Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 
Philippians 4:8

I needed this reminder recently and perhaps you do too. These words are a touchstone that serve as not only wise guidance, but permission, yes permission, to at least occasionally turn thoughts away from the breaking evening news, away from fears, away from sorrow, away from grievances, away from social media trivialities, away from [fill in the blank], and toward what is noble and right and pure and lovely and excellent and praiseworthy.
There are lots of reasons to stock our minds well:

• To be catalyzed, expanded, and ignited. Those of us who have battled a blah spirit and lifeless mind upon occasion in this pandemic won't find it difficult to draw a link between the state of our spirit and the state of our mind.

• To stay optimistic and not lose hope or vibrancy. The world is full of wonderful things.

• To know the richness, vastness, and beauty of that which has been divinely created.

• To form a solid foundation from which to launch action.

• To be equipped for creativity and resilience for the days to come. 

It's always OK to be a student of what you've already learned long ago and have needed to learn again and again. May your day be one of joy and hope. The world is full of wonderful things.

Grace and peace,

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

For most of us, the coronavirus pandemic represents a completely unprecedented circumstance, as novel as it is life-changing. No event in recent history has affected us as profoundly and pervasively. Not only does it remind us of our physical fragility, it undermines economic security, throws daily routines topsy-turvy, wreaks havoc on plans and isolates us from friends and neighbors. The stressful external forces this pandemic unleashed are exerting a deep internal effect (I am revealing my bi-vocational identity as a pastor-psychologist here). This crisis has introduced wide-ranging uncertainty and we are all chronically aroused and stimulated by the stress, while at the same time there is a daily repetitiveness that can be wearyingly familiar and mind-numbing after ten weeks of confinement. These are REALLY difficult circumstances for all of us to deal with personally and professionally, not to mention as a church body who longs to be together and do ministry, when the conditions are right. 
 
Many people are feeling restless, frustrated, concerned about the effect a shelter-at-home summer is going to have on their already frazzled kids. Others are beyond ready to resume life beyond home and are itching to move beyond this current phase of restriction. Some are anxious about a premature effort to restart that might mean trouble later. What do we do?
 
Your pastoral staff and leadership team are deeply aware of these tensions and conflicting forces. Our deepest desire is to discern well the best practices for emerging from this quarantine, to remain surrendered to the Spirit as we consider every aspect of what is at stake moving forward. We love you all and want to be wise as we make decisions! 
 
Our Town Hall gathering on Sunday the 24th  at 10:30 is to let you know the “state of the church” and the issues we are thinking about as we ponder what it means to return to campus in the future. Please continue to pray vigorously for God’s guidance, for those in our community who are experiencing great hardship or health/mental health challenges and for each of to “clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and peace.” (Colossians 3:12)

Grace and peace,

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

Reflections on Psalm 23

Shepherding God, my desire is to follow you to those green pastures and still waters. I want to rest in you. Yet, rest is rare in these days of crisis, and stillness is fraught with exhaustion. Caring for your people, and finding the right path through this deep valley weighs heavily on my spirit. I often forget that you are with me and that it is your ways that I seek. Awaken me once again to your presence that I may live in your pastures even now.

Restoring and renewing God, you know my heart even before I do. You know the fears I will not give voice to, and you know the dreams I hardly dare to acknowledge. May the whispers of your spirit bring a new assurance and restore peace to my soul. With every budding flower and every soaring bird, I am reminded that you are at work restoring Creation. Yours is always a promise of new life. Grant me the courage to trust that promise.

Ever-present God, it isn’t evil that I fear, exactly. It is the anger, the despair that drives some people to aggression or selfishness. I fear the ignorance propagated by inadequate public leadership. I fear the desperation that grows in so many of my neighbors. I fear the frailty of this body of mine. Enter into these fears, God of life, and renew a right spirit within me.

Comforting God, you are present even now amid COVID-19. While faith will not protect me or anyone else from this virus, your Love can guide humanity if we let it. We can show up for our neighbors who have lost loved ones, employment, hope. We can share resources and not hoard them for ourselves. We can find hope for this world, for humanity, for a future unlike our past. If we rely on your Love, it becomes possible to address the brokenness highlighted by this crisis. Guide us all onto the path that will end all fear of the “other” and heal divisions we have created.

Merciful and healing God, I am at a loss for words when it comes to the suffering of so many. It is hard to believe that healing will come. It is hard to believe that the whole world won’t sink into despair that is impossible to rise out of. Yet, you promise all who seek you will find goodness and mercy. May this be true for those who are grieving… for those who struggle with symptoms of mental illness… for those who have no hope… for those who believe the lies of the politicians… for the politicians themselves… Guide us all to the cup that overflows.

God of life and Love, you have opened the gate of possibility for us all. We can give in to fear or we can choose Love. Forgive me for the moments when Love seems impossible and wholeness seems elusive. You are the gate to new life, to abundant life. Abundance of joy and Love and forgiveness and mercy and so much more are possible even in this time. Fill me with gratitude for all that I have and enable me to pass through your gate to live a life of generosity and grace.

In gratitude and hope, I pray. Be with all who struggle to live in hope and Love. Be with all who risk their lives for the sake of others. Be with all who are surrounded by death. May every human being experience the wonders of your Love and the life of abundance you freely offer. Awaken the hearts and minds of every dreamer and visionary to speed the day of hope and healing for all people. In the meantime, teach me anew what it means to trust in you – in your presence, in your Love, in your grace, in your mercy, in your forgiveness that I may share your abundance with all whom I meet. In the name of the One who came to teach us how to Love one another, Amen.

Grace and peace,

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

Sometimes only poetry helps me to find words for what I am experiencing. During this pandemic, April is National Poetry Month. This week I needed Wendell Berry:

The Peace of Wild Things

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

Grace and peace,

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

As I was reflecting on the “shelter in place” that we are all practicing, the phrase “stay put” came to my mind. The Oxford English Dictionary describes “stay put” as a colloquialism that originated in the US in the mid-19th century. The OED defines the verbal phrase as meaning “to remain where or as placed; to remain fixed or steady; also fig. (of persons, etc.).” This everyday hanging out in our houses until further notice, for the sake of the common good, also reminds me of the Benedictine rule for monastic life: to stay put in one place (stability), listen well to God (attentive obedience) and be changed by God (conversion through lifelong conversation). So much of ordinary life falls under this rubric. 

Could staying in place be a pilgrimage for us during this stressful, uncertain time? I’m not interested in spiritualizing a very serious global disaster, but perhaps there is an invitation for us to reconsider how we live. We tend to think that movement is good, particularly up the ladder, up the power grid, up the chain of command, up the salary structure, up up up. Or at least movement of any pleasant variety: seeing the world, visiting all the new restaurants, being free and unrestricted. It will be awhile before those are our options. Is that the life to which we want to return? 

We are not all called to be Benedictines or to follow their rule, but it can be both rewarding and challenging to re-imagine how staying in place is part of a high calling. Thinking about this time as an opportunity to be spiritually formed helps us walk continually in the presence of God. In order to open our ears to God’s voice and our eyes to God’s presence among us, Benedict tells us we must keep our hearts and minds open to the ways that God is moving us, in whatever circumstances we find ourselves. 

What are you to be about sitting at the same window every morning? Sitting in the same chair, sitting at the same computer, lying in the same bed? Serving your family hour after hour? A you juggle conflicting priorities, negotiate broadband issues, soothe hurt feelings and manage cabin fever, to whom are you listening? What do you hear? How are you being changed?
 
Grace and peace,

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

Ways to be missional in a pandemic:
 
*Prayer walk your neighborhood, praying for each household.
*Pray generally for those infected, those in high risk categories, and for politicians, health professionals, epidemiologists and decision makers.
*Offer to pray for your neighbors. Get to know them all by name and inquire about their wellbeing regularly.
*Host a front yard prayer meeting (appropriately distanced).
*Write encouraging messages on the sidewalk in chalk.
*Set up a chalkboard in front of your house and write fun and encouraging messages. Leave chalk for others to add their own thoughts.
*Deliver gifts and provisions to meet known needs (and to surprise others with a kind act).
* Invite someone new to your Growth Group and expand your network of support.
*Talk to neighbors as you walk (keeping your required distance).
*If you are musical, hold a driveway concert.
*Join a front window bear hunt for local kids.
*Support the USPS and send snail mail cards or letters of encouragement.
*Host a virtual dinner party using Zoom.
*Set up a little pantry outside your home and fill it with toilet paper and non-perishables.
*Clean up trash from streets and parks.
*Raise funds for a cause using an online donations platform. Initiate generosity.
*Begin to anticipate what might be needed in the transition from shelter-at-home and partner with others to create caring circles to assist those with food and financial insecurity. 
 
Other ideas? 
 
Grace and peace,

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

Those final few days of His life may have been like this:
the sky oppressive with storm clouds,
the shouldered burden too painful,
His soul weighed down, discouraged, disheartened.
Each step brought Him closer
to a desperate loneliness borne of betrayal and rejection.
But the end of that dark walk was just the beginning
of a journey into new covenant:
He is anointed from the broken jar,
His aching joints covered in perfume
by one who believes 
and wants to help bear His burden.
Instead of rain, the clouds bear light,
flooding the pathway so we too can come together to lift the load.
Instead of loneliness, now arises a community like no other.
Instead of stillness, there is declaration of His glory to the heavens.
Instead of discouragement, He embodies hope for all hearts.

His promise fulfilled spills over our path, our feet, our heads.
We too are drenched in gratitude, flooded with grace.
 
 He is Risen!

Grace and peace,

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

This week I have been reading through Matthew 6:25-34 repeatedly, the one where Jesus tells his disciples “Don’t worry.” We all know that when someone is worried, “Don’t worry” is about the worst thing you can say. Not only does it imply that not worrying is something we can simply stop through willpower, but it can also come with a certain amount of shame. Really, Jesus? To worry is human. There is no way Jesus could simply expect us not to worry.
 
But if you are like me, I’d actually like not to worry so much at a time like this, to trust, to have faith. And this is not just related to the pandemic, but about the world in general, the safety and health of my family and friends, future, retirement, etc. 
 
So, I’ve been thinking about this phrase from Jesus, “Don’t worry.” It got me thinking about Buddhism, that begins with the recognition that all of life is suffering. And the key to managing the suffering is not to become attached to the things you think you need. Nonattachment is the Buddhist way to not worry. But Jesus says in this passage something different: he says “Don’t worry, because your heavenly Father has got you.” The way of Jesus, in worry is not to detach; it is actually to attach more deeply to the One who knows what we need before we even ask. 
 
Jesus says, “Don’t worry” and then “Look at the birds” and “consider the lilies.” When you are worried, look and consider. It is not an answer, but it is a way. Don’t worry, dear ones, instead look at God’s creation, consider his goodness and maybe, just maybe, when we look and consider we become able to seek his Kingdom. As Jesus said in John 16, “In this world you will have trouble, but take heart for I have overcome the world.” When you are worried, look, consider and seek. Amen.
Grace and peace,

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

 "God of the present moment, God who in Jesus stills the storm and soothes the frantic heart; bring hope and courage to all who wait or work in uncertainty.

Bring hope that you will make them the equal of whatever lies ahead. Bring them courage to endure what cannot be avoided, for your will is health and wholeness; you are God, and we need you."

- Adapted from A New Zealand Prayer Book

Our sermon text this week is Jonah 3, his road to the unexpected. Seems incredibly timely...

Grace and peace,

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation