Wandering Heart: Second Sunday of Easter: Poem

Here's My Heart (Inspired by "The Lanyard" by Billy Collins*)

As a child I made a nativity

set for my mother—

pinch pot clay, uneven

angel wings,

hair made with the help of a

garlic press,

Joseph’s staff rolled out like

I was God

and it was an earthworm.

There was nothing beautiful

about it,

nothing whispering of talent,

but I made it for my mother!

So I wrapped

that questionable piece of

art in a box

and gave it to her

like I was handing her

a Picasso.

Here, mother,

you carried me in your womb.

You bandaged my knees

when I fell.

You made soup when

I was sick.

You rocked me to sleep as

an infant

and sewed my costumes

by hand.

In return, I made you this

haphazard nativity!

And in my childlike mind,

I thought that the small

white lamb,

molded from a lumpy piece

of clay,

could somehow make us even,

could somehow balance

the scales,

could somehow pay her back.

And bless my mother,

because in her grace,

she smiled and she

displayed that

hodge-podge nativity set

on the mantel

as if it were her pride and joy.

(I believed that it was.)

Maybe that’s the way it is

with God.

I say, Here’s my heart

and God smiles.

And God takes it.

And despite the ragtag nature

of my human-hearted faith,

whatever I can give always

ends up on God’s mantel.

Whatever I can give always

calls for pride and joy.

Poem by Rev. Sarah Speed

 

* “The Lanyard” from The Trouble with Poetry: and Other Poems by Billy Collins. (Random House, 2005).

reprinted with permission from A Sanctified Art

Who is Our Neighbor?

“On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. ‘Teacher’ he asked, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’  “What is written in the Law?”  he replied.  “How do you read it?”  He answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind,” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied.  “Do this and you will live.”  Luke 10:25-28

Watching the news every night, it’s hard to understand why “we all just can’t get along.”  With wars in the Middle East, the Ukraine, Sudan…violence, sacrifice, and death are pictured in graphic horror.  Until scenes of modern cities being leveled and people wearing western clothing similar to ours began to show up, it was easy to think, “the people who can’t co-exist are religiously, ethnically, socially different than I am.”  Now the scenes of violence look like our home country. 

We don’t have to look far to realize there are violent rifts among citizens of the United States.  We haven’t devolved into the same level of aggression seen in other countries, but hatefulness and repulsive verbal attacks have become common and are accepted with complacency. 

Luke brings us a message that is straight from Jesus’ words, “Love your neighbor.”  When the expert in the law asks, “Who is my neighbor?”  He may be hoping Jesus will exclude the people whose skin is a different color, who came into the county illegally, who speak out against the political leaders, who insult and denounce the poor, but no!  Jesus says everyone is our neighbor. No exceptions, no prerequisites, every person who exists deserves our love.

Jesus is asking us to do something that is very difficult and sometimes socially unappreciated.  If I show mercy to someone hated by many, am I weak?  Am I a sucker?  Shouldn’t they get a job, sober up, or go back to their home country; what do I owe them?  Jesus says you need to use all your strength and all your resources to help them simply because they are your neighbor.

I have wept in the night

For the shortness of sight

That to somebody’s need made me blind,

But I never have yet

Felt a tinge of regret

For being a little too kind.

                                  --C. R. Gibson 

Prayer:  Dear Lord God, help me to see my neighbor’s needs and respond to them with love and mercy.  Let me use my resources, my heart, my soul, my strength, and my mind to minister to my neighbors and help them see the hope God brings to all of us.  Amen. 

Carol McClain

Creation Assurance and Eternal Life

Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD from the heavens, praise him in the height! Praise him, all his angels, praise him, all his host! Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, all you shining stars! Praise him, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens! Let them praise the name of the LORD! For he commanded and they were created. And he established them for ever and ever; he fixed their bounds which cannot be passed. Psalm 148:1-6

If we really believe this Psalm of the Bible telling us that he put the waters above the heavens and created the sun, the moon, and the stars, we will want to praise the LORD. I do. Then he established them to remain the same for ever and ever. WOW! How cool is that? We do not have to worry about waking up one day and there will be no sun, moon, stars or rain. Does not that confirm in our minds that God is the creator? From the beginning of Genesis and the beginning of written history these items have been in our sky.

Whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him. Ecclesiastes 3:14

Then God tells us nothing can change these creations. What a great statement that is!

And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish. John 10:28 My salvation shall never be ended. Isaiah 51:6

Then God tells us he can and will give us eternal life as his creation shall never be ended. He sent Jesus to prove there is life after death here on earth. This is so assuring. This should keep us from ever feeling we are alone without God watching over us from the heavens.

Prayer: Thank you for these assurances about your creation, Lord. Thank you for sending Jesus who rose after being crucified. Thank you for this assurance that we can have eternal life also. Amen.

Sandra Hilsabeck

Just as I am

Just as I am, thy love unknown, has broken every barrier down... 

One of my favorite hymns is the beautiful "Just As I Am" by Charlotte Elliott who wrote about 150 hymns. We are singing a verse of it each week in Lent at my church. The story has been told that when she became very ill and was invalid for most of the rest of her life, she fell into rage and depression and felt God had no purpose for her.  A friend, the Dr. Malan, is said to have told her that God loved her just as she is and always has a purpose for each of us. The hymn always reminds me, in a powerful way, that God loves us JUST as we are and accepts us in Jesus and we always have something we can offer and do to God's glory. 

I was providing music for a few funerals this week and at one a young man, who had just died as only a teenager, who had autism and down syndrome, was being remembered by those who loved him. I had tears almost the whole service as people shared they loved his smile, or when he simply said their name, or would wear something silly and laugh. It reminded me that Jesus can use even the littlest thing we can offer to make an impact on someone's life. Never forget that God has a purpose for you and Jesus can use even the simplest act of kindness and love to be a blessing to someone else today! 

I John 4:18 - "There is no fear in love but perfect love casts out fear..."

Brent Shaw

Thoughts on scripture meditation

As we move toward the rambling brooks of scripture meditation, the still waters of remembrance, and solitude's crisp air, we do so to meet with our Savior - Kelly Minter from the book "Encountering God: Cultivating Habits of Faith through the Spiritual Disciplines". 

The Loners

Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Matthew 6:26 

This winter I have enjoyed the Juncos at my bird feeder. Juncos are traditionally called the snowbirds. They are beautiful little bird with steel gray backs and stark white fronts. They live in the Northwoods during the summer and come spend the winter with us. Generally they seem to be loners - visiting the feeder when other birds are absent, or standing on the sidelines of the deck while other large groups are feeding. Quite often, they are on the floor of the deck, eating the left-over seeds others have thrown away. The exception this winter was those two weeks we had extremely cold weather. Those days the juncos joined the other birds in the feeder. When I normally only see one Junco at a time, there were 8 in the feeder amongst the sparrows and finches. It made me realize that in a crisis, they came together to survive.  

When I think about loners in our community, my first vision is of the homeless who chose sleeping in the street or under bridges or some out of the way place, rather than coming to the mission. I have heard these loners say they feel more comfortable outdoors. They don't like the other people at the mission. They don't trust others who might steal from them or attack them so they go off alone. During those 2 weeks of extreme cold, Pastor Tom was on television inviting and encouraging these loners to come and stay warm and be supported at the mission. I wondered how many accepted this invitation despite their prior behaviors. In a crisis, things change. 

I keep my feeders full for the birds, especially in bad weather. Inspired by a recent Bible study which focused on loving everybody, I have put together bags of things for the homeless which they may need. My daughter has dropped these off in areas that she sees the homeless and they have quickly disappeared. My hope is that the loners will feel loved and not alone.  

Prayer: Heavenly Father, help us to be aware of others who are alone yet need to know that someone cares about them. Help us to support those who cannot support themselves. Help us be a welcoming community who steps up during crisis times. And finally, don't forget the timid little juncos --keep the feeders full so the loners can eat. Amen 

Nancy Hall

Wandering Heart: Easter: "And I Hope": Commentary

Read Luke 24:1-12

Commentary | Dr. Karoline M. Lewis

On the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women go to the tomb and find it empty. This is good news! But is it? Through the messengers at the tomb, the women remember Jesus’ assurances and return to the disciples with the news. And what do the disciples say? Not just words of disbelief but downright dismissal. While translations will render their reaction as “an idle tale,” “foolish talk,” or “nonsense,” the real meaning of the Greek word is “garbage.” The women announce Jesus’ promises fulfilled and the response—from the ones who were closest to Jesus— is, “yeah, well, that’s a bunch of rubbish.” 

There is so much truth and honesty in this reaction. After all, the good news frequently seems too good to be true. If the tomb is empty, if Jesus has been raised from the dead, then life as we’ve known and expected it is no longer. The world has been turned upside down (Acts 17:6). And if the world has been turned upside down, how do we even know how to live? If the disciples thought the resurrection was a pile of trash, what are people going to think when we confess belief in the resurrection?

“Could it really be true?” is the question I think Peter asked himself, and with hope on his heels, he ran to the tomb to see for himself. Peter goes home wondering and it’s in that wondering that the meaning of the resurrection lies. The resurrection only makes sense when we remain amazed, marveling and wondering at the love of God that reversed death itself. We are not asked to explain the resurrection, offer proof for the resurrection, or make a case for the resurrection. Instead, like Peter, we live in wonder—for how belief in the God of resurrection truly can change the world.

Reflect: What fills you with awe and wonder today?

reprinted with permission from A Sanctified Art