AN INVITATION TO WILDERNESS

“Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness ….” (Luke 4:1)

The forty days of Lent represents the time Jesus spent in the wilderness, enduring the temptation of Satan and preparing to begin his ministry. Lent invites us to enter into and explore the landscape of our own, spiritual wilderness. In this blog post, I would like to invite the reader to explore with me some ideas about what such a journey might look like, feel like, what tools we need before venturing into our own “wilderness,” and benefits of such a journey. (Note: a shortened version of this blog post appears HERE .)



(Christ in the Wilderness, Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoi [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons)

How Should I Live?

"So live, that when thy summons comes to join

The innumerable caravan, which moves

To that mysterious realm, where each shall take

His chamber in the silent halls of death,

Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night,

Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed

By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave

Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch

About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams. "

William Cullen Bryant

Blessed Are Those Who Mourn, For They Will Be Comforted

Nowhere and at no time is grief more acute than on those holidays when we celebrate our connectedness to others: Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, Birthdays, Anniversaries.  If you are grieving, acutely and painfully morning the loss of a precious loved one, this post is for you.  I also write for the friends of the bereaved, to help you understand a bit of what your friend may be going through.

More on the Meaning of Peace

At the end of his time with the Disciples, Jesus said to them  

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. (John 14:27)

Christ Taking Leave of the Apostles, Duccio c. 1308
Courtesy Wikimedia Commons

What does Jesus mean by that?
This morning, I would like to point to the following thought:

Walking Into the Light

The Lord is my shepherd;

I shall not want.

He makes me to lie down in green pastures;

He leads me beside the still waters.

He restores my soul;

He leads me in the paths of righteousness

For His name’s sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil;

For You are with me;

Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;

You anoint my head with oil;

My cup runs over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

All the days of my life;

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord

Forever.

Danielle Ridgway Knight, The Shepherdess of Rolleboise (1896)

courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Sometimes life gives rise to anxiety. 

When it does, we Americans tend to compensate by talking so much we can hardly hear ourselves think.

The Imagining of Peace

[T]he moral imagination requires

the capacity to imagine ourselves in a web of relationships that includes our enemies; 

the ability to sustain a paradoxical curiosity that embraces complexity without reliance on dualistic polarity; 

the fundamental belief in and pursuit of the creative act; and 

the acceptance of the inherent risk of stepping into the mystery of the unknown that lies beyond the far too familiar landscape of violence. 

Or, to express this more poetically:  

Reach out to those you fear. 

Touch the heart of complexity. 

Imagine beyond what is seen. 

Risk vulnerability one step at a time

Original photograph by 

Alexandria Skinner, copyright preserved

John Paul Lederach, quoted in Creative Beginnings, from the Moral Imagination Program, United Religions Initiative.  

(http://www.catalystforpeace.org/faithintoaction/MIPCreativeBeginningsURI.pdf, accessed April 12, 2013)

Good Friday's Most Famous Quotation

Entire theological treatises have probably been written on the last words of Christ, uttered as he was dying on the cross.  Crucifixion causes asphyia, which makes inhaling air to speak difficult.  Thus, it is not surprising that the words actually uttered were short.  

Matthew 27:46 records that Jesus said, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"   In the gospels of Matthew and Mark, Jesus is quoted in Aramaic, shouting this phrase only and then cries out wordlessly before dying.  Is this not a surprising utterance, coming from one who proclaimed to be "one with the Father?"  Is this not proof that Jesus felt forsaken and abandoned by God?  

So Live, That When ...

So live, that when thy summons comes to join

The innumerable caravan, which moves

To that mysterious realm, where each shall take 

His chamber in the silent halls of death, 

Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night, 

Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed 

By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave 

Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch 

About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams. 

William Cullen Bryant

Forgiving ...

Forgiving what we cannot forget 

creates a new way to remember. 

We change the memory of our past 

into a hope for our future.

- Lewis B. Smedes

*Photo of Rosa 'Iceberg' at the San Jose Heritage Rose Garden, taken April 2005 by Stan Shebs

The Magic of Childhood

Today is a big day for me.  On this Epiphany Sunday, marking the visit of the wise men to the baby Jesus, the sermon in church was about the question, "Who Is This Baby?"  Good question!  A quarter of a century ago, I looked at my own child and wondered the same thing.

Is He Really the Prince of Peace, or Just a Figurehead?

As I write this post today, it is the fourth Sunday in Advent. We celebrate today, in the birth of an innocent child, the arrival of Emmanuel, which means "God is With Us." In Isaiah Chapter 9 it is written 

For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

How ironic that just as we celebrate the coming of the Prince of Peace, in my own culture just so recently there has been yet another mass killing by a deranged man who had access to firearms. How ironic that some of the same people who claim to believe in the teachings of the Prince of Peace will still resist efforts to disarm killers and reduce their opportunity to harm others by regulating access to handguns, automatic weapons and high capacity ammunition. How ironic that some people who claim to believe in peace, advocate violence themselves? 

The evil caused by handguns and high capacity firearms is so obvious it cannot be ignored.  

The Rev. Mr. Fred Rogers

Thank you for your wisdom, Fred Rogers.  

‎"When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.' To this day, especially in times of 'disaster,' I remember my mother’s words, and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers - so many caring people in this world."   ~ Mister Rogers

Sunrises in Daily Life

Happy Easter!

To celebrate Easter, I originally searched for a beautiful photo of a glorious sunrise to post here.  This rendering of a sunrise was not quite what I had in mind.  In the end, that's exactly why I decided to use it.  In the rest of this blog post, I will explain why.

Light in the Darkness

“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.” (Isaiah 9:2-7)

“When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”  (John 8:12)

For those who doubt, this talk of "light" can be a bit hard to fathom.  If you find yourself in the category of people for whom faith does not come easily, this post is for you.

The Bitter Herbs of Bondage

Tonight is both Good Friday and the night of the Passover Seder.  Both are days in which we remember the bitter herbs of bondage, of slavery.  What can we learn about our own bondage by remembering the slavery of the Israelites in Egypt?  I suggest the question “what is bondage,” is a question each person must examine and discern for themselves.  Sometimes slavery is easily discernable, and sometimes it is not.

A New Perspective on the New Passover

(Bleiglasfenster in der Kirche Notre-Dame de Clignancourt im 18. arrondissement von Paris, Darstellung: Lamm Gottes/Agnus Dei, by G. Friehalter)

Since the time of Moses, the Passover feast has been observed to commemorate the liberation of Israel from captivity in Egypt. Passover for 2012 begins Friday, April 6th.  The first Passover is described in Exodus 12:   

Plowing the Field

I’m nearing the end of my commitment to create a blog post every day during Lent.  I thought that it might be worth a blog post to talk about what this was like. 

Sunny Day Saints: A Musing for Palm Sunday

Everything is fine and dandy.  Jesus is riding into the capitol on a young colt, with people shouting praises and throwing rushes down on the street in front of him.  Life is good.  He’s at the top of his style.

(image BBC News Palm Sunday in India)

This Is My Commandment

“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.”John 15:12
If you are facing conflict in your personal life, your professional life, or in your church congregation, you are not alone! There is division and dissension among Christians and in churches across the United States. The key issue in every dispute is not whether conflict will happen, but how we will respond to it when it does happen.

Sustainability and Sustenance (Musings on Life In Burma)

It’s February of 2008.  We are living our last few months in China before returning home to live in the USA.  It’s now or never.  We get our visa and book our flight to Burma – now known as Myanmar – for our Chinese New Year Holiday.  Several days after beginning our journey, we arrive at the airport closest to Lake Inle, in the Southern Shan State of Myanmar.  Our guide, Ko Zahn, greets us warmly and asks if we would like to see Pindaya Cave, which has one of the largest single collections of Buddhas in the world.