rejoice in the Lord, Always

Finally, I made it up in time to see the sunrise. It came up with its reflections streaming across the lake so loudly I had to stop my walk to watch. As did others, I noticed. It seemed rude to keep walking when such a magnificent event was occuring, it deserved all of our attention. Of course, there weren't nearly as many people up at 6:17 as there had been at 6:45. I imagine, they were waiting til the sun was up. They were out by the end of my walk - the 95 year old jogger, the 16 year old on her skateboard with a scowl to match her mismatched colored hair, the mom pushing a gurgling baby, the couple being walked by their shaggy black lab. They were out with the gaggle of geese, the chipmunk, the rabbit and the 65 varieties of flowers that I counted. Those were just the flowers with blooms - I did not count the peonies or the lily-of-the-valley whose blooms were already fininshed, nor did I count the numerous varieties of ground covers and decorative bushes and trees along the way.

Being the non-sequential person that I am, I decided to write this early morning day and will take my walk in the afternoon. I wouldn't want to get in a rut, you know.

So - my thoughts on yesterday's events. I am inundated with images, statistics, personal stories and pathos regarding the health and poverty challenges facing our planet. Dr. Helene Gayle, president of CARE-USA, such a powerful and well-spoken lecturer brought tears to my eyes as she shared the issues we face. The book store is filled with books and literature documenting the experiences and data of doctors and individuals and agencies dedicated to eradicating poverty & world hunger in our lifetime. Honestly, it is overwhelming. My capacity for compassion and connectedness is being stretched to new limits. An optimist by nature, I have images of impending doom creeping into my worldview.

The words of Ted Loder's Haunt of Grace were such a welcome balance to the despair I was beginning to feel:
Who can explain how the world has survived all the wars, plagues, epidemics, enmities, exploitations, pollution of resources and social processes, terrible misjudgments, pogroms, holocausts, bilkings, corruptions, andd yet generated such incredible poetry, art, music, literature, such wondrous cultures, episodes of saintliness, movements of justice, struggles for freedom, for healing, for peace, such experiences of love and sacrifice and joy? Surely mystery is an essential ingredient, if not the essential of our common life and this earth in which we are all rooted.

The Haunt of Grace, Responses to the Mystery of God's Presence by Ted Loder. This is a book worth reading - over and over again. His insights and the beauty of his words fed my soul yesterday:
...the mystery we experience is not reducible to the capriciousness of chance or the blind fortunes of coincidence. I believe the mystery is intentional: It intends our good, our redemption. I believe it is gracious: it grants us and all the creatures of the cosmos freedom because that's what love risks doing. I believe it is holy: It makes all of creation sacred and infuses it with meaning. I believe it is personal: it suffers with us and for us, sustains us, enters into a dynamic relationship with us in which our decisions and actions are taken seriously and responded to with healing, new possibilities, and a shared, responsible creativity in the ongoing shaping of life.

Thank you Ted Loder for helping my soul to sing yesterday.

One more thing. Loder quoted author E.B. White who put it this way: "If the world were merely seductive, that would be easy. If it were merely challenging, that would be no problem. But I arise inthe morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day. "

Indeed. Chautauqua personifies this dilemma to the endths degree. The finale of me day was Dance Innovations featuring the North Carolina Dance Theatre in residence with the Chautauqua Ballet company. What a way to rejoice in the Lord - through the glories of human body in dance. Absolutely glorious!

Today I think I'll go to the movies to see The Unforeseen.
Terrence Malick and Robert Redford team up to exeutive produce Director Laura Dunn's profoundly stirring, visually stunning, non-fiction poem about urban sprawl, it's creators, it's opposers and its' real danger and cost. Sounds like a challenge - I hope I'm up to it.

what i did and didn't do

I decided to walk around the lake this morning...no, I didn't see the sun rise, which happened at 6:17 am. I was close though - my walk happened around 6:45 am. It's amazing how many people are jogging, biking, walking, and kayaking at that time of day. I enjoyed my people watch, but mostly I drank in the beautiful flowers that grace the homes around the lake: the cone flowers, black-eyed susans, larkspur, joe pie weed and hydrangea to name a few.

I was a greeter for the morning worship (along with the other Lutheran House residents) which means we got to hand out the worship books.

Dr. Warnok was fabulous - he preached on Psalm 46. My favorite part was his ending story about Cedar Creek, Virginia a tiny creek which over the years created a huge chasm in the Blue Ridge mountains through the power of its persistence. But when asked how it created such a rift, it said it got its power from a bigger place - from old man river, the James River. But when the James River was asked from where came it's power, it said it got it's power from a way bigger place - from the Chesapeake Bay. And of course, when asked where it's power came from, the Chesapeake Bay said it came from a much greater power - it's power came from the Atlantic Ocean. And of course, when the Atlantic Ocean was asked, it said it got it's power from the moon, who got it's power from God. We may feel small & insignificant like little Cedar Creek - but our real power comes from an awesome source. And with that source and our persistence, we make a difference like little Cedar Creek, forging chasms through the mountains.

Amazingly enough, Jennifer Alvarez responded to my blog yesterday by saying she knew Raphael Warnok - she received an award with him last summer! So I stayed after worship to say hi from Jennifer. She thought he might not remember her - but he did. How could anyone not remember Jennifer!

To catch up from yesterday and what I did and did not do....

I went to worship. I listened to Stephen Lewis, co-director of AIDS free world and former United Nations special envoy for AIDS/HIV in Africa talk about this pandemic disease being a global crisis. I went to a lecture by Dr. William Foege, chair of the Board of Directors of the Global Health Council who talked about Global Health Initiatives. Today I heard Dr. Abdallah Daar examine the social architecture of global health. All 3 lectures were frightening - at least what I could understand of them. With so much to be done to eliminate the huge disparities and inequities between the poor and the rich all the G8 nations can do is make lots of empty promises.

On a positive note - I was amazed by the huge amounts of money that Bill and Melinda Gates are pouring into global health and the huge amount of per capita money that the little country of Norway is giving.

Oh yes, I went to a really weird concert last night. Ensemble Galilei was 6 incredible musicians who performed about 30 Celtic and Irish pieces which they had written while National Geographic pictures were projected on the screen and portions of letters from various explorers were read. I enjoyed the first hour...but left at the intermission.

what I didn't do - a big long list: I didn't go to the Audubon Quarter, or the brown bag luncheon to discuss "Three Cups of Tea", or the Chautauqua women's tea, or the investment discussion group or the piano recital with cookies from St. James Lutheran Church or the Dan Butterworth and his Marionettes or Taking the Abrahamic Program Home to your community or the labyrinth. I could go on and on, but I think you get the picture.

I had 2 lovely days - with more still to go in this one. I will go to the symphony tonight. and I'll take my knitting.

a day full of rest

Up at 7 am - unlike Sally, my refrigerator mate, I did not walk around the gorgeous chautauqua lake this morning to see the sunrise. maybe tomorrow. I did got to "church" 4 times today!

#1 at 9:30 am was worshipping at the Lutheran House (where I played the piano) & Pastor Wayne Koenig of Hudson, Ohio preached the word - a beautifully gentle message from I Kings 3 where the Lord tells Solomon during a dream "Ask for whatever you want me to give you." When Solomon asked for a wise & discerning heart, the Lord answered his prayer. Pastor Koenig recalled being a young boy & thinking if he asked for the "correct" things as did Solomon, then the Lord would then give him that bicycle he had been wanting & would make him the fastest runner in his class! So he prayed for the things he thought he was "supposed" to pray for. Pastor Koenig then made the point that we don't have to ask God for what we think we are supposed to ask, but we can take any & all of our thoughts & needs to God.

#2 at 10:45 am was worshipping at the amphitheater - an overwhelming & awesome experience to say the least. Pastor Raphael Warnock of the Historical Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, the spiritual home of Martin Luther King, Jr preached from Psalm 103 on Blessing the God who blesses us. As an aside, the Hebrew word for blessing is Barak. Dr. Warnock described the process of blessing as being vertical (God blessing us), horizontal (us blessing each other) and he added a third way - us blessing God. The poem has 22 lines he said - the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet. It's like saying God's Hesed or steadfast love covers it all. We would say from A to Z. He then proceeded to work his way through the alphabet describing God!

#3 at 5:00 pm was Vespers at another smaller more intimate outdoor setting, the Hall of Philosophy. Here Dr. Warnock shared his faith journey.

#4 at 8:00 pm was Sacred Song Service at the amphitheater, an evening of Voices, Brass and Organ. We sang, we listened to Chautauqua's 200 + member choir. We worshipped God through the power & joy of music. I'll close with the Litany of Thanksgiving, from "A Simple Evening Liturgy", Iona Abbey Worship Book:

O God, for your love for us, warm and brooding,
which has brought us to birth and opened our eyes
to the wonder and beauty of creation,
we give you thanks.

For your love for us, wild and freeing,
which has awakened us to the energy of creation:
to the sap that flows,
the blood that pulses,
the heart that sings,
we give you thanks.

For your love for us, compassionate and patient,
which has carried us through our pain,
wept beside us in our sin,
and waited with us in our confusion,
we give you thanks.

For your love for us, strong and challenging,
which has called us to risk for you,
asked for the best in us,
and shown us how to serve,
we give you thanks.

O God, we come to celebrate
that your Holy Spirit is present deep within us,
and at the heart of all life.
Forgive us when we forget your gift of love
made known to us in Jesus,
and draw us into your presence. Amen.

what does a pastor do on her mini-sabbatical

Chautauqua, NY - Saturday afternoon. Checked into the Lutheran House, my home for the next two weeks. I assumed it would be like a hotel room - a place to stay...but it's better than that - more like a dorm where you eat & hang out & spend time with people if you want. I unpacked & went downstairs (I'm on the 3rd floor!) to practice on the beautiful grand piano in the living area. I am the pianist for worship tomorrow. I wasn't as rusty as I thought I would be.

After an unexpected period of homesickness, I went to the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra Opera Pops Concert. In the outdoor seating of the amphitheater, I could feel the breeze, see the sun begin to set, work on my knitting, all the while listening to the music of Beethoven. A perfect evening.

After the concert, I settled in to finish reading David Kinnaman's book Unchristian, What a new generation really thinks about Christianity ....and why it matters. This book has gotten a lot of good press - and several people have recommended it to me. I'm glad to have read it - but it didn't really tell me anything I didn't already intuitively know (that 16 to 29 year olds don't think much of Christianity & for good reason). The author used research from the Barna Group to send a wake-up call to the Christian community. Not only are we not making a positive difference these days, we are having a negative impact on the world - an UnChristian difference. (he seemed to be speaking primarily to evangelical Christians, completely disregarding the rest of us). At any rate, I did appreciate his chapter where he asked leaders in the Christian community to share their hopes & dreams for the future of the church - especially the vision of Brian McLaren, founding member of emergentvillage.com.

These are Brian's dreams of what people could think when they hear Christian:

Christians are the ones who love people, whoever they are - gay or straight, Jew or Muslim, religious or atheist, capitalist or not, conservative or liberal.

Christians are the ones who have done more than anyone in the world to stop the HIV/AIDS crisis.

Christians are the people who gravitate toward the poor and who show compassion through generous action and seek justice so that the systemic causes of poverty are overcome. They call the rich to generosity and they call rich nations to work for the common good.

Christians are people who believe that art and creativity are important, so they consistently produce the most striking, original, and enriching art.

Christians are willing to give their lives for the cause of peace. They oppose violence in all its forms. They will lay down their lives to protect the vulnerable from the violent.

Christians care for the environment. They don't just see it as raw materials for economic gain, but they see it as the precious handiwork of their Creator.

Christians have personal integrity. They keep their marriage vows and are aware of how destructive misused sexuality can be. Yet they are compassionate toward people who make sexual mistakes, and they never consider themselves superior.

Christians build harmony among races. You always know that you'll be respected when you're around a Christian.

Now that's a vision to work towards, strive for & be passionate about - that is a real WWJD kinda list.