unexpected gifts – Page 9

June Thoughts

Posted on June 1, 2012June 1, 2012 by a quiet walk

“And God saw that it was good.”
Genesis 1:18b (NRSV)

June is the month of the summer solstice, Mid-Summer, a time of picnics, camping and celebrations of the earth’s abundance. But here in Washington it never seems very celebratory to me. After all we have only just begun having warm weather and I always think it’s unfair that the world is turning to winter before summer even begins. Here in our beloved northwest summer often comes and goes before we even have warm weather, fall and spring are often non-existent and, winter rains and snow hang on with a vise like grip. We often seem to be just a little out of synch with the rest of the country; warm when everyone else is cool and way too cool when everyone else is scorching. What’s worse is if we wait 15 minutes everything will change around us. What was the creator thinking when She formed the American Northwest? Our changing land and weather must bring great joy and laughter to the Creator.

Yet when the sky clears and the sun shines in a canopy of blinding blue we know the special blessing of our home. We live in a graced land of diversity. Mountains so high they have snow on them all year, yet deep within their hearts lies the fire of the planet; ground that seems solid beneath our feet yet can shake like a bowl of jelly turning our world upside down. Inviting looking lakes so cold with water from snow melt you can’t swim in them for very long without protection. An ocean with depths that hide a treasure of animal life found nowhere else like giant octopus nearly as intelligent as we are and whales and salmon of course, can’t forget the salmon. So I guess God knew what she was doing when she created the magical land we live in. Each season whether they be hot or cold, wet or dry, cloudy or blinding sun bright gives character, beauty, challenges, change and balance, . . . life to the place we call home.

The summer solstice, longest day of the year is a time to enjoy the beauty of life in abundance. Yet it is also the beginning of shorter days and the slide down to winter rains, and snowy days. The creator never wants us to be bored; always there is change in the air. The rich smell of roses will change into the smell of wood smoke on the wind and icy blasts will bring the smell of snow and rain down from the mountains; all to be repeated next year. Change, is what keeps us alive and on June 20^th the Earth will begin again to tip away from the warmth of Mother Sun. But today celebrate the light, revel in the warmth, for tomorrow change will come, to the mountains, the sea, and the land. Enjoy today the smell of fresh mown grass and roses and listen to song of the robin and of water falling over rock. Tomorrow will bring more change, so live in the moment, enjoy the now, and wait with breathless anticipation for the change that comes tomorrow.

mid-summer

The smell of roses fill the air
and Iris dance in the twilight
of Mid-summer evening
Children race through
the meadow, rings of daisy’s
crown their heads
Creator smiles
blows blessing on the wind
bringing
forgetfulness
of winter past

Ruth Jewell ©June 2012

Meditation on Luke 24:36-48

Posted on April 23, 2012April 23, 2012 by a quiet walk

A Sermon Offered to Queen Anne Christian Church, Seattle, WA
April 22, 2012

Luke 24:36-48

³⁶While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” ³⁷They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost.³⁸He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? ³⁹Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” ⁴⁰And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. ⁴¹While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” ⁴²They gave him a piece of broiled fish, ⁴³and he took it and ate in their presence.⁴⁴Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” ⁴⁵Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, ⁴⁶and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, ⁴⁷and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.⁴⁸You are witnesses of these things.

Before I begin this meditation I’d like to ask you to take a journey with me back in time. Back to that Sunday night, with scared Disciples and experience with them the presence of the risen Christ.

So, get comfortable and close your eyes, . . . take a deep, slow, breath. Now . . . imagine you are one of the Disciples the evening of the resurrection. . . . The room is small and close, . . . the smell of smoke from the cooking fire and broiled fish fill the room. . . . Everyone in the room is excited, . . . fearful, . . . and joyful . . . but also bewildered at the day’s events. Everyone is talking at once, . . . each voice getting louder than the next in an attempt to be heard. . . . When suddenly a voice they know so well says . . . “Peace be with you” and there . . . stands Jesus. . . . Silence

How do feel?

What is going through you mind right now?

After all you all saw Jesus’ body laid in the tomb and on Friday and Saturday you thought your movement was at an end with Jesus’ death. Then this morning Mary and the other women have come and said Jesus is risen from the dead, and Cleopas and his friend have returned from Emmaus saying Jesus broke bread with them. Now, here in this locked, small, smoky, room Jesus stands in front of you.

And Jesus isn’t just standing there he is walking among you, he’s showing his hands and feet and now he’s sitting down and asking for food to eat. Jesus, the risen Christ, is eating with you!

Tell me you aren’t amazed, . . . that your eyes aren’t as big as saucers,

That your mouth isn’t on the floor,

That, you aren’t a little afraid of what is to come,

tell me that! . . .

OK it is time to return and reflect, Slowly open your eyes and take a deep breath, your home now in the 21^st century.

You know even 2000 years later this story has the power to shake me up, what about you? I mean if I were one of the Disciples that Friday would have been the worst day of my life. Terrified, of what has happened I would have been in shock and grief. Saturday morning reality would have begun to set in, I would be beginning to have some fear for my own skin and start asking the questions of “what do we do now, go home and pick up our lives where they left off, preferably before the Romans and temple authorities come after us?” I’m mean they aren’t in this small locked room because of a crowd of loyal followers outside, they’re in this room hiding in fear of their lives.

So much has changed for this small band of faithful women and men. One day they are shouting Hosanna and 6 days later they are grieving for the death of a friend, leader and hoped for Messiah. That’s a lot to comprehend in such short time. It had barely sunk in that Jesus wasn’t there for them anymore and what kind of danger they were in, only to have this miracle happen! Jesus is alive and Jesus is telling them they are to be the witnesses that spread the Good News, the Gospel!

Have any of you ever been on this crazy kind of merry-go-round life where everything is going just fine, even extraordinarily fine? Then the world crashes around you and you have to get your life back on track somehow. So you begin to dig your way out only to have God give you another spin on your wild ride. Has that ever happened to you? It has to me, that’s for sure. When I read this scripture last week I was reading through the glasses of what I thought my life would be, only to have it turned upside down.

Last October I was so excited about graduating this June and being finished with graduate school. Looking forward to moving on to new things, spending some down time with my family and working with Laurie and Sandy on some great ideas for education and spiritual formation for Queen Anne and our region. Wow I thought maybe all this will have some meaning after all.

What was I thinking? I had forgotten that none of what I do in this life is about me, it’s about God! In November God let me know that I wasn’t in control of this show and to stop thinking I was.

My mother used to have this cute little picture over her bed of a little chipmunk holding a daisy with the caption “Be patient, God’s not finished with me yet,” and now I know what that means. God is not finished with me yet, I still have work to do and things to learn so God told me, “don’t think you can rest on your laurels, . . . ain’t gonna happen.”

That’s what happened to the Disciple (not that I’m putting myself in the same class as those in the upper room), But they, too, thought everything was going just fine and they would rule the world. Then their world is turned upside down and they thought the end of their ride had come. But God comes along and gives them another spin. Jesus has risen from the dead to offer new life to old ways of thinking and God says “don’t think you can rest on your laurels, ain’t gonna happen.”

In the three days before the resurrection, days of terror and grief the Disciples had given up, and understandably so. Now just when they are barely getting their wits back Jesus returns and says “you have more work to do, more things to learn.” He opens their minds to a new reality and finally they understand what Jesus had been trying telling them for all those years. Now they understood what the women had been talking about … ah … wait a minute . . .what did you say Jesus? We’re to be witnesses for all of this, your teaching, resurrection, everything! We’re to spread the Good News of the Kingdom, that’s a big job.

And Jesus tells them that yes it’s a big job but He and Abba Father would not give it to them if they couldn’t handle it. And that is the good news for us, God doesn’t give anyone more than they can do, But, God does push us to our limits in order for us to reach our potential as spiritual beings. All of us are being pushed to look at new ways of worship, thinking, being church, at being faithful to the teaching of Jesus.

Each of us (me included) are being pushed to rethink what it means to be follower, companion, and co-creator with God, and not of God. If there is anything I’ve learned in seminary it is we aren’t to be passive followers just doing what we are told. Nor are we to put God on shelf and only bring God out on Sunday morning. We are to work alongside God, Jesus and Holy Spirit, just as the Disciples did so long ago, in order to spread the Good News that Jesus taught.

It is not about us; it is about God, Jesus and Holy Spirit and we are to be witnesses, just like the 12, to all we have experienced as partners and friends of God, not servants.

I do not know where I am headed, I dare say you don’t either, nor do we as Faith Communities know, all we can do is go with Gods flow, which is all God is asking,

We can say no, we won’t go, we won’t work with you, but trust me God is incredibly persistent. You most likely will come around one way or the other. God cares too much for us, and for what we have to do, to give up on us.

So don’t be surprised on the day you think you have your life all wrapped up in a nice little bow that God shows up and returns you to the merry-go-round and gives it a mighty spin.

All I can say is just enjoy the ride.

Ruth Jewell, ©April 22, 2012

WATCH DOG

Posted on April 15, 2012 by a quiet walk

Come in old friend
It’s time to rest you feet
And let the ghosts pass by
Come in and rest your weary body

Lay your head in my lap
Let me stroke your soft ears, and
Feel your loving heart …
Beat

Come in Old Friend
Rest by the fire, and
Dream of days long past
As the flames dance in your eyes

Ruth Jewell ©April 15, 2012

Who Knew

Posted on April 7, 2012April 7, 2012 by a quiet walk

He is dirty
She smells bad
Hungry – thirsty
Ill – lost

People hurry by
Don’t touch me
Stay away
… Nice tidy beings

A song swells
Notes ring like bells
The sun breaks out
Soft breeze drifts

They sing amidst the trash
Hold, forth, great beauty
Who knew
The blessed of God

© Ruth Jewell, April 7, 2012

So often we miss God because it doesn’t “look” like what we think God should look like. But, what does God look like? Who knows – no one – so look for God in the unexpected; dirty, shining, poor, rich, hard working, lazy, all are God. God looks like the unknowable, like anything I can’t describe.

Meditation on Genesis 9:8-17

Posted on February 25, 2012 by a quiet walk

Many years ago a little girl was critically injured when she accidentally pulled a deep fat fryer down on top of her. As the child’s father picked her up and rushed to a sink to cool the burning oil a face appeared just over his shoulders. A golden face that said “hush I promise everything will be alright” and the little girl believed it was so. Through years of pain, ridicule, and self-doubt, the little girl remembered that promise and learned promises are kept and life can be good.

Promises, we make them every day of our lives, some we keep, some we have no intention of keeping, and some are just too important not to keep. In this morning’s scripture we learn God, too, makes promises and God goes so far as to place a marker in the sky, a rainbow, to remind God, not humans, but God, that a promise was for keeping.

What is interesting about this beautiful bow placed in the sky is it’s not about a promise that humans keep, but one kept by God with all of creation, humans, animals, everything that lives, grows, walks, swims, and fly’s to never again destroy the world by flood. It is not a sign that humans changed after the flood, it’s the sign that God changed.

Oh, I know, I’ve heard the arguments of the unchanging God that rules the universe, but here in these words I’m telling you that God adapted to a creation that just wasn’t going to fit into the box God wanted.

The story of the flood is the tale of a broken heart, God’s heart. God’s creation has not turned out as God expected and the reader of the flood story is invited to look deeply into the heart of God and recognize there is no anger there only grief at how God’s beloved creation has separated itself from its Creator. It is God who says “I failed” and it is God that is troubled by the evil heart of humankind. This is a heart to heart look between humankind and God and how what happens between humans and God touches both hearts.

But our story today is not about the flood it’s about after the flood, the waters of chaos have subsided, the animals have returned to the earth. Noah is wondering what to do next, especially with all of those rabbits he now has since he failed separate the two he started with, and then God speaks.

“Noah”

“Yes God”

I’m going to make promise to you, all of your descendents, and all of the Earth for all time”

“A promise God, to us, what could you promise us? Aren’t we supposed to promise you?”

“No this is my promise. I am going to promise that I will never again destroy the earth with a flood, and to show you that I will keep my promise I will disarm and hang my unstrung bow in the sky. This bow will appear after every rain storm and when I see it I will remember my promise to you and all creation. This is my everlasting promise that I make between me and all creation and never again will I send the waters of chaos to destroy the Earth.”

God the great all-powerful, all-knowing, divine being, puts a boundary on the God self and makes a promise. At the same time makes this promise God binds God’s self to an imperfect creation in a way that depends on God developing a relationship with creation. God has changed from an all-powerful God to a protector, a patient, and loving self-giving God. A God who has invested everything God has in a creation that God recognizes will most likely never be the creation of God’s dreams. This is a God who takes an interest in the lives of the created and prays that someday all creation will be co-creators with God in a universal cosmos.

Yet even knowing creation is not what God expected God doesn’t abandon the creation God loves so much. Instead God becomes the guide and patient teacher. Intervening when necessary to pull the beloved creation back the path God hopes will lead it back to the Garden God once planted.

Throughout history God has cajoled, threatened, punished, forgiven and blessed the creation made in God’s likeness. What happens to the people God cares so much about God knows happens to all creation but God offers forgiveness, blessings, and grace all in the hope that someday God’s greatest creation will finally wake up to the presence of life freely given.

God’s self-giving reached its climax 2000 years ago in the life of a poor carpenter. In Jesus life, suffering, death, and resurrection is the renewal of the promise that new life is possible when we Re‑member with God. Lent is our journey in that process, a time to remember God’s vulnerability along with our own. A time to remember God wants a relationship with us. And to grow that relationship all we have to do is care for each other and all of creation. I know that sounds simple to do, but this will the hardest journey you will ever make, for you will have to break open your own hearts and recognize your part in the separation from your Creator. It is a long journey and it will take many Lent’s to accomplish, but it’s a trip worth taking.

The burnt, scarred little girl has been making that journey all her life. Sometimes she gets close to breaking open her heart to God and sometimes she walks away. But she’s not giving up, the stakes are too high. What keeps that little girl moving is the knowledge she isn’t alone on the trip. She has had many travel companions who come and go in her life-giving her support and comfort on the path. But, most of all she knows that a promise was made many years ago that “everything would be alright” and she believed.

God made a promise to Noah and all of creation for all time, God has kept that promise. God made a promise to a little girl, and God has kept that promise. God keeps promises, to Noah, his descendents, all of creation, a little girl, to each of you and to us all. Forgiveness, Blessings and Grace are the results of those promises. The path to God is there, and God waits for all of us to follow it.

Ruth A Jewell, ©February 26, 2012

JOB’S WIFE

Posted on January 25, 2012 by a quiet walk

Scripture: Job 2:9-10⁹Then his wife said to him, “Do you still persist in your integrity? Curse God, and die.”¹⁰But he said to her, “You speak as any foolish woman would speak. Shall we receive the good at the hand of God, and not receive the bad?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

I am taking a class on “Job and the Mystery of Suffering” this quarter and when we were assigned this passage to write on for this week I found it way more interesting than I thought I would. The book of Job is a difficult book at its best and when I read it the first time I started having questions about Job’s wife but couldn’t find anything about her. She is mentioned only twice and is never named and in a culture where remembering your name when you’ve died is your immortality that is complete death. So I want to take her part, I want to be her advocate, I only have questions

I get the feeling here that Job’s wife is feeling real pain; she has after all, just like Job, lost everything and is grieving deeply. While this may be the story of Job his wife, who is allowed to live through this experience with him, is always forgotten. You can hear her frustration and pain most clearly in the paraphrase bible, The Message, where she says: “Still holding on to your precious integrity, are you? Curse God and be done with it!” Here is a woman in pain whose feelings are being ignored not just by Job but by God as well. Job tells her to quit talking like a “Shameless, Harlot, Fool,” and accept whatever God hands them. (Mind you he is kind enough not to call her those things, just stop talking like them.) She is a side effect of the Adversaries bet with God, and if Job doesn’t deserve such suffering, she certainly doesn’t. According to the bet with God the Adversary was to test Job not his wife, so why is she being tested along with him? Or is this one of those patriarchal editorial jobs that just manages to forget to add that Job’s wife was just as faithful to God as Job was and she too was being tested? I have only questions because there is no information on this forgotten lady, even her name is gone and in a name forgotten was true death.

One of the reasons I am asking these questions is because of what Crenshaw (Crenshaw, James L.; Reading Job, a Literary and Theological Commentary, Smyth & Helwys, Macon GA, 1984, pg 45) says concerning the Hebrew word for curse, barak, which he says is difficult to interpret and may actually mean blessing, which changes the meaning of the wife’s words to “Bless Elohim and die victoriously.” Now that is interesting, because the wife in that version seems to be saying just be done with it, if God wants Job dead, then be done with it and die a virtuous man. Job, on the on the other hand, tells her I’m not giving up, I will accept what I’m given, if I’ve done anything to offend God then I deserve what I’ve gotten. Job doesn’t know what he did but he’s going to stick around and demand more information. As I looked for reasons for Job’s stubbornness I looked back at the Pentateuch and found in Deuteronomy 28:1-68 something rather interesting. In this chapter Moses tells the people of God that if they follow all of God’s commandments they will be blessed and if they don’t then they will be cursed. In fact, Deuteronomy 28:38 (“The LORD will afflict you at the knees and thighs with a severe inflammation, from which you shall never recover—from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head” [italics mine]) describes exactly what the Adversary does to Job in verse 2:7 (“The Adversary departed from the presence of the LORD and inflicted a severe inflammation on Job from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head” [italics mine]). If Job is as faithful to God as the prologue says then he knew full well what was said in Mosaic Law and that meant he must have done something wrong, he just doesn’t know what it was. Job’s wife is ready to give up and go to her rest, Job is not.

©Ruth Jewell, January 25, 2012

On A Metaphor of Amma Syncletica, a Desert Mother

Posted on January 20, 2012January 20, 2012 by a quiet walk

The life of faith looks like a mother bird brooding her eggs and waiting expectantly for them to hatch. For all we know, the mother bird has moments when it seems like nothing is happening. There are moments when real boredom sets in and the temptation to leave the eggs and do something more interesting arises. (Mary C. Earle; The Desert Mothers, Spiritual Practices from the Women of the Wilderness, Morehouse Publishing, Harrisburg, NY, 2007, pg 22)

This week with all the snow and my inability to get out and about has reminded me of Amma Syncletica’s story. Here I am “stuck” in the house and brooding about when this stuff will melt. Amma Syncletica would tell me this is an opportunity to sit and listen for a word from God and I’m sure she would say quit wasting your opportunities!

Two of the most frequently asked questions about spiritual practices are “how do I quiet my mind and how do I stop fidgeting? These two questions are as old as meditation itself and all spiritual practices, and the only answer I’ve ever heard for either of them is to “there is no right way to do this except practice, keep doing them until you discover for yourself that which draws you into your deepest being.” My problem with this answer is it’s so vague, it could mean anything, but I also know that it is true and right. The only way to become proficient at any Spiritual Practice is to “practice” that’s why it’s called a practice.

In the last 4 days I have sat and quieted my mind and stilled my heart but suddenly I am remembering something I have to do, only I can’t because I can’t get to where I need to be. Such moments in our lives are sources of frustration and are filled with “have to’s” and need to’s.” I have been, we have been, given the opportunity to slow down and listen, for that quiet word of the Spirit being whispered to us every day, but too busy to listen for, rather than the lists in our heads.

Yes being still is a problem, especially when you have an active family, or a job that provides our families with the things we use to survive. If you only take 5 or 10 minutes out of your day to sit and stare out the window at the white wonderland, over a cup of steaming coffee or tea, letting the days troubles take care of themselves for a few moments, you will find you are more centered within and able to cope. Don’t worry about mental intrusions, acknowledge them and let them go, let the stillness of the winter’s day, enter into your life for just a moment. It might take a few days, and for some of us a few weeks, to get to that still point, but when you do you may just hear the whisper of the Spirit.

Peace and Blessings to you all

Scripture Meditation: Luke 2:36-40

Posted on December 31, 2011January 1, 2015 by a quiet walk

Queen Anne Christian Church
January 1, 2012

³⁶ There was also a prophet, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, having lived with her husband for seven years after her marriage, ³⁷then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshipped there with fasting and prayer night and day. ³⁸At that moment she came, and began to praise God and to speak about the child^* to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.

39 When they had finished everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. ⁴⁰The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favour of God was upon him.

Who is this woman Anna and what does she have to do with the circumcision and naming of Jesus. She is mentioned only once in scripture and the only information we have about her is in these three verses, not a lot to go on. We don’t even know if Anna really existed, she may be a creation of Luke because the role Anna plays is important in the telling of his story.

When I read these few sentences something stuck out for me. Here is woman who is living in the temple, praying night and day, fasting night and day, and considered a Prophet, a woman! In a culture where women had only marginally better status than the household’s donkey this is amazing. But, Luke does give her great status within the Jewish culture; first of all he names her of the Tribe of Asher who was the seventh son of Jacob, so she has social credibility with temple authorities. Her husband’s name, Phanuel, which means “Face of God”, seems to foreshadow the very life she has lived all her years in the temple, praying and fasting, focusing her entire life on God. Her act of devotion and obedience to God appears to be exemplary, and she also appears to be one of kind. While it isn’t unheard of in scripture, after all there were women judges in the Hebrew Scriptures so women traditionally did play an important role in prophecy, but the impressions we receive from the Christian Scriptures are that a woman’s role had diminished to simple household duties.

So why would Luke even bring up this seemingly insignificant woman? After all she doesn’t play a role in the ceremony; in fact, she just seems to be at the right place, at the right time to meet Mary, Joseph, and Jesus. It is her response to that event that Luke is emphasizing here. Unlike Simeon, Anna doesn’t bless the child, or Mary and Joseph, she doesn’t offer advice, doesn’t even offer a warning about what they will endure. Rather she understands only one thing her prayers, which she’d been offering for long years, had been answered, because Anna sees the Face of God in Jesus. Even though this small child is only 40 days old she recognizes his importance to her people. And, what does she do: Anna immediately begins to praise God, and tell everyone she knows that she has seen the future of Jerusalem. Anna, a woman, yes a well respected and honored woman but a woman, becomes the first to spread the Good News. Anna becomes the voice of the voiceless in the culture of her day. She’s not telling the Chief Priest, or any other temple big wig, she’s telling those “who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem,” Anna is telling the ones who had suffered the most under the rule of the Romans and even under their own Jewish authorities.

Anna lived in the temple, she knew how it was run, she understood that many temple authorities were abusing their power, to gather wealth and power to themselves at the expense of the people God had placed in their care. Yet in all that time Anna never lost her faith, she knew a change was coming and when she saw the first glimmer in the eyes of a baby she could not contain herself, she had to broadcast it. Anna may not have known how the life of this newborn would alter the world she knew, actually rock the Jewish and Roman world to its core, but that didn’t matter, it didn’t matter because she saw hope in the eyes of a child, It didn’t even matter that she had no knowledge as to what kind of hope was coming, she simply had to tell what she saw.

Today we start a New Year, a year of promise and yes a year of change. Traditionally the symbol of the New Year is a child, representing new life and new opportunities for the coming year. Unfortunately we have come to see the New Year promises as only political, economic and material, but I wonder how Anna would see them. Would she see hope in the latest gadget to buy, would she make a New Year’s Resolution to lose weight, or to pray more? I don’t think so, I think she would look into the eyes of the New Year’s Child and see hope of different kind. A hope of a better tomorrow, redemption of the New Jerusalem, a hope that draws us closer to a relationship with God and God into a closer relationship with us. Anna never knew what would take place 30 years later, just as we don’t know what will happen in the year, or years, to come. That didn’t stop her from being the first to shout out that hope was at hand, and it shouldn’t stop us from shouting out the same thing today.

Today we are some 20 centuries past the birth of Jesus, and yes a lot has happened within the church we aren’t particularly proud of, but, there is also a lot that we should be exclaiming with praise. Anna was shouting that change was coming and a good change at that, if people listened. Well I am shouting out that change is coming to us as well. In the last 5 years I have worshiped and studied with people of many different denominations and there is one very important lesson all of us agree upon and that is Church as we have known it is undergoing a radical change. Now I don’t mean individual churches, like Queen Anne, we are a part of the greater Church, but we are only one part. I mean Church, the Greater Body of Christ, God and Holy Spirit. I mean the Church made up of every tradition, whether followers of Christ, Islam, YHWH, Buddha, or any other expression of God that draws people into relationship with the Creator. If Anna were here today she’d be shouting from the rooftops that how we worship, the ways we express our spirituality, and how we care for the ‘other’ are evolving into a new expression of God in creation. She would be saying, I see the future in the young and old alike who have awakened to discover they want more than what those of the Baby Boomer Generation have grown comfortable with. Anna would be telling you, no long will the 1 or 2 hours on Sunday Morning be enough, that a time is coming when all will take their awakened spirituality and apply it to their lives, to live in a new way, where Sunday Morning, or Wednesday Evening, or Tuesday at noon becomes a time to celebrate lives enriched by a living faith. But, the real job, the real life, of being co‑creators’ with the Great Spirit comes in our everyday living together.

Simeon warned Mary and Joseph to be prepared for heart break, and I think he would offer us that very same warning because we too will live through heart break. It is never easy creating something new and alive. There will be, there are right now, birth pangs. Suffering will take place, all of us will have to walk through some dark places, shedding some old ways, adapting others, and creating new ones. But like Anna we cannot be worried about that, just as she only wanted to let the world know that something new is coming and to get ready, we too need to tell and help prepare the hearts, minds, and spirits of our fellow travelers for new life. Anna didn’t know what the future would bring; she was only the harbinger, the robin, or first crocus of a new spring that would rock the World as she knew it.

We have just entered winter, yet deep in what looks like a lifeless ground there are stirrings of new life, ready to be born. New green shoots will shoot up and spread their leaves and produce the fruit of a new world. Within the hidden places of the earth there are animals sleeping and preparing for the spring, having their young that will grow up to become the next generation. Our Churches are like that, we too are ready to send out shoots to grow into new green life, we too are ready to shelter the young so that they will grow into a new strong generation of Christ’s Body. Luke ends this passage with the young family returning to Galilee where the “child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God.” Today we are the ones to shelter, and fill with wisdom the young who will follow us and take up the new life of the Body of Christ. More importantly we are the Anna’s of today, shouting out the first good news of a new spring. It is up to us to shout out “I’ve seen the Face of God, hope is coming and it will be good.”

AMEN

A CHRISTMAS MESSAGE

Posted on December 19, 2011 by a quiet walk

This has been an odd Christmas for me. Usually by this time I’ve baked cookies and stollen, prepared pie crusts, wrapped dozens of presents and decorated the house. None of that has occurred, all I really want to do is sit and read and listen for the silence. Just before Thanksgiving one of my friends was talking about celebrating an “it’s not my birthday Christmas,” where instead of presents for yourself you ask for gifts for a charity. I’ve given that quite some thought and I like that idea.

I’ve really always disliked receiving presents anyway, they are usually things I don’t need and often don’t want. And, while I would give great thought to the gifts I gave I often felt the recipients of my gifts had the same feeling. So this year I’ve done things a bit differently. Instead of buying gifts for family and friends, I told them I was giving, in their name, a gift to the Chief Seattle Club, a day shelter for homeless urban Native Americans and First Nations Peoples. I asked that instead of gifts for me that they would either send a gift for the Chief Seattle Club or give a gift in my name to a charity of their choice. No wrapping, no shopping, no shipping and someone who really needs our gifts would receive them. In addition since I wasn’t going to cook a big dinner I gave the money I would have spent to the Chief Seattle Club for their Christmas dinner. I don’t think I’ve enjoyed preparing and giving a gift so much in my whole life.

Yes, I know I haven’t done my part for the economic recovery and as a result someone somewhere may not have my few pennies for their Christmas. But shouldn’t Christmas be a time of reflection and not consumerism, a time to remember the graces given to us by God throughout the year and offer our gifts of thanks to the Christ Child. As I remember, it isn’t what you give but how you give that matters. Tradition tells us that Jesus was born in a stable and laid manger, he was poor and homeless most of his life and giving gifts to those who can’t provide for themselves seems like the proper offering to the Child in the hay. As I was dropping off my gifts at the Chief Seattle Club I had to turn away homeless men who also wanted my gifts but I am unable to feed and clothe all of the homeless, and I wonder sometimes if God understands there are too many people who can’t care for themselves and that there are way too many people who tug at my heart. I wish I had more to give. If I had the billions that some people had I would go from homeless shelter to homeless shelter just handing out gifts, but I don’t, and I don’t know what to do about that. I do the best I can and hope that is good enough.

So what will I be doing for Christmas? Well, I will be in church offering a gift of another kind, prayers and service. As an Intern Pastor I am participating in the Christmas Eve and Christmas Day service at Queen Anne Christian Church, Seattle, WA. I am grateful to be able to give to those who come to the services prayer, song and love and I am honored to read a Christmas Story I wrote a number of years ago titled “The Innkeeper” on Christmas Day.

May you be filled with the blessings of the Christ Child and may you pass on those blessings to those who are hungry, cold, suffering and/or homeless. For it is more blessed to give than to receive.

Peace and Love this Christmas Season

Building a Road

Posted on December 4, 2011 by a quiet walk

Isaiah 40:3-4

³ A voice cries out: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight in the desert a highway for our G-d.
⁴ Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.’

I have read and heard this scripture read I don’t know how many times and it is only this morning that I took a hard look at how it is punctuated. This isn’t someone in the wilderness crying out, it really is a voice sending us into the wilderness to prepare the way of the Lord, and that changed how I looked at this scripture.

As I read this several times I realized Isaiah isn’t talking about going out into nature but rather to travel inward to the desert of my heart, the valleys of my despair, an over inflated ego, and all of the lumps and bumps I cross on the road of life. It takes faith to create a highway where no road has ever been and what could be lonelier than the empty places in my own heart. Making way for G-d means I must open a door, pull up the weeds that block the entry and let G-d in. It is something I have to choose to do and to complete with the only expectation that G-d will come, belief and faith is all I have to build that road.

What is amazing is what happens when I do finish the way and G-d comes! Wow, the valleys of my despair are lifted up into the light and I learn that my own ego is the real stumbling block to G-d. Letting G-d travel the highway of my heart my ego takes on a reasonable size and the roads I travel become level like a smooth plain.

This isn’t about someone crying in the wilderness, unless the person crying is me. Rather it’s about what I must do in order to get ready to accept the gifts G-d gives me every day. Gifts such as a golden sunrise, or sunset that tingles my heart and takes my breath away. Gifts such as the love I receive from my beloved and friends but often don’t acknowledge. The gift of time: time to pray, time to sit in silence, time to laugh, time to leap with joy, and yes even time to cry, suffer, and have my heartbroken. All of these are gifts are given by G-d and all of them provide me with strength, courage, peace, blessings, and comfort, simply because I know the Holy Presence is nearby. Life will never be easy, but it is bearable when I maintain the highway in the desert of my heart where G-d walks.