Please, not the wilderness!

Whatever counts as wilderness in your life, I'd bet you would prefer to avoid it.  It might be that time between test and diagnosis or those months after a romantic break-up.  It might be those long, painful days into weeks (please God not too many months) between jobs.  It can even be that horrid time when a loved one is lost, a lifetime of work is destroyed, or a dream is shattered.

The wilderness is that place where the wild things are - beyond civilization, beyond the familiar, outside the norms. Animals with names like uncertainty, fear, anxiety, insomnia....and the worst of emotions, insecurity roam free and flourish.  It is the place where whatever you considered absolutely essential (the very word means 'necessary for life') which might have been as mundane as a short line at the coffee shop, has now morphed into the most basic of human needs:  a kind word, a place to sit, a little comfort food.

And that's just the first stage of wilderness living.

In the wilderness, we are naked.  All of our status is stripped away.  Perhaps that is the first pain.  We no longer have a title, like 'teacher' or 'barista' or 'husband' or 'healthy.'  We no longer have an answer to that friendly question, "What do you do?"   or maybe "How's it going?" Routine is gone; expectations shift.

But, of course, it goes deeper.  We are unnerved by whatever has thrown us into this barren place without road markers, without GPS.  Who am I?  How did I get here?  Where am I going?  How will I make it?  Looking back on it, our teen years were probably the first time we were conscious of this unsettling wilderness space.  In a space without boundary lines to mark our edges, we fear flying off the face of the earth.  We think we will disintegrate; we will lose ourselves.

Oh Lord, how we hate the wilderness.  Please don't send us there.

It's a cry that our Lord might not truly understand, for if we spend some time in the God story we call the Bible, the wilderness is where God does some of her best work.  Sinai?  Elijah escaping Jezebel?  Jesus in the Judean desert?  Jonah? 

See you tomorrow.

Water sports

When the dog days of August hit (although, living in Syracuse right now, I can;t even imagine dog days....I am having trouble imagining days with the sun out and the ground dry!)..........there is nothing like running into the refreshing water of lake or beach or stream.  Shocked by the coolness of the water at first, we can feel the sweat being washed away and the heat exiting our body like commuters leaving the morning subway train.  Our cranky, overheated self is replaced by a refreshed and even giddy self as we find a burst of new life, new energy, new attitude. We are transformed.


A splash of water will do that.  When the pressure and heat of this world bear down on us, a splash of water will renew, refresh and re-enliven us.  Sort of like baptism, hmmmm.  Can this image help you to claim the transformation that God is bringing to our lives through that baptismal water?


In mid-January, when I wake to temperatures in the teens, and need to put on a coat, boots, mittens and possibly a hat just to navigate the 50 feet of driveway to retrieve my newspaper..........it is unimaginable to me that there will be a day, probably only 6 months ahead, where I will step out into searing heat, barefoot and in shorts and a tank top to do exactly the same job.

In the same way, on those days when the world is bearing down with relentless demands or crushing crises, it is unimaginable that there will be a day, probably not too far down the road, when I will be lifted up and experience the sweet nectar of life, the joy of being and the blessing of family, job and community.  On those days when I only feel failure, it is unimaginable that there will be a day when I will feel love, acceptance, forgiveness, grace and possibly even shalom.

Well, my friends, that is the Spirit - God's Spirit of Love which is, in fact, LIFE ITSELF, moving among us and within us, calling us into Jesus' presence, reminding us of God's love, renewing the gift of life within us, splashing us with the water of new birth, making us into God's holy people.

Furthermore, on the dog days, on the crushing and relentless days, on the failure days, it is the promise of that gift of Spirit and Life and Love that enable me to hold on.  It is the Spirit who 'calls, gathers, enlightens and sustains us.'  Thank you Lord.

Called, gathered, enlightened and sustained

It's the season of family reunions.  All those relatives, many who live at great distances, some whose names are lost in memory, gather in one spot to drink coffee (and most times beer) and to eat 4 kinds of potato salad and try to catch up.  "My Lord how the children have grown!"  is a favorite refrain to each greeting.

It's all a bit awkward at the beginning....there are new in-laws to introduce and that search for a safe topic of mutual interest.  There's a lot of talk about sports teams and children's graduations, the weather and golf games, and if you happen to be related to me, Tim Hortons.  But if the stars align just right, and God smiles on your gathering, you will begin to share family stories....the buried treasure of every family.

There is the story about mom chasing the kids with water pistols on the first really hot day of the year.....in the house!  Then there is dad's love for anything plaid.  Great-grandma's sour cherry pie and Uncle Carl's crankiness.  There will be the detailed re-telling of someone's birth, and the sadness ladden story of where each one was when they heard of Great Grandpa's death. There are happy stories, funny stories, scary stories, and of course, sad stories as well.

It takes about 4 hours to get comfortable enough with one another to begin to tell the sad stories, and just possibly if everyone hangs in there long enough, you can get to those stories of conflict and crisis. If you get that far, you will have managed what many never do - to speak the truth about your lives together, your shared history, and have gained some insight into how meaning has been formed in you.

You might just take a moment, quietly, off to yourself, to realize that managing this life is beyond challenging; that the road is twisted and rocky and often dangerous; that having someone else know your story gives you strength and resilience; and in the end, there is so much for which to be grateful.

My daughter is taking the lead to plan our family's small reunion this summer.  I doubt that she has given a moment's thought to Martin Luther's explanation to the work of the Holy Spirit in his Small Catechism who 'calls, gathers, enlightens and sustains' the church.

Would we not paint our family reunions with a different color if we saw the Spirit moving among and through us to bring others to life.....to abundant life.......in the midst of joy and sorrow and evil and anger.........this Spirit works to sustain us.....in this frail collection of flawed human beings.......where we can practice being life for one another?

It is in the back yard, eating hamburgers and cole slaw, playing horseshoes or corn hole and waiting for the fireworks to start that the Spirit is working to call and gather God's holy people into one body...in Jesus' name, out of love, for the sake of each one.

Perhaps I need to re-think my approach to this year's hot dog extravaganza; it's a lot more holy than I realized.

How many times can you die?

This is not a rhetorical question.  How many times can you die?  Most of us get one.  One time to die. (Modern medicine has made some advances on this number, but nothing reliable.)

One time.  I've already had mine.  It happened about a month after I was born when my parents made the drive from Baltimore to Bath, PA to their home church for my baptism.  It was cold with snow on the day I died.  All my grandparents were there, along with an older brother and a couple of aunts and cousins.  I wore a white dress, the same one my brother wore.  My grandmother made it.

The pastor poured the water over my head and baptized me......into the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  I died with Christ so to live with Christ on that day when God's glory is made manifest to the whole world.  St. Paul says I died to sin by which he meant that sin could no longer claim me as one of its own.  Now I belonged to Christ and the Holy Spirit was about to really get to work in my life.

It was the starting point for my second life.  Buried deep within the heart of God, I was (and continue to be) slowly shaped by the love of a creator God who gave me my first breath, forgave (and continues to forgive) all the numbskull and even nasty things I've done and thought, showed me the face of my neighbor and pressed me forward to create a community with them.  From this generous God I was taught generosity and challenged again and again when my heart proved to be two sizes too small.

That's why my parents took me to that baptismal font....to die to the deadly life that awaited me and to be formed into the life of the Creator.  It was the life they experienced; they wanted it for me. It meant putting aside the kind of life that I would see around me.  It meant listening for Jesus' voice since the voices around me were deafening.  It meant pruning those places in me that hampered my growth into God's vision of a beloved child.

Now those of you who are reading this know that I am far from perfect; most days I'm far from medium.  But on all days I belong to Jesus and Jesus shapes and molds me into the new life of glory that awaits me. Along the way confession is my constant companion and forgiveness my salvation.

All sound a little radical to you?  A little 'over the top'?  A little like those crazy disciples tramping behind Jesus in all those stories?

It is.  It was meant to be.  Life as a disciple is more questions than answers.  It is constantly being aware of the great needs of our neighbors knowing that solutions we offer are temporary.  It is to expect that we will stumble regularly, and sometimes quite badly, and yet we call on the name of the Lord and wait and watch for his guidance.  We accept the weight of our own sin and bask in the wonder of God's gracious forgiveness.  We live the resurrection in each day - some days we are better at it than others.  We are Christ's and we live in him....

...and it is joy.

All of this is to say, there is nothing for you to fear.  You have already died.
You belong to Christ.

Today consider simply allowing Jesus to live in and through you.  Wait. Watch. Listen.
Quiet the voices that do not know Jesus and do not know the power of his love.
Begin to truly live  the life you were given long ago in those waters of baptism.  You...beloved child of God, disciple of the living Lord.

#feelthewind

They are called hashtags.  We oldsters called them pound signs, but there is no difference beyond a couple decades of technology.

In any event, they are used to establish the topic for a Twitter conversation that is open to anyone who wants to jump in.  A hashtag is both commentary and summary.  The same event might carry several hashtags depending on the variety of views out there in the social media world.

So......here's ours for Pentecost.  #feelthewind.  If you are inexperienced at these, you need to separate the words into  feel. the. wind.  It's a great hashtag for Pentecost, the day of rushing wind, tongues of fire, and accusations of excessive drinking at 9 am.

#feelthewind sets the tone.  What is our message?  What do we want to say to the world about that great rushing wind and the incredible Holy Spirit?  Twitter restricts comments to 140 characters so we would have to be brief, but this provides us with the great opportunity to hone our message about God's appearance as Spirit among us, moving us forward, granting us words to speak, setting us on fire.

According to the gospel of John the Holy Spirit comes as comforter, encourager, strength in faith, fearlessness in telling the story.  The Spirit is our advocate and our teacher; it is the teller of truth.  It is the power of the Holy Spirit which raised Jesus out of the tomb into new life.  Just saying: we're not dealing with some draft from a faulty window.

We are talking about the power of new life moving across the void of darkness and bringing life into being.....and it is happening today all around us.  With a little practice will we recognize the movement of the Spirit wherever there is healing, forgiveness, compassion, truth telling, and strength of faith.

What would you say in your tweet about Pentecost?  Let's try a few
    Could that woman giving lunch to that guy on the corner be the Holy Spirit at work?  #feelthewind

    Saw a child and dog playing and running and laughing.  Holy Spirit at work  #feelthewind

   Elderly mother and adult child holding one another's hands in silence at hospital.  Holy Spirit bring comfort  #feelthewind

Notice how our tweets sound suspiciously like prayers of awe and praise and intercession?  Just by tuning into God moving and working among us, our prayer life (which IS our relationship with God) grows and grows.

The Holy Spirit is on the loose, moving and shaping the world; it comes as both wind and fire.  Where have you felt the wind lately?

#holyspiritatwork
 

What was the point of all those fireworks?

I think it is a legitimate question and goes to the heart of the raison d'etre of the Christian Church.  Why were we blessed with such an amazing display of fire and rushing wind?  What was God trying to accomplish with this first Pentecost?

Of course the Church has developed answers to this question throughout its 2000+ year history.  Martin Luther in his Small Catechism says that the work of the Spirit is to call us into faith and then form us as the Church

'I believe that I cannot by my own strength or understanding come to faith but the Holy Spirit calls me through the gospel.....just as it calls, gathers, enlightens and sanctifies the whole Christian Church.'  [a paraphrase of the explanation to the 3rd article of the Creed.]

But that begs the question of why the Church in the first place.  The Greek word for 'church' is ekklesia or 'the called out ones'.  So those who are gathered to be church are called out for some purpose......and it apparently took some wind and fire to get us moving.

Because it appears that it is about us moving, not staying.  It is about us talking with one another, and with every other Tom, Dick and Harry we meet about what we have seen and heard.  It is about what we are to do next and it has to do with other people, not ourselves.

This dynamic movement of Spirit and Church has gotten a bit lost in our last century as we foolishly believed that everyone already knew about the person, presence and power of God.   Too many believers began to believe that just believing (and there have been some very low standards around what 'believing' means) was the goal of the church.  Somehow we lost sight that the believing was intended to be the first step of telling someone else the story.  

Frankly, if you had been there and felt that wind, and saw those tongues of fire, and heard all those people talking........well, you would just have had to tell someone else about it all....right?

So, perhaps the fireworks were just for that purpose......to get us up off our ......couches/pews......and get the word out.  THIS is our God and THIS is how powerful that God is and THIS is the Jesus who showed us what it all looked like and THIS is the Spirit that is always moving among us to bring out new life.

So what is the story that God has given to you to share with the world?  Where have you felt the rushing of the Spirit?  Where has the fire of God's passionate love shown up in your life lately?  That's your story.  That's your fire and wind.  That's your call to tell the story.  Your story.  God's story.  The story of salvation for the world.

Resurrection, baptism and Monday morning

Monday morning.  Most maligned hours of the week.  Shut off the alarm, jump in the shower, grab some breakfast....begin the familiar routine of yet another work week, another foray into the world filled with challenges, disappointments, responsibilities and not as much peace as we would like.

After the different rhythms of even a busy weekend, Monday morning demands our attention, so it is not surprising that resurrection and baptism are not the most present things on our minds.  Resurrection and baptism are things that were checked off our To Do list long ago.  Right now we need peanut butter and jelly and gas for the car.

If I weren't writing this right at this moment I would be right behind you in line for use of the bathroom.  This world demands our attention and we pay a huge price if we lose focus and get caught day dreaming.  Living out our day as a baptized child of God feels like one more responsibility, not the great adventure that God intends for us.

It seems that life has managed to get more and more complex and the pressure to keep up or wash out just grows daily.  Any request to take on one more thing is considered suspiciously because at some point all our plates will stop spinning and china will crash to the floor.  We are perilously close to our limit - that place where our worth and ability run out and we are empty and useless. So baptismal covenants and resurrection life have found their place at the back of the closet; two more things that I don't have to think about right now.

Let's drag that baptismal water and empty tomb out from storage and re-consider.  Let's consider the power of the Holy Spirit - the spirit that raised Jesus from the dead into new and eternal life - the Spirit that anointed you in your baptism - the Spirit that works through you in this world to bring people and situations out of death and into new life.....THAT spirit.  Could you use a little of that today?

Let's consider that good news that you are beloved.  Today.  Right now...even though the laundry didn't get done this weekend and the dog is throwing up on the rug.  You are God's beloved and anything that might keep you separated from this God is off the table: forgiven and forgotten.  Even in the midst of one of your worst tantrums, when you are egregiously wrong, you are loved and Jesus walks beside you like your friend from elementary school.  Could you face a time today when that memory will hold you together and give you a glimpse of the holy?

Let's consider that God knows your name.  Sure, on the bus you are one face among 60 others; people you don't know.  Sure, HR knows you when they locate your file but even that won't matter if they need to lay off 15 people.  Sure, the soccer coach only knows you as that mother who runs in late and keeps murmuring about Sunday practices.  We are one of the great crowd of anonymous people to everyone out there but God.  God never forgets and is always available for a chat, a confession, a cry of fatigue.  Is it possible that today you will need to know that you are known by God?

The water of baptism is the beginning of resurrection life for us - real life, authentic life, life that gives life rather than continually subtracting it into nothingness.  The water of baptism calls us into a relationship that can mold and nurture us every moment of every day.  It is a new pair of glasses with which to see the world.  It is a new medicine that regulates our heart.  It is a pair of Italian leather loafers which cushion our walk through this lifetime.

So when you stand in the shower tomorrow morning, think baptism.  Your day will be changed because your life has been changed.  T
he baptismal waters are meant to disturb your life, your day, your dreams, your actions, your hopes, your plans. You go out into this world as a baptized child of God to live the life of resurrection and spread it around willy-nilly to absolutely everyone.

Here's a prayer to start your day:  Lord, disturb me this day.

I won't answer for you, but as for me, my day could use a little more disturbance by this God who loves me so dearly.

Faith: origins

If faith is a relationship, then faith is about trust.  That in which you put your trust is the God in which you have faith, so says Martin Luther.  This applies to lower case 'gods' as well.  Some of the stuff we trust is nothing more than the ephemeral trappings of life, status and money.

So where does this trust come from?

If we talk in human terms, we learn about trust from our first relationships, generally with our parents.  We cry; we are comforted.  We are hungry; we are fed.  They are bigger than we are; we look to them for safety and protection.

That is the most basic of trusting relationships and it is forged right out of the womb.  But it grows.  Don't worry, this won't hurt.....and it doesn't.  Come on, jump!  I'll catch you....and they do.  I wouldn't tell you something if it wasn't true....and well, most of the time that one works out as well.

As we grow, and our relationship with parents and friends and strangers grows, we learn about the depth and limits of trust.  Humans are not all powerful; they are not perfect.  Not all humans are to be trusted.  Into every life comes some disappointment, hurt, loss, anger.

Our relationship with God begins in a different way.  God is reflected to us - we watch our parents' interaction with this unknown 'God'.  We listen to the stories about how God has acted throughout history (Bible) and how God is active in the lives of folks around us (testimony or witness, generally over coffee). We participate in faith rituals (worship, sacraments, service projects, funerals) where the rituals help shape us and our understandings.

We begin to ask questions. The questions grow as we do.   Is God bigger than the tallest tree?  How does God know when I am praying?  Where is God when I am hurt - physically or emotionally?  Lord, why do you feel so far away?

We begin to listen for answers.  Not just the answers that others around us offer, but we begin to listen for God's voice in our life - leading, correcting, assuring...even weeping with us.  We begin to understand that the answers are not always easy.

The witness of others is critical to our growing relationship with God, a relationship that has all the usual ups and downs.  Without the witness of the saints, we wander and wonder looking for a framework for our decisions and our lives. Some find that framework in the NFL, some in fashion, some in industry, etc.  For Christians, Christ crucified is the frame by which we lead our lives.

Luther teaches that it is the Holy Spirit who calls us to faith.....through the witness of faithful saints all around us.  We become the reflection of God to others, their guide to this God we have found....or should I say, who has found us.

I'd love to hear the story of how God found you.  Stop by for a chat....and some coffee.

For Luther references, check out the Small Catechism, Apostle's Creed, article 3 and the Large Catechism, Ten Commandments, Commandment #1.

Prayer when words fail us

There are specific names for different kinds of prayers.  I knew them all once but not anymore.
It doesn't really matter because we can figure out the different kinds of prayers ourselves, and give them our own labels if we want to.

"Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words."  Romans8.26

This is the kind of prayer that begins and ends in the heart because we cannot give shape or name or voice to our experience.  We moan with deep sorrow, overwhelming joy, unutterable fear or love that fills our very being.  These are the prayers of the extremes; they go beyond our feeble vocabulary or require an energy we no longer possess.  Sometimes the situation is so dire, so impossible, we have no idea what could or should be asked of our Lord.  So the Spirit prays for us.

Soon after my husband's death, when the stress and grief were overwhelming, I took a walk along the tree lined roads of the Gettysburg battlefield.  I walked there often but on this day I made it clear to God that I simply could not go on, it was all too much for me, I couldn't even pray.  God said to me (yes, I know how odd that sentence is, but the message was a clear as a voice speaking aloud) "Fear not.  Even the trees are praying for you."  And they must have been for I was comforted and strengthened.

"And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God."  Romans 8.27

There is powerful comfort in those words.

more than a fleeting moment

 

Spirit or breath or wind.....those are translations of the Greek word 'pneuma'.....and all of them give the impression of something fleeting, just out of our grasp, always on the move.  That description works.  God's Spirit moves among us, tantalizing us like the touch of a breeze or the mere wisp of a fragrance.  The Spirit is always on the move - bringing life to others and others to a place of life. 

If, however, you are under the impression that this moving, changing, ephemeral Spirit lacks power then I want to remind you of two things: Hurricane Sandy and the resurrection.  A wind that knocked houses off their foundations and a tomb that could not contain death.

Never underestimate the power of God's breath at work.

the spirit of Truth

Did you notice what I did?  I made the 's' of spirit lower case and the 'T' of Truth upper case. We Christian believers are more accustomed to capitalizing that Spirit - which is a nod to the Holy Spirit and not just any old spirit - but I want to focus on the word Truth. 

Jesus promises that the Advocate, the Comforter, the Spirit he is sending is the spirit of Truth (John14.17). Pilate asked, "What is truth?" (John18.38) when Jesus was standing right in front of him.  I think that Pilate had no idea that truth was a synonym for revelation of God in the gospel of John.

"What is truth?" The answer is as concrete as it is eternal. Truth:  the love of the Creator for those who were created is so profound that Jesus emptied himself and took on the form of a servant so to reconcile this world to the one who created it.

That's you.  That's me.  That's every Tom, Dick and Harry.
Now that's a Truth well worth capitalizing.