On the Brink

Once upon a time, there was this man who had a disability in his leg. He would walk for long distances to strengthen his legs. One day he was out in the countryside surrounded by rolling hills with rough, rocky, and uninhabited terrain. He was a couple miles from home and felt exhausted. He prayed that someone would come along who could offer him a ride back home.

Eventually, he saw a short distance away someone riding a donkey. As the rider drew closer, he noticed that it was the ranch owner making his daily on the property. The crippled man explained he just couldn’t get back home without some help. He asked to borrow the rancher’s donkey to carry him home.

The rancher was glad to help. “Oh, there’s no problem. I can loan you the donkey. However, before I let you go with the donkey, I have to tell you some things about him. This donkey is a bit unusual. He’s been trained to follow different cues than most donkeys. When you want him to go, you don’t say, 'Gitty up!' You say, 'Praise the Lord!’ He won’t move if you say, 'Gitty up!' And once you get him going, if you want to speed up, just repeat, 'Praise the Lord!' And then, when you want to stop, you don’t say, 'Whoa!’ You say, 'Amen!' “Now it’s real important that you use the words this donkey understands, 'Amen!’ to stop, and 'Praise the Lord!’ to go. If you’ll remember that, you won’t have any problem at all.”

Grateful for the rancher’s generosity, the crippled man mounted the donkey. Comfortable in the saddle, he said, “Praise the Lord,” and the donkey moved right out. Now that he was riding, he decided to go the longer route. So he said to the donkey, “Praise the Lord!” He moved faster and faster.

As he came around a curve, immediately he saw what looked like a river bank, but no bridge. It looked dangerous. He began to say, “Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!” but the donkey didn’t stop. He was getting closer and closer to the dangerous edge. He couldn’t think of the right word. Somehow just before going over the dangerous edge, he remembered the right command, “Amen!” and the donkey stopped right on the brink.

Overjoyed, the man raised his hands toward the sky and shouted, "Praise the Lord!"

Whether we recognize it or not, we are always “on the brink” or at the edge of making some form of personal choices. Rarely will your brink be as dramatic as that of the man on the donkey, but every decision, every choice, every commitment you make, be it ever so small or seemingly insignificant at the time can impact and effect you on your life’s journey.

It all began with the small loaf beside the lake where thousands of people were fed. Then we learned that the “Bread of Life” is more than ordinary bread. It is: hope, belief, faith, purpose, vision, curiosity, intimacy, love, peace, forgiveness from guilt. All the ingredients that put quality into living every day while, at the same time, giving us a taste of God’s promise for eternal life. 

God is walking with us this morning when we pray: “The Lord your God has blessed you in all the works of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this vast wilderness.” (Deuteronomy 2:7)

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends that every decision we make his day reflects your kindness and generosity to love one another as you love us with every breath we take.

Clinging to God

In my quest to create a church calendar, I decided to include an image of the Blessed Mother. There are three versions of Mary found at Holy Family, an outdoor stone grotto, a stature at the side altar and a stunning stain glass window found in the convent chapel.

When you reflect on the life of Mary, she mirrors our journey of faith. When we first meet her, Mary is the object of an ugly rumor. Pregnant without a husband. That she was innocent and invaded by the Spirit was not believed. So if you have suffered false rumors, or had your reputation spoiled, or been misunderstood and maligned, an unwed mom, or divorce or Gay Catholic, you can identify with Mary.

Mary had her moments of anxiety and fears. What’s this Mother of God business? How can this be? She asked the angel incredulously. “What does God want? How can this happen? How can I do this?” Confused and scared and full of questions, Mary is us when we have cried out. How can I tackle this challenge? Like a newborn, another job, new relationships, caring for someone, even a new faith community. How do I this?

When Jesus is an adolescent, Mary loses her child, can’t find him in a crowded city. She becomes every parent, every teacher, every mentor in history who can’t communicate with a teenager, who loses them to the internet, or drugs or whose kids have runaway roaming the streets, exploited by the sex trade, abused and beaten. Many parents can identify with Mary here.

Mary buried her husband, and everyone who has lost a spouse, cried Mary’s tears, felt the gnawing void in their belly and returned to an empty bed can identify with her.

When her son was old enough he leaves home to begin his mission and he leaves a widow mother behind. She is a minority woman in an occupied country, a widow with no man around, She is subject to exploitation and discrimination. Every minority who feels the effects of prejudice and discrimination can identify with Mary.

Then her son is caught, brought to a mock trail, beaten and humiliated, and hung on a cross. She arrives in time to see him hanging there, straining to go to him, but she is forced by the soldiers to keep her distance. Every parent who has seen their child carted off to prison, addicted to alcohol, or sex, not having their grandchildren baptized, going thorough a divorce-every parent who experiences these little crucifixions but who must keep their distance, can identify with Mary and have to pray and suffer in silence.

And finally Mary cradles the broken dead body of her only son in her arms and sobs uncontrollably and there she is once more like every parent who has lost a child, any friend who has lost a friend anyone who has lost someone through overdose or suicide can identify with Mary.

Yet despite all this unfairness of life, she clung to God. In virginity, in motherhood, in widowhood, with lost child, with dead child, she clung to God. She becomes the woman for all of us who have suffered these little deaths and that is the secret of her enduring popularity. And her appeal.

The message of her Assumption, the celebration of taking her into heaven, is a sign of hope for us. It is meant to be a preview for all who cling to God despite adversity. Mary is what we shall be. So simply put, she is us at the end of our journey that we are traveling. That is why Mary is indeed  Blessed and a Woman for All times And All Seasons.

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who are experiencing many crucifixions at this moment. Give them the spirit of Our Blessed Mother to cling to God and persevere knowing that God will raise us up on the last day.

Too Tired To Run

Father Tim was having lunch with his friend and mentor, Brother Absalom Greer, a retired Baptist minister in his late eighties.

Father Tim is complaining about his spiritual dryness, his feelings of being far from God while at the same time running himself ragged being about the Lord’s business.

Brother Absalom nods and smiles and says, “I know what you mean, brother, I know what you mean. You’re too tired to run and too sacred to rest.”

Elijah, the prophet, was sitting under a broom tree, “too tired to run and too scared to rest,” too exhausted to think, and too disgusted with himself to want to go on living. How did Elijah get here? What brought Elijah to this moment of despair?

His words, “I am no better than my ancestors,” are a confession of sin and failure, of helplessness and despair. Elijah is running away from Jezebel who is hunting him down for putting to shame her pagan religion. He feels and sits alone exhausted, “too tired to run and too scared to rest,” and much too aware of his own failures and much too unsure of God’s grace and love. And so, Elijah falls asleep. He has made his confession, he is ready to die. As far as he knows, when he falls asleep he is falling into the eternal sleep of death.

But God has a different plan, a different ending in store for Elijah. Elijah is awakened to the gift of new life. Elijah is awakened by the touch of a holy hand and the sound of a divine voice inviting him to “arise and eat.” Get up and get on with your life. Get up God is not finished with you yet. Get up and get on with it. Get up and quit taking yourself so seriously. Arise and eat God has more future in store for you.

God’s response to Elijah’s confession of helplessness and hopelessness was not judgment and death. God’s response was forgiveness and life. The message is that the past is over and forgiven and the future is alive and in God’s hands.

When we come to our moments of sitting alone under the broom tree, “too tired to run and too scared to rest,” when we look back on our lives and see only our faults and failures, our disappointments and unfulfilled ambitions looming up and chasing us like Jezebel’s army, when we feel like we have done all we can and despite our best intentions, we find we are no better than our ancestors, we must remember how God responded to Elijah and how God will respond to us.

Say this “bread prayer” to give you strength when you feel you are falling apart:

Help me, O God, to live the recipe of good deeds. Give me the kneading strength of your Spirit to work your words into the doughy recesses of my life. Help me to let it rest awhile in my heart so that it can rise. Help me not to fear the oven of life, so that it can bake through and through. And grant that in the baking, the world would be able to roll down its window and savor the aroma of freshly baked bread, your bread of life.

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who feel too tired to run and too scared. The next time they receive Holy Communion, help them to realize this is your kiss to get up and get on with their life for the past is forgiven and their future is in your hands.

When the Miracles Stop

I had a challenging vacation to Lexington, Kentucky driving through thunderstorms and hail and a tornado warning. In the gospel story about the multiplication of loaves and fish, we learn about another challenging moment in the life of Jesus.

The gospel says: “A large crowd followed Jesus because they saw the miracles.”  Well, I ask, who wouldn’t follow? You’d be dense not to. My challenging question is, what happens when the miracles cease? Will I follow when my young adult child is found dead after committing suicide with drugs and all the prayers in the world aren’t pulling in the miracle that would save this child from this miserable addiction? When my spouse is killed while jogging in a freak in motorcycle accident and there is no miracle resurrection. When I am in shock from a diagnosed with a terminal illness and no miraculous cure appears? When bad things happen to good people and there are no miracles to right the equation when in a word, there are no miracles and no more God, at least none that I can detect, when faith is shaken if not evaporated altogether. Will we follow then? So my question: Will we follow Jesus when we no longer see miracles?

A woman who lost her child at birth, and almost her faith shared her fears and despair.

All her faith was stripped away as she focused on one thing: the injustice that her poor little girl didn’t have a chance to take even one breath…Even prayer seemed so futile, even unnecessary, like throwing a glass of water on a burning home. This mother had prayed during her entire pregnancy for the baby to be healthy—and she was. She was perfect but she wasn’t alive, cooing in her arms. How could this woman not feel betrayed?

In the weeks following her little girl’s death, well-meaning friends and relatives sent hundreds of cards and emails offering helpless words of condolence. Most of their words said the same thing: “We cannot understand God’s will.” Those words kept her up at night for months, she knew they were trying to help, but every time the issue of God’s will sprang up, she felt miserable. It got to the point where she couldn’t even numbly smile or nod anymore when the phase came up; she just clenched her teeth to keep from saying something she regret. She certainly was not going to tell a priest in confession that she was sorry for being angry with God. The truth was that she was furious with God.

Finally exhausted, this woman who had lost her child and almost her faith told her friends. Some may wonder why after this experience, she made the painful effort to believe, she could only respond that, despite her doubts and resentments, having seen the breathtaking perfection of her daughter’s peaceful face, it was impossible to think God was not there.” Somehow, beyond the miracle that never came, she sensed Someone.

So the miracle with baskets of leftover fish and bread poses the question: Will we follow Jesus when the miracles stop? When our daughter dies, when our son is killed?  Will we, like the woman who lost her child, see the absent miracle as an invitation to seek the miracle-worker himself? Will we consider the possibility that, when all is said and done, after the shock is over and the tears are dried, we ourselves become the miracle?

Immanuel prays for us as we reflect:” Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.” (Psalm 25:6).

Lord, I pray for all my Sunshine Friends who are challenged to love you for who you are rather than for the free bread you can give us. Help us to focus on the real miracle, that we are called to be the compassion and presence of God in times of sorrow and pain.

We're Not Religious

I was very proud of a good friend who took the responsibility to offer a eulogy at his mom’s funeral. He said that unlike his mom the rest of the family was “not very religious.” Here was the mom who came to church to light her candles and pray for her children and grandchildren. She was the one who did all the cooking at the annual family camping trips. She was the grandma who beamed with joy when she held her great grandson.

Despite the fact this family did not practice their faith, they felt it was their mother who held them together by her faith that God has to be important in our lives. In her kind and humble way, she believed in God, she prayed to God and she was with God and her children believed that in their hearts.

People easily get uncomfortable with religions. Some religions come off strong and say there is only their way to God. Some are rather bias with who and who can serve in ministry. Others have become mega-churches with hundreds of families flocking to their services because its like a Broadway production.

I prefer the following reason for coming to church as shared by a dear friend when she wrote this card to me with these words:

”Congratulations on being a “shepherd” for 35 years. I want to thank you for bringing me a message every Sunday. I feel for the first time in my adult life that I want to be a better person and I want to thank you for that. You make it real and simple. Our family has been blessed in many ways but now I have added you to our blessings.”

I have the unique privilege of helping a former closed parish resurrect themselves into a community that reaches out with the spirit of Christ’s love. My vocation has taken many turns from inner city parishes at OLPH to St. Boniface, to country communities in Caledonia and North Java, serving as chaplain for the Sisters of Mercy, patients and staff at Strong Memorial Hospital and the wonderful students and professors at Brockport College. I miss you all.

Simply put, religion may be about rules and norms, laws and regulations that bind us up in knots and make us afraid and fell rejected. The true spirit of love is found in the people who make Christ’s love visible in the everydayness of their lives.

If I have helped you to become a better person. I give God thanks for this unique vocation that continues this morning as I have been called out of town to help hundreds of people who are losing their jobs.

Immanuel prays for us as we reflect: “Turn to me and have mercy on me, show your strength in behalf of your servant, save me, because I serve you just as my mother did.” (Psalm 86:16

Lord, I pray for all my Sunshine Friends in the over 60 parishes communities that I have served to help your people become a better community. Each of you is close to my heart and I will continue to pray that God brings you comfort and peace. “Shepherd”

Did You Miss Easter?

I stopped by the car repair shop to check on Scott, a mechanic, whose best friend and partner for over 30 years died unexpectedly before Easter. Her daughter found her mom one morning in her easy chair cold and blue. Scott shared that they had an unusual relationship. They fought like cats and dogs but respected each other very much. He said that it was hard and that he had lost his faith in God. He had his doubts about his faith, his God and why did this have to happen.

My response was simply: “you are not alone.” When the love of my life died over thirty years ago to cancer I screamed at God for nine months. The pain of lost is real and not imagined. When our loves are gone, we feel empty and washed out. I was angry with God that He took my best friend away from me and how was I ever going to survive.

In these moments, it the faith of others around us, our ancestors who come to our rescue. So Scott goes on to share, “you might think this is crazy” and I respond, “Go ahead try me.” It seems that two weeks before his girlfriend died, she shared a dream with him. She dreamed that her grandmother had come into her apartment and told her “not to worry that grandma was alright and everything is fine.” She did not want to share this vision with to many people thinking that she was off her rocker. So Scott wonders was God trying to tell her something before she died.

How many of us have felt a real experience with our ancestors who came back to reassure us that they are at peace?

Later that day, my hair stylist who has cut my hair for over thirty years shared that it will be a year this May when her mother died. One day in the basement, she was thinking about her mom when she suddenly felt a powerful experience in which her mother literally came inside of her. She did not feel sick or afraid, but a feeling of peace that her mother was telling her that she was present in her life and would never let her daughter feel alone. Later that day, out of the blue her sister calls her on the cell phone to share that something weird happened and she was feeling strange and awkward. Early in the morning which turned out to be on the same day her sister was in the basement, she too felt her mother calling out to her and telling her that she was fine and not to worry.

What do you think about these revelations? Are we all delusional and need to see our shrinks? Or maybe it just might be God reaching into our hearts and inside our bodies to reassure us that Jesus is truly risen and so are all our loved ones.

As Kathy shared, maybe we do need to feel the pain of lost for a while, but what is that compared to an eternity in heaven with the ones we love. I call this an act of faith that can boost our morale and recharge our energy whenever grief takes a hold. Easter takes place every day in our life when we trust in the word of God.

Immanuel prays for us as we reflect: “Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here, see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” (John 20:27).

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends whose loved ones have come back to us in our dreams, into our bodies, to touch our doubts with hope and peace. Comfort us in our sorrow, and give us the courage to believe!

Lord, Why Do You Receive Them?

A wise father knows what it means to forgive --his young adult child had died in his sleep while camping with the family, but the autopsy revealed drug overdose. This father offered three somewhat earthy bits of practical advice that are worth sharing.

He said, "I'm not very good at spiritual discipline, but after being called by a friend to practice what I preach, I sat alone in my study and made believe I was a priest in the confessional. I said out loud, 'Drug dealer, in the name of God, I forgive you.' I felt kind of foolish at this creative hypocrisy, but it did get the juices of forgiveness going. Oh, a year later when my son’s friends drove past my house I had to go through the whole forgiveness process again. Forgiveness by fallible creatures is repetitious." That's real wisdom. For us weak creatures forgiveness indeed turns out to be a repetitious affair.

The second bit of wisdom he offers is this: "Don't forgive too fast." By that he doesn't mean to harbor lingering revenge. He means that we have to allow time for the hurt to surface, for the hatred to be visible and recognized and acknowledged to the point when perhaps we can say out loud, "I hate you." It is only when the hurt, the enemy, is out there and regurgitated that we can feel its full impact and come to terms with forgiveness. That's what our friend means by saying, "Don't forgive too fast." Otherwise our forgiveness is too shallow. It hasn't grabbed sufficiently hold of the evil.

And finally he gives this delightful advice: "It's good to remember that when you pray for your enemies it doesn't automatically make them your friends. They are still your enemy. They're still out to get you. They still hate your guts." And he adds for emphasis: "They are still your enemies and you'd better guard against them because they might wallop you when you're down on your knees." But that's their problem.

And yet, despite our Lord's example and his command to forgive, there are people who cannot bring themselves to offer forgiveness. And there are people who cannot bring themselves to accept it. Some people get so caught up in their own guilt that they cannot accept forgiveness, even from God. They feel there is no hope for themselves either in this world or the next. They spend their time hugging their guilt to themselves, thereby blocking out the forgiveness of the Christ who is on record for forgiving others.

What does Christ say to those who cannot bring themselves to forgiveness? Those of us who have caused so much hurt in this life. God says,” Come forth, you who are drunk. Come forth, you who abuse. Come forth, you who know no shame.” And we shall all come forth without being ashamed, and we will stand before him. And the wise will say, and the learned will say, “Lord, why do you receive them?' And he will say to them, 'I receive them, oh wise ones, I receive them, oh learned ones, because not one of them ever thought himself worthy of it.' And he will stretch out his arms to us, and we shall fall down before him, and we shall weep, and we shall understand all."

Immanuel prays for us as we reflect; “I love the Lord, for he heard my voice, he heard my cry for mercy.” (Psalm 116:1-3)

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who desperately need your mercy. May we be willing to surrender our need for resentment and bring peace to those who have hurt us.

Knuckles in Paradise

Two days before Easter, a grandson asked me to come to the cemetery to bury his grandmother. This young man shared these memories of this woman of faith with the big knuckles.

Grandma was not only a farmer’s wife but she also a farmer. She worked right alongside him on the dairy farm. Her routine day on the farm began at 3am every morning. She would grab her three kids and head out to the barn for the morning milking. The little ones would continue sleeping in the hay while the cows were being attended to. When this grandmother went to the nursing home, she would tell people to look at her big knuckles and then say: “My grandmother told me to never learn to milk a cow and so what do I do? I went right to the barn and learned how to milk a cow. Now look at these knuckles that I ended up with.”

Grandma learned how to drive the tractor when her husband was bailing hay. She even learned how to butcher the chickens when the family needed food for the table. When her beloved spouse died, grandma continued to work a large garden and she mowed their two-acre property by hand. Though she had a riding mower parked in the garage, she preferred to use the old-fashioned push mower. She continued to cut her own lawn until she was in her early 80’s.

Later in life, grandma found a new hobby, a wood-burning stove. She would feed that stove at all hours of the day and night and took great pride in maintaining, splitting and stacking her own wood. She had truckloads of wood delivered every fall to last the winter months. However, one time her grandson came out to stack some of the wood for her. After growing tired from the long day of stacking, the grandson promised to return in a few days and finish the large pile. When he came back, grandma had finished it all by herself, one log at a time. At age 80, she went to the doctor and he noticed a bruise on her leg. When he asked what it was from, she said that a chunk of wood had hit her leg while spilling logs. The bewildered doctor looked at her 90-pound frame and asked how in the world could she be splitting wood at her age. Considering that a silly question, grandmother answered, “Well, with an ax!” How else would one split wood?

After grandfather died, grandma memorized the 23^rd Psalm for comfort and started reading the Bible. She would get up at 3am and read her Bible for four hours at a time. Her bible was well worn and held together with duct tape and when she could no longer see so well, she would have her grandson read the bible to her. Her grandson shared that she worked very hard on the family farm. She never took a vacation and her priorities were her faith and her family.

The Gospels assure us that the resurrection was physical, real, not just some hallucination inside the consciousness of believers. After the resurrection, we are assured, Jesus' tomb was empty, people could touch him, he ate food with them, and he was not a ghost.

Notice that after he rose from the dead, Jesus was seen by some, but not by others; understood by some, but not by others. Some got his meaning and it changed their lives, others were indifferent to him, and still others understood what had happened, hardened their hearts against it, and tried to destroy its truth. For this grandmother, she read in her bible that Jesus was alive and she chose to believe. Perhaps milking those cows that gave her those big knuckles gave her the humility and faith to simple believe. What do you believe?

Immanuel prays for us as we reflect; “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” Psalm 23:4)

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who celebrate Easter with their family and friends. May our service to God and neighbor give us the knuckles that bring peace of mind and hope that we will see all our ancestors including grandma again in Paradise.

Feeling Crummy

I just finished cleaning the house after a wonderful celebration with family and friends. However, while vacuuming leftover crumbs on the floor, I ’m thinking how some of my new parishioners are feeling a little crummy. It’s no one fault. Misunderstanding happens in every family and faith community. There are moments when we lose our temper and need to vent. That’s the way God made us. Sometimes we need to let off a little steam. But what’s more important is what follows next!

So while I’m vacuuming the crumbs and feeling a little crummy myself. Here is my prayer for all those moments that catch us off guard.

“Father, forgive them, forgive me… when I feel misunderstood. You understand more than anybody this feeling of not being understood and rejected. You came to bring forgiveness of our sins, those irritating remarks that drive our family, relatives and parishioners nuts. Now send your spirit to calm and heal our misunderstandings. After a breath of fresh air, let us think what really matters. Getting our way, being right or getting back with the people, our family and friends who matter most in our life.

You taught us by your life that we need to say, ‘I love you.’ So when something breaks, we need to fix it, when it hurts, we need to figure out a way to heal the wounds. Sure, it’s a bother and we would prefer to say that we are in the right and we deserve more respect. But come on now, how much respect did Jesus receive dying on a cross like a criminal. God knows how we are feeling when misunderstood. But from the cross, remember these words.

‘Father, forgive them they know not what they do.’ We need to stop the hurtful words and hurtful thinking that prevents us from coming back and feeling close with family, neighbors, in-laws and the church.

What an amazing Father we have in heaven, who created us with all our flaws, listens to our groaning and whining, yet still wants us around for eternity. He must be nuts!!!”

When we are ready to heal. Go back to those people, your neighbor, co-worker or fellow parishioner and tell them we were not at our best. We prayed about how God hung on that cross in silence bearing the weight of our misgivings, foolish whining and selfishness. In this silence of the heart comes a spirit of forgiveness that heals the soul and makes things right with God and one another.

So this Holy Week, if you really want to make a difference in your life. Who needs to hear from your lips, “I’m sorry and I love you.”

I love this prayer for Holy Week and recommend that you pray it often: “But with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you.” (Psalm 130:4).

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends that you give us the strength to “bury” all our hurt feelings. Let us be your willing servants who listen to your voice of mercy and kindness all the days of our life.

Seeds of Happiness

A daughter was struggling to take care of her sick mom. Her mother needed a surgery and a pre-opt appointment was made to take her mom to see the doctor. This daughter called her sister and asked her to help take their mother to see the surgeon. However, her sister's response was that she was too busy and her mother should change the date of the surgery. Her sister was outraged and disgusted with her sister’s response. This daughter daily cared for her mom and all she wanted from her sister was help to take their mother to the appointment. What was she thinking? Why do we act so heartless?

Research tells us that the key trait of happy people is that they have a purpose. In short they “invest” their lives in something. During times of family illness taking care of our parents can seem a bit of a tall order. However, if you ask a “happy” person, how they are in life, playing hard too get is not one of their traits. rather, they will enthusiastically tell you of something they’re at or doing. It could be work, or maybe investing time in helping their parents through difficult times. All in all, as they will explain, it really seems to give them life. The essence of their happiness seems to be giving more than receiving.

It does seem that we are genetically coded to “flourish under fire” to quote the title of a recent book by popular psychologist Maureen Gaffney. She contends that we are meant to have well-being, meaning and purpose in our lives. Agreed, but how do we achieve this. Basically by dying to self and living for others. Something needs to switch this on.

Jesus speaks of a grain of wheat dying. What happens there? Inside every seed is an embryo that has a root going into the ground and a shoot going up. It also has an “on” and “off” switch. The time and soil temperature must be right before the “on” switch allows oxygen in water to come into the seed. When it takes in water, it expands, breaking the seed coat and producing sugar and proteins and ultimately fruit.

Something like that needs to happen to us. Maybe the outside conditions are not ideal in our faith community, in our family, in our life. Perhaps we are a dried up shriveled seed - but we are destined to grow and flourish.

We approach Holy Week. Next Sunday you may see your community gather in a different space outside the Church to mark Jesus entrance into Jerusalem. Perhaps you will bring your own green branch. As you cut it off this week from the lifegiving shrub it belongs to- consider this; what ways are we cut off from the life giving power of God. In Jesus we have someone worth living for and great enough to die for. Or are we like the amateur gardener, who bought the seed packs with those beautiful pictures of flowers…on those same seed packs. The seed, which was never immersed in soil, lie shriveled and dormant within its paper coffin. It would be terrible if our true epitaph at the end of life were to be a similar “returned unopened.”

Immanuel prays for us as we reflect; “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and does not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater. (Isaiah 55:10).

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends to help us open our seed packages and share the abundance of our life with those in need of your life giving understanding and love.

Spiritual Mentors

I opened my basement doors for Steve to back in his truck who was going to install a water conditioner for our home. After he opened his van, he turned and asked if he could ask me something about religion. On his way to our farm, he got a call from his wife that a neighbor had died last night. This neighbor was Ariel, a member of his church where Steve was a deacon.

Ariel was Steve’s spiritual mentor. Ariel taught by example. He worked hard on his farm, raised his crops and animals and took care of his family. Ariel had his share of farming accidents and lost the use of his shoulders. He struggled with the daily chores but got by for you see farmers are a stubborn and a proud bred of people. Stubborn yes, but generous to family and friends and fiercely faithful to their religion.

Ariel was Dutch Reform who practiced his faith by coming to church every Sunday, saying his prayers to himself, tithing according to the good book and working hard on the farm. He was not outgoing and he did not join any committees.

Steve grew found of Ariel and started coming over to visit. He noticed that Ariel was physically hurting so he took some cords of wood from his tree farm, and brought them as a gift. One tradition Ariel practiced was high tea; Steve was invited to this time honored tradition when Ariel took a break to enjoy some Earl Gray and sandwiches in the afternoon. It was at these special moments that Steve noticed another side of this hard working farmer and witnessed a faith he grew to love and admire.

Steve understood that Ariel was not comfortable in his old church that had a change of heart. He just wanted to come sit in his pew and be quiet with the Lord and go back and tend to his fields. Steve was an experienced Navy veteran who for over 20 years was use to living in chaos. Their church wanted to be a community that love one another and cared for one another. This concept made farmers like Ariel uncomfortable who were use to being independent and taking care of themselves. Yet, this morning Steve wanted someone to listen to his story about a friend and fellow parishioner who had gone to heaven but would be greatly missed by his spiritual apprentice.

I asked Steve if being a deacon in his country church was different than when he serving on board ship in the Navy. ‘Oh, yes!’ he said emphatically. ‘In the Navy if I said to my fellow shipmates, “We are all shipmates of one another on this boat,” they would just nod their heads in agreement as if to say that everyone, even the most simple, understands that. But when I say that same sentence to people who live on the farm, they look at me as though I am proposing some crazy theory.

Steve noted that a characteristic on the farm is that dogma of individualism which makes it almost impossible for people to realize that we are members one of another, that we are meant to live in community, that our need for another is not a weakness but a divine gift. To live in community whether on board a ship, or in a country church or at home with your family can stretch our limits. Love is a decision.

Immanuel prays for us as we reflect; “But with you is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you.” (Psalm 130:4).

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends that you help us all feed the hunger to be more generous with our time and be present to those in need of our comfort, our forgiveness and our compassion.