Sounds of silence…

Good Morning All!

Sounds of silence…Silent Night, Holy Night…Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silent…silent partner…silent auction…silent prayer…deafening silence…silence is golden…breaking the silence…called out of silence into the cycle of sound and silence…I’ve just returned from participating in my Bethany Prayer Retreat; this time at Shalom House in the tiny community of Montpelier, VA, a 100 acre wooded area nestled at the end of a half-mile gravel road. The group has held my spot for 2 years, knowing I would return when I could…It’s such a wonderful experience to be among a small group of clergy friends from VA; MD; WVA and NC…to know that so much has happened in our lives since we were able to last meet and yet also knowing that the deep respect and love for God and for each other has only grown stronger and we simply picked up where we last left off...first sharing stories filled with hope and joy; pain and sorrow…the stuff of life, as we prepared to enter a world filled with almost 48 hours of silence. We’ve come a long way these last 7 years when we struggled on that very first retreat to make it through a mere 12 hours of silence.

The sounds of laughter, the intense listening and the expressions of sympathy and concern died down and we were called into silence in a time of worship. Dave prepared us for that evening’s rest with the words of Psalm 4:8, “I will both lie down and sleep in peace; for you alone, O God, make me lie down in safety.” He also challenged us to greet the morning light, eager to enter God’s world in silence and to go “marveling.” Marveling is what Fred Craddock talks about doing with his family on Sunday afternoons as a child, riding through the countryside and “marveling” at the wonders of God all around them.

After the night’s rest I awakened eager to go marveling and marveling is exactly what I did. I engaged my different senses and became aware of so many little things going on in my world of silence…but soon discovering that silence simply meant not using spoken words and conversation…God’s world is hardly silent…the birds chirping and insects humming as they hovered over the pond...the crackling of the pine straw and dead leaves ‘neath my feet as I followed the path around the pond…fish jumpin’ and me without my fishing pole; dogs barking; cattle mooing; faint construction noises in the distance. But once I was able to clear my mind of the clutter of thoughts and my constant Covenant “to-do” list, I became in tune with my surroundings and began to be fully engaged in my oneness with God in God’s world.

Going marveling in the woods soon brought me to a small wooden bench. And while I wasn’t yet tired enough to rest, I accepted its gracious invitation to come and sit a spell. It wasn’t long before a female Downy woodpecker landed on a dead tree nearby. I became intrigued as I watched her find the exact spots to use her beak like a miniature jack-hammer, drilling out insects for her morning snack. I then became aware that her pecking wasn’t making the usual loud, rat-a-tat sounds…the spots where she stopped to peck seemed to be made of soft wood…and I marveled at how she too knew this was a day of silence. J And then, “what to my wondering eyes should appear?” I looked down on the ground in front of me and saw a most wonderful cluster of pink Lady Slippers…given their particular location, I surely would have missed seeing them had I continued walking past this area…

The art of marveling isn’t confined to silent retreats or Sunday afternoon rides. You can marvel at the wonders of God anytime and anywhere…Take even the briefest of moments to stop and maybe even sit a spell in the midst of all that tugs on your time and energy to allow God to surprise you…Let’s go marveling… Blessings, Joanne

Wednesday Musings

Good Morning All!

Not again! How can this happen again? And with many more victims than the last? When will such violence end? Student turned sociopath… contempt for victims… irrational… emotionless… senseless murders… We need stiffer gun control in this country… Why did it take so long to alert the campus and take further action between the first incident and the second one? Aren’t colleges and universities responsible for the student safety?

Who could have done such a dastardly deed? Was it a terrorist-induced attack? Oh… a man from South Korea … might have known it was someone foreign? One of them. Bet he wasn’t here legally… Why don’t we figure out how to keep our borders safe from illegal entrants… Wait a minute… Waco… Oklahoma City… Austin TX… Paducah, KY… ”they” were each one of “us”…

Wonder, fear and blame have filled our minds and hearts these past couple of days… We are filled with so many questions; some of which have no answers. We are filled with fear; fear that it will happen again; fear that comes from knowing such a horrific act cannot be predicted nor prevented. And we are ever so quick to seek and find blame. Someone, some institution, some law or lack of law, some mental illness gone undetected or untreated; lack of policies in place we can blame. If only this… if only that… this wouldn’t have happened…

Grief floods our souls and hangs over us like a pall, weighing so heavy upon us; surrounding us on all sides as we seek comfort for all who mourn… there is time and great amounts of time will be taken to investigate these shootings…

But for now, many of us need to take time to be allowed to grieve… to simply grieve… as we pray for the families, friends, students, VTech faculty and administration… the Hokie Nation as it is called… all who must hasten to collect their thoughts and somehow through their grief make funeral and memorial arrangements; go through the “stage play” of doing what must be done to honor and bury the dead… dead sons and daughters, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, grandchildren, nieces, nephews and cousins, students, professors, roommates, classmates and best friends… God rest their souls…

And yes, we must pray for Cho Seung and his family… here legally in this country since he was 8 years old… not raised by wolves, but by caring parents who sought a better life here for their family; seeking a fine education for their son… a son filled with rage… a son whose mind somehow became twisted enough for him to think he would help society rid itself of those he thought were living lives of debauchery and shame… God rest his soul as well…

So for today we are a human race in mourning for the loss of wonderful, productive young people with bright futures. We will never know the missed opportunities and accomplishments that will be buried with them… teachers, scientists, researchers, doctors, lawyers, government leaders—men and women who were just getting started on their dreams to make a difference and have an impact on the lives of others… May this senseless moment in time never make sense… may it serve to remind the living of the compassionate and caring work left for us to do… Blessings, Joanne

The LORD is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid?...I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness f the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord (Psalm 27: 1-2, 14)

Wednesday Musings

[repost from Wednesday, April 11, 2007]

Good Morning All,

It doesn’t take very long, does it, to fill up the radio and television airways or the pages of the daily newspaper with a lot of stuff that barely passes, if at all, the test of being newsworthy…How many of us have been sitting at the edge of our seats waiting to here the DNA results of the paternity test for Anna Nicole Smith’s infant daughter…only having sat at that very edge only weeks earlier as a judge in his questionable courtroom antics, decided on where Anna Nicole would be buried; only to wait a few more weeks for the autopsy results as to how many drugs actually caused her demise…I can only pray for the emotional well-being of the baby…

And just when some of this so-called sensationalism begins to subside, along comes Don Imus, ranked a mere 14th among the shock-jocks of AM radio, in influencing the public …going way too far not only in this day and age, but way too far period; as he verbally assaulted the Rutgers’ Lady Scarlet Knights basketball team…It goes far beyond Dr. Phil’s, “What WERE you thinking?” question. Because in my humble opinion, Imus wasn’t thinking in the first place.

As a person who strives to be a faithful Christian, I cannot even begin to find the words that describe the sorrow and pain that I felt when I heard all this. Yet my feelings are not what are important. I can’t even begin to come close to what the young women and their coaching staff must have felt and are still feeling. The players are young people; a team of young women, 18-21 years of age, that gave it their all in the championship game, only to be on the receiving end of mockery and bigotry. And due to the revenue Imus and others like him, produce for the media, his wrist has been slapped with a 2 week absence…wonder if it’s with or without pay? But I digress…

I am sad and so very tired of people of influence in our culture crossing the limits by saying or doing whatever they please because they can. They will do whatever will get a rise out of somebody with no regard for the personhood, the dignity, the worth, the respect of another human being. Who does Imus think he is?

And then again, who do you think you are? Who do I think I am? Where do any of us get off thinking that we have the right to make fun of, to ridicule, to mock, and to judge anyone else in this life, especially at the expense of the feelings of another human being? Isn’t there something in the bible about judgment? Hmmmm…better get busy opening up my bible and meditating about how Jesus tells us not to judge others…maybe I need to spend some time with the many passages about how I’m called to love others…hmmmm…time’s a-wastin’…

But I tell you what…if you can’t take time right now to flip through the scriptures, or you don’t have ready access to your bible, how about meditating on this:
“God loves everybody! Get over it!” ( Jerry Barlow). Blessings, Joanne

Wednesday Musings

[repost from Wednesday, April 04, 2007]

Good Morning Holy Week Trekkers,

Amid the frequent “Achoo!(s)” and stuffiness in my head and the annual yellow-coating of just about everything in sight, the eye-stopping, eye-popping signs of Spring are something to behold! The rich and radiant colors of the blossoms on the trees; the warmth of the sun and the splendor of last night’s sunset remind us that Spring has indeed sprung.

Yesterday, I spent time watching some of the birds in the church yard near the playground and then again outside my front window at home….it was as if the whole outdoors was an ornithological Lowe’s or Home Depot, where birds go to find home-building supplies. They were so busy snatching up small twigs along with dry grass and leaves…flying out of sight for a while and returning to sort through the sale item table and pausing briefly at the bird feeder for a quick lunch or a mid-afternoon snack. And I say to myself, “Ain’t God grand?”

And God’s grandness is everywhere the eye can see and the heart can feel. All throughout this season of Lent we have been challenged to examine our lives, do a little soulful spring cleaning and seek God’s strength and courage to follow new paths that will help us live more meaningful lives. For six weeks we have been invited to spend time with God, asking the Spirit of Christ to enter our lives more fully. And today we find ourselves at the midpoint of this week Christians call holy; a week that began with a parade filled with excitement and hope for so many, but now finds us accompanying this Jesus as he prepares to face seemingly overwhelming challenges that will seek to bring not only an end to his earthly life, but an end to God’s reign and power.

You and I are being asked to walk with Jesus as he prepares to meet and dine with his closest and dearest friends, attempting to pass to them the baton of his hopes and dreams for a better world. Don’t you know Jesus has his doubts long before Thomas expresses his after Jesus’ resurrection…

Can’t you just imagine Jesus sitting among the 12 and perhaps many others, looking into each face, speaking to each heart and embracing each spirit, hoping beyond all hope, that as they face these next few days together, that somehow they will “get it”—somehow they will come to get at least a glimmer of his mission and how God is calling them to bear witness to it.

Maybe one day scholars will unearth written documentation that will prove Jesus to be the first to coin the phrase, “It is what it is!” Can’t you hear Jesus say, “For better or worse, I have gathered this rag-tag band of men and women together; the breath of the Holy Spirit will soon come upon them and fill them with whatever is needful to continue the mission--to share the Good News of God’s unconditional love for all; in the hope that it will have the ripple affect felt ‘round the world. It is what it is, they are who they are…and they’re all I have…for now...”

That first ripple affect of faith made in Jerusalem so long ago, has found its way to the shores of our lives. And now it’s our turn to take whatever spark of faith that stirs within each of our hearts and very souls; to muster the courage to make these final earthly steps with Jesus; so that we too might keep the ripple of faith going…it is what it is; we are who we are…and we’re all God has…for now…Blessings, Joanne

Wednesday Musings

[repost from Wednesday, March 28, 2007]

Good Morning Lenten Trekkers,

As we get closer and closer to Jerusalem and Jesus’ entry into that bustling and exciting city where millions are assembling for the celebration of Passover, I can’t help but continue thinking about what manner of man this Jesus was. Soon we will celebrate God’s miracle of Christ’s resurrection when our thoughts are perhaps more focused on the divinity of Jesus rather than his humanity. On a day to day basis though, I certainly find it so much easier to personally relate to Jesus’ humanity than to his divinity.

Barbara Brown Taylor, in her most recent book, Leaving Church, recalls meeting a former church member in the city where he and his family moved so that he could accept a new job. After catching up on each other’s lives she asked him where he was going to church. To which he quickly replied, “No where.” His life was full. His work was valuable. He spent time with people of other faiths and no faith at all, who gave him ample opportunity to practice his own faith.

He went on to add, “After a lot of listening, I think I finally heard the gospel…”You have everything you need to be human. There is nothing outside of you that you still need…no approval from the authorities, not attendance at temple, no key truth hidden in the 10th chapter of some sacred book. In your life right now, God has given you everything you need to be human…” (pg.219)

I’m certain that thoughts and ideas similar to these are repeated hundreds of times over in the lives of the 40-60% of those who are no longer or ever have been connected to a community of faith. I can’t disagree with the idea that God has given us everything we need to be human…but for me it doesn’t stop there. I believe we are called to be in relationship with God, to enjoy God forever and to be in relationship with one another. This is what it means for us to be human. This is what it means for God to be God.

And I take all this one step further…I also believe that the way we are in relationship with God and others is to be in community with both, as the Church. But obviously there are a whole host of folks out there who have found community in so many places other than the Church that satisfy their longings. All of this begs the question: Where has the Church gone wrong? Is the way we do church become all that irrelevant? Is the way we do church broken in so many ways? Broken beyond repair? (I hope not). I think we would greatly benefit from pondering these questions for quite some time to come.

If the need for a community of faith, the need for Church has indeed become all that irrelevant; if the way we do Church…the way we practice our faith is broken in so many ways, are we in need of a human means of life-support or is it time to focus on new life, God’s power of resurrection? What do we need to do to rise from brokenness and to steer clear of irrelevance? Taylor reminds us…”All the church has ever needed to rise from the dead is memory, bread, wine and Holy Spirit—that and care for the world that is at least equal to its care for its own preservation. Where church growth has eclipsed church depth, it is possible to hear very little about the world…”

We must continue to make our way through better understanding of not only what it means for Jesus to be human and divine; but also what it means for you and me to be human as we live and move and have our being in relationship with the power and presence of the Divine…I’ve heard there’s a community of faith called Covenant who seeks to be relevant to your life; who proclaims God’s revelation in Jesus Christ; who takes the brokenness of life and makes it whole…Come and see what God is doing…and bring another eye-witness with you! Blessings, Joanne