses and somehow get stuck in the dumpster.  “Silly racoon!” we might think, “How could you get yourself in such a fix?”

The silly beasties just follow their noses without much thought about where it might get them until it’s too late.  But how often do we do the same kind of thing—likely not into a dumpster—but just following our noses or whatever “feels right,” without thinking too much about it, until we find ourselves just as stuck in a bad place.  Maybe we’re not that much smarter than a racoon after all!

Most of us have heard more than enough about where temptation can lead us.  Whether it is into some kind of trouble, or, when we give into the temptation to start our own “poor lil’ ol’ me” party– “Nobody knows, the trouble I seen, nobody knows my sorrows…” rather than listening to God’s wisdom through the scriptures.  If we keep busy loving our neighbors, do we have time to get ourselves into trouble, or for our own pity party?  If we follow scriptural guidance to focus on the good stuff, where’s the pity party to come from?  Or if with St. Paul we practice “I’ve learned to be content in all circumstances” (written while he was in prison, by the way), and to “give thanks in all circumstances,” isn’t that like “pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and smile, smile, smile…”?

That racoon did NOT look very happy, stuck it the dumpster.  I don’t know about you, but I generally don’t like getting stuck at all.  So even if we’re not smart enough to follow the wisdom of the Bible, maybe we can learn a lesson or two from silly racoons, stuck in a dumpster!

Follow Jesus rather than your nose!  Pastor Jim

Pastoral Ponderings- Weird Spirituality

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Pastoral Ponderings- Weird Spirituality

How might an accordion, a dancing Darth Vader and Storm Troopers, and some perhaps slightly offensive song lyrics give us a glimpse into the Kingdom of God?  Sounds weird, doesn’t it?  Or it at least sounds like Weird Al Yankovic.  I have no idea about Weird Al’s personal spiritual life, and that really doesn’t matter. But when the God who made the universe is often known to work in mysterious ways—wouldn’t it be simple enough for God to work through a weird concert?

Karol  and I were blessed to be a part of one of his concert experiences recently, at an outdoor venue (Blossom) where you had to get there early, so we took a picnic to start our time.  The first weirdness was when I dropped something on the way to the picnic table, and before I could reach down to get it, a perfect stranger dashed over from a table fifty feet away to help out.  That’s strange.

Then I first started to sense something deeper when walking with the crowds from the picnic area—I’ve never seen so many “Hawaiian shirts” in one place before, or such a collection of very interesting people—all basking in and embracing the mutual weirdness of the event.  Then, when Al came onstage (not that I’m on a first-name basis with him, but he did say/sing, “You can call me Al”), while singing his opening song, “Because I’m tacky…” and wearing the clothes to prove it, he was winding his way through the crown, “pressing the flesh” as politicians say, to connect with the people.

Several times through the concert he went out of his way like this to connect with the people.  And throughout the concert, through the songs and the micro-culture of the event, both he in his performance and we in the crowd, thoroughly enfleshed a celebration and acceptance of all, from the most ordinary to the most eccentric of revelers (it was a Weird Al concert, after all).

It was almost like someone went out to all the highways and hedges to bring in all the people who are too often excluded and pushed off to the margins, almost like one brief shining moment of living in the Kingdom of God as Jesus described it.

Years ago when we were in seminary, our seminary president, Len Sweet, who described himself as a “futurist,” preparing us to serve the Church in decades to come, told us something like “though the Church is struggling to reach our communities, I’m completely convinced that God will still be pouring out His grace and proclaiming the Good News to our communities—even if it might not be through our churches.”

I hadn’t realized it before, but I think God is a fan of Weird Al as well, since I certainly experienced enough clues of His presence at the concert too!  It was really weird, but a profoundly grace-filled experience that felt a lot like a glimpse of the broadly embracing arms of the Kingdom of God.                     –Pastor (“Weird”) Jim

Pastoral Ponderings—Neighbors

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Pastoral Ponderings—Neighbors

Not all neighbors look nor act as kind and wonderful as the furry face of this neighbor, Mindy (her people DO fit that wonderful bill—but not rumor has it that not ALL neighbors do…).  Wouldn’t it be easy to follow Jesus’ call to love our neighbors if they were all like Mindy?

I’ve noticed that quite often we in the preaching world find ourselves preaching to ourselves—seeing what God has for us in the scriptures, and then all of a sudden, it’s really for US.  It’s not uncommon to hear preachers saying “Now I’m really preaching to myself this time…”  Makes me wonder if Jesus sometimes found Himself preaching to Himself—like perhaps with this passage?  Might Jesus have ever had some challenging neighbors He needed reminding of the need to love?

Now you might say that “Jesus was perfect”—true enough.  But that doesn’t mean Jesus’ NEIGHBORS were perfect!  And as we know, Jesus dealt with temptation too—which implies Jesus was subject to falling to temptation just like us (else what’s so special about Jesus’ being “perfect” in not sinning, if He never had the capacity to sin in the first place?).

But even when we shift from thinking of a “neighbor” as an enemy, Jesus had that covered too.  Might Jesus have been gazing into the eyes of one of the Pharisees in the crowd plotting against Him, when those memorable words slipped from His mouth—“ love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”?

I’ve got wonderful neighbors living around me now, though that’s not always been the case, and some of the other “neighbors” Jesus’ is pointing me to, don’t always fit this description either.  Come to think of it, Mindy hasn’t always been that friendly to me, but now that I’m feeding her this week, and loving on her a bit, that’s certainly changed!  Might she be giving us a clue to how to turn enemies into friends on a broader scale as well?

Scratching the chin just might help… Pastor Jim

Pastoral Ponderings—Play!

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Pastoral Ponderings—Play!

Have you ever noticed how close the words “play” and “pray” are?  Only one letter—but close in concept as well.  In play we have a good time, usually with others, usually with communication and laughter.  And isn’t that the same—or SHOULDN’T that be the same with our prayer—only we’re having a good time, communicating, even laughing with God.

It’s pretty clear in the Bible that God created humanity to have others to play and laugh with.  All that was created was to be blessings, and to bless humans in countless ways.  And if you’ve ever wondered about God’s sense of humor—just look at how funny it is when men and women try to understand and relate with each other!  And it’s not just people—you’ve likely noticed that animals of all types play too—and the more developed the animal is, the more they play!  There’s even a whole field of study in science called “the science of play,” studying how important it is both in human and in animal development.

When in our creation stories, God seems to be careful and intentional in the many facets of creation, you can bet your britches that God was intentional in inventing play and laughter too!  Problem is that as we “mature,” we see play as being less important, maybe even childish, so very many of us actually forget how to play!  And if we forget how to play—how to have a good time with others and with God, look at what happens to what we call prayer!  All too often, we seem to be of the opinion that when it gets to be time to pray, it must be time to “get serious”—meaning no more smiles, laughter or fun.  It’s usually a lot better for our human relationships when we enjoy our time together, when we smile and laugh together—where do we get the idea that God’s not interested in smiles and laughter?

Try an experiment this week—find more ways to play, smile and laugh with our human connections, AND with our prayer—our God-connections, and see what happens to our prayer lives.  I bet you’ll notice some positive change, AND more of a sense of closeness with God.  Whether it takes a child, a cat, a stranger or someone you’ve known forever, remind yourself what it’s like to play with abandon, and what that kind of play does both to may you feel better, but also to help you better connect with God.

Remember the old adage—the family that PLAYS together, stays together!  Keep on playing!   — Pastor Jim

 

Pastoral Ponderings– Woofstock

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Pastoral Ponderings—Woofstock—27 AUG 25

“What the heck is Woofstock?” I wondered when I saw the t-shirt while at the vet to get our barn cat fixed.  Looked like fun, whatever it is!  So I looked it up when I got home—It’s a big pet festival and blessing that’s a fund-raiser for some pet charity, with parades, costumes, “dog diving” and more.  I don’t know if it’s a traveling show or not—but one happened in Warren a couple weeks ago, but fear not—it’s coming to Cleveland on Sep. 7!

What is it about our pets that brings out such love and joy?  When I was a kid, we were “pet owners,” but now we’re “pet parents,” or grandparents!  Even to the point of some people (my mom and wife included!) who think it’s almost cruel to keep animals outside—I had to arrange for a secret hand-off in order to get past Karol’s reluctance, in order to order to get a barn cat to keep the Evil Beasties at bay from our barn!

For dogs, it seems to be their embodiment of acceptance, grace, forgiveness, and unconditional love.  Cats aren’t quite there yet—but a cat’s purr can cover a lot of sin, especially when they join you with your purr when you need it most (I so wish I could purr!).

Unfortunately we who are stuck in human flesh can’t purr, and don’t seem to have it in us to be as loving as our dogs.  But when we think on and are reminded by their love for us, be reminded how important that undemanding love truly is.  And though we can’t purr, sharing cookies is almost as good.  And don’t even think about doing that loving licking that dogs do—from them, it’s a blessing—but NOT from you!  But we CAN be sensitive enough to others to pay attention to when they need some care and loving the most—maybe not as perceptively as dogs do, but we can be more intentional about paying attention to others and try.

I know it’s a dog’s life sometimes—but when you think about it, that’s not all bad!  So even if we have a hard time loving others like God loves—we can at least get close when we follow the example of a good loving dog (or cat), so let the furry friends lead the way!

Whether with four legs or two– keep being a blessing!  — Pastor Jim

(and author of “Mr. Snickers Bigglesworth And Other Purrty Pet Poetry”…)