Christ comes with Glory

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter, long ago.

I have written on these pages about the lightning suddenness of God’s appearing.  Meanwhile, winter can be quiet and cold as we wait for the hot breath of an angel’s whisper or the streak across the sky showing us the way to Christ.

I grew up in a winter land, 50 miles south of the Arctic Circle.

There winter becomes more and more hushed as snow piles on snow.

The day and the night are dark, illuminated by stars and moon, reflected back by fields of ice crystals.  It is beautiful and it is very cold.

Seasons in the north can come suddenly and leave just as suddenly.  It is hard to predict the first snowfall or the first groans of break up.

This is a land where it helps to have a waiting nature.

It helps to have a fluid expectation.

It helps to be ready for surprise!

These are the qualities of a Holy Advent, as well.  We know that we are invited to wait, with Mary, with Joseph, with the whole host of angels.

Because we have read ahead-we know who we are waiting for.

But I tell you- be ready for a surprise.

Christ will not be contained in a manger, resting sweetly on a beautiful Christmas card.

Christ will come with power.

Christ will come in glory.

The shepherds know this:

In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.

Luke 2

It is no small thing that our God has come to us, and continues to come each day, each moment.

Let us wait in wonder this Advent

For our God comes with power!

Blessings,

Debra

Divine Conversation

Fra Angelico

Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?”

The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy;

 He will be called Son of God.

^{Luke 1: 34-36}

Last week we prayed with the lightning and thunder that accompanies an angel’s

announcement to a young woman.

This week I want to consider the middle of the story.  Between the angel’s appearance and Mary’s yes, Luke recounts an extraordinary conversation-a divine exchange of information, hope and possibility.

The angel tells Mary about the work of the Holy Spirit, in symbolic language that she understands, in part.  The image, particularly of the overshadowing cloud of the Spirit, echoes in her as she recalls the cloud that led the Israelites in the wilderness.

Surely, this same cloud will lead her through her own wilderness of an unexpected pregnancy and a child called ‘Son of God.’  The scripture tells us that she is perplexed.  She is also brave enough to initiate a conversation with an angel.

In this middle way of the annunciation story, Mary models for us what it means to come to God in uncertainty.  When we enter the divine conversation or prayer with both uncertainty and willingness to hear, we are following the footsteps of Mary.

Advent can be a time for both a piercing message from God and a quiet wondering with God.  Advent is surely a time to consider your prayer life in a new way as the whole Church awaits the coming of Christ.

In quiet moments or in whirling activity, let us each take a cue from Mary. 

Stop when the message resounds in you, and offer a listening heart to God.

Blessings,

Debra

BREAKING INTO THE WORLD

Our King and Savior now draw near

Come let us adore Him

The couplet from Morning Prayer in Advent tells a story of a fluid, perhaps even gentle, movement from God toward humankind.

But the entry of the Divine is rarely simply another moment in a day of events.

When God breaks through there is a crackling in the air;

 a definite shimmer to the light.

A sound like thunder, perhaps,

or a streak across the sky like lightening.

Thus it was for Mary when she received an announcement so strange that she dared to ask a heavenly messenger a question.

The appearance of Gabriel stopped her in her tracks.

She wasn’t thinking about cooking or domestic chores.  She was riveted to the moment.

She wasn’t expecting an announcement that would change her life and the whole world, but once presented with such incredible news she gave herself totally to a new thing.

Her ‘yes’ has echoed down the centuries as a potent example of obedience and reliance upon God alone.

Advent, the season that prepares us for the birth of Christ, is more than a time to decorate or shop or cook.

It is even more than a time to gather with friends and relatives.

Advent is a time to look for and expect a sound like thunder bursting into our lives and changing them forever.

Advent is an opportunity to join Mary’s yes, even though we aren’t sure exactly what that will mean for our lives.

Let us not domesticate Advent.

Let us ride the lightning of Advent into a new Christ-mass.

Blessings,

Debra

A Discipleship of Abundance

I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

John 10

As we head toward Thanksgiving, it is good to remember the Author of our abundance.

We can celebrate our blessedness during this commemorative holiday, or we can fret over all that there is to do, and all that we haven’t gotten done.

For those of us who cook during this time, the list of dishes, and the hope that all will be delicious and hot, can be overwhelming.

But what if we remember that Christ has come to give us life, and to give it abundantly?

What if we remember a hillside, in the middle of nowhere, where 5, 000 hungry people were fed with a few loaves and fish?

What if we consider that the reason all were fed was due to generosity and blessing?

All of us have blessings.  All of us have challenges.  Sometimes these are the same things!

This Thanksgiving let us practice abundance.  Let us consider that Christ is blessing our cooking and our preparation, our guests and our feast.

At the Center for Spiritual Development we will take some time on the Friday after Thanksgiving to walk in gratitude for all that is-blessings and challenges.

We will walk to remember that whatever happened the day before we were held in God’s embrace and we are still being held.

Let there be a pause for gratitude in your holiday weekend.

Meet at the Labyrinth-4: 30-5:30

Friday, November 25.

Blessings,

Debra

A Discipleship of Silence

For God alone my soul waits in silence,
   for my hope is from him. …Trust in him at all times, O people;
   pour out your heart before him;
   God is a refuge for us.

Psalm 62

When we walk as disciples of Christ, we are invited to a new level of truth in our living and in our acting.

Silence and emptying are two parts of the prayer that lead to a more authentic relationship with God.

We need silence as a space for listening.

We need to ‘pour out our hearts’ to the Spirit, emptying ourselves.

The heart, according to the ancient Hebrews was the seat of human thoughts and emotions.  It was the innermost, hidden or deepest center of the human being.

In the Psalm when we are asked to pour out our hearts we are being asked to lay bare all that we feel and all that we think—all we are afraid of and all that we desire.  We are asked to share our whole selves.

We are asked to ‘pour out’ to make space for God’s thought and desires.

We are invited to a whole new orientation to our situation, and even to our very lives.

Discipleship is really about moving ever deeper and ever closer into the heart of God. 

We will be changed.  We will be transformed.

The beauty of this transformation is that we become what we always were.

Emptying our hearts of excess baggage makes us free to become our true selves.

This is the love of God in Christ-

He has come to give you back to yourself.

Blessings,

Debra

A Discipleship Too Deep for Words

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.  And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.  We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.

Romans 8:26-28

Sometimes the world gives us more to pray about than we can articulate.

Our prayer lists are already lengthy.  Our hearts are already heavy.

And here is the grace of God.

We don’t have to articulate prayers in order to pray.   Often, sitting within the presence of the Spirit is the prayer.

Letting go into the Spirit’s intercession is particularly comforting during times of grief.

When we have lost a loved one, words fail us.  When we accompany someone on their journey of grief, words fail us.

But the Spirit, who knows the true heart, knows exactly what is needed for us and for those we love.

When my mother died suddenly, it was the prayers of others relying on the Spirit that sustained me.  I could feel the support within my heart, and I knew that I was not alone.

Grief has a mind of its own and moves in and out of our hearts like a river weaving around rocks and hills.

When we open to the Spirit’s prayer in us we enter a different river—the river of assurance and Presence.

Our prayers will not stop the flow of grief.  Our prayers will acknowledge the love and hope of God.

For surely the God who gave His own Son will not leave us to face the darkness alone.  We have the continual assurance of God’s light illuminating even the saddest corners of our hearts.

Blessings,

Debra

Disciples of Light

The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ‘Come, go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.’ So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as seemed good to him.--Jeremiah 18

God has invited Jeremiah to observe one of the ways that God shapes God’s people.  Nothing is lost in God’s world, but everything is not useful to God’s purposes, either.

We are the clay in this metaphor and God is the Potter.  We are shaped through the work of God’s hands--changed and reworked as He desires.

But we are not simply an inert substance.  As clay we are moldable, but we also have an element within us of resistance.  It is the movement of this give and take which forms us into beautiful vessels of light. 

Do not be surprised by this description of yourselves.

Paul tells us that we have this Spirit within cracked jars.  In other words, we are not perfect containers for the light of Christ, but we are able to share this light because of our brokenness.

Through these cracks in our form, our hearts, our selves, we allow the brilliance of God to show out upon the world which is now enthrall to darkness.

Blessings,

Debra

A Blessed Discipleship

‘Blessed ... are those who hear the word of God and obey it!’-Luke 11:28

Jesus turns our understandings of blessedness upside down in the Sermon on the Mount.  The poor?  The mourners?  How can these people be blessed-sanctified-happy?

 Jesus is revealing an aspect of blessedness which we may not think about often.  We are blessed when we do the work of God.  We are blessed, when like Mary, we say yes to the invitation of God.  We are blessed in action as well as in stillness.

When our actions bring us closer to the life of Christ in us, we are blessed.  A blessed discipleship is a journey upon which we embark for love of Christ.  

When we spend time reading the scripture and listening for God’s voice in prayer and community, we are blessed disciples.

Our journey of blessing may not always be a happy road, but it will be the right road for us.  We have been sanctified through Christ to walk the Way that leads to a deeper love of Him.

When the path is rocky, we may slow down.  When the path is smooth, we may run ahead.  But whatever is going on for us right now, we can turn to Christ. 

Blessed are you when you struggle, but do not lose hope.

Blessed are you when you love, but do not hold too tight.

Blessed are you disciples.

Blessings,

Debra

The Adventure of Discipleship

‘…for we walk by faith, not by sight.’

2 Cor :7

Walking by faith could conjure up images of being blind-folded and guided by someone to make our way along the streets—a trust experiment.

While this image may make us bristle, it is not too far off the mark.  We have the hope that Christ has given us.  We are moving toward a goal that is more relationship than fixed destination.

How shall we discern the right road ?  How will we avoid getting lost ?

Being lost en route can be scary and frustrating.  We might be late or we might miss an event entirely.  If we can ‘t find our way we may pull over and ask directions. We will have to trust that the giver of directions is steering us correctly.

On the discipleship journey, we have a trustworthy guide.  And while we might often feel lost, we aren’t abandoned.

Because we have a guide who is the Way, itself, we are free to have an adventure.  We are free to move into uncharted territory.

And that is what a classic adventure is, isn’t it ?  The hero or heroine begin to move on a road of discovery.  The journey is the story.  The goal is simply a means to orient the adventure.

Think about The Wizard of Oz, one of my favorite adventure stories.  The exciting part of the story occurs in the twists and turns of the path, the obstacles and challenges of going deeper into the heart of adventure.  It is as true for us on the adventure with Christ as it was for Dorothy Gale, on an adventure to find true home.

Dorothy had the power to go home at any time.  We, too, have the power to trust that the Way is our true home.  We have not stopped traveling yet.

Blessings,

Debra

The Desire of Discipleship

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I stretch out my hands to you;

my soul thirsts for you like a parched land.

Psalm 143

Have you ever felt the kind of thirst described in the Psalm ?  Have you ever been desperate for a cool drink of water ?

Psalm 143 is one of the penitential Psalms, which means it is a prayer of both confession and a desire to repent-or turn around.  The metaphor of dry land emphasizes the deep need for the living water of God for the Psamist’s soul.

And we can see the Psalmist praying with hands outstretched, singleminded, and completely focused on his desire for God.

This is a good way to begin our journey of discipleship, and it can be a touchstone for the long walk toward Christ.

When I am honest enough to let my heart do the talking, and am courageous enough to throw all toward God, I have begun the journey with power and hope.

Eugene Peterson says, that no matter what disappointments we may experience in society, many of us ‘still have an unquenchable thirst for wholeness, a hunger for righteousness.’(Run with the Horses)

Does that describe you today ?  Has that ever been your experience ?

It is never too late to stretch your hands wide and admit your desire for God.

Today may be your first step toward a new discipleship in Christ.

Fling wide your arms.

Open the portals of your heart.

Blessings,

Debra

The Way of Discipleship

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. Matthew 16 :24-25

This is a hard saying and not undertaken lightly.  We don’t have to know very much of Christian history and witness to know that many have given their physical lives in honor of the pledge to follow Jesus and Him alone.

All of us are called to wrestle with this idea of denying ourselves entirely in order to follow Christ.  Each will make an effort, some will make a bargain, and very few will be able to move so far toward Christ that life itself is nothing without Him.

As I pray with this saying-and have done for much of my adult Christian life-I am left with the single-mindedness of this invitation.  It is a description of purity of heart.  It is the grace to ‘will one thing.’  And this grace will come through God’s generosity and mercy.

So-what is my part ?

An invitation has been issued.  I am asked to RSVP.  On some days my response is whole hearted-Yes !  But on many days, my answer will be a fearful, I will try with God’s help.

Through prayer and worship and fellowship, I will seek the strength of spirit that wants Christ, and Christ alone.  I will reflect upon the pathway that leads to the Cross.  I will undertake to walk in the Way of Christ.

I will not be able to do this alone.  It will take the encouragement and the witness of the community.  I will need to join with others, for this is not a singular walk.

If you would like to join a community, looking at what it means to be a disciple, consider Theology and Spirit-a class on-line and on-site at St. James Parish.

Blessings,

Debra

The Gentle Prayer of Time

There must be a time of day when a

Person of prayer goes to prayer

as if it were the first time in her life

She had ever prayed

… and she learns a different wisdom

distinguishing the sun from the moon,

the stars from the darkness.

the sea from the dry land,

and the night sky from the shoulder of a hill.

-Thomas Merton

This quote is from Thomas Merton’s Book of Hours in which collections of his writings are organized into days of the week and hours of the day.

A Book of Hours is a prayer book, originally commissioned for lay persons in the medieval era, which follows a rhythm of prayer, much like a Breviary would be for a religious.

Books of Hours were enjoyable, even easy to use.  Prayers appointed for matins, for example, remained the same while the Psalms appointed for the day changed.  Most of these books were illustrated or illuminated, so they were a pleasure for the eyes as well as the spirit.

We live in a time where numbers orient us to the day rather than qualities of light and intonement of prayer.  Refreshing  the sacredness of the rhythm of the day can fill each day with its own light and meaning.  Must I be awakened at a particular clock time ? What if I awakened to the softness of dawn ? 

Compline Page from Modern Book of Hours

And what if that softness and increasing light reminded me of the dawning of Christ in the Resurrection ?

In two weeks some of us gathered for Art Camp will be exploring making our own Book of Hours, our own Prayer Book, our own reminder of the softness of dawn and the gentle rest of night.  If you are interested in joining us please go to the ART CAMP link or contact me directly through email.

Blessings,

Debra

Witness to Light

I will put my laws in their minds,

and write them on their hearts,

and I will be their God,

and they shall be my people.

Hebrews 8

When we act from the heart, informed by prayer, our behavior has a quality of luminescence.  We, in fact, witness to the beauty of God through our actions.  We become transparent to the reality of God within us and we encourage others to strip away the masks of fear and become willing to becomes witnesses of light.

We see this incandescence in Moses after he has met with God.  Tradition tells us that St. Anthony of the Desert  had a face radiant with light after 40 years wrestling with demons.

And yet, I believe that most of us have witnessed this in less dramatic ways than the tradition recounts.  When I was a small girl, living in Alaska, I went to Sunday school in a small cabin.  The lessons were conducted by a wise older Athabascan woman.  She knew the stories of Jesus, she knew the realities of life, but above all she belonged to Christ.  She was His. 

I don’t remember the stories.  I don’t remember her name.  But I was changed by her presence.  She saw within my heart and encouraged me to know myself as God’s own child.

This is what it means to have God’s law in my mind and heart.  God is not separate from me.  I am not separate from God’s people.  We are all one.  Our connection comes from the heart of God and extends out through time and space to include the ancestors, our peers, our descendents and everything in-between. 

We are God’s people.

Let us rejoice and be glad in the family of our soul.

Blessings,

Debra

The Spirit of Truth

”If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you. »

John 14

We haven’t had much sunlight the past few weeks.  But we have not stopped believing in the sun.  We know it is shining even though our vision is clouded  by rain and storm clouds.  We keep on looking into the sky, delighted with even a small break in the relentless gray.  Happy with glorious cloud shapes gilded with the promise of sun.

When Jesus tells his disciples (you and I) that while he must go to another place, he will give us a new way to be in relationship, he is saying that even though you cannot see the Advocate, helper, you will receive the Holy Spirit.

We will know the Holy Spirit because we have known and do now know Christ.  Just as sunlight is not separate from sun, neither is Advocate separate from Christ. 

And the way in which our eyes will be trained and our hearts open to receive this power, will be in the lives we lead, keeping the commandments.  Jesus is not a thoughtless disciplinarian, wanting us to follow blindly to illustrate His power.  He knows that if we are not consistent in our lives, we will wander aimlessly looking for the Holy Spirit outside ourselves.  Jesus wants us to be confident in our value, and consistent in our practice.  This consistency of spiritual practice and observation of right living forms us into the people who can say with confidence, ‘the Advocate is here.’

We can look into the sky, however dark, and see that light is breaking forth.

And we can invite those around us to believe in that generosity of light and comfort God so desperately wants to give to all.

Even after all this time,

The sun never says to the earth,

"You owe me."

Look what happens with

A love like that.

It lights the whole sky.

- Hafiz of Persia

Living Stones

Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 2

There are several ways in which the word for stone in Greek has been translated for us in English.  The word lithos, often translated as stone, actually connotes gemstone.  I like the idea of living stone as gemstone.

A gemstone is multi-faceted and able to reflect light as well as absorb it.   A stone which has been cut away to reveal its inner beauty is highly valued.  From it come depths of color and shimmer—a representative of the hidden core of heat within the earth.

But stones, in the Biblical tradition, have other meanings.  Stones were used as markers of events where God interacted with human beings.  A stoning of a sinner often created a pile of stones which later might become an altar.  Sacrifice and sanctity are not strangers in a stoney landscape.

When we are invited to become living stones, we are invited to both sacrifice and sanctity.  We are asked to share our deep beauty with one another even as we embrace the sacrifice required of the Christian spiritual life.

We become one in worship, even as we jostle against one another in the tumbler called the Church.

And our tumbling will polish us into brighter realities of the Living God-if we allow ourselves to be shaped by Divinity and community.

Come as living stones.

Come as precious gems of God.

Come and be formed.

Blessings,

Debra

Resurrection

"Every moment and every event of everyman's life on earth plants something in his soul. For just as the wind carries thousands of winged seeds, so each moment brings with it germs of spiritual vitality that come to rest imperceptibly in the minds and wills of men."

—   Thomas Merton

One of the elements of the Resurrection stories which gives me comfort is that Jesus comes to those seeking Him in the ordinary and familiar.  He says a name, walks a dusty path, invites fishermen to breakfast.  Our Lord is not elevated away from us.  Jesus elevates us toward Him through spending time with us right where we are.

And yet, spending time doesn’t really describe the incredible transforming power of His presence.  Like the winged seeds that Merton writes about, each of those humble moments is shot through with light and Resurrection.

It is the wind of the Spirit that carries the new seeds of our rebirth into Christ.  Like those seeds which fill the air at this time of year, we can be a fertile spot upon which they can land, or not.

In order to recognize Jesus in a quiet word, or a shared meal, we will need to know Him.  We will need to spend time with Him through scripture and worship and prayer.  We will need to listen to the special way that Christ comes to us so that we will answer, My Lord, My Teacher, My Love.  And this answer will well up in us from the heart of our desire.

We are surrounded at all times with moments of Resurrection.

Let us attend to these moments and share the good news.

Blessings,

Debra

Forsaken?

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?

O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer; and by night, but find no rest.

Psalm 22

The beauty of Holy Week is the invitation to walk with Christ in a profoundly human experience.  Who has not felt forsaken by God ?

Who has not felt the anguish of pleading for help and hearing no echoing assurance ?

We are fragile, and yet that fragility is also our beauty.  We are weak, and our weakness brings us again and again to Christ.

We cry out, and Christ cries with us.  We feel abandoned by the God we believed would never leave us, and Christ is closer to us in that abandonment than at any other time on our journey.

The Cross is a place suspended out of time.  As our God hangs upon the Cross, blessings and comforts and salvation move out like multicolored ribbons to encircle the whole world.  For those who know Him and for those who have not yet known Him, Jesus offers His whole life.

Let us receive what He, who died for us, is offering.  A new life, a vulnerable life, a REAL life.

Blessings,

Debra

Beloved Servant

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross.

Phillipians 2 : 5-8

When I read this passage about the Lord that I am trying to follow, I pause.  Sometimes my breath shortens and I am afraid.  Sometimes, my breath is simply taken away.

Christ has humbled himself because of love.  Christ is obedient because of love.  Christ is God made human being because of love.

It has always been hard for me to look at the journey to the Cross and the Crucifixion as anything other than terrible.  I look at the folly of humankind as together we kill the One who has come to save us.  And this story has been repeated again and again when mobs congregate and kill the one with wisdom to heal or help.  We want our own way !  We want a scapegoat.

But God is offering a Servant King-a Beloved Saviour who serves humankind.  This kind of love is too much to comprehend and it is, often, too much to approach.  That is why I stay in the safety of horror rather than the deeply unfamiliar territory of Loving Sacrifice.

If God is giving a new life to me, what am I doing with it ?

As I approach Holy Week this year, I am going to keep close to Love.  I am going to open my heart to what God wants to show me in Jesus’ sacrifice.  I am coming to Holy Week as an innocent, as if I had never been down this road.

Won’t you join me ?

Blessings,

 Debra

The Beloved Disciple

Eugene Bur

« One of his disciples—the one whom Jesus loved—was reclining next to him; »

John 13

The beloved disciple is the perfect icon for contemplative prayer.  At supper during the Passover, he is depicted in artwork ,spanning the centuries, just as the scripture describes—reclining, or leaning into the heartspace of Jesus.

He is an example of a prayer posture which will lead us into a deep connection with Christ.  Leaning into Christ and listening for His heartbeat  can be our surrender as well.

It is a simple beginning to silence the busy mind.  When all the techniques have been explored and tried, when all the teaching about prayer has been exhausted, we are left with this :

Lean into the heart of Christ and listen.

Listen for His heartbeat.  Listen for His silence.  Listen for the rhythms which so perfectly match your own.

As you strain to listen to Christ, you will find that the voices of doubt and confusion become silenced.

We learn this purity of heart from the Beloved Disciple.   So focused upon Jesus was this disciple that he was willing to walk the Way of the Cross and stay at the foot of the Cross during the final moments of Jesus’ life.  So clear was this disciple about the pure love given to him, that he believed in the Resurrection without a Resurrection appearance.

Thus does this beloved one mirror our own belovedness.  We are also the beloved of Christ.  Can we stop and listen ?

Can we will one thing ?  Are we willing to walk the Way of the Cross this Lent and not turn away from suffering ?

Blessings,

Debra

Open Your Eyes

I lift up my eyes to the hills— from where will my help come?

My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

Psalm 121

This is a comforting Psalm especially when I find myself troubled and without real direction.  I can look toward God.  I can breathe in the beauty of the hills and reflect on the power of the Creator God.

But this Psalm is also about a radical shift in perspective.  Stop looking at the ground.  Stop shortening your gaze so that all you can see is right in front of you.

Arise and stand tall.  Move your eyes toward the horizon.  Shift your gaze to the big picture and walk with confidence into the valley or wade through the stream.

God is calling you onward this Lent.  On to repentence.  On to reconciliation.  On to mercy.  On to Resurrection.

But you must be willing to look forward.  Abandon the familiar scene and stretch your vision to meet the One who has all vision and all wisdom.

Open your eyes and walk.

Blessings,

Debra

Fire and Ash

…all our Wednesdays are marked by ashes —

     we begin this day with that taste of ash in our mouth:

       of failed hope and broken promises,

       of forgotten children and frightened women,

     we ourselves are ashes to ashes, dust to dust;

     we can taste our mortality as we roll the ash around on our tongues.

We are able to ponder our ashness with

   some confidence, only because our every Wednesday of ashes

   anticipates your Easter victory over that dry, flaky taste of death.

On this Wednesday, we submit our ashen way to you —

   you Easter parade of newness.

   Before the sun sets, take our Wednesday and Easter us,

     Easter us to joy and energy and courage and freedom;

     Easter us that we may be fearless for your truth.

   Come here and Easter our Wednesday with

     mercy and justice and peace and generosity.

We pray as we wait for the Risen One who comes soon.

-Walter Bruggemann

Ash Wednesday, one day that reminds us, if we let it, of the fire that can burst from our hearts, but not destroy it.  Like the burning bush in the wilderness, we are aflame with God.  Surely there were some ashes beneath that tree.

When Moses took his shoes off, did he step upon hot ash ?

Did that heat scare him ; cause him to tell the Lord that he was the wrong person for the job ? 

Does the heat of God’s desire scare me ? Do I turn away and run head long into the cold indifference which may feel better-at least for now ?

As we contemplate a Holy Lent this day and this season, let us welcome the fire of the living God.  We have come not just from ashes and dust, but also from fire and light.  Lent is a time to consider our true nature as God’s beloved children made of cosmic dust, and spent earth, and brilliant starlight.  

 We are all of these.

In Lent we can join with others who want to shed themselves of the weight of pretending that we are less than we actually are. 

How shall you discover yourself this Lent ?

Blessings,

Debra

The Open Window

We should highly rejoice that God dwells in our soul

and still more highly should we rejoice that our soul dwells in God.

Our soul is made to be God's dwelling place,

and the dwelling place of our soul

is God who was never made.

Julian of Norwich

Our souls are the dwelling place of God, says Julian.

We are in God and God is in us.  Wherever we are that is where we will find God.

These are the great spiritual truths upon which our prayer depends. If we did not believe tht God dwelt within us, we would be wandering in the desert searching for any clue that might tell us where we would find God.

And yet, I believe, that is what so many of us are doing, even within the context of prayer.  We are looking outside ourselves for God.  We are searchng the horizon for a sign of God’s power and God’s presence.

And the sign is there, isn’t it ?  In the mountains and the seascape.  In the sunrise and the moonlight.  Still we search because we know that there is yet a more intimate sign of the love of God.

Julian of Norwich knows about finding God right where you are.  She spent much of her life in a small cell next to a chapel in Norwich, England.  I visited the reconstruction of this small room on a spring day.  I was impressed by it’s size and it’s tidy starkness.  There is very little to engage the mind—four walls, an altar, a bed and a table.  There is a window through which conversations and food were shared during Julian’s time.  It is in this empty space that Julian was freed to focus on Christ.  And Christ did come to her in amazing visions filled with wisdom enough to last for the rest of her life.

We may not have visions.  We may not have a tiny stark cell in which to focus our entire energy upon Christ.  But we are, no less than Julian, filled with the reality of God.  God dwells within us as surely as God dwelt within her.

Let us make a space, a tiny empty spot, within our hearts and invite God in.  Let us stand at the window of our souls and converse with Christ. 

Blessings,

Debra