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.