Dismissals

My mother was a classically trained artist. In her paintings, I see traces of the faith she never professed. In one painting, a robed figure stands in a gazebo. Is it Mary? Jesus? In another painting, the words “Jesus Saves” are chalked onto a boulder. I once asked my mother to paint silver and glass to show me how they reflect light and color. That painting, a still life, a labor of her love, hangs on the wall where I write. There is a glass compote filled with strawberries, a few lie on the table. A silver goblet reflects the tattersall tablecloth. A small plate with a half dozen pirouette cookies sits next to a wicker wine jug. Today, in…

I carried a big bag of oranges into the homeless shelter. Thinking I would pass them out later, I tucked the bag out of sight, behind some boxes in the broom closet. An hour later, talking to a few men at the shelter, it occurred to me that an orange would taste mighty good, and that this might be the right time ….. but I was interrupted. A man carried a big bag of oranges – my oranges! He handed me an orange, smiled radiantly, and said, “Bless you!” He gave away the oranges, blessing as he went, this time not the receiver of a gift, but the giver. Go in peace to love and serve the Lord! Josh

I have a friend who, when he greets me, inquires of my well-being then adds, “And how are those you visit?” He himself visits people in a halfway house. He uses the word “visit” not as a casual social call or dropping in, but in the archaic sense of to comfort, to go and see about someone, to spend the time to offer a kind word and listening ear. We all have someone whom we visit, someone we go to see about. When we greet one another, we might ask, “How are you? And how are those you visit?” Go in peace to love and serve the Lord! Josh

Long ago, I thumbed through the Bible, foreign territory to me then. I came to the book called Lamentations. I read a few verses and set the Bible aside. Too depressing. Fast forward to a few weeks ago, invited to a Bible study, they were reading Lamentations. Lamentations begins with the anguished cry of the Daughter of Zion. Jerusalem lies desolate, the people are exiled, all is lost. This year, Lamentations is my Lenten discipline. In the no-man’s-land of Lamentations, with the Daughter of Zion, I pray and wait. Go in peace to love and serve the Lord! Josh

Becky was at the food pantry whenever it was open. She started the pantry and kept it going. I asked her how she came to be so involved. She said, “I was called by God.” I had to ask, “So, God called you to start this food pantry?” “No,” said Becky, “God never did say my name. I saw there was a need for a food pantry. Then I heard God calling, ‘Anyone? Anyone?’ and I answered.” Go in peace to love and serve the Lord! Josh

In a long ago Bible study, we read from Isaiah: “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace, who brings good news …” (Isaiah 52:7a). Peace! Good News! Yet, the group seized upon the messenger’s feet. How can the dusty feet of the messenger be beautiful? The talk turned to pedicures and bunions. At last someone said, “It’s a metaphor.” A retired English teacher added, “It’s a synecdoche, when part of something represents the whole, when feet represent the entire person.” We read on, keen to identify the metaphors (and synecdoches!) we had not seen before. That day, the messenger brought peace and good news to our Bible study. Go in peace to love…

Drifting toward sleep, I asked God, “If you made me in your own image, do you have any regrets?” No reply. God might have other people to worry about so I let it go and nodded off. Later that night, God said, “It’s your craw. If I had a do-over, I wouldn’t give you a craw.” In the dark, God could see me blinking. I said, “Craw? What’s a craw?” God said, “The craw is where things get stuck. People say something is ‘stuck in my craw’ and bad things happen. Anger. Revenge. Annoyance. Unloving Behavior. Next time, no craw. Now go back to sleep.” Go in peace to love and serve the Lord! Josh

One wintry Sunday long ago, watching a football game, I saw the man sitting in the end-zone with the sign: John 3:16. Thinking that it might be good to refresh my memory, I rummaged about for a Bible and flipped through it, John… 3rd chapter…. 16th verse. It was not as I recollected (“For God so loved the world…”) but it was close, it was powerful and it was personal: “We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us — and we ought to lay down our lives for one another.” As I eventually learned, I had read from The First Letter of John, not The Gospel of John. No matter. I have long ago forgotten…

Every Sunday, in church, we read a portion of one of the Psalms. Yet there are Psalms that are never read in church. They are too violent, sad, or personal. The 39th Psalm this past Tuesday (see Forward Day by Day) is one such Psalm. The first verse: “I said, I will keep watch upon my ways,* so that I do not offend with my tongue.” But the psalmist cannot keep it in and the anger and frustration are directed at God. God takes it all in, as God will, and the psalmist lives to write again. Go in peace to love and serve the Lord! Josh

He lived at the shelter, on and off. He told me, “I never get mail except from the government. I never once got a Christmas card in the mail that I can remember.” So I set about sending him postcards. I might have sent a dozen over several months but I never heard back and never saw him again. I asked about him at the shelter. They said he moved on, no one really knew, but they remembered the postcards, that whenever a postcard came to him in the mail, he carried it with him and showed it to everyone. Go in peace to love and serve The Lord! Josh

The Hubble Space Telescope is 25 years old! Hubble recently re-photographed one of its early, iconic images, the immense “Pillars of Creation.” [See the images] These are gaseous formations where stars are birthed. I am in awe of images so beautiful, so unearthly. There, 6500 light-years distant, in vast clouds of dust and gas, I see God. Yet God is also near and I am drawn to the words of Saint John of the Cross, 16th century Spanish mystic and poet: “You fled like a deer after wounding me, and I went out calling for you and you were gone.” Go in peace to love and serve The Lord! Josh

I have a New Year’s Resolution. It came about as I went through old files and found resolutions made long ago by my three sons. The resolutions were written in restaurants on paper placements. In one year, son Joseph resolved to become a Ninja. Charles wanted to be a champion skateboarder. Henry wanted to conquer every level of a difficult video game. My own resolution for 2015 is to send these placemats to my sons, before the next New Year, so they can see what it is to make a promise to oneself. No son of mine ever became a Ninja, or a professional skateboarder. I don’t recollect about the video game but there were other resolutions written on those…