Hope...

"Hope begins in the dark. You wait and watch and work. You don't give up." - Anne Lamott

I read these words months ago, but only now are they really ringing true to me. It has been a rough ride here in Auburn these six months. I love my students, love the man I work with, love the area, and love that I get to do what I do for a living. I have not loved the feelings of loneliness and unsettledness that I have had. I've talked about it in other blogs, so I won't revisit it all. Suffice to say that I've done my share of waiting, watching, and working...and not giving up (sometimes just barely!!). I feel closer to God than ever before and more hopeful than I have in a long time. And hope is a beautiful thing...it definitely begins in the dark, but there is all sorts of light on the other side.

Inspiring Quote...

"Love the creature as it leads to the Creator." - John Wesley

Epiphany

I really love the Christian calendar. This has not always been the case. In fact, I used to fight it.

In my years in youth ministry, I had a pastor who was very tied to liturgy and the liturgical calendar. I would ask him why we would do things and he would generally sort of blow me off. I found this irritating and, therefore, had no interest in liturgy whatsoever. I don't think either one of us responded right to the situation. I should have pressed him further and even done some personal research on the liturgical calendar and liturgy in general. He probably could have stopped and explained things to me at least every once in a while. I am convinced that if either of these things would have happened, my love for liturgy would have started growing a long time ago. It fits right in with my love affair with the communion of saints.

All that said, I think "Epiphany" is my favorite liturgical season. I love them all and I long to experience God more fully in each season. But "Epiphany" really stands out for me. Maybe it is because it is almost overlooked by the modern church. We've just come out of Advent and Christmas and we tend to just hold on and wait for Lent and Easter. Most Christians would say our two big days are Christmas and Easter. Few could list what happens in between.

Epiphany is a time of commemoration of the coming of the wise men. Their coming is symbolic of the fact that God came in Jesus Christ to save all people of all nations. Our celebration of Epiphany in the church is our way of looking ahead from this first "light" to the wise men to the mission of the church for the world in light of the birth of Jesus Christ.

We all have a part to play in what I call the "big" Epiphany. That is, the revelation of Jesus Christ to all people of all nations. As we live in this season, I think we should be asking ourselves what our part is in it all. We all have little epiphanies in our lives that are not unlike what happened to the wise men so long ago. They cause us to take notice and take action in our lives. That is what epiphany and epiphanies are all about, really. Where is God asking you to take notice and take action in your own life?

Forgiveness and Ford's Farewell

I am not a Republican. I am really not a full-fledged Democrat either, though I tend to identify more with the direction they take. I am not interested in a political debate about which party is best or whether or not Ford's pardon of Nixon was the right decision. I am posting about "Ford's Farewell" because I heard something in one of the many services that struck a chord with me. In his eulogy (in reference to the pardon) Dick Cheney stated, "There are far worse things for a man to be remembered for than his capacity to forgive."

I found these words both powerful and convicting as a Christian. I do not often identify with Cheney, but I cannot shake these words. No matter my political preference, I cannot escape the fact that what he said speaks to the core of who we are called to be as Christians. As followers of Christ, we are called to this kind of life. What Cheney said of Ford should be said of each of us if we are who we say we are.

I want to be remembered like that now. I want those that know me or even just come into contact with me to walk away knowing I am a Christian...and I want that to mean something. I want that to mean that I am a deeply loving and forgiving person because I know my own roots. I want others to see in me sinner saved by grace. A person who sees them with the same compassion and mercy with which she, too, is seen by God.