So we had a Clean Up Day, and a band of merry volunteers showed up to move, rearrange and clear out all the stuff.  We made piles and we threw some things away.  There were pieces we passed on to others who could use them and there were things we put in our fancy new storage building.  Cleared of all the clutter, the rooms can now be used for their intended purpose.

Collecting too much stuff seems to be a hazard of living in the modern age.   It is a constant battle in our churches, homes and lives.

Honestly, I wish the cleaning out was as easy for my own life.  With all the bits and pieces I carry around inside, I sometimes wonder if I’m too full of stuff to be able to be useful.  Some of it of course is necessary, but there are pieces I hang on to that I know are just taking up space.

I guess that is one of the reasons I cling to the power of confession and forgiveness in worship.  While some say we are just bringing people down with all the talk of sinfulness and brokenness, I see it as a clean sweep for the soul.  Acknowledging out loud that my life has filled up again with brokenness and stuff that clutters my soul is itself cathartic.  But hearing the promise that in Christ my sins are forgiven is joyous good news!  It means the room of my soul has been swept clean, and I am a new creation, able now to be used for my intended purpose in life.

And so week after week, we all come to worship with the accumulated stuff of life, and Christ offers to take it, to leave us clean, that we can be used for God’s work in the world.

The Long View is Pastor Liz’s mid-week observation of our regular stories, and how they may show the Spirit at work.

One year ago, I moved into a little house on the Pedernales River.  The wide, full river flowed beneath me, as it wound through the Hill Country.  Today, the river is dry.  The beauty is gone.  The dry riverbed is spotted with giant cracks and occasional piles of tires and assorted other ‘cover’ for the fish.

The severity of the drought has forced our communities to live differently.  Many are having to buy water for their homes.  Last Sunday morning at the mission, we turned on the faucet, and there was no water.  (Thankfully it was just fire ants in the motor, but we live week to week with the fear that the well will run dry.) My community is enforcing drought procedures, which call us to reduce our usage by 30% and not wash clothes on the weekends.

And while I know that drought is just part of the seasons of life, I am not enjoying it.

In many ways, I suppose it mirrors life. We all have ebbs and flows of life that bring periods of fullness as well as drought.  We tend not to think about it much until the river runs dry (or perilously close) and then, with a little panic in our voice, we wonder, “Now what?”

We have resigned ourselves to the reality that the only way out of our drought here is likely a hurricane.  In our own lives, the dry spells are lifted in other ways .

Living Water

Jesus once encountered a woman at Jacob’s well.    In the course of their conversation, he tells her that he can give her living water.    Ah, living, flowing water to refresh and replenish the dried up riverbeds of life.  No more scrounging and finding only enough water for today.  No more living in a constant state of dehydration.  “Yes, I’ll take it!” says the woman at the well.  “I’ll take it too” we echo her refrain.

Droughts remind us that Christ is our living water, who is able to quench our dryness, to refill our parched souls and to refresh our spirits.

The Long View is Pastor Liz’s mid-week observation of our regular stories, and how they may show the Spirit at work.

“No, what else do you have?”

I was both surprised and delighted that my lunch companion had the same response I normally give.  He is a kindred spirit!  Someone else who gets it!  Ok maybe that’s a bit over the top, but honestly, there is a big difference between Coke and Pepsi.

Now I realize this is a matter of preference and taste and you can’t really make yourself like something.  And for that matter some may like Coke and Pepsi equally as well.     However for my friend and I, there were some pretty clear lines drawn about what is acceptable and not for a lunch beverage.

It got me to thinking about those non-negotiable things of my life.  What are they?  Are they the big things or the little stuff?  It moved me to reconsider my strong position on Coke and Pepsi.

We have lots of things that we hang on to in our journey of life as non-negotiable.  But are they really?   You have all, no doubt, been in meetings where people drew lines and spent lots of energy on the little stuff.  And you vowed to not make others suffer through the same thing.

So, what things are close enough, even if you would prefer something else, and what is truly the thing around which there is no substitute.

As people of faith, we claim some non-negotiable foundations for our life.

We cling to the promise that God loves you and me and all of creation.  God’s love is gift.  Jesus Christ is Lord who claims us and calls us into relationship and life.  The Spirit of the Risen Christ is at work renewing and strengthening us for the journey.

I can’t help but notice, Coke or Pepsi isn’t on the list.

The Long View is Pastor Liz’s mid-week observation of our regular stories, and how they may show the Spirit at work.

A large envelope arrived in the mail Friday.  Inside was a certificate for third place in a national contest.  Someone had entered my work and sent me the results.  Accompanying the certificate was a small handwritten note from the woman who had entered me.  She thanked me for working with her and congratulated me for the award.

It was both humbling and encouraging, and indicative of my new life.  Two days later I heard Pastor Liz express this experience as breathing in the Spirit.  Liz hadn’t heard my story. She didn’t need to…Ezekiel had described it.  With Ezekiel’s words Liz told my story about getting the wind knocked out of us, and how the spirit eventually breathes new life into our lifeless frame.

Ezekiel tells the story with grit.   “Dry bones,…this is what the Lord says…I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. ⁶I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin…Then you will know that I am the Lord.”

Nine months earlier I had gotten the wind knocked out of me when I lost my job.   I knew I was in a lot of good company during an economic downturn.  Nonetheless it was isolating and embarrassing.  Keeping company with a lot of dry bones never felt very life-giving—except when the spirit changed the wind now and then.   That’s what my unmet friend had done with the contest.  She was complicit with her co-worker who had published my work soon after I lost my permanent job.  Neither of them knew me, and they innocently took my work, placed it in their magazine, and gave me my first deep breath in awhile.

Five more months passed between that first hopeful breath and a full time job.  In the interim I encountered other precious gasps of air, and what I see now as the Spirit fleshing out new life.

The employment group at Shepherd of the Hills offered fresh air with insightful professional growth workshops.  Spirit in the Hills gave me tasks that answered both our prayers.  My First English spiritual director guided me to nourishing books, people and places that allowed me to breathe in new ways.  A horse stable became my outdoor sanctuary where handicapped riders, their families and their horses held onto hope and shared the reins with me.

When I became unnecessarily dramatic, my family sometimes breathed for me. Other times they had to let me sit lifeless and allow the Spirit speak to me alone.

In the end, my life was recreated by the Spirit.  My family, friends, churches, old and new, listened, talked, sat, walked, worked and played with me until 100 resumes, applications, cold calls and recalls later, the chance to work full time again materialized.

That envelope on Friday delivered these memories afresh.

Liz and Ezekiel made me grateful again for my new life revived from some bone dry times.  And I’m thankful for all The the Ezekiels sent into my life gifted with seeing the Spirit in motion when I couldn’t.

The Long View is Pastor Liz’s mid-week observation of our regular stories, and how they may show the Spirit at work.  This week’s guest post was written by a blessed Spirit in the Hills mission follower.

I often wish that my journey of faith was that easy.  In fact I am always a little jealous when I read the account of the Last Supper where Jesus gives those specific directions to the disciples.  Remember that?  Go into the city and find the man carrying the jar of water , follow him home and tell him the Lord needs his guest room for dinner.  Or what about Palm Sunday when Jesus gives explicit instructions, “ Go and find the colt that is tied up.  Untie it and bring it to me.  If anybody asks you about it, tell them the Lord needs it.”

Clear.  Concise.  Easy to follow.  I can handle directions like that.  The trouble is, it seems that Jesus doesn’t give you and me the same easy directions to accomplish tasks.  Instead discipleship looks like the sending of the disciples.  “Go,” Jesus says, “Proclaim the good news, heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons.”  Or what about after Easter, when the risen Christ commands the disciples, “Go, and make disciples of all peoples, baptizing them and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”

Um, ok, where do I even begin?  Right?  I mean seriously, it would be a lot easier if Jesus would break that down a little bit into easier-to-manage chunks, wouldn’t it?  First, go and find the guy who’s car is broken down on the side of the road.  Or, stop at the nursing home on your way home from work.  You get the idea.  Most days I think I’d like a little more clear direction from Jesus.  Dumb it down for me so I don’t have to do so much navigating.  All I’d have to do when I got lost was make a call… was that a right or left turn?

But I keep reminding myself that discipleship isn’t as much about destination as it is about journey.  What opportunities might I miss if I focused only on the destination?  …so focused on the map that I missed the world around me?

Proclaiming and healing and teaching may not be as easy to accomplish as finding a room or a colt.  They may continue to leave us wondering if we made a wrong turn somewhere.  But Christ also promises that we don’t take this journey alone.  We are sent with the power and direction of the Spirit of the risen Christ.  So my friends, go out and embrace the world around you with God’s love, and don’t worry about getting lost.

The Long View is Pastor Liz’s mid-week observation of our regular stories, and how they may show the Spirit at work.

As I parked, I noticed movement in front of me.  There, not 10 feet away was a quail, with her 5 baby chicks!  As I got out of the car they of course began to scatter, little ‘peep, peep, peeps’ all across the field behind the mission.  I followed them to get a better look but was left with just the faint sound of  an occasional ‘peep’.  And then I became aware that I was hearing another sound… the buzzing of bees.  There in our little field of bloomed out wildflowers, the bees were salvaging the last of the blooms.  A butterfly floated past, also in search of what little flower petals remained.

Yesterday, I startled our little spotted fawn and sent her scampering back to the tree line and the safety of momma deer.    It made me smile.  Life.  In the midst of drought and inhospitable weather life and new life continues.  Hope in the midst of an environment that doesn’t have many signs of encouragement.

It also made me realize though, how little attention I have given to the suffering of creation.  While I complain about the heat and the lake drying up, I can turn up the A/C or go to the pool to get relief.  The quail and bees and deer  have no such luxury.

My experience Friday served as a reminder to tend and care for God’s creation.  I don’t have any idea if the wildlife experts would agree or not—perhaps this is part of the ‘natural cycle’ of things and they would caution us about intervening.  But as a person of faith, I know these wild animals are also part of God’s creation that find themselves in need.

So I will do what I can to ease their suffering; setting out water and rations.  And I trust that the Almighty will continue to nurture life and new life, even in the midst of drought!

The Long View is Pastor Liz’s mid-week observation of our regular stories, and how they may show the Spirit at work.

Last week, I was confronted by a huge billboard: May 21, 2011, Judgment Day! The Bible guarantees it!  It was of course, part of the campaign by the pastor who has claimed to have deciphered biblical timetables and knew precisely when Jesus would return, the faithful would be raptured to heaven, and the world would end.

Well, May 21 has come and gone, and as far as I can tell most everybody has been accounted for.  I am surprised though at how much attention these predictions about rapture and end of the world continue to get.

While most of us laughed off the predictions, it does bring a pretty major question for you and me.  How does the end shape our today?  By that I mean, how does what we understand and believe about the future shape how we live today?

There is a quote attributed to Martin Luther, “Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.”    Whether it’s from Luther or not, I love the way it captures the call to embrace the sacred gift of today.  As people of faith, claimed by God, our future is wrapped up with Christ.  So regardless of the status of the world, we live with Him.

That means that we don’t have to spend our days consumed with worry and fear trying to figure out the future.  And what Christ guaranteed, was that we would not know the day or hour when He would return.  So there is no need to try and figure it out.   Instead, confident in our future, we can enjoy each sacred day as we work, play, live, love, and plant apple trees!

The Long View is Pastor Liz’s mid-week observation of our regular stories, and how they may show the Spirit at work.

For those of you who don’t know the joy of cheese curds, I recommend you add it to your bucket list.  Seriously, they are that good.  Cheese curds are like cheese, but oh, so much better!  If you get them fresh at the cheese shop, they are still room temperature and they squeak when you chew them.

Given my enthusiasm for this delicacy, found only where there are lots of dairies and cheese shops, you might imagine that I ate cheese curds every day.  Sadly, I did not.  You see, where my Wisconsin relatives are concerned, cheese curds are no big deal.  They are so used to them being available that they really don’t understand what it is to long for them.

Isn’t that our human condition?  Too often I think we take for granted the things we have close access to.   I think it’s a struggle even in our faith.  How often do we assume that everyone already shares in the gift of God’s love?

The thing is, I think there are many who do not know the love and promise of Christ for them.  And there are some, who have gotten a taste here and there, but who long for more.

As people of faith, we are called to live intentionally.   We are called to proclaim the love of Christ.  We are called to share our faith with a world that is hungry for another taste of the good news.

The Long View is Pastor Liz’s mid-week observation of our regular stories, and how they may show the Spirit at work.

And so my journey went.   Easter Lilies marked my drive, declaring with their white trumpets and sweet fragrance that Christ is Risen!  He is Risen Indeed.  Alleluia!  Death and the grave have been conquered and Christ brings life for you and me.

I don’t know about you, but I need those physical reminders of the promises of God for me.   There is much of life I do not understand.  I cannot escape the suffering and death that plagues my world.  And like ‘doubting’ Thomas I struggle with believing the unbelievable; that Christ, who was dead, is now raised to life.  I suspect I am not alone in my longing for tangible assurances of the promise of God to bring life.  Perhaps that is why so many of us are willing to strap lilies in the car and take them home with us.  With their white trumpets and strong perfume, they dispel the doubt and declare Christ is Risen for you and me!

In my reading this week I came across the following poem by Louise Lewin Matthews about these heralds of Easter good news.

Easter morn with lilies fair
Fills the church with perfumes rare,
As their clouds of incense rise,
Sweetest offerings to the skies.
Stately lilies pure and white
Flooding darkness with their light,
Bloom and sorrow drifts away,
On this holy hallow’d day.
Easter Lilies bending low
in the golden afterglow,
Bear a message from the sod
To the heavenly towers of God.

The Long View is Pastor Liz’s mid-week observation of our regular stories, and how they may show the Spirit at work.

It was haunting, because in that moment, and today as we live in Good Friday, nothing seems farther from the truth.   We all know those times when deliverance seems far away if not impossible.  Today is one of those days.   It is tempting to jump ahead to Easter morning, to rush into the rest of the story.  But today we are invited to sit with the reality of death.  We are called to the cross, face to face with Jesus’ suffering.  And what comes with it are questions about whether this God who is vulnerable enough to die can really save us.

Today, as we contemplate Jesus’ suffering and the cross,  I invite you to consider:

How does Jesus’ death tell the truth about our lives and world? How does it give us hope?

Where do you see God still at work to redeem and preserve creation? Where do you long to see God?
Prayer: Lord God, on the cross you suffered the very depths of our human life, even to the point of death. When we see the cross, let us remember that you become one of us and endured all elements of life to show us your great love and to give us hope. Amen.

The Long View is Pastor Liz’s mid-week observation of our regular stories, and how they may show the Spirit at work.