Would you give me a drink?

August 16
Interesting, the first thing Jesus says to the woman at the well in John 4 is "Would you give Me a drink?"  No hesitation in asking for what he needed and yet she has some reservation.  He says, (my paraphrase), "If you only knew what getting me a drink could do for you?"   Isn't that odd, Jesus request for himself was really about her.  Her getting Him a drink would also satisfy her thirst!

Maybe that is what is under the question that I often finding myself asking!  "What is the invitation?"  If God's invitation seems like is it to respond to the other's need, could it be that it is also what I need?   Jesus knew what the woman needed and it came in a simple invitation, "Would you give Me a drink?"

Take Me home with you!

I grew up singing "Zacchaeus was a wee little man and a wee little man was he.  He climbed up in a Sycamore tree for The Lord he wanted to see...".  This morning in my reading, I came to this story and was struck by  his response to Jesus' invitation to come to his house.   He welcomed Jesus, was delighted, excited and filled with joy!.  Some how I never learned this part of the song.   Zacchaeus tended to the longing for more in his life, and sensed deep within that Jesus was the answer to the longing.   Perhaps he thought that just being able to see Jesus would be enough and that is why he climbed the tree.  Jesus knew that Zacchaeus wanted more and so He invited Zacchaeus to take Him home with him and Zacchaeus responded.  It radically changed his life!   And so I sit again with more questions!!!  What is the invitation of Jesus for me?  Is He inviting Himself to come and be at home with me and I just need to respond?   Am I open for radical change?

May your eyes be opened!  May you have the courage to "climb up in the tree" and see what Jesus has for you!  

GOD SPEAKS!

         

   The fresh picked peaches were laid out on the kitchen counter.   Maddie, my 7 year old granddaughter came into the kitchen and said to me, "Granny, these would make a delicious pie!"   I am not a pie maker and so as not to discourage her, I suggested we make a peach cobbler.   She googled a recipe, and found one we had the ingredients for and we began together.  I peeled the peaches, she sliced them.  I got out the dry ingredients and she mixed them.  Together we assembled the cobbler and then took it to her house to bake.

            Pipping hot out of the oven she was the first to put her spoon in for a sample.  Hmmm, it was good.  And standing by the counter she takes another taste, and another and another.   It was time for dinner and so she put another small taste on her plate.  "Granny, this peach cobbler is so good."   After dinner when it was time for dessert, the cobbler was put on the table, minus the tastes.  Those little tastes before dinner could now be savored and enjoyed with a good sized serving, and Maddie served herself a generous portion.

            Reflecting on my life with God I see some similarities.  God invites me to "Taste and see that The Lord is good!" I often just taste a little and then I hear the invitation to do more than a taste.  He invites me to sit down, savor and enjoy the  fullness and delight of much as I can of what God has prepared for me! 

            Several weeks ago we were on the golf course and we met up with Jack and his youngest daughter Millie.   It is not uncommon for a twosome to become a foursome and so we invited Jack and Millie to join us. We had met Jack a few weeks earlier when he was golfing with his middle daughter, Mary.  I was struck by the differences in the two girls and how their father responded to each.  The older one Mary was very intent on learning the game of golf.  She was open and eager to learn and develop skills needed to play well.  She could hit the ball well for a 10 year old and I sensed that her dad had invested time in teaching her and playing with her.

            Millie's response to the game was completely different!  She had come to spend time with her daddy and to delight and enjoy not only his presence and pleasure but all that surrounded them.   The sand trap became a beach, the lush green grass became a gymnastics mat, the sidewalks became her theater stage, and the golf cart her royal carriage. She ran, skipped, tumbled, free and unhindered in our presence.

            Although completely different, I am drawn to the girls "at homeness" in their father's presence.  He taught them well and what he couldn't teach, he must have engaged someone in their life who could.  This gave them both a sense of being at home in the world, free and unhindered.

            My own spiritual journey is somewhat like theirs.  Learning and growing in new ways, God my teacher who also invites me to learn His ways from others.  The continual invitation to live unhindered, freely and lightly.  I am drawn again to Eugene Peterson's The Message Matthew 11:28-30, "Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.  I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you.  Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."

As children go back to school, I too am ready to get back in the "school routine".   I look for places that will nurture and encourage my spiritual journey and also those places where I take time to savor what God has for me in this season of my life.

           

Where Time and Eternity Intertwine

 

Today I enjoyed the cool of the morning and walked the prayer labyrinth at Light of Christ Lutheran Church here in Turlock.  I had no pressing issues to pray, no urgent needs to bring to my God; I came ready for a new day.  As I began to walk, the simple “Prayer for Presence” filled my heart and mind:

In the gift of this new day

In the gift of this present moment

In the gift of time and eternity intertwined

Let us be thankful

Let us be attentive

Let us be open to what has never happened before.

In the gift of this new day

In the gift of this present moment

In the gift of time and eternity intertwined

I was captured by the phrase “In the gift of time and eternity intertwined”.  Because of Jesus’ work on the cross and his gift of the Holy Spirit, I get to experience living in a space where time and eternity intertwine!  My very human experience always has the potential for me to know and experience God’s life!  Amazing!

And as another favorite poem of mine says –“And so I think it is with you….” Missy and I have prayed and been attentive to what God is doing in our lives and in our ministry together.  We have put together a wonderful year of opportunities for you to experience the gift of time and eternity intertwined.  Please look over our Soul Care brochure and be open to what has never happened before as you seek to deepen your awareness and attentiveness to God’s life in you.  We are excited about all the possibilities this year will hold, we would love to have you join us!

Carol

Still on School Calendar Schedule!

So both Carol and I are both in our sixties and we still plan our lives around the school calendar year.  What is up with that?   Everything begins in the fall and comes to closure in May.   Summers are times of rest, vacation and family fun...

For the Care of Your Soul Care Calendar is in the process up being updated for the fall.  Check back regularly for what we will be offering in the 2013-2014 'school year'.  Soul Care Companions, Ignatian Spiritual Exercises, Retreats, Lent Reflection Prayer Group and Spiritual Direction.  Also check out what is new this year!  Carol is offering Haiku as a spiritual practice in September and "Justice Journey" which will meet monthly.

 Blessings!  Missy and Carol

Invited into Jesus' life

I have been pondering the event of the Transfiguration.  I don't get very far into the Scripture passages because I find I'm drawn by the first lines: "he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray" (Luke 9:28 NIV) or "Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain where they were all alone." (Mark 9:2 NIV)   The Gospel writers tell us that Jesus would go to a mountain to pray, often spending the night alone and in prayer.  Was this event any different in it's intent?  Jesus was going to pray and invited his closest companions.  We know about the Transfiguration because this time it was witnessed - but was this common for Jesus to experience when he moved into union with his Father?  So, why do we have this account?  I can imagine Jesus asking these three men to come with him.  His words of invitation are familiar to his followers - "Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life.  I'll show you how to take a real rest.  Walk with me and work with me - watch how I do it." (Matt. 11:28 The Message)  I love that Jesus invited these men even though in his enthusiasm and lack of understanding, Peter totally misses what is happening.  Jesus invites the same three to be with him in the Garden.  Only one of the three seems to stay connected - John is the only one to be found at the foot of the cross!  I have a sense that Jesus desired their presence, their company even and maybe in spite of their lack of awareness and their self-centered focus.  It was not a teaching time for later life application, it was a time of knowing him - in his glory, in his aloneness, in his need for companioning.  Jesus invited them into his life.  This has made me wonder what my faith journey would look like if I'd experienced my salvation commitment at age 8 as one of being invited into Jesus' life instead of inviting Jesus into mine.  A subtle difference to be sure, but perhaps profound - to be invited to Jesus' life in all of it's fullness of knowing oneness with the Father and Holy Spirit.  To know him in his Incarnation and his divinity.  To know him as the most intelligent, wise, creative, loving, good, merciful and beautiful human being.  To be with him so much that I begin to act, talk, think and live like him.  Yes, I want to be with him - to hear his invitation to come and live his life!

Carol

Why?

        In the past two weeks I have heard this question a number of times for many different reasons:  "Why?"  And in the "Why?" there is no answer and who knows if there will be.   So if there is no answer then perhaps is there the invitation from God to just trust him?  I wonder if in the trusting and in the waiting if there might not just be an invitation to look for the gift, the grace of the unexpected visitor.  Carol sent me this poem yesterday.  Perhaps it might be what you need to hear today.

How  to Recognize Grace
by Marilyn Chandler McEntyre

It takes you by surprise
It comes in odd packages
It sometimes looks like loss
Or mistakes
It acts like rain
Or like a seed
It's both reliable and unpredictable
It's not what you were aiming at
Or what you thought you deserved
It supplies what you need
Not necessarily what you want
It grows you up
And lets you be a child
It reminds you you're not in control
And that not being in control
is a form of freedom

From Weavings: A Journal of the Christian Spiritual Life, Vol. XVII, No. 4 (July/August 2002), (Nashville: The Upper Room, 2002), weavings.org