We spent the Mother’s Day weekend back home in Massachusetts and got to enjoy Spring all over again! The pink dogwood and redbud were in full bloom, most of the oak and maple leaves looked like they had just recently emerged. They must be at least a week or ten days behind us. It was like going back in time, sort of a do-over.
Sort of. Everything else was full speed ahead. Our twin nieces who were born the year we moved to my first call received their Bachelor’s degrees from a college in Worcester on Sunday morning. And another niece- the youngest of all the nieces and nephews- will also have graduated college by the time you receive this newsletter.
Time marches on. Time waits for no one. Time flies. Any other clichés we need to include? Lately it seems like we’ve been spending a lot of time in “reminisce” mode. We recognize that in so many ways life just unfolds in its inexorable forward movement. We remark at (lament?) how quickly this year seems to be flying by. So every now and then it feels good to put the brakes on.
Maybe this is why it was strangely wonderful to feel at least a bit like we were going back in time over the weekend, getting to revisit and re-experience the newness of Spring.
Hey, maybe that’s the key- just spend a few months in one locale and then keep moving north…
Anything to make change more manageable.
The Protestant Reformation ushered in change of seismic proportion. One could argue that it was change born of necessity, born in response to abusive power. It was change whose time had come. Martin Luther and the other reformers took exception to the status quo, dared to be faithful to interpretations of scripture that had somehow been lost or buried amidst the typically human tendency toward making it “all about me.”
What a rotten philosophy, mantra, whatever you want to call it. It is an infection that seeks to permeate every aspect of our lives. It is an appeal to our basest of instincts. Advertisers and marketers have long known about and exploited it. People in high places are poisoned by it, their judgment clouded by it.
And, one could argue, it is responsible for our fear and loathing of change. If everything is always “about me,” then control is what we seek. And change that doesn’t suit is unwelcome.
Faith, in contrast, gives up control. It resets our bearings, helps us see and feel differently, and act on behalf of others. Change isn’t necessarily any easier, just less threatening.
And we still get to enjoy the beauty and promise of a Spring day, no matter how many times it comes around.
Peace,
Pastor Jeff
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