It starts with an "L" and rhymes with "rent."
Yes, that's right, Lent is just around the corner! In one week we will gather together to sing the beautiful Holden Evening Prayer Service. We'll have Grace's famous Potato Soup and ham sandwiches (it's the soup that's famous, not the sandwiches!).
But even more important than the food, we'll come up one by one to have the sign of the cross made on our forehead, just as we did when we were baptized. But this time the oil is mixed with ashes. Ashes are an ancient symbol of repentence. During lent, we focus on repenting from our sins, or turning away from them.
I can think of sins I need to turn away from. Sins that I am scared to turn away from because I do them so often. Sometimes our sins turn into crutches, but really they hold us back instead of helping us move more freely.
So I feel challenged this Lent. I feel a tension between liking myself in my sin, and knowing that God has a better idea. I know that is true. Especially lately, where I have started to feel bogged down by my sins.
Time to turn over a new leaf, to let the weight of sin fall, to remember that I am baptized and THAT is what makes me who I am. Thank you, God, for giving us times to remember that your love is greater than our fears and our sin!
As we prepare for Ash Wednesday, I invite you to think about what is holding you back, dragging you down, and how God can help you change.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Lord of Healing
Lord of my greatest fear:
Let in your peace.
Lord of my darkest shame:
Let in your grace.
Lord of my oldest grudge:
Let in your forgiveness.
Lord of my deepest anger:
Let in your love.
Lord of my loneliest moment:
Let in your presence.
Lord of my truest self- my all:
Let in your fullness.
~Adapted from a pryer by Alison Pepper, England.
In my most extreme experiences is often when I feel closest to or furthest away from God. When I'm really happy I feel God pouring through my veins. When I am really upset, I cry or yell to God- where are you? But when that happens, I always feel an answer come soon after. After my darkness, my fear, my loneliness, my grudges, my shame- after those times when my true self comes out in it's most vulnerable (and sometimes awful) form, I feel God coming in. I wake up at peace. I wake up and it's a gorgeous, bright sunny day. I feel forgiven. I feel loved. This is how I know God is real.
Let in your peace.
Lord of my darkest shame:
Let in your grace.
Lord of my oldest grudge:
Let in your forgiveness.
Lord of my deepest anger:
Let in your love.
Lord of my loneliest moment:
Let in your presence.
Lord of my truest self- my all:
Let in your fullness.
~Adapted from a pryer by Alison Pepper, England.
In my most extreme experiences is often when I feel closest to or furthest away from God. When I'm really happy I feel God pouring through my veins. When I am really upset, I cry or yell to God- where are you? But when that happens, I always feel an answer come soon after. After my darkness, my fear, my loneliness, my grudges, my shame- after those times when my true self comes out in it's most vulnerable (and sometimes awful) form, I feel God coming in. I wake up at peace. I wake up and it's a gorgeous, bright sunny day. I feel forgiven. I feel loved. This is how I know God is real.
Monday, January 12, 2009
New Things!
Behold! I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up, do you not see it?
I am making a way in the desert
And streams in the wasteland.
~Isaiah 43:19
I've been preparing the last couple weeks for a new thing happening at Grace. Tonight is the first meeting of the Caring for Creation team. This is very exciting! How we care for our world is a reflection of our relationship with God. God entrusted us with the big and wonderful job of caring for the world. This is something I've thought a lot about and worked very hard at doing ever since I was a little kid. The first time I went to summer camp the theme was "What did Noah do about trash?" We talked about recycling, composting and spent all day outside in God's beautiful creation. We read the creation stories from Genesis and my heart was moved.
If you've been reading this blog, you've probably noticed that I write quite a bit about things like rain, seasons, and nature in general. I feel a great connection to God through these things. Martin Luther said that God not only wrote the good news in the Bible, but in the trees and the stars. The Bible often uses creation for metaphors and to do God's work- using water in baptism, bread and wine in communion. And there are lots of psalms and passages that talk about creation praising God, in their own way, along with humans.
I am really happy to be able to get this ministry going at Grace with so many willing participants. Of course, it will take the support of the whole congregation to work. But I look forward to growing together at Grace in how we care for God's beautiful world, and growing in our faith in our amazing Creator through this important work. God is doing new things among us every day. Thanks be to God for that!
Now it springs up, do you not see it?
I am making a way in the desert
And streams in the wasteland.
~Isaiah 43:19
I've been preparing the last couple weeks for a new thing happening at Grace. Tonight is the first meeting of the Caring for Creation team. This is very exciting! How we care for our world is a reflection of our relationship with God. God entrusted us with the big and wonderful job of caring for the world. This is something I've thought a lot about and worked very hard at doing ever since I was a little kid. The first time I went to summer camp the theme was "What did Noah do about trash?" We talked about recycling, composting and spent all day outside in God's beautiful creation. We read the creation stories from Genesis and my heart was moved.
If you've been reading this blog, you've probably noticed that I write quite a bit about things like rain, seasons, and nature in general. I feel a great connection to God through these things. Martin Luther said that God not only wrote the good news in the Bible, but in the trees and the stars. The Bible often uses creation for metaphors and to do God's work- using water in baptism, bread and wine in communion. And there are lots of psalms and passages that talk about creation praising God, in their own way, along with humans.
I am really happy to be able to get this ministry going at Grace with so many willing participants. Of course, it will take the support of the whole congregation to work. But I look forward to growing together at Grace in how we care for God's beautiful world, and growing in our faith in our amazing Creator through this important work. God is doing new things among us every day. Thanks be to God for that!
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Before the Marvel of This Night
Before the marvel of this night, adoring fold your wings and bow,then tear the sky apart with light and with your news the world endow.
Proclaim the birth of Christ and peace, that fear and death and sorrow cease. Sing peace, sing peace, sing gift of peace, sing peace, sing gift of peace.
Awake the sleeping world with song, this is the day the Lord has made, assemble here, celestial throng, in royal splendor come arrayed.
Give earth a glimpse of heavenly bliss, a teasing taste of what they miss. Sing bliss, sing bliss, sing endless bliss, sing bliss, sing endless bliss.
The love that we have always known, our constant joy and endless light, now to the love-less world be shown, now break upon its deathly night.
Into one song compress the love that rules our universe above: Sing love, sing love, sing God is love, sing love, sing God is love.
~Before the Marvel of This Night, WOV 636
I am ready for the gift of peace, for endless bliss, and God's love. Bring your love to this love-less world, tear the sky apart with your light, and proclaim the new day of peace where death and sorrow cease. I await your coming with a sense of urgency like no other. Come Lord Jesus.
Proclaim the birth of Christ and peace, that fear and death and sorrow cease. Sing peace, sing peace, sing gift of peace, sing peace, sing gift of peace.
Awake the sleeping world with song, this is the day the Lord has made, assemble here, celestial throng, in royal splendor come arrayed.
Give earth a glimpse of heavenly bliss, a teasing taste of what they miss. Sing bliss, sing bliss, sing endless bliss, sing bliss, sing endless bliss.
The love that we have always known, our constant joy and endless light, now to the love-less world be shown, now break upon its deathly night.
Into one song compress the love that rules our universe above: Sing love, sing love, sing God is love, sing love, sing God is love.
~Before the Marvel of This Night, WOV 636
I am ready for the gift of peace, for endless bliss, and God's love. Bring your love to this love-less world, tear the sky apart with your light, and proclaim the new day of peace where death and sorrow cease. I await your coming with a sense of urgency like no other. Come Lord Jesus.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Advent Prayer
I don't know who Margaret Anne Huffman is, but I love this prayer! Especially after seeing Matthew Robert Eippert yesterday, just hours after he was born!
Into the bleakest winters of our souls, Lord, you are tiptoeing on tiny Infant feet to find us and hold our hands. May we drop whatever it is we are so busy about these days to accept this gesture so small that it may get overlooked in our frantic search for something massive and overwhelming. Remind us that it is not you who demands large, lavish celebrations and enormous strobe-lit displays of faith. Rather, you ask only that we have the faith of a mustard seed and the willingness to let a small hand take ours. We are ready. Amen.
~~Margaret Anne Huffman
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Free Food!
Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters;
and you that have no money,come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.
Incline your ear, and come to me;
listen, so that you may live.
Seek the LORD while he may be found, call upon him while he is near;
let the wicked forsake their way,and the unrighteous their thoughts;
let them return to the LORD, that he may have mercy on them,
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
and do not return there until they have watered the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
For you shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
Isaiah 55:1-3, 6-12
This passage really touched me today. It is full of the beauty and mystery of God, and full of grace. I really love the part about buying wine and milk without price. Especially when I hear of more people losing their jobs, the stock market being down, and the generally bad economic news that is so common these days.
It is a good reminder that God's love is free.
God's love and God's word are wonderful gifts to us. Gifts that, according to God, won't be wasted. God's word won't return empty, but will accomplish what it is meant to, just as the WORD (Jesus) accomplished what he was meant to do- to bring us to God by becoming human, living, dying, and living again.
If you are thirsty, come to the waters of God's word. Remember the waters of your baptism. If you are bankrupt, financially or spiritually, may these words fill you up with hope, joy and peace. God's thoughts are not our thoughts, and God's ways are not our ways. Thanks be to God for that.
May you see God's riches and blessings in your life today.
and you that have no money,come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.
Incline your ear, and come to me;
listen, so that you may live.
Seek the LORD while he may be found, call upon him while he is near;
let the wicked forsake their way,and the unrighteous their thoughts;
let them return to the LORD, that he may have mercy on them,
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
and do not return there until they have watered the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
For you shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
Isaiah 55:1-3, 6-12
This passage really touched me today. It is full of the beauty and mystery of God, and full of grace. I really love the part about buying wine and milk without price. Especially when I hear of more people losing their jobs, the stock market being down, and the generally bad economic news that is so common these days.
It is a good reminder that God's love is free.
God's love and God's word are wonderful gifts to us. Gifts that, according to God, won't be wasted. God's word won't return empty, but will accomplish what it is meant to, just as the WORD (Jesus) accomplished what he was meant to do- to bring us to God by becoming human, living, dying, and living again.
If you are thirsty, come to the waters of God's word. Remember the waters of your baptism. If you are bankrupt, financially or spiritually, may these words fill you up with hope, joy and peace. God's thoughts are not our thoughts, and God's ways are not our ways. Thanks be to God for that.
May you see God's riches and blessings in your life today.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Preparing the way
The branches outside my window are bowed down with snow. Beautiful, clean, white snow. I love to see it on the trees. On the road, it's another story!
Slipping and sliding, long commutes, taking careful steps as we walk on the sidewalk. It's that time again. The last couple of mornings I've been woken by the snow plows and snow blowers, clearing the roads and the sidewalks so that I can get out and about.
The snow makes Christmas seem even closer. We've entered the season of Advent and our theme at Grace is "preparing the way." As the snow is cleared off the road and my usual decorations are cleared to make way for my Christmas decorations, I am thinking about how I am going to clear out my heart this year so that Jesus can have the best spot, with the least clutter.
What are the "slippery" spots in my life? What are the things that "jam it up" so that God isn't able to get through? These are things I will be thinking and praying about today. I hope you will join me in preparing the way for Jesus today and in the days to come.
Slipping and sliding, long commutes, taking careful steps as we walk on the sidewalk. It's that time again. The last couple of mornings I've been woken by the snow plows and snow blowers, clearing the roads and the sidewalks so that I can get out and about.
The snow makes Christmas seem even closer. We've entered the season of Advent and our theme at Grace is "preparing the way." As the snow is cleared off the road and my usual decorations are cleared to make way for my Christmas decorations, I am thinking about how I am going to clear out my heart this year so that Jesus can have the best spot, with the least clutter.
What are the "slippery" spots in my life? What are the things that "jam it up" so that God isn't able to get through? These are things I will be thinking and praying about today. I hope you will join me in preparing the way for Jesus today and in the days to come.
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