Put Jesus Where He Belongs!

       The Gospel text for Sunday's sermon was the story of Jesus calming the storm while he and the disciples are in the boat (Mark 4: 35-41).  The disciples are afraid of drowning in the storm and wake Jesus up to do something.  They confront him and ask him, "Don't you care that we are about to die?"  They need proof that Jesus cares.  So I talked about being afraid in storms both in the childrens' sermon and the other one.

        After worship, one of the members told me this story from her childhood:

       She shared a room and bed with her sister who is seven years older than her.  One night during a bad thunderstorm, she got scared and cuddled up next to her sister.  Then her sister woke her up and asked her,why was she sleeping in the middle of the bed?  She answered, "Because Jesus is sleeping on the other side".

       Her older sister replied, "Well put Jesus in your heart where he belongs and there will be more room for the both of us!"

       Sometimes the storms of life are literally storms; the lightening and thunder and the possibility of floods and tornadoes.  If you have ever been through disaster caused by storm, even a dark cloudy sky starts to raise your anxiety.   Even as adults, we find ourselves fearful, wondering what will happen next.

       At other times, we get pummeled and tossed about by other events in our lives that we cannot control.  It may be illness (our own or someone we love), divorce, addiction, abuse, losing a job, or being in overwhelming debt.  In all of these, we need to be reassured, comforted, and kept safe.  It is at those times when we need "Jesus in our heart"; that feeling that God is with us.   

      Then the question becomes how do we get Jesus in our heart or how know God is with and within us? It is a question that cultures and religions have wondered about through all the millennia.  Within Christianity and in other religions there has been a common thread: ways that one can work their way towards holiness, or spirituality or finding your inner god.  The problem is the fact that humans are flawed and make this task impossible.  One of the human solutions to this is the theory of reincarnation; that you can keep coming back until you get it right.
        But God has a different solution.  God being in and with us is not something that we choose or merit or make happen.  God has chosen to come to us and into us.  The promise was given even in the book of Jeremiah (31:33-34) that the words of God will be written on our hearts.  God's promise is this gift of grace, signified by the fact that God forgives us all our  sins, failings, and brokenness.
       It is the new thing that Jesus teaches and gives: the people of God's family will never be left alone or forgotten.  Jesus is forever with us.  The gift of God's Spirit comes to us in the reading and preaching of the Word, in the water of baptism, and in the bread and wine of the holy meal.  If any of those things have happened to us, we have encountered God.  It is the promise given to you.
        But as for the times when we need a real person to be with us, that is why we are called into this glorious mixed hash of God's family of all kinds, shapes, colors, and personalities.  When we reach out to each other, we become Jesus with skin-on.  The care that we give, the love that we share is bigger and more powerful than just our own.  Coming to faith is not a perilous and hard trek that we must make on our seeking, seeking wisdom but instead it is the gift of belonging to God.  Read Matthew 28:19-20.

Take God On Your Next Trip

       I have an ongoing list I keep threatening to publish.  It goes like this: "You know you live in a small town when..."  One of those things happened to me the other day.
       I drove up to the window at the bank to deposit my check and instead of being asked for my account numbers, my driver's license, my fingerprints, and the maiden name of my ninth cousin twice removed, I was greeted with, "Hey! You got your hair cut.  It looks cute."  It was a great experience of the advantages of small town community banking.
       A few years ago, I was asked why I like rural ministry.  I love the advantages of small town, rural life.  And I love the commute.  I may drive an hour or more to a meeting (or sometimes between churches) but instead of doing it in bumper-to-bumper traffic, eating exhaust fumes, I get to spend the time watching the changing seasons and sights of creation all around me.
       Here's another way to put it: while I'm driving to work, I get to see sights that most people only get to see after working 50 weeks of the year to earn their vacation.  I see the changing foliage, wildflowers, the full colors of autumn trees, and the fields from first growth through harvest.  I've seen double and triple rainbows, funnel clouds, and Technicolor sunsets.  I have seen all kinds of wildlife from eagles and hawks and great horned owls to deer and elk, bobcats, and even a cougar that ran alongside the car before veering off the road into the field.
       I was on my way to worship early one morning when I saw the cougar.  At first I thought I saw a deer or a large dog ahead of me on the other side of the road so I started slowing way down.  But it came out of the ditch and loped onto the road and towards me and then by the car before it took off into the field and disappeared.  I was struck not only by its power and beauty but also how big it looked up close and free versus seeing big cats at the zoo.
       Now I know that everybody doesn't have a commute like mine, but I still encourage you to look around you as you ride, or bike, or walk.  The secret to seeing creation in a way that fills your soul, is to be open to seeing and appreciating what is around us.  Sometimes we get to see the kinds of beauty that would fill calendar pages but if we only look for mountain scenes and big sky sunset views, we miss the smaller gauge wonders that are all around us in our daily lives.
       God's eye not only paints the kind of scenes that fill the horizon but also in works in miniature.  If we aren't looking, we may miss the miracles of butterflies, a tiny hummingbird, a spider's web, or the mushrooms that sprout only after a good rain.  We tend to think of God in words of the hymn "How Great Thou Art" all mighty thunder and power but God's love and power are just as much in the smallest things of life.
       In fact Jesus teaches us that God watches over creation from a sparrow to even counting the hairs on our head.  God's love and creative powers are at work even in the smallest wonders, even the tiniest, briefest pieces of the universe found inside atoms.  All of creation, all particles, are God's particles.
      When it comes to seeing beauty in the world around you, binoculars and a camera can be good tools to take along but also take along your faith.  Nourish it with prayer and some bible reading (such as Genesis 1, Psalm 8, Job 38-39).  Open your heart to open your eyes to see the people and the world around you not through the filter of yourself but as glimpses into the love and wonder of God.  Read Luke 12:4-7.

Water! Now!

       Being this far north, it starts getting light out really early in the day.  By five o'clock in the morning, it is starting to get light enough to move around the house without turning a light on.  This is either a perk that helps make up for longer, colder winters or it can be drawback depending on your point of view because as the day starts to brighten, birds, animals, and people start to wake up.
       Singing birds are lyrical and are a wonderful reminder of the warmer days and the pull to be outdoors to enjoy the wonders of creation.  Even to a morning curmudgeon like me (I am not a morning person), I enjoy early morning bird song.  Just not when my sleep has been rudely interrupted.
       We have a small black and white tuxedo cat who has been the very definition of "cattitude" since son Ben rescued her and brought her home.  At barely five weeks old and dumped on the highway, she was set on the floor to meet our three adult cats.  She promptly growled and ran up and attacked the largest (and grumpiest) one on the nose.  As I said, "cattitude".
      My husband and I were away for a few days and we have been paying for it ever since.  She has taken to waking me up as soon as it becomes light.  She began by jumping up onto the dresser across from the bed and then jumping from up there down on to me and then sets to meowing in a very demanding manner.
      Why?  She wants one of us to get up and turn on the water in the bathroom so that she can get her morning drink.  (We have joked about the pros and cons of getting a "touch" facet that she could turn on herself but I couldn't stand the thought of water getting wasted.)
       "Meow!  Meow!  Meow!..." she cries continuously.  Water!  Now!
       All living things need water.  People need water to survive: clean, safe water.
       According to the World Health Organization, half of the patients in hospitals in the developing world are suffering from sanitation and water-related diseases.  Lack of safe water and sanitation kills over 1.6 million children a year.
       Living surrounded by farmland and farmers and gardeners, people around here are crying for water as they watch crops turn brown.  We really need a whole day of steady rain that comes slowly enough to just soak in.  It was a dry fall and winter and dry now.  People are getting worried.  The need for rain has been a topic of conversation at our council meeting, when I see people around church and town, and even when visiting people in the hospital and nursing home.  I have been asked several times to pray for rain and it is included in our prayers at worship.
       Water!  Now!
      Even though clean water is as close as our faucet, we still come praying to God for water.   A time of drought can bring us to our knees in prayer, reminding us that all life is in God's hands and that despite all our technological advantages and wealth, we don't have the power and control we like to think is ours.   It can be an opportunity for us to pause and think about how our lives rely upon having the water we need and the impact of our use and waste of water upon the world and those who don't have access to clean water.
       There are many places in the Bible where the saving grace of God is imaged in the abundance of life-giving water.  We need to take seriously the connection between life and water and seek God's will and wisdom in our use and protection of this resource.  Beyond that, we need to think beyond our own need to ensuring that more and more people have access to safe, clean water.  Water and life and God's grace intertwine so much that is a clear reminder that we dare not separate faith from what we do in our daily lives; even to turning on the faucet.  Read Isaiah 35:3-7.