The Chrismas Blues . . . by Kari Henkelmann Keyl

Departing from btw’s usual format this week (reflective blog, audio-skype conversation), I’d like to offer a brief but important reminder to all who happen to stop by.

These weeks leading up to Christmas celebrations (and other holidays/holy days) can be terribly sad times for many people. Some are missing loved ones who have died, and can’t imagine this season without them. Many are lonely all through the year, and this time of “merriness” just makes it feel worse. Plenty have lost their jobs, have other frightening financial concerns, or are devastated by broken relationships. Lots of pain out there. And inside of us as well.

Let’s take some time this week to pray for all who are grieving, all who are suffering from any kind of loss. Please be on the look-out for those who need some extra care. If you are among the heart-broken, let someone know. Let God know, too. Feel free to let the by the way community know, and perhaps we can share the load together.

Watchful God, you know well who is aching from loss, who needs recognition and healing care. Open our eyes to see the pain around us and within us. Create community where there is none. Mend our broken hearts… and send us out to do the same.

Lord Jesus, we remember you were part of a wandering homeless family.  You were born into a time and place where strangers were not welcomed, where the needy were trampled. You grew up in that world and saw God leading us home. Now, Lord, in this time and place, be our home. Give us safety… and forgiveness… and new life.

Spirit of God, implant in our very beings your lively energy, your bubbling hope. Give us confidence in your power over pain and death. When we are doubting and afraid, surround us with people who can be your messengers of hope. In your holy name we pray… amen.

Going through the motions by Kari Henkelmann Keyl

Ok, now we’re in deep. We’ve stepped through the Palm Sunday door into Holying Week. Or Holy Week, if you prefer. But there will be a lot of holying going on this week, I can assure you. Keep all your senses sharpened, and you may get in on it, too.

Like Heidi said last post, this all-important week for Christ-followers is a mysterious movement of time which is bookended by parties: the palm-waving-save-us hoopla of Palm Sunday and the power-of-death-defeated yesssss of Easter. So what goes on in between? It’s different for each person, of course. One common word might be EXPERIENCING.

Many worshiping communities will have an abundance of ways for people to experience the redeeming love of God in Jesus. Some may have a gathering every day. Many will have a Thursday-Friday-Saturday experience: three worship events that are linked together as one journey of faith.

Sometimes people bemoan the fact that going to these worship gatherings is “just going through the motions”. As in: is anything really HAPPENING, or are they just doing what they’re doing because that’s what they’ve always done?

Well, I’d like to revive this phrase, asking you to consider that “going through the motions” can be full of meaning. As in: something is TRULY HAPPENING. Like part of you is dying and something new is rising up in its place. Like God is busy… challenging, healing, holying, drawing you close. It might be beyond words or rational understanding, this movement that is happening, but something is going on.

Going through the motions might mean:
+ kneeling and saying I’m sorry
+ receiving a healing touch of forgiveness
+ having your feet washed by loving hands
+ listening to some engaging stories
+ being splashed by some water
+ taking into your body the bread and wine of Jesus’ life
+ hearing/singing some deeply-piercing music
+ watching as the worship space is eerily “stripped” of all finery
+ journeying up to the cross to feel its roughness, its pain, its healing

I encourage you to get together with others who will experience this dying-and-rising with you. But maybe your thing will be to find a quiet spot and do some reflecting on your own. Here’s a suggestion for your reflection:  the story of Jesus' gift of life according to Luke.
You could consider all the players in the drama, asking yourself which one(s) you most relate to. What happens to you inside, knowing that this Jesus, who taught and lived the message that no one is to be left out of God’s forgiving love, was found to be too threatening a force, a voice that needed to be silenced? And Jesus kept on challenging and loving, even when it got him headed toward execution. What does it mean for you, knowing that now that love he died to give us, is available to all?

Whatever are the motions you are engaged in these next few days, let the motions speak for themselves, while the message of Jesus’-life-given-for-you sinks in. Know that your understanding of the Cross might be very different from the person sitting next to you, or even the person who’s preaching. There are so many ways of experiencing God’s opening-up love and God’s brand-new life.

Go through the motions. Notice the motions of God. Take it all in. Work it all through in your own time, in your own way. Feel free to share here what you experience, what questions you have, what insights you’ve gained.

I’ll close with this poetry by Paul Gehhardt. I’ve always been intrigued by the question he asks, “What language shall I borrow?”, suggesting that the whole experience of receiving God’s redeeming love is truly beyond words:

What language shall I borrow to thank thee, dearest friend,
For this thy dying sorrow, thy pity without end?
Oh, make me thine forever, and should I fainting be,
Lord, let me never, never out-live my love to thee.

Peace and passion to you this Holy Week,
Kari

when life is out of control

by Kari Henkelmann Keyl

There’s “out of control” and there’s “seriously out of control”. The first is when a few nasty things happen that get your head spinning, but there’s enough steadiness in your life that you can almost handle the craziness. You share your frustrations with a friend or two. They share their out-of-balance stories. You realize you’re ok. You might even be grateful to be doing as well or better than they are.

But then there are times when life has become practically unrecognizable. So many of your count-on-ables have crashed… that you can hardly breathe. Vulnerable, volatile, on the edge. How do you handle it? Lots of tempting, unhelpful ways to choose from…

Some pretend everything’s fine, and refuse to open up to others. Some dump it all out ad nauseum until their friends are tempted to disown them. Some turn a resentful eye to the world around them and blame everyone else for their out-of-controlness.

These temptations are nothing new, of course. Jesus’ followers had to deal with being out of control, too. And we get to learn from their unhealthy choices. Aren’t we lucky?

Picture this: Jesus’ disciples are sorting through some tough realities. They’d previously seen so many incredible healings happen, both by Jesus’ hands and their own. They knew what they were doing and they did it well. In control.

But then they tried to heal someone with a nasty demon, and it didn’t work. What’s going on? Are we losing it? Their teacher Jesus had to come in and take care of it. That was bad enough, to feel like you’re slipping, like the bad things are controlling you instead of you controlling them. But it got even worse, when Jesus got all gloom-and-doom, lecturing them about how it was his job to give up his power and die. Completely out of control.

In the middle of this, the disciples encounter someone who’s successfully healing people, using Jesus’ name to do it, but he’s not someone of their in-group. So here’s some uncertified healer doing something the disciples themselves couldn’t do yesterday! Geez, Jesus, what’s the deal? What can we count on anymore? Is it all falling apart?

See how John tattles on the do-gooder and how Jesus responds:
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%209:38-41&version=CEV

There’s lots here to talk about… how the disciples resort to “us and them” thinking and how Jesus won’t let them sink into that… how we also are tempted to take things out on others when we’re frustrated… how God might be acting through all this to take us through our struggles to new places of insight… how Jesus knows what it’s like to voluntarily become out of control… and that he does it for us.

And how is it that we, as a community of Jesus that is both local and virtual, support one another in our out-of-control struggles?  Lots of good stuff to munch on...

Do come to this Thursday’s Bread for your Journey (7pm, Crowne Plaza, Nashua, exit 8) for more of these tasty morsels, if you happen to be reasonably local. Otherwise, come back to the blog on the weekend to continue the conversation. Feel free to comment here: Any thoughts you have, any links you’d like to share, are most welcome.

Peace in the storm,
Kari

Healers: Keep it Simple

Our last Bread for you journey unfolded with an opportunity to meet new people and to begin with a sharing of prayer concerns and a time of settling into this space and time.
This week we explored how Jesus sent out the twelve to heal. He let them know to keep it simple and empowered them to continue his work two by two.

Reflection #1: We began by lighting a candle and then viewing the video Heal the World by Michael Jackson. This video begins with Michael explaining why he wrote the song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beFTORlM6TU

God, we do see so much pain, in our world and in our own lives. As we reflect on your Word tonight, help us to hear your call to follow Jesus and to sort out just what that means. Let your healing power flow into us tonight… and let it flow through us, here in this community, and outward into your world. In your name we pray… amen.

Reflection #2: from the Message Mark6:7-13 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%206:1-13;&version=65;

Lord Jesus, you called the twelve and sent them out in pairs to teach and do God’s will. Help us to know we do our best work with others and that we need to keep it simple. We are empowered by you to comfort, heal and love one another. Be for us a place of joy and rejuvenation. In your name we pray… amen.

Reflection #3: The Hippocratic Oath: Modern Version
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/doctors/oath_modern.html

God, you send messengers in many forms to the world may we listen and know that we are called to love and care for one another. We are here to help and heal one another on our journey. Lift us up and support us as we mourn those we have lost and continue to take care of our life which you have given us. May peace and joy be a part of everyday. In your name we pray…amen.

We began our discussion by sharing our thoughts when we heard of Michael Jackson’s death. Many thought of his music and art, but then we discussed how the controversy surrounding his life may have diminished his message of healing the world or helping children. The loss of Farrah Fawcett on the same morning was also discussed and how some deaths are expected and others are a surprise. We discussed the juxtaposition of these lose; Farrah's heroic fight to live and Jackson’s controversial and sudden death.

The line of the song Heal the World which stood out for me was “Be God’s Glow”. As Jesus sent out the twelve he sent them out to heal and be God’s glow. Jesus told them to keep it simple and do what you can and then move on. We are also sent out into the world to help heal those around us. How are you helping or healing people around you? If everyone saw themselves as healers and helpers we would all help to change the world.

As we reflected on the Hippocratic Oath we discussed how this oath is a commitment to live your life in a helpful way. It affirms that we cannot do it alone as Jesus sent the twelve out two by two Doctors promise to refer to others work and to ask for help. The last paragraph of the Hippocratic Oath “May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help,” it links healing and joy. As we find our individual calling we find a sense of joy and new understandings about ourselves and the world around us. In the Geneva Declaration it states, “I will maintain the utmost respect for human life from the time of conception, even under threat; I will not use my medical knowledge contrary to the laws of humanity.” http://www.cirp.org/library/ethics/geneva/ . This is a clear statement to help and preserve human life. How can we help with this each day?

After our discussion we shared a sending prayer and then moved to our open space time where we could experience and reflect on the healing power of water and that of bread. Oath, promise, commitment, how would your Oath to live read? The entire wording of the Hippocratic Oath and the Geneva Declaration were available to reflect upon and to use as inspiration along with a variety of books to write your own oath to live. How would God be reflected in your oath? What is your calling and how can you live into your passion?

I remember being asked about what legacy I would like to leave after I die but I do not recall being asked to articulate a statement promising to live out my call in specific ways that I and others would understand. How to live our daily lives to help and to heal the world can seem overwhelming but remember to keep it simple and do what you can, it all adds up.

Thank you to all who attended this powerful evening and those who have taken the time to read my ponderings.

Heidi Jakoby

Healers One and All

Sent out into the world to heal. Have you ever had the opportunity to help someone through a difficult time in their life? Did you just listen to a friend share their hurt? As I reflect on Jesus sending out his followers to heal I think about how we are called to help (heal) one another. Have you considered the idea that helping someone is a form of healing? And caring for one another can help make the world a better place?

In this reading from Mark, Jesus sends out his followers two by two and tells them to take nothing with them. To go out and start healing, simple and direct; no special training. Is it that simple?
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%206:1-13;&version=65;

As I continued to reflect on this reading and the past week I pondered the many famous people who died over the past week and all that they brought to the world. Farrah Fawcett and her long battle with cancer has inspired many to continue to seek a cure and or a better way of living with cancer. Michael Jackson has inspired people in different ways. When I put in the word Healing into the You tube search a Michael Jackson song came up called Heal the World.

I must have heard this song before but I don't think I ever truly listened to it. Here are the first two versus (for the lyrics to the entire song http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/michaeljackson/healtheworld.html )

Heal The World
Make It A Better Place
For You And For Me
And The Entire Human Race
There Are People Dying
If You Care Enough
For The Living
Make A Better Place
For You And For Me

And The Dream We Were
Conceived In
Will Reveal A Joyful Face
And The World We
Once Believed In
Will Shine Again In Grace
Then Why Do We Keep
Strangling Life
Wound This Earth
Crucify Its Soul
Though It's Plain To See
This World Is Heavenly
Be God's Glow

The last line of the second verse has really resonated for me. How can I be God's Glow? How can I help this wounded earth? How can we make the world a better place?


As you can tell I have many questions and not many answers so I also explored the words of the Hippocratic Oath that many doctors take when they are earning their degree. I discovered that there are some misnomers about the oath, for instance it does not say "First, do no harm". Also I learned that there is a second oath the Geneva Declaration (http://www.cirp.org/library/ethics/geneva/). The last section of one of the Hippocratic Oaths states "May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help." This links help and healing as well as medicine as a calling. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/doctors/oath_modern.html


This Thursday at 7pm join us at the Crowne Plaza for Bread for your journey where we will take a look at Jesus sending his friends out into to the world to heal people, how the song Heal the World speaks to us, and we may take a closer look at the Hippocratic Oath. Let us explore together the joy that can come from help and healing. You can also join in our conversation here at the blog.



Peace


Heidi Jakoby

Living well

As you may know, last week’s btw theme was about facing our fears about going to the other side. We saw Jesus and his followers go through stormy times and come to peaceful resolution… then they landed on the other side and did some serious healing of a very strangely needy man. The healed person went out to spread the word all over this foreign territory, that Jesus was the one to get you connected: to health, to joy, to God.

This week we see continue the voyage back to the “home turf” side of the sea. As soon as we land on the shore, it becomes obvious that our homeys are just as in need of Jesus’ connecting-force as the foreigners over there. Our readings and prayers can serve to launch you into this exploration of what it means to be in dire need of wellness… and what it means to find it… and then share it.

Reading #1 is from a song written by Jim Strathdee, and some words of prayer follow:

When pain of the world surrounds us with darkness and despair,
when searching just confounds us with false hopes everywhere,
when lives are starved for meaning and destiny is bare,
we are called to follow Jesus and let God’s healing flow through us.

The church is a holy vessel the living waters fill
to nourish all the people, God’s purpose to fulfill.
May we with humble courage be open to God’s well.
We are called to follow Jesus and let God’s Spirit flow through us.

We praise you for our journey and your abundant grace,
your saving word that guided a struggling human race.
O God, with all creation, your future we embrace.
We are called to follow Jesus and let God’s changes flow through us.

God, we do see so much pain, in our world and in our own lives. As we reflect on your Word tonight, help us to hear your call to follow Jesus and to sort out just what that means. Let your healing power flow into us tonight… and let it flow through us, here in this community, and outward into your world. In your name we pray… amen.

Reading #2 is part one of our story from Mark’s book of the Bible:
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%205:21-34;&version=65;

Healer Jesus, you encouraged this frightened woman to tell the truth, to tell her story. You helped her become well, in body and soul. You called her, “Daughter,” and praised her faith. Help us to find that kind of healing in you, as we tell our truths and listen to others, as we discover what it means to be your daughters and your sons. In your name we pray… amen.

Reading #3 completes the account:
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%205:34-43%20%20%20;&version=65;

Lord Jesus, you answered the cry of a desperate father, not listening as the cynical crowds made fun of you. You went forward on your journey, lifting up this little girl into new life with you. Lift us up, too, out of our deadness. Help us explore what is separating us from the fullness of life in you. Be for us our refreshing well of salvation and healing. In your name we pray… amen.

This is a story of two desperate souls who push their way through curious crowds to humbly ask Jesus for help: one a nameless woman cut off from community, and the other a well-connected Jairus wanting wellness for his dear daughter. The irony of the story is that these two desperados are the “healthiest” ones of the bunch. Their health comes from knowing their need, from knowing the truth that on their own they have nothing. But with Jesus’ touch, they are connected… and all is well.

How strange it is that Jesus praises the faith of a woman who is trembling with fear while she tells her story. Fear and faith are not opposites in this story; they compliment each other. Fear (and truth telling) lead you into God’s hands where faith and healing can be found.
~ Think of how fear and faith flow in and out of your life. Does your fear lead you toward God or away from God?
~ Have you ever found healing just from telling the truth, from telling your story?

When Jesus calls this woman, “Daughter,” he is bucking the system bigtime. The system says that this woman who is hemorrhaging is untouchable, cheaper than dirt, not worthy of a name or a place in God’s graces. The system is far sicker than this woman, because it divides people into those who are “good with God” and those who aren’t. Those who assume they’re good with God just because of their status or what they do… they’re the ones the most in need of a wake-up call.
~ What systems operate like that in our world? And how would Jesus buck those systems if he were here? Assuming Jesus is here (like the first reading says), how is healing flowing through you and me as we challenge unjust systems?

Jairus and Jesus keep heading toward J’s sick daughter even when the crowds deliver the grim news of her death. They know a truth that the crowds don’t know: that at the hand of Jesus, death is only sleep… that death is temporary in the hands of God. The wellness Jesus gives us is a confidence that even death cannot separate us from God’s enlivening power.
~ What kind of wellness are you hungering for? How (if at all) is God a deep well of healing and salvation for you?
~ What other insights or questions do have after dwelling on these stories of healing?

Please feel free to join the conversation. Be well as you live your days, swimming between fear and faith, between questioning and confidence, feeling God’s healing flowing into you and out through you to our world.

Peace,
Kari

November's Deepening Spirit

As a kid, November was for me the dreariest of months. The reason was simple: I loved October and did not want to see it come to an end! October was the month of so many of my favorite things: my favorite color (orange), my favorite friends in the natural world (trees, in all their glory), and my favorite day (Oct. 27, my birthday, of course), just to name a few.

While that kid in me is still alive in full force, the grown-up in me sees a bit more going on in November. I see the dreariness, the darkening, the dying taking place in nature… and it makes me more aware of the deeper, darker things going on inside me and around me. I look out on my beloved trees naked and unadorned, and I think about who I am when all my decorative layers are stripped away... and who I will be when my life comes to an end.

There’s an honesty to this month that can be compelling. One of the things November reminds me to be honest about is death. Death is a part of life, whether I deny it or accept it, run from it or face it head on.

I was just about to write about why death is especially on my mind: that I have an uncle who is in the last stage of his battle with stomach cancer, and I’m wondering when the phone call will come. Before I could type the words, the phone call came.

My Uncle Art died this morning. It’s really true, I’m trying to convince myself. And I’m suddenly a mess of emotions… from gratefulness for all I’ve received from this dear person in my life… to anger that cancer eats away at our loved ones… to peacefulness in knowing his pain is over and he’s resting in God’s arms… to intense sadness for each person I know who will miss him so much. Including me.

Would you be willing to stop whatever it is that you were doing and pray with me? These words capture some of what I'm praying now:

O Living God, my listener, my savior… I don’t want to believe that death is real. I want to keep pretending I am invincible and so are the ones I love. But reality tells me otherwise. And so do you.
With your powerful Spirit, connect me to all those who grieve, all who are facing death, and all who are willing to care and to heal.
Hold us close. Give us strength to keep following Jesus, even when that way is painful. Fill us with confidence that through Jesus’ gift of life, we will live again after death… with you and those who have gone before us.
In Jesus’ name we pray…

Peace to you in your struggles and in your joys. Please feel free to share them, on this blog or over a cup of coffee… anytime. Thank you for your prayers, your spirit given in love.

~ Kari Henkelmann Keyl

May the Best Underdog Win

I’m a little late at getting into the Olympics, I know. The hoopla about the opening ceremonies… the air pollution reports… the gold medal speculations: just a backround noise to me. But then last night my husband called me into the TV room with that tone of voice that told this non-TV-watcher there was no doubt that I should race to the screen.

Yep, volleyball. Can’t resist it. I couldn’t care less that the American duo looked strong against the Cuban team. I just love to watch the game. I’m there on the sand, making the moves, shifting in the direction of the dives, admiring the impossibly quick reflexes and the sharp vision that it takes to find the holes in your adversary’s offense. I was rooting for the losers so the game could go on longer. I always do.

But more than that: I’m a sucker for the underdogs. When NCAA basketball is all over the news, my ears only listen for the Gonzagas, George Masons, and Valparaisos. Even when the Red Sox were about to break their 86 year accursed streak, and I was thrilling for the moment the victory would be official, I still pulled for those Cardinals to at least come out with some dignity.

Yesterday I heard on the news that India had won its first ever Olympic gold. That got my heart beating faster than all the announcements of American gold probably will. Good for you, India. Go Underdogs!

Am I out in left field? Can anyone else relate to this? Or does the everyone-loves-a-winner philosophy totally dominate? I tend to think I’m not alone. Otherwise movies like Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre would never have been made. Who doesn’t know the feeling of being a loser, the outsider, the one who shovels out mush to orphans while dreaming of being a hero in their eyes?

I get pretty agitated when people make the assumption that the winners of our world are God’s pals while the losers have been forgotten at best, are being punished at worst. I don’t pretend to have all the answers about why our world seems so unbalanced between winners and losers, but I know that my God hangs in the dust with the losers, loving them to pieces, somehow working good out of the awfulness of humanity’s self-serving choices.

And I know that when I’m at my lowest points of loserhood… I have two streams of thought warring against each other. Number One: God, what good are you anyway? Number Two: I know you’re here, God, and you’ll love me through this one, too.

In other words… when I’m most underdog-ish, I’m most in danger of rejecting faith… but at the same time, I’m most ready to receive God’s tender care and experience the power of faith like never before.

It’s Jesus who keeps me going, keeps me from being overpowered by "Number One" while I find my way to "Number Two". It’s Jesus who has shown and keeps showing me that God’s heart beats for the weak ones, the vulnerable ones, the ones on the edge about to fall. And this heart isn’t oozing out sappy enabling sympathy. It’s pouring out new life, new choices, new dignity for the loser who no longer is one.

Consider this. Jesus and his disciples encounter a bigtime loser, a loud and obnoxious screamer who keeps harping on them to heal her scary little demon-harassed girl. Jesus could have just doled out a cure, as easy as dropping some coins into a beggar’s cup. He opts for a complete faith-overhaul for everyone within shouting distance. But to do that he’s got to take a risk. He stops to talk to the freaky woman, confident that this underdog’s got something to teach the high-and-mighties around her.

Jesus spars with her, engaging her in a verbal match of wits that’s bound to draw in plenty of nosy people who’ve been itching to have someone shut her up. He starts with what looks like a typical put-down to push her away.

I’m just here for my own people, not for your kind. But he must have said it with a sparkle in his eye, because she takes it as an invitation. She stops demanding his attention and comes quietly closer. Lord, help me…

Jesus goes right on with the tongue-in-cheek goading, not as if she’s a pain he’s putting up with, but as a respected conversation partner he’s having fun with. It’s not right to take food from your own kids and throw it to the dogs. Her clever comeback, sticking with his metaphor: Yeah… but even the dogs under the table get some of the goods, right?

Such an exchange would have been the talk of the town already, but then Jesus tops it off by declaring her the winner of the jousting match. My dear woman, that’s some faith you’ve got there! I’ll give you whatever you want!

Not only does Jesus have time for the desperate loser, he delights in the interaction. He acknowledges her dignity. He graces the underdog with a gold medal for everyone to see. And there’s healing flowing out all over the place.

It flows right out of the Bible’s pages, all over little old me and all the other beggars hanging out under tables.

Jesus, bring me healing. Lift me up. Show me the underdogs who need me to hold out a hand of kindness and dignity. Open me up, to receive the welcome you offer, the faith I can hold onto. In your name I pray.

~Kari Henkelmann Keyl

Back to the Shore

There's something appealing about the fact that even Jesus had to get away from it all sometimes. I'm often drawn to the story from Matthew's gospel (chapter 14, starting at verse 13) where Jesus is told some terrible news, and he chooses to take off in a boat to be alone.

The story has a gruesome prologue, one I don't like to dwell on. A relative and colleague of Jesus has just been brutally murdered out of petty vengeance. Pretty awful. An incredible waste of human life and charismatic talent. The victim's name was John: teacher, baptizer, powerfully challenging speaker. And John's students come running to give Jesus the scoop on what's been happening.

We don't know exactly how Jesus is feeling when he hears about John's death. We know only that his response is immediate: I'm outta here. He glides his craft out onto the waves, ready for some alone time.

This is one of those Scripture scenes that can be a lifeline for me. I can climb into the boat with friend Jesus, feeling the anguish of losing a loved one, hearing the soothing sounds of lapping water, taking deep breaths of the calming sea air. I'm filled with the relief of being alone yet accompanied, peace and storm living inside of me at the same time.

But this moment will not last forever. It can't last. There's a fine line between healthy retreating and unhealthy escaping. At some point I need to be called back into life.

When Jesus brings his boat into harbor, he sees lots of people there to meet him. They also have heard about John's death, but their response is quite different. The last thing they want is to be alone. Jesus' insides are torn up when he sees them. They need him so much. He brings them healing. And they have called him back into life.


O Living One, I come to you in this moment, to be refreshed by your Spirit. I'm so grateful that whenever I need retreat, you take me there and you accompany me. Walk with me in every moment. Open my ears to hear you calling, calling me into life... a life where I receive your healing and then can be healing others.

~Kari Henkelmann Keyl