If you're like me, you've been watching (and reading) the news closely and following the stories about the disaster in Japan. I live in a place where I have no idea what our brothers and sisters are going through and so it's completely out of my frame of reference. Actually, it's out of most of our frames of reference.
At a Presbytery meeting yesterday, we took an offering that gets donated to the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance program, which raises money to fund relief projects in places around the world that need it. The woman announcing the offering and its purpose reminded us that the money we donated to this program last year -- and the money we donate each year to the One Great Hour of Sharing fundraiser -- is the fund that the PDA is tapping into now to help Japan. It's a tangible way to see that the money we give doesn't just disappear into a vacuum. It's actually being used.
I must admit, I don't know a whole lot about the PDA, but I do know that the work they do is absolutely necessary, as is the money we provide through One Great Hour of Sharing. When this fundraiser, which comes up every year during the season of Lent, was announced on Sunday during worship, the man announcing it reminded the people that giving was down last year from the year before, and that's been the steady trend. I'm not sure if we'll see a reversal of that this year with Japan covering the news, but I do know that people all over the world are wondering what's going to happen next. Will Japan face a nuclear melt down? From the depths of our souls, we hope not, but the fear is there.
I haven't heard anybody asking where God is in the midst of this. Some may think the question isn't there because with all the crap going on, people are tired of asking. Others may say that we don't ask the question anymore because news like this doesn't shock us anymore; this kind of news is just a part of our new norm. The best thing I heard was from a fellow pastor who said she doesn't hear too many people asking where God is because we know where God is; God is weeping over His children of all walks of life, regardless of their beliefs. God hears the cries of human suffering and God weeps with those who must endure suffering. God, my friend said, doesn't take a back seat when suffering happens; God steps into the driver's seat to steer while we cover our faces and cry out, "God, o God, why have you forsaken me?"
What I do hear is people asking what they can do. The PDA website has what they call a "GAP" program that we can access when we're asking how we can help. We can Give, Act, and Pray. Above all, pray. Give or Act as you are able, but keep our brothers and sisters in prayer. Keep loved ones in prayer. Keep friends in prayer. Keep a nameless, faceless human being in prayer and in your prayer, remind them that in the midst of mourning, God is there. In times of crisis and disaster, God is there. Wherever people are, God is there, whether we notice Him or not. It's my hope that we notice Him.
My thoughts and prayers are with the people of Japan and with the loved ones and friends of people in Japan who are living in other places, that they might find comfort and peace in this time of trial. I pray for God's continued presence and mercies to run deep so that we realize that the well-spring of grace will never run dry.
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Becki
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Daylight Savings Time
I'm not a morning person these days by any stretch of the imagination, but on the morning of Daylight Savings Time when we "spring ahead," I'm particuarly grouchy. I like waking up with the sun, not before it.
The real problem is that I don't usually sleep well the night we actually change the clocks. It's not so bad in the fall because I know if the alarm on my phone decides to commit mutiny and not work, I have an hour to fool around with. In the springtime, however, if my alarm doesn't go off, I could be in trouble because then I'm running an hour late. Thus, the night we change the clocks I worry about my phone not changing like it's supposed to, and then I don't get up on time, and then I'm late for church, and I'm the pastor so you can see how that would be a problem.
(remember my post about worrying? This is what I mean by taking my own advice)
So I don't sleep well the night we change the clocks. The result this morning was I ended up waking up about ten minutes before my alarm actually was scheduled to go off, and I was delighted to look over and see that my phone had actually changed over (it always does, like a good phone). I laid in bed, in the dark, wishing I had that extra hour and pining for the fall when we get to "fall back" and gain an hour of sleep.
And then I heard something. Something I haven't really heard in a while. In the stillness of the dark, early morning, I heard birds outside my window, singing.
Praise God for the birds. It was the birds this morning that made me find the silver lining in my Daylight Savings Time cloud. DST means spring is coming. DST means we're almost done with being nervous about whether or not we'll have another blizzard before the summer. The flowers are about to (and some already are) showing their sprouts and pretty soon some green will find its way back onto the barren trees. The yearly resurrection of everything that vanished in October, from birds to the bees to the flowers, is slowly making its way back to our world. Suddenly DST becomes a beautiful thing.
That doesn't mean I'm any more awake now than I was an hour ago when I got up, but I'm thankful for the birds that were singing outside my window. It reminded me that God is good and despite getting up before the sun, God is there even in the wee hours of the morning.
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Becki
The real problem is that I don't usually sleep well the night we actually change the clocks. It's not so bad in the fall because I know if the alarm on my phone decides to commit mutiny and not work, I have an hour to fool around with. In the springtime, however, if my alarm doesn't go off, I could be in trouble because then I'm running an hour late. Thus, the night we change the clocks I worry about my phone not changing like it's supposed to, and then I don't get up on time, and then I'm late for church, and I'm the pastor so you can see how that would be a problem.
(remember my post about worrying? This is what I mean by taking my own advice)
So I don't sleep well the night we change the clocks. The result this morning was I ended up waking up about ten minutes before my alarm actually was scheduled to go off, and I was delighted to look over and see that my phone had actually changed over (it always does, like a good phone). I laid in bed, in the dark, wishing I had that extra hour and pining for the fall when we get to "fall back" and gain an hour of sleep.
And then I heard something. Something I haven't really heard in a while. In the stillness of the dark, early morning, I heard birds outside my window, singing.
Praise God for the birds. It was the birds this morning that made me find the silver lining in my Daylight Savings Time cloud. DST means spring is coming. DST means we're almost done with being nervous about whether or not we'll have another blizzard before the summer. The flowers are about to (and some already are) showing their sprouts and pretty soon some green will find its way back onto the barren trees. The yearly resurrection of everything that vanished in October, from birds to the bees to the flowers, is slowly making its way back to our world. Suddenly DST becomes a beautiful thing.
That doesn't mean I'm any more awake now than I was an hour ago when I got up, but I'm thankful for the birds that were singing outside my window. It reminded me that God is good and despite getting up before the sun, God is there even in the wee hours of the morning.
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Becki
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Worry-wart
Yeah I am. I admit it. I worry about stuff. I worry about everything. I've always been a worrier, and I come from a very long line of professional worriers. The pay and the benefits are awful, but it's a full-time gig.
I preached about this on Sunday when I preached from Matthew 6. It was one of those sermons that pastors preach to the congregation, but really it's a sermon to ourselves. That happens sometimes. We intend for our sermons to reach the masses, but sometimes it's we pastors ourselves who really need to hear what the Spirit is speaking through us. This Sunday, the Spirit was telling to stop worry about stuff I can't control and just focus on living my life as God calls me to live.
That is so hard to do!!! Sometimes the stuff we worry about is legit, meaning we really should worry about it. It's easy enough to say, 'Well, it's in God's hands' as if that truly makes the worry go away. As human beings, we are conditioned to worry, so becoming non-worriers is really a matter of reconditioning.
So how do we recondition ourselves to become non-worriers?
Here again, I'm writing this more for me because I've still got a lot on my mind and apparently I didn't take myself seriously when I said it the first time last Sunday.
We recondition ourselves by taking a proactive approach to facing worry head on. Using money as an example -- because it's getting deeper into tax season and in the present state of the economy, that's an area most of us struggle with -- here's how the thought process can go:
Step One: Naming the emotion and the thing causing that emotion.
Example: I am feeling anxious. The cause of my anxiety is money.
Step Two: Brainstorming ways to control the cause of the worry.
Example: I'm feeling anxious about money. What can I do about it? I can create a budget that shows me where my money is going, how I'm using it, and how successful (or unsuccessful) I am at saving it. Once I have a physical way to see my income and expenses, I can brainstorm new ways to save money in the places I can control (get a lower-priced cell phone plan, walk instead of driving to save $ on gas, call credit card companies to see about lowering monthly payments, but watch out for interest that makes you pay more in the long run).
Step Three: Put a verbal phrase to reality.
Example: In reality, there are some aspects of the income and expenses that I can change. There are some that I can't. I have to accept that and take a proactive approach to the things I can change.
Step Four: Pray about it.
Example: Gracious God, creator of all things, help me to remember that anything I have in this life is only mine for a little while. Encourage me and strengthen me as I strive to have serenity to accep the things I cannot change, the courage to change what I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. God all things are yours. I am yours. Help me to see all the ways that I am truly blessed. Amen.
Step Five: Move on.
You've faced it. You've prayed about it. Now move on with your life.
It's a process, like anything else. It takes work. But it's a simple way to look at reconditioning ourselves to stop worrying about things we have no control over. There will always be things that are out of our control. It's justa fact of life. That's the reality of the universe. God's in control, not us. As long as we continue to try to control things we have no control over, we will continue to be plagued by chronic anxiety.
Like I said, in some ways I'm preaching more to myself than to you. That being said, maybe you'll still find this helpful.
Christ has given us this promise that no matter what road we're walking, we're not going at it alone. In John 14, Jesus tells the disciples that he's going somewhere they can't follow. They will, however, follow soon. Thomas pipes up, "We don't know where you're going. How can we possibly know the way without you?" Jesus says, "I am the Way." For a while after Christ ascended back into Heaven, the new sect that would eventually become Christianity was called "The Way." In John 14, Jesus promised that as long as we walk in The Way, we will never be alone because the "advocate," the Holy Spirit, walks with us, teaching us what we need to know. Think about the inspirational story "Footprints" (search for it on Google if you don't know it). Sometimes we only see one set of foot prints, and it can feel pretty lonely when we forget that when we see one set of footprints, it's because God carries us.
Faith and trust should be easy, but they're not. They're things we have to cultivate and condition ourselves with. When we have that spirit of simplicty and cultivate that spirit of thanksgiving, and when we take a moment to really see all the ways that we are truly blessed, we realize that God does keep that promise to give us what we need.
God created us in love, taking the time and care to form each and every one of us piece by piece by piece. We do the best we can with what we have been given, and that's all we can do.
May God grant you peace of mind and give you courage as you strive to cultivate a spirit of thanksgiving and contentment.
I'll be right there with you, struggling side by side with you, praying with you.
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Becki
I preached about this on Sunday when I preached from Matthew 6. It was one of those sermons that pastors preach to the congregation, but really it's a sermon to ourselves. That happens sometimes. We intend for our sermons to reach the masses, but sometimes it's we pastors ourselves who really need to hear what the Spirit is speaking through us. This Sunday, the Spirit was telling to stop worry about stuff I can't control and just focus on living my life as God calls me to live.
That is so hard to do!!! Sometimes the stuff we worry about is legit, meaning we really should worry about it. It's easy enough to say, 'Well, it's in God's hands' as if that truly makes the worry go away. As human beings, we are conditioned to worry, so becoming non-worriers is really a matter of reconditioning.
So how do we recondition ourselves to become non-worriers?
Here again, I'm writing this more for me because I've still got a lot on my mind and apparently I didn't take myself seriously when I said it the first time last Sunday.
We recondition ourselves by taking a proactive approach to facing worry head on. Using money as an example -- because it's getting deeper into tax season and in the present state of the economy, that's an area most of us struggle with -- here's how the thought process can go:
Step One: Naming the emotion and the thing causing that emotion.
Example: I am feeling anxious. The cause of my anxiety is money.
Step Two: Brainstorming ways to control the cause of the worry.
Example: I'm feeling anxious about money. What can I do about it? I can create a budget that shows me where my money is going, how I'm using it, and how successful (or unsuccessful) I am at saving it. Once I have a physical way to see my income and expenses, I can brainstorm new ways to save money in the places I can control (get a lower-priced cell phone plan, walk instead of driving to save $ on gas, call credit card companies to see about lowering monthly payments, but watch out for interest that makes you pay more in the long run).
Step Three: Put a verbal phrase to reality.
Example: In reality, there are some aspects of the income and expenses that I can change. There are some that I can't. I have to accept that and take a proactive approach to the things I can change.
Step Four: Pray about it.
Example: Gracious God, creator of all things, help me to remember that anything I have in this life is only mine for a little while. Encourage me and strengthen me as I strive to have serenity to accep the things I cannot change, the courage to change what I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. God all things are yours. I am yours. Help me to see all the ways that I am truly blessed. Amen.
Step Five: Move on.
You've faced it. You've prayed about it. Now move on with your life.
It's a process, like anything else. It takes work. But it's a simple way to look at reconditioning ourselves to stop worrying about things we have no control over. There will always be things that are out of our control. It's justa fact of life. That's the reality of the universe. God's in control, not us. As long as we continue to try to control things we have no control over, we will continue to be plagued by chronic anxiety.
Like I said, in some ways I'm preaching more to myself than to you. That being said, maybe you'll still find this helpful.
Christ has given us this promise that no matter what road we're walking, we're not going at it alone. In John 14, Jesus tells the disciples that he's going somewhere they can't follow. They will, however, follow soon. Thomas pipes up, "We don't know where you're going. How can we possibly know the way without you?" Jesus says, "I am the Way." For a while after Christ ascended back into Heaven, the new sect that would eventually become Christianity was called "The Way." In John 14, Jesus promised that as long as we walk in The Way, we will never be alone because the "advocate," the Holy Spirit, walks with us, teaching us what we need to know. Think about the inspirational story "Footprints" (search for it on Google if you don't know it). Sometimes we only see one set of foot prints, and it can feel pretty lonely when we forget that when we see one set of footprints, it's because God carries us.
Faith and trust should be easy, but they're not. They're things we have to cultivate and condition ourselves with. When we have that spirit of simplicty and cultivate that spirit of thanksgiving, and when we take a moment to really see all the ways that we are truly blessed, we realize that God does keep that promise to give us what we need.
God created us in love, taking the time and care to form each and every one of us piece by piece by piece. We do the best we can with what we have been given, and that's all we can do.
May God grant you peace of mind and give you courage as you strive to cultivate a spirit of thanksgiving and contentment.
I'll be right there with you, struggling side by side with you, praying with you.
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Becki
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