Easter Sunday,(April 24, 2011)

The epistle passage  from Colossians 3 says 

    "you have been raised with Christ ... for you have died,

     and your life is hidden with Christ in God."

TTh

This is baptism talk and baptism promises lived out. It is in the act of baptism that we die with Christ, go to the tomb with him, and are raised up with him. And we live that new and renewed life through faith, according to Russell Rathbun (Hiding with God and from Myself: The Hardest Question), because in being dead and hidden with Christ .... we are hidden from ourselves. We only glimpse what we have already become in the love and mercy of God.

 

Oh, yes, and his hardest question? If I am clothed with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator, how do I make sense of the self I see in the mirror?

the restroom at Hell's Kitchen, Minneapolis, MN

May we all be blessed with a new glimpse of the self we already have become in the covenant promises of baptism this Easter Sunday and throughout the whole of Eastertide.

Waterfall garden at New Hope Presbyterian Church

 

4th Sunday in Lent (April 3, 2011)

The man born blind  (John 9:1-41) has greater insight into who Jesus is than do the Pharisees. Thanks to John Shearman's Lectionary, Russell Rathbun's The Hardest Question and Laurel Dykstra in Sojourner's Living the Word I think I have some new 'in-sights' about this passage. 

Jesus uses this healing as another of so many teachable moments. In the blind man's affliction  being healed Jesus' true identity is more clearly revealed, yet the Pharisees fail to see it.  They are not only fearfully blind to God's power and glory in Jesus, their inability to fathom how God continues to do 'new things,' to create newness in the world, is fully exposed. They stand bare naked, not only before God, but before those who have eyes to see.

Sunset over Dover, PA

Do we have eyes to see the beauty of God's new creating in bareness? Are we able to stand fully exposed before God and humanity? Are we ready for God's continued work of new creation in and around us?

Woods near I-70 (Taylorstown)

 

Cattails along New Salem Road

Pittsburgh Theological Seminary Chapel

3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Jan. 23, 2011)
In both the first and gospel readings we return to 'the land of Naphtali and Zebulun' which seems to be of great importance to Matthew. These were sons 2 and 6 of Jacob, 2 of the 12 tribes of Israel. Russell Rathbun in his blog, the hardest question, states the significance this way: they were the Thaddeus and Bartholomew of the disciples. Just as with his birth, it is not in the limelight but in obscurity that the Kingdom of God will be announced and, some 7 centuries later, will come to fruition.

Out of obscurity Jesus calls four of the best-known disciples: Andrew, Simon Peter, James and John. For all the excitement of personal transformation and entering into the adventure of a hundred lifetimes, what strikes me is the one who remains in obscurity: James and John's father, Zebedee.

I have this image in my mind ... a father in his boat, still holding one end of the net full of the day's catch, watching his strong sons, the apples of his eye, walk off into the sunrise of a new day, leaving him behind. (Yes, sunrise -- they fished at night on the Kinneret as has been the custom throughout the Mediterranean world.) When has a beloved child or friend's 'call' led them on a path away from you? Or a call laid upon you led you away from them? 

Sunset at Indian River Outlet, Delaware    July, 2007

 father and son checking their crab  pots

a dragonfly along the pathn

 

Baptism of the Lord (January 9, 2011)
Laurel Dykstra wrote for Sojourners in 2008 that what connects this week's texts is voice.  As I consider Jesus' baptism in the Jordan, and as I consider what signifies 'voice' for me in creation, what embodies the gentle suffering servant of Isaiah and our Lord, I think of that lush area of rocks and trees where one of the three headwaters of the Jordan bubbles up to the surface at Dan in the Galilee. One felt totally cloaked in by the trees, watching the river rock carefully not to turn an ankle. And the water --- the trickling water calling us to: COME! be washed and claimed and be part of the fulfilling of all righteousness.  

Not far from home is a wonderful state park, Ohiopyle, with lovely falls in the Youghiogheny River as a major focal point. My black Labrador retriever loves to walk along the river down to the thundering falls that sound more like God's voice to the psalmist, and then swim after sticks we find. But less popular, and not very hospitable to doggie paws, is the small Cucumber Falls. Having run my battery out on my 'real' camera, I clicked a few photos with my old Razor cell phone. It reminds me a lot of that walk up to the Dan headwaters. And the voice is still calling.

The falls at Ohiopyle, PA on the Youghiogheny River

Keira launching after a stick above the falls

Cucumber Falls at Ohiopyle, PA

Epiphany Sunday, Year A (Jan. 2, 2011)
Epiphany, Revelation, or the big 'AHA!!!!' moment .... however you think of it, you are expecting something to do with magi and a star, right?

And you'd be right if I were primarily attuned to the Greek texts, but since I am more at home with Hebrew, I was looking at Isaiah 60:1-7 (prompted by thoughts voiced in Feasting on the Word, I am extending to include v.7). So I'm considering light in it's various (and most glorious) forms.

Thursday, after much dreary gray, a dazzling sunset broke forth (as in 'Break Forth, O Beauteous, Heavenly Light) and I just happened (as I often do) to have my camera. I realized that sunset is an ending of the sunlight for the day ... but the very hope that it will indeed rise again tomorrow morning is a hope built on God's promises and providence. How are you reveling in the glory of the Light? How does your life reflect it to others in a way that creates an 'AHA!!!!' moment for them?

Looking east across Uniontown, PA at the cross atop Jumonville UMC Camp

The Summit on Historic Rt 40 east of Uniontown, PA

Sunset over Hibbs -- the puff of smoke is from the power plant across the river from Masontown

view from the back of New Salem PC

Christmas Eve, Year A (Dec. 24, 2010)

One of my favorite carols is not one we'll be singing this year. It is 'Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming' and I will be playing it as one of a trio of carols on piano for part of the extended prelude time. 

I think part of the reason I love it is the text drawn from Isaiah 11:1; partly, also because of the syncopated rhythm and the way the harmonies don't move all together at the same time (it is musically more interesting that way!); but also partly because it elicits such a clear sense of that single, perfect rose budding and blossoming into our world. 

Advent 4, Year A  (December 19, 2010)
The epistle text from the opening of the letter to the Romans says:
     Through him we received both the generous gift of 
     his life and the urgent task of passing it on to others
     who receive it by entering into obedient trust in 
     Jesus. You are who you are through this gift and call 
     of Jesus Christ! 
             Rm. 1:5-6 from The Message

Who are you right now? How are you using this generous gift and how are you passing it on? This is my answer just now.

Deeply Rooted

yet soaring high

a little bit daring

embracing new invitations

 

in a vortex

 

 

yet oddly at ease

ready to end the day

 

as it began

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

bathed in the Light