Reflection for Thursday, March 19 from Pastor Lauren

May All the Earth Rejoice!

Psalm 148 is one of my favorite Psalms because it knits all of creation together and helps us to attune our ears to the cries of joy and sorrow shouted by the other living beings we share the planet with.

For too long, I believe we have been ignoring the cries of the earth as she asks us to save her from pollution and waste that fills the sea, land, and air. Last night in our Lenten class, Cat shared how this time of staying home is allowing even the earth to rest as cars stay off the road and planes are grounded.

Though I’m not suggesting that what’s happening with this virus is a good thing, I am suggesting that God can create good out of chaos -- in fact, isn’t that always what God does? Perhaps in this time we can re-learn how to be in community with one another -- and the earth -- as we all are faced with thinking about the things of life that matter most.

Today, I invite you to look outside. Notice the hints of spring that are starting to come up out of the ground, in the trees, or heard in the songs of the birds returning home from winter. Take a moment to read Psalm 148 and think about the ways all of creation both rejoices and calls out for help. Think about the ways your actions can help creation to flourish rather than wilt.

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Psalm 148, Julia Seymour

The Words From Her Mouth Psalter

Let’s get excited about God!

You jaguars and grizzly bears, roar to the One who made and keeps you.

Let’s dance with divine inspiration!

You dolphins and frogs, leap with joy toward the highest heaven.

Let’s sing together a song of salvation!

You wolves and red-tailed hawks, exult in your freedom and belovedness.

Let’s worship the Spirit who brings order out of chaos.

You sea otters and kangaroos, give thanks with your whole being.

Let’s listen to the Love that is the source of all healing.

You pronghorns and pandas, rest in the everlasting arms of provision.

Let’s celebrate grace, unearned concession freely and generously given!

You snails and blue whales embrace your vocations.

Let’s praise God as a united creation!

You siblings and friends, you neighbors and strangers, you ascetics and revelers,

let us praise the Lord – eternal Love poured out, among, and for us.

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Reflection for Wednesday, March 18 from Pastor Lauren

Here We Are to Worship!

When I was little, I loved climbing the fence and going to my neighbor’s house. Joseph, a carpenter, made me a set of little steps so I wouldn’t snag my clothes on the chain-link fence when I jumped down. They left their garage door open for me to come through whenever I wanted to and told me where the hidden key was incase they forgot. Once inside, I’d usually find Mary baking or painting as she was an amazing artist and teacher.

Yes, their names really are Joseph and Mary. Yes, Joseph is a carpenter. And yes, they are Christian. In fact, growing up they were the most devout Christians I knew. At their house, we prayed over all of our snacks and meals. Scripture lined the walls. Bibles were all over the house and crosses hung on many walls. The Christian or Gospel station was always playing in their home. Joseph created a giant manger for their front yard and they waited to put baby Jesus inside until Christmas morning. Their home was always warm, it often smelled like cookies, and it sounded like church.

So, today, let us find warmth, comfort, and make our homes sound like church! Today, I invite you to turn up the praise and worship in your house. Praise God as you bake cookies, clean, organize, work, or get ready this morning.

I made a worship playlist for you with some of my favorites: Click here to worship with me! (There are some great videos on this list too!)

Reflection for Tuesday, March 17 from Pastor Lauren

One Little Light

Today, I invite you to worship by lighting a candle. If you don’t have a candle, click on this virtual candle.

The phrase “We have lit a candle in the wilderness and it will never be extinguished” is on the largest window in Gunnison Chapel in upstate New York. It is a phrase that brings me courage and hope, a phrase I think might be able to bring us a sense of peace as we light our candles today.

When in the wilderness, there is often an experience of the unknown. Even on a marked trail, you never know what you’ll encounter. Perhaps you will come upon a beautiful view, see a brilliant bird, or be surprised by a spider web that meets your forehead. Sometimes, the wilderness is dark, cool, and moist. Sometimes, the wilderness is arid, bright, and dry. The wilderness is always a place of surprise that can test us and push us.

To light a candle in the wilderness is then to bring the unknown into focus, to bring hope to a perilous situation, or to bring unexpected joy to a time of confusion. It is a reminder that one small act can bring forth great courage, that one candle might shine on and on unto eternity, and that our light might make way for other lights to shine.

Today, as you light a candle, what does its light mean for you? For your neighbor? For the world?

As you contemplate on these questions, take a moment to listen to Light of the Holy Spirit by India Arie. May the light from this one small candle fill you and make you whole. May it spark in you a renewed connection to the Spirit, and may it give hope in the wilderness.

Reflection for Monday, March 16 from Pastor Lauren

Building an Altar

It is looking more and more likely that many of us will be staying indoors, turning our dwellings into our workplaces, restaurants, cafés, studios, and social centers. Social engagement will look more like phone calls than being at church. What will this look like for worship?

This week, our Lenten focus is on worship and as our experience of worship will be different for the next few weeks, it is the perfect time to consider what worship means to us and to God. When we worship, we give adoration and reverence to God. Worship is a time when we attune ourselves to the guidance of the Spirit, lean into the wisdom of people of faith throughout generations, and more fully consider our role in bringing the kin-dom of heaven to earth by our words, actions, and postures.

As we enter into thinking about worship this week, I invite you to find a space in your home that can be your altar -- maybe it’s temporary, for this time, or maybe it’s permanent. Altars are spaces dedicated to the holy, places we can find God routinely. They can be in our homes, in our cars, even in our wallets or our imaginations. In our home, we have an altar that faces the door. Is it filled with photos of our ancestors, sacred texts, meaningful objects, and mementos of cultures around the globe. On our altar are also candles, incense, and sage -- relics of the faith of our ancestors and objects that can bring our senses into worship.

Where is your altar? What is on it? How can you worship at your altar this week?

If you are able, send in a photo of your altar or describe it so we can worship with you.

Reflection for Friday, March 13 from Pastor Brad

These last couple of days have been wonky and even disconcerting. In view of the unsettledness around us (perhaps even within us), we wake to this morning as people of hope. We believe love is moving even when the fixtures of the world are less fixed than we thought. God’s love is so deep and so broad that it is at work now in ways that are beyond what we can even see or ask for or imagine (Ephesians 3:20).

So, we take hope and heart, and as we together come to the table of God’s grace on this day, we pray: for the fullness of life in all Creation; for the sick and for those among us who are most physically and economically vulnerable; for caretakers, who provide relief and healing. We let our own vulnerable lives fall into the gracious love in which God always and everywhere holds us and we remember together that “Our help comes from God, who made heaven and earth…..God will keep us. God will keep our life. God will keep our going out and our coming in from this time on and forevermore.” (Psalm 121)

Reflection for Thursday, March 12 from Pastor Brad

I’m not an especially adventurous cook. I sometimes wish that I were more so; that I could combine ingredients that seem (to me at least) a little exotic or unfamiliar to make a sumptuous dish that really expands my taste buds and leaves me with a new way my appetite is filled. I know that it takes practice to become a good cook and that as one grows in confidence, one feels more and more confident in trying new ways of cooking and experimenting with wider combinations of ingredients.

What goes into a good meal for you? I don’t just the mean the ingredients of the food dishes that are on the table, but the other, indispensable parts of a meal that really bring it to life; that can make any table a holy table -- a table that seems set apart from the ordinary; a table that seems sacred and whole. Perhaps those ingredients include great food to be sure but good company - new company, even, when you eat with folks that you haven’t eaten with before. Maybe those ingredients include, too, thanksgiving for what is before you or spiritual space to accommodate everything that might come up at the table -- laughter and joy and perhaps even tears and care for sorrow at the table. There are so many ingredients that could make a meal a holy meal. What might they be for you? Have your meals this week included perhaps even a few of the things that might be on your list? What might you add to your ingredients’ list to try on in coming days of your table sharing?

In our class video this week, we saw an image of some of the many different foods that were part of table fellowship scenes from scripture. Time after time, table sharing in scripture -- and the foods themselves that were shared -- become signs for us of the way that God uses tables to break through the bounds of what our tastes already know and grow the palates of our compassion, gracefulness and humanity in this life.

Thanks be to God for the way your table sharing expands that palate of life before you, and for all of the wonderful tastes of this life that God will reveal through the days ahead.

Reflection for Wednesday, March 11 from Pastor Brad

“Eat with me, Uncle Brad!”

I am wandering in the middle of the open kitchen at my brother’s home. I grab another slice of pizza from the counter and pace -- rather aimlessly -- back and forth across the kitchen. I look toward the living room and pay only a moment’s attention to whatever was on the TV, and these words from my niece beckon me almost as though they were a call from heaven. “Eat with me, Uncle Brad!” They are so full of energy and hope; full of desire and yearning! She saved a place for me right next to her, and her desire in that moment was that I would take that place and be with her in the simple delights of putting pizza in our mouths and laughing at silly things. When I take her invitation, my mind seems to settle and become less distracted and my spirit feels like it stretches out to hold the beauty and grace of just being with another beautiful person. (I hope I tell my niece how much her simple invitations to share table fellowship with her mean to me! :-) )

I think Jesus was an “Eat with me, friends!” kind of person. Jesus said things kind of like: “Let’s keep this good party at Cana going a little longer!” or “Hey Zaccheus, I’m coming over to your house today!” or “Of course, there’s enough bread and fish for all of us!” Jesus was eager to share good table fellowship where everyone had a place and everyone shared in the goodness of God that was revealed at table. Jesus lived an invitational life and invites our lives to do the same in how and with whom we practice table sharing.

As I’m reflecting a bit about table sharing in the love of Christ this week, I pray that my life might lean a little more toward that unabashed, invitational graciousness of Christ’s table sharing with others; especially others that I may not yet know so well.. I think my niece is helping to show me the way. For you, this Lent -- perhaps this week -- may there be moments when the energy of your life speaks those welcoming words, “Hey, eat with me!”