A Letter from Lindy Feb 23

Hi Pilgrims,

 I have a confession. Good for the soul, it is said. Mine today: I have been struggling with keeping an unexpected grumpiness in check these past two days. I keep asking myself why I feel so cranky, hoping to root it out. I’m still working on an answer.

 Perhaps it's because my foot still hurts. Perhaps it’s because I can’t workout because of said foot. Perhaps it’s because I am not sleeping well. Perhaps because of inclement weather. Perhaps because of disrupted schedules…because of the inclement weather. Perhaps the discovery of items, correspondence inadvertently missed in and through important timelines. Perhaps because so many people I love are daily waking with anxiety, fear, pain at what has and is to come. Perhaps because vulnerable people worldwide are being made even more vulnerable because of systemic and structural disregard for accountability. Perhaps because in the media flurry meant to obfuscate, we are failing to respond to a democratically elected official crowning himself king….

 Perhaps we have reasons to feel grouchy. So imagine my resistance when I began preparing for Sunday’s meditation, picking up midway through Jesus’ sermon on the Plain, “to you who hear me, I say: love your enemies.” Jesus’ words stopped me there…and yes, made me testy. Heavens, I’m doing my best to love my neighbors and myself and know I absolutely don’t have the bandwidth to even think about the enemy category. Never mind all the ways in which Jesus instructs us to live out this command with the 10 verses that follow. If I can’t seem to get past the who, how do I possibly absorb the how? And then Jesus repeats himself, not only to love our enemies, but reminding us (again) to do good to those who hate us. Like mine enemies, I’m sure there are many.

 Did you notice that Jesus’s enemy directive is not singular, as if we can cherry pick our easiest one to work on our loving, but collective, plural– enemies. I’m also noticing it's not up for discussion, no matter how much I want to push back. It’s not “in theory,” even if I want to theologize. It’s also not optional, as if I get to pick and choose the parts of scripture I want to apply to my life. It’s also not when I finally get myself up on the right side of the bed, but right now. 

 I don't have a lot of answers currently, but one small conclusion I’ve drawn today is that I know how very important it is for us, in our current climate, to truly understand this very difficult love Jesus is asking of his disciples. And while we are learning, I pray we remind ourselves that living into God’s love is God’s hope for our world….. and by the way, what we just promised Vallery and Joshua Moussinangar we would do at their baptism.

grace and peace,

 Pastor Lindy

(she/her) why pronouns matter

Art: Love one another as I have loved you.
Acrylic paint on paper, ink, images from hand-carved stamps, Dresden trim, glass beads,
polymer clay, paper ribbon, sari trim, broken earring.
Sue Carroll, art2liftspirits.com