Retreat is Good for the Soul

I'll be preaching this weekend but not in the pulpit at Edmond First UMC.  Rather, I'll be preaching outdoors, in an informal setting at Canyon Camp for our Family Camp there July 10-12.  It will be a time of retreat for families who will have their own cabin assignments.  We will be distanced throughout the camp so that there will be much less likelihood of exposure.  Much of the weekend will be unstructured but we will have spiritual activities in which families may engage (or not) at their own pace.

The labyrinth at Canyon is one place where people may engage in a spiritual walk as they pray.  We have a long history at Edmond First UMC of utilizing the labyrinth and there is an outdoor labyrinth on the UCO campus near the chapel if you would like to walk one either by yourself or with your family.  You can also utilize the picture and trace your finger along as you pray at home.

A labyrinth is not a maze in that there is only one way in and one way out.  It is a spiritual walk where we try to pray as we walk.  Often as we walk to the interior, one might focus on one’s own spiritual journey – an inward focus.  As you reach the center, you might give over the things you have prayed to God.  Allow them to be released.  As you walk back out, it is time to focus on the world around us – an exterior focus.  Pray about the wider world and your neighbors in it.

Because we walk with God, we are always changed when we walk a labyrinth.  We are different people when we come out than when we entered, even if just a little bit.  We try to observe silence as we walk it – children can think of it like the quiet game.  This respects the process and respects your neighbors as they experience it too.  Families can walk it simultaneously and don’t have to wait for someone to reach the middle before starting.

  

As we think about COVID-19, there have been a lot of changes in our lives.  One focus of the inward prayer might include the following questions:

What things have you missed the most since the isolation began in March?

If things got back to normal, what is one of the first things you would like to do?

It is okay for us to mourn changes.  Let God know what is making you sad.

God allows us to face all kinds of trouble in life.  Pray for strength for the journey ahead.  Imagine God raising you up on eagle’s wings and giving you resolve to roll with the punches.

In the middle:  Ask God for the resolve to take whatever may come.  Ask God for the ability to find joy in life even though it is different.

As you exit the labyrinth, here’s possible foci for your prayer:

As you have been in isolation, some of our relationships have suffered.  Who have you missed seeing?  Pray for their well-being.  Are you comfortable sharing with them that you prayed for them?

Which people are worse off than you?  Pray for them as well.  Ask for God’s presence to be real in their lives.  Be open to how God might be leading you to make a difference in their lives.

Sometimes a pause like this allows our society to reset certain practices.  Are there any practices you believe need to change in the world today?  If you can’t think of any, ask God to open your mind to some possibilities and remain in the silence for a while.  If something has come to you, make a mental note to discuss this with your family or someone close to you after the walk.

If you go through as a family, I would invite you to process your time together with the following questions after everyone is through:

What’s something you prayed to God about missing?

Who are some of the people you prayed for?  Are you going to let them know?  If so, how?

What changes could you imagine?  Is there anything you would like to do about them?

If there is one thing you could do to make life a little better for someone during COVID-19, what would it be?

This is one example of what we'll be doing this weekend.  There may still be room to sign up at okcamps.org/2020-family-camps/ if you decide you would like to go (assuming you're reading this prior to the retreat!).  But even if you can't, I would encourage you to gather with your family (or meet someone with masks for an outdoor outing) at the labyrinth on campus which is walking distance from our church parking lot.

We will still offer worship at church on Sunday.  Please make your reservations in advance!  We will also have online worship as well.  So whether you get away to our campground or retreat at home, I would invite you to spend some time with God on Sunday!

In Christ,

Sam

Rest for your Souls

Fifth Sunday after Pentecost, Year A

Lectionary Reading: Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30 (NRSV)

Many people may empathize with this feeling
even when we haven't done anything strenuous.

Sunday's reading of Matthew is much more popular than other passages.  Two weeks ago, the lectionary has Jesus uttering gem:

"whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me."                                                                  Matthew 10:38 (NRSV)

In contrast, Jesus tells us this week,

“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.                                       Matthew 11:28 (NRSV)

Same person.  Even the same Gospel writer.  When held next to one another, which would you choose? 

Of course, context is important.  People that hold scripture up side-by-side without it, often miss the larger, wider point.  In today's reading, we see Jesus speaking to his disciples.  He's frustrated by the fact that many people may come to "ooh and aah" over his miracles but fail to take repentance seriously (check out verses 20-24 that are left out of the lectionary reading for some reason).  We can see this frustration in the first part of the reading.

Jesus must be wondering, "Why are people so obtuse?"  to somewhat quote Shawshank Redemption.  It's as if Jesus gives us an easy way to go but people stubbornly choose the hard way.  It may be how we are wired.

In his book on teenage boys, He's Not Lazy, Adam Price tells the following anecdote about one of his patients telling him the following:

"Whenever I have a paper to do, I tell myself, 'I'll let future Colin worry about it.  You can trust him.'  Then, the night before the paper is due I say, 'That past Colin is such a jerk.'"

We can smile at this story because we've all got a little Colin in us.  How do we willingly choose the easy path of Jesus?  What does this path even look like?  We know that discipleship is not easy.  It requires a lot of reading, praying and then acting upon what we've read and prayed about.  So how do we engage?  Especially when:

We are weary. 

We are heavy laden. 

We would like some rest that is untroubled.

I hope to explore this idea through our worship service on Sunday.  If you are joining us in person at Edmond, we would invite you to register ahead of time.  If you are joining us online, we would invite you to check-in your presence in some way by making a comment for others to see.  My hope for this sermon is not to just trot out some simple answer that may seem trite like, "Just pray more" which really translates as "Be more faithful."  We'll see what I come up with.  I'll try not to leave the sermon writing up to "Future Sam" even though we can all trust him!

In Christ,

Sam

Photo by Dennis Tai via Flickr.com.  Used under the Creative Commons license.

All scripture quoted is from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Daily Devotion for Lent 2020 - Day 39 Good Friday

Scripture Reading: Acts 27:27-44 (NRSV)

Paul continues to drift with the ship full of crew and passengers as they seek some refuge in making it to shore.  It would have been frightening and not a little dangerous as they also began to go hungry.

The experienced sailors try to escape in a dinghy and Paul alerts the others that if they lose them, all are doomed.  This may have been a spiritual insight that Paul received or it may have been the common sense that you need people who know what they're doing on board if you are going to have a chance to survive.  When we see in verse 37 that there were 276 people on board, this is not a small ship or a small number of passengers.

Barely making it through the storms in life
may make you kiss the ground in thankfulness.

Luke writes Paul's advice for them to take bread as an allusion to Holy Communion.  While it would be doubtful that he would serve the sacrament to a ship full of people that didn't believe, we are reminded of the grace of God that provides us salvation through every meal.  It is when we are the hungriest that we are the most grateful for our food.

Once more, we see a centurion cast in a good light.  This pagan works on God's behalf as according to Paul, God's mission for him is to testify in Rome.  We are reminded in this that God works through whomever God chooses!

As I consider the sacrifices we are making on behalf of the coronavirus, I see correlation between Paul's being cast adrift and our society at large.  It seems as if we are floating, waiting for rescue.  We know that researchers are working diligently on a cure.  We hear that more tests are being made available which will give us a more accurate picture of local health.  But for the most part, we can only wash our hands and stay separated.

When we see the passengers going hungry, this reminds me that people continue to lose their jobs.  It seems like I'm hearing about more congregants every week whose employment has disappeared.  We need to make sure we don't abandon those who have lost their jobs. 

When the sailors hired to crew the ship want to leave the passengers to their fate, it reminds me of those who want to start up society again at the expense of the elderly or vulnerable.  The sailors have a duty to uphold even when it is difficult.  We all do even when it creates hardships.

It is a reminder that we will get through it together.  When Paul broke bread with his shipmates, it united them with one another.  As we stay connected, we are united in Christ in order to bring as many as possible through to safety on the other side.  Somehow that seems a fitting thought to me for Good Friday.

Prayer for the day:

O God, as on this solemn day we bow at the foot of the cross,
may the love that was manifested there stream into our hearts,
challenging and subduing them and winning from us that response
which is your will for us.  
Through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Prayer by Leslie D. Weatherhead, England, 20th Century

Photo by grixti via Flickr.com.  Used under the Creative Commons license.

Daily Devotion for Lent 2020 - Day 38

Scripture Reading: Acts 27:1-26 (NRSV)

The first part of this passage reminds me of a road trip journal.  We are seeing various ports in the Mediterranean Sea that give us an idea of Paul's journey to Rome.

The trouble with the storm reminds me of Jonah's flight to Tarshish.  While it is clear that Paul is sailing to Rome on behalf of God's call on his life, Jonah had done the opposite.  God was the one behind the storms in Jonah's day as we see in Jonah 1:4-6:

But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and such a mighty storm came upon the sea that the ship threatened to break up. Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried to his god. They threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten it for them. Jonah, meanwhile, had gone down into the hold of the ship and had lain down, and was fast asleep. The captain came and said to him, “What are you doing sound asleep? Get up, call on your god! Perhaps the god will spare us a thought so that we do not perish.”

Jonah seems to have a sense of calm about him even when running from God!  He's able to sleep through the storm and had to be awakened.  We find that Jonah's answer will be to save the ship and crew through sacrificing himself by jumping into the raging waters.

Paul doesn't make this same offer, likely because he doesn't see the storm as a stumbling block from God.  We do see them throw the cargo overboard as the mariners did in Jonah's day.  God's message to Paul is that everyone is going to live through this ordeal.

We also remember that Jesus slept through a storm on the waters.  We see it in Luke 8:22-25:

One day he got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.” So they put out, and while they were sailing he fell asleep. A windstorm swept down on the lake, and the boat was filling with water, and they were in danger. They went to him and woke him up, shouting, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And he woke up and rebuked the wind and the raging waves; they ceased, and there was a calm.  He said to them, “Where is your faith?” They were afraid and amazed, and said to one another, “Who then is this, that he commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him?”

While Paul has worked miracles including exorcisms, healing and even raising one from the dead, he evidently doesn't have authority over the waves as Jesus did.  I'm sure it wasn't for lack of prayer!

I feel like I'm waiting for the rainbow
at the end of the storm.

This is a good reminder that we often sail into storms in life not of our making.  We get caught up in chaos that just happens.  This is what it feels like as we bunker down for COVID-19.  We were minding our own business when business as usual just came to a screeching halt.  Some people are feeling annoyed.  Others are frightened.  We might even have the idea of "just a little bit longer..." and the whole thing will go away and we'll be back to normal any day now.

We remember that when the storms rage, we turn to our faith.  We would like for Jesus to wake up and rebuke the pandemic.  Barring that, we would like to hear a word like Paul's that says, "I urge you now to keep up your courage, for there will be no loss of life among you" and "God has granted safety to all those who are sailing with you."

Ultimately, we will make it through this.  It will be difficult.  We will likely be touched by grief and loss.  But we remember that God sails with us.  And every age has its storms.

Prayer for the day:

Lord, our heavenly Father, who orders all things for our eternal good, mercifully enlighten our minds, and give us a firm and abiding trust in your love and care.  Silence our murmurings, quiet our fears, and dispel our doubts, that rising above our afflictions and our anxieties, we may rest on you, the rock of everlasting strength.  Amen.

Prayer from New Church Book of Worship, 1876

Photo by Rob Romard via Flickr.com.  Used under the Creative Commons license.

All scripture quoted is from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.