A Season of Yellow

“I really just want to be warm yellow light that pours over everyone I love.” ~Conor Oberst

We are in the season of yellow. That is, after almost 12 weeks of adhering closely to shelter-at-home rules in order to contain The Virus, our region has been allowed to loosen restrictions. In the terminology of the Pennsylvania Governor’s office, we have moved out of the red phase and are heading toward the green phase. But right now, we are paused in the yellow phase. It is the shade of caution, like the middle light on a traffic signal that reminds us to keep alert when we venture into the intersection. It is the hue of prudence, like the background of a highway sign posted to remind us that if we take the bend too quickly, surely the vehicle will tip over. It’s that kind of yellow.

And yet, yellow is also the color associated with optimism and energy. It is the color of splendid sunshine. It is the most visible color in the spectrum, and the color we can most easily perceive with our peripheral vision. It is so reflective that it creates its own secondary light source. It brings illumination.

Yellow is the color of 25’ tall letters recently painted on a famous Washington, D.C. street. Perhaps that makes it the color of long-overdue change.

If I were a painter, I might load my palette up with canary and lemon and school bus and mustard and honey and butter, and I might mix all of the pigments together into a shade combining elements of hope and exuberance with respect and goodwill, and I would name it the Color of Care-Fulness. My new shade of yellow would call us all to the task of being full of care .

The call to be care-full is clear and powerful in these words from Philippians 2. As you read them over, let me invite you to insert your own name and hear them as if the writer, Paul, were talking directly to you…

If you, (insert name here), have gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care— then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.

^5-8  Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion. (Philippians 2: 1-8, The Message)

The Philippians passage is peppered with phrases that pop in the ears of anyone who is paying attention to current events and circumstances: privilege, equal status, advantage …but also, put yourself aside, forget yourself, help others.

To grasp the truth of Jesus’ life and teachings means to not only hold them awkwardly in hand, but to hold them genuinely in heart. Anyone who opens the Bible’s pages is met with a call to humility and selflessness. Anyone who is attentive to Jesus values empathy and cultivates concern for justice.

We are in the season of yellow, and it is imperative that we all be care-full, not only in matters related to the infectious disease, but also in matters related to the infectious despair that has been uncovered and noticed in our society: the embedded calamity of systemic racism. To be care-full is to listen and learn, always trying to understand. To be care-full is to put aside defensiveness and be willing to recognize brokenness when it is right before our eyes. To be care-full is to hold onto a piece of that brokenness and absorb some of its sorrow. To be care-full is to give up me-first thinking. To be care-full is to be willing to change.

One day we will move to another phase—forward or backward. In all matters, it would be favorable to progress rather than regress. It will take all the yellow paint our imaginations can conjure to get us there together. Let’s go.

Care-Fully,

Pastor Chris

+++++

Help restock the Food Pantry shelves at Central Moravian Church with much needed items for our next food distribution.   Please be aware that a peaceful protest is being planned for 3 p.m. on Sunday at Payrow Plaza.     If traffice is blocked on Center Street, please go to Market Street, turn south on Heckwelder Place and then turn right onto Church Street.   You will be right in front of the church office building.     Whether you drive down Church Street or arrive by way of Heckewelder, pull in front of the church office building at 73 W. Church Street between  1 – 3 p.m. on Sunday, June 7 (Rain date June 10) . Drop your grocery bags off in the wagons by the curb, give us a wave, and be on your way.

We especially need the following items: coffee, tea, family sized evaporated, powdered or boxed milk that does not need refrigeration, jelly and jam, peanut butter, tuna and canned chicken and 1-2 lb bags of rice.
We thank everyone for the tremendous support in May. Together, Lehigh Valley Moravians and friends donated 2,219 pounds of non-perishable food items! We might not be in the same room together, but we can still serve others together!

Here’s how to find our online events for Sunday, June 7.

1 0:15 a.m. Virtual Fellowship Time

If you’ll be joining via computer, tablet, or smart phone, please use the link: 
  https://zoom.us/j/91671628972

To join by phone only, please dial +1 646 558 8656 US (New York) and use the meeting ID: 916 7162 8972

11:00 a.m. Moravian Church Without Walls Worship

Moravian Music Sunday (featuring our own dear church musician, Gwyn Michel) will be celebrated. (You might recall there was a worldwide technical glitch back in May. This is the re-scheduled service.)Through a joint effort of the Moravian Church in both the Northern and Southern Provinces, virtual worship has been offered weekly throughout the pandemic.

If you’ll be joining via computer, table, or laptop, use this link:

https://zoom.us/j/310492867

Tip 1: If you are a Facebook user, many of your friends are likely to be hosting “Watch Parties.” (Pastor Chris tries to do this when she can from her page: Christine Sobania Johnson.) This is an alternative way to wander into the same MCWW worship service and does not require the Zoom link.

Tip 2: To discover even further Moravian worship opportunities, please consult the updated list at  https://www.moravian.org/2020/04/online-worship-opportunities/  . Quite a few Moravian congregations offer livestreamed or pre-recorded worship opportunities.

6:30 p.m. Zoom Prayers — Praying together for one another, our community, our nation, and our world.

If you’ll be joining via computer, table, or laptop, use this link:   https://zoom.us/j/91961743369

To join by phone only, dial +1 646 558 8656 US (New York) and use Meeting ID 919 6174 3369