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"Going on a Journey"   February 26, 2016

2/26/2016

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"And He called the twelve together, and gave them power and authority over all the demons and to heal diseases. And He sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to perform healing. And He said to them, "Take nothing for your journey, neither a staff, nor a bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not even have two tunics apiece.  Luke 9: 1-5"











​Listen to
:
 Chris Tomlin  "I Will Follow"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XnPL3LtxpA


It’s less than two weeks from our trip out West, and we are still experiencing the lingering effects of that visit.   The appreciation of being in a new environment, exposed to something grand and different has helped us see our regular environment with new eyes, open to new adventures.   Just by stepping back and getting away a shift occurs, making a different vision and perspective conceivable. Ultimately it renews the spirit, fosters hope and a renewed appreciation for what we have and for what is possible.

Reading the gospels, it is not surprising to see Jesus traveling all the time. He was a man on the move.  He didn’t wait for people to come to him (although they did).  He went out and traveled throughout Galilee, on the east side of the Jordan River, through Samaria, Judea and of course to Jerusalem.  While he certainly stopped in synagogues to teach, we are more apt to find him teaching, curing, exorcising demons along the road, in people’s homes, over meals and out in the open.  Jesus was on the go as was the apostle Paul after him.  He found inspiration in moving around, encountering new situations, embracing new people and engaging with them.  That’s how the gospel spread and a new movement was born.

We have become very sedate in our habits.  Nothing fixes us in our ways than the same old routine.   Don’t get me wrong, routines are important: they provide us with continuity, security and purpose.  However we are created for more than routine.  We are created to grow spiritually.  This can only open in the encounter with new people, new opportunities and challenges.  The Spirit wants us to develop our potential which can only happen when we embrace the unknown “other”  and integrate that experience into our lives.   

We don’t half to travel half-way around the world to have new experiences.   We just have to get out into our neighborhood.  Volunteer – at a hospital, a food pantry. Develop a new ministry that meets a need in your community.  Try something new.   Find ways to bring the church into the community instead of waiting for the community to come to the church.   This way we follow in the footsteps of Jesus, growing in Spirit and truth.

Prayer:   "God of the Journey, make us curious about your world and send us out.  Help us learn new things, meet new people and share your love with whomever we meet.  Amen"

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"The Value of Distractions"  February 19, 2016

2/19/2016

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“And when he came to the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” Luke 22:40 



​
Listen to:   For King and Country  "It's Not Over Yet"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmTmTMcdxOs


By an unusual twist of fate, on Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, we found ourselves not in church but driving the strip of Las Vegas.  I have never seen such gaudiness perfected.   Opulent hotels, towering high, shaped like Pyramids guarded with sphinxes. A ferris wheel right in the middle of downtown.  Replicas of the Eiffel Tower, the Arch d’triomphe, the Statue of Liberty and a whole skyline and highlights of New York City duplicated on a city block.  Between the blitz and glitter was an ad:  “just enough bad to be good.”   In my hotel welcome bag was a coupon for Stripper lessons 101, ten percent off.  Granted the shows may be entertaining and there were PG rated attractions, but we had seen enough to know we were allergic to the feel of the place.

It wasn’t in Las Vegas where I was tempted and tried.   It was ironically, at the Grand Canyon, with scenes that would knock your breath out.  I was literally in tears at the sheer beauty of it all.  It reminded me of naturalist Donald Culross Peattie’s quote: "The Grand Canyon is carven deep by the master hand; it is the gulf of silence, widened in the desert; it is all time inscribing the naked rock; it is the book of earth."

   I could feel the silence; it was palpable and spoke to me.  Yet the animated conversations all around me, and people jostling to take selfies with the best canyon view constantly jarred me.   Couldn’t people be quiet for once?  Did not the vista before them bring them to their knees?  I raged and fumed in my heart. It bothered me so that I spoke to Forrest about it.
 
Then it hit me.  This was my temptation and trial.  Not Las Vegas, Sin City.  But the Grand Canyon.  The distractions around me revealed my judgmental and self-righteous core.
​
          Christian author, C.S.Lewis, writes in  Mere Christianity about the sins against charity.  He says:
“On the other hand, surely what a man does when he is taken off his guard is the best evidence for what sort of a man he is? Surely what pops out before the man has time to put on a disguise is the truth? If there are rats in a cellar you are most likely to see them if you go in very suddenly.  But the suddenness does not create the rats:  it only prevents them from hiding. In the same way the suddenness of the provocation does not make me an ill-tempered man:  it only shows me what an ill-tempered man I am.  The rats are always there in the cellar, but if you go in shouting and noisily they will have taken cover before you switch on the light.”

The Grand Canyon revealed my rats.  My lack of forbearance toward other people.    I may not like how they behaved, but I allowed this to take me to a place of judgment and disturbance of my inner peace -- and my peace with God.  

I discovered, like everything else in life, I needed to train myself to focus not on the distractions but on the Majestic View in front of me.  I acknowledged how this happens every day.  The little grand canyons I see every day in my life that get obscured because I am too caught up in annoyance or simply engaged by the distractions.

Grateful for the lesson, I repented and consciously trained by heart to enjoy the unfolding vista in spite of the human distractions around me.  It wasn’t easy.  However it was the only way to truly commune with the divine that resided in that unique place.  

Lent gives us a special opportunity to see “the rats in the cellar” as C.S. Lewis coins our hidden faults and sins.  Let us see the distractions in our lives not as hindrances but as opportunities for spiritual growth.  Through them we can see the grand canyons of life – hidden in a smile, a challenge, the ordinary nature around us, the people whose paths we cross.  Let us listen for the Spirit’s voice in all we do.  If we find ourselves distracted, let us stop, breathe, thank God for the opportunity to grow in self-knowledge.   Then let us turn back and enjoy the view.
 
Prayer:   God, help me to see the distractions in my life as a opportunity to develop myself.   Show me my “rats in the cellar” so I can grow closer to you and to others.  Amen 

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"Help to Help"   February 5, 2016

2/5/2016

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"Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity"  Joel 2:13

Listen to:   Kirk Franklin,  "Lean on Me"
​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXBKaOkmQhw


After a long day of meetings in the City, I was dashing from the subway to catch my Long Island train home.  At the turnstile I spotted a woman speaking to someone, she was obviously having trouble with paying the subway fare.   For a split second a voice inside of me said, “help her.”  I had a metro-card that had some rides to spare on it.   Then the next second I found myself moving with the crowd, justifying that she was already getting help.  

However, sitting on my comfortable seat on the Long Island train, my conscience got the better of me.  What would it have cost me to reach out?  Doesn’t God ask us to step outside our comfort zone and extend ourselves?  Rightly so, I felt badly. I prayed for forgiveness and another opportunity to be challenged to help – and to succeed at it.


Each of us has our spiritual growing edges.   It could be patience in a trying situation.  It could be trust in a challenging time.  It could be something fundamental, like truly believing God loves you and has a plan for your life. Whatever it is, we are all called to the journey of spiritual wholeness.  Every day offers us lessons to master.  Every day offers us a chance to become more conscious of God’s loving presence seeking to guide our lives on the path of righteousness.   Sometimes these lessons are split-second decisions. Sometimes they are present to us all day long.   Will we brush them off or embrace them?


For many Christians, the season of Lent, which begins this Wednesday, February 10, marks a season of self-denial, introspection and heightened spiritual growth as we journey with Jesus to the cross.  It is an opportunity to reflect on the love of God, manifested in the life of Jesus, who willingly chose a path of sacrifice out of love for humankind.   We are invited to pray and act so we can spiritually grow.  If we don’t know what to do,  we pray for the desire to know what to do, where God is leading us, how to know God’s love and how to love well.  
 
During Lent, I will be starting a “Take 5!”  project, where I will send out a daily scripture with a very brief meditation and prayer to active members of elift.   Five minutes, every day of Lent, to jump start your devotions and spiritual journey.   If you are an active member of e-lift you will automatically receive this.  If you wish to receive this daily spiritual exercise, just let me know!  What is important is to use the time of Lent to deepen your walk with God in whatever way works for you.

Observe a holy Lent and may God bless you!!

Prayer:   Loving God, You call us to serve as you served.  Help us to respond when the opportunities arise, and to give generously as you have given to us. Draw us closer to you.  Amen.   

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    Moirajo is a minister, social worker, wife, mother, writer and animal lover. That's just for starters. Join the story, there's so much we can share together! 

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