Delta's Flowering plant

     Delta's flowering plant still blooms on the Administrator's desk, basking in the afternoon sunset...

It served in the concluding days of Advent to remind me once again that this medical Missionary to Nigeria, to Alaska, and to many more lives along the way...still lives.
  Her flowering plant, so beautiful and so healthy still, - is a reminder that Delta lives... gone from our sight, that is all...  She resides along with all those to whom I've (we've) been forced to say a temporal good-bye,  
     but one day, we will all be together again.  As surely as a Star led those who were seeking, we seek the Coming One and all He offers to those whose hearts are turned outward to those around and Heavenward to those who await...

Christmas is a Season

All Saints Altar just after Midnight Christmas Day 2011

...Christmas truly begins with the Nativity of Our LORD on December 24-25.  When the world puts away lights and wondrous wishes and begins to turn toward the future, I love to pause - during this special week to recall the incredible gift of a Child who came among us so that, in fact, we could look to a more glorious future than we could otherwise imagine, embrace, or enter...

Exhaustion

     Christmas Day culminates in mixed emotions.  For a pastor, the body is exhausted but the spirit uplifted.  I loved the chance to share a dramatic presentation including a song to eager participants in the Christmas Eve Services.  Watching the candles' kindle in the eyes of a gifted tenor brought particular peace to my heart.  Watching little Kennedy dance to "Go Tell It on the Mountain" on Christmas Day brought joy to my heart.

     Much more could be shared, but I'll have to reflect on the satisfaction that munching on ham ("man candy") and cheesy potatoes brings...Thanks, Molly and Mike!  I sorely missed Mark for the first time in 25 Christmases and his bride, Marissa.  But the reflection of love in the faces of those gathered around a tree larger than me brought a calm to my heart.  As Henry Van Dyke wrote around one hundred years ago...It is a good thing to keep Christmas and to share it with as many as we can........
   

Memories..."Christmas Memories"

There is a song which was once recorded by "the Chairman of the Board" and more recently by Rosemary Clooney.  The song has a line that always brings me to the point of both tears and deep nostalgia as I remember my own upbringing and that of my children.  It unfolds this way...

"Happy faces
of all the children
who now have children of their own...

Memories, Christmas memories,
of all the Christmases I have known..."

I'm not always aware of the passage of time - until I see such in the faces and the maturity of the children I've known.  Kids like Josh Bonno, Marion O'Neil - whom I baptized and who is about to be married to a courageous soldier, and Marissa Bergeson - who just married my second birth ordered son, Mark, in a beautiful Advent Service when my captivating Gaelic Granddaughters, Aine and Sylvie, danced the night away on Dec. 10th...

"Memories, precious memories......of all the joys that I have known.

The Kid's Table...

     This Thanksgiving Eve, something suddenly brought to my remembrance "the kid's table."  Whenever we gathered at my grandmother's home or later at my uncle's home, there was always "a kid's table."  We who were young relished "the kid's table" at Thanksgiving or during other family celebrations, where laughter abounded. 
     I remember one year when I was hesitant to eat something on my plate - as an elementary student, and my grandmother "Sugar," walking through the pantry where "the kid's table" was strategically placed.  She pointed to the nearest window and blurted out, "Santa's watchin'; y'all...better clean those plates...you and 'Bruce-y.'"
     Years later at my Uncle Bill's in Georgia, we still occupied "the kid's table" at the holiday gathering in the mid-1970's.  We were collegiate aged, but the feel was still the same.  We were still the next generation to wear the mantle of serious deliberation in a difficult world - with inflation, energy crises, and limited job opportunities.
     Somehow, I wish I could go back to those moments - when we shared "the kid's table" right after the Cuban Missile Crisis or years later when the world seemed so awry.  But now I'm the patriarch with many of the same aspirations and doubts as I had two thirds of the way through the last century.
     And now I occupy the main table, wishing I could go back again and have just one more conversation with all those who once occupied the main table and have passed forward the mantle of leadership.  Little eyes will soon peer my way, and what I can and hope to offer is a word of Thankfulness...Thankfulness that the world will be in good hands when these little ones leave the security of "the kid's table" to take our places at the main....

The Reign of Christ Sunday

     The Sunday that is fast approaching is the Reign of Christ Sunday.  It ends one period of Ecclesiastical Time and helps us prepare for another.  But for me, I'm reminded to "redeem the time."  New Years Eve is like that for many, but for me the joy of anticipation with the coming of Advent is the moment when I renew my enthusiasm for hope.  If, in fact, Christ comes anew and afresh, wouldn't it be phenomenal if we saw Him present in our midst.  We will...watch, wait, be hopeful, because Christ truly reigns, and the serendipity of it all is that the Triune God can't wait to catch us off guard, to surprise us, and to bless us in remarkable ways.

     Today, as on every Wednesday and Thursday, I was blessed by the students of Little Saints Christian School.  They couldn't wait to lift their offerings high above their heads as we prayed a prayer of consecration - that their gifts would touch many lives with the reach of Jesus.  They clung to the plate, and I hope that Susan caught their eagerness, "hands-on" dedication, and the wonder in their eyes with her camera, as these children reminded me once again that the best is yet to be when we share our days with threes, fours, and young fives, filled with eager anticipation.  That's what beginning a new cycle of Ecclesiastical Time is all about...starting fresh with child-like wonder.

     It's been way too long since I blogged, but a few days have ganged up on me all at once over these last few weeks.  For those of you who have expressed an interest in and an appreciation for some of my photographs, I humbly thank you.  We have a snowstorm, perhaps, blizzard, bearing down upon us, and my hope is to do some reflecting over the coming hours while fervently praying that the power does not go out!  Where would we be if, suddenly finding ourselves in neolithic conditions, we are forced to reckon with being shut-in - in the cold?  And who are these peculiar creatures with whom I am forced to share more space and time than I'm accustomed?
     In my particular case, I will have to clear a spot in the yard come what may for the four-legged ones who will have to venture out for a potty break now and then.  At least the curly one, Coco, will be hard pressed to find the squirrel or rabbit "pebbles" which she views fondly as nature's treats...Perhaps her breath will be uncontaminated for but a few hours.  And the cat, creatively renamed "Cat" by me, will taunt the curly one in her waking moments and later dream of warmer days and mouse hunts to come......

No time to blog...

One of these days I'm going to have to take a holiday - just for blogging.  I feel so many thoughts flooding in - especially when I'm driving - and so little time to blog.

     When I stopped at a store after a very fulfilling day, I offered the person behind me the chance to put her twelve items next to mine - even though room in the "twelve items only" conveyor was tiny...  She did so, but didn't acknowledge the gesture on my part in any way.  Because the young lady was half my age, she might have been worried that I was "making a move;" however, I have to assert that if that ever entered my mind I'd yell, "run like ----," because my life is so complicated...
 
     I contrasted this with the reception I received at a sister store last evening from Ruth.  Ruth was in despair, because she was scheduled to work until 3 AM this morning.  She lamented the management scheduling decisions, and I simply assured her that she's one of the best cashiers (along with Joyce, Becky, Joe, some of the other employees I've come to know).  She seemed to appreciate the remark, although when I referred to the scheduler in an uncomplimentary way I had to clarify whom I was referencing...(not Ruth).

     These encounters just underscore the fact that some people are going to give us "the brush," while others are going to appreciate our comments and our relationships...  Watch for and celebrate your interactions with the receptive ones, my friends, because the time we're given is way too precious to waste!  

Sharing of oneself is a lifestyle...

     Some people are inclined to give of themselves in remarkable ways.  I think I have much to learn from these folks, these teachers....One such person is Becky, a cashier at a store I patronize.  Becky radiates the love of the LORD, and I only regret that I don't see her more frequently these days.  Another is Ruth.  Her story from last evening is as follows:
    

    

     Her name is Ruth, and she works in a store I frequent.  I noticed she was subdued this evening, and I surmised she was exhausted…She verified that - as we spoke, and yet she still loaded my groceries into the cart.  Ruth is one of those individuals who always has a witty word for those in her care - except tonight.  Tonight unfolded differently, and as she observed that she had about three hours yet to work, I helped her load my groceries after she chided me a bit with “You must be tired, too,” which I sheepishly confessed I really was not.  Then as we parted, she turned and immediately began assisting a little boy with something he’d dropped in the aisle…

     Suddenly outside of herself, Ruth was renewed…  Gracious and gifting once again…

The greater gifts are gifts of self when we feel least able to give…  That makes our effort even more extraordinary…More like the embrace of God...

I still have much to learn from these wise ones, and maybe you do, too!

     There has been a beautiful Christmas tree that came from deep in the woods...It was so large that it towered and filled a corner of the worship space.  Standing under it, I felt like a small child again - at age four, staring upward - remembering how it felt to be lifted up by my Dad high over his head...Jesus wants us to come to Him like small children, and that's precisely how I felt in the wonder of it all...

     The tree was so huge that it had to be sturdily roped with bungee cords in order to keep the tree in the stand.  I think some people thought it was one of the most beautiful trees ever placed there in their worship space...  On Wednesday at chapel with the four and five year old students, I had been preparing for the singing when suddenly I was drawn to look into the innermost branches of the tree, and there it was.

     A small birds nest, which had been carefully constructed, was hidden from first view, but as I pulled it outward for the amazed children, I remembered something about a traditional view of finding nests in Holy Days trees.  One of the teachers verified the understanding that when one finds a nest in a tree, the household is blessed...  I trust that this will be the case for our Household of Faith.  The teacher then related how blessed she had been the year her family found a nest in their tree...The children excitedly examined the nest, mud and tangled twigs, that reflected for us - the Lord's wonder in that very moment!

     It has been said that Carl Rogers, psychologist and theologian, once said that we seldom critique a sunset...
We refrain from saying, "Oh, I wish there were more indigo here and less orange there...!"  We simply enjoy a sunset.  We drink in the breathtaking colors which adorn the horizon.  So, too, last weekend with the splendid sunsets we viewed - a New Year's gift from the God of surprise...
     I would add that a sunset can teach us many things.  As we face the end of our temporal lives, we may have eyes to see that a sunset here in this temporal world is a sunrise in the Halls of Heaven, where our loved ones await...
     We have great hymns that were inspired by sunsets...
          "Beyond the Sunset"
          "Unclouded Day"
Great hymn stories accompany the composition of these testimonials in song, and I hope one day to sing "beyond the sunset," in a "place where no storm clouds rise."

This image was snapped at New Hudson on Milford Rd.  on Sunday, January 2nd...

Sunday, January 2nd

I made a series of quick stops on the way to worship at All Saints Church on the evening of Sunday, January 2nd...  This farms scene is actually in Novi - right off 10 mile, but it could have been almost anywhere in the US...

January's "First Fire"

Photographed after 5 PM
January 1, 2011

     No wonder ancient peoples longed for the return of light...I wanted to photograph this in sequence - as the horizon ebbed from gold to glowing embers...But there was little time as I rushed home and missed the start of it all!  No wonder we search the heavens for hope-filled signs.

And yet the "first fire" of "just found January" gives us a purging we find both disturbing and breath-taking...the end of what was and can never be again...This light - looking so much like an ancient star which led and lead wise folk onward - leaves us somewhat uneasy, apprehensive; still, we may cast that aside as we look upward, heavenward in great awe and anticipation of what will be and that which we may become...

Beginnings

New Years Day 2011...Joel Osteen said when interviewed recently that in order to become "the best you" in the unfolding year, each of us may leave the past  - in the past - with all it's encumbrances!   We can and ought to put aside our failures and deep fears, disappointments and disillusionments, regrets and remorse....

A fresh start is exactly that - a beginning, not looking backward but forward - Beginnings free us from all that old stuff.  May we each begin anew and afresh in 2011.