Devotional 12-1-09

Two thousand years ago, Paul wrote a letter to the church at Philippi. He begins the letter with words of blessing (Philippians 1:3-11) for this young church. His words can speak to us, as well. Paul’s letter is quoted below in italics, interspersed with my thoughts regarding the dream of church (not italicized).

I thank my God every time I remember you,

The church
Created by the love, death and resurrection of Christ
A Body through which Christ is remembered.
Through which Christ embraces the Children of God.

constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you,

A praying body
Remembering the pain and hopelessness
Of each member
With joy and gladness
Because we are blessed to have the gift
Of lifting each other up to God
In prayer.

because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now.

Witnesses for Christ
Telling the story to all those who will listen
Persuading those who believe they do not need to hear
Telling the story.

I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.

Faith. Hope.
We are given the gift of confidence
That God will be victorious
That his ultimate goals will come to pass
And that we are a partner
In the work of God.

It is right for me to think this way about all of you, because you hold me in your heart, for all of you share in God's grace with me, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.

Church.
Held in each others’ hearts.
Comforted by comforting arms.
Crying together. Laughing together.
Seeking freedom for each other.
Present for each other
In grief and in terror.
In joy and in new beginnings.

For God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the compassion of Christ Jesus.

Those whose hearts are empty
Are yearning for Christ
The church can reach out to them
With love, with care, with compassion,
Filling new hearts with hope.

And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight to help you to determine what is best,

Imagine, if you can,
The wonder and grace of love overflowing
So abundant that we cannot hold it.
So overwhelming that it can only come from God.
Transformational love.
A gift from God, through us, to all.
Can we imagine it?
God has.

so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.

Amen. And amen.

Kim Matthews

Devotional 11-30-09

Here and Now

Green surrounds me above, below, and on the sides. I feel a soft breeze caress my bare legs and arms as the yellows and blues become grays. Is it the Holy Spirit on a journey or just the wind carrying the present into the future? A rustling in the dense woods to my right causes me to pause; listening intently, and my silly theories catch a ride on a gust of air. An exquisite bright red bird, with a black goatee and tail flutters to a branch just above me before flitting away to the nearby pine, and I lose him in the beginning shades of night. A hollow repetitive tapping against bark demands attention. A lone howl echoes from the distance. Dirt and sweat drift up from my tee shirt lingering around me, and exhaustion slowly lulls me back to the sweet back and forth under me. I close my eyes and as my mind happily empties I am transported from worries and to-do lists to nowhere, an empty place, a place that can be filled.

My hands are shaking and the cold wet grass shocks my senses as my shoeless feet traverse a path I can walk in pitch black. Each drop of rain is a pleasure, an awakening to real time. Time in the moment without distractions like TV, bills, or infuriating people. Positioning half of my Berber and fleece blanket over the gaping holes of rope, I jump in and pull the other half over my chilled body flowing into the side to side motion started with my presence. Breathing in my own air underneath my makeshift bivy, I feel the increased pressure and speed of each plop, plop, plop from the torrent blasting me from the top of my wet head to my toes. Rain and dog odor mix filtering through the blanket, running down my face, and I am glad to feel something else. Minutes pass and finally the downpour and tension both begin subside. Slowly dissipating into an awareness of sounds; crickets singing their tender melody, frogs bellowing “listen to me,” owls asking “Whoo?” and down the ridge a distant Ahaaa! Ahaaa! of a bobcat screaming. Anger dissolves completely into heaving sobs as my friend rocks me back and forth.

I dare not move. Brown hair tickles my chin and I fear the lopsided position I find myself in will erupt in a split second to me being splayed in a heap on the hard ground. Suddenly a giggle breaks the silence and force of movement from a tricky child sends us both into fits of laughter mingled with screams of fear. We struggle to re-center ourselves as the child deviously scrambles up the side grabbing the metal circle that attaches rope to tree while my shoulder painfully meets the dirt and small rocks below. I involuntarily abuse our aging boxer snoozing beneath before she can flee. A contented sigh escapes me as the swaying motion of my hammock taunts me from overhead and a mischievous face peers through the rope, smiling. Again, a moment lived. A lesson learned. Sometimes hurt is all we feel. Sometimes we only feel the love. We have to choose.

No place can encompass so much. Life in all forms, dances in the gentle air; my breath, parachuting puffy white dandelion seeds, sunbeams, and the Holy Spirit, ever present. From my sanctuary I cry out sometimes with words, sometimes without; “Come to me! Teach me! Speak to me! Love me. Lead me into the future. Thank you…” Sounds echo from far and near; chirping, cawing, swishing, tapping, snoring, giggling, howling and chimes. Birds, deer, squirrels, old dogs, precious children, wind, rain, and empty thoughts fill the silence and create soothing memories of nowhere to revisit in the future but make bearable, chaotic and stressful moments, in the here and now.

Where is your sanctuary where you spend time with God the Father and Holy Spirit?

2 Corinthians 3:17: Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

Barbara Lavalley
To leave a comment for the author, go to http://jmadvent.blogspot.com

Devotional 11-29-09

Trust
Psalm18:2

Can you imagine walking 900 miles to the South Pole dragging a sled carrying your supplies and a tent to sleep in and surviving to tell the story? It was my honor recently to speak with Robert Swan, OBE, a British polar explorer, who along with four other men accomplished this amazing feat, enduring discomforts and dangers in order to draw attention to Antarctica, the earth's last wilderness. His goal is to preserve this pristine and vast area from the unwelcome inroads that could be made by oil drillers and others seeking only monetary gain without thought for the environment.

Swan's book, "Antarctica 2041,” is an engaging story as he writes of raising funds and supplies and choosing suitable companions for the trip. The voyage to the starting point of the 900 mile walk had an inauspicious beginning as they sail up the Thames to a press conference and formal announcement only to have the vessel crash into the dock, scattering members of the media and the public, and then hit Tower Bridge.

Eventually they arrived in Antarctica and began the 900 mile trek to the South Pole. As they journeyed, watching out for wild animals and snow covered crevasses, they had to learn to put complete trust in each other in order to survive even though
at times they got on one another's nerves.

There is one phrase in the book that speaks to me of the relationship with Jesus that we, as Christians, strive for, "It's easy to say you trust someone but it is very difficult to actually do so, and do it from the heart." It made me wonder how often I think I am trusting Him but deep down I'm planning an alternative solution. Just yesterday I had prayed for a particular outcome and it didn't seem to be happening as I had prayed. Then I remembered that we must "trust from the heart" and, you know, things changed.

I'm reminded of a chorus "Trust and obey for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.”

Jean Dean