Month: March 2018

I did not grow up knowing about Lent in any sort of personal way. I only knew my Catholic friends in my neighborhood gave up the best stuff, usually food, that I really liked when they would share. It just didn’t make sense to this Baptist kid as I was growing up. It was also in the days before and during Vatican II, when much changed about the Catholic church.

So, what is Lent? I have grown up a whole lot since those days back in my hometown. As I have grown and moved from Baptist to Presbyterian and on to Methodist, my awareness of Lent has grown. Even then, the idea of Lent and celebrating the seasons of the Christian calendar have taken some practice to get used to. I can now see Lent as the time of introspection and longing for the Easter morning and the resurrection.

This season of the church, this time of rebirth, is tied to the natural world we live in. At Advent, we experience the darkness with only a flicker of light in the world. By Lent, our expectation grows and we arrive at our new birth.  So, why give things up? That is the issue, being able to give things up signifies what exactly? I get it, the 40 day fast in the wilderness that led to Jesus becoming very aware of his Messiahship.

And that is the purpose of Lent. We are the only God the world can ever know. Jesus came to bring light, he left that light with us. Lent is our 40-day reminder of who we are and who we are called to be. You and I, we are the hope of the world and that is powerful. We must realize that each day, we go through the whole cycle of birth, life, death, and rebirth. When we learn to live as if each day was the only day, we become the living God we are called to be.

A recent cartoon of Charlie Brown and Snoopy, a Zen idea is expressed with Charlie Brown saying, “You know, Snoopy, we will die one day.” Snoopy answers, “Yes, but we will live all of the others.” That is powerful as you think about it. We know where it will end and since we do, we should joyously live all of the other days. As we head toward Easter, perhaps it is time to be reborn into the world of living every day.

TMM

As a youth, growing up in the Southern Baptist tradition, we had vacation Bible school. And we took our show on the road and held the same several times over the course of a summer. Always, there was one song to sing with the kids, “This little light of mine…”. Come on, you have heard it. It has multiple verses of “won’t let Satan blow it out” and “won’t hide it under a bushel no!”  and more after that. And, you held up your finger as the flame and did the requisite hand motions as well.

It was fun and it taught a great Biblical truth but I doubt that those kids or perhaps you ever really understood what that light was and is to you and in this world. The mystic, Thomas Merton saw it, on the corner of 4th and Walnut in Louisville, Kentucky many years ago. It changed him. So much so that today you will find a historical marker on that site explaining the event. He saw all of the people walking by as “shining with light” and they do not know it. Merton became more and more inclusive after that day.

Franciscan theology is one that unites the individual with all of nature. Duns Scotus was a writer and mystic from the middle ages who commented on St. Francis. Strikingly, he made a point that matters: we are not the clear glass that lets the light shine through. We are, instead, lighted from within; we are the light. That is a big difference and it changes how you see people. Looking for a Light that is shining through people is not the same as recognizing the light that is that person, or that thing, or that part of creation. Merton saw it. I want to see it too.

So, those kids (or you and most certainly me) did not have to put their finger in the air to represent the light. They (and you and me) ARE the light. All of creation is aglow with the presences of the Sacred Creator of all. What would our days look like if we, like Merton, saw every person, every animal, every thing glowing with the Light that lights the world? I am filled with joy at the thought. Why not give it a try?

TMM

I am a prideful person. Now, before those who know me start with the comments of “tell us something we don’t know”, let me explain. I am proud of my teaching. I am proud of the many years I have spent as a therapist. I am proud of my family and proud to be part of their love and caring. I am most certainly proud of my garden and yard. And, I am very proud when I fix something around the house. I have a wife who might say I am insufferable when I actually fix something.

My wife would be right, I am very proud when I make things work right again. Faucets, toilets, floors are no match for my skills. Well, okay I am exaggerating, but only a little bit. What I am most proud of in my life are not achievements in academia or sports or even in the yard. The things that I am most proud of have in common my best effort. Teaching, therapy, and parenting.

When one of my students suddenly “gets it” that is joyous. When a client has ever gotten better and moved on in their life, that is joyous. And, on this occasion, when a child achieves something very special, again joyous. I have this one daughter who was a sweet but rather serious kid. She was (still is in some ways) a perfectionist. She went to college, studied her dad’s profession of social work, then went to seminary. She is the minister I thought I was called to be.

And now, that kid is the new pastor of a very old Baptist church. She has worked hard to become all that God would have her to be. She has a giant heart, a deep love of ministry, and a natural ability to minister. I am biased, but I do not think that new church knows the gem they are getting. My baby girl, yes always my baby girl, has gone from a kid to a wonderful pastor. That is a source of great pride for me. No, not because I raised her (which of course I did not do alone), but because I see what she will accomplish, the lives she will impact.

So, this proud dad has a question for you. What are you proud of in your life? The accomplishments? The things you have worked so hard for? The house you live in? The car you drive? You know all of those things won’t last right? Learn to be proud of what others have accomplished that you might have had a small part in. If you are a boss, how about being proud of what each of your staff is doing, and letting them know that. If you are a parent, let your kids know that you are proud of them just because they are themselves.

Pride can interfere with your life, make you arrogant and ruin you. Or, pride can lead you to a deep appreciation of the life you have been given and the life you have shared with the world. If that is your approach, you will be taking pride in exactly what God takes pride in you and all of creation. God “saw that it was good”.

TMM

I am a professor, so of course, when I take roll I expect my students to be present in the classroom. Studies have regularly shown that being in the classroom increases learning and improves grades. That seems like a true no-brainer, but it really isn’t. My college students think they can just read the book or get the notes from someone. That just doesn’t work in my classes because the subjects I teach are, in part, experiential. That is to say you “just had to be there”.

Why is it that we Christians often think that we can just read the text or “get the notes” from someone? We really don’t have to be present, we just have to believe. We even do that to the Sacred, we just believe and just accept what the Scriptures say and move on. We are never actually present with the Great Presence of all of life. There is a wonderful and short book by Brother Lawrence entitled Practicing the Presence of God.

This book sounds so holy, so spiritual. Read it and you will find the beauty of Brother Lawrence lies in the simplicity. You see Brother Lawrence was not a priest or holy man but a simple monk who loved to bake bread for God. Lawrence found God in every moment, in the process of baking, in the process of living a very simple life.  This book should be required reading for every Christian everywhere.

Presence. That word is powerful. When the Creator of all of the Universe calls the roll, are we in class? Are we taking note? The classroom is your very life and the entirety of nature all around you. To be present in each moment does not require knowledge or even belief, it just requires us all to be present to God in all of God’s forms. Birds, animals, trees, stones, rivers…..well you get the idea.

Today, on the way to work, in the face of your child or spouse, at the birdbath, in the face of your co-workers see the face of the living God. Bask in the presence of that Presence. As we move toward Spring, toward Easter in the Christian realm, be open the rebirth that is all around you. You don’t have to believe in anything or study anything, just enjoy. Just answer the Roll with “I am present!”

TMM

Have you ever looked for something, over and over again, only to become frustrated and annoyed? Well, I am a man, so I know where everything is, always…not! I know, I know, it is just how men are and I own up to it. I have heard these words a few times in my life, “well, if you just move something you would find it”. It isn’t always fair, some things, like my car keys, the tool I need, or my wallet love to play hide-and-seek and they win more often than I do.

In reading a morning devotional by Richard Rohr, I was captured by these words: “We are to seek the hidden God in our world by seeking the hidden God in our lives—living Christ by doing Christ.” A few thoughts struck me regarding this notion. First, we often feel like God is playing hide-and-seek with us. At the moment we most want to find God, God does not seem to be there. Second, the words of Jesus come to mind. When he was asked where he was staying, most often he would say “come and see”.

Consider the words again. We are to seek God by seeking the hidden God in our own lives. Isn’t that the same invitation that Jesus has always given? Come and see. Except, we have looked everywhere…..except inside. God is where God has always been, right there inside of us. The question is, for us, where have we been looking? Perhaps, if we find God in the world, we will find the God hidden within. And, where is God in the world? Look at all of creation, God’s face is always visible, though perhaps most visible in the face of a smiling child.

The second thought matters too, the invitation always to come and see. If you are like me, the most fearsome part of “come and see” is having to look within. I have come to know that the “hidden God” within is usually hidden behind my own shortcomings, my own fears, my own guilt, and my own shame. The game of hide-and-seek is my own invention, not God’s. I am exactly as Adam and Eve when God came to the garden. Every day, I think, God asks me (and perhaps you as well) why are you hiding? Who told you that you are naked?

I think God could have asked another question: “Why are you ashamed?” But we know the answer to that one, don’t we? We are ashamed because we know that we have messed up, sinned, and we cannot stand to face the One who loves us the most. That is not good theology and it is not good for our heart. We need only look inside, to look past ourselves, to see the Risen Christ standing for us and inviting us over and over again to “come and see”.

My keys are always in the last place I looked. Well, really in the last place I expected to find them. Isn’t that us in the presences of the hidden God? Isn’t God always in the place we never expect to find God?

TMM