The new year had begun and it seemed, like standing before a locked threshold with no window to peer through, no doorman to request an entrance inside. What was beyond the door? One would imagine warmth, a hearth with a crackling fire, and a table set with a meal and good company, safety, the sanctuary of a place. On the streets it had been catch as can, belonging nowhere, sleeping in doorways until shooed away and hoping for a scrap of something to sustain. Gnawing hunger and cold on the street served with a side of loneliness and fear. 

My husband was told he could not come back until he was "all better". He had sworn at an usher in our church who refused to let him leave when he was upset. My husband begged the man to step aside so he could pass through the door and go home but the usher said "No, I can see you are upset, tell me about it and we will pray." One blocking the doorway, one pleading to leave to get medication to take care of a medical condition that had arisen. "No" So in desperation my husband swore, the man jumped aside in surprise and my husband went home. 

The following day my husband met with the pastor and explained what happened and apologized for swearing. The pastor then explained that he "knew all about PTSD" and that my husband could come back to church when "He was all better". The door to our church home was closed to my husband and might as well have been to me. How could I continue to attend a church my husband was not allowed to attend until he was "fine".

We waited a year. I continued with the ministry I was engaged in on behalf of the church   praying for reconciliation, a new minister arrived. I met and then my husband met with her. Forgiveness,grace, mercy were not extended. Evidently swearing once in the lobby of the church, with no priors, was unforgiveable. 

I wrote a letter of resignation from the ministry I had been engaged in and joined my husband on the outside looking in. The Church universal is hemorraging membership annually. Our situation was totally avoidable. This story continues as I pray and seek God for new direction and purpose within or without the organized church. Currently my husband and I have been attending a small local church that has been very welcoming. We havn't joined. We are like divorcees who would prefer to live together unmarried than risk the committment of the ceremony at the moment. We shall see, time will tell.

Lies, Lies,Dreams, Dreams

Lies, Lies,Dreams, Dreams

                                           El Lahun, Pyramid of Senusret II, Egypt

                                           Photographer: Einsamer Schütze

A pagan Pharoah, believed to be Senusret II, slept fitfully. A troubling dream woke him and caused him deep concern. Even in the morning it was still vivid, not like the other crazy dreams he had that always vanished with the morning light. This one was different and hauntingly different. Over breakfast he spoke to his staff about this and the possible meaning. Something he ate or an omen? 

Through a series of inquiries the royal assistants learned about Joseph’s ability to accurately interpret dreams and sent for him to appear before Pharoah. Where was Joseph summoned from? A place called rock bottom or the pits, a jail cell; unjustly incarcerated by a false accusation. 

A lie sold Joseph into slavery, another false witness led to his incarceration. 

                                           Egyptian Bronze Age Prisoners

God spoke to a king who revered Horus, Anubis and Ra through a dream interpreted by a Hebrew prisoner. God used a pagan king to elevate this prisoner from a Bronze Age jail. Two men met by Divine appointment. Two nations saved from famine, Joseph and family reconciled. (Genesis 41)

Jesus, late Iron age rabbi, was also lied about, mocked, crucified then sealed in a tomb.  It was hoped that with the closing of the stone seal on the grave opening that the mouth of the teacher would be silenced forever. God used a former prostitute to discover that the rabbi had risen from the dead. "Mary don't touch me," Jesus said when Mary Magdalene naturally reached out to him. " I have not yet returned to my Father," the Living Christ replied. She was charged to go and tell the Good News to the grieving disciples, Mary the woman who would have been stoned for adultery from whom demons were driven out became Mary, the first evangelist,  John 20:15-18.

Because of lies, deceit, mockery or abuse the potential given us by God may be bound in grave wrappings and sealed.  Hopes, dreams trampled on the ground by the very people who proclaim righteousness but pile on stones of judgement. Jesus proclaimed he came to set the captive free. A rocky tomb sealed with a boulder could not silence Christ. God has the final Word. Believe, Mary did.

Luke 4:14-20

4 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. 15 He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.

16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
    because he has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
    and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
19 

    to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Driving By The Lake On A Foggy Morning

On Friday as I was driving by the lakeshore, early in the morning, on my way to work, the fog was so heavy that the only thing seen was the outline of the trees by the guardrail. Lake, waterfowl fowl, cottages on the other side had all vanished behind a thick blanket of grey haze. It occurred to me that if I did n't know what was already there and was driving by for the very first time I would never guess the beauty just beyond the skeletal  bare tree line. Driving by in the fog of faith and not by sight, not knowing what is beyond that which is directly in front of me. I cannot see or foresee the future, sorrow, pain, happiness, joy. There is only the present moment, the fog. Driving back in the other direction, the afternoon was sunny, clear and bright. What a difference a few hours make, what a difference a day makes, or the answer to a prayer, received.

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