06 June 2020 - Plague Journal Day 86

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

If you know me, this probably comes as no surprise: I like coffee.
I like the way coffee tastes; I like the way coffee smells; I like the way coffee feels in my mouth.
I like coffee.

For several years, it was my practice to give up coffee for Lent. The big surprise, especially the first year, was to discover just how much of my time was spent making, drinking, pouring, cleaning up, or just walking to the pot to get: coffee. The reason for making a sacrifice at Lent is not just to give something up that I ought to avoid anyway. Rather it is to make real to me the Sacrifice made by my Lord on the Cross; to identify with Him through an act of self-denial, however small it might be.

I have found that this exercise has carried over for far longer than any season - long though Lent seems when I'm deprived of my coffee - right through the months and the years. In the second or  third year of this Lenten discipline, I changed to giving up the caffeine rather than the coffee. This meant that I still had the taste and so forth (at least as much as that decaffeinated stuff has to offer), so it might seem that it couldn't have been as meaningful to me. In fact, this was when it  really hit home.

Whenever I poured a cup of decaf (yuck) that Lent, I prayed over it: "Remember, Christ died for us when we were yet sinners. That is God's proof of His love for us." It's surprising how often that line comes to mind as I fill my cup.

I like coffee. I like the taste and smell and all of that, but I also like the fact that because of my Lenten ritual of years ago, coffee reminds me that Christ died for me.

So I pray: Father, thank you for Your Love which was demonstrated in Your Son's Life, Death, and Resurrection. May I make each everyday occurrence an opportunity to remember and thank You for it.  I ask this In Jesus' name.
Amen.

Remember, any act can be an occasion for prayer and thanksgiving; and pray for those who haven't accepted Christ's Sacrifice for themselves.

Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.

05 June 2020 - Plague Journal Day 85

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

My company has closed today across the US (and I believe some non-US offices as well) as a Day of Solidarity. We've had online Town Hall meetings during this time of quarantine touching on business issues, but mostly addressing the difficulties many of us face in this working alone / working from home environment. I've been very impressed with how the company actually is working to make sure the employees are doing well, both physically and mentally. It's quite exemplary, really.

Now, with the universal sadness and outrage at the killing of George Floyd, the company is addressing racial issues directly as well, and I have to say I'm generally very impressed with how we're responding.
You haven't seen much from me here on this topic - frankly I'm totally flummoxed by this whole thing. I simply don't know how to process it because I cannot imagine how people do this to one another.
Oh, don't get me wrong, I know it happens all the time (more's the pity), but knowing it happens and having any comprehension of it are two different things. I know about lots of horrific things that happen - or rather that people do, let's be clear on this - but I just don't have any sense of why or how it's possible. Call me naive, I guess, but I don't get it.
You probably saw my post from yesterday with the quote from Micah followed by the Lord's Prayer. That was the beginning of my process of dealing with what's going on, I suppose.
When I'm working at being cynical (or realistic, take your choice), I'm more than happy to acknowledge that mankind is fallen. We're sinners from the start. And frankly I know that's true. I have absolutely no doubt about that fact.
And so it's clear that this is just what happens between fallen people who don't know the Lord. Sadly, sometimes it's what happens between fallen people who do know the Lord. So all the cries for better training, better education, better social programs, while sort of sounding good sometimes simply miss the mark.
Sure, it's important for us to be our brothers' keepers, for us not to pass by on the side of the road, but rather to stop like the Good Samaritan. But that's the point - it's important for each of us to do it - not for some program to take our money and do it for us so we don't have to worry about it.
It's up to each of us. It's up to you. It's up to me.
Gandhi was right to say that if you want to change the world you should begin by changing yourself. The part he missed was how to do that. Unless I'm born of the Spirit, I won't change. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.
It might sound dreadfully exclusive - and it is in some sense:"No one comes to the Father except through me," says Jesus - but it's actually the most inclusive message of all time. Remember He said that any who will can come to Him. "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me."
So I guess it comes down to this. 
Pray for our nation.
Pray for each other.
Pray for yourself.
(Pray for me while you're at it.)
And again - 

He has told you, O man, what is good;
    and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
    and to walk humbly with your God?

Grace and Peace to you all.


Here is the originally scheduled blog post for today:
Today we celebrate popular delusions and hot air balloons.

Why do I find that so appropriate?

Well, it plays on the popular delusion that hot air rises. If that were true, how could there be snow-capped mountains? Clearly it would be warmer up there - all the hot air would have risen there and melted the snow.

Delusions are popular, alright: popular and persistent.

Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.

04 June 2020 - Plague Journal Day 84

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

Micah 6:6-8 (ESV)
What Does the Lord Require?

6 “With what shall I come before the Lord,
    and bow myself before God on high?
  Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
    with calves a year old?
7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
    with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
  Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
    the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”
8 He has told you, O man, what is good;
    and what does the Lord require of you
  but to do justice, and to love kindness,
    and to walk humbly with your God?


Walking humbly with your God includes praying, and what better prayer than the one Jesus gave us as a model?

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.
Amen.
#895 in The United Methodist Hymnal

I'm not going to add much commentary here, other than to notice that the hardest part of that prayer is asking to be forgiven in the way we forgive others. I'd be asking for trouble most of the time. It's a good thing that God is good all the time. (All the time, God is good!)

Think on these things.

Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.

03 June 2020 - Plague Journal Day 83

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

New Normal. Forever-changed. These phrases and many more similar ones are thrown around with abandon, but what might this actually mean?
Now that we've had people get sick from a virus, no one will ever go out in public again?
That doesn't make any sense.
Once this first wave of panic is over, we'll go back to shaking hands without washing them?
That doesn't seem likely either.

If I'm not mistaken, we haven't seen plague doctor masks in actual use in many centuries. So the new normal from the bubonic plague / black death seems to have given way to a more normal normal after some time.

After all, people are people. We are created for relationship, and staying away from everyone else will no doubt cause huge increases in emotional problems, depression, mental illness.
I am not saying there's no virus out there - obviously it's there, it's virulent (clever wording, eh?), and it's very dangerous to certain people - what I am saying is it's not the end of the world. Not even the end of the world as we know it. I feel fine, how about you?

So, someday we'll all be back to sporting events, restaurants, worship services in actual sanctuaries, concerts and singing in public, all the things that are deadly today. I, for one, can't wait for the end of our new viral overlord's rule.

Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.

02 June 2020 - Plague Journal Day 82

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?


How about something serious today?

Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.

01 June 2020 - Plague Journal Day 81

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

Today is Flip a Coin Day, and it happens on the perfect day. Why?

Because it's also:
International Children's Day and the Global Day of Parents.

Say Something Nice Day and Oscar the Grouch Day

Dare Day and Heimlich Maneuver Day (that's an odd way to spell manoeuvre, though)

Now, I suppose it would be possible for one to celebrate both halves of each pairing, but why? Let's just flip some coins.


On a side note, my sister and I witnessed what I now realize to have been a very early application of the Heimlich Manoeuvre back in about 1977. We were lunching with Detroit Express goalkeeper Steve Hardwick and his fiancée at the Main Event restaurant when a gent at a nearby table began to choke on whatever it was he was eating. Another member of his party managed to dislodge the obstruction through the application of said manoeuvre, and was rewarded with a round of applause from all those seated in the area (as well as the resumption of his friend's breathing, which was more to the point). Good times. I miss the old NASL.

Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.

31 May 2020 - Plague Journal Day 80

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

Today is Pentecost - I have often preached on this day in the past, covering for pastors who were away at our church's Annual Conference, but not this year.
Anyway, to celebrate today, wear something red, and speak in another language, but please speak in complete sentences.

Just because, here are some links to old Pentecost sermons:
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019

I would also ask everyone to keep in mind that once we're back together for worship, I'm sure we'll all feel like it's time to celebrate one another, but that's not what worship is about. That's more at the fellowship we're all craving and missing so desperately. What worship is about is celebrating God - the One who Created, Redeemed, and Sustains us all - the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That's what worship is about - it's about Him, not about us.

I'm still excited to get back to corporate, in-person worship with my church family, but I'm also trying to keep myself aware that I'm worshiping God wherever and whenever I am, and that's never been stopped.

Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.