ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
November 20, 2023 Prayer for the Week: Holy Guide, counsel me as I seek to practice gratitude. It should come so easily, as there is much for me to appreciate, yet the actual exercise of gratitude is too easily forgotten and lost amidst the stress and chaos of daily life. Provide me the inspiration to pause in this moment, to breathe in awareness, and to exhale whatever it is that keeps me from claiming a true spirit of gratitude. Help my mind and imagination to go to a place from where I can see with greater perspective, taking in the landscape of my life. I am certain there will be moments of grace and kindness, mercy and generosity, where I have been the recipient. Yet in my resolve to get from Point A to Point B, I missed gift after gift. In your mercy, O God, allow this realization to awaken me to those moments ahead of me where the gracious acts of many will no longer be overlooked or disregarded. I know it will be a process, yet I trust you to be my Holy Guide in this work. Amen.
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ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
November 19, 2023 Today, we begin a two-week look at Thanksgiving Beyond The Feast. Though I am a person who celebrates and encourages the notion of gratitude, I do struggle with the holiday we call Thanksgiving. It’s that strange tension between believing in the human need to give thanks while also acknowledging the deeply painful history of what is behind the holiday. I am becoming more of a person who believes we can hold two contrary ideas in tension, naming both without diminishing the other… though some would call me naive as they believe it is impossible. And maybe they are right, but I hope not. I love the command out of Deuteronomy 24, where we read: Remember that you were a slave in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this. When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be left for the alien, the orphan, and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all your undertakings (vs. 18-19). You cannot live faithfully in the moment without fully understanding the past, yet in understanding the past, you are able to act as a person of gratitude who ends up blessing others. Continue to speak your truth to me, O Gracious God, about the past, the present, and what is possible in the future through a well-informed faith. Amen. ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
November 18, 2023 St. Augustine, one of the central figures of the Christian faith and defender of orthodoxy, was in fact a closet heretic. What I mean by that is Augustine often shared thoughts that were a bit outside of traditional thinking, but he was able to get away with it. One such quote is about the beauty of creation being God’s biography. Augustine wrote, “Some people, in order to discover God, read books. But there is a great book: the very appearance of created things. Look above you! Look below you! Read it. God, whom you want to discover, never wrote that book with ink. Instead, He set before your eyes the things that He had made. Can you ask for a louder voice than that?” Some might declare such words as heretical or even blasphemous, but I find them insightful and liberating. It doesn’t mean I dismiss scripture, but the Source of Being, or call it the divine artist, is revealed in the artistry around us. Allow my senses to glimpse beyond the beauty of creation so that I might see the hint of your creative presence in all that is, O Creator God. Amen. ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
November 17, 2023 A Prayer From The Interfaith Thanksgiving Service: Holy One of mercy and compassion, pour your loving grace upon all Israelis and Palestinians in this dreadful time of war. Let hatred be turned into love, fear to trust, despair to hope, violence to peace. May the violent encounters be replaced with visions of peace and reconciliation for all. May the people of the world mourn and grieve with all Israelis and Palestinians the tragic loss of life. May all religious traditions believe that the way of love makes possible a new creation. May our life’s work be a passion for peace and nonviolence. Guide all your children through these dark days and sustain our hope for peace and unity in the Middle East. Open all hearts to your divine light. Amen. ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
November 16, 2023 While visiting my grandparents on vacation years ago, I remember walking into the kitchen early in the morning (well, not too early) and finding my grandmother humming a tune as she moved from one project to another with surprising agility for a woman her age. Breakfast was coming together for us late risers; freshly picked items from the garden were being cleaned and prepared; a pot of something was cooking on the stove; and some vegetables were in the cooker for canning. She greeted me with joy, taking a moment for a quick hug as she went to get an item from the cupboard. Some people would have used words like upbeat, happy, cheerful, or peppy to describe my grandmother. Those all fit, but I really believe I was witnessing a spirit of gratitude. Her life was a genuine expression of thankfulness. Who do you know whose life is Thanksgiving every single day? I’ve been thinking about this as we are one week out from that holiday. I think about Paul’s Letter to the Colossians, where he writes, “…with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God” (3:16). You have provided me with a plethora of amazing experiences to motivate my gratitude, O Loving Lord, and I only hope that others are able to see just how thankful I am. Amen. ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
November 15, 2023 Tomorrow night is the Spring Interfaith Thanksgiving Service. It is always a rich experience, with a wonderfully diverse group of speakers who offer insight from their unique faith expressions. Each year, I learn something I did not previously know while also having my own faith experience challenged and lifted by something someone said. And the service itself, and specifically what it communicates in this time of polarization, mistrust, and misinformation, is a beacon of hope. We need more events like this one. It’s too bad that some Christians feel threatened by these kinds of experiences. It makes sense when someone is taught that a very specific way of understanding Christianity is the only way. Suddenly, everyone else is wrong and in need of conversion. When Jesus met the woman at the well (John 4), he suggested that things were changing. He didn’t invite her to be a Jew or a Christian. He didn’t even say, "Come and follow me.” Instead, he spoke of a day when everyone would worship in spirit and truth. Jesus is inviting the woman in the story, and I think all of us are on a journey, as spirit and truth are not things any of us will ever be able to confidently say, “I’ve got it! Done!!” Instead, through sharing and listening and openness, we begin to take specific steps toward discovering a deeper understanding of spirit and truth. Again, the service is tomorrow night (Thursday) at 6:30pm. Our friends at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints will be hosting (16535 Kleinwood Drive in Spring). I hope to see you there. Holy God, help me to set aside any fear I have of the other. I do not wish to be defined or driven by what I do not understand. As I feel strong in your love, I am able to listen and engage others whose approach to faith is very different than my own. Love seems to always find a way when I trust it as a gift from you. Amen. ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
November 14, 2023 Our friend in Chicago, Chris Baker, who does INK180, recently made a trip to Nepal to do what he does so well: remove or transform tattoos that have marked trafficking victims. It is a sort of branding that serves as a reminder of who you belong to (trafficker, pimp, etc.). For most of us, it is hard to even begin to fathom what these individuals have experienced, and though there is a lot of necessary counseling by which one reclaims oneself, the tattoo removal/transformation is a powerful piece of that work. Sadly, Chris fell while in Nepal and broke his wrist. And though I don’t have a lot of experience with tattoos, the hand and wrist of a tattoo artist are pretty important. Please lift Chris in prayer, and if so moved, I’m sure he’d gladly receive any donations through his website (INK180.com). In a recent online exchange, Chris was telling me about his trip, and he wrote, “I saw Jesus at His best work.” Those words brought joy to my heart, while recognizing the best work of Jesus is when the Body of Christ is doing its thing. In today’s world, a lot of things, people, and systems attempt to claim us and act as if they own us, but in faith, we claim that our identity finds its true self and purpose in God, specifically the love and mercy of God. And the work Chris does helps to communicate that true identity, assisting individuals in experiencing a rebirth into a whole new joy-filled life. O God, whose image rests within every human being, we confess our failure in not protecting the most innocent among us. We also give thanks for the good work of all who are helping those who have experienced immeasurable suffering at the hands of those who worship at the altar of power and money. Let our prayers and tangible actions seek to bring real change to this world, a world where every human being deserves the abundant life made real in Jesus. Amen. ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
November 13, 2023 Prayer for the Week (a portion of a prayer from Sunday’s worship): You stand with us, Gracious God, even when we are not at our best. You beckon us into greater health and well-being because you are love, and you desire for us to know the fullness of life that is found in your love. Sometimes we are a bit overwhelmed by what is before us; sometimes we are stuck because of something in the past; sometimes we’ve been pushed down and left feeling defeated. Whatever it might be, help to provide us some space—some safe space—some space to breathe and to center ourselves in you. Even a little break from whatever it is that troubles us will be a gift from which we can find new capacity and strength for the work that lies ahead. We trust you and your love made ever so real to us in the life and teachings of Jesus, and it is in his name that we pray. Amen. ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
November 12, 2023 I have wondered quite often if the church takes seriously what it suggests in claiming itself to be the Body of Christ. Is it simply a cute title that makes us feel all cuddly close to Jesus, or is there a profound expectation that what we do clearly and unquestionably communicates Jesus to the world? When we share meals, whether at the communion table or the chili cook-off that we will do again in February, do they reflect the meals of Jesus? When it comes to the grieving and the lonely, do we embody Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount by comforting them and communicating their special place in God’s kingdom? In a world driven by concerns about scarcity, do we reflect Jesus, who created abundance, and invite others to participate in that experience of abundance? I believe there are moments when we do quite well, and then other areas where there is work to be done. Today, in my sermon, I will imply certain expectations of those of us who claim to be followers of Jesus and thus part of the Body of Christ in the world. And with that, there will be an underlying implication that what scripture suggests God is doing is the very thing the church, the body of Christ, should be doing. It is not always us doing this work individually, but when the church finds that collective purpose and people bring their individual gifts together, the world begins to meet the Jesus of history as if he were fully present in this moment of time… which I sort of believe he is. We speak about the world needing Jesus, yet I sort of imagine your Spirit, O Lord, whispering back to us, “It does, and that’s the reason I have called you to be the Body of Christ in the world.” May I hear you and then do what is necessary for the purpose of taking you seriously. Amen. ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
November 11, 2023 Tomorrow, I conclude this little three-week look at Self-Care, and how, despite some people’s opinions, I do not believe it is selfish. Now selfishness, laziness, or irresponsibility can be disguised as self-care, but if what you are doing is not benefiting the whole self and ultimately the greater good, then I don’t believe it is self-care. Tomorrow, I am going to attempt to walk a fine line around the notion of responsibility and how there are times when the responsible thing might be to do something that others would perceive as irresponsible. There are times when it feels as if a quick respite from responsibility provides us space to clear our heads and approach responsible things better than we could have previously. Now let me be confessional and suggest that I have probably used self-care as an excuse when my real hope was nothing more than to avoid responsibility. So much of this requires some honest self-reflection and awareness, but also self-learning through grace. I think about Elijah the Prophet, who, after a major encounter with Jezebel, left him terrified, despite God clearly showing up for him. He runs away, eventually hiding out in a cave. Along the way, God provides physical and spiritual refreshment, and finally, in the cave, he is able to discern God’s voice in the silence. Some might call his retreat irresponsible or cowardly, but it put him in a better place emotionally and spiritually to be responsible moving forward. Help keep me centered, Gracious God, for the good work of keeping my head and heart in the right place, even when that work might require a pause to recenter for the purpose of reengagement. I do this through your generous encouragement, O Lord, so I can be the best version of myself possible and bring that best version to whatever task you call me to. Amen. |
AuthorRev. Bruce Frogge Archives
May 2024
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