Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Through Stained Glass: A Mid-Week Reflection-Homesick

Have you ever been homesick?

What came to mind when you read that?

Did you think of the home you grew up in? Are you thinking about how you’d rather be at home now than at work? Do you even have something to be homesick for or about? We all come from some kind of home, even a bad one, which always plants the foundational seed of a possible and ideal paradise.

And it points forward, urging us toward the realization that this taste of a union might actually be true.[1]

We all want a home. Not a house, but a home. That feeling of wanting to be home is homesickness.

The word homesick usually connotes something sad or nostalgic, an emptiness that looks either backward or forward for satisfaction. When you're homesick, you might miss familiar things like your family, friends, pets, house, or neighborhood. You can miss something as simple as your bed or the tree outside your window.

Isn’t this a major theme in many of our favorite stories?

Think of Dorothy in the Wizard of OZ.

Or Sassy, Shadow, and Chance in Homeward Bound.

Or Jesus’ parable about the prodigal son.

Or the sacred story that is our faith.

Think about it:  God’s story begins with the original blessing in Genesis 1 and ends the same way in Revelation 22. The stories between those bookends are ones about home in one way or another—a people striving to return home to God.

We all have this inner restlessness that urges us on to the risks and promises of home. Often, though, we overlook this restlessness or try our best to avoid it. It is too difficult or takes too much work to create a home, especially when it is a home within.

What I am referring to is what many have deemed as a God-sized hole in all of us, waiting to be filled. This hole creates a dissatisfaction that only God’s grace and love can satisfy. Like the son in the prodigal story, we try to fill this restlessness with money, adventures, and other numbing addictions, diversionary tactics, or detrimental distractions.

Or to put it another way:  we do everything we can to stay away from home.

I encourage you to go home, to return to yourself, your true selves, the part of you that is affirmed and loved by God.

On this journey home, which is very much so a spiral and not a straight line, know you aren’t alone. We are all created with an inner drive and necessity that sends all of us looking for our True Selves.

This is what it means to work out our salvation.

Subsequently this is what it means to be home—when we discover that union we share with God.

Perhaps that feeling you can’t shake of being homesick is less so about a physical place and more so about being attentive to the you you miss.

We can be homesick in our own skin or we can be at home.

As Thomas Merton puts it, perhaps we have a choice in the matter:
We can be ourselves or not, as we please. We are at liberty to be real, or to be unreal. We may be true or false, the choice is ours. We may wear now one mask and now another, and never, if we so desire, appear with our own true face.



[1] Richard Rohr.  Falling Upward:  A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life.”  (Jossey-Bass:  San Francisco, 2011), 88.

Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Through Stained Glass: A Mid-Week Reflection-i's & t's


The days are jammed pack with a variety of activities from sunrise to sunset.

Thus far, some of us have painted a jungle gym at a local elementary school, while the rest of us play with children from the community, teaching them life lessons through drama, crafts, and storytelling. Despite long hours in the sun and a few unexpected changes in the schedule, our students have been flexible and have embraced the changes well.

Did I mention we have great students?

I would be lying to you if I said it was difficult to see the love of God here. Everywhere I look there is something reminding me of just how near God is in to us. These students are not only embodying the love of God through the way they are caring for this community, but also in the way they articulate their understanding and awareness of God in their lives.

Already they've reminded me that we all have a unique gifts and these gifts need to be shared. They have reminded me that ministry, that the mission of God, is about relationships. That the incarnation, God putting on human flesh, is not a theological doctrine but a way of life and being in the world. In subtle ways, this group of self-proclaimed introverts have showed me how fear can be conquered and what John meant in 1 John when he wrote, "There is no fear in love..."

 It is easy to get caught up in the details of life...and ministry. You know, dotting all the i's, crossing all the t's, making sure this door is locked, and double checking that we haven't doubled booked our calendars, or our kitchens, because if we have, well, some explaining will need to happen.

What I am learning is this week as a pastor while watching our students is that ministry requires flexibility and creativity. Ministry and life are at their best when we live into our story and into the story of those around us. Our ministry and our lives make more sense and come to life when we worry less about whether we should use pen or pencil, Arial or Times New Roman font, and focus more on telling our story--that age old story of how God loves us.

Because God does. And God's love invites response. These students are responding enthusiastically and with much joy. Sure, you can say it is because they are young or you can celebrate their visions of hope and share in the journey with them.

Friends, these students aren't the future of the church. No, rather, they ARE the church. They are as much of the body as the wisest among us. They are the vision crafters, the dreamers, the movers and the shakers, they are the voice of renewal and hope. They are the hands and the feet of Jesus.

Which is a good thing, because God knows, Christ has no body on earth now but ours.

And these students, they continue to look through lenses of compassion; the same compassion with which Christ gazes at us.

Monday, June 13, 2016

Through Stained Glass: A Mid-Week Reflection--Sunday's Sundaes



What a day.

What I mean to say is, what a drive.

We made it safely to Martin, South Dakota. 

On time even!

Okay, not so much but we were but a 1/2 hour late for supper. (Martin is in the Mountain Standard Time Zone. So though we arrived at 7:30pm our time, it was only 6:30 here!)

I can't speak for everyone but getting out here to Martin was not bad. Nebraska kind of went on for days but other than that, everyone did great. It helped I think breaking the trip into quarters. By this I mean, we stopped every 3 hours for a total of 4 times. The most interesting thing we saw, or at least I did, was as we were making our way around Des Moines, there was a gentleman driving a Toyota who had a bird with him. Thank goodness the windows weren't down.

Y'all, we have great students. Now this is nothing you don't already know but we do. Despite having the longest drive, being late, and perhaps being the most exhausted, our students jumped right in on the fun. When it came time for the site leaders to lead worship for us, the students were first to respond and offer their reflections of their limited experience thus far on the reservation. Already many of them are discussing the mystery and beauty of God's lavishing love. 

We all crashed pretty quickly last night. Well, I know I did. Carrie is doing a wonderful job shepherding all 7 girls. Though we've been together only 24 hours I sense a growing connection between us. We've laughed and we've played, we've worked and we've prayed, and subsequently we have experienced the good and hopeful news that we love because God first loved us.

Tomorrow the day begins at 7am with breakfast. Here's to hoping the positive energy keeps flowing into our lives...


Through Stained Glass: A Mid-Week Reflection--Sunday's Sundaes



What a day.

What I mean to say is, what a drive.

We made it safely to Martin, South Dakota. 

On time even!

Okay, not so much but we were but a 1/2 hour late for supper. (Martin is in the Mountain Standard Time Zone. So though we arrived at 7:30pm our time, it was only 6:30 here!)

I can't speak for everyone but getting out here to Martin was not bad. Nebraska kind of went on for days but other than that, everyone did great. It helped I think breaking the trip into quarters. By this I mean, we stopped every 3 hours for a total of 4 times. The most interesting thing we saw, or at least I did, was as we were making our way around Des Moines, there was a gentleman driving a Toyota who had a bird with him. Thank goodness the windows weren't down.

Y'all, we have great students. Now this is nothing you don't already know but we do. Despite having the longest drive, being late, and perhaps being the most exhausted, our students jumped right in on the fun. When it came time for the site leaders to lead worship for us, the students were first to respond and offer their reflections of their limited experience thus far on the reservation. Already many of them are discussing the mystery and beauty of God's lavishing love. 

We all crashed pretty quickly last night. Well, I know I did. Carrie is doing a wonderful job shepherding all 7 girls. Though we've been together only 24 hours I sense a growing connection between us. We've laughed and we've played, we've worked and we've prayed, and subsequently we have experienced the good and hopeful news that we love because God first loved us.

Tomorrow the day begins at 7am with breakfast. Here's to hoping the positive energy keeps flowing into our lives...


Saturday, June 11, 2016

Through Stained Glass: A Mid-Week Reflection-Prayers, Please

Prayers, Please


In 9 hours 9 of us will drive 12.5 hours to Martin, South Dakota.

We will spend 7 days listening and learning to the story of a beautiful and courageous people.

We go to work, sure. But we also go to love and be loved.

We go to see how deep God’s love is and how wide God’s goodness stretches.

We go to experience and celebrate how diversity is a rich and wonderful component of our humanity.

So as we go, as we drive 800+ miles tomorrow, we ask for your prayers.

How can you be in prayer for us specifically?
  • Pray for our safety as we drive out, while we are there, and as we return on the 18th.
  • Pray that the 9 of us from church will bond and become a community.
  • Pray for those who we will share life with this week—the other churches we will be collaborating with, the children we will lead in VBS, the families who’s houses we will work on, and those in the community who will have outsiders coming in once again.
  • Pray for the staff that will facilitate worship and conversations around our faith.

Pray for Ellie and Morgan, Mallory and Hope, Rose and Natalie, Carley, Carrie and me,

Above all friends, pray for transformation—of our hearts. Pray that we walk away not with a few memories and feeling good about the work we have done. Rather, pray that we will be moved by what we experience. That we will come back renewed to work towards God’s beloved community. That we will come back aware of the injustices that happen not only in South Dakota but here in Lincoln, Illinois. That we will come back reassured of how beautiful the world really is.

Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for helping us get here. Thank you for sharing in this journey with us!

As we go, may these words help shape your prayers for us as the week goes on:

May God guide our feet as we join in on an ancient dance this week in a distance, sacred land. May the love of Christ shine brightly above and below us, around and within us, which our paths will be illumined and our faces will shine bright as the sun. May the Spirit teach us once again to sing songs of hope, peace, and love and silence in us all the baggage we bring.

Check back frequently this week. It is my hope to update this blog with photos and stories throughout the week.

See you in a week, church!