Out with the Old

The season of Lent began today as we gathered together at the Anchor Presbyterian Church for an Ash Wednesday worship service. It is always a powerful reminder of how we are a broken people living in a world that admires wholeness, while God longs for us to recognize of our brokenness and our dependence on the grace and mercy God has to offer. 

Many people have a tradition of giving something up for the 40 days of Lent. The spiritual discipline of fasting has been practiced for millennia. The idea is that you find something in your life that you value, something that you use, eat, or do every single day. These are most likely the things in our lives that pull our attention away from God. By giving these things up, we refocus our attention on the one who deserves all we have to give. 
 
My Facebook Newsfeed has been alerting me to all those things my friends will be living without for the next 40 days. For some it’s a particular food, for others coffee, and some signed off of social media for Lent. Among all these, there was one post that caught my eye and I immediately knew that this would be my spiritual practice for this Lenten season and possibly many to come.  

Forty Days – Forth Items

Wednesday, February 10 is the first day of Lent. I have a challenge for you! Each day of Lent, remove one item from your closet that you no longer wear or need and put it into a trash bag. At the end of the forty days, donate these items to a place that can share them with someone who can really use them! 

It is such a simple concept, but so powerful. We all could do with a little less stuff in our lives and there are many in our communities who need our excess desperately. So, for the next forty days I will be locating one item from my closet or around my home that will be given away. I plan on donating my items to Good Stuff Thrift, because this is what they have to say about their mission, vision, and motivation. 

Our Mission - Good Stuff Thrift’s mission is to operate the most efficient Thrift Stores possible so that we can provide the highest level of funding for helping kids in need in our communities
Our Vision - That a lack of resources would no longer be an obstacle to giving a kid a “forever family” in our community.
Our Motivation - To obey the biblical mandate to help the widow, ORPHANS, aliens and the poor. (James 1:22)

As we enter into this Lenten season, I hope that our focus is once more on the one who came to save us. I pray that we set aside those things that stand in our way and ask forgiveness for those sins that separate us from God. Together let’s say, “Out with the old!” Because, “if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” 2 Corinthians 5:17

Women in Ministry

Today I had the privilege of attending a Women in Ministry get-together at the home of Ruth Santana Grace, the Executive Presbyter of the Presbytery of Philadelphia. Female clergy from all over the presbytery gathered together to drink coffee, eat bagels, and simply get to know each other. When I walked into Ruth’s home my first impression was – wow, it is loud in here. Apparently, when you place more than 30 women in a house the decibel level spikes. Who knew?

Beginning my called ministry in 2013, I didn’t have to worry too much about the fact that I would be a woman in ministry. So many women had gone before me to break down the walls that were built to keep women out of the pulpit. Many of the women who gathered in Ruth’s home today owe a huge debt of gratitude to the hard work of those women. As a matter of fact, some of the women who gathered today were the ones who did that work.

““So if I remember correctly, you are the first female pastor that Thompson has ever had, right?””

— Fellow Clergywoman

Someone asked me today, “So if I remember correctly, you are the first female pastor that Thompson has ever had, right?” This is true. Out of the close to 30 pastors and associate pastors in TMPC’s history, I was the first woman to be ordained to the office of teaching elder. She continued up with a follow-up question, “How is that going? How were you received?” 

It took me a second to answer her. My knee-jerk reaction was, “fine”. Which is a very lame answer to just about any question. So I continued, “Honestly, the fact that I am a woman has not really been an issue for me, at least not one that I have noticed.” This is true. In my time at Thompson, I have never felt that the fact that I am a woman had, in some way, hampered my ministry. 

The power of this did not hit me until I began to write this post. How incredibly blessed am I that this is my response? So many women, including my colleagues in ministry, battle to be heard, respected, treated fairly, etc. And here I am not giving it a second thought.  Now, other things have been an issue in my ministry; my age, my marital status, the fact that I do not have children, but that is a post for another day. 

“I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart;
before the “gods” I will sing your praise.
I will bow down toward your holy temple
and will praise your name
for your unfailing love and your faithfulness,...
When I called, you answered me;
you greatly emboldened me.”

— Psalm 138:1-3 (NIV)

Today, I want take a moment to be thankful. To say thank you to the members and staff of Thompson who have welcomed me. To say thank you to the countless women who have gone before me in ministry, who paved the way, who inspired me, and who have dedicated their lives to the work of Christ. To thank God that he continues to call women and bless them with certain gifts so that they might be a blessing to others. 

A Lesson in Humility

It's the start of a new year, which means a blank slate and opportunity to change. Many people use the New Year to make goals and resolutions. Some want to quit bad habits, some want to make better choices, lose weight, spend more time with family, read more, travel more, etc.

I wouldn't say I made a resolution this year, but I am trying to get in better shape. The idea of hundreds of people looking at you in a dress as you walk down the aisle while a photographer captures that moment forever is a surprisingly affective motivator. And so before Christmas I joined a gym, which was new for me. When I was in high school and college I played team sports. I hated running, and still do. The gym was a confusing and off-putting place to me. That being said, I worked with a trainer and already feel much more comfortable in the gym. And yet, being a member of a gym, particularly in the month of January, is an excellent practice in humility.

I went to the gym on Wednesday, January 6 around 6:00pm. I regretted my decision the moment I walked through the front door. There were people everywhere. Nearly every machine was in use. I actually felt claustrophobic. All the same, I hopped on the only open elliptical and observed the masses around me. I quickly realized that many of these people did not have a clue what they were doing. I actually saw one trainer walk by a women who was on her phone while riding a stationary bike, which was not even turned on. Once he was out of her line of sight, I saw a smirk creep across his face as he slowly shook his head. I imagine I had a very similar look on my face.

A few days later I realized that was not fair of me. This woman left her warm house to come to the gym to try and reach her goals. Who am I to belittle that effort?  I am sure there are people at the gym who have much more experience with weight training than I do and would look at me with the same mix of amusement and exasperation.

In Matthew 7 Jesus says, “‘Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbor, “Let me take the speck out of your eye”, while the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye.” As our friends and families set goals for the new year and possibly fall of the wagon, let us remember these wise words from Jesus. 

May God Bless You with Foolishness

During Stuart’s sermon on Sunday, he shared a Four-fold blessing. One of those blessings said, “May God bless you with foolishness; enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in the world.”

This is the kind of foolishness I tend to equate with first-year teachers. You know the ones who believe that they will inspire their students, topple corrupt and unfair practices, and fight for their students’ education and well-being. In college I minored in secondary education. One of the classes I took for that minor focused on the ways that teachers and education were portrayed in the media. When it was all said and done there were two predominate stereotypes of teachers. The first was the teacher as apathetic and detached. They were completely disconnected and ignorant of the world and the students could easily outsmart them and take over the class. The second was the teacher as the superhero. We watched clips from Dead Poet’s Society, To Sir, With Love, Stand and Deliver, and many more. These are all wonderful movies, but probably not the most accurate representation of our futures as educators. Yet, the professor surprised us all one day by saying, “I know you all think I am going to tell you it is a waste of time to strive to be like these ‘superheroes’, but I will not. It is my honest hope that each and every one of you works to be a Mr. Keating, but I will tell you this; it is not going to be easy. It is not that these ‘superheroes’ are complete fantasy, because you can inspire children and you can affect change, it just takes longer than a 90 minute film suggests.” She was right of course. It would be much easier to be an average teacher, but fools who work hard and pour their hearts into their students might just make a difference.

This blessing of foolishness reminded me of Paul’s words to the Corinthians.

“For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,

‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.’

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling-block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, in order that, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.’”

— 1 Corinthians 1:18-31

I pray that I might remember to be a fool. 

How do you know you don't like it if you haven't tried it?

How do you know you don't like it if you haven't tried it?

I used to hate this question! I imagine that I was not alone in my experience of hearing this refrain around my dinner table. I was a picky eater and, worse than that, I was stubborn too. I remember one night when my mother had made flounder for dinner.

I hated flounder.

The first time she made it, I had refused to eat it, but she said, “How do you know you don’t like it unless you have tried it?” Reluctantly I tried it and confirmed for myself, and my mother, that I did not like it.  So, when she served the same dish again, I knew I would not be eating it. My mother had different plans. She told me that this was dinner and that I needed to learn to eat foods I do not like because someday I would be a guest in someone’s home and they would serve a dish I did not care for and I would need to eat it to be polite. To be fair, my mother was right. Many times in my life I have been a guest in someone’s home and eaten food I did not like very much to be polite.

For the past several years, I have intentionally been re-trying food that I did not like when I was younger. Strawberries, fish, certain veggies, and so on, because our sense of taste changes as we grow older. I am very glad I have re-tried more foods; because there were so many delicious foods I have been missing out on.

“Then I looked, and I saw a hand stretched out to me. In it was a scroll, which he unrolled before me. On both sides of it were written words of lament and mourning and woe. And he said to me, ‘Son of man, eat what is before you, eat this scroll; then go and speak to the people Israel’… So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth.”

— Ezekiel 2:9-3:3

There was a time when the prophet Ezekiel was told by God to eat a scroll. Now this sounds strange enough, but to top it off, the scroll was covered front and back with lamentations too.

I am sure Ezekiel did not want to eat that scroll. Eating a scroll covered in your people’s lament and woe, what could be worse? But he ate the scroll and it was sweet.

God’s Word does not always look appetizing. There are stories that we would like to eat around. There are passages we want to hide in our napkins. There are verses we have tried and we have no desire to try again (like my mother’s flounder).  But when we embrace the Word of God entirely, the creation of our beautiful world and the fall of humanity, the hymns of praise alongside the cries of lamentation, the beautiful birth of our Savior to the violent death on a cross, it will taste as sweet as honey.