I am in Colorado this week, high up in the mountains at 8,600 feet, with all my children and grandchildren ( with the exception of my oldest grandson).  You get a glimpse with the photos above.  Children with me are Steve and Susan.  Grandchildren are Ben, Grant, Anna, Molly, Callie, and Travis.  It is quite lively around here…filled with voices, joy, love, imagination, and lots of play.  Yesterday ALL of us were playing the game “Twister”.  In case you have never played this game, there is a mat on the floor full of different colored dots.  Each player takes a turn as they are asked to put a hand or foot on a different colored dot.  ( see photo above).  Everyone gets all twisted up in amazing ways.  It can be quite challenging and hilarious. It was very fun and full of laughter for all of us.  They were all worried about Grammy, but these long legs still work really well in such games!  It’s a great way to get all tangled up and enjoy it!

There are SO many moments I want to capture here and keep…driving golf carts with the older kids, the 2 year old dancing and singing “Tomorrow”, almost beating my grandsons in pool, serving dessert with Grant from a special rolling cart each evening,  hiking in the beauty of God’s world, sitting on the deck at night with a beautiful full moon.

But here is an all time favorite moment for me. All of the little ones can’t wait to run and jump in bed with me early in the morning.  I can hear their anticipation, whispers, and giggles behind the door.  “Can we go in and see Grammy yet?”.  When they can’t stand it anymore, the door flies open, they run in and leap into bed with me from all directions.  As the saying goes….”more fun than a barrel full of monkeys!”. We hug and kiss, and wrestle, and roll around, and laugh out loud.  It is pure joy!  Then we snuggle and talk about anything and everything.  My favorite moment for a GOOD MORNING!  Thanks God!

nk

With three sons in the family, my daughter-in-law woke up one night in the middle of the night and said,  “Our daughter is in China and we need to go get her!”  After much time of application, interviews, and preparation, they were finally accepted to receive their little girl. The time was drawing near when the bird flu epidemic arose and threatened my granddaughter’s arrival.  We were all hoping and praying!  I received the card you see above. If you click on the card and enlarge it, you can read the quote about the “Red Thread”.  I put the card in my journal and held the words of hope in my heart.

One day during this waiting time, I was writing in my journal, reading again the card, and suddenly I remembered that I had an Asian doll when I was a little girl.  My Mom gave it to me.  Her Mom, my grandmother, had traveled around the world and brought the doll to her when she was a little girl. I searched through all my old dolls in the attic and I found the doll.  She was a bit worn from all that love, and I had to glue her hair back on her head.  I set her down on the table beside me.  I wondered if she was from China.  I didn’t really know, but I so wanted her to be from China!  Well, I could pretend, but I wanted to KNOW!  Then suddenly I glanced at the bottom of her shoe and my grandmother had written “China” on the bottom of her shoe!  I was so excited to know!  Then, I noticed something else.  There were red threads woven into her braids!  Oh my goodness….the red threads!  That moment was huge for me.  I read the card again….

“When a child is born, invisible red threads extend from the child’s spirit and connect to all the significant people who will be part of the child’s life.” The child’s great, great grandmother, her great grandmother, her grandmother….we were all present in some way in that moment in those red threads!   Somehow I knew God had whispered to me that my granddaughter had arrived.  Soon she would be coming.

My granddaughter Anna is now 10 years old.  You see her picture above.  She is beautiful in every way.  Recently she was doing a history project for school and she wanted to know all about when and why our ancestors came to America.  I wrote her all about my grandmother, her great, great grandmother, and how her family came to America on a sailboat from Germany many years ago.  Anna was so excited to hear all about her family.

One night we crawled into her bed together. She read me a book.  Suddenly she stopped in the middle of her reading and said to me, “Grandma, I think you and I are alike!”  I love her so much!

nk

My granddaughter Molly, age 7, decided she wanted to make bracelets for all her family.  With the exception of her Dad, she measured each wrist, asked what colors each would like, and made custom bracelets for each person.  They were individualized, yet all the same style.

Travis, the little guy, age 2, was thrilled at the gift his oldest sister had made for him.  (See photo above).  My daughter said she had never seen him so excited about anything.  He ran immediately to show his Mom, wanted to kiss it “goodnight”, then couldn’t wait to put it back on in the morning.  The next day he would come up to his Mom and click their bracelets together saying, “Cheers!”.  (Don’t ask me how a 2 year old gets that!”).

Well, today their Dad got surprised for Fathers Day with his matching bracelet.  Because he is the Dad I know him to be, I had NO doubt that he would put it on immediately and proudly wear it to church today with the rest of the family.  It was interesting, however, that he looked down the pew in worship and saw another young Dad wearing a bracelet.  Only the other guy’s bracelet was made out of pipe cleaners!

All this “family bonding” by wearing matching bracelets made me think about our world and how we are meant to be “one family”.  We are all God’s children!  We belong together.  Yet, there are divisions among us that lead to separation, pain, and even violence.  Thinking about what happened in South Carolina last week….the young man, so full of hatred, almost changed his mind when he attended the prayer service and felt so welcome by those people of a different color.  He must have, for one brief moment, felt he belonged to the one big family of all God’s children.  But then, what happened?  We must all ask ourselves….what, when is the MOMENT for each of us to choose love?

nk

She lived across the street from the house in which I grew up.  I don’t remember her name…perhaps I never knew it.  What I do remember is that for some strange reason as a young child I would find myself regularly knocking at her door.  Her daughter, Mrs. Schulz, would answer.  She was a kind woman who was always busy, or at least I thought so because she always seemed a bit out of breath and in constant motion.  She was always very happy to see me and would bubble over with excitement.  Now I realize she was grateful for the company, for she kept a constant vigil of loving and caring.  I am sure there were days that she longed for another face, even that of a child.

Mrs. Schulz led me down a long, narrow hallway, dimly lit, to that room I had come to know so well.  I walked to the bed…it was an old bed and the mattress sat up high.  There was an old wheelchair beside the bed that was made out of wood.  I was very curious about that old chair with the big wheels!

Everything else in the room fades in my memory, blurs out in the light of that face.  My friend was totally paralyzed.  She was propped up in the big bed with lots of huge pillows.  It seems that she was dressed in a pretty gown.  Her face was old with lots of wrinkles, and in spite of its lack of expression, her face was a kind face.  What I remember most are her eyes.  They were all that could speak and they spoke volumes.  Sometimes they danced with delight at the mere sound of my voice.  Sometimes big tears would roll down her cheeks as everything else laid motionless.  I was fascinated with the way eyes could talk and how much love I felt pouring out of those eyes for me.  I didn’t know much else about her.  I still wonder what led me so often to that place just to be with her in silence, loving her and letting myself be loved by her.  Maybe sometimes words get in the way.

I still see those blue eyes.  They come back to me from time to time in my ministry.  I saw them in the child in Haiti who was hungry.  I saw them in Celeste, a young woman in her final days of cancer.  As other things shut down, the silent voice of the eyes speaks more loudly, with deeper intensity.  Those who care stop to listen.

Perhaps, my dear Mrs. Blue Eyes, you taught me as a child the sensitivity to listen to those eyes.  Thank you for your friendship.  Those moments with you were precious, and who would have ever thought that you who were speechless could have been such a loud voice for this child!  Perhaps it is from you, my friend, that I began to hear the voice of silence.

nk

My first church was in a bowling alley.  Actually, I know that my family attended churches before this one.  It’s just the first church I remember.

I was 7 years old when my family moved to West Texas.  We lived in an apartment while our house was being built.  The back door of each apartment opened to a large common courtyard area.  I loved the freedom I had there to play with all my friends and ride my bike.  I dreamed up some pretty adventurous things for all of us to do. There was a young man living there, a pastor who was starting a new church.  He heard that my Mom had a degree in music and asked if she would help start the church.  It all began in a bowling alley.

Now, I only have one memory of that church and it was just a moment.  My sister and I held hands and stood before that very small congregation in the bowling lanes on Thanksgiving Sunday.  I was 7 and she was 5.  We sang a duet, “We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing….”.  In that moment, I felt loved and accepted by that church.  Even though I was a little scared, I felt I was doing something for God.  It was good.

Last fall I went back to my home town for my high school reunion.  I went to the apartment I used to live in, and amazingly it looked exactly the same.  I looked for the bowling alley but it was gone.  That evening at the reunion dinner, pictures were shown of the “good ‘ole days”.  Suddenly there popped on the screen a photo of the bowling alley!  “That’s my church”, I shouted.  I was able to get a copy and I keep it in my Bible.  Here it is…

It is exactly the scene I have in my mind of where we stood to sing that day.  Now, the best part….It reads, “World’s Finest Bowling Alley”.  YES!  Indeed it is!  It holds my treasured moment. My first church!

What is your memory of a moment in your first church?  How was that moment important to your faith?

nk

Last Sunday the Sacraments of Holy Communion and Baptism were both celebrated at my church. To be honest, I was really missing the opportunity to be the pastor leading worship that day.  My heart was longing to bless the bread and wine, to serve the people.  My heart was longing to bless the water, hold the babies and baptize them.  God’s grace was being poured out.

Then something quite special happened.  One of the older sisters of the twin babies who were being baptized became so full of joy that she could not be still.  You can see my artistic expression of her in the photo above.  She was clapping and dancing on the chancel area. Her beautiful curls bounced as she danced. It seemed the Holy Spirit filled her as well, and then, filled with grace, she expressed on behalf of the entire congregation the true meaning of baptism!  God had just claimed her little brother and sister as true children of God, and all of God’s family, both in Heaven and on earth, rejoiced to welcome them and love them exuberantly and unconditionally.  Wow!  No one could have said it better than this little child.

I so loved the moment that I knew I had to write about it.  I noticed the young woman in front of me, who was part of the family, had taken a photo.  I wrote my email on a piece of paper, hoping she might send the photo to me.  Then I was hesitant, thinking to myself, “I am a stranger to her!”. Finally I whispered something to her before the closing song and handed her the paper.  She actually sent the photo to me instantly.  I was surprised.

Then another something quite special happened.  After worship I thanked the woman and she said, “I recognized your name.  You were at Bear Creek UMC years ago.”  “Yes!”, I replied, “that is where I began my ministry.”  She continued, “I remember you.  In fact, you were the one who baptized these children’s father!” I looked over at that young Dad holding those two babies in his arms.  Truly, in that moment my heart leaped with joy.  It felt like all had come full circle. It felt like a family reunion. We were all there.  We had all come home.  It was a HOLY MOMENT!  I just can’t stop smiling about it. God is so good!

nk

Here are some quotes about prayer that were published in the magazine “Alive Now” September/October ’98….

~”To pray is to change. Prayer is the central avenue God uses to transform us.”     Richard J. Foster

~”Prayer is an invitation to recognize holiness, and to utter simple words- ‘Holy, Holy, Holy’ – in response….It is an ordinary experience lived with gratitude and wonder.”     Kathleen Norris

~” Prayer is the raising of the mind and heart to God.”     The Baltimore Catechism

~” Prayer is a state of continual gratitude.”   St. John of Kronstadt

~”Prayer is a participation in willing God’s will.”    Marjorie J. Thompson

Thoughts to ponder:

Which of these speak most strongly to you?

Which ones help you to see prayer in a new way?

What else does prayer mean to you?

nk

These photos were taken at the site of the House of the Virgin Mary which we also visited on May 2, our one day in Turkey. This wall is covered with thousands of written prayers which are tied on with strips of cloth. (Zoom into the photo if you can).  It is quite an amazing experience to stand in the midst of all those prayers!

I was taken back to the moment I stood in Jerusalem before the Wailing Wall 30 years ago.  When I tucked my prayer into a crevice between those ancient rocks of the Jerusalem Wall, I stared in awe at millions of tiny pieces of paper rolled up and stuffed into the cracks all over that wall.  For centuries, persons of faith had stood before that same wall with their prayers!  In that moment I suddenly became one with all of humanity standing before God in prayer.  It was powerful!

I clearly remember that my prayer back then was that God would use my life. It was all so big, so overwhelming for me,  that it seemed I could do nothing less.  Now standing at this prayer wall, I couldn’t just walk by as if it were a tourist attraction.  I had to do it again!  I scrambled in my bag to find a scrap of paper. I quickly wrote it again….the same prayer.  There was not a moment’s hesitation about what to write.  It just poured out once again, and it felt SO good!  “God, please use my life!”.  I rolled it up and carefully, wholeheartedly, tied it to the wall….(double knot!).

Simple.  Powerful once again.  Always.

nk

These photos depict the Great Theater, part of the Ancient Greek city of Ephesus, founded in the 10th century BC.  Located here are the remains of many wonderful old buildings.  They are now part of Turkey.

It was here at this Great Theater that Paul stood and preached to the Ephesians.  It was in this very spot that I stood to preach on the morning of May 2, 2015.  It was a HUGE MOMENT for me!  It was very humbling.  What does one say?  Immediately I went to Paul’s letter to the Ephesians in the New Testament of the Bible.  Of course!  You say what Paul said when you stand where Paul stood!  Paul preached about the need for unity, becoming one in Christ.  I knew it was exactly the word Paul had for us today.

We had a different guide the day we were in Turkey.  He came up to me when I finished and said, “I never knew women could be preachers!”  I began to wonder….could that mean that a woman had not yet stood in this spot to preach?  I have no idea.  What I do know is this man who has led tours to this spot for years, had never seen it happen, nor did he know women like me even existed.

Again I was humbled as I remembered God’s words to me in the very beginning.  “You just be YOU.  I will take care of the rest.”  Maybe THIS MOMENT was much bigger than I will ever know.

nk

If you have not yet looked at my photos from Greece, click above on “Photos” at the top of the blog page. I want to give you a brief description of those photos.

1. The first one is a view of the Greek Island of Santorini.

2. The second is the Greek Island of Mykonos.  The Greek Isles we visited were everything I expected and hoped they would be.  Beautiful.

3.The photo of me and one of my many new friends was taken on the ship. In case you are wondering about my carrying the pitcher and tray…I did not steal them from the dining room!  (Actually I borrowed them).  We had just had the Sacrament of Holy Communion on the ship which I was invited to lead.  Such a joy for me! ….for all of us actually!

4. and 5.  The next two photos were inside the small chapel located at the brook in Philippi where Lydia was baptized by Paul.  You can read about that in Acts 16: 11-15.  She became a follower of Paul and a preacher of the Gospel. The chapel contained Byzantine art with paintings and mosaics…SO beautiful as you can see.

6. The last photo is the Acropolis in Athens taken at night from the roof of our hotel after we had climbed among those old, wonderful, ancient buildings all afternoon.  All I can say is “WOW!”

Just in case you ever need a crash course in Greek, here is the t-shirt for you!

More about Greece to come….

nk