Perspectives: Giraffe

 

Every Mountain Made Flat

This is a devotional I wrote for our JM Advent Devotional ministry.

Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'"  (Luke 3:5-6)

I live at the top of a mountain. Not everyone would call it a mountain; some might scoff at me and say it is a hill.  A short bump in the road. I realize I don’t live on Pike’s Peak or Mt. Everest. I know that my mountain isn’t epic. To me, though, it is a mountain, especially in the winter.

When winter comes, and the snow flies, and I am driving to work, I pause at the top of the “big hill” – the last and biggest downhill slope to reach the flatter roads near our home – and I definitely call it a mountain. I pause at the top to allow the car in front of me to slowly slide – I mean carefully drive – down the mountain. I wait for all the cars coming the other side of the mountain to make their way down so that my way is clear. Then I slowly start driving down our mountain in my all-wheel-drive CR-V. I ever so carefully pump the brakes (I know I’m not supposed to, but I want a slow speed – don’t correct my driving while I’m creeping). I pause where the ice always flows across the road and slowly roll over it. I take the big curve to the outside because I know the road slopes toward the ditch. When I reach the bottom, I celebrate.

I can drive all the way to Charleston in the snow with less worry than when I drive down our mountain.  It is an obstacle for me to reach the rest of the world.

Our passage today shares the words of John the Baptist as he quotes the prophet Isaiah, calling for repentance to make the way clear for the Lord to come. I, for one, can certainly imagine how low valleys, high mountains, and crooked roads can be obstacles. I can see how our sins and self-centeredness could block the way for the Lord to enter our lives, and therefore the entire world.

I wouldn’t mind if my mountain were made low so that my obstacle to the world would be gone. I imagine repentance – our turning away from the metaphorical mountains and crooked habits that separate us from God – could make God’s way into the world possible.

What do we need to do to clear the way for God’s entrance into our lives and into the world? What repentance would make the path straight and the way smooth so that all flesh could see the salvation of God? What are our first best steps to make it so?

 

Open Your Eyes to Joy

 This is a devotional that I wrote for the WV Annual Conference Advent Devotional Ministry this year.

³ I thank my God every time I mention you in my prayers. ⁴ I’m thankful for all of you every time I pray, and it’s always a prayer full of joy. ⁵ I’m glad because of the way you have been my partners in the ministry of the gospel from the time you first believed it until now. ⁶ I’m sure about this: the one who started a good work in you will stay with you to complete the job by the day of Christ Jesus.  Philippians 1:3-6

 

Several years ago, when I was Nurture Chairperson of my church, the responsibility for our church’s Wednesday evening dinners was thrust upon me. The truth is, I was resentful of the work and worry of picking up the dinners, preparing them, serving them, and cleaning up afterwards.  For six weeks I worked full of indignation. Have you ever felt this way?

 

After the six weeks, out of habit, I wrote thank you notes to all of the volunteers who had helped. It was a lot of notes; it was a pile of gratitude. After the cards were mailed, I realized I was no longer resentful – I was only thankful.

 

Paul wrote in Philippians (from prison) that he was “thankful for all of you every time I pray, and it’s always a prayer full of joy.”  I wasn’t at all joyful when I was working on the church dinners – I was only resentful. It wasn’t until I felt thankful that I found joy. I don’t think joy is the same thing as happiness; I believe joy is something we feel when we are close to God. That means it was gratitude – thankfulness – that brought me to awareness of joy and of God in the work I had done.

 

I lead the Conference Certified Lay Ministry Course. We meet once a month via Zoom. No matter how tired I am when we start, when I turn off the Zoom and close my computer, I feel thankful. I am grateful for the people who have heard God’s call to ministry and have joined the class.  Every time. It is a joy. Paul’s joy in the people for whom he was praying led him to write to them, “I’m sure about this: the one who started a good work in you will stay with you to complete the job by the day of Christ Jesus.” I think Paul could see the work of Christ in the people of the Philippian Church because he was thankful for them.

 

Gratitude is the key to seeing the people of God and God at work in them. When you are resentful, when you are tired, when you are discouraged, take a moment to offer your thanksgiving. I think God will open your eyes to the joy.

 

Prayer: Loving God, open our prayers to thanksgiving, our hearts to joy, and our eyes to each other. Amen.

Perspectives: Line it up

This is a bulletin board on the wall in a local hospital. It advocates steps patients and staff can take to prevent a fall.  It's cute because it was fall when I took the picture.

But, couldn't they line up the wood background plank paper?  That's all I could see when I looked at it.

Book Review: Road to Wisdom

 Information about the book

Collins, Francis S.  The Road to Wisdom: On Truth, Science, Faith, and Trust,  Little, Brown, and Company. New York. 2024. (Amazon)

Summary

From Amazon: "As the COVID-19 pandemic revealed, we have become not just a hyper-partisan society but also a deeply cynical one, distrustful of traditional sources of knowledge and wisdom. Skepticism about vaccines led to the needless deaths of at least 230,000 Americans. “Do your own research” is now a rallying cry in many online rabbit holes. Yet experts can make mistakes, and institutions can lose their moral compass. So how can we navigate through all this?

In The Road to Wisdom, Francis Collins reminds us of the four core sources of judgement and clear thinking: truth, science, faith, and trust. Drawing on his work from the Human Genome Project and heading the National Institutes of Health, as well as on ethics, philosophy, and Christian theology, Collins makes a robust, thoughtful case for each of these sources—their reliability, and their limits. Ultimately, he shows how they work together, not separately—and certainly not in conflict. Dr. Francis Collins was the head of the Human Genome Project, and is a world-leading scientist.  He is also a person of faith.  From the back cover of the book: "Dr. Collins believes that faith in God and faith in science can coexist within a person and be harmonious.  In The Language of God he makes his case for God and for science."

Impressions

My pastor, in a sermon, mentioned this book. She had seen Francis Collins interviewed on the The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (interesting interview). I was in the middle of the Religion and Science class and had read The Language of God by Francis Collins this summer.

I enjoyed the book. I especially found the chapter that talks about truth to be interesting - truth as concentric circles.  I don't think I've written a post about it, but I should.  As I mentioned, I read The Language of God prior to the Religion and Science class - in some ways, I think this book would have been a better prequel to the class - impossible for me, since it came out int eh middle of the class, but for future reference....

I would recommend this book.

Posts about book

Collins Road

How do we thank God for you?

Roughly inspired by 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13

I imagine this as a letter to a church

How do we thank God for you?

For your life, your work, your service?

How can we thank God for the joy you bring?

We pray without pausing,

night and day,

with all intensity,

to see you again,

face to face.

We pray that we may bring you faith

the way you have strengthened our faith.

May God set the path

so that we can come to you.

May God direct our way to you.

May God grow the love that is found among you

so that it is abundance and obvious.

So that your light shines for all.

So that the love we feel for you

will be felt among you.

And may God strengthen your hearts

Strengthen your faith

So that holiness is like the water that washes you clean each day.

May you be blameless before God

in the grace God has provided.