Pilgrimage Ponderings

One of my sons has developed a fascination for reflectors.  It started after a snow and ice storm last winter.  Once the snow was melted, we noticed that there were lots of reflectors that had been knocked to the side of the road, probably by the vehicles that scrape the roads.  This year we gave my son a reflector for his birthday. 

So I've been thinking about reflectors.  Because I travel a lot, and am often traveling an unfamiliar road at dusk or in the dark, I appreciate the reflectors.  I could find my way home without them most of the time, but they make my journey easier to navigate.

When I think about what it means to follow Christ, to love God and to love my neighbor, it seems to me that a reflector is a good metaphor.  We people of faith are called to reflect the light of Christ so that others might find their way on this journey of life.  I believe that God will do what God will do, and that God is calling all of creation into relationship with God's self.  So it's very possible that the people God is calling will find God just fine without my help.  It's also quite possible, that when I seek to shine the light of God's love in the world, it makes the way easier for others to find their way home.

I wonder when people are on this journey called life, do they see the way more clearly with well-placed and well-anchored reflectors along the way?  Or have the reflectors been iced over and knocked to the side of the road?

I had the joy of chaperoning a group of youth to Revolution 2010, our conference's new spiritual retreat.  It was a great experience.  The speaker talked one night about being "all in" for Jesus Christ.  Apparently this is a poker and sports term that non-nerdy people are familiar with (this excludes me).

That idea of being all in for Jesus has stayed with me.  For one thing, the retreat recalled to mind my teenage experiences of being called to commitment.  I remember how much I wanted to be all in for Jesus.  I remember how clear it all was to me that this was a choice for life, and that it was important.

I've also been reading The Celtic Way of Prayer by Esther De Waal.  As I have learned more about this distinctive practice of Christianity, I have been struck in a new way about the idea of "all in."

See, Celtic Christianity, as I understand it, is all about how God is "all in" everything.  Ordinary everyday Christians pray over all sorts of mundane things throughout the day, in the name of the Trinity.  This understanding of how God is everpresent is, to me, rooted in the Incarnation.  When God chose to enter the world in the form of a human (see Phillipians 2), God made a commitment to be "all in" with us.

As a teenager struggling to be fully committed to Jesus Christ, I often felt as if everything was up to me...saving myself, saving the world, saving my family if they weren't committed, etc.  As I think about what it means for me to fully commit myself to the Jesus Way in light of the reality of God's being already all in, fully invested in me, humanity, and creation, my whole perspective is being transformed.

I have always believed (I think) that to live fully in this world, a person must learn how to receive all of life as a gift and to respond accordingly.  What would it mean to see God as being all in both the ordinary and mundane parts of my personal life as well as in the big things going on in our world?  This is my latest pondering.

And for those of you who are wondering, yes, I'm back to blogging.

Sometimes it's a challenge to find the right words.  I feel as if I am putting roots down deep that will flower into words later, but for right now, everything is dormant.  I am trusting in the grace of God that the invisible work taking place within me will bear fruit that brings honor to God.

I often receive emails from people who care about me warning me of the next possible way that harm might come to me, if I am not hyper-vigilant and on guard.  Maybe someone is going to access my financial accounts and wipe them clean if I allow myself to be taken in by the latest cell phone scam.  Maybe I am at risk for being abducted from a parking lot if I am not aware of the latest attempt of the bad folks to appear to be in need of help.

Usually I read the email I have received, out of respect for the person who sent it to me.  But I find that I cannot bring myself to forward it on.

It seems that I am unwilling to participate in perpetuating a culture of fear.

I believe that we should all be cautious and use common sense.  I am aware that there is a price to be paid for being too trusting.  I also think that there is a price we pay for expecting bad things to happen at every turn.  There is a price we pay for allowing fear, rather than mere caution, to be what rules us.

I believe that as people who seek to be faithful to Jesus Christ, we must make the choice to err on the side of hope and love, not fear, even if it means that we sometimes meet harm.  To walk through life in fear of the next attack that might come is to see this world as evil, dangerous, and treacherous.  And I think, all too often, we tend to get what we expect from life.

I believe that I am not going to be able to avoid the bad and difficult things in life, just because I am on guard against them.  Walking in faith, for me, is trusting that Jesus walks with me into those difficult times, that the community of faith will sustain me, and that I have the opportunity to help mulitiply the good in the world by sharing it rather than hiding it away.

It's been a struggle.  I joined facebook in April and I've been on a learning curve there.  Plus I've been thinking about doing some creative writing, so I thought I'd try to work on that.  But so far it hasn't happened.  And now I have a senior in high school!!  So my stress level has moved from slightly-off-the-charts to out-of-the atmosphere.

So we'll see how it goes.  My lastest thoughts haven't been too theological.  I'm actually pondering these days how the general lack of personal boundaries that people have today is only made worse by the capacity to post every unfiltered thought on facebook immediately from a cell phone.  Facebook is wonderful for keeping up with folks and reconnecting with old friends.  But as with most everything else, it has this darker side of allowing people to perpetuate bad behavior and poor decision-making.

Haven't a clue what to do it about, though!

Just thought I'd let folks know that I'm going to take a few weeks for a summer blog vacation.  I don't plan to post again until the end of July or the beginning of August.  It's gratifying to know that people are checking this blog, and I wanted folks to know not to expect anything for a few weeks.

Happy Summer!

I was visiting a church Sunday and felt blessed by the pastor's use of language.  My favorite image that she used was one of "grace spillin' out all over."  The point was that we as people of faith are to be that for those around us.

It has occurred to me that one reason those outside the church see communities of faith as problematic is that we inside the community of faith talk far more about budgets and buildings and institutional matters than we do about why the institution is here in the first place.

For me, the story of the Christian community of faith is a love story...a story of God's love for the world "spillin' out all over" through Jesus Christ and the story of how people of faith at their very best become the Body of Christ spillin' that love out everywhere they are.

Sadly, all too often we are not at our best, and what comes spillin' out all over is not grace but something else.  My prayer is that we followers of Jesus can be revived and renewed in the love of God so that we can not only tell that wonderful love story, but also live it.

And thanks to Rebecca for that inspiring image.

Annual conference ends today with the fixing of the appointments.  And another year begins for United Methodists in South Carolina.  School was out yesterday for my kids.  I look forward to the change in routine during the summer.  Sometimes I'm glad they are out of school and I can schedule my work without the same kind of attention to their schedule.  And sometimes I wish I could be on summer vacation with them!

This morning we will learn how our annual conference voted with regard to constitutional amendments.  Then we will vote on the budget, adopt resolutions, and take care of a few nominations.  The other morning our Bible study leader reminded us that whatever happens with the amendments won't make much difference if we are not inviting people into relationship with Jesus Christ and welcoming them into our church families.

I think he's right.

I've been thinking today, from my confirmation-level understanding, mind you, about how Wesley thought and felt about his decision to break with the Anglican structure of the church in order to ordain Thomas Coke and Francis Asbury so that they could serve God and extend the Gospel into a place where the Anglican church could no longer go.

I find myself wondering if he agonized over that decision, or if it seemed clearly to be the leading of God's Spirit for the time.  I wonder if he looked back later on that decision, after the consequences and ramifications of that choice were more fully known, with joy or with regret.  And I wonder if there is any wisdom to be gleaned from John Wesley for the issues facing our church today.

Yesterday we had a wedding at the end of the church service.  It was very special and reminded me of the role of Christian community in our lives.  I am thankful to be part of a community that commits to pray and give active support to families as they unite in marriage, pledges to raise their children in the faith in baptism, seeks to support those children when they publicly profess their faith at confirmation, and surrounds with love and care those who are grieving the loss of a loved one at a funeral.

What a gift we have as the people of God to offer this level of care.  And what a gift to be able to receive those tangible expressions of caring when we are in need.  How can we as people of faith communicate this wondrous gift to those outside our walls who think that we are all about drawing lines and judgment and wrath and hiding ourselves from this world until Jesus comes and whisks us away?

We cannot control what people think of us.  But we have some control over the message we send about what is most important and most central to our life together.