Pastor's Notes

Inspiration, Motivation, Perspiration

April 19, 2022

Who has inspired you? Who has motivated you? These words are not interchangeable. That is, they are not synonyms. One can be inspired while not at all motivated to change or to take something on. One can be motivated without inspiration. In fact, motivation can come from a negative experience. We can, for example, become angry and then become motivated to act without any inspiration.

Too often the church sees its role as an agent for inspiration. It can be that as inspiration certainly has its place. Sometimes all you and I can do in regards to God is be inspired and awed. Many times there is no adequate response except to stand there and drop our jaw in amazement. I suspect many are inspired by their first view of the Grand Canyon. It can be overwhelming to try and take it all in. It can be the same for God as well.

The Christian faith as proclaimed and taught by the church, is to be more than inspiring. It is also to be motivating. It is to bring newness and change, lift up the downtrodden and work for justice. It can be challenge and strength so we might love even to the point of loving the stranger and the enemy. It can push us to working hard to sin less and to live as God would have us live.

The Christian faith is not meant to leave us inspired. It is intended to motivate us to become a follower of Jesus Christ and reflect this Jesus in our own words, works, and lives. The Christian faith is intended to create in us a new person and to have such creation be an ongoing, life-long work.

Easter Sunday has come and gone. The Easter season is now upon us. The season of gospel stories reporting appearances by the resurrected Jesus. Doubting Thomas missed the first such encounter in Luke, but was there for the second. Two travelers on the road to Emmaus walked with Jesus but did not immediately recognize Jesus. On a beach, Jesus grills fish and instructs his fishing disciples where to cast their nets. The resurrected Jesus was busy! Resurrection, new life was more than just escaping death. There was work to do!

I wonder if many of these gospel accounts were written so we would not leave Easter Sunday and the empty tomb armed only with inspiring thoughts and feelings. The resurrected Jesus is present and forgives, sends, and commissions. Easter is to be both inspiring and motivating. We stand in awe and we go forth to proclaim and serve.

Who knows? Maybe you and I can motivate a few folks long life’s discipleship journey. That’s how the resurrected Christ works now. That is how the resurrected Christ is present and continues to send and commission. Dropped jaws are fine but we can’t say much when they remain in that pose. Busy hands, listening ears, and mouths at work proclaiming good news motivate. Careful! But we need to be careful: inspiration combined with motivation may lead to perspiration!

No Laughing Matter

April 12, 2022

I haven’t heard any good Polish jokes lately, have you? Actually, it may be a bit oxymoronic to say there is such a thing as a good Polish joke. If you know anything at all about Poland and its history, you are aware to be a Pole is no joke. Someone always seems to be dominating their native land. And their native land’s boundaries have been pretty fluid over time. Are you aware that some of what is now Ukraine was once Poland?

A pretty tough Pole, Cardinal Karol Jozef Wojtyla was known during communist times as a critic of the regime in Poland. He became Pope John Paul II. While there may be things for which to criticize him, he still commands much respect for the way he navigated his role as Cardinal and political critic. Another heroic Pole, Lech Walesa, a laborer and labor leader led a movement that transformed an entire nation.

No, there are no Polish jokes these days. After what we are witnessing in Ukraine with millions of refugees heading to Poland, their hospitality has been stellar. What makes it more intriguing is the hostility these two lands have often had for each other in the past. Now, even some corporations are opening their office towers so families can live in what were once offices. Families are inviting other families…sometimes multiple families into their homes for refuge. Perhaps we in the US need to see more video footage of violence in Central America to motivate us to welcome some who are fleeing hostility into our country, much less our places of business and homes.

This week is Holy Week and Easter. A time of betrayal, horror and astounding joy. Easter does not come to do away with all the pain and suffering. It could not go back and erase the event or the pain of the cross. Instead it brought to life what once was dead. It resurrected hope in a God who was good and would not allow evil the final word.

Some days appear as Good Friday. Some years, some times and even some lives appear as such. Our hope is never that all will be well. Our hope is that God has the final say on us and our lives.

This is the kind of hope devoid of cynicism. It is the kind of hope that opens doors and homes to refugees. It is the kind of hope that can transform enemies into care givers. Hope does not point fingers nor cast blame. Hope reaches out. Hope says God is present and at work in the worst of circumstances and I/we will be that hope for someone now hopeless. My/our arms, tongues, and possessions will be that hope for someone who needs lifting, kind words, and things.

Easter does not reverse the past. Easter gives it new life. Easter takes those once the butt of jokes and makes them stories of heroism, hospitality, and compassion. No, there are no Polish jokes these days. What the Poles and Ukrainians are dealing with is no laughing matter. It is the stuff of hope….Easter hope. The hope of new life.

The Good & The Bad: Hopeful or Hopeless?

April 6, 2022

So many cancer defeating treatments!
Humans on the moon!
Smart phones, smart TV’s & computers!
Theory of Relativity!
Solar technology!
Virtual meetings, phone calls, & even virtual hugs!
Rapid COVID tests and vaccines!
Heart by-pass surgeries!
Organ transplants!
Kindness!
Love!
Memory!
Kraft Macaroni and Cheese!
Just a handful of wonderful human inventions, discoveries, and qualities that can make one proud to be a human.

                                                    War!
                                                    Holocaust!
                                                    Racism!
                                                    Poverty!
                                                    Injustice!
                                                    Slavery!
                                                    Violent crime & abuse!
                                                    Hatred!
                                                    Prejudice!
                                                    Narcissism!
                                                    Rudeness!
                                                    Apathy!
                                                    NY Yankees & their fans!

Just a handful of very bad human qualities that make one question humanity.

Which are we? Of course, the answer is both. Lent and the upcoming events of Holy Week are a sobering reminder of the dark side of humanity….even and especially the humanity that struggles with its dark side and strives to overcome it. We need Lent and Holy Week to remind us all the hope of Advent nor the joy of Easter are not the only part of life with which faith needs to deal. The point is not to distress us but to be aware of who we are in our entire human existence.

That which is denied cannot be overcome or defeated. In that sense, even Lent is a time for hope. Get it all out there! Something wonderful might lay ahead of Lent. The hateful might become loving, the rude kind, and swords may be turned into plowshares.

Is humanity basically good or bad? The answer is “yes!” That is why Lent does not stand alone. Help is on the way! We humans may be a mixed bag, but God is not. God is good! Lent has its appropriated and necessary time. However, it is not the final word. The list of good things does not erase the pain and suffering caused by the bad. It can make it bearable and help us go through and even overcome that which is bad, that which is evil. The current war in Ukraine is, simply put, evil on display every day. It is not, however God nor goodness that is being defeated. God is there at work suffering along with the victims. ….suffering, but not defeated. Hold on to this hope.

Dream World

March 29, 2022

What is your dream world for yourself? For your loved ones? Where do you fit into this dream? I’m just guessing that you are not in the background of the dream or appear in an indifferent manner. On the other hand, perhaps your dream is for your loved ones’ future and you appear more as spectator.

Dreams appear from time to time in scripture. To name a few: Jacob’s ladder was a dream. Jacob’s son, Joseph had a couple dreams and, while in prison, interpreted the dreams of others. Jesus’ father Joseph had a dream that had the family pack up and move to Egypt as refugees. Pontius Pilate’s wife had a dream and warned her husband concerning the Jesus upon whom he was to pass sentence.

There is this thing called “The American Dream”. I feel rather certain were I to ask 15 Americans to define this dream, I would receive 15 differing, if not different, definitions. To me that sounds just fine. Perhaps part of the American Dream is just that: to be able to dream differently and have different goals in mind for life and living.

If you have read much of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., you are aware he had little issue with the American Dream. Instead he took issue that much of this dream was not available, at least not to the same degree, to African-Americans. Too often their dream was simply to survive

I wonder if God dreams. Might we say Creation was God’s dream? God created light, water, animals, plants and humans. God even personally planted the Garden of Eden. One does not do such homesteading without a dream of where it all might go. This means you and I, your crotchety neighbor, your delightful Aunt, and your unceasingly frustrating co-worker are all part of God’s dream. Sometimes our dream-world can seem more nightmare than dream.

While living in a dream-world might not be healthy, living with some dreams and trying to fulfil them can be a good thing. The danger of dreams is that they can be all about us. Where are others in our dreams? Where are others beyond loved ones included in our dreams? Do we ever hold our dreams up to God’s dream for us? What dream might God have for us?

The problem with dreams is often trying to figure them out. Jacob saw angels ascending and descending a ladder. Seventeen year old son Joseph saw sheaves paying homage to an upright sheaf. You and I have had strange characters and events in our dreams. What to make of it all? Freud and many psychologists have taken on the task of speculating about dreams. Yet we are still left with speculation, not definite and clear understanding.

This might be the way to think about God’s dream for you. God has given you gifts. God wants you to use those gifts in service of others. This much is clear. The how to and the what to do part are not so clear. They are left to us. What vocation does God want us to pursue? Butcher? Baker? Candlestick maker? What vocation does God want us to pursue within our family? To what vocation might God call us in retirement? Upon even our death, what might God be calling us to do with gifts left behind?

In our dreaming you and I need to place our dream within the context of God’s dream. What might God be dreaming for us? What might God be dreaming for God’s creation and how can our hopes and dreams fit into that dream?

Dreams or not, we can sleep well as followers of Jesus. We know God’s dream for us comes not only as call but also as love and care. God still gives, creates and plants. The best you and I can do is work with God as caretaker of God’s gifts and as a co-creator.
Let the sheaves dance, the angels ascend and descend. Let us continue to scratch our heads over what a recent dream might mean or not mean. God’s dream for us did not end with Creation. Keep up your discipleship struggle of making your dream adapt to that of God’s dream. Continue to remember God’s dream for you is not all about you. Maybe then we can figure out some of those dreams we have.

Hypocritical Hypocrites

March 22, 2022

Most likely you know the name of comedian, former Saturday Night Live Star, and lead in the various “Vacation” movies, Chevy Chase. Chase first became well-known to a national audience through his Saturday Night Live appearances. In particular, he became somewhat of a household name when he made fun of then President Gerald Ford.

You may be aware of Ford’s infamous slips, trips, errant golf shots, and head bumps while president. As an All-American football player at Michigan, Ford was perhaps the best athlete to inhabit the White House. Yet his various missteps were too often caught on camera.

For Chevy Chase to mimic such stumbling, involved quite a bit of physical comedy on his own. Several times Chase himself became injured and had to take pain-killers to deal with the injuries. After a time, like many others, Chevy Chase became addicted to these pain-killers and needed treatment. Where did he go for such treatment? To the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, California, of course! Sometimes life seems to have its own twisted sense of humor, doesn’t it?

You may have heard, as have I, many people say they are not part of church or organized religion because of all the hypocrites there. My response generally is along the lines of: “Yes, there are. Come join us.”

It seems to me that perhaps the greatest of hypocrisy is to think one is not a hypocrite. Don’t we all have some thoughts and/or behaviors that go against much of what we profess? Even those with the healthiest of life styles seem to have at least one flaw in eating or some activity. Where are you hypocritical? Space doesn’t allow me to list all my hypocrisies. You most likely are aware of more than a few.

Yes, I work hard to keep from smiling when someone proclaims “church people” or “those religious people” as hypocrites. It seems, as Jesus says, they are missing the log in their own eye. So busy criticizing or making fun of others they miss that very thing in themselves.

I have been writing and preaching about Lent. Lent is a time that says, “Hypocrites Welcome! Come join us!” We are those who are, at least in part, here because we are aware of our hypocrisy and would like to do something about it. Sometimes that something is simply unloading our guilt for doing or saying things that go against us. Sometimes doing something actually helps us rid ourselves of one part of our hypocrisy or, at least, begins us on a journey to do so.

For all hypocrites it is good news to know we are welcome in church. It is good news to think of Lent as an invitation to hypocrites to bring along their hypocrisy and come join the hypocritical throng. When you do, look around. You are in pretty good company. When you do, look around. You are in pretty good company. When you do, come forward at communion the Host is glad you accepted the invitation and even has a gift for you. Given and shed for all hypocrites!