Reflection for Wednesday, March 25 from Pastor Wes

The Sacrament of Thanksgiving, by Howard Thurman

Today, I make my Sacrament of Thanksgiving.

I begin with the simple things of my days:

Fresh air to breathe,

Cool water to drink,

The taste of food,

The protection of houses and clothes,

The comforts of home.

For these, I make an act of Thanksgiving this day!

I bring to mind all the warmth of humankind that I have known;

My mother’s arms,

The strength of my father,

The playmates of my childhood,

The wonderful stories brought to me from the lives of many who talked of days gone by when fairies and giants and all kinds of magic held sway:

The tears I have shed, the tears I have seen;

The excitement of laughter and the twinkle in the eye with its reminder that life is good.

For all these I make an act of Thanksgiving this day.

Reflection for Tuesday, March 24 from Pastor Wes

The Sacraments embrace the mysterious ways that God sometimes “breaks in” to our everyday lives. These moments when we have a profound experience of the Holy defy our ability to put into words. I have literally stood in awe at the ocean, on a mountain top, watching children at play, at a death, and even while watching an ant carry an amazing amount of food. There is much to be gained by exploring the mysteries of our faith and of God’s work all around us. In fact, an entire branch of Christianity entitled ‘Christian Mysticism’ is dedicated to this pursuit.

One of the earliest texts from the Christian Mystics is the Gospel of Thomas. This Gospel is comprised solely of quotations of Jesus instead of the stories we find in other Gospels. If I was going to name the book in a way that would give you a good sense of what to expect, I’d name it “The Proverbs of Jesus.”

Believed by many to be an accurate account of Jesus’s teachings, The Gospel of Thomas was one of the books that just barely fell short of being included in our modern Bibles. (It came down to a choice between Thomas’s gospel and John’s.) Still, this unselected Gospel became much more widely known after the 1999 film “Stigma” made the following excerpt (taken from two different passages) was used to form a central theme in the movie:

“The Kindom of God is within you and all around you, not in buildings of wood and stone... Split a piece of wood and I am there, lift a stone and you will find me."

As the many signs of Spring begin to break forth, try to recall this passage about wood and stone each time you see a tree budding or daffodil blooming. See if you can slow down enough to explore the mystical beauty and wonder of God’s work all around us. Pause and take in just how miraculous God’s ongoing creation truly is.

Here is the actual text (not the movie version) from The Gospel of Thomas verse 77:

77) Jesus said, "It is I who am the light (that presides) over all. It is I who am the entirety: it is from me that the entirety has come, and to me that the entirety goes. Split a piece of wood: I am there. Lift a stone, and you (plural) will find me there."

Reflection for Monday, March 23 from Pastor Wes

Yesterday in worship we reflected on the ways that Sacraments can transform the ordinary into the extraordinary, the everyday into the Sacred. Even in these unusual times, God continues to invite us into Holy Moments of Sacrament.

In my sermon yesterday, I shared these words by the 19th century poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning:

Earth is crammed with heaven

And every common bush afire with God

But only for the one who sees and takes off their shoes.

The rest sit around it and pluck blackberries

And daub their faces unaware.

Her words are an invitation to see our days as opportunities for Divine encounter, for experiences of Sacrament. We can either find ourselves seeing our God all around us, or we can find ourselves wondering if God is even here at all. It depends on how we choose to view our world and our days. It depends on the way we either open our eyes to God or not.

My prayer for you today is that you discover that your home, your neighborhood, your world is crammed with heaven.

Reflection for Friday, March 20 from Pastor Lauren

It’s Still Lent

Lent is a time for reflection, refreshing our relationship with God, and integrating ourselves into community in a more thoughtful way. In many ways, Lent is about revitalizing our worship to God. As we near the middle of our Lenten season, it strikes me at how strange this Lenten season is to any others I’ve observed. I reckon that is the same for you!

For many of us, we are becoming experts in new technology, innovators of connection, and health news junkies. We may be delighting in online concerts, fun videos, and extra calls between friends. We may also be lamenting physical contact, loss of routine, and anxiousness around our own health and wellbeing or the health and wellbeing of others.

With all this in mind, let us slow down and contemplate how we can see this Lenten season as an extended Sabbath -- a time of rest and renewal. How can we reframe social distancing into Sabbath? Today, I invite you to notice how God is at work in our midst and take some time to recenter yourself in the Lenten season by journaling or meditating on the following prompts:

• What are the ways you hope to grow closer to God during this season of Lent?

• How might you be of service to your community in a new way or how might the community be in service to you?

• How do you see God at work around you?

Reflection for Thursday, March 19 from Pastor Lauren

May All the Earth Rejoice!

Psalm 148 is one of my favorite Psalms because it knits all of creation together and helps us to attune our ears to the cries of joy and sorrow shouted by the other living beings we share the planet with.

For too long, I believe we have been ignoring the cries of the earth as she asks us to save her from pollution and waste that fills the sea, land, and air. Last night in our Lenten class, Cat shared how this time of staying home is allowing even the earth to rest as cars stay off the road and planes are grounded.

Though I’m not suggesting that what’s happening with this virus is a good thing, I am suggesting that God can create good out of chaos -- in fact, isn’t that always what God does? Perhaps in this time we can re-learn how to be in community with one another -- and the earth -- as we all are faced with thinking about the things of life that matter most.

Today, I invite you to look outside. Notice the hints of spring that are starting to come up out of the ground, in the trees, or heard in the songs of the birds returning home from winter. Take a moment to read Psalm 148 and think about the ways all of creation both rejoices and calls out for help. Think about the ways your actions can help creation to flourish rather than wilt.

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Psalm 148, Julia Seymour

The Words From Her Mouth Psalter

Let’s get excited about God!

You jaguars and grizzly bears, roar to the One who made and keeps you.

Let’s dance with divine inspiration!

You dolphins and frogs, leap with joy toward the highest heaven.

Let’s sing together a song of salvation!

You wolves and red-tailed hawks, exult in your freedom and belovedness.

Let’s worship the Spirit who brings order out of chaos.

You sea otters and kangaroos, give thanks with your whole being.

Let’s listen to the Love that is the source of all healing.

You pronghorns and pandas, rest in the everlasting arms of provision.

Let’s celebrate grace, unearned concession freely and generously given!

You snails and blue whales embrace your vocations.

Let’s praise God as a united creation!

You siblings and friends, you neighbors and strangers, you ascetics and revelers,

let us praise the Lord – eternal Love poured out, among, and for us.

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Reflection for Wednesday, March 18 for Pastor Lauren

Here We Are to Worship!

When I was little, I loved climbing the fence and going to my neighbor’s house. Joseph, a carpenter, made me a set of little steps so I wouldn’t snag my clothes on the chain-link fence when I jumped down. They left their garage door open for me to come through whenever I wanted to and told me where the hidden key was incase they forgot. Once inside, I’d usually find Mary baking or painting as she was an amazing artist and teacher.

Yes, their names really are Joseph and Mary. Yes, Joseph is a carpenter. And yes, they are Christian. In fact, growing up they were the most devout Christians I knew. At their house, we prayed over all of our snacks and meals. Scripture lined the walls. Bibles were all over the house and crosses hung on many walls. The Christian or Gospel station was always playing in their home. Joseph created a giant manger for their front yard and they waited to put baby Jesus inside until Christmas morning. Their home was always warm, it often smelled like cookies, and it sounded like church.

So, today, let us find warmth, comfort, and make our homes sound like church! Today, I invite you to turn up the praise and worship in your house. Praise God as you bake cookies, clean, organize, work, or get ready this morning.

I made a worship playlist for you with some of my favorites: Click here to worship with me! (There are some great videos on this list too!)

Reflection for Tuesday, March 17 from Pastor Lauren

One Little Light

Today, I invite you to worship by lighting a candle. If you don’t have a candle, click on this virtual candle.

The phrase “We have lit a candle in the wilderness and it will never be extinguished” is on the largest window in Gunnison Chapel in upstate New York. It is a phrase that brings me courage and hope, a phrase I think might be able to bring us a sense of peace as we light our candles today.

When in the wilderness, there is often an experience of the unknown. Even on a marked trail, you never know what you’ll encounter. Perhaps you will come upon a beautiful view, see a brilliant bird, or be surprised by a spider web that meets your forehead. Sometimes, the wilderness is dark, cool, and moist. Sometimes, the wilderness is arid, bright, and dry. The wilderness is always a place of surprise that can test us and push us.

To light a candle in the wilderness is then to bring the unknown into focus, to bring hope to a perilous situation, or to bring unexpected joy to a time of confusion. It is a reminder that one small act can bring forth great courage, that one candle might shine on and on unto eternity, and that our light might make way for other lights to shine.

Today, as you light a candle, what does its light mean for you? For your neighbor? For the world?

As you contemplate on these questions, take a moment to listen to Light of the Holy Spirit by India Arie. May the light from this one small candle fill you and make you whole. May it spark in you a renewed connection to the Spirit, and may it give hope in the wilderness.

Reflection for Monday, March 16 from Pastor Lauren

Building an Altar

It is looking more and more likely that many of us will be staying indoors, turning our dwellings into our workplaces, restaurants, cafés, studios, and social centers. Social engagement will look more like phone calls than being at church. What will this look like for worship?

This week, our Lenten focus is on worship and as our experience of worship will be different for the next few weeks, it is the perfect time to consider what worship means to us and to God. When we worship, we give adoration and reverence to God. Worship is a time when we attune ourselves to the guidance of the Spirit, lean into the wisdom of people of faith throughout generations, and more fully consider our role in bringing the kin-dom of heaven to earth by our words, actions, and postures.

As we enter into thinking about worship this week, I invite you to find a space in your home that can be your altar -- maybe it’s temporary, for this time, or maybe it’s permanent. Altars are spaces dedicated to the holy, places we can find God routinely. They can be in our homes, in our cars, even in our wallets or our imaginations. In our home, we have an altar that faces the door. Is it filled with photos of our ancestors, sacred texts, meaningful objects, and mementos of cultures around the globe. On our altar are also candles, incense, and sage -- relics of the faith of our ancestors and objects that can bring our senses into worship.

Where is your altar? What is on it? How can you worship at your altar this week?

If you are able, send in a photo of your altar or describe it so we can worship with you.

Reflection for Friday, March 13 from Pastor Brad

These last couple of days have been wonky and even disconcerting. In view of the unsettledness around us (perhaps even within us), we wake to this morning as people of hope. We believe love is moving even when the fixtures of the world are less fixed than we thought. God’s love is so deep and so broad that it is at work now in ways that are beyond what we can even see or ask for or imagine (Ephesians 3:20).

So, we take hope and heart, and as we together come to the table of God’s grace on this day, we pray: for the fullness of life in all Creation; for the sick and for those among us who are most physically and economically vulnerable; for caretakers, who provide relief and healing. We let our own vulnerable lives fall into the gracious love in which God always and everywhere holds us and we remember together that “Our help comes from God, who made heaven and earth…..God will keep us. God will keep our life. God will keep our going out and our coming in from this time on and forevermore.” (Psalm 121)

Reflection for Thursday, March 12 from Pastor Brad

I’m not an especially adventurous cook. I sometimes wish that I were more so; that I could combine ingredients that seem (to me at least) a little exotic or unfamiliar to make a sumptuous dish that really expands my taste buds and leaves me with a new way my appetite is filled. I know that it takes practice to become a good cook and that as one grows in confidence, one feels more and more confident in trying new ways of cooking and experimenting with wider combinations of ingredients.

What goes into a good meal for you? I don’t just the mean the ingredients of the food dishes that are on the table, but the other, indispensable parts of a meal that really bring it to life; that can make any table a holy table -- a table that seems set apart from the ordinary; a table that seems sacred and whole. Perhaps those ingredients include great food to be sure but good company - new company, even, when you eat with folks that you haven’t eaten with before. Maybe those ingredients include, too, thanksgiving for what is before you or spiritual space to accommodate everything that might come up at the table -- laughter and joy and perhaps even tears and care for sorrow at the table. There are so many ingredients that could make a meal a holy meal. What might they be for you? Have your meals this week included perhaps even a few of the things that might be on your list? What might you add to your ingredients’ list to try on in coming days of your table sharing?

In our class video this week, we saw an image of some of the many different foods that were part of table fellowship scenes from scripture. Time after time, table sharing in scripture -- and the foods themselves that were shared -- become signs for us of the way that God uses tables to break through the bounds of what our tastes already know and grow the palates of our compassion, gracefulness and humanity in this life.

Thanks be to God for the way your table sharing expands that palate of life before you, and for all of the wonderful tastes of this life that God will reveal through the days ahead.