A little Inspiration

Just wanted to pass on a little inspiration to start our weeks off right!

"The Cure at Troy"
by Seamus Heaney

Human beings suffer,
They torture one another,
They get hurt and get hard.
No poem or play or song
Can fully right a wrong
Inflicted and endured.

The innocent in gaols
Beat on their bars together.
A hunger-striker's father
Stands in the graveyeard dumb.
The police widow in veils
Faints at the funeral home.

History says, Don't hope
On this side of the grave.
But then, once in a lifetime
The longed-for tidal wave
Of justice can rise up,
And hope and history rhyme.

So hope for a great sea-change
On the far side of revenge.
Believe that a further shore
Is reachable from here.
Believe in miracles
And cures and healing wells.

Call miracle self-healing:
The utter, self-revealing
Double-take of feeling.
If there's fire on the mountain
Or lightening and storm
And a god speaks from the sky

That means someone is hearing
The outcry and the birth-cry
Of new life at its term. . . .


Love,
Becky

Live Simply

I am starting my days during Lent in devotion (trying to stay mindful of where my center is, and for me, if I start the day out right, it helps me stay on track. Also, I like to think it demonstrates my priorities being in order: I start the day by doing the most important thing first -- giving time to my relationship with God). Since the biggest hole I feel in my spiritual life right now is connecting my faith to how I live my life (moving from devotion to real action), I spend a good chunk of my morning devotion reading the papers and praying about what God intends for us and how I might play a role in bringing God's intentions into being. When I find something, I post it here!

This morning I came across a great article on Slate about Whole Foods. Over the past few months I've become friends with some committed environmentalists, and have begun to realize the strength of my relationship with the world as a whole. I know it's pretty "God 101" but if God created the whole earth and everything in it, and God deemed it good, and God's intention is for creation to exist in harmony, then we have some work to do! You'd think I would have gotten that before now (my grandpa was a farmer, for goodness sakes!), but it's something I seem to have lost until recently.

As a result of this recognition, I've been trying to cut down on my consumption and buy more organic foods, on the assumption that they're more environmentally friendly. This Slate article shows that it's just more complicated than that. So I wanted to pass it on to you, so you can see that while organic foods have some benefits (grown in less damaging ways, less damaging to the body to consume, etc.) they also have some costs (energy expended in transport, often not grown locally, etc).

I have to say, though, that I've always whined about shopping at Whole Foods because they're so expensive. I had no idea that their labor practices are so good. That's reason enough for me to become a very loyal patron!

Also, quick plug for those who would like to buy organically and locally. Check out your farmer's markets or your local CSA (community supported agriculture). You can learn more about CSA's and find one in your area on the USDA's website.

Love,

Becky

Resilience

Got a bit of bad news last night -- one of those out of the blue, didn't see it coming, completely blindsided moments where I left a conversation not knowing at all how the world looked so entirely differently within the span of a mere two hours. Not any huge drama (I'm making it sound bigger than it is), but more of a very serious, 'Huh? I thought I was done with this! How did I get back to this place?"

Began my devotional this morning by reading the next chapter from John Ortberg's If You Want to Walk on Water, You've Got to Get out of the Boat. Our Sunday School class in on chapter 5 this week, and it's about what you do when things don't go your way (Peter got out of the boat, was actually walking on the water, then he got scared and started to sink). Ortberg's point is that this happens to everyone: We think we're onto something great -- we have a new relationship, job, act of service, habit, whatever -- and it's going great. . . until something comes along and throws a wrench in the works. (I had to giggle when I started reading. Good thing I picked up this chapter today!).

Ortberg referenced a study of people who have experienced great trauma (POWs, hostages, concentration camp survivors), and noted that people who suffer trauma break into two categories: those who are defeated, and those who are resilient. Those defeated by trauma tend to die (these are pretty serious examples of trauma -- many of us probably just die a little inside). But those who are resilient grow stronger. They exhibit the following three traits that help them endure their trial and come out more capable on the other side:

• "Resilient people continually seek to reassert some command and control over their destiny rather than seeing themselves as passive victims."
• "Resilient people have a larger than usual capacity for what might be called moral courage -- for refusing to betray their values."
• "Resilient people find purpose and meaning in their suffering" (Ortberg, 97).

I can't control other people, but I can control how I treat them. I can control the presence or absence of peace I carry around in my heart. I can control the confidence and trust I possess that this situation, like others, will turn out in a way that opens us up for greater wholeness in the future. To loose that confidence, that peace, or the compassion that (hopefully) grounds my actions would be to betray my values. I could choose to let this situation pull me away from what I know to be true (and good), but I don't have to. Finally, I can see this moment as an opportunity -- the world just threw me a curve ball, and this is my chance to see if I can hit straight. I seem to be getting a lot of practice swinging at this particular curve ball over the past year, but that's okay. Hopefully my aim is improving each time!

So I'm going to practice my resilience the next few weeks and see how it works for me. Maybe if I can do it on a little disappointment like this one, I'll be in a better place to be resilient when a serious trauma comes my way. If anyone else is facing something rough right now, I hope you'll take some time and think about the ways you can practice resilience. The ancient desert father, Abba Anthony, offered followers three pieces of advice I find helpful: Always be aware of God's presence; always obey God's word; and wherever you find yourself -- do not easily leave. Dig in and gut it out. See what you learn about yourself and your strength in the process.

Love,

Becky

One reason to buy a Ford...

I didn't know there was such a controversy, but apparently Ford Motors came under some pressure from conservative groups last year for advertising in gay media. Initially they were going to pull their ads, then decided not to. In retaliation, the American Family Foundation (led by a Methodist -- AGH!) has instituted a one year boycott on Ford cars. You can read about it on CNN's website.

My Honda's on its last legs. This gives me the best reason to buy American yet!

Love,

Becky

A Pretty Good List

I came across this passage from 2 Peter this morning that I wanted to share:

you must make every effort to support your faith with goodness, and goodness with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with endurance, and endurance with godliness, 7 and godliness with mutual affection, and mutual affection with love. -- 2 Peter 1:5-7.

Just so people know what they're reading, 2 Peter was written in the late 1st century or early 2nd century CE by someone who was likely a follower of Peter's (it's pretty clearly written after Peter was martyred in Rome). In both 1 and 2 Peter, the author lays out Peter's understanding of how Christians are to live and the promise that God gives the faithful. They're written as letters to the faithful.

Here, in 2 Peter 1, the author is giving the faithful instructions for how to resist the temptations of the world and focus on living lives devoted to God. As Lent continues and Easter nears, I think it is a good time to reflect on what we can do to keep ourselves grounded in God. We have to start at the beginning with love. What I admire most about this passage is that faith, though it comes at the beginning of the sentence, is the end product. It only exists when supported by goodness, which must be supported by knowledge, which is meaningless without self-control. . . .

The first step is love. Love develops into mutual affection (actual love for particular people and aspects of creation, rather than some theoretical love of others); this grows into godliness (what is more godly than to love God's creation?); moments of godliness weave together to result in endurance (I'm making that sound a whole lot easier than it is!); once we know how to endure, we learn to control ourselves. This control opens our eyes to knowledge (to the often-painful process of acquiring knowledge, but also to the essential need to refrain from judging knowledge superficially. Self-control allows us to learn with open minds instead of rushing to judgment in order to confirm what we already believe to be true). This type of open-minded knowledge is good (it's certainly better than the alternative!), and possessing it builds our faith in the One who created us and works for our reunion. The very process of faith reunites us with God, one another, and Creation.

So maybe take a couple of minutes and think about how you're doing in this process of faith. Pray about what you could be doing to strengthen your commitment to focus on God and live as God's created.

Love,

Becky

Faith, Fire, and Fruits

Today is Ash Wednesday, the day that marks the beginning of Lent and our spiritual preparation for Christ's death and resurrection at Easter (and like Christ used the forty days our Lent had come to symbolize to prepare for his years in ministry, the forty days of Lent marks a period where we prepare to serve God and one another).

I was reading a newsletter I get each week from Wesley called Leading Ideas (it's a publication of the Lewis Center for Church Leadership), and the lead article focused on the need to move from 'faithful ministry' to 'fruitful leadership'. It seems to fit with the opportunity we have during Lent to prepare ourselves for lives of service, so I wanted to share it with you.

The article makes the case that most people evaluate church leaders by their faithfulness (acting with integrity, taking time for devotion, knowledge of scripture), rather than by their effectiveness (at teaching a congregation the basics of discipleship, motivating a congregation into active community service, developing and maintaining a congregation that is sincerely welcoming to everyone).

As we embark on Lent, I want to encouage us not to get stuck in this trap. It's easy (for me at least!) to see this as a time for more intense spiritual focus -- I'll spend an hour a day in prayer and study and think I'm doing a great job disciplining myself to be a faithful servant. But God doesn't call us to faith alone; God calls us to service, and that means to effectiveness.

The article points out that John Wesley took a three-part approach to evaluating ministry:

1. Is there Faith?
2. Is there Fire?
3. Are there Fruits?

This makes sense to me. Anyone who is passionate about service can serve in ways that are fruitful (that actually improve the lives of those they are trying to touch), but to serve in the name of Christ, we must serve out of faith. Faith that God will support us when we doubt our efforts will make a difference; faith that the act of serving others is the most important thing we will ever do on this earth because in serving others we contribute to the continuing work of our Creator; and faith that our service brings God's love to others in ways we will likely never know. It is faith that distinguishes the Christian from the humanitarian.

But faith is not enough. I like that Wesley includes fire as a key component between faith and fruits. Fruits are the outcome, the product, the end result (the 'deliverable' for us beltway types!). But fire is the heart of service. We can serve out of duty -- sometimes duty is the only thing that keeps us going. But service out of a sense of duty is not sustainable. It is also not what God wants from us. God wants a joyful giver, a person who serves out of love. God wants passion. Once we see others as extensions of ourselves as part of the unity of God's Creation, how can we not love them? And if we love them, how can we not be passionate to serve them?

Again, passion is not enough -- not even passion coupled with faith. That would just make you a blow hard. All windup and no pitch. For us to be effective ministers (and we're all ministers, even if we're not all ordained. All of us care for other people, and that's all ministering means) we have to pitch. We have to actually meet people in that place of their need. We have to take all of our good intentions and sentiment, and translate them into action.

We have forty days to get on it. I am spending the first week of Lent praying about how I can be more effective in serving others. That leaves me five and a half weeks to practice. If you have any tips, I'd love to hear them. If you'd like to share what you're doing to prepare yourself to serve, I'd love to hear that too!

Love,

Becky