Wellsprings of Hope
Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church 2019 Lenten Devotional 511 Groveland Avenue, Minneapolis, MN 55403 by members & friends of Hennepin Avenue UMC 612-871-5303 | www.haumc.orgs Wellsprings of Hope
2019 Lenten Devotional
Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church 511 Groveland Avenue, Minneapolis, MN 55403 612-871-5303 | www.haumc.org Wellsprings of Hope Lent 2019 at Hennepin Avenue UMC
Can I level with you? When I was a kid, I thought Lent was something just for the Roman Catholics. We didn’t really talk about it much in the United Methodist Church where I grew up, though it’s just as likely I didn’t pay attention enough to notice. At school, I’d see the kids who were very into it, though. Something about Easter and Fridays and meat and fish and no pop and you couldn’t say, “Hallelujah,” even though we didn’t know exactly what it meant. (Was it “Yay”?)
By the time I strolled into my adult Christian years, and started to think more critically about what I believed, why I believed it, and what action I wanted to take with it, Lent become a very dear season to me. I have always appreciated a good time and place apart for reflection and growth. Perhaps that’s why I’m such a camp person. And here was a specific time and place apart in the church year for living with intentional reflection and growth. Turns out it wasn’t all that mysterious, nor was it maliciously restrictive. It was a chance to look deep into my heart where God dwells and ask myself one of the most profound questions life can offer: What kind of a person do I want to be?
Our church’s Lenten theme for 2019 is “Wellsprings of Hope.” A “wellspring” is an origin point, a source of abundant and continuous supply, that from which all blessings flow. This indeed may be a way to describe the generous love of Jesus. From that love comes hope in all of its forms. It leads us to the situations in which we are well-loved, well-guarded, well-tended, well-received, and well-prepared. And if a wellspring of hope helps us to feel that way, we cannot forget we have a role to play, too, as Jesus calls us to offer the same situation to our neighbors. Lent, therefore, is not so much a season of self-denial or obligatory ritual or even something about “Hallelujah” and fish. It is a time and place set apart to determine how we are given hope and how we give hope. What kind of a person do I want to be? A person who feels and offers hope? The prose, the poetry, and the prayer in these pages reflect this question. You’ll read memoir, you’ll read fiction. You’ll read a look back and a look ahead and a look at dwelling in the right here and now. Each piece invites you in as reader to ponder the Holy Spirit in your own life. They’ve been prayerfully placed to add variety of voice and style throughout the week. Each week’s theme builds upon one another as Lent makes its slow-yet-steady march into Easter. On Saturdays, you’ll find a handful of brief reflection questions for you to ponder on your own or with a group of friends such as a LYFE Group. May they be an invitation to you to dig deeper as the weeks go on. The booklet is yours, so make it beautiful with your marginalia, scribbles, doodles, and insight into the reading. The suggested daily scripture readings are from the internationally-recognized Revised Common Lectionary and may or may not have a specific relation to the reading. Learn more about the RCL online at lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu.
I look forward to this season of Lent and to see how Jesus is revealed in the wellsprings of hope that flood the world. May we live in abundance and generosity to all who find love a stranger.
With gratitude to all of our writers, both the first-timers and the perennials; to Adele Dahm and Amy Griffiths in Communications; to my fellow Advent devotional editors, Elizabeth Bennett and Kent Peterson; and especially to you, dear reader. May this be a wonderful journey for you.
It’s the season of Lent! Hallelu— …Well, anyway. Let’s dive deep, friends.
Rev. Nate Melcher Associate Pastor of Faith Development Lent Sermon Series: Wellsprings of Hope
March 10 First Sunday of Lent Well Loved Luke 4:1-13 (NIV) Rev. Frenchye Magee, 10am Worship Service
March 17 Second Sunday of Lent Well Guarded Luke 13:31-35 (NIV) Rev. Frenchye Magee, 10am Worship Service
March 24 Third Sunday of Lent Well Tended Isaiah 55:1-13 (NRSV) Rev. Nate Melcher, 10am Worship Service March 31 Fourth Sunday of Lent Well Received Psalm 32 Rev. Judy Zabel, 10am Worship Service
April 7 Fifth Sunday of Lent Well Prepared John 12:1-8 (NRSV) Rev. Nate Melcher, 10am Worship Service
April 14 Palm Sunday Passion for Hope Luke 19:28-40 and Philippians 2:5-11 Rev. Judy Zabel, 10am Worship Service Holy Week Worship Services Palm Sunday 8:30am Sacred Journey Sunday, April 14 in the Art Gallery* 10am Traditional Worship in the Sanctuary* 11:30am Lenten Reflections Concert in the Sanctuary
Maundy Thursday 7pm in the Sanctuary* Thursday, April 18
Good Friday 7pm Tenebrae in the Sanctuary* Friday, April 19
Easter 7am Sunrise Jazz Service Sunday, April 21 in the Art Gallery 8-10:30am Brunch in the Social Hall ($7 per person donation recommended) 9am & 11am Festival of Resurrection featuring Hennepin Chime, Copper Street Brass and the Sanctuary Choir*
*Nursery care available Wednesday, March 6 Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
Ash Wednesday A Day to Birth Hope Pastor Judy Zabel
It is two days before I’m supposed to fly to St. Louis for the Special General Conference. My husband is in Jamaica on a mission trip. It is 8 degrees outside and my furnace has quit. It was smelling funny early in the morning and now it has stopped working altogether. Bob, the furnace man, hasn’t called back yet. KARE 11 just called and they want to do an interview about General Conference. My mind is filled with all kinds of worry. What a day! Is there hope?
Yes! There is always hope. The Easter message is that new hope is rising among us. And during Lent, we are reminded that hope rises out of struggle. Real struggle. I just finished reading a great little book by Joan D. Chittister,Scarred by Struggle, Transformed by Hope. I recommend it to you.
Chittister writes: Hope is rooted in the past but believes in the future. God’s world is in God’s hands, hope says, and therefore cannot possibly be hopeless. Life, already fulfilled in God, is only the process of coming to realize that we have been given everything we need to come to fullness of life both here and hereafter. The greater the hope, the greater the appreciation of life now, the greater the confidence in the future, whatever it is. But if struggle is the process of evolution from spiritual emptiness to spiritual wisdom, hope is a process as well. Hope, the response of the spiritual person to struggle, takes us from the risk of inner stagnation, of emotional despair, to a total transformation of life. Every stage of the process of struggle is a call to move from spiritual torpor to spiritual vitality. It is an invitation to live at an antipodal depth of soul, a higher level of meaning than the ordinary, the commonplace generally inspires. The spirituality of struggle gives birth to the spirituality of hope.
I’m praying that during this Lenten season, we will embrace the struggles of life wholeheartedly so that God may give birth to a new hope in each one of us. May God, who is the wellspring of hope, transform us with hope so that we can offer hope to a hurting world. What a day! A day the Lord has made. A day to birth hope. May it be so!
God, thank you for your presence this day and every day. Open us to your transformation throughout this season of Lent. Amen 8 | Well Loved Psalm 91:1-2 Thursday, March 7 Love Gives Me Hope Elsa Boland (Nine years old, in third grade)
I feel well-loved when my mom, my dad, my dog, my granni, and my papa are with me. I feel this way because they love me no matter what. And they will never not love me.
Some of the ways they show me love are when they give me kisses and hugs. And when they do stuff with me like have cozy cuddles. I love to go to the stables with my mom and watch Air Disasters with my dad. With my dog I like to play fetch and when she sleeps with me. With my granni I feel loved when we play board games. With my papa I feel loved when we ride on his tractor.
Love means happiness. It means peaceful. It means caring.
Love makes me feel like I am lucky. Love gives me hope when I feel sad. Sometimes when I feel scared I feel better because they love me.
God of all people, thank you for reminding us that we are your beloved children. Help us to share this love with others. Amen Well Loved | 9 Friday, March 8 Exodus 6:1-13 The Door of Hope Submitted by David Smith
The words of Jim Wallis are meaningful to me.
Between impossibility and possibility, there is a door, the door of hope. And the possibility of history’s transformation lies through that door.
With the eyes of hope, we can see the door through which we too can walk, through which we are all invited. Walking through that door, we also will be given the news of resurrection.
With this hope, we can know our lives made whole. We can look into the faces of our children and believe there is a future for them. With this hope, we can look into the eyes of the poor, the suffering, and the dispossessed and believe that God is able to establish justice for all. With this hope, we can together build a new community, even in our own neighborhoods, that will someday overcome the barriers of race and class and gender. And with this hope, we can even look forward to a day when a nation no longer measures its security by its weapons and its status by its wealth.
With this hope, we can envision [a country] finally able to live without racism and without oppression, but no longer able to live without justice and compassion. With this hope we can plan and sow and build and create visions and dreams. And with this hope we can find the faith and courage to bear the cost of such possibilities. Hope is believing in spite of the evidence and watching the evidence change. And hope is a sign of transformation.
From Jim Wallis, The Soul of Politics: Beyond “Religious Right” and “Secular Left” (New York: The New Press, 1995), pp. 282, 285. Give us hopeful eyes that can imagine a world without barriers and oppression, Holy God. Give us eyes that see only love and compassion. And guide our way as we seek to implement your vision of a Kin-dom on earth. Amen 10 | Well Loved Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 Saturday, March 9
A Note on Hope Submitted by Deb Green
Love has bridged the high-rises of despair we were about to fall between. Love has been a penlight in the blackest, bleakest nights. Love has been a wild animal, a poultice, a dinghy, a coat. Love is why we have hope.
—Anne Lamott, Almost Everything: Notes on Hope
WELL LOVED | RESPONSE QUESTIONS What is an image or phrase in this week’s entries that says “well-loved” to you? Which of this week’s entries best reflects how you feel or offer love? If God asked you to recount when you felt most well-loved, what would you say? Who is most in need of love today? Well Loved | 11 Sunday, March 10 Luke 4:1-13
Well Loved First Sunday of Lent Your Will, My Way Phillip Gray, Brooklyn UMC
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. —Romans 8:38-39
“Why don’t you make God’s will your way?” the pastor preached. “Follow the Lord’s path and your steps will be ordered and you will be a blessing to all who encounter you.” As I contemplated what it meant to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, I began to understand what it means to follow the Lord and to make his way my way.
Jesus over and over exalted the disciples to open their eyes to see that the things the Father has for Jesus, He also has for us as Children of God. God has a definite plan for each and every one of us and constantly holds His Hands out to us waiting for us to enter His Shelter and His Wings and to state to us, “This is my Son or Daughter, in whom I am well pleased.”
In learning to make “Your Will, His Way,” we first must understand that God loves us. Every bit of us. From the top of our head to the souls of our feet.
We are all loved.
We also always need to understand that no matter how far we stray, no matter what we do, the open and Faithful Arms of God are always waiting to embrace us as his Child. We can do no wrong in His eyes, for He is our Loving Father and unconditionally Loves, Cares, Protects, and wants only the best for us.
“Your Will, My Way” is a testimony to God. My life is pointless without Jesus. He guides all I do. I pray constantly for His patience, His Love, and His guidance. 12 | Well Loved I am just an imperfect man trying to find the perfect plan that has been laid out for me by My Lord.
My life goal is to make God’s Will, My Way.
Your Will, My Way
I will follow Jesus Sins forgiven, redemption here Forsaking what others might say On my knees I pray For He is the Light that Leads me Thanking Him for all I have Your Will, My Way Your Will, My Way
Thru my many troubles Never, ever, ever, ever leave me alone No matter come what may Unconditional Love no matter I will follow Jesus, My Lord how far I stray Your Will, My Way Forever bound, My Father, My Lord Your Will, My Way Through the trials and tribulations That come each and every day Forever in Your Debt I will lean on Jesus An amount I can never repay Your Will, My Way Trusting in your guidance, Your Wisdom, Your Strength, and Your As I walk the face of the Earth Omnipresence And marvel at the decay Your Will, My Way I know that a rose grows in all of this Your Will, My Way —Phillip Gray
When doubt hits me And my whole life seems to fray I know of One who will mend the tatters Your Will, My Way
You are with us and we shall not be afraid. You have called us each by our names to follow you home. You are ours, and we are yours, by your will and our ways. Amen Well Loved | 13 Monday, March 11 Psalm 17 One Among Many Kent Peterson
We, though many, are one body, and individually members one of another. —Romans 12:5
I don’t think that I could live as a monk.
A part of me would love the rhythm of monastic life—the structure, and the freedom within that structure. The single mindedness. The singularity of purpose. The process of setting my intention, observing consciousness, moving in and out of wakefulness, and exploring my inner world. It seems like the greatest of all human adventures—to seek the light planted deep within me, to awaken to my Essential nature.
I do savor time alone. My meditation chair...my family’s cabin outside Grand Marais...“my rock” overlooking Lake Superior… these are my sanctuaries. But I’ve learned that I can’t complete my spiritual journey in isolation. I’m not fully fed until I move back into the world.
I need the presence and support of community. I need supportive others—fellow travelers—to shape me and to be my guides. I need others to hold me accountable when I go astray or become too certain of the rightness of my opinions. I need community to join with in common purpose on Sunday mornings—to experience the palpable energy generated by singing together robustly and praying united as one. And I need community in order to know what it is to reach out to another person with loving compassion—and to opening my heart to vulnerably receiving the same.
I need community to guard me from the excesses of my ego— including my false belief in my own self-sufficiency. And to remind me that I belong to a larger Whole—of all Creation, of all that is.
Thank you for the gifts offered by fellow travelers on the Way, O God. Amen 14 | Well Guarded Zechariah 3:1-10 Tuesday, March 12 Well of Grief
Those who will not slip beneath the still surface on the well of grief turning downward through its black water to the place we cannot breathe will never know the source from which we drink the secret water, cold and clear, nor find in the darkness glimmering the small round coins thrown by those who wished for something else
—David Whyte
Your love is easy to grasp, yet our hand sometimes reaches out only in desperation. Reveal your love every day. Remind us of the One who taught us to reach out to them on the water, the One who keeps us afloat in the storm. Amen Well Guarded | 15 Wednesday, March 13 Luke 21:34-22:6 Blessing of Hope Submitted by Betsy Barnum
So may we know keep quiet the hope and be polite, that is not just hope that knows for someday how to holler but for this day— when it is called for, here, now, hope that knows in this moment how to sing that opens to us: when there seems hope not made little cause, of wishes hope that raises us but of substance, from the dead— hope made of sinew not someday and muscle but this day, and bone, every day, hope that has breath again and and a beating heart, again and hope that will not Again.
—Jan Richardson
from The Cure for Sorrow: A Book of Blessings for Times of Grief © Jan Richardson
We love that She is the Masterful Potter. We marvel how She is the Delicate Knitter. And we are comforted in Her keeping us under Her wing. She is our God, and we are grateful for such a brilliant creator who beckons us to co-create. Amen 16 | Well Guarded Philippians 3:2-12 Thursday, March 14 The Wall David McNally
I stood on the border looking for the line of separation. It was nowhere to be found. I felt the wind. Wind--are you their wind or ours? I asked. The wind laughed and breezed on by. A column of ants marched north. Go back! I yelled. This is our side. The ants looked puzzled and scurried down a hole. I came to the river and asked: Are you bilingual? The river gurgled at my naivety. I saw a brown face peering through a fence. Are you a human? I asked. Si! I burst into tears. The tears dried. I pushed on. To do the only work that matters. Removing the walls between us.
Holy One, Adonai, YHWH, God, Allah, Creator of the Universe: Open our eyes, minds, and hearts so that we will recognize you in each person we encounter. Teach us to look for commonalities instead of fixating on differences. Amen Well Guarded | 17 Friday, March 15 Philippians 3:17-20 Kindness Gives Me Hope Becky Boland
Last year our family read together Wonder, by R.J. Palacio. At the end of the book, after 300 pages of a fabulous story about a little boy named Auggie, the school principal Mr. Tushman addresses the graduating class.
“Shall we make a new rule of life...always try to be a little kinder than is necessary?”
Here Mr. Tushman looked up at the audience. “Kinder than necessary,” he repeated. “What a marvelous line, isn’t it? Kinder than necessary. Because it’s not enough to be kind. One should be kinder than needed. Why I love that line, that concept, is that it reminds me that we carry with us, as human beings, not just the capacity to be kind, but the very choice of kindness.
“If every single person in this room made it a rule that wherever you are, whenever you can, you will try to act a little kinder than is necessary—the world really would be a better place. And if you try to do this, if you act just a little kinder than is necessary, someone else, somewhere, someday, may recognize in you, in every single one of you, the face of God.”
Like the author writing on behalf of Mr. Tushman, I view kindness as a simple thing. It doesn’t take much, just the intentional act of choosing to treat others with kindness. To go that extra step, to put someone else’s experience above your own.
What gives me hope is the many people who go through this world choosing to be kinder than is needed.
And I am certain that as a result not only is our world a better place, but every day the countless number of people who are blessed by a kind act see the face of God just when they need to see God the most.
Your Holy grace springs forth from the arts, Lord, from music to film, and from paintings to novels. May we open ourselves to how you reveal yourself in the art that moves us closer to your vision of love. Amen 18 | Well Guarded Matthew 23:37-39 Saturday, March 16
Water
The water seeks the thirsty as earnestly as the thirsty seeks the water. —Rumi
WELL GUARDED | RESPONSE QUESTIONS What is an image or phrase in this week’s entries that says “well-guarded” to you? Which of this week’s entries best reflects how you feel or offer guardianship? If Jesus asked you to be a guardian, what cause would move you to action? Who are the most vulnerable today? Well Guarded | 19 Sunday, March 17 Luke 13:31-35
Well Guarded Second Sunday of Lent Wellsprings of Abundance Janet Polach
What are the wellsprings that offer you renewal? What places or people are a bountiful source for you? Where do you feel immersed in or surrounded by abundance?
In the dead of winter, I was immediately transported to a place of calm, peace, and great joy—our cabin. We have a lovely wooded lot with a modest structure located in northwestern Wisconsin. We’ve owned our little piece of heaven for over twenty-five years. Our children grew up there as did many of their friends. We’ve kept a log of the dozens of pre-teens who learned to water ski on our lake, and I remember fondly the dozens of savory dinners we’ve prepared with great friends and family in a place where time seems to stand still.
This reflection caused me to wonder, why is this small plot of land so satisfying? Why doesn’t the backyard of our home in Minnetonka bring the same contentment, or for that matter, why not a local park? Joe and I have been fortunate to travel the world. We’ve visited cathedrals across Europe, dozens of Buddhist temples in Asia, and countless cemeteries in our travels. All were truly sacred spaces, yet I have never felt as close to God in those places as I do at our cabin in Wisconsin. What are the elements of that particular “wellspring” which give me hope and contentment like none other?
20 | Well Guarded For me, it includes three elements. First, it’s a place that brings me close to the earth. Our cabin has few frills and doesn’t even have decent TV reception. To check my email, I have to drive into a coffee shop in Spooner. Our lake is only feet away from the cabin, and regardless of the season, the birds soar, the fish jump, and the leaves call for calm and reflection.
Yet, for all the nature and non-technology that’s right out the door, it’s not a place where I’m at true peace without others around me. Sure, I enjoy time at the cabin by myself, but I’m always delighted to hear Joe’s tires crackling over the crushed gravel driveway to take me out of my solitude and into community with others. His arrival is made even sweeter when the car includes one or both of our grown children! Finally, my wellspring includes time—time to not do anything. There are no emails to be written, no laundry to be done, no errands to run. Cabin time is non-time, and perhaps this is what fills me the most with hope…and contentment. A place where blessings can be counted and good friends can connect. It is a place where everything can—and yet nothing needs to—happen.
Loving God, thank you for the places, relationships, and moments in which you renew and sustain us. Amen Well Guarded | 21 Monday, March 18 Psalm 105:1-42 A Wellspring of Caring Phyllis Krull
A prominent book in my bookcase is titled A Tree Full of Angels. This book by Sr. Macrina Wiederkehr tells us to recognize and appreciate the angels who are present in our daily lives.
Due to the fact that my shoulder muscles have deteriorated to the point that I can no longer lift my legs (legs which do not respond due to polio which I had as a teenager), I need help with many of my daily activities.
Help in showering, dressing, getting in and out of bed, etc. I have found a tree of angels which I commonly call “caregivers.”
A morning caregiver who sings while I shower, An evening caregiver who always sends me a postcard when she’s off duty and takes short road trips, An “on call” caregiver when one of the others is busy, A Sunday caregiver who helps me dress for church. Caregivers who pray with me, thanking God for yet another day. Yes, I have found a tree full of angels!
But everyone has caregivers: Family, friends, neighbors, people who give a smile, a compliment, help to shovel out your car or come by with a plate of cookies. Caregiving comes in many forms. Be aware of your tree of angels—they are a blessing—a wellspring of care.
Holy God, thank you for the vast array of angels you provide to tend and care for us. Amen 22 | Well Tended Numbers 14:10b-24 Tuesday, March 19 A Poem on Hope Submitted by Marcia Brinkley
It is hard to have hope. It is harder as you grow old, for hope must not depend on feeling good and there’s the dream of loneliness at absolute midnight. You also have withdrawn belief in the present reality of the future, which surely will surprise us, and hope is harder when it cannot come by prediction any more than by wishing. But stop dithering. The young ask the old to hope. What will you tell them? Tell them at least what you say to yourself. Because we have not made our lives to fit our places, the forests are ruined, the fields, eroded, the streams polluted, the mountains, overturned. Hope then to belong to your place by your own knowledge of what it is that no other place is, and by your caring for it, as you care for no other place, this knowledge cannot be taken from you by power or by wealth. It will stop your ears to the powerful when they ask for your faith, and to the wealthy when they ask for your land and your work. Be still and listen to the voices that belong to the stream banks and the trees and the open fields. Find your hope, then, on the ground under your feet. Your hope of Heaven, let it rest on the ground underfoot. The world is no better than its places. Its places at last are no better than their people while their people continue in them. When the people make dark the light within them, the world darkens.
—Wendell Berry
Great Shepherd, prod us to stop dithering, to hope, to listen, to care, to bear light. Amen Well Tended | 23 Wednesday, March 20 2 Chronicles 20:1-22
First Day of Spring A Random Act of Kindness Bobbie Keller
This winter, my next-door neighbor has been shoveling the public sidewalk in front of my house before I can get out there to do it myself. So after one snowfall in January, when I knew my neighbors were away for a few days, I decided to return the favor and do their sidewalk in addition to my own. I was shoveling away, when a car pulled up and parked at the curb near where I was working. A woman got out and offered to help. She said she worked for a company that owned several rental properties in our neighborhood and was in the process of shoveling for them. I agreed, and she took my shovel and finished the job quickly and professionally. After acknowledging my sincere thanks, she got back into her car and drove away.
As I watched the car disappear down the street, I realized that I had just been the recipient of a random act of kindness by a complete stranger. To me, there is hope in the world when that kind of thing can happen, and I hope I can do something similar for someone else some day.
Holy God, thank you for the hope renewed in us by the random kindnesses of others. Awaken in us the same intention to spread love in actions large and small, wherever we go. Amen 24 | Well Tended Daniel 3:19-30 Thursday, March 21 Well-Tended by Cool, Clear Water Juanita Reed-Boniface
Read: Psalm 23, Psalm 42, John 4:11
I am a child of the prairie. My early years were spent in in the Sandhills of Nebraska. Dotted among the hills are wells providing precious water from the underlying Ogallala aquifer. The windmills, standing like monuments on the land, provide the means of bringing water to the surface using wind power. I have fond memories of traveling with my Dad, checking out potential pastures for summer grazing. The first questions were always, “Where is the well? Where is the windmill? Is it in working condition?” Safe, cool, clear water was essential for the well-being of our cattle.
Water imagery and symbolism is a recurring theme in the Bible. It may be seen as life-giving, as in Psalm 23, “He leadest me beside the still waters.” It may describe a relationship, as in Psalm 42:1, “Just like a deer that craves streams of water, my whole being craves you God.” Psalm 42:7 says, “all your massive waves surged over me,” perhaps reflecting chaos.
In the New Testament, Jesus encounters the Samaritan woman and in his conversation with her compares God’s grace with “living water” (John 4:11) from a well so deep that it never runs dry.
Traveling across Sandhill pastures, experiencing the wide-open spaces and natural beauty, then coming over a hill to see a windmill pumping clean, cool water is a tangible reminder of the Biblical imagery of water, God’s creation, and His care. It reminds us how our relationship with God is a gift of life which gives wellsprings of joy, and the assurance that by His grace, we too are well-tended.
Abba, we thirst for your grace and care. May we trust that you will fill our cups to overflowing. Amen Well Tended | 25 Friday, March 22 Revelation 3:1-6 Faith and Hope Donna Long
Some people would say that I am a woman of great faith, and that would be true. The only problem with that is that sometimes I am able to fill my faith and hope buckets by myself through prayer and meditation, and sometimes if left to myself those same buckets would be dry as a bone. There have been many times that I have had hang on to other people’s faith and hope and let that carry me for a while. While I was unchurched for a number of years I kept in touch with a marvelous Spiritual Director, and she helped me find what was dormant in my faith and added hers to keep me afloat. At that time I didn’t feel at home even where I was living. The only place I really felt at home was in her living room. I always felt a big AAAAAHHHH when I came into her house and I let down my guard and let her fill me up with the faith that I needed to get through the next few weeks. She believed in my faith even when I wasn’t sure it existed any more. She was my touchstone and the wellspring of my faith. She would lead me through a prayer by a guided meditation, and at first I would listen dispassionately, and then soon it would grab me and then finally I would be an active participant in the process. She never lost faith in me, and always gave me hope for the future while also telling me that my faith was already a steady presence in my life. I guess she must have been right because I kept going back. Lately I have had a pretty strong faith and a good prayer life on my own, but I still go back periodically for what I call a booster shot of faith and hope supplemented by fairly regular church attendance. Actually I don’t know what supplements what, but I need them both and am growing regularly in hope and faith.
You are the Source of our hope, O God. Thank you for always replenishing our buckets with life-giving water. Amen 26 | Well Tended Luke 6:43-45 Saturday, March 23
The Rose
Where you tend a rose, my lad, a thistle cannot grow.
—Frances Hodgson Burnett,The Secret Garden
WELL TENDED | RESPONSE QUESTIONS What is an image or phrase in this week’s entries that says “well-tended” to you? Which of this week’s entries best reflects how you feel or offer tender care? If the Spirit called you to be more tender, where might you relent and be more gentle? Who is the most tender-hearted person you know? Well Tended | 27 Sunday, March 24 Isaiah 55:1-13
Well Tended Third Sunday of Lent Fertile Ground for Withered Faith Adele Dahm
Recently a Special General Conference was held to address parts of the Book of Discipline around human sexuality, and as many of you know, there was legislation passed that further restricts the participation of LGBTQIA+ people in the United Methodist Church.
I grew up at Hennepin Avenue UMC. I sang in choirs, participated in Sunday School through youth group, served on mission trips, and now I work in the Communications department. I have been drawn back to this place time and time again because I have always been welcomed. I have grown in this community because I have always felt like this was a church for me.
This week my confidence in that faltered. I watched the livestream of the General Conference at my desk and I weeped. I weeped as the hope I had in the United Methodist Church died and as part of my faith withered away with it.
It’s always been easy for me to be quiet about who I am. I haven’t felt a push to have a big coming out of the closet moment. I’ve always known that if I were to have a girlfriend that my parents and family would welcome her as they have welcomed anyone important in my life. This week I questioned if the same was true about my church.
I worked hollowly through the General Conference as echoes of the livestream played throughout the church office. I wondered if I should quit my job, thinking that I cannot in good conscience market and communicate an open, loving environment if there is not one here. I prepared worship slides for a pop-up worship service the night following the passing of the Traditionalist Plan and agreed to run the livestream for that service, hoping somehow despite the pit in my stomach that it would be a service to feed my aching soul.
28 | Well Tended It was a service filled with people mourning and angry and sorry and hurt. It also was a service where people shared their hope and commitment to Hennepin and to all of the people that may end up here, LGBTQIA+ or not. I left the service exhausted and yet filled with a new energy for ministry. Since then, I have witnessed pastors, coworkers, fellow church members, strangers cry out to grow our love for one another, refusing to let this be a community that passes over the pain this legislation causes. In that I have felt well-tended.
There are many people who are in far more vulnerable places than I, who will feel the repercussions of this week’s events. I want so much for Hennepin to continue to be a fertile ground for people whose faith has been withered. With our persistent tending, I believe that it will be.
Holy One, thank you for those who tend us in our grief and sorrow, who cry out with us, and who restore our hope. Amen Well Tended | 29 Monday, March 25 Psalm 39 Dish to Share Bethany Charlsen
“Where do you feel…well-loved? Well-tended? Well-received? Well-prepared? Well-guarded?”
To ponder where I feel well-loved, well-tended, and well-received, I looked to my planner. I keep a tight agenda and probably like you, there are weeks when I feel like I’m coming and going simultaneously. Occasionally, I find myself pulling away from some commitments to manage and protect my time with family. And as I glanced through the pages, I found a particular event, every two weeks, that I don’t miss. Let me tell you about it… Two years ago, our young adult (early 20s to 40s) LYFE Group first launched during Lent season. This group was filled with several couples who were expecting, and parents with young children. Being 30 weeks pregnant, I felt like I fit right in. Monday evenings seemed to be a good time for everyone and the idea of a potluck was well- received. So for the entire Lent season my husband and I packed up our “dish to share” and ventured off to be warmly welcomed into this LYFE group community. You see, we knew these young people by name and had visited with them before or after church, exchanging niceties and stories, but we didn’t really know them in the way we do now. Today we continue to meet faithfully every two weeks on Monday evenings at 6pm-ish. Our group doesn’t always read the book that the congregation is reading, but we’ve decided that’s ok. This group has shown me the truest sense of Christian fellowship and community and I’m so grateful for each person that’s a part of our intimate, sometimes rowdy, crew. As a new mother, I have had several questions and these moms were always there with support, suggestions or even clothes that I could borrow. Honestly, there have been Mondays that I haven’t felt like packing up and going, but I know once I get there, I will feel supported and loved in a special way. It has been a joy watching our children grow while getting to know and enjoy each other. My heart swells with hope and love as I fast forward 10, 20, or 30 years and know that with these dear friends I will celebrate birthdays, grieve the loss of loved ones, reach parenting milestones, and relish the blessing of our friendship and congregation at HAUMC. Yes, among these amazing people, I’ve felt abundantly well-loved, well-received and well-tended. O God, thank you for the gift it is to be wholly received and accepted. Amen 30 | Well Received Ezekiel 17: 1-10 Tuesday, March 26 Joy is Entering the River
For the raindrop, joy is in entering the river— Unbearable pain becomes its own cure, Travel far enough into sorrow, tears turn into sighing; In this way we learn how water can die into air, When, after heavy rain, the storm clouds disperse, is it not that they’ve wept themselves clear to the end? If you want to know the miracle, how wind can polish a mirror, Look: the shining glass grows green in Spring. It’s the rose’s unfolding, Ghalib, that creates the desire to see— In every color and circumstance, may the eyes be open for what comes.
—Ghalib
The rain falls on the just and the unjust, as you have foretold, Holy God. May this day be a day in which your rain falls where it must. Your hopeful spring is always at the ready. Bring us spring, Holy Spirit, bring it swiftly! Open our eyes to see Jesus in the people around us— no matter how the rain falls. Your rain brings new life. Amen Well Received | 31 Wednesday, March 27 Numbers 13:17-27 Many of You Know How the Song Goes Evelyn Ahlberg
Many of you know how the song goes, at least those of you who, like me, had the experience years ago of “Sunday School” in a Christian church at a very young age:
“Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so…..”
Then we learned the stories in that special book called the Bible, including the one when Jesus says, “Let the little ones come unto me and forbid them not, for such is the kingdom (kin-dom) of heaven.”
Yes, I started my early years in such a place, but then I grew older and discovered that the world is complex and diverse. I began to lose touch with that little child in me who had experienced some kind of fundamental universal truth: that I was loved no matter what and everyone else and all of creation was as well. And that there were other teachers saying the same truth but just in different ways.
Since life became difficult and challenging in many ways, I had to start over to find this truth and to try to imitate what Jesus was trying to teach us, which he often showed by example. Sometimes I fail miserably at this. My prayer is that we all feel that truth, that love, and try to share it with others in some of the myriad ways possible. For me, as I said, it began in a church many years ago. Probably deep down, though I am old now, it is the reason why I try to keep coming back to Hennepin Church, so that I can experience weekly a love fest.
Mother and Father of us all, what a difference it would
make if all of us could trust in the depth of your love! Encourage us to lean in to the truth of your grace as we go through our lives each day. Amen 32 | Well Received 2 Corinthians 4:16-5:5 Thursday, March 28 Hope Submitted by Mary Honstead
It hovers in dark corners before the lights are turned on, it shakes sleep from its eyes and drops from mushroom gills, it explodes in the starry heads of dandelions turned sages, it sticks to the wings of green angels that sail from the tops of maples. It sprouts in each occluded eye of the many-eyed potato, it lives in each earthworm segment surviving cruelty, it is the motion that runs from the eyes to the tail of a dog, it is the mouth that inflates the lungs of the child that has just been born. It is the singular gift we cannot destroy in ourselves, the argument that refutes death, the genius that invents the future, all we know of God. It is the serum which makes us swear not to betray one another; it is in this poem, trying to speak.
—Lisel Mueller
From Alive Together, by Lisel Mueller. © Louisiana State University Press, 1996. Reprinted by permission.
Hover close, God of Mercy. Hover close and speak of simple ways that shine light on complex problems. Your singular gift of love will keep us now and forever. Amen Well Received | 33 Friday, March 29 2 Corinthians 5:6-15 Drink Deeply! Dwight Haberman
For over 75 years I have sung, “Wellspring of the joy of living” (hymn 89), and not until this writing did I ever ask what a “wellspring” is. My dictionary says, “a source of continuous supply.” This definition leads me to a picture in my mind.
On a trip to the Holy Land, I spent a few days retreat at the monastery at Tabgha on the Sea of Galilee, the site of the seven springs (Heptapegon) and the traditional site of the feeding of the 5000. Sitting on the hillside (also the traditional site of the Sermon on the Mount), reflecting, overlooking the lake, I could watch fisherman netting their fish at the place where Jesus encountered the fishermen. They fished there because of a spring (a wellspring), one of the seven that had most likely flowed there continuously for thousands of years, and had been, with the River Jordan, the source of water for the Sea of Galilee.
These wells are metaphors for the “living water” that Jesus spoke of as the nurturing spirit of God with out which our inner beings are malnourished and, we know, we cannot not physically survive without real physical water.
What are your “wellsprings” that continually contribute to your wellbeing, loved, guarded, tended, received, prepared? While we sometimes question some church perspectives, the church through the Lenten season offers times, disciplines, prayer, study, devotion, service activities, from which to drink, from these wellsprings, wells deep like Jacob’s well and shallow like Tabgha’s that continually provide a deeper spirit and a joy of living, true hope. Take time, drink deeply, let down your nets.
Thank you for your life-giving water that quenches our every thirst, Holy God. Amen 34 | Well Received Luke 15:1-10 Saturday, March 30
Wisdom A wise person never knows all. Only a fool knows everything.
—African proverb
WELL RECEIVED | RESPONSE QUESTIONS What is an image or phrase in this week’s entries that says “well-received” to you? Which of this week’s entries best reflects how you feel received or offer reception? If God challenged you to think of who is hardest for you to receive, who enters your mind? Who would your family or church honestly have a tough time receiving? What can be done? Well Received | 35 Sunday, March 31 Psalm 32
Well Received Fourth Sunday of Lent Artesian Wells Robert Brinkley
This is the story of a young boy who would go with his dad to deliver bread to rural areas of the Ozarks. His dad worked for a baking company in Rogers, Arkansas. It was the end of the Great Depression. The smell of fresh bread baking in the morning filled the happy nostrils of all the citizens in that small town.
This is also a story about the young boy’s love for the Ozark woods and a natural world that called the boy to explore what treasures awaited his discovery, nature’s abundance of wild fruits, blackberries, persimmons, walnuts and a small, sweet nut called chinquapins. In those woods were numerous springs of pure, ice cold water seeping out of rocks. The boy learned that these springs were called artesian wells.
On one of his trips with his dad to deliver bread there was a spring flowing freely out of the rocks set in the hillside. A tiny wall had been built, framing the spring, and there was a tin cup there for the traveler and the stranger. The boy’s dad parked the bread truck and they helped themselves, drinking their fill of this wondrous liquid.
This became for the boy, now an adult, a treasured memory.
36 | Well Received There is an ancient story of a Jewish man traveling in Samaria. Its people were seen by the Jews as half-breeds and impure. This was a country to be avoided when traveling. The Jewish man disobeyed the Jewish purity laws. He became thirsty as the hot sun bore down on him. He eventually came to a well where he stopped to rest. A Samaritan woman approached him, carrying jugs to fill with water. The man, Jesus, asked her to draw water for him to drink. She was aware that he was a Jewish male, and she should not be drawing water for him. Jesus told her he could offer her living water that would never run dry. She was moved in her heart, ran to her village and returned with neighbors. She wanted them to hear what she had heard from this Jewish man about living water that never ran dry, an eternal wellspring of hope.
Now an adult, the boy who discovered springs in the woods remembered vividly the sweet, cold spring water that refreshed him and his dad. For him, it also was a wellspring of hope and of joy.
May we find those Wellsprings of Hope wherever they are, may we drink fully for our lives, and may we lead others to those wells.
For all of the Wellsprings of Hope you provide along our path, we offer our thanks, O God. Amen Well Received | 37 Monday, April 1 Psalm 53 I Got This William Mate
“I can do this! I got this!”
Amy Bockerstette said this to herself as she prepared, with hundreds watching her, to hit her golf ball out of a sand trap in the Phoenix Open. She is the first person with Down Syndrome to receive a full-ride college athletic scholarship. As the crowd exploded in cheers, her ball went from the sand to the green, and she putted out. (I sat in our sunroom watching this with snow drifts on our deck. I was also saying, “I can do this,” in a different way, hoping we get to March and April soon.)
Hope is most often found in the little things of life. It is often about determination, taking a step forward or upward; it is about moving from where we are to a different view; it’s about being puzzled by something and having a flash of insight to a possible solution. Under our breath, or in a whisper, we are often like Amy saying, “I can do this.”
A wellspring of hope is harder to comprehend. In Hebrew and Greek, a wellspring is about the source. What is the source for our hope? For Amy, her parents, family, and friends gave her a deep sense of value with their love and support. Years of saying to her, “You can do this,” turned into the declaration, “I can do this!” With gratitude, the same is true for many of us.
And deeper still, our faith teaches us that the wellspring of hope is in having a sense we are a part of something much larger than the here and now. We are interconnected to the past and future of all that is. Jesus taught us this, the Hebrew scriptures taught this, science teaches this. And at some point, we are hopefully able to say, “I can do this. I got this!”
Gracious God, help us remember that we are capable of doing hard things. Amen 38 | Well Prepared Leviticus 25:1-19 Tuesday, April 2 Begin to Hope Submitted by Deb Green
O God of life, who chooses creation over chaos and new beginnings over emptiness, we bring to you the disorder of our nations and world and the emptiness of our lives and relationships. Bless us and the nations with the grace of creativity. Bless us and all people with the hope of new beginnings.
From John Philip Newell, Celtic Treasure: Daily Scripture and Prayer, 2005 (Eerdmans: Grand Rapids).
Dear God, I am often overwhelmed by a world that seems full of injustice and tragedies. Grant me the audacity to accept and love the world anyway, and the courage to continue to hope. Amen Well Prepared | 39 Wednesday, April 3 2 Kings 4:1-7 What Gives Me Hope Carol Michalicek
As a Baby Boomer, my experience was that despite the challenging ‘stuff of life,’ the future always seemed hopeful. I was surrounded by a hardworking family who taught me life skills and showed me the value of community through church and neighbors. I loved to learn, and I found a path towards independence, friendships, and a rewarding career. My spiritual traditions were unfolding with deeper insights and broader understandings for living an authentic life, right now, rather than waiting for the hope of an afterlife. Hope was the ‘constant’ threaded through all of this. Somewhere, along the way, I felt the power of disappointment, of limitations, of lost opportunities, of the ‘what ifs,’ of the finiteness of life. In the past two years, I too have felt the grief and growing uncertainty within this democracy. Difficulty calls us to look deeper, more wisely, with informed understanding, and creative possibilities, to bring healing to wounds and to bring back Hope. For me I see hope through the children and youth. I see this from the youthful energy which fueled the ‘March for Our Lives’ movement. This came from a place of deep pain and need to express their choices for the future. Their courage and foresight to build a safer world fueled flames of hope. I am shown a hopeful future in the way my 11-year-old niece lives her life. The way she says to her father: “Wait for me,” as he heads off to feed the cattle. Watching her roll the hay bales down the hills, calling the cows by name, reaching out a clutch of hay to hand feed the young ones, I know she values the presence of these creatures. I know she finds the joy in this work of the land. She takes me around the garden, the flowers she must water, picking cherry tomatoes to share, finding a ripe watermelon, and photographing the moment it is cut open. The excitement of a shared project, the trip and fall followed by relentless laughter, the Facetime conversations about the week that was. She feels life’s joy and her light shines brightly. I have hope that she will retain some memory of life lived this way, and that she will look out for others, and speak up for the animals, for the earth, and celebrate something beyond the ways which promise just power and success. She has always been this way, and this brings me hope, because I know that where there is one, there are many more like her.
God of the generations, ring true to all in their time and place. May we pass down your story by leaning into your ways as we live together, young and old. Unfold your wisdom and grow us up like a garden of good fruit. Amen 40 | Well Prepared Isaiah 43:1-7 Thursday, April 4 Two Kinds of Intelligence
There are two kinds of intelligence: One acquired, as a child in school memorizes facts and concepts from books and from what the teacher says, collecting information from the traditional sciences as well as from the new sciences. With such intelligence you rise in the world. You get ranked ahead or behind others in regard to your competence in retaining information. You stroll with this intelligence in and out of fields of knowledge, getting always more marks on your preserving tablets. There is another kind of tablet, one already completed and preserved inside you. A spring overflowing its springbox. A freshness in the center of the chest. This other intelligence does not turn yellow or stagnate. It’s fluid, and it doesn’t move from outside to inside through the conduits of plumbing-learning. This second knowing is a fountainhead from within you, moving out.
—Rumi
For what is obvious, for what is obscure, we give thanks. For what is given and what is collected, we give thanks. For what is started and what is preserved, we give thanks. Pour out your Holy Spirit on us all! Amen Well Prepared | 41 Friday, April 5 Philippians 2:25-3:1 Wise Woman Jan Bucher
Thirty years ago, my office was in a Catholic Church. One day a woman called and asked to see me. She began by saying, “I come from an alcoholic family. Both of my parents are alcoholics, not in recovery. I have spent the last ten years of my life getting healthy. I have attended Adult Children of Alcoholics meetings for years and have an awareness of how co-dependency kicks in.”
The young woman said she was scared. She was engaged and going to be married in a few months. “I am concerned that I will now focus on my husband and lose my hard-earned identity. I have brought a ring and want to go into the church with you and make a promise to myself. I cannot promise to marry my husband until I have promised fidelity to myself.”
I was in awe at this wise one. We walked out of my office into the sanctuary. We stopped at the holy water font and I dipped the ring she carried into the water and said a blessing over the ring. Then the two of us processed up the aisle of the huge sanctuary and stood directly at the altar.
She had written her vows and said them out loud to God and to this witness. Then she put the ring on her finger. I prayed with her, blessed her for her hard work and determination to be faithful to herself.
We hugged her and said good-bye. I’ve never known her name. I have never seen her again.
I have never forgotten her.
Holy One, help us to awaken to the deep wellspring planted within. Amen 42 | Well Prepared John 11:45-57 Saturday, April 6
Check the Bridge
Walk across a stone bridge after hitting it.
—Japanese Proverb
WELL PREPARED | RESPONSE QUESTIONS What is an image or phrase in this week’s entries that says “well-prepared” to you? Which of this week’s entries best reflects how you feel prepared or offer preparation? If Jesus said it’s time to take action on the most urgent matter in your life, are you ready? Who knows how to work ahead and what can you learn from them? Well Prepared | 43 Sunday, April 7 John 12:1-8
Well Prepared Fifth Sunday of Lent Fierce Hope for a Burning House Betsy Barnum
Hope is often framed as hope for something. I hope for nice weather tomorrow. I hope for my son’s recovery. I hope for a livable planet for coming generations.
I have these thoughts every day. Yet, when I listen to Greta Thunberg, the Swedish teenager whose School Strike for Climate is spreading across Europe, I feel ashamed of hoping for a livable planet.
“Adults keep saying we owe it to the young people to give them hope,” says Greta. “But I don’t want your hope. I want you to act as if the house is on fire, because it is.”
This determined young prophet is saying to the world, “Wake up! Pay attention!” Hope will not save the planet. Action that arises out of the urgency of what is happening, might.
Greta is showing us what is required in this moment of deep uncertainty about the future: to look without flinching at what is happening, feel what we feel, and take action immediately, as we would if our own house were burning down.
Hoping for something takes us out of this moment and soothes us with visions of a future that will come through the agency of someone else—God, inventors, political leaders, activists, the children, others. Somehow we’ll get there, and everything will be all right.
44 | Well Prepared Being awake and alert in this moment offers a different kind of hope: hoping in the love that underlies and animates the universe. This kind of hope means trusting in the promise that “all things work together for good for those who love God” (Romans 8:28). Or, as Julian of Norwich says: “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.”
But “all shall be well” does not mean the future we yearn for will come to be. This is not a hope that soothes our fears. No matter how awake and active we are in trying to put out the fire of climate catastrophe, it may be too late. It may be that too many will choose to remain asleep while the house burns down around them or, as Greta puts it, sit amid the flaming walls discussing what the new house will look like instead of putting out the fire.
The hope we need now is a stern hope, a risky hope, a fierce hope that requires us to put our full trust in God and let go of all the wishful and comforting ideas we have about how everything will turn out. And, as Greta is calling us to do, stay awake, feel the urgency, and act.
Holy God, help us to cultivate hope that is not merely soothing, but fierce enough to compel us to act. Urge us to give up our fears, and sustain us in the urgent work of protecting and restoring your creation. Amen Well Prepared | 45 Monday, April 8 Psalm 20 Wellspring of Wisdom Steve Blons
Years ago, I attended a weekend workshop on Intensive Journaling, developed by the psychologist, Ira Progoff. It offered a way to explore one’s inner life through meditation and structured writing assignments.
A key image for Progoff was the Underground Stream. The Stream is the repository of Universal Wisdom and is accessible to everyone. Any pathway that leads us to that Universal Wisdom is like a well that draws water from the Underground Stream.
I think that was the beginning of what has become a core belief of mine — that there is only One Wisdom, one source, but many wells.
I have been blessed with numerous wells and wellsprings in my life. Some have been people who generously shared the water from their own wells of wisdom: teachers, authors, friends, pastors, lovers. Some wells have been places and experiences, such the 9 months I spent on personal renewal in Berkeley, California or the 9 years I was the director at Koinonia Retreat Center.
What I know is that I now have a taste for this wisdom water. I am always ready to find yet another well or wellspring. I am like that eager Samaritan woman Jesus encounters at the well in John 4. When Jesus tells her about living water, she says “Give me a drink!”
Since I first walked into Hennepin Church in the summer of 1963, this community has been such a wellspring for me, over and over offering me yet another drink from the Underground Stream of living water. 56 years later I am still thirsty.
Thank you, Holy One, for the lifetime of cups you provide for us to dip into your ever-flowing current of Wisdom. Amen 46 | Passion for Hope Judges 9:7-15 Tuesday, April 9 Hope is the thing with feathers Submitted by Carol Michalicek
“Hope” is the thing with feathers - That perches in the soul - And sings the tune without the words - And never stops - at all -
And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard - And sore must be the storm - That could abash the little Bird That kept so many warm -
I’ve heard it in the chillest land - And on the strangest Sea - Yet - never - in Extremity, It asked a crumb - of me.
—Emily Dickinson
From The Poems of Emily Dickinson, R. W. Franklin, ed. (Harvard University Press, 1999).
Carry and lift us far to the heavens, with swift wings and streamlined feathers. Your Holy Spirit is the wind that brings soaring to living. Amen Passion for Hope | 47 Wednesday, April 10 Habakkuk 3:2-15 Common Hope Jane Mylrea
I have been blessed with a supportive family and through most of my 63 years, I have felt “well loved, tended, received, prepared, guarded, and protected.”
Thus, when I visited Guatemala last year as a volunteer with Minnesota based Commonhope, I felt particularly lucky as I encountered many children who have none of these things, as they live in poverty surrounded by violence and instability.
But Commonhope provides HOPE by offering support to students for education, housing, healthcare and love. I pray for the Guatemalans and for Hennepin Church for partnering with Commonhope.
Esperanza por Todos! Hope for all!
Holy One, you are the Source of all that we hope for and have. Open our hearts to spread your gifts of hope with those who have little, generously sharing out of our abundance. Amen 48 | Passion for Hope Hebrews 2:1-9 Thursday, April 11 My Wellspring of Hope Robert Janssen
Because I am a compulsive lister (keeping bird and other lists), I am going to list my Wellsprings of Hope.
• Romans 8 - The created world itself can hardly wait for what is coming next . . . • Paying Attention - is the best way to enjoy life. • Ezekiel 14: 1 - Lord God unto these bones; behold I will cause breath to enter into you and ye shall live . . . • Job 12:7-8 – Or speak to the earth and it will teach thee . . . • “The Life of the Skies” by Jonathan Rosen – I can’t think of any activity that more fully captures what it means to be human in the modern world than watching birds. • God pervades the whole Universe. • We experience God through the teachings of Jesus. • Sense of place (Geography). • Creation is awesome. • Honoring of all Diversity. • Wisdom comes from the free exchange of ideas (Harry Truman). • Our land has many things to tell us. • I have a fundamental interconnectedness to nature. • Everything has its own voice, a Divine voice that sings through all Creation (from a Jewish prayer). • There are many peacemakers among us. • Our world is full of mystery and this is good. • Ravens have Wisdom.
God of All, we see you visible in the glories of our blessed, diverse Earth. And we find hope. Keep us awake to it all. Amen Passion for Hope | 49 Friday, April 12 Hebrews 2:10-18 A Meeting Submitted by Jan Bucher
She steps into the dark swamp where the long wait ends. The secret slippery package drops to the weeds. She leans her long neck and tongues it between breaths slack with exhaustion and after a while it rises and becomes a creature like her, but much smaller. So now there are two. And they walk together like a dream under the trees. In early June, at the edge of a field thick with pink and yellow flowers I meet them. I can only stare. She is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. Her child leaps among the flowers, the blue of the sky falls over me like silk, the flowers burn, and I want to live my life all over again, to begin again, to be utterly wild.
—Mary Oliver
Holy One, help me to give birth to the child of wonder waiting to be born in me. Amen 50 | Passion for Hope Luke 22:1-13 Saturday, April 13
The Dark Submitted by Deb Green
I have learned things in the dark that I could never have learned in the light, things that have saved my life over and over again, so that there is really only one logical conclusion. I need darkness as much as I need light.
—Barbara Brown Taylor, Learning to Walk in the Dark
THE PASSION OF HOPE | RESPONSE QUESTIONS What is an image or phrase in this week’s entries that says “passionate hope” to you? Which of this week’s entries best reflects how you feel or offer hope? If the Spirit wrapped you in hope, what negative attitude would change the most for you? Who needs hope AND how will you bring it to them? Passion for Hope | 51 Sunday, April 14 Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29
The Passion of Hope Palm Sunday Flickers of Light Kathleen McDowell
My marriage was falling apart. Before the divorce was final, I was told I had cancer. After the divorce was final, I had the surgery. Then a couple of weeks later, I was shocked to discover I was pregnant. Having never thought it was a remote possibility, I was in shock. So was my OB.
Growing up in a brutal house, I had many doubts of my ability to be a parent. There were plenty of people who expressed their opinions that I’d be a terrible one. I was really struggling with decisions of what would be best for me, for us. I realized that this was indeed a miracle, with him holding on through the surgery. This must be someone who was on a mission! Prayerfully, we would do this together. There was minimal support for my decision, so onward we went. One person told me if I screwed up the tiniest bit, she would have him taken away. Against the odds and throughout the ups and downs of dark times and fear, flickers of light shone.
I had a full-time job and had just taken a second one to pay off the divorce bills. Then I added a third job, working seven days a week throughout my pregnancy. I had Thanksgiving off and after dinner, I went back to the temporary housing where I was living. I finally went to bed then went into labor. My friend came to pick me up and she drove an hour away to the hospital. Friday afternoon, my miracle baby arrived.
52 | Passion for Hope A friend kept us for a few days at her house. I went back to work (part-time) four days after delivering. I did what I needed as sole support. I was so tired. On Christmas Eve, a friend from church who lived a couple blocks from me offered to keep my son overnight so I could sleep. I have never forgotten the generosity of this miracle. Then I needed to move into affordable housing. In six weeks I moved into a townhouse. Another miracle.
Being given the miracle of my Thanksgiving son has given me reasons to keep going on. There have people who have come and gone in our lives that helped us to the next intersection. A song I recently heard says that your world is not falling apart, it is falling into place. When I look back, each struggle and dark time will lead me to another lighted intersection. And at every one, God is there walking right alongside of us.
Guide our path as we walk through this Holy Week, Holy One. Shine a light when the path grows dim. We are grateful that you companion us every step of the way. Amen Passion for Hope | 53 Monday, April 15 Isaiah 42:1-9 New Life Jim McChesney
It is a really good part of the traditions of the church and our lives that we spend six weeks of our year--and this blessed Holy Week--to lift up the last days in the ministry of Jesus and his death and resurrection. It is good!
It is good to be reminded every year about the central fact we proclaim about the plan of God to reach out to us--to send God’s Son, Jesus, to save us.
Jesus came into human form, lived a human life, took all of our sins upon himself, and in his Resurrection, promised us eternal salvation. In him, all of our weaknesses, evils, and sins are forgiven.
In him, we have been given new life, a new way of living, a renewal of our places in God’s great array of the believers.
May this Holy Week be a time of deep reflection and renewal.
Give us a time set apart for reflection that brings growth, pause that brings renewal, and seeking that brings finding. May the grace and love of Jesus last long past his life on earth and remain at the cosmic, constant level that reaches us here and now in the season of Lent. Amen 54 | Holy Week 1 Corinthians 1:18-31 Tuesday, April 16 God is so pleased with me Ingrid Bloom how many times have I lost sight of what’s really important or given up ignored what I am inside ignored the person I was suppose to help silenced myself because of other people’s reactions judged someone for their mistakes resented someone for withholding love didn’t look to God for affirmation written someone off for their selfishness forgot about what I was receiving that I didn’t have to work for wasted time eating, or drinking, or taking too much didn’t realize I needed rest time or prayer time made foolish mistakes looked for shortcuts acted mindlessly instead of mindfully was oblivious to someone else’s pain grabbed for entitlement didn’t listen so how is God so pleased with me still listening to me still healing me still providing for me still seeking me out still beholding me as wondrous and precious and endearing still tender with me Isn’t it amazing to be seen through God’s eyes and know God is so pleased with me. It truly makes the new day a gift in which to be wonderful! where each day begins with I love you we become the miracle
Help us hold precious each person we meet, each plant, animal, and body of water, holding their vulnerability with tenderness. Show us how to recognize and affirm Your presence in each person’s hopes, dreams, hurts, talents, and Love. Thank you for sustaining grace. Amen Holy Week | 55 Wednesday, April 17 Hebrews 12:1-3 Renewing Hope Submitted by Diane Goulding
…in our search for spiritual assurance in the midst of a personal crisis of faith and/or hope, we do best to switch our attention to love. Preoccupation with efforts to instill hope and faith in oneself may be self-defeating. Begin with love and let hope and faith renew themselves quietly as you concentrate more on the other than yourself.
It may well be that we best convey hope not by what we say, not by making the best case for hope through some brilliant intellectual presentation, but by being a loving person, part of a human community that through its concern for one in trouble is able to renew and sustain hope.
—Daniel J. Simundson
God of grace and compassion, embolden me to sow seeds of love and kindness. Amen 56 | Holy Week John 13:1-17, 31b-35 Thursday, April 18
Maundy Thursday What Do We Know
The sky cleared I was standing under a tree.
and there were stars in the sky that were also themselves at the moment
at which moment my right hand was holding my left hand which was holding the tree which was filled with stars and the soft rain — imagine! Imagine! the long and wondrous journeys still to be ours.
—Mary Oliver
Great Spirit of God, bless the bread, bless the cup, bless the meal, bless the table, bless the room, bless the body, and bless the soft rains around each of us as we dwell in your immense and beautiful creation. Amen Holy Week | 57 Friday, April 19 John 18:1-19:42
Good Friday Lord, it is Night Marilyn Lingard
When do I feel well-loved, well-cared for, well-protected? When I read this evening prayer from a Maori New Zealand Prayer Book. I was given this evening prayer several years ago and I read it at the end of the day. The imagery comforts me now more than ever as I look forward to new possibilities as I recover from cancer and move toward the next chapter of my life after retirement! Lord, it is night. The night is for stillness. Let us be still in the presence of God. It is night after a long day. What has been done has been done; what has not been done has not been done; let it be. The night is dark. Let our fears of the darkness of the world and of our own lives rest in you. The night is quiet. Let the quietness of your peace enfold us, all dear to us, and all who have no peace. The night heralds the dawn. Let us look expectantly to a new day, new joys, new possibilities. In your name we pray. Amen.
Holy One, in our darkest nights, may we experience the embrace of your loving arms enfolded around us. And may we fully trust in the possibilities and promise of a new day. Amen 58 | Holy Week Lamentations 3:1-9, 19-24 Saturday, April 20 Be Still
I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope for hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith But the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting. Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought: So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing.
—T.S. Eliot
I shall be still and listen for the Lord. I hear you and see you reveal yourself in the least of likely places and the least of likely neighbors. May your wisdom guide my faith. Amen Holy Week | 59 Sunday, April 21 John 20:1-18
Easter Sunday A Good Comeback Story Rev. Nate Melcher
When I was in screenwriting class as an undergrad, our instructor said you can often boil a three-act narrative structure down to this simple formula: Act I – Get your hero stuck in a tree. Act II – Throw apples at your hero. Act III – Get your hero out of that tree. Not to ruin any of your favorite books, films, or even songs steeped in story, but that simple formula is as widespread and overused as it gets. Like me after that class session, once you know it, you can’t unknow it. You’ll notice it again and again. You’ll reach the 20-minute mark in the movie and think, “Oh, and now they’re stuck in a tree.” And as the movie progresses and the hero has to deal with this dilemma and that obstacle, you’ll think, “Look at all those apples.” And when the credits roll, well, you know.
There’s a difference between the three-act narrative structure of art and the ongoing narrative structure of life. With three acts, there’s three acts. With life, there is life and life and life and life. We are all get stuck in trees, we all get apples thrown at us – some of us are also excellent apple throwers, if we are honest with ourselves – and we all get out of the tree from time to time. It isn’t always linear, and there are days or even years when we are stuck in more than one tree. Where we are pelted and battered by apples. When we aren’t sure if we’ll ever, ever, ever get out of this accursed tree.
That’s why resurrection is such a good story.
60 | Holy Week We crave the chance to come down from the tree. We cheer the moments of overcoming adversity. We get weepy when we witness others come to each other’s aid and say, “This is the day you are released from bondage!” The Act III moments of our lives are the hopeful moments, the resurrection moments, the Easter moments. When Jesus rises from the most brutal Act II imaginable, that Act III is the wellspring source of an abundant and continuous supply of hope.
Life is harder to predict than the movies. But even when a movie is predictable, we do indeed enjoy the moment someone comes down from the tree.
After all, who doesn’t like a good comeback story?
Happy Easter! Hallelujah!
Hallelujah to the Holy One! Rejoice! Give thanks! A new day is here! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! Holy Week | 61 Our Mission: To make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.
Our Vision: We will grow in our love of God and neighbor, reach new people and heal a broken world.
Our Strategy: Radical Hospitality, Extravagant Generosity, Passionate Worship, Risk-Taking Mission and Service, and Intentional Faith Development. Wellsprings of Hope
Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church 2019 Lenten Devotional 511 Groveland Avenue, Minneapolis, MN 55403 by members & friends of Hennepin Avenue UMC 612-871-5303 | www.haumc.orgs