Pentecost as Living Breathing Witness!

Last week, I explored (wrote and preached on) the Ascension as Benediction.  So here is a followup, on Pentecost, the amazingly explosive day God gave "birth" to the church through the power of the Holy Spirit!   Last week, Jesus ascended into heaven blessing the disciples as he "disappeared."   Of course, Jesus didn't exactly disappear for he was on his way to re-union with God. This reunion was one from which the Spirit would come upon, not just special people for special times, but potentially upon all people for all times.     As I contemplated Pentecost and the early church this week, I rested in a fallow time of waiting by praising God with the disciples and keeping a gratitude journal.

Mexican Pentecost Icon (public domain artwork)

In great anticipation, I wait for the story of the Spirit to descend upon the people of God to give them the power to be witnesses to the Gospel.  What about me?  Do I experience the word "witness" as a verb - is it something I do?  Or do I experience it as a noun - something I am?    OR ... it is the now old expression "both/and?"  YES!  The question becomes for me, "What does it mean for my life to 'be' a living, breathing witness?

Emerging last week from my ponderings on the Ascension, I meditated on the rhythm of life that Jesus lived and invites us into, his own withdrawing for prayer and rest woven together with his ministry of preaching, teaching, and healing.  As he left and blessed the disciples this rhythm was heard in the text: wait! pray & praise God then receive power & witness ... remembering this same rhythm has arisen over Christian history:  St. Benedict's "pray and work," Wesley's means of grace in "works of piety and works of mercy," and Rohr's center for "action and contemplation."  In many ways, this rhythm itself is "archetype" of the spiritual journey, which means it "recurs as a symbol or motif."  I suppose if we think of creating a life with God, we could go all the way back to creation for a foundational symbol.  God, as Creator, worked and rested. 

For many months, I have felt a shift within, God moving me deeper and wider and farther into the unknown.  I feel like I am being called into a place I have never been before.  What I found this week as I spent time seeking God through praise and gratitude is that I am, once again, looking at every space and every movement as a time for finding blessings within them.  It is deepening my sense of God's presence and my faith in the unknown. I can feel my heart opening wider ... fertile ground for the question, "What does it mean for my life to 'be' a living, breathing witness?

Look up joyfully and say to the Lord in words or the desire of the heart: that which I am I offer to you Lord for you are it, and think nakedly, fully and boisterously that you are who you are without any questioning.  ~ The Cloud of Unknowing

As Christians, we celebrate these 2 weeks, Ascension (Jesus ascends) and Pentecost (Spirit descends) as an ending and a beginning.  Our texts emerge from the 2-part volume (Luke-Acts) penned by the author, traditionally known as "Luke."  As we left the disciples last week, the gospel text says they, "were continually in the temple courts blessing God."  (Luke 24:53, NET)  Blessing, in this context, means they were praising God.  As we move into the reading from Acts (2:1-4, NET) this week, it begins, "Now when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like a violent wind blowing came from heaven and filled the entire house where they were sitting. And tongues spreading out like a fire appeared to them and came to rest on each one of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them."

WOW!  All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them! I am drawn to the Holy Spirit!  I am drawn to this sense of power that descended upon them just as Jesus said it would.  The disciples and all of the followers of Jesus received the power to communicate with the world!  What rejoicing there must have been ... and yet, there is more to the story!  Read Acts 2:5-13 (NET)

Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven residing in Jerusalem. When this sound occurred, a crowd gathered and was in confusion, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. Completely baffled, they said, “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that each one of us hears them in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and the province of Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own languages about the great deeds God has done!” All were astounded and greatly confused, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others jeered at the speakers, saying, “They are drunk on new wine!”

Through my 21st century ears, the coming of the Holy Spirit sounds beautiful, but in reality it wasn't.  It was powerful but not necessarily was it a beautiful experience.  All were astounded and greatly confused!  Some accused the people of being drunk.   This amazing power to communicate, to bring people together in a new way, to be able to share the gospel story with people you couldn't even have said, "hello and how do you do?" to before the Spirit descended!  Some say this is the "undoing" of the Tower of Babel.  But ... it wasn't beautiful, people were filled with inner chaos.  How hard it is to embrace something new, someONE new!  How hard it is to believe someone else may have something that we don't have ... and yet, the gospel story invites all of its hearers to change, the ones speaking and the ones hearing.   The gospel story invites all of us into the question, "What does it mean for my life to 'be' a living, breathing witness?"

On that day of Pentecost, gathered together were many devout Jews.  The gospel story was inviting them to change not just their lives but their religion as they were now expressing it.  They were being invited to see the Messiah as a dead man now resurrected, risen, and ascended but not sitting on the earthly throne of a restored Jerusalem but on a heavenly throne.  Yeah, that's right.  Even the disciples had a hard time with that one.  Just a few verses before, they asked “Lord, is this the time when you are restoring the kingdom to Israel?”  (Acts 1:6b, NET)

How often do we hear Jesus say, "You have heard (this) but I tell you (that)" as he invites new ways of thinking, new ways of seeing, new ways of experiencing life.  And always it is with the purpose of expanding the kingdom.  Jesus welcomed the people no one else would welcome because Jesus sees each person through the eyes of the God of Love.  Jesus sees what we cannot see.  Jesus loves in ways and in depths that we cannot.  Jesus died for ALL.  This expansion of the kingdom, this welcome extended to ALL, is so often met with resistance.  Oh, yeah!  How can I confront my resistance to change so I can embody the question, "What does it mean for my life to 'be' a living, breathing witness?"

Finally in our passage for Pentecost, to accusations of drunkenness, Peter said, "this is what was spoken about through the prophet Joel: And in the last days it will be,’ God says, ‘that I will pour out my Spirit on all people ... and then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." (Acts 2:17, 21 NET) 

Does ALL mean ALL?  Either it does or it doesn't.  Does everyone mean everyone?  Either it does or it doesn't.  I wonder just how many and how often hungry, thirsty, and broken people, sinners all of us, who sincerely "call on the name of the Lord" are stopped at the door of our hearts and our churches and told, "no."   And somehow, I think that if they aren't calling on my name or your name, we don't have the authority to close the door to the kingdom in their face.  We just might be closing our own door to the kingdom ... and suddenly it all gets turned upside down, inside out ... the ones who think they are "in" are out and the ones we pronounce as "out" are in.   Now, that sounds like the Jesus I know and love!  Paradox abounds!

I don't know, there is just something about gratitude in my prayer life that helps me to see blessings in difficult places and opens my heart to God, to others often unwelcome in my world, and yes even to the parts of myself that I don't like.  I ask myself the question one last time,  "What does it mean for my life to 'be' a living, breathing witness?"

Jesus said, "Wait for the Holy Spirit." Only when my heart is open can I receive the power of the Holy Spirit.  Only through the power of the Holy Spirit, can I allow God to change my heart so that I can travel beyond the kingdom of Cindy to deeply embrace the kingdom of God!   


Don't you just some days want to shout, "Come, Holy Spirit, Come!  Come NOW!" 

And may it be so!  Amen!

A simple prayer to welcome the Spirit of Pentecost to the World:  May the dove of peace be with us this day. May many blessings follow us always. May the Holy Spirit guide our path, give us strength, and kindle our heart for the journey into the kingdom -- forever. Amen.

followed by a personal 3-fold Breath prayer that emerges ... 

Breathing in ... Holy Spirit ... Breathing out ... guide my path

Breathing in ... Holy Spirit ... Breathing out ... give me strength

Breathing in ... Holy Spirit ... Breathing out ... kindle my heart 

(for the journey into the kingdom)

Repeat your breath prayer until you are moved to a gentle Amen.

The God Who Seeks and Finds and Rejoices in our Journey ...

Friends, I am struggling with the passage this week.  I struggled with the title of the blog post (it only changed 5 times) and especially the punctuation (should it be exclamatory or ... pensive?:-)!   I believe this means I am finding a depth within the text that is inviting me to see something ... think something ... feel something ... be something ... do something ... Something?  Yes ... something new, different, fresh, deeper!   Have you ever felt this way?   I once had a friend who said, "It is the passage that gets under your skin that you must pay special attention to."  Indeed!

I'll share the journey I took to give us a little context for the prayerful reading of our lives.  I think the first thing that attracted me in this passage was the various ways an extravagant sense of "joy" emerged from within the text as I read.  And yet, suddenly in the midst of my contemplation the context of this joy bubbled up for me: sin and repentance.  The verse I've had personally tucked away in my heart for some time (at one time, I was THAT sinner-now I am just THIS sinner) is:  

there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who changes both heart and life than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need to change their hearts and lives

I was using the Common English Bible which seems to mask the power of the word repentance.  When I began looking at the words in Greek, I realized that this version chose to interpret the Greek concept of metanoeo/metanoia as "change" which really is a word more contemporary and recognizable in our own lives.  We know what it means to change.  We don't often like it but we understand it.  For me this word change actually brought the passage closer to my life.  A repentance kind of change is radical.  When we change in the sense of repentance our whole life changes ... and yet most of the time in our reality this only happens in small changes of perspective and small steps, one day at a time, I think ...

In this passage 3 different Greek forms of the word "joy" are used, 5 times.  Vs. 5-chairo {khah'-ee-ro} meaning to rejoice, to be glad and to be well.  Vss. 6&9-sugchairo {soong-khah'-ee-ro} meaning to rejoice together with one another.  And vss. 7&10-chara {khar-ah'} meaning the joy received from another.  In this passage we see that "joy" is quite communal.  The reason for joy in this passage: sin and repentance.   The Greek word used for sin/sinners is hamartolos {ham-ar-to-los'}.  In this passage the word is used 5 times and, especially illustrated by singling out the despised tax collectors, means devoted to sin and quite wicked.  In fact, Luke articulates a marked distinction between sinners who need to repent and those who don't.

Into the context of "sin" highlighted as such by the religious and legal experts, Jesus uses 2 parables to introduce a new word.  In Greek, the sheep and the coin representing the "sinners" are translated through the word apollumi {ap-ol'-loo-mee} ... loss! to perish, to be lost, ruined, and destroyed.  At the same time, God is imaged as a shepherd and as a woman, 2 marginalized persons in the world of Jesus.  While the religious and legal experts see no further than who a persons in/what a person is doing at the moment, which they label sin, God experiences their loss/our loss, searches for us until we are found and then rejoices with all!

At the end of my contemplation, I feel like Luke wants us to know that what he is writing about is a really BIG deal.  People who are lost are VERY important to God.  So important, in fact, that Luke uses these 2 parables to set up the Parable of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15:11b-32.  In that story we are reminded that no matter how far you and I run, wander, or fall away ... God is waiting to embrace prodigals with open arms when we return, full of grace and agape love!

When you are ready to lean into our passage for lectio divina and struggle with me, take a few moments to center yourself by engaging in a simple breath prayer (6-8 syllables) like this one (or one that emerges from within yourself)

Breathe in ... Seeking God (pause)
Breathe out ... I Seek You (pause)

James Tissot [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Pray for illumination of the text:  Spirit of the Seeking God, open my heart to the power of your Love in the written text.  Speak to my heart as I listen to your gentle whispers.  Amen.

Step 1: Lectio/Reading … Reading

Read John 15:1-10 (CEB) slowly and reverently, letting the words steep in your mind. Perhaps you might imagine yourself sitting at the feet of Jesus, listening to him challenge the Pharisees with the parables.  Listen for a word or phrase that catches your attention.  Gently focus on that word or phrase.  Repeat it several times and allow it to be sifted through your heart and mind all the way to your soul. 

All the tax collectors and sinners were gathering around Jesus to listen to him. The Pharisees and legal experts were grumbling, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”  Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose someone among you had one hundred sheep and lost one of them. Wouldn’t he leave the other ninety-nine in the pasture and search for the lost one until he finds it? And when he finds it, he is thrilled and places it on his shoulders. When he arrives home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Celebrate with me because I’ve found my lost sheep.’ In the same way, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who changes both heart and life than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need to change their hearts and lives.  “Or what woman, if she owns ten silver coins and loses one of them, won’t light a lamp and sweep the house, searching her home carefully until she finds it?  When she finds it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Celebrate with me because I’ve found my lost coin.’  In the same way, I tell you, joy breaks out in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who changes both heart and life.”

Step 2: Meditatio/Meditation … Receiving
Read the passage a 2nd time ...
Continue to focus on just a word or a phrase (it may be different on this reading)
Pay attention to the thoughts and feelings the passage evokes within you.
What images emerge in your imagination?  What memories come to your mind?
Ask God to continue to speak to you through this word.
Listen for God’s reply as you move through your day

Step 3: Oratio/Prayer … Responding
Consider any thoughts or feelings or desires that have been awakened.
Perhaps you have found an area of your life that needs attention.
Do not rush ... wait and listen as God forms your prayers

Step 4: Contempatio/Contemplative Silence … Resting
Allow yourself to rest in the silence.
Allow your mind to settle into the silence.
Allow your heart and breathe with the silence
When you feel the time to move on ...

Pray:  Spirit of the Seeking God, fill my heart with your love and the joy you feel as the lost are found and embraced by the communities in which they seek you with the passion that you seek us all.  Amen. 

Called by a New Name

This is our 3rd and final week with Isaiah during this time after the Epiphany.  In week 1 we allowed the metaphor of light to illuminate the text.  In week 2, we embraced water and fire as metaphors for the struggles of life as we moved through the text.  This week Isaiah “of the Restoration” talks about transformation of the people and their lives in the form of “re-naming.”   In the bible God renames people when they have had a powerful experience during which they have been changed from within.  Isaiah expects that when the exiles return their lives will be transformed just as our lives are transformed when we fall short, turn away and subsequently return to God. 

Let’s listen in as Isaiah comforts the exiles returning to Jerusalem.  You can read more about Isaiah and the context of this passage in this paper I wrote several years ago:  Vision of Restoration.  Although it focuses on a selection located a few verses before today’s passage, what is written about the Exiles and their journey back to Jerusalem still holds true. 

As you prepare your heart to read and pray the scriptures, remember the Israelite exiles … going home to a desolate, dark and lonely place … only a faint shadow of what it once was.   Remember refugees all over the world, people who are fleeing war and strife in their homeland.  Remember those you know who are struggling with life right now, especially the homeless men or women who are cold and have no place to lay their head tonight.  Remember your own struggles, be they old ones or new ones. 

Just sit with your "remembering" right now and breathe a gentle breath prayer for the world:  

Breathe in … God of All Names (pause)  
Breath out … Change our world (pause) 

When you are ready to move into the text, use these verses of Psalm 23 (adapted) as a prayer:

O Lord, you are my shepherd, I shall not want.
You makes me lie down in green pastures;
You leads me beside still waters;
You restores my soul.
You lead me in right paths
    for your name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I fear no evil; for you are with me;
   your rod and your staff — they comfort me.

Now, read Isaiah 62:1-5 with the "ear of your heart" using Lectio Divina, during which you will breathe and listen deeply to Isaiah’s encouraging message as you read the text slowly, savoring it in all of its beauty.

Reading 1.    Read the text slowly. Focus your attention on the sense of the passage as you hear it.   Perhaps you will find a word or phrase full of meaning for you.  Take a deep breath and move on when you are ready ...

Movement 1 (Read) and repeat your word or phrase several times.  Let the word or phrase that has chosen you sink into your soul.   What word or phrase is most full of meaning for you where you are in your life right now? 

Isaiah 62:1-5
For Zion's sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until her vindication shines out like the dawn, and her salvation like a burning torch. The nations shall see your vindication, and all the kings your glory; and you shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the LORD will give. You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God. You shall no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate; but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her, and your land Married; for the LORD delights in you, and your land shall be married. For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your builder marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.

2.    Read the text slowly again ... As you read, listen for the still small voice of the text whispering to you, “Here I am, where are you?”  Where is God calling your attention?  Sit with the “word” God has for you … it can be from the text itself OR it can be a different word or phrase that has arisen from the text.  Take a deep breath and move on when you are ready ...

Movement 2 (Reflect)  How does God want to work in your life and change your name?  If God gave you a new name what would it be?  Use your own words and consider this phrase as a meditation to pray with:  I once was _____ and now I am ______

A butterfly in the countryside of Panama ... a sign of transformation!

3.    Read the text slowly again.  Respond to God with prayers of surrender and commitment ... sing praises, whisper confessions, laugh gratitude, breathe in discernment, breathe out commitment ... whatever emerges from within you as you pray.   Take a deep breath and move on when you are ready …

Movement 3 (Respond)  How do you offer your prayers and your life to God today?

4.    Rest in the gentle silence of God's presence.  Breathe in the transforming power of God.  As you move on, breathe out the transforming Love of God upon the world!

Movement 4 (Rest) Breathe … Breathe … Breathe … Amen

To end your time praying with scripture, use these remaining verses of Psalm 23 as an amen:

You prepare a table before me
    in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
    my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
    all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
    my whole life long. 

If music is a pathway to God for you, listen to this song sung by Eden's Bridge: I will change your name.  The graphics on this video are not that clear and the words are blurry but I simply close my eyes and listen. This song illuminates our passage by Isaiah in a beautiful and moving way and was written in the 1980's by a woman named DJ Butler.  It is her story and my story and your story ... and our prayer for exiles and refugees all over the world.

Transfiguration: Change Me!

Hello dear one ... This is the week of the "transfiguration" of Jesus.  Transfiguration simply means, to change.  The Greek words used here is metamorphoo {met-am-or-fo'-o} which means to change shape or form.   Jesus changed in appearance.   As we move into the small portion of biblical text this week, we seek to experience this power to be changed.

I invite you to sit for a moment and breathe deeply of God's transformational power.   How willing are you to change ... or to "be" changed?  Take a few moments to center yourself on God, the Source of inner movement and holy transformation.  Change is hard.  In the spiritual life, we often talk of "birthing" when we are in the midst of God's holy fire of change.  Know that God loves you and will keep you safe when you are moving through the fiery chamber of transformational power.   

Settle into a place of openness within yourself with a simple breath prayer.  Use this one or create your own (six to eight syllables) 

      Breathe in ... God of Change (pause)
      Breath out ... I welcome you (pause)

and when you are ready to move deeper into the text ... Pray:

God of Change, I open my heart to you.  As I read your holy word, reveal yourself to me and help me recognize you when you are calling me to grow closer to you and to who I am meant to be.  Amen.    

Read Mark 9:2-9 slowly, allowing the text to unfold in your mind.  Visualize the scene as if it were taking place before your eyes ...

Mark 9:2-9  (NEW!  Common English Bible CEB)
Six days later Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and brought them to the top of a very high mountain where they were alone. He was transformed in front of them, and his clothes were amazingly bright, brighter than if they had been bleached white.  Elijah and Moses appeared and were talking with Jesus.  Peter reacted to all of this by saying to Jesus, “Rabbi, it’s good that we’re here. Let’s make three shrines—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”  He said this because he didn’t know how to respond, for the three of them were terrified.  Then a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice spoke from the cloud, “This is my Son, whom I dearly love. Listen to him!”  Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.   As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them not to tell anyone what they had seen until after the Human One had risen from the dead.

Read the passage again slowly and Reflect on just a word or phrase that draws your attention.   Sit with your word or phrase and listen to the small, still voice of God calling you to transformation ... Listen to Jesus!  How does this word or phrase touch your emotions?    Take your emotions deep into silent prayer and let your fear, awe, anxiety, wonder, and any other feelings you have rise up within you, even emotions that don't seem "appropriate," especially those emotions for they all come to teach you and tell you who you are.  Know that God is with you and will always sit with you in your deepest emotions, even when you say crazy things or do silly things.    Sit here with God as long as you like, soak in the love.

Read the passage again slowly and Respond.   Jesus tells the disciples not to talk about what has happened on the mountain ... but you are free to talk to God about what is happening within and around you.   As you once again turn your attention to your word or phrase, it's really fine if it is a different one on this reading ... where are you finding the transforming power of God calling you to change or to be still or to listen ... ?  What would you like to say to God about what you are sensing about the changes that are needed.? 

Read the passage again and Rest.  Allow the presence of God to surround you and transform you from moment to moment.  Rest until all words have faded away and you are at rest with the peace of God cradling you in Presence ... Take time to journal your meditations!   Take time to draw or create this transformation ...

When you sense it is time to move out of your meditation ... Pray:

God of fiery transformation and gentle change, I want to be on the mountain with you.  I want to see your face and live.  I want to follow you and share you with others.  Lead me and guide me with loving kindness.   Amen.


Cindy's Journal Reflection ...  a voice spoke ... a voice, spoke ... O God how I long to hear your voice.  I hear it gentle, I hear it loving ... and are you angry instead ... listen you say, and I say speak, let me hear your voice ... I want to listen to the words you say to me ... I want to hear your voice rising from the ashes of despair to bring life and healing to the world ...





To experience this text as an Audio Lectio which is a guided meditation using the structure of Lectio Divina, take this Link:   Transfiguration Sunday.   This Audio Lectio was produced by Alive Now, an offering by Upper Room Ministries.   You can search both websites for more of these lovely meditations and other tools for spiritual nourishment.  Blessings!

"I must be the change that I want to see in the world."

Gandhi said, "I must be the change that I want to see in the world." 

Change.  What is the change that I want to see in the world?
I want to see PEACE in the world ...

PAIX (french) ...
LAPE PAZ (Creole) ...
ACAHUKMA (Choctaw Houma Indian) 

How do you say peace in the language you first learned?

When I talk about peace in the world, I am not just talking about peace as a calm feeling inside a person.  I am not talking about a world full of people who live in their own isolated place of inner tranquility.  I am also not talking about peace in the sense of an absence of physical conflict or a world where we would just ignore each other to "keep" the peace.  

I mean Peace in the Hebrew "Shalom" sense of the word.  Shalom means completeness in number, safety and soundness in body, welfare and health and prosperity, peace and friendship in human relationships and with God in a covenant relationship. (bibleworks word analysis)  The last part sounds like something Jesus would say!  (Matthew 12:28-31)

There is a communal sense to the Hebrew way of shalom ...Listen to the beauty of this communal blessing that many of us have heard a countless number of times in our own communities:

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you;  the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you "shalom."  (Numbers 6:24-26)  

Now look a little closer.   The Lord (Yehovah = our God) bless (barak = adore) you and keep (shamar = protect, watch over) you.  The Lord make his face (paniym = presence) to shine upon (owr = light up or illuminate) you, and be gracious (chanan = show compassion or favor) to you; the Lord lift up (nasa' = sustain or endure) his countenance (paniym = presence) upon you, and give you shalom. (enhanced by bibleworks word analysis)

As I struggle with what it means to change so that I am the "change I want to see in the world"
Hear this blessing going out to all who sit with me in my struggle and desire to change ...

My dear friends in Mission, May God adore you and protect you.  May God be present to you, illuminate your life, and show you compassion.  May God be a sustaining presence in your life and lead you into relationships of wholeness with God and with others.  

One last question for you to ponder.  Please share your thoughts with our readers:
What is the change that YOU want to see in the world?