The End and The Beginning

Then he said to me, ‘It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life. (Revelation 21:6)

Today, at 9:30 AM EST, bells all across the U.S. will toll 27 times.
Some websites will go dark.
Our President will mark a moment of silence.

Today, we remember the way the world came to an end a week ago for the families of the 20 children who never left their classroom.

Forget the Mayans, or our collective obsession with predicting Hollywood-style apocalypses as often as possible. The end did come. And it will come again.

For some, it was the end of innocence...at least for now. Innocence will return though, in fragile ways, but it will return.

For some, it was the end of the belief that at heart, people are actually good. Good still exists, though...it just exists beyond us, and our challenge is to daily invite it to dwell within us.

For some, it was the end of a myth...the myth of Mayberry, where small towns are not touched by the pain and suffering more obvious in urban environments.

Last Friday was the end of one world.

But God was already busy renewing and re-creating another world.
A world where myths motivate kindness, where Good infuses daily acts, and where innocence shows up in a new birth...even a birth 2000 years ago.

I have survived many times when my world ended. So have you.
And inevitably, I have always found some things shattered, but other things strengthened.
It usually isn't obvious when the foundations of my world are being shaken,
but the above promise from Revelation is true at a deeper level than we often realize.

Christ, and his love, are not just present in the cosmic beginning and ending,
but in all our beginnings and endings.

This is the profound truth behind the book of Revelation that we often miss when we are trying to manipulate it to be like our Hollywood apocalypses...
the truth is simple: God's Love will always have the final move.

Revelation isn't just about the year 1000, or 2000, or 2008 (remember that prediction?) or 2012. It is about today, and the daily struggle to cling to God's promises in the face of all sorts of "ends."

So, whether you are filled with the hope of new beginnings today, or the struggles of different "ends," know that all of it...ALL of it...is wrapped in God's love.

(And a tip of the hat to the Mayans for giving us another excuse to talk about the end of the world!
Any bets on when the next prediction will be?)

No Words...

There are no words tonight.

There are tears, and silence, and extra hugs.

There are screams, and confusion, and pain.

There are nightmares, and questions, and fists shaken to the sky.

"My God, my God, why have you forsaken us?

Why are you so far from helping us?" (Psalm 22:1)

But there are no words...at least no words that satisfy.

No words that fix.

No words that explain.

But...

There is love. 

There is always love.

You want a messy and imperfect summary of the Bible? There it is.

There is always love.

From prophets to preachers to a child in the manger to a rolled away stone...

the Bible bears witness to a God whose love breaks through, somehow, every time.

Today, it showed up in the selfless heroism of teachers and administrators...

in classes that huddled together behind locked doors and read stories while the horror unfolded...

in state police who ushered children from the school, eyes closed, to protect a shred of their innocence.

It's a messy love, one soiled in the evils we create, but it is there.

Imperfectly.

Imperceptibly sometimes.

But it is there.

And it will keep being there, no matter how much we try to bury it with pain.

Don't take my word for it - or my words. Those fail right now.

But these promises don't fail:

"...the word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart..." (Deutereonomy 30:14)

"For I am convinced that neither death, nor life...nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ..." (Romans 8:38-39)

"...love is strong as death, passion fierce as the grave." (Song of Songs 8:6)

"...God is love." (1 John 4:8)

So now what?

Our response to this unspeakable evil will be as varied as the children in the heartbreaking picture above.

Some of us will want to keep our eyes closed, like the boy in the middle of the picture, and pretend this never happened. 

It's OK to feel that. 

Love can open eyes when it's time.

Some of us will need to wail like the girl in blue.

It's OK to feel that.

Love can calm the fears and tears when it's time.

Some of us will bravely face it all, like the police officers you see, doing so to be a strong rock for others.

It's OK to do that.

Love can use even our facade of courage.

And, some of us...many of us, I suspect...will simply hang our heads under the weight of this all,

like the girl in black.

It's OK to do that, too...

because Love has a funny way of raising our heads to greet even the faintest traces of a new dawn.

There might not be words, or answers, or any sense of justice, fairness, or reason...

But there is love.

There is always love.

Tonight, and in the days beyond, may we all rest in that fierce, messy, persistent love that will not let the world go.

And may we do whatever we can to reflect that love toward those who need it most.

The light shines in the darkness...and the darkness will not overcome it.

Amen.

My Cup Overflows

Below, I share one of my favorite poems dealing with Thanksgiving.
It reminds me that when I truly try to count all my blessings, I will be overwhelmed,
because I won't be able to count it all.

My prayer for you, as you read this poem, and as you gather with family and friends tomorrow,
is that you are filled with that same sense...that your cup overflows, too.


"A Sacrament of Thanksgiving" by Howard Thurman

Today I make my Sacrament of Thanksgiving.

I begin with the simple things of my day:
          Fresh air to breathe,
          Cool water to drink,
          The taste of food,
          The protection of houses and clothes,
          The comforts of home.
For these I make an act of Thanksgiving this day!

I bring to mind all the warmth of humankind that I have known:
          My mother’s arms,
          The strength of my father,
          The playmates of my childhood,
          The wonderful stories brought to me from the lives of                  
                      many who talked of days gone by when fairies and
                      giants and kinds of magic held sway,
          The tears I have shed, the tears I have seen,
          The excitement of laughter and the twinkle in the eye
                      with its reminder that life is good.
For all these I make an act of Thanksgiving this day.

I finger one by one the messages of hope that awaited me
          at the crossroads:
The smile of approval from those who held in their hands
          the reins of my security;
The tightening of the grip in a single handshake when I
          feared the step before me in the darkness;
The whisper in my heart when temptation was fiercest
          and the claims of appetite were not to be denied;
The crucial word said, the simple sentence from an open
          page when my decision hung in the balance.
For all these I make an act of Thanksgiving this day.

I pass before me the mainsprings of my heritage:
The fruits of the labors of countless generations who
          lived before me, without whom my own life would
have no meaning;

The seers who saw visions and dreamed dreams;
The prophets who sensed a truth greater than the mind
          could grasp, and whose words could only find fulfillment
in the years which they would never see;
The workers whose sweat has watered trees, the leaves
          of which are for the healing of the nations;

The pilgrims who set their sails for lands beyond all
          horizons, whose courage made paths into
          new worlds and far-off places;
The saviors whose blood was shed with a
          recklessness that only a dream could inspire
          and God could command.
For all these I make an act of Thanksgiving this day.

I linger over the meaning of my own life and the
          commitment to which I give loyalty of my heart and mind:
The little purposes in which I have shared with my loves,
          my desires, my gifs;

The restlessness which bottoms all I do with its stark insistence
that I have never done my best, I have never
          reached for the highest;
The big hope that never quite deserts me, that I and my
          kind will study war no more, that love and tenderness
          and all the inner graces of Almighty affection will
          cover the life of the children of God as waters
          Cover the sea.

All these and more than mind can think and heart can feel,
I make as my sacrament of Thanksgiving to Thee,
Our God, in humbleness of mind and simplicity of heart.

Images of Gratitude

"This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." (Psalm 118:24)

Sometimes, words don't...can't capture the depth of beauty, and truth, and joy.

Take the time to watch and drink in the beautiful message of gratitude contained in the video below.

Using art, music & words, it paints a more beautiful picture of the truth behind the single verse above than I would be able to paint with pages of words.

Take the time...6 minutes...to let the words of the Psalm sink in through the images of this video.

A Mighty Fortress

A Mighty Fortress

Psalm 46

God’s Defence of His City and People

1 God is our refuge and strength,

   a very present help in trouble. 

2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,

   though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea; 

3 though its waters roar and foam,

   though the mountains tremble with its tumult.

4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,

   the holy habitation of the Most High. 

5 God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved;

   God will help it when the morning dawns. 

6 The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter;

   he utters his voice, the earth melts. 

7 The Lord of hosts is with us;

   the God of Jacob is our refuge.

8 Come, behold the works of the Lord;

   see what desolations he has brought on the earth. 

9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;

   he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear;

   he burns the shields with fire. 

10 ‘Be still, and know that I am God!

   I am exalted among the nations,

   I am exalted in the earth.’ 

11 The Lord of hosts is with us;

   the God of Jacob is our refuge.

REFLECTION:

Tonight, my heart is heavy knowing so many face loss of livelihood or life.
In the silence and blessed peace of my home perched just outside of Milwaukee, WI, I count my blessings.

My mind is drawn back to the Psalm from this last Sunday...
It's the Psalm on which Luther based his famous hymn "A Mighty Fortress"
It's also the Psalm that contains one of those few biblical passages that everyone knows...

"Be still and know that I am God."

May we all put aside the divisions that are so easy when we are comfortable, well-fed, and safe...
the temptations to partisan bickering or election prognosticating...
put all that away.

Be still.

Say a prayer for the people who fled.
Say a prayer for the people who couldn't flee.

Be still.

Though the waters roar and foam, God has given us to each other.
Seek refuge in community...
Allow others to seek refuge in you...
for the gifts of God often come wrapped in people.

Be still, and know that God's love, tangible in our humble acts of kindness...
that love is a mighty fortress that will not be moved.

Be still...and know that God is in the midst of the city.
It cannot be moved.
God will help it when the morning dawns.

Keep praying that God will help all those who need it this night
...and don't be surprised when God asks you to be the answer to your own prayer

The Hostilities Have Ended!

Ephesians 2:11-22 (Click to read the passage)

"The Hostilities Have Ended"

A line many soldiers and their families have longed to hear for centuries; a line many long to hear now.

The passage above is so rich. Go back. Read it again. It is so full of exactly what we need to hear on day like this.

As we remember those lost 11 years ago, we would be well-served to also remember the God who IS, in himself, our peace.

As we remember the violence and hatred that led to that day 11 years ago, we would be well-served to also remember the God who has put an end to the hostilities by absorbing Hostility and Death in love.

As we remember those who still fight on our behalf, we would be well-served to also remember that we are ALL called to fight against hatred, intolerance, and ignorance. This war we do not fight with weapons, but with the Church universal; the physical sign of the unity given to us by God.

For what does our world need more than love?

What does our politics need more than humility?

What does our country need more than a sense of what the common good IS, so we can find ways to fight for that together?

Today, on a day that is easy to waste commemorating war, I encourage you to commemorate love.

Remember the firemen who exuded God's spirit of sacrificial love as they marched up the stairs of a crumbling building. Remember the strangers who helped, and the neighbors who fed, and the nation who, for an all-too-brief moment, remembered what it is like to ignore the easy divisions in favor of the things that unite us.

May the message of the passage above guide how we choose to commemorate 9/11...and may we remember that it is only together that we become a dwelling place for God.

A Heart of Gratitude

2 Corinthians 4:15

This is all for your sake, so that grace, as it extends to more and more people, may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.

Reflection:           

Late last night, my flight pulled in to Mitchell International Airport. It was a quick trip; a few days packed with flying, driving to multiple cities, and more flying – all so I could be physically present as my sister graduated college in Arizona.
 The trip was a gift in many ways…but one gift I didn’t expect. My brief time in Arizona, enjoying the blessings of family, actually grounded me spiritually in a way that I have been lacking recently. 

That spiritual grounding can be summed up in one word: Gratitude.

Over the last few years, I have come to believe that gratitude is the heart and the hallmark of Christian love. I have even chosen the verse above to be printed at the bottom of every e-mail I send. I believe this verse sums up the purpose of the Church (and remember “the Church” is the people, not the buildling or the institution). As the Church, we are called to extend God’s grace so that thanksgiving is increased. The Church is about cultivating a heart of gratitude in Jesus’ followers, so they may serve with glad and generous hearts.

I may believe this with my head, but part of being an imperfect creature means my heart often forgets these important bits of spiritual wisdom. The busy-ness and pace of my life, like many of yours, makes me forget to cultivate gratitude.

But then I drove out to “the island.”

You see, my home town of Lake Havasu City, AZ, is spread out on the banks of the Colorado River, a thin strip of civilization between the water and the base of the mountains that line the town. At night, you can drive across the bridge, and out on an island that is perched in the middle of the Colorado. From there, you can see the whole town spread out. Look again at the picture above; it’s beautiful.

But it isn’t just the raw beauty of a desert town on the banks of the river that struck me. As I sat and looked back at the town that raised me, I was filled with a profound sense of gratitude.

Gratitude for the people who loved me.

Gratitude for the church that taught me how to love others.

Gratitude for the journey, and for the God who is always one step ahead of me.

My prayer for St. Luke, and for every individual that makes up St. Luke, is that our work together as a church cultivates in us the kind of gratitude I felt that night.

I am ready, and excited, to lead us in this important work; of extending God’s grace to more and more people, and increasing thanksgiving, all to the glory of God!

Prayer: God of every good gift, open our eyes to notice your blessings, and open our hearts to be filled with gratitude for every breath. Amen.