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

Pastoral Ponderings—Puzzling… 

I’ve always wanted to have a table dedicated to a jigsaw puzzle that I could stop by and work on a few minutes at a time in passing, but between kids and cats, that hasn’t really happened.  Now that we’re getting settled in to our new place (it’s been a LONG process…) and with my mom visiting, who also loves puzzles, we’re starting to make that happen.  It’s a wonderfully relaxing thing, even a little bit at a time, and fascinating how addicting it can be!

Other than kid level puzzles, they’re always a bit of a challenge, though some more than others.  Could you imagine trying to do a puzzle though, without having the picture on the box to guide you?  It MIGHT be possible, but you certainly wouldn’t be getting anywhere fast!

The picture on the box functions as the guiding vision—it shows you where you’re going, and gives you a constant reference to check back with for every piece, if needed.  Without that guiding vision, though, you’re not getting anywhere.

We in the church also need a guiding vision.  Often we remember in some fuzzy way some semblance of a vision from way back when, even if it was never clearly laid out.  But that’s not the most helpful way to do church—it would be like trying to do a puzzle from the fuzzy memory of a picture, or not even a picture sometimes, just the image as someone may have described it.  The current puzzle we’re working on at home is a winter scene with a snow-covered creek, and the buildings of a farmstead in the background—is that adequate for you to help put it together?  I doubt it!

Any organization’s vision is a living thing that needs to be re-visited regularly to ensure it still resonates with the body, or to adjust as needed.  With our new organization of three congregations working together, now is a great time to do that revisiting!

So how would you describe the vision that drives our congregation?  Each congregation’s will be a bit different, but we have been discerning the commonality of an eagerness of each to connect and engage with our differing communities.  That’s a rough picture, not enough to get us very far, but enough to get us started.  Please be in prayer and conversation with us as we seek to find the picture on the box to help us put together the puzzle of each of our ministries to our communities.  Sure, it can be a bit puzzling–  but as it takes shape, it will be well worth it!—Pastor Jim

Pastoral Ponderings—For!

For!  No, I’m not playing golf—though if you’re a golfer who would like to help me get started, let’s talk!  “For” is the shortened title of the book “Know What You’re For: A Growth Strategy for Work, An Even Better Strategy for Life,” by Jeff Henderson, that we’ll be using to help clarify our congregations’ vision this fall.

Henderson writes from his experience with half a career working at Chik-Fil-A, and half a career working at a church that had successfully cracked the nut on how to connect with those outside the walls.  He writes “‘What do we WANT to be known for?’ is our vision”… (but) “‘What ARE we known for?’” is what those we’d like to connect with actually know about us.  He describes the difference between what we WANT to be known for, and what we’re actually known for (if we are actually known at all) not as a problem, but as our target for progress.  And likewise, “Within these two questions is the secret to growth”—as when the answers to the two match, “growth happens,” and those around us who know whom we are truly FOR, become our “sales force.”

So how would you as church members answer that question, “What do we want to be known for?”  Or, put another way, do you, do we as a congregation, know what (or whom) we’re for?  Can you answer that in a simple sentence or two, and would the person sitting in the next pew come up with an answer that sounds like the same thing?  If what we are known for can be exciting to those outside our church walls, we might be able to make a difference in our communities and grow.

But what happens if what we’re for as a congregation, is really more about what we want, like, “I want my church to take care of my needs,” even if that’s not what our community is looking for, even when our community is lost, lonely, and “looking for  a reason” as the song goes?  Isn’t that what the Jesus we talk about is for?

Looks like I’ve got more questions than answers this time, but questions are key to help us clarify the vision God has called us to in each of our communities, and key to helping us be clear in knowing what we’re for.  Please be thinking and praying about these questions, and better yet, order this book and be a part of our conversation!  Do you know what you’re for?  Exploring together—Pastor Jim

Pastoral Ponderings- The Connexion

No, this is not a typo nor a misspelling.  “Connexion” is an old Wesleyan word from before there was such a thing as a “Methodist” church to describe how the different small groups and congregations connected, interacted and supported one another.  While we Methodists are always living our “Connexion,” this week, I’ve been living one of the more unique facets of it.  Every year in the fall, every clergy member has a consultation with the District Superintendent, who is the first face of the Connextion.

The Consultation is a part of the annual Charge Conference process, by which the larger Annual Conference keeps in touch with the unique characteristics and personality of each congregation and pastor, in order to better live out the connection.  A key piece of the foundational character of our United Methodist ConnexionContinue reading→

Pastoral Ponderings—To Bee, or not to Bee…

I just discovered a disaster on a bee-sized scale—my GOOD hive that’s been really thriving until sometime in this past week, has been ravaged!  I went to put in the stuff to take care of the evil of varroa mites that I was aware of, only to find the bottom of the hive filled with crumbs of wax, and that every cell of the comb that has so shortly before been filled with either honey or new bees springing to life, half eaten away.

Insidious invaders had inveigled their way into the hive and I’m crying into my Cap’n Crunch (my comfort food) in guilt and sadness for the loss.Continue reading→

Pastoral Ponderings—Surprise!

“Meet me down here in Boardman,” Karol sez on the phone when I’m out in the back picking blackberries.  I had already unloaded 3 boxes weighing about 200 lbs. each of one pergola from one store, but she was in another store finding what looked like a “better deal” that I just had to see to “help” decide on (some of you spousal types know what THAT means…”).  So I had to reload those three very heavy boxes (one of which FELL APART in the process, so let’s rebuild a box now…) to return that one and drive 25 minutes to check out another—“Surprise!”

The “catio” addition to our place we’d talked about as maybe one day getting to, was coming to pass in the midst of my picking another gallon of blackberries to add to three more gallons we were planning to can that afternoon.  Now I can’t complain too much, as it was my idea to “one day” install a catio—but the timing isn’t quite what I was hoping for!

Isn’t that often the way it is with God’s calling and blessing on our lives?  “Surprise!” sez God—“I’ve got something for you better than you can imagine!” but God’s timing seems to be so inconvenient sometimes!  Ever wonder what Moses HAD had planned for the day he saw that burning bush after he thought he had retired to the quiet life?  So that day certainly didn’t turn out as planned, but we ended up with something so much better, that should be done by the time you come over for our Christmas open house.

When we live our lives in faith, open to what God has for us, the surprises God has for us can transform our lives.  Had Moses not stopped for that burning bush, we likely would never have heard of him, but look what happened when he did!  And don’t forget that neither Abraham nor Sarah, like Moses, were not spring chickens either when God greeted them with that ominous word “Surprise!”

What surprises might God still have up the sleave for you yet, if you’re willing to take the call?  It will likely be inconvenient—but isn’t that the way surprises usually come?

Pastor Jim

Pastoral Ponderings- Wayside Sacrament

“Don’t you bring that inside!” Ken insists, as Darling Wife Fern carries in yet another treasure of the beauty of God’s creation to their house filled with other similar treasures, with pictures (and puzzles I was also invited to work on) of the National Parks, and family handcrafted nature crafts.  “I’m just taking it out back…” Fern replies, as she carries the protested feathers in the door, likely to the back porch “catio” where many such tangible “God Sightings” can be found.

A great beginning to a week of sabbath rest and immersion into the beauty of God’s creation as our souls are being refreshed by both great teaching and signs of divine Presence everywhere.  Ken and Fern have a piece of poster art hanging on their wall that in the foreground depicts a bird, looking like one of those Audubon Society prints, on what looks like a copy of a post card, signed in flowing print, “R. W. Emerson.”  The cursive script in the faded background reads, “Beauty is God’s handwriting, a wayside sacrament.  He prayeth well who loveth both man and bird.”

The feathers Fern carried is from such a beloved bird—nothing “special”—from a common mourning dove—are now displayed on the porch as a “wayside sacrament” of a simple visit with neighbors where God’s presence was relished for a moment.  Sitting talking with Ken’s mom, Sharon, whom I know has seen that print hanging there hundreds of times, I asked if she’d noticed some detail of the image, and she replied, “I’ve seen it so many times, I must have just not noticed.”  How true it is that we have so many times seen such wayside sacraments, the handwritten love letters from God all around us every day, that we so often don’t even notice?

Lord, give us eyes to see Your handwritten notes of beauty around us, that we, too, may relish each day these wayside sacraments of Your presence, so common, so ubiquitous, yet so easily missed.   Pastor Jim