Jesus

we’ve been here before.

| PastorChixsta

Desire first and foremost God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness

~ Matthew 6: 33a

We’ve been through deeply hard things. 

You, me and countless followers of Christ, we’ve been here before.

Regardless of its familiarity though, never in my lifetime did I imagine leading a community in the divisive and often cruel political environment in which we find ourselves today.  But, here I am and here we are, and, sadly enough, we have all been here before. Any world history book recounts those details, including the oppressive regime under which Jesus and his early followers lived.

Unfortunately though while we’ve been here before, familiarity isn’t really much comfort. Our times leave me speechless and demoralized more often than not. And, I long deeply for clear answers that can nullify the current challenges.

But? I don’t have any Pro-Tips or Life Hacks for us. I sure wish I did.  

Sometimes… actually … a lot of time, I wish that I professed a faith that had clear, go-to answers. But, I am pretty sure that if my faith had easy, straightforward answers to the incredibly complex and contextual challenges of life today:

  1. I’d be a lot richer. 😎
  2. I’d have a phenomenally larger social media presence. 🤣
  3. My faith simply wouldn’t reflect the life of Jesus and the early church. ✅

The reality is that the more I pastor, the less clear I am about the faith practice of following Jesus;  the more questions I have; and the more I wrestle internally before providing any answers.

Reassuring, right?

But, in the same breath, I will say also that the more I pastor, the more clarity I have that our God is big enough for all of my and your lack of clarity as well as our doubts, challenges, sorrow, struggles, worry, anger and frustration.  

And, in that same breath, I will say also that the more I pastor the more I experience that when I follow the way of Jesus >> I mean really follow the way of Jesus >> the more peace I have in times such as these.

It isn’t a peace that will solve all of the problems.

It is a peace that gets me to another day and helps me feel not so dang alone along the way.  Sometimes, I think that was exactly Jesus’ point.

Get me to another day and help me not feel so alone along the way.

Jesus didn’t give us strict rules and religious laws to follow.  In fact, he spent much of his time teaching how religious laws can result in the exact opposite of what God desires. Jesus taught us to follow and share the ever-expanding and evolving expanse of God’s love and grace. And, when we focus on God and doing the sharing, no one and no thing can strip us of that exact love and grace that God showers upon us.

That brings a kind of peace that can fill us head to toe (if we allow it). 

Enough peace to fill us for another day.

As we continue in these difficult and confusing times, I am going to suggest that we focus on God and do the work of “desir[ing] first and foremost God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness,” (Matthew 6: 33a) in three specific ways. 

1. EXPERIENCE JOY

No matter what is happening all around us – and it’s a lot if you are paying attention (and I get it if you aren’t too – there is time for both), God wants us to experience JOY. Recently, in his weekly newsletter Into the Gray, the Rev. Benjamin Cremer wrote a beautiful piece, “Caring in a Cruel World” that I highly recommend. Reflecting on joy, he shared:

“However you find it, humor and joy can unmask the absurdity of oppression and arrogance of our time. Joy is not escape, it brings depth, it brings healing, and it is resistance. So laugh with friends. Celebrate life. Double down on joy, because joy restores strength (Nehemiah 8:10).”
~ Rev. Benjamin Cremer

https://benjamin-cremer.kit.com/posts/caring-in-a-cruel-world

2. SHOW UP IN COMMUNITY

Show up with your people (family, friends, faith community, and/or peers). Find joy together and rest. Comfort one another and heal. Laugh out loud at the water station or on the soccer field or gym. Sing loudly in the car or at a communal worship service. Cry aloud or march in the streets.

Readers, dinner church attendees, friends, family, Long Beach church, yoga practitioners, hockey parents, orchestra boosters, all of you – you are my community; my tribe.  My deepest hope is that we are and can continue to be each others’ community now and in the days ahead. Now more than ever.

3.  LET GO OF GUILT AND SHAME.

Photo by Beyzaa Yurtkuran on Pexels.com

While we experience JOY,

While we seek and find COMMUNITY, 

…  we must also work to let go of any guilt or shame that may get piled onto it.  

God needs you and I to experience JOY whenever we can – especially now – so that we can help the world when we are ready and needed.  

We must not let the power of guilt and shame strip away what God needs us to do.  

— Our joy gives us the capacity to be healing agents; to do what is needed when times get tough.

— Our Joy gives us the strength to put the one foot in front of the other when that is all we got.

God needs you and I to spend weekends in nature together … to be community … to laugh out loud >> do silly things >> love one another >> experience JOY whenever we can and however we can.

So church, as I reflect on the teachings of Jesus and in my struggles as a faith leader today, here is how I am seeking to remain sensitive and caring and even painfully aware … in these times:

  • Experience JOY.
  • Show up in COMMUNITY.
  • Let go of guilt and shame.

I trust that this how we work together to “desire first and foremost God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness,” and what Jesus taught us in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter six.

May it be our way.

Enduring Grace

| PastorChixsta

When I was at divinity school, I heard and read and learned a lot about the concept and faith practice of Grace.  I even had one professor proclaim that in her own faith search for a church home, she was stumped until she landed on a Methodist Church’s emphasis on grace.  She had been exploring a number of Christian faith traditions and denominations. But, it wasn’t until she came upon the Methodist church’s strong emphasis and thorough understanding of grace that she had found her home.

So what IS this particularly “Methodist” emphasis and understanding of Grace?  

There are three main components and each one helps us delve into and wrestle with the multi-layered faith experience and practice of grace.  In this, we are trying to put words to a feeling, a sense, a lived experience.  This is not a science nor is it a set of principles that one must adhere to; these three components are more of an attempt to explain a lived and ongoing faith experience.  Sometimes, grace is experienced in a moment; sometimes, it is a lifelong journey. 

What I am sharing today is a commonly-espoused Methodist or (John) Wesleyan understanding of grace. It is based on the writings and commentary of John Wesley who founded the Methodist movement in southern England in the 1700’s.  Interestingly enough, it was also around this time that John Newton wrote the familiar hymn, “Amazing Grace.”  If you don’t know the story behind that hymn, check it out!  It is a powerful story about God’s grace at work.  And? Newton’s story that led to the hymn shares more than a few details with one of John Wesley’s own personal stories of grace.  It turns out that these two Anglican clergy knew each other, and shared a few theological musings in their lifetimes. In fact, here’s a letter that John Wesley wrote to Newton on April 1, 1766.

https://digitalcollections.smu.edu/digital/collection/jwl/id/40

It is from John Wesley’s teachings of grace (such as the letter to Newton) that United Methodists today understand a certain grace process. Often, we see it as a house tour of sorts — with three stops along the way.

Stop #1 … Prevenient Grace.  The front porch.

This stop is on the porch of the house; the front door isn’t even open yet to us.  But the entirety of all that lies outside of the house is open to us.  Prevenient Grace might be a bit off-putting because of the word “prevenient.”  It’s an older word that simply means “prior to; before arriving.“ It means that we are on the front porch of God’s grace … before we even know it. And that is a beautiful thing.

God’s grace is with us often long before we know it; want it; or feel that we even need it.  God’s grace surrounds and embraces us despite our acknowledgment of it.  In fact, it doesn’t matter if we profess to be followers of Jesus, or religious, or “spiritual, but not religious” … anything at all or nothing at all. 

 But God shows his love for us, because while we were still sinners Christ died for us. ~ Romans 5: 8

God’s grace is with us.  All the time, everywhere.

That is prevenient grace … Truthfully, some of us stay on the front porch with God’s grace the entirety of our lives.  And that is 100% beautiful.  Amen to that!

Stop #2 … Justifying Grace.  The front door.

This stop is at the front door of the house.  This experience of God’s grace is unique to each of us who experience it, but it is when we feel God’s energy … 

—  helping us to stand back up when we have fallen. 

—  returning us to God’s embrace when we have done something >> many things? >> that have distanced us from God and what we might call “right relationship” with God or God’s people.

— forgiving us when we have caused harm to ourselves or another of God’s children or God’s creation.

Justifying grace can be felt as forgiveness, acceptance, or freedom. 

It can come in countless forms and experiences.

But all of these experiences of God’s justifying grace all drive us into alignment with God’s original design for us.

We stand at the door of God’s grace and we receive God’s grace as we work to align ourselves — our lives — with God’s intention for us.  We might experience this through the people that we commune with; or the ways that we go about our lives; the choices we make about what we do with tour time and how we go about our lives.  

Again, we need to remember that similar to prevenient grace, we don’t elect or choose to experience God’s grace. It is freely given and freely experienced.  There are no payments due or requirements for the grace of God. We experience it as we align ourselves with the ways of Jesus such as compassion for self and neighbor; sharing of resources for the betterment of all God’s kin-dom; forgiveness; walking a path of righteousness / justice for all persons.

You are saved by God’s grace because of your faith. This salvation is God’s gift. It’s not something you possessed. It’s not something you did that you can be proud of. Instead, we are God’s accomplishment, created in Christ Jesus to do good things. God planned for these good things to be the way that we live our lives. ~ Ephesians 2: 8-10

Stop #3 … Sanctifying Grace.  An inner room.

Aha! Now, we step inside the house! Yet, while we have arrived inside, we are still continuing to form.  Truth is, we never stop forming; we are ever maturing in our Christian discipleship.  Sanctifying Grace is the experience of grace where we might have a powerful conversion experience and “come to Jesus.”  Some of our sibling churches might understand this as “being born again in Christ.”

All of this speaks to a powerful means of God’s grace at work in our lives.  It is often experienced inwardly over time, but it can be a powerful one time location-specific event as well.  However we might experience “sanctifying grace,” it is powerful to the point of being almost palpable.  It contributes to our ongoing life in Christ and with Christ as we walk ever onward with God.

So, brothers and sisters, because of God’s mercies, I encourage you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice that is holy and pleasing to God. This is your appropriate priestly service. Don’t be conformed to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds so that you can figure out what God’s will is—what is good and pleasing and mature. ~ Romans 12: 1-2

I will share briefly my experience of these “grace stops” along my life path just as some reference.

Stop #1 (Front Porch) – Prior to my entry into my call to ordained ministry, I wasn’t a regular church-goer.  I had been on and off as a child, but as a young adult, I was not.  This was certainly a time of prevenient grace in my life.  God was with me throughout the time; whether I attended church; whether I professed a faith.  I travelled a lot for work, and God’s grace accompanied me no matter where I was; who I was with; what I was doing.  No matter what, when, why, who, how.  God’s prevenient grace embraced me and enfolded me.

Stop #2 (Front Door) – At some point as I was on the front porch, God started to nudge me to the front door.  I only begrudgingly went; I stayed in that doorjamb for quite a while.  But, it was while in this space that I joined a small group of young adults who read the Bible sometimes and worshipped together on occasion. But, we began to really just live life together all the time.  We met for meals.  We went to concerts.  We hosted football game parties.  We went hiking – to the beach – to the opera – to the movies.  We ran marathons and races.  We went to memorial services of each other’s loved ones.  We went to and participated in one another’s bridal showers; weddings and baby showers.

And it was in this living life together that I began to experience God’s justifying grace.  I experienced and showed forgiveness.  I learned to listen more carefully to others.  I began to volunteer more frequently at homeless shelters and beach clean ups.  My choices with my spending, my companions, my career all began to reflect my deepening faith in and with Christ. 

I experienced God’s justifying grace and my life began to become more aligned with God and the ways of Christ.

And I didn’t earn any of this.  I just lived life and God’s grace was poured upon me.

Stop #3 (Inner Room) – As I stepped across the porch and entered an inner room of the house of grace, I experienced a deepening personal ownership of the ways of Jesus.  My prayer life matured, and I began to let go of my prior demands on my own life. I began to pray for God’s will and to open myself to follow God’s will.

This experience of the house of grace led to who I am today. I am an ordained clergywoman in the United Methodist Church who has served God’s church for a few decades now in a variety of ways. 

  • I never thought I would be a minister. I never thought that I would marry, or have children of my own.
  • I never thought I would be as fulfilled or at peace with the work that I am about and the life that I lead.

I am not without fault, mistakes, mishaps or wounding. But it is through the power of God’s enduring grace that I am who I am, and I serve God’s creation with such gratitude today.

I wonder how you have experience God’s grace in your life; I would love to hear or read of it. I have all the time in the world to listen to God’s people and hear of God’s grace in your lives.

Comment below. Or, reach out to meet up.

Let’s think and listen and ponder and sing of God’s Amazing Grace!

~ Pastor Melinda Dodge

Was jesus an olympian?

| PastorChixsta

 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us…” ~ Hebrews 12:1 

Have you been watching?  Have you seen?  Paris Summer Olympics 2024!  Oh gosh, it has been so awesome to come home from Groundlings Camp (when our family isn’t driving all over to Scouts or Ballet or Hockey or whatever else we seem to get on the calendar), and turn on the OLYMPICS. 

I mean …

— the heated back and forth US v Australia swimmers. Cowbell anyone? 

— the Women’s Gymnastics team overcome a myriad of hurdles in recent years.

— the pride of the French when they earned their first gold medal!

To be in some tiny part … just one piece of this immense coming together of the world; to be, in some tiny way, one part of the larger global community …

It means something.

It teaches us all something.

And while as far as I know Jesus did not participate in the Olympics while on Earth, I do think that he would have made a BOMB member of the Men’s Gymnastic Team.  Like maybe on the rings?  I can see it!  Jesus was all about being together with God’s people.  He was part of a team throughout his life.  Yeah, I think Jesus would be pro-Olympics.  

Because … one of the things that makes the Olympics so powerful – so exciting and beloved – is that it invites us into a shared experience; a commonality; a touchstone.  And, Jesus prioritizes that very thing.  Yes, Jesus prioritizes community, and he teaches us the tenets of healthy community like humility, forgiveness, grace, and supporting and helping one another even when we don’t always understand or agree with each other.

The Bible verse from Hebrews is about this wisdom of Jesus.  It’s giving us one little piece of how we live our lives – together. The verse is a short teaching from the Apostle Paul (early founder of the church), and he is helping us to recognize that we are not alone.  As God’s people – as those who learn from the model of Jesus, we are never alone. Paul describes this as

“… a cloud of witnesses who run the race with us.”

In the cloud are people who surround us with love and support; people who cheer us on; people who form our community in life.

And, sometimes we are a witness in someone else’s cloud.

I guess maybe right now, I am in a REALLY big cloud cheering on other people across the world.  In these huge global games called the Olympics.

But everyday, in a much smaller and no less important way, I am called – we are called – to cheer on our community.

And everyday, we have a cloud of witnesses cheering us on and lifting us up.

Breathe deeply and know that you are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses supporting you.

Breathe deeply and know that you are supporting someone else – in their cloud.

#wisdomofJesus #wholenewmeaningofCLOUD

>>> Seeking Connection >>>

| PastorChixsta

What is it called when your computer or phone keeps searching and searching to connect to WiFi?  Whatever that is??

That is my inner life everyday in this pandemic.

My extrovert, verbal and physical communicator self is on OVERDRIVE seeking connection in the ways that I am hardwired to do so.

That means … my inner life looks like this:

live_17949

.. while my outer life looks like this:

Screen Shot 2020-04-20 at 12.12.57 PM

And I’m just going to admit it.  Skype and Zoom and all virtual connectivity is tiring.  I know I’m not alone in this; it’s tiring for all of us in different ways — not just me.

While connecting through these tools are absolutely, no-doubt-about-it, incredibly helpful to continue to work, meet and connect right now, it is tiring, nonetheless.

Some days?  It’s even just utterly exhausting.  I explain it like this.

My body keeps reaching out – sending invisible, subtle signals to communicate with other people … but all the signals go unmet right now.  My signals won’t connect because they can’t.  Zoom can’t replicate our in-person connectivity.  Zoom can’t replicate the subtle nuance to our human communication methods, neither verbal nor non-verbal.

And all of that unmet effort is just plain ole’ exhausting.

So, per Brené Brown (my all-in-#1-gal right now), I am writing myself permission slips.  And I’m writing as many as I need today.  And you bet, I’m going to write as many as I need tomorrow, too.

  • I am granting myself permission to be tired of Zoom’ing.
  • I’m granting myself permission to go outside and run when I should be picking up the disaster that is my house after morning & afternoon online school & in-home play in between.
  • I’m granting myself permission to worry less about the well-planned and well-balanced meal that somehow gets onto the table tonight.
  • I’m granting myself permission to screw up.  Because THAT right there?  is a sure bet.  Today.  Tomorrow.  In the next five minutes …
  • And?  I’m granting myself permission to forget that I’ve granted myself permission.

I invite you to allow yourself the space to be tired.  To be honest with yourself about what you can and cannot “do,” and to embrace that your capacity right now might be  diminished.  If the above practice of granting yourself permission helps – DO IT.  I highly recommend it.  I use sticky notes!

And remember … whatever connection you seek, whatever you succeed or fail at, whatever nap you take or don’t take …

You remain loved by God, and you always have a family in the church of God here at Los Altos UMC.

And as Jesus spoke to his scared, “safer-at-home” disciples after his death (John 20:19-20) …

19 When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked …, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 20

Peace be with you.

Peace be with you,

~ Pastor Melinda

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is well. With my soul.

| PastorChixsta

It is well with my soul.  I am saying that over and over again in my head and heart.

As I read and re-read Governor Gavin Newsom’s “six goals that must be met to lift California coronavirus order,” in the morning’s LA Times, I found myself breathing deeply.  Again and again.  I was encouraged by the the reporting that “[the state’s] strategy to slow the spread of the virus is working, pointing to relatively low growth in COVID-19 hospitalizations as evidence that staying home and social distancing are preventing a surge of infections.”  But as I kept reading, I found my own suspicions that our “new normal” path is needing to become a prolonged trek of all of us.  What we were forced to throw into place as emergency defense needs to grow into an ongoing strategy for offense against the novel Coronavirus.

Whoa.  Yep.  Long haul with significant and prolonged change lies ahead.  

As I read and breathed, as I took in and began to process what seem to be the inevitable steps ahead, this hymn bubbled up from I know not where.  It just sort of came up and through me, and I started to hum it to myself …

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
when sorrows like sea billows roll;
whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul.
Refrain:
It is well with my soul,
it is well, it is well with my soul.

As I hummed to myself, certain images also bubbled up:

Images of the Los Altos UM church gathering tonight in a variety of Brady-Bunch style discipleship small groups over Zoom.  Patterned after our Everyone’s Inn small groups (and prior to that … our Wesleyan heritage), age-based and stage of life and reading groups alike will convene and God will do God’s work amongst the church.

Images of the Los Altos UM expanded church who will gather tomorrow night joining in the practice of yoga poses as a discipline of body prayer via FB live from our sanctuary.

Images of the Los Altos UM in Sunday worship dialogue with Pastor Mark.

Images of our Los Altos UMchildren responding to the children’s Sunday YouTube message and writing their cards and notes to our homebound.

FullSizeRender

And how all of these spaces are offering places of discipleship, points of relational connection and formation and enhancement.  These spaces have been convened and led by both laity and clergy, and it is this work, these gatherings, this church that offers me great hope in this time.

I wonder what other spaces and people and images and relationships are yet to bubble forth?

You see, even as our civic life has shifted and will continue to emerge, I have no doubt that Jesus is at work amongst and through us.

And while there is deep uncertainty and many questions in my head, it is well with my soul.

Now more than ever …

| PastorChixsta

“Hosanna to the Son of David!

Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!

Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

~ Matthew 21: 9

animal cute donkey nature
Photo by Nilina on Pexels.com

We all make mistakes.

We all get scared.

We all experience loneliness.  And right now?  

Together, we are all undergoing an unprecedented time of mandated isolation; an unheard era of significant transition at lightning speed.

Overnight, our community gatherings have been closed and we have had to adjust.  Our daily routines have been smashed to shreds, and we have had to adjust.  For many, our very means of sustenance (income, food, shelter) have been utterly upended, and we have had to adjust.  

It’s a time of anxiety, loneliness, and fear.

It’s a time of hoarding and grasping to hold onto certainty. 

It’s a time of unknowns and seeking answers to questions that don’t have answers yet.  Or ever.

All of this fast shifting and upheaval has brought to mind conversations that I continue to have with some young people in my life.  There is this thing that I say to my own children when they are concerned that something they have done will “take my love away.”  Or something that they have done will make them somehow “less lovable.”  Or that someone will come into my life — or our lives — that will ”take some love away from them” in order to “give that love” to this new person.

When I first encountered these questions, I didn’t really know what to say except that I would love them no matter what.  Then, we talked some more, and these are the words that started forming in response:

“Love isn’t something that has an end to it.  Love only gets bigger and bigger.”

And this is what I am reminded of — in these times that we are all undergoing, together —- as we read once more the Palm Sunday verses —  love isn’t finite.  I am reminded of this all because right now?  there is a much more prevalent understanding of our love in our lives, in our communities, in our surrounding culture.

It is an understanding that love is something finite.

It is an understanding that there is an end to love, an end of love.

It is an understanding the love is a commodity.

It is an understanding that love can be earned or bought or sold or exchanged.

It is an understanding that love is a human construct that we can control and dole out or take away at will.

But, Jesus entry into Jerusalem teaches us — albeit — in a very large, jubilant way — that love isn’t ours.  We didn’t create love, and we don’t end love.  

God is love.  God brought each one of us into the world out of love.  God will end our human lives with the freedom of death to be resurrected into life eternal.

And on this Palm Sunday, we retell and reaffirm now more than ever that this is who we trust God to be and what we trust love to be.

Jesus doesn’t enter the city on a warhorse in a ticker-tape parade, and with a mighty army in tow.  Rather, he enters Jerusalem on a low-bred donkey, on a path of thrown-down cloaks and last-minute-grabbed-palms.  This is the path of love that Jesus walks.

A path of where the poor and the rich walk together.

A path where the community steps up, stays-at-home, and makes masks.

A path where within days, 1,000’s of schoolteachers learned new ways of teaching and parents learned new ways of working.

A path where children write cards to the homebound and folks step up to deliver groceries.

A path where the very sidewalks are chalked with artwork scribbles proclaiming that we are Stronger Together.

I have this image in my head that if Jesus were to come into Long Beach today, his donkey would walk over rainbow chalk art, and the path would be riddled with our most-prized commodity —  Toilet Paper.

This is love.

This is God at work.

And?  this is not a commodity.  

It’s not something to be bought or sold.

It’s not something finite to be hoarded up, withheld or rationed out.

There’s always enough love to share and there’s always room for our hearts to grow bigger.

To some extent?  Maybe that can be our greatest focus right now.  

(I don’t know about you but I’m truthfully overwhelmed with the options of how productive I could be – the things I could be doing with all of this enforced “free” time … which actually isn’t “free” at all.  I’m still working (in all sort of new ways), making meals, and guiding my children at home while living through global pandemic.  How about you?)

But maybe this is it.  Maybe we need this message more than ever.  Today.  In the midst of a global pandemic.

Because?  Maybe this Palm Sunday, we are called more than ever to speak out, in all the ways that we can, what love is and what love is not.  What love looks like in the midst of a global pandemic.  That Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem and the events of our ensuing Holy Week negates thoroughly the understanding of love as finite or love as a commodity.

Jesus us shows the very essence of love in today’s verses from Matthew, and the events of Holy Week.  

This past week, Pastor Mark and I learned once again (week two!) how to lead online small groups via Skype and Zoom.  There were definitely bumps, blunders and frustrations along the way.  It is not the same as meeting in person, no doubt!  But?  There was community forming and continuing to walk and grow together.  There was laughter and hope and persistence.  It was clearly evident once again… our very human need to convene and be together.

This is love.

This is God at work.

In the small groups that I lead, as we discussed the verses from Matthew and the ensuing ones describing Holy Week, what came up again and again? was that Jesus knew he was to be betrayed and he stayed.  Jesus knew that the very people closest to him, his “tribe” – the disciples – were going to betray him.  Judas, Peter, the whole lot of them?  They were going to betray and deny Jesus, and in fact, be the key perpetrators of his most brutal death on a cross.

And still?  Jesus stayed.

He walked the path with God that was set before him.

There will be times — right now, every day, maybe every hour when we will make mistakes; when we will express frustration and anger in maybe less than helpful ways; when we are fearful; when we doubt and ask why.  When we experience loneliness and deep, deep fear.

In those times, I would like to ask you to remember the following:

Jesus entered Jerusalem to the laudatory shouts of the crowd.  Jesus walked the path – celebrating the Seder with his close circle – and continued onward.  Together with the very people who would hurt him to the death.

God loves us in our fear.  God loves us in our loneliness.  God loves us in our betrayals and denials of God’s goodness in this world.

This is an unending love.  This is a love that only grows bigger and bigger.  A love that grows so big that it is well beyond our comprehension.

Jesus entered humbly, peacefully, into Jerusalem, knowing that he was entering into the final days of his life with us all.   

Jesus stayed.

He walked the path with God that was set before him.

He stuck with it until the very end, and showed us how this is done.

None of us — except a few of our elder most elders — have walked through a global pandemic before.  

God has.  And God will.

This is love.

This is God at work.

Now more than ever, this is our time to lean into and lift up — this exact message.  The message alone won’t provide the COVID-19 vaccine that we desperately need … but it will bring the human science to the forefront and invite the willingness, cooperation and collaboration of the science industry to the forefront to get the job done.  It will empower the child chalk art and the folks at their mask-making sewing machines and the front-line doctors, nurses, technicians, and their families.  It will offer messages of much needed gratitude to our community leaders and ”thinking of you” notes to those who might be a little lonely.

This is love.

This is God at work.

Amen.