B: YHWH (pause)
P: Meet my hurt with your presence
Meet my fear with your presence
Meet my shame with your presence
Meet my need with your presence

I look back over my life and can see liturgical experiences that shaped me. I was not a regular attender of a liturgical church but I visited a few, most notably an Anglican Church when I lived in Australia. I remember the first full observance of Ash Wednesday and Lent with Christ City Church. It was probably 9 years ago, in an exposed…

Connection enables us to be seen and known, not forgotten
Connection powerful and clear invigorates grace
Connection enables simple things; walks on sunshine shores
Connection chooses to reach between and gain an extra hand

If you haven’t listened to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s sermon The Drum Major’s Instinct, please do. Dr. MLK gives a passionate sermon at his home church just months before he was assassinated.

I am finding it hard to focus my thoughts to one stream. So many things have clamored for my attention. Quite honestly, these things captured my attention. Some come with trepidation and some come with gladness while others vie for my gaze and thoughts.

I have been thinking a lot about judgmentalness. I have recently began to realize how harsh I can be with myself. As I am aging, my abilities have changed and I find my limitations have shifted. I move more slowly. On the days my joints ache, I move even more slowly. I flail at finding words on the tip of my tongue.

Today, we have entered Epiphany. It is one of my favorite seasons in the church calendar. Mostly because my imagination has been captivated by the Magi or Wise Men or Kings. I think they are some of the coolest folks in the post Christmas story. I admire their curiosity. Think about it.

Relax, she writes in her meditative piece.

Relax, good things will come. It is as it has already been.

Relax.
That five letter word rattles me. Relax?!

This time in Advent is a time of longing, desiring without knowing how much longer it will be. The tension between the not having and needing is thick and comes close to heart break. For the Israelites, it wasn’t a longing or desiring of a thing but a deep longing and desiring of life and dignity.

I am thankful for the church calendar. Today, I realized that everything has space and time because of the church calendar. It helps us to hold space as we wait for the Incarnation. It helps us with anticipation of the good things coming. It also holds back the wheels of time that want to keep moving faster through life.