In 1697, William Congreve wrote in a play called The Mourning Bride, “Musick hath charms to soothe a savage beast…” The phrase has remained in use even though the play has long been forgotten. Whatever Congreve intended by the phrase, it has long been used to indicate the calming effect of music on troubled minds & hearts. Recently a friend shared an article with me about the use of music as therapy for those with dementia. This was very timely due to my wife Sue’s recent struggles. We have arranged through Compassion, a hospice company, for Sue to have music therapy. We had our first visit recently. The visit was quite helpful. The therapist, a young woman with a sweet voice & gentle manner, brought her guitar and played and sang to Sue. The interaction between the two was quite lovely. For about 45 minutes, there were hymns, pop songs & old favorites that Sue recognized. Her responses & the calmness on her face reflected her pleasure at the songs. Sue often closed her eyes & let the music flow over her. After the therapist left, we talked & Sue was quite glad to know that the Music Therapist would be back at least every other week. I was amazed at how responsive Sue was to the visit. Her countenance was brighter & her communication clearer & more to the point for a while afterward. Sue’s heart could hardly be called savage unless she was defending children or those in any way abused, but the calming effect of the music was very obvious to me. It is amazing how music evokes in each of us memories that we treasure. The last thing that Jesus & his disciples did before they went out to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray was to sing a hymn together.
01/28/2024
Many years ago, Charles Darwin championed the idea of “the survival of the fittest,” to explain the changes he observed in the animal kingdom. The central idea was based on a competitive model of nature & even human life. The idea gained popularity in science and in the public mind. Along the way, another model of survival & change was based on a cooperative model. Symbiotic relations & social cooperation were proposed as an alternative way to think about survival. Organisms develop cooperative relations, & so, survive more effectively. I’m not sure which is the most accurate theory; perhaps each has its place. Our bodies work because all the parts work in harmony. When the body attacks itself, disaster follows. Lack of cooperation in a team sport seems a sure path to defeat, but a lack of competitiveness also leads to failure. In our larger world, cooperation seems to occur far too seldom. For every advancement prompted by competition, there are other advancements that are the result of cooperation. Perhaps a mixed system that uses both competition & cooperation could prove most effective. How about churches – can we see ourselves as in competition with each other in helpful ways so that different needs and desires can be met in our varied world, and/or can we find ways to cooperate with each other, that the needs of a difficult world can be better met? What good things might we do apart & what good things might we do together, to glorify our creator? To God be the glory, now & always!
01/14/2024
The Blue Zones are five regions of the world that are known for having people who live to exceptionally old age. The National Geographic Society sponsored Dan Buettner to study what those zones had in common. He discovered nine commonalities:
1. They move naturally in their daily life & work.
2. They have a sense of purpose for their lives.
3. They have routines that lower their stress.
4. They eat only until they are 80% full.
5. Their diets are largely plant-based with only occasional eating of meat or fish.
6. Most of them drink wine, but in limited amounts.
7. They belong to a faith-based community & worship regularly.
8. They are highly committed to family.
9. They live close to others with healthy lifestyles.
Many of these characteristics seem like common sense, but few of them fit current American lifestyle. One Blue Zone area does not drink alcohol at all, but otherwise the nine characteristics, while differently expressed, bear out in each case. Long life is not the only value in life, but it is something to be appreciated.
Length of life may not be as important as quality of life. A life of true service is worthy, even when its duration is short. What Jesus accomplished in his 33 years shows that to be true. Even so, given the choice, most of us would prefer a long life provided that life is healthy and purposeful. When it is so, it is a blessing from God.
01/07/2023
Over twenty years ago, National Geographic, with a grant from the National Institute on Aging, sponsored Dan Buettner to study cultures who had exceptionally long-lived people. Many in these areas lived to be 100 years of age, far beyond the proportions of 100-year-olds in the general population. Five areas from around the world were chosen for study. They were Sardinia, Italy; the Nicoya Peninsula of Costa Rica; Okinawa, Japan; Loma Linda, California; and Ikaria, Greece. These each fit the category of exceptionally long-lived people.
The goal of the study was to see if there were common elements in these areas that might explain the phenomenon. Early studies had concluded that only a small part of aging was genetic in origin. The fact that these regions were found in various parts of the world and in different cultures made the study broad-based and less culturally fixed in one part of the world.
The five areas were designated Blue Zones as a way of identifying the areas included in the study. In spite of many differences, nine common characteristics emerged in the zones. Next week, I will outline those nine characteristics for you all.
You might be interested in one characteristic that they all shared. The majority, by a huge percentage, belonged to some faith-based community. Denomination didn’t seem to matter, but faith-based services four times per month were projected to add four to fourteen years to life expectancy! The many long-lived people in our congregation may have encouraged us to believe the projection. We have many who have exceeded “three score and ten and by reason of strength, four score.” While longer life is not the only measure, it is usually a blessing from God in which we can rejoice.
12/31/2023
I confess that I don’t think of New Year’s Eve as a religious holiday. If you do, I am glad for your spiritual insight. I suppose I could think of it like we do of birthdays. As a child, I was always a bit baffled when someone asked, “Do you feel any different being a year older?” I could hear an expectation in the question which I could not answer. I knew a response was expected but as an honest kid, I really didn’t feel any different or older then I did the day before.
I realize the hope inherent in the idea that this is a new year full of possibilities. Maybe the failures of the past year will yield to new triumphs in the new year. However, having started many diet and exercise programs that did not last past the first week in February, I am not overly confident that this coming year will bring perfect solutions. Perhaps the problem is exaggerated expectations. Rather than a lengthy list of New Year’s resolutions, I am more included to say, “Let’s see how this new year works out.”
My optimism gets in the way of my more realistic thinking. Would it be better to choose a small change that we could wholly commit to for the coming year? A young mother was trying to calm her toddler who was having a major meltdown. Another shopper heard her quietly say in a calm voice, “Jennifer, we don’t need to yell, inside voices, just relax, it’s alright.” The stranger commented on how well the mother was calming her daughter Jennifer. “But I’m Jennifer,” the young woman replied. Maybe for this year, I’ll just resolve to be a bit more patient and calm “Jennifer” down.
12/24/2023
It was my father’s tradition to open presents on Christmas Eve. It was also the tradition that the Christmas story and prayers were shared before any presents were opened. While I loved the Christmas story, I still felt a bit impatient to get on with the presents, especially if the prayers were long. My father maintained that from a very young age I could quote from memory the Christmas account while pretending to read it from the Book. I do not remember that ability, but I do know the story fascinated me. Reading the Christmas story before opening gifts was (I am sure) my father’s attempt to keep the Christmas focus on Jesus’ birth rather than the gifts and wrappings. I guess to an extent it worked. We still wish to be sure our focus is on the meanings behind the pageantry, but we all know the joy of giving and receiving.
Would Christmas be more meaningful if we eliminated the gifts? I don’t think so. God’s great gift of his Son rightfully inspires us to give to those we love and beyond, to the world in need. Because we have been given much, we too must give. Anything less feels less than grateful. The best gifts are those which involve giving a bit of ourselves along with the object we wrap in pretty sparkling paper. Handmade gifts, thoughtful gifts, gifts with attached memories are the best. They may be inexpensive or quite expensive. What really matters is their intent and thoughtful connection. Did the gift we gave really express the love we wish to express? Is it in some small, limited way the same kind of love that God expressed in sending his own to be one with us?
12/17/2023
Did you hear about the couple who had been married so long that they were on their fifth bottle of Tabasco sauce? Time quickly seems to get away from us. Unnoticed, the years begin to pile up until those behind us are far beyond the years before us. Considered in the light of eternity all our long years of life are like a vapor swept aside by the breeze. Still as we measure the time ahead of us we wish each moment to still be weighty. Can the future be full of goodness and joy even if the changes of life offer new challenges which we did not anticipate? The most perfect-seeming life can be invaded by unexpected turmoil, but with help from God we may still find rest for our souls. In times past we gathered resources to face our present challenges. We may be tempted to rage at the dimming of the light or we can remember that when we can’t clearly see the road ahead, there is One who holds our hand & leads us out of the darkness into the light. Christ is our light & his glory will shine in us no matter how difficult the way. Part of my growing-up years were spent in mountain country. I remember seeing beautiful sunsets in those years, but what I remember most fondly were sunrises. After the deep darkness the sun began to peek over the mountains lighting up the sandstone peaks in oranges and reds above the deep purples of the valleys. No matter how dark the night had been, I felt a surge of joy at the coming of sunlight with every moment growing brighter & sparkling off the rocks and streams. Even now, if the darkness seems especially heavy I know that just over the mountaintop the sun is coming up & everything will
again be bright.
12/10/2023
What was the most memorable gift you ever received on Christmas? Was it a perfectly wonderful present or an unmitigated disaster? I have had some of each. When I was still in elementary school, all my family met at our grandparents’ on one side of my family. All the cousins, aunts, and uncles were included. With a large gathering we chose names ahead of time to limit the expense but the gifts were always nice. We also had stockings with simple gifts inside. We opened the stockings first. Someone thought it would be funny to put a lump of coal in my stocking. The effect on me as a child was devastating. All the rest of my gifts were very good, but I could hardly even see them. Had I really been such a bad boy to deserve a lump of coal? Even at my advanced age, I still remember the event although I now see it from a different perspective. On balance, in my life, I have never had anything but lovely Christmas gifts, often far better than I even hoped for. It is interesting that all those memorable gifts were so much better, yet it is that one small joke that still sticks in my memory. It is a good example of how the negative seems to attract our notice more than the overwhelming positive every day. This may explain the bad news which is the center of much contemporary reporting. In contrast, the Gospel of Christ is the good news of God sending his Son to us. So, let’s leave behind the bad news or at least keep it in perspective, as we day by day experience the blessings of God’s Good News, the Gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord.
12/03/2023
In an earlier era, little boys were often dressed in short pants even for formal occasions. One can see that tradition in some of the formal pictures of the British Royal family. That tradition is mostly missing in modern life. For little boys in an earlier time, the transition from short pants to long pants marked a new level of maturity for your boys. Now days one can see eighty-year-old men in short pants (we just call them “shorts”), and while they may show knobby knees and paler skin, they say nothing about maturity. The question might be, are there any marks of maturity in our world? We have all known young people who are remarkably mature for their age and may have known elderly people who are still rather emotionally immature.
Paul says, “When I was child, I spoke as a child, I thought as a child, but when I became a man I put away childish ways” (paraphrased). That should be the norm, one would think, but not everyone matches the norm.
How would Christian maturity differ from the maturity that the world expects? What would be the observable marks? If asked, would family and friends observe marks of our Christian maturity? It is a Christian goal to stay childlike, but not childish. We need to be mature enough to go deeper into the faith and into our relationship with God without losing our childlike joy and delight.
11/26/2023
Due to the appropriate and poignant content of the article, the Pastor’s Notes from November 27, 2022, is being republished today.
“It always comes as a surprise that the Advent season comes at the end of November. It seems like it should all be in December, but here it is “early” every year. (Today is the Sunday before Advent begins on December 3, 2023, so we even have a skip week in between this year to prepare our hearts and minds for the celebration of Advent.)
Advent is the season of anticipation as we focus on the coming of the Messiah. It would be easy for this rushed season to be the season of anxiety rather than the season of anticipation. So let’s corporately take a deep breath and try to relax. Focus our attention on anticipation and preparation for the coming of Christ. I know there are so many things to accomplish, so many traditions to honor, so many people to care for, but can we just put down enough of the season’s birthday to experience the hope, joy, love, and peace that the season beckons us toward?
We not only need to keep Christ in the season, but keep ourselves in it as well. There is much good that we plan to do, but the best we can do is to welcome Jesus home in our hearts.”
11/19/2023
This is the Sunday before Thanksgiving. It is Harvest-time’s end. As the hymn, Come Ye Thankful People, Come, states it, “All is safely gathered in ere the winter storms begin.” Many of the leaves have fallen, and the corn and grain have been harvested. “Lord of harvest, grant that we wholesome grain and pure may be.” For some this is a time that can seem a depressing end of the year. So a time of expressing the goodness of the preceding year and celebrating the abundance of God’s blessing with the savory and sweet tastes of that abundance is quite appropriate, even if the table is groaning from that abundance as we ourselves may also be.
Celebration is a gift from God which we share with each other reminding us we need not fear the winter’s blast in the warmth of the Heavenly Father’s love. It is a time of sharing, an opportunity to care for those who may be in need, and to plan to help beyond this season when the real needs may be manifest. This year with rising cost of groceries and other necessities there will be more hungry people among us than perhaps in recent memory. The richest among us will fare alright while Jesus’ words, “the poor will always be among you,” are going to be proven yet again. The gospel of Jesus Christ is aimed at the whole person with the goal that all persons may be fully whole.
I am thankful when I am able to share even a cup of water in the name of Jesus. I remember, “I was hungry and you fed me. I was naked and you clothed me.” I have never done as much of this as I should have, but every year Thanksgiving reminds me to consider deeply what I have done for others.
11/05/2023
My children are part of the group known as Generation X (1965 – 1980). While no individual in this age group fits fully into the stereotypes, it can be helpful to know some of the things they often share. They are a much more diverse group than the Baby Boomers. Having watched their parents work hard & long, they often were left on their own. At times, they have been called the “latch key” generation. Perhaps because of that, they have worked hard at a better balance between job & family. As a group, they tend to value diversity & accept change more readily than the previous generation. They are comfortable with technology. As the Baby Boomers begin to retire, Gen Xers are moving more & more into leadership positions. They may find the overpowering size & power of the Baby Boomers to be a source of irritation & a block to advancement. They are often better educated than the preceding generation. They grew up in the context of the Cold War, Watergate, AIDS, financial disasters, wars in Bosnia, Afghanistan, & Iraq. They are familiar with job changes, layoffs, restructuring, outsourcing, etc., & have been forced to be adaptable. Sometimes, they have been called the “sandwich” generation caught between the Baby Boomers & and the Millennials, two generations which largely do not understand each other. Often they find themselves interpreting each group to the other. They are, as a whole, creative, & able to receive input while retaining independent thinking & action. You may know Gen Xers who don’t fit any of these patterns, but many of their peers do. In general, they are less active in church than previous generations, seeing religion more privately. Perhaps the question for us is, “How can we help them see the church as a resource for good in the world around them & for the family life they value?”
10/29/2023
The Baby Boomer generation in the U.S. is calculated as extending from 1946 – 1964, which means they are currently 57 – 75 years of age. This matches the post-World War II baby boom for which that generation is named. They are currently numbered in the U.S. at 71.6 million in population. Since my wife & I were born in August 1945, we are part of what is called the Silent Generation, those whose births are included in the years from 1925 – 1945. Our generation wanted stability after World War II. There was high respect for authority & loyalty to employers. In contrast, the Baby Boomers were concerned for change & progress, but with a focus on personal fulfillment. They were the first generation to witness the rapid growth of technology & its effect on human life. Of course, all of these are generalizations, which would not match all people in these generations. Being right at the edge between two generations, I have always felt more identified with the Baby Boomers. As I reflect on all this & on the following generations: Generation X (1965 – 1980), Millennials (1981 – 1996), Generation Z (1997 – 2012), Generation Alpha (2013 – 2025), I can see many of the values & challenges that each, and society in general, faces in relationship to the generations. For the Baby Boomers, retired & facing retirement, there are new challenges. There will be for most of them a change in the power they wield. This is the largest group of the recognized generations. As we live longer, illness & diminishing ability will bring challenges to U.S. society at large. The growing number of persons in this group with Alzheimer’s & other forms of dementia presents a future which no one has fully addressed. In the midst of generational change, is there a significant ministry for the church? Rather than this being a significant problem alone, could it be an opportunity for the gospel of Jesus Christ, as well?
10/22/2023
There’s an old saying, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” In general, that saying rings true, but sometimes trash is just garbage. Any time one cleans out the garbage can, one can be thankful for the people who pick up our garbage and trash. The pandemic made all of us aware of how much we depend on largely unnoted people who serve us. There are many people who smooth the way for us whom we may not notice. We rarely take time to express our gratitude to those who are “just doing their job,” but we really miss them when they are not on the job. There is a very sweet story about a three-year-old girl who every week waits for her friend, the trash man, to arrive. Every week she greets him with a special cupcake to celebrate their friendship. The picture of the big burly trash man & the tiny tot interacting with each other is a vision of sweetness & what a world should be like. The real treasures in life are people, not objects. Jesus seems to have known this. He welcomed people of all kinds & saw in them value others had missed. Some in his day were shocked by the people he included as friends & companions. I think it would be good to look around at the people around us & notice who is the neglected, unnoticed, underappreciated among us & find some kind of “cupcake” to indicate our appreciation & potential friendship with them. Among those that some people might call trash, it is probable we will find treasured friendships. It’s the kind of thing that Jesus & his people are known for. It is the kind of treasure that reaches from earth to heaven.
10/15/2023
Two of my friends have very differing takes on the importance of meetings. My one friend loves to have meetings and glories in the interaction of thought, plan, and personalities. My second friend maintains that it takes a really fantastic meeting to be better than no meeting at all. As you probably suspect, I am somewhere in between in my feelings about meetings. Some meetings do seem like just going through the motions, while other meetings give me a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction. I have known tense meetings where feelings were high and conflict, obvious. At times, they were quite painful, especially when there was no good resolution. I have also experienced meetings that began with confusion and conflict, but ended with sweet mutual compromise.
The early church had such moments. There was a church conference which considered the question of what should be expected of Gentiles who became followers of Jesus. There were divergent points of view. Some thought they should be circumcised, while others thought that was not necessary or even helpful. Testimony from those who had worked with Gentile believers was given. Arguments were presented. Finally, the coming of the Holy Spirit on uncircumcised Gentile believers swayed the discussion. A simple set of rules was proposed and adopted by the group to make sure Jewish believers and Gentile believers could eat together in communion and common fellowship. Now that is what I would call a fantastic meeting!
10/08/2023
I am often amazed at the technology of our time. So many things now have miniature computers with the kind of power that used to require a whole room to house the computer. In fact, the power of these tiny computers is often far greater than those room-sized computers of old. While there are some problems to work out with self-driving cars, the safety features on modern vehicles make even poor drivers far safer and more skilled. The advances in medical technology can do things only imagined in science fiction of an earlier time. I am often heartened by the advances in technology, but at other times I am not so pleased. Like other things in life, good things can also be used for bad or even evil purposes. Earlier in the development of computers, delays had to be programmed in because the speed of computers spooked some users. Speed can be its own problem. With the instant communication and cell phone cameras, we often receive news so quickly that we have little chance to evaluate or even find factual information, so our emotions may be engaged so quickly that our minds can’t keep up. Good judgment is hard to achieve on the spur of the moment. We usually make better decisions when we have time to consider or even meditate before responding. The old advice, “Be quick to listen and slow to speak,” is one expression of the need to be more reflective and less reactionary. The speed of technology and its rapid development have not been matched by greater wisdom or stronger moral sense. Unfortunately, morality and wisdom can’t be programmed into a computer chip. These profound things most often come as gifts from God, not from technology.
10/01/2023
I know what it is like to be a groom celebrating a marriage, but I don’t know what it is like to be a bride. I could use my imagination, but I know it will always fall short. If I had been a bride, would I have been joyfully ecstatic; would I have been anxious or even fearful; would I have been reluctive or even passive? I just don’t know.
Most of the time in the Scriptures, marriages are happy occasions with a few exceptions. In a very male-dominant society, St. Paul used the metaphor that the church is the bride of Christ. As a male, how do I wrap my mind around that? Women may be more conscious of how our gender impacts our understanding of life, even the life of faith.
In the present world I am conscious of t0he need to say “sisters and brothers” even in a church known as the Church of the Brethren. I am less sure that I always recognize how my gender affects my understanding of life, and the life of faith.
While I wonder if too much can be made of gender difference, I am also sure that too little can be made of its importance. I think that when Paul writes, “In Christ, there is no longer male nor female,” he did not intend to imply that there are no differences. Even though males and females are different in some ways, we still can be one in Christ.
09/24/2023
I have learned over the last few years how important and how ephemeral memory can be. How easy it is as the years stretch behind us for what was once quite clear to become hazy and even displaced in time. What came before and what came after can easily be transposed. Our memories can be distorted by our emotions which may surround events, especially those that were painful. At other times we may surround a joyous event with a kind of halo that may be more a product of our feeling than an account of the facts of the event. Some memories may be quite clear and accurate, even indelible in our minds. We are also capable of calling up memories purposely. Memories of the events of the faith were important to ancient Israel. They were not only to remember God’s acts of rescue and liberation, but to teach them to their children and descendants, that they might also experience and “remember” those great events. Jesus initiated that kind of remembering at what we call the Last Supper. When he said, “Do this in remembrance of me,” he had in mind more than the anniversary of his death, but a participation in his great sacrificial act of salvation and resurrection. Even now when we celebrate the communion supper of our Lord, we know that he is present with and we are linked with all the saints who have come before and all those who will follow after. Next week, we will celebrate World Communion Sunday. We will experience again the presence of the Lord, and remember the breadth and depth of that redemptive fellowship beyond time and space. Christ is alive and because of his death and resurrection, so are we!
09/17/2023
I know that I have gathered enough years to have gained wisdom, but I am less certain to have developed wisdom. I have known people to have reached old age and do not seem to me to have yet gained wisdom, and I know young people who seem to have a store of wisdom even from a very young age.
Wisdom is certainly different than intelligence. Who has not known some very smart individual who seems to lack common sense? I am not disparaging what wisdom I do possess, especially when measured against my previous mistakes, but I do also keep discovering areas of life where I have not made the wisest choices. I doubt that I am exceptional in this way. Usually, we are better at noticing the unwise decisions of others than noticing our own unwise decisions. Maybe one of the marks of developing wisdom is the ability to learn from our mistakes. We often see others continuing to make the same life mistakes, without realizing that they are doing so. “I just didn’t think?!” can be the chorus to a lot of different verses. The “post trauma” response, “I knew I shouldn’t have done that,” shows that thinking and using our common sense could help us decide more wisely.
So how can we gain wisdom? James 1:5 gives us a strong clue, “If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you.” We can have faith that God will help us become wiser as we gain years if we are willing to listen to divine counsel from the Holy Spirit, from God’s word, and from those who have gained wisdom. So, I keep asking God for wisdom in all my situations. It seems like a wise decision.
09/10/2023
When a restaurant patron received the bill for his lunch, he noticed a request for a tip and a list of appropriate percentages based on the cost of his meal. In addition to his monetary contribution, he left this note, “Buy low, sell high.” That was no doubt excellent advice, but applying it in real life is actually quite difficult. If you buy a stock, no matter what expert’s advice your receive, you don’t really know where the low cost or high cost is. If it were easy, everyone could be as rich as Warren Buffet.
Predicting the future is a dodgy business at the very least. Change is always going to come, but when and where is only obvious after the fact. I have no trouble believing that God knows the future as well as the present and past, but doesn’t usually make it plain to all of us mortals. If we knew what was to come in detail, our life would be even more stressful than it already is.
What are we to do? We can prepare as much as we can for the dangers we anticipate, and then trust God for the future we cannot see. While the present and our anticipation of the future may make us feel insecure, we can find security in the continuing grace and mercy of God. God’s grace and mercy are revealed especially in the sacrificial life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, but are also shown in God’s acts of grace and mercy in the everyday lives of God’s people.
“Your mercies are new every day,” could well be the daily prayer of thanksgiving for God’s people, as every day we walk with Jesus on the Kingdom Road. Thanks be to God!