4.4.20 Daily Devotional

“The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.”  Proverbs 28:1

Our Proverbs Bible study read this passage this past Wednesday and it reminded me: One evening as I was waiting in line for Wednesday Night Supper, Roz Headley asked me about my marathon training. After listening graciously to me blather on about running times and distances, she said with a twinkle in her eye, “Well, you know what the Good Book says, 'Only the wicked run when no one is chasing them!' ”

All of us within earshot got quite the laugh. Another St John member, Diane and Hugh Miller, suggested we watch Dry Bar Comedy, clean stand-up comedy sketches on YouTube. A couple evenings this week, we sat with our kids, and just laughed and laughed and laughed together.

Friends, the times are stressful, but laughter is a gift from God and has a healing quality for the current state of our souls. I encourage you to find some way to engage in laughter today. Make up a silly song to Les Miserables or My Sharona. Play the game Twister and collapse in a laughing heap together. Have a Just Dance party in your basement with your immediate family members. Find some way to introduce a good belly laugh into your life sometime today.

O Lord our God, grant us the gift of mirth even amidst these trying times. Remind us that you came in the person of Jesus that we might have life ABUNDANTLY and joyously. Inspire your joy and laughter in us today. Amen.

- Pastor Andy Bartel

“A cheerful heart is a good medicine, but a downcast spirit dries up the bones.” Proverbs 17:22

Daily Devotional 4.3.20

“On the day the Lord God made earth and sky— before any wild plants appeared on the earth, and before any field crops grew, because the Lord God hadn’t yet sent rain on the earth and there was still no human being to farm the fertile land, though a stream rose from the earth and watered all of the fertile land— the Lord God formed the human from the topsoil of the fertile land and blew life’s breath into the human’s nostrils. The human came to life.” Genesis 2:4b-7

Breathe in. Count to three. Breathe out.

Breathe in. Count to three. Breathe out.

Breathe in. Count to three. Breathe out.

Feel the pneuma, the breath of God, in your body and in your soul.

Friends, it is becoming more apparent that this time of physical distancing will not pass as quickly as it came upon us. In times of stress, I often use this practice of deep breathing to ground myself in the present, to center myself in the presence of God. So today, take a break from the frantic pace and online adjustments to life. Take a moment, and feel the breath move seamlessly though your body. May you know that God breathes life.

Amen.

- Pastor Emily Carroll

Communion Blog 4-1-20

“While they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, ‘Take, eat; this is my body.’ Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, saying ‘Drink from it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” 

- Matthew 26:26-28

Sunday, April 5, is the first Sunday of the month. The time when we traditionally celebrate the Sacrament of Communion in worship together. I’ve been anticipating the arrival of Communion Sunday during our time spent in physical distancing. Partly because it poses a problem: How can we share in one loaf and one cup when we are all in our separate homes? And partly because it still offers us the goodness of God’s grace in a meal that I feel like I need now more than ever. In this time of physical distancing, I crave communion.
 
I have a very high view of communion. And a very low view of all the rules that we place around them. John Wesley writes that the sacraments are “an outward sign of inward grace, and a means whereby we receive the same.” They are the channels by which God makes God’s grace known to the world. And if they are channels of grace that GOD created, then who are we to inhibit their flow? Who are we to put a dam in the river to create a reservoir for later? Haven’t we learned that grace comes freely? That it is abundant? That it comes from the source of life and never runs dry?
 
Friends, we WILL celebrate the Sacrament of Communion on Sunday. From our own homes, and our own kitchens, we will bless the bread and the juice and share in the feast together. Communion is always celebrated in the context of worship, because in worship we participate in the work of the church that spans centuries and miles. Each time we (St. John) celebrate communion, we do so in communion with the Church Universal through the ages. What better image of that now? With each of us, in our homes, an extension of the church, partaking in a meal apart yet connected.
 
Indeed, that is the miracle of the meal. That the water, salt, flour, and yeast sit together to become one loaf. And in sharing the bread, we who are many, in many places, in many times, too become one body.
 
Here’s how to prepare for communion on Sunday:

1. Make bread. Here’s my favorite recipe for an easy and tasty loaf: https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/classic-sandwich-bread-recipe (Store bought bread is fine too, you don’t have to make it yourself, but it’s super easy and fun to do! If you are gluten free, use whatever bread or crackers you usually eat.)

2. Make grape juice. If you do I want to see pictures! I’ve never made grape juice, but apparently it is possible: https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/making_grape_juice/ (For all the rest of us Welch’s will work just fine. Did you know that Welch was Methodist? Read this article for a good story! https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/changing-wine-into-grape-juice-thomas-and-charles-welch-and-the-transition). If you don’t have grape juice, wine is fine to use. Alternatively, you may use another kind of juice if you don’t have anything made with grapes.

3. Post a picture. Send us a picture of your communion table! Post to Instagram or Facebook using #StJohnWorships. We will share pictures of people’s communion tables during worship, and use the pictures as a way to extend the blessing over all the people gathered at their various tables. If you don’t have social media, email them to me (egrcarroll@gmail.com).

This is the gift of life in Jesus. That across time and space, God is present. God’s love is still made known to us. May it be so, this coming Sunday, and always.

Peace,
Pastor Emily

From Bad to Good - a poem by Erynne DeVore

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