Sunday, June 30, 2019

For Better, For Worse



AMAZON www.amazon.com/dp/B07T26FT75 
or
Pen-L.Com: www.Pen-L.com/ForBetterForWorse.html 

For Better, For Worse is the fourth book in The Pastor Maggie Series. Maggie has learned a lot about being a pastor, but nothing could prepare her for the world-changing events of 2016. 

A national election has the country, the city of Cherish, and Maggie's church taking sides. Maggie watches as private opinions become very public and she witnesses the worst of what happens when people are driven by fear and hate.

She also sees the better angels in those who want to build bridges, care for the forsaken and love those who are lost. This book is fast-paced as the battle between loving as Jesus loved, and attacking "the other" play out. 

Maggie watches, works, and prays for her church to  come together and for her country to overturn hatred with fierce and gentle love. But what happens when hatred seems to win?

This book challenges people of faith to self-examination and, hopefully, self-awareness of our own prejudices and unfair judgments. It also reminds us of how we live with joy as we do the work of enthusiastically sharing acceptance and kindness toward all people. 

Maggie's passion for her flock, and for all God's children, continues even when she is confronted by pure hatred. A twist at the end harshly challenges Maggie's faith. 

Is healing possible?

Whether you are a person of faith or not, you will recognize the characters in the books of The Pastor Maggie Series. You live with them every day. They are your family, your co-workers, your schoolmates, and strangers you pass on the street. These books are about community and those things which separate us and also bind us together. 


Sunday, June 9, 2019

Dear Mr. President June 2019


June 2019

Dear Mr. President,

You call yourself a Christian.

I’m a Christian, too. Actually, I’m a pastor. Being a Christian is kind of my job. It’s the only thing I know how to do. I am a Christian who loves my Muslim sisters and brothers, my Jewish sisters and brothers, my Hindu sisters and brothers, my Buddhist sisters and brothers, and all the other sisters and brothers who worship God in various ways and religions. We are all made in the image of God.
While you and the kids were at Buckingham Palace, my husband and I went to our grandson’s Eighth Grade Graduation. His name is Mason. He attends a Christian School. Education is so important, isn’t it?

I believe in great education for all the children of our country and around the world. Public education is vital. Private education works for some. We need to take our children seriously and teach them well.

Interestingly enough, Betsy DeVos, your Secretary of Education wants to cut funds for public education, cut funds for disabled students around the country, and she tried to defund The Special Olympics. Did I mention, Mason has Down syndrome?

One of the highlights of the graduation evening was when Mason and 109 eighth graders all got on stage and did a liturgical dance. These incredible students, all living in fourteen-year-old bodies that seem to be turning against them (we all remember what it was like to be fourteen), danced and moved as one, and brought us all to tears.

Mr. President, you call yourself a Christian.

Some of the words from the song “Who You Say I Am” by Hillsong Worship went like this:

“In [God's Holy] house, there’s a place for me
I’m a child of God, yes I am!
I am chosen, not forsaken. I am who You say I am.
You are for me, not against me. I am who You say I am.”

Mr. President, who do you say We the People are? We the People of America and We the People of the world?

Are you for us or against us? Do you choose the people of this nation or do you forsake us?

Mr. President, there are children and adults suffering on our border. It appears you do not choose them. You forsake them. You are not for them. You are against them.

But they are children of God too. Our children and their children belong to God.

You call yourself a Christian.

We reside in this land of the free and the home of the brave that invites all the huddled masses who are suffering, struggling, poor and displaced to come to our shores and be welcomed.
I do not in the least equate you with God, but you are a leader.

Who do you say we are?

I say this: We are resilient and strong. We know how to dance and how to take the hands of those who are too weary to dance and carry them along the way. We are people who won’t allow our country to be embarrassed by your immaturity, insecurity, and overwhelming selfishness. We are stronger than the people you have in your cabinet who want to harm children at the border and cut funding for our own children in our own schools.

Mason graduated and joyfully jumped all the way across the stage to get his diploma. No one was happier that night than Mason. We cried with incredibly full hearts. God smiled.

You call yourself a Christian. What do you do that represents Jesus Christ in any way?

Until you know what being a Christian means, please do not wear that name so casually.

Until you choose the people of this country and other countries, instead of forsaking us and them, please don’t associate yourself with Jesus Christ.

Until you are for us, not against us and until you find ways to welcome the downtrodden, please don’t link yourself to the living Christ – LOVE incarnate.

The Bible says, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”

So, once again, are you for us or do you forsake us?

I’m asking for my grandson.

Be Best,

Pastor Barb