Patterns take 3 ~ Codes

I began this series of blog posts by referencing a quote from Dan Brown...let me complete it.  After talking about patterns, the main character says this, "Codes are special.  Cods, by definition, must carry information.  They must do more than simply form a pattern - codes must transmit data and convey meaning.  Examples of codes include written language, musical notation, mathematical equations, computer language, even a simple symbol of a crucifix.  All of these examples can transmit meaning or information in a way that a spiraling sunflowers cannot."

So, let me ask you, as you have noticed patterns in your life - the good/the bad/the ugly - what meaning to they convey?

While all codes are patterns...not all patterns are codes.  My pattern of a cup of coffee while checking email every morning is just my need for caffeine.  Not a whole lot of meaning or depth there.  But our pattern of weekly pizza and ice cream is tremendously filled with a code of meaning.  It is family time that strengthens our bonds and we look forward to each week.  Or, look at it another way, some times turning a pattern into a code is in the eye of the beholder.  Maybe you see the picture above like my son who loves computer codes...sees beauty in it...and it is one way he makes meaning in his life.  I see a bunch of random numbers that means nothing to me.  Likewise, you might hear a poem and yawn, while I hear that same poem and get lost in wonder while rapt in the beauty of the pattern of the words. 

Codes are important because we are meaning-making people.  We want to know why we are here and where are we going (those are two questions that drive Dan Brown's book by the way).  While many different voices try to help us with answers to those two questions, it is how we sort through the patterns of life to find codes that will be our ultimate guides.  We do need others to walk with us.  I need someone like my Spiritual Director to tell me a story about ruts to take my less than healthy patterns to find new codes (or ruts) for the living out of these days.

What codes do you discern from the patterns?
What meaning do you assign to your daily living ~ for better or worse?

I pray you will continue to sense more than a trace of God's grace as you step back to see your life from the beautiful complexity of patterns and codes that it is.

Blessings to you~~

Patterns take two

I pray over the last few days you have begun to see, sense, name and claim some patterns around you and within us.  Maybe you have noticed patterns that bring beauty like the shell above.

There are also patterns that can lead us away from wholeness and health. 

I have those patterns too.  Patterns of my type-A personality shifting into over-drive even when my tank is on empty.  Patterns of pushing off prayer...as if to say to God..."Oh, I got this one, God.  You can go deal with some thing else."  I am always taken aback by the 15th Century reformer, Martin Luther who would quip, "Oh, I am so busy today...I must make time to pray."  I am so with Martin, until he said that second part. 

I like the patterns of busyness...which is to say patterns of feeling useful-ness and needed-ness.  Patterns when my ego proves just how needed and necessary I am...only to eventually go on a vacation and realize the church and the world can keep on spinning without me.

Patterns have positives and negatives.  It is not either or...it is both and.  Both offer us a chance to reflect and see if there is a trace of God's grace moving in our midst.

So, what patterns help you discover and delight in God?
Which patterns distract you and pull you from the One who is the center/creator of the patterns?

My Spiritual Director just told me this story.  Up in New England, round about March when the ground will soften with a thaw one day ~ only to become hard as iron the next day ~ it is not uncommon or unusual for a dirt road to form deep ruts.  One day, while driving down the road, my director noticed a sign that read, "Be careful what rut you choose...you'll be in it for the next few miles."  That hilarious story names a truth in our lives.  We need to select our patterns carefully, thoughtfully, and prayerfully.  We need to now that we have the creative ability to move into other ruts that might lead to a deeper blessing for such a time as this. 

I pray as you turn the coin to see the other side of patterns, there may be a trace of God's grace leading you toward a different way and a different rut. 

Grace and peace everyone ~~

Patterns of life take 1

Patterns are all around us and within us.  We see it above in the photo of a tree stump.  In Dan Brown's most recent book, Origin, the main character says this, "A pattern is any distinctly organized sequence.  Patterns occur everywhere in nature - spiraling seeds of a sunflower, the hexagonal cells of a honeycomb, the circular ripples on a pond when a fish jumps."  Patterns are also found within us.  As we map DNA or day-to-day life.  I have a morning pattern of going to the gym, drinking my coffee while checking email, and then heading to church.  I have a weekly pattern of what happens on Monday through Saturday.  These patterns are on repeat and are re-played in our lives.

What patterns do you notice around you?
What patterns can you name within you?

Patterns are important because ~ a). they reveal to us a certain beauty.  I love a Jackson Pollack painting of splattered paint as much as the next person...chaos can contain beauty too...but my life seems to hum best - as well as reflect God's creativity in nature - when I am in a pattern.  But also, b). patterns can help us find rhythm to God's presence woven in our midst.  I know ever week during worship one of the hymns or a sentence from the liturgist will send shivers down my spine.  Expecting and even anticipating the pattern helps keep us open. 

Without patterns we can feel adrift, lost amid too much tossing and turning.  Think of it this way, how often have you been away on vacation - having a grand/great time - but at some point said, "It will be nice to be home in my own bed and eating my own food."  When I say that, it isn't to take away from the fun or adventure of the moment, but to name/notice my own craving for the patterns of life.

I want to invite you to notice your patterns...

What patterns each day bring smiles to your face?
What patterns each week cause goosebumps to race up and down your arms?

One last example, every Friday night at our house is pizza and ice cream night.  It is a sacrament of Biblical understandings.  Every week, we sit around processing the week and then tasting the goodness of grace found in a double scoop of ice cream.  I can't tell you exactly how we fell into this pattern, but I will tell you our kids crave it to the point when we schedule sometime on Friday night, even something fun, they are prone to say, "But that is pizza and ice cream night!" in protest. 

Patterns matter...make a difference...and can reveal more than a trace of God's grace.

I pray you might sense that this day and this week.

Grace and peace everyone ~~

Lord's Prayer - Every day

Eternal Spirit,

Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,

Source of all that is and that shall be,

Father and Mother of us all,

Loving God, in whom is heaven:

The hallowing of your name echo through the universe!

The way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the world!

Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!

Your commonwealth of peace and freedom

sustain our hope and come on earth.

With the bread we need for today, feed us.

In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.

In times of temptation and testing, strengthen us.

From trials too great to endure, spare us.

From the grip of all that is evil, free us.

For you reign in the glory of the power that is love,

now and for ever. Amen.

We start with God.
We follow with us...our relationship and role in connection to God.
Finally, we land in the reality of every day.

We need food.
We need to process our pain so we don't pass it along.
We need to face our difficulties with others.
We need be honest about places where we feel overwhelm or the brokenness within us.

We take care of our body (food).
We take care of our hearts (forgiveness).
We take care of our souls (facing what is stirring within us)
We take care of our relationships with others realizing that leaves an impression and impact on us.

This is daily life.

We start by naming God.
We commit to living and acting in a way that is in concert with God.
And then we step out the door into a realm where trying to live the first two steps is not easy.

So in some ways this third stanza is both an invitation to look forward at the beginning of the day, but also an invitation to look back.  This third stanza is both a rear view mirror and the windshield.  It is way to bookend our day.

What care do I need today? And then, how did I care for my body?
Who do I need to forgive or seek forgiveness so that the pain of others is not passed along?  And then, did I act in a way of grace toward others?
Do we face the trials with an openness to God's strength?  Or did I try to rely only on my own?
How did I treat God embodied in others?

Letting this third stanza be both our first prayer of the morning and the last prayer of before we close our eyes is a beautiful invitation.  I pray will offer more than a trace of God's grace in your life this week.

Grace and peace ~~ 

Lord's Prayer - Heaven on Earth

Eternal Spirit,

Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,

Source of all that is and that shall be,

Father and Mother of us all,

Loving God, in whom is heaven:

The hallowing of your name echo through the universe!

The way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the world!

Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!

Your commonwealth of peace and freedom

sustain our hope and come on earth.

With the bread we need for today, feed us.

In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.

In times of temptation and testing, strengthen us.

From trials too great to endure, spare us.

From the grip of all that is evil, free us.

For you reign in the glory of the power that is love,

now and for ever. Amen.

If the first stanza deals with the names of God, the second stanza invites us into the mystery of heaven on Earth.  God is the one whose presence is both vast and intimate.  About fifty years ago, two theologians embodied the diversity of thought about God.  Karl Barth would describe God as holy or wholly other.  God is distinctive and different...and even a bit distant.  Paul Tillich would define God as the ground of our being...the soil supporting our souls...which is an more intimate understanding of God.  So we might wonder, which is it?  Is God the one who is beyond our imaginations or is God the one we know because God is so woven inescapably into our lives?  My response?  Yes.  God is as close as our next breath...yet we don't ways understand God.  We get a glimpse, hints, guesses or traces of God's presence.  We don't get unquestionable truths or facts (as if there is such a thing in our world today).  While there is a timelessness to God, there is also a timeliness in our lives of the sacred.  And if we were to ask, well which is it?  I would suggest both...God as both the One moves in our midst, but does so with mystery.  So, how can we know God or sense God or be open to God?

This second stanza says that it is where justice, peace, freedom and hope are found.  It is where we work for the lost and least....where we bring peace...where we freely see everyone as created in God's image....and hope becomes real.  Yet, rarely does this happen with big neon, can't miss signs, where God sends a signal.  God moves subtly and simply and sometimes just beneath the surface.  God in the world won't work according to our carefully constructed plans.  There is so much in our world today that doesn't live out or lean into these words. We are too complacent with divisiveness, we shrug off brokenness, laugh at jokes said at the expense of the left behind and left out...this prayer won't allow us to be so complacent.  We are called to work for justice for all people.  We are called to walk humbly with God by loving both our family/friends as well as our enemy's.  As theologian once said, "The Christian way has not been tried and found lacking...it has been found difficult so left untried."  We are good at giving lip service to our identity as followers of Christ, but don't always live that identity as central. 

I am grateful for this second stanza.  After naming God, we name our role/responsibility in this amazing grace, unconditional love relationship with God.  Who are we?  We are the justice seekers.  We are the hope bearers.  We are the one who tried to find peace, wholeness for others and all creation. Yet, this is not only up to us alone...we work as co-creators with God.  The ways of justice, peace, and hope are not according to our definitions, but to God's wisdom for such a time as this.  We do less pontificating, and more listening. 

Continue to trust in the slow work of the Spirit as these words work in our lives.

Grace and peace ~~   

Lord's Prayer - Names

Eternal Spirit,

Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,

Source of all that is and that shall be,

Father and Mother of us all,

Loving God, in whom is heaven:

The hallowing of your name echo through the universe!

The way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the world!

Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!

Your commonwealth of peace and freedom

sustain our hope and come on earth.

With the bread we need for today, feed us.

In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.

In times of temptation and testing, strengthen us.

From trials too great to endure, spare us.

From the grip of all that is evil, free us.

For you reign in the glory of the power that is love,

now and for ever. Amen.

Over the next few posts, we will explore the New Zealand version of the Lord's Prayer above.  There are so many powerful, profound, and beautiful parts of this prayer.  I want to encourage you to not only read this...but let it roam around.  Don't only read it with your mind, let it rummage around your life.  Enter into the prayer with an openness and prayerful-ness that might make a difference in these early days 2018.

We start with the truth that New Zealand Lord's prayer starts with a variety of names.
Eternal Spirit;
Earth Maker;
Pain Bearer;
Source of all that is and will be;
Father and Mother...

There are so many names for God.  To refer to God as, "Eternal Spirit" reminds us that there is a timelessness to God.  There is no time when God was not.  The eternal part of God encompasses and embraces the whole of history.  Yet, there is a mystery...a spirit to God.  In John 3, Jesus says to Nicodemus that the Spirit is like the wind.  I cannot see the wind, but I feel it.  I may tune into the weather and hear the direction and pressure, but that doesn't tell you what it feels like to have a refreshing breeze baptize your face when you are standing in the warmth of the sun.  It doesn't tell you how the wind can cut through you when it is negative 12 below zero outside.  It doesn't tell you how a wind can knock you off your feet.  The Eternal Spirit suggests there is an endless presence that swirls and stirs around us.
We can know this mystery through the marvel of the earth.  Creation does proclaim and preach the glory, splendor and sacredness of God.  God crafting and creating all that is around us...from the smallest participle to a porcupine to a palm tree outside my window...there is a connection to God through creation itself.
Yet, it isn't only beauty, but also brokenness...God as the pain bearer.  Often we point to God's self-giving on the cross...but this quality of God was there from the beginning of Exodus when God heard the cry of the Israelites in Egypt.  This isn't a distant or disinterested hearing...it is an intimate one that impacts God's whole being.  God's heart breaks.  God sends the prophets not to judge but to lead the people back to relationship with God.  God sends Jesus to show love embodied, even to the point of a cross.  This Eternal Spirit who fashioned humans in the divine image...knows our deepest woundedness and wonderfulness. 
So, God is the Source, the starting point of all that is and will be.  God as the center or core.  Theologian Paul Tillich would call God the ground of our being...the foundation on which faith flows from and forth.  Such a beautiful image says that we are not the center of our own universe, it isn't all up to us, we are part of a play in a thousand places...with people we don't even know.  The source, the start...as well as the end...as well as everything in-between...this is God.
Finally, I love that the New Zealand prayer breaks wide open the names of God to embrace both Father and Mother...the sacred female and male images.  Sometimes we need God to be our Father and other times our mother and still other times the Spirit source beyond definition or description. 

The New Zealand prayer starts this way to not be exhaustive in the ways we can name God.  Nor does this prayer say we have to choose one of these title exclusively.  The prayer starts something that we need to continue.  We continually have to ask ourselves, how do I understand God today?  What are the ways our understandings are helpful?  Are they hurtful?  Where do they stumble or soar; sink or stand tall?  All these questions are vital and important. 

How would you name God?

May that question open you to more than a trace of God's grace in these days.

Grace and peace ~~ 

Change take 3

We have grieved and let go.

We have spent time in the neutral zone, patiently persisting with openness.

Now we enter the third stage of new beginnings.

Remember that first day of school with all the nervous energy and endless questions.  What would the teacher be like?  How much homework would there be?  Would my friends be in the same class?  Would there be new friends?

Just as grieving is a process...
Just as being in the neutral zone can take time...
So, too, the new beginning - for the joyful anticipation, new car smell, hopefulness, and tentativeness it can awaken - needs to take time too.

We might want to rush in quickly...sign up for everything.  I see this sometimes around the church.  People dive in head first into everything.  After a few months when the constant, perpetual motion isn't offering the meaning, it is easy to get disillusioned.  To be sure, some people love the church and will attend every meeting with gusto.  But most folks, need to enter in like a child into a swimming pool by just dipping their tippy toe into the water to test it out.  Daring to dive in takes courage.  Daring to dive in, we need to take a deep breath and come up for air.  Daring to dive we need to let our lives be buoyed by a spirit.

In the new beginning celebrate what feels life giving.  But also name and notice where the new places maybe even has some disappointments.  Remember - no place or person is perfect or completely broken - usually somewhere in the messy middle.

I think a new beginning needs a slow, savory, steady pace with lots of breaks. 

I think a new beginning needs companions who help us celebrate as well as compassionately listen when it isn't quite what we'd hoped.

I think a new beginning is like when you start dating someone.  Listen, learn, and know that you cannot speed, microwave or manufacture your way through it.  Time is a gift in the new beginning.

Just as God's grace was there to help you let things go and grief.
Just as God's grace was there to help you patiently persist through the neutral zone.
Let God's grace be there to celebrate and immerse yourself fully in this new place and beginning.

Such is the nature of transitions and faithfully facing change.

Grace and peace everyone.