Decluttering
As I was cleaning out my email inbox, I got distracted by an email that promised “The 26 greatest decluttering tips of all time.” Yes, the irony is not lost on me that my email inbox was cluttered with things like articles about decluttering. As I spent an embarrassingly long time cleaning out my emails, I got to thinking about other things that we hang on to, or think that we need, that turn out to be unimportant in the grand scheme of things.
What are the stories we tell ourselves that are just cluttering up our minds or that actually harm us?
What images of God do we hold on to that don’t serve us or God?
What are the things that we thought were important or needed but that simply don't hold up in times of crisis?
What are the things that we do just because we have always done them that way?
I think about the theological and institutional pickles we get ourselves into about things like who can receive communion, who can preach or not and why, or even the color of the carpet as we remodel buildings, and I think that in this time of pandemic we might take the opportunity to declutter our institutional in-boxes. We get our own minds and hearts cluttered up with worry as we believe the messages that tell us to compare and compete, and so these days of anxiety give us the opportunity to declutter our hearts, too.
What is really important and what might we let go of? What serves us and others about our faith? Is it a rigorous and deep understanding of grace? Do we believe heaven is “up there somewhere” or are we participating in the in-breaking of the kingdom of heaven here? Is our faith just what we grew up with and never really took out of the box and wrestled with and examined? How are we leaning into our faith in ways that help us grow in compassion for the world? At some point the Sunday school faith of our childhood needs to give way to something bigger, a faith that can live into and speak into the tensions of our lives, something that feeds not only us but also our neighbors. We need a faith that lives and breathes with us whether we are in crisis or in calm. In Paul’s letter to the Romans he writes, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:2 NRSV). If Paul were into organizing, I think he would be one to recommend periodic decluttering. As we declutter our thoughts we can return to who we were created to be: beloved children of God. Times of change can serve to open us to new ways of being, to declutter what might be hindering us from hearing the Holy Spirit.
Today I invite you to do some decluttering of your mind, your heart, or even that junk drawer you have putting off cleaning. And in your transforming may you have new space inside and out to listen to the voice of God in you.
Peace, Ruth
