Finding Peace

     A full three weeks of squeezing in required and important things between valuable and scheduled things has left me tired.  Peace sounds both good and near impossible on days like this.
     Snatching an email Upper Room I clicked on the bible link about Jesus' follower Thomas, who had his doubts. (John 20:24-29)  I saw myself.  Thomas was busy and "not with the others." He struggled to believe, wanting evidence, help, clarity.  I identified.
    A whole week, 8 days, a new creation, later Jesus provides for Thomas' need and says "Peace."  Jesus didn't say "do you understand", but "Peace."
    In that exchange I found peace too.  Grace to meet my need and a gift, a deep re-filling breath, an assurance... "peace."  That's a real gift in my morning. Thanks be to God.

Where do you find peace?

Encouragement!

Spirit Matters

“Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you
see the Day approaching.” Heb. 10:23-25

“I went mountain climbing the other day and met up with some energetic students. When I thought I could not possibly go on, they shouted words of encouragement: “You can do it!” “You are one strong lady!” “This is nothing. You’ve made it this far; the worst is over.” At times, they burst
into song to boost morale. Together, we made it all the way.” (June 25, 2014 Upper Room)

You and I need encouragement! It’s normal; it’s a God-given need! Which means we need to be offering encouragement. It helps get’s the good and God things done while caring for people!

I am so proud to be the pastor of First Church. I watch as the Mission team includes new people and says
“way to go.” I watch K-groups press on caring for one another and say “well done.” I see our leaders add hours and prayer to their schedules in preparation for necessary renewal of people and place and say “thank you.” I see so much and want you to know.

Now is the season to encourage people. It’s a time when people may have different schedules and feel a little disconnected. It’s a time when new families move into neighborhoods and are looking for a loving and  encouraging church. It’s a time when youth are considering confirmation and few will do that on their own. It’s a time of joys & hurts…of life. Don’t miss an opportunity to encourage.

Within your reach are opportunities to notice and encourage with a word, with a note, with your presence, with your invitation… to name a few ways.

In a time that challenges the Church, Love and encouragement make a huge difference. Perhaps you will commit to encourage 1 extra person each day this summer.

Thanks so much for your faith, your servanthood, and for your presence.

4 Perspectives on Right Answers -- Cynefin Framework

     
     Right answers are not always evident, right paths can always be found.
     I stumbled across Dave Snowden's 1999 work about the Cynefin Framework. It's a framework for exploring uncertain land. Cynefin is a Welsh word that Dave describes as  "rooted in many paths, of which we are only partially aware..."  He describes it best in the video to the left.
    In a time of change, right answers are not always evident, right paths can always be found.  Simplicity is indeed valuable, however it has dangers too.  
    I'm still processing this new information and seeing many links to my own life, family, church, leadership and path.  What do you see?

Lean In

I was cleaning files and came across a gem saved.  Perhaps it will speak to you as it has to me.

"...have patience with everything unresolved in your heart
and to try to love the questions themselves 
as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language.
Don't search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, 
because you would not be able to live them.
And the point is, to live everything.
Live the questions now.
Perhaps then, someday far in the future,
you will gradually, without even noticing it,
live your way into the answer."
~ Rainer Maria Rilke "Letters to a Young Poet" (Letter #4)

God Beyond Conservative and Liberal

Worship began as she solemnly approached the altar candles and all was well in her act of service.  What the teen acolyte didn't see coming, what no one saw coming, was that with the next small push of the wick in the candle lighter, the wick would fall out, snuffing the flame.  With this just over the horizon, one candle was lit and the second one in that precarious moment of combustion uncertainty.  She lifted the lighter barely a few centimeters to check for candle flame, only seeing the glow had not yet transferred.  Thats when she extended the wick a smidge and it went out.

Well trained servant that she was, she pivoted without a flinch, to retrieve fresh wick and fire.  That's when we all saw it.  All, except the acolyte that is.  The candle flame snuck up from an invisible ember to complete the task.

That's the challenge of lighting candles with a lighter filled with an extendable wax wick.  If the handler is too conservative with the wick, tending the flame and extending wick life, the fire may go out.  Yet, if one is too liberal with the wick, extending it quickly and freely, ensuring the life of the flame, it can blaze unceremoniously, dripping wax, and burning excessive resources quickly.  Conservative can equal stingy and liberal can equal wasteful.  What's an acolyte to do?

The ember that mysteriously completed altar candle ignition, launching us into worship, suggests to me that there is a place of trust between liberalism and conservatism that brings me into God's very presence.  I'm prompted to ask, "Can there be too much love of God?" I consider, "Might love eschew extreme in favor of relationship?"  I'm drawn to wonder, "Dare I trust that the mystery is bigger than my certainty and my mistakes?"  Perhaps in this place of trusting relationship can grow mysterious light... loving light... divine light!

God is like that, and so I watch, trust and occasionally laugh.  Thanks be to God.

So how did you begin worship this week?

Africa Videos from A Colleague on the Trip

Here are some videos from the recent teaching trip to Meru, Kenya. 

1. Graduation a
2. Graduation b some good music
3. Graduation teaching team singing
4. Graduation preparing to give certificates
5. Graduation mingling
6. Graduation dancing
7. Graduation first certificate given

What looks familiar to you?  What's different?  What is God inviting you to do/be/change in your life/ministry?

New Perspectives

     New places, experiences, friends and thoughts, give me new perspective.  I like that.  Being up close and personal with a giraffe or an elephant, with only a car door as barrier, makes me ponder the wonder of creation and my own mortality.
     I made the journey to Kenya to help, serve and teach, full well knowing that I would learn, grow and receive.  I've come to understand that new experiences are critical to my spiritual health, my ability to grow in compassion and my effectiveness as a citizen.   Why?  In each thought stretched, idea shared, personality encountered I'm reminded of the height and breadth of this world.  I'm tutored in justice, and mentored in communal hospitality.  I'm coached in skills to embrace the wonderful variety of people and paths in God's cosmos.  And, I'm invited to be uniquely me, while welcoming the uniqueness of others.  I am taught to love more fully, laugh at myself more easily and trust God more completely.
     Here are some familiar things I encountered from new angles.   How about the ubiquitous traffic jam... with livestock instead of cars.   Then there is the whole world of construction.  I've been on mission trips and renovated homes here in the states.  I've watched churches, stores and office buildings be built.  And, still, the hand poured concrete, and labor intensive forms built from tree-stick scaffolding, made me think again.
     I watched the news as the ICC held a trial for the Kenyan president Mwai Kibaki and listened to the perspectives of pastors and business folks from the country, all passionate, and many understandings.  Familiar differences emerged in a situation that appeared extreme to me...and so I listened, learned, wondered, talked... emerging a different person.  I'm not different by leaps or bounds, but by nuanced perspective and a broadened menu of experience on which to draw as I interpret the world around me.
      I am so blessed to receive the privilege of serving and traveling.  I am grateful for those around me who supported and encouraged this trip.  Thank you!   I know, in the adventure, I brought the gifts I planned to deliver:  teaching, encouragement, resources, neckties, friendship and connections of Christ.  I am awed by the gifts I receive:  friendship, teaching, encouragement, connections in Christ, and broader understanding of a world that doesn't look and function like my beloved home territory.  New perspective usually requires me to journey beyond the familiar and the comfortable.  When I do I find hope, promise and joy.  That's just how I'm designed and frequently how God works.

Watch for more pictures with commentary here.  Check out my Facebook for a whole collection of photos.