TAKE ME INTO A NEW YEAR, Gracious God. Help me to continue looking for meaning, seeking peace, praying for light, dancing for joy, working for justice, and singing your praise. I go into the new year filled with expectations, a touch of worry, and a bundle of hope. I do not journey into the new year alone but with you as my guide, with a commitment to my disciplines, with a community of family, friends, and faith. Take me into the new year, Creator of beauty and wonder. Bless me with the companionship of Jesus, and gift me with the guidance and power of the Spirit. Amen.

- Larry James Peacock
Openings: A Daybook of Saints, Psalms, and Prayer

From page 398 of Openings: A Daybook of Saints, Psalms, and Prayer by Larry James Peacock. Copyright © 2003

From Upper Room

A Prayer: For the Birth of a New Year

God of winter morning,
Of new day born from the waters of night;
A feeble cry from Mother Earth's horizon,
A murmured moan from lingering stars;
Infant soft, blue-veined is your child, Dawn.
Into the waiting arms of Your people
You gift this newness to us...

O God, help us to look with awe-laden eyes,
Let us hear with soft-edged hearts the first cries
of the New Year, of a new day,
that we may come running as if life,
fragile and tear-stained,
awaits us.

O Creator, lover of life,
What child has been born as Day this hour?
Stretched across heaven and earth,
Arms wide open
Waiting for us to return the embrace --
To count fingers and toes of light and rivers,
bird and flower,
woman, man, and child.
Straining to hear a whispered word --
A song of peace,
A hymn of promise,
A lullaby of justice.

God who was, now is, and will still be,
Show us the way of newness --
conceived by Your desire,
born of Your Love's labor,
made visible,
embraceable.

O Lord,
In this now toddling year,
we move, outstretched in hope, toward You.

Amen


Pamela Hawkins is serves as Managing Editor of Weavings: A Journal of the Christian Spiritual Life. An Elder in the United Methodist Church, she lives in Nashville, Tennessee with her husband Ray. Pamela is the author of the Upper Room books The Awkward Season: Prayers for Lent and Simply Wait: Cultivating Stillness in the Season of Advent.

Monday, December 27, 2010
Live in the world
Live in the world as if only
God and your soul were in it;
then your heart will never be
made captive by any earthly thing.
... St. John of the Cross (1542-1591)
posted by Sam Roberts at 6:33 AM 0 comments

John Donne (1573-1631)
This was the fulness of time,
when Christ Jesus did come,
that the Messiah should come.
It was so to the Jews,
and it was so to the Gentiles too...
Christ hath excommunicated no nation,
no shire, no house, no man;
He gives none of His ministers
leave to say to any man, thou art
not redeemed; He gives no wounded or
afflicted conscience leave to
say to itself, I am not redeemed.
... John Donne (1573-1631)

The sunset of the year, and the new one to dawn...

INTO OUR WORLD, where we usually stay busy and frequently feel tired, God comes. God comes to us where we are, somewhere between darkness and light. God comes to us as we are, anxious and worried, hopeful and blessed. God comes to us as wonderful and surprising as angels singing to shepherds on a hill. God comes to us now as a small baby in a manger.

Let us marvel at the Holy Child, worship on bended knee, and sing with the angels. Let us be blessed by the gaze of the Christ child. God looks at us with love and great joy that spreads to all people.

- Larry James Peacock
Openings: A Daybook of Saints, Psalms, and Prayer

From page 392 of Openings: A Daybook of Saints, Psalms, and Prayer by Larry James Peacock. Copyright & copy; 2003 by Larry James Peacock. All rights reserved

The Spirit is breathing.

All those with eyes to see,
women and men with ears for hearing
detect a coming dawn;
a reason to go on.

They seem small, these signs of dawn
perhaps ridiculous.

All those with eyes to see,
Women and men with ears for hearing
uncover in the night
a certain gleam of light;
they see the reason to go on.
(Dom Helder Camera, Its Midnight, Lord)

Another way to keep Christ in Christmas.

A small rambling thought on the Christmas stories:
I am not beyond blending and co mingling the two separate nativity stories of Matthew and Luke. Luke includes Mary's magnificant in which she speaks of the hungry being filled with good things and the rich being sent away empty (Luke 1:53). I thought of those shepherds coming hungry for signs of hope and attention, being filled with good things. And then in Matthew's tradition I see those magi who have followed the star. I see them as the rich who have opened their treasure chests and offered the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Are they the rich who go away empty, because they have offered it, in devotion to Christ? They do not ask for more. The rich are sent away empty. It's part of the Christmas miracle. Can we practice such emptiness? Are we the rich who are able to empty ourselves , in our love for God. May the scriptures be fulfilled.

Dec Newsletter note

Thomas Lux wrote a poem called "God Particles."
"God explodes, supernovas, and down upon the whole planet
a tender rain of Him falls
on every cow ,ladle, leaf, human, ax handle, swing set...
I think he wanted each of us...to have a tiny piece of Him
though we are unqualified for even the crumb of a crumb."
When I read his words my own imagination went to the Christmas star, perhaps a supernova burst of light announcing the Advent; rain and the reign of God! Showers of blessing!
Christmas is our gospel poem of God coming down upon the whole planet, and in particular particle, as a child in Bethlehem, as good news for all the earth.
I like to think that in this God particle of Incarnation, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us indeed! And in the gift of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us , as the Christ is born in us, as the light shines in us. we too have a tiny piece of God.
So now let the Christ grow! Let the love grow! Let the gift grow! Let the light grow! Let the presence of God grow! Welcome the God particle graced upon you! Join us in the event s of Advent and Christmas. Perhaps you will see the signs of God ." in cow, ladle, leaf, human, ax handle, swing set..."
or perhaps in bread and cookie,
candle and bow,
wreathe and card,
song and verse,
child and silent night,
with prayers and deeds of peace,
Particles of Immanuel, God with us.
Blessed Holy days, Pastor Rory

Two Tasks

Richard Rohr:
There are two major tasks in the human spiritual journey. The task of the first half of life is to create a proper container for one's life and answer some central questions: "Who am I?" "What makes me signficiant?" "How can I support myself?" "Who will go with me?"

The task of the second half of life is, quite simply, to find the actual contents that this container was meant to hold and deliver. in other words, the container is for the sake of the contents. Problematically, the first task invests so much of ourselves that we often cannot imagine there is a second task, or that anything more could be expected of us.

Source: Radical Grace, Vol. 23, No. 4, the Center for Action and Contemplation

From Verse and Voice

"Adoration, as it more deeply possesses us, inevitably leads on to self-offering. Charity is the live wire along which the power of God, indwelling our finite spirits, can and does act on our souls and other things, rescuing, healing, giving support and light."
- Evelyn Underhill

CARRY A LITTLE QUIET inside you
while the world continues
in rush and rage
fighting and frenzy.

Carry a little quiet inside you
so that the worry and war
trouble and tumult
do not capture you in their grip.

Tarry in the Son-filled meadow of the heart
beside the still waters
where God’s Spirit refreshes and renews

Carry so much quiet inside you
that you have some extra calm
to share with me.
–Safiyah Fosua

- Safiyah Fosua
The Africana Worship Book: Year A

From page 37 of The Africana Worship Book: Year A, edited by Valerie Bridgeman Davis and Safiyah Fosua. Copyright © 2006 by Discipleship Resources http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore

Christ in Christmas.

It’s that time of the year when the “Keep Christ in Christmas”s slogans appear on face book and advertising and opinion news shows. Actually I do agree, but probably not in the way that I am supposed to agree. For me, keeping Christ in Christmas is not about simply avoiding Merry X Mas or whether or not we have nativity scenes or Christmas trees in public places or how we are greeted in a store. Happy Holidays is fine with me as it simply means Happy Holy days, and the last I checked, we are in Holy days.
But I think we should go deeper with this keeping Christ in Christmas. I think we should get Christmas out of our shopping centers and consumer patterns so we can more faithfully keep Christ in Christmas. We can keep Christ in Christmas by remembering to care for the poor not only with our much needed seasonal acts of charity but issues of justice and equity. Maybe we keep Christ in Christmas by avoiding that latest plastic product, gadget or fad that may be doing more harm than good on the global scale. (As my daughter put it, its Christ-mas not capital-mas!)Wouldn’t we be keeping Christ in Christmas by keeping peace and peacemaking? When we keep forgiveness and reconciliation in our Christmas isn’t that how we keep Christ in Christmas? When we consider our impact on the earth and its resources, I think we are closer to keeping Christ in Christmas. We keep Christ in Christmas by keeping his love in our heart and our words and our actions. We keep Christmas by prayerful living and generous behavior. We keep Christ in Christmas with our lives of worship and service .Maybe to keep Christ in Christmas I will need to keep some other things out. What do I really need, to simply keep Christ in Christmas?
I know that I don’t need to get worked up in the Christmas culture war that is using my Savior's birth as another tool for political divisivness , fear and sometimes even hate! I prefer to celebrate a humble birth of love . I will keep a humble Christ in Christmas. If these things are what we mean by keeping Christ in Christmas, that’s what I seek. I know that I will not be successful. But I will try a little more.

A prayer from Verse and Voice:
God, today we remember the message of selfless simplicity that Jesus taught us from the moment he was born. We admit that we often lose sight of this radical message during the Christmas season as we ascribe to the theology of credit cards and shopping lists. However, this year we ask that you grant us the joy that comes from a life lived simply and dedicated to you. Amen

ADVENT by Richard Rohr


When we demand satisfaction of one another, when we demand any completion to history on our terms, when we demand that our anxiety or any dissatisfaction be taken away, saying as it were, “Why weren’t you this for me? Why didn’t life do that for me?” we are refusing to say, “Come, Lord Jesus.” We are refusing to hold out for the full picture that is always given in time by God.

When we set out to seek our private happiness, we often create an idol that is sure to topple. Any attempts to protect any full and private happiness in the midst of so much public suffering have to be based on illusion about the nature of the world in which we live. We can only do that if we block ourselves from a certain degree of reality and refuse solidarity with “the other side” of everything, even the other side of ourselves.

Adapted from Preparing for Christmas with Richard Rohr, pp. 5, 7

Park Church on facebook

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Brainerd-MN/Park-United-Methodist-Church/334396505907

Love Unites All

Unity in the Heart of God

Love unites all, whether created or uncreated. The heart of God, the heart of all creation, and our own hearts become one in love. That's what all the great mystics have been trying to tell us through the ages. Benedict, Francis, Hildegard of Bingen, Hadewijch of Brabant, Meister Eckhart, Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Dag Hammarskjöld, Thomas Merton, and many others, all in their own ways and their own languages, have witnessed to the unifying power of the divine love. All of them, however, spoke with a knowledge that came to them not through intellectual arguments but through contemplative prayer. The Spirit of Jesus allowed them to see the heart of God, the heart of the universe, and their own hearts as one. It is in the heart of God that we can come to the full realisation of the unity of all that is, created and uncreated.



These reflections are taken from Henri J.M. Nouwen's Bread for the Journey.
See http://www.henrinouwen.org/home/free_eletters/

Thought for the day

Christianity is the journey of understanding God as mercy, not judgement.

(Based on something I read in A Monk in the Inner City by Mary Lou Kownacki.
It is an impressive book!)

Remembering

For Veterans’ Day

There are different ways to remember:

There’s the remembering that comes from a photograph:
or words shared and moments lived together
that bring both tears and smiles.

But ours is not a remembering like that.

There’s the remembering that comes from research and learning,
knowing how things work,
the remembering of words and ideas and theories.

But ours is not a remembering like that.

There’s the remembering that comes from everyday life,
the lists we need, the language we use,
the circle of friends we have.

But ours is not a remembering like that.

There’s the remembering that comes from someone else’s experience:
a story passed on that is important enough and vital enough
to become our own story even as we did not live it.

This is our remembering.

It’s not because war
in every time and place and in every guise is the worst we can do to each other,
though that is true,
but because in amongst it all, people turn towards a hope that this will be the last,
that this will be never again.

It is this hope that they will to be passed on.

This hope has been bought at huge price.
It’s not the facts we remember nor the images, but the cost.
It is expensive to remember.
And if we do not accept that cost, and recognise the price,
then our hope is selfish.
This we cannot avoid.

This is our remembrance.

Roddy Hamilton
on http://abbotsford.typepad.com/abbotsford/”

From Richard Rohr

EXPERIENCING THE HOLY


We have put our emphasis on trying to love God, which is probably a good way to start—although we do not have a clue how to do that. What I consistently find in the mystics is an overwhelming experience of how God has loved them. God is the initiator, God is the doer, God is the one who seduces us. All we can do is respond in kind, and exactly as Meister Eckhart said, “The love by which we love God is the very same love with which God has first loved us.”

The mystics' overwhelming experience is this full body blow of the Divine loving them, the Divine radically accepting them. And the rest of their life is trying to verbalize that, and invariably finding ways to give that love back through forms of service, compassion and non-stop worship. But none of this is to earn God's love; it's always and only to return God's love. Love is repaid by love alone.



Adapted from Following the Mystics
through the Narrow Gate

The Giver Should be Thankful

Another way to look at Stewardship. Not that we shouldn't say "Thank you", but what is the wisdom in this story for you?

While Seisetsu was the master of Engaku in Kamakura he required larger quarters, since those in which he was teaching were overcrowded. Umezu Seibei, a merchant of Edo, decided to donate five hundred pieces of gold called ryo toward the construction of a more commodious school. This money he brought to the teacher.

Seisetsu said: "All right. I will take it."

Umezu gave Seisetsu the sack of gold, but he was dissatisfied with the attitude of the teacher. One might live a whole year on three ryo, and the merchant had not even been thanked for five hundred.

"In that sack are five hundred ryo," hinted Umezu.

"You told me that before," replied Seisetsu.

"Even if I am a wealthy merchant, five hundred ryo is a lot of money," said Umezu.

"Do you want me to thank you for it?" asked Seisetsu.

"You ought to," replied Uzemu.

Why should I?" inquired Seisetsu. "The giver should be thankful."

from www.Spiritual-Short-Stories.com

Then add this thought:

Tzedakah (sa-da-ka) is the Jewish tradition of giving at least ten percent of one’s income to charity. Rather than referring to generosity, it is more related to justice or fairness, giving the poor their due. According to tradition, the spiritual benefit of giving to the poor is so great that the one who receives the aid actually does the giver a favor

More Autumn

Autumn has two phases
The color phase is the one that gets the kinder attention and this year I had more times to enjoy the unique scenery of this season while the maples were in all their glory.
The other phase of autumn is more about the falling leaves.
It's the 'fall" season. Its about the leaves on the ground and I know this has some work involved. Even with all the raking, I remember this part with some warm nostalgia as well. I remember jumping into leaf piles and playing in the leaves when I was young, and then again with our children, Sara and Nick
But when we get to November most of the leaves have been raked up. The trees, accept for the stubborn oaks, or the evergreen varieties, are pretty bare. We will move into the season of the browns, the grays , and yes the white of snow.
But what if autumn is not over until we have listened to its wisdom? Is Auteum done with you yet? Every season has its lessons. and the work of the church is to help us think about our lives. Listen to the spirit. As yourself "Where do I see God? What is God teaching me in this moment? So before we have pushed autumn into its thanksgiving holiday, or set it aside for the start of Advent on November 28think, spend some time , get personal with this autumn prayer.
AUTUMN GOD, the planet turns
and the earth signals a change.
Open me to the transitions I need to face in my own life.
Be with me in the letting go,
the saying good-bye
to habits, relationships, and plans
that stand in your way of growing.
Deepen my trust that as I let go,
like the falling leaves,
I will always fall into your embrace. Amen.
- Larry Peacock
(Openings From p. 303 of Openings: A Daybook of Saints, Psalms, and Prayer by Larry James Peacock. Copyright © 2003 ) by way of Upper Room website

Sharing the reading today from the Upper Room website
It reminds me to be mindful, keep Christ in mind, count my blessings, and stay in love.

“GOD, LET US COUNT the ways you never leave us. Your Light of Day greeted us this morning. The smell of life filled our nostrils with the crisp, chilly air of a new day. The melody of gently crackling leaves whispered your love in our ears. These are among the Good Morning gifts we thank you for. You have given us another day in your Precious Presence.

Come what may this day: angry traffic, angry words, paved roads, paved ways, we will praise your Holy Name! And so we greet you this day with shouts of joy and thanksgiving. Amen.

- Sherrie Dobbs Johnson”
The Africana Worship Book: Year A

From page 77 of The Africana Worship Book: Year A, edited by Valerie Bridgeman Davis and Safiyah Fosua. Copyright © 2006 by Discipleship Resources. All rights reserved.

“MAY I SEE TODAY
the largeness of your love
in even the smallest part of creation.
May I be ravished
by traces of your beauty
in earth and sky.
May I experience
the eternity of your grace
pulsing within each moment.

- Sam Hamilton-Poore
Earth Gospel: A Guide to Prayer for God’s Creation

From p. 130 of Earth Gospel: A Guide to Prayer for God’s Creation by Sam Hamilton-Poore. Copyright © 2008 by Sam Hamilton-Poore

Pastor Jeff in Heels, story

link; address is this

http://www.minnesotaumc.org/News/Brainerdpastorsstepupinheelstowitnessagain/tabid/47175/Default.aspx

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower. ~Albert Camus

Everyone must take time to sit and watch the leaves turn. ~Elizabeth Lawrence






Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns. ~George Eliot

As Posted on inward/outward

By St. Teresa of Avila on 09-17-2010

Just these two words He spoke
changed my life:
“Enjoy Me.”
What a burden I thought I was to carry--
a crucifix, as did He.
Love once said to me, "I know a song,
Would you like to hear it?
And laughter came from every brick in the street
And from every pore
in the sky.
After a night of prayer, he
changed my life when
He sang,
"Enjoy Me."
Source:

* Love Poems From God edited by Daniel Ladinsky

August newsletter reprint

The Carpenter's Cave
I have spoken only a little about the week that Beth, Sara and I had in India this past March. One of the highlights I have yet to mention was near the city of Aurangabad. While Beth was working, Sara and I, on recommendation from Craig and Ty Rezac in Mumbai, went to see two separate "World Heritage" sites of some amazing religious cave carvings spanning several centuries. The caves were religious artwork, devotional sites or monastic centers for Hindus, Jains or Buddhists . In Ellora, one of the most famous, and most meaningful caves for us is commonly referred to the Carpenter's Cave. It was built in the early 700's and is called the Carpenter's Cave because the ceiling has stones caught out in the appearance of wooden beams the way a carpenter would build. The acoustics in the cave are phenomenal and when our guide sang a chant in there for us, it was soulfully beautiful. But the other outstanding feature of this Buddhist cave is that it combines features of two differing traditions in Buddhism. In the older tradition images of Buddhism were not used. So as a way of giving devotional attention, a stupa or spiritual monument, was used in the places for meditation. This tradition grew from an understanding that the Buddha had discouraged images of himself. But another tradition uses images of the Buddha in various poses of teaching, meditation etc, replete with symbols that point to certain practices and principles or stories and so a Buddha statue was also added to the cave.
But, when I hear "Carpenters cave" I think of how Jesus was a carpenter from Nazareth (Mark 6:3). Or I think of the nativity cave in Bethlehem ! It blesses me to think of how Jesus Christ is constructing a new community in us and among us, building and rebuilding our lives. I see the Carpenter, Jesus Christ, as one who can build us together and construct a larger "holy" house for us . He tells us that "in my Father's house" there are many dwelling places. God builds us into a new temple for all people. So when the carpenter's cave in Ellora demonstrates the practice of accommodation and merging of two traditions into one place, I see it, indeed, as the Carpenter cave of peace , respect and reconciliation.
We live in a time when religious diversity is a daily experience. Some are threatened by this and feel the need to resist. But I believe that Jesus Christ is the Way who shows us how to live together with reconciliation love, respect, peacemaking and forgiveness. The world desperately needs followers of the Carpenter who can build a roof of community to cover all people. I have been enjoying this quote: "As our world becomes smaller, through a growing common culture, the true test of community will be our tolerance for our most profound differences and love for the most challenging among us." ( Wayne Teasdale in A Monk in the World) I pray that Christianity in our country can model this spirit. It sounds like Jesus to me ! What will you build in Christ's name today? How can we learn the carpentry skills at Park church?
Grace and peace, Pastor Rory
If you would like to see a picture of the carpenters cave, try this one: http://www.360cities.net/image/carpenters-cave-ellora-cave-india#2.00,0.00,70.0

From Henri Nouwen's words
Crossing the Road for One Another

We become neighbours when we are willing to cross the road for one another. There is so much separation and segregation: between black people and white people, between gay people and straight people, between young people and old people, between sick people and healthy people, between prisoners and free people, between Jews and Gentiles, Muslims and Christians, Protestants and Catholics, Greek Catholics and Latin Catholics.

There is a lot of road crossing to do. We are all very busy in our own circles. We have our own people to go to and our own affairs to take care of. But if we could cross the street once in a while and pay attention to what is happening on the other side, we might become neighbours.

'Look for God everywhere'
By PASTOR RORY SWENSON
Park United Methodist Church
Someday I would like to visit Japan. One of the places I would visit would be the Buddha of Kamakura. It is an ancient pilgrimage place near the sea with several monasteries and temples, gardens and museums. I have read that the Kamkura Buddha stands above the trees and buildings. He sits in the lotus posture with his right palm cradled by the left hand. The size of this statue is so big that twelve monks can sit lined up across his two thumbs. The Buddha figure is worn by the weather and there is a story about why he is outside and not covered or protected by a temple as one might expect.

Once upon a time when the Kamakura Buddha was first built, there was a huge wooden temple to house him. But almost as soon as the great structure was finished and decorated, a great storm hit the coast and destroyed the temple. The monks did not want to leave the Buddha uncovered so they began to collect money and materials to build another temple for the great statue. This took decades but again the Buddha was sheltered. A few years later there was a fire that left only the Buddha among the ashes. This happened again; the shrine was built, but then destroyed again in a few years by the elements.

Then, in more recent memory, a priest tried to raise funds and workers for a structure to house the Buddha figure. Money poured in for the project. Then one night he had a dream and in the dream the Buddha was speaking to him. He was frightened at first but the serenity of the Buddha helped him to become calm. The Buddha was clearly saying in the dream that he did not want anyone to build a temple for him. He was told "The temple is a prison. It contains me and squeezes me into a space far too small. It is never a home. Leave me outside with the weather and the elements and the people. Let me be exposed to all the changes and ravages of life, to the warmth of the sun and to the horizons and all the people. I belong here, outside on the earth, with the people in the world. " And so another temple was not built.

I tell that story because I think of my own spiritual tradition. I can hear God, saying in Jesus Christ, "let me be with the people." We call this the doctrine of the incarnation, or we can hear the promise of Jesus to be with us always, or think of the Holy Spirit among us. Our God is still "Immanuel ,God with us": wanting to go beyond the walls of sanctuaries and institutions. Jesus went outside the temple system of his day, traveled the roads and ate with the common and the outcast. He calls us to follow him there. Our spiritual truth says we can look for Jesus in the sick and the homeless, in the ravages of life. As Christians doesn't that mean we should also get out of our "temples" more? We can't keep God to ourselves. Are we being the church outside of our church buildings? Look for God everywhere. That's our homework for the week.

Story adapted from "We Live Inside a Story," by Megan McKenna, New City Press 2010.

A Possible footnote for the parable of the Good Samaritan

HOW IS IT that sometimes subtly, sometimes with a sudden startle, God breaks through the thick fog of our collective blindness? Our lives confront us with the inevitable experience of suffering: our own suffering, the suffering we cause to others, the pain we experience in and with the suffering of others. “Pay attention,” says the voice of God within us, “Here is an opportunity to deepen your relationship with me! You will find me when your heart breaks open with compassionate love for all of creation. But you must let the suffering touch you deeply enough that you begin to see your own path as a path of compassion on behalf of all living creatures.”

- Elaine M. Prevallet
Weavings: A Journal of the Christian Spiritual Life

From “With Open Eyes: Discerning the Pattern of God’s Presence,” pp. 29-30, Weavings: A Journal of the Christian Spiritual Life, vol.25, no. 3. Copyright © 2009 via Upper Room web site

Late June rambling

Time for some old fashioned rambling thoughts and random writing! Yesterday I had two funerals. I also had two funerals on the previous Friday and before that I had funeral services on two consecutive Saturdays. That's 14 funerals so far this year. But with each service I do, I spend time listening to a family tell about their loved one. I guide them with a series of questions about the person's work, interests etc and then I ask: "What did this person teach you about life?" Maybe I ask that question for my own benefit as well. I hear some wisdom in each person and it is often something I need to hear.
Today I have a wedding in the afternoon and this morning I will open up the church so the choral ensemble "From Age to Age" can rehearse. They will be singing at both services tomorrow. Maybe, yet this morning,if it doesn't rain, I will mow the lawn again!

Here at the parsonage, all the carpet has been removed from the basement. That also means that we have basement furniture and boxes in the garage or the dining room or squeezed into a side room downstairs. All this was the result of a leaking shower drain but I am blessed with wonderful trustees who said this was just the excuse they needed to get rid of the dark wall paneling down there and add the new carpeting they have wanted to do any way. I am hoping it will all be done in time for my sister's visit in mid July.
Sara's garden is growing wildly. Nick has graduated from the Perpich Fine Arts High School, we had his open house, and he should be coming home soon from a great week in a Theatre festival in Lincoln Nebraska. Beth is in Michigan seeing her parents. Sara is keeping busy with her two jobs, as the administrative assistant at the Congregational church in the mornings and an Applebees server in the afternoons or evenings. She is still not sure if she will attend Iliff in the fall or wait until January.
Sara has also updated her writing blog so check that link out.
Rory

LET US BEGIN TO SEE beyond race, beyond culture, beyond gender, beyond sexual orientation, beyond religion, beyond all these externals and see each other as God’s beloved. When we relate to others as God relates to us, our sense of being God’s beloved deepens even more.

- Trevor Hudson
The Way of Transforming Discipleship

From p. 25 of < em>The Way of Transforming Discipleship by Trevor Hudson and Stephen D. Bryant. Copyright © 2005
(From Upper Room)

New methods/new day Generous God vs. cheap church

New methods/new day Generous God vs. cheap church

History lesson

Martin Marty says it;
http://blog.al.com/birmingham-news-stories/2010/04/historian_martin_marty_says_sa.html

Historian Martin Marty, delivering a series of lectures at Samford University, said Tuesday that former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and others have oversimplified and misrepresented the religious beliefs of the nation's founding fathers.

Delegates to the Constitutional Convention did not want government to favor Christianity, he said.

"They did not set out to have a Christian nation," Marty said Tuesday at Reid Chapel in the first of several lectures sponsored by the Baptist Joint Committee. "It would have been very easy to set that out."

Marty will conclude the Shurden lecture series today at 10:30 a.m. in Hodges Chapel at the Beeson Divinity School at Samford.

He said Tuesday that George Washington, a churchgoing Episcopalian who never took communion, used at least 28 different terms for God in his writings. He made every effort to be inclusive and nonsectarian, referring to the deity with words such as Providence, Heaven and Benevolent One. "They were looking for a language that would enlarge the context," Marty said.

Nine of the 13 colonies had established churches, either Anglican or Congregationalist, and the founders wanted to avoid establishing religion for the nation while being tolerant of differing religious beliefs, Marty said.

Marty, author of "Righteous Empire: The Protestant Experience in America" and numerous other books, said in an interview that the founders have been distorted for political purposes.

"It's not honest," Marty said. "They say pluralism is our problem. Pluralism is our common story."

Clearly, the founders touted a virtuous citizenry and believed religion helped serve that purpose, he said.

"They cared about virtue, and they believed religion was backing that," Marty said.

But they also feared the tyranny of a government-backed clergy class, he said. Religion in America has thrived precisely because it was not backed or funded by government, he said.

U.S. religious expression has relied on the power of persuasion and evangelism, unlike in Europe, where state churches relied on funding from government to survive. The state churches of Europe declined and are moribund because they do not appeal to or serve the public well, Marty said.

"It's harmful for churches and other religious institutions to be privileged," he told Samford students. "We're much better off with protection and freedom."

something to post

My apologies for the lack of blog entries. I copy notes more often at the Park church facebook fan page. I can give you this advance copy of what I will put in the church newsletter for May:

Remember those coloring contests where it seems like the winners were the ones who never colored across the lines? I wanted to be that kind of a good "colorer."

Later on, I learned that art wasn't about just painting by number or filling in someone else's lines. Sometimes you need to work with blank paper or embellish and design beyond the printed lines. I am still trying to learn that lesson. My life has been mostly about staying within the lines. I am not that big on rule breaking and I know about the importance of healthy boundaries. But that simply doesn't get to the art of faithful living.

Mike Yaconelli wrote a good lesson for me in his book, Dangerous Wonder :

"Most of my life I heard the message loud and clear that Christianity was all about coloring within the lines and coloring well. If I was a good Christian, if I loved Jesus and wanted to please Him, if I read my Bible, prayed, and went to church, then I would get better and better at coloring. And if I lived a long and godly life, I would eventually be able to draw close to the perfect drawing. Wherever that message came from, it was a lie. I am fifty-five years old and my coloring still looks like it was done by a two year old. I believe God looks at my coloring and says, “Hmmmmm. You certainly like the color green! Lots of passion in this stroke. I like it.”

Even as I write those words, I can hear the “concern” of those who worry about others misunderstanding the gospel. “You’re not suggesting, are you, that nothing matters to God? Certainly, God has standards!” What I am suggesting is that God’s grace is so outside the lines of our understanding that we can only stand in awe and wonder. Christianity is not about learning how to live within the lines; Christianity is about the joy of coloring. The grace of God is preposterous enough to accept as beautiful a coloring that anyone else would reject as ugly"



I think this coloring analogy describes God in some other ways as well. God , too has been showing us the way to be creative in the art of soul work and True Life. Eventually we have to get beyond just coloring between the lines. God has given a Bible full of illustrations and examples.

When it came to the line between heaven and earth; Jesus was God's way of coloring across the line! Our Gospel is that the line between us and God, has been colored over with forgiveness. Jesus was always coloring across religious and social lines when he ate with "tax collectors and sinners" There were people in his days who didn't like the way he did his coloring. That's probably still true. The resurrection of Christ, is all about God coloring across the heavy lines of death. St. Paul says that "in Christ there is neither slave nor free; Jew nor Gentile, male nor female". Sound s like coloring across the lines to me! God colors outside the lines with grace. John Wesley too, even with his strict "method's” was a person who colored outside the lines when he preached outdoors and went to the people who were not inside the lines of the church's doors.



Pentecost is on May 23 and it is a great story about God not staying in the lines. The Holy Spirit will blow across the boundaries of language , culture and nations. God will color all over the world! Can we see it as the coloring work of love! We still need to get out the color crayons and let God teach us how to be creative again. We are repeatedly hearing that we need to do more coloring outside of the church, Can we color across the lines with new ways of doing business, trying different things in worship, being more inviting to others, and learning new things?

Pentecost teaches us to get out the color" red", for spirit, and fire and enthusiasm and courage, and reach out across the lines. Color with the power of wild wind! Art, like Christianity, is about being inspired, beyond the lines That's Pentecost. Let's go and do some coloring, with joy! Pastor Rory

No one can quench the life that Christ has resurrected. Neither death nor all the banners of death and hatred raised against him and against his church can prevail. He is the victorious one! Just as he will thrive in an unending Easter, so we must accompany him in a Lent and a Holy Week of cross, sacrifice, and martyrdom. As he said, blessed are they who are not scandalized by his cross.

Lent, thus, is a call to celebrate our redemption in that difficult combination of cross and victory. Our people are well prepared to do so these days: all that surrounds us proclaims the cross. But those who have Christian faith and hope know that behind this calvary of El Salvador lies our Easter, our resurrection. That is the Christian people’s hope.

These words were spoken the week before Archbishop Romero's assassination in El Salvador 30 years ago today, March 24, 1980.
Source:

* Oscar Romero Faith and Solidarity Network in the Americas
from inward/outward

Rob Bell

http://www.viddler.com/explore/GoodNewsTo/videos/11/

India 1

Hello! This is Sara.
Well, I’m really not sure where to begin (which, I am told, are not strong words for a beginning). I have seen, heard, felt, smelt, and been dealt so much since the beginning of this trip, that I can hardly begin to pin down words to suitably describe our adventures. For instance, the word “yellow” does nothing to describe a mirror-embroidered sari reflecting glints of sunlight off of a woman’s shoulders as she perches on the back of her husband’s motorcycle, clinging to his shoulders. The word “yellow” cannot capture the motion of her fluttering scarf as it trails a mile behind her in traffic, with rickshaw honking after the bike, the whole highway constantly threatened by the insistent vibrations of blaring car horns. “Green” cannot capture the camera-shy twist of a parrot’s wings as it dives in and out of the plastered walls of a collapsing mosque. “Demure” does nothing for the painted eyes of an Indian woman as she ducks away from the street stalls of shouting hawkers, glances trained to her bruised toes. “Corpulent” comes close, but is still an ineffective word for the round belly and sweating face of the leering cab operator who has politely robbed us of eight-hundred rupees.
As you can see, of course – words can do nothing for experience. However, I will do my best to describe our adventures here with my scant cover of language.

Here are some older paragraphs I wrote, long before I really knew what we were about to encounter. They won’t get you to India, but they will get you halfway here:
The moment one steps through the doors of an airport terminal, all personal identity ceases. We become a singular rush of colors, shoes, and suitcases. Some faces are distinctive. A few voices rise above the guttural rumble of a thousand bodies: “You sir! Are you flying Delta this morning? Ma’am! Might I interest you… Look at the dog! Mommy I’m HUNGRY; don’t bite strangers! Henry sit down or we’ll go back to Mexico,” but with a loss of identity comes a loss of memory. Details become like wet rocks, impossible to cling to in the liquid rush.
Flights become long and indistinguishable. In eight hours of sitting without standing, meals served, a tango of plastic water glasses, it is easy to watch three films back-to-back without acknowledging the passage of six hours. One’s familiarity, sleep patterns, and hunger are left on the ground. There is no difference between day and night. Three days are one, and time zones fluctuate like the readings on a Richter meter. Thus stripped of personal identity and human physicality, we fly, encased in our seats, cryogenically frozen but wide awake.
Tracking through my vague memory of our flights is like watching a tape being rewound. Somewhere in the static and whine was a stop in Amsterdam. Everything was square there, and the ceilings were low. The usage of color was drastically different from the hermetically sealed white walls of our airports.

Odd or God?

Here is a synchronicity, connections story. Yesterday I helped Sara put up some bookshelves and as she was deciding how to shelve them we talked about definitions of classical literature and I made a comment that it's probably not by the number of books sold because Chairman Mao's Little Red Book had been the most published book but it probably isn't "great" literature. Sara had not heard of it and I told her that I had a copy somewhere, probably downstairs on a book shelf. As we searched for the little red book I found a couple of old Red Bird Missionary Conference journals and the 1987 one was printed with a red cover. I remembered that I was in a photograph that year so I showed it to Sara. It was a picture of the Harry Denman evangelism award being presented to the Manchester UMC that I had served.
Then as long as Sara and I were looking at those seldom visited book shelves, I noticed (why?) an old plain covered book and wanted to see what it was. It was E Stanley Jones' book on Gandhi and since we were headed to India this month, I thought I would look it over further. I opened the cover to have Harry Denman's signature jump out at me. He had given it to soembody. I had not realized this before and when I bought this used book in Boston , seminary days, in 1981 I probably didn't even know who Harry Denman was! So now I am reading the book on Gandhi and appreciating Harry Denman's autograph. But what coincidence!
...Books, to Red Book, to red covered copy of the Red Bird Missionary conference, to Harry Denman award, to Harry Denman signature, to Gandhi, India, and our going to India? What next? Actually in hindsight I could add a couple of more connections to this string! (The lay couple I worked with at the Joy Center in Kentucky were the Denmans!)
But all of this is just an example for my point, or question. Do things like this happen often and we just don't notice them? Is it random, meaningful, or just curiously interesting? Does this work into your sense of God or spirituality? What is odd, is that I very quickly ,intuitively connected these events as being related! Why? How do you interpret those kind of things in your life?
Rambling on....to what next?
Rory

At a shopping mall in Albury, Australia there was sign over a large area in the mall. It said; “Centre of life.” Maybe somebody might think that shopping was the “center of life'” but when we went to explore the sign, we saw that it marked the food court dining area. Now, of course, food itself may not be the center of life either, but in the church we also have pointed to a dining table and food as the center of our identity and worship life. Holy Communion, or the Lord's Supper, is the center of life for us. We are centered in the fellowship of Christ where we share together this feast of faith, hope and love. Christianity is a community of grace, hospitality and welcome. God's table is at the center of life for us. There is a place for you! Share the invitation!

O GOD, who makes all things new, new stars, new dust, new life; take my heart, every hardened edge and measured beat, and create something new in me. I need your newness, God, the rough parts of me me made smooth; the stagnant, stirred, the stuck, freed; the unkind, forgiven. And then, by the power of your Spirit, I need to be turned toward Love again. Amen.

- Pamela Hawkins
The Awkward Season: Prayers for Lent

From p. 30 of The Awkward Season: Prayers for Lent. Copyright (C) 2009 by Pamela Hawkins.
via Upper Room web site

Lent and Green Space

Green Space.
City planners and developers know the idea of having green space. We cannot have all concrete and buildings. We need boulevards, hedges, setbacks and parks with grass and trees. It is spiritually true as well. You need green space in your life. We cannot be all work and business. Sabbath is green space; so is prayer, joy, beauty, rest, laughter and pleasure. These are not luxuries, but necessities! Are you planning and protecting green space for you and those around you. Are you spending time there?

Ash Wednesday Wisdom
Bishop Sally Dyck's recent blog article invited us to think about the Haiti earthquake and what it might be like to be trapped and wondering if you will even be found. She told of some trapped persons singing hymns together during the 55 hours of waiting. She then asks us to think of what hymn or scriptures we might recall or recite if we were in some similar situation. We were invited to post our thoughts as comments. Frankly, it's not a thought I want to go very deeply into. Oh yes, I could think of my favorite reassuring verse or songs, but to really contemplate my death....and what my final thoughts would be; I would rather not do that even though the recent tragic situations do push us to those imaginations. As a pastor, with you, it has also come much too often as we gather for those funerals and memorials in the church family.

Yet, our Christian spiritual journey does push us exactly into that unpopular corner of pondering our mortality. It is not just the fear based ranting of an old time preacher announcing that you could die tonight! We intentionality have a few special days assigned for it All Saints Sunday is one, Easter too! But it gets specifically named in the up-coming season of Lent and Ash Wednesday Its not a well attended day in most of our Protestant churches and , many don't even acknowledge it. The day of the Ashes smudged on us with the solemn words "Remember that you are dust and to dust you will return;" is a deeply honest recognition of our mortality, our fragile giftedness upon the earth. It is not meant to be a day of groveling in morbidness. It is reverently naming a truth of who we are. Even in the ashes, we are marked for life in Jesus Christ and are marked with hope as God's beloved people. Death will be a part of the journey in Life. Our denial only distorts the spiritual condition.
In my journal I have pasted some pages based on Stephen Levine's research project called "The Year to Live.” Levine teaches in the areas of grief and terminal illness. He worked with questions such as : If you thought the coming year would be your last, what changes would you make in your life? Who would you connect with? Would you have any regrets? Then in his “project” he acted as if he would be alive for only one more year. He reviewed past events, both good and bad, that had impacted his life. He was inspired to show his gratitude and appreciation to the many people who had touched his life in positive ways. He developed a more loving and compassionate view of the world. He found strength to forgive past hurts and resentments that he had been hanging on to. The thought of dying allowed him to find the courage to commit to living a full life, and in a way to overcome the fear of death. When you are living on borrowed time, every minute counts. His project was less about completing "a bucket list" of adventures, than about doing good, volunteering, encouraging others; living more gently, reflecting on life, from a different Light. I think that is ultimately what the Lenten ashes are meant to do. You are dust, but the Lenten discipline calls us to a time of reflection, reorganizing, considering the direction of life. We are dust but this dust too, is held and formed into life by the hand and breath of God; creator of heaven and earth. Maybe Mary Oliver has the spirit when she says “To live in this world you must be able to do three things: to love what is mortal; to hold it against your bones knowing your own life depends on it; and, when the time comes to let it go, to let it go." ~ Mary Oliver ~ (American Primitive)

Peace,
(also printed in the Park newsletter)

As Sara and I plan to join Beth on her next trip to Mumbai in March I have been trying to find out about the methodist church and came up with this info from http://new.gbgm-umc.org/advance/resources/news/?C=6088&i=26320


Slumdog Millionaire" and the True Story of Hope in Methodist Street Children's Ministries
"Slumdog Millionaire" swept the Academy Awards. Yet the subject of the movie is not new to the Methodist Ministry in Mumbai, India, which has been helping street children for decades.

Tune in to this three-minute video to witness the real-life story of hope for street children in Mumbai.

The Methodist Church in Mumbai supports 20 centers for street children in 13 impoverished communities. Children from 1 to 14 years old have a safe place to receive a meal, health care, recreation, and a simple education. Older children are taught technical skills like chalk making and weaving. The children also learn Bollywood dance steps. After all, Mumbai is home to the largest film industry in the world.

"As portrayed so well in the movie, 'Slumdog Millionaire,' many street children are forced into a life of begging either by family members or by unscrupulous adults who used them for their own gain," said Max Marble, Office of Creative Ministries, The United Methodist Church, Missouri Conference, and the maker of the series "MissionCast." "It is my hope that the movie will continue to draw attention to the plight of street children the world over."

Support these United Methodist Advance projects to continue providing hope to the street children of Mumbai.

#3020560 - Talents Intended for Development and Enterprise (Mumbai)

#3020515 - Technical Training for Street Children (Mumbai)

#212383 - Women Equality and Development of the Community Outreach Program (Mumbai)

ALLOWING OURSELVES TO MOURN develops our capacity to feel life’s joys. I believe that positive and negative emotions are two sides of the same coin. Of course, many of us would prefer to experience and deal with only positive feelings. We often feel uncomfortable with our own or others’ sadness, anger, disappointments, fears. … As we learn to feel all our feelings, we explore what it means to be fully human, to be all that God created us to be.

- Mary Lou Redding
The Power of a Focused Heart: 8 Lessons from the Beatitudes

From p. 31 of The Power of a Focused Heart: 8 Life Lessons from the Beatitudes by Mary Lou Redding. Copyright (c) 2006


And also this similar thought: God turns you from one feeling to another and teaches by means of opposites, so that you have two wings to fly, not one.
— Rumi quoted in Love Is a Fire by Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee
by way of Spirituality and Practice

from Verse and Voice at Sojourners

Silence frees us from the need to control others ... A frantic stream of words flows from us in an attempt to straighten others out. We want so desperately for them to agree with us, to see things our way. We evaluate people, judge people, condemn people. We devour people with our words. Silence is one of the deepest Disciplines of the Spirit simply because it puts the stopper on that.
- Richard Foster, from his book Freedom of Simplicity

"Let us remind the frivolous how much they need to gird up their loins and flight like gladiators against the common enemies of humanity. And let us also remind the earnest contenders for all good causes how much life needs the illumination of beauty, the enrichment of art, the refinement of grace, the stimulus of rhythm, and the leaven of laughter. Life is a struggle and life is also a dance." Winfred Garrison, Affirmative Religion, 1928
copied from http://religiousliberal.blogspot.com/

Henri Nouwen:
Forgiveness, the Cement of Community Life


Community is not possible without the willingness to forgive one another "seventy-seven times" (see Matthew 18:22). Forgiveness is the cement of community life. Forgiveness holds us together through good and bad times, and it allows us to grow in mutual love.

But what is there to forgive or to ask forgiveness for? As people who have hearts that long for perfect love, we have to forgive one another for not being able to give or receive that perfect love in our everyday lives. Our many needs constantly interfere with our desire to be there for the other unconditionally. Our love is always limited by spoken or unspoken conditions. What needs to be forgiven? We need to forgive one another for not being God!

WE MUST LISTEN for God day by day. We must keep an ear open to our neighbor, an ear to our hearts, and a third ear to God. Faith is a journey led by God. We pause, wait, and listen for the Guide who speaks more often than not in a still, small voice that requires careful, patient attention.

- J. Marhsall Jenkins
A Wakeful Faith: Spiritual Practice in the Real World

From p. 69 of A Wakeful Faith: Spiritual Practice in the Real World by J. Marshall Jenkins. Copyright (c) 2000 by J. Marshall Jenkins. Published by The Upper Room. All Rights Reserved

Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause the philanthropist to overlook the circumstances of economic injustice which make philanthropy necessary.
- Martin Luther King Jr.
copied from Verse and Voice, Sojourners

For Haiti.......
http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umcor/

Gifts to support UMCOR's Haiti Relief efforts can be made to Haiti Emergency, UMCOR Advance #418325. Checks can be made to UMCOR with Advance #418325 Haiti Emergency in the memo line. Checks can be put in the church's offering plate or mailed to UMCOR, PO Box 9068, New York, NY 10087

100% of gifts made to this advance will go to help the people of Haiti.

UMCOR Sager Brown is coordinating a shipment of health kits to provide individuals with basic necessities. Instructions for assembling and shipping health kits are available at http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umcor/getconnected/supplies/health-kit/.

Please pray for all of the people affected by the earthquake in Haiti. Thank you for your faithful support for all of God’s children.

The Still, Small Voice of Love

Many voices ask for our attention. There is a voice that says, "Prove that you are a good person." Another voice says, "You'd better be ashamed of yourself." There also is a voice that says, "Nobody really cares about you," and one that says, "Be sure to become successful, popular, and powerful." But underneath all these often very noisy voices is a still, small voice that says, "You are my Beloved, my favor rests on you." That's the voice we need most of all to hear. To hear that voice, however, requires special effort; it requires solitude, silence, and a strong determination to listen.

That's what prayer is. It is listening to the voice that calls us "my Beloved."

From the Henri Nouwen Daily Meditation email

KarmaTube: Gandhi's Kingsley Hall Address

KarmaTube: Gandhi's Kingsley Hall Address

iJourney: Receiving Each Day as an Invitation

iJourney: Receiving Each Day as an Invitation

ETERNAL GOD, Give us discerning hearts to recognize the fear in our anger, the muffled hope in our cynicism, and the wounds we carry as weapons. Help us see ourselves as you see us, and love ourselves and others with your gracious love. Amen.

- Melissa Tidwell
Alive Now

By Melissa Tidwell in Alive Now Magazine, January/February 2001, p. 20. Copyright (C) 2001 by The Upper Room. All Rights Reserved

IN ORDER TO LIVE the life God yearns for us to have, we must let go of where we are now and what we love in order to live into the bigger place to which God is calling us.We have to be willing to endure chaos and not know where it will all end in order to experience new life.

- Valerie K. Isenhower and Judith A. Todd
Living into the Answers: A Workbook for Personal Spiritual Discernment

From p. 22 of Living into the Answers: A Workbook for Personal Spiritual Discernment by Valerie K. Isenhower and Judith A. Todd. Copyright © 2008

THOUGH we are often inhospitable, God keeps coming, and without regard for a designated season is born in mystery where the known and unknown dance on the edge of the miraculous. Angels appear in human disguise, a hallelujah chorus surrounding us in the fields of this common earth we walk on and watch from. Behind paper windows are symbols we don’t yet recognize, and our unlighted candles burst into flame on altars we haven’t acknowledged. Around us the breathing of the animals is slow and deep, their expectant, steady gaze directed toward the rough door that is just beginning to open. Each night, the stars signal a new journey, and all year long God keeps coming.

- Jeanne Lohmann
Alive Now

From “God Keeps Coming” by Jeanne Lohmann in ALIVE NOW(R), November/December 2000, p. 56. Edited by George R. Graham. Copyright © 2000 by The Upper Room

Another good one one to read and ponder by Dan Dick at
http://doroteos2.wordpress.com/

GOD OF NEW BEGINNINGS, guide me through the seasons of the coming year. Whatever joy or hardship I face, let me face it standing with you. Whatever building up or tearing down that I encounter, let me take action under your care. For you are the creator of every season. Amen.

- Beth A. Richardson
The Uncluttered Heart: Making Room for God During Advent and Christmas

From p. 66 of The Uncluttered Heart. Copyright © 2009 The Upper Room