WHO’S DRIVING THE BUS?

Suddenly, it seems like the world as we have known it is unrecognizable. I don’t know about you, but in spite of a lifetime of faith, prayer, and hope, recently I keep thinking,  “Who’s Driving the Bus?”

I do believe with all my heart that it is God’s Son, Jesus Christ, my Savior: the same Jesus who carried the Cross for me and for us all so long ago. The very same Jesus whose resurrection we celebrated just weeks ago.

Jesus’ friend and disciple, John, recorded a lot of who Jesus said that he was and is:

I am the Bread of Life. He who comes to me shall never hunger and he who believes in me shall shall never thirst.  John 6:35

I am the Resurrection and the Life.  He who believes in Me, though he may die, yet shall he live.  John 11:25

I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except by Me.  John 14:6

Well Jesus’ credentials are certainly in order. And then there is God’s promise to Jacob and to Israel:  Fear not, for I have redeemed you, I have called you by your name; You are Mine.   Isaiah 43:1

So are we ready? We may be in for a bumpy ride, so fasten your seat belts. We know that we need to do everything we can to be safe, care for our families and loved ones, and to do everything in our power to help others. It truly is my belief that our precious Jesus Christ, with God the Father and the Holy Spirit are “driving the bus” and will be with us through this pandemic and until the end of time.

Prayer: Dear Jesus, Son of God, please be with us now. We are an Easter People, but many of us are alone and lonely, but you are always with us. Be with families who are struggling with what seems suddenly like too much togetherness.  Be with those who need food and shelter.  Especially protect all who are caring for those in need every day, trusting you to protect them.   Amen

Written by Barbara Bath

“TO WHOM SHALL WE GO? YOU ALONE HAVE THE WORDS OF LIFE.”

I pay attention, as I think you do, to language.  I am curious about word choice and its impact, whether intended or unintended.  Some words we find ourselves using these days in the course of conversation:

“Stay At Home Order” (sounds like something out of a Dostoevsky or Ayn Rand story)

“Essential” (referring to a worker, business, activity…but what defines essential in a given week?)

“Shelter in Place” (used to refer to surviving hurricanes but is used more broadly)

“Social Distancing” (oxymoronic but aptly descriptive)

“Heroes” (selfless service comes in a variety of mostly mundane packaging)

“The New Normal” and “The New Non-normal” (language that maybe begins to show an acceptance of change)

We notice word choice in “news reporting”, how frequently a word can become accepted shorthand for a complex reality (ex. “insurgents”, “extremists”, “environmentalists”) and thus gradually flatten our understanding.  Linguistic decisions can be used for pejorative ends in barely noticeable ways.

Word choice often reveals a speaker’s emotional commitments even when s/he purports to be speaking “just the facts”.  Younger generations are particularly suspicious of the sales pitch and manipulation through words, maklng them skeptical of religious claims and “accepted truth”.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. In him was life. …The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.  We have seen his glory.” (Gospel of John, chapter1)

God’s Word, God’s communication or expression, became flesh and blood.

We might say God did this so that we could clearly understand God’s intended message.  We can actually see and touch the Word of God in Jesus (1 John 1:1).

Paradoxically, incarnation made God’s expression all the more difficult to objectify, hard to boil down to a universal dictum. As the song from Rent says, “How can you measure a life?”  So even the embodied Word of God is subject to interpretation and misunderstanding because the eternal Word was made historically particular. Some people loved Jesus, some thought he was a flake, others saw him as a serious threat.

As you pray or meditate today, what is God’s word to you now?  One word. One word of grace, love, or invitation.  Hold this Word of God today.

Written by Bill Hoff

“Be still and know that I am God” -Psalm 46:10

Breathe. Amidst this unknown time, it is important to remember to breathe and be still.  Take a moment to look away from the news and to stop thinking about all that we have lost during this time. Some have lost events that they looked forward to for years and others have lost travel opportunities. Some have lost their jobs and others have lost loved ones. Food banks are low in supply and many organizations have been unable to encourage volunteers. Yet, during this time, some have united to donate funds to incredible healthcare workers, to local businesses, and to feeding the hungry. Children have written letters to those in nursing homes and discovered ways to make online learning fun. The bike shop was overwhelmed with customers, and all across the nation, people have begun to enjoy the glorious outdoors. People are adapting and learning to enjoy the slower pace. So, despite all of the sadness, unknown, and distance, be still.  Focus on your blessings and know that God is there. Treat every day like Thanksgiving and list what you are grateful for. Facetime your loved ones and friends.  Get creative and curate a themed meal!  Be still.  Know that this will pass. Look forward to big hugs, eating in restaurants, and returning to a sense of normalcy. But, rest and know that God is there, watching over us. Breathe.

Written by 12th Grader, Charlotte Rosenberg

My daughter has a good friend who lives in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.  On Tuesday he sent a video of his drive interrupted by camels running beside his car.  Maybe you have heard the phrase “hump day.”  In our country that is Wednesday.  For Jason that is Tuesday.  In the UAE, Sunday is a regular work day as Friday and Saturday are their weekend.  Jason wanted Sara to see how his Tuesday Hump Day was well underway accompanied by camels on the move!!!  With the dust of the desert roadway swirling around them, the camels jogged along-side his car as he made his way to his destination.

I began to think about the rhythm of our lives.  Tuesday or Wednesday marks the middle of our week.  Hump Day…the middle of the week as we make our way to the weekend.  In our current isolation working from home my days have mingled.  Is it Monday or Wednesday?  Ooops, it’s Sunday…find the ipad for worship!  As much as I try to keep up, I am always a few days or hours behind. “What do you mean it’s supper time?” 

Centuries ago our days were divided into hours and weeks.  As much as I thought I was not time and calendar bound, I have learned differently.  I use time and days like a compass to point me to events, meetings, devotional time.  I have missed the clear definition of our weeks beginning with Sunday worship together at a certain time and place.

Creation seems to have an internal calendar and clock.  The warmth of days brings growth and renewal – gardens bloom, ducklings appear, trees have new growth.  The cold breezes indicate a time of dormancy is coming. 

Ecclesiastes 3:1 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.”

Maybe my lesson during this time is to listen, observe and learn from creation.  To embrace the times and seasons of our lives as they are given – a time to weep and a time to laugh…a time to mourn and a time to dance.  This time says to me “quit overthinking, over planning and over reacting…breathe deeply of the day, the hour, the minute…pause in the present…find gratitude.”

Let us join in prayer: Gracious and Loving God, your gifts to us of day and night, of rest and awareness, show us your tender care and plan for all creation.  Help us to embrace the times of our lives.  In our sorrow and our pain, help us to know your presence and your compassion.  In our time apart and time together, help us to embrace moments of your grace.  In our confusion and doubt, help us to seek your way, truth and life.  Amen.

Written by Rev. Carol DiGiusto 

What’s New?

So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. -Paul (II Corinthians 5:17-18)

Hardly a day has gone by in this Covid-19 era when I haven’t heard other people hijacking one of my favorite phrases; “Hey, how ‘bout…?” As an interim pastor, I am charged with looking at church activities with new eyes; from a different perspective. I also like to unleash folks to give it a try themselves. Covid-19 has become my ally in this effort (though not a beloved assistant). Necessity forces us to think and act differently in times like these. And we are!! Very seldom of late has the older maxim, “We’ve never done it that way before,” bumped into my ear drums. Way more often now I hear my cherished words, “Hey, how ‘bout…?”

God’s people have been greeting new situations in life since…creation! So we don’t have to feel that special. The fact that we are so good at it pleases me immensely. The root of our desire to consider new things grows out of our calling to be disciples of Jesus Christ; and as Paul and our church theme agree, a movement for reconciliation. How we keep doing what we are called to do because we have been forced to so is the question of each new day.

God has been shaping and reshaping the Church of Jesus Christ since the first Pentecost. Our Presby-Reformed motto is The Reformed Church is always to be reforming. Sometimes we sag into long periods of business as usual. Quite often, we do that business pretty well. And then…Kaboom! All heck breaks loose. We have scurried to a great degree to our safe corners and living spaces; but we are not cowering in them. We’re assessing how the world looks from this new perspective, and then we’re asking, “Hey, how ‘bout…?”

A few summary thoughts. First, the current reality does not provide a diversion from our work, but rather an opportunity (forced though it is) to re-imagine what we do. Second, my gratitude runneth over for the many of you who have hijacked my aforementioned phrase. You all are a thoughtful, imaginative, creative bunch and you are inspiring me a great deal. Third, we have to resurrect this creative moment when the ruts of regular life return. Let’s admit it: we like our ruts. We long for them right now! And that’s great! As long as we remember that even—no, especially in good times—we must force ourselves to keep interjecting, “Hey, how ‘bout…?” That practice would be one of the most important babies to be birthed by our Covid-19-induced time away from the ways we’ve always done things.

Yes, this devotional is tailored to church life. Yet, Paul intends for our ministry of reconciliation to flavor every aspect Christian discipleship. I hope all of us can see how this eternal truth can be ironed onto the garments of personal, family, school, work, and recreational reality as well.

Prayer: Creative God, we confess our tendency to fall into our beloved ways of doing things. We rejoice in finding out that you have placed—and in some cases hidden—remarkably creative insights and abilities within us. We praise you for prodding us to hunt them down and release them in such a time as this. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Written by Pastor Zomermaand

The Power of Prayer

I am so grateful to God for giving me the gift of Prayer as a means of navigating through life’s daily challenges and routines, especially in this pandemic world we are all currently living in. I recently read a quote from Mohandas K. Gandhi, “A man is but the product of his thoughts; what he thinks, he becomes”. This reminded me of how my attitude is impacted by how I am thinking about what is going on in my life. This enlightened me about how my daily prayers, conversations with God if you will, help me stay focused on and connected to what is truly important. As I suspect most of us do, I have a very rigorous and structured, though spontaneous ritual of prayer. As I talk to God, my Daddy, Jesus, and all those listening, I bring Heaven down to Earth; and conversely my prayers take me on virtual visits to Heaven. 

I have many named specific prayers that come to me randomly, or daily, as the need and circumstance dictates. One of them that I call my “Paulie Prayer” – is essentially my daily go-to prayer: “prayers for all my family, friends, loved ones, colleagues, neighbors, care givers, those in need, hurting, sick or alone, Lord be with them this day”.   

A wonderful piece of scripture, which gives us license to pray about everything, is Philippians 4:4: “Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice in the Lord. Let all men know your forbearance, the Lord is at hand. Have anxiety about nothing, but in everything with prayer, supplication and thanksgiving, make your requests be known to God; for the peace of the Lord surpasses all understanding, and shall keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, forever. 

This is the word of the Lord, Thanks be to God.

Written by Paul Bessent Mahoney

It’s the Little Things

As we slow down as we’re hunkered down, it’s the little things that come into focus. Maybe it’s the new growth on that tree right outside the front door that you always barely noticed or the beautiful birds, butterflies and squirrels playing effortlessly in your backyard. Now that we have time, we have the opportunity to sit and listen and pay attention to the little things. It is spring and as the days start getting warmer, there are myriad examples of new birth around us. Maybe you have flowers about to bloom or vegetables and herbs growing in your garden. Perhaps you now notice how much greener all the plants are after it rains. Or you have a new vision looking for spring growth as you walk around your neighborhood. Have you stopped to smell the blooming honeysuckle? It’s all there just as it always was year to year but now we notice the little things in a different way with our days slowed down. “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland” Isaiah 43:18-19.

Prayer: O Lord, thank you for today full of Your glory right around us. Give us eyes to see, ears to hear and noses to smell your gift of Spring. Help us to have a renewed sense of Resurrection and Rebirth and help us to live as Easter people. In Jesus’ name, Amen

Written by Dale Child

Meh!

And God said, “Let there be lights in the dome of the sky to separate the day from the night.” And it was so.

                                                                                               -Genesis 1:14-15

    Long ago, Joni Mitchell sang in her popular tune, Big Yellow Taxi:

Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.

Yeesh, we’ve had a lot of practice of late in the sentiment St. Joni raises. Seems like the vast majority of things upon which we base our everyday, walkaround life are history…at least temporarily—whatever temporary means! Granted, not every aspect of ordinary existence deserves special attention. I mostly will not know that I miss my least favorite elements of daily duties…until I have to pick them up again! Kind of ironic, huh? Or perhaps I’ll approach those tasks in the drudgery bin with a little more zest, or at least appreciation, than previously.

We humans all fall victim to a greater or lesser degree to the taking-things-for-granted disease. Even the items we really love move over to the routine list at some point. I thought I would never, ever, ever tire of listening to California Dreaming by the Mama and the Papas. I did, though I still really love that song. I remember being so excited about lacing up my basketball sneaks before practice that my hands shook! After my last game in high school, I remember feeling, at least a little, Glad that’s over! (I regrew my sense of excitement for basketball since that time.)

What about something really consequential. God created the light bearers and glued them on the arc of the heavens in such a way that life appeared and organized itself (with much Divine tending) on the face of the earth. The sun’s been rising and setting ever since. Sometimes we’ll find a place where the aura is particularly awesome—like the beach. Mostly, the sun rises and sets…and we yawn at the astro-physical magnificence of the occurrence. The amazing regularity of that awe-inspiring event prevents humans from being toast…or ice cubes, depending on your location on the globe.

I would like to challenge you to think about this question as the Easter season unfolds: About what can you sing, you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone, now that it’s gone for a bit? Maybe, just maybe it’s your favorite thing ever—like advanced algebra class. Or maybe it’s something you don’t know you miss yet. Write it down in your journal (a practice which you have continued since Lent ended, right?), or on a piece of toilet paper. No, don’t waste that! Record it somewhere! The measure of who we are as resilient people comes from what we learn when the pressure is on. News flash: The pressure is on! We will be a different society when Covid-19 abates. HOW we will be changed will depend on our ability to think about what we missed…and what remains. Let’s get a head start on the learning curve.

Prayer: Gentle God, these are challenging times, and we don’t need to pretend that they are not. You continue to speak to us through them, however. Keep us alert to the lessons we didn’t even know we needed to learn. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen

Written by Pastor Zomermaand

During this pandemic many people have talked about how bad this disease is and the effects it has on us. But are there not good things about this virus? Like how many people are getting outside to get exercise. In my neighborhood not many people used to walk around. Now I see people walking around and enjoying nature. Another good aspect of this virus is how sanitary everybody is. People are wearing mask and washing their hands for longer than they used too. A final good aspect about this virus is what it is doing to the environment. Less cars are driving around which results in cleaner air. Animals are thriving, during this pandemic. Although this disease is horrible, what if God planned this out, that way people would become more aware of their surroundings. God has a plan for everything and is planning what will happen during this pandemic. 

Written by 8th Grader Eli Stevenson

Missing Our Church

We are fortunate that our technology enables us share communal worship virtually.  How limited our worship would be if we didn’t have access to the internet!  Still, being virtually together is a poor substitute for the closeness we feel there, one of the main impulses drawing us there each Sunday morning.  

As I watch on the screen the staff and members of our little choir wave at us at the end of each service, I feel a little melancholy knowing how much better it would be to shake their hands, exchange a smile, a pat on the back, or a hug.  It must be a feeling common to many of us.

But it is not only the personal contact that we miss.  It is the place.  It is the absence of the light that streams in through our sanctuary’s windows.  Most of us received as a gift Becky Rogers’s beautiful little book containing photographs and descriptions of the stained glass, but it is not quite the same as enjoying the spectral light that warms the interior of the sanctuary and our faces in the pews on Sunday mornings. 

Most Easters I spend a little time appreciating the War Memorial Window in the south transept, which features the image of the Risen Christ surrounded by scenes of strife and images of the six resurrection appearances from the Gospels and Acts.  Lying between and within the lines and colors of the glass are the stories–told and untold, remembered and forgotten–of men and women who died in a war that both shook and strengthened the foundations of our faith, stories of men and women who remain alive to God.

Nearby are the old stone font with its carved images of roses and thistles from which so many of us and our children and grandchildren were baptized, and the gleaming Celtic cross in the center of the reredos.  Both are powerful reminders of our Presbyterian heritage.  

We hear all the time that the church is the body of believers.  That is correct, of course.  But that body is gathered together for worship and fellowship in a place hallowed by the Word proclaimed from the pulpit and enacted in the sacraments, united by all the experiences of music, children, prayer, love, and fellowship we share together there.

“The Lord is in his holy temple” appears in script above the central doors of our sanctuary.  A temple is a place of worship and memory, a place to assemble to experience the presence of Christ in our midst.  It is our common home, a place of beauty offered to God and inhabited by God’s Spirit and God’s people.  It is no wonder we feel its absence so keenly.  It is no wonder we long to be there together again.

Written by Chris Wrenn