Reflection

The glass of the ornament reflected me back to me.
My hands abnormally large.
The other decorations nearby distorted.
Ornament comes from the Greek to be mean, "Cosmos".
Could it be in one ornament is an entire galaxy?

So small I could hold the vastness in my hand?
So fragile one slip of my grip would cause thousands of sharp shards scattering?
So beautiful I can see why the Greeks thought of the universe when gazing at ornaments.

We need places and especially people who reflect back to us.
We need to hold in our hands something that is at once small and yet larger than we could imagine.
We need to sense You, O God, moving with traces of grace not only at Christmas but as we turn the calendar to the next month.

"Every hour," O God, the hymn prayerfully proclaims that, "I need thee."
Heartfelt.
Honest.
Humble.
Words that seem to be in short supply during this year.
As the bickering and bitterness and back-biting human ways take hold.
As Christmas trees are tossed aside and Christmas Carols go back into hibernation.
As life goes back to normal, we all still long to reflect...radiate You.

Let this prayer, these words, inspire and conspire with You as January gives way to February.
Let our whole lives, what we say to neighbors and post on the internet, be interrupted by Your wisdom.
Let our songs still raise with Joy to the World of the way You came to be laid Away in a Manger while Hark! the Herald Angels Sing with the sweet melody of Angels from the Realms of God.  

The truth, that, "This, this is Christ our King whom shepherd guard and angels sing."
May those words be as true today and next month as they were when we sang them a little over a month ago.

In the name of the One who is more than a trace of Your grace incarnate, Jesus our Christ.

Amen.

Sunrise to Sunset

Sometimes, O God, the only way I know Your light is in the dark.
When the difficulty creeps and sneaks along the edges of life,
When the only thing that keeps the night at bay is You.

Continue to move in my life, O God, as this first month of 2020 winds down.
Continue to guide me, trusting that in order for grace to be grace, Your presence is not earned by...
Good behavior or
Perfect attendance pins from Sunday School or
Being nice to someone at the store and letting him go in front of me (although clearly he has twenty items in the express lane because his fifteen containers of yogurt don't count as 1!)
Grace comes like the night.
Grace sometimes comes in the night.
Unexpected.
Unseen until it is right there as close as my next breath.
Unknown until I find a peace that strangely warms my heart.

Who would have thought that the night could evoke or awoken such a thought?
Who could have believed that the setting sun was not the end of the day, but a beginning of a new way?
Who would have guess that Your most creative moments come not when the lights are on and laughter is easy, but in those shadow/valley moments?

Not me.

Faith handed to me seemed to sound like a mathematical equation.
Good deeds plus giving the church money equals God's grace.
Only, that is not the way it works.
We cannot buy our way into Your realm.
We cannot pave the path with our good intentions ~ at least not arriving at Your door ~ or so goes the cliche.

Continue to visit me in the night and continue to come into my life when the sun has set.

Hear my prayer, O God, it comes from my heart and is for my whole life to be drenched with traces of Your grace.

Amen.

Around and Around

Spinning, swirling, still-singing-to-the-chaos God,
Sometimes life can feel like I am going in circles.
There are moments this is fun,
Laughter leaps from deep in my bones,
And escapes in giggles from my lips.

There are moments when the perpetual motion
tickles my tummy and I sway to the movement.

There are moments when I want to stop,
Raise my hand and shout,
"I want to give off this ride...
Now...
Please!!"

In the beginning You found creativity in the spinning circles of chaos.
You were willing to let your imagination dance.
You found ways to center Yourself even when the flow was ceaseless.

Help me do the same.
Help me know it is okay to enjoy the ride.
Help me find quiet centers.
Help me be okay when I need to exit for awhile to find steady, stable ground.

I pray that in You, O God, I would move and have my being.
I pray that in You, O God, I would find the calm, centering grace and moments of stillness.
I pray that in You, O God, there would be joy and quiet...
Excitement and quiet.
Moments when the wind brushes and rushes past my face.
Moments when the breeze and I take a break.

Center me...
Ground me...
Guide me...
On this world spinning at a thousand miles per hour.

Amen.

Midrashing with Mark

A leper came to him begging him, and kneeling he said to him, “If you choose, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, “I do choose. Be made clean!” Immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. After sternly warning him he sent him away at once, saying to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” But he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the word, so that Jesus could no longer go into a town openly, but stayed out in the country; and people came to him from every quarter.

Another healing story.

Notice that in this one the beloved child of God comes to Jesus - feels empowered to name and claim what he needed.

Notice that in this case we hear that Jesus is moved with pity...the real word here is compassion.  Compassion is that physical response, deep within our gut that tells us we have to do something.

Notice that Jesus says, "Let's just keep this between the two of us."

Huh?

Some scholars call this the, "Messiah secret".  Jesus doesn't want fame or fortune or to be fabulous.  But it doesn't work.  The word spreads out and the crowds grow.

Where do you need healing - if you had to name and claim what is needed?

Where is compassion brewing and boiling over to be expressed in your life?

Where do you try to keep a lid on something, but you realize you can't control or spin the story?

Midrash calls us to live the questions...not because we will find the answers but it is in holding the questions lightly that we discover and uncover truths we might need for the living of these days.

To be clear, we have done one chapter of Mark...and perhaps you want to keep going or perhaps you would prefer to move on to another topic.  But I pray that you might have found many traces of God's grace over the last few weeks.  I pray you will continue to find ways to let scripture sing and settle into your soul.  May God's love and peace be with you now more than ever.

Blessings ~~

Midrashing with Mark

That evening, at sunset, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. And the whole city was gathered around the door. And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him. In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. And Simon and his companions hunted for him. When they found him, they said to him, “Everyone is searching for you.” He answered, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.” And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.

Jesus has been working all day long.  The lines have been long.  Beloved child of God who was hurting after beloved child of God who was hurting appeared before Jesus.  It is like a moment when you are at a free community meal and see person after person who is struggling in this world.  Sometimes when you see how cruel the world can be to others it can feel like a punch in the gut and break your heart.  When you look into the eyes of someone who has suffered for day after day, you can practically feel the pain deep within your own soul.

I am not always sure what to make of the demon references in scripture.  I don't think of evil as personified in someone who has a red suit with a pitch fork.  But I do know that evil is a force in our world.  Evil that pushes people...beloved children of God...to the fringes and fray.  Evil that treats people...beloved children of God...as less than human.  Evil finds a face when we push others down to prop ourselves up...when we put ourselves at others...glorifying greed or treating people as a means to an end or make fun of people.  Part of what breaks my heart about the headlines in the world today is that we see these demons dancing in our midst every day.

So I get why Jesus needs to go to a deserted place and pray after all this.

But we sometimes get caught in a Messiah complex...trying to be Superman and Wonder Women trying to save the day, so we think that everything depends on us.

When and where do you try to see the pain that exists in the world?
When and where do you reach out to help, try to heal?
When and where do you cease, stop realizing the truth that it is not up to us to save the world but nor are we free to desist from trying?

This isn't about a balanced life...it is about the dance of faith in our lives...and it is in those moments where I think we find traces of grace.

May God's presence be with you now more than ever.

Midrashing with Mark

As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.

There is a pulse, urgency, and an immediacy to Mark's gospel.  The beat is up tempo, one that would match and mirror our modern day, fast - even frenzied - pace of life.  The urgency for Mark one that wants to lead us to the cross as quickly as possible.  To be sure, Mark wants to make sure we see specific scenes, but the shadow of the cross looms large.  Mark takes the interstate to Holy Week, without stopping at any rest stops...never visiting the tourist traps of the biggest ball of twine...always saying, "Move along folks, got lots to do and see...not much time.  Let's hurry."

Part of the reason why I want us to slow down and savor these words is not only because I think every word sparkles with endless entry points and every sentence can connect to our lives; but because the pulse under Mark is up tempo, we might race through missing some of the significance. 

For example, when we read the above story, perhaps we feel a bit frustrated that Simon's mother-in-law after being healed turns into Martha Stewart...she whips up a wonderful tater-tot hot dish and Jello salad on a lettuce leaf.  What in the world?

Or maybe she was filled with gratitude...sometimes when someone does something nice for me I want to respond in kind. 

Or sometimes part of who we are just needs to be expressed...maybe Simon's mother-in-law loved to host and cook ~ it could bring her joy.

Was it obligation...response....or something so deep within her being expressed?

We don't know!  The point of midrash isn't to solve scripture like it is a puzzle, but to let it linger and leave an impression.

My hunch is that part of the way you read this passage is a reflection on where you are at right now.

I could read this as an obligation if I had to sit through a meeting I didn't want to attend or feel like societies pressures feel like a burden.
I read this as a response or reaction if I just finished writing a "thank you" note.
I read this is an expression of who Simon's mother-in-law is in her core if I have found places and spaces to let my light shine.

Midrash isn't about the words on the page...or screen...but about us. 

In those moments, we might uncover and discover more than a trace of God's grace for you in these days.

Midrashing with Mark

Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, “What is this? A new teaching—with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.

In Mark's gospel, the first one to name and claim who Jesus is...is a man with an unclean spirit.

Not a religious scholar.
Not someone who studied the Bible daily.
Not someone who had the right credentials or a certificate of accomplishment up on the wall.

Seriously, the one who gets it first is the one who would have been last, least, and pushed to the fringe of society. 

What do you make of that?

Maybe it the person who annoys us the most who is the first to call when someone we love dies.
Maybe it the person who takes all the credit for your work, but also stays late with you one night to complete a project.
Maybe it the person who voted exactly opposite of you that has something to teach and tell you.

Of course, we would prefer people who teach and tell us things be from our tribe.  We'd rather hear important truths for people like us...rather than someone who gets on our nerves.

When has this been true for you?

Tell that story.  Or listen for that story.

Too often today we fail to see the humanity of people who are not like us.  We diminish and degrade others ~ sometimes to make ourselves feel better or because we want to score points (as if life is a game) ~ we see this all along.  I know is the script we are given to read by our leaders.

But ~ as Richard Rohr says ~ the best criticism of the bad is the practice of the better.  We don't love because it is easy or fluffy or 'the right thing'.  We love because we are loved.  We love because God's love fills our cup so much it runneth over and saturates people around us.  Take some time to savor both the unconventional and inconvenient truths of the gospel that disrupt us toward a better way of being in such a time as this. 

May our reflections offer more than a trace of Gods grace.

Blessings~~