Rejected...Restored...

    There are times when you and I head out to the grocery store.  Maybe we are in a rush, maybe not, but it's easy to get anxious or frustrated because of the slow moving customer or long-talking checkout attendant in front of us.  Don't they know we are in a hurry?  And yet, to respond in such ways borders of judging, even rejection -- rejection of the person maybe, but rejection of an opportunity to be a witness definitely.

   Yesterday I was rejected.  Well, I wasn't rejected, though it felt like it, my car was.  It was inspection time, and though I expected to pop in and out to go on my merry way, instead I was called into the workbay and told that the wear on my front tires was too low.  They'd have to reject my car for inspection, and after getting new tires bring it back so I could receive a passing grade.  

    Yes, I was frustrated by the fact that I'd have to spend $300 on two new tires, but what I found interesting was that on and off throughout the day, my mind kept turning to the rejection...the label.  In fact, I don't really want to be driving it to the tire shop today, lest someone see the sticker and think things about me...lest a cop stop me letting me know that I can only drive directly to the repair shop and back to the inspector's lair.
    It's odd really, because it isn't me that was rejected, but it was my car.  I was not conscious of the worn equipment, and yet for some reason there is this feeling inside that I messed up.  That there is something wrong with me, or that I have been irresponsible driving a car with tires that have worn beyond the acceptable level.  And yet, that's how I feel.
    As I've reflected upon my reaction to this "judgment" on behalf of the auto repair industry, my heart and mind have been moved to think beyond this trivial judging and reflect upon the many time I, and we, judge and even reject others.  It has given me a good reminder.
    As with most pastors, I deal with many folks calling or stopping by seeking assistance with food, shelter, and help with bills.  There are times when I can be quick to judge them or quick to take care of their needs and get back to my work, and when I do, I not only judge them but in a way reject their needs...even reject them.
    There are even times in church when folks get so used to seeing a certain kind of people there or doing certain things, that when someone different or something creative happens in worship, we reject it as being out of place.  To do so is to judge, and it may be a rejection of the very thing that might draw us closer to God than we ever had, had we not experienced those encounters.

   In the book of Deuteronomy, God shares the law with Moses, and in the first chapter, at the beginning of this whole process God say, "Do not show partiality in judging; hear both small and great alike. Do not be afraid of anyone, for judgment belongs to God. Bring me any case too hard for you, and I will hear it.”
   How often we find ourselves judging others, especially in this political environment?  How often do we reject others because of their political or religious affiliation, sexual orientation, race, class, sex, even vehicle they drive?  And maybe even harder, how often do we judge or even reject ourselves?
    The Good News is that God is the one who judges, and God proclaims from the beginning and revealed through the Son that God loves and invites us to embrace that love.  God points out where we need to be inspected and corrected, then God invites us to do what we need to do to be "upgraded" and changed so that we would be at optimal functionality.  Ultimately, God points out our need, even when we don't see it, and invites us, "Come with me, and let me make you new again.
 
    Are there places where you have been rejected?  Are there people that have judged you?  Are you overlooking some area where God desire for you to be changed?  God's inspection station is always open, we just have to go there and seek to know the truth, so we might be made whole again.


Where is God inviting you to be renewed as a follower of Christ?  

What does Love look like?

    Wednesday we shared our last Confirmation lesson, and our Youth Director, Tim Craft, started by asking the question, “What does God look like?”  The vast majority of descriptions resembled an old man with a beard sitting on a throne, but as we delved into it a bit deeper, we began to discuss some more abstract things.  The kids talked about God being all-powerful and all-knowing.  Sort of like saying that something ‘smells like it tastes,’ they toyed with the idea that God looked more like what is described as values.
    Tim had baited them, however, with this question, because he brought it all around to the first lesson that we shared with them in February.  For in that first teaching he talked about how we are made in the image of God.  Having reminded them of that truth, the question was asked of them, “Do you see God in yourself or in others?”
    As the kids were describing their images, my response was the very opposite.  I immediately jumped to the abstract and started thinking about God being love, service, giving, hope, peace..., but I then found that faces and people came to mind.  I thought of my parents and mentors along the way.  I remembered times when others invested in me, and even times when strangers revealed Christ to me.  Most specifically, I thought of Nancy Turner.

    This afternoon at 4 PM, I will lead a memorial service for one of God’s great saints, Nancy Turner.  Nancy Turner is one of those Christ followers who was always giving, always placing others before herself, and always loving.  She was a person whom others felt comfortable with and through whom God used to bless countless lives.
    She used to work in the church as music director, while also working at a bank, then taking over as payroll manager for a local health care system that grew from 600 employees when she came on to over 16,000 by the time she retired.  And what was so wonderfully unique about her was that her faith was tangible in all she did.
    It didn’t matter if it was through music or by doing the best she could, she let God shine through her.  If it was teaching children to sing or play tambourines or taking a break to talk and pray with an employee who needed a listening ear, Nancy would care.  Even in her waning days, as the cancer slowly grew, she would overlook her own pain and seek to assuage the pain of another.
    Last night at the visitation, one of her closest friends came up to me and said, “How can anyone have so many people who considered her their ‘best friend?’  Only through Jesus, the one who wants to be best friend to all.”  Such is the truth of Nancy’s life, and such is the legacy she leaves for those whom God touched through her witness.

    In the church there is a list of readings known as “The Revised Common Lectionary,” and many preachers and churches follow these readings week after week.  Appropriately, this week’s reading comes from John’s Gospel, the 15th chapter.  Jesus shares these words with his disciples as parting words.  He is about to die, and yet he wants his legacy to live on.
    He says, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.  Now remain in my love...my command is this: Love one another as I have loved you.  Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.  You are my friends if you do what I command...This is my command: Love one another.”
      As I prepare for this memorial and remember my friend and spiritual mentor, I am led to these words of love, for to me and many, Nancy indeed encapsulated these word.  She lived them, and indeed she was one whom Jesus called friend.  She was one who called Jesus friend.  And she could be such a best friend to so many because Jesus was indeed her best friend.
   

    The prominent theme that came up in my mind as Tim asked that question on Wednesday was this – “love.”  When I see God, I see love.  When I think of Nancy, I indeed see God...I see love that was, and continues to be, shared unconditionally, always willingly, and intended to them be shared a legacy.  It’s Nancy’s legacy, but even more poignantly, Nancy would say, it’s God’s legacy.

Love Beyond Expectation

    Today is the day of Epiphany, the day in the Church when we remember and celebrate the coming of the Magi to the stable with gifts for the infant King.  It is also marks the end of Christmas and beginning of the season of Light.  This is also a day when many, if they have not already, will take down their Christmas decorations.
    When my wife and I were married, she had a tradition of putting up the Christmas decorations Thanksgiving weekend and taking them down around New Year’s.  My family would get a “live” tree, so we didn’t put our stuff up until almost Christmas Eve, but we’d leave ours up until January 6th.  We combined our traditions, and we put everything up Thanksgiving weekend, but we keep it up until after January 6th.
    As I reflect upon this day and the task before my family, I wonder how many of us will pack Christmas away (or already have).  These Magi, considered Gentile outsiders, came and brought gifts, and the message from God was that even those outside the normal realm of religious influence would be invited to be part of the Kingdom of God.  There is not putting away anything in their gift-giving, nor in God’s message, rather the very opposite is true – there is a bursting forth, a breaking open, and a tearing down of any barriers or boxes that humans can try to place around God.
    The message of Christmas, that God would send the Son, is a marvel, but for God to reveal a bigger picture, that all would be invited, is even more astounding.  And the gift received, both the Son and the invitation, is all about love.  It is about God loving so much that God wanted it all...wanted us all.  It is a love beyond expectation and limits...a love that we can so easily close ourselves off to, simply because we can’t imagine the vastness of such mercy and grace.

    Evidence of such love is peppered throughout the Bible, most especially in the New Testament.  Matthew recounts Jesus saying, “Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest....”(Matthew 11:28).  John quotes Jesus as saying, “God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but...the Light has come into the world...so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.” (John 3: 17, 19, 21) And John wrote in his first letter (1 John 4: 9), “This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.”
    God didn’t have to do this, and yet God did.  God reached out to make a way for all to be a part of God’s Kingdom and receive the fullness of God’s gift.  And the result is that no one can, or should ever, put away such a gift, for once it is given and received, it resides in our hearts and souls, and if we allow it, God will bless us and others through the gift.

    I have been reading a devotional book entitled, Watch for the Light: readings for Advent and Christmas,” and the reading for Epiphany is simple but profound – a poem from the opera “Amahl and the Night Visitors” by Gian Carlo Menotti: 

Love Alone

The Child we seek
doesn't need our gold.
On love, on love alone
he will build his kingdom.
His pierced hand will hold no scepter,
his haloed head will wear no crown;
his might will not be built
on your toil.
Swifter than lightning
he will soon walk among us.
He will bring us new life
and receive our death,
and the keys to his city
belong to the poor.

    For me this poem captures the amazing love of God that moves beyond our expectation.  As I put away the Christmas decorations and begin the process of moving into Epiphany, my hope and prayer is that neither you nor I will put away the messages of Christmas nor Epiphany, but instead let it burst for as love for all.


How might God be calling you to take the gift you've received this Christmas and share it with the world?

A Tribute to Sadie: God's gift for whom we give thanks

    Before we were married Teresa and I shared a desire to have children after at least a couple of years, and that we did. However as with many, we discovered that this might not be possible for us. After a series of tests, we were told that there was about a 50/50 chance that we would not conceive. Infertility was something we did not expect but the reality we were possibly facing.
    We were crushed and discouraged, but we also wanted to be able to care for someone or something and share the lives with which God had blessed us.  So we went to the pound and looked around. After a few visits, we found Sadie, or should I say Sadie found us.  A wonderfully cute, 10 week old Shepherd/Retriever mix captured our hearts, and upon entrance to our home, captured and took over just about everything we had and every room, including our bedroom! Sadie was a wonderful, playful, joy-filled puppy who loved to exercise with me, protect us from strangers, and give us lots and lots of love.
    Interesting enough, soon after we got Sadie, our prayers were answered, and we found out we were pregnant with our first child, a son who was the object of Sadie's care and attention.  Subsequently, she shared the same relationship with another son and eventually a daughter.  The Tate family has known no life without canine companionship.
    Nine and a half years later, on December 26, 2008, however, this changed.  We took a vacation to Florida the week after Christmas, and we knew Sadie would love a week of vacation on my in-law's dairy farm in North Carolina. It was a perfect place for her to run, play, and explore, only when we reached our destination, we received a frantic call from my mother-in-law telling us that Sadie was gone. She had gone out and not come back. Despite searches, calls, and food on the porch, Sadie was nowhere to be found.
    It was then that I first felt the sting that comes from the absence of our first "child."  We were in Florida trying to make the best of it, while our hearts remained connected with our four legged friend and love. At the end of the week we sped to North Carolina and looked for ourselves. We road the roads, called her name, and prayed. We prayed and we prayed that she would come out of the woods. We prayed and prayed that she had not been shot as a nuisance dog or that a pack of dogs had not killed her. After all, she was alone in the country with no one and nothing to protect her.
    One of the hardest things I have ever done was to drive home without her.  Though certainly not on the same level, I felt a touch of what it must be like when a child goes missing. We felt an emptiness and frustration that leaned toward desperation.  Our minds raced and our hearts ached, for our friend and family member was out there somewhere, and we couldn't do a thing about it. We prayed some more. Every night, each of our children prayed for Sadie – for her protection, comfort, and return.
    Devastated and wanting to take some control, as well as take care of another, we went to the Humane Society and picked out Chloe, a 2 year old, Chow/Husky mix.  Her personality and looks were very different than Sadie's, which was good, and we fell in love with her. After 2 visits we brought her to her new home and have been  blessed ever since.
    On February 9, 2009, nine weeks after she went missing we received a call from an unknown number. The night before our children had prayed for her again, while my wife and I were pretty sure she was gone. The area code indicated that it came from North Carolina. My wife answered the phone and a voice said, "Can I speak to Sadie Tate?" My wife responded, "Sadie is our dog, and she is no longer with us." The woman on the other end of the line said, "Well I have her. My children are feeding her hot dogs right now. She's not in great shape, but she is here."
    She was only 10 miles from the farm, where she'd made it into town, only a mile from where my mother-in-law worked. Immediately we called and her them know.  My mother-in-law got in the car and picked her up, while I jumped in the car and drove two hours to pick up the prodigal dog. Upon seeing her for the first time, it is amazing that she survived.  She had obviously broken her hind leg and the leg had healed an inch shorter. Later we would find out that this was a classic injury from being hit by a car. In addition to this, malnutrition was obvious.  Her previously 64 pound body returned to us 18 pounds lighter. She'd lost almost 1/3rd of her body weight, the gleam of gold in her coat, and the full plume of her tail, and her tendency to be "a grazer" when it came to food was forever lost for fear of hunger again.  But she was home, and all the way back she lay beside me, sleeping with her head on my lap.  Probably the first deep sleep she'd experienced in more than 2 months.
    Over time and with care she lived on. Her limp was pronounced, but she adapted. The weight she lost was not completely regained, but she was okay.  Healthy, all things considered, and happy to be home.
    Three years ago she survived another move, this time to the mountains of Roanoke, where we wondered if she'd be able to make it since the terrain was so taxing. But Sadie was a survivor, and after 6 months, she was navigating our steep yard like a champ.  God had saved her and kept her going, and for that we were and are thankful.                

    I've never had to make the decision to relieve the suffering of a pet...until today.  It’s an odd feeling mixed with second doubts, peace, hope, and a deep ache which is centered in the concept of “forever,” or at least a sense that this is forever.  However, I sure hope, and believe, that on the other side she’ll be waiting for me with a greeting and a wag of the tail.
    It was only 2 weeks ago that she began to have problems with incontinence, and the deafness and diminishment of sight only came about over the past year.  And though the arthritis got gradually worse since she was hit by the car, she still seemed to get around.  And even last night, she lumbered up the stairs to take the place she’d taken just about every night of her life, sleeping on the floor beside us.  Can it be possible that we needed to do this?
    Monday Dr. Bruce found a large mass in her abdomen.  We attempted to shrink it with some steroids, but it was not to be.  Her health was deteriorating quickly.  It was time, and we all knew it.  Teresa, the kids, Chloe, me, and I think even Sadie.  We all knew it, but it still wasn’t easy to pray a prayer of thanksgiving and blessing just beforehand.  It was hard for Teresa and me to hold her as she went to sleep peacefully, and yet God assured us it was okay.

    There’s this often quoted saying, and rightfully so, that is shared in times of struggle.  It’s from Matthew’s Gospel, the eleventh chapter, and in it Jesus says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”  Through the love and support of family and friends this week, Jesus has given us rest, and even for this one whom we loved so deeply, Christ did the same.  We know this because we saw that peace just after she was gone.
    After we’d said our goodbyes, cried many tears, and gained the courage to take steps toward the door, Teresa and I turned back one more time and she said, “Look at her.  She looks like she’s laying on the end of the pier at Shady Side, looking out over the water at the sunset on the horizon.”  Shady Side is our family vacation spot, and the pier there was one of Sadie’s favorite places in the world.  Most mornings when we were there, she and I would make our way to the pier to watch the sun rise while I did my devotions, and many evenings we’d all sit and watch the sun set for the day.  Always, Sadie was with us, and always she was at peace...we were at peace.
    It is with thanksgiving and gratitude that that image and memory is etched in my mind.  She was at peace, and that brings me peace.  She had labored and was heavy laden, but she was given rest.  We have labored, and though our hearts are heavy, we are at rest, and in the midst of it all, is the One who brings that rest, who sustains the hope, and who is the source of all love.

    God provided for us a wonderful, loving first child, and God has cared for her.  In fact, God blessed us through her care for us.  For that, and for her, I give thanks.  Though we miss you, Sadie, we’ll always love and remember you.

the Son rose

from behind the wheel, through the windshield

just over the trees
 streaks of
    pinks
        yellows
            reds
                purples
mixing with the deep dark hues of night
the day breaks
   the sun rises
another gift received and shared

I descend the mountain
stars wink a good night to the world
        at least for a few hours

the unwavering transition is upon us
God reveals the beauty of a new day

     i am reminded of the breath I take
        have revealed the gifts of life
           so many things taken for granted

    but the sun rises
      everything is reoriented
        perspective is back

as the story of the day is written
   i can’t help but remember

there was One who rose
out of the darkness of death
    the gift of life was given
three days nights were shattered
    colors burst forth
        light splintered darkness
            love arose
                and the world was forever changed

the Son rose...love won

    always...

        love wins...

it happens every day

     ...if we but take notice




Did you notice the gift of today?  Take some time to simply stop, look around, and take notice.

Apple Butter Christians

   Starting Wednesday on an age old tradition among the people of Bonsack UMC began; making Apple Butter.  The process began on Wednesday with volunteers peeling and cutting over 100 bushels of apples.  Around tables folks gathered to participate in more than just the tasks at hand, but in the midst of the cutting and peeling God used the time to weave together lives and hearts through fellowship, sharing, and uniting the participants in a common task.
    At times God used the discussions and sharing to reveal the fruitfulness of God’s love among the lives at work, and in bringing them together that same blessing was a reminder of God’s collective blessing to and through this congregation.  At other times the discussion and sharing mirrored the very act in which they were participating.  Some deeper discussions took place, and vulnerability was revealed, so that the Spirit was able to peel back the skin and expose the need for some cutting and trimming of the soul in order to lay back the meat of who those folks are called to be.  It is through such sharing that they will be transformed into something sweet and good.
    The cutting and peeling was finished in a day and a half, thanks to a lot hard work, and now those cut and peeled apples sit, waiting to be taken to the next level.  They sit exposed to the air, and though some darkening and discoloring takes place, they are simply preparing for the next stage of their purpose.
    Tonight, Friday, these discolored apple pieces will be ground up into even smaller pieces and mixed into large kettle.  Cinnamon, sugar, water, and other elements will be added to them, and over the next 12 hours or so, they will be boiled down.  A fire underneath, the brew will be stirred constantly throughout that time so it won’t burn and to mix it all together, and then at the right time, the first will be extinguished and the apple butter is ready.
    Those same workers who stirred the pots will then take pan after pan of the mixture to the kitchen where jars await for them to be packaged and sealed.  A team of folks will take that final product and package it for sharing and blessing.  Some folks will have purchased the product and some will be given away as a gift from this community of faith, but all of it is offered as a reminder of the sweetness of God’s love, the fruit born and given among a people through whom God works and blesses to be a blessing.

    Just before Jesus was taken away by the authorities, put on trial and killed, He had a ‘sit down’ with the disciples, and part of what he shared with them was the importance of bearing fruit for the Kingdom.  He talked about how bearing fruit, however, was not easy, for in order to bear the best fruit, we must be pruned and shaped.  He also spoke of how there are times when that fruit is plucked from the branch but in doing so can still be used for Kingdom work.  But the bottom line is that, as Jesus says, “He is the vine, and we are the branches.”  (John 15) If we cling to this truth and allow ourselves to be shaped into the fruitful people God intends us to be, then God makes away to feed the world, even through us.

    In reflecting upon the process of making apple butter, there are many parallels to how God shapes us as Christians.  After all, we are the very product of the true vine.  We are Christ’s body that is called to serve but always connected with Him.  Subsequently, there are times when we are invited to go to the next level, and often that means we are often led to a place that is outside our norm.
    It’s like we have to be plucked from one area and moved to another, but it doesn’t stop there.  If we are really going to be changed, the unwanted parts have to be peeled and trimmed away...prepared for that next stage, if you will.  But that’s not all either.
    God doesn’t just leave us there raw and exposed.  No, God takes the changed self and places us in situations, or among people, who can show us the new way God is inviting us to follow.  We find ourselves in congregations or small groups or among friends who witness what this new life might look like, and it’s as if God has just the right recipe to make us a part of something sweeter through which we can bless others.
    In the end, what emerges is someone new but transformed.  Someone whom God can then use to bless others.  Someone whose essence is that of the very tree from which it came, but is now prepared to sweeten the world through their witness and love.

    One of the traditions in making apple butter is that in each kettle, a few pennies are placed and stirred in with the mixture.  They say it helps to keep the apple butter from sticking.  Maybe so, but I tend to think that maybe this is God’s way of reminding us that, no matter how much we lean into Jesus, we are still a part of the world and the world is part of us.  In fact, the world flavors us a bit, and it can even keep us from adhering to God’s plan.
    And yet, just as with the apple butter, when we are surrounded and enveloped as part of the larger recipe of God’s love, God’s influence and work is more powerful than the world.  And what can be a hindrance can actually be that which flavors our lives, so that we know the world’s ways enough, that we can take God’s ways and transform what we know of the world through witness and love.

How do you need God to “boil you down,” so that you can move the next stage of God’s plan for your life?

Loving our Enemies

     I have been deeply disturbed by all of the rhetoric this week associated with the possibility of an Islamic Center being built close to the site of the 9/11 tragedy.  Most disturbing has been the call to have a “Qur’an burning,” by the pastor and his small church in Florida.  Such a response represents the antithesis of Christlike living.  I am grateful, however, that at least for now, there has been a hold on such a response.
    What has been most interesting for me, however, and the hidden blessing in the midst of so many varied opinions and emotions, is that such controversy has sparked conversations which so often do not happen.  There are folks speaking about religious and faith matters who normally would simply let the conversations of the world dominate their thoughts, words, and deeds.  But all this week, not just politicians and the media, but people on all levels and from all backgrounds, have come to the table to share their thoughts.
    Some of the conversations have been heated and some have sought resolution.  Some have stirred up dormant wounds, while others have revealed that progress, and even forgiveness, has been made.  Some conversations have opened the mouths of the silent, and some have shut the mouths of the dominant.  In the midst of the push and pull, the wrestles, and the disjointed nature of such volatile subject matter, we’re seeing God at work.

    As the week and the discussions have progressed I have found myself remembering the call ofChrist to “love our enemies.”  In both the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5) and the Sermon on the Plain (Luke 6), Jesus says, “You’ve heard it said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemies,’ but I say, ‘Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute (do good to those who hurt) you.’”
    Such a call is horribly difficult, and much of what has been stirred up by this controversy has been the raw emotion of having been attacked by an enemy.  Mix that emotion with the human bent toward revenge, and that there are few Christians who hear and desire to live out this truth, especially when faced with such realities, and one has a formula for disaster.  And yet, Jesus tells us to love our enemies, even pray for and do good to them.
    In trying to bring together the disturbing truths of this week’s events and the disturbing call from Christ, what I see emerging is that: 1) Love is never easy.  2) Love begins with an attitude of openness and respect.  3) Love is able to make a way, when there seems to be no way.  4) As Paul says, “Love has no end.”  The challenge is that love for us, does not seem to be enough sometimes.  However, Christ’s love is able to accomplish anything, including loving our enemies when it seems impossible.

    As I have conversations with those around me and as I watch the news and hear the commentaries and opinions, there has been a shift from raw anger and misinterpretation of intention on all sides, to an ability to sit down and share.  Share time revealing our deepest thoughts and opinions, but also recognizing that, though the issue may never be resolved as we may wish, we can walk away having been changed, if just a little, because of the discussion.
    Seems to me, that’s what Jesus was trying to teach us when he said, “Love your enemies.”  In fact, I believe that’s where such love begins, and if we are willing to sit down and share respectfully, listen for God’s voice in the midst of the sharing, and trust in God, then maybe we’ll be blessed to catch a glimpse of like God’s “Peaceable Kingdom,” among us.

Where am I being called to love my enemies?  Is there some person or situation which I’m avoiding because it is just too volatile or painful?  What would happen if I asked God to help me deal with this head on, so that love could be realized?

Holy Vessels

    WARNING: you locals who attend BUMC may hear part of this on Sunday!

    The pastorate is filled with ups, downs, and everything in between, and one never knows what a day holds.  At times this can be exhilarating and at other times frustrating, however what I have found is that if I’m able to keep perspective, keep my eyes on God, and open myself up to God’s movement, then God makes a way...even when I wonder how and if that will happen!
    This has been one of those crazy and hectic weeks with many unexpected turns.  That which I’d planned to do has been interrupted by far more important things, and at times I have found myself feeling overwhelmed and anxious.  And yet, as I’ve looked back I’ve also seen how God has brought peace and perspective in the midst of not doing what I have wanted to do.
    I was thinking and praying this morning about the week, reflecting upon the sermon topic (“Holy Vessels”), when I realized that in the midst of the week God has provided people to serve as “Holy Vessels” of love, guidance, and support for me, as well as rediscover that I am blessed to be a firsthand witness to the ways in which God provides Holy Vessels of love all over the place.
    Over the past week I encountered God’s servants facing hard decisions, addressing them, and moving

forward with grace.  Over meals and in the midst of planning, I’ve seen the Spirit at work in the sharing at table but also in offering support and care for me.  Through visitation and pastor care, I’ve experienced God leading situations, people, and even my own thoughts to increase healing and wholeness.
    As I have been reminded of these things, I am reminded that God indeed is the Creator, and God is in the business of creating “Holy Vessels” of love and hope.  What we have to do is simply open our eyes and hearts to look for what God offers through the Vessels around us, but we are also called to open ourselves up and invite God to make US Holy Vessels of God’s hope and love in the world.

    I find it interesting that a “Vessel” is an object that is created to hold something, but it is not created to lock that something away, instead it is simply to store it until it is needed.  That is, something of value is placed in the vessel, but then it is poured out and shared.
    In light of the current discussion, God pours God’s Spirit into us, and in doing so makes us “Holy Vessels.”  We carry that Spirit within us, but it’s not something for us to hold onto or lock away.  Instead, our call is to share what God has given us by pouring it out on the world.

    What has God poured into you, which God needs you to pour out into the world?  Keep your heart, mind, and eyes open for the prompting, then open yourself and let God use you this week.

An Encounter with God...

    Last weekend my wife and I headed down to Durham, NC to celebrate my 20th College reunion.  As happens at such events, there was some assessing of life, sharing of stories, and reacquainting ourselves with one another, as we reminisced about our days together two decades ago and recounted how we are currently living out the gifts of life given by God.

    When I was in college, I was blessed to be a part of a wonderful social network of friends.  We did everything together and truly discovered life and joy in the midst of those four years.  I still keep up with them, and along the way we’ve shared even more joy and discoveries, while also experiencing the hard knocks of life.  God placed us together, and for that I am thankful.
    While we were together during those three days, we spent lots of time talking, but we also shared meals together.  As per the ancient understanding that God is present at mealtime, we experienced this truth.  Indeed, God was found in the midst of our conversations, in the ways in which we reconnected, and in the insights that emerged as we supped.  However, there was one particular meal in which we experienced an unexpected encounter with God.
    On Saturday morning we gathered in the lobby of the hotel and headed out to eat at a local shopping center.  After searching and finally settling on a nice little café with outdoor seating, we ordered our food and proceeded to bask in the sun and converse around a metal table canopied by a canvas umbrella.
    As we shared with one another, however, a small girl, who looked to be five but whom we found out later was eight years old, approached us.  She had been sitting with her family at a nearby table, but when she was done eating she came over to speak with us.

    Her name was Mary Katherine, and as she approached us we immediately recognized her characteristics as those of a Down’s Syndrome child.  From behind purple glasses she smiled at us, then one by one she made her way around the table extending her hand for a handshake while saying, “Hello.  My name is Mary Katherine.  What is your name?”  We replied, and she followed up by saying, “And what did you have for breakfast?”
    The innocence of her approach was wonderfully refreshing, but what really got us was the way in which she carried herself.  As opposed to the way the rest of the world usually interacts, her body language revealed openness and trust.  She invited engagement from others and exuded a genuine care.
    It was beautiful to see her come to each one of us, but when she came to me there was something more there.  I’m not sure why or what it was, but when she asked me the questions, instead of standing back and receiving information, she put her arm around one shoulder and began to stroke my forearm, all the time sharing who she was and inquiring about who I was.
    As is natural when one encroaches personal space, at first I felt a bit uncomfortable.  But quickly the image of my daughter flashed in my mind and a connection was made.  You see, Mary Katherine’s actions mirrored my own daughter’s interactions with me.  My daughter, who was 180 miles away and of whom I was thinking about and missing, will often place her arm around me or stroke my arms as she talks, thus amplifying the love we share.
    There, on the patio of a little café in Durham, I felt the presence of God and experienced the reminder of love.  Through the innocence of a child I was reminded that God loves me. I had revealed to me that God is found in the midst of the simplest interaction.  I remembered the power of touch, care, and simply asking simple questions.

    At one point in His ministry, Jesus was speaking and the children were trying to get to Him.  As they

did, the disciples tried to keep the children away, for it would not be appropriate for the little ones to interrupt the Master, and yet Jesus stopped them.  “Let the little children come to me.  To such as these belongs the Kingdom of heaven.”
    Indeed to such as these belongs the Kingdom of heaven, and as those who possess the gift of heaven, they have much to teach and remind us.

    Thank you Mary Katherine for blessing us in a sidewalk café through a chance encounter.  Thank you God for speaking through a child, thus realigning me with that which matters most.

    As you go through your day, look for God’s children, then open yourself to receive them and all God offers you through them.