Friday, February 19, 2016
VIDEO
He has thrown me into the mud. I’m nothing more than dust and ashes. Job 30:19 (NLT)
Most
events at church will warm our hearts; at other times what happens can light-up
the soul. A preacher (friend of a
friend) on a Facebook post last week, the day after Ash Wednesday service,
shared one of those “electric” moments.
Here’s her post:
Now,
you know that was good-natured teasing about the Taser!
Another
round of dust, ashes and electricity, please – well, isn’t that what we
do? Every year?
Job
felt God had abandoned him – even worse, thrown him back to the mud from which
he’d been created. The dust had all but
returned to the dust, and Job experienced first-hand what we shoot for when we cover
our foreheads with ashes on that Wednesday in bleak mid-winter; that we, too,
are vulnerable – just bits of electricity flowing between the dust of creation
and the ashes of mortality. Pastor Nancy’s
church member just got a little “extra jolt” of
remembrance.
That
we sometimes miss the mark with what we do is evidenced by the man’s wife asking
for a little higher voltage on the next round!
(Insert smiley face here!)
Church
can be pretty tame when we stick to the printed program and stay in our
seats. Usually the “electric” moments
come when we’re moving around and get close to one another. I can easily think of at least a dozen or so
memorable moments centered on baptism or communion, when children
get near a chalice full of grape juice…or even comments at the back door when
the service is over.
I
baptized a rather large man by immersion one time, and he got a little frantic
going under the water. He nearly pulled
me under with him, along with my wired microphone. I could have been Tasered and
drowned in the same church event!
Things
happen when you get close!
And
that may be the rub about Lent; the sparks can fly when we begin to get as close
to God as we say is our intention.
For You Today
So, were there “sparks” last
Wednesday as you stood close enough for the preacher to dab ashes on your
face?
If not, there’s still time
left in Lent to invite God to charge the Taser for your next round.
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