From the Pastor

2015-09-01 Newsletter Message

Summer has flown by. School has begun. And I have been hearing from many of you about life balance – or maybe it’s lack thereof?

Do you remember that image of a calendar that I shared with you months ago? At the beginning of 2014, I think it was. My friend wrote a blog about a blank calendar – the same blank calendar that all of us have to fill. Every day is like a blank canvas, and we each choose how to use the minutes and hours available to us.

There is a gripping song entitled Seasons of Love in the Broadway musical, Rent, with a chorus that goes:

In the movie version, the song is sung by the whole company, and the scene that always comes to my mind is when Jesse Martin (whose character is “Roger,” a man diagnosed with AIDS/HIV) sings a solo verse, contemplating the woman he loves who is dying of AIDS. This song has been used as a kind of reflection on endings. My friend’s blog encourages us to consider those precious moments ahead of moments like that – to consider how we invest our time.

Is your time invested the way you want it to be? What are the things that are high on your list of values? Does time slip away and you suddenly realize that you have not invested your time in what you see as your calling? Have you realized that you haven’t been investing an adequate number of those precious minutes with family and others dear to you? Investing or just spending – to me there is a huge difference!

Psalm 90, verse 12 is a prayer – perhaps it’s not too dramatic to say an “urgent” prayer – asking God to Teach us to count our days. The Psalm begins with a declaration that The Lord has been our dwelling place for generations and then becomes a prayer asking that God have patience with us – God’s children who often forget God’s ways.

Teach us to live well! Teach us to live wisely and well! (Eugene Peterson’s version in The Message)

Right now I am praying for all of us to live well. I am also praying that all of us will live in ways that will give us the deep satisfaction of knowing that we have

• served God and loved our families and those dear to us to the best of our ability,
• reached out in love to our neighbors, and
• continued to grow spiritually.

The next worship series begins on September 13, when we will spend 3 weeks focusing on the theology and history of John Wesley.

Blessings on you!

2015-08-01 Newsletter message

Perhaps it’s because, as I write this column, I am in the process of preparing to perform 4 marriage ceremonies between today and the end of October.  I have marriage on my mind!  And I’m guessing that another factor is that I performed a wedding last year that didn’t make it a whole year.  I was heartbroken to learn that a couple that appeared to be well-suited for each other were separated before they celebrated 11 months of marriage.  Turned out that they did not share the same values after all.

So, how do you keep your marriage whole and vital?  With each of these couples, we’ve spent some time talking about what helped them to fall in love in the first place.  What did they do?  What interests do they share? 

In the hectic pace that many of us keep, it is so easy to forget to celebrate each other and to spend the kind of time that keeps a relationship whole.  Date nights and those small, loving acts often unique to each couple, sometimes fall by the wayside.  Spouses don’t take time for each other – without the kids.  We fall into patterns that lull us to the signs that we are not as close as we once were – and that’s how we forget.  Yet it is those kinds of things, mostly time alone, that keeps relationships fresh.

The embarrassing thing is that, even though I am supposed to know better (after all, I went to preacher school!), that very thing happened in my own life not too long ago – about a year before I came to be your pastor.  Mom moved in with us, and we got into a pattern of not putting time aside for ourselves.  I was at a training retreat, learning to coach in a way that people can move toward fulfillment, when I realized that I really missed Rich.  My coach encouraged me to call him and make a date.  I did – and we went out to dinner and a movie before I even went home and unpacked my bags. 

It is so darned easy to forget to focus on the relationships that are necessary to keep us whole and healthy – as couples and as individuals.  Time with God.  Time with those we love.  It’s pretty simple – but so hard to keep up with when the chaos of job, sports, elder care, or whatever claims your attention seems so urgent.  I hope you’ll make that date with your special guy or gal as soon as you finish reading this newsletter!

Rich and I will be on vacation (yes, alone!) from August 6 through August 16.  We will be in Vermont, on an island in Lake Champlain.  If there is an emergency, please call the church office, and Robine will either contact the clergy on call for me or our Care Team.  If there is an emergency over the weekend or after business hours, please call George Hoffmann (410-340-1578) or Sue Wright (410-833-6738), our lay leaders, who will also be able to help you.

Blessings on you,