Graceland
March 27, 2022 Rev. Patricia Wagner Scripture: Luke 15: 1-3, 11-32 It's cold today, it will warm soon. But now it is cold. One of our friends makes her home outside this church. Thom covered her with a warm blanket. As she napped outside our door. Expect 3 snows after the forsythia blooms, right? So, I don’t worry about those bushes, or the daffodils in my yard. The Magnolia, though…those delicate blooms have started to emerge. They didn’t survive a late frost last year. So, I know they are vulnerable. And as I ponder this love we have for the fragile flowers and fragile friends at the door and for a child in Mariupol, Ukraine. Injured and recovering in a hospital that is also a bomb shelter. The anguish we feel for this vulnerable child we will never meet. Wipes us out, the one who loves is vulnerable, too. And if we can ache for a budding tree and a neighbor on the step, and a child far away, what does that tell us about the one who made us? There’s a wideness in God’s mercy, that is wider than the sea. There’s a kindness in God’s justice that is more than liberty. Those are the words in our opening hymn from a poem written by a pastor in England in the early 1800s. One of the stanzas that didn’t make it into our hymnal is this one. Would you sing it with me. But we make His love too narrow By false limits of our own; And we magnify His strictness With a zeal He will not own. We equate God with guns and judgement because it’s what we associate with all powerful. But love is a different kind of power. Of strength, we make limits on the love of God. Because we struggle to comprehend it. When Jesus was mingling with those whom society shunned, the pharisees grumbled because such persons were to be shamed. And so Jesus tells them a story. Three, actually: First of a shepherd who has 99 sheep and loses one and when he finds it, calls his neighbors to rejoice. And then of a woman who searches for a lost coin finds it, and does the same. And then the story of a man who had 2 sons one left him took his inheritance and squandered it. The other stayed and the one who’d left. Whose life was spent out, and was finally hungry enough, weary enough to say, I can’t go on, made his way home. He was ready to grovel, had practiced his lines, to convince. But before he could speak them was met with a force of love. To those whom Jesus told this story, this would have been unthinkable. No father would stoop so low he would have disowned that son. But this is a story about God, and about the Graceland. That God lives in and invites us to. Just like our hearts ache for the vulnerable around us just as we stoop and carry, so does God. Christian author, Rachel Held Evans wrote these words just months before she died at age 37. When God goes all in on us and for us there’s risk and vulnerability for God, too. God planted a man right in the middle of our inhumanity our messiness, our wars of property, and nation, and ego. Jesus, who drank at weddings and cried at funerals whose heart broke and soared and skipped beat and one day, stopped. God in Christ, loves, without the guarantee of reciprocation. Divine love is freely given, mercy wider than the infinite sea, God doesn’t’ walk away from us. We prodigals do. We walk away from the promise and dwell in other lands. Ones where is okay to bomb our neighbors, where we do not provide adequate housing, and shun the addicted, where we lock people away and keep them locked up decades after it makes any sense to do so. The Graceland that Jesus proclaims, that kingdom it feels like too much even for us, our hurts, our aches, our shaming sorrows, we Struggle to confess, them even to God. Who loves us, as Jesus told us. But one day, our hearts that break and soar and skip beats will one day stop, and we will have no option, but to come before the Lord. One day we will arrive, as others have this week, weary from war or illness or accident and we will be received. Charlie Mackesy painted this image, called the Prodigal daughter for a friend. I was just trying to show her through imagery that to be held is something she always wanted. So, I said, ‘This is what God is like.’ God knows you; you’re known, you’re fully known and loved.” This is me, this is you. This is the love with which we will be received. This is the love by which we are enveloped, now. This is the kingdom in which Jesus invites ws to live. A poem by Daniel Ladinsky an American poet, From his book: Love Songs from God. God Would Kneel Down I think God might be a little prejudiced. For once He asked me to join Him on a walk through this world, and we gazed into every heart on this earth, and I noticed He lingered a bit longer before any face that was weeping, and before any eyes that were laughing. And sometimes when we passed a soul in worship God too would kneel down. I have come to learn: God adores His creation. Believe it, says Jesus in his story of the prodigal and the father, full of Grace. Your hearts, formed by God. Hearts that break for tender plants and people in the cold and children in the war. Your heart is as mine for you are mine, says the Lord, and this is Graceland , come home. Come home, come home, ye who are weary come home.; Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling. Calling, O children, Come home. Amen.
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Cultivating the Heart
March 20, 2022 Rev. Patricia Wagner What wondrous love is this: That Jesus would give his life rather than deny his truth. The truth of God, present, aware, continuously, constantly offering us the path of life, the waters of hope, the balm that will heal so we will remember who we are and turn away from that which harms other creatures and the earth. So that we human beings would not be so filled with hate that one is ready to kill another, but so filled with love that we are ready to die for another. What wondrous love. And we long to know that love we are not always aware that we do we are distracted, and worried or bored, or unsettled or unsatisfied and we buy things, eat, drink that which will not sustain us and when we realize that we realize that we want something more, something deeper, that which will truly comfort, heal our brokenness. That we want to be at home in our own soul. God joins us in that longing and helps us cultivate that home. Its why we are here in this room. Its why we get up and get dressed and get here. Or spend time apart in the quiet of contemplation. Or rise in compassionate care for one another. Because we long for the waters of God. Waters that invite us, wherever we are, whoever we (For all the distinctions disappear before God). That we might know the One who meets us exactly where we are in that place within us here we are fully accepted, forgiven. Where there are no more questions, only knowing. Where there are no words, only love. That is the place from which our sister Twyana is going to speak. I heard recently that our first gaze at any other person is judgement. And the second gaze is love. Let us prepare to look upon our sister, Twyana as she comes before us a community of strangers to share her truth. Let us trust it comes from the heartland. Let us go with her to the waters. Rev.Patricia Wagner, Maple Grove UMC
The Heart in Danger
March 13, 2022 Rev. Patricia Wagner Scripture: Luke 13: 31-38 The Lord is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid? 2 When the wicked advance against me to devour[a] me, it is my enemies and my foes who will stumble and fall. 3 Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then I will be confident. 4 One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple. 5 For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent and set me high upon a rock. 6 Then my head will be exalted above the enemies who surround me; at his sacred tent I will sacrifice with shouts of joy; I will sing and make music to the Lord. 7 Hear my voice when I call, Lord; be merciful to me and answer me. 8 My heart says of you, “Seek his face!” Your face, Lord, I will seek. 9 Do not hide your face from me, do not turn your servant away in anger; you have been my helper. Do not reject me or forsake me, God my Savior. 10 Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me. 11 Teach me your way, Lord; lead me in a straight path because of my oppressors. 12 Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes, for false witnesses rise up against me, spouting malicious accusations. 13 I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. 14 Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. Luke 13: 31-38 31 At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, “Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you.” 32 He replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’ 33 In any case, I must press on today and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem! 34 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. 35 Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’[b]” Psalm means song and Psalm27 has been sung perhaps for 5000 years by people of faith. Not a static faith, one with closed eyes, but a real, lived one. Imagine these words coming from a person under bombardment in Ukraine. A person facing a serious illness. Your own lips as you tell yourself, as you ask yourself: The Lord is my light, whom shall I fear ? The Lord is the stronghold of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? And then comes the universal plea. When the troubles return, the bombs fall closer, the illness. Lord I Hear my voice when I call, Lord; be merciful to me and answer me. 8 My heart says of you, “Seek God’s face!” Your face, Lord, I will seek. 9 Do not hide your face from me, do not turn your servant away you have been my helper. Do not reject me or forsake me, God my Savior. Then the bombing pauses, the pain subsides, and hope returns again “I know I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” Rings the song and ends with these words. 14 Wait for the Lord; the psalmist tells herself be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” Jesus would have known this psalm, he would have sung it in synagogue. Perhaps particularly verses 11 and 12 Lead me on the right path. False witnesses rise up against me accusing me. Jesus is in trouble. Just before the passage Nancy read from Luke 13 Jesus has proclaimed that the last shall be first and the first last. And nothing so alarms those at the top than the suggestion that they may not remain so. The Pharisees warn Jesus that Herod is plotting against him. Just as his father, also named Herod, did when Jesus was a child and word of his birth stoked fear. Leave, they say, hoping to kill two birds with one stone. For his words threaten them, too. But Jesus says, forcefully: Go tell that fox that I will not stop, I know what danger I am in, but I will press on, today, tomorrow and the next day. But then the tone shifts to lament: O Jerusalem, he says, taking in all there, even those who threaten him, the priests, the pharisees, the people, perhaps Herod and his court: How I have longed for you to find your security, your home, in me, like chicks do a mother hen. He sees what will happen to those who do not, for you will have to live in that house you are making desolate. Could they not instead listen to his call, to the call of their own heart? From Psalm 27 4 One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. The house of the Lord, not a sanctuary, not a synagogue, but the place where God dwells. The place where we know who we are, whose we are. I was growing up there was a pastor’s family that send Christmas cards. They were all attractive, perfect smiles and hair, dressed in beautiful matching sweaters standing by a fireplace of a lodge in Aspen, and the letter held details of a truly charmed existence. This wonderful thing happened this year, then this, then this, and finally this! We were jealous, mostly because what preacher’s family has the resources to go skiing in Aspen? And how do they also look so good in the same sweater? When their card would come, each year, we would read it aloud at dinner time and laugh. Whose life is like this? Why would a pastor need to pose? Isn’t the soul of Christian community? It’s very purpose, to share the truth of our lives. Like the psalmist makes clear we live a life between struggle and hope, doubt and assurance. That is where faith is found. For some years I worked for the Catholic Church and took on the work of helping introduce a theology that reflected the lives and perspective of women and a new relationship with the earth. This was the early 90’s and there were men, frankly, who didn’t like to hear that. Some walked out of our workshops on women in the bible or made fun of us. The person who was the center of my life was unhappy that I was focusing on this – there is so much other work he felt that was more important. It was a dangerous time for my heart: I had to choose whether my home with this man or was it with something deeper some place within myself that my heart was at home with God. We grew estranged and our life together began to fall apart, I could not cease, for I could see what it meant to women who’d been put down in the church, in their homes. At the end of that year, we had our annual planning gathering and those with whom I had worked, these quiet nuns and lay women, shared, with conviction and clarity. What we had figured out together and swayed the leaders to take a new direction. I hadn’t had to say a word that seemed to anger him more. I found myself running to the chapel of that church and I don’t know if I sat or fell on my knees, but the tears poured out. All the loss, the heartache, the joy combined, and I thanked God for giving me the strength to see it through. And I went back to our home and packed my bags and left. I’d realized that I was a chick who knew her way home. That I longed most to dwell in the house of the Lord. That the most important relationship of my life was with my inmost being. The heartland. The place in us formed by God from which God calls us to which God calls us to reside. In that moment in the chapel, I realized the gift God had given me, by allowing my heart to enter into danger. I found my faith. Faith is not really about believing in a particular doctrine or creed. It is fundamentally more than that Rev. Lindsay Armstrong says, “It’s about the truth of what we have known. The life of faith is grounded in experience. It is about the real mystery, awe,pain, and grace that we know.” That’s what we hear in the psalm 27. That’s what we hear in Jesus’ agony outside Jerusalem. Mystery, awe, pain, and grace that brought our psalmist through. That brings Jesus through and brought me through. That leads every one of us, if we are willing, into the heart land that is our home. Here’s an American folk hymn, a psalm: My life flows on in endless song, above Earth’s lamentation It sings a real, though far off hymn, that hails a new creation No storm can shake my inmost calm, while to that rock I’m clinging It sounds an echo in my soul, how can I keep from singing. While though the tempest loudly roars, I know the truth, it liveth. What though the darkness 'round me close, Songs in the night it giveth. No storm can shake my inmost calm, While to that rock I´m clinging. Since love is lord of heaven and earth, How can I keep from singing? When tyrants tremble, Sick with fear, and hear their death knell ringing, When friends rise up both far and near, How can I keep from singing? Through all the tumult and the strife , Our thoughts to them are winging, So all may know God's with them yet, how can I keep from singing?
The Heart and the Wilderness
March 6, 2022 Rev. Patricia Wagner Scripture: Luke 4:1-13 4 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, 2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. 3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.” 4 Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.’” 5 Then the devil[a] led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 And the devil[b] said to him, “To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. 7 If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” 8 Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’” 9 Then the devil[c] took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10 for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,’11 and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’” 12 Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 13 When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time. Today, the First Sunday of Lent, we enter into the lonesome valley. The wilderness with Jesus. We know what that looks like. Those who have been working on COVID hospital wards know. Those living with addiction, or those that love them, know. The hungry, the displaced, know. Those losing toes to frostbite know. Those who are facing severe illness. Those who have lost loved ones. All know the wilderness. Our sister, Bev is in the wilderness. That place between life and death She said aloud: I am here, see me. Perhaps because of the essential loneliness of the valley, perhaps to ask the one who coming to meet her to take her home. All who have known and loved her know that she has known where her true home is for a long time. The world has been driven into the wilderness these days accompanying the people of Ukraine. As bombing reduce homes and hospitals and schools and town squares to rubble. Our comfort becomes uncomfortable, our spring-like days while winter lingers there, feel unfair. We see trains of children sick with cancer on trains heading to the borders. Men standing in front of tanks. See us, see our children, they cry. See us, see our struggle, they cry. Some of you know the wilderness of war, firsthand. And war may seem to be out there, but we know it begins in here. It is within that the battle rages and there are choices that each mortal makes. Jesus is led by the Spirit of God into the wilderness. He has no easy source of food or water, no companion to comfort and confide in. He is as vulnerable as any human ever was, and there he faces the voice of temptation. This Son of God, this one with whom God is pleased, this one whom God would have us listen to. Let us lead him to another way, tempt him with power and glory – all the earth is yours. With ease – you need not hunger or know hardship. With invulnerability – no fall will harm you. The people will listen to him and believe that is the righteous way. Jesus rejects that way, choosing instead community, humanity, vulnerability. Others, false messiahs, take it. Every land on earth has had them, including this one. Has had them. One who makes the deal, the strongman, who builds a kingdom of power without conscience the hoarder of wealth, who would deny others bread. The seemingly invulnerable - who from their fortresses make war on the meek of the earth. These false messiahs, these uncrowned kings proclaim that they are establishing a kingdom without equal and without end upon the earth. And they convince, or coerce others, sometimes millions to follow. But they are leading people deeper into wilderness. Into the lands of jackals and ostriches. Making people strangers to their own conscience. Coaxing and coercing them to leave the home. That God has made in their heart. That place which is the kingdom of the Lord. The place that is our home, too, your home, too. There is a place that no bomb can touch. No illness can change, no loss can separate us. There is a place within us where we can know peace. Where we are whole. The place from which we can distinguish between. The false and true messiah. Where we continuously, even unconsciously seek God. And where we are continuously, even unconsciously. In God’s presence. This land within us, this kingdom of God. This heartland is the holy land. And we know when people are living out of their heartland, people, ordinary people, just like us. Sacrificing their lives so that others may live. We see it in the mothers caring tenderly for children in hiding. Children bearing up with their parent’s constant love and bringing them joy. We see it in the world taking to the streets. Steeling themselves for financial costs of protest. We see it in the embrace of persons at border crossings ready to take beloved strangers in. We see the choice made for community, humanity, vulnerability. Psalm 91 is cited in this story: You who live in the shelter of the Most High. Who abide in the shadow of the Almighty, will say to the Lord My refuge and my fortress; my God in whom I trust. That refuge, that kingdom, that heartland, that everlasting love is right there, right here. Let us find our way home.
Better Angels - Higher Ground
Transfiguration Sunday February 27, 2022 Rev. Patricia Wagner Scripture: Luke 9:28-36 28Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. 29And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. 30Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. 31They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. 32Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. 33Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah” —not knowing what he said. 34While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. 35Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” 36When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and, in those days, told no one any of the things they had seen. They didn’t recognize him, the disciples couldn’t comprehend what they were seeing Jesus was different, more than what they’d thought. This man of the people, this healer, teacher, prophet Messiah, who had just been talking to them was now conversing with the faith’s founder, Abraham, and prophet, Elijah and shining with holy light. They realized in that instant, who he was, that he was the Lord, the bearer of the likeness of God through whom the love of God was manifest. Have you had a revelation such as this? When something you hear or see, has you say, yes, Jesus is the Messiah, His is the one in whom God’s love is manifest. Perhaps on Christmas Eve when you raise your candle or on the most ordinary of Sundays, like this we hear “This is my beloved son, listen to him” and something within us says, “I will” Yes, I will listen, I will follow. I will be the disciple, I’m invited to be, and we’d like to stay in that yes. That assurance, that peace within ourselves that sense of holiness in our own being. So would the disciples, but Jesus leads them back down the mountain. Into the unsettled and unsettling world full of ego and conflict where the differences among us, so unimportant on top of that mountain become profoundly so. But they must follow him there, for he would have them bear the gift of revelation within themselves. And then open their eyes to the holiness that is around them and within them. Even in this blessed and warring world, even in one another. I’ve been working on a thousand-piece Puzzle – it’s of this painting Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh. When I saw the original I stood so close as to see the places where the paint was raised off the page. And the guard asked me to step back. But not before I sensed the humanity behind these strokes. I’m currently working on a thousand-piece puzzle version and can get as close as I like. Each piece has by my count at least a dozen strokes of various colors of paint, layer upon layer, so many shades of blue and also yellow, browns and reds, and black and white. I begin to see the human behind them. Multilayered, complex, the strokes of his life’s experience, full of darkness and light. This person, this preacher’s son, a man of faith who struggled so, and yet carried a revelation of the divine. And a sense of it around him, and so brought forth these revelations. Of its presence of the holly in a field of sunflowers. On a starry night over the village where he lived. In the face of the people with whom he lived. How shall we see holiness? In weary and warring world might each person, in their breathtaking complexity have something to reveal to us. I’ve been reading a book about Abraham Lincoln and Fredrick Douglas, an enslaved man who had freed himself, gone north, and was working for the rights of black soldiers in the Union Army. In 1863, one could stand in line outside the White House and wait for an audience with the President. And when he was invited in to meet Mr. Lincoln they were, to one another, a revelation. Lincoln was moved by Douglas’ dignity, eloquence, intelligence, and forcefulness of conviction. Douglas was impressed by Lincolns honesty and modesty and readiness to call himself out, and to listen to a man of different station as his equal. The layers of their life experience vastly different, one knew the stroke of a master’s whip, the other studied law by candlelight, yet there was true meeting, there. They spoke their truths without hesitation or worry of offense, Lincoln would thereafter ask for Douglas’ advice, Douglas thereafter, claimed this white man was truly his President. Two years before, in his first inaugural address Lincoln had called forth from the nation, the better angels of our nature, to engage one another out of our more noble selves. To see one another, perhaps, as God sees us. Right here, right now, in the thick of it, to be who the revelation of divine love; invites us to be, to carry the revelation from that higher ground, into the word. It is still the call, how shall we rise up to become our better angels? Less weighed down by prejudice toward one another more able to see, as the disciples saw, the holiness before us? This week we ask, what might be a better way than war. I have been impressed by what I have learned about a project called the Braver Angels and learned that Sandy Freer has been studying this herself. I’ve invited Sandy to share what she’s been learning. This is God’s beloved daughter, let’s listen.
What Does The Lord Require?
Human Relations Sunday February 20, 2022 Rev. Patricia Wagner Scripture: Micah 6:638 6 “With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? 7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” 8 He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? They will know we are Christians by our love, by our love. A few months ago, right before the service, I saw a man with a child in the hallway I nodded and smiled and went on my way to get ready. Not realizing that I was walking past an Afghan pharmacist, a former translator for American forces, who just months before, in those last harrowing days of the American occupation, had been found and beaten by the Taliban. And after years of seeking asylum here, was at the airport with his wife, Nahima and their son. And it was Matt, for whom he had translated, moved heaven and earth to get them out, Matt, who is Jeff Corcoran’s best friend, and so Fawad and Nahima had become Jeff and Ridhima’s friend, and were here that morning for the Christian baptism of their wondrous daughter, Reya. That Nahima and Fawad are Muslim mattered not. For Islam teaches that Jesus is a prophet of Islam. That while the Prophet Mohammed, peace be upon him is the seal of the prophets. Islam Instructs its followers to revere Jesus as the Messiah, to honor his mother, Mary, and to understand that we, Christians, Jews, Muslims, are all people of the Book. And so we are brothers and sisters. From the Qur’an Surely those who believe, and those who are Jews, and the Christians, and the Sabians—whoever believes in God and the Last Day and does good, they shall have their reward from their Lord. And there will be no fear for them, nor shall they grieve" (Surah 2:62 and 5:69) ". . . and nearest among them in love to the believers will you find those who say, 'We are Christians,' because amongst these are those devoted to learning and those who have renounced the world, and they are not arrogant" (Surah 5:82). "O you who believe! Be helpers of God—as Jesus the son of Mary said to the Disciples, 'Who will be my helpers in (the work of) God?' Said the disciples, 'We are God's helpers!' " (Surah 61:14). Christians are nearest, says the Qur’an in love. For they are devoted to learning of God reject the world’s evil are humble are helpers. It resonates with our passage from Micah today. The prophet is speaking to the people who had become caught up in the outer aspects of religion. The sacrifices of coin and animals that would make God happy. And they had forgotten what God most wants. It was some days after the baptism when I learned of Fawad and Nahima’s story and felt anguish that I had only nodded and passed by. It reminded me of Jesus’ parable of the priest who passed by the man lying beside the road because he was too busy with other things to see and show compassion. We all do this, for our minds and lives and even hearts are full, we walk by, we turn our head, or we don’t even notice situations and persons. Particularly when we feel there is nothing we can do. We do this with persons, we do this with countries. Of course, none of us are God. We cannot notice or take in everything and everyone. But that moment, and these passages from the Qur’an and Micah remind us of what we may be missing. The prophet Micah says: But He has told you, O mortal, what is good; says Micah, and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? Do you hear the echoes of how Christians, and Jews are to be? So, for today, Human Relations Day, how shall we live into the expectations of the Qu’ran and our scriptures, and of Jesus, peace be upon him. How shall we not pass by, be a people of justice, and kindness, and humility and helpfulness. Today, on Human Relations Sunday, we are here to not pass by, but to stop and listen, listen carefully, to one whose first language is not ours, to this husband, father, pharmacist, a person of heroism and compassion, a man of deep faith. And courage given by God. Let us listen, in kindness and humility and discern in our hearts and together how shall we do justice, how shall we be helpers. We will l begin our listening with a prayer put to words of the great Finnish national anthem. A song that is poignant today as Europe is on the brink of war. And as we consider the peoples of Afghanistan, our brothers, and sisters, so far from our sight: This is my song, O God of all the nations.
February 13, 2022
Rev. Charles Hill The Reconstruction of Love Scriptures: Luke 6:27-38 Galatians 3:28 John 13:34-35 A few weeks ago, I called the office of one of our senators. I urged him to support the Voting Rights Bill before him and his coworkers. I told him it was important that everyone have an opportunity to cast their vote without intimidation. He sent me a very nice letter thanking me for my interest and went on to tell me that he could not vote for the bill because the bill would infringe upon States’ Rights. I was not surprised by his answer. I did respond with a balanced letter, thanking him for his response, and then said, “Let me tell you a story.” In April of 1952 I happened to be on a Trailways bus traveling from Water Valley, Mississippi to Nashville, TN. I had boarded the bus before dark, but being a timid boy in those days I did not look beyond the first seat two. I am sure I took the second one. To take the front seat would have not been “proper.”—The bus rolled on through the late evening, dark came, and at some god-forsaken place out in the middle of nowhere, the driver announced a ten-minute pause. There was a rest room and ham- burger place. I am not sure how I was in and out of the burger place quickly, but I was. It was then that I observed the driver talking with two young men; very well dressed young black men. The driver was saying to them, “The man said if you will go round to the back door he will sell you a sandwich.” These young men had been in the back of the bus all the time. (State Law), they were denied food at the front door, if not by state law, then state practice. It was during the Korean War. Both young men were impeccably dressed, in uniforms of the US Air Force. Jesus said, “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.” I. This is Black History Month. Black History is not something we like to look at closely, I think. It can be disturbing, if one is sensitive. It would be great we would find a way to pursue a better understanding of this part of our past. I think it would help us all. It could be that you have already done this. Did you know that slaves had no rights what-so-ever? That a master could beat a salve if he so wished? That a slave had no access to the courts? They had no say over their children? Children or spouse could be sold at any time to anyone, and the slave had no say at all? Did you know that children were born into the status of the mother? And that many masters were the father to many mixed-race slaves? That was true for Thomas Jefferson. I live beside a woman who traces her heritage back to Sally Hemmings. Did you know that in the early 1860s slaves in the south produced more than five million bales of cotton, valued at more than a billion dollars, and received not a cent for their labors? Did you know the Methodist Church split over slavery? For out fore-parents in Methodism slavery was stronger in the Church than God? II Did you know that following the Civil War, Blacks were free and Black men had the vote. That there was a Southern Homestead Act that gave land away free, but most of it went to whites? That recent estimates are, that about 46 million people, mostly white, from which they can trace the beginnings of their wealth? That this was where the black folk lost again one opportunity for equity in wealth? Did you know that about a dozen black men were elected to the House of Representatives and one to the Senate? Did you know that in 1877, after one of our boys, Rutherford B. Hayes, made a deal with the devil, was elected to the highest office in the land, pulled all troops out of the south and granted them States’ Rights? And, that soon all kinds of obstacles were thrown up to keep blacks from voting? And those restrictions continued until the Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965? And that our Supreme Court pretty much cancelled out that law in 2013. And that all kinds of challenges to voters are being enacted across the land today?---That is just a few of the high lights of the challenge before us. There was destruction of the Black; then Reconstruction that gave some freedom; then after President Hayes, deconstruction; and in 1965 Reconstruction; and in 2013 once again deconstruction. And, that a lot of Christians do not really care enough to say, “It is time for some genuine Christian, Christ-Centered Reconstruction in the land.” If it happens it has to begin with us. III. What would that kind of Reconstruction look like? First it would be important to delve honestly and openly into the history of the slavery practice in the States from 1619 to 1865. I didn’t learn anything, really, about it in grade school, high school and college. And not a lot about it in seminary. We need to know, and to know, we will have to dig it out for ourselves. It might be a part of our white salvation. Secondly, as we study we will need to keep the Golden Rule in mine. I am sure we all know what that rule states: “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.” That is the text I have chosen to lift up from the morning scripture. As we look at how power treats people, or how insecurity affects us, we need to keep asking: Is this the way I would want to be treated? Now I can almost hear someone asking, “Is he talking down to us.” And I would say, no, I am talking to myself, but if you overhear something that touches you, just embrace it. For I can be a prejudiced sinner like other white folk.—For when we, in West Ohio, merged with the Lexington Conference in 1968, an all-black conference, I was not feeling gracious. I saw “them” taking positions in the conference leadership that I wanted for myself, and I was not happy. (Reminds me of an introduction of a Black Student pastor—Tell the story) It was a small membership church in rural Union County. It had been struggling for a lot of years. And, now, the gracious local pastor who had served them for years was retiring. So, I contacted the seminary and was told there was a student, a woman, a black woman, available. I called the matriarch of the congregation and told her about the available student pastor. She said a woman pastor would be just fine. Then I told her the woman was a black person. Jean responded, “That won’t be a problem at all.” So, we agreed on the day and time I would bring her for the introduction. The day arrived and a group gathered at the church and the student was introduced. We learned she was also musically gifted. So, when we were about to leave, Jean said, “If she is a pianist, let’s gather around the piano and sing a few hymns and then have a prayer before we leave.” As the group moved toward the piano, I kind of hung back to allow the pastor parish group and pastor to go toward the piano. One older man also hung back. He came close to me and said, “Do we have to take her?” I told Mr. G. that the group had already approved her. He then said, “We ran those people out of this community forty years ago.” I don’t think I responded to him. But, after the prayer, I was somewhat alone with Jean and said, “Mr. G. is not happy.” Her response was, “I know, but he is going to get happy.” I once told Jean I wished every church has a major leader like her. Change comes very slowly and painfully for some folks. And when women came, I was not so crazy about that. I told Pastor Patty recently, that when I saw Shirley Cadle leading a worship procession down the aisle in Hoover Auditorium during Annual Conference, I was not happy. But Shirley was an excellent pastor and leader. Gifted. God knew what God was doing when she was called.—When I was a superintendent, some church leaders would say, “Don’t send a woman here.” And I would tell them, if an ordained woman is sent by the bishop, I will introduce her. “ I then would say, “We have some excellent women pastors.” And that was fact. Sometimes it is easy to forget Paul’s’ words to the Corinthians: “Make love your aim.” And about his words to the Galatian Church: “There is neither Jew or Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” And we could add: “There is neither black nor white, rich or poor, brown, red or yellow, straight or gay, we are all one in Christ Jesus. We are equal before the Almighty. Years ago, I knew a woman who said over and over: “I am not perfect, God isn’t through with me yet, I am still under construction.” Truth is, we are all under construction, but some of it has to be Reconstruction. We first of all need to unlearn some stuff that has helped to form our thinking and control our behavior. My dear mother was a good woman. But she had an unbalanced attitude toward people of color. She was from WV, that had originally been VA. Many times I heard her say, “I believe Black people (she didn’t say Black) are just fine so long as they stay in their place.” Is that how some of us feel? When we merged with the Black Methodists back in “68” a story came out of a southern church. A white woman who met for her first time, over lunch, with several women, a mixed-race group, said: “I became sick to my stomach when I sat at table with black women. I had to leave for a while.” When she was telling the story, God and she had overcome her fear of people who were different.---Spiritual Reconstruction had done its work. It is hard work. I don’t know whether mother ever fully made it or not. Last time she stated her thoughts on Black people, I said to her, “Mother, where is their place? They are God’s children same as you and me.” What all have we learned that we need to ask God to help us unlearn? That’s the beginning. The next step toward Spiritual Reconstruction requires us to take inventory. to look deeply at our core information. Is it Christ Like? Does it reflect the Love of Jesus? --- Maybe we could spend some time this week in spiritual reflection? We could ask ourselves: Where am I not following the rule of Christian Love? What behavior in my life needs changed? How can I help God do that? If you need help in Spiritual Reconstruction. In reality, if we are growing in Christ we need a bit of Reconstruction daily. Let’s pray: Come Holy Spirit; come and open my spiritual eyes. Show me who I am, really. Warts and all. Is there some part of my thinking, speaking, or acting that needs to be changed? Reconstructed with a larger portion of Christian love? Lord, Help me to see my needs, then grant me the resolve to begin the journey toward a love that will bring greater life to me, the Church, and ultimately, the whole world. Help me, O Lord, to discover my better angels; my better angels, that I may think in love and act always in a loving spirit. Amen.
February 6, 2022
Rev. Patricia Wagner You are Calling Me? Lord, Have Mercy! Scripture: Luke 5: 1-11 Luke 5: 1-11 Once while Jesus1 was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, 2 he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. 4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 Simon answered, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.” 6 When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. 7 So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. 8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” 9 For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; 10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” 11 When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him. Its morning, Jesus has just he healed a man in Capernaum, and he has spoken with such authority that Luke says the people are amazed, and they’ve followed him down to the sea of Galilee. And as the fisherman are standing on the shore, cleaning their nets. After a long, discouraging night, and Jesus steps into one of their boats and asks to be taken out a short ways. So, to teach all those along the beach. The boat is Simon’s, who will be renamed Cephas, Peter, the Rock. We do not hear Jesus teaching to the crowd, That’s not the focus of this story, it’s this, that once done he says to Simon and the others, ‘Take the boat out farther to fish’ And they say, “Nope, we already tried, “ ‘Try again, he says, but cast your nets on the other side’. And once they haul up all those fish, so that they begin to sink, Simon is the one who is immediately aware that he is in the presence of the divine and just as aware of how unworthy he is. And I don’t think his life is any less worthy than mine or yours. Nor social ranking, we know that means nothing to God. Imagine Jesus climbs into the boat of my life and says, ‘I need you to help people hear me’. And then says, ‘Lets go out deeper’. How unworthy I would feel to be in the presence of such holiness. But and here is the revelation, perhaps the real miracle. The Lord needs Simon. He needs those who are lowly, and those who are highborn. He invites all of them, all of us. For there is work to do. To lend him our boats, these vessels, our lives. There are people to fish for. That’s a metaphor exactly right for fishermen, but it rings of entrapment. And don’t fish die once you catch them? But the direct translation in Greek is ese zogron: You will take men/humans alive. You will save them. When I was in Vietnam with my daughter to explore her heritage, meet her birth family we spent time with church folk there. Including a young woman, who among English speakers called herself Beth, the first and only Christian in her family. Beth was teaching bible school for children as she prepared for seminary. At a restaurant in Saigon, Beth shared about her family. Her brother and father’s estrangement. Her brothers suicide. And her struggle to forgive her father. And to help him see how he needed to change. She looked at the tables around us filled with young people, young families and her eyes filled with tears. “These people they don’t realize that there is more to life than money. They are so thirsty for it, but they don’t even know it”. She was a fisherwoman. She wanted to bring people out alive. It is hard work, and she found the place to begin. Now its not been an easy time for the mainline churches, not in Vietnam, nor in the U.S. For a while, David Brooks, the centrist columnist for the New York Times wrote an extraordinary article about the evangelical churches and how young people, including those in seminary are leaving in numbers. “Even those in seminary are moving away from church as we normally conceive it. They want to get away from all the bitterness of their elders. ‘Modernity has peaked,’ Said one leader.” And Brooks agrees: The age of the autonomous individual, the age of the narcissistic self, the age of consumerism and moral drift has left us with bitterness and division, a surging mental health crisis and people just being nasty to one another. What are churches offering? 12 Historic Black Colleges were attacked on February 1. As a warming at the beginning of African American History Month. And what do we hear from churches? 900,000 persons have died in this country from COVID, and churches, from Evangelical to mainline have split over masks! Millions are looking for something else, says Brooks, They want to build communities that are smaller, intimate, authentic, which can often fit in a living room. They see faith as inseparably linked to community service with the poor and marginalized. Some they want system of belief that is communal, that gives life transcendent meaning. Go out into the deep and try another side, says Jesus and bring the people out alive. But we protest, we are inadequate, we say. Lend me your boat, lend me your life, Jesus says and I will lend you my authority. Lend me your life, Jesus says and I will give you a life one that fills your nets. And we realize that somehow this life, this vessel was already his. That it was God’s to begin with. But what have we but the grace that calls us to Christ’s service? The grace that allowed Simon and all the rest, to set down their nets, and follow. Let the grace that moves us be the authority may the Christ you feel inadequate. Good, so do I, but Jesus, who walked the lakeshore who healed the sick who forgave those who hurt him, who loved his enemies, who died at human hands and was raised by God’s power and love, calls us anyway. Says that we are good enough to be vessels. To be couriers, to be fishers of people. Who says, lend me your life, follow me. I will close with these words of Albert Schweitzer. A physician and theologian and musician: “He comes to us as One unknown, without a name, as of old, by the lakeside. He came to those men who knew him not. He speaks to us the same word: "Follow thou me!" And sets us to the tasks which he has to fulfill for our time. He commands. And to those who obey Him, whether they be wise or simple, he will reveal Himself in the toils, the conflicts, the sufferings which they shall pass through in his fellowship, and as an ineffable mystery, they shall learn in their own experience who He is.”
January 30, 2022
A Safe Place Rev. Patricia Wagner Scripture Luke 4: 21-30 Luke 4: 21-30 Jesus has just read aloud from the scroll in the synagogue and announced his mission to bring mercy and justice and healing and to proclaim the year of the Lord. 21 Then he said to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” 22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” 23 He said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Doctor, cure yourself!’ And you will say, ‘Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.’” 24And he said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown. 25But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; 26yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath (Zare-a-fath) in Sidon. 27 There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” 28 29 When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. 30 But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way. I went to the movies this week. It was the first time in two years that I felt safe to go. It was wonderful. There were reclining seats. All 4 of us in the theatre were masked. This song, “Somewhere”was particularly moving. For it speaks of a longing for a place Where there is forgiveness, and peace And openness. A safe place. It is such a deep human need. One that has been hard to fulfill. These past two years physically, emotionally, politically, even spiritually. For the places we had thought we might be safe, haven’t been. We sense that in our scriptures today: Jesus has just read from Isaiah. Announced that he is here to fulfill the scriptures. To bring sight to the blind. To set at liberty those who are oppressed. To proclaim the year acceptable to God. His hometown folks were so impressed Isn’t that Joseph’s boy, they say admiringly. That one of them would become such a prophet is such a mitzvah! Such a blessing! A Jewish professor of mine used to say. We Jews are secretly proud of Jesus. He was a good Jewish boy who made the big time! So, the folks in Jesus’ home town Seem to be pretty proud of him, but then he decides to speak the truth. That he knew, having been raised there would be hardest for his townsfolk to hear: He prefaces it by saying, 'Prophets are not welcome in their hometown, ' Then tells of the stories of the prophets and outsiders. Of the poor Gentile widow in Sidon who was so faithful that at Elijah’s request gave him her last bit of food. And of Naaman, the commander in the Syrian army who humbled himself and received healing through Elijah’s successor, Elisha. Jesus was telling them that they aren’t the only favored ones. That told them that God doesn’t only love, heal, save Israelites or people who believe as they do. Indeed, there are no outsiders. The sides you’ve drawn are your own creation. And they felt betrayed. Decide to throw him off a cliff, because he wasn’t who they thought he was. They thought he was theirs; he was everyone’s. They thought God was theirs; God is everyone’s. There’s a series called Somebody, Somewhere. Sam has come back to her hometown. She is funny, cynical, grieving her sister, her family life is a minefield, her boss at work doesn’t understand her. She is on the outside looking in and doesn’t fit in anywhere or with anyone. And she’s gotten comfortable with that, sort of. Then a man named Joel befriends her invites her to “Choir Practice”. No, she says, I’m not a church person. It’s more “church adjacent” he says, The Presbyterian Church lets him have space for a gathering – for songs and truthful storytelling. And when Sam gets there she sees a mix of people from town. Queer folk like Joel, are leading, but there are people from work, from her own family, people she realizes also need a safe place to be themselves. Why meet in a church? says one of the queer folks to Joel, it’s freaking me out. And Joel, a lot of people tell me that, he says, but for all the other times I have felt excluded this is still where I feel the most comfort. Joel asks Sam asked to sing with him, and you know how vulnerable it feels to sing especially in front of those who know you. But she stands up in front of the cross and he sings to her about not giving up. And she sings about the river that keeps flowing. That river of hope, her deep authentic self, keeps flowing. A member of this community named Jeanette, has been pondering this things deeply. And she wrote to me this week: The only way I know to risk is to be my authentic self which I have hidden, like that light kept under the bushel basket, to keep it burning. My authentic self is full of pot holes, ditches, skid marks, and persistence. It’s full of wonder and excitement and love and disappointment. It’s full of advocating and being brave for others but not so much for myself. It’s full of doubts about myself, hiding and coming out. This community has chosen as a core value to be a Safe Place to Question, Seek, Grow and Demonstrate Who we are in Christ. Creating a safe space for people to be and become our authentic selves me included, and you. To ask our questions, to seek, to demonstrate Christ’s work in us. All of us, like our friend, full of pot holes, ditches, skid marks, and persistence. Full of wonder and excitement and love and disappointment, full of bravery and fear. Of course the gospel isn’t safe, Lord, no! We might not get pushed off a cliff. But, my gosh, what Jesus asks of us: Love our enemy, forgive not seven times but seventy times seven and live understanding that the first are last And the last are first. The boundaries between us are of our own making, Jesus says, God, the spirit of the universe has loved everything into being. Including those who have hurt us or others, as much as God loves us. His hometown folks thought that makes us less beloved. With a smaller place in God’s heart but that shows us how Jesus words are about us. We who need to not only our neighbor and our enemy but ourselves and forgive ourselves as God forgive us for not being who we think we ought to be by now. That sort of forgiveness, that sort of love. That sort of space where the boundaries between us. And within us are down is what we long for, what the world longs for. In the new version of West Side Story, the people of this city, and Tony and Maria, the Romeo and Juliet of the story, are caught up in the retributive violence of their times and ours. No one is safe. The shop owner who has known all these young people, from both sides of the racial and cultural divide. She has been told that Maria has been killed and she sits at a table and sings Somewhere. It is a lament, for all that love that gets lost among us and between It is a song of longing for a place where all belong. It is a song of hope, that we’ll find a new way of living, we’ll find a way of forgiving. Somewhere. May it be so. Amen. Rev.Patricia Wagner, Maple Grove UMC
January 23, 2022
Ode to Joy Patricia Wagner, Paster Scriptures: Nehemiah 8: 1-2, 8 - 10 Nehemiah 8: 1-2, 8-10 All the people gathered together into the square before the Water Gate. They told the scribe Ezra to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had given to Israel. 2Accordingly, the priest Ezra brought the law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could hear with understanding. And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, “This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep.” For all the people wept when they heard the words of the law. 10Then he said to them, “Go your way, eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions of them to those for whom nothing is prepared, for this day is holy to our Lord; and do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee, God of glory, Lord of love; Hearts unfold like flow’rs before Thee, Op’ning to the sun above. Melt the clouds of sin and sadness; Drive the dark of doubt away; Giver of immortal gladness, Fill us with the light of day! We love this song – music by Beethoven, called “Ode to Joy” and words by Henry Van Dyke, It’s a balm to the soul to sing it: Lately, I’ve been discouraged by sin and the sadness it brings. By the way we bicker with each other that we are a world without a rudder, we cannot find a path. A set of laws, guidelines to govern ourselves. Even as a nation that will keep us in harmony and mercy and compassion. That is equitable and just. Nehemiah was wondering this too, about Jerusalem he was only the cupbearer to the king. But he saw the walls of the temple falling down. The people falling apart and was called to restore it. To restore the people’s understanding of who they are. So he goes to Jerusalem Ezra the priest and Nehemiah; share the rules of life which God shared with Moses. Now with the people of the Jerusalem, they read them aloud and men and women gather. And they understand it, understand what it means that it is for them, each of them. All of them, these guidelines, these rules for living well are not easy. And so they weep, how shall they live this way? They have lived without a rudder for so long! But Nehemiah says to them, “This day is holy to the Lord. Do not weep.” He encourages them to trust themselves and God’s precepts As we find in Psalm 19: The guidelines of God are perfect and refresh our souls The guidance of God is trustworthy and make wise the simple The ways of God are right, bringing joy to the heart, The ways of God are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The wonders of God are forever And the teachings of the Lord are our foundation The people had a way, a path to walk, a way that required them to give of themselves. To deny other ways, eat what you have, share with those who have none. For this will give God joy and the joy of the Lord is your strength. He knew that they had a way, a path to walk. A way that required them us to deny themselves other ways. But that was then, this is now. I wonder, are we too far gone? Is the world, are the people even of this land truly interested in a rudder, in guidelines, laws for living? There is a writer in Ireland, named Paul Kingsworth who grew up without the guidelines of a faith. Any faith. When he was a boy he was drawn to churches but scribbled silly threats in the church guest books, mocking the simpletons who believed. He sought out causes, including the care of the earth and peoples. But there was something missing. He realized that the reason that human beings will trod on any land, pollute every water, cut down every tree harm anyone in the way. Because there is no holy anchor, no right path, that guides them, to save the earth and themselves and others. Something calling him not only to the cathedrals but to a path. A well-worn road that he would have to walk with others. Called Christian, paths that lead him away from some things and toward that which would anchor him in the eternal, in love, love of the divine, love of neighbor, and his deepest truest self. Our friend, Dayquan is now 3 and a half years in jail still awaiting trial. Locked 23 hours a day in a 6 foot by 9-foot cell. I visited him this week, each time I ask him what he is learning. And within the confines of that place, he is learning a lot, he says. Like the beauty of nature. He has a window that looks out into the cement structure of the next building, only a sliver of sky can be seen. And this week, within that small space of sky, that limited view, framed by cement walls for the first time in more than 3 years, he saw a bird. “They are so beautiful,” he said. He is learning about love, he says. He loves his family, cherishes them as he never did before. But he cares too for his neighbor. The man who is in the next cell, with whom he talks day and night. He has learned to like his guards. They are good people, he says. He has a Bible, and he prays all the time, and he says, “God is here with me, teaching me patience. Patience, love of neighbor, and family and self. Surely that makes the Lord glad and that joy of the Lord has become Dayquan’s strength. On Friday, Cathy Davis brought Cindy – a long-time unhoused person - to our Warming Station in Room 8. And the Warming Station team was there to receive her with love and food and to sing happy birthday and to share a cake. And to share a warm jacket and a little help to keep her indoors over the weekend. And joy filled she who received and those who offered. And, Nehemiah would say, surely God’s own spirit and all in that circle felt strengthened by that joy. “Go your way, eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions of them to those for whom nothing is prepared, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Caring for one another as ourselves. Enjoying the glimpse of sky. The bit of earth and all it provides. Walking the way that has been shown us. Living according to the precepts of love, mercy, justice. Compassion, servanthood, this brings joy to the Lord and that is our strength. Thou art giving and forgiving, Ever blessing, ever blest, Wellspring of the joy of living, Ocean depth of happy rest! Thou our Father, Christ our Brother, All who live in love are Thine; Teach us how to love each other, Lift us to the joy divine. Amen. |