Something for the Heart

For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.  Ephesians 2:10

On Saturday morning, nine churches from a variety of denominations in our community got together for a morning of serving in what was called ProjectLove. Over 160 people spread out throughout the community to love and serve God by loving and serving our neighbors. Each church was responsible for planning and hosting a few projects, but individuals could sign up for any of the projects. It was a great way to work side by side with people from other churches and was a wonderful example of the impact that the church can make when we work together. So, often, it seems that it is our divisions that make news – unity, working together, making a positive impact just doesn’t have the same headline appeal.

But we don’t come together to serve others for the headlines. We come together to love and serve others because that is what we are called to do as people of faith. We are called to make Christ known in the world –not just by our words, but by our actions. Raking a yard or weeding a garden or collection food or picking up trash along a highway may not seem like much. They are, in fact, small actions that just about anyone can do. Yet, it is through these seemingly small and insignificant acts that God’s love for the world is revealed.

For that reason, it would have been nice to have a few headlines. It would have been nice for people to see how the people of God are making a difference in our communities and in the world. It would have been nice for people to see “another” side of Christianity beyond the issues that divide us.

Yet for those of us who participated, it was enough to simply join together with others in Christ’s name, doing “kingdom work.”  I can’t wait for the next opportunity!

For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.  Ephesians 2:10

On Saturday morning, nine churches from a variety of denominations in our community got together for a morning of serving in what was called ProjectLove. Over 160 people spread out throughout the community to love and serve God by loving and serving our neighbors. Each church was responsible for planning and hosting a few projects, but individuals could sign up for any of the projects. It was a great way to work side by side with people from other churches and was a wonderful example of the impact that the church can make when we work together. So, often, it seems that it is our divisions that make news – unity, working together, making a positive impact just doesn’t have the same headline appeal.

But we don’t come together to serve others for the headlines. We come together to love and serve others because that is what we are called to do as people of faith. We are called to make Christ known in the world –not just by our words, but by our actions. Raking a yard or weeding a garden or collection food or picking up trash along a highway may not seem like much. They are, in fact, small actions that just about anyone can do. Yet, it is through these seemingly small and insignificant acts that God’s love for the world is revealed.

For that reason, it would have been nice to have a few headlines. It would have been nice for people to see how the people of God are making a difference in our communities and in the world. It would have been nice for people to see “another” side of Christianity beyond the issues that divide us.

Yet for those of us who participated, it was enough to simply join together with others in Christ’s name, doing “kingdom work.”  I can’t wait for the next opportunity!

I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world.  John 16:33

It’s Monday morning – the morning after – and I’m wondering what the disciples are doing. The gospels don’t tell us, giving us, in fact, conflicting timelines as to Jesus’ appearances following the resurrection. So, I wonder what the disciples were doing on Monday morning.

Did they sleep in – exhausted from the emotional turmoil of the weekend? Did they stay up all night – too excited by what had happened to even consider sleeping? Were they still locked away in the upper room, too afraid to venture out, or perhaps strategizing about what to do next? Were they simply in shock? Luke’s account makes it sound like Jesus’ appearance on the road to Emmaus, to the disciples in the upper room and his ascension all happened on the same day, which would mean the disciples “returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and they were continually in the temple blessing God.” (Luke 24:52-53)

It’s Monday morning – the morning after – and I’m wondering what you’re doing. We have just come off the holiest week of the Christian year. The past four days – Maundy Thursday through Easter – are what this Christian faith is all about. However you make sense of Jesus’ death and resurrection, it is at the heart of our Christian faith. And so, it seems that the celebrations of this past weekend should mean something. The events of these four lives should impact our lives, transform our faith, lead us to a new understanding of how God is working in the world. In short, we should be different people, transformed people – Easter people filled with hope.

So, I wonder, when you got up this morning and read your Monday newspaper or watched the morning news and read about the continuing political rancor in this country, the continuing unrest in places like Syria and Afghanistan, the continuing battle for life among the millions of people starving around the world – did Easter matter? Or perhaps you have continuing battles in your own life – grief, addiction, troubled relationships. In the midst of those struggles – did Easter matter?

In his final conversation with the disciples in the gospel of John, Jesus offers the disciples peace, confidently asserting that “I have conquered the world.” Even in the midst of continuing turmoil in the world, the resurrection shows us that God’s love is stronger than the world’s hate. Even though humanity can do its worst, even going so far as to nail God himself to a cross, in the end, God’s love conquers humanity’s worst. And so as we read the headlines or experience our own struggles, we too can take courage that God has indeed conquered the world and is moving us toward a day when all will have peace in Christ’s name.

Alleluia! Christ is risen. He is risen indeed.

³⁰They spat on him, and took the reed and struck him on the head. ³¹After mocking him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.                                                                        Matthew 27:30-31

As we prepare to enter into Holy Week once again, I thought about Mel Gibson’s movie, “The Passion of the Christ.” I haven’t seen it since the year it first came out in 2004. But I am still haunted by the scene where the Roman guards mercilessly whipped Jesus. It wasn’t the violence and blood that got to me, although that was certainly horrendous, but rather the joy that the guards seemed to take in beating a helpless man. Perhaps it was simply literary license in portraying the guards as enjoying this aspect of their job, but I doubt it.

The text above comes right after the flogging. Anyone who could spit on and mock someone who is already defeated, has lost the ability to see that person as human. Jesus is not only not a king – he is no longer even a person. Sadly, this ability to distance ourselves from the humanity of others is still seen time and time again today. Think of the many atrocities that we hear about from war-torn countries.  Yet, it is precisely the ability to have empathy for another that makes us uniquely human, that separates us from the animal world.

A couple weeks ago I saw a play called Seven -- an inspirational documentary play about the remarkable lives and work of seven courageous and diverse women. The play is a collaboration of seven award-winning playwrights who traveled to interview these seven women that have overcome enormous obstacles to bring about major changes in their individual home countries. Many suffered atrocities that sought to dehumanize them. Yet they all found the courage to fight back and make a difference in not only their circumstances, but of those who also suffered in their home countries.

In The Passion of the Christ, Mary Magdalene and Mary, Jesus’ mother, stood by helplessly – powerless to stop the brutality being inflicted on Jesus by a powerful Roman empire. In Seven, these seven courageous women did stand up to the powers that be to say “Stop.” They risked their own lives and health to challenge those that would dehumanize others. I wonder if I would do the same if faced with similar circumstances.

 Yet, we are faced with them every day. Our headlines are filled with stories of atrocities against other human beings. And yet, I do nothing. And I am left to wonder that if we lose empathy for our neighbor, if we fail to care for those who are suffering around the world, are we, like the Roman guards literally spitting on and making a mockery of the suffering of Jesus? As we enter into Holy Week and we trace the footsteps of Jesus’ final days, let us be mindful of those with whom Jesus walked  – the poor, the sick, the rejected, women and children – and let us walk with them as we seek ways to challenge the powers that be that still dehumanize people around the world.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6

 I’ve been writing these devotions for many years now – I’ve actually lost count, but I’m guessing it’s 7 or 8. And lately, I’ve felt a little “dry.” That’s probably one of the reasons why I don’t write them as often. I’ve just had a little more trouble getting inspired. Maybe you’ve gone through those “dry” periods as well in your own life and work – those times when you just don’t feel particularly creative or productive.

 So, the words I read today in Madeleine L’Engle’s “40-Day Journey” Lenten devotional spoke directly to my heart: “In a sense, praying and writing involve the same disciplines. When I sit down with an act of will, either before the typewriter or to pray, I have to let go of my control and listen. I listen to the story or I try to get beyond the words of prayer and listen to God. Ultimately when I hear, that is the gift, not my act of will, not my act of virtue. It is pure gift.”

 Let go of my control and listen. Those are not things that come naturally to me. Yet I know that it is during the unexpected moments, the times when I’m not trying so hard, when I’m in the midst of doing something else, that I am more likely to see God at work and to hear God’s voice speaking to me.

 Today, it was through the novelist and poet Madeleine L’Engle (author of A Wrinkly in Time). Tomorrow it may be through one of you.

 May you take time today to let go of control and listen. You never know when or through whom God may be speaking to you.

 Quick Quips

 The bird of paradise alights only on the hand that does not grasp. ~ John Berry

 We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the life that is waiting for us.   ~Joseph Campbell

 Trying creates impossibilities, letting go creates what is desired.  ~ Stalking Wolf, Apache elder

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. . . Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence and do not take your holy spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit.        Psalm 51:7, 10-12

It was the day before Ash Wednesday. We were spending time at a friend’s cabin in northern Wisconsin and we awoke that Fat Tuesday morning to a whole new world. A couple inches of snow had blanketed the lake, the evergreens, and the distant shore. As we set out to snowshoe across this fresh canvas of clean, white snow, this seemed the perfect metaphor for the season of Lent.

All the footprints and ski trails and snowmobile tracks from the day before were gone. The fresh snow and wind had completely covered them over. There was no sign of yesterday’s wanderings. Before us lay a clean, white canvas – free from the history of the day and days before. Everything was new and fresh – and we had the opportunity to set a new course – one free from the paths that had been laid before.

That’s the promise of Lent – the promise of repentance – the promise of our baptism: Every day is the opportunity for a fresh start – to turn in a new direction, to set a new course -- to let the waters of our baptism wash our sins and sin away.

So, we set out in a new direction. As we trekked along the shoreline, we stopped to examine a series of uprooted trees. Amidst the tangled mass of roots were rocks in a variety of sizes and shapes. It was clear that the life-sustaining roots had embraced the rocks, surrounding them, not letting them get in the way of the tree’s path to the life-giving water. Those rocks had become part of the root system, but they were not allowed to destroy it.

This season of Lent offers us the opportunity to reflect on the rocks in our lives – but also on the life-giving love and grace of Christ, in whom we are rooted, who embraces us – rocks and all – and offers us new life.

May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light.   Colossians 1:11-12

I am spending this week at training for BeFrienders, a listening ministry of lay pastoral care. So I sat down Sunday afternoon to do my “homework” for Monday morning. One of the assignments was to reflect on our sense of call using an analogy of tree rings. The idea behind the rings is that all of our experiences build upon one another. When you look at the rings of a tree, you can see years where there was a lot of growth – times when the water conditions, nutrients and sunshine were perfect for maturation. Then there are years where little growth is seen – the dry years or times without enough fertilizer. Each ring, each year, tells a story. They do not disappear, but add on to the previous year, indicating new growth.

Sometimes there are signs of trauma, wind storms or fire that have damaged, but not destroyed, the tree. And in some places there are knots – imperfections that form when a lower limb dies off, but remains for a time, allowing the tree to grow around it. These are the hard places that resisted growth for a while.

As I reflected on my own history, I am able to see many people and experiences that have shaped my growth – both good and bad. I can look back and see the years of plentiful growth and years that were stunted. I can see storms and fires that have been weathered. And I can certainly see the knots in my life, those hard spots that have gotten in the way of growth. Yet those “knots” in my personality that I often see as stumbling blocks are just a part of who I am. I can’t cut them out, for if I do, they leave a gaping hole that would actually weaken me.

We all have those things in our past that we would like to erase. Yet the tree shows us that each ring, each year of growth, each experience, each knot shapes us into the person we are. So, today, celebrate the knots and the wind and fire damage – as well as the years of sunshine, water and abundant nourishment. For it is all these things that have helped you to grow into the unique individual and majestic tree that you are.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”                    Exodus 3:5

You never know when you might find your feet planted on holy ground. After all, Moses certainly wasn’t expecting to find himself in God’s presence that day he was out tending his flock. I didn’t expect to find myself there on Saturday night either, and yet there I was.

No, I didn’t experience a burning bush or a voice from heaven. I am nevertheless certain that I found myself on holy ground. It was one of these chance encounters that leads to a conversation that can only be described as God given.  As I found myself talking with an amazing mother of a child with special needs, the conversation moved from casual chit chat to one of the deep mysteries of life. Having just preached on the words, “You knit me together in my mother’s womb,” I was suddenly faced with questions about that exact verse from a woman who had no idea that I had just finished a sermon on those words from Psalm 139.

The text that brought me so much comfort in thinking of a God who patiently knit me together and took time to shape my unformed substance had a very different meaning to a mother whose child had spent most of her young life in and out of hospitals. She had deep and soul-searching questions about “Why.” Yet, this mother was not bitter. She did not blame God. She choose to focus on God’s love for her and her daughter above all else.

That was when I realized that I was standing on holy ground. Because in the midst of a mother’s search for answers and a pastor’s inability to provide any, God was clearly there, surrounding us both with grace and mercy. No burning bush or booming voice were necessary. Just the quiet presence of the Holy Spirit as we stood together on holy ground.

We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people's trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming.  But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ. 

Ephesians 4:14-15

This past weekend we held our “Values and Choices” retreat with the 7^th- and 8^th-graders.  That’s code for – sex retreat! At one point, a clearly uncomfortable 7^th-grade boy, who apparently has no interest in girls at the moment, blurted out, “But we’re 7^th-graders.”

That comment gave us the opportunity to talk about why we were doing this retreat now – hopefully before these young people found themselves in situations that they didn’t know how to handle. We stressed the importance of understanding what God wanted for their lives, the importance of thinking about their values before they found themselves in “the heat of the moment,” and the importance of knowing what their boundaries were before they were ever tempted to cross them. This 7^th-grader begrudgingly admitted that perhaps this was a good idea.

His unwillingness to want to talk about this issue now, however, is indicative of how many of us respond to the world. Much of what we do is reactionary because we haven’t carefully thought through what God wants for our lives, what our values really are and how we live them out in the midst of a complex world, and what boundaries we are unwilling to cross – no matter what. So often, we find ourselves in “the heat of the moment,” needing to make decisions in “crisis mode,” rather than based on well thought-out values and beliefs. We, too, like children, are “tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine.”

This text from Ephesians offers another way --  to speak the truth in love as we grow up in every way into Christ. To grow up in Christ means to be rooted in his grace and love.  I like the way The Message translate Ephesians 4: We take our lead from Christ, who is the source of everything we do. He keeps us in step with each other. His very breath and blood flow through us, nourishing us so that we will grow up healthy in God, robust in love.

Taking our lead from Christ. Keeping in step with one another. Growing up robust in love. They seem like simple guidelines to follow in the midst of a complex world. So today, may you take a few moments to think about where Christ is leading you and keeping you in step with others as you grow up healthy in God’s robust love.

May the Lord bless you and keep you; may the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.”  Numbers 6: 24-26

This famous blessing from Numbers is given in preparation for a journey. It is given as the Israelites are preparing to leave Mt. Sinai and head to the Promised Land. No doubt, the people are filled with hope and anticipation.  In addition to the usual anticipation that comes with setting out on a new adventure, the Israelites know that they are heading to the land that has been promised to them by God. There is much to look forward to.

As we sit here, at the beginning of a new year, we, too, are filled with hope and expectation as we anticipate all that is to come in the new year. Each new year is like the beginning of a journey as we look forward to twists and turns and hills and valleys – and new adventures that we will encounter in the coming year. The year is ripe with possibilities:

• Some of you may have made New Year’s resolutions, with the goal of making specific improvements in your life. (Some of you may have already broken them!)
• Some of you are anticipating major events – graduations, weddings, births.
• Some of you have long-awaited trips that you are planning.
• Some of you may just be looking forward to a new beginning after a painful or difficult 2011.

In fact, according to a recent Associated Press poll, that would be most of you. 70% of Americans say 2011 was a bad year. And yet 78% are hopeful that 2012 will be a better year for themselves and their families. With a new year comes the possibility of new beginnings.

And so this “travel blessing” is particularly appropriate for us today at the beginning of 2012 because it reminds us that no matter where the journey takes us – we do not venture forth alone.

God goes with us.

God blesses us.

God keeps us.

God smiles upon us.

God gives us peace.

So, may the words of this ancient blessing become embedded not only in your mind, but in your heart, as you venture forth into this new year:  May the Lord bless you and keep you; may the Lord ‘s face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord look upon you with favor and give you peace.”

Many blessings to you in the coming year.