November 12, 2020
Dear Friends
Reimaging a new way to do things has been a constant practice in the past eight months. The pandemic has forced us to reimagine ways to celebrate birthdays, engage in small group discussions, attend school, go to group dance or exercise classes. We even reimagined our “Great Minnesota Get Together” in fun ways! Reimagining these things has brought vitality, energy and innovation.
This week in worship we are invited to reimagine our personal and corporate money stories, leaning into God’s economic system that is built to provide for and benefit all. God’s economy stands in stark contrast to our American economy. There are choices to be made. Will we be a people who get what we can for ourselves and our own? Or will we be a people who live as trustees of what God has given us? Will we hoard our resources and our energy for ourselves and those like us? Or will we share what we have so that others can eat, find shelter, be loved? Can you reimagine economic and social systems where people in need are lifted up and liberated and honored? Because that’s what God’s economy looks like. Can you reimagine?
Poet Sara Are invites us to reimagine such things in our time, in COVID times, in times of racial injustice, in these days in which we find ourselves. In invite you to take in and reimagine with her words.
Blessings,
Pastor Becky Jo Messenbrink
Love, By Another Way
I used to think that love was simple.
You would know when you know,
What was meant, would be.
But I fell in love
And it’s not that easy.
It’s compromise and identity,
Mountains and valleys,
Apologies and memories,
Imbalance, recentering.
It turns out,
Love took reimagining.
I used to think that Church was simple.
Church was community, not the walls,
Faith and hope mixed with call.
But then the world grew violently sick
And the way to be Church
Was to keep distance.
So doors were closed,
And people sent home.
It was all love, by another way.
And yet it was not how we imagined Sunday.
I used to think that justice was simple,
That I could make a difference, all by myself.
There was a clear right and wrong, a way I could help.
But then I learned of privilege and bias,
Of white savior complex and our Church’s silence.
And all at once, it wasn’t so easy.
I needed to learn. I needed to listen.
I needed to reframe my original vision.
I guess what I’m trying to say is
Life will throw first drafts our way.
The chance to dream,
To lead, to sing,
To love, and give,
To pray, and be.
But in order to grow,
To follow God’s lead,
We have to to do the work--
Reimagining.
And despite our best efforts,
Love will fail.
Churches will close.
Justice will leave the vulnerable exposed.
And when that happens,
We must own our part,
Say we’re sorry
And try to restart.
So write it all down.
And write it again.
A first draft,
A second,
An epilogue, and then
Share it with me
And we will pray.
And the spirit will move,
And maybe one day,
We can write this world
inside heaven’s gate.
For I am
Starting to believe
That what matters in life
Will never be easy.
So we must imagine and imagine again.
We must dream and try, die and rise.
And in our rising, may we see
The next right reimagined thing
Until step by step we are home.
Love, by another way.
By Sarah Are
from Sanctified Art Our Money Story Study Journal
Dear Friends
Reimaging a new way to do things has been a constant practice in the past eight months. The pandemic has forced us to reimagine ways to celebrate birthdays, engage in small group discussions, attend school, go to group dance or exercise classes. We even reimagined our “Great Minnesota Get Together” in fun ways! Reimagining these things has brought vitality, energy and innovation.
This week in worship we are invited to reimagine our personal and corporate money stories, leaning into God’s economic system that is built to provide for and benefit all. God’s economy stands in stark contrast to our American economy. There are choices to be made. Will we be a people who get what we can for ourselves and our own? Or will we be a people who live as trustees of what God has given us? Will we hoard our resources and our energy for ourselves and those like us? Or will we share what we have so that others can eat, find shelter, be loved? Can you reimagine economic and social systems where people in need are lifted up and liberated and honored? Because that’s what God’s economy looks like. Can you reimagine?
Poet Sara Are invites us to reimagine such things in our time, in COVID times, in times of racial injustice, in these days in which we find ourselves. In invite you to take in and reimagine with her words.
Blessings,
Pastor Becky Jo Messenbrink
Love, By Another Way
I used to think that love was simple.
You would know when you know,
What was meant, would be.
But I fell in love
And it’s not that easy.
It’s compromise and identity,
Mountains and valleys,
Apologies and memories,
Imbalance, recentering.
It turns out,
Love took reimagining.
I used to think that Church was simple.
Church was community, not the walls,
Faith and hope mixed with call.
But then the world grew violently sick
And the way to be Church
Was to keep distance.
So doors were closed,
And people sent home.
It was all love, by another way.
And yet it was not how we imagined Sunday.
I used to think that justice was simple,
That I could make a difference, all by myself.
There was a clear right and wrong, a way I could help.
But then I learned of privilege and bias,
Of white savior complex and our Church’s silence.
And all at once, it wasn’t so easy.
I needed to learn. I needed to listen.
I needed to reframe my original vision.
I guess what I’m trying to say is
Life will throw first drafts our way.
The chance to dream,
To lead, to sing,
To love, and give,
To pray, and be.
But in order to grow,
To follow God’s lead,
We have to to do the work--
Reimagining.
And despite our best efforts,
Love will fail.
Churches will close.
Justice will leave the vulnerable exposed.
And when that happens,
We must own our part,
Say we’re sorry
And try to restart.
So write it all down.
And write it again.
A first draft,
A second,
An epilogue, and then
Share it with me
And we will pray.
And the spirit will move,
And maybe one day,
We can write this world
inside heaven’s gate.
For I am
Starting to believe
That what matters in life
Will never be easy.
So we must imagine and imagine again.
We must dream and try, die and rise.
And in our rising, may we see
The next right reimagined thing
Until step by step we are home.
Love, by another way.
By Sarah Are
from Sanctified Art Our Money Story Study Journal
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