Month: March 2022

When I was on the first half of my sabbatical last year, I broke my fitbit. It wasn’t a tragedy. I tend to get a little OCD when I am measuring myself, and I would get depressed when I didn’t get in enough steps. So I took a break. What I really missed was a watch, but I compensated by asking people constantly what time it was. 

Finally in January I felt ready to start the fitbit journey again, and I bought myself a sleek but cheap model. Keeping track of steps was good, but I couldn’t get the darn thing to tell me the time. I kept doing what I had always done, over and over, weeks turning into months, and it still would not work right. It was driving me crazy. 

Then this morning, randomly, I picked it up a new way and the time flashed on. I did it again the same way and there was the time. I had to laugh. I just hadn’t read the directions. I assumed it would be like the old one. I have been frustrated all this time for nothing. It works perfectly.

How often do we do that, assume we are right, assume we know what we are doing, rely on how we have always done “it”?? God is always doing something new. The world is always becoming more. Opportunities to grow and become are always being offered. We just need to open our eyes and take a few risks. 

God is always inviting you to more!

I have been tired this week. The time change always gets me. So it didn’t hit me right away that I wasn’t listening much to the news. But by the end of the week, when I finally turned on the radio, I realized I was behind the times, as they say. My first instinct was to turn the news off again.

It’s called compassion fatigue. That point where you just have had it, you can’t listen to one more sad thing. You start watching TV shows with happy endings. You experience incredible helplessness and frustration at the seemingly endless bad news. Add to that a pandemic that won’t quit and a war that is in its third week, and turning off the news seems the only sane strategy.

How informed do we really have to be anyway? What is the extent of our moral obligation? How do we deal with our own life frustrations and the tragedies of the world? 

When we feel like this it means our sometimes shaky reserves for coping are depleted. That is an indication that it is time to rest. And that is okay. We need to rest, we need to breathe in some peace, we need to re-establish a sense of balance and remind ourselves the extent of our responsibilities. Take time for that if you need it.

And then come back to reality. Choose some ways you can help. Let go of any need to fix it or control it, whatever “it” is. Every day do an act of kindness. Every day say a prayer for peace. Every day do one thing to care for yourself. Balance. You can’t change the craziness but you can do some small things that make it more bearable.

We can teach and model peace. We can bring kindness into the world. We can care for those we love and those we don’t know. We can suspend judgement and practice compassion. Never underestimate the power of love and God’s willingness to take everything we offer and make it good.

I am praying often for the people of Ukraine. I can’t imagine living in a war zone, and I have to admit being relieved that I don’t have to be. The bravery and sacrifice we are witnessing is inspiring. The stream of refugees is overwhelming. As with so many situations in our world, thoughts and prayers, while essential, are not enough.

Some people are giving money to various charities. That is an action that is positive and helpful. I am always impressed when someone is willing to give of themselves to help others. If there are refugees resettled in Youngstown, I hope the church is moved to offer them assistance. I like practical ways to respond.

While I have compassion for those who are negatively affected by the high price of gas, for those of us who can manage, let’s stop complaining about it. Compassion that only lasts until I am inconvenienced isn’t really compassion. I don’t like paying more for gas, but it reminds me that the cost of war and suffering isn’t born by just a few. We are all impacted by the pain of others. And we should be, 

Going deeper we might ask ourselves some hard questions about how we solve problems in this country. Violence here is accepted as inevitable. It is not inevitable, it is a choice. Our culture respects power and might. We want to be the ones who wield it. We can’t glory in our own power and point shaking fingers at the power others claim. 

If we are really motivated to help end the war in Ukraine, let’s end violence in our own country. Let’s show that mediation and nonviolent action are a viable alternative that we practice until we get it right. Let’s be willing to change and sacrifice in our own lives, putting our time, money and convenience where our hearts are. Life in our own neighborhood could be so much better if we valued all people and treated everyone like they matter.

Thoughts and prayers, though essential, are never enough. 

More on bad guys, which was the topic of my sermon this week.

We are taught as children to separate people. The good guys are usually the people “like us” and the bad guys are always “different.” I think of westerns and Disney movies. Bad guys always look bad, sinister, scary. But so much of the reason why they look bad is because we have been taught to fear that “look”.

Cowboys and Indians are a good example. Cowboys were white, and whatever their behavior, however extreme, it was always justified in the story. Indigenous people always spoke a language we didn’t understand, always were portrayed as backward and uncivilized. Until recently they were rarely offered any sympathy or justification. And by now people are so culturally formed in those unhelpful, racist images, it is hard to even realize the bias. 

White people have been taught to fear dark skin, disability, people with body types or injuries that set them apart. And I will say again, I have been taught this. We have been taught that if someone could be seen as different, they are probably bad.

White people have also been taught that the values we grew up with are worth defending. They might encourage an individualistic, might-makes-right, self-centered view of the world. But we have held them so long we don’t question it. And if we have a bad guy, someone who might ask uncomfortable questions about our choices, that distraction is enough not to have to deal with truth or justice or compassion.

All of us need to pay attention when we identify someone as bad or the enemy. We need to ask ourselves to look deeper into why. What are we afraid of, what makes us uncomfortable? Why is it so important that this person is bad? How does it benefit us to have an enemy? Safety aside, why have an enemy?

In these trying times we are so much more alike than different. We all experience grief and sorrow, hopes and dreams. We all need to find the connections and support one another. We are called to recognize everyone’s belovedness, just as God does.