Lacy Blue came to church yesterday! Only a few weeks old, she won the hearts of her church family. As I watched from the chancel, I saw a smile on every face, as she was lovingly passed from mother to father, to grandmother. Throughout the service baby sounds blessed us, and folks in the pews nearby looked over to see each tiny movement. Love for this little one filled our hearts!
Another blessing of the day was the announcement of the arrival of Waylon Jackson. The rosebud marking his birth was placed in the straw of the empty manger, in place for the evening Hanging of the Greens Service, along with his picture and his cradle cross, and proud grandparents and uncle were there to share the moment. Together we prayed: Bless the child who comes here. Fill his life with love and cheer. Keep him safe from year to year.”
It’s been said that every child born into the world is a new thought of God. I wonder what “new thought of God” comes with Lacy Blue and Waylon Jackson. What a joy it will be to watch their becoming!
I was reminded of the Benediction given most often by the pastor in my home church during my childhood. At the end of every service he would say, “May God bless you, and your children and your children’s children.” I’m sure he was simply glancing around the congregation as he spoke those words, but my childish heart believed those words were for my family alone. In my eyes, he looked at my grandparents in our family pew, then at my mother in the choir loft and then at my brother and me! Then, with a wide sweep of his arms, he would conclude, “and all God’s children, forever more.” I want this experience of belonging to God and God’s people for Lacy Blue and Waylon Jackson!
Thanks be to God for the gift of new life among us and for those streams of mercy, never ceasing.
Elizabeth
“Regardless of the outcome of the political transitions in the United States, the world will remain awash in crises of every sort, with economic sanctions and other threats thrown from leader to leader; with buildup of military arsenals; with people around the world suffering from diseases, disasters and deprivation,” writes Vernon Broyles, a volunteer for public witness in the PC(USA)’s Office of the General Assembly. (Presbyterians Today, Nov-Dec 2018)
He poses several questions I’m continuing to ponder from day to day:
“Is this ‘nation under God, with liberty and justice for all’ still a viable home for those who cannot afford to eat three meals a day; cannot afford a roof over their heads; cannot ameliorate the medical challenges they face; and who work but cannot survive on the wages they receive?”
“And what about our faith communities? Is the Roman Catholic leadership so damaged that those leaders cannot lead? Has Protestant influence become a shadow of itself that is deemed irrelevant in the political world?”
“Have American citizens become so bereft of moral guidance that they care little about the morality of leadership as long as the Dow climbs?”
“For those of us who claim to follow Jesus Christ, this is precisely the time in which our faith must lead us into prayer and action. We must plan together with denominational, ecumenical and interfaith partners to work for a vision of unity among our shattered humanity, relying on our faith in the God who made us all and who has given us the promise of a new future … As we enter the season of Advent, we remember that before us stands the figure of the One who has come that we may have life abundant. If God’s promise is real, now is the time to claim it and to work in hope for a future that is shaped by God’s Spirit. We are, after all, a community of hope, witnessing to the world in love and expectation of a brighter future for all of God’s children.”
May these thoughts be a part of this year’s Advent journey. I give thanks for these words and these questions, for the hope they hold for us, and for streams of mercy, never ceasing.
Elizabeth
“I’m grateful for the opportunity to bring the message at this year’s Interfaith Service, for this time to stand together seeking common ground and understanding, affirming our common humanity, and giving thanks for the blessing of life together in this time and place. I’m grateful for the opportunity to speak from the heart truths I hold dear in this open, free and safe place as we experience in this time together “faith without borders.”
A lot of what we hold in common with one another has been lost, and we’ve fallen out of a sense of belonging to one another. There are just too many spaces between us these days- life experiences and lifestyle; political views and economic status; race, gender and nationality; religion and faith. We’ve fallen out of a sense of belonging to one another; we’re separated, even, from the persons we were created to be.
A few years ago, I think it was on the tenth anniversary of this Interfaith Service, Dr. Dudley Crawford told the story of a little girl who asked God who it was who drew all the lines on the earth to separate the world’s peoples! Indeed, who drew all the lines? How did we come to have so many spaces between us? We are “sojourners all” on this good earth!
Our times are desperate for meaning and belonging. We must recover our sense of belonging to one another and our sense of belonging to God who created us. We work to lessen the spaces between us, we debate and reason, dictate and argue; we legislate and mandate and struggle to understand – but those spaces between us are still there.
In his book “To Bless the Space Between Us”, John O’Donohue speaks of the need to recover the lost art of blessing. We must begin to learn how to bless one another, and to bless the spaces between us. Blessing the spaces between us creates a space for God, however we understand God, to shine healing light, to illumine a truth and to show the way.
A blessing is a gracious calling out for help and support, protection and inspiration- a gracious calling out that touches the heart of God. A blessing is a circle of light drawn around a person or a situation to protect, heal and strengthen. A blessing calls forth a place where everything comes together, where loss will be made good, where blindness will transform into vision, where questions will have answers and where the wanderings of life’s journey will find a homecoming. A blessing can be like the discovery of a fresh well in the desert. A blessing sheds light on a person or situation, and things can be seen in completely new ways; at a dead end, a new path appears. A blessing is a breath of fresh air in a troubled and divided world, suggesting that no life is alone or unreachable- that our lives flow into each other as wave flows into wave, and there can be no lasting peace and joy for one until there is peace and joy for all.
While we seem to have progressed to become experts on so many things and have gained ground in so many areas, we have lost the gift of presence to one another and the gift of belonging. Blessing is intended to strengthen human presence and belonging. To believe in blessing is to believe that our being here, our very presence in the world is itself a blessing.
The greatest honor we can give God, in all the ways we understand the Almighty, is to love one another, and to see each other through the lens of love, secure in the love of God for all God’s children. Let us never miss the chance to love! Together let us seek and find all the barriers within us that we have built against love, and let our hearts be broken again and again, until they open to one another, and from our hearts we bless the spaces between us.”
(taken from “Blessing the Spaces Between Us,” a message shared by Rev. Elizabeth Forester at the 13th Annual Interfaith Thanksgiving Service at Temple Beth Shalom, on November 18, 2018)