ps from ps… How many thresholds have you already walked through today? Doors? Transitions? I bet more than you think! And I bet you barely noticed.
I mean think of your morning. Mine went like this: bedroom to bathroom to bedroom to hallway to stairs to dining room to kitchen to coffee pot. Eight thresholds before I even got my first cup of coffee. This clearly explains why I didn’t most of them!
Door, thresholds and transitions take us from one thing to the other, one place to the other, one room to the other. From home to car to work to lunch to work again to car to home to dinner to random sporting event on tv and back to bed again. Some days we blitz through them so fast, we barely notice a thing. Think through your day already today…how many did you walk through?
The door that we walk through this coming weekend is the threshold and transition between Lent and Holy Week. And Jesus DOES NOT want those who were there the first time, and those that are going through it this time, to miss it. He’s been going toward the cross since he came through the door in the stable into a manger. However, many on that first Palm Sunday are just noticing the threshold themselves.
“Get the donkey so they notice.” Cue the Palms!! Make it obvious!! But even when they noticed, they didn’t fully understand the threshold they were in. “Hosanna. Hosanna!” But that’s not what Jesus was there to do.
Jesus knew the door through which he was walking. And he knew the threshold it would allow to open for us.
Did you notice THAT doorway today? As we move toward Palm Sunday again, will you realize the depth of what this transition holds?
Notice the doorways today. The ones you’ve been through, the ones you’re about to enter and, of course, the one Jesus opened for us all.
Lord, thanks for the important door being open for us all. Help me notice! Amen
ps from ps… This is my friend and colleague Lee Miller (pictured above). When he’s not being the lead pastor at Holy Trinity Lutheran or Dean of a group of Lutheran churches or a husband or dad, he’s running. Running with a purpose. Running for self-care.
Now some would say, myself included, that he looks a lot like Forrest Gump when he does…. but that is not his intent either. His intent is simply to make sure that there is enough time in the day for self-care, prayer and reflection.
He started at the beginning of the pandemic and just kept it going everyday. Here’s what he said yesterday as his streak went to 365 straight days.
“One year ago I began this running streak committing myself to 30 minutes of #selfcare each day of the pandemic and inviting you to #loveyourself with a little bit of daily exercise, too. Remember when we only thought this would last a few weeks? 365 days later I’m still running. I’ve gone through three pairs of shoes and have run the same day as a colonoscopy and a root canal (not the same day.) I hope you can take time to care for yourself as we continue to take time to #loveoneanother. I acknowledge that I run with privilege and so on my runs I remember #ahmaudarbery and many more. Let’s keep on #runningtherace until we can all be together again. What’s your preferred form of self-care?”
Wow. One full year of running everyday. One full year of self-care. One full year of giving himself time for reflection and centering each day.
As we move through Lent, I invite you to start or restart that self-care for yourself….that reflection, meditation, centering and prayer time for yourself. Your Self! You deserve that time to bless and re-bless what God has created! Walking. Running. Counting steps. Movement. Yoga. Silence. Sitting with your coffee. Reading. Whatever it might be, take it for you and for your time to reconnect with God. (I do highly encourage you to merge your meditation/prayer with your movement, if you haven’t already, to be able to bless your body, mind and soul all at once.)
So today, whether it’s Day 1 or Day 366, run, you, run! (Catch the Forrest Gump reference there?) Whatever it is, take the time for your Self.
Lord, thanks for blessing my Self. Help me stay connected to it and you! Amen
ps from ps… Dorothy Menth. An important name today.
Many of you reading this have no idea who Dorothy is. You won’t read about her in a history book. You can’t Google her and she can’t pull up Google because she doesn’t own a computer and wants nothing to do with the internet. She is a gem and loved by many, many people!
Dorothy is a long time missionary at St. Paul’s Lutheran and now lives at Amberleigh Senior Living Center. And today, I am going to visit with her and take her Communion. And she will be my first home visit to share Communion in almost exactly one year. One. Year.
I never thought I’d go one year in between home Communion visits but I also never anticipated a global pandemic shutting normal life down. Just never imagined it possible. But now we are starting to make progress moving forward and creating a new normal to live into.
As we cross the various shapes and sizes and styles of this “one year” threshold, I just want to invite you into some time of reflection, meditation and prayer. (If you’re in WNY, I invite you to do it while getting out on a beautiful day for a run or walk while contemplating because it’s beautiful and this is the last day of Biegner Winter!)
So many things have happened and changed in this past year. My seminary Professor Tony Everett invited us to be constantly asking, “WIGIAT – Where Is God In All This?” So I ask you the same thing today and invite you to spend some time in that question.
Where was/is God in all this past year? Where were you blessed despite all the changes? Where were you carried by faith in the hardest of times? Where did God’s promise of Easter become reality for you? Where did that promise pull you through the Good Fridays?
One year. For me, it’s framed by the last First Communion training I did for our youth at church and the Communion I’ll share with Dorothy today. Those are good bookends. That’s just one of the places God has been.
Where has God been for and with you?
Lord, for your presence in my life over the past difficult year, I give you thanks. Amen
ps from ps… Do you have a nickname? What’s it from? Who gave it to you? Why do you have it? Does it describe some part of your name, personality or role in the world?
One of my nicknames is Little Bigs. Not because I’m Chick Biegner’s son but because my older sister Chris, who I hung out with a lot as I was growing up, was nicknamed: Bigs. So when I was still smaller than her, her friends would call me: Little Bigs. Pretty simple.
Jesus had lots of names/nicknames: Rabbi, King of Kings, Holy One, Emmanuel and the list goes on. As the church, we celebrate most of them. The one we probably highlight the least though would be his trickiest nickname: Prophet. Because sometimes prophetic words and actions make us really uncomfortable and take us out of our comfort zones. A prophet is one that speaks God’s future into reality, speaks truth to power and speaks out against evil in the present reality.
In the gospel lesson coming up for this week, Jesus, in full prophetic mode, goes into the temple and starts turning the money changer’s tables upside down, sending them packing. He does this because it’s not the way of God and not what God wants us focused on. His prophetic role in the world becomes tangible. His prophetic nickname is worn on his sleeve as he tries again to restore the people and temple to who and what they were designed to be. Restoration.
I know most of us like the Healer Jesus, the Feeder Jesus and the Savior Jesus. Much cozier and easier to swallow. But sometimes the prophet needs to flip those tables over. Sometimes the only thing that gets through to us and the world is when things get tipped upside down. Sometimes so many layers of “blah” get laid on top of God’s good news and right pathway that some less subtle measures are needed.
Do you need a prophetic word brought into your life today? Are there tables of yours that need to be flipped?
Or maybe do you need to be that prophetic voice for someone you know, some community you live in? Is it time for you to help speak that hard word that won’t win you any “citizen of the year” awards from some but would bring new life to others?
Could Prophet be the nickname you need to live into today?
As our Lenten Restoration continues, consider your prophetic role in it. What tables do you see that might need to be flipped over?
Lord, if there’s a table that isn’t set for you, call me to flip it if that’s what the good news needs Amen
ps from ps… Jesus shared the “plan” with the disciples that he’d be betrayed, handed over and killed. And Peter was not a fan. He pulled Jesus aside and said: “Dude, let’s not do that! That’s crazy talk! There’s got to be another way.” – Mark 8, Biegner Translation There’s got to be another way. If I’ve said that to God once, I’ve said it a million times. My plan. My timing. Less struggle. More glory. Less pain. More easy street.
Occasionally I pull God over, pull God aside and explain to the Creator of the Universe and US Postal System and the rover that just landed on Mars and the plastic thing at the end of your shoelace that keeps the lace from unraveling, I’ve got a better idea.
I deserve to be put in timeout for the number of times I’ve done this.
What’s incredible about Jesus’ response to Peter’s selfishness (and mine) is this: he invites him to come even closer. He doesn’t push him away. Jesus replies: “Get behind me Satan.” The words really can be translated “follow me.” Watch me. Emulate me. Learn from me. Take notes and watch what God’s up to! He even invites him to drop that selfishness/poor thinking/evil dwelling action and instead – pick up his cross. Pick up his sacrifice, instead of his selfishness.
Today my friend, you and I play the role of Peter. Probably still sharing words similar to his at times. Probably still trying to pull Jesus aside. And yet, Jesus continue to pull us closer. Nearer. To watch. Learn. Listen. And have an opportunity to drop some of the stuff that’s getting in the way, only to pick up God sacrificial love in its place.
May your Lenten time of Restoration, bring you closer to Jesus to watch, learn, listen to and follow that incredible grace.
My Coach said that to me yesterday while we were out on a run together. “You’re making progress,” he said. Except it didn’t feel that way. I didn’t really want to be running. It was cold and I didn’t have enough layers on. I wasn’t holding the pace I had hoped for. My mind was fairly distracted and I wasn’t very present while I was running. About the only thing I seemed to be accomplishing was moving forward.
So it didn’t feel much like progress. It felt like back tracking on most levels.
“You’re making progress,” he said over and over as we spent the 40 minutes together. Toward the end of the journey, he unpacked the depth of “progress” for me. See he was using the second definition of the word: “to advance or develop toward a more complete condition.” Progress isn’t perfection. It’s simply movement toward a more complete condition. Progress was happening, even while the run wasn’t perfect. I made progress as I started the run. I made progress that I didn’t stop the run when I was cold. I made progress that continued the run despite the distractions, poor form and slower pace. And maybe the time that I made the most progress was when I recognized that even negatives and imperfections of the run itself were still helping me to make progress.
Lent begins today. A 40-day run for Christians. And Jesus says the same words to us: “You’re making progress.” We hear in Scripture “return to the Lord your God, for God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” Those words are spoken to every imperfect runner, who is actually still making progress. Those words are spoken to every imperfect Christian, who is actually still making progress. Attempting to advance or develop toward a more complete condition. Returning to God.
Lent is our run together. Lent is our time set our hearts and minds on making progress. On running with and toward the Lord of grace and mercy. It’s another starting line. It’s another imperfect journey with an imperfect runners that, no matter what happens, brings us toward a more complete condition.
Your Lent doesn’t have to be perfect. And yet it is still a gift. A chance. A start. An opportunity to be present. It is an invitation to return. As we move into it, open to all that will and can happen, no matter what the results, we will notice that we are indeed making progress.
Lord, here we go. Let’s make progress. Amen
Still in One Peace, ps
Reminder: St. Paul’s Daily Devotionals for Lent (written by Mary Wolf) can be found at stpaulseggertsville.com
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