Easter Sunday

Our readings for Easter Sunday day are:

1. Acts 10: 34a, 37-43
2. Psalms 118: 1-2, 16-17, 22-23
3. 1 Corinthians 5: 6b-8
4. John 20: 1-9

• Finding your voice
• Peter shrank away from being accountable for following Jesus when all looked dark and dying.  I imagine that Peter came very close to taking his own life like Judas.  Wishing instead that he had died for Jesus so that he, Peter would not have been such an abject failure.  Yet Jesus was able to pull life from that death of Peter's.
• We have all failed in ways large and small.  Have any of your failures drawn you closer to God?
• What was the sequence of events that you went through as that failure was transformed, resurrected in your life?
• How were you praying during that transformation? 

• Finding the Cornerstone
• Jesus was rejected because He and His life, His ministry didn't fit the mold.  No one seemed to know what to do with Him, what to make of Him.
• What are some things that have helped you find humility?
• How have those things changed you?
• How did you manage to accept that grace of humility in your life?
• Has humility gotten any easier with time? 

• Finding sincerity
• It's easy to lie to ourselves and others about our motives, our desires.  But God can only call forth the best from us if we're willing and able to face that which we typically want to hide.
• How do you identify and acknowledge where you are weak, a failure, in poverty?
• Do you make a regular practice of that?
• Does it ever get any easier?
• Is it worth it? 

• It takes a village
• In those first few hours of Easter Sunday morning, I suspect that each disciple achieved a different perspective on the resurrection.  That was based on where they were in their faith journey at the time, what they saw and experienced, and their openness to the Gospel unfolding before them.  As they joyously shared their faith, a fuller and even more wondrous vision began to emerge.
• How are some ways that you share your faith with others?
•  As you share your faith, has that faith deepened in the sharing?
• Who are some folks who have shared their faith with you?
• How has their sharing deepened your faith?
• Why is that sort of faith sharing so necessary?

• Preparation for Reconciliation
• What of my failures might God be transforming to life?
• Am I OK with God leading to ministries that look like failure?
• Where might God be calling me to greater freedom?
• Are there any folks sharing their faith with me that I'm not aware of?

Who Do You Run To?

It was still dark, and cold.

Not so dark, not near as cold -

As where they had laid Him.

And I shuddered thinking of His pale, lifeless, form.

 

I so desperately wanted to say "good bye" properly.

Let Him know that He meant the world to me.

Let Him know that I planned to go a journeying.

Telling anyone who would listen what He meant to me.

 

Out of the limited options open to me,

That seemed the only one worth pursuing.

It would be lonely, and dangerous.

But I needed to continue His work.

 

I needed to be the resolute woman that He saw in me.

I needed to be faithful to my true self -

The one that He called forth into the light.

The "me" that only He could see.

 

But before I would leave,

I needed just one last moment with Him.

To promise to be faithful.

And thank Him.

 

My plans were shattered in an instant.

When I saw that the stone was rolled away.

That something profound had happened.

Something that none of us anticipated.

 

I had to tell someone.

I had to discern what this meant.

As shattered as the other disciples were -

They would have to find community again.

 

I knew then where to run to.

Where I needed to share this troubling news.

Where I could find meaning.

In the midst of His baffled followers.

 

So I ran, heedless of my appearance.

Disdainful of the danger that might be afoot.

Back to the bosom of the trauma victims

That I had come to love so dearly.

 

And you, you who now come after me.

You are going to be challenged

And shaken to your core along this journey.

Where will you run to? 

 

 

Shalom!

Palm Sunday

Our readings for Palm Sunday are:

1. Isaiah 50: 4-7
2. Psalms 22: 8-9, 17-18, 19-20, 23-24
3. Philippians 2: 6-11
4. Matthew 27: 11-54

• The cost of a well-trained tongue
• Sometimes, words may be true, but they can be spoken from a person who is in a place that makes them ring false.  Until we have learned what it is like to be in another's shoes, it is hard to give them a word that will truly reach them.  It is hard to show mercy until you have come to terms with your own need for mercy, and accepted that mercy from God.
• When was a time that you felt that you had nothing that you could say to someone else in need?
• What did you end up doing/saying for/to them at that time?
• How did you find it in your heart to relate to them that way?
• How did you grow in that encounter? 

• Awesome God
• Someone or something is awesome when they inspire awe, wonder, amazement.  Our culture tells us that awesome is about power, accomplishment, success, respect.  Jesus tells us differently.
• What has God done that is awesome in your life lately?
• Why was that particularly awesome for you?
• Have you thanked Him for that? 

• Emptying Himself
• Jesus was not afraid to give himself away.  But most of us, for our parts, wonder what will be left if we give too much of ourselves away.  We look at the story of the widow's mite and see only starvation. 
• Who is someone that inspires you with their generosity?
• Do they ever seem to run out of what they give away?
• Have you ever felt depleted because of something that you did for another?
• Why do you think that is? 

• Standing with, standing for Jesus
• Scripture doesn't mention anyone standing up for Jesus in this narrative.  It can feel as though the world, our culture, all those in power, have somehow been aligned together in one great conspiracy and the only sensible option is to get out of the way.
• Does standing up for Jesus have to make a difference in order for that stand to be successful?
• How would you even tell if something that you did actually was successful, in that your action brought the Kingdom of God closer?
• What did that stand cost you? 
• Would it make it worth it knowing that you made a real difference? 

• Preparation for Reconciliation
• Where might God be teaching me how to reach other?
• What does God desire for me of His awesomeness?
• Where might God be calling me to greater freedom?
• Where might God be calling me to greater freedom?

Splinters

I had important business in the Holy City that day.

Little time for visiting family, even less for sight seeing.

And yet, here I am, trudging along in this death parade.

Struggling next to someone I hardly even know by reputation.

 

When I took that cross beam from Him, He looked deep into my eyes.

Holding that lock as though we both had hours for the exchange.

Then he very softly breathed "thank you".

And then it was time to pick up the pace and keep going.

 

No time for pleasantries.

No time for listing our family lineage.

No time even to ask how of us is doing.

Both of us breathless, Each for his own reasons.

 

At first, I wanted to quietly walk away.

Leave that cursed, loathsome timber in some ditch -

And go about my way -

And try to salvage what I could of this day.

 

But as the rotted fruit and spit meant for Him

That landed instead on me,

And the two of us became more and more alike,

I gradually came to marvel at His freedom.

 

He was trudging along, giving everything.

Freely, without reservation.

And I realized how very bound I was.

Bound to schedules, agreements, patterns

 

All of which told me -

That I was just as bound as He was -

That He was freer than  I was.

And that my shackles were worse than His.

 

And I began to see the occasional spittle,

Dirt,

Even rocks raining down on us -

As evidence that we were becoming one in disgrace.

 

He never issued an invitation to join Him.

But He steadied me with His bloodied hand

As He strove to stay upright along the way.

And I knew community like never before.

 

I have to know more about this Man.

I must search for His disciples -

And join them to join Him

And make all suffering, all insults meaningful.

 

Shalom!

5th Sunday of Lent

Our readings for the 5th Sunday in Lent:

1. Ezekiel 37: 12-14
2. Psalms 130: 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8
3. Romans 8: 8-11
4. John 11: 1-45

• Don't give up hope, no matter how much it hurts
• Hope makes us resilient in the face of adversity, even persecution.  But its easy to lose hope if we take our eyes off the source of all hope.
• Have you ever given up hope for something?  Maybe it was that your children would regain their faith, maybe it was a hope for some political outcome in our country, maybe it was hope for proper recognition of your contributions, ...
• Did you ever regain that hope?
• Did you come to hope for something else, instead?
• Was that new hope better than the old one? 

• What is it that you want?
• God is all knowing, so there is nothing that we can tell Him in prayer that He does not already know.  God is immutable, so we cannot change His mind.  We cannot coerce God in any way.  So what is the point of intercessory prayer anyway?
• What is something that you really prayed for with all your might?
• Why did that matter to you?
• Did you have a good idea of what God wanted in that situation?
• Did you ever find out what God wanted in that situation?
• How did praying that way help you? 

• Indwelling of the Spirit
• We sacramentally confer the gift of the Holy Spirit on our confirmandi.  What does that actually accomplish?
• What are some times/places/events in which you especially felt the presence of the Spirit?
• What did that Presence allow you to accomplish?
• Do you feel/act that way all of the time?
• Would you like to?
• What would that sort of closeness to the Spirit require of you? 

• Take away the stone
• Sometimes, something that was in our lives that served a perfectly legitimate purpose gets to a place where we just have to let it go, in favor of something even better.
• What are some things that you've had to let go of in your life as you've gradually drawn closer to Jesus?
• How did you come to know that that person, place, thing, activity needed to go?
• Was it hard to let go?
• What became possible in your life once you were free of that?
• Would you do anything differently if you had to go through that whole process again? 

• Preparation for Reconciliation
• How can I discern God's calling in others?
• What does God desire for me?
• Where might the Spirit be leading me today?
• Where might God be calling me to greater freedom?

What about my hummus?

When word reached us of Lazarus' death, I knew what to do.

His sisters would likely have half the surrounding villagers at their home.

Food would run out in hours, not to mention the wine.

 

All that I had were some chickpeas and an old press.

I went to one neighbor to barter for a few choice spices.

I went to another for some olive oil on loan.

 

I spent the next morning making a batch of hummus

Not wanting to arrive empty-handed.

And set off for the home of Mary and Martha.

 

My mouth feeling strange that I had to stop before uttering Lazarus' name.

Their home no longer his.

He's now forever confined to a cold, dark, stone house.

 

I arrived and saw what you would expect.

Mourners, professional and amateur milling about.

Mary and Martha trudging through their hospitality.

 

I barely had a chance to give them my hostess gift -

When suddenly word ricocheted through the crowd -

Jesus is here!  Too bad He got here too late to do any good.

 

Like the others, I followed Mary to the tomb.

Not having anything helpful to say, except "I came as soon as I could."

A soft word, a gentle touch, a knowing glance exchanged here and there.

 

And soon I was embraced by the crowd of mourners.

All of us sharing our loss of Lazaras.

All of us in sympathy with the rest of us.

 

Jesus and His disciples were there too.

Then Jesus shocked us telling us to roll away the stone.

All the customary ceremony had been followed.

 

What need had we to disturb the dead?

How would this help us, the living, move forward?

What good would it do?

 

Then Jesus called, and Lazarus answered.

And I asked myself what else might be possible -

If God is willing to even raise the dead.

 

Maybe I can find it in my heart to forgive my brother -

For seizing my share of the inheritance.

And shaming me before the rest of the family.

 

Maybe I can find it in my heart to reach out to Jacob -

My cousin the tax-gatherer.

I miss him and his family so.

 

Maybe I can share some chickpeas with the beggar on my street.

They are not much, but they are all that I have this week.

He has even less. 

 

Maybe I can rise in my own small way. 

 

Shalom!

4th Sunday of Lent

Our readings for the 4th Sunday in Lent:

1. 1 Samuel 16: 1b, 6-7, 10-13a
2. Psalms 23: 1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6
3. Ephesians 5: 8-14
4. John 9: 1-41

• God's chosen
•  Usually, we're so grateful for volunteers, that we don't really ask whether the person applying for a particular ministry is God's choice.  We're afraid that if we set standards, we won't have any takers.
• Do you believe that the only reason that someone wants to be in a ministry, be it choir member, priest, catechist, food drive worker ... is that they feel called to that ministry?
• If they feel called, are they called?
• What responsibility do we have to select new members?
• What responsibility do we have to search out new members? 

• What is it that you want?
• If we are following God as best as we can, it's a safe bet that our deepest desires come from Him.  The hard part is finding what those desires are.
• What is your deepest desire?
• Would you ever think to pray for that?
• What else are you doing to make that desire happen? 

• Good fruit
• Fruit on trees is easy to identify.  Sometimes, the fruits of our labors are harder to pin down.  Sometimes, the best thing that can be said of something that we worked on involved fruits that we never thought would come of that work.
• If you were to die tomorrow, what would be some of the fruits of your life, from your vantage point?
• Do you ever think to ask Jesus what He thinks your fruits are?
• What can you do to make your life more fruitful?
• Do you always need to know what fruits have come from your work? 

• Unwelcome apostle
• The thing that I love about these Gospel readings for the scrutinies is the recurring themes that we see in them.  One of them is apostleship - spreading the Good News of who Jesus is.
• Talking about your faith with another believer is one thing, talking about your faith to someone who is not a believer is another.  Why has that been in your life?
• One reason to be reluctant to bring up matters of faith is that we figure that the other person will never change, that they have closed their minds, that they are blinded.  Would Jesus ever want the Gospel to be shared with such a person anyway?
• Just because words are true does not necessarily mean that they are shared in love.  How can we be sure to share the Good News in love, and not judgement, with patience and not bitterness?
• Who are some "blind" people in your life that you would love to share your faith with? 

• Preparation for Reconciliation
• How can I discern God's calling in others?
• What does God desire for me?
• What can I do to be more fruitful?
• Who might I be an apostle to?

Open My Eyes

The Master miraculously opened my eyes.

I could no longer beg for my bread.

I had to learn a trade and earn it for the first time.

 

I went to the village weaver and asked to be taught.

It was hard at first, learning to trust my eyes -

To guide these hands that have been on their own.

 

Eventually, I learned to delight in colors coming together -

Threads interwoven, crossing one another.

Hardly a design visible when first starting.

 

But the true weaver knows where they are going.

They know what the finished product will be.

Even though no one else can tell ahead of time.

 

And I know that my tapestry is still a weaving.

Threads from my deep past, 

Tastes, sights, sounds from today.

 

The touch of a friend, the lift of a verdant smile 

The sound of a beloved footstep on the hard earth

The smell of the first minutes of a gentle spring rain.

 

Even the disappointments and sorrows have their place.

To try to unravel them from my life is foolish.

For they have a sacred place to fulfill as well. 

 

Every one of them a gift, every one of them a grace.

All to be savored, celebrated, and shared.

Until all of us become one tapestry in Jesus. 

 

Shalom!

3rd Sunday of Lent

Our readings for the 3rd Sunday in Lent:

1. Exodus 17: 3-7
2. Psalms 95: 1-2, 6-7, 8-9
3. Romans 5: 1-2, 5-8
4. John 4: 5-42

• Finding your trust
• Stepping into something new can be exciting, exhilarating, scary.  Eventually thought, the novelty wears off, the implications of your decision begin to become clear, and its easy to begin to wonder: "did I really do such a great thing?  Is this really where God wants me?"
• Have you ever done something bold because you felt led to that by God?
• How did that turn out for you?
• Do you still feel as though that was God's leading?
• Why? 

• Seeking a soft heart
• A soft heart is one that is sensitive to the will of God in your life.  The soft heart feels deeply, seeks closeness to God and others, and is willing to bear hurt and pain on the behalf of others because that empathy is what brings us together, what heals us of our hurts and wounds.
• Are there people in your life today that you might not have noticed in years past?  Maybe you were too busy to notice them, or too preoccupied with other things, or afraid of them for one reason or another?
• What made you finally notice them?
• How did that noticing change you? 

• Making peace
• Where do you find peace?
• What can take your peace away?  Maybe it's a painful memory, someone alive today who immediately sets your blood boiling, maybe its a job that you know you have to do, but which you'd rather not.
• How are you praying for that situation?
• How would you like God to change that situation?
• How would like God to change you? 

• Nobody
• A priest is someone within the community who strengthens our relationship to God, and a prophet is someone from without the community who represents God to the community, calling them to justice and reform.
• Do you see yourself as a priest, a prophet, or a little of both?
• Can we ever have too many prophets?
• Can we ever have too many priests?
• Who are some of the local prophets that you admire?
• Who are some of the local priests that you admire?
• How can we help them in their work? 

• Preparation for Reconciliation
• Where is God calling me to be bold?
• How can I be more attuned to God's presence in my life?
• What is stealing my peace?
• How can I do more to bring the Kingdom?

Courage to Stay

He's left our village and I miss Him so.

That day at the well, He changed me.

I had been bitter, disappointed, cynical.

And He gave me hope and dignity.

 

Everyone around me in the village looks the same.

But I will never see them the same way again.

All of them, all of us were so eager to hear His voice.

That we all dropped what we were doing.

 

Now, now we are changed.

No longer strangers to one another.

No longer so cold and bitter.

Each seeing in the other another disciple.

 

For whatever reason -

He came here, to our village, 

For all of us, and each of us.

He came for us, and among us.

 

At first, I wanted to follow Him.

Leave behind the jagged memories,

The long list of hurts and sleights.

But I would have missed a greater healing. 

 

It is as us, all of us -

That He offers us healing and peace.

My people and the Jews are one in Him.

Who knows what is next for us?

 

But I know that we can only find our way -

When we travel this road before us

Together.

With Him and each other.

 

Shalom!

2nd Sunday in Lent

Our readings for the 2nd Sunday in Lent:

1. Genesis 12: 1-4a
2. Psalms 33: 4-5, 18-19, 20, 22
3. 2 Timothy 1: 8b-10
4. Matthew 17: 1-9

• Don't wait for me
• Ultimately, God's call offers freedom to step out of the familiar, the known, into a much larger world in which the horizons recede, a much larger world in which we can become truly visible, truly prophetic, truly alive.  We must never accept safety and security if it comes at the expense of that freedom.
• How have you become more free, more creative, more daring as you have gone through life?
• What have you had to give up/shed along the way in order to embrace that freedom?
• Have you broken any hearts along the way on that quest?
• Would you do it again? 

• Finding your hope
• Hope is not so much for something, like hoping that your team takes the World Series, as it is hope in someone.  True hope is grounded in the faithfulness of God.  True hope relies on faith and love to give it life, just as hope brings joy and vitality to the other two.  They form a trinity of virtue.
• Have you ever lost hope?
• What brought that on?
• How did you get through that dark season in your life?
• How did that chapter change you?
• If you could go back to the you when you had lost hope, what would you tell yourself? 

• Self-induced hardship
• More often than not, stress and burnout are not the result of working too hard, but working at something that we were never meant to work at.  By contrast, true joy can be found in the strangest of places and circumstances when we are there in pursuit of holiness.
• What were you born to do?
• How did you find that calling in your life?
• Do you think that our calling in life, our essence ever changes?
• How did you know when you had found your calling? 

• Savoring the moment
• Mountain top experiences are good, and often needed.  But they become an obstacle if we try to cling to them.
• What are some mountaintop experiences that you have had through the years?
• How/when did you have to descend from that mountaintop?
• How did that mountaintop experience impact/influence the rest of your life?
• Did you ever return to that same mountaintop to try to rekindle the old feelings?
• How did that go for you? 

• Preparation for Reconciliation
• Where is God calling me to be more creative?
• Who do I actually hope in??
• Am I being faithful to who I truly am??
• How can I be better at savoring, really living in the moment?

Leaving for Parts Unknown

A coward dies a thousand deaths.

A brave man dies but once.

 

Both end up just as dead.

But the brave make a difference.

 

Lord,

 

Don't let me let my fear of less than greatness -

Keep me from trying at all.

 

Help me to have the courage to leave the familiar

The comfortable

The secure

 

Behind in favor of following you more closely.

 

Give me eyes for the wide open spaces,

The unexpected turn of trail.

 

Help me learn to sing with the brooks.

Teach me to find home wherever you take me.

 

Teach me to find peace,

Not in the certainty of what today will hold.

But in the certainty that you hold me.

 

Let me measure the span of my life -

Not by how many breaths I take.

But by what takes my breath away.

 

Shalom!

1st Sunday in Lent

Our readings for the 1st Sunday in Lent:

1. Genesis 2: 7-9, 3: 1-7
2. Psalms 51: 3-4, 5-6, 
3. 1 Corinthians 2: 6-10
4. Matthew 5: 17-37

• Finding trust
• Trust can be hard.  Sometimes trust calls on us to wait until the time is ripe, sometimes trust calls on us to give things away in order to live life more richly, sometimes trust calls on us to find contentment and fulfillment right where we are.
• What builds your trust in God?
• What has that trust allowed you to do that you would not have been able to accomplish otherwise?
• Trusting in God is one thing.  How much do you trust your understanding of God's will in your life? 

• Open my eyes Lord
• Sin is not just a matter of our individual actions or lack of action.  Sin also has a corporate identity that God calls us to address.
• Individually, we can take advantage of Reconciliation to begin the healing process.  But what can we do about systemic sins that may have come about in the larger communities that we belong to?
• Who's job is it to be the conscience of a family, a parish, the Church at large?  You could call such individuals prophets.
• How does that conscience speak to the rest of us these days? 
• As individuals, how do we participate in the necessary reflection, reconciliation, and renewal necessary to heal those corporate sins?
• What happens if we don't? 

• Finding your mojo
• Lately, I've been struck by Jesus' ability to smoothly move from prayer, hanging with the homies, healing, preaching, sleeping (occasionally).  How did He juggle all of that and find the proper balance???  I suspect that has something to do with holiness.  And I suspect that Jesus' prayer life allowed Him to do all of those things in just the right places and time in exquisite harmony with God's will.
• How do you know when your life is "out of whack"?  That ache that tells you that you've neglected some important aspect of your life.
• How long does it usually take you before you realize that you need to change things?
• How long does that change stay in place once you make it, before you're "out of whack" again?
• How important do you think it is that we do the right things at the right time for the right reason? 

• Finding freedom from sin
• If only Jesus had ChatGPT available, I'm sure He would have been able to come up with even snappier responses to the devil's temptations.
• What do you do to develop your conscience?
• What are some things that make it hard to hear your conscience?
• What help would you like in developing your conscience?
• What help could you offer to others who are looking to develop their conscience? 

• Preparation for Reconciliation
• Do I trust God to give me true joy?
• Might God be calling me to be prophetic?
• Where is God calling me to glory, today?
• Where is God calling me to turn toward Him in a deeper way?

It's Always the Little Things

Woke up late this morning.

Didn't have time to make breakfast

Thankfully, that leftover German chocolate cake from last night didn't take long to prepare.

 

Glanced down at my belt and wondered why it's gotten so short lately.

Part of me delusional about my "diet".

Part of me hating myself for being delusional.

 

Tried to squeeze in some prayer on my way to work.

Then some jerk pulled in front of me on the freeway.

I guess I was still talking to God, but not the way I intended.

 

Day at work was nothing but sand in the gears.

Nothing went smoothly.  Everyone seemed on edge.

Me most of all.

 

Sent off a scorching e-mail saying what I thought needed to be said.

Knowing that I will cringe when I see that again later.

Wondering what could possibly be so wrong about one lousy piece of cake.

 

In a mad attempt to get something done today, I stayed late.

Only thinking to call home and let them know I'd be late while on the freeway.

Thank God my cell phone's integrated with the car, so the call was hands free.

 

Even so, chilly reception and a colder dinner waiting for me at home.

Undifferentiated and unacknowledged guilt beginning to gnaw at me.

Rather than face facts, I took it out on the kids.

 

Tried to pray, too tired.

Besides, the wife has this weird ability to give me the death glare through solid walls.

Went to bed, hoping tomorrow would be better.

 

Wondering to myself if Jesus had it better in the desert.

After all,

He only had three temptations.

 

Shalom!