Fussy

 This is a picture of me "fussy cutting."  Fussing cutting is when you cut an image up to its edge, very carefully trimming it out of the paper.

I look at the image before I start, and I think how difficult it is going to be to cut out with all of the details the image has.  But then I start, and I just work my way around, a little bit at a time, and eventually, the image is cut out.

Life is like that, isn't it?  Just start. Do a little at a time, a step at a time, and eventually, you will be finished.  And what seemed impossible, is done.

Perspectives: Begin

 

Book Review: Each One A Minister

Information about the book

Each One a Minister: Using God's Gifts for Ministry by William J. Carter.  The book is published by Discipleship Resources.  2002. 

Summary

The book is an exploration of the gifts from God for ministry.  The author begins with a section dedicated to the study of the book of Ephesians.  Part two explores the idea of gifts for ministry - discovering them and deploying them.  Part three is a very practical guide to ministry, and it explores a dozen "types" of ministry and ideas of how to explore them if they are where you are called.

The book is used as the curriculum for the United Methodist Advanced Lay course entitled "Discover Your Spiritual Gifts"

Impressions

The author's goal or theme is not to provide a "test" the reader can take to discover spiritual gifts, but instead to help the read explore the idea of how the gifts can be used for ministry.  The approach is a different one than I expected, but that doesn't change that it is a well constructed approach to something all lay people need to explore as they grow in discipleship.  He makes an important link between the gifts we have received from God and the imperative to use them in ministry.  This is scene in how he refers to spiritual gifts: gifts for ministry.

A few quotes that I especially liked:

• Charistmata are gifts of grace by which people are prepared to do ministry  Those who have been saved by grace are prepared by grace to serve God.  It is all connected.
• We are not only expected to do good deeds but were actually created to accomplish them.
• The absence of good works may be a sign that our faith is not yet fulfilled
• ...gifts are unlimited.  No one has named them all, and perhaps no one should.  Each of us may have the potential for a unique gift simply because each is unique.
• ...that it is the very variety of gifts that makes the body powerful.  Unity does not mean conformity; it means solidarity within diversity.  We all do different things within a single mission.  Oneness is of the overall purpose, not the details.
• To discover the mission of any church, we must discover the gifts of its members.  ministry must be based on the gifts, rather than the gifts forced to fit the ministry defined by a council or denomination.

Posts related to this book

What is the Hill?

Amanda Gorman's poem from the Inauguration is called The Hill  We Climb. 

What is the hill we climb?

Her poem says:

If we're to live up to our own time,

then victory won't lie in the blade.

But in all the bridges we've made,

that is the promise to glade,

the hill we climb.

If only we dare.

The poem begins in the shade, and with a such for light.  It describes  the country in which we live.  In the cadence of the poem we hear about the losses, the catastrophes, and the lack of justice.  She talks about the challenges we face.

And she offers hope.  Hope that we can stop sowing division and stop staring at "what lies between us, but to what lies before us." 

The hill we climb is to leave a better country for our children than the one that we inherited and the one that we have created so far.  And to climb the hill, we must put down the violence with which we confront each other, and build bridges instead.

In that way, we will find the light that always exists - in that way, we will be brave enough to be the light.

Can we do that?

Perspectives: It's the Moon!

 Last Summer, Steve and I were walking along the beach one evening as Caswell Beach, North Carolina.  We turned around to head back to where we were staying, and there was this bright, orange light on the horizon.  Neither one of us could tell what it was.  My first thought was that there was a Ferris wheel somewhere up the beach.  We usually go to Myrtle Beach in the summer, and there is a lighted wheel in the distance at night.   

I finally lifted my camera and zoomed in to see it.  I said, "Steve, it's the moon!"  It was an incredible moon.  I've posted three pictures of it this week.

Our perspective may not lead us to an understanding of what is true.  We need to dig deeper, zoom in, and study.  What we will find will be amzing.

Brave Enough

Yes, I'm still re-reading Amanda Gorman's poem.  I think it's safe to  say that this is not the last post I'll write about it.

The first time I heard it, the lines that I had to write down - right that moment - and that I quoted on Facebook were:

For there is always light,

if only we're brave enough to see it.

If only we're brave enough to be it.

As followers of Christ, we know that there is always light.  And it is true, and part of our confession, that sometimes we do not see it, and sometimes we wait for someone else to be it.  True, isn't it?

Interesting to me the word she uses to describe our action in the lines - brave.  She calls for our bravery.  What does it mean to be brave enough to see the light?  To BE the light?

Christ knew we would be afraid.  And he cautioned us to not hide the light:

“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. 

(Matthew 5:14-16)

In John, in one of the I am statements, Jesus says he is the light of the world.  That helps me understand that the light inside of me is created by God.  The light that I need to be brave enough to share is God's light.  And Christ told us that the rule of life we must follow is to love God and to love our neighbor (I'm paraphrasing). 

So, we are called, aren't we, to be the light of love?  Are we brave enough to love?  Not just the family member, not just the friend, not just the people we like, but the people who don't love us back?

Next time, we'll talk about the hill we climb, and what that means to me. 

The Obstacle

I hope you watched Amanda Gorman's poem at the inauguration.  If you haven't, you can go back one post on my blog to find the embedded video. 

I was so impressed with her writing, her delivery, and her presence.  And that was before I found out she has struggled with learning and speech challenges. The Today show says, "Gorman, a recent graduate of Harvard University, and her twin sister were born prematurely, and according to a 2018 interview with Understood, Gorman was diagnosed with an auditory processing disorder in kindergarten and has struggled with speech articulation throughout her life. She describes it as "dropping a whole swatch of letters in the alphabet."  She was unable to pronounce the letter R until 2-3 years ago. 

Now look at this quote from the poem:

Every breath from my bronze-pounded chest,

we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one.

We will rise from the gold-limbed hills of the west.

We will rise from the windswept northeast,

where our forefathers first realized revolution.

We will rise from the lake-rimmed cities of the midwestern states.

We will rise from the sunbaked south.

We will rebuild, reconcile and recover.

Notice all the R's.

There is a Zen Proverb that says, "Obstacles don't block the path. They are the path."  Would you choose your path to be overcoming a speech and auditory issue?  No.  But when the obstacle is there, overcoming it becomes the path.

What obstacles are in your way? Do you choose to stop walking the path? Or do you choose to make them the path? 

(Please note - I don't think every obstacles is a path that must be taken - sometimes God leads us a whole different way.  But my thoughts today are about using the obstacle as the excuse instead of the path.)