The Ending of Innocence

The sanctuary—on this fourth day of Christmas--now looks a little worse for wear—while it was all spruced up for Advent and Christmas Eve, the poinsettias are beginning to wilt and the Christmas tree is beginning to let go of its pine needles. Wax from the Christmas Even candlelight service is still on the pews and carpet. The truth is, we feel that way, too. The anticipation of Christmas, the glory of Christmas Eve, and the excitement of Christmas Day has worn us down a bit.

It is interesting to read what happens from one chapter to the next in the Gospel of Matthew. Chapter one ends with a brief telling of Jesus’ birth. And then chapter two begins with the Wise Men from the East following the star to find Jesus, their journey interrupted by Herod who is so threatened by Jesus that he wants to know where he is located so he can have him killed. He enlists the aid of the Wise Men, but they betray him and don’t tell him where Jesus is to be found. Herod, in his rage, orders all boys under the age of two to be murdered, hoping that the act will include the killing of Jesus. But Joseph has been warned of Herod’s plans by an angel, and flees the violence by escaping to Egypt. While Jesus is spared, Matthew reminds us, it was as Jeremiah foretold:

“A voice was heard in Ramah,
    wailing and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
    she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.”

Each year, I am startled by this violence, coming so close to the celebration of Jesus’ birth. How could we be proclaiming, “Joy to the world” and then read this text? Scholars call this reading the Slaughter of the Innocents. Perhaps, it should also be named the Ending of Innocence.

How tempting is it, to stay at the manger scene. Even though Jesus was born in a lowly stable, there was a host of characters to welcome him and to sing the wonders of his birth. We still sing about the holy night, of how he laid his sweet head in a manger, of how this cattle stall became a throne of glory. It is tempting to stay cooing at this child, to hold on to an innocent and naïve hope that all is right with the world. But just like the slaughter of the innocents, reality creeps in. All is NOT right in the world. There is violence and hatred and division. Some homes resemble battlefields, with broken and wounded lives. Individuals are weighed down by the unholy trinity of oppression, greed and injustice. The angels’ song of peace on earth has been drowned out by the discord found in our world.

Perhaps we need to have our innocence ended, so we can see the world’s brokenness for what it is and, as the Body of Christ, continue to bring love, healing, hope, justice and wholeness in the broken places of our world and lives.

Perhaps we need to see clearly where the hungry still wait for food, where children seek safe refuge, where those in prisons or those who are sick still wait for hope, where the oppressed are yearning for liberation. Until we dare to look honestly and critically at all the corners of our communities, there will continue to be wailing and loud lamentation.

It is time, my friends, to arise from the manger, shake off the dust, and roll up our sleeves. Truly, as Howard Thurman once said, the work of Christmas has begin.

THE PEOPLE WHO WALKED IN DARKNESS...

All this past week I found myself returning to the Hebrew scriptures, to the prophet Isaiah’s words, “The people who walked in darkness…” and I realize that he is talking about more than the longest night of the year, but a dark night of the soul that is filled with feelings of paralyzing hopelessness, with no escape.

The people who walked in darkness…

This week, the political fault lines of our nation were drawn as starkly as the theological divisions of our denomination. It feels as if we are without a moral compass as we make sense of right and wrong, of justice and injustice, of respect and accountability. How do we hold these things in tension and find right action and right relationships?

The people who walked in darkness…

This is also a difficult season personally for so many. We become acutely aware of the loss we have experienced. Death of loved ones, the alienation and rejection of family, our personal failures that we carry, causes us to wander in a darkness which can’t be pushed back by Christmas lights.

The people who walked in darkness…

Thank God Isaiah doesn’t leave us hanging in the darkness of despair. He says: The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light…for those who lived in a land of deep shadows—LIGHT! Sunbursts of light!

I need to be reminded of this promise this Christmas. Even when we are in the darkest and longest night, the promise of a sunrise will never fail. When things feel most helpless, we will find a strength that we didn’t know was there. When we are feeling most hopeless, there will be an inbreaking of love when we least expect it.

This is what Christmas is all about. God didn’t come when all was right with the world, but in spite of all that was wrong. God showed up to say, “I’m not going to leave you in darkness and despair.”

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Isaiah foretells the birth of Jesus:

“For a child has been born—for us! the gift of a son—for us! He’ll take over the running of the world. His names will be: Amazing Counselor, Strong God, Eternal One, Prince of Wholeness. His ruling authority will grow, and there’ll be no limits to the wholeness he brings.” (Isaiah 9, The Message)

When this truth breaks into our lives, we are filled with a joy that gets us through the darkest days and nights of despair and hopelessness. I am reminded once again that God doesn’t come into the nice, clean, safe, sanitized places of our lives but chooses to meet us in the stench and filth and hazardous conditions of our world. Came into the world as vulnerable as we come, as a baby, to love and be loved, to offer us a wholeness we can’t even imagine.

Seize joy this Christmas. Cling to it as if your life depends upon it, because it does. When the world feels so overwhelming remember: We are the people who walk in darkness, who will see a great light. We will see the star shining in the sky. We will hear the angel voices, singing their songs of peace on earth. And we will experience the birth of love into our lives and into our world yet again.

Joy to the world, my friends. Joy to the world.

MARY, ENGAGING IN GOD'S REVOLUTIONARY ACTION

This is the Sunday where the pink candle of the Advent wreath is traditionally lit. You might wonder why the third week’s candle is pink when the others are purple (or blue). True confession: for many years I thought that the pink candle stood for Mary (wow, that blue/pink gender theme really does get ingrained, doesn’t it?). In fact, it is pink because the third week of Advent is known as Gaudete Sunday, which means joy and marks that Advent is more than half over.


But I want to come back to Mary. 


How is it that God chose Mary, a teenager from a town of no importance, to bear God’s-Love-Made-Visible into the world? What does this say about who Mary was? What does this say about who God is?


My nativity sets (for there are many!) all depict Mary in such serene forms, arms either extended matronly towards the baby Jesus, or folded across her chest as if still trying to take in the miraculous event. But the Magnificat Mary sings in the first chapter of Luke shows another side of Mary. It is the song of one who is not a passive performer in God’s saving work but an active participant. Mary sings boldly of God’s revolutionary actions and her role in it: 

My soul lifts up the Lord! My spirit celebrates God, my Liberator!
For though I’m God’s humble servant,  God has noticed me.
Now and forever, I will be considered blessed by all generations.
For the Mighty One has done great things for me; holy is God’s name!
From generation to generation, God’s lovingkindness endures for those who revere God.

God’s arm has accomplished mighty deeds.  The proud in mind and heart, God has sent away in disarray.
The rulers from their high positions of power, God has brought down low.

And those who were humble and lowly, God has elevated with dignity.        

The rich—God has dismissed with nothing in their hands.
To Israel, God’s servant,  God has given help,
As promised to our ancestors,  remembering Abraham and his descendants in mercy forever.  (Luke 1: 46-55—The Voice)

Three decades after this song is sung, Jesus overturns tables in the Temple. But here, with this song, Mary tells of a God who is also overturning tables of power and privilege, of wealth, pride and ego. These are not the values that make for a rich, full, and holy life. The life God invites us to is marked by humility, service, dignity, and lovingkindness. In order to help us receive this life and enter it more fully, God becomes Emmanuel—God With Us. Through Jesus, God shows us what makes for a whole and holy life.

During this Advent season, what are ways God might be turning over the tables in your life? What values might God be asking you to give up because instead of promoting individual and communal well-being, they are divisive and cause dis-ease? As you prepare your heart and our world to once again receive the Christ Child, are you willing to follow closely as he

grows from a demanding baby in a manger to a demanding leader, who has spoken to those on a Galilean seashore and to generations hence, “Come, follow me”?

The Warm Up Act

I am in Helena, Montana this weekend for the ordination and consecration of the Episcopal Bishop of Montana. The congregation of St Paul’s UMC hosted the service, providing great hospitality for our Episcopal kin. This morning, when I got on the hotel elevator, I realized Kenny G was on the elevator with me! I did a quick google search to make sure it was him—sure enough it was! What was missing from the concert listing was who the warm-up act was.

Warm-up acts are interesting—they play second fiddle (so to speak!) to the people you really have come to see. Most of the time, they don’t have name recognition. But they did get a crowd ready for the main act. Warm-up acts have a very important role to play, as they help get people realy to enjoy the show, and then they fade out of the picture.

Every year in Advent, we set aside one Sunday to remember the ministry of John the Baptist, Jesus’ cousin. John had his own unique role and mission. As I consider John in relation to Jesus, I realize that John was the warm-up act. John prepared the way, and then fades away, yielding, as he said he would, to Jesus, the main act.

John could only take people so far.  He led people to the point of departure from the old life, but could not help them enter into the new.  His warm up act included a baptism of water, a cleansing of the past in which a person was made ready for a fuller, richer word to come, the abundant life brought by Jesus Christ.

He told the people, “The real action comes next: the star in this drama, to whom I’m a mere stagehand, will change your life. I’m baptizing you here in the river, turning your old life in for a kin-dom life.  His baptism—a holy baptism by the Holy Spirit—will change you from the inside out.” (Matthew 3:11-12. The Message)

John isn’t preparing people to coo over a baby lying in a manger or cuddle a child. John is preparing his followers to encounter a man who will transform their living, and ultimately, their dying. Jesus, as the main act, will care and comfort us in our brokenness, and confront and challenge us in our sinfulness. People through the centuries have encountered his words, his life, his spirit, this wonderful counselor, this mighty God, this everlasting One, this Prince of Peace, and their lives have been changed forever.

They have felt something being born within them, a spark of hope, a flame of love, a passion for justice, a desire for wholeness, that is truer and purer than anything they have ever known before.  Ever since he came into the world, there have been “countless different kinds of people who in countless different kinds of ways have been filled with his spirit, who have been grasped by him, caught up into his life, who have found themselves in deep and private ways healed and transformed by their relationships with him, so much so that they have had no choice but to share this Good News with others…that in this man is the power of God to bring light into the shadows of our lives, to make us whole, to give a new kind of life to anybody who turns toward him in faith, even to people like you and me.” (Frederick Buechner)

The warm-up act is just about over. Have you been able to clear you life of the past, so that Jesus might come and enter in, be born in you, transforming your life so completely your future will look nothing like your past?  May we welcome Destiny’s Child onto the stage of our lives and hearts and discover the power this One possesses to change us forever.

A Prayer for Thanksgiving

This is a prayer for indigenous people, who bear the scars of intergenerational trauma for being displaced, dishonored, dislocated 

This is a prayer for all those who produce our food: farmers and field hands, factory workers and truckers, shelve stockers and checkout clerks

This is a prayer for people sitting at full family tables, yet unseen and alienated 

This is a prayer for people sitting alone, wondering if anyone, anywhere cares

This is a prayer for homes filled with conflict and violence

This is a prayer for homes where love and laughter flow freely

This is a prayer for children separated from their parents

This is a prayer for the mothers who worry about the safety of their children whenever they leave the house

This is a prayer for those experiencing the joy of unexpected reunions and reconciliation

This is a prayer for those whose cupboards are bare

This is a prayer for those whose tables groan with the weight of many dishes

This is a prayer for those who sleep in alleys on cardboard 

This is a prayer for those who care for those who sleep in alleys on cardboard 

This is a prayer for those who ask “Why?”

This is a prayer for those who see a world of plenty and seek to share 

This is a prayer for the justice-seekers

This is a prayer of thanksgiving

Inescapable Network of Mutuality

Early this morning, Robin and I went to Epworth UMC in Denver. When we got there, hundreds of volunteers were busy getting ready for the annual Feed a Family event. Boxes were assembled and then filled with turkeys, cranberries, green beans, sacks of flour, and boxes of mac and cheese, cake mix, cornbread and stuffing mix, and more! Over 600 volunteers made more than 5500 boxes. While most people came to pick up their boxes, more than 1000 needed to be delivered to homebound seniors and others. Robin and I were given a list of people needing boxes so we filled up our car and headed out.

It was moving to knock on a door and be greeted by the people on the other side. One person was a vet with PTSD, who rarely left their house. Another was an elderly woman who lives alone. Another was an immigrant who didn’t speak much English. Another was on oxygen, rarely venturing farther than the length of the cord between her and the oxygen tank would allow.

As we drove home, I thought of the labor of many hands that would now warm the homes of those who received the boxes: farmer and field hands, factory workers and truckdrivers, pastors and laity, financial donors and volunteers all helped create that boxful of food. All were needed to participate in order for those in need to have a tableful of food.  

Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “All persons are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be, and you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the inter-related structure of reality.”

Miracles happen when we choose to walk in the world in ways that are mindful of our interconnectedness. As you prepare your table for Thanksgiving, take a moment to give thanks for those whose names you may never know who are making your meal possible. And may you do all you can to offer greater compassion, healing, and justice to a world in need.

Museums or Mission Outposts?

Many of us from the MSC have been in LA for the Western Jurisdiction Fresh United Methodist Church Summit. We have been discerning what our church needs to look like in order to strengthen our witness and ministries as we seek to share the love of God with others in our unique settings in the West. 

One young person at my work table talked about time capsules. I confess I found my mind wandering once she said that! Every since I was a child, time capsules have fascinated me. Perhaps it was because I saw the Westinghouse Time Capsule at the 1964-1965 World’s Fair in New York. I was in awe that things that were staples of the day were going to be buried for thousands of years, waiting to be opened and scrutinized by those in the future.

Sometimes, churches are like time capsules.

One of my favorite churches that I regularly stopped in to pray midweek was on a dirt road, tucked away in a valley, far from a tiny village.  I never saw another person at this church. It had an outhouse in the back and no running water. Antique glass fire extinguisher grenades (look it up!) hung in obvious places around the tiny sanctuary. The hymnbooks were from a much earlier era of Methodism. It felt like a walk-in time capsule, a church that was still in the 1930’s. 

If a newcomer walked into your church today, would they think they’d walked into a time capsule? What year/era does your church communicate? Or would they walk into a building that reflects the current age, that communicates “the old, old story of Jesus and His love” in fresh, contemporary ways?

This is our task: to keep vigilant lest we turn our churches into museums rather than mission outposts, dated and out of touch relics to an earlier age rather than ministry centers deeply connected to the current realities facing people in their everyday lives. In this way we ensure that we are putting “new wine into fresh wineskins." (Mark 2:22). 

This is our task, my friends!

Remembering The Saints

This weekend, the members of the Clergy Academy and I returned from Cuernavaca. It has been a powerful two weeks as we wrestled with a new language and learned from a new culture. I especially found the past two days particularly impactful as we participated in the Day of the Dead (Dia de Los Muertos) celebrations with our new friends.


Altars were created in our homes, around the community, as well as at the school, a tribute to loved ones who had passed. Favorite foods and other memorabilia were placed on the altar next to a loved one’s picture as a way to help them on their spiritual journey. As we shared stories of our deceased loved ones, more than a few tears were shed.


Many of us saw death this year. Many of us had our lives profoundly impacted by the loss of a loved one. Grief clings to us as bitter soot on our souls, because life has been taken from us, wrenched from our grasp. The empty place beside us in bed, or at the dinner table, or in the office, or next door, or at the family gathering, is an ever present reminder that cannot be denied: death has paid a visit and left with one we love. 


Even though death has taken some dear ones from us, my faith that tells me that they are in fact here, still amongst us. My faith helps me continue to experience the love we shared that not even death can take away. Faith teaches me that the dead are never very far from the living. I am grateful that you, me, all of us are surrounded by the “communion of saints.”


This weekend is a time when many cultures and religious traditions believe that the veil between the living and the dead is thinnest. It is a time to honor those who have passed, those saints of our lives who now rest in the arms of God.


Who are the saints in your life, those who from their labors rest, who today are sitting now at God’s side, watching over and caring for you, continuing to surround you in love that not even death can destroy?


Whose voice do you still hear? Who do you remember? Who showed you a bit of what God is like? Who loved you? Whose love was so big that not even death can put an end to it?


This weekend, we remember the saints. We draw the circle wide to include them in our Celebrations. We draw wisdom from the way they embodied faith. We draw strength from the way they lived their lives. We give thanks to God for their witness that transcends death.


Thomas Lynch, an undertaker-turned-poet, reminds us to be gentle with ourselves and our grief. It is hard work. His advice is this: 


“There's no easy way to do this. So do it right: weep, laugh, watch, pray, love, live, give thanks and praise; comfort, mend, honor, and remember.”


In these days of remembering the saints, may we turn to one another in our grief. Offer comfort. Offer affirmation. Offer life. Offer love as we live into and move through our grief, as we surround ourselves with saints.

Generosity and Hospitality

I have been thinking a lot about generosity and hospitality lately. While members of the Clergy Academy and I were in Cuernavaca for our cultural immersion, we were offered incredible hospitality by our hosts at CILAC FREIRE. From the very moment they picked us up until they set us off for our return flights, they did everything they could to make sure we were cared for in mind, body and spirit.

Towards the end of our time there, Denise Bender, Robin and I met with the leaders of the school to review how the immersion went, what worked, and what could be changed, and to begin to make plans for next year. One thing they wanted to know was if our accommodations were okay. This was our third year staying in the apartments. We really like them! They asked if we were having any problems with the water—in the past, hot water had sometimes been in short supply! We mentioned that the hot water was better, but still a little irregular, but no big deal.

As we finished our review of the week and began a more informal visit, we learned more of each other’s lives away from the school. In the course of the conversation, both hosts shared that they don’t have hot water in their homes. And then it hit me:

They gave us more than they have themselves!

That was such a humbling realization. And then, as we listened to the places where others in our group were staying, it became plainly evident that all of us were the recipients of incredible generosity. The school family (because they are not employees but a community that is family for one another) goes the extra mile in caring for school participants. All of them share a deep faith. Those involved in Christian Base Communities live an Acts 2 faith: They share everything in common. By sharing with one another, needs were cared for.

I saw the essence of the Christian faith lived out vibrantly by our Mexican friends. It has challenged me to consider my own actions (and inactions!). Am I willing to give more than I have myself? Does the way I live enhance the lives of others? Do I share as much as I can so that those who have little can have more?

Imagine what would happen in our congregations if we offered everyone who walked through our doors a generous hospitality? What would happen if we pooled our resources, sharing not only our financial resources, but our own goods and equipment? How does that kind of abundant thinking create a community full of vitality, vision, and joy? People beyond the walls of our church would see a community of deep care and love, and be drawn to the possibilities of promise such a community holds.

Jesus told those who follow him:

“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. ³⁴ For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Luke 12:33-34

May we offer to others the best of what we have, making the love we hold in our hearts tangible to those around us.

Dying to Live

I write this from Cuernavaca, Mexico. Members of the Clergy Academy and I are here on a cultural immersion, learning Spanish and looking at social movements through the lens of liberation theology. We are studying at CILAC FREIRE and the school’s family of teachers, helpers, and host families have welcomed us with a generous hospitality that is humbling. 

Each day one of the clergy lead us in a time of devotions. Each day has been a rich time of sharing. One morning, Rev. Yevette Christy challenged us: “What do you have to allow to die within you so that the new can be born?”

I have been reflecting on that question ever since. Even though   our faith begins with the freshness of creation, finds its promise in the birth of a child, and leans into the unfailing hope found in the new life of resurrection, we cling to death as if our lives depend on it. 

What do I refuse to let go of, that prevents me from enjoying the fullness of new life? What defenses that once kept me safe have outgrown their usefulness and now stunt my growth? What relationships prevent me from living into my authentic self? Where do I remain at a literal or figurative grave and see only what was, failing to see the seeds of new life seeking to burst all around me?

Likewise, what are we holding on to in the church that needs to die so new life can rise up? What are those habits, traditions, and ways of being and doing that need to die because they belong to a bygone era that no longer serves us well? 

Do we have the courage to live into the power of our faith and let  die those things that no longer work? Are you willing to trust that on the other side of death is new life?

The Commitments We Make

This week, MSC clergy gathered in Estes Park for study, worship, renewal and rest. It was a rich time filled with brave conversations, laughter, tears, prayers, and singing. It was a vital time of reconnecting as a body and remembering our calls.

Of course, on the forefront of everyone’s mind is the future of The United Methodist Church. Will there be a United Methodist denomination after May 2020’s General Conference?  Who will we be? How do we walk through these uncertain, anxious days still focused on the ministry to which God has called us?

It is critical that we remember our mission. As United Methodists, it is to “make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.” As we became the Mountain Sky Conference, we understood this contextually in our region to mean “The Mountain Sky Conference of the UMC will live in God’s grace and abundance as we lead a re-energized peaceful and compassionate movement to claim the life-changing love of Jesus Christ for ALL people.”

We aren’t there yet. We have made some important changes to our life together (like putting more resources out of the Denver Office and into our districts) but we still have a long way to go. As Wesley reminds us, “We are moving on to perfection”! We live together in grace as we seek to live into God’s future.

I know it is not easy living into these uncertain days. The cabinet and I have been in prayer together about our conference and what is needed for this moment. We also spent time with a consultant, Ben Kiker, who helped us focus our work together. It is in our desire to serve you better that we make these commitments.

As bishop and cabinet, we will serve you by committing ourselves to the following:

• Grounded Spiritually: We will be Spirit-led not ego driven, grace-filled, courageous, Always moving towards beloved community

• Authentic: Truthful, Integrity, Humility, Unity

• Inclusive: Expansive as we draw the circle wide, Generous gratefulness for our difference, Seek the whole

• Compassionate: Gentle as a dove, Undefended, Tenaciously tender

• Strategic intent: Visionary, Attentive to vision, Courageous, Wise as a serpent

That is our commitment to YOU. If you experience us as not living out these commitments, hold us accountable! Let us know! And together, let’s be expansive in the grace we offer each other as we seek to renew these commitments.

What commitments do you make to our MSC family during these anxious days? What can we count on from you as a part of this family? How will you live out your ministry, seeking to follow Jesus through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, in all you do in your church and beyond? How will you show love and offer grace as we walk in the light of God?

“Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.” (I Peter 4:8-10 NIV)

The Oneness of Christ's Table

It was a requirement, when my sisters and I were growing up, that we were in our seats at the kitchen table for dinner. It didn’t matter where we were or what we were doing, my mother was firm that we would be present for supper. However, while my mother expected us to be at the table, it didn’t mean we had to say good-bye to the friends we were playing with. Our friends were always invited to eat over and our table of four often held 6, 8 or even 12. And somehow my mother was able to do a “loaves and fishes” miracle and make our meatloaf or pasta feed everyone present.

I realize this early experience of the table has shaped how I understand coming to Christ’s table: everyone is invited, and there is always room for one more.

Tomorrow, we celebrate World Communion Sunday. Christians around the world will gather before a table and with outstretched hands reach for the bread and cup as they recall Jesus’ words, “Do this in remembrance of me.” And as the grain of the bread mingles with the sweetness of the cup, a holy mystery occurs: we are made one in Christ. Divisions of nation, language, class, sexual orientation, gender identity, ability, and race fall away as we become the Body of Christ, no part unlovely or unneeded, no law or polity able to compete with Jesus’ invitation: “Take, eat, do this in remembrance of me.”

Oh, how we need this reminder in these days of division. Our human tendency to erect walls of who is in and who is out, of distrusting those who aren’t like us, breaks down in the breaking of the bread. We are reminded of this in I Corinthians 10: 16-17

“The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ? ¹⁷ Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.”

Don’t hold yourself back from coming to the table tomorrow. There is a place for you! And as you raise the cup to your lips, who else is there with you? Who is receiving this gift from God not only in your own church but in other churches around the world? What does it mean to you, that you are made one with them in this meal? How does it inform your living?

Nothing Gold Can Stay

This week the seasons turned from Summer to Fall (except in Montana, which went straight to Winter). The temperatures are cooler, the days are shorter, and the leaves are turning. But even this will change. I always find myself drawn to a Robert Frost poem at this time of year:

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

“Nothing gold can stay”

Nature helps me remember that from the very beginning of creation, God set in motion a world that changes. The cycle of birth/death/rebirth is a constant sacred rhythm in the world and in our lives. Why is it that change, then, is so hard for so many of us?

The Hebrew people faced many changes as they encountered enslavement, wilderness wandering, and liberation. As they journeyed in the wilderness, there was so much complaining by the people: reaching for liberation is hard and uncomfortable. The people longed for the security of enslavement rather than the uncertainty they faced as they wandered looking for the Promised Land.

How often do you want to stay in the secure and known, whether or not it is healthy and life-giving, rather than open yourself up to the change that can bring you new life and freedom?

Moses prepares Joshua for a change as he is to take up the mantel of leadership from Moses:

“God is striding ahead of you. God’s right there with you. God won’t let you down;  God won’t leave you. Don’t be intimidated. Don’t worry.” (Deuteronomy 31:8 The Message)

Change is a constant in life. Can we take heart in these words of Moses? When faced with an uncertain future, can you remember that God is with you, is ahead of you, and will never leave you? So fear not! Pour yourself fully into the future God desires for you!

The Power of One

I am up in the Rockies on retreat with the women from Longs Peak UMC (CO) and taking time to pray for the laity and clergy of the Mountain Sky Conference as we prepare for Sunday worship.


I have been meditating all day on this picture I saw this morning.

It is a picture of Greta Thunberg, a Swedish teenager with Asperger’s Syndrome, taken in August 2018. At 15, she became so concerned about climate change and the lack of action on the part of politicians that she took time off from school to demonstrate outside the Swedish Parliament, calling for stronger policies related to the environment. Soon, other students from around the world started to join her and together they formed a school climate strike movement called “Fridays for Future.”


More and more young people have been engaging in Fridays for Future and yesterday, September 20, 2019, young people on every continent (yes, including Antarctica) participated in Climate Strike demonstrations in a show of global solidarity. There were over 2500 events scheduled in over 163 countries. Estimates put the number of participants at over 4 million.


Young people from across our conference participated. Here are pictures of climate strikes in all the five states of the MSC. Look closely and you might recognize some of our young people!

Wyoming

Denver

Helena

Idaho

Utah

I am struck by the power of one—one young girl saw something that needed to be addressed, and from her first lone witness, a movement was born. As Margaret Mead once noted, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.”


As people of faith, we know the truth of that statement. Throughout the history of our faith, we see how the power of one can change human history: Moses, David, Deborah, Esther, Mary, Paul, John the Baptist…the list goes on and on! From these lone figures, others were inspired, liberated, made whole. 


Jesus—God-With-Us—walked a solitary path but invited others in. From the initial 12, to a whole community, humanity’s path was forever changed. We gather in our churches because of a movement he began, grounded in Love’s power.


So as you look around your community, what is that one thing you are being called to address, challenge, change? How are you stepping up and speaking out? How are you inviting others to do the same?


The movement towards God’s Beloved Community begins with one person taking one step.