Live Quietly and Attend

• Strawberry Social on June 27th at 2pm with a 50/50 Raffle to benefit North Quabbin Animal Control.
• JUST ADDED: Summer Death Cafe on July 11th at 4pm (no rsvp needed).
• Discussion Circle is on the last Sunday of June after Church. These discussions are here to to inspire, teach, guide, and challenge us–all are welcome to join us (we often explore sacred passages, poetry, and other words to inspire us toward freshness, surprise, and wonder).

Visit our Calendar of Events to explore our upcoming dates and times

All are Welcome. If you are uncomfortable with the word God, please feel welcome to insert your own word for the divine or Mystery in your life (Universe/Grace/Spirit/Divine).

These Reflections are written to be read aloud, please forgive any writing errors. You can find the recording HERE later on Sunday morning.

SUNDAY REFLECTION:

You might be curious about the classes I took this past week during Yale’s Summer Sessions.  I have come off this week with loads of ideas and thoughts for Reflections and studies together.  

As you can imagine, and some of you warned me, it was a full week and there was not a lot of time to get those thoughts and ideas together for this Sunday.  

So…we shall have to wait on what shall and will unfold from the Hounds of Hell and the Book of Job for another week.  But as a teaser, there will be a few teasers in here, I will share with you what those “hounds” are. They are fear, deception, and hate and come from Howard Thurman’s work.  They are the things that get in the way of our ability to deeply and truly Love in this world.  And Job, ah Job…so much, so much…what do we do with suffering and how do we understand this Mysterious grander plan beyond ourselves?

But, in the spirit of Yale Studies, I thought I’d bring back an idea from another class I took on Community Building which included a deep look at 1Thessalonians.  

I took this class a few years ago with a lovely diverse group of people and a wonderfully diverse group of churches was represented.  There were a lot of deep conversations around what is a good community, what makes a good community…what’s too big and what’s too small…what are we “supposed” to be doing as community…there was a lot to reflect on and consider…and wonder and worry over.  

As an aside, a “big” church is not a “better” church.  Nor does a “big” church even mean a healthy or thriving church. It’s so easy to get lost in “bigness”.  I would argue that small and intimate is exactly what we need more of in this big and isolating world.  Another teaser from this past week is that one of the professors is writing a book about how the whole shift from “it is good” and “it is very good” is…loneliness.  If you take a peek at Genesis, for those Bible Story lovers, notice the very first thing that’s not so good after all those “goods”…  

In our world of bigger is better and faster is worthier…it’s nice to step back and rest in this place where we leave the “ordinary world” and step into a special place.  A place where God (Grace, the Universe) is very intentionally invited into our lives and where we are invited into that world.  A special place, a sanctuary, an altar space, a “thin” place.    

And as we head into these “ordinary times”, it is a time and place for “ordering” our lives into what matters most.  

As we “order” our lives, the passage that is our reading today, can feel like a soothing balm.  We’re so busy trying to do more, trying to be more, spreading ourselves so thin, so stretched, that we’ve forgotten to honor what we do well.  Sometimes, we find ourselves too busy to do what we do well. It’s harder to be well.

Trying so hard to be bigger and fuller and to reach farther (than maybe we were ever meant to).  Tugged and pulled by the oughts and the shoulds and the coulds…

Coming back to our opening mediation from last week, ordering might be: knowing when we are genuine and being truly genuine versus when we are being pulled by the strings of others’ wants, desires, and agendas.  

This passage is pause.  It is a moment of Love.  It feels like it was just written for us.  

Words that stops us to honor what we’re doing well from a two thousand year old letter.  Sure, there’s always more we can do, but for now, perhaps we could take a moment to honor and acknowledge what we do well before taking anything else on.  Perhaps we would do well to do more of this pausing and reflecting and being in these times.  

It is said that “in a violent world, it is essential to cultivate a contemplative life” so that we meet that world with intention and grace and not more violence. 

Let me read our passage again:

…you are yourselves taught by God to love one another, and you are in fact practicing this rule of love toward all your fellow Christians throughout Macedonia.  Yet we appeal to you, friends, to do better still.  Let it be your ambition to live quietly and attend to your own business; and to work with your hands, as we told you, so that you may command the respect of those outside your own number, and at the same time never be in want.  

-Love one another.

-Live quietly.

-Work hard with your hands.  

-Attend to your own business.  

-Have enough. 

-Be an example of a Good community.  

This is us.  Perhaps it’s enough to be good at what we do and to be good at who we are.  

Maybe all that bigger, better, longer, faster, fuller, busier…the shoulds and the coulds and the oughts aren’t who we are.  Maybe it’s not about more, but about being well and the possibility that stems from that place.

What if we get really, really good at what we’re already doing well?  

-Love one another.

-Live quietly.

-Work hard.  

-Attend to your own business.  

-Have enough.  

-Be an example of a Good community.  

What if we really hone in on our example, to be exemplars, and do it really, really well?  

Maybe, that’s enough.  For now.  And from that rooted place, we can see clearly what it is that God calls for us to do next.  From that rooted place, we are truly and genuinely ready for when that Call comes to us.  

Let us come into this new week being gentle with ourselves and one another.  Let us slow down enough that we come back to what is true and genuine in ourselves, so that when we take steps into this world we are rooted in love, compassion, and the grace of God.  Amen.