What If the Sky Is the Limit?

A couple of weeks ago, people were dreaming about what they might do if they won that huge lottery prize. Did you find yourself imagining what you might do? It’s can be fun to think about having almost no limits. The reality though is we usually have some limitations in our lives. If we wait until they are all cleared up, then we will be waiting for a long, long time. What if, instead, we began to think about what we really want to accomplish in our lives, even with the constraints we have?

In worship, we have been thinking about limitations or constraints. Lots of times we look at them as things that bind us or keep us from doing what we want to do, or accomplish what we aim for. And sure, we can find ourselves bound, but we can also find ourselves freed to think In new ways.

What is the single most important thing/person/purpose in your life?

What is your greatest hope?

What keeps you from moving towards that hope?

How could you re-imagine the journey towards that hope using what is actually in your life now?

Vanity of Vanities?

“Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.” That’s the way the NRSV and many other versions of the Bible translate Ecclesiastes 1:2.

In our Covenant Bible Study this week, we explored a different way of understanding the intent of that verse. The Hebrew word translated as vanity is hevel which actually means “vapor” or “breath.” The presenter described with her hand how we try to take hold of something only to find out that it is vaporous breath; it has no substance.

Combined with other parts of the book of the Teacher, we learn that life is the moment that we have now. The past is what brought us to this moment; we have no guarantee of anything past now. Some have read this to say that life is meaningless, but it really means that in this moment, no matter how simple the meal in front of us, we have the fullness of life.

As we celebrated Linda Garcia’s life we have been reminded just how true that is. This moment is the wholeness of life; this moment is the gift we have. Celebrate the gift of now, instead of trying to reach and grab hold of something that is vaporous breath. Turn to look at the person who is beside you now, whether family, friend, or stranger, and see in them the gift of God at this moment. The meal in front of you, no matter how simple, is the table at which God invites you to sit and eat.

How would we live if we truly took this moment as the sacrament of life, to know how holy life is?

 Ecclesiastes 3:14-15

I know that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it; God has done this, so that all should stand in awe before him. That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already is; and God seeks out what has gone by.

L'Arche Prayer Circle for Linda

On Monday night, Maggie and I were privileged to be a part of a special ritual following a

Linda & Jeannette
August '15 Tea Party

meal in a L’Arche home. A candle is lighted and passed as each person offers their prayers, often guided by an intention. Monday’s intention was for Linda Garcia.  I share the prayers so that you too may be a part of this special intention giving thanks for Linda in your life, and in the life of our community   at Christ Crossman:

With her mom, they are happy, thank L’Arche

Peaceful passing, for the way love flowed through the day in so.  Many currents, holding us, how Linda has changed us,    humor and lots of love and devotion

For Linda to rest, what she showed me and taught me, how she acknowledged my gifts, how she accepted herself helps me to accept myself,

That Linda feels Abba’s peace and rest tonight, for her love and commitment to people. Her life, help us to be so commitment to one another

For my daughter Linda, she called this place home, she loved this place.

Linda.

She said: Dad was so proud of me, she always knew that dad was so proud of her, that made her happy

Linda and her mom to rest, thankful for all the ways Linda mothered us, checked on us, and loved us, what she taught me about it means to love someone and what it means to be known, quirky obsessions, annoying questions, grateful for how God was present in her life, the gift of community, the way Linda lived and supported. Us

Like a sister to me, good singer, liked Jack--the dog, she prayed for me

Rest, from the time I know Linda, every night she wanted to know if I eat, what I’m doing; are you taking good care of my dad,

For knowing Linda in this community.

Linda taught us service, always caring, ark, bridge,

Love of animals, feeding the birds, making sure the deer weren't eating the bird food; made her mom's recipes, the friends she made with people of the street, she is a friend, one who befriended, Linda as gift

Oscar really loved you, you were her most important person, relationship took on many roles, a friend to me when we were able to travel together, same age, same pace, walking, walking two women together, happy in her independence, to see her grow in the last few years, blessed to be able to speak up for herself, animated in doing that, h passion for food, we would scrape the pots and pans to get all the rest of the food, she is at a banquet that is fit for royalty, happy that she is with Ellen

Linda was so special to me, she knew all my family members, when my children come from college and when they would go back, what they study, what they do, everything morning, she'd tell me all the anniversaries, all the happenings

Thankful for her smile, her joy, the joy she brought to everyone here tonight

I told the boys today about Linda, they said, no, not Linda. Picture of the boys with her, huge smile as she had given them the "whomp" treatment, how she was a mother for all of us, and how I learned of my motherliness because of Linda. Linda is with us in the midst of all of this, that she's laughing with us, asking us questions, holding our hands, and still giving the treatment to the boys

Blessing Song

Making Space In our Lives

Making space in our lives is an incredible gift to others, and to ourselves. I just read a brief post by Sarah Thebarge, a writer, follower of Jesus, medical professional, among other identities. While out of town on a speaking tour, she was “writing in a Starbucks in Minnesota when this young man came in and asked to borrow” her phone. He had locked his phone and keys in his car. After calling his car insurance company, they talked while waiting for roadside assistance. He and his family are refugees from Somalia. A previous encounter with Somali refugees—a mother with her young daughters—had changed Thebarge’s life.

The gifts go both ways. While Sarah’s life was changed, she also made their immigrant experience of being strangers in a strange land less alienating for them. They found new hope and possibilities.

As we open our own lives to those we encounter, how do we see Jesus’ eyes shining in theirs? How does Jesus’ touch go through us? Sometimes, a simple word is enough. Other times, we may find God leading us to incommode our own comfort in order to make a place of welcome hospitality. And all this is possible because God has already made an incredible gift of not holding to the high status but coming to be with us in the midst of all that makes us human.

Hebrews 13:2

Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.