By Greg Yee, Superintendent, PacNWC
You rarely have time for everything you want in this life, so you need to make choices. And hopefully your choices can come from a deep sense of who you are.
Mister Rogers
There is nothing more beautiful than a life well lived; one marked by refinement and purposefulness. You’ve met these people. I hope you’re one yourself. They have the aroma of life that penetrates the thickest of stale, sickly air. They embody the kingdom. Like deep breaths of our fresh crisp Northwest air, these people fill our soul’s lungs with calm. Dimmers brighten. Lights come on. Darkness is chased away.
Saturday, November 23rd, Newport Covenant Church hosted a celebration of life and worship service for their dear Pastor David Beck after an almost two year battle with pancreatic cancer. Keep praying for Susan and the family and for the church. David was one of these aromatic people. He embodied the beautiful life well lived marked by refinement and purposefulness. In one of my last extended times with him, he earnestly shared how much he wanted to be back at Newport. Even when he was weak and tired, he wanted to give God glory and continue to serve him. At his memorial, there were so many stories about David’s love for God, for the church, and for people. He knew who he was. A sweet aroma of life and hope remains.
Scientists tell us that our sense of smell is closely linked with memory, probably more so than any of our other senses. We are able to think of smells that evoke particular memories. Fresh buttered popcorn will always remind me of my childhood walking around Sears. The smells of Chinatowns always take me back to an entire childhood of family and church very distinct from my suburban-raised kids. The smell of old classic Mennen Speed Stick will always evoke tender memories of my dad.
curiosity.com explains, “Scents bypass the thalamus and go straight to the brain’s smell center, known as the olfactory bulb. The olfactory bulb is directly connected to the amygdala and hippocampus, which might explain why the smell of something can so immediately trigger a detailed memory or even intense emotion.” What memories are connected to specific aromas for you?
But more importantly, how do you smell? What memories do people have of you? Your church?
I smell you, fellow Jesus followers. As burning incense in Yahweh’s tabernacle/temple wafted upward as fragrant worship, may your life’s aroma spread to all around you this Advent season. God with us. He dwell in us. And he calls us to be salt, light, and yes, perfume – expensive perfume that anoints our Savior’s feet; expensive perfume that penetrates the thickest of stale, sickly air.
Smell up your family. Leave your sent everywhere. Boldly live the redemptive life of Christ in your communities and in your towns. Our smell is not merely Febreeze. The work of Christ is complete. He removes the smell of death and brokenness. This is what and who we are.
You are the aroma of Christ. Your church is the aroma of life in your neighborhood. I pray that all you do, all your choices, comes “from a deep sense of who you are.”
For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task? Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God.
2 Corinthians 2:15-17 (NIV)