Sometimes life is happy
Sometimes life is sad
Sometimes we feel good
And sometimes we feel bad
No matter what we feel
No matter what we do
God loves me and you
If someone hurts you
or you make a mistake
Take some time to cry and boo-hoo
But remember, God is coming with something GREAT!
And our job is to sit back and wait
Sometimes when we're waiting
We might feel angry or sad
God's goodness helps
Way more than just a tad
Like flowers come from the dirt
And the sun shines in the darkness
God helps those who are hurt
This week remember
The God who created you
Can take all the lovely or yucky stuff in the world
And make it into beauty
Like laughter, flowers, and babies who coo
When it gets hard to cope
Jesus followers have Hope
Our tears can help heal our souls
And that’s not the soles of our feet!
God takes our sad cries
And makes our heart into something neat!
Daily Devotional 3-28-20
O Lord, my heart is not lifted up,
my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things
too great and too marvelous for me.
But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
like a weaned child with its mother;
my soul is like the weaned child that is with me.
O Israel, hope in the Lord
from this time on and forevermore. Psalm 131
This morning as I sat on the couch, sipping my coffee and reading the news, our cat jumped up into my lap. This is not a particularly noteworthy occurrence. While the rest of my family members all long for the affection of this feline, she subsequently ignores them. I on the other hand generally don't go searching out her affection, and yet she clings to me. Cats.
This morning she leaned her head into my ribs and started to press her front paws into my side in an alternating fashion, a ritual she has with me most mornings. Our family affectionately refers to this as the cat is “making muffins.” Presumably, the thought behind the expression is that her pressing with her front paws is similar to the kneading of dough, but now I'm left wondering as to why we call it making muffins instead of making bread? Yet I digress...
And of course if you know about cats, this behavior is a remnant from when they were kittens, still nursing from their mom. Their kneading paws would press against their momma's tummy as they nursed, what most of us would probably imagine as being a very comforting thing.
I got to thinking about this self-soothing behavior that our cat regularly engages in, and I began to wonder if that might not be a good thing for many of us at this point of time, a little bit of self-soothing.
In the Psalm listed above we read, “I do not occupy myself with things too great or marvelous for me, but I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother.”
Like my cat who regularly calms and quiets her soul next to me, kneading away, what are those practices we can engage in that are self-soothing? Of course, I mean what are the HEALTHY practices we can engage in to quiet and calm our souls? Those things that can quiet us, comfort us, and draw us closer into God's presence, the One in whom we cast our hope?
Spend some time in those things that can calm and quiet you today, and in that quietness, may you experience God's presence and hope.
O Lord, by your grace help us to turn off the noise, even for a brief while. Help us to quiet the cacophony of worry that surrounds us and assails us, and help us to rest in the quiet calmness of your presence, like a weaned child resting upon the breast of her mother. This we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.
- Pastor Andy Bartel
Daily Devotional 3-27-20
“I’m convinced that nothing can separate us from God’s love in Christ Jesus our Lord: not death or life, not angels or rulers, not present things or future things, not powers or height or depth, or any other thing that is created.” - Romans 8:38-39
Not COVID.
That’s right friends, nothing. Nothing can separate us from God’s love in Christ Jesus our Lord. Not even COVID.
One of the most tangible expressions of God’s love for me has been community. What better way to see the fruits of the Spirit among us than lived out between people we love? In times when I am hurting, I yearn for the connection of another. When I receive good news or experience joy, I want to share that feeling with a friend. It’s quite natural for me that the primary means of grace from God is though Communion, the sharing of a meal in community, in line with the history of meals Jesus shared with his followers.
Perhaps that’s why this time of physical distance is so difficult for us. We were built to be in community. We were created to be together in love. And COVID seems to demand: NOPE!
Or at least, that’s the perception. But isn’t that also the perception of death? Death, the ultimate separator... The thing that comes between us that cannot be undone, cannot be put off, cannot be controlled. Yet that’s the first thing Paul mentions in the letter to the Romans.
I’m convinced that nothing can separate us from God’s love in Christ Jesus our Lord: not death...
He lists other things, but he starts “not death.” If not death, the final threat to the living, then what? Nothing. NOTHING. Nothing.
Nothing. Not death. Not COVID.
Friends, my prayer for you today is the assurance of God’s love. That through this time of separation, through this time of fear, speculation, and worry, we might be assured that nothing, nothing, nothing can separate us from God’s love, in Christ Jesus our Lord.
May God give you the assurance of love, today and always.
Peace,
Pastor Emily
Daily Devotional 3-26-20
“Try not to get worried, try not to turn on to problems that upset you, oh, don't you know everything's alright, yes, everything's fine, and we want you to sleep well tonight. Let the world turn without you tonight. If we try, we'll get by, so forget all about us tonight.”
As Kate and I went for a walk around the block this afternoon, this song from Andrew Lloyd Weber's “Jesus Christ Superstar” was rolling around in my head. As a kid, I would listen to this two album record on my dad's turntable over and over again.
The singer of this song is Mary, one of Jesus' closest friends and supporters, trying to calm and soothe Jesus into a good night's rest, all the while Jesus and Judas are arguing back and forth about the value of ointment “wasted” on Jesus rather than given to the poor.
As I witness tension and anxiety growing in our city, in our nation, and in our world, I'm finding this song is not diminishing, but seemingly growing louder in my ears, “Try not to get worried. Everything's alright.”
And yet, everything is not alright, right? People who are sick. People who have lost loved ones. People who have lost jobs. People who ignore the scientific guidance and put themselves (and others!) at risk. It seems difficult to say everything's fine, when the world feels anything but alright.
And yet, the song continues to play in my head, and it occurs to me, perhaps this is God's way of reminding me this is one more example of our lived Christian reality of “Already, but not yet.” With Jesus, the Kingdom has come, already, but not yet in fullness. The promise of new life in and through Jesus is realized already, but not yet in the life to come.
Even amidst the craziness of Covid-19, Everything's alright, already, but also not yet.
In times of high stress and anxiety, sometimes its really helpful to remember that things are ok, and things are going to be ok.
Saint Julian of Norwich in a deathly ill state saw a vision of Christ in which he said to her:
All shall be well.
And all shall be well.
And all manner of things shall be well.
If you too are feeling the high anxiety of the times, perhaps this can be a mantra for us, as we remember that Covid-19 shall pass and leave its mark upon us, but nothing except for God's love, grace, and redemption will have the final say. All shall be well. Everything's alright.
Holy Lord, when all is not well, help us to keep our focus on You and your grace abounding in this world. Help us to cast all our cares upon you, laying our burdens at your feet, and resting in the abundant of hope of your promise that all shall be well. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.
- Pastor Andy Bartel
Daily Devotional 3-25-20
“Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.” Genesis 2:3
I ran five miles yesterday for the first time in 11 days. Apparently 11 days is enough of a break from running to feel that familiar ache of lactic acid build-up in my legs. The soreness from exertion not executed quite regularly enough ... Haven’t felt that in awhile? Go sprint down the road a couple times and wait till tomorrow, you’ll know what I’m talking about.
This particular type of soreness always leaves me feeling restless. An uncomfortableness in my own body that is abated neither by sitting still nor by moving. My legs yearn to run, only to recoil once in motion.
In this time of quarantine, my physical muscles aren’t the only ones in flux. Socially, emotionally, mentally, spiritually ... we are all adjusting to this new time of distancing. Life as we know it has been turned upside down. And the muscles that we’ve kept in shape to keep us grounded are now finding themselves dangling from the ceiling, not knowing what to hold on to.
My social muscles, having been stretched taut for so long, are finally able to relax a little, and it feels weird! I want to jump into every Zoom call and online chat, connect with friends on Google Hangout, and send 8 million emails and texts to people. My social muscles, so used to being overexerted, don’t seem to know how to rest. Will I be okay if my social synapses aren’t constantly firing?
My mental muscles are equally fatigued. Pulled between the boredom of being stuck in my house all day and the rush of all the work to be done ... trying to figure out how to make life “normal.” Can’t I see that there is no normal? Is it even worth trying to reschedule everything ...? To make everything continue to move forward as if nothing has changed ...? When I want to stop and scream EVERYTHING HAS CHANGED!
And my spiritual muscles? How long has it been since I’ve exercised those? (Like really exercised them, done more than taken the dog for a walk around the block). It’s like after I’ve neglected doing push-ups for a while, my body forgets how to do it. I strain, yet try as I might, fall on my face.
In this time of quarantine quiet and stillness, I’m learning to pay attention to my muscles. Listening to my body, my heart, my mind, my spirit. Listening to the spirit of God at work in me.
I’ve talked to many people this week who are stressed beyond measure trying to “catch up” with everything, and to get everything set up for an online world. And while virtual reality can help us connect in this time of physical distancing, let’s not trade one whirlwind pace for another. There’s a reason “Remember the Sabbath” made God’s Top 10 List. As Jesus reminds us, “The Sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27).
So at some point today, or tonight, I invite you to pause. Remember the God who created you, and who gives you permission to rest. Remember the muscles in your body God sewed together in love, and give those muscles - physical, mental, emotional and spiritual - a chance to rest. Remember the Sabbath, and keep it holy.
Amen.
- Pastor Emily Carroll