Sacred Threshold ::

Peer Group Question ::

On the fourth Monday evening of the month, as part of the spiritual direction class, a small band of us gather to reflect on our lives and grow deep in God. This month's question brought us again into a place of connection and understanding of each other's hearts.

As part of the group, I also "must" honestly and forthrightly enter into the process. Giving voice to the answer of the night's question helped coalesce for me what God is doing in my heart.

Question: What helps me stay open to God in places of uncertainty?

Answer: Community and Rhythm

Community...The past three years that have transpired since we have moved into our new building have been hard. Many friends, co-workers, and lay ministers are no longer here. Some of the old ways of doing ministry have ended. For this season, organizational change and restructuring has become the norm. The known has become the unknown. I have experienced the grief of saying good-bye again and again to people and the familiar ways of the Spirit too deep to name. Some days the good-byes seem too much to bare.

But in the midst of the season of good-byes God is birthing the new. In the breaking down of the old, there are glimmers of the Spirit's re-creation. For each good-bye comes a hello. In the midst of it all, new ways and friends are emerging. People, a year ago who were unknown to me, are becoming known. New ways of doing life together are being sought and discovered. Interiorly, I am learning to lean into "the given" and receive the richness of this moment. New companions are here. New community is born. Partners may have changed, but the dance continues. I have not been left behind. In community, God is found.

Rhythm...In the BIG story and the little story of my life, God is found. Rhythm is important to me. Whether in the celebration of the Paschal Mystery in Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter, monthly gatherings around the Table as a church community or the simple gathering for lunch at exactly twelve noon each day, I find stability and sustenance for life, in life. At home, folding laundry, doing dishes, dusting, grocery shopping, in the ordinary and mundane, doing the next thing, helps to center me and keeps me focused on what is REAL. To do what is in front of me, whether to wake, eat, work, play, or sleep, is where I find God. The simple gifts of ordinary days.

To live life, to love life, to receive life as given, this is where I find God. I am thankful for the little band of faithful followers I can gather with to share each month. They are part of the community and the rhythm in which God is found for me in these times of uncertainty.

With Gratitude ::

With gratitude, I sit at my computer this morning, pounding on these keys, remembering the goodness of the past week and all the people in it.

To Terry, Scott, Howard, Ed, Declan, and little Joe, thanks for connecting wires, pushing levers, hauling equipment, and the creative attention to the littlest of detail, for all you do that people know and don't know, thanks.

To Lisa B., Sherry, Renee, and Jane, your prayer stations were over the top LOVELY! Thanks for entering into the possibilities of sharing yourselves through your creations with our forty seekers of God's heart. Thanks.

To Alice, Atsuko, Stacy, Jennifer, Annie-Claude and Dave, my slave laborers, thanks for your willing hands, feet and strong backs. Your hand prints were everywhere on Friday. Thanks.

To Ashley, Matt, and Joel, for your creative vision and giftedness you so readily give to others. Thanks.

To our facility staff, Nate, Jesse, Chris, Brad, Charlie and Ted, who hauled tables and chairs, swept and vacuumed, preparing the building as Holy Place for people to experience God. Many, many thanks!

To the Good Friday retreatants, your silent presence and prayer through the day made a way for the Spirit's continued work in His people. I enjoyed spending time in quiet with you. Thanks.

To Ardie, whose art and artistic gift, helps mark our life together with significance and remembrance. Thanks.

To the baptism candidates, you are all so precious. May your lives continue to sing of the greatness and wonder of God. Thanks for how you witness Jesus to me.

To the baptism sponsors, your "walking with" was a powerful symbol of God's presence and grace. Thanks.

To Ron, thanks for capturing the moments on film for us. Thanks.

To Al, my new boss, thanks for sharing the Easter Vigil with us and your words of TRUTH. Your presence there was more important that you know. Many thanks.

To Jaime, thanks for being the friendly face at the door. Thank you.

To Ben, Jen, and Bruce, your voices led us into the Great Story through Word and Worship. It is good to have companions to travel with on these special days. Thanks.

To Jessie, Lucas, Sarah and Adam, for making Easter dinner a delightful, yummy place of rest. Thanks.

AND to Deb, Mandie, and Peter, the PC team. You may be small in size, but you are MIGHTY in power. Your endurance and stamina in this week of many things gets a standing ovation. You all out did yourselves. Every part of this week was touched by your hands and hearts. I am so grateful for having you in my life. Thanks.

.....May you ALL experience the deep rest of God in this week of Easter JOY!

I am so grateful for all of you!
 

When He Comes ::

He is risen!

He is risen indeed!

Last night the sweetness of the Spirit came as we Vigiled together.

Click here to find out what happened.....

Happy Easter!

In-the-Middle ::

Every once in a while, a song from my youth will pop up and beg for attention. Today, it's this old tune...

"Stuck in the middle with you, I am wondering what I should do, clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right. Here I am stuck in the middle with you..."

Today is Holy Saturday. A day when we acknowledge we are stuck in the middle, in the in-between. It is here, after the remembrance reflections of Good Friday and the not yet of Easter resurrection joy, we must remain. It is on this day we willingly choose to enter into the undone, the questions of our lives, the places of disappointment, the frustrating unknown.

The clowns and jokers are with us, yes. Taunting, tantilizing, carrying on, with laughter and disregard for sacredness of life, our life. They will try to distract us, to lure us away from the waiting place of the in-between. But there is Another beside us.

"Stuck in the middle with You."

Even in this place, Someone is here with us, waiting. In the in-between, there are no words, just Presence.

"I am with even until the end of the age."

"Never will I leave or forsake you."

"Peace I leave you but not as the world gives."

So today we wait. Silently, quietly, with recognition of our humanity, we let this day with all its possible meaning enwrap us and call forth the truth. We are "stuck in the middle" with Another who is much bigger and stronger than ourselves. It is HE who will RISE, conquering sin and death, restoring all things unto Himself.

Have a blessed day.

Good Friday ::

Yet it was our weaknesses He carried; it was our sorrows that weighed Him down. And we thought His troubles were a punishment from God for His own sins! But He was wounded and crushed for our sins. He was beaten that we might have peace. He was whipped, and we were healed! All of us have strayed away like sheep. We have left God's paths to follow our own. Yet the LORD laid on Him the guilt and sins of us all.

A Small Arsenal ::

In response to an ALL STAFF e-mail to see if anyone knows someone with a sword I could use as a Good Friday meditation prop, I am inundated with twenty plus possibilities of large, small, grand, petite, royal, and gaudy choices. Innocently I have stumbled on a small arsenal of deadly weapons in the closets of our men at church.

As a pastoral care pastor, somehow I feel compelled to make a statement on the possession of such a wide variety of sharp objects by our noble hearted men. I do understand the good of symbol and its impact on the soul, but are so many needed?

A couple of years back it was customary to debate whether churches should post a sign at their entrance banning guns because of a recent change in Minnesota's gun laws. Now is there a need to post a similar sign banning swords on church property?

Kingdom Warriors, please take this post as tongue in cheek. I must say I am "duel-ly" surprised.

On guard!

No Neutral Ground ::

“There is no neutral ground in the universe; every split second of time and every square centimeter of space is claimed by God and counter-claimed by Satan.”                                                  --C.S. Lewis

Early Easter ::

Nearby our home are two small bodies of water--a lake and a pond. At this time of year, they begin to transform from a dark ice pack to a milky white slush. Geese stop by regularly, looking for a place to alight only to find a watery skating rink, while children test their limits and potential buoyancy amidst sounds of cracking ice. The trees, shrubs and plants appear to surge with new life even though nothing outwardly is changing--at least not yet. It seems the earth is pushing upward toward the daily increased dose of sunlight.

Easter awaits us with predictions of 30 something degree highs. It seems to me many of the Easter comings in my life have been in seasons of snow, cold, or gray. Little have truly been warm and sun shiny, the picturesque Easter Bonnet Parade. So this year, with an early celebration of resurrection day, I again have a chance to recognize Easter joy is not contingent on the weather or the calendar. The truth is Jesus is risen despite any external circumstances in my life telling me otherwise.

Despite the potential shivers, I will shout with the rest dressed in their woolen socks, "He has risen indeed."

New Look ::

Like the look? Clean, sleek, an Isaac original.

The B.O.C. ::

You know me, I am the B.O.C.
That's right, the B.O.C.
What's the B.O.C?
Now you ask me.
I'm the B.O.C.,
Yo, you and me,
We are the B.O.C.
The B.O.C.....

Yesterday we were in our cubes talking back and forth across the great expanse of south pod space about what it means to be the Body of Christ (B.O.C.). Our conversation focused on more than just giving lip service to the theological and biblical construct but what would it truly mean to BE, live into, this reality together. Well Mandie got inspired by our deep thinking, began a rap about the B.O.C.....

"Yo, yo, we are the B.O.C..."

I said to her in response, "I could never do that."

"Sure you can," she fires back.

"Well, maybe not like you."

"That's not the point."

It's not the point. An eye cannot say to a hand, I have no need of you. Or a heart to leg, get lost, legs are underrated. We need each other so we can learn and grow.

In the last weeks, I have been convicted of my own independence, of ways I have self protected. Because of a variety of reasons, I have burrowed in and done many areas of my life without a true need for others. Call it the sin of self sufficiency if you like. The sin is being confronted and through repentance the interior walls are coming down. It's actually quite profound what seems to be opening up inside.

What would it be to give up trying to do it on our own and truly submit to each other as the Body of Christ? Taking time to listen and learn from all who come our way, not just those we find on our "best dressed list?" What paradigms would have to change? What ways of living would need to be reformed? What would we need to repent of?

Yo, we're the B.O.C.,
You and me,
The B.O.C.
What could it be,
to truly be the B.O.C.?
The B.O.C....

Folk music is more my style. I'll bring my guitar in next week.

(Photograph provided by Bogle Images.)