"Rather, new wine must be poured into fresh wineskins."
Luke 5:38
I'm sure I've confessed my bewilderment at this reading before. I never felt I had a grip on it until I attended a closing mass for a men's Cursillo a million years ago. I watched the men come in, disheveled and tired, looking rather like the "undesirable" prize in a Mystery Date game. But there was something unmistakably wonderful about them, too. They were in new wineskins! They sure didn't look new but what had occurred over the weekend for them made them new creations, beautiful to behold even in their exhausted state. So, I got the new wineskins thing a bit better after that. Today, when I heard the reading, this sentence caught my eye, "Rather, new wine must be poured into new wineskins." I likened my move to Boise and complete new way of life to a new wineskin...it is so different than what I was doing and where I was living. My life has completely changed. I'm in a different stretch of water and a brand new wineskin, both metaphors for the new life God has been preparing me for and preparing for me for the last several years. The new wine God is making in my life had to have a new wineskin, a new container, if you will. My life had to be pared down to be much simpler, with much less stuff and much more time for God. I must say this new wine is delicious, too! What about you? Has God been fermenting a new batch of wine for your life? Do you need a new wineskin to put it in? Good food for thought to ponder and pray with this September weekend! Blessings and love from the treehouse, heidi
Friday, September 7, 2018
Thursday, September 6, 2018
Different water...
"Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch."
Luke 5:4
Have you ever felt asked to fish in a different sea, so to speak? The fishermen had worked all night to no avail and they were done, done, done. Jesus comes along and suggests a different stretch of water and they are rewarded mightily with a huge catch of fish. Sometimes we just need new water, a new venue, or a new place to do our thing. Maybe we even need a new "thing" altogether. I'm at a place where everything seems new to me but the other day I was asked to switch from working mornings at school to working afternoons...a bit different water. I was torn, but thankfully was able to remember the Margaret Rizza song, "You Are the Center Of My Life" and turned to God, there at the center. "Do what they ask you to do," the Center said to me. I'll admit I was fussing and fighting a bit on the end of the line, but I knew what I had to do. It's another stretch of water, another learning curve. Many more kids and names to learn, but I know it will be fine in the end. So the next time we are beckoned to a different bit of water, or even dry land, let's remember Who-it-is doing the beckoning and let's acquiesce as eagerly as Peter, who said, "Hey, we've been fishing all night and caught nothing, but if you say so" (v. 5). Love from the treehouse, heidi
Luke 5:4
Have you ever felt asked to fish in a different sea, so to speak? The fishermen had worked all night to no avail and they were done, done, done. Jesus comes along and suggests a different stretch of water and they are rewarded mightily with a huge catch of fish. Sometimes we just need new water, a new venue, or a new place to do our thing. Maybe we even need a new "thing" altogether. I'm at a place where everything seems new to me but the other day I was asked to switch from working mornings at school to working afternoons...a bit different water. I was torn, but thankfully was able to remember the Margaret Rizza song, "You Are the Center Of My Life" and turned to God, there at the center. "Do what they ask you to do," the Center said to me. I'll admit I was fussing and fighting a bit on the end of the line, but I knew what I had to do. It's another stretch of water, another learning curve. Many more kids and names to learn, but I know it will be fine in the end. So the next time we are beckoned to a different bit of water, or even dry land, let's remember Who-it-is doing the beckoning and let's acquiesce as eagerly as Peter, who said, "Hey, we've been fishing all night and caught nothing, but if you say so" (v. 5). Love from the treehouse, heidi
Tuesday, September 4, 2018
You are the center...of my life
"You are the center of my life!"
Margaret Rizza, "You Are the Centre," Fountain of Life
The opening song on Pray-As-You-Go this morning was this beautiful song by Margaret Rizza. I'm afraid my meditation didn't get much further than that! I thought about what my day would look like if I really lived with God as the center of my life? What would that look like in my Tuesday-that-feels-like-Monday? Well, I'm sure I would be more loving toward everyone I encounter if I operate out of my center, God. I could look at people with God's eyes, seeing how beautiful and magical they are, with all their gifts and talents. I would generally feel more at peace about stuff with God as the center of my life, knowing that God freely works within the hearts of people to heal and make whole the things that we see as broken and messed up. Maybe I could feel less desperate and troubled about the world just knowing that? I think living with God as the center of my life I would be able to do my job to the very best of my ability--realizing that I'm not perfect and that perfection isn't realistic or expected. I only need to show up at my school with willing hands and a loving heart for everyone. (In other words, I don't need to be an expert in sixth grade math! Hooray for that!) And finally, living with God as the center of my life, I will speak words of Truth, Life and Love. I will speak encouraging and positive words, but also the truth that God is beckoning me to say from God's place in my heart. So, today, this first Tuesday in September, with a wee chill in the early morning air, I will live today with God as the center of my life! And it will be a fabulous day! Love from the treehouse, heidi
Margaret Rizza, "You Are the Centre," Fountain of Life
The opening song on Pray-As-You-Go this morning was this beautiful song by Margaret Rizza. I'm afraid my meditation didn't get much further than that! I thought about what my day would look like if I really lived with God as the center of my life? What would that look like in my Tuesday-that-feels-like-Monday? Well, I'm sure I would be more loving toward everyone I encounter if I operate out of my center, God. I could look at people with God's eyes, seeing how beautiful and magical they are, with all their gifts and talents. I would generally feel more at peace about stuff with God as the center of my life, knowing that God freely works within the hearts of people to heal and make whole the things that we see as broken and messed up. Maybe I could feel less desperate and troubled about the world just knowing that? I think living with God as the center of my life I would be able to do my job to the very best of my ability--realizing that I'm not perfect and that perfection isn't realistic or expected. I only need to show up at my school with willing hands and a loving heart for everyone. (In other words, I don't need to be an expert in sixth grade math! Hooray for that!) And finally, living with God as the center of my life, I will speak words of Truth, Life and Love. I will speak encouraging and positive words, but also the truth that God is beckoning me to say from God's place in my heart. So, today, this first Tuesday in September, with a wee chill in the early morning air, I will live today with God as the center of my life! And it will be a fabulous day! Love from the treehouse, heidi
Thursday, August 30, 2018
God in the hard places...
"Jesus said to his disciples, 'Stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come!"
Matthew 24:42
Pray-As-You-Go had a good suggestion for praying with this reading today. Imagine what a surprise encounter with Jesus could look like. It's a surprise, you don't know you are going to encounter Jesus. So how does it play out? The thing that first came to my mind is that it would be a more difficult encounter--one of the harder moments of my day. Not because I don't want to encounter Jesus, but because Jesus is so often in the hard situations and the more difficult people. If we think back to the hardest situations we have encountered in the last week or so, right smack dab in the middle of them is God. Sometimes we have a harder time seeing God in those times, except when we look back reflectively. Then, hopefully, we can see God helping us. I certainly encounter Jesus is in the joyful times, as well. That's easy. But whatever we go through that really challenges us and tweaks us to our very core; that is where God is hardest at work in us. Let's try to meet God right there... Love from the treehouse, heidi
Matthew 24:42
Pray-As-You-Go had a good suggestion for praying with this reading today. Imagine what a surprise encounter with Jesus could look like. It's a surprise, you don't know you are going to encounter Jesus. So how does it play out? The thing that first came to my mind is that it would be a more difficult encounter--one of the harder moments of my day. Not because I don't want to encounter Jesus, but because Jesus is so often in the hard situations and the more difficult people. If we think back to the hardest situations we have encountered in the last week or so, right smack dab in the middle of them is God. Sometimes we have a harder time seeing God in those times, except when we look back reflectively. Then, hopefully, we can see God helping us. I certainly encounter Jesus is in the joyful times, as well. That's easy. But whatever we go through that really challenges us and tweaks us to our very core; that is where God is hardest at work in us. Let's try to meet God right there... Love from the treehouse, heidi
Wednesday, August 29, 2018
Do what's right!
"The king was deeply distressed, but because of his oaths and the guests he did not wish to break his word to her."
Mark 6:26
Despite having mild flashbacks to the gruesome picture of the head of John the Baptist on a platter in my Children's Bible (really? In a children's bible?) this reading brings up an important point for our lives today. Pray-As-You-Go points out that King Herod went against what he knew to be right and did what he knew to be wrong to please his dinner guests. He'd admired John the Baptist, it was Herod's wife that had a beef with him. Because he had promised his daughter anything after she danced for his guests at dinner, he had John the Baptist beheaded. Certainly our little white lies and minor maleficence won't have such horrible results...but should we still say or do them? We know what is right and what is wrong. God's law is written on our hearts and it should pop up on our mental "screens" all through the day. Do we listen to it or get swept along with the crowd? It's so much easier to follow the crowd into gossip or negative talk. It's easy to join the chorus belittling others, be they whole races or groups or individuals. It's much easier to try to please the dinner guests than it is to stand out and stand up for what we know to be right and true. Today, shake loose that image of John the Baptist's head on a plate (if you had the same bible I did) and look more at his life. He said and did the hard stuff, because the hard stuff was the right thing to do. Love from the chilly treehouse, heidi
Mark 6:26
Despite having mild flashbacks to the gruesome picture of the head of John the Baptist on a platter in my Children's Bible (really? In a children's bible?) this reading brings up an important point for our lives today. Pray-As-You-Go points out that King Herod went against what he knew to be right and did what he knew to be wrong to please his dinner guests. He'd admired John the Baptist, it was Herod's wife that had a beef with him. Because he had promised his daughter anything after she danced for his guests at dinner, he had John the Baptist beheaded. Certainly our little white lies and minor maleficence won't have such horrible results...but should we still say or do them? We know what is right and what is wrong. God's law is written on our hearts and it should pop up on our mental "screens" all through the day. Do we listen to it or get swept along with the crowd? It's so much easier to follow the crowd into gossip or negative talk. It's easy to join the chorus belittling others, be they whole races or groups or individuals. It's much easier to try to please the dinner guests than it is to stand out and stand up for what we know to be right and true. Today, shake loose that image of John the Baptist's head on a plate (if you had the same bible I did) and look more at his life. He said and did the hard stuff, because the hard stuff was the right thing to do. Love from the chilly treehouse, heidi
Monday, August 27, 2018
Sorrow and shame. And anger.
"Jesus then said to the Twelve, 'Do you also want to leave?'
Simon Peter answered him, 'Master, to whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternal life. '"
Simon Peter answered him, 'Master, to whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternal life. '"
John 6:68
This is a very hard post for me to write, Friends. I have been struggling with the latest news of the abuse scandal in several dioceses in Pennsylvania--aren't we all struggling with this? Thanks be to God I heard a wonderful homily yesterday addressing the elephant in the room. Fr. Radmar Jao, SJ was the celebrant at Risen Christ in Boise and tackled it head-on. He validated the feelings of so many: anger, angst, betrayal, lack of trust. He gave us three ways to channel our feelings into positive action. I truly believe we need to be able to DO something or we will just marinade in the evil brew of it, throw in the towel on the church or turn our backs on God altogether. First, Fr. Radmar suggested praying...for the victims, the church, and for all involved in sexual abuse of any kind. Second, he urged us to be proactive in our efforts against any kind of abuse--everywhere, in all of our environments. Be vigilant and speak up! And finally, he said, as followers of Jesus we need to be strong witnesses for Jesus in the world. We need to remember our own personal encounters with Jesus, the very encounters that put us on the path of life with Jesus in the first place. We need to share these stories and bring Jesus to the world that needs to know Jesus. We need to stay and lead the church, not give up and leave the church. Thank you, Fr. Radmar...
Just as when Jesus overturns the tables in the temple, his anger is righteous and justified. So is ours when we feel so crushed by the actions of these priests and bishops on the innocent. But we have hope in our own personal relationships with Jesus and the need for the world to hear about Jesus. Gracious God, have mercy on us all. Love, heidi
This is a very hard post for me to write, Friends. I have been struggling with the latest news of the abuse scandal in several dioceses in Pennsylvania--aren't we all struggling with this? Thanks be to God I heard a wonderful homily yesterday addressing the elephant in the room. Fr. Radmar Jao, SJ was the celebrant at Risen Christ in Boise and tackled it head-on. He validated the feelings of so many: anger, angst, betrayal, lack of trust. He gave us three ways to channel our feelings into positive action. I truly believe we need to be able to DO something or we will just marinade in the evil brew of it, throw in the towel on the church or turn our backs on God altogether. First, Fr. Radmar suggested praying...for the victims, the church, and for all involved in sexual abuse of any kind. Second, he urged us to be proactive in our efforts against any kind of abuse--everywhere, in all of our environments. Be vigilant and speak up! And finally, he said, as followers of Jesus we need to be strong witnesses for Jesus in the world. We need to remember our own personal encounters with Jesus, the very encounters that put us on the path of life with Jesus in the first place. We need to share these stories and bring Jesus to the world that needs to know Jesus. We need to stay and lead the church, not give up and leave the church. Thank you, Fr. Radmar...
Just as when Jesus overturns the tables in the temple, his anger is righteous and justified. So is ours when we feel so crushed by the actions of these priests and bishops on the innocent. But we have hope in our own personal relationships with Jesus and the need for the world to hear about Jesus. Gracious God, have mercy on us all. Love, heidi
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