Memorial Day Thoughts

This weekend there will be celebration after celebration.  Downtown will be filled Saturday with artists, crafters, and music.  Our church alone will be holding a pie sale, an historical exhibit and a sock hop.  Families will be opening up lake homes for the summer season and there will be backyard picnics galore.   We will all be gathering to celebrate the unofficial beginning of summer.

            But come Monday let us remember the real meaning of the holiday, for it is far from a joyful celebration or just a day off from work.  Its meaning is instead a somber one. 

            It began soon after the Civil War as women went to decorate the graves of those who died for freedom.  Many of those graves were unmarked as far too many were unknown soldiers buried in masses in the fields where they died.  These women honored those graves as if they were their sons and daughters, praying that someone would do the same for their loved ones who never came home. 

            Now Memorial Day celebrates all those who have given their lives not only to protect our freedom but the freedom of those living in lands most of us will never see. So while we enjoy the many celebrations let us also celebrate the lives of these brave men and women, known and unknown, as we decorate their graves with the honor of a flag.  And let us remember the poignant words of the now famous poem In Flander Fields:

             

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
                                                                        between the crosses, row on row,                                                                               That mark our place;                                                                                                    and in the sky
                                                                                                                   The larks, still bravely singing, fly 
                                                                           Scarce heard amid the guns below.                                                                           We are the Dead. Short days ago
                                                                                 We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,                                                                           
Loved and were loved, and now we lie 
In Flanders fields.                                          Take up our quarrel with the foe:
                                                                                    To you from failing hands we throw                                                                              The torch; be yours to hold it high.                                                                                
If ye break faith with us who die
                                                                                    We shall not sleep,                                                                                                though poppies grow 
In Flanders fields.

first aid kit for those who work with children

I ran across this first aid kit for everyone who deals with children and I found it so meaningful thought I’d share it with you.

            Rubber band: Be flexible.  Each child is different.  Make sure you never expect more than the child has to give.

            Scissors:  Cut away time each day to spend time with your child.

            Book of matches:  Add spark and excitement to the daily routine.

            Button:  Keep your shirt on.  Be patient.  God isn’t finished with them yet.

            Tissue: Remember a child’ heart is tissue thin.  Don’t blow your cool and tear their heart.

            Shoe lace:  Never get too big to bend down to their level.

            Snickers candy bar:  Remember always to add laughter and sweetness to every day.

            Candy Kiss:  Love is the best encouragement there is and will make everything else worthwhile.

            Candle:  All the candle needs is one little match to light the glow that will live on forever. 

            If you think growing up is easy for a child, try learning something new yourself, such as writing with your opposite hand, reading upside down, or walking on your knees while holding on to the hand of a grown-up walking at a normal pace.  These things are similar to just a few of the tasks we ask children to accomplish everyday. 

            There is no greater task than raising a child into responsible adulthood so relax, enjoy, and keep your kit handy! 

Some Doubted

The Rev. Dr. Patricia Ramsden                                    First Presbyterian Church

            Here it is, Jesus’ final farewell.  It has been forty days since Easter and He is preparing to ascend into heaven.  The disciples have gathered on the mountain top to hear His final words.  Yet still scripture tells us that “some doubted.”

            What wonderful words those are!  Now, I may be alone in that opinion, especially among preachers, but quite frankly I like the fact that at least some of the disciples still doubted and were at least a little bit hesitant even after all they had seen and heard from Christ Himself.  It makes me feel better about my own faith. 

            I may be a person of great faith, but still there are those moments… I think everyone has those moments.  Moments when I’ve walked into a hospital room and seen a mother still rocking her newborn baby who had just died.  Moments when I have read about yet another murder of an innocent bystander.  Moments when I’ve tried to reconcile the miracle of resurrection with my 21^st century scientific mind and discovered it couldn’t be done because Easter is in the end a matter of faith not proof.  Moments when I’ve doubted.  Moments when I’ve hesitated.  Haven’t you ever had those moments?

            And yet Jesus has faith in us even when we doubt Him.  I love that.  It is to both the faithful and the doubters, the questioners, that He gave the Great  Commission.

            Jesus looks at them all and says simply “Go.”  He doesn’t say “wait until you’re ready.”  He doesn’t say, “Wait until you’re comfortable.”  He doesn’t say, “Wait until you have no doubts or questions or hesitations of your own.”

 No.  He simply says “Go.  Go now. Go and bate people in the presence of God, teaching them what it means to live out of God’s love and you will find yourself bathed in love as well.  

Are You Thirsty?

She had it all.  A beautiful home in the suburbs with a three car garage.  A husband who loved her.  Two kids and a dog.  Then she found out that the husband who loved her had been sleeping around and suddenly her nice little life came unraveled.  She was caught up in the tragedy of divorce and found herself needing an income for herself and the kids.   She had plenty of questions and no answers.  She was dying of thirst and didn’t know where to go for a drink of living water. 

We are surrounded by people just like her.  Busy people.  Burdened people.  Burned out people. But before God can give us what we need to quench the thirsting of our spirit, the thirsting of our heart, we have to recognize what we really long for. 

We need to recognize the thirsting of our hearts for something more.  It may show itself in a restlessness of our spirit, or a life out of control.  We may push ourselves even harder – getting involved in more and more activities in the hope of filling up the hole in our soul.  Still we may have a sense of loneliness that can not be filled, and if we are honest with ourselves we would have to say that our life, too often, runs on empty.

Ever feel like that?  Even a little?  Then it is time for you to go to the well of living water --- the very w-e-l-l of water that streams from the heart of God. 

Don't Look for the Living Among the Dead

When I read the scripture for Easter Sunday, one thing stood out at me and kept echoing in my mind.  It was not the words “He is risen” as incredible as those words are.  Those words are a part of my very being. My life is based on them, and their reality have saved me time after time again. 

            No.  This time the words that kept running through my head were the angel’s question:  “Why do you look for the living among the dead?”  It’s a good question.  Why do we?  Because we do do it you know. We look for life and meaning in all sorts of things: drugs, alcohol, money, bigger and nicer houses, someone, anyone to hold us in the night. 

I think at times we do it out of fear and insecurity or because we’re lonely or we’re afraid no one could really love us the way we are.  So we want there to be something, anything, that we can do that will change our world and make it, perfect, something we can do that will make us perfect. 

The reality, though, is that there is ultimately nothing we can do, but there is an answer.  I believe one of the great messages of the Easter story is what Christ’s resurrection means for us.  It is the proof of the cross, the proof of God’s mercy and grace, the proof of God’s eternal love.  It is the proof that we will never again have to seek for life in the things of this world. 

Now does this mean our lives will be perfect and all our problems will have gone?  No.  I’m sorry, but no.  The resurrection is not some kind of magic trick that insures us a fairy tale existence.

            There will still be bills to pay, cancer to cure, depression to fight.  The difference is, we will know we are no longer alone in the fight.  God is there, walking beside us through whatever shadows of darkness life may bring as well as in all of its joy. 

            How do I know this?  How can I say it with such confidence?  Because I know the rest of the story, and it has a happy ending.  You see, Christ has risen!  He has risen indeed!

A Tale of Two Parades

Who doesn’t love a good parade?  So is it any wonder that an entire Sunday is dedicated by the church to remembering one of the best parades in history --  a parade that began humbly with our Lord on the back of a donkey riding into Jerusalem.  Such was the parade of palms, the entrance of the Christ into the royal city.  For one glorious moment the people sang Alleluias.  For one glorious moment they were united by faith in a God greater than their circumstances.  For one glorious moment, one brief shining bit of time, the people knew their Messiah and welcomed him home as a conquering hero. 

But then reality set in. 

This Jesus was not the king they wanted, the king they had envisioned.  Where they demanded freedom, He talked of peace.  Where they saw Rome as the enemy He lectured the Scribes and Pharisees.  While they wanted the riches and power of the world, He talked about the rewards of a world to come.  And soon the cries of Hosanna became mutters of discontent, and the Pharisees began to plan the next great parade, the parade of Good Friday. 

It is startling to see how these two parades mirror each other.  For just as the crowd shouted in joy “Look your king is coming!”  “Hosanna to the son of David” Pilate had written above the cross, “This is the king of the Jews” despite the protests of the people who said “He is no king of ours.”

And just as they walked through the streets of Jerusalem along the pathway of the palms, so Jesus walked his final parade route through the Via Delorosa, the way of suffering, as He dragged his cross to Calvary.  The same people who had praised Him a few short days before now jeered at Him, mocking Him as they lined the pathway of pain. 

And the cries of the people “Hosanna, Save us” were realized for all eternity in a way the people could never imagine, for Christ came to save them, to save us, from the depths of darkest sin.  While their hearts were fixed on earthly power, God’s heart was set on eternity. 

As the city shook from joy on that Palm Sunday so long ago, so it shook again as even the earth quaked at the death of its creator and maker. 

Ways to Pray

So Pastor Pat.  What’s the right way to pray?  Am I supposed to stand up, kneel down, fold my hands, raise them up, repeat after you, say something I’ve memorized or make it up as I go along?    It seems like there are so many rules, so many “right ways of doing it” How can I be sure I’m doing it the way God wants me too?” 

            You’d be surprised how often I get asked these kinds of questions.  Prayer is after all a sacred moment in time when we talk with the God of the universe on our most intimate terms, when we share our deepest thoughts, when we ask our most profound questions, questions that our faith, our lives, rely upon.  We want to get it right.

            And what is the “right” way to pray changes with times and circumstances, with who we are, where we are, and where our relationship with God is at that moment of time.      To me, all the methods of prayer can be very meaningful at different points and I use them all. 

I can be bebopping down Front Street singing songs of praise to my ipod feeling good, and praising God and just remembering and giving thanks for how wonderful my life truly is.  Or I can find myself as I did just a few days ago in the Garden of Gethsemane, kneeling on a rock, swaying back and forth, weeping for all Christ did for me.  Or I can find myself holding someone I love --- just holding them ---knowing God is holding us both, strengthening us both for the time to come.  Or I can find my eyes closed with a group of believers saying “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name….”

All of these are valid forms of prayer. All will touch our hearts and the heart of God.  There is no one right way to reach our redeemer. I suppose the message is that we should not limit prayer or how prayer happens.  It happens as we weed our gardens as much as in our cathedrals.  It can happen during red lights as well as on our knees at night.  We should be open to all the ways God may speak to us and we may respond to Him.  

Never forget though, the best prayer of all is the simplest prayer of all, the prayer God longs to hear above all others.  “I love You Jesus .Help me love Thee more.”