Monday, September 21, 2009

You

And then you


We arrange our lives as best we can,
to keep your holiness at bay,
with our pieties,
our doctrines,
our liturgies,
our moralities,
our secret ideologies,
Safe, virtuous, settled.
And then you--
you and your dreams,
you and your visions,
you and your purposes,
you and your commands,
you and our neighbors.
We find your holiness not at bay,
but probing, pervading,
insisting, demanding,
And we yield, sometimes gladly,
sometimes resentfully,
sometimes late...or soon.
We yield because you, beyond us, are our God.
We are your creatures met by your holiness,
by your holiness made our true selves.
And we yield. Amen.


Old Testament theology/October 15, 1998
from the book, Awed to Heaven, rooted in earth: prayers of Walter Brueggemann

jas sig

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Songs

It is an old song, passed down to me by my spiritual ancestors. One that has been sung in many places and many tongues. A song of celebration, a song of hope.

"His love endures forever."

She said, "sing the song in your words, from your experience."

I felt it a sacrilege to tamper with tradition. This is the song of my ancestors. And yet...this is my song too.

"His love endures forever."

So I sat with the song. I listened to the Writer's voice. Then I haltingly began to sing Jas's 136th.

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, His love endures forever.
Give thanks to the Lord, the God of gods, His love endures forever.
Give thanks to the Lord, the Lord of lords, His love endures forever.
To Him who alone does great things, His love endures forever.
Who gave me life, both physical and spiritual, His love endures forever.
Who loves me with an everlasting love, His love endures forever.
Who gives me health and understanding, His love endures forever.
The example of faith filled parents, His love endures forever.
A godly husband, lover of truth and full of wisdom, His love endures forever.
Three children of promise, His love endures forever.
And three grandchildren of joy, His love endures forever.
Who so fashioned and numbered my days, His love endures forever.
That I might know and walk with Him, His love endures forever.
Giving me friends for the journey, His love endures forever.
Who love me and safely hold my heart, His love endures forever.
Whose tender hand brings both darkness to create desire, His love endures forever.
And light to satisfy, His love endures forever.
Who delights in my existence, His love endures forever.
Who raises up truth at the core of my being, His love endures forever.
And casts down idols of pretense, His love endures forever.
Who purifies and cleanses my soul as fine gold, His love endures forever.
And gently wipes away all tears, His love endures forever.
Who longs to share His life with me, His love endures forever.
That I might bear fruit for Him in old age, His love endures forever.
And know the pleasure of His presence always, His love endures forever.


And so I encourage you, sing the song today in your words, from your experience.

jas sig

Friday, September 4, 2009

Birthdays

On September 3rd,  I celebrated my 62nd birthday. When I was a little girl, I thought that accomplishing that many years naturally brought with it grace and wisdom. I was wrong. That little girl is still alive in me now, she's just a tad older and more experienced!

Birthdays have always made me a little uncomfortable and self conscious. I have a love/hate relationship between being validated and being the center of attention. And so, on this most recent birthday, I found myself comfortably offering the stage to someone more worthy than I. The sun rose on a thought I had never had before.

My birthday is the observation of that day in time and eternity that my Heavenly Father brought me into existence in order to fulfill his divine purposes in the earth and in His kingdom. I am not my own. 

I spent the day marveling at what He has accomplished thus far and desiring to know what he has for the future.

It was truly humbling to reflect upon the moments of grace that have filled my life. Some were beautiful blossoms.  Some were painful thorns.  All were lovingly gathered into a life transforming bouquet by the Nail Scarred Hand of the One who "gave up heaven and a crown to fill the earth with heaven's sound."

That evening, my dear husband and I attended a student led worship service at the college. The last song, one of my favorites, ends with the words, "all I am is Yours."

We are all created for a purpose, and all we are belongs to that merciful, loving Creator. Through Jesus Christ, the Heavenly Father made available all that He is.

And all we are... is His.

"Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture." Psalm 100:3
jas sig