Lord, teach me. . . .

  Letting go doesn’t mean you stop caring.  It means you stop trying to force others to care. –Mandy Hale   We are about halfway into Lent, the 40-day period when Christians reflect on the time Jesus spent in the wilderness and his ultimate crucifixion and resurrection. Maybe you’ve chosen to make this Lent a time of quiet introspection. Or maybe you’re trying to see these forty days as a tithe of one year of your life, giving something up as a sacrifice to God. What began as largely a Catholic practice is now commonplace even among non-Christians, as people choose to give up a bad habit for a season, in hopes the change might last a lifetime. Have you thought about rethinking your attitude? That instead of giving up something for Lent, we choose to think of it as letting go ? Let go of speaking too quickly or impatiently. Let go of an old resentment or broken relationship. Let go of insisting on doing things “my way or the highway.” When we let go of things that...

  I’m somebody who constantly wants to challenge himself, evolve, and grow. Because if you don’t, you fade. You become stagnant. –CM Punk   We have been through some unpleasant times over the past four years. What should have been repeated opportunities to work together and become stronger, instead devolved into a season of juvenile behaviors, of name-calling and trying to prove how right we are, and how wrong they are—even if it means lying as we do so. It’s been harrowing, and it’s been ugly. You remember that old saying: You are what you eat ? In other words, eat healthy, become healthy. Eat junk. . . . This theory applies to so much more than food. It applies to what we read, what we watch on television, whom we follow on Facebook. If we are not careful, in our efforts to discredit others, we become as nasty, ugly and angry as the one with whom we disagree. Nothing good will ever come of such stuff. How can we become love, while preaching hatred? How can we ...

  We look into a mirror but we only see the effects of our times on ourselves—not our effects on others. –Pearl Bailey   For Christians, the season of Lent is upon us. Like many other holidays and seasons, some aspects of Lent have expanded beyond the church and splashed over into pockets of “secular culture,” as well. Pancakes and paczki and the festivities and excesses of Mardi Gras (a state holiday in Louisiana) give way to a period of forty days intended for more introspective activities such as fasting and reflection.  Traditionally, people use Lent as a time for self-improvement: we promise to give up a bad habit, such as smoking, or add a new discipline, such as daily Bible study. On our best days, this change of habit “sticks.” Perhaps we continue not to smoke, even after Lent has ended; maybe we continue to keep up on our daily devotions. For forty days, we seek to become better human beings; in “Christianese,” we draw closer to the image and likeness of ou...

  With God, there’s always an appointed time for things, and when you put God first, trust in God’s timing, and keep the faith, miracles happen! –Germany Kent   I am sure you have heard believers talk about our time versus God’s time, chronos versus kairos . The idea, in a nutshell, is that while we as humans have a finite number of days to live on this planet, and our days are carefully broken into manageable tidbits known as hours and minutes, Almighty Creator has no need for such marcations. A day is like a thousand years in the sight of the L ORD . Things like that. Kind of hard to understand, huh? But I think our living in this time of coronavirus has given us a better insight into what we mean when we talk about God’s time . COVID time is when every day seems to go on and on. Today feels like yesterday’s leftovers, warmed up and served up all over again, maybe with a little something extra added for variety. And tomorrow we expect more of the same. Yawn. Go...

  Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties.  –Erich Fromm   Have you ever been to a White Elephant gift exchange? Here’s how it works: You go through all the stuff you have lying around and choose one thing that no longer sparks joy—but might spark joy in someone else’s heart. Wrap it up, and get together with a group of friends. Everyone winds up with whatever someone else brought, and goes home with something new and unusual. Usually, when you open your “new gift,” you have one of three reactions: You laugh out loud (or cry inside), thank the giver—and plot to drop it off in a public trash bin on the drive home; Or . . . you stare in dismay, paste a smile on your face—and start imagining which friend might receive this wonderful gift at the next White Elephant party; Or . . . you genuinely delight in this unexpected gift, this thing that you can hardly believe someone else no longer wanted, because it will look great right next to the g...

  Tyrants fear the poet. 
 Now that we know it 
 we can’t blow it. . . . Hope— 
 we must bestow it 
 like a wick in the poet --Amanda Gorman, “In This Place” This week, we witnessed again the beauty and power of the spoken word. We listened in awe as a young woman of color spoke truth to life—in powerful rhyme, no less! The gentle wave of her hand, her confidence—wow.   And then, the newly-elected president spoke, asking the nation to join him in prayer (by whatever name you might call it). Mourning the deaths of over 400,000 men and women, parents and children is a necessary first step as we move forward into the next stage of this experiment we call democracy .   What do these two prophetic voices have in common? They have both worked their whole lives to overcome a challenge that could have kept them from sharing their words with the world. They both have endured ridicule and sometimes, exclusion, to speak clearly and with authority. God chooses. God ...

  These are the times that try [humanity’s] souls. –Thomas Paine   Everywhere we look these days, things and people and events are vying for our attention, many in a not-so-good way. The violence and hysteria, the fear that fills the evening news—what on earth is going on? And then the church chimes in, claiming to speak for Jesus, and reminds us that the rapture is ahead, and it’s time to repent and be saved! (Rapture theology is weak and harmful. Please do not go there.) The constant onslaught is unhealthy for body and mind. So do something about it! Turn off the television. Shut down the internet. Focus your eyes back where they never should have left in the first place. Be distracted by the moments of beauty and grace that surround us every single moment! The message of Jesus the Christ is Love . The mission of Christ’s Church? Do justice ; love mercy ; walk humbly alongside your God who loves you. Let God provide the distractions this week. Let your hear...