We’re gradually emerging from a year+ with COVID, step by step, with as much wisdom as we can glean from developments around us. We’re all on different timelines and in different comfort zones in this process. We’ll no doubt need a full measure of patience with ourselves and with one another as we make our way into a new chapter of life together.

And in addition to life beyond the pandemic, we’re facing into serious and divisive social and political issues as a nation, as well as increasingly urgent imperatives to address climate change, now called by many “the climate crisis.”

A social commentator recently reminded me of the work of the American Philosopher William James from the early 1900’s, work that might help and guide us. James wrote of the necessity of people choosing to participate in a world “not certain to be saved,” yet nevertheless a world dependent for its salvation on the condition that each person “does their level best” to help heal and redeem. James envisioned people in a cooperative, co-creative relationship with God, in James’ philosophical parlance described as “the unseen order,” whose initial act of creation was left incomplete, inviting humanity to join the project.
I like the invitation to each and all of us to “do our level best” to create harmony and mutuality, adding our part to the kind of world we seek. I think faith and God’s Creating Spirit undergird this choice and this commitment and that a life of prayer and praise helps form and sustain us in living this Way of Love.

Come, Holy Spirit—come heal, restore and renew.

Our newsletter name, “Sentinel,” harkens back to the role of a lookout or person charged with keeping watch, patiently scanning the horizon to see what lies ahead. Aren’t we all “sentinels” these days, scanning the horizon, peering into the future to see what lies ahead? Is it more of the same-old, same-old in this pandemic time, or are we really seeing the dawn of a new future? Can we see a time when life in public is safer and healthier for all? Can we see a strong determination to overcome all obstacles to racial justice and equity? Can we see a commitment to the health and future of Planet Earth? Can we see a future with hope, as promised by God through the prophet Jeremiah? “For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.”

At First UMC, as we peer into the future that God is creating, our core values continue to be to keep people healthy, to protect the vulnerable, to support vital community, to offer impactful worship online and later in-person, to embrace a blended ecology of congregational participation in-person and online, and to continue to adapt and innovate ministries. As we continue to move forward together, we will transition from the pandemic months in such a way that the health and safety of everyone is safeguarded, that all may experience the presence of God, that we continue as a renewed vital faith community, and witness and serve outside the walls of the church in the community and around God’s whole world.

In us and through us in this time, God is indeed “doing a new thing.” The work of a sentinel can be confounding, exhausting, and exciting all at once. We have to frequently take off our glasses and wash the lenses. As my Grandfather Ted, used to say: “Clean your glasses. You’ll see things you’ve never seen before.”

Stay tuned for exciting announcements of summer activities and outdoor worship opportunities. We will be working hard to be ready for new developments and new opportunities, becoming a “New Church” as God’s future comes into view.

March brought us an extra hour of daylight and the first day of Spring! What might April bring? Well, let’s see…how about some flickering light at the end of the long pandemic tunnel? How about the Confirmation of eight of our amazing youth? How about the first ever First UMC Easter “Hop By?” How about praying with our feet in this year’s virtual Home Run for Kids? How about a stone rolled away and an empty tomb? How about a Risen Savior?!

Wow! These are just some of the many things that will mark our Eastertide season this year as together we are “Living the Way of Love!” Our theme is based on Bishop Michael Curry’s book “Love Is the Way: Holding on to Hope in Troubling Times.” Bishop Curry is the presiding bishop of The Episcopal Church, the first African-American to lead the denomination. As he writes, you can almost hear him speaking and preaching. In one chapter, he quotes the preacher at his Aunt Callie’s funeral. The sermon was based on Ezekiel and the Valley of the Dry Bones. He kept calling out to Callie, Bishop Curry remembers, calling her to hear the Word of the Lord and rise up. He writes about that day: “We couldn’t see heaven, we couldn’t see resurrection, but we could feel its possibility. God had been factored into the equation of our experience and something in reality changed. That’s where and when hope happens—when reality is altered by a new possibility.”

So, church—let’s hear the Word of the Lord in these Eastertide days and rise up! Let’s live with joy into all the possibilities and potentialities that God’s resurrecting power is opening to us. Let’s Live the Way of Love!

Lent 2021 – Opening Our Lives

Gracious God, open the eyes of our hearts, and let the light of your truth flood in. Shine your light on the hope you are calling us to embrace. Reveal to us the glorious riches you are preparing as our inheritance. Amen.
(prayer based on Ephesians 1:18)

The season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, February 17. Our theme this year is “Opening Our Lives.”

So, let me ask: how are you doing? How are your coping skills holding up? It’s tough, isn’t it, to carry on. Here are a few tips I’ve gleaned from a variety of articles and from my own reflection to help us open our lives to God.

Pray more and more often. Choose something—the sight of a bird, a memory, a frequent task—even washing dishes works—and whenever you see or remember or are doing that, pause, take a deep breath, stretch, and offer a prayer of gratitude or simply wait a moment in silence in the presence of God.

Take some time each day to get outside yourself. Call a family member, friend, or church member. Send a card or note. Listen to your favorite music. Read a book that takes you to another time or place. Resolve to focus your Lenten discipline this year around service, giving yourself to others. You’ll find a variety of suggestions in this Sentinel.

Get some fresh air and sunshine. Sit by a window. Mask up and walk around the block. Come on over and walk around the Courtyard here at church. From a safe distance, wave at those you meet and let your eyes smile.

Connect with others. Soak up their love and support. You’ll find a variety of opportunities in this Sentinel and on our church webpage.

I’d love to hear from you about what is and isn’t working for YOU! We’re in this together. And not only that—God is with us. May the Spirit of the Living God open our hearts and fill us with truth, light, and hope.

Peace be with you.