What's in a Name?

When the girls and I started singing together, and then started to get requests to sing again, we decided we needed a name to put in the bulletin and on our tour t-shirts. We spent an entire weekend at Jane's house practicing songs and tossing around names for our little group. Usually I'm pretty agreeable, but I was finding exception with almost any name tossed out. I was no help! There were several disagreeable factions arguing in my brain:

1. Naming ourselves seemed so official and implied that we were really a group - which meant I was part of singing group! Still unfathomable!
2. Proper names are instrumental in the process of forming first impressions and once printed become a piece of history. It's what people call you and that to which you answer.

Even though we considered other names, we could never find consensus on anything else and we stayed with the name of "Angel Band" which was the first song that we all sang together. The Angel Band tour shirts have never actually been ordered, but we're still packing in the crowds :-) and racking up the towns: Garland, Gilmer, Longview, and Mabank! There are a few more Texas towns I'd love to list on the back: Utopia, Friendship, Poetry, Loving, Welcom, Temple, Earlywine, Burning Bush, Blessing, Paradise, Unity, Mission, Hope, Weeping Mary, and Harmony. What's in a name? We usually don't get to name ourselves - what would you name yourself?

My prayer for the congregation?

O God, you named your prophets and you name us as your children. If we name ourselves Christian, we must do more than wear a name badge to let people know who we are and to whom we belong. We must live our faith and follow the teachings of Christ to be called Christians. If we name ourselves friend, we must listen, be present, and share to become a true friend. If we name ourselves evangelists, we must open doors, talk to neighbors and share the good news before we can claim to be evangelists. Blessed is the name of Jesus; "God is Salvation." Amen.

"Neither is there salvation in any other:
for there is none other name
under heaven given among men,
whereby we must be saved."
(Acts 4:12)

Epilogue

I pulled a book that has over 12 post-it notes tabs sticking out around the edges marking passages to which I can easily refer back because as I read the book the words resonated and seemed to speak directly to me. The book is "Life of the Beloved" by Henri J.M. Nouwen. Reviewing the book tonight reminded me that Fred, a friend of Nouwen, wanted help finding the spiritual connection that he knew Nouwen possessed. Fred was not participating in any religious practices and asked Nouwen to write a book that would speak to him, along with his friends, in the secular world.

The chapters that follow are earmarked and underlined and I remember telling people that this book had made me feel as if I had been hugged. I bought extra copies of the book for graduation gifts.

In the epilogue, ten years of friendship and writing have passed. Fred gently shares the news that the writings had not been able to bridge the gap between his own secular world and Nouwen's life as the beloved. "Although it is clear that you try to write for me and my friends from your own center... you do not realize how far we are from where you are. You speak from a context and tradition that is alien to us, and your words are based on many presuppositions that we don't share with you. You are not aware how truly secular we are. Many, many questions need to be answered before we are able to be fully open to what you say... Who is God? Who am I? Why am I here? How do I get faith? When you do not help us to answer these questions, your beautiful meditations on being and becoming the Beloved remain dreamlike for us." (p 115-116)

My prayer for the congregation?

Dear God, Let us be aware that the words spoken to each other in our church community that bring comfort and counsel may sound as drivel and meaningless to our neighbors and acquaintances that do not have our religious heritage. Before we can have conversations about a shared spiritual life, they may need help addressing you, or express questions about you. Let us find these circumstances not as an epilogue to our conversation, but as a prologue to bridge a relationship with those whom we seek to share a common table. Help us find new words to honor the fundamental quest that drive men's search for meaning in their lives. They recognize the faint cry, "You are my Beloved, on you my favor rests," and long not to strain to hear their blessings. Give us a heart for those whose faint of hearing has left them in a muffled world. Amen.

Bear Witness

To use Memorial Day as a starting point, I thought I would review some Christian martyrs who gave their lives to further the Christian message. In Greek, the word martyr means "witness" and the verb form, martyred, means to "bear witness" or "give evidence." I focused on Apollonius who was a Roman senator, renowned for his learning and wisdom. When one of Apollonius' slaves publicly denounced him as a Christian the case was remanded to the Senate where a remarkable debate took place between the prefect and Apollonius. "Are you bent on dying?" asked Perennis? "No," said Apllonius, "I enjoy life; but love of life does not make me afraid to die." Apollonius went on to give an eloquent apologia that clearly outlines the beauty and the value of Christianity. He argued that Christianity is superior by its concepts of death and life: death is a natural necessity which has nothing frightening about it, while the true life is the life of the soul. Above all, Christianity surpasses paganism through the work of Christ, the revealing Word of God and teacher of moral life, who became man to destroy sin by his death. Despite his eloquent defense, Apollonius was condemned to death in 186 A.D.



My prayer for the congregation?

Dear God, May we be ready to bear witness and give evidence of your teachings and our salvation through Jesus Christ. In this country, where men and women have died to protect our freedoms, we may be challenged socially and economically because of our religious convictions, but we do not have to risk torture or fear that our lives are in jeopardy. Let us not take for granted our freedom to meet and worship, but instead greedily take advantage of our opportunities to meet as regularly as possible and to share openly our faith. Let us hear the words of Apollonius as he gave evidence to his faith:

O Lord Jesus Christ,
give us a measure of Thy Spirit
that we may be enabled to obey
Thy teaching to pacify anger,
to take part in pity,
to moderate desire,
to increase love,
to put away sorrow,
to cast away vain-glory,
not to be vindictive,
not to fear death,
ever entrusting our spirit to immortal God,
who with Thee and the Holy Ghost
liveth and reigneth world without end."
-Apollonius (from part of his defense before Perennis)

http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0418.shtml
http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0418.shtml

Joy to the World

All of a sudden, summer has arrived in Dallas. It's the sticky, humid, oppressing kind of heat that makes people grumpy, and because it only generates more heat, you don't particularly want to sit close to others. So when we sang "Joy to the World" this morning it definitely did not synch with Christmas. It's one of our Parish Associate's favorite songs and he refuses to let it sit idle for a few weeks in December and January. When you sing the hymn out of the Christmas season you can look at the words with different expectations. Some sections particularly stand out with a sense of urgency and call to mission.

Joy to the world! The Lord is come
Let earth receive her King
Let every heart prepare Him room

Joy to the world! The saviour reigns.
Let us our songs employ...

He rules the world with truth and grace
And makes the nations prove
The glories of his righteousness
And wonders of His love
And wonders of His love
And wonders, wonders of His love.
Issac Watts, 1719

My prayer for the congregation?

Dear God, Let us prepare our hearts and receive the King regardless of the season or the conditions. We have words to employ and mercies to share; let us sing out rather than hum quietly to ourselves. Let our congregation find ways that mirror the glories of righteousness, that will rule the life of our church with truth, and exhibit grace towards others. Let the wonders of your love figure prominently in the mission of our church and within our own lives. There is joy in the world! Thanks be to God! Amen.

Be Careful Out There

Tonight's prayer is a little different. I've been on the roads around Dallas quite a bit this weekend, and I have to say, if you trust the law of averages, either I will witness or I will be a part of a serious traffic accident with the current trend of driving antics. People are being careless, making poor choices and others are left in their wake trying to recover quickly and safely. Earlier this week #2 son had to quickly swerve to avoid a reckless driver and ended up on the side of the road with a busted tire. More people moved to Dallas-Ft Worth area last year than to any other metropolitan area in the US. (CNN Money) With more people on the roads it's even more important to practice a little safety, offer quite a bit of patience, and be eager to forgive. And to quote the sergeant in Hill Street Blues -

"Hey, Let's be careful out there!"

My prayer for the congregation?

Dear God, During this holiday weekend people have travel plans that take them out of town and extra events that require more trips for people within the metroplex. I pray that we leave a few minutes early when we have gatherings to avoid the need to speed and risk making poor decisions to try to get there on time. I pray that we have an awareness of unpredictable drivers and that we are able to make wise decisions and practice safe driving when we are in their vicinity. We pray for level heads, patient tempers, and a forgiving disposition. Let us remember that each of us is a sister, brother, mother, father, son or daughter. We all desire to make it home to our families safe and sound. We ask for traveling mercies for family and friends coming and going out-of-town. We seek your peace in our lives. Amen

In front of the lens

The wonderful thing about working with Photoshop at work every day is that I can salvage some photos that might otherwise been snipped away from the rest of the film negatives and discarded, I can take a normal exposed photo and enhance the tones throughout the image, I can add people who weren't originally in a group photo, I can subdue some wrinkles and I can work on those annoying red-eye and glare on glasses from the flash. It's rare that you can push me in front of a camera. So when I read Jane's journal entry and saw my face front and center, I wanted to pull out my Photoshop tools and correct some of my obvious flaws. I can do that! (I've done it before!) I can whip out the paint tool and add some color to the gray, stamp out some of the lines under the chin, and smudge a little off the sides of the neck to make it look thinner. Lately people have been asking me whose ID I am wearing at work because the ten-year old badge doesn't match who they are seeing. Well perhaps they should get their eyes checked! I don't see the difference! It's not just the appearance of gray and pounds that make me avoid the camera, I've been that way as long as I can remember. Luckily I was the third child in our family and the frantic need to capture childhood on film had been eased by the older two. Hopefully search and rescue teams won't ever have to try to find me as a missing person because they might have to rely on my high school senior photo, and even I'll admit I don't match that photo.

My prayer for the congregation?

Dear God, You have made us each beautiful and unique with our own flaws, and our own strengths. We are not each made as a high fashion model. You know of each gray hair on our head, each chipped tooth in our mouth, each scrape on our knuckles, and love us still. You know who we are created to be, what we are capable of becoming, and how we can help further your missions. The questions remaining are when and where? Those questions can be answered or averted by our own flaws and strengths. Help us to welcome our assets and work around our faults to respond to your call and love in our lives. Help us to stand in front of your cause and accept our part in the picture. Amen.

Our Song

There's a song, that when it is played, makes my head snap to attention and turn towards the instrument that is playing "Wondrous Love." It's almost an involuntary reaction as if the song is a beacon and I'm the receiver. I may be distracted, reading, or concentrating on a task, but once the first few bars are played my attention is crisp and focused, and I feel as if I'm being called home, to a familiar place, a loving place. It's our song, the Spirit and me. I have this vision of "Wondrous Love" being played during Holy Week; a single cello playing the melody while the song's lyrics are given in sign language next to the cross.

"What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul...
What wondrous love is this, O my soul!"

The third verse calls to me tonight as a great thanksgiving of a dear friend. I can imagine his own song might include a fiddle playing the melody while he finds accompanying notes on banjo. I can pray that I'll be journey proud and singing unabashedly in response when "our song" is played as my Invitation Hymn. (raised Baptist ya know)

And when from death I'm free, I'll sing on, I'll sing on
And when from death I'm free, I'll sing on;
And when from death I'm free,I'll sing and joyful be,
And through eternity I'll sing on, I'll sing on,
And through eternity I'll sing on!

My prayer for the congregation?

Dear God, I pray that each person recognize a song, Bible verse or prayer, that when heard, is an instant confirmation that they called to be in direct relationship with the Spirit and they are abiding with you. We give thanks that our "Charge to the Congregation" is one such connection that our church community has as a whole and with each other, living in your presence. We hear the charge and experience its bond. Let us believe whole heartedly in what we are called to do, and go forthright into the world, rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit! What wondrous love is this! Amen!