'Go to love and serve your neighbor'

By Betty Hertz

“Go to love and serve your neighbor.”

How often have we heard these words at the close of St. John church services? They echoed in my head Monday as I drove out to Centennial Campground. I volunteered to help the Salvation Army but wasn’t sure what I would encounter. I knew about the various incidents there and wasn’t sure how safe I would be.

Pastor Emily, three St. John members and I received a heartwarming welcome as we walked into the office! The Salvation Army members quickly introduced themselves, gave us a brief orientation about the residents, and provided guidance on safety concerns. They reminded us that their services are often called on during disasters and this encampment qualified. Then they shared their excitement that an organization had just volunteered to launder sleeping bags and towels regularly.

While I stayed in the office to help register new residents, the other four headed out to the campground to do the morning census. They traveled in pairs and had walkie-talkies in case they needed help.

What did we find? Neighbors seeking help ranging from hygiene kits, clothing, phone access and bus passes to tents and housing applications. We saw people wanting basic needs that most of us take for granted. I realized my whimpering about all this rain paled compared to their daily challenges.

Are you feeling the call to help our neighbors?

More volunteers are needed at the campground, especially on Mondays and Fridays.

Go to www.westernusa.salvationarmy.org/alaska

Then click on Volunteer in this community. Next, click on Volunteer Efforts at Centennial Campground. There are opportunities to help at the campground or at offsite locations.

If you don’t feel comfortable helping in person, donations of sleeping bags (new or clean used ones) are urgently needed and St. John is collecting sleeping pads.

 Heavenly Caregiver,

Open our hearts so that we reach out to our brothers and sisters in need. Help us give to others as you have given to us.

In your beloved Son’s name, Amen.

Betty Hertz is a longtime member of St John UMC, a Stephen Minister, Certified Lay Speaker and a member of SPRC. When not doing volunteer work, she is playing with her three goofy dogs.

Time for a new experience

Are you yearning to go deeper with God but unsure how? Would you like to grow in your experience of God while at the same time learning more about yourself? Are you open to learning and incorporating new ways of praying and connecting with God? Do you want to break out of a life focused on sin and live a life more full of God’s grace?

If you answered yes to these questions, you might want to explore the New Spiritual Exercises - a Retreat in Everyday Life. It’s a journey where we dive into familiar stories of Jesus’ life and grow in new understandings of those stories and new understandings about ourselves. We will learn new ways to pray and share our experiences with others in our retreat group. So if you are looking for an intimate and connective experience, maybe God is nudging you to explore this retreat.

For six days a week, you will be guided through meditations that help you explore your relationship with God, yourself, and others. Rather than experiencing a retreat condensed over three days (or 30 days in the case of St. Ignatius’ original spiritual exercises), this retreat offers daily times for you to connect with God over a year. You will also meet with Colleen for spiritual direction once a month. Spiritual direction is a space for you to reflect with someone on what God is doing during your prayer time. The retreat begins Aug. 31 and ends May 10.

Unsure of whether you want to commit?

Hear this prayer from Teilhard de Chardin titled, “Above All, Trust the Slow Work of God.”

Above all, trust the slow work of God.

We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay.

We should like to skip the intermediate stages.

We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new.

Yet it is the law of all progress that is made by passing through some stages of instability and that may take a very long time.

And so I think it is with you.

Your ideas mature gradually. Let them grow.

Let them shape themselves without undue haste.

Do not try to force them on as though you could be today what time — that is to say, grace — and circumstances acting on your own good will, will make you tomorrow.

Only God could say what this new Spirit gradually forming in you will be.

Give our Lord the benefit of believing that [the divine] hand is leading you, and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself in suspense and incomplete.

Above all, trust in the slow work of God, our loving vine-dresser.

Amen.

If you have questions or want to learn more about the Retreat in Everyday Life, contact Colleen Runty via email at colleen.runty@gmail.com.

Sermon Postscript

St. John member and Certified Lay Speaker Betty Hertz gave the message this past Sunday, July 3. If you missed it, watch it here (at about the 27-minute mark).

By Betty Hertz

 A few thoughts about my message on Sunday, July 3 …

I could have told the story from the point of view of the Jewish teachers. What turmoil they faced. “The old laws have gone away.”

 When I listed the fruit, I said, “Gentleness is being humble by considering others’ needs and hurts.” I thought, “I believe I am sensitive to others’ needs, but how about their hurts?” Just as they haven’t experienced mine, I haven’t experienced theirs. I need to be a better listener, so I understand views opposing mine.

My path to becoming a Certified Lay Speaker (CLM) started by taking the Basic Lay Servant course and the Preaching course in 2020 as one way to maintain some sanity during the pandemic. Then I learned about the United Methodist CLM program and felt a desire to take the additional courses. The classes included Prayer, UMC Polity, UMC Beliefs, Worship, and Gifts. I didn’t see myself being a “supply pastor” but wanted to learn more. The online courses through Be A Disciple.com challenged me and nudged me on the path God has set for me.

If you feel stalled on God’s path for you, I encourage you to talk to one of the pastors or me about moving forward to love and serve God and your neighbor.

A great way to start is to take the Basic course and the Preaching course, which Pastor Andy will teach this Fall.

 This verse from Ephesians 2:10, taken from The Inclusive Bible, humbles me and reminds me who is in charge.

 “We are God’s work of art, created in Christ Jesus to do the good things God created us to do from the beginning.”

All Knowing-One,

 Thank you for the gifts you give us.

Help us listen to Your Plan

And guide us on Your Path.

In the name of Jesus, the Great Teacher, Amen.

Register here for Pastor Andy’s Certified Lay Ministry BASIC Class. Register here for the CLM Preaching Advanced Class. Please note that the BASIC class is a prerequisite to the Preaching class.

Lenten Reflection

Photos by Susan Bates

 By Susan Bates

Cool wind swept through the hushed gathering as edges of the encircling dark desert began to glow with new light at our Easter sunrise service at an Army camp in the Middle East. Hosanna! I thought about how the women approaching Jesus’ tomb must have felt – surprisingly cold. Were they prepared for that morning, with heavy cloaks? Were they at all ready for what was to come? Are we prepared to exit what seems like a 2-year pandemic Lent with political polarization and sharpened demands to end climate destruction, health inequities, and social injustices? As Pastor Emily reminded us on Palm Sunday, remembering God in our past can guide us towards our future.

 Jewish writer Abraham Riesman suggests looking to Job for a way to rebuild from disaster. The “Great Deceiver” Satan used a bet with God to cause Job to be tempted to renounce his faith. Job lost everything in his personal life-pandemic. His health, livelihood, reputation and all his possessions were ruined. His children all died. Well-meaning friends urged Job through many chapters to go along with their opinions of events. They encouraged him (Job 11: 13-15) to confess to an unknown, supposed sin: “If you make your mind resolute and spread your palms to Him, if you throw out the sin in your hands and don’t let injustice dwell in your tents, then you will lift up your face without blemish; you will be secure and not fear.” Spin doctors with fake facts, they worked hard to socially influence Job (for his own good) towards lying to God.

 But Job stood firm. He repeatedly asserted his innocence. Agreeing with God’s assertations of His omnipotent nature, Job acknowledged he was only “dust” with which God could do whatever he wished. Opinions of who is most deserving of what and other judgments of men count relatively less when we realize it is really all up to God. Job exhibited complete faith. God won his bet. Riesman posits Job’s restoration to even better than his former status was due to his honesty, and that honesty is our best path out of our current world pandemic with its exposure of so many societal inequities.

 All powerful God, grant us just a bit of the patience of Job. Thank you for the space of Lent to reflect on what we must sacrifice to be honest about our past, and to move forward with just rebuilding in our future. Prepare us for what comes next with the strength to believe in your miraculous love and forgiveness. May we open hearts, open minds and open doors to others with the gentle kindness of honesty.

 St. John UMC member Susan Bates is a Certified Lay Servant.

Lenten Reflection

By Susan Bates

Hebrews 12: 1-2. “So then let’s also run the race that is laid out in front of us, since we have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us. Let’s throw off any extra baggage, get rid of the sin that trips us up, and fix our eyes on Jesus, faith’s pioneer and perfecter. He endured the cross, ignoring the shame, for the sake of the joy that was laid out in front of him, and sat down at the right side of God’s throne.”

These favorite verses have shone with different lights of meaning to me over the years. As a marathon-running young adult they told me to run straight, fast and true. I was so impatient to get on with life! Further into adulthood I searched for guidance about endurance, how to juggle work, family, community obligations and my personal well-being. Now as a senior, contemplating a return to Zumba and yoga at the YMCA (anything to get back into better shape), I seek inspiration to just lift one foot after the other.

Are not all Bible stories important in a similar way? They present situations essential to individual, family and societal life. They point to universal instances of “the human condition.” Across millenia of time, on a planet brimming with different languages and diverse cultures, we grapple repeatedly with these same subjects and seek divine guidance. Different characters represent various sides to the stories. I chuckle (silently since kindness counts) at arguments over which English language translation of the Bible is the one most “correct” because this is such gross misdirection. Unless God really did create humans just to make Her laugh? I believe She relishes diversity and the rainbow of different viewpoints. She built a house with many rooms and a body with many parts.

We loved Pastor Andy’s sermon about Judges 13-16 and the Israelites’ unjust leader, Samson. His rages and excesses were unsustainable “excess baggage” to his people, and the Philistines served the Lord by removing him. At our house we have our own Delilah, an 8-year-old granddaughter, so we explore this Bible story. I tell her a meaning of her name can be “Freedom Fighter,” as in the eponymous Israeli cruise missile. Like other strong women (Deborah, Jael) in the Book of Judges, Delilah was not a victim. She answered God’s call to stand up and use her own gifts to make a better life for all people.

When our Delilah admired JBER pool facilities at open swim time this weekend, I queried: “and wouldn’t you like to join the military when you grow up, like Nanna?” “No. I’m going to be an artist” came her reply. Perhaps this is a more effective path to peace? As a community we are blessed when children have opportunities to explore their own gifts, hone listening skills to hear their own callings and consider all racecourses to be open for them. We are doubly blessed when people of all ages are granted the resilience and support to adapt and improve as our world changes.

All powerful God, you have the plan. Help us love you as much for your complexities as for your simple comfort. May we find the courage to stand up and serve when called, especially in non-traditional ways. Loan us strength for our drooping hands and weak knees so we can make sure that no one misses out on your grace.

St. John member Susan Bates is a Certified Lay Servant.