Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Dearest God,

An idea was born yesterday. A simple lunch lead to the fashioning of an idea so crazy as to be clever and profound. Feed the hungry. Howl at the pastor. Fill the house. Heal a member.

I am not a sports fan. I don't get all the hullabaloo surrounding football players chasing after a brown ball, knocking each other down, and celebrating it. I mean these men surely are sore and bruised at the end of the game and they like it. Sounds a little like the lions eating Christians in the Roman Coliseum, well, maybe not that bad. But come on! I don't get it!

But during our lunch I talked about making a "show" of my team spirit. Something, no somethings I am willing to do in order to feed the homeless. Since then it has taken on a life of its own. The Volunteer Corps, the Missions Committee, the Lay Leader, Communications, they'll all be involved. One day - Superbowl Sunday! Someone talked about television, radio, the newspapers.

But the cool thing, the really cool thing was my call to one person, to ask for aid in the project. "Do you know what this means?" He asked me. I didn't know what he was talking about. He went on. My mouth fell open. I said some more. "I can't believe you said that. Do you know that was..." And he explained more. Healing, an in-your-face, I can't believe what you're saying kind of healing. He laughed and thought he would cry. And all this while driving from Indianapolis to Chicago.

What is the deal, Lord? Connecting the dots, rhythms flowing side by side, angels dropping from heaven onto a lunch table. The revelation of God goes beyond way beyond the "norm." You have made it so clear you are mighty, powerful and absolutely outrageous! You have a point to make and you're making it at Bethel. You're bringing people together like a member said to do a couple of weeks ago, "pack the house", he said, "and they'll come!" And in the process a man will be healed.

"Be a fool for Christ!" God said to me. "Be a fool for Christ!" I am a crazy person anyway. People expect me to be silly, on the crazy side. But this, this goes over the top, down the valley and up the top again. And all because I'm willing to be a fool for Christ.

The test is always apparent. What am I willing to do for the man of the cross? What am I willing to say, to be? Where and how am I willing to put my money where my mouth is? How transparent will I become? How far am I willing to go for God?

I have always enjoyed, profoundly so, my dances in the universe with God. Moments where God scoops me in his arms, then begins to lead me around. We dance among the stars, the darkness, the cosmos. Whirling and twirling, for the longest time. I smile, and sometimes laugh so hard. God's sense of humor and amazing love, they go together. I don't know how. I just know they are linked. And when the dance concludes, I know I have been in the surprising presence of the Almighty, Lover of the Soul, my soul.

Something happens inside me when an idea comes because sometimes it is so absurd, so outlandish, so intimate, so utterly abstruse, mysterious, sagacious, penetrating (all words that mean profound). It is perfectly clear that God is the originator of the idea. And what comes out is an amazing journey of faith and hope and promise and beauty and mystery. It's like Adam touching the hand of God for the first time, no, God touching the hand of Adam, the light rays connecting God and the human together, an eternal connection where literally the earth rocks on its axis. God is real, here and now, touching human lives, reaching out, ministering, healing, loving, laughing. A friend, the best!

The song goes, "Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord..."

Gracious and Holy God,
you never cease to amaze me;
your power seeps into the universe,
connecting people together.
Faith is born
or it grows
like a weed on a hot, rainy day.
You capture hearts,
unsuspecting souls,
and you knock them off their feet.
You circle them round,
then sing a love song.
We drop to our knees,
utterly amazed,
filled with hope,
and we too burst into song.
Amazing grace,
how sweet the sound...

Love always, Andrea