Though it’s easy to point fingers and moan about the Christmas decorations that show up around September, in reality that’s sort of similar to what happens around a church. 

                In July, the staff, the officers, and committee chairs got together and planned out the entire 2014-2015 church year.  We worked backward from Christmas Eve, to allow for scheduling: when the choir cantata needed to be ordered; when the resource center needed to get us the family names for Christmas outreach; when the youth needed to shop for Thanksgiving baskets; when the sanctuary needed to be decorated; and not only those dates but the other planning that goes along with each step.

                As I write this, it is the end of October.  The Advent Meditation books were ordered in August and are ready to go out in the sanctuary in a week or two. The choir has been working on their music for over a month, and the narrators are in place and have their scripts.  The youth just completed their Reverse Trick or Treat, and will shop for 10 Thanksgiving baskets of food during their next meeting.  During the month of November, the youth will prepare their Advent Sunday service as well.  Outreach – especially Dayna and Mike – have collated and charted all the shopping and buying and wrapping that needs to occur during this month.  Earlier this morning, I wrote scripts for each of our staff to use as they light the Advent Candle each Sunday.

                And, no, it’s not even November.  And, yes, it was almost 85 degrees yesterday.

                It sounds as if we have things in hand, doesn’t it?  But it will need so many more people to put things together so it all works out.  We need folks to buy toys (sign up Sunday!); we need folks to buy food (also, you can sign up Sunday!); we need many dollars of donations.  MANY dollars of donations. 

                But most importantly, we need you. 

                So before there is a chance of complaining about how much you already have to do, and how little time there is, before you start out already worn and weary and callous and hard………………….

                Stop.  Pray.  Take a whiff of Douglas Fir. Remember Zuzu’s petals. Let your heart grow 3 sizes. Rest beside the weary road and hear the angels sing.  BEFORE it’s Christmas.  BEFORE Thanksgiving.  Even BEFORE Halloween. Because there will always be work to do.  But to help others, and to help us, it has to be done with love.

                Not because Jesus is the reason for the season.  But, because Jesus.

                Just because Jesus.

                It’s a full sentence.

     This entry is the result of a conversation I had with one of our church members - a thinking, caring member I'll call Q.  We were talking about a particular situation in which someone was in danger, but was able to emerge relatively unscathed.  Q mentioned to me that a friend of said person in danger had gone around saying this happened because  " God was with her, and God protected her, and her heart was good, so nothing bad happened to her." Q's response was what I considered a justifiably frustrated one: Why do some Christians talk as if God is their personal bodygaurd? How do others, for whom life has taken a different turn, hear that sort of statement: that God WASN'T with them, and their loved ones DIDN'T matter?

     We hear this all the time, don't we? 

~ There is a car wreck, in which Person 1 dies and Person 2 escapes without much damage; and we say that God must have been with Person 2.
 
~ Our cousin is deathly ill  and, after much prayer and medical intervention, finally recovers.  We say God was with her and answered our prayers. 

~A hurricaine is headed toward our town, and at the last minute changes course and goes in another direction - perhaps toward a different town. We say God spared our town.

      But...........wasn't God ALSO with person 1 who did not live?  If our cousin had not survived, or survived with many complications, is not God also with her? Did God hear the prayers of OUR town, and ignore the prayers of THEIR town?

     Now, this is neither the time or the place to get into theological discussions about theodicy, prayer, or the will of God.  Rather, I hope to bring to attention a sort of laziness in our reactions to life situations.

   Think about it:   Is there a time when God is NOT with us?  Doesn't the most beloved hymn in the Bible - the 23rd - talk about valleys of shadow, and presence of enemies, and evil?  Did not John the Baptizer get beheaded? Jesus get crucified?

   The reality is that bad things happen to good people, and good things happen to bad people, and the rain falls on the just and the unjust.  We are not promised a life without danger, toil, trouble, and death.  We are, however, promised a Presence that never leaves or forsakes us; a Love that will not let us go; a Comforter that guides us; Strength for today and Bright Hope for tomorrow; a Son that lights our way - through ALL the times of our lives, whether they are good or bad.  

     And speaking as someone who's gone through a lot of that said trouble and strife, I can bear witness to the truth that IT IS ENOUGH.  Truly, God's love, mercy and grace is enough. For us all.  For evermore.

   Or, as we sang Sunday: Whatever my lot, You have taught me to say 'It is well with my soul.'

      

      

This is a variation on a theme - or, if you wish, a sort of rerun.  Today in Morehead, many are mourning the passing of Jay Flippin, who was not only a wonderful musician and teacher, but a heck of a guy.  It's making me think back to July of 2013, when our friend Al Baldwin passed away; the sense of loss that one person's life can have on a community. Folks are calling and sending texts, taking to social media, all speaking in their own way of their feelings of loss and gratitude to such a one as this.

Sometimes preachers are repetitive because they are lazy, but most times we repeat ourselves because messages are important enough to hear more than once.  So, I'm copying a partial post from one of my blogs from July of last year.  It's still true:

      The book Life Lessons ,by Kubler Ross and Kessler, is one that is very much loved by many people here at church.  It was originally given to me by a friend in 2000, and I've done close to 10 book studies with it over the years.  It is comprised of several short chapters on aspects of life that we don't always bother to remember or revere until we are at the end of our lives. 
      The point of the book is a simple one: "Is this the way I want to be living my life?".  And if not, then we are not to wait until we reflect back as older folks; we can make the choice to honour and acknowledge the essentials right now.
      Seems particularly important - right now, to me, sitting here finishing up a funeral homily for a friend who should still be alive and amongst us -to remember the gift of time, and of life.  The last two sentences of the book are good things to keep in mind:
      Don't wait for one last look at the ocean, the sky, the stars, or a loved one.  Go Look Now.

In the church calendar, we are less than two months away from the end of the year.  We have been looking at the Gospel we call Matthew, along with 18 other books, since Advent 1 of last year.  We are winding up Matthew, and hearing several very interesting and thought provoking and irritatingly insightful parables and stories.   

One of Matthew's primary themes is the need for followers to make sure that their deeds and words match up.  Matthew's Jesus is clear about letting us know that though our works don't get us into Heaven, simply saying words is not enough.

Or, as the magnet on our refrigerator says: Your beliefs don't make you a better person; your behaviour does.

Here at FCC we practice a truly Open Door policy; we say, and we mean, All means All.  We welcome anyone to our services - no dress code, no litmus test to take, no written creed to sign.  And having said that, I really doubt that there is a church in Rowan County that would say otherwise.

BUT:  All means all does not mean that any sort of behaviour goes. For reasons that are unclear to me, some folks think having an Open Door Policy means 'anything goes'.  And while our understanding of the Gospel might differ from the way others choose to see it, we are NOT laissez-faire.  

We understand the church to represent the body of Christ.  Therefore, hate language, ugly or unsafe actions, intolerance, and condenscension are out of place.  Fence building, name calling, and stone throwing are out of place.  We have "Christian" on our building; that says we take following Christ seriously. And that means we cannot behave any way we might want to. And let me tell you something -- it's HARD to have to include everyone!!  We share communion each week with folks who cancel our vote, with folks who come from other places, with folks who dress differently, with folks we might not even consider a peer.  BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT CHURCH LOOKS LIKE, and it's not OUR JOB to be door keepers.  Trust me when I say we don't need to protect God from anyone.  God's shoulders are quite strong enough.  And it's HARD to practice kindness and to see Jesus in others and to give up the right to be right all the time.  HARD.

But we are not alone in this.  We have the Holy Spirit, and God's Word, and each other - and because of that, what we have in common is far greater than what separates us.  And the 'each other' grows and grows.  And we meet each week around a table; a table where WE are not the hosts, so WE are not in charge of who eats and who doesn't; who's in and who's out. Whatever flows from that table - and it is merciful and mighty - is given by the Word made Flesh, whose beliefs and behaviour are the same.  Given to whosoever.  To folks we don't know.  To folks we don't like.  To folks that are wonderful. To Them and to Us.  (and I'll tell you a glorious and radical secret:  There is no 'them'; there's only 'us')

-M

That was the headline from this weekend that charmed me the most.  

With all due respect to Mr. Clooney and his films (AND his social justice work), it was delightful to see the shoe on the other foot. 

Sometimes it just takes a 5 degree turn to see things from a completely different perspective.   It can change

~ "That waiter was incredibly rude to me" into "Wonder if he's having a bad day?"

~"Oh, GREAT!  ANOTHER traffic jam that will make me late!!" into "I hope there is not a wreck in front of me in which someone is hurt."

~"I can't stand this hymn!" into "I guess it might be someone else's favorite hymn.  That's okay."

~"No one's paying attention to me" into "Who can I pay attention to?"

~"What a problem!" into "Let's look for a solution."

Just something to ponder.  

Sincerely, 
Emma, Max, and Zoe's Mamaw who once had a crush on George Clooney's father, Nick