Through Stained Glass: A Mid-Week Reflection-Sandburg

Water, water, everywhere.

Water under here and over there!

Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy remembering my baptism and giving thanks….

But 2 weeks of it in the form of rain is about enough. If I wanted to live in such an environment I'd move to the Bayou! 

It would be one thing if it was a steady rain but these storms, they are a bit much.

Especially for my sweet Chloe who has become an expert in the army crawl. You see, anytime it begins to rain, she takes her position…under the bed. Even if it is at 3 in the morning and I’m sound asleep, on her belly she goes and squirms and squeezes until only the tip of her tail sticks out!

Even now as I sit typing this at By the Bean, someone commented, “How about this weather?” Which was quickly followed up with, “But we shouldn’t complain. We could live in California where water is scarce.”

As we lament the back-to back-to-back days without the sun, we also pray for our brothers and sisters near and far who are enduring a difficult drought. We pray that water will find the dry lands where seeds have been planted and fruit will spring forth. May God pour out Her mercy upon those who’s lips are parched and long to have their thirst quenched.

“Life in us is like the water in a river.” 
― Henry David Thoreau

As for us, as we listen to the rain fall and watch the water gather in puddles, as we groan at the report more rain is on the way, may we take the time to be renewed, refreshed, and cleansed by God’s healing rain. May the opportunities to sit and ponder the showers of the summer lead us to a better understanding of God’s graces poured out upon our lives. May we remember the words from scripture, as a deer longs for living streams, as a weary traveler longs for the waters of life, so our souls long for God. May God pour out God’s Spirit upon all creation so that justice might roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

Sure, while rain may dampen our plans, it is also a good thing that leads to life.

It also slows us down. It reminds us of our belovedness. It is an invitation to payer, not only to give thanks and to pray for neighbors.

But also rain gives us time and space to care for our selves. 

Rain is a time to tell stories and sing songs, to reminisce and to play.

What is your favorite rainy day memory? What is something you like to do during stormy days?!

Have a good weekend, everybody. Don’t forget your umbrellas!

I’m including a poem by Carl Sandburg. You can find this poem among others in our library!

What is the name you called me?--

And why did you go so soon?

The crows lift their caws on the wind,

And the wind changed and was lonely.

The warblers cry their sleepy-songs

Across the valley gloaming,

Across the cattle-horns of early stars.

Feathers and people in the crotch of a treetop

Throw an evening waterfall of sleepy-songs.

What is the name you called me?--

And why did you go so soon?

~Evening Waterfall by Carl Sandburg

Through Stained Glass: A Mid-Week Reflection-Solomon

Solomon

Before the daffodil petals disappear.

Before the bright colors of the tulips turn to green.

Before the maple trees burst into fits of green.

Before the whites and yellows, purples and pinks are gone take time to enjoy them.

Luke 12.27

²⁷Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.

Take time to be still today. Take time to watch the robin hop from limb to limb. Take time to watch a squirrel struggle to get every bit of that bird seed from your feeder.

Thoreau said, and I think suggested, “Many a forenoon have I stolen away, preferring to spend thus the most valued part of the day; for I was rich, if not in money, in sunny hours and summer days, and spent them lavishly; nor do I regret that I did not waste more of them in the workshop or the teacher’s desk.”

Do what you need to do today.

Work a solid 8 hours. Accomplish all that is on your to do list. Go grocery shopping. Mow the lawn or weed the garden. Grade papers or bake goodies.

Whatever it is you need to do, do it and do it well.

Then, be still.

Take in the season of spring. Take a stroll around the block and notice the plants you haven’t before. Take a drive to the park and walk a trail.

Whatever it is you need to do, take time to do it and be still.

Be still.

Stop. Don’t argue. Don’t make excuses.

Be still.

Your spirit will thank you. The earth will too.

April Prayer

by Stuart Kestenbaum

Just before the green begins there is the hint of green

a blush of color, and the red buds thicken

the ends of the maple’s branches and everything

is poised before the start of a new world,

which is really the same world

just moving forward from bud

to flower to blossom to fruit

to harvest to sweet sleep, and the roots

await the next signal, every signal

every call a miracle and the switchboard

is lighting up and the operators are

standing by in the pledge drive we’ve

all been listening to: Go make the call.

Through Stained Glass: A Mid-Week Reflection-Second

Second

“Every second, two people die…What if this is your second?”

…

..

.

That thought you just had. You know, the “Wait, did he really just say that?” one?

It might have even made you feel a bit uncomfortable.

Those are the exact feelings I had when I read that line Monday night. These words are from a religious tract that was placed on the windshield of my truck. In under 400 words this tract asks the reader 24 different “What if?” questions.

They ranged from “What if you won a million dollars?” to “What if hating without cause was considered murder?”

If I’m honest, for some reason I have not been able to let go of this tract. In fact, I’ve kept it in my pocket and have found myself on a couple different occasions staring at it. Perhaps, subconsciously, I am trying to make sense of these ‘what if?’ questions.

Maybe it was because all the “what if?” questions that were asked were all self-centered.

What if the world needs more of what is on the right than on the left?

Maybe it was because all the “what if?” questions made God out to be an angry parent who is quick to hate and slow to love.

Maybe it was because all the “what if?” questions made humanity, specifically the person reading the card, out to be anything but good.

All this “what if-ing?” has lead me to ask some of my own “what if?” questions.

Like, what if we started with questions that weren’t so negative or made us out to be helpless puppets of an angry God?

What if God really is love?

What if faith isn’t about a rugged individualistic relationship with Jesus but a life lived in community?

What if we begin God’s story in Genesis 1 and not Genesis 3?

What if we talked less about Jesus and more about what Jesus talked about?

What if we quit focusing on the afterlife and started living it right now?

What if we helped the person who is currently living in hell—someone who lost a child to suicide; someone who has had a miscarriage; someone who has just lost their job; someone who is in an abusive relationship—what if we helped these people now rather than inquiring about where they’ll be after it is all said and done?

What if we actually believed Jesus when he told us to “be perfect as I am perfect”? Or is that taking things too literally?

What if heaven is real and every time we protect the image of God in someone, or care for God’s creation and not worry about them pearly gates up yonder, it is made manifest right in front of us?

What if we didn’t hate at all?

What if we actually loved our neighbors—especially those who we disagree with or who may not believe as we do?

What if violence isn’t the answer?

What if instead of seeing labels like “handicapped,” or “reject,” or “liberal,” or “transgendered,” or “conservative,” or “gay,” or “straight,” or “Baptist,” or “Christian,” or “other,” or “Cubs fan,” we see each other as God see us:  beloved human beings?

What if instead of worrying about what happens when we die we choose to live

here

and

now?

What if we quit playing the “what if” game and use our life, our time, our energy making a prayer shawl for someone in the hospital, or buy the coffee for the person behind you, or we planted seeds at a community garden, or we bought Gatorade for those teenagers who “are always up to no good”?

What if we believed Paul when he said that in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female? Too literal again?

What if we told our children they possess an inherent goodness, and that life is about discovering this goodness, and that we call this journey towards discovering the divine spark we all possess…salvation?

What if,

in all of this,

what if

we

                                    are

all

wrong?

What if LOVE is all we need?

After all, if God is who we say God is, then Love is not only the answer, but it is our identity—for we are created in the image of Love.

Last thing, what if we approached life with this thought from Thomas Merton:

“It seems to me the most absurd thing in the world is to be upset because I am weak and distracted and blind and constantly make mistakes! What else do I expect? Does God love me any less because I can’t make myself a saint by my own power and in my own way? God loves me more because I am so clumsy and helpless without God and underneath what I am God sees me as I will one day be by God’s pure gift and that pleases God. Therefore, it pleases me and I attend to God’s great love which is my joy.”

Every second somebody is wondering, “what if I am not loved?”

What if this is your second to tell them they, in fact, are?

Through Stained Glass: Advent Word of the Day-Walk Humbly

Day 18:  walk humbly

"With beauty before me, may I walk 

With beauty behind me, may I walk 

With beauty above me, may I walk

With beauty below me, may I walk

With beauty all around me, may I walk

Wandering on the trail of beauty, may I walk"

-  Navajo: Walking Meditation

Do justice, love kindness, walk humbly…[Micah 6.8]

Stop what you are doing.

Turn off the radio.

Minimize that Word document.

Put your cell phone in the desk drawer.

Grab your hat and scarf.

Put on your gloves and your coat.

Make sure you have comfortable walking shoes, or boots, on.

Go outside

                           And

                                                      Walk.

Don’t scurry like the squirrels.

But saunter slowly over the snow.

Take notice of the trees, bare and exposed to the winter.

Feel your cheeks grow colder, becoming more red.

Be careful, it is slick.

A reminder that Advent is a time to prepare, to walk gingerly, listening for the sights and sounds that the return of light is near.

Do the world justice by silencing the noise in your life.

Love kindness by your attentiveness to the loved ones in your life, and to the strangers you meet on your walk.

Walk humbly knowing that

 you,

                                             Yes

                                                      You

Are

A

 Gift

from

God.

Where you walk, God has gone before you.

Where you go, God has gone after you.

Where you are, God is with you.

God’s promise was one made to a people, not to a building.

Walk, knowing I walk with you.

I’ll walk knowing you walk with me.

Together, we’ll walk humbly as we make a home in the world for the hope we find in the one promised.

 If walking is not an option, I invite you to spend 10 minutes with this video. Listen to the birds. Imagine the warm rays of the sun beaming down on you, warming your soul.

Rest. 

Prepare yourself for the Hope that is to come.