Around the Church

Hey Everyone - 

Since I know you miss being in the church building SO much, I thought I'd bring the church building to you! This, however, is not your typical tour. In this video we visit those parts of the church building that most people never get to see. 

Fair warning, the video lasts about 20 minutes, so wait until you have enough time to watch the whole thing. Enjoy!

Peace...

Pastor Tim

And the People Stayed Home

Happy Monday, everyone!

Sorry about the technical issues with the Worship Live Stream yesterday. We came in and did the test on Saturday and everything went great. So much for preparation! If you lost sound in the middle of the service, that's because your Pastor forgot to turn on his microphone! There is a delay on the feed, so by the time you all texted us there was no sound, I was already praying! So, Seth had to wait for me to finish before he could signal me. At least we had the words of the Scripture to read, though!

Also, if your picture was dark, there was nothing wrong with your monitor. After the service we discovered a setting had been changed on the camera. So when we had it on the window at the beginning, it adjusted for that light and then never adjusted back. So we've fixed that!

And, yes - we know there was a hum in the sound and that caused the piano and microphones to very quiet. We thought we had that fixed from the week before. Right at the end, during Matt's postlude, you may have noticed the hum went away and the sound got much better. That's the precise moment I turned off my microphone! So, we know that means there is some sort of radio fequency interference with my microphone. We hope to have that problem solved by next Sunday.

Speaking of next Sunday, it's Palm Sunday. We have ordered 100 palm fronds and will place them in a container at the church under the portico next to the door by 2:00 p.m. tomorrow (Tuesday, March 31). If you would like to come get a palm frond or two for your family, please do so. (If you would like me to bring you one, call me at 276.525.5202) Again - they will be under the portico, next to the door.

Here's what we would like you to do - make a video of you waving your palms (just a short video will do) and email it to treynolds@2ndpres.org. Please email instead of text - the quality is better. Then on Sunday morning we will do a Palm Sunday hymn and play the video of everyone waving their palms. Those of you that pick up palms, keep them for Sunday and wave them at this time. Those of you who can't make it to the church to pick them up, just wave your "palms" (your hands) on Sunday morning at the same time. Sound fun?

Finally - I know it's difficult for all of us staying home. Yesterday, the President asked us all to continue doing so a little longer. Medical professionals have said it will be difficult because if we do everything right, we really won't be able to see that it's working for a while. So it takes fortitude and determination. Hang in there.

While we may not see the results regarding COVID-19 right away, there are other results that are easy to see. Families and loved ones playing games together, going for walks together, getting outside together, spending time together, making art together - reconnecting. A retired teacher and chaplain who lives in Madison, WI, with her husband and five rescue dogs noticed, as well. Her name is Kitty O'Meara and she wrote a poem about what she was seeing and feeling, and then she posted it on Facebook. Within days it was all over the internet. Many posts say she is an Irish poet, but that's not true. She's just a retired teacher from Wisconsin who spent some of her time writing down her thoughts. In case you haven't seen what she wrote, here it is. It's beautiful.

And the people stayed home. And read books, and listened, and rested, and exercised, and made art, and played games, and learned new ways of being, and were still. And listened more deeply. Some meditated, some prayed, some danced. Some met their shadows. And the people began to think differently.

And the people healed. And, in the absence of people living in ignorant, dangerous, mindless, and heartless ways, the earth began to heal.

And when the danger passed, and the people joined together again, they grieved their losses, and made new choices, and dreamed new images, and created new ways to live and heal the earth fully, as they had been healed.

Grace and peace...

Pastor Tim

That Moment

My cousin Jan, also a PCUSA pastor, has had a blog for years. She has had some particularly meaningful quarantine musings to share on her blog recently; and the other day she had a post entitled, That Moment When We Burst into Tears (click here to read her post). In it she says, “Sooner or later, we will burst into tears over this new normal…And those ugly cry moments are sacred. They mark the points when we realize we need something Bigger. We need each other. We need something Holy. We need eternal hope.”

The next day, The Today Show did a video montage (click here to watch) that lifted up those very things – our need for each other, our need for something Holy, and our need for hope; and I had “that moment when I burst into tears.”  Now, to be fair, if you put any pictures or videos to music, I’m going to cry. It’s who I am. But the clips of folks all around the world stepping up to help each other out, to offer hope, to look for and create joy in an unbelievably difficult time – it was beautiful, and it was what I needed that morning and didn’t even know it. 

In the midst of this strange, perhaps sacred, time of staying home I hope that you are able to find and create joy, to find and create hope, to find and create encounters that are holy; and when you do, I hope that you find a way to share them with others…even from a distance.

It Is Well with My Soul

Today I'd just like to share this inspiring video with you. Unable to go to work, a group of Nashville studio singers created this beautiful version of the hymn, It Is Well with My Soul, from their homes. This is what is bringing me joy today. Simply amazing. 

Pastor Tim

Click on the link to be taken to the story at Nashville's WSMV.

https://www.wsmv.com/news/a-group-of-nashville-studio-singers-perform-an-epic-cell/article_2245fbf8-6eb2-11ea-9be3-db6cec04c8f3.html

How to Pray in a Time of Crisis

When there is so much going on, it can be hard to even know what to pray for. We want to lift up the whole world; and we should. We want to lift up the people involved in each story we hear on the news; and we should. We want to lift up the neighbors we see walking past our house or those we haven’t seen come out of their houses since this whole thing started; and we should. We want to lift up ourselves and our own family, our family members that live elsewhere, our church family, and so on and so on; and we should.

Each of these and so many more need our prayers right now; and I encourage you to lift up a prayer for anyone and everyone that pops into your mind as someone who could use a prayer. As you’ve heard Pastor Tim say, this is often the Holy Spirit moving us toward compassion and care for those around us. Who are we to ignore the Holy Spirit’s movement?!

Praying as we go throughout our day can be a good way to offer prayers on behalf of each of these people and groups of people that need prayer; but for those times when it all just seems too overwhelming – when it seems there are too many people to pray for – I offer you this prayer adapted from a post by Nadia Bolz-Weber, Lutheran pastor and prominent public speaker, on her Instagram account (@sarcasticlutheran):

God who made us all, 

Our healers are exhausted. Give rest to those who care for the sick, Lord.

Our children are bored. Grant extra creativity to their caregivers, Lord. 

Our friends are lonely. Help us to reach out, Lord.

Our pastors are doing the best they can. Help them to know it is enough, Lord.

Our workers are jobless. Grant us the collective will to take care of them, Lord.

Our fellow parents are losing their minds. Bring unexpected play and joy and dance parties to all in need, Lord.

Our grocery workers are absorbing everyone’s anxiety. Protect them from us, Lord.

Our elderly are even more isolated. Comfort them, Lord.

We haven’t done this before and we are scared, Lord. 

I don’t even know what else to pray for. Amen.

Video Message from Pastor Tim

Good morning friends,

Today I would like to offer you these words from the Heidelberg Catechism. They have brought comfort to many Christians throughout the centuries and have long been some of my favorite words in our Book of Confessions.

Q1. What is your only comfort in life and in death?

A. That I am not my own,
but belong--
body and soul,
in life and in death--
to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.
He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood,
and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil.
He also watches over me in such a way
that not a hair can fall from my head
without the will of my Father in heaven;
in fact, all things must work together for my salvation.
Because I belong to him,
Christ, by his Holy Spirit,
assures me of eternal life
and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready
from now on to live for him.

The LORD bless you and keep you;

the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;

the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen.

- Pastor Tim

Praying with Our Bodies

Presbyterian theologian, Craig Dykstra, has been noted as saying, “You can know things on your knees that you can’t know sitting in a chair.” That is to say, our posture in prayer can make all the difference. Moving around during a prayer or taking on a different posture than the same old heads bowed eyes closed method can help us see things from a different perspective. It may help us to be more open to the world and the needs around us and may help us to be more open to the things that God has to say to us. With this in mind, we might challenge ourselves during this time to expand our prayers in ways that include our whole bodies and may just give us some new perspective. 

As Presbyterians the very title, Praying with Our Bodies, probably makes many of us squirm. For us, prayer often looks the same way each time: we bow our heads and close our eyes, maybe on occasion we clasp our hands together (if we’re praying alongside a small child). For most of “The Frozen Chosen,” prayer is meant to be a quiet, reverent time of speaking to and listening for God.

During this time when so many things are turned on their heads and we as a church are having to learn and adapt to new ways of doing things, I invite you to do the same when it comes to your life of prayer. If so many things are topsy-turvy, we might as well add one more, right? Well, if praying with your whole body isn’t topsy-turvy for a bunch of Presbyterians, then I don’t know what is!

  

There is no right or wrong way to do this, so I hope that you will get creative! If you need a starting point, though, here are some suggestions:

Open yourself up to God – If you need to start slow, this is a great place to begin! Start by just changing up your regular posture. Rather than bowing your head, look up toward the sky with eyes open or shut. Rest your hands in your lap, palms facing up.

Music and a Psalm – Play some soft music in the background (you may even light a candle if you have one). Slowly read a Psalm, or a portion of a Psalm; and let that be your prayer. You may also try doing this with the posture laid out above.

Dance! – Prayer doesn’t always have to be quiet and somber. GASP! I know! Put on some lively music and dance. It might be worship music (you might try Marvelous Light by Ellie Holcomb), and the words can be your prayer; or it might just be a song that you really enjoy (you might try Can’t Stop the Feeling by Justin Timberlake), and your prayer may be a thanksgiving to God for the gift of music and movement.

Take a Walk – Take a walk around your neighborhood. Say a prayer for each thing that you see. As you pass the houses of your neighbors, say a prayer for each family inside. If you pass a school, say a prayer for its students and teachers. Give thanks to God for the trees, the flowers, etc.

Get creative, and share in the comments what kinds of things you've found to be helpful and life-giving. 

Blessings on your prayer journey,

Pastor Sarah

Do you know what is the most repeated idea in the Bible? Do not be afraid. 

Late Presbyterian pastor and Senate chaplain, Lloyd Ogilvie, says in his book Facing the Future without Fear that the phrase appears 366 times – one for each day of the year and one for Leap Year. This is not exactly true; the actual phrase does not appear that many times. However, if you include the sentiment – all the times the God says not to worry, not to be anxious, not to be afraid, or reminds us that he is with us – then it is true that this is the most repeated idea in Scripture. In fact, it appears many more than 366 times. 

It is even a more frequent sentiment than the sentiment that we are to love and care for one another. Perhaps this is because we cannot truly love and care for one another as long as we are afraid. It is the knowledge that God is with us, that we should not fear, that allows to fulfill the command to love our neighbor. 

Do not be afraid is... 

•  what the Lord says to Abraham when he sends him from his home
•  what Joseph says to his brothers when they come to Egypt
•  what the Lord says to Moses at the burning bush
•  what Moses says to God’s people wandering in the wilderness
•  what the Lord says to Gideon when he was called to lead his people
•  what Elijah says to the widow of Zarephath
•  what David affirms over and over in the Psalms
•  what the prophets say repeatedly to the people of God
•  what the angel says to Mary and then to Joseph
•  what the angels say to the shepherds in the field
•  what Jesus says to the disciples when he calls them, to the disciples in the storm, to the leader of the synagogue whose daughter had died, and to the crowds who gathered to hear him teach - what the angels say to the women at the tomb
•  what the Lord says to Paul on the road to Damascus
•  what the Lord says to all humankind in John’s Revelation 

And I believe it is what the Lord is saying to us now. 

In the midst of COVID-19 and suppression protocols and social distancing and empty grocery shelves and toilet paper scarcity and pictures on the Nightly News of people standing in long lines wearing masks and gloves waiting to get in Costco, we are tempted to be overwhelmed with fear, anxiety, and worry. 

In this environment, God says to us, Do not be afraid. Do not choose fear. I am with you. 

And you know what? Some people are listening. How do I know? Because I see it in the community. People helping one another, serving one another, running errands for one another. Restaurants and hotels and school systems feeding children for free. Neighbor helping neighbor, checking in on those who are alone or worried or elderly. Facebook groups sharing information and figuring ways to help. 

These things couldn’t happen – wouldn’t happen – if fear was the dominant emotion. Loving and caring for one another can only happen when we know God is with us, therefore we need not be afraid. 

God is our refuge and our strength, a very present help in times of trouble. Therefore, we will not fear. (Psalm 46:1) 

When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. (Psalm 56:3-4) 

Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will not fear any evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. (Psalm 23:4) 

Do not fear, for I am with you. Do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand. (Isaiah 41:10) 

Grace and peace… 
Pastor Tim

Hey everyone -

We've started a new blog so that we can stay connected as a community during the COVID-19 suppression protocols. We will be posting something here almost every day during our hiatus from in-person activities. It may be a devotion, an interesting story, something uplifting, something silly, or anything else that we think might be helpful. You will get an email alerting you whenever a new blog post is uploaded.

Our hope is that you will use this space to discuss the posts with one another so that we can still feel an ongoing sense of community during this time of social distancing. If there is something you'd like us to address or to share, please let us know and we'll do our best! The address is 2ndpresknox.blogpsot.com - or you can just click the link below.


Grace and peace...

Pastors Tim and Sarah