Grace

Love freely given

Without hidden agendas

Or expectations

Undeserved blessing

The gift that keeps on giving

Like a waterfall

(Photo: Nugget Falls at Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau Alaska on August 19, 2017)

Free

December 17
Free

When I think of the word "free" I have two remembrances
Of you at age four and a half:
One of you at the beach with your arms spread wide,
As though you want to fly into the sea, embracing it -
(This is always how you approached the expansive sea).

The other is of you splashing in a huge puddle
In the midst of a deluge,
Joyfully jumping, skipping,
One foot, then two,
No cares about the rain or being wet.
Just living in the moment,
Free. (Such delight!)

When I remember these images,
It is as though I feel the liberation you are experiencing
And my heart soars.

Jesus, Immanuel
Frees us, too, if only we would open our eyes to see it,
Takes away our sorrows,
Burdens,
Fears,
To set us free
Soaring in the wild abandon of
God's amazing grace. 

What do I need to let go of in order to fully experience the freedom Jesus has already given to me?

Tango with us

 "Would you like to tango, darlin'?"
"I think I would be a little afraid."
"Of what?"
"Of making a mistake."
"No mistakes in the tango....If you make a mistake, get all tangled up, just tango on."


(If you cannot see the YouTube link to a scene from "Scent of a Woman," go here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2zTd_YwTvo)

Tango!
You hold us close
Embracing us,
Showing us the moves
If we are willing to pay attention.

Tango!
If we do it right,
YOU will lead and we will follow.
But even if we misstep,
You are there,
Holding onto us,
Never letting us go.
And all the while,
Encouraging us to take that next step,
All mistakes forgiven.
Tango with us!

[Other prayers with the letter "t" - Transform us, teach us, tap-dance with us, tame us, tend us...]

Patch us

Torn,
Ripped apart -
Some days are like that
(Not feeling quite whole),
Feeling a need to be mended.

Our own hands cannot do the mending
It takes you
To sew us back together:
The gift of your amazing grace
Is your patch for our tears.

Patch us:
And we're ready to face the world again
In one piece
While we wear the evidence
Of your grace on our sleeves.



[Lots of "P" words from which to choose. How about: paint in us, pardon us, pepper us, poke us, possess us, prepare us, prime us, purpose us...others?]

Prayers for a Hungry World: An Introduction

An unexpected thing happened to me the other day when I was swimming. As a result, I decided to write a blog in Lent on prayer and I'm calling it, "Prayers for a Hungry World." This particular blog entry is an introduction and serves to explain how this idea came to me and how I hope to focus these prayers. The prayers for each day that follows will not be nearly as long as this introduction! Here is my story:

Whenever I have an opportunity to swim in a pool, I undertake my spiritual practice of  "praying my laps" which involves using the phrase, "Jesus Christ ___________  me." (Occasionally, I throw in a prepositional phrase such as "in me" or "through me"). I go through the alphabet, thinking of action words that start with each letter and then fill in the blank, repeating the mantra with the word as I do a lap. I end up swimming 26 laps praying in this fashion.

My prayers took me to a deep place one day last week while I was swimming. I came to the sudden realization that by praying in this way, "Jesus Christ ____________ ME," I was thinking and praying only for myself. I began praying, "Jesus Christ ____________ US." By using this phrase instead, the images that came to me when I repeated each mantra expanded by leaps and bounds and subsequently became richer and more meaningful.

During one of my laps, I started to think about my son and other young people who are searching for a way to make it in our world - particularly in a culture where it seems we are all caught in an inescapable and unhealthy system.  Some young adults I know wonder how they can live differently and how they can break away from this way of living and often feel hopeless and despair when they realize they can't escape it entirely. For some, all they see is a dystopian world before them. They see injustices in the world - injustices perpetuated by our own nation (and others, too) - and what they see is not pretty.

I kept swimming, sticking with my mantras.  Maybe it was when I started to pray, "Jesus Christ, move in us." Maybe that was the lap that got me thinking in particular about my son. As I propelled myself through the water with my arms feeling the resistance as I pushed them forward and then pulled them back by my side, I thought of questions that tug at each of us -  difficult questions about justice and our complicity with the injustices that are played out in our world. I began thinking about all the different kinds of poverty in our world - financial, physical, spiritual - and I was reminded again that all of us, in some way are impoverished.

I am not sure, on the whole, that our world today is any different than it was a half century ago, a century ago, a millenium ago. Suffering has always been with us. Poverty of all kinds has always been with us. Injustice has always been with us. A future that looks uncertain and bleak is something most people have experienced at some level and at some time in their lives.

So, what propels us forward, keeps us afloat as we face a future that sometimes seems hopeless?

For me, it is the waters of baptism that help keep me afloat. That is my lifeboat. It is knowing that even as I fail at times, as we all fail at times - God loves our miserable selves, washes us clean, sets us upright to face the world again, gently pushes us back into the world, and when we're bruised, welcomes us back - oftentimes covered with dust and mud - and cleans us up all over again.

This is the hope I cling to and the hope I wish for those who see only a dystopian world. I think that - whoever we are in this crazy world - each of us is doing the best we can. Sometimes we fail, yet in the middle of a "crazy mixed up world," little kindnesses are being done every day. Do the best you can do and know that no matter what, God's amazing and abundant love surrounds you completely. "Jesus Christ, move in us!"

I will be "praying my laps" in my journey of prayer this Lent.

I dedicate "Prayers for a Hungry World," to my son, Joshua who inspires me every day.

Grace

Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. Romans 5:1-2

Grace

I am in need of that now more than ever ~

When I said those words the other day,
I did not mean to hurt your feelings.
What I had to say was not about you,
yet here I am today,
Feeling clumsy and knowing
I need to talk with you to make amends.

Grace

I am in need of that now more than ever ~

Undeserving gift,

Wrapped in selfless love,

Life-giving in emptying of yourself.

Dead on the cross

To bring life to me

As you tear apart the wretched chains of death and hell

Rising, the victor

And giver of grace.

Grace

I am in need of that now more than ever ~

So, here we are,

I hear your pain and I share my regrets

For those careless words.

We carry crosses each in our own way:

You, for the pain I inflicted;

I, at the realization of the pain I caused.

Yet, perhaps we can live out the resurrection dance

And both be washed in that marvelous gift

That we can give each other

Because of Christ ~

Grace.