"And the Word became flesh and lived among us..." --The Gospel of John 1:14
"...and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means, 'God is with us.'" --The Gospel of Matthew 1:23
"...gather us in all peoples together, fire of love in our flesh and our bone." --From the song "Gather Us In" by Marty Haugen
***
Dear Friends,
A few days ago I spent an hour ringing a bell for the Salvation Army kettle drive. This is the red kettle seen outside of stores in the weeks leading up to Christmas. I was out in front of our local WalMart, ringing the bell, wishing passersby Merry Christmas--especially the children who shyly came up to drop coins in the bucket. A confession: I really do not enjoy standing for an hour and ringing the bell. It isn't hard or anything like that--it's just downright boring. This year was no different, but as I watched people come and go from WalMart, I began to marvel at something. I noticed all kinds of people going by--some old, some young. Everyone was dressed differently--some in clothes that were fashionable, some in mud-spattered work clothes, others in clothing that verged on being downright shabby. A man who was missing a leg went by in a wheel chair. I saw large bodies and thin bodies, tall bodies and short bodies. On faces, I saw strain and weariness and--in some cases--smiles. I saw tattoos and piercings and wild hair.
And then I began to "look" deeper, pondering what each person passing by must have done and experienced and felt in their life--joy, grief, anger, anxiety, love, desperation, triumph, abuse, failure, success, goodness, honesty, fear...and on and on.
As this river of humanity kept passing me by, all while ringing the little bell in my hand, I began to feel overwhelmed, but in a good way. In an awe-inspiring way. I was being moved to marvel at that incredible goodness of God. I was simply overwhelmed by the fact that at Christmas we celebrate God's embrace of all humanity in its infinite diversity and difference (and this after just one hour outside WalMart in little Dallas, Oregon!). The birth of Jesus is God's YES to humanity, God's "Yes, I DO choose to come to you--right where you are. And my promise is that in Jesus I will lead you out of the wilderness and back onto the path that is abundant life."
A couple of days later, I saw one of the most spectacular rainbows I have ever seen. It was blazing in the northwest sky, the colors almost shining brighter than the sun. And as I thought of all the ways human beings have gone so terribly astray over the eons, it occurred to me that this rainbow was an incredibly appropriate Christmas symbol. (Perhaps we should hang them as Christmas tree ornaments!) The rainbow is a sign of God's promise never to destroy the earth again (go back and read the Noah story in Genesis). Instead, what we celebrate at Christmas is that God comes not to destroy this muddled, messy, mixed-up world, but to enter into it and renew it through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
Who is coming soon and very soon. Praise God!
Merry Christmas to you all,
Pastor Jeremy
20 December 2010
09 November 2010
Meditation: "You Love Me?"
"Do not be afraid, I am with you.
I have called you each by name.
Come and follow me, I will bring you home;
I love you and you are mine."
--Refrain from the song "You Are Mine" by David Haas quoting Isaiah 43 (see below)
"...you are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you..."
--God speaking to God's people through the prophet Isaiah (43:4a)
"The source of love is deep in us and we can help others realize a lot of happiness. One word, one action, one thought can reduce another person’s suffering and bring that person joy."
--Thich Nhat Hanh
*****
Dear Friends,
A few days ago, my 2 1/2-year old daughter Margaret was having rough day. She was coming down with a cold and obviously didn't feel very good. Usually she has a sunny and mellow disposition, but on this day she was getting easily frustrated and would dissolve into tears quickly.
I was being as patient with her as I could, recognizing she was not her usual self. But at one point, as I held her and she cried and fussed over something that remained a mystery to me, my own impatience overcame me. I set her down, sat in a chair a few feet away from her, and said sharply with exasperation filling my tone of voice, "Margaret, I don't know what to do with you! For goodness sake!" And, though I could not see it, I'm sure my facial expression communicated my own frustration and displeasure.
And then the saddest thing happened.
Margaret, eyes filled with tears, body tense, obviously distraught, cried out in her little toddler voice, "You love me, Daddy? You love me, Daddy?!?"
Those words shot straight to my heart. In an instant, my own irritation and frustration disappeared. I scooped her up into my arms and said, "Oh yes, Margaret Anne, Daddy loves you! Daddy loves you very, very much. And Daddy will always love you."
That anxiety and fear so transparent in my 2 1/2-year old daughter still resides within many of us. "Am I loved? Am I loveable? Will I be rejected or embraced?" These questions--consciously or unconsciously--still tug at many of us throughout our lives.
And the great good news is this: the answer to those questions is a resounding "YES!" For the God who called us into being and came to be with us in the most intimate and vulnerable way possible--as a baby--will never forsake us. When we have our own grown-up versions of toddler meltdowns and during them or after them we ask ourselves, "Do you love me?" the voice of the Holy One whispers, "Yes, oh Yes! You are my beloved."
Henri Nouwen writes, "We are the Beloved. We are intimately loved long before our parents, teachers, spouses, children and friends loved us...That's the truth of our lives. That's the truth I want you to claim for yourself. That's the truth spoken by the voice [of God] that says, 'You are my Beloved.'"
May you claim that truth of your belovedness today and always.
Blessings on your week,
Jeremy
I have called you each by name.
Come and follow me, I will bring you home;
I love you and you are mine."
--Refrain from the song "You Are Mine" by David Haas quoting Isaiah 43 (see below)
"...you are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you..."
--God speaking to God's people through the prophet Isaiah (43:4a)
"The source of love is deep in us and we can help others realize a lot of happiness. One word, one action, one thought can reduce another person’s suffering and bring that person joy."
--Thich Nhat Hanh
*****
Dear Friends,
A few days ago, my 2 1/2-year old daughter Margaret was having rough day. She was coming down with a cold and obviously didn't feel very good. Usually she has a sunny and mellow disposition, but on this day she was getting easily frustrated and would dissolve into tears quickly.
I was being as patient with her as I could, recognizing she was not her usual self. But at one point, as I held her and she cried and fussed over something that remained a mystery to me, my own impatience overcame me. I set her down, sat in a chair a few feet away from her, and said sharply with exasperation filling my tone of voice, "Margaret, I don't know what to do with you! For goodness sake!" And, though I could not see it, I'm sure my facial expression communicated my own frustration and displeasure.
And then the saddest thing happened.
Margaret, eyes filled with tears, body tense, obviously distraught, cried out in her little toddler voice, "You love me, Daddy? You love me, Daddy?!?"
Those words shot straight to my heart. In an instant, my own irritation and frustration disappeared. I scooped her up into my arms and said, "Oh yes, Margaret Anne, Daddy loves you! Daddy loves you very, very much. And Daddy will always love you."
That anxiety and fear so transparent in my 2 1/2-year old daughter still resides within many of us. "Am I loved? Am I loveable? Will I be rejected or embraced?" These questions--consciously or unconsciously--still tug at many of us throughout our lives.
And the great good news is this: the answer to those questions is a resounding "YES!" For the God who called us into being and came to be with us in the most intimate and vulnerable way possible--as a baby--will never forsake us. When we have our own grown-up versions of toddler meltdowns and during them or after them we ask ourselves, "Do you love me?" the voice of the Holy One whispers, "Yes, oh Yes! You are my beloved."
Henri Nouwen writes, "We are the Beloved. We are intimately loved long before our parents, teachers, spouses, children and friends loved us...That's the truth of our lives. That's the truth I want you to claim for yourself. That's the truth spoken by the voice [of God] that says, 'You are my Beloved.'"
May you claim that truth of your belovedness today and always.
Blessings on your week,
Jeremy
26 October 2010
Meditation: "Distorted Thinking"
"I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me!" --Stuart Smalley (aka Comedian Al Franken)
"I place before you Life and Death, Blessing and Curse. Choose life so that you and your children will live. And love God, your God, listening obediently to [God], firmly embracing [God]. Oh yes, [God] is life itself..." --Deuteronomy 30:19 from Eugene Peterson's paraphrase of the Bible called "The Message"
*****
Dear Friends,
My beautiful nearly 6-year-old daughter Miriam is a delightful girl. But she has her moments, as we all do. Sometimes, when she discovers that an activity she really wants to do is not going to happen, at least not that day, she loudly wails with tears brimming "I'm never going to get to..." fill in the blank--go to the zoo, have an ice cream cone, play with my friend, etc. Never?! Really?!
I find this irritating until I remember what I sometimes grumble to myself in the morning, "Grrr...I did not get enough sleep. Today is just going to be an awful day..." Or, on a Sunday morning, with my sermon under-prepared and my brain sleep-deprived, I think, "Oh, worship is gonna be just awful today."
WAIT! Awful?! Really?! Does it have to be?
This is what my social worker spouse might call “distorted thinking.” Without trying to talk too much about something I don't really understand, cognitive behavioral theory tells us that how we think about something shapes our reality. At the risk of totally oversimplifying, this theory is pretty much the same as saying that if you think it's going to be a lousy day, it probably will be!
The solution, obviously, is intentionally thinking about the situation differently. So for example, nearly every Sunday morning as I ride my bike to church to participate in and lead worship, I say—out loud!--“O God, worship this morning is going to be GREAT! O God, my sleep-deprivation and my under-preparation are no obstacle to you. Worship today is going to be GREAT because YOU are going to show up!” And I can tell you that when I do this, when I specifically seek to counter my “distorted thinking”, by the grace of God it always changes things. God's Holy Spirit meets me where I seek to overturn my distorted thinking, and reality is shaped in a new, life-giving direction. Not always exactly as I would want, but virtually always for the better.
Maybe like me, you can identify times in your life when you slip into “distorted thinking.” I hope and pray, that by God's grace, you will choose to think about the situation differently, more hopefully, and invite God to meet you there. In that meeting, there is LIFE as God intends for it to be.
Blessings on you,
Jeremy
"I place before you Life and Death, Blessing and Curse. Choose life so that you and your children will live. And love God, your God, listening obediently to [God], firmly embracing [God]. Oh yes, [God] is life itself..." --Deuteronomy 30:19 from Eugene Peterson's paraphrase of the Bible called "The Message"
*****
Dear Friends,
My beautiful nearly 6-year-old daughter Miriam is a delightful girl. But she has her moments, as we all do. Sometimes, when she discovers that an activity she really wants to do is not going to happen, at least not that day, she loudly wails with tears brimming "I'm never going to get to..." fill in the blank--go to the zoo, have an ice cream cone, play with my friend, etc. Never?! Really?!
I find this irritating until I remember what I sometimes grumble to myself in the morning, "Grrr...I did not get enough sleep. Today is just going to be an awful day..." Or, on a Sunday morning, with my sermon under-prepared and my brain sleep-deprived, I think, "Oh, worship is gonna be just awful today."
WAIT! Awful?! Really?! Does it have to be?
This is what my social worker spouse might call “distorted thinking.” Without trying to talk too much about something I don't really understand, cognitive behavioral theory tells us that how we think about something shapes our reality. At the risk of totally oversimplifying, this theory is pretty much the same as saying that if you think it's going to be a lousy day, it probably will be!
The solution, obviously, is intentionally thinking about the situation differently. So for example, nearly every Sunday morning as I ride my bike to church to participate in and lead worship, I say—out loud!--“O God, worship this morning is going to be GREAT! O God, my sleep-deprivation and my under-preparation are no obstacle to you. Worship today is going to be GREAT because YOU are going to show up!” And I can tell you that when I do this, when I specifically seek to counter my “distorted thinking”, by the grace of God it always changes things. God's Holy Spirit meets me where I seek to overturn my distorted thinking, and reality is shaped in a new, life-giving direction. Not always exactly as I would want, but virtually always for the better.
Maybe like me, you can identify times in your life when you slip into “distorted thinking.” I hope and pray, that by God's grace, you will choose to think about the situation differently, more hopefully, and invite God to meet you there. In that meeting, there is LIFE as God intends for it to be.
Blessings on you,
Jeremy
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