A few thoughts on a wintry cold day. . .
Vangie and I have been truly blessed this week with the delightful antics of our family of squirrels. Each day they come for their peanuts and they scurry around and make us laugh.  They put on quite a show with their acrobatics and their cheerful scoldng when we’re a bit late with their peanuts.  But this week we were surprised, and blessed, by a most unusual sight.  Our silly squirrels have discovered the humming bird feeder in the ginkgo tree just outside our windows and its cache of sweet nectar.  Imagine our surprise when they turned upside down from a branch to reach down and drink the honey flavored food that’s been set out for our little humming birds friends.

These silly squirrels have got me thinking.  How many other amazing, delightful and precious moments occur, each and every day, that I miss?  What joy and blessing do I fail to receive because I am just too busy or too distracted or simply not paying attention?  Jesus encourages his disciples repeatedly to “Stay Awake! Pay Attention!”  And yet, I catch myself sleepwalking through so many moments and I know I miss the very delights that God places before me.

Lent is coming soon, our holy season of spring cleaning of the soul. I pray that we will       each use this season to truly wake up to the Presence of God in our lives and in this amazingly beautiful and varied world in which we live. Let’s not let the precious moments of life pass us by unaware.  God yearns to bless us with life rich and full and abundant.  Our invitation is to reach out with open hearts to receive it and then to pass it along to others.

A prayer that sings itself in my heart every morning as I begin my day:
God be in my head and in my thinking.
God be in my eyes and in my looking.
God be in my ears and in my listening.
God be in my mouth and in my speaking.
God be in my hands and in my embracing.
God be in my feet and in my walking.
God be in my heart and in my understanding.
God be in my life and in my loving.
God be in every thing, every thing, every thing.
God be in every thing and in my departing.

Thanks be to God, for silly squirrels and for companions like you to accompany me along this wonderful adventure that is our life in God.  God truly is in every thing, and for me, most especially in this wonderful community of faith.  Blessings, Susan

“You are the salt of the earth; you are the light of the world.”  ~Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5.

This last Sunday, at the suggestion of David Lose at Working Preacher.org, I encouraged our congregation to start a Salt & Light Log – keeping track of all the wonderful and amazing ways that God is at work in our lives and in the world; taking note, affirming and celebrating the ways that we are salt and light to one another and to the community beyond the four walls of our sanctuary.

I love the way Eugene Peterson translates this passage in The Message:   “Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. . . Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill!  If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light
stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.”

And so, this is the start of our Salt & Light Log. I invite you to email me your “Noticings” of salt and light around Forest Hill, in your family, your neighborhood, and out in the world.  Let’s start paying attention to the ways that God is working in and through us to add zest, flavor, light and radiance to the world. It’s time to Shine!

Another way to think of it might be as “Our Wild Goose Chase.“  Let me explain what I have in mind.  Ancient Celtic Christians had a name for the Holy Spirit – An Geadh-Glas – the wild goose:  untamable, unpredictable, noisy, pesky, strong, graceful, able to fly much faster and farther in formation than alone.  A little different image than a turtle dove, but how apt!  You see, they realized that no matter much we might want to contain or control God, God cannot be placed in a box, defined or tamed.  And so off they went, on wild goose chases – entering the spaces, towns, hamlets, and villages of 7th century England in the conviction that the wild goose was out there ahead of them. They were open to being surprised by the wild goose, prayerfully asking what God was doing and joining the Spirit there by naming the name of Jesus, dwelling among people and opening the great story of God’s love and grace.

And so, let’s head off on some wild goose chases of our own.  Let’s enter the world with the eyes of our hearts wide open.  Let’s be willing to be surprised by what God is doing in the world.  Let’s look for and celebrate the myriad ways that our God is working in and through the lives of people, even us, to salt and light the world. You know, it’s a beautiful day for a Wild Goose Chase! Want to join me?

PS Our Salt & Light Log, aka Our Wild Goose Chase, will be on our website at www.foresthillchristianchurch.org  just as soon as you start paying attention and sharing your discoveries.

Christmas – the most wonderful time of the year.  It is.  And it isn’t, not for many who are alone, those living in poverty, prisoners.  The children who see the expensive toys on TV, but know they are not going to receive anything.  It has always seemed odd to me that we celebrate the birth of Christ by going into great debt.  Yet, I still love Christmas time, the generosity of  many, the good cheer, the anticipation of Christmas day.  As Christians, however, I think we should be celebrating the birth of Christ everyday, we need to have the spirit of Christmas with us always.  We should always be generous, always visit the sick and those in prison, always sharing the good news.  What is the good news?  I think this poem by John Shelby Spong says it most beautifully.  May all be blessed this Christmas time and every day.

Christpower by Bishop John Shelby Spong

Far back beyond the beginning,

stretching out into the unknowable,

incomprehensible,

unfathomable depths, dark and void,

of infinite eternity behind all history,

the Christpower was alive.

This was the

Living

bursting, pulsing

generating, creating

smoldering, exploding

fusing, multiplying

emerging, erupting

pollenizing, inseminating

heating, cooling

power of life itself: Christpower.

And it was good!

Here

all things that we know

began their journey into being.

Here

light separated from darkness.

Here

Christpower began to take form.

Here

life became real,

and that life spread into

emerging new creatures

evolving

into ever higher intelligence.

There was a sacrifice here

and

a mutation there.

There was grace and resurrection appearing

in their natural order,

occurring, recurring,

and always driven by the restless,

creating,

energizing

life force of God, called the Christpower,

which flowed in the veins of every living thing

for ever

and ever

and ever

and ever.

And it was good!

In time, in this universe,

there emerged creatures who were called human,

and the uniqueness of these creatures

lay in that they could

perceive

this life-giving power.

They could name it

and embrace it

and grow with it

and yearn for it.

Thus human life was born,

but individual expressions of that human life

were marked with a sense of

incompleteness,

inadequacy,

and a hunger

that drove them ever beyond the self

to search for life’s secret

and

to seek the source of life’s power.

This was a humanity that could not be content with

anything less.

And once again

in that process

there was

sacrifice and mutation,

grace and resurrection

now in the human order,

occurring, recurring

And it was good!

Finally, in the fullness of time,

within that human family,

one

unique and special human life appeared:

whole

complete

free

loving

living

being

at one

at peace

at rest.

In that life was seen with new intensity

that primal power of the universe,

Christpower.

And it was good!

Of that life people said: Jesus,

you are the Christ,

for in you we see

and feel

and experience

the living force of life

and love

and being

of God.

He was hated,

rejected,

betrayed,

killed,

but

he was never distorted.

For here was a life in which

the goal, the dream, the hope

of all life

is achieved.

A single life among many lives.

Here

among us, out from us,

and yet this power, this essence,

was not from us at all,

for the Christpower that was seen in Jesus

is finally of God.

And even when the darkness of death

overwhelmed him,

the power of life resurrected him;

for Christpower is life

eternal,

without beginning,

without ending.

It is the secret of creation.

It is the goal of humanity.

Here in this life we glimpse

that immortal

invisible

most blessed

most glorious

almighty life-giving force

of this universe

in startling completeness

in a single person.

Men and women tasted the power that was in him

and they were made whole by it.

They entered a new freedom,

a new being.

They knew resurrection and what it means to live

in the Eternal Now.

So they became agents of that power,

sharing those gifts from generation to generation,

creating and re-creating,

transforming, redeeming,

making all things new.

And as this power moved among human beings,

light

once more separated from darkness.

And it was good!

They searched for the words to describe

the moment that recognized the fullness of this power

living in history,

living in the life of this person.

But words failed them.

So they lapsed into poetry:

When this life was born,

they said,

a great light split the dark sky.

Angelic choruses peopled the heavens

to sing of peace on earth.

They told of a virgin mother,

of shepherds compelled to worship,

of a rejecting world that had no room in the inn.

They told of stars and oriental kings,

of gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

For when this life was born

that power that was

and is

with God,

inseparable,

the endless beginning,

was seen

even in a baby

in swaddling clothes

lying in a manger.

Christpower.

Jesus, you are the Christ.

To know you is to live,

to love,

to be.

O come, then, let us adore him!

What is worship?  Why do we come to church? Pastor Susan posed these questions while I was visiting last month.  Yesterday I attended a clergy gathering here in Iowa.  One of the ministers shared about the Wednesday evening meal that is served at her church in Council Bluffs.  A few members of her congregation started the meal program a few years ago as a way to serve the homeless.  Most of the people who come, however, are not homeless.  Many of those that come for the meals are from group homes in the area, people with special needs.  People who are not welcome in most public places because they are different; this dinner offers them an opportunity for a night out. Others have jobs, but are struggling in the current economy.  Still others come just to have a place to be, to be with others so they aren’t alone.  The numbers have grown so that now there are usually over 100 people who come for dinner each Wednesday evening.  The atmosphere seems like that of a coffee shop where friends gather to share the events of the week.  People come early just to get a cup of coffee or a glass of lemonade and visit with friends.  Often the coffee is gone before the dinner begins.  There is usually a big mess to clean up after people leave since many of the diners have poor motor skills.  There is a joy, however,  that seems to permeate the fellowship hall which lingers long after dinner.  A member of the congregation thought they should start a regular worship service after dinner.  Pastor Jann, however, thinks there is more worship on Wednesday evening with coffee and dinner than what happens on Sunday morning.  So I thought of Susan’s question again.  What is worship?