During the past 24 hours I have been confronted by the thought of death and its role in how I live my life. Yesterday my sister, who is only a few years older than I, had a total hip replacement! I know she will feel much, much better now but every time someone goes into surgery I feel the mortality of our human bodies.
That went double for this surgery because my sister had the surgery in the same hospital where my husband died 20 years ago. Just when you think you are passed certain feelings they come rushing back - and I have had to work hard these past 24 hours to keep my anxiety in check and to remember that every person's situation is different. Most of all I have been trying to keep my faith as the guiding influence as each day passes.
We are all wounded in some way or another in our lives and we have all been touched by death - whether directly or indirectly. Today I spoke to a church member who was having some trouble physically and that triggered her to decide to complete her funeral planning! So we discussed the pros and cons of doing that at any age because we are all human, we are all going to die. Having a plan in place for that time is one of the ways we can be comforted in our ongoing journey.
But the fact is we all must face our mortality and what the means in terms of our faith and how we live our lives. Jesus tells us to live life abundantly and has given us the way to do just that by his victory over death. If we have faith we don't have to fear our mortality because we know there is something more for us beyond death, and I find that to be a true comfort.
My loss of my husband at age 31 has left me living my life without the family I always thought I would have. Still, it is a good life, just not the one I had envisioned for myself. Death of someone we love may set us on a different course but we still have lots of life left to live and how we do that directly shows our faith. I find myself not too consumed with the future because I am too busy living this day. But when something like the surgery of a loved one arises I have to control that first reaction of panic, the anticipation of loss, and remember that I have a faith that allows me to get through even the toughest times.
When my husband died I had no understanding of my faith but as the years have gone by I have come to understand that my faith allows me to believe that everything works out - maybe not the way I want it to - but in a way that is meaningful. I still believe people will do the right thing when push comes to shove even when I am proved wrong over and over.
No matter my mortality I believe - I believe people are basically good and I believe that God who created us all is still an integral part of my daily life. I believe my mortality is just another step on my journey. I believe I will get the chance to see all of my loved ones again in a different way and life through God.
I believe.
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Friday, January 25, 2013
Contrasts
So, here it is, January in Duluth, Minnesota and we have had the coldest weather in 7 years with morning temperatures exceeding -20 (AIR TEMP!) on several occasions. That kind of cold cements your eyelashes together from your own breath and leaves me wondering what in the world I am thinking to love winter! The landscape is stark and it's hard to believe anything can thrive in this world of white and cold.
Contrast that with Africa - while some areas are experiencing their winter, others are in full summer and in high season for mosquitoes. they are thriving and the female anopheles mosquito, which feeds at night, is continuing to spread malaria to unsuspecting people. We don't really think about malaria anymore because it was eradicated in the U.S. years ago, but in Africa a child dies every 45 seconds from this disease, but only a short time ago it was every 30 seconds. There is progress.
While we here in Duluth are in the deep freeze the families of impoverished Africa are fighting for their lives because of this mosquito. Malaria is a both preventable and treatable but it is a disease of poverty that affects all aspects of life.
But now we are connected - those of us at Hope UMC in Duluth and those who are at risk for malaria in Africa. We have joined our passion with the 11.5 million United Methodists worldwide to empower the continent of Africa to achieve a sustainable victory over malaria by 2015. This ministry of care includes raising $75 million churchwide (over $2.5 million in Minnesota alone) to eliminate death and suffering of malaria.
Why does this matter to us? When people are healthy they are more productive and can sustain their own lives and countries, so less aid is needed. When people are healthy they can make choices for the future that they could not when malaria forced so much suffering and death. And because Jesus calls us to help those in need, those suffering, those for whom the most basic need of life is not being met.
There the contrast ends. Because both the people of Duluth and the people of Africa have compassion and the will to make a difference. We come together because we understand we live in a world that has become a global community where when some of us suffer all of us suffer.
We sang it last week - "We are called to act with justice, we are called to love tenderly, we are called to serve one another, to walk humbly with God."
May you be warmed by the knowledge we are heeding God's call!
Contrast that with Africa - while some areas are experiencing their winter, others are in full summer and in high season for mosquitoes. they are thriving and the female anopheles mosquito, which feeds at night, is continuing to spread malaria to unsuspecting people. We don't really think about malaria anymore because it was eradicated in the U.S. years ago, but in Africa a child dies every 45 seconds from this disease, but only a short time ago it was every 30 seconds. There is progress.
While we here in Duluth are in the deep freeze the families of impoverished Africa are fighting for their lives because of this mosquito. Malaria is a both preventable and treatable but it is a disease of poverty that affects all aspects of life.
But now we are connected - those of us at Hope UMC in Duluth and those who are at risk for malaria in Africa. We have joined our passion with the 11.5 million United Methodists worldwide to empower the continent of Africa to achieve a sustainable victory over malaria by 2015. This ministry of care includes raising $75 million churchwide (over $2.5 million in Minnesota alone) to eliminate death and suffering of malaria.
Why does this matter to us? When people are healthy they are more productive and can sustain their own lives and countries, so less aid is needed. When people are healthy they can make choices for the future that they could not when malaria forced so much suffering and death. And because Jesus calls us to help those in need, those suffering, those for whom the most basic need of life is not being met.
There the contrast ends. Because both the people of Duluth and the people of Africa have compassion and the will to make a difference. We come together because we understand we live in a world that has become a global community where when some of us suffer all of us suffer.
We sang it last week - "We are called to act with justice, we are called to love tenderly, we are called to serve one another, to walk humbly with God."
May you be warmed by the knowledge we are heeding God's call!
Friday, January 18, 2013
Embracing Our Differences
This weekend in the United Methodist Church is Human Relations Sunday and in our country it is the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. Both of these days are reminders for us of the complex nature of human relations and how easy it is to be afraid of people we don't know.
In this area there is no doubt that as followers of Jesus we are called to not take the easy path, but to forge new paths that lead to connection and understanding. We are all afraid of what we do not know, but if all humankind are God's children, then we are called to understanding and love for one another, no matter whether we go to church, practice our faith on a trail up the North Shore or follow a different path all together. Jesus spent much of his time on Earth with those who were on the margins of life, who lived differently, from what was perceived as the "norm". He knew that to truly bring about peace and God's kingdom we would need to start by loving one another and building communities.
That means embracing our differences instead of being afraid of them! Easy to write, not always so easy to do because that fear is on both sides of any meeting. Think about that the next time you are unsure or afraid of interacting with a person or group who are very different from yourself - they too are probably feeling the same way!!!!! When we take the time to understand one another or even to realize that we all have the same feelings we can more easily come together. And when we come together we find our similarities and learn from our differences.
Just think - if we all had the same spiritual gifts how would we get everything done God wants us to do? there would be no music if we were all preachers, no mission work if we were all administrators, no moments of inspiration or deep joy if we only looked for the process of faith and not the mystery. Our differences make us each unique and make our community stronger, more loving and more giving.
I think of all of the people I know who create through sewing, quilting, art, knitting, writing, cooking, etc. If those creators didn't constantly use difference colors, fibers, ingredients, whatever, each creation would be much the same as the one before. God used different ingredients for each one of us and look how colorful, unique and gift-filled we are!!!
Embracing our differences, embracing different lenses through which life is viewed, is what we are called to do. God's kingdom is in the making and each time we embrace our differences, welcome those who we don't yet fully know or understand, we move that much closer to making that kingdom a reality.
So, I invite you to do something this weekend to embrace the differences around you - talk to a neighbor you have been avoiding, attend an event of an ethnic group you want to understand further, attend the MLK events to support and live into his legacy, whatever you can find. Embracing our diversity is embracing God more fully!
In this area there is no doubt that as followers of Jesus we are called to not take the easy path, but to forge new paths that lead to connection and understanding. We are all afraid of what we do not know, but if all humankind are God's children, then we are called to understanding and love for one another, no matter whether we go to church, practice our faith on a trail up the North Shore or follow a different path all together. Jesus spent much of his time on Earth with those who were on the margins of life, who lived differently, from what was perceived as the "norm". He knew that to truly bring about peace and God's kingdom we would need to start by loving one another and building communities.
That means embracing our differences instead of being afraid of them! Easy to write, not always so easy to do because that fear is on both sides of any meeting. Think about that the next time you are unsure or afraid of interacting with a person or group who are very different from yourself - they too are probably feeling the same way!!!!! When we take the time to understand one another or even to realize that we all have the same feelings we can more easily come together. And when we come together we find our similarities and learn from our differences.
Just think - if we all had the same spiritual gifts how would we get everything done God wants us to do? there would be no music if we were all preachers, no mission work if we were all administrators, no moments of inspiration or deep joy if we only looked for the process of faith and not the mystery. Our differences make us each unique and make our community stronger, more loving and more giving.
I think of all of the people I know who create through sewing, quilting, art, knitting, writing, cooking, etc. If those creators didn't constantly use difference colors, fibers, ingredients, whatever, each creation would be much the same as the one before. God used different ingredients for each one of us and look how colorful, unique and gift-filled we are!!!
Embracing our differences, embracing different lenses through which life is viewed, is what we are called to do. God's kingdom is in the making and each time we embrace our differences, welcome those who we don't yet fully know or understand, we move that much closer to making that kingdom a reality.
So, I invite you to do something this weekend to embrace the differences around you - talk to a neighbor you have been avoiding, attend an event of an ethnic group you want to understand further, attend the MLK events to support and live into his legacy, whatever you can find. Embracing our diversity is embracing God more fully!
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Happy 2013!
Here it is - New Year's Day 2013!! I remember when I thought the year 2000 was so far away and here it is 13 years past that day. Time does seem to speed up as we get older.
Do you have any resolutions? We spoke in worship last Sunday about making the great resolution of shoring up the foundation of faith and we participated in part of the Wesleyan Covenant service. It was meaningful to honor the past, take part in the present and have hope for the future! To renew my covenant with God reminded me of what is truly important in life - my faith, my family, my friends and my neighbors. So, I am hoping 2013 brings me closer to God and to all who I meet on my journey.
This Sunday is Epiphany and on that day we celebrate the magi's visit to see Jesus. And we see that their lives were transformed by their experience of the Christ child. So, as we begin 2013 let's resolve to make things different, to live our lives transformed by Jesus - by reorienting our priorities not to focus on ourselves, but on the radical love Jesus gives from us and asks in return. Won't that be an adventure?
I invite you to look back at the last year and see the road(s) you have taken. Then look ahead and make a plan - how can my road lead me to spend more time with the people I love? How can I demonstrate my faith through community and service? How can I make my relationship with God even stronger? Will it be the same road as last year or a different one?
Happy New Year!
Laurie
Do you have any resolutions? We spoke in worship last Sunday about making the great resolution of shoring up the foundation of faith and we participated in part of the Wesleyan Covenant service. It was meaningful to honor the past, take part in the present and have hope for the future! To renew my covenant with God reminded me of what is truly important in life - my faith, my family, my friends and my neighbors. So, I am hoping 2013 brings me closer to God and to all who I meet on my journey.
This Sunday is Epiphany and on that day we celebrate the magi's visit to see Jesus. And we see that their lives were transformed by their experience of the Christ child. So, as we begin 2013 let's resolve to make things different, to live our lives transformed by Jesus - by reorienting our priorities not to focus on ourselves, but on the radical love Jesus gives from us and asks in return. Won't that be an adventure?
I invite you to look back at the last year and see the road(s) you have taken. Then look ahead and make a plan - how can my road lead me to spend more time with the people I love? How can I demonstrate my faith through community and service? How can I make my relationship with God even stronger? Will it be the same road as last year or a different one?
Happy New Year!
Laurie
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