These are a few of my favorite things

The air that we breathe
Om mani padme hum
Father son holy spirit
Praise be to God from whom all blessings flow
Be here now
Eyes to see and ears to hear
Scientists who make the world a better place
Taking a walk in the woods or by the river
The way that a farm field looks in summer spring winter and fall
The good news of the kingdom
The family of God can change a life and the world
Vincent van goth
Tv shows like ncis csi numbers and all great movies like ghandi
I love joy david rachel jamie and you
As the dooby brothers say jesus is just alright with me jesus is just alright oh yeah
The andy griffith show
Reading a good book while sitting by the fire
Pinkfloyd
A good whiskey sour (What is it about Christians that makes me scared to include this?)
Love God with all your heart soul strength and mind
Helen keller said life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all
The emergent church
Listening to the waves of the ocean
GOD IS LOVE!

God Sitting Next To Me

Last night, I lead our base group in a Bible study. The group has grown quite close since coming together about 4 years ago. After going through several Christian living studies, several in the group decided they wanted a Bible based study and asked if I would lead it.

I had a Bible study that I picked up at the last UMC Men's conference I attended. I kept it around thinking someday I might need it. It's designed as a low commitment study for seekers or those new to the Bible, but there is ample opportunity to dig deeper.

As we talked about Abraham and faith, it opened a door for many questions about faith, salvation, and grace. I thank God that I have read enough about this, and even recently had written down some of what I have learned in this area. God gave me the words to speak and calmed my nervousness. I'm always so afraid I'm going to get something wrong! I literally had no time to prepare. We were away all weekend and not sure if we could even attend. I had skimmed over the first lesson about a month ago, and the hosts of our base group meeting had the book in case we couldn't make it. I was definitely winging it, but God was sitting next to me.

Well, it all worked out. The conversation was amazing. Their appreciation was apparent. I feel very lucky to be part of a great group of people who desire a relationship with Christ, and want to go further on their journey.

Lord, help me be a spiritual leader for my friends. Amen.

Go!

Go Barak! (Who you rooting for?)
Go politics of hope and not fear!
Go America the land of democracy!
Go world that God dreams of and works for!
Go!

Most Not All

Tired tonight.
Going to read a book my friend Timothy sent me called Change Or Die. Great book so far.
Nothing profound to say right now...unless it might be the words of Thoreau,
"Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave
with the song still in them."
May God bless us tonight with God's love and peace
yet give us courageous restlessness to sing our song.

He Invites You and Me To Pray

Our Divine Parent
Who has created and is creating the God reality
Within which we live, move, and have our being,
Praise be to You!
Your kingdom and will
Your dream and rule of love
Vs. chaos, craziness, and apathy about the brokenness
Come on earth and in our lives as it is in heaven.
Give us what we need and help us be content with what we have
One day at a time sweet Jesus.
Lead us in the right paths, and yank our chains when need be.
Deliver us from and help us overcome
the darkness that threatens our lives and this world.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory
And the joy, love, and peace
And movies, TV, books, flowers, sunsets, and oceans
And all sorts of beauty.
Both now and forever,
Amen, or in other words, May it be so!

I Don't Know

Watching the HBO show The Wire. You should check it out.
Us rich, isolated folks don't know anything about reality on the streets.
It seems there are some brave people trying to make hope possible where little exists.
I don't know if you and me will ever make any difference in this world.
Maybe we do, I don't know. Seeing a real show with real darkness, makes me wonder.
How much in this world is going on that we DON'T want to know about?
God help us. Maybe one or two of us will be brave too.

An Invitation

I invite you to offer this prayer as we walk into the new year.

Lord, help me faithfully to journey along my road,
holding my rightful place in the great procession of humanity;
Help me above all to recognize you and to help you
in all my pilgrim brothers and sisters.

(Michel Quoist as quoted in Prayers and Thoughts from World Religions)

Her Kind Of Courage

What's happening?!
For Christmas I received a nice # of C.D.'s. Sweet music.
I found Joy a beautiful piece of art work for above our bed.
Art and music...good stuff.
I've almost finished reading one of the Harry Potter books. I needed a break from the darkness of dealing with my papa. The book has helped lighten things up. Good writing and imagination.
Speaking about my folks, my brothers and I think we have found a nice room in the Warren nursing home. So, someone from the home is coming to do an assessment of my parents next week. Please say a prayer for next week.
Saw a good movie today...Charlie Wilson's War.
O God, I forgot, Ms. Bhutto was murdered today. Damn't. Forgive us God.
Too much darkness. Oh Jesus keep us working with you to build God's kingdom.
Give me her kind of courage.
His Kingdom come...His Will be done. Nothing else matters.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

MERRY CHRISTMAS! AND MAY CHRIST WALK WITH US AND LEAD US INTO THE NEW YEAR.

going to ft wayne now to see the parents.
again, it seems we are very near placing them into the home.
please pray....thank you...love you.

The Honoring of a Life

I went to the funeral of a pastor today, and his name was David Tripp.
A life time friend described David as a Methodist, Liturgist, and Ecumenical.
David's wife Diane looked weary. God bless her with your love.
The worship was beautiful.
The music was excellent.
The witnessing about David's life was meaningful
from different kinds and ages of people.
The sense of community was almost overwhelming to me , and I was bathed in Spirit
as the congregation came forward for Holy Communion.
It seems that Rev. Tripp was able to combine
the work of a scholar with the work of a servant.
One gentleman shared that he and David met for lunch once a week for two years,
and that he saw in David's life, more than any other, the life of Jesus.
May it be so.

Just Me

In the silence
with a heart slightly solemn
yet deeply knowing how truly blessed I am.

I am only meant to be me.
No one else and nothing more.
Husband, father, son, pastor, poet, human being.

And oh yes, a child of God
and a follower of the ways
of an ever present rabbi named Jeshua.

New Pill

Ok, here's the latest.
Dad's doctor called in a new med today that might be able to help papa deal with the intensified Alzheimers. He is supposed to take this pill every afternoon. He has, at times, fought taking his pills. So Jay is taking this new pill over today to start. If this works, it may help us all hold on for a while. Please pray that he takes his afternoon meds...these magic pills of science...and God's goodness. Thank you!

A Little Help From My Friends

We need your thoughts and prayers.
It may finally be time to place my parents in the nursing home.
Many people have provided much care to keep my parents in their home,
but things are starting to get bad.
I can't even imagine how hard it's going to be for my folks and us to get this done,
but, on the other hand as my papa would say, I must also "assume a Yes."
So, please pray hard for all of us (the care team)as we think and talk this through.
I will keep you updated....and will be asking for more prayers!
You are part of "the Yes."

Blessed Be the Wounds That Bind

David had knee surgery three days ago, and he has been mending in our home. Today David and I tried to change his dressing which needed it very badly when something very strange happened. We discovered that his incision had opened up quite a bit. We tried to tape it back up but quickly realized we were way over our head. So, we drove back to Lafayette where Dr. Hagin could stitch up the wound. My boy, who is actually a grown man attending the University of Chicago, was quite scared and needed help from his papa. (I was kind of freaking out too!)As we drove to Lafayette we had a wonderful conversation about his classes and all sorts of good stuff, and on the way home, we were thankful for everything working out and for our relationship. David's wound coming apart led to our binding together.

I find that in my life my own woundedness leads to a binding together with the One who shines glorious Light into my soul, and then I am invited by that same One to share that light with others...another connection created. By the way, I'm not necessarily celebrating being wounded! I'm all for folks finding healing and new beginnings, and that's for sure. I just see that mysterious and beautiful connections happen in the midst of people experiencing brokeness.

I love you God. Thank you for it all... including the things that come apart and how those same things can bind us together with each other and with You.

Life and Light

Ice storm today. Stayed home and decorated the Christmas tree. Fun.
Sitting by a fire now while Joy Ellen studies anatomy. Colts game soon.
Been reading McLaren's new book called Everything Must Change. It's about the suicide machine we have created which threatens the existence of earth and how the Jesus Way might show us another way to live and love and survive on this planet.
Things have been a little dark for me over the last month. But that fits with Advent, and I have understood in my mind, heart, and gut what the holy words mean when they say...that the Light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.
May it be so with you, your loved ones, and this world.
The fire is still burning in the dark fireplace and it's full of life and light.
But I've got to stir it up and put new wood on every once in a while.

Agape

My dad has been my mentor in life and ministry. He is still teaching me even today.
Donald Fredrick is 85 years old, and he has ahlzhiemers which mostly means at this point in time that he has almost no short term memory. (Something we take for granted.) Most of the time when we are with him, he has a joyous, loving, and positive personality. But when night time comes, things change. I think it is due to what is described as "Sundowners" which people with dementia experience when the sun goes down...and it is especially bad when they are in an unfamiliar setting. They get disorientated, agitated, and fixated on certain things.Dad calls me almost every night and accuses us of stealing their car. He often does it with anger, and then he says that he does not want us to come and see them anymore. He forgets the next day that he has made any phone call, is fine during the day, and then calls that night once again.
The reality is that neither of my parents can drive anymore, even though they at times dispute this, and that they have given us permission to buy their car from them which we have done. But they, neither of them, are able to remember this. We can't take the car back to them because then they want to drive it. Oh well, I don't want to bother you with all the details and options we have to think through. That is not the reason I'm writing this.
Why I'm writing this is to share what the Lord is teaching us through it. He is teaching us about agape love which is loving unconditionally. It is about learning to love people whether they deserve it or not and especially when they don't. It is how God loves us. It is how Jesus loved those who were murdering him on the cross. It is how his followers are called to love. It is how I am called to love my precious papa. I ain't saying it's easy or has been something I was able to do right away. I have struggled and yelled at him a couple of times. But I am starting to get it and learn my lesson.
I suppose it falls into the category of forgiveness, and we are called to live this way in the kingdom, in our families, and for the sake of the kind of world God desires and dreams of.

Jesus by Marcus Borg

I finally finished Borg's book on Jesus! Besides not having the time to read as much as I would like, I have to take my time when I read Borg. I find that I re-read sections in order to fully understand Borg's message, and sometimes I find that Borg's writing causes me to really think about my faith and my relationship to Jesus. So I read section, re-read it, and think about it. That takes some time!

Anyway.... I don't always agree with Borg but there is a lot I am in agreement with him. Sometimes I find it amusing. Several times in the book he writes of the literal vs. metaphorical interpretion of the Bible, then says, "But who cares! Let's talk about what the Bible is trying to teach us!" Christians really need to get beyond trying to "prove" the Bible and start living it; get beyond doctrine and start practicing the Jesus Way.

The best chapter of the book is the epilogue. Borg describes the current state of Christianity perfectly. Without criticizing, he has a good grasp of conservative evangelical Christianity and the emerging Christian conversation. It's obvious Borg prefers the latter, and he lays any blame for the current state of what the public perceives as Christianity at the feet of the current crop of self-appointed evangelical Christian "leaders" who dominate the public forum. Christianity has lost its way, Borg says, due in a large part to the unholy alliance with politics.

My Sunday school class is reading Isaiah. Last Sunday we read the first chapter. Isaiah is laying out the charges against the Jewish people. He says that God is not interested in their sacrifices, rituals and offerings as prescribed by the Law. Even though Isaiah compares the Jewish people to Sodom and Gommorah, it's not sexual sin that has led them astray, but their lack of social justice. In verses 16 and 17, Isaiah lays out the charges.

16 Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong, 17 learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. (NIV)

That sums up how Borg interprets the message of Jesus throughout the book, and it is a call to all Christians to assess their faith and begin living the Jesus Way.

True Self

***I hate the Iraq war but the soldiers are heroes to me.
***I find it so cool that someone's life can be going freaking crazy, but their soul stays good. Not all the time but lots of the time. It's a God thing.
***I am really enjoying and looking forward to Christmas as a beautiful time, but when I was pastoring there were so many things I had to be a part of that it got way too busy, crowded, and overwhelming. All the things were individually good and important but put together, way, way too much. Now my soul feels spacious enough to embrace and receive Christ in a simple manner. Somehow big churches need to simplify or give people, as well as the pastor, permission to not be involved in everything. I don't know, I may be wrong.
***I went to one of my churches tonight who has six people part of the community. They minister to each other and the help each other be inspired to carry on as people of God. I affirmed them as well as challenged them. BUT THEY ARE A CHURCH! I HEAR SO MUCH NEGATIVE STUFF ABOUT SMALL CHURCHES. WHAT ABOUT JESUS AND THE 12?!
***The Republican debate is on tonight. We're watching a movie instead.
***Life is so beautiful, rich, and deep I almost can't bear it.
***I desire to be my true self and walk the path meant for me.

August Rush

Last night, I went en familia to see August Rush, the movie about a child music prodigy trying to find his parents. August is able to hear musical rhythms in everyday sounds, like noisy plumbing, the wind rustling in the grass, street noises in the city. As an orphan, he has never been musically trained, but when he runs away to find his parents, he learns to play guitar, piano, and write music, attends Julliard, writes a symphony, and is scheduled to conduct the New York Philharmonic - all within six months.

One week ago, I watched a Rob Bell video with our base group about getting in tune with the everyday rhythm of God, and that video was in my mind as I watched the movie. August says that the music he hears in his head is like someone calling out to him. Wizard (a street musician who later tries to manipulate August) tells August that music is everywhere but not everyone is listening, and that music binds us all together. I thought about the kingdom of God, how it is everywhere, and how as Rob Bell says we must strive to find God's rhythm in our lives.

Later in the movie August finds sanctuary in an inner-city church which underscored the spirituality of the movie. If you get a chance to see this movie you should.