Category: Kim’s Blog

An older person spoke with me this week about being treated in a degrading manner at a senior citizen’s community. The staff tends to ignore and downplay the concerns of the residents. What can they know? They are old.

I saw that attitude when my parents lived in Sun City Center. Some of the doctors they saw were less than helpful. And people involved in maintenance and mechanics took advantage of them.

Well, given the way our society glorifies youth, this shouldn’t be a surprise. The back side of obsessively valuing youthful appearance is the degradation of those who are older. It is very sad. We all have parents and loved ones who are or were old. We ourselves if we are not older hopefully will be one day.

Part of the problem with devaluing those of advancing years is the damage it does to those who show this kind of prejudice. When we degrade or deny the humanity of others, when we show disrespect to others, we are also degrading, denying, and disrespecting ourselves, for we, too, are human beings.

In addition, when we discount those who are older, we are depriving ourselves and our society of their wisdom, experience, insights, and perspective. Then we risk making the same mistakes over and over and over again as individuals and a society.

In our faith tradition, there are many examples of older people who have played significant roles in the unfolding of God’s hopes and dreams. May we continue to expect God to be at work in that way.

Lectionary readings for today:

Exodus 20:1-17
Psalm 19

1 Corinthians 1:18-25
John 2:13-22

Prayer: We give thanks for older people and all that they contribute to the world. We are grateful for their wisdom and guidance and vision. Amen.

One of the things that makes humans unique is our ability to speak. We have complex language and communication abilities. Animals communicate with varying sounds and movements. Plants send signals to each other. But humans have the most involved methods of communication – with sounds, speech, writing, and body language among our communication techniques.

In Psalm 19, we read of the heavens telling the glory of God. The firmament proclaims the Creator’s works. Day pours for the speech. Night declares knowledge. Words are not used and yet their message goes out to all the earth. These references are all to the created environment. They do not even refer to other living things like animals and plants. The material essence of the creation itself tells of God.

The skies, the land, and the rhythm of day and night convey volumes. About God. With no words or sentences or letters or writing or speech. Yet there is a message and it is faithfully communicated.

This imaginative poetic idea invites us to think about what we communicate. What do our lives say? What message do we and our species convey? What can be learned from us about the Creator?

Lent is a time to consider our essence. What is essential. We do lots of communicating and send lots of messages in varying ways and formats. Twitter. Instagram. Facebook. Email. Etc. Yet this is a season to ask ourselves, “What message do our lives convey of the Divine?”

Lectionary readings for today:

Psalm 19
Exodus 19:16-25
Mark 9:2-8

Prayer: May our lives proclaim love: Love for all of Creation, love for all forms of life, love for one another, and love for God. Amen.

Maintenance or innovation? This choice was evident in a recent decision at church. One option involved maintenance. Doing what we are doing and know we can do and are good at. Another option involved innovation. The opportunity to branch out and try some new ways of doing things. Boy, does maintenance feel comfortable and familiar! Why not just stay with tried and true? It’s less risky.

Innovation involves trying something new. It can be risky. Innovation can entail experimentation. It can have a learning curve and aren’t we all overwhelmed already?

And innovation can involve failure. But so can maintenance when you’re left in the dust doing the “same old same old.” Many companies have gone under because they did not innovate.

How do we decide? In the case of the decision at church, we asked ourselves what is in the best interests of the church overall going forward? What is best for the church – not any one person or project – but the church as a whole? What will help the church to be effective and faithful in fulfilling its ministry?

Again and again we face the same choice in many ways in our lives. Maintenance or innovation? The tried and true or the potential of something new? Something new can be just a fad or a trend without much substantive improvement. The old ways can be the best ways. They can also be obsolete and outmoded and prevent important progress. A spirit of discernment is needed to navigate the waters. This kind of assessment involves looking at a bigger picture. What are the implications over time well into the future? What are the consequences to the organization? The institution? The world? Discernment involves intentionally considering a larger reality and not just me here and now.

Lent is a time for such reflection and discernment.

Lectionary readings for today:

Psalm 19

Exodus 19:9b-15
Acts 7:30-40

Prayer: May we not be afraid to change. May we not be afraid to resist change. And may Divine Love be our guide. Amen.

I had to face an unpleasant task this week. I had to find the receipt for something that I bought in 2013. Yes, almost 2 years ago. What a hassle! First, there was finding the receipts. That turned out to be surprisingly easy. Then there was finding the one. The stack of receipts was over 8 inches high. And I needed one receipt. There is only one way to look. One by one. Tedious. Boring. Annoying. One by one by one.

As I was looking through the receipts, I started to notice what they were for. It was the year of our daughter’s wedding. There was the receipt for the wedding dress. And there were many receipts from the grocery store. And receipts for clothes. And receipts for home maintenance and repair supplies. And as I looked for the one, I was filled with a feeling of gratitude for all that we could buy. For the abundance. For the amazing wealth that we have. I am a pastor and my husband is a teacher. We are hardly highly paid by US standards. Yet going through those receipts, I felt rich. Richer than I have any right to be. And the gratitude just swelled within me.

I hope that in the course of your Lenten days, you find reason to be awash in gratitude.

Lectionary readings for today:

Psalm 19
Exodus 19:1-9a
1 Peter 2:4-10

Prayer: Regardless of the events of the day and the wider circumstances of our times, may we always look for reasons to be grateful. Amen.

What are you afraid of? Things that go bump in the night?

Maybe there is fear of illness or the diminishing of abilities that comes with the aging process. Maybe we have financial fears. Maybe we have fears for others. But for the most part, I must say, that I don’t feel I live in fear from day to day. I am not afraid of getting shot, or contracting a fatal disease, or loosing my home, or the many other material fears that could plague my day to day life and are very real for others.

But Lent is a season to look deeper. What about other kinds of fears. Emotional fears. Subliminal fears. We may not feel those fears on a daily basis, but they are there. And, when we are honest, the list may be long.

It may be fear that keeps us from doing what is good – for us, for others, for the world.
It may be fear that keeps us from changing course in our lives.
It may be fear that prevents us from trying something new or making some change.
It may be fear that keeps us from getting involved in something that we may find meaningful.

It may be fear of failure, or fear of not being accepted, or even fear of succeeding that holds us back.

Fear may very well be keeping us from the full life and abundant joy that God intends for us. Fear may be stopping us from making a contribution to the greater good.

Fear has great power. It is controlling much of how people function in our society. The church has historically used fear to control people and to try to elicit “good” behavior from people: The fear of hell, of punishment, of God’s wrath.

There are many verses in scripture that encourage fear of God. Some scholars say that the word translated “fear” would be better expressed by the word “trust.” Trust in God instead of fear God.

The invitation from Jesus to live as part of God’s realm here and now has no fear attached to it. What fears are holding us back from saying “yes” to Jesus’ welcoming invitation to new life?

Lectionary readings for today:

Psalm 105:1-11, 37-45
Jeremiah 30:12-22

John 12:36-43

Prayer: We pray to be honest about our fears. When we identify them we begin to undermine their power. May we put our trust in hope and joy. Amen.