Dormancy

Original Post Wednesday, March 13, 2013 for Christ Church Cathedral's Inner Peace 

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:  a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;  a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up (Ecclesiastes 3:1-3).

Saturday, March 2, was a cold day. As the temperature fell fast and the snow fell faster, 12 youth and 4 adults bravely headed outside to work in one of Seedleaf’s community gardens. Participating in 30 Hour Famine, our students were fasting and praying for an end to world hunger while participating in local community service. On this day, one-third of our group had been assigned to work outside.

The first group worked diligently and deliberately to remove cover-crop and weeds and to rake the raised beds. The second group brought in a cardboard barrier, followed by a layer of dirt. A third group planted onions, turnips, and parsnips. We were clearing out and making way. In a few months, new vegetables of all kinds will spring forth from ground that was, on this day, frozen dead and cold. 

Yesterday, as I looked out, I was convinced we were done with cold and dead ground. My jonquils were bursting forth and my primrose was filling in. The sun was shining. Yesterday was a good day. I like spring - the new life part, the resurrection part. The days when dead looking trees experience new buds, butterflies come out of cocoons, and flowers form overnight. Those days my heart warms and my soul learns to fly like a newly born fluttering butterfly.

Today, I awoke cold to a dusting of snow covering my spring flowers. The sunshine peaked through for a moment, and then the sky returned to grey. I like the new life part, but I don’t do as well with the death part - those days when the ground is frozen, those days snooze is a better option because the shower will be too cold, those days when I am so spiritually frozen I am not sure whether I will thaw out again. I do not like those days, but nonetheless, they are as important as the new life days.

In God’s infinite wisdom, nature teaches us everything about death, dormancy, and new life. In Christ’s ultimate example, we see the radical implications of the transition from death to resurrection in the tomb. In the astuteness of our church Father’s and Mother’s we are given Lent as a time to reflect on those dark place of our lives so that we might be reborn. Yes, glimpses of new life are all around us. The resurrection is certainly on its way. But dark places are important too. The dead winter grounds of our soul prepare us. They rest us. They make way for new life. I may not like it, but God knows I need it.

Igniting a Kingdom Life

Original Post Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Christ Church Cathedral's Inner Peace 

This past weekend, our youth confirmation class retreated to Natural Bridge. It was a wonderful and fulfilling weekend -  full of God’s grace and the Holy Spirit. On Saturday, my side of the cabin woke up to a chilling cold. Our gas tank had been emptied in the middle of the night and our heat was out. A very helpful maintenance man came to fill the tank up. I watched as he checked the gas logs in the fireplace.  Because the gas had run out there was no pilot light. He relit the pilot light and turned the dial to on.  The gas lines were empty and nothing happened. We watched as the blue light of the pilot glowed underneath the logs. We chatted and chatted. We even chatted about how the gas must still be off, and then – all of the sudden – woosh! Gas took fire, the logs were lit and heat was all around burning brightly and warmly. 

In Sunday’s Gospel we read the story of John the Baptist found in Luke 3. As people gather and come to see John the Baptist they are expecting to find the Messiah. John tells the crowd, “I’m baptizing you here in the river. The main character in this drama, to whom I’m a mere stagehand, will ignite the kingdom life, a fire, a Holy Spirit within you, changing you from the inside out” (The Message). 

This story reminds me of the own day I was ignited by the Holy Spirit. I was at camp my senior year of high school. After camp fire, a counselor invited a few of us to a prayer circle. There, under the stars, with a group of 10 youth and counselors the Holy Spirit descended and I prayed as if I had never prayed before. It continues to be one of the most powerful moments of my faith development.

Many of us have had experiences of being ignited with God’s Spirit. As youth minister, I see that ignition at Happening and on Confirmation Retreat. It is the moment when students’ faces transform from boredom to the bright radiance of Christ’s beaming light. I saw it this weekend as our students read Eugene Peterson’s Bible, the Message, on their bedside and found a renewed sense of burning love for God’s word. I heard of the ignition of spirit from a parishioner today who was prayed upon and felt and outpouring of God’s Holy Spirit. Many of us have moments of spiritual ignition, when our fire catches. What are your moments? 

Last Sunday, we as a community celebrated the light of Christ through Epiphany. This Sunday, we will celebrate as two of our young people are baptized and receive the light of Christ. As we renew our Baptismal Vowels with them, let us all pray for the power of the Holy Spirit which might ignite all of us to do the good works which God calls us to do.  

“Oh God, you prepared your disciples for the coming of the Spirit through the teaching of your son Jesus Christ: make the hearts and minds of your servants ready to receive the blessing of the Holy Spirit, that they may be filled with the strength of his presence; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen” Prayer for those about to be baptized. BCP, 819.

On Time God

Original Post: Wednesday, September 26, 2012Christ Church Cathedral's Inner Peace 

On Thursday, August 23, 8 students and 3 adults drove to St. Louis for the J2A Urban Adventure.  As they traveled down the highway gospel blared over the radio. In a deep alto voice Dottie People’s sang, “He’s an on time God, Yes He is, He’s an on time God, Yes He is. He may not come when you want Him, but He’ll be there right on time. He’s an on time God, Yes He is.” What does that mean? On time God? 

As the students rode, they decided that they were not sure what “On Time God” meant, but throughout the weekend, God’s timeliness manifested itself over and over again. A Dean who met us at the downtown Cathedral late at night, on time, despite the fact we had the wrong phone number for him. A wonderful experience of service at the Bridge St. Louis – a place that feeds breakfast and lunch to over 300 people a day, as well a resource and job center for many of St. Louis’ homeless. God gifted us with a living saint, Patrick, who had spent time on the streets of St. Louis and was now employed by the Bridge to give tours, lead groups, and talk about his experiences. Whatever was meant by “On Time God” our group was experiencing it. 

On the third day of the trip, we broke the students into 2 groups and gave them Amazing Race style tasks to complete. As the groups looked at maps and tried to navigate from point A to point B, the people of St. Louis demonstrated a tremendous sense of what it meant to be welcomed by God and neighbor. As the J2A kicked off their year of “Discovering God’s Welcome”, everywhere we turned members of St. Louis opened their arms to us. The housed and unhoused, black and white, and the rich and poor all stopped us on the street, welcomed us, introduced themselves to us, and pointed us in the right direction. My group ran into Barnabus, a Kenyan, who placed us on the right path. When he was finished helping us, he huddled us up in the middle of the street, laid hands on us, and prayed for us. The other group had a similar experience. After they were stopped by a man, after he helped them find their way, after he gave them advice, he closed with “I tell you what, our God is an on time God.” 

Our God was an on-time-God in St. Louis and our God is an on-time-God at Christ Church Cathedral. Everywhere I turn I see instances of people helping others by welcoming them, listening to them, and pointing them in the right direction. When we open ourselves to look for it, God’s welcome to us is always timely. Where have you experienced an on-time-God in your life this week?