Good Morning, All,
Not too long ago I went to a breakfast meeting with a group of 40 ministers. As we were all standing around waiting for permission to be seated, someone in the group finally spoke up and said, “Who will say Grace?” In a room filled with way too many ministers, that was also a way too general request. Instead of all of us jumping in at once, out of habit and hunger, we all seemed to bow our heads and proceeded to wait. And there we were, waiting and waiting and uncomfortably waiting some more, for what seemed endless seconds of agonizing silence. Finally one of us, perhaps hungrier than the rest, broke the silence & offered Grace.
It was a strange and awkward moment as we all stood around waiting for someone to say Grace. But when you think about it; the truth is, much of the world stands around waiting; waiting and hoping that someone will offer a word of grace; that someone will show mercy and compassion, forgiveness and pardon, rather than revenge and retribution. Oh, how we and all the world, long to hear and receive grace in our broken world; in our broken lives.
When I think about the brokenness we share with all who inhabit this planet, I realize that our experiences of brokenness vary in culture, subculture, economic class and overall personal circumstance. Lives are broken for millions upon millions who simply are in need of life’s basics, the stuff of life you and I take for granted: nutritious food, clean water and adequate housing and access to medical care.
While others experience brokenness because they have lost their jobs; or they can’t afford the high cost of healthcare; or they’ve lost their homes to foreclosure or are simply trying to keep the banks at bay. Future retirement has been put on hold a while longer; college funds are being used for living expenses; and in general, the lifestyles to which many have become accustomed, must now drastically change. And when we finally come up for air, we realize we never thought our lives would ever play out this way.
While it seems that we have more than enough to say grace over, there’s more…what about broken dreams; deferred dreams; broken relationships; broken bodies…all indicators of how much we stand in need of God’s grace; God’s healing; God’s wholeness. And we wait and we hope for God’s word of grace to come to us in a variety of ways and often at times when we least expect it; which means we must be ever-vigilant with eyes and ears, minds and hearts, wide-open and alert.
Hopefully you know of a time when someone has offered grace to you; when you’ve been touched in some way by grace and compassion. A time when someone had just the right words at just the right moment-- healing words; words of hope and concern; and perhaps just when you were expecting hurtful words or revenge or payback...then you do know of God’s grace.
I am sure that there are countless powerful stories and memories to be shared among us; stories and memories of unexpected kindness, surprising affirming encouragements, compassion, pardon, mercy and gentleness toward your soul; and you were, by God’s grace, made whole, perhaps in the stillness of that moment.
It can be a very difficult and unforgiving world out there, and we seek, hope and wait to hear a gentle and kind word of God’s grace. I invite you to gather in worship and study and prayer as we continue the journey together; reflecting upon the same love and grace of God in Jesus Christ, that we ourselves so freely receive. And then to discover ways to share that same love and grace with others in this battered and bruised world…Blessings, Joanne
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Revel in God
Good Morning All,
Lately I have been in the presence of or in deep conversation with a lot of people in pain. Pain as well as suffering comes to each of us, some more than others for reasons we can’t quite understand. And when pain or suffering enters our lives, there’s usually at least one person who wants to fix it all for us; even before we want to do so. That well-meaning, well-intentioned person enters our lives and begins telling us how everything’s gonna be all right. “God doesn’t give us more than we can handle…” “Don’t worry, be happy… “ “All you have to do is trust God...” And upon hearing all this, all you want to do is scream and run for the nearest door!
And while any and all of the above might eventually bring us some sort of comfort, timing is everything. In the midst of whatever we are facing, we don’t want to hear words of comfort. First off, we need to name our pain; address our pain; maybe even wallow around in it for a little while, before we can even begin to be ready to hear any words of comfort; or sense the love and support of those closest to us; or begin to find peace in God’s presence or trust God’s lead.
But when the time is right, how good it is to reflect on a particular passage of scripture found in
Philippians 4:4-7: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Or as Eugene Peterson translates, “Celebrate God all day, every day, I mean, revel in God…Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life…Receive and experience the amazing grace of Jesus Christ, deep, deep, within yourself.”
Wow! Isn’t that something?
Did you catch the differences in translation?
"Rejoice" or "Celebrate God all day every day--revel in God!" says the other;
"Do not worry about anything...let your requests be made known to God."
Or..."Instead of worrying, pray...letting God know your concerns..."
And the not so subtle difference between:
"And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." and...
"Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down."
How wonderful it is that "the peace which passes all understanding," does not pass beyond our experience. In other words, God's peace in Christ Jesus may be far beyond our imaginations--far beyond our comprehension; but it never goes beyond our experience. We do not have to understand the peace of Christ in order to experience it. It truly is enough just to experience it. And it's more than enough to have that "sense of God's wholeness" coming into our lives, pitching a tent among us and settling us down, especially when we need that the most!
May you be open to hearing these amazing words just when you need them the most. Drink from their wisdom and power. Allow God to break through all that holds you captive. And may you experience a sense of God's wholeness deep, deep within you...Blessings, Joanne
Lately I have been in the presence of or in deep conversation with a lot of people in pain. Pain as well as suffering comes to each of us, some more than others for reasons we can’t quite understand. And when pain or suffering enters our lives, there’s usually at least one person who wants to fix it all for us; even before we want to do so. That well-meaning, well-intentioned person enters our lives and begins telling us how everything’s gonna be all right. “God doesn’t give us more than we can handle…” “Don’t worry, be happy… “ “All you have to do is trust God...” And upon hearing all this, all you want to do is scream and run for the nearest door!
And while any and all of the above might eventually bring us some sort of comfort, timing is everything. In the midst of whatever we are facing, we don’t want to hear words of comfort. First off, we need to name our pain; address our pain; maybe even wallow around in it for a little while, before we can even begin to be ready to hear any words of comfort; or sense the love and support of those closest to us; or begin to find peace in God’s presence or trust God’s lead.
But when the time is right, how good it is to reflect on a particular passage of scripture found in
Philippians 4:4-7: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Or as Eugene Peterson translates, “Celebrate God all day, every day, I mean, revel in God…Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life…Receive and experience the amazing grace of Jesus Christ, deep, deep, within yourself.”
Wow! Isn’t that something?
Did you catch the differences in translation?
"Rejoice" or "Celebrate God all day every day--revel in God!" says the other;
"Do not worry about anything...let your requests be made known to God."
Or..."Instead of worrying, pray...letting God know your concerns..."
And the not so subtle difference between:
"And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." and...
"Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down."
How wonderful it is that "the peace which passes all understanding," does not pass beyond our experience. In other words, God's peace in Christ Jesus may be far beyond our imaginations--far beyond our comprehension; but it never goes beyond our experience. We do not have to understand the peace of Christ in order to experience it. It truly is enough just to experience it. And it's more than enough to have that "sense of God's wholeness" coming into our lives, pitching a tent among us and settling us down, especially when we need that the most!
May you be open to hearing these amazing words just when you need them the most. Drink from their wisdom and power. Allow God to break through all that holds you captive. And may you experience a sense of God's wholeness deep, deep within you...Blessings, Joanne
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Moving toward Wholeness
Good Morning All,
The weather this week continues to have record-breaking high temperatures as if it were summertime, but all you have to do is hang around the church house and know that we have definitely moved from one season to the next. Things are really hopping as we prepare for our annual “Fun-d Raising Day” on Saturday. Folks are feverishly working behind the scenes getting ready for our official “Green Sunday” Kick-Off, having introduced the idea in August, but really getting down to business this Sunday during Sunday School and Worship as we come to greater understandings about being stewards of our planet-home.
And then last evening as you went from room to room you heard laughter coming from a room full of girl scouts; our search committee sitting around the table interviewing a potential candidate for Associate Minister; in the next room Covenant women were gathering for Bible Study in the Youth room with evidence of the upcoming Trunk or Treat party planned for October 26; and you could find our Trustees meeting in the Library. And I thank God for the building, this church house, with which we have been so blessed.
In the early years of Covenant’s formation, I first heard God calling me to gather a congregation together, emphasizing the need to reach out and gather any and all who would choose to share in this exciting endeavor of being Church. It wasn’t too terribly long after that when I began to hear members, guests and folks in the community attempting to teach me that church=building.
And while I knew that was the typical understanding of church, I knew that God was continuing to remind me that church=people. But of course I soon learned that these were not mutually exclusive. The church was indeed a building; but more important that this, the church really was people. Of course, we decided that both=church and we were off and running. And in the midst of those early years and all through these years of formation, I continue to sense the importance of first being a congregation--a church family who gathers for worship, is nurtured in study, encouraged to serve others and all the while have fun doing so. And in our gathering, we are growing in our faith and understanding of what it means to hear God calling us to live faithfully and daring to respond as people of faith. After all, what good is an empty shell of a church building, without faithful people to fill it?
Parker Palmer from the book jacket of his book, A Hidden Wholeness, “speaks to our yearning to live undivided lives—lives that are congruent with our inner truth, in a world filled with the forces of fragmentation. Mapping an inner journey that we take in solitude and in the company of others; a form of community that fits the limits of our active lives.” He writes about a “circle of trust”—a space between us that honors the soul.” And he invites us to discover what it means to be a community of faith that shares in friendship and organizational life and all points in between, as we travel together toward living “divided no more.”
And I know that we are well on our way as we make strides toward this sense of wholeness to which we are called. Dr. Sharon Watkins, our General Minister and President, reminds us that,
“We are the Disciples of Christ—a movement for wholeness in a fragmented world. As part of one body of Christ, we welcome all to the Lord’s Table as God has welcomed us.”
How good it is to be in life and ministry with you and those who come our way to “sit down a spell” with us as we build and embody a circle of trust that gathers our fragmented lives in this fragmented world, seeking to live divided lives no more. Blessings, Joanne
The weather this week continues to have record-breaking high temperatures as if it were summertime, but all you have to do is hang around the church house and know that we have definitely moved from one season to the next. Things are really hopping as we prepare for our annual “Fun-d Raising Day” on Saturday. Folks are feverishly working behind the scenes getting ready for our official “Green Sunday” Kick-Off, having introduced the idea in August, but really getting down to business this Sunday during Sunday School and Worship as we come to greater understandings about being stewards of our planet-home.
And then last evening as you went from room to room you heard laughter coming from a room full of girl scouts; our search committee sitting around the table interviewing a potential candidate for Associate Minister; in the next room Covenant women were gathering for Bible Study in the Youth room with evidence of the upcoming Trunk or Treat party planned for October 26; and you could find our Trustees meeting in the Library. And I thank God for the building, this church house, with which we have been so blessed.
In the early years of Covenant’s formation, I first heard God calling me to gather a congregation together, emphasizing the need to reach out and gather any and all who would choose to share in this exciting endeavor of being Church. It wasn’t too terribly long after that when I began to hear members, guests and folks in the community attempting to teach me that church=building.
And while I knew that was the typical understanding of church, I knew that God was continuing to remind me that church=people. But of course I soon learned that these were not mutually exclusive. The church was indeed a building; but more important that this, the church really was people. Of course, we decided that both=church and we were off and running. And in the midst of those early years and all through these years of formation, I continue to sense the importance of first being a congregation--a church family who gathers for worship, is nurtured in study, encouraged to serve others and all the while have fun doing so. And in our gathering, we are growing in our faith and understanding of what it means to hear God calling us to live faithfully and daring to respond as people of faith. After all, what good is an empty shell of a church building, without faithful people to fill it?
Parker Palmer from the book jacket of his book, A Hidden Wholeness, “speaks to our yearning to live undivided lives—lives that are congruent with our inner truth, in a world filled with the forces of fragmentation. Mapping an inner journey that we take in solitude and in the company of others; a form of community that fits the limits of our active lives.” He writes about a “circle of trust”—a space between us that honors the soul.” And he invites us to discover what it means to be a community of faith that shares in friendship and organizational life and all points in between, as we travel together toward living “divided no more.”
And I know that we are well on our way as we make strides toward this sense of wholeness to which we are called. Dr. Sharon Watkins, our General Minister and President, reminds us that,
“We are the Disciples of Christ—a movement for wholeness in a fragmented world. As part of one body of Christ, we welcome all to the Lord’s Table as God has welcomed us.”
How good it is to be in life and ministry with you and those who come our way to “sit down a spell” with us as we build and embody a circle of trust that gathers our fragmented lives in this fragmented world, seeking to live divided lives no more. Blessings, Joanne
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
True Security
Good Morning All,
Bailout Sinks and Dow Follows!
House defies leaders in face of constituents’ anger!
777 point loss is market’s biggest tumble ever!
Crisis claims a new victim as Citigroup swallows Wachovia!
What’s ahead and what to do? Fear and fury doomed compromise!
Leaders will retool rescue bill!
Just a few of the recent headlines that have greeted us in the News & Observer…and if these headlines and the related articles aren’t enough for me, just when I was beginning to wean myself from the bombardment of television and radio news, I find myself tuned in more than ever before! And then the more putout I am over the hype and spin the media folks are weaving through so much of the coverage. And as I listen, really listen, to it all, I smell fear running through it all…
Fear…one of the most debilitating emotions in our lives. As fear mounts, we allow it to take front stage and before we know it, it’s in the driver’s seat and we begin to make decisions that perhaps we wouldn’t otherwise make. We say and do things that are uncharacteristically not us. We begin to mistrust everything and everybody. We begin to hoard our possessions and we become less and less generous with our money; our time; our energy; our commitments… And we no longer recognize the person staring back at us from the mirror. Mirror, mirror, on the wall...who’s the most fearful of them all?
So, what exactly do we fear most? Many would reply, “ I fear losing it all…all that I have worked so hard for…all that matters the most to me…all my retirement benefits; my money; my children’s education; my house; my car; my job; my security…I’ve been told that human beings have only 2 innate fears: the fear of falling (you, falling—not stock markets); and the fear of loud noises—not the crashing stock market). If we accept this understanding, then it means that all other fears come from learned behavior; we’ve been taught how to fear everything else in our lives.
Wow! Where does all that fear come from? Let me step out on a spiritual limb here and say, that our basic fears in life come from a lack of trust that fuels our inability to hope. Whatever happened to trusting that God is the source of all we have; God is the source of who we are? Whatever happened to being poor in things and rich in soul?
And where has all our hope gone? Hope comes from trusting God in the first place—making that trust the very foundation upon which our lives are built. It comes in remembering and believing that God is in charge and that God really does desires the very best for all of us. Perhaps it’s time to dig a bit deeper into our spiritual bank accounts, lest we allow a hostile takeover; lest we need to file for a different kind of bankruptcy…
Let us gather together in worship as we trust in God to shape and form us as a community of faith; building our trust; securing our faith foundation and offering us hope beyond all hope…
Trust them with bailout? Ha! Ha! Ha! (Joseph Galloway; Other Opinion page, N & O 9/28/08)
Naw…“Trust in God with all your heart” Prov.3:5
Blessings, Joanne
Bailout Sinks and Dow Follows!
House defies leaders in face of constituents’ anger!
777 point loss is market’s biggest tumble ever!
Crisis claims a new victim as Citigroup swallows Wachovia!
What’s ahead and what to do? Fear and fury doomed compromise!
Leaders will retool rescue bill!
Just a few of the recent headlines that have greeted us in the News & Observer…and if these headlines and the related articles aren’t enough for me, just when I was beginning to wean myself from the bombardment of television and radio news, I find myself tuned in more than ever before! And then the more putout I am over the hype and spin the media folks are weaving through so much of the coverage. And as I listen, really listen, to it all, I smell fear running through it all…
Fear…one of the most debilitating emotions in our lives. As fear mounts, we allow it to take front stage and before we know it, it’s in the driver’s seat and we begin to make decisions that perhaps we wouldn’t otherwise make. We say and do things that are uncharacteristically not us. We begin to mistrust everything and everybody. We begin to hoard our possessions and we become less and less generous with our money; our time; our energy; our commitments… And we no longer recognize the person staring back at us from the mirror. Mirror, mirror, on the wall...who’s the most fearful of them all?
So, what exactly do we fear most? Many would reply, “ I fear losing it all…all that I have worked so hard for…all that matters the most to me…all my retirement benefits; my money; my children’s education; my house; my car; my job; my security…I’ve been told that human beings have only 2 innate fears: the fear of falling (you, falling—not stock markets); and the fear of loud noises—not the crashing stock market). If we accept this understanding, then it means that all other fears come from learned behavior; we’ve been taught how to fear everything else in our lives.
Wow! Where does all that fear come from? Let me step out on a spiritual limb here and say, that our basic fears in life come from a lack of trust that fuels our inability to hope. Whatever happened to trusting that God is the source of all we have; God is the source of who we are? Whatever happened to being poor in things and rich in soul?
And where has all our hope gone? Hope comes from trusting God in the first place—making that trust the very foundation upon which our lives are built. It comes in remembering and believing that God is in charge and that God really does desires the very best for all of us. Perhaps it’s time to dig a bit deeper into our spiritual bank accounts, lest we allow a hostile takeover; lest we need to file for a different kind of bankruptcy…
Let us gather together in worship as we trust in God to shape and form us as a community of faith; building our trust; securing our faith foundation and offering us hope beyond all hope…
Trust them with bailout? Ha! Ha! Ha! (Joseph Galloway; Other Opinion page, N & O 9/28/08)
Naw…“Trust in God with all your heart” Prov.3:5
Blessings, Joanne
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