A New Twist on an Old Practice

Fasting is an ancient practice.   It has been a part of the Christian tradition since before John the Baptist pointed his finger heavenward and started yelling, "Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord."  Jesus himself fasted for 40 days in the wilderness and often went off alone to fast and pray throughout his ministry.  Fasting has been a part of every major religion - and most minor ones too.  In fact, since August 1 and until the 30th,  faithful Moslems are currently observing the month of Ramadan, in which they have no food and no water at all until the sun goes down each day.   Islam is one faith that hasn't let the practice of fasting fall by the wayside!  I have fasted for a day here and there - often on Good Friday, but I've never really done a prolonged fast, even though I know darn well that they are extremely good for one's physical, mental and spiritual health.

On Thursday, I saw the movie  "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead" for the second time.  If you haven't seen this wonderful documentary, I heartily recommend it.  It is the story of an Australian fellow named Joe Cross who decided to take his life back by getting healthier.  The way he does it is to embark on an extended journey across America while also embarking on an extended juice fast.  It's the kind of fast in which the only thing you take in besides water is freshly juiced fruits and vegetables (not prepared juice - you have to make it fresh in a juicer).  So it's not a complete Ghandi-like fast.  You are actually taking in some really good nutrition.  But it's very simple nutrition from veggies and fruits - and no chewing is involved.   You are definitely fasting from eating as we normally know it.

The central message of the movie is that the way to change the world is to change yourself.  And it conveys, in a variety of ways, how as people invite more wellness into their lives, they not only get better themselves, but also invite healing into their communities.  I particularly liked that theme, because this is just what what seems to be emerging here at Grace Church.  We are working toward becoming a gathering place for healing and wellness - not just for our own church members - but for the entire Trumbull community.  We're planning all kinds of events having to do with nutrition, exercise, stress reduction, spiritual practices, etc. in the coming year.  We hope God's healing and wholeness will start here and then move outward from our church like ripples on a pond.

So, I found the movie very uplifting and inspiring.  The first time I saw it, I was inspired by Joe's story.  But the second time I saw it (last Thursday), I was inspired to start a juice fast myself.  Though I've always known - at least with my head - that fasting is an important spiritual discipline, I guess it took this movie to get me to actually DO one.  I guess sometimes God speaks through unlikely channels - even movies with funny names.

So today is the second day of my own 10 day juice fast. As expected, yesterday I had some detox symptoms - fatigue, headache and irritability. I was just darn hungry by the time 4 pm came around.  I faded fast in the evening and went to bed around 7:30 and slept right through until 6:30 this morning.    Some people get some pretty serious detox symptoms for up to 3 days when they do a fast, but I guess I was lucky. Today is my second day, and I feel pretty darn good, my hunger is less bothersome and I am feeling quite satisfied by the juice.  I've been making fruit juices in the morning (this morning I juiced fresh watermelon, cherries, limes and cucumbers.  Delicious!)  and I've had vegetable juices for the rest of the day (yesterday I made a whammo juice with tomatoes, chard, celery and hot peppers - very bracing.)

Why am I doing this?  Well, I have a lot coming up this fall, and I thought it would be a good idea to be at my best - to be clearer and cleaner - to do a "reboot" as they say in the movie. I'm also doing it to lose the 10 -15 pounds I've gained since moving to Trumbull two years ago.  But I think the most important reason is that I'm approaching this as a spiritual discipline.  I'm doing it to empty myself out - like cleaning out a messy closet - so that God can reorder my insides, and fill me with the good things that I haven't been leaving any room for.  I know it'll be a challenge, but I also hope it'll be a great experience.  I'll keep reporting how it's going this week. If all goes as planned, I'll be juice fasting until some time on Monday the 29th. 

 In the meantime, talk to me if you'd like to see the movie - I've got it at my house and I'm happy to watch it again anytime!  Also, let me know if you're interested in doing a juice fast yourself.  I'm happy to help in any way I can.  Let's heal together.

It's all in how you say it

Although I knew way back in seminary that good communication is at the heart of effective ministry, I will admit that I was surprised at how much PR is involved in building a church.  Getting the word out about what is going on here - both to church members and people outside the church - is the key to growth and redevelopment.  So I spend a lot of time and energy deciding which words to use in on our website, in our newsletter, in press releases. 

When Steve shared this short video with me recently, which I think was probably produced by a PR firm, it gave me a lot to think about.

The woman in the movie tells the beggar that she had said the same thing he did on the sign, only she chose different words.   With the tired, overused words he'd put on the sign, he became as invisible as wallpaper.  People would glance at him and immediately put him in the folder in their head labelled "beggar" and easily dismiss him.  The words she put on the sign hit people in the gut and invited them to see the beggar with new eyes - as a person who they could relate to.   

Church language can often be received like the beggar's first sign.  Same old phrases.  Same old imagery.  People just throw it all into the folder in their head marked "religion" and ofen quickly dismiss it.  How can we in the church, with our words, help people experience church with new eyes - and feel in their gut that there might be something going on here that they can relate to?

This video shows that words can be very effective.  But I stumble over that word "effective" when I think about the church.  In the video, "effective" seems to be defined by more coins in the beggar's cup.  Of course that's a good result for the beggar, but in what other ways could you define "effective?" Could the new words on the sign be effective in inviting real conversations and connections between the beggar and passers by - effective in not only bringing certain tangible results but in beginning to change old definitions, labels and behaviors?

I often wonder, as we build our church, how we will measure "effective?"  What results do we hope our careful use of words will produce?  How will we know when our words are "working?"  Do we just want more money in the plate?  More people in the pews on Sundays?  No, our goal is not really to build this church but to build the Kingdom of God.  We are about finding ways to participate in God's mission of healing and reconciling the whole world.  "Effective" is more about the real conversations and connections and relationships that begin to develop among us and all around us and is far more difficult to gauge than a simple increase of change in a can.
Words are very important.  They can bring about wonderful responses in and among people.  They can inspire, lead and heal.  I am all too aware, however, of the strange edge that exists between wording things in such a way to open people's eyes to God versus trying to sell them something.  On my less good days, I wonder whether we're spending too much time trying to sell ourselves to a consumerist world.

I just returned from a two day clergy conference.  The speaker was a theologian, and his words were beautiful, thoughtful, relevant, accesible.  He reframed some of the most challenging passages in the Bible (the sections some call 'toxic texts') in such a wonderfully helpful and expansive and open minded way that I was uplifted and inspired.  I left there wanting to bring God's love out into the world.  That's what I hope our communication does, too.

In the Valley of the Shadow of Death

  

The kids in our youth group joined in a salt marsh cleanup last Saturday.  One of the largest salt marshes in New England is on the Stratford/Bridgeport border, and it is federal land.  Until a few years ago it was fenced off and people could not go out on it.  And it was completely ignored. 

The role of salt marshes in the environment are very important.  The grasses and creatures filter the water, decompose dead animals and plants and clean the ocean.  They tend to form in places where tides bring such waste to shore.  Therefore, they are also places where trash collects.

Because the salt marsh in Stratford was ignored for a good period of time, a lot of trash began to collect there.  LOTS of trash.  Two years ago, the folks at CT Community Boating, headed by Chris German, began organizing yearly cleanups of the marsh, along with other area beaches.  The first year they went in, the amount of trash was overwhelming.  The next year it was not much better, for much of what they'd removed had been replaced by new trash.  This year, it was still shocking.

Trash that has built up on one area of shore

Plastic and styrofoam do not degrade, but the work of the waves and the salt marsh plants and animals do their best to break it down.  What is left is teenier and tinier pieces of plastic and styrofoam.  Little pieces that are impossible to pick up but which collect in piles, and also float back out into the water for fish and other creatures to eat.  Sea animals have been found to have more and more plastic and styrofoam in their stomachs.  The petrochemicals are found in their flesh.  This includes the fish we eat.

I don't think I was the only one shocked by the sheer volume of plastic trash that had collected at the salt marsh.  I came home and looked up a few statistics that shocked me even further.  I found out that Americans use 2,500,000 plastic bottles an hour.  I found out that Americans throw out 25, 000,000,000 (that's billion) styrofoam coffee cups a year.  I found out that world wide, 60,000 plastic bags are thrown out every 5 minutes.  Lots of plastic trash ends up in the ocean, pooling in areas called 'gyers.'  There are gyers in the Pacific that have accumulated floating areas of trash twice the size of Texas. 

Trash floating in the ocean

It would be one thing if we could say, "Wow, we've made such a horrible mess.  Let's clean it up!"  But manufacturers still continue to create more and more and more plastic and we continue to use it (and then throw it away.  In the time it's taken me to write this, around 180,000 new plastic bags have entered the waste stream.  But "throwing it away" doesn't make it go away, as we witnessed firsthand on the shore last weekend.  The problem just keeps getting bigger and the trash piles just keep getting bigger.

I've tried to reduce my own plastic use, but find it nearly impossible to avoid purchasing plastic in our society.  Everything is wrapped, labelled, contained.  Even bringing my own shopping bags to the store, I leave with them full of new plastic.  It's hard to hold on to hope in the face of such overwhelming societal sin.  

A broken plastic Jesus we found amonst the trash

 Psalm 23 says, "Even in the shadow of the valley of death, I will fear no evil.  Thy rod and they staff, they comfort me," but I don't take this as a platitude.  God led me and the youth group beside the still waters last Saturday, and I think God is leading us down right paths for his name's sake - to begin to open our eyes to the mess we're making.  Awareness of what we're doing is always the first step.  Acceptance that there's really a problem that's not going away is next.  Then comes action - actions both small and large.  I don't pretend that one little youth group will make any dent at all in this problem.  In fact, I had to wonder where all that trash would go from here - back into the water?  Into a landfill?  Into the air in the form of pollutants and dioxins through an incinerator?  The bottom line is that plastics do not go away.  They will continue to poison the air, water and ground - and our bodies - for generations to come.  So though I don't think we made a big dent on Saturday, just deciding to walk with Jesus through the reality of the situation is good action.  Moving toward healing, even if we don't see how we'll ever get there, is what we all can do.

Almighty God, in giving us dominion over things on earth, you made us fellow workers in your creation: Give us wisdom and reverence so to use the resources of nature, that no one may suffer from our abuse of them, and that generations yet to come may continue to praise you for your bounty; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

Complexity

"I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an     enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."                              - Martin Luther King, Jr.

I woke, as many did on Monday, to the news of Osama Bin Laden's death.  I was not cheered by the news.  As Martin Luther King's quote reminds me, there's enough hate and death in the world already.  And although I know this is 'mission accomplished' for our military, I don't like to think of my government participating in assassination.  I know all is considered fair in war, and we have been led to consider our struggle with terrorism and those who perpetrate it a war, but I can't help but wondering how fighting terrorism with violence and death will get us anywhere.  I do understand what has happened probably needed to happen, and I do believe that God works through all things - through this - even through 9/11.  I understand that those who paraded and cheered in the streets when they heard the news were feeling that something wrong had been made right - the bad guy got what was coming to him.  But I just can't find it anywhere in myself to cheer about it.  And I certainly can't bring myself to name it justice when it feels to me so much more like vengeance.  "Vengeance is mine, says the Lord."  I look at the world around us - self-righteous, power hungry and violent - and I see us taking into our own hands what we need to leave to God everywhere I look. 

When I try to understand what has happened in this, I just keep coming up with more questions and fewer and fewer answers.  So what does my faith tell me?  Jesus tells us to love our enemies.  But Jesus also overturned the tables of the money changers in the temple when he judged they had crossed a line. The death of Bin Laden seems a complicated mix of both polarities (although, I keep thinking, Jesus did not kill the moneychangers.)   All I know for sure is that I wouldn't change places with the president of the United States for all the tea in China.  This world is a very large and complicated place, and leadership is one of the hardest things there is to do in the midst of great complexity.

I know God works through all things and so I pray that what has happened will all lead to God's reconciliation somehow.  Praying is the only thing I can do about something that seems so big and completely out of my hands.  So I pray for those who lost loved ones in the twin towers, or in the Pentagon, or on a plane on 9/11.  And I pray for those who have been victims of suicide bombers or terrorist attacks anywhere.  And I pray for soldiers and civilians who are caught in the crossfire and confusion of war.  And I pray for the leaders who must decide and act, even when what is truly right and just is beyond their human ability to discern.  And I pray for those who believe they are meting out justice when they do something violent, no matter who they are.  And I pray that God forgives us all for allowing the world be like this.

Enjoying My Day

Here is an actual conversation that took place in my mind this morning as I was running along the rail trail:

Ooh, look!  Pretty flowers!  I wish I had my camera.

Oh, I do have a camera on my cell phone.

I can't stop, though, I've got to run.  The 5K is coming up and I've got to train.

But they probably won't be so pretty next time I come.

The cell phone doesn't take great pictures, and I've got so much to do to get ready for Holy Week.  I've got to get my run in and get home.

Oh for heaven's sake.  I can take a minute to stop and take a picture.  Who am I?  Joan Benoit?  I can stop for a minute.

So, to make a long story short, after much arguing with myself I did stop, and took several pictures of the beautiful wildflowers coming up through the dry leaves, the sun shining on them just right.  And unfortunately, it is true, my cell phone does not take pictures as well as my camera, so the photo above does no justice to the beautiful sight.  But as I was taking pictures and enjoying the flowers, I was also enjoying the sound of the river below, rushing and tumbling over the rocks because of recent rains.  I was enjoying the feel of the soft breeze and the spring sunshine on my face.  I enjoy my walks and runs on the trail, but after taking a minute to slow down enough to really enjoy my surroundings, when I resumed my run I enjoyed it all the more.  I wondered why I'd been so reluctant to stop and enjoy the flowers.

There is a helpful pamphlet called "Just for Today" that suggests that today I save myself from two pests: hurry and indecision.  Indecision has never been much of an issue for me.  But hurry - well - this morning was a good example of how that pest can sometimes nag at me and rob me of the enjoyment I could choose in my day.  At the moment I consciously recognized that I had allowed that pesky pest hurry to get a toehold in me this morning, and realized that I had managed to save myself from it by stopping to enjoy the flowers, I looked up the hill and noticed this:

It was a face someone had nailed on a dead tree halfway up the hill to the side of the trail.  If I'd still been in such a hurry with my running I never would have noticed it.  In that smiling tree I saw evidence that someone had recently done something for no reason other than just having some fun.  Here was evidence that someone had chosen to enjoy their day, just like I had.

By the time I was almost back to my car, I felt as if I'd been on a mini vacation - all before 7:30 am.  I really, really enjoyed my run.  And as if to cap off the lesson I was given in the woods, I ran by a trout fisherman heading toward the river with his pole.  Now that I was in such a light and happy mood, I said to him, "I hope you catch a fish!"

He answered, "It's such a beautiful day, it doesn't matter if I catch one or not!  Enjoy your day!"