ContemplativeJourney

This charming little munchkin is my great niece. Her name is Lexi Grace. Lexi was born on July 29, 2009, at just 25 weeks gestation, weighing 1 lb and 5 ounces. She has several health challenges...some of which are related to her being a micro-preemie, and some of which are related to her having Dandy-Walker Syndrome. I'm writing about Lexi today, because I heard something in this week's sermon that made me think of her... The pastor told of a family who had a baby with Down's Syndrome...the father said this about having a child with developmental challenges: "When we found out we were pregnant, it was as if we were planning a trip. A journey to raise a new child in our family. When we learned of the Down's Syndrome, it was not as if the trip was cancelled, but the itinerary changed. We were planning a trip to London, but now the trip was to Paris instead. It's a very different trip than the one we originally planned for, but it's still a wonderful trip! ...

I saw a story on 60 Minutes last night, about a woman who has such an incredible memory, she literally cannot forget a face. For most of us, such a detailed memory is hard to imagine...for some of us, it's not uncommon to walk from one room in the house to another, and forget why we came... It's certainly true for me - my memory isn't what it used to be! As I read today's Gospel, I kept thinking about the importance of memory in our spiritual lives. Over and over again in the Old Testament scriptures, the people of Israel were called to "remember" the works of God. In the book of Joshua, there's a story of how the people created a stone monument to mark the place where they crossed the Jordan River...the purpose of the monument was to remind the people of what God had done for them. When it comes to the ways in which God has blessed us, healed us, delivered us from so many different trials of life...I think our memories, in general, are really quite bad...

Some of us concern ourselves more with external appearances than others...I say this as a statement of fact, not judgment. I grew up in a home that was always clean and neat...one of my mother's legacies to me. Dirty dishes sitting on the counter?? An anathema to her...and now, to me. I hate dirty dishes, particularly those that are stacked on the counter or in the sink...yuck! What about you? Does "neatness count" for you...are external appearances important in your lexicon for good living? What would Jesus do with dirty dishes? Can you believe there's a passage in the Bible that talks about washing dishes ? Indeed there is...let's check it out: Some of the Jews and Jewish leaders (Pharisees) were following Jesus, keeping an eye on him and his followers, trying to find things they could criticize about him and his teachings. They noticed that some of his followers weren't following the Jewish rules for ritual washing before eating their meals. The Jews w...

Today's picture is of a sunset over the North Pole. Breathtaking, isn't it? It illustrates well, I think, the idea that the beauty of the earth is sometimes as illusive as it is breathtaking. We take pictures in order to capture the moment, the feeling, the experience of beauty...and yet ultimately, we cannot contain beauty. In his book Simply Christian , N.T. Wright speaks of beauty as a signpost that points us to the very real existence of God: "Beauty, like justice, slips through our fingers. We photograph the sunset, but all we get is the memory of the moment, not the moment itself...We climb the mountain, and though the view from the summit is indeed magnificent, it leaves us wanting more; even if we could build a house there and gaze all day at the scene, the itch wouldn't go away. Indeed, the beauty sometimes seems to be in the itching itself, the sense of longing, the kind of pleasure which is exquisite and yet leaves us unsatisfied." Wright's words ...

There is an interesting story in the 6th chapter of Mark. Jesus has returned to his hometown for a visit...by this time in his ministry, he has already healed the sick, raised the dead, cast out demons, and calmed the wind and sea...you would think he'd come home to a reception fit for conquering heroes, wouldn't you? But that isn't the way things went. In the gospel account, Jesus has gone to the local synagogue and is teaching...the people are amazed by his teaching...they recognize his incredible wisdom, and they even acknowledge that he has healed the sick. There is no lack of awareness of what Jesus has done and said...and yet... the scripture tells us that they were highly offended, as in, "who does he think he is??", kind of offended. It's an interesting story, to be sure...and the source of an often used quote, "Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor." When I read the story today, I was struc...

I didn't really intend to take a break between Sunday and today, but I find sometimes that writing on a daily basis is a challenging discipline...and sometimes the task is made harder by the fact that I have so many things I'd like to write about, I can't seem to choose a topic. Circumstances collided this week to create such a challenge, and frankly, I'm in a very cranky mood today. I found out last night that I have a stress fracture in my left foot...nothing terminal or even really serious, but because I've worked hard for the past several years to develop my capacity for jogging and 5K races, it's depressing to be sidelined for the next 6 weeks. Today's gospel reading was from Mark, chapter 4...the parable of the sower. Funny isn't it, how you can read a story so many times over a period of decades, and then see something for the first time that you've never noticed before...? In the story, Jesus is telling the story of this farmer...he throws so...

Have you seen the movie Seabiscuit? It's the story of an undersized, damaged racehorse...trained by a 'washed up' trainer and ridden by a young man who had been abandoned by his parents as a young boy during the Depression. I happened to stumble upon it last night on TV, and was reminded of a quote that I think is the most powerful of the entire move: "You don't throw a whole life away just it's banged up a little." -Tom Truthfully, there is not a single one of us who isn't "banged up a little"...it's the inevitable reality of life. We make mistakes...large and small...people hurt us...we're treated badly in the workplace...we confront illness and death and grief...and we are...all of us... banged up. The beauty of Seabiscuit's story is a mirror to us all. Redemption comes to everyone who has the heart to receive it...sometimes in the most suprising ways! The Psalmist says, "I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works...

As usual, today's scripture readings from the Daily Readings were terrific. The Psalms, the Old Testament reading, the New Testment reading, and the Gospel...all of them...were excellent. So, why am I asking a crazy question about whether the Bible hinders our spiritual growth? Am I being facetious? Trying to start an argument? Offend? No to all of those. What I am trying to do is create questions that challenge...that force me...and possibly you, to look at things from a different angle...a new perspective. While writing these Lenten blogs, I am also continuing to read Eat This Book , by Eugene Peterson, and came upon a chapter today that stirred me up. Did you know, by chance, that Plato , who died 350 years before Christ, predicted that writing would ultimately debilitate our ability to remember things? Back then of course, information was shared orally. There were no books like we know them today (hardback or Kindle!)...no "Bibles." Eugene Peterson makes t...

Today is a spectacularly beautiful day in Dallas...the temperature is perfect, and the sky is clear blue. When I began reading today's Psalms, I was excited because Psalm 19 speaks of how the creation declares the glory of God...and it does! When I came to the Old Testament reading from Genesis, I was overwhelmed once again, with the amazing story of Joseph. What an incredible person he was...this teenager who was thrown into a pit by his brothers, and then sold into slavery... I've been reading several articles about bullying, due to the shooting that took place in an Ohio high school earlier this week. The articles remind me that people who are bullied most often become bullies. We've seen this over and again in high school shootings and bomb plots. On a smaller scale, I think we miss the fact that bullying happens to kids everyday, and it even happens to adults in the workplace. If Joseph wasn't bullied by his older brothers, I don't know what we could call it......