5th Sunday of Lent

Our readings for the 5th Sunday of Lent are:

1. Isaiah 43: 16-21
2. Psalms 126: 1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6
3. Philippians 3: 8-14
4. John 8: 1-11

• What's new with you?
• We always greet each other with the question of what has happened in their life lately.  We don't ask just to find out the news.  What we really want is to know how life affects that other.
• Have you ever thought to ask God how events impact Him?
• Why is that?
• What do you think He might say?

• Great things
• What are some of the great things that God has done for you?
• What do all of those have in common?
• How have those gifts changed you?
• Are all of those gives things that you would have asked for on your own?

• You haven't changed a bit?
• At my age, it is common practice to tell someone that "you haven't changed a bit".  As if, at some point in the past, they had reached the climax of their life, and the remainder of their time here on this earth is all about trying to retain that essence as long as possible.  Fie on that I say.  Read The Opening of Eyes by David Whyte at: https://www.davidwhyte.com/english-poetry#Lightest.
• What are some things that you have had to leave behind so that you could move forward in life?  Maybe they were attitudes that held you back, relationships that crippled you, prejudices that threatened to shackle your imagination.
• Were any/all of those intrinsically evil?
• Or were they just evil for you?

• Being there
• You have to wonder about the positioning of the characters in this Gospel story.  I picture Jesus right next to the woman, as if He's as much in danger of stoning as she is.
• Has anyone ever defended you from others?
• How did that make you feel about them, about yourself?
• Who do you think Jesus is defending today?
• How can you help?

• Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. How can I companion Jesus today?
2. What should I be praying for?
3. What is God calling me to leave behind as I draw closer to Him?
4. Is there anyone in my life who needs defending?

The Rocks and Trees Still Whisper His Name

I have a piece of quartz on my desk to keep me connected.
I found it in a toolbox that my son gave me once.
It reminds me of his childhood and mine.
I used to believe that if I understood rocks, I understood the earth.

Deep down, I think that I hoped that understanding the earth would help
Me to understand all that went on within it.
But I soon realized that there was a great deal to this earth.
And even more to what goes on within it.

I settled for understanding the immediate things, those right in front of me.
Even though that fragmented view didn't bring the satisfaction of the larger.
It was enough, for practical purposes, to serve the immediate needs
Of getting the mortgage paid, food on the table, the kids vaccinated.

Now that I'm older, I appreciate connections.
I try to be open to them, just let the web of existence that I'm in be.
And celebrate my place in that web.
And in so doing find God.

That piece of quartz is igneous, formed from the fires of earth's core.
Heat descended from earth's creation.
Heat descended from the creation of the universe.
To touch it is to touch all time, the when of God's presence.

That little boy who treasured this rock is gone now.
Replaced by a fine, strapping young man.
Who has so many worries and concerns crowding his attention.
I can only pray that someday, I'll be able to give him back this rock.

So that he too, can use it as a passport to the universe.

Shalom!

4th Sunday of Lent

Our readings for the 4th Sunday of Lent are:

1. Joshua 5: 9a, 10-12
2. Psalms 34: 2-3, 4-5, 6-7
3. 2 Corinthians 5: 17-21
4. Luke 15: 1-3, 11-32

• Freedom is often scary
• The Israelites were fed regularly in Egypt, but slaves.  Then they were fed regularly in the desert, but they had no control over the manna, they had to rely totally on God to provide that to them as they needed it.  Now, they are in the Promised Land, and the hand of God is much less evident, though still there.  Now their sustenance comes about through a partnership with God, and they have responsibilities.
• We say that "God provides".  Just what does that mean in your life?
• It is also said "God helps those who help themselves."  Is that also true?
• Are there those in our world who cannot help themselves.  Does God still help them?
• Do we have any responsibility for those who cannot help themselves?

• We have nothing to fear but fear itself
• President Roosevelt, through the magic of that new fangled invention the radio, was able to enter the living rooms of millions of Americans night after night, with one simple message: "I'm here for you, we're going to get through this together."
• When God delivers us from all of our fears, does that mean that He will deliver us from all things that we fear, or help us not to fear them any longer?
• How has fear shaped your life?
• Are you a better person for the effect/impact of fear?

• Reconciled to what?
• Remembering Church is a Catholic application of the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults to those estranged Catholics who feel a leading of the Spirit back to the Catholic Church.  This ministry is about healing.  It is multi-faceted.  It's really hard.  And it has to go in both directions.
• What are some healings that have gone on in your life, perhaps between you and a family member, you and a friend, you and an entire community, or between you and yourself?
• Where was God in those healings?
• Where would you have wanted God to be in those healings?
• When/where have you perhaps been an agent of healing?

• Attachment to success
• Losers often become "invisible".  No one really feels comfortable around them.  Deep down, I suspect that we're afraid that some of that will rub off on us.
• The younger son in Jesus' parable blew it, big time.  What do you think was his biggest problem?
• He was impatient for his share of the inheritance.
• He didn't appreciate everything that he had at home.
• Once he left home with the loot, he didn't hire a money manager to help him budget.
• Once he was down on his luck, he should have gotten a better job than feeding pigs, after all, he came from a good family.
• In many ways, the father's grief just entered a new chapter with the son's return.  Now he had to explain to the rest of the tribe why he took that rebellious young upstart back into his home.
• Have you ever been through a reconciliation that was painful?
• Was it worth it?

• Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. Am I willing to trust God in the face of change in my life?
2. Can I trust God with my fears?
3. What am I doing to reconcile those in need?
4. Am I willing to trust God to provide everything that I need?

The Road Home

My sandals are broken.
My last robe hangs in tatters from my shriveled shoulders.
They chased me out of the last town that I walked through because they didn't know me.
At the edge of that town I tripped and fell, and now I have a limp that won't go away.
And yet, I'm more frightened of what I'll find here at home.

The pity, the scorn, even a richly deserved stoning.
The village will hate me because I deserve it.
My steady, reliable older brother will surely lord it over me.
Maybe I would be better off dead.
At least then I would not be an embarrassment to myself and others.

Family.
I want one.
What woman will ever want me, or have me after this?
Better to go somewhere where I am a stranger and start over.
But I cannot.  I don't have the energy anymore.

I cannot end it all for lack of courage.
I cannot go anywhere else for lack of energy.
I can barely go home for fear of what I'll find there.
I'm out of options.
Surrounded by blind alleys and broken dreams.

Finally, I round a bend and the fields speak to me.
Their familiar outlines, the same crops that I remember, the scattered sheds and pathways.
It all is so familiar.  Even the birds sound homey and content.
So much peace in this land, I wish that I could still call it ...
home.

I see an old stooped man at the edge of the village, peering out.
His hand shielding his eyes against the morning sun.
His posture speaking of age, care, longing.
Our eyes meet across an impossible distance, and incredibly he begins to run.
No smooth athlete's his gait, a painful shuffling progress.

My only thought is to spare him any more pain.
I shed my useless sandals and run.
Sprinting down familiar dusty corridors.
Finding freedom in my own pain.
And we embrace.

My prepared speech is as useless as my sandals.
Suddenly I find a robe impossibly draped across my shoulders,
New sandals on my feet,
The family ring back on my finger.
I am home, but both of us are transformed.

I will never be the same care free lad that I was.
I have squandered the best years of my life learning that I always knew who I was.
The village will have to accept me on their own terms, in their own time.
All that I know for sure is that my father has the courage to embrace me once again.
And I will honor that with my life.

Maybe my older brother will help me to find humility.
I can never make up to him what I have stolen from him, from the family, the village.
All that I can do is ask for forgiveness.
And hope that I am courageous enough to accept it if it ever comes.
In the meantime there is work to do.  The land calls me, I can hear it now.

Shalom!

3rd Sunday of Lent

Our readings for the 3rd Sunday of Lent are:

1. Exodus 3: 1-8a, 13-15
2. Psalms 103: 1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8, 11
3. 1 Corinthians 10: 1-6, 10-12
4. Luke 13: 1-9

• Big design up front
• In the Agile software development methodology, graceful response to changing/emerging user requirements is everything.  Anything that will make the development team slow to respond to change is left behind.  Trying to design the whole project up front is one of those things that you have to "leave behind" in Agile.
• Have you ever made a decision in your life without being able to see clearly where it would lead?
• What made it possible for you to "make the plunge" at that time?
• Would you have made the same decision then if you knew what you know now?
• Why do you think that God treats us that way?

• God of mystery
• Most of us know better than to try to "second guess" God, but that urge to figure Him out, discern what His motives are, predict what He's going to do is strong in us.
• And yet, He wants us to know his heart, to feel the way that He feels about us, about others in our lives, about the world around us.
• How are you more godly today than you were 5, 10, 20 years ago (assuming you were alive back then, jeesh!)?
• What changed you?
• Was that change process always pleasant?
• Why?

• What was that?
• We grumble when we are disappointed or angry about something but we are unwilling to really do anything about it.  Personally, I think God much prefers someone who is honest, even loudly so, with Him than someone who grumbles.
• Have you ever complained to God about how He is treating you?
• If that notion is new to you, what might you, which things might you want to complain about?
• How do you think that would turn out?
• What does that tell you about God?

• Attachment to success
• Everyone loves a winner.  Their mere presence in our lives reassures us that life can, at least occasionally, be sweet.  Losers like Job, on the other hand, are scary reminders that misfortune and suffering can befall the best of us, without warning.
• Do you believe that God is obliged to preserve you from calamity?
• Just what constitutes a "calamity" for you?
• If something bad were to come along in your life, would you:
• Conclude God had dozed off while guarding you,
• Decide that you had it coming because of some secret sin that even you could not remember,
• Figure that it must be "your turn" for something like this,
• Decide that this whole business of living a good life is really just an exercise in futility,
• All of the above,
• None of the above,
• Or, fill in your own answer in the space below.  You have 15 minutes to respond, no looking at your neighbor's paper.

• Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. If I knew for a fact that God was with me, would I still have fears?
2. What about God do I really truly want to understand, to know?
3. When was the last time that I felt close enough to God to pray in anger?
4. Am I following God because I expect things of Him?

Fruits of our Labors

Life isn't linear.
Tapestry is the metaphor that I'm coming to peace with.
Different threads, crossing each other, often more than once, to make something beautiful.
One thread might be advancing age.

I'm never the same me.
Every morning I wake up, the sum total of everything that has I have lived up until that point.
Along with all of the aches and pains that come along for the ride.
Will I embrace all of that, the proud, the strong, the weak, the fearful, the just plain silly?

Or take the thread of family.
New members come in by birth or marriage.
They leave by death or estrangement.
If you are lucky, sometimes they can come back, transformed, new, and yet familiar.

Threads of your passions.
You study, and practice, share with a small, intimate audience,
Waiting for a shoot, a blossom to come,
Hoping that eventually it will all bring in a harvest that you can share generously.

Threads of ministry.
Generous gifts, given without reservation or conditions.
Hopefully received in the spirit that they were given.
But you never know in this life how that really blessed anyone.

All of these, and many more, growing longer, intertwining, each building and informing the other
With no real guarantee how or when it will all come together
For the big reveal at the end.
Whenever that might be.

No one asks me anymore what I want to be when I grow up.
I wish someone would.
Then I could tell them that I'm still adulting, maybe still adolescing in many ways.
You have to wonder whether Jesus wondered when He would hit the big time all those years, hidden.

I'm trying to learn patience and discernment.
Patience with the weaving process.
Discernment about when it's time to leave behind and hold something new.
Trust that there are harvests coming in right now, that I cannot see nor appreciate

yet.

Shalom!

2nd Sunday of Lent

Our readings for the 2nd Sunday of Lent are:

1. Genesis 15: 5-12, 17-18
2. Psalms 27: 1, 7-8, 8-9, 13-14
3. Philippians 3: 17-4:1
4. Luke 9: 28b-36

• We are a covenant people
• In ancient Semitic cultures, two men would enact a solemn covenant or pact between them by walking between the halves of butchered animals.  The vision that Abram had of God walking through that sacrifice was a very solemn pact indeed.
• What promises has God made to us, His people?
• Do those promises of God come to your mind very often?
• Why is that?

• Waiting, waiting for what exactly?
• Are you counting on God to do something in your life, or do something for you?
• How long have you been waiting?
• Is what you're waiting for an event, or a process?
• How much longer do you think that you can wait on God for that?

• Quo vadis?
• What gets you out of bed in the morning?
• Why is that important to you?
• If you said something like "I get out of bed in the morning so that I can take my place in the ongoing unfolding of creation." congratulations, you're thinking in an Ignatian mindset.  So why is it important to you to participate in creation?
• If you knew that you were going to die tomorrow, would you still get out of bed for that reason, or would you get out of bed for some other reason?
• Why?

• Exodus
• One of the biggest problems that the Children of Israel had leaving Egypt was leaving behind all of the things that they had grown comfortable with.  Ignatius would term those things "disordered attachments" because they hampered the Israelite's freedom.
• What are some things that you are really attached to?
• How much would it take to get you to let go of any of those?
• Are you really free?

• Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. What would God have to do before I trusted Him more?
2. Where/with whom is my trust?
3. How does my heavenly citizenship change the way that I act and relate to others?
4. What are some things that I need to let go, so that I can follow Jesus more closely?

Shackled to Success

"It just wasn't meant to be" is often offered as a consolation prize.
You poured your heart into it, gave your all, and still, failure.
Nothing to show for your work but the bitter ashes of disappointment,
And worse, the pity of those who love you and care about you.

But what if success is not the only objective in town?
What if, even just once in a while, the real prize is not in the taking,
But in the trying, the striving, the struggle.  That the goal
The goal is not to succeed, but to give generously, even recklessly.

How freeing would that be.  Then, then the only real failure in life
Would be in giving up before the journey was fair begun,
In turning back once more to the fleshpots of Egypt out of fear
That the desert is unexplored, too vast, too dangerous,

Turning back to slavery to what can always be done, the sure thing
Just because it's familiar, safe, secure, warm and cozy.
The person who never ventures forth with daring, and a little fear,
Has traded life for comfort, freedom for safety, and passion for a warm place by the fire.

Lord save me from such domestication!

Shalom!

1st Sunday of Lent

Our readings for the 1st Sunday of Lent are:

1. Deuteronomy 26: 4-10
2. Psalms 91: 1-2, 10-11, 12-13, 14-15
3. Romans 10: 8-13
4. Luke 4: 1-13

• Who are we?
• God's children the Jews identify themselves as His chosen, not just because of their father Abraham, but because of their shared history that bonds them together as a community through the centuries.
• The Mormons have a ceremony where they re-enact their migration into Utah to escape persecution and oppression.
• What history do you have with your faith community?
• How/when do you share that history?
• What has that history taught you?

• Earning our trust
• I have a friend who used to tell complete strangers something, and if they didn't believe him, he would ask "have I ever done you wrong?"  Of course, they had to say "no" and he would try to use that to gain their trust.
• Who are some of the people that you really trust in your life?
• Why do you trust them?
• How well do you trust God?
• What gives you that level of trust?
• What would God have to do to gain deeper trust from you?

• To judge or not to judge
• Is there anyone that you can not see ever calling upon God's name for help?
• Why do you think that way about them?
• Does God love them any less because of that?
• How could God reach out to such folks?
• What if that reaching out involved you?

• Moving on
• In our lives we have everything scheduled out, plans documented, so that when we start anything, we know when we should be done.
• Have you ever tried silent meditation as a prayer form?
• How do you tell when you are done meditating?
• What do you think "happens" during meditation?
• How do you think that preparation would help you at the beginning of a ministry? 

• Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. How can I better celebrate what God has done for me in/through others?
2. Where is my trust for God weak?
3. How can I be more welcoming?
4. Where in my life do I give God the chance to speak to me?

Finding the Time, Making the Time

"I didn't have the time for that" usually means "I couldn't be bothered."

You don't find the time, like it is some forgotten book on a dusty shelf

You make the time for what's important.  At least that's what they say.

I admit, active listening for that still small voice is hard to do.

Trusting that God will somehow attend to all that I am not doing is hard to do.

Believing that merely offering myself to Him with no expectations is even harder.

But prayer that seeks only the Presence of God is the most important act

Of anyone who wants to be most truly and passionately alive here and now.

The school of silence doesn't teach with words and symbols.

Instead, the harvest of that silence is a deepened relationship,

A sensitivity to the Spirit that never comes quickly

The ability to be in the moment more and more moments.

Until our entire lives become prayer-soaked, dripping with Presence

Courageous in generosity

Reckless in love

Because we have learned to trust the one who made us

Will stand by our side no matter how deep the hurt

As long as we listen with our hearts and follow with our feet.

The wilderness is anywhere that we are alone

In the quiet

Without agenda.

Be still, and know that I am God.

Be still

Be

Shalom!