Today: Expect a mix of sun and clouds with a slight chance of afternoon thunderstorms, mainly over the high terrain. Winds light and variable. High of 88 F. Heat index approaching 100 F in spots. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%.
It has been hot lately. And that means one thing: I’ve been complaining about it.
I despise the heat and I love to bicker about it. I know, we mountain folk don’t experience the oppressive heat that our other southern neighbors experience. One friend of mine in Mississippi described the summer heat and humidity this way: “When you leave Wal-Mart at night and walk out the front door, the heat assaults you as though someone has taken an afghan quilt, immersed it in boiling water, and then flung it over your head.”
When I lived in Tucson, Arizona shortly after seminary I discovered that people simply didn’t go outside until the sun went down. Even then the temperature was well-over 100 F. “But it’s a dry heat,” some will say. Yes, just like an oven.
Social psychologists, researchers and scientists alike have been studying the effects of heat on people for years. Most of us are aware that heat waves are more than just a nuisance, or cause for people to hydrate and care for their pets. We know that violent crime spikes when the temperatures rise. We know now that the riots during the summer of 1967 coincided with heat waves on the east coast and in the Midwest. A well-documented study from the mid-1990s found that “aggravated assaults roughly doubled in Dallas when the average temperature rose from 75 F to 95 F.”
And then there’s road rage. One study proved that motorists were quicker to lay on their horns on hot days when cars at intersections were slow at responding to a changing traffic light. In another study involving our nation’s pastime, pitchers on Major League Baseball teams were more likely to throw at, and hit batters in retaliation, when it is hot rather than when it is cool.
Yes, the heat makes us cranky. But it can also affect the way in which we think or perceive the world around us. As it turns out, we’re far more likely to ‘project’ whatever we’re experiencing in the moment into the future even though the facts don’t support it. Social economists tell us that this ‘projection bias’ distorts our worldview and can make us far more reactive in the moment. To put it simply, the heat can make us overreact to stuff. As you can imagine, this can lead to some very bad decision-making.
In my experience and observation, the results of these studies ring true. Regardless of the setting, I have found a correlation between my own temperament—and the temperaments of others—during the mid-summer heat. Tempers flare more easily in July than they do in February. Disagreements and casual silliness linger longer when it’s 90 F than when it’s 50 F. People fuss and are more anxious in the heat and humidity than they are when it’s crisp and cool. We are more prone to make snap judgements that we will later regret when our internal thermostats are turned up.
So be aware, people. The experts are correct. Heat is dangerous. It can sap your strength, make you sick, and yes, hurt your relationships.
Both Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well come off as a bit testy when they meet up in the mid-day sun. Jesus is thirsty and requests some water. The woman’s reply seems uncharacteristically sharp and Jesus seems to match her tone with a pointed reply.
“Living water,” she retorts. “Ha! You have no bucket and the well is deep. Where will you get that living water, pray tell? Who do you think you are?”
When Jesus replies that the water he gives will be like a spring of water gushing up to eternal life, the woman mocks him and says with great sarcasm and eye-rolling: “Sir! Give me this water, so that I will never have to keep coming here to draw water.”
Jesus plays his prophetic card and reveals that he knows about her checkered past and why she chooses to visit the well alone during the heat of the day. The woman’s skepticism and cynicism melts when she realizes that Jesus is the Messiah, and she returns to the village to reveal what she’s experienced.
The heat can make us thirsty. And in our attempt to quench our thirst we can be tempted to drink from the wrong sources. Bitterness, anxiety-fueled tirades, and rage do not slate our thirsts—they inflame them. Jesus, however, can cool us off. He can give us the space we need to chill out and to prayerfully reflect on life and the world around us. Whether it’s time up on a mountain with the Father where the breeze is more pronounced, or if it’s immersing ourselves in the cool, truth-revealing waters of Christ’s presence, Jesus is the antidote to that itchy, irascible feeling we get when life’s heat gets too hard to bear.
Stay hydrated these last weeks of summer by drinking deeply from the well of God’s goodness. Like a sip from a good, old mountain spring, Jesus’s presence can make us cool, calm and collected.
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Read more about how the heat affects us our sensibilities. Click on this link to read Katherin Milkman’s excellent article in the Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/07/21/heat-doesnt-just-make-us-cranky-it-makes-us-dumb-shoppers/?utm_term=.ef475e1ceab3
Communion in Worship
Please join us in celebrating the ordinance of communion in worship this Sunday, July 30.
Children's Missions Programs Need Your Help!
Volunteers are needed to help with GAs, RAs, and Mission Friends beginning with the start of the new school year. Training will be available. You'll have a part in watching children grow and mature in their faith as they learn more about missions and God's special place for them in the world. Come be a part of this vital ministry of our church. Contact Sandra James or Cheryl Beck to get involved.
Ramp Building Crew
Thank you to our ramp building crew for loving our neighbors by helping them to access their home more easily.
Baby Shower for Julie and Zack Faulkenberry
Please join us for a baby shower honoring Zack and Julie Faulkenberry as we help them prepare for their new baby boy, Kuechly James. The shower will be Sunday, July 30th, 2 - 3:30 PM in the Mission Fellowship Center. The couple is registered at Babies R Us and Target.
Kitchen Stove Moved
We would like to thank Harold Messer and his hearty crew of men who helped to move an old--and very cumbersome!--stove out of the downstairs kitchen.
A Note from Meghan Beddingfield
Dear First Baptist Church,
I want to thank you all for your support, care, guidance, and love throughout the years. I feel so lucky to have grown up in First Baptist Church. It still feels like home to me and you all made a wonderful impact in my life. Through your thoughts, prayers, cards, and visits, First Baptist remains close to my heart always.
Love,
Rev. Meghan Beddingfield
David, Cinderella & The Shawshank Redemption
Quiz Question: What do the following movies have in common?
-Rocky
-Hoosiers
-Rudy
-The Karate Kid
-Seabiscuit
-The Hunger Games
-Braveheart
-The Harry Potter series
-The Shawshank Redemption
-La La Land
-Star Wars
Answer: They all feature the story of an underdog.
If you ever want to see a grown man cry, then show him a movie where a longshot protagonist or a woe begotten football team rises from the ashes and triumphs in the face of daunting challenges and long odds. If you want inspiration, dial up Braveheart as he takes on the British Crown, or Erin Brockovich who fights a corrupt system that is hurting innocent families. If you want to encourage a kid who feels down on their luck, show him the transforming story of the Karate Kid or even the Lion King.
We love these stories. And if you start looking around, you’ll see that Cinderella stories are everywhere. In fact, it’s hard to find a story that doesn’t have a disadvantaged individual seeking to rise-up and succeed. Go ahead. Prove me wrong.
The granddaddy of them all is one of the best-known stories in the Bible. It’s the tale of a small, shepherd boy who agrees to take on the fiercest of all warriors. God’s anointed, David, slays Goliath with what amounts to a child’s weapon. David may be but a lad, but his craftiness helps him to overcome insurmountable odds and his army wins the battle.
What is it about this story that we love so much? Why do underdogs win our hearts so easily?
We are drawn to this theme because it gives us hope to see others overcome adversity. It can be difficult to identify with characters who are superhuman because most of us are keenly aware of our shortcomings and faults. But when we catch a glimpse of someone who is like us succeed amid such disadvantages, we are thrilled by the prospect that we, too, can triumph.
Jesus routinely championed the underdogs of his day. Why do you think the poor, the sick, and the maligned loved him so? Jesus gave these individuals hope. He offered forgiveness, empowered those without pedigree to change the world, and brought redemption to those who couldn’t sink lower in life. Further cementing his legacy for lifting up the cause of the underdog, he cautioned the mighty and privileged to be humble and deferential to others. Heck, Jesus himself becomes an underdog—washing his disciples’ feet and dying at the hands of the powerbrokers of the day--out of love for us. Easter, that is Resurrection Day, is the ultimate rags to riches story. When it comes to good Cinderella stories, it’s hard to beat being dead one minute and raised to life the next.
Our love and affection for the David and Goliath story can give us fuel to be an advocate for the underdogs in our day and age. Beyond my feeble attempt to turn you all into NC State fans, let me invite you to consider who it is in our world who is down on their luck, beat-up and maligned. In each of these Cinderella stories, you’ll find someone who believes in and champions the promise that each of the underdogs has.
Let’s be that person to others, just as Jesus is for us.
Waterrock Knob Picnic
The picnic at Waterrock Knob was a success! Thanks to everyone who came up on Sunday for some good food and fellowship on the Blue Ridge Parkway!
