Dear Friends in Christ -
Slowly over the course of the past couple of weeks, leaves on the tree outside my living room window have budded and unfurled, resulting in a brilliant fluff of light green foliage. This foliage obscures my view of the street. And I have to confess that I like it that way. I like hiding behind things sometimes.
In the today's Daily Office reading (Luke 4:38-44), though, Jesus is clearly all about getting people to face up to things. He's particularly interested in getting the people who are following him around to own up to the real reason they're chasing after him. Jesus has a mission: to proclaim the Good News of God's love and saving power. The physical healings that Jesus did were not an accident - they were a natural outgrowth of his tremendous love and care. But the healings paled by comparison to what Jesus really came to share.
Since we're firmly attached to these mortal bodies, it's hard for us to imagine anything more powerful than physical healing. But what Jesus came to share was even more amazing and transformative than the healing of our bodies. When push came to shove (literally), he opted to quit healing and focus on teaching, to save us, to save our souls.
Only when we're willing to come out of hiding, to see Jesus and to let him see all of our need (not just the physical hurts, but the holes in our relationships and souls, too) will we hear His full message and know the full measure of His power to save us.
Faithfully,
Janet+
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Saturday, April 25, 2009
There was this moment . . .
. . . in the car today,
Ed was driving
I was riding shotgun
with my bare feet on the dash
the kids in the back seat
Fresh spring air
breezing through the open windows
as we drove down streets
lined with daffodils and tulips
We were cracking jokes
of the kind my mother always
frowned upon
about toots
and other small rudenesses
There really isn't anything
that is better for my soul
than the sound of my family
laughing together
Joyfully,
Janet+
Ed was driving
I was riding shotgun
with my bare feet on the dash
the kids in the back seat
Fresh spring air
breezing through the open windows
as we drove down streets
lined with daffodils and tulips
We were cracking jokes
of the kind my mother always
frowned upon
about toots
and other small rudenesses
There really isn't anything
that is better for my soul
than the sound of my family
laughing together
Joyfully,
Janet+
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Turning 40
Dear Friends in Christ -
My husband, Ed, turns 40 today. It's one of those "milestone" birthdays. For Ed (and for me two years ago, when I turned 40), it's an occasion for reflection. How many of our goals for life have we met? Which ones still lie ahead? Ed and I can easily fall prey to the temptation to take ourselves too seriously at times like this.
So leave it to my almost-90-year-old grandmother to lighten the day. My grandmother's been sick, so I called her in her hospital room today. She sounded perkier than I expected, for which I was thankful. As we chatted, I mentioned that it was Ed's 40th birthday. She said, with a girlish giggle in her voice, "Please tell him for me - 'Wow, that's really old.'"
Perspective. It's one of the greatest gifts we can receive. Life is short. Life is good. Life is a gift - a gift that multiplies as we share it.
With thanksgiving for my beloved husband on his birthday,
faithfully,
Janet+
My husband, Ed, turns 40 today. It's one of those "milestone" birthdays. For Ed (and for me two years ago, when I turned 40), it's an occasion for reflection. How many of our goals for life have we met? Which ones still lie ahead? Ed and I can easily fall prey to the temptation to take ourselves too seriously at times like this.
So leave it to my almost-90-year-old grandmother to lighten the day. My grandmother's been sick, so I called her in her hospital room today. She sounded perkier than I expected, for which I was thankful. As we chatted, I mentioned that it was Ed's 40th birthday. She said, with a girlish giggle in her voice, "Please tell him for me - 'Wow, that's really old.'"
Perspective. It's one of the greatest gifts we can receive. Life is short. Life is good. Life is a gift - a gift that multiplies as we share it.
With thanksgiving for my beloved husband on his birthday,
faithfully,
Janet+
Monday, April 20, 2009
Sermon on sharing
Dear Friends in Christ -
Yesterday, I gave a sermon on the importance of doing "show and tell" with our faith, being a living example for the benefit of our children. I also talked about sharing (yes, it's true that it's harder as we get older and not easier!) - and the fact that "Christianity is not a spectator sport."
I also mentioned that someone in the congregation (NOT the treasurer or collector! :-) ), asked me to preach again soon about money. I might just do that. But in the mean time, I read the following in yesterday's Forward Day By Day, felt inspired by it, and wanted to share it with you.
All blessings on your continually blossomin Easter journey.
Faithfully,
Janet+
Acts 4:32-35. Everything they owned was held in common.
Having experienced Easter, the early church lived Easter. Possessing the Risen Christ, they happily concluded that this saving reality made all other possessions irrelevant.
As one who preaches and practices tithing, I once only half-jokingly proposed in a stewardship sermon to my 225 congregants-the professional and intellectual elite of our county-seat college town-that all 226 of us do three things: quit our jobs; go to work at McDonalds; and then based on that new income level prayerfully commit to tithe, to giving 10 percent of our pretax income to God through the church.
If we did that, the annual giving of our 96 pledging units would increase from $188,606 to $293,800. As we did that, not only would our congregation's needs be totally met, but also our church could build two Habitat for Humanity houses in our town every year. Just imagine what we could do if we gave God not what is left, but what is right.
Easter invites us to greater hope-and generosity. The early church wasn't filled with kooks, just filled with faith.
Yesterday, I gave a sermon on the importance of doing "show and tell" with our faith, being a living example for the benefit of our children. I also talked about sharing (yes, it's true that it's harder as we get older and not easier!) - and the fact that "Christianity is not a spectator sport."
I also mentioned that someone in the congregation (NOT the treasurer or collector! :-) ), asked me to preach again soon about money. I might just do that. But in the mean time, I read the following in yesterday's Forward Day By Day, felt inspired by it, and wanted to share it with you.
All blessings on your continually blossomin Easter journey.
Faithfully,
Janet+
Acts 4:32-35. Everything they owned was held in common.
Having experienced Easter, the early church lived Easter. Possessing the Risen Christ, they happily concluded that this saving reality made all other possessions irrelevant.
As one who preaches and practices tithing, I once only half-jokingly proposed in a stewardship sermon to my 225 congregants-the professional and intellectual elite of our county-seat college town-that all 226 of us do three things: quit our jobs; go to work at McDonalds; and then based on that new income level prayerfully commit to tithe, to giving 10 percent of our pretax income to God through the church.
If we did that, the annual giving of our 96 pledging units would increase from $188,606 to $293,800. As we did that, not only would our congregation's needs be totally met, but also our church could build two Habitat for Humanity houses in our town every year. Just imagine what we could do if we gave God not what is left, but what is right.
Easter invites us to greater hope-and generosity. The early church wasn't filled with kooks, just filled with faith.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
First Communion
Dear Friends in Christ -
Tomorrow, four of our treasured little ones will make their First Communion. Please pray for Cole, Zoe, Renee and Jessica today, that God will prepare their hearts insice in an even more special and tender way than their parents prepare their special clothes to put on the outside. What a wonderful day it will be!
Faithfully,
Janet+
Tomorrow, four of our treasured little ones will make their First Communion. Please pray for Cole, Zoe, Renee and Jessica today, that God will prepare their hearts insice in an even more special and tender way than their parents prepare their special clothes to put on the outside. What a wonderful day it will be!
Faithfully,
Janet+
Why she catches our attention
Dear Friends in Christ -
It's been all the rage this week to hear Susan Boyle's performance on Britain's Got Talent. Everybody's talking about the stirring singing of this 50-ish never-been-kissed spinster. There was even debate at St. Paul's choir rehearsal about how talented she is/isn't.
I think the more interesting question is this: why does she catch our attention? What is it about her that draws us in and stirs our hearts? Consider this answer: We find her performance compelling because each of us has a talent (or two!) that's just waiting to be uncovered and shared. In the midst of our work-a-day lives, we long to do the things dearest to our hearts, crafts and arts through which we can share the deepest parts of who we are. (Let's face it, we'd like it if those things brought in some notoriety and/or cash, too!)
May God's love draw your talents out into the light, that your goodness may shine and that the world may be blessed through them.
Faithfully,
Janet+
It's been all the rage this week to hear Susan Boyle's performance on Britain's Got Talent. Everybody's talking about the stirring singing of this 50-ish never-been-kissed spinster. There was even debate at St. Paul's choir rehearsal about how talented she is/isn't.
I think the more interesting question is this: why does she catch our attention? What is it about her that draws us in and stirs our hearts? Consider this answer: We find her performance compelling because each of us has a talent (or two!) that's just waiting to be uncovered and shared. In the midst of our work-a-day lives, we long to do the things dearest to our hearts, crafts and arts through which we can share the deepest parts of who we are. (Let's face it, we'd like it if those things brought in some notoriety and/or cash, too!)
May God's love draw your talents out into the light, that your goodness may shine and that the world may be blessed through them.
Faithfully,
Janet+
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Resurrection Power and St. Paul's
Dear Friends in Christ -
Christ's resurrection is for us as individuals AND for all of us together as a faith community - and it poses an important question for us as individuals and for all of us together. The question for us as individuals is: what does God want Resurrection power to create, renew, empower in me? The question for us as a church family is: what does God want Resurrection power to create, renew, empower in our church?
The question of what Resurrection does for our church is an important one, especially at a time in our country when there's a lot of talk about the demise of Christianity (last week, Newsweek magazine's cover article was about the decline and fall of the Christian church in this country).
I think the #1 thing that Resurrection power does for our church is hold us - a very diverse bunch of people with very diverse opinions and perspectives on life - together. God is jealous for the unity of His sons and daughters, so it's no surprise that His power goes forth from him to do the work of holding us together.
The following article from yesterday's Forward Day By Day is an excellent reflection on unity. I was inspired by it, and I commend it to you.
Blessings!
Janet+
Psalm 8 - "You have set up a stronghold against your adversaries, to quell the enemy and the avenger."
The psalmist probably had in mind a fortified hilltop city, but a recent visit to Botswana's glorious Okavango Delta widened my understanding of what a stronghold can be.
Surrounded by water-starved land, the Okavango is the world's only inland delta, a lush garden teeming with herbivores (impala, antelope, Cape Buffalo)-and carnivores (lions, leopards, hyenas). A fellow traveler lamented the plight of the prey: "There's nothing they can do."
Actually, there is plenty: sticking together as a herd with multiple ears and eyes makes life easier for all. They keep quiet and stay hidden. The grazers' skills combined with the lush foliage routinely frustrate nature's most accomplished predators. In essence, the Okavango is one huge,
camouflaged stronghold where grazers not only survive, but flourish.
Life with God is much the same-or can be. Stick together; stay vigilant; hide in God-for God is not only a secure stronghold, but also our sure Deliverer.
The unity of the Church is...something much more than a means to any end-it is itself the one worthy end of all human aspiration; it is the life of heaven. -William Temple
Christ's resurrection is for us as individuals AND for all of us together as a faith community - and it poses an important question for us as individuals and for all of us together. The question for us as individuals is: what does God want Resurrection power to create, renew, empower in me? The question for us as a church family is: what does God want Resurrection power to create, renew, empower in our church?
The question of what Resurrection does for our church is an important one, especially at a time in our country when there's a lot of talk about the demise of Christianity (last week, Newsweek magazine's cover article was about the decline and fall of the Christian church in this country).
I think the #1 thing that Resurrection power does for our church is hold us - a very diverse bunch of people with very diverse opinions and perspectives on life - together. God is jealous for the unity of His sons and daughters, so it's no surprise that His power goes forth from him to do the work of holding us together.
The following article from yesterday's Forward Day By Day is an excellent reflection on unity. I was inspired by it, and I commend it to you.
Blessings!
Janet+
Psalm 8 - "You have set up a stronghold against your adversaries, to quell the enemy and the avenger."
The psalmist probably had in mind a fortified hilltop city, but a recent visit to Botswana's glorious Okavango Delta widened my understanding of what a stronghold can be.
Surrounded by water-starved land, the Okavango is the world's only inland delta, a lush garden teeming with herbivores (impala, antelope, Cape Buffalo)-and carnivores (lions, leopards, hyenas). A fellow traveler lamented the plight of the prey: "There's nothing they can do."
Actually, there is plenty: sticking together as a herd with multiple ears and eyes makes life easier for all. They keep quiet and stay hidden. The grazers' skills combined with the lush foliage routinely frustrate nature's most accomplished predators. In essence, the Okavango is one huge,
camouflaged stronghold where grazers not only survive, but flourish.
Life with God is much the same-or can be. Stick together; stay vigilant; hide in God-for God is not only a secure stronghold, but also our sure Deliverer.
The unity of the Church is...something much more than a means to any end-it is itself the one worthy end of all human aspiration; it is the life of heaven. -William Temple
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