TAKING IT TO THE STREETS

From this morning’s Chicago Tribune (Thurdsay, March 10, 2011)
Priests from Chicago's Episcopal Diocese fanned out to Metra and CTA stations, college campuses, nursing homes, even coffee houses today to perform Ash Wednesday rites marking the beginning of Lent.


The diocese said the initiative, called "Ashes to Go," is meant to reach people who can't attend church services, where ashes are placed on the forehead in the shape of a cross.


It said it was encouraged by the positive response to the outreach last year.


"Lots of folks on the train platform pulled out their cell phones and took pictures," said the Rev. Emily Mellott, rector of the Calvary Episcopal Church in Lombard. "People who weren't interested in receiving seemed happy that we were there. One of the other folks told me one commuter said, 'I'm so glad you're not another politician!' "


A total of 26 congregations planned to have prayer teams at Metra stations in Arlington Heights, Aurora, Chicago, Crystal Lake, Elgin, Evanston, Geneva, Glen Ellyn, Lisle, Lombard, Northbrook, Oak Park, St. Charles, Waukegan and Winnetka. Other congregations were sending teams to CTA "L" stations, college campuses and nursing homes.

Back to Darcy.  WOW!  Wish I could have been there!  What a time to just connect and live out my faith and offer prayers and blessings and BE PART OF THE KINGDOM BODY! 

Just asking - you don't have to answer - How would you respond to someone in the street like that? 

So just want to go back to the whole WHY of the ashes a bit, most have no idea why folks walk around on Ash Wednesday with dirty black smudges on our foreheads.

First, it’s not a smudge.
 
 It’s supposed to be a cross drawn with ash.
 
And FYI, not sure if I mentioned this earlier but the church tradition (for how long I am not sure) is to save the palms from Palm Sunday the previous year and burn these ashes and mix them with annointing oil or holy water.  Some churches even have folks bring back their palms from home during the Lenten season to be be used this way.  Most churches though just order extra, save them for a year and burn these in preparation. Or you can order them for a lot of money from certain supply companies.  This is something I did not learn in seminary.
 
This is a true and very funny story about yours truly.  So my call begins in the beginning of February and literally Ash Wednesday is days away.  Ashes? I phone my recently retired predecessor asking in a semi panic where do I get the ashes?  He says, "oh, not to worry, get a trash can and burn the palms in the corner of your office, you will be just fine!"  So I get the metal trash can (I still had 5-6 days to panic mode but was getting close to a full blown red alert) and on a gloomy cold February Friday,  I attempt to burn some palms.  Yes, they caught fire, but I was not able to get as fine as I wanted them, I mean who wants lumpy ashes?  So I make a couple of phone calls and our local Catholic Priest and Deacon were so kind to just allow me to share in their abundant supply.  (I was not the first protestant minister they helped out in this way!)  Whew!  Panic averted!  I love the ecumenical church!
 
I will never forget the day of  ash making - or the kindness of those who helped me all five years in ministry.  It got the to point where the local parishioner from the Catholic church would call me and ask me if she should prepare some for me!   I did always save palms though, partially because I kept thinking I would try again, but moreso because they make a lovely display on Ash Wednesday with the burlap paraments that I did make myself! 
 
But back to the smudge. Some of the people administering the ashes are a little better artists than others.
 
Either way, it gets the job done.
 

Second, the ashes represent our mortality and are an outward sign of our sinfulness.

But why would anyone want to be reminded of this?

Perhaps because it’s true. We are indeed mortal – we are dust, and to dust we shall return (Gen 3:19).

 We are sinful too. And in a world that constantly says “if it feels good, do it” and suggests that a guilty conscience is just one more thing we need a prescription for, we definitely need this healthy dose of reality.

There is something much more important that must go along with this, though. It always helps to put everything we do in the Church in context with the most important event – the resurrection of Jesus Christ, Easter.

In this case, Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent which is preparation for Easter.

And real preparation for Easter isn’t done with travel plans, fervor over the Sunday afternoon meal, and a resolution to eat less chocolate. It’s done in your soul.

If you are now just reading this and want to jump on, go ahead - we are not legalistic here!  I didn't get to an official Ash Wednesday service, but remember the idea is inward transformation and we are on this journey together.

We are allowing our personal humility to be shaped in this season.  I think about the hymn contained in Philippians 2, look at it and see how Christ has shown us humility.  I have chosen to use the Amplified Translation which loses some of the poetry of this hymn of the early church, but none the less helps us to better understand the humility of Christ that we are called to imitate.
  
  ⁵Let this same attitude and purpose and [humble] mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus: [Let Him be your example in humility:]
    ⁶Who, although being essentially one with God and in the form of God  [possessing the fullness of the attributes which make God God], did not think this equality with God was a thing to be eagerly grasped or retained,
    ⁷But stripped Himself [of all privileges and rightful dignity], so as to assume the guise of a servant (slave), in that He became like men and was born a human being.
    ⁸And after He had appeared in human form, He abased and humbled Himself [still further] and carried His obedience to the extreme of death, even the death of the cross!
    ⁹Therefore [because He stooped so low] God has highly exalted Him and has freely bestowed on Him the name that is above every name,
    ¹⁰That in (at) the name of Jesus every knee should (must) bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
    ¹¹And every tongue [frankly and openly] confess and acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

So whether or not you got a "smudge" remember, what we are called to wear is humility and a desire to walk in God, in this journey to more of HIM and LESS OF US ...

in this season of preparation to celebrate the greatest day in HISTORY! 

Our HOLY GOD, we thank you for always staying near us even when we don't want to seek you.  Help each of us to show kindess to others and take our hearts of YOU to the streets to share our lives and HOPE with others. AMEN

It’s the heart…

But even there, if you seek GOD, your God, you'll be able to find him if you're serious, looking for him with your whole heart and soul. When troubles come and all these awful things happen to you, in future days you will come back to GOD, your God, and listen obediently to what he says. GOD, your God, is above all a compassionate God. In the end he will not abandon you, he won't bring you to ruin, he won't forget the covenant with your ancestors which he swore to them. Deuteronomy 4: 29-31 The Message


Yesterday I closed the Ash Wednesday reflections by reminding myself that God wants us to rend our HEARTS to HIM – I think we often put thing on the outward, thinking it will look good to others but in the end it just causes us to get more lost.

This Journey that we are on though, I hope that the outward sacrifices bring to each of us to INWARD TRANSFORMATION…

For Jesus, faith is meant to be a matter of the heart.

At the very earliest origins of Lent, it was a period of time spent teaching those who wanted to join the church preparing them to be baptized on Easter morning. Functionally, today, it's a season where we “check our spiritual pulse”. I personally, even as I considered what I was going to this year, was checking myself for legalistic tendencies. (For the record, I did not attend an Ash Wednesday service yesterday and checking my spiritual pulse, it was the right choice for me this year. I can’t remember the last time I missed one!) But in this crazy year for this preacher girl, God put me in some very specific places to minister yesterday and I trust HIM.

Some of us, and some of our fellow church-goers will take on a spiritual discipline or two. Some will give up chocolate. Some will give up soda. Some will take on something they don't usually do.

Whatever we do though, we have to make sure that it's a matter of the heart. Not a weight-loss technique, not a way to beat ourselves up, and not something to impress those who ultimately are watching us.

Because we have to remember the ONE who counts does not just see what we do, but why and how we do. I have always found such meaning in the Deuteronomy passage above for not only does it refer to God caring most about our hearts, but it then affirms His grace and perseverance with us HE LOVES US.

Whatever we do with our Lent, let us make it about bringing our heart more in-line with the Kingdom of God. As we saw early on in the Sermon on the Mount, let us try on 'purity of heart,' so that we 'may see God.' Let us try on poverty of spirit, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, and peacemaking. Let us pray, let us fast, let us make our needed repenting.

And let us analyze our spiritual echo-cardiograms.
So that our hearts are beating in sync with the one who calls us.

LORD, IT IS YOU WHO CALLS US, HELP US TO DRAW NEAR and SEEK YOU WITH OUR WHOLE HEART. AMEN

Ashes, Ashes we all...? Why Ashes if we are resurrection people?

A Call to Repentance
“Now, therefore,” says the LORD,
“Turn to Me with all your heart,
With fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.”
So rend your heart, and not your garments;
Return to the LORD your God,
For He is gracious and merciful,
Slow to anger, and of great kindness;
And He relents from doing harm.
Who knows if He will turn and relent,
And leave a blessing behind Him—
A grain offering and a drink offering
For the LORD your God?
Blow the trumpet in Zion,
Consecrate a fast,
Call a sacred assembly;
Gather the people,
Sanctify the congregation,
Assemble the elders,
Gather the children and nursing babes;
Let the bridegroom go out from his chamber,
And the bride from her dressing room.”
Joel 2: 12-16 (New King James Version)


Wednesday March 9th 2011. On this Ash Wednesday, many of you may go to a special church service and hear this scripture above read by the priest/pastor and also in that service they are also called to go and have ashes put on their foreheads as a sign of repentance.

WHY?

WHY do we do this?

What does it mean?

What does God want us to realize through these scriptures?

I can only answer the historical why’s and what I hope and pray they mean.

As for last question dear friends – I pray right now, “Holy Spirit, guide those seeking You through this season and while we may or may not attend a service on this day – that our service, our teacher is You and the ashes we realize are ones that you will help us to first of all understand in our own hearts and then you will show us victory and NEW LIFE through our in the resurrection of Jesus the Christ, the Son of GOD.” AMEN.


All throughout the Old Testament ashes are a sign of sorrow or repentance. Ashes were used in ancient times, according to the Bible, to express mourning. Dusting oneself with ashes was the penitent's way of expressing sorrow for sins and faults.

An ancient example of one expressing one's penitence is found in Job 42:3-6. Job says to God: "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. The other eye wandereth of its own accord. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." (vv. 5-6, KJV)

The prophet Jeremiah, for example, calls for repentance this way: "O daughter of my people, gird on sackcloth, roll in the ashes" (Jer 6:26).The prophet Daniel pleaded for God this way: "I turned to the Lord God, pleading in earnest prayer, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes" (Daniel 9:3).

Other examples are found in several other books of the Bible including, Numbers 19:9, 19:17, Jonah 3:6, Matthew 11:21, and Luke 10:13, and Hebrews 9:13.

But why?

You might ask do we need to mourn, for Christians have Christ and have overcome the need to mourn, we don’t have to die and if we are believers we know resurrection each and every day?

Yes, we do. But, as we all are in the process of being transformed we will be made more aware of the parts of our souls that we have yet to yield to Christ. And as believers, we carry the burden of those who have rejected Christ, who are running down a dead end path and don’t even realize it, or worse yet; realize it and are running all the faster.

I turn now to a wonderful teaching on the Beatitudes from Bruce Hamsher called “Living Inside-Out”. In this discipleship analysis of Matthew 5:1-12 we dug deep into each phrase Jesus spoke on what we traditionally refer to as the “Sermon on the Mount”.

I cite for our Ash Wednesday reflections only verses 3-4.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” and “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted”

Blessed in the Greek, translates as spiritual joy and satisfaction or extreme/supreme blessedness. Who receives this?

The poor in spirit.

I can hear you say, that is not me, I have Christ! That’s the point friend, without Christ we must realize how poor we are and then as we turn to Him in our complete humility, that is when we can properly approach the kingdom of heaven.

Bruce writes, “this is an emptying of yourself, becoming selfless: The opposite of being poor in spirit is being full of yourself”.

To be poor in spirit is to truly attempt to approach life with humility and a sincere appreciation and then you are positioned to receive Christ and begin to experience the kingdom He describes.

On to the blessing for those who mourn.
We already know that the Old Testament often mentions someone mourning a loved one, by putting on uncomfortable clothes – changing from expensive well woven linens to rough sackcloth that would be the equivalent of wearing burlap today and they are referring to wearing it as underwear!

Think how uncomfortable that would be.

Those who mourn will be comforted. I ask, what are we mourning?

In the “Living Inside Out” study, we go from realizing our poorness of spirit to mourning that condition we find ourselves in without Christ.

I pray that you realize we can not mourn what we do not acknowledge.
So until we realize how lost we are because, we haven’t turned an area over to God, we don’t know to be sorrowful about it.

To me that is the core of my personal journey each Lent. He always shows me what I need to work on!

On Ash Wednesday especially, I find this description very moving as this mourning is defined as “a desperate, helpless sorrow. It is a sorrow for sin, a broken heart over evil and suffering. It is a brokenness of self and realizing that OUR SINS PUT HIM THERE.” (Thanks Bruce for that excellent teaching.)

So Ash Wednesday as you go back and read the first scripture of Joel, you see that the sacred assembly is gathered to mourn sin. Sin that has separates us from God. Sin that requires the sacrifice of the Son of God so that we can be part of the Kingdom of God.

I don’t know if you are going to attend a service and receive the mark of the cross in ashes upon your forehead today (Ash Wednesday). I haven’t decided yet if I plan to (by the way it is appropriate according to the Vatican for non Catholics to attend this service in a Catholic Church and receive the ashes – they are considered a sacramental open to all and not a sacrament reserved only for communing members).

But remember ashes on your forehead are only an OUTWARD SIGN. As I close, FINALLY, (thanks for hanging in there).

Please reread Joel 2:12
“TURN TO ME WITH YOUR HEART”
“REND ME YOUR HEART AND NOT YOUR GARMENTS”

Are you aware of YOUR NEED FOR A SAVIOR?

Are you grieved at the evil in this world ?

Are you mourning your poor spirit before Christ and the world who still does not acknowledge Him?

If so, your heart is ready for this journey and as Christ said, yours is the kingdom of God and the Comforter of the One who knows. As resurrection people, we realize that we are ashes in need of HIS RESURRECTION GLORY.

Ashes, ashes, I shall fall down – and WORSHIP the HOLINESS OF GOD!

To close, a prayer from Isaiah 61:3: Lord may You find us to have sincere hearts and guide us through our death of self. Help us to learn that through our need for a Savior You provide, and from our ashes, our death You will bring beauty and from our mourning you will bring new joy. AMEN!

A LENTEN JOURNEY: The Feast before the Fast…

“See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.” Psalm 139:24

On this Monday March 7th for those of us keeping track, we are actually in the traditional season of “Shrovetide”. The three days before Ash Wednesday begin are a time of preparation for the somber season; a time for using up the things you will not indulge in; a time for feasting and frivolity; but also I learned as I was preparing to write this, it is a time to confess.

Yes, a time to confess!

I thought I had read wrong, but these early church leaders knew that as we turned towards Christ, we would see how we fall short, and in order to be ready to face the harsh reality of a world deep in sin, we need to prepare and confess those things we do know we have done, for during our time of reflection God will bring to our attention the things we are not aware of.
The word “shrove” comes from the old English verb; “shrive” which means to confess.

So in these days leading up to the wearing of ashes and sackcloth and confessing together as a church, each believer was to “come clean” with what burdened their heart. The name denotes a period of cleansing, wherein a person brings their lusts and appetites under subjection through abstention and self-sacrifice. The French literally called the day “mardi gras” which means fat Tuesday. Many latin speaking countries used the term carnival referring to the latin for Latin carnem levare, meaning "to take away the flesh" which is what you do on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. You remove the flesh/meat from your home.

The concept behind this practice is found in 1 Corinthians 9:27, where the Apostle Paul states: "I buffet my body and make it my slave..." Ironically, Shrove Tuesday, Carnival or Mardi Gras has evolved into a day of frivolity and indulgence, during which people participate in as much pleasure and self-gratification as they can before Lent begins with really not true understanding of what the day is all about. This is not what the early church intended this become… 

So after the time of repentance in the early church, the children would play, the families would gather around the table and feast upon the good things they had around them. Many cultures enjoy pancakes or crepes on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday; also many cultures enjoy a fat laden doughnuts called “fasnachts” to the German, “paczki” to the Polish and “krofne” to the Serbians.

But this season as well was a time of celebration, having done this task it is time to feast and to celebrate. Looking at the gospels, I see how the early church followed the pattern of Christ. Jesus went to John the Baptist for the repentance with water and in this baptism all of heaven celebrated.

Matthew 3: 11-16
“And John said, “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with[c] the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
“Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”

Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.

As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”


Just as those participating in the Lenten tradition know, we go from feasting to fasting and again let us look to the Gospels to see what happened to Jesus after that baptism and celebration of the Spirit (the dove) and the Father. In the Greek transcript the verb meaning IMMEDIATELY begins the passage.

Mark 1: 12-13 “At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.”


I want to close today by encouraging you in this Monday and Tuesday before the Lenten journey begins to search your heart and let God help you deal with those things most troubling you: to make your repentance and to celebrate our loving God who provides these good things, showing you mercy and forgiving you: and to prepare for the wilderness time that we each have to face at some point in our Christian Journey.

As we come from the mountaintops of feast into the valley of fast, remember that the angels and better yet, God’s Holy Spirit and if you know Christ, His rule in your heart and over your life will comfort you and as Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10:13, “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.” (And if you are not certain that you know Christ as a reality in your world – please contact me and I can guide you on that incredible journey. Jesus is inviting you waiting for you to come to Him.)

My prayer… Lord make us ready, help us confess, help us enjoy the good things around us and draw us near to you as you prepare us and take us on the journey of understanding your Ways to go more deeply in your Kingdom. We pick up our crosses, and seek You. Guide us, hold us, let us hear as You call us. In Jesus’ name above all names, AMEN

To Lent or not to Lent: Will you join me?

“Then he told them what they could expect for themselves: "Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You're not in the driver's seat—I am. Don't run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I'll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self. What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you? If any of you is embarrassed with me and the way I'm leading you, know that the Son of Man will be far more embarrassed with you when he arrives in all his splendor in company with the Father and the holy angels. This isn't, you realize, pie in the sky by and by. Some who have taken their stand right here are going to see it happen, see with their own eyes the kingdom of God." Luke 9: 23-27 The Message


As a shepherdess without a flock this year, I was trying to decide whether or not to practice Lent (some of the congregations that are considering me don’t all practice Lent per their tradition – more on that in a later post), I was challenged by a friend to post daily on facebook and help others draw nearer to Christ in this season.

So Karen thanks! I accept the challenge.

Lent is the Christian season of preparation before Easter. In Western Christianity, Ash Wednesday, (that is this Wednesday, March 9, 2011) marks the first day, or the start of the season of Lent, which begins 40 days prior to Easter (Sundays are not included in the count as they are considered to be resurrections days and therefore we do not fast on the resurrection).

Lent is a time when many Christians prepare for Easter by observing a period of fasting, repentance, moderation and spiritual discipline.

The purpose is to set aside time for reflection on Jesus Christ - his suffering and his sacrifice, his life, death, burial and resurrection.
The Bible does not mention the custom of Lent, however, the practice of repentance and mourning in ashes (more on that of course on Ash Wednesday) is found in 2 Samuel 13:19; Esther 4:1; Job 2:8; Daniel 9:3; and Matthew 11:21.

Some of us have looked at Lent, as a legalistic way to “earn” our salvation through stringent practices, but the intent of those early church mothers and fathers was to help us focus on Christ.

In the modern era sometimes we think of the Lenten fast as a new year’s resolution redo, however to a committed follower of Christ we must REJECT THOSE THOUGHTS and allow CHRIST TO GUIDE US TO THE CROSS and have repentant sacrificial hearts and prepare us to be ready for the ALLELUIA’s of the EMPTY TOMB


FASTING
is one common practice – to give something up and when you crave the forbidden luxury – turn to GOD.

PRAYER
is another common practice to commit to more time seeking and understanding the one who loves you most.

The last common practice of lent is ACTS OF KINDNESS
to think of others and show them God’s love in unselfish and sacrificial ways.

To fast from rich foods we seek the simplicity of daily bread, to fast from television and outside distractions we draw nearer to our Lord. To engage in acts of kindness and forgiveness is to understand more of God’s mercy and grace towards us.

So how can we begin our journey – On the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday we will use up or get rid of what we are denying our selves – for the obedient church goers in the middle ages – they used up all the fat, eggs and meat in their home with one last feast before their fast.
This idea has turned into Shrove Tuesday or Carnival or Mardi gras, depending on where you are geographically, as I will discuss tomorrow.
So today you and I need to decide what our Lenten practice will be. This web site has some great ideas for all who love Jesus; you can tell of course it is written with some specific ideas for those who practice the Roman Catholic tradition. The site is

http://www.nicksenger.com/onecatholiclife/101-practical-fasting-ideas-for-lent-redux

I intend to either post a helpful thought or blog each day and am still praying about what my fast should be.

I will, in accountability, keep you posted! But to close today here is a prayer for each of us as we prepare to walk more closely with Christ to more fully understand all HE willingly took on for us…

A Lenten Reflection (author unknown)
Give up complaining——focus on gratitude.
Give up pessimism——become an optimist.
Give up harsh judgments——think kindly thoughts.
Give up worry——trust Divine Providence.
Give up discouragement——be full of hope.
Give up bitterness——turn to forgiveness.
Give up hatred——return good for evil.
Give up negativism——be positive.
Give up anger——be more patient.
Give up pettiness——become mature.
Give up gloom——enjoy the beauty that is all around you.
Give up jealousy——pray for trust.
Give up gossiping——control your tongue.
Give up sin——turn to virtue.
Give up giving up——hang in there!

Praying for each of us – JOY regardless of our struggles or sufferings that we endure as we prepare our hearts for the fullness of the RESURRECTION in the Hike ‘o our earthly life…..

Putting the pieces together...

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

It’s a snow day, actually an ice day here in Northeast Ohio. When I was a kid, my mother would often save a new jigsaw puzzle for us to piece together if we needed an activity after playing outside on these cold days home from school.

Jump forward to 2011, just the other week my dad found an online jigsaw puzzle page (see the link) and now when I venture into my parents family room, it is not uncommon for the three of us all be simultaneously working on jigsaw puzzles on our laptops! Dad has also been cutting out his own wooden jigsaw puzzles with family photos he wishes to share on his scroll saw. ( I will confess that I am NOT the quickest to figure these puzzles out!)

Many times I feel like my life is one of those unfinished puzzles. I try to make pieces fit together. Have you ever tried to force puzzle pieces together that don’t really want to link up? On the computer, it just won’t allow it, but on a cardboard puzzle you can just about ruin the piece. I like to sort out the pieces by color or by the subject that they might be forming in the final picture. Puzzles aren’t easy. Actually the best ones are challenging and stretch you quite a bit.

Having coffee with a friend the other week, we were reflecting on the lives of her grown children. One is still in college, the other in a exciting place and making it on his own. We shared many memories of kids growing up, wondered about the careers and lives that will come from these experiences. It truly is wonderful to watch and to know that her children will exceed the plans that we are able to make for them.

It suddenly hit me that this is so much like putting a puzzle together. God knows the outcome and all of our life experiences are being fit together to make a wonderful eternity of being a part of Christ’s kingdom. Looking back on my own life I can see this, from my experiences with family, in my years of 4-H projects to in my very fulfilling career as a Registered Dietitian working with the elderly in long term care and hospice.

Each life experience is a totally different shaped piece that fits together into the person that I have become in my ministry calling.
I never could have “seen” how my life would have fit together into this current reality 20 years ago, and if I could have shaped it totally on my own, I suspect I would not be nearly as happy as I am now. Looking at these many puzzles and applying them to others lives has greatly encouraged me in this current phase of my transitional journey.

There are several options right now, but I am in control of NONE of them – I have done what I can and am (trying at least!) to rest and trust in God and position myself to sense if there are other steps I need to take. I am moving all of these options around on my prayer wall, and seeing if perhaps some of them will fit together.

I am glad that I can be joyful on the journey because I know the ONE who holds all the pieces. And I haven’t seen the final picture yet, but I know it is of great beauty and worth the effort to piece it all together as I MEANDER ON THIS HIKE O’ LIFE….

STARTING ALL OVER - AGAIN!

The faithful love of the LORD never ends!
His mercies never cease.
Great is his faithfulness;
his mercies begin afresh each morning.
I say to myself, “The LORD is my inheritance;
therefore, I will hope in him!” The LORD is good to those who depend on him,
to those who search for him.
Lamentations 3: 22-25 (New Living Translation)

Here it is almost the end of January and I realize that I DID NOT keep my resolution to blog every week! In fact this is the first entry I am making in 2011! Where did this month go? I know that many of us have been making and breaking many resolutions in the past few weeks and I was reminded of the scripture that Jeremiah wrote after the fall of Jerusalem.

Our God is after all a God of second chances, of new mercies each morning and who faith in us never ceases, even though He knows us right down to our very core. I was reminded of this as I have plowed through the book of Genesis as I begin my second year of reading through the Bible in year! Hey – I kept a resolution the whole year for 2010. I CAN DO THIS!

I think, looking at our humanness, we are way too hard on ourselves sometimes and while indeed it was the core disobedience of the Israelites that led them to the mess they were in when Jeremiah penned the words above, God still was holding and providing for them.

Every night before I fall asleep, I review my day and pray through it, asking God to point out my failings and of course seek His forgiveness. This practice leads me to a place of peace, but if I hold on to whatever confession I make at bedtime in the next morning, I am denying God from bringing me His new mercies! Ever think about that?

So really, I need to accept God’s forgiveness and MOVE ON! (One of my seminary professors stated that once we leave something at the foot of the cross it is really quite tacky to go back and pick it up again.) So if I don’t drop the regrets of yesterday, I am not open to His new Mercy today.

A great book by Anne Jackson “Permission to Speak Freely”, has an essay about the prodigal son (Luke 15: 11-32). As Jackson and many other commentators note the willingness of the Father to go out and greet and welcome the wayward or runaway son and bring forth a celebration, I suddenly was drawn to the son, who recognized how he had wasted his inheritance and his time. The son was preparing to come home to be a servant, he knew that he had blown it, but was willing to in humility just come home to do the lowliest job. Many of us are familiar with the Father’s extravagance and accept that the son received all the Father offered.

My question to myself and to anyone reading this is; ARE YOU receiving the new mercies that Father is offering you each new morning? Or are you clinging to the failures of yesterday? Many who quote the Lamentations passage just show verses 22 – 23, which by itself has a powerful message. I am adding verses 24-25 to remind myself and I pray you are reminded as well, that we need not lose hope in our inheritance and it’s OK to depend on God and to keep searching and adjusting your plan as you go along!

So then, I am going to remind myself that I still have 48 weeks to try to jot down some thoughts in this literary form called a blog in the calendar year 2011. I pray that the two words that came to me in this new year – namely EDIT and HARNESS (specifically my thoughts!) will occur as I am faithful and disciplined to continue this project.

And so with letting go of the brokenness of yesterday – I RECEIVE GOD’S MERCY and start this again!

Happy NEW DAY!

What is GOD CALLING YOU TO START ANEW TODAY?

Go to it then!

Stop and rest, drop the regrets of yesterday, pick up the FRESH NEW MERCIES OF TODAY and go back to 'the hike o' life'