Being the Beloved - A Monthly Blog from CFDM Northwest
By Gwen Shipley, CFDM Co-Director
During this unprecedented time of vulnerability and uncertainty, we want to say with you, as always, “God reigns and not COVID-19.” Though it may seem so in real time and action, Gwen encourages us to look inside ourselves where God resides through God’s Spirit, who calls us to love, for ourselves and others, gentleness, and patience as we hold the reality of a world overtaken by a virus. We encourage you to works of love that are motivated by the Spirit, whether in care for your family, or for the world. Give financially if you can, to those who are hurting from loss of work, or to those whose lives are forever changed by this landscape. CFDM NW is standing by to equip and encourage your faith, hope and love however we can, including screen and social media.
Peace my friends, Terry for CFDM NW.
Your time starts…NOW!
Each timed elimination round of our favorite cooking show, Chopped, begins with that familiar cue. Four chefs compete for a $10K prize by outperforming their peers in the creation of an appetizer, an entrée and a dessert. The catch? No one knows what ingredients they will be using from the mystery basket placed before them. The clock starts and mayhem ensues. I confess to having invested too many evenings learning more than I need to know about strange food. But if you ever need to prepare rattlesnake meat, feel free to call!
The show capitalizes on naked vulnerability as each contestant puts their best work forward under extreme pressure. The outcomes are uncertain with celebrated professional chefs judging each dish at the end of every round. There’s a vicarious thrill in watching others endure such drama but we seem to appreciate it less when the tables are turned—which is why I watch from the safety of my couch. Vulnerability is an equalizer with uncertainty as its twin. They remind us that humanity shares an irrevocable fragility, an awareness heightened by the coronavirus pandemic. The most common reactions are fearful withdrawal, aggression against the beast or dogged denial. There is great freedom, though, when we allow ourselves to lean into under-appreciated conditions that expand the capacity of our soul. Could it be that by being curious about the discomfort we feel, we might begin to see what God wants to give? When we find ourselves full of nothing, it is then we have room to receive.
In this season of Lent the world is joined in a powerful, embodied acknowledgment that “from dust we came and to dust we will return.” It seems we are in a time of collective emptiness, of being in an ideal posture to receive—from each other, from God, even receive compassion and understanding from ourselves for ourselves. We are undeniably together as human, vulnerable and uncertain, though not uncertain of God’s love--for nothing can separate us from the love of God. (Romans 8:38)
So how do we lean in to experience and express more love and freedom in this season of crisis? How do we join in what God is already and always doing in this world that God so loves? We wash our hands more then continue practicing what it means to live as the Beloved of God as we have learned to do, listening and discerning the voice of God in each present moment, guided by scripture, responding to what gives life and joining in what God is already doing empowered by the Spirit.
We don’t know what “ingredients” await us in the “mystery basket” nor the outcomes before us, but we know that nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:38) We are not alone and…
Our time starts…NOW.
What books, media, activities are nurturing your heart, soul, mind, strength in this season as we are loving God and our neighbor as ourselves? Post in the comments below or hop on over to our Facebook page and share with one another.