Mar 9, 2022 | Pastor Jim's Blog
Today’s Word from Deacon Amy
You have probably heard it said that good fences make good neighbors. We have come dangerously close to being poor neighbors lately. You may recall that during a wind storm in November, we had a large Madrona tree fall on one of our fences. While we were able to remove the tree and patch the field fence fairly quickly, we neglected to properly repair the electric fencing that reenforces our exterior fences. For quite a while, that wasn’t an issue.
Until a couple of weeks ago. When we went out to feed one morning, we discovered that our sow, Julia, was happily rooting up the grass along the outside of the fence. Oh, no! Luckily, Julia is very food-motivated and was willing to duck back under the fencing that she had pulled up, in exchange for a few zucchinis. My daughter, Ava, and I were able to put a “patch” on the fence and keep her in place.
Until last Friday. I was in my office at church when my daughter, Lia, called. “Mom, we’ve got a problem.” Once again, Julia was happily plowing up the ground outside the fence. I grabbed my keys and headed for the door, peeking into Robin’s office to quickly let her know where I was going (I’m pretty sure that in Trinity’s long history, no minister has ever flown out the door to track down a wayward hog). I briefly pondered running to PayLess for more zucchini, but Lia thought that last night’s leftovers might be tempting enough.
I hoped that Lia was right. By the time I got home, changed my clothes, and ran outside, Julia had left our property and was meandering along the neighbor’s fence. Oh, no! I really did not want to be “that” neighbor! But, with last night’s chicken alfredo as bait, Julia happily followed me back to our property, and once again ducked under the fence that she had pulled up.
This time, Lia and I took the time to walk the fence lines and properly repair the electric fence, even adding an additional line at her favorite escape point. I’m fairly confident that Julia’s days of wandering have come to an end.
We were dangerously close to being very poor neighbors. I am so thankful that Ava and Lia saw the pig outside the fence when they did, that I was able to run home quickly, that we had supplies on hand to make the needed repairs, and that Julia enjoys leftovers.
We learned that the old adage is true; good fences do make good neighbors. While most of our neighbors enjoy watching our little farmyard as they walk by, I’m fairly certain that none of them would have happily welcomed a 450-pound wayward sow wandering through their yards.
We do try to be good neighbors.
Jesus tells us, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” What a beautiful world this would be if we all lived out this advice. Keep your messes on your side. Don’t judge others. Don’t condemn. Just love.
This world needs more good neighbors. Let’s all work together to be good neighbors.
Deacon Amy
Mar 5, 2022 | Pastor Jim's Blog
Today’s Word from Pastor Jim…
Listening is important. I have listened through the years to many parents who were exasperated, fatigued, and generally flummoxed over the behavior of their children. The age of the children? Babies who won’t sleep, terrible two-year old’s, energetic unruly toddlers, insecure adolescents, and teenagers trying to find their place in the world.
Listening is important. I have listened to adults who are trying to care for aging parents. The attempt to parent your parents is exasperating. Your efforts may or may not be appreciated. Your questions seem intrusive, nosey, controlling even. Are you eating enough; are you drinking water, do you need a housekeeper, are you current on your bills, what is with all the empty wine bottles, do you think you should still be driving?
Listening is important. Every Sunday after worship, people are invited into the gym for coffee, cookies, and an organ recital. My heart needs a bypass, my kidneys are not quite right, cataract surgery next week, liver, hips, knees, memories, everything is suspect. And the most common phrase in the organ recital, “Can you say that again, I did not hear you?” How many of you would have thought the most common phrase was going to be, “What a great sermon!”
Listening is important. I am called to listen, but also to offer some perspective, wisdom, or advice. The question I most often ask after listening is: “Is it age appropriate?” The behavior that you are describing, is it age appropriate? Babies, like old men, don’t tend to sleep through the night. We cannot expect a two-year old to act like a five-year old. We should expect adolescents to test their boundaries as they begin to grow into adulthood. Aging parents do need some occasional looking after, and the kids you raised may just love you enough to ask difficult questions.
Listening is important. Doctors will tell you that your information and insight can be more informative than a battery of tests. I had my annual physical this past week. Thanks to the pandemic, I had not actually had a physical in two years. Two years at my age is not like two years at 30. After some niceties, my doctor of three decades said, “Tell me Jim, what is going on with your health?” I described 15 things that did not work right, a little arthritis here, some sleep issues there, consistently missing four-foot putts, headaches, stiffness, and hearing loss. He looked at me and said, “Age appropriate. Get a shingles shot and I’ll see you next year.” I appreciated his honesty and was comforted by the fact that I was not exceptional, just aging.
Listening is important. It is also important to have realistic expectations. Not all marriages are made in heaven. Vows are not always honored. Sometimes people who love each other can’t live together. Not all children are geniuses. The world has always been dangerous and violent. The problems in Eastern Europe have been going on for centuries. Power hungry men act like power hungry men. If you turn on the news expecting to be uplifted, then maybe you should adjust your expectations.
May God help us. May God help us to be better listeners; may we share the human experience with increased patience and compassion. May we learn from the pages of history, and work to build a more peaceful world.
I should stop now; my carpal tunnel is killing me.
One day closer,
Pastor Jim
Mar 3, 2022 | Pastor Jim's Blog
Today’s Word from Ron Roesler…
Have you ever wondered what causes some people to attach themselves to fringe beliefs? Beliefs that defy conventional wisdom, or beliefs of those who think radically different than yourself?
When I was younger, I had difficulty understanding or aligning with unusual or fringe beliefs. Born in early 1941, I had grown up in an era of prejudice, suspicion, and fear, especially if you were different than me, or us.
Growing up we attended a Lutheran church in Michigan every Sunday hearing the word of God. And yet, multiple forms of prejudice were common in our American culture, including church. It’s just the way it was.
How could I honor my belief in God and how I had learned life and living “ought to be?” How do I reconcile past prejudices and exclusion with my current view of inclusion; especially with what I had considered to be behavioral anomalies or even weird?
For me it begs the question of “rightness.” How can I conclude today that the way I was raised to see the world is the correct way and hold myself as right? If I were to do so, my “rightness” would be setting myself up as rigid, better than, or worse yet, simply arrogant.
Today, being an adamant supporter of inclusion or inclusiveness, I struggle with this distorted internal conflict and gain alignment when I choose to turn it over to God, reminding myself that no matter the situation or fringe behavior, we were all created in God’s image. My perceptions of “rightness” take a back seat, knowing that we are all children of God and in that context, we are all one.
Today, we sing in church, “All are welcome, I know, ‘cause I made it through the door!” Over the years, my former internal judge has been silenced by the goodness and Godliness in others rather than seeing and judging unusual life choices or fringe beliefs.
As such, both Helene and I, much like many of you reading this, intentionally live from a place of love and inclusion. To us, this means being open to everyone we meet. We do this by looking for the good in others, listening, gaining greater understanding, and making a positive difference by sharing ourselves and our love.
We accomplish these things by honoring, being empathetic, listening, and respecting what is true for those we meet. We consciously choose to be openhearted, loving, compassionate, and beacons for good. We also accomplish this by speaking from our hearts, being authentic, vulnerable, and having fun all along the way.
And, finally, we accomplish this by speaking what is true for us and, most importantly, intentionally living by these words and being grateful for our blessings.
We maintain that “All are welcome,” we know ‘cause we too made it through the door!
Ron Roesler
Feb 26, 2022 | Pastor Jim's Blog
Today’s Word from Pastor Jim…
We have been entrusted with a precious gift. The gift of a church, a community, a beautiful and flawed gathering of the young and old. We have been entrusted with a precious gift: a community of diverse opinions, political persuasions, ethnic backgrounds, and socioeconomic status. We are diverse, and yet, we sit together, serve together, worship together, and pull together to change our island, and the world, for the better.
We have weathered many storms together and we have remained resolute in our commitment to love God and to love our neighbors. Our differences are real, but our differences do not define us. Our differences are real, but they will not deter us from our shared mission.
Together we follow the example of Jesus; our lives are lived as a response to the amazing grace of God. Consider for a moment the foundational principles of our shared life.
BLESSED TO BE A BLESSING
“I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing… and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Genesis 12
LOVED BY GOD CALLED TO LOVE
“Beloved, since God loved us so much, we ought to love one another…. We love because he first loved us.” I John 4
FORGIVEN TO FORGIVE
“Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” The Lord’s Prayer
GRACE, MERCY, AND PATIENCE
“The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.” Psalm 145:8
MINE IS THE CHURCH WHERE EVERYBODY’S WELCOME
“As Jesus sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees (the self-righteous religious people) saw this, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ Jesus responded, ‘Those who are well have no need for a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’” Matthew 9
PUT YOURSELF IN THE PATH OF THE GOSPEL
When Jesus heard that the Pharisees were conspiring against him, he departed. “Many crowds followed him, and he cured all of them.”
Matthew 12
Healing, forgiveness, words of grace, and the invitation to new life came to those who put themselves in the path of Jesus. Good things happen when we gather in the sanctuary and share the journey of faith and doubt together.
We have been entrusted with a precious gift. We have been blessed in a thousand different ways. We have been given numerous new beginnings. We are 1 percenters living a life of privilege. All that we have is a gift from God. May our lives be lived in the path of the Gospel. May we live and love joyfully as a response to God’s grace.
One day closer,
Pastor Jim
Feb 24, 2022 | Pastor Jim's Blog
Today’s Word from Pastor Tom…
It is often said you can put mystics of varied and different religions in the same room and they will instantly bond, or hear one another. Put theologians of different religious ilk in the same room and within 10 minutes someone will be yelling, “Medic!” The first group will be intent on listening to one another that they might all better experience God, while the other will be using their non-talking time to better articulate what is the true theology of the nature of God.
Mystics find meaning in the apophatic experience of the mystery of God (think of God as ultimately unknowable) while theologians find their love of God in being able to craft meaningful doctrine seeking the honest illumination of what God is (think of catechism). While both will admit that in the final analysis God is mystery, the former group seeks God in the experience of the mystery, while the latter seeks a clearer relationship with God in the explanation of the mystery.
Okay… as pure as freshly driven slush? (A line borrowed, I think, from St. Betty of White who was seeking to describe the purity of a fellow actress).
In the interest of full disclosure, the before mentioned is a rather broad stroked attempt at what I call the two sides of the life of faith. The heart side and the head side. And lest you misunderstand me I argue for a balance of both sides; both are necessary in a healthy life of faith. What is my experience of faith and how do I understand my experience of faith? What are my core convictions as a Christian and what does that imply for meaningful living? Pretty weighty questions, I believe.
In my pastoral life of faith, I have encountered those whose religion was so lost in their head (mostly men) they were hard pressed to be able to make a personal statement about their life with Jesus. On the other hand, there were those who, to borrow on a prairie pastoral expression, were so heavenly they were of no earthly use. The healthy and productive life of faith calls for both, how do you experience God and how do you explain that experience. Which, dare I say it again, is ultimately a mystery. I know, that word again.
The highlight of this past week was my time with Sister Kathleen, my spiritual director. Call it “direction” or counseling or having coffee with a trusted advisor, I believe everyone needs to be in conversation with someone who can hold them accountable for life’s decisions while asking relevant questions of life and faith. I have in the past mentioned this part of my life. Think of it this way, “A brain/mind/head is a way too dangerous place to visit alone.” Mine being the poster child example. So, I talk with Sister Kathleen.
I shared with Sister a profound despair I was feeling awash in. A despair that was sinking into a sadness that was leaving me weepy. I started to weep with the Sister. She generously reminded me “Jesus wept.” I spoke of a world that I felt was rapidly changing for the worse: climate change, a rise in autocracy (or the appeal of it), Russia invading the Ukraine, and a paralysis or an impotence I felt to be able to make one bit of difference. How do I protest (I am a child of the ’60-70’s)? What can I do?
The good Sister gave me two pieces of illumination, one for my heart and one for my head. First, God finds us in the sad, seldom in the mad. In the darkness of my sad there is room for God to come alongside of me that the light inherent in love wins. My sadness connected me with this inexorable pull in the universe that is God’s love that is always moving us toward God. Jesus cried and lamented over Jerusalem’s lack of faith. There is no room for God in our mad. Second, I was encouraged to believe that every tiny act of good, or every quiet moment of contemplative prayer, is a ripple in the universe that God will bless. This is not without protest.
Okay, that’s enough of my life of faith. How’s yours coming along? Feel free to share your thoughts with me.
Peace and love,
Pastor Tom
[email protected]
Feb 18, 2022 | Pastor Jim's Blog
Today’s Word from Sheila Weidendorf
In India, Where the Guest is God
I come to touch my feet
upon the earth in the place
where the guest is God
In this land where Everything exists
within Nothing and holiness is never more
than a breath away
I come to feast my eyes
upon the riches of this holy land
where the guest is God—upon the light
that shines pure gold in the hills,
and upon the stones that glitter
and gleam on hard desert ground
I come to fill my heart here
in the land where I am a guest,
seeing God in the eyes of all I meet,
maybe even in my own
(Sheila Weidendorf, 2022)
There is no kind of hospitality like Indian hospitality. It is written in the Vedas, “Atithi devho bhav”—the guest is God.
I spent part of my time in India in the state of Gujarat, first to attend a wedding and then for a lecture and performance at a friend’s music school. In Gujarat it is said, “Tane swarg bhulavu shamla, tha kok di maro mehman..” It means a devotee is inviting Lord Krishna, saying “Come to my home, God… You will forget your heaven.”
And let me say with unwavering certitude that I have never in my life felt devotion, grace, and loving hospitality like I experience here in India. The poorest of the poor will give you their everything and every kindness reveals the love of God.
And isn’t that our charge in the family of Christ? “Whatsoever you do to the least of these, you do unto me…” What would our world be like if we treated everyone we meet as the Christ? What if we recognized God everywhere, in everyone? What if we truly lived beyond dogma, beyond judgement and simply loved?
In this way, everything we do could be a prayer, a praise hymn, a building of bridges and a balm to the weary and broken-hearted. Oh God, our God—let it be so in me today. Amen.
Click HERE to enjoy my musical rendition of “Where the Guest is God.”
Sheila Weidendorf
This time, Lia and I took the time to walk the fence lines and properly repair the electric fence, even adding an additional line at her favorite escape point. I’m fairly confident that Julia’s days of wandering have come to an end.
