Happy Friday from Fredericksburg Texas. I’m sitting on a beautiful screened in porch watching the colors of the sky change as the sun comes up over the Texas hill country. The birds are waking up and the chickens who are in the backyard next to the airbnb are starting their morning routine of bug searches. I even heard a wild goose fly over which is the Celtic symbol of the Holy Spirit. There is a beautiful live oak tree across the street that is inviting me to attempt to paint it later this morning! I lived in Napa Valley for four years and never could capture a live oak with my paintbrush! I grew up with trees that had straight lines and stiff branches not the beautiful curves of a live oak tree so my muscle memory couldn’t capture this amazing tree! At least not yet!
We flew in early yesterday to celebrate the wedding of my nephew and his lovely bride who met at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. I have four siblings and this is my youngest brothers’s oldest son and the first of his boys to marry. A celebration of love in the midst of all the anger, hate and sorrow of our world is welcome change!
I apologize for not posting last week. I was still suffering major jet lag and had to take my husband to the ER in the middle of the night on Thursday because he was having a heart issue. Thankfully it wasn’t Afib again but just a high blood pressure incident that could be corrected with new medication. So grateful! Life is precious and I am so aware that we need to embrace each day as gift and truly rest in the little joys along the way.
LIVE OAK
Last week I found this quote by Father Richard Rohr
Seek joy in God and peace within; seek to rest in the good, the true, and the beautiful. It’s the only resting place that also allows us to hear and bear the darkness. Hard and soft, difficult and easy, painful and ecstatic do not eliminate one another; they actually allow each other. They bow back and forth like dancers, although it is harder to bow to pain and to failure. We can bear the hardness of life and see through failure when our soul is resting in a wonderful and comforting sweetness and softness. Religious people would call this living in God. That’s why people in love—and often people at the end of life—have such an excess of energy for others. If God cannot be rested in, then it must not be much of a god. If God is not juice and joy, then who has created all these lilacs and lilies?
How are you doing with resting in God these days? What is helping you find the beauty and joy along the way?
In this season of election here in the States, it is so important for us to keep watching for God surprises and noticing the beauty of each day. We need to rest in God and take time to do the things, the practices that help us connect to Jesus and to one another. Politics and news outlets want to instill us with fear and doubt. Social media is designed to move us into boxes and wall us up in castles of dread. So pay attention to that. And take breaks. Get outside, create something, have coffee with friends, read or watch something that makes you laugh, volunteer in a new place. Do the “thinplace” things that help you experience the joy of Jesus. Lead with Love in all that you do!
This Sunday’s gospel reading is about this leadership of love.
It’s about what real power is. And it’s not what the world or the politicians think it is.
MARK 10:35-45 NIV
35 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.”
36 “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked. 37 They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.”
38 “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?”
39 “We can,” they answered.
Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, 40 but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.”
41 When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. 42 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 43 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”MARK 10:35-45 FIRST NATIONS
35After that, He Takes Over (James) and He Shows Goodwill (John), the sons of Gift of Creator (Zebedee), came up to Creator Sets Free (Jesus). “Wisdomkeeper,” they said, “We want to ask you to do something for us.” 36“What is it you want from me?” he replied.
37“When your shining-greatness is revealed,” they said back to him, “permit us a place of honor beside you, one on your right hand the other on your left.” 38“You do not understand what you are asking,” he answered. “Are you able to drink the cup of suffering that I will drink, or endure the purification ceremony that I will endure?”
39“We are able!” they answered. “Yes,” he said to them, “you will drink from my cup of suffering and endure my purification ceremony, but the place at my right and left hand is not mine to give. This honor belongs to the ones for whom it has already been prepared.”
41When the other ten message bearers heard this, they began to look down on He Takes Over (James) and He Shows Goodwill (John).
“THE GOOD ROAD IS ABOUT SERVING OTHERS”
42So Creator Sets Free (Jesus) called them together and said, “Other nations have rulers, such as the People of Iron (Romans). They like to show their power over people and push them around. But this will not be the way of the ones, like you, who walk with me. 44The great ones among you will humble themselves and serve all the others. 45In the same way, the True Human Being did not come to be served by others but to offer his life in the place of many lives, to set them free.”
What speaks to you today? What is the Holy Spirit highlighting for you?
What do you notice from the passage that you didn’t notice before?
What do you wonder about? What questions come up for you as you listened to the passage?
If you were going to ask Jesus for something today, what would it be? Would it be about sitting on thrones, power or who is in charge of things? I think I would ask something very different.
In Matthew’s Gospel, Matthew 20:20-28, it’s James and John’s mom who asks Jesus for her sons to have places of honor next to Jesus. How does this change the story for you, or does it?
How have you, or how do you get caught up in a desire for power and control rather than serving others?
What is it about people, humans, that we want to sit on thrones rather than to serve?
Think of an area in your life where you want to control or want power … rather than trusting and following Jesus ? Talk to Jesus about this.
We live in a world that is opposite of the way of Jesus. People are hungry for power and prestige. We live in a world that despises suffering and looks down on those who suffer or have less. How can you choose to live the upside down gospel of love and service this week in your regular life? Talk to Jesus about this.
This passage made me think of Jesus washing his disciples feet before the last supper. The image of the basin and the towel verses a throne. There is a big difference between sitting on the floor washing someone’s feet and sitting on dais in a throne room. Also made me think of the cup of cold water given to the least of these is doing it to Jesus…and how often I question or stop, before giving to someone I see on the sidewalk rather than just giving.
In the First Nations version, the paragraph header is :
“THE GOOD ROAD IS ABOUT SERVING OTHERS”
I want to walk this good road! I want to walk and live in the way of Jesus not in the way of fear or way of power that is so rampant today! This weekend, take a walk with Jesus. consider the road that you are walking and how you can live out love in practical ways this week….Who needs your friendship? Where can you share your giftedness? How can you express compassion on line and in real life this week? Ask Jesus to help you!
Jesus, I need your help with this! Help me, help us, not to get sucked into the vortex of power and castle of fear. Deliver us from evil. Help us to rely on you and not ourselves. Help us to walk the good road following in your footsteps of love. AMEN.
mull view
This photo is from the island of Mull last week. I am leading a pilgrimage to Iona in Scotland next Sept. 1-9, 2025. Come see this view and join me! check out Finding Your Thinplace.com for more details and you can ask questions at findingyourthinplace@gmail.com
©lillylewin and freereangeworship.com