Tag Archives: Jesus

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—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—Messy Chickens

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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