Well, you have to start somewhere! This is to let you know that I am here and working on some new content.
Abundant Hope Abounds
Restless, wandering hearts
Yearning to be led
Hungering, thirsting mouths
Longing to be fed
Life restoring God
Renew our weary souls
Shine your face on us
Save us from ourselves
Like rainfall on the grass
Watering the earth
Shower us in love
May our hearts be stirred
Watch over us, O God,
Upholder of the poor
Lift up those bowed down
That lives may be restored
In watches of the night
Glory-fill the earth
Stir up your might and save
With love in full measure
Peace be within each heart
Calming every storm
Abundant hope abounds
Now and forevermore
Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow
Can we talk about the hair thing? If you know me well, then you know of my love/hate relationship with my hair. I confess that it’s been mostly hate. Cut it off. Grow it out. Permed. Highlighted. Curled. Straightened. Layered. One length. You name it. I seriously considered calling a close friend before my haircut yesterday to ask if I’d ever said, “If I ever tell you I’m going to cut my hair off again, don’t let me do it.” Seriously. While I don’t recall ever making that pronouncement, it’s well within the realm of possibility.
So much mind clutter over this hair of mine. In trying to get to the root of the issue, I reflected on this conundrum. Misperception and false thinking strike again: Not pretty enough. Not feminine enough. Not professional enough. Why can’t my hair be like so-and-so’s hair? Why can’t my hair be <insert ridiculous thought here>? Enough. I also noted a pattern. All the times I’ve chopped my hair off, I was letting go of something I’d been holding onto that definitely had to go. Hmmm.
Then it hit me: God knows every hair on my head. God loves every fiber of my being, even when I continually try to fix some part of me that God created with tender care. Maybe, just maybe, I’m beginning to believe this deep in my heart. Maybe I’ve outgrown my hair. My hair wasn’t the broken part of me at all. My thinking was. Time to let that go.
Peace in the Silence
My mind set adrift
Away from the sounds and the noise
Hushing the cacophony
Off to distant, quiet shores.
There is peace in the silence
Where you draw ever so near
No commotion or clamor
Only your voice I hear.
My spirit basks in the stillness
Where deep calls to deep.
All is well.
My soul is at peace.
A Poem Sermon for Transfiguration
Transfiguration Sermon – March 3, 2019
Behold! The story begins.
The Beloved Son befriended brothers beside a lake.
Beckoned them to be fishers of people
He called. They followed.
Through many manifestations and miracles
They followed.
Fishers of people are persons of prayer.
These men moved up a mountain to do just that.
Mt. Hermon? Mt. Tabor? Scholars debate.
A high mountain!
A sky kissing mountain!
Mountaineer missionaries
Visionaries
Ascending with psalms? Scaling with songs? I wonder.
Prayer at the peak was the plan.
Purposeful plodding
Set a course for the summit.
Step by step
Looking up and not looking back
Unknowns ahead
Worries behind
What once seemed insurmountable was now within reach.
Almost. There. To the place of prayer.
Pause. Persist. Pray. Repeat.
Behold the Beloved Son!
Countenance curiously changed
Transfigured. Transformed.
Bedazzled!
Between Moses and Elijah
Gloriously glowing!
The Law. The Prophets. The Lord.
Dog-tired disciples. Alert enough.
Attentive
Awestruck
Wait! Don’t depart!
Do we dare dwell together here in tents? Three!
We can build them. You will see.
How good to be here!
Kodak moment in the clouds
Momentary. Mystifying. Miraculous.
Beyond belief
Overshadowed.
Bewildered. Befogged. Befuddled.
Besieged by fear as a bellowing voice spoke from the sky, “This is my Son. My Chosen. Listen to him!”
We do listen! What did you say again? What just happened?
The Beloved Son. Alone.
No longer amidst apparitions
No longer glowing in glory
Bystanders bestirred to silence.
Behold! Our story begins when the Beloved Son beckons.
He calls us by name.
Are we following, fellow fishers of people?
Mountains
High mountains ahead
Sky kissing mountains!
Mountaineer missionaries
Visionaries
May we ascending with psalms and scale with songs.
Equipped for the journey
Purposefully plodding
Prayerfully plodding
Set a Spirit-led course for the summit!
Step by step
Looking up and not looking back
Unknowns ahead
Worries behind
The insurmountable within reach
Only possible with God
The maker of mountains
The mover of mountains
Pause. Persist. Pray. Repeat.
Dog-tired, disciples?
Arise. Attend. Awe awaits.
How good to be here!
In this moment
Make way for mystifying, miraculous marvels in the mediocre. In the mundane.
Overshadow us, Lord.
When we become bewildered, befogged or befuddled
Speak.
We are listening.
Pause. Persist. Pray. Repeat.
Believe.
Be discipled.
Be disciples.
Beyond church doors
Beyond walls and borders
Be the church.
Behold, beloveds.
Be alert.
Be attentive to the bestirring of the Spirit.
Transformation taking hold
Be stirred not to silence but to speak.
Be stirred to spread the good news.
Glimpses of God’s glory
Everywhere
Go forth in God’s grace.
Immersed in Light
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness – on them light has shined. (Isaiah 9:2)
Deep darkness dwellers
Receive God’s shining light
Waking, walking wounded
May you be immersed in light tonight
Multiplier of the nation,
Increaser of its joy
Bring forth your kingdom
Manifest in an infant boy
Establish and uphold your throne
Reign now and evermore
With justice and with righteousness
Bring peace, o zealous Lord
Taking Leave
The leaves are taking leave
The trees are letting go
Some leaves drift toward the ground
Others forcefully blown
Let go. Show your colors
Against the autumn skies
Give way to seasons change
As God’s creation sighs
Fallen leaves coat the ground
Crunching underneath feet
Leap into this pile!
A memory so sweet
Raked up. Swept up. Bagged up.
Or left in place on lawns
The leaves are taking leave
Until the springtime dawns
Reconnection
Heads and hearts
Disconnected
Oversaturation of news
Polarized views
Bent over
Pent up
Traumas resurfacing
Survivors rising
and standing
in solidarity as
silences cease
God, we need you!
A glimpse of grace
Even a trace
Empathy
Compassion
Kindness
Love
Come out, come out, wherever you are!
Help us
to breathe
to step away
from the screen
to be kind
to ourselves
to one another
to shut the &#@+* up
and listen
to learn
to live
to love.
Reconnect our
heads and hearts.
That might just be
the place to start.
Precipice
Standing on the precipice
Edge of the unknown
Shallow breathing
Am I dreaming?
Bracing
Heart racing
I step closer to the edge
Eyes closed tightly
Trembling slightly
Fear consuming
Danger looming?
Stop!
Breathe deeply
God is with me
Pry open wide those eyes
And relish in the view
Awe inspiring
Hope restoring
On the verge of something new
The Knowing Place
Last week I found myself in a position where I wondered “What am I doing here?” as I experienced new learning and growth. I then remembered this poem that I penned nine years ago as I was discerning a call to seminary.
Did you ever walk into a place knowing
it was exactly where you were meant to be?
Perhaps it was an office, a stage,
a courtroom or a university.
It may have caught you by surprise
because you said, “That’s not for me.”
But there was this inner sense of knowing
that went beyond what you could feel.
What brought you to this place
where deep knowing filled your heart?
Was it an internal compass or
the creator of the universe and stars?
In this place your purpose was revealed
as a puzzle fits together from its parts.
Did you ask “How did I get here?”
That answer is simple. You were called.