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Be careful, little eyes, what you see

2/25/2015

I am not the world's best when it comes to photos.

It seldom occurs to me to have the phone or camera handy for an event. I don't have thousands of pictures of our grandchildren on my phone (which is really odd, because we have the world's cutest grandchildren.) I'm not prone to stopping a lunch to share the latest 240 images of the kindergarten play or the first missing tooth or the first tooth grown in. And in reality I'm not always uber excited to see another person's 240 images of an event.
(But I love YOURS. I'm talking about other people - not you <3 )

Nonethless, there is a small bulletin board in my office which I intentionally placed to be seen while sitting at my desk - I see my sweet husband at his desk, Hunter in a beautiful park, Christa hugging Zoe, Tyler kissing Max, Emma on her first day of kindergarten, baby Simon - pics of the family. Those faces are important to me. When the day is lousy, or I am overwhelmed, or angered, or frustrated, or even wonderful - I can look at that bulletin board. And smile.

If it is true that we are what we eat, it must also be true that we are what we consume. I am always amazed at grown people who can spend hours on a game with the stated intent of killing the greatest number of people in the shortest amount of time. I am astonished at the number of hours that can be spent trolling the internet for such important images as a reality star's transformation, a celebrity without makeup, the grainy shots of a drive by shooting.

We see what we look for. Jesus said that where our treasure is, there will be our heart. Not the other way around. For those of us who need to be reminded of the goodness in the world, we would be well advised to look for it and not settle for what shows up in front of us. It may not always be easy to find, but matters of great worth seldom are.

The Bell of Mindfulness

2/17/2015

'The trouble with being in the rat race is that even if you win, you're still a rat.' Lily Tomlin

We begin our worship service by ringing the bell of mindfulness. It is a beautiful clay bell, suspended by a rope and hanging on the chancel; it has a Bflat pitch and is a lovely golden colour. We ring it three times - it is a gentle yet effective way to call people in worship.

The bell became a part of the sanctuary following a study on Thich Nhat Hanh's Peace is Every Step. Within the book Hanh encourages us to look for signals, each day, that will call us to a place of mindfulness: the red brake lights of the car in front of you in traffic, the smell of freshly brewed coffee, the sound of a whistling tea kettle, the sight of a star or the moon. Every day sensory triggers to remind us to be present to the moment, to recall God's love for us, to remember we are not in this alone.

As Lent begins, look for your signal of mindfulness: what will it be? The 'what' is not as important as the action: to slow down, to offer a prayer of thanks or need, to take a deep breath, to be still and know God. This hurried loud world will always want us to be caught up in the race for success, for news, for achievement. Don't listen to the shouting. Don't be a rat. Be still. Be mindful. Listen for a word from God.

Lent creeps up on us

2/11/2015

One week from today will be Ash Wednesday. I am already hearing folks talk about what they are going to do for Lent: give up chocolate, not watch "Scandal", be diligent about exercise.

Now, of course, that is often followed by the hoarding of chocolate (to be broken out the minute someone somewhere starts singing "Christ the Lord is Risen Today"), the DVRing of "Scandal" (prompting binge watching all day April 5th), or the luxury of sleeping in on April 6th (because I earned it).

If I understand things (and in reality I seldom seem to) the original thought behind sacrificing during Lent had to do with our relationship with God. By feeling the pang that comes with not having something we like, it was thought we could in some small way understand the sacrifice of Jesus. I will admit, that doesn't appear to be likely: it is difficult for me to analogize my living with no caffeine with Jesus being killed for doing love.

Another early idea around Lenten sacrifice was that, by removing one aspect of our life, we could insert another more uplifting aspect: by not watching "Scandal" there would be time for meditation, or prayer. That makes more sense to me, though the real crux would be in actually DOING that.

Around here we advocate for what we call "ADD-Lent" (get it?); the sacrifice lies in adding a spiritual discipline to our life for the 6 weeks of Lent, with the hope that it becomes a habit that stays around after the lilies are taken off the chancel.

So I offer this as something to ponder as Lent creeps up on us: Do. Something. Whether it's taking away, or adding - just do SOMETHING. Something that breaks through the darkness of February. Something that changes the life of another. Something that is not as much about losing those last 10 pounds as it is about developing a deeper relationship with our Creator. Something that doesn't get a medal pinned on us but gets us in touch with those outside our Comfort Zone. Something that brings about justice, not self satisfaction.

Because, Lent is not about us.

How I Get Things Done (Sort of)

2/3/2015

Something I read many many years ago has helped give shape and frame to a problem I fall prey to when I am stressed out.*

From time to time, I will have one of those days - and maybe you will as well: I will begin the day with a to-do list with only about 4 items on it, and of course Item 1 is the most pressing and most important. So I start off with the best intentions, but quickly convince myself that in order to do Item 1 I will first need to (fill in the blank: make coffee, get a new cartridge for the printer, look up an address, reconcile my bank account, wash the car...you get it).

And it's amazing what I can accomplish! Clean cars, bank account balance known to the penny, a dozen emails responded to and sent out -- and then the first thing I need to do tomorrow is Item 1 from today.

When I am in balance I am good about striking that first item off the list in a appropriate time. But when things are catawampus or I am sleep deprived or when (telling the truth) I REALLY don't want to do it, well, I will do everything but.

Psychologists and those of that tribe will tell us many ways to overcome this problem: to break Item 1 into bite sized portions; to schedule something fun and rewarding for myself after I accomplish Item 1; to set a timer and give myself a break in the midst of Item 1.

That might work if Item 1 is a singular situation. But often our Item 1 is something that is critical to our everyday life, like spending time in prayer, or reading Scripture, or doing one small act of kindness that will be anonymous. So, if that's the case, I propose this:
let's strike Item 1 from our to-do list.

Certainly our daily list of things to be accomplished does not include brushing our teeth, or taking a shower, or putting on our clothes for the day. An Item 1 is never combing our hair, or eating a meal, or hugging our child or partner. So why not change the designation? Shouldn't our relationship with God be moved from the to-do list to our daily regimen for health and well being?

I think so. (Though I imagine now the car won't get washed quite as often............... )

*I don't really imagine any of you will actually look up the article, but in case someone out there is interested: "How To Get Things Done" by Robert Benchley. Originally published in "The New Yorker" sometime in the early 1930's. It is quite dated, but I still find it amusing. And terrifically true.

Reverend Donald Chase, Minister

We welcome back to First Christian Church the Rev. Don Chase, who was installed as FCC Minister on November 4, 2018. Reverend Chase is the director of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) and Clinical Chaplain at the Lexington VA Medical Center, where he has served for the past 12 years. He is an ACPE Certified Educator with the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE), Board Certified Chaplain (BCC) with the National Association of VA Chaplains (NAVAC), and an ordained minister with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

Be careful, little eyes, what you see

The Bell of Mindfulness

Lent creeps up on us

How I Get Things Done (Sort of)

Reverend Donald Chase, Minister

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