Shining Spirit

What a way to start the day!

Early morning, brilliant sunrise, wicker basket hanging under a multi-colored hot air balloon, rising into the clear blue sky. No thanks. Not for me. I’ll take a nice, leisurely bike ride any day. Or, maybe a brisk walk. Or, maybe just sleep in while other people do all the doing. Isn’t it nice that our world is populated by people who have different stories and dreams and hopes and practices and beliefs and preferences?

You and I are the same but different. We share a planet that begs to be healed and asks us to care for it. We need meaningful relationships. We hope, even though our hopes may vary. And, we all originate in the same love that created all things. We have purpose, common purpose. Today I will honor our alikenesses and our differences. Today I will appreciate the gift of the day and I will use it, not just for myself, but for the common good of all living things. Amen

A bouquet for you this fine morning!

I know. It’s not a real bouquet; it’s alive and lovely in nature, not snipped and wrapped in plastic. It’s not organized with the darkest color shades over here and the lighter shades over there. Not color coordinated. It’s the real before it becomes the regulated; originals before being organized. I wonder what it would feel like to live one day with such complete freedom? I wonder why Jesus used wild flowers as an illustration of a deep spiritual life?

So, I hope you enjoy your Saturday bouquet. Please don’t try to snip them and put them in a vase. They are meant to grow in the rich soil of the earth, drenched in sunshine, cooled by shade, blessed by soft rain. No two are identical; each has its own unique place and purpose in the bouquet. What if, in neighborhood or community, you and I are one among many in the human bouquet? What if we were designed to be one essential among other essentials?

Every flower, every leaf in the Saturday bouquet contributes to the lovely picture. Believe it or not, so do you. Because you are blessed, be a blessing.

“You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its saltiness, what good is it except to be thrown out as useless.”

If it looks like a duck,
and walks like a duck...
That sure looks like salt, but there's only one way
to find out.  Put a little on the end of your finger
and taste it. You'll know if it's salt or not.
If it has a little zing...salt!

But how does one lose her saltiness, 
his zest?  One way is to sit on the shelf too long.
Shelf-life, they call it.  Check the expiration date.
What's the point of being salt if you
stay in the cupboard all the time?

Another way to lose it is to be scared
of pepper's demise, so that you never take
a chance, never try something new, always
start your sentences with "Well, at my age..."
Trying to grasp saltiness because of a fear
of losing it squeezes the life out of life.

You and I will never be useless, but we will, also,
never claim as our purpose the frantic fallacy
of "I must stay young to be vibrant and vital."
Can salt lose its saltiness by trying too hard
to retain flavor?  Faking it?  Sure.
It's an ego thing; life done for the wrong reasons.
Fear can drive you to the cupboard or into
a ditch.  Either way, the game is over.

We are the salt of the earth for the sake of the earth,
not ourselves.  We are salt in the name of the One
who claims us.  We are salt for our neighbor
and for the stranger.

The depth of flavor and the quality of saltiness
has less to do with age than with attitude.
Where are you on the Zing-O-Meter?
You unplugged it!

“There was once a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho…” Luke 10:25

That sentence starts one of the most important segments of the New Testament, a small portion but profound. It probably reduces the broad, sweeping message of Jesus to one fundamental statement: “Go and do the same.”

The man in the crowd asked his question, got an answer, asked another question and got a story that has the potential of reshaping the world. At the end of the story, Jesus asks the curious man: Which of the three men who looked into the ditch and saw the dying man was his neighbor? “The one who treated him kindly,” the questioner answered. “Go and do the same.”

The irony was, of course, is that the kind man was a sworn enemy of the man in the ditch. Jews and Samaritans hated each other. But “the good Samaritan” was the source of life, healing, and kindness. I wonder: if I ended up in a ditch from a severe accident and my life was slipping away, would I turn away the help of someone I don’t like, someone I hate? Who is my neighbor? Imagine yourself into the story. You are the person in the ditch, severely injured. Would you think it important to check the passport of someone who stopped to help? Would you demand to know about their political persuasion? How about whether their religious beliefs were acceptable? “Before you bandage me, show me your immigration papers. Are you straight or gay or liberal or conservative?” Some people, it seems, would rather die than deal with one of “those.”

Who is my neighbor? “The one who treated him kindly,” It’s so simple; it really is. “Go and do the same,” Jesus said. Let every day be defined by your kindness. Even if you are on your back, bleeding in a ditch and kindness comes dressed in the garb of your adversary or enemy, be kind enough to receive the hand that reaches out to you. Take it. You might be taking the hand of God.

Be kind to everyone you meet. Everyone. And you will live in more ways than you can imagine.

Sitting in the comfort of my home, planning my day around lunch with a friend, a visit to the gym, time blocked out for reading a good book, I flinch when I see pictures of suffering, human beings sitting on piles of rubble that used to be their lives. One day, not long ago, they planned their days, too. Now there is nothing left. And not just the tragic loss of property and deeply personal belongings, but the “death toll.” Isn’t that a feelingless phrase? On that growing list, those numbers are human beings who used to play with their grandchildren and sit in church pews and wave “good morning” to neighbors.

The question is not “why.” There is no satisfying answer to that question. No, the question is “what.” In the face of human suffering, enormous suffering that seems relentless, what can I do? Little or much, it doesn’t matter. But something. I can’ walk away from that question. I can’t walk away from that question and still claim my commitment to Christ. Forget causes and reasons. Those can be debated later. First in our hearts and our minds is Reaction. What will I do?

God, give me the courage to ask the question, and to ask, and ask, and ask until some answer comes. What can I contribute to the healing of such massive pain? What of myself can I offer?

Ask from the heart and you will know.

It’s a good thing he paid attention to the instructions from Momma and Daddy Hummingbirds, because making those first solo landings are sometimes not easy to do. You have to have your wings in just the right place, your landing gear down…lots of things to do if you’re going to touch down safely. This young bird probably got lots of OJT, On The Job Training.

Every good leader, all good managers know that training is very important before a rookie gets into the game. Will you be surprised that Jesus understood the need for OJT? Luke, in chapter 10, informs us that “the Master selected seventy and sent them out to every town and place where he intended to go.” Sent them out, yes, but not before training them for the task: “be cautious, this is hazardous work”, “travel light; no extra baggage”, “don’t loiter and make small talk” (stay focused), “stay at one home…don’t move from house to house”, “heal anyone who’s sick and tell them ‘God’s kingdom is right on your doorstep'”. If you are not received in a town, then “go out in the street and say…” and Jesus gives them the exact words. The good news is that when the mission was completed “the seventy came back triumphant…” The training paid off. Mission accomplished.

Maybe all those Sunday School classes and the workshops and the conferences and the assemblies and the special courses we’ve taken over the years are supposed to prepare us for actual ministry, acting on behalf of The Spirit. By the way, all those sermons, too.

Not too late. “Use it or lose it” they say. Let’s modify it just a little: “use it or someone else won’t be blessed today; use it because you have it and we are supposed to share it with others…Good News of great joy.” At least once today, be the blessing you were made (trained) to be. Press on.

I’ve never been very good at math. In fact, I’ve never been slightly good at math. I don’t like it; it doesn’t like me, and so when I went to college, we tried to avoid each other. Except for the unbending graduation requirements that dictated several basic courses, I ran from math every semester. I have friends, though, who loved trig and calculus; they gobbled those up and wanted more. Shifting to matters of faith and practice, the same constant message is heard from classrooms and pulpits: “Go deeper. Don’t stop at a fifth grade level of understanding. Probe in order to find a strong, vibrant faith relationship with God.”

This is the recommendation of Willigis Jager in his book Search For The Meaning of Life. He writes: “Contemplation deepens and transforms our faith in Jesus Christ. It leads us from Jesus to the Christ.”

From Jesus to the Christ! Think about it. Jesus was consistent in his desire not only to know God but also to reveal God in life stories and experiences. And, he urged his followers to look through him to a deeper connection with the Origin of Life. The early portions of John’s Gospel are loaded with the blessing of Christology, of the urgency of knowing Christ. Jesus never expressed a desire to establish Jesusology, a Jesus worship. He pointed beyond himself to God and he said it clearly: “It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will never come to you.” (John 16:7) The way to shortchange your faith inquiries is to develop a love for Jesus, and stop there. He was the “door,” “the way,” the directional sign to a compassionate, caring God. There is truth in Jager’s strange comment: “We must let go of all ideas about Jesus if the true Jesus is to appear.”

Please don’t read this as a rejection of Jesus. He is the key to the door; he is the way, the truth, and the life. We love him and we follow him in trust, for he leads us beyond himself, straight to the glory of God. I invite you to think like a Mystic or a Contemplative. Keep your mind open and receptive to the whispers of the Holy Spirit. Allow Jesus to lead you to the place and moment of your own discovery. He is the pilot of the ship, but that ship floats on the enormity of the ocean’s mystery. Spiritual joy comes when we recognize the connection of the two.

Pray with me: Jesus, Light of my way, Guide of my life, show me the way to The Presence. I trust you to lead, to teach me about God as we walk along, to show me the things to do, the mind to develop in preparation for that indescribable moment of unity and union. May it be so. Amen.

My friend said: “I wonder why these damaged and dead plants aren’t pulled out of here? Such an eyesore.” She said that at the same time I was thinking to myself: “Life lessons are everywhere. Look at this one. Even in its damaged state, it sends us a message.” Do you see it?

Strength is inside, most often unseen. Watch a new building under construction. First the foundation, then the framing, both hidden sources of structural strength, then the decorative exterior. Strength is within. And, many times the interior is more beautiful than the exterior. This little plant in the photo is an example. The work of the artist is inside…texture, pattern, color. Lovely.

Spiritual strength is not in muscle and sinew. It is what resides within, planted there by The Source of all strength. A suggestion: spend as much time developing inner spiritual strength as you do walking, cycling, working out. Take a lesson from the earth. On second thought, spend more time working on the inside than you do on the outside. Better payoff.

At just the right moment, when the sun is saying goodbye, just before night arrives, the mountains speak. You can hear them only if you stop what you’re doing and pay attention. They don’t speak for a long time, just briefly. But their message is powerful.

On this particular day, long shadows and dwindling light encouraged this small section of the Catalinas to demonstrate the importance of foundations in life. It looks like a cross-section procedure in the high school lab. Slice off a piece of the mountain and what do you see? What lies below the surface? And the revealed answer is Solid Rock. Scrape away the layers of soil and you find magnificent strength.

The earth declares the glory of God, and one element of that declaration is foundational strength. When all else fails, the rock holds. When things are just fine, the rock supports. When exposed, even for moment as the sun sets, the rock is beautiful. Soil comes and goes according to the wishes of the wind, but The Rock is immovable. So it is with the promises and the presence of God’s Spirit. Beneath the surface of joys and sorrows, successes and failures lies Rock, the Rock of Ages.

And when The Rock glows in the setting sun, it is well with my soul. May it be so with you. Amen