Three weeks ago I paid a handyman to wash my windows, some of which have not been done in years. After I paid him he loaded his truck and was not possibly out of the neighborhood yet when a robin arrived on my bedroom window sill to admire his big fat self. Every day since, he has circled the house from sunup to sunset, body slamming and head-butting all my windows, flecking them with bird poop. I may hate him, but he is my teacher just the same, I’ve decided. He’s come to inform me, in no uncertain terms, that the spiritual discipline I profess is no thicker in me than the dust upon my windows.
I’m hardly the first to discover that it doesn’t take famine or a war to test a person’s faith. A bird on a windowsill can show us what we most believe. Abuse the cat. Kill the bird. Hate the bird. After forty-plus years of attempting to pray, these are my automatic responses when I’m annoyed. Not threatened, friends — annoyed. And while the temptation is strong to continue the response by embellishing or expanding upon my own spiritual inadequacy, things are hard enough right now. Instead, I choose to use this pretty little bird (I’m sorry I body shamed you and called you a big fat bird. You are positively lovely!) to remind me that our good intentions matter, and change takes as long as it takes. Otto seems no worse for wear even though I snapped at him. I did not, in fact, kill the bird and I can practice not hating him, even if I can’t control all my thoughts. And all that bird poop means the handyman will always have more work to do, so economically it’s a win as well. Do you also find yourself less patient with yourself these days? Is one little thing bugging you lots more than it should? Lots of stressors we can’t see push at us these days, and it’s tempting to believe we should be doing better than we are. These are not easy times — not by any measure. But we can thrive by being as gentle with ourselves as we hope others will be with us. May your home be surrounded by peace and prayers today. ~ much love, pastor annette
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April 14, 2020 Beloved: I pray this post-Easter greeting finds you well and being gentle with yourself as we enter another week of quarantine. As I write, a squirrel is scrounging through the flower pots on my back deck looking for the nuts they buried there last fall. I’ve cleaned off the dead plants and rearranged the pots so they can’t find what they are looking for. The chickens are yelling about being grounded to their coop for eating my neighbor’s newly laid down grass seed. And the weeping cherry tree I wanted cut down last year has come back like the tree man said it would, proving that the hardest work I do all day is simply leaving something alone. 
In other news, I was over at the church building yesterday to put away things I’d brought home to record Holy Week services. Everything there is quietly fine, and it made me all the more proud of you for how we are thriving through these days. As far as I know, our local households are all healthy. Extended family members, especially the elderly, are constantly on our minds and in our prayers. Friends who live alone need our extra contact. Families with young kids at home have extra duties and no one to spell them, so their patience and strength oblige our prayers as well. Remember that birthdays and anniversaries are printed in the church directory, so send each other greetings through the mail just as you also call to check in. We will continue to pre-record services for now and have two live events as scheduled on Sunday afternoons and on Thursday mornings. Let me or your deacon know if you have a need with which we can help.
https://parasolwellness.com/why-am-i-so-tired/?fbclid=IwAR0HdRcVOWxi2IioCT4CdCmKHw9N9ruSHN_kLi_uiiPwX8UZXkp23Vf7DX8 April 7, 2020 ~ Holy Week
Beloved: Ash Wednesday seems far longer than six weeks ago, amen? In the same way Jesus’ disciples had no idea what he was up to when he turned his face toward Jerusalem, we couldn’t have imagined celebrating Easter so isolated from one another. Still, grace we could not have imagined has also bloomed among us. In our physical absence has bloomed intentional connection and a new tenderness that is good for my soul, and yours too I bet. I am profoundly aware of a deep and wide degree of patience and encouragement among family, friends, neighbors and strangers. Easter marks the destruction of the divide between time and eternity – the propulsion of eternal grace into temporal time – so that even while we are separated physically, we can more fully experience our spiritual unity. This is why I love our visits on Life Together Live – the Sunday Zoom meetings at 4 PM. Yes, they are loud and crazy as everyone talks at once and kids show each other their latest artwork, but I still love it! If you haven’t joined in yet, I hope you will next week. My plan is to continue doing church this way until the scientists say it’s safe to gather once again. Your patience, encouragement and good humor these last three weeks are like honey on my heart, and I’ve no doubt we can do it as long as is necessary.* The effort, extra hours and creativity of this part-time church staff to create online worship and church programming humbles me more than I have words to say. I am in technology kindergarten while Rob and Laura Beth guide me with the patience of a thousand preschool teachers. Fan has her eyes everywhere so that nothing essential falls through the cracks. Be sure and take advantage of the extra Holy Week offerings they are delivering each day this week on Facebook and YouTube! Rob has a family Easter activity and Laura Beth a Holy Week Reflection drawn from our usual Good Friday service. And thank you, thank you, thank you for putting your offering in the mail to the church office! More honey on my heart as it makes sure our bills are paid, especially our amazing church staff! An online giving mechanism should be ready for use on Sunday too. Keep in touch. Stay connected to each other, and remember that you are so very dear to me. ~ peace & prayers, pastor annette *Like honey on my heart is a phrase I learned from Dalia O., who called this week to check on her UBC friends and say she is doing well. |
I write a Tuesday morning devotional to members and friends of UBC. It is also posted here.
Enjoy! Pastor Annette Copyright
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