Newsletter

“Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you: A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be poured into your lap. For the measure you use will be the measure you receive.”

-Luke 6:37-38

The idea that you get out of life what you put into it is common across many religious and philosophical traditions. So is the desire to change the parameters for evaluation until the idea is made true, or at the very least can't be proven false.

In some Eastern religions, the idea has been made true by the introduction of reincarnation - you may not get what you put in this life, but in your next life you will reap what you've sown.

In more collectively minded cultures, the idea has been made true by ideas of legacy and inheritance - you may not personally reap what you've personal sown, but your descendants surely will, and you owe it to them to provide a good harvest.

In Christian tradition, "you get what you give" has been made true by way of appeal to the afterlife, where reward and punishment are both said to await. 

This is a problem for our tradition, however, because while that's certainly a popular narrative, it sits at odds with the widely accepted Christian belief that no person is capable of earning eternal reward, but that such is the gift of God alone.

It's an unresolvable tension, and not one that I'm going to try and harmonize in a brief newsletter article. Instead, I'm going to propose that the Christian notion of "you get what you give" is not meant to be about a transactional idea, but rather a qualitative one.

What do I mean by that? In these verses from Luke, Jesus says those who don't judge won't be judged, those who forgive will be forgiven, and those who give will receive back more than they give. 

A transactional reading of this verse would say "I don't judge, so nobody should judge me. I forgive, so nobody should hold a grudge against me. I give, so I am owed."

A qualitative reading, on the other hand, would say "I am nonjudgmental, and in so doing I am influencing others to be nonjudgmental. I model forgiveness, and inspire to do the same. I am generous with what I have, which contributes to a culture of generosity. Even if I am never repaid what I put in, fostering a culture with these qualities is a benefit to myself and others."

I believe this is demonstrably true. Living a life with generosity of spirit inspires others to do the same. If we all live generously, there are some who will always have more of some resource or other, and as such will give more than they ever receive in return. Yet they will benefit just the same from being a part of a community which seeks to model God's extravagant, radical welcome.

Blessings,

Pastor Shea

“Mending Wall”

By: Robert Frost

Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,

That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,

And spills the upper boulders in the sun;

And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.

The work of hunters is another thing:

I have come after them and made repair

Where they have left not one stone on a stone,

But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,

To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean,

No one has seen them made or heard them made,

But at spring mending-time we find them there.

I let my neighbor know beyond the hill;

And on a day we meet to walk the line

And set the wall between us once again.

We keep the wall between us as we go.

To each the boulders that have fallen to each.

And some are loaves and some so nearly balls

We have to use a spell to make them balance:

‘Stay where you are until our backs are turned!’

We wear our fingers rough with handling them.

Oh, just another kind of out-door game,

One on a side. It comes to little more:

There where it is we do not need the wall:

He is all pine and I am apple orchard.

My apple trees will never get across

And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.

He only says, ‘Good fences make good neighbors.’

Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder

If I could put a notion in his head:

‘Why do they make good neighbors? Isn’t it

Where there are cows? But here there are no cows.

Before I built a wall I’d ask to know

What I was walling in or walling out,

And to whom I was like to give offense.

Something there is that doesn't love a wall,

That wants it down.’ I could say ‘Elves’ to him,

But it’s not elves exactly, and I’d rather

He said it for himself. I see him there

Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top

In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.

He moves in darkness as it seems to me,

Not of woods only and the shade of trees.

He will not go behind his father’s saying,

And he likes having thought of it so well

He says again, ‘Good fences make good neighbors.’

Birthdays

October

Rev. Shea Zellweger 10-3

Sage Richards 10-13

Liz Scarlett  10-20

November

Zane Washburn 11-2

Madeleine Rathbun 11-14

Cherie Hadlock 11-16

Tessa Zellweger  11-20

December

Joe Winchester 12-4

Rex Reynolds   12-4

George Mathews 12-10

Allison Barrigar 12-10

Bridget Sherman 12-11

Anniversaries

October

Tara & Pete Atherton  10-8

Robert & Allison Barrigar 10-9

December

Pat & Lisa Gallagher  12-27