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Deuteronomy 30:15-20

Common English Bible (CEB)

15 Look here! Today I’ve set before you life and what’s good versus death and what’s wrong. 16 If you obey the Lord your God’s commandments that I’m commanding you right now by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments, his regulations, and his case laws, then you will live and thrive, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. 17 But if your heart turns away and you refuse to listen, and so are misled, worshipping other gods and serving them, 18 I’m telling you right now that you will definitely die. You will not prolong your life on the fertile land that you are crossing the Jordan River to enter and possess. 19 I call heaven and earth as my witnesses against you right now: I have set life and death, blessing and curse before you. Now choose life—so that you and your descendants will live— 20 by loving the Lord your God, by obeying his voice, and by clinging to him. That’s how you will survive and live long on the fertile land the Lord swore to give to your ancestors: to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

They say that where treasure is, so is your heart.  I have sort of adapted that to “where ever I have the most email subscriptions and follows on Facebook, so is my heart.”   Every Saturday morning when I open my church email after not having looked at it for two days I find 30 to 50 emails, probably three quarters of which come from organizations whose focus is human rights or environmental justice.  I’m sure that’s no surprise to anyone here since a lot of my sermons revolve around those things - care for humanity and care for creation.     

Most of  you know that I spend a day once a year in Sacramento with other members of California Interfaith Power and Light lobbying for bills that will lead toward cleaner air, clean energy and sustainability.  Often those bills propose changes that will improve the lung health of children in our poorest (and most polluted) communities or educate people on how to conserve electricity and water.  Some of them try to restrict large corporations from following courses of action that will almost certainly cause damage to the ecology and/or significant health risks.   Because it is an Interfaith group we spend our time with the State Senators and Assemblypersons talking about these bills from a faith perspective, speaking on behalf of those who cannot speak for themselves.  We don’t try to sound like scientists or economic experts because that’s not who we represent.  But we do represent may different religious communities so we quote Scripture and speak of God’s commandments to care for the earth.  

Today is the annual Interfaith Power and Light Preach-In, a religious response to Global Warming.  I personally prefer the term Climate Change to Global Warming because it seems a more accurate representation of the weather effects we have been seeing but as you all know, I don’t do science.   I do words, and the phrase Global Warming tends to get responses like, “Global Warming isn’t our doing. It’s just God hugging us closer.”  Climate Change, on the other hand, reflects the increase we have been seeing in unseasonable and record-breaking weather effects, massive storms and other forms of severe weather, intense cold, unusual heat, floods and droughts.  And just to be clear - I don’t believe that Climate Change is solely humanity’s doing.  I know enough history to be aware that the earth goes through cycles of heat and cold.  I do, however, believe that we contribute to it by polluting he air and water and earth.  The annual Preach-In is intended to focus our attention on love for creation as our inspiration for stewardship.  

Today is also the first Sunday for the Week of Compassion special offering   For those of you who may not know, Week of Compassion is the aid agency of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), responding to crisis and emergency situations around the world through our contributions.  Out of every $1 we give, 50c goes directly to emergency aid and most of the disasters WOC responds to are weather related.  For example:

On November 17, 2013, Karla and Jim Buchanan of Southside Christian Church (DOC) in Kokomo, IN returned home from picking up Cassie (the child we are adopting) from a weekend of respite, only to find their home severely damaged by a tornado. Karla wrote:  We were in total shock, and Cassie was overwhelmed. Glass was all over the back family room. A tree sat on top of my father-in-law's van. The shed that held all of our Christmas decorations was flattened. Windows were broken, trees were down, and the roof was in shreds.  [The next day folks from church came to help with the clean up and recovery of cherished possessions and their insurance company had found them a room in a motel.  These were blessings but there was more to come.]

Becky Sundquist, our minister, called that night and told us another amazing thing: Week of Compassion was sending us a grant to help with recovery. You can't imagine how great that was to hear. Although our insurance company was paying for our hotel and eventually would cover expenses, we had a number of immediate expenses to cover. The WOC grant made that possible.

I have been a Disciple all my life, and I have given to Week of Compassion when possible, but I never imagined I would be a recipient of a Week of Compassion grant. Of course, I never imagined I would live through a tornado either! Words cannot express our thanks. We hope soon to be on the giving end of disaster recovery, but for now please accept what we can give: our thanks and prayers.  May God bless the work of Week of Compassion!” …   

When I realized weeks ago that the Preach-In on Climate Change and Week of Compassion were falling on the same day as a passage in which God tells the people “if you follow my laws your land that I am giving you will be blessed,” and “choose life so that you and your descendants may live,” I felt that there must be some divine guidance going on.  God says, if you do those things that I have told you to do - if you care for each other the way I have told you to, if you take care of the land and its creatures the way I have told you to, if you treat each other with justice and compassion the way I told you to, if you love me the way I told you to love me, then you will be blessed in the land I am giving you. 

But if you don’t - “if your heart turns away and you refuse to listen, and so are misled, worshipping other gods and serving them, I’m telling you right now that you will definitely die. You will not prolong your life on the fertile land.” 

The Law of Moses is multifaceted.  It covers all the many ways that people live and interact with each other.  It also covers the ways in which people interact with the rest of God’s creation.  The Law tells the people to rest on the Sabbath and also to give the land rest by letting it lie fallow for one year out of every seven.  The Law tells the people how to treat their servants justly and how to treat their flocks justly.  The Law says, “Don’t cook a kid in its mother’s milk.”  Not because God has a problem with milk gravy, but because it would be unfeeling and cruel to treat any living being as if her feelings don’t matter.  If a person will be cruel to a goat he will be cruel to humans also.  Lack of care for other forms of life is a one sign of a sociopath.  Cruelty to animals is one of the early indicators for a serial killer.  If an entire people are encouraged to treat even goats justly, then surely they will want to treat other people justly.    

“Choose life”, God says, “so that you and your descendants may live by loving the Lord your God, by obeying his voice, and by clinging to him. That’s how you will survive and live long on the fertile land.” 

The thing about fertile land is it only stays fertile if it is cared for.  If it is used and overused and used some more without being allowed to rest and be revitalized it won’t remain fertile.  Farmers learned to solve that particular problem through crop rotation, apparently never realizing that crop rotation was actually prescribed in the Law of Moses.  We have seen the mudslides that come when we cut down all the trees on a hill, the barren desert that follows when we strip away ground cover from our prairies, the destruction of plants and animals when we dump slag on a mountainside, the death and illness that follows when we dump waste into our rivers and spill oil in our oceans.   When we choose to bring death to God’s creation, then we will find that we cannot live on the land we have been given to care for.   

If, however, we choose to treat the rest of creation, all the not human parts of creation, as if they, too, deserved to be cared for even as we wish to be cared for - if the choices we make in our use of God’s creation are for life, then the land may return to fertility, the air may become sweet again, the water will bring comfort to those who drink it.    Our treatment of all the not-human parts of creation, our choice whether to bring life or death to the other creatures that share the planet with us, our decision whether to put caring God’s creation ahead of filling our own desires will always affect us because all of us - human and not - are interconnected in ways that we don’t even understand.  

When we make choices that contribute to global warming, when we add to the reality that is climate change, those choices will always effect us one way or another. We may be inconvenienced by getting stuck in an airport in a hurricane. Or lose our home in a drought caused fire.  Or lose our life in an ice storm in the deep South. When we make choices that lead to the pollution of a river in Africa, or the death of honey bees in Colorado, or the destruction of the rain forests in South America, these choices will effect us.  The earth is a very small planet.  Each and every part of it, every blade of grass, every snow covered mountain, every sea and stream, every breathing creature from polar bear to mosquito, every water bound creature from coral to manatee, every part of this planet is related to every other part.  If we are to survive in this fertile land God has given to us then we must obey the voice of God, cling to God, love God.  If we are to survive in this fertile land we must choose life - for our selves and for the farmland, the tree-filled hillsides, the air we breathe and the water we drink.  If we are to survive in this fertile land - if the fertile land which God has given us is to survive - we must choose life for all of creation, from the biggest creature to the smallest.  Let us go from this place dedicated to loving God and every facet of God’s creation.  For our God is not just our God - but also God of the Sparrow and God of the Whale.  

On Speaking Out . . . .

November 24, 2013 was the annual SpeakOut to end Sexual and Gender Based Violence. I took the opportunity to do something I have never done before - disclose to my congregation that I myself am a survivor of domestic violence and rape.  Using the Rape of Tamar as my text, I approached what was perhaps the most terrifying and difficult message I have prepared to date.   

I’ve been asked if I think it was helpful for me and my congregation to discuss the issue of Sexual and Gender Based Violence. 

Just telling these people I dearly love that I am a survivor gave me a chance to heal a little bit more.  That is all I said, just that I am a survivor.  I didn’t give any titillating details.  I just wanted them to know that the statistics I was quoting weren’t just numbers.  These statistics were about me and other people who touch their lives, whether they knew it or not.  And I needed them to know that I trust them completely . . . it’s taken a long time to get to this place.

After worship several thanked me for addressing a topic that we are usually afraid to discuss.  We are always so worried that someone might be hurt or angered or feel blamed or that talking about such things might damage the children present . . . as if those children don’t watch TV or play Grand Theft Auto.   One congregant who is also a survivor said that it was a difficult thing to sit through and that they couldn’t imagine ever being able to say what I said out loud, but were so very glad that I did.  It gave them hope that they too will continue to heal.

I want you to know that just reading the passage from 2nd Samuel was painful.  I could feel Tamar’s despair and brokenness.  I heard Absalom’s instruction to Tamar not let it bother her as if it was being said to me . . . because it had been said to me.  Even now, writing this retrospective look at the sermon and the sermon writing process, it hurts and enrages me - that this was and is and probably will be for a long time a typical response to rape.  The more I wrote, the more painful it became, the more fearful I felt.  Through most of the writing I was wiping away tears.  I had to stop for a breath a couple of times while preaching.  But when all was said and done. . . it was a relief to finally Speak Out. I have been holding back for so long, fearful of letting people know this piece of my past, fearful that they would judge.  The hugs and tear-shiny eyes I experienced after worship let me know that there was no judgement here, only compassion and love.  

So, yes.  I believe that Speaking Out was helpful - to me, to other survivors, to the teachers and parents in my congregation, to the children and to all the other potential victims.  

May God walk with you when it is your time to speak.  

(The text of the sermon is located at http://tinyurl.com/k7b9pa2  )

We will speak out - against Sexual and Gender Based Violence

2 Samuel 13:1-21    Common English Bible (CEB)

13 Some time later, David’s son Amnon fell in love with Tamar the beautiful sister of Absalom, who was also David’s son. 2 Amnon was so upset over his half sister that he made himself sick. She was a virgin, and it seemed impossible in Amnon’s view to do anything to her. 3 But Amnon had a friend named Jonadab, Shimeah’s son, David’s brother, who was a very clever man.

4 “Prince,” Jonadab said to him, “why are you so down, morning after morning? Tell me about it.”So Amnon told him, “I’m in love with Tamar, the sister of my brother Absalom.”

5 “Lie down on your bed and pretend to be sick,” Jonadab said to him. “When your father comes to see you, tell him, ‘Please let my sister Tamar come and give me some food to eat. Let her prepare the food in my sight so I can watch and eat from her own hand.’”

6 So Amnon lay down and pretended to be sick. The king came to see him, and Amnon told the king, “Please let my sister Tamar come and make a couple of heart-shaped cakes in front of me so I can eat from her hand.”

7 David sent word to Tamar at the palace: “Please go to your brother Amnon’s house and prepare some food for him.”8 So Tamar went to her brother Amnon’s house where he was lying down. She took dough, kneaded it, made heart-shaped cakes in front of him, and then cooked them. 9 She took the pan and served Amnon, but he refused to eat.

“Everyone leave me,” Amnon said. So everyone left him. 10 Then Amnon said to Tamar, “Bring the food into the bedroom so I can eat from your hand.” So Tamar took the heart-shaped cakes she had made and brought them to her brother Amnon in the bedroom. 11 When she served him the food, he grabbed her and said, “Come have sex with me, my sister.” 12 But she said to him, “No, my brother! Don’t rape me. Such a thing shouldn’t be done in Israel. Don’t do this horrible thing. 13 Think about me—where could I hide my shame? And you—you would become like some fool in Israel! Please, just talk to the king! He won’t keep me from marrying you.”

14 But Amnon refused to listen to her. He was stronger than she was, and so he raped her. 

15 But then Amnon felt intense hatred for her. In fact, his hatred for her was greater than the love he had felt for her. So Amnon told her, “Get out of here!” 16 “No, my brother!” she said. “Sending me away would be worse than the wrong you’ve already done.”

But Amnon wouldn’t listen to her. 17 He summoned his young servant and said, “Get this woman out of my presence and lock the door after her.” (18 She was wearing a long-sleeved robe because that was what the virgin princesses wore as garments.) So Amnon’s servant put her out and locked the door after her.  19 Tamar put ashes on her head and tore the long-sleeved robe she was wearing. She put her hand on her head and walked away, crying as she went.

20 Her brother Absalom said to her, “Has your brother Amnon been with you? Keep quiet about it for now, sister; he’s your brother. Don’t let it bother you.” So Tamar, a broken woman, lived in her brother Absalom’s house.

21 When King David heard about all this he got very angry, but he refused to punish his son Amnon because he loved him as his oldest child.

  

November 25th has been designated by the United Nations as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. It is the beginning of 16 days of  worldwide activism against gender violence.   Today is Speak Out Sunday, a day dedicated to ending Sexual and Gender Based Violence.

It seems to me that this is perfectly timed. October was Domestic Violence Awareness Month.  Wednesday, November 20  was Transgender Day of Remembrance when we remember the many - thousands - who have died simply because of who they were.   

This passage from 2nd Samuel is known as “the rape of Tamar.”  It is one of those terrible Bible stories we hate to preach on.  OK, it’s one of those terrible Bible stories we NEVER preach on. We try to skip over it in Bible studies.  And we sure don’t write children’s books about Tamar and Amnon like we do about Abraham and Sarah or even Samson and Delilah.  It’s an ugly, terrible story and we want to know why . . . Why didn’t David do something? Why didn’t Absalom go beat Amnon to a pulp? Why Tamar was told to be quiet, to not let it bother her?   Really? Absalom actually said, “ Don’t let it bother you?” That would never happen today.

Right.  That ugly scenario happens every day, today.   I could have just lifted a plot line from Law and Order SVU and found all the same elements.  A young woman is subjected to violent rape by someone close to her, her family tries to pretend it never happened, and there is no penalty for the perpetrator. There’s a reason people don’t report rape, why women and men stay in violent relationships even when it’s pretty clear even to them that their very lives may be (are!) at risk.  

   

 Rape.  Physical Violence.  Stalking. Not by strangers, but by a loved one, an intimate partner, a family member.   In the United States this is a reality for one in THREE women.  And for one in FOUR men!  Those numbers from a 2010 survey by the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence survey are way up from just 5 years earlier.  And the numbers today are most likely higher.    

Many don’t tell.  They don’t want anyone to know.  They think it’s their fault, that they should have been smarter than that, that they should have prevented it somehow, that they should have found a way to get away, to defend themselves, to avoid the situation altogether.  And no matter how loudly or how often we tell ourselves that those things are not true, it’s hard to believe when it seems like all of society believes that they are true.  

And yes, you heard right.  I said we.  I am also a survivor of domestic violence and of rape.  I also struggle not to believe those untruths.  I am also one of those who never called the police on the domestic violence, whose rape went unreported.   A few months ago I was diagnosed with PTSD, which I’ve learned is a common result of those experiences, and began therapy.   Even though those things happened decades ago, I only recently started talking about it.   I am not alone.  

Tamar had no recourse.  There were no police to report to so she went to her brother Absalom.  There was nothing he could do.  The law was pretty clear.  If the woman was raped within a town or city and wasn’t heard to scream, then it wasn’t rape.   And if she had been married she would have been stoned to death.  In a case of proven rape the rapist was required to either marry the woman or pay her father her bride price, because no one else would marry her.   She was, you see, not a person with rights.  She was property.  By taking her virginity Amnon stole something of value, not from Tamar, but from his father, David, to whom she belonged.   In the Western world the laws granting women rights to own property on their own and even to live on their own are recent - just within the last couple hundred years.  In some places in the East and Africa that still isn’t the case.    Rape and other violence against women are still considered property crimes committed against the father or husband, not against the woman.    

It is hard to believe that in the nearly 3,000 years since these events happened, roughly 978 bce, nothing has changed that much.  Women who are victims of domestic violence and spousal rape are told not to worry, not to pay attention to it - by their priests and ministers!  They go to their pastor, who they are supposed to trust, and are told to go home and submit in all ways to their husband, because that’s what the Bible says they should do.   They might even point to the Law that says a husband can’t use a rod any thicker than his thumb to beat his wife with, which implies that he has every right to beat her if she misbehaves . . .  

Men who are victims are ridiculed.  How can a man let a woman beat on him?  He’s bigger and stronger.  Surely he can control her . . .  If he’s even willing to tell his minister, he’s reminded that he is the head of household . . .His friends, if he tells them anything at all, might tell him he should just deck her, that would teach her who is boss.    

So what do we do?  What’s a Christian to do?   If we look to the New Testament, to the household codes in Ephesians 5 for example, we see that Paul does indeed tell wives to submit “. . .wives submit to their husbands in everything like the church submits to Christ.”  Way too often ministers stop right there, with the instruction to the wife.  However, Paul follows that statement immediately saying  “As for husbands, love your wives just like Christ loved the church and gave himself for her. . That’s how husbands ought to love their wives—in the same way as they do their own bodies. Anyone who loves his wife loves himself. 29 No one ever hates his own body, but feeds it and takes care of it just like Christ does for the church 30 because we are parts of his body.    (Ephesians 5:24-30a)

This bit follows Paul’s insistence that everyone in the church should treat everyone else well.  He says, “speak to each other with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs; sing and make music to the Lord in your hearts; 20 always give thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; 21 and submit to each other out of respect for Christ. 22 For example, wives should submit to their husbands… and Paul ends this section by saying, “In any case, as for you individually, each one of you should love his wife as himself, and wives should respect their husbands.”  

All of you,  the whole community, submit to each other.  Speak only good things, holy things, to each other.  Husbands, love your wives as you love yourself.  Wives, respect your husbands.   Paul isn’t saying, “Men, treat your property well.”  He’s telling them, “love your wife as Christ loves you.  Treat her with care and respect.”  He tells them, in effect, stop paying attention to the rules of the world and live according to Christ’s law.   In Christ there is no difference between individuals.  Your wife is not your property, she is just the same as you, to be loved and  treated as you treat  yourself - as is every member of the Christian community. He is re-iterating, again, the fact that Christians are to live a different way than all the other folks out there.  Christians are all equal in God’s sight and should therefore be equal in each other’s sight.   Every one cares for and about each other.  

What happened to Tamar should never happen in a Christian community.  The victim should never hear, “Oh, you were raped?  You were beaten?  Don’t worry about it.”  The victim should be nurtured and healed.   Regardless of what the laws of the nation say, regardless of what the people outside the Church might say,  she or he is deserving of love, not punishment.   Remember that Jesus said to the crowd getting ready to stone a woman accused of adultery.  First he wanted to know who accused her - what man in the crowd saw her willingly give herself to a man who was not her husband.  And when no one came forward he said, let the one who has never done anything wrong be the first to throw a stone.  And every person put down his stone and walked away.  Jesus told the woman to go and sin no more.  He didn’t accuse her or preach at her or tell her how bad she was.  He just said, go and sin no more.  

He says that to us all.  He shows each of us compassion just as he did to that woman waiting to be killed.  He models for her the forgiveness and compassion each of us receives from God.  Always and forever, we are given another chance to get it right, another chance to reach out to the damaged, the broken, another chance to help the victim, another chance to heal him or her of the pain and shame that comes with being a victim.  And we are given the chance to teach - that no one should be victimized.  That we are responsible for teaching our children and our communities that each person is equal in God’s eyes and that we are all to love one another as we are loved.  That we are all to respect each other as equally valued, beloved children of God. That no one deserves to be punished just for being who they are, or for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or for being a victim.  

Submit to each other.  Love one another as you are loved.  Heal the sick, the injured, the broken.  Feed those who hunger.  Speak the Good News where ever you go. Work for justice  And do not judge.

Cross-posted at www.delhaven.org.   

Prayer on Tamale Tuesday

As I sat in my office this morning I started to hear a bit of commotion in the church hall.  There were tables and chairs being moved around and people greeting each other.  When I looked at my calendar I realized that today is Tamale Tuesday.

On the third Tuesday of every month a Spanish speaking
congregation that shares space with us spends the day making tamales, which they will sell this evening to raise funds for their church. There are both women and men here sharing all the work - cutting, mixing, sorting out the corn husks, and stirring.  In a few hours they will start rolling the tamales.  There will be pork tamales and chicken and sweet corn meal and sometimes they make tamales that are filled with corn meal and cheese wrapped around a large pepper.  I'm not sure what they're called, but I really like those pepper tamales.  

Before they begin all that, however, they pray.  They will gather in a circle, the pastor will say something like "let us pray" and they begin.  When I say "they" I mean all of them.  Each and every person in that circle will pray out loud at the same time that everyone else is praying, saying his or her own prayer from the heart, giving thanks and praise to God and asking God's blessing on the work they will do today.  When I say "out loud" I mean that there is no mumbling, no hesitancy, no wondering what everyone else is saying.  They lift their voices together with confidence, with as much energy as my congregation puts forth when singing a well-loved hymn.

I remember how surprised I was the first time I experienced this kind of praying.  I'm used to having the pastor or some other leader praying out loud while everyone else stands there silently.  Sometimes someone will respond to the pray-er with a "Praise God" or "Thank you Jesus" or "Yes Lord."  But most of the time they just listen and let the leader pray on their behalf.   Now and then a circle will pray the same prayer in unison in that sort of sing-song way we tend to use for memorized prayers and poems. 

So you can understand my confusion the first time I stood in a prayer circle with a group of Spanish speaking Christians.  It took a couple of experiences with this new thing before I was totally comfortable with praying out loud while everyone else was praying, but I grew to like it.  It started making a lot of sense to me that each individual would give thanks and ask God's blessing on their work.  It makes sense that when a group of people are asking God for help for one of their number that each will lift up their own individual plea for that person.  This is the priesthood of all believers in action.

I don't get many opportunities to join my Spanish speaking sisters and brothers in prayer.  But you can be sure that when I hear those prayers begin on Tamale Tuesday I drop whatever I'm doing and pray along.

What are you against?

I just saw a Facebook post asking people to join a group or like a page or whatever named "Anti-Republican."  Really, people?  When's the last time someone turned to you during a conversation and asked, "What are you against?"

I mean, why do we have to be against something?  Why not just state loudly and frequently what we are for?  It seems to me that just saying "I hate them. Let's kick them out." is not productive. Rather, if you really would rather see different people in office say, "Let's find more centrist people to fill that position."

At the of sounding Pollyanna-ish, I have learned that it is usually more helpful to come at an issue from the positive side.  Rather than reacting or pushing back against a policy or person we disagree with, name the positive options that we favor.  So, instead of being "Anti-Republican," a name which will automatically alienate any moderate or progressive members of that party, name what you are in favor of.

In truth, I learned this the hard way.  I found myself pushing back against a sense of apathy and worry about the future of our congregation.  I would say things like, "We're not dying.  Don't listen to the nay-sayers. There's still hope for us."  And yes, the congregation is getting smaller.  And yes, I worried, too - about the congregation, about my job, about the kids who come to our preschool and our teachers, about the folks who come here for food... So I would beg the folks not to give up, to hang on to hope.

Then I started paying closer attention to our church treasurer.  Because he is also an Elder he has the opportunity to give the offering invitation once a month.   He might name some emergency or unexpected expense that impacted our bank account.  He will usually mention one of the big expenses coming up, like property tax or workers comp insurance.   Then he will start praising the congregation.  "I don't know how we do it," he'll say.  "We keep having what we need to pay the bills and take care of emergencies.  We still send money to the Mission Fund.  You are the most generous people ever, and I thank you."  Most always he ends with the reminder that with God all things are possible.

When I really started listening to him, he helped me remember that I'm the one in the pulpit. Yes, there might be folks out in the parking lot whispering and worrying (and maybe even plotting!), but I'm the one in the pulpit. I'm not here to soothe their fears and worries for the future. I'm the one whose job it is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.  I'm not just here to tell them about loving the neighbor and the work that needs to be done to end oppression in the world.  I'm the one whose job is to remind them of just how awesome our God really is.  And that everything  really is possible with God.

So . . . I changed my tune.  I started telling the congregation exactly how much they impact our community.  I lifted up their generosity and compassion for our neighbors. I thanked them for their hard work packing lunches for the hungry and going around the neighborhood handing them out.  I tell them how different we are from other congregations.  We are smaller than we were 10 years ago, yes.  But where most congregations who've been around 50 years or more are populated mostly by silver haired folks, we are getting younger!  There are new young families and couples who have come and gotten involved in mission and worship.  I told them that we now have an energy that's very different from before and that energy comes from God.  It results from our willingness to do whatever we can to serve our neighbor with love.

Then people started coming up to me saying, "I was worried about my little church, but not so much now.  Now I have hope.  I know that God can make a way where there is no way."

I don't know what the future holds any more than anyone else does, but I do know that just speaking against whatever worries or frightens or angers me isn't the solution.  The solution lies in naming the good potentialities and working toward them.  The solution lies not in arguing or defending or defeating, but in shifting the focus from negative to positive, from anti-whatever to for something.

So, to you Anti-Republican folks out there . . . I am absolutely in favor of finding leaders with a more centrist view of the world than some of the folks who are serving in government now, but I think some of them just might sit on the red side of the aisle.  Maybe you could re-think your name?

Is it better...?

I wonder about all sorts of things. Sometimes my wondering wanders into the world of worrying.  For example:

 Is it better to post numerous short pieces on my blog or wait until I have something essay-length to share?
   
My habit of late has been to make note of things I intend to write more about, usually on my phone or iPad.  I might have just an idea or as much as half a page of musing.  It might be a "this'll preach" moment or just some random observation.  The problem with this is that I almost never get around to "finishing" any of those pieces.  I usually don't even use the "this'll preach" bits in sermons.   I have dozens of these little gems stored as notes or in documents titled "blogishness".

It was easier to finish things when I was committed to contribute a piece every Tuesday on The Intersection, a social site for Disciples.  (That's members of the Christian Church (Disciples of  Christ), not the folks who followed Jesus around Judah and Galilee.). Or when I was more active in RevGalBlogPals.  Or, frankly, when I have any kind of deadline imposed by someone other than myself.

I am fairly certain it would be better for me if I were to practice the spiritual discipline of writing regularly in one place instead of having mini (unpublished) posts scattered all over my electronic devices.   I suspect my spiritual director - herself a writer of some note - would agree. I 'm just not very good at imposing this kind of discipline on myself.  Even titling this blog "Everyday Thinking" wasn't enough to motivate me.

(Quick, Maria.  Post this before you add it to your "to be finished" file.).   See what I mean?

Watch where you're pointing that.

Smile!

I love smiling at people. I especially love smiling at strangers. It costs me nothing and the return for something completely effortless is tremendous.

For example:  Today as I waited for a light to change so I could make the turn into Starbucks for my daily green tea a rather glum looking man started walking across the intersection.  Having nothing better to do at the time I watched him as he walked.  When he got in front of my car he happened to glance over, saw me smiling and smiled back.  His face lit up.  His whole body straightened.  He looked like a different man entirely when he was smiling.

Sometimes I wonder if my smile will get passed along later. It's ok if it doesn't, of course.  Just the thought that it brightened one moment for one person is enough for me to float on for a while.

Gotta go now.  There are people out there needing to be smiled at.