Ready for the Future

Screenshot from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Jetson

One of the cartoons I enjoyed watching as a child was the futuristic Jetsons. As a teen, I was a big Star Trek fan. As an adult, the attraction of distracting entertainment remains in far-off eras ahead.

There’s always been something attractive of the potential of the future, in what calls us in, awakes our imaginations, and inspires us to help create that idyllic setting. And, if the futuristic setting is not ideal, to (hopefully) encourage us to act accordingly to avoid those errors.

So… what happens when we realise that the future is not far off, but is in fact - now?

This comes to mind as the fictional George Jetson (created in the 1960s) is alleged to have been born mid-2022. Some sixty years ago, the space-age reality for this cartoon family circa 2022 was simultaneously far-fetched and feasible.

Yet here we are: Happy birthday George! Yet… this is not the world we thought you would be born into.

Fictional George’s birthday can be helpful for us to reflect on our own perceptions of time, of movement, of progress, and of expectation. We owe it to ourselves to consider the realities of today; being informed by our past but not stuck there. Accepting the truth of today, while aspiring for a better tomorrow.

If we allow ourselves to be limited to a present day that is dependent only on the expectations of years ago, we are limiting ourselves. And, that limitation today will be compounded as it restricts the potential growth for tomorrow.

The future, is here. Because we are always moving forward; we cannot move back into history. And God wants us to move forward, it’s why God’s majesty is continuously and continually opening before us, revealing to us the gorgeousness of now.

The promise of the future is not of our expectation s of this world; the promise of tomorrow comes in the hope of the resurrection: a hope we would never want to limit by our past.

And thus: we live in the now; and we are living in the future. For when we live in faith, we are embracing the potential and possibility of all that is to come. In faith, we are declaring to God, and to each other, that we are ready for the future.

Clotheslines

"Clothesline"
CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 by urbanworkbench on Flickr

I did a lot of laundry this week; the weather has been ideal for using my clothes line for all the drying. This makes me happy – aside from the benefit of fresh scent and decreased energy consumption of a dryer – I enjoy hanging clothes on the line.

But clotheslines do have a potential downside – they are a line; affixed at two spots. Should there be a break – either in the line itself or in one of the pulley connection points – the line suddenly… isn’t a line. And the clean clothes are – well, lawn décor.

And this is where I see the church not as a line upon which we all affix ourselves; instead I visualise the church more as a web – an interconnection where each line and connection point is merely one of many. That way, if there is a breakage, it is minor, as the majority of connections and lines remain intact.

We are in the web; holding one another while we are also being supported.

It’s a helpful reminder when challenges come to us, and we feel like we’re hanging on a thread, a single line – that God is in fact giving us so many other sources for support.

And, with those other supports, we can remain steadfast while doing our best to repair the damaged or broken connections. For the Christian family is more than one relationship, one parish church, one diocese – it is the timeless assembly of the faithful.

What a gift to be held up, in the web that is the family of God; what a gift to be trusted to hold up, in the web that is the family of God.

(And yes, I realise a web doesn’t have the clean line or efficiency of a clothesline; but we as people are so much more than empty laundry just waiting to dry.)

Unexpected Beauty

A few weeks ago, our church hosted a small wedding. The couple brought in one flower arrangement for the ceremony; it was a combination of some favourite flowers and some local foliage; it was lovely and unique, and added beauty to the ceremony.

They made the flowers an offering for the church’s Sunday service, to offer their thanks to the congregation and share the beauty.

In shifting the arrangement to the side of the chancel in advance of the service, our musician breathed deeply of the gorgeous flowers and asked me: “Is that dill?”

We were both a bit surprised, taking a more careful look at the flowers, that there was indeed a sprig of dill in the arrangement. While the aroma was unexpected, the flowering green fit with the appearance of the bouquet. We started exploring some more – and noted that amid the roses in the centre and the delphinium at the back, were also some garlic scapes, providing unexpected geometry with their curls.

We laughed; the flowers that had inspired so many compliments for their beauty certainly held some unexpected surprises.

And we appreciated them: for beauty can be found everywhere, if we are able to see it for what it is. And everything can be beautiful, when we see it the way God does.

So I am grateful to the florist whose eye sought beauty, and shared it; I am grateful to the newlyweds, who had asked for something a little different, and who gifted the church with it. And I am thankful to God, for the reminder to celebrate those moments of unexpected beauty that life is so full of. 

Lilies

Luke 12.27: Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.

I enjoy lilies; they are one of my favourite flowers. Part of the beauty of lilies, for me, is that they bloom when they feel like it; and all the lilies in one plant bloom at different times.

For a flower that has a relatively short time in bloom, the plant as a whole presents the most beauty for the longest possible time.

By staggering what it has to offer, the world benefits: human eyes (and noses!), bees and other pollinators, hummingbirds and other fly-ers. As one flower is barely in bud, another is opening, another is already fading and petals are falling. The whole life cycle of the flower is accessible to a passerby.

It’s a great reminder, as these stages are showing us their glory at the same time, of what we have to offer in life. We hold new potential within budding us; we are always in various stages of growth and development; we have within us signs of an end approaching; and we have the chance to be delicate and gracious when we need to put something down.

God is blessing us with the constancy of renewal. God has gifted us to grow in a garden of renewal, as we compliment and support one another in their stages as well. Lt’s do what we are called to do today, to the best of our ability; and be thankful! And tomorrow – let’s do the same thing again; but differently.

Consider yourself as a lily; as you grow: a beautiful and fragrant offering to the world. 

Buzzwords

The challenge of buzzwords: We all know some, we all find ourselves using them; sometimes without fully recognising what they are at the time.

Buzzwords are words or phrases that sound important and technical, yet which may be rather empty when people try to get more information.

Buzzwords can communicate a lot of information in a small space; as they may be useful jargon in a conversation that’s idiomatic to a particular context.
Furthermore, buzzwords can convey a lot more than just a cultural understanding; they can set a tone or a mood for a context, before more substantive content is shared.

However, if the specifics of a buzzword are not understood, or are misunderstood, then they can hinder communication rather than help it. If a listener is puzzling over what ‘synergy’ means they may miss what you’re trying to tell them; or if an email is full of empty or watered-down phrases used as buzzwords, it can be perceived as vacuous, and the desired communication can be overlooked.

This can be a challenge of buzzwords, and clarification might be needed. For example, ‘spilling tea’ may mean chatting to one person, while another is searching for a towel to mop up an upturned beverage. Acronyms like FOMO or TL;DR are shortcuts understood by computer texters, while to others they may appear the product of a cat’s journey across the keyboard.
While the question “What do you mean by that?” (or similar) may feel awkward at first, it can help articulate the actual issue or situation, to both speaker and listener.

Buzzwords can be powerful, so long as we are intentional and careful about using them. If we are unclear about the words we ourselves are using, we may be sharing messages that are mixed or even hurtful. We benefit from a careful use of language and overall communication, to ensure we don’t get caught in the buzz of buzzwords.
Especially when we are speaking about people’s faith journey, their spiritual growth, or a religious experience, clarity is key and simplicity is sometimes the best option.