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Tag: hope

Time and Age

Wed, November 24, 2021 Published by

I was touched by a recent Facebook post that shares about things we learn through time and age: Read it through to the end, it gets better as you go!

I’ve learned that I like my teacher because she cries when we sing “Silent Night”. Age 5

I’ve learned that our dog doesn’t want to eat my broccoli either. Age 7

I’ve learned that when I wave to people in the country, they stop what they are doing and wave back. Age 9

I’ve learned that just when I get my room the way I like it, Mom makes me clean it up again. Age 12

I’ve learned that if you want to cheer yourself up, you should try cheering someone else up. Age 14

I’ve learned that although it’s hard to admit it, I’m secretly glad my parents are strict with me. Age 15

I’ve learned that silent company is often more healing than words of advice. Age 24

I’ve learned that brushing my child’s hair is one of life’s great pleasures. Age 26

I’ve learned that wherever I go, the world’s worst drivers have followed me there.
Age 29

I’ve learned that if someone says something unkind about me, I must live so that no one will believe it. Age 30

I’ve learned that there are people who love you dearly but just don’t know how to show it. Age 42

I’ve learned that you can make someone’s day by simply sending them a little note.
Age 44

I’ve learned that the greater a person’s sense of guilt, the greater his or her need to cast blame on others. Age 46

I’ve learned that children and grandparents are natural allies. Age 47

I’ve learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on and it will be better tomorrow. Age 48

I’ve learned that singing “Amazing Grace” can lift my spirits for hours. Age 49

I’ve learned that motel mattresses are better on the side away from the phone. Age 50

I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a man by the way he handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights. Age 51

I’ve learned that keeping a vegetable garden is worth a medicine cabinet full of pills. Age 52

I’ve learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents, you miss them terribly after they die. Age 53

I’ve learned that making a living is not the same thing as making a life. Age 58

I’ve learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance. Age 62

I’ve learned that you shouldn’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands. You need to be able to throw something back. Age 64

I’ve learned that if you pursue happiness, it will elude you. But if you focus on your family, the needs of others, your work, meeting new people, and doing the very best you can, happiness will find you. Age 65

I’ve learned that whenever I decide something with kindness, I usually make the right decision. Age 66

I’ve learned that everyone can use a prayer. Age 72

I’ve learned that even when I have pains, I don’t have to be one. Age 74

I’ve learned that every day you should reach out and touch someone. People love that human touch – holding hands, a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back. Age 76

I’ve learned that I still have a lot to learn. Age 78

I’ve learned that you lose family and friends over time, so make new friends and remember the good times. Age 80

I’ve learned that you should pass this on to someone you care about. Sometimes they just need a little something to make them smile.

Celebrating Indigenous People’s Day

Mon, October 11, 2021 Published by

Many Native Americans and their supporters like myself recognize the importance of celebrating the history and contributions of ALL AMERICANS, but there has to be a better way to honor Italian Americans, without associating them with Christopher Columbus.
I hope that we could find a reasonable compromise to satisfy all parties involved moving forward.

We Will Do All We Can to Protect Our Beatitudes Family

Mon, September 20, 2021 Published by

Beatitudes Campus mission commits all of us to a model of service for our residents – to inspire purpose and vibrancy in all that we do. Our mission compels us to do all we can so that we do no harm to the ones we love and serve. We are so grateful to our Beatitudes Strong staff, particularly in the last 19 months, who have lived out our mission and worked hard to protect our Beatitudes family and ensure the safest environment possible.

Below is a letter I sent to every staff member, informing them of the policy.

I want to thank all of you for your steadfast support and flexibility throughout the past 19 months of this pandemic. I hope that you and your families are doing well despite the many challenges we have collectively faced and continue to experience because of the pandemic.

Over the past month, much has happened both nationally and locally within life plan communities, such as Beatitudes Campus, regarding COVID-19 vaccines and requiring staff to become vaccinated. As we have always said, we will follow the science, and the science overwhelmingly points to the vaccine’s critical role in protecting our residents, our community and each other from this deadly disease.

We carefully deliberated and reviewed recommendations from scientists and the medical community and the requirements from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and we have made the decision to require all Beatitudes staff and contractors to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 by no later than November 15, 2021. Concomitant with this decision, on August 18, 2021, the White House announced an initiative to increase vaccination rates in America that included mandatory vaccinations for long-term care workers in nursing homes. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) followed quickly with an announcement of forthcoming regulation mandating vaccinations for all staff working in nursing homes. On September 9, 2021, President Biden signed an executive order that included the provision that 17 million health care workers at all facilities, hospitals, home health providers, dialysis centers and other health service providers that receive funds from Medicare and Medicaid be fully vaccinated.

This decision was not an easy one to make. We know that this requirement will affect a portion of our staff. But as COVID-19 variants emerge and proliferate, it is critical that we protect everyone who lives and works at Beatitudes Campus. Our campus mission commits us to a model of service for our residents that promotes soundness of mind, spirit and body. We chose to work in the field of aging so that we could serve some of the most vulnerable people in our communities, and we owe it to them to take every measure possible to ensure the safest environment possible. Our residents and staff expect to be safe at Beatitudes Campus and we need to do everything we can to protect our Beatitudes family. We have a unique and special responsibility to keep the campus as safe as possible to protect our residents and staff, especially as the risk environment rises, as it has during this pandemic.

We understand that this may be a heavy and emotional issue for some staff. There will be a very limited allowance for exemptions for our staff from being vaccinated. Those exemptions will be for legitimate, fully documented medical reasons as well as fully documented long-held religious beliefs. We also understand that some Beatitudes staff will choose not to be vaccinated who do not qualify for one of the rare exemptions. We urge those employees to reconsider based on facts and science. We are all in this together. Together we serve our residents and together we have a collective responsibility to keep them as safe as possible. We encourage you to talk to your manager or director, or, alternatively, we will have our spiritual life team of Rev. Peggy Roberts and Rev. Andrew Moore as well as our nurse educator, Karen Mitchell, who can talk with you confidentially.

Beatitudes Campus policy for a vaccine requirement has been distributed, as well as the forms should you seek an exemption.

Please take a moment to reflect on why you chose to work at Beatitudes Campus and with the seniors who live here. The campus would not have a 56-year history of success without the contributions of a dedicated staff. Throughout this pandemic you have demonstrated your dedication and bravery in the face of unprecedented and challenging circumstances. The residents you love to serve, the residents you help to live their best, most successful and engaged life, are enriched by the Beatitudes team. They deserve to live in the safest community possible. We must do everything possible to deliver a safe environment for them.

We are Beatitudes Strong! Thank you.

Sincerely,
Michelle Just, President and CEO

A Prayer for the Remembrance of 9/11

Fri, September 10, 2021 Published by

O God, our hope and refuge,
in our distress we come quickly to you.
Shock and horror of that tragic day have subsided,
replaced now with an emptiness,
a longing for an innocence lost.

We come remembering those who lost their lives
in New York, Washington D.C., and Pennsylvania.

We are mindful of the sacrifice of public servants
who demonstrated the greatest love of all
by laying down their lives for friends.
We commit their souls to your eternal care
and celebrate their gifts to a fallen humanity.

We come remembering
and we come in hope,
not in ourselves, but in you.

As foundations we once thought secure have been shaken,
we are reminded of the illusion of security.

In commemorating this tragedy,
we give you thanks for your presence
in our time of need
and we seek to worship you in Spirit and in truth,
our guide and our guardian. Amen.

– Written by The Rev. Jeremy Pridgeon, UMC

Optimistic Realism

Sun, August 29, 2021 Published by

I find that to be a worthy challenge to be an optimist AND a realist. To learn to hold those two opposing but equally true things at once. We can grieve all that we’ve been through and also find the strength to deal with the ongoing reality. We can grieve those we’ve lost. We can lament, and fight and struggle with our pandemic fatigue while also finding hope in today, in the reality here and now as we seek to live each day to the fullest.

Slow to Speak

Fri, October 23, 2020 Published by

As I have been doing some preliminary reading and preparation for our upcoming Bible Study on the Book of Proverbs (which you can watch on Channel 1-2, 3:00pm, beginning on Wednesday, October 28th), one verse stood out to me, particularly when rendered in contemporary language: “You will say the wrong thing if you talk too much – so be sensible and watch what you say” (Prov. 10:19).

Rev. Dr. Culver H. “Bill’ Nelson

Sun, April 28, 2019 Published by

This past Tuesday, the Beatitudes Church and Campus communities, along with families and friends, gathered to celebrate the life of our founder, Rev. Dr. Culver H. “Bill’ Nelson. It was a deeply moving service where we heard of his four great passions- Music, Community, Preaching and Denomination Leadership. Each person shared stories and his role in their own leadership development. The Rev. Dr. Dosia Carlson remarked on his love of song and music; The Rev. Dave Hunting on his profound presence at the pulpit and the reflections and actions he left congregants; The Rev. Dr. William “Bill” Lyons on his leadership in the growth of both the United Church of Christ and Southwest Conference, and Peggy Mullan, my predecessor, on his involvement in not only the Campus Church communities, but the Phoenix community as a whole.

With her permission, below are excerpts from her piece.

Bill always believed that the secular community, our civic lives, should not be separate from the spiritual community. A man of action always, he lived that belief. He was a founding member of the Phoenix Forty, a group of forty businessmen brought together by Eugene Pulliam to envision the Phoenix of the future way back in 1975. Much of what we enjoy today in urban Phoenix came out of their dreaming and designing. Bill was active in the formative years of Valley Leadership; he served as chaplain frequently at our state legislature and worked diligently on too many boards and commissions throughout the state of Arizona to enumerate. Among his many joys were the interfaith relationships he fostered with clerics from every faith community imaginable. He enjoyed a particularly close relationship with the esteemed and beloved Rabbi Al Plotkin, another giant from the spiritual community of his generation.

It’s impossible to talk about Bill without speaking of his beloved wife and partner in everything important – Dee. He loved her passionately and unabashedly. When Dee suffered a massive stroke and then through the years several others, Bill rose to the occasion in a way that honestly surprised us all. She had been the wind beneath Bill’s wings…we feared he would not know what to do. How very wrong we were.

It will always be a point of pride for me and every other employee of the Campus that we were part of Bill and Dee’s lives as they grew older.

I’d like to close my comments today by presuming to speak for someone who is not able to be at this lectern today—Bill’s good friend and my predecessor that I mentioned earlier, Rev. Dr. Ken Buckwald. When Ken would give a eulogy for someone he particularly loved and admired, he always closed with these words from the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 25, verse 23.  I’ll speak them now in tribute to the friendship that the two men shared as they worked together over fifty plus years: “Well done, good and faithful servant…now enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.”

Amen

I hope you can join us at Wednesday’s Town Hall meeting where we will begin with a special time of remembrance honoring our Founder, The Rev. Dr. Culver H. “Bill” Nelson.

How I talk to God : How God talks to me.

Sun, March 31, 2019 Published by

This year, as well as fasting from my favorite treats, I have also been accompanied on my Lenten pilgrimage by the poet Malcolm Guite’s book Word in the Wilderness; A Poem a Day for Lent and Easter. Poems are an ideal companion for the season of Lent as we seek to reorient ourselves to God, with poetry often providing a call for us to ponder the wonders of the world around us while looking and listening for God at work in us.

One of the poems included in Guite’s collection is entitled How I talk to God, by Kelly Belemonte.

“Coffee in one hand leaning in to share – How I talk to God. ‘Momma, you’re special’, three-year-old touches my cheek – How God talks to me. While driving I make lists: done, do, hope, love, hate, try – How I talk to God. Above the highway hawk: high, alone, free, focused – How God talks to me. Rash, impetuous chatter, followed by silence – How I talk to God. First, second, third, fourth chance to hear, then another – How God talks to me. Fetal position under flannel sheets, weeping – How I talk to God. Moonlight on pillow tending to my open wounds – How God talks to me. Pulling from my heap of words, the ones that mean yes – How I talk to God. Infinite connects with finite, without words – How God talks to me.”

This beautiful work causes us to ask ‘What is prayer?’, and reminds us that a life of prayer is both speaking to God, but also listening, in turn.

In his reflection, Malcolm Guite says this;

“Saint Paul calls on us to pray without ceasing, leading some contemplatives have interpreted that as a call to leave the world with its business and distractions and seek long swathes of uninterrupted time devoted to prayer and prayer alone. Others have seen it as a call to have a continual hidden mantra, wheeling and cycling beneath all we do, providing an undercurrent or ground note of prayer beneath all our daily activities.”

In different ways for different people, both of these approaches are valid and neither exclusive of the other. Perhaps the greatest gift of Belemonte’s poem is to remind us, once again, that each day we find ourselves in conversation with God within the ordinariness of our lives.

May we all spend this season of Lent attuned to that conversation, to both speaking and listening, so that that the very rhythms of our everyday lives are opened up to God, and offered up as our unceasing prayer.*

The Healing Power of Human Solidarity

Sun, March 24, 2019 Published by

Once again, the world has witnessed another atrocity born out of hatred. The faces of the fifty victims of that murderous shooting, of people gathered together in worship and prayer in Christchurch, New Zealand appear in our newspapers and on our screens, and once again the question is asked; `how did we get here?’ Free societies are an open marketplace of ideas and convictions, however the pluralism and freedoms which we hold dear is indeed fragile. As we have seen in the live-streaming of this latest tragedy, it has become much easier to dole out division and bigotry to an eager and growing audience. Social media sites like Facebook will again come under increased criticism for what they allow to be uploaded and shared, and rightly so. However, our response in the face of such horror needs to be an enduring one, born out of desire to invert the extremism of hate into the radicalism of love. As Professor Mona Siddiqui wrote last week, “Laws can curb the excesses of human behavior, but ultimately it’s our individual moral commitment to human fellowship and friendship which changes relationships and communities.” When we resolve to live out of love rather than submit to hatred, to live as peace-builders rather than turning away from others who are different from ourselves, then we can begin to have the difficult conversations about how we got here and how we can live into the model of humanity attributed to Saint Francis; ‘where there is hatred let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon. Where there is doubt, faith. Where there is despair, hope. Where there is darkness, light. And where there is sadness, joy’. To love requires much more of us than to hate, and yet, even in the shadow of these days following this massacre, we are witnessing the healing power of human solidarity. May this solidarity and opposition of hatred continue to grow, and may we all commit ourselves in our own way – by prayer, words and deeds – to its flourishing.

 

The Year Without a Summer

Sun, February 3, 2019 Published by

This week, the weather has been hitting the headlines. As the quote from the Book of Ecclesiastes reminds us, “there is nothing new under the sun”, except for the headlines being written in 1816, when the new occurrence was that there seemingly was no sun.

“I had a dream, which was not all a dream. The bright sun was extinguish’d, and the stars did wander darkling in the eternal space.” Written in July 1816, these words from Byron’s poem Darkness are inspired by the strange events of The Year Without a Summer. It followed the eruption of Mount Tambora (the largest recorded volcanic eruption in history) located in modern day Indonesia, which in turn sparked months of unusual weather and climate disruption around the globe as its large dust cloud of volcanic ash entered the atmosphere. During this period, the sun frequently disappeared behind that thick acrid cloud. Instead of summer, the winter temperatures continued. Some thought the strange climate signaled the imminent destruction of the sun and the end of the world. We know of course now that though the dark uncertainty might have felt never-ending in 1816, the world did not in fact end. The world kept on spinning, and eventually the cloud dissipated and the sun reemerged. One of the most notable things about The Year Without a Summer is the number of seminal works of art, music and literature that it produced. It was around this time that Beethoven began his celebrated late period of composition, Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein, and Byron his epic poem Prometheus, as well as many other successful endeavors.

Just as it did that fateful summer 200 years ago, beauty continues to emerge from uncertainty. We have our own metaphorical clouds of darkness and uncertainty brooding around the world today, and yet gimmers of sunlight shine forth brightly amidst that darkness. The light of hope continues to shine as we engage with others and when we choose respect rather than incivility; unity rather than division; love over hate. The hope spoken of in the teachings of Jesus – while not denying fear and uncertainty – requires the believer to look beyond present circumstances and instead to choose to have faith in a better future. As 14th century Christian mystic, Julian of Norwich, put it: “All shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.” But hope is not a lottery ticket. Nor is it blind or passive optimism. It is the firm belief that we can each dispel the clouds of darkness by working together in love.

God is Still Speaking

Sun, January 20, 2019 Published by

During the past few weeks I have been reading various economic, political, environmental and sporting predictions for the coming year. Happily (and especially if you are a D-Backs fan), people are notoriously poor at predicting the future. Time has shown that we tend to construct predictions from our wishes or fears rather than actual data. Those who are paid to make such forecasts are often way off the mark, such as the banker who famously told Henry Ford that the horse was here to stay, or the British weatherman who famously on the eve of the country’s worst ever recorded storm, announced that “it might be a little windy tomorrow.”

There are dangers in putting too much store in what might happen, however prophecy and prediction are not the same thing. When the prophets – like Jeremiah and Isaiah – pointed to events in the future, they were not predictions of what would happen; but rather descriptions of what could happen if the people didn’t change their ways. Their focus was on making things right in the present, rather than being right about the future. They called out uncomfortable truths – sometimes at great personal risk – about the injustices of society, the people’s indifference to poverty, or the environment – urging people to change now in order to avoid future catastrophe. The Jeremiahs are perhaps long gone, but if we listen carefully we can hear the prophets of our day. They could be journalists, or musicians, or perhaps even children. There are no special qualifications required, and the message, doesn’t have to be conventionally religious. The inspiration of their message if it is for the good, can be seen ultimately to have its origin in the divine, but the action is earthly, urgent and rooted in the now. Some believe that part of the supernatural outworking of creation is that God has placed the future inside the present. Are we ready to discern and listen to those speaking the truth about what is necessary this year in order to win a hopeful future for ourselves and the generation to come? May it be, that our hearts and minds may be open to those voices, and to God speaking through them. *

Becoming Midwives of Hope

Sun, December 23, 2018 Published by

One of the most memorable Christmas sermons that I have heard was preached by the songwriter, activist and pastor, John Bell. He began by asking; “I wonder who among us was once a shepherd?” A quick glance around me didn’t see any hands being raised. We were, after all, sitting in the middle of a large urban area not exactly renowned for its shepherds. Then he asked; “I wonder who among us was once a wise man?”. People began looking slightly uncomfortable, as it didn’t appear by the lack of hands being raised that wisdom was in any more plentiful supply than shepherding skills. He went on with other questions, before there began to be a gradual sense of where these questions were leading. My thoughts were confirmed when he asked; “I wonder who among us had once been the hind legs of the donkey”. So, which nativity characters have you played?

For many people, their introduction to the Christmas story will have been while taking part as a child in a school or church nativity play. For me this annual event was always a highlight of the year, if only for the opportunity to create headscarves out of tea towels, and to challenge each other off stage to duels with our shepherds crooks. The artistic standard wasn’t particularly high in my elementary school. One year, the memory taken away by the audience wasn’t of a fine retelling of the greatest story ever told, but instead of the little girl playing Mary declaring at the top of her voice “this baby isn’t even real” as she looked at the doll in the manger.

The irony of the school nativity play however is that besides the Christ child, there are no children with leading roles in the Christmas story. Many of the characters in the nativity narratives are seniors – Elizabeth, Zechariah, Simeon and Anna have their elderly status clearly underscored often during the account. The Shepherds were certainly not toddlers; and the Magi certainly would not have been considered wise unless they too were old. In these days wisdom did not come through attaining a Ph.D in your mid-twenties. The story of the birth and early years of Jesus’ life center around God expecting and trusting older people to enable new and surprising things to happen. So, if you were once a shepherd or an angel or even the hind legs of the donkey, don’t let Christmas simply be a time for regression therapy…..particularly when now as always, God is looking for older adults to be the midwives for the new ways that love, hope, joy and faith can be born into our world. *

We are One in the Body

Sun, July 15, 2018 Published by

Perhaps if you have travelled around the North of England, you may have seen the colossal sculpture pictured with this article. Not many sculptures become as famous as The Angel of the North, seen by an estimated 33 million people as they pass by each year. The Angel looms over the countryside for many miles around, with its 66ft tall body, and with its wingspan of 177ft. Its wings are angled 3.5 degrees forward to express what its sculptor Sir Anthony Gormley, called ‘a sense of embrace’ as he sought to create something ‘to serve as a focus for our evolving hopes and fears’.

Like so much of his work it is based on a cast of his own body. Gormley has said that he bases his work on casts of his own body because, as he put it, ‘it is the closest experience of matter that I will ever have and the only part of the material world that I live inside.’ He treats the body not as an object, but as a place, and in making works that enclose the space of a particular body tries to identify a condition common to all human beings.

We as individuals are embodied. Body, mind and spirit bound up together. The ancient creation narrative in the Book of Genesis pictures us as clay which has been breathed into life.

We now have a much fuller picture of that living clay. According to a generally accepted figure we are made of an astonishing 37.2 trillion cells, with each cell being formed of 100 trillion atoms. Each atom, each cell, busy being itself to combine in every more complex ways to form this being- which is you and me- which can feel and touch, see and hear, recognize right and wrong, and love and pray. No wonder the psalmist was impelled to cry out ‘I will give thanks unto thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well’ (Psalm 139, 13).

Maintaining a sense of awe and wonder in relation to our bodies helps to highlight those times when we fail to respect ourselves as created miracles made in the image of God. When we fail to have that same respect for the other 7.6 billion other walking-talking miracles of creation alive today, because of what they wear, or the color of their skin, or the politics that they ascribe to, then we are led to a very disturbing place indeed. The Apostle Paul put it very bluntly;

‘Do you not know that the body is a temple of the indwelling Holy Spirit?’

What a stark and much needed reminder to honor God in our lives and in the lives of others. May we all be open to the divine embrace as we evolve through our hopes and fears.*

Hope is What Makes Us Strong

Mon, March 12, 2018 Published by

Last week, we hosted a special guest, The Very Rev. Tracey Lind, who came to speak about the spiritual insights and lessons she has gained from a life complicated by dementia. Tracey is a newly retired episcopal priest who for the last 17 years served as Dean of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Cleveland. On Nov. 8, 2016, Tracey was diagnosed with early stage Frontotemporal Dementia. In what some might consider a cruel twist of fate, the type of FTD Lind has, Primary Progressive Aphasia, affects the neurons in the part of the brain that involves communication and language. The woman who in 2004 wrote and published the book “Interrupted by God,” who wrote and delivered weekly sermons for nearly three decades, who could converse and joke as easily with a homeless woman as with a corporate CEO, was going to be robbed, gradually, of her ability to write, read, speak and understand what others are saying. As she spoke it was clear that the deep and abiding faith that has inspired this gifted preacher and teacher throughout her life continues to sustain her as she meets the challenges of the years ahead supported by her wife of 18 years. Tracey’s message was filled with honesty, courage, faith, and hope.

At lunch Tracey shared with us a blog she is writing using the story of Pandora’s box and how she had found new meaning in it. Of course, Pandora is well recognized as the Greek mythical character, the first woman, created by Zeus. Upon her creation, the gods gave her many gifts – beauty, charm, wit, artistry, and cunning; the last gift was curiosity. Included with the gifts was a box, which she was told to emphatically, “Never open the box.” She even hid the box deep in the ground but the pull of curiosity was too strong. Finally, she could hold back no longer, she lifted the lid, and out flew all the evils of the world, such as toil, illness and despair. That’s how most of us remember the end of the story, but wait, at the bottom of the box, the last creature that she let loose was HOPE. Pandora’s last words were: “HOPE is what makes us strong. It is why we are here. It is what we fight with when all else is lost.” The Very Rev. Tracey has preached about hope for years and now she is living it out in a new way. The diagnosis hasn’t stopped her from fully immersing in what life has to offer — and what she has to give.

Make Life Good

Mon, January 22, 2018 Published by

How’s life?  I hope so very good.  Did you know, though, that just a few years back a national survey discovered that the number of retirees who say their retirement is “very satisfying” has dropped nearly 13% in the last decade and below the 50% level for the first time?  Theories are being generated as to why.  Some suggest it is for financial reasons and more prevalent theories deduce that is comes from the yearning for more and varied activities than is often available to them.

An article from the website MarketWatch has some excellent advice on how to make life good.  Most of you know this all too well, but I wanted to share some of it so as to affirm your excellent instincts.

Stay socially connected.  Keeping up with old friends and making new ones is extremely vital to one’s emotional outlook – your mental health.   New friends often open our minds to new thoughts and new experiences.  There is not a better set up than the Beatitudes community for that.  Consider joining someone you do not know for lunch or dinner, or greeting and talking with a neighbor you have never really spent time with.  Don’t forget the New Neighbor Welcome Coffee every 4th Community Wednesday either.  Meet them right off the bat.

Find things you love to do.  Research shows that the happiest retirees are those who keep themselves busy.  Another researcher and author notes that, “Following your interests and passions can add years to your life, and joy to your golden years.”  Think about those things that have brought you joy over the years of your life and do them again. There probably was never a good reason to stop doing them anyway other than life got too busy.  Beatitudes has nearly 100 groups and activities taking place right now, and if per chance not a one of those is your passion, let us know and we will make it happen and bet others will want to be part of it too.  We will get you the list if the Beatitudes Calendar does not have something calling out to you today.

Plan the use of your time.  Rob Pascale, a psychologist and the co-author of “The Retirement Maze,” cautions that “without adequate planning, you have a lack of structure, and that can make you feel you have little personal control over your life.”  Write out your goals for each day, week or month.  Plan out your participation with a good number of those over 100 groups and activities.

The article concludes with something that all of us know and that is, if we create the expectations for happiness and joy the more likely we will meet or exceed them.

So let’s plan on it. Make life good, beginning today and every day.

When God is Too Good

Sun, July 9, 2017 Published by

We are half way through our bible study on the Book of Jonah, which most know a bit about as the man who got swallowed by a whale for three days, but the rest of his story isn’t so well known.  Jonah is one of my favorites out of the minor prophets.  (Minor meaning it’s a small book with four chapters but it’s no less important than Isaiah with 66 chapters).  Jonah is a story that speaks of the meaning of grace and God’s purposes and our motivations.  Jonah is called to go to preach repentance to the Ninevites—the hated foreigners, the religiously incorrect, the racially impure, the decidedly unchosen.  And frankly, Jonah was angry about taking a message of hope and deliverance for them.  Frederick Buechner says that at the moment God called Jonah to go to Nineveh, the expression on Jonah’s face was that of a man who has just gotten a whiff of trouble in his septic tank.  “Anywhere, Lord, anywhere, but Nineveh!” Far from wanting the Ninevites to get saved, nothing would have pleased him more than to see them get what they deserved, what they had coming to them.  So Jonah decides to book it out of there and gets on a boat to go literally to the farthest reaches of the sea.  Fast forward, and a little meditation time in the belly of the fish provides the motivation for Jonah to reconsider.

Jonah still reluctantly goes and preaches his sermon of eight words, shortest sermon ever (we all love a good short sermon don’t we?!), “Yet, forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”  In the depths of his soul, Jonah believes that the Ninevites won’t change and he relishes the thought of their destruction, but he was surprised when the entire city repented from the king down to the lowest peasant and even the animals!  They promise to shape up and God decides to be gracious to them and bless them and Jonah is furious; he is seething.  He lets God have it: “You see God!  I knew all along you wouldn’t go through with it.  I knew you’d go soft, you’re too good—all gracious and merciful.  You think they’re really going to change?!  I’d rather die than live so take my life!”  History tells us the Assyrians (Ninevites) were brutal and violent.  Despite this, God sends them a word of redemption and grace through Jonah.  God counters their torturous behavior with grace and mercy.  How do we respond to acts of violence—with grace and mercy?  The lesson of the “wideness of God’s mercy” is a lesson most of us, most of the world, most of the church, has yet to learn.  We want God to be merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love when it comes to our own sins, but God don’t be too good to those others.  They deserve to get theirs!  God has an awesome sense of forgiveness.  There is more to God than we can or ever will understand.  To me there is great hope and promise in believing that.

The Steadfast Love of the Lord Never Ceases

Wed, July 5, 2017 Published by

In the past few weeks, I have had conversations with many of you about the recent losses of innocent life in Britain due to both terrorism and tragedy. These most recent barbarous attacks, as well as the Grenfell Tower fire have left my country reeling, with people struggling to make sense of such intense feelings of anger and the depth of sorrow after such loss.

I can tell you from the heart, that what makes Britain a wonderfully unique place to live and work, is its cosmopolitan identity and socially diverse peoples. Every corner of the earth is represented in the cities of Manchester and London where these tragedies have taken place. Cultures blend in the streets, in the markets, in the schools, and the very real way in which the communities affected by these tragedies have pulled together in these past weeks is a tribute to their dynamism. The one abiding blessing of these past few weeks is to have seen people of every faith, ethnicity and background supporting one another.

Photographs of a memorial wall on the façade of a church in London have been shared around the world to bear testimony to this spirit. Many of the prayers written on that wall, representing many faiths, are heartbreaking. They are raw. They are from the heart. They are a modern lament rooted in anger and confusion. “Our loss is heaven’s gain,” says one – while another writes: “pray for our community”, and most simply and poignantly of all, perhaps – “we are one.”

As I have wrestled myself with the intensity of human suffering being felt in places which are so familiar to me, there is one part of the bible which has resonated with me as I have prayed for all involved.

The Book of Lamentations, in the Hebrew scripture, deals explicitly with the personal consequences of loss and mourning brought about by communal suffering – in that case the destruction of Jerusalem- : “The thought of the affliction weighs me down,” writes the author.. “I cannot get it out of my mind; I am bowed down by it.” And, just like many of us are perhaps feeling when we see again images of the burnt out tower block, or the aftermath of terrorist destruction he adds: “my soul is bereft of peace.”

It is only after he has truly expressed his anger and pain that the writer of lamentations can eventually move on to affirm, in hope and – despite everything – that: “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end.” May we all, in whatever anguish or sorrow we face, remember that same truth, and share it readily with others.