Thursday Thoughts

Have you ever googled images of the Virgin Mary and Jesus? I love religious artwork - but I especially love artwork that depicts Jesus with his mother. I came to appreciate Mary late, primarily because we Protestants abandoned her when we left the Roman Catholic Church 500+ years ago. Given that it is nearly Mother’s Day, it seems right to spend a few minutes retrieving Mary from storage.

Far more than a religious icon, Mary was not only a devoted follower of Jesus, but she also birthed and raised the perfect child. Now, let’s think about this for a minute. If Mary struggled to breastfeed, she couldn’t blame it on Jesus - he was, after all, THE MESSIAH. If Mary struggled to figure out how to teach Jesus to do chores, again, she couldn’t blame it on him. If she struggled to parent him through the teen years, she couldn’t blame him either! He was God, after all! To all the moms and dads out there - I truly hope, for Mary’s sake, that Jesus didn’t know he was perfect. You all know how hard it is to parent teens when they do!

Back to the religious artwork. We don’t know a whole lot about Mary from the Gospels, primarily that she was a young woman from northern Israel who agreed to carry the Messiah (Luke 1:26-38). We know she was almost cast off by her fiancé before God intervened (Matthew 1:18-25), that she traveled while pregnant to birth her firstborn away from home and in an animal barn (Luke 2:1-7). We know she fled even further from home as a refugee in order to save her infant from a crazed king’s jealousy-fueled infanticide (Matthew 2:13-18). We know she was the one who convinced Jesus to do his first miracle when he turned water to wine and enlivened that wedding reception (John 2) - which kind of annoyed him. We know she was there when her son died (John 19:25-27). But, where was Mary the rest of the time?

For two millennia, artists have expanded on these stories of Mary, primarily imagining her as a mother (she was also a disciple, but for today, let’s focus on her role as mother). In some images of her, she spins yarn and in others she nurses the infant Jesus. Just two normal things that mothers have done for millennia (well, perhaps not spinning - but definitely acquiring clothes for their kids!). If you search you can find images of Mary knitting, holding Jesus, even spanking Jesus! Like all women, Mary was complicated and multi-faceted. She raised Jesus and his siblings and she followed him to the cross as a disciple. She buried her first-born and she got reduced from a flesh-and-blood human doing her best to a shiny icon for millennia to come, her human curves flattened out.

Friends, I know that Mother’s Day weekend is complicated for a lot of folks. I live across an entire continent from my momma, but am lucky to still have her. Many of us have mothers who are no longer alive. Some of us are mothers who have lost children to premature death or relational breaks. Some of us have mothers who have deeply wounded us. All of us have mothers who are complicated, flesh-and-blood human beings.

Mary, the flesh-and-blood Mary, is part of that great cloud of witnesses the author of Hebrews paints so vividly for us:

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God” (12:1-2).

As we remember the folks who have mothered us this weekend, in all their and our complexities, may God grant us the grace to see God’s presence around us. And may these memories of Mary, as one of our cheering witnesses, encourage us as we remember the ways that God calls and gifts normal human beings as actors in God’s great story of grace.

Blessings,

Pastor Amy

PS - If you are interested in some of the recent work done on recovering Mary’s full humanity, see Elizabeth A. Johnson’s Truly Our Sister: A Theology of Mary in the Communion of the Saints.

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I have focused a lot this past 10 months on radical hospitality - exploring how Jesus practiced it in his ministry and how we might walk in his footsteps here in this time and place. We have had many unexpected, challenging, and uplifting conversations about this - particularly about what it means to be welcoming to our LGBTQIA+ siblings. 

But that isn’t all! This past Sunday we had kids in the service for the children’s story and reading the second Scripture. Prior to that we had teens in my office working on their sermon for Children and Youth Sunday and our younger kids learning Gospel stories down the hall. Their voices singing “Jesus Loves Me” rang sweetly through the adult Sunday School classroom. After service our teens practiced ringing (bells) and singing with Martha. Most Sundays our service is full of kid energy as they help lead worship, join in worship, and keep us smiling. 

In Luke 9:46 we read a story of Jesus’ adult disciples arguing about which of them was the greatest. In showing them the higher way, Jesus invited a child into the conversation and told them, “Whoever welcomes this child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me; for the least among all of you is the greatest.”

Friends, this is radical! Jesus told his disciples that if they are to welcome God they will do so by welcoming a child. And not only the Christ-child - he is talking here about a kid from the crowd, perhaps the child of an adult who had come to learn from Jesus. A child whose name wasn’t recorded.

This could be any one of the Phillips children! If Jesus’ words hold true, then we too will see God by welcoming children into the very center of our communities. Not only do kids bring life and vitality, but according to Jesus, they are essential if we are to see and know God.

In Sticky Faith: Everyday Ideas to Build Lasting Faith in Your Kids, the authors Dr. Kara E. Powell and Dr. Chap Clark identified the following characteristics of communities that were able to disciple their kids into adult faith:

1. Keeping the kids and youth involved in all-church worship events (including Sunday morning).

2. Providing ways for the teens to serve the younger children.

3. Supportive adults showing interest in teen’s lives.

4. Supportive adults keeping in contact with young college students.

Although Powell and Clark certainly write in much greater detail, much of what they identified comes down to this: children and teens need a web of supportive relationships with adults in their churches who love and know them.

I heard this past Sunday that one of our young ones was singing along to the Gloria Patri while lying on their back on the pew. This story made my day! We are doing new things here by incorporating our kids and youth in the full life of the congregation. Sometimes it might be loud or require flexibility. Most often it is joyous and full of life. But in all cases, as we create the web that allows our young folks to thrive in their faith we are doing what Jesus told his disciples to do: we are offering radical hospitality to the smallest among us.

As you go about your week, interacting with the young folks in your lives, remember Jesus' teaching and welcome them with love and support. Who knows how God might reveal God’s self through them!

Blessings,

Pastor Amy

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Friends, as we are waking up from our long winter’s nap, stretching out our stiff joints, and walking under our occasionally sunny skies, here these words:

Blessed is the body that offers soft hugs on hard days.

Whose curves fit our pets and our kids and our

partners. Whose hands hold another alongside

hospital beds and in nursing homes and at the altar

and on the first day of school. Whose breasts nurse and 

legs run to chase littles and whose toes balance us on

the earth. Whose wrinkles tell stories of laughs and 

tears and worries.

Blessed are these imperfect, fragile bodies. This flesh

and bone. These cells that sometimes duplicate for no

reason whatsoever. This skin that is stitched together 

with scars and stretch marks and fine lines.

Bless is the body because it is a home. Not just for

us, but for those who love us. And sometimes you just 

need to stand in front of ht mirror and take off all

your clothes, and remember that this body, your body,

is God’s home address.

(From Kate Bowler and Jessica Richie, Good Enough: 40ish Devotionals for a Life of Imperfection, p. 159).

Friends, as you go about your work today, consider the truth that when God made it all and declared it to be very good, that our bodies with all their imperfections were included in that “very good” category. Have some grace on your body today, for it is part of God’s beloved creation.

Blessings,

Pastor Amy

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Confession: I am a fan of P!nk’s (the artist) new album, “Trustfall.” One of the songs on the album that speaks directly to me right now is her song, “Just Say I’m Sorry.” 

Just say I'm sorry

It's not the hardest thing to do

Just say you're wrong sometimes

And I'd believe you 'cause I love you

Just say I'm sorry

Everybody wants to be

The one who's right

Everybody wants the last word to end the fight

Every day is a new day with a chance to choose

Sometimes the way you win

Is to say you lose

When I hear this song I feel all the feels - all the wishes and longings that those who have hurt me would do this very thing, just say “I’m sorry.”  Unfortunately, having “apologized” to a sibling or friend at our parent’s “request” during our childhood, we know that the words themselves don’t always convey actual repentance and empathy. I know I have said those very words with the sole intent of just getting out of trouble!

Saying “I’m sorry” is just one step in the sacred work of repentance and reconciliation we are called to as Christ’s body. In his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul tells his readers that we are called with a holy calling to continue the work of reconciliation that Christ started: ”So, if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation” (5:17-18).

I think it is more common to hear about how we ought to forgive than how we ought to repent and apologize - which  leads to a rather challenging understanding of forgiveness in which the one who was harmed is also the one who must fix. But, what if both forgiveness and repentance belong together as parts of the work of reconciliation we are called to? 

Danya Ruggenber, in her book On Repentance and Repair: Making Amends in an Unapologetic World gives five steps for repenting from harm to others:

Step 1: Naming and owning harm.

Step 2: Starting to change.

Step 3: Restitution and Accepting Consequences.

Step 4: Apology.

Step 5: Making different choices.

This is the kind of apology we want from those who have harmed us, but it is also the very kind that is so hard to make to those we have harmed! Step 1 is the real doozy - it takes feeling some pretty dark and painful things to own the ways in which we have harmed other parts of God’s precious creation, be that human, flora, or fauna. But, we have a God who has not only called us to the ministry of reconciliation, but who has given us the Spirit to walk beside us as we do the hard work of saying “I’m sorry.”

As we at Phillips are actively engaged in the work of opening ourselves and our community in radical hospitality to persons who have been systematically excluded from church, we know we are made up of folks who have been harmed and who have harmed. Sometimes those folks are one and the same! We have to face the reality that in our transitions of the past few years we have hurt others, and in not standing up for the radical welcome that God extends to all people, we have hurt others. 

Phillips family, let us pray together that God would strengthen us for the work of saying “I’m sorry” where we have harmed in order to continue the reconciling work of Christ. Let us pray that we might hold fast to God’s grace as we head forward making different choices that are more reflective of God’s overflowing, never ending love and grace to all folks.

Blessings,

Pastor Amy

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Friends, as I am returning today from meeting with the MMBB Strategic Pastoral Excellence cohort, I leave you these words of encouragement.

Dear God,

What is this strange unease? It feels like restlessness, but it’s more than that. It’s the sense that some unnamed standard is convincing me that I will never be enough. Smart enough. Pretty enough. Healthy enough. Young enough. Brave enough. Grateful enough. I have come to the end of myself. I am not enough.

There are cracks in everything, but You fill them with love. Fill me with Your divine presence that is entirely unimpressed by my attempts at perfection. God, sing over me the truth of how You see me. You made me in love, for love, and – somehow – it is enough.

Blessed are we who see that intrinsic worth comes, not through our talents, but from You. Thank You for saving me from my own dreams of perfection.

Amen*

*From Kate Bowler and Jessica Richie’s Good Enough: 40ish Devotionals for a Life of Imperfection, p. 164. 

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