Grey Days

When the righteous call for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.  The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken. Psalms 34:17-20

The winter sky at dawn and dusk is often the most colorful part of the landscape all day.  When my daily drives take me past miles of tawny taupes and charcoals in the palette for the views, I crave a burst of color and a vivid plump flower or two. 

These hues saturate parts of my life, and I see them reflected in other people's moods as we struggle with the challenges of cold-weather months. Tasks can be wearying, and we are prone to experiencing drudgery.

The imagination is the precious gift that can keep us going when we feel oppressed by our surroundings or by the nature of the work ahead of us. It seems appropriate that Lent comes when we are struggling with external issues that seem to trigger internal issues.  There is often a feeling of loss at this time of year; an emptiness that indicates some kind of disconnect.

The challenges of Lent are many, but one I always try to focus on is what I can eliminate that is distancing me from God.  The flip side is exploring what I can add to encourage a closer relationship with God.  There is a switch in my brain that can take me from the process of letting go to the process of practicing discipline that will bring a fuller life. It becomes a cycle of cleansing and becoming involved. 

What I see very clearly is that time spent in front of a screen typing ideas from inspiring things I have read fills me up; and time spent in front of a screen scrolling down through selfies and memes and videos absolutely drains me. There is a great resource in technology, and a great danger as well.

I am trying to be diligent about items on my to-do lists, but I find I really need to intersperse some moments of reading or looking at something beautiful while enjoying a cup of tea, in between digging for tax records and washing dishes and doing a load of laundry. These tasks are wearying to me because I sometimes let myself see the punitive nature of work rather than rejoicing in the sacrament of daily tasks. I need to practice remembering joy.

While scrolling down my Facebook feed today, I was entranced by this poetic prayer posted by a young pastor friend, and I know she would be happy to have it shared. I suppose this, and the photos my old friend has been posting of his trip around World War II memorials in France and Belgium, are the reasons I still look for something on Facebook.  But I do think that there are more worthy distractions that actually engage the soul and mind and body, and I mean to find them.

Prayer on the road of life, attributed to Augustine of Hippo:

God of life, there are days

when the burdens we carry are heavy on our shoulders

and weigh us down,

when the road seems dreary and endless,

the skies grey and threatening,

when our lives have no music in them,

our hearts lonely,

our souls losing their courage.

Flood the path with light.

Turn our eyes to where the skies are full of promise,

tune our hearts to brave music,

give us the sense of comeradeship

with heroes and saints of every age.

So quicken our spirits

that we may be able to encourage the souls of all

who journey with us on the road of life,

to your honor and glory.

Amen.

Mollie Manner (reprinted from 2018)

Words from First Thessalonians

May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. 1 Thessalonians 3:12 NIV 

Love Your Enemy

“You’re familiar with the old written law, ‘Love your friend,’ and its unwritten companion, ‘Hate your enemy.’ I’m challenging that. I’m telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. . . [God] gives his best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. . . 

“In a word, what I’m saying is, Grow up. You’re kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you.” Matthew 5:43-48 (The Message)

As a part of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells those present to love their enemies because God gives his best to everyone, whether they are “nice” or “nasty.”  Anyone can love the loveable, but what about the unlovable?

In Appreciate These Things by Jill Duffield, the author asks us to consider the words in Philippians 4, including one which means “lovely, friendly, amiable, acceptable, pleasing.” She tells of her daughter’s experience in attending college in another country and discovering a difference between the people in that country, who were “nice,” and the people in her home state, who were “friendly.” The difference arises in part from what she calls “outward social graces” and “genuine connections.” Those social graces may be pleasant, but they don’t indicate that we are pleasing others or God. Shuffield states that when we see with the eyes of Christ, we must look attentively, even if what we are looking at doesn’t appear lovely or acceptable.

As Jesus directs in the Sermon on the Mount, we can live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward us. Duffield asks us to imagine looking at everything we encounter in the same way in which God gazes at it. If we use our eyes to look in this way, we allow the lovely to be more visible.

Prayer: Dear God, help us to learn to look at our world in the same way you look at it. Help us to remember to love our enemies and to love the unlovable. Amen.

Robin Hadfield

Who Are We?

A window on the south side of the sanctuary portrays Jesus' baptism by John the Baptist. John, wearing his "rough coat of camel's hair with a leather belt around his waist", carries a shepherd's crook, and appears to be standing on a patch of grass. Jesus stands knee-deep in the flowing waters of the Jordan while the purple hills of Judea can be seen in the distance. He wears a simple cape and holds his hands palms together in prayer. The dove descends, deep blue waters flow from John's fingers, and beams converge at the at the nimbus around Jesus' head.

While only two of the Gospels (Matthew and Luke) relate nativity stories, all four describe Jesus' baptism, a crucial episode in the development of Jesus as the Christ. Jesus understood and appreciated the role of ritual, ceremony, and symbol. As Protestants we recognize two such rituals as sacraments: Baptism and Communion. Baptism is symbolic of the washing away of sin, but it is also a sign that one has joined the community of faith. Therefore, our baptisms are performed when that community is gathered together. When I was in college I worshipped at First Methodist Church, and as a part of each baptism Rev. Munden would dip his hand into the baptismal font and throw drops of water on the congregation: "Remember your own baptism. Remember who you are. You are the Children of God."

Prayer: Oh, God of Heaven and Earth, help us to remember who we really are - we are yours alone. Amen.

Bill Wehrbein (reprinted from the 2008 Eastridge Devotional)

Words from Psalm 103

The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. Psalm 103:8 

Apricity: Take Two

 

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Ephesians 4:32

Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Colossians 3:12

Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. 1 John 3:18

So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone. Galatians 6:10a

Apricity: a word that means the warmth of the sun in winter. I shared a devotion based on this word last year as well, for Earth Day. At that time, I shared this: Apricity is an old word that is not used much anymore. Hearing about it reminded me of reading that native tribes of Canada (Yupik and Inuit) have many words for snow. Using specific language to convey feelings is a beautiful way to communicate and share ideas.

However, with the cold temps and a few recent walks at a local park I’ve been thinking about apricity again.

How wonderful it is to have the sun come out on a cold day! The warmth of the sun on a cold day recently made me consider an article I read recently in National Geographic magazine. This paragraph, from the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission sums it up this way: NatGeo provides a comparison of two nuclear processes, fission and fusion. Fission involves the splitting of heavy atomic nuclei, while fusion combines light atomic nuclei to form a heavier nucleus. “Both processes release a large amount of energy, but they differ in their energy sources and the conditions required to initiate them. Fusion, which powers the sun, requires extreme temperatures and pressures, whereas fission can be initiated with little or no energy input. The article also discusses the potential of fusion as a clean energy source, with scientists working to recreate the conditions necessary for fusion in specialized machines on Earth.”  What power the sun has! It is no surprise to me that many cultures throughout history worshipped the sun. Without it, where would we be?

Where I’m going with this: A smile or a kind word can brighten someone’s day just like that sun appearing on a cold day. Sharing God’s love with others doesn’t always need to be complicated. A kind word or deed may be exactly what someone needs at that moment. We often don’t realize the power that simple actions have on others around us. Smile and share a kind word today!

Prayer: Dear Lord, thank you for the warmth of the sun on a cold day. Thank you for the sun, the moon, and the planets. Help us to remember that we can share your love with a smile, a kind word, a kind deed. Amen.

(Photos above taken in the past three weeks. Feel that apricity come through as you view them! Click on photos to view larger.)

Donna Gustafson

Steadfast Love

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end. Lamentations 3:22