Holy Foolishness

 

Yesterday, I shared with you a poem entitled, “When in Doubt” by Sandra Cisneros.  Today, I want to share with you a favorite poem by Shel Silverstein.  I find Silverstein’s poetry playful, prayerful, and the humor opens me to truths I need to hear.

The Homework Machine, oh the Homework Machine,
Most perfect contraption that’s ever been seen.
Just put in your homework, then drop in a dime,
Snap on the switch, and in ten seconds’ time,
Your homework comes out, quick and clean as can be.
Here it is – “nine plus four?” and the answer is… “three.”
Three?
Oh my…
I guess it’s not as perfect as I thought it would be.

I wonder when this year your life felt like the Homework Machine – you attempted to craft and create a meal or a poem or sing a song or go somewhere ~ and life didn’t turn out with precision accuracy?  When the “machine” of life spits out an answer that didn’t compute?  When has a recent attempt to try something new fell flat splat on your face?  When this happens, we tend to criticize ourselves for making mistakes.  The teacher or preacher or inner editor with their red pen starts to write all over our life to point out all your unforced errors.  

When we believe that the only "correct" destination is perfection, we will miss the humanness of every life.  When we open our eyes we rarely see a perfect tree or blade of grass or plant ~ yet each has beauty.  Hold this truth, open yourself to this truth, find ways to life this truth today.  Amen.  

Holy Foolishness

 

Throughout the month of April, we have been playing with the invitation of holy foolishness that is at the heart of Easter.  We have journeyed with the women to the tomb and heard the disciples scoff that resurrection, saying that Jesus coming back from the dead is, “an idle tale.”  We have witnessed the Resurrected One who beams suddenly into the room, offers peace (shalom) and asks for something to eat ~ talk about a tall tale.  And yesterday in worship, we heard about Zacchaeus, a man of power, position, and privilege scurry up a tree just to catch a glimpse of Jesus ~ causing us to ponder where/when/how we are compelled to connect with Christ.  When we weave these stories together, we see a thread and theme ~ life doesn’t always make sense.  We can’t just take the endless amounts of information, process it like we are some supercomputers and spit out solutions.  This month started with April’s Fools Day, and we’ve sought to let holy foolishness speak and sing to our hearts.  This means we might risk respectability.  This means people may misunderstand us, shake their heads at us with a smirk, and cause us to feel foolish ~ as the color red floods our face.    A few weeks ago, I shared a quote from Maggie Jackson, “When there is no surprise there is no learning, meaning making takes time.”

 

Where/when have you been surprised in April?  Was it pleasant or painful or baffling or all the above?  What was your response to the surprise?  Did you stand slack-jawed and scratching your head like the disciples?  Did you try to rush to a conclusion given the evidence you’d collected?  Do you find yourself wanting to solve surprises?  Do you want to dispel doubts? 

 

I love the poem by Sandra Cisneros entitled, “When in Doubt”…I’ll offer just a few lines. 

 

When in doubt, Wear faux leopard.

When in doubt, Err on the side of generosity.

When in doubt, Greet everyone as you would the Buddha.

When in doubt, Make life’s major mistakes.

When in doubt, Carry a handkerchief and a fan.

When in doubt, Thank everyone. Twice.

When in doubt, Heed the clouds.

When in doubt, Sleep on it.

When in doubt, Treat all sentient and insentient beings as kin.

When in doubt, Forgive us our myopia
As we forgive those who are myopic against us.

When in doubt, Unreel your grief to a tree.

When in doubt, Remember this we are all on a Caucus-race.

There is no start. No finish.
Everyone wins.

 

What do you do when in doubt?  Which line above surprised or shocked or caused resistance to rise up?  May you continue to find ways to explore doubts that might just be the very door that the Risen Christ come right into your lives.  May the serendipitous presence of the sacred stir delightfully in your doubts and certainties this day.  Amen. 

Morning Meditation

 

Creator God, You are a Genius at play.  You continually sink deep Your fingers into our lives and world; You continue to sing to our souls through birds and winds whistling outside our windows; You continue to conduct a symphony that is unfinished and a harmony that is about more than humanity.  Unfathomable and unfinished God, help us listen for You.  Quiet the agendas in our minds, our plotting and planning that seem so reasonable and rationale.  Silence our attempts to solve everything or trust that we can build a better computer software that will magically make everything better.  Stop our endless hustle and bustle to sit and admit our addiction to busyness.  Help us God, amid the flurry and scurry of life that leaves us exhausted and empty as the inside of a chocolate Easter bunny.  Remind us that one more book, class, sermon, morning meditation, retreat, vacation, or volunteer moment won’t solve everything.  Help us breathe and be.  Help us pray the words of the Psalm 46

 

Be still, and know that I AM, God.

Be still, and know that I AM

Be still, and know

Be still

Be

Amen.

Tending Home

 

As we explore Earth Week, honoring that from dust (earth/soil/mud) we are made and that we have a mixture of soil and star dust in our souls this reminds us of the truth that we are what we experience in the world.  We are not separate from creation, but so tangled and twisted, we don’t know where the earth ends, and we begin ~ despite our amateur attempts to conquer and control.  After all, you cannot make it rain or be sunny today.  After all, the squirrel in your backyard doesn’t do tricks to entertain you.  After all, I can barely make a tomato grow despite all the effort and energy I pour into that plant.  Creation tells us of the fragile, fleeting parts of life ~ all life ~ including yours and mine.  Creation tells us that death and resurrection didn’t just happen but are happening right now around us and within us.  I love this poem/prayer:

 

God our (Creator/Animator/Artist/Director/Divine Conspirator)
You created the world and sent your own Son to live among us,
made of the same stuff, breathing the same air,
marveling at sunrise and sunset just as we do.

Help us to participate in the life around and within us as your life,
as you are living in us and we are living in you and in each other.

God of love and life, restore us to your peace,
renew us through your power and teach us to love all that you have created and to care for the earth as your gift and our home.

 

May we tend our home (not just the physical structure that provides a roof over our heads ~ but all creation as home) with a loving touch and careful caress worthy of the holiness that is woven into every blade of grass and breathing being.  May our acceptance move beyond other featherless bipeds to realize the relationship God knit together was with all God crafts and creations.  From the beginning to this day, we are in a the partnership with all that is and all that God calls holy.  Amen.

Prayer of St. Francis

 

As we are exploring Earth Week, it is holy to return to the prayer of St. Francis.  I encourage you slowly to read these words, especially paying attention to the holy relationships he affirms with all creation:

 

O Most High, all-powerful, good Lord God,
to you belong praise, glory, honor and all blessing.
Be praised, my Lord, for all your creation
and especially for our Brother Sun, who brings us the day and the light;
he is strong and shines magnificently. O Lord, we think of you when we look at him.
Be praised, my Lord, for Sister Moon, and for the stars
which you have set shining and lovely in the heavens.
Be praised, my Lord, for our Brothers Wind and Air
and every kind of weather by which you, Lord, uphold life in all your creatures.
Be praised, my Lord, for Sister Water, who is very useful to us,
and humble and precious and pure.
Be praised, my Lord, for Brother Fire, through whom you give us light in the darkness:
he is bright and lively and strong.
Be praised, my Lord, for Sister Earth, our Mother,
who nourishes us and sustains us, bringing forth
fruits and vegetables of many kinds and flowers of many colors.
Be praised, my Lord, for those who forgive for love of you;
and for those who bear sickness and weakness
in peace and patience – you will grant them a crown.
Be praised, my Lord, for our Sister Death, whom we must all face.
I praise and bless you, Lord, and I give thanks to you,
and I will serve you in all humility.

 

Let these words settle, simmer, soak, and sing to your soul, causing you to live the words in new ways this day and for countless days to come.

Morning Meditation ~ Earth Week

 

One of my favorite authors is John O’Donohue.  I encourage you to read slowly this poem, prayer of his:

 

FOR A NEW BEGINNING

 

In out-of-the-way places of the heart,

Where your thoughts never think to wander,

This beginning has been quietly forming,

Waiting until you were ready to emerge.

 

For a long time it has watched your desire,

Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,

Noticing how you willed yourself on,

Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.

 

It watched you play with the seduction of safety

And the gray promises that sameness whispered,

Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,

Wondered would you always live like this.

 

Then the delight, when your courage kindled,

And out you stepped onto new ground,

Your eyes young again with energy and dream,

A path of plenitude opening before you.

 

Though your destination is not yet clear

You can trust the promise of this opening;

Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning

That is at one with your life's desire.

 

Awaken your spirit to adventure;

Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;

Soon you will home in a new rhythm,

For your soul senses the world that awaits you.

 

May the Easter-ing promise that prods you to risk going to the tomb stir within you.  May you find courage to reach for the spices that sit with layers of dust in the cupboard of your soul (like trying to write your own poem or explore a new relationship or try a different way of being in the world right now).  May you continue to trust that the unknowingness is part of the holy foolishness of Easter.  We celebrate that as an Easter people, we know that we do not know.  May God show up disguised as your life when you stumble, fumble, and fall splat on your face.  May You open your soul’s senses to a world that risks time and time and time again telling us a holy mystery of life.  Amen.

Morning Meditation ~ Earth Day

 

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished ~ Lau Tzu

 

According to the University of California, 1 out of 10,000 acorns will grow into a tree.  If, if, that acorn doesn’t get gobbled up by a squirrel or smooshed under your foot or washed away by a rainstorm to the sea, it will take another four to five years before it becomes a small tree.  If, if, that small tree can weather storms, winds that whirl, and human activity, the tree will continue to grow and eventually shed 10,000 acorns of its own.  Moreover, acorns need just the right amount of rain and sunlight (neither of which the acorn can control) to flourish.

 

Why do we think that everything we do needs to be spectacular and successful?  Why would I think that every week my sermon must hit it out of the park?  I’ve done the math; I’ve preached about 1200 sermons.  I’ve posted almost 2000 times to my blog.  I am nowhere close to 10,000 acorns to produce one single tree.  Or when it comes to parenting, I’ve known my eldest son for almost 8000 days.  At least I am getting closer to the 10,000 mark, but why would I think that every conversation with my children needs to be transformational?  And what about the fact that there are other elements of weather in the world that can impact and influence whether some action of mine takes root?  We are addicted to progress and quick to criticize or become cynical when an effort gets smooshed or squelched or silenced.  Yet, creation tells a different truth.

 

On this Earth Day, what is creation trying to teach and tell you as you hold this truth?  Pause ~ go outside to soak in the smells, sights, sounds, and sensations of creation in this moment.

 

Richard Rohr on April 3 said it this way,

We all want resurrection in some form. Jesus’ resurrection is a potent, focused, and compelling statement about what God is still and forever doing with the universe and with humanity. Science strongly confirms this statement using its own terms: metamorphosis, condensation, evaporation, seasonal changes, and the life cycles of everything from butterflies to stars. The natural world is constantly dying and being reborn in different forms. God appears to be resurrecting everything all the time and everywhere. It is not something to “believe in” as much as it is something to observe and be taught by.  

 

This day and this week as we celebrate Creation as God’s first testament ~ the way God’s is seeking to communicate and commune with us daily ~ I encourage you to be awake and aware of what the snails, trees, blades of grass are trying to sing to you.  I encourage you to live our Creation Justice Covenant and honor the web of life that we are all inextricably woven into and connected within, where your actions do reverberate to all beings.  I encourage you to find ways to celebrate and honor all that reflects God’s handiwork ~ turn off the computer, go outside, let the weather and winds and world and expanding and evolving galaxies tell you something you need to hear.  Amen. 

Prayer Sentences #5

 

Sometimes it is good to rewind and review where we have been in the last week.  This is not an evaluation ~ there are no grades ~ just a wayless way we are all trying to travel.  We started the week with this thought:

 

May I cease to be annoyed that others are not as I wish they were, since I am not as I wish I was.

 

Maybe there was an idea you had on Monday that seemed fabulous and filled you with enthusiasm.  Now today, you are wondering, how could you be so foolish?  Who was that person who thought that would work?  Or maybe you were able to engage one person as God’s beloved rather than someone you had to fix or save or cajole to catch up with you.

 

We continued the week with this beautiful invitation:

May the reality that I cannot know the whole truth never keep me from bearing witness to what I can and do see.  I love blending that sentence with the with from Wednesday: Before I see someone as a problem, may I see him/her/them as a human being.

 

Both are true.  We find ways to speak the truth in love and other times I want a rewind button to shove my words back in my mouth because my idea now is cringeworthy.  It can be tempting to run away.  The cliché we live by include that the grass is greener on the other side…or that things will be better when I am there (on vacation, new volunteer opportunity, or  a different group of friends).  Yet, we know that our problems tend to sneak into the luggage when we escape on vacation or relocate to a brand-new city thinking ~ “New place, new me!”  Too often the same old me shows up in the mirror of the bathroom before all the moving boxes have been unloaded!  Genesis 2 tells how the first human was lonely and God tried to make a companion.  I love how God originally thought that the porcupine or platypus or python would be a good mate!  I want to say, “Really God, a snake?!?”  But it was only another featherless biped who helped us flourish and find our fullest expression.  After years of fanning the flames of fear from 9/11 to political speechifying that vilifies the other to economic gaps that keep us further apart than the Grand Canyon to church buildings that confine us and tell us who is in our tribe.  Because of all this, we prayed this prayer yesterday, May my limitations be doorways to partnership and relationship rather than reasons to feel shame and isolation.  And after twenty-four hours, I think, “Boy that one is going to take some time.” The neuro pathways in my brain have formed ruts that make this difficult.  The invitation to let my vulnerability be a way of connection to others is not something I practice.  Perhaps today’s prayer sentence will help you find a way to live our interconnectedness:

 

May I take joy in bearing witness to great deeds and works without having to be the source of them.

 

May you find one moment today when someone else’s joy lets lose your joy.  This could be because it is their birthday or anniversary.  It could be because they just returned from a trip.  It could be because they share an insight or idea or new volunteer opportunity.  May you and I find ways to taste the goodness of life without always needing to be the cook in the kitchen creating the meal.  Alleluia and Amen.

 

If, in moving through your life, you find yourself lost, go back to the last place where you knew who you were, and what you were doing, and start from there.
-Bernice Johnson Reagon

Prayer sentence 4

 

I invite you to breathe in and slowly exhale.  I invite you to rest in the promise that you don’t have to earn or deserve your way to God’s grace, forgiveness, and love ~ no matter what a preacher said growing up.  God isn’t Santa Clause watching you to see if you are naughty or nice.  God doesn’t keep a score card or give us badges for our salvation sashes.  God doesn’t have accounting problems.  Grace is.  Full stop.  And because of this holy truth, I offer you these wonderful words from Justin McRoberts and Scott Erikson for today:

 

May my limitations be doorways to partnership and relationship rather than reasons to feel shame and isolation.

 

May you find ways to let this truth wiggle and work and reach out to others who might share in the collaborative and cooperative conspiracy called, “life”.  Amen.

Prayer Sentence #3

 

This week, we are letting one sentence prayers from Justin McRoberts and Scott Erikson interrupt and inspire our lives in this art project of life.  It is fascinating that just a few words can stop us in our tracks.  Yesterday, we held onto the truth that while my point of view is a view from a point, that doesn’t mean I keep silent or stand stuck on the sidelines of life.  I can show up and speak up, but I also hold the truth that what I offer you right now, by this evening might seem lame and past its expiration date.  How I think now is not how I thought five years ago.  To be sure, there are some constants that continue to be threads in the quilt of my life, but the stitching from a few years ago can start to fray and fall apart.  I also trust that God who is the original seamstress of Genesis 3:21 (you should really pause and go read how God makes clothing for Adam and Eve.  It is as if God is saying exasperatedly, “Take off those itchy fig leaves and wear this!”  By the way it doesn’t tell us exactly what God crafts or creates.  I wonder what the clothing is we make for ourselves that God prayerfully invites us to take off to put on different ways of being?).  I know that while I seek to speak the truth in love, I also know that tomorrow my words might be dust in the wind or mist in the air ~ not really landing.  I can try with my heart to speak the truth in love and end up hurting someone.  Maybe in addition to speaking the truth in love, I need to listen and learn as well.  I can find ways to live the truth that the words, “listen” and “silent”, have the same letters, both are important.  This leads me to the prayer sentence for today from Justin McRoberts and Scott Erikson.

 

Before I see someone as a problem, may I see him/her/them as a human being.

 

Let these words wonderfully interrupt and inspire your life on this day.  Alleluia and Amen.

Sentences to ponder

 

Yesterday, I invited you to let the lingering prayer of letting go of our anger, annoyance, and agitation at others because they are not as we wish them to be; because the truth is that you and I are not as we wish we were!  Often, we push our pain onto others.  I can get caught in thinking that if that person was as Enlightened as me, life would be better.  Too often we try to blame and shame them into changing.  Pause here, when was the last time someone blamed or shamed you, did that make a difference?  Did that technique motivate you to change?

 

Even when you demand someone keep pace with where you are, catch up and keep up, there is always someone further along the trail who could say the same of you.  More importantly, life isn’t a race.  Because a race toward what?!?  Death?  Enlightenment?  Some trophies?  Life is an experience and encounter ~ a relationship with less-than-perfect featherless bipeds who God says are to be companions.  Or if you want that more poetic, we cannot convince a rose to bloom faster than it will.  I can’t educate the grass to grow quicker in the dead spots of my lawn.  True, I can water and use earth healthy fertilizer, but I can’t cause the rain to come or shame the grass into flourishing.  I can offer what I can, but there is a lot that is beyond my control.  This leads me to the prayer sentence from Justin McRoberts and Scott Erikson for today:

 

May the reality that I cannot know the whole truth never keep me from bearing witness to what I can and do see.

 

Let these words marinate as you move and motivate you throughout the day.  Alleluia and Amen.

Morning Meditation

 

We are continuing to live our way without a map or turn-by-turn navigation through these Easter, April days.  We are continuing to fumble faithfully, praying that no one is looking at us or will try to offer helpful advice/suggestions on how we can improve.  We are holding, perhaps a bit too tightly with white knuckles, this invitation to be a foolish people…after all, these Morning Meditations just won’t quit with that theme!  So fine.  I’ll try, you think.  But it isn’t easy.  Have you been around other people lately?  We are not exactly the most forgiving people.  The Victorian Era dourness and dampness of life still sits in the corner of our souls, even though we are no longer wearing corsets or cufflinks and suitcoats with tails or top hats ~ thanks be to God for that.  The narrative we adopt and accept is that everything must be moving up and to the right ~ getting better and we need some quantifiable evidence of improvement.  We have been taught and caught that our one precious, fragile, fleeting life is constantly being graded.  Too often there seems to be a lot of red ink on the page of my life and I worry that the letter circled at the top is one big fat, “F”.  So, we seek out ways ~ politically, economically, socially, and religiously ~ to make ourselves feel better.  The dopamine of swiping the credit card or scoring some points on an imaginary score board or thinking our church has it all right keeps us running like a hamster on a wheel.  This week, I will share with you some prayer thoughts for a Holy Foolish Easter people.  These come from a book of prayers by Justin McRoberts and Scott Erickson.  What I love about these prayers are they are one single sentence…not a whole page like some authors we know who will remain nameless but write Morning Meditations from Sarasota, Florida.  I invite you this week to let the words of each sentence prayer this week sit and simmer and soak into your soul all day long.  Come back to the words at noon time, dinner time, bedtime.  Ask yourself, where did the words shine a light on truth?  Or where did the sentence feel like sandpaper to your soul?  Or where did it taste like dry toast without butter?

 

Here is the sentence for today:

 

May I cease to be annoyed that others are not as I wish they were, since I am not as I wish I was. From Prayer by Justin McRoberts and Scott Erickson.

 

Let these words marinate as you move throughout your day.  Alleluia and Amen.

Friday Prayer

 

God of acceptance that makes all the difference and at the same time can be like sandpaper to the rough parts of our souls, we don’t understand Your ways, even as we continue to live and explore the season of Easter.  Acceptance isn’t trending right now.  Fear and us versus them and making points on an imaginary score board ~ all of that seems to be gaining lots of followers in this world.  We struggle to love, because we have been taught that there is no such thing as a free lunch ~ so how can love be unconditional and grace unceasing?  We are too well schooled in might makes right and winning and ceasing the day.  We are too comfortable with the scripts that circle the wagons and clicks that keep feeding us more “evidence” that our opinions are the right opinions.  God, help us, for we cannot help ourselves.  The more the Easter light of mystery and bafflement shine down, the more all this seems like an idle tale.  The further away we move from the sugary sweet high of chocolate bunnies and savory ham sandwiches, the more other narratives start to forge deeper ruts in our neuro pathways.  Help us, O God, not lose track of mystery that we cannot explain.  Wonder leaves us speechless.  Help us stay open to humor that is holy this day and throughout the days to come.  In the name of the One who is with us on the detours and roadblocks and traffic jams that are part of an Eastering faith, Jesus the Christ.  Amen. 

Ruts in our mental roads

 

“I believe in Christ, like I believe in the sun – not because I can see it, but by it I can see everything else.”  C.S. Lewis

 

The foolishness of Easter changes our assumptions and presumptions and prejudices.  Suddenly life can feel too chaotic and we want to race and run back to what is known/comfortable.  Each of us have neuro pathways that fire in our brain throughout the day.  In some ways, these are good.  I like the ruts of routines that help me not overthink what to have for breakfast or the patterns and structures to my week that help me plan.  In addition, there can be pathways that are so well worn ~ it becomes like a dirt road in springtime.  Trying to respond differently when someone says something that hurts can be difficult because it is bumping a scar that may not have properly healed.  Trying to not get caught up in a sea of cynicism today can cause us to feel like salmon swimming upstream.  The question is, what is the Easter light revealing to you?  I continue to ponder prayerfully the spices of life.  I think about who is adding spice (good and bitter) to my life.  I continue to discern what ways I can life as an Easter person this year, especially since all the chocolate bunnies in my house are now finished!  As the sun rises on this new day, as morning has broken like the first morning, what ways is the good news of an empty tomb and emphatic “Yes” to life embodied in you, through you, for you, and to you?  That question, like a cave, can cause us to soul spelunk for days upon days.  May the exploration of the dance between our interior and exterior lives in community continue to lead us to live from the place that we are accepted and called to draw the circle wide for others.  May the light of this truth reveal for your life new insights and inspiration for this day.  Amen

Messy Middle of Easter

 

Christ turns all our sunsets into dawns ~ Clement of Alexandria

 

Part of endings is that there isn’t always an instant or immediate beginning.  Not every sunset suddenly becomes a sunrise ~ there is a transition time ~ a space between what was and what might be.  Such transitions are what the Easter season invites us into.  We have gone to the tomb that became a womb for new life.  We have listened to the testimony of the women telling us about angels and stones rolled away.  We have run with Peter to gaze inside the tomb that is empty except for the emphatic, “Yes” to life and love.  Between the sunset and dawn there is a moment that may last a few days or years or decades.

 

Is there an experience of a sunset recently for you?  Our church is living through one as our Minister of Music, Greg, is stepping away from the position.  This is bittersweet as we wished him well and showered him with love for the new chapter.  The truth is we miss him leading us in the days to come.  I am still trying to get used to life as an empty-nester.  I still struggle with trying to discern what is mine to do?  What about sunsets or dawns for you?  Are there new experiences waiting for you in the weeks to come?  We will welcome new folks at the organ bench in the coming weeks, we will have visitors and my kids will move back for summer break.  Perhaps this is another example of what we call the “Already” and “Not Yet”.  We know Easter and new life happened, but don’t feel the full effect, especially when we read the paper.  I pray you will play with endings, beginnings, and messy middles today for yourself, family or friends, our church and community.  Try to hold the beautiful tension between the good moments of change and the ones we resist with our fingers in a fist clinging to control and resistance.  May you discover renewed life even when things seem the same as yesterday.  May you know healing, peace, shalom, grace, health, wholeness, and love every hour this day.  Amen.

Easter Foolishness Continued

 

Yesterday, we continued to explore and experiment with what it means to be an Easter person, even when it is foolish.  We are turning to the help of a hymn, Help Us Accept Each Other.  Did you have any additional thoughts about what it means to live acceptance in your life from yesterday?  I thought about how people often don’t accept because they don’t feel accepted.  Or maybe think God doesn’t accept them.  The truth is we can create God in our image and with our opinions that can re-create us in that image.  One idea of sin is about projecting onto God all sorts of descriptions and definitions that say more about us then our words say about God.  This leads me to verses three and four of our hymn:

 

Let your acceptance change us, so that we may be moved in living situations to do the truth in love; To practice your acceptance, until we know by heart the table of forgiveness and laughter’s healing art.

 

God, for today’s encounters with all who are in need, who hunger for acceptance, for righteousness and bread, Bring us new eyes for seeing, new hands for holding on; renew us with your Spirit; God!  Free us, make us one!

 

Laughter’s healing art ~ what a beautiful image!  What a prayerful invitation.  Humor is holy and healing to our souls.  I also love how the first verse reminds us that this wayless way takes practice.  Acceptance is not some degree you earn and can hang on a wall; it is a day-by-day way of trying to be in the world today.  As Richard Rohr says, we often learn more by doing it wrong than getting it right (and I don’t always like that because I don’t like to be foolish

 

The second verse above reminds us that we will encounter bruised and broken people ~ the need may be physical or emotional or spiritual.  The poverty may come from someone who may have plenty of money in the bank or someone who has lost a job and eviction looms on the horizon.  We don’t always see each other as well as we think we do.  As someone who wears glasses, there are many moments when my vision is not close to 20/20.  And God help me if my glasses get knocked off or in the morning when I wake up and before I can put them on my face.  The world is blurry.  Maybe this is true in more ways than my vision.  I don’t and can’t possibly know everything.  I may think I have something figured out, but two years from now my understanding may seem as foolish as new life found empty tomb.

 

Often when someone talks about acceptance, immediately the defense attorney in our minds wants to object with the evidence of the worst person in history or that person who abused another.  We go to the extreme, because if we can find a loophole, then we are off the hook from listening to Uncle Gus’ rants at the family picnic this summer.  I am not saying you need to agree with Uncle Gus or that you should let him rant ~ acceptance (like love) is not one size fits all.  You can say, “That is not my understanding,” without throwing your paper plate of potato salad in someone’s face.  You can be curious, asking why and what from the past caused the person to come to that conclusion.  And this does take a lot of energy.  It is much easier to move slowly away and sidestep the confrontation.  Acceptance isn’t the only tool, but it is one that perhaps we can gain more comfort with through practice.  Who is one person (someone you truly do love, but also frustrates you) that you might try to embody acceptance for in one specific way today?  May that invitation evoke an experience of God’s strength ~ even if the interaction doesn’t go exactly according to the script (e.g. tears and hugs and symphonic strings magically playing in the background).  May the beautiful and foolish practice of acceptance continue to stir within you and be practiced by us all in these Easter days.

Easter foolish continued

 

We continue prayerfully to play with being an Easter people and how this can make us feel foolish or out of step with the world around us.  Afterall, the Easter candy is all gone from the shelves, except for a few bags of green plastic grass on the clearance table that honestly no one really wants.  The world has moved on, why do we continue to talk about Easter?  There is a beautiful balance between the season of Lent and the whole season of Easter.  Lent is the forty days (minus Sundays) leading up to Easter Sunday.  Between Easter and Pentecost (the Birthday of the Church), there are fifty days to open us to the mystery and marvel of this idle tale of new life from the dark womb of the tomb.  One of the reasons we might be skeptical of resurrection is that it doesn’t always happen ~ it isn’t predictable and doesn’t play by our plotting or planning.  Cancer isn’t always cured, prayer isn’t always answered, the pain can throb and rob us of our health ~ physically or emotionally or spiritually.  My inner teenager says, “Everyone else seems to cling to the script that we can hurt and harm and yell our way to peace and new life and God’s realm.  Why can’t I?!?”  I need some foundation or formation or focus in this wayless way of Easter faith.  I invite you to ponder the first two verses of Help Us Accept Each Other:

 

Help us accept each other as Christ accepted us; teach us as sister, brother, each person to embrace.  Be present, God, among us, and bring us to believe we are ourselves accepted and meant to love and live.

 

Teach us, O God, your lessons, as in our daily life we struggle to be human and search for hope and faith.  Teach us to care for people, for all, not just for some, to love them as we find them, or as they may become.

 

Was there a word or phrase that caught your attention?  Was there something in the above that felt like sandpaper to your soul?  For example, maybe you wonder if accepting people really does make any difference?  Or can that just continue to enable behavior?  Of course, most of us featherless bipeds need more affirmation and acceptance, not less.  For most people, even those who say hurtful things, do so from a place of lack and low self-worth ~ we pull others down as we try to prop ourselves up.  I am taken by the line, “Bring us to believe we are ourselves accepted”.  That is a riff on Jesus’ saying, “Love your neighbor as you love yourself”.  There seems to be some intertangled web of relationships between us and others.  To build on what we heard on Easter, that it is not just the spices we bring with us ~ others contribute spices (sweet and bitter) to our lives and often do so without being asked!

 

I love that last bit about loving people as we find them or as the person may become.  The truth is that most people are evolving, but we don’t always share our transformation outwardly.  Maybe we are concerned about rejection or response of people we love.  Maybe we don’t want to look foolish.  Yet, Christ’s acceptance was expansive and elastic.  He could meet the disciples who denied and deserted him in the room without judgement.  He could call Zacchaeus ~ a chief tax collector and invite himself over.  He could tell parables of prodigal love that flowed from a Samaritan and from a Mothering Father that maybe didn’t magically make everything better, but such acceptance does shift something in our souls.  Pause ~ when was the last time you felt fully accepted?

 

I encourage you to read the two verses above a few times today, twist and turn them like a kaleidoscope seeing what new colors or shapes or designs might appear before you.  I pray we will do more than think about these words but find ways to live them in our lives this day and week. Amen.