Show Me A Sign

I had lunch with Elizabeth today at La Mie. Food was good and the conversation was good as well. We chattered through lunch and beyond covering such diverse subjects as kids, college, sports, good books to read, cooking, Julia Child, travel, Alaska, France....never a lapse in in the conversation! We ended up talking about tomorrow evening's service, the readings, and the sermon. I laughed as Elizabeth confessed that she didn't have anything put together yet and we giggled at the idea that maybe she should just tell the congregation that she was fresh out of ideas and what did THEY think the readings meant? After all, what new can you say about Jesus being the 'bread of life?' That led to some discussion about both the apostles and the crowds of people who came to hear Jesus preach. They all wanted some sort of visible sign of his divinity. "Show us a sign!' they'd shout, 'heal someone, raise someone from the dead, restore sight to the blind!' Even today we're such visual people...we want to see Christ at work in the world. It can't be real or true if we can't see it, right? Then I confessed that my favorite song from the 70's rock musical Jesus Christ Superstar is Herod's Song. Herod wanted visual proof as well. Who knows what might have happened if Jesus had shown Herod a sign and had turned his water into wine.

How To Pray...

I received an email from a friend yesterday that contained a link to an online presentation about how to pray. If you're interested, you can click the link and watch the video. I have to admit that this is not the type of video I would normally watch. It feels a bit like those tele-evangelist programs you see on TV and yes, Dr. Price does ask for money to help him with his ministry. Once I got past that initial hesitancy, however, I found the presentation fascinating. Dr. Price preaches well; he teaches well. And his audience is obviously engaged...everyone has a Bible, is taking notes, and responds to Dr. Price's questions. I appreciated the lesson he taught and loved the energy he inspired. I also am a firm believer in occasionally moving outside my comfort zone in exploring faith. Dr. Price and his congregation are certainly not part of my normal routine. Whether I choose to pray as he instructed is not the point. The message he preached is important. You have to invite God into your life. You have to be grateful for His blessings. You have to 'speak' your faith whether you do that through words, song, creativity, actions or charity. You don't keep your faith inside...it has to be shared in some way; faith is you and God and community. And then when you ask God to answer your prayers, look out! For as Elizabeth said in last evening's homily: "Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, for ever and ever. Amen" (Ephesians 3:20-21. Italics are mine) God will do more in your life than you could ever imagine and answer your prayers in ways more abundant than you dream.

Who's the Boss?

Elizabeth's homily last evening was taken from Mark 6:30-34. These are the verses that lead up to the 'feeding of the 5,000' story that we are so familiar with. Jesus has sent the apostles out to preach the Good News, to cast out demons, and to heal; they've returned, exhausted by their travels. As they begin to tell Jesus about their work, he stops them, saying "Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while." How kind and compassionate Jesus is to recognize their weariness and offer them time to replenish themselves! Asking each of us to think about our bosses at work, Elizabeth challenged us to decide if this is how our boss would treat us at the end of a big project or after a particularly busy time at work. Does your boss tell you take some time off? does he/she offer to take you to a place of rest and relaxation so you can recharge your batteries? would you even want to spend 'down' time with your boss? I know how I answered those questions. Who is your Boss? Is he important enough for you to spend quiet time with him? He asks you to do that....how do you respond to his kindness and compassion? I definitely know which Boss I want to work for; how about you?

Joy...as a verb

I regularly read a blog called "Britt-Arnhild's House in the Woods." While it's not specifically about spirituality, almost everything that Britt-Arnhild blogs about takes on a spiritual context. It's a beautiful, peaceful, soul-soothing blog, and I recommend it highly. And if you're multi-lingual, you can even read it in Norwegian! In a recent post, Britt-Arnhild speaks about joy and that in Norwegian, joy can be a verb. For example, you might say "I joyed today" which roughly translates to "I look forward to today with great happiness." How cool is that? What would life look like if we could joy a little every day? Would others see us joying and follow suit? Instead of spreading negativity, we could joy positivity, making it an infectious double positive feeling, perhaps canceling all the bad stuff out there. We could look forward to/joy everything. My favorite prophet, Isaiah, talks about joy in chapter 35 saying "...the wilderness and the dry land shall....rejoice with joy and singing" and "...they shall obtain joy and gladness." Do you think Isaiah would approve of joying for God...looking forward with great happiness to God's kingdom?

Called to be a Prophet?

We heard from Amos and a plumb line at church last night. Elizabeth's homily focused on this prophet and God's metaphor of the plumb line as a measure of what is right and true. Prophets have always made me a bit uncomfortable. Elizabeth shared seeing a 'prophet' at the downtown Farmer's Market that morning, standing on his soap box between an organic vegetable stall and an artisan cheese display. Complete with a tee shirt emblazoned with "Repent," he was witnessing his faith..and making most of the Saturday morning shoppers uneasy. This has been my vision of what a prophet is...someone a bit whack-a-doodle, preaching on a street corner and making everyone squirm. When I read Marcus Borg's, Reading the Bible Again for the First Time, I encountered a different meaning for what a prophet is. Borg sees the prophets as lightening rods for social justice. God empowers them to speak out and indict those abusive forces in society, to threaten and name those abusers, and to give voice to oppressed peoples. They 'draw the line in the sand;' either take action to right this wrong or suffer the consequences. Their plumb line divides the upright and true from the wrongs of society. Prophets are not crazy men, predicting the end of the world; they are concerned citizens speaking up for what is right. Rich Mayfield references one such 'prophet.' See if you can guess who he's writing about before you get to the end of his essay. Does this mean we are all called to be prophets? That was Elizabeth's challenge to us.

Eyes of God

Let me wrap my arms around your cool smoothness.
Let me stroke your soft strength.
Eyes of God peer from your soul.
I am sheltered in your presence.
Do you endure your domesticity?
Does your soul long to live free among your comrades?
I await your golden fluttering answer.





PS....I chose to be a mentor. I chose love over fear.