I have often wondered about the discussion within the Trinity as they hatched this plan that would one day play out in Jesus on the cross. How did the discussion of costliness measure up to the realities of walking the rocky pathway to the cross with the jeering crowds? How did God watch his Son die, even with the knowledge of resurrection power? How did the Spirit hover without interfering in the chaos of the week? Is what the Trinity anticipated?
These questions haunt me each Lenten season as I cannot begin to fathom the grace of God. God's grace changes everything. Even our ability to respond to grace is God-given. I feel compelled during Holy Week to immerse myself in the Gospels in order to have a clearer understanding of the sacrifice.
Thank You, Lord, for the staggering sacrifice You made to and through the cross. This week help me to extend Your grace to those with whom I come in contact. Thank You for a grace which seeks to restore this world to all it's meant to be. Help me to listen closely to You this week in order to offer Your mercy to a hurting world, Your justice to the oppressed around and Your kindness to all I encounter. Amen.
On the journey,
Alecia
Monday, March 29, 2010
Monday, March 22, 2010
The Apron and the Towel
Many of you commented yesterday after the sermon about the mental image of my mother wearing her apron with a towel tucked into the waistband. The image seemed to resonate with the understanding of our call to take up the towel in serving one another. There is something beautiful about my mother being comfortable in her skin. She was like the Biblical character Martha in the best sense of the word. The towel wasn't forced upon her. She chose to add it to her many, many colorful (and flamboyant) aprons.
Others expressed how difficult it was to feel that bearing the towel was unappreciated by those that you loved the most. There was a lot of pain expressed when the towel seemed forced rather than picked up out of love. Sometimes our ideas of servanthood are skewed because our image of God is distorted.
When I think of the cross, it is easy to see Jesus as the bridge between humankind and God-- a substitutionary sacrifice. If we are honest, we often add to the last sentence -- to appease an angry God. I think of the work of the cross as the bridge, not appeasing the angry God-- but a bridge that helps our hearts to be open the grace of God. It's our hearts that need to be changed, not God's. When Jesus picked up the towel, he did it out of love, pure unadulterated love.
On the journey,
Alecia
Others expressed how difficult it was to feel that bearing the towel was unappreciated by those that you loved the most. There was a lot of pain expressed when the towel seemed forced rather than picked up out of love. Sometimes our ideas of servanthood are skewed because our image of God is distorted.
When I think of the cross, it is easy to see Jesus as the bridge between humankind and God-- a substitutionary sacrifice. If we are honest, we often add to the last sentence -- to appease an angry God. I think of the work of the cross as the bridge, not appeasing the angry God-- but a bridge that helps our hearts to be open the grace of God. It's our hearts that need to be changed, not God's. When Jesus picked up the towel, he did it out of love, pure unadulterated love.
On the journey,
Alecia
Monday, March 15, 2010
New Eyes
My family and I were driving through western Wisconsin yesterday. As spring emerges, I am constantly amazed at the natural beauty of creation. Thank you Lord for spinning into existence this blue and green globe.
I am out of the state through Wednesday.
On the journey,
Alecia
I am out of the state through Wednesday.
On the journey,
Alecia
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Humbleness
I was doing so well. I mean... I gave up chocolate. I have exercised regularly since Ash Wednesday. My new experiment in blogging began on Mondays during Lent. Here I was sailing through Lent when I de-constructed yesterday.
As you may have noticed, my Monday blog is posted on Tuesday. It wasn't that I forgot to blog; rather, I couldn't for the life of me remember the process needed to add a new one in the time alloted before the dash to the next thing. If I am going to confess... I might as well come clean. Last night driving home from a track meet in Waverly I steered my car into the drive through lane at McDonald's. Ready to place my order of sweet tea, I made a quick impulse buy instead of an iced mocha latte. Mocha translates to chocolate, which I didn't even think about until after half was consumed.
Study leave may have involved a great deal of theological reading on the varied Methodist doctrines, but it left little room for the quiet reflections of Lent. I waded through the big three of salvation, justification and sanctification, but neglected the Lenten practices:
As you may have noticed, my Monday blog is posted on Tuesday. It wasn't that I forgot to blog; rather, I couldn't for the life of me remember the process needed to add a new one in the time alloted before the dash to the next thing. If I am going to confess... I might as well come clean. Last night driving home from a track meet in Waverly I steered my car into the drive through lane at McDonald's. Ready to place my order of sweet tea, I made a quick impulse buy instead of an iced mocha latte. Mocha translates to chocolate, which I didn't even think about until after half was consumed.
Study leave may have involved a great deal of theological reading on the varied Methodist doctrines, but it left little room for the quiet reflections of Lent. I waded through the big three of salvation, justification and sanctification, but neglected the Lenten practices:
- Confession, whereby we release those stresses and things that keep us from God,
- Reception of a "word for our lives from the Word of Life," and
- Return to the world as the body of Christ.
I've enjoyed The Awkward Season by Pam Hawkins for reminded me of the important practices of Lent. I am in awe of the mystery of God's grace as I know I stand in great need.
I leave you with another prayer of Hawkins:
Sometimes, O God, my thirst for you
is pushed aside, ignored,
or simply quenched by something 0ther--
something more reasonable,
something more popular-- than you.
But you never go away,
never stop,
never leave the depths of me.
Like an underground spring,
you are fresh and free,
breaking through.
Help me prepare a place for you in the caverns of my soul.
Amen.
On the journey,Alecia
Monday, March 1, 2010
Logarithms
Around the library table on Sunday night sat eight tutors ready to tackle homework questions. Social Science—check. Language arts—check. Elementary math—check. Science—check. The only subject this hearty group feared was advanced math. Surely advanced math would not be required. All that changed when a young woman came in with questions about logarithms. The first student with the first question and it was all about logarithms.
Lent is a lot like logarithms. Stay with me as there truly is a cohesive thread here. We don’t understand the great mysteries of the claims of Jesus, the work of the cross, resurrection. After Sunday’s sermon, Paul McRoberts poised another interesting take on the claims that Jesus made. In referencing the John 14:6 passage, Jesus said, I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father but by Me, Paul posed another take for me about these words of Jesus. He said it more eloquently, but the gist of what he said has caused me to ponder the words. Believing that Jesus made the statement in love, Paul said it would be arrogant for us to assume that we understood all of the ways that Jesus manifests Himself to people.
As he spoke the words, it reminded me of being in San Lucas, Guatemala in 2005. I remember being in the simple two room home of one of the Mayan families. On their altar the Mayan statues of their faith were intermingled with the Holy Family and a crucifix. I remember being touched how these brother and sisters in the mountains of Guatemala were blessed by God’s grace. I don’t understand all of the mysteries of Lent, but I could see a people of faith in front of my eyes.
Undaunted before the logarithms, the tutor worked hard to understand the mysteries while working alongside the student.
On the journey,
Alecia
Lent is a lot like logarithms. Stay with me as there truly is a cohesive thread here. We don’t understand the great mysteries of the claims of Jesus, the work of the cross, resurrection. After Sunday’s sermon, Paul McRoberts poised another interesting take on the claims that Jesus made. In referencing the John 14:6 passage, Jesus said, I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father but by Me, Paul posed another take for me about these words of Jesus. He said it more eloquently, but the gist of what he said has caused me to ponder the words. Believing that Jesus made the statement in love, Paul said it would be arrogant for us to assume that we understood all of the ways that Jesus manifests Himself to people.
As he spoke the words, it reminded me of being in San Lucas, Guatemala in 2005. I remember being in the simple two room home of one of the Mayan families. On their altar the Mayan statues of their faith were intermingled with the Holy Family and a crucifix. I remember being touched how these brother and sisters in the mountains of Guatemala were blessed by God’s grace. I don’t understand all of the mysteries of Lent, but I could see a people of faith in front of my eyes.
Undaunted before the logarithms, the tutor worked hard to understand the mysteries while working alongside the student.
On the journey,
Alecia
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
