It has been a crazy couple months. From the bottom (and top) of my heart I am grateful for such a wonderful church family. You have blessed me so much and I will never be able to live up to the love that has been shown. It is more than I deserve. I have said it before (and I will say it again now) the only measurement that Quakers know is abundance. Thank you for all your support and prayers over the last month and a half as my family and I have mourned the loss of a son and brother.

              As we look towards Christmas and the celebration of Christ’s coming into the world I am excited. I love how this season brings people together and helps us show our appreciation for one another. We get to give to one another.

The giving we typically think about is in the form of presents given to our friends and family. We buy or make gifts for certain people based on what they like and what we feel they would enjoy or sometimes need. This is good and ends up being really exciting, especially for the younger members of the family! We do this to show how special the people are to us, that we care about them and want to share that in a physical way through a gift of some sort.

Another way we can give is through our presence, being together and sharing our lives is a wonderful gift that we give to one another. We were made to be in relationship and it is during the Christmas season that we celebrate this by coming together and celebrating. We aren’t celebrating ourselves though. We are celebrating Jesus. Our little reunions around the holidays where we share ourselves with one another reflect the Great Reunion of God and the World through Jesus.

As we gather together during this season make sure that you share yourself with those you love. Take time to celebrate being together. Make space to enjoy the relationship that is offered to you in Jesus, a Great Reunion with God. Above all remember to give (yourself, your love, and your other gifts) with the only measurement that Quakers know: Abundance!

I don’t know about you but I have had a very full and crazy summer!

I was able to go and participate in a couple of youth camps and spend time at yearly meeting. I had some health problems and got them sorted out. I had some time out rafting and sightseeing around the valley. It has been a busy season for me! If that is the case for you, too, then I bet you are looking forward to a time of gathering and rest.

Fall is a season where people bring in the harvest and get together for celebrations. It is the beginning of many things, school, and work often picks up a bit more for us. Trips aren’t scheduled unless it has to do with a holiday. We find ourselves putting on the regular schedule and getting back to normal. This can be a good thing but often it results in us going back to the same old costumes and masks that we wear to be accepted in the different parts of our lives.

The challenge I am trying to live into this season is to refuse the costume and leave the mask off for the sake of authenticity. As our students and young people are gearing up for a return to their “normal” lives and schedule can we adults live as examples of authenticity. Can we refuse to wear the costumes and masks that society calls us to? Can we instead live with authenticity before one another and, more importantly, before God?

This month we are going to talk about some of what is going on in my life. Over the past month I have spent time at a high school camp as a counselor, celebrated life with some of our members out at the Schlosser’s pool party, and had a number of doctor’s appointments. What do all these things have in common? They all relate to the heart.

As a camp counselor I got to spend a week with some young men who are pretty awesome. They came from varied backgrounds and churches but we all came together to enjoy our week of camp exploring nature and the nature of our lives with Jesus. We spent some time staring at the stars and talking about their creator. We played a bunch of games together and listened to a lot of messages about who God is and how much He loves us. All of this served to put us in a place where Jesus could do some work on our hearts, some heart wrenching if you will. It was sometimes painful for the students and myself to let Jesus get to work in the messiness of our lives but when He is allowed to work we find that life functions better.

At the Schlosser’s BBQ I got to hang out with some of our lovely church members. We had a good time enjoying a nice day in a great setting with fantastic people. Swam a little bit, ate some really good food, and played a long card game that I didn’t win. I’m not bitter. I’m not. Really. I love when we can do things like this as a church. Getting together outside of our Sunday morning routine is so valuable because we are able to interact in ways that are more open and not so limited by time as we often are on Sunday. We had some great conversations about what was going on in the lives of the people around our table, some of us are pretty content and satisfied by what is going on, some of us less so. Each of our stories is one of the Great Mechanic (Jesus) working in our lives and tuning our hearts to see His grace on a daily basis.

As I spent time at the various doctor’s appointments over the last month I was getting my heart tested and trying to figure out what is going on in there. I still don’t know. I am hoping that a test I have scheduled for tomorrow will reveal what is happening with my heart and give me some way to go to fix the thing. I think that sometimes all we can do is let the people who can deal with these things deal with them. Sometimes that means they have to get pretty invasive in their techniques but if that is what it takes to be well then bring on the invaders. As I wait for a test I can’t help but think about Jesus. What his invasion into my heart has been like and how it is still continuing to this day. How letting Jesus function as the Great Mechanic who changes my heart and gives me the tune ups I need to maintain my relationship with Him will inevitably lead to a better life for me. Not easier by any means, but better.

My hope for us is that we would let God do the hard work of changing our hearts to love Him better and love other better, too. That we would be a people who have been well maintained in their relationship with Jesus and that each of us has a heart that has been tuned to how God originally intended us to function.

I just got back from Yearly Meeting. I am tired. I am frustrated. I am hopeful. I am tired because the schedule was full of time for good things and I wanted to take part in them. I am frustrated because people brought their decisions into the business meetings and functioned as anchors to the Holy Spirit’s leading during our time together. I am hopeful because, even with the anchors, we have a way to move towards a decision. Discernment and consensus are the (often) slow means that the Lord uses to guide us in our decision making as a gathered body of Friends. They require trust in every person around us and a release of anything that may have been brought into the meeting from the outside. We lay everything down at the feet of Jesus and seek His will and not our own. This process is good when it is done in the right way, with the Holy Spirit guiding each one to the present leading. When we can release the anchors or they can leave what is weighing the process down at the foot of Jesus then we are able to really listen and move towards what God has for us. I am praying during this time that God would work to pull the anchors back up for our Yearly Meeting so that we can follow the powerful wind of the Holy Spirit wherever we ought to go.