GOD SIGHTING: Here and Now

I visited a member recently at her home, and it was so clear that God has been with her in her life.  She handed me a piece of paper with a reflection on Henri Nouwen's theme, "Here and Now":

Henri Nouwen writes on the theme Here and Now, "To live in the present, we must believe deeply that what is most important is the here and now."  He reminds us that we are so easily distracted by our concerns about tomorrow and our remembrances of the past.  How true his insight is.

Too often we worry about what has happened in the past, knowing we can never return to correct or change the outcome.  But still, we make it a concern, going over and over in our minds how we could have made it different, saying, "if only I had."

Or, we worry about the future, even when we know that anything can change at a moment's notice, that nothing is ever certain in life.  Still, we are anxious if this will happen or if that will occur, planning that may never come to fruition.  Our only guarantee is change.

In the days ahead, take time each day to be present in the here and now.  Listen to the person before you.  Breathe deeply the air of the day into which God has placed you.  See the colors and signs of the season.  Feel the coolness of the days of autumn.  Be grateful for the present.

Here and now, there is much for us to savor and embrace.

Amen.

Pentecost is Here

On Pentecost, we hear of a time in the lives of the earliest disciples when the Holy Spirit came to them suddenly, disrupting their lives and sending them into difficult situations.  Yet as uncomfortable and even dangerous as it was to follow the call of the Spirit, that same Spirit worked through them in new ways to build a witnessing community.  It seems as if we are in a Pentecost time at Christ Lutheran.  The Spirit is disrupting the usual pattern of things here and forcing us to take a hard look at ourselves.  The presence of the Spirit, however, is part of God's unconditional grace for us.  And the Spirit is doing its work of transformation among us, opening us to be a community that catches the attention of our neighborhood.

In the world, but not of the world

Recent news in our neighborhood reminds us something we already know - it's a hard world that we live in.  And maybe what's even harder to hear is that Jesus says he doesn't want to take us out of this world.  Jesus wants us to stay here, just like he did, even unto his death.  But in his prayer to the Father, Jesus makes clear that we belong to him.  As we celebrated the baptism of a new child of God, we remembered that it is through baptism that Christ claims us as his own and promises to be with us in this difficult world.  And even more, we have a Savior who prays for us during our earthly sojourn.

Friends of Jesus

We might have plenty of facebook friends, but the truth is that most of us only have a few close friends with whom we can truly be ourselves.  In the world that Jesus lived in, friends were also rare.  They were the only people in your life who were at the same social level as you.  When Jesus calls his disciples friends, when he calls us his friends, he brings us much closer to him than we could have imagined on our own.  He makes us a part of himself - of his Body in the world.  And so we go to extend his gospel friendship, and to build a house where all are welcome.

Flyleaf: All Around Me

This is a modern song from a rock band called Flyleaf, called "All Around Me."  This band does identify as Christian.  I remember when I first heard this song on the radio it caught my attention that something so worshipful was being played on a major rock station.  Pretty cool witness if you ask me!  Check it out.  Lyrics are below (click the link):

In the hands of the Vinegrower, abiding in the Vine

Among the last things Jesus says to his disciples is to tell them, "I am the vine, you are the branches."  Life flows to us from Christ as life-giving nutrients and water flow to branches from the vine.  However, for the vine to be healthy and bear fruit, it must be pruned from time to time.  What might the Father, the vinegrower, be pruning away in our lives?  How is God pruning us as a community of faith?  What dead wood must be cut away for us to bear fruit?  But no matter what is pruned away, we will remain always connected to Christ the Vine, for he has made us to be his branches now and always. 

Your shepherd knows who you are

In this world, so often we are unknown to each other.  We live our lives with few people knowing who we really are.  Hardly anyone takes the time to listen and understand us.  But Christ, our shepherd, knows exactly who we are.  He came so close to us so that we could know him as he knows us.  And he's calling us to let go of our fears and anxieties so that we might get to know those around us as well.