EPISTLE FOR WEEK OF April 18
Please hold in prayer:
Lucille Timberlake, Blaine Pace,in hospice care,
Martha and George Ramsay, Max and Marilil Rychlik,
Lucille Barrick, Frances Hall, Charles Ward,
Keith Carter, & Kathy Gooden
Lucille Timberlake’s new address is
West Oak Rehabilitation and HealthcareCenter
3200 Slaughter Lane, Room # 312
Austin Texas 78748
Scriptures for April 25
Acts 9: 36-43, Psalm 23, Revelation7: 9-17,
John 10:22-30
Dancing the Days...
Hello, Friends.
This past week John and I have had a few encounters with primal behavior—two disturbing though entirely natural, and one delightfully “wild.”
The two disturbing instances had to do with animal behaviors. For over a week we watched a pair of ladderback woodpeckers meticulously and artfully carve out a nest in the broken-off top of a tree in the daycare front yard. Taking turns with the labor, and then, we assumed, with guarding the eggs laid inside the hollowed out tree, they were the perfect example of nature’s parental wisdom and care. Several times we saw them shoo away a starling that kept trying to perch on top or enter the nest hole.
Then one day we heard the male uttering what sounded like a distress cry, from the top of an adjacent tree—then we saw the starling emerge from the nest, wiping his beak on a branch.
How that invasion happened we can’t imagine—the parents had seemed so vigilant.
And where the woodpecker pair have gone we don’t know.
“Nature is sometimes so cruel,” I said that sad day we made the discovery that there would be no hatchlings in that nest, after all. But “cruel” isn’t the right word. Nature just is—and the starling’s behavior was entirely in line with its natural need to eat, to live, to thrive.
Much more disturbing was a violent episode that happened at our neighborhood dog park a few days ago. A young cat escaped from its home next door, jumped over the fence into the dog park, was immediately attacked by several dogs, and injured to the point of needing to be put down. Two dog owners who tried to intervene were also seriously hurt, and needless to say, everyone present was horrified and heart-broken for the little cat’s owner, who came home to find her front door open, and her beloved pet killed.
The cat had no “street sense” whatsoever, having only lived inside. The dogs who attacked it weren’t “bad”-- they were doing what dogs do, when a pack mentality sets in.
If they had similarly attacked and killed a squirrel, the degree of upset would have been significantly less.
So now to the delightfully wild encounter. Yesterday we heard a ruckus from the daycare playground, that kept getting louder and more insistent. Gladys had been watching out her window and came up the hall chuckling, saying “Those babies are wild today!” So John went out to see, and sure enough—every single toddler on the playground was yelling/squealing/hollering at the top of all their baby lungs—eyes wide open, mouths wide open, tiny voices at full tilt primal, energetic, unhinged joyful noisiest volume.
The teachers were trying to distract and diffuse the moment, concerned about bothering us neighbors—using bubbles, balls, anything they could muster—but the “pack” was in its element, and the contagious wildness just took over—and for the moment, they just stood back, laughing, and let it go.
John stood across the fence and playfully yelled back—so of course the babies yelled some more. Great, wild and crazy id energy—people used to pay (do they still?)
ridiculous amounts of money to have therapists encourage them to get in touch with their wild, primal sources of joy in just this way.
Only recently, some of you may recall I encouraged a bit of “howling,” to help us get re-connected to our “wild, precious lives” (thanks, Mary Oliver).
My thoughts on all this aren’t fully formed into any kind of neatly pretty spiritual “answer.” What I am thinking about is this:
We’re animals, and to some degree to be healthy animals we need to maintain connection to the source of creative, primal, energetic joy. Even as church, we don’t need to always think everything to death—we should have times in worship and elsewhere that empower us to “turn loose” a bit, and let our wild-child-of-God voices be heard.
And we’re human, self-conscious, and given thoughtful, conscience-based, God-inspired reflective psyches, analytical minds, caring hearts. There’s been way too much knee-jerk, lizard-brain, primally driven reactivity in the mix of our nation’s people, and all nation’s peoples, for too long. The ugliness of some of the behavior at recent political gatherings is indicative of “pack” mentality taking a dark and potentially destructive direction.
Those of us who are followers of the way of the living Christ need to take note, and take care, and, I believe take action—to counter that dark, ignorant, hateful behavior with thoughts, words, and actions that are rooted in compassionate consciousness, and a commitment to advancing the cause of Christ’s peace in our world.
Jim Wallis of Sojourners has put forward a covenant for civility, that he’s encouraging Christians of all kinds from all across the belief and practice spectrum to sign on to, and support. Chuck Colson, an avowedly conservative Christian, is only one of many who have joined this initiative.
What are we willing to say, and do, not just to “counter” “those” people whose behavior we find distasteful—but to facilitate the emergence of a civil environment in which people can be in genuine dialogue about arenas of difference, while honoring one another’s shared humanity, dignity, and sacred worth.
The risen Christ, who has given us everything, expects everything of us—our very best, most human, creative, caring selves, in union with our fellow travelers in human skin—even (especially?) those with whom we have real and deep differences.
I look forward to growing in this area with you this Sunday, all our official days together which are to come, and in the greater community we share, on the journey ahead.
Shalom,
Sarah+
Game Night is This Week
Friday, April 23, at 7pm in the fellowship hall
We will be playing Bunco—no skill or experience necessary!
Everyone is welcome, and encouraged to
bring a snack and/or (non-alcoholic) drinks to share.
Second Annual Arts/Crafts Fair
Saturday, May 1 -- 10am--2pm
Contact Diane Suder to help or participate—
, 339-8042
We need everyone’s help in spreading the
word to recruit shoppers—and a number
of on-site volunteers the day of the fair.
Sign up sheets for volunteers are in the fellowship hall.
We now have new copies of The Faith We SingHymnals
in the pews.There’s still time for you to help pay for these, by making a donation in honor or memory of someone. You may fill out a form at church, or email or phone in your order.
Ben Quick (grandson of Nancy Quick) has reached the final steps to achieving the rank of Eagle Scout. His Eagle project will be updating the playgrounds at the First Baptist church of Pflugerville. He will be building a deck with 2 built in toy boxes and pathways in one playground and a built in toy box for the other playground, with plans to finish by early summer.
Contributions to help him finish this project would be greatly appreciated. He can be reached by mail at 16409 Parkway Dr.,Pflugerville Texas 78660, by phone at 512-251-5431, or by email at
Thanks for helping!
Welcome 2 new baby boys to our St. Luke Family
Owyn Aebersold Cramer, born to
Nick & Tamara (Basham) Cramer on 4/3/2010
Boone Foster born to Hunt, Wendy & Big Sister Ella Foster in March
Congratulations to both families!
UPCOMING MEETINGS
OF PROGRAM TEAMS
Time with the New Pastor*
Education (Intentional Faith Development)
Tuesday, April 27, 7:30 pm
Finance/Stewardship (Extravagant Generosity)
Sunday, May 2, 4 pm
These meetings are intended to provide reflective time to put together notes for the new pastor’s orientation with St. Luke.
Each group is being asked to consider:
*The Heart of the Matter—why we do what we do
*What works—what we want to keep doing, & why
*What’s not working—what we might want to suspend, & why
*What’s new that we want to try, & why
Sarah is composing a summation of the group’s thinking to pass along to incoming pastor John Reynolds.
Everyone’s input is welcome.
Email your thoughts to Sarah:
We’re focusing on the five major areas of ministry:
Mission, Worship, Evangelism, Finance/Stewardship, and Education
There are still copies of Robert Schnase’s book, Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations, available for purchase at the church.
*And remember the visiting time with Rev. John and Sara Reynolds happening Sunday evening, May 2, at 6 pm.
Let us know by this Thursday, Apr. 29, if you’ll need childcare.