Laughter

Looking down at her hands the wrinkles spoke of the many years she had already wandered the earth. Married with no children, that paper thin skin on her hands has long lost its youthful elasticity.  Her husband’s body also showing similar signs of age as his face had been exposed to the sun for so many years as he tended the herd.  However, their hearing hasn’t suffered too much from aging.  She was not in the room, but she overheard the promise: “This time next year… your wife will have a son.”

Looking at her wrinkled hands acknowledging all that has pasted and how limited the future seemed, she laughed. “An old woman like me? Pregnant? With this old man of a husband?”

We are given a profound reminder of who and what we are dealing with in this life as God responds by saying “Is anything too hard for God?”

I wonder how many of our churches laugh when we look around and see all these signs of age, or limited budgets, or inadequate buildings, or… as God proclaims to all our churches that we are to give birth to a younger generation of disciples of Jesus Christ.  Do we join Sarah laughing  “An old church like us? Give birth to a younger generation of disciples?”

I am encouraged, comforted, and excited in knowing that nothing is too hard for God! When God wants to bring new life into the world… when God wants to use us to give birth to a younger generation of disciples… when God makes and fulfills a promise nothing is too hard. Sarah being too old to give birth didn’t stop God. Barrenness has never been an obstacle God can’t handle when God wants to bring new life. Besides Mary being a virgin didn’t stop God either.

We are called by God to raise up a new generation of disciples of Jesus Christ – let’s let the giggles fade away and follow the One where nothing is impossible.

Lord help us to hear You whisper promises into our lives and trust you to be the one to fulfill the promise. By your present Spirit help us to boldly participate in your miraculous work here on earth. Thanks for wanting to work in and through us. May your kingdom come. Amen.

Stuff

I have continued to reflect on my experience of helping out this person move from a very dark place to a shelter (read the previous post here).  One things that has convicted me is that we put in my Buick Lasabre everything that he called “his”.  I had kept some of his belongings in my trunk for a bit, but the first thing I wanted to do was ask him to get ride of some of the items. I saw much of what he had as not having value. I saw much of it as things holding him back. What was hard was the realization of how everything fit into my car and I was wanting him to get rid of some of his stuff, while I couldn’t fit a fraction of what I call “mine” into my car. It will take a very large UHaul to move my stuff. It has made me look around at all the things around my house a little bit differently.

God Almighty, creator of all, help us to have a right relationship with all the stuff of this world. May what we have and how we interact with it be signs of your good kingdom come. Forgive us for the times that we (whether directly or indirectly) take away from those who have little.  May your good kingdom come.
Amen.

[I have posted these online on a delay so there would be a period of time separating when these experiences happened]

Vision and Blindness

So my wife sent me a link to this video. My only response is to pray.

Jesus, you could use mud to open eyes. Sometimes we see others like they are trees or just landscape. You have come to set captives free, and I wonder if our captivity includes our inability to see the world around us. You have come to give the blind sight. Open our eyes. Holy Spirit, awaken us to see visions. Visions of the world as it really is, not as we imagine. A world with brokenness, hurt, and despair. A world that has not been and never has been abandoned by your grace and love. A world that has homeless, and mentally disabled. A world that have break-ins and gunshots in our neighborhood. A world that you created in beauty and goodness, and have given yourself in love to redeem all to beauty and goodness. Father God create in us eyes that see all of creation as you see it. Heal our blindness. Forgive us for our lack of vision. May the visions and clear sight you give us move us to participate more in the goodness and beauty of your kingdom.

Amen

 

Who are the ones that you haven’t seen?

What paths do you take daily? Who is on that path?

Who do you avoid?

Liberation – only a fraction of the Kingdom

[This is from Common Prayer for Ordinary Radicals]

Oscar Romero wrote, “It helps, now and then, to step back and take the long view. The Kingdom is not only beyond our efforts: it is beyond our vision. We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is the Lord’s work. Nothing we do is complete, which is another way of saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us. No sermon says all that should be said. No prayer fully expresses our faith. No confession brings perfection. No pastoral visit brings wholeness. No program accomplishes the Church’s mission. No set of goals and objectives includes everything. That is what we are about. We plant the seeds that one day will grow. We water seeds already planted knowing they hold future promise. We lay foundations that will need further development. We provide yeast that affects far beyond our capabilities. We cannot do everything and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something, and to do it very, very well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest. We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the Master Builder and the worker. We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future that is not our own.”