Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from 2018

Words matter

Candle Lighting Litany           Leader (Let a child read)- Someone’s coming? Who’s coming?           People: Jesus is coming!           - Light a candle for each Sunday in Advent-           Leader and People:   Come into our hearts, Lord Jesus.                                         There’s room in our hearts for you. The American Psychology Association’s research reports, “ family routines and rituals are powerful organizers of family life that offer stability during times of stress and transition.” [i]   The Bible puts it this way, “Train children in the right way, and when old, they will not stray.” [ii] Family rituals become touchpoints for children throughout their lives.   They can be opportunities to reconnect, to revisit, and to reset their days with a familiar series of words and actions.   Advent is about new beginnings, so I offer this way of beginning your family meals or devotion times together as a family.   It is from a family friend

My Father Taught Me to Fish Left-handed

Grandkids fishing in Tennessee My father taught me to fish left handed; I did not discover this for 55 years.   It was only after he was gone, and I went fishing with someone else, that I realized everyone doesn’t fish his way. He was of the generation when a left handed person was required to learn to write with his right hand. He  grew up one of three sons  and became a father of three right-handed daughters .  Therefore, although he wrote right handed, he was ambidextrous in many ways. Now, that my father is gone and I fish alone, several things have changed. I no longer have fishing rods rigged by him. I no longer stand at his right hand…right next to him on the river bank or in a canoe casting, reeling, and waiting. Some things remain the same, though. You see, I learned to fish standing next to my father.   Mimicking his every move, I tried to cast as far and deftly as he did.   That is how I learned to fish and to serve.   I learned by “being with” and “doing with

Ordinary is my favorite kind of time...

Ordinary is my favorite kind of time.   The church year has festivals and really special occasions.   Then there are the days in between.   Once for a children’s moment, I asked two friends to help me.   They are REALLY good friends because they said, “yes,” then asked what they needed to do.   One dressed up like an angel.   The other dressed up like a rabbit.   It was late spring, and the children were not out of school yet, so we had a decent crowd for the children’s moment—that was about 5-10 at our small Missouri church.   I asked the children if they could guess my favorite time of year.   It wasn’t my birthday.   I gave them a hint—a diminutive angel walked down the side aisle very gracefully. No, it wasn’t Christmas.   Then a 6 foot + bunny hopped down the other aisle.   Yep, not kidding! No, it wasn’t time for the Easter Egg hunt.   They gave up. Do you?   Ordinary time is my favorite time of the church year.   Do you know why?   It is because that is the “living with”  

Are you stuck in the desert?

Spelling is not my strong suit.   In college I had to convince my Russian Language professor that yes, I studied for my weekly vocabulary quiz.   It wasn’t that I didn’t try to learn the words.   I can’t spell in four languages! Two sets of words I can spell, in English, are “desert/dessert” and “angel/angle.” I learned them with the help of very good teachers in elementary school.   An “angel” is Ever Lasting versus an “angle” that is LEft or right.   A “dessert” is something of which you would like SecondS; a “desert” you only want one.   That teaching tool only works so far.   I have found myself in more than one desert; so whether I like it or not, deserts seems to come in seconds (and thirds). Luckily, however, there are angels—messengers of God. God sent a tree in the desert to shelter Jonah.  From "An Invitation to the Desert."   Some of the families at Second Church are wandering in the desert with a family spiritual practice called, “An Invitation to th

Dust, Mud, and the Waters of Baptism

Our heroes always, almost always, turn out to have feet of clay.   They are not impervious titans of moral, ethical, and philosophical perfection.   Our heroes are always, almost always, men and women who are human and flawed and frail.   The Genesis story tells us that God formed the first man and the first woman out of the “dust of the ground” (Genesis 2:7, NRSV). We are dust, and the Ash Wednesday liturgy reminds us that we shall return to dust (based on Genesis 3:19). What stands between dust and dust?   There is the breath of God, breathed into molded ground to give it life.   There is the water of baptism, poured onto this molded ground to form it into a life of service.   This watered ground becomes moldable mud; a clay for the Potter’s hand to fit us to our ministry and mission in the world. At no point, do we become other than what we are made of and made by.   We are clay footed servants of the living God. Lent is a time when the church remembers the gift of our b

“For a time such as this…”

The book of Esther is a difficult one, but it is important.  It speaks of power! There is personal power, royal power, and providential power.  It is a book that can be difficult to discuss with children and anyone who has been voiceless; however, it is not a book exhaulting the victim.  Esther is not a submissive girl who gives up.  She has inner strength and power.  She lives her life and draws on her community.  When the time comes, she uses her wisdom to be a vessel for the will of God.  Her uncle tells her, “perhaps you have been made royal for a time such as this.”  We often skip the “royal,” in our attempt to make the message universal.  However, we forget that we are children of "the king of all creation" and therefore “royal.”  I cannot help wondering how the Rev. Becca Stevens hears the book of Esther? Rev. Stevens works with women who have been commercialized and abused.  She teaches that "#LoveHeals."  She teaches this with her pulpit, her

Easter came early this year...

Advent is about journey and anticipation and preparation. Christmas is about a gift and joy and the presence of the Living God breaking into darkness. Lent is about reflection and atonement and forgiveness. Easter is about life and victory and new life in Christ. Pentecost is about the birthday of the body of Christ, the Way, the whole church of believers. That is the church year in a nutshell.  What if they happen within the span of three weeks, or a week, or one night? This year Christmas and Easter collided. Twenty days is not long to go from confirmed diagnosis to  eternal life, but that was my father’s Advent, Lent and Christmas/Easter journey. He invited in friends, family and loved ones to witness his journey. He worked very hard to prepare my sisters and his twin brother’s daughters for a garden moment when he would die.  I have never wished for Advent nor Lent to be longer, but I wished for one more day--one more night--one more morning.  However, I saw him say good