When I was a new pastor, I had a friend who would always try to find the best possible way to explain someone else’s behavior. She would, as we came to call it, eighth commandment something. It was annoying a good amount of the time, to be perfectly honest.

This last week, the opportunity presented itself to reflect on the history of music I learned about while on sabbatical. You see, as much as my time in the South was focused on Civil Rights and the African American experience, you can’t learn about those things without learning about the art that was created out of these experiences and the deep impact that art had on our country and the world…

It’s been a month and a half since I returned from sabbatical, and while December was filled with all the things Advent and Christmas are full of, I continue to reflect on my time away. Over and over again, I remember the stories of how human beings are born to be in community.

Embracing the Wilderness. This is the “theme” of my sabbatical this year. I am so thankful for this time away to spend intentional time in the “wilderness” (literal and figurative) to more deeply connect to my self and my passions so that I can navigate the next five years with integrity, joy and strength.

St. Augustine once said, “Solvitur ambulando.”

Solvitur ambulando: “It is solved by walking.”

I am positive that Augustine didn’t know all the brain science behind why walking helps our body think better, but he knew there was something there.

I love Disney. Almost as much as I love Jesus…

Wider Welcome, Deeper Love

What does this mean? This is a question that I have gotten a lot in the last couple of months. So often we want solutions…

As I consider the upcoming program year being a “Year of Welcome”, I have been tasked with considering how this theme (and core value) can be carried out in worship and in our Caring Ministries.

Like many people did during the pandemic, I used this disruption in my life to reflect on what I discovered was important and then decided how I can keep those things going forward. Things like how much I enjoyed having dinner with my family each day, or working outdoors at home really was helpful for reading and creativity. One thing I realized I missed while we were all separated was teaching, so that became one of the three things I decided to focus on as we returned to in-person opportunities.

For years now, as I continue to study human behavior, I have heard from people far smarter than myself about the importance of making time to think a regular part of your daily routine. On those days when I manage to carve out such time, I find that I am better able to face whatever comes my way, so when Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit and Smarter, Faster, Better, said this thing during an interview, I shouldn’t have been surprised. It certainly shouldn’t have stuck with me days later. Except that I don’t remember my other teachers making the connection between deep thinking and productivity so clearly. Except they did, if we consider productivity to be more about staying connected to your “why” than about getting more things done. I haven’t finished listening to the interview, mostly because I keep going back and listening to sections again, but I have been led more deeply into the connection between deep thinking, productivity and my “why”, which is nothing more than another way to think about living out your values, stating your purpose statement, your personal purpose statement.

Easter is messy, the Spirit said as I was working on the backdrop for Easter. It was the day before Easter, the sermon had been written and there she was: Easter is messy.

“I can’t wait for Easter!”

I have heard some form of this comment from several corners of my world. This deep need for the resurrection story. It feels as if the world has been in the tomb and resurrection day is nearly here. I too feel it in myself, in my body, this need for the resurrection story. Some days it feels like my bones are jumping around, eager to be free of their confinement, or maybe that is my spirit longing for days when being free felt differently.

I was sad going into Ash Wednesday, missing you all and missing the rituals of the day whose meaning is made stronger by your presence. It was so strange, even after 11 months, to stand staring at empty pews just beyond the camera. I was sad going to sleep on Ash Wednesday, happy to have seen some of you in person, but it still wasn’t quite right.

One thing 2020 taught me is to slow down and pay attention. To wonder and to be curious about what the Holy Spirit is doing in our lives and our world. As 2020 came to a close, I wondered about 2021 and how I would grow in my faith. The conclusion I came to was that there could be no better way to enter 2021 then to ground myself in the love of God and open myself to the Spirit through something as simple as a word? For several decades now, churches have been practicing the giving of “star words” at the time of Epiphany. Businesses are even joining in! Having a word of intention for a year is quite the thing now. It was quite serendipitous that the materials we were using for Advent included “star words”. I looked forward to what word would come my way.

It’s November. I don’t know why that feels momentous, but then again, every new month feels like we have made it through the latest obstacle and are one step closer to the end—of what I am not sure, but that is how it is feeling to me. It’s November. We made it.

Dear friends, this newsletter article is taunting me for I have few words right now that feel or sound edifying. My soul actually longs for fewer words and more stillness. So I am going to invite you into a moment of stillness with me, right now, as you are reading this newsletter. We live in a world that is so full of so many things and there are days when the burden of these things is too much and the words are too loud. Paul tells us that if we speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, we are a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. I think we can all testify to the truth of that - there has been a lot of noisy gongs and clanging cymbals in my world lately.

I am determined to get my newsletter article in on the day it is due. Typically my article is late because I have a hard time deciding what to talk about, there are so many ideas running through my head. This month, there are a whole bunch of things, but not one of them is enough to fill up the space I have. So as I sit here in my home office, longing for the entertainment of baby birds being fed by a momma bird right outside my window, it occurred to me that all the things running around in my head are the things I would talk about if I were seeing you face to face.