. . . that's too long for my Twitter prayer posts. May it touch your heart as it does mine.
Blessings,
Janet+
A Lenten Prayer by Archbishop Desmond Tutu
Disturb us, O Lord, when we are too well-pleased with ourselves when our dreams have come true because we dreamed too little, because we sailed too close to the shore.
Disturb us, O Lord, when, with the abundance of things we possess, we have lost our thirst for the water of life; when, having fallen in love with time, we have ceased to dream of eternity; and in our efforts to build a new earth, we have allowed our vision of Heaven to grow dim.
Stir us, O Lord to dare more boldly, to venture into wider seas where storms show Thy mastery, where losing sight of land, we shall find the stars. In the name of Him who pushed back the horizons of our hopes and invited the brave to follow. Amen.
Friday, March 9, 2012
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Why????
Dear Friends in Christ -
During these weeks of Lent, our sermon series on Sunday mornings is "The Courage to Question," based on the real questions of folks in our congregation.
So here's my question: Why?
Why is it that I've tried to post here four times this week. And four times the *!?%!* computer has locked me out, lost my stuff, let me down. Why????? I'm trying to do a good thing, right?
And now that I think about it, this isn't the only thing that makes me want to ask the question "why?" There are much much bigger, more important things that make me want to ask that question, too. Why doesn't someone (God?) do something to help the thousands dying in Syria? Why does the American political scene seem completely devoid of moderation and compromise? Why . . . ???
The traditional answers - "God gave us free will and we blew it" or "God does great things in the midst of all this and we should focus on that" - leave me a bit cold.
Hmmmm . . . truth is, I'm realizing that any response based on thinking or theory won't salve my heart. These "why" questions are really cries of heartbreak that no logical answer - even if it's "right" - can soothe. A wise leader said to me this week: Rational solutions will not resolve problems created by irrationality.
And here's another thing: since our good, loving God is incapable of "making" evil, then we have to ask ourselves, 'how can God answer our "why?" questions if he didn't do it?'
And yet, God is active in our lives. Joseph knew this. When his brothers were jealous of him and dumped him in a well and sold him into slavery, I'm sure Joseph asked himself and his brothers and God, "why?" But there's no evidence that God ever answered directly. In the end, though, Joseph comes to the conclusion that God has been active in his tumultuous life, and he says to his brothers, "You intended it for evil, but God intended it for good." (Genesis 50:20)
In this season of Lent, may we - like Joseph - have a sense of God's active presence in our lives, even in the midst of unanswered questions and unexplainable situations.
Faithfully yours,
Janet+
During these weeks of Lent, our sermon series on Sunday mornings is "The Courage to Question," based on the real questions of folks in our congregation.
So here's my question: Why?
Why is it that I've tried to post here four times this week. And four times the *!?%!* computer has locked me out, lost my stuff, let me down. Why????? I'm trying to do a good thing, right?
And now that I think about it, this isn't the only thing that makes me want to ask the question "why?" There are much much bigger, more important things that make me want to ask that question, too. Why doesn't someone (God?) do something to help the thousands dying in Syria? Why does the American political scene seem completely devoid of moderation and compromise? Why . . . ???
The traditional answers - "God gave us free will and we blew it" or "God does great things in the midst of all this and we should focus on that" - leave me a bit cold.
Hmmmm . . . truth is, I'm realizing that any response based on thinking or theory won't salve my heart. These "why" questions are really cries of heartbreak that no logical answer - even if it's "right" - can soothe. A wise leader said to me this week: Rational solutions will not resolve problems created by irrationality.
And here's another thing: since our good, loving God is incapable of "making" evil, then we have to ask ourselves, 'how can God answer our "why?" questions if he didn't do it?'
And yet, God is active in our lives. Joseph knew this. When his brothers were jealous of him and dumped him in a well and sold him into slavery, I'm sure Joseph asked himself and his brothers and God, "why?" But there's no evidence that God ever answered directly. In the end, though, Joseph comes to the conclusion that God has been active in his tumultuous life, and he says to his brothers, "You intended it for evil, but God intended it for good." (Genesis 50:20)
In this season of Lent, may we - like Joseph - have a sense of God's active presence in our lives, even in the midst of unanswered questions and unexplainable situations.
Faithfully yours,
Janet+
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