Dare to Dance Again: By This We Will Know: The Dance of Love – April 22, 2018

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“…that they may all be one.” — John 17:21

How do we know the rhythm and dance of our lives is faithful? Drummer of the Grateful Dead, Mickey Hart wrote “To fall in love is to fall in rhythm.” It is love for each other by which we know we are followers of Jesus, the ever-attentive shepherd. In the face of societal rules and attitudes that strive to foster “everyone for themselves,” they will know we are Christians by our love. How can we listen to the music that draws us together, “falling in rhythm” with neighbor in order to build up the whole? Our dance leads us to the table this day and our cup overflows.

Dare to Dance Again: While in their Joy: Dancing Sure – April 15, 2018

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“While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering…” — Luke 24:41a

This Sunday acknowledges that sometimes we are unsure about our steps in this world. For the disciples, even “while in their joy” at seeing Jesus post-resurrection, they were still “disbelieving and wondering.” But 1 John reminds us that even though we may not know our next steps, we can be sure in them because we are “beloved,” God’s children and “we will be like” the one in whose steps we can surely follow–the resurrected Jesus.

Dare to Dance Again: With Great Power: Dancing Together – April 8, 2018

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“David danced before the Lord with all his might.” — 2 Samuel 6:14a

The Sunday after Easter brings the story of Jesus appearing to the disciples and breathing the Holy Spirit on them. Other lectionary scriptures point to the power of being together, of finding fellowship in the presence of Jesus and the presence of the community. What does it take to dance together?

 

At His Name – Easter Cantata April 1, 2018

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Gifts of the Dark Wood: The Gift of Misfits – Palm Sunday, Mar 25, 2018

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After John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee announcing God’s good news, saying, “Now is the time! Here comes God’s kingdom! Change your hearts and lives, and trust this good news!” – Mark 1: 14-15

As our exploration of the Gifts of the Dark Wood begins to come to a close, we look around us to acknowledge the kin-dom–the family–that has always and is already right here with us. Sojourners in the Dark Wood do not go it alone but are blessed with the presence of others who help us see, reflect with us and discover together with us the riches of a life lived with intention. As Jesus comes into Jerusalem at the beginning of that fateful week, he is surrounded by those who will live the uncertainty, temptation and emptiness right alongside.

Gifts of the Dark Wood: The Gift of Temptation – Mar 18, 2018

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From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. Corinthians 5: 16-19

The gift of temptation may bring images of resisting evil–sometimes in seriously dangerous form or as seemingly benign as the pastry in front of you. But instead, the temptation for this week is following the “shoulds” dictated only by logic, outside expectation or shiny “rewards” instead of following the path our intuition and imagination suggest is right for us–the path that helps us bring the best of our energy and joy to the world. Our Lent journey invites us to face the temptations that erode our fullness and steal us away.

 

 

Gifts of the Darkwood: The Gift of Getting Lost – Mar 11, 2018

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As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When shall I come and behold the face of God?
My tears have been my food day and night,
while people say to me continually,
“Where is your God?” – Psalm 42 (NRSV)

The Lord called Samuel again, a third time. And he got up and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the boy. Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down; and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place. – 1 Samuel 3 (NRSV)

The path of life is rarely clear or straight-forward. We find ourselves lost in a Dark Wood, unclear which direction to go, perhaps having strayed from the path we thought we were on. It is at these times that the gift of getting lost is that we begin to pay more attention than we usually do. Perhaps we are looking for blatant signs when the subtle nudges of Spirit are already right there. Our Lent journey invites us to get quiet and open wide our senses.

Gifts of the Dark Wood: The Gift of Being Thunderstruck – Mar 4, 2018

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At this also my heart trembles, and leaps out of its place. Listen, listen to the thunder of [God’s] voice and the rumbling that comes from [God’s] mouth. Under the whole heaven [God] lets it loose, and [God’s] lightning to the corners of the earth. – Job 37: 1-5 NRSV

Ancient civilizations and religions all metaphorically describe the voice of the divine coming through thunder and lightning. We often describe experiences of insight as a “sudden flash,” “seeing the light” or “rocked my world.” Storms of life can make way for moments of insight, like the sun radiating in a clearing in the woods, that can offer us direction, helping us to negotiate life’s path and see our unique place in the world. Our Lenten journeys of discernment and introspection invite us to open our senses in the midst of the storm.

Gifts of the Dark Wood: The Gift of Emptiness – Feb 25, 2018

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“Whoever tries to preserve their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life will preserve it.” (Luke 17:33 CEB)

Our journey through the Dark Wood invites us to the gift of emptiness. Many of us sometime feel empty inside and we fear that there is nothing there of worth. But what if we let go of our obsession with worthiness and released into the idea that if we want to be filled–to find God–getting empty is the best way. God will find us! In our journey this Lent toward the Cross, we know even Jesus felt empty despair… and it was at this moment that God’s possibility of life beyond that pain was revealed.

Gifts of the Dark Wood: The Gift of Uncertainty

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Says Paul, “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known” (1 Corinthians 13:11-12 NRSV).

When we allow ourselves to accept the journey within the Dark Woods, the Holy Spirit Guide tends to shake things up a bit as we begin to awaken to nudgings toward a fuller life. But life is messy. Life is uncertain. Rather than a problem to be solved, what if we saw uncertainty as a gift helping us let go of all we cannot know so that we can live more wholeheartedly? We begin our Lent journey in the Dark Wood where rich discoveries can be made when we are willing to answer the question, “Do you want to be made well?”