A Fire in My Bones

When the well goes dry

The ministry of presence is a difficult and humbling ministry.  It is the ministry of being there with people in times of crisis, through various stages of aging, disease, death, in times of uncertainty and concern.  It calls on us as Christians to be those who remember and bear for others the life and hope of Jesus. The ministry of bearing God’s hope, being an agent of the Good News – especially when the times are not good or the news is hard is humbling and difficult.  One has to have the spiritual reservoir pretty well full, or  there isn’t much to offer in the way of presence and hope to those who need it the most. 

Those hard times of life don’t stop just because it’s a busy time in the life of the church.  Lent, Holy Week and Easter – are all filled with the wonder and drama of Jesus’ life and death and resurrection.  It’s such a busy time.  It’s also an energy depleting time.  Those days demand much.  Now I’m tired and weary.  I need to re-charge. 

What fills your reservoir?  What charges your batteries when there isn’t much energy left to shine the light of Christ on a situation?  For me it is several things – one of which is holding a baby. 

What is there about a baby that causes you to breathe a little deeper…that slows the pulse rate and reaches down deep to pull up all the wonder and awe that has gotten shoved down by everyday life?  One look at those perfectly formed little fingers and toes and I am lost – lost in the most wonderful peace-filled joy!  One look at those new eyelashes just making their appearance on delicate eyelids that flutter softly with each sleepy sigh and I am lost - lost in the wonder of how our God can create such perfect beauty!  One look at the new tender skin on little arms and legs and I am utterly amazed how God cares enough to wake this graying and wrinkled woman each morning and also to kiss away the tears and sighs of one whose time is marked by days instead of years…

It’s after Easter now.  I need to hold a baby.  So, I turn to a new wonder.  I wonder how many new parents I can visit this week? 

Surprise Me! ~ Lenten Devotion Four

 

My first career was as an elementary school teacher.  The grade I taught the longest was the third grade.   I loved teaching and I loved the kids I taught.  But there were those days when no matter what I did there was a lack of energy and excitement…both of which I think are crucial to foster learning. 

 

One low energy day I had an idea.  When my class went to P.E. I decided that I would rearrange the room.  Moving all those desks renewed my energy.  I waited to see what my class did.  Walking them back from P.E. I said nothing about the room makeover.   The first child in the room went to his desk (or what he thought was his desk) discovered it was not his stuff and yelled out, “Hey, the desks are all mixed up!” 

 

“Surprise,” I added!

 

That was all it took.  For about 3 minutes the students scrambled around searching for their desk.  Happy cheers went up when they found their stuff.  More happy cheers (for the most part) went up when they saw who they were seated by now.  It was great!!  Those few moments of excitement carried us through the remainder of the day with a lot of joy.  Surprise rearrangement of the room became a habit of mine!

 

Did you know that our God is a God of surprises?  Ask Abraham and Sarah (find their story – the most surprising part - in Genesis chapter 17).  Ask Moses about surprises…”You want me to do what, Lord?” (check out that conversation with the burning bush – Exodus chapter 3)  Maybe you should read the story of the conversion of Saul (a.k.a Paul) in Acts 9, or how about Mary and the visit from the angel telling her she would bring the Savior of the world into the world!   These are just a few of the people in scripture whose lives can attest to our God being a God of surprises. 

 

The state of the world and the pressures of family or relationships, job, or school, marriage, loss or illness can cause us to forget that God is always working.  Sometimes I think we spend so much time trying figure out how God can and should help us that we miss those moments where God is already doing a surprising new thing.

 

What if we all took a little time during Lent this year and let God be God?  What if we looked for new ways God is working in our lives…new directions God may be leading us in…new opportunities God may be putting before us?

 

My experience tells me that God is still in the “Surprise!” business.   Every time I trust God to “Surprise me!” I find fresh joy and a renewed sense of hope – not to mention an infusion of energy!  Where has God surprised you lately?  You didn’t miss it, did you?!  Sometimes another trusted person can help us see where God is working.  Sometimes it takes another person to see the joy and goodness in the surprise that God is working on for us.  It’s a perspective thing…sometimes we are just in too deep or up too close and we can’t see clearly.   I can help.  I’ve had a lot of practice in surprises – remember I’m a second career minister!

Pastor Jenny

 

Share your God surprises on my blog - http://kumcfamily.typepad.com/

Intrusions and a Heart for Mercy ~ Devotion Three

 

   “I failed,” she moaned.  “I am haunted by my actions that night.  I let God down.” Quietly I waited for her to continue her story. 

    People were arriving for Bible study when the stranger walked in, she said. He needed money for gas.  She had always been uneasy giving money to anyone.  Besides that, the study was about to start.  Reaching into her purse, she grabbed two dollars.  “This is all I have,” she said. 

    “But, it won’t even buy one gallon of gas,” he said quietly.

    “That’s all I can do,” she stated. “I have a Bible study to teach.”

    He turned to go, stopped and said, “Have a good class.” Then, he left.

    Tears filled her eyes as she repeated, “I failed.”

   “I was so intent on getting the study started on time…he was…he was an intrusion to my plans.  We had a Bible study to do.  We were learning about discipleship and right there in front of everyone I missed a chance to be a disciple,” she said. 

 

How many of us have had a similar experience?  We have an agenda, goals for the day – most of them good, like Bible study, or work to be completed. But then along comes an intrusion…someone or some situation that has the potential to upset our plans.  What do we do?

 

If I am truly honest with myself I can look at any given day and see that most, if not all of the day was shaped by intrusions of one kind or another.  Looking back it seems that my best days have been those where I have no hard and fast agenda, days when I choose to let God lay the plans.

 

Letting God take over is not always easy for me to do, however.  I like to plan things. I like to have a schedule and check things off my “list.” But as satisfying as that may be I have discovered that on too many occasions when I followed a well-thought-out agenda I missed opportunities to see Jesus and to be Jesus for others who were right in front of me. 

 

In Matthew 25: 31-46 Jesus is quite clear about our dealings with others.  Here is a portion of that text: Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’

 

Works done in Jesus’ name are often called works of mercy…giving food & drink, clothes & shelter, care & kindness.  Many of us responded to the grave needs of Haiti – especially right after the earthquake.  But the pictures and news broadcasts are not so prevalent now.  Are we still praying and helping? What shapes your days? How important is a calendar and a checklist to your daily routine?

 

©       How are you doing in the ministry of caring for others?

©       Do you look for God in the common things of every day?

 

If we cannot see God in the commonalities of daily life, we just might not recognize Christ if he walked into the room and sat down beside us.  If we cannot look beyond ourselves to others as a way of life we just might miss Jesus as he stands in the midst of an earthquake ravaged country and holds out his hands for a cup of water or as he passes by us in the grocery store.

©       Where is your heart for mercy?

 

 

 Read Matt. 25:31-46 and ask God to grow works of mercy in you. 

 

(I’d love to hear about where you have seen God or where God is calling you to live out works of mercy.  Let me know through the Pastor’s Blog on http://kumcfamily.typepad.com/, jenhulwil@bellsouth.net or a call 266-2373.)

Pastor Jenny

Shhhh! ~ Devotion Two

“Be still and know that I am God!”    Psalm 46:10

 

Have you ever thought about all the words that come to our eyes and ears in a day?  We read newspapers, emails, cereal boxes, road signs, price lists, text messages and facebook notes.  We talk to our family, to ourselves, and to the folks in the grocery stores. We talk on the phone. We sing, shout and whisper in angry, happy, anguished, scared, and calm tones and everything in between,  We are bombarded with high-speed cable connected words and sounds! Some people even sleep with the television running! Do you ever just crave a little relief from the constant barrage of words?  Do you ever just want a little silence?

 

When I was in the fourth grade I became a front porch potato!  If it was my turn to wash the dishes (no, we did not have a dishwasher…I’m old, remember?) I would finish as quickly as I could and rush outside to the porch.  It was usually close to dusk by then.  I would sit and comfortably prop my feet up on the curley que decorative wrought iron railing – watching and listening as evening came.  

 

During those front porch evenings I could hear the mourning doves begin their cooing.  I could hear neighbor’s dishes rattling as supper was finished and dishwater slurped over them.  My neighborhood, which in daytime was so alive with bike-riding children, crying babies and car-reving teens was slowing down and settling into the quiet of night.  It was there in the quiet that God and I began to have some serious chats.  Interestingly to my fourth grade mind I found God did the talking if I was willing to listen.  On those quiet times at dusk on our front porch I felt that I was sitting in the lap of God.   I loved that time of quiet.  But somewhere along the way to growing up I stopped sitting on the porch and laid aside the silence.

 

Years later I decided I needed the silence back.  It was during Lent that I began to recover the silence.  I’ll add silence to my devotional time, I thought.  “For forty days I can do anything, right?”

 

Well, I soon discovered that this sitting in silence thing was hard.  I didn’t have a front porch anymore, but I had a deck.  So, I tried deck sitting.  The silence and stillness nearly drove me crazy!   I didn’t have time to sit and be silent.  I had things to do and places to go.  Silence?  This can’t be a spiritual discipline. It’s a waste of time!  I’m too old for this!

 

In spite of my less than great attitude I persisted in this Lenten experiment with silence. I set a timer.  I lit a candle. I endured the silence, but as soon as my time was up I was back in the real world going and doing!  Silence – as a spiritual discipline?  Ha!

 

In spite of my abysmal attitude toward silence God began to do a new thing in me.  God helped me re-cover something precious.  God enabled me to recover the silence.  Slowly that silence stilled all the voices of the world around me.  In my mind I went back to the front porch, to the dusk, to the very heart of God.  How could I have forgotten the joy of that time of silence?

     When I remembered the peace, the Presence that I used to feel as a child I began to enjoy the silence as an adult.   I didn’t need my timer anymore.  I began to listen to my heartbeat and my breathing.  And in the silence I somehow became one with the One who had given me the breath, the One who had shaped my heart and caused it to beat… 

      How are your days?  Are they too filled up to have room for any silence?   Perhaps for Lent you could add a bit of silence to your day, a time just to be with God.  I have a nice front porch.  Come on over!

Pastor Jenny