How Odd!

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Last year, I decided that if I ever started a newsletter, it would be named "Jason's Odd Newsletter." Odd weeks, odd subjects.

Today I want to share something genuinely odd.

Recently, someone in the church made a misstep. The result was confusion, aggravation, frustrated emails by some, and some anxiety about a deadline.

I called the person who made it. After a brief hello, they said: "It's my fault. I thought that was the right thing to do, but it wasn't. My fault."

No defensiveness. No reframing. No image protection. Just ownership.

How odd. It's rare. When I got off the call, I said, "That person is free."

They're free because they weren't enslaved to what I or anyone else thought about them. They could admit a mistake without their entire sense of self collapsing. They could do the hard work of reflection and come to an honest conclusion, and then stand on it.

That's what humility actually does. It's not self-abasement. It's self-examination. It's the freedom to be wrong, to be a learner.

In Matthew 11, Jesus is confronted with John the Baptist's disappointment and the crowd's rejection. At the end, he says: "Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls."

In the first century, a rabbi's yoke was his teaching, the way of life he embodied. Jesus's yoke is easy because he's learned not to have his worth wrapped up in others' opinions. He offers us that freedom. He will teach us if we are willing to be learners.

He will teach us to take off the other yokes. To take off the yoke of face-saving, people-pleasing, and constant self-protection. How exhausting is all that!?

Instead, his yoke teaches us: grace is available. Your identity is firm in God, who loves you and knows everything true about you.

I need that rest. I need to grow in the freedom my congregant showed me.

How odd to live any other way.

199 Years & Still Going Forward

This past Sunday, my sermon was effectively a kick-off for our Bicentennial year at Freedom Plains United Presbyterian Church. The overall theme we chose for this campaign is "Freedom Forward: Celebrating 200 Years of Faith, Family, and Service."

Over the next 13 months, we will have growth and service opportunities, classes and seminars, and lots of community-facing fellowship events. It takes a lot to keep everyone on the same page, and this sermon is part of that effort.

I anchored the sermon in Acts 6, with the first Christians needing to develop structures for growth. Structure (elders, deacons, staff, committees) is our way of organizing love.

Since we have so many congregants from other Christian traditions and some newcomers, I took the opportunity to explain Presbyterian government, our staffing growth, and the broadening scope of our ministry.

The text of the sermon, titled The Worst Thing We Can Be, is found here.

For Your Sunday The liturgy this week moves from provision (Rebekah and Isaac) to struggle (Paul names the war within) to gentleness (Jesus offers rest to the weary). ​Go to the liturgy​

Resources to Share

Know someone who could benefit from this newsletter? Pass it along. Below are some resources I've gathered and written for life's important moments.

Wedding

• ​Wedding Resources​
• ​Ceremony Scripts​
• ​Wedding Sermons​

Funerals & Memorial Services

• ​Funeral Resources​
• ​Calls to Worship for Funerals​
• ​Funeral Sermons​

A Prayer for the Week

Gentle and humble God, you see our weariness and the struggle within us, and you offer rest rather than burden. As we pause, quiet what is restless in us and let us hear your invitation. Teach us to set down what is heavy and to receive what you freely give. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

All my best to you,

Rev. Jason B. Elder