A Moment of Grace: a short daily devotional with Pastor Cheryl during Le...

You ARE the Equipment

 Good morning, Beloved,

  This week I was blessed to be invited to participate in an all-day continuing education seminar by Tod Bolsinger, the author of Canoeing the Mountains, Tempered Resilience and Leadership for a Time of Pandemic.

  Canoeing the Mountains refers to the expedition of Lewis and Clark seeking a practical route across the western half of the continent. They set out in canoes thinking that their route would be via a waterway that they would follow up the Missouri River and then easily downward toward the Pacific Ocean. Instead, upon reaching the Lemhi Pass, all that lay before them were the Rocky Mountains. 

  Imagine reaching a point in your journey where you thought, "it will all be downstream from here" and instead you see these insurmountable obstacles ahead.

  You are not prepared mentally.

  You are not prepared in any way. This is 1804. You are a canoeist and these are 14,000 ft mountains.

  Now think about Wesley. We are really very good at being the church for a certain time in a certain place.

  But along comes COVID and we are plunged into an unknown territory with tools that are honed for a different type of work.

  Make no mistake, those mountains existed before Lewis and Clark's journey and the future of the church was going to be different even before the pandemic, but we have been accelerated into a place where we need to think deeply about how to adapt to the change that is necessary to be the church for the future. Just as Lewis and Clark had to dismantle their canoes and fashion walking sticks to climb those peaks, so we need to let go of old systems that are no longer useful and imagine ways to survive and thrive in a whole new environment.

  The mission is still the same, for Lewis and Clark to explore the West and for Wesley to Grow with God so that we can Go to Serve.

  So that Wesley can strive to quiet the conflict among all people by creating a compelling environment that fosters spirituality, community engagement, and social justice.

  So that Wesley can welcome persons of all races, ages, abilities, and sexual orientations as full participants in the life and mission of this congregation.

  So that Wesley can make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

  To be resilient in this time of deep change we must recognize the need to adapt to an ever-changing world, valuing our heritage AND ready to move into a very different future.

  Change hurts because it is the loss of the way we knew and loved but I believe we can still love the past building on the foundation that has been laid and also love the future just as we love our childhood selves of the past and love our grandchildren, seeing great potential in the future through their precious eyes. The parts of our faith that are real and true, God-inspired, God-created and God-sustained will drive the transformation of the world.

  We are already seeing incredible strides as society awakens to its own sinfulness with respect to 400 years of treating people of color as less-than. Programs that Wesley is involved in like the Friendly Kitchen, Family Promise and the Concord Coalition to End Homelessness are real and tangible efforts to bring an end to the injustice of poverty and hunger in our world. These are the very things Jesus taught us to pay attention to in Matthew 25: Feed the hungry! Welcome the stranger! Visit the prisoner!

  We're also exhausted from all this change, all this COVID quarantining, all this bad news all the time. This is a time when our spiritual disciplines are more important than ever. By spiritual disciplines I do mean things like prayer, scripture, journaling, fasting and more, but I also mean Sabbath time, down time, time with God, rest. It is more important than ever before that we let go of fear and anxiety and simply "rest in the Lord, wait patiently on God and God shall give you rest." Ps. 37:7

  And, it is critical that we take care of each other...that we CARE for each other, that we give each other space, always considering that the other person is going through things you have no idea they are going through AND that we draw close to each other in a virtual embrace, entering into each other's space ready to listen, ready to care, ready to help.

  Know that I am ready to lead you in this time. 

  Know that the leaders of this church are inspired, compassionate, God-loving people who are particularly equipped and called by God to the work that is before us. 

  Know that like Moses against the Amalekites in Exodus 17:8-16, where Aaron and Hur stood by his side to hold his arms high when he was exhausted, we will stand side by side supporting and edifying each other as we do the work of the church in the world.

  Know that God has called us, like Esther, to such a time as this and has equipped us. In fact, Jesus reminds us in Luke 9:1-5 MSG that we are called to this work, but need not bring canoes or hiking boots, that "we ARE the equipment."

  One of the key components of my faith, is faith itself, faith in the unknown, unseen, faith even in this time of unknowing. God who made the Missouri River, Lemhi Pass and the Rocky Mountains and God who made Lewis, Clark and Sacagawea, God who made Wesley and God who "created a good work in you will be faithful to complete it." Philippians 1:6

Rev. Cheryl L. Meachen, Pastor
Wesley United Methodist Church
Concord NH

Join us for worship Sundays at 10:30
on YouTube at this link

For Such a Time As This

Dear Beloved,

The story of Esther shows her to be a significant influencer in Biblical times. Today's influencers on social media are often setting fashion and lifestyle trends, but Esther influenced her Uncle Mordecai to act, the conniving Haman to fail in his plot and King Xerxes to free her people. The poignant phrase that we read in Esther 4:14 says, "who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”

We are in tumultuous times, suffering through a pandemic that has taken lives, jobs and food security. The recent insurrection into our Nation's Capitol and threatened violence at Wednesday's inauguration are compelling the call up of many protective personnel. Too many deaths of brown and black people at the hands of police have come to light demonstrating the horrific cost of ongoing racism in America.

Who knows but that WE, like Esther are positioned "for such a time as this!" In her textbook, Science

and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy writes, "What I term chemicalization is the upheaval produced when immortal Truth is destroying erroneous mortal belief. Mental chemicalization brings sin and sickness to the surface, forcing impurities to pass away, as is the case with a fermenting fluid." 401:16

Imagine the sins of the world: the illness, the insurrection and the intolerance as liquid in a test tube. Then imagine a second test tube filled with our prayers, our intentions, our good works to change our culture. As we pour all of that good into the test tube of evil, there is an incredible reaction--a chemicalization that fiercely foams and overflows its container. What is happening is that the impurities--the hate--the sin are being forced to the surface, into the light where they cannot survive.

We experience this reaction both in society and within ourselves as we let down our walls and let love in. Do not fear. Know that love wins. In the words of The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who we celebrate next Monday, "Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."

Rev. Cheryl L. Meachen, Pastor
Wesley United Methodist Church
Concord NH

Join us for worship Sundays at 10:30
on YouTube at this link

I Believe In Love Even When I Can't Feel It

Dear Beloved,

This week in our worship service, we will take up the sentence from the anonymous poem above, "I believe in love, even when I can't feel it."

During our Advent book study this week, the participants discussed how one significant loss during this pandemic of social distancing is that of human touch. We all felt like we just missed those warm hugs that characterize our time in person at Wesley. In light of the absence of that visceral expression of love, can we believe that love and connection still exist with our beloved pew-mates? ABSOLUTELY!!

During that same study session, we discussed stories and experiences that gave us warm, fuzzy feelings.

When we tell our stories and listen to those of others, we can feel the love in those memories and hopes.

We FEEL love even when we can't FEEL the physical touch that sometimes accompanies loving intentions of our friends.

There are also times when we don't feel love either emotionally or physically, times when we feel desolation or animosity. Where is love then? 1 John 4:8 reminds us that "God is Love." As Christians we are taught a confident hope in the love that creates us, the love that sustains us and the love that endures even when we can't feel it. So often we demand evidence. Peter wanted to walk on the water like Jesus, Thomas wanted to feel the holes in his hands and side. We want--we need to experience love. 

We can play a role in the love that others experience. We can demonstrate love through our kindness, through our actions and reactions. We can go out of our way to ensure that others feel love in full bellies and open doors and freedom to be who they truly are. Believe in love and when you can't feel it, show it to others and you soon will feel it yourself.

Rev. Cheryl L. Meachen, Pastor
Wesley United Methodist Church
Concord NH

Join us for worship Sundays at 10:30
on YouTube at this link

Gratitude for What Unites Us

Dear Beloved,

Happy Thanksgiving!

To those of you who are lonely, God bless you. To those who are hungry, God bless you. To those who found a way to celebrate in spite of COVID or loss, God bless you. 

I am so grateful for you. We are so blessed to have the family of Christ called Wesley here in Concord. 

This past Sunday I was asked to deliver the message at the Greater Concord Interfaith Council's annual Interfaith Thanksgiving Service. We've recorded it here at this link. I hope you watch it to hear the many voices of our faith communities that include: American Baptist, Baha’i Faith, Buddhist, Catholic, Christian Science, Episcopal, Islamic, Jewish, Latter-day Saints, Lutheran, Quaker, Unitarian Universalist, United Church of Christ, and United Methodist Church offering prayers and song. Dennis Broussard and I are your representatives on the Council. Gail Page served previously. Our offering that evening went to support the work of The Friendly Kitchen here in Concord and you can still give by visiting the link in the flyer shown in the description of that YouTube video or by going to our website at this link.

Gratitude for What Unites Us was the theme of our service. We had heard prayers discussing unity across faiths and political parties and I shared the story I heard from 6-26-2020 on The TED Radio Hour. Suzanne Simard is a professor of forest ecology at the University of British Columbia. She discussed her work that demonstrated that the complex, symbiotic networks in our forests mimic our own neural and social networks.

In her TED talk Simard shared how trees are interconnected, not by their own roots nor among only trees of their own species, but Beech with Fir and Pine with Maple through mycelium and fungi beneath the surface. I shared that WE are connected with each other by something beyond ourselves, something below the surface at our very roots that supports us and enables us to stand together: our faith! Simard indicated that this connection enabled a tree responding to the threat of a predatory beetle by releasing protective enzymes and that the fungi transmitted that message to other trees so that they could also protect themselves. Similarly, we share protective and helping messages through our faith to one another. 

I am so grateful for you. We are so blessed to have the family of Christ called Wesley here in Concord. 

Rev. Cheryl L. Meachen, Pastor
Wesley United Methodist Church
Concord NH

Join us for worship Sundays at 10:30 
on YouTube at this link

Vote!

On Tuesday, the United States of America will hold the general election for the President, as well as representation in the Senate and Congress and a variety of local offices.

We hear a lot about the separation of church and state, a concept on which the country was founded to avoid religious persecution. Might we rather consider the ways in which our faith informs our vote. We are people of faith. We are people who hold a set of values based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. We are people of faith who believe in Jesus as Lord of all and acknowledge that the kingdom, the power and the glory belong to our Parent-God in Heaven.

As we live into our charge to make and BE disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world, we act in ways that are moral and good, caring for others and the environment which God created and called very good. We must also vote for leaders who represent those same values and participate in the transformation of the world. Deuteronomy 1:13 tells us to “Choose for each of your tribes individuals who are wise, discerning, and reputable to be your leaders.”

As we cast our votes next Tuesday in the midst of a deadly global pandemic and a deadly pandemic of racism and injustice we are assured through scripture that God will work in the world for good. Jeremiah prophesies (29:11) “For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.”

Vote!

God bless you.

Rev. Cheryl L. Meachen, Pastor
Wesley United Methodist Church
Concord NH

Join us for worship Sundays at 10:30 
on YouTube at this link

Vote!

 

Dear Beloved,

This week we witnessed the first presidential debate of the 2020 election year. For many, it produced anxiety because of the contentious nature of the exchange or disgust at the lack of civility between the two candidates. It may have left some feeling as though they just want to tune out of the debate and commercials or even the election itself.

Looking at the issue from a spiritual perspective, God gave humans dominion (Genesis 1:26-2). God who is Love entrusted us as stewards of all that is created. That Divine Love which cares for neighbor has given us not only this gift, but also the responsibility for its care. Likewise, we are not only blessed to live in a country characterized by freedom and plenty, but we are responsible for ensuring that ALL may partake of those gifts. We are responsible for participating in elections by exercising our right to vote.

The US fought in the Revolutionary War to gain autonomy over our lives. It took years for some classes of people to receive the right to participate by voting with women finally able to participate in 1920 and black people in 1965. Even though the Voting Rights Act of 1965 sought to enable Native Americans to vote, there have been a number of efforts to suppress that vote through unjust requirements like literacy tests. In most states felons lose the right to vote while incarcerated. In NH that vote returns once they are released. Some teens wait excitedly to turn 18 so that they might participate in elections and yet some of us fail to exercise that precious right.

Recently deceased United States Representative John Lewis of Georgia said, 

"The right to vote is precious. It is almost sacred. It is the most powerful non-violent tool we have in a democracy."

In the Bible, figures like Joseph, Esther, Mordecai and Paul used their influence for “the good of their people and for the welfare of all their descendants” (Esther 10:3). 

We at Wesley encourage you to vote, to exercise this precious, sacred tool for the good of yourself and your neighbors. 

If you have questions about how to register or vote, please contact the church office at 224-7413 so that we can help you.

God bless you.
Rev. Cheryl L. Meachen, Pastor
Wesley United Methodist Church
Concord NH

Join us for worship Sundays at 10:30
on YouTube at this link