SEEING THE EXTRAORDINARY

Month: September 2025

  • Listening and Loving

    Listening – it’s one of our most difficult tasks.  This is especially true when we feel like we know what’s coming.  We are a part of a conversation and we know, we just know what the other person is about to say.  If it happens to be something we disagree with, we begin preparing ourselves for battle.  We can also find ourselves deafened by our anger over what is being said.  We don’t actually hear what the other person is saying.  We decide they are wrong, we are right, and that is that.  So we stop listening.

    We can find ourselves shutting out all the voices we don’t agree with.  If something comes our way, we quickly assess whether we want to continue to hear what is being said.  If it bothers us, we can just walk away.  The problem is we never really hear.  We don’t listen to the other person or group.  We simply label them with any label that will make us feel better about what we are thinking and how wrong they are.  

    Yet, the Bible teaches us to be quick to listen.  Listening is a gift we give to someone else.  We are taking our time to simply be present and hear.  This means shutting off our own opinions for a moment, and taking ourselves out of the situation to simply pay attention to the other person.  It is challenging.  And some of us won’t make the effort.  But for those who do…what a difference it makes.  When we pay attention, we may begin to see the humanity in another person.  We may see their fear or their hurt, their pain or their anger.  We may see they are not different than us, we simply have a different view.  Different views aren’t bad, unless they become how we define ourselves completely.  Different views and opinions are beautiful unless we belittle others who do not think like us.  We can have different views and different beliefs and still love each other.  Jesus did it his entire ministry.  But, it takes the extraordinary effort to genuinely listen and to love.  

    May we find ourselves quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to anger today.  And may that spark love in us like never before.

  • Whispers of Love

    Throughout the Bible, intertwined in church history, pulsing through American history, and boiling over into today, it always seems to be – there are voices of hate who speak opinions in the name of God.  It’s as if there is a feel of representation of God, like one of the prophets.  Interestingly enough, many of those voices are “prophets” who happily call out anyone who doesn’t believe like them.  It’s always a pointing of fingers in a show of how bad “they” are.  Maybe it is so they can also feel justified in their anger.  Certainly if someone doesn’t believe exactly as we have interpreted the Bible, those are grounds for calling them out, maybe even hating them?  

    These voices are very loud.  They bounce off the walls of our hearts and minds.  They fill our sanctuaries, our offices, our shopping places and everywhere in between.  They fill our TVs and our phones.  They speak loudly.  And it seems the voices always scream hatred, or at least some twisted version of the love of God.  It can be easy to fall right in line with those voices.  They are everywhere.  And they can make everyone who believes the same feel empowered.  But ultimately, that’s what it’s about, right?  It really is all about power (with maybe some greed thrown in).  Believe like me…or else…

    There are still other voices, though.  There are voices of love which often become whispers because the others are drowning them out.  The whispers of love let those who have been harmed, removed, beat down, excluded, and shut out know there is still a safe place.  There is still love here.  It may be whispers, but those whispers are kind.  Those whispers speak words of welcome.  Those whispers remind the forgotten and the discarded there is love still here.  The shouts of hate do not always win.  The whispers of love just continue to envelope those who need it.

    I know because unknowingly, throughout my life, I have been uninvited to tables.  I have heard the phrase… “if anyone believes like that, they better not sit at my table.” The group didn’t know that meant I was no longer invited, though.  I have had the slap on the back of the group who are ready to call out the sins of others (that would be the sins of other people, not their own sins).  I have heard the snide remarks from those I love so dearly, not knowing I didn’t agree.  I have been in rooms where I was not welcome, only the voices didn’t know me.  And, understand clearly, all the voices were doing this in the name of Jesus or faith or God or Christianity.  The voices weren’t intending to do anything except make sure “those” folks knew how wrong they were and how they were going to hell and they better get their life straight, correct their beliefs and start believing the “right” way.  Of course, the right way is the way we read and interpret, right?

    My personal saving grace has been found in the whispers of love.  It is hard to hear them.  They are faint.  I’ve almost missed them, but they are there.  And they tell me there are still tables I am welcome.  Some of those whispers even speak the name of Jesus. 

    If you feel abandoned, hurt, excluded or generally beaten down, stop and listen.  There are still the whispers of love.  They will never be completely drowned out by the loudest of voices.  They are there…we are there.  You are not alone.  Welcome to the table, abandoned, forgotten, displaced. Welcome.

  • Who Do You Love?

    We are people who like things our way.  When Burger King coined the phrase, “Have it your way”, they were really speaking of the way too many of us want to live.  We complain if everything isn’t exactly how we want it to be, when we want it and where we want it.  Convenience is an expectation and accommodation a requirement.  Everything in life is supposed to be easier, focused on what I want and need.  It’s all about me.

    And that has seeped into the faith community for as long as there has been a faith community.  Church folks aren’t exempt.  And so churches are often formed around what that group of people want, how they want it and when they want it.  And if we don’t like it, we can leave.  Or we can make others leave.  It is all about us, anyway, right?

    Except these aren’t the teachings of the Bible.  If I read correctly, it is actually all about God.  My Dad always had the phrase he repeated continuously, “It’s All About Him!”  And he tried to live like this.  But it’s difficult.  We don’t always agree and with the chaos of our world, it pushes us to make sure our own areas are in our control.  People around us should be “like us”.  It feels more comfortable.  It makes for better worship?  It enables us to feel justified?  And yet, this isn’t Biblical either.  

    You know what is Biblical?  Jesus said there were 2 defining principles which should guide everything.  And we can’t talk about these enough.  He said we were to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength (with our EVERYTHING) AND to love our neighbor as ourself.  In other words, the guiding principle is love.  

    Here’s the deal for me – I can’t give love I haven’t received.  God gives us the love we then pour into others.  The issue comes when we try to give what we have not yet allowed God to pour into us.  We end up looking like those who love things, not people.  We love wealth not God.  We love control, not surrender.  We end up trying to get what we want, when we want, and how we want.  

    But church is no Burger King.  It SHOULD be focused on what God wants – and most of the time, that doesn’t look the same as what we want.  Just read the scriptures.  What Jesus taught was never what the religious folks wanted to hear.  And I dare say, it still isn’t.

    So maybe we start with the basics one more time…and again and again.  Who do we love?  

  • Not My List

    We are accustomed to be in charge. We often work diligently to put together the best guest list possible.  Who can sit at this table, who do we need to separate, who can’t tolerate the others – all decisions we make when we really start deciding who will come and who will not.  It happens often, sometimes without us even thinking about it.  We purposely don’t invite certain folks and make sure others feel welcome.  And it’s okay, it is our table and our event and our money.  So it is totally fine.  Well, it is except in our faith.

    Jesus had this incredibly unusual habit of inviting people to his table who didn’t belong.  He touched lepers (the untouchables), he hung out with those who had been forgotten, he healed a woman who had been unclean probably longer than she had been clean, he spent time with folks who were culturally irrelevant, and he listened to those who yelled his name, even though they should have no place even near him.  His disciples must have thought he lost his mind when they come back from the market and found him talking to a woman of questionable character from a rival tribe.  She was the least of people to even see, much less talk to or hang out with.  He must have been trying to ruin his reputation.  He certainly couldn’t have seen value in her.  She held no value in most people’s eyes.  And yet, this is the woman who he reveals who he is.  Check it out – he tells HER who he is.  He doesn’t do this for any of those who felt they were worthy.  SHE was the one (read John 4).

    In other words, Jesus begins to open wide his invite list.  He even tells stories about inviting the poor and wounded, sick and desperate to the table.  He pushes all the cultural norms to sit with those who had never sat this close to a religious person before.  And if we are honest, the religious folks were extremely uncomfortable.  They had decided already who was in and who was out.  They had a list of rules and things people had to do and none of those people had done them.  They hadn’t completed any of the things that were required or said the right things or even signed the right agreements.  And yet…And yet…and yet…these are the people Jesus offers an invitation.  

    Jesus’ list is one we are not in charge of (thankfully).  We don’t decide who is in and who is out.  And we also don’t decide who is worthy based on a list of criteria we have put together.  Jesus defies all of this.  And if we really take a moment, we should be grateful as well.  We might find we didn’t deserve to be at the table even if we did everything we thought was required.  We got the invitation because of Jesus’ love, not our worthiness.  And it just might be, the people we have decided are “those” people…these are the ones Jesus has a special place of honor at his table.  It isn’t our invitation list.  It is his.  And maybe, we become grateful for simply being invited.

  • The Stones I Carry

    Can you hear it, almost feel what it’s like? Can you smell the air filled with pride?  The stones, they hit the dirt with such a force the dust envelops them.  Stones can hurt, even kill if put into the hands of the angry.  They can be hurled with such force as to cause damage with anything they come in contact.  One little stone can wreak havoc.  And yet, many of them are thrown around as if they are nothing.  But they are something.  

    The stone throwers, they are everywhere.  It seems so easy to identify them.  They are the ones with an agenda, looking to take out anyone who may not agree or threaten a sense of being right.  Stones are thrown with words or actions.  And the force behind them is so intense.  It’s easier to throw stones if everyone around throws stones too.  It feels therapeutic.  It certainly can feel justified.  “They” deserve it, right?  “They” aren’t doing the right thing or living the right way or saying the right words.  Just throw the stones already. 

    Jesus was faced with this situation.  Those around likely held those stones so tightly in their hands they could feel the edges bore down into their skin.  They were justified.  It was the law, after all.  Everyone would agree.  This woman deserved it.  It was right and it would show others what was right.  And yet, Jesus didn’t hold a stone in his hand at all.  And when pushed for a response, he simply said to the crowd…you who have no sin cast the first stone.   (John 8)

    That’s the problem with stone throwing.  It’s always directed at someone else without a mirror to reflect our own issues.  It’s much easier to point out what we don’t like in other people.  We can feel justified when “they” don’t get things “right”.  We can quickly forget we don’t have the right to do this.  And while we can certainly point out the stone throwers, I would dare say we may feel a stone in our own hand, just waiting for the right opportunity or the right person or the right cause.  

    But have we forgotten?  Have we forgotten we are a sinner?  Have we forgotten we don’t have any right to even hold a stone much less throw it?  Maybe, just maybe, it helps if we start looking at ourselves, who we are, and how we love, rather than at others.  Maybe we start taking a deep dive inwards and checking ourselves according to the standards of Jesus rather than making others meet our standards.  Maybe we start to realize we simply need Jesus to forgive us and love us.  Maybe that’s where it starts, with a mirror and some time with Jesus.