God

God provides…

I had reason to post on Facebook asking for a favour today, and I was overwhelmed by the response I received. I was in the midst of planning and visioning for our VBS this summer and I was thinking it would be great to have a parachute to use with the kids. So I started pricing them out – those suckers are expensive (not terribly so, but enough to make me pause and consider other possibilities before purchasing one). I decided to send out a general appeal on Facebook for one that could be borrowed for the week of VBS. Within 10hrs of posting I have received 4 offers and a link to a place where I could purchase one.

I barely even put any effort into solving this problem, and found that God was ready and willing to provide.

Sometimes I think we are too good at solving our own problems. Sometimes we don’t allow God to be God. My parachute example is a small one, but I would love to see what God could do if we, in faith, handed him some of our really big problems.

I think God loves to provide and God loves to overwhelm us. I mean, really, that is what the story of Jesus is about. That at the moment that looked like utter defeat, God was actually bringing victory. At the moment when it looked like the Jesus movement was over, it was actually just beginning. At the moment of death, new life was given the chance to burst forth. And the disciples could hardly believe it when it happened.

It can be scary to hand over our big problems to God – it may lead us where we do not want to go, it may lead us to the cross. But I believe it will also lead us beyond the cross to Easter morning and the absolutely shocking goodness and mercy of our Loving Father God.

Obsessed…

I have this tendency to become obsessed with the things I like. I become obsessed with a certain preacher – listening to their podcasts every week, reading the books they’ve written, following them on Twitter. But I do this with other things, too. Sometimes it’s a certain movie or tv show or novel. Sometimes it’s a song.

Right now it’s a song. Right now it’s Gotye’s “Somebody that I used to know.” I first heard it on American Idol (one of my tv obsessions), and then it was covered on Glee (another obsession). I bought the single the other day and occasionally I just throw it on repeat on my laptop or in the car, and listen over and over and over and over…

Told you I was obsessed. My friend Amanda posted a cover of the song by an acapella group called Pentatonix on facebook the other day, and I absolutely love it. So I just had to share it in this post.

I think this song has caught me up for a number of reasons. First of all, most of us know what it is to have a broken relationship – romantic or friendship or even a member of our family. Most of us know what that “now you’re just somebody that I used to know” feeling is all about.

Second of all, I love that both sides of the story are presented in the song. First you get the guy, who is clearly bitter and still hurting. But then a female voice comes in and reminds you that there are two sides to every story. I like that. It is true, and it pushes the song beyond your average “bitter break-up” song into something more conversational and more real.

Third, I like the instrumentation on Gotye’s version of the song. It’s slightly off-centre. The xylophone and the other percussion gives the song a sense of whimsy that contrasts beautifully with raw anger and bitterness of the lyrics and vocals.

Sometimes in the world of church, we categorize music: that which is worship and that which is secular. But I have always believed that there isn’t a really clear line between the two. God has given us the gift of being capable of making and enjoying music. I believe that any time that gift is used (in a way that doesn’t cause harm), God is honored and worship occurs.

So today I am thankful for the God-given gift of music.

Workin’ it…

I took a Sabbath from blogging last night. The weekend was a little crazy, and last night I sat in front of my computer screen trying to come up with a blog topic. I was so tired, I couldn’t come up with anything. After 2o min of trying, I closed my laptop and went to bed. Woke up this morning and realized I had a topic, I had just forgotten it. Whoops. That topic has been stored away for future use.

Tonite I need to do a little physical-fitness bragging.  I was invited to an Outdoor Bootcamp by a friend. I could try it out for free (well, a food bank donation), and then drop in to any class at $10 a go. So tonite was my first experience with it and it was great. We did burpees (I’ve never done them before. UGH!!!), Superman burpees (super-duper UGH!!!), froggers, long jumps, pushups, ball pushups, ball passes (3kg ball), Ball slams (??? 3Kg ball on the ground, squat down, pick it up to over head, then slam it down to the ground), leg raises and heal touches (abs). I didn’t think it was so bad during class, but I’m still feeling the workout and it ended nearly an hour and a half ago. Killer and awesome!

I’m excited to have another weapon in my fitness arsenal. Also, I was excited to learn some new exercises and variations on exercises that I can incorporate into my Deck of Cards WOD. It was great to work out with others and to do it outside (didn’t hurt that today, though windy, was absolutely gorgeous).

And I am amazed that somehow, in the past year of journeying towards greater physical health, working my body hard like this has become a form of worship. I am, during a workout, aware of my body and the things it can do. I am aware that it is a gift from God, and one that, sadly, I have abused for much of my life. I am aware that as I work out, I am treating this gift well, pushing it to its limits, making it better and stronger. I am aware that during a workout I am valuing the gift given to me by my Loving Father. It is amazing to me that something as seemingly mundane as a workout can also become a deeply spiritual exercise (pardon the pun).

It is finished…

It has been a really busy week for me. After some time off at the beginning of the week, I have found myself rushing from one thing to the next. Today was the busiest and tomorrow will be no different. Of course, this is also a week when I am preaching. It never fails, right? (I shouldn’t complain. My friends who are not Associate Ministers face this every single week…where as, I only have to feel the sermon-crunch one-out-of-every-four.)

I got home late this evening and wanted to just go to bed, but instead I spent some time online, chatting with a friend. We ended the conversation about 20 minutes ago and I had decided to go to bed and deal with the sermon (which really only needed a read-through and a final thought after the work I put into it last night) early tomorrow morning.

But I am so pleased to say that I didn’t do that. Instead, I took a moment to run through the sermon and amazingly (the Grace of God at work, people!!) my final thought presented itself almost immediately. So now, the sermon is finished and I am thankful. It is a privilege to preach God’s word to those who belong to or are seeking for His Kingdom.

It is finished! AMEN!

Healing Power

At the end of each cycle of our Alpha-and-other-courses on Wednesday nights, we have a healing service. It is the strangest thing – it is just a simple little service. My order of service was hand written with the call to worship written in tiny, probably-only-legible-by-me writing at the top of a sheet of paper that had been torn in half. It’s not slick and professional and produced. In many ways it has less planning and effort put into it than any Sunday service.

And yet it is the most powerful thing. I am always amazed at how exhausted I am afterwards and I can only chalk it up to the fact that I have been in the presence of the risen Lord and He has been at work.

I am astounded at the people who come to this service. I love that some of them walk up to me and say “you know what I need prayer about, Rebekah” and others tell me their story for the first time. I love the honesty of the prayer requests. You know – there is just something great about someone saying plainly what their pain is. It is actually kind of cool when someone says – for example – I’ve been constipated and its very painful. There is no artfulness about that, it’s just honest. And that makes it beautiful.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. In James we read: ” The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.” (James 5:16b, NLT)

Sometimes I am just amazed at the how much honor there is in my vocation. I am honored to have been part of this service, once again.

 

A little break…

Easter is an interesting time for ordained clergy. On the one hand it is one of the highlights of our year as we remember the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross and have extra opportunities to worship with our folks and help them draw close to God. On the other hand…it can be really tricky to balance the “doing” with the “being.” By that I mean that it is is easy to get so busy with what needs to happen (extra services mean extra responsibilities!) that you forget to actually experience the love of God and the holiness of Holy Week.

So part of my Easter practice is to take a couple of days off afterwards. I tend to get out of town (read: visit the folks!) and just spend some time resting and thinking and reading and breathing. I had intended to blog while out of town, but I kept falling asleep before I could blog at night! I guess I just needed the rest.

I hope you had a wonderful Easter. I hope the magnitude of God’s love and selflessness of Christ’s sacrifice touched your heart anew.

 

It all begins tomorrow…

Tomorrow we begin the run up to Easter. This year, we at St. A’s are starting with a Christian Seder. It is a new venture for us and my prayer is that it will shake us out of our routine an move us towards seeing new insights and significance in the way the Passover and Communion echo each other. The way that the Old Testament and the New Testament work together. The way that the Old Covenant dovetails into the New Covenant in Christ.

In many ways the next few days will be packed full of activities and theological significance. I have already been touched at the way that God has provided some beautiful preludes to my celebration of Holy Week. In Rosemary’s Bible Study we watched a part of the film 12 Ordinary Men which was the basis for my post that evening. Tonite, in our Wednesday night program, we discussed the significance of the Resurrection. And while I hesitate to write about that before Holy Week has truly begun, I was touched by the sharing that my group did.

God is often like a composer…He knows just when to draw in this instrument or that instrument to highlight a certain theme or to underscore a certain harmony. And I guess tonite I just want to say a quiet thank you for the way he has done that in my life already this week.

I. Love. My. Church!

Last week was a tough week – some meetings and some difficult health news about a beloved congregant had me down. I struggled to stick to my Weight Watchers points (being an emotional eater), I was tired, my throat started to get sore. It was just a drag of a week. There were bright spots in the midst of the gloom, but I still struggled against the gloom. And you can see that, if you read over my blogs for the week.

But this morning, it was like God took my hand and whispered to me “Despite the difficulties you face in ministry, I’m going to remind you how much you love this place and these people.” And I sat in worship, amazed. I looked around and thought about the more-than-a-year I have spent with this congregation. I thought about conversations we’ve had and moments we’ve shared. I remembered tough moments that we made it through together. I remembered heart breaks and moments of triumph.

And it was so good. God is so good. I feel like I woke up to a sunny day after a week of rain.

I am blessed.

Blank screen…

I have been staring at a blank screen for at least half an hour now, trying to figure out what to blog about. Several ideas have occurred to me and been discarded. It has also occurred to me to simply declare tonight a second Sabbath (why? Because I can!) and not blog at all. But I have found myself dissatisfied with that idea as well.

Tonight I am having what I call a hollow day. My energy is low, I cannot seem to get to the point of feeling full when it comes to food (I have eaten 8 extra points on the day, which for me is quite extraordinary, and if I weren’t on WW, I would be in the kitchen right now snarfing more food). My brain feels similarly hollow. No matter how I try to come up with a good idea for a blog, I don’t seem to have the brain power to make it happen. Or when I do come up with an idea, I don’t seem to have the power to flesh it out.

Some days are just like this. Some days it is a tough struggle to control my eating. Other days it comes fairly naturally. Some days it is really difficult to write a blog entry. Other days the entry seems almost to write itself.

That’s the way it is with the presence of God, too. Some days it is just like he is walking beside me whispering to me all day long. Other days I feel as though he is absent, as though I am left to my own devices. In my sermon today, I talked about the letters Mother Theresa wrote which were published after her death and which spoke quite clearly about her sometimes agonizing struggle with faith.

I am somehow comforted to know that such an influential woman of faith knew what t was to have hollow days when it came to her spirit. And I am inspired that she did not give up the work she did in Christ’s name and that she did not leave the church. Sometimes the bravest thing a person can do is to simply keep on, when they are not feeling it.

Hollow days happen. But God is constant and constantly with us. Just as I know there will be days this week – maybe as soon as tomorrow – in which the struggle with food and with writing will go easier, so I know the same is true of my relationship with God. So now I will put this hollow day to rest with a prayer for an easier time of it tomorrow.

Warm…

So, apparently, when you lose 62.8 pounds (my current loss total), you begin to experience temperature in a whole new way. It makes sense – fat acts as an insulator and once you remove the insulator, that which once was hot can now become quite cold.

All winter I have been freezing. My friends have made fun of me as I sat in their house, wearing 3 layers of clothing (one of which was my winter jacket). This winter has been an unseasonably warm one. It has also been strangely light on snow. I have hated every frigid second of it.

So I simply must take a moment to reflect on the miracle that has been our weather this week. It has been whatever the Spring equivalent of Indian Summer is. Warm. Sunny. Gorgeous.

Since Friday I have been wearing summer shoes and leaving my jacket behind when I head out for a walk. I had to go and buy some summer clothes (thank you, Value Village), because I have nothing in my wardrobe that is for summer. The last time it was summer I was 30 pounds heavier, after all.

I know this weather cannot last straight through to November (oh, how I wish). I know that this could be more than a freak event and could actually point to the damage we are doing to our environment. I know for some people, this is the exact opposite of what they enjoy or what they need to make a living.

But for this week, for this girl, it has been an absolute blessing – a gift. Unexpected, un-looked-for and absolutely undeniable.

Sometimes it just feels like God does this: drops a gift in your lap. You hadn’t even thought of how to ask for it yet, and here it is. Because that is what a loving Father does. He stands waiting and watching and when we are still a long way off he runs to embrace us.

That generous kind of love is what draws me back to my faith whenever I wander. That kind of unexpected gift confirms the goodness of God to me again and again. This is why I give my life to serving God: not for what I can get from Him, but because I cannot imagine my life without Him.