Burning Bush Moment: In the Storm

Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s quote, “Earth is crammed with heaven,/And every bush is aflame with God/But only those who see, take off their shoes/The rest sit around it and pluck blackberries” has been our touchstone throughout this series. It can be fairly easy to find a bush that burns in the day to day living. It just takes pausing to look around. When we are sick, like Simon’s mother-in-law, we can find a burning bush in getting well. In our times of seeking, we can, with Nicodemus find a burning bush when we get answers. Martha, in her busyness of preparing dinner had a hard time seeing the burning bush, but she was changed anyway.

As we continue our Lent search for burning bushes, we might ask where do we find a burning bush when all hope seems lost? Where do we look for a burning bush when we are adrift in a storm? Jesus and his disciples were in just that situation. We hear the story in Mark 4:35-41, also Matthew 8: 23-27, Luke 8: 22-25.

“When evening had come, Jesus said to them, ‘Let us go across to the other side.’ And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great gale arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’ He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’ Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, ‘Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?’”

Jesus Stilling the Tempest, James Tissot

It must have been a terrible storm. Remember many of the disciples were fishermen, used to the wind and waves on the water. For them to be frightened, the ‘great gale’ must have been pretty bad. Yet, in the middle of this storm, Jesus is ‘asleep on a cushion’. Sometimes there are storms in our lives and we feel like God is asleep or maybe not even in the boat. We think all hope is lost and are afraid. 

Because of the storm, the disciples lost their courage and their ability to remember Who is in charge. CS Lewis reminds us, “Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means, at the point of highest reality.”

There are scary times when we can all lose our center, our confidence, our courage. Then Jesus steps in and calms the storm and encourages “your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.” (2 Thessalonians 2:17) Ann Voskamp notes, “Courage births all virtue. Courage mothers everything good in the world. Without courage, everything good, in us and in the world, stillbirths…Needing courage is another way of saying Christ is needed…When you’re between God and a hard place, it’s God’s presence that transforms every hard place…Whatever place you’re in is a place of God. And when you’re in a place of God, you cannot displace your courage. Christ is for you, with you, in you!”

When Jesus asks the frightened men, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” he was offering the lifeline of courage. As Voskamp says, “You’ve got this—because Grace has you and Courage is in you and Christ is with you, so a tender and brazen joy could be even in this place.” Even in the storms of life, when things seem desperate, the light of the burning bush points the way and offers courage.

I think that after the storm was over, the disciples would have said a prayer of thanksgiving. Perhaps similar to this one from d365, a daily meditation, adapted from a Jewish Sabbath prayer. I offer it to you for use in your times of stress when it seems that God is absent, until you turn and discover that really God is there all along ready to speak the word of peace.

“Days pass and the years vanish and we walk sightless among miracles. Lord, fill my eyes with seeing and my mind with knowing. Let there be moments when your Presence, like lightning, illumines the darkness in which I walk. Help me to see, wherever I gaze, that the bush burns, unconsumed. And I, clay touched by God, will reach out for holiness and exclaim in wonder, ‘How filled with awe is this place and I did not know it.’”

Next week is Palm Sunday and the beginning of Holy Week. Where might we find burning bush moments in remembering those events? 

Mary and Martha of Bethany

Already we have looked at 4 Women of Lent, princesses of the Kingdom, who can inspire us to live fuller lives in Faith and Hope. The unquestioning and unreserved faith of Mary of Nazareth and the hard-won faith of Miryam of Magdala provide two contrasting ways of living our faith. Joanna and Salome offer glimpses into lives of hope.

This time we consider 2 more Princesses of the Kingdom-sisters who are rather well know, but often misunderstood. Mary and Martha of Bethany are noted for offering Jesus two types of love and service. Martha often gets a ‘bad rap’ for being so distracted by her house work that she didn’t take time to listen to Jesus. Mary is lauded for ‘sitting at Jesus feet’.

Mary and Martha of Bethany both have something important to teach us about how we can offer LOVE. As we noted earlier, I Cor. 13 tells us: And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. There are many ways in which love can be shown. Ministry is love, and Contemplation is love. Mary and Martha show us both sides of the same coin. I like the statue of Mary and Martha, Duet by Annette Everett, which depicts the sisters back to back because to me it shows the two sides of Love.

The Gospel of Luke (10:38) says “a woman named Martha received/welcomed Jesus into her house.” This is an aspect that we can sometimes miss by focusing on whether work or contemplation is better. Martha has duties as a householder. This was her home, not her brother’s, not her father’s. Martha was the homeowner.

An article in BibleOdessy.org stresses this difference. “When most people read this story, they often imagine a harried housewife complaining about her lazy sister. Jesus’ gentle rebuke reminds his audience to attend to what’s important—his presence. However, Martha is not shown doing housework… Martha is a householder who hosts Jesus; she is engaged in much “work” or, better, “service” (Greek: diakonian). By contrast, Luke depicts Mary as a disciple sitting at Jesus’ feet. Both women are engaged in different aspects of ministry, or ways of following Jesus and his teachings.” 

Mary and Martha teach us that there is more than one way to offer Love. “You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love,” says Paul in the Letter to the Galatians (5:13) Some of us may do it in active pursuits like teaching and housework. Others may be more comfortable with prayer or song. The important thing is to serve in love, as Jesus did. Jesus “called the twelve. And he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” (Mark 9:35) In Paul’s Letter to the Colossians, we are told, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” (Colossians 3:23-24)

As part of a series of blog posts Mark Roberts of the DePree Center for Leadership, asked, “But what about those of us whose work is not so obviously an act of love for God or people? Can we actually love God when building a spreadsheet, or sweeping a walkway, or designing a brand, or selling a product? Yes, this is possible, if we learn to use all our strength in order to love God. In the classic book, The Practice of the Presence of God, Brother Lawrence is described in this way, “He also counseled that we should not grow weary of doing even little things for the love of God. God does not regard the greatness of the work, but only the love with which it is performed”… all kinds of ordinary work can be actions of love for God if we do them with this intentionality. We are encouraged by the fact that God does not regard the greatness of our work – or, I might add, its obviously religious character – but only the love with which we do it.”

Love should be our ministry. Mary and Martha are individuals, just like each of us. The sisters offered love and devotion to Jesus through their service (Martha) and devotion (Mary). As individuals, they respond to the circumstances of life in different ways. We have seen that both Mary and Martha loved Jesus.

Both were faithful women who just expressed their loving faith in different ways. They gave themselves to the service of God and Jesus in response to the God who CS Lewis tells us demands, “Give me all of you!!! I don’t want so much of your time, so much of your talents and money, and so much of your work. I want YOU!!! ALL OF YOU!! I have not come to torment or frustrate the natural man or woman, but to KILL IT! No half measures will do. I don’t want to only prune a branch here and a branch there; rather I want the whole tree out! Hand it over to me, the whole outfit, all of your desires, all of your wants and wishes and dreams. Turn them ALL over to me, give yourself to me and I will make of you a new self---in my image. Give me yourself and in exchange I will give you Myself. My will, shall become your will. My heart, shall become your heart.” (Mere Christianity)

It does not matter if we are making tables, writing books, teaching children, or sitting at home praying. The important thing is, doing the best we can to the Glory of God in order to bring about the Kingdom…the Kingdom that involves Loving the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and your neighbor as yourself! Dorothy Sayers, the influential 20^th century English writer, in her essay Why Work commented, “The Church’s approach to an intelligent carpenter is usually confined to exhorting him not to be drunk and disorderly in his leisure hours, and to come to church on Sundays. What the Church should be telling him is this: that the very first demand that his religion makes upon him is that he should make good tables.”

Our response, as Princesses of the Kingdom, to the call of God needs to be the same response Mary of Nazareth offered ‘be it to me according to your will’. It is the self-offering response that Miryam of Magdala and Joanna offered after their healings when they left everything to become followers because they, with Salome believed that Jesus offered Hope for a new way of life that would take them to new places. When we imitate Mary and Martha’s loving interaction with Jesus miracles can happen-we and God are co-creators of the new world-the new heaven and new earth! 

How do you relate to Mary &/or Martha? Are you more a server or listener?

When God comes Knocking

In the past 3 weeks, we have entered the lives and emotions of four of the main characters in the Christmas story. We considered the responses of Elizabeth and Zechariah to God’s ‘yes’. We have walked with Mary and with Joseph as they encounter a God that comes too close and changes human plans.

This week, we’ll stop by the Inn in Bethlehem and explore how the life of a businessman was impacted by God. We’ll ask how his response might inform our own actions along the path of Creation spirituality. There is not a lot to go by in the Gospel record. Most of what we might think about the innkeeper comes from tradition and other stories. In fact, all the Bible says is “there was no place for them in the inn.” This implies an innkeeper, but no person is mentioned. The word translated in the KVJ and other translations as ‘inn’ is kataluma which may also be translated as ‘guest chamber’. (The NIV translation says, “there was no guest room available”.) A ‘guest room’ would imply that Mary and Joseph came to stay with family or friends and were turned away.

In my book, Mary, My Love, the couple does indeed come to a relative’s home. Because of the census, the house is full to overflowing with other descendants of David and so there is no place except the barn (cave) for the late arrivers.

So, let’s explore the response of the innkeeper, be they a family member or stranger, on their journey along the paths of Creation Spirituality.

The Via Positiva of Creation Spirituality is related to holy hospitality. The rich, cosmic, eternal hospitality of God who both creates and is within all of creation. Matthew Fox states, “the Creator God is a gracious, an abundant, and a generous host/hostess. She has spread out for our delight a banquet that was 20 billion years in the making. A banquet of rivers and lakes, of rain and of sunshine, of rich earth and of amazing flowers, of handsome trees and of dancing fishes, of contemplative animals and of whistling winds, of dry and wet season, of cold and hot climates…God has declared that this banquet is ‘very good’ and so are we, blessings ourselves, invited to the banquet.”

Born from the values of desert nomads, where hospitality can mean life or death to the traveler, hospitality was deeply ingrained in Jewish life. Remember the story of Abraham greeting his three visitors by preparing a feast for them. (Genesis 18:1-8). The widow of Zarapheth who cared for Elisha (I Kings 17:8-16) was also honoring that long tradition, even though she was not Hebrew.

When “a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered…All went to their own towns to be registered.” (Luke 2:2-3) Because many families traced their lineage to King David, many would travel to Bethlehem for this census. This was both an opportunity for hospitality by those in Bethlehem and a burden. I am sure that most residents opened their homes to other relatives and even strangers, as they were able.

Stop and Think: Are you someone who goes overboard for company, or are you more laid back? How does that fit with the extravagant, generous hospitality of God’s creation?

If hospitality is the Via Creativa in the story of Mary and Joseph’s arrival in Bethlehem, surely the inability to find lodging is the Via Negativa. I like to give the innkeeper/relative the benefit of the doubt. It is extremely possible that every spare room in Bethlehem WAS filled with travelers when Mary and Joseph arrived.

Some commentators hint that it was because Mary was an ‘unwed’ mother, they were turned away by their family. In fact, she was married to Joseph, at least according to Luke. Matthew simply says, “Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child.” As we saw last week, the betrothal was just as binding as the official ceremony.

For the innkeeper/relative telling the young couple that ‘there is no room’ must have been difficult. He had to admit that he had nothing to give in the way of hospitality. He had to admit to being ‘empty’. No one likes to admit that they didn’t plan well enough or ran out of supplies. I think that is why all the traditions and stories have the innkeeper offering the stable as an alternative. As something poor but at least out of the weather. This was one way to offer some form of hospitality.

Stop and Think: Are there ways you provide ‘just enough’ hospitality in some cases? Does hospitality extend to those who are different or in need?

Providing the stable or cave was a way for the innkeeper to save face. It also made him/her part of the new Via Creativa that was happening. The Gospel tells us, “While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger.” Mary gave birth to the Son of God in a humble place. God comes down to our level. In the dust of a stable and the sweat and struggle of a woman giving birth, God becomes Immanuel.

Meister Eckhart asks, “What does God do all day long? God gives birth. From eternity God lies on a maternity bed giving birth.” He goes on to say “What good is it to me if Mary gave birth to the son of God 1400 years ago and I do not also give birth to the son of God in my time and in my culture.” That is our call to action along the Via Creativa.

As we walk the Via Creativa ‘birthing’ God into the hurting and broken world, we become part of the eternal Via Transformativa. We give life, through our lives, to God with and within us. The good news of God made man changes the dynamic of the world.

CS Lewis explains how the Via Negativa can become the Via Transformativa in The Great Divorce, “They say of some temporal suffering, ‘No future bliss can make up for it,’ not knowing that Heaven, once attained, will work backwards and turn even that agony into a glory.” Lewis uses the same imagery in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Aslan (the great Lion and Christ figure in the book) tells Susan and Lucy, “though the witch knew the Deep Magic, there is a magic deeper still which she did not know. Her knowledge goes back only to the dawn of Time. But if she could have looked a little farther back, into the stillness and the darkness before Time dawned, she would have read there a different incantation. She would have known that when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor’s stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backwards.”

Stop and Think: In what ways are you active in the Via Creativa of birthing God into the world?

Consider the words of CS Lewis. What does it imply for your life that ‘agony [will turn into] glory’ and ‘Death itself will start working backward’?

Next week, we'll take a quick look at the Shepherds

Scripture Scrapbook- I and J

MEANS: the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness,

the state of being whole and undivided, the condition of being unified, unimpaired, or sound in construction.

FROM:  late Middle English, from French intégrité or Latin integritas, from integer ‘intact,  (see integer).[Root of integer: early 16th century (‘entire, whole’): from Latin, ‘intact, whole,’ from in (not) + the root of tangere ‘to touch.’]

BIBLE VERSE: Several Psalms talk of being judged and found righteous because of the integrity of heart. (Psalm 7:8, Ps. 25:21, Ps. 26:11, Ps. 41:12, Ps. 101:2

A Psalm of David. Vindicate me, O LORD, for I have walked in my integrity, and I have trusted in the LORD without wavering. (Psalm 26:1)

THOUGHTS: I find it interesting that integrity comes from the same root as ‘integer’. As we learn early on in math, an integer is a whole number. When we walk with integrity, we are whole before others and God. We are not a human and a half. Nor are we a quarter of a human. We are God’s own chosen creation-whole and intact.

To have integrity is not something that is talked about a lot in the modern world. Tony Dungy in his book Uncommon says that “integrity is the choice between what’s convenient and what’s right.” CS Lewis noted that “Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.” We may find it easy to point our finger at others who are not showing integrity in life. However, it starts with the way we live our own life.  For Christians, the thing that keeps us on target is the Word of God. Then, like David in the Psalm, we know that we have measured our self against the Lord and have not wavered. 

PRAYER: Creator of all, help me to see myself as an important whole piece of your work and creation. Guide me to measure my actions against your Word and to act with integrity.

MEANS: just behavior or treatment, the quality of being fair and reasonable, the administration of the law or authority in maintaining this, the personification of justice, a judge or magistrate

FROM:  late Old English iustise administration of the law, from Latin Justitia- jus-law, right.

BIBLE VERSE: Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will bring justice to the nations. (Isaiah 42:1 & Matthew 12:18)

THOUGHTS: There are over 100 citations that use the word 'Justice' in the Bible! I guess that means it’s an important concept to God. The one I chose is found in both Isaiah and in Matthew. It is one of the Old Testament scriptures that points to Messiah. In Matthew it is found right after Jesus heals a man on the Sabbath, causing consternation and condemnation. He has just pointed out to the Pharisees that “it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath”.

The Justice of God is mercy and healing. Just a couple verses later in Isaiah we hear, “he will not break a bruised reed or quench a smoldering wick, till he bring justice to victory; and in his name will the Gentiles hope.” The Justice of God is certainly different than human justice in many cases. We are called to forgive and to love and to help the unlovable. Then we are the hands and feet of God’s continuing justice in the world.

Recently we celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day. His work, among many others, reminds us that there is much still to be done before justice truly prevails.

PRAYER: Dear Loving Father, help me to be an instrument of your justice and not seek the world’s justice against those who I think have wronged me. It isn’t easy, and I seek your help.

SCRAPBOOK PROMPTS:

How are you intact and whole in God? Is there a picture or image that exemplifies that for you?

What things speaks to your heart as needing God’s justice? Perhaps you can list them in your scrapbook to revisit.

Consider how your integrity in God is related to being a channel of justice. 

God in Man made Manifest IV

This Epiphany, I’ve been offering meditations on Christopher Wordsworth’s hymn, “Songs of Thankfulness and Praise.” The Lutheran hymnal provides additional verses not found in the Episcopal hymnal. This week we look at one of them.

Sun and moon shall darkened be,

Stars shall fall, the heavens shall flee,

Christ will then like lightning shine,

All will see His glorious sign:

All will then the trumpet hear;

All will see the Judge appear;

Thou by all wilt be confessed,

God in man made manifest.

This verse looks beyond the ministry of Our Lord to the second coming when “the trumpet shall sound” (I Corinthians 15:51). How many of us have thrilled at the rendition of the verse from Handel’s Messiah. The trumpet solo invariably brings tears to my eyes.

Wordsworth, however is referring directly to Jesus’ words in Matthew 24:29-31. “Immediately after the suffering of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see “the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven” with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”

It is a rather dramatic picture and certainly calls us to think about how we live. Notice the warning our Lord gives before the vision of the end times. “Take note, I have told you beforehand. So, if they say to you, “Look! He is in the wilderness”, do not go out. If they say, “Look! He is in the inner rooms”, do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.” (Matthew 24:25-28) We are warned against any who claim to know the time or point to someone as the Christ. There is only one real Lord. It is a rather difficult verse to consider however, because it makes us aware that there are consequences to our actions and to our decisions.

I am reminded of a scene in the Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis. In the final book of the series, The Last Battle, each person and animal goes through the door. Some recognize Aslan with joy and others refuse to.

“The creatures came rushing on…But as they came right up to Aslan one or other of two things happened to each of them. They all looked straight in his face. I don’t think they had any choice about that. And when some looked, the expression of their faces changed terribly—it was fear and hatred…all the creatures that looked at Aslan in that way swerved to their right, his left, and disappeared into his huge black shadow…The children never saw them again…But the others looked in the face of Aslan and loved him, though some of them were frightened at the same time. And all these came in at the Door, in on Aslan’s right…“Further in and higher up,” called Roonwit…”

As the hymn says, “Thou by all wilt be confessed.” All the creatures in Narnia recognize in Aslan, their Master. At the end of all things on earth, everything will recognize the Lord, but not all will believe, even then, and will go into the outer darkness. Like the inhabitants of Narnia, the rest of us will find that there is much more joy to be found “further in and higher up!”

Next week we’ll look at a verse that reminds of us how we are to live, so that God can be made manifest in our lives.

God in our Interrupted Routines

There are many things that interrupt our routines. Some are delightful-like a family visit, some not so much-like pain or bad news. This month has been filled with interruptions for me. There was the visit from our daughter and her family, including 3 grandchildren, another grandbaby due to be born any day (different daughter), and preparations for the consecration of a bishop. All nice things, but they have kept me from my normal routines.


John Keble says,
The trivial round, the common task,
will furnish all we ought to ask:
room to deny ourselves; a road
to bring us daily nearer God

It is true that the daily routine can and does lead us closer to God. It is comforting to have a nice, set routine to follow. We don’t like to have our well organized lives interrupted and do our best to cling to the ‘trivial round, the common task’. However, sometimes it is the interruptions that present us with the opportunity to find an even more intimate experience of the Holy One.

The visit from our daughter reminded me of how enthusiastic children are. They visited during Balloon Fiesta and were delighted every time a hot air balloon was sighted near our house. A trip to the zoo was also a full of eager exploration. As noted in previous posts, the routines of life can numb us to that sort of delight. Sometimes an interruption reminds us, as adults, of the need to be passionate about our relationship with God.
Sometimes it is in the uncomfortable and even painful interruptions that God finds us. As CS Lewis points out, in The Problem of Pain, “[when my house of cards tumbles down] for a day or two [I] become a creature consciously dependent on God’s grace…Let Him but sheathe that sword…and I behave like a puppy when the hated bath is over-I shake myself as dry as I can and race off to reacquire my comfortable dirtiness.”

Barbara Brown Taylor notes that many of the world’s great religions grew out of an experience of suffering. She says, “Pain makes theologians of us all. If you have spent even one night in real physical pain, then you know what that can do to your faith in God, not to mention your faith in your own ability to manage your life.”

We look for the reason for our pain when something goes wrong and often blame God. However, if we embrace the suffering, we discover something astonishing and even miraculous-God is with us in the agony. In our pain we discover common ground with others because all of us does experience some sort of sorrow or pain or grief. Like the hummingbird hovering over this flower, there is beauty even in the hurt.

Our culture often makes us believe that life is meant to be a bed of roses and that obtaining just the ‘right’ car, house, dress, etc. will make us happy. Lewis shines a different light on the reason for difficulties. He notes that trials and tribulations are a way of reminding us that our “modest prosperity and happiness…[is] not enough to make [us] blessed…all this must fall from [us] in the end, and if [we] have not learned to know Him [we] will be wretched.”

Madeline L’Engle tells of the time when her 9 year old granddaughter was hit by a truck. She says that all she could do was “say with Lady Julian of Norwich, ‘all shall be well, and all shall be well and all manner of things shall be well,’ and then to add, ‘No matter what.’ That was the important part, the ‘no matter what’…It made me affirm to myself that God is in control no matter what, that ultimately all shall be well, no matter what.”

Problems have a way of leveling the playing field, too. Think of the way communities suddenly pull together in the face of a natural disaster and families often come together around the bed of a sick member. In the commonality with each other, we find communion and ultimately healing.


Disruptions of routines can be blessings if embraced as gifts from God. They can turn into times when we encounter God. Over the next couple of weeks, I will try to look at the ‘interruptions of routine’ as opportunities to find God not distractions from God.

Next week we’ll look at how Getting Lost—an interruption of routine, too, can help us find God.

* Quotations from Walking on Water, L’Engle and An Altar in the World, Barbara Brown Taylor, unless otherwise noted.

Ordinary Time Excursion-Rahab

Last week we visited Naomi of Bethlehem, a sad and bitter woman, who found herself transformed when God acted in her life. This week we back up along the historical time line to the conquest of Jericho and meet Rahab.

Rahab of Jericho is often overlooked, even by people who read the Bible. Of all the books I have written, Rahab’s Redemption is the one that people most often look perplexed about. “Who is Rahab?” they ask. Her story is encapsulated in the second chapter of the Book of Joshua with a brief mention in chapter 6:22-23. Then we hear nothing more about her until the genealogy of Christ in Matthew. “and Salmon (or Salma) [was] the father of Boaz by Rahab” (Matthew 1:5).


The little reference in Matthew shines a great spotlight on Rahab. Rather than just some harlot in Jericho who happened to give sanctuary to a couple of spies and saved her family—Rahab is one of the few women named in the lineage of Jesus Christ! She married one of the spies and became a faithful Jewish woman!

Despite her pagan upbringing, God was able to use her generous heart to fulfill his Plan. Although she was a harlot, perhaps a prostitute for the temple of Baal or Astarte, Rahab tells the spies, “I know the Lord has given you the land…there was no courage left in any man, because of you; for the Lord your God is he who is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.” (Joshua 2:9-11) Her faith is mentioned in both Hebrews 11:31 and James 2:25 as an example to follow.

In our culture, the ‘big names’ get the headlines in sports, business, entertainment, etc. Often the rest of us, the ordinary folk, get forgotten as we go about our duties and prayers. Even in the Bible, Joshua gets the top billing, and Rahab is relegated to a few verses.

My husband and I recently spent a few days in Leadville, CO. Surrounded by lovely scenery and interesting history, it is easy to focus on the men who made the area famous because they found gold or silver and forget the thousands of miners who toiled underground to acquire that wealth. You forget, that is, until you drive outside the city and see the remains of hundreds of mines—dreams of riches and grandeur lost to time. Men who gave their last penny and often last breath of life for the elusive ore are forgotten, even by those who benefited.

Ps. 37: 3-4 reminds us of a different way to real life, “Trust in the LORD, and do good; so you will live in the land, and enjoy security. Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

Rahab willingly cast her lot with the invading Hebrew tribes. She did trust in the Lord and found security and the desire of her heart. The men, and women, seeking fame and fortune a century ago in Leadville trusted in their own abilities. Even those who found wealth rarely found peace of mind. Horace Tabor, owner of the richest mine of the era, died a pauper because he trusted in himself and his wealth. True peace is found in trusting in our God and delighting in God’s way.

When we think about Rahab of Jericho, we should be reminded that none of us is too insignificant for God to use. CS Lewis tells us, “There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations—these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snug, and exploit…Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses. If he is your Christian neighbor, he is holy in almost the same way, for in him also Chist vere latitat—the glorifier and the glorified, Glory Himself, is truly hidden. (The Weight of Glory)

I wonder what difference it would make in my life, in your life, in the world, if we were conscious of the Christ hidden in each of us. If we, like Rahab, were truly willing to cast our lot with the God of Israel who is “the Lord your God is he who is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.”

Next week, our excursion takes us to see Sarah, wife of Abraham who tried to force God's hand.

Living the Way of the Heart

These Eastertide meditations have been inspired by a quote from Henri Nouwen that I used in my Footprint News e-newsletter in April  “For as long as you can remember, you have been a pleaser, depending on others to give you an identity. You need not look at that only in a negative way. You wanted to give your heart to others, and you did so quickly and easily. But now you are being asked to let go of all these self-made props and trust that God is enough for you. You must stop being a pleaser and reclaim your identity as a free self.”

The Way of the Heart is a path to reclaiming “your identity as a free self.” e.e. cummings wrote: "To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting."

In order to be yourself—a beloved Child of God—we, you and I, have to find the solitude and the silence to be with the Father who loves us. We also have to be in conversation, call it prayer, with our Father. Perhaps that conversation is the most important part of all into the Way of the Heart. As Paul reminded the Thessalonians: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (I Thes. 5:16-18) Like the goslings are dependent on their parents, we need to keep our eyes fixed on our Father.

Anyone who has ever tried to live authentically and in a true relationship with God knows it’s not something we can do by ourselves. We need one another and we need our God to encourage us. As “You Raise Me Up” says, “You raise me up, to more than I can be.” In our ministry to and with one another we lift each other’s burdens and point them to the One who can truly “…raise me up, so I can stand on mountains…to walk on stormy seas.”

When I am down and, oh my soul, so weary;
When troubles come and my heart burdened be;
Then, I am still and wait here in the silence,
Until you come and sit awhile with me.


Refrain
You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up: To more than I can be.

There is no life - no life without its hunger;
Each restless heart beats so imperfectly;
But when you come and I am filled with wonder,
Sometimes, I think I glimpse eternity.


Refrain

In another of his books (Out of Solitude), Nouwen offers advice on how to be in true relationship—a true friend. "To care means first of all to empty our own cup and to allow the other to come close to us. It means to take away the many barriers which prevent us from entering into communion with the other. When we dare to care, then we discover that nothing human is foreign to us, but that all the hatred and love, cruelty and compassion, fear and joy can be found in our own hearts…By the honest recognition and confession of our human sameness we can participate in the care of God who came, not to the powerful but powerless, not to be different but the same, not to take our pain away but to share it. Through this participation we can open our hearts to each other and form a new community…When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares."

It is not easy to give up being a “pleaser”. It is something that many theologians and mystics have noted. CS Lewis warns “We must get over wanting to be needed: in some goodish people…that is the hardest temptation of all to resist.” (Mere Christianity)

To be part of the “Way of the Heart” is to give up our need to be affirmed, supported, needed and simply sit on our Father’s shoulders where we become, “more than I can be.” In this week before Pentecost, I encourage you to look back at your journey since Easter through this blog. Immerse yourself in the God who calls to our heart with such a great Love that the only response we can offer is to lay our lives at the foot of the Cross. Remember your experience of the solitude and silence we explored as ways to enter more deeply into the “creative and re-creative power of God’s own Word.” If it was of help, use the ACTS method of prayer to be with God in a time of refreshment. Then, do it again and again until the disciplines become a way of life—the Way of the Heart.

By walking the Way of the Heart, we can, like St. Francis, ‘rebuild the Church.’ (As a young seeker, Francis heard a voice in the Chapel of San Damiano telling him to ‘rebuild My church’. Thinking literally, Francis set about reconstructing the building. Later he determined that God meant renewal of the people of God.)

Pentecost is one of the great feasts of the church. See you next week.