The Kitchen Sink

At one point yesterday, our small office had four different service calls addressing repairs at one time. We had an outside vendor attending to our large copier/printer in one area, a technician making adjustments to a new ID system in another room, a mechanic making adjustments to a 30+ year old lighting system in the same room, and an in-house computer technician swapping computers throughout! At one point our boss asked if anyone else could be in our area? "The plumber!" was our comeback, to which we all groaned... "NO!" As many questions that arise with that many activities, repairs and changes, and even though there is a learning curve to use the new computers (which can be frustrating) - at the end of the day, when so much had been tackled, it felt really good! We've waited nine months to get our computers upgraded, but as an unexpected bonus, we are getting more software than we had before, and an additional work station! This is good!! I can't wait to go to work???? :-)

My prayer for the congregation?

Dear God, Sometimes we're impatient when we think our needs have been overlooked or we are hurt when we think we have been ignored. We see other needs met before our own. After living in disbelief and mistrust, often we're not prepared mentally or physcially when our needs are raised as a priority and the wave of change comes into our lives like high tide, first tickling our toes in the sand and then strong enough to make breaking white foam that makes its power known. We reach down to the water, made closer to our reach, and playfuly throw it above our heads. We delight in the new experience, change the way we stand to adjust for the new surroundings, and marvel at what is brought along with the higher water. Gracious God, you are present in our low tides and our high tides, all as part of your rhythm and wisdom. Right now we thank you for our overwhelming blessings! Amen

Arches de Triomphe

I have one of those love/hate relationships with McDonalds. In part because I’m stubborn enough that I don’t like to feel as if I’m being bullied into a situation. Children who aren’t old enough to read can recognize the golden arches and start pointing their parents towards them. When our sons were young, McDonalds had started introducing the playgrounds on site, Chicken McNuggets, and Happy Meals. There was no question where they wanted to eat when given the choice! They saw fun and toys! I saw kids eager to eat, a possible struggle over when to leave, and sweet convenience. One of the things I admire about McDonalds is how quickly they move people in the drive-thru lanes. If someone tries to boycott the system by special ordering, then of course the sandwich will be made to order, but they ask that sticky cog to pull ahead so that the other well-trained customers can pull up and receive their orders as soon as possible. It’s a very well-timed process with a high standard of implementation. I find myself comparing other drive-thru waits to McDonalds when I feel I’ve been waiting too long for fast food. Hello! Fast food!! Although I may have mixed emotions about the restaurant, they do offer some wonderful charitable gifts such as the Ronald McDonald Houses which allow families to stay near the hospital where their critically ill child is receiving treatment and Ronald McDonald Care Mobiles taking health care to neighborhoods.

My prayer for the congregation?

Dear God, Our congregation does so many things so well. We are blessed. Some processes are well practiced and have stood the test of generations, while some methods are revised and critiqued for possible changes. It is a struggle to know when our ideas might border on the edge of awkward impulse and when we are living in the realm of unbridled dreams and visions. We dream that the children will point to the cross on the church and direct their parents to turn in. We hope that the parents will see the church as a home that offers fellowship, nurture and growth for their families. Let us hold our church to a high standard whose focus is the triumph of your kingdom and one that can be used as a gauge for vitality. Let our congregation be known for our united acts of love and for gifts of gratitude to the community in response to the grace in our lives. Let us create an arch of joined hands to welcome the Beloved. Amen

Vacation at the Dealership

There's nothing like a wait at the car dealership to just be. Oh, I could have made the wait more work efficient. I could have brought a laptop, made some phone calls, or made lists of things to accomplish, but instead I wrote an old-fashioned, hand-written letter to a friend. It's something I've been meaning to do for several weeks, just like getting the oil changed, and today it was possible to do both things. I was efficient! Philip Yancey commented that the beginning of the verse in Psalm 46, "Be still and know that I am God..." comes from the word "vacate" which is the root of the wonderful word "vacation." So Philip Yancey invites you to vacation with God. Be with God. It's hard to imagine taking a vacation at a car dealership in Dallas; there is no ocean breezes, no mountain vistas, nor fine art hanging on the wall to pass as a museum, but one thing they do offer is the opportunity to just sit still, and be. A dealership may not rate as a Top Ten resort, but it still offers the opportunity to vacation, if you will.

My prayer for the congregation?

Dear God, May we find the time to vacation with you, to sit still in your presence, and to know that you are God. We have errands to run, tasks to accomplish, and great needs that you have set before us, but there is also your instruction to be still. "Be still and know that I am God." Your command, O God, brings us peace but also brings into alignment our priorities and our power structure. You are Lord when I am still and when I am running full steam. You provide a constant vacation, if we will accept your invitation to be with you. Amen.

Confessions

A public confession of sins is part of our faith tradition's worship service. It's not that we don't have private confessions through prayer, but our lives intersect with the printed public confession, and there are those sins that we have corporately as a community. I've never had a problem with the section of worship devoted to confession of sins and I find it surprising that some people find objection to being grouped into a public time of confession. I'm always able to find myself and my actions in those words. Thanks be to God for the Assurance of Forgiveness. We have a new intern who started today and his role during the worship service was to lead us through the prayer of confession. But here's my confession... today I had to smile during this holy time. To hear our confessions of sin with the eloquence of a proper English accent made the word "tawdry" sound tempting! Accents have a way of influencing your mood. An apology from a Carolina southern drawl is much more convincing than from a gruff New Englander. A cowboy joke told through the voice of a West Texas twang is much more entertaining than from a Canadian inflection, eh?

My prayer for the congregation?

Dear God, We offer our confessions before you. We confess that we don't follow your directions whole-heartedly, we evoke our own agendas, and we try to use our own vision of how to complete the tasks presented to us. We are humbled by your enduring love and forgiveness. We are thankful that you do not listen to our voice and our stumbling sentences that we force together, but listen instead to the words of our hearts during our time of open prayer and reflection of our omissions and sins. We pray that we be in your presence and live following your will. Amen.

Birthday Seeds

I've claimed that it is hard to buy presents for my husband - not because he isn't appreciative, but because he tends to get things that he needs as they arise. But I think I may be harder. I too buy things that I need, or want, throughout the year. I wear the same pair of earrings 98% of the time, I don't wear cologne, I don't get massages, I don't enjoy shopping that much so gift certificates are not hardly an option. What's a guy supposed to do??? He listens! He listens to the verbal clues from weeks earlier: "I bought my own birthday present this year, a Nintendo DS, so don't get anything else." And he listens to the non-verbal clues. He gave me seeds! Not because I have a green thumb, but after reading the entry about the Angel charm that can carry seeds.



My prayer for the congregation?


Dear God, May we have ears to listen attentively, and to find small meaningful ways to let others know we heard and understood their concerns. I pray that families listen to each other; that our congregation listens to each others hopes and joys; that we listen as a whole to our community and hear their distress and needs; and that we listen to the earth's sounds of vitality and the call for replenishment. May we listen for the call in our lives and the call for our congregation. Let us be mindful of the obvious, and alert for the quieter undercurrents of your presence. Let us know of the love of others in our lives and give the gift of love to our families and to our enemies. Amen.

The New Colossus

We talked about the elephant in the room at our Friday night service. You know, the familiar idiom that describes an obvious truth that is being ignored or goes unaddressed. It is based on the idea that an elephant in a small room would be impossible to overlook. It's obvious, it's present, but everyone acts as if the elephant is not in the room. In church, that elephant is often our doubts. You can't voice them for fear of being seen as unfaithful or wandering from the community, but they are there. For some reason I was reminded of the poem "The New Colossus" by Emma Lazarus whose last lines are usually associated with the Statue of Liberty.

“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

The Worship Team invited us to bring our tired souls, weary of keeping pretense and a stiff upper chin; to bring our huddled masses yearning to voice freely our doubts and our fears; and to bring our homeless thoughts of not belonging to the community if we owned those doubts. The lamp was lit, the doors were held wide. Bring your doubts! We are a faith tradition that welcomes questions! God is big enough to handle what concerns you have! And if you just can't set aside your doubts, then the community is there to encourage, and hold you until you can find peace with your prayers and questions. Just now I'm taken aback by the poet's name - Lazarus! We are raised from our doubts!

My prayer for the congregation?

Dear God, It is natural for us to question and doubt, especially when we experience change and suffering. Our congregation has questions about our mission and our process of transforming through the new millennium. How do we face our fears? How do we release the stifling bondage of worry? How are we raised anew from a huddled mass yearning to breathe the fresh air of new life? Only through your grace is it possible, O God, only through your wisdom and patience and love for your people. I pray that the imposing colossus in our faith journey will not be a statue devoted to worry and doubts, but that we become heroic in our growth and our faith in your mission, and that we light a beacon for those who are seeking safe passage home. The new colossus - life with Christ! Amen

Seeds of Life

One of the cool things about having a name like "Angel Band" is that there are plenty of opportunities to find little "thank you gifts" for each other with angels as the theme. "Thanks for sharing this experience! Thanks for being my friend! Thanks for being you!" At Jane's great weekend escape, Deb reached into her pocket and pulled out four silver angel charms as soon as we were all together. Each one was a little different and the angel with the star was selected just for me. (I have a history with stars.)The really cool thing about the charm is that it has a hinge and can open up. I thought that maybe it was a variation of the prayer box charms that open and you can place a prayer on a small piece of paper inside the charm and close it to hold your prayer. But Deb had found them at a garden store. She thought it was more probable that they were designed to store seeds in the compartment. If you went for a walk and found a particularly lovely flower that you wanted to transport closer to your house, you could harvest some seeds and stow them in the handy inner cubby. Or if you had great success with a flower in your own garden and wanted to share the good seeds along your path, just as Johnny Appleseed did, then you could open up the compartment and sprinkle a little beauty all along your journeys. You may not pass that road again nor see the fulfillment of your plantings, but the evidence of your generosity partnered with the grace of rain will be witnessed by those who happen upon your trails. They will know that something significant was planted and nurtured where there used to be colorless, untended fields.

My prayer for the congregation?

Dear God, May we be a part of your design to transform the plain, unyielding ground into a rich, fertile bed of beauty and blessings. We don't have to know what will grow from our seeds of faith, but we ask that many people will witness and know they are in the presence of something holy that will change their lives and ours. Amen.

Johnny Appleseed (public domain)

Oh, the Lord's been good to me.
And so I thank the Lord
For giving me the things I need:
The sun, the rain
and the appleseed;
Oh, the Lord's been good to me.

Oh, and every seed I sow
Will grow into a tree.
And someday there'll be apples there
For everyone in the world to share.
Oh, the Lord is good to me.

Oh, the Lord is good to us
And so we thank the Lord
For giving us the best of friends
The kind of love that never ends
The Lord is good to us.