October 2, 2024
A Note from Pastor April
Dear Friends,
Adorable.
I love all things adorable.
Adorable small towns. Adorable cobblestone streets and squares. Adorable bookstores and coffee shops in said small towns and squares, preferably with adorable gardens and patios where I can sit and savor it all.
It took me a while to understand how much the aesthetic around me impacts the way my body feels and the energy I have for my work.
There is an intense amount of delight and joy I find when things are beautiful and ordered and charming. I could sit in a well-tended garden and marvel for hours at the glorious flowers. I would be perfectly happy to fritter the day away wandering through an old book shop or sitting on a patio drinking coffee and writing in my journal.
Adorable places evoke a sense of wonder in me. They bring out the playful, content, and joyful inner child who can simply BE in the moment and savor the surroundings. There is nothing to DO, other than to BE in the magic of the present and all its beauty.
Of course, these adorable places exist because people create and sustain them. The garden requires constant weeding and care, carefully attending to the proper amount of water and fertilizer that may be needed. The shops and squares require regular maintenance, cleaning, and the ever-present removal of clutter.
Perhaps this is the reason I leave my house to find these adorable places of respite. It’s just too much work to try to keep up with things at home.
I have a garden in my back yard. I had grand plans. I often run into the same problem. I can’t keep up with it. The discipline of weeding and tending to the garden often feels overwhelming. I have a lot of shame around the ways that I have allowed the garden to become overrun by weeds and undirected growth. Mostly, I’m not sure how to make it different.
Curiosity & Wonder
In my first few weeks of graduate school, one of the primary things we’ve been asked to do is engage in the practice of curiosity and wonder. To take a humble posture of “not knowing” as you look at the world around you and inquire about how it became that way.
What assumptions did I make when I planted my garden? What did I not know then that seems more apparent now? Is there something to be learned? How did I somehow associate my overrun garden with something I should be ashamed of? Can I find wonder and marvel at what has grown despite my lack of tending?
I’m starting to wonder whether my desire for my surroundings to look a certain way has dwarfed my ability to savor and enjoy the simple reality of WHAT IS.
To offer presence without needing to fix.
To stay in the discomfort and find the wonder even there.
To find delight even in the mundane and not so adorable spaces of life.
Near my compost bin, several volunteer cherry tomato plants have exploded and taken over. Last night I enjoyed their sweet deliciousness in the salad our family had with dinner.
Even in my place of “not knowing” and my feeling of being overwhelmed, something beautiful has still grown. Right in the middle of the mess.
Isn’t that how God often works?
God is present in the mess
Tonight, I felt the gentle nudge from Jesus reminding me that God continues to be present in the places of mess, shame, and disorder. Our job is not to have everything tidied up and adorable. Our job is to show up with presence. It’s OK not to know the answer. Perhaps it’s enough to be able to sit with the questions and the discomfort.
Like many of you, I’ve watched with great heartbreak this week at the horrific damage from Hurricane Helene. We are, of course, praying for the many folks affected and sending aid through our United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR).
What is our faithful response?
I also sense the reminder and nudge from the Spirit of our call as Christians to ask the questions — how did things become this way? What is our faithful response?
I’m so grateful to Ellen Hans & Emily Lamb, who are starting a place to have these conversations next Wednesday, October 9, following our Wednesday night supper, in their new Sacred Earth group. I hope you’ll come and be a part of this conversation.
I’m grateful to be in a place that keeps asking the questions and sitting with the challenge.
And I’m also grateful for some occasional space in adorable coffee shops around Hilliard to lift my spirits!
Blessings!
April
The Rev. April Blaine
Lead Pastor
