Surprised by God

 

If I understand correctly,

To be a Christian is to

Believe in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

It is to believe in the transforming power of Jesus’s love and

To try to live on earth as one day we believe we will live in heaven.

It is to seek to follow the way of the cross

That was transformed and redeemed through a life lived less in judgment of the poor, outcast, and socially unacceptable and more in welcoming grace.

One’s standing as Christian

Is not dependent on one’s perceived sinfulness

Or one’s perceived holiness.

It is not dependent on

Rich, poor

Black, white

Gay, straight

Jew, Gentile

Man, woman

Pro-life, pro-choice

Political party or anything else.

To be a Christian is to trust Christ with our lives and

To follow our understanding of the Living Word of God,

Revealed to us in Jesus Christ,

Still speaking to us through the Holy Spirit.

God is alive and active.

God is bigger than human comprehension.

So maybe those of us who claim

Christian

As our name

Should spend less time condemning and

More time accepting

That we might be surprised at

All the people God loves.

Music

 

It was a weekend of music for me.

Friday was the first ever Elementary Honors Chorus Clinic during the day.

Friday night was Amelia-the-Niece’s girls choir concert with the Raleigh Symphony Orchestra.

Saturday was the Lee County Arts Festival,

Including the Elementary Honors Chorus performance.

And yesterday was Charlie-the-Nephew’s All-State Band concert in Greensboro.

I feel very cultured!

 

I walked away from the weekend with a few thoughts:

 

Musicians tend to be resilient. One of the Elementary Honors Chorus students got too hot, locked her knees, and passed out. Two songs after she left stage, she walked back onto stage and finished the concert sitting down. Everyone clapped.

 

Musicians tend to be kind and encouraging. Even though the competition is stiff for a spot in an honors band, once a person makes it in, they tend to be encouraged by the other people in the band. During the middle school performance yesterday, a couple of trombonists had solos. After they finished, another trombonist gave each of them fist bumps to tell them they did a good job. It made me smile.

 

Musicians tend to know how to work together. Evidently, at the rehearsal for Amelia’s concert, the orchestra and the choir weren’t balanced. So, the orchestra worked to play quieter, and on the night of the performance, the two groups sounded amazing together.

 

Musicians tend to come together from all walks of life to focus on common good. It’s really a beautiful thing to hear and watch.

 

And…on a different note (pun intended)…audience members can be very rude with talking and gum smacking. Please do not smack your gum in the middle of a classical music concert—or ever 😊.

 

Music makes this world a better place.

 

May we all learn to be

Resilient

Kind

Encouraging

Able to work with others

Part of something bigger than ourselves

Good

And non-gum smacking.

 

Amen.

Labor Trafficking

When I worked in vocational ministry over a decade ago,

One of my areas of focus was human exploitation.

My job was to teach people about the subject and

To equip church members and organizational leaders from across the state to do the same.

During those years, I was very mindful of

How my actions affected the environment (land exploitation),

How media was using its power to influence society (media exploitation), and

How products were harvested, made, distributed, or sourced (labor trafficking).

I was involved in boycotts and petition campaigns and

I had my own compost bin in the backyard of the apartment that I was renting.

While years have passed and my mindfulness has faded a bit,

The lessons I learned during those years are still with me.

When I can, I still do my part,

And I when I can’t, I feel guilty…

 

Which leads me to the guilt I recently felt when I realized that a company I had purchased from most likely uses child labor and is involved in questionable ethical practices.

 

I didn’t know.

If I had known, then I would have steered clear of the deals that sucked me in.

And boy did they suck me in!

After I’d ordered so many things—

For myself, for friends, for school, for home—

And spent way more money than I should

On deals that seemed too good to be true,

A friend said,

“If it seems to good to be true, then it probably is.”

 

That statement both humbled me and brought me back to reality.

 

I should have known.

I should have known that such deals come at a price—

And the price is human lives.

It is forcing underage children to work in sweatshops.

It is not paying workers a fair wage for working in unsafe, inhumane conditions.

It is promising workers one thing but not living into that promise.

It is taking immigration documents and holding persons hostage.

It is labor trafficking.

 

God: Help us to be mindful of the things we purchase and the ways our actions affect people we will never meet. We are all part of a broken system much bigger than ourselves. Help us, however small and insignificant we may feel, to do our part to heal it. Amen.

Wealth

We have

Enough to go

Around.

Love should lead us

To share rather than

Hoard.

Hurt Feelings

 Hurting someone’s feelings is different than insulting someone’s existence.

 

Hurting someone’s feelings is saying no when they really want you to say yes. Hurting someone’s feelings is not supporting a new hairstyle when a person wants to get their hair cut or dyed. Hurting someone’s feelings is not being appreciative of the hard work they’ve done to help you. Hurting someone’s feelings is disagreeing with someone on an issue that they feel strongly about. 

 

Hurting someone’s feelings is NOT insulting someone because they are differently-abled, Mexican, poor, gay, female, or non-Christian. Hurting someone’s feelings is not taking advantage of or manipulating them because they are perceived weaker than you. Hurting someone’s feelings is not joking about physical harm, lack of emotional boundaries, and abuse. Hurting someone’s feelings is not about using God’s name or conservative Christian values for personal gain. Hurting someone’s feelings is not using your voice to promote fear and hatred. Hurting someone’s feelings is not promoting patriotic freedom over universal decency. 

 

Hurt feelings pass. Damning character does not. Hurt feelings are not a matter of life or death. Attacks on identity and worth are. Hurt feelings stem from fatigue or oversight. Chronic insults stem from arrogance and heartlessness. Hurt feelings come from being human. A pattern of judgment comes from deep brokenness. 

 

I am white. I come from a position of privilege and power. I come from a place where I could let fear overwhelm me. God forgive me when I am blinded by privilege, power, and fear and fail to see that there is enough love and wealth and freedom to go around. Amen. 

Dirty Car

 

I spend a lot of time in my car.

Despite my best efforts to keep it clean,

The mess inside sometimes gets out of control.

This has been the case recently.

 

It started back in March when I went on a weekend retreat.

I took my keyboard, keyboard stand, guitar, and guitar stand,

And then I was too lazy to unload them when I returned home.

After a couple of days, knowing that I was going to need the instruments again in a month,

I decided to just leave them in the car,

This decision meant taking down the trashcan from the back of the passenger’s seat and

Not having access to the back passenger’s-side seat at all.

This reality meant cramming everything into the back driver’s-side seat

Or into the cracks of the cargo space.

And boy did I have it crammed with

Papers, hats, shoes, clothes, tins, bags, programs, a French horn, trash, and more.

 

Thankfully, after my April retreat,

A friend came to the house to help me unload.

She knew that I would be exhausted and not want to do it,

So she showed up and propelled me forward.

We unloaded all the big instruments and did a quick clean of accumulated trash,

But we left the little stuff—

Papers, hats, shoes, clothes, tins, bags, programs, and more.

We also returned the trash can and put up the backseat.

 

On Saturday, my parents rode with me to my nephew’s soccer game.

Before we left, I consolidated all the “stuff” into the back driver’s-side seat.

Little did I know that when we’d get to the game,

My brother would walk to the car to greet us,

It would begin to pour down rain,

And we would need to make a place for my brother to sit.

 

As he was throwing a field day change of clothes, my bookbag, a hat, a raincoat, a stuffed animal, a world map, and seven pages of French horn music to the cargo area,

My brother joked, “My goodness, Dee. Are you living out of your car?!”

I was slightly embarrassed because I knew the car was dirty,

And I hadn’t been prepared to take in a passenger.

 

I think this is how it is with our lives sometimes.

We get so busy and accustomed to living with our messiness  

That we aren’t prepared to offer help when someone outside us needs help.

…

 

May this week be the week that we clean out our cars

And hearts

And minds

And make the space for others

When they need us.

 

Amen.

Lost and Found

 

We have a huge lost and found table at school.

Each student walks by it every day,

But very few of them ever claim anything that they’ve lost—

Because most of the time they don’t realize that anything is gone.

Kids are funny:

Out of sight, out of mind.

 

It struck me yesterday that this is how it is with us sometimes, too:

Out of sight, out of mind.

 

I remember one time many years ago when I made the decision to ask forgiveness from a friend that I’d spoken ill of and harbored negative feelings against.

The thing is:

She didn’t know that I was harboring negative feelings

Because she didn’t know that I knew that she had negative feelings toward me.

She had spoken mean words about me,

The words got back to me,

I had responded in kind—

And this had happened repetitively.

Out of sight, out of mind.

 

As I began to feel my anger, bitterness, and resentment grow,

And as I began to understand that it was hurting only me,

I mustered my courage to ask forgiveness.

When I did, my friend was stunned—

Speechless even—

But when she found her words,

She accepted the apology

That she didn’t even know she needed.

Out of sight, out of mind.

 

Our words and actions don’t just affect us,

They affect those around us, too,

And sometimes we have no idea how much.

Sometimes, our words and actions cause us to lose things.

And sometimes, we don’t know we need to be found.

 

May we be a people

Willing to pick up

What’s lost

So we can be found.

 

Amen.

Automatic Flusher

 

I remember one time many years ago when I accompanied a five-year-old to the bathroom.

She was doing her business when the automatic flusher flushed.

It scared her half to death and real tears were shed.

I don’t like automatic flushers.

They often interrupt you rather than giving you the time and space that you need.

And they are loud.

And they are forceful.

I think sometimes we are automatic flushers.

When someone is sharing difficult thoughts and emotions with us, we cut them off and clean them up before they are finished or given the time that they need to process.

We mean well.

But in our haste, and often discomfort, we rush to a conclusion when often we need just to sit in silence.

I don’t know about you,

But I don’t want to be an automatic flusher.

Light

 

I’m coming to realize that one of the reasons I like camp so much is because campgrounds usually have golf carts.

And I like driving golf carts.

 

When I was in college,

And a little more adventurous,

I used to drive the golf cart like a mad woman.

I sped around camp.

I slammed on brakes to make skid marks in the gravel.

I put the golf cart in neutral at the top of the hill and sped to the bottom, racing around curves.

I even drove the golf cart across the street to a bigger hill so that my passengers and I could go  faster!

 

This past weekend,

At age 46,

I carefully drove the golf cart around camp,

Escorting campers to and from events,

Intentionally driving across a field,

Trying to avoid all the many bumps

And not letting the cart get overcrowded with passengers.

 

At one point, I was driving the cart alone at night,

But the cart didn’t have lights,

So it was very dark.

I could barely see where I was going, so

I almost ran into a fence.

Then, I picked up a passenger

Who had a flashlight,

A simple, small flashlight.

She shone the light in front of us, and

Suddenly, we could see.

 

It’s amazing, really.

How one small light can brighten the darkness.  

 

It’s amazing, really,

How one small life can change someone’s world.

 

Amen.

Enough

 

Last Sunday afternoon, as I sat down to see what the day’s page of “The Little Prince” had to say to me,

I wondered if the message was going to be autobiographical or if it was going to be fiction.

On Friday night, a scathing fictional poem had emerged.

It said:

“You complain and boast

But your heart is empty.

You’re nothing to me.”

I commented to my writing partner, Heidi-The-Librarian, that I hoped I’d never actually have to say those words to anyone!

 

As I reflected on Sunday’s text and let the words float around in my brain,

A poem emerged that is loosely based on life experience.

It said:

“My friend told me that

I, myself, am enough.

I didn’t understand

But I answered, ‘Yes, of course.’

‘You’re beautiful, too,’ (he said).

This time, I said nothing.

And we sat in silence.”

 

Many years ago, Jenny-The-Counselor told me that I was enough,

But I wasn’t healthy enough to understand what she meant.

Having grown up in a faith tradition that taught me that I was nothing but a sinner saved by grace,

I internalized the sinner part of the equation so much that I made damning myself a regular part of my existence.

I always thought that I needed to be and do more.

I didn’t fully understand that I, as a child of God, created in God’s image, saved by God’s love that overcome all darkness and death, was enough.

I didn’t fully understand God’s amazing grace.

 

While I get it now,

It’s still a mind-boggling concept—

This concept of being enough.

And it’s also a mind-boggling concept to think of beauty

As someone who has absolutely no beauty regimen

Other than showering and brushing my teeth :-p.

But beauty is there, too,

As God’s beloved child.

Beauty is something we see as well as something that we feel,

But it’s not something that I talk about much.

 

And so I sit in silence,

Letting “enough,” and “grace,” and “beauty,”

Sink in.

 

Dear God: Speak to us in the silence. Speak words that we need to hear. Let your truths sink in. And let that be enough. Amen.

Saved

 

Two friends. 

Both persons of faith. 

Both raised in the Southern Baptist Church. 

Both taught that they have a duty and responsibility to save souls through the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Both spent active periods of their lives using Christian evangelism tools to save souls.

Both are now Christian counselors. 

 

One friend recently had a teenage client in distress because she had broken up with her best friend.

The counselor lamented that she didn’t know if she could work this girl anymore because she doesn’t agree with the girl’s homosexual actions. 

She said she was surprised that the girl wanted to go to Christian counseling if she had those tendencies. 

She said that homosexuality is not something that Christians should be dealing with if their faith is strong enough.

She said that she was confused as to why the girl chose her because her counselor profile did not state that she dealt with issues of sexuality. 

In fact, she had intentionally left those issues off of her profile. 

She must follow what she believes.

 

In contrast, the other friend intentionally included issues of sexuality and faith in her profile.

“When I think of Jesus,” she says, “and how he lived, I am inspired. 

To love the sick and the poor and the children and others who are marginalized.

To tell people they are enough as they are and loved as they are regardless of what anyone else says about them. 

I follow the ways of Christ as he was portrayed as loving others.”

She wants all persons to have a safe place because she knows what it’s like not to have a safe place herself.

She wants to spread love because it literally may save someone’s life. 

She must follow what she believes. 

 

Two friends. 

Both persons of faith. 

Both raised in the Southern Baptist Church. 

Both taught that they have a duty and responsibility to save souls through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Both are now in positions to help save lives.

Both are following what they believe. 

 

One of these friends probably makes you angry.

 

One of these friends, you likely think is wrong.

 

Oh God, may each of us be willing to see you for who You Are.. Not who we make you to be because of our beliefs, upbringing, and experiences. But who you are throughout time and circumstance, from the beginning of creation until now. Creating, refining, and redeeming, drawing all people to You. Amen.