Linking you to last night's journey

Ok, so here’s your opportunity to step into Bread for your journey if you weren’t able to go last night. Come on in to explore the theme: “Walking in the mud, sensing spring”.

You walk into a room at the Crowne that’s called the Board Room. There’s a lush-looking rectangular table that fills most of the room and it’s surrounded by big comfy chairs. On the table is a colorful cloth donned with unlit candles and branches. As you step closer you see that the branches are the same ones from last week, except that this time the there are buds starting to look like forsythia flowers.

After a bit of conversation with those seated at the table, the central candle is lit and you are invited to enter in with some words of prayer.

The first reading you hear is a brief quote from Frederick Buechner. It’s read once, and then once again with pauses between the phrases:

"The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet. "

These words of prayer invite you to connect with God:
God, it’s an intriguing idea: that you are calling to me… that you care about my deep gladness… that you lead me there and share that joy with me… and that you lead me as well to see and feel the deep hungers of the world. Help me to identify what is deeply important to me, as I journey closer to you and closer to my world in need.

A second reading is offered, some words from the beginning of a book of the Bible called Joshua, where God tells Joshua that he’ll be leading the people into a new land to start a brand new life. Here’s the link, and while you read it, notice what words God says three times.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Joshua%201:1-9;&version=76;

Some words of prayer to follow the reading:
God, you chose Joshua to lead the people on a journey home, to be strong and full of courage. Fill me with such courage in this moment. In your name we pray… amen.

Another section of the Bible is read, a continuation of the story begun in the last reading. God’s done prepping Josh, so now it’s his turn to prep the people.
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Joshua%201:10-18;&version=76;

And words of prayer: God, your people sloshed through the mud of the Jordan river to make a new start. Help me to see what new start you may have in mind for me, and lead me through the muddiness to confidence in you. In your name we pray… amen.

Next comes a time of reflection and discussion, beginning with conversation about the season we find ourselves in (spring, aka mud season) and how impatience seems to be a big thing as we wait for the warm weather to really come.

We talk about how impatience can be nasty (griping, negative stuff), but can also be “holy impatience”: an energetic, ready-to-move-on, not-wanting-to-be-stuck kind of impatience. An impatience that seems to have been planted by God.

We take a look at the story of Joshua and his people, hearing a bit of a history behind that story of how Josh's people get un-stuck. (You can scroll down to last Tuesday’s blog post for some of this history.)

Next we talk about how our lives have similar patterns to the changing seasons and to the changing ways of life in Joshua’s story, including these points:
~ getting unstuck can be painful, growing pains, loneliness
~ our obsessions can keep us stuck: like the Red Sox fan in the movie Fever Pitch or the people we know who get lost in video game playing, etc.
~ obsessions can also be good (what fills us, what we’re passionate about), and we can test out how healthy they are by asking if anyone’s getting hurt (others or ourselves) or if they are taking us away from God or closer to God
~ sometimes we can’t tell by ourselves, need to let others in
~ we can get stuck in grief, either numbness or can’t move on

So in listening in on the story of Joshua’s people, we hear that God has ways of helping us get into new starts
~ God promises to be with us, gives us courage
~ God gives us ways to live, rules for not hurting others or ourselves

The conversation turns to talking about the real strategies we use to know God is with us… which also leads into talking about someone who’s name means the exact same thing as Joshua’s does: Jesus ("God saves" is what both names mean).
~ Jesus saves us from being stuck in ourselves, in our fears, in our lives of being estranged from God
~ Jesus saves not through demonstrating strength over others (like Joshua), but strength in serving others, in giving his life to connect us to God
~ God raised Jesus from death to be alive in and around us, so we can be connecting others to God as well, so we can know God is always with us as we journey.

As the discussion draws to a close, we share the wonderful gift of bread that Leilani baked for us (yep, that’s her bread in the picture), the gift of bread that Jesus is for us, feeding us God’s own life.

~ Kari Henkelmann Keyl

Walking in the mud, sensing spring

I had never heard of “mud season” before I moved to New England. When the phrase was introduced to me, it came out of people’s mouths more like swear words than anything else. It’s that in-between season when our feet are stuck in the mud left behind from winter, while the slowly warming (than suddenly back to freezing!) temperatures tease us into thinking spring might really be here.

Standing in the mud’s not all bad, though. Feels kind of squishy-cool between your toes. You just don’t want to be stuck in it for too long, don’t want to be held back when new life seems to be bursting out around you.

Sensing new life on it's way can be thrilling… but what if you can’t get there? What if you feel like something’s got a leash around your neck, keeping you from moving on? Not fun.

Or sometimes you see others who seem to be stuck in one place when you’ve stepped beyond that. You can’t pull them along. They’ve got to step out of the mud themselves. It takes patience and creative tantalizing, being who you are and allowing them to do the same, but giving them a peek into something else, something spring-y.

There was a time when God’s people of old were on the verge of stepping into a new life. God had rescued them from being enslaved by the plantation owners of Egypt. They’d been slaves for so long that it was going to take some time to learn anything else. Led and fed by God, they lived as nomads in the dusty, muddy wilderness lands, slowly learning how to be God’s freed people.

The time came to step into the next level, to stop wandering around and to start gardening the earth, putting down roots and creating a new way of life. It was a big step to take. Their leader, named Joshua, had all kinds of instructions from God on how to lead the people into this new life. Sprinkled throughout these instructions were the refraining words: “Be strong and courageous.” Here’s one of those times:

Haven't I commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Don't be timid; don't get discouraged! For the Lord your God is with you with every step you take. (Joshua 1:9)

Obviously, it wasn’t going to be easy. Otherwise God would have said something like: Go have a blast! It’s party time now that you’re on your own. I’m sure you’ll do just fine!”

Be strong and courageous. Every day can be a day to step out and see where God is leading you. It’s not ever easy. And when you’re feeling weak and fearful instead, God, the one who is with you wherever you go, will be strong and courageous beside you, for you, with you.

This Thursday 7pm, at btw’s space at the Crowne Plaza in Nashua, we’ll be taking these ideas into reality, exploring how it is that God keeps that promise to be with us, to infuse us with that courage. Please come if you can. And feel free to come back here to the blog on Friday for a re-cap.

In the meantime…

God, it stinks to be enslaved, to be wandering for too long, to be stuck in any kind of muck. But it’s also hard to be on our own. Walk with us through the ups and downs, and fill us with confidence in you.

~ Kari Henkelmann Keyl

Linking you into last night's journey

Last night we had our first bread for your journey gathering at the Crowne Plaza, and I'm determined to see if I can bring those who weren't there, into what we did and felt and experienced. You'll have to let me know how I do...

Ok, so you’re walking into a decent-looking conference room with a couple of semi-circle rows of chairs surrounding a small table graced with unlit candles and some not-yet-blooming forsythia branches. You take a seat after talking a bit with others who have come.

The conversations going on around you quiet down as the central candles are lit and the leader offers some words of prayer, acknowledging that we’ve come from many different directions and are now asking God to focus us on the present moment.

Someone stands to read a poem by Wendell Berry called I go among trees and sit still. Go ahead and read it, if you like: http://www.herbcraft.org/berry.html (or see post below)
The reader lights one of the candles on the central table and these words of prayer follow: Living God, you stay with us, faithful like trees. Fill us with your quiet, your stillness, that we might hear you speak, that we might hear our own songs. In your holy name we pray… amen.

The next reading is a quote from South Africa’s Archbishop Desmond Tutu: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?created&&suggest&note_id=75972206408&id=
A candle is lit and these words guide us: Creating God, you’ve gifted each one of us with a unique voice, to speak and to choose silence for hearing others. Help us see the beauty of being one among many, of finding you and finding ourselves in the interconnectedness of our world. Strengthen us to step out and be your people in a world full of those who are hurting. In your holy name we pray… amen.

And a third reading, from the first chapter of Jeremiah: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah%201:1-12;&version=65;
Candle lit, prayer offered: God of Jeremiah, God of us all, you call each one of us into relationship with you. Calm our fears… of being not enough, of failing, of losing it, of being alone… Give us your peace and your energy to move forward, to speak out the passion inside of us. In your holy name we pray… amen.

The leader guides the group into reflecting on these readings and what they might have to do with us:
~ there are many journeys we’re on, if we can be still enough to notice
~ we look back to where we’ve been to get a sense of where we’re going
~ we need one another on our journeys to find out who God is for us and how God is leading us
~ by the way is on a journey, too… we look back into the treasures of the past and also the treasures of today, taking out of the treasure box that good stuff which will help us be real and relevant for people needing faith community today
~ Jeremiah’s journey is one of those treasures; God helps him to define himself not by what he looks like or how old he is, but by the passion that is in his heart and on his lips, the passion that is God’s gift to him

Then the group watches together this video by Nickelback: http://www.tangle.com/view_video.php?viewkey=e884c7bc54a869881878
followed by group discussion which includes:
~ amazing things can happen when people act on the passion that’s inside them.
~ tragedies (like 9/11 or deaths of those close to us) can lead people to respond in big ways, but it can be for the good or not so good; we need others to help us through those times
~ if years from now your face would be a part of such a video, what would be the passion you’d have inside that would move you to such action?
~ how it is that Jesus walks beside us, reminding us that we are more than what we look like or what we do for a living… connecting us to the passions God has given us, plugging us in to God’s life, today and in all our days to come…

The next part of our gathering is a bit hard to describe, since it's basically open time and space to notice God coming to make it all real for us. There are stations set up around the room, to encourage reflection on how God comes to meet us… in bread, in water, in words, in light…

Then the group comes back together, wraps things up with a bit of conversation about how we can take this experience out with us. The central candles are blown out, we chat and get to know each other for a while, and are on our way...

Well, that gives you a taste. I hope you’ll let me know if you have ideas on how this works for you, or could work better to bring you into the “bread for your journey” of by the way.

Peace,

Kari

Wendell Berry

I go among trees and sit still.
All my stirring becomes quiet
around me like circles on water.
My tasks lie in their places
where I left them, asleep like cattle.

Then what is afraid of me comes
and lives a while in my sight.
What it fears in me leaves me,
and the fear of me leaves it.
It sings, and I hear its song.

Then what I am afraid of comes.
I live for a while in its sight.
What I fear in it leaves it,
and the fear of it leaves me.
It sings, and I hear its song.

After days of labor,
mute in my consternations,
I hear my song at last,
and I sing it. As we sing,
the day turns, the trees move.

Rest-less for a stop

Sometimes, you’ve just got to stop.

Like right now. For some reason, you’ve decided to stop what you were doing and check out this post. I won’t presume to know why you stopped by, but I’m honored you did.

Whatever trajectory you find yourself on, sometimes you just need to stop, take a look around, and get some perspective.

Like when you’re on a roadtrip and your eyelids are drooping, along with your brain wave activity. Or the grande you grabbed an hour ago is catching up with you. And the sign that announces REST AREA – 2 MILES AHEAD is pure gift.

The day after Christmas, my family and I took off to explore Montreal for a couple of days, and after cruising a while on 89, we were good and ready for a stop. So we did. But this rest stop was off the charts for getting some perspective.

If you’ve never taken a break at the rest area off 89 near Sharon, VT, you’ll have to do it someday. There all around you, as you climb out of your car, is holy ground. The space is dedicated to the memory of all who served in Vietnam during the US’s war there. And it’s very well done. (Click on the title of this post to see some pictures.)

I had just wanted to stop and stretch my legs, but my soul got stretched, too. To tell you the truth, I don’t remember a single fact that I picked up while reading the many informative panels. But I remember the spooky feeling of having the past jump into my present… and it made me awe-fully thankful that I had a future.

From just being cranky, restless, and tired… to being grateful on a grand scale. That’s some rest stop. One worth the label of “holy”. One that could be called a God-moment. A rest stop moment when God peeks in to say hey.

What kind of holy breathers have been important to you? Having coffee with someone you’ve lost touched with, maybe? Or checking Facebook or Twitter, CNN or NPR, to feel connected to what’s going on outside you? Those things might just be mundane, of course, or even time-eaters, if I’m not careful. But sometimes my little world seems to be spinning so fast that I really do need to jump off and take a look around me. I need a message from God. They’re probably all around me and I’m missing them. Until I take my rest stop.

Right now, by the way is on an exciting trajectory. We’ve got a gifted team designing what’s going to be an amazing website. We’re psyched to be starting up an every-Thursday gathering at the Crowne Plaza, a rest stop for those who need a bit of sustenance for their week. And we’re going to be intentional about drawing in those who can’t make it to the Crowne but need the rest stop just as much.

And how all of this comes together – what kind of holy rest stop by the way will become – can be shaped by who you are, how God has gifted you, and… who God is, and how God comes to meet us. I'm hoping you'll choose to be part of this journey, with your online presence or in person.

O God-on-the-way, visit me in this rest stop moment. Fill my lungs with your gift of oxygen. Refresh my too-full mind with your simple peace. Power me up with your own desire for all people to be fed and cared for. Move me out into your world… to find you… and to find others in need of you.

~ Kari Henkelmann Keyl

Not the Only One

So you’re in a group of people and someone’s telling a joke. She gets to the punch line and the whole room’s laughing. Everyone gets the joke but you. Not a good feeling. You’re on the outside looking in. You’re just not getting it.

So you’re starting out your new life. There’s some excitement, lots of newness. It’s an adventure. It’s just… not the adventure that you thought you’d be having at this point. Something’s off. You just can’t see where this is all heading. Not a good feeling.

The online magazine Smith had this great idea to ask readers to write the story of their lives in just six words, and what came from it was a book which got its title from one of the brief life-stories that was submitted: Not Quite Was I Was Planning.

I love this title. At those out-of-control moments of my life, this title shows up in my head like a best friend who understands because she’s been there. Sometimes I just don’t get it. I can’t see what it all means. And I feel like I’m the only one who’s not getting the joke… the only one whose life is not at all what I was planning.

If you’re ever looking for some heroes from history who you can relate to in the department of “not getting it”… you need not look further than the book of the Bible known as The Gospel According to Mark. (It’s really more of a short story than a book, and it’s a good one to read all in one sitting, if you ever get the chance.)

In Mark’s version of Jesus’ life and ministry, Jesus’ closest companions and students, his disciples, just cannot make the clues add up. Over and over again, they show us how hard it is to see what Jesus is up to, what’s his game plan. Jesus did some mighty strange things. Sometimes they were strange and wonderful. Other times… just strange.

Like the time when Jesus and his best buds walked into the Temple in Jerusalem. And all of the sudden, Jesus is turning the Temple economy upside down, literally! He’s making a violent mess of the market tables, chasing people and animals around and sending cash flying through the air. Take a minute to read the story (the link’s on the title of this post), and you’ll see what I mean. While you’re reading, notice the disciples, notice how they’re not getting it, but they are remembering, as if they’re storing up the clues for later.

Yes, even in their confused (and probably terribly upset) state, they are remembering. They’re thinking of old Bible verses they learned as kids, hoping that’ll help them make sense of it all. They’re watching Jesus’ wild behavior, can’t figure it out, but they keep hanging with him, even if they don’t yet understand.

And, perhaps more importantly, Jesus keeps hanging with them. He doesn’t give up on them because they can’t see what’s going on. He still keeps doing the outrageous, unexpected things, turning not only tables upside down but rules and hardened categories and prejudices, too. And even though his team doesn’t get it, he keeps bringing them along, one piece of insight at a time… until it all adds up in the end.

Each one of them, on their own, would have been lost, lost in the confusion of events relating to this strange and wonderful Jesus. None of them were getting it alone. But all of them together, sharing their memories and insights, sharing the life of Jesus that God raised up in and around them, all of them together began to see.

And so do we begin to see... all of us together, each seeing through the prism of our own memories, our own dreams, our own giftedness, our own God-sight. God alone can put all the pieces together to guide us toward greater vision, the vision that is "not quite what we were planning", but far greater in the end.

God, so many of us are struggling and feel like we're alone. Connect us to others so we can struggle together. When we can't see what's going on, make us patient with ourselves and with you. Thank you for giving us Jesus, for all that radical stuff he once did to open our eyes, and for all the radical things his Spirit still does for us and through us. We pray this in Jesus' name.

(To read more about the six-word life stories of Not Quite What I Was Planning, see http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18768430)

~ Kari Henkelmann Keyl