“Peace be with you,” we sometimes say to one another in worship.  It’s a lovely sentiment, but I wonder if we think about what it really means.  Is it just a more churchy way of saying “Have a nice day”?  

Joan Chittister, one of my favorite spiritual writers and guides, offers these words about Peace:

Peace comes to us when we know that there is something that the Spirit has to teach us in everything we do, in everything we experience.  When we are rejected, we learn that there is a love above all loves in life.  When we are afraid, we come to know that there are those who will take care of us whatever the cost to themselves.  When we are lonely, we learn that there is a rich and vibrant world inside of us waiting to be explored if we will only make the effort.  When we are threatened by differences, we come to realize that the gift of the other is grace in disguise meant to broaden the narrowness that constricts our souls.   Then peace comes, then quiet sets in; then there is nothing that anyone can do to us to destroy our equilibrium, upset our inner balance.  

 Peace.  Not the absence of turmoil, but the steadying hand of God leading us through.  The peace of God is that which is beyond the chaos of the day, and beneath the surface of our anxiety.  It is the gift of knowing that nothing can separate us from the love of God.  Nothing.  That is what we mean when we say to one another:  ”Peace be with you.”  

May it be so.

Kim

But first there was that funny looking thing up front.  A long, conical piece of copper, it looked a bit like a wizards hat.  I had never seen an instrument like that, and I wondered what part it had to play in the music.  As we settled into our seats, the conductor, Jindong Cai, stepped forward and lifted it up. “This is an ear horn,” he said. The earliest form of hearing aid, the small end was placed in the ear and the larger opening was directed outward, to catch and amplify whatever sound it could.  Maestro Cai reminded the audience that Ludwig van Beethoven was almost completely deaf by the age of 40; in fact, the symphony we were about to hear was written long after he could no longer hear the sounds made by the instruments for which he composed.  What he could do, and sometimes did, was to place the ear horn right on top of the piano and listen as he played the notes.  We do not know what he actually heard, but audiologists have speculated that he might have been able to pick up some sound:  distorted, faint, jumbled, but something.  

The first piece in the program was entitled Near the Inner Ear, and it was a musical imagining of what Beethoven might have heard as he composed.  The two composers, Dohi Moon and Chris Chafe, produced an intriguing and disturbing piece of music, with screeches and wails, sharp tones and themes that  could just barely be discerned.  It was hard to conceive that this might have been what Beethoven was hearing with his ears, even as he was writing the melodic and majestic Ninth.  How could it be that he was able to hear beyond the cacophony to the true music?

Solomon asked God for the gift of a “hearing heart”, a sensibility for listening and discerning that is far superior to anything our ears can do.  Perhaps that is what Beethoven had — the ability to listen inside himself for what he knew to be true, even when his physical reality could not confirm it.  In our own lives, we can be so focused on our limitations or the distractions around us that we  forget to listen more deeply for the inner voice (or the inner music) that allows us to live creatively and lovingly.  Beethoven’s physical deafness was a great burden to him, but his ability to listen with his heart became his great gift to the world.  

May we each be graced with hearing hearts, so that no matter how noisy or confusing the world may seem, we can still make out the voice of God calling our names.  

Listen.  

Kim

Ponder: Sea Stars, often called Starfish, are beyond fascinating marine animals with nearly 2,000 species. They appear in glorious splendors of colors, diverse shapes and sizes and can live in varying environments of water. In all their diversity and individuality, each resembles a star. These resilient aqua stars can regenerate a lost or harmed limb. No matter what this sea creature endures in its life span, it remains true to its form–a brilliant star.

Pray: On the far side of the sea and in the depths of life’s rugged waters, You know me completely. In the moments when I feel afraid to be myself, insecure, unloved and different, remind me I am a “star,” fearfully and wonderfully made. When I am broken, regenerate and restore my spirit just as you did when you knit me in my mother’s womb. Help me to let my light shine as radiant as a celestial star in the night’s sky or as brilliant as a sea star in the dark hollow of the ocean. Amen. (Psalm 139)

 From:

http://www.ucc.org/feed-your-spirit/peek/may-21-2013.html

                                      A Daily Glimpse

 Did you that the United Church of Christ has been updating it’s website?  I periodically peruse the site, reading up on national gatherings or stories from local congregations.  One of my favorite sections is called “Peek, Ponder, and Pray.”  It is a lovely way to spend a few quiet moments reflecting on an image and resting in prayer.  This past week one caught my eye and so, as a way of introducing you to this wonderful resource, we are reprinting it with the link.  May you be refreshed and renewed as you peek, ponder and pray!  

(http://www.ucc.org/feed-your-spirit/peek/may-21-2013.html)

But something happened in the past two decades in America.  Groups of passionate people banded together and took on the tobacco industry.  Everyday citizens started organizations like Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and slowly but surely the public dialogue changed.  Cigarettes became linked to Cancer instead of Cool, and driving while drunk came to be seen as the height of criminal selfishness.  The people of our country collectively, over a period of time, said “No more” to these two habits which had seemed so inevitably ingrained in our society.

It’s time to do that again.  For far too long we have allowed millions of people to go hungry in the United States.  48 million people — including 16.2 million children- go hungry every day. 14.5% of the people who live in the richest country in the world don’t get enough to eat. It seems both impossible to believe and impossible to change.  It seems like too big a problem.  But it’s not. 

Hunger is a problem that can be solved.  We have enough food in this country that everyone can be fed.  We have the tools and the technology such that none of our neighbors need ever be hungry again.  The only thing that stands in our way is the will to say “No more.”  No more hungry children, no more blaming poor families, no more under-nourished seniors. We have enough to go around, if we choose to make it so.

This past April, Patti Bury and I attended the Second Harvest Food Bank’s annual “Make Hunger History Awards.”  We went to represent this congregation as we received the Spirit Award for the Outstanding faith-based food drive in Santa Clara and San Mateo  counties.  We were honored because of your history of giving to Second Harvest and the innovative way we incorporated our food drive into the 150th Anniversary Celebration.  It was inspiring to listen to the stories of other honorees from companies, and schools, and non-profits, who had banded together last year to change the way we talk about and deal with hunger.  Some of the activists were CEO’s of large companies and organizations; some of the activists were teens; two of the award winners were under 13 years old.  What they had in common was a belief that the long-time societal acceptance of hunger could be changed.  

During the month of May we are collecting food for Second Harvest and for families of the Hoover Learning Center.  Please give generously, as you always have.  We will also be learning more about issues related to hunger, like food accessibility and poverty and legislative policy.  Let’s use our collective voice and our actions to help shift our national dialogue.  It can happen.  We need only decide:  ”No more.”

Kim

 (Revelations 7:16-17) 

87 times in the gospels Jesus used the word “follow” when he laid out what he wanted us to do.  Follow.  Not explain, ortheorize, or philosophize.  Those things, while interesting, allow us to keep a distance from Jesus, as if studying him is enough.  Following requires actively responding. Following requires really looking at the ways Jesus lived and died — and then shaping our own lives accordingly.  Early followers referred to this as The Way, and it was a real path for them.

As Christian communities became more settled and structured, and as the Church grew into an institution, the focus shifted.  Creeds and doctrines became more and more important as a means of bringing uniformity to the movement and identifying who was “in” and who was “out.”  What one believed became the litmus test of whether or not one was a true Christian, and thus long Confessions and Credos were taught and memorized, and Christians began to define themselves by the words they said.

Always, however, there were those among us who reminded us of the original call:  to follow Jesus.  From Francis of

Assisi to the nuns on the bus (look them up! http://www.networklobby.org/nuns-bus-trip),

 there have been Christians in our midst whose lives witness to the power of simply following Jesus.  Love God.  Love one another.  Take care of the least among you.  Turn away from the need for power over others, and find a way to serve.  Let go of the desire for more money than you need, and make your treasure count. Choose community over individualism.  It’s a counter-cultural call, because The Way of Jesus is really, truly counter-cultural.  

At our finest, Christian communities help each other to stay true to the call to follow.  Yes, we veer into doctrine and

intellectualism sometimes.  But it is in hearing together the stories of Jesus and sharing together how they have an impact on our lives that we become followers.   

It is a fine thing to be a believer in Christ.  But are you a follower of Jesus?  

May it be so.  Kim