Use Your Imagination...

Imagination helped me as a child make a refrigerator box into a fort, my bicycle into a motorcycle, or a broom into a sword. Do you remember those days?

Why & when did we grow up and think we had stop using our imagination? Why does everthing have to black and white? Or why do we think we can not use our imagination when we read the bible?

Would it be so bad, if we let our imagination go to work when you read scripture? What might happen if we allowed ourself use our imaginatoin when we are reading or listen to scripture?

I would invite you to engage your imagination as you read and listen to the scripture readings. Allow your self to become a person within the text. Jesus' ministry was surrounded by friends, family, and strangers. People observed him and becuase of their observations we have accounts of his life. What if you were to put yourself in the story.

Take the story of Jesus at the temple as a boy (Luke 2:41-52). As you hear or read the story, imagine you are one of the church members watching this young boy (Jesus) setting and asking questions or imagine you are one of Jesus’ parents freaking out that he has come up missing. Allow yourself to be a member of the crowd that witnessed the life of Jesus.

Don't be afraid to imagine or wonder at what was happening. Ask questions like, how did I feel as I watched this child with the priest and leaders of the temple. Wonder and imagine what was going on around the temple. Imagine or wonder how other people were reacting to this young boys questions.

You could also imagine what questions Jesus was asking. Allow yourself to brought into the presence of Jesus. Seek hear how God might be trying to speak to you, where ever you might be in the crowd.

So what did you experience? What questions do you have now? How might your understanding of Jesus be different? I would love to hear how this experience works for you... I will be doing this for the 40 days leading up to Easter this year, as I journey to the Cross by reading The Gospel of Luke, and seeing Jesus journey to the Cross.

Have fun, enjoy, and I will hope that your journey might be richer no matter where you are in the crowd, because you have encounter the living God, through Jesus Christ.

Peace in this year????

You might be thinking to yourself this morning, The Gift of Peace? Right now in the world we live. Is peace on your Christmas list and can it come this year?

This week I was thinking Wouldn’t it be nice? Wouldn’t it be nice if there wasn’t so much killing going on right now in Iraq? Wouldn’t that be nice? Wouldn’t it be nice if the Muslims and Christians in the Sudan would miraculously started to live together in peace? Wouldn’t that be nice? Wouldn’t it be nice if there were no death squads in Columbia and people weren’t shooting each other? Wouldn’t that be nice? Wouldn’t it be nice if there were peace on earth?

Or, if you can’t have peace between nations this year, wouldn’t it be nice to have peace within our families? Wouldn’t that be nice? Wouldn’t it be nice to have a whole week together as husband and wife and not have a fight? Wouldn’t that be nice? Wouldn’t it be nice if your children did not fight with each other? Wouldn’t it be nice to go on a family vacation and not have any blow-ups? Wouldn’t that be nice? Wouldn’t it be nice if tempers didn’t flare so quickly, like a match that suddenly ignites? If you can’t have peace in Iraq, maybe we could have peace at home and in our families. That would be nice.

Or, if that isn’t possible, wouldn’t it be nice to have peace within myself? Wouldn’t it be nice if I weren’t so harsh with myself? Wouldn’t it be nice if I didn’t explode at myself in anger? Wouldn’t it be nice if my guts were calm? Wouldn’t it be nice if I could sit around all night and not have a compulsion to eat ice cream or drink in order to calm my nervous stomach? Wouldn’t that be nice? If I can’t have peace between nations or peace within the family, maybe I could at least have some peace within me?

Or, if I couldn’t have these, wouldn’t it be nice to have peace at least a few days before or after Christmas? We all know what time of year this is, Christmas time. During Christmas, we are often short of money, short of time, and short of temper. In preparation for the Prince of Peace, wouldn’t it be nice to have a little bit of Christmas peace at your house or mine?

What about you???

O Come, O Come Emmauel!

On the journey we seek and find peace through Christ Our Lord... but it takes work, through justice, forgiveness, compassion, wisdom, and righteousness, that only comes through God's grace and purifying work in our lives.

Advent... Christmas is only 26 days from today...

Are you ready for Christmas? This Sunday we will start the church calendar countdown to Christmas. Advent, as Christians is the period of expectant waiting and preparation for the coming of Christ. Christmas is not suppose to be about parties, trees, and presents, but is the date we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. During this period of time we celebrate Joy, Hope, Love, and Peace. Beyond the commercialism of Christmas, life can make Advent difficult. In my experience these weeks can be far from holy, joyful, hopeful, peaceful, or full of love.

Last year was one of those years. I had trouble finding a lot of joy leading up to Christmas. The music, ads, wish lists, and constant sales of Christmas in the retail sector did not help with matters. Grief and dissappointment were the feelings that filled my life and the weeks leading up to Christmas.

At this time last year, I was so overwhelmed with family medical situations we did not even put up a Christmas tree. What was the point? There was only two of us and no one was coming to our house for Christmas. It was difficult for us to find the joy in the season, because of the disappointment and sadness of the previous year of life. It was hard to be joyful.

It is hard to believe another year has gone by.

What a difference a year can make in ones life.

We put up a Christmas tree and we are looking forward to Christmas day. See this year we were blessed with a Child. As we prepare for Christmas this year we are seeking to help make Christmas about Christ. Having my daughter in my arms gives me a new image and feel of Christmas. I have a clear idea of how much fear, discomfort, and anxiety that Mary and Joseph were feeling in the days leading up to Jesus birth. At the same time, I understand the peace and joy that came into my life when my daughter was born. I understand how much love and hope surrounds our family and our relationship.

How much more is that love, hope, peace, and joy that is shared by our God. There must have been such joy and peace with Mary and Joseph once they held Jesus in their arms.

This Christmas as I remember how my daughter has changed my life, how much more Jesus birth changed my life and the world. Oh come, Oh come, Emmanuel… to transform me and the world.

The journey continues... I can only wait to see what will happen this next year with Jesus changing, leading, molding, transforming my life.

My Christmas Change your life!

How sloth can affect the journey...

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” (Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities).

I feel this way a lot in our current day and age. We are living in the best of time and the worst of times.

We live in a time when technology makes communication with others all over the world possible. Technology and medical allows for lives to be saved and for individuals to live longer than ever before. Because of this technology, we celebrate premature babies that at one time would have had no chance of survival, now do survive and go on to live happy and healthy lives. Technology and scientific advance allow children to learn skills and task which we did not learn until we were adults. Children are exposed to computers from an early age, and when I was a child no one had a home computer. I learned to type on a typewriter and not a computer. We are living in the best of times.

Is it really the best of times? More and more marriages are ending in divorce. We are still at war and there does not seem to be an end in sight. Parents are afraid to let there children play outside. We are watching more natural disasters occur that are linked to global warning. We have to worry about being sued because we served hot coffee. We watch fuel prices rise to record highs. We do not socialize with our neighbors, and in fact we avoid them because “we would rather them not know us at all than to know to much about us (closing line of Desperate Housewives 10-28-07).” We live in a time when 39 million people globally are infected with HIV. We live in a time when the worlds wealth continues to be held by fewer and fewer people.

What are we going to do? Are we going to ignore the suffering, destruction, pain, terrible situations of our current life? Do we ignore our own active and passive participation in fueling systems, and activities which cause the pain and suffering?

This week I am exploring the Deadly sin of Sloth. Sloth in very modern day terms is when we begin to take the attitude of “not caring about what really matters.” In our culture it is easy to fall into the trap of sloth. We are so busy with our own lives, that we do not want to or intentionally ignore things that do not affect us directly. We want to just get on with our lives and let others pick up the fight and battle against injustice, war, and sickness. If we are not careful we begin to “not care about what is important.” We become slothful.

What is the Antidote for sloth or “not caring about what really matters?” Hope! And I am not talking about wishful thinking. This is not easy. Especially when we are talking about the issues which make this time in our society the worst of times. It is hard to move beyond wishing the war would stop and our troops would come home. It is hard to move beyond just wishing someone would help stop the spread of HIV or that a cure might be found. As Christians Hope is longing for something which God has promised to fulfill in the future. To hope therefore is to have a positive expectation (not a wish) about the future, based on trust in God’s goodness and faithfulness.

To hope as Christians does not mean we just believe or trust in God’s action in our world, but it also takes our action. With hope we begin to care about important things like, the environment, the war, the Aids Pandemic in Africa, etc, and then we are willing to work towards bringing about its fulfillment because we expect our efforts not to be wasted.

Hope awakens us from sloth. It moves us to action and making personal commitments to acting in love towards all of God’s creation. This is the hard part. Taking action… because we are not sure where to start or how we can make a difference.

That’s one reason we, as Christians, get labeled as hypocrites because we talked about hope and love, but some of us are slow to action. It is my struggle to find ways to care about things that are important, and then actively seek where God is already at work and then asking how can I join in. It might be that I need to ride the bus or train more often or recycle more. I might need to join the UMCOR in it efforts to provide aid to those suffering in Africa.

So in the weeks, months, and years ahead, it is my desire and prayer that with God’s help and through God’s grace, I might shed my slothful tendencies and step out in action.

Who are you thinking about today?

Life comes at us fast and we get consumed with our own life.

This video by Sawyer Brown, really hit home this week...


Watch for yourself and then think about who is your neighbor and how might you reach out with the love of Christ.

Or maybe you are someone who understands those feelings of no one understanding you. Jesus was misunderstood.

The good news is that there is someone who understands everything and that is God. God alone knows and understands all the pains in our lives. Stop and talk to God. Be honest with God about your pain. Ask for comfort and allow yourself to be open to receiving comfort through new and strange opportunities. God answers prayers in different ways and using different and unlikely people, so be open to how God might already be trying to provide comfort for you.

As a pilgrim on the journey, it is my hope that I will take time each week and seek to understand individuals I encounter and to slow down in my very busy life.

Just something to think about…

Is Greed Good? (6/6)

Is greed bad or good?
Who did more for the world Michael Milken (junk bonds man) or Mother Teresa?
Listen to this interesting video by John Stossel.

Wall Street: Greed is Good

This is a clip which might get you thinking more about: Is greed good?