Author: Betsy

Love/Hate Relationships

Posted on by Betsy

I hate running. But I love the way running makes me feel when it’s over.

I hated practicing my bassoon. But I loved being able to play the right notes in a concert.

I hate math. OK, that’s where it breaks down. I still hate math.

I think Paul may have had a bit of a love/hate relationship with his church in Corinth. He desperately loved them, but he hated their sin. When they were sinful, he acted like a betrayed father who has just discovered contraband in his favorite son’s bedroom. Disappointment abounds when someone or something you love lets you down. The people in that church often let Paul down.

But he never stopped giving thanks for their faith, their ministry, and their testimony.

1 Corinthians 1:3-9 (Common English Bible)

3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thanksgiving for the Corinthians

4 I thank my God always for you, because of God’s grace that was given to you in Christ Jesus. 5 That is, you were made rich through him in everything: in all your communication and every kind of knowledge, 6 in the same way that the testimony about Christ was confirmed with you. 

7 The result is that you aren’t missing any spiritual gift while you wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. 8 He will also confirm your testimony about Christ until the end so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, and you were called by him to partnership with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Think about your own love/hate relationships. Maybe you hate cleaning but love a clean house. Perhaps you hate cooking but love to sit down to a well-prepared meal. Do you hate the way your in-laws vote, but love the way they feel about your kids? Do you hate your adult child’s reckless behavior but love him with all your heart?

Do you hate the sin, but love the sinner?

Give thanks for it all. Give thanks in spite of the things you don’t like. Focus on the good and be grateful. God is faithful to us in spite of our many failings. May we be that faithful to one another and may love and thanksgiving abound as we gather around the table tomorrow.

I thank my God always for you.

An Alligator, Turtles, and a Bird Get Along

Gentleness Be Known

Posted on by Betsy

Have you ever had an argument with someone that took on a life of its own? Has a disagreement fractured your relationship to the point where you don’t know how to repair it? Do conflicts with others cause you to be distant, avoiding any contact? We’ve all been there. Sometimes arguments can last years, even to the point where we don’t remember exactly what it was about.

Our lectionary Scripture for today was written by Paul in response to an argument. You probably recognize the beautiful opening sentence: “Rejoice in the Lord always! Again I will say, rejoice!” so you may be startled to think this famous passage was directed to two women in the church of Philippi who had had a falling out. I kid you not. Faithful workers Euodia and Syntche had a big tiff over some unknown issue and were mad at each other. So Paul wrote these beautiful lines in his letter:

Philippians 4 (New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition)

4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.  5 Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. 6 Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

I wonder if they were embarrassed to be called out (which he does by name earlier in the chapter). His antidote to their squabble is to instruct them to let their gentleness be known to everyone … perhaps mostly to each other. He goes on to tell them to set aside their anxiety and replace it with prayer and supplication. I love that he added “with thanksgiving,” reminding them and us not to go to God in prayer with whining and complaining. When we guard our hearts and minds in Christ, annoying disagreements and outright fights can be dealt with by gentle discussion that includes acknowledgment of the other’s position and hopefully forgiveness …or at least a truce.

8 Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.

I think this last section speaks to those times when we can’t settle our differences. Is there any merit in the person you are arguing with? Can you name one positive trait, even in your anger? Can you see past your beef to find something honorable and commendable, even if they have not shown you those qualities? And more importantly, are you exhibiting this list of Christ- like qualities in your own life? Can they see these things in you?

Paul reminds us to think and meditate on anything excellent and worthy of praise. When we move from wallowing in our hatred to trying to see the good in everything around us, it is only then that we will know peace. Euodia and Syntche may have never been friends again, but the opportunity to focus on their common ground in Christ would enable them to put down the heavy burden of anger and work together.

How about you? Do you want peace? Rejoice, and let your gentleness be known.

Gentle Path by Kathy Schumacher

First Communion

Posted on by Betsy

Different faith systems have varying opinions on when the time is right for a young person to receive their first communion. In United Methodism, we believe that the table is open to all, and so we serve all people of all ages. There is no prerequisite for receiving communion in our church. We pay very close attention to educating and training our children in Sunday School and eventually confirmation classes about what communion means, but the table is a shared opportunity to receive the sacrament even if you don’t fully understand the sacrament. Jesus seemed to be cognizant of the fact that you have to catch the fish before you clean the fish, and Methodists like that idea.

I had a unique opportunity to serve communion to two of my grandchildren a few weeks ago. My niece’s baby shower brought my Florida daughter, my Atlanta daughter, and me together for the weekend and we attended the church where they grew up. This is the church that I served for 16 years. The opportunity to serve communion to the children’s workers arose and my dear friend Barbara and I took the bread and juice downstairs after the service to do just that. My five-year-old grandson spotted us as he was coming out of KidMin and my eight-year old granddaughter was with him. She was visiting from Florida and had spent the hour with him in his class.

They immediately tagged along as Barbara and I visited the classrooms and nursery, offering the elements through the pass through windows and over the half-doors. We met the children’s director and her amazing lay volunteer in the hallway and served them there. Then we headed down to the youth wing to find the youth director and served him in front of a pool table. Along the way, my grandchildren simultaneously asked if they could help and also could they be served. So right there in the hall in front of the youth room, I served communion to them both.

My granddaughter has received communion on a few Christmas Eves, but this was my grandson’s first time. Usually they are in the children’s programming during worship services. Both of them assured me they had never had communion before. I think they may have said that so that they could have some that morning. This was my first time to serve them, and it left me in tears.

1 Corinthians 10 (Common English Bible)

16 Isn’t the cup of blessing that we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Isn’t the loaf of bread that we break a sharing in the body of Christ? 17 Since there is one loaf of bread, we who are many are one body, because we all share the one loaf of bread.

Paul asks a beautiful and poignant question in this passage. Isn’t this blessing a sharing of Christ? Isn’t this loaf a sharing of his body? How many loaves are there? One. In our diversity, we are still one body because we share the one loaf.

So whether first communion is a formal process in your faith system or an automatic response to God’s grace that happens once a month, whether you receive it at the altar or in a downstairs hallway, this cup and this loaf unite us in our love and understanding of the sacrifice that is marked every time we break bread together.

I asked my five-year old grandson what he thought about receiving his first communion. His response: “Well, the bread was better than the juice.” Fair point, young man. The bread is home baked by a church volunteer who specializes in creating a delicate, fragrant sourdough.

I would say it is to die for, but Jesus already did that.

One Loaf by Becca Ziegler

Unusable

Posted on by Betsy

I have a beef with the manufacturer of the moisturizer I use. When the container is still half full, the pump stops working. No matter how hard I pound, pump, tilt, and cajole, a good portion of the product remains in the heavy glass container, completely unusable. Eventually I am forced to break the neck of the pump and try to scrape the sides of the container until the lotion is gone. It is aggravating! I’m sure the reason the manufacturer doesn’t fix it is because folks give up and just buy more moisturizer. Not this girl! I’m too cheap.

We are surrounded every day by things that are unusable: electronic cords from long gone devices, expired food products we just can’t throw out, clothing that is too small, but we leave it in the closet anyway, last generation cell phones shoved in kitchen drawers … can you name some unusable things in your life right now?

Malachi gave a warning about people who were unusable. They were labeled “stubble,” referring to the wheat chaff that was the unusable part of grain that burned quickly in a fire. The arrogant and all the evil doers were stubble. The day was coming when they would be burned and leave nothing behind to take root again.

Malachi 4 (New Revised Standard Version)

See, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble; the day that comes shall burn them up, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.  2 But for you who revere my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.

In John 15, Jesus gives a similar warning about the dead wood that would burn in the fire after the healthy branches were pruned for growth. His standard was measured in what produced “good fruit.” Anything that was not productive, i.e. unusable, would be burned.

6 If you don’t remain in me, you will be like a branch that is thrown out and dries up. Those branches are gathered up, thrown into a fire, and burned.

Dead branches are of no use to God. Dead branches produce no fruit, can’t be used for anything useful, and actually hurt the living, producing branches. This Scripture makes it clear that the standard by which the vineyard keeper judges the viability of the branch is the branch’s ability to produce the fruit of love. When love is no longer the fruit you are producing, the keeper will throw you away and allow you to dry up. The same is true of the church. If we no longer produce the fruit of love, we will be thrown out.

8 My Father is glorified when you produce much fruit and in this way prove that you are my disciples.

And what fruit are we to be producing? Paul gives us a beautiful list in Galatians 5: 

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against things like this.

Are you “usable” for the kingdom of God? Do you revere God’s name in everything you do? Actions speak louder than words. Is love the fruit you bear? May the sun of righteousness rise up in your life and shine so brightly that everyone can see Jesus in you.


Shine On by Kathy Schumacher

The Power of Darkness

Posted on by Betsy

This is the time of year when the sun is fickle about making an appearance. It acts like a self-conscious teenager deciding on whether or not to go to the school dance. She shows up too early in the morning and peeks through our bedroom blinds like she needs to see who else is there before she commits. Then she ducks behind clouds for the rest of day, avoiding the scrutiny of the rest of the kids. Finally, she calls her dad and goes home way too early, making us think that midnight has suddenly arrived in the middle of the afternoon as she takes her light with her. We miss the boldness of that summer sun who came out to play and stayed all day! Come back, summer sun!

In our Scripture today, Paul talks to the church at Colossae about the “power of darkness”. This same phrase is used in Luke 22:53 when Jesus describes the sinister forces of Satan as he was being arrested and taken away for his crucifixion. This is the darkness of Satan’s domain. It lulls us to sleep, distracts us, afflicts and depresses us, and is very skillful at hiding.

Colossians 1 (New Revised Standard Version)

For this reason, since the day we heard it, we have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God. 11 May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, so that you may have all endurance and patience, joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. 

Paul gives us the switch to flood our souls with the light that overpowers the darkness. When we know God’s will we have spiritual understanding. This wisdom enables us to live a life worthy of Christ and bear spiritual fruit in everything we do: The big tasks as well as the small moments of grace that we share with others. God strengthens us and blesses us with endurance and patience. And what is the result? We inherit the light.

13 He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

God rescues us from the power of darkness ,and we now belong to his kingdom, which is a kingdom of light.

How can you be the light to someone living in darkness today? The days are getting shorter and colder and people living on the edge are anxiously waiting for help and redemption. Who will you save today?

Moonlight Overcoming the Darkness

The Visible Invisible

Posted on by Betsy

Over the last two days, many people in the United States were treated to a stunning display of an aurora borealis. Known as the Northern Lights, this is a phenomenon caused by  “the interaction between the Earth’s magnetic field and charged particles from the sun’s atmosphere that enter the earth’s atmosphere. A solar flare (energetic particles from the sun) floats through space on the solar wind, eventually penetrating the Earth’s magnetic field. Electrons in the magnetic field sideswipe oxygen atoms or nitrogen molecules in the Earth’s atmosphere. The bursts of colorful light—the northern lights—are colliding particles (usually electrons) and atoms; at collision, electrons can return to their initial, lower energy state, and in the process, release photons or light particles we know as aurorae” according to MIT. You need a degree from MIT to follow all that. But in short, the aurora borealis is a spectacular nighttime light show.

We were treated to this beautiful marvel all the way down here in the Outer Banks. I had been reading and hearing about it, and as soon as pictures began to be posted from my local area, I ran out into the freezing wind to see it. It took a little more probing, however, to realize that in my area the lights could only be seen through my iPhone camera lens set to “night mode.” There is a completely scientific reason for that, but the short story is that the lights were invisible to the naked eye.

And yet, they were there.

We continue our lectionary reading of Colossians today. As you read this, take note of the invisible/visible references.

Colossians 1 (Common English Bible)

The Son is the image of the invisible God,
        the one who is first over all creation,

16 Because all things were created by him:
        both in the heavens and on the earth,
        the things that are visible and the things that are invisible.
            Whether they are thrones or powers,
            or rulers or authorities,
        all things were created through him and for him.

17 He existed before all things,
        and all things are held together in him.

Paul helps us understand that Jesus is the visible eikon of God: He is the “stamp” or manifestation of God on earth. Through Christ, the invisible becomes visible. Christ was present at creation, and all things were created by and through him. Every power, throne, principality, and ruler are subject to him. This gives me great comfort in these days of chaos.

18 He is the head of the body, the church,
who is the beginning,
        the one who is firstborn from among the dead
        so that he might occupy the first place in everything.

By saying that Jesus is the head of the church, we are reminded of the importance of not falling prey to “personality cultism,” where parishioners become too enamored of their preachers. When those mortal people fail or leave, the church suffers for having taken their eyes off of Christ, the true head. Does your church worship the pastor? Be careful. I’ve been in those churches, and they always end poorly.

19 Because all the fullness of God was pleased to live in him,
20         and he reconciled all things to himself through him—
        whether things on earth or in the heavens.
            He brought peace through the blood of his cross.

Christ is both the unifying principle and the personal sustainer of all creation, both in heaven and on earth. As we look to the stars each night, may it be a reminder to never take our eyes off of him.

Break Forth, O Beauteous Heavenly Light

A Second Taste

Posted on by Betsy

Last week our lectionary passage offered a taste of heaven, specifically in regard to marriage. (You can read it here if you missed that one.) Today we delve further into what a new heaven and a new earth will be like according to Isaiah. In Isaiah’s words, a new earth is promised that will be a state of being where the children of God can look forward to living together in complete peace and harmony. That’s something we need right now!

Isaiah described a time of social transformation with equitable justice, spiritual transformation that will usher in an unprecedented closeness and intimacy with the very-present God, and ecological transformation that will result in predators eating and living together in comfortable companionship.

Isaiah 65 (Common English Bible)

Look! I’m creating a new heaven and a new earth:
    past events won’t be remembered;
    they won’t come to mind.
18 Be glad and rejoice forever
    in what I’m creating,
    because I’m creating Jerusalem as a joy
    and her people as a source of gladness.
19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad about my people.
    No one will ever hear the sound of weeping or crying in it again.

Joy will abound and long life is promised. Crying and weeping will be a thing of the past.

20 No more will babies live only a few days,
    or the old fail to live out their days.
The one who dies at a hundred will be like a young person,
    and the one falling short of a hundred will seem cursed.

This new earth will see the eradication of theft and oppression. No longer will people work for the benefit of the powers that would take the products of their efforts away. Does this mean no more taxes?? Bring it on!

21 They will build houses and live in them;
    they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22 They won’t build for others to live in,
    nor plant for others to eat.
Like the days of a tree will be the days of my people;
    my chosen will make full use of their handiwork.
23 They won’t labor in vain,
    nor bear children to a world of horrors,
    because they will be people blessed by the Lord,
    they along with their descendants.
24 Before they call, I will answer;
    while they are still speaking, I will hear.

Just stop for a moment and think about what it will be like for God to be so close to you that all you have to do is start a sentence and he will finish it. All you have to do is reach out to him and find that he is already there. This kind of access will be startling and beautiful.

25 Wolf and lamb will graze together,
    and the lion will eat straw like the ox,
    but the snake—its food will be dust.
They won’t hurt or destroy at any place on my holy mountain,
    says the Lord.

Well, you have to feel a little sorry for the snake, but the violence of animal-on-animal feeding frenzies will cease to exist, and species will live together as one. As will people. So these artificial constructs of “us-versus-them” and the prejudice against races that aren’t like you will finally go away.

The holy mountain of God will be a new Eden. Are you ready?

Normandy

I Know

Posted on by Betsy

Few things in life sting more than the betrayal of a friend. When someone you have depended on for companionship, comfort, and understanding turns away from you, you can easily find yourself in a pit of despair. If that happens when your life is in crisis, the burning of their condemnation can scorch your very soul. Has this ever happened to you? It has happened to me.

It happened to Job, too. You remember Job. He found himself to be the unwitting pawn in a chess match between God and Satan. God praised Job’s blameless and upright manner, to which Satan replied that Job is only righteous because God had blessed him so favorably. The double-dog dare followed: Satan dared God to allow Job to suffer great losses, contending that Job will change and curse God. God had faith in Job and allowed the suffering to begin.

Along the way, after losing his sheep, servants, ten children, and then suffering with a terrible skin disease, Job sought the consolation of his friends Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. These fair weather friends quickly condemned Job and argued that he must have done something evil to provoke God’s actions. With friends like that, who needs enemies?

Can you relate?

After one particularly mean attack by Bildad, Job had a bit of an epiphany. This new revelation turned things around for him through the rest of his suffering until God returned to restore all that Job had lost.

Job 19 (New International Version)

“Oh, that my words were recorded,
    that they were written on a scroll, 24 that they were inscribed with an iron tool on lead,
    or engraved in rock forever!

In his misery, Job had no idea that indeed, his words would be written down and studied even to this very day! This is a great reminder of the promise of Romans 8:28, where we are assured that God can use ALL things for our good. Even our misery.

25 I know that my redeemer lives,
    and that in the end he will stand on the earth.
26 And after my skin has been destroyed,
    yet in my flesh I will see God;
27 I myself will see him
    with my own eyes—I, and not another.
    How my heart yearns within me!

“I know that my redeemer lives.” There is so much power in these words! The Hebrew word for redeemer used in this passage is goel. A goel is someone who stood for another to defend his case, avenge the harm done to him, and acquit him of any charges laid against him. This kind of redeemer brought vindication for all unjust wrongs. This pure statement of faith gave Job enough strength to withstand his friends’ lack of compassion for his plight and emboldened him to proclaim that he will indeed see his redeemer with his own eyes. And so he did.

If you’re in a situation today that is causing you great pain, take heart. If your “friends” have abandoned you, find better ones. May we stand with Job and join our hearts in yearning for that day when we see our redeemer Jesus with our own eyes.

Take that, Satan!

He Will Stand on the Earth by Kathy Schumacher

A Very New Song (with choreography)

Posted on by Betsy

We are blessed at our church to have an accompanist who is talented, faithful, kind, and sassy. Yes, sassy. She is humorous in ways that connect people and make you chortle. She recently challenged our youth director in a Facebook post to teach the kids a new song and dance that has gone viral on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook. Have you seen it? The artist is Forrest Frank, and the song is called, “Celebration.” This lively song is a mix of Christian pop and hip hop and is full of hope, joy, and challenging dance steps. I know because I tried to do it. I ended up with a bruise. (check it out here.)

This week’s lectionary is a celebration song of its own kind, just without the dance steps. But it speaks right into Frank’s vision for singing to the Lord a NEW song. Think about that for a minute. Why do we need new songs when the old ones have worked so well for generations? Don’t new songs threaten the status quo and upset the delicate balance of theology, expectations, and musical limits? Why would we want new songs?

I think the reason is because God deserves new expressions of praise with each generation. God, whose mercies are made new every morning, is truly worthy of something fresh and dynamic from his people. God, who has created and is creating, invites us to experience his steadfast love and faithfulness every single day. God has earned a response of joyful noise breaking forth in joyous songs that demonstrate our love and thanksgiving for everything he has provided for us.

Psalm 98

O sing to the Lord a new song,
    for he has done marvelous things.
His right hand and his holy arm
    have gotten him victory.
2 The Lord has made known his victory;
    he has revealed his vindication in the sight of the nations.
3 He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness
    to the house of Israel.
All the ends of the earth have seen
    the victory of our God.

4 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth;
    break forth into joyous song and sing praises.
5 Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre,
    with the lyre and the sound of melody.
6 With trumpets and the sound of the horn
    make a joyful noise before the King, the Lord.

And not only should the people of God respond with a new song, but all of creation joins in harmony as the seas and the hills take their places on the drum set and guitar in a praise band like no other.

7 Let the sea roar and all that fills it,
    the world and those who live in it.
8 Let the floods clap their hands;
    let the hills sing together for joy
9 at the presence of the Lord, for he is coming
    to judge the earth.

And the best news of all? This psalm proclaims that God is the judge of the world, and his judgment is done with equity. His judgement will never be tainted by ideology or prejudice, and he can’t be bribed. Justice will rain down evenly upon us, and the oppressed and those who were denied justice in this life will receive fairness and righteousness.

He will judge the world with righteousness
    and the peoples with equity.

I can’t think of a better reason for a new song. Can you?

Let’s Have a Celebration

A Taste of Heaven

Posted on by Betsy

I once performed a wedding for a bride who was on her seventh marriage. I know this to be true, as the wedding license that pastors sign indicate the number (if any) of previous marriages. Now lest we be too judgmental, her first marriage was when she was in her late teens, when few of us understand the consequences of choices made in the heat of the moment at such a young age. Two of her marriages ended when those husbands passed away, so there’s that. Still, it was a bit like officiating an Erica Kane wedding, but I am happy to say that they are still together, and she has found her happily ever after.

Jesus once encountered a question about multiple marriages and the resurrection. It came from a group known as the Sadducees, who were a conservative elite group of Jews who only accepted the first five books of the Torah as the authentic word of God. If you remember your Bible history, that meant that they pretty much were limited to the creation stories, Abraham and his many sons, Moses and the exodus, and a whole lot of Law. They did not believe in the resurrection. This made the Sadducees sad, you see. (Sorry for that. I just wanna be a sheep.)

Luke 20 (New Revised Standard Version)

27 Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to him 28 and asked him a question: “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother.29 Now there were seven brothers; the first married a woman and died childless; 30 then the second 31 and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. 32 Finally the woman also died. 33 In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her.”

You can see that for folks to ask such a question when they didn’t believe in the resurrection meant they were hoping to trap or embarrass Jesus. The fact that the question was framed in the extreme of seven marriages was meant almost as a taunt. Of course that can happen (as I discovered), but it truly is a rare thing.

34 Jesus said to them, “Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage, 35 but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. 36 Indeed, they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. 37 And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. 38 Now he is God not of the dead but of the living, for to him all of them are alive.”

There is much to unpack here. Resurrection does not include marriage for the obvious reason that there will be no reason to procreate, as eternal life is just that: eternal. We will become “like angels” but we know from other Scriptures that we will be higher than the angels. (1 Corinthians 6:3.) It will be a true community of love, and Jesus pointed out that Moses’ own testimony was that the Lord IS the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, ascribing them to be part of the living and not the dead. Such a clever piece of oratory, as the Sadducees were very attached to these Old Testament figures. Jesus spoke right into their belief system and spoke truth.

If you are happily married on earth, this may sadden you. On the other hand, if your marriage is filled with strife, a community of love will be just what you need. In any case, life in heaven will truly be nothing like life on earth.

And that is very good news indeed.

A Taste of Heaven