RENEWAL

2 Corinthians 4:16    ...We do not lose heart...though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.

2 Timothy 1:6    I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you by the laying on of  my hands.

Titus 3:5    He saved  us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing by the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 4:22-24   You lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted...and....be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

 

This is the time of year when nature stirs up yearnings for new life while surrounding us with things that have lived through their seasons.  The recent warm weather has encouraged green hope to sprout up from the grey ground, pushing through tawny leaves that are returning to the soil.  There is a reminder of the promise of renewal for everything and everybody, through the miracles of God's energy in and around us.

 

My work as a musician gives me fallow periods, more often when the school year is dormant, but most of the time I find myself in the middle of myriad projects.  This can be taxing, as the work hours of each day can begin very early and, especially for musical theatre work, end quite late.  I usually sense too late that I have upset the balance of activity I need in order to have fresh energy for everything in my life.  My habit of overcommitting seems a noble one, since I can help a greater number of people; but the fact that I am starting to yearn for a day off makes me frame this activity more truthfully as being at odds with my spiritual needs and beliefs.

 

In rest there is a returning to the spiritual life inside of me, a stirring up of everything that is at my core.  As in dreams, rest can give me the separation to help shed the spiritual weight of accumulated burdens. My weakness and weariness are derived from a lack of centering and grounding in the self that God has formed in me, and too much focus on what I perceive to be duty.  But there is always a chance at refreshment for the spirit, a cleansing of the clutter of activity, and the absorption of divine energy.  We were created to be vessels and communicators of God's love and power.

 

There is a plant in my living room which is hard for me to reach for watering, and it has been knocked down many times by my bulls-in-a-china-shop teenage kittens.  It has been lying on its side, roots drying out, for weeks, while I have been limping along with minimal household maintenance.  I was amazed to see the other day that the tendrils facing the window have crept onto the windowsill and sent small flowers up toward the light.  Without even having the proper nourishment, this plant has not only survived but thrived.  Somehow, that plant has found what it has needed to flourish and live its live fully. 

 

I might feel like I am not in an optimal place to be my true self and do what I was meant to do, but God finds ways to provide what I need.  God is patient with my learning, and if I simply open to receive renewal and guidance, God is already there in my roots.

 

Hear me, Holy Spirit, and help me to receive you as I release the barriers that my habits have built up.  Help me to open up to you and to let myself be regenerated by your energy.  Reveal to me how the water of my baptism continually blesses and cleanses me in the unreachable places. Forgive the well-meaning blunders of my days, and hone me in your fire so that I can be more like you in this world that needs our spirits to shine.  Help me to be aware of your presence, and grateful for the renewing mystery of that presence. Amen.

 

Contributed by Mollie Manner

Reflections on “The Shack”   

 

Like many others, reading The Shack by Wm. Paul Young opened the door to some conversations with and about God.  I was serving as an Associate Pastor when I read it, and led a book study with members of the congregation.  It was amazing to me to see good and faithful people think about and question God in new ways.  Particularly, to read The Shack people for whom believing in God couldn’t have been easy because of difficult and painful sadness in their lives.  Like the woman whose husband committed suicide in front of their teenage son.  Or the man who had been let go from one of the “big three” American auto companies, and who just couldn’t find a job anywhere.  Or the World War II veteran who lost a son in Viet Nam and was caring for his wife who was suffering from Alzheimer’s. 

 

The Shack is about a man, Mack, who is suffering from “the great sadness.”  His sadness is from his daughter’s abduction and death.  As readers, we accompany him through his grief, anger, confusion, and struggles with God. 

 

As I said, there are many interesting starting points for conversation with and about God in the book and the movie.  For example, in the chapter called “Here Come Da Judge,” Mack is invited to be the judge.  It comes out that Mack does sit in judgment on what happened to his daughter.  He certainly blames the man who abducted her, and that man’s father who made him a victim of abuse….  Mack’s judgments take him all the way back to God.

“Isn’t that your just complaint, Mackenzie?”  That God has failed you, that he failed Missy?  That before the Creation, God knew that one day your Missy would be brutalized, and still he created.  And then he allowed that twisted soul to snatch her from your loving arms when he had the power to stop him.  Isn’t God to blame, Mackenzie?”

 

“’Yes!  God is to blame!’  The accusation hung in the room as the gavel fell in his heart.”

 

Can you think of a time you felt this way?  Either because of “the great sadness” in your life, or the life of someone you love?  What is your great sadness?

 

The scene in The Shack continues…

           

“’Then,’ she said with finality, ‘if you are able to judge God so easily, then you certainly can judge the world.’  Again she spoke without emotion.  ‘You must choose two of your children to spend eternity in God’s new heavens and new earth, but only two.’”

 

Mack insists that he is not able to make that decision, to sentence any of his children to hell.  “For him, it wasn’t about their performance, it was about his love for them.” 

 

“’Could I go instead?  If you need someone to torture for eternity, I’ll go in their place.  Would that work?  Could I do that?’”

 

“’Mackenzie, Mackenzie,’ she whispered, and her words came like a splash of cool water on a brutally hot day….  ‘Now you sound like Jesus….’”

 

“’You have judged them worthy of love, even if it cost you everything.  That is how Jesus loves.’”

 

O Lord God, thank you for the love that will not let us go.  As we journey through Lent, be with us and guide us.  Never leave us, in all our wanderings, we pray.  Amen. 

The Land Belongs to God

A Palestinian Christian Finds the Path from Hate to Forgiveness

Elias Chacour with Sue Ellen Johnson

 

I GREW UP IN THE SMALL VILLAGE of Biram, amidst the Galilean hills. Mother nurtured my faith by relating the parables and teachings of Jesus. I pictured Jesus walking the rocky hills beside me and talked to him as a friend. Father radiated the love of Jesus by praying for the Zionist soldiers who deceived us, confiscated our home and village, and denied their promise that we would return. After years of study abroad, I was ordained to the priesthood of the Melkite (Greek Catholic) Church in Nazareth in 1960.

 

Learning to read the parables in Aramaic, the "heart language" of my Lord, helped me to understand them better. I interpret the Beatitudes as the Lord's appeal to his followers to get up and get their hands dirty as they work for peace and justice, and not to be satisfied with passively admiring peace and justice.

 

Prayer became the inspiration for my words and actions. As I acknowledged the suffering of my people, I also recognized the suffering of my Jewish brothers and sisters. We both trace our ancestry to Father Abraham; therefore, we are "blood brothers." As God's blessed children, we all cherish the land on which we live, but we are sojourners. The land belongs to God (Lev. 25:23).

My early ministry in Ibillin was filled with challenges, and by far the greatest anger between neighbors, church members, and even brothers. Only when I confronted my own anger, which had built up over years of humiliation, blind prejudice ("dirty Palestinian"), and a boyhood beating by an Israeli policeman, could I see that I too was capable of acting in revenge. Through my tears, I asked and received the forgiveness of my Lord, just as he had forgiven his crucifiers. In prayer, God showed me a way to lead my congregation out of hate's darkness and into reconciliation's light.

 

That Palm Sunday, our church was full of stony- faced, hostile people. Instead of pronouncing the benediction, I walked down the aisle and locked the doors. Returning to the front, I said, "Sitting in a church doesn't make you a Christian. Your words say you love God, yet you hate your brother. I have tried to unite you but could not, as I am only a man. It is only through Jesus Christ that forgiveness and reconciliation is born. I will be silent so he can give you that power." Fearfully we waited. Then, one by one, a hate-filled brother or neighbor stood and pleaded for forgiveness. Soon families were sitting together and former enemies sat side by side. Worship began again — a liturgy of love and reconciliation.

 

The healing born on Palm Sunday began to spread throughout the community. Villagers offered to repair the church and parish house. Food was brought from farms or kitchens. Muslims as well as Christians wanted to help whenever needed, and together we built a community center, a library, and school buildings. Today, we offer education to Christians, Jews, Muslims, and Druze. There are over 4,000 students attending Mar Elias Educational Institutions (MEEI), with classes from kindergarten through university.

 

Peace with justice is possible, but only when Palestinians and Israelis, Christians, Jews, and Muslims put aside distrust and hatred and begin to work together in the spirit of reconciliation and love.

GOOD-BYE STALE PRAYERS   

 

1 THESSALONIANS 5:16-18  (New Oxford Bible)  Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 

 

While driving to an appointment, I was listening to the Bott (Christian) radio network.  The pastor was teaching on the topic of prayer.  He caught my attention when he asked the following two questions:  1) “Are your prayers becoming stale”?  2) “Do you find yourself praying for the same things and using the same words over and over”? 

 

If the answer was yes, he suggested we try praying the scriptures.  I wasn’t sure I wanted to listen anymore as that idea had been introduced to me several years ago and after trying it for a week or so I went back to praying in my own words.  Somehow praying scripture made me feel I had lost the intimacy I feel when talking to God in my own words.

 

However, the next morning, I decided to give it a try.  I did as the pastor suggested and prayed from the book of Psalms because as he said the whole book of Psalms is a book of praise.  I started with Psalm 23 because the words are familiar and I am comfortable saying them.

 

After I prayed the first line:  “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” I stopped.  Then in my own words I praised Jesus for shepherding me through a difficult time.  I moved on to the next sentence:  “He makes me to lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside the still waters; he restores my soul.”  Then I thanked Him for the necessities of life especially a home in which to find solace.

 

With each line of the 23rd Psalm, I found that I could stop and add my own words of praise, thanks or petition.  This was definitely a new way for me to pray.  It allowed me to maintain that closeness that I had missed in my previous attempts to pray the scriptures.

 

My long range plan is to choose each morning one of the many names there are for Jesus and the scripture describing that name, i.e.,  Shepherd, Light of the World, Savior, etc.  Now I’ve said good-bye to stale, repetitive prayers.

 

If you find that your prayers have become stale and repetitive, perhaps praying the scriptures would be of help to you, too.

 

PRAYER: Father, we praise you for the beautiful words in the Holy Bible, and we thank you for hearing our prayers in whatever words we say them when they come from our hearts.  In your Son Jesus’ holy name we pray.   Amen.

 

Contributed by Judy Welch

 

 

 

 

 

      THe Prayer of St. Francis       

 

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darknesss, light;

where there is sadness, joy.

O, Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;

to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love; for it is in giving that we receive;

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned; it is in dying that we are born again to eternal life. Amen.

 

 

Baby on Milk or Solid Food   

 

 

 “Brothers, I could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to worldly, even as to babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk and not with solid food. For to this day you were not able to endure it. Nor are you able now; for you are still worldly.” 1 Corinthians 3:1-3

 

What a tough question? Am I so worldly that I need milk as a babe and not solid food? I work on the devotions and the devotional books I write. I work on the game I developed called Game of Wisdom using Bible verses. Yet, I read chapter three in Welcoming Justice by Charles Marsh and John Perkins for our Sunday class with Pastor Dummermuth on social justice and I see I have so much more to learn. I think I am on solid food, even meat, but who am I really, still a babe in the woods?

 

My day would not be complete without the scriptures which are a joy to me. My first thoughts in the morning are Bible reading and prayers for others. I have two prayer books I write in when I pray and contemplate my family, friends and nation. My mother’s Good News Bible, her The Living Bible and her The New Testament in Four Versions help me understand. Yet, I turn to The Message, Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible and to Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary on The Whole Bible to gain understanding.

 

PRAYER: Dear Father in heaven, Help me to see in the way you helped the blind man see. Make clear your word and purpose for me so that I can grow enough to bring others to understand what you did on the cross so long ago. The resurrection of Jesus completes our reconciliation to you. Let that sink into my mind. Even though we are still worldly, you offer forgiveness and eternal life through Jesus. Amen.

 

Contributed by Sandra Hilsabeck

A Time for Thanks  

 

I Thessalonians 5:18.  Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Psalms 107:8-9.  Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind, for he satisfies the thirsty, and fills the hungry with good things.

 

Thanksgiving is a special holiday for me…..both happy, and sad!   Throughout my childhood, my mom and dad invited anybody who was alone and had no place to go, to come over for Thanksgiving.  We had old friends, new friends, and during the war, Mom even invited some soldiers from Offutt Air Force Base to join us.  My mom was a wonderful cook.  One unusual specialty she made was cranberry ice, and her pies and candied sweet potatoes were great, too.
 

On Thanksgiving 1967, we headed up to Omaha.  I had a large amount of food for the dinner, and we were looking ahead to a great day.  As we went up onto the front porch, I saw four track marks, as if something had been wheeled off the porch.  As we entered the house, my uncle Clyde was standing in the dining room.  He looked just like my dad, but he was my uncle.  It was frightening.

 

It turns out that my dad had already died, and had been taken away.  My mother had to deal with all of this, without my help, which was upsetting.  But, we picked ourselves up, fixed a nice turkey dinner, cleaned up the kitchen, and then went to the mortuary to plan my dad’s service.

 

We had the service that weekend.  It was sad coming back to Lincoln, knowing he was gone, but it was comforting to know he hadn’t had to suffer a long time, and hopefully we would see him again.

 

Prayer: Dear Lord, Thank you for the life of a good man, Gerald Drew.  He was a true Christian gentleman, and we were so thankful he had a long life.  Thank you for the influence he had on his grandsons.  They will always remember his humor, and the fun they had together.  Amen

 

 Contributed by Gerry Draney