On the Road to: Community

The word “community” can be defined to be narrow or broad.  It can include your friends or possibly those who you wouldn’t normally call your friends. The concept of community can call to mind a feeling, a place, a group, a location, an experience, a need, a hope. There are many ways to consider community. We can wrestle with who belongs in a particular community.  Let’s explore and pray for this together (oops, does that make us a community?).

This post was drafted before the Christmas holidays.  Given the subsequent tragedy of the Los Angeles fires and the continuing divisiveness across our country, I considered finding another theme this month – but no, the song’s LA connections and the lyrics offer this Christmas carol as appropriate, possibly more appropriate as we reflect on our blessings.

Most Christmas carols have been around a long time and have long and historical roots.  This past Christmas season, I discovered one that is less than 20 years old.  Some of you will likely be aware of it, and it has significance for us today.

The song is  “God Bless us Everyone.”  And you can listen to it by clicking here: https://youtu.be/L0etzRicU04?si=pOMALoz5yqQNS6Ps

This song/carol emphasizes the bestowing of gifts (in this case blessings) on all people. Perhaps it is important for us to consider our blessings and how we share them?  The phrase “God Bless us Everyone” comes from a final statement attributed to Tiny Tim in Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.”  The carol was written by Alan Silvestri and Glen Ballard, and sung above by Andrea Bocelli.  Ironically, given the LA fires, Alan Silvestri has scored some of the most iconic films in Hollywood history; Glen Ballard is a much-awarded songwriter whose music production company is in Hollywood; Andrea Bocelli is a well-known singer who ended his concert in 2009 with this song at the Disney debut of the animated film “A Christmas Carol.” Also, Andrea Bocelli sang "God Bless us Everyone" at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles on June 8, 2009. The song was the final track from the “A Christmas Carol” soundtrack, composed by Alan Silvestri.

We’ve waited through Advent and rejoiced on Christmas. Now is the season of Epiphany, which reminds us that the birth of Jesus Christ is so much more life-changing and universe-altering than just a baby born in a manger. Epiphany means “show forth” and during this season, Jesus’ identity shows forth. This is a season of light – the light of the world dawning in our lives.

Let me invite you into a fun prayer practice that we enjoy every Epiphany Sunday at CPC. Fun isn’t usually a word that comes to mind when thinking of prayer practices. They’re usually meaningful, enriching, or encouraging. But fun? Star Words are a fun practice indeed, as well as meaningful, enriching, and encouraging. 

A star word is an intention word, or guiding word, to use throughout the year. I have words on cards and folks will pick one from a face down pile and that will be their intention word for the year to come. There are no repeated words so everyone’s star word is unique for them. 

The Road to: Wonder (the verb)

I wonder, do you wonder about things?  Or do you just wander without wondering?  The other day I was taking a walk.  Distracted by a thought, I reached for my phone and typed in a search for an answer. It led me to scroll down. I had wondered about something and I wandered right past my turnoff to home!!  Have you ever wondered as you have wandered?? 

Since we’ve just experienced our Christmas celebrations, remembrances, et al, do you wonder? What was Mary thinking at the time of the birth of Jesus – we have scriptural reference in Matthew and Luke, but these refer to her thoughts earlier when she learns what is going to happen. Put yourself in her place on that birth day. What would you wonder? What do you wonder about her?

The season of Advent invites us into a place of hope and vulnerability. It's a time of waiting, of anticipation, of acknowledging our deepest needs even when—especially when—we feel least prepared to receive grace.

Prayer, at its most authentic, isn't about perfection. It's about presence. It's about showing up exactly as we are—broken, weary, uncertain—and simply being willing to turn our hearts toward something greater than ourselves.

Well, we’ve just celebrated Thanksgiving.  Looking back a year ago, I posted the story of the origins of Thanksgiving celebrations and focused on gratitude. Wow, what an interesting re-reflection a year makes! Our Prayer Blog is now a year old and we have posted 28 individual prayer devotionals on many different items. I am thankful for this opportunity to focus on different topics and especially on gratitude – we don’t do that often enough. . . .

What do you think we (as a nation and as individuals) are thankful for this year (2024)? Are we thankful? How does thankfulness show?  By parades? By shopping (e.g., Black Friday)? By the long weekend?  Read on and share your thoughts, please.

My friends, perhaps you share my feeling of woe? I feel a deep sadness about the world in which we find ourselves these days. The discord among us is to a level I’ve never experienced.  Some of you are a few years ahead of me or from different places and might remember other seasons of strife. This is a first for me, and I am disquieted.

I have a few places I go for words of comfort, scripture first and foremost. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid” from John’s gospel is one that is on repeat in my mind. 

And breathing. Focusing on my breath helps. It helps me be present to something so basic to my existence. The in and out of my breath brings my mind to the present and not to the unknown but darkly imagined future. 

On the road to relationships. You will have heard Pastor Leanne say in recent Sunday Services, “Community Presbyterian Church welcomes all people into God’s way of life and community.”  That is our Vision of what we are, with God’s help, doing. And this is based on our Mission to glorify God and make disciples by living into authentic relationships with God and each other. So, this is why relationships come into our focus today, and questions about how this relates to prayer.

Prayer does not change God, 

but changes him who prays.

Soren Kierkegaard

My role as pastor allows me to walk with people in some very sacred moments. In these tender moments, I am reminded that life is fragile and nothing is promised to us. We may have a measure of control over some things, but in the larger picture, life is full of both hope and hurt. No amount of trying to wrest control over our days will in any way affect the rain or the rainbows of our lives. 

On the Road to: Multiplication

Multiplication?  What does this have to do with a devotional, or a blog about prayer?  Well, have you ever asked God to help you extend your resources to achieve something?  Resources can be lots of things, e.g., money sure, but also your time or your energy. This is the season of Stewardship, of course, and multiplication is a factor (no pun intended 😉).  But let’s dig deeper as we consider multiplication. 

Consider prayer as a multiplier.  Our prayers for others multiply the benefit to the subject of the prayer. That person benefits by God hearing and responding, plus they know they are cared for by others like you and me.  And, don’t we sometimes feel better having prayed for someone else?

In the 1978 movie The Wiz, the iconic Diana Ross sings, “When I think of home, I think of a place where there’s love overflowing.” [1] 

What comes to mind when you think of home? Is it a warm memory? Is it a current safe space? Is home a place to which you long to go?

Often, when we think of home, we have a fixed place in our mind’s eye. A place where we grew up and made memories. It is a place we leave when we come of age. And then we create a new home.

Having just experienced this milestone in my own family, the passage into adulthood was enormous, even though the move wasn’t far. It seemed like we had each crossed a threshold into a new phase of life. The places thought of as home expanded.

As we move through our life of faith, I wonder if home is not just an external dwelling but an internal place as well.

Home is love… that lives in each of us. That love is one of the true things about us, maybe the truest. That we are each created in the image of God and born from the love of God right from our very beginning. 

From that foundation of God’s unconditional love, we find a home outside of ourselves as well as in. A place where we are accepted and welcomed.

The Road to: Wisdom

What is wisdom? Consider the difference between wisdom and knowledge. Wisdom brings the application of perspective to bear on a question or challenge where knowledge is just knowing, which is important too.  But perspective causes us to think things through with both our head and heart.

The Prayer of Examen is a spiritual exercise attributed to Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556) who taught this way to become more aware of God’s presence and more responsive to the moving of the Holy Spirit. I first became acquainted with the practice through the little book, Sleeping with Bread: Holding What Gives You Life by Dennis Linn, Sheila Fabricant Linn, and Matthew Linn.1

The Road to: Answers

Continuing with our metaphor of a Road, is prayer a “road?” Is it the yes/no answers or is it the process? Prayers can change us, change our destination, change how we “drive,” change the destination we expect. Do your prayers change you?

Our Little Lives, Our Big Problems

I was at the 101st birthday party of a beloved church member this past Saturday. One hundred and one trips around the sun! Can you just imagine all she’s seen and experienced? Talk about taking the long view. There is something to be said for the wisdom of years and the perspective that comes from a long life.

Yet while we were celebrating this joyous occasion, news came to us of the political violence unfolding in Butler County, Pennsylvania. Folks were shocked and appalled. A strong sentiment felt by those with whom I was chatting was, “What is going on in the United States? This is not who we are. What has happened to our country? This just has to change.”

Do you feel this way? In an election year, it all just seems so much more heightened. On all sides, folks are tired of the rancor and division. Yet, what can we do? This meditation by Howard Thurman from Mediations of Heart (1953) found its way to me this morning. It spoke to me right where I am at this moment. I hope it will speak to you as it reminds us of God’s grace, hope, and steadfast love.

The Road to Friendship

“The only way to have a friend is to be one.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Friendship is like a road. It’s a road that runs many ways. A friendship is built on many things and can lead to strong relationships. What about curves, yields, merges? Are friendships like a road?

Longing and Loving

I am always eager for the new season. I rejoice when the new arrives and then quickly grow impatient for whatever is next. That’s why Gray May and June Gloom are seasons of longing for me. I’m ready to be done with the chill of winter and can’t wait to feel the warmth of the summer sun. It doesn’t take much before I’m done with being hot and longing for the crisp snap of autumn.

The beatitude “Blessed are those that mourn, for they shall be comforted” conveys a sense of longing. Mourning is “lawile” in Green but in Aramaic, which Jesus most likely spoke, it also has the meaning of those who long deeply for something to occur. “Netbayun” can mean comforted but also connotes being returned from wandering, united inside by love, feeling an inner continuity, or seeing the arrival of (literally, the face of) what one longs for. [1]

The Road:  Pentecost as a Pivot Point

Is it our way or is it The Highway? Pentecost was a turning point, a Pivot Point if you will, for the disciples. Given gifts, the disciples launched the Church on the Road. 

Yes, it is almost Pentecost Sunday! One of the special Sundays when I wear my favorite red dress with the twirly skirt! ☺

In all my years in ministry, I’ve gathered quite a few books. But it’s my collection of children’s books that I treasure the most. I have a lovely book with Bible stories retold by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Here is a little bit of his retelling of the Pentecost story from Acts 2:

Peter spoke to the crowd. “What was prophesied has come true,” he said.  “God has made Jesus both our Savior and our Friend. Through him, God’s wonderful dream is coming true.”

“What can we do to realize God’s dream?” the people cried.

Peter said, “Return to God and be baptized so your sins will be forgiven. You will be given a new life, and you too will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” [1]

What are your expectations? Do you have expectations of God – or is that called faith? What happens when something is unexpected? Surprise? Concern? Fear? Joy? Praise? Love? The unexpected can be either positive or negative – or even just unexpected with no judgment or major emotion applied.