In his “Season of the Spirit” reflection for February 2012, my friend and spiritual director, Dr. Ken Orth, writes this:

‘Momento mori’ means ‘remember your mortality.’  It is one of the phrases used for centuries in monastic orders and spiritual communities.  It is not to be a morbid reminder of our death, but actually a freeing reality.  Ash Wednesday is our own way of lifting up this potentially healing insight.  We are to be reminded of God’s great love for us that carries us through the worst the world can do to us–that carries us through death itself to offer us a new way of being, a new life that comes only after we have been released from our idea that we can save ourselves.  Only through God do we find the gift of our immortal life.

We are inclined to experience our mortality as a negative.  It can be terrifying to remember that we and our loved ones will not be here forever.  It can be painful to face growing older and coming to accept the limits of time and physical ability.  Our culture tempts us to deny our mortality, to pretend we can live forever, to act as though we can overcome all limits by the force of our will.

Ken suggests that remembering our mortality can instead be freeing.  It can free us to recognize our need for one another and for God.  It can free us from the bondage of thinking we have to do it all ourselves.  It can help us put our lives in perspective, assuring us that we are part of something much greater than ourselves.   It can remind us that every day is precious,and every expression of love is a priceless gift. 

As we enter this season of Lent, I invite you to reflect on how claiming your own mortality might be freeing to you.     –Debbie Clark

Creator God, help us rejoice that we are part of your creation.  Amen.

Isaiah 64:1-9; Mark 1:14-15; John 1:1-9

I am so grateful in this season of the year to have a job that compels me to keep remembering what Christmas is about.  It’s not about perfect families–but about the promise that God dwells among us in our human imperfection.  It’s not about always being cheerful, but about the promise that God bring joy from the depths of sorrow and pain and fear.

When we tell the Christmas story, when sing the Christmas carols, we are reminded that we do not have to fake it to celebrate Christmas.  The message of Christmas is for us as we are–with our hopes and our disappointments, our sorrows and our joys, our failures and our new possibilities.

This year, we are holding a “Longest Night Service,” on Wednesday, December 21, at 7:30 pm.  This service is held on the longest night of the year, as a way of honoring the reality of darkness in our lives and praying for the gift of light.  It is a gentle, reflective service, which allows us space to name the complicated emotions that the holiday season may stir.  It is a time to lift up the grief we feel at the loss of loved ones whose presence we will miss around the dinner table.  It is a time to acknowledge loneliness and the ways our efforts to love sometimes fall short.

The service does not end with the darkness–for the longest night of the year is also the beginning of the days growing longer.  Through the lighting of candles, we will claim the promise that the light of Christ illuminates the darkness and heals our brokenness, and lead us to true joy.

Come and bring a friend.

This week I’ll start with the Tuesday morning and Wednesday night Bible Study groups.  We have just begun studying the Gospel according to John.  It’s a fascinating, beautifully written, complicated gospel, and so our conversations are fascinating, beautiful, and complicated.

A few weeks ago we started with the very beginning of the gospel, which is in the form of a poem.  ”In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God….”  (The Word, later in the poem, becomes identified with Jesus.)  We talked about how the original Greek “Logos” could be translated many ways–word, story, wisdom….  One person said, “I have always thought of it as “Intention.”

“In the beginning was the Intention, and the Intention was with God and the Intention was God.”  I am intrigued.  What does it mean to understand Jesus as God’s Intention?

This video is our effort to offer hope, to assure folks who feel isolated that they are not alone and  to encourage them to seek out communities of support.

Listen to the Audio version

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The Sweet Taste of Hope–Easter 2011, Audio version

Read –  Word doc version
The sweet taste of hope–easter 2011