Praying for Our Enemy

Prayer is a necessity. Without it we see only our point of view, our own righteousness, and ignore the perspective of our enemies. Prayer breaks down those distinctions. To do violence to others, you must make them enemies. Prayer, on the other hand, makes enemies into friends. When we have brought our enemies into our hearts in prayer, it becomes most difficult to maintain the hostility necessary for violence. In bringing them close to us, prayer serves to protect our enemies. — Jim Wallis in Peace Prayers

Actually, the presidential election has not been too mean-spirited in my opinion. Perhaps because both men seem to respect each other underneath all of the ads and debates that require one to differentiate issues and the choices. There doesn’t seem to be a deep divide between the two men that barely allows them to remain in the same room. Maybe McCain has faced enough enemies in his past as a Prisoner of War and Obama has faced enough backlash from his mixed heritage that neither one wants to spend their time unwisely nor wastefully on destructive thoughts. Even the red and blue state divide doesn’t really exist.

The “red state/blue state” divide has become such a staple of cable news since the 2000 presidential election that many people assume that it’s a recent invention, but it isn’t. More importantly, although “red” and “blue” have become rallying cries for political partisans in recent years, the color labels were never intended to last beyond a given election, and are, in fact, supposed to flip in 2008.
The use of “red” and “blue” as color codes on maps of electoral results actually dates back to at least 1908, when the Washington Post printed a special supplement in which Republican states were colored red and Democratic blue The colors were apparently arbitrarily assigned in that case, although in later years both parties strove to claim blue (as in “true blue Americans”) and avoid red, with its connotations of radicalism.
Finally, in 1976, the TV networks agreed to a formula to avoid any implication of favoritism in color selections. The color of the incumbent party, initially set as blue for Gerald Ford’s Republican ticket in that year, would flip every four years. Consequently, a successful challenger runs again in four years, as the incumbent, under the same color. So in 1992, the challenger Clinton was red on the maps, and in 1996, incumbent Clinton was also red. Challenger Bush, red in 2000, was red again as an incumbent in 2004. But perhaps because the pundits decreed 2000 to be a watershed election, the “red/blue” divide has assumed a broader political significance (at least to pundits), and although the formula dictates that the Republicans should be carrying the blue flag in 2008, it will be interesting to see how the networks color their maps.Word-Detective.com/ June 2007

My prayer for the congregation?

Dear God, No one else asks us to pray for our enemies, but you. No one else asks us to love our enemies, but you. This should make it easy to differentiate between following your laws and following the laws of our emotions. Even in the word enemy, we find its source includes the word “friend.” Let us also pray for our own redemption, when we seem to be our own worst enemy. Let love expand in our hearts and minds leaving no room for hate and anger to remain. Amen.

Prayer Circle

Some people are curious about our little prayer group. Perhaps you first became aware when you saw us at the end of the second service in a little huddle with our heads together at the front of the sanctuary, sometimes we make a circle in the narthex, and lately we’ve been going to the chapel. It sounds a bit like Goldilocks, trying to find the right spot! It has more to do with being able to hear each other rather than trying to be visible or invisible. We are specifically praying for the congregation, its vision, leadership, direction, growth, discipleship, and more. You may see us on Sunday, but the prayers are daily. We don’t physically meet each day, but I trust the others implicitly are fulfilling their promise without delay. However, I know myself fairly well, and I had to find a way to be accountable or it might slip into a Sunday thing, and since we attend early service, I don’t always stay for the Sunday group prayer, and then pretty soon Sunday would have slipped off the priority list as well, and then I would have to quickly exit to avoid the guilt of seeing those I have let down – which would be everyone! Whew! So, to avoid that spiraling cycle of guilt and broken promises, and to instill a new discipline, that is why this posting has become my response. In no way do I believe that our circle is the only one praying for our congregation!!! I believe many others include the church while praying for their families because it’s as natural as a bee making honey.
I will be taking six days of vacation and because it’s okay to ask for help, so they say, and because I believe we have many who are eager to pray, here’s an invitation to share in keeping a daily written conversation and prayer for our congregation. You can e-mail me, call me, or leave a comment directly below, or I may call you!

My prayer for the congregation?

Dear God, We turn to you for comfort, direction, and thanksgiving but often we find it hard to turn to the person next to us and admit we need help. We try so hard to be self-sufficient, but often we can't do all that we hope to do. Like a circle expands on the surface of a pond, so our widening circle can expand as we meet and join with others. Amen.

My Beloved

My Beloved is Mine, and I am His. Song of Solomon 2:16

These were the words on our wedding invitation 29 years ago. I’m not always known for being head strong, although I have my moments, but in planning our wedding I had some definite ideas. Part of my theory was that if people came to share in the celebration, then the ceremony needed to be longer than five minutes, so there was extra music, extra readings, and extra candles (even in the bridesmaid’s flowers)! We weren’t quite as extravagant with finances, the traditional seventies wedding in the southern suburbs was a simple cake and mints affair. I wore my dear friend’s wedding dress, asked a co-worker to take the photos, and had the plainest bridesmaid’s dresses ever. (Sorry girls, my biggest regret for the day). In some ways I was extremely lenient in expectations, and in other areas I had my own maverick standards which weren’t found in any bride’s magazine. Where was Dennis in all of this? Where any groom wants to be, out of the way! His one criteria was that it had to be late enough in the day that his groomsmen could finish their work at the golf course. After that he was content to show up the day of the wedding and let me have the reins. “The goal in marriage is not to think alike, but to think together.” Robert C. Dodds. We definitely have some different ideas and approaches, and I believe we have always given each other the freedom to keep our individual perspectives, yet we can come together easily, trusting each other’s decisions and respecting each other’s views. “Love at first sight is easy to understand; it's when two people have been looking at each other for a lifetime that it becomes a miracle.” Amy Bloom. A few years ago I reached the point where I had spent more of my life married than not married, and then came the raw realization that we are only about half-way to where we hope to be. One of the songs at our wedding was “What are you doing the rest of your life?” We are still finding out.

My prayer for the congregation?

Dear God, One of your greatest creations is companionship! How wisely you realized that we need others to help support, to corroborate, to plan, to mend, and with whom we can share our joys and sorrows. Let our congregation hold sacred the marriages that begin in our church, doing our part to provide a nurturing environment for their growth and endurance. May we keep a sense of their excitement and devotion and reclaim that for our own lives, finding the joy of placing another person’s welfare above our own. It is a miracle! In Jesus’ name and as Christ followers, Amen.

What are you doing the rest of your life?
North and South and East and West of your life
I have only one request of your life
That you spend it all with me

All the seasons and the times of your days
All the nickels and the dimes of your days
Let the reasons and the rhymes of your days
All begin and end with me

I want to see your face in every kind of light
In the fields of dawn and the forests of the night
And when you stand before the candles on a cake
Oh, let me be the one to hear the silent wish you make

Those tomorrows waiting deep in your eyes
In the world of love that you keep in your eyes
I'll awaken what's asleep in your eyes
It may take a kiss or two

Through all of my life
Summer, Winter, Spring, and Fall of my life
All I ever will recall of my life
Is all of my life with you

Nature Reclaimed

I went to the grand opening of the Trinity River Audubon Center in Dallas. (other photos from my afternoon). It was a beautiful day to be outside and the turnout was very strong despite the State Fair and Cowboy football game as venerable competition. One of the success stories about the center already is that it was once an illegal dump site. It has been reclaimed by the City of Dallas and demonstrates how a municipal liability can be transformed into a major asset. The Center has over 6,000 acres and volunteers will provide a direct impact in further reclaiming and restoring the land for native plants and animals. It also provides new economy and improved visibility for an area of town that is often bypassed for the malls and athletic complexes of north Dallas. Between the educational programs at the Center, the Tai Chi demonstration, and the rescued birds of prey that were on display I was reminded of the vast array of opportunities available for volunteers to make others aware of our inter-connectedness.

My prayer for the congregation?

Dear God, Your creativity is magnificent! There are ponds teaming with life, brilliant flowers attracting insects, drying fall plants waiting to reseed, children learning about the hidden world around them, and adults growing in harmony with nature. Life is resilient! Let us reclaim our place in your presence when we have sloughed away from our responsibilities, and let us restore our faith when we have polluted our morale. You provide opportunities for rebirth and rejuvenation. Let us each find a passion to call our own, in which we are compelled to help educate and promote awareness for others. There are infinite possibilities as we marvel at your creation and the abundance of life! Yet with the countless organisms in your creation, one declining system impacts all others. All are deemed worthy. Let us live to be worthy and restored by your grace. Amen.

Ears that Hear

One of our dogs has a quite annoying habit, she can pick up the faintest creak of a bag of cookies being opened when she is in a sound sleep several rooms away. I suppose I only have myself to blame, both for the fact of opening the bag for a cookie, and secondly for getting her in the habit of expecting a bite at the end. It can be so infuriating when I try my best to be deliberate and slow about quietly opening the bag but by the time I’m sliding the cookie completely out of the bag I hear the clicking of her nails against the flooring as she quickly comes into the kitchen with her ears perked up and eyes fixed on my hands. Then I’m not only out one bite, but I’m out two because the other dog follows behind. It can take all the pleasure out of sneaking a treat! I don’t mind sharing so much, but it’s the pretense of being invisible and the extravagance not counting if no one else sees it. Like the new shirt that gets whisked away to the closet, or the CD with the cellophane quickly removed, or the cookie held behind the back, we are skilled at finding ways to hide our actions and foolishly thinking it will delay their consequences.

My prayer for the congregation?

Dear God, Do you shake your head in amazement at our folly or do you grow limp in sorrow at our failure to understand your omnipotence and mercy? Again and again we think we can control the variables to portray the veneer we want others to see, but truth cannot be camouflaged. Help us to act in ways that bring credit and honor, not grievances that bring disappointment and reprimands. As we strive to improve our own course, let us also be aware of adverse activities in the world. We have “ears that hear and eyes that see – the Lord has made them both.” (Proverbs 20:12) Let us attune our ears to the fine hints of deceit and injustice and see with clear vision the facts of inequality that can’t be disguised. We are accountable both by our actions and our inactions. We long for your favor, but sometimes we find the way there more difficult than others. We seek your strength to live in truth. Amen.

Then the LORD said to Samuel, "Behold, I am about to do a thing in Israel at which the two ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. And I declare to him that I am about to punish his house forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them.
I Samuel 3:11-13

Funambulist

At the Renovare conference one of the illustrations that was shared was the story of the Great Blondin who became famous by crossing Niagra Falls with varying theatrical feats: Once on stilts, another time blindfolded, pushing a wheelbarrow, and by cooking and eating an omelet in the center. But one walk has legendary proportions. Blondin walked across the rope to a cheering crowd and asked, “Do you believe I can walk back?” The crowd started chanting “We believe! We believe!” “To prove my skills are above reproach I will carry someone with me! Do you believe I can do this” At which point the crowd erupted in approval, “We believe! We believe!” “Then who is willing to come along with me?” The crowd was silenced. He asked again with no believers coming forward. Finally, one man, Blondin’s manager came forward and rode on Blondin’s back safely across the wet cable to the opposite shore for the experience of a lifetime.

My prayer for the congregation?

Dear God, We have no reason to falter in our belief in You. When you call us forward, we ask that we have the courage to follow our words of faith. It could be a call to teach, to be an elder or deacon, to help improve the buildings and grounds, to work with the youth, to rebuild a community, or to be joyful in worship. Not every entreat will lead us over dangerous depths but in all considerations having the same trust. We seek that unerring trust to replace our doubtful and cynical expectations that we have developed through disappointing experiences with leaders, government bodies, media and even close friends. To follow your call will take prayers not only for our selves, but also prayers of encouragement for one another. You go before us, guard behind us, and stay beside us. Let us let go of whatever may hold us back to stand securely in your presence. We believe! Amen.

The Time is Right

How many times have we wished that the day had at least 25 or 26 more hours instead of a measly 24? What would we do with those two extra hours? Would we take the opportunity to fill them with plans and dreams for things that we don’t seem to have the time for now: Checking on a friend? Reading a book to a child? Exercising? Learning a new trade or hobby? Volunteering? Sleeping? Or would we use those 2 extra hours and dream of 2 more so that we can expand what we are already doing: Answering a few more work e-mails? Watching more TV? Placating our current obsession? Wishing we had more time. I don’t necessarily have good time management. It’s probably a good thing that I do work because on holidays or days that I take leave, I putter around the house and before I can blink an eye it’s 10:30 or noon and I haven’t anything to show and sometimes barely out of sleeping attire. When I go to work I don’t have a problem staying on task and getting things done, but I can have a hard time translating that same resolve to other ways in which I spend my time.

"The time is always right to do what is right."
Martin Luther King Jr.

My prayer for the congregation?

O God of infinite dedication, we are humbled by your devotion. With whatever time we have, help us to do what is right in your eyes. Whether it is honestly working for wages or as volunteers; or diligently attending to the needs of our family; or exhaustively exercising our minds and bodies; or energetically feeding and using our talents, may they all be done for your glory. May we reevaluate our timing and revise our schedules so that we are in alignment with your plans. Help fill our hours with righteous actions and leave less time for undirected meandering. Give us time of rest and play so that we may restore our passion and vitality. And may we find time every day to be in conversation with You. Amen

Hospitality

One of the speakers at the Renovare conference I attended was Lauren Winner. I already had her book “Mudhouse Sabbath” for several years in which she views Christian principles through her Jewish heritage. Part of what she talked about was the concept of hospitality. The Jewish tradition is to warmly welcome strangers since they had lived as exiles in an alien land and knew the value of being welcomed into homes. Jewish tradition says that houses were to be built with doors on all four sides of their house so that no traveler would have difficulty finding an entrance. In fact, it wasn’t enough to have the doors left open, the charge was to go out and bring in guests. The host was expected to serve the guests himself and the guest was expected to offer grace after the meal to thank his host. The guest should also leave a small portion of his meal on his dish to demonstrate that he had been given more than enough. Hospitality was seen as critical as study. The huppah, the canopy used in Jewish wedding ceremonies with four open sides, is used as a symbol that the newly married couple will take on these “acts of love” as they establish their own home. Ms. Winner suggests that “Creation is the ultimate expression of God's hospitality to his creatures.” She shared a personal story of a family that is so used to having visitors that their eight-year-old asked, “Mommy, why isn’t there anyone in the guest chair tonight?”

My prayer for the congregation?

God of Creation, you leave your arms open and welcome us warmly into your embrace. There are no strangers in your eyes, only loved ones. You are not content to wait for our stubbornness to fade, but come in search of us with bountiful gifts. You have fed us and provided sanctuary and we offer our thanksgivings and praises to You. Let us, in turn, welcome any who are drawn to the light inside. Let us be so accessible that none have trouble finding an entrance nor a welcoming smile. May we become so enthusiastic and thorough that our youngest become familiar with having guests in our halls and in our pews, and that they find it extraordinary not to have someone sitting alongside at a place of honor. Amen.

Pen Prayers

I found “Prayers from the Ark” by Carmen Bernos de Gasztold at a used book store a few years ago. There are twenty-seven poems, each a simple prayer by one of the animals on Noah’s Ark. Noah starts the book as he cries out “Lord, what a menagerie! Between your downpour and these animal cries one cannot hear oneself think! The days are long, Lord….” Some of my favorite poems are: the prayer of the companion dog, “No one but You and I understands what faithfulness is…”; the singing cricket, “this little impulse of my love: this note of music You have set thrilling in my heart”; the dowdy elephant, “I am so embarrassed by my great self, and truly it is not my fault if I spoil Your jungle a little with my big feet…”; and the confident rooster, “I am Your servant, only… do not forget, Lord, I make the sun rise.” But the one that comes closest to my own prayer is the Prayer of the Butterfly.

Lord!
Where was I?
Oh yes! This flower, this sun,
Thank You! Your world
is beautiful!
The scent of roses…
Where was I?
A drop of dew rolls
to sparkle in a lily’s heart.
I have to go…
Where? I do not know!
The wind has painted fancies
on my wings.
Fancies…
Where was I?
Oh yes!
Lord,
I had something to tell you:
Amen

My prayer for the congregation?

Dear God, How do you separate all of the prayers and make each one heard? You welcome our prayers as they come from our heart, not as ideal, but from our lives and from our needs. Sometimes we are like Noah, exhausted by the day’s demands and unyielding clamor. Our days are long and we seek relief. Sometimes we are closer to the arrogant rooster who has more need for recognition in saying our prayers than truly seeking Your will. Often we are distracted as the butterfly, landing on one cause for only a moment before finding interest in the next one over or being pushed away by the winds of demands. Help us to remain faithful and joyful in our commitment to following Christ. O God, we are a menagerie of talents and personalities! Lead us off together to further your mission. Amen.

The Real Thing

It seems like one way we hope to make an ideal world is by making things more homogeneous. A way of thinking where race is inconsequential, age is unimportant, one’s sex is minor, and no culture is dominant. Wouldn’t we love to be considered for a job where truthfully none of those qualifiers were part of the decision? Wouldn’t we love to remove all of those barriers when we see someone by their external features only? Wouldn’t we love to have an equal share for all, where no one is greater than another? Wouldn’t we love to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony?

I'd like to teach the world to sing (Sing with me)
In perfect harmony (Perfect harmony)
I'd like to buy the world a Coke
And keep it company
(That's the real thing)
…And I'd like to buy the world a Coke
And keep it company (It's the real thing)
I'd like to buy the world a coke
(Coke is what the world wants today)
And keep it company (Coca-Cola)

There we go again… We can’t seem to stop ourselves. We either exploit the idea for a business proposition (before the next person), or create a standardized population that becomes the plot of a science-fiction nightmare. In that story there remains a corruptible bureaucracy of oversight that thinks for the masses. We just can’t get the idea right on our own.

My prayer for the congregation?

Dear God, You alone can see us as our true self, your beloved child. You don’t have favorites; you love each one for our unique gifts and our distinctive personalities. May we find the same irresistible qualities in each other that you find in each one of us. Let us encourage the talents of our neighbors and embrace the unique individualities that supplement one another, building a stronger community that can serve you more creatively and completely. Let us adopt the connective greeting from the Orthodox Church: “The Christ in me greets the Christ in you.” The only way to see each other more purely is to see the pure Christ in each one. Remind us that the world's harmony cannot be found in a jingle or a manifesto, but by living in want of you, and living in the shadow of Christ. Amen.

Helpless Without Help

Many rash generalizations are made about people needing to pull themselves up by the bootstraps, to stop being dependent, but I really don’t think anyone wants to be helpless. I know I don’t. I like to try and do things by myself first before I admit I might need help with things that are technologically over my head, physically beyond my strength - or anything to do with finance and numbers. I think my sensibilities lie closer to farmer-stock than city-dwellers, even though I have never lived on a farm. I learned to rotate tires and change spark plugs in high school (okay I actually only did each one once, and it wasn’t exactly my idea, but still I got my fingers dirty and I’m able to pound my chest in conquest). Of course, if I reduced my pride and learned to have a healthier dependence upon God, I might surprise myself with what could be accomplished.

“Show me a helpless person and I will show you an angry person. But show me a person whose heart, soul, mind, and strength is fixed upon loving an Almighty God, and I’ll show you someone who realizes that he or she is never helpless. And when we realize that we are never helpless, then we can also do that second part, continuing to do good—showing that we’re different—even when everything around seems to be going bad. It may not be a piece of cake. But with time, and prayer, and courage…it’s possible.” – Sermon of the Month, Eastminster Presbyterian Church, Dallas, Texas

My prayer for the congregation?

Almighty God, Your acts are life-giving and strengthening. You work continually for goodness and righteousness. O God, at times we feel helpless to the immensity of our national and global issues and are tempted to fall into a state of apathy or non-involvement. Let us combine our sense of can-do with your wisdom of how-to, furthering goodness, one step at a time. Let others see the difference in the way we approach problems with courage, focus, prayer and reliance on our gifts united with your will. Because of your grace we are different and have a sense of peace and conviction when a more reasonable emotion could be fear and anger. Let our reality be grounded in you. Through you all things are possible! Amen.

Via Negativa

Via Negativa
Why no! I never thought other than
That God is that great absence
In our lives, the empty silence
Within, the place where we go
Seeking, not in hope to
Arrive or find. He keeps the interstices
In our knowledge, the darkness
Between stars. His are the echoes
We follow, the footprints he has just
Left. We put our hands in
His side hoping to find
It warm. We look at people
And places as though he had looked
At them, too; but miss the reflection.
R.S. Thomas (1913–2000)

I’m listening to a book by Eugene Peterson as I drive. Appropriately, after yesterday’s meditation by Richard Rohr on the benefits of saying “I don’t know,” I heard this poem today. My favorite part is “the darkness between the stars.” Imagine! I learned that more than a title to this poem, via negativa is a term which means looking for answers about God and existence in "what is not" rather than saying “God is this, and God is this”. It’s a realization that you can’t use normal terms related to everyday life to try to define and describe the Holy, it’s too limiting. Artists use negative space to provide a place for the eyes to rest and it is considered as integral to the design as the focal point. Negative space in art “is the space around and between the subject(s) of an image. One day I will go see the paintings at the Rothko Chapel. The paintings, even as thumbnail images, have a way of pulling you into their blackness. I’m as quick as anyone to roll my eyes at a lot of modern art, but somehow he has applied layers and textures in the darkness that begins to explore the things for which we have no words.

My prayer for the congregation?

Oh Holy Spirit, You are in all and through all. You exist in areas where we don’t have enough imagination to behold nor words to explain. We take photos of the stars and marvel at their beauty as we are able to hold them in our hands, but the vast darkness between the stars is beyond our limitations. It becomes a background we often pass with quick, wide strokes of paint on canvas so that we can turn our focus on the detailed things we do know. Let us stare into the darkness between the stars, crane our ears towards the echoes of your centuries-old conversations, and place our feet in the footsteps left for our discovery and direction. You are not at all ordinary, nor definable. Let us walk via negativa to a new understanding of what we can never understand. Amen.

This I Know

We must never presume that we see. We must always be ready to see anew. But it's so hard to go back, to be vulnerable, and to say to your soul, "I don't know anything." Try to say that: "I don't know anything." Maybe you could think of yourself as an erased blackboard, ready to be written on. For by and large, what blocks spiritual teaching is the assumption that we already know, or that we don't need to know. – Richard Rohr

I understood the point of Richard Rohr’s meditation, but I was also struck by the opposite potential for spiritual growth, the ability to say “This I know!” It’s very easy for me to admit that I don’t know anything about almost everything, but it’s a real challenge to declare my thoughts on things as inconsequential as a favorite color, a favorite restaurant, or a favorite movie. If I can’t claim my own ideas, how can I pretend to have knowledge at all? How then can I pronounce the miracles of Jesus, or participate in Scriptural debate, or suggest the discernment of God’s will if I can’t identify what I do know about myself? If a blackboard remains blank, no reinforced teaching can occur. When you write key words it helps strengthen the message. What would you write down as the essential things you know, and that you wanted others to know about you?

My prayer for the congregation?

Omnipotent God, we know that you hold us dearly and have our best interests as your aim. Let us narrow down the most basic tenets that we follow and may they be seen as plainly in our actions as if they were written on our foreheads. Allow us to marvel at your mysteries without a need to undermine by explanations and propositions and instead utter words of submission, “I don’t know. It’s a God thing.” Build up our knowledge of ourselves, what we believe and what we are capable of becoming with your grace. Let us affirm what we believe to be true, "Jesus loves me, this I know!" Amen

Passing Judgment

While driving in the city we pass other cars on the highway all the time, but tonight after a drive on more rural roads I was reminded of the delicate art of passing on two-lane roads. It’s one thing to pass another car when all the lanes are moving in the same direction, true it can be tricky, but not as conflicting as moving into the next lane for oncoming traffic! There are a lot of decisions to be made: How badly do I need to pass? Has the solid yellow line prohibiting passing changed to dashed? How much room before it returns to solid? Can I accelerate that quickly? Can I see oncoming traffic??? I still feel vulnerable even though I’ve gone through the check list and decided it’s safe to pass. To knowingly drive on the wrong side of the road, even for a short amount of time, with headlights directly aimed at your windshield, takes strong nerves and a growing confidence in judgment. Sometimes it begins by frustration of following a car driving well below the speed limit, or the physical limitations of a big tractor trailer on hilly terrain, but eventually you reach the point where dissatisfaction and the impediment is more powerful than the challenge of moving ahead, even if that means looking straight at a distant projectile headed towards you. Eventually you learn which conditions are advantageous to passing, and when it’s more valuable to sit back, relax and wait to fight/pass another time.

My prayer for the congregation?

Dear God, You send out your disciples into the world, providing their needs and supervising their movements. As a congregation, give us courage and wisdom to know when to progress. Weigh in on our judgment so that with improvement and ease over time we may gain confidence and can increase our willingness to serve and decrease our hesitation to follow. Lord, you faced a point where you stayed and endured suffering instead of seeking relief and freedom. Teach us when we need to stay in place. Teach us how to add value to this world. Amen.

Amigos de Guatemala

When our sons were in middle school the youngest played select soccer and one of the best results of that phase of our lives was playing in the Dallas Cup, which is an international youth soccer tournament. Part of the understanding when you qualify to play is that as a home team you will provide accommodations for one of the international teams. Our team was selected to host “Las Estrellas” from Guatemala and Diego y Daniel stayed in our home. I was excited from the very beginning and took a week off work so that I could enjoy the entire week of soccer games and spending time with our guests. Our sons weren’t quite as sold on the idea and voiced their questions about the motive and the benefits of such an undertaking. “Why are they coming to our house? What will we do with them? How can we talk to them?” My years of studying Spanish allowed us to converse over the basic details. “Time to go. Time to eat. Time for bed.” (North Americans are very concerned about time!) Diego y Daniel were charmers, and after the initial meeting the four boys were instant companions. And even though we would join with other families for big gatherings of laughter and playing, we were sure that we were going home with the two best! The week flew by until it was time to take them to the airport for their return home. Our sons, who seven days earlier were prepared to revolt over this intrusion in their lives, were sad beyond belief, and after we returned to our house could do little more than lie on the couch and grieve their losses. One exclaimed, “I see their faces everywhere I look!” Our church cluster has established a relationship with el Norte Presbytery in Guatemala that has included Vacation Bible School, building improvements, spiritual development, and most of all creating friendships. This year we are hosting the exchange. Once you link your lives with theirs, you’ll never forget their impact on your life. (Read Jane for her more personal accounts.)

My prayer for the congregation?

El Senor ha hecho grandes cosas por nosotros, y eso nos llena de alegria. (Salmos 126:3)
The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy. (Psalm 126:3) We welcome our sisters and brothers from Guatemala and we are elated for the opportunity to share another week together. Sometimes we marvel how this short amount of time can create a universal bond, but because of our common devotion to you, our boundaries are dropped. We are eager to sit side by side, and share in communion. Let us embrace this opportunity to learn about others, and to learn about ourselves as well. Let us take strength from their courage to travel and their eagerness to set aside this time to foster relationships. We ask for their safe keeping and gentle journeys back home. Amen.
En todo tiempo ama el amigo. Proverbios 17:17
A friend loves at all times. Proverbs 17:17

Wanting the God Things

One of the reoccurring themes that I heard from the people I met in Houston was a side of themselves they had never thoroughly had to claim before: want. Oh sure, they have experienced want; they wanted a new TV, they wanted to go out to dinner, they wanted to get a new tennis racket, they wanted a necklace – but for this group of people they had not wanted before. After 12 days without electricity the divide between the haves and the have nots was brought home to them in a way they had never experienced it before. To pass by homes on their own street with lights on, knowing what other benefits they had, they yearned for what their neighbors had. Not in a covetous manner, but from an inner pull that was missing something so basic in their lives that they felt incomplete. Then they reevaluated that emotion for their own spiritual growth and realized they had never wanted Jesus in that same rudimentary level. In their lives they have wanted to live faithfully, they have longed to discern God’s will in their lives, and they have created a nice symbiotic relationship to include their church schedule, with their work schedule, with their play schedule. But until they had to live in a climate without power, both in electricity and control, they had not experienced that side of submission, that side of necessity, and they wanted to apply that same depth of surrender into fervor for Christ. After the storm left the area, so did the national news media. I didn’t get to drive down to Galveston, and we haven’t heard many updates just a few hundred miles away, but listening to a Houston radio station as they recounted tales of “Hurricane Heroes” let me know that while the storm did incredible physical damage to houses and businesses, it also blew through a time of reconciliation, review, and renewal.

My prayer for the congregation?

Dear God, You fill our needs! Let us reassess our desires to determine the difference in things we want and things we need. We need You! Let us know of the deep, elemental need to be in your presence that can only be satisfied by time spent with you, not contented by an hour each week, but to live in constant awareness. As a church body, may we find our desires rooted in submission, not in omission. We ask for your continued healing presence for those who are discouraged, dislocated, and disconnected. Amen.

"Into the Eye of God"

"Into the Eye of God"-Macrina Widerkehr

For your little prayer
your journey into God,
May you be given a small storm
a little hurricane
named after you,
Persistent enough
to get your attention
Violent enough
to awaken you to new depths
Strong enough
to shake you to the roots
Majestic enough
to remind you of your origin:
made of the earth
yet steeped in eternity
frail human dust
yet soaked with infinity…

With the raw evidence of Hurricane Ike being so recent, it’s hard to imagine asking for a hurricane into one’s life, even if it is a small one! But sometimes it takes a major disturbance to upset our patterns and comforts which have a greater appeal than unknown results and hard work. We won’t know the calming side of God if we are stationed in comfort; or the merciful side of God if we are without need; or the forgiving side of God if we are stagnant in idleness.

My prayer for the congregation?

Dear God, We long for your serenity! How can we fully know of your extensive peace without having lived through a time of doubts, unrest and insecurity? Let us turn our full attention to you, and seek your peace with the confidence of one who can battle the winds of a storm because of the assurance of the calm that awaits. Amen.


“Into the Eye of God” continued
…You begin your storm
under the Eye of God.
A watchful, caring eye
gazes in your direction
as you wrestle
with the life force within
In the midst of these holy winds
In the midst of this divine wrestling
your storm journey
like all hurricanes
leads you into the eye,
Into the Eye of God
where all is calm and quiet
A stillness beyond imagining!
Into the Eye of God
after the storm
Into the silent, beautiful darkness
Into the Eye of God
-Macrina Wiederkehr

Foolish in the World

I am either completely trusting, completely naïve, or completely irresponsible. Several months ago I registered, paid, and planned to attend a Renovare conference in Houston and hoped to spend a few extra days in the area. I had not yet made hotel plans, and then Hurricane Ike hit the region. There was some speculation whether the event would still take place but slowly the area started clearing and the church gained power six days before the event was to start. I kept finding all kinds of reasons why I shouldn’t go to the event and even tried to find someone else who could go in my place. In the end I formulated a compromise to attend one day instead of two. My mind wasn’t completely sold until I woke up at 3am and decided that was as good a reason to go as any. Before I left, we still did not have a computer, so I left without printing a map, but I knew to go south on I-45, was 90% sure of the address, and knew there was an exit for the street from the interstate, I just didn’t know whether to turn left or right. At least I know enough to have a charger for my cell phone that plugs into the car! I drove while most of the countryside was putting off getting out of bed, and I was bidding my time until family or friends were awake and could give me directions via the Internet. As it turns out it took three tries before I found someone that could help, and after she looked at the hybrid map questioned the address, which was wrong, of course. She was able to correct my course and stayed on the phone naming streets before I even reached them. She was able to get me to the driveway without a hitch and as soon as I found parking an attendant whisked me to the front doors on a golf cart. As I sat down the music stopped and the first speaker stepped up to the podium. Perfect! Before we said goodbye that morning, my friend asked how I was going to find my way back to the interstate at the end of the day. I told her it would be simple. I would just back track of course! And of course I didn’t, but instead followed the line of cars that obviously knew something I didn’t, and in a shorter time, was at the interstate. I am either completely trusting, completely naïve, or completely irresponsible.

The Lord is kind and does what is right; our God is merciful.
The Lord watches over the foolish; when I was helpless, he saved me.
Psalm 116:5-6

My prayer for the congregation?

Merciful God, You watch over the wise and the foolish, the young and the old, the strong and the weak. All are valuable in your sight. It’s hard to be reckless when we value astuteness, but for your cause, let us experience the vulnerability to be foolish. Let us set aside what is reasonable, sensible, and prudent to follow the path of Jesus, spending time with those who cannot benefit us, washing the feet of those who serve us, and living the laws of the commandments rather than arguing its intent. If You use the lowly and the foolish to demonstrate your transforming grace, You can use us! Amen.

Where is the wise person? Where is the educated person? Where are the great thinkers of this world? Hasn't God made the wisdom of the world foolish? God wisely planned that the world would not know him through its own wisdom. It pleased God to use the foolish things we preach to save those who believe. Because of what God has done, you belong to Christ Jesus. He has become God's wisdom for us. He makes us right with God. He makes us holy and sets us free.
Romans 1:20-21,30

Filling in Blanks

Now the question arises, does one fill in the blanks for the missing three days? I can say that my schedule was thrown out of kilter, and at a contemplative worship service when we were asked to listen to the selected scripture the words that applied to my life were “go to the mountainside to pray.” I wish Dallas had mountains, but instead I had to apply that imagery as I climbed the stairs to our room with a reinstalled computer. It’s not that I can’t or didn’t pray without this exercise of putting words on paper and uploading, but after six months it’s become a daily practice of setting aside time to focus on God and our congregation, and habits can allow one to jump into action mode instead of wondering where, when, and how. Believe me; I can work those questions into a lovely serving of procrastination. Instead I’m debating over the pros and cons of filling in the blank days. Pros: the commitment, a resolution to September, a complete project. Cons: Who are you kidding? Does everything have to be resolved like a 30 minute TV show? Aren’t there some pretty big blanks in the Bible? And by no means am I trying to compare the two, but I’ve always had a fondness for Midrash, a Jewish exploration of filling in between the lines of text, of missing information. We don’t know what to do with blanks. We’re used to filling them in as on a test or as a puzzle to solve.

My prayer for the congregation?

Dear God, We long to climb the mountainside and be set aside in your presence. As much as we love a good mystery story, we are also trained to define, solve, and explain questions so that we are informed and educated. We feel superior and complete when we can resolve those missing elements. We cannot know your mind, O God. Let us embrace your mystery, your indefinable workings, and your unexplainable grace. Let us be humble and accept the opportunity to live in the unknown, relying on the Spirit instead of our own knowledge and experience. As we try to fill in the answers to how our congregation can best serve you and our neighbors, let us take time to explore the empty areas serving our church family, and also the vacancies in the awareness of your Grace in the people who pass our church every day. Some blanks are meant to be filled. Let our lives be used for your good. Amen.

Changing in Spite

The prodigal computer has returned home! It includes a new perspective on life that will take some adjustments to the way things look, perform, and interact with others. I will have to learn some new strategies and tactics to get the response that I need to complete my tasks. There are some things of which we have more control, and others which we don’t. In the world of computers I’m not willing to go back to the days of DOS, and so I have to rely on computer programmers and manufacturers who have the power to dictate how our work patterns evolve. We were happy to live in the world of Office 2003, but now we are all the way to 2007. We’re already behind again aren’t we? I wonder if anyone has created a time conversion for computer systems similar to the equation: one year in a dog’s life equals seven years of a human’s life. Could it be one year of computer life equals twenty years of human evolution? Would that mean we were contentedly living in the pioneer days of Office 1903? No microwaves, cell phones or Internet?? One church is hosting a twelve week video study on Postmodernism and how it can be deflected. I guess in communities where computers, satellites, and access to information are not as accessible as ours, a postmodern definition may not apply. But I imagine the churches that are using videos to disseminate the message are living and using the tools of postmodern progression. Even if a disaster of huge proportions completely altered the way we conduct our lives, there would be a new term found to describe this transition after the postmodern age. It’s a description of a grouping of years not a movement.

My prayer for the congregation?

Dear God, You have remained steadfast and true through the changing seasons and our changing world. In your timing, our tumultuous changes are but a leaf turning as another fall brings vibrant hues of reds and orange. These are colorful times and it may feel to us that all around us our stability is falling one by one, like dried leaves to the ground. You are the roots to the vine that remains alive and brings new growth and new life. Let us remain connected to You so that we may know that we are living in accordance with your laws and not left to flail about with the passing storms. Help us to adjust to our changing environment as simply as we put on a sweater or shorts in reaction to temperature changes. If we live faithfully then we have a core of unfathomable resistance to fear and worry. You are our source of life! Amen.