http://www.gbod.org/worship/thm-bygc.pdf This is the link to get to a pdf copy of the document "This Holy Mystery", written by the Council of Bishops a few years back. It was written to raise awareness of "The United Methodist Understanding of Holy Communion." This was the source for the beginning of a new Sunday School class at 11:00 a.m. this past Fall. Only one faithful soul showed up to share in that understanding.
We have undertaken observing weekly communion at our early service. There are some that view it as a meaningful practice that offers strength and healing and centering for their lives on a weekly basis. Others have commented that it seems a too frequent practice that only diminishes its meaningfulness. Well, let's talk about it.
Communion is aptly referred to as a mystery, a Holy mystery...which means that through this sacrament God is able to convey things that are beyond our capacity to reason. One of those "things" is grace. Grace is the gift of a new beginning, the true knowledge of being forgiven, the gift of knowing that God loves and cares for you no matter where you are or what you have done. Can we come to know that too many times?
We have two sacraments - baptism and communion. And we only have two because they are the two things that Jesus told us to carry on. "As often as you do this, do this in remembrance of me" and "Go forth into all the world, teaching them and baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit." In baptism we are brought into the family of God, in communion we are sustained for the journey in that family. Can that be watered down? To make an analogy - is every time the family gathers around the dinner table less and less meaningful?
When communion is viewed as only a remembrance - simply an act like blowing out the candles on a birthday cake to mark another year of life...then I might concede that a birthday cake every week would get old. But - we believe God's presence is in the juice and bread - God is with us here and now, as he was in the first century, as he will be in the days to come...
John Wesley advocated that we should participate in the Lord's Supper as often as we are able to. Can we imagine - as we take in those elements and kneel to pray, that God's presence is all around us, a hand on our shoulder; and as we rise the places that have been broken are mended, the relationships where we have been angry or separated are now approachable, or the source of our confusion - becomes a bit clearer...can we get too much of that?
So as has been said, the move to weekly Communion is simply to provide an opportunity to grow closer to God - nothing more - open your hearts and minds to the mystery of God in your life - and be transformed by that love.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Abraham Lincoln
It seems I have been hearing many ties to Abraham Lincoln these last few days. The concert at the Lincoln Memorial, Obama using Lincoln's Bible, and of course the historic nature of an African American becoming president and what would Lincoln think of that? Today I received an email that had many resources for worship in it, and there he was again: Abraham Lincoln
At first I thought it would be somehow tied to the mood of the country and the events of the past week, but it is actually a resource for Ash Wednesday and speaks to our need to repent - I find some of the similarities to our culture 140 years later, eerily interesting. We have indeed been preserved in peace and prosperity and and that we think our blessings are produced by some wisdom of our own...
We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven. We have been preserved, the many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to God that made us It behooves us, then to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.
April 30, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln's Proclamation for a National Day of Fasting, Humiliation and Prayer
In these days of change, whether it is in our nation's capital or in our homes, in our culture or in our families - there is always the call to remember God...remember how we got here, remember where our hope lies and to humble ourselves and pray.
God who created all,
We find many reasons to lose hope, and we search for the places and people we can put our hope in...forgive us for forgetting you are the one true hope that is present for all of creation. Our hope is in your grace - that meets us exactly where we are and carries us onward until we turn away again. Our hope is in your steadfastness, that you are unchanging in a world that changes every second.
Be with our leaders - old and new - we pray you will work in them in ways that are powerful and will turn hearts to your truth. Be at work in all of us, that we may be a part of the kingdom to come - to your glory and honor and not our own. Amen
At first I thought it would be somehow tied to the mood of the country and the events of the past week, but it is actually a resource for Ash Wednesday and speaks to our need to repent - I find some of the similarities to our culture 140 years later, eerily interesting. We have indeed been preserved in peace and prosperity and and that we think our blessings are produced by some wisdom of our own...
We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven. We have been preserved, the many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to God that made us It behooves us, then to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.
April 30, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln's Proclamation for a National Day of Fasting, Humiliation and Prayer
In these days of change, whether it is in our nation's capital or in our homes, in our culture or in our families - there is always the call to remember God...remember how we got here, remember where our hope lies and to humble ourselves and pray.
God who created all,
We find many reasons to lose hope, and we search for the places and people we can put our hope in...forgive us for forgetting you are the one true hope that is present for all of creation. Our hope is in your grace - that meets us exactly where we are and carries us onward until we turn away again. Our hope is in your steadfastness, that you are unchanging in a world that changes every second.
Be with our leaders - old and new - we pray you will work in them in ways that are powerful and will turn hearts to your truth. Be at work in all of us, that we may be a part of the kingdom to come - to your glory and honor and not our own. Amen
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Art Lucas has died.
I received an email yesterday from the "Shared Prayers" person at the Conference Office. It said, "It is with great regret that the district shares that Art Lucas has died." The message then gave the details of his funeral arrangements. Art was the Director of Spiritual Care at Barnes Jewish Hospital, but for me Art was the voice of God.
I traveled with Art and a group of other health care professionals to Riga, Latvia in 1997. The purpose of our travel was to bring the program/idea/institution of Hospice to this eastern European country. In those years, the USSR had not been gone all that long, and Jewish Hospital had a sister hospital there that they were mentoring into the 20th Century. We were introducing the idea of team health care, as well as dealing openly with death. The social norms of that time were to not tell the patient that they were dying and to keep it from them, the family was told and was aware and"protected" the patient from all "difficult" or "painful" information. Of course, hospice is 180 degrees the other direction. This was the first time I had traveled to Europe, I had two small children at home, but when I was invited to go, very much as a reward for a job well done, there was a stirring in my spirit that I HAD to go.
We traveled the long trip and stepped back in time. Riga is an ancient city that began in the 1400's. They have a history of fighting off the Vikings and surviving many assaults from other powers. (And they survived the USSR) Art's role was as a chaplain and he was meeting with the local seminarians. The Lutheran church has a history there. Their question to him was, "What does a chaplain do?" In our group he was sharing how the meeting went and how he answered the questions. He said, "Your pastor leads you and tells you what to believe, and a chaplain meets you where you are and walks with you in that place." The moment those words left Art's mouth and hit my ears, - the best way I can describe it, is that my heart was squeezed. It was in my chest, and there was a hand on my heart and it gently squeezed it. Well I thought, "that's odd" "You're way too excited girl, get a grip." and pretty much dismissed it as a blip.
Returning to the US, my family, Barnes-Jewish and Physical Therapy, everything had changed, I was different, and my experience of working as a PT at a skilled nursing facility was different. I became less interested in my middle management position and more interested in the patients dispositions and their souls. Not too long after that, I remembered this moment in Latvia, and I began to understand God was calling me to work in new ways for him and for his kingdom.
I shared this with Art and in his quiet way he smiled and said, sometimes you just don't know when God will use you. I visited with him a couple of other times and reminded him of the impact his ministry was to me and my life. Thank you Art, good and faithful servant. Rest in peace.
I traveled with Art and a group of other health care professionals to Riga, Latvia in 1997. The purpose of our travel was to bring the program/idea/institution of Hospice to this eastern European country. In those years, the USSR had not been gone all that long, and Jewish Hospital had a sister hospital there that they were mentoring into the 20th Century. We were introducing the idea of team health care, as well as dealing openly with death. The social norms of that time were to not tell the patient that they were dying and to keep it from them, the family was told and was aware and"protected" the patient from all "difficult" or "painful" information. Of course, hospice is 180 degrees the other direction. This was the first time I had traveled to Europe, I had two small children at home, but when I was invited to go, very much as a reward for a job well done, there was a stirring in my spirit that I HAD to go.
We traveled the long trip and stepped back in time. Riga is an ancient city that began in the 1400's. They have a history of fighting off the Vikings and surviving many assaults from other powers. (And they survived the USSR) Art's role was as a chaplain and he was meeting with the local seminarians. The Lutheran church has a history there. Their question to him was, "What does a chaplain do?" In our group he was sharing how the meeting went and how he answered the questions. He said, "Your pastor leads you and tells you what to believe, and a chaplain meets you where you are and walks with you in that place." The moment those words left Art's mouth and hit my ears, - the best way I can describe it, is that my heart was squeezed. It was in my chest, and there was a hand on my heart and it gently squeezed it. Well I thought, "that's odd" "You're way too excited girl, get a grip." and pretty much dismissed it as a blip.
Returning to the US, my family, Barnes-Jewish and Physical Therapy, everything had changed, I was different, and my experience of working as a PT at a skilled nursing facility was different. I became less interested in my middle management position and more interested in the patients dispositions and their souls. Not too long after that, I remembered this moment in Latvia, and I began to understand God was calling me to work in new ways for him and for his kingdom.
I shared this with Art and in his quiet way he smiled and said, sometimes you just don't know when God will use you. I visited with him a couple of other times and reminded him of the impact his ministry was to me and my life. Thank you Art, good and faithful servant. Rest in peace.
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