I made an angel. And I have to admit, I am a little proud. It’s out of wood and I had a lot of help. I am indebted to Drew Sumrell for patiently teaching me about his woodworking hobby. (By the way, he made the lovely doorstops you see in the chapel/sanctuary!) I learned about using a lathe and wood turning tools such as a parting tool, roughing gouge, a skew chisel, and a spindle gouge. I learned techniques such as making beads and coves. I learned about finish sanding and friction finishes. I am in awe of woodturners and I love their finished products. Most importantly I learned what a Lathe can do – spin wood, that is either clamped in at both ends or held tightly at one end, at varying speeds so by applying varying sharp tools listed above, you create shapes and curves in the wood. Or sometimes rough divets as I learned! Spin it a little more and apply a sharp instrument and you can easily fix a lot of mistakes.

As I look at my tiny little angel that is woodturning 101 I am sure, it is not lost on me the lessons learned at the lathe. Especially as we enter a new year (so hard to believe). How many times have I looked at events back in 2019 and upon first glance seen the results of what felt like a misplaced chisel, a tool applied too hard or too abruptly causing rough divots and unplanned gouges. How often has life felt like the lathe was spinning too quickly for what needed to be applied or done at the moment causing a higher opportunity for miscalculations and mistakes. How often did a job call for a skew chisel when I mistakenly chose a spindle gouge instead. In other words, we can probably look back on this past year and see the mistakes or the hard patches in the last 12 months and wish they had gone better, or we had said or done something differently.

But as I look ahead at 2020, I am reminded of other lessons learned from the lathe. If the wrong tool has been chosen you pull the tool away from the wood, put it down and pick up a different tool. Apply it carefully and reshape the wood. If you make an unexpected gouge, take a breath, concentrate, and gently reapply the tool to the spinning wood and reshape the wood into the intended cove or bead or angle. Many times, the wood can be reshaped carefully and the project is not lost. Life is far more pliable than we sometimes think it is. The wooden shapes of our hopes, dreams, relationships, goals, can be reshaped and reworked on the spinning lathe until eventually, the shape of the “angel” actually starts to appear.

And sometimes, when you get to a hard part, it takes the strong, sure hands of the expert to grab hold of the tool with you and guide your touch in order to learn how to do the hard parts. And it’s ok to ask for that guiding hand along the way. That’s just another way to learn. People of faith ask for that guiding hand frequently in our prayers. No matter how much we think we know or how much confidence we think we have, none of us is without need of a guiding hand every once in a while.

Oh, and one more lesson. It truly was amazing to see the starting point for making this angel. A chunk of wood that had been cut from a log with the bark still on it was transformed into this smooth and shiny, beautiful angel now hanging on my Christmas Tree. Once again a reminder that our God can make something beautiful out of virtually anything. Transformation is God’s business. So I don’t know about you but I’m ready to lift up the year ahead of us and seek God’s mighty transformation. To trust the Master Woodworker to apply the right speed, the correct tools, and the appropriate amount of friction in order to shape, smooth and shine the rough pieces of my life. Maybe. Just maybe, that might lead to the making of an angel. Or at least a faithful, fruitful servant.

God’s Blessings in 2020!

Lory Beth

Then finding a location for my mom to move and discovering that in order to get the best apartment it meant moving now. So what was going to be a 6 month process had now become a 2 month process. January and February were spent deciding what to take and where it would go. And then moving it. Moving from a 5 bedroom house to a 2 bedroom apartment was no small challenge! But on moving day everything fit exactly where she designed it to fit. My mom is good like that!

Then came the process of cleaning out the house. First each of us children cleaning out our rooms and taking the last of our stuff that was still stored at Mom’s house. Then organizing family selections of favorite items and tokens of the house we shared life in. Thankfully we are the kind of family that can do that with no discord. Mom happy when someone would choose something else that would then stay in the family and continue to be loved and remembered. Grandad’s hall tree here. A beautiful turquoise vase there. Portraits of us kids to each of us.

Probably the worst step was putting the For Sale sign up in the yard. A visible and sad sign to all that the Thompson’s would no longer live at or own the property on Windsor Drive. Where neighborhood kids played basketball on our two goal driveway court. Where the big iron bell rang across the neighborhood to call the Thompson kids and dog home for dinner. Where more UNC baseball games were watched then can be counted – with both tears of joy and tears of defeat shed. Where grand babies came to spend a week at “Camp Grandma” in the summer. Where many a Thanksgiving or Christmas feast was cooked and devoured. A house now empty waiting to find its next owners. Hoping that would happen sooner rather than later.

And then finally, after several necessary home repairs and lots of conversations with the realtor a serious buyer falls in love with our house. A couple from Ohio that was slated to look at 8 different houses and stops after seeing ours. Someone who will love our house almost as mush as we have. Who will give it a facelift but who can look at it and see the attention to detail my mom put in to the designing and building or every inch of that house. Who promised to invite my mom over for dinner once they have finished their renovations, which tickled my mom to death. People my mom can feel good about entrusting to our wonderful neighbors that have supported her through the ups and downs of life.

Many of you have been through this journey. My mom has done an amazing job this past year dealing with one of the hardest transitions in life. She had always said “you’ll take me out of here in a pine box!”. And now she and her cat, Patches, have settled into a happy life at Mountain Top retirement community and now enjoys not having to worry about any more who to call when a leak occurs or the AC goes out. Surrounded by friends with as reduced stress as is possible for an Octogenarian. As I watched my own bedroom go through the process of deconstruction described above I marveled at how grateful I am to have had a home that shaped and formed me and provided so much joy, but also a few tears, along the way and more precious memories than I can recall. And yet, I have been ok with saying goodbye. It served us well when we needed it. But now it’s time to provide memories for someone else. What I thought would be great grief and sadness turned in to a process of gratitude and peace.

On the last night my mom spent in the house we hugged and shed a few tears and then she looked around and said, “this has been a good home to raise my children in. I couldn’t ask for anything more. It’s time for it to be a good home for someone else now.”

May you know the joy of living in a home and not just a house or a condo or an apartment. May you know the support of family, good neighbors, and friends when you and yours are going through a major life transition. May you recognize in all of it the gift of love and support given to us as a gift from God.

Pastor Lory Beth

Grace and Peace,

Lory Beth

Our church celebrated our Commitment Sunday today which is actually one of my favorite Sunday’s of the year. I love the idea that we all make our own contributions to the life of the Church. Today we focused specifically on our financial contributions but we also contribute our gifts and graces. We give of ourselves. We are part of a community, a church family and we share our lives together. These relationships are important. Just like our relationship with Jesus is important. But you see, Jesus gave us the gift of the church because Jesus knew that we were going to need significant friendships to navigate the challenges of life. To follow Jesus’ example requires sharing the journey with others along the way. I am grateful to be reminded of this lesson when sometimes it feels like the weight of the world is on my shoulders.

You probably know that feeling, too. Is there some aspect of your life that you feel like you are doing some heavy lifting in? That you or a group of you are responsible for? Maybe it’s an ultimate outcome on a project. Or the wellbeing of an organization or your own family. Or maybe it’s the care and health of a loved one. Or maybe its the mental or physical care of your own self. You can fill in the blank. But do you have someone or someones that you can share the journey with? Or the burden? Or at least talk about what’s going on with a family member or a friend?

I was reminded of the value of friendships this past weekend. I will confess it’s a little hard for pastors to nurture friendships. It gets complicated when you are still pastor for those you hang around with. You have to manage your time in order to try and make and nurture relationships outside of the church. Or for me, I find myself most successful nurturing friendships with colleagues who work in other communities.

Last Friday, in spite of the clouds, I hopped in my friend, Charlotte’s, little red classic convertible MG and took to the BlueRidge Parkway. While the sky may not have been sunny and blue, the leaves were still putting on a show! Even though it had been a while since we spent time together we just talked and talked and listened and listened the whole afternoon. Celebrating the wonderful moments of life. And encouraging each other during the challenging chapters. And it was a gift.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 – 9 Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: 10 If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.

John 15:12-15 – 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. (NIV)

So I add to my list of things I am thankful for this day my friendship gratitude. If there’s a friend in your life you haven’t connected with in a while, pick up the phone and call or drop a handwritten note to. Text if you have to, but connect. Remember, Jesus called us to share life together, we just weren’t meant to go it alone. It’s ok to be vulnerable. To admit it’s not all picture perfect. That you haven’t got it all figured out. Because none of us do. And that only brings us closer together. And closer to God in the end.

Grace and Peace,

Lory Beth