There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens
Ecclesiastes 3:1
I have been reading the book of Ecclesiastes lately and it begs the question, “What season am I in?” This summer is definitely the season of reestablishing connections in my own life. My two college age children will both be home for the summer by the end of June, we have just spent a fun weekend with Ben’s college roommate and his wife and in a few days our wonderful friends from Australia will be here with their three children to visit the States and attend a wedding. There are trips planned to visit my sister and her family, and my brother’s family will all be here for several days next month. To top it all off, my 30th High School reunion is in a couple of weeks and in many cases I will be seeing old friends for the first time in a decade. So, definitely, a summer of family and friends!
We on the Elder Board also try to grapple with the question, “What season are we in?” There is a sense that the life of our church is also in a season of family and connection. I have had this feeling of community ever since our joint service and all-church BBQ earlier this month. There was a wonderful sense of us gelling together into the people of Oak Hills Church that was energizing and gave me that “family reunion” sort of feeling. It is especially welcome right now as we face a faltering economy together. Many in our church body are currently looking for work and need the support and encouragement of their church family. If you come anywhere near a news source you will hear how charitable giving is on the decline across the nation, and of course that is affecting us and what we can do as a church as well. But despite the grim forecasts about the future, we have incredible resources in each other. In this season of community I would encourage you to deepen your connection to one another – invite a family over for a BBQ or meet up at the park, join an MSG or small group, become part of a team at the church, and as you spend time with people this summer be intentional about being an encouragement to them, praying for them, and letting them creep into your heart.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Friday, April 25, 2008
We the Body
I’ve been thinking a lot about the Body of Christ this week, which is the local church in action. How often do we stop to think about the vital role that each one of us plays in the life of Oak Hills? It’s easy to appreciate the “up-front” people, the musicians, singers, speakers, because they are literally right in front of our eyes. But there are so many “behind-the-scenes” people who are counting the offering, folding the bulletins, cleaning the bathrooms, pulling weeds, rocking babies, setting up chairs and taking them back down again, and without any one of the people in our church we would feel a loss. I have a bad back and when it flares up it is difficult to work, drive, cook, even worship and I think our community is just like that. If one function of our community were to stop, we would find it affects everything and when one member goes away it leaves us wounded.
We had a wonderful speaker recently at the Tuesday Morning Bible Study. Her name is Nancy and she spoke to us of her depression over not being able to find a “job” for herself in her church and of asking God to show her how she can still be an active, contributing part of the Body, even though her age (82) and physical condition (crippled by polio) seem to leave her out. And God gave her a vision of what her role in the church is: she is to encourage people, to show them that joy and peace and love don’t stop even when you’re elderly and beset with aches and pains. She was a joyful embodiment of life in Christ and I know she must be a treasure to her own church. She was a beautiful reminder that every person God brings into the church has a gift and a service to offer to the rest of us and we have something to offer in return and our gifts wonderfully compliment each other. Wouldn’t it be awful if everyone wanted to be the Sermonizer? the drummer? the sound board operator? But thankfully we each come uniquely gifted and we work together.
On the flip side, the church offers us a gift in making a place for us to contribute to its vitality. I was in a conversation early in the week about how the church fosters our spiritual growth and several people mentioned the opportunity to serve as having been an important part of their growth. I know this has been true for me. The church I grew up in gave me many chances to step into the life of the church and try out various roles. They invited me to serve in children’s ministries, try out leadership roles, speak, do evangelism, and yes, stack chairs. I was not a success at everything I tried, but the opportunity to step out and see what God could do in me and through me were always available and I’m sure formed me in many ways over the years. Oak Hills has also been generous in giving me a place. We each have a “job” to do, as Nancy would say. What is the special thing about you that we can’t do without? What was it that we needed that God sent us when you came to Oak Hills? I look forward to the adventure of serving and being served with you.
We had a wonderful speaker recently at the Tuesday Morning Bible Study. Her name is Nancy and she spoke to us of her depression over not being able to find a “job” for herself in her church and of asking God to show her how she can still be an active, contributing part of the Body, even though her age (82) and physical condition (crippled by polio) seem to leave her out. And God gave her a vision of what her role in the church is: she is to encourage people, to show them that joy and peace and love don’t stop even when you’re elderly and beset with aches and pains. She was a joyful embodiment of life in Christ and I know she must be a treasure to her own church. She was a beautiful reminder that every person God brings into the church has a gift and a service to offer to the rest of us and we have something to offer in return and our gifts wonderfully compliment each other. Wouldn’t it be awful if everyone wanted to be the Sermonizer? the drummer? the sound board operator? But thankfully we each come uniquely gifted and we work together.
On the flip side, the church offers us a gift in making a place for us to contribute to its vitality. I was in a conversation early in the week about how the church fosters our spiritual growth and several people mentioned the opportunity to serve as having been an important part of their growth. I know this has been true for me. The church I grew up in gave me many chances to step into the life of the church and try out various roles. They invited me to serve in children’s ministries, try out leadership roles, speak, do evangelism, and yes, stack chairs. I was not a success at everything I tried, but the opportunity to step out and see what God could do in me and through me were always available and I’m sure formed me in many ways over the years. Oak Hills has also been generous in giving me a place. We each have a “job” to do, as Nancy would say. What is the special thing about you that we can’t do without? What was it that we needed that God sent us when you came to Oak Hills? I look forward to the adventure of serving and being served with you.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
The Way of the Cross
As I come to the end of my journey into praying the news, I have discovered (as is so often the case) that there are so many others also walking this same road. That has been an encouragement and I have enjoyed seeing the ways others bring together their faith, global events, and the web of interconnectedness that we all have with each other. During this Holy Week, I have found this exact combination of things at the website of Sacred Space. They have taken the Stations of the Cross and used art from Kenya, a concern for social justice around the world, the effects of global climate change and our own personal connection to look at the events of Good Friday. I post it here, if you find the time to go through the stations in the next few days I hope you'll let me know what you think. http://www.sacredspace.ie/lent/stations/kenya/
I particularly like how they have used tribal costumes, modern Western-style clothing, and traditional biblical garments to get the point across in the artwork that we are all present as Jesus endures this sacrifice on our behalf. Have a blessed Easter!
I particularly like how they have used tribal costumes, modern Western-style clothing, and traditional biblical garments to get the point across in the artwork that we are all present as Jesus endures this sacrifice on our behalf. Have a blessed Easter!
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Praying the News
I am trying a different type of fast this year for Lent. One of the things that keeps me from becoming more like Christ is the attachment I have to my own thoughts and opinions. So, as an experiment, I decided to try to fast from thinking about myself so much. To put my own perspective and mind-set on hold for forty days and embrace the heart and mind of Christ. Since this is hard to just “do”, I have made a commitment to spend time reading the news prayerfully, journeying into the events and situations in our daily world with Jesus’ perspective. I knew when I started that after forty days of praying the news I would notice some major trends. But it hasn’t taken that long at all! The judgments I bring with me to the news often stand in stark contrast to the love, mercy, and grace of Jesus. And I have been reminded many times already that if I am alive to God’s Kingdom all around me, if I stand firm in Christ, I am completely safe in this world – no matter what befalls me.
It’s a little strange to try to fast from thinking about myself and then blog about it, I know. I feel the weirdness. But I also know that it has been a wonderful experience and I wanted to invite you to try it yourself the next time you hear about the violence in Kenya, the US economy, or Britney Spears. Take your immediate reaction and set it aside. Invite Jesus to show you his perspective. See for yourself how connected you are to the world when you look at it with the heart and mind of Christ. I hope it will be the beginning of a lifetime of seeing with new eyes.
It’s a little strange to try to fast from thinking about myself and then blog about it, I know. I feel the weirdness. But I also know that it has been a wonderful experience and I wanted to invite you to try it yourself the next time you hear about the violence in Kenya, the US economy, or Britney Spears. Take your immediate reaction and set it aside. Invite Jesus to show you his perspective. See for yourself how connected you are to the world when you look at it with the heart and mind of Christ. I hope it will be the beginning of a lifetime of seeing with new eyes.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
What Can One Person Do?
I was having a conversation this week with a friend about the situation in Africa when she said what I’ve often thought myself, “It’s hard to know what to do. The world’s problems are so many and I’m just one person.”
And yet, I recently heard the results of a study on remittances (money sent home by immigrant workers to help support their families) that surprised the experts discussing it. Remittances had not been tracked until recently and what they discovered is that when you combine the money of essentially poor people sending money home to their poorer families at a meager $100 or $200 it was more than any official government aid package, even the U.N.’s, totaling over $300 billion annually. Even in a European country like Russia, the remittances totaled 13% of the country’s GDP. So, it’s actually amazing what one person can do if we could only see it from a bigger viewpoint, where the efforts of many individuals combine to accomplish something significant.
It would be impossible, though, for us to carry all the world’s problems individually. If you find yourself asking this same question, “what can I do about AIDS”, or malaria, or global warming, or the lack of clean water, or child soldiers, or hunger, or slavery, I would encourage you to do a few things:
1. Ask God to put one specific world need on your heart
2. Get educated about the situation
3. Join with others in finding the solution
The story of the Good Samaritan, found in Luke 10: 25-37, contains an example of how Jesus said we were to love our “neighbor”, and in it the Samaritan who stumbled upon the man who had been beaten and robbed took notice, got involved, trusted the actual caretaking to a local person who was equipped to look after him, and expected a report when he returned on how his money had been used. I think we can actually do all those things ourselves. We can take notice (indeed how can we not?), we can find a partner who is on the spot and already doing something, and we can help carry the burden, either with our money and our prayers, or our time as well if we feel drawn to be a hands-on part of the solution.
If you find yourself wanting to take action but aren’t sure where God’s calling you, consider attending the Social Justice group that meets monthly, listen to the news with a prayerful heart, check out one of the many wonderful books that Stephenie Carr has recommended for our library (Fiction & Biographies from Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Central & Eastern Europe, and even the US as well as many books on Social Justice and Missions that will stir your heart and mind), consider joining one of the short-term missions groups from Oak Hills – nothing beats looking into the eyes of someone, living along side them for a time, to plant them and their needs firmly in your heart - and I’m sure you’ll find yourself drawn into God’s plan for justice and mercy and peace in the world.
And yet, I recently heard the results of a study on remittances (money sent home by immigrant workers to help support their families) that surprised the experts discussing it. Remittances had not been tracked until recently and what they discovered is that when you combine the money of essentially poor people sending money home to their poorer families at a meager $100 or $200 it was more than any official government aid package, even the U.N.’s, totaling over $300 billion annually. Even in a European country like Russia, the remittances totaled 13% of the country’s GDP. So, it’s actually amazing what one person can do if we could only see it from a bigger viewpoint, where the efforts of many individuals combine to accomplish something significant.
It would be impossible, though, for us to carry all the world’s problems individually. If you find yourself asking this same question, “what can I do about AIDS”, or malaria, or global warming, or the lack of clean water, or child soldiers, or hunger, or slavery, I would encourage you to do a few things:
1. Ask God to put one specific world need on your heart
2. Get educated about the situation
3. Join with others in finding the solution
The story of the Good Samaritan, found in Luke 10: 25-37, contains an example of how Jesus said we were to love our “neighbor”, and in it the Samaritan who stumbled upon the man who had been beaten and robbed took notice, got involved, trusted the actual caretaking to a local person who was equipped to look after him, and expected a report when he returned on how his money had been used. I think we can actually do all those things ourselves. We can take notice (indeed how can we not?), we can find a partner who is on the spot and already doing something, and we can help carry the burden, either with our money and our prayers, or our time as well if we feel drawn to be a hands-on part of the solution.
If you find yourself wanting to take action but aren’t sure where God’s calling you, consider attending the Social Justice group that meets monthly, listen to the news with a prayerful heart, check out one of the many wonderful books that Stephenie Carr has recommended for our library (Fiction & Biographies from Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Central & Eastern Europe, and even the US as well as many books on Social Justice and Missions that will stir your heart and mind), consider joining one of the short-term missions groups from Oak Hills – nothing beats looking into the eyes of someone, living along side them for a time, to plant them and their needs firmly in your heart - and I’m sure you’ll find yourself drawn into God’s plan for justice and mercy and peace in the world.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Poverty and Wealth: Part II
Henri Nouwen, in his pamphlet The Spirituality of Fund Raising, says, “sometimes our concern for the poor may carry with it a prejudice against the rich. We may feel that they are not as good as the poor…The poor are indeed held in the heart of God. We need to remember that the rich are held there too. I have met a number of wealthy people over the years. More and more, my experience is that rich people are also poor, but in other ways.”
Looking at the comments from the last post, I see that others are feeling this too. Sometimes the very assets that give us wealth (our education, financial stability, easy access to health care) can in fact impoverish us in other ways. This is a fascinating thought to me: The poverty of wealth. I think we see it in ourselves, as has already been mentioned, in our ability to ignore our desperate need for God in the day to day living of our lives. I know that with steady employment, a bank account, home ownership, and family as a safety net, God is potentially pretty far down the ladder if a disaster were to strike me. This is a sobering thought. When I recite the Lord’s Prayer and pray “Give us this day our daily food”, what am I really asking for? My ‘fridge is abundantly full. I have not only my daily food, but also a couple of weeks’ worth. Certainly I pray that as a community prayer, embracing a global “we” where daily food is something to pray for, yet I’m sure I can come to a fuller understanding of what my prayer can mean to me: where is the daily hunger that only God can fill in my life? I am also poor in my understanding of community. My wealth not only insulates me from a deep dependence on God, but keeps me from experiencing the depth of community that ought to be ours as Christians. The ability to call a tow truck if my car breaks down, order a pizza if I’m ill and can’t cook, hire a contractor if my roof leaks are all wonderful blessings and yet they keep me from a deep need for others and the humility of asking for and receiving help.
Thinking about the poverty of wealth can also help us gain God’s deep compassion on those who live and work all around us; those neighbors, friends, and co-workers who seem to have no need of God. Nouwen asks, “Can we discover the poor in this person? That is so important because it is precisely in this person’s poverty that we discover his or her blessing. Jesus said, ‘How blessed are you who are poor’ (Luke 6:20). The rich are also poor.” What is the poverty of wealth? Loneliness, dissatisfaction with empty pursuits, enslavement to the ideas of youth and health and success seem to be impoverishments to me. What is the poverty that you see in yourself and in those who are materially rich? This must not be an exercise in ingratitude for all that we have. I am most thankful to have been born at the right time in the right place to the right family. But, if we are to discover the blessings of poverty for ourselves, I don’t think we need to sell all that we have to find it. It is already there lurking within us.
Looking at the comments from the last post, I see that others are feeling this too. Sometimes the very assets that give us wealth (our education, financial stability, easy access to health care) can in fact impoverish us in other ways. This is a fascinating thought to me: The poverty of wealth. I think we see it in ourselves, as has already been mentioned, in our ability to ignore our desperate need for God in the day to day living of our lives. I know that with steady employment, a bank account, home ownership, and family as a safety net, God is potentially pretty far down the ladder if a disaster were to strike me. This is a sobering thought. When I recite the Lord’s Prayer and pray “Give us this day our daily food”, what am I really asking for? My ‘fridge is abundantly full. I have not only my daily food, but also a couple of weeks’ worth. Certainly I pray that as a community prayer, embracing a global “we” where daily food is something to pray for, yet I’m sure I can come to a fuller understanding of what my prayer can mean to me: where is the daily hunger that only God can fill in my life? I am also poor in my understanding of community. My wealth not only insulates me from a deep dependence on God, but keeps me from experiencing the depth of community that ought to be ours as Christians. The ability to call a tow truck if my car breaks down, order a pizza if I’m ill and can’t cook, hire a contractor if my roof leaks are all wonderful blessings and yet they keep me from a deep need for others and the humility of asking for and receiving help.
Thinking about the poverty of wealth can also help us gain God’s deep compassion on those who live and work all around us; those neighbors, friends, and co-workers who seem to have no need of God. Nouwen asks, “Can we discover the poor in this person? That is so important because it is precisely in this person’s poverty that we discover his or her blessing. Jesus said, ‘How blessed are you who are poor’ (Luke 6:20). The rich are also poor.” What is the poverty of wealth? Loneliness, dissatisfaction with empty pursuits, enslavement to the ideas of youth and health and success seem to be impoverishments to me. What is the poverty that you see in yourself and in those who are materially rich? This must not be an exercise in ingratitude for all that we have. I am most thankful to have been born at the right time in the right place to the right family. But, if we are to discover the blessings of poverty for ourselves, I don’t think we need to sell all that we have to find it. It is already there lurking within us.
Friday, November 9, 2007
Poverty and Wealth: Part I
The Holiday Season is officially upon us. I flipped my calendar over to November and the plans and events of the season began rolling in right on cue. This is a time to reflect on our blessings as individuals and as a community, to stop and give thanks to God for all that we have and to remember that “every good and perfect gift is from above” (James 1:17).
It is also a season of giving. Generosity seems to well up more during the holidays, maybe because we are more aware of all the blessings we enjoy or maybe because the needs of people are so much more apparent. This is the time of year when it is perfectly normal to be asked for money wherever you go: the grocery store collects food and takes donations for the hungry, the mall has a tree up where you can buy a needy child a Christmas gift, the bell-ringers are out collecting change and the schools are gathering supplies for the homeless shelters. A feeling of Goodwill Toward Men warms our hearts. But where does it go the rest of the year? How do we come to terms with the needs of the world and our great wealth in comparison?
In my reading recently I have been paying attention to questions of wealth and poverty. Does God love the poor more than the rich? Should I feel guilty about the wealth we enjoy here living in the developed west? Is it a blessing? a stumbling block? a responsibility? Is it okay to have and enjoy nice things while somewhere in the world hunger and disease are robbing a mother just like me of her ability to live her life in peace and joy? And in the end, what can I do about it anyway? What is the call of God for Christians living in plenty?
I don’t pretend to have the answers. I am struggling with the questions and trying to find my own way here. Dorothy Day’s autobiography, The Long Loneliness, tells of her conversion to the Catholic faith. Day is a stretch for me. She was a Christian anarchist, a believer and practitioner of voluntary poverty, a labor organizer and a prolific writer of political manifestos championing the rights of the poor. She founded the Catholic Worker movement and established many homes of hospitality for people out of work in the Great Depression. While her ways are not my ways, I admire her greatly. She lived out her faith according to her conscience and went beyond theories and writing to align herself wholeheartedly with her convictions. She never gave up believing in the dignity that belongs to each person and she was able to see Christ in everyone who came to her for help. I can learn a lot from her. Day believed that God’s preference is for the poor and she identified herself with them. There is no getting around the truth found throughout scripture that God does have a heart for the poor. He cares for them and as John says,
“If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.” -1 John 3:17-18
I certainly believe in God’s deep love and concern for the poor, but I don’t believe it means he loves them more than the rich. I thought it would be interesting, though, to hear your views and to explore other ideas on wealth and poverty here over the next month or so. Do you consider yourself rich or poor? Have you come to terms with life in an affluent area or is it something you struggle with? Do the needs of the world’s poor affect your giving during the holiday season? Post your thoughts and stayed tuned for Part II.
It is also a season of giving. Generosity seems to well up more during the holidays, maybe because we are more aware of all the blessings we enjoy or maybe because the needs of people are so much more apparent. This is the time of year when it is perfectly normal to be asked for money wherever you go: the grocery store collects food and takes donations for the hungry, the mall has a tree up where you can buy a needy child a Christmas gift, the bell-ringers are out collecting change and the schools are gathering supplies for the homeless shelters. A feeling of Goodwill Toward Men warms our hearts. But where does it go the rest of the year? How do we come to terms with the needs of the world and our great wealth in comparison?
In my reading recently I have been paying attention to questions of wealth and poverty. Does God love the poor more than the rich? Should I feel guilty about the wealth we enjoy here living in the developed west? Is it a blessing? a stumbling block? a responsibility? Is it okay to have and enjoy nice things while somewhere in the world hunger and disease are robbing a mother just like me of her ability to live her life in peace and joy? And in the end, what can I do about it anyway? What is the call of God for Christians living in plenty?
I don’t pretend to have the answers. I am struggling with the questions and trying to find my own way here. Dorothy Day’s autobiography, The Long Loneliness, tells of her conversion to the Catholic faith. Day is a stretch for me. She was a Christian anarchist, a believer and practitioner of voluntary poverty, a labor organizer and a prolific writer of political manifestos championing the rights of the poor. She founded the Catholic Worker movement and established many homes of hospitality for people out of work in the Great Depression. While her ways are not my ways, I admire her greatly. She lived out her faith according to her conscience and went beyond theories and writing to align herself wholeheartedly with her convictions. She never gave up believing in the dignity that belongs to each person and she was able to see Christ in everyone who came to her for help. I can learn a lot from her. Day believed that God’s preference is for the poor and she identified herself with them. There is no getting around the truth found throughout scripture that God does have a heart for the poor. He cares for them and as John says,
“If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.” -1 John 3:17-18
I certainly believe in God’s deep love and concern for the poor, but I don’t believe it means he loves them more than the rich. I thought it would be interesting, though, to hear your views and to explore other ideas on wealth and poverty here over the next month or so. Do you consider yourself rich or poor? Have you come to terms with life in an affluent area or is it something you struggle with? Do the needs of the world’s poor affect your giving during the holiday season? Post your thoughts and stayed tuned for Part II.
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