New Words

I am participating in a Board of Ordained Ministry staff network event in Nashville this week.  We have been discussing potential legislative changes to the Book of Discipline which will be presented as petitions to the 2016 General Conference.  It is highly detailed work that is most important to those relating to the ordination process.  Much of it is semantics and word usage. 

I have encountered two words today that have really got me to thinking.  The first happened during our morning devotion when we were asked to think of a “perennial” passage of scripture.  I had never experienced this word in relation to scripture, but in relation to plants that bloom year after year.  So I began to think what is the scripture that blooms over and over in my life?  For me that scripture is Psalm 139.  It reminds me God began working in a person’s life knitting the life together in a mother’s womb and throughout life when the person is on top of the world or in in the deepest and darkest place; the person is not alone; God is present.   For me this is perennial and serves as an ever present reminder for me.

 

My second experience came from the word “sunsetting” that was used in our work today.  It was used in the context of ending or eliminating something.  I was not familiar with that word and spell check does not recognize this word but I love it.  What a beautiful way to speak of the end.  As the sunsets, we trust that it will rise again tomorrow, so as we put one idea to rest, we can trust that a new idea will develop and bring life.  Or the sunsets on one’s earthly life, we trust that life continues on the other side of eternity. 

So today in the midst of the tediousness of our work, I have found two new words that really intrigue and excite me.  You can learn something new everyday!!

Leaving Well

Today is day 31 of a 31 day blogging challenge with my friend and colleague reverendmommy, Robin Fitzgerald.We will be using a daily word prompt from katemotaung.com. 

As a child, playdates always ended with the reminder that if I gave my mom a hard time about going home then I wouldn’t be invited back or allowed to return to my friend’s house.  All my mom had to do was give “the look” and I knew the whining or the tears better get turned off because she meant what she said (she was the world’s meanest mother after all!).  Her early behavior management technique helped me to learn that it is important to leave well.

This lesson has benefitted me as a United Methodist pastor.  I have been appointed to serve congregations and then appointed to serve another.  My leadership to the congregation is completed by how I say goodbye to the congregation.  I have tried to encourage congregations to continue using their gifts to be the church and to support and love their new pastor just as they have supported and loved me.  I offer words of affirmation for the pastor who is following me.  I try to fulfill commitments and leave things in a way for the new pastor to lead the congregation forward.  It is important to leave well.

Today ends a 31 day blogging journey for me.  It has really challenged me to write something every day in October, but it has been a really great discipline for me.  I cannot promise to write a blog every day from here on out, but I do promise to continue writing.  This is an end to a daily journey, but it is not an end to my blogging.  I enjoy writing.  I enjoy reflecting.  I am grateful to those of you who have shared comments with me and to all who have been reading.  I leave these 31 days with a renewed commitment to written reflection.  And I leave you with a blessing that has been used throughout the years in United Methodist youth groups,

 

            “May the Lord bless you and keep you.

            May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you.

            May the Lord lift his countenance upon you and give you peace.”  Numbers   6: 24-26

 

 

 

Treasured in My Heart

Today is day 30 of a 31 day blogging challenge with my friend and colleague reverendmommy, Robin Fitzgerald.We will be using a daily word prompt from katemotaung.com. 

One day when my children graduate from school or welcome a child into the world and I want to share with them about all their firsts, I will not have a baby book to give them.  Call me a terrible parent, but that is one thing I cannot maintain.  I have pictures, but they aren’t in albums or a neat creative memory book filled with first words, first steps, first teeth, or first hair cuts.  Ella and Mattie have a Rubbermaid box with sticky notes that probably have dates written on them, but no identification.  Kate has nothing. 

 

            For someone who likes to think of myself as super woman, this is hard for me to admit that I don’t, I can’t, and I won’t have baby books or scrapbooks for my kids.  It’s not that I don’t think it’s important.  It’s not that I didn’t have good intentions.  I just had to let something go and well, that was it.  It’s hard for someone who tries to do everything.  I can tell the girls stories of their firsts.  Ms. Joy and Ms. Shelia who gave Ella and Mattie their first hair cut at Aldersgate preschool.  Kate who stood solidly for months until she finally got-up the courage to take her first step and she hasn’t stopped since.  I remember the night Ella looked at the moon and said, “ball.”  I remember Mattie singing “e-i-e-i-e-I” all the way through security at the Aruba airport and wanting someone to acknowledge her and sing “Old Mac Donald.”  I remember Kate persistently holding my face and saying “row, row,” expecting me to understand that meant sing “Row, Row, Row Your Boat.” 

            I may not have a written record of all the firsts, but they are treasured stories held in my mind and heart.  The memories make me smile, they make me laugh, and yes, they occasionally bring a tear.  My girls are growing so fast and there are so many memories yet to be made---so many more firsts yet to come.  I “treasure all these things and ponder them in my heart” (Luke 2:19).  I hope someday my girls will listen to the stories of their firsts.  I hope that my example of a full time working mom who tries to support and be involved in her children’s life at every possible opportunity will overshadow the fact that scrapbooks or baby books don’t document their firsts.  I hope my treasure will become their treasure.    

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*For anyone who wonders, Kaki keeps my children well cared for with photos.  As I am posting this she hands me a book for each of them of fall pictures.  Deep sigh!  I can't even begin to keep-up.

Unity at the Table

Today is day 29 of a 31 day blogging challenge with my friend and colleague reverendmommy, Robin Fitzgerald.We will be using a daily word prompt from katemotaung.com. 

**Today's post is a version of something I wrote back in August.

My mother now has my grandparent's dining room table and her house.  I have had many meals around this table.

My grandparent’s house had a large round dining table where I remember eating many family dinners.  My mom has two sister, and I have 4 cousins.  We are a close family and all 17 of us travel to Holden Beach together every summer.  We are all different, yet we all love and serve God.  We are able to sit around table and laugh, tell stories, listen to heartaches, acknowledge our differences, and nourish each other with love. 

I spent time today around a table with my clergy sisters from my covenant group.  We shared stories about family and ministry and how God is working in the midst of our lives.  We celebrated that despite the challenges in our denomination that we are all committed to serving and leading the United Methodist Church today and in the future.  We recognize that some have left our denomination and that others have suggested schism as an answer to the issue that divides us.  We want to maintain UNITY.

My heart breaks when I hear stories of friends from seminary surrendering their credentials or colleagues leaving our denomination for another.  I love the United Methodist Church.  I am a product of this denomination baptized as an infant, confirmed as a 6^th grader, and ordained as a young adult.  I acknowledge that our differences on social issues are great, and yet I know we all love the same Jesus.  

A few months ago, I was struck today by the reminder that we all sit around the same table.  I want my friends and colleagues with me in service. Their gifts make our denomination better and we need them to maintain our unity.  Despite our differences that lead us towards schism or full inclusion, I pray that we can continue to sit at the same table.  The living Jesus invites us to the sit together, perhaps at opposite ends; yet together bound by the love expressed through broken bread and spilled out wine.  Around the table may we be nourished by love and freely extend love to one another.

Good Morning, let's go!

Today is day 28 of a 31 day blogging challenge with my friend and colleague reverendmommy, Robin Fitzgerald.We will be using a daily word prompt from katemotaung.com

My Aunt Jane gave me an alarm clock for Christmas one year.  It was a bear holding a drum.  When the alarm went off, the bear beat the drum and said, “Hey, hey,hey, good morning, let’s go!”  It was loud and short lived as my WAKE-up call.  I preferred my mother’s voice waking me saying, “good morning sunshine.”  During college, I didn’t have to worry about setting an alarm because my roommate set two or three of her own and they would all go off at least 20 minutes before she actually had to get-up.

 

 I tend to wake easily and get out of bed soon after the alarm.  I don’t hit the snooze.  Most days my alarm goes off at 5:30 AM.   I love the hour of quiet that I have to shower and get lunches packed and everything ready before waking the girls and inviting the drama into our morning routine.  If I don't have my quiet time with God and moments for self reflection, my whole day feels discombobulated and out of sync. 

In the quietness of my morning, I am able to spend time with God.  I read my devotion and pray for those who are on my heart and mind.  “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-23).  That is good news and perhaps a reason to jump out of bed ready to go. 

Finding Hope

Today is day 27 of a 31 day blogging challenge with my friend and colleague reverendmommy, Robin Fitzgerald.We will be using a daily word prompt from katemotaung.com

At the parsonage in Rutherford College a mama bird built a nest in our front porch geranium one spring.  I discovered the tiny eggs in it one day while watering the plant.  A few weeks later I opened to pour the water in and glaring back at me were baby birds with mouths wide open.  I kept watching the mother come and go from the nest, and I was very careful to water my plant when she wasn’t home and even more careful not to drown her babies as I nourished my plant.  I was looking out our storm door the day the babies hopped out of the nest and took their first flight.  I watched with tears in my eyes as they all flew in different directions and as their mama sat chirping on the porch.  These babies took off into our great big world.  They were on their own.  They were free to fly. 

Not my baby birds, but this is EXACTLY what they looked like before they found freedom!

 

In life there are many moments where we begin a new journey.  We have been nurtured, we have been prepared, and yet we find ourselves on our own ready to begin the new challenge.  Free and excited, yes!  And sometimes scared out of our minds.  I think about going with a few classmates to Russia my junior year of high school.  Packed and ready to go.  Prepared for journey.  Free of the bossy nature of my parents and really apprehensive about being on my own so far away from home.  Then there was college, marriage, buying a new house, starting my first appointment, bringing home new babies, moving to new churches and new places, and the list could go on and on.  During these times of new beginning, I often think of a quote from the movie Hope Floats:

“Beginnings are scary. Endings are usually sad, but it's what's in the middle that counts.  So, when you find yourself at the beginning, just give hope a chance to float up. And it will.” 

 

In the book of Romans, Paul tells us that “hope [will not] disappoint [us] because God’s love has been poured into [our] hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit (5:4)  When I find myself in moments of beginnings and places of freedom, I allow myself to find hope.    

Home Visits

Today is day 26 of a 31 day blogging challenge with my friend and colleague reverendmommy, Robin Fitzgerald.We will be using a daily word prompt from katemotaung.com

My mom is a retired Kindergarten teacher.  One of the gifts she offered her classroom was home visits to her students.  These visits allowed her to see a child in his or her home environment and it allowed her to see how they interacted with family members.  The kids were always so excited to give her a tour and host her in their home.  She talked about how valuable that time was to learn about her students.  She said her relationship with student and parent changed after that visit.  Trust was developed and a relationship was built.

The biblical account of Zacchaeus involves Jesus making a home visit.  This was a transformative visit for Zacchaeus.  He was able to turn from his greedy and sinful ways to become a follower of Jesus.  I look to this story as a reminder of the value of relationship.  Jesus entered into Zacchaeus’ living space and spent time with him.  I can imagine Jesus listening to Zacchaeus’ story as they sat together sharing an afternoon snack. 

Just as my mom learned about her students and Jesus learned about Zacchaeus during an afternoon visit, we can learn about others when we are intentional about sharing time with them.  I do believe there is something sacred that can happen in someone’s home.  Stories can come alive.  Laughter and tears can be shared.  And strangers can become friends.