Calls for Reality

You never know where you will find yourself when you start investigating topics on the internet. My search led me to a newsletter and I had to scan the majority of the newsletter before I found the word that the search engine had keyed into. But as I read through I grew disoriented. It sounded so familiar:

• First Presbyterian Church – check
• Orders for poinsettias – check
• Angel Tree – check
• Joyful Noise – check
• New Member classes – check
• Prayers for our Military - check
• Game Night – check
• Food Pantry collection – check
• Good Sense Program – check
• Schmidts, Snyders, Campbells – check
• Breakfast Club – check

Wait, Breakfast Club, really?? Had I stumbled into a parallel universe? Was I confused with reality again? Then it was affirmed as I re-read the opening paragraph from the pastor:

When God calls and you listen, you never know where you’ll end up or how long you’ll stay there. But I can guarantee if you listen to God’s Call, if you somehow, some way discern what it is God wants you to do, and you then follow his voice, your life will be, at the very least, interesting. That reality is forever in my mind when we ordain elders during the month of January. When God calls, strange things can and will happen…
Rev Tom Cook, First Presbyterian of Grand Haven, Michigan, January 2009

My prayer for the congregation?

Dear God, You make peace out of chaos and unearth the rooted. Our opinions are dismantled as we allow your Truth to submerge our thoughts. We are forever changed if we but submit ourselves and follow. You call us to be leaders, singers, mentors, builders, dreamers, counters, guardians, teachers, laborers, organizers, musicians, cooks and bottle washers. Let us quiet our objections, doubts and busyness and listen. You are calling our name. Amen

Rev Cook continued
…Most gratifying were the times I witnessed real transformation in peoples’ lives when they heard God’s Call, stopped running from it, surrendered to God’s will, and then followed.

...When it comes to answering God’s Call, and following it, you never know where it will take you. But if you are open to the grace of this special Call, I can personally witness to you that it will be a life changing, life fulfilling experience and a wonderful ride.

God calls and it’s up to us to answer him. Listen to your life. If you have not yet experienced it, listen and somewhere in your living you will hear Christ calling you to drop life’s nets and follow him.

Reality Check

After being on leave for one final week of the year I was lamenting and bemoaning on Facebook and through e-mails that I was not prepared to return to reality. I know well enough to be grateful for steady work at any time, but especially at a time when layoffs are as common as Cheerios for breakfast - I know to be thankful. As a nearing mid-centuryette – I know to be thankful. As one who likes to eat, buy a few toys, and live in a house – I know to be thankful. And I am. I am actually pretty content at work and when I work on a steady, routine pace, Monday through Friday, I don’t think too much about what it is like to be away from work. It’s like putting one foot in front of the other and before you know it you’ve walked your way to the end of the work week. But being off a week? First the alarm clock gets turned off, then an impromptu plan gets hatched, and suddenly I’ve forgotten all about that building 20 miles away. So no, I was not looking forward to returning to the real life of alarm clocks, schedules, deadlines, dark when you leave and dark when you return, bills, and my prized time belonging to someone else. Tough it up, that’s reality. So imagine my surprise when I read Richard Rohr’s version of reality in his daily meditation: “…Contemplation is loosening our attachment to ourselves so the Reality can get to us, especially the Absolute Reality we call God. William McNamara rightly calls contemplation “a long loving look at the Real.”

My prayer for the congregation?

Dear God, You are the alpha and omega, the very God of very God. All of our days begin and end with you. Our vain attempts to build a world around ourselves, is not in accord with your world. We are bland and vacant left to imagine a world on our own. Let us break down the walls of our reality to see what is waiting. Let us loosen attachments to our possessions, our time, our voice, our thoughts, and our judgments to allow more of your righteousness to fill that void. Let us be observant for the assurances of your reality that surround us and wind through communities and histories. Our greatest dreams are no match for your smallest truths. Let us live in the truth of God's reality. Amen

Wise Men Follow

...From the Eastern kingdoms
Come the wise men far.
Bearing ancient treasure,
Following yonder star.
Sing we Noel! (noel)
The King is born, Noel! (noel)
Sing we now of Christmas.
Sing we here, Noel!...

I knew the focus of the church service today would be on the Three Wise Men or Three Kings arriving before the Christ child and on the way into church I was already singing the chorus of this carol. I really like the echo of the bass voices singing the Noels and the up-tempo of the rhythm. Maybe because the wise men are coming from the orient a lot of the music about them is a little more mysterious and exotic. I was introduced to “Amahl and the Night Visitor” a few years ago by my friend Margaret. In the one-act opera the story focuses on a crippled boy, Amahl who lives with his mother. Amahl, who is known to exaggerate, tells his mother that in the sky above their house is a star “as large as a window; and the star has a tail, and it moves across the sky like a chariot on fire.” It’s the beginning of several surprises that night as three kings on a journey ask to stay at their house. The mother hoping to keep her child from a life of begging tries to take some of the gold that was going to be a gift for the child. Melchior sings in response:

“Oh woman, you may keep the gold.
The child we seek doesn’t need our gold.
On love, on love alone he will build his kingdom.
His pierced hand will hold no scepter.
His haloed head will wear no crown.
His might will not be built on your toil.
Swifter than lightning, he will soon walk among us.
He will bring us new life, and receive our death,
and the keys to his city belong to the poor.”

The visit changes the lives of Amahl and his mother who want to send gifts as well to the Christ child. Amahl offers the only thing he has, his crutch, and his leg is healed. He leaves with the three kings to see the Christ child. I was fascinated by the music, the pageantry, and the story. Even though it wasn’t a professional production, the voices were sincere, the details were fine-tuned, and the message was clear.

My prayer for the congregation?

Dear Christ Child, We wish to bring our gifts to you, but we worry that we have nothing that can befit a king, especially one born to change the world. If gold isn’t needed then what should we bring? We aren’t sure where to look, who to ask, and we are not even sure when the right time to come forward might be. We search and search but forget to search within. “Yet what I can I give him—Give my heart.” Christina Rossetti. Let us come forward today, with our earnest hearts. Amen.

Plan to be Surprised

I don’t make New Year resolutions much less ten-year goals. “What do you want to be doing in ten years?” You might as well be asking me to explain quantum physics! It’s not unreasonable for some people, but it’s close to impossible for me. Plans that I make get delayed, derailed, or dejected – and usually by myself! I have a hard time arranging each day so trying to make a plan for the entire year just seems improbable. Imaging me ten years down the road is science fiction without a plot. Before you can start writing you have to develop the characters. It seems that would take an awareness of one’s self that I haven’t yet met. Often it’s easier to count off colors, foods, or movies that I don’t like rather than narrowing my choices to favorites. I can pronounce deeds never accomplished more than actions completed. I can pontificate on my faults rather than mention strengths. It’s easier to deflate ideas rather than to stand up and pronounce beliefs that are true to me. However, I think one truth I do know about myself is that before I make a promise, I try to evaluate whether I can uphold my part. I like to think that my word is true. So to make a resolution would not be a simple wish, or an offhand statement. In the movie “Dan in Real Life” the main character ends the movie as he is writing a column: “Instead of telling our young people to plan ahead, we should tell them to plan to be surprised.” That’s a resolution I can uphold.

My prayer for the congregation?

Dear God, Your miracles are revealed each day. As this new year begins let us welcome the surprises of your grace interwoven into our daily life. Instead of facing the new year with hope, some will see it as a beginning of many new days filled with anxiety about jobs, health, money, family upheaval, and perhaps an unrest in their own faith in themselves and in you. Help us to find the words that share with others the truths that we believe, the love that we have witnessed and the hope that we hold dear. Let us learn more about ourselves so that we may realize the strengths that we already possess to help further your ends. Let our plans be set aside for your surprises. Amen.

There's You on New Year's Eve

New Year’s Eve has always been more than a night for parties, watching Times Square on TV, or singing “Auld Lang Syne.” The revelry associated with the night has always been secondary to me because it’s been our parent’s wedding anniversary for 59 years. They each grew up about 100 miles from Dallas, but in opposite directions, and met working at the same store in Midland, Texas. Their homes have been as far west as El Paso, as far north and east as New Jersey, and as far south as San Antonio, having moved four more times in-between. There’s a lot to be gained through moves: learning other ways of doing things, finding out there are nice people all over, and family bonding through the remoteness. Over the past 35 years they’ve been able to grow deep roots by staying in the same community which affords its own benefits: a sense of connection, familiarity, and comfort. They have used almost every vacation day to visit relatives, trying never to stay more than three days in one home and always having more homes wishing to welcome them. They’ve raised three children, delighted eight grandchildren, and embraced five (soon to be six) great grandchildren. In retirement they have fuller schedules than before, taking advantage of their health and sharing their talents. Their gifts together are many including baking, fixing things, helping others, gardening (flowers, vegetables and pecan trees) and square dancing. As a couple they set united examples of generosity, wisdom, respect, faithfulness, resourcefulness, accountability, fiscal responsibility, health consciousness, and family devotion. So you can see why the news anchors recalling the headlines of the past year seems rather uninspiring on New Year’s Eve - we’ve always had a marriage to celebrate and rejoice!

"To Each His Own"
What good is a song if the words just don't belong?
And a dream must be a dream for two
No good alone, to each his own
For me there's you

And today as almost every year before, our father gave her a bouquet of pink carnations and she made him a pecan pie.

My prayer for the congregation?

God of Life, You bring forth the great in the simplest of our acts, beliefs, and lives. On our own we are bare and plain. You dreamed the color to the skies, the vibrancy in the flowers, and the flush in our cheeks when love comes near. As loving parents of all those to whom we have promised to watch, let us always remember that they will follow our ways more than our words. Guide our lives to be living examples of the qualities that you wish to uphold. We offer thanksgivings for the many couples who have shown us the resiliency and favor of realizing their golden anniversaries. Your love is greater than gold. Amen.

Advent Anticipation

It’s a restless early morning and I can’t sleep. I woke up several times to look at the clock only to find it an unreasonable hour to be awake, but it became even more irritable to stay in bed. If I was six I might attribute it to Christmas eagerness. If I was rational I might attribute it to a drastic weather change. One day it’s in the 20s and in less than 24 hours it is thirty degrees warmer and climbing. The clothes that you wore to stay warm one night become stifling the next. If I had a teenager living at home I might be fretful wondering if they were home yet – and I can hear enough cars outside to know that some are racing home even now. If I was agitated it could well be explained by the anxiousness of gift giving and tasks left to be done within a finite timeline. If I was a first-time expectant mother I might be unable to sleep wondering when the baby would come, how would it feel to give birth, would I know what to do with a baby and would I be able to give him all that he needed? But I’m not eager, or fretful, or agitated, or a waiting mother. Maybe it is advent anticipation. We are on the eve of change. The verse from the “Canticle of the Turning” that I have practiced over and over the past few weeks has become a base for this advent season.

Though I am small, my God, my all
You work great things through me
And your mercy will last from the depths of the past
To the end of the age to be.
Your very name puts the proud to shame,
And to those who would for you yearn
You will show your might, put the strong to flight
For the world is about to turn.
My heart shall sing of the day you bring
Let the fires of your justice burn
Wipe away all tears, for the dawn draws near
And the world is about to turn

My prayer for the congregation?

Dear God, We can sense your power and your presence in the day. The winds blow, the day dawns, and nothing is the same as the day before. Even though we feel too minute to make a great revolution, we know that over and over again the small and the powerless are made great though their statements of belief and their actions of faith. Let us wipe away our fears and be prepared to usher the changes in the world and in ourselves. It is not a time for rest. We can’t live as we did one day earlier for we are on the eve of a changing world as we anticipate the messiah. Amen.

(you have to embrace the Celtic undertones)
The Canticle of the Turning

My soul cries out with a joyful shout
That the God of my heart is great
And my spirit sings of the wondrous things
That you bring to the one who wait.
You fixed your sight on your servant’s plight
And my weakness you did not spurn
So from east to west shall my name be blessed.
Could the world be about to turn

My heart shall sing of the day you bring
Let the fires of your justice burn
Wipe away all tears, for the dawn draws near
And the world is about to turn

Though I am small, my God, my all
You work great things through me
And your mercy will last from the depths of the past
To the end of the age to be.
Your very name puts the proud to shame,
And to those who would for you yearn
You will show your might, put the strong to flight
For the world is about to turn.

Chorus

From the halls of power to the fortress tower
Not a stone will be left on stone
Let the king beware for your justice tears
Ev’ry tyrant from his throne
The hungry poor shall weep no more
For the food they can never earn
There are tables spread, ev’ry mouth be fed
For the world is about to turn

Chorus

Though the nations rage from age to age
We remember who holds us fast:
God’s mercy must deliver us
From the conqueror’s crushing grasp
This saying word that our forebears heard
Is the promise which holds us bound
Till the spear and rod can be crushed by God
Who is turning the world around.

My heart shall sing of the day you bring
Let the fires of your justice burn
Wipe away all tears, for the dawn draws near
And the world is about to turn

FourthComing

Four seems like a resolving number: four lines make a square; four walls enclose a room; four seasons in the year; and financial reports are handled quarterly. If you want a complete meal you chose from the four basic food groups. If you want to hear a complete range of voices you select a piece with four sections of the choir. It was always ideal to take four people as a group to Six Flags so that no one had to ride alone on the roller coasters that sat two per seat. It’s the fourth week of advent and the waiting is about to be resolved. There is about to be a completeness to the story and to the waiting. From Isaiah we hear familiar scriptures at advent that collect God’s people from the four corners of the earth.

Isaiah 11 (1-2, 6, 10-12)
Then a shoot will grow from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit. The wolf will live with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the goat. The calf, the young lion, and the fatling will be together, and a little child will lead them. On that day the root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples. The nations will seek Him, and His resting place will be glorious. On that day the Lord will [extend] His hand a second time to recover … the remnant of His people who survive. He will lift up a banner for the nations and gather the dispersed of Israel; He will collect the scattered of Judah from the four corners of the earth.

My prayer for the congregation?

Dear God, You raise your banner and gather your people in glory and peace. No where else can we find separated people unite side-by-side, and a little child will lead us. We long for resolution in our lives. We want to know ahead of time how things are going to work out. We rush to the last pages of a book to see if our hunch is right. We want to know the ending. In You, O God, we can find an ending of ourselves and the beginning of a new creation. We are made complete in Your Grace. This advent let us resolve to follow the Christ child. Amen.