Love One Another....

For the past few weeks, I have been sharing my musical talents with the congregation of Wangen Prairie Lutheran Church in rural Minnesota.  Like so many rural churches, they are small.  But size should never be confused with enthusiasm, and there is an abundance to be found there.  They are filled with the Spirit, doing good work, and carrying the cross as a beacon in the wilderness through their support of missions near and far.  It has been a very rare privilege for me to play each Sunday morning, because, although I was a stranger, they have accepted me into their midst as one of them.  It is not always so, and I am grateful.

I have been thinking about this today, as I near the end of my temporary commitment.  I realize they think that I have gifted them by playing, and, of course, God has worked through me to bring music to their Sunday morning ministry, which I hope has been a blessing.  But, in truth, the real gift has been to me in their healing love and acceptance, which is far more important, in the overall scheme of life.

Reborn? Renewed? Regenerated? Who am I?

Faith is a process, not a moment.  We begin to learn about faith from the instant we are born.  How we are cared for, how well we are loved, how we are treated by those closest to us, builds a foundation for faith that threads through our entire life experience.

But no matter how well we are treated in our first moments of life, there will come a time when our faith is tried and tested.  It may come early, it may come later, but it will come.  It will cause a rupture in our life experience, a crevasse that is difficult to bridge, and we will have a moment where we must decide what we are going to do moving forward.

Seasonings...

Most human beings resist change.  We remain in jobs we hate because we fear the unknown of trying something new.  We remain locked into relationships which harm our well being because we are afraid to stand up and say, "Enough."  We spend most of our lives, day in and day out, following the same routine, because it is easy and familiar, and change is hard.

But like a pond, if there is nothing stirring the water, we become stagnant and eventually die.  It is the fresh current of unfamiliarity which keeps that pond filled with life and opportunity.

Beginnings....

As soon as the kids go back to school, we start seeing signs that The Holiday is coming.  Halloween isn't even over before the decorations and music of the Yuletide season are pounding our senses, and people have started to ponder budgets and gifting requirements.  In the world of secular, nominal Christianity, the season of Advent is spent anxiously awaiting The Big Event, the day to end all days, the most anticipated moment of the year.  For a brief time, anything is possible.  Santa rules the skies and the minds of children (and their desperate parents,) and the stores are filled with the stuff that makes up modern living, so we can shower our nearest and dearest with ever more goods to show how much we love them.

Reformation or transformation?

Words are powerful.  They are small, seemingly insignificant, a pattering of sound throughout our days.  But sometimes, words are so profound they change the course of history.

Martin Luther has been a polarizing figure in the history of the church for 500 years.  As we celebrate this milestone of the schism he fueled in The Church, The Reformation, I have been thinking about his life and his goals.

Words of the soul...

I am a word person, although not, by nature, especially chatty.  I force myself to be social and outgoing in the business world, because it is required of me.  And my closest friends and family think I never stop talking, because I am comfortable enough with them to share my real being with them.

But my natural inclination is for solitude and quiet.  I am thought filled, although I keep most of my thoughts to myself.  In my happiest moments, I am still and at peace, which in my mind, at least, is a darkened, quiet spot where I am at rest.