​So weird. And so cool! This morning (Tuesday) when I woke up at 4:30—you see some serious first light this time of year. Yes, most of the time I’m up this early.
 
Why? This. I love it!
This time of year is awesome! First light. 4:30am. Cup of coffee. The best time of day!
 
The days are so long now—obviously longest next week at the summer solstice, June 21. But, you get a pretty good idea now. And at night, the last light is still fading at 9pm. 
 
I love summer!
 
I especially love summer on the east coast because of that early light. I don’t set an alarm anymore—haven’t for years. I go to bed when I’m tired and get up when I’m done, whatever that looks like. Sometimes it’s 4:30 or even earlier and that’s fine by me.
 
I love that first light, especially if I can get outside to sit and watch it come like today. 
 
Amazing!
 
It feels like a new awakening—it feels like creation. 
 
Genesis 1:
In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, 2 the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. 3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness [God] called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. (NRSV)
 
That wind from God. In Hebrew, it’s “ruah elohim” and it looks like this:
וְר֣וּחַ אֱלֹהִ֔ים 
 
Read it right to left. Wow! Pretty awesome! 
 
The Spirit of God. Literally, the breath of God. 
 
There’s no alarm clock for it. In fact, to God—what is a day? Just think about that. From God’s perspective, what is a day?
 
That alone is enough to make your brain hurt. It’s enough to keep you busy with summer reading, if you want. It’s enough to think about for now.
 
Summer is almost officially here!
The Spirit is moving! 
And so are we--
 
We’re still on Facebook Live every week—and we’ve moved church to the Community House in person on Sunday mornings to beat the heat. We have some air conditioning here—and not so much in the Sanctuary. There’s room for the Spirit of course! 
 
There’s room for you.
 
I love summer because it feels like creation. 
It feels new.
It feels like the breath of God. 
And I hope you feel it too!
 
See you Sunday!
 
Grace and peace,
Scott

This is an exciting week in the life of Fairmount Presbyterian Church!
 
Sunday was Youth Sunday, the Day of the Pentecost, (the birth of the church as in the book of Acts), we baptized two of our students, and it was Confirmation Sunday. Whew! It was awesome! 
 
This year, 4 of our middle school students came most Sundays after church to spend time learning about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. How do they impact our world, our lives, who we are? Do they still impact our lives today? If so, how?
 
They have been wrestling with the tough questions and now is the time when all that work pays off. They are now full members of Fairmount Presbyterian Church. They are full voting members, they can be elected to serve on session as Elders, they can be elected as Deacons, and they now have both voice and vote in all Congregational matters. 
 
Interestingly enough, while this may feel like a “graduation,” it’s not. It’s really the signal of the end of the beginning. They have the background, the foundation, the source material to answer the hard questions, not the least of which is:
 
Is Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior?
 
That’s the only question we officially answer in order to be a member of the Presbyterian church. That’s it. All full members have answered it. But what a hard question! When you really answer it from the heart, thinking about it can make your brain not just hurt—it might make your brain explode! 
 
I tend to think that we spend the rest of our lives answering that question. Confirming, denying, confirming, denying—because that’s what we do. So, I’ve warned them—that’s what they will do.  
 
One of the things they are also required to do is write a statement of faith in their own words that answers these questions: What I think about God. What I think about Jesus. What I think about the Holy Spirit. Think “Apostles’ Creed.”
 
I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth,
And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell; the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy *catholic Church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen.   (*catholic in lower case means “universal.”)
 
We say it a lot in church, so I know you’re familiar with it. I gave it to our students to use as a reference point. And they wrote their own just for the exercise. 
 
So, I wonder what you might say. What do you think about God? What do you think about Jesus? What do you think about the Holy Spirit? And what would you say?
 
If you were here on Sunday, or joined us on Facebook Live!—I took each of their statements and put them in a blender creating an Affirmation of Faith that we will use going forward in our worship. It’s pretty amazing—we’re going to use it again this week so come this Sunday to see and hear! They lead us in their affirmation Sunday and you can come and see and hear and be for yourself in church this Sunday!
 
Here it is:
 
God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit are love—they claim us like children of Heaven and Earth always. God creates everything. God is the constant trusted presence of love and forgiveness for all the world no matter what. Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior. Jesus shows us love, hope, courage, kindness, sacrifice, and suffering in the faith that drives our lives. The fully human and fully God Christ Jesus teaches us to believe in each other and ourselves. The Holy Spirit is an angel of God protecting and empowering us always in all ways. The Spirit is our faith in action. God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit are mystery, beyond understanding, always present everywhere. Amen.  
 
I know! Pretty amazing, right?
Come and join us this Sunday to pray it together—maybe relive your confirmation.
 
Is Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior?
 
I’m just askin’…
 
Grace and Peace,
Scott

​Over the holiday weekend, I ran down the shore for a day just to get some respite. I’m an early riser and made it out to the beach to catch the sunrise. Respite? Oh yeah! You’d better believe it. 
 
It makes me think about life in New Jersey—the pace. The craziness. For most people.  
 
Commute. Work. Commute. Even if the commute is now from your bed to the kitchen table which you’ve converted to your office. Spend day the on and off camera in Zoom meetings or Team conference calls. The whole day! Answering email until late. Sleep (hopefully). Repeat.
 
Weekends: Crazy too—non-stop, over-programmed, sports, drama, dance, music…
And church. Church? Yeah, I know, right? One more thing.
 
It never ends.
 
When was the last time you really unplugged?
Like really unplugged. Turn off the phone. Close the laptop. Radio silence. Go dark. No technology.
Nothing.
 
Solitude.
 
It’s one of the Spiritual Disciplines we read about during Lent. Richard Foster’s book gave us a number of Disciplines to try—things to bring clarity to this crazy jacked-up existence. Prayer, Fasting, Meditation, Study, Simplicity, Submission, Service, Confession, Worship, Guidance, Celebration were all chapter headings and good ideas for capturing the Spirit in and around our daily lives. And Solitude was one, too.
 
Solitude.
 
Sit. Be. Repeat.
 
Imagine several days of that!
Full-on hermetic, monastic, cloistral life.
Even for a few hours.
 
Maybe it sounds boring. 
Maybe it sounds selfish. 
Maybe it sounds divine! 
 
Maybe we can capture a moment here or there. I know a lady who can’t find space to be alone except in the coat closet at home. It’s dark, it’s quiet, it’s perfect.
 
If you can’t carve out a few days, maybe you can carve out a few moments. Combine a little solitude with meditation, with prayer.
 
Here’s one. Try this from Thich Nhat Hanh*—use only as directed. 
 
Breathing in, I calm my body,
Breathing out, I smile.
Dwelling in the present moment,
I know this is a wonderful moment!
 
Breath in.
Breath out.
Repeat. 
 
Again. 
 
Again.
 
Again.
 
Again.
 
You’re welcome.
 
Grace & Peace,
Scott
 
Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life by Thich Nhat Hanh, Bantam, 1991.
 
Richard Foster, The Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth, HarperOne, 2018.
 

Coming up on Sunday June 5, the Day of the Pentecost, we’re celebrating Youth Sunday, the Baptisms of two of our students, the Lord’s Supper, and the Confirmation of the Class of 2022! It’s a beautiful and joyous day of celebration for our church! Whew! It’s a lot!
 
Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. That’s all you have to say in order to be a member of the Presbyterian Church. That’s all. That’s it!
 
Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. Everything else is commentary. Everything else is the journey. 
 
That’s my hope and joy for this confirmation class. Not that they have learned what to think, but they have learned how to think about it. That they have words for how to express where they are on this journey because it’s always changing and growing us, moving us forward. 
 
I love to write! I love to read. I love to read good writing. 
 
So, I’m going through a stack of stuff this week and I come across something in one of my ham radio publications that is buried in the midst of a technical article on the electronics of a piece of gear. But the author (who is a retired minister from the UK it turns out…) talks about the Greek two-fold understanding of time. 
 
Chronos, or chronology, which is a basic linear sequential understanding of time: one thing happens, and then the next, and the next, and so on as time passes.
 
Kairos, on the other hand, is the opportune nature of time. Think of kairos like good timing for action, or the sense of time we lose track of when we’re caught up in the moments. We’re having a good time, or having a good conversation, or into a book or movies or series we’re binge-watching. We get in the zone. That is when we lose track of time.
 
And when I best love to write or read or especially read good writing, I notice that I feel the Kairos sense of time. I get in the zone. Time flies. I get lost in the moments. I lose track of time.
 
So digging through the pile, I find an old Richard Rohr. This is what I hope and pray is jumping off point for our Confirmation Class. Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior—now this! But look, he’s always amazing! And I saved this one because this is such a good piece of writing—so good! It’s so good that I’m stealing it for you. All of it.
 
Indwelling Spirit
A Constant Grace
Wednesday, May 22, 2019
 
The work of the Holy Spirit in our lives is to reveal to us the truth of our being so that the way of our being can match it. —Wm. Paul Young [1]
 
The love in you—which is the Spirit in you—always somehow says yes. (See 2 Corinthians 1:20.) Love is not something you do; love is something you are. It is your True Self. Love is where you came from and love is where you’re going. It’s not something you can buy. It’s not something you can attain. It’s the presence of God within you, called the Holy Spirit or what some theologians name uncreated grace.
 
You can’t manufacture this by any right conduct, dear reader. You can’t make God love you one ounce more than God already loves you right now. You can go to church every day for the rest of your life. God isn’t going to love you any more than God loves you right now.
 
You cannot make God love you any less, either—not an ounce less. Do the most terrible thing and God wouldn’t love you less. You cannot change the Divine mind about you! The flow is constant, total, and 100 percent toward your life. God is for you.
 
We can’t diminish God’s love for us. What we can do, however, is learn how to believe it, receive it, trust it, allow it, and celebrate it, accepting Trinity’s whirling invitation to join in the cosmic dance.
 
St. Bernard of Clairvaux (c. 1090–1153) wrote, “Inasmuch as the soul becomes unlike God, so it becomes unlike itself.” [2] Bernard has, of course, come to the same thing I’m trying to say here: the pattern within the Trinity is the same as the pattern in all creation. And when you return to this same pattern, the flow will be identical.
 
Catherine LaCugna (1952–1997) ended her giant theological tome God for Us with this one simple sentence:
 
The very nature of God, therefore, is to seek out the deepest possible communion and friendship with every last creature on this earth. [3]
 
That’s God’s job description. That’s what it’s all about. And the only thing that can keep you out of this divine dance is fear or self-hatred. What would happen in your life—right now—if you fully accepted what God has created?
 
Suddenly, this is a very safe universe. You have nothing to be afraid of. God is for you. God is leaping toward you! God is on your side, honestly more than you are on your own.
 
I hope you get into Kairos on this. How cool is that? I hope you get in the zone. I hope you get lost in time. 
 
Grace & Peace,
Scott
 
References:
[1] Wm. Paul Young, Trinity: The Soul of Creation, session 7 (Center for Action and Contemplation: 2017), MP4 download.
[2] Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermons on the Song of Songs, 82.5. This translation is from William Harmless, Mystics, (Oxford University Press: 2008), 55.
[3] Catherine Mowry LaCugna, God for Us: The Trinity and Christian Life (HarperSanFrancisco: 1993), 411.
Adapted from Richard Rohr with Mike Morrell, The Divine Dance: The Trinity and Your Transformation (Whitaker House: 2016), 193-194.

Psalm 23 came up in the Revised Common Lectionary cycle for church on Mother’s Day when I was away on study leave and celebrating Mother’s Day with my mom and dad. Psalm 23 is a classic. Maybe the best-known of the Psalms.
 
You may know this trick. Grab any Judeo-Christian Bible. Put your fingers in the middle of the pages in the book and open it. Chances are high, like almost 100%, that you will open the Bible to the Psalms. Right in the middle of the book.
 
It’s a cute little parlor trick, but it’s also nice to know. The Psalms are ancient songs, poems, laments, petitions, praises, amazing prayers—all ways to talk to God. And all ways to listen for God. It’s kind of like a prayer app. Open to the middle and seek God through the Psalms.
 
Psalm 23 is classic. 
 
Sunday School kids for generations have been taught to memorize it and know it by heart. I used to be able to recite the King James Version, but I think my old mind has disconnected from that a little bit over the years. Life, new translations, seminary, and the work have all muddied that water. 
 
I can muddle through it, but not like when I was 10—I had it down.
 
Forgive the patriarchal language—let’s not throw the baby out with the bath water.  Here’s the New Revised Standard Version:
​

A Psalm of David.
1 The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
2     He makes me lie down in green pastures;
he leads me beside still waters; 
3     he restores my soul. 
He leads me in right paths
    for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley, 
    I fear no evil;
for you are with me;
    your rod and your staff--
    they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me
    in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
    my cup overflows.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
    all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
    my whole life long.
​

It works better as poetry if it’s centered, doesn’t it?
It definitely works better as prayer.
Centered. 
 
That’s what we do when we pray. Center ourselves in God. 
 
This has been an awful couple weeks for the USA. Two heinous hate crimes of shooting in a Presbyterian Church in southern California just yesterday and at the grocery store in Buffalo on Friday. Racial hate crime. The leak of the Supreme Court opinion that may overturn Roe v. Wade and the Casey case depriving multitudes of women the right to make their own decisions on abortion. 
 
What hurts one of us, hurts us all. Our politics are a mess. Our culture is a mess. Our lives are a mess. 
 
What if our mission, our practice, our culture—yours and mine—were to love God and radically love our neighbors as Jesus teaches us? What if we really did that? What if?
 
Let’s start here. Right here, right now.
I’m gonna ask you to scroll back up and pray Psalm 23 again. 
Just try it, and center yourself here: 
​

What does it look like when
“goodness and mercy follow me”?
​

​I’m just gonna leave that right there in the middle.  
 
Grace & Peace,
Scott

​So, I chuckle as I write that title out because this probably isn’t going in the direction you’re assuming. Not even close. Heaven? Or Hell?
 
Presbyterians. One of the things we don’t do very well, and have never done very well, is talk about our spirituality. We always kinda cache our spirituality in really vague terms. Even when it comes to prayer—the most basic of Christian practices. It’s just not that often you’ll hear someone say, “I need to pray about that.” Or, “I have been praying about…” In practice, it happens for sure. But we don’t hear a lot about it—not that often, anyway.
 
All that said, when it comes to spirituality, I’m actually happy to talk about it. I do talk about it. A lot. It’s kinda my job to talk about it. Promote it. While I’m probably not the gentlest person you know about most things, I do take a gentle approach when it comes to spirituality. 
 
I’m sensitive to “Presbyterian spirituality” which is very chill in most cases. It’s so chill that most Presbyterians can bristle at the first blush. This is one of those things you learn early as a Presbyterian minister. You don’t be shy about it, but you gotta be chill about it. 
 
And personally, I am deliberate, very intentional with my own spirituality, with my practices. By now you know me. I have a daily routine. Never fails. Every day. Time with God. It’s how I start my day. Quiet time. I pray for you. I pray for our church. Every. Day. I read the Daily Lectionary Bible verses. Sometimes Oswald Chambers. Always Phyllis Tickle and J. Phillip Newell. And I read Richard Rohr. 
 
Fr. Richard Rohr is a highly progressive Franciscan priest and founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque, New Mexico. If you read any progressive theological articles or books at all, Richard Rohr is often quoted and a highly sought-after conversation partner. Just a few years ago, I learned he does a daily devotional and I LOVE HIM! Turns out, a number of my colleagues across the denominational lines love him, too. 
 
Not too long ago, he did this whole series on Heaven and Hell. I have for at least a decade theologically agreed with him on the entire concept of Heaven and Hell and it’s simply this: 
 
Heaven and Hell aren’t places. They are states. Present current states. Heaven and Hell are here and now. In this life, on this Earth, in our lives. Always in all ways. 
 
Here are a couple broad strokes at it:
 
Heaven is heartfelt and found in and among the peaks of light living life as a follower of Jesus Christ. Loving others unconditionally as Jesus loves us. Building community and taking care of our neighbors as described in the early church by actions of the Holy Spirit (in the book of Acts). 
 
Hell, on the other hand, is also heartfelt and found in and among the valleys of darkness that surround us. Evil. Heinous acts. Tough times. Hard life events. Loss. Depression. All that is Hell, obviously. 
 
Heaven and Hell. Sometimes they are of our making!
 
Okay, that’s plenty enough to make your brain hurt. 
 
Right? 
 
So, Fr. Richard turned me on to the poet David Whyte, from his collection Fire in the Earth (Many Rivers Press: 2002). 
 
Just pause and read this. Like, read it and then sit in the Mystery for a while. 
Just sit and be.
Wow!
​

“The Old Wild Place”
 
After the good earth
where the body knows itself to be real
and the mad flight
where it gives itself to the world,
we give ourselves to the rhythm of love
leaving the breath
to know its way home.
 
And after the first pure fall,
the last letting go, and the calm
breath where we go to rest,
we’ll return again to find it
and feel again the body welcomed,
the body held,
the strong arms of the world,
the water, the waking at dawn
and the thankful, almost forgotten,
curling to sleep with the dark.
 
The old wild place beyond all shame. 
​

​Just sit with that for a while. Right?
 
You’re welcome!
 
Grace & Peace,
Scott

Okay Christian person. Let me ask you a question that is enough to make your brain hurt. We’re in the season of Eastertide right now. Alleluia! The Lord is risen. He is risen, indeed. Alleluia! The resurrection of Lord Jesus Christ. So, now what?
 
It was one of our “Worship Questions To Go” this last Sunday. We talked about it at length Monday Night in the Zoom Bible Study--
 
What do we do with the Post-Easter Jesus?
 
That’s literally the age-old question we’ve been struggling with since the women discover the empty tomb. And by “we,” I mean us—Jesus followers. What do we do with him?
 
You start to really feel the struggle in the early Pauline letters. 1 Thessalonians is probably the first of Paul’s letters to emerge and it likely doesn’t come along until mid-1st Century—20 years after the crucifixion. In fact, Paul’s letters emerge before the Gospels. Then Mark comes first and not until at least 60-65. The others much later, and John’s Gospel may not have emerged until as late as the 2nd Century!
 
Even the Didache, which is literally a manual for being a person of “The Way”—basically what they call the lifestyle of following Jesus—They aren’t even known as “Christians” yet! The Didache comes out also mid-1stCentury, and even the Didache doesn’t talk about the resurrection. Not one word!
 
After years of prayer, a lot of thought, and serious study—I think I understand why no resurrection. I think it’s because they are living it. Like, if you put yourself into their context, in the years immediately following Jesus they are mourning, processing, developing love and community around his teaching. They are experiencing and actually becoming the resurrection. They are becoming the resurrection. 
 
This is no “belief structure.”
This is lifestyle. 
This is huge!
 
It’s also important to know that Paul never meets Jesus of Nazareth! Paul’s experience of Jesus comes on the road to Damascus (see Acts 9) post-Easter and he has a serious life-changing confrontation with the risen Christ! He is blinded by the light of Christ! 
 
So, what we get here in 2022 are these glimpses of the Risen Christ through the eyes of the earliest followers. And this is significant! Scholars agree that to best understand the impact of a leader, a movement, or a culture is to examine the lives of the adherents. 
 
What do they do? 
How do they live? 
What do they teach their children?
Hmmmm.
 
That’s enough to make your brain hurt, too! 
What do we do with this Post-Easter Jesus?
And that is it.
 
Are we becoming the resurrection? 
Following Jesus? 
Loving God and loving each other as Jesus loves us? 
Building welcoming community and taking care of our neighbors? 
Yes or no?
 
When we look in the mirror, do we see the face of Jesus? 
 
Sorry to make your brain hurt—I’m just askin’…
 
Grace & Peace,
Scott

Every breath you take
And every move you make
Every bond you break
Every step you take
I'll be watching you*
​

Could be God talking through Sting. Not menacing—just present. Holy Spirit. 
Always in all ways.
 
One of the things I learned in yoga is connecting body and Spirit. Focusing on the breath. It helps me, anyway. We don’t do a very good job of connecting body and Spirit in Christianity. Not like yoga does, anyway. 
 
This Sunday we’ll be playing around with the scripture from John when the risen Christ breathes onto the disciples. He breathes the Holy Spirit onto them! Whoa!
 
Back at the beginning. The very beginning—in Genesis, God literally breathes creation onto the face of the Earth—Whoa!
 
So, just focus on the breath.
Your breath.
In.
Out.
In.
Out.
Holy Spirit—that’s God. 
Whoa!
 
Every now and then I get something I wish I’d written like this. Barbara Stacey sent me this piece—forgive the patriarchal language—just focus on your breath.
 
There was a moment when Moses had the nerve to ask God what his name is. God was gracious enough to answer, and the name he gave is recorded in the original Hebrew as YHWH.

Over time we’ve arbitrarily added an “a” and an “e” in there to get YaHWeH, presumably because we have a preference for vowels. 

But scholars and Rabi’s have noted that the letters YHWH represent breathing sounds, or aspirated consonants. When pronounced without intervening vowels, it actually sounds like breathing. 

YH (inhale): WH (exhale). 

So a baby’s first cry, his first breath, speaks the name of God. 

A deep sigh calls His name – or a groan or gasp that is too heavy for mere words. 

Even an atheist would speak His name, unaware that their very breathe is giving constant acknowledgment to God. 

Likewise, a person leaves this earth with their last breath, when God’s name is no longer filing their lungs. 

So when I can’t utter anything else, is my cry calling out His name?

Being alive means I speak His name constantly.  
So, is it heard the loudest when I’m the quietest?

In sadness, we breathe heavy sighs. 
In joy, our lungs feel almost like they will burst. 
In fear we hold our breath and have to be told to breathe slowly to help us calm down. 
When we’re about to do something hard, we take a deep breath to find our courage.  

When I think about it, breathing is giving him praise. Even in the hardest moments! 

This is so beautiful and fills me with emotion every time I grasp the thought. God chose to give himself a name that we can’t help but speak every moment we’re alive. 

All of us, always, everywhere. 
Waking, sleeping, breathing, with the name of God on our lips.**

Whoa! Right?
 
Just breathing—sighs too deep for words,
Scott
 
**by  Sandra Thurman Caporale.
*by “Sting” Gordon Sumner.
Graphic artist unknown.
​

Wow, it’s quiet around here this early.  
Very quiet. It’s a quiet week. 
And that’s totally cool with me.
 
Most of you know, I keep my office hours early in the mornings during the week. I don’t think Haytown is on Spring Break, but so far there’s a skeleton crew here this morning. Later the place is teeming with kids and WOW! It’s awesome. Life in the Community House. 
 
The confirmation class is on hiatus right now for their Spring Breaks. We have 3 families represented and all three families live in different school districts with staggered Spring Breaks. 3 separate and consecutive weeks. So, the class isn’t meeting for a month. We’ll resume next week after Easter. 
 
We are not doing a Maundy Thursday service this year, so it’s the quietest Holy Week and Spring Break for me ever. I feel it in my bones, in my flesh. To be honest, it’s a little weird. Just sayin…
 
So, I read Richard Rohr almost every day and it reminds me that a few years ago during Holy Week I think, he was focused on the physicality of our spirituality. Most often mainline church people tend to shy away from the “flesh.” Like, we get too hung up on “the Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” from Jesus’ short little soliloquy from the Garden of Gethsemane in Matthew 26.
 
You remember the first Maundy Thursday scene. Jesus has gone to the garden to pray knowing that time is growing short. Judas has gone to summon the authorities, the soldiers are on their way, and the kiss of betrayal is moments away. Jesus expects the disciples to wait with him. They are tired from the wine at dinner, and they nap—until the cops show up.  
 
Anyway, this is probably why we fall into this “dualism” between body and Spirit. We here in mainline Christianity don’t do a very good job of connecting body and Spirit—when in fact it’s all connected. Like, it’s not either/or, but both/and. Always in all ways. 
 
Don’t ever forget that Jesus is fully human and fully God. It’s both/and. Not either/or.
 
And like it or not, I’m getting old. I’ve been paying a lot closer attention to my body these days. Losing weight. Working out. Self-care. Stress relief. Trying to stay loose. That’s my “happy place.” Connected body and Spirit. 
 
All this to get to Spring Break and Holy Week. 
 
I hope you can tune into your body, too. Not just your heart and soul. Not just your Spirit. Both/And. Tune into the flesh and the Spirit. 
 
I hope and pray that you are in a space where you are both Spiritually and physically at peace. That you’re in your happy place. I hope that you feel it in your heart and soul, of course. And I hope you feel it in your bones. Always, in all ways.
 
So, maybe this isn’t just another Holy Week/Spring Break. 
 
Maybe this is the one that gets into the marrow. 
 
Grace & Peace,
Scott

Shot rings out in the Memphis sky
Free at last, they took your life
They could not take your pride
 
In the name of love
What more in the name of love
 
This turned up on my workout playlist this morning while I was pumping on the indoor bike. What timing!
 
I’ll never forget the first time I heard those U2 lyrics. Who can? It’s from The Unforgettable Fire. Right after the bridge, the final verse. OMG! The passion. The emotion. The indictment, white people!
 
Never mind the historical error.
 
The Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Junior was assassinated on the stoop of his Memphis hotel room right around dusk in the evening of April 4, 1968.  
 
Over 50 years ago. Hard to believe it’s been that long. 
 
Even harder to believe—U2 released The Unforgettable Fire on October 1, 1984 and Pride was the first single released from (what we used to call) the “album.” 
 
Especially if you’re of a certain generation, I’ll be surprised if you don’t remember the song. MTV was still very new, and the video is on YouTube. The YouTube offices were a scene of gun violence a few years ago right around this same time.
 
This week of course, more gun violence. It’s not always racially motivated—and it’s become so de rigueur, so commonplace, according to the website https://www.gunviolencearchive.org, there are 3 pages of incidents of gun violence in the USA just on Monday, April 4, 2022. Whoa! 
 
What continues to hurt even one of us hurts us all.
 
In 1984 this band, U2, was just about to explode across the world. The Joshua Tree was still a couple years in the distance, but they were already well on their way. Live Aid probably pushed them over the top. But this song Pride got everyone’s attention—demanded everyone’s attention.
 
The song still resonates today. Don’t kid yourself that “we’ve come so far” on race in the United States. Clearly, we have not. We’ve barely moved the needle!
 
My whole doctoral project dissertation was about fostering what MLK called “Beloved Community.” If you’re curious, it’s called: Doing Beloved Community: Building Relationships in Public Squares.
 
Dr. King’s words continue to challenge us: the Beloved Community is a vision where “all people can share in the wealth of the earth. In the Beloved Community, poverty, hunger and homelessness will not be tolerated because international standards of human decency will not allow it. Racism and all forms of discrimination, bigotry and prejudice will be replaced by an all-inclusive spirit of sisterhood and brotherhood.”
 
I know we think we’re trying, white people, but we’re not even close. Having said that, I have to say that this church, FPC, is pretty “woke.” Some of us describe our church as “traditional” and we are about some things. But not about this. 
 
We are pretty woke, welcoming, aware of the diversity in our community, and aware of our privilege. I brag on you all the time. 
 
Right here from our little corner of the world, it feels like we’re just trying to keep the dream alive. 
 
Grace & Peace,
Scott