Wednesday, February 28, 2007
My soul cries out
O God, my soul cries out for all who are filled with such pain, or anger, or both, that they cannot hear any words of love, see any hope out of the morass. Touch them with your holy grace, Jesus. Heal us with your power. Help us to find love and hope again.
Be still
Philip Yancey, in his book, Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference, reminds us to "be still, and know that I am God." To be still, and vacate the throne of trying to control all our stuff, all our life, as a god, and turn to God entrhoned.
Being still is not easy for me. I constantly try to juggle all the balls of being wife, mother, pastor, friend, responsible member of certain groups, responsible citizen, recycler, environmentalist, on and on and on, infinatum. I try to cast my vision out to anticipate what will be coming down the road and plan appropriate action. But I find myself overwhelemed by the sheer enormity of it all.
Like a slap in the face, I remember the importance of changing my prayer a few years ago from "God, bless what we are doing here" to "God, help us be a part of what you are doing here." God is already here. God is already in the midst of all my juggling balls. I can even imagine a divine wry smile cracking the fabric of Creation, God gently watching me struggle to keep all the plates spinning at one time, and waiting to catch my eye to let me know that I don't have to keep them all spinning.
God is not a jukebox in the sky for me to put my quarters (prayers) in and get my selection. God is the very music itself reaching down into the very marrow of my being, seeking to help tune me so that I can play in harmony with all of God's Creation.
Gracious, Loving God, help me to be still in your presence, so that I can hear the wonders of your music and become a vital part of your orchestra of praise.
Being still is not easy for me. I constantly try to juggle all the balls of being wife, mother, pastor, friend, responsible member of certain groups, responsible citizen, recycler, environmentalist, on and on and on, infinatum. I try to cast my vision out to anticipate what will be coming down the road and plan appropriate action. But I find myself overwhelemed by the sheer enormity of it all.
Like a slap in the face, I remember the importance of changing my prayer a few years ago from "God, bless what we are doing here" to "God, help us be a part of what you are doing here." God is already here. God is already in the midst of all my juggling balls. I can even imagine a divine wry smile cracking the fabric of Creation, God gently watching me struggle to keep all the plates spinning at one time, and waiting to catch my eye to let me know that I don't have to keep them all spinning.
God is not a jukebox in the sky for me to put my quarters (prayers) in and get my selection. God is the very music itself reaching down into the very marrow of my being, seeking to help tune me so that I can play in harmony with all of God's Creation.
Gracious, Loving God, help me to be still in your presence, so that I can hear the wonders of your music and become a vital part of your orchestra of praise.
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Snowy grace
On this first Sunday of Lent, we have been given an unexpected grace. The anticipated wintry mix turned to a heavy snowfall blanketing our world with white and bringing with it a quiet Sabbath time.
This wilderness of white isn't quite like the wilderness into which Jesus was led, driven, hurled by the Spirit, and yet it also allows time and space to consider.
What is it to be called by God to be faithful in this time and place?
This wilderness of white isn't quite like the wilderness into which Jesus was led, driven, hurled by the Spirit, and yet it also allows time and space to consider.
What is it to be called by God to be faithful in this time and place?
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Ash Wednesday
The first day of Lent. A time to reflect. I have always thought of Lent as a time to reevaluate my relationship with God, that anything I "give up" should be something that gets in the way between God and me. I remember, years ago, in college, giving up all physical relationship with my boyfriend--hugs, kisses, even holding hands. Another college year, I gave up bread. That was probably the hardest year of all.
What would I "give up" this year? What is getting in the way? I'm not so sure that it is a "thing" but an attitude or a posture. I am afraid.
Fear often shows a lack of trust. So maybe my trust in God is lacking. But I also believe that God doesn't just swoop in and set everything to rights, like the deus ex machina of the Greek/Roman dramas-- dramatic invention, a diety suspended on wires, that saves the hero/ine from falling off the cliff when nothing else can. If that were the case, we wouldn't need to learn, to change, to grow.
When the ash cross is smudged onto my forehead, O gracious holy God, let me place my fear in your hands so that I can learn to balance on the edge. So be it.
What would I "give up" this year? What is getting in the way? I'm not so sure that it is a "thing" but an attitude or a posture. I am afraid.
Fear often shows a lack of trust. So maybe my trust in God is lacking. But I also believe that God doesn't just swoop in and set everything to rights, like the deus ex machina of the Greek/Roman dramas-- dramatic invention, a diety suspended on wires, that saves the hero/ine from falling off the cliff when nothing else can. If that were the case, we wouldn't need to learn, to change, to grow.
When the ash cross is smudged onto my forehead, O gracious holy God, let me place my fear in your hands so that I can learn to balance on the edge. So be it.
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Trouble, but no grace
Paul Scott Wilson, preacher/teacher par excellence, says that preachers tend to do very well talking about trouble, but not so well talking about grace. He has a pattern that is very helpful. First look at trouble in the Bible, then trouble in the world, grace in the Bible, then grace in our world. Part of the problem is that even when we are trying to talk about grace, we end up heaping more trouble.
Today's service was a lesson in point. While visiting family in TX, I attended a contemporary service with my niece and her husband. The music and energy was good. Their band had more players than we usually have at our contemporary service in total. Of course, AnnaMaria playing the keyboard makes up for 10 or more musicians. I digress. Music was good. An opening drama was good. The proclamation left something to be desired. It was titled "Sin." The preacher, while folksy and sometimes humorous, dealt with sin and trouble in the world (not even in the Bible), using a definition that sin creates conflict in our relationship with God, with each other and the world. That's all well and true. He left us with the admonition that we don't want to create this conflict, and so do better about it. That was the gist of the sermon. I thought maybe I was being a bit critical, as preachers are wont to be, until my younger compatriots spoke up on the way home. They had gotten the same point as I, and missed the grace as well.
The grace of God, as Paul the Apostle well knows, is all that keeps me from falling completely to my sin. In Romans 7:15-19, he speaks of willing to do good, but not being able to do it. Yes, I must cooperate with the grace and will to do the good, but all my willing will not make it happen. In the end, all I can do is give thanks to God for the overwhelming grace I experience in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ. And so, bathed in that grace, I learn to live in grace and offer grace to all the others who are sinners like me. Thanks be to God!
Today's service was a lesson in point. While visiting family in TX, I attended a contemporary service with my niece and her husband. The music and energy was good. Their band had more players than we usually have at our contemporary service in total. Of course, AnnaMaria playing the keyboard makes up for 10 or more musicians. I digress. Music was good. An opening drama was good. The proclamation left something to be desired. It was titled "Sin." The preacher, while folksy and sometimes humorous, dealt with sin and trouble in the world (not even in the Bible), using a definition that sin creates conflict in our relationship with God, with each other and the world. That's all well and true. He left us with the admonition that we don't want to create this conflict, and so do better about it. That was the gist of the sermon. I thought maybe I was being a bit critical, as preachers are wont to be, until my younger compatriots spoke up on the way home. They had gotten the same point as I, and missed the grace as well.
The grace of God, as Paul the Apostle well knows, is all that keeps me from falling completely to my sin. In Romans 7:15-19, he speaks of willing to do good, but not being able to do it. Yes, I must cooperate with the grace and will to do the good, but all my willing will not make it happen. In the end, all I can do is give thanks to God for the overwhelming grace I experience in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ. And so, bathed in that grace, I learn to live in grace and offer grace to all the others who are sinners like me. Thanks be to God!
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Happy Birthday!
Today is my best friend's birthday. Happy birthday, friend! Enjoy the snow out there and the warmth I hope you are experiencing this weekend.
From our first year of college, through marriage, kids, life, death, resurrection, through it all, you have been a wonderfully gracious woman. May this year before your Golden Year be filled with joy, discernment, hope, love and so much more.
From our first year of college, through marriage, kids, life, death, resurrection, through it all, you have been a wonderfully gracious woman. May this year before your Golden Year be filled with joy, discernment, hope, love and so much more.
Friday, February 16, 2007
Family is an incredible gift
Family is an incredible gift. I thank God for mine.
I don't watch much TV anymore. This evening, I watched reruns with my niece and her husband. The family depicted on the sitcom was incredibly dysfunctional (whose isn't to some degree?). We laughed as the parents and grown children squabbled and feuded just like little children, all the while recognizing that others might look at our family and see things to guffaw about. I was simply reminded of the gift of family. Mine has never been perfect. I know my brother sometimes must roll his eyes at my life and choices, while I chuckle about his foibles as well, but when all is said and done, he is my brother and will always be in my corner as I am in his.
I remember a time back in high school. He was dating a young woman in the grade between us. She and I were lab assistants to the same teacher. I remember (blushing somewhat at the memory) telling her, because she was dating someone else as well, that if she hurt my brother, she had me to deal with. What could I have done to her? What would I have done to her? Nothing truly. But I remember the depth of my protective feeling--don't mess with my brother! When he was in college, my brother would not allow his fraternity brothers to even think about dating me. They were okay to be his friends, but not for me. Thirty plus years later, we still have that same depth of feeling for each other, even though we live thousands of miles apart in very diffierent worlds.
Gracious God, thank you for my family!
I don't watch much TV anymore. This evening, I watched reruns with my niece and her husband. The family depicted on the sitcom was incredibly dysfunctional (whose isn't to some degree?). We laughed as the parents and grown children squabbled and feuded just like little children, all the while recognizing that others might look at our family and see things to guffaw about. I was simply reminded of the gift of family. Mine has never been perfect. I know my brother sometimes must roll his eyes at my life and choices, while I chuckle about his foibles as well, but when all is said and done, he is my brother and will always be in my corner as I am in his.
I remember a time back in high school. He was dating a young woman in the grade between us. She and I were lab assistants to the same teacher. I remember (blushing somewhat at the memory) telling her, because she was dating someone else as well, that if she hurt my brother, she had me to deal with. What could I have done to her? What would I have done to her? Nothing truly. But I remember the depth of my protective feeling--don't mess with my brother! When he was in college, my brother would not allow his fraternity brothers to even think about dating me. They were okay to be his friends, but not for me. Thirty plus years later, we still have that same depth of feeling for each other, even though we live thousands of miles apart in very diffierent worlds.
Gracious God, thank you for my family!
Life on the edge
After nearly 27 years of serving as a pastor, I don't want to stay with what is safe and usual. In so many ways, all of us really live on the edge. Isn't that where the gospel takes us--out onto the edge? To learn new ways of expressing the Good News, to encounter people whose life experience is different than mine, to trust that God is already at the edge to welcome us--this is part of what keeps us alive.
Three weeks ago, on the same day, I held a newborn baby boy in my arms in the morning and in the afternoon I sat at the bedside of a man who was dying. I had used the same oil to anoint both of them. The fragrance of the grace of God lingered in the air to remind us that, in Jesus, God poured God's self out in overwhelming love for all creation. As Jonathan entered a world to learn of God's love, Bill entered a "new world" to see God face to face. Thanks be to God who allows me to be a witness to both these holy moments.
Three weeks ago, on the same day, I held a newborn baby boy in my arms in the morning and in the afternoon I sat at the bedside of a man who was dying. I had used the same oil to anoint both of them. The fragrance of the grace of God lingered in the air to remind us that, in Jesus, God poured God's self out in overwhelming love for all creation. As Jonathan entered a world to learn of God's love, Bill entered a "new world" to see God face to face. Thanks be to God who allows me to be a witness to both these holy moments.
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