Peonies

April 24, 2020

Over the past few weeks I’ve been watching my peonies. While I certainly love the large pink tissue thin blooms, I am fascinated by this season of preparation. When the first buds appeared I started watching for the ants. They always come, drawn by the scent – something I can’t even smell! And as the buds get bigger and bigger more and more ants come, doing the important work of helping the blooms open – and certainly being nourished by the sweetness of these buds.

It’s an odd symbiotic relationship. Our initial response is to shoo away the ants. But if there are no ants then there are no blooms.

I’ve been thinking about the ants. I’ve been wondering about the mechanisms that are busily at work helping us to bloom once again. I’ve been thinking about all of the people who are doing everything they can to empower us to (re)open with as much grace and beauty as possible.

I’ve also been thinking about the blooms. There are always a few buds that never open. And occasionally a bud partially opens and then dies. Not all of the buds open into glorious blooms. This suggests to me that the ants choose some buds over others. Some get nurtured into full bloom and others don’t.

Maybe peonies are a poor metaphor for our current situation. On the other hand, as I watch the ants I can’t help but be thankful for the many processes that are in place to help us – however imperfect they may be. I am truly thankful for the many people who are working diligently to help us bloom once again. And as I watch the ants, I also pay close attention to the buds and grieve for those that will never bloom – for the inequities of our system – for all those who repeatedly fall through the cracks.

By mid-May my peonies will be in full bloom, reminding me of our resilience as a community. As we inevitably focus on the beautiful blossoms, I hope we won’t forget about the buds that didn’t open. Or the ants.

Resilience

April 14, 2020

There go the trees

   Swaying back and forth

      Bending from side to side

         Bowing to the ground

Graceful

   Flexible

      Beautiful

Like dancers

   Arms uplifted in praise

      Moving in joyful rhythm

Then sweeping the ground

   In awe and reverence

The high winds

   reveal

Resilience

Standing strong after the storm on April 13, 2020

Overwhelmed

Good Friday, April 10, 2020

The other day I was out walking on the trails and called out “Hello!” to a neighbor. My neighbor completely ignored me and I immediately wondered what I had done to offend her. I was glad to see her! Why did she snub me? The truth is, I was hurt.

It is human nature to think of ourselves first. We inevitably wonder, “What did I do wrong?” It takes emotional maturity to step back and look at the big picture. In this particular case, it is highly likely that my neighbor was being very careful about social distancing and reacted to my perceived movement toward her by moving away. I didn’t do anything wrong; she was just exercising an abundance of caution.

I recognize that I had such a strong response because of the unprecedented times in which we are living. My cognitive and emotional processes are overloaded right now, and my initial reactions are often irrational. It is as if I have reverted to my insecure teenage self who sees every pimple and imperfection in the mirror and wonders if anyone will ever love me. Right now it takes a great deal of energy to be fully present in the current moment.

When we are under times of great stress, experiencing dramatic changes in our daily routines and having to process new information every day, we simply don’t have the bandwidth to assess our emotions and reflect deeply on what we are experiencing. Our brains literally do not have the capacity. Often we feel foggy brained and unproductive. We go through the motions, but struggle to find meaning.

This stay-at-home order has given many of us an incredible gift – the gift of time. Time to sit quietly, or go for a walk, or work in the garden, and forgive ourselves for not being able to process everything that is going on right now. Time to grieve – to acknowledge our confusion and denial, to wrestle with our anger and loneliness, to accept our depression and anxiety. (These responses are normal!) We have been given time to step back, maybe sleep more, and carve out space to let the Holy Spirit do her healing work in us.

Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world...

Of course, I’m struggling to forgive myself for not making the most of this time. I haven’t figured out how to carve out that space to let the Holy Spirit work. So for today, on this Good Friday, I will look to the cross. There is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! May that truth sink deeply into my soul this day – for certainly it is enough.

Maundy

April 9, 2020

On that night so long ago Jesus gave us a new mandate: to love one another. This year, as we practice social distancing and staying at home, this mandate feels more important than ever. Love one another.

In all the oddness of gathering at our own tables instead of coming to the Lord’s Table, and sharing a Love Feast instead of Holy Communion, we intuitively got it. Love will sustain us through this pandemic.

There were so many powerful moments at this year’s online gathering.

The wind came up as we started – a fluke windstorm that blew the tin roof off my neighbors’ barn and sent us all scrambling to batten down the hatches. It set the stage for the evening, reminding me of how little control we have. We can control our own actions and responses, but we can’t control the wind or the waves. We can reach out in love to our neighbors, but we can’t control their actions and responses.

As we prepared for the Love Feast we named aloud those whom we wished were at the table with us this night – the ones we love most. Parents and grandparents who may or may not be alive. Congregation and community members who were not able to join us. Children – grown children – who are scattered across the country. Family. And in that moment the grief was palpable. Oh, how we miss those we love.

This is the night of love.

We shared the ways we’ve seen love at work. The pink super moon. New growth shooting up through the soil. Visibly less air pollution. Bird songs. Connecting with our school kids. Getting help from our neighbors. Hearing from old friends. Grieving with those who have lost loved ones to COVID-19. Listening to scripture.

Jesus washed Judas’ feet? Really? What are we supposed to do with that?

Love is patient. Love is kind.

Love works in our lives in so many different ways.

Over pancakes and crackers and clementines we shared memories of other meals – and we laughed until the tears ran down our faces. Dad’s Saturday morning breakfasts. Mom’s predictable Jiffy corn muffins. Spaghetti and meatballs without hands (or utensils!). Totally unpredictable left over casseroles on Friday night. Meals made in love. Meals shared with those we love. Love feasts.

On the night Jesus was betrayed we laughed. And it was wonderfully healing.

Time

April 6, 2020

For everything there is a season...
a time to break down, and a time to build up;

 a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance.

– From Ecclesiastes 3

I couldn’t find my planner this morning. My laptop, my phone, and my planner are the primary tools of my ministry. I typically take all three with me to meetings and to my office (wherever I choose to work that day). But it wasn’t with my computer or my phone. When I found my planner, it was laying open to the week of March 16. I had not looked at it in three weeks. 

Time has taken on a strange meaning. I feel like we are waking up to a new reality almost every day. It started with no public worship. Then no school. Then reminders everywhere to keep your distance. Then a stay at home order. And now, wear a mask.

And the virus still spreads. More people get sick every day. More people die. And it hits closer and closer to home. It is truly a time to mourn. A time to weep. So much seems to be breaking down.

And yet. I went looking for my planner this morning because yesterday I reached out to the mom of my reading buddy at B. Everett Jordan Elementary School and asked if we could resume reading together this week. And the answer was yes! We will read together as always this Wednesday – just using a different format. I wanted to write that good news down in my planner.

New growth from seeds planted last week.

While there is a deep heaviness in my heart in these uncertain times, we have been given an extraordinary gift. The gift of time. Time to plant new seeds and watch them grow. Time to strengthen relationships through this shared experience. Time to be creative about how we choose to be together as a community. It is a time to build up. It is even a time to laugh. Yes, and to dance.

It seems to me that the fullness of time comes when we hold laughter and weeping together. My body doesn’t quite know how to live that truth today – the grief is so heavy. Still, I can see the promise of something new – the possibility of this time. So for today, for this time I have been given, I will weep and plant seeds. I will rest in the silence and sing out loud. I will let my dance intertwine both lament and joy.

Called, Part 2

Several years ago I was asked to mentor four young adults who had been approved as certified candidates for ministry by their local church. I had been invited to help them as they prepared to go before DCOM and continue their pursuit of ordained ministry within the United Methodist Church. It was truly a joy to work with these men and women who were answering God’s call on their lives.

I vividly remember one young man who had just started seminary. He was so full of the Spirit! He was a life-long Methodist who had actively served in his church all his life. His fruitfulness was already evident, his passion for Christ was clear, and his desire to serve God’s Church was sincere.

I am sure he would be ordained today if it were not for the fact that he is gay. His calling by God was so strong that he was willing to remain celibate so he could serve God in the United Methodist Church.[1] But the DCOM said no. The Church said no. The Church told him: No matter how clear God’s calling is in your life – no matter how fruitful your ministry has already been – you cannot be ordained. Sadly, he dropped out of the candidacy program and he dropped out of seminary.

This young man is so faithful to the United Methodist Church. Today he still serves in his local church as a lay person. He continues to do great work for God. But I wonder about all the other young people who feel called by God and say nothing to anyone because of their sexual orientation. I wonder about those who leave their home churches to pursue ordination in a different denomination, or who simply leave the church altogether.

I am thankful for my time with this young man because he forced me to recognize my personal fears and biases. I had to wrestle with my own understanding of Scripture and Tradition. My experience with him led me to spend much time in prayer. I wondered: When God’s calling is so evident, who am I to say no? Who are we to say no?

If God is calling a person to ordained ministry, it is good for the Church to verify that calling. If the Church sees a clear calling in someone’s life, the fruits of that calling are abundantly evident, and a person meets all of the other requirements for ordination, should gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, or any other distinguishing marker keep a person from answering God’s call?

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[1] Our Book of Discipline requires “celibacy in singleness and faithfulness in marriage” for all ordained clergy. As someone who could not be married, he chose to be celibate.

Called, Part 1

In the United Methodist Church, a calling to ministry starts in the local church. Once a congregation has affirmed a clear call to ministry in a person, he or she becomes a certified candidate and moves to the district level where the District Committee on Ordained Ministry (DCOM) asks probing questions and looks for fruitfulness in ministry. Candidates who are approved by DCOM move on to the conference level and the Board of Ordained Ministry (BOOM) where the questions are more challenging, the requirements more stringent, and fruitfulness must be clearly evident.

I had graduated from seminary and been approved by DCOM when I was appointed as the pastor at Saxapahaw United Methodist Church in 2010. I was ordained in 2014, following four years of theological reflection with colleagues, hours upon hours of reading and writing (and re-writing) papers, and the daily work of prayer, reflection, and spiritual growth.

The reason I share this background information is because one of the questions before us as we explore the future of the United Methodist Church has to do with ordination.  I’m ordained today, as a woman, because in 1956, after decades of disagreements, The Methodist Church granted full clergy rights to women. Sadly, even now, 63 years later, many local Methodist churches struggle to accept that God could call a woman to ordained ministry.

I’m thankful for the men, both clergy and lay, who looked past gender back in 1956 and affirmed a woman’s call to ordination. I also recognize that there are still many denominations – from the Roman Catholic Church to the Southern Baptist Convention – that still do not affirm the ordination of women. They turn to scriptures like 1 Corinthians 14:33 which says, “Women should be silent in the churches,” to support their position.

As Methodists, while we affirm the authority of Scripture, we also know that texts like this one were written in a particular time and place to address a particular situation. So we turn to the Wesleyan Quadrilateral, reading Scripture through a broad lens and balancing our understanding of Scripture with Tradition, Experience, and Reason.

This practice led to the ordination of women in 1956. Today I wonder if it isn’t time for us to use this same practice to look past sexual orientation and affirm that God calls people from all walks of life to ordination.