PRAYER W2 D2 ... and There He Prayed (Mark 1:32-35)

Today we learn about "prayer as a holy rhythm" and how Jesus prayed, even at busy times, making His time with God a part of "His spiritual center". We are encouraged to think of our prayer life as the eye of a hurricane... the calm surrounded by the strong winds and destruction.

What does your hurricane look like? Mine has the swirling winds... problems with work, family concerns, grief, times when I feel I should do more in some areas and don't do enough in others... the winds come in all directions sometimes.

In the center is the eye... my prayer life. It's the period each morning when I come before God for solitude - and solace.

PRAYER W2 D1 God is Our Refuge and Strength (Psalm 46)

I needed today's lesson badly. You see, I've been dreading tomorrow for almost 10 years... really. I guess I should explain a bit. Ten years prior to tomorrow (Dec 29, 1999) my son died and ten years before that date (Dec 29, 1989), my father died. I will be really relieved when tomorrow is over and I still have all my close friends and family (which I fully expect to be the case whenever I think about this logically).

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. This whole psalm is about trusting God when everything is going wrong in your life. A lot of people feel it is easier to trust God when trouble brews (because we tend to forget Him when things are going well). But I guess I'm a bit different in this regard. It's easy to thank God for all my blessings (and I do), but I find that I want to blame God first in bad times rather than trust in Him.

That's where prayer comes in. Daily prayer is the only path I've found to keep God front and center in my thoughts during both the good times and the bad ones. It's sort of like keeping the communication open. Our book suggests on p.23 that we commit to ourselves to do this thing called prayer daily, and that we start now.

It's a good thing it's New Year's Day soon!

PRAYER W1 D5 Teach Us How To Pray (Luke 11:1-4)

Today we read a slightly different version of The Lord's Prayer as found in Luke. We are then invited to rewrite the prayer, adding our own "real life stuff". I wrote...


Your Name is HOLY, O Father!

Bring your kingdom throughout the earth so that we may have justice for all people, but especially for those we meet in our lives.

Provide good nourishing food to us every day - food for our bodies, our minds, and our souls - so that we can go into our world and be your example before others.

Forgive us when we do wrong... and when we do it again... and again. Help us forgive those who wrong us - even when they do it again and again.

And do not surround us with temptations - all the bright shiny beautiful objects which distract us from you.


The "grey words" on the bottom of p.21 contain a nice summary of The Lord's Prayer. "With this simple prayer, Jesus teaches us adoration, integrity, trust, compassion and dependence on God."

PRAYER W1 D4 Your Will be Done (Matt 6:9-13)

After reading The Lord's Prayer in Matthew today, we are to spend 10 minutes praying "Your will be done, on ____________ as it is in heaven" while filling in the blank with an area of concern or a part of our life. As we do this we should be thinking about how we might be "carriers" of God's will during our journeys in our pilgrimage, thereby "infecting" His will on the earth.

"Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven."

"Your will be done in Iraq, as it is in heaven."

"Your will be done for our soldiers, as it is in heaven."

"Your will be done in America, as it is in heaven."

"Your will be done in Middletown, as it is in heaven."

"Your will be done in J2A/Confirmation, as it is in heaven."

"Your will be done in my home, as it is in heaven."

"Your will be done on the internet, as it is in heaven."

"Your will be done in my mind, as it is in heaven."

You get the idea...

It's eye opening to realize that I have tasks (a to do list?) related to God carrying out His will here on earth for each of these areas of concern for me. A key part of my work on my journey is to so connect with God that my thoughts and desires express His will.

I still have a long path to go...

PRAYER W1 D3 Confessions of St. Augustine (prayer)

Today's reading was not from the Bible, but was a prayer from The Confessions of St. Augustine. We are to read it twice and let it permeate our heart.

My favorite line in the prayer was "And see, you were within and I was in the external world and sought you there, and in my unlovely state I plunged into those lovely created things you made." He goes on to say that those "lovely things" kept him from God.

I think I like these lines because it's an issue I have as well. I frequently get sidetracked in my journey by "lovely created things"... maybe it's photography, guitar practice, or heck even youth work... where I allow these "lovely things" (I'll call them wonderful distractions) to get in the way of my life and purpose. Now you could say that life is the journey (and you'd be right), but I think our lifetime journey is in the balancing... or maybe continuously putting the distractions aside and focusing on God.

I've done the exercise on the bottom of p.16 many times... stand outside under the stars and ponder what others who have done the same have thought. (Did I tell you that one of my distractions is astronomy?) So go outside tonight and look up at the stars for a bit (bundle up... it's cold). It's one of the few things we can see just as our ancestors saw it (well, except for light pollution).

Ponder... how is our life like that of St. Augustine's

PRAYER W1 D2 Speak LORD, for Your Servant is Listening (1 Samuel 3:1-14)

Today's passage is a favorite of mine because it tells of hearing God's voice and being confused (something that happens to me from time to time). The boy, Samuel, is confused when God calls out his name, thinking it was Eli. Finally Eli helps him understand how to listen to God.

How to listen to God...

It's a powerful thought because it implies that when we talk to God through prayer, sometimes he talks back! What could the Creator of our universe possibly have to tell us individually? We have to learn to listen to find out.

OK, so I tried the prayer exercise... 5 minutes of meditation while repeatedly whispering "Speak LORD, for your servant is listening". While doing that I let my thoughts share with God an area of my life I would like to change. Interestingly, while I did that, I noticed some new thoughts enter my brain. They shifted to discussions I had with Dean and Brother Adam (from my monastery vacation) about how I need to fully involve other key people as I go about my discernment, and how I need to contemplate change in my life with a spirit of stability.

Was that subtle change in thinking a form of God speaking to me?

I think it might have been...

PRAYER W1 D1 I Love You, O LORD, My Strength (Psalm 18:1-2)

Today we switch books from "BIBLE: Pilgrimage Travel Guide" to "PRAYER: Heart of the Pilgrimage", and I have a feeling this section will turn our prayer lives upside down in the same manner that the other book affected our approach to scripture. Believe it or not, we actually started changing our approach to prayer in class yesterday as we prayed out loud for each other as individuals.

I re-wrote Psalm 18:1-2. Here is my version...

I love you, O LORD, my strong guide.
My God is my guide, leading me through dark forests, showing me where to cross swift waters, teaching me what to eat and what to leave unpicked, showing me where to rest and when to run, and guiding me to the wonders of His universe.

Our first surprise is we can pray while doing something. We are to spend 10 minutes today in prayer, by celebrating God's presence in our lives some way that the spirit moves us. I'll pray for 30 minutes today on the rowing machine... no TV, meditative music on my iPod, trying to zone into God while I do my morning workout.

I think it's going to be a fun journey...

BIBLE W6 D5 Give thanks to the Lord (Psalm 136:1-9, 23-26)

Today we get to read as psalm, and then we get to write one.

Our book suggests using and acrostic (the first letter of each line has meaning... perhaps sequential letters of the alphabet), which I'll do, but I'm using my name as the first letter of each line.

So we have ... G E O R G E

Today, I'm in a thankful mood, so...

Give God thanks and praise
Everything He gives us is good
Over the span of our lives
Receiving His blessings
Give God thanks and praise
Everything He gives us is good

There you have it... Chapter 1 of The Book of George.

BIBLE W6 D4 Your Choice (Matt 11:28-30, John 3:16, or Romans 8:31-39)

Today we get to take one of these three readings and rewrite it to make it personal... as though God is speaking directly to us.

I choose Matt 11:28-30. "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

My version is "George, if you work hard at a job which sometimes is thankless and exhausting, join Me for rest and relaxation in God's presence. My work is easy and gratifying."

How does it feel to take the great words of scripture and personalize them?

It's another way to connect with God through His word. Try it!

BIBLE W6 D3 Healing on the Sabbath (Mark 3:1-6)

We read the passage in Mark 3 about healing on the sabbath today. As we have been, we'll read it three times.

The first time through, we focus on who the characters are and the setting. We have Jesus, the man with the withered hand, some onlookers and of course the pharisees. The setting is a "meeting place" which was probably a large room (about the size of one of today's really large living rooms).

The second time we read it, we activate our senses. What did the rooms smell like back then? How much light was there? Can you feel the heat from the large crowd and everyone pressing together to see? What sounds do you hear? Can you fully sense the place and event?

Finally, a third time we read it and imagine we are the man with the withered hand... getting called forward to Jesus and being asked to hold out that part of us which isn't well. Is it a part of our body (like the man's hand) that's painful, or is some inner part of us that's hurting? As we hold it out, we realize that Jesus has healed us... the part that was painful or hurting is now whole again. How doe we feel as we are healed?

It's a different way to read the scriptures and try to put ourselves into the scene.

Page 61 is a neat introduction to a way of reading the scripture using a method from St. Ignatius of Loyola. It involves a group reading experience... try it.

BIBLE W6 D2 Comfort my People (Isaiah 40:1-5)

Today we read this very familiar passage from Isaiah three times...

The first time, we read it to find a word or phrase that you feel God is asking you to consider more deeply. I picked "that her sin is taken care of - forgiven!" (Note, I'm taking this from "The Message".)

The second time, we read it again while looking for a word or phrase that touches your life in some way. I picked "been punished enough and more than enough and now it's over and done with."

the third time we read it, we read to find a word or phrase as an invitation or call to do something. I picked "make it very clear."

It's a different way of meditating on scripture that's more doable by individuals.

Try it!

Then read p.65 in your book. It seems we aren't the only group to redo their youth room...

BIBLE W6 D1 Out of the Depths I Have Cried to You O LORD (Psalm 130)

Today we try a different sort of meditation on Psalm 130. We read the passage three times as we've done on other times, but this time when we read it the third time, we are to read verses 5 & 6 aloud. Try it that way and notice how different it is to read the Bible out loud.

Most of my Bible reading is done in silence... I read the words, and the voice inside my head is relatively monotone as I take in the meaning of what I'm reading. However, when I read these two verses out loud, I immediately noticed I put more expression into the words. So I then went back and read the entire passage with the type of expression (inside my head) which I'd use if I were reading out loud. It made a difference for me in the feeling of reading the passage.

I still remember the first time I had to read the Bible out loud in our church when I was growing up. I was in 9th grade - the year I was confirmed. Holy Trinity Lutheran was an ornate Gothic building and the Lectern (the place where you stand and read the scriptures) was big and imposing. I jumped at the chance to do this because you could skip a day of Sunday School to practice with the head reader. Of course, it wasn't the "get out of jail free" opportunity I was expecting because I had to read the passage over and over as he coached me on how to read in public (very slow... careful in how you pronounce the words... put some feeling into it...). It was a bit of a tussle since he wanted me to read slowly enough to be understood, and I only wanted to quickly get it over with and goof off.

And as you might expect, being my first time reading in public, it couldn't be a simple new testament reading with words like Jesus, Mary and Love. No, it had to be some old testament reading (probably from Chronicles) where the Amorites were fighting with the Hittites and Jehoshaphat was doing something to Nebuchadnezzar (or something like that).

For some reason, I kept doing it...

BIBLE W5 D5 The Wedding Banquet (Luke 14:12-21)

Today we consider how do we translate a Bible story into modern times? One way to meditate on imagining a Bible story is to actually imagine how we would do the story in real life. In today's passage, a man prepares a great banquet and then sends his servants to let the guests know everything is ready. But the servants come back with excuses instead of guests and the master opens the banquet to everyone to ensure a full house.

Actually, I already translated this parable into real life a number of years ago...

It was a Christmas in the mid-90s. The boys were still very little, and I think Christmas day fell on a Monday. As we were approaching the weekend before Christmas day, we were planning to host the big holiday dinner and my whole family would be traveling to NJ to be with us. We started doing all the preparations and already purchased most of the food.

Then on Saturday afternoon we received calls from my sister, brother and mom that they couldn't make it to NJ for the holiday. Unfortunately, we couldn't make it to their place either. So on Sunday (Christmas Eve morning) I spoke to my minster and asked if he knew of someone that might be celebrating the holiday alone and would appreciate an invitation to Christmas dinner.

He said that he knew about a newly single mother and her two children... so we got their contact information and made the necessary arrangements. They didn't have transportation so on Christmas evening, I went to their apartment and picked them up.

It turned out to be a very enjoyable evening, and a great feast. Kristen overdid herself on the dinner. We purchased a couple of toys for her kids. They seemed very grateful for not having to spend Christmas alone... and we were grateful for the same.

It was a wonderful way to directly live Christ's teaching for an evening.

BIBLE W5 D4 Jesus Heals the Crippled Woman on the Sabbath (Luke 13:10-17)

What would it be like to be the woman whom Jesus heals in today's passage? I imagined it thinking of the emotional roller coaster she must have went through that day.

The first think you need to know is that simply moving a handicapped person is a significant undertaking. Today with wheelchairs, special vans, etc, it can still add 20 to 30 minutes to a simple trip. Back then it must have been much more difficult. So her first emotion would have to be indecision - should I go to see Jesus or not?

Then there's the frustration while she calls friends and tries to find help to get her to the synagogue, followed by pain and discomfort as she is transported.

Once she's at the synagogue, she maybe experiences some peace as she quiets herself while others arrive. I'm sure she's excited as Jesus enters, followed by enlightenment as He's teaching and she's directly hearing Jesus' teachings.

But then Jesus calls her forward. That might have been frightening. She was certainly awestruck as Jesus touched her and said "Woman you are set free from your infirmity." And of course, she was thankful... extremely thankful as she realized she was healed.

But...

But then the synagogue ruler comes forward and reprimands Jesus for healing on the sabbath! That must have set both her fear and her anger on edge! She must have thought to herself "How can he say come back another day? Does he know what I went through just to get here?"

And then Jesus answers... and makes it perfectly clear what God intends the sabbath to be... humiliating the leaders and delighting the people with the wonderful things He was doing.

What do you think she felt then?

A Day Off to Serve

Kristen and I helped World Vision at the Kenny Rogers concert this evening, so some things had to get shifted to this morning. Sorry I couldn't do the blog. Here's my journal entry...

BIBLE W5 D3 The Birth of Jesus Foretold (Luke 1:26-38)

We visit Mary at the time the angel came to her in today's passage. Again we meditate today by trying to imagine the scene, using all our senses to re-envision it during our meditation.

Let's remember first that Mary was a young teenage girl - most authorities I've read say she was around 13 or 14 years old. (Also remember that full adulthood was younger back then, around the late teenage years, since life expectancy was shorter too.)

Imagining the scene, my first thought was to wonder what mood Mary was in at the time. Teenage girls can be extremely happy one moment and depressed the next, and they always seem suspicious of strangers. You can actually sense that in the reading since we are told that Mary is troubled and actually QUESTIONS the angel. "Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be?" (Luke 1:29) Later she asks "How can this be,... since I am a virgin?" (Luke 1:34) It is only after getting a full explanation that she agrees... "May it be to me as you have said." (Luke 1:38)

Continuing my meditation, I imagine other questions. Where did this happen? Was Mary at school... at home... perhaps in her bedroom? Was she completely alone, or were other people nearby? What did she do afterwards? Did she immediately go text her friends or did she keep this to herself for a while?

Then I move on to what this means for me. What if this were me in the room and God (or an angel) came to me and said "I'm gonna completely change your life, but in the process many people will be greatly helped."

Wow...

How would I react?

BIBLE W5 D2 The Story of Noah (Gen 6:9-22; 7:11-16)

We continue to use our imaginations to meditate, focusing on the story of Noah. What was it like to be living back then? How could life on earth be so horrible that God decided to end it all and start over?

What did it feel like to be Noah talking to God and hear a command to build a huge ark nowhere near water? Can you imagine the conversations Noah endured with his neighbors as he was building this ark? Did Noah ever doubt his sanity?

What was it like on the ark with all the animals? 150 days is about 5 months... did they ever all quiet down at the same time? Was there a place on the ark where Noah could go an get away from it all? What was the smell like? What did they do with all the Elephant crap?

Our book has an interesting thought in the grey section on p.55... "Whenever we wonder about such questions, we're diving into the scriptures with our imagination. It is a blessing to approach the text in this way because it places us inside the biblical stories. Sometimes you may be a fly on the wall, observing and listening to conversations. Other times you may be an actual character in the midst of the action. Either way, this method of approaching the Bible allows you to connect your memory and experience with the meaning of the story through imagination."

Enjoy the trip to the "imagine nation"!

BIBLE W5 D1 The Creation Stories (Gen 1:1 - 2:9)

Today's reading is BOTH creation stories! (Did you know there were two different creation stories? One in Genesis 1 and the other at the start of Genesis 2.) Page 52 describes the differences... Genesis 1 describes man as the pinnacle of a creation pyramid while Genesis 2 describes man as the center of a sort of circle of life.

We're still focusing on the topic of meditation on the scriptures, but today we introduce a different twist. Today we use the scripture passage as the basis for some time with our imagination. We're to find a quite spot, read the passage, and then imagine we're with God as he creates the world... or maybe we imagine we're walking with God in the garden of Eden.

Try it...

Imagine being with God in the garden...

...

From the grey section on p.53... "God has an amazing imagination! With no designs to mimic and no models to copy, God imagines and speaks into being the trees, birds, and living persons. God creates the sounds of ocean waves, wind through the leaves, and voices singing praise. God writes the stories of our life. God is, indeed, a sculptor, composer, and author. As the Creator of all things, our Maker is the originator of creativity!"

So spend some time studying, meditating, and imagining being with God in the creation story.

BIBLE W4 D5 Nothing Can Separate Us from the Love of God (Rom 8:31-39)

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Rom 8:38 & 39)

In the visualization meditation described on p.50, I reflected on this passage and thought about how the powers of darkness seem to constantly try to separate me from the Love of Christ. Advertisements are constantly (especially with today being "Black Friday") attempting to entice me to spend money on items I simply do not need when I could share that money with God for a better purpose. The ever present silicon boxes (TV, Internet, etc.) seem to encourage me to squander time - something more precious than money - in isolation instead of being out and about, interacting with friends and loved ones. And of course, the great tempter is always invading my thoughts, encouraging me to think badly of people.

But here in the Bible, Paul tells me that all these things don't have the power to separate me from God's love. In fact, they only have the power I give them. The reason is explained earlier in Romans chapter 8. As a Christians, we're not controlled by sinful forces or by my sinful nature. Instead, we are controlled by the Holy Spirit.

When we ponder and meditate on this passage, we realize that our present difficulties are nothing compared to the Glory of God which awaits us.

(Editor's note: While you're planning your shopping excursion, consider www.heifer.org and give someone a goat, pig or cow)

BIBLE W4 D4 But Who Do You Say That I Am? (Matt 16:13-16)

Today's story is familiar... Jesus asks the disciples "Who do others say that I am?" and then "But who do you say that I am?" Today we are to reflect and meditate on these two questions.

It's funny how in two thousand years, the answers to these questions has not changed all that much. Today "others" still say that Jesus was a good man... perhaps a reincarnation of one of the prophets. They like some of his teachings, but don't like other ones. They think we can benefit from trying to follow some of his ways, but they still want to hold him at arm's length.

We, however, still say "You are the Messiah, the son of the living God." In reality, I guess that even "we" ascribe a wide variety of meaning to exactly what this implies. But as a lowest common starting point, I think that means we take the whole package, recognizing that there is a divine quality to Jesus and His life. We try to take it all... even the parts that are not very fun or comfortable.

It's more than just a matter of degrees of importance of Jesus in our lives. The difference between Jesus being a good man and being The Messiah is in our approach to Him. We study the sayings of a good man. We worship the Messiah. It's a world of difference.

But who do YOU say that Jesus is??

Have a happy Thanksgiving!

BIBLE W4 D3 The LORD Bless You (Num 6:22-27)

Today's passage is the Aaronic Blessing...

The LORD bless you
and keep you;
the LORD make his face shine upon you
and be gracious to you;
the LORD turn his face towards you
and give you peace.

I know you're all familiar with this passage since we hear it as the blessing at the end of most worship services. We are to meditate on this blessing for 10 minutes while visualizing each phrase. Our author suggests we write it out (if needed) on a card and place that card near a candle.

So how is this meditation thing going?

I hope you try the meditation exercises. Honestly, it took me a lot longer than a few days to get comfortable with the concept of meditation. The guides on pages 43, 45 and 47 may help you, but the best advice I can give you is to just try and really rest in God's presence (as described at the bottom of p.47).

Get comfortable...

Slow down your breathing...

Try and clear your thoughts...

Ask God to be with you...

Then slowly (very slowly) start repeating the phrase...

Eventually, one of the times you try it, you'll start to "zone out" but at the same time really feel surrounded by God's presence as you zone out. That's what you're aiming for and then just hold it as long as you want.

Keep trying...

BIBLE W4 D2 The LORD is My Light and My Salvation (Psalm 27:1-5)

"The LORD is my light and my salvation -
whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life -
of whom shall I be afraid?" (Psalm 27:1)

Today's exercise was to spend 10 minutes meditating on this verse. We are asked to light a candle (I lit the one pictured at the top of the blog) and think about The LORD and light... focusing on the qualities of the flame. To me, candlelight is one of the purest forms of light or illumination (with the possible exception of sunlight). I like being in the presence of a candle flame. It has a warm quality to it's light that no other artificial light has, but yet it's moving... not static... the flickering quality adds life to that light. Here at my desk, the candlelight pictured above offers a warm contrast to the cool light from my compact fluorescent desk lamp.

In our prayers this morning, we are to share our fears with God. You might be surprised, but I have lots of fears (no, I won't name them publicly), and when I think about these fears, I'm surprised that someone who's accomplished as much as I have still carries these fears around. If I stop fearing for a few moments and think about what I'm afraid of, I'm struck by how irrational those fears are... it's like being a kid again and being afraid of monsters under the bed, only to realize it's only dust under there (and in my case, Christmas decorations). You may have heard a phrase for this process of examining our fears... "shining light onto our fears".

Light vs. fear...

As children we're afraid of dark places... the space under our beds, basements, closets, dark forests, etc. As we grow up, we realize those fears are not rational. In fact they're quite silly. But I still remember being a kid and walking around the house turning on all the lights to get rid of dark places.

God overcomes evil. Light overcomes darkness. Hmmm... it reminds me of the first part of the Gospel of John (read chapter 1). Our meditation exercises help us to focus on God's light, which in turns helps us to overcome the darkness of our fears.

BIBLE W4 D1 The LORD is my Shepherd (Psalm 23)

Our theme for this week is meditation on God's word. Each day we will pick a verse from our scripture reading and say it over and over again... letting it's meaning permeate our thoughts.

The 23rd Psalm is a very rich source for our first day's meditation. Read the psalm twice and choose a verse that has meaning for you. I choose part of verse 3 "He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake". This morning I used a set of prayer beads to guide my meditation. I'll explain more about the prayer beads later, but they helped me keep on focus as I repeated the verse 28 times.

"He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake."

Now I'm to try and chew on this verse over and over in my thoughts all day today... ponder it's meaning... apply it to my life... try and get it under my skin (like that song from the radio the author describes on p.43). How does that happen?

Well, I start by saying it the 28 times using the beads, but then I write it out a few times as I'm writing my journal, then I type it again several times as I write this blog. By then I will have it memorized. Later in the morning I reach that point I face every morning when I try to find an excuse to avoid exercising, but then I think "He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake" and I realize that I need to care for this temple - my body - and hit the bike for 30 minutes. I repeat the verse to myself over and over again while I zone out on the bike.

Now I notice that the verse is starting to color my thoughts and actions. Kristen and John wake up to start their days and a minor disagreement starts to brew. I think... "He leads me on paths of righteousness for his name's sake" and I change course and let things pass.

At work, Today's PITA client or employee comes in and says those things that always seem to crank up my emotions, but in the nick of time, I hear my verse in my head "He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake", and I change course and try to be more understanding.

I think you get the idea. By keeping God's word in our heads all day, we enter a sort of state of constant prayer. This can only help us as we walk today's pathway in our pilgrimage on earth.

So choose the verse from Psalm 23 that speaks to you. Then commit it to memory and live with it in your head all day. I can't wait to hear what happens on Sunday.

BIBLE W3 D5 Timothy's Faith (2 Tim 1:1-7)

To me, Paul's 2nd letter to Timothy is quite different from his other epistles (letters to people and churches). It is much warmer than most of his other writing as shown by today's passage. Here we see Paul writing to Timothy as a spiritual advisor or perhaps a friend, warmly remembering his faith history and encouraging him to do the most with his faith.

Reading the second time (from the heart), we are to consider the bullet points on p.40. These ask if we would benefit from having a faith friend or spiritual advisor and then who in the Bible we would like as that spiritual advisor. Besides the obvious choice (Jesus), I would pick Paul. He seems to have many different sides to him and his faith. He struggled with pain, he encouraged young people, he could stand strongly against evil, and yet he had a softer side. These are all things I deal with so I would choose Paul, although I benefit from paying attention to all the people in the Bible.

Having a spiritual advisor can be very helpful. I usually lean on my pastor for this role or recently I met with one of the monks while visiting the monastery (http://georgevisitsholycross.blogspot.com/2009/10/conversation-with-brother-adam.html) and these people can help you greatly in developing your faith. But they are very different from a spiritual friendship.

I had a deep spiritual friendship in college with Kari. Kari was a fellow chemistry major. We met at a campus ministry retreat and became friends and then partners studying the various chemistry and physics courses together. But mostly we spent time talking about what was going on in our lives and how that was impacted by faith, and the intersection of faith with careers, events and relationships. We were so close that when I started dating Kristen, she was at first confused because evidently a few people on campus thought Kari was engaged to me, rather than Bill. (As an aside, Kari and Bill are Becca's - our lead singer from the talent show - parents, and their family can lay claim to getting me interested in the 30 hour famine.)

Today I have wide circle of spiritual friends (The Men's group, you J2A folks, some of your parents, etc.), but Kristen holds the title of my primary spiritual guide and friend. One of the things I value most in our marriage is our ability to share faith experiences and wrestle with the meaning of God in our lives. We've been able to do this through some of the highest joys and of course the deepest sorrows as well. It's hard to beat a spiritual friend who knows 25 years of your faith history.

So make God a part of your friendships... the impact on your lives can be huge.

BIBLE W3 D4 The Shepherd and the Theif (John 10:1-6)

Today's lesson is on the story of the Shepherd and the Thief, which Jesus tells in John 10. Reading first from the head, I notice the shepherd who enters from the gate. He calls the sheep by name. They know the sound of his voice and follow him. The thief, however, climbs into the sheep pen by some other way, but the sheep run away because they don't recognize his voice.

Reading a second time from the heart, I know Jesus is the Good Shepherd (read John 10:1-21 for the rest of the story), and I think this passage is reminding me to listen for His voice as I travel the pathways of my pilgrimage journey. His voice will be the strong voice that comes directly to me, not the strange sneaky voice that suddenly appears from parts unknown.

To some extent, both voices are inside me. I wrote yesterday about the voice of the Holy Spirit. (Which is also the voice of Jesus... one God... three parts... Dean's class... remember??) This voice is always available, calling us to do right if we will only listen. Unfortunately, the voice of the thief is frequently around too, leading us astray. This inner voice has a thief-like quality to us. We feel something isn't right when we are listening to it. This voice includes the thoughts that we banish quickly when we realize we're thinking them, or the actions we do where we suddenly scramble to hide them when Mom comes into our space. You get the idea.

We walk the pathway of our pilgrimage journey with both voices available to us. At each crossroads they are advising us... "go left" or "go right".

Which voice will we listen to?

BIBLE W3 D3 God is Ready if We are Willing (Psalm 81)

"Hear, O my people... if you would but listen to me, O Israel!" (Psalm 81:8)

After starting with a few verses of praise, this psalm suddenly turns to us. (Did you notice the transition - around versus 5 & 6?) It challenges us to realize that God is present always, and then gives examples of how God is always waiting... calling to us... offering redemption if we only respond. We are to read the Psalm twice... once from the head... once from the heart.

Have you heard the voice of God in your life? For me, God usually speaks with a still small voice... inviting me always to deeper communion with Him. Yes I can tune into this voice sitting in quiet in my den early in the morning, but the voice is always with me. Some people may call it my conscience, but I think of it as the Holy Spirit quietly being with me all the time.

Most astonishingly, the voice is there as I'm preparing to do something wrong. I know that sounds worse than I mean, but have you ever been in the heat of the moment - maybe getting ready to say or do something hurtful - and had a briefest thought of "I shouldn't be saying or doing this"? It's just a microsecond of reflection where the Holy Spirit is there offering support or encouragement to do the right thing if we would only listen, saying "no... don't... I'm with you". And occasionally, I catch it and change my ways and do the right thing. But all too frequently, I don't tune into the voice.

Reflecting on this right now, I realize the voice is always present. I can think of a few hurtful things I've done where I heard and ignored the voice. I can also think of a few times where I heard the voice and was able to catch myself and execute a last minute change in my actions. Times where I listen to the voice always seem to work out better than times when I ignore it. I shouldn't seem surprised about that, but I am.

"Hear, O my people... if you would but listen to me..." (Psalm 81:8)

God is ready if we are willing.

BIBLE W3 D2 Jacob Wrestles with God (Gen 32:22-32)

To set the stage for today, back in Genesis 25, Jacob conspires with his mother to steal his brother, Esau's, birthright. He flees and in the intervening chapters he marries and his wealth grows. After a while he decides to return and meet his brother. Today's passage takes place the night before that meeting. Jacob settles his family and then crosses a stream to be by himself (perhaps he needs time to think... I'm sure he was worried about meeting his brother). A man appears and wrestles with him, and it later turns out that this man is God himself (or an angel, depending on your version of the bible). Again, we are asked to read the passage twice... once from the head (as I just described) and once from the heart, asking "what does this mean for me?".

What does this mean for me? Reflecting on the three bullet points on p.34, I definitely identify with Jacob's need to "get away from everyone" to deal with things in my own head before dealing with others. The two places where I like best to be "alone with God" are in my den early in the morning, or sitting alone in the Old Church when I get the chance.

The harder question is "what do I wrestle with God about"? If I'm honest, I probably spend more time wrestling with God than praising Him. I wrestle with God over...

What I'm supposed to do in various situations?

What is my calling?

Why do I sin?

How should I respond when people upset me?

...

The list is endless. Sometimes it seems as if nothing gets settled, and the list only grows. Other times, the wrestling helps me come to terms with what God is calling me to do in various situations.

I like having a God I can wrestle with. However, in the end I must admit that God is God and I'm not.

I hate doing that...

BIBLE W3 D1 The Fall of Man (Gen 3:1-13)

Today's passage about The Fall of Man (the story of Adam and Eve's temptation) is familiar to us - very familiar since we just studied it yesterday in class with Dean. Today we are to read it twice... once with our heads and once with our hearts. Why do we read it twice? Because each time we read a Bible passage (or anything for that matter), we take away something a little different in terms of our understanding.

The first time reading this passage this morning, I'm struck by how much freedom God gave Adam and Eve in the story. The basically have the run of the garden... go anywhere... do anything... eat everything... except this one small thing.

Now we tend to blame the serpent in the story, but even though serpents are "crafty" as my Bible says in 3:1, they don't move very fast. So for the serpent to do his work and start talking to Adam and Eve about eating the fruit - presumably with them close enough to the tree to eat it while under the serpent's temptation... well, I get the impression that Adam and Eve probably spent most of their time standing near the tree and staring at the forbidden fruit. I can picture them ignoring the rest of the garden. If I'm honest, that's exactly where I would be as well.

I re-read the passage a second time - from the heart - and focused on the first two of our bullet points on p.32 relating to Gen 3:8 & 9. How do I hear the sound of God walking in the garden of my life? How do I hide from God? Actually, I feel like I'm playing a more or less constant "hide-and-seek" game with God. I welcome him into my life a lot of the time, but then hide from him when I don't want to encounter him (usually when I don't want his advice).

So if times are tough and I want God's compassion and comfort, I'll step out from behind the tree and allow myself to be found. But then if I want the sexy new guitar or other toy (despite my knowing God probably wants me to do something else with my financial resources), well then it's time to hide again.

I guess on a deeper level, I hide from giving God complete control and trusting in Him completely. I'll admit it, I'm a bit (?) of a control freak - just ask Kristen or John (or anyone who works for me). There is a certain freedom - as found in the garden - in giving God control of your whole life (instead of just the Sunday morning part) so that everything about you is in harmony with God. But I still struggle with that every day. I can't give up the control... physically, mentally, financially or even spiritually.

So in some way, I'm always standing right next to the forbidden tree... waiting for the serpent to appear.

BIBLE W2 D5 Paul's Pedigree (Gal 1:11 - 2:1)

I need to set the stage a bit here. The book of Galatians was written by the Apostle Paul, and seems to me to be one-half of an argument or debate he was having with people from the church in Galatia (somewhere around modern day Turkey, I think). Paul seems to be arguing about his legitimacy first, then moves on to typical "hot topics" of the early church (Salvation by faith alone, legalism vs. freedom, role of the Holy Spirit, etc.). There were groups of people in the early church who felt that to become a Christian, you first had to become a Jew as well, and Paul is very much against this interpretation.

I guess someone in the Galatian church must have crawled under Paul's skin, because if you read from the beginning of chapter 1, Paul comes out with guns blazing... "astonished" that people were leaving the faith he preached and moving on to a "different" gospel. (As a historical note, in the confusion of the early church, there were several different versions of the good news... some were legit, others were not.) Then in our passage for today, Paul gives a brief synopsis of his background before he moves on to other parts of his debate.

These couple of verses are a summary of Paul's life so far - his faith journey. Paul grew up as a Jew (a very devout one) and initially he reacted strongly to this "different" group of Jews who followed and preached about this Jesus guy. Paul even helped the Jews persecute the early Christians. Then all that changed one day when the resurrected Jesus appeared to Paul in a vision and Paul literally "saw the light" (read ACTS chapter 9 if you're interested). After that, he started preaching the good news about Jesus to the Gentiles (non-Jewish people) instead of persecuting the church. Then finally, after a while, Paul goes and connects with the apostles in Jerusalem.

I like this passage because here you can see that even Paul's pilgrimage path was not a straight one. He initially goes charging off in a wrong direction so strongly that Christ himself decides to appear to him. After that, Paul does a major course correction, and then further "tweaks" his pathway after meetings with the apostles.

Our lives are like that as well. We start down one path. Then maybe a priest or fellow christian advises us, and we correct our pathway. I can see this happening in my own life. Years ago, I was much more restrictive and legalistic in my view of God and who God loved. Today I'm much more of a "big tent" mindset - God loves everybody.

How has your faith changed over the years?

BIBLE W2 D4 The Road to Emaus (Luke 24:13-35)

Today's lesson is about the two disciples on the road to Emaus (a town about 7 miles from Jerusalem). Normally, a reflection on this passage centers on the realization that Jesus is with us even if we don't recognize Him. But our author today takes a different path and focuses our attention to the faith pilgrimage these disciples took, going from a naive faith before the crucifixion, to a loss of faith afterward, and finally to a deeper faith after their encounter with Christ.

I re-read the passage after reading our author's thoughts, and you can indeed see this transition. In verse 18, Cleopas is downcast... sort of in a faith crisis. He recounts his earlier "naive" faith in verses 19-24, and after Jesus' teaching and later recognizing Jesus in the breaking of the bread, their faith seems much stronger in verses 23-35.

As I read this, I wonder if their ending point isn't stronger because of the loss of faith they experienced. Could it be that their "storm" was necessary? Think for a second on what we remember about the other disciples as well. In the Gospels, the disciples sometimes come across as a bit foolish... they always seem to miss the point of Jesus' lessons, or get the wrong point. By the end of the Gospels, they seem to be cowering... waiting behind closed doors or even on the run. But then in Acts, these very same disciples are powerful witnesses. What changed them?

I've always attributed this change to the arrival of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, and I'm sure that's true to some extent. But here, we see the beginnings of this change before Pentecost arrives. In light of the author's thoughts, I'm wondering if the trauma of Jesus' arrest, trial, and crucifixion didn't also play a role. Think about that period from the point of view of a disciple. Here's this guy you've followed around for the past few years, hanging on every word He speaks and life seems good. Suddenly, He's arrested, tried, and condemned - and you can't do anything to help Him.

After the lowest three days you've ever experienced, you get word that something miraculous has happened. Then you encounter... HIM! Wow!

Now think for a second how different that experience would have been if Jesus had merely "passed through the crowds" who arrived to arrest Him like He had before. It robs the power from a later encounter, doesn't it?

Yes, as I ponder this, I'm beginning to see that maybe the storms in our lives do make us stronger. I can see now - 10 years after Billy's death - that my faith is stronger because of that hellish period of my life. Don't get me wrong, I'd trade any strength in faith back instantly to have him with us again (I'm weak that way), but I can point to that storm in my life as a time when my faith was tested, became much weaker for a while, and then strengthened as I re-encountered Christ after the storm.

Can you remember a stormy period in your life? Did your faith change because of it? Perhaps you're going through a storm (small or large) right now... if so, can you look through the rain to see how this may help you grow?

BIBLE W2 D3 Giving Thanks After the Exile (Psalm 107:1-22)

Psalm 107 is a psalm of thanksgiving that gives thanks to God for his care over all the people of Judah during their 40 year exile to Babylon. It gives testimony to how different people responded to the exile and how God's presence and help affected each of them.

In case you don't remember, the exile to Babylon was a traumatic event in the history of the Jewish people. After the Exodus, they fought hard to establish their nation and all felt that God looked favorably on them. After a period of political peace and independence, Judah was taken by King Nebuchadnezzar, and when it fell, many people were carted off to Babylon. The loss of so many people destroyed the remaining society and those left behind had a hard life as well.

Read more of the psalm (beyond verse 22). As you can imagine, different people react differently to trauma. Some wandered in the wasteland, others sat in darkness, still others became foolish, and some went to sea. Yet God was with them in these trying times wherever they were.

God is with us during our trying times as well. One reason to study and meditate on God's word when times are good (during the bright and sunny days of our lives) is so that we have God's word as a resource when times are not so good (during the rainy days of our lives). I know this because I have had many periods of rain in my life. Some are mere showers... others are howling storms. When you're in the midst of the rain (especially an extended rainy season), sometimes it's hard to think about or remember the sun or focus on God's love and support. That's why its so important for us to reach out to others during their stormy times of trouble.

When the rain in our lives stops for a while and the skies clear, it's then easier refocus on God and give thanks to Him - like the writers of this psalm.

BIBLE W2 D2 Water from the Rock (Exodus 17:1-7)

Drink a glass of water.

(Go ahead... I'll wait.)

It's refreshing, isn't it? And it's a reminder of how fortunate we are, and how blessed we are. We take a glass and hold it under a faucet, then turn a handle or move a lever and wow! We have cool, clear, drinkable, refreshing water.

Now I have a question for you. Who provided the water? Is it your parents who paid the water bill? Is it the water company who got the water to your house? No. You guessed it... if it's George's blog, the answer must somehow be God or Jesus. In this case, you're right, God provides us our water in the same way He provided it to the nation of Israel. Back then He worked through Moses who struck the rock. Today he works through treatment plant operators, engineers, water company technicians (as well as billing departments and clerical staff, and I guess management) to make it all work. But the resulting water in our homes is still just as miraculous.

God will provide.

That is a HARD lesson for us to learn and even harder for us to trust. The nation of Israel had been struggling with that lesson since the time of Abram and Issac, and in this reading they seem blind to the whole prior history of Exodus - the way God acted with Pharaoh, etc., - and are hung up on mere water. In fact, just in the previous chapter (Exodus 16) God provides them with FOOD (seems much harder to me) in the form of manna and quail. But they can't see, and so they beg for water... and God provides. (He has been providing water all along - they have been journeying - but now He provides it in a more dramatic fashion.)

We are asked to think of a time when we were spiritually discouraged and reflect on how God responded and provided for us in our lives. I must admit that's me right now. I have this idea for an activity for our upcoming 30 hour famine that seems to be a really great idea. But it's going to cost $8000. I can't shake the feeling that we're supposed to do this, but with the economy being what it is and church resources stretched so thin, I've not yet been able to find the path to the funding. I know God will provide. I guess I'm just having trouble trusting it. So I'll keep putting out feelers, but it is spiritually discouraging each time God tells me "not yet".

Please pray with me for the funding, but also pray for me to have the patience to trust that God will provide.

(FINAL NOTE: Space and time prevent me from getting into the obvious side lesson that we are blessed with wonderful water at the tap and others are not. God will provide for them also, but I suspect God has appointed us as a key provider for them. You'll hear more about this as we approach the 30 Hour Famine in February.)

BIBLE W2 D1 Jacob's Dream (Gen 28:10-22)

We speak of our "companions for the journey" usually in terms of our friends who travel life's pilgrimage with us. But today we are reminded again that our companions include those who have gone before us as well. If you think about this, it is true of other "travel guides" too. Some person (or maybe a team) visits... say Paris... and scout out the city, then they tell us all about it in "Paris: A Travel Guide", which we pay $19.95 to obtain before our vacation.

Our Bible travel guide is the same. Many people have taken life's pilgrimage before us and we have lots to learn about our journey from them. This week we will focus on the Ancient Patriarchs and their pilgrimages. Today we study Jacob who has a dream about God and wakes to realize that God was present with him as he slept right there on the ground that night. This happened right after Jacob took Esau's birthright and fled, so I'm pretty certain it was a scary time for him.

In our reflection on p.22, we are to think about the various times in our lives... can we think back about them and recognize God's presence even though we were unaware of it at the time?

I guess we can, because I just now thought about a time in my life during my college years when Dad was suffering from lung cancer - and suffering from all the treatments for lung cancer at the time. I spent a lot of time sitting in hospital waiting rooms waiting on him, and I remember (and still think of) hospital waiting rooms as desolate places devoid of any real hope. (I'll make an exception for waiting rooms in the maternity ward.) Anyway, as I just remembered this time, I visualized myself in the waiting room, not from my point of view, but viewed from a distance, and there I could see myself sitting, being the TARGET of streams of prayers coming from all my college friends far away.

How's that for powerful?? Brought to us by a few moments of reflection on Jacob's dream.

BIBLE W1 D5 You are a Letter of Christ (2 Cor. 3:1-6)

Our Bible passage today is from Paul's 2nd epistle (letter) to the people of Corinth. The epistles are a whole section of the Bible which collects these letters written by the Apostles to the early churches. Like any letters, they contain greetings, news, admonishment, advice, and closings. Frequently, the letter was entrusted to a good friend of the Apostle for delivery and in that case, the letter also served as a recommendation for the carrier (who might stay with the new community for a while).

Remember that these letters were written at a time before post offices or email existed... when you weren't sure that your letter would get through, or when you would be able to communicate again. So they tend to be long and more "complete" than typical communication today. They were also treasured more (perhaps for that very reason) and read in public over and over again. That's part of the reason they were saved and are still available to us to this day.

These letters also contained recommendations for people (see 1 Cor 16:10-11) so the people who received the letters knew they could trust the people the letters referred to. We still use letters of recommendation today for people seeking jobs or applying to schools (as a supervisor and youth leader, I write a surprising number of these each year).

This passage is saying that we are our own "letters of recommendation" because the Holy Spirit is inside us. Because the Spirit guides us in our pilgrimage, we will live our lives in a way that makes Christ visible to others... and that will serve as our "recommendation" to those we encounter on our journey.

BIBLE W1 D4 And The Word Became Flesh (John 1:1-18)

I first encountered the beauty of this passage during my confirmation "boot camp", a week-long, 8 hour a day training session with my pastor while growing up in the summer of 1978. My pastor spoke eloquently about the importance and significance of this "prologue" to John's gospel. I didn't appreciate everything he said at that time, but I remembered the passage and started noticing it when it was read each Christmas.

Each time I return to this passage, I notice again the beauty of the passage and the immensity of the thoughts expressed in it. THE WORD was first... THE WORD became flesh... think about it... GOD DWELT among us. The thought is huge, but the way it's expressed in John's prologue adds intensity from the use of language.

That summer was my first exposure to what has become a lifelong love for the Bible's expressive beauty - loving the language of our scriptures. I mentioned the "In the beginning..." passage yesterday, and now we add John's Prologue. But there are countless more examples... the simple beauty of Psalm 23 or The Beatitudes in Matthew 5... the poetry of the Psalms... the wisdom of Proverbs, some of which stands as useful now as thousands of years ago... the sheer terror of passages from John's Revelation. The Bible contains all kinds of treasures.

So look at the bible as something more than a list of rules. Explore it like Sarah does on p.19 of our book. Start to see it for the treasure it is.

BIBLE W1 D3 In the Beginning (Genesis 1)

The opening of Genesis is one of the most beautiful sections of the Bible (hint: I think we'll be looking at others very soon as well). But it is also the most controversial and devisive. Here in approximately ten paragraphs, we have a clear and succint summary of eons of world history.

Why is this so controversial? From my point of view, I have friends from the evangelical tradition that insist this is an indication that the entire earth, sky, plants, animals and humans were created in just six "earth days" and that God gave us all the indications otherwise (geology, astronomy, physics, etc.) so we'd have something to keep us occupied. My scientist friends say it's all balderdash and a big bang started a reaction with quarks, muons, etc. which formed clouds of gas... stars, solar systems, earth... water, land, continental drift... plants, fish, amphibians, mamals, monkeys and finally humans. I'm caught in the middle of this.

When I step back from the fray, I'm amazed at how consistent the accounts are with each other. Genesis 1 basically gets the order of the creation of our world correct from a scientific perspective... light (big bang) -> earth (the planet) -> sea and land w/vegetation -> fish and birds -> mamals -> humans. The thing is that everybody agrees that Genesis was written thousands of years ago - before telescopes, particle accelerators and basically all of our scientific understanding. Yet it essentially nails the creation narrative (even though the creation myths from other religions usually get it wrong). Personally, I believe this chapter is one of the best "proofs" for the existence of God as we understand Him.

Finally, This passage tells us that God's creation is beautiful and good. This is very true. One exercise in meditation I would like to try with you all is to find a wide open field somewhere and "pray" for a time by lying on our backs and staring up at the starry sky in silence (try it sometime... it's very powerful). To me, one of the most beautiful parts of God's creation is human thought and expression. The Bible contains some of the most beautiful written expressions I've encountered. One is "In the beginning..." think about how that phrase has resonated with us for hundreds of years in the English language. We'll explore the beauty of the Bible's language some more tomorrow.

(Note: Our Reading speaks of the Old Testament and New Testament. I'll let you read that on p.17 since I'm running long this morning. But it's still important to know.)

BIBLE W1 D2 Like Trees Planted by Streams of Water (Psalm 1)

My favorite book of the Bible is the Book of Psalms. In this book, we can access the entire range of human emotion and human response to God - going from quiet contemplation to extreme violence... from the highs of joy to the depths of sorrow. It really is a snapshot of our life with God.

Psalm 1 gives us the image of a "tree planted by streams of water" and the author asks us to draw two trees, one as our life is now and one as it could be. I have to confess that this makes no sense to me. My life is the tree and it is planted by the stream, and I definitely draw nourishment from God's word. However, I will admit that sometimes (OK, many times) I focus on the weakest parts of my tree. (I could draw the tree both as I see it and as it is, but I'm not good at drawing, so I'll only draw one.)

In our reading today, the author tells us that the Bible is a collection of the stories of our faith. Believe it or not, my father in-law actually wrote a book to that effect "The Bible: Faith's Family Album" (http://www.amazon.com/Bible-Faiths-Family-Album/dp/0827202253/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257247636&sr=8-1)

The Bible is a collection of our faith stories. It tells us the history of the patriarchs, and how our faith developed among them in the first section of the Old Testament. It shares the emotions of the Jewish people through the Psalms, the book of Job, and Song of Solomon. In the later part of the Old Testament, it tells us of struggles with neighbors and how God sent prophets to guide the Jewish nation. In the New Testament, it tells of how God sent Jesus and the example of his life along with the Apostles. Finally, in the later part of the New Testament, the Bible tells us the story of how our church was formed, the guidance of the Epistles and then shares John's Revelation.

With all that nourishment, how can our tree be anything but strong?

As you can see, our Bible is a wonderful collection of stories... I'm looking forward to sharing these with you over the coming weeks.

BIBLE W1 D1 How I Love Your Law (Psalm 119:97-105)

NOTE: Today we start a new book. If you don't have a copy of "THE BIBLE: Pilgrimage Travel Guide" please get to the church office ASAP to get your copy.

We start several weeks of study about the Bible today. Our curriculum suggests that the Bible is our travel guide for our pilgrimage with God while here on earth - a sort of road map for us where we learn the rules of the road, and find hints at what we will encounter on our journey. If you think about it, the Bible is indeed where we learn about the paths other pilgrims have taken.

I have always had an interest in how the Bible came into being. Read p.13 carefully because it is one of the best (and shortest) summaries of how our Bible was written. But I'm also interested in how the collection of books and stories progressed after it was pulled together as our Bible (I've been known to drag my family to various museums or libraries to look at dusty old Bibles over the years). It's a fascinating history. Did you know that many people DIED so that you could have the right to hold the scriptures in your hands right now? (The church in the middle ages thought that scripture was too holy for a mere person to own.)

My earliest memory of the Bible was sitting with Mom - I was maybe 4 years old - while she read to me from this huge Family Bible we had (I think my sister still has this Bible). I remember that this Bible had beautiful full-page illustrations from various Renaissance masters which illustrated the bible stories and I would get myself lost in the pictures while Mom read the corresponding passages. My favorite Bible passages today are those that had illustrations in that Bible. To this day, I sometimes find myself getting confused if I'm reading a Bible passage and a detail in the writing conflicts with my memory of one of those illustrations.

Over the years, I've collected Bibles that correspond to my faith pilgrimage. In elementary school, I used the Bible that my brother left behind when he died. I have 2 copies of The Living Bible given to me by my parents and a favorite Shopkeeper/Sunday school teacher during my teen years. I have a copy of The New King James Version which my great aunt gave me when I went off to college - I read this version cover-to-cover during the summer after my freshman year. Just last week, while in Virginia, I used a travel copy of The Message which Dean gave me when the Bishop received me the other year. Finally, for most of this curriculum's study, I use a copy of the Faith in Action NIV Study Bible that I received from WorldVision for getting people to sponsor children last year.

So you can see that I have a bit of a history with the Bible, but the nice thing is I always learn something new when I sit down with it.

So what's your favorite Bible-related memory? Please share it with us.

CP W6 D5 Cultivating Thanks (Col 3:12-17)

Our final lesson from the "Choosing Pilgrimage" book has us focusing on the second part of St. Paul's passage. In the words from The Message, Eugene Peterson uses the phrase "Cultivating Thanks" to describe our mission. How do we cultivate thanks?

We cultivate thanks by keeping God (the reason we're doing whatever we're doing - our pilgrimage) in front of us. Our author points out that sometimes we can get so wrapped up in serving, that we neglect our quiet time with God. When that happens, we loose the ability to tap into God's energy (a source of our strength) which we need so badly to allow us to serve well.

This has been true in my life as well. Sometimes the pressures of being a good chemist, a youth leader, and all the work that goes with those missions - reading scientific journals, international conference calls, planning lock-ins or 30 hour famines, and all the rest - sometimes they edge out my quiet time with God. I usually notice this when I find myself getting cranky (OK, crankier) and I discover I have not sat in quiet with a Bible in my hand for a few days. You can see why I really work hard to protect that 5:00 appointment with God every morning and do my best to not let anything get in the way of this time.

In that quiet time this morning, we are to finish by giving thanks for some quality of each of the people in our group... no I won't embarrass each of you by listing your qualities. But I am thankful to God for placing each of you - Mike, Brian, Liz, Stephanie, Alex, Chloe, Maggie, Krista, Brandon, Danielle S., Chimma, Preston, Danielle H., Olivia and Jon - into my life and for all the wonderful thoughts and actions every one of you bring to our group.

I hope that each of you are finding some spiritual practice (body prayer, journal writing, meditation, silence, etc.) that you can use each day to connect with God's source of grace and strength.

Thanks for coming along on the journey!

Blessings Part 2 - Videos from Talent Show

Editor's note: You may have noticed this, but while we want you to include your thoughts from the curriculum into your journals, the journals can be used to record your thoughts about anything relating to your relationship with God.

A friend sent me a DVD of our performances at the talent show so I could share it with Kristen who had to be down in VA caring for her mother. I thought I'd share them with you, since it's a nice safe web locations that's not too public.


Thanks for the video Marty...

...and thanks John, Becca, Mike, Brian and Craig for playing with me!

Finally, my apologies to Stephanie, I didn't think to ask for a video of your performance...

CP W6 D4 The Garment of Compassion (Col 3:12-17)

Our readings today talk about how our compassionate acts can be a form - active or passive - of worship to God. That's true in some respects of all our work if we focus our attention on Christ as we carry out our tasks. But the work/worship boundary can be crossed even if we are not actively singing praises (as our author did while cleaning her toilets).

For example, yesterday I worshiped for about 11 hours straight. After the death of Kristen's mother on Monday, we stayed an extra day to help get her father settled before heading back to NJ for a while before heading back down for the memorial service later. We had two cars down there since Kristen went early to help with her mother's care. So having 2 cars and 3 drivers and 9 hours of driving time, and being a dad, I dutifully worked out a driving schedule that fairly divided up the drive.

Now Kristen doesn't like to drive in heavy traffic or cross big bridges (which means she usually just backs the cars around in our driveway) so my schedule had her starting the trip in the one vehicle while we were still in relatively "rural" VA. But as we were loading up, I realized she wasn't ready to drive and so I just started out driving. It turned out that I drove the whole way in one car and John took the other - his first time driving such a long distance.

It seems like such a simple act - driving a car - but Colossians 17 tells us to "... do whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks to God..."

And that's basically what happened. The entire 11 hour trip became one continuous communion with God. To start, the whole time I was praying that the little Miata would stay safe and in sight behind me. But throughout the trip, Kristen and I talked... we processed what was a difficult week for her (and me)... we spoke a lot about our faith and the nature of God. From time to time hymns and praise songs entered my head, and while she slept, I spent a lot of time reflecting on the nature of God's love shown to me through the example of her parents.

It was a wonderful worship service... even if I didn't realize it at the time.

CP W6 D3 The Garment of Patience (Col 3:12-14)

I'll admit it... I have zero patience.

There I said it... I guess we're done.



OK, I can say that I'm impatient with myself as much as I am with others, so at least I'm equal-opportunity in my impatience. I'm also guilty of being frequently impatient with God. (You know, if He has the power to end war, poverty, suffering, etc., let's just get on with it.)

So why should we even consider putting on a garment of patience? In some ways, my impatience is my best asset, and I'm happy with it. It's a key source of my drive and energy, and leads me to accomplish a lot of things. But it does get in my way sometimes.

My impatience gets in the way of some of my close relationships. (Have you noticed a slight difference in the natural operating pace that Kristen and I have?) Sometimes my lack of patience has me expending lots of energy to bring about something that God naturally brings about - my effort didn't seem to make a difference. And I guess that's it... my lack of patience gets in the way of my relationship with God, because in some respects, my lack of patience is really an issue of lack of trust in God's plan.

That's why we're reminded to put on our garment of patience for our journey with God. It's all about trusting God to act... to act in me, and to act in my companions on this journey.

CP W6 D2 The Garment of Humility (Col 3:12-14)

Today we are to consider the part of our life with which we are most proud. Then we should ask if we wear this aspect of our life with arrogance or with humility?

When I think about it, I guess I'm most proud of my Independence, or self-sufficiency. I can use my knowledge and skills to provide a good life for my family, and beyond that, I have the means to do pretty much whatever I want to do (sometimes good, sometimes not so good). Of course I can only do what I want within reason (have to stay legal, etc.).

As with everything in life, this Independence can be a huge asset, but it comes with a huge responsibility. The Bible passage today points that responsibility out to me... I must use these skills and knowledge in a humble manner, not in an arrogant one. Of course I try to do this (and some may disagree that I do), but it is easier said than done. One way to help is to use my gifts (both financial and my various skills) to serve others. I do this of course, but it can never be "enough", and I sometimes find myself "bragging" (perhaps in subtle ways... sometimes not so subtle) about how I serve. That's not what God intends.

But in the end, I don't know if I'm humble about these gifts... and the thought that pride and humility are not necessarily opposites is a new one. This really is a hard one to figure out.

Any thoughts out there?

CP W6 D1 The Garment of Love (Col 3:12-14)

This passage uses the metaphor of clothing to have us look at ourselves and our attitudes. What garments do we need for our pilgrimage journey? The passage talks of love, compassion, kindness, humility, strength, discipline - things like this. So reading this, we are reminded that we have the opportunity to examine ourselves and consider which of these garments we need to work on? Which need to come off?

Today, I'm focusing on love - the basic garment of faith. I wrote yesterday about the vigil for Diana and today I find myself reflecting on the incredible love story of Jack and Diana, and the model of how faith and love play out during troubling times. It was around the time of Kristen's birth - a decade or so after they were married - that they first saw signs of what would become MS. Diana would end up in a wheelchair a few years later.

The faith journey resulting from such a blow was complex, but both of them were accomplished authors, and their sharing through the written word has been inspirational. The twists and turns they've been through would be fit for a Hollywood movie. Just last year, it looked like Jack was dying of cancer and Diana insisted on being brought home from nursing care so that she could personally oversee his care. Suddenly, the tables were turned and we quickly discovered Diana had ALS resulting in an extremely rapid decline and her death yesterday.

I realize today that my pilgrimage with God is really a product of two beginnings. The first is my start in faith provided by my family and church experience while growing up. This was followed by my interaction with this incredible family of faith provided by my marriage to Kristen. John in turn takes aspects of both of these as his starting point and will add to it over his lifetime.

It's no wonder that the labyrinth example is provided. A labyrinth is a circuitous route inside a circle. (I wrote about my labyrinth experience while at the monastery in my other blog http://www.georgevisitsholycross.blogspot.com/) Our pilgrimage paths do twist and turn as we approach God, just as our paths intersect each other's (we're all companions for the journey in some form), and from each other we learn about the garments of humility, strength, discipline and love that we are to wear for the pilgrimage.

A Sacred Vigil at the End of a Pilgrimage

I dreaded this trip... there's no other way to put it... but yesterday John and I crammed as much stuff as would fit into my Miata an started the nine-hour journey south. It was a beautiful Autumn day and as we drove, we had essential time to talk, think, and sleep.

We arrived just as Diana was having another choking episode (with ALS, she doesn't have the strength in her diaphragm to clear her throat). They were able to settle her a few minutes later and we went in to say our hellos. Ever since I've known her, Diana has been a master at conversation and last night was no different. Through extremely labored breaths, she somehow managed to ask about my mother and how she was adjusting to her nursing home. (She even commented on how different Mom's and her experiences were - explaining that different people adjust differently.)

I left her with John and they were able to exchange their love and have a brief conversation as well before she tired. It turned out he was unusually skilled at interpreting what she was trying to say - something that frequently frustrates her caregivers. It's funny, but his whole life, John as been unusually skilled at helping people in bad times. Shortly afterward, she pretty much lost the ability to talk so we arrived just in time. And now we wait...

I wish everyone could experience the typical Hollywood death where we are surrounded by friends and family and just peacefully drift off over a period of a few minutes. My experience is usually the opposite - the body seems to fight death and it's very hard to watch - even more so in Diana's case as ALS is unusually cruel and we have some indications she is still aware but trapped inside a body that can't do anything. So since last night, all we can do is listen to the pace of her breathing, try our best to keep her comfortable, and trust that God will be merciful.

My role here is clearly "companion" on several pilgrimages. I can't really help with Diana's care. So I pretty much talk with Jack, and hold Kristen. I won't share what we talk about but the topic of "yelling at God" has come up several times (something I have a lot of experience with). We wonder why it has to be so cruel that a woman who suffered with MS for decades as to fight ALS in her final days. John comes in and sits with us, then retreats to the internet or guitar. (Have you ever heard "Sweet Child of Mine" in a minor key?) I get to sit, nod in agreement, commiserate, and wait.

Yes, this post sounds a bit morose, but in some ways it is an honor to be present at this part of someone's journey. Diana's life of faith has been incredible, and by keeping this vigil we testify to the value of this child of God in our lives.


The vigil ended around 3:00 this afternoon as Diana entered into the next phase of her pilgrimage with God.

Reflections on Our Blessings

In the Prayer Book on page 836 is the General Thanksgiving, one of the most beautiful expressions of thanks. One of the passages in this is "We thank you for the blessing of family and friends, and for the loving care which surrounds us on every side."

I'm sitting here this morning, enjoying my coffee and reflecting on that very blessing. We had our church fundraiser and talent show last night, and I realized how truly fortunate we all are in this parish to be literally surrounded by such loving care. The undercroft and church were packed with supportive people. Every time I turned there was a friendly face ready to chat about various aspects of life. I know everyone else experienced the same feeling while there.

Speaking personally, I was astounded to see so much hidden talent in the parish. I was able to reconnect with Becca, a friend's daughter, who we only get to see a couple of times a year. I was able to spend some serious quality time with John. I was able to watch first hand as some very brave youth took those crucial first steps in offering their musical gifts to God. And finally, I capped the night off by having a new friend save me a piece of her apple pie which was a godsend after an intense day of practicing, playing and (at the time) packing up.

Looking ahead for the rest of the weekend, I get to reconnect with Kristen's side of the family as we gather to be with her mother as she completes her lifetime pilgrimage on earth and thank God for her life.

Yes, it's a big weekend and is taking us from the extremes of joy to the lows of sorrow, but it's also a bit of a snapshot of life as a Christian pilgrim. We journey, moving from times of joy to times of sorrow, always surrounded by our companions on the journey.

Thank you God for this incredible journey!

CP W5 D5 Sermon on the Mount - Judging Others (Matt 7:1-5)

We don't practice Christianity as a competitive sport - at least not officially. (Could you imagine everyone from the parish up on the bleachers cheering "We're more humble, yes we ARE!..." OK, maybe not.) But even in our Christian pilgrimage, we have a tendency to have to measure our progress, and we do this by comparisons. We go about our lives thinking "I'm glad I don't do things the way he does", or "I like this church better than that church", or even "Episcopalians are MUCH better than Lutherans in this way". It almost seems like it's human nature and we can't help ourselves.

Yet in this passage, Jesus warns us against doing exactly this. Whatever measure we use in establishing another pilgrim's deficiency, Jesus will use against us, with the implications that He expects us to come up lacking in the very same way. Jesus has a point. We see this all the time. Think of a number of public figures who are very vocal against wrongdoing while doing some very wrong things at the same time. And if we're honest with ourselves, we find that we do the same thing. I yell at my son for not cleaning up after himself, just as I leave a trail of debris for Kristen in my wake. Why are we like this?

You see, I don't think Jesus is asking us to ignore our companions on the journey who might be heading down the wrong path. Companions are important for that very reason - to help each other find the way. I don't think Jesus is asking us to ignore the plight of other pilgrims, He is simply warning us to examine ourselves and make sure we are heading in the right direction first. When we do, we will realize the vastness of God's forgiveness and love in our lives and we will approach our companions in a spirit of love as we travel together, rather than competing with each other to see who "wins".

CP W5 D4 Sermon on the Mount - Don't Worry (Matt 6:25-34)

So after warning us yesterday to focus on God rather than things, Jesus advises us today that we can do that by not worrying... we should trust God to provide what we need.

Where have you heard that before?

Basically everywhere... the world has a huge industry which aims at trying to get us to follow this particular teaching of Jesus (even if they don't acknowledge His idea). Just now while thinking about this concept, suddenly Bobby McFerrin's "Don't Worry, Be Happy" song popped into my head (it's from way back in the 80s). Walk through the self help aisle at the bookstore and see if you can't find several books aimed at getting us to "live in the moment". Examples are everywhere.

Here we have two teachings of Jesus... focus on God and not on things, and don't worry because God knows your needs and will provide everything you need - just like he does for the birds and flowers.

How are these two related? I find that sometimes my worry about my things (all the "guitars" in my life) becomes a sort of substitute for God. I end up "worshiping" my ability to provide for my family (both the food/clothing/shelter, and all the toys) and all the things I buy are mini "celebrations" of that god. This worship of a god other than God is no different than the ancient people grabbing a nice looking hunk of stone and calling it "god" and worshiping before it. Both practices rob God of his power in our lives and separate us from Him.

How do we get out of this cycle? I like the thoughts of Anthony deMello. He was a Jesuit Priest who died about 20 years ago (most of the guys in our Men's group like his works). Anthony advises that we first need to think of all our things and realize that they are the causes of our ups and downs, our thrills, disappointments, anxieties and eventually our boredom (which causes us to go out and get more). Our second step is to realize that all these things really cheat us out of the freedom to live and love in the moment - which is a huge loss to us. The third and final part is to realize that it is our history and internal programming that causes us to value these things with a value that they simply don't have. When we see this and meditate on it, we become aware of our false attachment to our things and can begin letting go and trusting God to provide for all our needs - just like He does for the birds and the flowers.

CP W5 D3 Sermon on the Mount - Treasures in Heaven (Matt 6:19-24)

Today in our reading Jesus cautions us against focusing too much on our material things. He does this because when we are focused on material abundance - our things and our wealth - we greatly risk loosing sight of the spiritual blessings in life.

Personally, I have a love-hate relationship with these verses in the Bible. They tend to be overused in many churches during stewardship season (weird timing considering we are starting our own stewardship campaign) as a means to encourage people to give more. But as a grieving father, I have big problems with the concept of "laying up treasures in heaven" because my treasure is already there. So I cringe (I hope inwardly, but probably outwardly as well) every time this verse is used during stewardship talks.

But the verse has great meaning for me as well because it is true. Each thing (little or big) consumes our mental effort - not only in acquiring the thing, but also in maintaining and worrying about it. So as an example, if I buy a new guitar, I spend time (sometimes considerable time) focusing on exactly which guitar I should purchase. This might get in the way of the time I could spend with God. But then once I have it, I must spend time dusting it (sorry, I meant playing it), changing strings, polishing it, learning new music, and the like. This too is time away from focusing on God. Now perhaps that's an OK trade, because now I have a skill and I can use that skill to bring God's joy to others, or to help them worship.

Now consider what happens if I get somewhat good and decide to get a second (OK, being honest... fifth) guitar. Now I multiply all the care and feeding the instruments require. But I must now find places for them, and maybe I have to move them around in my den to do different things - even to get to my Bible for morning quiet time. Perhaps one of the guitars is a really expensive one, so I have to be careful to return it to the velvet lined case each time I finish playing it and maybe I need to get special insurance for it. You can see how simply owning them requires extra mental energy.

Carrying this to the extreme, what happens when I get my 30th guitar (Kristen's not reading this, right)? Now I need to build a guitar room addition to the house just to hold them all. This requires me to get a higher pressure job to pay for it all, and in turn that makes me want to go out and buy something just to escape all the pressure... then I see a telescope. You can see how carrying out this over a lifetime builds the mental energy we consume just to attend to our things.

It really does... right now my living room is filled with camping equipment that we rarely use, don't have a nice place to store, yet the three of us can't quite agree on getting rid of any one item. (I'm leaving it there until we can come to consensus and the right answer is NOT to build more storage.)

You can also see how gathering treasures here on earth gets in the way of God's plan for us to live simply while relying on Him. I think we'll read more about this tomorrow....

CP W5 D2 Sermon on the Mount - Spiritual Practices (Matt 6:1-18)

The Sermon on the Mount is famous (can a section of the Bible be considered "famous"?) for presenting us The Beatitudes (the "blessed is..." section from yesterday's extra credit reading) and the Lord's prayer. Today Jesus gives us His prayer as one of three tools - prayer, almsgiving, and fasting. He also guides us in how to use them.

Did you ever wonder where the Lord's prayer came from? It's here in Matthew 6 in a short form. The version we use is somewhere else in the Gospels (the first person to post it in the comments "wins"). Here, Jesus gives us a simple model of how to pray and what we should pray about. Do you remember the word ACTS from our Rite13 lessons - Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication - it's all in the Lord's prayer somewhere. How is this a "tool" for our pilgrimage up our faith mountain? Prayer is how we focus our thoughts on God and ask God for help on our journey.

Almsgiving - giving to the poor - is another tool. We can't really grow as well by just sitting in a room and reading about God and praying. We must also use what we learn by acting and helping God bring His kingdom into being. Giving both time and money to the poor is what we can do to help. The action of giving also cements our learning and strengthens our faith.

The last tool is fasting. Because of our 30 hour famine, we tend to think of fasting as giving up food for a day or so. But it's really about giving up and letting go of things to better focus on God. Maybe we give up purchasing junk for a while, or maybe we give up watching TV. I could give up connecting to the Internet for a while...







OK, I can't, but you get the idea. When we "go without" we make room in our lives for God.

Finally, Jesus gives us a "safety warning" for using our tools properly. Remember all those stickers that cover tools today like "WARNING: Pounding your thumb with this hammer may cause pain, broken bones, tissue damage and lots of swearing"? Well, Jesus warns us to use these tools only to focus on our relationship with God. Specifically, we are NOT to use them to impress others with how "good" we are. So we are to pray simply without using lots of big words; we are to fast without bragging to others about how hard it is; and we should give to the poor without seeking publicity about our actions. Why? Because when we focus on how others see us, we get a reward in their approval, but then loose our focus on God. Our goal is not to use these tools to impress others with our craftsmanship, but rather to use these tools in our pilgrimage up our faith mountain.

Krista's Poem

Here is the poem Krista shared on Sunday...

Every step I take
Every move I make
Every smile
Every single tear
I always know God is near

Baking cookies for church
Helping mom at home
A quiet moment by myself
With every breath
I always know God is near

Movie night with family
or sitting all alone
Thoughts in my head
about life and home
No matter where I go
I always know God is near

CP W5 D1 Sermon on the Mount - Love Your Enemies (Matt 5:43-48)

Today we start exploring the "Sermon on the Mount" which contains some of my favorite wisdom from Jesus. For extra credit, read Matt 5:1-42 as well.

We are asked to draw our "Mountains of Love" and think about how we love those people at the various levels. The foothills represent loving the people who love us, the middle slopes represent loving those who don't love (or know) us, and the highest peaks represent loving our enemies or those who persecute us. The higher we are on the mountain, the harder it is to love those people. However, for me, sometimes I find myself "upside down". Let me explain.

Starting at the top of the mountain, the snow-capped peaks of loving your enemies. I have people who I sometimes consider enemies such as adversaries or competitors at work, but when I think about it, I realize that they truly don't mean me harm. Yes, I could think about terrorists who do want to harm me simply because of who I am, but I think they are truly few in number and rather insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Certainly, the people of Iraq where we are currently "at war" don't mean me any harm. So I'm not sure I have "Enemies" in the true sense of the word. At any rate, in theory, I accept the need to pray for them, and we do regularly - in church and in my private meditation.

I make a good attempt at the slopes of loving those who don't know me... the poor, the sick, and the hungry. In theory this is hard to do, but I find that it's really an issue of inertia. Once you get started, it gets easier - just like yesterday's CROP walk. (It was a cold and rainy day... I really didn't want to go, but once there and walking, I had a really pleasant time chatting with the 5 girls from J2A that came along. It's funny how having "companions for the journey" really makes a difference.) I know I could do more in this area, and I imagine that regardless of how much I do, I can never do "enough". But overall, I feel that I'm doing OK in this regard.

As I said, my problem is in the foothills of loving those who love me. Yes, I love Kristen and John, my extended family and friends like those of you in J2A. But there's this dark side of me that sometimes has trouble accepting love from these people. (Maybe it's actually believing that they can love me.)

And so I'm left with the realization that maybe my climb up this mountain really starts in the valley - supposedly the easiest part - of loving myself, and accepting God's love for me. That may indeed be the first step in climbing my mountain.

Stephanie's Poem

We were asked to think about how to tell the story of our sacred pilgrimage so far. Here is Stephanie's contribution from this morning.

How are we supposed to know our sacred story
at such a young age?
Feel God's divine presence and glory,
His love, malice, and praise?

I have followed and loved God
since the time I was young,
listened to his words and
observed the beauty He has brought

This planet on which we live
is so vulnerable and yet so strong
I am inspired by God's creation daily,
which serves as a balance between right and wrong

My family loves me unconditionally, as God does in his own way
A love so deep that at times it can hurt
they feel my love flowing back as if to say
I appreciate it for every feeling that it is worth

While at times I feel melancholy or confusion in this world
God will surround me with his grace
and remind me that I am a blessed little girl
and a feeling of euphoria sweeps down and takes sorrow's place

I feel God's presence when He grants me moments where I feel extremely glad,
whether it be with a song or trees blowing in the wind or spending time with those close to my heart,
I know that God does not wish for me to feel sad,
but to start to enjoy the experiences of His creation of life.