Sunday, May 13, 2018

I'll Love You Forever

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This year I sang a lullaby to all our nurturing women who serve as parent, mentor and guide to children, neighbors and friends in their lives. The lullaby comes from a children’s book written by Robert Munsch entitled: “I Love You Forever”. The words are:
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living,
My Mommy you'll be.

Now for a moment, put your arms around yourself. Cuddle your body, hold yourself the way you would hold a baby in your arms. Now, after you have a real good hold of yourself, close your eyes and begin to rock yourself. Rock yourself real good, the way you would a baby, and just keep doing it. When you grow up, no matter how old you are, and if you are crying and you don’t know why, I want you to rock yourself just like this. As you do it, remember that you are God’s little child, and that God understands why you are crying even if no one else does. As you rock yourself let me offer this blessing:

To the Moms who are struggling, to those filled with incandescent joy.
To the Moms who are remembering children who have died, and pregnancies that miscarried.
To the Moms who decided other parents were the best choice for their babies, to the Moms who adopted those kids and loved them fierce.
To those experiencing frustration or desperation in infertility.
To those who knew they never wanted kids, and the ways they have contributed to our shared world.
To those who mothered colleagues, mentees, neighborhood kids, and anyone who needed it.
To those remembering Moms no longer with us.
To those moving forward from Moms who did not show love, or hurt those they should have cared for.


Good and Gentle God, we pray in gratitude for our mothers and for all the nurturing women who have joined with you in the wonder of caring for life. You who became human through a woman, grant to all mothers the courage they need to face the uncertain future that life with children always brings. Give them the strength to live and to be loved in return, not perfectly, but humanly. Give them the faithful support of partners, family and friends as they care for the physical and spiritual growth of their children. Give them joy and delight in their children to sustain them through the trials of motherhood. Most of all, give them the wisdom to turn to you for help when they need it most.
Lord, I pray for all our nurturing Sonshine Friends who need your gentle touch to remind them that we don’t have to be perfect to be a mentor to our kids. We need  to know that as you hold us close we can hear you sing to us at this very moment:
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living,
My Child you'll be.

Sunday, May 06, 2018

We Need a Teacher

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Last week, I drove 420 miles to Ripley, West Virginia to learn wood turning. The idea of holding a blank piece of wood and shaping it on a lathe at 2,000 rpm can be frightening. Yet, I think of all the times I had the privilege of standing behind Ed Bartz, a wood turner from my parish.  He could take a chuck of wood and shape it into an exquisite bowl. His gift gave birth to the thought that this might be something that I would like to learn.

Cedar Lakes Conference Center, in Ripley, offered multiple classes in stain glass, water colors, quilting, fly-fishing, black smiting and wood turning. I was fortunate to meet my instructor, Byron, from Charleston, West Virginia, who has been teaching this course for many years. He enjoyed sharing his passion for wood with his novice students. I told him that my experience was limited since my mentor would let me hold the spindle gouge for a few seconds but never let me shape the bowl. I came to learn the basics. Put on an apron, the safety glasses and take that bowl gouge, anchor the gouge on the tool rest and pivot the gouge so that it slowly and carefully sliced the wood. However, I can’t count the number of times that instead of slicing, my wood would catch and make a mess of things. But Byron was patient and he shared that it takes practice and the whole idea was to learn the basics and come home with a few ideas that you would want to improve once you got home.
And isn’t this why we come to church. To learn the basics, how to love in a way that makes a difference in our life. However, we need a teacher. Jesus who walks along our side teaching us the basics. Not one to show us how to hold our hands, but how to extend our hearts. One to help us know when it is time to be more quiet and when to speak. A teacher who can show us how to slow down and how best to speed up for the sake of the other. For the sake of love. We need a teacher who will model for us what it is to live the sort of love that will go beyond what is expected, making the sacrifices, actually die for another, as Jesus offers now.
What I learned in wood turning applies to our spiritual journey. Byron preached patience in the classroom and his hands would sometimes wrap around my hand to guide the gouge so that it was making the proper cut. In the same way, Jesus guides us in our everyday life so that our love reflects his patience, compassion, and wisdom. However, I learned that to get comfortable and good in wood turning applies to our spiritual journey, we won’t get it right the first time, or the second, or maybe even the fiftieth time. We need to keep on turning. In wood turning, you need to practice, practice and practice. In the same way, to grow spiritually, you need to pray, pray some more and pray for the fifieth time until your life shines like the Christ with patience, mercy and understanding.
Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who daily need to practice, practice, practice this divine spirit of love. Not always easy, but with Jesus looking over our shoulder and holding our hands steady we eventually get the idea how to manage the difficult cuts to make a beautiful life in the image of God.