Beatitudes Continued

 

Yesterday we considered salt and light, today we turn to anger.  Jesus invites us to be careful with our anger (Matthew 5:23-26)

 

And I hear you thinking, “Would you look at the time…I gotta run.”

 

Wait…come back.

 

Anger is an emotion we all feel.  Anger may be an emotion you were taught or told to push down and be avoided at all costs.  Anger can be loud with shouting to score points and win arguments.  Anger can be quiet when someone turns his/her back/cuts you out of her/his life altogether.  Anger can send a chill down your spine, even on a hot/humid Florida day.  Anger feeds and fuels our lives today.  We see vicious comments online; we hear on the news two people trying yelling at each other throwing verbal grenades, we swim in a sea of negativity that has become normal.  The wounds and wants of life leave us all raw, vulnerable, and frightened.

 

In these moments, some people become big and others become small.  Some rise up like a bear lashing out and others want to hide their heads like a turtle praying their shell will hold up.  And there is a bit of both within us. 

 

On the other side of anger, if we are willing to sit with this strong emotion, can teach and tell us what we care most about in the world.  Consider the last time you were angry…usually because a value you hold in your heart was threatened or you felt threatened physically/emotionally/ relationally.

 

What was that moment like?  What did you do?  Did you get big or go small? 

 

We live in a culture that wants to win…and we view people who are meek as weak; even though meekness is really more humility…and humility is all about being human-sized. I am not a superhero who can leap tall buildings in a single bound…I am made of soil and star dust to which one day I will return.  We live in a culture where love is nice for a pastor (or Jesus) to talk about for one hour on Sunday, but really isn’t as effective or efficient for our desire for immediate results. 

One final thought, anger and fear often hold hands. And apparently anger has been around since the day of Jesus.  People were angry…and afraid of the Roman Empire…of Herod (who was puppet king of Caesar)…angry and afraid of who could you trust.  I don’t know if it is nature or nurture…if it is our biology or biography (story we tell ourselves), but I do know that being human means we will experience anger.  How has this emotion played a role in your life recently? As you remember when last anger showed up for a visit, please pray with me.

 

Prayer: O God, the ancient Psalmists shouted out for You, “answer me”, the Psalmist plotted and planned and sang a time of sweet revenge when heads would be dashed upon a rock (Psalm 138), and even Jesus quoted Psalm 22 about feeling forgotten and forsaken and frustrated.  Help us, O God, realize and recognize that You can hold not just our praise but pain.  Help us come to You not just with poetic prose of sweet words, but when anger throbs in our hearts.  Help us live the prayer posture of offering You our anger first, listening openly to Your wisdom, before we roll up our sleeves and take matters into our own hands.  Take our lives, our whole lives, especially the bruised and broken parts that too often we hide, into Your healing embrace.  In the name of the One who lived his life with all the emotions, Jesus the Christ. Amen.

Beatitudes continued...

 

We continue to find our way through the Sermon on the Mount, prayerfully seeking ways these words might find a way into our minds, hearts, souls, and whole lives.  Last week, we let the words of the Beatitudes sink and settle and sing to our souls.  We noticed that while we usually think, “Blessing/Happy are those who are famous and have a fortune and thousands of followers,” Jesus says, “Um excuse me while I tear up that script of life and run it through the shredder.” Eek! 

 

I wonder how many people sitting at Jesus feet on the mountain turned to their partner and said, “Honey, I am outta here.  I’ll be in the car.”  Insert people stomping off and slamming the church door.  By the way, I know Jesus was outside and there was no actual door.  The words of the Beatitudes can be difficult and demanding to embrace and embody day after day.  Maybe that is why in Matthew 5:1, the writer has a distinction between the “crowd” and “disciples”.  How many people went up the mountain?  Are we willing to go up the mountain to not just listen to these words, but find ways to live them?  We recognize this is a spiritual summit. 

 

After Jesus upends the script of life, he draws a comparison between your life, my life, our life together and salt and light.  Jesus says when salt has lost its saltiness or zest-iness, you might as well toss and throw it out the window. Here is the irony and contradiction, salt rarely loses its saltiness.  According to the Morton’s website, and they must be the authority because my grandparents bought Morton’s salt, salt doesn’t expire.  Sure if you add other chemicals to the salt..which means it is not longer really salt…it might lose some of the flavor.

 

Pause with me…what does it mean that you cannot lose your saltiness?  Or maybe we do lose some of our flavor when we end up adding too much to our lives?  What would it mean to live the truth that there is a zest-iness built and baked into your life because you are created in God’s image?

 

Wait…don’t race through that last question.  Try to answer that question right now and every day.

 

Jesus continues, that you don’t light a lamp and put a basket over it.  Of course not!  Did you learn nothing from Smokey the Bear…that could start a forest fire!  More to the point, for a lamp to be a lamp it needs to shine.  If that sounds familiar, that is an echo of Christmas Eve, when we centered around that truth that for a candle to be a candle, it needs to be lit. 

 

As we approach the threshold of turning the calendar to February, I wonder, what is adding zest or spice to your life right now?  What is adding flavor?  And where are you encountering light and where are you letting your light shine? 

 

One final thought has you ponder prayerfully those questions: salt and light are every day, ordinary, ho-hum things ~ true in Jesus’ day and true today.  So, when reflecting and responding to those questions, you don’t have to figure out some special or set apart moment.  This doesn’t have to be, “My vacation skydiving and running with the bulls in Spain is totally going to be salty.”  (By the way, that vacation itinerary just made my anxiety say, “No thank you”.)  You don’t have to think, my light is so brilliant and bold that I will inspire everyone around.  Most of the time, our precious ordinary lives offer a dash of salt (which is always enough) and a bit of light which can help illuminate the next right step.

 

Sit with these images of salt and light to consider ways you might embrace and embody these in beautifully ordinary ways this day.  Amen.

Beatitudes Part Four

 

After living with Matthew 5-7, and specifically the Beatitudes this week, what was one insight or new idea that stirred within you?  What is one question you still hold?  (Wait, you think, just one, I have a thousand questions about this Sermon!)  Does the insight and question connect in any way? 

 

Sermons are not just speechifying…I am not just giving a talk on Sunday mornings.  For me, preaching and teaching is art.  I seek to share what is in my soul (as imperfect as I am) with you.  I trust that God moves in the spaces between words, the pregnant pauses, and the stirring of your sacred imagination to create something I did not intend but is profoundly beautiful for the sake of the world. 

 

Jesus didn’t just go to give a talk on a mountain.  I believe he was laying out the way he was living his life.  He lived a life of poverty, compassion, reaching out to the lost and lonely… and as Jesus did, people discovered right there was God’s realm while Jesus was on earth.  The call for us, you and me, is to not just believe these words intellectually, but live these words intentionally in our bodies. 

 

But…that takes our attention and intention. 

 

We will return to the Sermon on the Mount next week too.  For this week, on this Friday, continue to let God’s wisdom work in your life.  Notice how you are getting caught up in a great symphony God is creating and conducting right here and now.  Take our lives, O God, let them be consecrated/lived faithfully today and always.  Amen. 

Pause

 

Breathe in God’s blessing for you today…breathe out the people who live rent free in your mind and seem to love the reaction of pushing your buttons.  Too often these people are the very ones who cause us to distrust God’s promise.

Breathe in God’s energy for you…breathe out those who steal your joy.

Breathe in a love that enfolds and holds…breathe out the ways we are caught in systems that cause us to give our attention and allegiance to trying to score points on an imaginary scoreboard.

 

God of wisdom and courage, too often Your will is not done on earth.  Your will of openness and love and curiosity; Your will of honoring all creation as beautiful and reflecting Your creativity; Your will of people finding ways to dwell together rather than the walls we build between our side and those people.  Forgive us.  Call us back to sit at the feet of Jesus’ teaching that does challenge us to our very core and cause us to wonder, “Is this really possible?”  For in the space that question opens, there You can enter in.  Abide, inform, and inspire my living this day and for countless days to come.  Amen.

Praying the Beatitudes

 

At the heart of the Sermon on the Mount, is the question, what kind of world do we want to live in? 

 

Wait, don’t rush or race through that question!

 

What kind of world do you want to live in?  Hold that, turn that different directions to let the light reflect through the prism of life, lean in, and listen to additional questions can provoke/evoke.

 

Jesus’ opening wisdom about blessings and where God’s presence can be found points to a different world that doesn’t make a lot of sense and there is not a lot of evidence that Jesus words equate to what we know as “success”.  A few weeks ago, we hovered with the question, does your life or mine give evidence of an encounter with God? 

 

Jesus is saying these are people/places/spaces of poverty, pain, persecution, and pushed to the fringes and fray ~ that is the place God hangs out. 

 

Do we really want to live in a world where the poor, weeping, wounded, hurting, hungry brothers and sisters are the location of where God’s blessings show up?  Are you and I willing to step down so that someone can rise up?  Are we willing to share or do we cling to what is ours?

 

For me, these questions could be asked every day for the next eleven months, and I’d never exhaust or fully embrace all that is prompted in my head/heart/soul.  These questions could be asked the next eleven years of my life, and I’d never exhaust or fully embrace…which is why God’s grace helps fill in the gap between who God creates me to be and how I live. 

 

Please pray with me: O God, help me move past easy to swallow answers where I think I have it all figured out.  O God, help me do more than nod or give a polite, passing, “Amen” to what Jesus is saying.  May these words create a world in me where Your vision and presence can dwell always.  Amen. 

Sermon on the Mount Part 2

 

Yesterday, I invited you to read the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5-7.  I encouraged you to look at different translations.  The Sermon on the Mount begins with what is called the Beatitudes or Blessings or state of goodness.  But Jesus doesn’t say, “Blessed are those who are privileged or powerful or have a growing social media platform.”  Here is the Voice Translation of this passage:

 

Now when He saw the crowds, He went up on a mountain (as Moses had done before Him) and He sat down (as Jewish teachers of His day usually did). His disciples gathered around Him.

 

² And He began to teach them.

³ Jesus: Blessed are the spiritually poor—the kingdom of heaven is theirs.
⁴     Blessed are those who mourn—they will be comforted.
⁵     Blessed are the meek and gentle—they will inherit the earth.
⁶     Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness—they will be filled.
⁷     Blessed are the merciful—they will be shown mercy.
⁸     Blessed are those who are pure in heart—they will see God.
⁹     Blessed are the peacemakers—they will be called children of God.
¹⁰     Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness—the kingdom of heaven is theirs.

 

 

Pause with me, when in the last few months have you been at the end of your rope?  When have you lost someone?  Our church right now is grieving the deaths of a number of our members, some suddenly.  There is shock and rawness to grief; a pain that takes effort and energy to process.  Note that grief is complex, we grieve not only the death of loved ones, but lost opportunities, missed moments, or feeling emotionally cut off from family.  When have you felt restless, hungry for God, compassion for other? 

 

Find yourself in the Beatitudes.  Name and notice when the words described and defined your life. 

 

I mentioned yesterday that Jesus is offering God’s alternative vision for the world.  I am not sure as people of faith we know what to do with the gap between what Jesus describes and the world we experience/encounter today.  I encourage you to continue to let these words roam and rummage within you.  Continue to ponder prayerfully which words open your soul and which words you want to slam the door shut upon and pretend are not there.  Hold this and pray with me:

 

God, Your challenge to lean into these words can cause us to feel flummoxed and frustrated.  We struggle to see blessing in moments of tension or when we are weak/worn/tired.  We have been taught and told that what Jesus says is a blessing, is the exact opposite of what we are to seek.  What gives?  How in the world do we reconcile, embrace, and embody these words?  Do we really have the courage?  We believe and trust in You, help our unbelief and resistance for the revolution You are plotting and planning in our hearts.  Amen. 

Sermon on the Mount

 

In the coming weeks, I invite you to dive and dwell into the Sermon on the Mount with me.  The Sermon on the Mount can be found in Matthew chapters 5-7.  My favorite quote about this these three chapters is, “The Sermon on the Mount was probably not preached all at once, because that might have caused the disciples’ heads to explode!”

 

Indeed.

 

In these chapters you find God’s alternative vision for the world or what has been called, “A curriculum of Christlikeness”.  Yet, the words that fall from Jesus’ lips describe a world that is upside down from the “normal” way of life as you and I know it.  In our world, we seek fame, fortune, power, privilege, and positioning.  We want (dare I say, need) to win.  We stuff our lives with stuff and long for people to like our posts on social media.  Jesus’ wisdom is that blessing/goodness/God-ness/peacefulness is found not in the balance of our bank accounts, but among the poor in spirit, the mourning, the meek, hungry, justice-seekers, those who walk humbly with God, cultivate peace, and are even persecuted.

 

Huh?  That is not easy to hear or understand.  With a job description like that, it is surprising anyone followed Jesus OR still attends church.  I imagine people walking away from the Sermon on the Mount shaking their heads in disbelief.  I imagine the angry emails he got afterwards.   

 

How do we live in the tension between how the world we know describes and defines as blessing/goodness and how Jesus preaches and teaches the way of blessing/goodness?

 

I don’t think that question is easily solved or resolved.  That question needs to sit and simmer on our souls.  The Sermon on the Mount is like learning a foreign language, it takes time.  Jesus is laying out an alternative plan for life that will challenge us to the very core of our being; that will ask us to look at our calendars, checkbooks, credit card receipts, and conversations we are having with God and others and ourselves.

 

Today, I invite you to read all of Matthew 5-7.  After you read, write down the chapters/verses that you find meaningful (for example, I love the image of salt and light in chapter 5 and the instructions on prayer in chapter 6).  Also, name and notice what feels like sandpaper to your soul.  I confess the Beatitudes of chapter 5 of how Jesus talks about blessedness make my mind spin!  Moreover, the part about loving your enemy at the end of chapter 5 causes the defense attorney in my mind to stand up and say, “Objection!  This is NOT how the world works!  Plus, you don’t know how much my enemy hurt me!” (More on this part of the Sermon on the Mount in the weeks to come).

 

Soak yourself in these words.  Let them rummage and roam around your life.  You may want to re-read these chapters several times in the coming days as a prayer practice.  You may want to read different translations of these words to see if the words of one translation opens you to a different insight.  Please note, I am NOT offering a money-back guarantee, that at the end of the next few weeks of studying the Sermon on the Mount there will be some kind of spiritual break through (in fact, it might feel more like a break down).  But, I trust that when we dwell in the Word, the Word begins to dwell with us in ways that make a difference.  I trust this ancient wisdom of Jesus was not just good advice we may or may not accept, but a way of life that causes my soul to be curious.  Let’s dive in to see where this journey takes us.

Prayer

 

God of January days that continue to flow on in endless song.  I give thanks for the moments the melody of Your love set my soul dancing.  For people who cause me to be caught up in Your grace and love; for a church that prayerfully seeks/searches to be open to You; for worship and Bible Study and morning mediations, thank you, God.  I pray for our world, bruised and broken and busy.  I pray for places of war and famine and hatred.  I pray for the ways these narratives too often are the only story I tell myself.  Let Your grace and good news work/wiggle in my life this day.  I pray for those grieving.  I pray for family and friends hurting.  I pray for myself that I will be grounded and guided by You.  Continue, Authoring God, to help me find ways to live values that You have placed upon the shelves of my soul.  Help me be open to learning, deepening, being, striving, and resting in You so that Your rhythm might be the soundtrack to my life.  Let this be more than words on a screen I read, but a way of life I live today.  Amen.  

Pause

 

Breathe in God’s love…breathe out events or experiences this week that have hurt you.

Breathe in God’s love…breathe out joy for this moment to be here.

Breathe in God’s love…breathe out a kind thought or word to yourself, others, and the world God so loves. 

 

Here we are past the midpoint of January 2023. 

 

Pause.

Breathe.

Be here.

 

What is one moment this month that you celebrate?  An experience that brings a smile to your face?

What is one moment that left an impression ~ good or bad?  Can you hold that lightly?

What is one prayer you have for the remaining days of January?  Name and claim what is deep in your heart.

 

The more we look around, open up, and let God sing to our souls, I believe the more we can forgive, be present, and be love because we are grounded in the truth of being beloved of God.

May you have love, may you have healing, may you have peace, and may you have joy. 

Breathe and be in God’s presence now and in the days to come.  Amen. 

Morning Meditation

 

I pray you are continuing to find ways to hold the two questions I asked yesterday.  To recap and review, I asked you how have you been kind to your future self (that is an act yesterday that will make life a bit easier in February or March or even July) and what is a meaningful compliment you’ve received recently? 

I encouraged you to make these questions a cornerstone of weekly or monthly reflections.  These two questions reminded me of a great mantra from Jon Acuff.  “Forgive your former self; enjoy your present self; be kind to your future self.”

 

Now, first, that is a lot.  Seriously, how much homework are these morning meditations going to be this year?!!  You don’t have to do this right now.  But I wonder if there is luggage you are carrying from 2022 that perhaps you can let go?  Sometimes we return to mistakes we’ve made yesterday thinking that if we don’t we may not, “Learn our lesson” or we will “repeat history.”  Yet, much of this shaming and blaming doesn’t really change behavior.  Yelling at ourselves or others, berating or belittling ourselves or others doesn’t work.  You can be accountable without continually accusing yourself of being a bonehead.  For example, if I say something I regret, which I do frequently each day, I can both say, “Wes, that wasn’t your shining moment,” and realize/recognize I was hungry.  I can genuinely ask the person I said those words to, to forgive me.  The growth happens when I take the step to say, “Before the meeting I should eat a few crackers, take a sip a water, and a few deep breaths.”  Notice the difference?  Forgiveness is not blanket permission, nor is it continually lashing yourself with negativity.  Growth means learning, listening, and living through the challenges time and time again.  Remember, there is no perfection.  I will say things I regret.  But I continue, through forgiveness, to keep learning.

 

To enjoy today, this moment, this sip of warm coffee or sunshine or conversation.  To be in the moment with all is fragile beauty.  Pause with me.  What are five things you see, four things you hear, three things you can touch, two things you can smell, and one thing you feel right now?  Go ahead…name and notice these.  I’ll wait.

 

To be kind to my future self by getting gas before the tank is on empty, taking a day off, not booking back-to-back meetings, buying a new book to read next week, or buying tickets to a performance. 

 

I hope you already, right now, have in mind one thing to forgive, one way to enjoy this day, and one thought to be kind to yourself on January 30^th.  See, the homework wasn’t that bad, and you already got an “A” because this was never going to be graded anyway.  May you know forgiveness, may you find joy today, and may you be wrapped in a love that lingers and lights the way for days to come.  Amen.

Two MORE Questions

 

Over the last few weeks, I have been asking questions to help you reflect on 2022.  Since we are past the midpoint of the first month of 2023, such reflections might seem passe or not what is trending.  What if we continue throughout this month to look back, look around, and look forward?  What if we did this not only this month, but each month?

 

Ian Morgan Cron recently posed two questions that I ask you to ponder prayerfully.

 

When you look back at 2022, what was something I said or did that make my future self proud?  Where was I kind to myself for the sake of the coming months?  This question might take a few times to read through but stick with it.  An example for me: I was kind to my future self by planning my vacation for this year.  I tend, as a type A person, to push or put off vacations.  When I delay, events get planned and suddenly a week that I wanted for vacation I have committed to someone to attend something.  When I schedule vacations early in the year, that means I can say to a Team or person that I am away and work to select a different date.  My experience is that people are understanding and can be flexible.  For you, it might be declining to serve on a committee because of a full calendar or it might be a commitment to joining a book conversation.  I pray that those in the Mapping Your Life class are finding ways to be kind to their future selves. 

 

Second question, what is a compliment I received recently that was meaningful?  This one is hard for me too.  I tend to be Teflon for compliments.  I tend to shift the light to others who helped because I rarely do anything on my own.  For example, if someone says something nice about my kids, I will talk about how awesome a parent Gina is ~ which she is.  But the truth is that I am also Ethan and Olivia’s parent.  This question may take some work for some.  If you cannot think of a recent compliment, try to open your ears and hearts and head to compliments you hear this week.  You may need to record these.

 

That is a GREAT suggestion for both of these.  What if each week on Tuesday, you looked back at these two questions and answered them for the last seven days?  To keep track of kind things you do for yourself, and compliments/appreciations/words of love said to you by others.  Remember a compliment that is meaningful is rarely sought or solicited.  Remember being kind to yourself is not selfish.  God’s love longs for you to see/embrace the “you” ~ you hide because you are not sure what would happen if you let your light shine.  God’s love embraces you fully.  God longs for you to love yourself as you love your neighbor because God’s love starts that whole chain moving forward. 

 

I pray these two questions move you beyond resolutions or results or resolves of your own will power, but to rest in God who is authoring and conducting your life with you.  May you know peace, joy, hope, healing, and love this day.  Amen.

Reflection on Dr. King Monday

 

On April 3, 1968, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his last sermon at Mason Temple in Memphis.  He was there to encourage the sanitation workers who were on strike.  Dr. King begins the sermon by surveying history, asking the question, “If I could be alive at any point in human history, what time would I choose?”  After recounting milestone moments, he says that he wants to be alive in the second half of the 20^th century.  He says, “Now that’s a strange statement to make, because the world is all messed up. The nation is sick. Trouble is in the land; confusion all around. That’s a strange statement. But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough can you see the stars.”

Those words are as true today as they were fifty-five years ago.  He talks about how we are forced to grapple with issues, to address human rights, and how even when you are poor you have the power of economic withdrawal.  This remains true today.  We are continuing to grapple, strive/seek human rights for all, and know that where we spend our dollars collectively matter and make a difference. 

King reflects on the Parable of the Good Samaritan.  Using the power of sacred imagination he says, “And you know, it’s possible that the priest and the Levite looked over that man on the ground and wondered if the robbers were still around. Or it’s possible that they felt that the man on the ground was merely faking. And he was acting like he had been robbed and hurt, to seize them over there, lure them there for quick and easy seizure. And so the first question that the priest asked—the first question that the Levite asked was, “If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?” But then the Good Samaritan came by. And he reversed the question: “If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?”

He talks about how years before he had been stabbed at a book signing that almost killed him.  That if he would have sneezed, he would be dead.  But because he didn’t sneeze, he was able to live and work for equality and justice.  On the night before he was assassinated, he concludes with these chilling words, “Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!”

 

As we honor the life and legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I encourage you to read some of his sermons today or you can listen to one on YouTube.  I encourage you to reflect on the Parable of the Good Samaritan, how we can love each other, even when the world is “all messed up” (to us King’s words).  I encourage you to join in grappling with issues through Sacred Conversations on Race on Wednesdays, to engage in the struggle for human rights with your whole head, heart, and lives, and know that where and how you spend your dollars matter. 

 

May God’s grace and courage continue to guide each of us and our church in these days as we seek to do justice, show loving kindness, and walk humbly with God each day.  Amen.

Click here for an index of Dr. King's sermons

Friday Prayer

 

This week, we have held four questions together.  We have pondered the evidence of God our life is showing.  We have asked who inspires and informs our lives.  We have described, with detail, the sweet spots of life and we have also turn toward the pain to see what that emotion might be telling us too. 

Today, I invite you to put the pieces together.  Look back at your reflections and responses to see if there is a thread or theme that starts to emerge.  For example, is there a similarity between your shero and the sweet spot where time stood still?  Is there a place of pain where you’ve poured your energy as evidence of God’s presence?

Pay attention to your stories you are telling yourself this day…for they are the words that shape the world you inhabit.  I pray that God’s editing pen might get a word in edgewise to help each of us be shaped by a good news of unconditional love that will never let us go.

Amen. 

Fourth and Final Question

 

Breathe in God’s presence today.  Breathe in God’s promise to be there in the good and bad.  Yesterday, we focused on the sweet spots in your life.  Now we are going to turn to a painful moment.  But rather than re-live every inch of hurt and harm; once you recall the situation ask yourself what value was underneath that moment?  Often, we hurt most where we care. 

 

I hurt when my family is not treated with respect because I have a value of love that is important for all people to be treated as a child of God.

 

I hurt when people have been wounded by the church because I believe faith can fuel and feed our lives in amazing ways and get frustrated by those who use religion as a weapon.

 

I hurt when someone is pushed to the fringe and fray because I value all life being fruitful and flourishing.

 

I encourage you to hold the places of hurt, not only listening to the throb, but also for the way the ache can help you articulate and acknowledge something deeper happening within you for the sake of the world.

 

Please pray with me: God, Your healing presence is needed in our lives each day.  As the psalmist sang, like a deer thirsty for water, so our lives are parched until we are drenched by You.  Let Your love saturate and soak, meet us in the wants and wounds of life that can throb and rob us of sensing Your presence.  Help make our wounded spirits, lives, church, community, country, and world whole we pray this day and every day of 2023.  Amen. 

A Third Question

 

So far this week we have asked what evidence does your life or mine give of an encounter with God.  We considered some of our heroes and sheroes and guides on the road right now.  Today, I want you to think about sweet spots in your life, moments when time slowed down.

 

When was the last time this year, you were caught up in a holy flow and you felt buoyed by God’s grace.

 

Try to describe in detail where you were, what you were doing, the sensations in your body, the thoughts in your mind, what hovered in your heart, and even what the air smelled like.

 

For me, that sweet spots from this last year that come to mind are: having dinner with my family, leading worship on Sunday mornings, leading Bible Study, teaching the Mapping Your Life Class; and anytime I am out in creation walking.  I can also begin to describe/define what I see and feel in those moments as I think about them.  The more specific my description the better, because it gives me insights into how the Holy shows up in my life.  If you can come up with two or three, write several sentences about trying to capture why that moment you felt like Moses on holy ground. 

 

By the way, this connects to the question from Monday, because often the evidence of our life that God is at work is in moments when we lose track of time.  We stop staring at our phones.  We think, “I could do this forever.” 

 

Those moments are a gift to the world.  These moments are your gift to the world that is needed now ~ the way you, like the Wise Ones, follow the star of wonder and star of night. 

 

I pray this invitation evokes and provokes memories and moments to swirl and start to flow from your head/heart/soul onto the piece of paper.

Another Question to Ponder

 

Yesterday, we pondered prayerfully the question, does one’s life give any evidence of an encounter with God?

 

Built and baked into that question is a secondary one, when yesterday did you encounter God?  In whom, where, when, and how did the holy show up disguised as your life in the past twenty-four hours?  I am not talking about angels singing from the realms of glory or Gabriel knocking on your door.  That may happen to you, but in my life when someone knocks on my door, they usually want to sell me something.  Often, I can be passive in prayer.  I think if I just throw some words in the general direction of the divine, that is enough.

But what if, like all relationships, our connection with God asks us for to be intentional, thoughtful, and pay attention?  Relationships need to be tended, curated, and cultivated.  How do we do that with God?

 

To get at that, I wonder, who are some of your sheroes/heroes/guides in the world today?  The person could be living or dead.  This could be family or someone you’ve only met through reading his/her book or heard in a podcast.  This could be an author, painter, singer, leader, or your next-door neighbor.

 

As a matter of fact, the longer the list the better!  Try to come up with 10 people who move something deep within you.  After you list the person’s name, ask why?  What is it about the person that sings to your soul? 

 

Some of the people I admire are positive and resilient because I don’t see those traits in myself.

I admire pastors whose words cause my soul to stir and strangely warm my heart.  They minister to me.

I admire people in our church who show up day-after-day faithfully and have done so for years.

 

Sometimes the way we find who we long to be is to ask ourselves about the people we are drawn toward and why.  Once we have named and claimed this group of saints, we can start to feel surrounded and strengthened and sustained because the chance is good that you are drawn to them because they touched/sparked something that is already in you ~ they held a match near the candlewick of your heart ~ but sometimes we quickly blow that out because we are not confident or certain we could really do this. 

 

You may want to keep this list handy and keep reaching for it in the coming days.  For now, ponder the people who have left an impression on your heart.  Thank God for the saints who continue to inform and inspire our daily living.

A Question to Ponder

 

Recently, Richard Rohr in his morning devotional recently asked, “The spiritual question is this: Does one’s life give any evidence of an encounter with God?”  Those eleven words stopped me in my tracks.  For a few moments, I stared at my computer screen as the lawyer who lives in my mind tried to rummage through the art project called my life for some proof that God doesn’t just rent space in my heart for an hour on Sunday, but permanently resides there. 

For a few moments the silence was awkward.  Until, like a child who has just been caught with a hand in the cookie jar, I began to sputter a response.

“Well…I write these devotionals,” I thought.

“And I have now completed nine years at First Congregational UCC,” pause for applause, “that means 460ish sermons, countless pastoral visits, and don’t forget all the meetings!”

I was starting to be on a roll.

“And I try to be a loving husband, caring father, and good friend.”

 

Is that enough evidence?  I wondered.

 

But, perhaps the evidence might not be anything internal, but the impact we have on others ~ much of which we may never know.  When people talk to me, do they sense that I am listening ~ or just pausing long enough before I can make my point?  Do people feel like they can be themselves, their full authentic selves, around me?  Do I feel like I am being who God creates/crafts me to be in these January days?  Does God’s love flow forth from me?

 

Can we hold Rohr’s question close to our hearts this week? What does a life that has encountered God sound like?  Look like?  Feel like? 

Hold this question with me…try not to do what I did…and race for a response.  This is not just a question to answer, but one to ask every day ~ throughout the day.

 

May you and I continue find ways to let loose a love, peace, joy, and hope of God that is renewed morning by morning ~ with the rising of the sun.  May you and I continue to collaborate with our Creator who longs to be embodied in you and me.   May you and I find ways to conspire to be lights in a world that longs for Christ’s presence in these days. Amen.