Thursday Thoughts

When my 18 year daughter was little, I loved making Halloween costumes for her. One year she was a cowgirl, complete with pearl snap buttons and leather cowgirl boots. That year we went to a harvest party at my grad school that included pony rides and she had to match! One year she was a dragon and I was a princess. One year she was Rosy the Riveter and I was a victory gardener. Another year she was a Park Ranger and I was a hiker. Those days of her letting us match were great! When she was really little I really did not like the idea of her taking candy from strangers, so we didn’t trick-or-treat but we always dressed up.

I do now embrace our children reveling in the joyous generosity of strangers on Halloween. Think about it, on what other night do you knock on a stranger's door let alone do so with the reasonable expectation that if their light is on they will greet you with excitement and a gift?!

In Luke 10 when a lawyer was trying to trip up Jesus by asking who his neighbor was, Jesus responded with the story of the Good Samaritan. In that story, a man is waylaid by robbers who beat and mug him and leave him for dead. Of all the people who pass by, it is only the one who stops and helps that man who is lifted up as the example of one who loves God and their neighbor. Who are the lawyers' neighbors? Anyone who needs mercy. And what is the lawyer to do? Show mercy to his neighbors.

I think we all agree that our country is in a lot of turmoil right now as we are being pitted against one another in the battle for the White House. No matter what happens next week, our job as Christians remains the same. That job, in the words of Jesus to the lawyer, is this: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27).

Sometimes I think of loving my neighbor as loving others only in moments when someone is under duress - such as the man left for dead in the parable Jesus told. But, loving your neighbor is also to “rejoice with those who rejoice” (Romans 9:15a). It is feeding the hungry and handing out candy to the eager children knocking on your door - loving one’s neighbor is bigger than only responding to need.

Friends, tonight when you open your door for the umpteenth time and drop a Three Musketeers or Peanut Butter Cup (because those are the best!) into the hands of a ghost or Mario, I hope you feel the joy of being a present and generous neighbor to strangers. I pray that joyous generosity spreads to the other 364 days of the year.

Who is the good neighbor? The one who shows mercy.

Blessings,

Pastor Amy?

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When I was about a year into seminary, in one of my Systematic Theology courses with the professor who would encourage me to become an American Baptist, I became acquainted with Latin American liberation theology through the writings of Gustavo Gutiérrez. Gutiérrez was a Peruvian theologian who took seriously the idea that salvation doesn’t just have implications for the afterlife but that it also should have implications for now. He was specifically concerned that Western theology had not allowed for the idea that Jesus’ death and resurrection could save people from various oppressions they encountered in everyday life - especially poverty. Looking back, I’m amazed that this was such a new and profound idea to me!

Gutiérrez’s work made a lot of waves - including in the Catholic church that rejected some of his views as liberal and dangerous. You see, Gutiérrez believed in the preferential option for the poor - namely, that Jesus sought out the poor and that the poor could see Jesus more clearly than could the wealthy because they weren’t trapped by power and wealth.

Gutiérrez, the “Father of Liberation Theology,” died on Tuesday. Rest in peace, rise in glory.

So, today I want to leave you with some of his words to encourage you in your faith as you consider what it means to both be liberated by Jesus and to be a liberative presence in a world in which so many people remain trapped by various forms of poverty and prejudice. May his words encourage you like they have me for these past 20 years.

“There is no Christian life without ‘songs’ to the Lord, without thanksgiving for God’s love, and without prayer. But the songs are sung by persons living in particular historical situations, and these provide the framework within which they perceive God’s presence and also God’s absence (in the biblical sense of this term; see Jer. 7:1-7; Matt. 7:15-21). In our Latin American context we may well ask ourselves: How can we thank God for the gift of life when the reality around us is one of premature and unjustly inflicted death? How can we express joy at knowing ourselves to be loved by the Father when we see the suffering of our brothers and sisters? How can we sing when the suffering of an entire people chokes the sound in our throats?” ~ Gutiérrez, Gustavo. We Drink from Our Own Wells: The Spiritual Journey of a People. (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2003): 7.

“Life according to the Spirit is therefore not an existence at the level of the soul and in opposition to or apart from the body; it is an existence in accord with life, love, peace, and justice (the great values of the reign of God) and against death. Such is the spiritual life of Christians, ‘heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ’ (Rom. 8:17), because ‘all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God’ (Rom. 8:14).” Gutiérrez, We Drink from Our Own Wells, 71.

Blessings,

Pastor Amy

PS - Gutiérrez is most well known for his book A Theology of Liberation: History, Politics, and Salvation (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1988). 

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I talk to a lot of people who are deeply worried about the future of our world. With climate change no longer a theory but a reality, the cost of living going up faster than wages, and a political landscape that echoes all kinds of dystopian novels, I understand the fear. Sometimes I want to yell into what feels like a void: “WE HAVE WORKED TOO HARD AT BEING FAITHFUL FOR THE WORLD TO BE THIS MESSED UP!”

This is why the story of Job feels so familiar. He lived a faithful life and still ended up with a season full of grave misfortune. He too yelled into what felt like a void: “oh that I had one to hear me! . . . Let the Almighty answer me!” (Job 31:35). The reality is that righteous living doesn’t always yield the results we want. (Need a song to listen to about that? Try this one.)

This world is full of good people of all cultures, continents, and religions - and yet we find ourselves astounded daily at how easily the world breaks. We see hungry and thirsty people and we feed them - but there is still a drought induced famine in South Sudan. We see strangers and welcome them in - but refugees and immigrants are still dangerously maligned on the national stage. We try every day to be the sheep of Matthew 25 and yet folx still suffer. Sometimes those people are us.

Last month the Being Well podcast aired an episode titled “Living in an Anxious World.” In that episode they discussed how we might respond to the anxiety that living in this world induces. One of the key ways is taking agency over our responses. If we are worried about climate change, for example, we can change our consumerism habits. If we are worried about violence between religious groups, we can start to build friendships with people who practice other religions. Essentially: we can take action where we are able. We are not only victims to the struggles of this world. And when we take action we become empowered to live more grounded lives.

As we walk through this next month of vitriol, uncertainty, and division in our country alongside whatever is going on in our own families and on the world stage, let us keep in mind Paul’s teaching to the Philippian church:

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:4-7).

We are not helpless. We can act through praise and prayer, trusting that by acting in this way our anxious hearts might calm as we come into God’s presence. And when our hearts and minds calm we will see what our next steps ought to be.

God has not called us to follow without giving us the Spirit to strengthen us on the journey.

Blessings,

Pastor Amy

“The supreme religious challenge…is to see God’s image in one who is not our image.” Jonathan Sacks, The Dignity of Difference, rev. Ed. (London: Continuum, 2003), 60.

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Last Friday I dusted off my hiking boots and joined a friend for a few miles of hiking at Stepstone Falls in the Arcadia management area. It was the quintessential warm fall day, with asters and goldenrod blooming, air warm enough to be in a t-shirt, and golden leaves covering the trails while the trees overhead still sported mostly green. The autumn olive trees were covered with berries and at one point we came across evidence of a nest of hatched turtles. The woods in fall are one of my favorite scents - and this day did not disappoint. 

Perhaps it is a given in Autumn, but I have spent a bit of time considering the trees lately. The tree that turns first on my street has already showcased its brilliant orange and we have weeks more of trees flaunting their Autumn glory. I’m concerned about one of my plum trees that dropped its leaves early. On the news I’m watching the palm trees in Florida bend under considerable force from the hurricane winds. And as I type this I’m waiting for the arborist to show up in the PMBC courtyard to remove three Bradford pear trees that are at the end of their healthy lifespan. 

With all this attention to trees, I’ve had the old-school “Trees of the Field” song playing on repeat in my head. This song comes straight from Isaiah 55:12-13:

For you shall go out in joy,

and be led forth in peace;

the mountains and the hills before you 

shall burst into song,

and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;

instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;

and it shall be to the LORD for a memorial,

for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.

When God declared all creation good, that included the trees. Is it any wonder that trees are so integral to our overall health and wellbeing? I’ve written about this before. Today I want to reflect just for a moment on how in this Isaiah text (and similarly in Romans 8:22-23) trees are right in the middle of God’s promise to bring Israel home from exile. They have a front row seat to God righting the injustices Israel experienced at the hands of others. What a great view that would give them!

Isaiah and the trees  remind us that justice can’t happen for one of us without happening for all of us. Justice wouldn’t happen for the displaced Israelites unless it also happened for the natural world. Justice is not only communal (involving all people) but also holistic (involving all of creation). 

This week as we watch so many horrors in the world unfold around us, let us consider the trees and the promise that God made to Israel that when they were brought home the trees would be standing sentinel - deciduous and pine would be front and center to creation’s worshiping of God. And then let’s ask ourselves - what do the trees need from us as we consider what it means to live as God’s people here and now? 

Blessings,

Pastor Amy

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Sometimes bad things happen to good people. This Sunday when I preach on the Hebrew Scripture book of Job I will explore Job’s wanting to take God to trial for what happened in his own life - and how God’s response shows us that very often people don’t earn their trials, they just happen.

The parents of a friend of mine, who is a minister in South Carolina, live near Asheville, NC. Their house was flooded nearly to the top of the ground floor. Another friend has asked for prayers for Nepal, who also is experiencing substantial flooding and now has a death toll of 200+ from flooding and landslides. This is slightly more than the death toll from Hurricane Helene.

I am two degrees removed from good people who have been impacted by these natural disasters. Sometimes bad things happen to good people.

I keep saying we need “actions and advocacy” not just “thoughts and prayers.” What can we do in the aftermath of these disasters? First, we can pray. The national and local responses to these emergencies are complex. Pray for political leaders both here and in Nepal, that they would offer an organized and focused response with financial and other resources needed. Pray for faith leaders in both locations as they offer pastoral presence to suffering people, many of them conducting funerals for people who were tragically lost. And then do something. There are some links below that show you some ways you can respond.

Prayer and action is what we are called to - it’s what Jesus did too!

“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” Romans 8:26-27

Blessings,

Pastor Amy

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Our American Baptist family is offering multiple recommendations for how to support relief efforts in areas impacted by Helene.

-  The American Baptist Home Mission Society is collecting and

distributing relief funds for those impacted by Helene. You can find

more information and make a donation here.

- The Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists has issued the following statement:

Dear AWAB Community,

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As communities, congregations, and other places of worship manage the aftermath of Helene, AWAB is keenly aware of member churches that have been hit hard by this storm. We invite our entire AWAB family to remember specifically:

?    First Baptist Church, Asheville, NC

?    Circle of Mercy, Asheville, NC

?    Providence Baptist Church, Hendersonville, NC

?    First Baptist Church, Greenville, SC

Here are ways to support the recovery efforts being done in each of these communities:

WNC Helene Resource Guide

Foundation for Appalachia Kentucky Hurricane Helene Relief Fund

CBF Disaster Response Fund

Blue Ridge Public Radio Disaster Relief Guide

As an AWAB family, may we stand together through the challenges of this storm.

Praying for all,

Rev. Dr. Brian Henderson

Executive Director

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