A Summer of Growth: God's Unexpected Discipline

I had so many plans for the summer. Plans of learning new music, practicing a lot to get ahead for the next year, and start preparing for England, but the hand injury completely changed that. As an organist, I had to stop my life, my job, and really do nothing. What could I do? I couldn't play, and I could barely use the hand to do normal every day stuff. It made life difficult, boring, and worthless. It made me feel useless, even with helping out around the Cathedral as much as I could. I told myself I wasn't going to let it bog me down, but it was still troublesome. As I listened and watched Schuyler and Erich play around me for almost three weeks, it was so rough, irritating, and sad. But, in the end, God had some things to teach me, and I learned things about life this summer instead of new music. 

My life was pretty much crazy, running around doing everything, working non-stop. Making time for God was not at the top of my list. Once I injured my hand, I was forced to step back. I had to lean on God, trust that He was going to heal me. Stepping back also forced me to look and observe at what was going on around me. I saw God in Schuyler helping out; the Cathedral, friends, and family praying; and Erich and Kathleen mentoring. I realized how much God was using me and how my life was an offering to others. 

Growing is a part of life, and sometimes we have to experience the roughness to know the other side. He disciplines us, never to hurt us, but that we may know Him better. We all have offerings to make whether in music, art, history, science, philosophy, mechanics, comedy, or christian education. God uses each one of us.  

I remember telling a co-worker at Talbot's at the beginning of my hand injury that this injury happened because God wanted to teach me something. What I had no idea. But, now with fall slowly starting to creep in and as I look back over the summer, I realize that He was teaching me things all summer as long as I took the time to stop and look at what was going on around me. 

One of my favorite verses is Psalm 96:1, "Sing to the Lord a new song, sing to the Lord all the earth." An old music professor once told me that every time you play, sing, and make music it has to be new. It can't just be the same thing every time; try looking at it differently each time. That is what this verse means. Make it new each time. After this summer, I now play a new song to the Lord. He will always be the only One I play for. 

SOLI DEO GLORIA - To God be the Glory

Not-So-Ordinary Time

We are in the middle of the so-called “dog days of summer.”  I never really understood what that meant.  Most dogs I know, including Casey, takes things pretty easy most days.  However, this saying seems to refer to long days, scorching heat, and (in the case of some of us) not enough time to get done everything we want to get done.  Whether it is a job or a house project, I hear so often during this time of year, “There just isn’t enough time.”

In the Church we refer to our current season as Ordinary Time, meaning that we are not in the middle of any particular season of fasting or preparation like, for example, Advent or Lent.  Yet Ordinary Time is not necessarily about simply coasting along.  This season invites us to relax for a few moments, to take things a bit slower than usual, and to (God-willing) apply that same mindset throughout the entire Church year.  If we do so, then we may find that this time is not so ordinary, after all, that the regular routine and the few moments of quiet and prayer can alter our lives and transform our relationships with God and those around us during the entire year and for our entire lives.

But for so many Ordinary Time is busy.  There are Vacation Bible Schools to attend, baseball games to play, vacations to plan, last-minute office work to handle, or college life for which to prepare.  Is this really what we hope is our “ordinary” way of life?  Is being so busy, so hustled, so hurried how we wish to be for the entirety of the year and our lives?  Jesus offers us a different way.  It is not about how much work we can cram into one day, but it is about our relationship with God and one another.  How is your relationship with God?  How is your relationship with your neighbor?  How have you cultivated these relationships during your Ordinary Time?

For Jesus the “ordinary” is not busy or rushed.  For Jesus the “ordinary” involves self-care and, above all, rest.  We need to find time to rest, time to refresh and relax.  We need to find time to talk to God and to one another.  Remember that Jesus often left the loud city of Jerusalem for the quiet of Galilee.  He even slid through the large, frenzied crowds so that he could go away to pray, to be with His Father.  You and I, in this crazy, busy Ordinary Time, are being invited by Jesus to go away and pray, to be with Jesus and with the Father.  The work and the games and the vacation planning will be there when we get back.  But for now, let us go away to a quiet place, to a still space, so that we may hear the voice of God calm us and relax us and remind us that "You are my beloved!  With you I am well pleased!"  When we do so, we can return to our work and games and vacation planning and be more in touch with God and with each other.  Simply put:  we’ll be in a better mood and will be nicer to others, and to ourselves!

So as you continue through this summer and feel beaten back by the heat or the insanity of work and planning, take the time to step back.  Take the time to pray and relax.  Jesus did.  And when you do so, I am betting you’ll find this season is not so “ordinary” after all.  

The Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed.

"The kingdom of God is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches." -Matthew 13:31

In 1881, a plot of land was purchased in Barcelona, Spain to build an expiatory church dedicated to the Holy Family. The first stone was laid in 1882 on the Feast Day of St. Joseph. Designed by Antoni Guadi, it was among his greatest desires to see La Sagrada Familia, The Church of the Holy Family, completed. Gaudi dedicated his life to the construction of the church. In the last few months of his life, he lived in a small room beside the apse. As the work advanced slowly, Gaudi said, "There is no reason to regret that I cannot finish the Church. I will grow old but others will come after me. What must always be conserved is the spirit of the work, but its life has to depend on generations it is handed down to and with whom it lives and is incarnated." Gaudi died in 1926.

You see, The Church of the Holy Family is being built entirely from donations. When it is completed, hopefully in 2030, it will have 18 towers; 12 dedicated to the apostles, 4 to the evangelists, one to Jesus and another to Mary. The eight spires of the Cathedral of La Sagrada Familia loom highest above all other structures in Barcelona. This cathedral, built solely from donations, one coin, one Euro at a time, will be more than 150 years old when it is completed.

When I think about La Sagrada Familia, I cannot help but think about what each of us can do with just a thought, an idea, a perceived need and what we as individuals can do to address that need.  I know I cannot feed all the hungry, but I can help to feed one person here and another person there. Just think of the good work we do as followers of Christ when we provide food at Church Under the Bridge and Room in the Inn. I know I cannot house all the homeless, but I can help to fund and help to build a home as we will do over the next few months through our work on the Habitat House. Isn't that what Jesus calls us to do, to have faith in Him and in our good works so that together we can do great things in the name of God?

We may pass on to life eternal before all our good works are done, but the friuts of those good works will continue. It is up to us to teach our children well so that they too will know to plant their mustard seeds so that through their faith in God, they may create and provide great things to those less fortunate than themselves to the Glory of God.  

In Anticipation of a Day

The beautiful rustic beaches of the Outer Banks will soon be in sight.  The salt air I can almost smell.   As my feet feel the sand between my toes anticipation increases.  Ah – to go to sleep hearing the sound of the surf.  Does the car need to be worked on?  What food will we take with us and what should we just wait and buy when we get there?  The yoga mat can be stuffed between the luggage.  Coming home to another part of me is in the air. A rushing in my body says that something good is near grasping.  I get this feeling as I anticipate my yearly retreat. 

I took my first silent retreat when relief from exhaustion was my only desire rather than any lofty goals.  Rejuvenation arrived on the third day.   I felt rested and ready to return home.  With five more days to go and no place to run, I had only myself to face – the time of hard work had begun.  You see, when one is so busy, she doesn’t face herself at all!  Unaware that paradise surrounded me, I wrestled.  My only desire was to flee, however within 24 hours, I began to know the embrace of an invisible mystery that I had always voiced but never knew at this level of intimacy.  Awakened to this presence, the rest of the retreat was spent in exploring the relationship.

Since that time of retreat, I begin to anticipate several weeks in advance the intimacy of being with this one.  This elusive presence is with us wherever we go.  We are invited in our journeys into new aspects of the relationship as we move from place to place.  A silent retreat is not what I am anticipating now but a time with family.  A time spent with these precious people in a way that cannot be known in my day to day world.  The presence is in the anticipation. 

Notice when joyful anticipation visits you.  You are being called into more of who you are.  You are being called home to your true self.  Glean the gifts of each journey.  Where is the presence in this ordinary day?  Don’t live for tomorrow – the vacation.  You can breathe her in today – in each footstep, conversation, and bite to eat.  Open up and take her in – come home to yourself.