Author: [email protected]

Brothers and sisters,

We are at a unique time of year. Spring has fully sprung as flowers are blooming and sunny days are becoming more common. The temperatures right now mean that spending time outside grows increasingly tempting. We’ve had a few hot days that remind us that summer is coming, but for the most part the world is opening up and inviting us to take time to relax and enjoy ourselves.

At the same time, students at colleges and high schools across America are having to stay indoors and pore over notes and books and articles as they prepare for final exams and write final papers. I was reminded of that this week as I prepare for the fantasy book club I’m in.

You’ll remember a couple months ago when I wrote about Water Moon that I’ve been attending a book club in Chapel Hill once a month. Well, most of the people in the book club are undergraduate students and back in March they were already dreading the end of the semester. Several of them have multiple exams within a day or two of each other. A few have final papers to write in the midst of those exams. Our book choice this month was purpose-fully short so they wouldn’t be stressed.

In addition to the universities, though, high schoolers all across the country are preparing for AP exams. I would imagine you all know this already, but AP stands for “advanced placement” and are college level courses taught at high schools. If the students can pass these ex-ams, they get college credit when they go off to school. Needless to say, there’s a lot of pressure placed on these kids.

So, as good neighbors, I want us all to take time over the next few weeks to pray for these students. Pray for them as they study, that their studying would be effective. Pray that they would get good nights of sleep the day before their exams. Pray for nutritious breakfasts that al-low them to focus on their tests and not on their stomachs. Pray for calm nerves, that they would be able to show all that they have learned over the last semester or the last year. For those writing final papers, pray that they would be able to communicate their thoughts effectively. For those running final experiments, pray that they are able to run them efficiently and analyze the results correctly. Pray that all these students would have a sense of accomplishment regardless of the final results.

We can be good neighbors to these students even if they don’t know that we’re praying for them. God has made each and every one of them and given them talents. Let us pray that they can learn to use those talents for the good of God’s kingdom!

Grace and peace,
Pastor Ben

Brothers and sisters,

Next week is Holy Week. Starting on Sunday the 13th, we will make our annual pilgrimage through the final week of Jesus’ life. It is a week in which we will celebrate his arrival, consider his service, contemplate his death, and celebrate his resurrection. Holy Week tends to be a rollercoaster of emotion, but it is a re-minder to all of us of the wondrous love of God in Christ and his commitment to all of us. So, let me give you a quick rundown of what these services will look like.

First, on Sunday, April 13th, we will celebrate Palm Sunday during morning worship! This service is one of joy and celebration as we remember Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Our children will wave palms as we all join in song to praise our God and remember the promise of eternal life he brings.

Then, on Wednesday, April 16th, we will have our annual Service of Handwashing. That service begins at 6:30 PM and will be in our sanctuary. This service will be focused more on those last few moments Jesus had with his twelve disciples during the Last Supper. It is a service that is focused on service and calls us all to humility. We will take time that evening to wash each other’s hands as tangible signs of our love for one an-other and our commitment to serve God together.

Next, on Friday, April 18th, we will have our Good Friday Service. It will begin at 7:00 PM in our sanctuary. This is a service that leans into the difficulty of that first Good Friday. We remember the crucifixion. We remember the sacrifice that Christ made on our behalf. As part of that, the Good Friday service ends in darkness and silence as we contemplate the gravity of what has happened—the light of the world has been snuffed out. It is always a powerful service; be sure not to skip out on it!

While it’s not a worship service, do remember that on Saturday, April 19th, starting at 10 AM, we will have our annual Easter Egg Hunt and Crafting Fair. All children are invited to come and participate, so be sure to invite kids, grandkids, neighbors — whoever! If you’d like to volunteer, we’d love to have you and will be more than happy to find work for you!

Finally, on Sunday, April 20th, we will celebrate Easter. We will celebrate the resur-rection of our Lord and the defeat of both sin and death! That morning we will have a time of fellowship before Sunday School starting at 9:15 AM. More details on that are printed in this newsletter. But this Sunday morning will be one of exuberant, joyous celebration! We look forward to seeing all of you that Sunday!

Grace and peace,
Pastor Ben

Brothers and sisters,
The last few weeks I have been on a journey. Not a literal, physical one — at least not yet. The journey has been interesting. I’ll be honest, my feelings have been hurt a couple times along the way, though I was warned ahead of time that would happen. But there’s been one line from this journey that has stuck with me and prompt-ed me to write this article. With that, let’s talk about my journey so far. Let’s talk about interior design.

You weren’t expecting that one, were you? Over the last few weeks, I’ve been looking around my apartment and trying to figure out how to make it feel homier, feel cozier, feel even a little stylish. I am a fairly stereotypical guy in that I have pictures and art and stuff like that—they just aren’t up on my wall yet. But I don’t know where to put stuff, how to arrange things, how to pick colors, etc. And that sense of not knowing has caused some creative paralysis. I’m not sure what to do, so I don’t do anything.

Enter Caroline. Caroline is an interior designer with a YouTube channel dedicated to helping people with the design of their homes. She did not go to design school, but she has turned her interest in interior design into a consulting business. She was a theatre major and it definitely shows! For the camera, she puts on a playfully judgy persona that is both aggressive and funny. As I alluded to earlier, she starts a lot of her videos by saying, “Listen. I’m going to hurt your feelings. Stay with me. I only want what’s best for you.” By the end of the video you feel like you’ve had a good talk with a close friend.

One of the things that I appreciate about Caroline’s videos is that she does not speak only in broad sweeping terms, she gets down to the nitty gritty of how to make de-sign changes. She appreciates bold choices, but advocates for making bold choices wisely (an oxymoron, I know, but she makes it make sense). But one thing that she says over and over in her videos stuck with me. When talking about designing a space, she constantly reminds her viewers, “Creativity requires failure. A lot of it. You tried the couch here and it didn’t work. Great! So, move it. That art didn’t look as good as you thought. Good thing you saved your receipt! Embrace those failures cause that’s how you find your voice.”

On its own, that line, “Creativity requires failure,” feels empowering to me. To be remind-ed by someone who knows what they’re doing (Caroline’s designs are always beautiful) that they failed a lot along their own journey is a reminder to us all that doing anything well takes time. It takes time not only in the sense of slowing down to make sure you’re doing good work, but also in the sense of allowing ourselves to fail, to learn from our failures, and to try again.

In a Christian sense, it is a reminder that all of us are going to fail when we try to live faithful lives. We will inevitably sin again. We will be short with a loved one when we needed to be patient. We will allow jealousy to cloud our judgment when we should have been happy for some-one else. We will give in to anger and hatred toward someone we don’t like when we should have looked for common ground built on mercy. Learning to be Christian requires humility. A lot of it. But God recognizes that. Embrace the grace God offers cause that’s how you learn to do better next time.

Grace and peace,
Pastor Ben

Brothers and sisters,

For this week’s Illuminator, I want to highlight a story I heard the other day of someone going way above and beyond to be kind to another person. While I don’t know the religious affiliations of anyone involved in this story, the thought and dedication to another person is something we Christians ought to emulate.

In Pocatello, Idaho, there was only one video rental store still in business, a place called Video Stop. Run by its owner, David Kraning, the store had been there for years. Kraning had actually taken over the business from his father years ago, but his profits had taken a huge tumble due to the rise of streaming services like Netflix. Within the last year or so, Kraning finally came to the difficult decision that he needed to close the store. Video Stop closed on February 1st this year. He was losing money on it and had been for a while, but there was a reason he’d kept it open even when it wasn’t turning a profit.

Christina Cavanaugh is the Video Stop’s most loyal customer. She also has Down syndrome and is mostly non-verbal. As part of her weekly routine, Christina and her mother, Toni, would come to the video store three times per week and that has been going on for the last fifteen years. Christina loves Disney movies, especially Mulan and Hercules, and it brings her a sense of order and security to have these excursions to the video store. She also gets to work on life skills while she’s there—picking what she wants, interacting with cashiers, presenting cash, and thanking the cashier. It’s an important part of her life.

When Kraning realized he needed to close the store, he said that he was upset not just because of the death of the business, but he was worried about how it would affect Christina. Routines are extremely important for folks struggling with disorders like Down syndrome. As it happens, Kraning also owns the convenience store next door. So, as February 1st approached, Kraning cleared out a corner of his convenience store and set up shelves from Video Stop. He then stocked them with about 200 videos—50 Disney movies for Christina and his next 150 top rentals. His employees christened the display, “Christina’s Corner.”

One day, when Toni came to the convenience store, Kraning showed her Christina’s Corner and Toni said she burst into tears, barely able to thank him. “David is such a humble person, and he’s usually very quiet. I had no idea he’d been worrying about how closing the shop would affect Christina. I thought, ‘My gosh—he’s been losing money, but he came up with a plan just for my daughter?’ Who knew this guy’s heart was so big?” Regarding all this, Kraning said, “It felt good to know that Toni could continue to bring Christina in. I wanted to do something nice for them both. I knew there had probably been some struggles over the years.”

May we all look out for our neighbors the way he looked out for Christina.

Grace and peace,
Pastor Ben