together

Easter 2021

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A year ago, I began this Easter letter by saying…

 “This is an unusual time.

I read today that the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem is closed for the first time since the Black Plague in 1349.”

And I then proceeded to hope that we would return to worship withing a few short weeks, or months, and celebrate a postponed Palm Sunday and Easter celebration together.”

Clearly, that is not the way that things turned out.

Nevertheless, we have held together, encouraged one another, found new ways to worship, new ways to be “together,” endured, and overcome, many challenges along the way.

Today we can better see the light at the end of the tunnel.  Three different vaccines (so far) are available in the United States, and many of us have begun, or have already completed, the process of vaccination.  Things are, finally, beginning to “open up” and return to the normal that we once knew, and yet… many things have been changed forever.  We continue to watch the signs, and to discuss, and evaluate, ways in which we can meet safely without endangering the most fragile among us.  And we continue to hope that we can return to “in-person” worship… “soon,” and we hope that we will not be proven wrong as we were a year ago.

Nevertheless, we press on toward the prize for which Christ has called us and we continue to do as much as we are able to do.  We will celebrate Palm Sunday, together, in our church parking lot and online on YouTube for those who aren’t able to be here, or who don’t yet feel safe in trying.  And, because we can’t find a safe way to make Easter feel “normal” and include music and banners, and other things, we will celebrate Easter online as we did last year, and hope, again, that next year will be different.

I leave you with the same words that I used last year, simply because they still ring true.

In the meantime, I hope that you will take the time to use this time, before, during, or after the calendar Easter, to prepare your hearts and draw closer to God.

And, until we meet in worship again, please take the time to check on one another, take care of one another, and please call the church office if you need errands run, or if we can help to meet any other needs that you might have.

Take heart.  Have hope.  We will get through this… together.

Blessings,

Pastor John

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What is Your Charge Condition?

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runnin-on-empty-1532397In our house we have two places that we can find batteries.  New batteries, still in their packages, are in a box under our computer printer.  These are generally all pretty good except for a few cheap ones I got for free.  Used batteries, and all our rechargeable batteries, are in the basement on our “recharging table” that I built when all our kids each had a dozen toys that used batteries.  The charging table once had three different battery chargers where we could charge everything from triple ‘A’s to ‘D’ cells and 9V rechargeables.  And, just to be sure, we also have a battery tester that can measure the charge level in all of those sizes as well as in any button cell batteries that we might use in our bathroom scales, hearing aids, or whatever else.

And while this is obvious to anyone who has ever used batteries, the reason that we need a battery tester is that you can’t know a battery’s charge condition, that is, how much charge is on (or in) a particular battery without testing it.  But we humans aren’t all that different.  We put on a good face to the world, but we keep what’s inside hidden.  We might reveal our hearts to a few people who are closest to us, but we rarely talk about our emotional energy level, or our personal “charge condition.”  There are times, as parents, as laborers, and as human beings, that life simply takes a toll on us.  Times when we seem to just keep on giving, and the world keeps on taking our energy, until we feel as if we are running on empty and have nothing left to give.

Social Distancing isn’t helping.  While it’s possible that introverts may suffer less, extroverts gain energy through personal contact, from engaging in conversation, and from just being present with other people.  But the pandemic has stolen that from us.  If we’re lucky, we are still working, but we are working from home, or our employers have instituted policies that help us keep our distance from one another.  And while that might help to keep us safe from the Coronavirus, it drains us of the emotional energy that we need to survive and thrive.

If I need a battery from our charging table, I know that the batteries that are on the charger are good ones.  Current has been trickling into them so that when we need them, and their energy, they are ready.  But the batteries that have been sitting in a box, separated from the thing that fuels them, are anybody’s guess.  But they all look the same on the outside.  You can’t tell by looking at them.

And spiritually, we are fighting that same battle.  Because of the Coronavirus, and because of social distancing, we aren’t gathering, we aren’t worshipping together, and some of us aren’t even bothering to spend time on spiritual matters at all.  Without that weekly meeting, without those human interactions, it becomes all too easy to neglect our spiritual health altogether.

And as a result, our emotional and spiritual batteries are running down.  We increasingly feel drained, weak, and empty.  And in that condition, we won’t be ready to go when we, and our full strength, is needed.  When we feel drained and empty, we are less likely to stand up for the oppressed, to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, to do the work of the church, or to be Jesus to the world around us.

We must fight back.

Once we pay attention to our charge condition, it becomes easier to make it a priority.  The batteries on our charging table only need a little trickle of current to be prepared.  But they need to be exposed to the current for the charger to do any good.  We need that exposure too.  We need to find ways to charge our emotional and spiritual cores.  We need to fight.  Do whatever works for you.  Arrange to call a friend for an hour one, two, or three days every week.  Plan a Zoom meeting with your family for no other reason than just to talk.  Open your Bible.  Attend Sunday school via Zoom.  Read a Psalm every morning, and one chapter of the Gospels in the evening, read a hymn, sing a song by yourself, watch a worship service on YouTube (even if it’s Tuesday).  Write notes to your friends and to people who you know are isolated and lonely. 

We are not alone.

We must fight together.

We will get through this, but if we neglect our spiritual and emotional “charge condition” we will continue to drain our batteries and run on empty.

Do it.

Pick up the phone.  Open your Bible. 

Do something.

Do whatever it takes to charge your emotional and spiritual batteries.

Because we cannot survive or thrive if we’re empty.

 

 

 

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Doing What is Hard

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This past week my wife, Patti, and I traveled to Parris Island, South Carolina with other members of our extended family to watch our son Noah graduate from Marine Corps boot camp.  After graduation, we spent a day on the beach and then headed home.  During those twelve hours in the car, he shared some of the stories of how he had spent the last three months, of what he had done, and some of the things that happened during his training.  While I well remember the difficult things that we did during my eight weeks of Army basic training, what he did goes well beyond many of the things that I experienced.  For thirteen weeks these young men (the Marines also have women, but men and women train separately) did things that most of them, as well as their parents, would have thought impossible only a short time earlier.  But as I listened to Noah share his stories, I began to think of how this mirrors our walk with God and I thought of several lessons that would be good for us all to remember.

  • We are capable of more than we think we are – All of these young men accomplished things in thirteen weeks that they never dreamed they were capable of doing. And yet, all of them succeeded.  Why?  They were capable all along.  They had the ability all along.  All they needed was a little training, some encouragement, and the assurance that they could succeed.  We are exactly like them.  The only reason that we do not rise to the challenges that face us is our belief that we are not capable.  We may need a little training and a little encouragement, but it is often our failure to believe in ourselves that holds us back.
  • We don’t do what we can simply because we do not try – Similarly, when we allow our challenges to intimidate us, we retreat. We fail because we are too afraid to try.
  • We often shy away from doing what we can because it sounds difficult – Not everyone is cut out to be a United States Marine, but even fewer will attempt it because what they do sounds difficult. Make no mistake, it is.  What those young men did in thirteen weeks was almost certainly the hardest thing that they had ever done.  For some of them, it will, for the remainder of their lives, be the hardest thing they ever did.  But they will always remember that they succeeded and the memory of that success will make them less afraid to attempt other difficult things.  The worst thing that can happen if we attempt something difficult is that we might fail.  But if we do not try, we fail anyway.
  • We accomplish more as a team than as individuals – From the very beginning of boot camp the Marines are repeatedly reminded that they are a team. As platoons, as battalions, and whole of the Unites States Marines they are a team.  They succeed and fail together.  And together they regularly accomplish things that others believed to be impossible.  We regularly see thing play out in church as well.  There are many things that I could never do by myself but we regularly do together.  From Vacation Bible School, to Sunday worship, to mission projects and everything in between, our success comes only through all of us working together.  This is equally true of our larger church connection when many thousands, even millions of us work together to reduce poverty, build hospitals, and even reduce the death rate from malaria by fifty percent in continent of Africa.  We may not be the United States Marines, but our team is accomplishing amazing things every day.

I’m sure that there are more parallels that I could point out, but I hope that you will remember this:

You are capable of more than you imagine.

Never be afraid to try. Don’t be afraid to attempt big things, or try new things, because they sound difficult.  We often discover that the most worthwhile things are not easy.

But together, with God, we can accomplish the impossible.

 

 

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