Les was more than I: A treasure in a jar of clay

Les had been homeless, on welfare, and a longtime alcoholic, suffering from mental health issues, who nonetheless loved God. The lines and scars of years of rough lifestyle were worn on his face like a man twice his age. When my husband and I found him he was filthy, emaciated, and using a six-pack as a pillow. We convinced him to let us take him to the hospital for what we thought was detox, only to find out after a few days that glioblastoma, a fast growing malignant brain tumor would claim his life in about six weeks. During his stay at hospice, he was visited by a number of people, grateful for his persistent witness of the gospel, a witness that had radically changed their lives. In spite of his brokenness, others had been able to see the treasure he held in his frail jar of clay,(2 Corinthians 4:7 ) and claim it for their own as well. He had seen their potential holiness and glory and invited them to accept the gift. Among them, a Grove City College dean of students, a professor at Penn State Behrend, a Psychologist in Erie, and a formerly homeless women, now self-sufficient. Even though he struggled, the impact he had on others for the Kingdom of Heaven put many of us in the pews to shame.

Les wanted a simple life, to be loved and accepted just as he was. His family was often so focused on his addiction and fear of being enablers that they missed the treasure he held and his potential. They could not merely love, be respectful and have mercy, without conditions. C.S. Lewis writes that "It may be possible for each to think too much of his own potential glory hereafter; it is hardly possible for him to think too often or too deeply about that of his neighbor. The load, or weight, or burden of my neighbor's glory should be laid on my back, a load so heavy that only humility can carry it, and the backs of the proud will be broken. It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics.
There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal…
Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your sense. If he is your Christian neighbor, he is holy in almost the same way, for in him also Christ - the glorifier and the glorified, Glory Himself, is truly hidden.”


Are there others not received into our lives as humans to be loved and accepted (just as Christ has accepted us) because we do not regard them as worthy or worthwhile? We know that we are loved and embraced as God’s children, Can that acceptance and honor be extended to others in the Christian community, as expressions of the image of God, regardless of how we feel about them personally? If someone has come under the cross, they are truly holy and are to be treated as such His sake. Les was my only and baby brother, a brother in Christ, whose treasure in an earthen vessel others found.


C.S. Lewis,The Weight of Glory (New York, NY: Harper One, 2001),

Leslie Charles Zagarella
Leslie Charles Zagarella, 45, of Ontario Street, died Tuesday, July 13, 2004, at Edinboro Manor.
He was born Dec. 11, 1958, in Brooklyn, N.Y., son of Peter and Rayma Evans Zagarella of Fort Myers, Fla.
He was a guitarist and singer who traveled across the country with country-music bands. He enjoyed fishing, reading and collecting reptiles.
Survivors include a daughter, Mariah Zagarella of Woodbridge, Va.; a sister, Pamela Ostrander and her husband, Alfred, of Edinboro; a niece, Zara Ostrander; and a nephew, Peter Ostrander.
No calling hours will be observed. A memorial service will be held Thursday at 2 p.m. at St. Augustine of Canterbury Episcopal Church, 427 W. Plum St., Edinboro. The Rev. David Fulford will officiate.
Burial will be at Edinboro Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the American Cancer Society, 2115 W. 38th St., Erie, PA 16508.
The Glunt Funeral Home, 210 Erie St., Edinboro, is handling arrangements.

Insomnia, Jacob wrestling with an angel, street fight, racial tension

Martin Buber was once described by Swiss Novelist Hermann Hesse, as "one of the few wise men on earth." A Jewish theologian and philosopher, Buber's central theme was, "All real life is a meeting," where man achieves authentic existence only in loving encounter with God and his fellow man. This personal relationship, I-Thou, is in contrast to I-It, where people deal with one another as objects. For many twentieth century Christian theologians such as Tillich, Niebuhr, Maritain, Berdiaev, Barth, Buber's personalism was the balance to the prevailing depersonalization of existential thinking, the God who is "out there" and not "with us".

Centuries ago, a man named Jacob, travelling on his way to Canaan with his group, trying to get away from his brother Esau and his clan, couldn't sleep one night. He was alone as all the rest of his family were asleep in their tents.
Genesis 32:24-31
"24 and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. 25 And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. 26 And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. 27 And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. 28 And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. 29 And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. 30 And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. 31 And as he passed over Penuel the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh."

As a result of insomnia and an evening encounter with what some say was the angel of God and others surmise was God himself, Jacob is sustains a life long hip injury, causing him to limp for the rest of his life. in the process of this encounter he gains a new princely identity, a new name, a sense of intimacy with the One Who Commands the Universe. He was birthed as a new creation afer his night of wrestling. it) The actual Hebrew text makes no mention of any mal'ak, the usual word for angel as being what Jacob wrestled with. Tradition has inferred the identity of Jacob's opponent from the blessing Jacob receives at the end of the match: "Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and men [or gods and men] and have prevailed." Jacob, the heel grabber or cheater is now God perseveres or strives. It changed the way he thought about himself and consequently his destiny.

My son couldn't sleep last night. At three a.m. he walked down to our local McDonald's and purchased a meal. while he was sitting there eating it a group of racially mixed young people walked in with a video camera. They were working on a filming project. An argument broke out about the filming, the group split along racial lines each egging each other on as a fight ensued. Five minutes later, a young man's skull was crushed under the boot of another, as he lay bleeding on the floor of the restaurant while my son and the restaurant manager were trying to get the police to come via telephone. My son made his statement to the police and didn't get home until dawn, shaken. What he witnessed, Jacob and Esau, still fighting for the birthright, still posturing defensively and offensively. Still taken offense when none was meant, or creating offense to start a fight as my son relates the story to me, a bystander, a person who had a meeting, a life changing encounter with his fellow man. a person who witnessed violence, man against man, who felt helpless, powerless, outnumbered and armed with a cell phone to reach out a touch another for help.

Whistle blowers in the pews, millenial prophets, spiritual abuse in the ranks

According to Sourcewatch.org,"Whistleblowers are usually ordinary people, often longstanding employees and experts in their field, who take huge professional and personal risks to blow the whistle on corporate and governmental wrongdoing. They are often a lesser-known but vitally important part of government and industry regulatory and advisory systems. They are generally harassed, vilified, and fired or forced to resign." It is sad that this happens in the corporate world but the church is not above such behavior either. What plagues the secular world comes into the church, not because church people are hypocrites, but because church people are works in progress, sinners in need of grace, steeped in the culture of the world around them. People in the church are accustomed to secular, worldly thinking and reasoning from the pastor on down. We were all born and raised in a broken culture and are likely to manifest the brokeness of the culture because we are not yet perfected.

When someone "blows the whistle" and brings to light or sheds some truth on an area of darkness within the congregation that person may not be received with open arms. The truth may refer to the actions of a church bully, a very powerful individual that the pastor does not which to confront. Instead the response may be to blame the victim(s) or diminish the actions of the bullies behavior. The information may be that funds are being misappropriated or that there are leadership indescretions of a personal sort. There could be a situation where someone is not taking their responsibillity and is seriously lax in their committed service. There could be sexual harrasement or spousal abuse. The pastor or council may have a peace at any price stance and the "whistle blower" or "tattletale" is seen too often as disturbing the peace, sowing seeds of discord, having an axe to grind. Often the reporter of the offense is attacked with blame the victim attitudes and statements such as, " you are not being submissive to authority, if you were, this wouldn't be a problem", " you just want your own way", "you are too emotional"," you are mentally ill," "women are to be subject to men" and so on. This is called spiritual abuse. It is the idea that we are all created equally but some are more equal than others. It has a name, Complementariansim. Click on the picture for an excellent article on that issue as it relates to men and women in particular.

Pontious Pilate washed his hands of Jesus's case and said he could find no fault in the man when he sent him off to be crucified to appease the Sadduces and Pharisees. Truth was crucified on the cross. Truth is crucified in our churches when we fail to listen to the whistleblowers and consider wether they speak the words of a prophet, exhortation or make believe. I know quite a few who have. Unlike the little little boy in the Emperors new clothes, they have seen that the Emperor was naked, called it out and were silenced. Some of these people attend the church and do not get involved. "It will do no good if I say anything," they tell me, nothing will ever change and no one listens to me anyway." Others have left the church because they are tired of beating their heads against the wall. I know of women who were in abusive relationships because their pastors told them the wife was to be subject to the husband. I don't remember Jesus saying to "beat the sheep". I know of a man who was discounted by a pastor because he admitted his part of sin in a relationship and trouble with mental illness. The other party in the relationship was never called to accountability. Sadly instead of reconcilliation, these stories end with broken hearts, and relationships. Jesus talked about how poorly the prophets of old were treated. We can read the accounts ourselves if we open the books in the Old Testament.Jesus was himself revivled for speaking truth. It is time church that we listen to the modern prophets. We may not like the tone of their voices or their choice of words, but we need to listen, or like, Pilate confused we will ask rhetorically, "What is truth?" when it is standing right in front of us, or like a former president, "It all depends on what the definition of is, is." I guess it all depends on whose Ox is getting Gored. As it was in the beginning is now, but Never shall be...

Clara Ward, I'm coming to your house today to do an extreme make over.

“Hope is faith holding out its hand in the dark,” says George Iles and in today’s scripture reading we heard the story of a woman plagued by a health condition who had gone from doctor to doctor hoping she would regain her health. Instead, as the years went by, she became poorer spending money for cures that did not work. She heard that Jesus would be coming through her town and pushed into the crowd that had thronged around him. She pressed in to get closer, thinking that if she could just touch some part of him, she would be able to make a connection with whatever power he had to heal. She got close enough to reach through grabbing a piece of Jesus’s robe as he was passing by. Jesus, feeling healing power leaving him, began to look around and asking the disciples “who touched me”? With so many people, it was impossible to tell. The woman realizing he was searching for her knelt before him, fearfully telling him she was the one who had touched him. Jesus totally surprised her. He told her that because she had the faith to hold her hand out when the future seemed dark and hopeless, she was healed. He blessed her, and sent her on her way.

In Erie lives a woman who held her hand out in faith, hoping her letter to the producers of Extreme Home Makeover would be chosen. Her name is Clara Ward. She has lived a life dedicated to helping kids at the former Youth Development Center for Abused and Neglected Children. Her goal has been to "Make...a better place for them so that their lives can be fulfilled” she said. “I don't want these kids to be on the streets, I don't want these kids going hungry, I don't want these kids to have to look for someplace to go." So Clara opened her heart and her crumbling home to these youth, feeding, clothing, teaching and caring for them in spite of being wheelchair bound by a chronic illness.

That selflessness in the face of her own serious health issues impressed the Extreme Makeover Home Edition folks so much so that now her home and her life is currently being transformed. The Extreme Home Makeover people are in Erie now building her a new wheelchair accessible home on the lot where her former home stood on East 21st. street so she can continue to live in her neighborhood and care for the local children.

We hope for good things like Clara did and cannot be sure of getting them. Being unsure, sometimes we begin to worry when we feel we can’t control the future. Worry is not always a bad thing, it can cause us to be cautious and wise instead of reckless as we go about our lives. Clara wisely put her faith into action and wrote that letter asking for help. If we ever discover we no longer worry we may discover that we have become either bitter without hope, or better. Clara did not let the situation of her crumbling home make her bitter, she continued the volunteer work as best she could and prayed for a solution to her housing problem. God’s answer to her prayer is happening this week as a team of builders construct her new home in one hundred and six hours.

When we remember difficult times in the past or the hopes that have come to fruition in our lives, we gain the assurance that God will continue to work things out in his perfect way and is able to do it. We remember that God doesn’t indulge us with every wish our heart desires, but will give us all that he has promised. There are over 1,000 promises that can be found in God’s Word. We can rely on these promises when we need comfort and assurance. If you include any of God’s promises in your prayers then you know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you are praying in God’s will! If God says it, then it is already true! If it is already true, then it will happen! Are you getting excited? Consider just five of these promises and like the woman who reached out and touched Jesus hem, reach out and claim these promises when you pray:

“If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” (John 15:7)

"And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus". (Philippians 4:19)

“ Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” (Is 41:10

"And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God
and are called according to his purpose for them.(Romans 8:28)

and finally,

"For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." -- Romans 8:38-39

TD Jakes is a famous pastor and author of many books about practical applied Christianity. In the Dallas, Texas paper recently it was reported that one of his adult sons was arrested. Pastor Jakes picture and his son's mug shot were plastered on the front page of the paper complete with a detailed account of the arrest. What was important is that the reporter recorded verbatim what Rev. Jakes wrote. It became a Kingdom moment, a teaching moment for all of us who have ever had a child, if we are a parent, or a friend, who has done something terrible wrong. I thought that you would find it interesting and insightful and a good response. Here it is:

06:17 PM CST on Saturday, February 14, 2009

By SAM HODGES / The Dallas Morning News samhodges@dallasnews.com

Bishop T.D. Jakes of Dallas says he is offering “help, support and restorative grace” to his son, Jermaine.

“It is in moments like these that I am so grateful that we do not preach that we are the solution, but we look to Christ for resolution,” Jakes, pastor of Dallas’ megachurch The Potter’s House, said in a written statement provided to The Dallas Morning News late Friday night.

“So then, as a very human family with real issues, like many other people, we will draw from the same well of grace to which we have led others to drink and be refreshed,” the statement said.

His father's comments were what struck me as being so right on and such a witness for something that gained such public exposure in a newspaper, evidence of God taking something bad and paradoxically turning the boys father's response into a declaration for all to read of the Kingdom of God. If you know and love a wayward adult, you may be asking yourself why do they have to do what they do? I ask the same thing in the situations in my life. Maybe we have been asking the wrong question and like Moses need to be asking instead in the wilderness spaces, " Show me your glory". May God reveal His glory this week, may there be a burning bush, may the goodness of the Lord pass before you and may God proclaim His name to you in the midst of the rebellious people you love and try to lead. May we all feel and extend the grace of God to each other in moments like these.

Obama, prayer for a president

"The first thing I'd do as president is sign the Freedom of Choice Act," Obama said in his July speech to abortion advocates worried about the increase of pro-life legislation at the state level.I wonder if Obama has given a lot of thought about the choice the unborn have? Do they get to choose? Do they get to decide if they are born or butchered? Is his stance merely a political positioning aimed at fence sitting cenrality?

In a recent Time magazine article:"Obama dodged the question of when a human being deserves rights."Whether you're looking at it from a theological or a scientific one, answering that question with specificity is above my pay grade,"he said. He affirmed his moral dimensions on the issue: his willingness to limit late-term abortions, provided there is an exception if a woman's health is at risk; and he talked about finding the resources to help women who choose to keep their baby, and about trying to reduce the need for abortions in the first place. It reflected the careful effort Obama has made to reach out to the ambivalent middle, who don't like abortion but also don't want doctors and patients being prosecuted for performing or having them."

Obama will have to grapple with this issue if it comes home to roost personally with one of his own daughters. I cannot imagine this father telling his girls, unless their lives are endangered, to abort as a form or ridding themselves of an unwanted pregnancy. My prayer for this new president as her takes office is that he thinks seriously of taking leadership to promote to he public other options besides killing the unborn. My hope is that he will choose life. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Marched on behalf of those who did not have a voice. Will this president stand up and give a voice to innocent children?

he first family is now looking for a place to worship in Washington,D.C. Obama state that "Now, I didn't grow up in a particularly religious household. But my experience in Chicago showed me how faith and values could be an anchor in my life," he said. "And in time, I came to see my faith as being both a personal commitment to Christ and a commitment to my community -- that while I could sit in church and pray all I want, I wouldn't be fulfilling God's will unless I went out and did the Lord's work." I pray that Obama will see this issue as part of the Lord's work.

Sojourn Visual Arts Community

In a collaborative effort among artistic members of a spiritual community called Sojourn Community Church in Louisville, KY.liturgical art was created based on the ten elements of their worship services. The images are sensitive and thought provoking. In their site narrative they stated that they "want to equip the artists within our local church with the knowledge, skills, materials, and opportunities needed to create artworks that will express their faith, serve the church, and transform culture." Their images were thought provoking,tastefully and skillfully done illustrations of expressions of faith.

After seeing those images I began to reflect that it has been said a picture is worth a thousand words. What words does the art or lack of speak in your church? Are the images welcoming? What do they say about God?, Christ?, the people who worship in this place? Are the people who worship in your church being challenged by visual imagery or lulled senseless by saccarhine sweetness from children's illustrations? Everything has a time and a season, there is a time and place for Veggie Tales but there is also a time for the powerful images of something such as Schindler's List.One should not exist to the exclusivity of the other.

Being created in God's image we have been endowed with the same urge to create.Visual art happens to be my thing, but there is also dance, music, drama, literature and I even believe cooking/ cuisine belongs in there and the art of hospitality. Looking at and appreciating different types of visual art, like theatre and music is a little like tasting different kinds of foods and developing familiarity and enjoyment. God did not create only one kind of plant or animal, he created a variety. God likes variety!He created us to create and express our creativity uniquely. Our choice is to express this for his glory or our own. Our choice is to cultivate creativity and encourage the unique gifts of others or stifle their expression by creating physical or psychological barriers.