..... and count the stars .....

Abram (he was not yet Abraham) was stuck.  He was stuck in his imaginings that he forever was to be childless, ever to be without an heir of his own family.  I imagine Abram’s mind was running 'round in fantastically dizzying circles as he feared this possibility and was looking for any possible way to change it.  He was, frankly, stuck in the dizzying imaginings of his mind.  All seemed lost.  All seemed barren of any hope or possibility, let alone fruitfulness.

Hmm….. I wonder if this story resonates with any of our own lives?...........

And yet, powerfully, this very place that is dizzying and full of fear for Abram is also sacred ground, for it is the very place that God and Abram encounter one another (you can read the story in Genesis 15.1-6).  It is here that Abram presents his case to God (I personally think Abram muttered a bunch of this under his breath), and it is here that God listens and responds.

God’s response is beautifully, breathtakingly simple.  In a nutshell--“It is not so.”  And then God takes Abram outside.  “Abram,” He says, “look towards the heaven and count the stars….(and here I think God maybe chuckles under Her breath a bit) if you are able to count them…..”  Rather than argue or buy into Abram’s line of reasoning God offers Abram the opportunity to let go of his fantastically dizzying circles and to begin to open up to new possibilities, and maybe even to move from a fear of great scarcity and abandonment to a hope and trust of great abundance and joy.

Wow.  Can you imagine standing with God and Abram under the stars of heaven at this very moment with your own fantastically dizzying circles of fear?  Each of us has them.  Go ahead.  It’s a great form of prayer.  Even go out tonight and stand under the stars.  I double dog dare you!

This isn’t to say Abram gets it all right away (just like all the rest of us).  He still has a way to go in his story.  But something in Abram does begin to shift that night as he stares up into the sky and begins to count the stars.  He begins to open up to a place of deeper trust in God and an openness to yet un-conceived possibilities.  It is a deeply holy shift.  And that shift will make all the difference.

As always, each of you is so much in my heart and prayers. 

With gratitude, simplicity, and great love,

Mother Julia

Seeds for Transformation

My Beloved Brothers and Sisters, We are going to be talking and praying and sharing a lot about the Kingdom of God in the coming months, and certainly we need to be thick in the heart of its labor.  The image of the Kingdom of God is at the heart of Luke’s gospel, which will be our guiding story line for the remainder of “Ordinary Time.”  (Ha!  I always laugh when I say that phrase as a description of a season of the church year.  The only way it is “ordinary” is that every single bit of it is deeply filled with the sacred, holy presence and action of God.  Who ever came up with the description “ordinary”? And yet, maybe that’s its brilliance….hmm….chew on that one for a while!) In my study time, I came, or re-came, across a brilliant description of the Kingdom of God.  It’s from Thomas Moore, Writing in the Sand: Jesus and the Soul of the Gospels.  It goes like this “The kingdom is not a place, not a thing, not an institution, not a membership.  Maybe it is most like an attitude, a way of seeing, a turn of imagination that makes all the difference.” What is your response?  Yes, I ask what is your very personal response?  Does it resonate?  Confuse?  Frustrate?  Titillate?  Invite?  Challenge?  Soothe? This is an essential question, because how we conceive, understand, and live out what we believe and experience to be the Kingdom of God is a central piece to our faith and life journey.  It is central to the ongoing life of transformation to which the gospel invites us daily, even in this, yes, “ordinary time.” I would love for you to share your thoughts, experiences, prayers with me next time we are together.  And if you are interested, Thomas Moore’s book is a very rich, God-breathed exploration of the heart and soul of the gospels.  Would you join me in a prayerful read? With simplicity, gratitude, and great love, Mother Julia

An Image... Good Friday

Icon of the Crucifixion

What do you notice?........Is there anything in the icon to which you are particularly drawn?........What prayers emerge as you gaze?..........

I will admit, I do not like to look at crucifixion scenes.  It is really very hard for me, and takes a concerted effort not simply to turn away.

But that is the point, isn't it?  Or at least one of them.........the invitation to see and to notice the depth of pain, suffering, and oppression in our world.  And by looking and noticing, will it change us in the choices we make in our lives?  Will we, like Jesus, choose to stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters, and work for the Kingdom----for good news for the poor, for release to the captives, for recovery of sight to the blind?  Will we labor with God that the oppressed may go free?

My brothers and sisters, let us not turn away.  Let us look at the very soul of what is before us, and be transformed as we commit ourselves each day to a life of love, service and solidarity with all God's beloved children.

With much love and many prayers,
Julia

An Image... Maundy Thursday

The Washing of the Feet
By Jesus Mafa

• 

What do you notice in this painting?  What strikes you?  Is there anything you particularly notice that resonates with your life, with your experience?

I am struck by the light and the shadow of the image, and how Peter is trying mightily to hide his feet, away and in the shadows, out of reach from Jesus' gentle, yet strong and attending hands.

Jesus is always reaching out to us with these hands, and in as intimate a way as to wash our feet.  And yet, for whatever reason, we hold back in the shadows.....maybe not our whole selves, but perhaps just that part.  That part we feel to be too beat up or grungy or that we know, if we take a whiff, just smells really bad.  Let's be honest about it.  We all have those places, those pieces, those wounded or weary or smelly places in our lives.

I imagine, as I gaze upon this painting, Peter saying, "Oh no, Jesus!  You do not want to go there!"  And yet that is Jesus' very desire and offering.  To tend with love and care and gentleness and goodness of strength to those very places that are beat up or grungy or smelly or wounded, those very places we seek to hide in the shadows of who we are.

It is your choice...Jesus always offers but never forces our opening up to his tender, healing, attentive touch.

And so, the question emerges.........How do you wish to choose today?.......

With love and prayers for you, and for all our Incarnation family together, that we may know a journey filled with sacred blessings this Holy Week.

With much love and many prayers,
Mother Julia

Early Morning on Palm Sunday......

“What is the journey before me?”  

“How will I journey?” 

“What will happen?”  

“Will God really be with me?” 

I imagine these questions moving powerfully through the whole of Jesus’ being as he sat upon the colt, atop the Mount of Olives, looking down upon the city of Jerusalem below.

I think we sometimes forget that as Jesus sat astride the colt, and began his descent into Jerusalem, that he did not know exactly what was going to happen.  Jesus was riding into the thickness of the unknown, and it was an unknown filled with an atmosphere of oppression and fear and anger and injustice.  What was to be?

I invite us this Holy Week to “unknow” the Passion Story, and so to experience it anew, particularly as it resonates with our own lives. This is an important invitation, because it helps us to enter into the very depths of the story, so that it may again surprise us and shock us and astound us, and as it does so, open us ever more deeply to the tremendous truth and power of the Paschal Mystery, the truth and power of God’s love.

May you know the gift of some spaciousness of time and prayer this Holy Week, and may your Holy Week journey be blessed by being touched with the depth of the love of God, as, perhaps, you ask some of these same questions in your life------ “What is the journey before me?”  “How will I journey?”  “What will happen?”  “Will God really be with me?”

May the blessings of Holy Week nurture in you the transformative and sustaining mysteries of resurrection life.

With much love,

Julia

Mary's Anointing of Jesus' Feet

My Brothers and Sisters,

  

I share with you an image.

It is an icon from our gospel story for this Sunday, of Mary of Bethany anointing Jesus’ feet six days before the Passover, during a feast hosted by Lazarus and his family (think Lazarus, Mary, and Martha).  If you would like to read the story, you will find it in the gospel of John, chapter twelve.

What do you notice in the icon? …. Take your time……  To what are you drawn?.....  Is there something you notice resonating with your own heart and life?....... Are there any prayers that emerge as you notice and gaze?

 

Gazing upon icons is a powerful spiritual tool and practice.  It invites us into an intimate encounter with ourselves and with God.  It nurtures a depth of communion that can transform us.

As we begin to move closer to Holy Week, I will be sending you icons to journey with us along the way.  And if you would like, I would love to hear from you of how or where these icons, and so the Holy Spirit, has touched your heart.  It is deeply good that we can journey this road together.

My Brothers and Sisters, I see the light of Christ in you every time we meet!

With much love and many prayers,

Julia

Transformation

Beloved Brothers and Sisters,

I share with you and image and a poem:

If Jesus Could

By Tom Lane

If Jesus could transform

common water into wedding wine,

spit and dirt into new sight,

troubled sea into a pathway,

well water into living water,

Could Christ transform

the waters of my life,

shallow, murky, polluted,

stagnant, sour,

into a shower of blessing?

Yes! Jesus indeed can and does do this very thing!  Jesus is always immersed in the work of transformation ---again and again and again.  That’s what salvation really is.  It is the transformation of difficulty and alienation and pain into workableness and communion and blessing.  This not to say that pain or difficulty disappears.  But it is to say that it is transformed to be a source, perhaps even a deep well, of God’s goodness and grace in our lives, and so too in the lives of our communities.

Have you noticed how Jesus’ works of transformation are not works that start with something brand new, but rather work with the very things that are already there?  Think of Jesus’ transformation of the water into wine at the wedding at Cana.  Think of the feeding of the multitudes, starting only with a few fish and a few loaves of bread.  Think of the spit and the dirt that brought new sight.  Think of your own lives.

Go ahead, take some time…….reflect…….notice……pray.  Where has God brought transformation, salvation, into your life?  What does it feel like?  What do you notice?  What surprises you?  What sustains you?  How has this experience, how does this experience, continue to touch you?  Is it nurturing the growth of a special ministry in your life?

It’s usually those rough places in our lives, isn’t it, that we experience the most transformation.  Jesus loves those rough places. Just loves them.  They are right where he wants to be.  They are right where he is.

As always, you are so very much in my heart and my prayers.

With love and celebration for the gift of you and God as one,

Julia

P.S.  Did you notice Mary in the icon?  We'll talk about her on Sunday.  What do you think is going on?