The Pastor’s Pen – November 2009
November 11th, 2009“Love Has Found A Way”
In one of his early books, author Robert Fulghum, shared a little story of the neighborhood children who were playing hide-n-seek in the yard around his house. He recalls the fun of joining in the game as a youth himself. He asked, “Did you have a kid in your neighborhood who always hid so good, nobody could find him?” He went on to tell about the one kid who insisted on hiding so well that the rest would give up on him and go off, leaving him to rot wherever he was. Eventually that one kid would show back up, mad at everyone else for not playing fair. He would say, “The game is called, ‘Hide-and-seek, not hide-and-give-UP.’” Fulghum shared that memory as he was watching from his little office as the neighborhood kids had descended upon his yard to engage in that age-old ritual. He watched as one kid, reminiscent of the perfect hider from his youth, had buried himself into a pile of freshly raked October leaves. Eventually, all the other kids had been found and were about to give up on him ever coming back to home base. He wrote, “Finally, I just yelled, ‘GET FOUND, KID!’ out the window. And scared him so bad he probably wet his pants and started crying and ran home to tell his mother.”
Memories are powerful tools for living. In fact, Henri Nouwen writes that “We perceive our world through our memories.” The way we see one another and the world around us depends a great deal on the character and condition of the memories we hold within. In his book, The Living Reminder, Nouwen suggests that much of the suffering we encounter has to do with the suffering of unresolved or unhealed memories that often escape notice and lie concealed beneath our consciousness. He notes that “all of ministry rests on the conviction that nothing, absolutely nothing, in our lives is outside the realm of God’s judgment and mercy.” And further, that by “hiding parts of our story, not only from our own consciousness but also from God’s eye, we claim a divine role for ourselves; we become judges of our own past and limit mercy to our own fears.” Perhaps then it remains those forgotten and hidden memories that continue to wound us and limit us as human beings. Perhaps then it is the prophetic cry within us for trust and grace and mercy – the yearning cry to be found and loved by the one who knows us better than we know ourselves.
We turn the corner on yet another year as we enter the final weeks of the Christian calendar. The days and weeks of November throw at us stark reminders that change is a permanent fixture in our world and as much as may choose to resist it, in our lives also. The leaves will continue their life cycle, maturing in the grandeur of color and ultimately releasing their grip on the branch that so far has been the source of its interdependent life only to fall and give itself completely, yielding to become fertilizer for another year’s growth. We begin our November journey with All Saints’, giving thanks for the faithful ones who remind us that as Christians our identity is defined, not by any of our pious achievements, but by our baptism into Christ – by the truth that we have been found, named, claimed, redeemed by being joined to the death and new life of the resurrected Christ. As we near the end of November, our worship life culminates in celebration of it final goal – that of worshiping Christ as King. It was in a Lutheran confessions class where I began to understand that God is the subject of both the first and last paragraphs of the Bible and even though sin raises its ugly head and stains most of the pages of scripture – in the end, Christ reigns as the Alpha and Omega, the first and last, beginning and end.
The Christian calendar ends and begins again before November is through. We enter the holy season of Advent on November 29, surely my favorite season. In contrast to the fray and noise and rush of that time before Christmas, please consider a few opportunities to come away and rest in God. Brandon Williams, who is a contra-tenor vocal major from Lander will be with us twice – first on November 1st during worship and again to offer a concert for the Easley community here at St Matthias on November 29th. Look for more information on the concert (and reception) soon to be published. Also, I am proposing to hold an Advent study entitled, “Advent through the Eyes of Those Who Waited.” It will be held during the 6:00 hour on the four Sundays of Advent (11/29, 12/6, 13, 20). The first session will immediately precede Brandon’s concert and the last three will conclude with a brief form or Evening Prayer together. I look forward to the times we share, gathering for worship, study, conversation. May you find the space and peace within you in the coming days, and may you be assured that God’s love has and will always find a way!
In Christ + Our Life,
Pastor Alan