Yes, even meetings are sources of spiritual nourishment — when we’re attentive to God’s presence with us; aware that the work we are to be about is God’s work; discerning how we can cooperate with what God is wanting to do. Last night’s Council meeting was a prime example.

At every meeting, the first thing we do is to come to quiet. We sit in silence, calming our breathing, opening ourselves to what God will do during the meeting. Then, one Council member is scheduled to be the devotional leader. S/he opens the meeting by sharing from his/her spiritual journey. We give thanks for that before proceeding with the agenda.

Our agenda is front loaded with the most important items for the month. (That’s so we devote our best time and energy talking about what’s most important, rather than routine reports from the Financial Secretary, Treasurer, staff members, or committees.) And, last night, there were BIG issues to discuss. There was great energy and excitement! Wait till you hear about them!

We always pause after talking about those most important items, for prayer led by the devotional leader, thanking God for the work that’s being done in this amazing congregation.

Then, after adjournment, before going home, we conclude with Night Prayer, also known by the Latin, “Compline.” (If you have a worship book at home, it’s on page 320 in Evangelical Lutheran Worship; page 154 in the Lutheran Book of Worship.)

Last night, as we opened the worship book to Night Prayer, one person said, “This is my favorite part of a Council meeting.”

After the meeting, another person said, “I’ve been going through such a rough time at work over the past three years. There’s so much drama. During our times for prayer tonight, all I could think was, ‘Thank you for the opportunity to participate in this group, with our healthy and constructive discussions.”"

God’s amazing grace!

Y Tax

Is this driver protesting all taxes, or just the personal property tax?

If I ever see that car in a parking lot, I think I’ll put this note under the windshield wiper:

Y tax?
2 repair the roads u drive ur car on!

B.) You know how fans of college teams often hold up signs with the initials of the broadcasting network in bold, hoping to get on TV? I love the sign pictured in this morning’s Gazette. (Each word emphasizes one of the letter in “ESPN.” And the opponent was the Old Dominion University Monarchs):

TribE
USurp
(Those) DesPotic
MoNarchs

I love it!! Only a nerdy William and Mary student would hold up such a sign at a basketball game!

In one of my favorite Robin and Linda songs, “Together, All Alone,” about a husband and wife who are snowed in and glad of it, they sing,
“I’m not worried about the weather.
The weather’s gonna do just what it wants.”

I repeated that repeatedly during the snowy days (and the days that threatened snow) this past winter, as in: “Oh well. What are you going to do?”

But now that we’ve gotten a taste of SPRING these past couple of days, I’m not as sanguine. I want it to get warm and stay warm!!!!!

It was so cold a week ago. You think the old saying will be true, since March came in like a lion?

After I got home, the book sat on the shelf for a while.  One time, I opened the book and began to read it. By about page 50 I was bored!  I realized I was only reading it because I felt I should!  So, I put it back on the shelf.  Where it sat.  For years.  In fact, nearly eight years later, I thought about it again, before I went to Israel in January: I should read that book, shouldn’t I?

Well, here’s what’s happened in the past couple of days.  I’ve opened the book again — and now I can hardly put it down.  It’s fascinating.  It’s full of life-changing insights.  (OK, I may be exaggerating a little bit there.)  Here’s the point: the time is right for me to be reading this book.  The time wasn’t right before.  In this case, I had to see the geography that Feiler writes about.  That experience was necessary, to open me to his insights.

That’s why I like to buy books, and keep them on the shelf, rather than to borrow them for a short time from the library.  This has happened to me a number of times before, with a  book that has been staring at me for years. For some reason, now is the time to read it.  Something has changed.   The words in the book have obviously stayed the same.  What has changed is me, because of my experiences!  A writer tells a story to communicate truth.  But the reader needs to be in theright  place on his/her journey to be able to receive the truth.

In the same way, God the Holy Spirit speaks to me through the short passages of Scripture that are appointed in the daily lectionary.  By this point in my life, I have read the passages many times.  They haven’t changed.  But the Spirit is changing me all the time!  And so something jumps out at me this time through the passage.  It might not have meant anything to me yesterday.  (It might not seem important tomorrow, either.)  But today, there’s something there.  Why does that catch my attention?  There’s the topic for prayer on this day.

Those in the congregation of St. Stephen have heard me talk about “praying the Bible.”  That’s what I mean.

And, my cold is lingering on.  Two days ago, I thought it was about gone, but I’m still going through multiple boxes of nose tissue.

So, I woke up later than I wanted to this morning, feeling drugged (the effects off the Tylenol PM I took at 3:30 AM).  But I did find some joy in the selections “chosen” by my iPod.  (I love the “shuffle” feature on my iPod!)  This morning I went from Gregorian Chant by the Benedictine Monks of Santo Domingo De Silos…

…to “Night in my Veins,” one of the raunchiest songs ever done by The Pretenders (which is saying something!) …

…to Murray Perahia playing one of Bach’s Goldberg Variations …

… to Sarah Vaughn singing, “It Shouldn’t Happen to a Dream.”

… and on from there: Beatles, Allman Brothers, Joshua Redman …

Huge fun!

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/02/us/politics/02coffee.html?ref=todayspaper

I was moved by this picture of two Chilean women, with their children, at dawn. They are just outside of their houses, which were near the epicenter of the earthquake. All night, sitting up, worried about aftershocks and without shelter.

And for a current report on the complete breakdown in Haiti:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/01/opinion/01mon4.html?ref=todayspaper

If part of your discipleship includes giving money towards relief of either of these disasters, please remember that when you give a dollar to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Disaster Response and/or Lutheran World Relief, more than 90 cents of that dollar gets to direct aid.  (That’s not true with many of the more publicized aid organizations, which have much higher overhead.)

Last night, up for a “body break” in the middle of the night, I noticed how bright the light was outside.  A full moon!

That means Easter is only one lunar cycle away — since, of course, Easter is the first Sunday affter the first full moon following the Vernal Equinox.  (Of course!  You knew that, right?)

Here’s your second trivia question of the day. 

How do you know if the moon is waxing or waning?

The waxing moon forms a “D” — for Dios, who created  and fills the world.

The waning moon forms a “C” — for Christos, whose life drained away when he died for us on the cross.

(This according to one of the characters in Barbara Kingsolver’s remarkable new novel, “The Lacuna.”)

When this cold hit, this past Monday, I was determined to take a more humble approach, and to take care of myself. (Humility: a Christian virtue!) Tuesday night was my night off this week, and I went to bed early. Wednesday morning I worked on my sermon at home so I could take a late-morning nap. I had obligations during the afternoon, but was able to get back home for a 4:00 PM nap, and then I was in bed only minutes after the Lenten service that evening.

The result of all that self-care? I felt good yesterday morning! And I foolishly worked a full-speed-ahead day So now, the cold is back full-force. Sigh. So much for my new-found humility …

Today is a sabbath day for me. Reading. Prayer. Rest. Drinking lot of liquids. Flushing out the cold. I may not even leave the house!

It’s allowed us to listen to a jazz station from San Mateo, California that I heard of somewhere, and another jazz station from Newark, NJ that I discovered while visiting Emily and Sheldon a couple of years ago. But mostly we’ve been listening to WXPN, Philadelphia,  which was coming through our radio speakers pretty much every waking moment when we lived in Wilmington, DE. After nearly nine years, the format is exactly the same, and most of the announcers are even the same! We’d forgotten how much we missed the station, with its wonderfully eclectic mix of rock and roll, blues, and soul. 

But, listening to XPN is reminding us how much we do NOT miss the weather in that part of the country! Today, for instance, in Philadelphia it’s snowing. Again. They’re expecting up to 15 inches.

I love all of you living in that climate who (for some inexplicable reason) read this blog. But I sure do prefer living further south. Rain is wonderful.