Reno First United Methodist Church

Bishop Olewine's Monday Morning Musing:

Good Monday morning, Cal-Nev family!

As the second week of Eastertide begins, I find myself hold tenderly before me images of who we humans are, who we can be, and how we choose to live in the world. Amidst the noise of idolatry and petulance, I am choosing God’s love-centered, grace-grounded, mercy-giving, life-altering resurrection power to ground me today.

Last week, I loved seeing the magnificent images from space shared with us from the crew of Artemis II. They reminded me of the many NASA pictures I collected as a child. Growing up in the Apollo era, one had only to send a letter to NASA and back would come a large envelope with numerous pictures. Let me say - I wrote regularly! For years, I kept all of those pictures in a giant three-ring binder. I have no doubt they were part of what stirred up in me my sense of awe about God’s handiwork in creation, and why when I look up at the night sky, my breath is still taken away.

I was also moved by Artemis II crew’s comments throughout the mission. In particular, as they prepared to fly behind the moon, Pilot Victor Glover said, "As we prepare to go out of radio communication, we're still going to feel your love from Earth. And to all of you down there on Earth and around Earth, we love you, from the Moon. We will see you on the other side." When contact was reestablished, crew member Christina Koch described what we could do on the moon and in space, closing with "…ultimately, we will always choose Earth. We will always choose each other."

Oh God, let it be.

We love you… We will always choose Earth… We will always choose each other.

Yesterday’s Gospel lesson told of Jesus offering peace to the disciples huddled in fear behind locked doors. He tells them he was sending them into the world just as God had sent him, breathing on them, creating in them with the Spirit, the capacity, call and confidence to be in the world as those who love. As those who choose creation. As those who choose other people just has God has chosen him.

The world would resist – principalities and powers do not go meekly into the night. But as those who are filled with the very breath of God, Jesus says go. Be new people. Be Kin-dom people, people of The Way. Love one another as I have loved you.

We choose every day who we will be and how we will walk in the world. We can be guided by idolatrous images of grandiosity and power, or we can be led by Christ’s redeeming love. As the middle Irish poet wrote, “Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart; naught be all else to me, save that Thou art. Thou my best thought, by day or by night, waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.” I pray that I have the heart to choose well.

What vision guides you this morning, my Cal-Nev family?

Bishop Sandy

Bishop Olewine's Tuesday Morning Musing:

Good Tuesday morning, Cal-Nev family!

Holy Week has begun, one of the most important weeks for us as Christians, if not the most important. From the entrance to Jerusalem, through the various events recalled during this week, depending on which Gospel one is reading, to the stories of an upper room, a visit to a garden, the arrest and crucifixion through to the day of holy silence when it seems the powers and principalities of this world have won, we are invited to accompany Jesus, seeing ourselves in the throngs and disciples, in the religious and political authorities, in the faithful and fickle, in the hopeful and the despairing.

It is a week through which we should not rush. It is a week we should not ignore. For in Jesus’ words and actions in these few days, we recognize the struggle between the powers of this world and the power of divine love. This week holds up a mirror for us to consider our discipleship, commitment, and faith in how we respond to the very real struggle between Empire and Kin-dom. These stories invite us to consider where we are worried, cautious, tempted, apathetic, callous, or fearful, drawn more by the power of the crowd or limited by or defenders of the status quo than by the invitation to love each other and creation as God has loved us.

This is a week during which we are asked to take stock of whether we are we people who join the throng as Jesus enters Jerusalem, shouting, “Hosanna! Save us!” but really worship a Jesus who is a whole lot more like Pilate.

Is the Jesus we share through how we move in the world one in which triumph is defined as power over others, that trumpets a world which celebrates greed, vindictiveness, and injustice to protect the interests and financial gain of the powerful? Do we shout for Jesus but really celebrate an image of a ruler that is a bully, justifying violence and cruelty, especially towards those who we do not understand, like or even hate, claiming God is on our side?

I proclaim that the Jesus of the Gospels calls us to challenge the status quo of political, social and religious structures that harm and destroy. I share that Jesus calls us to trust God and to love one another, to seek the kin-dom of God. I seek to see the world through God’s eyes, experience the world through God’s heart, and respond to the world with God’s grace.

This week calls me to be honest with myself and with God about where I hedge my bets and betray these convictions. Where do I resist the full message of Jesus? How do I hold on to the ways of the world, keeping God at a distance or tucked away in a safe place in my heart? Where do I choose to play it safe, not upsetting the powers that be? Will I allow Jesus to fully reign in my heart and life and thus discover the courage to walk with him towards the cross?

I am trying to sit with those questions honestly this week. I am examining my own heart and walk.

What questions will you wrestle with this week, my Cal-Nev family?

Bishop Sandy