....shameless.....

 

"Spring....when God tarts it up a bit...." ~ Anne Lamott

...shameless..... we are once again having a "typical" spring here in southwestern PA and the Divine is on a "tart tear" with so many blooms and buds, colors and greenings .....it is shocking and it is glorious!

As a kid, about once a quarter and more so during summer, my father would set-up the screen,  get the slide projector, invite family and conduct a slide show. It was nice to gather together, mum would have a tray of cookies (always a bonus) and some seasonally appropriate beverage and always coffee. Being a self-absorbed youngster, I wanted the photos of family, of people....yes, of me!  I endured the many slides of trees and rocks and rivers and flowers and more flowers and yes, hey, there's another photo of a flower.....

As one matures and realizes one is not the sun to everyone else's universe, appreciation grew for the photos of nature in all her glory. In the age of reflection and re-membering, I am blessed to have been raised in a home by parents who respected and celebrated the WOWs of the created world.   The month of May was when we'd make trips to the local greenhouses for mum to purchase flowers that would be planted around the house, hung on the porch hooks and placed in the good sun places and windows inside the home. Always the nurturer, mum tended these plants and flowers year round, maintaining nature's beauty as a daily practice. 

Meanwhile, dad was outside prepping the ground for the garden and going to "Westermans" to buy plants and seeds in readiness for planting. My father's gardens were precise, perfectly placed and balanced; they were a geometric dream of lines and produce. 

An important spiritual practice is to notice, to do so one needs to slow down and set the intention to sense the beauty of spring ---- the sights, the smells, the touches, the sounds, the tastes. 

What a gift is this season of renewal and possibilities ---- make the most of it, point out the gifts to another and be WOWed together!  Get a notebook and every day write down your WOWs and the Beauty you evidenced.  

BARE FEET, BUTTERFLIES and BEING ALIVE!

 The plan worked!  

A member of the Children's Ministry team had the idea to purchase cocoons, tend them, and if the timing was correct, to have hatched and set-to-soar bundles of butterflies on Easter Sunday!

It did. We did and the kids already jacked-up on jelly beans and chocolate were cranked!

Easter that year was warm with bright sunshine and the kids came preening and prancing in their holiday pastels.  I had begun the Children's Sermon talking about having "Easter Feet" and that the disciples were so excited about finding the empty tomb and a Risen Jesus that they "ran out of their shoes" going to and telling everyone about this greatest of good news!  We too need to have "Easter Feet" and I removed my shoes and socks and went barefoot.  As I expected and hoped so did many of the kids. 

To this barefoot bunch jiggly with excitement, a couple members of the Children's Ministry team brought forth the boxes now filled with butterflies waiting to be released. "Should we go outside and set these butterflies loose as a symbol of Easter?" asked the 70 year-old ministry team member.  "YES!" shouted the children in reply. 

The sanctuary of this particular church had long, pointed at the top, plain, vertical windows placed along both sides of the sanctuary that provided a perfect view from the pews of the lawn outside. The packed congregation went to the windows to watch the butterfly release.  It was a grand moment!  One of those rare times in congregational life when the plan just works.

Much like the butterflies now set free, the barefoot gaggle of children also had no desire to be confined and brought back into the church building.  They ran and shouted, shirts quickly became un-tucked, clip-on ties were discarded, hair ribbons came undone, some wrestled and rolled all in joyful jubilation!  To me, watching from the inside and attempting to move ahead with the service, it was a near perfect picture of the celebration of the Resurrection.  

The couple of members of the Children's Ministry Team could not corrale the children. There was ZERO chance now free and outside and on major sugar highs running in the sunshine and broad expanse of lawn that they were going to go back inside.  It was obvious that the Children's Ministry team members were not capable of catching the children and that they wanted to yell and threaten in a Jesus-y way of course to get the kids back inside. One would watch and witness several little blond heads bobbing up by the windows and then see a "blue hair" or a "gray head" stomp by with clenched jaw and clutched hands.  We watched and chuckled and then some of the parents went outside to assist in bringing in the children and there was much rejoicing.

What better way to celebrate Easter than to cut loose and run free!  To run and dance and wheel and turn and gather together and enjoy being alive!

As is true like 100% of the time, for lessons of how to be a disciple, look to the children --- freedom and abandon and squeals of joy be yours this Easter Sunday!

 

Are you a fan of parades?  

I remember attending a few as a kid and sitting on the curb on Fifth Street in my hometown of Freeport.  The two that standout are the annual Halloween and Christmas parades both made all the more wonderful because of the tossing free candy to the crowd; I recall a parade celebrating the bicentennial and the very local parade recognizing Freeport's Sesquicentennial. Alas, little Freeport warranted an appearance from little-used nor liked Steelers mascot, "Steely McBeam."

Parades hit on all five senses and excel at the sights and sounds, the marching band, the shined and polished convertibles carrying the local dignitaries, folks pointing and in some cases happily identifying the person as she rides past.

Of course, Holy Week begins with a parade. Actually, two parades --- one with which Christians are most familiar, Jesus on a donkey, the crowds with palm branches, shouts of "Hosanna!' and a distinct change in address referencing Jesus as the Sovereign who comes in the name of God.  Uh-Oh --- now we've gone and done it...that regal reference gets the high priests on edge and puts the Romans on notice. 

The second parade is the arrival of Pontius Pilate into Jerusalem to preside and keep the Pax Romana, the Roman Peace, during these days when the city will be streaming with pilgrims who have long lived as kept subjects of the Roman Empire...

We say that of course we would be in the peaceful crowd, beside the rabble and the ready-for-a-revolution people.  Fact is we also like our power, we like the comforts of being an empire and having the military might.  We like the control.  We're not so good about being vulnerable.

As we journey yet another Holy Week, let us check our vulnerability, be open to it, risk vulnerability and learn from it. Personal confession, I'm not really good at the whole vulnerability thing and plan to ponder it and even more lean into it, or, better yet, fall into it.   Here's to a Holy Week ---