We are in Tahoe with friends this week.  As I am writing, here is my view off the back deck…

It couldn’t be a more perfect setting to write about a story found in Luke, chapter 12.  Jesus asks the question of his disciples in verse 26, “Why are you anxious ?  He suggests that they look around them at the beauty of nature.  The birds, flowers, grass of the field do not toil or spin; yet God takes care of them, and they are fed and clothed in beauty.  As I look out at the beauty before me today, I realize this is God’s creation and we are all part of it.  There is a gentle breeze.  I feel embraced by God and set free from worry.  Do not be anxious, Jesus said.  God will take care of you!

My Grandpa was a pastor, and he and my Grandma went through some rough days.  The only money they had for food was what church members might leave in a special box for them each week.  Some weeks there was very little.  One day there was no food.  My Grandma prayed that God would provide food for her to feed her children.  A knock came at the door.  When she opened the door, she saw a church member.  Handing her a sack of potatoes, he said,” These are extras from my garden.  I thought you might like them.”  My Grandma received donated clothes, took them apart and used the fabric to make new clothes for her children.  They lived each day in the faith that God would provide. As a child, my Mother learned this too.

When I was a teenager I had a closet full of clothes.  My sister and I shared a room and it was very nice.  One morning I just could not decide which dress I wanted to wear to school.  I kept trying on different ones, got frustrated, and basically was acting like a brat!  My Mom came in, witnessed my actions, and calmly walked over to my closet.  She picked out one dress, held it up and said, “Since you are having SO much trouble deciding among all these dresses, I will decide for you.  You will wear this dress every day this week.  You will wash it every night and get it ready for the next day.”  I learned something that week about being anxious about what I would wear.  I gained a new perspective.

When my Grandma died, she left this world and entered Heaven singing a hymn.  I think it was her profession of faith, and the words she lived by daily….”God will take care of you!”  I loved how her faith was strong!  I loved her!

Pondering….

What do you get most anxious about?

Is there a way you could choose to live more simply during Lent?

nk

 

 

In Luke, chapter 17, Jesus is on the way to Jerusalem and is met in a village by ten lepers who cried out asking Jesus for mercy.  Jesus cleansed them all, then one of them realized he had been healed and turned back praising God in a loud voice.  He then fell on his face at Jesus’ feet and gave thanks.  This man was from a foreign country.

This drawing is entitled “Christ Healing a Leper” by Rembrandt (1606-1669).

In verses 17-18, Jesus asks a series of questions:  “Were not ten cleansed?  Where are the nine?  Was no one found to return and give praise to God except the foreigner?”  It was a huge thing for Jesus to heal those lepers.  They were outcasts from society because of their disease.  People thought they had leprosy because they had sinned.  No one came near them.  No one touched them.  So Jesus not only healed their skin disease, he also healed their isolation from the community.

So why did nine out of the ten run on down the road and never look back?  Was it that they were so excited to embrace their family and friends again?….to touch and be touched?  Or did they not yet recognize they had been healed?  Or did they not realize that Jesus was the one who healed them?  I wonder in all the healings that happen in our world, are the odds of one in ten turning back to give thanks about the same odds that exist today? Clearly Jesus was looking for gratitude…some recognition that he had touched them and healed them!  Lent is a good time for us to examine our own lives in respect to our gratitude for who Jesus is and what Jesus has done for us.

In her book “The Cup of Life”,  Joyce Rupp writes these words about living our lives in gratitude….

I love her thought that the key to gratitude is surprise!  I think perhaps the one leper who gave thanks was joyfully and wonderfully surprised at his miraculous healing.

Pondering….

Let’s watch for surprises that awaken us to God!

nk

Jesus raised his friend Lazarus from the dead.  In John 11:25-26  Jesus makes the statement, “I am the resurrection and the life.  Those who believe in me, though they die, yet shall they live.  And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.”  Then he asks the question, “Do you believe this?”

I was leading a women’s retreat when I witnessed a resurrection and new life.  The woman gave me permission to share her story.  We had completed a session in which we talked about the power of the risen Christ to bring new life.  I asked the women to draw a picture of brokenness.  When they had all completed their drawings, I then asked them to tear up their picture and with the pieces create a new picture of love. As I watched the women creating, the only sound was the tearing of paper.  For some it was painful and it took a long time to even begin to try to make a new picture of love.  When everyone had finished we had a prayer and adjourned for dinner.  As others walked away, one woman held back.  I could tell that she wanted to talk to me.  She could hardly wait to tell me what had happened!

The woman was probably in her 50’s.  She told me that when she was 4 years old her mother left and she never saw her again.  She and her two younger brothers went from one home to another, between two sets of grandparents and their father.  When their father remarried, they went to live with him.  She said, “All these years I have tried to forgive my mother but I couldn’t.  When you asked us to draw a picture of brokenness, my picture was a child with a sad face.  Above  it I wrote the word LOST.  As I tore up that picture, I felt the presence of Jesus lifting that burden off my shoulders.  In that moment, forgiveness flooded my heart.  I was finally able to forgive my mother.  From those broken pieces, I made a new picture of love….the child with the words written above her..HAPPY, NO LONGER SAD.”

I witnessed the resurrection in that moment!  I will never forget.  At the close of the retreat I took pieces of what the women had created and put them all together, making a collage in the shape of a cross….

I’ll close with a confession.   This retreat was the first event I had committed to lead following my retirement.  Even though it was on my birthday, I said “yes” because I was so excited about doing this.  However, when the time came and I was driving the distance to get there, I was almost wishing I had said “no”.  In fact, I was even thinking perhaps I did not need to do any more retreats!  But after hearing this woman tell me what had happened for her, I immediately thought,  “Perhaps I better rethink this retreat deal! ”  I am so grateful that by the grace of God, I had this opportunity to be present.  Indeed, I witnessed a resurrection!  Wow!  It was awesome!

Pondering….

Have you witnessed a resurrection?

Is there someone you want to forgive?

nk

 

Our question today comes from John 12:5.  Jesus and the disciples are having dinner at the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus whom Jesus has raised from the dead.  Mary pours out very expensive perfume to anoint the feet of Jesus and then wiped his feet with her hair.  Judas asks the question, “Why was this not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?”  Jesus told Judas to leave her alone.  Mary did a beautiful thing for Jesus.

This painting by Mary Lou Sleevi can be found in her book, “Women of the Word”.  She also writes this….

What a precious moment in the life of both Mary and Jesus!  She truly saw Jesus as Grace, which cannot be bought or sold.  It can only be freely given as a gift from God.  And then she poured out herself extravagantly in her grace filled action.  I love the artist’s words of their shared “sacred sense of KNOWING”.

I wonder if there was a moment when Jesus was on the cross, having been spit upon, mocked, beaten, and even felt forsaken by God, when he thought about Mary and her gift of KNOWING.  He must have felt loved and understood as his heart spoke the words again, “She has done a beautiful thing to me”. (Mark 14:6)

Pondering…

Could we do a  beautiful thing for Jesus?

What might that look like?

nk

We are a little over one third of the way on our faith journey of Lent.  How are we doing with our commitment so far?  Some of us may be feeling pretty good that we have stayed on track.  But then…

Others of us may have fallen off at some point because we could not resist the temptation.  Maybe we just took one little bite of the chocolate, or maybe we had enough to give us a tummy ache!  But either way, odds are we don’t feel good about it.  We wanted to make it the whole way without stumbling.  So, where are we with God now?

Our question today comes from Psalm 77:9.  The writer of the Psalm is seeking the Lord in his time of trouble.  He cries out, “Let me remember my song in the night, let me meditate in my heart.”  The question he asks is, “Has God forgotten to be gracious?”  Actually he asks a whole series of questions about God:  “Has God’s steadfast love forever ceased?  Are his promises at an end for all time?  Has he in anger shut up his compassion?”  The writer through his questions begins to receive his answer from God.  The answer comes through his remembering.  “I will remember the deeds of the Lord…your wonders of old.  Your way O God is holy.  You are the God who works wonders.  You with your arm redeemed your children.”  (Notice that in his remembering he moves from talking ABOUT God to talking TO God.  It becomes his prayer).

This statement was made by Greg Boyle, a Jesuit priest.  It contains the truth of the gospel message and is the hope of the Lenten journey.  GOD IS GRACE.  God has never forgotten to be gracious and never will.  Grace is who God is and redeeming grace is who Jesus is and what Jesus did on the cross.  And when his body was broken and his blood poured out, his words to all of us were, “Receive my gift and remember me.”

So my friend we get up, we keep walking this journey, and we remember….God is forever gracious!  We live into his grace.

Pondering….

Where are you in your Lenten journey?

How are you experiencing God’s grace?

nk

 

 

This is one of my all time favorite photos!  Oh the joy that children bring into our lives!  Jesus said in Matthew 18 that we must turn and become like children to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.  And if we receive one such child, we receive Jesus.

Our question for today comes from Luke 13:18.  Jesus is asking the question, “What is the Kingdom of God like?”  Maybe we thought it looked something like this…

If we were to stand inside the Padua and look up at the fresco inside the dome of the Baptistery, this is what we would see, painted by Guisto de Menabuoi.  The glory of the Kingdom!  Glorious it is, but the picture Jesus gives in Luke 13 is quite different.  He talks about a mustard seed, the tiniest of all seeds, growing into a tree where birds come and make their nests.

This photo was taken by a friend when we were at Lake Caddo in East Texas.  The trees are not from mustard seeds, but they do grow from small seeds.  Aren’t they magnificent and beautiful?  And they are a sight so totally unexpected as they grow up out of the lake!  The point is that the Kingdom comes out of something small and seemingly insignificant, yet it grows into something mighty and powerful.  Something great lies within something small!

When I look back upon my ministry, it is the small moments that made the biggest difference.  As I retired from full time ministry, persons from each congregation I had served gathered for a dinner.  At the close of the evening they put me in the center of the room and all laid hands on me to pray…

What a powerful moment in my life!  What a beautiful picture of the Kingdom!  I look at it and realize the potential and power within each small prayer to make a difference for all eternity.  Wow!  I am overwhelmed and ever so grateful.

Pondering…

Where in your life do you see glimpses of the Kingdom?

When have you seen something great come out of something small?

nk

 

 

Our question today comes from the sixth chapter of the gospel of John.  Crowds of people, 5,000 we are told, are gathered on the hillside to be with Jesus.  Jesus asks the question of Phillip, a disciple, “Where are we to buy bread so these people may eat?” Phillip is sure they don’t have enough money and he is right!  Jesus takes 5 barley loaves and 2 fish, a small boy’s lunch, and after lifting it to Heaven and giving thanks, he feeds the entire crowd and has leftovers!

This painting by Daniele Crespi is entitled “Saint Charles Borromeo’s Fast”.  It seems to portray the essence of the question for me.  Side by side on the table are a loaf of bread, and a Bible,which contains the Living Word of God.  So which is the food?  One feeds the body and the other feeds the soul.  In John 6:35 Jesus proclaims, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”

This collage, which I did a couple of years ago, depicts for me the hunger of our souls for what only Christ can bring.  Do we truly realize that in this meal of Holy Communion Christ himself is present?  It does not matter how small or large is our portion, it contains the same fullness of Christ.  And the bread given to the people on the hillside that day, or to the disciples at the Last Supper, is the same bread given to us at any Sacrament of Holy Communion because it is the body of Christ.  Each piece of bread contains the fullness of Christ for all persons for all generations, and we are all hungry.  Our souls are hungry!

“Where are we to buy this bread?”.  Jesus asks the question of Phillip and of all of us, and the answer is we CAN’T buy it!  It is not for sale!….which is precisely why Jesus asks the question. It can only be received through the sacrificial gift of Jesus as he said, “This is my body broken for you.” We cannot buy this bread!  It is God’s gift to us.  Each time we receive this bread, we receive Jesus.

I think again of the words to the hymn, “Fill My Cup Lord”…

“Fill my cup Lord, I lift it up Lord.  Come and quench this thirsting of my soul.  Bread of Heaven,  feed me til I want no more.  Fill my cup, fill it up and make me whole.”

Pondering…

When did you last receive spiritual food?

Do you believe the meal of Holy Communion contains the transforming grace of Jesus Christ?

Are you hungry?

nk

Our question for today comes from Matthew 16:15.  There is discussion among the disciples and Jesus as to who people say Jesus is.  Then Jesus asks the disciples  directly, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answers, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”  Jesus calls him blessed and says that God has revealed this to him.  It is not a human thing, it is a spiritual gift from God that we know Jesus Christ personally.  Each of us makes our own profession of faith as to who the living Christ is in our lives.  God, by the power of the Holy Spirit, awakens and stirs that KNOWING inside our hearts.

This past Christmas Day I was visiting my grandchildren who had been so excited about Santa coming to their house that morning.  Later in the afternoon we had a wonderful Christmas dinner completed by a birthday cake for Jesus.

We all sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and then the children blew out the candles.  Travis, who was almost three, then asked, , ” When is baby Jesus coming to our house?”.  Callie, age 5, replied enthusiastically, “He is already here!  He is in our hearts!”  Molly, who was almost 8, then clarifies for everyone, “WELL! Jesus didn’t actually get small and physically go into our hearts.  His LOVE is in our hearts!”.

I just sat there and smiled, all filled up with love and joy!  It was the perfect discussion and answer for “Who do you say that I am? “.  Of course, the children just KNOW!

Pondering..

How would you answer Jesus’ question?

How have you come to know Jesus personally?

nk

(Watercolor painting I did several years ago)

(Photo I took on island of Mykonos of children at sunset)

Our question for today is Jesus asking, “Children, do you have any fish?” (John 21:5).  I have always been drawn to this question.  The resurrected Christ is back with his disciples.  They are out in the boat fishing and he is calling to them from the shore, but they don’t recognize him.  The question is so endearing as  Jesus is watching, noticing, caring about what happens to them and is involved in their lives.  He asks if they have any fish.  Their answer is that they have been fishing all night and have caught nothing.  (Of course, Jesus already knows that!).

So, is this question really about the fish?  Is it about what they are seeking and hoping for?  If you and I were asked what we want, what would we say?  How would you complete this sentence?

This child wants gum.  Those children wanted fish.  Jesus tells them to try the other side of the boat and something incredible happens…

Wow! ” Jesus can do abundantly more than we can ask or even imagine”!! (Ephesians 3:20). One of my favorite scripture verses!  There were so many fish the disciples were not able to haul in the net!  Now the best part of the story, and what I believe underlies Jesus’ question, is the reaction of the disciples….John excitedly proclaims, “It is the Lord!”  Peter jubilantly throws himself into the water and swims to shore where Jesus then takes some of the fish, cooks breakfast for all of them, and every one of them KNEW it was the Lord who was with them!

 

 

Listen…do you hear Jesus calling, “Children….”?  Perhaps he is asking, “Do you know I am here?”.

Pondering…

Watch and listen for the presence of Jesus.  Where do you find abundance?

Do we need to try the “other side”?

nk

Because we are on a faith journey together in this time of Lent, I do not write these blog posts ahead of time.  They are written day by day as we go along the way.  For the most part, I have the overall picture in my mind, but my heart is open for the winds of the Spirit to move and guide us.

Today’s question is not one I had planned to include, but God woke me up before dawn this morning with a different plan.  If we look again at Matthew chapter 25, we see that there is a lot of discussion over this topic, and Jesus is quite passionate about it all.  He is separating the “sheep and the goats”.  The sheep are the ones who reached out to care for those in need.  The goats are those who did not. He is angry and says, “Get out worthless goats! You are good for nothing and here is why…

I was hungry and you gave me no meal.

I was thirsty and you gave me no drink.

I was homeless and you gave me no bed.

I was shivering and you gave me no clothes,

Sick, and in prison and you never visited.”

The goats respond with our question for today, “Master, what are you talking about?  When did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or homeless or shivering or sick or in prison and did not help?  Jesus answered, “Whenever you failed to do one of these things to someone who was being overlooked or ignored, that was ME – You failed to do it to ME!”

We look at the life of Jesus and he clearly has come to save sinners.  These are the people he hung out with and for whom he poured out himself on the cross.  We are all in the place of not being able to save ourselves.  We are saved by his grace.  Yet in this story Jesus is very angry with those who do not respond to the needs of others.  He calls them worthless!

Early this morning before dawn Jesus was asking me what I had done for those on his list.  During my 27 years of ministry there were many moments in which I did help these persons.  But in the last 2 1/2 years of retirement it seems I have “taken a break”.  Without that giving of ourselves, we miss the joyful fulfillment of the Kingdom of God.  I was convicted! I looked again at an art collage I had done in my journal during Lent of 2013.

Preaching the Good News, Breaking the Bread are still very present in my life.  The hand touching the child feels like something I am missing right now. I want so much to do what God is calling me to do.  I don’t want to be the goat!  I don’t want to miss the joy of the Kingdom!

Pondering….

What do you think Jesus would say to you about his list of those in need?

I think I hear where God is calling me.  Do you?

nk