And Now...Run

 

 Christmas Day arrived, gifts were opened, a whole lot of food was eaten and now we sit in the post-Christmas clutter.  Some of us may have already taken down decorations, started diets and moved on to plans for 2021.  However, for me these days are a bit slower, a bit more relaxed, even lazy.  I'm relishing the memory of my 

5-year-old grandson running through my house...the little pound, pound, pound of his feet.  I'm recalling the joy in his face at a surprise.  I laugh to myself when I recall his sweet giggles.  Those joy-filled moments speak to me, remind me of love, and invite me to love in the same way.

I want to love like my grandson.  It's an all-out love, unconditional, pure, and offered to everyone.  And in his exuberance for life - he runs.  I mean everywhere, he runs.

When we were on the beach last summer, I noticed that children constantly run.  And run for no reason.  The parents walk down the beach, but their kids run ahead, run around them, run into the water.  Just running in joy, I guess.  But when you get older, you stop running.  Or running becomes part of your to-do list, right after, cleaning house and laundry!!!  

I want to run with the joy and love of a child.  Run wide-open, all out, with unbridled enthusiasm, offering such joy to everyone.  At least I want to run like that in my spirit.   Don't you?

Christmas invites us to run.  Now that we've heard the news of this Baby King it's time for us to lace-up and prepare to run.

31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. 32 They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”

33 They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem.

They returned AT ONCE to Jerusalem.  Hours before these travelers had walked slowly, disappointed and in despair down the dusty road.  But now, with a burning in their hearts they RAN back to Jerusalem to tell their story.

I noticed with our grandson that when he loved a gift, he wanted to tell everyone one about it!  Have you noticed that after you receive an extra-special, most desired gift, most anticipated gift that a lot of the joy is telling others about that gift?  Yes, certainly we feel joy in ourselves but it's in the telling another that spreads our own joy and gives that person joy.  And gives the Giver joy.  It's suddenly a crazy circle of joy!

The Christmas story is this type of gift.  Were not our hearts burning within us in the last few days?  In the quiet moments of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, did you not recognize that intense experience inside your body?  The love, the acceptance, the hope revealed to each of us?  That is Christmas.  The hope of a new beginning, a healed land, a healed earth, love unending.  It is the gift of all gifts.  And it is the gift that compels me to run and tell others.

In my quest for purpose and meaning, I've come to understand that the true purpose for my life and I believe for all our lives, is that the Christmas Joy fills us to such a limit that we overflow.  We overflow into the lives of people around us who are searching for bread, clothes, a hug, a special treat.  It's this running into people's lives to tell of the special gift that gives us our greatest fulfillment.  We received Good News this Christmas...a Savior was born into our world.  So many people need to be reminded of this gift, many people have never heard of this Gift...let's start running to tell.

Justice, Mercy, Humility--Mission Possible!

 

Advent is over, and Christmastide has begun!  It would be so nice to keep the Christmas tree up all year and continue to enjoy the beautiful music and the sounds and smells of the season. 

But we are not called to camp out in the coziness of Christmas or the quilted comforts of home.

Mary and Joseph didn’t stay in Bethlehem.  Before long, they were high-tailing it to Egypt.

Likewise, the two Emmaus travelers didn’t stay locked in the safe and familiar confines of home after Christ’s appearance to them over the table.  “They set out that instant and returned to Jerusalem,” Luke writes.

2021 is just around the corner. We too have a world to return to.  How will our encounter with Christ—Christ the newborn King and Christ the Risen Savior—how will that encounter shape our path forward?

For these past weeks, Nouwen has taken us on a journey he calls the Eucharistic life, and he makes an important point:  “Communion is not the end.  Mission is.”

This idea of mission can be overwhelming.  “I’m just one person. What can I do?  What difference can I make?”

The prophet Micah provided a good template for planning our re-entry:  “What does the Lord require?  Three things:  do justice…love mercy…and walk humbly with God.” (Micah 6:8)

These three qualities—justice, mercy, and humility—provide the structure for answering the call to mission for ourselves, those closest to us, and our communities.

Justice.

At the “community” level, we have justice.  Jesus always calls us to a kind of justice that restores those who have been cast out, those at the edge, on the margins, those suffering under the oppression of illness, poverty, or empire.  Our first question is, “Who or what needs to be restored?” 

Once you’ve answered the “what,” you can begin to consider the next question:  “How can I operate within my circle of influence to bring justice to my community?”

“Hunger is too big,” you might say.  But you can contribute to your food bank, or volunteer at a food pantry.

“I’m worried about the environment, but I’m not a scientist.”  That’s ok.  Maybe what’s in your circle of influence is making some conscious decisions about how much you consume, or how much you throw away.

“I’m troubled by so many in generational poverty or without healthcare or in dysfunctional family systems or caught up in addition…but what can I do about that?”  Start with being informed.  Maybe the first step in going back into the world to bring about a little more justice is educating yourself about the history and structures that keep oppressive systems in place.

Any one of us may not be able to change the world…but what if all of us did our part to restore those on the bottom and the outside?  I think Jesus was counting on all of us doing just that.

Mercy.

Doing justice is the work of restoring our communities.  Loving mercy is the work of restoring our personal relationships.

Mercy is mission with those closest to us.  Laying down one’s pride…taking the first step…choosing relationship over being right… isn’t this what mercy is about?  To whom can you reach out in 2021  to forgive and start rebuilding a relationship?  I know I have a couple in mind. 

The Sufi poet Rumi gives us words to consider when it comes to “mercy”:  

Mercy is inviting someone into that field.

Humility.

If justice is community work…and mercy is relationship work… then Micah’s call to humility is personal work.  Humility means admitting that there is more to learn, being teachable, not having all the answers and being gracious enough to admit when you are wrong.  Our teachers could be the natural world, our children and grandchildren, or an unexpected stranger.  The key is looking long and hard enough and being willing to be taught.

To summarize:

• ·       The Eucharistic Life ends not with Communion…but with Mission.
• ·       Mission is something each of us is called to do, and something we can do.  Micah gives us a simple template to use…
• ·       Our mission in the community is justice—who or what needs restoration in our communities, and what part can I play?
• ·       Our mission with our closest relationships is mercy—who needs forgiveness, and what can I do to start building or rebuilding a bridge?
• ·       Our personal mission is humility—what do I still need to learn, and who or what can teach me, if I am humble enough to admit it.

-Scott Elliff

S

 

The Christmas Beginning

Tis the season and I hope you are ready.  I hope I'm ready!  Gifts wrapped, menu planned, perfect gifts chosen, pies made, the freezer full!  However, it feels weird in many ways, doesn't it?  It's a down-scaled Christmas celebration this year.  There are far less programs, less gatherings, less social contact, less of a lot of things we hold dear.

One thing that hasn’t changed is that kids are still asking Santa for what they want!  And our young children want to know how much longer until we get to open presents?  Can Christmas ever arrive?  So, what do you ask for this Christmas?  Are you excited and anxious for the day to arrive and for the festivities to begin?

We all look forward to December 24 and 25, but I believe the giving of Christmas is in the beginning.  This month I've been contemplating that Christmas is today not some awaited day.  Christmas is seeing and accepting what God is giving.  Christmas is God's hand extended, offering us new birth, a new way, new understanding.  It's all occurs in the beginning.

In the beginning, He created the earth

In the beginning, Mary chose to trust and believe

In the beginning, Joseph chose to trust and follow

In the beginning, the shepherds saw and rushed to worship

In the beginning, a stranger offers us bread...

³⁰ When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them.³¹ Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. ³² They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”  Luke 24:30-32

He BEGAN TO GIVE IT TO THEM…it was in the beginning of them accepting the bread that their eyes were opened and they recognized him.

•Not after the meal was over

•Not after they were completely full

•Not after they fully understood

 

It’s when HE BEGINS in us that we start to truly see him.  It’s the beginning of new belief.  The beginning of a new step of faith.  When Moses began to walk toward and went over to see the burning bush, God spoke. When Moses began and stretched out his hand over the Red Sea, it parted.  It's in the beginning of our faith steps that God moves.

 

I tend to live my life not satisfied with what He is offering me or beginning in me. I want the whole loaf!  Please Lord, don’t piecemeal me along.  What’s the outcome?  Answer my prayers today!  Let me see you, fully see your plans and understand everything in this moment.  I’m tired and I’m tired of trying to understand.  Often my faith waits to see the whole picture before I finally trust and accept His leading.  That’s not faith; that’s my good ole control.

But maybe we can remember it’s in the first small step of accepting that one piece of bread.  Accepting the small, gracious gift.  The small beginning He offers me is actually the whole, complete gift.  He begins, I accept, and then I see.

What am I asking for Christmas?  The new beginning.  His new beginning in me.

kathyhayes

Bread, Bread, and More Bread

Bread satisfies us in a way that nothing else can.  It is true that “man cannot live by bread alone,” but it’s also true that bread can fill an empty stomach and fuel our bodies for action.

Jesus understood the power of bread.  He also understood Maslow’s hierarchy of needs 1900 years before Maslow did.  For Jesus and the people of his social class, bread was a matter of life or death. When a person is hungry, he’s not looking for a sermon.  He’s looking for food, and nothing else matters.  Jesus got that.  Let’s look at three examples.

Feeding the Multitudes (Mt. 14:13-21). Jesus could draw a crowd. On one occasion, when the gathered multitudes had grown hungry, Jesus knew better than to let them stay that way.  A hungry crowd can become an angry mob, no matter how great the headliner is.  He didn’t dispatch his road crew to provide assurances.  He found a way to meet their need for food with loaves, fish, and generosity.

The Upper Room (Lk. 22:17-20). Once fed, Jesus could use bread to make his point.  The bread could be a stand-in for something greater.  Think about Jesus’ retirement dinner in the Upper Room.  The menu was set—it was Passover, after all.  Flatbread, bitter herbs, and wine were on the menu—nothing extraordinary. 

Yet, Jesus seized the moment and used those essential elements of bread and wine to make a bigger point.  Their physical hunger having been met, Jesus drew them deeper into his story, their story, our story.  “This bread and wine about which you never give a second thought?  From now on, whenever you sit down together and do this mundane, routine, every-day thing…just think about what’s going to happen to me tomorrow. Don’t forget it.  And don’t forget why.”

Emmaus (Lk. 24:30-32). Then Nouwen opens up yet another Jesus story with bread as a central plot element:  having arrived in Emmaus, Christ breaks bread at the table and—voila!—the two travelers recognize him for who he really is.  In an instant, in an act so unremarkable…so seemingly insignificant…so like a thousand thought-less actions every day…they were transformed.

These three “bread stories” seem to illustrate two important lessons that Jesus is teaching about himself and laying out as examples and expectations for us:

Lesson #1: Meet people at the place of their need.  Don’t give people a lecture when they need food.  Don’t pass judgment when what someone needs is healing.  Give people what they need, not what you have a need to give.

Lesson #2:  We’re not built to be alone.  These stories tell us that it isn’t just about food filling our physical need.  The food was always shared in the context of a community…sometimes large, sometimes small. But Jesus seems to recognize that we need each other.  As much as we like to think of ourselves as independent and self-sufficient, we are a social species.  We want companionship.  We need a witness to our lives.  With technology, found a way to connect despite everything the virus has done to set us apart.  So, let’s ask ourselves: How are we reaching out to others, even in this time when connecting is so difficult?

Through his examples, Jesus taught that “The Way” was more than a warm, fuzzy feeling or a mountaintop experience—it was loving action to meet people’s needs without question or judgment.  And in ordinary daily experiences like the breaking of bread, Jesus shows himself as the Christ, continuously reborn in a world with many great needs.

--Scott Elliff

A Room

 The countdown is happening.  Whether we're counting down to Christmas or the Covid vaccine, I'm not too sure.  The news cycle is filled with covid updates and political updates.  Yet my mind and house are filled with Christmas packages and the UPS man!  These two worlds collide as we wonder who actually will be in our homes on Christmas morning.  I confess that I'm wondering why I'm going to all this Christmas trouble when the only celebrants at my house will be me and the hubs. I have rooms to fill but no one coming to fill them!  Are my rooms to remain empty?

There is an old story about a couple of travelers who were told, 'there is NO ROOM for you'.  Mary and Joseph instead turned to a cow stall and made room.  This couple who had gone through their own nine months of shock, of an unexpected life event.  How did they make room?  How did they prepare a place?

The countdown to Christmas is about a room in a cow stall that was suddenly prepared and filled with Glory.  A Glory that was born to die for us.  A prepared room full of hope and renewed life.

How does one prepare a place, prepare a room?  Many of the rooms in my physical house are filled with trinkets, books, memories and dust!  Under the beds are high school pictures, awards, and art projects.  In the closets, I find my mother's hand-me-down trinkets, camping gear, old brass, baby clothes and on and on.  In other words, I find a lot of unneeded and forgotten objects.  My rooms need a cleaning.  Maybe this is the year that I finally understand that no matter how many rooms in my physical house are filled with people, Christmas trees, gifts, and food galore, there is truly only one room that needs to be filled.  And that's the small secret room inside of me.

I've come to understand that this private room needs my utmost attention.  It has a lot of stored hurt and pain, a lot of disappointment and failure and a lot of dust that needs a good sweeping out.  But a miracle is also buried deep inside the secret room and it is a fragment of Glory.  This is the room we each are to celebrate this Christmas Day.  

And, yes we may be alone in our multi-room houses but the only important fact is that the Baby King will join us in our private room.  He came to prepare a place for us.  He came, has come and will continue to enter this secret place in each of us.  Our celebration inside our own hearts and totally alone in His presence, is that He came to earth get us, to show us a way, and He has prepared for us a home filled with many rooms and filled with His Glory.

“Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many rooms; if that were not so, I would have told you, because I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I am coming again and will take you to Myself, so that where I am, there you also will be. John 14:1-3

kathyhayes 

The Invitation List

 

Hospitality is one of the things I miss most about the pandemic.  For several years, we’ve regularly enjoyed having groups of new and old friends in our home for food and conversation.  We always want to make those evenings special!

Preparing for that sort of hospitality takes some planning…what to serve, when to have it ready, and, of course, who to include.

The two travelers on the road didn’t have the luxury of making plans.  Their hospitality for the Risen Christ arose out of a spontaneous encounter.  They felt compelled to include him.

But we are more likely to have the opportunity to contemplate who we want to invite into our circles…our spaces…our lives.

This week’s chapter from Nouwen and this little turning point in our Emmaus story—that moment of invitation, of inclusion—really made me think.  Two different questions kept coming up for me, different questions that resulted in similar answers.

1.       Who would Jesus tell me to include—or, more precisely, to not exclude?

2.       If I invite and include Jesus, exactly who am I including and what am I getting into?

Relying on scripture for the answers, both the narrative of Jesus’ life and the specific lessons he taught reveal a great deal.

When you take the long view of Jesus’ short life, there’s a thread that runs through it, from the annunciation to birth, through his life and up to his death.  The thread is this:  The nature of God is revealed to and through the people on the margins. 

Jesus wasn’t born wealthy.  The heavenly chorus announced his birth to shepherds with their smelly sheep in a pasture, not to the emperor’s gated community.  Jesus’ didn’t have a powerful, elite board of directors; he had a band of uneducated, working class men and women (don’t underestimate Mary Magdalene!) who were following him closely and working the crowds.

Next, take a look at who Jesus always included.  Jesus wasn’t focused on elevating the popular, the pure, or the priestly.  He wasn’t absolving the pious of their shortcomings.

Instead, Jesus was a health care provider, and he didn’t discriminate against the poor or anyone with pre-existing conditions.  Jesus was including, elevating, centering from the margins people with terrible, fetid skin diseases; tax collectors who were regularly shaking down the poor folks; whores and blind and deaf people; people who couldn’t get around; and people with apparent mental illnesses or emotional disturbances.

He included people who were way outside his religious community and ethnic group, folks declared to be unclean and unworthy. 

And who did he call out?  People who were at the center of the circle, real “insiders,” religious leaders who themselves excluded those who did not pass their purity tests. In fact, Jesus flouted those religious rules and purity tests himself (Matthew 12).

He called out people with a lust for money, power, and importance.  He didn’t damn them; he just condemned their attachment to money and material wealth (Matthew 19:16-30).

We’ve all experienced what it’s like to be excluded, to not be on the invitation list, to not be always at the center of the center, the inside of the inside.

But I know that I’m more of an insider than most, and I exclude others with my judgements, my assumptions, my scarcity view of the world, my attachments to what I have…or what has me.

What about that second question that I couldn’t shake this week:  If, like the two Emmaus travelers, I invited Jesus, exactly who would that be and what would I be getting into?

Well, neither the physical, historical Jesus, nor the person or apparition who was with those two Emmaus travelers in the breaking of the bread is with us now.

So where is Jesus today, and how do I get that invitation in his hand?  Who am I including and what am I getting myself into?

Darn it if he doesn’t tell us that he’s on the list of outcasts I just ran through.  He’s poor, he’s hungry, he’s naked, he’s sick, he’s a criminal in prison (Matthew 25:35-40).

Including the Baby Jesus, or the clean, white, northern European Jesus doesn’t ask much from me, or even take much faith.  It’s as comfortable a dinner party with friends who are just like me.

But if Advent is about preparing to really receive Jesus into my life, I’ve got plenty to do when it comes to my invitation list. 

It doesn’t necessarily mean being ashamed of being in the center, but I do think Jesus is calling us to use our power and position to widen the circle.

·         Maybe it doesn’t mean inviting the homeless man into my home…but it could mean using my position in the center to call out an injustice and speak truth to power when the voice of the homeless man cannot be heard.

·         Maybe I’m not called to tend to the medical needs of the person living with HIV, but I could widen the circle of inclusion just a bit by speaking out against bigotry and intolerance.

·         Maybe I’m not able to lead a massive movement to eliminate racism in our country, but I could widen the circle for someone who’s on the outside of it by summoning the courage to say, “I’m not on board” when a friend or relative tells a racist joke.

Including all of who Jesus says he is in the world today could perhaps be as transformative for me as it was for the two travelers.  Perhaps my eyes and (my heart) can be opened.

--Scott Elliff

 

Do You Hear?

Words, words, words! They never stop.  Whether it's a constant news cycle, our kids asking for Christmas gifts, or our work lives demanding more deadlines and time away from our personal lives.  

But most upsetting, I've suddenly noticed that most words come from my daily life.  It's what I've done or not done.  It's what is planned for next week. It's my inner-self talking about all that needs to happen today, tomorrow or next week!  It's so loud in my world.  The focus is now, December, my problems, my excitement, my worry about sickness, Christmas gatherings.

It's also a season that gives me my faith.  But the words of Christmas get so easily drowned out.  How can I hear the real message?  Am I willing to listen; for 'to hear' means I must stop and listen.

One Christmas years ago...in the midst of the hustle and bustle...I received a call to come home.  My mama was dying.  I remember driving to Jackson, Mississippi with my flashers on and driving way over the speed limit.  I arrived but she was sleeping.  The sleep before you pass.  I could touch her though.  I could see her sweet crooked fingers, see her beautiful face.  I could sit with her and remember the days, the tears, the celebrations, the love.  Her earthly story ended on December 24.  As I look back today, I'm so very grateful I listened and heard a call to go home.

We see a similar occurrence in the Christmas story.  Mary heard, Joseph heard, the shepherds heard a call. The heard a voice saying, life is not how you expect it but trust me, hear me, have faith in me.  My perspective is bigger than yours.  I have a plan and it's being fulfilled.

This Christmas season, I want to hear.  I want to listen for the call.  I want to acknowledge the bigger plan.  The plan that life overcomes death.  The plan that glory comes in a little Baby King.  To believe the unbelievable.  

Do you hear??

KathyHayes.blogspot.com