12/1/25

PASTOR’S PONDERINGS

11/17/25
Pastor’s Ponderings

I jumped back on my heels when I first saw it. With its triangular head and brown mottled skin it looked for all the world like a small copperhead snake.  Only when it moved ever so slightly I saw … its legs.

“Why you sneaky little thing” I said as the Eastern Grey tree frog hunkered down in my overturned flower pot.   “You are not at all what you pretend to be.”

            The image of Mr. Not-A-Snake stayed with me as our small band of readers crept our way through “Revelation” this fall.

            Across three sets of seven horrors, John’s vision shows us the final and complete destruction of evil. It doesn’t start the way we think it might, with evil starting to lose its power. Instead, it begins with evil gaining greater power. In chapter 6 God withdraws God’s protective hand so that evil has full unhindered reign on earth.  Then it grows and increases until chapter 17 when it essentially turns on itself and self-destructs, the “whore” being those nations of earth who commit to the Beast (Satan) only to be devoured by Satan for their efforts. Meanwhile all this is overseen by the King of Kings with a sword in his mouth which is the Word of God. 

            Why would God do this?  Allow evil to increase in power? Basically so that evil is finally seen for what it is – revealed before all the earth to give people the time and clarity to make their final choice between wearing the Seal of the Lamb or choosing the Mark of the Beast.

            In the beginning it is sometimes difficult to tell the difference between good and evil.  This is the time Jesus spoke of in the parable of the wheat and the weeds when he instructs us to let them grow together to avoid damaging the wheat. Evil is deceptive; at this early age you can’t always tell the difference.  Wait, and let everything be sorted out in the end.

            But when it is time for the end, John’s vision shows us the unfolding process by which the distinction between good and evil, right and wrong, becomes more and more pronounced. By the time the last set of seven horrors arrives, there is no doubt which is which. Evil is clarified and fully distinct. The harvest has come, and the full-grown wheat is easily distinguishable from the weeds. 

            In the end it is this clear distinction between good and evil that brings about evil’s destruction.  Evil is allowed to grow so strong it essentially turns in on itself to devour and consume. The people of God are saved from evil’s destruction by standing firm in the gospel of life and refusing to take part in evil’s insatiable lusts and hungers.

And yet all along the way John continues to caution Christians: remember evil is smart. Even though it is being revealed, it is also growing in strength because it is busy convincing people that its ways are the right ways, justifiable ways, necessary ways. It will try to appear to be the good choice.  It will try to convince good people to do bad things. It will be “anti-christ”- against all the things the Christ, the King of Kings, stands for – but close enough in appearance to fool people into believing it is what it is not (17:8.)

             I think about my “looks like a snake but is not a snake” friend in the flowerpot. It looks like a poisonous snake in hopes of fooling those who would try to eat it. Evil does the same thing. It tries to deceitfully appear to be good so it will not be destroyed. But like my friend the frog when its legs tell the truth to its predators, evil will collapse beneath the gospel of the Christ who ultimately reveals it to be what it is. 

How do we know the difference? The sword that destroys in the mouth of the King of Kings is the Word of God, and when the Word became flesh he showed us what good looks like.  You will never hear the Christ say “Our goal is to be rich.” You will not see the Christ turn away from the hungry or the oppressed.  You will not hear the Christ say “I don’t love my enemies, I hate my enemies.”  The Christ carries no weapon because he is the weapon, and the only power the Christ will bow to is the will of God – all the way to the cross. 

Therein lies the clear distinction. And we who would follow him must do the same.

Thank you to my Wednesday night readers who went on this “Revelation”  journey with me,

Beth

11/10/25

Pastor’s Ponderings

This Sunday is the day we witness to our faith in the Lord our God by surrendering our most valuable possessions for no reason other than our love for God. 

Oh I know we talk a lot about giving because the church needs this or that, giving because we make a difference, giving so that our particular congregation can continue its witness, but the challenge before us is not to offer our support like we are purchasing a service but to give simply because we are worshipping God.

The Evil One assumes we will not do so.

The Book of Job makes this very clear.  Job was a wealthy, healthy and much-loved man.  He was also faithful to God beyond reproach, “no one like him on earth.”  When God summons the heavenly beings to gather, Satan also arrives and brings a challenge, saying in essence: “Job may be the most faithful man on earth, but he is only faithful because of what you do for him.  If he were not wealthy, healthy and loved, he would curse you.” Satan thereby implies that all of us in Job’s human likeness worship God only as long as the blessings keep coming. 

God points out that the Great Deceiver is wrong yet also accepts the challenge.  God withdraws his protection from Job, the only requirement being Satan cannot take Job’s life.

Immediately tragedy strikes.  And you know how the story unfolds – Job is reduced to a man penniless, covered in sores and despised by his neighbors. Yet even in his anguish, crying out his anger and his grief to God, Job refuses to curse God.  

God’s response to Job contains some of the most exquisite poetry in our scripture.  Verse after verse God points out the intricate details of a magnificent creation teeming with life.  Do you have the wisdom of the One who created this, Job?  And if not, do you still dare to say you have the capacity to question what is just and what is not?

 (Pause with me here to wonder at chapter 38 verse 31.  God is inquiring of Job and his false comforters as to whether they have the wisdom of God – wisdom that laid the cornerstone of earth from its foundation. At 38:31 God points out the 250 stars in the Pleiades move together as if “chained”, indicating gravitational pull, yet the three star formations in Orion’s belt are “unbound” an indication they have no gravitational relationship to one another.   Based on our current knowledge these scientific observations are exactly right, even though the book of Job was written hundreds of years before the development of the telescope!  How did the writers of Job know this, unless the Creator of all things clued them in? It’s almost as if God is teasing future generations, causing us to do a double take – wait just a minute, hold on here.  How did the writers of Job know that?  There is no way they could have known that way back then!  Hmmmmmm… unpause.)

Job hears God out and kneels in humility.  “Fortune or no fortune, health or none, I worship you for Who You Are.”

God turns triumphantly to Satan.  We do not know what Satan made of Job’s fidelity towards God; we do know God restored Job’s fortune.

In the end the lesson to us from Job is a reminder of who the enemy is. Our enemy is not the creator of the universe and the giver of good gifts. Our enemy is the one who believes we are incapable of loving God simply because God Is God.  

Join me this Sunday in worshipping with the giving of our gifts not because we expect something in return but because we, like Job, stand in awe before the Great I Am. 

Grace and peace,

Beth

9/29/25

""Pastor’s Ponderings

""Happy Michaelmas, First Christian!

""Michaelmas? 

""My Uncle RW was a great student of history and a staunch Anglican, and being a UNC grad loved nothing better than to educate his Duke-trained niece on the finer points of both. It is due to him that I pause every September 29 to think about the Archangel Michael and the ancient church’s feast day (still celebrated in Anglican and Catholic traditions) that bears his name.

""In centuries gone by Michaelmas was the time of great feasting and celebration as the days of harvest were ending and the wealth of agricultural stores laid by for winter. Michaelmas traditions included village festivals, games, and decorating with Michaelmas daisies, or asters as we know them to be.  These great festivals began to decline in the 19^th century with the coming of the industrial revolution as we passed from an agricultural to an industrial society.

""Church historians believe it was the changing light of autumn that caused a feast to be named after Michael. Michael the Archangel is mentioned in the books of Daniel, Jude and Revelation as a warrior, protector of Israel, and commander of the angelic army. The image of Michael leading the charge to cast the dragon, the Satan, out of heaven is an image of the triumph of light over darkness, and so his feast is celebrated deep in the fall when the dark grows deeper and stronger, appearing to win against the decreasing light of day. 

""There are so many ways the darkness appears to be winning, and not just in the decrease of daylight hours. A quick look around our culture reveals a society fixated on greed and the accumulation of wealth with the predominant question of “does this help me make money?” as opposed to “am I fulfilling my responsibility to the common good?”  A society drowning in drug and alcohol abuse, and insatiable physical lust driven by a lack of monogamy and sexual faithfulness.  A nation at war with itself over which political party has complete truth, never stopping to consider both perspectives in conversation with each other are necessary for political balance. Meanwhile the environment, the creation God called good, continues to be destroyed by the violence of human greed, and the culture of the Great Deceiver, the culture of lies and falsehood, grows in strength on a steady diet of people’s willingness to believe anything they hear or see on the internet. 

""Yet today I can hear in my memory my Uncle’s voice, my uncle who now sings at the throne of grace himself, saying “Happy Michaelmas Beth!” and with that greeting the simple reminder that we must continue to lift up the word of God against the dark – and we can do so with hope because in the end the Evil One is defeated.  “Happy Michaelmas” is a war cry from a people who against all odds stand their ground and refuse to give up in the face of challenges that seem so insurmountable.

And how do we do this? We must not miss the significance of verse 11 of Revelation chapter 12:  “They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.” 

""How do we win?  By the word of our testimony that the Word of God is the light the darkness cannot overcome.  We learn this Word, we seek this Word, we nurture this Word.  We speak this Word, defend this Word, live this Word with all of our lives .  When evil raises up its lies and seductive ways, its greed and violent destruction, we live before it the truth of the Word, the truth that we love more than we love our own lives.

""Stand your ground, First Christian.  The Word will prevail.

""Happy Michaelmas.

"" 

""Grace and peace,

""Beth

9/22/25

Pastor’s Ponderings

At this point in my life, I have lived long enough to have a set of memories like bookends: memories of my father on his hands and knees, riding my two young children on his back while they scream “faster Grendaddy!” and memories of my young adult children walking with their “Grendaddy”, one carrying his tray and one carrying his drink, making their way over to our restaurant table during his 85^th birthday celebration weekend.  They are good memories, memories that I will always treasure.

Jesus promises us in Luke 6 that the measure we give will be the measure we get back. When it comes to relationships however, we can get these words confused in several major ways.

Some of us view relationships as transactional:  “I did this, this and this for you, so you should do this, this and this for me.”  While being able to articulate what you need in your relationships can be a good thing, making a list and checking it twice to see if your loved ones “owe” you is not the point Jesus is making.  

Some of us view relationships as opportunistic: “Looks like you are exactly the person I need to give me what I want.” Again, while being able to express what we appreciate about our loved ones is very important, choosing to relate to someone because of what they can do for you is definitely not what Jesus had in mind.

No, “for the measure you give is the measure you get back” is an image of seeds widely planted, and a threshing floor covered in the wealth of harvest. It is an invitation to live like Jesus, pouring out our lives in compassion, service and forgiveness, letting the seeds of grace fall wherever they may; it is not an invitation to keep up with which piece of ground owes us what or which plant comes closest to conforming to we thought it should be.  It is an invitation to live lovingly, and wait patiently, for the full harvest of righteousness that is promised believers (James 3). 

Relationships are messy.  It can become precariously difficult sometimes to toss out seeds of grace with great abandon, not counting how many seeds we are tossing or where they are landing. Yet the bookend memories make it plain:  the measure we give is indeed the measure we receive.

Grace and peace,

Beth

9/15/25

Pastor’s Ponderings

One evening last week I found myself in the midst of breathtaking beauty. It was evening; I was driving home, and the road I was on went down into the shade of some trees, came to a full stop, then turned west directly into the setting sun.  In front of me the sky was lit up in every color from gold to deep orange, and beneath the sky a field was set on fire with the colors of the sun sinking overhead. Stalks of tall grasses in the field waved their heavy seeded heads in praise of the setting sun; the field was awash with the greens, golds and browns of early fall.

I briefly considered pulling over and just sitting there in the midst of all that beauty, but when I slowed down the car behind me started honking, and my brain started thinking of all the things I had to do when I got home.  So I didn’t. It was my loss.

Later on I thought about the sunset and remembered Moses standing in front of the burning bush.  The text tells us the miracle of the bush that burned but was not consumed caught Moses’ attention, and he turned aside to see.  When he turned aside, God saw that he was paying attention, and then God spoke.  God did not speak to Moses until it was clear Moses was paying attention.

You see my point.  How many times do we miss the glory of the miracles before us because we are too deeply engrossed with the small details of what is on my non-ending ‘to do” list – or because others around us are rushing through life and insisting we rush along with them?

We yearn for God to speak and yet we do not slow down long enough to give God a chance to do so.  How many times do we miss the beauty of the created world around us because we are not paying attention?  How many times do we let opportunities for moments of sharing and connection in our relationships slip past because we were too focused on what we “need to do” …or on our phones…?

I remember again the quote I have used many times but long forgotten where I first heard it: “Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.”  

Next time I will pull over.

Grace and peace,

Beth

9/8/25

Pastor’s Ponderings

The bees are busy as, well, as bees, getting those last drops of honey made before everything starts to wind down this fall. I sat in on Marty’s beekeeping classes just long enough to learn sticking my hands into a buzzing mass of angry, stinging insects wasn’t for me.  Granted, Marty uses bee suits and smokers, but nevertheless every beekeeper gets stung at some point and I do not intend to set myself up for that. However I did stay in class long enough to learn a little about these fascinating creatures.

Honeybee queens mate once in their life and then they rule the hive. They leave the hive early in their lives for their mating flight, mate with several drones in that flight, and then - oh my the poor drones. The queen bee returns to her hive, and as the only fertile bee in the hive, she stays busy all of her life laying the eggs to replace worker bees whose life span is only 5 or 6 weeks long.

But sometimes she dies unexpectedly.  Her death brings the possibility of a quiet catastrophe to the hive.  With no new eggs, extinction of the hive becomes possible in a matter of weeks.

The worker bees do not panic; instead they get busy feeding a few randomly chosen bee larva something called royal jelly.  This queen food begins to change the larvae bodies immediately, causing them to grow longer and stronger, and increasing their life expectancy by 20 times.  Only one larva is allowed to survive, and in a matter of weeks she emerges as the new queen, ready to go on her mating flight and return to lay eggs, insuring the future of the hive.

It strikes me that new queens aren’t just born, they are created. They are nurtured from even before birth and then cared for all their lives. I think about how we pray for God to raise up ministers, church leaders, even to send us a desperately needed elementary class Sunday School teacher.  But do we do the work necessary to grow new leadership?  Do we talk about the importance of preparing for a life of service as much as we talk about the importance of preparing for scholarship applications and moving up the corporate ladder? Do we offer the bread of heaven as that which is far superior to the bread of this world?

Bee queens do not just land in the hive.  They are nurtured, cared for and fed.  Church leaders do not just walk up and say “here I am.”  They are nurtured in an environment where everyone is encouraged and challenged to shoulder their responsibility in maintaining the church, and where those manifesting spiritual gifts of church administration, preaching and pastoral care are encouraged to make those things the focus of their lives.

There are political commentators among us who believe the United States is now reaping the results of years of rallying cries about personal freedom and individual rights without equal conversation about civic responsibility and personal sacrifice.  If that is true, it may also explain why the fastest growing churches in America are churches where the majority of members only have to show up, wave their hands in a darkened room where no one can recognize who else is there, give a dollar or two and go home.

But for those of us who still hold to the idea that the church we want to be a part of is a family-like community of people who have committed to the work and self-sacrifice needed to be a community of believers together, it is good to look to the bee.  Disciples are formed, not just born.  Church leaders are nurtured into leadership positions on steady diets of recognizing spiritual gifts and encouraging them.  Sunday Schools, fellowship groups, committees and church boards rise and fall on the shoulders of people who have come to believe the church is worth sacrificing time and effort for.

The calendar turns to fall and the life of our church quickens after a slow and easy summer.  With the scriptures reminding me without vision the people perish, I study Marty’s bee hives, strong and thriving, and I wonder:  what does it take to have the vision of a bee?

Grace and peace,

Beth

8/18/25

Pastor’s Ponderings

The Bible is full of references to trees planted by living water. We talked about a lot of these at Camp Caroline at our church retreat as we “gathered at the river”. An example is the book of Psalms which opens with the righteous person being compared to a healthy and fruitful tree planted by streams of water: their leaves do not wither, and in all that they do, they prosper. 

We do OK with this psalm until we get to the prosper part. Being the good capitalists that we are, we instinctively think “they make money”. But the Bible has an entirely different definition of prospering.  

For people of faith, to prosper is to recognize the love within the relationships we cherish is some of the greatest wealth on earth, as compared to looking into the faces of the people we love and seeing how much money they are worth or how much worldly treasure they can provide.  

To prosper is to be able to look around at all the riches of creation and see our lives sustained by clean air, clean water and the rich fertile world of plants and animals.  To be able, along with the Apostle Paul, to look into the created world around us and see evidence of the “eternal power and divine nature” of God.  To be in balance: harvesting the good gifts of earth for our own well being while appreciating their intrinsic value for what they are, not just things to be mined, stripped and paved over in order to become money.

To prosper is to be faithful to the God who is faithful to us.  To prosper is to be at peace in the knowledge that God will let nothing harm our spirits and from our earthly death shall come our everlasting life. 

Take a look around and see all the ways you prosper! To be like a tree strong and rooted in living water, bearing fruit not of money but of the Spirit.

Wishing you much prosperity today, 

Beth

8/11/25

Pastor’s Ponderings

 My experiences as a child and young adult in summer camp at Camp Caroline were deeply formative in my life of faith.""  ""The friendships made there have proven to be lifelong; the scripture studied in small groups and the worship offered under the night stars are all vivid memories I carry to this day.

""As time has gone by I have come to understand the most significant thing happening to me in summer camp was the experience of being a part of a community of people completely devoted to living as Christians together.  For one small period of time complete strangers came together and became family through the power of the Holy Spirit moving among us.  Counselors"" ""guided us in making sure every camper was included in the life of the camp in meaningful ways and appreciated for the unique gifts of each person, even and particularly the ones among us hardest to love.""  ""We were encouraged to see ourselves as part of the magnificent creation all around us, trees, sand, water, stars, sky, and embrace our God-given role as stewards and protectors. And we were led in prayer – prayer in morning watch, blessings for the meals we ate together, circle prayer when each voice in the circle added to the whole, devotional prayer when we opened our hearts in private, evening prayer, bedtime prayer, praying together and alone – so that gradually into the far edges of our consciousness was introduced the idea that every moment of every day shimmered with the constant presence of God.

""Years later I arrived at Divinity School to study with a professor who had made quite a name for himself in his insistence that the first job of the church is not to move within the institutions and governments of the world to make the world a more peaceful and just place but first and foremost to actually be the church.  To be a community of people formed by the ethics of Jesus who live together in an alternative way to the world – a way marked by the sacrificial unconditional love modeled for us by our founder and savior.  In one of his more prickly moments Dr. Stanley Hauerwas remarked that the “whole point of Christianity is to produce the right kind of enemies” – because by being who we are, we show the world what it is not, and the world is forced to choose between us and the violent, destructive way of the anti-christ. In his gentler moments he said it this way:  “Jesus teaches us we shall be known by our fruits.  We serve the world by showing it something it is not, namely a place where God is forming a family out of strangers.” 

""At this point in my life, looking back over my 40 years in ministry I can see clearly how my experience in Christian community at summer camp clarified my Divinity School training that the first and primary role of the church is to be the church. Those of you who have sat so patiently through my sermons Sunday after Sunday will recognize the themes that have come to define my life and ministry: “The church is not a place we go to, but an experience we become part of.” “You can pray on your deck, even pray well there, but your deck can never take the place of a church where together we eat the bread of life and study the word that forms us into people of God.” “The church is the training ground of love – the laboratory where we learn to truly love and forgive one another so that the world can see Christ within us.” “Our job is not to change the world but to serve it - and through our service, the world comes to us seeking to be changed.” “And the Word dwells among us, full of grace and truth. To everyone who sees, to everyone who believes, we are given the power to become children of God.”

""As I arise this Monday morning following our church retreat at Camp Caroline, my camp-weary bones are telling me there are not nearly as many years ahead of me in this life as there are behind me.  Today I am so deeply grateful for each church community I have been a part of and the unique way I have been formed into discipleship by that community, and also so very deeply grateful for our Disciples camping ministry at Camp Caroline.

"" 

""It sure was good to be back there.

"" 

"" 

""Grace and peace,

""Beth

7/28/25

Pastor’s Ponderings

At Camp Caroline in two weeks I will invite our retreat participants to walk down beside the waterfront and view the newly installed natural areas called “the living shoreline”.  The parts of the shoreline that are “living” are attempts to free the camp from the endless financial strain of repairing washed out bulkheads in those areas. 

In short, a living shoreline represents our desire to learn to live with the tides instead of trying to force our will upon the water by telling it where it can and where it cannot go. The living shoreline allows for the reestablishment of marsh, which moves and breathes with the water that washes across it. When the tide surges in across a living shoreline, plant roots absorb nutrients, snails creep up grass stems to escape the water, and fish, shrimp and crabs swim into the marsh to feed and lay eggs. When the tide surges out, the long sturdy roots of the marsh grasses hold the marsh in place, and shorebirds swoop in to feed on the exposed mud worms, the crabs scurrying back out, and the snails sliding back down. In and out, in and out, over and over again these lungs of the earth breathe life into the ecosystem, protect the land from erosion from hurricane and tidal surges, and provide food for the creatures of God.

            Wild areas must be treated with respect. Junior campers must be taught to look out for the snakes that come into the marsh to feed. Adults with our love of neatly trimmed green grass must be challenged to see the marsh as beautiful in its own way, scraggly and messy though it is.  All of us must learn to be still and listen to the breath – the breath that moves in and out of the tidal zone, the breath that moves in and out of our lungs, the breath that is the wind of the Spirit of the Living God breathing life into the world. 

            While we are at camp I will encourage everyone to practice the very ancient Christian prayer known as the Prayer of the Breath.  It is simple:  As you breath in, recite in your mind the words “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior” and as you breath out say internally “have mercy on me, a sinner.”  Repeat this prayer several times until you feel the very blood coursing in your body, fed by the Living Breath of God.

            Perhaps you will pray along with us as well.

Grace and Peace,

Beth

7/21/25

Pastor’s Ponderings

Rest your heart in God,

let yourself float on the safe waters,

loving life as it comes,

with all the rough weather it may bring.

Give, without counting how many years are left, not worried about surviving as long as possible.

(page torn from a “Weavings” magazine years ago)

A few months ago Marty and I were discussing planting a white oak tree.  This tree was a gift from a dear friend and clergy colleague, one who is focused on planting as many oak trees as possible as oak trees are considered a keystone species for our ecosystem.  Oak trees support over 2,300 species of life, far more than any other tree in our landscape, yet they are disappearing at dizzying rates because they are being cut down faster than they can be replaced:  land is being cleared, habitat destroyed, and it takes at least 30 years for most species of oak trees to reach maturity and begin producing those thousands of acorns that anchor our ecosystem.  I looked at the little tree in my hands.  “If we have good growing years every single year for the next 20 years, I may live to see this tree get 40 feet tall but it still won’t bear acorns until I’m 92 years old – and based on my genetic history I probably won’t live that long.” I looked at Marty.  “I’m running out of time.”

And then I remembered this quote in my prayer journal, a quote by someone whose name has been lost in the sands of time but whose words I tore out and kept from an edition of the Christian spirituality magazine “Weavings”.  Ironically enough this edition was shared with me by another dear friend and colleague in ministry, one whose death earlier this year shook me to my roots and alerted me to the sounds of my own approaching time to sing with the saints by the river that flows from the throne of God.  “Love life as it comes” the author wrote.  “Give without counting how many years are left, not worried about surviving as long as possible.” Be mindful of the joys of every single day. Give generously in appreciation of all that has been given, not counting the cost or hoarding in fear. Plant not to see results but to express gratitude for the earth and to the Earth’s creator. 

“Rest your heart in God” the writer instructs.  Only in God are we set free from the fear of endings and ready to embrace beginnings.  Only in God are we able to live joyfully and expectantly in the last third of life, the years that can bring so much physical change and devastating loss.  I held on to Marty a little tighter.  “Actually” I said, “God has got this.  I don’t have to live to see the acorns, all I have to do is faithfully plant the tree.”  So we did.  Not just one, but three. They are already lifting up their ridiculously big leaves on their short and skinny trunks, and extending the first shoots underground of the massive root systems that will hold the earth steady and feed the trees that will feed thousands of lifeforms long, we pray, after we’re gone.

Today on my 62^nd birthday I am grateful for the years of life I have lived, years full of love and blessings beyond measure poured out by an extravagant God who loves with an unconditional love. I look ahead and reorient myself with the reminder to “give, not worried about how many years are left, not worried about surviving as long as possible.”

And I give thanks.

Grace and peace,

Beth

7/14/25

Pastor’s Ponderings

At Camp Caroline next month several members of our church family will gather beneath the trees beside the river to think about the Tree of Life drawing strength from the River of the Water of Life.  

Our Bible opens and closes with a tree beside a river.  A great and marvelous tree called “the tree of life” that is sustained by a river that brings life to all the earth.  In Genesis the river flowing out of Eden nourishes the whole earth, and beside the river grows the tree of life.  In Revelation the river flowing from the throne of the Lamb contains the water of life to nourish all of God’s glorious New Jerusalem and beside it on either side grows the tree of life.

            In between this beginning and end, there is the story of another river and tree.  Because we chose sin over obedience, because we chose strife over reconciliation, a tree was lifted up upon which a man offered his life in complete humility and love, and as he died, from his side poured a stream of living water. Only because of him do we have the promise of the time when sin will be destroyed and Eden restored.

As the water flowing from Eden nourishes the earth, so are we nourished by the river of the water of life. As the tree of life is rooted in the ground, so are our souls rooted in God.  As the tree of life rises from its root and branches into many branches, so are humans connected to each other and all other life forms in creation.  As the trees in Revelation bear leaves for the healing of the nations, so shall humans, animals, and all of creation be allowed to return to the paradise of Eden in the great healing of earth and all its inhabitants.

            But until then there is so much work to do. Christ calls us to be a part of God’s ongoing work of reconciliation, restoring unity among the people of earth and healing among all of creation. The vision of Revelation wasn’t given to us as an excuse to sit around and do nothing while we wait for it (remember the steward who hid his talents in the ground?) Let us all seek to answer that call:  to join hands, and commit ourselves to caring for each other, for the rivers, for the trees and for all of creation so that earth may be as much like Eden now as it can be while sin still reigns, in these days before the rise of the new Jerusalem and our great Gathering by the River of Living Water. 

Grace and Peace,

Beth

7/7/25

Pastor’s Ponderings

            I saw it on Marty’s trail cam pictures, snuffling its way across the grass, looking for all the world like it had not a care in sight.

            The last time I saw it I would have sworn it was dead.

            The dogs had chased it up from the tall grass by the pond, and despite my screaming and calling they were busy sniffing around it’s obviously lifeless little carcass.  I ran over and got a good look.  It lay contorted and limp as water, its mouth hanging open, its pointy teeth sticking out along with its little tongue.

         Only when I went back without the dogs a little later to retrieve the carcass and throw it out of their reach, it wasn’t there.  No sign at all.  Apparently the opossum had been, in fact, playing possum.

            The opossum is a lumbering little thing, mostly defenseless except for a threatening hiss and hideous scowl. Most of us see them only as road kill when they have ventured out too far with their nearsighted eyes to hunt the night creatures on which they feed:  frogs, mice, cockroaches, carrion. And thank the Lord for them!  I pulled the dogs back, fussing at them for  messing with the creature that eats disease-carrying ticks, plant-munching snails in my flowerbed and - thank you Lord - any venomous snake that happens along, due to their natural immunity to poisonous snake venom. “Don’t hurt the possums!”  I lectured the dogs (as if they understood, which yes, they do, more than they let on) “they eat SNAKES! They just looked at me and resumed sniffing.

         What would we do without possums?  Without these creatures that clean the earth of dead and decaying bodies?  These horribly nearsighted, ghastly toothed creatures that control populations of other creatures which carry diseases deadly to humans? Shout to the Lord in praise of the lowly possum!    

            Marty called to me “Come see your possum!” There it was, its picture captured by the camera as it meandered along beside the pond in the exact same spot where I could have sworn it died. I flashed Marty my best imitation of a possum eating grin.

Grace and peace,

Beth

6/30/25

Pastor’s Ponderings

On towards supper time every afternoon my dog Lily gets anxious, whiney, and refuses to leave my side.  It’s the hour of the thunder monster you know, that horrible monster who brings the rain and makes huge noises in the sky, the one who would like nothing better to do than eat dogs named Lily. Nothing will calm her down except going inside the house and letting her hide underneath my desk until the danger of a late afternoon storm has passed.

I wish it were as easy to calm the fears of my children - my all grown up children who read the news every morning on their phones and carry a constant nervous edge of worry about the state of our nation and the angry undercurrents reverberating from the US capital all the way down into state and local government. No matter which side of the aisle your candidates sit on, there’s one thing on which we can all agree: the American political system is in a de facto civil war right now, with precious little of the bipartisan “I’ll support you on this if you’ll support me on that” conversation that gets things done. 

Yet sure as a late afternoon thunderstorm in the heat of summer, July 4 comes around again to remind us we have faced hard times in America before, and somehow have always managed to keep alive both our conviction of individual liberty and our obligation to civic responsibility. One way we do this is by people down in the grassroots of the nation, people like you and like me, refusing to let our families, our churches and our communities be divided into “us” and “them”. We know we have to live, work and worship together so we keep being polite:  keep listening to each other, keep finding points on which we can agree, keep claiming each other as neighbors and friends despite our differences.

When the news blows up and anxiety rolls in, Marty and I tell our kids to get out and do something positive for somebody else.  Volunteer. Donate. Pick up road side trash. Hold the door open for someone and smile. Take a break from your phone and focus on the things you can do to make a difference in your little corner of the world.

It’s an even better strategy than crawling under the desk and waiting out the storm.

Grace and peace,

Beth

6/23/25

Pastor’s Ponderings

What you call things will tell folks who you are. 

Take chicken pastry for example.  Around here that means chicken cooked in broth along with thin sheets of rolled out dough.  The same dish served in Marty’s family up close to Chesapeake, Virginia is called chicken pie.  Head across the piedmont and stop to eat just before you get to the high mountains and they will serve you something called chicken slick.  Same dish.  Head on up into the high Appalachians and sit down at a table with people from Scots Irish descent and have some chicken and dumplings – same dish, except the dough is dropped into the broth in fat fingers instead of rolled into thin slices and sometimes it contains corn meal instead of flour.

Hold out a bowl of this stuff and tell a linguist what you call it, and they can tell you exactly who you are:  where you are from, who your people are.

Same thing for this green weed in my yard that sprouts in late winter and grows long thin tendrils that catch on your clothes so you carry the little green seed balls attached wherever you go.  Down in the Deep South it’s called Velcro plant. In California it’s called catchweed.  In the United Kingdom it’s called cleavers, and people who forage for food call it goosegrass and say it tastes like lemon. Over at NC State in the scientific catalog it’s listed as Galium Aparine; around here I’ve heard it called sticky weed and sticky willy.  “There sure was a ton of that sticky grass that covers everything up in those hydrangeas” I say to Marty after pulling it out by the armloads one Saturday afternoon.  “What kind of grass?”  he asks.  “You know, the Lily Weed” I answered.  I call it that because our dog Lily comes in from our field covered in it. 

Have you ever noticed the names people give each other?  Things like “liberal” and “conservative”, “high class” and “good ole boy.”  If you aren’t careful to discipline your tongue you may find yourself slipping and calling people things like “idiot” “stuck up” and “trashy.” And if your mama didn’t raise you right you may find words slipping out of your mouth that are demeaning and vulgar, words that curse others, words like “retard” “wetback” and far, far worse. “From the same mouth come blessing and cursing.  My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and brackish water?” Be careful what you call things, especially people. What you call people will tell folks exactly who you are.

Grace and peace,

Beth

6/16/25

Pastor’s Ponderings

I recently learned a new term:  keystone species.  A keystone, by definition, is a central stone at the summit of an arch, locking the whole arch together.  Used in conversation, a keystone is something on which associated things depend for support.  In reference to species, a keystone species is one which is essential to maintaining a given ecosystem.

An example is the sea otter.

The 19^th century fur trade decimated populations of sea otters from California to Alaska as well as into Russia and Japan.  At one point, history shows there were only about 2,000 sea otters left, mainly in Alaska, in that entire ecosystem. 

            At the same time Elkhorn Slough, one of California’s largest marine estuary systems, slowly began to deteriorate.  The marsh banks began breaking down, dumping tons of pesticide and fertilizer runoff into the wetlands, which subsequently caused algae blooms and the dying off of fish and marine life.  As the estuary became muddier and muddier, it became less and less able to sustain life – including human life.

In the late 20^th century hunting bans and habitat restoration began to take place, and sea otters began to reclaim some of their former range.  The first to return to Elkhorn Slough were spotted in 1984, with Monterey Bay Aquarium’s program for releasing orphaned sea otters also boosting the estuary’s otter population.

With the return of the otters, life began to slowly rebuild in the marsh. Science did not entirely understand why life departed nor why it was now returning, and marine biologists performed study after study to figure out what was going on. The conclusions drawn are recorded in the beautiful PBS series “Wild Hope”, which reveals why one of the keystone species of Elkhorn Slough is the crab-eating, urchin-eating sea otter.

            Otters do not have an excess layer of fat as do many marine mammals, so they must eat constantly to generate body heat and energy.  One of their favorite things to eat are striped shore crabs. Studies in the Elkhorn Slough reveal otters eating up to 328 crabs per day.

            When crabs aren’t eaten, they burrow extensively into the marsh banks and eat the roots of marsh grasses that curb erosion.  Without sea otters to keep their numbers down, crabs had essentially destabilized banks so much that storms and tides caused them to collapse and turn the pristine water of the estuary into yucky, silty sludge.

            And not just crabs.  Less so but also important are the kelp-eating sea urchins. Kelp stabilizes the bottom of the estuary, providing cover for baby marine life to escape predators and holding mud in place.  Sea urchins eat kelp.  Otters eat sea urchins.

            The return of the otters to Elkhorn Slough meant kelp beds returned, and marsh banks strengthened.  The water cleared and runoff was contained.  Marine life began returning to spawn and the waters again teemed with fish, birds and wildlife of all forms.

            In the 19^th century instead of seeing otters as the keystone to an entire ecosystem within which we ourselves are a part, humans saw otters as an opportunity to make money.  In our shortsightedness we believed money was the keystone of our lives and we began to destroy the very source of our food, without which of course money is perfectly useless. You can’t use money to buy fresh seafood if there is none to be had.

            In Isaiah we are warned that overbuilding and over cultivating destroys the productivity of the earth. We overbuild and over cultivate, Isaiah warns, because of greed – each of us out for ourselves without concern for creation itself.  But humans are entrusted by God to be caretakers of creation.  Taking care of something means not allowing it to be destroyed.  Thus, caretaking creation is not just saying “oh what a beautiful God-given sunset” and continuing to turn farmland into parking lots and estuaries into mudholes.  Caretaking means defending creation as if our very lives depend upon it – because they do.

Grace and peace,

Beth