Two nights each week, I work at the homeless shelter for men in my community, preparing dinner, handling phone calls, taking assistance applications, and the like. As you would expect, the conversations often drift to jobs (or more accurately, the lack of them), the inability of the government to make meaningful change, and other political and economic topics. The men who come through the doors each day see things from a very different perspective, they'd tell you, than the "average" person, and generally I think that is true.

This week I got into a long conversation with an extremely articulate, well-educated, creative guest at the shelter who has given up on the people of this country to make fundamental change. "James" didn't have many good things to say about churches and their various missions to the poor. I tried to listen carefully, to really "hear" him.

Two comments especially hit home and stung more than others.

As I read the lectionary scriptures for the second Sunday of Easter, several verses from the various readings jumped out at me and seemed to speak together.

How very good it is when kindred live in unity! (Psalm 133:1, NRSV)
The whole congregation of believers was united as one – one heart one mind! ...They shared everything. And so it turned out that not a person among them was needy. (Acts 4:32, 34, The Message)
God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. (1 John 1:5)

Two personal writing projects have me thinking lately about what it is to be a sustainable church. The first is a 6-week series for youth on creation care that I'm writing for a major publisher, due out later this year. My goal is to help youth to discover that sustainable living is not only possible, it's preferable. The second project has me visiting 52 churches in my community and neighboring towns over the next 52 weeks, plus having informal conversations with people I meet at places like my favorite coffee shop, starting this Sunday. Exactly what will come of that experiment is unknown, but I am very interested in local expressions of faith and people's "peak church" experiences. (I also want to learn from churches like this one, which make being a sustainable church part of their mission.)

When I hear how Jesus…triumphantly rode into Jerusalem
I feel…expectant, excited, empowered

A prayer for Lent.

One week ago today, my family gathered in Wisconsin to celebrate the life of my grandmother, who died recently at the age of 93. She was a wonderful woman who leaves behind a legacy of love. Each of us wore one of her butterfly pins on our clothing, and she had many of them. As the pastor remarked at her funeral, in her apartment you could close your eyes, spin around, and wherever you looked next it was very likely you'd see a butterfly. In symbolic form, resurrection was all around us.

We of course are in the liturgical season of Lent right now, but the pastor is indeed right. Resurrection is all around us...

I gradually awaken
to the realization
that I am covered with pets.
The dog sleeps soundly
pressed as close to my legs
as possible without laying on them.
The cat perches on my side,
resting but alert,
watchful for a sign
that I might be awake
and willing to pet her.
Their bodies comfort me,
blanketing me with their warmth
even before I am fully aware
of their presence.

Although it happened over ten years ago, I remember clearly the first time my son, Sean, saw a rainbow. He was four years old at the time. We were driving south from Iowa to Missouri when we passed through a rainstorm into the sunshine. Looking out of the car windows, my husband and I spotted that arc of color that science tells us is the full spectrum of the sun’s white light refracted through the raindrops. We eagerly pointed the rainbow out to our son, who began to search the sky. After about a minute of Sean saying, “I can’t see it,” and my husband and I replying, “Just look out the window,” it occurred to us that he didn’t know what he was looking for.

The smell of supper emanating from my crock pot.
The sound of the furnace kicking on.
The sun on my face as I look out the window.
Chocolate melting on my tongue.
Watching a squirrel gather straw from my yard to build a nest.