Thoughts on...
March 1, 2009: First Sunday of Lent
Gospel Lesson: Mark 1:9-15

When life is good we feel good. There's a spring in your step and a lightness in your heart. But these good feeling do not last forever. At some point disappointment raises its ugly head, bad things happen and that lightheartedness disappears in a cloud of dismal disgust. How do we respond when life knocks us down?

Life was good for Jesus, he heard the comforting words of his heavenly Father, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased." But affirmation is quickly replaced with temptation. There in the wilderness Jesus is confronted by Satan and wild beasts. The recipe for a bad day I'm sure and there were 40 of them in a row. How would Jesus respond when life seemed to knock him down?

"Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God." Jesus did not forget the connection he had with his Father. As God affirmed him in his baptism, God affirmed Jesus in the wilderness with the presence of angels. The angels didn't fix the situation, didn't make Jesus' bad day better, but they did offer their presence. And when Jesus made it through those 40 days, he went out proclaiming the good news. God is with us, God protects us, God heals us.

In the midst of life's struggles, the loss of job, the disappointment of lost relationships, when health disables us, know that God is present walking with us. The bad day, the difficult circumstances are not taken away but we are not alone. In the end, perhaps we will be made stronger in our understanding of God and God's presence in our life. And we too, will be able to proclaim the Good News; God is with us, God protects us, God heals us.

How will you respond to life's disappointments?

Thoughts on...
February 22: Transfiguration of the Lord Sunday
Gospel Lesson: Mark 9:2-9.

Peter, James and John accompany Jesus up a high mountain where Jesus is in the presence of God the Father and in that is illumined, transfigured by a bright light. For Jesus it is a moment of recharging his battery, reconnecting with his Father. For Peter, James and John it is a terror inducing event. Having not seen this before, they were not present when Jesus was baptized and the heavens opened up and the Spirit descended upon him, this was a first, a sight too amazing to see or comprehend.

There were words spoken, from the cloud a voice said, "This is my Son, the Beloved; Listen to him!." In fact the disciples had heard many words about who Jesus was and how he was to experience both death and resurrection. But still they did not understand fully. Only in time would they "get it."

Like Peter, James and John, what we see and what we hear do not always align within our minds. One does not always enhance our understanding of the other. Like the blind men who are each put in front of different part of an elephant and asked to tell what an elephant is, we do not always acknowledge the different ways in which we experience Christ in every aspect of our life.