Love…death…holes

Loving is difficult. It makes us vulnerable, and we’re not good at that. We want to be in control…because so much in life is out of our control.

But life without loving is also difficult. It isolates us…keeps us locked inside ourselves.

Both giving and receiving love is important. We sometimes love with conditions, but there are times when love is completely unconditional…and that often occurs with our pets.

Rascal

Rascal was a member of our family for about 12-1/2 years. He came to us already named–and we laughed about the fact that he often lived up to–or down to–his name. But he crept into our hearts. He knew when we were hurting, knew when someone needed a hug. He was independent–but willing to lay down that independence when someone in his pack needed him.

At his last checkup, we discovered that he had potential heart problems. We could have had more testing done–but even if we had found out for certain that there were problems, there wasn’t anything that could have been done at the time. So we knew we were looking down the road at the end of our time with him, but we thought it would still be a while.

That wasn’t to be, though.

Friday night he started having breathing problems–and Saturday morning at 7:00, he crossed the rainbow bridge.

I’ve been grateful that he was with us all night…and that he was snuggled up next to me when he took his last breath. He was not alone…he was with his pack.

But now there’s a hole. We keep looking, expecting to see him snuggled in his blanket on the couch…or sitting in the chair, watching and ready to bark at intruders who enter “his” space…or looking at us when we leave, waiting for us to say, “It’s okay, boy, we’ll be back in a little bit.”

The house feels empty.

I know the hole will fill…down the road. And I know we have lots and lots of memories of fun times with him. But we still feel the loss. He is not the first fur baby we have lost…just the most recent.

Loving is difficult. It makes us vulnerable. But, as Anatole France said, “Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened. ” Without loving, without both giving and receiving unconditional love, we are not whole.

 

Church? When?

I grew up at a time when life was–in many ways–less hectic. And there were some times that were sacrosanct…kept free. Wednesday nights and Sundays were reserved…for church.

And the blue laws were still in effect. For those too young to remember, that meant that stores weren’t open on Sundays either. If you’d forgotten to buy something on Saturday that you were going to need on Sunday, that was too bad. You’d have to improvise!

But time moved on…and religion began to take a less important place in our lives–at least, in some ways. And sports began to take a bigger part. There were more and more opportunities for kids…and because more kids wanted to take part, the times when sports were scheduled began to expand…and moved into those previously sacred times.

So here we are now. Often there are rehearsals on Wednesday nights…and games on Sundays.

And yet, we seem to do church the same way we did all those years ago. And it’s not working…not well.

So…what do we do?

Yes, there are many people for whom Sunday morning church still works. I’m not advocating doing away with it, because I know that time and experience are still important parts of their schedules.

But there are many, many others for whom “traditional” church and traditional church time don’t work. Maybe because of jobs…maybe because of school activities…maybe because of sports or dance or other activities that their kids are involved in.

So can we look at some new possibilities?

• Does church have to be on Sunday morning?
• Does it have to be formal?
• What if we set up some meetings in homes (house churches)?
• What if we didn’t actually have a sermon?
• What if we did a “chat and chow” activity?
• What if we met at a bookstore? a Starbucks?
• What if we met in the evening?
• Could we create online communities of worshipers?

I’m sure there are other possibilities…I am still tied enough to traditional understandings of church that I find it a bit difficult to think outside the box. But I think it’s important to, because there are a lot of folks who are searching but not finding a spiritual home in our Sunday morning services.

I still love those services–they meet many of my needs. But I’m also excited about the possibilities that are out there…and trying to listen for where the Holy Spirit is calling us (me…) to go.

A resurrected church…

As we begin to move beyond Easter towards Pentecost, I’ve been musing a bit.

At Easter, we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. I know there are many perspectives on that experience…but it got me wondering.

What would a resurrected church look like?

I wonder if that’s what we’re experiencing today?

I hear many people bemoaning the fact that “Christianity is dying”…that congregations are closing…that young people are leaving (in droves)…. Maybe so.

But maybe what we’re experiencing is the death of something that has to die in order for a new, transformed movement to arise. A movement that truly lives out the Golden Rule…that bases its life experiences and worship on what Jesus said were the two greatest commandments–to love God with all our being and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. A movement that delights in the diversity of God’s creation…that sees humanity as stewards of creation, not consumers.

Moving towards resurrection is not easy. It’s hard to allow something to die, to let go of something that has perhaps formed us for many years.

But maybe…just maybe…it’s necessary. After all, a seed is just a seed until it dies to what it was…and becomes something else…something new and transformed.

And maybe…just maybe…in the dying of the church, we’ll regain the transformative experience of Pentecost when lives were changed…when the world was changed.