Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep...Ring...Ring

The Rev. Dr. Marian Stewart

LGBTQIA+ Person of Faith

Quote

“Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.”

~Mark 1:35 (NIV)

Devotion

Sleep o glorious sleep. How I want just one hour more.

On this ‘spring forward’ morning of Daylight Savings, I am reminded of all the virtuous exhortations to rise early to pray. Be like Jesus. Rise before dawn, go outside and find a quiet spot to be alone. Pray.

As much as I would like to be more like Jesus, I’m not. This morning, I am falling asleep in his footsteps, unable to rise. Unable to follow. Unable to wake enough to make sense of the coming day. I wonder, how did Jesus rise so early?

In our daily routines of busyness, if we dare to take time away by skipping a meeting, are sluggish to respond to incoming texts and chats, or are slow to upload assignments, we are indicted, sometimes by ourselves, for being slack, no-good, lazy. It is hard to keep up, even on the best of days. Our world moves at a rat-wheel pace. By evening, when we fall asleep, with our devices still beeping and blaring, we collapse onto the pillow, exhausted.

All too soon, the alarm sounds, we hit snooze, sometimes more than once, and gradually drag ourselves into the new day. A quick shower, cup of coffee, and we’re off. Our daily patterns are punctuated by refills of caffeine to ward off the yawns, working lunches at our desks, and take-out suppers. Sometimes I feel like a “rinse and repeat” commercial.

Weekends, if we are lucky, offer a day or two of rest. But this morning, we have to give back that hour we gained in the fall. It’s payback time. Get up. Get going.

I don’t think Jesus ever lost an hour. Even if he did, I don’t think he’d complain. He was like that. He faced busy days of crowds and demands, yet he always got up before the sun and went out to pray. He even skipped the crowds on occasion to find a quiet garden for even more prayer. If he had a hard day, he prayed more.

I must acknowledge my humanness. Even well-rested, I cannot rouse before dawn. I confess that I get up just in time to do the basics before I’m off to work. I’m afraid that if I added time to go outside and settle in to pray, I would fall asleep. I might even sleepwalk through the day. But I love the idea of being virtuous. I also must deal with my self-assigned guilt for falling short.

Maybe you are a lot like me and consider yourself a problem-solver. How do you negotiate a human version of virtuosity? Perfection is a lovely goal, but isn’t there a “good enough” version? Is early morning a requirement?

I will forgive myself for not wanting to give back an hour of sleep this one time each year, but what am I willing to shift to make room for prayer and meditation? Being centered as we go into our day surely must shape our interactions. I imagine being more responsive instead of reactive, being able to breathe instead of gasping in the rush and acting from my values instead of replying with one-line snark. I imagine I might even be a nicer person.

Can prayer really do that? Can it make a difference? Is it worth the time?

Prayer can be done anywhere anytime. It can be formal or not, fancy or plain, short or long, spoken or sung. It can even be silent under the breath. You don’t even have to be super-religious to pray. Prayer is the act of centering one’s thoughts and energy in a specific direction: praying for someone who is going through a hard time, an utterance of thanksgiving and request for safety as first responders race toward danger, or a request for grace in the face of vitriol spewed your way. Of course, there is always room for prayers of gratitude.

Prayer has a way of grounding us in love and respect. It doesn’t necessarily mean hard things will go away – or make our team win – but it focuses our attention on what is important. Jesus modeled finding a quiet space to pray, away from chaos and distraction. I believe he would have left the devices and smartphones behind. Prayer has a different connection point and instead of recharging itself, prayer recharges us. It also has the ultimate grounding plug.

Even if I can’t rise before the sun comes up each day, it is possible to find moments throughout the day to be quiet, to escape the routine, and pray. I don’t think prayer is about timing or a question of quantity, but that we take the time to try. Our sincerity will bring the quality.

Reflection

1. What is your favorite time of day to pray? Do you have a special place?

2. On days you make time to pray, do you feel more centered and grounded?

3. When times are tough, do you make more room for prayer?

Action

And on this day when we’ve lost an hour of sleep, we might even find time for a nap. Blessings for the snoozers. Don’t forget to add a prayer when you wake.

🚨 Action Alert - HB531 Chaplains in Schools Bill 🚨

TLDR - Ohio House Bill 531 (HB531), the Chaplains in Schools Bill, is up for opponent testimony before the House Education Committee on Tuesday, March 10, at 2:15pm. We need people to testify against the bill in-person. For instructions on how to testify see the bottom of this message.

HB531 - What is it?

HB531 would permit school districts to adopt and implement policy by which volunteer religious chaplains could offer “spiritual programming, support, and counseling” to students in grades K-12. While each chaplain would be required to complete a background check and receive “endorsement or certification by a recognized ecclesiastical endorsing agency,” the bill relies on individual school districts to put further requirements and restrictions in place. The bill requires districts to either adopt a policy or reject the policy no later than December 1, 2026.

What are LOVEboldly’s concerns?

The bill provides no restrictions on what these chaplains could address with students, what they could distribute to students, and when and how their services would be utilized during the school day. Here are some of the questions HB531 raises, but doesn’t answer:

• Who, at the district level, makes the determination as to which chaplains are allowed to volunteer? Is the process equitable even to chaplains within the same faith tradition?

• Could chaplains proselytize to students?

• Could chaplains attempt to conduct conversion “therapy” on LGBTQIA+ students?

• Could chaplains encourage students to attend their particular church?

• Would chaplains be offered to religious minority students?

What can you do to push back?

We need people to testify in-person against HB531 or to submit written testimony. The hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, March 10, at 2:15pm in Room 121.

You must submit your testimony (in-person or written) no later than Monday, March 9, at 2:15pm (24 hours prior to the hearing). You now have two options for submitting testimony:

1. Go to the committee’s website (click here) and click on the meeting date. Then click on “Upload Testimony.” (Note - As of Thursday night the March 10 hearing was not yet listed so you may have to check back.)

   
   

2. Submit your testimony via email to OHREducationCommittee@ohiohouse.gov along with a witness slip (click here to download the witness slip).

Please send a copy of your testimony to us at admin@loveboldly.org.

We are particularly looking for clergy to testify in person and in clerics if possible.

Have questions?

Contact Rev. Dr. Ben at bhuelskamp@loveboldly.org.

Louder Love

The Rev. Lucy Kelly

Allied Person of Faith

Quote

“When what we offer folks is a restricted diet of love and do not provide an equal portion of justice, we are only talking about a partial gospel — not a whole one.”

-Emilie Townes, “In a Blaze of Glory” (1995)

Devotion

Read John 3:17.

During an intergenerational reflection event for the play, The Laramie Project, a college student asked a question, “If hate is usually shouted, and love is often a gentle whisper…how do we make love louder?” Our reconciling ministry and our church leaders have wrestled with this question ever since. My eyes (and ears) are constantly on the lookout for this louder love. I saw it at the Pride festival in Grove City, OH, where everyone’s true colors were celebrated and applauded. I hear it on social media when someone kindly explains Queer terminology to help educate the masses. I saw it on a beautiful mural painted on a church wall in East Dallas, TX; it said: “Together we flourish,” and in the background was the Pride flag, hands holding the peace sign in various skin tones, and the Trans flag. I hear it in the beautiful music by the band The Many, which we sing in worship regularly. I saw and heard it when I met up with other clergy at the state house to plead for gender-affirming care. I see it every time I spot a Pride flag, anywhere.

The Pride flag has become lifesaving for my family (i.e., a symbol of openness, safety, affirmation, justice, and love). My oldest child is Trans male, and he is very patient with me and his dad. We have always tried to lead with love and offer the best care to help him flourish, feel safe, and be proud of who he is. It turns out, loving as a gentle whisper is not always enough. We discovered that as we educated ourselves on gender-affirming care, found support groups for all of us, and sought affirming health providers…the more obvious it was that our love needed to be louder…if we hoped for it to transform us. Our child knows who he is and who he wants to continue to grow into.

As we stopped constantly questioning our parenting, we realized that our child thrives when we openly declare our love and support of him being his authentic self. We told family and friends our child’s chosen name and pronouns, with confidence and pride. What we received in return was either respect or love. Respect was shown by honoring our request to support our child’s name and pronouns, even if they did not understand or agree (they generally kept that opinion to themselves). Love was shown in a different way. People who walked this journey closely with us, showed us compassion as parents while also honoring our child and his needs. These friends didn’t judge or question our parenting; they encouraged us to transform and make hard decisions. They saw our failures and struggles, and they cried with us. They did not condemn us; they stayed with us. They are helping love to be louder; love that transforms me and my spouse. They continue to support our child with affirmation.

As parents, we would love to put a protective bubble around our children so the world cannot hurt them. We do not want them to feel the need to fit in just to avoid standing out. What our children need, however, is to be empowered to be their authentic selves in a world that will always be filled with challenges and ignorance (hate). We love our child. We want him to love himself. We will continue to get some things wrong, but we will keep love loud.

Jesus did not come to condemn the world, but to save it. He did not come to offer hate; he came to share love through justice. This is the louder love that transforms us.

Reflection

1. What does louder love look/sound like to you? Where have you seen/heard/felt this louder love?

2. Was there a time in your life when you needed this louder love, but all you experienced was a whisper (or worse)?

3. What does it mean to you to focus on the text of John 3:17 (rather than the popular John 3:16)?

Action

Find ways to offer louder love in this world. What can you do today to help someone know they are loved?