At First....

There is an old Zen proverb that says something like “at first the river is a river and the mountain is a mountain...then the river is no longer a river and the mountain is no longer a mountain...and then later the river is a river again and the mountain is a mountain again.”

This is a pretty vague proverb and can be interpreted in as many ways as there are people looking to interpret it. I thought I would share my own......

As is expected of proverbs, this proverb has nothing to do with the actual, physical makeup of the proverbial landscape; it has everything to do with how we experience the proverbial landscape. Growing up we develop a way to see and navigate the world. Our way is shaped and molded by many things, but in the end it is our interpretation of all the input that makes us see what we see and feel what we feel. It makes sense to us and it works. Until it doesn’t.

In many conversations I’ve learned that we all, new and long-time Bible readers alike, have had the experience where we learn a Bible story or passage, or even just one verse, at some point, but then we read it again later and it means something totally different, or maybe it doesn’t even make any sense. We’re experiencing this passage in a new light.

At first the river is a river....

The whole river/mountain experience can be in any part of your life, but since we’re all a church people let’s look at a relevant example, shall we? How many times have we looked at The Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-11, Luke 6:20-23). Even as children we think “oh yeah, I know...Blessed are those who blah blah blah for they will blah blah blah...”. We can look at the words and intellectually know what the words “poor” and “mourn”  and “mercy” mean and it all makes sense.  Until we are in them. Until they are in us.

Then the river is no longer a river....

You can find “those who are poor” all throughout the Bible, right? There’s Ruth and Naomi (you can find their incredible story in the book of Ruth) or the parable of the Widow’s Mite (Luke 21:1-4) to name a couple. Beyond the idea of poverty, the Gospel of Matthew quotes Jesus as saying “Blessed are the poor IN SPIRIT...” which can also be translated as “humble”.  So, blessed are those who are humble.  The Bible gives us many examples of these as well; some in stories as unfamiliar as that of Epaphroditus, who saw his own life as expendable for the sake of the Gospel (his story can be found in Phillipians, he’s Paul’s right-hand man!), or stories we all know almost word-for-word as in the most humble of beings EVER washing the feet of those who serve Him. From Naomi and Ruth to Jesus, none of them could look forward and KNOW that their lives would be changed so drastically, whether by tragedy or epiphany (Okay, fine, Jesus probably could have....). However much we try to relate or understand, we can’t begin to KNOW what it is to be poor until we have to prioritize for ourselves which bare necessity is most important for surviving to the next day. We can’t KNOW humility until we serve the unworthy as Christ served our unworthy world. And when we KNOW, nothing looks the same as it did before and everything we thought we knew no longer makes sense and often it’s a little scary. We have been given a new way of seeing and feeling an d experiencing. Our proverbial landscape has shifted.

And then later the river is a river again....

After a time of questioning and researching and generally relying on our faith for understanding this new landscape, things will once again come back into focus, we have a new normal. Anyone who has ever lost someone they loved, or moved far away from home knows exactly what this new normal feels like. More often than not, the refocus is so gradual that you don’t even realize when it happens. You don’t ever stop wishing your loved one could be by your side again, and you don’t stop missing that place you called home, at least that’s been my experience with both, but you do learn to live a life that is full of love and laughter. Things once again make sense, even with the longing.

We all are on a journey. Some of us are experiencing the river as a river and everything is right, it can be hard to understand why others are not seeing the river.  For some of us, the river is no longer a river and we feel like we are lost or disconnected and we can’t understand how anyone can experience the river as a river in such a time as now. Wherever you are on your journey, you will be okay. You are loved. And you will be used by God to build His kingdom and to bring His glory.

In Christ's Work,

Ashlee

EATING OF THE TREE OF LIFE: Fruits of the Spirit Part 9, Self-Control

Happy Saturday, beloved!

Lots to consider this morning, as this beautiful holiday weekend begins. I like to think of Labor Day weekend as one long Sabbath rest, a gift of God to re-center and nourish us, a time to rest and play and give thanks for good work. A reminder that work in any form, paid or not, is a gift of God...and at the same time, a reminder that whatever our work is, it does not define us or establish our worth. A Sabbath rest reminds us that we are not defined by what we accomplish. No matter what we do, what we can no longer do, what we wish we had done but never did, we are beloved and belong to God. And life is GOOD. Wherever you are spending it, at home or elsewhere, I hope that you take time to make it holy.

This Sunday in worship, we finish our series on the Fruits of the Spirit with the last one Paul lists in Galatians 5:22-23: self-control. This one, at least on the surface, seems different from all the others. All of the others we can see begin with God. We can see God's own love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, and gentleness is expressed toward us, and how it transforms us. We can feel the seed planted within us, feel how it grows in us, see how it changes the way we live and move in the world. When we nourish that seed with prayer, worship, study, obedience, and service, we experience how the seed God planted becomes a strong and healthy plant, producing the fruits of the spirit in US. We become loving, peaceful, patient, kind, generous, faithful, gentle people...we become a gift to all of those around us, through whom God can plant more seeds in more people. And pretty soon, the earth becomes the Garden of Eden restored, with the Tree of Life right in the middle. Paradise.

Self-control, though? It feels different. And it is. Our God is blessedly extravagant, loving and forgiving us in a no-holds-barred, carefree, utterly uncontrolled, passionate way. God created the earth in a burst of creative abandon, resulting in an impossible variety of people and creatures and things that live in wild, interconnected perfection. That paradise we look forward to, the complete joyful freedom in it, the Tree of Life with all of its fruit, the abundant life Jesus promises us, these are limitless, boundless things.

And yet...

I don't want to give it all away here. Just read Luke 15:11-32. This -- self-control -- this is the big one. See you in worship.

Forgiven and free,
Pastor Dawn

PS We are having an ice cream social next Sunday, September 10! If you are able, bring your favorite ice cream or topping, fresh fruit, cookies or brownies, whatever you love best with ice cream, and celebrate the end of Summer and the return of our Bible studies, choirs, and Sunday School.

PPS Hope to see you at the Labor Day parade! We are still collecting candy for the kids, so bring a bag or two to church on Sunday if you can!

PPPS THANK YOU for your donations for new pew Bibles!! Because of your generosity, we already have nearly enough to buy them, just need about $200 more. Any extra you provide we will use to provide preschool-aged Bibles to our little ones (they are so cool, all stories and colorful pictures, along with a CD for them to listen to!), Bibles for young readers to our mid-elementary aged students, and adult Bibles to our high school graduates. The more Bible reading in the world the better, and the younger the better, amen? AMEN.

Hello from Atlanta!

Good morning from Atlanta! Where the people are friendly, the food is amazing, and everything is damp and sticky. J

Together with several hundred other pastors and church leaders from around the country, we have worshipped and prayed and praised and talked a whole lot about the history, the present, and the future of the church. We have looked at different ways of “doing” church: traditional, with giant pipe organs and hymnals from the 1930s; wildly contemporary with elaborate artwork, poetry, modern music, and church “in the round”; ancient chants, careful liturgy, and beautiful singing with no instruments at all, led by a brilliant tattoo-covered pastor who is a recovering addict. We have talked about ways to provide worship that is meaningful in this day and age, ways to encourage church members to bring their faith into real life, ways to satisfy the needs of our communities, ways to bring people suspicious of church into life with Christ. In all of it, we have come away with pages of notes and questions, and one real conclusion:

People are hungry. Starving.

We are starving for love and acceptance, starving for a life with meaning, starving for truth and justice and forgiveness and grace. We are starving for a place where we are welcome and loved, no matter what country we come from, no matter what color our skin is or what language we speak, no matter what our history was or our present is. We are starving for the gospel, sung and proclaimed and especially lived out, in which all are welcome and all are fed.

Earlier this week, after the horrible events in Charlottesville and then later in Barcelona, I was reading an interview with a young man who had joined some white supremacist group or other. He described feeling lost in the world, rejected and angry, and said that the group he joined gave him identity, community, and purpose. I remember reading the same thing about gangs in this country, and about young people who join ISIS. I remember reading the same thing about drug culture, too, these same needs expressed in despair, numbness, and self-destructiveness. I am heartbroken that these needs in us are so deep that we look to satisfy them in the most horrible, corrosive ways. And I know that the church has a desperately important, vital purpose.

In the sanctuary here at Peachtree Road UMC, full of all different kinds of people, we sang and prayed and shared Holy Communion, and we are galvanized. Joyful, even. Because we know that ESPECIALLY now, God is moving. The church is moving. We are here to tell people that we DO have an identity: children of God, deeply loved, cherished, healed and forgiven. We DO have a community: a church full of beautiful misfits who listen to and support and love each other, in good times and in bad. We DO have a purpose: to love God and each other so deeply and fully that no one ever feels lost or rejected, ever again, and all of the twisted, corrosive, destructive, evil powers of this world lose their power. I see God moving and people being fed, body and soul, in our worship every Sunday, in meals at Fallon Daily Bread, in the ways you love and care for each other, in the ways you lead Bible studies and teach and preach and cook and clean and visit each other, in the ways we sing loud and clear and strong. People of Epworth UMC, God is moving in you! And I am so blessed to be a part of it.

In the endless love of God,

Pastor Dawn

THE FRUIT OF THE TREE OF LIFE: Faithfulness

Hello church!

Wow, life has been a whirlwind lately, hasn't it? Births and rebirths and saying goodbye to women and men who have been so important to us...prayer and praising, study and planning, deep and important discussions and sitting at Sandwinds casually with friends. It was so good to hear all of you tell stories today about Donna Colt, and how much she meant to you. Life is full, beloved, and God is good.

This week in worship, we will talk together about faith, and faithfulness...about what it means, and how it acts, and why it is so important. We will talk about fear, and hope, and what we can be sure of.  In the meantime, a few questions to consider:

What does it mean when Jesus says, "Your faith has made you well?"

What do you think about Jesus' brother James, who writes in the second chapter of his letter, "Faith without works is dead"...especially when you consider that Paul writes in Ephesians 2, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith'?

What do you most have faith in, in this life? Besides God, who or what can you trust?

There are a thousand scriptures that speak to all of this. If one comes to mind for you, I encourage you to go pull out your Bible and read it tonight or tomorrow morning, and pray on that. In worship, we will be talking together about the faith of a Roman soldier in Matthew 7:1-10.

See you in the morning!

Love and blessings,
Pastor Dawn

Sweeter than Honey: The Fruit of Human Kindness

Call me crazy, but sometimes I think civility is a little bit lacking in our modern discourse.

It's a shocking assessment, I know (*she says sarcastically*), but in my experience over the last couple of years folks seem to spend a lot more time hollering at each other than caring about each other. We even spend time hollering at each other about how to care about each other! We fight about what kindness should look like, whether or not our kindness is doing more harm than good, whose job it should be. It's as though we have developed an outrage habit that opens our mouths and shuts off our ears and our brains and our hearts, and we have all become boxers just waiting in our corners for Pavlov to ring the bell so that we can come out swinging.

And then...Monday or Thursday rolls around, and we all gather and cook and clean and eat and talk, to feed and be fed.

And 500+ people line up down the block at Oats Park, where churches and community groups stand in the hot sun and give away free school supplies to preschoolers through high schoolers with heart-deep smiles on our faces, easing the burden of parents and grandparents and foster parents. And when we run out, we talk about how we can do it even better next year.

And a member of our church family has a crisis, and a bunch of prayer warriors gather spontaneously to pray over her.

And people we love pass from this life into the next one, and the first thing we think of is how best to love and comfort those they have left behind.

And we are reminded what really matters.

Cory Booker is a US Senator from New Jersey. I know nothing about his politics (please see opening paragraph, above), but I ran across something powerful he once said that has always stuck with me.

Before you speak to me about your religion, show it to me in how you treat other people.
Before you tell me how much you love your God, show me in how you love all of his children.
Before you preach to me about your passion for your faith, teach me about it through your compassion for your neighbors.
In the end, I'm not as interested in what you have to tell and sell as in how you choose to live and give.

Tomorrow morning in worship, we will remember together what really matters. As we continue to prepare for and care for, cultivate and taste the honey-sweet fruits of the spirit, we will think about kindness and its place in our life and in our faith. You might like to take a look at Luke 10:25-37, and Micah 6:6-8 as you prepare your hearts for worship.

See you in the morning, beloved.

In His grip,
Pastor Dawn

Hello Epworth!!! 
I've been cleaning up files on my computer for the last few weeks (a little at a time, you know, because filing is only good in small doses....) and I came across the article I wrote for the Epworth newsletter in September 2016. It's still fitting now as we are still filtering through our own things after our move (yes, I know it's been a year, but LIFE happens, literally in our case) and have had my Grandma Verna living with us for most of a year. For a while now, Grandma has been feeling God's call to move back to her hometown of Granite City, IL and we are helping her make that a reality. 
Once again, we are in the throws of transition and all its beautiful chaos. Enjoy!

September 2016 Notes from the Office

Observation: Moving is hard.

Between Jake’s grandmother’s house in Idaho (which we, Jake, his family, and myself, helped get ready to put on the market in July), my grandmother, Verna, (whom we, Jake, my family, and myself, have helped move to Fallon from the St. Louis area), and our own recent home purchase, we have been sorting, giving, throwing out, and otherwise dealing with STUFF for better than 2 months.

Luke 12:33-34 says “Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

Moving is valuable.

Most of the STUFF has been of no real sentimental value, therefore easy (or at least not as hard) to let go, but some things have memories attached that I (or the family I’ve been with) never want to lose: the rocking chair that rocked generations of Coval babies, the perfect china from my grandmother’s Aunt Ina (that survived almost 2,000 miles in the uhaul trailer, by the way), and molds of my first daughter’s newborn hands. In the moving process, you are forced to take stock of what is important, what genuinely adds value to your life, and what is merely taking up space, both physically and emotionally. It’s all laid out in front of you. You have to touch it.

Thinking about it now, could I have dropped all of it to follow some awesome stranger? I’d like to think so, but......I don’t know, maybe?

John 21:22 Jesus says to Peter “What is that to you? You follow me!”

Moving is a faith journey.

My grandma is pretty amazing. She moved here, leaving a community she’s been a part of for her entire life, with the faith that God would provide for her what she needs to live and to belong. Jake’s family (I guess they’re mine, too, haha) has some closure and has learned more about Grandma Belva and Grandpa Jack and their beautiful lives. My family and I have taken the leap into homeownership (home-OWE-ership?), which is pretty scary but very exciting. All of these things are challenging, but if we didn’t have the faith we do, we wouldn’t have the opportunities we have, and we definitely wouldn’t learn to “lean not on our own understanding.”

Matthew 6:31-34 says “Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. ‘Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

In this whole process, I’ve learned, once again, that I’m very blessed.

In His Work,

Ashlee

Sweeter than Honey: Fruits of the Spirit part 3, Peace

Happy hump day, church family!

Tomorrow afternoon, Margaret, Angelina, and I head out to Rancho Cordova for a Chrysalis weekend. We are so excited!! I know that many of you are experienced with the Walk to Emmaus and Chrysalis, and so you know exactly what I mean. There is just something special about it, something different than anything else I have ever experienced. It was at a weekend similar to Chrysalis (we called it Search then, great name) that I first really, powerfully experienced the love of God for me. It truly changed my life. That was about 30 years ago now, and I have been involved in Cursillo, Walk to Emmaus, Chrysalis, and their several different branches all of my adult life. If you aren't familiar with these things, I think it's best explained as a weekend of remembering why we are Christians in the first place. Whether we are new to Christianity, or are a lifelong churchgoer, these weekends remind us what Christ has done, and why it matters. I am looking forward to the music, and the laughter, the stories, the new friendships, and the presence of God everywhere! I leave every single time with a renewed sense of God's love for me, and new inspiration for living my life with God.

I will also be with you in worship on Sunday, driving back to Fallon on Saturday night and returning to Rancho Cordova after worship. Expect your pastor to be a little bit frazzled, and a little bit tired, but a whole lot inspired and joyful. This week in worship, moving prayerfully and thoughtfully through Galatians 5:22-23, we will hear what God has to say to us about peace.

I wonder if you read that word, and feel like I do: oh Lord, YES PLEASE. I wonder if you think of somewhere beautiful, with growing things and a soft breeze, with outdoor sounds and smells. Or maybe you think of a kitchen table, full of good food and packed with smiling people who love each other. Maybe you think of a quiet, thoughtful, slow, worry-free place...or unlimited time to be with your closest friend, to do whatever you love best to do...or a loud, crowded concert hall with the kind of perfect, harmonious music that takes your breath away. The prophet Isaiah, in chapter 11, describes the Peaceable Kingdom like this:

"The wolf shall live with the lamb,
   the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
the calf and the lion and the fatling together,
   and a little child shall lead them...

They will not hurt or destroy
   on all my holy mountain;
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
   as the waters cover the sea." 

The book of Revelation describes it as a place more beautiful than we can imagine, covered with precious stones, streets paved with gold, a wide, clear river and the Tree of Life. And in chapter 21, the prophet describes it this way:

"Look! God's dwelling place is now among the people, 

and he will dwell with them. 

They will be his people, and God himself will be with them 

and be their God. 

He will wipe every tear from their eyes. 

There will be no more death, or mourning or crying or pain, 

for the old order of things has passed away."

Makes a person's heart feel full just reading that, doesn't it?

Isaiah and John the Evangelist and all of us tend to think of this kind of peacefulness as something that will happen when Jesus returns and sets all things right. And that's true! But the wonderful thing is, God promises us a portion of that peace NOW. Right now, in this life. As you prepare your hearts for worship this week, you might like to take a look at the Gospel of John, chapter 14. Think and pray on it, and we will talk about it together on Sunday. See you then!

Leaning on the everlasting arms,

Pastor Dawn