Now you can breathe....

"Take a deep breath. Blow it out. Hold....."
Once you have been surprised by a health crisis, there is never any such thing as a routine CAT scan again.
When I went back today for a long-scheduled, "routine" follow-up, my head was reminding me that this same medical test is the diagnostic gift that saved my life five years ago.
The familiarity of the place spoke a different kind of memory: the sound of my physician's voice when she called me to come to her office, the sobering, drastic diagnosis of a pancreatic tumor, the uncertainty until post-surgery pathology could confirm the nature of the tumor, the overwhelm at the prospect of major surgery for someone who was, until then, only in the hospital to pray for others. Those heart memories flooded my heart in excruciating detail as I signed in for today's followup.
Nothing routine about a medical procedure once results have turned life upside down at some point.
The mix of head and heart was not a question of faith. It wasn't a question of faith for me in 2007 when I got the news of a pancreatic tumor. There was no question of faith for me today. Nothing I have been through diminished my confidence in God's presence or love or power. I was clear that no medical test would change God's faithfulness--or my confidence in the God who has been my rock and salvation.
The imprint of a crisis -- and the reminder in every follow-up procedure-- is that life is a gift: a gift that is both stronger and more fragile than we usually recognize.
"Now you can breathe" the voice in the speaker said.
And, gratefully, I took another breath after each sequence of pictures.
I drove home thanking God that the natural apprehensions of a followup could be put aside. Life could be celebrated freshly and fully.
I take each breath thankfully and pray that all I have experienced helps me hold others in love more richly.

Daily Fountain of love

My mother taught me that love is best experienced and understood in consistent, daily doses. That's the way she undergirded my life with love and that was her practice of love to God and her family every day of her life.

In my mother's care, I learned that God's love is absolutely dependable. No matter what the circumstances of adversity or hardship or challenge, Mother showed me that God was loving and providing and that faith would see us through.

Mother grew up on a farm in the northwestern part of Kansas. Tending the farm was a daily process. There was no doing chores when you felt like it. There was no such thing as feeding the chickens or milking the cows every now and then. The work was daily. Nourishment was daily. Faith had to be daily, too.
How perfect that, years later, Earth Day would be commemorated on the same day my mother was born. She lived a beautiful example of Christian life each day. She loved, cherished, nurtured and tended the world and the people in her sphere. I am enriched every day by her love.
I believe because of Mother's daily tending that I have known in my core that a worship service on Sunday, no matter how great, is enough to sustain faith for the challenges of each day. Her life and the consistent biblical witness is that it takes time for people to process and apply faith. Even when the news is great -- like the resurrection--figuring out the personal impact takes time. Patience is a lifeline to living the love of Christ.
Every day is a fresh faith walk. Thanks, Mom, for trusting God's mercies are new every morning and for showing a life that blossomed with a fresh and full application of God's love every day.

Listening for the alleluia....

I spent a joyful Easter worshipping with two of my favorite little men, my grandsons. I wish I could say their excitement was about God's great gift of resurrection, but the more accurate reality is their energy had more to do with too much Easter candy.
Bright young 1st grader that he is, my 7 year old Connor can read well enough to follow the words of the hymn on the screen. 4 year old Tyler, on the other hand, was just non-stop, sugar-fueled energy. Maybe he had eaten jumping beans for breakfast.
I love the traditional "Christ the Lord Is Risen Today". Luckily for my busy little guy, each line of every verse ends with the same powerful word: Alleluia.
"Christ the Lord is risen today...alleluia.
Earth and heaven in chorus say...alleluia" etc.
So I would lean down to my energy-exuberant grandson and say, "Listen for the alleluia..." And he did. Just as soon as the congregation got to the end of the line, he jumped in enthusiastically with the sweetest alleluias I heard.

As we were singing, I was just trying to engage a busy boy. Afterward, I have been thinking that my words of anticipation are good by-words for life: "Listen for the alleluia." This week, in the stress of appointment-making, I have found myself listening for the alleluias as worship spilled over into real life.
Moving forward, how important to remember that Easter is the one Christian celebration that is not confined to a day -- or even a season. Every single week, we have an Easter celebration on Sunday. Even during the more serious and somber Lenten season, Sundays are not included in the 40 days of Lent. Sundays-- even during Lent-- are mini-Easters. The resurrection is our joyful heritage/faith foundation for all our Christian experience. Resurrection is the powerful gift of God for us to celebrate every Sunday, all year.
The clamor is loud -- around us in the contentious culture and within us in our fears and anxieties. "Listen for the alleluia" is a life-giving way to keep Easter alive in our hearts. Hopefully, we can join in as enthusiastically as my little 4 year old did once he heard the "alleluia" begin.

There's more than one Judas....

Good Friday is the eternal reminder of the depth of Christ's sacrifice on our
behalf. On the way to the cross of Christ, the people, teaching and events of Holy Thursday can get lost in the Holy Week shuffle.
Holy Thursday is the opportunity to remember that Jesus was betrayed by one of his inner
circle. That's very sobering to me. He wasn't betrayed by pagans or
unbelievers. He was betrayed by a disciple---a disciple He had chosen and
called --- a disciple who had left everything to follow Jesus. A
disciple who was so trusted that he was the treasurer, the keeper of the
money. And, at some point in Judas' discipleship, something went terribly
wrong. And the double tragedy is that he realized too late that he had
done something terrible and it was too late to make it right. That is one
of the saddest stories of all.
I think we have Judases in the church today, too...
One of the greatest gifts of Lent is its insistence on honest self-examination.
Christian faith-at its best-never loses sight of the temptation of humans
to stray from God's best. Through the ages, people have come up with all
kinds of speculation about what went wrong with Judas. We would rather
talk about Peter or John or Andrew or someone else among the twelve. The
awful truth of Holy Thursday is that something disappointing went on with all
of those closest to Jesus. They all let Him down. Judas betrayed
Him, the disciples fell asleep on Him when He asked them to stay awake as He
prayed in Gethsemane, Peter denied Him and they all deserted Him-a very sobering,
unflattering picture of those who were closest to him.
Holy Thursday is the time for who are close to Jesus to personally and
prayerfully reflect on our capacity for sin. What a blessing it could be
for us to remember that good people-- Christ-following people-- have the
capacity to make terrible choices that have drastic, destructive
consequences. And, while missing the high calling of love by an obvious mile, folks -- often folks who are longtime church members--are absolutely convinced that they are right in what they are doing.
Our United Methodist emphasis on continued growth in
holiness is anchored in the reality that all of us can be Judas. That is
why accountability is such a high priority for United Methodists. No
longevity of church membership, no level of financial contribution, no title
of church office exempts anyone from the need for accountability. At its
best, the healthy practices of our denomination help everyone keep check on the
ego and complacency and our destructive tendencies that are common to
all. Being honest and aware of the sin-capacity in every disciple can be
just the foundation we need to stay grounded in the humility that can be a
correcting lifeline.
Maybe the most astounding gift of Holy Thursday is that the failure of the disciples did
not stop the giving heart of God. Even though the Scripture is clear that
Jesus knew that Judas was going to betray Him, Jesus did not let that stop Him
from washing Judas' feet. And after the disciples fell asleep on Him in
the garden, Jesus did not give up on them. After Peter denied Him and the
disciples abandoned Him, no human failure stopped Jesus from giving His life
for our redemption. We dare not take that for granted.
The Holy Thursday invitation is the challenge to radical, personal
honesty about the ways that we are capable of getting off track. Just
because we are following Jesus doesn't mean that God will find us doing the
right thing. The honesty/ humility check is vital in every
stage of the Christian walk. Holy Thursday is also the invitation for
disciples to receive and extend the love of Christ which transcends the
worst of human sin. Jesus loved those who hurt him most deeply. On
this Holy Thursday, can we do the same?

Making a memory

March 2, 2012 a devastating 120 mph tornado demolished the small town of West Liberty, Kentucky. News reports and pictures of the aftermath looked like a war zone. A small, close-knit community was torn apart in a matter of minutes.
My hometown, Frankfort, Kentucky is a couple of hours away from West Liberty.
My family moved to Frankfort in 1961 when my father was appointed to be the pastor of First United Methodist Church. He served there for 10 years and now, at age 90, is still on staff as their Minister of Residence. This is the church where I was confirmed. This is the church where we held my mother's funeral and Daddy's 90th birthday party. With a treasure-trove of precious memories, I always look forward to worshipping there. It's like a family reunion.
Today was so much more.
Just before the worship service, I got to see one of my favorite young adults there. She was getting a trailer unloaded and there were stories swirling everywhere.
Amy Nance is a vivacious, passionate young woman who has been galvanizing mission involvement in the church as long as I have known her. Amy has a heart to make a difference -- especially for disadvantaged young people. So I was not surprised when she told me about getting Frankfort First to sponsor a new outreach called "Cinderella's Closet". Cinderella's Closet provides prom dresses and accessories and encouragement to young girls who would otherwise not be able to go to their prom. First UMC Frankfort has taken on the outreach with donations and volunteers--making memories for three years now.
When Amy learned about the tornado in West Liberty, her heart and her vision got bigger. Even though Cinderella's Closet had become quite a big undertaking in Frankfort, Amy decided to take it on the road -- to take Cinderella's Closet to tornado-devasted West Liberty. Yesterday, Amy--with vehicles loaded with volunteers and trailers of donated dresses, accessories and sewing machines took hope to the girls of Morgan County High School. The volunteers from my home church went to West Liberty prepared to outfit as many as 200 girls for their prom.
Girls came with their families and boyfriends. Many of them had lost everything in the tornado. Some girls still had visible physical injuries. All of them had stories. And every one of them got outfitted for their prom. No girl was turned away. Girls who didn't find a dress to fit were measured and will have a just-right dress delivered to them next week. First United Methodist Church Frankfort delivered more than dresses yesterday. They brought Christ's love, hope, concern and personal support to girls whose lives had been torn apart. They made a memory that will last a lifetime. I have never been more proud.
Today was more than a wonderful Palm Sunday worship service. Today, I saw a living example of the church at its best.