hate – First Reflections

Mark Buford, Director of Communications

Sometimes, the words just don’t come.

That’s a problem when it’s your turn to share a reflection.

And that’s when I’m reminded that listening is just as important as sharing.

So I listened.

Or more accurately, I read.

Colossians 3:1-11, to be precise.

One of the scriptures for this Sunday’s worship service at First United Methodist Garland.

And it was the last few words that caught my attention … Christ is all in all.

This reminds me of a song I used to sing back in my praise band days – You Are My All in All.

(Nichole Nordeman sings it far better!)

You are my strength
when I am weak,
You are the treasure
that I seek,
You are my all in all.

In these times of inflation and poverty and hunger and racism and political bickering and COVID and monkeypox and on and on and on, I am weak.

When I fall down
You pick me up,
When I am dry
You fill my cup,
You are my all in all.

Thankfully, I have a Savior who loves and watches over me to help me cope.

Jesus, Lamb of God,
Worthy is your name.
Jesus, Lamb of God,
Worthy is your name.

Amen.

Rev. Caroline Noll, Associate Pastor, Director of Children’s and Family Ministries

For everything there is a season,
and a time for every
matter under heaven:

a time to be born,
and a time to die;

a time to plant, and a time
to pluck up what is planted;

a time to kill,
and a time to heal;

a time to break down,
and a time to build up;

a time to weep,
and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn,
and a time to dance;

a time to throw away stones,
and a time to gather
stones together;

a time to embrace, and a time
to refrain from embracing;

a time to seek,
and a time to lose;

a time to keep,
and a time to throw away;

a time to tear,
and a time to sew;

a time to keep silence,
and a time to speak;

a time to love,
and a time to hate;

a time for war,
and a time for peace.

– Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

I have turned to this scripture again and again over the past few years.

It speaks to me in so many seasons, perhaps because it names so many seasons.

I love the breadth and depth of human experience and emotions named.

God is in it all.

Even though I have correctly quoted and cited these verses, I have mistakenly misinterpreted them in my mind and heart.

The conjunction used is “AND.”

In my mind and practice, I have, unawares, substituted the conjunction “OR.”

One joins together.

The other separates.

These scriptures, with their repeated “and,” link them all together.

Birth AND death.

Breaking down AND building up.

Weeping AND laughing.

They are all happening together.

One does not cease to let the other have space.

One does not stand still while the other stands front and center.

Life is messy, complicated, and layered.

Some days the movements are small and holding them together feels normal, the everyday challenges and gratitudes.

Other days the mountains are high, the valleys are low, and my mind and heart are stretched and ache to contain it all.

Today, then, I give thanks that I do not have to contain it all.

God is in these seasons, too, and I can offer those highs and lows to God.

All the joy, all the celebrations, the proud moments, the full hearts, the soaring spirits, and the contented breaths.

All the headaches, heartaches, tears, heaviness, tired weariness.

I do not have to carry it all.

We do not have to carry it all.

We offer these to God.

In prayer, in song, in journaling, conversations with those who love and care for us, reading the scriptures, gathering at the Lord’s table, sharing a restoring meal with those who love us.

God works in us and through us, the Holy Spirit moves and breathes in us, AND Jesus shows us the way.

Thanks be to God.