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Beyond the Obstacle
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Growth Unlocked
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Collaboration Magic
Welcome to WordPress! This is a sample post. Edit or delete it to take the first step in your blogging journey. To add more content here, click the small plus icon at the top left corner. There, you will find an existing selection of WordPress blocks and patterns, something to suit your every need for content creation. And don’t forget to check out the List View: click the icon a few spots to the right of the plus icon and you’ll get a tidy, easy-to-view list of the blocks and patterns in your post.
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Teamwork Triumphs
Welcome to WordPress! This is a sample post. Edit or delete it to take the first step in your blogging journey. To add more content here, click the small plus icon at the top left corner. There, you will find an existing selection of WordPress blocks and patterns, something to suit your every need for content creation. And don’t forget to check out the List View: click the icon a few spots to the right of the plus icon and you’ll get a tidy, easy-to-view list of the blocks and patterns in your post.
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Adaptive Advantage
Welcome to WordPress! This is a sample post. Edit or delete it to take the first step in your blogging journey. To add more content here, click the small plus icon at the top left corner. There, you will find an existing selection of WordPress blocks and patterns, something to suit your every need for content creation. And don’t forget to check out the List View: click the icon a few spots to the right of the plus icon and you’ll get a tidy, easy-to-view list of the blocks and patterns in your post.
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The Already-But-Not-Yet…
As we light the first Advent candle, the candle of hope, we do so with the prophetic words of Jeremiah ringing in our ears, “‘The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will fulfill the good promise I made to the people…” (Jeremiah 33:14)
These words were first spoken to those living in the aftermath of war; standing in the ashes and rubble of all they held dear. Jeremiah reminded them of God’s promise to send exactly what they longed for, one who would restore justice and bring safety. There was little proof that this “Righteous Savor” would arrive within their life time, in fact it took another 500 years before the birth of Jesus. In the meantime these people had to get up every day and begin to slowly bring about life amid the ashes.
Author, professor, and modern day theologian, Kate Bowler writes that we, like those who first heard these words of Jeremiah, find ourselves living in the “already-but-not-yet.” She is known by many as a modern day Jeremiah, one who has fought stage four colon cancer into remission and who discovered hope through a curtain of tears while standing in the ashes of life. She knows what it takes to get up each day and bring about life in the midst of a terminal diagnosis, living through horrible cancer treatments that fell profoundly short of fulfillment, and yet, she brings good news from this land of loss and desperation; there is reason for hope.
Bowler writes, there is a new hope, a new truth. She writes that the season of Advent invites us to bear witness to the hope of God’s promise being fulfilled while also bearing witness to our not so perfect lives, “God has made us for truth-telling, to have eyes that glimpse through tears at the already-and-not-yet that we live in. And at the same time, these same eyes are trained on Jesus, who embodies the compassion, restoration, and justice we long for.” *
She teaches that the only way to true life sustaining hope is by being honest with ourselves; to open ourselves to lament all that is not perfect in our lives. Truth is, the story of God’s work in the world consists both of hope and despair, not hope in the absence of despair, but hope in the face of despair and, often, through despair.
Living between the already-but-not-yet means we need to make space to lament. Lament is a biblical practice that invites us to express our sorrow, pain, or confusion. It is the act of grieving with God. By practicing this honest form of prayer we are creating a space for hope to take root despite all that isn’t perfect.*
May your Advent journey begin with an honest and truly sustainable hope,
Rev. Heather McCarrel
(Kate Bowler, The Weary World Rejoices, Advent Study. 2024; pgs. 6-7)
Photo by Gantas Vaiciulenas/Pexels
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Spreading Seeds of Care, Connection, and Community
The best part of going away is coming home again! My husband and I took a mini holiday this past week. We decided to spend a few days in a popular destination prior to the height of the tourist season. The hotel, known for its luxury, didn’t disappoint nor did its reputation for friendly and welcoming staff; we will be going back. The restaurants were not only full of charming atmosphere, and friendly staff but the food was also delicious.
What did surprise me were the tourists. Folks seemed less friendly then I remember. If a group of us were in an elevator, no one spoke or when a group of us were in the same tour group one afternoon, everyone was polite but certainly not friendly. It seemed that folks have become more insular, less interested in connecting, even in the slightest way, with others around them. As I observed this change in human behavior I found myself asking, “When did this start to happen? Is this the result of too much time spent on social media? Is this a by-product of the pandemic? ” I was puzzled by what I was witnessing.
It wasn’t until our first evening home that the puzzle was solved. We had stopped at the corner store to purchase a bag of milk. As I was leaving the store a young man fell in step behind me. He was balancing several bottles of pop and a few bags of potato chips. There was dust all over him from the top of his work hat, across his work shirt covering most of the logo from a local construction company, and all the way down to his work boots. He looked to be on his way home from a long day. Not wanting to slow him down I stepped aside and said, “You go ahead of me, I move rather slow these days.”
He responded, “That’s okay. I’m in no hurry.”
He stepped ahead of me and walking through the automated doors he turned and held the door open with his shoulder and said, “Just in case it begins to close on you, I will hold it.” I smiled and thanked him, knowing he had just solved the puzzle for me.
The reason folks down in the city seemed so indifferent to each other is because they don’t live where I live. In the town I live we hold doors for each other, we smile and chit chat even with strangers and we most certainly care for the other.
His actions reminded me of the saying, ‘Humankind: be both!’
As the first long weekend of the summer arrives may the hospitality of our small communities warm the hearts of the tourists and be carried back to the cities; seeds of care, connection and community.
Happy Summer,
Rev. Heather McCarrel
Photo by Gary Barnes/Pexels
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Summer Solstice Has Arrived!
Today, Thursday June 20th, 2024, at about 4:50 p.m. we will experience the moment of perfect balance! This is the day when the sun reaches its highest and northernmost point in the sky, according to the Farmer’s Almanac, marking the first day of astronomical summer; the summer solstice.
“The summer solstice occurs in the northern hemisphere when the northern half of the globe has its closest tilt towards the sun. Conversely, it’s also when the southern hemisphere experiences the winter solstice, as the southern half of the globe is at its furthest tilt away from the Sun.” (Adler Planetarium)
Traditionally the summer solstice has been celebrated in many ways such as Midsummer Festivals which include bonfires, picnics, singing, maypole dancing, and hikes to elevated heights either to witness the sunrise or sunset. Some take to the beach as a means of commencing their summer rituals of sailing, surfing, or simply sun bathing. Others plan a special meal with friends and family marking this special day with a BBQ and a backyard celebration.
Author Sarah Ban Breathnach reminds us that “One way of celebrating the Solstice is to consider it a sacred time of reflection, release, restoration, and renewal.”
However you may mark the solstice remember that today affords us 15 hours of day light to inaugurate the summer with deliberate joy, celebration, and fun; the perfect way to begin this most welcomed season.
Blessings,
Rev. Heather McCarrel
Photo by Travis Rupert/Pexels
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Why Write?
A few folks have asked me recently why I had stopped writing. Perhaps it was the darkness of winter that had seeped deep into my bones resulting in a tiredness that weakened me. Or, perhaps it was a winter sleepiness that, like a cloud of scentless poison, had lulled me into a dull haze. I am not entirely sure. It just felt that my small voice was no match for the looming issues facing us all.
Such issues as homelessness which seems to have grown into a global pandemic matched only by the surreal number of accidental overdoses and both pale in comparison to the global environmental catastrophes reported daily.
It all had silenced me.
Until early in spring, before dawn one morning I heard this lone bird singing a thin melody. I stepped out in the predawn darkness searching skyward; no other bird had joined the song and yet, it continued to sing. Something in its refrain struck a chord deep within me, encouraging me to rise again and join my simple voice against the darkness.
This courageous birdsong reminded me that there is still some worthiness in this worn out world. There is beauty, kindness, and goodness still to be found; the world hasn’t gone entirely to rot.
My voice may rise in a whisper offering little wisdom except the observation of what beauty I find. As I recently read, “We do not see the world as it is, we see it as we are.”
May we all reside within a place that hears the little bird singing in the darkness of a beautiful world.
Blessings,
Rev. Heather McCarrel
Photo by lil artsy/Pixels
Stain Glass Lens of the 21st Century 