Lenten Journey

I was driving in this crazy traffic that seems to fill our streets these days. As I was waiting at one of those extra long stop lights I was getting antsy and frustrated because I needed to get to my next destination. It was a nice day and most drivers had their windows down. I noticed the man next to me started to whistle. His whistling came through loud and clear and instead of annoying me it began to relax me.

I began to let him share his excitement and energy with me. He had no clue the peace that his whistling brought me, but I began to remember how important it is to live in the present. I was busy trying to rush to the next place. If I hadn’t stopped to listen to him whistle I would have missed the moment that brought me peace. I don’t know about you but I often spend so much time preparing and running for the future I forget to live in the now.

This Lent let’s not rush to the cross and the resurrection as we look forward to Easter. Let us embrace this day and what the Lenten story has to share with us in our lives now.

We are Stardust!

Have you ever wondered, Why me God? Why is my life so good? Why do bad things seem to follow me around? Why did you put breath in me? What is the meaning of life? In a universe so vast how can God hear my prayer?

William Burger in Perfect Planet, Clever Species: How Unique Are We? writes,

…it is only in an “older” universe that complex life forms can come into being. Based on the analysis of minute grains found associated with meteorites, Armand Delsemme suggests that our solar system was enriched by “at least four different stars. A star rich in carbon. A star rich in oxygen, a star rich in magnesium and silicon, and a star rich in iron.” Clearly, our glorious star was generously endowed with the materials needed to build living things. Together with a liquid medium such as water, complex life-forms built largely by the common and versatile carbon atom also require a variety of heavy elements to act as the energy centers of their most critical enzymes… Humankind is the product of that history; hydrogen, the original stuff of the universe, makes up about 8 percent of our body weight – all the rest of us is stardust.

We are stardust! All of the living things on this earth are a product of the elements Burger describes. When things that were very different from one another, things that had different characteristics, different goals, and different properties came together, something new and beautiful was brought into being. Various materials along with energy and a “liquid medium,” went into our origins, and they might very well not have seemed to “belong” together. But look at the product!

Look at yourself! There are times you may not feel like you fit into this world as you seek for meaning and purpose. But, even science shows us how connected we are to all of creation and to one another. You are a beautiful, unexplainable, gift of God’s! Is there something more we’re searching for?

Church is Messy!

When I was a child I loved to get my hands in the soil of the earth. I was always digging for worms, making mud-pies, and trying to dig all the way to China. The older I get it seems I’m less likely to get my hands dirty. This past week we were weeding a parishioner’s yard and before I could eat lunch I had to wash my hands. It actually required a couple of times with the soap and water before most of the dirt was removed and it was finally acceptable to eat. When I was a child I would not have thought twice about picking up a sandwich with the newly mud-pied hands. I might have even tried to eat the mud-pie.

I fear that age teaches us the reality that life is out of our control and so we counteract by controlling the few things we can. In the midst of this we lose our playfulness. We try to clean things up. I believe that this phenomenon seeps into the church. Who has the best youth program? Who has the best attendance at worship? Who has the most money? Who has the best choir? Who has the most contemporary worship? We want things to be so controlled and perfect that we lose the passion behind what it means to gather in the name of our Creator. God knows life is messy. God sent his only Son into this messy world so we would know the power of God’s love. Maybe the question we ought to ask is, “Is the church getting messy?” “Is the church playing in the gift of creation?”

This playfulness is where God’s passion seeps into our lives. It is what draws people into the faith. Maybe as people of faith we need to stop washing our hands to be a perfect church and start digging for those considered the worms of the community. Start digging for those who need to know of God’s love. Start digging for those who are trying to get above ground. After all, God rose from the grave to dig us out of sin so we are free to play in love and grace.

Are you a worrier too?

By Sarah Teichmann

‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? Matthew 6:25-27

I always struggled with the Matthew 6:25-27 passage about worry. It feels that from the age of three on I was a worrier. I would worry about my family, worry about my safety, and worry about the world around me. I would like to say that with age and maturity my inclination to worry has subsided, but in truth it has not. Often maturity and responsibility are paired with their stomach turning mate of worry.

In the midst of news about economic troubles and uncertainties and the seemingly unending bombardment of bad news—there is a solid sense of worry. It is quite normal to worry. It is also important to remember that during these times of worry we are not alone—God is with us. Yes we worry, but it is not the end result. We are called to turn our worry over to God who knows our hearts, our minds, and our worries. When I feel worry creeping from the dark shadows and clouding hope, I find myself turning to Psalm 139.

O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away. You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, O Lord, you know it completely. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Psalm 139:1-5.

God knows us through and through—knows our strengths and weaknesses, our worries and triumphs. In all that we think, all that we feel, and how we act—God is there. When life’s worries grow we may find comfort in a God who hems us in, who is with us, and who comforts us.

I pray that this day may be filled with hope and light in your life. God is with us and loves us.