Pastoral Ponderings—Trunk or Treat!

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?

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