Thy Will, Not Mine... but give me a hint, eh?

Dear Water's Edge Worshippers,

Have you ever been absolutely convinced -- to your core, no doubts -- that you were destined to do something in particular, connect with someone, do something radically different but all you? So powerful it was, that you could feel it in your bones? I have.

I was a TV reporter for 17 years and knew from the moment I walked into the student-run TV station at American University that I was "hard wired" for the craft. But that was then; what about now? Is God calling me to serve? I'm sure He is... or surely I hope He is?

Either way, Why? is it sometimes so difficult to discern God's will for our lives? That's the subject we'll be tackling this week at Water's Edge. This is week #3 of the Adam Hamilton-based, churchwide Why? study. So far, parts 1 & 2 have elicited a lot of thought-provoking discussion in the groups I've attended.The best part about it is that we can all express our thoughts in safety, without fear of rebuke or shunning (unless of course you're rolling your eyes AFTER I leave the room).

This week's scriptures will take us into a discussion of predestiny versus free will. What do you believe? Does God have a set plan for your life, already laid out with twists and turns, good and bad? Or does He have a purposeful plan, with an ending in mind, that allows you the opportunity to make choices (free will) and veer this way and that? If it's the latter, then, does He step in to always help you get back on His track? Or, could you change your entire destiny if you don't follow the plan... such as Marty McFly almost did in Back to the Future? Remember? Marty -- who had time traveled back to his parent's high school days -- ended up having to get his dad to kiss his mom by midnight or it was going to be all over! Goodbye McFly! (The photo above shows his brother disappearing -- his sister is next -- to indicate that time is running out!)


Be sure to appear for this Sunday's discussion!

Is Garth Brooks Right? Do We Need to Thank God for Unanswered Prayers?

Do you remember the last time one of your prayers went (or seemed to go) unanswered? Can we ever really know that a prayer has definitively gone unanswered? Maybe we just didn't recognize the answer. Maybe the answer was given, but not on our time-table. There are so many variables and we're going to take a serious crack at them this Sunday.

Why are we doing this? Glad you asked! Last Sunday, January 22, we began our church-wide study of the Adam Hamilton book "Why? Making Sense of God's Will."

- Week #1 concentrated on explaining (or prompting us to think and talk about) why good people suffer, the different kinds of suffering in this world, such as natural disasters, and God's role in suffering.

- Week #2 will cover God and prayer... and what happens when he doesn't answer.

Take a look at this week's scripture readings; two very different takes on prayer in the Bible:

- In the Psalm, the psalmist is in great distress over his sense of abandonment. But then he takes heart remembering that God saved those who walked before him (the psalmist); those who suffered http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifthe slings and arrows in previous situations turned out alright.

There's a movie trailer playing in theaters now promoting a British dramedy. A bunch of British seniors have 'retired' to a resort in India, site unseen, based only on pictures in a beautiful brochure. Upon arrival, they realize the magnificent facilities they saw in pictures don't really exist. One woman demands her money back and a young boy answers, "We have a saying: It will be alright in the end. And if it's not alright, it's not the end."

Ha! I love that! Could be a new approach to prayer... speaking of prayer, back to our subject:

- Check out our second scripture, this time, from Luke. How about that one?! Jesus, on his knees, praying, "... remove this cup from me..." Wow! That's not how any of the stories of his life went in my Sunday school. My classes always focused on the Son listening to his Father and doing what he was told. And I can remember first reading this Luke passage and thinking, "Jesus gets it! He is the Son of God with human understanding through and through!"

Jesus did not want to have to go through with what was coming next. How many of us know that feeling too? Something really heavy and important weighing on your shoulders, something only you can deal with; you know you have to take care of business but still, you go through all sorts of mental gymnastics trying to figure out how to get out of it and let the 'cup' pass from you.

Well, this Sunday, you will not bear the cup alone. We will lift our concerns and prayers together. Better buckle up! We're getting ready for some heavy lifting!

I Have Called You by Name, You Are Mine

Water's Edge will be bubbling at the brim with worshipers this Sunday as we will be joined by this year's class of candidates for confirmation and their fans! Please come early, grab a seat, and prepare to ponder plenty.

One of our confirmands is also going to baptized so this provides another opportunity for anyone within Water's Edge to renew their baptism. At about the mid-point in the service, our confirmands will dip some locally harvested, leafy branches into our baptismal bowls and sprinkle our collective heads. I can imagine this could feel kinda wild and look like a party, but in preparation for our sprinkling, we will be reflecting on our own journey with God.

Most of the folks in our Water's Edge planning group had clear recollections of confirmation: one former Catholic remembers choosing his new confirmation name and meeting the bishop; another remembered trying to memorize all the books of the Bible, and really knocking a home run with the books of the prophets; and I remembered that the new, very cute boy who had just come to our church/town from Texas, and who wore REAL cowboy boots ALL THE TIME, was in my class and held my hand during group prayers.

Clearly there are many potential ways to remember your confirmation, so, what is our message tohttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif the incoming class? "Slow down and pay attention." It all goes by so quickly. Take just a minute or two to really think about what this day holds for you and try to remember it. Yeah, yeah. We all have had adults tell us that "time flies." And we all have rolled our eyes and g-fawed as soon as the adult left room. But here, years later, we find they were right. And I do wish I could remember more. It surprised me to realize that I just don't remember!

But, then, Randy (youth minister) reminded us that each of the confirmands receives a cross inscribed with Isaiah 43:1, "I have called you by name, you are mine." That passage provided the comfort I needed. We don't need to recall all of the details surrounding our confirmation. We simply need to remember that we were called and we said "Yes."

See you Sunday!

(The black and white photo above is from a confirmation class at Emmaus Lutheran, just over one hundred years ago... Class of 1911. I started to poke fun of their crazy hair bows and then I remember what my picture would have looked like, with the awful shoulder pads and big earrings we wore in the '80s! I am humbled.)

Baptism and The Beginning

This Sunday is a special Sunday in Christian tradition; we celebrate the baptism of Jesus. And, we have an opportunity to re-dedicate ourselves, renew our baptismal vows. Also, if you have never been baptized, we ALWAYS welcome that gesture, anytime of year at Water's Edge.

This week's scriptures relate to baptism in distinct ways -- Rev. Molly will explain that more fully on Sunday -- but, join me in taking a look at the first scripture, Genesis. This brings us the very first words written in the Bible: "In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters."

See? Water is an integral part of our experience on earth... it has been since "the beginning."

- Our bodies are 60% water
- 70% of the fresh water on earth feeds our agriculture
- Oceans make up 71% of the earth's surface.
John the baptist spoke of water v. spirit baptism, and we often see images related to cleansing as well.

One of my favorite depictions of baptism comes from a rather unorthodox source, the movie "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" The haunting voice of Alison Krauss, along with choir voices in the background, and the abundance of the river... it gives me chills just thinking about it. As corny as the characters are in the movie, the look on the face of the one baptized is so real, so good, so- joy-filled (pops up at 2:06), I feel as though I'm standing on the river bank waiting too...

So, as we gather this Sunday, be ready to share those images that come to mind for you in baptism... of the spirit, the beautiful... the light from dark.

Son of God, Son of Man... Sudden Insight.

Hello dear Water's Edge team!

First, a quick reminder that we will NOT be holding services at Water's Edge this Sunday, December 25, 2011. On that Christmas Sunday, please consider attending the 9:30am or 11 am service in the main sanctuary. We'll return to the Cove on New Year's Day, January 1, 2012, which is also a special day in church history: Epiphany.

We will be reading about Jesus' baptism, the moment when his parents realized the magnitude of his being. Jesus was not only their son, but the Son of God and the Son of Man. All the great joys related to "their" baby boy would be shared with the world. And they realized this.

For we mere mortals, this is often of time of recommitment, refreshment and a new start. You will have that opportunity as we will be sharing the history of, and reading, the UMC covenant prayer in a renewal service. Check it out on page #607 in your Methodist Hymnal.

I would also like to remind you that (the inmates are running the assylum) the Water's Edge team is leading the Christmas Eve Candlelight Service at 11pm. Chris and the band will play in the santuary, Rev. Molly will share the homily, and several of your W.E. faithful will deliver readings of scripture and Christmas-related poems.

One of the favorites this time of year, John Bell's "Cloth for the Cradle," is pasted below. (Click on the highlighted link to hear an audio version from a Mission Viejo church). We won't be reading it at 11pm on Christmas Eve, so I thought I'd share it with you here, for good measure, as it sets my heart at ease.
This is such a busy time of year, with shopping and shipping to be done, worries about finances, health, travel, family gatherings, crazy relatives... if there is one thing I'd like to close with, it's this: please take care of yourself. Take time to sit in silence, whether you listen to Christmas carols, watch the blinking Christmas lights, or just soak in the silence and the dark, take some time to listen for God. In this busy, exciting, expectant time of year, God leans in close to us, through the creche and baby Jesus. We have but to reach out and take his tiny hand to feel whole again.

See you on Christmas Eve!

Cloth for the Cradle- John Bell

When the world was dark
and the city was quiet,
you came.

You crept in beside us.
And no one knew.

Only the few who dared to believe
that God might do something different.

Will you do the same this Christmas, Lord?

Will you come into the darkness of tonight's world;
not the friendly darkness
as when sleep rescues us from tiredness,
but the fearful darkness, in which people have stopped believing
that war will end
or that food will come
or that a government will change
or that the Church cares?

Will you come into that darkness
and do something different
to save your people from death and despair?

Will you come into the quietness of this town,
not the friendly quietness
as when lovers hold hands,
but the fearful silence when the phone has not rung
the letter has not come,
the friendly voice no longer speaks,
the doctor's face says it all?

Will you come into that darkness,
and do something different,
not to distract, but to embrace your people?

And will you come into the dark corners
and the quiet places of our lives?

We ask this not because we are guilt-ridden
or want to be,
but because the fullness our lives long for
depends upon us being as open and vulnerable to you
as you were to us, when you came,
wearing no more than diapers,
and trusting human hands
to hold their maker.

Will you come into our lives,
if we open them to you
and do something different?

When the world was dark
and the city was quiet
you came.
You crept in beside us.

Do the same this Christmas, Lord.
Do the same this Christmas.

Amen.

4th Sunday in Advent: Love

Dear Ones!

I hope you are enjoying this Advent season at The Water's Edge as much as I am. Many thanks to all who have helped with our weekly lighting ceremony, and to everyone for participating in the "call and reponse" of our Advent readings.

This week's candle -- the fourth -- represents LOVE.
God sent love in the form of an angel to tell Mary about what was to happen. And Mary, I'm still amazed, answered with a loving, trusting heart.

'Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.’

And then, she breaks into song! I don't know if I would have had the strength or the wisdom to do the same; to trust God so completely that you just do it. Even when I am considering my own call toward ministry, I come up with a handful of different scenarios and run them by God, as if He's going to pick and chose from a list of my possiblities/plans. (You wanna make God laugh? You know the punchline).

Mary's trusting nature fits in so well with our churchwide theme of "More than you asked for..." It's true. We've all experienced it to some extent and many of you have shared those experiences in our Sunday discussions. We ask for X; God delivers X, Y, and Z. And we could never have predicted how great it would be. How to remember and trust that... well, maybe, it would work if we remembered what the angel said to Mary.

When she asked "How can this be?"
The angel answered "... For nothing will be impossible with God."

If we could just remember that in our daily outreach -- whether dealing with a rude co-worker or a close friend stuck in an addictive cycle or a neighbor who's lost a job - when the situations we're in seem like they'll never change, we have but to remember that 'nothing will be impossible with God.'

Consider those words when we're praying this Sunday. We've gathered a list of "more than we asked for" for ourselves, for others, for our church, and now we will ask prayers for the world. Let 'er rip! Lose your mind! Ask for the biggest and the wildest thing you can imagine. World peace? An end to hunger? No more war? Economic stability? Ask! And remember what Mary knew: "nothing will be impossible with God."

I will miss this Sunday and Darin, who's returning from school, will be assisting Elbert, with help from Simon and Evan. Molly is in the sanctuary and I'm officiating a wedding in Berkeley. My dear friend, whom I've known since we were 3 years old (that's us in her parent's crazy 1970s flowered kitchen), is getting married and she asked me to perform the ceremony. I'm honored and excited. I hope and pray that officiating this sacred union is the beginning of something big... Why not? Nothing's impossible, right?

You're in my prayers and my heart, always!
See you on Christmas Eve (if not sooner).

Advent 3: Joy!!!

Dear Ones!

The third Sunday in Advent is all about pink! The pink candle which reminds us of the Joy brought to Earth by the Christ Child's birth.

Truly, I can't think of a better color to represent JOY. My precious little niece, Grace Mae, is starting to out-grow her 'everything pink is perfection' phase and it's killin' me! I love that she loves pink. The joy she brings into my world is framed perfectly by her passion for pink! Her favorite book is (was) Pinkalicious, for Halloween she dressed as Super Girl (who wears pink) and last Christmas, she had a pink tree in her room, covered in pink ornaments. But, alas, she has discovered navy blue is fabulous too!

As we prepare to light the third candle in advent, JOY, we have an opportunity to shift our focus a bit. If you've been at Water's Edge the past couple weeks, or are following the advent lectionary on your own, you know that our scripture readings have been... well, let's just say the scriptures have not exactly painted a rosy (another word for pink) glow of Christmas tidings around the good news of Christ's birth. They have been a tad more somber than we're used to at advent.

Back in the day... advent season was much longer and the focus leaned more toward repentance and penitence... a time for reflecting, followed - eventually - by a time of joy and celebrating the birth. In our modern times, we tend to focus more on the birth and the great news of Jesus' coming. And because this week celebrates the lighting of the (pink) joy candle, we will shift gears, to celebration. Even the Isaiah scriptures follow suit, replacing ashes with garlands and mourning with gladness.

Our ongoing prayer list -- "More than you asked for..." -- continues as well. During our first week, we prayed for our own concerns; last week, for others; and this week, we will concentrate on praying for More for the church... Our fourth week will be devoted to prayers for the World.

Put on your thinking caps and prepare for a stimulating, thought-provoking and JOYOUS Sunday.

See you soon!
Kim

PS- aren't you glad I didn't write this blog blurb in pink?