Pr. Wendy blogs!

Genesis 37:1-28: Dreams, Fratricide, Slave-trading and Pits!

2011-09-07T18:14:00.000-04:00

Dreams. Whether we remember them or not, we all have them. Some are lovely and vivid. Others are hazy or terrifying. And then there are the dreams that we consciously build as our lives unfold and we grow and change. Vocational dreams, family dreams, travel destination dreams. For many of us our dreams are influenced by many factors and people, including God and spiritual mentors, throughout our lives.

Joseph was a dreamer, and that was probably a good thing because from what I can see, he had very little common sense! I mean, really. Our reading today tells us that his brother’s “could not even speak peaceably to him”. And yet, not once but twice when he has a dream that indicates they will bow down to him, he runs right up to them and tells them, and, well, yes, the predictable result is that they “hated him even more”. And, Dad, well, I’m not so sure he’s got any more common sense…we all know, right, that playing favorites is never a healthy thing in families for one thing. He who knows Jacob had Joseph doing now while the brothers were out in the field, but now he thinks it’s a good idea to send Joseph to make sure that all is well with his brothers and the flocks.

His brothers see him from a distance and decide, “Let’s kill him”, except for Rueben who schemes to improve his standing with his father, by convincing the group that they should just throw him into a well that way they don’t have to worry themselves with the blood from his death, instead, let him die slowly from no water. But what the others don’t know is that he wants to rescue Joseph and turn them all in to their father as having planned harm to the favorite son. So, Joseph ends up in a pit. And, these sons of Jacob, after planning their brother’s death sit down to eat. They must have stomachs of steel! And, then they unwittingly foil Rueben’s plan as he is off who knows where by selling Joseph, the dreamer, to passing traders who take him to Egypt.

It’s an interesting story that we have before us, that’s for sure. Joseph’s own dreams of a changed reality are his brothers’ nightmares and cause them to take hateful actions. For Joseph’s dreams to come true there would have had to be a total change in reality; a shift in the distribution of power and resources in the family. And, it’s a vision that his brothers can not accept – they will not accept that they will bow down to Joseph, that he will have power over them.

It’s not only Joseph who has dreams. Like Joseph, we all have dreams. We dream of better economic times. We dream of peace between races, nations, and countries. We dream of a renewed natural world. We dream of ending terminal diseases like cancer and HIV/AIDS. We dream of the end of human trafficking and drug trafficking.

Each of us have our individual dreams, too…vocational dreams for a job or outlet that lets us share our skills, be fulfilled, and be challenged. Dreams of personal health. Dreams of healthy children. Dreams of quiet evenings and untroubled sleep.

Before the fulfillment of Joseph’s dreams, he experiences hell. In Hebrew, the word for the “pit” they throw him into refers to the underworld or hell. And in the continuing story of Joseph there are many pits, or, times of hell, to endure before his dreams are realized.

Maybe you’ve been in the pit, too; maybe more than once. If not, you will be.

There is a saying: Life happens. Joy is optional…So true when we are unemployed, underemployed and uninsured. A hostile workplace or supervisor driving you insane can make you repeat: “mortgage payment, mortgage payment” over and over again just to get yourself through the day. A relationship that was lovely and the best you’ve ever been in that turns high-conflict or dissolves for lack of love by the other person can make you feel like you are in a pit with no water.

It is perhaps the pits that delay the fulfillment of our personal dreams and the dreams of those we love where it is hardest to see God at work. It is easier, like Joseph’s brothers, to see those who stand in our way, those who seemingly have control and block the pathway to the realization of our dreams. Or sometimes, there isn’t an obvious responsible person and so we blame God, or turn the anger and despair on ourselves. I believe it is also the personal hells, the immediate pits where we are most in danger of those pits turning into Lazarus tombs of darkness and silence.

So, amidst the favoritism of the workplace or our own families, the scheming, pits and hells around us where is the Good News for us today? I think the Good News is that “the dream of God prevails over the plans of human beings. Maybe not in the forms God intended at first, and there may be long and trying times before it comes about, and it may come about it ways that we never expect, but the dream of God, God’s desire for the world and God’s people [was achieved then and] is still being achieved” today.

The overarching story of God’s dream for freedom, forgiveness, grace and love for us and for the world is seen in Jesus’ life and death and resurrection.

As God moved over the chaos of wind and water at the creation of our world, we dare to dream that God will move over the chaos of our world restoring order and peace.

As Jesus healed and re-membered the sick, marginalized, shunned and sinners, we dare to dream of healing and re-membering.

From God’s reconciliation with us through Jesus’ death, we dare to dream for reconciliation with our sister, brother, mother, father, ex or soon to be x spouse or partner.

As body and blood become sustaining bread and wine, we dare to dream of community efforts to meet the needs of the spiritually and physically hungry in our neighborhood.

Dear friends, the pit is never God’s dream for us.

And, like Joseph, it is not the end of the story for any of us.

Thanks be to God.

Amen.

The spirituality of Welcome

2011-02-15T13:47:00.001-05:00

There has been a convergence around the theme of welcome and hospitality from the many communities of my life, so I have spent a lot of time thinking about these practices over the last few weeks. The monastic tradition of St. Benedict has gospel hospitality and welcome at it's center. First Trinity strives to be a welcoming community for all who walk through the doors on Sunday mornings, or Thursday nights, or that ring the bell at any time, any day of the week. 501 Church welcomes young adults into Journey Groups, service projects, and new ways and thinking about worship and "being church". In our home, Jonathan and I have welcomed a new housemate who is with us temporarily while she looks for a job. Each of these examples of welcome and hospitality comes with a sense of richness, joy and deeper sense of knowing and being known by those to whom hospitality is extended and by God.

There is another side to welcome, too; well, perhaps, almost certainly, more than one other side to 'welcome'. But, there is the side of being turned down, turned away in your moment of need. I spent a lot of time this last week feeling unwelcome as I looked for a place for 501 Church to meet on a Sunday evening at 5:01pm. For many reasons, a space outside of a church building was not working out...in a very real way, 501 Church felt the 'other' side of welcome. We simply wanted "space" - not even the opportunity to evangelize or convert anyone who walked by...yet, space was not open to us. In the book The Ten Most Common Mistakes Made by New Church Starts this is referred to as spiritual resistance to a new church beginning.

And, truth be told, I have turned down other churches, music groups, or the random non-profit that have called asking for space for many reasons: some good, others not as good. So, in a way, I understand. And, I'm not demoninzing or condemning to hell, or trying to be self-righteous over and against any of those that turned me down for requesting space.

The point is, I believe, that welcome is a spiritual practice that is center to our lives as spiritual beings. It is in welcoming another that we are known, and know others. To welcome another - an individual or group - is to welcome the God who shows up in the most unexpected of places and people. We are but smudged reflections of the God who welcomes everyone, anywhere, anytime and invites us to take a risk and do the same.

Arizona Shooting – What does a Christian response look like?

2011-01-20T17:28:00.000-05:00

In the 5 days following the shooting in Tucson, AZ I lead our Sunday morning Bible Study and our Shalom Group discussions, focusing each on the events and our feelings, perspective and responses to the tragedy. The emotions ranged from sadness and grief for those killed or injured to anger at the gunman and the media response and coverage afterward. I would say this is pretty akin with the rest of the country.

There are two points to our discussions that I want to share with you. In our discussions, I was disheartened to hear someone say that when I preach, I’m preaching to the choir and really the people outside of the walls are the ones that need the message. Because what happened is so violent and tragic, it is tempting to distance ourselves from this and say that this is something we’re not a part of, have no responsibility for, or can do anything about. I disagree. As people of faith, followers of Christ, we have a responsibility to step into the conversation and bring a message of light and life. In the Holden Evening Prayer on Thursdays, there is a call and response sentence that goes, “The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” There is darkness in the world and we are called to be light. When tragedies like Arizona occur, it is our responsibility to examine our own actions, the places of intersection with those we are trying to live well among, those who enter our path and become our neighbor regardless of place, race or style. Often, bringing light means to first take responsibility for the mistakes we have made, the hurt we have inflicted and the sorrow we have caused. And, it means feeling the grace in the opportunity to fall and get up and fall and get up again on the journey to follow the way of Jesus.

The second point from our discussion that I want to highlight is this: what or, more pointedly, where was the Christian response to the shooting? The only coverage of a response that I or anyone in our Shalom group heard was discussion of whether or not the Westboro Group would protest some of the funerals that were taking place. I am disappointed that our ELCA Presiding Bishop Hanson or any of his colleagues from other denominations didn’t step into the darkness and make a statement. Our lack of voice does nothing to alleviate the impressions of people that I talk with who have become disillusioned with the church. It gives no counter to the impression that Christianity is irrelevant and all Christians are judgmental and absorbed with our buildings and Sunday morning worship only.

So, what does a Christian response look like? I’m sure that neither I nor any of my colleagues preach for the words to reverberate off the 4 walls of the church sanctuary and to stay there. We preach praying that the Holy Spirit will take the message into the listener’s heart and mind and then we are sent out to be Christ’s hands, feet and voice in the world. Your claim, “I am a Christian. Living out my faith is the most important thing in my life.” will open avenues of conversation you didn’t know existed and show others that Christians are compassionate, thoughtful people seeking the grace and mercy of God and that we are dependent on the love we learn from one another. Let us go out into the world with good courage to proclaim light in the darkness.

Pastor Wendy

Welcome to the Journey, pilgrim brothers and sisters!

2010-12-06T12:20:00.002-05:00

Sermon for Advent 1

Wake up, pilgrim brothers and sisters!

Having just celebrated Thanksgiving,
if I were to say the word ‘pilgrim’ to you,
I imagine you would think of the first immigrants who
shared a bountiful meal with those native to our country.
The word pilgrim, however,
has another meaning that we are less likely to immediately consider –
it’s the religious significance of pilgrim and pilgrimage:
a pilgrim is one who undertakes a pilgrimage or journey toward
a destination or people that is significant,
often referred to as a religious pilgrimage.
Today, we begin a pilgrimage of our own.
We are pilgrims not like those in 1621,
but pilgrims on a journey of big and bold hope.

Big and bold hope, you might ask?
Yes, big and bold hope.
With these readings today?
All I hear is doom and gloom, judgment and destruction,
carrying away and left behind.
Yes, we are pilgrims setting out in big and bold hope…
Because Advent is about readying ourselves for the
coming of the One who is Lord of heaven and earth
as the One who will set right all that is
twisted and distorted in our lives and this world.
We are readying ourselves to welcome God’s plan coming together.
That, dear friends, is a journey of big and bold hope .

Isaiah is bold as he proclaims God’s judgment and anger
turned to care and salvation for the world.
It is written that all peoples will awaken to LORD their God.
They will make a pilgrimage to the house of the Lord to
learn God’s ways and
walk the pathways of God and
they will turn their warring instruments into agricultural tools.
Those are, indeed, visions and words of big and bold hope.

In Romans we encounter Paul –
confident and sure in his bold claims that
the early Christians knew what time it was!
The time to wake from sleep!
“People!” he says,
“What God is doing in Jesus Christ is nearer to completion
than when you first believed!
Get with it!”

In our gospel, Matthew, appears to have been surrounded by
sleepy people who have long since stopped
expecting and preparing for the return of their Savior.
They tend their fields and complete the grinding but
falter at watching and praying for Jesus to return.

Perhaps, as time passed without their Savior’s return,
it got hard to hope big and bold.
Perhaps they were persecuted or
ostracized for their belief in Jesus as the Savior.
Perhaps they suffered under oppression of
those governing their cities and territories.
Perhaps they suffered hunger or homelessness,
illness or judgment and wrath.

It’s hard to know what really was going on,
but using Jesus’ dramatic, startling words
Matthew warns his community to wake up.

Our Advent Journey invites us and calls us to wake up, too.
Our pilgrimage today begins with a jolt – wake up!
All around us we see people going through life as if sleepwalking.
Sometimes that person is us.

Wake up, God insists, from the dull, numbing routines of life.
Wake up you who have faltered and no longer pray.
Wake up, God insists, oppression mounts on your hungry and
out of work neighbor.
Wake up from despair, grief, resentments.
Wake up and mend your relationships.
Wake up and reflect on the ways in which we use our time,
fret over time or feel like it’s not even ours.

Wake up, God says, I surprised the world as a baby and
I continue to surprise now.
It is into your everyday, normal, mundane lives that I
break in with judgment and mercy and grace.

That is the promise in Scripture –
A God who doesn’t stay distant but comes into our everyday lives.
A God who doesn’t stay mad,
but whose judgment is turned to mercy and care and salvation.
We hear it in Isaiah, in Paul and in Matthew.

And, yet, for us, too, it gets hard to hope big and bold.
Like the ancient peoples of scripture,
we look around us and see little
rescue and redemption of all creation reflected in this world.

Bold hope that weapons might be turned into plowshares seems
naïve and foolish with
Afghanistan, Israel and Palestine and
North and South Korea now lurching maniacally toward war.

Bold hope for all peoples to know that God is their God
flies in the face of the declining numbers of people who
gather as a community to participate in the spiritual practices of
prayer, praise and table fellowship.

Bold hope for all peoples to build healthy relationships with
one another, themselves and their bodies breaks apart when
girls and boys are bullied from a young age because
of the way they look, talk, and act or don’t look, talk and act.

But, we are called to be people of big and bold hope,
not because of what we do,
but because of the One who Promises,
the one who does not fail.

Our hope is rooted in a God who attends to the needs of humanity –
a God that does not stay distant.
We are able to hope big and bold because
the risen Christ comes to us and
holds the hope for us when we falter under its weight.

About 4 months ago, God surprised me.

It was an ordinary weekday here at First Trinity,
I don’t remember which.
There were several people coming and going and the doorbell kept ringing.
And, I found myself getting annoyed by the interruptions.

One time I answered and I recognized the voice of
one of our community from the homeless shelter across the street.
She said she needed a Bible and I said, ok, I’d bring her one.
I stopped in the parlor and grabbed
One of the New Testament Bibles that we give out when someone asks.

I met her at the door and she showed me how
hers was being held together by rubber bands and
it was breaking down because she had to role it up to keep it safe.
I handed her the new one which she looked at and she was clearly unhappy.
And she says to me, “This won’t do, this isn’t the Bible…”

I could feel things start to escalate and I said to her,
“well, that’s all we’ve got and besides,
you should take a look in there, I hear it’s really good stuff”.
It was just enough and the next thing I knew she was laughing a little and leaned in to serendipitously give me a lovely little kiss on my cheek.

I have no doubt that I was kissed by Christthat day
and it all happened in the
mundane, ordinary and interruptedness of everyday life.

Advent is a pilgrimage of the heart and mind that holds
big and bold hope every day.
A pilgrimage that opens our eyes and awakens our heart to
the continual return of Jesus in and through our neighbor.

Wake up, pilgrim brothers and sisters, let us be on our way. Amen.

Looking Up

2010-11-01T16:44:00.000-04:00

Lately, I have found myself looking up a lot. I don't know that there is any particular reason, but it is a noticeable change. Looking up I noticed the moon clearly one Saturday in the light of an early summer evening. That same moon was there in the early morning, Sunday, as I left for church. Besides being drawn to it's beauty, I was reminded of our Creator who set the sun, moon and stars in their places in the heavens. And the Sustainer who continues to watch over all of creation, even when it's not so obvious as the moon was for me.

I have recently been immersing myself in a contemporary application of the ancient monastic tradition and Rule as St. Benedict instructed his community. These traditions can help us realign or re-balance when life has gone astoundingly awry or when life seems just a little out of balance. Sometimes life is just a slog, and you put one foot in front of another until you climb out of the hole, and, one day find yourself able to look up and see the beauty of the moon, a reminder that there is one who is constant in our lives. God. One of the most enriching parts of my vocation is the new Benedictine Life In Balance gathering that meets on Thursday evenings at First Trinity in downtown Washington, DC. The Rule has something in it for everyone, at any point in your life - young, old, somewhere in the middle...on top of the world or haven't yet hit the bottom, but it's all downhill and backwards from your perspective. It is an enriching, often winding journey that we are called to live; may you live it well. Peace on the journey.

30mph - "Strictly Enforced"!!

2010-05-20T10:07:00.001-04:00

For a couple of days this past week I attended a conference in Ocean City, MD but stayed in Lewes, DE, some 27 miles north of Ocean City. Highway 1 was my convenient daily route from one place to the other. At a couple of points along the way, there were signs that said “30mph – Strictly Enforced”. And, they weren’t kidding – not once did I travel between the two locations that I didn’t see an officer giving out at least one ticket!

But it’s the off season and a 30mph speed limit on a long stretch of relatively deserted road got me thinking. Here in DC, regardless of the posted speed limits, which someone recently referred to as “speed suggestions” if there is open road space, most drivers take that opportunity to fly as fast as they can to the next light, stop sign or intersection, fully ignoring the speed suggestions. Here in DC, most of us don’t know 30mph anymore, unless we are bumper to bumper, and certainly not with open road in front of us. And, I tell you, 30mph felt S—L—O—W.

It is also true that most of us don’t live slow, 30mph lives either. We are constantly running and rushing from one thing to another. We are trying to juggle vocation and family and/or personal responsibilities and trying to throw in community and relationships. I was out running (for exercise) one morning and saw people leisurely, but with purpose, walking toward the Metro, and I thought, “I don’t know that speed”. We know it would be better for our physical and mental health if we did slow down, but…

We know a lot of things would be better for us, but without ‘strict enforcement’ we continue to speed through life. Maybe we need Sabbath police? No, not really, but faith communities to help us be responsible stewards of our time and life space through prayer, sharing and accountability. Conversations that share experience and hope in this area and about all areas of our lives can deepen our sense of God, others and our callings in life. Together we can help each other recognize the signs to s-l-o-w down. It is not easy, there will be road signs and turns, but the scenery, shared with others, is a beautiful landscape, indeed.

“For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood.”

1 Corinthians 13:12

Posted via email from revwendyindc

Do I need to revise my opinion?

2009-07-24T07:23:00.006-04:00

I feel like I've learned a lot about Facebook, but I know very little about Twitter. As I've been investigating Twitter, this perspective came to my attention. Hopefully this link will take you there, please take a look at the blog, and be sure to look at the comments!

http://tribalchurch.org/?p=1337

I have not noticed anyone "twittering" a "tweet" during worship, but what if they do? Would we say, "how disrespectful" or could we say, "that person was set on fire by the Holy Spirit, moved to share something with their friends?"

Our liturgy - the order in which we do things in worship - is by definition "the work of the people" and we usually think of it as interaction within the gathered community. Perhaps twitter invites others into our worship and praise, widening the reach of our ministry and proclamation.

What do you think?

counter-top picnic

2008-12-17T20:03:00.003-05:00

It was a regular week night at our house, only, it was not a good day for my son. He was disappointed I hadn't bought him all 5 books on his "wish list" from the 'book fair' hosted in the basement of his aftercare. A book fair that none of the parents picking up their kids knew was going on, by the way. Therefore, upon arrival we were ambushed by excited and optimistic children, cerain we were buying their wish list. I explained Christmas was coming, but that he could get 2 on the list, but only 2. It took some work, but he finally got it down to the 2 he really wanted. And then on the way to the car he dropped his backpack and got it dirty - at which point, the tears started to flow. And, I got the neon sign clue that he was also tired.*

On the way home, I tried to think of how best to handle the rest of the night - it was already late, due to negotiations over books, cleaning a backpack, traffic - could nothing go right? Dinner, homework (was there homework, oh, not tonight, please!) and bedtime was the agenda. Think, Think, Think...

What about a special place for him to read his book while I get dinner? Maybe that would work. In the car, I start to lay it out for him, telling him I think I have the perfect place for him to read his special new books to be close while I make dinner. He's curious and when I tell him it's a secret and I have to show him when we get inside the house...

Inside, coats and shoes come off, and I carry him to the countert-top in the kitchen next to the stove - a wondering look from the child as we have a pretty strict "no sitting, walking, standing on tables, chairs, well, basically nothing other than the floor..." rule in our house. So, I say, it's ok, I think you need something special tonight - just for tonight. I start dinner; he looks through his new book - the world one he's chosen with the tabs you push/pull up and down, out and in to make something neat happen - moving parts. All of a sudden - cries of anguish - a torn tab...oh, my - hugs, assurances - tape, tape, tape will help, it really will...dinner burning on the stove - oh, my...nothing can go right tonight.

Finally, it's time to eat, I don't even remember what, and I tell him we're going to have a counter-top picnic tonight and hand him plate and utensils and then hop up there myself - and, this elicits a giggle and, a "that's cool".

So, maybe a couple of things did go right that night, but I'm sure that it wasn't me, but the Advent of God that inspired, made space, and helped us "just be" - nestled together - up there on that counter as God our Creator nestled us, coming to us just exactly and just how we needed God that night.

And, no, no kindergarten homework was done that night, but we learned something about loving and honoring each other; and, I think there is a Commandment about that!

*read: very tired

What does it mean to be a Christian?

2008-11-17T14:09:00.003-05:00

Some thoughts collected from Youtube...check it out:

http://www.emergentvillage.com/weblog/what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-christian

What does it mean to be a Christian to you?

How popular is Facebook?

2008-10-24T11:27:00.005-04:00

Well, according to some sources, it is more popular than porn among 18-24 year olds. http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1678586,00.html
While there is some skepticism of this research result and the methods used...it is true that Facebook is enormously popular, has eclipsed email even, for most of this age group. For many, this is not news (yes, I realize I'm about a year late with this headline).

The question is what does Facebook offer? Facebook is thought of as a social networking tool, and it does this quite well - - I personally love the status update feature because, rather than sending/receiving an email from/to one person, it goes to all of my "friends" at once. I get a daily glimpse into someone's life that might be near, across the country or across the oceans...
But, daily glimpses aren't enough. Facebook is not a substitute for face-to-face community. I want more than a glimpse into someone's life. I want to be able to sit and sip coffee or tea, or share a meal at table together. I want to 'see' them when they talk about challanges and be seen.

Facebook is a tool that helps us stay connected when life is busy and schedules are not easily put aside, and miles are not easily traversed, but I believe we are created to be relational people. And, I believe our community and world is served when there is face-time for sustaining and building relationships.

And, when Facebook or blogs, etc...are used in ministry as outreach, then we need to talk about how great God is and what God has done for the world, and continues to do in effort to restore creation to wholeness, to bring health and healing to all made in the image of the divine. May it be so, may it be so.

Meditation and...Crickets

2008-09-04T16:22:00.008-04:00

This week I sat down to welcome the morning and thank God for one more day. I was not, however, the only one to be welcoming the day. Outside, various sounds - the symphony of birds and insects; inside, without tv, radio, computer or anything going, there was silence - almost.

There had been a few sightings of crickets inside the house before. Jonathan and I had some funny moments of shrieking laughter as we tried to get a plastic glass over the jumpy creatures and slide paper underneath so we could transport God's creatures safely outside. Privately, without my impressionable 5.5 year old son around, a rolled up newspaper worked j u s t fine.

However, one must have escaped our eyes, or re-entered, who knows where or how...and was now making itself known. Ahhh, a good chance to practice - "let all the sounds around you be a part of your meditation; accept them; release them; let them fall through fingers like sand and water...".

rope bridges and elephants...

2008-06-07T15:46:00.002-04:00

From Barbara Brown Taylor:

"[Faith] is not a well-fluffed nest, or a well-defended castle high on a hill. It is more like a rope bridge over a scenic gorge, sturdy but swinging back and forth, with plenty of lifhgt and plenty of air but precious little to hang on to excpet the stories you have heard...All you have to do is believe in the bridge more than you believe in the gorge..."

Trusting someone/thing greater than ourselves to get us over the great chasms of life, the deep valleys is faith. It gets hard when it feels like there is an elephant stampeding toward us on that rope bridge...all we can do at that point is hold on as best we can.

caution and comfort

2008-04-26T12:18:00.005-04:00

The following cautions me to accept God's mystery, unknowableness, power - understanding that I am the one captured, contained and limited. I am comforted by the Spirit's resourcefulness and her presence with those who suffer.

Once upon a time we captured God and we put God in a box and we put a beautiful velvet curtain around the box. We placed candles and flowers around the box and we said to the poor and the dispossessed, "Come! Come and see what we have! Come and see God!" And they knelt before the God in the box. One day, very long ago, the Spirit in the box turned the key from inside and she pushed it open. She looked around in the church and saw that there was nobody there! They had all gone. Not a soul was in the place. She said to herself, "I'm getting out!" The Spirit shot out of the box. She escaped and she has been sighted a few times since then. She was last seen with a bag lady in McDonald's.

Edwina Gateley,

"Prophetic Mission: Sniffing Out the Kingdom,"

Mystics, Visionaries and Prophets

via Gail Ramshaw's book

Treasures Old and New: Images in the Lectionary

random enemy absorption

2008-04-20T16:51:00.002-04:00

This was part of an editorial by Colbert I. King in the Washington Post:

Old Lessons For Obama
By Colbert I. King
Saturday, April 19, 2008; Page A15

...A story told once before: In 1960, when I was a junior in college, Hubert Humphrey visited Howard University during his campaign in the D.C. Democratic primary. He was also running against John F. Kennedy in the West Virginia primary, where the Massachusetts senator's Catholicism was being assailed.

A government major, I asked Humphrey how he felt about the attacks against Kennedy's faith. Humphrey, not missing a beat, said that although he was seeking victory, he didn't want to win with anti-Catholic votes.

To Humphrey, an enemy of his friend was his enemy, too...

(I am going to name the process "random enemy absoprtion". Inspiring in some ways, but not exactly how I like to live life.)

No, but what did inspire me was the unwillingness of someone to use faith and religion as a barrier or a reason to denounce another person. Far too often, we can use our own beliefs as judgments on others. Humphrey obviously made an impression on Mr. Colbert King. Let us also live our lives to make an impression on others.

signs and gratitude

2008-04-12T07:24:00.007-04:00

signs of spring, renewal and new life are welcome at this time of year. while we don't have anything like a midwestern winter, it is nice to:

hear the birds in the early, early morning again (even if they do leave evidence on my car)
see blossoms blooming - tulips, cherry blossoms, lilacs, and surprises in my garden surrounding the house i moved into in november

these creation signs of new life point to the new life that God provides. yesterday i learned that a dear friend from seminary died suddenly. he was a special person, with a depth and many, many gifts he offered to his family and friends, the world and the church. i am sad for us, but can't help feeling that he now is just where he is supposed to be.

today I am grateful for:

having known Kevin Schultz

friends who bring me lilacs from their yard/garden just because I mentioned they are my favorite flowers in one of my sermons

What's In Your Backseat?

2008-04-04T18:21:00.003-04:00

Apparently, riding in my car requires an adventurous, observant and humourous nature...

As I pulled out of the parking lot, my water-logged passenger - saved from more water-loggedness, I might add - pipes up with the following inventory:

-a stuffed monkey in a homemade superhero costume
-a full-sized Kleenex box
-a junior sized soccer ball
-a batman umbrella
-a clerical collar

Apparently, adding my purse (adequate for 5 year old boy and any necessary pastoral items), covered a large area of the seat, and made her unable to complete the inventory. Who knows? There could have been a dragon, Bible Man, or jello under that!!!

What's in your back seat??

looooong Good Friday

2008-03-22T08:01:00.004-04:00

Perhaps my blog has been in a Good Friday of it's own. Closed off with a stone too heavy to move. Blogs, people, fields, animals...we are not unfamiliar with tomb-like living. There are fallow times for fields, hibernations for animals, and times in life of sitting in darkness and cold, with words, feeilngs echoing off the walls of an empty tomb. Somehow, somehow the stone is rolled away and we are warmed, brought into the light, heal and grow. And we see that, however silent friends and God might have seemed, we were not alone. This is Good News.

funny

2008-03-22T07:56:00.003-04:00

I have been encouraged to "just post something don't worry so much about writing the perfect thing". Apparently, my perfectionist tendencies (who knew?), among other distractions, and there have been many over the last months - new house, holidays, an almost impossibly early Lent and now Easter - have kept me from writing here. So, when I came across this while preparing for my Easter sermon, I just had to share...

"I feel a little like the guy who spilled water in his lap -- no matter what he says, no one's going to believe him."
--Paul Bernstein in TWA Ambassador (November 1978)

enjoy!

Peace Lily Repentance

2007-09-01T15:01:00.001-04:00

This is about the healthiest my peace lily has looked in a long time. I am now motivated to trim away the dead leaves, give a really good pruning, and change my "watering ways".

I was talking about the plant, but sometimes that is required in our lives, too. At least for me, sometimes being human isn't enough of an excuse for those repeated offenses that haunt - the impatience that shows on my face, the disapproval or hurt in my voice, and it's time to ask God to take them away, to put something else in my repertoire to handle whatever comes my way. I suspect my repentance, the changing of my ways, will be harder than that of my plant.

what Mother Teresa and my peace lily have in common

2007-08-25T10:22:00.000-04:00

I have one plant - I've had it since 2001. It's a peace lily and I like it very much; it has lots of meaning for me. However, I am not a good plant tender, gardener, what have you...My practice is the "drought and drown" method of caring for my plant. Even my 4 1/2 year old son tries valiantly, but, inevitably it looks so droopy and sad, leaning down the sides of it's pot (the same pot and soil I got it in 6 years ago) that I plop it in the sink and give it a healthy drink of water. A week ago, I thought I had really let it go too long - so convinced that it was indeed, a gonner, that I left it alone for another few days with the intention to throw it out. When I finally just couldn't put it off any longer, I couldn't bear to throw it out. I put it in the sink and gave it 2 healthy doses of water. I went out for a while and when I came back, it was still droopy. The next morning, Jonathan and I left for 4 days of summer vacation.

Driving back from Lewes, DE I heard on NPR about Mother Teresa's letters about to be published. The radio story talked about Mother Teresa having long dry spells of feeling disconnected, cut off from God. Theses letters seem astonishing to a world who assumed she must have felt close to God in order to do the work that she did. Despite feeling abandoned by God, she continually sought Christ through prayer; she sought counsel and spiritual guidance from others. She continued to search and feel in darkness, and, at times, she questioned God's existence. For whatever reason, Mother Teresa experienced the long, long night of darkness. She came to understand her search for God as evidence of God's hidden presence in her life.

I think there are a lot more people able to identify with Mother Teresa today;
many who have not been visited as she was with a voice directing her vocation;
many who have not felt, actually felt, God fill them with a divine presence and love. And so, many who don't know what it is like to have it taken away.

My thoughts drifted to my peace lily and how I couldn't quite give up on it...

Imagine my surprise and delight when I walked into the house and the peace lily had perked up and was looking green and healthy again. It's long dark night was over.

Mother Teresa and hearty peace lily plants bring hope that light and life will return to our dark and dry times of life.

collective memory

2007-08-17T08:53:00.000-04:00

Funny...what the mind does...

Yesterday I was brought up short with all of the talk about the anniversary of Elvis' death - 30 years ago. You see, until yesterday, in my mind, Elvis died way before my time - before I was born that is. Shocked I was, to realize that in fact I was born - was living, for less than a decade mind you, but with no collective memory of this event. Apparently I was much more interested in our family vacation to Adventure Land and the Iowa State Capital, and the Iowa State Fair than a major loss to the music world. And, granted Elvis was no JFK or MLK, Jr., but people are talking about him non-stop for several days on this 30th anniversary - enriching our collective memory.

Funny...what the mind does...

Tuesday night I found myself looking at the White House, the Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln monuments from the roof-top restaurant of the Hotel Washington with a group of Lutheran Volunteers (www.lutheranvolunteercorps.org) about to begin their year of service - oh, by the way, they were definitely not around when Elvis died.

I am an alum of this service corps program and they asked if I had a favorite story from my volunteer year. Several memories came to mind...3 hour house meetings, the continuum of simplified life-style and resulting conflict, an exhausting Thanksgiving meal at the homeless shelter...But my filtering screen automatically slipped into place, they will, after all, find out for themselves...and I talked about my bathroom space being breached by my male housemate while I was in the shower, and the shelter resident who went back to the street and his drugs, but whom I ran into several years later, cleaned up, giving back and serving in Americorps. I'll never forget hearing his deep baritone voice behind me at an Americorps gathering - it was almost too much to hope for, could it really be him? Yet, I would know that voice today, never needing to see the face. And, yes, it was him, our paths crossed again and we reminisced about life at the shelter, his journey to recovery and his valiant, though futile, attempts to teach me chess - our shared, collective memory.

Funny...what the mind does...

Why I decided to start blogging

2007-07-22T18:44:00.000-04:00

Blogging had been ruminating in my mind for a while. It was suggested by some who thought it would be a good way to broaden community, get the pastor into the 'tech' world, make up for never writing a "Pastor Wendy" newsletter article each month...I think I've got the equivalent of "stage fright" - would that be "blog fright"?...Never mind...I'm just going to post-

I like to read mysteries to relax.

I just finished reading "Earth Has No Sorrows" by Michelle Blake. This is the 3rd Lily Connor mystery I've read by Blake. I won't reveal anything about the mystery if I tell you that as Lily, an Episcopalian priest, searches for a missing mentor and friend, she tries desperately to hang on to her vocation, faith and sanity. Toward the end, Lily must merge one image of her friend with what she finds out about her friend's past, her mistakes - her humanness, really. Lily struggles to accept her friend - merging new information with the old. Blake reminds us of humanity's brokenness - how we, and others, are 3-dimensional. There is depth to each person which includes the things we admire someone for, and their flaws. Our job is to accept each person in totality - and sometimes that takes time, and payer. How true this is!