“Just because the tomb is empty doesn’t mean your life has to be.” That is the phrase a pastor friend used to end his Easter sermon. These words have been rattling in my heart and brain ever since I have heard them. I guess I have been thinking about this a lot lately because I have been with some of our church families recently as they said goodbye to their loved ones.
These times remind me acutely again of how short life is and how very fast it goes. This one sentence seems to me to go very well with what I am reading now.
I am reading Thomas A Kempis’ “Imitation of Christ” as part of my daily devotion time. This is a neat little book – a devotional classics - written by a 14th century German monk. It reads a little like the book of Proverbs. Great wisdom to be found there. The book is divided into four “books” covering various aspects of the spiritual life. In the first “book”, there is a short chapter called “Meditation on death” (chapter 23.) Certain sentences leaped from the page for me and made me stop and think:
“What good is a long life if we do not use it to advance spiritually?” “Many count the years of their conversion, but often there is little to show for it.”
“How happy and wise are those who try now to become what they would want to be at the hour of death.”
“Time is precious now, and now is the day of salvation, the acceptable time. But alas, that you spend the time so unprofitably! The time will come when you will wish that you had one more day – even one hour – to put your life in order, but there is no assurance that you will get it.”
“Attend to those things that are to God’s honor and glory. Honor the Saints and follow their example and you will have friends waiting ‘to receive you into everlasting dwellings’ (Luke 16:9) when you life here is ended.”
Easter is a time to not only remember that the tomb was empty but that it is empty still and for us this means Life! Not only Life on the other side of Heaven but Life here and now! In his life, death and resurrection Jesus is calling us to Life abundant. A life of service and giving of ourselves to others…
Do you have some things you need to attend to? Someone to forgive or ask forgiveness from? Some unhealed placed in your heart? Is there someone who needs to hear that you love them? Who needs to see that you love them?
How is your soul? What’s going on with you and Jesus?
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Friday, January 29, 2010
Stories of our lives
This article was written for our February issue of our church newsletter, the Beacon.
I have been thinking about stories a lot lately. Actually I think about stories pretty much all the time. I think this is because I am a pastor and a preacher and I make my living in part by telling stories, stories of the Bible in particular. But I don’t tell stories just to tell stories, I tell stories in order to help folks (including myself) come to know God, through Jesus, better and hopefully help them form an enduring relationship with Him. That is how I came to belief in Christ and how I became and, am becoming still a follower, because folks have told me stories of Jesus. But also, and maybe most importantly, I came to faith because, not only did I hear the stories, but I saw the folks who told me those stories, actually live them out. These people were my grandmothers, a few pastors, certain people in my small groups at church, etc… We usually never come to faith on our own, but instead through people and stories.
We are all surrounded by stories. Our lives are a series of stories. Some are good stories and some are not so good stories. When we adopt not so good stories and allow them somehow to dominate our life (not usually consciously at first), we often get in trouble. There is a form of psychotherapy called “narrative therapy”. I am not a trained psychotherapist but it seems to me that some of the stories we believe and follow really have a negative impact in our lives. I am pretty sure we all have some of those stories in our lives – some have been spoken out loud and some have been somehow “understood” without being verbalized. Some of us have heard, “you are stupid”, “you are fat”, “you’ll never amount to anything” etc… early on and we still live with that deeply hurtful legacy. It often translates in an almost “self-prophesied” way” “I am stupid therefore I am helpless and nothing in my life is good and nothing in my life will ever change…” type scenario… I have seen a few folks coming to the church office to talk with me who seemed to live out this scenario. They remained in life-draining, abusive situation and nothing I offered - which from my standpoint could help – made a difference. They seemed to expect me to change their circumstances without any change or involvement on their part.
Jesus confronted a man who seemed to live out this “helpless scenario” in John 5:1-15. I love Jesus because he cuts to the chase. He tells the man stuck on the edge of the pool: “Do you want to get well?”
Not only some people live out negative stories but organizations – churches - do also. Churches – these communal organisms, these groupings of people, adopt negative stories which they end up living by – we are too old, too small, too this or not enough that – with predictable results of decline and even death. “Do you want to get well?” Jesus asks.
What I want to tell you, to remind you of – if you are stuck in a negative, sad, story, which saps the life and joy out of you - is that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6). He came so that we could have abundant life (John 10:10) and he can help you rewrite your story and get unstuck. Trust in Him and give Him your life! And really follow Him!
I have been thinking about stories a lot lately. Actually I think about stories pretty much all the time. I think this is because I am a pastor and a preacher and I make my living in part by telling stories, stories of the Bible in particular. But I don’t tell stories just to tell stories, I tell stories in order to help folks (including myself) come to know God, through Jesus, better and hopefully help them form an enduring relationship with Him. That is how I came to belief in Christ and how I became and, am becoming still a follower, because folks have told me stories of Jesus. But also, and maybe most importantly, I came to faith because, not only did I hear the stories, but I saw the folks who told me those stories, actually live them out. These people were my grandmothers, a few pastors, certain people in my small groups at church, etc… We usually never come to faith on our own, but instead through people and stories.
We are all surrounded by stories. Our lives are a series of stories. Some are good stories and some are not so good stories. When we adopt not so good stories and allow them somehow to dominate our life (not usually consciously at first), we often get in trouble. There is a form of psychotherapy called “narrative therapy”. I am not a trained psychotherapist but it seems to me that some of the stories we believe and follow really have a negative impact in our lives. I am pretty sure we all have some of those stories in our lives – some have been spoken out loud and some have been somehow “understood” without being verbalized. Some of us have heard, “you are stupid”, “you are fat”, “you’ll never amount to anything” etc… early on and we still live with that deeply hurtful legacy. It often translates in an almost “self-prophesied” way” “I am stupid therefore I am helpless and nothing in my life is good and nothing in my life will ever change…” type scenario… I have seen a few folks coming to the church office to talk with me who seemed to live out this scenario. They remained in life-draining, abusive situation and nothing I offered - which from my standpoint could help – made a difference. They seemed to expect me to change their circumstances without any change or involvement on their part.
Jesus confronted a man who seemed to live out this “helpless scenario” in John 5:1-15. I love Jesus because he cuts to the chase. He tells the man stuck on the edge of the pool: “Do you want to get well?”
Not only some people live out negative stories but organizations – churches - do also. Churches – these communal organisms, these groupings of people, adopt negative stories which they end up living by – we are too old, too small, too this or not enough that – with predictable results of decline and even death. “Do you want to get well?” Jesus asks.
What I want to tell you, to remind you of – if you are stuck in a negative, sad, story, which saps the life and joy out of you - is that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6). He came so that we could have abundant life (John 10:10) and he can help you rewrite your story and get unstuck. Trust in Him and give Him your life! And really follow Him!
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
The practice of the presence of God
This originally was written for our January 2010 newsletter
There is a magnet on the metal file cabinet in my church office that I had never really paid attention to. It was there when I was appointed to Bethel.
I noticed it last week when I was sitting at my computer, looking around the office, out the window and as I was trying to slow down a bit to catch my breath. The last few weeks have been going at “warp speed” (if you are a Star Trek fan you know what that means.)
The magnet reads,
“Every Day, Find a Way, Practice the Presence of God”
This magnet reminded me of a classic devotional book bearing the same name, “The Practice of the Presence of God” which was compiled from conversations and letters, after Brother Lawrence died.
"My most usual method is this simple attention, an affectionate regard for God to whom I find myself often attached with greater sweetness and delight than that of an infant at the mother's breast. To choose an expression, I would call this state the bosom of God, for the inexpressible sweetness which I taste and experience there." This is how "Brother Lawrence" describes his constant practice of speaking with and reflecting upon God amidst the mundane tasks of life. Nicholas Herman (c. 1605-1691) was born in Lorraine, France, and served as a cook and shoe repairer at a Carmelite monastery. He was only a lay member of the order, and walked with a limp from injuries incurred as a soldier, yet his private thoughts provide a wellspring of devotional insight and refreshment.”
“His method was to cultivate at all times a consciousness of the presence of God. According to Brother Lawrence, wherever we might find ourselves, whatever the task at hand, we should perform our duties with a consciousness of God’s loving presence. With such an awareness all our activities were hallowed; we would thus find ourselves in a state of continuous prayer or conversation with God… Brother Lawrence made no distinction between great works and small. As he liked to observe, God, ‘regards not the greatness of the work, but the love with which it is performed.”
I don’t usually make New Year resolution because by February, they usually peter out but my wish for all of us would be that we would cultivate “the practice of the presence of God”, that we would be ever more mindful that God is with us always. In order to do this, I believe we need to hear/feel God. For more introverted persons like me, this means I need to slow down (Elijah heard God in the still small voice - a gentle whisper - not in the wind or the earthquake or the fire – 1 Kings 19:11-13); for the more extroverted among us, this may mean something else but I suspect we all need to slow down daily. I believe that without this awareness we will not follow God’s guidance well because we won’t know what that guidance is.
May we be ever more open to God’s guidance this year, not only as individuals but as a whole church.
There is a magnet on the metal file cabinet in my church office that I had never really paid attention to. It was there when I was appointed to Bethel.
I noticed it last week when I was sitting at my computer, looking around the office, out the window and as I was trying to slow down a bit to catch my breath. The last few weeks have been going at “warp speed” (if you are a Star Trek fan you know what that means.)
The magnet reads,
“Every Day, Find a Way, Practice the Presence of God”
This magnet reminded me of a classic devotional book bearing the same name, “The Practice of the Presence of God” which was compiled from conversations and letters, after Brother Lawrence died.
"My most usual method is this simple attention, an affectionate regard for God to whom I find myself often attached with greater sweetness and delight than that of an infant at the mother's breast. To choose an expression, I would call this state the bosom of God, for the inexpressible sweetness which I taste and experience there." This is how "Brother Lawrence" describes his constant practice of speaking with and reflecting upon God amidst the mundane tasks of life. Nicholas Herman (c. 1605-1691) was born in Lorraine, France, and served as a cook and shoe repairer at a Carmelite monastery. He was only a lay member of the order, and walked with a limp from injuries incurred as a soldier, yet his private thoughts provide a wellspring of devotional insight and refreshment.”
“His method was to cultivate at all times a consciousness of the presence of God. According to Brother Lawrence, wherever we might find ourselves, whatever the task at hand, we should perform our duties with a consciousness of God’s loving presence. With such an awareness all our activities were hallowed; we would thus find ourselves in a state of continuous prayer or conversation with God… Brother Lawrence made no distinction between great works and small. As he liked to observe, God, ‘regards not the greatness of the work, but the love with which it is performed.”
I don’t usually make New Year resolution because by February, they usually peter out but my wish for all of us would be that we would cultivate “the practice of the presence of God”, that we would be ever more mindful that God is with us always. In order to do this, I believe we need to hear/feel God. For more introverted persons like me, this means I need to slow down (Elijah heard God in the still small voice - a gentle whisper - not in the wind or the earthquake or the fire – 1 Kings 19:11-13); for the more extroverted among us, this may mean something else but I suspect we all need to slow down daily. I believe that without this awareness we will not follow God’s guidance well because we won’t know what that guidance is.
May we be ever more open to God’s guidance this year, not only as individuals but as a whole church.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Annual Conference
Angie Hartman, our lay delegate to Annual Conference, and I participated in a historic event this past week: The first Annual Conference of the New Indiana Conference. (You might wonder about the meaning of the word Conference and why it is used differently in this same sentence. Annual Conference is a yearly event bringing together both lay and clergy delegates to work on the business of the Church but also to worship together and have fellowship. The New Indiana Conference is a geographical area, encompassing what were formerly the North and South Indiana Conferences. As you have read above in Dan’s article, the districts lines have also been redrawn. The Michiana District and parts of other districts will now be known as the North District. This North District is comprised of the counties of Lake, Porter, LaPorte, St. Joseph, Elkhart, Marshall (except Culver Emmanuel, Poplar Grove, Santa Anna, Richland Center, and Burton), Kosciusko (except for Pierceton, Morris Chapel, Packerton, Center, Mentone, Burkett, Akron, Beaver Dam, and Talma), plus DeMotte from Jasper County.
Our first Annual Conference of the New Indiana Conference also took place in a new location. For years, we had gathered at Purdue University in West Lafayette. This year, and probably for the next couple of years at least, we gathered at Ball State University in Muncie.
Because of the coming together of two geographical Conference areas, the number of delegates basically doubled at over 2000. I don’t recall the exact number which was given to us by the Bishop on the first day. That large number of delegates combined with a new, unfamiliar – at least for me – location was interesting. Needless to say that if you need to find someone, you better have their cell phone number, in order to get hold of them and set a meeting place.
We did conduct the business of the church but for me the best part of Annual Conference is the worship and preaching, fellowship and ordination service. Have you ever heard “O for a Thousand Tongue to Sing” sang by over 2000 people? Pretty cool! The praise team did a great job. I guess I am biased too because I have some friends singing in it. We heard good speakers, in Rev. Adam Hamilton and Rev. David Bell and a thoughtful ordination message from our Bishop Mike Coyner. He called it “Finish the Song”. It was a reminder that we are serving together and that when someone is in trouble, we are called to help them “finish the song” by supporting them and loving them. We should be in ministry serving together not as isolated as too many are.
I got to see pastor friends I had not seen in a long time because they are appointed pretty far from here. I shared a room with a good friend who was ordained this year. I remembered my ordination last year too but I think I was more excited about her being ordained than I was at my own ordination. Go figure…
I wrote briefly about community in our June newsletter. What I experienced at Annual Conference was community. A gathering of all kind of folks, different folks, with the same love for Jesus and desire to see His Kingdom grow here as it is in Heaven. Community is not always neat; it can be a little chaotic and messy but we are still the Body that Jesus has commissioned to do His work. We are a bunch of goofs and some would snicker that if we are the ones Jesus has commissioned to do His work, we are in deep trouble. In view of the declining membership of our churches and the fact that we are not reaching unchurched population as effectively as what Jesus calls us to, one could believe that but Jesus is clear that we are the ones. Someone said that we are the ones we have been waiting for. Indeed. No others are coming. We’re it! May the Spirit continue to grant us power and boldness for the task at hand! May we be known by our love and not our division.
Our first Annual Conference of the New Indiana Conference also took place in a new location. For years, we had gathered at Purdue University in West Lafayette. This year, and probably for the next couple of years at least, we gathered at Ball State University in Muncie.
Because of the coming together of two geographical Conference areas, the number of delegates basically doubled at over 2000. I don’t recall the exact number which was given to us by the Bishop on the first day. That large number of delegates combined with a new, unfamiliar – at least for me – location was interesting. Needless to say that if you need to find someone, you better have their cell phone number, in order to get hold of them and set a meeting place.
We did conduct the business of the church but for me the best part of Annual Conference is the worship and preaching, fellowship and ordination service. Have you ever heard “O for a Thousand Tongue to Sing” sang by over 2000 people? Pretty cool! The praise team did a great job. I guess I am biased too because I have some friends singing in it. We heard good speakers, in Rev. Adam Hamilton and Rev. David Bell and a thoughtful ordination message from our Bishop Mike Coyner. He called it “Finish the Song”. It was a reminder that we are serving together and that when someone is in trouble, we are called to help them “finish the song” by supporting them and loving them. We should be in ministry serving together not as isolated as too many are.
I got to see pastor friends I had not seen in a long time because they are appointed pretty far from here. I shared a room with a good friend who was ordained this year. I remembered my ordination last year too but I think I was more excited about her being ordained than I was at my own ordination. Go figure…
I wrote briefly about community in our June newsletter. What I experienced at Annual Conference was community. A gathering of all kind of folks, different folks, with the same love for Jesus and desire to see His Kingdom grow here as it is in Heaven. Community is not always neat; it can be a little chaotic and messy but we are still the Body that Jesus has commissioned to do His work. We are a bunch of goofs and some would snicker that if we are the ones Jesus has commissioned to do His work, we are in deep trouble. In view of the declining membership of our churches and the fact that we are not reaching unchurched population as effectively as what Jesus calls us to, one could believe that but Jesus is clear that we are the ones. Someone said that we are the ones we have been waiting for. Indeed. No others are coming. We’re it! May the Spirit continue to grant us power and boldness for the task at hand! May we be known by our love and not our division.
Community
Community. I have been thinking quite a bit about community recently. True community is hard to come by in our society yet it is what we were designed for. We were never meant to do life alone. We see this early on in Genesis, when God creates everything including man. It is very soon apparent that something is missing. God says, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” (Gen. 2:18) We were created for community because God is a community God. He is, after all, a triune God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We were created for community and we all need community.
I think of community because we celebrated the day of Pentecost on May 31. Pentecost Sunday is the final Sunday of Easter. We celebrate Pentecost (see Acts 2) as the “birth” of the Church – this corporate faith community. The Church emerges - out of a frightened band of followers - after the resurrection of Jesus and after he goes back to Heaven (celebrated on Ascension day). The Holy Spirit who comes forms the church by making the Risen Christ manifest in power.
The church is a community called together by the Spirit of the Risen One. As such, it is different than other “organizations” such as the Rotary or Kiwanis for example. “The Greek word for church (ekklesia, from which we derive “ecclesiastical” means “those who have been called forth or summoned, much as one is summoned to appear in a court of law. And we are called as a body of interdependent parts, not as separable individuals (see 1 Corinthians 12:4-31)… Participation therefore is not something we do on the basis of personal choice or need; participation in the Body of Christ is inherent in being Christian… Therefore Christians participate in the church not so much for what they can get as for what they can give, for what they can offer as an alternative to the dominant ways of the world.”
Our society tends to isolate us more and more. Families are distant, geographically and too often emotionally. People move quite a bit. We seldom know our neighbors. Isolation and loneliness are rampant.
I believe that what the church – at its best - can offer is a community that cannot be found outside of it: A community which points to Jesus, as the source of everything; a community where love and forgiveness and healing can be found in the midst of the craziness of this world; a community which worships the God who gives purpose and meaning to life; the God of our salvation.
I hope and pray that we are – that we can be - that kind of church.
I think of community because we celebrated the day of Pentecost on May 31. Pentecost Sunday is the final Sunday of Easter. We celebrate Pentecost (see Acts 2) as the “birth” of the Church – this corporate faith community. The Church emerges - out of a frightened band of followers - after the resurrection of Jesus and after he goes back to Heaven (celebrated on Ascension day). The Holy Spirit who comes forms the church by making the Risen Christ manifest in power.
The church is a community called together by the Spirit of the Risen One. As such, it is different than other “organizations” such as the Rotary or Kiwanis for example. “The Greek word for church (ekklesia, from which we derive “ecclesiastical” means “those who have been called forth or summoned, much as one is summoned to appear in a court of law. And we are called as a body of interdependent parts, not as separable individuals (see 1 Corinthians 12:4-31)… Participation therefore is not something we do on the basis of personal choice or need; participation in the Body of Christ is inherent in being Christian… Therefore Christians participate in the church not so much for what they can get as for what they can give, for what they can offer as an alternative to the dominant ways of the world.”
Our society tends to isolate us more and more. Families are distant, geographically and too often emotionally. People move quite a bit. We seldom know our neighbors. Isolation and loneliness are rampant.
I believe that what the church – at its best - can offer is a community that cannot be found outside of it: A community which points to Jesus, as the source of everything; a community where love and forgiveness and healing can be found in the midst of the craziness of this world; a community which worships the God who gives purpose and meaning to life; the God of our salvation.
I hope and pray that we are – that we can be - that kind of church.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Surprising Grace
There are moments in life when hard stuff seems to come in bunches. These past few weeks have been like this. Our church is facing challenges. Then health stuff in the form of stomach flu for Steve and I and then the worst sinus infection/cold that I ever remember getting for me, requiring antibiotics, which I am still on. I am usually never sick. Is that God’s way of saying it is time for a vacation?
This week-end we were in the Columbus, Ohio, area for me to do our 21 year old niece Jennifer’s gravesite service. She dropped dead with no warning on Steve’s birthday 1/29. I officiated at her funeral on 2/4 and the family asked me to come back on 6/6to commit her ashes, along with her dad’s ashes. Dwight, Steve’s older brother, died of cancer 10 years ago on Easter Sunday and his wife’ Carol had held on to his ashes until then. His birthday was on 6/5. Carol felt she was now ready to let go, so that we could bury Dwight’s ashes along with Jennifer’s. We got to the cemetery in Pataskala Saturday late morning, with a bunch of family and friends gathered, only to find out that nothing was ready. The plot was not marked. There was no hole dug and no one from the funeral home or the cemetery to greet us. Inquiring phone calls remained fruitless till after we decided to proceed, hole or no hole. After the service we found out that a miscommunication had occurred and that the funeral home/cemetery had us down for July 6 instead of June 6! Carol had to go home with the urn that day. Not the way it was supposed to be…
Then on Sunday morning I find a voice mail on my cell phone from the husband of Sara, our church secretary, announcing that she had died in her sleep during the night. She had just had cancer surgery over the Memorial Day week-end. We had all thought that things had gone well. So well in fact that Sara said she felt good and she wanted to come back to work! And she did for a couple of days against my better counsel.
Several weeks back, we got a call from the new owners of Steve’s boyhood home in Pickerington, OH. They had tracked us down through the internet and wanted to hear more about the house and stories associated with it. Since we were going to be nearby for the gravesite service, Steve told them we could stop by. They invited us to an early dinner at 2 pm.
Frankly, visiting these folks, Sunday afternoon, after hearing about Sara’s death and still battling this sinus infection/cold was the last thing I wanted to do. But Steve was so excited at the prospect of seeing the inside of the house he had lived in from age 5 till he graduated from High School in 1973, and sharing with these people and seeing what they had/were going to do to the house, that I did not want to disappoint him and I decided that staying away mopping would not help anybody anyway.
This is when God’s grace totally blew me – us - away. We had stopped by Home Depot to pick up a planter to bring with us as a gift.
I carried the plant with me and as soon as our hostess opened the door, she greeted us by hugging us and proceeded to talk to us as if we had been friends forever. While I was surprised at getting hugged by a total stranger, there was nothing forced about any of it and she made us feel like family. No airs, no pretense, just genuine friendliness.
Steve’s youngest brother and his wife and 9 years old daughter had been invited too and they joined us shortly thereafter. They were greeted in the same warm manner. Steve and I had thought of only staying just long enough to not be rude and his brother Tom and family thought they would just come for a Coke. Next thing we know, we are helping set up the table outside on the patio and carrying food out and helping ourselves to some pop and ice tea. We all ended up staying till 8:30 pm that night and Jane and Sam (the new owners) acted like they were genuinely sorry to see us leave. We exchanged email addresses and phone no. and I do hope we stay in touch. I heard stories after stories of growing up and good times in this house and heard about what had changed and what had not. We walked all over the large backyard and along the creek at the back of the house. We saw every room in the house. Jane and Sam and their 15 years old daughter Sophie were the most hospitable folks I ever remember meeting. We found out common interests etc. Several of us mentioned afterward that this was in fact a God thing. It felt that way as we were visiting and eating great food – the best homemade chocolate cake! - and enjoyed gracious, unforced company. Turns out Jane and Sam are Christians, Catholics. But not overbearing just genuinely caring folks. She is a former teacher, turned nurse. He has a long title I can’t recall but it has to do with medical research.
The company, the great food, the memories shared felt like a healing balm and a Godly embrace. It was as God were saying, “I know that things have been a little rough lately but I am here and I love you. You will be OK.”
This week-end we were in the Columbus, Ohio, area for me to do our 21 year old niece Jennifer’s gravesite service. She dropped dead with no warning on Steve’s birthday 1/29. I officiated at her funeral on 2/4 and the family asked me to come back on 6/6to commit her ashes, along with her dad’s ashes. Dwight, Steve’s older brother, died of cancer 10 years ago on Easter Sunday and his wife’ Carol had held on to his ashes until then. His birthday was on 6/5. Carol felt she was now ready to let go, so that we could bury Dwight’s ashes along with Jennifer’s. We got to the cemetery in Pataskala Saturday late morning, with a bunch of family and friends gathered, only to find out that nothing was ready. The plot was not marked. There was no hole dug and no one from the funeral home or the cemetery to greet us. Inquiring phone calls remained fruitless till after we decided to proceed, hole or no hole. After the service we found out that a miscommunication had occurred and that the funeral home/cemetery had us down for July 6 instead of June 6! Carol had to go home with the urn that day. Not the way it was supposed to be…
Then on Sunday morning I find a voice mail on my cell phone from the husband of Sara, our church secretary, announcing that she had died in her sleep during the night. She had just had cancer surgery over the Memorial Day week-end. We had all thought that things had gone well. So well in fact that Sara said she felt good and she wanted to come back to work! And she did for a couple of days against my better counsel.
Several weeks back, we got a call from the new owners of Steve’s boyhood home in Pickerington, OH. They had tracked us down through the internet and wanted to hear more about the house and stories associated with it. Since we were going to be nearby for the gravesite service, Steve told them we could stop by. They invited us to an early dinner at 2 pm.
Frankly, visiting these folks, Sunday afternoon, after hearing about Sara’s death and still battling this sinus infection/cold was the last thing I wanted to do. But Steve was so excited at the prospect of seeing the inside of the house he had lived in from age 5 till he graduated from High School in 1973, and sharing with these people and seeing what they had/were going to do to the house, that I did not want to disappoint him and I decided that staying away mopping would not help anybody anyway.
This is when God’s grace totally blew me – us - away. We had stopped by Home Depot to pick up a planter to bring with us as a gift.
I carried the plant with me and as soon as our hostess opened the door, she greeted us by hugging us and proceeded to talk to us as if we had been friends forever. While I was surprised at getting hugged by a total stranger, there was nothing forced about any of it and she made us feel like family. No airs, no pretense, just genuine friendliness.
Steve’s youngest brother and his wife and 9 years old daughter had been invited too and they joined us shortly thereafter. They were greeted in the same warm manner. Steve and I had thought of only staying just long enough to not be rude and his brother Tom and family thought they would just come for a Coke. Next thing we know, we are helping set up the table outside on the patio and carrying food out and helping ourselves to some pop and ice tea. We all ended up staying till 8:30 pm that night and Jane and Sam (the new owners) acted like they were genuinely sorry to see us leave. We exchanged email addresses and phone no. and I do hope we stay in touch. I heard stories after stories of growing up and good times in this house and heard about what had changed and what had not. We walked all over the large backyard and along the creek at the back of the house. We saw every room in the house. Jane and Sam and their 15 years old daughter Sophie were the most hospitable folks I ever remember meeting. We found out common interests etc. Several of us mentioned afterward that this was in fact a God thing. It felt that way as we were visiting and eating great food – the best homemade chocolate cake! - and enjoyed gracious, unforced company. Turns out Jane and Sam are Christians, Catholics. But not overbearing just genuinely caring folks. She is a former teacher, turned nurse. He has a long title I can’t recall but it has to do with medical research.
The company, the great food, the memories shared felt like a healing balm and a Godly embrace. It was as God were saying, “I know that things have been a little rough lately but I am here and I love you. You will be OK.”
Monday, June 1, 2009
Stuck in my head
I have a tendency to get stuck in my head. If I am not careful I can get overly cerebral. I want to analyze stuff too much at times. I find myself doing this in times of stress in particular. I get very physically and mentally active and I retreat in my head and I stuff my emotions. God stopped me in my tracks with that this week. It took an image in a devotional publication that I love called Alive Now. It is a publication of the Upper Room which helps me surrender to God and helps me get out of my head. The May/June issue is written by the folks, both clergy and lay, from our Indiana Conference. Deals with change and the difficulty of change and the resource we have in God. On page 17 there is a picture of cracked rocks and from the cracks come out green leaves and tiny purple flowers. I found myself with tears in my eyes looking at this picture. I was surprised by that. Again, I started asking myself why I felt that way and I started analyzing: Let’s see, I feel this way because this picture reminds me that in the dry moments of our lives, God can bring life. Well, this picture looks like something out of the parable of the sower… Stop! Get out of your head! Receive the picture as a gift to be cherished. Just let your heart be touched. Yeah… Thanks God.
Oh, another way I get out of my head is by reading Calvin and Hobbes. Why do we always have to be so grown-up and responsible!
PS: The picture herewith is not the picture in Alive Now but it is something like that.
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