Ice Melt

I've been hibernating for a long stretch now but it seems the time for picking up the digital pen again has arrived.  So here we go. . . some more thoughts on water and faith in all it's forms.

This Minnesota winter has been mild, but the above average temps have created a new winter challenge: ice. Lots and lots of it. During the daytime it warms up just a bit above freezing and melts, then freezes again when the sun goes down. Entire parking lots are like ice rinks. Sloping driveways are hazardous to hips.

Yesterday, as I shook some salt out on my driveway, I thought about how sometimes people get frozen in the waters of their faith too. They claim that they embrace the gospel of Jesus, but they are harsh and cold and inflexible: hardened, like ice. Maybe the temperature of their lives is too comfortable? Perhaps they forget that while they live in climate-controlled homes, they are not in charge of the weather? From their comfortable perches they can see the clearest path and can begin to judge others who choose apparently incorrect routes because their circumstances are different. My attitude towards these folks is an icy patch on my own faith journey.

Once someone reaches this frozen state, it often seems the only thing that can change them is being broken - shattered by some disruption to their comfortable life. Many an unexpected loss or challenge has shattered a hardened heart and from a shattered heart, new tenderness and tolerance can be born. 

In these "polar-iced" days, it is tempting to sit back and wait for the worst to happen to those I think have frozen hearts. But Jesus calls me to be salt and light - the very things that can melt what is frozen. So I guess I should share my salty tears and warm hugs with all, those whom I love, and those who may need an icy heart melted. And perhaps that will melt my own icy patches too. 

Drenched. . .

This past weekend I went to camp with the great group of kids in this picture. We had to take the picture indoors because it was pouring down rain outside as we prepared for departure. Then, we traveled by van to a nearby town where, in the still-pouring rain, we moved ourselves and our stuff to their bus so we could travel together.

After driving for a bit over an hour, we arrived at camp where it was still raining. We checked in, carried our stuff through the pouring rain to our cabins, considered if we were dry enough to go on without changing, and headed back to the gathering spot for opening worship and fun and games.

It was FUN! And as the rain continued to fall through the evening, the night and the morning, we continued to have fun. By early afternoon we had stopped noticing that it was raining and that we were wet. The rain ceased to be a factor in the experience.

I've been musing about why the kids were so mellow about the rain. I'm sure the counselors were sick of the rain, but they never mentioned it except to point out that a place might be slick, or that a camper should put on a jacket. Our counselors just kept on showing love and joy and patience and kindness and peace and goodness to the campers. The rain simply wasn't a factor.

What if, when the young people of our church came through our doors, they were so immersed in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness and goodness that the stress and the pain of ordinary life stopped being a factor? What if everyone spoke to them kindly and respectfully as if they were peers? How would they respond? How would they treat others?

I can't predict with absolute certainty but I can report that on our travels back from camp we had no bickering, no complaining, and lots of happy singing and laughter. When asked if they wanted to go back another time there was a unanimous YES! And when they got off the van there were lots and lots of hugs.

This might just work on adults as well; after all, who doesn't like to be treated with respect and to have love and kindness poured out on them? It might take a bit more time for the grown-ups. They have a lot more defenses to wash off before the love can get through, but love is pretty strong!

I wonder where I can get a barrel of this stuff . . .

Bless the Beasts and the Children

Wednesday, October 4^th is the Feast of Saint Francis. St. Francis believed that he could see God in all of creation, and particularly in animals. It’s a great day to gather the family together and give thanks to God for creation, and to ask God’s blessing upon the animals: pets, livestock, and even the birds and other wildlife. We are enriched by all of them - what better reason to give thanks!

Here are a few ideas you may want to try in your household:

• Gather all the family members, including the pets, and have every human lay hands upon the pet. One person prays, giving thanks to God for creating such a rich variety of animals and specifically for the love and any other gifts (service, protection, laughter) that each particular pet brings to the household.  
• No pets? Gather the family to give thanks for the backyard wildlife. Before the sun goes down walk together around the back yard or even the neighborhood, taking note of all the creatures (or evidence of them) that you see: birds, squirrels, worms, butterflies, vultures, deer, rabbits, or raccoons. After your walk, gather to pray. Give thanks to God for the wonders of creation and name all the animals you saw or thought about on your walk.
• Artsy-craftsy folks? Have everyone draw pictures of their favorite animals, cut pictures out of magazines, or turn thumbprints into critters. Then use the pictures to make a collage and give thanks for God’s great creation, specifying the animals you made into art.
• Farm families know the value of their animals, but do you ever stop and give thanks for the blessing of their contributions to your table and your bank account? Gather the family in the barn and praise God together for this source of goodness in your household. Name the cows and the chickens and the goats and the dogs - whatever livestock inhabits and contributes to your household. 
• Live alone with a trusted pet companion? Take some time to really consider how God has blessed you with your pet. Pause to give thanks to God for the many aspects of your blessing.

Integrating time with God into the everyday events of your life will help you, and other members of your household, to see God’s constant presence and the blessings upon us. Building cues into our lives that remind us of God’s love and faithfulness will make us more grateful and happier people - and the same is true for kids.

     So celebrate the pets this week! And pay attention to what else makes your heart swell with gratitude! 

Serving Breakfast

The Gospel of John ends with a peculiar tale. After Jesus' resurrection, the disciples returned to Galilee. Once there, as could be expected, they went fishing. And after a long night with nothing to show for it they are headed back to shore when someone on the beach suggests they put their nets into the water on the other side of the boat - and as the nets filled, so did their hearts and they saw that it was Jesus. Peter, ever exuberant, jumps into the water and runs to shore to see his beloved Jesus. The rest return in more normal fashion to find that there is bread, and fish cooking on the grill.

I wonder if the disciples thought about the breakfast or if they were so overcome with joy to see the one who had come back to them that the breakfast was merely an afterthought. I wonder if following the "Last Supper" with the "First Breakfast" was intentional symbolism on Jesus' part. One phase of the relationship ends there, with the breaking of the bread, and then begins again as he breaks bread and cooks fish over a charcoal fire. A new day as it were - a breaking of the undesired fast of time apart. I don't know. 

I don't know -  but I love that Jesus wraps his relationships in meals. And I love that in these crazy, busy, over-stuffed days of the 21st century people still sustain their relationships over meals. After too many hurried encounters between friends, someone usually says "Let's grab lunch. Soon!" and after a few failed attempts, they usually do. And that meal begins another day in their relationship.

At the church I where I currently work, we serve breakfast to elementary and high school students every Wednesday morning. That's because each Wednesday is a "Late Start" day of school here and for many of these kids, parents still have to show up for work even when school starts late. So we open our doors at the usual school time, and a lovely team of cooks serves up breakfast: a warm and sweet and filling breakfast. After the dishes are cleared, we share updates from the week just passed or worries about the day ahead. We might play games or make a craft or just fiddle with some play dough. Those breakfasts are the source of our relationships with many of these kids, and they know us because we break bread together. We are a special kind of family. Like Jesus and the disciples, no blood ties us together, yet we are bound by love and warm food. May they learn to recognize Jesus in the breaking of the bread with us.

Why Christian?

This past weekend I was fortunate to attend a conference in Minneapolis. Fifteen speakers, all women, from a wide variety of backgrounds, came before us and explained why they identify as Christians. Their stories were vastly different, as were their approaches to telling them. Some of them had experienced terrible losses or treatment; others had more conventional paths to faith but with interesting detours along the way. All were passionate, and articulate, and inspiring.

I loved hearing their stories, and was reminded again how powerful personal stories are for relationships, for instruction, and for guidance. Our stories reveal our truth. There are those who say that stories are not truth, but I believe that the story is far truer than a recitation of the facts, because it reveals the teller's truth. It shows what parts of the events recounted are important to the teller. It tells what part of the event changed the teller. The facts, as told, may be disputable, but the teller's connection to the story is true!

So when I tell you why I am a Christian I am revealing truth about me to you. And it may look very different than your own experience and feel very different to you than it does to me, but it is my answer, my story, and my truth.

Yesterday someone shared an experience she had at a church she visited. She said "I hate going to worship where the children are sent away!" It didn't feel like church to her at all when there were no murmurs or shushing happening. I have heard others share the opposite story: "And no one took their child out - it was so loud I couldn't get a thing out of worship there." Both completely true, and probably neither very factually accurate.

Every family has stories they love to tell:

• When there was a snake in the basement
• When someone shoplifted and had to go back and face the music
• When the uncles pushed the car to the end of the driveway before starting it so as not to wake the parents

Each is told from the perspective of the teller and each participant or observer adds details and perspective that enrich the tale. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John recount stories of Jesus' time on earth and include different (and sometimes conflicting) details Our picture of Jesus is enriched and enhanced by these different perspectives.

You can probably anticipate what I'm going to say: tell your kids stories. Tell them why you're a Christian (or why you're not. . .), or where your spiritual journey has taken you. Tell them about your childhood, your people, your experiences and feelings and changes in direction. Paint them a rich tapestry that includes your truth, varnished and unvarnished. Be authentic. And hear their stories for the truths they reveal. Of course you want to discourage outright falsehoods, but don't get so worried about accuracy that you miss the messages contained within the details. Imagine how little we would know of Jesus if we only had one Gospel. 

I give profound thanks for the stories I heard over the weekend. They pointed out perspectives on Jesus I could never have seen without the lens of their experience. I'd love to hear your story, and I hope someday soon to write mine more fully.

High School Dating

A conscientious mother recently asked me to write about dating and I've been letting that thought bubble around in the slow-cooker of my brain for a while, wondering if I have anything of value to share on this topic. After all, my own children have both been married for more than three years and had "dated" the men they married for years before the weddings.

Dating is a scary and exciting passage for teenagers. It is thrilling, and sometimes devastating. It can help a person sort out what they want in a permanent relationship, but it can also open a world of possibilities not apparent from the cocoon of your family. It is hard for us as parents because it is so obviously a step towards leaving the nest.

I don't think there are any sure-fire formulas for dating success and safety, but I do think there are some common-sense pieces that should be in place before dating begins:

• Your child should have some long-term goals, and have thought about where relationships fit into that. (How much time can be devoted to a relationship? Can your child defer one desire in favor of another? Will they leave an event where there is under-age drinking or illegal drugs are being used?)
• Your child should know what a healthy relationship looks like. Ask them who they admire; ask them what they hope their future partnership will look like. This will help them avoid, or at least more quickly realize if they get involved in an unhealthy relationship.
• Your child should know how to say and hear "NO". Do not let your child date without having the mutual consent conversation. (Which hopefully started over sharing toys and clothing and isn't a new concept now.)
• While they live under your roof, they should not be dating people you haven't met. I also think that they should not be dating people in other life stages (ie no dating people with drivers' licenses until you have one of your own, no dating people with their own apartments until you have your own, etc. And the reverse is also true!)
• It goes without saying that they should have been schooled in safe practices related to: alcohol and drugs, sexual activity, driving, violence, manipulation, etc.
• It also seems common-sense that they should date on money they earned themselves. Kids who are willing to mow lawns and babysit to have dating money are far more selective in who they spend it on.

I believe that we were created for community and building healthy relationships make for better communities. Families are our first communities and they should protect us and prepare us for what is to come. 

• Don't be hands off with your children's significant others. Invite them to dinner, get to know them. Often the most obnoxious choices will be eliminated simply by seeing them in the context of the family community. 
• Notice how your child's relationship mimics or digresses from your own relationships. This can be a place to open discussion if you have concerns.
• Pray that God will bring a worthy match for your child. A life partner is truly a gift from God.
• Make sure your child is aware of what he or she is worth, in your eyes, and in God's eyes. He or she is wonderfully made!

And lastly - it's easier to sleep in the kid's bed until they get home than to wait up for them. God bless you on this phase of the parental journey. Amen. 

What am I supposed to do?

What kind of conditions would it take for you to put your child's life in danger to escape them? I asked myself this question when the unaccompanied children of Central America and Mexico began flooding across the borders of Texas. I am asking it again this holiday weekend as pictures of drowned toddlers and desperate crowds trying to make it to Europe fill the news.

What kind of conditions make these incredibly dangerous choices seem like the safer option?

I cannot, in my comfortable, air-conditioned, and indoor-plumbed home begin to imagine. Even if I were camping this weekend, as so many Americans are, it would be with ample food carried in a motorized vehicle to a campsite with running water and electricity.

At the start of this holiday weekend the UN announced that there were now over 2 million Syrian refugees; half of them are children. What is happening in their cities and villages that makes this migration the better alternative? If I am honest, I will tell you that I do not want to know. I don't want to know how bad it can be. I can hardly bear the pictures from the camps much less know what is worse than that. It makes me feel helpless; it makes me feel guilty; it makes me feel completely, and utterly, overwhelmed.

I don't understand exactly how this came to be but I know it has something to do with 9/11 and oil and ancient in-fighting in the middle east. It really doesn't matter to me any more. I don't care if these people are fleeing from famine or soldiers or devastation caused by natural disasters. Something has to be done. And beyond sending money I am pretty much at a loss. What would I want if I walked with these people?

I wouldn't want to come to a new country and learn a new language and work at a job way below my former pay grade and capabilities. I wouldn't want to be dependent on people I don't know, whose motives are suspect because I don't really understand their language or their religion. I wouldn't want to dress in strange clothing and eat strange food and be separated from everything and everyone that is home to me. But, I would do all these things if it meant my child could live into adulthood. . .

because I am a mother,

Do these desperate mothers and fathers also have an inkling that in saving a child they will lose her? Because that child will become a member of another culture. She will not want to return to the place of the mother or father's childhood. That is a place she remembers only with feelings of fear and deprivation. I hope not because they are already bearing the unbearable.

It doesn't really matter what your politics tells you about this, or who you think is responsible.

This. Is. A. Crisis. These are people. They are not trying to take advantage of anyone or anything. They are trying to save their children. They are trying to survive. None of us would do any less.

I follow Jesus, who was once a refugee child Himself. Jesus teachings tell me that He expects that I will offer a cup of water to the thirsty, a morsel of food to the hungry, and a coat to the naked: simple, practical, realistic stuff. What am I to offer these people who have lost everything? What can, what should I do in the midst of this enormous problem?

As I wrestled with these questions over the weekend, I heard that Pope Francis asked every parish in Europe to step forward to take in one Syrian family. I like this idea. It brings the crisis down to personal size and it changes the question from "What can I do?" to "What can WE do?"

What CAN we do?