Skip to main content

Introduction to Worship for 8/13/2017

By

Getting Lost:

This week we continue our journey into the Dark Wood by looking at the gift of Getting Lost. Dr. Elnes writes that, “People who find and live into their calling rarely do so without getting lost first. Yet since there are no straight or clear paths in the Dark Wood of life, they do not cease to get lost after once being found. Rather…[they] learn that the regular experience of getting lost is one of the most important gifts we can receive.” (p.84)

Exodus 2: 11–15, 3: 1–12

In this week’s scripture, we’re looking at one of the early stories in the life of Moses.  Born to an enslaved mother, raised as a prince in Pharaoh’s house in Egypt, Moses loses himself by killing an Egyptian nobleman, then fleeing into the hinterlands of Midian. He marries and starts a life, but he is far from what God intends for him to be. Whether by his own actions or by the forces acting around him, he is lost. He’s going through the motions, but he is no more at home in this new life than he felt in the old one.

The second part of the story finds Moses in a field, talking to a bush. God has finally gotten his attention, and is telling Moses what his role in life is to be. And Moses has a few doubts…

When you feel lost, or are not sure what God intends for your life, how do you respond? Do you flee from the place you are in? Do you rush around, trying to keep busy so you can avoid the feeling? Do you dig and keep doing the next thing, refusing to look around at all?  

David Wagoner’s poem, “Lost”, suggests that sometimes the best way forward is to stop and listen:

Stand still. The trees ahead 
and bushes beside you
are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,
and you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
must ask permission to know it and be known.

The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,
I have made this place around you.
If you leave it, you may come back again, 
saying Here.

No two trees are the same to Raven.
No two branches are the same to Wren.

If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,
you are surely lost. Stand still. 
The forest knows
where you are. You must let it find you.


My own mother used to say, “The Holy Spirit is not big on details”.  Even when we are pretty sure that we know where God is calling us to go, sometimes there are detours or blocks in the path; sometimes we have to find ways to overcome our own reluctance to be led. But if we understand that the Spirit comes alongside us as our guide and friend, we can learn to listen for the voice that will help us to find our way. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Introduction to Worship for 9/24/2017

By
Bless the Water: This week our creation theme is Water. As an introduction to the theme, we will be looking at the beginning of the second creation story in Genesis. Genesis 2:4b–14 In the first story (Genesis 1:1––2:3), water is there from the beginning, and creation is an act of separating everything else from the waters, and then bringing life to the land—after light and darkness and planets and the sun and moon are brought forth.      In the second story, the land has already been created, and there is a stream that waters all of the land. God creates the human from the land, and we can’t grasp the pun in English, but adam (human or man) is made from adamah (humus or earth). We’re probably most familiar with verses 8 & 9 in this text, when God creates a garden and puts adam into the garden with the green and growing things, including the tree of life and the tree of good and evil. But then the author describes the four rivers that surround the garden, a...
Post a Comment
Read more

Introduction to Worship for 5/7/2017

By
Glad and Generous Hearts: The image of Jesus as Good Shepherd is the most common one to be found in the catacombs. In days when Christianity was not yet legal, this symbol clearly evoked Jesus to those within the community, but was just another image for those outside. One source for this image is the parable of the shepherd who hunts for a lost sheep; another is the 10th chapter of John in which Jesus describes himself as the good shepherd. Yet there are other images, too, such as descriptions of things the early church did that were “shepherd-like” in caring for others. How we emulate the shepherd we follow is a key part of being Christian. Acts 2:42–47 As noted in verse 42, the rituals and practices of teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayer define the early Christians. Their life together sets the stage for the Spirit’s continuing work of empowering witnesses to proclaim, in word and deed, God’s saving love that comes through Christ. This community of Jesus’ fol...
Post a Comment
Read more

Introduction to Worship for 2/5/2017

By
Letting the Light Through Jesus tells us that we are salt and light as we seek to live as God’s people in the world. With the Spirit’s help, we offer our gifts and talents to extend the reach of God’s realm. With Isaiah and the psalmist, we learn what it means to practice righteousness and restore beauty in community as we live out the heart of our faith. Matthew 5:13–20 This week, we continue to read from the collection of Jesus’ teachings known as the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus uses powerful images of salt and light as he describes what it means to live according to the ways of God’s realm. The same images of salt and light are used in the Hebrew Scriptures to describe covenant and law. David and his descendants are called a lamp before God. Jesus continues and expands the message found in the scriptures. Jesus tells his followers that at this very moment they are salt – cleansing, preserving, adding flavour. At this moment they are light – revealing what is hidden, allowing ...
Post a Comment
Read more