We have all heard the advice from the medical folks, wash
your hands, cough or sneeze into your elbow, keep your distance from others,
stay home if you feel sick, etc. All the health advice is great, but what of
our spiritual health during times of high stress?
Deborah Ringen, Transitional Minister of Health and Wellness
for the Southern New England Conference, UCC has written a beautiful essay on
spiritual health and stress release during this time. Here is a bit of what Ringen
has to say:
“Spiritual, as well as physical and emotional self-care requires deliberate energy and time spent engaged in activities required for well-being and good health, including rest and relaxation. The first step toward self-care is recognizing our physical, emotional stress and anxiety. Feeling tension and stress in our bodies as headaches, backaches, joint pain and high blood pressure, in our minds with worrying, depression, and low self-esteem, and in our spirit as a feeling of emptiness, or distance from God tells us we need to respond with care. Our overall health depends on getting some exercise every day, making sure we eat lots of fruits and vegetables, drinking plenty of water, sleeping 7-9 hours each night, keeping up to date with our vaccines and taking our medications as prescribed. Physical, mental and spiritual health go hand in hand.
As activities and events are canceled you might find yourself with extra time. What will you do with it? Maybe this is an opportunity to care more for our emotional and spiritual needs. We can learn to slow down to focus on those we love, maybe even spend some time learning a new spiritual practice. We can lean on God who will sustain us!”
She goes on to say:
“Time for personal prayer, bible study, learning a new prayer practice such as Lectio Divina or meditation or relaxation breathing may help us hear God more clearly. We can use our time wisely and invite God in to bring healing to ourselves, our families, our neighbors and the world.”
This commentary was written as the opening segment of my new radio show Faith in America.
I recently came across this profound saying:
“By being taught to avoid talking about politics and
religion has led to a misunderstanding of politics and religion. What we should
have been taught was how to have civil conversations about a difficult
topic.”
By not having these conversations, we have forgotten how to
have civil conversations about difficult topics. There was a time, in the not
so distant past, when a conversation could be had about an issue, and it would
remain on the subject. Sure, it might get heated, and maybe tempers would flare
a bit, but the conversation or debate usually stayed on track. It was thought
disrespectful and uncouth if you will, to make the discussion personal. Now I
don’t mean not talking about yourself and how the issue being discussed affects
you on a personal level. I mean attacking the speaker on a personal level to
try and discredit them not on the facts of the issue or the weakness of their
argument, but attacking the speaker to discredit them personally. Debates used
to be won and lost based on the facts of the argument and not the personality
of the speaker.
It seems today that if we cannot defend our position or
worse have no interest in defending our position, we go on the attack
personally. Recently this happened to me. I was discussing an issue and the
person on the other side, obviously did not like something I said, so they went
on the attack. They attacked my profession and me as a person but did not try,
in the slightest, to defeat my position with facts, just personal attacks.
People on both sides of the theological and political spectrum are guilty of
this; this is certainly not a one-sided issue.
We need to get back to the time when we focused on the
position, the facts of the argument, and not the person taking a particular
position.
The other part of this is the misguided notion that we can
agree to disagree. I will admit that on some issues, this can be the case, but
not every position is valid or equal. For example, there are not two sides to
racism, white supremacy, or white nationalism. There are not “good people
on both sides” there is only one side to these issues. I will not buy into
the fallacy that because we have freedom of speech in America, the statement
everyone is making is valid. I am not willing to surrender the moral high
ground on issues whatever that issue might be. Agreeing to disagree is not a
solution, walking away or not engaging is a solution, but agreeing to disagree
is not. Who is the arbiter of this, I am, you are, society is. Society
determines what is acceptable and what is not. And society has determined that
there is no room for some opinions. You have every right to hold your opinion,
and I have every right to disagree with you. By the way, if I disagree with
you, if I fight against everything you stand for, I am not oppressing you; that
is a weak response.
The final point is learning how to listen. Sure, we listen
to each other, but are we hearing them. Most of the time and I am guilty of
this as anyone; we are only listening to find a spot where we can jump in and
push our point. Active listening is a
technique that is used in counseling, training, and solving disputes or
conflicts. It requires that the listener fully concentrate, understand,
respond, and then remember what is being said. Active and attentive listening
requires that we not only hear what the other person is saying but that we
listen to them, really listen to them with an openness to understanding and
learning.
You cannot force someone to comprehend a message they are
not ready to receive. Still, you must never underestimate the power of planting
the seed.
That is what I hope to do here on Faith in
America is plant seeds, get us all to think a little more about things, grow a
little more, and yes, make this world, or this part of it anyway a kinder
gentler place. We may not always agree, but if we disagree, I hope it is with
dignity and respect.
To quote the late, great Frank Sinatra, “And now, the
end is near, and so I face the final curtain.” Although my time here is
coming to a close, this is not an ending but a beginning. Nicky and I are
embarking on a new ministry, and soon, you will start a new ministry with a new
Settled Pastor. I know that God has already chosen the person that will come
here and minister with you, and I also know that whoever that person is, they
will be very lucky.
My being here was actually a fluke, or some might say the
work of the Holy Spirit. I was in search of a new position, and, on a whim, I
sent an email to the New Hampshire Conference and asked if they had an interim
position open within driving distance of Boston. I received a rather quick
response with only one Church, First Congregational Church of Salem.
I read over your profile and asked that mine be sent to the
search committee. I drove up here in March a little less than a month after my
mother had died, not knowing what to expect, but from the moment I walked in, I
felt at home and welcome here. If memory serves, I called Nicky from the car
and told her that I hoped I would hear from the search committee with an offer,
and well, I got one.
I first stood in this spot on the first Sunday in June 2018,
not all that long ago. I had come here after a not so pleasant experience in my
previous Interim, and so I was tired and a little disheartened with this thing
called Pastoral Ministry. Pastoral ministry is not easy. There are a lot of
demands placed on pastors these days, and we have to be Jack’s and Jill’s of
all trades. One moment we are working on a sermon or a bulletin, and the next,
we are at the bedside of someone who is taking their last breath. Pastoral
ministry under ideal circumstances takes a toll on the minister, and my
previous position was not ideal.
I had all but given up on the idea of staying in ministry. I
had started looking at teaching again or going back to school to finish my
clinical time for counseling, but apparently, God was not finished with me yet.
I’ve mentioned my struggle with depression and PTSD. Both come from a
combination of things, one of which is past church work. But I resolved to give
it one more shot. I told God that if he wanted me in Salem, I would go, but my
expectations were not high.
So I came and met all of you, and things started to
brighten. Then July came, and I had Sunday’s off! For the first time in close
to 20 years, I had weekends off again! I have told a few of you that the Wednesday
services during the summer were indeed the tipping point for my coming here. I
was considering another position, but it indeed was the Wednesday services that
decided for me. It is a great respite during the summer months to have those
weekends, and I have told the search committee to play that up when
interviewing candidates.
I am not sure how many of you have ever heard of the Barna
Group, but they are a group that studies trends in society as they relate to
the Church. They have launched a study called The State of the Church 2020, and
although it looks at the Church today and the future, the research has been
ongoing for about ten years. The first part of the study had to do with pastors
and what is on their minds concerning the state of the Church. 51% said that
reaching a younger audience was top on their list of concerns. The pastors were
then asked about the challenges facing the Church today, and 71% said that
watering down the message of the Gospel was of great concern as it is with me.
Although I believe that God is still speaking and that it is our responsibility
to listen to that still small voice continually, we cannot water down the
message of the Gospel which is for me the very passage that we heard this
morning, love God with all you have and love your neighbor, your black, brown,
gay, straight, Muslim, Jew, poor, rich, hungry, Palestinian, Iranian, legal,
illegal, short, fat, tall, skinny, young, old, transgender, binary, democrat,
republican, whatever they are and
whoever they are we are commanded to love them. I hope that I have made that
point abundantly clear during my time here.
St. Paul said it best; if I do not have love, I am nothing
more than a clanging symbol or a crashing gong. Without love, we are nothing
but cranky, hate-filled people who would instead build walls than longer
tables. We would rather honor statutes of old white men than human beings
created in the image of God. We would rather separate families at our borders
than work towards a sensible solution that keeps people together and obeys the
law at the same time. We would rather rant online, and call people names and
bully people, then really listen to what others have to say and truly
understand them. But if we have love, all of those barriers have to be broken down
because that is what love does. Hate is what crucified Jesus Christ, but love
is why he did it!
I do not care what your theological or political philosophy
is, but if it does not begin and end with love, it has nothing to do with
Christianity because, as we heard this morning, on these two hang all the law
and all the prophets. Love God and Love Neighbor is what it means to be a
Christian that is it! And those are not my words but the words of the Word of
God!
I have walked with some of you as you buried loved ones and
walked alongside me on the day my father died. I have baptized some of you, and
you celebrated with Nicky and me when we announced that we are expecting our
baby in April. I have, or soon will, marry some of you, and those of you who
have been married for a long time have witnessed to me about the power of love
between two people. I have fed you spiritually through my teaching and
preaching, and you have fed me with your presence, your questions, your
disagreements, and your love. I have stood at this table in that sacred moment
of communion when we enter into the presence of the Savior, and we have fed
each other’s souls. I have driven hundreds of miles and sat thousands of hours
in traffic, but I do not regret any of them, and I would gladly do it all
again, just not too soon, okay?
As I stand here today, I genuinely believe that I am leaving
you in a better place than I found you, and I know that I am leaving in a
better place than you found me. I am not sure how effective I ministered to you,
but I can honestly say you have ministered to me in ways that you will never
know. You have restored my faith and passion for pastoral ministry, and you
have refreshed my soul, and for that, I will be eternally grateful.
Before I go, and at the risk of leaving someone out, there
are a number of people I need to thank, these come in no particular order. For
starters, the search committee that brought me here. I know we had a picture
taken a few weeks ago but if any of you are here please stand and be recognized.
It is their fault I am here.
Merri, you have been a friend and a colleague and I wish I
could take you with me. I hope you all know what a wonderful gift you have in
the ministry that Merri brings here.
Mark and Laura, you have been my constant guides through
these days and have made worship planning easy, thank you for your constant
attention that you pay to ensure that all of our worship services are
worshipful. And thanks for the glass of water!
David, for your gift of music that enables us to be
transformed and that brings a great sense of meditation to worship, and some
fun.
To the choir, it has been said that those who sing pray
twice. You are a wonderful gift. Keep on sharing that gift with the community.
Alan, who I know is basking in the sun on Hilton Head, Thank
you for the times you filled in and share your gift with all of us. And to
Norma, who knows everything about this place. If you have any questions about
anything, just ask Norma.
To Karen in the office and Edie before her, they are the
backbone of this place and working with me is not easy but they made it look
easy.
To the VLT, thank you for your constant leadership and your
desire to serve God and to serve this local Church.
And to all of you who came here week in and week out and put
up with me, thank you.
And now, the end is truly near, but my final curtain will
not be until after the Ash Wednesday Service on Wednesday night. But the time
has come for me to go to another place where I hope I might be of some service.
I ask that you pray for me as I begin a new ministry with the folks at the
Second Congregational Church in Beverly and pray for them as well. They have
gone through a lot in the last year, and they are in need of prayers. Know that
I will continue to pray for all of you, and I know that God has great things in
store for you if you just keep listening to his voice.
The Season of Lent can and should be a time of deepening
your spiritual practice. Part of that practice should include daily reading
from Scripture. As I did during the Advent Season, I am starting a Scripture
Journey for Lent.
Starting on Ash Wednesday and for the days following, I will
send a daily email that includes prayer as well as a passage of Scripture to
assist you along the path of Lent. I hope that these days of Lent will help you
increase your spiritual practice and deepen your love of Scripture.
If you wish to participate, send me an email, and I will add you to the list and look for the first email on Ash Wednesday, February 26, 2020
This daily email will make the process of the journey that
much easier to participate in since it will be there in your mailbox each morning.
I promise I won’t spam you and you can unsubscribe at any time.
Please join me on this Scripture Journey for Lent and let us
reclaim Lent as a time of Spiritual Preparation.
A lot is going on this Gospel passage that we heard from
Matthew this morning. This passage comes at the tail end of the Sermon on the
Mount and is often overlooked. Jesus
speaks about confession, forgiveness, and reconciliation, but he also speaks of
adultery, divorce, and swearing oaths. These are all challenging passages in
our 21st-century lives under the best of circumstances, let alone the worst. We
can overlook so much as long as we can get what we want. Justification is not a
spiritual virtue.
But this morning, I want us to consider this idea of
confession, reconciliation, and forgiveness.
One of the greatest joys of my pastoral ministry has been
helping people reconcile with others. Bringing people together who, for
whatever reason, have been estranged some of them for years. It takes a certain
amount of boldness on the part of both people to be reconciled to one another,
and there needs to be a certain amount of forgiveness on both sides.
Just as I believe that love is at the center of our
spiritual lives as Christians, this idea of forgiveness needs to be right there
alongside love.
“Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar
and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave
your gift there in front of the altar. First, go and be reconciled to them;
then come and offer your gift.” (Matthew 5:23-24)
“If you are offering your gift at the altar.” You
have heard me mention before about the Jewish law concerning forgiveness and
reconciliation. People were required to bring an offering for sacrifice; the
size depended on the size of the sin. The more sins, the more offerings one had
to bring. Jesus ended all of that by offering himself as a sacrifice, in a
spiritual sense for all that we have or will do. Jesus is the ultimate
sacrifice, the lamb that was slain for us, but that does not mean it ends
there.
The gift we have, the gift we bring is our lives. Each time
we come here to the Temple, if you will, we offer ourselves as a gift to God.
“Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.” We come here, with others,
to give of ourselves; time, talent, and treasure for the work of the Kingdom of
God. But before we can do that, we need to be reconciled with others, not just
the ones nearby.
“If you remember that your brother or sister has
something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First, go
and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.” First, go and
be reconciled.
Last week, I spoke about the need to love our enemies for
perfect love demands that we love all. Several of you came to me after and
talked about how difficult it is to love certain people, and I am right there
with you. I will remind you that Jesus commanded we have to love them; he said nothing
about liking them, and there is a difference. We are commanded to love everyone
because we are all created in the image and likeness of God, and we have that
Divine Spark in each of us. We love them because, the wretches that we are, God
loves us.
One of my favorite social justice warriors is Dorothy Day,
the founder of the Catholic Worker Movement. Dorothy believed is radical
forgiveness and reconciliation, and she used to tell those working with her,
“If each of us could just remember that we are all created in the image of
God, then we would naturally want to love more.”
But what about forgiveness?
Forgiving someone has nothing to do with the other person. Forgiveness
is all about you. When someone has harmed you in some way until you forgive them,
that person holds a piece of you captive; they control a part of your life. We
cannot move on from a situation or begin to heal until we have forgiven. And
the key thing to remember is it does not matter if the person asks for
forgiveness or even acknowledges that they were wrong. The other person may not
even know you were harmed; it does not matter. Forgiveness is for you. Forgives
us as we forgive others.
But just like love does not equal like, forgiveness does not
mean forgetting. Forgiveness does not mean we do not want to see justice
served; forgiveness releases the hold the other person or the situation has on
you so you can begin to heal. What the other person does with it is up to them,
not to you.
Several years ago, out of the blue, I received a letter from
someone I went to middle and high school with. We were in the same class, but
we were not friends by any definition. This kid was kind of a jerk and bully.
Well, it seems he had an addiction problem and was working through the steps of
recovery. As you know, one of the steps is making amends for everyone he had
harmed in the past. His letter to me, asking forgiveness, was part of that
step.
The funny thing is, I had forgotten all about what a jerk
and bully this kid was until he sent me the letter but, I had no choice but to
accept his forgiveness. I wrote him back and thanked him and told him I forgave
him. I still think he is a jerk, by the way, but I have forgiven him. My only
hope is that my forgiveness paved the way for him to forgive himself; most
people who are bullies are bullies because they do not like themselves and that
he found some comfort from my words.
There are some people that we may never be able to forgive,
and that is fine, none of us are perfect. But the most significant person we
need to forgive is ourselves. We are our own harshest critic, and we need to
fall in love with ourselves again. Forgive us as we forgive others.
I just want to say a few words about anger. From time to
time, people mention to me how angry a particular political figure makes them.
I truly understand the sentiment, but my response to them, and to myself is, no
one makes you mad you let yourself get angry. Anger, my friends, is a sin.
“And if your right-hand causes you to stumble, cut it
off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than
for your whole body to go into hell.” (Matthew 5:30)
If you find yourself getting angry, walk away, change the
channel, sing a rousing verse of Kumbyya, take a walk, do something to calm
yourself because acting out of anger is never good. It’s okay to be upset about
situations and desire change, and most change comes from a place of being upset
about situations. Still, we cannot let that turn to anger because anger, just
like withholding forgiveness, is destructive to the soul. You are the only one
who can control how you let yourself react in situations, and it is no one’s
fault but yours.
In the end, we have Jesus as an example. Hanging on the
cross, we looked down and saw the Roman soldiers casting lots for his garments.
Just a few moments before that, these same men nailed him to that cross and
raised him up. Jesus looked upon them, his executioners, and asked his Father
to forgive them. I am almost certain none of them heard his voice or even cared
what he was saying, but Jesus offered forgiveness before he offered himself as
a gift. Think about that, Jesus forgave the very people that had just killed
him…. That is the example he wants us to follow.
On February 6, 2020, politicians and religious leaders
gathered in Washington, DC, for the National Prayer breakfast. The breakfast is
a time for leaders of religion and government to come together, break bread,
and pray for one another. Although it was held unofficially since the 1930s, in
1953, President Dwight D. Eisenhower attended as has every President since.
This year the breakfast came after the President’s acquittal
in his impeachment trial and two days after the State of the Union Address to
Congress. As one can imagine, it was a little tense to say the least.
The main speaker for the event was Harvard University, Professor Arthur Brooks. Brooks gave a talk titled “America’s Crisis of Contempt,” in which he spoke of the contempt that the various sides have for one another. “I am here today to talk about what I believe is the biggest crisis facing our nation — and many other nations — today. This is the crisis of contempt — the polarization that is tearing our society apart.”
Brooks spoke of the need for a new way of thinking and
reminded those listening of the words of Jesus, and words you all will be
familiar with, from Matthew’s Gospel, “You have heard that it was said,
‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and
pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in
heaven.” (Matthew 5:43-45).
At the end of the speech, Brooks gave his audience some
homework;
1. Pray and ask for the Holy Spirit to help to provide us
with strength
2. Make a commitment to another person to reject contempt
3. Go out looking for contempt so you can answer it with
love.
In his remarks following the talk, President Trump said he was not sure he could agree with Brooks, and for that comment, the President took a lot of heat. I think the President was misunderstood. I believe the President was trying to say that loving your enemies is hard work, it is much easier to have contempt for them or to hate them, but loving them is what we are called to do. I am a realist and know that it will always be difficult to love those who oppose us or disagree with us, but if we are going to be the light that shines in the darkness, then we need to try and commit each day to genuinely loving everyone.
If you have followed these pages for any length of time you
might have noticed that my social and theological thoughts have evolved over a
period of time. I have made some shifts in my way of thinking about issues and
I believe that comes from life experience.
I was recently called a “liberal” to which I responded by
saying “thank you.” Yes it was partly sarcastic but it was also partly true. I
am liberal, and I am conservative, but I am mostly progressive. I was once
called a “secular humanist” as well. I
had to look that one up.
So why do I identify as a Progressive Christian? Here are 8
reasons.
1. I believe that following the path and teachings of Jesus
can lead to an awareness and experience of the Sacred and the Oneness and unity
of all life.
2. I affirm that the teachings of Jesus provide but one of many
ways to experience the Sacredness and Oneness of life, and that can draw from
diverse sources of wisdom in our spiritual journey.
3. I seek community that is inclusive of ALL people,
including but not limited to:
Conventional Christians
and questioning skeptics.
Believers and agnostics
Women and men
Those of all sexual orientations
and gender identities
Those of all classes and
abilities
4. Know that the way we behave towards one another is the
fullest expression of what we believe.
5. Find grace in the search for understanding and believe
there is more value in questioning than in absolutes.
6. Strive for peace and justice among all people.
7. Strive to protect and restore the integrity of our Earth;
and
8. Commit to a path of life-long learning, compassion, and selfless love.
WASHINGTON, DC – FEBRUARY 5: In this screengrab taken from a Senate Television webcast, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) talks about how his faith guided his deliberations on the articles of impeachment during impeachment proceedings against U.S. President Donald Trump in the Senate at the U.S. Capitol on February 5, 2020 in Washington, DC. Senators will cast their final vote to convict or acquit later today. (Photo by Senate Television via Getty Images)
On Wednesday afternoon, Senator Mitt Romney (R UT) rose from
his desk in the Senate chamber and approached the microphone to speak about his
vote in the Impeachment of President Donald Trump. Romney had announced he was
going to vote to convict the President on Article 1 of the impeachment so that
would come as no surprise to anyone. What came as a surprise, at least to me,
was that he spoke openly about his faith.
The allegations made in the articles of impeachment are very serious. As a Senator-juror, I swore an oath, before God, to exercise “impartial justice.” I am a profoundly religious person. I take an oath before God as enormously consequential. I knew from the outset that being tasked with judging the President, the leader of my own party, would be the most difficult decision I have ever faced. I was not wrong.
Romney, who is a Bishop in the Mormon Church never, really
speaks about his faith. As Governor of Massachusetts and as a Presidential
candidate, he never invoked his faith in the way he did on Wednesday. I am not
if it is because for Romney, like most Americans, faith is a private or was it
the more significant issue of the Mormon faith not being understood. Either
way, it was refreshing to hear a non-evangelical invoke his faith on a
political matter.
In the video of the speech on the Senate floor, Romney shows
emotion when he speaks of his faith. This was not an easy decision for the Utah
Senator and one that, admittedly, will bring some backlash from the party
faithful and others. Romney voted his conscious at a time when that does not
seem the fashionable thing to do.
The decision to convict or not convict the President of the
United was, in my opinion anyway, a foregone conclusion. Senator Mitch McConnell, the Senate Majority
Leader, had announced that he was going to vote to acquit the President before
the Articles of Impeachment had even reached the desk of the Clerk of the
Senate. At least Romney took his oath, “before God” to be an
impartial juror serious!
Senator Romney appealed to a higher purpose his faith and
his God. He has shown that faith needs to influence our decision and that
sometimes we need to stand up when everyone else is sitting down. The Senator
admitted that “my verdict will not remove the President from office.”
But he held true to his oath and did what he felt was right.
My vote will likely be in the minority in the Senate. But irrespective of these things, with my vote, I will tell my children and their children that I did my duty to the best of my ability, believing that my country expected it of me.
“Well done good and faithful servant.” Matthew 25:23
Read the full text of Senator Romney’s floor speech here
