Effectiveness

Reward - Effectiveness - Result

That is often the way we value our everyday lives.

But that should not be how we value our relationship with Jesus Christ. We should not value our prayer time with the measure of reward-effectiveness-result. Did prayer lead to the healing of this person? Did prayer help me get the new job I wanted so badly? Did prayer mend the relationship with my spouse? Our prayer should be a gentle time of conversation with God. Something that cannot be valued by what we get out it.

We should not value our time of worship by the measure of reward-effectiveness-result. Worship should not be valued by how we feel nor by how we think God feels, nor by how other people may feel. Worship is a time spent in exuberant, quiet, joyful, reflective, praise of God the Father and Creator, Jesus, Son and Redeemer, Holy Spirt, sustainer and companion.

And finally, if we love God we love others as well. We must not value other people by the measure of reward-effectiveness-result. Whether for us, for them or for others. People are best cherished just because they are.

Work Hard, Play Hard

We live in a world that overvalues excess. (Yes, that is redundant.) Many live by the motto "work hard, play hard." Christians tend to just add "pray hard." But living the Christian life, and a life in balance is not a matter of finding the right proportion of working and playing and then going at it full tilt until you drop. And adding to that a few pauses to pray as fast and furious as possible.

Living the Christian life means sharing God's peace and God's love with others whether you are working, playing or praying. You cannot do that if you are going at it hard. Sharing God's love requires an easy pace.

Life is an eternity - Pray at God's pace

Lounging Under a Fig Tree

Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth." Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see." When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, "Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!" Nathanael asked him, "Where did you get to know me?" Jesus answered, "I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you." Nathanael replied, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!" Jesus answered, "Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these." And he said to him, "Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man." John 1:45-51
 
Lessons
1. Jesus loves you and me - enough to give us a fig tree.
2. Jesus sees us just as and just where we are (under the fig tree) wasting our lives in idleness, wasting our lives in business.
3. Jesus calls us to himself. Jesus uses others to call us to himself.
4. Jesus hears our cynical response to that call.
5. When we come, Jesus tells us everything we have ever done or said.
6. When we come, Jesus accepts us anyway.
7. We are impressed by the insignificant things about Jesus' love.
8. Jesus promises to show us the truly marvelous things about his love anyway.
 
Application to Poverty
1. Jesus loves you and me - and he has given us plenty.
2. Jesus sees us enjoying what we have busying our selves with getting more.
3. Jesus uses events such as the conference on poverty to call us to be about his work in his world.
4. Jesus hears us when we are cynical. "Homeless people choose to live that way."
5. When we come Jesus shows us how selfish and uncaring we are
6. When we come Jesus accepts us and gives us good things to do in and for his kingdom.
7. We are impressed when we have been able to help one person.
8. Jesus promises to change this world through his love.
 
Question for today:
Was Nathaniel lounging under the fig tree just waiting for a fig to fall into his mouth?
Are we just lounging in our affluence just waiting for God's blesses to fall to us?

Jealous of Generosity

In the 20th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew the vineyard owner asks the workers who have been there all day if the are jealous because he is generous, after he has paid those workers who have only worked for an hour the full days wages.

How often we are jealous when we see God's generosity to others. We are jealous when we see how many good things God has given to others. We are jealous when we see how many wonderful talents God has given to others. We are sometimes even jealous when we see how freely God forgives others and brings them into His kingdom - so much so that we sometimes try to add our pre-conditions for salvations.

Jealousy is so easy to fall into, seems so natural, becomes a habit. We can begin to think it is a part of our human nature. And perhaps it is. But our nature includes both the goodness that God originally created in us and the sin nature which we have acquired from the other.

So, yes jealousy is part of our human nature, but it is also a sin.

God forgive.

Betrayal

Judas betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. What a paltry price for the Lord of the Universe. Further, as Jesus makes clear when they come to arrest him, there was no need. He was preaching in the temples and the streets daily, he could easily have been taken there. It is not as though he was invisible or even hiding. Jesus betrayed.

How often I betray Jesus. I water down his message so it will not seem to be quite so difficult to follow. I avoid the hurting person who could use a healing touch from me. I elude eye contact with the homeless man on the street. I betray Jesus, his message, and his influence in my life in so many ways.

I could make a long list - but I won't reveal it all here. I am sure I could come up with at least 30 ways I betray Christ. Perhaps it would be a good way to prepare for the events of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday to list 30 ways (one for each coin Judas received for betraying Jesus) that I personally betray him.

God is faithful and will forgive, if we confess our sins to him.

Love

The gospel of John quotes Jesus; "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

The news this week is full of reports from a "Christian" militia that planned to arouse a revolt against the government of our country. Christian militia is an oxymoron. Jesus commands us to love one another. He makes it clear throughout his ministry that love characterizes our interaction with everyone, even our enemies and those who hate us for being Christian. Even when Paul uses the imagery of weapons of war to describe our Christian life, he is careful to explain what they actually are. The sword is not a sword, but the Word of God.

Extremist in virtually all religions incite followers to form militias and hate groups to defend themselves against the evils of other religions. True Christianity never incites us to terrorism or hate. Jesus always calls us to love others.

Gowing

Things are growing around here. The bulbs are coming up. The temperature is growing. Warmth and rain cause everything to grow.

Is your spiritual life growing? Are you nearer to God? Does he prompt you more and more to become involved in easing the lives of the poor? to righting the wrongs for those less fortunate than you? to healing the hurts of others? Beware of converting these to personal programs - making sure I have enough that I don't feel poor - making sure noone gets away with doing me wrong, or licking my own wounds. No, God calls us to be involved in his work among the poors, those treated poorly, and the hurting ones around us.

If we are growing in our life with God, we will see more and more of this in our world and we will be more and more involved in helping those around us. God is ALWAYS a god of transformation and change. Be a part of God's transformation.

Preparation

Be Prepared. That is the motto of the Boy Scouts of America. That is something we have all been taught from an early age. When you are doing something, make sure you are ready. When you take a test - study. When you are to be in a play - learn your lines. When you are going on a trip by automobile - make sure you have changed the oil inflated the tires have enough gasoline, etc. When you leave home - make sure you have on clean underwear. It goes on and on.

Being prepared is something we all know is crucial to everything going smoothly. But, it is also a trap. If you waited until you were fully prepared for every potentiality before you did anything. You would do nothing. The possibilities are endless, and so the preparation becomes endless. If you are going to do what really matters, it means you must sometimes step out and do things for which you are not really prepared.

Every major or minor step I have taken in my life has been taken withoug being fully prepared for all the possible consequences. Every step forward. And every step backward. The steps forward have been because of I was prepared for what came next or was able to scramble and make it work. The steps backward - because I had not anticipated the results and was not able to recover. However, if you only take steps for which you are fully prepared, you will spend all of your life in preparation and never take a step at all. That's why when God calls you and you follow, it is called "a step of FAITH."

Expectations

In several of the gospels the story is told of Jesus returning to Nazareth to preach and to heal as he has in other towns and villages. Unfortunately the people of Nazareth are convinced they know all about Jesus; his mother, his brothers, the kind of work he does. Because they knew what to expect from Jesus, they left no room for him to do anything new. There are few if any healings in his hometown and when he preaches in their synagogue, they run him out of town.

Are we sometimes guilty of thinking we know Jesus so well, who he is and how he works, that we allow no room for him to do anything new in us? Are we so sure of the Jesus we know that when he does something new in someone around us we do not even recognize that it is God at work in their lives? Have we confined Jesus to our preset definition of who he is and what he does? If we have, be sure that, just as Jesus does in the gospels, he will walk right through our limitations and continue his work elsewhere.

Jesus and the Sinners

While Jesus was on this earth, he chose to spend his time with sinners and the like. Even his disciples were found to be sinning on occasions. And whats more he defended their actions when they did. He held his greatest criticism for those who were sure they had done what was needed to earn God's favor.

It is the same today. We still think that God's presence comes to us by right living and prayer. We think God is with the "good" people and against those who are "bad." We think that if we prayerfully confess our sins to God we have earned his forgiveness. Or even that by spending the appropriate amount of time in faithful prayer and really trying, we can earn the right to God's presence in our lives.

But, if anything is clear from reading the gospels it is that exactly the opposite is the truth. When God came to live on earth he chose to eat with tax collectors and other sinners. The religious people of the day killed him for that. Is it any different today.

Justice

In the Gospel of  Matthew 21:33-41, Jesus tells the parable of the landowner who perfectly prepares a vineyard, leases it out to tenants who evidently do not want to pay their rent. They ruff up the servants he sends to retrieve the rent and evitually kill the landowners son. Jesus then asks the question what will the landowner do when he returns. Jesus uses this parable to make a point to the Jewish leaders to whom he is speaking. But we would be making a dangerous assumption if we thought he was not speaking to the church today as well.

Sometimes it does seem that God has put tenants in charge and has gone off to a faraway land and we the tenants of his garden have refused his requests for a fair rent. We see injustice all around us and wonder that God does not return right now and set things aright.

So what is a right response by us. It is simple, It is complicated, and it is not as easy as it will sound here. Simple - We are to work toward God's kingdom, justice, and honor for God. Complicated - as other parables make clear, it is not our place to clear out those who do not measure up to God justice. As the parable of the wheat and tares makes clear God doesn't trust us accurately enforce his justice. Complicated - it is very difficult for us to work for the futherance of God's kingdom and not try to force others to do the same. When there is so much that needs righting, it is difficult to focus on one small area where we can actually make a difference.

The glory is that when we fail to achieve what God expects of us, he accepts us anyway. The glory is all God's

Time

In 1973 Jim Croce recorded the love song, "Time in a Bottle," which, when realeased after his death in a plance crash, soared to the top of the charts. In the song Jim says that if he could put time in a bottle he would gather all the minutes from now to eternity and spend them all with his loved one. He also laments that there never seems to be enough time to do all the things you really want to, once you find them.

Praise be to God the creator of all things. Thanks be to God the creator of time.

I Confess that, as I look back over my past, there are moments that I would choose to put in a bottle to use in the future for some better purpose. Time I have wasted. Time I have spent that resulted in discord. Time I have spent trying to patch the rifts that resulted from that discord. Time I have spent fulfilling my desires rather than Gods. Time I have spent trivially occupied. I confess that I have not always spent my time as God wishes.

I confess that I am unable to retrieve those moments. They are forever lost.

I thank God for the present. His ever-present present, and his presence in this present. This is the moment God gives to me. Perhaps his greatest gift. He revels in the joy of the moment I give back to him - the moment I choose to spend just being with and in him.

I ask for God's guidance in the future. I ask him to always be with me, helping me to notice those around me who need a loving touch, a kind word, or something more tangible - food, gas, a bill paid. God, show me how to spend the moments I have left in loving and serving you in all that I do.

Now to the eternal, ever-present God be all glory and honor and praise. World without end. World that knows no time. Amen. Amen.

Understanding

Sometimes as we read the stories and conversations from the life of Jesus we are inclined to think how slow and dense these people around Jesus were.

We read of the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus. How dense Nicodemus seems. "Can a man enter his mother's womb a second time?" Jesus had to explain it over and over again, trying every metaphor he could come up with.

In two scenes set right next to one another, Peter first proclaims that Jesus is the Messiah and then, when Jesus in the next scene begins to expain what that means, Peter say oh no Lord that will never happen to you.

James and John send their mother in to Jesus to ask if they may sit on his right and left hands when he comes into his kingdom. We cringe and think, "oh no guys don't ask for that."

But do we understand any better what God's kingdom is about? Notice the questions is not would we have understood better had we been there? The question is even having the advantage of knowing the whole story of Jesus' life and 21 centuries of study and thought, do we come any closer to understanding to what Jesus calls us? Or what living in God's kingdom means?

Joyful Purpose

Life is too short to be wasted and too long to not be enjoyable.

A life that is built upon finding enjoyment, recreation, fun is sometimes wasted. Seeking only pleasure leads to accomplishing little of lasting value.

On the other hand spending all our waking hours trying to accomplish something we think is of lasting importance can lead to a life of frustration and dullness even boredom.

The secret is in finding those things which build lasting value and that we enjoy enough that we would do them whether they built lasting value or not.

But in truth any enjoyment we may have lasts for only a moment, and any purpose we have for our lives lasts little longer except for a very few who have their name listed in history books - but then what real value is there in having your name appear on a piece of paper when no one remembers the you that is behind the facts.

So where is joy; where is purpose. The only real and lasting joy is to be found by living in God's presence and the only real purpose is in being a child of God. Meaning and joy live together in God, our Father and Friend.

God At Work

Where have I seen God at work lately?
Ask yourself that question and think about it.

God is at work in every good, true, beautiful,faithful action around us. God is at work transforming disaster into good. God is not at work in causing the disaster, but God is at work following the disaster and redeeming the outcome. God is at work in his world, in and through us, and beyond our realm of understanding. God is at work.

The question is not, "Where is God at work?" the question is "Where have I seen God at work?"  It is a question of seeing him and believing him. He is. Having seen, can I see? Having heard, can I hear?

Solid Foundation

The earth on which we stand is movable.

Earthquakes are the only sign of a moving earth that we experience directly.

But the pictures that have returned from space allow us to see with a camera's eye the earth set in the solar system, moving around the sun. Not the same as seeing with our own eyes - but strong evidence still.

As the earth moves around the sun the sun is moving too, around the center of the Milky Way. And the Milky way is moving somewhere as well.

The earth is moving and taking us with it. We are not really sure where.

The only real foundation we have is the Lord. He alone is stadfast and sure. Always loving us. He even created space/time. And the One knows me.

Love shining down

Jesus' words from Matthew 5: "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven;"

As I think of those whose love I return, I thank God for them and ask his blessings upon them.

As I  pray blessings upon those who have blessed me, I ask God to expand the circle of blessing to include others.

Now as for loving those who hate me and praying for blessings upon those who persecute me, I struggle a lot more with that. Yet that is what Jesus tells us allows us to be children of our Father.  He shines his love and rains his blessings upon all - and he calls us to do the same. "for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous."

Anger

 Jesus says in Matthew 5 "But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment;"

When we are angry at others, especially when we hold it in, the anger hurts us more than it does them. When we hold a grudge against another, it hurts us far more than it does them. When we fail to forgive another, it hurts us far more than it does them.

It is common today to be angry at banks, bussiness, government and other vague concepts. We tend to blame "them" for all our problems. This hurts us worse than it does others. In the past week there has been a man who flew his plane into an office building filled with people helping to make sure the laws we have all agreed to live by were fairly enforced. He destoryed several lives, including his own. The IRS - the institution he was angry with - was not severly affected. His life and several individuals lives were destroyed. I woman walked into a room of fellow workers and shot several of them because she was angry with the way the university system was working. She destroyed her life and the lives of severl compatriots. The university will not change the way it operates, except to try to increase security.

Anger at others whether vague "bigness" or individuals, destorys us and often has only a small effect on them. And if that is true in this life, Jesus makes it abundantly clear it is much more true in His kingdom. So, "be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift."

Getting what you ask for

Jesus said to the crowds, "Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened."

For this reason Jesus prayed in the garden Father your will be not mine. For this reason we pray that what God want will be done not our own.

Sometimes what we ask for is not what we want or need at all. Sometimes what we ask for costs us more than we would wish to pay. We may ask for the health and/or the continued life of a loved one. But God may understand in his infinite wisdom the spiritual perils ahead in that person's life. His will may not be fulfilled by their healing here on earth, indeed his ultimate will is that we each would die so that we can return to full communion with him. Would we really want continuted presence here on earth at the cost of even one day in eternity with God. We are careful what we ask for, yet we still may ask for other that the best, so we pray "Heal this person if it is your will, God."

We may be seeking that which is not best for us. We may seek more things, more comfort, more financial or military security. But if we gain more wealth, great ease and security on earth at the cost of a life in God's presence and the security that comes from living in his kingdom, what is the gain for us. So we pray for God's will. "God help me to find your presence."

We knock on the door it is opened. We pass through and so a zillion other doors are left unopened. But by God's will whatever door we pass through leads to him.

Seek first the kingdom of God and whatever else you need will be added as well. The inverse is not expressed but perhaps just as true. Seek all these things you need and the kingdom of God will slip through your hands. Actually Jesus does express that - just in a different setting. paraphrased: what profit it a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul. So we pray for God's will to be done not our own. We pray that God's kingdom would come on earth, not our own.

Be careful what you ask for, you will receive it. Consider what you are searching, you will find it. Think twice about the door you are knocking on, it will be opened. Prayer is a dangerous thing, so we pray, "Your will be done, not mine."

Distractions

"Let me not get caught up with the desire for wealth.Keep my heart and mind free to love and serve you." - Sacred Space - Jesuit devotion website.

Wiki says: "Distraction is the diversion of attention of an individual or group from the chosen object of attention onto the source of distraction."

How often I become distracted by what is going on around me. Incidental distractions - a bird fliting by, others conversing in the distance. Intentional distractions - people who need advice or assistance, another task that suddenly enters my consciousness demanding attention.

How often I become distracted from following Christ. My desires can take me down paths that do not lead toward Christ. Others can pull me in directions that do not follow Christ. Tasks that may be important for some other reason, may not be important for following Christ, and therefore distract me from my goal of following Christ. Goals, if I am not careful can lead me away from Christ not towards. Even goals that are good in and of themselves. As the prayer this morning implies, riches and wealth can be a distraction. My pray is that I will remain focused on Christ even in this world that is focused on things, and money and wealth.

Prayer

Prayer is listening to God.
Prayer is admitting to God that God is God.
Prayer is telling God that I love Him.
Prayer is thanking God for all that He has done for me.
Prayer is admitting to God that I fail Him often.
Prayer is how I want to wake up in the morning.
Prayer is what I want to be about throughout the day.
Prayer is that which I wish to be in my mind as I fall asleep each night.
God is present to speak with me at any time.
God is not bothered at all by my need to speak with Him,
or my need to hear from Him.
God, through prayer, can be my constant companion.
Prayer is the background of my life, occasionaly during the day rising to the surface of my attention in spoken or heard words.
Prayer is confessing to God that I depend on Him for my every need.

Fog

There is a light fog over the world this morning. Just enough to notice and gray the world a little. God's presence is like fog in some ways.

God's presence is like fog in that it covers everything. Fog can be a little clumpy but it goes everywhere without restraint. God's presence is everywhere. In some places it seems to be thicker and in others less apparent, but God's presnece seeps in everywhere.

Fog dims our vision. God's presence changes our vision too. When we are aware of God's presence we see the things of this world a little less clearly and the things of the next more clearly. God's presence causes us to focus less on the things of the world's kingdom and more on the things of God's kingdom.

Fog can be felt as much as it is seen. God's presence is perhaps more often felt than seen.

Fog is so pervasive that you breathe in the fog. God's presence is like that. We breathe in the presence of God with every breathe we take.

Fog reminds me of God's presencce. But then so does everything else God has created.

Auctioned

There is a commercial on TV right now for a show about classic car autions. In the commercial the expert is suggesting that if you are new to classic car auctions you may want to employ the services of a handler who will help you keep from paying too much for an automobile. He says he knows of people who have overpayed by 2 or 3 hundred thousand dollars simply because they were caught up in the excitement of the auction and felt that just had to have that particular car.

Jesus suggests that we should consider the costs of discipleship before we agree to follow Him, as a builder considers all the costs of completing the building before he begins lest he become the laughing-stock of his community. Or as a king calls in his advisors before engaging his 10,000 warriors in battle with another who has 20,000 and sends messengers to negotiate the peace lest he be completely destroyed.

But God is more like the car-buyer who gets caught up in the excitement of the auction and ends up spending everything to purchase my soul. He had hoped to send a few prophets and angels to win the auction for my soul. But in the end he spent everything even his own self in order to purchase me. That is the message of the vineyard owner who is away and sends servants to retrieve his due rent. And when they fail, eventually sends his own son, whom the tenants kill. And isn't that the message of the parable of the pearl of great price. The parable is often interpretted in another way, but it seems clear to me that God is the collector who sells everything he has to purchase the one pearl of great price. The pearl - my soul. God loved me so much that he did not stop to count the cost, but sent his own Son that I should not perish but have ever lasting life.
Thank you Lord God.

The Sounds of Silence

Woke up this morning listening to the sounds of silence. The sound of silence I heard was the fan running in the heater. There are sounds all around us that we seldom hear; running motors, falling water, the breeze, distant traffic rumble. Any sound that is continuous, our ears can tune out. It keeps us being bombarded with insignificant information. To hear those sounds we usually have to make a conscious effort to listen to them. Yes there are times when we become fixated on a sound that is continuous and it becomes a distraction, but normally we just tune out any sound that goes on very long.
God's voice can be like that. God speaks to us through every one of his creations. In the song of the bird, the rush of wind through the trees branches, the voice of a friend, the daily read Bible. And God speaks to us in sights as well, sunset, sunrise, noonday sun, midnight moon. God is continuously speaking to us, prompting us to praise Him, showing us the person in need, encouraging us to speak a word of encouragement to an acquaintance.
It thus becomes our responsibility to intentionally listen for God. God's voice is not an occasional prompting in a loud voice, a sudden revelation in scripture. It is a continual whisper in our ear. The prophet heard the still small voice of the Lord. God's voice was not in the loud and brazen, it was still and small and had been there all along just waiting for the prophet to hear.
That is the way it is for us. There is much clamor and noise around us vying for our attention. But we need to listen for God's still, small consistent voice. He is always there for us.

A facebook friend wrote this morning
"The earth shall soon dissolve like snow
The sun forbear to shineBut God,
Who called me here below
Will be forever mine."

Seems like my world is in meltdown this morning.
I could list a thousand things that are awful this morning.
A sure sign that it is me and not the things.

It sure is reassuring to know that God cares for me even when I am totally unaware of it.

God's care and love trascend all boundaries, "neither life nor death no etc etc etc can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus."

I choose to trust him to be true to his promise.

What are you giving up for lent?

That was the question for yesterday, "What are you giving up for lent?"
Jesus gave up a comfortable life as a carpenter in Nazareth and became an itenerant preacher with not even a place to lay his head, so that I might one hear of his words of life.
Jesus gave up his mother and his brothers and sisters and created a new family of followers, so that I too might one day be a part of his family.
Jesus gave up his life, to save mine.
So should my response be to give up broccoli - that most hated vegetable - which I never eat anyway.
Should my response be to give up one meal a week, I do need to go on a diet.
Should my response be to give up sweets, I'm sure it would make me healthier.
Or perhaps I give up something that does make me healthier or makes a real impact in my life stye, or that I do enjoy, like meat of any kind, or driving my automobile, or living in a home. If I camped out in my backyard for the season of lent it would certainly be inconvenient, but would I accomplish anything at all other than making a good show for the neighbors.
It all seems so trivial when compared to what Jesus gave up. And wasn't that what Jesus accused the Pharisees and others of when he pointed out that the tithe the dill and the mint while neglecting the more important points of the law - justice, mercy and faithfulness.
So, what am I giving up for lent?

Ash Wednesday

So here we are at the beginning of lent. Ash Wednesday. Why ashes. There is no specific inaugural event in the Bible for the use of ashes. However the people of that part of the world would sit in piles of ashes or pour them over their heads and wear "sackcloth" as a sign of their sorrow. Sorrow at their losses as Job did, or sorrow for their sins as the Ninevites did when Jonah told them of their sins. Therefore, at the beginning of this lenten season we accept the ashes upon our foreheads as a sign that we are truly sorry for the sins we have committed, the good deeds we have failed to commit, the thoughts we have that are less than holy. But we don't just smudge the ashes on our foreheads in a meaningless blob, rather they are placed there in the sign of the cross. The sign of Jesus's death - His death which wiped away all of our sins. The sign of our sorrow for our sins (the ashes) is reshaped into the sign of our forgiveness (the cross). Forgiveness that existed even before we sinned. Forgiveness that was just waiting for our confession to pour out upon us.

Fat? Tuesday

Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday is the last day before Lent begins. In our culture of plenty Fat Tuesday is nothing more than another party. We already have all we want and most of us want far more than we need. And that goes for houses, cars, things, as well as food.

We are well feed every day not just on Mardi Gras. Enjoy the day. Celebrate. But remember there are those for whom eating well one day of the week means doing without others. And there are those for whom having all you want is not an option for even one day.

We are so blessed in The United States it is easy for us to forget that not everyone has the same opportunities.