Change

Change comes like a sudden storm

To blow our routine away

And drench our careful plans.

Today we say good-by

To a shepherd of this flock,

A shepherd who has welcomed newborns
And strangers,

Prayed with us,
Wept with us,

Offered us the bread and the wine,
And ushered some through the final door.

  My thanks

For putting me once more
On the church bound path,

For showing me kindness and understanding,

For demonstrating grace with tenderness

And the strength to start anew.

I place this change in God's hands.
This church is like a butterfly
Trapped in its chrysalis

Waiting to be reborn.
No one can free the church from without,
Freedom comes from within.
A church must spread its wings
To feel the Son's blessing.
The future of this church
Does not lie in the hands of some miracle worker

But in the toil of those who choose
To forget the past
And build anew.

The Echo of God

Photo by AMagill

Lord, I need to know Your will.

I pray,
But hear nothing,
Not even a rustle as you pass by.

Perhaps I am so busy babbling

That I am not aware of your presence.

I will wait for your answer
To my prayers,
To my entreaties.
I will seek to be still and listen
For you.

Will you reply in a great wind,
Or through the trembling of the earth,
Or in words of fire,

Or in whispers of smoke?
No.
You have already answered 

Through the actions of those around me,

Through a chance encounter with a stranger.

O God,

O Creator, Comforter, and Word,
Make me an answer to another's prayer.

Make me an echo of your unrelenting love.

God Incarnate Chose Brown

Kittens tumble across the floor:
Black, white, gray, or orange
Born to a calico mother.
Cats see no difference because of color.
Why are we not more like these furry creatures
And see only our common humanity?
Why  focus on the skin tint

Developed for survival in different climes?

 
What color was Jesus,

God Incarnate?
Not the pale hue of northern climes,

No matter what our paintings show.
Born in a land scorched by the sun
The Christ was neither white nor black,

But brown as the pottery from which he ate.
We cannot choose the color of our skin,
But God could.
Why do we forget?

Trust

Mother God, Father God,

Your names are endless
And encompass all.

Your kingdom comes on the wings of angels

And in the footsteps of humanity

Who follow the Shepherd.

Give us nourishment for our bodies

And love for our souls.

Forgive us when we do not trust you

As we forgive those who betray our trust.

Do not take your presence from us.

Let us always know the Comforter is near.

Keep us safe from unbelief and pride.

You are beginning and end,
Creation and annihilation,

Love unending.
Amen.

Photo by Delphine
Original by Kitina Celt

We Are the Book

I contemplate the Bible,
The record of God's deeds
In times far past;
The written record of the life of Jesus
And the commitment of the apostles.
Is there a record for today?
Does some lonely author
Now write words that will inspire
Those in the far future?
Perhaps in our time the record is written
On the heart of every believer.
Each carries the Word within.
So, our duty is to be the book
The world can read
And know God.

Photo by Paul Keller

Memorial Day 2013

"I come to the garden alone,
While the dew is still on the roses;
And the voice I hear, falling on my ear,
The Son of God discloses."

 Memorial Day comes again.

Reminding me that

Another friend died this year.
Another funeral.
Grief for his family,
He will be missed.
Grief stirred memories rise
As "In the Garden" wakes

Forgotten sorrow.

A time of loss.
Old friends and family gone
As the World War II generation fades.

Those born in the rural past
Die in the urban present.

Too many precious friends

 Left long ago

In my generation's war,

In Viet Nam.

Their graves stand as sentinels

To this nation's hubris.

Now a new generation,

Young, full of hope,

Face their wars:

Afghanistan.

Iraq.

So many have died,

So many continue to die.

Bow your head

 To the sorrow

Of so much death

And listen to Christ's words,

"Blessed are they that mourn;
For they shall be comforted."

Photo by *clarity*

Trinity Sunday 2013

 The Trinity proclaims

"I am love in action."

The Creator,

I AM.

 The Christ,

The Word,

God in action.

The Holy Spirit,

The Comforter,

Love.

Together.
I AM Love in action.

Three in one,

Trinity.

Gladness is a Firefly

"This is the day the Lord hath made;

We will rejoice and be glad in it."
Psalm 118:24

My mother's favorite verse.
She had it posted on her bathroom mirror.

God is the Creator;

He speaks and existence begins.

Every day he renews that speech.

Apart from God

There is nothing.

Our time on earth is brief;

Let us savor each instant.

Joy comes from everywhere;

We need only pay attention.

Gladness, like a firefly,

Wings in and flashes for the moment.

If we try to trap gladness,

It will die.

Gladness must be free

To find another.

Rejoice,

For that is God's command.

Pentecost 2013

On this day,
The Comforter,

The Holy Spirit,

Makes her presence known.
The day is Pentecost.
Fifty days from Easter.
Ten days from Jesus' ascent into Heaven.
God as Comforter comes
As Christ promised.
Jews were celebrating
 The Feast of the First Fruits.
Was this the first harvest for Christ?

Photo by Lawrence CP

Too many turn from Pentecost
In dread

Of emotion,

Of losing control,

Of the Holy Spirit.
What we fear
Does not exist.

Only God,

Three in One,

Exists.
The Holy Spirit
Completes the Trinity.
The Holy Spirit
Is the Love
That binds Creator and Word.
The Holy Spirit
Is God's love
Washing over all people.
Share that love.

Paying Attention

Jesus stopped to drink at a well in Samaria.
There he met a woman
Who had come to do a daily chore:
Draw water.
Christ offered this woman of a scorned race
Living water,
Water that would give eternal life.
She was not a perfect being.
She had sinned and Jesus knew it.
But to her, Jesus said,
"I AM."
We seek God's presence
In edifices of faith.
Perhaps we need to seek God
Where we live.
Perhaps "I AM" seeks us
Where we pursue our daily tasks.
Perhaps we need only
Pay attention to those around us
To meet the great "I AM."

Photo by IJsendoorn

Violent Nation

   

We are a nation bereft.

Our children die in the home, 

In the classroom,

And in the streets,

Murdered because we embrace

Guns in the name of freedom.

Change us,

Change our nation.

Make it safe for all.

We were never meant to be

"One nation under God."

We were meant to be

"From many one."

We must all be safe

Or we are all in danger.

Fear leads to prejudice,

Prejudice leads to intolerance,

Intolerance leads to hate,
And hate leads to violence.  
Erase our fear with your grace,

So that hate never corrupts our soul

And violence has no home.

Keep us wrapped in your love

And safe in the knowledge

That this life is but a stop

On the way to eternity.   

Easter 2013

He is risen!
He is risen indeed!
These words echo
Through the centuries.
The words of resurrection.
The words of Easter.
The heartbeat of Christianity.

Photo by hoyameg

The disciples, lost and grieving,
Change in one day
Because he is risen.
Soon they will spread the news
Throughout the world
For they know the truth:

Death has been conquered,

Christ is alive.

We celebrate his resurrection

And his promise

That all who love God

And love others

Shall have eternal life.
He is risen.

He is risen today.

The Saturday before Easter

On this day,
The apostles are absent

From the gospels,
This missing day.
Jesus is dead
His disciples believe.
Their world is ashes.
Their grief is immense.
They fear for their lives.
They hide in the upper room.
Only the women dare to go out.
Jerusalem is strangely quiescent.

Pilate places a guard by the tomb.

This day Christ's body lies undisturbed.
Tomorrow the disciples' world

Will come alive
But not today.
We must remember

That missing day
When sorrow fills us,
When we tremble in fear,
When we hide from the world.
Those that knew our Savior best
Did not escape their human frailty,
Neither can we.
We know that with the morrow
Came relief and jubilation.
We have the risen Christ
Not the missing day.

Good Friday 2013

Why is it called Good Friday?

I have heard many answers.

None satisfy.

Jesus, the Word made flesh, God incarnate,

Died on Friday.  
The day after he shared the Passover meal  
With those that believed in him.

Fully human.

So human that he suffered agony

Nailed to a cross 
After a brutal flogging.

We recoil in horror

At his death

And think it took so long.

Six hours.

Most crucified took days to die 
Unless they were flogged.

Fully God

Who had never known death.

All God's creation past had drunk

Of that bitter cup,

But God had not.

God died on that first Good Friday,

As much of God

As could exist in human form.

A maimed, lifeless body was laid in

The cold stone tomb.

Creation waited.

Maundy Thursday 2013

Maundy Thursday.
Maundy for the British Monarch's
Alms for the poor. 

The Thursday before Easter.

The day before the crucifixion.

The day that Jesus washed his disciples feet

Even though he knew

His death was at hand.

The day Jesus and his disciples
Ate their Passover meal
In an upper room.
There Jesus instituted Communion,

The Lord's Supper,
Christians practice today.

There Judas shared bread with Jesus

Before he left to betray him.

Today many will gather for Communion.

Where believers partake of this sacrament
The Holy Spirit joins them.
Bread and wine,
Flesh and blood.

Remember the man. 

Remember the Word made flesh.
Remember God kneeling before each disciple.

Remember Jesus' patience.

Remember his sacrifice.

Spy Wednesday 2013

Judas and Peter

Spy Wednesday,

Holy Wednesday,

The Wednesday before the Crucifixion,

The day that Judas Iscariot

Conspires with the High Priest

And receives thirty pieces of silver
For the deed to come.
On the morrow,
With a kiss,

Judas hands Christ over 
To his enemies
In the time that follows

Peter denies Jesus thrice.
After Jesus' death
But before the resurrection,
Judas dies by his own hand. 
Peter sits in the upper room
Devastated that he betrayed his Teacher.
Judas dies unforgiven.
Peter knows forgiveness

From the risen Christ.
What is the difference between the fates

Of these two men?

Judas dies despised by all his breathren.
Peter dies the rock
On which Christ's church is erected.  
 Judas acts to take his life
While Peter waits.
Is that the answer?
When all is clothed in darkness,
Must we wait
 For God
Not act on impulse?

In this Easter season,
Give us the knowledge to know
When not to take action.
Give us the strength to wait for God.

Prayer for Holy Tuesday

Abba, Jesus called you,

Daddy, we would say.

Creator, sustainer of all, 

Where were you that Holy Week

So long ago?

Escorting the Son of Man

As he rode into Jerusalem on the donkey,

Weeping beside the Servant as he struggled toward The Skull,

Kissing death as the Lamb hung on the cross.

Watching as the Word

Was silent in the tomb.

Christ exalted you above himself.

Even as he opened the kingdom's gates

To let all enter. 

In the Lamb's sacrifice earth and heaven met.
The  Bread of Life was broken
Yet warms from within today. 
Only by caring for the least
Can we repay the suffering of The Christ of God,
Who was and is and will be
The great I Am.   

 Amen

 -

Holy Monday

Jesus has entered Jerusalem on Sunday

In triumph and to shouts of Hosanna.

Today he visits the temple.

The holiest place in Jerusalem.

The holiest place in Israel.
There he finds moneychangers.
There he finds dealers of animals and doves.
There Jesus becomes angry.
There with whip of cords in hand
He drives
The moneychangers
And 
The dealers from the temple.
In God's temple
There is no place for commerce.
Commerce must bow to God.

As we seek greater wealth,

Do we put commerce before God?   

Palm Sunday 2013

 

Children scurried down the aisles

Of churches this morning

Waving green palm fronds in the air

In memory of 

Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem. 
On that day so long ago

The crowd spread their cloaks and palm leaves

Before his donkey's feet.

 People exulted.

Hosannas filled the air.

Soon the Romans would be gone,

They believed.

Jerusalem would be theirs alone.

But the cries of joy faded

In the wake of the High Priest's perfidy.

In one week, 
Christ would 

Be arrested,

Condemned

And

Crucified.

His body placed in a tomb.

Did Jesus know what was to come

As he rode into Jerusalem?

I think he did.

And still he came to Jerusalem

For us.

Jesus Fulfills Isaiah's Prohecy

Let us contemplate the words of Luke
As he tell us of the quiet beginning of Jesus ministry.

Jesus returns home to Nazareth on the Sabbath

And reads from Isaiah's scroll
A prophecy of one chosen by God
To proclaim the good news to the poor.
Jesus closes the scroll
And announces his destiny.
He fulfills the prophecy.
He is the anointed of God,
As proclaimed on the banks of the Jordan
By a descending dove,

In Nazareth

A small village huddled

In the shadow of a great city.

Sepphoris, the ornament of Galilee,
Where Mary's parents lived
When she was born.
Where Joseph plied his trade
With the help of his eldest son,
Jesus.
A city more Roman than Jewish.
Sepphoris,
Never mentioned in the Bible
But where Jesus walked to maturity.
In Nazareth, 
Jesus reads Isaiah for his mother
While the streets of Sepphoris echo in his mind.