Learning the Unforced Rhythms of Grace

I am praying as I do every Saturday, for the laity and clergy of the Mountain Sky Conference as we continue to learn how to gather as the Body of Christ in new ways as we seek to reduce the impact of the coronavirus in our communities.

I want to thank you all for the ways you have been discovering how to worship together even when we aren’t able to be physically present with one another and continue in mission and ministry together. Our lives have been abruptly disrupted as we seek to lower the rate of infection of the coronavirus so we don’t overload our health care system.

In the last week, schools have closed, many business are having employees work remotely from home, in-restaurant dining has closed, we are being advised not to gather in groups larger than ten, and we are practicing physical distancing. So much change, so quickly. It is dizzying as we learn new ways of working, being with our children, and maintaining relationships. I don’t know about you, but I feel as if we just crammed several years of living into a single week.

This disorientation is exhausting. How do we regain our balance in these days we are living?

In Matthew 11:28-30 in the Message version, Jesus says:  “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

This has been the scripture that has guided me all week, as I adjusted to life and work at home—I hope it can be helpful to you, too, as we reorder our life during this pandemic. Sink into your spiritual disciplines and find Jesus beckoning to you: keep company with me and you’ll learn how to live freely and lightly. 

May you find yourself learning the unforced rhythms of grace. Slowing down to see where God is in all this, offering you rest and new life. May you discover the ways grace has always been breaking into your life but you’ve been too busy to notice. May this grace help you find balance as you walk and work with Jesus so that in this time of disruption, you might recover your life more fully and completely.

Take care, precious servants of God, we need you.

Doors May Be Closed, But the Church is Open

Each Saturday I pray for the clergy and laity of the Mountain Sky Conference, as we get ready for worship. I pray that you will greet one another and newcomers with a generous and warm hospitality; that the burdens and joys you bring will be lifted together in prayer to God, that the Word spoken will both challenge and comfort you in your faithful living, and that the music will shake something lose in you so that its message will bring you healing and hope, and that when you rise from your pew, you will have found yourself changed by the whole worship experience: you will live your Monday more deeply as a disciple than ever before.

But tomorrow, most of our churches will not be holding worship in an attempt to slow the rate of transmission so our local health care systems will not be overwhelmed by a spike in infections. By closing our doors, we are living into the first General Rule of our church: do no harm. We are also following Christ’s command to love our neighbor by protecting the most vulnerable in our midst: the elderly as well as those with underlying health conditions, because the mortality rates in these populations are so high.

But just because the doors of the church will be closed doesn’t mean the church is closed. This is a moment for us to step forward in our communities as the hands of Christ and offer love in bold tangible ways. In order to do that, may we in these days of pandemic response sink more fully into our individual and communal growth through the spiritual discipline found in the means of grace.

For we United Methodists, the means of grace are inward and outward focused to help us be open to God’s work in us to strengthen our faith.

In the days to come, may you order your life together in reading and studying scripture, in prayer and fasting, in caring for our bodies as well as engaging in Christian conferencing.

But the means of grace don’t stop with us, the means of grace also includes doing good works, visiting the sick, visiting those in prison, feeding the hungry, and giving generously to the needs of others as well as seeking justice, ending oppression and discrimination and addressing the needs of the poor

We are in uncharted waters. Your ministry is needed in vital, life-saving ways. May the work of your church be undergirded by the ways you will engage in the means of grace so that together, you and your church will grow more spiritual and share the love of God in ways that will help us emerge from this pandemic a more faithful church and a healthier and stronger community.

May God bless you all.