Into God's Time

        For this hour, we step away
From clock time, and into God time.

Forgive our obsession with
concrete metrics. So often,
it is how we are measured.
But as an investment and
an experiment in your realm,

we will stop measuring
timeliness and productivity
just for this one hour-ish, though
        it does not come naturally.

In this pocket of God-time and God-space,
carved out from the everyday,
        our hearts say let your kingdom come.
Amen.


For the 2nd Sunday in Lent (Narrative Lectionary text Matthew 20:1-16)

A Word for the Drowning

He was sad.  Oh, so sad.

His dear cousin – the one he had met even before they were born – dead.

He had been about his work for so long:  calling disciples, mentoring them - telling stories, healing people, instructing them and sending them out to serve.  He was becoming an A-list public speaker, the kind people flock to listen to whenever they come to town.  His mother and brothers came to visit, and he turned away from them.  He said, I haven’t come to bring peace, but a sword.

So full of fire, he was.  So busy.  John had to send word from prison, asking “Are you the one? The one we’ve been waiting for?”  They had been apart since baptism day at the Jordan.

And now he was gone.

The world wouldn’t leave him alone to grieve.

Words of Assurance for Annual Meeting Sunday

God’s work among us, and within each one of us,
Doesn’t (just) make us better than we are alone.
It makes us different.
Divinely commissioned oddballs, if you will:
Beloved, blessed, forgiven, called,
To shine our light for Christ’s sake.
Amen?  Amen.