Friday Five: Healing Spaces

RevGal Deb authors today's Friday Five blog prompt. She writes: So, with the events of the violence and tragedy from the Boston Marathon fresh in our memories, I thought it would be good for us to focus on where as RevGalBlogPals, we find healing, peace and strengthening. As a chaplain, there are days where I never seem to catch my breath, and invariably, those are the days that I need it the most! So with all this in mind, share with us these healing things:

1. A piece of music -- Bobby McFerrin's "Psalm 23" (video above).  An amazing and generous church choir sang this at my ordination 20 years ago.  This version celebrates women throughout history.  

2. A place -- Nature.  Just about any nature venue. Digging in the dirt.  Beach. Mountain. River. Farm. Orchard. 

3. A favorite food (they call it "comfort food" for a reason) -- The family tradition -- enchiladas!

4. A recreational pastime (that you watch or participate in) -- Playing games with family and friends.

5. A poem, Scripture passage or other literature that speaks to comfort you -- Romans 8:38-39. Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.


BONUS: People, animals, friends, family - share a picture of one or many of these who warm your heart.

What else could it be?  Here's the most recent pic of my precious grandchild:

For the love of Daniel and for all of creation: Let there be peace on earth.

Sunday Sermon: Taste and See!

Perfection

Growing into Salvation
1 Peter 2:2-10
May 22, 2011 -- Jerusalem UCC

It’s always a special day to celebrate Confirmation.  Alissa, we rejoice with you today as you make public your affirmation of your baptism as you keep on taking steps of faith throughout your life.

Those of us who have already made Confirmation promises remember today our own Confirmation Day and the special moment it is to get up and say, in front of God and your church, that Jesus is -- for me and for you -- the way, the truth and the life.

On this Confirmation Day, the Word of the Lord comes to us from Peter, that disciple of Jesus who was the first disciple to proclaim “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God!”

Peter got it right, you see, in that moment.
And in the very next moment, he made a fool of himself by trying to protect his “Messiah” from the suffering and death that would come.  
Peter goes from head of the class to being called “Satan” in the blink of an eye.
Yes, that’s Peter!  
The one who declared that HE would NOT be the disciple who would deny knowing Jesus.
“Not me, Lord!” Peter swore.
Jesus knew better.  Not once, but THREE times, Peter denied Jesus to save his own skin.
Yes, that’s Peter!
Faithful disciple and faithless coward -- all in the same body.
Powerful preacher and pitiful example -- all rolled up into one.

The name “Peter” ironically means “rock.”
And it is on THIS rock -- Jesus said -- that he would build his church.

Real live people are the rocks -- the living stones of the church --
People like Peter and like you and me
Who, in our best moments -- in our high church moments surely --
KNOW the good news of Jesus Christ
KNOW God in Christ Jesus is alive
KNOW that the heart of the gospel -- the good news --
is simply that Easter proclamation:
“Christ is risen!”

We are as qualified as Peter
And as UNqualified as he was
to be claimed by God as God’s own
so that you and I and we
“may declare the wonderful deeds of the ONE who called you out of darkness
into God’s marvelous light.”

In Christ Jesus, we are the town criers -- we are testimony tellers -- about the reality of God in the real world of our lives.

How often do we talk about what God is up to?  

Recently -- a lot!  The past few days we have heard more about what God MIGHT be up to than usual, thanks to a doomsday message by Family Radio International founder Harold Camping.  His prediction of the apocalypse gained a foothold in the media and with certain groups of people.  People of faith and people of no faith have been hoping -- or dreading -- that God would fulfill history by bringing on the rapture -- yesterday -- at 6:00 p.m.  



A preoccupation with the end times is nothing new.  The early church had more reason THEN than we do NOW to believe that Jesus would return soon and very soon.  Peter turns every one's attention away from a super-natural rescue mission by God to the marvelous things that God has already done and what God is NOW DOING in the lives of resurrection people.

If nothing else was proven by all of this rapture talk these past few days, it is that the preoccupation with what God MIGHT do -- and the fascination with what ONE MAN proclaimed God WOULD do -- these are things that people are captivated by somehow.

The world is looking for God.  The world needs good news -- the gospel -- that resurrection people have to proclaim.  

I don’t have to tell you that people are hurting.  I don’t have to tell you that the environment is suffering.  I don’t have to tell you that stress is causing mental and physical pain in people’s lives.  I don’t have to tell you that way too many people in our wealthy country are food insecure.  You know.  So, really it’s no wonder that people who don’t even claim to be people of the Christian faith were sort of caught up in the idea that yesterday at 6:00 p.m. God would DO SOMETHING BIG -- maybe God would give us the break we crave and just scoop us up and show us some heaven.

People are hungry to know that God is alive.
People need to see where God is at work
People need to hear where God is alive
People need to be shown that God’s love is real.

And they are looking to people like us -- those of us who say that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life - the son of the LIVING God -  those of us whom God has called LIVING stones -- so that we “may declare the wonderful deeds of the ONE who called you out of darkness
into God’s marvelous light.”

The beautiful light of the day of our confirmation -- the beautiful light of the day of our baptism -- there is nothing like those days -- for the one who is baptized or confirmed -- and for the church.  TODAY is the day that we know we will taste and see that God is alive here.  God showed up and is claiming us and especially claiming Alissa today, but not just Alissa.  For when the Holy Spirit is poured out, we are all splashed on by power of God.

We call that “salvation” my friends.  Well, WE don’t always call it salvation in the United Church of Christ, but let’s do call it “salvation” today because big time, very real salvation is what the world is so very hungry for.

So, let me tell you about salvation so that you will know what salvation is and not be distracted by what salvation isn’t.

If you are getting nervous about this whole line of preaching, well so am I. There’s nothing that puts me in either a cold sweat or a bad mood worse than some well-meaning person in my face about my salvation.  “Are you saved?” some will ask. “How do you know?”  I can help you with this -- here’s the answer.  You can memorize it.  The answer to the question “Are you saved?” is “yes, no, and not yet.”

The “yes, I am saved” part is what has already happened to each of us.  There are different ways to describe that:  We have had an encounter with the risen Christ.  God is real to us.  If nothing else, you know that the Holy Spirit was poured out on you at your baptism and your confirmation.  Peter says, “Now that you have tasted that the Lord is good . . . “ (1 Pet. 2:2) There are different ways to describe it, but “yes” salvation DID happen to you in your past if the love of God in Christ Jesus is part of who you are.

The “no” part is that we HAVE been promised a day when God will save all of creation.  That day did not happen yesterday.  Don’t look for it or try to predict it.  No one knows the day or the hour so it’s not really a thing to spend a lot of time trying to nail down. No, God hasn’t saved the world yet. God’s history has not been fulfilled yet.  No, God’s kingdom has not come on earth as it is in heaven.  No, we are not saved in the way that God ultimately desires.

The part we live in every day is the “not yet” part.  Are we saved?  "YES," because of our baptism; "NO"because God’s fulfillment of history has not happened; and “NOT YET” because we -- who live between what DID happen and what WILL happen are the “works in progress” -- we are BEING saved all the time.

I like what author Maya Angelou says about this.  When someone says to Maya Angelou “I’m a Christian” her response is “Already?”

“Growing into salvation” -- you can also call it discipleship; you can call it following Jesus.   This is the life-long movement of our faith -- what we do together as the community of faith called teh church -- we are growing into salvation.


The apostle Peter says it this way in verses 2 and 3 (1 Peter 2:2-3)
“Now that you have tasted that the Lord is good, crave pure spiritual milk, the way that newborn babies do, so that by it, you may GROW into salvation.”

Getting stuck in the past --or being preoccupied with the future -- is to miss the opportunity to live in the good news and to proclaim good news for TODAY!

What Peter tells us about this is every bit as real -- maybe more so -- than looking to the clouds or to an earthquake to produce evidence of God’s real life salvation.

This is what Peter says to us:
Be like a newborn baby about it.
Crave the spiritual milk so that by it you may grow into salvation.

Now this is graphic if you take Peter seriously.  Because we know that Peter was not really talking bottles and formula.  

Peter gives us a very mother-like image of God.  If you are a mother, or have been close to one, with an infant, you know that Peter is talking about something very very real.

When it comes to milk newborns are relentless!  Do you want to be a hungry newborn?  REALLY?  Think about it . . .

When a newborn is hungry -- he is not all that cute.  She screams persistently. Baby knows who has the milk.  The baby gets close and can smell it. Baby gets all excited about it - baby roots around, little head bobbing all around -- almost breathless -- so eager sometimes that hungry baby makes it even more difficult to get the milk that is so badly wanted.

In a very real way, it is a cooperative effort between Mom and baby -- Mom needs to give milk to the baby and the baby needs the milk.

Once feeding the baby is vigorous and enthusiastic -- single minded -- concentrating on the milk only looking up to look into the mother’s eyes.

The newborn doesn’t quit taking in that milk until she or he is good and satisfied.  And a well-fed baby is peaceful, sleepy (or asleep), relaxed, happy.
We look at THAT baby and say “Aw … isn’t she cute? or isn’t he cute?”  Yes, for about 2 hours and then that precious baby is crying for that milk all over again!

THAT’S the way Peter is asking us to approach the “pure SPIRITUAL milk” that we are to have.

What is that pure spiritual milk?

It is what God has to offer us -- different from the imitations that we so often settle for
The pure SPIRITUAL milk is tasting that GOD IS GOOD,
the spiritual things that only come from God -- for our growth and nourishment.

It would be a misunderstanding and a mistranslation to hear that this milk is specifically the Bible words found in the book we call the Bible.  I want to convince you of the value of being fed by your Bible -- but the word “word” is not found here.  If you see this translated as “the milk of the word” that is a mis-translation.  The Greek word is an adjective not a noun, and that’s all you need to know unless you want to know more. But if you are going to feast on the milk of things that feed you, and if the Bible does feed you, and I hope it is ONE thing that does, then I want you to know what you are feeding on!  

Peter uses vivid colorful language here to make a point:  Peter calls us living stones.  Peter tells us to taste -- regularly -- that the Lord is good -- and to be relentless in pursuing that tasting -- like a newborn in search of milk.  Spiritual practice is what we call that in the Christian faith.

Peter pretty much calls God a nursing mother, ready and able and present with us to show us where the nourishment we really crave is to be found; God is ready to hold us in our anxiety and need; God is -- even now -- giving us exactly what we need to grow us into salvation.

God has literally spread a table before us -- in the life we have -- in the people, the situations, the circumstances -- even in the presence of our enemies -- even in tragedy -- Gods’ mighty acts are there to be seen and tasted -- and to be told.  And, of course, always in the church.  These rocks of the faith all around you are living stones, hungry newborns, not stuck on the birthing table, but still growing into salvation.

This table is ready.  Have you tasted that the Lord is good?

Keep on craving what God has to offer YOU
So that by accepting the gifts of God, you may grow into salvation, today and forever.  Amen.


(The very precious photo above is courtesy of Amy at Anktangle and was published in her post called Growing and Gaining, which would have been an excellent sermon title for this one!)

Friday Five (Thanksgiving Day edition): Unexpected Blessings

This is a leftover from last week's RevGalBlogPals Friday Five. We were challenged to name five unexpected things we are thankful for.  In chronological order:

Each of my children:  Of course, it is expected that I am grateful for each of my three now adult children.  Each one's actual entry into my life was unexpected in a special way that I cherish.

Becoming a pastor:  I was the kid in Sunday School that everyone dreaded having in their class.  And, yes, kids overhear teachers saying these things!  My crime was that I had questions that the teachers were not very good at answering to my satisfaction.  My little secret was that, while all the other kids were bored with Sunday School and especially the worship service, I was both fascinated and strangely captivated by the whole thing.  I went to seminary because I had always wanted a graduate degree, and I thought it would be like going to Sunday School full time!  If they could see me now. . . !

Amazing journeys:  I've gotten to travel to a lot of different places, mostly in the U.S., with some travel to Latin America.  The journey of my life has been more wonderful and life-giving than I could have ordered off of the best menu of choices.  The people in my life -- family, friends, parishioners -- have been unexpected blessings over and over again.  Even the rough, rough roads have been unexpectedly blessed.

Church life:  I never expected that I would want to be a pastor, much less be able to, much less derive joy from it.  I get so frustrated sometimes that I feel like I'm stuck in the temple, Jesus-style, whip in hand, either whacking the money changers over the head or wanting to so badly that I'm screaming, mostly on the inside.  Alternately, I'm crying over Jerusalem and feeling so totally impotent that it hurts.  Church life is hard for me because I really do believe Jesus Christ is good news for the world and for the church!  I have gotten to see glimpses of miracles, quickly vaporizing usually, but -- still -- I have been privvy to many unexpected blessings!  

Daniel:  I truly am a person who would have lived a full and complete life, and been totally happy with my own children, if grandchildren had never happened for me. Daniel's advent was totally out of my control, so his presence in this world is, for me, indeed an unexpected miracle.

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday: Pastor Humor

[Toward the end, there are some very cute kids ... which made me think of ...]

The cutest!  "Here is the church ... here is the steeple ..."

Friday Five: Grandmother Memories

RevGalBlogPals are taking a trip down memory lane today.  As a new grandmother, I would like to honor my own grandmothers with memories of treasured moments of grandmothers -- past, present, and future.

Flowers from my mother's garden

A treasured memory from childhood:
We called my dad's mother "Lollie."  She made my sister and me matching Easter dresses every year.  I remember feeling unfairly tortured with pins sticking me all over during the dreaded fitting.  I also remember my dad taking movies of every Easter egg hunt around, and in, Lollie's beautiful gardens.

A teenage memory:
My mom's mom was "Deedie" to everyone since childhood, as she was the oldest of 10 children who had difficulty pronouncing "Lydia."  When I was 13, I endured the tragedy (to me, then) of a family move from El Paso to Baton Rouge.  It was like moving to a strange country, and we moved in March, at the end of the school year.  I was beyond bereft.  My parents wisely suggested that I might want to make a summer trip (my first pilgrimage?) back to visit Deedie, and they said I could stay as long as I wanted to stay.  I spent six blessed weeks with her, learning how to sew, visiting homebound people from her church, canning plum jam from the fruit of her trees, getting hooked on my first soap opera, and staying up past 8:00 every night to watch the Tonight Show with her.  My parents finally had to call and insist I come home!

A young adult memory:
When I was 24, my mother became a grandma for the first time when my son was born.  I loved sharing my newborn children and my new mommy feelings with her.  She wanted to be called "Gran Gran" as her maternal grandmother had been to her.  My mother is a wonderful grandmother.  All of her grandchildren have made regular pilgrimages to the fantasy world fondly known as "Camp Gran Gran."

Advice from Me to Myself

Dear Self:

Great Salt Lake (July 2009)

Have you read your own most recent pastor article?  Why, look, it arrived at the post office just yesterday.  How timely!  Take another look at what you wrote.  Remind yourself, again, how very tempting it is to think that *everyone else* could use a holy attitude adjustment and how "helpful" you are with always-just-right advice for other people.

So, now you have stumbled -- yea, fallen flat! -- again.   And somehow it always seems so unexpected!  Do you really need yet another reminder that ordination did not inoculate the Rev from looking for love in all the wrong places, or from forgetting to look for love at all?  Your well can dry up, too, you know.  It's better to notice when the level reaches "low" before it's all the way to "empty."

"Hindsight is 20/20," of course, and so are all the other cliches that involve "a new leaf" and "heal thyself" and, most definitely, "eating humble pie."  Here, have some.  Yours is gluten-free, of course!

These things you know; these things you preach; these things you write.  So, here it is, your most recent newsletter article, appropriately entitled "Good News is for Sharing."  You wrote it.  Now live it.  Today.

Love you still,
Me

GOOD NEWS IS FOR SHARING

August 2010

Wordless Wednesday: Precious babies

My baby (Amy) and her baby (Daniel)

Grandmother -- Me!

Daniel holding onto his momma

On May 31, I became a grandmother when Daniel was brought into the world.

I wonder if there is anything else I can say that will can anything more to that sentence or that picture.

Today, I think not.