Browsed by
Tag: lent

Pork Roll

Pork Roll

Comments 9 comments

I kissed him on his forehead to say goodbye as I typically do, but this time, in his wheelchair, he raised his left arm and tried to reach around my back like he was attempting to hug me. I was surprised. I got closer to allow his arm to rest on my back and I put my face against his as he pulled me in. We stayed in that position for a while. It was comforting, it had been a long time.

Thanks, Dad, I really needed that.

 

Needs.

We all have them.

We all need them fulfilled.

Jesus once said, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone…”

My mother would probably finish that statement by saying, “yeah how about I make a pork roll, egg, and cheese to put on that bread.”

That’s one way I suppose.

 

We might think our needs are all different, but they are probably surprisingly similar, never the less, they are ours.

And they change from year to year, month to month, and even day to day.

 

The truth is we are born into this world needy.

As infants and children, unable to take care of ourselves, we rely on others for even our most basic needs.

Feeding, housing, safety, learning, emotional support, and development, are provided to us by our mother, our father, or sometimes another family member or other loving person. They are our lifelines.

Let’s face it, even Jesus needed his Eema and his earthly Abba.

 

Then the day comes when we have children of our own and we become their lifeline.

And we begin to better understand what our parents did for us.

How much effort it took, how much time, and how much money.

How much joy it provided.

And as our kids grew and got more independent, we saw their needs change, but our needs changed too.

We still had those basic requirements needed in order to live, but as we aged life got more complicated.

And sometimes, as it might be with an aging parent, unable to care for him or herself, the parent becomes like the child again.

As a result of my father’s inability to care for himself, as his age advanced and his disease progressed, the decision had to be made to place him in a facility where he could be taken care of safely. My mom, not able to physically manage him at home, now spends each day with him at the nursing home providing those things the staff may not be able to. Things like conversation, memories, games for stimulation and thought, and of course, love. The rest of us, challenged by geography and the continued need to provide for ourselves, do the best we can.

The last few visits I had had with my father, I left feeling greatly depressed. My visits were met with silence, eyes that wouldn’t open, the inability to make any connection. On one visit in fact he was even trying to hit me with his fists, which I attributed to him acting out a dream, something not uncommon with my dad’s condition. Though I didn’t take it personally, it was another missed opportunity, and yeah, I guess I did take it a little personally.

Last weekend, however, he was different. His eyes were wide open though his sight is still limited. He was participating in conversation, smiling and laughing at things I said, and laughing at himself at times for things he said.

And he initiated that hug.

It was awesome.

I needed a weekend like that with him and, I am guessing, he felt like he had a similar need.

However fleeting the event or the moment may have been, or prove to be in the future, I was grateful.

We all have the need to feel loved, no matter how old we get.

 

Jesus said, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone…”

But there is more, the scripture goes on to say “… but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

 

You see Ma? Not everything can be fixed by pork roll, even when you are from New Jersey.

It’s the word of God that fulfills our needs.

That’s what keeps us living and loving.

 

But sometimes a little hug doesn’t hurt either.

 

On Saturday I was trying to get him to look at old photos on my laptop. The next thing I knew he had his face planted in the side of my face. I asked him what he was doing and he said, ” I looking at your face.” Fair enough.

 

Postscript:

On the six Tuesdays during the period of Lent, I am participating in a daily writing that we are doing at my church, Sterling United Methodist Church.  The daily themes are based on one word each day and some associated scripture.  Today’s word is Needs .  If you would like to keep up with the posts from others click on this link in the postscript.

Spring

Spring

Comments 0 Comment

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.  Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”    (John 4:13-14)

 

Spring.

A word that can have many interpretations and meanings.

A mechanical spring tightly coiled ready to burst out with energy at any moment or one that is stretched and returns back to the shape it started from.

Maybe it is the time to “spring” forward providing more hours of daylight and more time for outdoor activities such as exercise.

Or maybe for you it brings to life images of daffodils, digging in the dirt, planting your gardens, and cutting the grass.

Or for you it might be pollen and allergies.

Since I have grown to dislike winter so much, I have used the analogy of winter for me to be like Jesus’ time in the wilderness and spring marking the end of my wandering.

Or maybe it makes you think of the reason I am writing this…Lent, the Holy Week, and Easter.

 

The Merriam Webster dictionary defines spring in many ways as well.  As a transitive verb and an intransitive verb, or as a noun.

I don’t know all about that transitive and intransitive stuff so my simple mind will stick to the noun.

The act of moving forward.

A time or season of growth or development.

A device that recovers its original shape when released after being distorted.

A source of supply as it applies to water from the ground or action or motion.

 

The days and the events leading up to what we now call Good Friday and Easter in Jerusalem may have felt like a coiled spring ready to burst out at any moment.

And for the world there was little chance it would ever return to the shape it was before.

It was the fulfillment of prophecy.

Jesus’ mission on earth was winding down.

He had shown them many signs, yet still for some, their eyes were blinded and their hearts hardened.

But we know the story.

We know how it ends.

We also know that was just the beginning.

The spring of water Jesus describes is not one found in Merriam Webster.  Being born again in the spirit, drinking the water that has us never thirsting again.

“A spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Spring.

 

 

Postscript:

On Tuesdays during the period of Lent, I am participating in a daily writing that we are doing at my church, Sterling United Methodist Church.  The daily themes are based on one word each day and some associated scripture.  Today’s word is spring.  If you would like to keep up with the posts from others click on this link in the postscript.

Standing In the Son

Standing In the Son

Comments 0 Comment

I can only imagine
What my eyes would see
When Your face is before me
I can only imagine

(from the song “I Can Only Imagine” by Mercy Me)


Exodus 34 verse 29 tells us that “When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord.”

Moses went up the mountain, and when he came down, his face was radiant.

Dazzling, you might say.

Moses had spoken to God.

 

Many years later Jesus took Peter, James, and John up a high mountain. This story is told in Matthew 17:

“There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. 3 Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.

4 Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”

6 When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. 7 But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.” 8 When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.

Jesus’ face “shone like the sun.”

His clothes became “as white as the light.”

“A bright cloud covered them” and then God spoke.

Once again dazzling.

 

Me?

I can’t even imagine, witnessing all this.

And Peter didn’t show fear until he heard God speak.

I think I would have been halfway down the mountain seeing Moses and Elijah appear.

But Peter was ready to set up tents!

 

Hearing God speak.

Seeing Jesus transfigured before them.

Seeing Moses and Elijah appearing with Jesus.

We can only imagine.

 

Our image of God is through Jesus.

Our images of Jesus are shaped and formed by the imaginations of others long before us.

However the way we picture or imagine Jesus to look, we can speak to him daily through prayer.

So talk to God.

Pray.

And when you speak to God in this way, let your face shine like the sun.

Be radiant, lit up, dazzling.

As you give up to God those burdens that may be dimming the brightness in your life.

And give thanks for the blessings.

 

 

And imagine yourself “Standing in the Son.”

So get up.

And don’t be afraid.

 

I can only imagine
When that day comes
And I find myself
Standing in the Son

(From “I Can Only Imagine” by Mercy Me)

 

Postscript:

On this Tuesday and the next five Tuesdays during the period of Lent, I am participating in a daily writing that we are doing at my church, Sterling United Methodist Church.  My assigned day is Tuesday.  The daily themes are based on one word each day and some associated scripture.  Today’s word is dazzle.  If you would like to keep up with the posts from others click on this link in the postscript.

 

 

Good Shepherd, Feed My Sheep

Good Shepherd, Feed My Sheep

Comments 0 Comment

If you want to get to heaven
Over on the other shore
Stay out of the way of the blood-stained bandit
Oh good shepherd
Feed my sheep

One for Paul
One for Silas
One for to make my heart rejoice
Can’t you hear my lambs are callin’
Oh good shepherd
Feed my sheep

 

I am home alone again.

Kim had to make an unexpected trip to Pennsylvania.

I haven’t written anything in a while.

I haven’t felt like it.

I haven’t had any of that living inspiration that Elizabeth Gilbert introduced in Big Magic and I wrote about a couple/three years ago, alive in me lately.

But since I am home alone again, I thought I would give it a try.

So will just apologize now for whatever comes out later.

 

I kept singing the Jefferson Airplane song Good Shepherd today.  For years I have just assumed it was a cool song written by Grace, Jorma, Paul, and the rest of the gang.  It turns out it has its origins in a 19th century hymn written by a Methodist minister.  Go figure. Makes sense I guess.

Oh Good Shepherd, feed my sheep.  A fitting song for today I suppose.

Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent.

I remember when I was kid, seeing some of my classmates come in to school with ashes on their foreheads, and thinking how mortified I would be if I had to go to school like that (well in true creative non-fiction transparency,  since mortified probably wasn’t in my vocabulary at the time, embarrassed would be more accurate).

I grew up trying everything in my power to avoid embarrassment.

I thought Lent was cool though.  Of course I didn’t understand at the time what Lent was but I always wanted to be able to say “yeah I can’t have that, I gave it up for Lent”  when someone offered me Jiffy Pop or Ovaltine or something like that.

Now I understand better what Lent is. A time beginning with Ash Wednesday and ending just before Easter that represents the forty days that Jesus spent in the Wilderness. He had just been baptized, and then was led into the Wilderness to be humbled, and tested by temptation.

Jesus fasted those forty days.

He gave up food.

He suffered physically to grow spiritually.

As I recall in the 60’s my friends gave up ice cream, candy bars, and chewing gum.  I don’t know that any of them suffered all that much.  But I do understand the lesson to a kid of giving up something important to them, the lesson of sacrifice.  If it needs to start with ice cream, start with ice cream.

I don’t know about you but to me this winter has seemed like a long time in the wilderness.

I don’t do well in the cold anymore, I don’t do well in the darkness, I hate snow, I don’t like having to be on the inside looking out, I don’t like exercising indoors.  I have gained weight.

Kim and I had a brief respite from the winter doldrums with a quick visit to the Florida kids around Valentine’s Day.  And I came through Valentine’s Day unscathed this year by having flowers delivered.   I got some mileage out of that.

And I mean I literally got some mileage out of that because I ordered flowers and used a code that allowed me to earn 1500 miles on my Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards account.  My wife doesn’t know that though.

And we have spent more time with our parents though it’s been too often reminiscent of a busy sports weekend when our kids were younger with one of us going one direction and the other going another.

The good thing about your parents getting older is that you get to see them more often.  The bad thing is that it’s not always a social visit.

This Lent I still haven’t made the commitment to give something up.  Since I have already given up eating meat, eggs, cheese, and everything else that tastes good, I suppose I could give up vegetables…but then I would be fasting.

Maybe I should give up complaining?

Not so fast, someone has to suffer.

I have learned however, life is about sacrifice, we are asked for a lot, we do spend a lot of time in the wilderness, but in our suffering and those times of wandering, our faith grows.

And the conversation I just with my wife on the phone proves that.

Feed my sheep.

Because we need fed.

And I don’t want to give that up.