This article by Tim Gossett was originally posted on February 13, 2009.

Is Christian Education just another interest?

Today I offer a quartet of short poems. I hope that one or more of them bless you on your journey.

Self-talk

Creative
Imaginative
Wonderful
Amazing
Loved, loveable and loving
Created in God’s image
Always remember

As Christians we are called to live in community. Ours is a relational faith. As a faith community, we nurture and support one another and together we are the “body of Christ”. Last weekend, ten women gathered together in central Iowa for the Different Voice Women’s Retreat. For one weekend, we were the body of Christ for one another – a community of women who took time for ourselves and together were renewed physically and spiritually. It was a Spirit-filled weekend. One of the wonderful things about the experience was the gifts we gave to each other; gifts that can only be given and received when we live together in community.

The posts piled up over the past few days on Facebook and Twitter, and people talked about them in real-life conversations. "What are you giving up for Lent?" "Did you read the story about the guy in the military overseas who gave up Facebook for Lent?" "This year, I'm taking on a good habit instead of giving up a bad one." And then there was the girl at a friend's youth group, who asked her peers, "Could you give up texting for Lent?" (The answer in my church: apparently not, as I noticed some of the middle school girls huddled over their cell phones during the Ash Wednesday service!) For many (including me, I'll admit) this kind of story sharing has become the new ritual that begins the season of Lent. The Ash Wednesday cross is now the secondary mark (pardon the pun) that a new church season has begun.

The season of Lent is just around the weekend! Lent is a season of spiritual preparation for hearing and receiving the good news of Easter. For some people Lent has traditionally been a time of “giving up” something – a symbolic sacrifice to help remember the sacrifice that Jesus made. This practice was not a part of my faith tradition as I grew up, though many of my friends gave up (or tried to give up) things for Lent. Several of my friends would give up chocolate each year during Lent. To be honest, I am not willing to give up chocolate for 40 days! For the first thirty-five years of my life, I did not give anything up for Lent. One year not too long ago, however, I did give up something for Lent. I gave up yelling at my children.

Jesus called me the other day
On speakerphone.
Interestingly,
His voices sounded like
Friends of mine from church.
“I have a job I’d like you to do.”

I saw Jesus smiling the other day.
His face was that of a child,
Who picked up a backpack
Containing food lovingly packed.
The smile accompanied knowledge
That he would eat this weekend.

This Sunday, churches that use the revised common lectionary will read and hear the story of God calling Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:4-10). As I read Jeremiah’s call story, I am reminded of a Wednesday evening in August 2004. (This passage reappears as a lectionary option in August of Year C.) That night, as I sat in midweek worship service, I heard this passage read and then the pastor spoke about God’s call for Jeremiah and for us. Be prepared, this Sunday, many of you will hear a sermon on this topic. But back to August 2004, I left that service with the distinct feeling that I had been set up.

One loaf of bread
Is a reminder.
Although we are many,
We are one body.
God’s children are
One family.

It doesn’t matter
Where we live,
What we have,
What we can do,
What we believe,
We are one family.

A myriad of differences:
Eye color, height,
Sense of humor,
Ability to curl our tongue,
or throw a Frisbee.
We are one family.

If one is grieving,
Mourning a loss
Of a loved one,
A house, a job,
A possibility…
The family is sad.

If one is suffering,
Injured in an earthquake,
Going to bed hungry,
Shivering in the cold,
Enduring abuse,
The family is hurting.

If one is missing,
Lost, abandoned,
Disconnected,
Shut out by barriers
Real or perceived,
The family is not complete.

God’s children must
Help each other,
Care for one another,
Strive for justice,
Work toward healing
And wholeness.

We are one family.

~Sally Hoelscher

The course of my life changed after a visit to Haiti. It was the summer of 1986, and a campus ministry group I was part of traveled there to learn about extreme poverty and do a bit of service work. Having grown up in rural Wisconsin, I was not completely unfamiliar with what it meant to be poor; indeed, one of my friends literally had a dirt floor in at least one room of his house. But Haiti, which was the first country I had ever visited outside the U.S., was certainly victim to another type of poverty altogether.

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lucastheexperience/ / CC BY-ND 2.0

Although many things on that week-long trip caused a shift in my being—seeing people living in trash dumps, holding  infants who were being treated for TB, bartering with local artisans who traded me a carved wooden bottle for a half-used bottle of sunscreen and a worn-out pair of hi-tops—nothing sticks in my mind more than a story I heard at the very end of the trip.

In the tile at the hotel, I see a farmer wearing a hat;
his hat resembles a marshmallow on a plate.
Every Sunday at church, I see a profile of a dog in the rock wall;
some Sundays I search for the skier, too.
In the bruise on my leg, a tiny heart appears on the third day.
The barista creates a fan-shaped design on top of my chai.
In the clouds, I see an alligator that morphs into a fire-breathing dragon.
Two trees fell to the ground where they now form a cross.
Liquid on the counter resembles a Rorschach blot;
spilt milk provides an unexpected diversion.
A squirrel is burying nuts in my yard;
its tail resembles a question mark.

Surprises awaiting discovery.
Little blessings that make me smile.

"Open my eyes so I can see what you show me of your miracle wonders." Psalm 119:18 (The Message)

~Sally Hoelscher