Closing Thoughts on Positive Faith

In closing out this series on positive faith- here’s what I might like you to takeaway, if I had my druthers. (If you haven’t read the series visit: northstarcommunity.com/devotionals to see what I’m on about).

Faith doesn’t have to be (and shouldn’t be) about:

-Living in shame

-Viewing yourself as bad, wrong, or evil

-Avoiding “bad” behaviors

-Blaming ourselves or others for suffering

Faith can be about:

-A God who comforts, loves, protects, and provides

-Building each other up

-Encouraging each other

-Looking for the good in each other

-Growing as a result of these

Faith and, and should be, a sense of connection to God, our neighbor, ourselves, and even creation itself. This connection provides a sense of peace about our place in the world- as well as a source of joy and hope. Faith encourages us to continue to look life directly in the face, even when it’s difficult, and to refuse to back down. Not because we’re strong or macho, but because we believe God will give us what we need to get from one moment to the next, and because we believe that surviving is the ultimate display of faith in action.

God has designed each of us. You have gifts, and strengths. You have something to offer. Too often faith communities have asked us to ignore, or even suppress, these things because of some wrong-headed notion that it might somehow take attention away from God.

I say no. The things that make you unique only point to beauty and depth of God’s creativity. So, please, if you can, embrace everything that makes you you. I kinda think that’s what God wants.

Ask Clarifying Questions

If you are just seeing this post after missing a few, we’re on a mini-series on how to have positive faith- faith that is encouraging and upbuilding and not based on shame, guilt, and the like. Specifically over the past few days we’re talking about skills that help us live this out.

Today is going to be a short post- because this is something you’ve heard us talk about many times if you’ve been at NSC for any length of time.

So here goes. If and when you don’t understand something that someone is telling you, try asking some clarifying questions. Our conflict in life, all too often, is the product of miscommunication. One of the ways around this is to ask questions rather than to immediately respond.

Slow down. Hear the other person out. Ask questions if you feel yourself getting agitated. For example, “What I’m hearing in all this is ______, is that what you’re wanting me to hear?” This gives the other person the opportunity to, you guessed it, clarify.

This alone will go a long way towards having better conflict and having better conflict will undoubtedly support your move towards living faith in a more positive way.

A Word of Encouragement

I want to encourage you with the encouragement that has been offered to people from Jesus...by example and exhortation and through story. There is nothing in the gospel about being successful. Preach him crucified. The confounding mystery of the resurrection - God breathing life into dry, dead bones, continues to be mysterious. God does not show us everything. But way beyond our capacity to know and see and understand and articulate is this true thing: God can work with whatever we give him. He takes our weakness our fear, our trembling and says, "I can work with that."

But let's not get but so excited about this. We do not what a sneaky form of heresy to slip in among us. We do not want to confuse God's mysterious work of resurrection with a form of narcissism that claims that God's power to save us includes God's willingness to make us rich or better than those "other people" - you know, the ones who sin. Not our sins, but the BIG sins. (Please know that this is sarcasm.) The gospel message is not one of "I was once dead but now I am alive and that makes me able to decide who the real sinners are among us." That is not the story.

So you ask - what do we do? What does it mean for us to live Jesus crucified? Here is all I have to offer. We try. We do the best we can with what we have to work with. We use the resources we have to figure out what that means. WE JUST SHOULD NOT KID OURSELVES INTO THINKING THAT WE KNOW WHAT IS REALLY GOING ON. (A paraphrase of Barbara Taylor Brown from her sermon, "In Weakness and Much Trembling".) If no one else will tell you this, hear me loud and clear: some of our most dismal failures please God very much. And I want you to know that in our community, we will be known and maybe criticized for who we love and that's ok. We know that we do not know what we are doing and that no one really knows what this resurrection life really means, wrapped as it is in the grand mystery of God. So even if we are dead wrong - God loves to bring dead things back to life.

Jesus was a huge disappointment in his day. So was Paul. So are we all. There will always be someone who is disappointed in you and me. But here's what I want us to join together as a community and preach: that when people hang out with us, in spite of all the ways we are a disappointment - no handbell choir, no stained glassed windows, no fancy preachers, in all those limitations here is one thing we do: we welcome the stranger. We offer the gift of hospitality. We do not kid ourselves into thinking that we know what is really going on but we never forget that God works with whatever we offer Him.

A Springtime Prayer

“Deep roots never doubt that spring will come.”

Marty Rubin

Spring is coming! Let’s pray.

Father, as we take a breath today, we thank you that Spring is coming! Early signs are appearing in my yard. My daffodils do not seem to care that it’s been a tough year, they’re just shooting up out of the cold, dark soil like it is their job. And I guess that’s what it is. You gave the lowly daffodil the hard work of ushering in Spring. Thank you for the daffodils!

For those without a sign of Spring to hold onto - grant them a memory of Spring in their heart! We all could use a little encouragement right about now. Thank you for choosing cherry blossoms and dogwoods, crocuses and buttery yellow sun streaming through windows to remind us that you are still at work and things will change.

Amen

A Commitment to Happiness…

“Happiness is not out of reach.”

Krista O’Reilly David-Digue

The pandemic taught me so much about happiness. I discovered that it is not out of reach even if a lot of things that I thought brought me happiness are off limits. The pandemic required a level of paring down that most of us never dreamed would be required.

But in this, I found that happiness was still within reach.

For Pete and I we needed to recalibrate to grab hold of it because our longing for our “old” life was causing us a lot of anxiety. Anxiety was creating health problems and health problems were making us feel as old as our kids seem to believe we are - we were starting to feel our age.

We regrouped. We asked ourselves - what makes us happy that is attainable? We decided to believe that God is for us and with us and in us and that even a pandemic could not keep us from the love of God. We consciously, deliberately, asked ourselves - what do we need to practice that fits our chosen way of seeing?

We turned off the television and limited electronics. We started long daily walks. We found that eating home all the time allowed for better food choices. We gave ourselves permission to do more puzzles and read more books that in no way would improve our mind or body. Funny, mysterious, formulaic fiction. Whatever it took! I started taking online classes that filled me with the joy of learning. I followed both my personal interests and tried to up my ministerial skill sets - believing that one day the world would open back up and there would be plenty of fields in need of harvesting (Luke 10 if you are curious).

And we increased our conscious contact with people who love us. We had to ask ourselves, maybe for the first time in our lives - who loves US? We figured out how to play bridge online with our friends. We walk down the street and talk to our neighbors. We wave at strangers and smile even when we feel like crying because we know everyone needs a little encouragement.

Happiness is not out of reach if we are willing to take it on its terms - not as we would always have it, but where we can get it. The world is starting to open back up but Pete and I have made a promise to ourselves - we are not going to re-enter the world buried under the weight of obligation or duty. We are going to require of ourselves a commitment to happiness, the happiness that we have found in the most unlikely places.