CP W4 D4 Jesus Calls the Disciples - Sacred Times (Mark 1:16, 20)

Today we take a further look at how Jesus regarded each moment as a chance for a sacred encounter with God's presence, and we are asked to consider the sacred moments of our lives using a timeline. What did your timeline look like?

I can't draw my timeline, but the sacred moments included my birth, and growing up going to Sunday School at 7th Street Lutheran and Holy Trinity Lutheran churches. A sacred time for me in college was DTC Devotions, where a group of us got together every evening after supper and sat on the floor of the college chapel for 30 minutes to sing and share. My wedding day was sacred for me (don't "awwww" yet, because it was the time I spent with Dad joking downstairs before the ceremony that I'm referring to). I still remember the first time I worked with kids as an acolyte master at Luther Memorial Lutheran Church in Blacksburg VA, and John's baptism there. Bill's baptism at Spruce Run Lutheran in Glen Gardner, NJ... learning at High Bridge Reformed Church... Bill's funeral at that church all were sacred. There was a several-year period of searching that followed Bill's death which I now recognize as sacred though I wouldn't describe it so at the time. And of course, all the blessings here at Christ Church... my first experience in the Old Church... all the events with Rite13 and J2A, etc.

Our books use the metaphor of the "cigar box" (I'm guessing these are not as popular as they once were) as a place to keep mementos of all our sacred times. I had one of these growing up... a place where I kept movie tickets, programs from school plays (I was into stage lighting), and the like. I remember that after a while it was full and each time I wanted to add something, I'd have to "let go" of something else. Mom kept a larger version of this with all my school pictures, report cards, and the like which still exists somewhere. I still keep mementos of special "sacred" moments in my life. On my desk right now is the green frog bubble pen from the first Rite13 retreat, the flashlight from the "Early Christian Manhunt" lock-in, bandannas from the 30 hour famines, etc.

Yes, sacred moments abound in our lives. Our reading talks about how they happen when we are in the company of holy people, which in some respect is everyone, but for me it especially means younger folks who are seeking God. When I get the privilege to share in this unscripted no-bullshit seeking which it seems like only kids can do, it is always a blessing.