Live Into That Calling
Living Stones
At start of
spring I open a trench / in the ground. I put into it
the
winter's accumulation of paper, / pages I do not want to read
again,
useless words, fragments, / errors. And I put into it
the
contents of the outhouse:
light of
the sun, growth of the ground, / finished with one of their journeys.
To the sky,
to the wind, then, / and to the faithful trees, I confess
my sins:
that I have not been happy / enough, considering my good luck;
have
listened to too much noise; / have been inattentive to wonders;
have lusted
after praise.
And then
upon the gathered refuse / of mind and body, I close the trench,
folding
shut again the dark, / the deathless earth. Beneath that seal
the old
escapes into the new.
—“A Purification” by Wendell Berry
As we
continue in this Lenten season, I want to remind you again (and again) that you
are Beloved. Deeply beloved. No matter what. Even when we miss the mark and have to turn
around, retrace our steps, and try again. . . .
Our God is a God of second chances (and third and fourth chances). Our God is a God of transformation—constantly
working—as Wendell Berry says—to allow the old to escape into the new. Our God never gives up on loving us. Each one of us—a unique child of God—is
beloved.
And
as beloved children of God, we are each one called to love our world, our
neighbors, the people we meet, people we never meet, strangers, friends, people
who are different from us, and all of creation.
Yet, sometimes, I know, it feels difficult to live into that
calling. How do we love and hold onto the values of our faith when there is so
much animosity, hostility, bigotry, and fear swimming around us?
I
certainly do not know all the answers.
But I would like to suggest a few possibilities:
1) Make time and
space for God to speak to you. You are
God’s Beloved, and God wants to be in conversation with you. It may be in
silence, a piece of music, among redwood trees, driving in traffic, in focused
prayer and meditation. However it
happens, talk to God, and allow God to speak back to you. Pray for our community, nation, and our
nation’s leaders. Pray about what you are called to do in this time and
place. Creating a daily spiritual
practice is an act of love and social justice.
2) Practice
self-care. God does not
want you, Beloved, to be stressed out or burnt out. Do things that energize you
and give life to your spirit. Take care
of yourself, especially when you get triggered or anxious. Unplug from social
media if you get overwhelmed. Find someone to listen to you. Spend intentional
time with friends. Give yourself
permission to grieve. Eat healthy food, enjoy the arts, get some exercise, read
or listen to good books, spend time in nature, get enough sleep, come to
worship.
3) Remember you
are not alone. Identify
your support system (friends, family, therapists, spiritual directors, members
of FCCV). Place yourself in community
and spend time in life-giving conversations. Come to church and
church-sponsored events. Make an
appointment with Pastor Christy. Ask one
of our Elders for prayer. Remember you are beloved.
4) Read books
that inspire you. Poetry. Fiction. History. Theology. Biographies.
Ways to work for justice. Maybe we can compile a list as a congregation? Ask for recommendations. Share suggestions. We all have something to
learn. We all have room to grow.
5) Exercise a
“hermeneutic of suspicion.” Be careful of fake news and “alternative
facts” that masquerade as truth. Critical thinking is a form of love. Question what you read and what you hear.
What are the motivations of your sources?
What is the story underneath the story? Who is being helped by this
decision? Who is being hurt? Dig for the
truth. Rely on trusted and reliable news sources that publish facts (examples
include: New York Times, San Francisco
Chronicle, The New Yorker, and Washington Post).
6) Connect
social, political, and economic realities with your faith. There are some wonderful print
and online resources that can help with this.
Sojourners is an excellent,
inspiring, interfaith resource. The Christian
Science Monitor, Religion News
Service, and the blog of John Pavlovitz are also thought-provoking places
to consider.
7) Support
organizations that share the FCCV values of belovedness, inclusivity, and
justice for all of God’s children. Each
month, our church contributes a portion of our budget to support a local,
national, or international organization that aids and empowers vulnerable
populations. You might also consider giving these organizations additional
support or suggesting other organizations that do this work for us to support.
Some of these organizations include the Rainbow Community Center, the Southern
Poverty Law Center, the Week of Compassion, Planned Parenthood, the Sparrow
Project, the Human Rights Campaign, and the American Civil Liberties Union.
8) Contact your
state and national representatives and senators. Make your presence and opinions known.
Identify yourself as a Christian and as a member of the First Christian
Church (DOC) of Vallejo when you contact them. You can find the contact info
for your national leadership here: http://www.house.gov/representatives/find (type in your zip code). Find our Senators at http://www.ednate.gov/senators/contact. You can also contact specific
representatives and senators who are not from our area when they do or support
something that violates your values. (Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell have been
good candidates recently. Jack Dalrymple, the Governor of North Dakota, is
another to contact about the Dakota Access Pipeline). Write out a script and
call. Send postcards. Send emails. Leave messages. Even when love and justice experience a
setback, every call helps. Act out of love.
Live into your faith.
9) Work for
social justice. Consider signing up for (or downloading) one of the apps or services that
will guide you in ways to take action for justice. There are many good
ones. Some examples include: 1. https://www.wall-of-us.org will send you concrete things to do each week
to resist injustice. 2. Daily Action
Alerts https://dailyaction.org will send you one thing you can do
each day. 3. https://5calls.org will provide you with phone numbers and
scripts to use to call Representatives and Senators about important
issues. 4. https://www.resistancemanual.org will
educate you, help you get organized, and show you ways to take action.
10)
Seriously
consider what God is calling you to do. Are you being called to protest, write
letters, run for elected office, get involved in Common Ground (our local,
faith-based community organizing effort), attend Vallejo City Council meetings,
learn more, call your senators and representatives, lead a group at church on a
particular social justice topic? Talk to God about it and see what newness
emerges. . . . I look forward to hearing
about it!
See you in church,
Christy