Mountain and Valley

We started off this week with the story of the Transfiguration… Jesus walked up a mountain with a few of his closest disciples and was suddenly transformed into a brilliant, glorious appearance. Joe gave a message about how the disciples were awestruck and confused by a piece of God’s glory come down to earth, and how we often cannot comprehend the presence of God. After the Transfiguration, we come down from the mountain into the end of Jesus’ ministry into the season of Lent. This year we are going through stories of Jesus interacting with humanity every Sunday until Easter, and communicating the grittiness and pain of humanity through blues music.

Sara is out of town for the week at remote village in Washington called Holden. They don’t have phone or email reception out there, as part of a contemplative atmosphere, but I’m sure she will have interesting stories about it when she gets back. In the meantime, I have had a whole lot of silent time at home. Complete silence sometimes makes me uncomfortable because it forces me to hear my own thoughts. On the other hand, silence seems to be an appropriate way to start Lent… to start off by clearing the plate of the things that nag at the back of our minds like job security and life direction and what God wants with us.

What is love?

At biblestudy, we read how Jesus started the last supper by washing his disciples feet. The message is pretty straight-forward (unlike many other places in John). Jesus said, "If I am your teacher and I am washing your feet. Then you also shall wash other's feet."

Jesus was showing them (and us) what love is. Love is giving. Love us humbling yourself to do something that is "below you." Love is getting wet and dirty and cold for someone.

We had quite a long conversation about Judas. He was there and had his feet washed along with the other disciples. We talked about fate and how much Judas knew or understood his role in fulfilling God's will for Jesus or if he was simply a zealot who was dishearted that Jesus wasn't the type of Messiah that he had been hoping for.

Either way, Jesus washing his feet signifies that love is even more than doing something nice for your friends. It is also giving, humbling yourself in front of those who have hurt you. Regardless of Judas's motivation for betraying Jesus, he was still one of his best friends who handed him over to die. Forgiving and loving friends who have hurt us may be one of the hardest lessons Jesus teaches.

Letting go, finding healing

What is it to be healed? To take away pain? To take away the cause of pain? To become super-human and never face pain again? When Jesus healed people, what does that mean?

At biblestudy and at Crossings, we talked about healing and what it means for us. What it means to find healing in faith. Over all, it seems that everyone felt like healing was a letting go. A finding of faith that surpasses the sorrows and pains we feel in life.

Jeff once told me that when we are baptised we try to tread water to keep our head up. But with time, we get tired and we are left with two options... 1. get out of the water or 2. stop fighting and let go.

Letting go is dangerous. Going under means drowning. Dying to ourselves, to our desire to control all the bad things around us and make them go away. Letting go is trusting God beyond what we can understand or control. But, in letting go we find the peace and joy of the resurrection which heals us, fully and completely.

They shall run and not grow weary

This past weekend, we enjoyed an AWESOME time up in Gualala. As I had hoped, a prolonged weekend near the ocean brought me a sense of spiritual calm that I needed more than I recognized.

On Saturday morning, a group of us went for a run along the water. It was beautiful. It was beautiful but long. I haven't really run for a while so the 5 miles we did was more than my body was used to. On the way back I looked for marker after marker telling myself, I was 25% of the way, 50%, 60%.

We had less than a mile to go and one of the women got really tired and wanted to stop. But we were almost there. She couldn't give up now! I started clapping my hands. Run to the rhythm. Take one step after another. Almost magically, we both started running faster. We weren't tired.

The next morning at church they read the verse: "He shall restore their strength and they shall fly on wings like eagles. They shall run and not grow weary" (Isaiah 40) I imagined God running along side of us on the beach, clapping his hands - take one step after another, listen for my rhythm.

Life has twists and turns and a path that is hard to follow. There are so many times I just want to say - ENOUGH, I'M TIRED! and in the words of my best friend - NO MORE PERSONAL GROWTH FOR ME. I DON'T WANT TO BE A GROWN-UP ANY MORE, I'M TURNING IN MY KEYS!

That is when God runs up behind us, through a friend, through a moment, through sunlight in the trees, through the ocean, through a whisper and claps - one step after another, I'm with you. And suddenly, everything is alright. We aren't so tired and we can run but not grow weary.

Thank you, God.

a bottle of wine, a hottub and a weekend on the beach...

Sometimes we need a breath of air to clear our minds, discover new perspective or to hear the quiet voice of God speaking into our lives.

A few weeks ago, I learned that a group from church was going up to visit a mission congregation in Gualala (a small town north of Bodega Bay). I thought it a perfect opportunity for the group from Crossings to get away and have some fun together.

Plans came together so naturally. We found this awesome house with a hottub not far off the beach that was really cheap. People volunteered to help drive and cook and before I knew it, it began to feel like a high-school senior year road trip - with close friends and nothing but the highway in front of you.

Who is Jesus?

At the end of our Monday night biblestudy, Jeff threw out there that John paints a picture of who he needs / wants Jesus to be. The Logos, the infinite, the creator bound up in a man. Matthew paints a Jesus that is the fulfillment of Jewish prophecy. Mark gives us a Jesus that moves and shakes and makes things happen. Luke, a Jesus that flips the power structures on their head.

Each of the gospel writers hone in on and tell a story of a different facet of Jesus. They give us the Jesus they understood or sought.

It made me wonder, who do we want or need Jesus to be? How do we read those verses to pull out the aspects of Jesus that suit our understanding of the world? Do I blind myself to truth by not taking in the parts of Jesus's story that confuse or offend me?

...and they were amazed at his teaching...

This week's lesson came from Mark 1:22 "The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law"

Have you ever had a teacher that amazed you? that changed your view of the world? I think of my first year of college. I became an assistant for my art teacher who was this incredibly wise man (think Morgan Freedman and James Earl Jones roles) He was for me - my sensai. Long hours I would work in his studio, listening to the jazz, watching him paint and wondering what my place in the world would be. He would rarely speak to me, but I hungered to learn from him. I wanted to become wise and to figure out who and what I should become.

I thought of him when Jeff preached about Jesus's teaching and how he likened it to those amazing teachers we have had who have shaped us. It reminded me of how my professor would use metaphors with me but not explain them and let me think about them all day while I cleaned his studio. As we've been reading through John, it seems that Jesus taught in this way too - giving small bits to his disciples to ponder. It takes time and desire to grow for these kinds of lessons to sink in.