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