Give me some Jesus, please!

This Sunday we are anticipating the Sacrament of Holy Communion. Churches and denominations vary on how frequently the sacrament is offered... first Sunday of the month is our Sunday! I am excited! I enjoy sharing the Feast with Fellow Believers! But one thing has always bothered me.

My Holy Communion pet peeve, if you will, is known to some Women Retreatants and other members of our congregation. I am baffled and even dissappointed and mostly down-hearted to witness wonderful children (adults, grandparents, children, youth) of God coming forward to receive the bread and barely pinching off a crumb! What is this?

Do you think we will run out of bread on Sundays? Not so, we have extra in the sacristry. Are you embarassed to take more? Jesus is offering himself to you in the precious gift and all you take is a crumb? How is that going to sustain you through the difficulties of life!?!?!?! It isn't.

Break off a nice big bite! Grab a chunk. Get a lot of Jesus, I say. I need him and I am not ashamed or embarassed to grab a big bite because I am hungry for what will truly satisfy.

So, Calvary folks be aware that there is plenty of bread for all... there is plenty of Jesus (he won't run out of peace, forgivenss, grace, compassion, protection, provision etc.). Take a nice big bite so that you can 'dunk' it into the cup of blessing and a get good soaking of blessing! (We have carpets under the communion servers so don't worry about leaving drops of grape juice!)

Come on, down and get something to eat at the Table of our Lord, this Sunday!

See you there and bring your appettites.

Walking Prayers

Last summer after our pup arrived at our house, my husband got me addicted to a TV show on National Geographic called The Dog Whisperer. I learned that exercise is one of the most important aspects to healthly, balanced dogs.

Since that time, an evening walk is a common feature and routine in our house. Our preschooler rides or drives her tricycle and we walk our dog. It is a great time to be together as a family and our dog LOVES to walk with us. He gets very excited when we put on our shoes and reach for the leash.

I discovered another benefit to walking as a family. We now met and greet many of our neighbors in our neighborhood. Some of whom are walking dogs, riding bikes, running, or working in their yards.

When the walk involves only my dog and I; it becomes a sacred journey. During those quiet times I pray for our little neighborhood community. I know who is battling cancer, who is recovering from surgery, which houses have new babies in them, and which houses are trying to sell. Sometimes I don't know anything new in the houses along the street but, I pray anyway for the marriages, families, and finances within their walls. Prayer truly is a spiritual discipline. It is training ground just like walking or jogging that builds up spiritual muscle and tone.

I encourage you to find unique ways to practice the discipline of prayer, mediation and/or reflection. Our world needs praying people- we make a difference; because we open oursleves up for the Difference (i.e. our Trinune God) to become a reality within us.

See you on the next walk!

Numerical Jokes

Ever hear a first grader ask, "Why is six afraid of seven?" And then you respond with, "I don't know." And then the toothless student giggles and says, "Because seven ate nine!"

Our daughter has lots of puzzles. In her closet are puzzles with pictures of cute bears. She has puzzles with latches and locks. On her shelf she has puzzles to aid in learning letters and numbers.

Well, at our house one through four are afraid of Duke dog. Because, yes, you guessed it, Duke dog ate number five! Our puzzle to learn numbers is now permanentely missing number 5. We paid homage to the number five last evening. A small sparsely attended funeral was held. Silent prayer was said.

And then our daughter delcared in a moment of hope and disgust, "Oh man, Duke is going to poop number 5!"

So much for it being a "love potion" number!

Dreaming of a Team...

Is anybody out there excited about 8-08-08 like I am? You do realize that those numbers mean- the Summer Olypmics are here!

I am hoping and wishing and cheering for another Dream Team appearance for our US men's basketball team with Coach K at the helm! We've lost too much ground in world basketball in the past oh- decade or two. (One quarter of my gene pool was secretly thrilled when Lithuania beat the USA a year ago!)

My only Olympic fan dilemna is when and how I am going to watch any games... 12-13 hour time difference is a biggie. I am not sure that I am willing to become sleep depreived in order to watch the USA battle on the court. To do so would be a risk- then again red eyes could be a symbol of my patriotism for the ol' Red/White/Blue! We'll see!

Go USA!

Healed

Today I have been working on materials for our Care ministries at church and during the process, I realized that we have a good number of people who are cancer survivors. In fact, I started to make a list of names and that list is a LOT longer than the list of folks who are now in the Kingdom of Heaven. Remarkable!

I may continue my list because I would enjoy seeing the percentage of healed/survived of Calvary compared to the rest of the population at large. God is our Great Physican and Healer. "The Lord sustains them on their sickbed; in their illnesses you heal all their infirmities"(Psalm 41:3).

God's community is a fantastic resource to aid in the healing and recovery process. We do not go the journey from disease to wholeness of body, mind and Spirit alone. It takes community support, encouragement and cheerleading.

I'll keep crunching the numbers, but I think we have a greater precentage of healed verus unhealed. One of our saints here at Calvary has a phrase that she often says, "I am walking in health!" We truly are!

Celebrations

Earlier in the week I met with my spiritual director (a Benedictine nun, who I think, must play on the basketball team at the monastery because she is TALL!) for a conversation about the current state of my soul.

After I shared my post-garage sale personal epiphany moment...
(there is a long story about this epiphany, but I will give you the Cliff Note version. During the post garage sale hoopla of May I realized an insight about my life purpose. I know it doesn't make any sense. You had to be there. Just go with the fact that I learned something new about myself in the process of selling stuff) anyway... my spiritual director asked how I was celebrating this new found self-awareness. Aha! I didn't know. I still don't know.

How does a person celebrate, honor, and/or give thanks for learning a new insight about themselves without bragging, appearing self-involved, and overly- well- weird?!?! How do you do that well?

A dinner party seems grandiose. A blog announcement is a bit over the top.

Maybe I'll take my director's suggestion and allow this insight to sink deeper and deeper into my soul so that it will take root and blossom.

Either that or I can order one of those really BIG YARD CARD signs...

then again...maybe not.

Fireworks are Coming!

Our household is bubbling with energy about the upcoming 4th of July Parade and Fireworks display. Every morning I am asked, "Fireworks today, Momma??!" It is the summer holiday that marks time for our preschooler. In adult terms that means her birthday is getting closer! What are you doing for the 4th?

As we wait for the fireworks to begin life this week has also included:
finishing swim lessons;
our pup providing a 5am wake-up call by vomitting up 3 rocks!;
giving a safety check for rock patrol in our yard;
sharing a mattress and box spring set with someone in need (but no one wants it yet);
shopping for calculators for our July Mission project here at Calvary;
and watching the Weather Channel to prevent bad weather for July 4th fireworks/parade.

Have a great 4th!