Complaints

Of the seasons we enjoy in Northern Virginia, fall is my favorite. I have always enjoyed the autumn of the year. Cooler temperatures, beautiful colors, weekend football games, and of course, the calendar is marching ever closer to November and December and the wonderful holiday season. The fall is also a bridge between the warmth of summer and the chill of winter. Cooler temperatures are welcome now, but down the road they give way to hard freezes, barren trees, wind chill announcements, and snow shovels! Something so crisp and beautiful as fall is ultimately overcome by winter.

I suppose one easy remedy would be to move to a more moderate climate where changes in seasons are little noticed. Though I would enjoy that most days, I would miss the changing seasons, and without the weather to complain about, how would conversations with strangers be initiated???

Complaints about the weather are plentiful. In reality, our complaints about any of a number of things in this life, fill our conversations and color our perspectives. Consider the complaints of the children of Israel found in Exodus 16, as they tell Moses that they were better off in the slavery of Egypt than the land God has brought them to. We see the patience and provsion of God amidst their complaints...something we should take note of in our own seasons of complaint.

I sign off tonight with the realization that there is really very little for me to complain about. I, like you, have much to be thankful for. However, don't expect me to stop complaining about the weather. Some habits are just too hard to break! Besides, if I stopped complaining about the sun in my eyes, or the wind in my face, the rain, the cold, or the heat, I would lose half the excuses I make for my slumping golf game. Perhaps in the end, some complaints are worthwhile.

Jim Abernathy

In the Midst of Life's Storms

I'm not sure, but I believe I saw the sunshine earlier this afternoon. After the last week of rain, what a welcome sight! It was so bad yesterday as I was eating lunch with a colleague, that we could not leave the restaurant because of the continuing downpour. We waited and waited for it to stop or at least ease a bit, but it did not, leaving us with only one alternative...reluctantly, we ordered and split a warm chocolate chip cookie sundae. We felt guilty sitting in the booth so long after we had finished our meal, so dessert seemed the only alternative. It's amazing what we justify in the midst of life's storms.

Sunday marks the tenth anniversary of the horrific events of 9/11. Everywhere one has turned this week, there has been some remembrance of that dark day. That day of tragedy has spawned two wars, new governmental agencies, changes to security procedures from the airport to the borders of our nation, altered the way we treat prisoners in the context of war, and made us wary of persons "not like us" of whom we are taught to be suspicious. These reactions are understandable in the context of fear and shock, and many would argue that they are common sense reactions to an act of war. History will judge the appropriate nature of our nation's response to 9/11, but how will you and I continue to live in this present world of violence, hatred, and political stalemate? How will we justify our actions in the midst of life's storms?

The Sunday after 9/11, I preached from the thirty-seventh Psalm, focusing on the thirty-seventh verse..."there is a future for the man of peace." Retaliation is often the first thought in the aftermath of aggression...an understandable response to what is seen as cruel and unjust. What is more often unusual, however, is the response Holy Scripture calls us to in the aftermath of injustice. Again, the Psalmist writes in Psalm 37:7-8, "Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Refrain from anger and turn away from wrath; do not fret--it leads only to evil." This isn't a pathway to inaction or complacency...quite the contrary, it is a call to faith and trust beyond the obvious, beyond the easy response. Again, verses 3-5 of this Psalm say, "Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord..." Trust, dwell, delight, commit...these are words of attitude and action that are intentional responses by faith in the living God. Violence, retribution, angry words and judgmental actions will always be a part of the human response to violent aggression. In such a world, however, there is a future for the man or woman of peace...a place where God works within the human heart to give evidence of the best of what God created us to be.

Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him. These are great words for all of us to hear in these challenging days.

Jim Abernathy

Laughter Is Good Medicine

Friends called from Kentucky this past week to ask how we were doing in the aftermath of Monday's earthquake. With typical sarcasm that I have come to expect from these good friends, they said to me, "We were just wondering if your hair moved at all during the earthquake." "Yes," I told them. "The part moved from the left side to the right." Laughter is good medicine in the midst of life's challenges. Between the earthquake behind us and hurricane Irene now bearing down on us, one might argue that these events were and are certainly no laughing matter. And yet, there is a perspective we keep in the midst of the unexpected trials of life that helps us move forward when it would be much easier to give in to our fears.

Laughter is good medicine, but on its own, falls a bit flat when the skies darken, the ground shakes, and the winds begin to howl. Nineteenth century American preacher, Henry Ward Beecher, once wrote, "Mirth is God's medicine. Everybody ought to bathe in it." Earthquakes and hurricanes are certainly not funny, and yet, to recognize them as events we will endure in this life with God's help, gives us a different perspective. Today's New International Version translates the reassuring text of Psalm 23:4 in this way; "Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me..." God's presence enables a perspective of strength, comfort, and assurance so that we face life's uncertainties with a different outlook. And so, we hear again the admonition of scripture as quoted in these notes last week, as Jesus assures his disciples, "Be of good cheer..."

Here is the disclaimer for this post. Do not go out into the tropical force winds Saturday evening and laugh at the elements, but in that safe place in your home or with friends, deep within, be of good cheer, for God will be with you.

Jim Abernathy

Painful Remembrances

As I write this post, thousands of motorcyclists are rolling their way through the DC metro area to honor the victims of 9/11. This is the first of what will be numerous observances over the next several weeks of the tenth anniversary of the tragic events of September 11, 2001. There is an old Irish blessing that says, "May you never forget what is worth remembering, nor ever remember what is best forgotten." The blessing reflects what for some of us may be a sense of mixed emotion about an event that certainly will be remembered, yet one whose images would perhaps be better forgotten.

Many of life's most significant moments are sealed in our minds, causing us upon refection to remember where we were or what we were doing when that particular event occurred. I was sitting at my desk in my office at church when Pat Pastor came to tell me what had happened. Having begun my ministry at Westwood just a few weeks earlier, I was just beginning to put names and faces together in a congregation that in that moment had members in or near the Pentagon, and we would find out later, family members at the World Trade Center. I did not see the images of the airplanes striking the WTC until later that afternoon when I went home. I remember the shock at watching those planes become missiles that exploded into the towers, and the towers come crumbling down. Over the next 36 hours I, like many Americans, watched as those images were played again and again on television. I drove down 395 to the Pentagon September 12 and saw first hand the devastation of these heinous acts. Those images are as fresh in my memory today as they were ten years ago, and we will probably have them refreshed again and again in our minds over the next several weeks as they are played once more on newscasts, documentaries, and in still photographs in magazines and newspapers.

To remember such tragedy so vividly is a burdensome thing indeed. I suppose it would be much easier to simply erase these images from our minds and put it all behind us...if that were possible; but it is not. Indeed, as painful as these images and commemorations are and will be over the next few weeks, to remember, reminds us that we exist in community where the hurt and heartache of others is our own...not just through our national identity as citizens of this nation, but also as inhabitants of a world where violence and hatred take a daily toll. To put such memories out of our minds is to live in a world that is not real...a place of our making that limits our understanding of life's experiences to only the select ideals of what some folks call, "positive thinking." I consider myself to be a positive thinker, but only in the context of a troubled world. My hope today amidst continuing wars, governmental stalemate, financial upheaval, and social unrest is the same as it was in the aftermath of 9/11, just as it was for some in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, the heavy costs of gaining equal treatment and rights in the civil rights movement, Hurricane Katrina, the recent Tsunami in Japan or any of a number of tragic events that have touched our nation and the world...my hope is built on the One the Psalmist spoke of as his Rock, Almighty God. "I find rest in God; only he can save me. He is my rock and my salvation. He is my defender; I will not be defeated." (Psalm 62:1-2)

Traffic in our area will be a mess tonight...painful remembrances are often messy. Over the next three weeks these messy remembrances will confront us with images and stories of a terrible day. There will be the temptation to look around at the many messes around us and wonder about what the future holds. In doing so, let us also remember the words of Jesus as he spoke to his followers in an unsettled and tragic time... "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Brothers and sisters, in our remembrances and in the challenges that face us every day, take heart, for Christ has indeed overcome!

Jim Abernathy

Repeat

Circumstances arise that occasionally cause one to repeat something just completed. So it was for Cindy this morning as her little angel, Max, helped himself to one of the coffee cakes she had prepared for this Sunday morning's fellowship time between worship and Sunday School. I have chronicled Max's chocolate cravings in sermons and previous writings, citing the medical treatment required for Schnauzers who eat chocolate. As a result, we are on a first name basis with the staff at the veterinary clinic that treats him, having probably contributed a significant amount of money to their children's college funds over the years!

This time, "Munching Max's" gorging did not require medical treatment, but did create extra work for his very busy master. Not only have there been extra walks required, but Cindy had to repeat the process of mixing and baking that she had already satisfactorily completed. In the busyness of our lives, having to go back to do again what we already completed is an extra step we would rather not have to take. The resulting creation, in this case a delicious coffee cake, is, however, worth the effort...at least Max and I think so.

Sometimes we find ourselves revisiting familiar things again and again with a certain degree of complaint, for the familiarity of something completed leaves us nostalgic at best, bored at worst. The study of God's word can sometimes have such a feel for us, particularly the familiar stories and characters we have studied again and again. Yet, if we are open to what God will teach us, the familiar becomes new once more as the Holy Spirit leads.

During this month of August, we are considering familiar biblical characters and stories in worship and Bible study that many of us know very well. Is there more to learn or be reminded of in the study and discussions of these texts? I believe that there is, particularly if we come to such study with open hearts and minds, anticipating, as the Psalmist wrote, that God's word "is a lamp to my feet, and a light for my path." Dr. Mark Olson, President of Leland Seminary will be our guest Sunday morning, focusing his teaching on Timothy. I am looking forward to the new things God will teach us, and the timeless truths of God's word that will be affirmed as a result.

Oh, and remember to keep a perspective on the challenges that sometimes come in the midst of repeated action. Cindy, while preparing another coffee cake, mentioned the extra expense of duplicating the recipe after Max's snacking. I reminded her that sugar, eggs, and vanilla were much cheaper than a trip to the veterinary emergency clinic. In that moment, I'm not sure she appreciated my words. Perhaps by Sunday she will...if we can keep Max away from the kitchen!

Jim Abernathy

Hello and Goodbye!

One of our Senior Adults greeted me on a Sunday morning a few months ago after having been gone for several weeks visiting family. He told me a bit about where he had been and then let me know that I wouldn't see him for the next few Sundays because he would be away again. I smiled and said, "Hello and Goodbye."

August is a "Hello and Goodbye" month for many in our area. This morning someone came through the office and welcomed me home, only to tell me that they would see me again in September as they were going to be in Canada for a month...Hello and Goodbye!

Westwood is a very mobile community of faith, never more so than in this last month of summer. I do not begrudge this travel as I have just come from home from nearly two weeks away myself. It is tempting to just move along through our schedule as usual during this month of high travel, but when planning several months back, our staff and visioning council thought we would do something a bit different in August to change our worship and Bible study a bit for those who will be in town, and for those who may have family visiting or new neighbors they might want to invite. August Sundays at Westwood, as you have heard by now, will feature a 9 a.m. worship time and 10:15 Bible study with food and fellowship in between services, all in a more casual atmosphere. Youth and children will continue their regular Sunday School classes at 10:15, but adults will meet together in Whitten Hall for one class, focusing throughout the month on some of our favorite biblical characters, beginning August 7th with several folks sharing about a favorite character, followed by a study I will lead on Mary Magdalene. Some of our deacons will be available to assist those who may need help with the stairs to Whitten Hall so everyone can participate.

Twentieth-century preacher Harry Emerson Fosdick, once wrote, "Christians are supposed not merely to endure change, nor even to profit by it, but to cause it." My prayer is that these temporary changes will spark our worship and Bible study during these late days of summer causing us all to consider in new and challenging ways how the living Christ is at work around us.

It will be a month of hellos and goodbyes. Let's make it a month to remember in worship and Bible study at Westwood.

Jim Abernathy

It Ain't the Heat...

Record heat is gripping out nation, driving power grids to their absolute limits, forcing overheated people into the shelter of air-conditioned spaces, and making some of us ponder the blessing of mid-winter snowstorms. Perhaps those last words are a bit of a stretch, though someone told me today that they would much rather have a foot of snow than 114 degree heat indexes. Of course, in the midst of a heat wave, distant memories of blizzards seem a welcome diversion, but in the middle of January...well, that's another story. I suppose we are often wishing for what we don't have...or in comparison, to choose what seems to be the lesser of two evils when caught in the middle of life's extremes.

That great baseball philosopher, Yogi Berra, once said of playing baseball in the worst of the summer heat, "It ain't the heat, it's the humility." Yogi's fractured English aside, meteorologists, in assigning a heat index number, remind us that humidity plays a big part in the extremes of summer. Air temperature may be 100 degrees today, but the humidity will make it feel like 114!!! Yogi's words, however, got me thinking. In the trials and challenges of life, we often use heat as a metaphor for the pressure we find ourselves under. Often, such pressure pushes us to demand personal rights or to try and deflect responsibility away from ourselves to others who may or may not have a role in the difficulty we face. Perhaps Yogi's right...maybe it ain't the heat...maybe it is the humility.

The apostle Paul, a man who had his own struggles with humility, wrote in Philippians 2:3, "When you do things, do not let selfishness or pride be your guide. Instead, be humble and give more honor to others than yourselves." This Christ-like perspective in the midst of the pressures and challenges of life, is good advice for anyone that desires to honor Christ. When the heat is on, a good lesson of life to remember is, "it ain't the heat...it's the humility.

I leave you with one more Yogiism. Yogi was once told by an admiring fan that he looked cool, to which Yogi responded, "Thanks, you don't look so hot yourself." I hope that you don't look or feel "so hot yourself" over the next few days.

Jim Abernathy