She Encroached on My Space

I already had some expectations of what I would find when I first walked in to The Church of the Resurrection building on that Wednesday for the pre-sessions of the Leadership Institute. I knew that there would be large numbers of "hosts" to welcome us, and help us find our way around. I found that I had to overcome some of my tendencies towards stubbornness, which largely come when I am feeling uncomfortable, to allow the hospitality to sink in to my spirit. 

At the very first session, I came in with little extra time to settle in since our drive to Leawood from NW Kansas city was delayed by rain and traffic. I found a place to sit where I could be with others, but allow some space around me. I chatted with other attenders around me, getting out my iPad and keyboard to take notes, beginning to feel a bit more at ease when a woman came in, talking to a few others she evidently knew. She did not sit with any of them but settled herself in the seat right next to me. Throughout the morning session, she made comments to me and spoke to me of her experiences. I worked hard to overcome my annoyance at her "audacity" to encroach upon "my" space. I responded, when appropriate, to her comments. Mostly I made myself be aware of my feelings and how they could affect my relationships in ministry. It was particularly apropos to the topic of the session: "Jesus Apprentice: Learning to Do What Jesus Did."

In that workshop, Jeff Kirby spoke of a disciple as "somebody who has a growing confidence of a growing relationship with God, to share that relationship with others—with people who are resisting evil." Through the morning, I discovered the woman next to me was a recovering alcoholic, someone who was working hard to face her own powerlessness to overcome an addiction, and had found a journey towards healing and wholeness in her relationship with God and God's people. I had to ask myself: How often do we, or more to the point, I focus on our own feelings rather than be aware that everyone brings something of darkness, or at least need, in their life? What do we do in worship at Christ Crossman that acknowledges the pain and darkness that people are dealing with, while allowing the light of Jesus to offer healing through us?

1 John 1:3-4

We declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

Refreshing Water

Last week, I wrote of my plan to take a Sabbath rest. I want to tell you a bit about it. I drove to the Blue Ridge of Virginia, just down the road from Graves Mountain Lodge in Syria, Virginia. The Martins graciously hosted me, allowing me time and space. I walked every day, though not in the woods because I really did not want to be mistaken for a deer by a bow and arrow hunter. I slept in. I read and I wrote. I rode through the fields late one night with Christopher. I ate jam homemade by Betty. Earle told me that the farm’s well water was tested, and it was purer than bottled water. I believe him. It tasted good and refreshing.

As I read and wrote, I thought and prayed about Christ Crossman a lot. I knew you were all in good hands, so I could relax about the details for a bit. It was the bigger picture, the vision that I prayed about. When Jen and I were at the Leadership Institute in Kansas, a theme seemed to emerge from the workshops I attended. We are called as a congregation, and as individuals, to be a bridge over which someone might walk to meet Jesus, to find light and healing in their journey. Jen spoke of being like a well where people might come to sit on the wall with Jesus and discover living water. That includes us also. We need to take time to sip at that well, refreshing and deepening our spirits within us.

I like that image. I drank deeply of the water at the farm, and I found a time of rest and renewal. I want to keep drinking deeply of the living water so that my spirit will be so full of Jesus’ Spirit that others will find a healing rest in my presence.

John 4:13-14

Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.”  

Sabbath Rest

A few weeks ago when we dressed as our favorite super heroes I wore an Incredibles t-shirt for Elastigirl. She can stretch her body out to stop criminals in the act, to manage her three active kids all at once, and to glide them safely to earth from a plane about to be shot out of the sky. As a mom, a wife for many years, and a pastor, I have often felt as though I was contorting my life in order to manage so many tasks at once.

The reality is that I am not Elastigirl, nor am I Superwoman. Nor are you Superman or Superwoman. We may be incredibly active and effective, but in truth, we are finite human beings.

The beauty of the first Creation story in Genesis culminates in God taking a rest on the seventh day. Each day, God saw that the work was good, but the story reminds us that even God chose to rest. And when God gave the people those ten “words” on the tablets, they were indication of how we could best be in relationship with God, with each other, and with ourselves by honoring and respecting, by keeping boundaries, and by resting.

So this weekend, I am taking Sabbath time. I will have my computer with me because I have a paper I have to write, but I will not be using it to stay connected with everybody in the world. I am going to trust God, and in doing so, I will offer myself in prayer.

Genesis 2:1-3

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude. And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation.

Out of Hiding

Last Friday, Jen and I heard Leonard Sweet, a theologian, speak. He said a lot of things that were really deep over which I am still mulling. One in particular struck a deep chord for me. He talked about the word truth. We translate the Greek word aletheia as truth, but its root meaning is "to come out of hiding into the light." In other words, truth is about relationship. What need is there to hide unless we are hiding from someone or something?

In Genesis 3, it is clear that God is interested in relationship--God likes to walk and talk in the garden. One evening however, the two humans are hiding. It's not that God could not find them. God honored boundaries, and called for them. They are hiding because they are afraid--because they are naked. Well, they have been naked all along, but now they know their nakedness, and they are ashamed.

How often do we hide-- from God, from ourselves, from others-- because we are ashamed? That shame may take many forms, but at the root it is because others might see the real me, know my nakedness, and realize how inadequate I am.

The insight that came for me as I have reflected on this is that I, and so many others, try to hide --cover up our shame, our nakedness, and our inadequacies-- by behaviors that become addictive. Hence, we hide further in the darkness, compounding our fear of being found and seen, all because we are sure that when others see us as we are, they will shun us, and despise us. That is what we think will happen with God, too.

The truth, though, is that God seeks us, searches for us, not to shun us, but to be in loving relationship with us. The Light came into the world to bring us life, not death. Now, if only my entire being would believe it.

John 1:1-4
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

Spending Time with Siblings in Christ

Jen and I have been in Kansas this week at the Leadership Institute of the Church of the Resurrection. It has been an amazing week in which we have been reflecting on Christ Crossman as we hear presentations. I am sure you will hear about this from us before too long.

Right now, I am filled with awe and gratitude at how our God works amazing connections. I was able to introduce Jen to some friends of mine. We stayed with some of my college friends on Tuesday night, Susan and Loren. We had only reconnected in January, 2012, after many years. It seemed as though Jen and Susan had been friends for years. We have also spent time with a newer friend, Hedy, and found that the world is indeed a small place. That discovery will be Jen's to share.

Spending time in community with sisters and brothers in Christ is an awesome privilege and a great joy. Every time I get to go to a conference and spend more time with Jen, I give thanks more and more for her passion and compassion, for her intense love of God and God's people, and for her deep commitment to Christ Crossman. 

Colossians 3:12

As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.

Lost in the Beauty

My soul cries out holy, holy
My heart is lost in your beauty
All hope is found in your mercy*

Wednesday night as I sat listening, amid all the standing--and jumping--to the music of the Rend Collective, I was caught by the phrase “My heart is lost in your beauty.” I remembered the image I had last week of Chip, Jeff and Elmer standing in awe and wonder in the glory of our God whose heart is the center of all creation. God is the center, and yet God also encompasses all of creation. How can God be both the very center and that which surrounds us all? All I can do is be lost in the beauty of God’s mercy, singing “holy, holy.”

The wedding banquet is a great image that Jesus uses for the kingdom of God. The problem is that we think of this banquet as somewhere off in the distant, far away future. The reality is that the kingdom of God is already among us. Eternity began the moment of Creation’s beginning. God has invited all of creation from the very beginning into relationship. God is both the host of the banquet, and yet God is the very feast itself.  How can God be host and feast? All I can do is be lost in the beauty of God’s mercy, singing “holy, holy.”

*Rend Collective, “Finally Free,” 2014.

Revelation 7:9

After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands.

When Someone Dies...

“When someone dies, you don’t get over your grief by forgetting; you get through your grief by remembering.” I read this on Facebook this evening. It is appropriate for this week. A college friend we loved died this week after a journey with cancer. In his caring fashion, as he realized that treatment was not working, he reached out thinking of his wife, and how Charlene and I have been through what she is now facing, losing a husband to cancer.

I have never forgotten Chip, though as so often happens in life, we got busy and did not stay in touch as much as we could have. We talked on occasion, once after Hurricane Katrina made them evacuate from Beaumont. We emailed a bit. The last time I saw him was eons ago, just before I started at Duke, and while he was in law school at the University of Texas in Austin. I took a solo road trip visiting family and friends along the way, ending with Chip. After he finished his final exam, we had a cookout with his law school friends—the first brisket I ever had. He went with me to visit my childhood hometown in Taft, and to see the white, white beaches at Corpus Christi. We waded in the almost bath-warm waters of North Padre Island.

I met Chip in our Fireside fellowship at the Wesley Foundation at UVA. Neither of us had signed up for the “Contract” meal plan, so many, if not most nights found us eating together in different eateries at The Corner. He took me to the Moot Court, when his father, a graduate of the law school at UVA, visited. That night, we were able to witness the great Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall preside over the Moot Court.

I remember Chip’s deep intelligence and his compassion, and the light that would gleam in his eyes when he engaged in a discussion. Though they never, ever met in life, I wonder if he and Jeff, and Elmer might find a pause in their wondrous gazing upon the glory of our God to find common ground, and share a laugh about the naiveté of their two Wahoo women, and stand amazed at how we all grew into what God called us to be. Here’s to the memories! I hold them dear.

1 Corinthians 15:41-42

There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; indeed, star differs from star in glory. So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable.

Get Your Game On!

Get your game on! Come dressed as, or sport gear from your favorites!

What is your favorite cartoon character? You will have to come to worship at Christ Crossman this Sunday (September 7) to see mine! What can cartoon characters teach us about conflict?

Which is your favorite sports team? Personally, I’d like to find a Gryffindor quidditch robe to wear on September 14, but I will settle for something a little more earthbound. What can we learn about forgiveness in sports?

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s Superman! Or whoever is your favorite superhero? With all their superpowers, what could we possibly learn about humility from them on September 21?

The breadth of history is wide open for your choice of a favorite historical character. The good, the bad, the ugly—all have something to teach us about our faith on September 28. Did you know that Maggie our new intern majored in history in college? She will be preaching that Sunday.

And on October 5, we hope to see a panorama of our favorite nations (other than the good ol’ USA) as we celebrate World Communion Sunday.

Why on earth are we doing this? It’s because laughter and mirth can bring joy to the heart. And why not! Sarah laughed.

Genesis 21.6:

Now Sarah said, “God has brought laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.”