From the Pastor's Study - October 2023
It was good to be gathered together in church as we resumed our fall rhythm. Rally Day had all of this wonderful energy as some people settled back in to their beloved 8:00 a.m. service, and as the kids during the 9:30 a.m. service flooded the front of church with backpacks in hand to receive a blessing and resume Sunday School. It is always good to be gathered together. And after the challenging time of disruption that the pandemic imposed, I find I appreciate these simple moments so much more deeply.
I’ve learned to watch in the simple moments for where I might catch glimmers of the divine. I’ve spent my ministry trying to help others to watch for those same glimmers. I guess that I’ve worn out the phrase “where did you see God today?” and yet the sentiment still seems sound to me. It is the invitation for us to live in the world expecting to encounter God's presence in what we’re seeing or doing or learning. It is one of the reasons that churches approach faith formation in so many different ways. I’ve come to expect that in any given worship setting one person will hear God in a word of scripture, and for another it will be in some moment of music, for another it may be a prayer, and for still another it may be in moment of silence, and for another they may hear God in the process of just keeping the rhythm of showing up, or it may be the fellowship that follows the service. And I know that for me, it’s not the same thing every week. But I’ve come to expect that at some point along the way, I’ll come away having been touched by the divine. That experience is a part of what we’re invited to experience every day.
Elsa shared how one of her friends greets the birds and the bugs and everything that lives and creeps with the simple greeting “hello friends.” I’ve tried it myself now and again and it’s the strangest thing - to greet those bees that are buzzing around the table with the proclamation “hello friends” changes the way that I seem to see and feel about them. And this is what I’ve been trying to cultivate in myself and all of the rest of us in learning to see with eyes of God for years.
We do this at church with each of our classes and our programs. We try to impact the way that we see and live through gathering together in different combinations of community to live together and build a house or to explore God's creation on a wilderness canoe trip. We learn to see with eyes of God in new ways as we decorate the church and lead children through bible stories through drama and crafts and games and our presence with VBS. And we certainly learn to see differently as people work together in the new kitchen to feed the community, or this summer to feed the families and children who came for breakfast and went home with bag lunches to sustain their bodies even as the conversations and connections fed everyone’s souls. This is what it means to be the church.
We share a journey with one another. That journey is one of care and support in times of need. It’s also a journey of learning and growing in our understanding of our faith. And my great hope is that every piece of the journey helps to feed our souls in ways that strengthen our relationship with the love of God so that we may see God more clearly at work around us and within us, and so that we can share that extraordinary grace of God with the world.
There’s a story of a custodian working at NASA who proudly saw their job as helping to put a man on the moon. Often times we may look at what the church is doing to share God’s light. We too are bearers of God-light wherever we go. One little glimmer at a time trying to offer a witness to the power of an unearned, undeserved love of God that is offered for all. We get to humbly open ourselves to see and be differently.
Shalom, Pastor Eric