Right Action for People of All Ages

by Ken Kelley

I’m blessed to lead our senior adult ministry here at KPUMC and am pleased that many of our seniors join by Zoom on Fridays to share their lives and their love with each other and with Colleen and me. Their group name, Good Shepherds, aptly describes what we all do for each other as we care for one another, guiding one another through whatever life brings toward “green pastures.”

Our senior adult support group meets by Zoom every Tuesday morning at 10:30 for an hour or so. During this time, we contemplate life, usually using a book or other material as a guide.  After catching up on each other’s lives and discussing our thoughts about the day’s news, we open the study portion of our gathering with a prayer by Sr. Moya Hanlen that concludes,

Finally, as my heart slows a little after the work of the years,
May it expand in love for You and all people.
May it rest secure and grateful in Your loving Heart
Until I am lost in You, completely and forever.
Amen.

This prayer comes from the first book we studied, Pilgrimage into the Last Third of Life (7 GATEWAYS TO SPIRITUAL GROWTH), by Jane Marie Thibault and Richard L. Morgan (pg.7). One of the important lessons we learned and discussed was the meaning of being a “Christ-gift” in the last third of our lives. “It means that in all circumstances our lives will remain meaningful to us and be of use to others” (pg. 82) – wise words to people of all ages.

We’re currently studying Parker J. Palmer’s Book, ON the BRINK of EVERYTHING:  Grace, Gravity & Getting Old. We will soon read Palmer’s thoughts on “true self” based largely on the writings of Thomas Merton. I offer you Thomas’ summary,

True self is the self with which we arrive on earth, the self that simply wants us to be who we were born to be.
True self tells us who we are, where we are planted in the ecosystem of life, what “right action” looks like for us,
and how we can grow more fully into our own potential. (pg. 75)

I invite you to spend some time contemplating the meaning of Palmer’s words. As you consider where you are “planted in the ecosystem of life” and before you decide “what ‘right action’ looks like” for you, think about your roots.  Are you deeply rooted, “like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper.” (Psalm 1:3)?  Have you dug deeply enough to firmly plant yourself into solid ground?

As you blow in the wind of life, may God’s Spirit guide you into what “right action” looks like for you.

Godspeed,

Ken

I Will Cause Breath

by Rev. Kay Ash

For some reason which might seem obvious, I have been thinking a LOT about Ezekiel 37 over the past few weeks.  In this story, God puts God’s hand on and guides Ezekiel to the middle of a valley that is filled with dry bones.  God then asks Ezekiel what seems like a very weird question: “Mortal, can these bones live?”  Poor Ezekiel, he has no idea what to say, he just pushes the question back to God with a non-answer.  So, God persists; God pointedly directs Ezekiel to prophesy to the bones, to tell the bones in plain terms that God will cause breath to enter and the bones will live.  So, Ezekiel does what he is asked to do, and the rattling bones come together.  The rattling bones come together, but there is no breath.  So, God persists.  God pointedly directs Ezekiel to do the same thing again:  to prophesy.  Ezekiel is to say the words out loud and God will bring the ‘ruah’ (Hebrew word which can mean Breath, Wind, Spirit).

I wonder why God asks Ezekiel to do the talking.  God ‘talks’ to Ezekiel, but why doesn’t God talk to the bones?  And why does Ezekiel have to say the same thing over and over again?  If God had done the talking to the bones, would the bones have gathered and lived more quickly?  Perhaps.  But maybe, quickly is not the point; maybe the point is deeper than that.  Maybe the experience of dry bones can be life giving.  Maybe the slow, dry, dusty, hard-as-concrete, defiant, unwilling, messy, dangerous, and breathless valleys are exactly the kind of place where God’s ruah (Breath/Spirit), mercy and love swirl together into a life-giving covenantal stew.  

In truth, God’s Spirit is profoundly moving right now in the midst of what feels like dry bones ministry and I want to be sure that you are aware.  I know we have been separated.  I know we have not hugged each other in a long time.  I know it seems like forever since we have taken a good, long, deep breath.  I know.  But, let me assure you, at least two big things are happening that took all of us by surprise.  Bones are rattling, concrete is cracking, God is causing breath to enter. 

Forever ago, a gathering of North Texas Conference youth and children’s folk got together to write the curriculum to be used for Bridgeport summer camping 2020.  When the virus hit, we gathered again to re-write everything for virtual camps.  Stories, activities, everything we could think of to bring elements of camping into a virtual world.  None of us had done this before.  None of us could imagine how it would happen.  And frankly, we did not think anybody would show up.

The picture to the left is just a portion of the junior high students that have shown up this week for a virtual Bridgeport Camp!  The Gospel is being shared, songs are being sung, crazy games are being played and I cannot wait for the talent show at the end of this week.  Just as many kids have signed up for children’s camp (completed 3rd, 4th, 5th grades) which begins on Monday.  How is this possible?  How can it be that the ruah (Breath/Spirit) of God is moving so boldly, so wildly? Just wow.

If your student wants to join us next week, you can register HERE. 

The other thing that is taking us all by surprise is a virtual Vacation Bible School.  For many months children’s folk have been getting together through zoom with the Rev. Dr. Leanne Hadley (the UMC’s leading expert on children’s ministries) once a week for an hour.  70+ UMC, UCC and Presbyterian churches have participated by sharing scripture, supporting each other, and sharing good ideas.  When we all learned that in-person Vacation Bible Schools would not be possible, we decided to join and create a virtual one by shooting some short videos.  Our very own North Texas Conference stepped in with funding and administrative support.   We hired a sweet 19-year-old young man somewhere in Kentucky who edited everything in his parents’ basement.  None of us had done this before.  None of us could imagine how it would happen.   And frankly, we did not think anybody would show up.

But then, we saw the finished videos and hundreds of churches across the United States had seen them too!  Thousands of children will have a virtual Vacation Bible School where they will hear the Word of God this summer!  How is this possible?  How can it be that the ruah (Breath/Spirit) of God is moving so boldly, so wildly? Just wow.

Check out THIS TRAILER.  

If your PK3 to completed 5th grade student wants to join our KPUMC Vacation Bible School the week of July 6th, register HERE.

A valley of dry bones coming to life seems a lot more plausible this week than it ever has before.  God’s Spirit is on the move right now.  So, what do we do?  Let’s go back to Ezekiel 37:  God will find us, lead us, set us down, ask us great questions, tell what to say, will not let us give up and it is God who will bring the ruah (Breath/Spirit).  Our job:  is to “Prophesy to these bones . . .”  Tell everybody these things are happening, say it out loud – prophesy to the Breath.  And, if you want to be part of bones rattling, lungs filling with air, and if you want to swirl in God’s life-giving covenantal stew this summer, send me an e-mail..  

God asks: “Mortal, can these bones live?”  How would you answer?

The Unfolding of a Bright Future

by Rev. Eric Folkerth

What happens when everybody in the world is just exhausted?

I ask this because this is what I’m hearing from everybody. Given the news of our world, and reality of our lives, everyone I know right now seems to be feeling a sense of complete exhaustion.

Some of us are sheltering at home. Some of us are working. All of us are living with the fear of a continued rise of the pandemic and the scourge of both racism and police brutality. Some of us fear the world spinning into chaos.

Does that about cover it?

Not since 9/11 has it felt like so much of the world is spinning up into…what? What are we spinning towards?

That’s the fear.

Here’s what I know.

The only way through is through. Jesus chose to walk right into Jerusalem, even though he understood it would likely cause him his life. There was no getting to “Easter” by routing around the pain of Good Friday.

I tend to be a fundamentally optimistic person. I happen to believe we are groaning toward a better world. We are inching forward toward it. But as you may have also heard me say, I don’t believe that “progress” happens in a straight and upward line. 

I tend to believe it loops back, as it continues forward. 

“Two steps forward, one step back.”

Our faith in God can help us through these times. It’s deeply important and humbling to remember just how little we control. So much of what happens in our world, or even to our own bodies and life, are beyond our ability to control. 

At times like this, I fall back on Desiderata, a poem written by Max Ehrmann, an Indiana Poet. Many people wrongly believe it was an ancient writing discovered in an old church. In fact, I have a copy of the poem on my wall, here in my study.

It’s been on the wall of every home I’ve lived in since high school. And my copy wrongly attributes the poem to “Old Saint Paul’s Church 1692.”

I was initially crushed when I found out it wasn’t ancient, and was just written by some dude in Indiana.

But then, the more I thought about it, the more I realized it made the wisdom all the more poignant. Max Ehrmann understood modern American life. He understood what we are going through.

And so, the line of the poem that speaks so deeply to me in times like this is:

“…whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be.”

“The universe is unfolding as it should.”

It’s chaotic, yes, and it’s filled with terrors. But God is there, in the midst of it. God is still God and we are still God’s children.

And whether it is always clear or not —and at times like this, it often feels very unclear— “the universe is unfolding as it should.”

In your prayers, continue to pray to God that we move through this challenging time.

But also continue to trust in God and have the faith that in ways we cannot see, a bright future is unfolding for God’s world.

Eric Folkerth