3 Observations & A Question — as 2022 Ends

As I have become wont to do now on an annual basis, the last day of the calendar year offers another opportunity for reflection on both what has turned out to be and what may be to come.  It feels like we have, in fact, continued our growth towards being in the moment we are in...which has made it more obvious how much more opportunity for that remains.  

And, so, this now routine Saturday collection both caps it off and signals a lean towards the start of the next one:

Whatever we think, matters much less if we take no action.

Change happens best when you recognize that things don’t stay the same — it happens fastest when you realize that things can’t stay the same.

In the end, you recognize that you are not in charge of someone else's happiness, just as they are not responsible for yours.

Next year, which do you want more — to improve in some way or to just be?

Prior 3 Observations & A Question….

Aurora - Alaskan Style

Instagram: abcNEWS

Buckle Up, Dana

"Buckle up, Dana!" 

Looks like 2023 will be a ride of changes…for me.

Now I get a fresh chance to see what I really believe about it (like the difference between talking about something and actually going through it).

The only really scary thing about roller-coasters is how you feel on the ride — the outcome is rarely really in question.  That's the thrill of it (for some people), experiencing something that feels like it will kill you, but never really does.

Change can often feel like that — the end of something you hold on to can feel like death, but it really isn't.  In fact, it often creates a new forms of life.

The only real question is how it feels in the process.  Am I alone and in a final kind of jeopardy or am I not actually in any real jeopardy at all?  We often feel aware of both, don't we?

I hear the ancient footsteps like the motion of the sea.
Sometimes I turn, there's someone there, at times it's only me.

-- Bob Dylan

Be Soft

Be soft.  Do not let the world make you hard.

-- Iain S. Thomas

At Thanksgiving this year, my son made a very similar observation about his recent year.  I liked his version, "Hard things can make you soft." — it keeps the agency involved in a little bit of tension.

We were blown-away and grateful...at how true this can be.

Capabilities vs Limitations

I woke up with this thought running through my mind:

We often seem more aware of our limitations than our capabilities.

Besides being a bit sad, why would this be the case?  I think there may an answer, but it may take a while to develop it.  

First of all, there is the whole notion of awareness.  How do we become aware of something?  When and why do we become aware of things?  It seems observable that some of the answer lies in our development.  Kids, for example, may not be aware of certain things that adults are because they haven't experienced them yet.  On the other hand, watching a child closely reveals that they are hyper-aware of so many things; they are just very focused on what those things are.  They are deeply absorbing what is around them — figuratively and literally.

As adults, we've learned different approaches to what we are aware of or to what we maintain awareness about.  In fact, we are actively receiving and dismissing information all the time; using it as needed or not.

But another dynamic emerges in our development cycles as well, a type of calibration of what we can and cannot do well.  This is another kind of awareness that engages not only what we're aware of, but also what the consequences are of that awareness.  In other words, there is a social dynamic that becomes involved as we negotiate what we need to be aware of.  Now there is a value that is being attached to what we aware of and we use that as a factor in our equation of determining who we are and what we need to be.

And (here is the sad part), perhaps it is somewhere along the middle-part of this part of the process that we form conclusions about ourselves based on this value-system.  This shifts the dynamic again as we fiddle more with our own sense of agency than with the content involved.

Our awareness is still important and actually quite capable of continued development, but we have started another process related to how to orient ourselves to what we feel capable of.  While this step can still have some healthy components to it, we often end up using it to manage something.  We unconsciously feel a need to manage for something — to get something we want, to avoid things that could be painful to us, etc.

At this point, we are developing skill at using data to support our efforts to manage our existence in the world and this skill seems to lead us towards a kind of fork in the road.  Data is used to enhance a widening view of our relationship with the scope of life or it is used to narrow it.  And it is the latter that seems to foster our habit of focusing on what we can't do, rather than what we can.

To be clear, we are not...finish here.

Who Know They Need Someone

It is only the poor and hungry, those who know they need someone to come on their behalf, who can celebrate Christmas.

-- Oscar Romero

Despite the misgivings of those who've benefitted from the wealthy-western world, this observation seems quite consistent with the historical view, including that of Mary herself:

When Mary sings of God in the Magnificat, she didn’t say that God looked with favor on her virtue. She didn’t say that God looked with favor upon her activism. She didn’t say that God looked with favor on the fact that she had tried so hard that she finally had become the ideal version of herself.

No.

God looked with favor on her lowliness.

-- Nadia Bolz-Weber

Expanding?

Ever noticed...whether your capacity to love is expanding or contracting?

Wouldn't the very nature of Christmas indicate that it should be the former, rather than the latter?

I would hate to limit its application in any way; but, perhaps some ways to consider the question could include:

• Is my love deeper?
• Is it stronger (more capable in the face of adversity)?
• Is it growing into dimensions I've not recognized before?
• Does it include others?
• What about to those who are not like me?
• What about to those who don't believe what I do or like I do?
• What about to those who are indifferent to my attempts to love them?
• What about to those who don't like me?
• What about to those who hurt me?

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

As it did when it was written, a Christmas truth that still rings true today:

...will we still receive it?

Silent Night

3 Observations & A Question — This Christmas

Everything lives on, just not in the same proximities — something the very nature of Christmas represents.

Both the historical and cultural experience of Christmas has a way of working with how we relate to life and its meaning.

My own daughter is 'expecting' this Christmas; so many things wrapped up in this moment and in the future it is tied to — like a collision of the vulnerabilities of both the now and the anticipated.

Have you ever been overcome both by uncertainty and wonder like Mary was?

Prior 3 Observations & A Question….

Blessed Is She Who Believed

'Poem (canticle) for the week' -- "Mary’s Song: The Magnificat":

"My soul glorifies the Lord
    and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has been mindful
    of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
    for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
    holy is his name.
His mercy extends to those who fear him,
    from generation to generation.
He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
    he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
He has brought down rulers from their thrones
    but has lifted up the humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things
    but has sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
    remembering to be merciful
to Abraham and his descendants forever,
    just as he promised our ancestors.”

But she was much perplexed.... 

-- Luke 1:29

It is not that the Annunciation leads Mary out of doubt and into faith; it is that her encounter with the angel leads her out of certainty and into holy bewilderment. Out of familiar spiritual territory and into a lifetime of pondering, wondering, questioning, and wrestling.

-- Debie Thomas

Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!

-- Luke 1:45

A fascinating consideration of the believing Mary: 

Exploring the implications of a God who locates Godself in the womb of a young woman.

Baby, It’s Cold Outside!

Most Precious Gift You Can Give

True bravery is being exactly who you are, imperfections included. Vulnerability is the most precious gift you can give.

-- Sara Bareilles

Something Is Happening

Something is happening.

At face value, of course (it always is).  But, at another level, we sometimes have a sense that there are too many things that we are aware of which signal that things aren't (can't) going to stay the same.

Sometimes our fears engage this awareness.  Sometimes, though, there are just too many signs that something is moving, even if we can't fully identify it.

I'm still thinking about my reflection earlier this week; about what agency looks like and, especially, what it needs to look like...for me.

Part of what makes this apparent to me is the degree of pondering (to borrow some terminology from our Christmas season) going on in my heart.  It could be the mood of meaning that is often created by this season. It could be time-of-year reflection, as one year recedes and another emerges.  It also could very easily be a part of how aging works on us, on our psyche.

More pragmatically, it could simply be that our life-cycle dynamics and demands are changing — i.e., I'm getting older.  In this context, I also feel aware of my increasing need to be more proactive in taking care of my mental health.  I can handle some things better than I used to and there are some things that I can't handle like I used to.

This last year has been, to put it mildly, a LOT of things.  One of which is...rough (you can follow a thread back through it starting here).  Like many others these days, I am exhausted.  And, I am facing some big, imminent decisions career-wise.  I wake up earlier and earlier each day, my mind in a whirl...trying to navigate a path towards something I can't fully see.

In many ways, these realities are common to human existence.  So, it is not unlikely that the precipice this can feel like is just another of the realities that enable us consider what our ultimate sense of self and existence is really founded on.

All true — but, nonetheless, something more to walk through than simply to think about.

As I grope for an answer...finish here.

The More You Love

The heart is not like a box that gets filled up; it expands in size the more you love.

-- Spike Jonze

Agency

I'm wondering...about how much we make happen vs how much we let happen.  How much do we create for ourselves? How much of what happens is a function of us learning how to join what is already happening?

The reality is that it is likely both, especially at different times in our lives.  But, there are times when it feels more like either or.  In other words, one OR the other — like sometimes we need to make a choice.

Crisis' seems to leverage our choice-making — difficult as they are, they also force an issue.

But, outside of crisis, choosing can feel even more challenging, especially as we get older and our awareness of implications seems higher.

So the question becomes (at least for me), what is the degree of our own agency?  

Toddler triplets' drawings show why siblings shouldn't be compared

Instagram: todayparents

Those Who Expand Our Imagination

Thank God (and I don’t mean that flippantly at all — seriously, be grateful) for those who can still thoughtfully and sensitively articulate and relate timeless and transcendent truths of existence to current realities.  They are such a gift to the world.  Richard Rohr, Brian McLaren, Jason Miller, and others come to mind; those who expand our imagination for not only what could be, but for what actually already is.

3 Observations & A Question

We need to become much more cognizant of the impacts of our cultural performance-based identities — just because we're used to it, doesn't mean it's healthy.

People get there at different times and in different ways — but, they get there.

Christianity has a timeless message for the changing world; message — not behavior (which invariably follows).

Surely, our faith descriptions and traditions don’t have to be exactly the same, do they?

Prior 3 Observations & A Question….

On the Lighter Side: Christmas

On the Lighter Side:

Do you hear what I hear?

'Poem for the week' -- "Do you hear what I hear?":

Said the night wind to the little lamb
Do you see what I see?
Way up in the sky, little lamb
Do you see what I see?
A star, a star, dancing in the night
With a tail as big as a kite
With a tail as big as a kite

Said the little lamb to the shepherd boy
Do you hear what I hear?
Ringing through the sky, shepherd boy
Do you hear what I hear?
A song, a song, high above the trees
With a voice as big as the sea
With a voice as big as the sea

Said the shepherd boy to the mighty king
Do you know what I know?
In your palace warm, mighty king
Do you know what I know?
A Child, a Child shivers in the cold
Let us bring Him silver and gold
Let us bring Him silver and gold

Said the king to the people everywhere
Listen to what I say
Pray for peace, people everywhere
Listen to what I say
The Child, the Child, sleeping in the night
He will bring us goodness and light
He will bring us goodness and light

-- Noel Regney

What better prayer could be prayed — than a prayer for ultimate peace (especially this time of year)...from one who brings goodness and light?

Brave Enough

Only when we are brave enough to explore the darkness will we discover the infinite power of our light.

-- Brene Brown

Such observations can so easily become cliché.  But, at the root of most of them there is a kernel of truth.  And, often, what makes something cliché is not the essence of the observation, but the indiscriminate application.

In this case, over and over again, the description bears itself out.  I've seen it in my life and in the lives of many others.

Bah, Humbug

I'm not officially bah, humbugging, but I have ended up a little lost on the Christmas Spirit spectrum this year (sorry, Santa).

Maybe it's because I'm not as aligned activity-wise with the traditional activities that used to both excite and comfort me about the season (no Christmas Tree, for example, except for what has become my outside favorite, see below).  Maybe it's because of the overwhelming residual fatigue from this last year (beginning last Christmas) and the pervasive emotional out-of-breathness we have felt ever-since.  At the very least, I hope it's not overall cynicism.

And, maybe, it’s not just me. Ever noticed that, from the increasing commercialization of the whole holiday season, you rarely find real joy? Sometimes you still find pockets of happiness, perhaps from the nostalgia, sentiment, and even occasional connection with people (although, most of the time, people describe the season more in terms of stress than anything else).  But, where is the collective joy these days?

Even if it tries to sell meaning, there is so little of it in commercialization because its content is largely consumable, not to mention vacuous — commercialization has no real soul.  And, for me, this year things have really started to sound pretty tinny.

It seems to me that, like many things related to God, everyone must come to identify whether or not they believe that Christmas is basically a human construct.  Most certainly an awful lot of it is (not that that, in and of itself, makes it automatically bad).  But, so are most cultural things anyway.  

But, if at its core Christmas is not (exclusively a human construct), that changes everything.  The incarnation of God is as profound as it has ever been.  Commercialization hardly (sorry, pun-intended) holds a candle to the depth of this significance.  Perhaps even greater, at least on the cosmic scale, is that even the inevitability of death in the human realm does have the final word (but, that is for another holiday in the Spring).  The divine choice to submit to enfleshment, in solidarity with us as human-beings, is not only astounding by most measures, but also engrossing to consider.  God with us.

But, ...finish here.

In A Competion

In a competition between someone who knows the most and someone who is willing to learn the most, the edge usually goes to the curious and empathic professional, not the one who is simply protecting what’s already known.

-- Seth Godin, Expertise

I Don't Have a Lot of Stamina When...

I've noticed...I don't have the stamina I wish I had when I perceive that people are accusing me of something, especially of who I am (or, more likely, am not). I can too quickly retreat rather than stay in and believe in something more (about myself...and about them). When I don't live out of a deeper kind of strength, I can be taken down surprisingly easily by these kinds of things.

Even worse, when my 'retreat' strategy doesn't work, I can also quickly go into 'attack' mode — still not believing in something greater in the other person, because it feels so necessary to protect myself. This can be very close to a 'fatal flaw' for me. Sometimes I can feel so weak standing in the face of adversity, especially when I fear it will cost me something too significant.

Either strategy gets in the way relationally with others; creating a kind of distance (while the retreating version may be hard for them to describe...or maybe not, the attacking version is quite easy to). All because, I don't take punches well. I wish I did, because when I don't for my sake, I can hardly ever see things for the sake of others. I can often be patient, but much less so when I feel threatened by how I am viewed.

Is all of this just some kind of veiled attempt at making a virtue out of navel-gazing? I don‘t think so because self-awareness can enable me to ask new questions. Questions about who I really want to be; questions about who I really am.

And, such understanding can actually develop the kind of strength that is helpful as I relate to others, to receive criticism (even accusation) in more constructive ways — to embrace where they may even be right at times.

Imagine where we really end up without such stamina.

Nice News: Star Cluster

@nasa

This image shows a star cluster floating 2,900 light-years from Earth in the Milky Way, and it was the focus of a new astronomy study. Per NASA, researchers found that the cluster regulates its own size, meaning only some new stars can form before others limit their growth. The science is pretty cool, but we can’t stop looking at those swirling, colorful clouds of gas. 

Previous Nice News....

God Wills, Desires, Takes

The contemplative responds to the divine in everyone. God wills the care of the poor as well as the reward of the rich; so, therefore, must the true contemplative. God wills the end of oppressors who stand with the heel in the neck of the weak; so, therefore, does the true contemplative. God wills the liberation of all human beings; so, therefore, must the true contemplative. God desires the dignity and full development of all human beings. Thus, God takes the side of the defenseless. And, thus, therefore, must the true contemplative; otherwise, that contemplation is not real, cannot be real, will never be real, because to contemplate the God of justice is to be committed to justice. The true contemplative, the truly spiritual person, then, must do justice, must speak justice, must insist on justice, and they do, and they always have, and they are.

-- Sister Joan Chittister

3 Observations & A Question

We are always carrying our perceptions of the past into the future — informing our perceptions of what is new from our experience with the old.

Just because we have done it, doesn't mean that we should continue to do it (that also doesn't mean that we shouldn't).

Almost anything can be developed (good and bad) — with enough desire and effort.

You know something needs attention when you have to remind yourself that you need some laughter — when's the last time you laughed?

Prior 3 Observations & A Question….

On the Lighter Side: Black Friday

On the Lighter Side:

Normal America strikes back

Regarding our ever-present diet of controversy — surely we're over it already, aren't we?  Maybe we are...:

My new obsession is that most of America is exponentially more normal than cable TV, Twitter and the most-read mainstream stories make it seem, Jim writes.

• Why it matters: The past few months prove that for all the hyperventilating and self-loathing, normal America is prevailing over the loudmouths on the left and the right who dominate our screens.

Before you email me that I'm nuts, let's go to the tape:

• Most election deniers running for positions to manage elections were defeated, contrary to widespread worries.
• We had a razor-thin election for control of Congress, yet virtually everyone accepted the results, even when the vote-counting dragged on for days. Minimal protests followed.
• The nation is on the brink of federal protection for same-sex marriage, with 71% of Americans in support of it — unthinkable less than a decade ago.
• Democrats have mostly dropped their "defund the police" calls, replaced by a general consensus that police are a vital, if imperfect, part of safer communities.  Continue here....

-- Jim VandeHei

Steps In and Does Something

The man of faith, of energy, of warmth...steps in and does something.

-- Vincent van Gogh

Do I Want To?

When trying to navigate a path through difficult decisions, especially one with several options, we often reach for all kinds of things essentially designed to keep us from one significant question — what do I want to do?

We avoid this question for a variety of reasons, including just not wanting to put ourselves out there for all to see.  Reasons, we claim, are why we do things.  But, so often that is not really the case.  Often, we don't do something simply because of our fears — fear of failure being among the larger ones.

Data, for example, is a convenient thing to hide behind (even from ourselves).  But, doing something because of the data alone too often just serves to create some cover for us to locate blame, if things don't turn out well.  At the heart of the matter, we really are just avoiding a more powerful driver in our lives.  Do I want to do this or that?  ...not whether this or that will work out.  

Many times we do things out of necessity; that is simply part of life.  But, when it comes down to choosing between options, we really need to face why we wouldn't do, in the end, what we really want to do.  There may, in fact, be good reasons.  But, choosing something, even for good reasons, that you really don't want to will likely just be exposed at a later point in time — you didn't really want to do it anyway.

So, though a process of getting to it is important, the more significant question persists regarding any particular option — do I want to do this?

All of this is on my mind at the moment because of something directly in front of me right now...finish here.

LT: Careless

When we care less about our people, our people become careless.

-- Simon Sinek

"Even Those Found In The Constitution"

So, with the revelation of MASSIVE & WIDESPREAD FRAUD & DECEPTION in working closely with Big Tech Companies, the DNC & the Democrat Party, do you throw the Presidential election results of 2020 OUT and declare the RIGHTFUL WINNER, or do you have a NEW ELECTION? A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution. Our great “Founders” did not want, and would not condone, False & Fraudulent Elections!

UNPRECEDENTED FRAUD REQUIRES UNPRECEDENTED CURE!

-- Donald Trump, December 3 2022

The red meat never stops — I'm not sure what's worse, the brazen pandering or the height of delusion.

Point of Achievement

Ever noticed...that the point of achievement is not as much that you have accomplished the thing (though that is not insignificant), but rather what you can do with what has been accomplished.  

Passing a test is not nearly as significant as what you do with the content involved with what is being tested.

Becoming qualified to be a nurse, a doctor, a lawyer, a teacher, a coach, etc. is not nearly as significant as what you do as one of these.

Avoiding Experiences

I've spent my whole life avoiding the experiences Jesus said He would use to help me grow.

-- Bob Goff

BigTen Champs - MICH-AGAIN!

What a night!  More pics here....  And, highlights here.

4 Observations (from Others)

One application of kindness:

Just one random act of kindness. But it sparked a family's decade of giving.

Kindness is the only non-delusional response to everything.

-- George Saunders

Violence is a failure to see the other person as a person.

-- Pamela Cooper-White

The point is not to pay back kindness, but to pass it on.

-- Julia Alvarez

What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness?

-- Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Prior 4 Observations (from Others).

Survey: Should Trump Run Again?

inkFreeNews

This is pretty interesting, especially given the red-country it represents (north-central Indiana).

You Will Understand

All you have to do is take a close look at yourself and you will understand everyone else.

-- Isaac Asimov

'Tis the Season...of Lights

Light is ubiquitous and ever-present (daily, obviously), but it seems like some times of year are more tuned to celebrate it.  Take this season, for example.

As with many things, accentuating something usually is influenced by its relationship to its opposite.  So, perhaps, it is this darker time of year...that makes all the variances of light more apparent, experienceable, enjoyable.

This, of course, can be highly cultural; but whatever the case, many of our traditions this time of year seem like a dance between darkness and light.  I often have a sense of excitement about the sparkle this season creates — attracted to the beauty of lights in the context of darkness.  

And, so, I annually return to a ritual of creating my contribution of light to the world.

Light does carry meaning for me.  It reflects something from within me.  It is a kind, I suppose, of a soft statement — about what I believe, about what I want.  It is an appeal to something I need, as much as it is a gift of something I want to offer.  It points to something that I participate with, that I join...a broader constellation of light-making in life.  It makes tangible, in my proximity, something that is both transcendent and eternal — like an earthened version of the stars.  

And, so, I get out the lights and put them up (irritated once again by their endless tangle, but committed nonetheless to doing it anyway) — satisfied by seeing their effect, knowing that they shine even when I'm not seeing them.  I’m grateful for the significance, desire, and invitation that the lights of this season seem to create.

Tis the Season....

Apparently, I'm not the only one who is mesmerized by such things...:

Shelter

I felt it shelter to speak to you.

-- Emily Dickinson

LT: Molder of Consensus

Ultimately, a genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus, but a molder of consensus.

-- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Sense of Time

I'm wondering...about how our sense of time impacts us.

Contradicting a few things I believe about being in the now, I have been thinking about the prospect that much of what we do in any given day is really about something we are trying to anticipate down the road; in other words, in the future.  It is true that there is something quite powerful for humanity regarding the prospects of the future; isn't this the essence of hope?

I've caught myself these days living a lot (too much) in the future.

But, it also seems apparent that we can become so future-oriented that we miss what is around us right now.  And, the irony is that what is happening around us right now and how we respond to that is what creates the future. 

Of course, there is the past which can only be re-experienced in the now (we can't experience the past in the future).  The past, then, was a prior now.

The future is a not yet now.

So all we really have is...now.

We can (and should) be informed by the past and the future.  But, today is the only moment we can ever really live.

The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time.

-- Abraham Lincoln

Touching the Sacred

Deepening your connection to God, in you and around you, do not be afraid to feel the love, the joy, and also the pain that are present. Don’t be afraid to have a heart and to risk breaking your heart. Feel into it all and know that every time you are touching the pain, you are touching the sacred wound of God. God who is always accompanying us and guiding us. God who is suffering with us...God whose life-giving love and justice will one day be “all in all” [1 Corinthians 15:28].

-- Adam Bucko

UM Beats OSU...AGAIN!

mgoblue.com

16-minute high-light reel here:

3-minute version here....

3 Observations & A Question

It's just too easy to eat cake when it is just sitting there on the counter — many things in life are like that.

At almost every level, violence is a response to threat that, while it may delay it, actually just increases it.

What we appear to be most capable of extending others is directly related to what we have received (particularly as a child) — as what most difficult for us to extend others is often a function of what we didn't receive.

Does it ever occur to you what it’s like to be on the receiving end of you?

Prior 3 Observations & A Question….

So Much To Be Thankful For

More pics here....

A Thanksgiving Prayer

We are better when our leaders are more truly human (when they act better because they believe better) than the rest of us.  What does that mean?  It usually means they are connected to source of what being human means.

The true meaning of Thanksgiving focuses upon relationship. Thanksgiving is a relationship between God and man. Upon their arrival at New Plymouth, the Pilgrims composed The Mayflower Compact, which honored God. Thanksgiving begins with acknowledging God as faithful, earnestly giving Him thanks, in advance, for His abundant blessings.

Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be.  That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks — for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation…

-- George Washington, 1789

In the United States, Thanksgiving is historically a day to praise and give thanks to God for our blessings and ask Him to heal the nation's wounds. It was also a national day of penitence to humbly repent for our sinfulness and selfishness.

As a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.

-- Abraham Lincoln, 1863

A Thanksgiving Meal Prayer for Blessings Past and Present. Lord God, we gather around this table to humbly thank You for all that You have given us this past year – not just what is on this table, but who is sitting around this table. Thank you for life and laughter, health and happiness, relationships and memories. Thank you, too, for the lessons learned and the tears we’ve cried because of Your ability to grow us through them. 

Thank You for Your comfort and presence in light of good days and bad. Thank You for what we have now, what we had yesterday, and what You will continue to give tomorrow. Let us never take that for granted, but to always be grateful for every good and perfect gift that comes from You. May we have hearts full of thanksgiving today and every day of our lives. We pray these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Your Son, Amen. 

-- Cindi McMenamin

Continue here....

We Are Miraculously Part of Something

Gratitude, ultimately, stems from recognizing “that we are miraculously part of something rather than nothing.” We need not always seek out things to be grateful for — we can, instead, discover a “deep, a priori” state of thankfulness for “the underlying gift of life and incarnation.”

-- David Whyte

More Grateful When

I've noticed...I'm most grateful for things that I have directly experienced. It is in these contexts that I more recognize what I have been given.

I became more grateful for a job after I lost one.

I became more grateful for community when it gave to me in my need.

I became more grateful for friendships after I experienced reconciliation in them.

I became more grateful for my wife when she forgave me.

I became more grateful for my children when they return home.

I became more grateful for God when I realized all that God has provided...not just to me, but to the whole world.

Reaching Past Your Past

Now there was a woman who had been suffering from a flow of blood for twelve years.  She had endured much under many physicians and had spent all that she had, and she was no better but rather grew worse.  She had heard about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak,  for she said, “If I but touch his cloak, I will be made well.”  Immediately her flow of blood stopped, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.  Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my cloak?”  And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, ‘Who touched me?’ ”  He looked all around to see who had done it.  But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth.  He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.” 

-- Mark 5

This week I realized that every sermon I have ever heard on this text has just been sorta vague about the actual ailment of the woman who reached for the hem of Jesus’ garment.

This week I also realized that all the sermons I’ve heard on this text over the years were preached by men.

So, just so we are clear ladies, the woman from our Gospel reading today who was healed when she touched Jesus cloak had her menstrual period for 12 years.

She had her period for 4,383 days in a row. 

And it’s not like they had pads or tampons in the 1st century.

Just take a moment and consider what that was like.

And even worse - back in her day women on their periods were considered impure– they were treated as so unclean that they couldn't be around other people or even enter the synagogue until their bleeding had stopped. Why? Because their impurity was considered contagious. Like someone could catch your period from you.

For 12 brutal years, our sister not only had her period but she was also segregated from the so-called good healthy people.

I imagine that if anyone can understand what it is like to live year after long year being told you are a woman who is not safe for other people to be around it might be you in this room.

But, the Gospel tells us, she had heard about a man – a teacher  – a prophet – a healer who did not recoil from women like her. She heard about a man who touched the unclean, who didn’t seem to mind being close to lepers and prostitutes and mad men in tombs. She heard about a man who caused a stir- a man who caused religious people to clutch their pearls, a man who caused the blind to see.

She had heard about Jesus…and in a heroic act of self respect, she pressed through those holy people who if they knew it was her who was touching them that day– would have reported her.

She had heard about Jesus and breaking all the rules, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, and said, “If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.”

So she reached with everything she had–she reached past her fears – she reached past her limitations,– she reached past the dirty looks– she reached past 4,383 days of isolation and disappointment and despair – she reached past the hateful things said to her by those who were supposed to help her, she reached past her past. Our sister reached for her own healing and her own dignity and her own wholeness and said if I but touch his clothes I will be made well.

That is to say, if I but touch his clothes I will be made me.

I will be made me again and not what everyone has labeled me.

And immediately her bleeding stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed by the power of Jesus of Nazareth.

Her Yelp review would be like, Healing was immediate and thorough; 5 stars.

Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?”

He was looking for the one who reached for her healing and received it. He wanted to look this woman in the eye – a woman who for 12 years never received a whole lot of eye contact but he knew it was HER he felt.

And his disciples are like, “Dude,  everyone is touching everyone’s clothes it’s a huge crowd’”

But he kept looking for her eyes.

And the woman, who knew what had happened to her in that moment of her healing AND who knew very well what had happened to her in her 4,383 days of confinement came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth.

She did not hold anything back.

She told him the whole truth and nothing but.

Jesus said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”

Everyone else may have called her impure, unclean, and unholy . . . but he called her daughter.  In that one word Jesus tells her who she really is. A beloved child of God.

You are well, you are a daughter of God, go in peace and live as a healed woman.

I love this story so much, BUT I have some questions.

I’ve always wondered if that word “daughter” – caused any pain as it surged through the parts of her that had been deprived of love and life for so long.

I wonder if it hurt to be healed even though it is what she wanted. 

Because sometimes it’s actually more comfortable to allow parts of ourselves to die than to feel them have new life, because then we have to face the pain of the whole truth. 

But mostly I wonder what her life looked like after that moment. 

Because 12 years is a long time and it’s not like there was some kind of re-entry program she could participate in. No half way house between clean and unclean.

I wonder if, for our sister the bleeding woman, there were times it actually felt more comfortable to cling to the identity of being unclean because at least it was familiar.

At least then she knew where she stood.

I wonder if there was an adjustment period for her before she could really live her new identity.

I say this because this week as I thought about her I also thought about how I spent the first three years of my sobriety trying to live the exact same life as before I got sober, just without the drugs and alcohol because I could not let go of who I was. Technically I was sober, but I was trying to live like I was still the same person…I was even copping dope for other people and not even taking a cut, because I could not cope with the idea of not being connected. It was terrifying to incorporate into my self-understanding the idea of being someone who no longer knew how to score. And leading the same life with the same people in the same scene and the same job and the same sleeping around with the same exact kind of people and being in the same room as people who were getting messed up – it ends up - that is a very painful life to lead without the benefit of intoxication.

The point being, I may have been sober and going to meetings for three years but I didn’t really get well until I could accept both who I had been and who I was becoming and accept any distance there was between the two. And ultimately, when the pain of trying to lead the same life when I was not the same person was acute enough, I became willing to re-think old ideas about myself.

Because at the time,  I desperately needed relief from a life in which I was impersonating an old version of myself. I needed to repent of all the ways I defined myself for so long. I don’t know why losing things that hurt me also causes me to hurt, but it does.

But on this path of God’s grace, what I have experienced is that anything I use to define who I am. . . and anything I use to define who everyone else is other than the gospel is going to be taken away and I’m going to hate it and it’s going to hurt. I wish I had something that sounded more cheerful than that, but I respect you too much to lie.

Because whatever it is that we don’t want to let go of:  status, fear, bad relationships, victimhood, political correctness, moral superiority, resentment…name your poison – whatever identities we think will keep us safe – aren’t safe at all they are just familiar and that’s not the same thing.

Because when these flimsy designations touch even the garment of God they fall away. And then Jesus looks us right in our eyes and tells us the truth when he declares, daughter you are well, go in peace and live as a healed woman.

Amen.

-- Nadia Bolz-Weber