Lunch with God

Only last Sunday did Anne's homily address the power of the Holy Spirit--and, for me, it was a "take away" (which I often revisit and reflect during morning meditations, and this latest take-away was no exception).  The homily brought me back to a story I remembered from a Sunday School Class from so long ago, it was called my "junior high" school era (yes, feels like a hundred years ago).  The author is unknown so the story I hope to share is very paraphrased, and I hope I capture it enough to deliver its intent.

There was a little girl named Evie who wanted to meet God. She knew it was a long trip to where God lived, so she packed her suitcase with a bag of cookies and six cans of lemonade and started on her journey. When she had gone about three blocks, she met an old woman in the park.

The old woman was sitting on a bench, staring down at some pigeons. Evie sat down next to her and opened her suitcase. She was about to take a drink from one of her lemonades when she noticed that the lady looked hungry, so Evie offered her a cookie.

The woman gratefully accepted it and smiled at Evie.  Her smile was so pretty that Evie wanted to see it again, so she offered her one of the lemonades. Again, the old woman accepted the drink and gave Evie a big smile.

Evie was delighted! The two sat there all afternoon--eating cookies, drinking lemonade, and smiling at each other--but they never spoke a word.  As it grew dark, Evie realized how tired she was and she got up to leave, but before she had gone more than a few steps, she turned around, ran back to the old woman, and gave her a hug, and the old woman returned Evie's hug with her biggest smile ever.

When Evie opened the door to her own house a short time later, her mother was surprised by the look of joy on her face. She asked Evie, “What did you do today that made you so happy?"

Evie replied, "I had lunch with God." But before her mother could respond, she added, "You know what? She's got the most beautiful smile I've ever seen!"

Meanwhile, the old woman, also radiant with joy, returned to her home.  Her son asked her what she had been doing all afternoon. She said she was fairly certain she had been with God.  Before her son could respond, she added, "You know, she's much younger than I expected."

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 includes the verse, "For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven."  Has someone come into your life that might need the feeling that God has reached out to them?  Are you that vessel? And like in this little story, actions spoke louder than words.  People come into our lives for a reason, a season, or a lifetime.  Has the Holy Spirit been present for you to share?

— Debi Nicolai

A performance? Or a gift?

If you’ve been keeping up with your St. Andrew’s newsletters (and boy, our church is blessed with so many faithful readers!) you’ve seen pictures of an intergenerational choir rehearsing before worship. Children were invited to join the adult choir for a joint anthem coming up on June 2nd, and the response from young families has been amazing! Rev. Anne referenced this group (over 30 people when we’re all present) in her Pentecost sermon as one of the many ways she sees the Holy Spirit at work at St. Andrew’s. Indeed, I am struck with an undeniable sense of God’s presence when I see an adult choir member bend down to help a child find his place in the music, or a child who has been a member for only a few months sing out heartily next to an adult whose involvement at St. Andrew’s spans several decades.

At one of these rehearsals, I referenced the fact that we will be singing at worship, and I noticed one child visibly recoil. I was instantly transported back from the person I am now–whose job it is to perform weekly at worship– to the person I was at her age. I loathed having more than a few sets of eyes on me at once.

I hastily backtracked and tried to reframe the scenario. When the choir sings in worship (or when someone delivers a sermon, or signs up to be a lector), it is for the purpose of strengthening the faith of everyone present. Singing with the choir feels like a performance but is actually a gift. Culturally we are led to believe that singing is a competition, a solo activity that opens one up to criticism and exclusion (thanks a LOT, The Voice and American Idol!). In the face of that, WE are here as this child’s church family to remind her that God gave us voices to sing in order that we might be a blessing to others (and, in turn, be blessed ourselves).

The intergenerational choir is singing– offering our gift– June 2nd at the 10:30 service. At this service we will recognize all worship leaders, graduates, children’s chapel teachers, and children’s chapel participants. It will be a great way to see and hear the incredible ways God has been working in this congregation all year.

            Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing. –1 Thessalonians 5: 11.

-- Ginny Chilton, Minister of Music

Friends

 I do not call you servants any longer… but I have called you friends.  -  John 15.15

Jesus ups the ante for his disciples in this past Sunday’s gospel reading from John, claiming them as more than disciples, now as friends, intimate equals. He recognizes that what he sent to  teach them is now complete, having passed on all that the Father has sent him to teach them, and commands them to love one another as He has loved them, His final summation of the law.

What does it mean to love like Jesus loves, for each of us ? How have we felt this sacrificial love in our own lives, and how do we live it out, and pass it on, in our own world and time ?

These are challenging and polarized times, an extreme distortion of a former time which was marked by more civility, where opposing worldviews have become pathologized, and the bearers of dissent are dismissed as enemies.

Come, let us reason together, and see one another through the eyes of unquenchable love, by the One sent to demonstrate the love of God, and who calls us into Holy Friendship, with Him, and with each other.

—  Kathy Gray, Deacon

Jesus will have no hierarchies,
no separations or divisions,
not even between us and him.
“Call no one good but God.”
There are no greater and lesser,
no servants and masters,
no insiders and outsiders.
Not even believers and unbelievers.
Only friends, peers, siblings, companions.
Every stranger is a sibling.
Every person you meet is a friend
for whom you would lay down your life.
There is no “them.” There is only us.
In the love of Christ, befriend this world
and everyone in it;
you will never be alone.

Friends by Steve Garnaas-Holmes