An Old Emergence

Isn’t this a strange time of year? I remember how the third quarter of every school year was always the worst. Even in college, the first half of the spring semester always seemed to drag along. It was like the second half winter was intentionally more dismal than other times of the year.

In May of 2009 I was able to visit South Africa for a second time. While there, my group had the opportunity to visit the Cathedral Church of St. George the Martyr. This was the cathedral at which Desmond Tutu performed his duties as Archbishop of South Africa. Up until that point, I had only ever studied labyrinths and had never actually walked one. There in the courtyard of the cathedral was a beautiful stone labyrinth. I am an experiential worshipper, which is why I think it was such a powerful encounter for me. Here I was in one of my favorite cities (Cape Town), at the church of a modern saint. And so I made the only choice one has to make upon discovering a labyrinth: whether to enter or not.

This year for Lent, I am not really focusing on giving anything up. Instead, I am focusing on ways to improve the way I live my life. While there is a definite spiritual component (which I’ll get to), the bulk of my focus is on my physicality. I am being intentional about the way I eat. While there are many different scripture passages that deal with food, I am always drawn to the passage at the end of the sixth chapter of 1 Corinthians: “You must know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is within you – the Spirit you have received from God…So glorify God in your body.” (The Inclusive Bible) This speaks to more than just food, but to fitness, about the body as a whole. It doesn’t point out gluttony or drunkenness. So often those passages are used to call alcohol evil or are twisted to change the meaning of gluttony to focus on material things. So instead of looking at those kinds of scripture, I like that the writer of 1 Corinthians reminds us that our bodi...

I wrote a blog this morning responding to the tragedy in Japan and the entire Pacific Rim. It was poorly written and emotional. I am not saying that is bad. Tragedy occurring during Lent has become a bit of a hot-button issue for me. So while I affirm my frustrations and the difficulty of understanding why tragedies seem to go hand-in-hand with this particular liturgical season in my life, I don’t really feel like ranting against God or bemoaning my state of existence does anyone any good. And so I deleted it. Instead, today let us take moments to lift prayer to whomever we pray for the loss felt around our world today and for the recovery of those who have lost everything.

holy god who suffers with us, suffers for us, suffers because of us place your arms around us and hold us tight

One of the three women I have the blessing to call “Pastor” has a way with words like no one else I know. Her name is April, and she is the co-pastor of Glendale Baptist Church in Nashville, TN. Now that I’ve moved away from Nashville, I rely on copious email communication to keep April in my life on a regular basis. Every email, in addition to having a reply to my question, concern, or rant, has bits of wisdom and spiritual direction woven in.

Over the last three weeks I have had the opportunity to spend some time with the youth group at my new church, Baptist Church of the Covenant. We have been participating in what is a yearly event at BCOC called “School for Christian Living” during which time the church restructures its normal Sunday school hour into a three-hour seminar. This time is broken into two sessions with a lunch break in between.