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Holy Wednesday

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What follows is a devotion that I led for a Community Lenten Breakfast at our congregation on Holy Wednesday, 2018. Lent Lent is 40 days in the life of the church, it starts on Ash Wednesday and goes all the way up until what we call Holy Saturday or the Great Vigil of Easter.   It doesn’t include Sundays. Some of you may have been coming to these breakfasts for a long time and some of you might be here for the first time, and I’m glad that your journey has brought you here today. The ancient church usually talks about Lent in the form of a journey.   Sometimes, it tends to be a personal one- me and Jesus kind of thing.   But sometimes, if you immerse yourself in community, it becomes a communal journey where I share the road with you, and you with someone else, and them with others. We journey to this week- to The great Three Days in the life of the Church- Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Vigil.   We retell again the story of Jesus’ life and ministry bu
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Peace Comes

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Part of my Lenten practice and discipline so far this year has been two things.  One, I've tried to engage myself in three minutes of silence each day for the pure sake of being silent and present to God.  Two, I've also tried to keep up on reading the 40-Day Journey with Joan Chittister.  For the most part on both of them, I've done alright- not every day and not perfect; but I've done okay. Today, I want to share a reflection with you from Day 17 with Joan Chittister.  For the Bible verse, she uses John 14:27:  "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.  I do not give to you as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." Joan writes these words that I invite you to reflect upon with me today: "Peace comes when we know that there is something that the Spirit has to teach us in everything we do, in everything we experience.  When we are rejected, we learn that there is a love above all loves in life.  Wh
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Wideness

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"There's a Wideness in God's Mercy, like the wideness of the sea; there's a kindness in God's justice which is more than liberty.  There is no place where earth's sorrows are more felt than up in heav'n.  There is no place where earth's failings have such kindly judgment giv'n. There's a welcome for the sinner, and a promised grace made good; there is mercy with the Savior; there is healing in his blood.  There is grace enough for thousands of new worlds as great as this; there is room for fresh creations in that upper home of bliss. For the love of God is broader than the measures of our mind; and the heart of the Eternal is most wonderfully kind.  But we make this love too narrow by false limits of our own' and we magnify its strictness with a zeal God will not own." - "There's a Wideness in God's Mercy" (ELW 587 vv. 1-3) This is one of my all time favorite hymns.  It is probably best known for it'
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In Your Light...

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"How precious is your steadfast love, O God!   All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings.   They feast on the abundance of your house,  and you give them drink from the river of your delights.   For with you is the fountain of life;  in your light we see light." - Psalm 36:7-9 We get this week in these words images of baptism, of drinking, of water being the fountain of life.  We are preparing this Sunday to hear words about life, about water, about light, about dancing, and about partying.  Partying, or celebration, means nothing without having known the opposite.  Rejoicing doesn't mean one iota unless we know sorrow, sadness, darkness. The people of Flint know darkness, sadness, and what it is not to have clean water to drink.  Some people in our own community know what it is not to have heat, or power, or money to buy food, or shelter, or clothing.  Some of us reading this might know disappointment, hurt, heartache, pain, marriage or relationship
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Transformation

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" Do not be conformed to this world,  but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect." - Romans 12:2 Paul is encouraging transformation for the Romans.  Transformation, literally to be formed around... to be formed around the renewing of your minds that you might discern the will of God.  God's will is different from the world, God's will desires life not death, light, not darkness.  This week in the life of the church we celebrate Epiphany, which means revealing or manifestation. God reveals God's purposes to the world in baby Jesus.  These purposes are love, redemption, salvation, transformation.  The world doesn't get the final say, God does.  Transformation is more than a head game, it's a life action.  When you've encountered God and God's revelation, you can't ever be the same again.  God does not leave you as you came, you're always
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I Don't Know Why...

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I don't know why... and truth be told, sometimes I wish I did. I don't know why bad things happen to good people. I don't know why God takes them young and full of life. I don't know why death hurts so much. I don't know why Devon Smiley was killed this week. I don't know why or how things seem to go on without someone that we knew or loved. This week has been hard for a lot of people in this place that I have come to call home.  I have never appreciated or valued community more than this week.  To see how people have come together in the midst of horrible news, to see how students just want to be with one another in loss, anguish, and grief; to see how far reaching news, and even love, travels is simply astounding. #DevoStrong We need each other in times like these.  We need each other to lift us up, to help us hold our heads up, to check on us, to let us cry or laugh or tell stories.  We need community even though it feels like we want to be a
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What's Your Hashtag?

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Jesus said, “Everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened." - Luke 11:10 I remember watching just recently a video of a now 18-year old woman in my internship congregation speak of what the Church is to her.   In some sense, one would think that she would say “more screens and multimedia in worship” or “Ipads with the liturgy on them for everyone!”   However, she didn’t.   She said those are worship things, or church matters.   The Church, she says, is something different altogether. What she says is very good and compelling, and her basic message is summed up in a hashtag:   #Churchisfamily (or community). I know, I know, some of you are asking what a hashtag is and it is one of those social media words or ideas.   A hashtag is a way to group related messages on social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.   The hashtag begins with the “#” sign and then ends with a word or phrase like
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