Light for the Journey

I've spent a bit more time than usual this morning getting the lighting right.

Normally just lifting the blinds and turning on the two lamps at the far end of the room is enough to balance out the lamp on my desk and the candle behind me on the mantle. I don't actually like working in harsh, bright lights anyways, so I'm okay with things being a little subdued.

But today it all just seems rather dull.

Probably doesn't help that the sun - wherever it is - didn't even rise until 7:50 this morning. We are heading into Winter Solstice after all, just two days away from the longest night of the year.

But also, there's the cloud cover. And yes - can I just say this? - I'm missing the goodness of the sunshine over the hills at Hot Springs.

Yay for an icing-sugar scattering of snow, though! Nothing to shovel here. Just a little nod to a whitish Christmas, for now.

And yay for the way the season has begun to settle some. For me at least. What I needed from December is beginning to manifest in things like mornings with the time and space to fiddle with the lighting, and to stop and be grateful for bright souls in my life.

That's what I've been thinking about as I looked for more candles and flipped a few switches. About all the ways light happens in life, especially when we hold up lights for each other. Specifically, all the ways people held up lights for me this year.

I'm not doing Christmas cards this year (something I'll stop apologizing for soon), but it strikes me that in some ways that tradition is also an opportunity to say thank you.

So, in place of writing it out and putting it in an envelope, and either handing it to you when I see you, or putting it in the mailbox...

Right here, on this really dull morning, I just want to express all the immense gratitude I have for all the bright lights in my life.

Every generous donation to matters dear to my heart, every word of encouragement, every message of love, every reorientation towards hope, every time you directed my eyes upward, every time you listened without judgement, every moment of your undivided attention, every bit of loving feedback and correction on sermons or writings or the ways I am conducting myself in community, every prayer lifted on my behalf....

All of that shines bright to light the journey for me.

So thank you.

And because of you, a dark day doesn't have to be a dark day, if you get what I mean.

Jesus said He was the light of the world. (John 8:12)
He also called us to be lights in this world. (Matthew 5:14-16).

So given Christmas is so close to the darkest day...
And given Christmas marks the birth of the Light...
Maybe it only makes sense that we look for ways shine all the brighter in each other's lives.
Right now, for the darker days.
And all year for all the days of the journey.

Thank you.
I mean it.
I could not have done this year without you.

A Thank You to Pastors This Thanksgiving Weekend - October is Clergy Appreciation Month

Dear Pastor and Ministry Servant,

This weekend you will lead your people in an expression of thanksgiving and praise to the One who has lavished so much on us.  These kinds of Sundays stand out.  There's often something uniquely focused and real about the morning, not just in the service, but in the hearts of the gathered community.  I pray you will thoroughly enjoy yourself in the midst of them; offering worship, learning together from the Word God has given, being the Church together in gratitude that is real and deep and strong.

And on behalf of those you serve, and in case no one says so, Thank you.

Thank you for all the preparation you do for every sermon you preach.  Like the mess in the kitchen that doesn't get put on the serving plate, so much of what goes on to get it ready is hidden from those who will receive.

Thank you for all the times you've been getting into bed, but have gotten dressed again to go tend to someone in crisis; at the hospital, at a funeral home, in a coffee shop in the middle of the night.

Thank you for fielding all those emails that a community just generates out of sheer necessity of keeping everything running and letting everyone know what's going on.  But also for those emails that sting, or press you into corners, or release that adrenaline and cortisol.  And for all you do to stay humble and gentle as you respond.

Thank you for receiving so graciously all the 'feedback' about your sermons, particularly in those sensitive moments just after the service.  And for really listening, and not becoming defensive, and allowing even those most cutting of criticisms to press you into better things.

Thank you for engaging in the struggle for Biblical competency, and for living in the tension of a responsible hermeneutic in a post-Christian culture.  Thank you for wrestling with that 'second tier' of theology where doctrine and real life collide because....people.  And thanks especially for staying true to your own Biblical conscience in the face of being told, by some, that you don't love the Bible.

Thank you for taking out the garbage and spreading salt on that icy spot in the parking lot, and doing up someone's forgotten dishes, and unplugging the toilet, and staying late after that long day of meetings because the door won't lock and you're waiting for the locksmith to arrive.

Thank you for leading all the meetings; for making up the agendas, and fielding all the group dynamics and following up with all the assignments, and probably being the one who has to keep all the files in order.

Thank you for not giving trite answers to profoundly anguished questions, and for sitting in silence instead, and for weeping with those who weep.  Thank you for sometimes NOT being that 'unaffected presence' and allowing the pain of those you love to become your own pain, and in so doing being the hands and feet and tears of Jesus for them.

Thank you for living on probably half the salary you could be earning if you went out into the workplace with your skill set.

Thank you for courageously turning the light of scrutiny inward, asking the Spirit to check all the hidden spaces, so that you can love and lead authentically.  And for risking so much when you allow another brother or sister to hold you accountable; for living 'inside out'.

And there is so much more we could thank you for.

God knows.

"God is not unjust; he will not forget your work 

and the love you have shown him 

as you have helped his people 

and continue to help them."  

Hebrews 6:10