Good Morning All,
How many doors can you think of? I recently came across this question in a devotional book I am using during Lent entitled, Open the Door; A Journey to the True Self, by Joyce Rupp. I first thought of a screen door; revolving door; glass door; patio door; front /back door; car door; garage door; swinging door; trap door; and if you’re old enough to remember or come from an area of the country where tornadoes come calling, there are cellar doors.
It’s not much of a stretch to move from the naming these physical doors that we use almost daily to “door” as a metaphor for our spiritual lives; and to begin envisioning the door of our heart or the door of our soul…the entry into our deeper, more spiritual selves as we dare to begin a journey with God as our companion, our spiritual director and guide.
On the first Sunday in Lent we spent some time with Jesus in the wilderness and his exchange with the Tempter (aka Evil One; Devil; Lucifer, Beelzebub, et al.) There was no mention of a door or even a gate or gateway into this wilderness; the two of them were simply there.
Sometimes I guess you just find your way there, not too sure how you actually got there. But the challenge, I think, comes from exploring how one arrives or through which entryway or door one comes, to begin or to re-enter one’s spiritual journey…filled with time in the wilderness as well as “lying down in green pastures.”
Does the door of your heart/soul have a sign on it? What does it say? I can think of a lot of signs that may hang on the door of my heart and I imagine that the sign on the door on any particular day and time would be different; depending on what drives us to this time of deeper spiritual exploration; the need and desire to walk and talk with God. I can see the door of my heart with a sign that says Welcome, complete with a welcome mat and a light in the window…Come on in God; you’re warmly welcome here!
And then there are times when that sign would appear in bold letters, maybe even all caps: ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK! Or DO NOT DISTURB! NO TRESPASSING! NO LONGER AT THIS ADDRESS! Whew! When this happens, just like Alexander in the children’s story, I must be having “a terrible, horrible, no good very bad day.” But I think many times when I dare to delve deeply into my spiritual being, the sign above my door says, Doorbell Broken…Please knock! I am brooding; mulling things over...not much is going all that well; but I still want to be open to God’s presence in my life.
Whenever I think about the metaphor of the door, I can see the famous painting by Warner Sallman of Jesus knocking at the door…”Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door; I will come in to you and eat with you and you with me.” (Rev. 3: 20)
Jesus is standing at the door “politely” waiting an invitation to enter your heart/life. The most intriguing part of this painting is, there is no doorknob on the outside of the door. We’re told he intentionally left it out...letting us know that the door to our heart is only opened from the inside.
So we hold the power; we choose to open the door or to keep it closed.
But when it comes to everyday life’s pushes and pulls, there are always the uninvited circumstances that swoop down and begin clobbering us and clamoring for our attention. And these uninvited occurrences or people force their way upon us…accidents; test results; diagnoses; betrayals; death of a loved one…No matter whether we willingly open the door to our heart or the uninvited circumstances force their way in with a battering ram…we are never alone…God IS always there, offering God’s hand; God’s presence; power; courage; comfort…and somehow, maybe not immediately, but eventually, we learn and grow and change in unimaginable ways…Thanks be to God…Who’s that knocking at your door?
Blessings, Joanne
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
The Norm Factor
Good Morning All,
Have you ever found yourself overhearing, maybe even eavesdropping on a nearby conversation? I’m not talking about a covert operation or juicy bits of gossip; nothing intentional…just simply being within earshot of people talking to one another…OK, enough of my trying to justify my own actions…:)
Well…recently I was seated outside a treatment room at my chiropractor’s office where the door is always open and if the patient has a particularly loud voice, sometimes the conversation takes over whatever else you may be doing at the moment. I was working on the morning crossword puzzle trying to think of an answer when the gist of what I heard was that the woman (patient) worked at Trader Joe’s and she made it a point to learn the names of the regular customers…back to the puzzle…A few moments later a phrase came wafting through the air and landed in my ear. I heard her say, the “Norm Factor.” So much for 37 down…I found myself mulling over that phrase, first thinking that it might refer to “the norm as in normal, factor;” perhaps meaning doing whatever in a routine or normal way.
Then it hit me…a flashback to the once popular television show, Cheers…set in a neighborhood bar in Boston , MA . One of the principal characters was a guy named Norm…always there seated at the bar engaged in conversations. I remember that his persona and role was responsible for the memorable phrase out of the show’s musical theme, “…where everybody knows your name…” Maybe you’re already ahead of me (not too difficult a task when it comes to the latest business world approaches/gimmicks/techniques).
Popular culture once again gives us a phrase that we can incorporate into our lives in some way. Think about it. The “Norm Factor” can play an important role in so many situations: if you live in a retirement community; or an officer or member of a particular club or organization; or work teams; office staffs and colleagues; or your child’s classmates/teammates and parents; staff and faculty of schools and colleges…any and all settings that are based on welcoming others and assimilating them into a particular community or organization…
And so it goes with our community of faith…you and I have so many opportunities to put the “Norm Factor” into play by welcoming and assimilating others into life at Covenant…getting to know the people who walk through Covenant’s doors—members and guests alike as we worship, study, lead and serve together; i.e. Do you know our childcare workers? Choir members?
Today is Ash Wednesday, (worship at 7:30p) the beginning of Lent, as we journey to Jerusalem and beyond, with Easter Morning just around the next few bends in the road…some of us are called to “give up” something…usually it’s a bad habit that we can simply pick it up again after Easter. But I want to challenge each of us to “take up” something…
I want us to take up the “Norm Factor” here at Covenant…Each week I challenge you to make a concentrated effort toward meeting and welcoming someone—member or guest--that you don’t know along with the challenge of remembering his/her name…write it down on your Sunday bulletin or notepad; whatever works best for you, so that you can greet them by name the next time you see them… WEAR YOUR NAMETAG!
And…I especially challenge each of us to begin learning the names of all our children; and an even greater challenge is matching them with their parents. What a wonderful gift that keeps on giving…creating a lasting memory of being part of a church family where everybody knows your name.
Isaiah 43:1 reminds us that God names and claims us; calls us by name…and I believe, God in turn, calls us to do the same…
Cheers, my friends! Come to Covenant…where everybody knows YOUR name…Joanne
Have you ever found yourself overhearing, maybe even eavesdropping on a nearby conversation? I’m not talking about a covert operation or juicy bits of gossip; nothing intentional…just simply being within earshot of people talking to one another…OK, enough of my trying to justify my own actions…:)
Well…recently I was seated outside a treatment room at my chiropractor’s office where the door is always open and if the patient has a particularly loud voice, sometimes the conversation takes over whatever else you may be doing at the moment. I was working on the morning crossword puzzle trying to think of an answer when the gist of what I heard was that the woman (patient) worked at Trader Joe’s and she made it a point to learn the names of the regular customers…back to the puzzle…A few moments later a phrase came wafting through the air and landed in my ear. I heard her say, the “Norm Factor.” So much for 37 down…I found myself mulling over that phrase, first thinking that it might refer to “the norm as in normal, factor;” perhaps meaning doing whatever in a routine or normal way.
Then it hit me…a flashback to the once popular television show, Cheers…set in a neighborhood bar in Boston , MA . One of the principal characters was a guy named Norm…always there seated at the bar engaged in conversations. I remember that his persona and role was responsible for the memorable phrase out of the show’s musical theme, “…where everybody knows your name…” Maybe you’re already ahead of me (not too difficult a task when it comes to the latest business world approaches/gimmicks/techniques).
Popular culture once again gives us a phrase that we can incorporate into our lives in some way. Think about it. The “Norm Factor” can play an important role in so many situations: if you live in a retirement community; or an officer or member of a particular club or organization; or work teams; office staffs and colleagues; or your child’s classmates/teammates and parents; staff and faculty of schools and colleges…any and all settings that are based on welcoming others and assimilating them into a particular community or organization…
And so it goes with our community of faith…you and I have so many opportunities to put the “Norm Factor” into play by welcoming and assimilating others into life at Covenant…getting to know the people who walk through Covenant’s doors—members and guests alike as we worship, study, lead and serve together; i.e. Do you know our childcare workers? Choir members?
Today is Ash Wednesday, (worship at 7:30p) the beginning of Lent, as we journey to Jerusalem and beyond, with Easter Morning just around the next few bends in the road…some of us are called to “give up” something…usually it’s a bad habit that we can simply pick it up again after Easter. But I want to challenge each of us to “take up” something…
I want us to take up the “Norm Factor” here at Covenant…Each week I challenge you to make a concentrated effort toward meeting and welcoming someone—member or guest--that you don’t know along with the challenge of remembering his/her name…write it down on your Sunday bulletin or notepad; whatever works best for you, so that you can greet them by name the next time you see them… WEAR YOUR NAMETAG!
And…I especially challenge each of us to begin learning the names of all our children; and an even greater challenge is matching them with their parents. What a wonderful gift that keeps on giving…creating a lasting memory of being part of a church family where everybody knows your name.
Isaiah 43:1 reminds us that God names and claims us; calls us by name…and I believe, God in turn, calls us to do the same…
Cheers, my friends! Come to Covenant…where everybody knows YOUR name…Joanne
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
One of Us
Good Morning All,
Super Bowl XLIV may have been one for the audience viewing record books. I don’t know if you were among the estimated 106+million who watched the game and/or commercials or not, but I wonder if you were among the 38.6 million people who watched the debut of the new reality show Undercover Boss. The show features chief executives of major corporations, who for one week go undercover as entry-level workers to not only rub elbows with their employees but also to identify some of the unsung he-roes and she-roes among the workers.
While I watched this new show, mostly, I suppose, because it immediately followed the Super Bowl, I became increasingly intrigued by the show’s premise. And as I reflected on this idea of CEO’s rubbing elbows with the workers and becoming one of them, my thoughts quickly shifted to how we have been making our way along our faith journey since the Day of Epiphany on January 6; which then makes it hard to believe that it has only been a little over 6 weeks since Christmas Day!
So much has happened in our world and in our lives in such a brief period of time. So why look back? Why all the focus on a celebration that seems eons ago? All I know is that I continue to look back only so I can more fully move ahead…Christmas was not simply a few days back in December that we managed to survive. Christmas marks so much more…It was the beginning of understanding yet again, how much God loves us; how God’s timing is everything…being born as the Christ Child; reminding us of how God plunged into the darkness of a waiting world, longing to know that the Light of the World had come and any and all darkness can never extinguish it.
This is the message that has stood the test of time; a message that brings us to the here and now; a message that will accompany us into the days ahead. We dare to look back a mere 6 weeks so that we might continue to remember how God came to Earth as one of us…much more than an undercover boss mingling among us or rubbing elbows with us.
I recall the chorus of a once popular song, “If God Were One of Us;”
What if God was one of us
Just a slob like one of us
Just a stranger on the bus
Trying to make his way home
While I’m not inclined to think of God as a slob, the underlying message is that God’s very self is within every woman, man, boy & girl on this planet—not just within people we like and love; or who look and live just like us; or possess the same values; or are of the same belief; but within every last one of us…
…And that’s it, isn’t it? God is one of us…the One who relates to all aspects of our humanness; the One who continues to pitch God’s tent right in our backyard…
So, here we are, traveling together along this faith journey…There’s a bend in the road up ahead…and in a week’s time, the Spirit will once again lead us into and through the season of Lent; the time we will spend with Jesus in the wilderness of our faith; taking some “holy timeout” as we wrestle with some of life’s deepest and darkest moments of the soul; as we await the Light of Easter dawn…May we seek and sense God’s presence along the way…Blessings, Joanne
Super Bowl XLIV may have been one for the audience viewing record books. I don’t know if you were among the estimated 106+million who watched the game and/or commercials or not, but I wonder if you were among the 38.6 million people who watched the debut of the new reality show Undercover Boss. The show features chief executives of major corporations, who for one week go undercover as entry-level workers to not only rub elbows with their employees but also to identify some of the unsung he-roes and she-roes among the workers.
While I watched this new show, mostly, I suppose, because it immediately followed the Super Bowl, I became increasingly intrigued by the show’s premise. And as I reflected on this idea of CEO’s rubbing elbows with the workers and becoming one of them, my thoughts quickly shifted to how we have been making our way along our faith journey since the Day of Epiphany on January 6; which then makes it hard to believe that it has only been a little over 6 weeks since Christmas Day!
So much has happened in our world and in our lives in such a brief period of time. So why look back? Why all the focus on a celebration that seems eons ago? All I know is that I continue to look back only so I can more fully move ahead…Christmas was not simply a few days back in December that we managed to survive. Christmas marks so much more…It was the beginning of understanding yet again, how much God loves us; how God’s timing is everything…being born as the Christ Child; reminding us of how God plunged into the darkness of a waiting world, longing to know that the Light of the World had come and any and all darkness can never extinguish it.
This is the message that has stood the test of time; a message that brings us to the here and now; a message that will accompany us into the days ahead. We dare to look back a mere 6 weeks so that we might continue to remember how God came to Earth as one of us…much more than an undercover boss mingling among us or rubbing elbows with us.
I recall the chorus of a once popular song, “If God Were One of Us;”
What if God was one of us
Just a slob like one of us
Just a stranger on the bus
Trying to make his way home
While I’m not inclined to think of God as a slob, the underlying message is that God’s very self is within every woman, man, boy & girl on this planet—not just within people we like and love; or who look and live just like us; or possess the same values; or are of the same belief; but within every last one of us…
…And that’s it, isn’t it? God is one of us…the One who relates to all aspects of our humanness; the One who continues to pitch God’s tent right in our backyard…
So, here we are, traveling together along this faith journey…There’s a bend in the road up ahead…and in a week’s time, the Spirit will once again lead us into and through the season of Lent; the time we will spend with Jesus in the wilderness of our faith; taking some “holy timeout” as we wrestle with some of life’s deepest and darkest moments of the soul; as we await the Light of Easter dawn…May we seek and sense God’s presence along the way…Blessings, Joanne
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