Clouds and Light

Tuesday 11/3/20 5:47 AM

    For the past few days the early morning sky has been clear. On my predawn walks I can clearly see Venus rising in the eastern sky, Mars setting in the western sky, and Orion and Gemini directly overhead. There is a portion of my walk along Bloomfield Avenue that is without sidewalks so I walk in the bike lane, facing traffic, and for a short stretch there are no streetlights. The other morning I was nearly hit by a bicyclist riding in the bike lane because it was quite dark and neither the bicyclist nor I saw the other.

    Today as I walked that stretch of road it seemed somewhat brighter and I could easily see what was ahead. I first thought they had put in some streetlights but that had not happened. There was a low cloud cover this morning and I realized that the illumination was simply the reflection of the city lights off of the low-lying clouds.

    During the day the sun shines brightly and clouds curb the sun’s brightness and the accompanying heat. If there is a big storm with thick, widespread clouds, it can become as dark as night. Those same clouds can reflect the light of the city at night when the sun is hidden from view by the earth. It reminded me of Jesus words to his disciples in Matthew 5:14-16, “You are the light of the world. … let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”

    Today is Election Day and it seems as if the two political parties are filled with animosity and outright hatred toward each other. Social media is rife with posts and memes vilifying those with opposing points of view and there is talk among some of rioting and insurrection if the party they support in the presidential race is not elected. The normal animosity often experienced during the time of an election seems amplified because of the pandemic and peoples’ frustration of not being able to go about their normal lives. It is a dark time and God seems absent from any social discourse. At a time like this the Christian community should be letting their lights shine, reflecting light off of the low-lying clouds of our society to illuminate our world, showing the proper way to live peacefully, with love. Unfortunately many in the Christian community are among the leaders of those spreading the animosity and hatred.

    I will be happy when this election has passed but I wonder if our country will be able to come together and work toward a common goal or if we will continue to engage in vilification of those with whom they disagree. I’m quite certain it will not happen unless the broader Christian community begins to reflect the image of Christ and start to spread love, forgiveness, and compassion for others instead of animosity and hatred. We would do well to heed the words of 2 Chronicles 7:14, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” It is our only hope.

God's Voice

Tuesday 9/8/20 6:29 AM

On my walk the last two mornings I’ve been singing the song This Is My Father’s World. It begins by reminding me that if I have listening ears, all nature sings; rocks, trees, skies, seas, caroling birds, morning light, white lilies, and rustling grass. I will say that God has communicated with me through various means, including all of nature throughout my life.

In my devotional reading this morning Norman Shawchuck describes how God speaks to him through nature. He writes, “Autumn is making its way across the prairie, and with it God's silent and unseen artists turned the entire landscape into a magnificent work of art. The colors of the trees, the touches added by the farmers – green and golden fields, hay bales put in just the right places. Cattle – red, brown, black, white; the little wild turkeys and their ever-watchful mothers just outside my window; indeed, never has there been an artist like God. Thank you Creator God for the artistic changes of the seasons, for the beauty of your fascinating and ever changing creation! Come dear autumn, bathe our senses with your beauty and lay living nature gently to sleep in the arms of winter. There all may rest to be restored in the blazing beauty of spring!”

In his book Spiritual Life in the Congregation, Reuben Job writes, “Learning to listen for the voice of God in all of life is a discipline infrequently employed. And learning to discriminate among all the voices clamoring for our attention is it forgotten gift. Consequently, the rich spiritual gifts that God is eager to give often go unrecognized and unclaimed.” It is certainly true that there are many voices clamoring for our attention, especially in the current election season and on social media. I need to remember to continue to be quiet and listen for God’s voice amid all the hoopla.

Solitude: Loneliness and Grace

Wednesday 7/29/20 6:13 AM

Over the course of the past few months I have experienced a lot of solitude on my morning walks. The solitude seems even more profound when accompanied by the isolation and social distancing required by the pandemic. I have found my walks to be an empowering time in which I have become more aware of God’s presence and have been drawn into a deeper relationship with him. At the same time I mourn the loss of community regarding my job as a teacher, the interaction with my colleagues and my students on a daily basis. My solitude has brought both intimacy and loneliness.

In her essay “Thoughts on Solitude,” Wendy Wright writes about the paradox of solitude, that it can be experienced as both loneliness and grace. She writes, “…solitude is known to be gift and opportunity, a richly textured medium through which authentic intimacy with God and humankind might be fashioned. Yet at the same time, being alone is also experienced as a fearful reality. Our culture views solitude as a severe punishment, a confinement, reserved for the most grievous offenders against human codes of conduct. We tend to shun the solitary places populated by those left abandoned on the margins of human community: places were outcasts, misfits, the forgotten, the unloved and unlovable are hidden. Yet despite our shunning, the lonely sort of solitude is still all around us in the emotionally and spiritually troubled. For these, solitude is a desperate and desolate place. An alienated and isolated place in which hearts wither and hope is abandoned.”

During the past months I have experienced solitude as loneliness, but I also have had the good fortune to experience solitude as grace, in which I have developed a deeper intimacy with God. This morning I prayed for those who have the misfortune of experiencing the desperate and desolate aspects of loneliness without the grace of loneliness. I pray that God will reveal himself to them and that their eyes and hearts will be receptive to his summons to draw near and be loved.

Obedience

Saturday 6/13/20 6:44 AM

Yesterday I wrote about the fact that I should share the new songs and insights God has given me over the past few months with the broader Christian community. As I read Psalm 40 this morning, verses 9-10 caught my attention. “I proclaim your saving acts in the great assembly; I do not seal my lips, Lord, as you know. I do not hide your righteousness in my heart; I speak of your faithfulness and your saving help. I do not conceal your love and your faithfulness from the great assembly.” Once again, God is sending me the message.

I have a tendency to procrastinate when it comes to following through on what I think God might be telling me to do. I often carry on an internal debate about the wisdom of following through, which ultimately results in no action on my part. These words by François Fénelon encourage me to change that pattern, “It appears to me that true fidelity consists in obeying God in everything and following the light that points out our duty, and His spirit that prompts us to do it; with the desire of pleasing Him, without debating about great or little sins, about imperfections or unfaithfulness; for though there may be a difference in fact, to the soul that is determined to do all His will there is none.” I pray that God will give me the courage to act without debate.

New Songs

Friday 6/12/20 6:54 AM

The past couple of weeks have been pretty stressful. I began teaching remotely, something I’ve never done before. I’ve had plenty of sleepless nights worrying about how to do things or waking up in a cold sweat thinking of what could go wrong. I gave tests Monday and spent a great deal of time figuring out how to grade written tests without having a hard copy of the test in my hand. I have always loved the job of teaching but I do not like the way it must be done now. I just want to retire and step away from it all but I’m committed to at least two more years because of my sabbatical.

I’ve been doing a lot of walking since the beginning of the year and a lot of listening for God’s voice. I’ve rehearsed a lot of scripture and God has given me new songs to sing, some with words and some just tunes. I’ve been toying with the idea of sharing them with my church community by making short videos explaining how the songs came to be and then singing them or humming them. Our church has a Facebook page and others have been posting things to it so I thought it might be a possibility. Like most ideas I have about sharing with a broader community I often waffle between thinking it’s a good idea and thinking it’s a bad idea, so I never take the step to do it.

My psalm for the week is Psalm 40. It begins with these words, “I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear the Lord and put their trust in him.” This has definitely been my experience over the past months. The thing that caught my eye was many will see and fear the Lord and put their trust in him. I wondered how it can be that many will see and fear the Lord if I remain silent. God has put new songs in my mouth and others can benefit only if I share. The opening prayer in my devotional material says it well. “Oh Lord, you have delivered us from trouble when we were on the cusp of destruction. Embrace us, and give us your secure freedom. Make us ready to tell of your goodness and receive your gifts. In you, we rejoice.”

Pollards

Thursday 4/16/20 6:43 AM

I enjoy the lightening sky of predawn. This morning the silhouettes of pollarded trees against the pink-orange sky drew my attention. I thought about the dead branches that had been removed along with the branches that were redundant, growing in the same direction as another, robbing its neighbor of sunlight and nutrients. The pollards stood nearly bare, stripped of twigs and leaves that clothed the bonelike branches that lay beneath, allowing new, more healthy growth to take their place. The severed branches had been put through a chipper, ground into mulch, and strewn in nearby flower beds to retard the growth of weeds and to provide the flowers and shrubs with needed nutrients.

My thoughts turned to the COVID-19 pandemic and the effect it has on me personally and on our society and world at large. Am I, are we, being stripped of the things in our lives that are dead or inhibit our healthy growth and development? Will this crisis allow us to see that those who clean, and serve, and care for the sick, and teach our children are the bones that hold our society together rather than the bankers, the business moguls, the politicians, the sports stars, and entertainers that receive all the accolades and attention?

It seems that people I meet on the sidewalk or in the store are more polite, more patient than they were before. I see parents playing games with children on their lawns, going for walks together, and greeting strangers who pass with a friendly hello. Will the nonessential things of our lives that are thrown into the chipper and turned to mulch through this crisis retard the evil that arises so easily in our lives and allow us to be more patient and polite? Will we set our selfish, personal agendas aside to provide the protection and nourishment our neighbors, the unappreciated bones of our society, need so they can grow and flourish? I pray for that outcome.

Wash Your Hands

Saturday 4/11/20 6:11 AM

While going on my walk this morning I reviewed my memory verses. When I recited James 4:6-10 I thought about the phrase “wash your hands, you sinners” because of the pandemic crisis we are currently weathering and I also reflected on other parts of the verses. Imagine my surprise when I opened my devotional book today and found the assigned reading to be James 4:1-10! Verses 6-10 read, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.”

I thought about our society and the pride we had in ourselves just a few weeks ago. The stock market was at an all-time high. Unemployment was at an all-time low. The economy was booming and everyone was happy. Then, in the matter of a few weeks, the stock market plummeted and lost thirty percent of its value, a record number of people became unemployed and are now unable to buy food or pay the rent, and the economy has stalled and is in recession. Laughter and frivolity have changed to mourning and gloom, not by choice but because of circumstances. I pray that, as a society, we can become humbler because of this crisis, that we will turn to God and recognize our need for him, and that God would draw many to himself who did not previously see any need for God in their lives.

The pandemic has given me a lot of extra time to contemplate my own need for God. It has resulted in a renewed relationship and a deeper intimacy with God. My psalm for the week includes Psalm 43:3, “Send me your light and your faithful care, let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell.” I feel that God has graciously cared for me and led me closer to him, helping me to recognize that he dwells within me.