Security-Comfort-Food and the Golden Rule

Photo by Holly Boucher

One of the “blessings” of fibromyalgia is that once in awhile, you have to literally stop what you’re doing.   Fighting the pain is physically exhausting!  Sometimes, you have to just sit and rest, whether you want to or not!  I am used to having to rest for a day, at times, but this time around, I had to rest for days.  I haven’t had to do that for awhile, but this was one of those bouts where I had to do an extended rest, because my symptoms were not getting better, they were getting worse!  I needed to give my body time to recover.

There is only so much television you can watch and there are only so many rounds of Sodoku you can play before you start going stir crazy!  So, I took advantage of the time and read a few books.  I tried to read a few spiritual books but, there is a mental exhaustion component that goes with this, as well, and I just couldn’t wrap my brain around what I was reading.  So, instead, I read a book that I have wanted to read for awhile, “The Town That Food Saved” by Ben Hewitt.  The appeal, for me, was that it was about a town that I do know about, Hardwick, Vermont.  Hardwick was the “ole stomping grounds” of my parents when they first got married, and they both have very fond memories.  So, I was curious to see just how Mr. Hewitt portrayed the Hardwick of today, against the Hardwick of yesterday.

The basic premise of the book, initially , is how new, food based, entrepreneurial businesses came in to town and saved the community from economic collapse.  Sort of a rags to riches story.  The author had the good sense, though, to delve a little deeper.  On the one hand, yes, these businesses brought a new vitality to the community.  On the other hand, there have been farms and farmers in the area for a very long time quietly doing their own thing without a lot of publicity and fanfare.  So, I appreciate that Mr. Hewitt took the time to point that little factoid out!

For me, it raised a couple of points that I have pondered and wrestled with over the years-food security and proper stewardship.  It also raises the importance of being a part of a community that lives in balance.  Right now, if there was a major catastrophic event, and goods could not be shipped, particularly food, there are a lot of people who would go hungry.  Do you live in a community that could sustain itself, for an extended period of time, without outside assistance?  Most of us, would have to answer no.  I think the area that I live in, would fare better than some other areas of the country but I am not entirely convinced we could sustain ourselves for a long period of time.  I do believe that this is something that we should all take seriously and discuss because stuff does happen.  There are things that are beyond our control and we may face a point in time when we have to depend on our neighbors and our community to work together.

Missouri just wilted it’s way through the second worst heat wave on record.  We broke record high temperatures that had been set back in the 1930’s, during the depression and the era of the dustbowl.  There was no rain hardly to speak of.  There were cracks in people’s yards that looked like an earthquake had hit, but it was no earthquake, the ground was literally baking in the sun.  This is the type of weather we expect to get towards the end of July, into August.  This was not something that you would normally see in the month of June.  Because of this, there is some concern about the corn crops and the amount of damage that this heat wave/drought did to the crop.  Lower yields means higher commodity prices.  Higher commodity prices, mean higher prices at the supermarket.  It’s a viscous cycle that we created, when we chose to get away from growing or raising our own food and depending on someone else to do it for us.    Here’s a shocking statistic from the book-the amount of the United States population that live on farms is 0.7%.  In the United States, 140 people eat what 1 person grows.  If that system fails, what happens?

The statistic sounds daunting, but there is something that can be done on a local level-encourage people to grow at least some of their own food.  Food is far more valuable then the perfectly manicured lawn.  It is also far more healthy than what you find in the supermarket because it is fresh, it hasn’t lost some of the nutrient content due to shipping.    Yes, it is work!  That’s why a lot of people prefer to let someone else take up the task!  But more locally grown food would go a long way towards providing some stability and food security on a local level.  If you are in an area where you can not grow your own, there are some options.  The local farmers market is a good place to start.  Or, look for a community garden when you can have your own little plot of land to grow vegetables.  And for those a little more adventurous, a drive to the country to a “pick your own” operation is a good way to participate.  It is a way to participate in the well being of your community because you are supporting someone local.

Churches can have a positive impact on this as well.  Stewardship is not just about money.  It is also about careful use of finite resources.  And many churches have a bare spot of land that could be used for a community garden.  I know the objections, people don’t take care of their plots, it turns into a weedy ugly mess, etc. etc.  I know, it is a risk that you take when you open up part of the property to the community.  But what is more important, the impeccable landscaping or finding a vital way to be a part of the local community?  Here’s another option, if your community does not have a Farmer’s Market, would you be willing to host one at the church?  Or would you be willing to host workshops about gardening, seed saving, preserving food, etc.?  Would you be willing to let some of your members grow a garden so the produce could be donated to the local food pantry?  Hunger in the United States is real and it happens in every community whether we want to acknowledge it or not.  The church is a wonderful place to help constructively turn the tide, if we are willing to step up and confront the issue.

Can we be better stewards?  Can we help create greater food security in our community?  Can we help create a more sustainable community system?  I think we can.

One point from the book that particularly resonated with me was about the farmers who had been in the community for a long time.  They sold produce off their farm on a “sliding scale” fee.  If someone could afford to pay a certain price, that is what they were charged.  But if there was someone who was in need, they would charge a lower price or not even charge them at all.  They did this without a lot of fanfare or publicity or trying to make a boatload of money.  They did it quietly, consciously, consistently.  They were not out there trying to make a name for themselves, they were doing this to help their neighbor.  To me, it was like watching the gospel lived out in a very real, practical way.  It reminded me a lot of my parents and dad, in particular.  Dad was well known for pulling out a couple of saw horses and a sheet of plywood and setting them up by the road.  Then he would make a sign that said “free” and he would put surplus produce on top of the makeshift plywood table.  Over the years, there were people who come up to me or my siblings and shared their stories about how much they appreciated dad doing that one simple thing.  My parents never made a big deal out of doing it and we grew up believing that it was just something you did.  But there were people out there who were able to “make it through a rough patch” because it gave them something to eat.  I treasure those stories even more, now that dad is gone.  And I hope in some way, I can carry on that simple legacy.

I appreciated reading the stories that Ben Hewitt told in his book and I am grateful that these “agri-preuneurs” are raising awareness about food security and sustainability at the local community level. But I am far more appreciative of the stories about the local farmers who have been doing their part to take care of their community for a very long time!  My guess is, some of those folks are already members of a local church and this is one way that they have chosen to live out the Golden Rule.

As a citizen and a member of your local church, I hope you consider looking at ways to be more involved.  This is your community.  These are your neighbors.  Are you willing to take some risks in order to encourage and support and strengthen your neighborhood, your community?  It is a question that is well worth wrestling with!

The More Things Change

For those of you who long for the “good-ole-days” allow me to share a little dose of reality with you.  Awhile back, I went to the library and borrowed a copy of E.B. White’s collection of essays called One Man’s Meat.  For those of you who are saying to yourself “the name sounds familiar,” E.B. White is best known as the author of Charlotte’s Web.  He also wrote for the New Yorker magazine for many years.  The essays were written just prior to the start of World War II and they were published in book form in 1942.  Mr. White chronicles the journey of his move to a farmstead in Maine and what life was like, with some observations about the world at large, thrown in for good measure.  Reading through the book, I am reminded, once again, of the old saying “the more things change, the more they stay the same.”

In an essay titled “Sabbath Morn,” written in February, 1939, Mr. White made the following observations:

“In this house we cling to a few relics of religious observance, but there is no heart in it.  If we possess faith (and I guess we do) it is of a secret and unconsecrated sort ill at ease in church….The church sometimes seems painfully unimaginative in its attempt to perpetuate a faith which has been gutted by so many fires.  Whether or not people are essentially less religious than they used to be, I don’t know, but it is obvious that something has happened….I go to church once in a while and sing the hymns very loud; it clears the blood, and I love the gush of holiness when the old bone-shaking anthems ripple up and down my spine and crackle in my larynx.  But for the most part, religion is tucked away in a bottom drawer among things we love but never use.  In two generations there has been a great falling off.  When I was a child, I could feel heaven slipping…By the standards of a hundred years ago, my family to-day is a group of misguided agnostics, seeking after an illusive beauty and fumbling for grace…”

What a familiar tale, I think to myself!  How similar and relevant are Mr. White’s words today?!  The great angst that we possess as the United Methodist Church over decline in attendance is the same thing that was going on back in “the good old days” that we fondly talk about.  The rosy days of “back yonder” were not quite as rosy as we would like to believe.  The reality, the truth of the matter is this-we struggle with the same issues that previous generations struggled with.  That doesn’t mean that we choose to just accept this as a fact of life, we can choose to try to change the outcome.  But if we intend to change, we had better make sure that we have thought things through carefully.  “Change for change sake” is not true change at all.  Learning from the past, taking off the rose colored glasses and seeing things as they really were, rather than how we imagine-that is the lens that we need to use when we decide what to change and how we go about changing things!  Until we can do that, until we can accept the fact that there is nothing new under the sun, all of our best laid plans will be nothing more than just another plan.

Let’s be honest with ourselves and recognize the fact that the more things change-the more they stay the same, if we choose to ignore the truth of the past.  We will not change the course if we do not learn the lessons of yesterday.  In my humble opinion, this is indeed a valuable and timely lesson in light of General Conference.  A voice from the past holds an important reminder, to us all, for today!

Resurrection vs. Regeneration

Once again, I have run across something that made me go hmm...and it actually clarifies something I have struggled with for a while.  Current "churchese" talk circles have said that the United Methodist Church needs a resurrection to happen.  I understand the point they are trying to make, but the term has bothered me.  So I looked up the definition in my Webster's dictionary and here's what it said:

"the act of rising again, after death"

So, are we saying the church is dead?  I don't buy that!  If you look at what Wesley wrote in the sermon that I posted yesterday, he said that there was a remnant or "seed" that remained, and it sprouts and it grows and it matures.

This morning I was reading in Wesley's Christian Library a piece from John Arndt's True Christianity.  He talks about following the pattern of Christ and he uses the term "regeneration".  Regeneration-it is a very interesting term!  Here's the definition:

"to give new life or vigor to-a spiritual rebirth" 

This is a term I can relate to-it makes sense!  It also illustrates exactly what I was seeing in the Book of Acts (which I posted about last Thursday).  The Spirit is not dead!  The church by extension is not dead because a remnant or "seed" remains!  Let's apply it to the model that I noticed in Acts.

The Apostles were the first "spiritual generation".  They planted seeds in the Disciples (the second spiritual generation) and they followed the pattern of Christ-they grew, they matured, they became leaders.  Stephen and Phillip and Barnabas became "seed planters" and Christianity spread.  They did their apprenticeship at the feet of the Apostles, then they were sent out as leaders to continue the process.  Regeneration was built in to the system right from the start!

Here's the modern day lesson for the church.  Discipleship done well has regeneration already built in to the system!  Our members need to spend time at the feet of good leaders, listening, learning and seeing how things are done BEFORE you put them in to leadership roles.  They need time to mature.   But once they reach that level of maturity, they can then become leaders themselves and they can plant the seeds and lead others through the same process.  The individuals that they Disciple can then become leaders as well, once they reach that level of spiritual maturity.  And the process continues.  Active regeneration.

Regeneration does not start from a dead place.  It starts from a living place.  The Holy Spirit is alive and well! It does not need to be resurrected.  The only thing that needs work happens to be "us".  We need to embrace regeneration in ourselves.  Then we can start the process of regeneration in our churches.

I'm liking this idea of regeneration!  :-)

Religion At Your Doorstep-The Importance of Home Work

Today is Labor Day and for many, it signals the end of summer and the onset of fall.  Labor Day was started as a holiday to celebrate the importance of the worker and was originally organized by Union leaders to show the solidarity of workers.  Let's face it, without workers willing to work nothing would get done!  Leaders and executives can plan all they want, but without workers, none of their plans can be implemented!  Workers do matter!

Jesus understood this in the spiritual realm as well.  So many of his parables focus on laborers and workers because he knew that without willing workers, nothing gets done!  So it's no surprise to me that in 1 Timothy 5, Paul reminds Timothy about the importance of taking care of the widows and doing work for them.  The Message paraphrase says this:

"...let them learn that religion begins at their own doorstep and that they should pay back with gratitude some of what they have received."

Work starts at home.  It starts with helping your family.  It expands to helping your friends, your community and the world around you, but it starts on your doorstep!

If this past week is any indication, I don't think that the average worker has forgotten this lesson!  People who were not effected by the flooding have joined together in their own community to help those who were effected.  I saw the same thing earlier in the spring in Joplin, Missouri after the tornado.  Family helping family.  Friend helping friend.  Neighbor helping neighbor.

What a contrast to the warning that Paul gives Timothy in 2 Timothy 3.  The Message paraphrase says:

"Don't be naive.  There are difficult times ahead.  As the end approaches, people are going to be self-absorbed, money-hungry, self-promoting, stuck-up, profane, contemptuous of parents, crude, coarse, dog-eat-dog, unbending, slanderers, impulsively wild, savage, cynical, treacherous, ruthless, bloated windbags, addicted to lust, and allergic to God.  They'll make a show of religion, but behind the scenes they're animals.  Stay clear of these people."

No, I'm not saying the end is near!  But I will admit, I see an awful lot today that fits Paul's description.  Particularly in the world of politics where the concern is not about doing the best for the country or the state or the community.  Rather, it is about doing the best for the individual candidate.  Or, in the corporate world where it is about doing the best for the profit margin so the CEO saves his job.

There is a stark contrast!  I have yet to see an elected official helping with clean up efforts.  They tour, they talk, they look fresh as a daisy standing in the chaos.  I have, however, seen family, friends, neighbors and strangers stepping in and getting their hands dirty and helping with the work.   I am puzzled by this disconnect.  They talk a good talk but where's the walk?  And I wonder if this explains why our unemployment rate has stayed so high?  Is it because they say they get it but the reality is, they honestly do not understand that they could make a huge difference if they would just get off their collective high horse and get to work?

We talk a lot about the unemployment rate as reported by the department of Labor which hovers right around 9%.  But there are economists who look at a larger picture and put the real unemployment rate at anywhere between 16% and 22%.  If the real rate is closer to 22% that means almost 1/4 of our eligible workforce is not working!  With all of the damage from various storms around the country is there really any reason for that number to be so high?  There is work to be done, so why can't our leadership work together to start rebuilding?  I don't get it, I really don't, why there is so little agreement on things that matter to everyone!  They are elected servants of the people first, and leaders second.  And Jesus made it very clear that a true leader serves others first and puts their own self-interest second.  The same principle applies to the business world as well.  It's not about the shareholder, it's about providing the best product to the client.  And in order to do that you provide your workers with the very best equipment to make that possible.  How could they have forgotten that?

I am just grateful that on this Labor Day I can point to individuals who have not forgotten this very basic lesson!  These individuals within their communities are practicing what they intuitively know to be right.  Religion starts at your own doorstep and it means helping others from your own grateful heart!  They are working together to clean up, rebuild and restore.

Thank you God for willing workers!  Let their example shine brightly for others to see!

Winning the Battle Starts with Showing Up!

The books of the Bible that deal with rules and bean counting are always hard reads for me, no matter what the translation is that I happen to be using!  It reminds me of history class when you had to keep track of the specific dates for various Civil War battles in order to pass the final exam.  If I could match a specific battle to a specific war I figured I had hit the bonus round!  Asking for the exact date?  That's an entirely different story!  I'm grateful that I absorbed enough information to figure out what happened and when it happened!  That's the same sort of view that I take with certain books of the Bible.  I'm never going to keep the genealogies and census numbers straight but if I can get the general idea then it's all good! 

There are little nugget gems to be found within the various law and number books if you keep reading.  Every once in awhile, something will jump out at me and I'll be like "huh, wonder why I didn't notice that before?"  Today's daily Bible reading had one of those little gem moments.  Take First Chronicles for example!  Chapter 9 discusses the list of exiles who came back to Jerusalem, and of course it names names.  It is a pretty standard list by clan and it involves the Priests, Levites and temple support staff.  But when you get to the Korahite family who were the guards at the temple gates there is this little bit of added information.  The Message paraphrase says this:

"David and Samuel the seer handpicked them for their dependability."

Now if you have any inkling of history, you know that the exile happened well after King David's time.  So the choice of this particular clan to be in charge of temple security happened long before the Babylonian exile and eventual return of the tribe of Israel to Jerusalem.  And the key reason as to why this particular clan was chosen for this specific duty was because they were dependable!  David and Samuel knew they could rely on them to fulfill this duty and that they would actually show up!  Even though a lot of time had passed, this was still true of the clan when they returned from exile.  The job would get done because this family would be there.  They would actually show up!

That is the moral of the story for today.  Part of winning your battles involves being dependable.  It involves not just talking about what you are going to do.  It is about showing up, doing the work and following through.  Want a modern example?  Firefighters have training and they have the equipment but if they don't show up to put out a fire it doesn't do you much good, now does it?  Teachers have training and they create lesson plans but if they don't show up to teach the class all that planning amounts to nothing.  Or, if you would like to jump in to the world of science fiction-a starship has warp drive but until Captain Picard says "engage" it doesn't really help you!  You can have the best plans, you can have the greatest tools but until you actually show up to do the work it amounts to absolutely zero in progress!  There is great value in being dependable!

Dependability is under-rated today.  It's just not a "glamorous" virtue like being utterly brilliant!  Having been an office manager I can tell you that I would take a dependable person over a brilliant person any day!  A dependable person is trainable.  Someone who has brilliant ideas but is not reliable is useless to me in an office setting because they are never around to follow through on their good ideas!  They are flighty.  My preference would be to have someone with both qualities-brilliance and dependability but if I had to make a choice, I would choose the dependable person.  It's not because I oppose new ideas but rather because I need to know that someone is going to be there to actually do the work!

So how does this apply to your life and your faith walk?  Well, let me ask you this.  Are you facing struggles and you have some good ideas on how to deal with them but you just haven't implemented them?  Why?  What is holding you back?  Is it because the task seems too daunting or is it because you believe someone else will take care of the problem?  If you happen to fall in to the second category-believing that someone else should take care of the problem-you may have a problem!  The only person you can change, the only person you have control over is you!  Doing the work, making small changes, that's how big changes occur.  But you have to "show up" to win the battle.  You, my darling friends must do the work.  You have to be dependable and reliable-for you!

The same thing applies not only in your personal life and your work life, but also in the life of a church.  If you want change, then you have to be willing to do the work!  You have to show up.  You have to be the reliable, dependable person!  I have a beautiful voice, I can sing.  But in order to be involved with the Praise Team I had to show up for practice and I had to show up to help lead worship on Sunday morning.  I could have all the good ideas I wanted but if I didn't bother to show up then those ideas would not come to fruition because there would be no one to follow through.  Being part of the team meant working for the best interest of the team.  And a big part of that involved simply showing up!  The team was successful because we knew that we could rely and depend on each other!  Things would get done because there was a reliable core who was willing to do the work!

I remember a conversation I had with a good friend of mine who also happens to be a very successful businessman.  As an office manager I was suddenly having to deal with moving large sums of money around which was something completly new to me and quite frankly, I was rather intimidated by the whole thing.  I mentioned this to my friend.  He also had experienced the same thing at first but he said "I got to the point where it didn't bother me any more.  A thousand dollars, a million dollars, same difference."  The uncomfortable became comfortable because it became normal.  It became normal because he showed up every day and did the same thing over and over again until it became second nature.  It wasn't randomly done, there was a specific plan and procedure to follow.  It worked because my friend was dependable and reliable and he showed up to do the work.  He looked at the problem and created plan A, B and C.  He addressed the issue head on and he did the work to win the "battle".  But his success would never have happened if he didn't bother to show up to "do battle" in the first place.  That's why being dependable is so critical to any success in life.  Change doesn't happen by itself.  Change depends on people willing to work the plan in order to make change happen!

Are you facing big problems?  Do you have some ideas on how to address them?  Do you want to see change?  Create a plan and then start doing the work.  If this is your battle than show up!  Face your challenges head on.  Engage in the action.  Be steady and consistent or in other words be dependable.   Battles are unavoidable but the art of winning the battle is showing up for the battle in the first place!  

As Captain Picard would say...Engage!

Charred Lemons

I wish I had something really profound to say today but I'm a little sleepy since I've been up on and off since 1:30 this morning!  When life gives you lemons you make lemonade, right?  Even when they're charred!

We have dogs.  And for whatever reason, they decided that they needed to go outside at 1:30 in the morning.  Which meant I had to get up...ugh!  But, had they not decided to take a jolly jaunt outside I wouldn't have noticed that the house seemed to be warming up, nor would I have noticed the funny "hot" smell or the fact that the Air Conditioner was not shutting off in it's usual cycle.  Usually when this happens it is a sign that the condenser tray is not draining fast enough and water is backing up.  So I pulled the top cover and checked but it looked fine.  It was pretty hot outside and it seemed to be blowing semi cool air so I figured we would be o.k. until 4:00 when my husband Kenny got up for work.  By the way, did I mention we are under a heat advisory which means the afternoon air temp is supposed to hit around 100 before factoring in the humidity?  Yeah, we had a toasty day ahead of us!

Four in the morning is a hard time for having a good time!  Kenny got up and I told him about the AC blowing unusually warm air.  So he checked the top, just like I did-nothing there.  That meant checking under the house which meant unscrewing the skirting by flashlight to check the drainage line.  With flashlight and broom in hand he crawled under.  It was unusually wet.  So he crawled back out and went under the porch to check the outside drainage line-dry as a bone.  Meanwhile, he had me turn off the Air Conditioner inside the house.  The outside compressor shut off but the blower fan did not.  That was not a good sign!  We cut the power at the fuse box and then opened up the bottom.  It was wet.  So Kenny started taking it apart.  He discovered that the water had not run in to the drain, it had run straight down to the bottom of the furnace and the wiring and relay switches were wet, which caused them to char and just about completely charred and melted the relay switch for the furnace.  The furnace and the AC were both running at the same time.  Really bad would be an understatement!

Fortunately I am married to a guy who builds airplanes for a living and whose favorite weekend hobby is turning wrenches on vehicles.  He has the uncanny gift of being able to reverse engineer anything he takes apart!  So that's what he did!  He took the whole shabang apart, created his own schematic and then went in to town later in the morning to get the parts to fix it.  I have air conditioning again!  Woo hoo!

Kenny still needs to build the solution to the initial problem but he already has a plan, he just needs to get the pieces parts to build it and install it below the condenser coils. 

My husband-my hero!  Not only is he good looking, he's pretty handy to have around!  Pass the lemonade.  Pardon the charred taste.