Dearly Beloved,
I feel like Colorado spring days do not get better than this. The sun is shining. Birds sing in the trees, and the mountains are still snow-capped and majestic to the west.
I have been feeling great joy and gratitude for our congregation this past week. I love watching us practice courage and connection, love and trust. Your willingness this last week to spend some time in your fears was so brave. Thank you for holding that space with me and with each other. It was truly holy, sacred, sanctuary space. I meant to say this on Sunday, but please know that I am available for conversation and prayer to help hold whatever may come up for you in worship on Sunday morning or at other times during your week. These are tender topics, digging into our vulnerability can leave us feeling exposed in ways we don’t always expect. Or grieving. Confused or overwhelmed. Please know that you are not alone, and that I am always available to support you in these pieces of your journey.
I have heard feedback from a number of people that we’ve been missing our more in-depth time to share joys and concerns. Thanks for letting me know! We will be adding this back into our service beginning this coming Sunday. Instead of trying to fit it into the prayer time that we have, we will shift that time around a little bit and then have a second time to hold joys and concerns later in worship. Please let me know what you think. And, again, thank you for the feedback – the only way I know to shift things around is to hear what we are needing.
This coming week, we continue to the end of the Gospel according to Luke. We'll hear the story of the ascension (when Jesus leaves his disciples and ascends into the heavens) at the end of Luke and then hear it again as told in the Acts of the Apostles. Biblical scholars generally agree that the same person wrote Luke and Acts, and the books are essentially Part I: Luke (Jesus' life and ministry) and Part II: Acts (what happens with the early community of Christ followers after Jesus dies, is resurrected and returns to God).
After Jesus ascends into heaven, two figures dressed in white appear to the disciples and ask: "Why are you standing here, looking toward heaven?" In my own reflections this week, I've been thinking about all the times and places in my life when I am busy looking to the idealized version of something. And this distracts me or keeps me from seeing what is actually real and right before my eyes. I'm so busy looking to what I want that I fail to see what is in front of me. I get distracted by how I think someone should be that I cannot see who they actually show themselves to be. I'm not exactly sure that this is what the two figures are asking, but this has been where my mind has wandered.
In what ways do you look towards heaven, or an ideal of the world and in so doing miss what is in front of you? What are those things that perhaps we do not want to see before us? What beauty, what goodness, what holiness do we miss? What opportunities for connection, service, love and joy?
I love the ending of the benediction we're using this season (it's from the website Worship Words and is written by Cara Heafy):
"And when your attention is pulled back... down... may you feel your connection with the earth quiet and strong holding you steady like the hands of God."
That is my prayer for you (and for me) this week.
With love and peace,
Thandiwe
