Entering into Eternal Time

In Latin, the season of Lent is called “Quadragesima” meaning “fortieth”. For Christians, this refers to the 40 days of Lent before Easter. It’s an invitation to slow down, go inward, and go deeper.

“Cast your net out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” (Luke 5:4)

I thought I would take this opportunity talk about going deeper as we age for deeper living. What all faith traditions speak about as the journey of transformation, of becoming whole, is when we stop running from here to there, and we live from inside to out. John O’Donohue, an Irish poet, author, priest, philosopher, said, “Spiritual journey is 5 feet long and 500 miles deep.”

My retired colleague told me that there are Three Stages of Retirement: Go Go, Slow Go, No Go. As we age we start to realize, there are many things to do, and there’s nothing to do. While there’s many places to go, there’s nowhere to go. And the center of gravity in our life shifts. Shift is from “doing” to “being”. Doing less and going deeper. As we slow down, we get to savor more. Yes, there are more places to go, but why isn’t being here wonderful enough? Why can’t I be a 100 percent here on this land, on this river? Having the life you want by being present to the life you already have.

Leonard Cohen (1934–2016), a poet-philosopher, songwriter and singer, was asked in his later life by an interviewer what he saw as his greatest accomplishment. His answer was intriguing: “When I learned to accept my lot.” What I love about Cohen’s answer is that he is talking about the heavenly pivot when we start to inhabit heaven on earth, not by going anywhere, but by being more fully here.

In the world of meditation, stopping the noise is not the same thing as entering silence, and slowing down is not the same thing as entering time. What I mean by that is we are always, especially in our modern age, worshiping speed. Consequently, we skim through life on the surface. And then we don’t feel connected to life. So then we move faster. But what’s really needed is to simply slow down, stop, and be still. And that is how we “enter time” and not just move through time.

I know a good example of this. When I’m working in my study and so absorbed in what I am doing, I am entering time, I am in the timeless zone, the eternal NOW, the God’s time. These are moments when whatever we’re doing, we could be gardening, woodworking, daydreaming, meditating, lost in thoughts, whatever. And all of a sudden, we go, whoa, two hours went by. It felt like a minute. What happened?

That’s because we are inhabiting what I would call the eternal time that informs everything. This is why William Blake said you could find eternity in a grain of sand. And when you give your full heart’s attention to it, it can become a portal to the whole universe. The 14th century Indian saint and a mystical poet, Kabir, said, “Wherever you are is the entry point.”

Grace and Peace,

John

How Shall I Live for the Remainder of My Days?

When I look back over the past year and the moments that felt the most meaningful to me, it wasn’t when I ticked something off a list, or did something to impress others, it was something quieter:

A real conversation,
A moment of courage,
A time I showed up with kindness
Or was met with it.

We know, deep down, what makes life fulfilling and meaningful. But it’s so easy to lose touch with that as the days fill up as we begin the new year.

I am told there are 3 important days in your life:

The day you were Born
The day you realized Why
The day you Act on your Why.

I believe the purpose of each person’s life is living out the original contract with God, our Creator. At the end I hope I can say, “I came into this world and lived what I was called to live and gave what I was uniquely given to share with the world.” Or as St. Francis said on his deathbed, “I have done what is mine to do; may Christ teach you yours.”

Edward Albee was a famous American playwright who died at the age 88 in 2026 at his home in Montauk, N.Y. In his career he published over 50 plays and won three Pulitzer Prizes. His most well known work debuted in 1962 Broadway, “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” 

In his last interview, Albee said that his plays are “correctives.” He saw himself as a kind of herald, perhaps a modern-day Cassandra, warning of the “unlived life.”

“All of my plays are about people missing the boat, closing down too young, coming to the end of their lives with regret at things not done, as opposed to things done. When we look back in life, it’s not so much what we have done but what we didn’t do when we had the chance because either we were cowards or preferred to play it safe. All of our regrets come from a lack of courage.” And he added, “I find most people spend too much time living as if they’re never going to die.”

Edward Albee was asked “When was his happiest time?” His answer: “Now.  Always.  It’s always NOW.”

As I am turning 68 this year, I want to do less of holding back, being too cautious, playing safe, being too concerned with approval of others and what others think of me. I want to live my life more authentically, being true to who I am, speaking my truth, and letting the chips fall where they may. I want to live more wholeheartedly by living the full expression of the truth of who I am to the best of my ability, with God’s help. As in the words of Megan Rapinoe, the former U.S. Women’s World Cup Champion, “We are here only for a while. Might as well have fun expressing yourself.” Oscar Wilde wrote, “Better a fallen rocket than never a burst of light.”

If you are a football fan, you live for the playoffs where the stakes are very high. If you win, you move on to the next round of playoffs, and if you lose, you go home. When players are interviewed they often say, “I leave everything on the field.” Which means no regrets after the game for I gave it all on the field. That’s a good metaphor for life. I like to think of my life as “Giving myself away.” Why not? We only go around once.

“Wherever you are is the entry point.”
~ Kabir, the 14^th century Indian mystic and poet

John

Confirmation Class
Led by Pastor John with adult assistants
Five Consecutive Fridays in March @ 4 pm
(From 4^th grade – middle school)

Confirmation is a ritual of rite of passage from childhood to adulthood into affirming what God has already done in their early baptism where God declared the child to be God’s own eternal, precious son/daughter of God. It is practiced by most major Christian denominations such as Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Protestant churches, including the United Methodist Church.

Confirmation Class in The United Methodist Church is a time of intentional preparation which gives teens the opportunity to reflect on the most basic tenets of our faith, and gives them a safe environment to ask questions and form their faith proclaimed by the church of Jesus Christ.

*Confirmation Service will be held on Easter Sunday, April 5, 10 am.
If you want your child to be enrolled in the class, please contact the church office.

Dear Friends,

As we enter into a holiday season, those who grew up in Christian homes sense a longing—not just to accomplish checking all the boxes the holiday season demands of us, but to inhabit our days with greater meaning, depth, and clarity.

You may find yourself asking: How do I slow down and reclaim a sense of sanity and savor the sacredness of this season, when everything around me feels so chaotic? I believe that living in alignment with God’s deepest desire for us isn’t about checking all the boxes. Rather, it’s about returning again and again to the “true north star” guiding us towards the Christ child.

The sacred season beckons us to slow things down, make space in our busy lives, and prepare our hearts, minds, and souls for the birthing of Christ to take place in us.

Meister Eckhart, the 14th-century German mystic and theologian, wrote:
“What does it avail me that Mary birthed Christ long ago if I don’t also birth Him in my soul? What good is it to me if this eternal birth of the divine Son takes place unceasingly but does not take place within myself? And, what good is it to me if Mary is full of grace and if I am not also full of grace?”

“Advent” comes from the Latin “adventus” for arrival. It has been in the Christian spiritual tradition dating back at least to the 4th century CE. Traditions throughout the world acknowledge this time of year as the powerful time to connect with our inner light in the midst of the darkness. In this season of Advent, the 24 days before Christmas, we enter the darkest days of winter. We watch and wait expectantly, anticipating the birth of Christ. We light candles, we sing carols, and we prepare to receive the Light of the World. 

Let us worship together as we explore the themes of Advent/Christmas as we prepare to receive the birthing of God child, Emmanuel, God with us.

With pregnant joy,   
John

Advent/Christmas Services @ 10 am 

November 30                 First Sunday of Advent:       Lighting the First Advent Candle
Hanging of the Greens & Singing Medley of Carols
(All children & youth will receive Advent Calendars)

December 7     Second Sunday of Advent:  Lighting the Second Advent Candle

December 14    Third Sunday of Advent:     Lighting the Third Advent Candle

December 21    Christmas Celebration:       Lighting the Fourth Advent Candle

Dec. 24, 5:00 pm Christmas Eve Candlelight Service:  Lighting the Christ Candle

Pajaronian Column for Oct. 31, 2025
by Rev. John Song of Watsonville First United Methodist Church

 Unwelcomed visitor at our Dia de los Muertos Service on Oct. 26th
 

Halloween is upon us. So is the celebration of Día de los Muertos / The Day of the Dead in our community with Mexican descent by gathering around the gravesite to honor and remember the dead. They acquaint themselves with the reality of death as part of the fabric of life. It is a time when the veils between the worlds are porous. In this meeting place of “between” the world, the living and the dead meet to celebrate the mysterious and magical meeting place of the living and the dead. The Christian belief in the “Communion of Saints” is an acknowledgment of the reality of the living communing with the ancestors.

The Hebrew scripture reminds us in Ecclesiastes 7:2, “It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of everyone; the living should take this to heart.”

When you think about death, is it with reflection, curiosity, and ease? Or is it with trepidation and fear? Do you even contemplate this most significant passage of your life? 

Facing death is our last important life initiation in earthly life. Although our culture associates death with fear, tragedy, and loss, and sees it as something to dread, we can choose to view it differently. We can explore our relationship with death as something that might even feel like some kind of wonder.

What if death were approached as a joyful transition of the soul’s journey of how birth, life, and death are all parts of our soul’s experience of being human.

One of the enduring characters in the West that people associate with Halloween is the Grim Reaper—usually a skeletal figure, who is often shrouded in a dark, hooded robe and carrying a scythe to “reap” human souls. People dread the Grim Reaper because when he shows up, he is to collect that person’s soul.

I see the Grim Reaper as a figure who reminds us that our lives are finite. The 19th century Chief Crowfoot who died during the Blackfoot Crossing in Canada, shared these words of wisdom: “What is life?  It is a flash of firefly in the night. It is a breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is as the little shadow that runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset.” Plato’s famous final lesson to his disciples, given just before his own death was “Practice dying.”

It’s human to feel invincible to time.  We think death only happens to others. We constantly over estimate how much time we have in life. Yet in the end, we’re all dead. This is a shared human reality: death and taxes.  

If our lives are finite, here is a question everyone should be asking: “What have I not done that I know I must before I depart?” That might be making your Living Trust, making amends with people you have wronged, making that trip you always wanted, making that phone call to a person you have put off, or writing a letter.  The list goes on. 

Someone once said, “Show me your calendar, and I can tell you what you most value in life.” Is there any reshuffling of priorities that you need to make with the limited time you have here on earth? What if you live each day as if it’s your last? That would mean not putting off what matters until all other boxes are checked. I’ll get to it when… I’ll make time for that after…   I’ll be happy when… These are reasonings that regrets are made of.  

And one would do well to accept, grieve and use this reality as fuel for living a deeply, meaningful and satisfying existence. Mary Oliver says in her exquisite poem, “The Summer Day”, “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”

Take a Risk
Have that tough conversation
Ask for what you want
Start that project (you know the one)
Do something kind
Make something delicious and share it
Spend time with people who matter to you
Learn something new
Walk in nature (without the AirPods)
Meditate, pray, dance your emotions
Rest from ceaseless striving
Love yourself, accept yourself, if you dare!

What have you come here to DO? What have you come here to BE? Create what you came to create, before it’s too late.

    John

Dear Friends,

What happens when we die?

Celebration of Día de los Muertos / The Day of the Dead and the All Saints Sunday are intrinsically tied together. I thought I’ll take this opportunity explore the question, “What happens when we die?” What I attempt to write is my take on what I believe up to now from all my learning and reflecting on this subject.

In the Gospel of John 14:1-3, Jesus says to his disciples, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God and trust in me. ² In my Father’s mansion there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again to take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.” 

I think when we die, first of all, we’ll be surprised by the love that’s waiting for us. The unqualified acceptance of our being, the depth of love that’s waiting for us, and the intelligence that we are being returned to. Basically, I see death is a time of homecoming, a time of expansion, a time of remembering things that we forgot. It will be a time of remembering the deeper identity of who we are, our original identity, our soul identity created in the “image of God.”

I like to think that when we die, we are escorted into this soul territory of God’s kingdom. It’s a process in which people are at different stages of their own spiritual and evolutionary development. Some people need more remedial work than others. People who have given themselves over to violence and anger, injuring of other people and violating the fundamental oneness of life, often have to be carefully and gradually go through a process of repairing their injured souls.

And then there are people whose lives have been given over to compassion, generosity, and service, who lived in alignment with God, move through this transitional period more smoothly and rapidly.

This is the process of digesting your life, digesting everything that happened to you, everything that you have done and not done. This is what near-death experiences of people live tell as “life review” they saw at the cusp of death. Eventually that entire digesting of your most recent life ends and you return to your deeper identity. Your egoic identity gives way to your soul, which is a much, much larger, expansive identity.

On the All Saints Sunday, we talk about “the communion of saints.” This is a community of beings when we die is not a community of simply dead human beings. They are, rather, community of souls. And souls are a hundred thousand-year-old beings, not a hundred-year-old beings. And the community of beings in the afterlife is basically this community of souls, community of beings with deeper knowledge of the truth. Here, older souls assist younger souls, more evolved souls help less evolved souls. We dwell together.

How do I know all that? I don’t. It’s the best I have come up with for now.

“Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love.”  “It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for.  Long before we first heard of Christ, He had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.”  (Ephesians 1:4, 11-12)

Yours in Christ,

    John