An Easter Morn

   Death duty

      Annointing a dead body with oil

Be on human time

   Present at the dawn

      To follow rules of annointing a dead body with oil

Tears streaming down our face

   Can I handle seeing the affects of death

      To annoint a dead body with oil

Things as they have always been

   Death is the end of life

      So annoint the body with oil

Things as they have never been

   A stone rolled away to end death

      No longer necessary to annoint death with oil

Now we can truly meet Him

   Alive in a resurrected body

      Annointed now with eternal life

What does this mean

   No more Easter eggs or bonnets

      Because our life has been annointed with God’s Love

Yes

   Yes to life

      Yes to God overcoming death

Time to run with resuurection news

   With the women to a world

      Locked behind doors of death

The disciples went back to what they knew

   Jesus had died so they went fishing

      The Christ however met them where they lived

Such is the case with us today

   Jesus had died so we go to work

      The Christ continues to meet us where we live

But I haven’t met Him where I work

   Did I miss something in the translation

      No He is alive where we live

What am I missing

   A God who longs to be in all of our lives

      Everything we are and do is part of God

So how do I stop missing that which is there

   By developing spiritual eyes and ears

      So I can see and hear

Nothing is missed by God

   Every hair on our heads is numbered

      Our going out and coming in is known

So the answer is found in awareness

   Of the action and inaction of life

      Everything truly works for good

As we return to what we know

   We now return with a friend called Jesus

      Revealed in the Risen Christ Spirit

Parents Day

   Neither Father or Mother’s Day

      No a Day for the Spirit of God

We are made in God’s Image

   We rise up from Spirit

      Which does not take on a masculine or feminine form

But I can’t think in this way we say

   I want a Father God

      Or I want to join the present day parade of Mother God

This misses the point

   The only thing physical about God is us

      Speaking through our masculine or feminine

But what if I value one more than the other

   Then everyone loses

      Because we have discarded part of us

To say this is good or bad

   Is to exclude God

      Because God’s values are not ours

All is good in God’s realm

   Because God brings good out of bad

      Once we let go of our definitions

Like Father or Mother God

Dear Spiritual Companions,

As I get older I have become more conscious of endings in my life.  It is like a chapter of this time on earth is over.  At certain times I am sad, but at other times I am very happy.  There are experiences in life which fill me with joy.  I hate for my ice cream cone to be finished.  When I listen to some jazz I want the music to play on forever.  The strange thing is as I get older too much of a good thing is too much.  Now as I enter my retirement I am glad my ministry work is over.  I loved what I did, but I am ready for new challenges.  It is exciting to think there is more to life.

Have you ever felt like what I just described?  Too much of a good thing or time for new challenges?  How do we KNOW what is right for us?  How do we KNOW when too much is too much?  How do we KNOW when it is time for a new challenge?  I believe it is found in the definition of Knowing.  To me, to know myself is what this journey called life is meant to be.  My identity is found in my relationship with God.  If I know God I will know myself.  I will have accepted the Call to be a Co-Creator with God.  I am not God, yet I am a part of God.  The best description I have heard of that last line is, “I am a drop of Love in the Ocean of God’s Love.”

Sometimes I think we want the good to last because we don’t trust it will come again in some other form.  There are always more ice cream cones or jazz performances.  Once I accept this then I don’t have to hang onto this moment.  Every moment is precious in God’s Time.  Now it is easier to KNOW when this moment of good is over so I can prepare for the next.  I may be surprised by all the goodness yet to come.  In addition, KNOWING this allows me to celebrate what has been and to get ready for the next challenge.  As I begin my retirement time I have been startled by how much more is in store for me.  All I knew was ministry in a church setting.  Now I am discovering how much ministry there is outside of the church setting.  Let me give you another example, “As a Christian I don’t have to have everyone believe the way I do.  Now I can see God’s beauty revealed in other experiences of God’s Ocean of Love found in Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism etc.”  A different Knowing in truth enhances my present Knowing.

A good test of KNOWING is to go back into the past and see if it still fits.  I went to church yesterday and it wasn’t the same.  It didn’t fit my present journey.  I Knew that quite quickly.  To make it fit my present life only caused me inner pain and anxiety.  That chapter in my life has ended.  It may open in the future, but for now it is over.  I am discovering different church experiences that do fit.  I invite you to reflect on times you tried to go back only to discover it didn’t fit any longer.  God is encouraging us to move on because there is so much more of life to experience.

To KNOW or not to know that is the question.

Peace,

Gary

Dear Spiritual Companions,

I spent yesterday at the French Quarter Festival here in New Orleans.  It is an annual event where the food and jazz of New Orleans is celebrated.  What a glorious day to participate in God jazzing up one’s life.

I have always loved to watch music makers take a basic theme and let the spirit move them.  What is suddenly is transformed into something greater.  Jazz, to me, is so much like life in God.  We are given this life – the theme and we can do with it whatever we choose.  Our culture is an instrument in our evolving song.  The ongoing events in our outer world is another instrument.  People in our lives represent still another piece of the band.  We play off of each other in our musical rendition.  Like a jazz ensemble we each take our turns playing our part of the song of life.  Without all the instruments we can’t be in harmony.

The funny thing is often in life we have problems when someone lives differently then we do.  This seems to be the case the more something means to us.  It is like we will lose our essence or our music if someone plays the game of life uniquely.  In jazz it seems different.  It appears as though each performer draws from the gift of someone else’s music.  It inspires them to play notes they may never have tried before.  It also gives them a chance to bask in the beauty of another’s interpretation of the music.  In addition, the better another plays the more the others are encouraged to expand their musical ability.

Maybe we could learn from Jazz.  We are in this life together.  No one gets out alive.  We each have a certain amount of time to play our music.  Your interpretation of life or God can only enhance mine.  Your take on things may open doors to new ways of seeing my life or to affirm to me this is the right way for me to play it.  Your greatness, however you define the word, does not take away from my littleness.  It actually encourages me to stretch in the way I play my notes!  In addition, your talents may give me a chance to stop and take in the beauty of a different life in a new way.

I hope to continue to play with you in this thing we call ”A Jazzy Life.”

Peace

Gary

Leisure

   What an interesting word

Rest

   Another interesting word

Does life call us to these two Words

   Not if we listen to our present culture

   Not if we listen to getting to Heaven through works

   Not if we listen to not listening

That’s an interesting thought

   Listen to not listening

Which means

   Getting on to the next thing 

   Having vacations of endless sight seeing

   No time to stop and look around

   No time for prayer

   No time for sitting in nature

Leisure

   Another Word for silence

Rest

   Another Word for Sabbath

Summer calls us to

   Times of leisure

   Experiences of rest

Romancing God

   What a wonderful thought

      Is there any thing else in life

But I get caught up in all my doing

   Look at me God

      I am worth loving

Or I get stuck in Who me loved

   Maybe by people sometimes

      But how could God love me

Thoughts so wrong for so long

   Romancing has nothing to do with

      Doing or being good enough

When you love someone

   It means nothing unless

      The other wants to give their love

So why would God be any different

   Could God leave behind our image of love

      To embrace God’s Image of Love

It can only happen in our minds

   Which is linked to our spirit

      Which is connected to our spirit in God

Romancing God ends up

   Being romanced by God

      With Unconditional Love

A Pet

   A friend of course

A Pet

   A comforter who sometimes sits on your lap

A Pet

   A gift of God who doesn’t speak words

A Pet

   Some being who does speak God’s love language

Some may say it is silly to be attached to your Pet

   But then those are spoken by someone

      Who hasn’t heard the bark at their arrival

      Or the purr of an independent friend

      Or seen a simple swimming motion

We live in a world that often misses nature

   Too busy to notice

      The gift of animalness

Our pets open us to life at a different level

   One not based on earned love

   One run by quick forgiveness

   One which knows our feelings before we do

Does a Pet have an after life

   How can it not

      We remember them don’t we

      Why wouldn’t God

Be kind to your Pet today

   Before it has a chance to be kind to you

Working for God

   How humbling

   How empowering

It begins with our personal worth

   Found not in what we do

   Or even how we do it

      But rather in God’s Image

So when we are not doing much

   We can still feel alive with Life

Or when we are doing too much

   We can ask why don’t I say NO

What is God’s Image

   It is not found in gender

   It is not found in position

   It is found in Spirit

The slippery part of life

   One can’t define it as this or that

   In fact it might be easier to define

      As not this or that

We end up with nothing

   Which becomes No Thing

   Which then can become God’s

      Some Thing

I Am Who I Am God said

   This is our image

      We are who we are

No thing becomes God’s Some Thing

   Which becomes our Work

      How humbling

      How empowering

Another Christmas

   Just like the ones I used to know

      Where tree tops glisten and children listen

To hear what

   Sleigh bells or perhaps something more

      The sounds of silence

How can I hear if there is silence

   Good question

      I am stumped

Good answer

   Silence is God’s language

A language

   Of us not filling up all the empty spaces

   Of us not talking because it is uncomfortable

   Of us not thinking because that is all we know to do

   Of us not answering because it is expected

Now we can listen

   To a God who mysteriously fills empty spaces

   To a God who speaks without words

   To a God who encourages us to think in new ways

   To a God who doesn’t need our answers

Which leads us to a wee Babe

   In a nothing town called Bethlehem

   Lying in a lowly stable

   Held by obedient humble parents

   Surrounded by shepherds who left their responsibility

Does that sound like a Christmas you have known

   Or one in which words fail to describe

Listen I think  hear

   The sounds of Christmas Silence