Drinking Wine on Sunday

Don't tell my mom, I've been drinking wine on Sunday.  That was the funny thought that went through my head, sitting beside a friend who knew my parents, at St Benedict's Table.  It's an Anglican church with a twist, original music played by emerging musicians and litergy that goes to the soul.  The part I love best is communion.  We gather in a circle at the front and are given specially baked bread and red wine from a common cup.  It is meaningful and cleansing and I walk away in awe that He has offered himself again (and again, and again....) for me and my chaotic realm of unbelief and mistrust.  Again, I trust, again I believe and walk into my week reminded, forgiven and renewed.  His grace is sufficient, His mercy never ending.

You know I am a preacher man, with passion, wine and bread;
I call the people of the town down to the river bed
You know the Lord forgives and He lives in you today
So meet me at the river...
I'll wash your sins away

Some say I'm a prophet, I wear a camel for a dress
I eat honey & bugs; I am "the voice crying in the wilderness"
But I play second fiddle in the middle of the lake
So meet me at the river...
I'll wash your sins away

History books are filled with miracles of mine
I have walked on water and turned that water into wine;
But there is still one miracle that blows them all away
Meet me at the river and I'll wash you sins away
(St. Ben's song tonite)

AMEN!!

Eight Parts Chicken, Phoney, Slob

"The gospel is bad news before it is good news. It is the news that man is a sinner, to use the old word, that he is evil in the imagination of his heart, that when he looks in the mirror all in a lather what he sees is at least eight parts chicken, phony, slob. That is the tragedy. But it is also the news that he is loved anyway, cherished, forgiven, bleeding to be sure, but also bled for. That is the comedy. And yet, so what? So what if even in his sin the slob is loved and forgiven when the very mark and substance of his sin and of his slobbery is that he keeps turning down the love and forgiveness because he either doesn’t believe them or doesn’t want them or just doesn’t give a damn? In answer, the news of the gospel is that extraordinary things happen to him just as in fairy tales extraordinary things happen. … Lear goes berserk on a heath but comes out of it for a few brief hours every inch a king. Zaccheus climbs up a sycamore tree a crook and climbs down a saint. Paul sets out a hatchet man for the Pharisees and comes back a fool for Christ. It is impossible for anybody to leave behind the darkness of the world he carries on his back like a snail, but for God all things are possible. That is the fairy tale. All together they are the truth.”

The "best ever" quote I have read in a loooonnnnnnggggg time.  By Fredrick Buechner.  "But for God, all things are possible!!" 

Changes

In a slipping funk again, the silence of God ringing in my ears, a song that Steve Bell sings by Jim Croegaert, snagged my attention this morning and I grab hold for Hope....

Changes coming upon us
It keeps moving, moving around us
Got to keep dancing knowing who loves us
 Got to keep joy in our hearts

He knows all of our needs and
He will meet them following his plan
Even the changes turning in his hand
Soon will be part of it all

So we enter a new time
There are places where it's a hard climb
But there are faces carrying sunshine
Warming our path as we go

Sometimes we may be lonely
It's a hard job making us holy
But in the long run there will be glory
Glory to rival the sun