Tired of Not Doin' Nothin'

One of the happiest sentences I heard uttered by a parishioner recently was “I’m tired of not doin’ nothin’.” She was suggesting a idea to do some recycling—simple enough, but significant because it mattered that it meant making a difference. Isn’t that really what we are called on to do; make a difference? During Lent we spent time reflecting on our call to be difference-makers. We dedicated fasts that included

• walking instead of driving for short trips
• drying laundry on the line instead of in the dryer
• washing clothes in cold water
• purchasing carbon offsets
• giving up butter, drinking skim milk
• replacing light bulbs with fluorescents
• using the microwave less
• give up bottled water
• collecting empty juice and water bottles for recycling
• spend more time as a steward of woodlands
• give up processed foods & goods from China
• give up the gas stove and electric lights

I can’t report on whether everyone was faithful in their fasts, but I do know some things. I know that Judy cleaned out multiple huge bags of plastic recyclables from the teachers’ lounges where she works. I know that Pat and Kate didn’t use their stove or lights for the full six weeks. And I know that my family didn’t buy the more than half-dozen cases of bottled water that we would have.

If I had to guess, I’d say that the impact we had collectively on reducing greenhouse gases was well over a hundred pounds (not to mention the two tons of offsets that were purchased). And to top it off, we planted a tree on Earth Day! We can celebrate the fact that we are indeed difference-makers. We are hearing and responding to the challenge of Dr. Suess’ Lorax, “unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better, it’s not.”

Personally, I’m still walking to the church when I can and with the warm weather a clothesline has gone up in the back yard. The great lesson from disciplines like Lenten fasts is that they can bring joy and become easier to maintain. As we all strive to make a difference with the lives we are given, we will find the power of what one person can do. As the African proverb says, "If you think you're too small to make a difference, try going to bed with a mosquito in the room.” And a people of God gathered in a community of faith practice, we also can see the power of working as one. Brothers and sisters, it is in seeing the power of difference-making that we can see the truth of our salvation!

Ruined by Love

There is a song by U2 that includes a litany of things that the singer regrets doing, but they were all before “love came to town.” There is no doubt that when love comes to town things change radically. We see that in our lives and the lives of those around us when a couple falls in love. It is like everything is seen through a new pair of glasses.

A wise caution I have received from my Tai Chi instructor is that Tai Chi will first be a struggle, then you will love it, and then it will ruin your life! The reason that love of the practice will ruin your life is that eventually you won’t be able to find enough time to do it, not because you are avoiding doing it like at the beginning, but because you won’t want to stop doing it to do the other things in your life.

This is how love both triumphs and conquers. Love never fails. Love cannot be killed. Love is a light that is never extinguished. Love makes all things new. In love there is a new creation.

Love is the Easter story in a single word. God’s love is seen most evident in the historical moment of the first Easter morning and is felt most closely when we allow the love of Resurrection to “ruin” our lives. When the truth of God’s love for you seen in the triumph of life over death on Easter morning (not just then, but now) really grabs hold of you, nothing can ever be the same again.

The disciplines of Lent have their payoff in this moment of truth. What good has been produced in your life by walking the journey through the shadows to the light of Easter? How has that changed you so that your life is now “ruined” because you cannot not continue on the path that brought you here?

Love has come to town and now all the good that God chooses to do through you is possible…as long as you continue to be willing to walk in the light no matter how much that “ruins” the life you had before. May you know the refreshing presence of Christ who has arisen, for as you live your life for God you prove that Christ has risen indeed!