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Ep. 70 - Mr. Rogers, curious compassion, and the purpose of sheep. Sometimes it's hard to tell the shepherds from the thieves. Justin and Dave parse it out through the words of John, Chapter 10. The Geek and Greek podcast is a show where two reverends talk honestly and clearly about faith, Christianity, scripture, and life. Follow us at GeekAndGreek.com!
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It’s Wednesday, and time again for Faith and Art with Rosanna, courtesy of Idaho artist Rosanna Cartwright who shares sketches she’s made during sermons and theological discussions. Today we get to look inside the mind of an artist! Rosanna has shared an opening sketch of a project, a bird walking around in a suit of armor! The stimulus for this unusual thought becomes clear as you read the words all around the birdie. Concepts like “faith” mix with vulnerability and fear. The bird has self-identity and purpose, but the words that define those things become heavy.  Whether the words are inspirational or challenging, the more rigidly they become defined, the more they form the armor protecting the self rather than freedom to be the self. The bird ends up well-sheltered, but (one assumes) no longer able to fly. At that point is the bird still defined by its identity and purpose, or is it more defined by the armor it wears to protect them? Down at the lower right of the introductory sketch, we see the bird in alternate form, flying free, with the large word, “FAITH” lifting up its wings. Interestingly enough, the finished product looks like this:  Notice that the jumble of words has been reduced to a couple, measurable streams. All the weight of uncertainty and vulnerability is condensed into a single admission: we are vulnerable. That’s reality. Nothing will ever change that this side of the grave.
Admitting and defining our vulnerability robs it of its central place and ultimate power. It’s no longer lurking out there, a gigantic monster waiting to devour us. It’s there, simply and truly, on the page. But it no longer holds the center spot. Instead we respond to vulnerability with a more important question: what will we do in the face of it? The central agency doesn’t lie with anything that could harm us. Our response defines how we’ll understand our lives. Even that response is simplified. We have the armored, ground-bound fear which appears to protect, but ends up robbing the bird of its ability to soar. We also have trust, higher on the page and thus physically closer to the word “vulnerable”, but also more honest, integral, and free. Trust and fear don’t lead to the same results. We need each at different times, but they can’t both be at the center of our faith response. In the face of vulnerability and imperfection—our own and the world’s—which defines us more? Are we armored birds, weighed down in the hopes of preserving an identity that we’ve already lost by putting on the armor, or are we soaring birds, exposed to the world, yet winging through it with joy? You can find Rosanna at her Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/rosanna.cartwright.3. We’ll be back next week with another drawing! -Pastor Dave Now that you’ve had the chance to read the announcement on our front page that Shepherd of the Valley is not considering re-opening physical services until it’s safe for all of us, let’s address a related follow-up issue. Most churches I know of have stopped in-person services during the COVD-19 pandemic. A few across the country have not. Inevitably, their explanation involves some version of, “We trust God to care for us.” If this sentiment were confined to a couple crackpot congregations, it wouldn’t be worth talking about, but it seems certain that as churches re-open early under the governor’s plan, they’re going to use this explanation to justify it. Along with this justification comes an implied criticism: churches that don’t open early must not trust God as much, right? I might have even heard a few people around me quietly wonder the same. Buckle up, because I’m going to use one of those super-technical theological terms we learned in seminary. Centering the discussion of COVID-19 around our personal trust in God a load of horse crap. It’s not enough to say we trust in God. We need to understand what we trust God for. Really, really bad theologians say that God exists only to bring favorable outcomes to our lives. They claim that good things happen to those whom God favors, while bad things happen to those God doesn’t care for. This is what the crackpot churches are saying. “We are demonstrating our faith in God, therefore God will reward us by protecting us from the virus.” Jesus spoke against this kind of presumption repeatedly during his ministry. It leads to the obvious conclusion that God is only with people whose lives go perfectly. You can tell God’s favorites because they’re rich and well-fed and healthy. Meanwhile God despises the sick and less fortunate. If someone gets Coronavirus, it must be because they’re not faithful enough. If that’s true, though, why did Jesus spend all that time with people outside the central, fortunate few in the community? Also, how do you reconcile the fact that all of us, sooner or later, come to the same end? If God is only about bringing favorable outcomes in this life, why aren’t the best among us living forever while the worst depart sooner? Trusting in God does not mean expecting only favorable things will happen to me. That outlook shows a lack of trust. God is only God to the extent I experience goodness. Trust that only works when things go right doesn’t seem very trusting! Instead, we have the kind of trust Paul speaks of in Romans 14:8… 8 If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. We hope good things happen to us and to all people. We know, in a broken world, this won’t always be so. We do not define God’s goodness primarily by our personal fortunes. Instead we say that the things that happen to us are important, but not the center of everything. Whether things go well or poorly for us in a given moment, God is with us. No illness, not even death itself, can take away that relationship. This does not mean that we erase the distinction between good and bad, though! We still regard health as preferable to illness, helping people as preferable to harming them. Trusting God helps us get over our obsession with personal outcomes and concentrate instead on the welfare of our neighbors. The welfare of our neighbors is not served by convening in a way that could spread COVID-19 to them and their families. Churches that trust in God are able to claim that without risk to their faith identity. Churches that say, “We must get together NOW [or else we won’t have enough money and people won’t worship God rightly],” are not trusting in God, rather themselves. Note how central their existence and gatherings become, and how little the welfare of their neighbors means. They are willing to sell out everything and everyone as long as they continue onward, as-is, without interruption. Does that sound like trust in anything beyond themselves? Does that sound like faith? If we use “trust in God to protect us” to justify things that are harmful to the community, where’s the line? We could potentially justify anything we perceive as good for us, no matter who else gets hurt in the process. This is a terrible road to walk down. It leads not to faith, but to destruction in the name of faith. Ironically, Jesus confronted a similar situation in the fourth chapter of Luke. Tempted in the wilderness, he was dared to do something harmful to show that God would protect him. These are the words he heard on the pinnacle of the temple in Jerusalem: If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10 for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,’ 11 and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’” 12 Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Whether he would be rescued from the fall or not wasn’t the point. Jesus refused to allow “trust in God” to become an excuse for doing something unhealthy and wrong. It’s not a horribly big leap from, “If you trust in God, you’ll jump off this roof,” to, “If you trust in God, you’ll attend this service with us even though the virus is still active.” But we all know whose voice speaks those words. It’s not a voice that trusts in God. In fact, it’s just the opposite. I don’t know who was in the conference with our governor when these decisions were made. I don’t know whose priorities held sway. I do know this: you’ll be able to tell plenty about how churches view their relationship with God and their neighbors by how soon they open and for what reasons. The louder they insist that this is about trusting in God and doing God’s work, the deeper you should dig about what the real motivations are and how much trust is really involved…or not. --Pastor Dave  I had been thinking about adopting a cat for a while now but hadn’t done anything to start that process until all the sudden we were in the midst of the pandemic. Isolating alone was the last straw in my decision to finally look into adopting a cat. The adoption process right now is rather interesting in that it is all virtual. From online kitty profiles, to video chat meet and greets with a cat. Needless to say when I finally inquired about a cat that was actually still available I was super excited! And last Saturday I officially adopted Tigress. Tigress is a shier kitty who they said was starting to come out of her shell a little more each day since the shelter closed and there were less visitors. When I first brought Tigress home she was rightfully a bit terrified when she got out of the carrying case and explored her new space. However, it has been amazing to watch her settle in and to see her come out of her shell a little bit as we've spent time together, sometimes just in silence sitting in the same space, and sometimes getting treats and being petted. And now sometimes even playing with a string. As I have started to reflect on our time together, even though it has only been a few days, I am realizing how this has been an experience for me to practice mutuality and a ministry of presence. Both mutuality and a ministry of presence are things I learned about and talked a lot about throughout my training to be a deaconess. Mutuality is about meeting a person, or in this case a kitty where they are at. Being attentive to what they might be needing and not just focusing on what you want to get out of your interaction. With Tigress this means letting our interaction go at Tigress’ pace.  Allowing her to settle in and warm up to me and not force her to snuggle and be held, even if that is what I would want. Giving her space to just be and to move on her terms and her pace of getting comfortable in her new situation. When it comes to a ministry of presence, what I mean by that is sometimes we are just called to be present. Whether that is with a new cat, or a friend who is hurting in some way. Sometimes all that is needed is just being there to sit and listen or to sit in silence and just be together. Companionship and just being with someone can be just as powerful for them as a hug or conversation.
Mutuality and ministry of presence are important aspects of the work we do as a church and as part of youth ministry, and as I am learning, they are also important when adopting a pet, especially a shy kitty. Blessings, Sara Manning It’s Wednesday again already! Time for another installment of Faith and Art, featuring the work of one of the friends of Shepherd of the Valley, Idaho artist Rosanna Cartwright. We’re going to keep running Rosanna’s pieces for a bit, but as we go along we’ll also be accepting art from members of Shepherd of the Valley and other friends surrounding our community. If you have created something that ties to faith in a way you think others would understand, talk to Pastor Dave at 208-362-1112 and we’ll try to use it! As a regular habit that’s almost become a spiritual discipline, Rosanna draws during sermons and Bible Studies. The doodling that once would have gotten your knuckles rapped has now become an avenue of faith! Even though Rosanna does many grandiose pieces, these sketches are some of my favorites. Look at this one:  This is a bit unconventional in a couple ways.
It’s unusual to have a drawing contain so many words. Words and visual depictions are often considered at odds with each other. Yet God comes to us through words, which we then interpret into images in our own lives, just as Rosanna has done in this sketch. Here Rosanna has included several verses from the Gospel of John. It’s almost as if the words are looming over her drawing, like they’re putting the picture under pressure, weighing down and squeezing in on Jesus, who reaches out to the viewer with one hand and points in a further direction with the other. Visually, there’s a sense of, “We can’t stay here. All these words are going to fall on us like a curtain. Take my hand and let’s go.” This is the same message the words, themselves, convey. Something big and heavy is happening that we don’t understand. We’re moving, but we’re not sure where. When all this falls on us, Jesus grabs our hand and we follow him. Even when we can’t stay put, we still hold on. There’s an irony in this drawing, though. It’s titled “Ascension”, which is the moment when Jesus rose, leaving his disciples to sit at the right hand of the Father. Though the words in the sketch come from the Gospel of John, the ascension never actually happens in that gospel! It only shows up in the Gospel of Luke. But see, this is why artwork and perspectives like Rosanna’s (and yours) are important. A pastor might not ever put the words from John together with the word “Ascension”, but they do fit! When most people say, “Ascension”, they think of Jesus leaving into the sky, becoming invisible. The way we talk about it, it’s almost like he abandons us. By linking John’s words to the Ascension, Rosanna reminds us that it was not an abandonment, but part of an ongoing journey we’re all taking together. We continue to hold onto the ascended Jesus, just like we always have. We still make the journey together. What do you think of when you consider our journey together with God now, and following Jesus through the unknown into something wonderful, yet unseen? Share your thoughts below if you wish! You can find Rosanna Cartwright’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/rosanna.cartwright.3 --Pastor Dave Ep. 69 - The road to Emmaus causes Justin and Dave to ask one of the most important questions in the entire scripture story: "And then what?" The Geek and Greek podcast is a show where two reverends talk honestly and clearly about faith, Christianity, scripture, and life. Follow us at GeekAndGreek.com! Ep. 68 - Are virtual gatherings real gatherings? Are they as holy as in-person worship services? "They'd better be!" say Justin and Dave as they explore the story of "Doubting" Thomas. The Geek and Greek podcast is a show where two reverends talk honestly and clearly about faith, Christianity, scripture, and life. Follow us at GeekAndGreek.com!
Ep. 66 - Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. Does that say more about Lazarus, Jesus, or us? Are we small or big? Is God personal or universal? And what IS that smell, anyway?
The Geek and Greek podcast is a show where two reverends talk honestly and clearly about faith, Christianity, scripture, and life. Follow us at GeekAndGreek.com!  In this time of COVID-19 physical isolation, most churches are meeting virtually instead of physically, an appropriate and necessary step to protect our communities from harm. An inevitable question has accompanied this move: are virtual worship meetings “real” in the same way physical ones are? It’s time to put that to rest. They are. Or at least, they’d better be! Here are a couple of important reasons why. Saying that virtual meetings are not as valid as in-person meetings presumes that there’s a single, universal definition of reality we can perceive and control. News flash: reality doesn’t show up when we walk in the door and depart with us when we leave. It’s not contained in our heads. Reality exists beyond us, beyond our ability to perceive or understand. The first confession of having a God is that we are not it. We experience important things when we’re in person together. We can see, touch, and feel close to each other. God does not reside in our sight, nor is God limited to the things we can touch. God is present even when our feelings go wonky, or just aren’t there. If we say God only works through the gatherings we’re familiar with, we exclude people who can’t be a part of those gatherings in the same way. If physical, in-person contact is the metric, what about people who are homebound? How about people whose reality doesn’t include being able to see or for whom touch is not safe? What about any random person on a Sunday when they’re just not “feeling it”? Is God less real for these folks because their engagement is different? An entire generation has grown up learning how to communicate online. This generation is not yet the center of the church hierarchy, but that doesn’t make them less valuable or less children of God. Dare we say that their connections—and the relationships that stem from them--are less valid, or “real”, than those we’ve traditionally experienced? I know few people, even among the most virtually connected, who think that online communication is the only desirable form of interaction. Physical presence is valued by virtual communicators. Why isn’t virtual communication valued by physical communicators the same way? Implying that God only operates in the way the dominant, empowered majority perceives as “normal” eliminates compassion for the neighbor. Without that, faith becomes profoundly selfish and unrecognizable, a seat of judgment rather than a fountain of growth and praise. Every measure we try to use to invalidate virtual gatherings as unreal or “lesser than” boils down to a single claim: reality only works the way the speaker defines it. No human being, not even God, weighs more than the speaker’s personal convictions and perceptions. Oddly enough, Jesus dealt with a situation just like this in the gospel reading for this past week. John 20: 19-31 contains the famous story of “Doubting Thomas”. Even though other disciples saw God, Thomas refused to believe until he had seen on his own terms, in the exact way he determined was real. Jesus did not condemn Thomas for this. Instead, he showed himself to Thomas patiently, in Thomas’ own way, while also showing himself to everyone else in their way and time. This was not an either-or situation. Wherever and however the disciples showed up, Jesus was there. Jesus took it a step farther, even. At the end of the Gospel, he told Thomas that it was fine to believe because he had seen Jesus in physical proximity, but blessed also were those who would not exist in physical proximity to Jesus, yet still believe.
Stop and think a moment. How would that ongoing belief be perpetuated down through the ages? Jesus would not be physically present, visible in human form. Instead, his story would be conveyed to people who were not in proximity to him. They did not have the internet, Facebook Live, or Zoom meetings back then. You know what they did instead? They told the story to each other, then they wrote it down. Those testimonies were collected into what we now know as the Bible. Our physical, in-person worship meetings center around scripture to this day. For us, the Word IS proximity to Jesus. We accept this because it’s the only reality we know, but it is not the only reality that’s ever existed. To Thomas and the actual disciples from those first, post-resurrection, Jesus-in-person gatherings, WE are the virtual participants. We are not there with Jesus in person, yet we’re connected via the “technology” of written and spoken word, just as if we were. From the perspective of those who were there, ALL of us experience God remotely. If we say the only “real” community is a physical community rather than a virtual one, then none of us are in a real community of faith. Instead of claiming that God only appears or acts in accordance with our perceptions and biases…instead of claiming that God’s circle extends exactly far enough to encompass us but not farther to our friends and neighbors…we should do what we’re called to do: trust, follow, and celebrate God’s presence with all God’s people. If Jesus could get past the walls of that locked room in Jerusalem to reach his people, he can get past our virtual firewalls too. Let’s put this question to bed and get on with being the community we’re supposed to be: together with each other and God in ALL the wonderful ways that help share the story. --Pastor Dave Fun activities created by the SOV Preschool Assisting Teachers 
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