Dear UPA family,
I will be preaching this Sunday, thinking about what it means to be steadfast during affliction (a quote from this Sunday’s scripture in 1 Thessalonians 1). Soo and Pei will be helping to lead Sunday school, making scarecrows for the Pumpkin Patch. The Youth Group will meet after Sunday service for ice cream, games, and spiritual conversation, and confirmation class will meet in the evening.
In the midst of this heavy emotional season for our church community, I offer these words for your prayer and reflection:
There is a healing power in simply naming what we are feeling or experiencing.
To be aware;
to acknowledge to ourselves what is weighing on our hearts-
that awareness may not change circumstances and situations,
but it adds an element of healing.
In a culture that denies, suppresses, and represses,
it is counter-cultural to slow down enough
to see and acknowledge what is happening within and outside us.
We run so fast,
that we nearly pass our whole lives by without stopping to feel.
Today’s message is:
Stop the presses!
Life’s urgent demands will always press on us.
No one else will prioritize being, awareness, and mindfulness for you.
As you cultivate this,
some things may arise in you that are not pleasant,
whether they be sadness, grief, anger, or the like.
Mindfulness is holding this paradox-
awareness and acceptance of ourselves just as we are in this moment,
while also focusing on and cultivating who we want to be.
The “shadow” and the “negative” will come up-
in our consciousness and in the consciousness of the world-
in fear disguised as racism, sexism, homophobia, classism, and on and on.
While this appears as bad news on the surface,
the good news is this-
the negative comes up both in ourselves and in the world
in order to be healed and released.
The healing, transforming power- with ourselves and with the world-
is love.
Grateful to walk with you in co-creating with God a world rooted in this transforming love,
Matt
Message:Steadfastness during Affliction
Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 1: 1-4, 11-12
Music:
Prelude: “Alta trinita beata – Exalted blessed trinity” 14th c. Italian melody
Meditation: “Sinfonia in G Minor” J. S. Bach
Postlude: “Third Mode Melody” Thomas Tallis
Special Music: “Frühlingsglaube” Franz Schubert Casey Wong, countertenor