Tag Archives: spirituality

Pastoral Ponderings—Reflections

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Pastoral Ponderings—Reflections

 

One of my favorite kinds of pictures to take is one with reflections, usually in water, of what is also seen above.  Have you noticed in pictures like this, how much more clear the picture is the more calm the water is?

 

I’ve probably mentioned a song before that has a line in it about praying to be like the moon, a clear reflection of the light of the sun/Son.  That’s what it means to be a disciple of Jesus, to be a clear a reflection we can of the Jesus who has transformed us in so many ways.  But like the water that goes through countless storms, so do we, stirring up our souls in messy ways, making us less of the kind of reflection of the Light of the Son than we are called to be—making it all the more important to be that clearer reflection whenever we can be!

 

 

Notice, too, that you only NOTICE the reflections, when you make the time to stop and look.  And while watery reflections are not portable—you have to be in the right place at the right time to see them—you and I DO provide portable reflections of the light of Christ.  Wherever we go, we reflect something.  Wouldn’t you rather be reflecting the Light of Jesus?

 

Find those ways to calm your waters on a regular and frequent basis, so you are better able to reflect a more clear image to the world of the Light of the Son, wherever you are, wherever others might be who are most needed to see such a holy reflection.

 

Keep on shining—Pastor Jim

Ponderings collection— The blossoms are blooming!

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When the blossoms are blooming and the buds are budding, how often do you hear those awe-struck words, “I just LOVE this time of year!”?  We can all celebrate that it is now that time of year again, with flowering pink cherry trees and more, being lovely flowering reminders of the beauty of God’s creation almost everywhere you look, including on the way into the Twin Falls parking lot.

 

I was trying to get a good picture of one of these trees, but on all sides, the beauty is marred by bare, dead-looking branches under the blossoms.  And when you start looking closely, you start seeing the imperfections and damage on the trunk and limbs there as well, despite the glorious display in the blossoms.  Have you noticed how briefly these trees share their beauty?  Then after the blooms fade, it’s just a rather ordinary looking tree.

 

Does this limitation, though, or the dead branches or other damage, change the fact that we get to enjoy this kind of passing glory each year, even if only for a moment?  Then I realized that these imperfections might be part of the point when God creates this kind of beauty.  How often do we in our more ordinary lives, end up focusing on the naked branches and wounds in life, and miss the beauty along the way, or focus on how fleeting the moments of glory are, instead, grumbling of the preponderance of the mundane?

 

Even in the Garden of Eden, there still had to be dirt, bugs and shadows (though the thorns, brambles and mosquitoes MIGHT have only come later with sin coming into the world…)—but that’s not what we focus on with the Garden of Eden, is it?  When we lose our focus on paradise, we just might realize that ordinary life is full of limitations, dirt and brambles—but through it all, WE get to choose on what we focus!

 

St. Paul reminds us of this fact, and the power of where we choose to focus in his letter to the Philippians (find it yourself- you’ll likely find other great stuff along the way!).  Of course if we still choose to focus on the dead branches and dirt—God’s blessings, beauty and glory are still there– even when we keep ourselves from seeing it.

 

On what are you choosing to focus today?  The flowers these days make it easy—but God’s blessings are still there for those who have eyes to see, even when the rain comes.

Pastor Jim

Pastoral Ponderings—Podcast Wisdom

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Pastoral Ponderings—Podcast Wisdom

My youngest, Kaz, had been helping me get a little more up to date and exploring podcasts—which, for the uninitiated, are series of discussions from people on-line that can cover any area of interest, anywhere from just a few minutes long, to “long form,” that can be an hour or more.  My favorite thus far is Mayim Bialik’s Breakdown.

She became well-known as a comedy actress, first as a kid with “Blossom,” and more recently on “The Big Bang Theory,” but despite that, her schooling is as a neuroscientist.  And not only that, but one just as committed to scientific skepticism as she is to her vital Jewish faith.  While her podcast covers a wide range of interests from that neurological perspective, often focused on human wellness and thriving, she also has frequen explorations into the convergence of science and spirituality.  Needless to say, that’s right down my just slightly nerdy alley!   The other I’ve been trying to listen to more is skeptic.pastor Jeremy Steele, who, as you may have recently heard more locally, thinks God is big enough to handle and not be threatened all our doubts and questions

I usually get the joy of listening on long drives, especially late at nite when the rest of the crew is sleeping, so not complaining about my eccentric interests.  On this most recent late night drive, I was listening to both these podcasts with an amazing convergence—though coming from very different perspectives, in effect, describing the Spirit of God in That Which Is Bigger, and all-encompassing, and finding the heart of our spiritual life in how we can connect, and grow in our connection with this Bigger Spirit.

Even from a hard science neurological, skeptical perspective, that brings up and can’t deny the hard science in support of the importance and power of spirituality in our daily and social lives.

AND both from their differing perspectives, pointing out that all of us in human skin–despite our many and deep differences—can find a shared commonality and respect in our mutual connectedness with this Bigger Spirit– what can variably be referred to as our “Higher Power,” “the Divine,” or what many us call “God.”  One of them even referred to that passage in Acts 17 where St. Paul is quoting—thus bringing into our Christian scriptural understanding of Truth- ancient Greek pagan understandings that “in Him, we all live, move and have our being,” and “for we all also are His offspring.”

SO WHAT? You might ask… It’s tools like these that can help us both deepen our own faith, while at the same time, giving us tools to better connect with those who might otherwise thing that church folk need to check their brains at the door.  Nothing could be further from the truth!  (and it can also help keep us awake and alert on late night drives!)

Check them out—feed your brains and your spirits—and build bridges of hope with those who might otherwise be stuck in hopelessness! – Pastor Jim

https://www.bialikbreakdown.com/ ;  https://jeremy-steele.com/

 

Pastoral Ponderings—Rooted

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We recently rented a trencher to dig a trench through our yard to take electric out to where we’re often “camping” by the pond, and where we’re putting a permanent pavilion out in that area.  Since the yard is full of beautiful trees, we knew it would be full of roots, so rather than struggling with a simple shovel and pick, we rented this trencher that SHOULD have made the task easier.

I’ve seen these things being used—looks a lot like a giant chainsaw on a small tractor-like base for digging through the ground.  Seeing how they worked, knowing the limited area of our trenches, and that it only had to be an 18” deep trench, I thought it would be a pretty easy 2 or 3 hours’ job.  But it was an EXAUSTING, all day event, and with some of the roots and rocks the machine couldn’t get past, it’s still not done!

I wasn’t surprised at how MANY roots these trees have spread out even far from the tree trunk, but was surprised how even small roots, the diameter of pencils and nails, were giving that piece of heavy equipment such a hard time!  Though each small root might have been easily cut through, even without heavy equipment, together, they form quite a durable source of rootedness that has helped these trees last through all the storms of life for almost 100 years.  And other trees with great roots in other places make these trees look like babies.  When we were visiting the Holy Land, it was common to see olive trees well over 1000 years old, some even old enough to have had Jesus walk in their shade!

So how rooted are you?  It’s not just about having one great tap root, nor even the spread of the huge roots I was desperately trying to avoid on this project—it’s the abundance of tiny roots that both provide strength, and the source of sustenance for the trees.  The same is also true for us.

It’s not just the handful of our most primary strengths, but the abundance of those Little Things that provides the strength and sustenance to make it through.  Are you spreading your roots through all of life’s nooks and crannies, finding strength and sustenance from the abundance of bite-sized blessing God pours out on us each day?  Staying deeply rooted in Jesus is certainly important—but it is in counting our small blessings and reflecting on our daily God Sightings that really bring our strength!

Stay rooted—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

Pastoral Ponderings- Blackberry Theology

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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- Sculpted Beauty

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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—Perspective

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Pastoral Ponderings—Perspective

I don’t usually sit on the floor.  I don’t often get to gaze into the sparkling eyes of the cutest little kitten in the world, nor get to see the world from that kitten’s upside down perspective!  I rolled Boots (what an original name!) onto his back, and he just stayed there, transfixed, as if hypnotized, so I couldn’t resist snapping a few pics and sharing!

We can’t help but see the world from some distinct perspective- whether from a silly upside down place on the floor from the wonderous eyes of a kitten, or from the eyes of a jaded old warrior—and what we see differs with the perspective from which we see.  I’m always giving Darling Wife a hard time for not seeing what’s right there—the half gallon of whipping cream “hiding” in plain sight behind the small jar of mayonnaise was the latest!  But she gives it right back when it’s my turn—“where are my keys?”  “Look in your other hand!”  Might even sound familiar.

We see what we’re looking for, not what’s actually there.  If we’re looking for ugliness in the world, there’s plenty to see all around us.  When we’re looking for beauty and wonder around us (as we might find in a kitten’s sparkling upside down eyes), there’s ample to fill our souls and more.

When was the last time you were in prison? Not a pretty place is it.  And that was likely a modern American prison.  Can you imagine being in an ancient prison of the notorious Roman Empire?  Yet it was from such a place that these famous words were penned– “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”

If from that kind of place, one can encourage others to see the good in whatever the situation, can’t we in our dark places, or in places where those around us are eagerly pointing and yammering about all the terrible things around us, keep our perspective one the borrows the sparkle of an upside down face of grace like that of Jesus’ (or Boots the kitten’s for that matter)?

Looking for the sparkle of life—Pastor Jim