The Weekly View

Sunday, June 28, 2020

Dear St Luke Community,

I’ve been thinking about humility lately. And I’ve been thinking about our ability to say:

• “I don’t know, but I’d like to know.”  Or,
• “I don’t understand, but I'd like to understand.” Or,
• "I don’t agree, but I'd like to understand more about why you believe what you believe.”

I’m not entirely sure why I’ve been thinking so much about humility lately. I’m sure the state of the country has much to do with it. Every day there’s more happening that makes me feel inadequate. As a white female pastor I feel inadequate to provide words of wisdom regarding Black Lives. As a relatively wealthy person in the US, I’m all too aware that my neighbors are suffering and any help I give won’t be enough. As a friend of a few people who have been directly affected by the cruelty of this virus, I have no leader to point to as a sign of hope.

And yet, to stay stuck in my own feelings of inadequacy, shame or guilt is not what Jesus calls on any of us to do. What Jesus calls on us to do is to take the lowest seat, or to come from a place a humility. To find our humility, individually or as a nation, is a kind of letting go of everything you think you already know about yourself. To discover humility is to open up your heart like that of a child’s, entering into discussions with curiosity and without judgment. To live in humility is to look forward to how God is doing a new thing and ask how you might be used by God in the process. We are in a wilderness period, not unlike the Hebrew people of long ago. And like any wilderness period, it’s both frightening at times, beautiful at other times, and requires a dependence on God so deep it requires constant humility. Which as it turns out, is a gift.

See you Sunday on Zoom,
Nicole

Sunday, June 7, 2020

Dear St. Luke Community,

In light of all that’s been happening across our country (and even in a few cities around the world), I’d like to offer you some resources as a way to begin morally imagining together the kind of world that reflects God’s intended creation.

Many of you have asked what can you do, and these resources attempt to address that. I offer them as tools for those who would like to educate themselves and an invitation into imagining together what the world can look like when all of God’s people are treated equally.

The first is a video, “Deconstructing White Privilege,” produced in 2018 by the General Commission on Religion and Race of the United Methodist Church.  This video was shown at our Presbytery meeting last September, and I found it extremely helpful as a way to begin. The speaker, Dr. Robin DiAngelo, is the author of a book called White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism. 

Another resource is this document, "Anti-racism Resources" which lists books, podcasts, and resources to links that will give you suggestions on what you can do.

Here’s a link to another video, "Moral Imagination," by very smart and articulate theologians and justice-oriented people from the Faith Matters Network articulating the term “moral imagination” and how can we re-imagine our social practices that affect the public square.

THIS SUNDAY

And finally, this Sunday is Trinity Sunday as well as Communion Sunday. Paul imagines a world where we greet one another with a holy embrace (2 Corinthians 13:11-13). And in Genesis 1, God creates. Imagination and creation are not just things left up to God. We are God’s co- creators, called upon to imagine and create the kind of world that reflects the Kingdom. The Kingdom is both already here now, but also not entirely fulfilled, because we’ve messed it up. As we imagine the weeks and months ahead of us, I suggest we stop thinking about when we will get back to normal and begin to imagine together what the new normal will look like. What new and imaginative ways of living together can we create for ourselves as a church and as a community?

See you Sunday on Zoom,

Nicole

Sunday, May 31, 2020

Dear St. Luke Community,

This Sunday is Pentecost. It’s the day we call the birthday of the church. It’s the day we celebrate the ways the spirit connects us as people of God. And so it seems it will be a great day to make it a party by combining Zoom worship with Sausalito Presbyterian Church and my good friend, the Rev. Paul Mowry.

Paul and I will both preach a shorter sermon and the format may change just slightly as he will introduce our church to some of the traditions of his church and we will do the same for them. There will be more faces to look at and breakout sessions after worship. Please wear or decorate with orange and red as we give thanks to God for the blessing that is the connectional Spirit sustaining us always.

See you Sunday on Zoom,

Nicole