Hello? Is that you, God?

...  lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. ² Be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other's faults because of your love. ³ Always keep yourselves united in the Holy Spirit, and bind yourselves together with peace.  (Eph 4:1b-3  NLT)

I have been spending a fair amount of time lately reflecting on the concept of call.  When each of us is baptized, we are called to new life; a life lived in the Spirit and conformed to Christ.  What we do with our lives is all part and parcel of our baptismal calling.  It will play out differently for each of us.  Many of us think that God's calling in our lives involves something out of the ordinary, or perhaps even a calling to a religious vocation - after all, pastors talk about being 'called' to the ministry.

In truth, God's call to us comes in so many more simple and common ways.  The other day my spiritual director was telling me about her nephew.  He made the observation that so many of his co-workers couldn't wait to get away from their families and it puzzled him.  In contrast, he noted that he couldn't wait to get home to his family at the end of the day and even though he was tired, his greatest delights were the times he was able to spend with his three children.  He concluded - "I think I am called to be a father."  I suspect that he was quite correct about that - and so did his aunt, the nun.

That is the way our calls from God are.  Calls to be in relationship with others in ways that reflect and express our Creator's own love.  Relationships of intimacy and self-giving love that are played out of the fields of every day life.  Reading a bedtime story to our children.  Taking extra time with a student in our classroom.  Visiting our friends or neighbors who are hospitalized or homebound.  Each of these small acts of human kindness are love in action and they are responses to God's baptismal calls in our lives.

In that same conversation with my spiritual director we discussed my own discernment about my calling - as a pastor, yes, but also as a child of God first and foremost.  I was struck by her challenge to me.  "Open yourself up to what God is calling you to do each day and each moment," she said.  "In reality the moment is all we have in which to live."  I have been sitting with that notion for a few days now.  I am finding a newly discovered sense of delight and purpose in discerning every moment what God is calling me to do.  What I know is that is really not as tough as it may sound.  God's call is always first and foremost to love.  So any time an opportunity to act in love toward others presents itself in the common, ordinary fabric and moments of my life, I know that the Spirit is calling me.


The least, the last, the lost, the lonely, and the ones we called loved ones - we have only to look into their eyes and see Christ. In every moment, every decision, and every choice that comprises the fabric of our days we can listen for God's call.  Discernment about the little things is relatively uncomplicated.  When the opportunity is clearly an opportunity to love and/or serve others then ... Hello ... God is calling.

Make you discover the delight in the call of the moment.
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Glad and Generous Hearts

Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and should give generously to those in need, always being ready to share with others whatever God has given them.  (1Timothy 6:18)

Recently I have had regular occasions to consider what it means to be generous.   I have noticed an interesting phenomenon.  Often it seems as though those who have the least are actually the most ready to share with those in need.  It is an easy explanation to say that it is because they know what it is like to do without, and I agree that is the case.  But there is something unique about this characteristic of generosity that makes me smile and assures me the the Spirit is well at work in the world.

Anyone can give to those in need.  Wealthy individuals like Bill Gates and Sam Walton can and do make large donations to a variety of worthy charitable causes.  Most people I know couldn't approach that level of financial giving.  In fact, I suspect that all of the people I know combined cannot make that large of a monetary donation.  So I am very grateful for exceedingly wealthy people who support charities and worthy causes.  Our society is greatly enriched through their charitable giving.

But I am awed and amazed by a different kind of giving.  There is a woman in our congregation about whom I often say she never met an opportunity for helping those in need that she didn't like.  She gives of her time and her abilities and her finances with such a sense of joy that it is infectious.  And she is not alone.  I never cease to be awed and inspired by the people in the congregation who have just enough to get by, and who will express their utter delight at finding sales at the stores so that they can pick up extras for the community food pantry, pregnancy center, you name it.  While many of us are looking at clearance and  "buy-one-get-one-free" sales as an opportunity to stock our pantries for the ever-nebulous "just in case", they see them as an opportunity to buy more to give away.  That is what I call GENEROSITY.

It is also a work of the Holy Spirit.  Generosity is not a matter of how much is given, but rather of the readiness to share what one has and the joy with which one does so.  That kind of readiness and joy are matters of the heart and soul.  They flow out of a life transformed by the Holy Spirit to be conformed to Christ.  They are a sharing of love and faith and hope - love for others, faith in God's provision, and hope in the promise of a community that cares for one another in all circumstances and from all circumstances.

Our society needs wealthy donors who can support the arts, build museums, hospital wings, college campus buildings. But I'll take a community full of generous folks who take delight in getting an extra box of cereal for free so that they have some to share ANY DAY.  Generosity is infectious and a generous community of common, everyday people can transform lives and the world.  That is when we get a glimpse of the reign of God happening right here and now.  That - as surely as a faith community gathered around the communion table in worship - is a foretaste of the feast to come.

When have you experience generosity lately?  Did you notice the delight?

May you have glad and generous hearts.
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p.s. - If you find a "buy-one-get-one-free" sale, may you shop till you drop and then drop your savings into the lives of those in need.  The delight will amaze you and just may infect others.

HEADING for the SURFACE

I cannot believe that it has been six weeks since I have made a blog post.  I am even more surprised that there have actually been folks reading it in the last 6 weeks in spite of no new posts.  I was prepared to check to see if anyone had been viewing, delete it, and start over.  Instead, I find myself with the challenge of returning to the surface - getting my head above water.

I won't bore anyone with the reasons or details, but life took a subtle but challenging turn of events a couple of months ago - just before Easter, and I found myself completely overwhelmed in almost every aspect of my life.  I ended up drained and drowning - physically, emotionally and spiritually. 

"Out of the depths, I cry to you, O Lord."  (Psalm 130:1)

I am not a scuba diver and I have never played one on TV or anywhere else.  In fact, I am actually a little afraid of the water, and thus am not even a very good swimmer.  However, I have learned from some friends who are that when you are diving in the depths and it is time to return to the surface, it is critical to take your time and pause periodically or decompression sickness - the bends - can be a real hazard.  Re-surfacing too quickly can be deadly.

I think that is true of our spiritual lives as well.  Admittedly, it was a rough couple of months.  But the worst of the craziness was wrapped up and done with by mid-May.  I was ready to get back at it full-force.  In fact, I kept trying to get back at it full-force only to find myself repeatedly slowed down.  Some days I felt like a student driver with an instructor in the passenger seat who was perpetually applying the brakes.  What I have come to see with 20-20 hindsight that I was riding with God in the driver's seat and God was setting a pace that allowed me to come out of the depths and re-engage in way that kept me spiritually, emotionally, and physically healthy.

I will admit that the slow re-entry is not always easy for me.  It isn't for many people.  Plus, we are not very patient with God's kairos time.  Our society has taught us that such things are unproductive and inefficient.  I suspect that the truth is we just are not all that comfortable dwelling with pain - especially emotional or spiritual pain.  We can, and often will, brag about our capacity to withstand extreme levels of physical pain.  Emotional and spiritual pain we seem to want to avoid, deny, or 'get over' just as quickly as possible.

Yet I will admit that in the dark, dreary, and exhausted moments when I just knew I should be back going full-tilt at 150%, I discovered a quiet peace and strength.  While I was trying to rush head-long back into the hectic life that had run me right to the deepest depths, the Spirit was busy drawing me into an embrace of love and mercy and grace.  While I was thinking of everything that I could or should be DOING, the Spirit was inviting me to repeated and extended times of just BEING.  I discovered that I was adrift in a sea of love.

I have long appreciated the verse from Psalm 46 "Be still and know that I am God." I am not sure that I have ever truly experienced it as fully as I have in the past 6-8 weeks.  What I have learned is that sometimes experiencing the awe, wonder, and life-giving presence of the Spirit happens more fully in the ascent from the depths that it does from the peaks of glorious mountaintop experiences.  I suppose that should not be surprising when I consider that the very image of God's love for God's world is an instrument of Roman torture and an empty grave.

I am finding delight in my days and even in my depths - as odd and perverse as that sounds.  My head and torso are above water now, but my feet are still trying to find purchase.  I am okay with that.  I'll still call out of the depths to God.  But while God is pacing my ascent, I'll just keep kicking.  I may never learn to scuba dive or even swim any better.  But floating in the sea of the Spirit is a pretty darned amazing place to be.

Be at peace wherever you are.  And if you find yourself in the depths and calling out to God, ascend as slowly as God allows you.  You may just discover that you are not drowning at all, but drifting in a sea of love.

Shalom -

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