Pastoral Ponderings—Neighbors

Posted on by

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!

Posted on by

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

Posted on by

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”…)

Posted on by

Pastoral Ponderings—Just Sittin’—20 AUG 25

I’ve told you a bit about my 1953 Ford Golden Jubilee tractor before—It HAD been working great to keep our yard mowed, but over the winter it developed a bit of a leak in one of the big rear tires that I’ve not been able to tend to yet, so it’s been just sittin’ so far this summer.

You can see how bad it is with a big tall weed growing up between the mowing deck and the tractor.  Not a very pleasant thing for my beloved tractor to be just sittin’ over the summer!

It still looks good, I’ve still got bragging rights to a broadly treasured tractor, but it’s obviously not done much this year.  It certainly wasn’t made to just sit—I’m so sorry to be hurting its feelings like this!  No surprise that a weed has been growing up through it like this, though, with it not having been used at all this season.

Sometimes we think it might be nice to just sit for a while—but WE weren’t made to just sit either!  Sure, we get our bumps and bruises now and again, but while we weren’t made for just sittin’, we WERE made to heal from the wounds that come from keeping on the move—so what’s stopping us?

And yes, we too, can sure look good, can brag about all we have done or can do—but if like my tractor, we’re actually just sittin’ too, we’re also liable to have weeds growing up all in our lives—not a pretty thing!   Keep moving, and keep being a blessing!  Pastor Jim

Pastoral Ponderings—Messy Chickens

Posted on by

Pastoral Ponderings—Messy Chickens

Karol and I recently just started our livestock efforts at our place (if you don’t count bees) with the purchase of some young chicks to raise for laying eggs.  They were on clearance, if you can believe that, I suppose because they were quite ugly.  They were past the cute baby chick phase, and molting—the process of losing their baby feathers, if that’s what they’re called (NOT a pretty sight)– and growing into their real feathers.

They’re not very smart either, which I suppose you might expect, as they are quite literally, birdbrains.  I just realized the shocking truth as I’ve been taking care of these chicks and beginning these ponderings—though Jesus mentions chickens, our four Gospels don’t have any parables from Jesus pertaining to chickens.  Which is NOT to say that Jesus never taught with a parable on chickens, as we don’t have EVERYTHING Jesus said or did.

As I’m thinking back on our efforts thus far with the chickens, I’m beginning to think that any parable using chickens would be even less complimentary to hearers than one about sheep, which is bad enough.  Chickens, like sheep, are not very smart, smelly, scaredy-cats, and pretty much only care to follow their noses (or beaks).  And like sheep, what goes in must come out, but while sheep move on and just leave it there, chickens drop it in their water, in their food, probably even on each other.  Do you really think anyone listening to Jesus wants to hear THAT about themselves?

Maybe that’s why the Gospel writers chose to leave out The Lost Parable of the Chickens—maybe it was just too offensive to suggest human life might be as messy as that of chickens.  But yes, our lives are messy, and we make messes everywhere, and get those messes all over everything and everyone, even (and especially?) on ones we love.  I’m guessing the end of Jesus’ Lost Parable of the Chickens might have ended something like, “And in the same way that the farmer or householder cares for the chickens, smelly messes and all, even the smelliest and messiest of people still have a place in the care of the Kingdom of God.”

Unbelievable, isn’t it, that God truly loves us, smelly messes and all—and that means both you and me—all of us!  By the way—Messy Church is this Sunday at 4:30—a great time to bring smelly, messy friends!  — in the messy love of Jesus—Pastor Jim—

Messy Church at Twin Falls United Methodist Church—TwinFallsUMC.org

Pastoral Ponderings- Blackberry Theology

Posted on by

My seminary president long ago, a church historian, often referred to “farmer theologians” in early America, seeing the hand of God in the most ordinary things around them as they worked their land.  Those discussions likely had a lot to do with my format for what you now know of as “Pastoral Ponderings,” where, for decades in various forms, I’ve explored God Sightings from the most ordinary of experiences.

I realized this week I have now become one of those farmer theologians myself, as when I was recently harvesting blackberries on our mini-farm.  As I saw more blackberries everywhere I looked, I was marveling in God’s creative abundance.  Then I was noticing that the berries were not all the same—some with about ten, some twenty, some as many as a hundred “drupelets” (the little juicy balls that compose the berries), each one with a seed, carrying its own potential for decades of abundance—almost like a Jesus parable!

Then I looked up, and realized I’d been missing a lot of the berries above my head when I wasn’t looking where those juicy blessings were hiding in plain sight.  I remembered as I continued picking, that they’re not all in plain sight, so brushing leaves aside with my heavily gloved hand to protect from the spikes, I found where many of the most juicy ones were hiding.

It’s a good thing I pick berries with thick sleeves on my arms too–I’ve often had to push through a lot of canes with those vicious teeth to get to more berries! Unfortunately the abundance of these berry blessings is not across all our acreage, though there are other kinds of blessings in other corners of the property.  But if you look in the right place, the abundance is so plain to see!

Are you seeing the great theology here yet?  God blesses in abundance—but we too often don’t see the blessings when we don’t look for them.  Some are hiding in plain sight—just look up!  Others are less evident, until you really start looking.  And though these blessings are available in plenty, when we’re seeking God’s blessings—and to be a blessing to others through them—we sometimes need to push through some pretty thorns places to claim the good.

Some people only see bramble, weeds, bugs, and fallen, rotting trees mixed into the thick forest—even though they are in the midst of the abundance of God’s blessings! What do we need to do to think like farmer theologians, to be able to see the beauty of God sightings, instead of just the weeds?  — ever improving our Vision—Pastor Jim

Pastoral Ponderings—Knee-boarding

Posted on by

Pastoral Ponderings—Knee-boarding

Even for continuing education events, you’ve got to have a little fun!  So, one morning last week before the continuing ed part got started, Karol and I had the opportunity to do some knee-boarding at the top of the Chesapeake Bay where our training was.  Though it took a little while to recover from both inhaling part of the bay and straining muscles I don’t use so much, it was a lot of fun.  It was a good thing we didn’t have a better camera with us, else Karol would likely have had action shots of me taking a face dive off the board that she would be only too eager to show off!

If you’ve ever (successfully) gotten up on the water being pulled behind a boat, you know it’s something of a balancing act—keeping a balance between the energy of the pull, the pressures of keeping the board under you, and keeping the nose up.  Have you ever found out what happens when you don’t keep the nose up when you’re being dragged behind a boat?  It’s not pretty.

You’ve probably noticed that life, too, and each of our spiritual journeys, are full of competing pressures.  What pulls you through?  You’ve probably found out the hard way, too, what happens when you’re being dragged through life’s pressures and aren’t able to keep your head up—not pretty!

Not only is God eager to keep pulling us into His embrace, the Bible is full of clues and insights into how we can keep our nose up through all of life’s pressures—AND how to get back up when we get dragged into an ugly face plant that threatens to drown us!  “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” we pray every week, a reminder straight from the Bible that God is in the business of new beginnings!  What “keep you head up” passages come to mind for you?  I’ve got too many coming to mind!

Staying connected to the One who keeps on pulling us through—Pastor Jim

Pastoral Ponderings—Fleeting

Posted on by

Pastoral Ponderings—Fleeting

Our recent trip to the Grand Canyon included along with it a brief drive through Zion National Park in Utah, where wife and kid were eager to show me a tunnel they had found back in the Fall when Kaz was first moving out there.  That there was a tunnel through a mountain wasn’t so unique, but that it had openings or “windows” along the side to peek out as you drive through was something special (you can see in the pic attached the line of cars waiting to go thru!).

I think we drove thru it three times, with my trying to get some pictures, which, even driving slowly (no pull offs to stop), were fleeting opportunities at best.  The last time I took videos I need to try to capture stills from, but I’m not that smart yet!

Then shortly after getting back home from that same trip built around a hike in the Grand Canyon, I saw in the news several articles about the Grand Canyon, including some specific landmarks we had passed on our return up to the South Rim.  There had been a heat warning—which is saying something in the summer in semi-arid conditions where it regularly gets over 100 during the day.

As I understand it, the regular summer rule there is to not hike during the heat of the day, so don’t be on the trail between something like 10 in the morning and 3 or 4 in the afternoon.  But in this news article, a fellow was hiking during a heat warning at 10 in the morning, and was found unresponsive at about 11:30.

Then within a few days, forest fires have consumed thousands of acres and buildings on the park, including the historic Grand Canyon Lodge—gone in a flash.  Both the loss of life, loss of forest acreage and the historic Grand Canyon Lodge, are reminders of how fleeting life and things of value can be.

“All is vanity/meaningless/fleeting” says the familiar line from Ecclesiastes—so true—UNLESS we shape our values to eternity, rather than mere earthly concerns.  Some of you may remember I recently used this passage in a sermon, with the reference to the Hebrew word translated as “vanity” or “meaningless”- hevel, which really means more like vapor, insubstantial.  But while vapor is certain insubstantial, it is the art media God uses for every sunset, it is in the hands of our Gardener God, what brings the rain that is the foundation for all life, and in the hand of human engineers, brings light, air conditioning, even digital messages like this that can bring hope around the world.

When put to eternal uses.  How do you use your fleeting time to invest in eternity?

— Pastor Jim

Pastoral Ponderings- Sculpted Beauty

Posted on by

Pastoral Ponderings- Sculpted Beauty

Thank you for the chance to get away!  We flew out to CA to spend time with Army kiddo Kaz while there, and Kaz and I hiked the Grand Canyon “rim to rim,” down from the North Rim, up the South Rim route, a total hike of about 23 miles.  I’m ALMOST past the sore muscles and my blisters are almost healed!  We then had other kid and wife come join us for a couple days at DisneyLAND—a first for all of us but Karol.

But the hike was the most amazing part—likely a once-in-a-lifetime thing.  Didn’t get to see much coming up the South Rim—it was dark by then—but the STARS—with no clouds, no light pollution at all—what a sight!  Next morning we did the shuttle bus to see what we could from above the South Rim—which appeared much like you’d expect with the stark beauty of all the layers of rock that God carefully carved over time.  The North Rim, though, was a surprise—I wasn’t expecting the trees and shade!   But they were VERY much appreciated, as the temperature was around 108 when we got to the bottom of the canyon by around 7pm.

I’m always struck by the beauty of God’s artwork in nature.  The Grand Canyon is quite the sculpture, with miles of carving thousands of feet deep, leaving intricate layers and signs of what has come before.  Have you ever noticed that beauty often comes like that in our small lives?  Becoming visible only after the long passage of time, with layers carved away through water, wind and grit, to reveal the beauty beneath.

We marvel at God’s sculpting majesty in the Grand Canyon and the beauty it brings—yet complain with a few scrapes and bruises when God is trying to sculpt His artistry on and through us!  And forget the process taking time as it did with the Grand Canyon—Lord, I want relief NOW, and if I need more patience, bring it quick!  (but NEVER pray for patience—God has a way of answering those kinds of prayers by providing LOTS of practice!)

Might it be possible when WE are going through times of carving, being worn down, that we could change our perspective?  Can we eagerly look for the beauty that God is working to reveal in and through the wearing down process, as we can with the Grand Canyon?  More often than not, we’d rather complain with every scrape, and pray for it to just be over quick!  That canyon wouldn’t even be a creek, let alone even approaching being one of the seven wonders of the natural world if God would have stopped THAT sculpting as quickly as we pray for our little times of being worn down to stop!

Being blessed by God’s crafting hand—Pastor Jim

Pastoral Ponderings- Blowout 

Posted on by

Pastoral Ponderings- Blowout           

Have you ever noticed that flat tire always seems to happen at terribly inconvenient times?  I just recently had one—actually a major blowout—not much left of the tire, so my quickie can to fix flats was useless.  And as it happened, it was on one of those rare occasions when I had taken my good jack out of the car for a project in the barn, and it happened on the way to a medical appointment—or what SHOULD have been an appointment, had I not missed it…

I’ve mentioned before the wonderful connection between the air/pneuma in our tires and the Holy Spirit/pneuma that vitalizes our spiritual lives—same word!  Makes for a great illustration—until you get a blow-out!  A shredded tire obviously means no more pneuma—so we were literally stuck, unable to go anywhere.  Which, I suppose, is the point of the lesson—without the pneuma, you can do nothing.

While Jesus doesn’t mention a tire or blowout, He does say pretty much the same thing when He describes Himself as the vine, and us as the branches—“I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.”  And of course, in our understanding of the Trinity, just as Jesus plainly states, “I and the Father are One,” Jesus also identifies Himself and the Holy Spirit as being one—so just like the tire, apart from the Holy Spirit/Jesus, “you can do nothing”!

Now a regular flat can be patched—but not a blowout.  And it’s not uncommon for us to find ourselves in places where we can describe our situation as having a spiritual flat tire—we’ve lost touch with the Holy Spirit for a time.  I wish I would have taken a picture of how hopelessly shredded it was!  The GOOD NEWS is, that while a blowout on our car can remind us of our dependence on Jesus and His Holy Spirit, UNLIKE a blowout that can never be fixed, there’s NOTHING we can do that can make us beyond repair!

We can have a “spiritual flat” and lose the pneuma from our lives for a bit (or get to the point of FEELING like we’ve lost the Spirit), but we can never have an irreparable spiritual blowout!  God loves us too much to allow for us to be so broken that we are beyond God’s grace—at least a part of why God’s grace is so amazing!  Jesus gives us a lifetime subscription to God’s spiritual roadside assistance—just a prayer away! (and no obnoxious recording to be all that answers the call!)

So how’s the pneuma in your (spiritual) tires?  No matter what, you’re just a prayer away from the assistance you need to get your flat fixed!  Never stuck too long—Pastor Jim