25. February 2010 by Sherri.

Tiny snowflakes glittered in the street light as they silently floated to the ground.  For a moment, it felt like I was in a snow globe.  The cold seeped through my jacket as I heaved my suitcase and bag into the backseat of the car.  I’m regretting that extra suit already, I thought to myself.  “When will I learn to travel light?”  It got worse when I arrived at the airport.  Instead of a jet way, the gate was at ground level.  Juggling a very hot cup of coffee, I tried to push my bags onto the escalator, but the corner caught on the side and almost pulled me down.  “There’s an elevator over there, if that would be easier for you” an airport employee yelled.  Mortified, I backed up and headed for the elevator.  When will I get the message – too much stuff is a pain.  I long to travel light. My problem is I am indecisive.  “A girl likes to have choices,” I justify to myself.  But the choices are weighing me down, causing me to falter, to be off balance.  I need to learn to let go, to make the best of what I’ve got.  I need to learn to travel lightly.

The airplane pierced the heavy winter clouds just as the sun began to rise.  The midnight blue sky, adorned with a crescent moon, gave way to lighter shades of blue, until just at the horizon, a thin line of peach and pink light appeared.  Gradually, a brilliant golden sun floated into sight.  It was brilliant, so bright I had to close my eyes, and even through my eyelids, I could see the light of the sun.  “I wonder if my skin makes vitamin D through the window of an airplane.” I thought to myself.  The intensity of the light hurt my eyes, but I couldn’t bear to close the shade on the window. Sunlight is too precious a commodity to a northerner like me. 

As I type, the sun refracted through the diamond on my finger makes tiny rainbows dance on the side of the plane.  They flit about like the snowflakes I saw earlier. But these “snowflakes” are not governed by the gravity of the earth, but by the movement of my hands.  Gravity. Something I always tend to think about when I’m 26,000 feet above the earth.  I once was told that planes don’t just fall out of the sky – that even in severe conditions the have the ability to glide for a while, especially from this height. That was before flight 3407 fell out of the sky onto a house in Clarence, taking with it 51 people, among them Gerry Niewood, a fabulous saxophone player, one of the heroes of my youth and Cantor Susan Wehle, a woman I heard sing at a funeral just a few weeks before.  I know I stand a better chance of dying in a car than a plane - Still, I am a nervous flyer.  I never used to be.  I used to love the excitement of it, the rush of takeoff, the fun of looking out the window.  But I had a bad flight once, and it has stuck with me.  And I don’t  like the way my insides feel when I fly, all nervous and shaky, like my heart knows that my body is going 600 miles an hour, even if the rest of me doesn’t.  I like to be on the ground, in control.  Yet, even when I am in control, I over pack.  I bring more clothes than I need, more books than I can possibly read.  I’m just kidding myself if I think I am in control.

I think of those people who ended up in the Hudson River last year.  I wonder how they felt, if they really had time to process what was happening.  Many people said they prayed as the plane went  down.  I wonder if they felt a sense of God’s presence with them in those moments, and in the minutes afterward, as they waded out onto the plane’s wings and waited to be plucked up by a rescue boat.  I wonder how many of them have prayed since?  Where they prayers of gratitude?  Will they be moved to pray again, even in less dramatic situations?   I always pray on airplanes.  Mostly to find a calm place within God, reminding myself that no matter what happens this day, God is with me.  Hopefully we don’t have to wait for a disaster to turn to God.  Snowflakes, glittering in streetlights, point to God, the sun rising on another day, points to God, light dancing through the ring my beloved gave me as a token of his love, points to God.  And while I may not be in control, God is.

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22. October 2009 by Sherri.

Have you ever tried to dry your hair with a fan?  I have been traveling for over a week now, and my last stop is a retreat center.  I think it used to be a seminary for priests.  The rooms are austere: bed, desk, chair and closet with a couple wire hangers.  The shared bathrooms are down the hall.  It’s clean, but institutional.  This morning after my shower, I began to look around for a hairdryer.  There were none to be found.  I even peeked in closets and went down the creaky elevator to the next floor. No hairdryer.  I wondered if the nuns who live there use hair dryers, but I was too afraid I would get a lecture about vanity, so I didn’t ask. Then I thought of the small desk fan in my room. I headed back to my room and hauled the fan out of the closet. Plugging it in and hoisting it up to face level, I blew the cold air at my head, realizing the whole time how ridiculous I must look.  My next thought was, “if I catch my hair in the fan, it will really hurt!”  I then remembered that Thomas Merton was electrocuted by a fan while staying at a monastery in China. I look for loose wires. 

While I’m trying to “style” my hair with the fan, I hear a small tractor slowly making its way down the street, making a high pitched sound like a small jet engine.  It too is engaged in blowing things around, but instead of hair, it is blowing the leaves out of the street and back onto the grass.  “What a poor use of energy” I think to myself, arms aching as I attempt to dry my hair with the fan. As if we can “tidy up” Creation.  As if we can deny that it is autumn, and the leaves are going to blow everywhere, making a mess of the street.  Five minutes later, the breeze will blow the leaves right back where they were! Then it dawned on me.  What resources am I wasting in my vain attempts?  What am I trying to hide, trying to deny?  I spend a lot of my morning time, energy and resources trying to look presentable. I slather on lotion and makeup, trying to deny that the autumn of life is creeping into my face.  I think of my friend who has lost her beautiful silver hair to chemotherapy.  How freeing that must be!  Our culture tells us our hair must be sleek and shiny, our faces and clothing wrinkle-free.  We spend on a lot of time cleaning and primping and drying and ironing.  Yet how much of our morning time, energy and resources do we spend preparing our interior self for the day?  How much of our precious time, energy and resources do we spend on prayer and meditation of scripture?  So today, my hair will not look like it normally does.  Who cares?  Just me.  Will anyone notice?  I doubt it.  But I do know that it’s time to put down the fan and pick up my Bible, and talk to the One who doesn’t care what my hair looks like. 

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10. October 2009 by Sherri.

There’s an old joke that says, “How many United Methodists does it take to change a light bulb?” The response is, “Change?!!! Who said anything about CHANGE!”

As human beings, we tend to resist change — and yet, things are always changing.  Mike Slaughter, pastor of Ginghamsburg United Methodist Church, says that change today is not evolutionary, it is revolutionary.  We may not like it, but change is happening at an astounding pace -and the church needs to keep up.  While the world may be changing, we, the church, have an unchanging message - God loves humanity and wants to be in relationship with us.  While the way we share the message may change, the message itself is unchanging.

I have spent two days at an awesome United Methodist Church.  The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection begain 19 years ago with four people and a dream to launch a church that would reach thinking people who were not actively involved in a church and help them see that the Christian faith could change their lives and change the world. Today, COR  is one of the largest churches in the United Methodist connection.  Over 15, 000 people worship, study and serve at three locations in the greater Kansas City area.  They are fulfilling their dream in exciting and dramatic ways and I am inspired!

Now, I know some people might be thinking, “Well, Sherri just wants to be pastor of a mega-church.”  That could not be further from the truth.  Here is what Sherri wants.  She wants to serve God and her neighbor by doing what COR has done, to create a community where all people are welcomed and valued, a place where they can come to know Christ and become deeply committed Christians by serving him.   At UMCNC we do that.  We have good worship with good music, Tuesday morning Bible study, Adult Fellowship, youth group and Sunday school.  We reach out to our neighbors through mission projects, like collecting school supplies, food for the food pantry, Thursday night dinners, Habitat, Farmers Market, A Meal and More.  We do lots of stuff - maybe we do too much.  Maybe we spread ourselves too thin.   Maybe we are so busy doing all this stuff that we have lost our focus.  Sometimes when we get really busy we forget the reasons why we do what we do and the activities become the focus rather than the vehicle for the vision and mission.

So today, everything changes.   Instead of just putting our heads down and persevering on, we’re going to stop and ask, “why do we do what we do?  What is our Mission?  What is God’s Vision for us? What is our Purpose, our reason for existing?  What is our plan to achieve that Vision?”  Yes, we have a vision statement - “To actively make disciples of Jesus Christ in our community and throughout the world.”   But let’s be honest.  Do we believe that?  Do we support that?  As nice as that vision statement is, I think for most of us, it holds very little meaning. We need to check in with God and see if that is, in fact, God’s vision for us.  And if it is, we need a plan to make it happen.  If it isn’t we need to listen and hear where God is leading us - and then make the plan.  The bottom line is, we won’t get anywhere without a plan.

So today, everything changes.  We’re going to stop doing some things.  We’re going to stop playing church and start being the church.  We’re going to stop grumbling when we don’t get our own way.  We’re going to stop gossiping and talking about other people.  We’re going to stop making excuses. We’re going to stop doing the things that don’t fulfill our mission as the Body of Christ.

And today, we’re going to start doing some things.  We’re going to intentionally listen to God and look for God’s leading.  We’re going to make our faith journey a priority in our lives.  We’re going to start talking to the people we need to talk to when we have a problem with them.  If we hurt someone, and we will sometimes because we’re human, we’re going to seek reconciliation and ask to be forgiven.  If someone hurts us, and they will because we’re human, we’re going to seek reconciliation and grant forgiveness.  We’re going to take our discipleship seriously.  We’re going to take the Gospel seriously.  Why?  because that’s what followers of Jesus are called to do.

We have good news to share with the world!  We need to begin by sharing it with one another, by holding one another accountable to what it means to follow Jesus. God can do amazing things if we will let him.  I’ve seen it with my own eyes and I can’t wait to share some of the things I learned and some of the stories I’ve heard.  God is going to bless us.  I can feel it!  And God is going to bless others through us!  I know it!  Everything changes today!

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