It is finished

Dear Blog Readers,

I am sorry it has been so long since I have blogged. I have finished an intensive writing process for full ordination. In other words, my brain has been filled with words for the last three months and I had plenty of white paper I had to put them on. Now, it is time to get back to my creative side.

The ads on tv tell me it's Christmas. The radio is playing Christmas carols. I have even bought the presents. But it doesn't feel like Christmas. So, what is Christmas supposed to feel like? I am a visual person, so the image that keeps coming to my mind is a bright light in the darkness. I mean a really bright light that penetrates the deep black darkness. But, the darkness is still there. The darkness does not go away. But the light makes the darkness more bearable. That is what Christmas looks like to me, but what does it feel like?

The signs at the mall say Christmas is supposed to feel like joy. But, to me Christmas feels more like fulfillment. A woman came into my life recently, she needed pastoral care through a crisis, death is a constant and ever present reality for her. She is not concerned about Christmas gifts, those useless objects you unwrap, don't bring the feeling of Christmas to someone dealing with death. To her, Christmas is the peace she gets from studying God's Word, hearing the Christmas story. When she reads the Christmas story, she sees the light in the darkness. So what does Christmas feel like to me? It is sitting with her. It is being present for her. It is listening to her. At Christmas we don't want to deal with death, we like to focus on the birth of Christ, but the shadow of the cross is always present. Christmas feels like loving someone, and that can be done every day.

Where do dragonflies go?

I took a minute to watch a dragonfly. I never noticed before that they can almost "fly still" where their wings are moving so fast but they are not actually moving forward. In fact, it seems like they are moving backward a little bit. I asked God if I do that? Do I work so hard and fast but actually stop moving forward? This particular dragonfly was hovering over my car, and I thought, well now that you have got yourself over here, what are you going to do? Sometimes I feel like that, I keep pushing, keep moving, thinking I am moving forward, but when I actually take a moment to look around I am not where I should be. One more question came to my mind as I watched this dragonfly dart and dash through the cars, Does he know he's a dragonfly? That is a label we humans have made to classify and identify him, but he doesn't know he is a dragonfly. I have felt weighed down at times in my life by labels me or others have put on me. Humans are the only ones who allow labels to define them. So my lesson from the dragonfly today... just be natural, take time to pause, don't worry about where I am going, just have fun where I am. But most of all don't worry about labels, I don't need to be classified or identified to belong.

Hour Glass

The raising of Lazarus points us all to the understanding of what eternal life means, as revealed by Jesus, in his dialogue with the bystanders, in his words to Martha....Open your Bibles to John 11:21-27 “Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him. Jesus said to her, “your brother will rise again.” Martha said to him, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day. Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who believes in me, will never die. Do you believe this? She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”

These are the words we often read at funerals, because in his dialogue with Martha ...Jesus affirms the resurrection for Lazarus and for all by the power of God, through the Savior. Martha runs to get Mary, and Jesus repeats the message.

The resurrection is through me, life is through me, I am the Messiah.

Then the message is made available to all through the dramatic, emotional event, as the stone is rolled away from Lazarus tomb, and the glory of God is proved and emphasized through Jesus words, “Father, I thank you for having heard me, I knew that you always heard me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so they may believe that you have sent me. When he said this, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” Folks it doesn’t get much more dramatic than this!

I want us to remember, Jesus brought Lazarus back to life, Jesus freed him from the bonds of death, Lazarus walked out of his tomb, but Jesus did not cure him from death. There was a day, many days later, when once again Lazarus was carried into his tomb. There was a day, many years later, when there would be another funeral, the mourners would gather, and the women would weep for Lazarus. But on this day, many years later, there was joy in the tears, Why? Because many years later, they remembered, these words, as their souls groaned, their hearts remembered....

“I am the resurrection and the life.”

So let us now talk about the second time Lazarus died. On this day, there was sadness and shock, grief and mourning, by family and friends. But, there was rejoicing too, for Lazarus went home, and on this day, Jesus was there too. That is what we believe, we believe that Jesus saves. We believe in eternal life. We believe in living in the eternal presence of our perfect and holy father.

The second time Lazarus died, I hope Martha had faith that Jesus was with her brother rejoicing in heaven at the same time he was with her and Mary mourning on earth.

We weep. We mourn. We miss their faces, their smiles. In this world, we will live with heartache, our hearts will be broken every time we have to say goodbye to someone we love.

We know their name,

but God knows the hairs on their head.

We know their laughter,

but God knows where the joy came from.

We know their love,

but God taught them to love.

So when a loved one dies, we mourn, we grieve for all that has left with them, but God welcomes with open arms, the same moment they leave ours embrace, they walk into his everlasting arms.

So when the sand in our our glass here runs out, God turns it over in heaven, and it never runs out again.

I feel often in the American culture we treat death as something to be avoided and feared. We spent enormous amounts of energy and money trying to stay young and stave off death. There is no cure for death, we will all die, so let us learn how to live, knowing that there is a purpose to our life. Let us not fear death, let us embrace life, and honor the memory of those who have died. Let us remember what they taught us, because those special people God brings to our lives teach us how to live and how to die.

There is a dead tree in my back yard...

There is a dead tree in my back yard. It is my fault, last year, we planted a dogwood tree in the corner of our yard. I had all the best intentions, but I forgot to water the tree. We don’t have a spigot back there and so I have to lug a bucket of water to the tree to be able to water it. That is one of my excuses. The rain watered the tree some, but it was a long, hot,dry summer. I have known for a while the tree was dead, I can see it from my living room, but I feel bad. I feel guilty. I feel like I failed to do such a simple thing, water this little tree. I need to go dig it up, that is the practical thing to do, but I feel bad, I feel like a failure. I know that it is just a tree, that it bears no ill feelings toward me, holds no grudges, but that dead tree reminds me of all the times I have made a promise or commitment and failed. That dead tree reminds me of so many times I have tried to do something and have fallen short, my best intentions sometimes haunt me like a graveyard of broken promises...the sewing machine I bought and never took out of the box...the birthday cards I bought but never sent...the recipe I downloaded but never made...the books I have never read...the people I have not called...the prayer time I have moved a thousand times. There is a dead tree in my back yard, all it needed was a little water, a little care, I know what I should’ve done, but I didn’t, and so this lifeless solitary branch stands in a corner of my back yard a visual reminder of how all I need sometimes is a little water, a little love, and the caring hands of my creator to give me life so I can bear fruit.

Jesus offers the Samaritan Woman living water, and we understand immediately, we hear Jesus say, “I will give you living water and you will never thirst again” and the very words, the idea refreshes our souls. As I was praying my way through this passage this week, God gave me a new insight to this story that I have read so many times. Worship is our living water. Worship in spirit and truth refreshes my weary soul.

There is a dead tree in my backyard.....It’s my fault, I planted this tree, but I forgot to water it.

I look at that dead tree from my living room window and sometimes I feel like that, dried up, not bearing fruit, just taking up space. It’s my fault I feel like that, sometimes I forget to go to the well for water for myself.

Sometimes I forget to worship in spirit and in truth.

Sometimes I forget to come to Jesus and ask for the Living Water. But today, I remember. Any day we can make sacred space at an appointed time, we can go to the well to meet the Messiah. Let us not forget to ask for the living the water. Let us open our hearts and offer ourselves as a living in sacrifice so we can worship in spirit and truth. Let us be trees that grow, flourish, and bear fruit.

There was this moment of possibility

There was this moment of possibility when I was daydreaming. I was daydreaming a response to a poignant question, "How will the world be different in three years because I am here?" Now, I brought this down a little smaller, "How will my community be different in three years because I am here?" This question is hard because at this time a year I think a lot about self improvement. I want to be a smaller size in three years. I want to drive a different car in three years. I want to have read more books in three years. I want to go to Ireland. It's easy to thing of how I want my world to be different in three years, but my community, that requires a bigger picture.

So, I daydreamed, and I invited the Holy Spirit to the daydream. Here is what I came up with. I want to know all of my neighbors on my street by name, and I want to know their birthday. I want to support local farmers and buy their goods and produce. I want people to know our church by its people and their good works rather than by its street address.

I daydreamed of going through my cookie cookbook and making a batch of cookies for each of my neighbors on their birthday. I daydreamed of farm families sitting around the dinner table with a little less worry that their hard work is producing enough for them to survive. I daydreamed of planting tulips and daffodils in our church neighbors yards this spring.

Daydreams are just that dreams. But dreams lead us, move us, propel us give us this moment of possibility.

I would love to hear your response, "How will your community be different in three years?"

There was this moment in the movie theater

There was this moment in the movie theater recently when I forgot I was in a movie theater. The movie took me away to another world. A world of imagination. This is when I know a movie is really good, when I become lost in the story. When I was younger, I used to get in trouble for daydreaming in class. The teacher thought I wasn't paying attention. They taught me not to daydream. As I have gotten older, I have learned to daydream again. Daydreaming is when I get my best ideas because I think of what is possible. Daydreaming is not practical, it is not cost effective, but it is productive. I have given myself permission to daydream and I feel so refreshed. Like sitting in a good movie, falling into a story, daydreaming lets you fall into possibility. So the next blog post will be called, "There was this moment of possibility..."

A Ten minute retreat

Today I got some good old-fashioned junk mail. You know, the unsolicited tangible pieces of paper that some company actually pays to send you. Most of the time, this junk mail goes straight to the recycle bin...but...this one had a phrase that spoke to my soul "Go on a retreat for 10 minutes." The line that followed said, "Escape to a spiritual retreat for just a moment each day." There is a picture of an empty adirondack chair waiting for me in a vast, lush, green meadow.

Is God waiting for me in that meadow? This junk mail caused me to dust off my devotional and my journal and give ten uninterrupted minutes to God. I did feel my soul sigh, my spirit renew, and just a moment of rejuvenation. I heard from God, thank you for keeping this appointment, please feel free to make another one. So, maybe this wasn't junk mail this time, maybe it was an appointment reminder card, you know like the one the dentist sends you. A card to remind me that I have missed too many appointments with God. A card to remind me that my chair in the meadow has been empty and I have been missed.

God is waiting for me in the meadow? in my living room? in my office? Ten minutes may not seem like a lot, but it is a gift to have, a gift to receive, and a gift I can give my Creator.