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And So It Goes…

2/22/2022

Way back in the day when I was just out of college, most local TV stations weren’t 24/7. The local NBC affiliate ran local news, Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, and Late Night with David Letterman. After Letterman, they either signed off the air or played old TV reruns and then signed off in the middle of the night.

Along comes this late-night TV news show that just killed it for college students, or people like me, who were just getting off work. I watched it every night on a little 12-inch black and white TV with an antenna. No cable—my ex and me. We were living on love back then.

NBC News Overnight was hosted by Linda Ellerbee and a couple of other guys in and out of the partner chair. Linda Ellerbee is awesome! Ground-breaking female anchor. And the show was super-smart because she is super-smart!

She had me at “And so it goes…”

They had a routine every night at the close of the broadcast. They would do some cool quirky human-interest story and then Linda would look right into the camera with this inside-joke kinda smirk saying “And so it goes…”

Fade to black.

And so it goes…

What a great reference!

Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

Sci-fi literature. It’s a classic. Semi-autobiographical and a first-person narrative, it’s the story of a US Army Chaplain’s assistant during WWII—Billy Pilgrim.

Billy Pilgrim is constantly dealing with death. Obviously, it’s a way of life during wartime.
And every time somebody dies, Billy Pilgrim says, “And so it goes…”

Vonnegut moves through the scenes with it. It’s a refrain. It’s an all-purpose transition. Out with the old, in with the new. It’s about death and then here’s what’s next…

And so it goes…

I can’t believe it, but next Wednesday is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the season of Lent. One week away! It’s the season of reflection, self-inventory, fasting, prayer, doing penance, almsgiving, and self-denial. Repentance. Renewal. This is the time when we “give up something for Lent.”

People quit smoking, give up chocolate, count calories or carbs, etc. And people start a new spiritual discipline sometimes too, like daily prayer, or meditation, or study.

People recommit to following Jesus through the journey to the Last Supper (Maundy Thursday), to the cross (Good Friday), and to the resurrection (Easter). The Passion. Where everything in Lent ends—Holy Week.

It’s a season of transition. Letting go of the old ways and adopting new life in Christ.

Paul talks about it in 2 Corinthians 5:17--
So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!

Everything has become new!

Everything old has passed away.

And so it goes…

Join us in the journey as we read the book Celebration of Discipline this year for Lent. The sermons are about it. The book is all about it—the journey.

Everything becomes new!
Everything old passes away.
That’s my prayer for you this year.

Just trying to move the needle a little—maybe a little life change.

And so it goes…

Grace & Peace,
Scott

Windshield Time

2/15/2022

I had a rare in-person meeting up in Beemerville the other day and really enjoyed the drive over there. It’s the thing I actually enjoy probably most about off-site meetings or presbytery meetings, driving out here to the church, or anything that takes me out of town. I love driving around the area and seeing New Jersey. COVID has seriously put a damper on my local travel, but I love it just the same.

I love the windshield time. It’s good solitude (a spiritual practice we’ll talk more about during Lent). It’s good God-time.

Especially in the fall, of course. What’s not to love about that?

2-3 years ago, I drove over to Torrington, Connecticut where my mom’s side of the family settled when they first came over to the USA from Italy in the early 20th Century. I’d never been there, and I was hoping to see some remnant of the 13-room house my great-grandfather built by hand. I drove over just hoping that there was something of it left to see.

I called my mom’s cousin who still lives in the area for directions. By the time we actually hooked up, it didn’t matter anyway because there’s nothing left of the property. It was a 150-acre apple farm between Litchfield and Torrington back in the day that has now been sub-divided into rural housing additions, and it’s all long gone.

Our family sold the property late in the 1940’s after my great-grandfather died anyway. But the local paper ran a feature on the house and the farm and all the sculptures that he built to decorate the property. He was quite an artist, but even that feature article ran in a Sunday magazine section of the paper in the early 50’s.

Anyway, I should have made that trip 25 years ago when we lived over in Westchester County, New York. Back then, there was still stuff to see! Nowadays, forget about it.
But it really didn’t matter to me because, believe it or not, I made the whole drive over there on Route 202. The entire way from Morristown to Torrington. It took like 4.5 hours!
Stoplights. Town centers in every borough and village on the way. Small-town traffic.

Lovely little towns, but I know that probably sounds brutal!

Now I’ll probably never do it again, but it was great--once. Rural New Jersey, rural New York, the Bear Mountain Bridge across the Hudson (near where we used to live), and rural Connecticut are awesome! Worth every minute. The return trip on I-84 took half the time. Nevertheless…

I loved the windshield time. The solitude. The God-time.

I pray you have the time occasionally to find some of that, too. Maybe it’s not windshield time. Maybe it’s just sitting in your favorite chair watching the snow fall or falling asleep with your book.

It’s all good. Solitude. God-time is good-time!

Don’t forget to turn the phone off.

Grace and Peace,
Scott

Celebration of Discipline

2/8/2022

Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth is a classic spiritual formation book first written back in 1978 by Richard J. Foster (no relation). He covers a lot of territory about what Christian practice is, different disciplines, and how we can use them in our lives every day. Foster has updated a “40th Anniversary” edition published 5 years ago almost to the day.

It’s awesome!

The book’s not so much about right practice or “orthopraxy” as it is a manual for exploration into deeper and deliberate Christian life practice. It’s not so much about what’s “right” but about what’s good. It gives us some suggestions about ways to dig deeper into our faith to be more deliberate about self-training. Practice.

Here are the topics:
Inward Disciplines--Meditation, Prayer, Fasting, Study
Outward Disciplines--Simplicity, Solitude, Submission, Service
Corporate Disciplines--Confession, Worship, Guidance, Celebration

Why don’t we use this book as a framework for the journey in Lent this year?

The preaching in Lent will be a series focused on the Celebration of Discipline exploring one or two of them each week as we walk though Lent together.

Here’s an interesting personal note about the updated version of the book. Early in 2015, I read the book again and discover something that just jumps off the page at me. At the time, marriage equality had just become a reality for the country and for the church.

So, I’m reading the book in the section about prayer, and this hits me in the face:
We can pray for sexual deviations with genuine assurance that a real and lasting change can occur. Sex is like a river—it is a good and wonderful blessing when keep within its proper channel. A river that overflows its banks is a dangerous thing, and so are perceived sexual drives. What are the God-created banks for sex? One man with one woman in marriage for life. When praying for person with sexual problems, it is a joy to picture a river that has overflowed its banks and invite the Lord to bring it back into its natural channel.

Ouch! Not very inclusive. So, I write him about it.

I connect to Richard Foster via his assistant through email asking that if he were to do a 40th Anniversary update, would he consider revising this given our cultural shift?

They respond!

Dear Scott,

I talked with Richard…and discussed your question regarding…the 1998 edition. He thinks your questions are valid given today's context, and he'll be sure to consider a change when the book goes into a new edition.

Well, sure enough! Here’s what it says now:

We can pray for sexual difficulties with the assurance that genuine progress forward can occur. Sex is like a river—it is a good and wonderful blessing when kept within its proper channel. A river that overflows its banks is a dangerous thing, and so are uncontrolled sexual drives. For the Christian, the covenant of marriage defines the banks for sexual expression. When praying for persons with uncontrolled sexual drives, it is a joy to picture a river that has overflowed its banks and invite the Lord to bring it back into its natural channel.

Boom!

I put some Amazon links above, but you can pick it up on your eReader, paperback, or hardcover wherever you buy your books.

So, let’s do this! I can’t wait to dig into this with you. It’s deep. It’s powerful. It’s life changing.

Grace and Peace,
Scott

Fill 'er Up

2/1/2022

Every now and then I bump into “Paul’s” 2nd letter to Timothy. It’s one of my favorites in the pastoral letters.

I use Paul in quotes because the best scholarship says that the Timothys and Titus were not written by Paul at all. Probably much later, probably by some of his most devout followers, but it’s a given that Paul was long dead by the time the pastoral letters were written.

Even so, they’re nevertheless important!

From 2 Timothy 4:
6 As for me, I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure has come. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

Even though “Paul” didn’t write that, the historical Paul does write about Jesus “emptying” himself on the Cross. (see Philippians) #leavingall. #givingall. #doingall. #beingall. #notaboutself.

Leaving it all out on the field.

So too is this piece from 2 Timothy. “Poured out as a libation…fought the good fight, …finished the race, … kept the faith.” Leave it all out on the field.

Sometimes it’s helpful to think about emptying ourselves totally of self, any semblance of it. Like literally “getting over ourselves.” If we can just do that…

It is then, and maybe even only then, that we have made room for Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Room for God.

Everything else gets in the way. We get in our own way, if that makes any sense to you at all.

I was exposed to COVID a couple weeks ago and did the quarantine. I never got sick, but my friend describes it as “exhausting” and “draining.” No energy. Just none.

And it makes me wonder—is that what empty feels like?

Maybe it is. So, as I pray for them to feel better, for you to feel better—as I pray for healing, I’m also praying…

Bring it! Fill ‘er up!

Grace and Peace,
Scott