Weekend Wisdom
We are going to start posting the weekly bulletin column on our website so we can more easily point you to some of the wonderful wisdom from our various pastoral perspectives (alliteration much?). You’ll be able to link to this from Flocknote, the school newsletter and even Facebook!
This weekend we hear from Amberly Boerschinger, Director of Communications and Technology.
These coming weekends in the Gospels we hear about the parables and day-to-day ministry of Jesus. Any of you who have been watching “The Chosen” have gotten a beautiful, cinematic representation of Jesus and his disciples in the day-to-day. From fishing, to loving, to fist fights, to eating, the disciples and Jesus lived their sun-up to sundown much like each one of us. Like St. Ignatius taught us, we can most certainly place ourselves in the Gospel scenes before us.
This weekend we see Andrew and Simon “mending and tending” their fishing nets on the Sea of Galilee. How many of us are taking these first few weekends after the holidays to “mend and tend” things in our homes, families and jobs?
*************** Take a moment and think about what you’re tending right now. ***************
The day-to-day is important and it’s important to God. However, Jesus gives us the example of another important practice for the day-to-day which many of us forget: stillness. Over and over we see Jesus pause, step back and even step away. Often we hear that Jesus “went off to a solitary place” (Mark 1:35) or “Jesus withdrew and prayed” (Luke 5:15-16 or 6:12-13). Often he went to the water (Mark 3:7 or Matthew 14:13 or Mark 6:31-32). Jesus gives us the ultimate example of stillness and solitude even as he embraced the greatest mission ever known.
Author Ruth Ann Barton talks about the importance of stillness with the example of a jar of river water. If you shake up a jar of river water everything gets cloudy and there is nothing you can do to make it clear again but set it aside and wait. That’s what stillness is for us. In our busy and noisy world, we are all shook up and we need to step away and in the stillness God can settle things enough that we can see things clearly again. We cannot settle things ourselves, but if we give God space, we will see again. It is interesting to me that the scriptures for Saturday, January 21st are actually Jesus calming the storm…
And let’s be clear: I don’t mean sleep or scrolling. Rest is important and escapism to happy hours, streaming, gaming, scrolling or even a good piece of fiction or spiritual reading have their places. I’m just as likely as the next person to fill my days with good to-dos and then hit my pillow saying, “Finally, time to relax with a little bit of scrolling and then sleep.” However, that it’s not the kind of stillness we need to see God’s plan, God’s good will, in our lives more clearly.
When we meet Jesus in the story next weekend, he doesn’t start preaching until he sits. I challenge you to take 3 minutes of complete silence this week. Feel yourself breathe and just be attentive to what you feel, sense, hear in the quiet. I assure you, any one of us can find moments in our day to still, to sit, and to let the Lord settle the noise around you revealing His unrelenting love for you.
Amberly has a very technical title in her role at Saints of De Pere, but she has a strong pastoral background in Catholic formation, stewardship and communications. Her experience includes catechesis of students and leaders, women’s spirituality and ministry, the theology of stewardship and degrees in theology and journalism. She is passionate about accompanying others in their relationship with God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
This is the window over my kitchen sink and my very raggle-taggle jar of bay water that serves as a regular reminder to my family to seek stillness. It’s not fancy or Joanna Gaines-level-pretty, but it’s real.