Pastoral Ponderings— Warmth on a Cold Night

Pastoral Ponderings— Warmth on a Cold Night

Still cold. I thought last week’s 9 degrees was bad—this morning was -9! But bitter cold like this isn’t all bad. Closing the doors against the cold can open doors too! To ward off the cold last night, we had our neighbors over for dinner and games. After all, too cold to “go out” doesn’t mean too cold to go next door!

It’s not quite a “regular” thing to have dinner and a game night with the neighbors, but it is a common enough thing that now it’s not unusual, and it started a couple years ago with the simplicity of delivering Christmas cookies to get to know the neighbors. But whether it’s neighbors you don’t know, you barely know, you’d like to know better, or the closest of friends, the same line can warm any heart on a cold night: (addressed to said neighbor) “Hey, it’s pretty cold out. Would you like to warm up over dinner/coffee/cocoa and a game tonight?”

What’s the worst that could happen? They could say “no,” but then that’s no different that your prior plan without inviting them! I suppose it could be worse if you invite them over and some disaster happens— like they might break a tooth biting into something unexpected in the ice cream you offer, but how likely is THAT to happen? (I didn’t actually BREAK a tooth on that nugget of steel in the ice cream—just almost—but that’s another story…)

It’s much more likely that you might finally catch up with the neighbor you’ve barely said hello to for years. Or you might bring some warmth into a cold and lonely life. Or you might find that God has set up this opportunity for some wonderful blessing. Or you might just have a good time and grow a friendship– and wouldn’t any of those much more likely outcomes be a Very Good Thing?

One of the most well-known and whole-heartedly embraced of Jesus’ teachings is to “love your neighbors.” But these days, even we Jesus people who have turned that earth-shattering teaching into a bland platitude, too often, barely even acknowledge the existence of our neighbors. When was the last time you actually did something loving for one of the neighbors next door?

I’m proud of you if you can remember the last time you did something loving for your neighbor last ________ (year, month, week, last snowfall, whatever)! But why not tonight? If loving your spouse, dog, kids, parents, friends or whomever is an ongoing thing, isn’t that just as true for your neighbors?

Love your neighbor. It’s a cool thing (or a WARM thing!). It’s an easy thing. It’s a Jesus thing. — A simple reminder from Pastor Jim

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