I Would Like …

On the last Sunday of Eastertide, I shared with you my dream that has been a catalyst for my own resurrection of sort. Since then, there has been a noticeable and undeniable shift within me. It feels as though something I have been waiting for all my life is finally beginning to happen. So I wrote this “I Would Like…”

What would I like?

I would like to live a life of freedom and love, wisdom and aliveness,
like the sunflower, turning toward God who deeply nourishes my becoming.

I would like to be at the edge of my knowing and becoming,
present with joy and wonder, to the beauty of life’s emergence.

I would like to live without fear for myself or my loved ones,
extending to all beings, and without causing fear to any living being.

I would like to be very, very tender, and when it’s called for,
I would like to be fiercely powerful in the service of love, life, and the good.

I would like to engage with others with compassion
and with permission to allow what wants to emerge in me and in them.

I would like to engage in my work with a sense of purpose, gratitude, and possibility.

I would like to be a hub for love and life,
letting flows flow through, without needing to hold or grasp on to anything.

I would like to welcome and play with what arises in the moment,
in any situation.

I would like to live free as birds, to love, to be,
as an invitation to infinite things and possibilities.

What would you like? 

John

Easter Hope

I often wonder why so much of human life seems so futile, so tragic, so short, and so sad. If Christ is risen, why do people die before they begin to truly live? Why has there been nonstop war? Why are so many people imprisoned unjustly? Why are the poor oppressed? Why do we destroy so many of our relationships? If Christ is risen, why is there so much suffering? What is God up to? It really doesn’t make any logical sense. Is the resurrection something that just happened once, in his body, but not in ours? 

I believe the resurrection of Christ is saying that the final judgment has already happened. It’s nothing we need to fear. It’s nothing we need to avoid or deny. God’s final judgment is that God will have the last word! Easter reveals that there are no dead ends; ultimately, nothing is going to end in tragedy and crucifixion. 

Of course we look around us, at history and at life in its daily moments and it seems, “No, that isn’t true.” And yet, ever and again, here and there, more than we suspect, new life breaks through for those who are willing to see and to cooperate with this universal mystery of resurrection.

In our part of the world, Easter coincides with springtime. I hope you’re going out and seeing the leaves and the flowers being reborn after months of winter. When I go for a walk in early mornings, sure enough, the sun rises over the hills as it always does. One early  morning, the sun appeared not so much like a sunrise but as a groundswell. The light was coming from the earth. It was coming from the world we live in. It was coming not from the top, but from the bottom. It seemed to say that even all of this, which looks muddy and material, even all of this, which looks so ordinary and dying, will be reborn. 

Easter is the feast of hope. This is the Easter hope that says God will have the last word and that God’s final judgment is resurrection. God will turn all that we maim and destroy and hurt and punish into life and beauty. 

What the resurrection reveals more than anything else is that love is stronger than hate, peace is greater than war, life is stronger than death. Jesus walks the way of death with love, and what it becomes is not death but life. Surprise of surprises! It doesn’t fit any logical explanation. Yet this is the mystery: that nothing dies forever, and that all that has died will be reborn in love.  

So, to be a Christian is to be inevitably and forever a person of hope. God in Christ is saying this is what will last: My life and my love will always and forever have the final word.  

“Everything will be all right in the end.

If it’s not all right, it is not yet the end.”
~ Richard Rohr from The Universal Christ

John

Easter Hope

It can feel like the world has gone crazy. Like we’re all bubbling on a sea of chaos with no chance of finding something safe to grab a hold of, so we can keep our heads above water. Everywhere we turn we see disruption, chaos, war, and strife. Oil prices are skyrocketing. Financial markets are reeling. Cost of living is rising. Our planet is being stripped of its resources and God’s creatures are stressed. No wonder people are anxious and losing their minds.

Yet if you zoom out from everyday bad news and look closely, there is still so much beauty in the world. So much compassion. So much magic and wonder. So many amazing people are making a difference in everything they do to make the world a better place. We harness our faith as a form of activism to make the world a better place instead of burying our heads in the sand and “hoping it all goes away.”

Adversity can be a great catalyst for change. Amidst the chaos, there is a possibility for a meaningful transformation. This is what it’s like to live in God’s grace and peace (when there is no peace). To be grounded in God’s peace and knowing that God is in love with you and all God’s creation. When you see the world through this lens, it is much easier to navigate the chaos and witness everything going on with enduring Easter hope. Easter hope lies in the fact that God took the worst event in the cosmos, the death of God-man, and turned it into a cosmic hope for all. Disciples of Jesus lost all hope and lived in fear. But when they witness the resurrection of Jesus, they became fearless in spreading the gospel of good news.

I believe the world is going through a profound transformation. From global unrest to personal challenges, many of us are feeling the intensity of these times. And yet, within the turbulence, there is also a powerful invitation. An invitation to live more fully from God’s Presence. To be part of creating a new “perfect union,” new world order, together.

This Easter Sunday we will be celebrating confirmation of our five boys (Ethan Abenoja, King-ston Stewart, Ethan Acosta, Mateo Pozoz, Christian Chavez from 4th grade to 7th grade) who have been in the Confirmation for the last five weeks, including serving food to the hungry and attending the Jewish synagogue to witness Bar Mitzvah service (equivalent of our Confirma-tion). In addition, Kingston will be receiving Baptism. Please hold these boys in your hearts and in your prayers. I want to thank Marieta Flores who has been my assistant. Come on out to Easter Sunday and help us celebrate this joyful occasion.

Hope spring eternal!
Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed.

John

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.