Godspacelight

A Contemplative Service for the Third Sunday in Lent

Sun, 07 Mar 2021 00:17:09 GMT

Another beautiful contemplative service from St Andrews for the Third Sunday of Lent. Enjoy!

A contemplative service with music in the style-of-Taize for the Third Sunday in Lent. Carrie Grace Littauer, prayer leader, with music by Kester Limner and Andy Myers.

Permission to podcast/stream the music in this service obtained from One License with license #A-710-756 with additional notes below:

“The Law of God is Love” – composed by Kester Limner shared under the Creative Commons License, Attribution (CC-BY).

“This is My Father’s World” – public domain lyrics by Maltbie Davenport Babcock, 1901. Alternate arrangement by Kester Limner, shared under the Creative Commons License, Attribution (CC-BY)

Thank you for praying with us!

Get Ready for Holy Week

Sat, 06 Mar 2021 09:00:44 GMT

It’s only a few weeks until Easter and we thought we would highlight some of the Holy Week resources and links that are available through Godspace.

Resource Lists: Updated for 2021

Holy Week Posts

FREE DOWNLOADS!

Maundy Thursday Agape Liturgy – Download

A Journey Into God’s Resurrection-created World – Download

Check out other resources available in our resource center.

Pilgriming on After a World Day of Prayer

Fri, 05 Mar 2021 18:45:42 GMT

by Kathie Hempel

This World Day of Prayer came this year at a time unlike any other most of us have ever known. Hardships of every kind are at our doorsteps and many experience a sense of general desperation and frustration. We cannot be blamed for feeling like a kitten dropped into a pen filled with legions of mice, wondering which we should tackle first.

This year’s theme of Build on a Strong Foundation has us examining our own foundations. Hate and divisiveness threaten to eat away at the bedrock of our families and communities. The plague of Corona Virus 19 and now its ever-expanding variants make us feel more like people of Moses’ time, than members of a modern, enlightened 21st century society.

We walk this pilgrimage with many others, as all countries struggle. Our communities of faith and prayer groups take on increased meaning for even the most devout. I cherish my beloved Pilgrim Walk, which hangs in my study space, by friend and artist, Stacy Wills Stall. The blank face reminds me of the personal pilgrimage I walk, within those groups, and of those who walk with me. She walks in darkness lit by the light of the moon. Her robe seems to absorb the sacred ground she trods, into her being. It represents to me the thinnest of spaces with my Lord.

Online prayers groups, gratitude sites and my writing group complete my worldwide tribe. We pray together, as we work. We pray together, over our families and friends and our countries. We pray for our governments even when we find ourselves on opposite sides of sensitive issues, because that is what we are called to do.

I study as a novitiate, with the monks of Saint Meinrad Archabbey, toward my Benedictine oblation. I chose this path to be schooled in the art of prayer and service to the God I adore.

In a lesson on Fidelity to the Spirit of the Monastic Life, Fr. Justin DuVall, OBS, Archabbot emeritus of Saint Meinrad Archabbey says, “for St. Benedict the word ‘school’ meant something more akin to a trade guild, where a young person began as an apprentice, learned the tools of the trade and practiced for life what was learned. Just as with the guild no one graduates from ‘the school of the Lord’s service.’ In lifelong learning, we practice what we’ve learned and learn what we need to practice.”

As a late starter, it would be so easy to feel so far behind but for the prayers and support I receive from my fellow pilgrims. The first World Day of Prayer theme in 1927, set by the US, was Pray Ye Therefore. Coupling this now with this current year’s theme, chosen by the South Seas people of Vanuatu: Build on a Strong Foundation, seems perfect, moving forward.

The people of Vanuatu, a tropical archipelago prone to earthquakes, cyclones, volcanic eruptions, and rising sea levels have first-hand knowledge of the importance of building a strong foundation both practically and in the faith walk the country was founded upon. The country has only been independent for 40 years. Its official motto is “in God we stand.” They collectively accept that without God they can do nothing. Oh, how I wonder how many of the world’s ills might improve if we only adopted and lived this same simple slogan both corporately and individually.

As we look to March 8th, International Women’s Day, with its theme, ‘Choose to Challenge,’ I wonder if we began by first challenging ourselves, to make every day a world day of prayer, joining with others to pray before standing not only against injustices, but for what is holy. How much it could change us? Perhaps we would turn to prayer first before we speak out, thereby asking that our words and actions be guided by divine leadership. Perhaps we would indeed seek to first understand rather than be understood in our missions, to better be able to answer the objections and arguments of those who would oppose others’ human rights.

Dear Father, as we move forward following this World Day of Prayer, may we each walk beside you. May we listen to your guidance, study your word, pray with our sisters and brothers around the world and around the corner. May we seek to aspire to what you would have us aspire to. May we trust as the people of Vanuatu do that without you, we can do nothing of good in this world. And may we have the faith of knowing that, as Nelson Mandela said, “we can in fact change the world and make it a better place.” Amen

Pilgrim Walk is an alcohol ink creation by contemplative artist and creative expression facilitator, Stacy Wills. www.stacywills.com

FreerangeFriday: Guidance for the Wilderness

Fri, 05 Mar 2021 08:01:45 GMT

By Lilly Lewin

It’s really March. I’m still a bit in denial that the calendar has flipped another page. I love new pages. I love fresh starts, but as I’ve said a lot recently, this year is different. Yesterday we honored the one year anniversary of the tornado that hit Nashville and destroyed many homes and businesses in the neighborhoods of North Nashville, East Nashville and in counties beyond. People are still recovering and some businesses are still trying to open again. Then covid19 hit and it made clean up and recovery even more difficult. For many of us, the wilderness is still very present, very live with lock downs in place, restrictions that we don’t like. We still need to wear masks and social distance even as more people are able to be vaccinated. We are still walking through the wilderness, the desert, of the pandemic. We all need reminders that we are not alone on this journey. We need to remember that others have gone into the wilderness before us and provided wisdom and ways to journey there. Last week we looked at how the Spirit compelled Jesus into the wilderness after his baptism. This week we are invited to look at how God led the children of Israel into the wilderness and then gave them a guidebook on how to live as a community, even when everything was unfamiliar. Even though their lives were now totally different from their lives in Egypt. The Old Testament reading for this Sunday is Exodus 20: 1-17, God giving Moses the Ten Commandments. This guidebook was a new way to live for people who had been slaves for 400 years! They no longer had to be afraid of each other. They were invited to worship only ONE GOD, not the many like the Egyptians had to please. They were given the amazing GIFT OF SABBATH, a day of rest which no other people had even thought of before! And this was a gift from GOD, the CREATOR of the UNIVERSE!

Before you read the passage, pause and consider what it would feel like to hear these commandments for the first time. We sometimes have baggage with them. Some of us have been slammed or even shamed by the “Shalt Nots.” My pastor in my Seattle days, Rev. Earl Palmer calls the Ten Commandments THE GRAND POSITIVES. And rather than reading them as negatives, or as “shalt nots,” he invites us to put them into the positive. Seeing each commandment as a GIFT and a GET TO! So take a breath, put away your memories of Sunday School and Charlton Heston and
READ THE PASSAGE with fresh ears.

EXODUS 20:1-17 NRSV

Then God spoke all these words:
2 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; 3 you shall have no

other gods before me.

4 You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, 6 but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation[b] of those who love me and keep my commandments.

7 You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.

8 Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work. 10 But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.

12 Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

13 You shall not murder.

14 You shall not commit adultery.

15 You shall not steal.

16 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

17 You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

What do you notice that you haven’t noticed before?

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER and Journal from this week: Feel free to use these passage and respond in writing, art, collage, or poetry some time this week.

What is God speaking to you about TODAY as you read/listen to these passage? Take time to read them again, use different translations to hear it in fresh ways.

What questions do you have? What questions come up as you read the passage. Talk to Jesus about these things.

Guidance in the Wilderness

We are approaching the year anniversary of the pandemic shut down. How are you feeling as this date approaches? How are you processing this wilderness anniversary? What would you like to do to process or acknowledge this anniversary?
Consider the wilderness of that the children of Israel were wandering through as a large group of slaves. What were some of the issues they had?
God used a pillar of fire and cloud to guide the children of Israel on their way through the wilderness. Moses had lived in this part of the wilderness for a long time as a shepherd. He knew where he was and wasn’t afraid of the desert. How have you been guided through the wilderness of 2020 and 2021? What has given you guidance? Who have been your guides?
Which of the commandments are you needing to be reminded of in your life right now?
Pastor Earl Palmer calls the Ten Commandments “ The Grand Positives” putting each one into a positive phrase. Rather than a “shalt not. “
What is the gift in this to you? Which gift do you need to open?
The ten commandments are a GUIDEBOOK to help us journey through the wilderness.They are tools to help us live in community. They are not just the “I shalt nots,” but rather the gifts of “I get to”….I get to receive the gift:
That THE God of all Gods chose relationship with me!
God has delivered me out of slavery!
I have been set free from all the other gods! I am not required to worship….the Pharaoh, the crocodile, the cat, the serpent, the Nile, the Sun, the Moon, etc. or any modern day equivalent!
I get to rest! God is giving me permission to rest and loves me beyond my performance and productivity!
I get to honor myself and others.
I get to show love rather than hate or contempt.
I get to live in compassion and sharing rather than competition and conflict.
I get to choose to have enough.
I get to live out love because our community has concepts in place to honor each other and I no longer have to live a life of fear.

Write out the 10 commandments as grand positives for yourself/your life.
You are no longer slaves, you are chosen people! Why do we forget the love and care of God? Why do we forget that we are chosen?
Many people don’t get just 40 days in the wilderness, or even only a year of a desert experience. Many people experience the wilderness for much longer due to illness, war, injustice, persecution, divorce, abuse etc. Take some time to consider people and places you know who are in long term wilderness or desert experiences. Pray for them to have hope & healing.

God provides good things for the children of Israel even in the wilderness: Manna, Quail, Water, their clothes didn’t wear out….How has God provided for you lately? How has God provided you Manna in the wilderness of the pandemic and this crazy year? Take time to thank Jesus for providing for you this past year!
bring them into a good land

Exodus 3:7-10 The Message (MSG)

7-8 God said, “I’ve taken a good, long look at the affliction of my people in Egypt. I’ve heard their cries for deliverance from their slave masters; I know all about their pain. And now I have come down to help them, pry them loose from the grip of Egypt, get them out of that country and bring them to a good land with wide-open spaces, a land lush with milk and honey, the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

What does your wilderness look like right now? Draw a picture or create a collage.

What does the land of milk and honey look like? What do you find hope in as you look ahead? Create a collage or write a story of what you hope for going forward in your journey towards Easter and the rest of 2021.

Remember that the Creator of the entire universe is with you in the midst of the wilderness! Jesus is with you and sees exactly where you are and how you are doing and knows what you are feeling. He suffered in the wilderness too. Receive the gift of Sabbath. It really is a gift we all need to open this Lent! Sit down somewhere outside and allow the Creator to enfold you in the beauty of nature. Watch a sunset or a sunrise. Bake some bread or some cookies and be reminded of the provision of Manna in the wilderness and how God is providing even when we don’t know the way or how long the wilderness will last!

Lord

Give us grace today to love as you love
Help us to love with extravagance.
Give us hope today for ourselves and others.
Heal our hurts and our hearts today
So we can serve and help those around us.
Help us to know that you are enough.
And help us live today and everyday in thankfulness.
For all you’ve done and for all you bless us with.
In the Name of the Father, The Son and the Holy Spirit. AMEN

©lillylewin and freerangeworship.com

IT”S NOT TO LATE TO JOIN US to reflect on the wilderness and reboot your Journey towards Easter! Retreat happening SATURDAY, MARCH 6th 10:00-12:30pm pacific time REGISTER HERE

JOIN US!

World Book Day 2021

Thu, 04 Mar 2021 14:00:16 GMT

by Diane Woodrow

I think an appropriate start to a post around World Book Day would be to give myself a big shout out!

A week ago today, I published my first book. It is a children’s picture book which was accepted by the three publishers I sent it to, leaving me to pick the contract I liked best. Read more about it on my growing website or follow its Facebook page. This is my dream come true – both publishing the book and growing my own website.

World Book Day comes with lovely memories of my children eagerly awaiting the actually date to go and spend their £1 book day tokens. The tokens would arrive from our favourite home education support group a week or two early but my two would wait until it was actually World Book Day before spending them. They never bought the book that was the one especially put together for that specific World Book Day, which only cost £1. Instead they would add their own pocket money to the token and would spend ages in our favourite independent bookshop searching until they had found just the right book. It was delightful. And came only second to the delight of discovering that my daughter had taught herself to read when she was about three years old in the “book cave” I had designed for them.

Both my two are still avid book readers even though not as much as myself. I devour books. Last year, I read over 100 different books which I posted on Instagram and I’m hoping to read as many this year. For me and for my children, and most readers I know, books are a way of not just escaping but of learning about new worlds, people one wouldn’t meet in regular life, or reading about how others think and feel which taps into how we think. For myself, I come away from a book with greater wisdom about myself and others, whether historical figures or contemporary. Books give one connection to something bigger than just ordinary life, which I think has been so important in these lockdown times.

One of my exciting finds this year has been the Shelter Box Book Club, which with a monthly subscription, sends out a book from an author from a part of the world Shelter is working in. Through these books, I am going all across the world learning about diverse cultures. To learn more about my reading over the past year check out 2020 Goals – #100 Books.

As I was pondering this and knowing I was going to be posting it on to the Godspace Light, I was thinking how I could tie in God. Well, of course, Jesus is “The Word” which actually isn’t so very different to a book. I believe each reader reads a book differently. We all dive in with our own ideas, thoughts, life experiences and prejudices and read the story through that. As I pondered this, I felt that this is what we all do with Jesus if we choose to dive into him. I do not believe we can get to know Jesus without bringing our own stuff with us. I believe that is why Jesus isn’t a static word but “the living word” because we all change who he is by what we pour into him from us, and he then changes who we are by what we take away. . . .

I also think this makes God even more amazing than ever. When I wrote my book, I had an idea not just what it meant but how I hoped people would feel about it, and what they get from it. It is only a 34 page children’s picture book but I still want to sit with each person and tell them how it should be impacting their lives. Yet God released his Son, the living word, as well as the Bible, into the hands of people. People who were going to read and interpret it through their own lens. I know we sit with God and explore his word with him but I don’t believe he ever dictates to us what we should get from him.

I believe God trusts each of us to read his Son and his Bible through who we are, through our own lens, through are own life experiences. And I think that we need to trust others to read through their own life lens and listen to what each other learns. Maybe we need to read the Bible and share what we’ve learned as we would a book club that would make a difference to our growth as followers of Jesus? We should not listen to what others are learning so we can tell them where they are wrong but, as with the book club idea so that we can learn about them, learn from them – and maybe in the process, learn about ourselves just as we do when reading a well-written novel.

Register and Pay for this virtual Lenten Retreat Experience with Christine Sine and Lilly Lewin! Join live or download later!

https://godspacelight.com/product/on-the-way-to-easter-rebooting-lent/

Are we headed to a "great summer” or a struggling summer as we deal with the COVID-19 ...

Thu, 04 Mar 2021 09:00:46 GMT

by Tom Sine

“The probability of a great summer is really increasing,” predicts Dr. David Rubin from the Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia. “In Congress, Democratic lawmakers are forging ahead to pass a 1.9 trillion stimulus package.”

Are you ready to move towards a future where we begin to control COVID-19?

Several new sources, including the New York Times, project that we could also begin to turn the corner this summer.

“Despite the uncertainties, the experts predict that the wild surge will subside in the United States sometime in the early summer. If the Biden administration can keep his promise to immunize every American adult by the end of the summer the variance should not be a match for the vaccines. We are reminded, “Even as the virus begins its swoon, people may still need to wear masks in public places and maintain social distance, because a significant percent of the population — including children — will not be immunized.”

The New York Times reminds us, “The road back to normalcy is potholed with unknowns: how well vaccines prevent further spread of the virus; whether emerging variants remain susceptible enough to the vaccines; and how quickly the world is immunized, so as to halt further evolution of the virus.

But the greatest ambiguity is human behavior. Can Americans desperate for normalcy keep wearing masks and distancing themselves from family and friends? How much longer can communities keep businesses, offices and schools closed?”

If we do start to make progress in controlling the COVID-19 pandemic, we must remember that many of our poorest neighbors and many of those in Gen Y and Z will continue to be hammered by the COVID-19 recession. Many will not be able to find jobs or pay their rent. It is essential that our churches don’t get so focused on restarting their worship programs but to help our Black and Latino neighbors to obtain the vaccine and start social enterprises to create new jobs and locate affordable housing.

Thankfully, Christian Today reports the number of churches are helping distribute COVID-19 vaccines to Black and Latino communities. “Barbara Felker, an associate pastor at Highbridge Community Church in the Bronx, also serves as a healthcare executive and arranges pop-up clinics at churches. Her company, Northwell Health, adjusted the process for distributing vaccines among minority communities by shifting from advertising on public websites about vaccination events to emailing pastors a private link to share in their neighborhood.”

A number of churches all over the United States are beginning to plan together again in place of their current Zoom worship services. I would urge them to focus first on enabling churches in poor communities to develop vaccination campaigns for many of our Black and Latino neighbors who do not currently have access to vaccines in their communities.

I would welcome the opportunity to publish some of the examples of churches reaching out to empower neighbors as the COVID recession continues to cause much suffering in 2021! Send your examples here.

Check out the review of 2020s Foresight in the PRESBYTERIAN OUTLOOK.

"Father, into your hands, I commit my spirit.”

Wed, 03 Mar 2021 09:00:20 GMT

by Ron Friesen, photo of St. Joseph Shrine, Yarnall, AZ by Ron Friesen,

It was a nice spring day in Arizona when I arrived to see Margi, one of my hospice patients. Margi, who had been an energetic wife, mother and grandmother, was now in the last stages of her life lying in a hospital bed in her son’s family room.

We reminisced about her life of being a faithful wife and mother. Margi shared with me how she missed being with her faith family, a Roman Catholic Church in central Phoenix. We shared laughter as she shared some of her humorous encounters in her parish.

Slowly, the conversation turned to her current condition. She told me her husband had died several years ago. As we talked about death, I said to her, “Do you remember the last words Jesus spoke on the cross?” She nodded, yes. Do you remember Jesus’ last words, “Father, into your hands, I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46, English Standard Version)? She nodded. I asked Margi, “Are you ready to say those words?”. She shook her head side to side and said, “I can’t say those words.”

I invited Margi to tell me what it would take for her to say those words. She quickly said, “I can’t forgive him.” Becoming more animated she told me that her husband had been abusive throughout their marriage. “The bastard finally died,” she said, “I can’t forgive him.”

Taking a deep breath, I gently reminded Margi of Jesus’ other words on the cross, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34 English Standard Version). Margi and I had a conversation about what forgiveness means. I reminded her that forgiveness does not mean that what her husband did to her was now okay. We talked about how forgiveness was removing our judgment and placing her husband in the hands of God and God’s judgment. I agreed with Margi that she could not forgive her husband, however, she could pray Jesus last words, “Father, forgive him for what he has done.” She lay quietly in her bed. “I will have pray about that.” As we parted our ways, we prayed the Lord’s prayer together, a prayer that reminds us, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Margi found new meaning in those words on that spring Arizona day.

As you read the last seven words of Jesus which resonates with you?

1. Forgiveness

“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34)

2. Abandonment

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46)

3. Concern for those left behind

“Dear Woman, here is your son!” and “Here is your mother!” (John 19:26-27)

4. What happens after death?

“I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43)

5. Unfinished business

“I am thirsty” (John 19:28)

6. Letting go…

“Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46)

7. Embracing the transition

“It is finished!” (John 19:30)

I invite you to find a quiet place to reflect on any or all of these words.

Check out our newly launched course, Time to Heal, with Christine Sine, Lilly Lewin, and Bethany Dearborn Hiser.

Time to Heal Online Course

Racial Reconciliation Resource List

Tue, 02 Mar 2021 09:00:07 GMT

Black History Month may be over but our need to learn will never cease. Here are some suggestions from our Godspace writers and readers that can help inspire and educate us.

Suggestions from Bethany Dearborn Hiser:

I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown http://austinchanning.com/the-book. Powerful, compelling truth-telling about what it’s like for a woman of color to navigate systems of white supremacy in the church.

Healing Racial Trauma: The Road to Resilience by Sheila Wise Rowe. From the description: “Professional counselor Rowe exposes the symptoms of racial trauma to lead readers to a place of freedom from the past and new life for the future.”

I’ve heard these are good too, but haven’t read yet:

ReDisciplining the White Church by David Swanson
Roadmap to Reconciliation 2.0: Moving Communities into Unity, Wholeness and Justice by by Brenda Salter McNeil
The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the American Church’s Complicity in Racism by Jemar Tisby
White Awake: An Honest Look at What It Means to Be White by Daniel Hill
My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies by by Resmaa Menakem

Suggestions from Godspace reader:

Lanterns by Marion Wright Edelman, founder of Children’s Defense Fund
So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Olio
The Broken Road by Peggy Wallace Kennedy
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
How to be an Anti-racist by Ibram X Kendi
Radical hospitality, Benedict’s way of love by Lonni Collins Pratt (regardless of your belief structure, this is a great book on how to be).

Suggestions from Diane Woodrow:

“Black and British: A Forgotten History” by David Olusoga. David is a renowned historian and a great story teller. Did you know Black African People had been coming to Britain on and off since Roman times? Some as freedmen, some as slaves. The things David reveals are surprising and shocking and so a part of this island’s history that they should be taught in schools as just a part of our history. This is a book to read slowly.
“Girl, Woman, Other” by Bernadine Evaristo is another great book talking about the racism that goes on subtly in Britain. It is a fiction book that gently follows the lives of an intermixed group of British Black and mixed race women and the racism that just learn to go with and accept, which is very interesting. A gentle eye opening book I felt.
https://blackbritishhistory.co.uk/ I came across this site when I had to Google to get the proper details of David Olusoga’s book. What amazes me is that I didn’t even know about Black British history until I read David’s book and now I’m finding there is a website.
In fact, another great place I’ve found for reading about people of different races is from https://www.shelterbox.org/book-club/

Suggestions from Lisa Scandrette:

“The God Who Sees” by Karen Gonzalez: This is a clear and compelling weaving of the stories of Ruth, Abraham, Hagar, Joseph, Jesus, modern day immigrants, and González’s family’s own immigration story, information on current immigration policies, and God’s heart and guidance for how we should care for immigrants. The book is a quick read, but it is rich!
“The Color of Life” by Cara Meredith: Cara tells her story of marrying the son of civil rights icon, James Meredith, and her journey from a white world where everyone looked like her to a more colorful one. She explores how we navigate desperately needed conversations about race, how we teach our children a theology of love and reconciliation, and what it means to make space for the image of God in everyone.
“Decolonizing Evangelicalism” by Randy Woodley and Bo Sanders: “Woodley and Sanders provide a unique combination of indigenous theology and academic theory to point readers toward the way of Jesus. Decolonizing Evangelicalism is a starting point for those who hope to change the conversation and see that he world could be lived in a different way.” (from the back cover)
“Native” by Kaitlyn Curtice: “Native is about identity, soul searching, and the never-ending journey of finding ourselves and finding God. As both a citizen of the Potawatomi nation and a Christian, Kaitlin Curtice shares what it means to experience her faith through the lens of her Indigenous heritage and encourages us to embrace our own origins.” (also from the back cover.)
“Separated by the Border” by Gena Thomas: What drives a mother to risk everything and bring her child to an unknown country? What happens when that mother and child are separated? How can we as Christians love those who are stretched to the point of desperation? This is the story of Lupe, Julia and Gena. It’s a hard, painful, heartbreaking story. It’s a beautiful and hopeful story as well. Lupe was attempting to come to the U.S. with her daughter, Julia. After braving the dangers of their home country and the journey north, Lupe and Julia are separated. Lupe is sent back to Honduras as Julia remained in the U.S. Their story intersects with Gena when Gena’s family takes Julia in as a foster child. With no easy or trite answers, “Separated by the Border” shares the complicated and traumatic story of a birth mother, a foster mother, and a migrant child’s journey. It demonstrates the tenacious love of a mother, and the love we can have for one another in our places of deepest need.
“Just Mercy” by Bryan Stevenson: “Just Mercy is at once an unforgettable account of an idealistic, gifted young lawyer’s coming of age, a moving window into the lives of those he has defended, and an inspiring argument for compassion in the pursuit of true justice.” (from the Amazon description)

Suggestions from Coe Hutchison:

PBS special, “The Black Church: This is our story, This is our Song” is excellent.
These books are also recommended:
- - Me and White Supremacy, by Layla Saad
  - Caste by Isabelle Wilkerson

We recommend you read this excellent article that Coe wrote about what he has learned through his reading.

If there are other books you would like to add to this list please leave a comment below or email to godspacelight@gmail.com

Note: As an Amazon Affiliate, I earn an amount on qualifying purchases. Thank you for your support for Godspace in this way.

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on unsplash.com

Meditation Monday – Revisit Your Sacred Space

Mon, 01 Mar 2021 09:05:42 GMT

by Christine Sine,

These last couple of weeks have been grueling ones for me. As many of you know, I have been suffering from the worst allergy attack I have ever had, wracked by incapacitating coughing fits that leave me feeling I can’t breathe.

In the midst of this, I find myself drawing deeply from the comfort and support that my sacred space that its circle of lights provides for me. Sitting in the midst of these lights, contemplating my “Time to Heal” garden, reading a centering prayer, sensing the embracing presence of God around me, knowing that I am loved and cared for, has been one of the most supportive aspects of these last few weeks. It makes me realize just how important sacred space is for all of us.

At this season in particular, we all need more time to sit with God and sense the comforting presence of the divine being in and around us. To accomplish this, I encourage you, if you have not already done so, to establish a sacred space for the rest of Lent, a place where you encounter God in special transformative ways so that your Lenten practices enter your heart and soul and transforms us into the people God intends us to be. Those who already have a sacred space might like to revisit it and revamp it.

So take some time to create or revisit your own sacred space for Lent. Here are some possibilities to prayerfully consider as you spend this Lenten season at home.

Your dining room table. Eating meals is a holy time. Regardless of how busy you are in the week, make time for at least one meal to be shared with others. Believe me, you’ve got time and even with social distancing you can provide a meaningful space in which to encounter others, even if it is just through a Zoom shared meal. This yearlong Lent has made many of us busier, but believe me, you’ve got to make time. And perhaps you can make this a time of reconciliation with those with whom you have been estranged.
Something you are thinking of throwing out, like my old crosses and palms from last year. Recycled items as a focus for Lent remind us that God is in the business of transformation and re-creation. My sacred spaces always contain recycled items and I love to see these repurposed and revalued items as a reminder of the work God is doing in my life.
Clean a space for Lent. Spring cleaning was a traditional Lenten practice that symbolized the cleaning of inside and out that was meant to take place during this season. What is one space you have wanted to clean up that you could recreate as a focus for Lent?
Use colour and texture. The traditional colour for Lent is purple but that does not mean that we need to use it. Perhaps there are other colours, textures and images that speak to you about your own personal need for repentance and reconciliation. Imagine ways that you could use these to create a special place for your celebrations during this season.
Incorporate images. I have a collection of icons, crosses and other images that I love to rearrange for different seasons on the year. Some have been given to me, others I have created, like my Celtic cross on stone from several years ago. I love to sit with some of these images in front me when it comes time to rearrange my sacred space and allow the spirit of God to help me choose which images are appropriate for the upcoming season. I have found this to provide a very profound experience that nurtures and instructs me throughout the season.
Bring nature into your sacred space. By now, most of you know that I do not consider a sacred space to be complete unless it incorporates a garden, a plant or even a beautiful photo of a special landscape or flower. As one of the prime ways that God speaks to us is through the created world, I think this is important for all of us to include in our sacred spaces. And one of the advantages is that it is so easy to move plants around or purchase new ones that are in keeping with the season.
Use your artistic gifts to create something new. All of us have been gifted with creativity and imagination, yet we rarely use it in our spiritual observances. Some of us are unaware of our creativity. Others are unsure how to create with the purposes of God in mind. Prayerfully ask God to stir your imagination to create something that flows out of the unique creativity with which God has gifted you. It could be a poem, a piece of art, a photo, a collage, something you knit, carve or sculpt. Or, it could be an entirely new art form that is uniquely you.
Design a movable sacred space. Some of us do not have the luxury of a place in our homes we can dedicate to sacred space. However that does not mean we cannot design a sacred space. A couple of years ago I put together a Travel Kit for Sacred Space, a tin with several sacred articles in it that I brought out at each destination to give me a sense of rootedness in the rhythms and practices of my faith. For some that might be a good place to start.

I hope you will take time to create or recreate your own sacred space for the rest of Lent. If you do, I would love to hear about it. Leave a comment below or email me with your ideas and images.

Register and Pay for this virtual Lenten Retreat Experience with Christine Sine and Lilly Lewin! Join live or download later!

On the Way to Easter… Rebooting Lent

Contemplative Service for Lent 2

Sat, 27 Feb 2021 23:43:47 GMT

It is wonderful to have these beautiful contemplative services from St Andrews Episcopal Church in Seattle to walk through Lent with.

A contemplative service with music in the style-of-Taize for the Second Sunday in Lent. Carrie Grace Littauer, prayer leader, with music by Kester Limner and Andy Myers.

Permission to podcast/stream the music in this service obtained from One License with license #A-710-756 with additional notes below:

“Even in Sorrow” was composed by Kester Limner in March 2020 for the people of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Seattle, shared under the Creative Commons License, Attribution (CC-BY).

“Where You There?” is a traditional Black American Spiritual, arrangement by Kester Limner, shared under the Creative Commons license, attribution (CC-BY).

Thank you for praying with us! www.saintandrewsseattle.org

Register and Pay for this virtual Lenten Retreat Experience with Christine Sine and Lilly Lewin! Join live or download later!

On the Way to Easter… Rebooting Lent

Heal Our Unbelief

Sat, 27 Feb 2021 09:00:02 GMT

by Rebecca Joy Sumner

(Taken from “Lent Liturgy Full Booklet” from Welcome Table Christian Church, used with permission.)

Read: Genesis 17:1-7,15-16; Romans 4:13-25; Mark 9:2-9

As we consider wandering in a wasteland space, I am consistently drawn to the people of Israel in all their wanderings and all their exiles.

Abram was no one. A wanderer. A wanderer with no heir. Land and line were everything. He had neither. And this is the foundational story for God’s people. In his wandering, I have to imagine he became a wondering wanderer. He is said to be a faithful person. There is something about the wasteland that grows faith within us. There is something about exile that gives us space to dream of a right way of living, if ever we are restored to community.

In Egypt, Abraham’s people were enslaved. Now, there is no archaeological evidence of this. It was likely made up. It is *the* essential story in their faith tradition even though it likely never happened. And all their laws come pouring out of it. You were slaves. You will not be slavers. You can hear that theme over and over again the law and the prophets. The story of slavery in Egypt depicts an empire that is abusive. The law and the prophets again and again call the people to mutual care and a loving and liberating relationship with all. They became wanderers and in that wandering, they became wonderers and dreamed of a right way of living, if ever we are restored to community.

And again, in exile. The people wander. They wonder. They wonder how they ended up where they were and realize it was a lack of right relationship, a lack of a loving and liberating way. So they dream, again, of a right way of living if ever we are restored to community.

And so, I love Hoyt’s description of the blessing of Abraham, above: “The word ‘bless’ means to share one’s power, one’s strength, one’s life with another, to be with the other.” God blesses the wandering and wondering Abraham by being with, by sharing God’s power in order to be in solidarity with the man bereft of land or line. And specifically in this passage, we hear that God blesses Sarah. God becomes with Sarah. God holds her, even in her disbelief, in solidarity. And 20 millennia later, that theme of a blessed bearer of children is echoed as Mary calls forth her sister’s blessing in naming her blessing. “All generations will call me blessed.” All generations will know that God stood in solidarity with Sarah and with Mary.

What is more, we know of Abraham’s blessing that it was a blessing in order to become a blessing. God tells Abraham that all people will be blessed through him. God will stand in universal solidarity with the whole family of creation as God stands in solidarity with Abraham and calls Abraham and all his children and Mary and all her children and Jesus and all his spiritual children to stand in solidarity together. Blessing upon blessing upon blessing.

And then we come to Peter who beholds this blessing and wants to build a monument. To solidify a surreal manifestation of the blessing. But he misses the point. God’s solidarity is not on the top of a mountain. God’s solidarity is not in a monument. God’s solidarity is not in a church building. God’s solidarity is pervasive. When we catch glimpses of it, it is like a little seed of faith that takes root and needs to grow into maturity to become nourishment – to birth that blessing of Divine and human solidarity with the whole family of creation.

Jesus tells Peter, “No.”

And Oscar Romero rightly redirects us to that wandering and wondering. How can Christ be transfigured not in a moment or a monument, but in the whole family of Creation? How can Christ be a blessing to the whole family of Creation? How can we become his hands and feet? How can we stand in solidarity with Creation?

When we see glimpses of God’s glory, they are not invitations to enshrine that moment but to spread it across the face of the earth in our living, in our walking, in our wandering, in our wondering.

It seems important to note, before we move on, that directly following this passage is the place where Peter famously says “Lord, I believe, heal my unbelief.”

The dude literally just saw Jesus transfigured and he’s already lost his belief. You can see why he wanted a monument.

This wandering and wondering, this sacred solidarity, this super-spread blessing to be shared with the whole family of Creation is a daily stumbling. Ibram X Kendi says, in How to be Anti-Racist, that being anti racist, or being racist, is like a name tag. We might put one on one moment. But we could very well put the other one on the next moment. And Peter says, “I believe, heal my unbelief”. And God offers Abraham his solidarity and he decides to reach past God to try and forge a way on his own with Hagar. And Christianity continually forgets to live in blessed solidarity with all people and all the family of Creation.

Lord, we believe, heal our unbelief.

May this wandering and wondering time in the wasteland be a time where we heal our unbelief, and like the people of Israel, we become wanderers and wonderers as we dream of a new way of being when finally we are restored to community.

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FreerangeFriday: Invitation to the Wilderness

Fri, 26 Feb 2021 08:01:27 GMT

By Lilly Lewin

What does the wilderness look like in your life right now? Is it trying to work in the isolation of covid 19? Is it managing kids in virtual school, is it the harshness of the weather? The brokenness of relationships? Living in the frustrations of politics or the injustices in our world? How are you experiencing “wilderness?” In Mark 1, Jesus is baptized by John in the Jordan River and then he is SENT BY, COMPELLED BY, the Holy Spirit into the wilderness. I think in my growing up years in church, I didn’t really pay attention to how Jesus got out into the wilderness. I just knew that he was out there for 40 long, lonely, hungry days. And while he was there, the devil decided it was the perfect time to tempt him. Eugene Peterson, the author of The Message, says that Jesus was PUSHED out into the wild by the same Spirit who had just reminded him that he was God’s son and just how loved he was..and how pleased God was with him even before he’d ever done one thing in his ministry! Do you ever feel like you are being PUSHED into the wilderness? Do you give the Holy Spirit credit for this or do you blame someone or something else?

Are you willing to receive the wilderness as a gift from God rather than a curse?

Invited to the Wilderness

Read Mark 1:9-15 THE MESSAGE

At this time, Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. The moment he came out of the water, he saw the sky split open and God’s Spirit, looking like a dove, come down on him. Along with the Spirit, a voice: “You are my Son, chosen and marked by my love, pride of my life.”

At once, this same Spirit pushed Jesus out into the wild. For forty wilderness days and nights he was tested by Satan. Wild animals were his companions, and angels took care of him.

After John was arrested, Jesus went to Galilee preaching the Message of God: “Time’s up! God’s kingdom is here. Change your life and believe the Message.”

I love that Jesus wasn’t really alone in the wilderness. He had the Spirit with him, but also, the animals and the angels!

We are not alone in the wilderness either. We too are invited by the Spirit. And it is in the wilderness that we discover our calling and learn so much more about ourselves.

Who has helped you and been your companion during these wilderness days?

What have you learned in the Wilderness Desert of 2020 and 2021?

Take some time to Thank Jesus for all he has taught you. Even the hard things. And take time to thank him for your companions, even your animals!

Companion in the Wilderness

Like the push of the Holy Spirit, I want to invite you to join us, myself and Christine, on a journey into the wilderness on RETREAT next Saturday, March 6th. If you sign up, you can REGISTER to participate on the day, or choose to participate later when you have a couple of hours to set aside as wilderness time.

We will have time to consider and look back at the last year and all it’s desert experiences. We will have time and space to pray, journal, and create in collage. So find your journal and block off a couple of hours to find refreshment as we journey towards Easter.

Bring with you a kitchen sponge/dish cloth, a rock/stone, paper, crayons, pens/markers, some old magazines and scissors, glue or glue sticks, a bowl of water, a red pen and some bread to taste. We call these things PROPS to Pray with and our time together will be interactive and multi-sensory. Why not invite a friend to journey with you?

Join us on Retreat

REFLECTION for LENT by Cheryl Lawrie

i just realized
that in my imagination
the wilderness is always somewhere else;

a foreign landscape i actively have to enter in the act of being faithful.

truthfully,
the wilderness is always where i am
right now
and faith is the courage to stay with it
when i’d rather pretend i am
anywhere else.
~ written by Cheryl Lawrie and posted on [hold this space].

Is it too Early to Reboot Lent?

Thu, 25 Feb 2021 14:00:34 GMT

by Lisa DeRosa

Christine’s message to our subscribers this week really resonated with me. She said,

Many people feel that this year Lent is not a season but a permanent home. This has us wondering, ‘Why do I need to go on retreat? Why should I set aside special time for prayer and reflection when the whole year has tilted in that direction? Lent has nothing to teach me that lockdown has not already done.’ Yet, I feel this is the very environment in which retreat is most necessary. This is a time to prepare our lives for something new that God is giving birth to.

Taking time for retreat is important for our spiritual journeys with God. It helps us to regroup and refocus, if necessary, and even be encouraged by the path that we are on.

Rebooting Lent Retreat

As we are coming up on the third week of Lent already, this can be a time when some feel the need for a reboot. We want to provide a helpful resource for you during this lagging time. Christine Sine and Lilly Lewin are offering a Lenten Retreat where they will share creative spiritual practices they use during the season, practices that enable them to follow Jesus more closely and fall in love with him more deeply on the the way to Easter. There will be time for reflection, creativity and dialogue as well. Click on the product below to register and pay.

On the Way to Easter… Rebooting Lent Retreat

FREE Downloads for Lent

Looking for other resources for your Lenten journey? We updated our free downloads of Hungering For Life: Creative Exercises for Lent, 40 Daily Ideas Guide For Lent and added Jeannie Kendall‘s book of poems for Lent called Gospel Eyes. Great for daily use during Lent!

Gospel Eyes – Download

Time to Heal Online Course

We launched our Time to Heal Online Course in time for Lent. Though this course is not directly related to Lent, it is in keeping with the theme on Godspace through the Lenten Season.

There is so much pain and suffering in our world at the moment but it is time to heal. This course will show how creativity, imagination and reflective exercises can help us address our grief and provide balm for our souls. Facilitated by Christine Sine, Lilly Lewin and Bethany Dearborn Hiser, this course is offered with 180 days of access so you can move through the material at your own pace.

Special prices for people who have purchased a course with us before and/or if you decide to participate in this course with a group!

Dividing Line

Thu, 25 Feb 2021 09:00:36 GMT

by Rev Sheila Hamil

Jesus prayed ‘May they be one!’ This was his earnest prayer for all his followers.

This song ‘Dividing Line’ was written years ago, at a time when there were deeply held, divisive issues within the church. Also harmony between Christian denominations wasn’t all that apparent then, but now church unity is far more real, far more genuine. This is reflected in the lyrics. But this song still speaks, right now across nations and across the world, because there are those who don’t seem to be able to listen to anyone else‘s opinions anymore; they have their own entrenched and quite polarised views, and they stand firm, immovable and angry.

Often the way we think depends very much on reports we choose to read on social media, and some of it is fake, manipulative, selective and incendiary. Even the daily newspaper we opt for, can also help feed our bias. We may think we’re being ‘enlightened’, we may believe we’re thinking objectively, but that’s not always the case. We’re far more easily influenced today, and we’re far less likely to challenge what we see and hear.

Very often unpleasant experiences of the past, old hurts and inherited prejudices creep in and muddy the waters of our thinking. This song calls for ‘peacemakers’ (and by this I don’t mean lovers of peace) to weigh up valid points on each side of an argument, and help others to understand and listen to what’s being said. They’re called to speak out and not remain silent where there is injustice and prejudice, to speak out against violence and warmongering, to speak out for what is right . . . BUT to do it peacefully and lovingly and encourage others to do the same! To be there right standing on the dividing line, as a ‘peace maker’ is a dangerous and uncomfortable place to be! Jesus taught, ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God’. Hence the last verse of this song:

Pour your love out, Spirit blow.

Reconcile us, help us grow.

Graft us to the One True Vine

and help us to bridge the dividing line.

Register and Pay for this virtual Lenten Retreat Experience with Christine Sine and Lilly Lewin! Join live or download later!

On the Way to Easter… Rebooting Lent

Healing Racial Trauma by Sheila Wise Rowe

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 09:00:40 GMT

guest writer: Sheila Wise Rowe,

Adaptation from Healing Racial Trauma by Sheila Wise Rowe, Adapted from Chapter One, “Wounds”

For several decades Southern black folks carrying suitcases full of prized possessions fled poverty and threats of lynching to pursue the elusive dream of a better life in Northern cities like Boston. By the early 1960s, turbulence and race riots plagued much of the country yet bypassed Boston. The city had a self-congratulatory air because its predominantly African American community of Roxbury exercised restraint while other cities burned. Everything changed that humid day in June.

I was seven years old at the time. That night in my aunt and uncle’s apartment, I watched the nightly news report bearing witness to mothers treated like chattel and an agitated crowd cursing and hurling rocks at the police. The reporter said the violence would likely carry on throughout the night. As we watched in stunned silence, suddenly we heard someone pounding on the front door. I hid nearby but within earshot, as my uncle barked “Who is it?” He unlatched the dead bolt and on the other side of the door stood my dad, Robert Wise, dressed in black. His speech was halting as if he had run a road race: “We don’t have to take this crap anymore. Come on; let’s go beat up some whiteys.” My uncle declined, and with a dismissal of his hand my father bolted down the stairs. I spent the night listening for the front door to open or a floorboard to squeak upon Dad’s return. Eventually, he made it home safely. Perhaps he shared with my mother (also known as Momae) what happened that night, but not a word was said in my presence.

The rioting carried on for three days, as over one thousand demonstrators armed with rocks, bottles, and matches clashed with police officers armed with guns and billy clubs. When the smoke cleared, Blue Hill Avenue looked like a war zone strewn with debris and charred apartment buildings and storefronts. I wondered, Was Dad partly responsible for the devastation? Years passed before I knew of the deferred dreams of my dad and how deep were his well of trauma, grief, and rage.

In a 1968 speech titled “The Other America,” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. pointedly remarked “in the final analysis, a riot is the language of the unheard.” Dr. King’s remark is as relevant today as it was back then.

The recent deaths of unarmed black men at the hands of the police, the immigration crackdown, and the rise in white supremacists have led to protests across the country, and inner cities still burn. I believe that riots are also the language of the unhealed.

When God says, “They have treated the wound of my people carelessly, saying ‘Peace, peace’ when there is no peace” (Jeremiah 6:14), he acknowledges that he sees and knows that we bear wounds that have not been taken seriously. Although there is significant research on the social, economic, and political effects of racism, little research recognizes the emotional and physical effects of racism on people of color.

People of color have endured traumatic histories and almost daily assaults on our dignity, and we are told to get over it. We have prayed about the racism, been in denial or acted out in anger, but we have not known how to individually or collectively pursue healing from the racial trauma.

We need healing and new ways to navigate ongoing racism, systemic oppression, and racial trauma that impairs our ability to become more resilient. Resilience is the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties or to “work through them step by step, and bounce back stronger than you were before.” In relation to racism, resilience refers to the ability “to persevere and maintain a positive sense of self when faced with omnipresent racial discrimination.” Resilience is not an inherited trait; how we think, behave, and act can help us to grow in resilience.

Historians have revealed that from the earliest days of First Nation genocide and the enslavement of Africans there has been a concerted effort to keep people of color separated and to develop a caste system of sorts. Rather than seeing the commonality that we have as people of color, we have been grading whose experience is worse. In his speech “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop,” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote, “when Pharaoh wanted to prolong slavery, he kept the slaves fighting among themselves. Whenever the slaves got together that was the beginning of getting out of slavery. Now let us maintain unity.”

My invitation to people of color is that you experience your own life story affirmed and acquire new solidarity with other people of color. Also that you obtain tools to help heal your racial trauma and to persevere on the road to resilience. My invitation to white folks is to be open to however these stories challenge you to be a better friend and ally to people of color. Perhaps you will hear echoes of your own trauma that you need to address. My hope is to lead you to greater empathy and activism.

People of color know that racism and racial oppression is real. We’ve felt the sting of each racist incident whether it was overt or covert, intentional or unintentional. Yet we’ve often been unaware of the full impact of the racial trauma that remains.

Racial trauma is real. Every day in the United States and across the world women, men, and children of color experience racism and witness lives and livelihoods devalued or lost as if they do not matter. The result is that people of color are carrying unhealed racial trauma.

Racial trauma and oppression of African Americans and other people of color must be shared. These stories are records of a journey on the road to healing and resilience. Identify and treat the root and symptoms of racial trauma. Make peace and obtain a renewed hope for the future.

Bio for Sheila Wise Rowe

Sheila Wise Rowe is a graduate of Tufts University and Cambridge College with a master’s degree in counseling psychology. For over twenty-five years she has counseled abuse and trauma survivors in the United States. Sheila ministered to homeless and abused women and children in Johannesburg, South Africa, where she also taught counseling and trauma-related courses for a decade. Sheila is the executive director of The Rehoboth House and the cofounder of The Cyrene Movement, an online community for people of color seeking healing for racial trauma. She is the author of Healing Racial Trauma, The Well of Life: Heal Your Pain, Satisfy Your Thirst, Live Your Purpose along with The Wonder Years.

Our newest course, Time to Heal Online Course, is available now for purchase! This course provides 5 sessions with Christine Sine, Lilly Lewin, and Bethany Dearborn Hiser each with different approaches and practices to assist in processing grief and healing.

Note: As an Amazon Affiliate, I earn an amount on qualifying purchases. Thank you for your support for Godspace in this way.

Calling – Simon Peter

Tue, 23 Feb 2021 09:00:13 GMT

by Jeannie Kendall,

During Advent 2020, I posted a poem a day. They seemed to be appreciated by some as a way to reflect through the season, so I am doing the same for Lent. Poetry is very personal, so some may pass you by, but hopefully at least some will be helpful. I am starting with the baptism of Jesus and working through the gospels (not necessarily in order, I’m afraid!) until we reach the events of Easter. Some poems are based around characters we encounter, some are more general reflections for this season. The references are there for you if you would like to use them as daily readings to accompany the poems. God bless you as you read. Feel free to re-use any in any way, I would just appreciate that if it is in print or any similar media, that you name me as author. Thanks.

Calling – Simon Peter (Luke 5:1-11)

It was always a calling for me,

Not just a business.

I loved the secret knowledge,

Every pattern of the water,

The ripples only we would spot

Signaling a catch,

Meaning celebration with the men,

And relief for the wives.

Then one day,

A futile night behind us

With nothing to show

For all our exhaustion,

A rabbi came.

Well, he could use my boat to teach,

It was no use to me in daytime

When the fish would see

The shadow of the nets.

I carried on my cleaning,

His words drifting over

My distracted thoughts.

You have to respect a rabbi

But asking me

To let down the nets in daytime,

With them just washed at that?

So, smiling inside at his foolishness,

I let them down,

And, defying all I knew,

A shimmering, wonderful catch

For all of us to share.

And for me that day,

A brand-new start,

A glorious adventure

Which I could never

Have imagined.

Written by Jeannie Kendall, used with permission.

Photo by AMIT UIKEY on Unsplash.

Interested in more poems like this? Jeannie has made this entire Lent poem collection available as a download on Godspace!

Gospel Eyes – Download

Meditation Monday – Why Do We Need to Go Into the Wilderness.

Mon, 22 Feb 2021 09:00:49 GMT

by Christine Sine

Last week you may remember, I sacrificed one of my masks to burn on Ash Wednesday. I was amazed at the response to my post. Some loved it as they, like me, were looking for fresh and creative ways to enter Lent this year. The old ways no longer worked for them and they looked forward to the new things God was preparing them for. Others hated it and found the deviation from old traditions offensive.

I love the traditions that give us celebrations like Ash Wednesday but I also strongly believe that we need to anchor these in practices that help us grow into a future that will be very different from the present. That seems to be part of what the time in the desert is all about. It prepares us for something new, something different. It prepares us to move forward beyond the cross to the kingdom. To me, burning old masks and making new ones speaks of preparation for that newness that will emerge from our time in the desert.

As I think about that today, I am reminded of a trip Tom and I made several years ago when we had the privilege of visiting St Catherine’s monastery in the Sinai desert. This is the oldest working monastery in existence, and monastic life in the area dates back to the 4th century. Evidently, at one point, there were something like 3,000 hermits living in the hills around the site. However, the history of St Catherine’s monastery goes much further back than that. Tradition has it that St Catherine’s monastery sits at the base of Mt Sinai. Many believe that is also the site for Moses’ encounter with God in the midst of the burning bush.

I was thinking about this over the weekend and wondering what it must have been like for the Israelites to live out in the desert. It had never struck me before that God did not send them out without a well-seasoned guide. Moses had lived out in the desert before, and if tradition is correct, then he brought them back to the same part of the desert that he was familiar with. Maybe he even brought them back to the home that he had lived in for all those years, the place where he raised his family, the place where he knew how to live without allowing the desert to consume him.

Moses would have known how to find water, how to track the animals and how to provide shelter. And not only did Moses provide guidance and leadership for them, but God also provided a pillar of cloud to guide them through the day and a pillar of fire to light the night. Talk about overkill, but a people who were not used to desert life probably needed a lot of help in finding their way.

As I thought about this, I was reminded of the Australian explorers who ventured into the desert interior of my country. Some of them took aboriginal guides with them, native peoples who knew how to recognize the tracks of animals and signs that water was close. These explorers survived. Others, like Burke and Wills, took no aboriginal guides. They perished in the wilderness.

God does not send us out into the desert to die either and though we may feel that we have been in the wilderness of Lent for a long time this year, we are not without lots of well-seasoned guides either. It is reassuring to know that thousands have walked out into the desert, led by God, before us and not only survived but thrived and have grown in intimacy with God as a result of their experiences.

My own guides are many and varied. There are those I know only by the stories I have read – people like Moses and Aaron who not only guided the Israelites so many thousands of years ago but who continue to inspire and direct us. Others like the Celtic saint Patrick, whose life we celebrate in a couple of weeks, and Julian of Norwich whose life and witness has taken on new significance for me as she was writing during the 14th century in the midst of the plague known as the Black Death, have guided not just my life but all our lives in wilderness times. For most of us, there are other lesser known guides too, like our parents, pastors and friends who have walked both beside and ahead of us through the desert places.

Who are the Moses figures in your life who have wandered in the desert ahead of you and established a home for you? Who are the ones you can rely on to find water, food and shelter for you in desert times and places? Take some time to give thanks to God for them today.

A Contemplative Taize Style Service for Lent 1

Sat, 20 Feb 2021 20:21:21 GMT

To have a contemplative service like this for Lent is invaluable. I hope you enjoy this offering from St Andrews Episcopal church in Seattle as much as I do. The stained glass above is one of a series of stained glass windows at St Andrews for the Stations of the Cross. You can see the entire series in this Stations of the Cross Reflection

A contemplative service with music in the style-of-Taize for the First Sunday in Lent. Carrie Grace Littauer, prayer leader, with music by Kester Limner and Andy Myers.

Permission to podcast/stream the music in this service obtained from One License with license #A-710-756 with additional notes below:

“Be Thou My Vision” is a traditional Irish hymn, public domain, with arrangement by Andrew Myers and Kester Limner, shared under the Creative Commons License 0.

“Lay Me Low” is a musical setting of a Shaker text is by organist and composer Daniel Schwandt, Music That Makes Community, 2013. Used with permission (musicthatmakescommunity.org).

Thank you for praying with us! www.saintandrewsseattle.org

God’s Social Justice in a Digital World

Sat, 20 Feb 2021 14:00:35 GMT

by Kathie Hempel

This year the United Nation’s World Day of Social Justice’s theme is “A Call for Social Justice in the Digital Economy”. Their focus is largely to achieve progress and social justice in the context of globalization in industry and commerce. In their statement on the theme, “The General Assembly recognizes that social development and social justice are indispensable for the achievement and maintenance of peace and security within and among nations and that, in turn, social development and social justice cannot be attained in the absence of peace and security or in the absence of respect for all human rights and fundamental freedoms.”

How can any of this happen if the concept of social justice does not first imbed itself in individuals’ hearts, minds, and consciousness? That social justice is a new concept, comes from the prominence of the term in the news and on social media. However, the concept can be found in the theology of Augustine of Hippo and Thomas Paine’s philosophies. The term was first used explicitly in the 1780’s. The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action in 1993 felt that social justice is a purpose of human rights education.

What does all this mean in the life of those who follow Christ? How would Christ look at our use of digital platforms? What rules might apply?

Recently, we have seen the digital world having a huge impact. And by those who proclaim Christ. Seeds of disunity have been sown, within governments and families, as well as between individuals. Micah 6:8 states, “He has told you, O man, what is good and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

Nowhere, in the Word left us by God, does our all-seeing Father say, ‘except, of course, when the digital world arrives all previous teachings will become null and void.’ And yet, we see every day those proclaiming a Christian walk, leaving the love walk behind when it comes to the words left to their fellow man.

Does anyone truly believe, when our fingers become our tongues in the digital world, Divine guidelines change? Does it not grieve the Holy Spirit, as it tells us in Ephesians 4, when instead of beautiful words of encouragement and grace to help others, we turn to bitter words, temper tantrums, revenge, profanity and insults flowing onto our screens? Are our tongues still not “a small part of the body”, that carries great power? James’ warning to think of how small a flame can set a huge forest ablaze seems to still carry weight in the light of recent events.

We are still called to love and uplift our fellow man. We are still called to obey the laws of governments. We are still called to be sowers of peace and unity in a world that has always sowed division. Yes, we are allowed our opinions and differences, but how we express them matters.

It seems to me that both the news, often condensed to misleading headlines on social platforms, and all the digital platforms, used by individuals to convey their own thoughts and reactions, are now strewn with judgements on others extending even to who is and is not a Christian, based on political leanings. Can this ever be okay for those called to love even our enemies? “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven…” (Luke 6:37 ESV) still seems very real to me.

“For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility.” (Eph 2:14)

Paul was talking of a racial ethnic divide being healed between Jews and non-Jews. At the time, he wrote of ethnic hatred being dissolved and that peace had to come by starting over—forming one new race of humanity. And yet, within the ether of social media exist groups whose sole purpose is to destroy one another. There are those, who seek to groom others to accepting their beliefs through appealing to their honest emotions with misleading information. We see Christians rationalizing their interest in such groups.

All lives do matter and yet the Bible tells us that there always have been those who are judged as less than, who need our steadfast support and whom we are called to love. Inequity exists and yet we are called to do our part to diminish inequality.

I believe the Bible still calls us to a more excellent standard, based on scripture, whether through our living in the world, in print or on social media. Social Justice, after all, is a call for scriptural justice. Isaiah 10 (ESV) declares, “Woe to those who decree iniquitous decrees, and the writers who keep writing oppression, to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people their right, that widows may be their spoil, and that they may make the fatherless their prey.”

The Bible remains our manual for how we live our lives justly and we do not get to rewrite it. Scripture remains the original call for social justice. In this world of self-promotion, we are called to promote unity through following the Word of God. In our lives, which include our digital lives, we are still called to behave as if for an audience (and ‘Like’) of One.

Philippians 2:3 tells us, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves.”

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Transformation?

Sat, 20 Feb 2021 09:00:39 GMT

guest post by Ron Friesen,

It is 1988, I am leading an adult Bible study in north Phoenix in a church I helped plant a few years earlier. As I am leading the study on the man born blind (John 9), I am realizing how privileged I am to be in this group. Some are very successful businesspeople, some are in professions like nursing and teaching, and still others are new single parents and several struggle with mental health issues. I divide the group into small groups. I invite them to put themselves into the characters in the story. Some are the blind man, some are parents of the blind man, some are the Pharisees and scribes and some are Jesus. After some struggle, each group enters into the character of their assigned personages. A lively debate ensues.

Bringing the Gospel narrative into the context of my class in 1988, I flip the script and say, “The man is not born blind, however, he has just told you he contracted AIDS. How would you react based on your roles you were just in?” Most group members realized that their roles reflected the varied societal responses to recently disclosed AIDS crisis.

Some wanted to question what sin he had committed? Some wanted to blame the man’s parents for failing to be good parents. Some wanted to pull out the rule book on sexual behavior. Some expressed compassion and wanted to see him healed.

Today on May 25, the issue is not AIDS but social injustice. On this date, one year ago, George Floyd suffocated on a street in Minneapolis while a policeman placed his knee on his neck.

Who are we in the narrative?

Are we the policeman who had his knee on George’s neck?

Are we the fellow policemen who are observing and trying to shield your fellow kneeling officer from the prying eyes of the public?

Are we the person with the telephone video camera taping the scene?

Are we one of the by-standers who is shouting at the policemen?

Are we a passer-by who notices the scene and who keeps walking by?

Perhaps at the date of George Floyd’s death, we were in the role we have been set in by our life experience. A year has passed, in what role are we today? Or are we still in a period of transformation?

It was my privilege to wash the feet of one of the homeless men. “Arnold” told me how he and his wife have been homeless a number of times in the past five years. Various circumstances such as lost jobs and lost housing have caused their homelessness. He was grateful for the attention I paid to him and the service offered.

There is something profoundly intimate in washing the feet of another person. The feet are the place where all nerves come to an ending. This is why the ancient practice of reflexology works miracles for many people.

As I was holding Arnold’s feet, I was wondering where his feet had been in his fifty-plus years. What did they play when they were in school playgrounds? What halls of achievement had they strolled through? Where had these feet moved to seeking relief from suffering and pain? As I gently washed, dried and applied lotion on Arnold’s feet, I prayed for his feet. I prayed they would walk in paths of peace, in ways of love and joy, and in streets of service to his family and his community.

As Arnold was grateful for my service; I am even more grateful for the opportunity to minister in the ways of Jesus, who washes our feet every day.

Bio for Ron Friesen

Ron Friesen, a native of British Columbia, Canada, has resided in Phoenix, Arizona since 1981. As an ordained minister with Mennonite Church, USA, Ron has served as a pastor, hospital chaplain, hospice chaplain and a chaplain with people experiencing homelessness. The last twenty-two years, Ron has been a bi-vocational minister while he worked as a professional mental health counselor in a community health center, a psychiatric hospital and a prison. Ron continues to be an adjunct professor at Grand Canyon University. Ron recently became a Certified Spiritual Director through the Christian Formation and Direction Ministry – Arizona.

Ron is married to June Friesen, a frequent contributor to Godspace. They are the parents of two adult sons and the proud grandparents of two girls who live with their parents in northern Virginia. Ron recently took up photography and hiking as a hobby. Ron’s life purpose is “Love God, love those who love God, and love those who don’t know God loves them.”

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