Stain Glass Lens of the 21st Century

Category: Stoicism

  • A Secret Worth Knowing

    A Secret Worth Knowing

    Photo by Anna Tarazevich/Pexels

    There sure is a lot to worry about these days. The threat of nuclear war, increasing COVID cases, rising costs to just about everything and too many environmental disasters to count.

    How do we find peace of mind at a time like this?  Rev. Darlow Sargeant writes, “To be perfectly at peace amid the hurly-burly of daily life is a secret worth knowing. What is the use of worrying? It never made anybody strong; never helped anybody to do God’s will; never made a way of escape for anyone out of perplexity.  Worry spoils lives which would otherwise be useful and beautiful.” 

    It would seem Jesus agrees, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?” (Matthew 6:25) 

    As the stoics teach, it is never wise to worry over things we cannot control. 

    What we can control is how we live our daily lives in our own little worlds. Why not trust in God’s presence and God’s call to serve others?  We have the power to help those around us.  As Mother Teresa wisely said, “I can’t help thousands.  I can help only the one who stands before me.”

    Why not spend our days counting our blessing and offering back to God our praise and gratitude?  If we are doomed anyway, why not spend our days doing and thinking that which adds beauty and comfort?  Perhaps as we do so we will draw closer to the presence of God, and as Rev. Sargeant writes, “Scale the heights of a life abandoned to God, then you will look down on the clouds beneath your feet as you rise above all the worries.”

    Blessings,

    Rev. Heather McCarrel

  • Death Came For Tea

    Death Came For Tea

    Nikolay Osmachko/Pexels

    Last week Death came for tea and stayed the afternoon.  We shared in chocolate cake, sugar cookies, conversation and a few good laughs.

    One of the women of the church had arranged for a ‘Death Café’ inviting a Death Doula (someone trained to accompany the dying) to lead and encourage conversation. One may think an afternoon of discussing death would be sad or depressing but it was quite the opposite.  Our afternoon was full of stories, plans and laughter. 

    Why would we spend a lovely summer afternoon discussing death?  Because it is important we each remember our death is pending in order to capture the grandeur of each moment.  The average lifespan is around 80 years which works out to 4,160 weeks.  Or, to put it into another perspective, we each have 80 winters, 80 springs, 80 summers and 80 autumns.  To remember our death is to remember how very valuable each season is.  This remembering should cause us all to slow down, look around and savor the passing beauty.

    The stoics taught there is wisdom in reminding ourselves daily of our impending death. Seneca, one of the greatest stoics, “reminds us that death is something that’s happening here, even as you read this. The time that passes belongs to death, he says. What is lived we never get back. We are dying every minute, every second. When we hurry we are speeding that along” (The Daily Stoic). 

    May we all slow down this summer and soak in the irreplaceable beauty of each moment,

    Rev. Heather McCarrel