Friday, May 29, 2009

Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me


This last weekend, you likely heard the roar of the Blue Angels overhead, as the jets performed their aerobatic maneuvers celebrating Memorial Day Weekend. Since then, many of you shared with me your stories about where you had the thrill (or sometimes surprise!) of seeing them. First, I got a sense of the speed while driving back from Lexington Park, crossing the bridge and they flew above our car! Several of you told me how you planned to watch them from your boat, which sounded spectacular because they soar directly above all the boats in the river. Others didn’t have to leave land at all - you simply walked outside and watched from the comfort of your home. Interestingly, the funniest stories I heard both involved haircuts. One lady caught the performance from the chair of the beauty parlor while getting her hair cut on Solomons! Another lady told me that she was standing on her back deck, cutting her husbands hair, when the Blue Angels surprised them both, zooming above their house. (Don’t worry, she had a steady hand on the razor.)

Seeing the Blue Angels caused me to wonder about the skill and focus of the pilots. They must have such precision to do such complicated formations at such high speeds. I learned recently that for some of the maneuvers, the lead pilot in the formation has the primary responsibility of direction. The lead pilot charts the course for the whole group. All the other pilots look to his wing, or the wing or tail of the neighboring jet rather than looking straight ahead at where they are heading. Can you imagine driving your car at full speed – and rather than looking at the road ahead, you have to look out your side window at the car traveling beside you? I certainly can’t. It would take an incredible amount of trust the lead pilot. I would certainly want him to have excellent skills and ability!

For us who follow Jesus, Jesus Christ is our “lead pilot” as we perform the acrobatic maneuvers required to take the formation of “church”. Church, after all, is people working together with Christ as their Head to accomplish great things that could never be done by any one person “flying solo”. Being “church” means at times we take our eyes off of the road ahead – and instead trust the leadership of Christ our pilot, and rely on one another to stay on course.

This Spring, I have seen Olivet “soar in formation” through our collaboration on the Rummage Sale, the Pentecost Picnic, our Music Ministries, and the UM Men and UM women. Whenever you work together in Jesus name and lay aside your personal interests for the mission of serving others, you “fly in formation” for Christ’s glory!

I give thanks for the way that Olivet has collaborated with area churches for events like The Passion of the Christ Outdoor Theatre and the Evening Worship Services for Teens, which will continue this summer. None of us can do it alone. The greatest achievements occur when we care less about getting personal credit – and simply bond together for the glory of God.

This month, four young people will be added to the Church through the waters of Baptism. These four girls – Molly, Natalie, Emilee and Jess, have accepted Christ as their Pilot, so to speak, and will be baptized on Father’s Day June 21. I invite you to begin praying for each of them as they prepare for baptism. All of them chose to be baptized by immersion in the river, so following the 11am worship service, everyone will walk down the road to the creek, where they will receive the sacrament of baptism.
Praise the one who we follow, Jesus Christ our Savior, our redeemer and our Pilot!

Monday, May 18, 2009

Antsy for Grace


This last few weeks, I have come to a new level of awareness that I am a control freak. My teacher? Ants.
They have declared my casa is their casa... and I am battling these uninvited guests.

I have tried to be more vigilant about cleaning the kitchen, about emptying the cat bowl, about every splish, splash crumb and morsel that falls to the floor... But as I watch Sophia hobble about living room- chewing on an ear of corn, kernels dropping as she bounces - I realize, “The ants have found their shangrila."

Their path goes from the front of the house to the back. From the sticky floor in the kitchen to the lush, crumb encrusted carpet of the living room.

When I spotted a bright, orange Pepperidge Farm Goldfish cracker make it’s way across the dark living room carpet, I realized they are winning the battle.

Dr. Phil, of television fame, has written advise to those who are seeking to control the uncontrollable. He says, whenever people seek to control their environment they place a strain on their relationships and they become exhausted. None of us can control people or the world, so we need to simply let go of this kind of perfectionism. To make his point, he adds “The world is not going to fall off its axis if you let go. “

Dr. Phil is right – the world won’t fall off it’s axis if I let go of my obsession with crumbs and cleaning.. He is right that it strains my relationships because I am constantly nagging or brooding. And he is right: in seeking to control I become more and more exhausted. For me, it is not a physical exhaustion, as much as being discouraged that I can’t do better or work harder or make others around me do better or work harder.

A friend recently shared with me a word of encouragement that she got from a book she was reading, Tools Matter for Practicing the Spiritual Life by Mary Margaret Funk. for In it, she pictured the image of a gardener, and pointed out how most of us think we are he gardener of our lives.. we plant, we harvest, we design the layout of our lives. And when nothing grows, or something grows unexpectedly, we become frustrated. But, she explains that our task is not to be the gardener who does the planting, but to be the one instead who does the weeding. We should allow God to be the planter that he is.
What a different approach this would be, to accept the life I am in. Can I let go, and let God be the planter? Can I let go and take up tender task of weeding? For me, it is all about “letting go” of control?

Since God is the one planting the seeds within me and you, shouldn't that be enough assurance that things are in control?

After sharing this reflection on my ant problem, many people had suggestions on how I could tackle it. Numerous ideas ...Corn starch was a suggestion I had never heard.. along with cinnamon.... oh, and boric acid. Someone today told me to slide copper pennies into the baseboards of my house. Any other suggestions?