by Crawford UMC | Mar 6, 2020 | Conversations
My family is filled with ministers. One of my uncles served the majority of his career as an Army Chaplain. Before one of his many deployments our tradition was to stuff ourselves full on my grandmother’s delicious Sunday dinner and sing hymns reserved for family gatherings. Also part of this custom was giving thanks…he asked if we could circle around for prayer and he began by reading Psalm 121:
I lift up my eyes to the hills—
from where will my help come?
My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
He will not let your foot be moved;
he who keeps you will not slumber.
He who keeps Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
The Lord is your keeper;
the Lord is your shade at your right hand.
The sun shall not strike you by day,
nor the moon by night.
The Lord will keep you from all evil;
he will keep your life.
The Lord will keep
your going out and your coming in
from this time on and forevermore.
Thinking about my uncle and all who serve in our military, all who face the horrors of war, hearing their cries in the voice of the psalmist left an indelible impression on me. Not only in battle or conflict, there are many times in my life in which I have lifted my eyes to God, seeking help, pleading for assurance, longing to know I am not alone.
Perhaps you have felt this way too. In the stress of work, the struggle of family, the longing for connection, in the breaking of a heart, knowing that we are kept in grace and love day in and day out is a comfort. If you know this cry, this longing, this prayer, then you won’t be surprised that it is the one that I turn to and share with those who need to remember that in life, in death, and in life beyond death, we are not alone.
Holding on to this, as a community we gather this Lenten season to sing, to pray, and yes, even to eat, we are assured that God is with us holding us, healing us, keeping us from this time on and forevermore.
See you in church,
Hope
by Crawford UMC | Feb 27, 2020 | Conversations
Left over ashes from Ash Wednesday for your reflection:
Blessing the Dust
For Ash Wednesday
By Jan Richardson from Circle of Grace
All those days
you felt like dust,
like dirt,
as if all you had to do
was turn your face
toward the wind
and be scattered
to the four corners
or swept away
by the smallest breath
as insubstantial—
did you not know
what the Holy One
can do with dust?
This is the day
we freely say
we are scorched.
This is the hour
we are marked
by what has made it
through the burning.
This is the moment
we ask for the blessing
that lives within
the ancient ashes,
that makes its home
inside the soil of
this sacred earth.
So let us be marked
not for sorrow.
And let us be marked
not for shame.
Let us be marked
not for false humility
or for thinking we are less
than we are
but for claiming
what God can do
within the dust,
within the dirt,
within the stuff
of which the world
is made
and the stars that blaze
in our bones
and the galaxies that spiral
inside the smudge we bear.
See you in church,
Hope
by Crawford UMC | Feb 21, 2020 | Conversations
This Sunday, February 23, is Transfiguration Sunday, which is always the Sunday prior to Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. It is the Sunday we remember Jesus, taking Peter, James and John up a mountain and Jesus being transfigured before them. It is a Sunday that marks a kind of transfiguration for us too. It is the time we set our the intention of our faith in front of us — to make it to that glorious Easter morn after forty days of self-reflection, study and prayer that the season of Lent offers us.
As we move toward Lent, I wonder what you will set aside and what you will take up? What will you look toward to keep you on this journey of faith? Will you look for the evidence of kindness each day or will you commit yourself to at least one kind act, one act of love each day? Will you let go of judging yourself or others and take on letting things be as they are and trusting that God is in it? Will you pause each day and take a moment for gratitude? Will you take a deep breath and know that you are loved?
This is a sacred time in our lives; it is a sacred season in our lives of faith. It is also a transfiguring time in our denomination. I hope that you will take time to join us this Sunday to listen to the letter from the Open Spirit Task Force and to stay for the beginning of another kind of journey — one that, I pray, will lead us all to resurrection.
See you in church,
Hope
by Crawford UMC | Feb 14, 2020 | Conversations
Today I spent time with my spiritual director who left me to consider this scripture passage, “Where your treasure is, there your heart is also” (Matthew 6:21). Given that this week ends with the heart holiday, the irony of her request was not lost on me.
When I take time to think about this passage, I think first about my heart and then about my treasure. Where are the places my heart is open? Where is my heart closed? At what times does my heart feel free; when does it feel broken? In those times, when my heart is open or closed, free or broken, what things do I value, what do I hold as treasure? Is my heart filled with joy, curiosity, hope and wonder? Is my heart holding frustration, anger, vengeance, dread? What is the treasure I hold and what does this say about my heart?
Have you ever thought about your heart and your treasure? When you do, what do you find? Is there wholeness and hope? Do you find family and friends? Do you find treasured experience and joy-filled accomplishments? Do you notice community and connections? When you notice your heart and your treasure, where is God?
In my work with the Open Spirit Task Force, as we struggle toward understanding whether and how a new expression of Methodism can be born from our New England roots, I have found myself delighted and heart-sick, joyful and heart-broken. But as we move quickly toward a different Methodism, I pray that we will discover in our hearts a treasurer beyond denomination, beyond institution. I pray that we will discover the greatest treasure of all: The Body of Christ alive, loving one and all. That is where my heart is and my treasure too. What about you?
See you in church,
Hope
by Crawford UMC | Feb 7, 2020 | Conversations
Friends, it has been a week. With all the chaos in our country and in our denomination, yesterday I found myself on my way to church praying for understanding, compassion and wisdom. Not a great psychic or spiritual space from which to move into a jam packed day of ministry.
With my hands and heart full, I walked from my car to the church door and was met with two smiling children from United Methodist Nursery School (UMNS). They greeted me with, “Hello, Pastor Hope.” As they held the door for their classmates, each giving exuberant high-fives to their friends, they told me about their day. I didn’t think I would/could get out of my funk, but there they were evangelists of God’s presence and love.
At the beginning of worship each week, I ask where you have seen or experienced God. Each week, I am blessed to hear about your experience of God in the beauty of creation, playing with grandchildren, sitting with a grieving friend, meeting immigrant neighbors for a cup of coffee and listening to stories of struggle and hope. Each week in church, your God moments feed my soul.
So, here’s my moment: yesterday, God met me in two four year old children who welcomed me with unforced grace and exuberant love. Thanks be to God.
See you in church,
Hope
by Crawford UMC | Jan 31, 2020 | Conversations
When I first meet with people, I am often asked what a typical day in the life of a minister is like. After chuckling, I reply that there is no typical day. Things need to always be fluid and flexible. Nothing is ever set in stone … not even worship.
Last week, my sister Effie was telling me about how someone arrived on the doorstep of the church she serves. It was Sunday morning and a few minutes before worship. The young man was in a terrible state. He was homeless and had walked twelve miles from a detention center to the church. A complication was that he was an immigrant, with very little spoken English and was struggling with his mental health because he had not been able to get his medication.
With a few hand signals to the leadership of her church, Effie sat with this young man who she learned was from Columbia. After phoning a parishioner who was a native Spanish speaker, Effie was able to help him out of the cold and into a safe, welcoming place. All of this occurred as worship was happening. Instead of a sermon, her congregation had an impromptu hymn sing, readings and prayers. What a wonderful witness of a community working and worshiping together, helping and praying for the stranger in their midst.
As I’ve been reflecting on the ever-changing reality of life, I’m more aware of being called in all times and all places to share the good news of God’s love, especially when there is no plan. I’m even more aware of how important it is to remember that worship can happen with or without the ordained person, on Sunday or any other day of the week, in the church building or on the train or in the office or on the playground. Because God is always with us, we can respond (even when we don’t know how or can’t speak the language or feel totally incompetent) with love for anyone and anything that comes our way.
In our lives of faith, just like in the vocation of ministry, there is no typical day. Thanks be to God.
See you in church,
Hope
