Pastor Beth's Message Blog

We're glad you stopped by.


Rev.  Beth Harbaugh

Connecting - March 2024

 

Marching Orders

 


March! Spring will arrive this month. The seasons are changing and it feels like time is moving more quickly than ever, Marching on. Maybe it is all the changes that we are experiencing. Technology and information are changing faster than ever and it is a lot to take in. But much is the same. The seasons are much the same. The human body has not really changed much in 100,000 years. Not even the capabilities of our human brains have changed much. The brain and nervous system have the miraculous ability to translate and integrate and organize all the feelings and information (mostly subconscious) that is coming in through all the human senses. When we take the time to realize just how much data this is that our miraculous body can handle, we know that there is a Spirit that connects it all, individually and socially, beyond any single human's ability to consciously understand it.

Why is it important to care about this? Well, there are those who want to work with these new understandings for the betterment of all human life and the environment, and there are those who do not. What is needed for humanity to continue to live well is claimed by the Holy in Jeremiah 29:11: "For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope." We have been given the ability to use our God-given abilities to discern together what these plans are for the Holy to give us a future with hope. Then, through Christ, we have been given a witness of how to go about it: with love and integrity.

That sounds like marching orders to me! Each of us has received some understanding of the plans that the Lord has for us, for ourselves but more importantly for all humanity; we are each called to share what we have learned through our various spiritual gifts.

This Lenten season, I am called to share what I learn as I integrate scripture, theology, and other evidence-based learnings on the subject of how we learn and teach. It is important for all of us to share what the Holy is calling us to witness to others, especially on how our children are being raised and taught.

We may each think that there are other people who know more than we know, but the reality is that it is our integrated understanding that is most important. We have many social and cultural "experiments" that we have learned from being together as a society and even as a species. Why not take the time to listen to one another, especially to those who find understanding through evidence-based and time-tested research and study. But all of us need to get the basic understanding so that we can move forward as a community within other communities in the wisest way.

As Christians, we feel that this way is for each to care, to strive to understand, and to connect our common understanding. All of us have access to this capacity, these miracles that are our body, mind, and spirit. Our marching orders are to not sell this short! We are not to give away our response-ability to use it and not let it be used or abused by others.

There is certain wisdom and practical knowledge that we can trust, especially when it is tried and true; and there is some that we simply can't. Science and theology tell us that it is the evidence-based that we can have the most faith in. Christian scripture and discernment have given the world helpful social norms. Let us work together to figure out what is most important for us to learn together to integrate for our common understanding about love, life, and the future of humanity that the Holy has been gradually developing for a long, long, long time.

I have faith in what John Wesley used as a method of integrating personal experience, the experience of others, world-wide traditions, time-tested scripture, and our God-given ability to reason. I think that this is a great method to discern with one another. Let's create some discussion groups to explore what our God is planning for us to discern together for a greater common understanding of the Holy Plan for us!

We have our marching orders.

Rev. Beth