I have been remiss in my blogging over the last few days. It just goes to show that establishing new habits isn’t always the easiest thing to do. My apologies, O y’all in the blogosphere.
Habits are one way of getting along in life; changing habits can be a way of getting along better. Several months ago I was taking a route to my bank that had me crossing across traffic at a busy intersection. I found myself approaching that intersection in a spirit of “preparing to be irritated” everytime I went to the bank. Finally it occurred to me to see if I could find another route, and I did. Of course, in getting used to that route, I almost ran red light and could’ve had a disasterous accident were it not for the luck of traffic at the intersection at that time. Sometimes learning a new habit can be risky!
The Scriptures report God saying (at one point in the book of Revelation): “Behold, I make all things new.” Habits can be ways of getting along in life, but they can also stifle opportunities for new life as it comes along. In the worship and following of God, habits are often something we need to challenge within our lives and souls.
God, help me to move from where I am to where I need to be.
This is the Third of the Lenten Meditations by Deb Murphy based on her exhibit, “The Sacred on the Street.” This week’s Devotion is “Bells.” You can download this devotion by going here.
“Thin places” are those places and spaces where we encounter God, the Divine, the Holy. The Jewish practice of reciting prayers at certain times (Daniel 6) was continued by the early Christians.. Historically, bells were used by the organized church to call people to prayer since there were no clocks in use until the 1300’s.
To this day, many churches have bell towers and/or carillons that are used on
Sunday mornings. In many churches of today, hand bell choirs add to the worship experience. The bells are not rung as a call to prayer, but as ‘special music.’ The Salvation Army bell-ringer pictured is not providing special music, but is using his bell to issue a call to help those less fortunate, those on the the margins, the homeless, the poor, the hungry, the ill, the abused. Indeed the list is long:
…for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave
me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was
naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I
was in prison and you visited me…just as you did it to one of the least
of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.
Matthew 25: 35-36, 40 (NRSV)
This young man, a volunteer, was out on a cold, wet night, hopping from foot to foot trying to stay warm, to call us to action on behalf of those less fortunate. Saying a prayer as we give our time, talent and resources to benefit “the least of these” just might be music to God.
Some questions to ponder:
•How often have I heard God’s call to action ‘out there’ in the world, on the street?
•How have I answered that call?
•Have I missed some of those calls?
Was it just failure to pay attention?
Have I intentionally ignored calls from God?
What stopped me?
O Divine One,
We come together to encounter, worship, praise and thank you for all your love and care of us. Help us to encounter You in the day to day of our lives, listening for your call. May we constantly and consistently show your love to a world that so desperately needs it. Amen
Our unofficial Artitist-In-Residence, Deb Murphy had other pictures that did not make it into her exhibit, “The Sacred on the Street.” However, they are showing up as bulletin covers during Lent. This is the third one, called “Young Trees.”
I personally love this picture of the kids with Bob. We had to print it in black and white for the bulletin cover, but the color version here on the website is vibrant! This was taken during the Children’s Moment on February 14th, hence all the red. Bob is at a table with the kids, surrounded by the rest of us at tables because of the dinner after the worship service.
If you look closely, there is a lot of life in this picture. Bob was gesturing at the moment I took the picture, so his hand is blurred with movement. Fletcher is moving closer to see what’s in the basket. Elizabeth has turned around to look at her mom. Tristan has turned toward Nancy.
Aidan is reaching out to the little girl in Val’s lap. (The two Masons are out of sight – but being active, I’m sure.) Earl is watching intently. There are fresh red tulips. Again, if you look closely, you’ll notice communion – the bread and the cup – on the tables, symbolic of new life in Christ.
Why did I title this picture Young Trees? Two things contributed to the title. One is the lectionary Gospel (Luke 13: 6-9) for Sunday, March 7th. The owner of a vineyard wants to get rid of a fig tree that hasn’t produced any fruit in the three years since it was planted. The gardener begged to be allowed to aerate the soil and fertilize the tree to help it produce. I see the children as the young trees in our vineyard that need both physical and spiritual nurturing and sustenance. And if you look at the picture again, these trees of ours are surrounded by a large roomful of gardeners. The second reading that contributed to the title came from a recent homework assignment. In his book Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations, Robert Schnase makes reference to members of the congregation “planting seeds for trees whose shade they will never see.” (p.108)
I’m awfully fond of shade trees. As their gardeners, let’s be sure ours continue to grow tall and strong, providing shade and bearing fruits of the Spirit.
“Those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:41)
What does it mean to wait upon the Lord? A couple of thoughts surface; sometimes to “wait” means to let time pass for the other to act. You wait with patience, or you wait with anxiety, but you let the time pass until the time is ripe for a particular action or pursuit. Another meaning of wait is one of serving; to “wait upon” a person is something that people in the restaurant business make their livelihoods off of, and they get good tips or bad tips depending on both the quality of the service and (sometimes) the mentality of the customer. Yet to wait upon the Lord in this definition of waiting means almost the opposite of the former definition.
Can both be right? I think so. Those who work at discerning God’s will in their lives can renew their strength through prayer and reflection; those who serve the Lord with gladness can renew their strength by action. Maybe it’s two sides of the same coin; perhaps God is saying through Isaiah that if God is in your action and God is in your contemplation, you’re strength can be renewed at all times. Of course, the trick is to let God do that with us.
In my short time as an ordained minister, I am finding one the most challenging things to take on is congregational transformation. It’s one thing to plant a church, quite another for a 133 year-old church to change some of the things its been doing.
In my 17 months at First Christian, I know that people approach change with fear and trepidation. It’s scary. It’s the unknown. It might lead to people leaving the church.
Change is scary because it wrenches us out of our well-worn ways of doing things. It takes us out of our safe routine. It’s just damn uncomfortable.
Believe me, I know. I don’t like change.
It’s funny how this fear of change so relates to me, especially since my Aspergers diagnosis. One the traits of this form of autism, is that I tend to follow some well worn ways of doing things. I don’t like surprises. I don’t like things messing up my ordered life.
So, of course I end up with a life partner that lives life at the spur of the moment.
For someone who is autistic and likes his very ordered life which calms him to have someone in your life who loves to be spontaneous can seem like a nightmare.
But as hard as it has been to deal with all this change, I have to say it has its good points. Daniel’s spontaniety has helped me see a world that I might not have ever seen if left to my own devices.
Case in point: two years ago on Memorial Day, Daniel and I came home after spending a weekend visiting his siblings in North Dakota. His brother John and John’s wife, Julie were expecting the birth of their first child. That Tuesday morning, was supposed to be a regular day where we go back to work-except that it wasn’t. Instead we got a call early that morning from John indicating that Julie was ready to have this baby. That meant that Daniel and I would head back to North Dakota to see the baby. I think the look on my face must have been one of fear. I know I felt that way. My neat little world, my plans were ruined. I know that bothered Daniel. But as I later learned, sometimes taking a step outside of our comfort zone can lead to a great adventure.
I went with Daniel. And I got to hold John Luke who had only been born a few hours earlier. It was truly a wonderful experience, even though it through me for a loop.
Over time, I’ve learned to try to be more accpeting of change. It still isn’t easy. It never will be for me. But through those hard experiences, I get to experience new things that I never would have known. I can do this because I have someone who loves me and cares for me and is with me as I traverse this trying crossing.
I tend to think churches don’t like to change for some of the same reasons. We are afraid of upsetting our apple carts that we have grown accustomed to. We are afraid that people might get mad and leave.
But I think that in not changing, we might miss what God wants to show us. We might miss what new mission God is calling us to. God tends to be a God that wants us to experience all these great things. I can see God acting like Daniel in this very extroverted way, wanting to show us all the great things that are in store for us.
For me, I had to trust Daniel. I had to believe that he had nothing but the best intentions for me. It was then and only then that I could take those steps in faith.
For a faith community, it is about trusting God and believing that God has nothing but the best intentions for us.
We can believe in God because God loves and and wants the best for us.
So then, maybe we should be willing to change knowing that God is there with us every step of the way, holding our hands and opening our eyes to a world we have been too scared to see. Maybe we can try to not be so scared of change because in the end, it’s change we can believe in.
“Jesus asked them, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did.” –Luke 13: 2-3
“Repent or perish” frankly scares me. Lent is about reflection and change, but my unease persists around these words, because as soon as I repent, I sin again. Jesus says here “their sins were no worse than yours, but you all must change.” We are often aware of the need to change, but the means can still elude us. “Lord, have mercy” remains our refrain each day.
Lord, you love your entire creation, and hate not that which you have made. When we stray, gently correct us, that we may live into the promises you have made, which remain faithful even when we are not. Amen.
-Chris Wogaman is the Office Manager at First Christian Church, Minneapolis.
This is the Second of the Lenten Meditations by Deb Murphy based on her exhibit, “The Sacred on the Street.” This week’s Devotion is “Music.” You can download this devotion by going here.
“Thin places” are those places and spaces where we encounter God, the Divine, the Holy.
While not a place, music is a wonderful way to encounter God. In worship, music helps to set the tone, create a mood, convey a message, and enriches our encounter and experience of God. For me, there is a transcendent quality to sacred music.
O Sing to the Lord a new song:
sing to the Lord, all the earth.
Sing to the Lord, bless his name;
tell of his salvation from day to day.
Psalm 96:1-2 (NRSV)
What about the music that conveys the immanence of God, the Divine all around us? I’m not saying that worship music isn’t immanent, but this Psalm tells all the earth to sing, and do it on a daily basis. Unless you are part of the musical theater crowd, most of us don’t find ourselves bursting into song throughout the course of our day. I do think, however, that if we listen for it, we can find sacred music in the day to day. Most of it won’t be as obvious as a street musician – children laughing, birds singing, that ‘obnoxious’ thumping bass noise coming from the car going down the street, the chatter coming from a coffee shop. The Divine is everywhere. We just need to have our ears and hearts open to it. Bursting into song once in awhile, or at least telling others about our relationship with God and Jesus, wouldn’t be bad either.
Some questions to ponder:
•As we go about our day-to-day lives, where do we encounter the ‘music’ of the
Divine?
•What sorts of emotions does it invoke in you? What sorts of emotions are being
expressed by the ‘music’ you hear?
•What kind of ‘music’ do I create from day to day? How does ‘my music’ affect
those around me?
O Divine One,
We come together to encounter, worship, praise and thank you for all your love and care of us. Help us to encounter You in the day to day of our lives, listening for the song of ALL of creation and let the music each of us creates be pleasing to You. May we constantly and consistently show your love to a world that so desperately needs it. Amen.
I ran, into a circumstance of helplessness this morning, involving someone I cared about, but about whose circumstances I could do nothing. Most of the time when I feel helpless it’s a motivator; I try to be helpful, solution-suggesting (yes, I’m a typical male in that regard!) but here, all I could do is share in the situational helplessness. There’s something to be learned from that, something about trusting and seeing what the future brings, something about the fact when life gives you lemons you try to make lemonade, stuff like that.
These days when I get caught in helplessness it affects my biochemistry. The hormones and adrenaline rush in, and the resultant feeling is anxiety. Bummer. What I’m learning (slowly) from such times is to not rush into frantic activity, but rather to grow still and see where the journey goes and grows.
God, help us to turn our helpless times over to You, that You might return to us hope.
The sermon I preached this morning was about the Jerusalems in our lives, in the context of human ways that get in the way of God’s ways. In Luke 13: 31 – 35, Jesus lamented over Jerusalem as the city who killed the prophets in pursuit of expedient ways, or ways of maintaining human power instead of depending on God’s power.
We have a tough time giving things over to God, or when we try to give them, we take them back. Bad habits, desires that go against holiness, thinking in the spirit of American positivism that we can accomplish things that are noteworthy or lasting with, perhaps a slight nod to the divine, but not really letting God in. The toughest, but most worthwhile, job we have during our short time on this planet is learning to trust in the Holy. It’s really the only eternal game in town.
God, help me to turn it over to you.
Our unofficial Artitist-In-Residence, Deb Murphy had other pictures that did not make it into her exhibit, “The Sacred on the Street.” However, they are showing up as bulletin covers during Lent. This is the second one, called “Chai” which is part of a series of photos taken at the Holocaust Memorial in Deb’s hometown of Peroria, Illinois.
This is a picture of a Holocaust memorial in Peoria, Illinois, with eighteen three-dimensional sculptures in the shape of the Star of David forming a colonnade of sorts. At the far end of the memorial, there are also five three-dimensional triangles, emblematic of the badges which were worn by non-desirables – political and religious leaders, Roma gypsies, Serbians, Catholics, homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, the trade unionists, alcoholics and the handicapped – who were also sent to and killed at the camps.
Each of these sculptures is filled with buttons: 6 million buttons total in the Stars of David and 5 million buttons total in the triangles. There is one button for every life lost, all of which were counted out by hand by many, many volunteers over a nine month period. Buttons were chosen because of their shape (representing the circle of life), their durability (even after the prisoners’ clothing rotted away, the buttons still remained), and their individual uniqueness (like the lives lost).
This effort was started by a small group of people who wanted to provide a memorial for those lost, but also to provide something for the future – teaching the consequences of prejudice, racism, hatred and bigotry. Eighteen is symbolic in Judaism for the word ‘Chai’, which means life. Many of us are familiar with the Jewish toast L’Chaim – To Life! from the musical Fiddler on the Roof. The 18 pillars are arranged in two rows to symbolize the concentration camp selection: Going to the left or right could mean the difference between life and death.
In this Sunday’s lectionary Gospel reading Luke 13:31-35, Jesus is warned by religious leaders that Herod is intent on killing him. Jesus, however, does not dwell on this news. He continues to go about the work he has always done and wants Herod to know that he won’t stop. He will continue his life of God’s work in the face of impending death. This is why I was so struck by the name of the Holocaust Memorial. It is a representation of eleven million (!) deaths, yet the Jewish Federation of Peoria decided to name it Life (Chai)
For more information, go to www.peoriaholocaustmemorial.com .
