From Waiting to Strength

Notes from the Pastor…

When I was a kid, I considered Sunday mornings holy for irreligious reasons.  The Dallas Morning News would be tossed before I got out of my batman pajamas, and I would be instructed for yet another week not to open the paper until we returned from church.  The smell of pot roast would greet us as we entered our Waxahachie home, but no matter my physical hunger, I had a sports hunger that needed immediate satisfaction.  The Texas Rangers were something of a demigod to this ten year old.  Before lunch was served I could tell you Jose Canseco’s placement on the American League RBI and Home Run top ten,  I would memorize Kenny Rodgers’ ERA, and all my emotion would pour out in hope that the Rangers could make up the 8 games they were behind the division leader Seattle Mariners in August.

At some point, childhood fantasies of the big leagues are grown out of, and teenagers turn to the worries of high school.  Nonetheless, I think I stopped cheering for the Texas Rangers because I was tired of their perpetual loser status; I could not wait for success any longer, I gave up.

Waiting for too long can result in giving up, and on a much higher, holier level, we may be tempted to give up on God.  The Prophet Isaiah said, “Even youths grow tired and weary, and young people stumble and fall.” Life’s journey takes us through tough times where we lose all ability to cheer for God; where we grow tired of the perpetual physical and/or emotional defeats; where we cannot wait any longer and giving up seems routine.  Yet the prophet says, “Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength.”

So what is the lesson here?  Don’t give up!  In good times and bad, we must wait on the Lord, for “He gives strength to the weary and power to the weak.”

Grace,
Pastor Ryan

Silence and Prayer

Notes from the Pastor…

In the spring of 2009, as a part of my seminary education, I traveled with twelve student-peers and one professor to the Monastery of Christ in the Desert, near Abiquiu, New Mexico.  In my final reflection (required by the professor) I wrote these words:

Toward the beginning of the week I debated whether these men had much purpose living so far from society, but now with a week's experience and a week's reflection, I see their service to the Kingdom of Heaven is unmatched by most. … Their devotion to prayer is moving to the spirit and the earth. It is unfathonable to ponder on all the good that comes from “Lord hear our prayer” and “Amen”. If I had the prayers of the monks of the Monastery of Christ in the Desert on my behalf I would be the first to volunteer to metaphorically storm the gates of hell.

As a protestant, retreating to a Benedictine Monastery is an odd, yet rewarding practice.  Daily life at the monastery consists of a balance of three elements: corporal prayer, manual labor, and spiritual reading of Scripture.  As defined by George A. Lane, the goal of the Benedictine life is “perfecting the individual soul through the perfect living of the Christian life in community.”  In this way the monastery acts as a place of retreat and persona of prophetic pragmatism: living out the words and behaviors of Jesus.

For me a spiritual retreat at the monastery is a time of spiritual silence – it is not that I go without talking; it is that I attempt to cease self-assertion.  J. Brent Bill puts it this way:

Spiritual silence is a scalpel.  It slices our souls open.  It cuts through layers of our fears and insecurities and our reliance on ourselves instead of God. … If we are never silent, then we never have to look at the truth about ourselves. … Silence leads us to wait.  Waiting leads us to the real presence of Jesus.  The real presence leads us to holy awe. … [And holy awe] is simple.  It is serene.  It is triumphant.  It is radiant. … [After all] words often rush in where feelings fear to walk.

As you read this article, I will be at the Monastery of Christ in the Desert.  Please take a moment and pray for your pastor.  Pray that Christ would retreat with me in my attempted silence.

Grace,
Pastor Ryan

Blood Chocolate

Have you heard of blood diamonds? How about conflict free? Fair trade coffee?

These terms all refer to the working conditions of the people who are making the products happen. If the people are treated unfairly, paid exceptionally low wages, forced into child labor, etc. then the product is cheaper and the company makes more profit at the expense of human lives. Halloween and Easter are two major candy holidays in the U.S. and most of that candy comes from unimaginable working conditions with many of the workers being children who were sold into slavery so we Americans can fill pumpkins and Easter baskets (while complaining about childhood obesity and diabetes- but that's a story for another time). 

I have copied and pasted some facts from recent studies below:

"During this week's ghoulish Halloween festivities, Americans will binge on a predicted $2.2 billion worth of candy...
"Top cocoa-producing countries like Ghana and Cote D'Ivoire remain rife with forced child labor, child trafficking, extremely low pay, and near slave-like conditions, according to an annual audit released last month by Tulane University's Payson Center for International Development...
"To keep the cost of our treats low, about 3.6 million children in West Africa work on cocoa farms, according to the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), many of whom were trafficked illegally from other countries. There are about 150,000 child slaves just in Cote d’Ivoire. American kids may look forward to trick-or-treating, but many of those goodies were produced by children younger than them...
"Hershey's, according to another new study by leading human rights and labor rights non-profits, is one company in particular that perpetuates child labor by failing to monitor how its cocoa is produced...

Please sign the electronic petition asking Hershey's to change their practices. For the full article and the petition at the end of the article, click here.

These facts are baffling, outrageous, and unnecessary. It doesn't have to be this way. To add insult to injury, October is National Fair Trade month. Ironic isn't it? I have a few suggestions that may be challenging but we have to start somewhere.

This Halloween:
- Don't buy big brand candy. I realize it's too late to reverse the production process for the candy already in stores, but it's the only way to send a message to the companies.
- Look for fair trade candy for your party or make caramel apples, popcorn, or homemade brownies (with fair trade cocoa powder).
- Don't complain about the prices of fair trade. I know this one hits us all where it hurts but we have to change our mind set. Every time we justify a cheaper product saying it's all we can afford, we allow ourselves to be as evil as the companies who choose to ignore such tragedies. We must consider the price difference a donation to free a child sold into slavery and forced to work in awful conditions.
- Helpful tip: go to www.frontiercoop.com and start a buying club. These items are whole sale (which means very affordable) and many of their products are certified organic and fair trade.

We are on the path to a fair trade home ourselves. It has been an adjustment for us, so I understand what I am asking you to do, but how can we not do the best possible good for our fellow human beings? Do you want your child harvesting in a field for a stranger who kidnapped or bought them? All for a frivolous holiday? Of course not! That almost feels like I just crossed the line; but we have to wake up and realize this is happening! We can't ask someone else's child to do that either. In fact, perhaps we can all look into adopting a child that has been rescued from human trafficking scandals (and maybe that's a story for another time).

Domestic Violence is NOT Abundant Life

Notes from the Pastor…

Jesus said, “I came that [you] may have life, and have it abundantly.”  However, there are lots of people in our community who do not have abundant life.  I am  not talking about the unsaved, the heathen, or the lost; rather, I am talking about victims of domestic violence.  Whether men, women, or children, abiding in a
home of abuse is not living; suffering domestic violence is the antipode of abundant life.

Domestic violence is emotional, financial, mental, physical, and/or sexual abuse, stemming from one person’s need to control another in order to feel powerful. When the dominating individual loses power, either perceived or real, in other parts of life, the intimate partner suffers the repercussions of the abuser’s psychological issues. (As defined by Mission Granbury).

The facts are astounding (provided by the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence):
• One in every four women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime.
• 30% to 60% of perpetrators of intimate partner violence also abuse children in the household.
• Boys who witness domestic violence are twice as likely to abuse their own partners and children when they become adults.
• In 70-80% of intimate partner homicides, no matter which partner was killed, the woman was physically abused before the murder.

Most cases of domestic violence are never reported to the police.

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month.  In the United States, New Mexico ranks second in this unholy matter, and in New Mexico, Lincoln County ranks first.  The chances are, you either know someone currently being abused or someone who was a victim of abuse in their past.

Either way, be Christ to your family, friends, and neighbors  – proclaim a reality where domestic violence is no more, provide a safe place for victims and an alternative for the abuser, and become aware of this tragic trend.


May the Church promote life, and life more abundant!

Grace,
Pastor Ryan

Empathetic or Narcissistic?

Notes from the Pastor…

John 7:53-8:11 is one of my favorite passages of Scripture; it is where Jesus says, “The one who is without sin throw the first stone.” (John 8:7) and “Neither do I condemn you.  Go,  from now on  sin no more.” (John 8:11)

First Jesus challenges the religious people to look on their neighbor with empathy; then with the same breath Jesus extends grace and confronts misdeeds to the one who needs empathy.  Concerning the first movement, I am at an intellectual loss and spiritually amazed at how Jesus harmonizes grace and confrontation.  But in the second movement, the challenge of empathy to those who are religiously acceptable, this subversive idea drives my love for the text.

At the Sermon on the Mount Jesus commands that we should not judge others, and judging others is the opposite of empathy.  When Jesus looks on the crowds at the feeding of the 5000 he is filled with compassion, and compassion and empathy are interrelated emotions.  The simple fact is, throughout the Jesus narrative we find our Christ behaving and teaching empathy  - experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and attitudes of another.

Recent research of Asperger syndrome is finding that empathy is as much physical as it is spiritual.  In fact, autistic individuals have less ability to ascertain others' feelings, but they demonstrate equal empathy when they are aware of others' states of mind.  Science is reporting that empathy is as natural as breathing, but there is one disorder that is defined as an unwillingness to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs
of others; that is, narcissistic personality disorder.  So this begs a question: If Christians are known for being judgmental, hateful, and hypocritical (2007 Barna poll of young adults) then do we suffer from narcissistic personality disorder?

Do we worry so much about being on the “in” that we forget what it feels like to be an outsider?  Do we attempt to sit as the judge when we really belong among the accused?

Yet Jesus says, “The one who is without sin throw the first stone.” and “Neither do I condemn you.  Go, from now on sin no more.”  I imagine the most powerful thing you and I can do to nurture the empathy within us is to apply a simple phrase to those we are tempted to judge: “Tell me your story.”        

Grace,
Pastor Ryan