So, if you were in church or on Facebook Live this week, you may have stayed awake for the sermon, “Help!” I didn’t catch anybody sleeping in the sanctuary, if you’re curious. But nobody will blame you if you nod off because you’re watching in bed or on the couch with a big pillow. You know, it’s real life. We get it. 
 
I was riffing a little on Anne Lamott, and I’ve read almost everything she’s written. She’s a good, solid Presbyterian from the San Francisco area. Love her! Love her take on real life. Love her books. You can’t go wrong. 
 
IMO, one of the best books is Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers. 10 bucks on Kindle. It’s a quick read, easy to digest, and simple. That’s the whole point!
 
Probably the biggest takeaway is this: Prayer is a simple thing between us and God. Between you and God. Between me and God. Big words not required. Flowery language not required. Thee’s and thou’s not required. 
 
Simply—pray.
Get to it.
Just. Say. It.
 
She’s building on an idea from one of her earlier books. She tells a story about her prayer life and always seems to find herself coming back home to a couple basics:
Help me, help me, help me.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
 
So, now she boils it all down to three essential prayers—wait for it…
 
Help.
Thanks.
Wow.
 
That’s it.
Simple.
 
When you can’t put two words together, just pick one: 
Help.
Thanks.
Wow.
 
Petition God for assistance. 
Express gratitude for a blessing.
Sit in awe of God’s massive peace and power. 
 
Simply pray.
 
I do think it helps to get comfortable or get quiet or get in the zone, wherever you can find peace—however you do that. But it’s absolutely not necessary. When you’ve got the time and space, you might go for the Lord’s Prayer—which might be the perfect prayer. Even Jesus says, “When you pray,” pray like this…
 
But you may not have the time and space!
You may not have the peace.
The world may be raging all around you.
 
In any case, any one of these three words can put you in touch with God.
In a word.
Literally.
 
Simply pray. When you can’t put two words together, try just one:
 
Help.
Thanks.
Wow.
 
Give it a shot.
 
Grace and Peace,
Scott
 
 

​Probably just like most of you, one of the things I love most about Christmas is the tree. Now don’t jump to some non-Spiritual conclusion about my Christmas love. I’m all about the baby Jesus! He’s my favorite Jesus, for sure. But let me love the trees!
 
I love driving through towns seeing the town trees and decorations, and especially the trees going up in living rooms all along the road. I love you can see them from the road.
It’s just beautiful and it’s captivating. 
 
This is our version of Stars Hollow, Mayberry, Pawnee, or Castle Rock. Pick your favorite TV town. Califon/Fairmount is just as idyllic. More.
 
I’ve said it a million times—we live in a snow globe!
 
And that snow globe just looks right when the trees start popping up!
 
Back in the 90’s, I used to walk through Rockefeller Center every day on the way to work. Most years I’d catch them trimming and putting up what I think of as “The Tree.” Forget about the White House. To me, it’s not Christmas until they light the tree in Rockefeller Center.
 
When they’re trimming that tree, there’s a ton of debris and I would pick up a big branch and haul it into work. Then, I’d sit in my office and cut it into little pieces and mail it out to my friends all over the country. Just so they’d get a little piece of the tree. A little Christmas cheer…
 
Ever since I moved back to the East Coast this time, I’ve missed my chance every year. The tree goes up, the lights, the whole deal while I’ve been too busy to run into the city. Too busy with my stuff. Just not paying attention. 
 
Back home, my wife and kids used to do most of the work decorating the house. I would help put up the tree (artificial) and helped them hang the beads that look like cranberries. Otherwise, they did everything else. 
 
Last year, I didn’t do it. Just wasn’t feeling it. It’s just me in my apartment—I put out the nativity, with my little baby Jesus, but that’s it. Last year was hard. 
 
Not this year! I’m in it. Really feeling it—and I put the tree up over the weekend. All is right with the world now. This morning I’m sitting in my favorite chair in the dark of the early morning with just the tree on. Nativity set out where it belongs, picking up the light. It was a pristine moment. 
 
It’s not just the tree, it’s the whole glow. It’s on. It’s so on…
 
Same thing for our church. The Mistletoe Market is coming. The Hat and Mitten tree is going up. The kids in Haytown are singing Christmas Songs. 
 
And it’s not just the trees. Merry Christmas, Fairmount!
 
It’s so on. It’s the whole glow. 
 
Grace & Peace,
Scott

When I think about God I think of a person who would never murder or kill anyone. But when you think about it you wonder because wasn’t it God who swept the angel of death over Egypt? It makes you think doesn’t it? Is God against it or is he not? I mean what had the boys done to die? It was the Pharaoh wasn’t it? Now do you realise how little we know about God? I hope this made you think, thanks for listening.  
​— Lucy, 9 years old

​A few years ago, I read the Brian McLaren book, The Great Spiritual Migration: How the World's Largest Religion Is Seeking a Better Way to Be Christian. We even had a study on it in our presbytery. 
 
Loosely, the book is about a cosmic shift from “right belief” to “right practice” in following Jesus. McLaren is a leading progressive Christian author who recently spoke about the migration in New Zealand. Lucy’s little sermon was written in response to the conflicting signals she, as a 9-year-old, gets when she reflects on the Bible. In one blessed move, she makes an incredible theological leap that often takes much more educated and seasoned adults years, decades even, to make. This book is awesome, by the way!
 
The Bible is full of hope, faith, love, miracles, stories of redemption, repentance, contradiction, controversy, pain, punishment, life and death, acts of God and more. It’s a collection of Spirit-driven peoples, following God (or not), and writing their tribal histories trying to make some sense of the triumphs and injustices in their societies, their politics, their world and God’s power (or not). The Bible is humankind’s best effort to make sense of what God is doing with their world, what God is doing with them. 
 
You may notice that I put it on “them.” The Bible is firstly imperfect as a human construct as it reflects on their life, their times, and what God may or may not be doing in their world. It survives through history. If you look at it through that lens, you immediately see the problem with airlifting scripture out of ancient times and drop-shipping them literally into 2021. I’m sure you can think of a number of instances when the problem rears its head.  
 
Though the nature of church and preaching, this blog, the Focus, etc. may often seem a bit like one-way “broadcasting” especially as we open our worship on Facebook Live. Nevertheless, it really is a group conversation. We call it “Presbyterian.” We’re all in different places on this journey, and either in person or via Zoom or Facebook Live, the conversation is always rolling in the foreground or the background 24/7. 
 
Right around the time I was reading the book, there was a southern state senate candidate accused of child molestation and supported by a number of evangelicals citing the age difference between Mary and Joseph, Jesus’ parents. We’re not really sure how old Mary was, but the assumption is that she was betrothed to Joseph as a young teen. 
 
Men controlled the sexuality of the women in those days. It was the custom (as awful as this is) for fathers to give away their young daughters as wives to older men in a business transaction. Applying this ancient understanding morally in today’s culture is a huge violation—very problematic. You immediately see the problem on so many levels. 
  
A retired Drew professor wrote to me wondering if these evangelicals were thereby disavowing the virgin birth. That’s good comedy, but it’s not really that funny as it sinks in, is it?
 
You see the problem. 
 
From time-to-time people talk to me about the emptiness of the “thoughts and prayers” offered by politicians every time some horrendous terrorist act of gun violence takes place. And just this week, I see that Alex Jones, the InfoWars guy, has lost another defamation suit about Sandy Hook. I think that’s good, but I’m sure the poor parents of those students are getting more harassment from the crazies on the conspiracy alt-right and more “thoughts and prayers” from well-intentioned people. Still, years later!
 
None of this is “normal.” This is NOT normal. We cannot accept the normalizing of it in the midst of all the politicizing. It happens all the time. 
 
The Book of James is pretty clear on this problem, from Chapter 2: 14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? 17 So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.
 
I even beat a little on the “thoughts and prayers” problem in last Sunday’s sermon! It does preach…And if you made it this far this week—thanks for taking this walk with me, no matter where you are on it. You’re welcome here. By God, literally, this is what we do—together. I get a lot of comfort in that.
 
Here’s the thing—especially this year as I finished my doctorate and my dissertation and all the work that comes along with it. It’s like drinking from a firehose. And I keep learning—over and over and over again—the more I learn, the main thing I learn is how little I know. 
 
Thanks again, Lucy--
 
Now do you realise how little we know about God? 
I hope this made you think, thanks for listening.
 
Grace & Peace,
Scott

I’ve told my share of Dad Jokes over the years. Just ask my kids! You’ve even heard at least a couple in sermons. I’m sorry!
 
I still get Dad Jokes from my dad!
And I love them, still.
 
Back in the day, when somebody asked my dad, “How ya doin?” Dad would always say, “Pretty good for a man my age.” 
 
It was guaranteed to get an eye-roll out of me. Every time! 
Trouble is, now I get it. I even had another birthday this week and getting old doesn’t bother me a bit—never has. But I do get it. 
I do!
 
So not too long ago, Dad sends this one:
 
Three boys are in the schoolyard bragging about their fathers.

The first boy says, 'My dad scribbles a few words on a piece of paper, he calls it a poem, they give him $50.'
 
The second boy says, 'That's nothing. My dad scribbles a few words on a piece of paper, he calls it a song, they give him $100.'
 
The third boy says, 'I got you both beat. My dad scribbles a few words on a piece of paper, he calls it a sermon, and it takes eight people to collect all the money!'
 
I’m sure Dad shared that one because every church and non-profit are in the middle of stewardship or fundraising time. FPC stewardship is coming too! We pray there’s some truth in that!
 
I’m so thankful that I still have my mom & dad. And I love that Dad still sends me Dad Jokes! Let the inbox chime and chime again!
I’m grateful. 
 
I’m grateful for it on every level. And so many other things—you don’t have time to read my list. But I suspect you’ve got your list, too. And I hope and pray that your mom and your dad and your whole family are on it. 
 
As we’re looking forward to Thanksgiving in a couple weeks, our Prayer of Confession in church this week asked God for our thanksgiving to be constant and not seasonal. Let’s thank God for everything. Everything. All. The. Time.
 
Try to remember to stop in your tracks if you can, and just pick one thing off your list. Thank God. And do it again. And again. And again.
 
A couple weeks ago, I grabbed something off the Richard Rohr devotional. This:
Religion, from the root “religio,” means to reconnect, to bind back together…In a very real sense, the word “God” is just a synonym for everything. So if you do not want to get involved with everything, stay away from God.
 
So, thanking God means if you want to get involved with it, we’re talking everything.
 
Every.
 
Thing.
 
There’s my inbox chiming again. Thank God!
Maybe it’s Dad…
 
Grace & Peace,
Scott

​Three years or so ago, I took up yoga as part of my regular personal devotional routine. I was doing yoga 2-3 times a week or more. It was incredible! Yoga is an awesome Body and Spirit practice! I love it! It was great for me. 
 
Christianity doesn’t do a very good job of connecting Body and Spirit. We do an amazing job of connecting Mind and Spirit, but not so much Body and Spirit. Yoga is awesome!
 
Then COVID hit. 
 
I tried to keep at it by doing yoga streaming on my laptop, but I really missed the communal aspect of it, like we get from coming to church for worship. Yoga is a worship practice, to me. I hope that we’re able to create community with you in our worship on Facebook Live. I realize it’s not the best substitute for worshipping in the sanctuary together, but I hope and pray it helps you stay connected.
 
Anyway, since being interim pastor at Fairmount, my commute and schedule have changed. I’ve stopped doing yoga. Even the classes are back in person, but they don’t fit my schedule so—it has gone by the wayside. 
 
Every now and then, I’ll run across something that hits me—something I wish I’d written.  I’ll pass it along to you in this blog, or I’ll quote it sermons, maybe even email it to you. Today is one of those days.
 
I’ve told you that I read Richard Rohr every day—he and his people are part of my daily devotional quiet time. Every week on Saturday, it’s a summary of the previous week’s devotions AND there’s a devotional practice. This week, it was on Body! It’s awesome! 
 
Do this prayer! Wow! It’s written by Jan Richardson, a writer, poet, artist, and ordained minister in the United Methodist Church. I wish I’d written this! Wonderful!

​Blessing the Body
 
This blessing takes
one look at you
and all it can say is
holy.
 
Holy hands.
Holy face.
Holy feet.
Holy everything
in between.
 
Holy even in pain.
Holy even when weary.
In brokenness, holy.
In shame, holy still.
Holy in delight.
Holy in distress.
Holy when being born.
Holy when we lay it down
at the hour of our death.
 
So, friend,
open your eyes
(holy eyes).
For one moment
see what this blessing sees,
this blessing that knows
how you have been formed
and knit together
in wonder and
in love.
 
Welcome this blessing
that folds its hands
in prayer
when it meets you;
receive this blessing
that wants to kneel
in reverence
before you--
you who are
temple,
sanctuary,
home for God
in this world.

Amen! Amen! Amen!
Body and Spirit!
Thank you, God. 
 
Grace and peace,
Scott
 
©Jan Richardson from Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons.