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Stewardship of Creation

9/9/2018

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​This morning I will be preaching on what it means to be stewards of God’s Creation.  We, at St Paul’s UCC, will be reflecting upon Genesis 1 and 2, the stories of creation.

All spiritual traditions have creation stories.  They are there to teach us about our humble beginnings, about how the Sacred brought all things into being.  The creation stories serve as a reminder of Spirit’s instruction to us to be good stewards and custodians of what the Sacred created.

Genesis One:
The issue with the Hebraic creation story, at least in the Christian translations of the Hebrew Bible, is the use of the word ‘dominion’ or ‘subdue.’   Most of the translations write:

“God blessed them (humanity), and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.”

This translation many times is poorly interpreted as God creating all things to fulfill human needs.  Therefore, we, as human, can use the resources Earth has as we chose.  This is a wrongful interpretation.

Genesis Two
Genesis chapter two is another telling of the Creation story.  In this chapter we learn:

“The Lord God took the earth creature and put Adam in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the earth creature, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.”

God create Adam (earth creature) to till the garden of Eden.  God gave an instruction that humans could eat of the plants of the garden except for the Tree of Good and Evil.  That was to be left alone.

What I find interesting here is that God’s job for humanity is to till, to care for, what God has created.  Not to have dominion over it as humans see fit. 

These two stories go hand in hand.  Together, they bring an understanding of what is means to be stewards of Mother Earth and all God’s Creation.

This week we will dive deeply into this theme.

Stewardship of Mother Earth and all God’s Creation is about:
  • caring for, not reaping what we want
  • tending, healing creation, not taking away from
  • when we need to use its resources, replenishing what we have used
  • when we harvest, keeping some of our harvest to replant the next season

The imagery of being the gardener requires us to engage the stewardship of Mother Earth and Creation from a sustainability perspective, from a place of humble hard working, hands in the earth, partnership.

We have, as a culture, lost this understanding.  Many take our earth for granted, ignoring her hurt and pain.

More and more of us are awakening to the need to truly care for Mother Earth and our resources.  We are stepping into a theology of ecology and stewardship.

Reflection Questions:
How are you being a steward of Mother Earth?
What in your life is preventing you from deepening your stewardship of God’s Creation?
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Stewardship of our Inner World...

9/8/2018

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​Much of our stewardship talk is about how we use our resources in the outer world.  How generous are you with your finances? Where do you offer your time, talent, skills to help others?  How do you call others mercifully and compassionately to accountability for their actions, their lack of stewardship?

These are all outer-world questions.

Stewardship of our inner world is just as important as stewardship of our outer world.  When we are unhappy, not in alignment with our Highest Self and the Highest Good (Spirit), in our inner world, it reflects out of us.  Misalignment inside creates poor stewardship outside of us. 

We must pay close attention to what is happening in our hearts and souls.

Downton Abbey:
Lady Mary offers us a beautiful example of this.  She is frustrated and unhappy by her own life choices.  She has created life choices that are preventing her from marrying the person she loves because he is not ‘equal’ to her.  Equal for Mary is about finances and position.  The man is equal to Mary in all other ways but financially.  She is unable to see that.

Then, her sister, Lady Edith, is asked to marry by a man Lady Mary considers to be poor.  Turns out he is the heir to a huge estate, richer than Mary.   This makes Mary jealous and she ruins Edith’s chances and life by revealing a huge secret spitefully.

Lady Mary, in her unhappiness, then turns on her Father blaming him for a servant’s attempted suicide.

She continues this downward spiral until Branson, her brother-in-law (Sibyl her late sister’s husband), calls Mary on her unhappiness. 

In a powerful scene, he speaks truth to her:
Branson:  Well, you got what you wanted.  Bertie has left for the train.  Now Edith will not be the next Marchioness of Hexham.
Lady Mary:  Well that is not what I wanted.
Branson:  Isn’t it?
Lady Mary:  I still can’t believe she never told him.  How was I to know that? 
Branson:  Don’t play the innocent with me.
Lady Mary:  I didn’t mean…
Branson (raising his voice and interupting Mary):  Don’t lie!  Not to me.  You can’t stop ruining things — for Edith, for yourself.  You’d pull in the sky if you could — anything to make you feel as frightened and alone.
Lady Mary:  You saw Henry (her love that she will not acknowledge) when he was here — high handed and bullying and unapologetic.  (actually that is Mary not Henry)  Am I expected to lower myself to his level and be grateful I am allowed to do so?
Branson:  Listen to yourself!  Lower yourself to his level.  You are not a princess and the prisoner of Zenda…
Mary:  You don’t want to understand me.
Branson:  You ruined Edith’s life today!  How many lives are you going to wreck just to smoother your own misery?
Mary:  I refuse to listen.
Branson:  You are a coward Mary.   Like all bullies, you are a coward.

Mary looks insulted and unsure what to do.  Branson storms out leaving her to her thoughts.

Branson then writes to the Dowager Lady Grantham, asking her to return and help heal this situation….

Dowager Returns…
Mary begins to pay attention to her inner world, a little.  She has paid enough attention to her heart, that when Dowager Countess, Lady Grantham, Mary’s Grandmother returns from her trip , Lady Mary is about to hear her Grandmother’s gentle compassionate call to accountability.  The Dowager encourages Lady Mary to be happy and to right the wrongs she has committed.

Mary opens her heart, accepts Love, and seeks a way to right the wrong she committed against Edith.  By the end of the season, all is righted.

Paying Attention to Our Inner World
When our inner world is out of alignment with Spirit, our outer world will reflect that.  We find ourselves cranky, doing things we do not ‘normally do.’    Things are not working out for us.  We are getting frustrated, angry, increasingly unhappy.

These are all signs to step back and pay attention to our hearts, to our spirits, to our inner world.

It happens quickly…
I had lost my spiritual practice when I moved here to New Mexico.  All the transition, getting myself fully into what it means to pastor St Paul’s United Church of Christ, as well as settling into living here in New Mexico took all my time and attention.  I told myself that I did not have time for meditation, etc.  Yet, my heart longed for it, longed for quiet prayer-filled moments, slowing down connecting with Spirit.

One morning I decided, Today is the Day!
I began.  The practice came back quickly.  Morning walk, followed by meditation, journaling, listening.  I noticed sycronicities occurring more and more.  Life was flowing freer, more fully.  I was laughing more.  There was less stress weighing me down.  Creativity increased.  All these good things began to reassert themselves in my life!

Then one Sunday afternoon I got a migraine like I have never had before.  The migraine lasted two days.  Then it took my body another week to recover.  Within that week, I had lost my practice. 

Losing my practice...
I noticed that I was not practicing.  I gave myself grace and permission because I felt horrible.

But it has been two weeks and my practice is not back.  It is like I walked away.

My creativity dropped.  You may have noticed that there was a week of no blogs.  Yep.  All creativity was gone.

Call to accountability
This past week, things have happened that are beckoning me back to my practice.  I feel it — a spiritual pull, an invitation to pay attention to my inner world, a call to accountability from Spirit, “You are not being a good steward of your spiritual life and practice.”
I am walking again, slowing down paying attention to the natural world.  Meditation is arriving back in my life.  As I bring back my spiritual practice, I feel myself returning to ME.

It is important that we pay attention to our inner worlds.
How are you being a good steward of your spiritual life, of your inner world?
Have you paid attention to the stewardship of your heart?
What does that look like for you?
​
If you have not paid attention to your inner world, to your spiritual life, before, spiritual direction is a powerful practice to guide you into a practice that works for you, that deepens your connection with Spirit.  Spiritual direction teaches you how to be a good steward of your inner world.  Contact me if you would like to spend time contemplating Spirit’s invitation to stewardship of your heart and spirit.
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Accountability strengthens Stewardship

9/7/2018

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I have talked a great deal from time to time in this blog about accountability.  Stewardship requires us to be accountable for our actions and to hold others accountable for theirs as well.  It is through accountability with each other, that we learn to become more and more responsible, become better stewards of what the Sacred has entrusted to us.

Downton Abbey: Season 4, Episodes 5 and 6
John Pegg is a young man from the village whom Mrs Crawley, at Dr Clarkson's urging, agrees to help find a job as a gardener. Isobel persuades Dowager Countess to let him come on at the Dower House.  However, when a valuable letter opener of Dowager Countess goes missing, she is convinced Pegg stole it while watering plants in her study. She threatens to sack him, but Dr Clarkson and Mrs Crawley persuade her not to until an investigation can be conducted.

Things only worsen for Pegg when another possession of the Dowager's goes missing, so she sacks him. But then Spratt, the Dowager’s butler, finds the second missing item.

Mrs Crawley, determined to prove the Dowager wrong, stops by the Dower House when she knows the Dowager is out, fakes feeling faint and asks to take a few moments in the sitting room.  When alone, she searches the room and finds the first, which had fallen between the cushion and arm of a chair.  She instructs Spratt to alert the Dowager to this incident.

the Call for Accountability
The next day, Mrs Crawley stops by with Dr Clarkson to confront the Dowager for wrongly accusing John Pegg…
Dowager:  To what do I owe this treat?
Dr. Clarkson:  Lady Grantham, you have already changed for dinner.  We will come tomorrow.
Dowager:  No, my curiosity would not take such a delay.
Mrs. Crawley:  Did Spratt give you the paper knife? (the lost item)
Dowager: Yes.
Mrs Crawley:  Then it is quite clear that Peg did not steal it.  Or are you going to argue now that he sneaked it back in here when he realized what kind of trouble he was in?
(Note:  For those who do not watch Downton Abbey, the Dowager Countess hates being wrong and rarely admits to misdoings or mistakes.  This is a regular play between Mrs Crawley and the Dowager.)
Dowager, as she is ringing her bell to call Spratt:  Well, its a thought..
Mrs Crawley:  But a despicable one.  What can I say to persuade you out of your injustice and stubbornness?   Can’t you see the damage you do?
Dr. Clarkson:  Now, hold your horses Mrs Crawley.  Lady Grantham has a right of reply.
Dowager:  Thank you Dr Clarkson…. (after Spratt enters the room) Spratt, has the young gardener Peg brought in the vegetables yet?
Mrs Crawley:  What?
Dowager:  Please ask him to step in here…
Mrs Crawley:  I don’t understand
Dowager:  If you wish to understand things you must come out from behind your prejudice and listen… (when Peg enters the room, to Peg)  Could you give an account to Mrs Crawley of what transpired between us this afternoon…
Peg explains everything that happened that afternoon, how the Dowager called for him, apologized for being wrong and hired him back.
Dowager to Mrs Crawley:  Well?
Mrs. Crawley looks annoyed….
Dr Clarkson:  I’d say that is game, set, match to Lady Grantham…

Accountability Strengthens our Stewardship
We are human.  Even on our best days, prejudice seeps into our way of being — whether that is sexism, homophobia, racism, ablism, holding onto fixed perspectives on people that does not allow them to grow, etc.  Whatever it is, we usually fall short of our expectations for ourselves and others.  This is a normal part of what it means to be human.

How does it affect our ability to be good stewards of what we are gifted by Spirit?

Accountable for our actions
In this case, the Dowager allowed physical things (things that she owned and treasured) cloud her judgement around helping someone — around being a good steward of her resources and generosity.  When she was brought to accountability, when Mrs Crawley found the mail-opener, she realized her error and came back into alignment with what it means for her to be a good stewards of her resources and position in the community.  She corrected her behavior.

Accountable for our fixed perceptions
At the same time, Mrs. Crawley was called to accountability around her actions, her fixed perception of the Dowager.  Mrs.  Crawley is a tremendously powerful steward in terms of companioning the poor, the underclass, the untouchables, and guiding, mentoring, helping them to better themselves.  She has time and time again opened her heart and home to change the lives of people nobody even looks at, let alone thinks or cares about.

Because this is her work, her ministry, her calling, she can be prejudice towards the Dowager.  Dowager Lady Grantham holds herself above others in many ways.  She does do generous things for people in her community when Mrs Crawley pushes her to.   Other times, she does the right thing for the wrong reason — to remove anything controversial from Downton estate.  (She helped an ex-prostitute find a new place to be a maid after Mrs Crawley taught her to be a housemaid so that the ex-prostitute would not be connected to Downton in anyway.  Right things, wrong reason)

The Dowager calls Mrs Crawley on her fixed perception.  Mrs Crawley never gives the Dowager the benefit of the doubt.  She assumes that the Dowager will not do the right thing when it is presented to her.  This mindset, this fixed perception, prevents the Dowager from really growing and changing.  It prevents Mrs Crawley from truly celebrating the growth and expansion of the the Dowager.

By calling Mrs Crawley on her fixed perception, the Dowager reminds us that we need to open ourselves to allow people to grow, change, transform, forgive.  This is mercy and grace.  Stewardship requires mercy and grace to be gifted generously.

Accountability gifts mercy and grace
By holding each other accountable, Mrs Crawley and the Dowager are gifting one another with the opportunity to generously offer mercy and grace to Peg (the gardener) as well as each other.  They are reminding themselves, humbling themselves, aligning themselves once again to what it means to be good stewards of their position and calling.

For Mrs Crawley, being a good steward is about helping Peg keep his job and better himself, not one up the Dowager.  For the Dowager, being a good steward is about learning to value a person over objects, learning to give people the benefit of the doubt, learning to trust.

Together over the seasons of Downton Abbey these two women companion each other in strengthening and expanding their ways of being good stewards of their position and resources.  Through accountability, the push each other to grow in their skills and abilities as stewards.

We are called to hold each other accountable.  Spirit invites us to encourage each other to expand and strengthen our understanding of stewardship in our lives.

Who is pushing you to expand your understanding of stewardship?
What person in your life holds you accountable for your actions?
How do you hold others accountable, offering grace and mercy as you do so?
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Good Stewardship:  Using our Gifts Responsibly

9/4/2018

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​Because the Sacred has gifted us all that we have in our life, we must use our gifts, abilities, and skills responsibly in this world.  It is our responsibility, as stewards, to create positive change that brings the experience of compassion, peace and justice.

Avengers:  Civil War
Tony Stark is seeking additional help for his side of the Avengers disagreement.  He has seen videos of a spider-boy doing amazing things on YouTube.  Tony visits Peter Parker...

In Peter’s room:
Stark:  Why are you doing this?  I got to know what’s your M.O.?  What gets you out of that twin bed in the morning?

Peter:  Because I’ve been me my whole life, and I’ve had these powers for six months.  I read books.  I build computers.  Yeah, I would love to play football, but I couldn’t then, so I shouldn’t now.

Stark:  Sure, because you’re different.

Peter:  Exactly.  But I can’t tell anybody that, so I’m not.  When you can do the things that I can, but you don’t, and then the bad things happen, they happen because of you.

Stark:  So you wanna look out for the little guy, you wanna do your part?  Make the world a better place, all that, right?

Peter:  Yeah, just looking out for the little guy.  That’s what it is.

Stark decides to bring Spiderman on, temporarily, as an Avenger, changing Peter’s life.  Spiderman: Homecoming begins after Peter’s experience in Avengers: Civil War concludes.

Stewardship invites us to use our skills and abilities responsibly
Peter Parker, for being so young, has a very mature understanding of his super-powers.  He recognizes that “with great power comes great responsibility”  (to quote Uncle Ben, Peter Parker’s uncle, from the Tobey Maguire spiderman series, 2002).

Peter has all these powers that have suddenly appeared in his life.  He is different than he was 6 months ago.  He could have easily shown off and used his powers to create wealth, instead of (as Tony Stark put it) being a dumpster diver to acquire the beat-up old electronics he currently had.

But, as he tells Mr Stark, it would not be right to use these powers to show off for personal gain — “I would love to play football, but I couldn’t then, so I shouldn’t now.”  Something inside Peter knows that these are gifts given to him to create change, to help others, to do good.

So, he uses his powers to help others — to be the friendly neighborhood Spiderman.  This is Spirit’s invitation to us — to use our abilities to help others.

Spiderman: Homecoming
Even in Spiderman: Homecoming, after he saves his classmates in the Washington Monument and is the talk of the school as Spiderman, Peter keeps his identity secret.  Ned, Peter’s best friend, asks Peter in the school hall…

Ned:  What is it like being famous when nobody knows it is you?
Peter:  Crazy dude.
Ned:  Crazy.  Should we tell everyone its you?
Peter:  No
Ned:  Can I tell everyone?
Peter:  No, dude.  That is not a good idea….

If Peter Parker had told he was Spiderman and used his power for his own personal gain, he would have lost his soul.  This is the concept that Tobey Maguire’s 2007 Spiderman 3 was exploring.  Self-aggrandizement serves nobody but you.  It brings no change, only heart-break, loss, greed, corruption, hatred, divisiveness, and more negative consequences.

President Carter vs President Trump: How we use our abilities...
It is the difference between President Jimmy Carter (humble servant-leadership) and President Trump (self-aggrandizing narcism). 

President Jimmy Carter has used his life, his gifts, his abilities to transform the world. He has created a powerful legacy.  He is the President who cared more for the lives of the hostages than his re-election campaign.  We know him as the past President who still, at the age of 93, continues building houses for Habitat for Humanity.  We know him as a person of faith, who stands in integrity and authenticity, working to create justice and peace in all that he does.

vs.

President Trump.   We know him as the President who thrives off of bullying, especially through Twitter; who makes governing decisions that serves his own interest, cutting programs aimed at helping those in need.  We know him as a disrespectful womanizer and belittler.  His gift so far to this country is that of divisiveness and hate.

Spirit’s Invitation:
Spirit’s invitation is to use our spiritual gifts and abilities to create positive change!  All that the Sacred has blessed us with in our life is at our discretion to use to help others, to transform the world, to create justice, to grow compassion, to invite peace and harmony.

This is God’s call, for each and everyone of us: to use our skills and abilities humbly in service to the Sacred.  This is how the Sacred creates transformation in the world — through us, through our willingness to work toward justice and offer compassion.
​
How will you use your gifts and abilities responsibly?
What does that look like in your life?
What changes do you need to make to be a better steward of the Sacred’s gifts to you?
Where are you engaging this world to create justice and compassion?
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Stewardship: Being Custodians

9/3/2018

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​Stewardship means experiencing everything as gifted to us by the Sacred.  Everything!  This includes our skills, abilities, talents, spiritual gifts, qualities, financial resources, Land, food, shelter, community, family, friends, blessings, abundance, hopes and desires, goals and accomplishments.  All of it has been gifted and supported by the presence and work of the Sacred.  Stewardship invites us to engage life as custodians of these gifts.

When we begin to create a stewardship lifestyle, this is key.  We are care-takers of what the Sacred has given to us.

Downton Abby: Season 1
Lady Mary, the eldest daughter, struggling with the fact that she will not inherit Downton, walks with her father as he explains:

Lord Grantham:  If I had made my own fortune and bought Downton for myself, it should be yours without question.  But I did not.  My fortune is the work of others who labored to build a great dynasty.  Do I have the right to destroy their work, or impoverish that dynasty?
I am a custodian, my dear, not an owner.  I must strive to be worthy of the task I’ve been set.

The Sacred gifts us:
Our Sacred Scriptures, reminds us of this:

After creating all of creation, God creates humankind and then, “God blessed them (humankind):  “Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Be responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the air, for every living thing that moves on the face of Earth.”  Then God said, “I’ve given you every sort of seed-bearing plant on Earth, and every kind of fruit-bearing tree, given them to you for food.  To all animals and all birds, everything that moves and breathes, I give whatever grows out of the ground for food.”  (Genesis 1: 28-30)

“If you start thinking to yourselves, “I did all this. And all by myself. I’m rich. It’s all mine!”—well, think again. Remember that God, your God, gave you the strength to produce all this wealth so as to confirm the covenant that he promised to your ancestors—as it is today.” (Deuteronomy 8:18, The Message)

Stewardship:  Using all we are given responsibly
This means living our life with the mindset of Lord Grantham: “I am a custodian.  I must strive to be worthy of the task I’ve been set.”

The Sacred has given us all that is within our lives, therefore we must strive to be powerful custodians.  This does not mean laying around and doing nothing.  It means working to protect and grow what we have been given.

The parable of the talents, in Matthew 25: 14-30 tells us just that.  In this parable, Jesus tells a story about a land owner who gives his slaves money before going on a trip.  The slaves are to keep the money and be responsible for it while the landowner is gone.  Two of the slaves work to increase the money they have been entrusted with, and are rewarded upon return.  One, fearing his master, hides the money to keep it safe, returning what was entrusted to him when his master returns.  His master is not happy that the slave did nothing to increase what he was given.

The Sacred entrusts us with a great deal of skills, abilities, resources, gifts, qualities throughout our lifetimes.  It is our job to, in gratitude for the Sacred’s blessings, work to grow, expand, strengthen, build them; to share them out in the world; to use them to transform the world for the better.
​
How are you strengthening what the Sacred has blessed you with?
Where are you offering your gifts in this world?
How are you engaging the world, using your skills and qualities, to bring about justice?
How are you being a good steward of what the Sacred as entrusted to you?
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Stewardship as a lifestyle...

9/2/2018

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Stewardship is a word we throw around every Fall in churches.  We talk about stewardship at the time of the year when we are creating our church budgets and asking people to pledge their giving for the next year.  We have narrowed stewardship down to dollars.  Because of that, often times we do not want to think about, talk about, learn about stewardship, especially if we feel like we do not have the financial resources to support the church the way we want to.

However, stewardship is so much more. 

The Oxford Dictionary defines stewardship like this:
Stew·ard·ship
[ˈst(y)o͞oərdˌSHip]

NOUN
stewardships (plural noun)

the job of supervising or taking care of something, such as an organization or property.

"responsible stewardship of our public lands" · "he resigned his stewardships at Westminster Abbey and St. Martin's" · "systemic failures cannot be ascribed to the stewardship of a political party" · "Pennsylvania's forest stewardship program”


Stewardship is about all aspects of taking care of what we are given.

When we reflect theologically on this: Stewardship broadens to be about taking care of all that the Sacred has given to us, which is basically everything in our life — our abilities, our time, our finances, our Land, our prayers, our worship, our love, etc.  The list is endless.

Stewardship, theologically, is a way of life for me.  One of my mentors talks often about, “praying our life and living our prayer.”  This to me is true stewardship.  If everything we do is reflected as prayer, as our way of honoring the Sacred, then we are truly being good stewards, good caretakers, of our lives, our world., our faith, God’s call to Compassion and Justice.  If everything we do is reflected as prayer, then we are reflecting fully the Light, Compassion and Justice of the Sacred, and that is the highest form of stewardship we can offer.

When we are in our fullest reflection of the Sacred:
  • we are working toward justice
  • our empathy and compassion deepens and widens and grows
  • we experience deep peace and work toward its manifestation in the world
  • we move from a generous heart, sharing our resources freely
  • our worship and spiritual connection with the Sacred evolves toward Oneness
  • acknowledging the Sacred in the entire web-of-life, we care deeply for Mother Earth and all creatures living upon Her
  • we seek ways to share in learning, growing — faith and spiritual formation
  • we covenant together as community to support one another in this vital work of the Sacred

That is just a few ways stewardship is expressed as we align our hearts, minds, bodies, spirits fully with the Sacred.

For it, the more aligned I am with the Sacred, the more natural the sense of stewardship is, it flows freely, calling me to hold myself and others accountable to the Sacred’s call.

This month at St Paul’s UCC in Rio Rancho, NM we will be diving into a well-rounded discussion of stewardship.  Our worship will reflect on various aspects of stewardship each Sunday.  This blog will continue to dive into stewardship, exploring all the ways it is expressed in our lives.  Come and join us for worship at 10:30am on Sunday mornings!

As we begin this month of reflection, what does stewardship mean to you?  What questions arise as you reflection upon, contemplate, wonder about stewardship?
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Repentance: Spirit's invitation to change our behavior

8/22/2018

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I’ve written a bit about repentance in my previous blogs, mentioning it here and there.  Spiderman:  Homecoming gives us a beautiful example of what repentance looks like.

The Oxford Dictionary defines repentance as:re·pent·ance
[rəˈpentəns]
NOUN
repentances (plural noun)
the action of repenting; sincere regret or remorse.
"each person who turns to God in genuine repentance and faith will be saved"

synonyms: remorse · contrition · contriteness · penitence · sorrow · sorrowfulness · regret · ruefulness · remorsefulness · pangs of conscience · prickings of conscience · shame · guilt · self-reproach · self-condemnation · compunction · conversion · rue · sorriness

Although repentance is a noun, it requires action.  Theologically, our Sacred Scriptures tell us that repentance is a turning around, a move from wrongful action to right action, from facing away from the Sacred to walking toward the Sacred.  This requires an inner and outward action on our part.

Spiderman: Homecoming:
In the beginning of Spiderman: Homecoming
We watch Peter Parker in school after he returns from Avengers: Civil War.  He considers himself an Avenger and Spiderman.  Throughout the day, he continually checks the school clock, waiting for the moment he can leave and head out to be Spiderman.  Peter begins to quit different school activities, such as band and academic decathlon.  He sneaks out of his Aunt’s apartment to do Spiderman things. 

Once he starts fighting the bad-guys who make dangerous alien-technology weapons, he begins to experience himself as above school.  He skips out of classes, misses exams, etc.

This poor behavior does not serve him in the long run….

After Tony Stark confronts him:
However, after his run in with Tony Stark, when Tony tells him he wants the spider-suit back; after his moment of unconditional love and mercy from Aunt May, Peter changes his behavior 100%.

He accepts his detention, unhappily, but he accepts it and serves it.

Peter engages more fully in his classes, raising his hand to give correct answers instead of waiting to be called on.
By rejoining the academic decathlon, he begins to reengage in school activities.

Ned and Peter reconnect as friends once more, doing teenage boy things.

He apologizes honestly to Liz, his love interest, for skipping out on the decathlon in DC.   Allowing himself to be vulnerable and expresses his feelings, his interest in her, winning himself a date to homecoming.

He asks Aunt May’s help in getting ready for dating a girl!

You can see a powerful transformation in him.  Peter is now standing in his true self, integrating his Spiderman self.  He is being more authentic, more responsible.

This prepares him for the moment he comes face-to-face with (spoiler alert) his arch-enemy, the Vulture, who happens to be unbeknownst to Peter, Liz’s dad.

Repentance:
Repentance is not an easy thing.  It is not a “I’m sorry” and continue on with your current behavior.  Repentance is a meaningful apology (a taking of personal responsibility) accompanied by action that creates a change in behavior, a 180, that sets you upon a more authentic, compassionate path.

The Oxford Dictionary’s synonyms for repentance offer us the emotions that are involved in the inner experience:

remorse · contrition · contriteness · penitence · sorrow · sorrowfulness · regret · remorsefulness · pangs of conscience · prickings of conscience · shame · guilt · self-reproach · self-condemnation sorriness

These emotions guide us inwardly to move toward an outward expression of authentic repentance, of transformational behavior, attitude, and self.  Because of our inner remorse, we are determined to right the situation, to act better, to be more compassionate.  The two go together, one can not be separated from the other.

Peter is able to fully change his behavior because his remorse, his regret, his shame, his self-reproach are met with Tony Stark’s tough love and Aunt May’s unconditional love, which ignites within him a desire and determination to be better.  He does that.  He becomes who he can fully become.

Repentance asks us to do just this.  We will make errors in our lives.  Sometimes, we will be less than compassionate.  We will hurt others intentionally or unintentionally.  This is part of being human.

The spiritual journey teaches us that when those moments arise, we can repent.  We can feel those emotions and allow them to guide us to be better people, to change our behavior, to be more compassionate, to right the situation.
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Trust that as you transform your behavior, you will find yourself walking toward the Sacred, walking toward Compassion, walking in Unconditional Love.  You will experience yourself more fully aligned with the Sacred, with your True Self.  You will be standing fully in your Power.
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God holds us Accountable

8/21/2018

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​As I wrote about in the personal accountability series with Thor, Loki and Odin, personal accountability and integrity are key elements in our spiritual journey.  If we do not hold ourselves accountable, Spirit will…

Spider-man: Homecoming
Spider-man saved the day in Washington, DC saving his friends.  He rose to new heights in his school.  Spider-man mania spread around, going to Peter’s head a bit.

So much so, that he decides he will skip his Spanish quiz because he needs to catch the bad guys.  He goes against the advice of his friend, Ned, and attempts to skip out, getting caught by the Principle and sent to detection where he has to listen to a video by Captain America:

Captain America:  So you got detention  You screwed up.  You know what you did was wrong.  How are you going to make things right?….We all know what is right.  We all know what is wrong.

Peter gets up and leaves detention, skipping out on his punishment.  He decides to keep looking for the bad guys. 

Once Peter is home and sure Aunt May is not around, he puts on his spider-mask to talk with Karen.

Spider-man:  Hey Karen, what’s up?

Karen:  Hey Peter, how was your Spanish quiz?

Spiritual Journey:
I love that the first question Karen (Suit Lady, the voice of Spider-man’s spider-suit) asks is about Peter’s Spanish quiz.  It is a question to Peter about accountability.  Is he really doing the right thing?  Is he fulfilling the responsibilities in his life?

You may be thinking, of course he is.  He is working on catching the bad guys.  But the thing is, Tony Stark (IronMan) has already told Peter to drop this, that he will take care of it.  Peter wants to prove himself as a super-hero, that is why he is pushing so hard to find the bad guys.

In doing so, in pushing to prove himself, he is ignoring his responsibilities as a high school student.  He skipped out on the Decathlon in Washington, DC.  Peter is ignoring his school work, skipping school.  He is not holding integrity and Karen is reminding him of that.

The Consequences for Not Standing in Integrity:
In a few scenes, Peter attempts to take on the bad guys.  It is out of his league.  At some level he knows it.  At another level he wants to prove himself, prove that he can do what adults do.  He ends up putting everyone at risk, nearly causing a catastrophic events on a ferry boat.  Iron Man comes and saves the day.

This is a hard lesson for Peter to learn.  He crushes his heart as he has to acknowledge what he has done.  Tony Stark holds Peter accountable for his actions:

Tony:  I told you to stay away.  Instead, you hacked a multi-million dollar suit so you could sneak around behind my back doing the ONE thing I told you not to do.

Peter, struggling with his feelings, goes on a rant about Mr Stark not listening to him, about how he would have had to do what he did if only someone would listen.

Tony:  I did listen. Who do you think called the FBI?  I was the only one who believed in you…  What if somebody had died tonight?  Different story because that would have been on you.  And if you died, I feel like that’s on me.  I don’t need that on my conscience.

Peter:  I’m sorry.

Tony:  Sorry doesn’t cut it. 

Peter:  I understand.  I just wanted to be like you.

Tony:  And I wanted you to be better.  Okay, I’m going to need the suit back. 

Peter:  For how long?

Tony:  Forever.

Peter:  Please, you don’t understand.  This is all I have.  I’m nothing without this suit.

Tony:  If you are nothing without this suit then you shouldn’t have it.  Okay?

Spirit Calls us to Accountability:
When we are not in our integrity, when we do not hold ourselves accountable for our actions, Spirit calls us out. 
It can feel harsh, sometimes as harsh as the conversation between Peter and Tony Stark.

Other times, it can be gentle, like the beginning of the conversation with Karen (Suit Lady) and her question about Peter’s Spanish test.

We like to ignore this aspect of God and move directly to the experience of mercy and grace.  However, our sacred texts do not ignore the Tough-Love, Wrathful God. 

“Theologian James Cone, writes, “Most theological treatments of God’s love fail to place the proper emphasis on God’s wrath, suggesting that love is completely self-giving without any demand for obedience. Bonhoeffer called this ‘cheap grace.’” God’s love demands righteousness, and breaches of God’s call to justice and love cause God grief…. God is not indifferent to human suffering, oppression, and injustice. Cone goes on: “The wrath of God is the love of God in regard to the forces opposed to liberation of the oppressed.” God’s judgment is a manifestation of relationship with a living God, a God of passion who deeply cares.”  (http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=3700)

Tony Stark’s harsh disciplinary conversation with Peter shows that he cares and that he expects Peter to follow his mentoring/guidance. 

Yes, there is an experience of grace found in Spirit’s love for us.  But first, we need to have the harsh accountability conversation — the tough love moment that asks us to be better than what we just did.  It does not feel good.  But think about those times when you experienced that, did it not change you for the better?  Did you not work hard to be a better person?  Did you not do want you needed to regain the trust of whomever you harmed?

Because your behavior was called out, did you work hard not to repeat that same experience?  Did you learn to gage your abilities and skills more aptly?

Jesus and Me
A few years ago, when I was in deep discernment about a specific question, I was struggling with what to do.  I did a shamanic journey (very similar to Prayer of the Imagination) to Jesus, my Teacher.  I journeyed to meet him.  He was at a river bend on an expanse of grass.

Usually when we meet, we would embrace.  I would feel this deep gentleness and fun adventurous energy emanating from him.  This time, I arrived and knew there would be no embrace.  There was this wall of anger emanating from him.  He was not happy with me!

Jesus began.  Usually I began by asking my question.  But he was not in the mood to hear what I came for.  He already knew.  Jesus basically told me off that journey.  I met the tough love, holding me accountable side of him I had not met before.  He asked why I kept banging my head up against the same wall?  Why would I not follow all the guidance he had given me before?  Why keep repeating the same question?  He told me I already knew what I needed to do, I was just not doing it.  He was done with that question.  When I was ready to face that, he would be here to guide me and help me heal.

It did not feel good.  I stood there looking at him.  Each sentence he spoke tore at my heart.  Each word destroyed the wall I had put up around me so that I did not have to face my deepest fears.  Although it did not feel good, there was never a moment when I questioned his love, grace, and mercy toward me.  I knew they were there.  I knew that was why he was being tough-love Jesus.
I think I cried the rest of that day.  The tears washed away that wall he ripped down.  When I woke the next day, I changed direction.  I shifted by perspective and began the work I needed to do.  When I stepped back into integrity, the answers I was seeking were already there.  Jesus knew it.  He called that out.
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Grace
God knows and trusts that we will change our behavior.  God knows and trusts that we will work hard to be trustworthy.  Because God knows and trusts that, God offers us grace and mercy.
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When we are not in our integrity, it is Spirit’s job to call us to accountability, and once we step back into alignment with Spirit’s heart, to offer us deep grace, mercy and unconditional Love.
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Grace: the Gift of Unconditional Love

8/20/2018

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​As I wrote yesterday, God’s grace flows freely to us.  God loves us unconditionally.   Even in the midst of holding us accountable, even in the midst of the wrathful-oriented God, the God of tough love, grace and mercy and unconditional Love are always present.  In Spider-man: Homecoming, it is Aunt May who offers it…

Spider-man: Homecoming:
Aunt May opens the door for him.  Tony Stark has just taken away the spider-suit and told him he can not be spider-man anymore.  Peter had almost killed a ton of people and Tony Stark had to save the day. 

Peter is distraught when he arrives home to an angry Aunt May.  Aunt May is demanding that Peter tell her what happened.  She has been worried all day.

Peter:  I’m fine.  I’m okay.  Really, just relax I’m fine.

Aunt May:  Cut the bull**it.  I know you left detention.  I know you left the hotel room in Washington DC.  I know you sneak out of this house every night.  That is not fine.  Peter you have to tell me what’s going on.  Just lay it out.  Its me and you.

Peter (with tears in his eyes):  I lost the Stark Internship (Spider-man)

Aunt May:  What happened?

Peter:  I worked really hard and he…  he… but… he, you know…. I screwed it up.

Aunt May holds him and offers Peter grace, mercy, love.

Spiritual Journey:
Painting my way to Grace:

Not long after my tough-love encounter with Jesus, I headed off to New Mexico for a painting retreat.  It was five days of intuitive painting.  Intuitive painting allows me the space to engage my body and heart together in prayer and healing.

Rage:
I began painting and rather quickly stumbled into rage.  For years, I had been ‘controlling’ my temper.  I laughingly told people I am like the Hulk — if you push the right buttons a green ugly monster of rage comes out of me.  I had learned to be like Banner — to keep the other guy under control.  The thing was, I was ignoring my anger and it was blocking my healing and my movement forward.

The facilitator encouraged me to release the anger through paint.  What color is it?  As I began the journey into my anger, I released it.  It was not a pleasant experience for me.  The anger and rage poured out of me onto the paper, out of me through sound, body movement, paint, tears, and more.  By lunch I was spent…

After lunch I held the ball that my ‘painting’ had become as I released my anger.  I sat in quiet meditation.  My heart was calm, no longer blocked up by rage.  What I realized was that the anger I had been pushing down all those years was covering up deep wounds that needed healing.

I turned my painting work toward healing, toward painting those places that had been hidden.  For the next few days I dug deep, painted, cried, raged, painted and repeated the cycle.

Meeting the Sacred
On the next to last day, I headed up the mesa near where we were painting.  Needing some time away, some time to breathe, I wandered and found myself near a rock and bush that the owner of the land joking called Moses and the Burning Bush.  I heard my name called.  Looking around I saw the facilitator at the bottom of the mesa waving at me.  I headed down.

She was amazed she got my attention by waving.  I told her it was her calling my name that got my attention.  She did not call my name.  I stood there in silence for a moment, then excused myself and told her I would be back.

I traced my steps back to the rock and bush and opened my heart to the Voice of the One who had called my name.  There in the desert sand, on my knees, tears of Unconditional Love, Grace, Blessings and Healing ran down my face as Spirit met me face to face.  I stayed, barefoot, on that Holy Ground soaking in the beauty of being in the presence of my Creator.

Grace as She held me and reminded me of how special I am.  Healing as Her unconditional Love seeped deep into those wounded places that had been covered up by rage.  Blessing as She showed me the way forward.

Grace of the Sacred:
When we are at our lowest the Sacred arrives to hold us, to remind us of how much we are loved and cherished.  Spirit’s grace flows bringing us back to ourselves, aligning us once again with our Highest Self.

Sometimes, grace flows to us through the compassion of others, as it did for Peter, flowing through Aunt May.  Other times it flows directly to us through the prayer-filled heart of God, as it did for me that day on the mesa.

Grace is always there to bring us back to hope, to raise us out of desolation and despair.  It is free, yours for the experience.  All you have to do is open your heart to the One, to the Sacred.

Can you hear your name beings called?

Do you feel yourself on Holy Ground?
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Open your heart, listen and answer.  Grace is waiting…
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The fall from the mountaintop experiences...

8/18/2018

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​We like to think that we can stay on the mountaintop, on the spiritual high.  We are not meant to.  The mountaintop moments encourage us, instill hope back in us for when we are not on the mountain tops.  The mountaintop moments give us the opportunity to feel success, to breathe in victor, to see the expanse of our life journey — where we have come from and where we are going.  They are moments, breathes, glimpses that encourage and empower us along the way.

We must come off the mountain top moments, back into ordinary reality.  Most of us prefer to walk down slowly on a nice gentle slope.  But there are moments when we fall down, like Spider-man in Spiderman: Homecoming

Spiderman:  Homecoming:
Spider-man has just caught the elevator when it first begins to fall.  He has braced himself by his legs on both sides of the elevator shaft.  He is in awe and shock that he actually succeeded!

Spider-man: Oh, I did it!

He has a moment of victory and breathe before the elevator shaft gives way and sends him and the elevator tumbling toward the ground. 

No worries, the elevator gets caught on its way down and Spider-man hits the floor of the elevator.  He is able to use his web-shooter and hold the elevator where it is at.  This time, he does not celebrate.  He holds on, works to get the elevator to a floor, and struggles to hold it.

Spiritual Journey:
As I said above, we do not get to stay on the mountaintop experiences of life.  They are moments that we use to empower us, to dig deep into our strength and courage, to remind us that we can do it!  Spider-man uses his moment of success to truly succeed in saving the day on his second attempt.

How we deal with our departure from the mountaintop, whether it is intentionally hiking off the summit toward the next one or free-falling off, uncovers who we are at the core of our being. 

Do we leave the summit kicking and screaming, wanting to go back, stay in that beautiful high?  Do we depart on our own, curious about what lies ahead? 

Is our departure intentional, wanting to continue to grow, heal, expand, explore?  Or is it unintentional?

When we reach the low point between the two summits, do we look around curious as to what we can learn about ourselves?  Are we open to confronting our fears, our wounds, our own humanity?  Or do we stubbornly work to get back to where you were?

Do you trust Spirit to guide you toward the next mountaintop?  Do you trust the strength of your footing, your intuition, your power to get you there?   Or do you give into despair, sinking into stuckness?

Mt Washington and me:
My dad and I on one of our hikes, hiked up the basin of Mt Washington.  It was a tremendously beautiful day.  I was on a high.  You can see for miles from up there.

The fall
On the way down, I was extremely confident and had a tremendous amount of energy.  I decided to run down the trail.  It was wide and nicely sloped.  So I ran.  It was going really really well until the moment when my foot landed on the moss-side of a rock instead of the dry-side.  Yep, you guessed it!

I remember thinking, “Oh crap…” ('I'll admit, I used stronger words than that) as I flew into the air.  I remember being airborne.  The next moment I was on the ground, 10-15 feet from where I slipped.  I had quite a bit of momentum happening.

The landing:
I had landed in the only position that allowed me to be alive and well and walk off the mountain.  My body had somehow landed between all the rocks on the trail.  No broken bones.  No head trauma.  A bit of blood from a scrape on my elbow.  A lot of shock!
My dad and a few other hikers helped patch me up and I walked slowly and sorely off the mountain. 

My experience:
But I knew in that moment that Spirit had protected me in my fall.  I could have easily broken a bone — leg or arm — if I had landed 1/2 an inch differently.  I may not have lived if my head had landed 1/2 an inch differently.

My reaction to that fall was one of gratitude.  Yes, I was a bit embarrassed.  But, wow I was grateful for the protection of my Helping Spirits.

I made a choice to experience this moment, this fall into the valley, as a gift, a blessing, a reminder that Spirit was there protecting me when things did not go the way I thought they would.

Departing from the Mountaintop:
We are given a choice in how we experience those low moments in our life.  Like Spider-man, like myself, do you chose to see them as second chances, as moments to learn, as moments to be reminded that there is a force greater than you that love and protects you?

Psalm 23 reminds us:

Adonai, you are my shepherd --
I want nothing more.
You let me lie down in green meadows,
you lead me beside restful waters:
you refresh my soul
You guide me to lush pastures
for the same of your Name.
Even if I'm surrounded by shadows of Death,
I fear no danger,
for you are with me.
Your rod and your staff--
they give me courage.
You spread a table for me
in the presence of my enemies,
and you anoint my head with oil -- 
my cup overflows!
Only goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in your house, Adonai,
for days without end.

Spirit invites you to embrace the journey between mountaintops.  What can you learn about yourself?  How can you grow and deepen your connection with Spirit? 

Trust that Spirit is with you.

Know that Spirit guides you.

Feel yourself wrapped in the protective, loving arms of Spirit.
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The next mountaintop view will amaze you…
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    Pastor Jocelyn Emerson weaves together her training as a Light and Energy worker, Reiki master, spiritual director, and Pastor with her life experience as a mystic and contemplative to offer a space of trust, safety, and honesty to support you on your life's journey.

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