The Beacon

Dear Friends,

I hope you are enjoying our July sermon series on “Life After Life,” and that you also have found meaning in last month’s sermon series, “Anxiety and Jesus.”  When reading from one of my favorite resources this week, Sojourners magazine, I was pleasantly surprised to find one of their authors wrote an article called, “30 Bible Verses About Rest for When You Feel Overwhelmed.”  I was excited to see this, given we just spent a month concentrating on the very same thing.  Wow, this means we are aligned with the focuses of Sojourners magazine!

With that, if you have forgotten some of what we talked about in Worship during June, here is a summary of one Sojourner author/pastor’s experience, similar to things we heard back in June. 

Rev. Michael Woolf, from Lake Street Church in Evanston, IL., writes about his success with meditation taught through Buddhism, and his anxiety, saying, “Meditation helped me observe my own thoughts…As I journeyed toward mental health, I came to appreciate the teachings that are found in the Bible in new ways. It was only through letting go of the illusion of control and my need to manage every worry and obstacle that I found peace. Not to sound like my Sunday school teacher growing up, but it is exactly how Jesus said: Whatever we cling to in this life, we will lose, and whatever we give up, we will gain (Matthew 10:39, 16:26; Mark 8:35; John 12:25). Actually, that seems to be a point where the Buddha and Jesus overlap. Whether you call it attachment, anxiety, or being a control freak, the only path to wholeness lies in giving up what you most want.

For years, I thought that religion and my struggle with anxiety and search for wholeness were not very linked, but that turned out not to be the case. Managing my OCD helped me see scripture and prayer anew. There’s a temptation for me to feel as if the past decade of my life were wasted, but I am more deeply grounded and resilient in my spirituality than I’ve ever been, and that feels like a hard-won beauty in this messy world. 

Remember, SJC, to keep taking deep breaths as you experience waves of anxiety, particularly during this election season.  Your practice of this literally can grow your spirituality.   Next month we will take pause in Worship with numerous Sacred Sounds as our theme.  See you in Worship!

Love Pastor Judine