Daily Devotional 4.30.20 Mary Alice Donaldson

Mary Alice and David Donaldson

 “Be strong and of good courage, be not frightened neither be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9

This verse has sustained me for almost 40 years.

In 1981, while on our honeymoon driving from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, across the plains and through the mountains of Canada, it finally dawned on me just how far away Alaska was from all I knew. David sensed my “homesickness” and made up a tune to this verse from Joshua. We have continued to sing this verse and countless other scripture chorus’ and hymns of praise.

When David has seen my spirits start to sag over the years, and this past week in particular, he has encouraged me to sit down at the piano, gotten out his horn and joined me playing our favorite hymns. As a child, playing the piano, cello and singing in our church youth choir became my safe place of rest and comfort.

During this season of hunkering down it has been a challenge to not get stuck thinking about all the things we are missing. We have been grateful for the opportunity to worship together online. Hearing Andy, Emily, Freya and James lead us in worship, the choir singing “On Eagles Wings,” watching the wee ones wave their hands joyfully on Palm Sunday, listening to gifted liturgists (I was especially touched by Gabriel and Lorenzo last week) … all supported behind the scenes by the technology I do not understand but am extremely thankful for!

My days go so much better when I am able to start them with a quiet time of reading scripture and prayer. The pastor who married us, Dr. H. Pat Albright, always encouraged us to read a chapter of a gospel and a psalm before ever opening the newspaper.

“It is no accident that the Psalms, which are the devotional heart of Scripture, were written as songs. Music heals. Music carries words to their destination in an irreducible and powerful way ...The retrieval of the Psalms as song in Taize worship … or in the musical settings we find in hymn books reminds us that to “sing unto the Lord” is a commandment for a reason. The words call us to attention. The music deepens that attention into prayer.” - from “Word By Word” by Marilyn McEntrye

Dear Lord Jesus, Thank you for your life given for us. Quiet our hearts so that we can hear your voice. Please continue to guide our steps and help us to find ways this day to share your light in our hurting world. Amen

Mary Alice and David Donaldson are retired longtime Anchorage School District music teachers who remain active playing their instruments in our community. They renewed their membership to St. John in 2015. maryalicedonaldson@gmail.com  907-306-0268

Daily Devotional 4.29.20 Marilyn Carpenter

Marilyn and art Carpenter

“Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth; Break forth into joyous song and sing praises! Sing praises to the Lord” Psalms 98:4-5

I love to sing!  I sing when I clean house; I sing when I hike in bear country; I sing when doing a jigsaw puzzle.  I sang to my children and I sing to my grandchildren. I do not sing around other people; I am not a good singer.  My family is polite. They know my songs are saying, “I love you!”  I may not get the tune right and I may be off-key, but they feel my caring for them in every verse.  

I have often wished that I had a lovely singing voice, that someone would hear me sing and say, “You should be in choir!” or “We could use you in our musical!”  Alas, what I have heard is more along the lines of, “Not everyone can be in the choir.  I’m sure you have some other talent.”  As I mature, this doesn’t bother me as much as it used to.  Didn’t John Wesley say something about singing “lustily and with a good courage”?  Yes, and he added, “Be no more afraid of your voice now, nor more ashamed of its being heard.”

I like to think that when I sing to God, that God also doesn’t mind if my notes may not match the ones in the hymnal.  I’m pretty sure that God cares more about the feeling in my heart than the purity of my voice.  Some songs touch my heart so much that tears spring to my eyes when I just see them printed in the bulletin and know we’ll be singing them soon.  The “Hymn of Promise” and “Here I Am, Lord” take my breath away.  My singing may not be exact, but it is “joyous!”

Nature is filled with joyous songs of the Lord:  honking geese, babbling brooks, softly falling rain, calls of birds, even snorts of moose!  (A strange question pops into my mind:  do birds ever sing “off-key”?)  There are an infinite number of joyful noises in the world.  God’s creation is a symphony of life and love and joy.  This symphony is for everyone.  Some may hear it with their ears, some with their eyes, some with their hearts.  If it fills you with joy, then it brings you closer to God.

In this challenging time of social distancing, how lucky are those of us who can step outside, who can   access the joy of nature.  Yet, we can sing inside or out.  We can feel God’s love in the house or in the woods.  We can find our own way to sing God’s praises.  

What makes you feel joyous?  What ways do you sing God’s praises?  Do you use your voice?  Do you use your hands?  Do you use your mind?  Do you use your heart?  When you feel your heart fill with the love of God, then you can sing praises!  When you share that love with others, then you are making a joyful noise to the Lord!

This week, listen for the music of God.  Look for ways you can be joyful.  Share God’s love and joy with others.  Sing with whatever tune and key you want.  You are part of God’s symphony.

Thank you, God, for creating such a marvelous symphony of life and love and joy.  Thank you for helping us be a part of that symphony.  Let us be your instruments.  In Christ’s name, we pray.

Marilyn Carpenter has three wonderful grandchildren, who all live here in Anchorage, which is why she and her husband Art live in Alaska.  They moved here 12 years ago from San Diego when their first grandson was born.  A retired family therapist, Marilyn can recite the lines from “When Harry Met Sally,” as well as sing all the songs from “Sound of Music.”  (Of course, she will not sing them in public.) 

Daily Devotional 4.25.20 Pastor Andy Bartel

“Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” Luke 21:28

This week we decided we would finalize the hardwood flooring project we began six months ago. We had all the materials already, we just needed to finish the job, just one small bedroom in the northwest corner of the house. Which meant, I had to vacate my temporary home office.

I've been longing for a treadmill walking desk for years, and so I took the opportunity to modify our treadmill downstairs to be a walking desk. It’s been great to get all these extra steps while typing on my computer or participating in phone or video calls, but it took a few adjustments to get right. First thing I noticed is stepping OFF is like the feeling when you step into the shower after being on a boat all day. Oi.

The other thing I noticed is how much my neck and shoulders were feeling tense. I had originally put the desk too low down, and so I was spending hours with my head hunched over, leading to excessive strain and stress.

That's the image that came to mind when I read this passage from Luke. Jesus is talking in some pretty grim and bleak terms about the coming of the Kingdom of God, but his reminder is clear: stand up, raise your heads, your redemption is coming near.

When I let myself get so immersed in the worries of life, parishioners I love but cannot visit, family members I cannot travel to be with to celebrate milestones, fear for those in our world who don't have enough set aside to weather a storm like this, when I have my head down for too long, the strain and the stress takes its toll.

So I'd like to encourage you today to take a moment, stand up and look up. Look around. Spring is here. New life is springing forth from the buds of the trees, and returning birds, all signs of new life we will miss if we keep our heads down.

Even amidst this crisis, God IS doing a new thing, so stand up, lift your head, God's love and redemption are near.

Holy God, help us to raise our heads and look for the many ways you are at work in this world, and give us the grace to respond to your invitation to participate in new and eternal life, here and now. I lift up my eyes to the hills, from whence does my help come? My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth. Thanks be to You O God. Amen and Amen.

- Pastor Andy Bartel

Daily Devotional 4.24.20

Worship BINGO!

Pastor Emily is sending you some humor for her good news devotional today!  Print out these cards for 9:15 and 11:30 worship bingo!  Then share your bingo success with us using #stjohnworships

Click here to print 9:15 service bingo cards

Click here to print 11:30 service bingo cards

B-I-N-G-O!

Daily Devotional 4.23.20

There's a season for everything, and a time for every matter under the heavens ... a time for crying and a time for laughing, a time for mourning and a time for dancing." - Ecclesiastes 3:1,4

"But it could be so much worse."

I can't count the number of times I have found myself saying that to my therapist. "This is bad/painful/uncomfortable/awful ... BUT it could be so much worse." She always patiently responds with "Yes, we can always compare ourselves to someone experiencing something worse. But pain is pain." Sometimes I think that's what therapy, friendships, mentorships, etc. can be, for a lot of us - Listening to someone respond in patience and kindness enough, so when we are going through our daily lives, we can hear their voices and offer ourselves that same compassion.

I have found myself thinking, and saying, that unhelpful thing to myself a lot lately: "But it could be worse." I am so grateful for so many things - extra time with my kids (most days), a job that allows me to work from home, health, technology that connects us. It's easy for me to remember these things when quarantine life gets hard. And like our scripture says, there is a time for everything under the heavens - there is a time for these gratitude practices.

But there's also a time for mourning, and for sadness, and for grief. And friends ... this quarantine life is hard. Some days, it's only a matter of minor inconveniences, and some days - it's really, really hard. And we know, it could always be worse. But playing that pain comparison game and calling it a gratitude practice, well, it doesn't help. In fact, I'd go as far as saying ignoring or distracting ourselves from the pain of isolation and separation by guilting and forcing ourselves to hold a near constant positive outlook, is more harmful than it is helpful.

I want you to know, it is ok to not be ok right now. It is ok to grieve for life as it once was, to name that you were not meant to be a homeschool teacher, to cry every time you put on your mask to leave the house, to have a love/hate relationship with Zoom, and to ache to reach out and hold your neighbor's hand and sing "On Eagle's Wings." Yes, there is a time for joy and for laughing, and there is a time for weeping and for mourning. There is a time to dance, and a time to ache. Maybe, this time is all of those times. Maybe, we dance in the morning and we cry over lunch. Maybe, we laugh on our evening walk and we cry over having to cook dinner. Again. Maybe, we were created to feel not just positivity and gratitude, but sadness and frustration as well. Miraculously, we get to hold space for the complexity of joy and gratitude, and hurt and pain, all of it together. Because God is right there with us, through it all, and I'm pretty sure the God who created us to feel all the feels, can handle all of our feels, too. 

- Erynne DeVore, Director of Children’s Ministry