Good Trouble.

March 22, 2022

 

Happy Spring, church family and friends!

This spring weather is glorious! Sometimes warm, sometimes freezing, sometimes sunshine, sometimes snow. I love it. It makes me think of how confusing and strange it can be when we experience any kind of change in life, full of ups and downs and stresses on the way. Lots of learning happens in those transition periods. Which is what those periods are for.

In worship a couple of weeks ago, we talked together a bit about Jesus’ 40 days of fasting in the desert, and how 40 day periods are all over the Bible as symbolic descriptions of change…of moving, with God, from one phase of life to another. For Jesus, it was a time of moving from life as it had been into his main earthly ministry. For Moses, it was 40 years in the desert herding sheep, between his life as an Egyptian man of privilege to God’s instrument in freeing the people of Israel. For Noah, it was the whole world moving through destruction to new life. In every case it is fraught and difficult, full of self-searching and strength-gathering. And in every case, though unseen, God is there.

In chapter 2 of our Lenten Bible study, “Witness to the Cross” by Amy Jill Levine, our author describes her work with incarcerated people. Her heart is moved with compassion for those who made terrible decisions and landed in prison, often (but not always) as a result of abusive upbringing or other circumstances beyond their control. It makes me think of a man I recently met, who spent several decades in prison for a terrible crime committed in his youth: he found himself filled with compassion for others in similar circumstances, and
continues to support and help them however he can. Which then makes me remember the work of Father Gregory Boyd, too, and his efforts to free gang members from that destructive lifestyle, the compassion in his heart overflowing and creating space for true healing. People like these carry with them the presence of God for people in the midst of an extremely difficult time, their own compassion reflecting God’s and making their imprisonment a time of transformation.

Here at Epworth, we encounter a whole lot of people in crisis or in chronic poverty and illness. Sometimes it is awfully difficult to know how best to meet their needs, and what compassion should look like. Sometimes it has to be lovingly firm, setting strong boundaries against destructive behavior or advantage-taking, enforcing consequences when harm is done. And then other times, it’s REALLY easy: in the middle of writing that last sentence, I picked up a call from a young man who wondered whether we had any dog food…I told him that we’d be glad to order him some from Walmart, and he started sobbing. He tells me that he works 3 jobs and is just trying to get on his feet after a breakup, but the money just keeps running out. Friends, it is an incredible joy to be able to help someone in these simple ways!

In the hardest times, every one of us needs people who can be the hands and feet of Christ for us. Who can pray for us and walk with us, encourage and uplift us, help us to find hope when we are edging toward despair, lend us their strength when we are so tired. We even need people who can be lovingly firm with us when we are hurting ourselves or others; that is compassion, too. That is my prayer for us this week: that we can be that, and find that. So that troubled times can become just a step on the way to new life.

How great is our God!

            Pastor Dawn

Worship Any and Everywhere!

DEEP WATERS 3: Good Trouble

“When you go through deep waters, I will be with you.” Isaiah 43:2

There’s bad trouble, like the kind that sends a woman to her knees at Jesus’ feet, washing them with her tears and drying them with her hair. And there’s good trouble, too, like when the waters of life are all stirred up and Jesus invites us to be strong and courageous and walk right out on them with him. This week, we’ll meet Jesus in Luke 8, at just such a time as this. See you in worship.

If you are worshiping with us from home, either via the radio broadcast or video, we are so glad! If we can pray for you, or if there is anything you need, we would love to do that. You can call the church office at  775-423-4714, or you can call Pastor Dawn on her cell phone any time, 775-671-5553.