“All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation…” – 2 Corinthians 5:18

In 1966, when I first began teaching, corporal punishment was still widely employed in schools in Oklahoma. I took a misbehaving 6th grade boy to the principal and was horrified when I had to be the witness for his paddling. I vowed then and there to avoid taking any more students to that principal, and, if I ever became a principal, to find alternatives to physical punishment.

In 1972, we moved to Terre Haute, Indiana where Ron had a position as a reference librarian at Indiana State University. There’s a federal prison in Terre Haute, and Mike had been there for several years on drug charges. He was on a release program to take classes at Indiana State University and had lots of questions for the reference librarian. Soon, Ron was inviting him over for meals to meet me and our two young sons. He romped and played with the boys, and more importantly, introduced me to the concept of “restorative justice.” Mike was completing community service hours as a part of his re-entry program.

Fast forward to 1984, when we had returned to Tulsa, Oklahoma and I became a principal at Park Elementary. When I went to meet the retiring principal, he had a paddle hanging on the wall of his office. After almost 20 years, not much had changed with corporal punishment in Oklahoma.

The teachers, who were still using corporal punishment, were initially a little surprised when the students they sent to the office would come back with a plan to make right the offense they had committed. I was determined to implement the practice of reconciliation and restorative justice in my dealings with students. As a new principal, I had been told to listen, learn, and not change anything the first year. However, the teachers were intrigued and began to ask questions. Soon we were involved in studying the tenets of reconciliation and discussing ways to implement them throughout the building.

My ministry at that time, “administration” allowed the opportunity to implement reconciliation in place of punishment for our students. It was, indeed, well with my soul.

Thank you, God, for reconciling us to you through Christ and for giving us the ministry of reconciliation. Help us to follow your lead as we help heal and restore the world. Amen.
-Cathey Frederick

“So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation; everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” – 2 Corinthians 5:17

I have been utterly amazed at the ability and faithfulness of God in making me new. No matter what stage of my life and what difficulties I have been in, God has the right answer for what I need. A new mentor, a different job, anything. I have learned to focus on God’s new plan.

Dear God, help us all to focus on Your plans. Amen.
-Barb Cheyney

“No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.” – 1 Corinthians 10:13

It was 2005. My former husband Jon was serving his first parish in Minnesota, and things were imploding. Instead of dealing with frustration constructively, several people decided to make life so hellish for me that I stopped attending worship there and would just go to the church in town instead. (Jon’s parishes were out in the fields.) Other people were trying to get the dysfunctional people to behave, and one of them uttered the following:

“We’ll all be really shiny when this is all over.”

That saying has stuck with me in the last 16 years. We did eventually leave that parish and went to a slightly healthier place (at the time), but life has not stopped throwing curveballs. In the time since, I’ve had a child, had that child almost die several times, got a divorce, and fought with my own health issues… and I can say that the testing has made me “shinier” as a result.

Lord, help us to remember that you are with us in the midst of the things that test us. Amen.
-Jen McCabe

“We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents.” -1 Corinthians 10:9

If any of you are reading this verse and wondering what in the daylights the Apostle Paul is talking about, let me explain: In the Book of Numbers, the Israelites were getting cranky about it taking *FOREVER* to get to the Promised Land, and they decided to do that thing they always did where they whined about how God brought them into the wilderness to die, there was no food or water, and they hate the manna that God sent them to eat so they wouldn’t starve. God responded by sending venomous snakes (most likely, Daboia palaestinae) to bite them. A lot of Israelites died, likely due to neurotoxic manifestations from a phospholipase A2 found in the venom. The people went to Moses, told him that they were sorry for whining, and asked him to please tell God to take away the snakes. Moses prayed for the people, and God told him to make a serpent of bronze, put it on a pole, and tell everyone with a snakebite to look at it for healing.

Are we all caught up? Good!

The point that Paul is trying to make is to not test God. He gives a bunch of examples of Israel doing stupid things that ended badly for them. The issue in question for Paul, if you read further in this chapter, is idolatry. Israel messed up repeatedly in worshipping idols and turning away from God, causing God to allow Israel to be conquered. (The Book of Judges has this as a common theme.) Paul wants the church in Corinth to know that eating meat sacrificed to idols is no bueno, and they should not be testing God’s patience on the subject. It will not work out well.

So, how do all of you think we test God today? Is it complaining about “having nothing” when God has provided us everything that we need in life? Is it thinking that one little sin is OK and then having it snowball into a bigger issue?

While you’re pondering this? I think I’ll go watch Viperkeeper play with his snakes…

God, we know that we screw up at these things all the time, and we thank you for picking us up and dusting us off when we fall. Amen.
-Jen McCabe

“…but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.” –1 Corinthians 10:13b

In this time of plague and inflamed passions, I have found it difficult to stay centered. It’s partly my fault because I doom scroll regularly even though the negativity collects in my soul like a ball of dryer lint. The unspoken tension pervading every gathering, even when others are masked and vaxxed, slowly eats at my spirit. Sometimes I feel as if I were walking on shifting sands, still upright, but unsteady. Maybe this really is “the ends of the ages.”

Recently, I developed a simple rule of life for myself. The process of forming the rule really helped to stabilize me as it required that I disengage from all the drama and connect with the spiritual. The rule itself now serves as a guide I can use to help regain my equilibrium whenever it starts to wobble. But it’s not a “get out of jail free” card or a magic pill. I have to make the effort every day to live into the intentions I have outlined there. Life is full of “testing,” challenging one’s ability to remain faithful to the way of Christ. My rule is a strong support and a reason for joy.

Even though I wrote the words, re-reading the rule refreshes my spirit and encourages me with sparks of positive energy. So, for example, my rule reminds me to be aware of God’s presence in all things and have faith even in darkness; to act with compassion and try to make someone’s life a little better this day; to extend, without over-extending, my God-given time, talent and treasure; and to know that I am loved by God.

God has unquestionably provided a “way out” by offering me the opportunity to form the rule of life and blessing me with people who support me in living it. Centered in this, I can live in this world, endure the testing and release the fears that previously vexed me.

Thanks to the One who steadies my walk in the way of the Christ, who gives me guides along the way, and who is ever faithful in light and dark. Amen.
-Carol Treston