Mission Moment 6.11.25
Karen Alford
CBF Field Personnel, Togo, West Africa
“If you work with your hands, sabbath with your mind. If you work with your mind, sabbath with your hands.”
—Rabbi Abraham Heschel
What is saving my life right now is doing yard work and a surprising source of inspiration from an app. My yard is huge with fruit trees, flowers, garden plots and tons of bougainvillea. Without copious amounts of raking, pruning, weeding, (did I mention raking?), it rapidly turns into jungle. Working with my hands, being able to see the tangible results of my work is satisfying. But more satisfying and astonishing is the peace in being reminded that God is in control and that things are growing and blooming and maturing beautifully despite anything else going on in my life that feels discouraging or disappointing.
Nature doesn’t need me to make it happen. It’s a gentle reminder that most other things in my life are happening and evolving at their own pace too, and I need not feel they are my sole responsibility and can only happen or succeed if I “make” them so. It’s a huge relief to consider that just maybe, just maybe, God is in control of those things too.
Related to that theme is a lesson I’m learning from a paint-by-numbers app I use sometimes to help me relax. The app offers a huge, ever-growing selection of mandalas, nature scenes, places, flowers, mosaics, etc. A numbered palate of colors appears at the bottom and when you tap a color, the parts of the picture that correspond with that color turn gray. You tap the gray areas, and the picture starts coming to life.
At first, I resented being forced to use colors I didn’t choose, especially since the ones who generate these pictures sometimes use lots of shades of orange, reds, pinks and yellows while I prefer dark blues, purples and greens. But as the picture comes to completion, I am astonished at the beauty that has been created. Especially using shades of color I don’t like, didn’t know existed and would never have chosen to go side-by-side.
I’ve developed a lot of gratitude for those creators I used to resent—for their vision and ability to see potential where I see none. And I love that colors I would never use, never even imagine, can come together to create such startling beauty. Mind you, the picture doesn’t always come together all at once. Sometimes I’m genuinely confused about how it can possibly be redeemed with so much of that shade of green! Sometimes I stay skeptical until it is finished. Then I see the magic.
Maybe what is happening in my life at any given moment is also just shades of color I don’t always prefer or would certainly never choose. Maybe if I stop judging the colors according to my personal preference and trust in the genius of the designer creating the picture, I will see the perfection and beauty in the end. Maybe all that feels weird, doubtful and uncomfortable is just a necessary part of the genius and perfection that is unfolding. And I find that thought saving for me indeed.
Pray, Practice, Ponder
In the quote on the previous page, Rabbi Abraham Heschel invites us to consider how we rest and how we work. For those whose work is primarily physical, requiring the use of their hands and bodies, “sabbath,” Heschel suggests, is an invitation to rest the body and activate the mind. For those whose work is primarily mental, the opposite may be true. Today, ponder how you spend your working hours, and how this impacts what “sabbath” rest looks like for you.
Summer Midweek Meals
Our June fellowship meal (taco-bar) is next week, Wednesday, June 18 at 5:30 p.m. Please contact the church office by noon on Monday, June 16 if you plan to participate, assuring that we’ll have plenty of good food to enjoy. Below is the summer Wednesday schedule!
June's midweek meal will be June 18.
July's midweek meal will be July 16.
Our August gathering will be Sunday, August 17 (details below).
Save the date!
Our August gathering will be held at the Deep Creek Pavilion on Sunday, August 17,
from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. Come join in the fun!
We will restart our WEEKLY meals on Wednesday, September 3
(which is the Wednesday following Labor Day).
Mission Moment 6.4.25
Anna Anderson
CBF Field Personnel, Rocky Mount, N.C.
“Starting here, what do you want to remember?
How sunlight creeps along a shining floor?
What scent of old wood hovers, what softened sound from outside fills the air?
Will you ever bring a better gift for the world than the breathing respect that you carry wherever you go right
now?
Are you waiting for time to show you some better thoughts?
When you turn around, starting here, lift this new glimpse that you found; carry into evening all that you want from this day.
This interval you spent reading or hearing this, keep it for life—
What can anyone give you greater than now, starting here, right in this room, when you turn around?”
—William Stafford, “You Reading this, Be Ready”
I found a little wooden sign in a store recently that reads, “Today is a good day to thank God.” I bought the sign and hung it in my office so that I see it each time I sit at my desk, pondering or writing, answering emails or spending time on Zoom. These are the moments for which I always want to be reminded—to thank God. They’re not necessarily those favorite moments, but they remind me to be grateful for all of the moments I have been given. All the moments I experience every day.
Having my first grandchild who is now two-years-old has brought me such a new perspective on living in the here and now. I knew this, of course, before the birth of this precious one, but I have been made so much more aware of the gratitude that living in the moment brings. I am thankful for the times we spend holding hands with each other, the looking into the eyes of one another, the times we laugh together, the times we experience the joy and wonder of some tiny little part of creation like a dandelion, or the blowing of the bubbles from the bottle, or the amazement at the little truck that rolls, the splashing in the bathtub and the giggling joy that sliding down the slide at the playground brings. These are the good times. These are the rewards of recognizing life’s gifts.
I am grateful for every day, every moment, that I have been given, every experience of each of those days that I carry into the evenings with me. What we have is now. That’s all. And what a joy and privilege to live in the moment of the here and now.
Serving as a field personnel takes us to places on some days that can be awfully heavy and sad. There are so many reasons in this world to be despondent and to see so much that is so wrong. I reflect on that little sign at the end of the day, “Today is a good day to thank God.” Every day. All the moments.
Pray, Practice, Ponder
Loving, Creator God, how can I thank you for all the gifts you have poured onto me? How can I live in the kind of gratitude such an amazing God deserves? Show me the ways of Jesus every day, Holy God, and help me to live like you. And let the gratitude I feel flow through me into the world. Amen.
Summer Midweek Meals
Our June fellowship meal is two weeks away…Wednesday, June 18 (taco-bar). Please contact the church office if you plan to participate, assuring that we’ll have plenty of good food to enjoy. Below is the summer Wednesday schedule!
June's midweek meal will be June 18.
July's midweek meal will be July 16.
Our August gathering will be Sunday, August 17 (details below).
Save the date!
Our August gathering will be held at the Deep Creek Pavilion on Sunday, August 17,
from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. Come join in the fun!
We will restart our WEEKLY meals on Wednesday, September 3
(which is the Wednesday following Labor Day).
1st Explorers Summer Camp
Giving the Jesus Way
United Christian Ministries is in need of spaghetti sauce and pasta.
To donate items, please drop them off at UCM’s building at 191 Skyland Drive. Thank you!
1st Explorers After-School Ministry Report
We celebrated the end of the year with a lot of outside play, four square, basketball, wall ball, and—of course—our end-of-year party complete with hot dogs, ice cream, Pen Pals, and even a couple parents! Kaitlyn had plenty of outdoor games to play that the adults got to join in on. We all had a blast!
Mission Moment 5.28.25
Alden Gallimore
Pastor, First Baptist Church, Altavista, Va. and Navy Reserve Chaplain in Training
"He has told you, O mortal, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God?"
– Micah 6:8 (NRSVUE)
What is saving my life right now? It’s a big question, and one I struggle to answer. I could say many things are saving my life right now. I often tell my congregation that we live during a difficult time in history and the evening news is sure to remind us. My hope is that the other contributors and whoever reads this will have a more straightforward answer by the end.
If I had to choose one thing right now, it would be the personal growth and meditative moments created through reading books. As a minister, part of my role is to offer meaningful reflections for my congregation’s spiritual growth. However, sometimes those meaningful reflections can be hard to find for my own development and respite. This is where the reading of books fills a life-giving need for me.
I’m sure many people could say they enjoy reading; but there’s one difference: I’m not really a reader. As a child, I would often fall asleep while reading anything. But as an adult and now as a minister, when I find an interesting book that provides meaningful reflection, I can’t put it down!
Lately, I have learned to carry the book I am currently reading wherever I go, just so I can read another chapter at every opportunity. Through this habit, I have learned more about the world and myself in a way that screen-based content cannot offer. Once I finish a reading session and put the book down, I feel more refreshed and prepared to take on the world!
Of course, I’m sure you are curious about what I’ve been reading. Lately, there have been two books that have made an impact: David Gushee’s Still Christian and Forgive for Good by Fred Luskin.
I was late getting to Still Christian; so many of you have already read it. What resonated most with me is that while we may sometimes feel alone in our ministry efforts, we are not. Balancing Baptist life in a post-evangelical world while still serving in the evangelical realm is burdensome, to say the least, but I am grateful to know I’m not alone in my role. In what feels like a world of fundamentalists, it’s a challenge to be a different kind of Baptist.
Pray, Practice, Ponder
Before you continue with your day, go read something. It can be anything. Take a book off a shelf, fire up your e-reader or find an interesting article. You’ll be glad you did. I’m sure something will speak to you, because now you are looking for it. Remember that you are not alone in this world.
Pray...Give...Go.
Giving the Jesus Way
United Christian Ministries is in need of spaghetti sauce and pasta.
To donate items, please drop them off at UCM’s building at 191 Skyland Drive. Thank you!