Matthew 6:22-24
22 “If your eye is pure, there will be sunshine in your soul. 23 But if your eye is clouded with evil thoughts and desires, you are in deep spiritual darkness. And oh, how deep that darkness can be!
24 “You cannot serve two masters: God and money. For you will hate one and love the other, or else the other way around.
Greetings Friends across the TCM Conferences,
We are entering a difficult time; with our churches, budgets are tight in many places, the Sunday morning crowds have dwindled in many of our towns, the children who once filled our sanctuaries with laughter are becoming rarer. In our nation, most difficult of all, many of our siblings in Christ are fearful for their safety or the safety of precious loved ones.
It seems that despite the warnings throughout the decades, some among us have forgotten this Sunday School lesson from the days of our youth, and money has become the almighty ruler in our time and place, and the sunshine that once dwelt within us has grown cool, and dim.
As I read this scripture passage this morning, I was challenged in a couple of ways. I’d like to invite you into these challenges with me as the next few months and years unfold. Jesus tells us, “If your eye is pure, there will be sunshine in your soul.” What does that mean to you? How can we have pure eyes and keep them pure so that the sunshine within us can warm those we see each day despite the news outlets streaming fear 24/7?
Spending time in nature, watching the clouds, stars, and trees is rapidly becoming a currency more important than dollars, as dollars feel further and further out of reach for many Americans. What does it mean for you to have pure eyes, or a pure heart? What does it mean for you to have sunshine in your soul? What can you do to nurture joy and lightness in your spirit regardless of the fear, the loss, and the angst that threaten to encroach upon us consistently?
The scripture goes on to warn us, “if your eye is clouded with evil thoughts and desires, you are in deep spiritual darkness.” I wonder, have you ever experienced deep spiritual darkness this way? Have you been clouded with desires in such a way that you feel angry that you can’t attain them? Or have you been so driven toward making money that you’ve lost sight of the simple beauty of each day? The gift of each moment? We cannot love both God and money. Let’s do a self-check. Does your soul feel light, or is there a deep darkness within you that you’d rather not see? These questions ask us to look inward at the choices we’re making as we go through this life.
Siblings in Christ, let us be reminded today, especially today, that we are invited into living from a place of love and light and warmth, even during the coldest, scariest days. Even as we witness our churches, once full, now hold only a handful of people on Sunday mornings, even as we struggle to come up with the money needed to simply get by, even as we watch others fall to the love of money, and even when our safety is threatened and we feel unsafe. It is still ours to love God wholeheartedly, even in the direst of circumstances. If this feels like an impossibility to you, I invite you to contact your pastor or a UCC pastor in a nearby town. Let them help you discover the sunshine that is waiting to shine forth from within you. If you are a pastor and feel weighed down by the darkness, join or form a cluster group, participate in a COP, or reach out to a trusted colleague or Conference Staff member. We are not alone in this quest for joy and light and sunshiny souls – I’ve heard it said that joy is the best kind of resistance to evil.
May you do what you can today and tomorrow and all tomorrows to nurture the sunshine in your soul. May you be blessed with joy knowing that Christ is with you, and so are we.
With love and light,
Rev. Kendy
Associate Conference Minister