Lent: Reflection 5

We read the passion in church this morning. The congregation acts as the crowd, rising up against Jesus, calling out "crucify him!". Later in the reading Jesus is put to death, and the church sits in silence after he breathes his last breath. I had a deep, emotional response to this. I sat there thinking about how Jesus made people uncomfortable, that he was a mirror for them, allowing them to see their own divinity, allowing them to see God's radical acceptance and love for them. Jesus made it impossible for people to ignore the ways that they were sleeping and how much more fulfilling it could be to really live...and I apologize for using a term that's been trademarked by a fundamentalist bestseller...purpose filled lives. It was so threatening for people to see that and to recognize the total change it would require to live authentically that they killed him. Maybe they hoped it would kill the part of them that so desperately yearned for what they saw in him. Freedom. Real love. Harmony. I thought about the part of me that is threatened by God's love for me...threatened, I guess, by how wonderful I am to God and what it means to have that divine spark inside of me. I thought about the ways I seek to deny and kill my divinity just so I don't have to own up to the responsibility of it. And then I thought about Easter. I know that I'm getting ahead of myself, since holy week is just beginning, but the idea of Easter, the idea that Jesus rose again, that he couldn't be killed, is so hopeful. It makes me believe that I have endless opportunities to embrace the light within, that even if one day I try to kill it, it will be resurrected over and over again. Amen.

Lent: Reflection 4

I got a job!!! A few weeks ago I was talking with the associate rector at my church about my job hunt, and she told me that a doctor in our congregation was looking for an assistant. I let his number sit on my bedside table for a week, as I continued to chase the corporate job that I had been interviewing for. Then, one day, after that big corporation called to offer me a job starting in August, I decided to give him a call. The doctor hired me the very next day. I said, theverynextday!!! This job is perfect. The doctors in this office take a holistic, spiritual approach to medicine. One of them is even an ordained minister! She went to Candler at Emory and will be a great help to me along my path. And did I mention they are offering the same hours and pay as the big guys I was chasing so hard??? So praise to my Source, who gives infinitely more than I can ask or imagine...and who knew there was something better for me than a corporate job right now. Once again, I open my palms to say, "I surrender".
I surrender to the coming of a spring season in my life!