I made a mistake this weekend. I forgot to make sure I’d written and queued a newsletter email for Monday morning. And then, yesterday morning, for the first Monday in a year, there was no Long Story Short. Dan McCracken sent me an email, wondering if I was performing a public response test. I wasn’t. But it was an encouragement to know that what we’re doing at Barclay Press makes a difference and that when we don’t do it, people notice.
In this morning’s Fruit of the Vine, Nancy Thomas makes a suggestion about how we learn to notice over time: “With humility and patience we combine prayer with attention to God’s word, and the Spirit unfolds that word, layer by layer. The unfolding of the word brings light.” That word — “light” — is why I chose the photo in the header of this email.
The week before Christmas, there was heavy fog in the valley floor, so I drove up into the Chehalem Mountains, hoping for a good photo of tree trunks in the mist. I remembered, halfway up to Bald Peak State Scenic Viewpoint, that fog in the valley often means clear skies in the mountains. And when I got to Bald Peak, the setting sun — reflecting off the low-lying clouds — lit up this stand of trees. There was so much light. All day long, I’d been living down on the valley floor, and it was dark. But just before sunset, after a drive up to Bald Peak, I was surrounded by light — blazing light — a completely different world.
Nancy writes that this is what happens when “the Spirit punctuates the Old Testament with assurances of God’s guidance . . . with bright promises of greater guidance available to all God’s people.” In Ezekiel, for instance, “we learn that the same Spirit who will anoint Jesus will also be given to his followers, opening up to them the possibility of receiving revelation from God.”
And there is light. The psalmist asks God in Psalm 119:18 to “open my eyes.” In verse 105, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path,” and “the unfolding of your words gives light” in verse 130.
We live on the valley floor. The fog is thick. The day is dark. But up on the mountain, there is clear sky, bright sun, a sea of blazing light. Because “in God’s time, we begin to see. Bright promises, indeed.”
Eric Muhr
On symbols
This morning’s Fruit of the Vine features a reflection from Lucy Anderson, first published in 1988. Lucy passed away in 2013, but her words remain both vibrant and encouraging, especially in today’s short essay, one in which Lucy draws our attention to the symbols of Christmas. Lucy reminds us that our love of Christmas carols is partly because of music’s power as “the symbol of joy. . . . The Christmas tree graces our homes as a beautiful symbol of hope.” The gifts we exchange — “a lovely symbol of love.” Bells remind us of the angels’ promise of “peace on earth,” and the Christmas star offers “a bright symbol of God’s message of forgiveness.”
There’s another symbol here. Just two pages before this morning’s short reflection, there’s a photo of Lucy. She’s smiling, and below her photo is a brief biography. Lucy served at Malone University, Barclay College, George Fox College (now University), the yearly meeting office of Evangelical Friends Church-Eastern Region. She lived in Colombia, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, Nigeria, Guatemala, Burundi, Kenya. She wrote her life story. And through her words, Lucy remains with us, encouraging us today with a message of hope recorded almost 30 years ago.
I never met Lucy. But when I was just a toddler, her older brother, Roy, came over to my house for lunch and stayed to tune our piano. When I was in grade school, I went to Camp Tilikum, where two of Lucy’s nieces taught me songs and told me stories about Jesus. In college, I often ran into Lucy’s son, Paul. He believed in me. He wanted me to think about graduate school. He always had a word of encouragement. And this last year, I’ve been honored to work closely with Lucy’s daughter, Marva. In her role as clerk of the EFCNA board of Christian Education, Marva has been responsible for helping Barclay Press plan for and move into the future. Marva has been a real source of hope and support for me.
One more thing. Last January, while I was still just days into my new role at Barclay Press, there had been a financial gift — the sale of stock left by the estate of Lucy and her husband, Alvin, that took pressure off of me, giving me a little more time to adjust to the new position and all the unknowns that entailed.
So I’m grateful for Lucy. And for her words this morning.
Lucy offers a prayer at the end of today’s reflection: “Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift!”
And I am thankful.
Eric Muhr
Praying for Justice
I was at a gathering of youthworkers for Northwest Yearly Meeting. It was a Saturday in November, and a friend of mine approached me with an idea: a lectionary reader with more than fourteen hundred Bible passages – one each day for four years – illustrating God’s kingdom vision for a society in which all are valued as individuals bearing God’s image. He wondered what it would take to get a book like that completed and available for sale by the first or second week of January. “Am I crazy?” he asked.
I didn’t know if Steve was crazy. I’ve only been at Barclay Press for a year — an exciting, challenging year. What I did know is that this is exactly the kind of book and type of project — timely and targeted — that Barclay Press has to be able to do and do well if it’s ever going to be a self-sustaining Christian publishing house that serves Friends as “publishers of truth.”
Steve and another professor in the religion department at George Fox University put out a call for help. Dozens of volunteers gathered Scripture passages as well as quotations from people who have spent their lives thinking about, working for, and telling others about a God whom they believe to be radically on the side of the weak, vulnerable, and marginalized. They checked, rechecked, and rechecked again. And in under a month, they had all 446 pages to us. The book, Praying for Justice, went on sale last night and should be ready to ship by January 2. Here’s a preview:
The title of this book contains an invitation to pray for justice, but this book contains no overt prayers. Many of the more than fourteen hundred Bible passages contained here are prayers or portions of prayers. To read these texts is to be invited to join them in prayer.
This book invites us to use each day’s verse as a meditation or reflection for that day and each week’s quotation as an examination of the ways in which your life images God’s redemptive justice in the world.
This book is also a call to action. Now is not a time for Christians to sit and trust that others will take care of people on the margins of our society. Christians must not content themselves with mere social media activism or personal piety. Christians must act often. Christians must act publicly. Christians must act sacrificially. Christians must act with courage and compassion. Christians must act as if it matter — because it does.
Eric Muhr