I am going to take a week off. In the almost 18 months of this podcast, I missed the week just after the death of my dad. This time, I am taking a week just to relax and recharge. Americans are notorious for leaving vacation time on the table and working way too hard. Our society applauds busy-ness, but it isn't actually in our best interest.

One of the commandments is to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. And we find in the gospels that Jesus takes time to go away from the crowds by himself and takes naps too. Perhaps we need to take breaks too.

Take a break. Catch your breath. Be a human being not a human doing for a bit. And if you feel so inclined, you can always go back and listen to previous episodes. Catch you in couple weeks!

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In the wake of the assassination attempt on Former President Donald Trump, we, as a society must stop the violence. We need to change our language and rhetoric. We need to find peaceful ways forward and common ground. Violence is becoming normalized in our society as more people seek to solve things through physical force or shooting people. It has to stop.

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Having watched fireworks this past week, I was drawn to playing Sousa marches. It made me think about music at Christmas and as I listened to a recital tonight, about various types of music and how music can speak in many different ways. Knowing the state of the world, the tensions in the world of politics, the divides in American culture, I wonder what the soundtrack would be. Would it be "The Stars and Stripes Forever" by John Phillips Sousa that when heard makes us think of people happily waving flags on the 4th of July and celebrating America, or would the current American soundtrack be more dark and angular? Music can speak in many different ways and at many different times. Listen to the soundtrack of your life this week.

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Last week was the first presidential debate for 2024. To say it was awful is an understatement. President Biden didn't look or sound good. Former President Trump failed to answer questions and offered lies (it has been fact checked). I turned it off after a while because they were talking about golf handicaps and honestly that has no place in this debate. I was frustrated with both men not answering the questions posed. As I look at the election cycle, I am struck by how each of our Presidential nominees treats people. Who they are concerned about and what they try to do to aid the people of the United States. And at the end of the day - we have to have different candidates. We need new energy and new ideas if we are to move forward.

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If you have not seen Disney's Inside Out or its latest release, Inside Out 2, go see it. No spoilers here. The movies are about the emotional growth of Riley. We meet Joy, Sadness, Disgust, Fear, and Aner in the first movie and more emotions come into play in the second. The team worked with psychologists to be as accurate as possible with how the mind works. It is all pretty amazing. In working with the church I serve, we are looking at Lament. It is anger and sadness turned to prayer. When we lament, as seen repeatedly in the Psalms, we turn to God, make our complaint known, ask for God's help and trust that God will be God, that God loves us and cares for us and God will act. Our society doesn't like to deal with hard emotions, but I think it is important for us to learn how to lament and let faith help us unpack and work through big emotions.

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Watching one of my kids compete in National Dance Competitions this weekend and the other trying out for competitive soccer a week ago, we put a lot of pressure on our kids to win and to be the best. One thing that we like about the Dance Studio we are in as well as the Soccer Club we are part of is that the emphasis isn't on winning, but on doing your best. Have fun, learn, grow, and do your best. Awards, trophies and the like will work themselves out and we love that that is not the focus. Too bad our whole society is caught up in who is the best and we have forgotten to let talent develop and grow. Hope you can find time this week to simply, do your best.

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Today, several children and youth helped lead worship. We have been doing Vacation Bible School all week. Their energy, joy, wiggles and giggles are infectious and they are needed in the church. As church we need to embrace them as the current church, not as the future of the church. We need their creativity and joy to help us find new ays to be community and new ways to share the love of God with others.

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June is Pride Month. And it has already started, a conservative seminary classmate had a social media post that was decidedly anti-LGBTQIA+. There are many churches and pastors who believe homosexuality is a sin and use "clobber passages" as the scriptural basis. However, not every pastor or church agrees.

Many of the passages used to claim homosexuality is wrong have been misinterpreted. In other ways we have done disservice to the text if we think that the same societal structure exists as it did at the time of the Bible being redacted or written. Society has evolved and changed. Our understanding of the world around us has changed. So to not allow our biblical interpretations to change means we limit God. We state that God is no longer speaking and the Spirit is no longer moving.

Know that not all churches are the same. There are pastors and churches who are inclusive and welcoming. Happy Pride Month! Go be favulous!

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