1. Children's significant activities take precedence over parental significant activities. (Though what better anniversary gift than a dedicated song from a remarkable singer who consists of the gene pool that was created when we said "I do.")
2. The best intentions meet with reality and have to be modified. (OK...long story, but Carl's gift had to be exchanged in order for his wife to be able to breathe again.)
3. Church ladies are the same all over the world. The church ladies that care for my daughter in Greenville are the same as the ones who cared for us as newlyweds...and ever since. God bless um...
4. Every day is an adventure...and easy or hard...it is a blessing to share the adventure with my husband of 30 years.
5. Working hard at relationships, whether it is marriage or faith is what makes life worthwhile...
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
God Provides...
Much hand-wringing happens in today's churches...especially those in our very wealthy country. Poor us...economy is weak...salaries are down...church income is down...down...down...down...
Why doesn't God provide for us? We are, after all, trying to do God's work in the world. Why is money so hard to come by.
I think it is Shirley Guthrie who says WE are the church...and if you are complaining about the church, you are definitively complaining about yourself...because church is not some "other" out there...it is what you see when you look in the mirror. And here's the jarring realization of the week. God has provided for his church. He asks each member of the church for 10% of their income.
Now God doesn't say give 10% to charitable causes and be sure a couple percentage point go to the church. God asks for 10%. The Old Testament understanding of tithe fascinates me. EVERYTHING belonged to God. That meant EVERYTHING was sacred...not for use by humans. The practice of bringing the first fruits (the famous or infamous 10%) to the temple desacralized the other 90% and made it usable for humans. Imagine the significance of a practice where you cannot use any of your paycheck until you get the first 10% to the church.
If our church tithed (assuming 10% of a median income in this area...which is probably lower than our actual income) we would literally more than double our church budget. We would have so many financial resources we would really have to think about what to do with it all.
Hand wringing is off the table. Get out the mirrors. God does provide.
Why doesn't God provide for us? We are, after all, trying to do God's work in the world. Why is money so hard to come by.
I think it is Shirley Guthrie who says WE are the church...and if you are complaining about the church, you are definitively complaining about yourself...because church is not some "other" out there...it is what you see when you look in the mirror. And here's the jarring realization of the week. God has provided for his church. He asks each member of the church for 10% of their income.
Now God doesn't say give 10% to charitable causes and be sure a couple percentage point go to the church. God asks for 10%. The Old Testament understanding of tithe fascinates me. EVERYTHING belonged to God. That meant EVERYTHING was sacred...not for use by humans. The practice of bringing the first fruits (the famous or infamous 10%) to the temple desacralized the other 90% and made it usable for humans. Imagine the significance of a practice where you cannot use any of your paycheck until you get the first 10% to the church.
If our church tithed (assuming 10% of a median income in this area...which is probably lower than our actual income) we would literally more than double our church budget. We would have so many financial resources we would really have to think about what to do with it all.
Hand wringing is off the table. Get out the mirrors. God does provide.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Who is Your Village?
Lots to say this week. Article in Time Magazine about Bruce Feiler, author of tons of great books. Feiler was recently diagnosed with an extraordinarily rare form of aggressive cancer (only 100 people get this every year in this country) and faced his mortality more intensely than most of us do at his age...or any age probably. The presence of his three year old daughter immediately set him to thinking who would teach/model/tell her about...instill in her...the qualities that he intended to nurture in her as he raised her. That led to a new book, Council of Dads, about the men he contacted and the conversations he had with them about helping raise his daughter if he died.
The cancer is in remission, but the idea of a council of dads is rooted in the idea of "body of Christ." The hardest thing we ever did as parents was try to identify guardians for our young children in case of a disaster. No one was exactly like us. In the midst of the craziness we call church, I see its miracle...the sharing of gifts to "mature in the faith." You see them...a mom who is super organized and has the ability to streamline activities so they are simply done and easily accomplished but who is definitively challenged in the arena of small talk...a wonderful speaker/devotional leader who can't keep track of their calendar appointments...the kindest, most caring person in the world who cannot read the church budget even though its been explained to him a dozen times...the member who is magical with elementary children but totally lost with middle schoolers...or the person who adores middle and high schoolers but cannot deal with a crying infant.
Some of us teach, some preach, some do pastoral care, some budget, some property...if we identify our strengths. We do other things too...but many of then not so well. But what an incredible way to construct a world...where different people have different gifts...where only in the working together are we able to accomplish the highest levels of expertise because we can all do what we do best.
I was in a committee meeting once where we were discussion personnel salaries in this church context and the proposal was made to pay everyone on staff an equal amount because all were equally needed to do the jobs we needed to do. That is the kingdom of God...where the lion and the lamb, the secretary and the boss all give their best and are rewarded the same.
In the meantime...I am grateful to be part of a community that teaches my biological children and my church children the best of all skills and talents through the gifts of the community gathered by God to bring God's love and grace to the world.
The cancer is in remission, but the idea of a council of dads is rooted in the idea of "body of Christ." The hardest thing we ever did as parents was try to identify guardians for our young children in case of a disaster. No one was exactly like us. In the midst of the craziness we call church, I see its miracle...the sharing of gifts to "mature in the faith." You see them...a mom who is super organized and has the ability to streamline activities so they are simply done and easily accomplished but who is definitively challenged in the arena of small talk...a wonderful speaker/devotional leader who can't keep track of their calendar appointments...the kindest, most caring person in the world who cannot read the church budget even though its been explained to him a dozen times...the member who is magical with elementary children but totally lost with middle schoolers...or the person who adores middle and high schoolers but cannot deal with a crying infant.
I was in a committee meeting once where we were discussion personnel salaries in this church context and the proposal was made to pay everyone on staff an equal amount because all were equally needed to do the jobs we needed to do. That is the kingdom of God...where the lion and the lamb, the secretary and the boss all give their best and are rewarded the same.
In the meantime...I am grateful to be part of a community that teaches my biological children and my church children the best of all skills and talents through the gifts of the community gathered by God to bring God's love and grace to the world.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Christ in the Headlights...
(Thank you Tom for your brilliance! I am shamelessly stealing it!)
At a meeting last night we were talking about all the conflict that can arise in church communities between generations or political stances or worship styles or really anything else on which a human can take a stand. We were talking about disciplining ourselves to remember that each party in conflict is trying to hear and do what they think God wants them to hear and do...we just tend to get smothered in the "oughts" of our own preferences. Tom suggested it is like a bunch of cars with headlights on bright pointing at each other. Everyone is blinded by the lights to anything outside their own car.
Remembering to turn our cars to point toward the true "road map" if you want to milk the metaphor...looking toward Jesus Christ...reading the biblical text together...praying together..."driving" together...suddenly we can see the road ahead and we are traveling it together. The potholes are illuminated and the company is moving forward--still in our own way with our own gifts and kind of car...but together and not blinded by each other.
My picture of faith for the day...
At a meeting last night we were talking about all the conflict that can arise in church communities between generations or political stances or worship styles or really anything else on which a human can take a stand. We were talking about disciplining ourselves to remember that each party in conflict is trying to hear and do what they think God wants them to hear and do...we just tend to get smothered in the "oughts" of our own preferences. Tom suggested it is like a bunch of cars with headlights on bright pointing at each other. Everyone is blinded by the lights to anything outside their own car.
Remembering to turn our cars to point toward the true "road map" if you want to milk the metaphor...looking toward Jesus Christ...reading the biblical text together...praying together..."driving" together...suddenly we can see the road ahead and we are traveling it together. The potholes are illuminated and the company is moving forward--still in our own way with our own gifts and kind of car...but together and not blinded by each other.
My picture of faith for the day...
Monday, May 10, 2010
Disturbance...
I was reading the newspaper and the headline story is this one about the Mumbai terrorist that they caught getting a death sentence. I personally think the death penalty is barbaric, but it is a legal consequence in many judicial systems. So, I expected a death sentence, but not the disturbance I got.
Look at the picture with the headline:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/07/world/asia/07mumbai.html?hp
The facial expression suits the winning of a lottery...the birth of a child...the opening of a business...the celebration of an anniversary. NOT the killing of a human being.
I know we live in the "between times." I know sometimes there are no good answers. I know that the terrorist "deserved" death...I know we all are guilty of behaviors that lead to the deaths of others, even if we don't plan and implement those deaths. But should we celebrate like this?
The death of a human created in the image of God should disturb us all any time, any where. We may implement a human consequence, but we should do so fully aware of the grace that God has extended us and weeping for the brokenness we cannot control.
God forgive us our sins.
Look at the picture with the headline:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/07/world/asia/07mumbai.html?hp
The facial expression suits the winning of a lottery...the birth of a child...the opening of a business...the celebration of an anniversary. NOT the killing of a human being.
I know we live in the "between times." I know sometimes there are no good answers. I know that the terrorist "deserved" death...I know we all are guilty of behaviors that lead to the deaths of others, even if we don't plan and implement those deaths. But should we celebrate like this?
The death of a human created in the image of God should disturb us all any time, any where. We may implement a human consequence, but we should do so fully aware of the grace that God has extended us and weeping for the brokenness we cannot control.
God forgive us our sins.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Is God Around?
Just finished Jodi Picoult's book Keeping Faith about a seven year old girl who sees and talks to God. She's a great writer and her books are page turners--but she is not a strong ending writer...If you are going to read the book and insist on being totally surprised...go read someone else's blog. I'm not spoiling all the ending, just the part about God.
So the whole book is set up to illustrate the inexplicable miracle of faith and how one person's experience touches others. Even the most skeptical and non-religious around Faith (the child) have to at least consider the possibility of God's love and existence. No threats of hell, no condemnations...just this presence of loving and healing, and interestingly, suffering.
But at the end of the book, after all the decisions are made (and those I'm not spoiling for you), Faith goes to bed and seeks God and "no one is there."
Why is it that if we are not literally seeing God we assume no one is there and we are not being listened to. Why do we make the leap that the reality of God's existence is only in the visible, physical presence. No question that God is often difficult to sense...feelings of God's absence are common...we often can't see where God is or where we are in God. No argument there. But understanding God as the creator of our world, the giver of the grace we call Jesus Christ, the gift of salvation for all people...why would we assume that just because we cannot see or feel the work, that God is not working.
I've often wondered what was wrong with the Hebrew people who were brought out of Egyptian slavery by the visible power of God and as soon as things got rough in the wilderness, insisted God was not with them. Ever had an experience with your child that after feeding them meals, taking them to school and activities, problem-solving with them, perhaps even treating them to ice-cream or allowing them to have friends over, washing their clothes, cleaning their rooms, providing their lodging and sustenance with your own job...then at then end of the day when they do not get the requested designer jeans the charge is..."You just don't love me!"
Ridiculous, right? But the same assumption is fine when it is us and God. Oh, poor Faith. God abandoned her to the evils of the world. She can no longer see God and no one is listening.
Eugene Peterson in his book Practice Resurrection, reminds us that "All Christian spirituality is thoroughly incarnational--in Jesus, to be sure, but also in us." Growing up in faith means recognizing that most of us, most of the time, will experience the presence of God in and through other humans, in and through creation, in and through the discipline of serving others.
In a nutshell, the ending of the book made me mad. God provided a wealth of love and security and healing in Faith's life...even provided the miracle of visible presence that most of us never experience. Having experienced the grace of God through incarnational gifts from other humans, having read the history of God's work in the world in the biblical texts and in other people's stories, I recognize that God is at work even when I can't define God's work or perhaps even see it. Ephesians challenges us to "grow up" and assume the presence and not the absence of God. The lack of designer jeans does not equate to a lack of love from a parent. The lack of being able to touch and talk to God in any form does not equate to the absence of God in our lives.
(I'm stepping off my soapbox...now...)
So the whole book is set up to illustrate the inexplicable miracle of faith and how one person's experience touches others. Even the most skeptical and non-religious around Faith (the child) have to at least consider the possibility of God's love and existence. No threats of hell, no condemnations...just this presence of loving and healing, and interestingly, suffering.
But at the end of the book, after all the decisions are made (and those I'm not spoiling for you), Faith goes to bed and seeks God and "no one is there."
Why is it that if we are not literally seeing God we assume no one is there and we are not being listened to. Why do we make the leap that the reality of God's existence is only in the visible, physical presence. No question that God is often difficult to sense...feelings of God's absence are common...we often can't see where God is or where we are in God. No argument there. But understanding God as the creator of our world, the giver of the grace we call Jesus Christ, the gift of salvation for all people...why would we assume that just because we cannot see or feel the work, that God is not working.
I've often wondered what was wrong with the Hebrew people who were brought out of Egyptian slavery by the visible power of God and as soon as things got rough in the wilderness, insisted God was not with them. Ever had an experience with your child that after feeding them meals, taking them to school and activities, problem-solving with them, perhaps even treating them to ice-cream or allowing them to have friends over, washing their clothes, cleaning their rooms, providing their lodging and sustenance with your own job...then at then end of the day when they do not get the requested designer jeans the charge is..."You just don't love me!"
Ridiculous, right? But the same assumption is fine when it is us and God. Oh, poor Faith. God abandoned her to the evils of the world. She can no longer see God and no one is listening.
Eugene Peterson in his book Practice Resurrection, reminds us that "All Christian spirituality is thoroughly incarnational--in Jesus, to be sure, but also in us." Growing up in faith means recognizing that most of us, most of the time, will experience the presence of God in and through other humans, in and through creation, in and through the discipline of serving others.
In a nutshell, the ending of the book made me mad. God provided a wealth of love and security and healing in Faith's life...even provided the miracle of visible presence that most of us never experience. Having experienced the grace of God through incarnational gifts from other humans, having read the history of God's work in the world in the biblical texts and in other people's stories, I recognize that God is at work even when I can't define God's work or perhaps even see it. Ephesians challenges us to "grow up" and assume the presence and not the absence of God. The lack of designer jeans does not equate to a lack of love from a parent. The lack of being able to touch and talk to God in any form does not equate to the absence of God in our lives.
(I'm stepping off my soapbox...now...)
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