Lord, teach me. . . .

Give thanks with a grateful heart. Give thanks to the Holy One. –Henry Smith Show me. Gratitude (n): the quality of being thankful; the readiness to show appreciation for and return kindness. That’s how Webster defines it. As we celebrate Thanksgiving Day this week, how do we define gratitude? I really like the second part of this definition: the readiness to show appreciation for and return kindness . That’s what it’s really all about, isn’t it? To paraphrase Hallmark, the love in your heart wasn’t put there to stay; love isn’t love till you give it away. I think gratitude, or being grateful, works pretty much the same way. I can talk all day about how grateful I am for the roof over my head, or that I never have to worry about where my next meal is coming from, but until I step up and help someone else through a time of homelessness or food insecurity, I’m not really getting it. Paul would say, I can do great deeds all day long, and be really smart; I c...

What’s so fascinating and frustrating and great about life is that you’re constantly starting over, all the time, and I love that. –Billy Crystal If your church follows the liturgical calendar to at least some degree, then you may be aware that there is only one more Sunday left on the church calendar. Next Sunday, November 24, is Christ the King Sunday. We celebrate Christ’s reign over Creation—and then we start all over again, with Mary and Joseph and the angel and a babe in a manger. Yes, it’s a little weird. After all, isn’t that what Easter is about? Celebrating Jesus’ victory over death? Then why are we back here again? I really don’t have a great answer. But here’s what I think: Summer (in the northern hemisphere) is a time of terrific growth, of creating life and bearing fruit. The liturgical color for ordinary time is green, the color a colleague once told me is the color of God . After the High Holy Days of Easter and the arrival of the Holy Spirit at...

Whenever you want to achieve something, keep your eyes open, concentrate and make sure you know exactly what it is you want. No one can hit their target with their eyes closed. –Paulo Coelho Just doin’ my chores. . . . Have you ever had this experience? You start out, say, in the living room, determined to get the house cleaned up before the family gets home. Right off the bat, you come across your husband’s socks from the day before, so you head to the bathroom, to put the socks in the hamper. When you get there, you notice there’s no hand towel on the hook, so you turn to find a clean towel—and notice someone left a magazine in there, where it doesn’t belong. You hand the towel, go to put the magazine in the office where it belongs. On the desk is a bill that needs paid, and before you realize what’s happening, you’ve got four things in your hands, a dozen things on your mind—and the family will be home in a half hour. You’ve accomplished exactly nothing you set...

Life is a moving, breathing thing. We have to be willing to constantly evolve.  Perfection is constant transformation.  --Nia Peeples At my church, almost every Tuesday evening means a meeting. It certainly isn’t all bad, for many reasons. We are doing the business of the church. I get to be in a more intimate setting with my church family. And my secretary Irene always makes sure every agenda laid out around the table has a piece of chocolate on it. And she knows I like dark chocolate. Last meeting, the treats were foil-wrapped Dove Promises (dark chocolate, of course). I tend to be the only one who takes the time to read the bit of pop wisdom stamped inside the wrapper; everyone else is after the chocolate. My wrapper said, You got this! Seemed to be a perfectly good reminder, and the meeting went well. But the best bit of wisdom came from the person to my right. Her wrapper bore these words: Exhale the past. Inhale the future . Let go of the st...

Obsessed by a fairy tale, we spend our lives searching for a magic door and a lost kingdom of peace. –Eugene O’Neill When you go to church on a Sunday morning, how do you decide where you’re going to attend? Do you choose the church because it’s where you have always attended? Because your whole family always goes there? Is your church of choice the biggest one in town? The one with the jazziest music? The place that makes you feel good, and has Fair Trade coffee? The one where you can “come as you are”? Are you going because the guest preacher that morning has a shiny white smile, and tells you exactly what you already knew and believed, anyway? (Isn’t it ironic? It seems often God likes and dislikes exactly the same people we do !) Where are your friends attending this week? Is that where you’ll show up, as well? What is wrong with all these snapshots? What (or who) is missing? Yep. In every one of these scenarios, Jesus is missing. The one in whom...

When the seasons shift, even the subtle beginning, the scent of a promised changed, I feel something stir inside me. Hopefulness? Gratitude? Openness?  Whatever it is,  it’s welcome. –Kristin Armstrong No matter what part of the world you call home, this time of year brings big changes. While my friends Down Under are watching sings of new growth emerge from the earth as temperatures rise, here in Ohio, the leaves are turning from green to gold and orange, red and brown. The winds have taken on a chill; clouds hang heavy, like soggy cotton, reminding us that soon and very soon, we are going to see the snow . Always different, yet somehow, the same. We depend on God’s eternal ways, and trust that again this year, winter will follow autumn, just like it should. So why is it, as we anticipate and appreciate changes like these, when it comes to so many things in life we pull up short, wrinkle our noses and say No! No change! I like things just the way they are! ...

i thank you god for most this amazing day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything which is natural which is infinite which is yes --e.e.cummings There is a story in the Bible ( Luke 17:11-19 ) about ten people with a horridly disfiguring skin disease who cried out to Jesus, begging to be healed. In essence, he tells them: Go now, straight away, and show yourselves to your priest. And on the way, as they walked or ran or galloped, their sores were healed. Can you imagine? It must have been a little like time-lapse photography, as the natural healing process was accelerated. Imagine staring at your hands and watching the sores disappear! My mouth drops open just thinking about it. The truly amazing part: only one of these folks took the time to run back to Jesus and give thanks . Oh, I know there are soccer games and church luncheons, so many things that keep us busy, busy, busy. How often are we stoppe...