Love

I.

Oh sweet blessed gift

Filling me, spilling over
Like a waterfall.

II
Who are we to love?
Our neighbor, Jesus tells us, 
Even those we fear.

III.
Love brings down walls
And builds bridges between us,
Make us neighbors.

IV
All love involves risk.
Jesus knew that, on the cross,
Love poured out for all.

V
Oh sweet blessed Gift
Filling us, spilling over
Like a waterfall.

(Photo: Philadelphia Flower Show, March 2017)

Ahead

But the angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, “He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.” This is my message for you.’  
Matthew 28: 5-7

 Christ is Risen! Alleluia!

The angel says,
He is going ahead of you
That is where you will see him.
Do not be afraid.

What is there to be afraid of
If Jesus is ahead of us,
Already there
For us?

Already there
To share our pain;
Already there
To share our joy;
Already there
Like a scout
Checking out what is ahead -
To see
Where the treacherous roads,
The grueling trails,
The unmarked paths
Might be.

He is risen!
Just one more way he is
Ahead of us,
Ready to greet us every day
In this life as the risen Lord,
And the life to come.

Jesus is the way.

About the photo: This is a picture of my parents who were walking ahead of me when I took this photograph of them on a visit to a botanical garden in Florida. When I look at this picture, I am reminded that not only does Jesus walk ahead of us, but Jesus walks arm and arm beside us.

About the blog:  For Lent this year I decided to reflect on scripture and write about those reflections in a blog. I thought that the discipline of writing something every day was a worthwhile challenge! So, instead of  "giving up" something for Lent, I decided to start something new. It has been a good practice, a challenging one for sure. There were days where it was difficult to find something to say. At other times the scripture passages really spoke to me and what I was experiencing in my life. It has been a helpful discipline for me. What's next? Who knows!

Woman

Now while Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment, and she poured it on his head as he sat at the table. But when the disciples saw it, they were angry and said, ‘Why this waste? For this ointment could have been sold for a large sum, and the money given to the poor.’ But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, ‘Why do you trouble the woman? She has performed a good service for me. Matthew 26:6-10

I am only a woman.

Since the beginning of time
I have been
Servant, mother
Washer woman,
Mistress, some man's property,
A widow
A damsel in distress.

Through much of time I have been
Told where my place is.
I have been abused
And then blamed for it.
I have worked my fingers to the bone
And have not received pay for what the work was worth.
I have been silenced, looked down upon, told that I am worth
Nothing.

This Jesus comes along
And I see things and hear things
That the men who surround him do not understand.
Through my sisters Mary and Martha
He became a friend to me as he was to them.
Through my sister at the well,
He became one who welcomed me, an outcast like her.
Through the woman who grabbed the hem of his garment,
He became my healer.

No, these men do not seem to see what I see,
Or hear what I hear.
Jesus is turning things upside down
Talking about a kingdom
Where the rules are different than what they are now,
Where God reigns with compassion, justice, love, mercy.
Doesn't that sound just like a woman?

The way Jesus talks and the way he treats people - 
I know his life is in danger.
I can sense that he knows this, too.
But, he has changed my life -
Is changing all our lives.
So I do what I can do
And pour the oil on his head
(It is the least I can do)
For someone so precious, so dear to me.

He has changed my life forever.

I know now that I am more than a foolish woman
Pouring expensive oil on my Lord's head -
I am a cherished and loved child of God
More precious than any oil.
I am a woman!

Out!

...Jesus cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" John 11:45








Jesus is calling us out:
  "Church, come out!" 

Come out!
from behind the walls of the building ~
   there is a world out here where God is moving. 

Come out!
from the non-life-giving traditions ~
  look at what new things God has given us!

Come out!
from your fears ~ 
   with God, nothing is impossible, remember?

Come out!
from the desire to some how control the Spirit ~
   instead, let the Holy Spirit breathe through you.

Come out!
from antagonistic behavior ~
  live a life of giving and forgiving.

Come out!
from your pettiness and insecure behaviors ~
  there's real work to be done; join in!

Come out, Church!
Come out!

Shadows

When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him while Mary stayed home. Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask..."

When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, "Lord if you had been here, my brother would not have died."
John 11:20-22, 32

Martha,
The impatient sister
Wondering why her sister
Won't help in the kitchen -
A meal must be made
For their friend.
Practical.

Mary,
The sister held captive
At the feet of Jesus
Bending on every word
That he might say
Has no time for making meals
For now, she lives in this moment.
Seeker.

But watch how the tables turn
When their brother dies!

It is Martha who seeks, believes
Proclaims, confesses:
You are the Messiah,
The Son of God.

It is Mary who is angry this time
Doubting and hurt:
My brother is dead.
If only you had been here.

We are shadows of ourselves:
Sometimes faithful;
Sometimes doubting.
The one constant
Is the presence of Jesus.

Water

Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” John 4:10¹⁴¹⁵

In the beginning, God created. 
Water. 
Life teaming water.
Drifting phytoplankton and zooplankton. 
Pulsating jellyfish (like a heartbeat). 
Slender eels slithering into dark caves. 
Purposeful crabs, inching their way across the sea floor.
Colorful clown fish diving between sponges.
Dancing seagrasses stretching up, up, toward the sun at the ocean's surface.
Protective porpoises, wise blue whales, schools of mackerel moving as one organism.
Living teaming water.

Water falling from the skies,
Earth soaking up the moisture
Bulbs bursting from winter's frozen earth drink deeply, drink deeply.
Magnificent elephants and regal giraffes seek pools of water, 
Cool down, drink for life.
Ducks bob along on ponds or rivers, finding food beneath their floating bodies:
Bottoms up!
Determined salmon swimming upstream heading to the place from which they once came,
Heading home.
Life giving water.

Amniotic fluid,
Home. Food. Life.
Waters break and new life ushers forth -
Crying, gasping for the strangeness of air.
Child of God,
Baptized, 
Tiny hands outreached, twitching at the sudden, unexpected cool wetness on the head. 
Words spoken; a promise made.
Water - washing away the dirt, the mess of life
Made fresh, new.
Joined in death and resurrection of the One.

Living water!

Nicodemus

"Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night...." John 3:1-2a

I.
Secretive meeting -
Pharisee leader seeks out
A rebel of sorts,
In the dark,
Unseen.
There is comfort in being invisible,
Yet, he sits with the One
Who is the Light of the World.

Come out into the light, Nicodemus.

II.
Temple uproar -
The rebel's arrest seemed imminent,
Was thwarted momentarily
And angry Pharisees ask why.
But one Pharisee, Nicodemus,
Raises a question of justice,
(Testing the waters, maybe?)
Causing his judgmental peers
To briefly wonder if has fallen
For this man's deception.

Come out into the light, Nicodemus.

III.
Christ crucified -
This man appears at the
Foot of the cross.
In the light.
With myrrh and aloes.
Perhaps those words
He heard at the rebel's feet
Ring now in his ears,
"For God so loved the world..."
And his fear of the light is taken away.

Live, live now in the Light, Nicodemus!