Perpetual Creativity | Art Appreciation

Lately my husband and I have had some good conversations. The other day we found ourselves in awe of how amazing God is to put such sweet, abundantly healthy and oh so delicious water inside a coconut that grows on a tree. That’s just one of the many examples of “art appreciation” we can experience when we know that we are living on a planet and in a space that truly is a work of art. Reading through Genesis 1, I can almost picture God as an artist with His clay or His paintbrush adding piece by piece, then pausing to examine His work;

“And God saw that it was good”.

Still, God’s work is always in motion.

So much greater than the tangible world around us, God’s artwork is moving and changing. It’s something we can always feel wonder and amazement for if we open our eyes a little more.

I’ve been inspired to do the gratitude challenge again, where I actually list out as many things that I can think of that I am grateful for. Gratitude is something I practice daily, but to actually list it out helps us live in that space more and draw closer to God continually as we go through our day (or get drawn back).

It’s pretty easy when you realize that you are living in a moving museum of God’s living creations. When you can look at a coconut, a thunderstorm, waves crashing, a grain of sand or an ant running off with your bread crumbs that are three times his size; you see the awesomeness of God’s creativity. This gratitude practice that opens our eyes to God’s artwork is powerful and can truly bring us Joy.

In Jeremiah 10 verses 1-16, we are reminded of how silly we are to worship creations of man - our cars, our toys, our technology, our clothes - rather than be inspired daily by the amazing creations around us. These creations that are not only beautiful works of art, but also truly sustain us and invite us to move in motion with one another, with the Artist always in the midst.

3 For the practices of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel. 4 They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter. 5 Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field, their idols cannot speak; they must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them; they can do no harm nor can they do any good.” 6 No one is like you, LORD; you are great, and your name is mighty in power. 7 Who should not fear you, King of the nations? This is your due. Among all the wise leaders of the nations and in all their kingdoms, there is no one like you. 8 They are all senseless and foolish; they are taught by worthless wooden idols. 9 Hammered silver is brought from Tarshish and gold from Uphaz. What the craftsman and goldsmith have made is then dressed in blue and purple— all made by skilled workers. 10 But the LORD is the true God; he is the living God, the eternal King. When he is angry, the earth trembles; the nations cannot endure his wrath. 11 “Tell them this: ‘These gods, who did not make the heavens and the earth, will perish from the earth and from under the heavens.’ ”

While humans can create some really wonderful things and many are inspired by God or guided by the Holy Spirit that lives in us, it’s good to remember the ultimate Artist and live in gratitude to Him daily; for through power, wisdom and understanding, He created all that surrounds us and it moves on His command.

12 But God made the earth by his power; he founded the world by his wisdom and stretched out the heavens by his understanding. 13 When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth. He sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses. 14 Everyone is senseless and without knowledge; every goldsmith is shamed by his idols. The images he makes are a fraud; they have no breath in them.

I am grateful that God “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life” (Genesis 2:7) so that I too, can be His beautiful creation.

Still, God’s work is always in motion.

I am grateful that God “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life” so that I can be a growing and evolving work of art.

I am grateful that God sent Jesus and Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to guide me through the museum of His creations while I’m here on earth.

I am grateful for community that God has led me to, over and over again.

I am grateful for the smell of the ocean and the air when it’s about to rain.

I am grateful for the amazing creations that sustain us as food.

I am grateful for the body that is so well equipped to move me through this journey of life.

I am so grateful for the journey itself and that it is an adventure.

I am grateful for all that I learn through experience, both joyful and difficult.

I am grateful that the Lord guides me and keeps me safe.

I am grateful for the challenges and valleys of darkness that have exercised my faith.

I am grateful for the laughter that has blessed me with so many moments of joy.

I am grateful for the people that are so dear to me and fill my heart with an insane amount of Love.

I am grateful that God is waiting nearby, ready to be accepted into their hearts either for the first time or again and again as they journey through this life.

And we can be grateful for things that seem to be small, but truly were created in God’s wisdom and have way more power and purpose than we give them credit for. When we realize this and can live in this truth, joy flows through our hearts.

I am grateful for the colors that cover the flowers.

I am grateful for bees.

I am grateful for hugs.

I am grateful that people help each other.

And in all these moments of life, we are constantly moving - living creations of God: growing, learning, building faith in our hearts and sharing love and light as we flow through this painting in motion and blend with the colors of the souls around us.

Only God could be such a talented and never ending artist.

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About the Author

Leona is a wife, mother and traveler who is intrigued by how different people live. Her latest project is exploring ways that different walks of life can simplify, in order to live a fulfilling journey.

Perpetual Creativity | Creative Considerations

Today I had a creative encounter! Doesn’t that sound fun and exciting? It wasn’t at first. Rather dull and mundane, actually. But then, Jesus asked me to consider doing things differently.

I was leaving the pharmacy, where there was a problem with my refill yet again. I left frustrated! Now for me, as a 7 on the Enneagram*, I usually don’t deal with my negative emotions. My normal operation would be to brush off my feelings, change the channel in my head, and try to just go about my day. This doesn’t actually work, though. So to learn how to do this differently, I have been practicing the PAUSE. I have been practicing pausing and paying attention to how I’m actually reacting and feeling. For me, I find this easiest to do within a conversation with Jesus.

As I walked from the back of the store, where the pharmacy is located, I talked through the layers of my frustration with Him. First, I admitted the easy pickings. I told Him how frustrated I felt that they didn’t have the refill ready that I had made time to stop for. Also, they couldn’t fix the problem, and I would need to stop again later. Grr! And I shared that I was frustrated that this was actually the second month in a row this had happened at this pharmacy.

Ok, those were pretty obvious issues, and I had all these surface frustrations verbalized in my head after a few steps. However, as I kept walking, I felt Jesus’ invitation to share more. Would I consider looking a little deeper?

Not surprisingly, I realized that under those surface feelings there were some deeper things. Dare I say, even some anger? Yes! I realized I was mad! Mad that I have a medical issue, which makes me have to get medicine in the first place. I was mad at my body, for being weak and not responding to the medicine I had been taking forever. And honestly, I was mad at Jesus. I have prayed and have been prayed for over the years, believing for my healing – and haven’t seen it yet. I told Him about all that mad! Phew!

By the time I hit the front of the store, and stepped out into the sun, I was really at the core and the truth of how I was feeling. It was uncomfortable, as I usually try to stay away from negative feelings, but also oddly freeing.

Right then, I felt another question drop into my mind. Would I consider doing things a new way? I realized that my normal routine would be to shove down and ignore my negative feelings and try to will-power my way back to a positive mindset. This never ended in peace. It usually ended in me managing to keep the negative feelings tamped down until an unsuspecting husband or kid tapped into them!

But this time I observed something different. Something new. As I was honest and processed my real feelings with Jesus, even though they were negative and not fun, I realized I received peace. Not peace because anything had changed. I still didn’t have my prescription, I would still have to come back, and the pharmacy still might mess up the next time. I still have to take the medication, my body still wasn’t reacting great, and I may still pray and not see the healing that I believe God has for me. But right then, I experienced peace. A peace that surpasses understanding took over. It was a huge shift.

I realized that in pausing and taking just a few minutes to acknowledge all these feelings and talk to Jesus about them, I was doing a new thing. Instead of stuffing negative feelings down, ignoring them and hoping they’d just go away, I was able to process them. I was able to exchange them for peace. Wow!

So, what is creative about this? It didn’t end with a beautiful painting or a poem. It wasn’t exciting or loud or colorful. It didn’t even solve the initial things I was frustrated about. But the cool part, the creative part, is that I have a new way of thinking! That as I talk things over with Jesus, and consider what He brings up, my mind is renewed. I start to think differently. I develop new patterns. And I live in a new level of freedom. These simple shifts are incredible. They are life-changing!

God is the Creator. He created us, and He loves to create with us. As we are living life by rote, the way we always have, following the patterns we’ve always done, we get the same old results. But as we live life processing with Jesus, taking time to consider His perspective and thoughts, we get invited to create new ways of doing things.

Ephesians 3:20 says to never doubt God’s mighty power to work in you, that He will achieve infinitely more than your greatest request, your most unbelievable dream, and exceed your wildest imagination! Now that’s what we are talking about. He will do this in big, ah-ha moments but He will also do this in the day-to-day trips to the pharmacy. He’s that GOOD!

Jesus, thank You that You were here on earth and that You did mundane things. And thank You that You are still here, doing the day-to-day with us. We ask you to highlight areas where You want to create more freedom for us. Show us the patterns and habits we walk in. Remind us to pause and consider what You say. Thank You that we will discover new creative ways to be with you, that bring infinitely more than we could request, dream, or imagine!

Ephesians 3:20 (NLT)
Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.

*Enneagram: Interested in learning more about the Enneagram? Check out www.enneagraminstitute.com or listen to the Typology Podcast to learn more!

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About the Author

Pam is a fun and encouraging team-builder that brings the best to those around her. She loves people and is committed to serving and mentoring kids, women and families with opportunities to grow closer to God and each other.

Pam is currently serving as Children and Family Pastor at Valley Christian Center in Albany. Pam and her husband, Jared, have been married since 2005 and have three boys. Their family will always be a much loved part of our CitySalt family.

Perpetual Creativity | Fear of the Wild

“Aslan is a lion – the great Lion.”
“Ooh,” said Susan. “I’d thought he was a man. Is he – quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.”
“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver. “Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King I tell you.”
-C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

In my mind, there is quite a bit of overlap between the creative heart of God and the wildness of God. Could one exist without the other? The creative process, at its best, requires the writer or artist to tap into their unconscious mind, the part of their psyche that remains untamed; just like Aslan, the Christ figure in the Chronicles of Narnia.

How do you feel about the wilderness? Many people are drawn to its beauty and removal from the noise and busyness of civilization. Others are frightened of wild places, for valid reasons. Today a New York Times headline reads “Hiker Lost in Hawaii Forest is Found Alive After 17 Days.” We’ve learned from our childhood canon of fairy tales that the forest is a magical and often dangerous place where wolves and witches may be waiting to lead us astray. And although I no longer believe in fairy tales, I do agree that the wild can be scary. Even well-traveled natural areas can be dangerous.

As a child, I climbed Central Oregon’s South Sister with my parents and was at the summit when a lightning storm came in. We scrambled down an exposed ridge and were able to find shelter by crouching against large boulders. We escaped without incident, but it was a stark reminder of the risks of climbing even a popular mountain that doesn’t require technical skills. Years later, my parents were camping at the base of South Sister when a young hiker fell to his death.

Another summer, my husband Spencer and I planned to climb Mt. St. Helens with friends. This climb requires a wilderness permit of which a very limited number are available daily. I injured my knee that summer so I gave my permit away to a member of our group. I hiked with Spencer and our buddies to the treeline, then turned back to spend the day with my friend Holly while the others summited the mountain. Holly and I were playing cards in the tent when Bob popped his head in.

“I couldn’t keep doing that hike,” he said. “You didn’t tell me how serious of a climb that was going to be!”

I had to laugh a bit, because we all lived in Portland, and could easily see Mt. St. Helens on a clear day. You can tell from looking at its high, snow-capped summit that it is likely an arduous climb. But my friend Bob apparently had not taken this trip seriously.

The wild needs to be taken seriously. Don’t go out without plenty of water, snacks, a raincoat, and a whistle. Encounters with God also should be taken seriously. The Bible makes it clear that God is not safe, and encounters with the Lord were feared in Old Testament times. My Google search brought up 34 Bible verses on death related to proximity to God’s presence. In Exodus 20:19, the Israelites tell Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen; but let not God speak to us, or we will die.”

Thankfully, Jesus brought us a new covenant with God, a covenant of grace where we can now seek God’s presence without fear of death. Still, an encounter with God is something that should be revered and taken seriously, as an encounter that may not be all that safe. God may ask you questions that you are not ready to answer, or to do something you do not want to do. A journey into your creative process also may not feel safe — you may encounter memories or emotions that are painful and still need to be processed. You may learn new things about yourself or God that are difficult and challenge your pre-existing ideas.

The unknown is always scarier than the known. It is the idea of encountering the unknown that always leaves me feeling a bit unsettled in a truly wild place. I suspect that I’m also a bit afraid of encountering the unknown in myself, as well as the wild side of God. The version of God that exists in my mind is a loving, kind, wise friend who would meet me for long chats over tea. This wild side of God, who harnesses the power of the wind and sea, who carved our mountains and rivers, who would look me in the eye and ask ‘why did you leave me to die?’ — this side of God is too much for me.

“When the wild god arrives at the door,
You will probably fear him.
He reminds you of something dark
That you might have dreamt,
Or the secret you do not wish to be shared…

You do not want to let him in.
You are very busy.
It is late, or early, and besides…
You cannot look at him straight
Because he makes you want to cry…

‘Why did you leave me to die?’
Asks the wild god and you say:
‘I was busy surviving.
The shops were all closed;
I didn’t know how. I’m sorry…

Sometimes a wild god comes to the table.
He is awkward and does not know the ways
of porcelain, of fork and mustard and silver.
His voice makes vinegar from wine
and brings the dead to life.”

-selected from Sometimes a Wild God, by Tom Hirons (listen to the poet read the entire poem here
(https://tomhirons.com/poetry/sometimes-a-wild-god)

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About the Author

Ursula and her husband Spencer have two young children, and their family enjoys playing hide-and-seek and dancing in the living room. She works as a communications and events coordinator with the University of Oregon. Ursula is also CitySalt’s Children’s Ministry Director. 

You can read more from Ursula at motherbearblog.com.

Community Prayer Guide | June 2019

Each month we receive an updated Community Prayer Guide from One Hope ministry network that helps the church draw near to God and pray for various areas of our city life together. We invite you to take time to join hundreds of people who are praying each month for 10 strategic areas that shape our community's culture.

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Community Prayer Guide June 2019

“If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”
John 15:7-8

Church
Pray for pastors and Christ-following leaders to guard their hearts and cultivate purity, wholeness & renewal.
Pray for the Lord’s power to accompany all Gospel presentations and Bible teaching in our community.
Pray for local Christ-followers to be deeply rooted in God’s truth/love and demonstrate God’s truth/love.
Pray for churches to be equipped to function as healing communities for those struggling with mental illness.

Education
Pray for wisdom at district and individual school levels to use recent approved-funding to fully benefit
students’ education needs, especially by decreasing class sizes.
Pray that churches provide mentors, Safe Families, and reading support through their school partnerships.
Pray for transitions within college ministries over the summer: for God bring in the right leaders for this
season, and for LCC to have a visible Christian ministry by fall 2020.
Pray for ECCO, 4J’s Alternative High, to have a strong, effective start under new leadership and in their new location in the fall of 2019.

Government
Pray for Community Safety: the harmony and increased capacity of our police, fire department & courts.
Pray for God to lead the implementation of the TAC Report (Technical Assistance Collaborative), a comprehensive city/county strategic plan to house the unhoused.
Pray for the right person to be selected to lead the TAC Report implementation process.
Pray for community harmony, support and funding for the new county courthouse development.
Pray for God’s wisdom, love and direction to be upon all of our government leaders and their families.

Business
Pray for local government to create helpful and supportive policies for the growth of businesses.
Pray for ethical & flourishing wealth development that advances the Lord’s purposes in our community.
Pray for wise, truthful and noble businesses practices to flourish in our community.
Pray for God’s highest and best plans for the Eugene riverfront development;
Pray also for harmonious collaboration between government and businesses during the process.

Family
Pray for the cycle of divorce to end:
Pray for couples to choose to fight for their marriages and their children's stability and security.
Pray for God to heal and restore broken relationships.
Pray for children affected by divorce to be healed and have healthy relationships.
Pray for foster families to be supported and thrive: for community to come around them and for organizations who serve vulnerable families to be strengthened.
Pray for fathers to take their valuable, God-given servant-leadership role at home and in the Church.

Arts
Pray for God to direct the Cottage Theater in their production choices and for God’s hand upon them.
Pray for God’s presence to minister to DHS staff as the PAC Rim Art Guild displays 35 paintings in DHS offices.
Pray for Christian writers to be inspired, follow through & create clear positive messages that are published.
Ask for God’s blessing on this year’s Oregon Bach Festival and Art in the Vineyard events in Eugene.

Health Care
Pray for the new Oregon Health Plan administrators: God’s direction and wisdom.
Pray for partnerships between the church & medical community to cultivate truth in teaching moral issues.
Pray for Health Care Providers to have wisdom & strength to oversee effective treatments for addictions.
Pray for HCPs to speak truth & develop systems to lead those struggling with gender dysphoria into wholeness.
Pray that God empowers health workers, teachers, parents & friends to bring hope, healing & rescue to those dealing with suicidal thoughts.

Police and Fire Departments
Pray for the wisdom, peace and safety of those serving in our police and fire departments.
Pray for God to empower local law enforcement to rescue those trapped in sex trafficking.
Pray for a Mental Health Crisis Center to be established (a necessity according to first responders & civic leaders). Pray for our local police, sheriff and fire departments to be fully staffed by men & women of noble character.
Pray for peace and safety over local Summer events: Oregon Country Fair, Garth Brooks at Autzen & others.

Media
Pray for God to use local social media posts to be inspiring & hope-filled to those struggling with suicide.
Pray for God’s hand and direction upon all local radio stations.
Pray for truthful, fair and accurate reporting in all areas of local media.
Pray for local media leaders to have God’s vision and wisdom to lead our local media organizations.

Sports
Pray for the Lord’s blessing on all summer sporting camps.
Pray for God to guide local churches in preparation for the 2021 World Track and Field Championships.
Pray for safety, protection and peace over every public sporting event.
Pray for better training for youth coaches, and for more quality coaches to serve long-term.

Find answers to prayer on our website: onehopenetwork.org/testimonies.

Perpetual Creativity | Freedom to Create

I’ve always preferred creative pursuits. When I was deciding on a career, for me that meant music, writing, art, or dancing. I was still living with my parents when I attended a community college, and my home environment was one in which love and approval were determined by academic performance. Looking back at that time, I can see how our family culture drove me into a practice of perfectionism. I had high standards for myself and I was my own worst critic. After two years of Journalism classes, I decided that I was not cut out to meet the constant deadlines involved in the typical news cycle, and I chose another creative field--Graphic Design. I moved away from home and transferred to a University that had an excellent Design department. Unfortunately, the harsh slave master that is perfectionism went with me.

I can appreciate God’s sense of humor now, because what I thought would be a fun two years of artsy design school would be closer to the arduous and dangerous experience of climbing a huge, looming mountain without the appropriate gear. And I was not properly equipped to face my kryptonite, which for me was a highly critical and competitive environment. Not only were the deadlines and assignments very fast-paced and difficult, but at the start of class, each student mounted their design projects on the linoleum-covered wall with push pins. Our professor examined and verbally evaluated our work first, then the entire class was allowed to also critique the work of their fellow students. I silently thought some of the more ambitious students purposely worked hard to find something to criticize about each piece other than their own, in order to weaken the competition and to get a better grade.

This demanding and unforgiving curriculum only served to wind-up my perfectionism to a toxic level. I found my thoughts were paralyzed with the false assumption that my efforts were not good enough, and I questioned and changed my decisions endlessly. This way of thinking is enough to make a person twitchy and uncertain about the simplest things. It’s like driving a car with the emergency brake on, which is not good for the car, and definitely not good for the human spirit and mental health. Thanks be to God, I persevered and graduated! The most valuable life-lessons from my college experience left me resolved and resolute to seek only Christ’s love, grace, and mercy in my life. I was no longer interested in the pursuit of achievement at any price.

Galatians 5:1 (MSG)
Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you.

During the many years since college, I continued to make progress towards being a better steward of my thoughts and attitudes as a self-acknowledged, recovering perfectionist. I do this by selectively keeping my thoughts focused on God’s truths and refusing to let my mind chew on thoughts that lie to me.

Philippians 4:7 (MSG)
Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.

A recent Holy Spirit revelation helped me jump to a stronger level of freedom that I’ve waited my entire life to experience. This thought dropped into my mind while daydreaming:

The decisions I make and the actions I take, do not determine the outcome of the work I complete. Only Christ controls the ultimate results of my efforts!

For other people, this may have been a simple truth they learned long ago, but it was life-changing news for me! This means I no longer have to dread and put-off completing important tasks for fear of doing them incorrectly or defectively. And I do not have to fear that the results would be not quite good enough. Piles of papers, representing deferred decisions on what to do with them, are slowly disappearing from every room in my home. Decades of feeling like a disappointment can still make me feel disqualified at times. But I’m still learning coping skills, and it’s making all the difference for me!

John 8:36 (NLT)
So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free.

The key to my overcoming is that I simply keep showing up to take the next baby step towards my goal. I accept my imperfections and once again invite Christ to fill in the gaps of my incompleteness. I can show up and keep moving forward when I remind myself that only God has control over how well my creative efforts turn out and how the work is ultimately used. I can live with that, and what a relief! Thank you, Lord!

Ephesians 2:10 (NAS)
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

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About the Author

Sara has attended CitySalt Church since 2004, the year it was founded. She studied Journalism, wrote for her college newspaper, and is a member of Oregon Christian Writers. Sara also enjoys singing hymns with friends: “there is a sermon in every hymn waiting to be discovered and enjoyed.”

Perpetual Creativity | To Infinity and Beyond

The creativity of God amazes me whenever I stop to think about it. He has fashioned beautiful vistas of every kind, a never-ending supply of fascinating animals and plants, and of course humans of all shapes and sizes. But when I think about how uniquely He made me, sometimes I get frustrated. Why am I such a complicated creature? Why can’t I fit neatly into all those personality profiles? Meyers-Briggs, DISC, the Enneagram: I’m always split down the middle between a couple of their profiles, which makes me feel like a complicated person. (Whoever invented the term “ambivert” is one of my favorite people!)

But what if it’s not because I’m “complicated” but because God made me just a little extra different in this way? And even for those who do fit perfectly into a specific profile, there are infinite ways that it gets fleshed out in each person. One ENFJ, or whatever, is totally different than another ENFJ in many ways, even if they have similarities in their personality. Each person on this planet is unique and special. And that’s pretty amazing.

As a “wanna-be” fiction writer, I have taken on the daunting task of creating characters. It is one of the most difficult tasks of writing fiction, in my opinion. There is so much to consider, for each and every person in a story. Personality profiles, physical features, past experiences, learning styles, Multiple Intelligences, cultural impacts, birth order, inner conflict… I get exhausted just thinking about it, and I have to fight defaulting to 2-dimensional stock characters. How is it that God doesn’t get exhausted in His creation? No two snowflakes the same, knowing the number of the stars in the sky and the hairs on our heads, we were knit together in our mother’s womb, and all of the other many examples we find in the Psalms (okay, the Psalms might not mention snowflakes, but I’ll forgive the authors- they didn’t know what they were missing!); how is this possible?

I think it’s a combination of His infinite-ness, His love to create and attention to detail, and His love of each of us as individuals in addition to all of humanity. His infinity is shown in both nature (the aforementioned snowflakes, etc.) and even in math. You don’t believe me about math? Many years ago, my brother introduced me to the concept of fractals. According to The Fractal Foundation (yes, evidently fractals are cool enough to get their own foundation), “A fractal is a never-ending pattern. Fractals are infinitely complex patterns that are self-similar across different scales.” They exist in nature in things like snowflakes, seashells, and others. Check out this link or research it yourself if you’re not familiar with fractals. I’m not very philosophical, but the fact that this concept exists brings out the sense of wonder in me and my awe of God.

My mentor lent me a book about getting over artist’s block, called The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity, by Julia Cameron. It wasn’t written for Christians specifically, but it does base itself on the premise that God is the ultimate Creator--in every way. In it, I discovered that God loves it when we exercise the creativity He instilled in us, because it honors His own nature of creativity. I’d never thought of it that way. I get easily hung up on thoughts like “Why should I create things? I’m not really very original or creative, so I should just just let the real artists do what their natural talent does.” But from what I got out of that book, enjoying and using the little bit of creativity in me is actually an act of worship to Him. Wow! That humbled me out of the self-deprecation of my artist-ness. And when you think about it, His act of creating us to have our own creativity is a fractal. God is the main original shape, but in His creation, he multiplies His creativity by instilling a bit of it in each of us. We then create things, which inspires others to create, and the pattern multiplies exponentially, even if not quite symmetrically like in a true fractal.

Mind blown yet? It’s okay if not. I invite you to contemplate His creativity and infinity for yourself. Take music, for example. How many songs are made from the same combinations of notes or chords, just rearranged a little? We never seem to run out of possibilities for beautiful or interesting songs. Or the fact that no matter how many beautiful mountain vistas I see, a new one still takes my breath away. Why? It’s just a different combination of angles of rock, right? But it’s still new and beautiful, every time.

What are the things in life/nature/any other creation of God’s that cause you to wonder in awe at His creativity? How do these things remind you that you are a special creation of the Master Artist, and loved just as you are?

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About the Author

Jessie is an educator, currently in the role of academic advisor at a charter school after teaching there and overseas. She is also a novice writer, with several books in various stages and a (long-neglected) blog about the journeys of women. She is very excited to join the CitySalt blog team. She has been blessed by a few communities of Christian writers that have encouraged her dream. She lives with her trusty sidekick cat, Arwen in the foothills of South Eugene, where she can go hiking within minutes of the sun coming out from behind the clouds.

Perpetual Creativity | Images of God

When I looked up the lectionary texts for this Sunday, I thought I had won the blog lottery. Acts 11:1-18 (Peter’s “kill and eat” vision), Psalm 148 (all creation praises God), Revelation 21:1-6 (the new city, where death and pain will be no more), and John 13:31-35 (love as the mark of Christian discipleship). As a person who has spent her entire adulthood navigating the intersection of animal welfare and Christianity, I couldn’t have put together a better grouping of scriptures to use to talk about how our faith ought to impact how we think about and treat God’s other creatures. I’ve written about that a lot. Like, a lot. And there’s still more to say.

But then my favorite gym coach, who isn’t, as far as I know, particularly religious, asked me if I’d read The Shack. I did read it, about ten years ago. I remember quite vividly because it was the first book I read after giving birth. In hindsight, maybe not such a good choice of postpartum reading material. Anyway, my coach liked the depictions of God in the book, the way the persons of the Trinity were portrayed. The idea of God as multifaceted was new to him. And I realized when I read the book, that was a new idea for me, too.

Because I grew up mostly with this Jesus.

[Image from: http://www.ladbible.com/news/news-son-pranks-his-mum-with-a-picture-of-ewan-mcgregor-she-thinks-is-jesus-20181227]

Yes, there’s the “classic” Jesus on the right, and Ewan McGregor on the left. McGregor, a Scott, played Jesus in a 2015 film. Not surprising, since of the 42 actors Wikipedia lists as having portrayed Jesus on film, only six are from non-European origins. It’s this two-dimensional Jesus that’s the first to come to mind when I think of an “image of God.” This image is so deeply embedded in my consciousness, in fact, that when I was doing a visualization exercise with my spiritual director, recently, Jesus appeared to me as a curly-haired, blond, California surfer-type.

But of course, Jesus isn’t two-dimensional. He also wasn’t European. And the God who created the whole universe can’t be contained by a single gender or ethnic origin.

And yet, I remember feeling really surprised when I first saw “Forensic Jesus,” an image created by a team of forensic anthropologists.

Image: Forensic Jesus, Popular Mechanics [Image from: https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/a234/1282186/]

I wonder how our ideas of what it means to be made in the image of God might affect how we receive and process artistic depictions of God. The following is a collection of some of the images I’ve come across in recent years that have made me pause and wonder, and sometimes to notice and interrogate discomfort.

Can I see the image of God in others, when the others don’t look or act like me?

Can I “image” God to others, when the others don’t look or act like me?

If God is something beyond (and better than) my default “old white man on a mountain,” I wonder how my misperceptions of God might have impacted my ability to see God in refugees, in imprisoned people, in people who smell bad and act weird or do drugs or breed dogs or spank their children or live according to my idea of what the world should be.

What does it mean to see Jesus walk beside a man in a Nazi uniform?

Can I see the risen God in a nightclub, laughing with her friends?

How do these representations of God expand my heart? How can they contribute to furthering my ability to look with compassion on the whole world?

What does it mean for me to take two-dimensional white Jesus off the wall, and replace that with three-dimensional complex Jesus?

Image: Jesus Christ, Liberator by Br. Robert Lentz, OFM [Image from: https://www.trinitystores.com/artwork/jesus-christ-liberator]

Image: Refugees: La Sagrada Familia by Kelly Latimore [Image from: https://kellylatimoreicons.com/gallery/img_2361/]

Image: from Kalacha, Kenya [Image from: https://www.cnn.com/2013/12/13/living/gallery/faces-of-jesus/index.html

Image: Michael Belk, The Second Mile [Image from: https://journeyswiththemessiah.org/photo-Jesus/the-second-milethe-joyful-gift-of-forgiving/?portfolioCats=36%2C35]

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About the Author

Sarah is the author of Vegangelical: How Caring for Animals Can Shape Your Faith (Zondervan, 2016) and Animals Are Not Ours (No, Really, They’re Not): An Evangelical Animal Liberation Theology (Cascade Books, 2016). She spends her days working for CreatureKind, helping Christians put their faith into action. She lives in Eugene with her husband, son, and animal companions and enjoys action movies, black coffee, the daily crossword, and dreaming of her next international journey.

Community Prayer Guide | May 2019

Each month we receive an updated Community Prayer Guide from One Hope ministry network that helps the church draw near to God and pray for various areas of our city life together. We invite you to take time to join hundreds of people who are praying each month for 10 strategic areas that shape our community's culture.

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One Church - One Day Community Prayer May 2019

“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in
him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.”
Colossians 2:6-7

Church
Pray for pastors and Christ-following leaders to guard their hearts and cultivate purity, wholeness & renewal.
Pray for the Lord’s power to accompany all Gospel presentations and Bible teaching in our community.
Pray for local Christ-followers to be deeply rooted in God’s truth/love and demonstrate God’s truth/love.
Pray for churches to be equipped to function as healing communities for those struggling with mental illness.

Education
Pray for more wise and judicious allocation of funds at state and local levels to expedite the best education environment for all schools.
Pray for an increase of Jesus-followers and quality community members to step into the great need for
mentors in every school.
Pray for our college campuses to increasingly support Christianity as one of the many faiths to be explored.
Pray that truth would shine with clarity and appeal.
Pray for ECCO, 4J’s Alternative High, to have clear direction, strong leadership, and to thrive in their mission to
support some of Eugene’s most vulnerable students.

Government
Pray for Community Safety: the harmony and increased capacity of our police, fire department & courts.
Pray for God to lead the implementation of the TAC Report (Technical Assistance Collaborative), a
comprehensive city/county strategic plan to house the unhoused.
Pray for the right person to be selected to lead the TAC Report implementation process.
Pray for community harmony, support and funding for the new county courthouse development.
Pray for God’s wisdom, love and direction to be upon all of our government leaders and their families.

Business
Thank the Lord for continued low unemployment, economic development, and prosperity in our community.
Pray for ethical & flourishing wealth development that advances the Lord’s purposes in our community.
Pray for positive, encouraging & supportive relationships among our business, government & faith sectors.
Pray for God’s highest and best plans for the Eugene riverfront development.
Pray also for harmonious collaboration between government and businesses during the process.

Family
Pray for fathers to take their valuable, God-given servant-leadership role at home and in the Church.
Pray for the cycle of divorce to end:
Pray for couples to choose to fight for their marriages and their children's stability and security.
Pray for God to heal and restore broken relationships.
Pray for children affected by divorce to be healed and have healthy relationships.
Pray for foster families to be supported and thrive: for community to come around them and for organizations
who serve vulnerable families to be strengthened.

Arts
Pray for the Mozart Players: the Lord’s presence, salvation and blessing to be upon them.
Pray for God to guide and provide for the Pacific Rim Art Guild as they glorify Jesus with their art.
Pray for Christian writers to be inspired, follow through & create clear positive messages that are published.
Pray for Christ-honoring artwork to be displayed in local business & that it would inspire people to know God.
Pray for the Lord to guide those who select the artists to perform at Matthew Knight Arena.

Health Care
Pray for God to give wisdom and guidance to the leadership of our local health care facilities.
Pray for Health Care Providers to have wisdom & strength to oversee effective treatments for addictions.
Pray for Health Care Providers (HCPs) to bring healing and safety to those who have been sexually abused.
Pray for HCPs to speak truth & develop systems to lead those struggling with gender dysphoria into
wholeness.
Pray that God uses health workers, teachers, parents & friends to bring hope, healing & rescue to those
dealing with suicidal thoughts.

Police and Fire Departments
Pray for the wisdom, peace and safety of those serving in our police and fire departments.
Pray for God to empower local law enforcement to rescue those trapped in sex trafficking.
Pray for a Mental Health Crisis Center to be established (a necessity according to first responders & civic leaders). Pray for our local police, sheriff and fire departments to be fully staffed by men & women of noble character.
Pray for “dispatch coordination” among agencies to operate with greater wisdom and collaboration.

Media
Pray for truthful, fair and accurate reporting in all areas of local media.
Pray for God’s hand to guide all the employees of the Register Guard.
Pray for KEZI, KMTR and KVAL leadership teams to be guided by the Lord’s plans.
Pray for local media leaders to have God’s vision and wisdom to lead our local media organizations.

Sports
Pray for God to guide local churches in preparation for the 2021 World Track and Field Championships.
Pray for safety, protection and peace over every public sporting event.
Pray for the Lord’s blessing to be the YMCA and Kid Sports organizations.
Pray for better training for youth coaches, and for more quality coaches to serve long-term.

Find answers to prayer on our website: onehopenetwork.org/testimonies.

Perpetual Creativity | The Mirror Image

Like so many other biblical ideas, too often "made in the Image of God” stops at just being conceptual. God created us in his image - yes, we uh... LOOK like him, I guess. But what does that really mean?

In my earlier Christian experience, being saved was mostly just fire insurance, as the joke goes. Beyond that, there was scriptural knowledge to be had - a rider on the original policy, just in case. Oh my God, we better get everything figured out, or else!

And even more, biblical knowledge could come in handy for “pointed discussions” with the unsaved, because winning and being right is important, right? I’m obviously taking this down a path of unreasonable absurdity, but how much do we honestly catch ourselves thinking this way?

I bring this up because I’ve learned it’s so essential that we move beyond “Biblical Concepts for 100, Alex” to really getting to know God our Father deeper. We've heard He is Love. We know He is Love. But have we really embraced relating with him moment by moment?

To me, being created in his image can’t just be an aesthetic ideal on his part (as his “trophy children?”), but an actual birthing -- his offspring complete with shared spiritual DNA, fully intact (but of course a bit flawed). All relationships are a two-way street. Yes we’re made in his image, but I’d suggest God also reflects us in some ways.

God demonstrates this amazing relational bond best in his humble, dust-between-the-toes humanity. Jesus wasn’t only martyred on the cross in a heavenly symbolic gesture, he also assimilated into our earthly system for 33 years, through human infancy, childhood, his teenage years and young adulthood. His actual ministry covered only 9% of his time on earth. Why was the other 91% necessary? GREAT food for thought!

Jesus wasn’t just an idea, an ideal, or a role model. He was a child, teenager, son and brother, a young adult, a carpenter, and a Jewish spiritual apprentice - all before his ministry began. Because of this, we can be sure he cares so very much about the specifics of our lives - our parent/child relationships, our family issues, our personal success and failures, our jobs and careers, and our emotional and spiritual health. He really knows us, and he literally walked miles and miles and miles in our shoes.

Consider this: God CHOSE to first enter the human womb, then he spent 33 years LEARNING, or at least experiencing, everything in our earthly life. Besides the joys, he likely tasted boredom, impatience, worry and anger, and certainly loneliness, temptation, rejection, betrayal, pain and of course the horror and humiliation of torture and death.

He didn’t just, in a symbolic gesture, swoop in like a superhero to conquer the enemy, then make a grand exit so we would be amazed and believe. He mirrored our everyday mundane and painful lives because he and we are connected by royal bloodlines! He’s not a concept, he’s the personal and relational embodiment of true empathy, and a soulmate friend to get to know.

And for my money, God’s long-lived 33 year human life WITH us (Emanuel!) is so much more relatable, believable, and comforting than simply grandiose doctrine.

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About the Author

Terry is a man in constant motion to explore new horizons. He has a thirst for new places and faces, and a deep love for the natural world - with a weakness for waterfalls and sunsets. All of this venturing out helps to both ground and inspire him, because it opens him up to people, with their vast, collective array of experiences, outlooks and responses.

He finds all of this fascinating and sees that it has encouraged the growth of something crucial in his Christian development: empathy and compassion toward his brothers and sisters on this planet.

Adventuring with God | Adventuring with God is Surrendering to God

In my third year of college, I began to get anxious. I couldn’t envision what my time at University was preparing me for and even though I was 100% confident in my choice of major, I had no idea what my future would look like nor did I have much guidance or goals. I knew I wanted to travel and as my grades started to dip, I decided to take a break from school and “get out.” I started by going to live with my sister and we ended up with a plan; we would fly to Costa Rica and travel around, with our only goal being to find a deserted beach and camp there. It was going to be an adventure:

1. an undertaking usually involving danger and unknown risks

2. an exciting or remarkable experience

Well, it was an exciting and remarkable experience. Our deserted beach campout never happened, but God had so much more in store for us. While we were there trying to make choices on where to go and what to do, I wrote a lot in my journal and felt an overwhelming feeling of “readiness”. I had no idea what for, but I was okay with that now. I was experiencing the “real world” and discovering that not knowing was okay. Then God showed up in the most amazing ways.

Thank you God that you are in control.

In my last post, I challenged myself to push my limits of gratitude.

Quoting myself from the last post, “I am so grateful for the journey itself and that it is an adventure.”

Adventure brings us opportunities to choose, the choice to choose Him.

My husband and I recently celebrated our 13 year wedding anniversary. It was only about 6 years in when we thought that God had given us such an adventure that we could write a book. I now realize we all have great stories, but I did go as far as to map out the timeline of our adventure and it clearly falls into “chapters”.

Each chapter marks a phase of our lives where things happened around us and impacted where we lived, who became our community and the experience our kids have had growing up. When I step back and look at it, what really stands out to me is how we surrendered the outcome to God and followed our hearts.

2 Corinthians 2:14
But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere.

It has been 14 years of trusting God and following His light as best we can (while sometimes failing) at every intersection we come across, and I now understand that “adventuring with God” really means “surrendering to God”.

I continue to be grateful and always aware that I am in charge of my faith and my perspective, but not my life.

Whether it’s troubled times or joyful times, thank you God that you are in control.

Josh Garrels Train Song:
Shame on you, shame on me
Lord he took all our shame and pain, and set men free
And I've got that fire on the mountain
Fire in my soul
It's been a long time coming, long time
And ready to go
I'm stepping out the door
Doing what feels right
Following my Lord, through the darkest night
And when the path gets narrow
I'll follow him
And when the world comes down, around
I'll follow him
He said, sing it on the mountain
Or in the valley low
He’s my God, and he never lets me go
He said, sing it on the mountain
Or fight in valley low
Every mans going to see, and everyone will know
That peace runs deep in him
I said peace runs deep in him
Peace runs deep in him.

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About the Author

Leona is a wife, mother and traveler who is intrigued by how different people live. Her latest project is exploring ways that different walks of life can simplify, in order to live a fulfilling journey.

Beauty From Suffering | Suffering - a Gift?

I do not like to suffer. I also do not like you to suffer! I would really like to skip suffering all together.

Suffering. I looked up the definition. To experience or be subject to something bad or unpleasant. To be forced to endure. Yuck! Honestly, that sounds no fun. Suffering is not a subject I like to dwell on. I am not a fan.  I’d rather not. And I would rather you didn’t have to either.

But the truth is, we can’t avoid suffering. Sometimes life is hard. It just is.  When someone who we love does something that hurts our feelings. When someone outright betrays our trust. When we feel left out. When we feel alone. When we are misunderstood, or not heard. When hard things happen to us or to people we care about. When we are not well. When we’re in physical pain. When someone dies. The list goes on. And I guess there is no denying it… sometimes life is hard. Sometimes there is suffering.

It’s coming up on Easter. And suffering is a part of Easter. Honestly, I used to wish it wasn’t. I would rather skip to the resurrection. Come on! New life, death defeated, Heaven coming to earth, victory! Aren’t we glad this is our reality? YES!!!!

But before the celebration, Jesus asks us to come with Him to the cross. He invites us to walk with Him through His last days, His last moments, and right up to the end. Why?

Does He want to teach us the significance? Does He want to model some things? Does He want us to see how much He loves us? Yes! But He is also offering us a gift. The gift of being with Him in His suffering.

In Luke 23:49, after Jesus took His last breath on the cross and the crowds watching had gone away, the Bible says: “But standing off at a distance were some who truly knew Jesus.” Selah. Who was with Jesus at this end?  Who walked with Him all the way? Through the betrayals, through the crowds’ hate, through the pain and the beating, through the brutal rawness, through the ultimate suffering? Who was still there? It was those who truly knew Jesus.  

Wow. That made me think of my life, my suffering. Who are those I want by my side at my worst moment? And who will stay until the end? Who do I invite into my suffering, and who’s suffering am I willing to endure? The answer - those who truly know me.  

Once wonderful friends of mine called to tell me the terrible news that their daughter had unexpectedly passed away. I was heartbroken for them. I was heartbroken for me too, because I loved their daughter. I got off the phone and was in shock. I didn’t know what to do. I called them right back and asked if I could come be with them. They said yes, and I dropped everything and went. It wasn’t even a question. I wanted to be with them and they wanted me there, and there was nothing else I could do but go. I didn’t have any way to make it better, I couldn’t change what had happened, I didn’t have any plan that could take away their suffering… but I could be there.  Looking back, that to me was a sacred moment. They were inviting me into their suffering. What an honor that was to be there. And really all I could do was to be there, to be present, to witness and love in that moment. I will never forget it.

Sharing suffering is a gift. It’s generous. In a way that is deeper than a thought process, or something you can do, or a solution. Both offering the gift of inviting someone into your suffering and the gift of accepting the invitation. There is a cost to both. Sharing suffering is painful and helpless and vulnerable. But the reward is great.  

I thought about that evening with my friends, sitting with them as the reality of their suffering was settling. I thought about others, who have been with me in my suffering. What are the results? What impact do these shared moments have? It changes you. The words don’t do it justice, but in an attempt to describe what happens in these moments between people, I would try words like trust, intimacy, friendship, security, honor, reliance... These words become real. They become a shared experience, a reality that you’ve had together, a deepening. Shared suffering is an experience that you both move on from changed.

And that is what Jesus invites us into. As we watch as He sweats blood in the garden, and we know He just wants us to be near. As He is wrongly accused, as He is stripped and mocked and beaten, but He knows someone who loves Him is close. As we hurry to find places to follow along the way, as we watch Him fall, and see Him catch our eye. As we stay as He struggles for breath on the cross, as we witness Him exchange a few last words and care for His mother. As the sky goes dark and the ground rumbles, and He takes His last breath. As He dies, we are there. Sharing that sacred moment. Truly knowing Him and offering our gift of presence. And we walk away changed.

Jesus, thank You for inviting us into experiencing this with You.  Thank You that You will also be with us - in our worst, witnessing our ends, and present for our suffering. Thank You that our relationship with You includes intimacy, trust, security, friendship, honor, reliance, and real connection and relationship. That You endured the cross for the joy set before You, and that joy includes You thinking of each of us. Thank You for suffering, and for the gift of inviting us into it with You. Amen

Hebrews 12:1-2 (NKJV)
Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the [a]author and [b]finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

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About the Author

Pam is a fun and encouraging team-builder that brings the best to those around her. She loves people and is committed to serving and mentoring kids, women and families with opportunities to grow closer to God and each other.

Pam is currently serving as Children and Family Pastor at Valley Christian Center in Albany. Pam and her husband, Jared, have been married since 2005 and have three boys. Their family will always be a much loved part of our CitySalt family.

Beauty From Suffering | A Dry and Weary Land

Please note that this post is longer than what’s typical, but well worth the read. Join Sarah as she delves into a unique and meaningful perspective on suffering, and invite the Spirit to speak to your heart in his way of grace-filled conviction.

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In the last week, I’ve been overwhelmed. Overwhelmed by the impossibility of my job, impotence in the face of health struggles of my friends and family, horrific flooding in Nebraska and Mozambique, a mass shooting at a mosque in New Zealand, and worry that climate change will mean that my child will one day experience food insecurity. In response, I’ve doubled down on strategies to be more effective during my work day, brainstormed ways for my friends to get relief, checked in on Nebraska colleagues, attended a vigil in solidarity with the local Islamic center, and wondered if my family could learn to grow all our own food. In other words, in the face of incredible suffering past, present, and promised, I’ve tried to play God as best as I can.

Ask me how that’s working out for me.

Honestly, this week wasn’t really much worse or more intense than others. And my reaction wasn’t much different, either. I’m not particularly proud of it, but this has been the response I’ve developed living in a world that it sometimes feels like God forgot.

At a conference recently, with a gathering of theology and religion teachers who are committed to creation care, a Jewish Rabbi relayed part of the following Midrash. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but as injustices and sorrows have piled on in the weeks following, it has woven its way deeper and deeper into resonance with my dry and weary soul:

The Midrash describes the birth of Judaism with the following cryptic parable:

“And G‑d said to Abraham: ‘Go from your land, your birthplace, and your father's house…’” (Genesis12:2) — To what may this be compared? To a man who was traveling from place to place when he saw a palace in flames. He wondered: ‘Is it possible that the palace has no owner?’ The owner of the palace looked out and said, ‘I am the owner of the palace.’ So Abraham our father said, ‘Is it possible that the world lacks a ruler?’ G‑d looked out and said to him, ‘I am the ruler, the Sovereign of the universe.’

Abraham's bewilderment is clear. This sensitive human being gazes at a brilliantly structured universe, a splendid piece of art. He is overwhelmed by the grandeur of a sunset and by the miracle of childbirth; he marvels at the roaring ocean waves and at the silent, steady beat of the human heart. The world is indeed a palace.

But the palace is in flames. The world is full of bloodshed, injustice and strife. Thugs, abusers, rapists, kidnappers and killers are continuously demolishing the palace, turning our world into an ugly tragic battlefield of untold pain and horror.

What happened to the owner of the palace? Abraham cries. Why does G‑d allow man to destroy His world? Why does He permit such a beautiful palace to go up in flames? Could G‑d have made a world only to abandon it? Would anyone build a palace and then desert it?

The Midrash records G‑d's reply: ‘The owner of the palace looked out and said: “I am the owner of the palace.” G‑d looked out and said to Abraham: “I am the ruler, the Sovereign of the universe.‘”

What is the meaning of G‑d's response?

Note that the owner of the palace does not make an attempt to get out of the burning building or to extinguish the flames. He is merely stating that He is the owner of the palace that is going up in smoke. It is as if, instead of racing out, the owner were calling for help. G‑d made the palace, man set it on fire, and only man can put out the flames. Abraham asks G‑d, ‘Where are you?’ G‑d replies, ‘I am here, where are you?’ Man asks G‑d, ‘Why did You abandon the world?’ G‑d asks man, ‘Why did you abandon Me?’

Thus began the revolution of Judaism --- humanity's courageous venture to extinguish the flames of immorality and bloodshed and restore the world to the harmonious and sacred palace it was intended to be. Abraham's encounter with G‑d in the presence of a burning palace gave birth to the mission statement of Judaism - to be obsessed with good and horrified by evil. (Midrash Rabbah Bereishit 39:1; as interpreted by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks in Radical Then, Radical Now, Harper Collins, 2000).

Perhaps Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel also felt the palace burning when he wrote the story in Night of three people hung on gallows in a Nazi concentration camp. One of the victims, a young boy, suffered a prolonged death, so small was his neck. “For God’s sake, where is God?” asks one of the men forced to watch the execution. “And from within me,” says the protagonist, “I heard a voice answer: ‘Where is He? This is where—hanging here from this gallows…’”

Is God dead? I don’t think so. I think God is there, being hung on the gallows. There, watching in horror with the other captives. Even there, knocking at the hearts of the soldiers who did unspeakable things in Nazi death camps, and the citizens who allowed the atrocities to take place. In the spiritual drought of frustration, of anger, of helplessness, of overwhelm...perhaps in that weary land of unjustified suffering, perhaps when there is no actual water, God is still with us.

It was really difficult for me to think about this season’s blog topic, “Beauty from Suffering.” I don’t think suffering is beautiful. I don’t think human suffering is particularly redemptive, or good. As a person who has walked through the world with many privileges (my nonprofit wages put me in the top .3% of the world’s earners; I’ve never feared my child would be taken from me at a border crossing; and I’m white, educated, physically able, etc.), I feel really uncomfortable lifting up the benefits of suffering. Suffering isn’t the way things are supposed to be. Suffering isn’t really supposed to be at all, we’ve simply inherited it as a reality thanks to sin, and, as Christians, we believe we’re living with it while God moves to reconcile the whole of Creation back to the Creator.

Yet it exists. Suffering exists. We must all deal with suffering in some way. Suffering changes us all in some way. We all react to suffering in some way.

The first time I ever tried to talk to fellow Christians about industrialized animal farming was at a Christian music festival at a Baptist church in central Washington. It was blistering hot, and my friend Jason and I were standing under a thin tent in the parking lot, listening to a 13-minute loop of undercover investigation footage play on a portable DVD player while we fielded questions from festival-goers. I don’t remember most of the people I talked to that day. But I’ll never forget the face of one man in particular, or his words.

He asked why we were there at the festival. I described some of the legal cruelties that animals endure on intensive farms, which supply about 78% (cows used for beef) 99.9% (chickens) of all meat, dairy, and eggs in our country. I said, “Twenty seven billion land animals are raised and killed for food each year, and that’s in the U.S. alone.” And he said, “And thank God for that.”

Thank God for that. Fifteen years later, the words still ring in my ears. Thank God for that.

Thank God for that?

It seems astonishingly callous, given the misery endured by those billions (plus trillions of fish); the environmental damage caused by the system; the inhumane conditions industrial farms and slaughterhouses create for the people with few other options but to work there; and the ways industrial animal agriculture contributes to global food and water insecurity.

I felt angry then. And the suffering that I advocated against then still exists now, in spades (read the link at the article, we’ll come back to it later). Today, I just feel resigned. This is my life, having this conversation, again and again and again.

As a follower of Jesus, I read the Midrash with a different ending. I believe something changes when Jesus dies on the cross, a dark day of Lent that we remember together on Good Friday. I believe Jesus’ death and resurrection, his triumph over the grave, and the Holy Spirit left to us for the “already, but not yet” time...I know that should be enough to slake my thirst for justice, righteousness, beauty, and hope. But I confess, it isn’t always. There are times when I know what I believe, but I believe I have very little faith.

The night he was betrayed, John’s gospel tells us that Jesus prayed fervently for his disciples, pleading with God to care for them in his coming absence. But Jesus doesn’t pray for the disciples to not experience the woes of the world, or to be removed from society, to wall themselves off:

John 17:13-26, NRSV
“But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves...I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one...As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world...The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world...I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

As Christians, we know that Jesus has done the work of redemption, that the work of putting out the palace flames isn’t entirely in human hands, but as Jesus-followers, we also know that we are called to take action daily to pick up that cross and follow him. I’m not very good at countering suffering with love. But that’s what Jesus did, that’s what God does, whether or not we can feel it through the layers of sick through which we sometimes encounter the Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer of the world.

Last month, I got the opportunity to spend two days with the veterinarian who blew the whistle on the horrors he witnessed in Nebraska. That New York Times article means he can’t find a job in his field, his marriage ended, his life now is not what he imagined it would be. But he’s finding meaning in new projects with surprising new partners. He’s curious and his sense of humor is still intact. And he’s doing life-saving work. A friend of mine was able to use his financial resources to help a Guatemalan refugee family travel to their sponsors in Colorado. And I don’t often feel like I have much love to give, but we adopted a dog this week who’s been bounced around to too many homes in her short life. She’s a perfect hot mess, just like this life.

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About the Author

Sarah is the author of Vegangelical: How Caring for Animals Can Shape Your Faith (Zondervan, 2016) and Animals Are Not Ours (No, Really, They’re Not): An Evangelical Animal Liberation Theology (Cascade Books, 2016). She spends her days working for CreatureKind, helping Christians put their faith into action. She lives in Eugene with her husband, son, and animal companions and enjoys action movies, black coffee, the daily crossword, and dreaming of her next international journey.

Beauty From Suffering | You are Here: Use the Force for Good

Yesterday was the first day of spring break. When the weather forecast changed at the last minute to mostly sunny in Florence, my family and I made a semi-spontaneous decision to go to the beach. I thought we should try a new beach, and I remembered a hike my parents and I had often done when I was a child. I looked up Tahkenitch Creek on my phone, and it showed a kid-friendly 1.4-mile loop. Sounded like a scenic and easy way to get to the beach by hiking through some dunes!

After paying our $5 at the parking lot, we grabbed some snacks, towels and beach toys and set off on our walk. We brought one small water bottle, figuring we could drink more water when we got back to the car. The hike wound through dunes and coastal forest, and after awhile we came to a sign with a cryptic trail map. “You are here,” it said, with a red dot showing us on a looping trail that did not appear to lead to the beach. The sign also showed a picture of another, larger loop, which also did not appear to lead to the beach. Then there was another, much longer trail that looked like it might lead to the beach.

The map didn’t show distances. I tried to scan my childhood memory. I knew we had hiked to the beach on this trail many times. But how long was it? And hadn’t my mom recently recommended I try this hike with my 6 and 3-year-old children?

It couldn’t be that long.

We decided to keep hiking in the direction that we guessed led to the ocean. Eventually we did come to a sign that said “Beach” and had an arrow. Someone had scratched “1.7 miles” into the sign. Did that mean the beach was 1.7 miles from the sign? Or that it would be 1.7 miles round trip to the beach and back from the sign?

We had already been hiking for awhile. But the beach had been promised. We reasoned we might as well keep going, although our small water supply was dwindling.

James 1:2-4 (NIV)
“Consider it pure joy my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

Persevering, eventually we did reach the sea. We made it! Our kids had walked the whole way with only mild complaining (and a few tears). We enjoyed resting in the sun on the beach and playing in the sand. Spencer and Marie walked off to explore. Paul, our 3-year-old, started following them and I stayed near him to make sure he was safe. Suddenly Spencer called to me and pointed behind me. A freak sneaker wave had come up to where we’d been sitting, soaking all of our stuff and pulling some of it back towards the waves. We ran back and grabbed everything. Nothing was lost or ruined, but I now had to carry a bag of heavy, soaking wet towels 3 miles back to our car.

So we decided it was time to head back. By now I had a raging headache, and the straps from the canvas grocery bag I had turned into a makeshift backpack were digging into my shoulders. Still we kept going, with Paul being carried much of the way. Now that we had figured out the trail, we went a slightly different route home. Part of it was through hills of sand dunes, and we pretended we were hiking through the Sahara Desert. It helped that I was very thirsty. The tension from my headache was now radiating through my whole body and my back was burning with pain. But, walking through the dunes, Paul and I decided we were Star Wars jedis and that we had light sabers out to protect us. Then Marie created her own story about being a mermaid. Eventually, our rag-tag Jedi/mermaid team made it back to our car where we had more snacks and water waiting for us. It had been a 6-mile hike, yet my kids had barely complained.

I was suffering in pain for a lot of that hike. I have a high pain threshold — I have experienced natural childbirth twice — but the headache and back pain I was feeling during this hike was still pretty awful. I could have complained a lot. Or just gotten really cranky. That would be a legitimate reaction to pain. Instead, I did what I often do in challenging situations, which is to try to make things easier for those around me. I entertained the kids by telling them fairy tales. I made sand castles on the beach. I made jokes about how silly and typical it was that my mom would recommend such a long hike for our wee children. I became a Jedi knight, wielding a light saber and using The Force for good. My husband also was a good sport, not blaming me for the misadventure and carrying our little one for miles on his shoulders.

As a result, I don’t think this day will be recorded in our minds as a bad memory. It will be remembered as an adventure, one of those “remember that time when?” stories that will bond us together.

Last week, I spent an entire day in a training about trauma in early childhood. The presenter talked about how we may not experience difficult events as traumatic if we have adequate support during those events. The way that the people around us support us – or don’t – during challenging events, affects the way that our memories are encoded. Not that hiking equates to a trauma, but it still could have easily ended up a bad memory.

Suffering can be beautiful in that it gives us the best opportunity to develop perseverance and character. It gives us an opportunity to choose to turn towards God when things are hard. It can also bond us together, giving us the chance to give and accept help as needed. Remember, the greatest Jedi warriors have turned their suffering into strength.

May the Force be with you.

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About the Author

Ursula and her husband Spencer have two young children, and their family enjoys playing hide-and-seek and dancing in the living room. She works as a communications and events coordinator with the University of Oregon. Ursula is also CitySalt’s Children’s Ministry Director. 

You can read more from Ursula at motherbearblog.com.

Community Prayer Guide | April 2019

Each month we receive an updated Community Prayer Guide from One Hope ministry network that helps the church draw near to God and pray for various areas of our city life together. We invite you to take time to join hundreds of people who are praying each month for 10 strategic areas that shape our community's culture.

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One Church - One Day Community Prayer April 2019

“For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.” 1 Cor. 15:3-4

Church
Pray for all local people to be drawn to Jesus & Easter Gospel presentations. Pray they connect with churches.
Pray for the Lord’s anointing upon all the pre-Easter and post-Easter efforts to reach new people.
Pray for the power of the Holy Spirit to be poured out on every Gospel proclamation in our community.
Pray for churches to be equipped to function as healing communities for those struggling with mental illness.

Education
Pray for schools to wisely allocate funds to alleviate teacher burnout from large classes & lack of supports.
Pray for administrators & church partners to support teachers & boost their morale with tangible actions.
Pray for Christian students, teachers, and staff to live their faith fully at school, not compartmentalized
between sacred and secular. Pray they wisely walk in the Spirit, making the most of every opportunity.
Pray for our college campuses to increasingly support Christianity as one of many faiths to be explored.
Pray the truth would shine with clarity and appeal to reason.

Family
Pray that our identity in Christ will be the foundation of our lives and in all of our family relationships.
Pray for the cycle of divorce to end:
Pray for couples to choose to fight for their marriages and their children's stability and security.
Pray for God to heal and restore broken relationships.
Pray for children affected by divorce to be healed and have healthy relationships.
Pray for fathers to take their critical, God-given servant leadership role at home and in the Church.
Pray for foster families to be supported and thrive: for community to come around them and for organizations who serve vulnerable families to be strengthened.

Government
Pray for the Lord’s shalom in our community narrative and public discourse.
Pray for community harmony, support and funding for the new county courthouse development.
Pray for God’s wisdom, love and direction to be upon all of our government leaders and their families.
Pray for synergy among non-profits, government & the Church to keep youth housed, in school and thriving.
Pray for the implementation of the TAC Report (Technical Assistance Collaborative) - a comprehensive
city/county strategic plan to house the unhoused:
Pray for clear understanding, community support & provision.

Business
Thank the Lord for continued low unemployment, economic development, and prosperity in our community.
Pray for healthy & prosperous wealth development that advances the Lord’s purposes in our community.
Pray for positive, encouraging & supportive relationships among our business, government & faith sectors.
Pray for government and business leaders to have God’s wisdom to create plans that encourage new
businesses/jobs to be developed and established in our community.

Arts
Pray for the director, producers and actors of Radio Redux: health, salvation & direction for the next season.
Pray for God to empower Jesus-following local artists as they create three large public murals.
Pray for Christian writers to be inspired, follow through & create clear positive messages that are published.
Pray for provision for the Arts in our local schools: interest, inspiration, personnel and finances.
Pray for God to guide the leadership of the Cuthbert Amphitheater as they select artists to perform.

Health Care
Pray for Emergency Room personnel to have strength, perseverance & resources for critical care.
Pray for health care leaders to have wisdom to oversee effective treatments for addictions.
Pray for those treating addictions to be empowered and refreshed from “compassion fatigue.”
Pray for the power of the Holy Spirit to lead those who are addicted to follow Jesus.
Pray God uses health workers, teachers, parents & friends to bring hope, healing & rescue to those dealing
with suicidal thoughts.

Police and Fire Departments
Pray for the wisdom, peace and safety of those serving in our police and fire departments.
Pray for the creation of a multi-agency effort to stop narcotic distribution in our community:
Pray for funding, people, and for God to expose everywhere illegal distribution is happening.
Pray for “dispatch coordination” between agencies to operate with greater wisdom & collaboration.
Pray for a Mental Health Crisis Center to be established (a necessity according to first responders & civic leaders).
Pray for our local police, sheriff and fire departments to be fully staffed by men & women of noble character.

Media
Pray for God’s hand to guide all the employees of the Register Guard.
Pray for local TV news teams to report relevant and value-infused stories for community strengthening.
Pray for local media leaders to have God’s vision and wisdom to lead our local media organizations.
Pray for truthful, fair and accurate reporting in all areas of local media.

Sports
Pray for safety, protection and peace over every public sporting event.
Pray for the Lord’s blessing to be on all of Fellowship of Christian Athlete’s efforts in local schools.
Pray for God’s guidance in all local preparations for the 2021 World Track and Field Championships.
Pray for better training for youth coaches, and for more quality coaches to serve long-term.

Find answers to prayer on our website: onehopenetwork.org/testimonies.

Beauty From Suffering | Rise and Live to Smile Again

Beauty from suffering? Are you crazy?! I’ve had that very thought in the past, but now have a slightly different perspective.

I refer to the beauty that can come from suffering when molded in God’s hands. I’m focused on the supernatural beauty of spirit that He exchanges for the ashes of our dark times spent in hopelessness and pain. I’ve experienced this dynamic in my life, and I recognize this kind of beauty immediately when I see it in other people. Those that made a choice to continue trusting God and to live with abiding joy in the face of crippling emotional and physical circumstances. Whether it’s something urgently needed, person that never came, or a physical, emotional, or mental injury that has not healed.

The believer who carries their sorrows, yet continues to move forward in following Jesus, this person has the victory! They can have a visible anointing on them which has caused me to think to myself “I want to know more about this person! What choices have they made to produce such a clear display of God’s presence in their life?” This believer may feel their life is broken or incomplete, but yet they choose to trust what Jesus has told them in scripture. God’s beauty of spirit radiating from them is ample proof that He is still at work in their life.

The key, I’m learning from my experiences, is to stop running away from the suffering I see ahead of me, such as decades of a life alone, not entirely by choice, and with no resolution in sight. An emotional ache like the slow bleed of a long-term, small injury that zaps my strength and sometimes makes me want to stop in my tracks. I acknowledge that this part of the process never seems to get easier, but I steel myself despite my seemingly unmet needs, and choose to enter the crucible with God’s guidance. The times in which I have made this choice, in which I have silently carried my burning question of “Why Lord?,” and focused my attention on what he was assigning me now - these are my times of true victory. The life ahead of me, with new challenges and Holy Spirit assignments, is something I initially undertake for God’s sake and the benefit of others, but I later discover this persistence is also for my benefit.

My trusting obedience to move forward without answers has been when God has healed and transformed me to the next stage, the next level of knowing him. With the searing heat of the spiritual crucible still vivid in my mind and emotions, I faced my ashes, handed them over to God, and asked Him to redeem them somehow. He then lovingly touched my death-like experiences with His healing spirit, and transformed them into the redemptive lesson He designed them to be all along. I no longer needed my life circumstances to meet my expectations. When I allowed God’s presence in my life to expand and fill the deep internal void I felt daily, I found that His grace was sufficient even for me. His joy filled me to bursting and I had to share it with others, often without words. In this way, Christ resurrects me continually with His love, and I rise and live to smile again.

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About the Author

Sara has attended CitySalt Church since 2004, the year it was founded. She studied Journalism, wrote for her college newspaper, and is a member of Oregon Christian Writers. Sara also enjoys singing hymns with friends: “there is a sermon in every hymn waiting to be discovered and enjoyed.”

Beauty From Suffering | The Dark Night of the Soul

Just before Christmas break, I was talking to one of my closest friends about reading material. I was feeling a bit spiritually dry, and hoping for something to read that would refresh me and help me engage with God more deeply. Then I noticed on my bookshelf a book I’d bought but hadn’t read yet, I Loved Jesus in the Night: Teresa of Calcutta--A Secret Revealed by Paul Murray.

I’ve always looked up to the woman we call Mother Teresa. Of course, so does the rest of the world. But I like her especially because she is such an amazing example of loving people unconditionally and loving God deeply. She must have been especially close to God, right?

This book, written by a priest who knew her well, shows a side of her that we don’t usually hear about. She wrestled for long periods of time where she didn’t feel God’s presence or hear Him speaking to her in any way, despite drawing others closer to Him. Her faith sustained her, knowing in her heart that Jesus loved her intimately. But she couldn’t feel it and often wondered if she was even doing what God wanted her to be doing. The author notes that she experienced what is sometimes called “The Dark Night of the Soul” based on the writings of Spanish mystic St. John of the Cross. I’m still seeking to understand this concept, but from what I can tell, the “dark night” is a period of suffering that isn’t related to any particular event or circumstances, but is a spiritual crisis in someone’s journey of faith.

I’ll let you read the book to find out how Mother Teresa’s “dark night” experience unfolds, but I will say that reading it was both challenging and encouraging. Challenging because in the theology I am used to, God is always speaking to us and affirming us. But that doesn’t seem to always be true, even in the lives of people so deeply in love with him. So it is scary to think that even Mother Teresa could experience this struggle. But it’s also encouraging. As it says in Romans 5:3, “Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” And we get to know Jesus better-- Philippians 3:10: “I want to know Christ-- yes, to know the power of His resurrection and participation in His sufferings.” As Mother Teresa persevered in faith even in periods of not feeling His presence, she continued to bless others and bring them closer to Him. She continued to pray, trusting that He was near. That she went through this is also encouraging to me, because it makes her more human. More real. More like you and me. She wasn’t just the “super-saint” that we make her out to be. And if she can wrestle with this darkness and prevail by the power of her faith in God, so can we.

Sue Monk Kidd, the author of The Secret Life of Bees, writes about a similar personal journey in her book When the Heart Waits. My counselor made me read it several years ago. Reflecting on this topic, I picked it up today, and opened to a section about darkness. She has this to say about the darkness that is difficult to bear but is a positive part of our spiritual journey:

“In the Bible darkness is often used as a metaphor for sin or a lack of God’s presence. There are, however, references to darkness as a place where God dwells. ‘The Lord has set the sun in the heavens, but has said that he would dwell in thick darkness’ (1 Kings 8:12). ‘He made darkness his covering around him’ (Ps. 18:11)

God is in the dark. Traditionally this imagery suggests the ultimate unknowability of God. But when I read it from within the dark layers of my cocoon, I perceived a meaning quite different. The verses filled me with an affirmation that God enters the thick darkness of every creature. A voice said to me, “God suffers with you. God weeps with you. God lives your darkness. This is the recognition that turns our darkness into a shining thing.”

Father Murray acknowledges that most people don’t undergo this kind of suffering as intensely as Mother Teresa did. I don’t know why she had to bear it. But I do believe that everyone experiences suffering at some time in their lives, if they live very long at all. It can take many different forms and come from different origins. Sometimes it’s of our own making, the consequences of our choices. Other times it is at the hands of other people, or disease, accidents, or the breaking of relationship with someone. It can take the form of grief, depression, confusion, fear, or other difficult experiences. No matter the origin or form, it is painful. Sometimes crushingly so. But I believe it can also draw us closer to God, if we face it instead of running from it.

This is baffling to the world, but beautiful to those of us who have experienced His love in the midst of our suffering. Don’t fear the darkness. He is there in it , with you.

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About the Author

Jessie is an educator, currently in the role of academic advisor at a charter school after teaching there and overseas. She is also a novice writer, with several books in various stages and a (long-neglected) blog about the journeys of women. She is very excited to join the CitySalt blog team. She has been blessed by a few communities of Christian writers that have encouraged her dream. She lives with her trusty sidekick cat, Arwen in the foothills of South Eugene, where she can go hiking within minutes of the sun coming out from behind the clouds.

Beauty from Suffering | The Value in Suffering

Suffering. It's an ageless and perplexing subject because it’s personally so difficult to endure and also so hard when someone close to us is laboring under its heavy weight. We can (and should) empathize with our sufferers even as we feel helpless. We can’t fix it for them, but that’s not really our job.

Suffering is pain stretched out over time - “long-suffering” is a common biblical theme. No one wants to suffer, and few of us would want it for anyone else, even perhaps someone who's wronged us horrifically. Beyond suggesting a Suffering Survival Guide here, the question should be posed - is there any real value in suffering? I think there is.

All of this takes on larger meaning when we remember that Jesus paved the way in our suffering, both as an example of how to respond the right way (acknowledging the Father), but also as emotional support from someone who's been there. His suffering linked heaven to our humanity and if we really think about it, he had the most to lose. His earthly life, yes, but certainly his heavenly dignity. God-becomes-man-becomes-tortured - what a massive fall.

So there's value in Christ's example. But what about the more practical? One of the most common human traits of an immature soul is pride and shallowness of character. We think things are going well. We attribute it to our smarts, our hard work, or any other number of things tied to our great efforts. Then the wheels fall off. We experience pain and loss. Our brokenness crashes down with our poor choices, the words and actions of others around us, or perhaps we don't really know why.

When we respond correctly, suffering “keeps us honest”, as they say. It adds depth of character to our shallow soul. And an added bonus - it fosters true compassion for others. More depth of character as we remember to gaze outwards, even as it hurts so much. Because others are hurting too.

As I write this, I am in some personal turmoil. It’s common life-stuff but as suffering typically goes, it feels worse than it probably is. So this blog post is fresh and sincere. Here is what I am learning in real time (ME, are you listening?):

1. Don’t suffer alone, and on the other side, don’t ignore the sufferer! Yes, we all live “out west” but we’re not cowboys on some far lonely outpost. We NEED each other. We really do, as both a giver and receiver of compassion. Isolation is one of the enemy’s harshest and most powerful tools. It leads to wrong assumptions and beliefs, and wild exaggerations. And it’s horribly lonely. We need to reach out, and that includes professional or pastoral care.

2. Pain focuses us, and locks us in. Sometimes I feel God uses it to get our attention, and keep it for awhile while he speaks and we learn.

3. We can ask God why, but we shouldn't get stuck on the why. He wants to interact with us, and answers will be revealed as we walk with him, and keep walking. Don't stop and get stuck. If we fall, get back up.

4. Gain perspective and identify the gains. Perspective is one of suffering's great rewards.

5. We need to give the sufferer space but be sensitive and “nearby”, observing, praying, and ready to connect. Don’t worry about not having words. Smiles and hugs are essential too.

Romans 8:18
For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

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About the Author

Terry is a man in constant motion to explore new horizons. He has a thirst for new places and faces, and a deep love for the natural world - with a weakness for waterfalls and sunsets. All of this venturing out helps to both ground and inspire him, because it opens him up to people, with their vast, collective array of experiences, outlooks and responses.

He finds all of this fascinating and sees that it has encouraged the growth of something crucial in his Christian development: empathy and compassion toward his brothers and sisters on this planet.

The “Aha” Moment! | Making Room for “Ah-ha” Moments with Jesus

“Ah-ha” moments with Jesus…. even typing that makes me smile. I don’t know that there’s anything better than an ah-ha moment with Jesus! Really, I don’t think there’s anything better. But even as I type that, I have to ask myself: “If I love ah-ha moments with Jesus more than anything, what gets in the way of having them?”

From experience, I know whenever I intentionally hang out with Jesus, I always have an ah-ha moment. And they come in different forms.

Often it’s a “DUH” ah-ha moment. Do you know what I mean? These are the times He says what might be the simplest thing, something that everyone already knows, but at that very time I need to hear it and it rocks my world!

Or when I am worried and as I just sit with Him and I get filled with peace, he reminds me that He is the Prince of Peace and that peace is always available. Ah-ha!

Or when I am reading through a story in the Gospels and He makes something become real. When I’m listening to a friend talk, or a sermon, or praying with someone and Jesus comes through and says something that opens us up to an entirely new way of looking at the situation. Ah-ha! So, if ah-ha moments with Jesus are the best, why don’t I experience more of them? I realize it’s not Him, it’s me! Every time I make time to hang with Him, I have an ah-ha moment. That is the key: making time!

Pondering this led me to think of one of the places I do consistently make room for meeting Jesus: when meeting with my Triad. Talk about a place where those ah-ha moments have happened. During Triad, I can honestly bank on having at least one, if not many, every time. (I am not exaggerating.)

If you are currently in a Triad, I’d guess you are nodding along with me, quite possibly with a big smile on your face, as you think of yours. Or, if you haven’t heard of this thing called “Triad”, you are wondering what in the world I am talking about? A “Triad” is a structured group of 3 people who meet up on a regular basis and practice listening prayer together. A specific time where we purposely practice both being heard and hearing others, while listening for ourselves and each other to what Jesus is saying.

And every single time, without exception, He has ah-ha things to say! He is so good that way. Let me tell you my Triad history: I have been in a Triad for several years. And as you can tell, I am a huge fan! At the beginning, though, I almost missed the boat. When I was asked to join one, I almost said no. I really didn’t think I had time for “yet another meeting” on my calendar. And even though the commitment was only once a month for 2 hours, I just didn’t know if I wanted to fit it in. Thankfully, though, wisdom kicked in and I decided to pray about it. I decided to commit and give it a try. And let me tell you: best decision ever!

And as I flip through my journal from the notes I’ve taken during our Triad sessions, the “ah-ha” moments fill the pages! There is a God, He loves us, He cares, and He talks to us! Having this scheduled time once a month to intentionally make room to listen to Him together, to practice hearing those ah-ha things He has to say, has been so life-giving and faith building.

Are Triads a magical format? Does He only show up when you Triad? Is Triad even a verb? Of course not. But I think the “magic” happens whenever we purposefully put time aside to actively listen. Jesus says “My sheep hear My voice” but for some reason this can be a struggle for many of us to believe. Or if you are like me, you may totally believe it but realize time flies by when you get busy and you just haven’t had time to listen. A Triad sets up a time and space for you and 2 friends to practice hearing Him and to see that He means it – we can hear His voice and He does have ah-ha things for us!

For me, joining a Triad has designated a time, once a month, in my schedule where I know I will have the time to talk to and listen to Jesus. It has become an easy rhythm to carve out this space. And it has become so precious to me. Also, the added beauty is I get to do this with my friends as well as with Jesus, thus having Him deposit “ah-ha” moments not only into my own life but into their lives too. Ain’t nothing better than watching my friend get encouraged, built up, receive breakthrough, and hear exactly what she needs to hear from Jesus. So good! And the relationship between my friends and I has become so deep in the process. When we get to hear Jesus’ thoughts about someone, when we get to feel His heart for someone, we just fall more in love with each other!

So is this an ad for Triads? Maybe! When you find a good thing you want to share it! But more importantly, I want to encourage us all to make room for those “ah-ha” moments with Jesus. However that looks in our lives today. He is a Person, He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and He wants to talk with us!

So let’s pray, “Thank You Jesus, that You love us so much and want to fill our lives with more ah-ha moments! Thank You that Your Word says we can hear Your voice, that You want to be our friend, and that nothing can stand between us and You. We say ‘YES’ right now to more ah-ha moments. We say ‘YES’ to making time to be known and to get to know You. We say ‘YES’ to asking for You to help us to create habits and rhythms in our schedules that make room for the ah-ha moments with You, Jesus!”

P.S. If you are interested in Triads and want more details: http://www.citysalt.org/triads

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About the Author

Pam is a fun and encouraging team-builder that brings the best to those around her. She loves people and is committed to serving and mentoring kids, women and families with opportunities to grow closer to God and each other.

Pam is currently serving as Children and Family Pastor at Valley Christian Center in Albany. Pam and her husband, Jared, have been married since 2005 and have three boys. Their family will always be a much loved part of our CitySalt family.

Community Prayer Guide | March 2019

Each month we receive an updated Community Prayer Guide from One Hope ministry network that helps the church draw near to God and pray for various areas of our city life together. We invite you to take time to join hundreds of people who are praying each month for 10 strategic areas that shape our community's culture.

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One Church - One Day Community Prayer March 2019

“’Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit’, says the Lord Almighty.”
Zechariah 4:6b

Church
Pray for the power of the Holy Spirit to be poured out on every church/ministry for life transformation.
Pray for the Lord to provide new wisdom and strategies for Christ-centered collaboration.
Pray for God’s hand to be upon all of the early preparations for Easter celebrations.
Pray for local churches and Jesus-followers to demonstrate the love and wisdom of God in public life.
Pray for healthy, good and strong relationships between all pastors & ministry leaders in our community.

Education
Pray for God to lead the process and selection of the next Springfield School Superintendent.
Pray for Christian students, teachers, and staff to live their faith fully at school, not compartmentalized
between sacred and secular. Pray they wisely walk in the Spirit, making the most of every opportunity.
Pray for our college campuses to increasingly support Christianity as one of many faiths to be explored.
Pray the truth would shine with clarity and appeal to reason.
Pray for every school district's suicide prevention program to effectively intervene in students’ lives.

Family
Pray for God to turn the hearts of fathers to their children and for the hearts of children to be turned towards
their fathers. Pray for fathers to take their servant leadership role at home and in the Church.
Pray for struggling adults, teens and children to have hope, be loved and rescued from suicide.
Pray for men to understand their critical God-given roles & have the courage to step into them.
Pray for God to strengthen and empower marriages in our community: to love and care for each other, to be healthy models of love for children, and to add to the strength and security of our community.
Pray for our identity in Christ to be the foundation of our lives and in all of our family relationships.

Government
Pray for the implementation of the TAC Report (Technical Assistance Collaborative - a comprehensive
city/county strategic plan to house the unhoused):
Pray for clear understanding, community support & provision.
Pray for community harmony, support and funding for the new county courthouse development.
Pray for God’s wisdom, love and direction to be upon all of our government leaders and their families.
Pray for synergy among non-profits, government & the Church to keep youth housed, in school and thriving.
Pray for peace and safety within and around the newly-moved homeless camp on Highway 99.
Pray for the Lord’s shalom in our community narrative and public discourse.

Business
Pray for healthy & prosperous wealth development that advances the Lord’s purposes in our community.
Pray for government and business leaders to have God’s wisdom to create plans that encourage new
businesses/jobs to be developed and established in our community.
Pray for positive, encouraging & supportive relationships among our business, government & faith sectors. Pray for businesses and business leaders to be a vital part of increasing affordable housing.
Thank the Lord for continued low unemployment, economic development, and prosperity in our community.

Arts
Pray for the National Spring Art show “jury process” to highlight God-honoring creativity.
Pray for God to empower Jesus-following local artists as they create three large public murals.
Pray for musicians in the local music scene to be loved by Jesus-people and led into a relationship with Christ.
Pray for Christian writers to be inspired, follow through & create clear positive messages that are published.
Pray for the Lord’s hand to be on the Actors Cabaret leadership to know Him & choose virtuous plays.

Health Care
Pray for everyone who is struggling with addiction to have hope, perseverance and support:
Pray for the Church to take an active role in prevention and healing of addictions.
Pray for health care leaders to have wisdom to oversee effective treatments for addictions.
Pray for those treating addictions to be empowered and refreshed from “compassion fatigue.”
Pray for the power of the Holy Spirit to lead those who are addicted to follow Jesus.
Pray God uses health workers, teachers, parents & friends to bring hope, healing & rescue to those dealing
with suicidal thoughts.

Police and Fire Departments
Pray for our local police, sheriff and fire departments to be fully staffed by men & women of noble character.
Pray for the Lord’s hand to prevent all “false alarm” 911 calls in our community.
Pray for the wisdom, peace and safety of those serving in our police and fire departments.
Pray for the creation of a multi-agency effort to stop narcotic distribution in our community: funding & people.
Pray for “dispatch coordination” between agencies to operate with greater wisdom & collaboration.
Pray for a Mental Health Crisis Center to be established (a necessity according to first responders & civic leaders).

Media
Pray for positive and uplifting stories to be highlighted.
Pray for local TV, Radio and Print Media employees to be guided by God’s hand.
Pray for local media leaders to have clear vision and wisdom to effectively lead our local media organizations.
Pray for truthful, fair and accurate reporting in all areas of local media.

Sports
Pray for the Lord’s blessing to be on LCC Athletics: the students, staff and coaches.
Pray for God’s guidance in all local preparations for the 2021 World Track and Field Championships.
Pray for safety, protection and peace over every public sporting event.
Pray for God’s blessing, wisdom and protection to be on all Christ-following coaches at every level.
Pray for better training for youth coaches, and for more quality coaches to serve long-term.

Find answers to prayer on our website: onehopenetwork.org/testimonies.

The “Aha” Moment! | What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?

A few weeks ago I was faced with a dilemma. My 6-year-old daughter was finishing up the month-long introductory piano class I had given her for Christmas. I needed to decide if we should continue with piano lessons or not. The problem was, Marie had also recently started a dance class, and it seemed prohibitively expensive to continue both. I’d assumed she would naturally gravitate to one or the other and it’d be easy to choose, but it wasn’t. She loves music and her best friend had joined piano. On the other hand, she also loves dance and the hip-hop class was well-suited to her (very) high energy level and enthusiasm.

This may seem like it should be an easy, low-stakes decision, but I always overthink and analyze the angles when it comes to decision-making. Piano seems like a better long-term investment. I always wished for piano lessons as a kid and never had the opportunity. On the other hand, Marie had been asking for a dance class for months and months.

I prayed about it and Marie and I came to the consensus to keep on with dance and drop piano for now. There was no big ah-ha moment and I don’t know whether or not it was the best decision for her. In ten years will she still be dancing, playing an instrument, both, or neither? Time will tell. But for now this is the best decision for me. The dance class is an after-school program at her school. That means I don’t have to make extra trips in the car, coercing my 3-year-old son to get buckled in his car seat, and finding ways to keep him quietly entertained during a 45-minute piano lesson.

I’m always hoping for truth to be revealed to me in a big epiphanous moment. I wish that God would clearly tell me which choices to make when it comes to things like long-term career goals, friendships to pursue, and which extracurriculars to invest in for our kids. Even an ah-ha moment about where to find my son’s missing mitten would be appreciated. If I’m really honest, I may especially hope for epiphanies to come to politicians I disagree with or people I perceive to have wronged me in some way.

Still, I’ve found that it’s rare for us to learn much in isolated moments. Most of the time, growth happens slowly and gradually. We become the product of the small choices we have made day after day over the years.

A few years ago I went on an overnight silent retreat at the Benedectine Abbey in Mt. Angel. I thought that surely this would be the place that God would speak to me and reveal vital information about Big Life Choices. In the end, I felt that it was a worthwhile time of rest and reflection, and that God was with me in the silence. But I did not get any answers or detailed revelations.

Except, well maybe. I felt that God did have a message for me that weekend. And it was this: Be Present. I had been hoping that God would give me ideas for new life assignments to take on, and all I got was — Be Present.

That strikes me still today as the big reveal for me and perhaps all of us in the distracted and distracting world where we live, especially if we are parenting little ones. Put down your smartphone. Turn off Netflix. Be here, in this moment, where God has placed you.

I’ll leave you with some lines by Mary Oliver, my favorite contemporary poet, who passed away in January at age 83.

I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
— excerpted from The Summer Day, by Mary Oliver

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About the Author

Ursula and her husband Spencer have two young children, and their family enjoys playing hide-and-seek and dancing in the living room. She works as a communications and events coordinator with the University of Oregon. Ursula is also CitySalt’s Children’s Ministry Director. 

You can read more from Ursula at motherbearblog.com.