Salt covenant


"Let me tell you why you are here. 
You're here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth.                                                                                                        Compassion, Justice, Mercy, Wisdom,these are God flavors.  These are our flavors.     
If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness?
Renew our flavor, Lord. Let us be your salt for the earth. 

 

Because salt’s essence does not change,

With it we seal our steadfast commitment to God.

Because salt preserves,

With it we claim the eternal truth of God’s love for us and for the world.

Because salt blesses,

With it we ask God’s blessing on this house of worship, all who enter here, and all who are touched by our outreach.

Because salt purifies,

With it we claim God’s power to make us a new creation, pure and holy.

Because salt sustains life,

With it we claim this community’s life giving potential.

Because salt may also destroy,

We will take care to love one another as the very Body of Christ.

Because salt is found in every corner of this earth,

We remember Christ came that all may have abundant life.

Because in many times and places salt has symbolized wealth,

We pledge our resources to God’s holy work through our faith community.

Because from the earliest days, the people of God sealed their sacred covenants with salt,

We will be God’s people and will live in covenant with God and each other.

AMEN

Torsey Red

What a beautiful day it was to be on the water Tuesday. I ducked out (pun intended) between wind gusts and found myself chasing red.  Red leaves caught in the paddles eddies, red branches glimpsed across the way. There were even red cats waiting for me in the window sill when I got back to put on a cup of african red leaf tea.  It's grand that the season of Pentecost gets this boost as we head firmly into fall!

slips of the tongue-openings to the soul

I occasionally suffer from "flying fingers syndrome."  Last week I realized that my email signature, "In Christ's Joy," was transposed "Im Christ's Joy."  That feels like kind of a bold statement, little touch of hubrs there. So I changed it back.  But the typo stayed with me.  Why shouldn't I claim God's promise to delight in me?  Who was it that used to say, "God doesn't make junk?"  That simple letter switch teased out an opening in my soul and made me admit I dismiss God's handiwork way too easily.
You'd think I'd learn.
BUT yesterday, signing off on a message in a rush I shortened the greeting to "Im Christ."  That's a whole new level of typo.  The soul door slammed shut again and again the typo stayed with me.  I am not Christ.  But I now from experience that the evidence of Christ in my life may be the first glimpse someone gets. And.....don't I claim to be part of the Body of Christ.  What about all the years spent trying to "put on Christ?" The opening into my soul slipped open again.
I found myself remembering one of my favortite seminary classes.  We were asked to proclaim Jeremiah chapter 9 with a creative art project. This is a tough passage.  God speaks through the prophet's voice, "O that my heard were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears, so that I might weep day and night for the slain of my people.  O that I had inthe desert a travelor's lodging place, that I might leave my people and go away from them......"  I'll let you visit Jeremiah and read God's accusations for yourself.  (Its a great companion to James chapter 3's teaching about what comes out of our mouths.)
My project became a simple tent of indigo died sheer cotton, ribbon tears of intercesory prayer streaming from the top of the pole.  It was just big enough for one person to sit inside.  When you entered the tent, you sat on a surface of newspapers with their own witness to the violence we inflict on each other and the ways we tear at God's heart.
Being in Christ is not always easy.  Most of the time we'd rather run ahead and dare God to catch up.  But I'm Christ's Joy.  I'm (in) Christ.  In the rush of living, if we don't risk letting Jesus live in and through us who will?

before

Rising From the Task
                     (draft)
Rising from the task,
unbending arms
and legs
and neck
muscles,
seeing the objects,
removed from my hands,
I wonder.

Was the time spent
gripping red mottled carcasses,
cracking thirty backs,
scrapping knuckles,

Were three hours of
breathing salt, wet & dense,
picking legs,
tossing shells,
holding cats at bay,
worth it?

We'll know this winter.

I just came across this poem.  How perfect for harvest season and right in keeping with recent scripture readings in worship!  Being and Doing-in balance.  That's the art of living.

Let every word
be the fruit
of action and reflection.
Reflection alone
without action
or tending toward it
is mere theory,
adding its wieght
when we are overloaded with it already.
Action alone
without reflection
is being busy
pointlessly.
Honor the Word eternal
and speak
to make a new world possible.
           -Helder Camara

Back to School

The end of summer always feels to me like a combination of "the party's over" and "Let's get this party started." Our thoughts may lag behind while our commitments tug us forward.

I left my book in Hawaii

On a beach in the sand somewhere,

I was suposed to practice my spelling,

But I just couldn't concentrate there.

The oceans whispered, "Come surfing,"

The beaches bechoned, "Come play."

I followed the sound of their voices,

And I threw my spelling away.

For a week I rode the free winds,

As I surfed a wide blue sea;

And the sound of the ocean breathing

Became a part of me.

I'm sorry, Ms. Jones, I forgot it,

On a beach in the sand somewhere,

How I wish that book was remembered, 

And I'd been forgotten there.

              I left My Book in Hawaii

              by Kalli Dakos, Peoms About School

The last days of August are a good time to sort through summer memories looking for gems to carry forward into the renwed energy of fall.
What were some of your highlights?  Do you have a photo or two that you can stick up on a wall or screen near where you work to look over and put yourself back in a "mini-break" of remembered relaxation?

Mine will definately be camp and wedding photos!

Meanwhile, its time to do a fall tune-up: work through through the list of school supplies, set up catch up appointments, straighten the desk (don't forget to add those summer photos or a sea shell or two!)

Is your Head on Nice and Tight?

Do your kneecpas fit just right,

Did you shine up all your skin,

And bring your belly button in?

Have you lost a toe or two

And could your brain be overdue?

Please look in the Lost and Found,

If your ears are not around. 

Students must remember parts,

Be they books for pens or hearts.

How can your school day begin

If you're searching for your chin?

               Is Your Head on Nice and Tight?

               by Kalli Dakos, Poems About School

Is my head on straight?
Have I left space for deep breathes and time for people who matter to me?
Is my soul is good working order?
What arrangements do I need to make for God in my life each day as sunlight shortens?

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, its off to.......
hmmmm,

This weekend brings a change of happy hiking tunes whistling in my head.  Our second "child" (isn't it marvelous how they're still our child even after they're a working professional) will be married on Saturday.  Gonna be a bright, bright, sunshiney day.....
Lots of other families will spend some time back to school shopping for or with their children this weekend.  School's out for summer....turning to the wheels on the bus go round and round.....
While you're out, why not teach your child the buddy system by picking up similar school supplies to send through Church World Service and the United Methodist Economic Ministry in Solon and Salem, ME? Our ingathering is coming up in worship on August 26 when we bless our own children's backpacks as well as these gifts we send.
This is a day of new beginnings....time to believe what love is bringing....our God is making all things new.  Those words are paired with one of our hardest hymns to sing, melodically and thematically (United MEthodist hymnal 383).   But lyricist Brian Wren was helping us sing a new song to the lord with its verses.  Christ is alive and goes before us to show and share what love can do.
How will I, how will you, experience Christ's love in this season?
How will I, how will you, help another experience Christ's love in this season?
Hi Ho, Hi Ho, its off to love we go!