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FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH OF FRANKFORT, MI

08/15/21 Sunday sermon

8/17/2021

First Congregational Church
August 15, 2021
12th Sunday after Pentecost
Proverbs 9:1-6, John 6:51-58
“What That Other Person Said”
Rev. Dinah Haag, preaching

Just a side-note that although two scripture passages are listed, we will be using just the one from John.
The more “mature” I become, the more I realize that growing up at 214 S. Austin in Litchfield, MN was lack-luster. Dad trucked during the week, mom worked full-time as a bookkeeper during the day, when we were maybe nine or ten years old, and by the time August came around, we were at the pinnacle of boredom. One can only ride your bike around the same city block so many times in a day and the good programs on tv didn’t really start until 3:00. There were moments of inspiration, when the tool shed would get cleaned out or used as a spaceship when you climbed up on it, and the odd swimming or art class would help with morning entertainment.
Little did I know that had there been Best Western hotels back then, we could have called them, and when they answered “Best Western,” we could have said, “True Grit” and hung up, except that I never saw True Grit until I was an adult. I could have been having the time of my life, memorizing six pages from a dictionary, learning next to nothing.
Or if we’d grown up in any other state, we could have conspired to swap the labels on our mom’s spice rack, although we’d have known that our thyme was cumin. There would not have been any joy with this in Minnesota, since the only real spices we grew up with were salt and pepper and sometimes cinnamon - because, you know, Scandinavian.
It wasn’t boredom that played a big part of this morning’s message, as much as when I read the gospel passage, I thought, “Seriously?!” Today’s passage follows last week’s, in which Jesus was talking about being the Bread of Life. And when you hear it, if you recall last week’s passage, I’m going to guess that today’s will sound much like last week’s. And sure, last week we had communion, so it fit in nicely, but I was really wondering about what more could be said about this Bread Discourse that would keep all of us glued to every word.
And in equal unexcitement, the epistle passages from last week to this week are quite similar, too. But if God’s got something to say, then it behooves us to give God a chance.
John 6:51-58 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” 52 Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”
Thank you, Sonia. I’m guessing I’m not the only one who has had an experience of frustration coming close to tearing hair out in trying to come up with something good - whether it be picking the right birthday card or finding your next vehicle. And then, just like that, something catches your eye, and the realm of possibility opens like magic.
In this week’s case, it was the Rev. Dr. Janet H. Hunt, Lutheran pastor from the realm of northern Illinois and the beginning sentence of a blog she posted in 2015. “Every time I travel to Minneapolis, I do all I can to make time to drop in at my favorite used bookstore.”
Oh my goodness! Did she mix up Minneapolis and St. Paul, because there was the one on the corner of University Avenue that was so old and so unique and millions of people must have gone through the doors of that incredibly busy section of town. Or maybe it was the one on Grand Avenue, the children’s bookstore just off Summit Avenue that was in the cool part of town, nestled next to the mini castles and mansions from the lumber and railroad eras. Or maybe it was St. Patrick’s Guild and even though it’s a Catholic bookstore, they have the most gorgeous, rich, beautiful stoles and robes and high church items. Before you know it, that one sentence has taken you down a rabbit hole of memories that you hadn’t expected, and discovered a lovely little surprise in the course of a regular day, that you didn’t realized you remembered, just because of “What That Other Person Said.”
Rev. Hunt never did reveal the name of the bookstore, but the big treasure for her on one particular day was all of $3.50, entitled, “Sourdough Breads and Coffee Cakes: 104 Recipes Using Homemade Starters by Ada Lou Roberts, published in 1967. It seems that it wasn’t any one particular recipe, but the history of bread that caught Rev. Hunt’s attention, and mine, and maybe yours.
Forgive my Scottish pronunciations. The fine, white bread in Scotland known as "manchet," was reserved for royalty and the great landlords. "Cheat," was the second finest grade, for the upper-class tradesmen. "Raveled" bread was made from the whole grain flour just as it came from the mill to be consumed by the country folk and villagers just above the servant class. "Mashloch" was baked for the very poor and the servants. It contained only coarse bran mixed with rye. And isn’t there great irony that the grains used in the bread for the lower classes were actually better for a person than the more refined flour enjoyed by the privileged?
Even for the gluten-sensitives, I hope that somewhere in your store of mental floppy disks there is a memory of a bread - flat or raised, gummy processed white or any of the beautiful colors of other grained breads, that is swirling in your head like a good cinnamon and raisin swirl. Because it’s so true, that there’s nothing like a smell to bring back a memory. And had it not been for “what that Rev. Hunt person said,” that caused a slight memory chase - a little off course, that memory might not have been recalled today, accompanied by the smile I see on faces with your own memories.
Rev. Hunt then spoke of the insight that came out of a sourdough starter that ended up in the back of her fridge for a few weeks, unfed and unattended. If sourdough is left on the counter - for easy access, it has to be fed twice a day: in the fridge, just once a day, although it can go for a week. And to feed sourdough, you throw away all but a 1/2 cup, give it a 1/2 cup of room temperature water and a little under 1 cup of flour and mix it all up. When it grows to twice it’s size, it’s ready to use.
The starter that Rev. Hunt forgot about in her busyness? When she finally peeked into the crock all the way in the back of the fridge, she said it wasn’t pretty, and she even considered throwing it all out and starting over. But she did what she was supposed to do, discarding all but a 1/2 cup and fed it with new water and flour. After stirring and letting it sit, she fed it again, stirred and let it sit. The resiliency of bread resulted not only in the starter surviving, but thriving. In Christ, a little can do a lot. In Christ, his living and dying and rising reminds us that life triumphs over death, even when it seems impossible. And in Christ, what can look like a disaster ought not be casually tossed aside, because in Christ, possibilities are endless.
Rev. Hunt was told that the starter she uses has been nurtured and passed down for more than 300 years. That Rev. Hunt person inferred the idea of imagining how many generations the starter was used for the bread that fed the people of the Bible - from the beginning to the very moment that preceded the passages for today.
When the Israelites were escaping the Pharaoh of Egypt and the Angel of Death, they didn’t have time for waiting on rising bread. So the manna that God gave them may have been a little lack-luster, long about week five or six or one hundred or week five hundred or week two thousand eighty four of the two thousand eighty five they spent in the desert - or thereabouts.
Even after they settled into the promised land, and maybe found some bread starter in their new home, it wouldn’t be like it was in Egypt, because yeast takes on different flavors depending where it’s nurtured, just like us. We may start in a Methodist setting, or a Catholic one, or an Orthodox one, and when we come to this particular container of God’s family, we tend to take on a little different flavor than our brothers and sisters at Trinity Lutheran, St. Andrew Presbyterian or even Benzonia Congregational. And different flavors of understanding and practicing faith isn’t bad or good. They’re just different and God loves us all the same.
Then, of course, the starter that was brought to this community, over 150 years ago, has been fed by each subsequent generation, as we feed the next ones. Painting the bottom of the church is not all about aesthetics, but also about “feeding” the starter that will be used in future generations. Signing up for treats after church isn’t about the treats, but about feeding the future generations, giving them connections and contacts and context to come back, and even bringing others with them, even after some of those present today will have gone on to eternal life.
It wasn’t something that that other person said, but something that I actually thought of. I’m guessing that we don’t often think about bread before it’s baked - the air bubbles, the sticky, tacky texture some sorts have. Or that different doughs need different attention. Many needing to be kneaded do better with human hands rather than metal machines. Some need rest before baking. Even if there is no sugar in them, they definitely do better with a little salt to be satisfying. Isn’t it remarkable how much bread is like humans?
That idea of bread needing to be kneaded, the human interaction of it, the molding and shaping of it, add that as an overlay to the scene with the 5,000 plus on a hillside on a regular old day in August or October or whenever it took place all those centuries ago, and that “miracle” is more organic and connected and life-giving that we may give it at a first glance. Then you add all that onto Christ’s identity as the living bread, it’s way deeper than a good many of us ever realize.
“What that Other Person Said,” as so often in life, can take us places we may never have anticipated. How mystical and mighty the words we utter, that can lead people down rabbit holes of memory and nurture and life. Which is cause for us to rise up in with the yeast of prayer.
Holy God of life - of all sorts - how rich we are - surrounded by all the ways you give us to see you in this world. Help us to override boredom with insight, apathy with wisdom and insensitivity with delicacy. Forgive us when we fail to allow people to rise to their potentials in the words or action we use that hold the potential to raise up or crush out the air of hope. Thank you for the rabbit holes of memories that can brighten our days and allow us breaks we didn’t know we needed. Help us to be generous with what we say, that more of your people can feed more of your people. For all the bread you have passed down to us, and for all that we will assist in handing out, all your people say, Amen.

08/08/21 Sunday sermon

8/17/2021

First Congregational Church
August 8, 2021
11th Sunday after Pentecost and Communion
John 6:41-51, Ephesians 4:25-5:2
“Out of the Mouths of Grace”
Rev. Dinah Haag, preaching

It’s always interesting to see how a change of direction on life’s journey can lead to places we’d never thought we’d encounter. Not being able to go fishing at the go-to place in Canada for the second year in a row allowed me to experience Couch Church, watching in pajamas and coffee, just like so many of you have done. And I’ve got to say, I understand the temptation.
Being in the U.S., with television reception during an Olympics year, with no regular bedtimes allowed me, like so many of you, to learn new lingo, like sail fish five, kick flip 540 and allie oop three over the hip. And if you don’t recognize those terms, they belong to the new competition addition of skateboarding.
Or these terms: knee scumming, pistol squat and bouldering - which come from? Sport climbing - another new addition. And had I been in Canada, with no internet or outside news, I would have missed the best of Olympic commercials - the one with the cat that fetches sticks, herds cattle, and goes out in a fishing boat for the ad about the Chevy Silverados. It IS an amazing cat - regardless of what the pick-up guy says.
The gospel passage for this morning has a lot of Christianese lingo - words and symbolisms that can be off-putting if you really think about them. Bread from heaven. Seeing God. Eating of bread that leads to living forever. Odd phrases.
It is more salient, remembering that right before the gospel passage, Jesus had just lead the huge miracle of feeding 5,000, plus women and children, with plenty of leftovers. Then he walked across the water to the disciples, during a rough storm, and in the morning, the crowds wondered and marveled at how that could have happened, being that there was only one boat, and no one saw Jesus get in it. Then right before this passage, the crowd asks for other miracles, to which Jesus answered that he is the Bread of Life.
John 6:41-51 Paul Robinson 41 At this the Jews there began to grumble about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?” 43 “Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus answered. 44 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’[a] Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me. 46 No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. 47 Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. 50 But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
Like so much of what Jesus taught, his reference to bread was not multi-grained, but multi-layered. The first layer is, of course, that Christ came to give his life for us so that we could understand the bigger idea of God’s grand plan for our eternal life. But then there is the comparison of Jesus’ death and resurrection to wheat being crushed and remade into a life-giving form we call flour. And it’s the same with grapes and wine - or juice - crushing and remaking into something new. All the instances: Jesus, bread, grapes, lead to transformations far greater than if left alone, for the benefit of our body, mind and soul.
God could have chosen other ways to extend God’s grace and love to us, or chosen not to give any of it to us. And it’s so easy, being human, to get caught up in the daily aspects of our lives, that we forget about what a huge gift it is - all this that God has given us. When we are cognizant of the immense gift(s) we’ve been given, how do we react? Our second scripture passage gives us some rather ingenious ideas.
Ephesians 4:25-5:2 Mary Osborn 25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. 26 “In your anger do not sin”[a]: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold. 28 Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need. 29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. 1 Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Thank you, Mary. I have to say, it was rather tempting to drop the mic at that point and walk away, letting those words have the last say. But that would be missing an opportunity to embrace another of those gifts of grace through our Lord’s Supper.
One of the Reformed theologians referred to The Lord’s Supper as “spiritual food and drink for the time between” Christ’s first and second comings. We partake of Christ’s holy gifts so that we can edify and elevate the world around us with grace, seeing beyond the surface of life, because we see the face of Christ in every person who is poor, ill, naked or in prison - which, of course - is all of us at one point or another in one manner or another.
From the mission of the gospel passage - to bring life - to the implementation of the letter from Ephesians - to choose a lifestyle that brings even greater life - we have this multi-layered food of distinction.
It’s so simple, you can take it with you to the beach, especially since beverages come in more portable containers these days. And yet, it has the flavors of thanksgiving, illumination like the disciples realizing Christ in their presence at that shore breakfast after his resurrection, eternal and unending nourishment, a testimony of our unity and fellowship as Christ’s church, as a seal on our relationship in covenant with God - and more. The complexity of aroma and harmony and incorporation is practically culinary-inducing.
In our rush-about, fast-paced, instant-satisfaction world, I wonder how many of us take a little time to think about really, seriously changing ourselves for the better. We hear often enough, that we aren’t getting old, we’re getting better. But I’m talking about something more specific. What is - I’m not going to say “if” because we all have something on which we can work - what is the one thing - even a little thing - that you can work on, to become a better person - for God - out of gratitude for all that God has done for you? (pause)
We don’t need to broadcast this goal, because the one who really matters in seeing the results of it is God, and God already knows. So how are you going to go about this one thing? Will you need to do some “re-dos” - even stopping in mid-sentence or mid-action - to back up and take another path or move or voice? Will you need to decide to give up something to which you cling, so that you will discover the far greater and life-giving thing just around the corner? Might you need to practice seeing to see or hearing to hear? Might we all need to yearn more to transform the expression, “Out of the mouths of babes,” to the reality and life of “out of the mouths of grace?” As we allow our hearts to prepare for our Lord’s Supper, let us bring our freedom of choice in becoming greater partners in Christ’s mission to the table.
Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper You will want to open the smaller end of the cup combination first. You may also wish to partake of the bread together, symbolizing our unity, and then to drink from the cup as you feel lead, in acknowledgment of God’s love for the unique you. This is an open table and all are always welcome.
Let us pray. God of all time and all life, thank you for that with which you’ve blessed us - especially for that which is so much greater than we often realize. Thank you for giving us second, third and even infinite chances to live our best lives, even to bringing others closer into relationship with you. As iron sharpens iron, sharpen our own abilities to put aside that which takes away or shatters life, to be able to be what you have seen in us from so long ago. Thank you for our mission and helping us to bring about the best fulfillment to all the aspects that this journey has for us. And all your people say, Amen.

08/01/21 Pastor on vacation

8/17/2021

07/25/21 Pastor on vacation

8/17/2021

07/18/21 Sunday sermon

8/17/2021

First Congregational Church
July 18, 2021
8th Sunday after Pentecost
Mark 6:30-34
“Needing”
Rev. Dinah Haag, preaching

Ole challenged Sven to an all-day wood chopping contest. Ole worked very hard, stopping only for a brief lunch break. Sven had a leisurely lunch and took several breaks during the day. At the end of the day, Ole was surprised and annoyed to find that Sven had chopped substantially more wood than he had. "I don't get it," he said. "Every time I checked, you were taking a rest, yet you chopped more wood than I did.” "But you didn't notice," said Sven, "that I was sharpening my ax when I sat down to rest.”
This morning’s scripture is actually two pieces that bookend the famous feeding of the 5,000. I’m not sure why the lectionary people decided to put these two pieces together, although I have tried to pull tighter the common thread between them.
A point to keep in mind is that between these two sections, a lot happened: evening fell, the 5,000 were fed and everyone likely slept in the overnight hours.
I think it’s important to remember that, although I’ve yet to figure out how long they had been doing it, Jesus had sent the twelve disciples out to preach and teach, two by two. They weren’t to take any baggage or luggage with them, no money or food. They could take a staff and wear sandals, but that was it; completely at the mercy of strangers, all while telling the people about Jesus and his authority, power and all the other strange but true things about the Son of God.
Regardless of the length of time that they were to do this sort of “work,” they had to have been exhausted. Even if all the disciples were extroverts, this mission work was different and required energy that they didn’t regularly use - on the move, calling people to repentance, casting out demons, anointing the sick. It was work they had never done before. And then, right before this passage, regardless of how well they knew him or not, John the Baptist had been murdered, so there was likely some emotional heaviness with the apostles, too.
Mark 6:30-34 30 The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. 31 Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” 32 So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. 33 But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. 34 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things. - 53 When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret and anchored there. 54 As soon as they got out of the boat, people recognized Jesus. 55 They ran throughout that whole region and carried the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. 56 And wherever he went—into villages, towns or countryside—they placed the sick in the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.
Thank you, Kevin. I came across an illustration by Chuck Swindoll that brought out the crowds of these passages. It was about a research psychologist at the National Institute of Mental Health who was concerned about the stresses of modern life and was convinced he could prove his theory from a cage full of mice.
Dr. John Calhoun built a nine-foot square cage for his eight mice, designed to contain comfortably a population of 160 mice. He allowed the mice to grow, however, to a population of 2200. They were not deprived of any of life's necessities except privacy--no time or space to be all alone. Food, water, and other resources were always clean and in abundance. A pleasant temperature was maintained. No disease was present. All mortality factors (except aging) were eliminated. The cage, except for its overcrowded condition, was ideal for the mice.
The population reached its peak at 2200 after about two-and-a-half years. Since there was no way for the mice to physically escape from their closed environment, Dr. Calhoun was interested in how they would handle themselves. Interestingly, as the population reached its peak, the colony of mice began to disintegrate. Strange things started happening.
The males who had protected their territory withdrew from leadership. The females became aggressive and forced out the young . . . even their own offspring. The young grew to be only self-indulgent. They ate, drank, slept, groomed themselves, but showed no normal aggression and, most noteworthy, failed to reproduce. After five years, every mouse had died. This occurred despite the fact that right up to the end there was plenty of food, water, and an absence of disease.
Jesus called his disciples to “Come with me by yourselves and rest.” It’s interesting that we work, work, work to retire, retire, retire. And yet, whenever I hear someone say that they are retiring to Benzie County, I have to smile inside, because they never get to the rocking chairs on the front porch. They are often just as busy as they were before, but now they don’t get a paycheck.
It’s interesting that we don’t know what Jesus did while the disciples were out doing their thing, two by two. At least in this brain, the most logical thing is that he was resting, so that when the disciples were resting, Jesus was ready to take over for them with the crowds that were following them. Whether it actually happened that way or not, theoretically, at least, it has to be true, because we all need time to rest, including Jesus.
In the last part of the passage for today, there is still the factor of the crowd, but this part contains the sick being brought to Jesus, if for but the touch of the hem of his tunic. It’s not the need for rest, but the need to be made well and whole again.
David G. Rogne tells the story of a photographer who walked down the street one day and came upon a man who was choking. "What a picture," he thought. "This says it all: A man, alone, in need. What a message!" He fumbled for his camera and light meter until the poor fellow who was choking realized that help was not coming. He grabbed the photographer's arm and gasped, "I'm turning blue!" "That's all right," said the photographer, patting the fellow's hand, "I'm shooting color film.”
The connecting thread, I think, is that we have certain needs, which are not the same as wants, that need meeting. The thing is, we aren’t always so good at asking for what we need. And when we don’t ask for or get the things we need, we miss so much more.
There is an ancient legend about a monk who found a precious jewel. A short time later, the monk met a traveler, who said he was hungry and asked the monk if he would share some of his provisions. When the monk opened his bag, the traveler saw the precious stone and, on an impulse, asked the monk if he could have it. Amazingly, the monk gave the traveler the stone.
The traveler departed quickly, overjoyed with his new possession. However, a few days later, he came back, searching for the monk. He returned the stone to him and made a request: "Please give me something more valuable, more precious than this stone. Please give me that which enabled you to give me this precious stone!” When we are hangry, hungry to the point of getting angry, we sometimes fail to see the greater wealth that is available to us, that is ours to give away, since all we have comes from God to begin with.
Samuel D. Zumwalt tells the story about his days as a young seminarian. His pastoral supervisor in fieldwork parish reminded him that the word “pastor” means shepherd. But then he said, “The people already have a Good Shepherd in Jesus.” He said it was as English mystic Evelyn Underhill had written some time before, that the best that could be said of clergy is that we are sheepdogs. Sometimes we do a good job helping the Good Shepherd, and sometimes we just bark a lot and cause general confusion among the flock.
And sometimes it’s not just the clergy. A man went to church one Sunday, but he forgot to switch off his phone and it accidentally rang in the church, during prayer. The pastor scolded him. The worshipers admonished him after prayers for interrupting the silence. His wife kept on lecturing him and his carelessness all the way home. One could see the shame, embarrassment and humiliation on his face. After all this, he never step foot in the church again.
That evening, he went into a bar. He was still nervous and trembling. He spilled his drink on the table by accident. The waiter apologized and gave him a napkin to clean himself. The janitor mopped the floor. The manager offered him a complementary drink, gave him a huge hug and a peck on his cheek while saying, "Don't worry man. Who doesn't make mistakes?" The man hasn’t stopped going to that bar since then. Sometimes not paying attention to our need for listening to what God needs of us causes us to become ignorant of our damage-ability.
There was a meme on Facebook this week from Lori Deschene. Practice the pause. Pause before judging. Pause before assuming. Pause before accusing. Pause whenever you're about to react harshly and you'll avoid doing and saying things you later regret.
Another one, on Marijke Church’s page, said, “The next time you feel sad, put away your devices and go and sit by the river. Let it heal you. Go and walk in the forest, the trees will listen. Let the elements hold you. This life is fleeting. Let us tread lightly. We do not own any of it.
When the disciples came back from their outside-the-box-of-their-normal-day work as missionaries, Jesus didn’t send them back right away to do more more. He had them create a little space for themselves so they could gear up for the next part of their journey. After the past year and a half, we have a lot of folks around us that are sort of doing that very thing, taking time to regenerate and rejuvenate.
Those of us who live full-time in bustling Benzie County will do well to remember that just as much as we need our time out, so do those who come here looking for that same time out. When we get to our time out, those who have been able to do so will be able to give us the space we need to do likewise.
A story is told about some African workers who were hired to carry heavy equipment on their backs to a remote outpost. It was a place that couldn't be reached any other way but on foot. After several days of difficult travel, the workers refused to pick up their packs and go any further. They sat by the side of the trail ignoring the shouts of the leader of the expedition. Finally the leader asked why they wouldn't go on. One of the workers replied, "Sir, we are waiting for our souls to catch up with our bodies.” Let us start the catching up of our souls with our bodies as we pray.
Holy God, we are awed by the critically important work you give us, even when it wearies us to the bone. In the days and time you give us to come away from it all, help us to realize that giving time or taking time is not so much greed as it is needful. Remind us that in taking time to rest and rejuvenate is sharpening our senses for more efficient and easier work in your kingdom, both in ourselves and others. Help us to find the time away, not as distance and alienation, but restoration and filling up. And in the rest and healing, may we find the wisdom of the river, the humility of the grass, the patience of the mountain and the generosity of the trees. May the fresh breeze of hope bless all of us, as we all say, Amen.