I take, O cross, thy shadow for my abiding place.
I ask no other sunshine than the sunshine of his face;
Content to let my pride go by, to know no gain nor loss,
My sinful self my only shame, my glory all the cross.
- Hymnal 1982, p. 498

Can’t go around it.
When I taught music at a Catholic school, we used to do a rhyme in Kindergarten called "the Bear Hunt." It was an exercise to teach children to keep a steady beat, and to feel the beat intrinsically within. But it was also a lot of fun. Each verse of the rhyme would offer another challenge to the "bear hunter" – a swamp, a forest, a river…and the children would chant – "can’t go over it/can’t go under it/can’t go around it/gotta go THROUGH it."

That has been my experience this week as I have continued to walk in the shadow of the cross – not by my own choosing, mind you – but because I have been immersed in the reading we heard last Sunday, which included the commandment to pick up one’s cross and follow Jesus. In our rotation as clergy, we now have a number of opportunities to preach and meditate on one piece of scripture – first as a meditation in our staff meeting, then in the Healing Eucharist on Wednesday morning, then we preach the same gospel in three services Sunday, and finally, we reflect on the same readings in the Academy chapels.

So here, in the middle of the season after Pentecost, I have been immersed in what could be a Lenten experience – reflecting for many days on what it means to carry the cross.

I don’t have all the answers – just the main one, that the cross is the greatest symbol of Love that the world ever had – and that to carry it marks us as Christ’s own – just as the cross seals us with oil in baptism. And that the cross symbolizes the horizontal love for one’s neighbor, and the vertical love shared between God and us.

And just when I think I have it figured out, I find another cross on my back – learning to bear a difficult situation, or a strained relationship, or someone else’s pain –
Can’t go around it.
Don’t really want to.
Just want to conform to the image of Christ. And the cross is a good place to start.

Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on the hard wood of the cross, so that all might come within reach of your saving embrace: So clothe us in you Spirit that we, reaching forth our hands in love, may bring those who do not know you to the knowledge and love of you; for the honor of your Name. AMEN

…. whenever we do good to another self, just because it is a self, made (like us) by God, and desiring its own happiness as we desire ours, we shall have learned to love it a little more, or at least, to dislike it less.
- CS Lewis, Mere Christianity

Debra’s Midweek Meditation
"Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, 'Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me'."
Mark 9:36-37

Lyubov Vedenkina

These verses follow a conversation of who among the disciples will be greatest. Volleying for position is not exclusive to adults. Children are very aware of a "pecking order" in most of their communal encounters.

When Jesus puts a child in the place of honor, he reminds the disciples of the importance of those "outside" the inner circle.

There is another aspect to this "welcoming" of the child in the inner circle.

In order to experience the kingdom of God we need to have a sense of wonder and the ability to let go of our pre-conceived notions about how things "ought" to be.

G.K. Chesterton writes this about the wonder of seeing things afresh:

"The gravity which dwells in the eyes of a baby of three months old...is the gravity of astonishment at the universe, and astonishment at the universe is not mysticism, but a transcendent common sense. The fascination of children lies in this: that with each of them all things are remade, and the universe is put again upon its trial."

Let's practice being astonished at the teachings of Jesus and really ask ourselves - "what can this mean?"
Jesus came to save the world and to turn it upside down as well.
We have the opportunity each day to live in a topsy-turvy world filled with miracle, majesty and wonder.

Do not settle for a world ordered into banality, but expect miracle and experience wonder.

Blessings,
Debra

Grant me, O God,

The heart of a child,
Pure and transparent as a spring
Which never harbours sorrows;
A heart glorious in self-giving,
Tender in compassion;
A heart faithful and generous,
Which will never forget any good
Or bear a grudge for any evil.

Make me a heart gentle and humble,
Loving without asking any return,
Large-hearted and undauntable,
Which no ingratitude can sour
And no indifference can weary;
A heart penetrated by the love of Jesus
Whose desire will only be satisfied in heaven.

Grant me, O Lord,
The mind and heart
Of thy dear Son.

Daily Morning Prayer
http://www.episcopalchurchingarrettcounty.org/morning_prayer.htm

This week at St. James
Saturday: 6:30 p.m. SJA Patrons family movie night.
Sunday: Dedication of new buildings at Claggett.
Monday: 10:00 CS Lewis/Narnia Book Study
Tuesday: SJA Board of Trustees Meeting
Wednesday: 8:30 a.m. Healing Eucharist; 9:30 a.m. Prayer Shawl knitting group

Prayers, Etc.
For those on our prayer list:
Dot; Sue; Lori; Bill; Sarah; Joel
Toni; Anna; Philip; David; Brooke; Brian G.
Leib & Carlyn Lovisah; Jeffrey; Miriam F.; Pat E.
Traskey family; Harold F.; Walter R.; Matthew D.
Sharon C.; Gage C.; Auds; Avery
Joan L. and family; Annabelle
Tom & Kathy H.; Linda T.; Allison; Louis; Matt S.
Don & Leslie D.; Nancy; Fiona

For those who are deployed and their families.
For peace in the Middle East.
For Laura Brecht, our seminarian, and Lyle.

Lord, teach me to rest in you.
Teach me to see the sky and to think of nothing else, but the joy of it.
Teach me to look at field and flower and be soothed by colors and seasons.
Teach me to close my eyes and rest in the Love that has supported me all my days.
Teach me, Lord, to rest in you.
- Frank Topping

In Closing:
Although within us there are wounds, Lord Christ,
Above all there is the miracle of your mysterious presence.
Thus, made lighter or even set free,
We are going with you, the Christ,
From one discovery to another.
- Roger Schutz

Pax et Bonum,
Loree+

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