God and Us

I was away this last week at the Festival of Theology at my alma mater Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. It was a wonderful week with excellent speakers and a great opportunity to catch up with old friends. The theme of the festival was "New Ways of Being Church" and Diana Butler Bass, Marcus Borg, and Brian McLaren each spoke on where they see the church headed in the near and distant futures. I appreciated their insights and took a few nuggets of wisdom away with me.
It is interesting, however, considering the conversations centered on where the church is going that the one tidbit that sticks most with me is actually a quote from our ancient past--from St. Augustine. One of the presenters (I think it was Borg) shared this quote which I have been thinking about ever since:
"God, without us, will not; as we, without God, cannot."
So simple, yet so profound. To think that the God of the universe who has all power to do anything and everything chooses instead to use us to achieve God's great will and purpose. God chooses us. That is what Lent and Easter are all about. God in relationship with us and us with God. May it be so this day and everyday.

Scott

A Blessing

In keeping with all the Irish fervor of yesterday, enjoy this prayer of blessing from the Iona community as we continue on our Lenten pilgrimage.

Wherever we go,
may the joy of God the gracious
be with us.
Wherever we go,
may the face of Christ the kindly
be with us.
Wherever we go,
may the compassing of the Spirit of grace
be with us.
Wherever we go,
the presence of the Trinity around us
to bless and to keep us.
-Tracey

Pray

For the hurt of my poor people I am hurt, I mourn, and dismay has taken hold of me. Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? - Jeremiah 8:21-22

Why? The cry has gone up from lips in Northern Ireland, in Illinois, in Germany and in Alabama in the past few days. Families are grieving, communities reeling in shock. Scripture tells us that God is grieving too. What is the response of people of faith if not prayer and advocacy and action toward days that hold forth Kingdom Peace? As Martin Luther King said, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

Pray for the hurt.

A Certain Hope

“Lord, help my unbelief.” Lent relentlessly positions us alongside that prayer. “It’s me, it’s me, it’s me O Lord standing in the need of prayer.” “Sometimes I feel like a motherless child”. We are pilgrims now in a lonesome, valley season. It is on that march especially that we link arms with fierce determination and remember God’s faithful company. Even as we move forward toward the city gates, we approach from Easter. We are, in Lent, a hopeful people true to story and sequence but unapologetically confident. Yield to the season’s exigencies with a certain hope that sees beyond them.

Dana

Not Safe

Isaiah 40:31 - But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Lent often gets turned into a very domesticated kind of pious self-improvement; give up something that most respectable people think is a good thing to give up, at least for a time -- chocolate, beer, swearing, or somesuch -- drop a few pounds and maybe look a little more like what our culture thinks of as 'good,' and other than the purple vestments on Sunday mornings, hardly notice the difference. But if we want to experience this quest fully, we need to note the ways in which the quest we're on for these forty days is not tame or respectable. Jesus left his family and entered a desert with wild beasts and angels, and we are striving to follow him. Still we wait in that place this week.

In The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, the school children tumble into Narnia, this unexpected, utterly different world. Their eyes grow large as they learn about Aslan. Lucy asks Mr. Beaver about this ruler. “Then isn’t he safe?” “Course he isn’t safe,” replies Mr. Beaver, “But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”

Not safe, never tame. But God is always good, in the wilderness times and on the mountaintops.

Lent

Wilderness is a metaphor that matches up with many twists and turns on our journey. It is often a place filled with fear, with outsized enemies, with danger – real and imagined. It is a lonesome place. We seldom choose our wilderness times. They are usually imposed on us by unwelcome external circumstances and agents.

Lent is juxtoposed to that experience in that wilderness is an intentional encounter. We go expectantly. We savor the wild as it peels away and demands honesty. We find company and remember our binding.

In these weeks sojourn somehow in the wild. Angels minister there. Drink deeply. Come in from there untied again. It is a faithful Lenten fast we seek.

Dana

Be still

Psalm 46:10 states "Be still, and know that I am God!"
In this season of Lent be sure to take some time to be still. The "go, go, go" frenetic pace of our lives so often takes over and we forget who is in charge and in control. The call here is not to deeper study or more work--there are times and places for both. Instead the Psalmist reminds us to simply take a break from it all and remember who God is. So, take a deep breath, shut out all the noise, stop moving. And know that God is God!

Scott