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.