Second Sightings-Baltimore

Sabbath Arrival

2009-07-09T21:29:00.001-04:00

A walk on the beach... or in the woods,
taking time to track a lightning bugs’ on-again, off again flight,
gazing at the morning dew on the grass,
marveling at a fuchsia sunset...

Inasmuch as Sabbath

is to remind us that we are not self-made,

then what we need comes to us in time set apart, left fallow,

for restoration, relief, refreshment

to arrive on the wings of the Spirit.

As it is that we are not our own; giving ourselves over

to the One who made us, for God to do God’s work with us,

when and how God chooses, is our joy and delight.

(Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it Holy. Exodus 20:8)

This Gift of Life

2009-06-12T10:50:00.000-04:00

Blessed at our birth,
embraced by God’s everlasting love at our death,
in between,
our bodies retain every ounce of holiness given by our Creator.

Hands- to carry, hold and serve;
Hearts-to bear the pain of those who hurt;
Lips-to whisper words of comfort and compassion;
Backs- to bend, tending needy and hungry ones;
Feet- to follow your lead, Lord, each and every day
each and every day.

( "Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?" 1 Corinthians 3:16 )

A Threefold Journey ( a prayer/poem for Trinity Sunday, 2009)

2009-06-04T21:25:00.001-04:00

God be the road on which you travel:
God of the mountains on which you are tested
and challenged;
God of the wells at which you find healing and peace.

Christ be the light by which you travel:
Christ the vision which informs and enlarges you;
Christ the lodestar shining in your darkest nights.

The Spirit inspire you as you travel;
Spirit sharing restlessness with you, driving
you onward.
Spirit sharing stillness, leading you toward God’s heart.

The Trinity, the Three, go with you as you travel:
and may your journey
begin
continue and end
in Them.

Pentecost Prayer

2009-05-29T10:48:00.001-04:00

It is said that it took fifty days after Jesus’ resurrection
(one more than seven times seven),
for God to generate enough
Spirit-filled flaming wind

to descend upon those
who waited for what Jesus had promised to send them.

They didn’t know what would arrive in Jesus’ name.

Why is this surprising?
Who expected Easter, who knew that the first Christmas was coming, who knows what tomorrow will bring?

So, dear Lord, teach us to open our eyes, every day,
to receive your unexpected appearances;
breathe your Spirit into us,
so we may exhale your life.

“All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.” Acts 2:3

2009-05-22T10:06:00.001-04:00

When silence is a sacred as song,
and words carry no more meaning than the wind,

and stream-fed waterfalls rushing by pour out their
endless, rhythmic, drowning cadence,

and knowing that my part in creation, just for now, is to
take in as much as my eyes, ears, breath
and beating heart can withstand,

then I know that I am claimed forever by eternity,
through the One whose creative, boundless energy makes
all things good and bright, and bids me embrace the love
freely given me that I can be
a vessel of sharing to others.

( “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.” 1John 5:13)

By Choice

2009-05-15T10:12:00.001-04:00

Not by choosing sides for a pickup game,
drawing straws,
or by secret ballot,
you have been selected from the beginning of time by
the Creator of the Universe,
for a unique, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity
made to your personal specifications.
As an ambassador of mercy and salvation, you
have been chosen to share the love of God in the
same way it has been given you.
Freely, without compulsion, generously; as blessings pour
into your living (those you take for granted and those that
surprise) so in your sharing them may you fulfill the cycle of
God’s love.

“You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.”
John 15:16-17

2009-05-08T08:32:00.000-04:00

On a good day with the sun shining,
and the soil warmer than the air,
Something More awaits,
rooted in the heart of creation,
planted in the joy of celebrating life
given us as God’s beloved children.
Tomorrow is as rooted in today as a flower
emerges from a seed;
and it does not matter whether that
tomorrow be spent on earth or in heaven.
Memories abide, untarnished,
joys stay close to the heart;
treasured times last always.

Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5

shepherd of this flock

2009-05-01T09:01:00.000-04:00

Shepherd of this flock,
in the green pastures of
blossoming friendships,
and in the still waters of cherished memories,
our souls are restored.

Good Shepherd,
you have led us on paths
of doing what is right,
for your name’s sake.
Lead us again, when we are sorely tempted to stray.

Faithful Shepherd,
though we know we
will yet go through the dark glens we often fear,
You will lead us out.

You continue to seek us out,
even between the rocks and crevasses
in which we hide ourselves,
reluctant to respond
to your open invitation.
You are our Shepherd.

Thank you.

(The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. Psalm 23:1)

seven days later....

2009-04-16T22:14:00.000-04:00

All the doors remain locked tight,
even though the rooftop of understanding
had been blown off.

After seeing still bloody, scabby, side and hands
and being heavily breathed upon,
ten sets of eyes were wide open;
ten beating hearts renewed.

One doubter remained.
After a little poking, belief took hold
and grabbed back firmly.

Doubt melted into devotion,
fear into faith,
and disbelief stepped out the door,
never to return.

But Thomas said“Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”
John 20:25

Seeing Beyond the Tomb

2009-04-10T09:51:00.002-04:00

When she arrived at the tomb
to embalm him, with tears on her face,
He had risen for her sake,
and could tell her at last to stop.

Only later did she understand
that his death had steeled her
and forbade the sentimental urge to sob continually
and to cling.

Now he made her one who was loving,
not just to him, pulled and drawn by distant hope,
but having been shaken by an earthquake of understanding,
she came into her own.

“After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning,
Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb.” Matthew 28:1

[ A free translation of ‘Der Auferstandene”- by Rainer Maria Rilke, 1913]

A Small Parade

2009-04-03T10:29:00.000-04:00

It is a most curious sight,

this procession moving toward the city;

a retinue of out of place fisherman, tax-collectors, dubious women, street people, various, assorted riffraff.

Centuries of nostalgia notwithstanding,

Jesus’ entry into life is still humble, lowly; the least common denominator for all of us.

He passes by as we sit on our front stoops; from our desks, as we peer out of the windows of our lives.

As I watch this One who is ready to take on the burdens of the world,

may I learn again just who you are,

and who you are calling me to be.

We Would See Jesus

2009-03-27T08:24:00.001-04:00

I have learned, and am still learning each and every day...

that encountering another human being is as close to seeing God

as I will ever get, this side of heaven.

The one who stands right in front of me,

who has no substitute,

who can never be replaced,

whose heart holds things for which there is no language,

whose life is an unsolved mystery... Is made in the image of God.

The supreme religious challenge

Is to see God’s image in one who is not in our image.

May I encounter that of God today in who I meet.

Some Greeks came to the Festival in Jerusalem with a request to Philip, “Sir, we would like to see Jesus.” John 12:20

[Some themes of this meditation were drawn from a first reading of Barbara Brown Taylor’s newest book, An Altar in the World, A Geography of Faith, HarperCollins, New York 2009.]

For God so loves the world....

2009-03-20T09:11:00.000-04:00

For God so loves the world,
that we were sent here, too...

So, shine in our lives
on this first day of Spring,
warm us with courage,
dance with us in our daily walk,
lighten our darkness,
sweeten our sadness...

that we may share your blessing
within our precious lives
and among those we encounter, day by day.

“...for God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.” John 3:16

Driven from the Temple

2009-03-13T11:29:00.000-04:00

There is a purity within God which,
without the shielding of the cross of grace,
would destroy with one clean glance my compromised
and fatally flawed life.

As Jesus swept the temple traders forth like dust before a broom, use
this time of year, O God, to purge me of what keeps me from You.

Confront me with my clean, clear vision
of my highest ideal.

Not that I may be caught
in my own web of hypocrisy, but
show me again the heights to which,
in Christ, you bid me climb;
not for my own sake,
but for the highest purpose
You have in mind for the small
part of your Kingdom I can help foster.

“Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” John 2:15-16

God's Plan

2009-03-06T15:36:00.000-05:00

God’s plan:
to pursue
every human soul
down all the corridors
of time and eternity--
till grace triumphs and
sin and pride yield

and the whole human family
is welcomed home to the banquet table of life.

That’s something
I’d like to hear more about.

I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. Genesis 17:7

“Put to the Test”

2009-02-27T10:24:00.001-05:00

Yielding to temptation distances us from God;
we take a step away from who we are made to be...

Yet might it be
that temptation, when handled properly
and overcome, can be transformed from weakness
into strength and future confidence?

As a mended limb is sometimes stronger
than before the bone was broken,
so a tested life, like steel from a forge
is tempered to a new resilience; a deeper,
fuller, and more compassionate understanding.

One thing is certain:
when we are tested God does not leave,
abandon us to face the test alone.
With every test the Lord supplies strength enough
to resist and gain the upper hand. All I can do is accept the help that is already there.

In every test of this new day, Lord God,
help me to see and grasp your guiding promise.

(adapted, from J. Barrie Shepherd - A Pilgrim’s Way- Meditations for Lent and Easter, 1989.)

“Blessed is anyone who endures temptation. Such a one has stood the test and will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love God. No one, when tempted, should say, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil and God tempts no one.” James 1:12-13

2009-02-20T12:03:00.001-05:00

Transfigured....

2009-02-20T09:08:00.001-05:00

Regenerated, reclaimed, remodeled...

I mean changed.

is it molecule by molecule, or all at once?

is it to a new, altered state -- or back to the original form, uncorrupted?

surely it can’t happen by moral exercise alone, but by lived-out prayer and a Holy touch.

So at a time and place of God’s choosing, we will be full-blooded siblings of God’s beloved.

______________________________________________
Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” Mark 9:2-3, 7

2009-02-13T10:48:00.001-05:00

When the crutches were thrown away
and the lame man freely walked,
did Jesus take on a limp?

Did Jesus’ eyes dim
when blind Bartimaeus saw?

Did the spark of life ebb in him
when it flowed once more in Lazarus?

When lepers leapt in regrown skin
did scales appear
on the back of Jesus’ hands?

The gospels say
Jesus felt power go out from him,
but they do not mention
whether at that moment
infirmity and healing traded places.

As the Son of God
gave of himself
to save others,
he showed, (as only God can)
how it is that one life becomes two.

(inspired from the writings of John Shea)

“A leper came to him begging him, and kneeling he said to him, “If you choose, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, “I do choose. Be made clean!” Immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean.”
Mark 1:40-42

Searching....

2009-02-06T10:11:00.000-05:00

Where are you,
God of all,
when I need you most, when I need you near?

You are the Stranger who meets me when I am yet unready;
you sit next to the one I try most to avoid,
you knock on the door I am most hesitant to open,
you say the word I am most reluctant to utter.

Once I have found you -- I realize
that I have found myself in you,
and you have been looking for me, all along.

Then give me the grace to do for others
what you have done for me.

(Early in the morning, while it was still very dark, Jesus got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. And Simon and his companions searched everywhere for him. When they found him, they said to him, “Everyone is searching for you.”) Mark 1:35-37

Then Jonah Prayed

2009-01-23T09:29:00.000-05:00

Then Jonah prayed… / adapted from scripture
I called out to God,
blinded by panic, captured by chaos, 
engulfed in disaster,
and God answered.
  Out of the belly of hell I cried, and you heard my voice. 
I’d been tossed into the waters,
into the deepest part of the sea;
(was it you who thrust me there?)

The flood surrounded me; waves, even torrents passed over me.

What could I say?
‘Though I’m in here, where there’s no chance for me,
still, I’ll look to you in hope.”
It didn’t end there. 
Waters closed tighter, coming in over my head. I was a goner.
I knew my ancestors were waiting for me and I would see them soon.

Yet you saved me. Thank you, God.
 When my life was at it’s worst, somehow I remembered you-(who else could I think of?) My prayer reached you.
If I hadn’t prayed, I would have forsaken my hope of you hearing me.  Thank you, God!”

[And God spoke to the fish, and it spat Jonah out on dry land.]

the first thing

2009-01-19T08:20:00.001-05:00

When it happens
it is too good to keep to myself.

I need to tell somebody else about it,
I can’t hold it in.

Like my team unexpectantly winning the big game...
Did I have to tell people about it the next day?
For sure!
So it takes place nearly every day, (when I think about it.)

There is something of God to share every day. A goodness
received, a sorrow needing bearing, a question seeking an answer.

And it comes, not disembodied, but alive, living, breathing and real.
With whom will you share the news? Who will bring it?

Sometimes I can’t tell the difference between
the good news I find and the one who bears the message.

“The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee.
He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.”
Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew
and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him,
“We have found him about whom Moses and the prophets
wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth!” John 1: 43-45

Baptism ( Luther-1530)

2009-01-09T08:15:00.000-05:00

For gold is not the less gold
though a thief wear it in sin and shame.

So also Baptism wears true, retains its full essence, even
though a person should be baptized,
and then, in addition, should not truly believe.

Thus it appears what a great, excellent thing Baptism is, which
delivers us from the jaws of the devil and makes us God's
own, suppresses and takes away sin, and then daily strengthens
the new human being, and remains ever efficacious
until we pass from this estate of misery to eternal glory.

If, therefore we have once in Baptism obtained forgiveness of sin,
it will remain every day, as long as we live,
that is, as long as we
carry this pendant about our neck.

(adapted, from Martin Luther- The Large Catechism, 1530)

A Blessing for the New Year (2009)

2009-01-02T11:27:00.000-05:00

May you be ever aware of the light that shines in the darkness;
that the darkness can never put out the light.

May your eyes be opened to the wonder of the daily miracle
of life around you, and may your sense of mystery be deepened.

May you be willing enough to let go of the past,
to lay down failures, guilt and shame, lift up your eyes
and look to the future, for only in letting go can you be freed
to grasp new opportunity.

May you be blessed with companions on the journey
who will listen to you and encourage you with their presence.

May you learn to live with what is unsolved in your heart,
daring to face the questions and holding them
until, one day, they find their answers.

May love flow in and through you to those who need your care.

May the grace of God’s presence strengthen your resolve,
clarify your will, and equip you
to live with courage, faith and cheerfulness
until the year’s end- and far, far beyond.

(For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven. Ecclesiastes 3:1)

2008-12-21T22:12:00.001-05:00