Luther quote

"To speak is not an art, but it is given to only a few to speak aptly. Nobody ought to take anything upon himself unless it has been given to him from on high."

--Martin Luther

From absurdity to obedience

"Absurd comes from the Latin surdus, meaning 'deaf'. Obedience comes from the Latin ob audire, meaning 'to listen to'. Our busy world too often makes us deaf to the voice of God who speaks to us in silence.

Thus it is not surprising that we often wonder, in the midst of our occupied and preoccupied lives, if anything is really happening. Our lives may be filled to overflowing--so many events and commitments that we wonder how we'll get it all done. Yet at the same time, we might feel unfulfilled and wonder if anything is worth living for. Being filled yet unfilled, busy yet bored, involved yet lonely, these are the symptoms of the absurd lifestyle that makes us inattentive to spiritual realities.

I came here [a retreat into silence and solitude] to listen to the Voice whispering in nature, in Word and sacrament, in the people who have crossed my path and touched my life. Today I wandered along a nature trail through a dense redwood forest humming aloud, 'When through the woods and forest glades I wander...' I have a vivid image of myself staring up at one-hundred-fifty-foot redwoods in stillness, feeling tiny and insignificant and whispering, 'How great thou art! O Abba, who is man that you should be mindful of him?' At night I have been staring, shivering, up at the stars. There is a freshness about finding the Milky Way when you haven't seen it for a while. The stars call us out of ourselves."

--Brennan Manning, The Signature of Jesus

Papers, books, ideas...

I've been moving offices this week, moving from the office in the hallway leading toward Pastor Gerber's office to office once occupied by Pastor Zorb. Windows. Sunshine. Space. Three of the blessings that come from the move. For those who hadn't had the pleasure of entering my old office, picture a small windowless room and you're picturing my old office.

As I've moved books, files, and papers...I've been thinking. How much of the information on the pages of the books, files, and papers are stored in my head? Not all of it. I'm not that smart. But what percentage has remained words on a page, and how much of it has become reality? That's the real question it seems. The files and papers represent work done over the past six years being here at All Saints. They hold memories of time passed, people touched, ideas shared and not shared...basically representations of God's work.

If I look at such books, papers, and files (oh my!) as God's activity over the course of six years...could we also look at the Bible as a record of God's activity over the course of thousands of years? I think so.

I think I'll pitch most of the papers...but thankfully we'll never pitch the Bible.

Thanks for reading.

All good things come to an end, except...

There are exceptions to every rule as the saying goes. An easy one is "'i' before 'e' except after 'c'." Or what about the letter 'y'? Sometimes it's a vowel and other times it's a consonant. It all depends.

It is for certain, all things (even good ones, and thankfully bad things) come to an end. The rule is part of life that there are endings to every beginning; except one. There is one rule in life that has an exception, death. Everything dies. It's an unfortunate fact of life. We come to an end. However, because of the resurrection of Jesus, we can be the exception to the rule.

Jesus died and everyone thought, "That's that...he's dead forever." Wrong. Exception of all exceptions, Jesus rose from the dead in three days. "Holy exception Batman!" Because he lives, we live also. Even the rule of death has an exception.

The Christian message is simple. We make it way to complicated. Bottom line, Christianity is about Jesus dying and rising to new life, and the gift given to us. We need to keep it simple and remember we're here because of an exception to a rule.

Where's the prayer?

Nearly 12,000 dead in an earthquake in China, thousands more are still buried under debris, and thousands are left homeless.

There are 1.5 million victims, according to UN estimates of the cyclone that hit Myanmar in the last week, and tens of thousands were killed by the storm.

Meanwhile, we're concerned with rising gas prices among other things.

When the tragedy of 9/11 hit us, the world stopped and kept vigil with us.

When tragedy hits Asia, twice in a week, we mind our own business.

We is me. I'm as guilty as the next person. Stop and pray. Remember those who are suffering in Asia and around the world today.

Declaration of Self-Esteem

I am me

In all the wold there is no one exactly like me.

Everything that comes out of me is authentically mine because I alone choose it...

I own everything about me, my body, my feelings, my mouth, my voice, and all my actions whether they be to others or to myself...I own my fantasies, my dreams, my hopes, my fears...I own all my triumphs and successes, all of my failures and mistakes...because I own all of me. I can become intimately acquainted with me...by so doing, I can love me and be friendly with me in all my parts....

I know there are aspects about myself that puzzle me and other aspects I do not know...but as long as I am friendly and loving to myself, I can courageously and hopefully look for solutions to the puzzles and for ways to find out more about me...

However I look and sound, whatever I say and do, and whatever I think and feel at a given moment in time is authentically me...if later some parts of how I looked, sounded, thought, and felt turn out to be unfitting, I can discard that which is unfitting, keep the rest, and invent something new for that which is I discard...

I can see, hear, feel, think, say and do. I have the tools to survive, to be close to others, to be productive, and to make sense and order out of the world of people and things outside of me...

I am radically loved by God.

I am me and I am okay.

--Virginia Satir

Relax

You are exactly where you need to be.

You are not missing out, falling behind, doing it wrong,
not trying hard enough.

You are doing more than enough.

Whatever opinions you have about it,
however imperfect
This is yours.

Where you are right now.
Sitting here surfing the internet even.
Is perfect.

--anonymous

God loves you the way you are, not as you should be. You'll never be as you should be.

--Brennan Manning