A Longing Soul

One of the scriptures for today is the 42nd Psalm:

Psalm 42

As a deer longs for flowing streams,
so my soul longs for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When shall I come and behold the face of God?
My tears have been my food day and night,
while people say to me continually,
“Where is your God?”
These things I remember, as I pour out my soul:
how I went with the throng,
and led them in procession to the house of God,
with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving,
a multitude keeping festival.
Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God;
for I shall again praise him, my help and my God.

It speaks to the condition of so many of us so often - LONGING  and THIRSTING for God.  And wondering where God is.  The imagery here is powerful - a soul thirsting for God and having only tears as food.  It is a picture of sorrow and despair.

Saturday I led a retreat at Camp Christian which was titled: "Behold - Attentive Living during the Advent."  Fifteen  women gathered with me at Camp Christian and we spent time listening and looking and open to God's presence.  We engaged in many spiritual practices - the most important of which was getting away from home and its familiar responsibilities, getting away from computers and phones and just being present at Camp and with each other.

These retreats have been part of my life for a long time and enable me to carve out some time in the company of other seeking souls.  We always provide a time in the morning - after our quiet time with God - to share in small groups with others.  Saturday I participated and was overwhelmed by the opportunity to be with women who were real enough to share their longing for God.  Life is hard and I heard stories of the struggles - of relationships that were fractured, of illness, of grief, of confusion. After each person shared the other three prayed over them.  The person prayed for sat in a chair and others laid hands on them and someone said some words.  It was powerful and just an example of the way we HOPE in God. 

This Psalm is so beautiful and so poignant and so accurate about how it is at times in our life for all of us.  We wonder - "Where are you God?"  But the Psalmist gives us these words to remind us that this experience is part of the journey of faith.  And our retreat gave us companions to witness our condition and to offer ourselves up to God. 

There is no question in my mind that prayer - especially in community - can lighten the heavy loads that we carry.  I am blessed to have many people who pray with and for me.

Here is a prayer by Joyce Rupp

God of exiles, keep calling us home.

You know the yearnings of our hearts.

ou also know how easily we can lose our way.

May this Advent season be a time of coming home to the best of who we are.

May our personal homecomings influence all the earth.

We walk this day with hopeful hearts, believing that your justice and compassion will bring comfort and freedom to all who are in exile.

Amen.

A Night with Amateurs

Last night I received an early Christmas present.  My daughter bought me a ticket to the Messiah Sing along at the Southern Theatre and her daughter 12 year old Addie accompanied me.  I did not understand what it was until I got there.

The entire audience was people filled with people with scores from the Messiah who sang along with the symphony.  The symphony was ProMusica musicians side by side with high school student musicians.  We sat in the front row of the balcony and could see  everyone and had people singing around us.

The Messiah for me has some very special memories.  My father sang bass in  community chorus as well as  a wonderful church choir and I have swonderful  memories of watching him and having choral music be part of our Christmas season.  My parents would frequently play The Messiah on the record player when we were home.

I was overwhelmed by all of it.  The music itself, the words which come from the prophet Isaiah and speak to my soul, the singers, the musicians and sitting with Addie.  There are parts of the Messiah that are really hard to sing and some people dropped out as they got to those places but nothing mattered.  They were singing together these familiar words that are part of this season of preparation.
And there were moments when they all came together singing " Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace" that made my heart almost burst.

And so we come to one of the readings today which is a Psalm - one of the 150 Psalms which are songs to God.  And I am sure for the people of Israel, these words were as familiar to them as the words of the Messiah are to me.  And I can picture people 3000 years ago saying/singing them as people last night sang them together.  And they were not professional singers - they were amateurs - singing for the love of it with gusto and love.

Psalm 146:5-10

Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord their God,
who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them;
who keeps faith forever;
who executes justice for the oppressed;
who gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets the prisoners free;
the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;
the Lord loves the righteous.
The Lord watches over the strangers;
he upholds the orphan and the widow,
but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
The Lord will reign forever,
your God, O Zion, for all generations.
Praise the Lord!

These words become a touchstone for us so that we remember how good God is - the one who sets the prisoners free and opens the eyes of the blind and lifts up those who are bowed down.

I am so grateful to be lifted up by the experience.  I pray for all of us that our voices can come together and soar like the sopranos did last night.  Remembering the goodness of God and the promise of new life that we keep finding in Jesus.

Living with Other People

This is one of the readings for today: Luke 22:14-30  The Message

^14-16 When it was time, he sat down, all the apostles with him, and said, “You’ve no idea how much I have looked forward to eating this Passover meal with you before I enter my time of suffering. It’s the last one I’ll eat until we all eat it together in the kingdom of God.”

Taking the cup, he blessed it, then said, “Take this and pass it among you. As for me, I’ll not drink wine again until the kingdom of God arrives.”Taking bread, he blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, given for you. Eat it in my memory.”⁰ He did the same with the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant written in my blood, blood poured out for you.

“Do you realize that the hand of the one who is betraying me is at this moment on this table? It’s true that the Son of Man is going down a path already marked out—no surprises there. But for the one who turns him in, turns traitor to the Son of Man, this is doomsday.  ³ They immediately became suspicious of each other and began quizzing one another, wondering who might be about to do this.

 Within minutes they were bickering over who of them would end up the greatest. But Jesus intervened: “Kings like to throw their weight around and people in authority like to give themselves fancy titles. It’s not going to be that way with you. Let the senior among you become like the junior; let the leader act the part of the servant.

“Who would you rather be: the one who eats the dinner or the one who serves the dinner? You’d rather eat and be served, right? But I’ve taken my place among you as the one who serves. And you’ve stuck with me through thick and thin. Now I confer on you the royal authority my Father conferred on me so you can eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and be strengthened as you take up responsibilities among the congregations of God’s people.

What I miss when I don’t go to church is communion.  It is for Disciples of Christ a weekly occasion as we worship together.  When I served as a pastor I routinely received communion three times a week – two Sunday services and when I preached at Oakleaf.

There are people who say that might be too much – it then becomes routine.  Which, of course, is possible.  But I will say that the images of this meal are so powerful that it usually was meaningful to me.

What I notice in this reading today is the reaction of the disciples.  When Jesus announces that one will betray him – they looked around in wonder at who that could be?  Then the next scene is a dispute about who was to be regarded as the greatest.  So two verses – back to back – indicate our human dilemma of trying to rank and rate each other.  Who is the betrayer?  Who is the greatest?

Meanwhile Jesus presides over a meal and invites us into a life of service and love.  And he turns everything upside down by giving us “Royal Authority” as we take care of his people.  It is a Kingdom where power is found in giving.   

So, Christmas could reflect that kingdom of giving as we await the birth of the king.  Except for many of us – myself included – there is a desire for mutuality.  I give to you and you give to me. If I give to you and you don’t give to me, maybe you feel guilty or resentful and I feel superior.  It can be tricky.  I spend approximately what you spend.  It is fair and equal.  Or we try and honestly for most of us maybe Christmas really isn’t a reflection of that Kingdom.

When we live in that Kingdom life, we understand that we are all invited to the table that is a circle in which everyone is equal and loved.  I will always remember the words of  John Claypool who preached: “God loves each of us as if we were the only one.  God loves all as God loves each.”

Last night in my book club we discussed the book The Warmth of Other Suns, the epic book about the decades long migration of African Americans who fled the south for northern and western cities searching for a better life.  This was post civil war from 1915 – 1970.  We all agreed that we have so much to learn  about the effects of the sin of racism that infected our country – the sin that presupposed that some people were better than others.  And those who kept slaves, lived by Jim Crow laws, participated in systemic racism were often people who were Christian and went to the communion table on a regular basis and saw themselves as disciples of Christ.

All of which says to me that we all have a great capacity for denial of the ways in which we continue to judge, label, reject and dismiss different kinds of people.  Forgetting that at the heart of it all is Jesus – giving of himself to everyone – including his betrayer.  And loving.

So, during this time of Advent preparation maybe we should do a heart check and ask God to reveal to us the ways we excuse our judgments and refuse to serve certain people God puts in our life . That is what we all do.

The last time I took communion – as I tasted the bread and sipped the cup – I felt like God said to me - “You are mine.”   That is what I need to hear as I muddle through the challenges and the joys of living with other people. 

Blessing

May the God of SERVICE be with you.

May God minister to you in your vulnerability.

May you know God's giving presence in your powerlessness and in your humanity.

May you serve the needs of all those whose path of struggle and need crosses your own.

And may they know the healing touch of God through your service and presence.

May the God of SERVICE  be with you.

A Time of Waiting

Advent is by definition a time of waiting.  We are anticipating the birth of Christ and it is a time of preparation and fasting.  The word “Advent” is derived from the Latin word adventus, meaning “coming,” which is a translation of the Greek word parousia.

Christ is coming.  One of the texts of today is about that direction - 2 Peter 3: 1-10

This is now, beloved, the second letter I am writing to you; in them I am trying to arouse your sincere intention by reminding you that you should remember the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets, and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken through your apostles.
First of all you must understand this, that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and indulging their own lusts and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since our ancestors died, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation!” They deliberately ignore this fact, that by the word of God heavens existed long ago and an earth was formed out of water and by means of water, through which the world of that time was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the present heavens and earth have been reserved for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the godless.
But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day.
The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and everything that is done on it will be disclosed.

You don't have to look very hard at anyone's life and you see that we are waiting.  We would not - most of us say - for the second coming of Christ.  We would say that we are waiting for something good to come or something bad to pass. I am waiting for these exercises that I am doing for my shoulder to make a difference and to have the pain leave and more mobility come.

It sure seems like it fits for this Advent time - and I have written about it before.  I think that the God led life is trusting that our actions for healing will eventually lead to healing.  Even though in the moment they feel like they are ineffective.

And that healing is not just for our bodies - but also for our world. I look at the protests in North Dakota for the pipeline and I am sure people after a while thought about that effort by so many people- what difference does it make?  But for this moment it seems like it has changed the outcome of what had been planned although who knows what will happen when we have a new President. 

What I keep learning is that we have to just do our part for healing - our bodies, our relationships, our country, the earth.  Take Our little steps, plant our seeds,   do our exercises and then trust that God is doing what God does......healing, reconciling, guiding, growing, bringing life.

I can write a blog like this every day that sounds hopeful- but the truth of my life is that I am getting VERY impatient with waiting right now.

A Blessing

May the God of PROMISE be with you,
May God be for you encouragement and a guarantee of hiliness and happiness.
May you know God's pledge of faithfulness and unconditional love.
And may your own vow of faithfulness bring God's promise of life into the lives of those you touch.
May the God of PROMISE be with you.
Amen

(Maxine Shonk)

Sharing the Message

That is what the scripture is about today. Here is Romans 15: 14-21 from the Message.

^14-16 Personally, I’ve been completely satisfied with who you are and what you are doing. You seem to me to be well-motivated and well-instructed, quite capable of guiding and advising one another. So, my dear friends, don’t take my rather bold and blunt language as criticism. It’s not criticism. I’m simply underlining how very much I need your help in carrying out this highly focused assignment God gave me, this priestly and gospel work of serving the spiritual needs of the non-Jewish outsiders so they can be presented as an acceptable offering to God, made whole and holy by God’s Holy Spirit.

^17-21 Looking back over what has been accomplished and what I have observed, I must say I am most pleased—in the context of Jesus, I’d even say proud, but only in that context.

 I have no interest in giving you a chatty account of my adventures, only the wondrously powerful and transformingly present words and deeds of Christ in me that triggered a believing response among the outsiders.

In such ways I have trailblazed a preaching of the Message of Jesus all the way from Jerusalem far into northwestern Greece. This has all been pioneer work, bringing the Message only into those places where Jesus was not yet known and worshiped. My text has been,

Those who were never told of him—
    they’ll see him!
Those who’ve never heard of him—
    they’ll get the message!

Paul is encouraging the people of Rome to continue his work of serving the spiritual needs of the non-Jewish outsiders"  so that people who never heard of him will see him and get the message.

One of the trickiest parts of pastoring a church was evangelism and encouraging people to share the message.  Especially in the mainline church people are aware that our sharing our faith is often misconstrued - and seen as criticism and self righteousness or is interpreted as (and sometimes actually is) an attempt to get people to come to church and share the financial burden!. 

What I like in this reading is the phrase the "wondrously powerful and transformingly present words and deeds of Christ in me that triggered a believing response among outsiders."  What I have learned  is  often the most effective "message" for me was in the moment when I was present to another person in difficult times.  Frequently people will say - "I will never forget when you said......." something and of course, I have certainly forgotten.  I really believe that it is not me who shares the message but somehow it is the spirit of God at work within me.

As I sit where I am now in my life, I think that expressing love - often through listening - is probably the best way to "share the message" of God who is present and who loves us no matter what.  I thnk about the things we would do - advertising, passing out leaflets or wrapping paper, knocking on doors and I wonder what difference it makes.  It seems to me that this is not at all what works - but instead there is something about being present and open to being guided by God.  It is a mystery but at the same time - we have to at least be ready to share of ourselves and what we know to be true about a life centered on spirit.  Even though I am a pastor, I still feel constrained at times and reticent about talking seriously and sincerely about my faith.  It is easier in this blog perhaps.

My prayer today is that somehow I may be a little less inhibited and a little more open to allowing God to help me to love, to listen and to when the time comes - share the message.  Trusting that if I am aware and open that the words will be given to me and they'll get the message.

Here is a prayer by Maxine Shonk

May you be blessed by the God of SINCERITY.

May you approach God without pretense or hypocrisy and may God reveal to you the place that is

authentic, genuine, and faithful.

May God cut through to the heart of you where the Divine "I Am" awaits your arrival.

May this true self be the one you present to those who people your life.

May the God of SINCERITY  be with you.

Amen