November 9 I Thes., 2, Josh. 24
“Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report written on birds that he'd had three months to write, which was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books about birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him put his arm around my brother's shoulder, and said, "Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.”
Dr. Cameron Meredith saw his career as base don the idea of encouragement. It comes form French, to take heart.It is the opposite of discouragment. It seems to me that coaching can be encouragement to help someone find the ability to hone their skills and cover up deficiencies; encouragement helps put us in a position to win. So often, we call realism is criticism or only looking at negative facts. In our time, we get smothered in a profusion of troubles but do not look forward to better times or back to count our successes and improvements.Encouragement bears some of the marks of what is being called life coaching. (I just passed a sign for it on Godfrey Rd. recently) Instead of rebuilding someone, it seeks to downplay negative factors and highlight its good factors. Instead of imposing a vision of the good, it seeks to draw out the good from within the person.
Last week's reading ended with Paul talking about the church acting as a s nurse to help bring people to restored health and wholeness. Paul boldly offers encouragement about death’s aftermath. I was stunned to hear that the cable TV medium Theresa Caputo was selling tickets for the Family Arena, a large venue.She sells tickets, I suppose, as people seek assurance about life after death, as we have for many years. Mary Todd Lincoln sought solace in seances held at the White House after their young son died.The Thessalonians are wondering about the state of their loved ones, are they all right? We will be together with the Lord forever,Paul says.
In the recent movie, the Judge, a middle-aged woman had a near miss with a large buck on the highway. From that point on, she decided to “become the hero of my life story.”
Josh 24 renewed a covenant-Recall in ch. 4 the standing stones recalled the crossing of the Jordan by the 12 tribal representatives.At our first parish in LaGrange, In we had 12 large granite stones flanking the Communion table, as a giant screen for the organ.good idea;but then the floor needed support, and its granite colorfelt a bit like a cemetery monument garden.
Just as the covenant community promised to live out the great promise in their own lives, and in their new situation., so we can renew baptismal promises and healing prayers all of the time-choose- in time, but now- yes a series of failures-reminders of God being faithful even when we are not there-worship as a ritual of choice-serve=worship=putting away the old gods-serve even if it seems wrong/evil to do so. Aren’t elections, in part, renewal of our commitment to representative democracy? Isn’t confirmation a renewal claim on baptismal promises at a new stage in life? The great encouragement about the church is that we are not alone, but we are gathered together as a people. God is with us.
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