Paying Attention To What?

   I rounded the corner of a hallway I have walked through hundreds of times before only to be standing face to face with a wall. It literally was not there the day before. I was walking through the underground hallways of St. Francis hospital when all of the sudden my route changed. I had been in the hospital the day before, but this wall had been erected since I had last passed that way.
   I found myself paying more attention as I walked the rest of my visit there - what else had I missed? What else had changed along the path that had once been routine?
   Later, that same day, I found myself standing in the middle of the Linwood Cemetery waiting for the start of a graveside service. I looked up the hill to see the marker at the burial plot of General Henry Benning, the lawyer and Civil War soldier from Columbus who is the namesake for our city's most famous landmark now. Beyond that marker, in the distance stood the Medical Center. I thought about the juxtaposition of a place that intends to bring healing with a cemetery where loved ones are laid to rest. I thought of the contrasts between the two. I then thought of some similarities, too.
   Finally, riding back from my visits and settling into my routine, I found myself paying attention to some of these thoughts. You could say I was paying attention to what I had been paying attention to. That is when it hit me: I had been missing something all day.
   I've been encouraging each of us to spend some time this Season of Lent in silence. I've asked us to consider turning off some things - televisions, smartphones, music, and distractions - in order to allow God to speak to us in the silence. Silence can allow us to pay closer attention to the ways God is leading us. But, we have to work at it. For all of the attention I had been paying that day to hallways at the hospital or landmarks in downtown, I had failed to listen to the One who gives all these things meaning. Spending time in prayer, meditation, and silence before God requires effort. It is more than just the passing of time. It has the power to heal and to guide. Jesus said, "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” (Mark 6) May we spend some time in silence paying attention to the Spirit of God wanting to lead us. Grace and Peace, Scott

An Update from the Building Committee

   The Hallway Renovations will be wrapping up this week and next week. The new and expanded Women's Bathroom is on track to being finished in the next week, also. As the bathroom nears completion, they will be able to put down the carpet tiles in the back. On Monday, March 31, the ceiling tiles and grids from the front will be removed, the walls will be painted, the new ceilings will be installed, and the new baseboards will go in. Because of this, the church office will not be accessible except by phone or email next Monday through Wednesday.
   The Parking Lot plans were signed on Friday and submitted by French and Associates to the City for review and approval. Still on track for starting in early May.

Declaring Independence

   A historic Scottish conversation has resurfaced in the news. It seems that the region is counting down to a September 18 vote on whether or not to secede from Great Britain. While Scots have long desired to be free from English taxes and control - watch "Braveheart" for background - the prevailing wisdom is that the vote for independence will not pass. It seems there are too many questions about what currency they would use, if they could still get the BBC for free in their homes, how much it would cost to start a military, and if they'd be allowed to join the European Union. It will be interesting to see if the Scots vote with their heads or their ancient hearts. {My father, an amateur genealogist for decades now, recently showed me that our family can be directly linked back to Scotland and my 11th great-grandfather, Sir Robert Scott, who was born in 1540, in Perthshire, Scotland. I can only imagine that they were talking about independence from England back then, too!}
   Even more prominent in the news are the stories coming from Southern Ukraine. The tensions are related to a small peninsula at the bottom of Ukraine, known as Crimea, that extends into the Black Sea. The entire land mass is one-fifth the size of our own State of Georgia, yet the world is watching as armies roll out, borders are disregarded, energy assets are taken by force, votes are held, and former superpowers again face off. It was started when Ukranian President Viktor Yanukovych's began steering his country back to an alignment with Russia. Important questions abound. Who has the authority to declare independence? Do elected officials or the people have the final say with whom they will align themselves?
   Questions about the authority to declare independence did not originate with nations, though. An independent spirit was first planted in our hearts. Like these countries, there is a lot riding on which choice is made. To whom will we declare our allegiance?
   When the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Rome, whom he had never visited, he wanted to lay out a broad understanding of why Jesus Christ needed to live and die for us. For Paul, it all started with our fierce turning away from God. We chose to be independent. We chose to align ourselves with any number of smaller gods. Paul says in Romans 1,

So they are without excuse; for though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their senseless minds were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools.

One of the great mysteries of our life and relationship to God is this tension between having been created free by God but also created to follow and be obedient to God. God wants us to choose freely. God wants us to choose God.
   This resonates with me. I am free but also dependent. I am at my best when I freely submit to the God who knows better than I do. God is working for my good if I would just have faith. Oh, that I would consistently vote to be both dependent and free.
   Grace and Peace, Scott

Keeping Score

   We need to keep score. I am not talking about keeping a score of the ways we've been wronged. I am talking about keeping score of the things that have gone right. How do we do that?
   In large indoor arenas, the scoreboard hangs over the very center of playing surface. Fans at a football or basketball game can look up and see who is ahead and how their team is doing putting points on the board. In outdoor stadiums, the scoreboard is on one end of the field, but the score can also be found in other spots, too.

Ted Williams jogging past the Green Monster's scoreboard

   One of the country's most famous sporting venues, Fenway Park in Boston, has the scoreboard integrated into the wall of left-field itself. The scoreboard, added in 1934, forms the lower half of the Green Monster, for its size and color, is still updated by hand from behind the wall throughout the game.
   Is it too late to have a scoreboard installed in the walls of our church during the renovations happening right now? Why, you ask? Because I think keeping score is important.
   Stretch with me here, but I think Jesus even modeled keeping score for his disciples. In Luke 10, Jesus sends out his disciples with specific instructions and specific tasks. They returned telling of what happened while they were out. Luke 10 captures it with, "The seventy-two returned with joy and said, "Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name." (see Luke 10) He replied, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven." Jesus is celebrating the wins they had while they were out being the disciples that he was teaching them to be.
   Andy Stanley teaches that every organization needs to work hard at identifying what a 'win' looks like. We all need to know what it looks like to get it right. I've heard three stories in the last few days of how Epworth is winning:

• Recently one of our teenagers, at a funeral for a loved one, stood in front of the crowd and shared. That is a win.
• A group of 17+ ladies have committed to praying 'around through' things that God is putting in front of them during the Season of Lent. That is a win.
• A regular visitor to worship brings their child to Epworth and trusts our volunteers to help pass on faith to their precious boy. That is a win.

   The truth is, Epworth people are faithful. Epworth people are getting things right. Epworth people are growing. We are putting points on the board, and living out the mission Jesus gave to His followers. Well done, church.
   Grace and Peace, Scott

Finding the Space Needed: Lent

   Construction is about more than just materials and labor. You have to know where to place things, and where to leave spaces in your work for other things to occupy. In last week's meeting, the Epworth Building Committee talked at length about the space above the new ceilings that will soon occupy our hallways. Space is important.
   My mentor, Coach John Wooden, referred frequently to space. He said you could learn a lot about basketball by watching the players without the ball. Good players move well in space - that area where no one else is located. Success in sports is moving in space to be in the right place to score.
   We probably don't consider the importance of space enough. Our lives are filled up. There us no room for space. We cram our days, our cars, our homes, our calendars. Most vacations are so filled up with stuff that people return home tired.
   We must be intentional about space. Creating space requires our attention and our diligence.
    The Season of Lent started this week on Ash Wednesday. Lent is a forty day period, excluding Sundays, during which disciples of Jesus Christ prepare themselves spiritually for the remembrance of Christ's suffering, death and resurrection.  The name is derived from the Old English, lengten, a reference to the lengthening of the days in the spring. Beginning in the second century, Christians would undergo a brief period of fasting and prayer in preparation for Good Friday and Easter. The number forty corresponds to the many key moments of space in the Bible. Such moments can bring much needed space between the demands and the 'doing' of life. This season is a time for more intense and intentional spiritual growth during which we remember the message, the life, the suffering and death of Christ.
   In the tradition of the ancient church, I am inviting Epworth people to do three things this Lent:
1.  Be in worship every weekend you are in town.
2.  Give up something as a fast and expression of your faith and identification with Jesus' suffering.
3.  Be quiet. Join the whole church in spending a few minutes each day with the sound off. Instead, listen to the leading of God through prayer and simple meditation.
   I need some more space; not to get away from people or responsibilities. I need more space to get closer to the best stuff of life. May Lent be a holy time to find the space between for all of us.
   Grace and Peace, Scott