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First Congregational

United Church of Christ

... exploring the frontiers of faith in Jesus

lenten bannerLenten Thoughts from the Parish Nurse

Saturday, Day 40

Who is Jesus?

I say ......
He is the Son of God.
He came to earth to die for the sins of mankind.
He was perfect.
He lived a sinless life on earth.
He healed the sick.
He raised the dead.
He taught men how to live.
He taught them about God.
Jesus is - the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

HE is the Great I AM.

It has been a joy to share my thoughts with you this Lenten season.
May you worship Jesus by faith and ask him to reign in your Heart forever.

Sally Walker, RN CPN
Parish Nurse
First Congregational Church UCC of Waterloo, Iowa

Friday, Day 39

Who do you say I AM? What is your answer?

Is your answer ... "I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God"?

Here is what C. S. Lewis would say about that answer:

A man who said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a Great Moral Teacher. He would either be Lunatic - on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg - or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make you choice, either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a Madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a Great Human Teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.

Now what do you say?

Thursday, Day 38

Day 8

THE TOMB IS EMPTY!

Jesus was put to death by crucifixion.
He was buried in the tomb of a man named Joseph, from Arimathea.
The tomb was found empty within days of his burial.
After his resurrection, Jesus appeared to a variety of people.
The disciples went forth to spread Jesus’ message to the world.

Who was this man called Jesus?

Wednesday, Day 37

Day 7

The Christ Light has been snuffed out.
Jesus lies dead. His body sealed in a Guarded tomb.
The earth is plunged into darkness.
It is over.

For me, today my soul is empty. I feel what my life would be like if
I did not believe. Oh, the world is so empty, so bleak, so meaningless
for me. No purpose, no direction, no reason.

I just exist!

Tuesday, Day 36

DAY 6
Jesus is humiliated
Jesus is scorned
Jesus is ridiculed
Jesus is spat upon
Jesus is whipped
Jesus is tortured

... it should have been ME!

Jesus feels the weight of the wood beams
Jesus feels sword and nail pierce the flesh
Jesus feels the weight of the world
Jesus feels the agony
Jesus feels abandoned
Jesus feels HIS life blood spill out

... it was in place of ME!

skw-2008

Monday, Day 35

FIVE DAYS before Darkness

Day 1
Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. A large crowd was in Jerusalem for Passover. They heard that Jesus was coming and they took palm branches and went out to greet him. (John 12:12-13)

Day 2
Jesus runs the merchants out of the temple. They were selling things and Jesus told them, "The Scriptures say: 'My house should be a place of worship.' But you have made it a place where robbers hide." Thus begins ... the chief priests who taught the Law of Moses and other important people began to fear Jesus' power of the people and his teachings of a "new way of life." (Luke 19:45-48)

Day 3
Conflicts in the temple. The Pharisees (honored & powerful people within the Jewish community) got together with Herod's followers and they tried to trick Jesus into saying something wrong. They asked, "Should we pay taxes to the Emperor or not?" Jesus knew what they were up to and told them to look at a coin. He asked whose picture and name were on it? Jesus stated, "Give the Emperor what belongs to him and give God what belongs to God." (Mark 12:13-17)

... which is Our very life.

Day 4
The chief priests and the teachers of the Law of Moses plot for Jesus' death because they are afraid of "change" and a new way of thinking. (Mark 14:1-2)

Day 5
The Disciples and Jesus gather for what will be the last supper they will eat together on this earth. Jesus knows he will soon die. He uses bread to symbolize his body and wine to symbolize his blood. He instructs his disciples to partake of bread and wine whenever they assembly in the future to honor his memory and to renew their commitment to be disciples and to take HIS teachings out into God‘s world so all may know THE WORD ...

... and recognize their Oneness with all the Universe.

Jesus is Arrested

Saturday, Day 34

Holy Week comes.

I pray the prayer Jesus taught us ...

THE LORD’s PRAYER
Our Father in heaven,
Help us to honor your name.
Come and set up your kingdom
So that everyone on earth will obey you,
As you are obeyed in Heaven.

Give us our food for today.
Forgive us for doing wrong,
As we forgive others.
Keep us from being tempted,
And protect us from evil.

Friday, Day 33

The great I AM

When God commanded Moses to lead Israel out of slavery in Egypt, Moses asked what God’s name was. God replied, “Tell them that the LORD, whose name is “I AM”, has sent you.” (Exodus 3:13-15)

Jesus shows that he has been in God’s plan from the beginning when he said: “Even before Abraham was, I was, and I am.” (John 8-58)

From the first moment I AM came into my heart and mind I have loved it.

"I AM the light for the world" ... "I AM the good shepherd"

There have been times in my life that I have been so frightened that I am numb and I can’t even think. Times like being wheeled down the hall to the Operating Room..

It is in times like these that I calm myself by simply turning my hand over so that my palm is turned toward heaven. I take deep breathes and I surrender to the great I AM. Calm flows over me and through me like a gentle wave and together WE face the future.

Thursday, Day 32

Wednesday, Day 31

I have said before that FAITH is an action word and so is JOY.

Joy results from living your life with Purpose, Loving everyone, and allowing the Good that comes from God to overflow. What is special about JOY is that it is an "inside job." Share this Joy with everyone you meet today. Joy is your birthright as a Child of God. No matter what is happening today YOU are a fountain of Joy.

Tuesday, Day 30

FORGIVENESS

For = away

+

gifan = to give

Forgiveness is the most selfish act in the world, but few people realize this. Our pastor, Tim Ensworth, read a poem last Tuesday night that I have been thinking about. It was about receiving and giving God’s gifts.

Forgiveness is the most selfish act in the world, but few people know this. What we do when we forgive is give away whatever we were holding to ourselves too closely. When I forgive, I forgive you, I set myself free and what you do or don't do is no longer of concern to me.

Remember the only one hurt by carrying a long-term grudge is the person carrying the grudge.

Monday, Day 29

I have my "feelings" hurt this week. What are "feelings?" True feelings are not what we have come to understand as emotion. Emotion is more often our reactions to our feelings. Susan Corso in GOD’S DICTIONARY: Divine Definitions for Everyday Enlightenment states "feelings" are either sad, mad, bad, glad and any other "feeling" simply falls under those four rhyming categories.

Corso states "we are inclined to dismiss our feelings as less valid than our thoughts. We have to remember that God gave us both channels for a reason."

Thank God for your Feelings. Ask God to help you honor your true feelings today and everyday. Pray to help you let go of your reactions to your feelings and just allow them to be.

Saturday, Day 28

I was reading today ...

There was a mid-west hospital that thought their fire-fighting equipment had never been connected to the city’s water main. For 35 years patients and medical staff had felt safe when they looked at those brightly polished brass valves and outlets ... yet the security of all this expert fire-fighting technology was an illusions ... for it wasn’t connected to water at all.

I got to thinking ...

I get that same sense of security when I look at a cross ... but the issue isn't whether images of the cross are connected to Christ and his rebirth, but rather how am I connected to the cross!

Friday, Day 27

The Roman cross was once a shocking hideous image. When I look at a cross it makes me feel so safe, loved and secure. I usually wear a cross around my neck. Whenever my fingers touch this piece of gold, I am instantly soothed in calming grace.

Thursday, Day 26

I was just reading one of my favorite authors Joyce Rupp and I got to thinking ...

God, am I listening to you closely enough? Am I doing your work in the world today? If I need a bit of "fine tuning" will you please wrap your kind arms around me and whisper in my ear this time? I have experienced your shouting in my spiritual ear and have had you trip me up so that I had to fall headfirst into the truth of your never-ending presence.

I guess you will do whatever it takes to get my attention ... and I thank you for that.

Wednesday, Day 25

THE SUN IS OUT.

Praise God for the blessing of His big, round, golden sun. I am so thankful for that blinding splash that hits you as the sun's light bounces off snow-drifts. Praise the Lord for the many big pot-holes that abound in our streets, without which, I would not be thinking about the blessing of good tires and the need to drive slower to avoid hurting them.

Thank you God for Winter in Iowa 2007-2008 without which, I am sure, I would not be as grateful as I am today, for your Sun and pot-holes.

Tuesday, Day 24

I got to thinking last night ...
how Jesus' Disciples did not recognize Him as they passed on the road to Emmaus.

I got to thinking last night ...
how many times do I fail to recognize Him as I pass Him on the road of My Daily Life?

Monday, Day 23

Easter is almost here. I don’t feel I am ready. I tried so hard to devote a time each day when I could get away and just talk to God. For some reason God and I have our best talks out in His world. In the summer I drive to a spot where I can look out over green fields and watch His harvest in the making. In the spring, my spot gives me a good view of His trees budding out. In the fall I have a good view of His trees changing into their winter wardrobe. Yesterday was quite an adventure with all the snow and slush. God and I ended up in a parking lot chatting over a bowl of Hot and Sour Soup. I am a bit upset with God and told him so. There has just been too much WHITE this winter. He said that my opinion was important to him, but that I should take my complaints to Mother Nature.

Saturday, Day 22

“Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” (Matthew 25:40)

If the winter has been hard for us who have homes and loved ones around us, think about the homeless and the ones living in the shadows of our downtown. This Sunday is One Great Hour of Sharing when I will have a chance to do something positive about this situation. I will also take canned food to our Pastor’s Pantry.

Won’t you find a way to help wherever you are? Please!

Friday, Day 21

When the solution is simple,
God is answering.

- Albert Einstein

Thursday, Day 20

While I am thinking about it ... I want to remind everyone to wear a SWEATER on March 20th to commemorate, what would have been Mr. Rogers’ 80th Birthday.

David Newall, who played the speedy deliveryman, Mr. McFeely, on Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, has started this effort as a way to remember and to say thank you to Fred Rogers for all he did for children’s television. 

What many people do not know but their heart told them, Mr. Rogers was a very spiritual person. His faith was strong and he tried to live a good  life. I think that was evident by how he taught values to his audience. I was “introduced” to Mr. Rogers 40 years ago by my nieces. I miss Mr. Rogers. I will wear a sweater on March 20 and thank God for the gift of Mr. Rogers. Will you join me?

Wednesday, Day 19

Today I am thinking about God’s promise of Summer.

I sit on a rock
Feet dangle in the water
A hawk makes circles above against a robin-egg blue sky.
I sit…..
There are times when not doing is as important as doing.

I sit on a rock
Feet dangling in the water
I have my own circles to trace.
I sit…..
Everything depends on how you spend your time…..

…..and I pray

skw-2008

Tuesday, Day 18

I was just wondering …..

It doesn’t interest me how old you are.
I want to know if you will risk feeling like a fool for love,
for your dreams, for the adventure of being alive.
Can you dance with wildness and let ecstasy fill you to the tips of
your fingers and toes without cautioning thoughts “to be careful,"
to be realistic, or to remember the limitations of being human?
It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom you
have studied.
I want to know what sustains you from the inside
when all else falls away.
I want to know if you can be alone with yourself, and
if you truly like the company you keep in those empty moments?

-- author unknown

Monday, Day 17

When things are all going “every-which-way” and I am about to lose focus ... I say to myself, “Sally, just keep breathing.” This calms me and I am able to gain my focus and remain in control of things. And as life will have it, sometimes things have passed the “point of no return” and control has long passed. Whatever the case my be, I just “KEEP BREATHING” and it works.

When this happens to me in the future, I am going to take a deep breath and thank God for the moment and the challenges that are being presented to show me new ways to grow.

SACRED BREATH
I pray by breathing.
-Thomas Merton

Saturday, Day 16

I saw the documentary, Lost Nation: The Ioway, this last Saturday at the Grout Museum. It has given me a new perspective on the land that we call Iowa. The Ioway were the Indians from whom we took the land. I want to hide my head in shame. Have we been good to IOWA?

FINDING CONNECTIONS

You must teach your children
That the ground beneath
Their feet is the ashes of
Our grandfathers
So that they will respect the land.
Tell your children that the earth
Is rich with the lives of our kin.
Teach your children
What we have taught our children, that the earth
Is our mother.
Whatever befalls the earth
Befalls the sons of the earth.
If people spit upon the ground,
They spit upon themselves.
This we know.
The earth does not belong to
Humans; humans belong
To the earth.
This we know.
All things are connected
Like the blood which unites one family.
All things are connected.

- Chief Seattle

Friday, Day 15

BRILLIANT DARKNESS

It is when things go wrong,
when good things do not happen,
when our prayers seem to
have been lost that God
is most present.
We do not need the
sheltering wings
when things go smoothly.
We are closest to God in
the darkness,
stumbling along blindly.

Madeleine L’Engle

Thursday, Day 14

I am one of those individuals that has SAD. That stands for Seasonal Affective Disorder. What that means is that when the days get shorter and sunshine diminishes, depression sets in. Now this can be viewed as a negative ... or could this really be a positive thing? When I spent a few months in a hospital three years ago, a friend of mine gave me a bracelet. It is made of beads that glow in the dark. They absorb the wonderful glow of sunshine during the day and when it is night and all is black around me, the beads of my bracelet glow in the darkness. My bracelet reminds me of the single light of the Christ Light when that candle is the only one burning in the sanctuary. It reminds me that no matter where I go I cannot hide from God. He is always there to comfort me and show me the way. All I have to do is follow his light and to remember Spring and sunshine are on their way. Praise be to the Lord!

Wednesday, Day 13

As we create our mental blueprints for personal transformation for becoming better and more lovable, it is crucial to remember that it isn’t necessary to make ourselves more lovable in order to be acceptable to God. To be lovingly accepted by God doesn’t require removing a single fault ... yet God’s love for us urges and enables us to remove and depart from our old ways. Christ did not require those who wanted to follow him to be sinless, pure or perfect. He simply said ... ”Come, follow me,” knowing that in doing so they would be transfigured into beautiful, living Children of God. Freedom from sin is a fruit of a faithful Christian disciple, not a prerequisite.

Tuesday, Day 12

ASH - no symbol could be as vivid to symbolize the 40 days before Easter.

Ashes are what death brings. Pulvis is, in pulverem reverteris -- “Dust thou are, and to dust thou shall return." Lent is a time to reconcile with our Heavenly Father, to lie prostrate in the dust to ask forgiveness for ignoring our God in our contemporary way of life with our family obligations or work-related responsibilities. Have we been too tired at night to turn to our Heavenly Father in prayer? During this Lent may our past ways die and become like ash so that our hearts, our minds and our souls are ready for the New Life that Easter brings.

All earth is holy for God made the heavens and earth. Go place a small pinch dirt in the palm of your hand. Hold this precious dirt tightly in your hand and prayerfully ask God to heal you, to make your heart open and fertile for what Lent will hold for the renewal of your spirit.

Monday, Day 11

Do you think of Sunday as “Ketchup Sunday?” A day to catch-up on the lawn, chopping, cleaning, doing the laundry? What about the third commandment?

“Thou shalt keep holy the Lord’s Day.”

Scripture scholars say that worship attendance at the synagogue during the time of Jesus was not a requirement for the Sabbath, but rest from work was. The Mosaic Law defined that the way to keep the Sabbath holy was by abstaining from labor. Attendance at weekly worship for us can help us enter into Sabbath rest but by itself doesn’t allow the Sabbath’s curative benefits to take hold.

We need to spend Sunday in worship and in leisure with our family and loved ones. This time together will have medicinal power and can work healing miracles by rejuvenating ourselves as well as your marriage and family. Rest has medicinal power and rest at home can heal you with the aids of relaxation, reading, enjoying a hobby or reconnecting with nature.

To help you break your addiction of work, you might begin to think of the Sunday-Sabbath as a weekly mini-vacation. Just think, God has given you 52 mini-vacations. Enjoy!

Saturday, Day 10

Jesus went off into the wilderness. Wilderness comes from the Old English wilddeor, meaning “wild animals.” In the Gospel of Matthew Jesus comes into contact with the devil, the personification of evil, in the wilderness. During Lent, and at all times, we need to be prepared for the evil that not only dwells within us, but is also around us.

The perpetual presence of evil in the world is an undeniable reality. There is a particular type of evil that we need to be aware of and that is what Peter Gomes calls “the sins of the system.” These communal or cultural sins of a society or nation include war, slavery, legalized racial and sexual discrimination, and the ruthless profit-driven exploitation of the poor, migrants and the uneducated.

Be careful that your preceived virtue of patriotism does not blind you to the immoral sins of our country, such as war and the ruthless pursuit of financial gain at any cost. What do you think Jesus would say to us today about this “sin of the system” that surrounds us?

Friday, Day 9

Matthew quotes Jesus saying that all the commandments may be summarized in this … Treat others as you wish to be treated. 

Mother Teresa once said, “The biggest disease today is not leprosy or TB, but rather the DISEASE of being unwanted!” Her DIAGNOSIS of the world’s greatest plague CALLS US TO BE DOCTORS without borders, HEALERS of a world-wide sickness.

Baptism has made us all HEALERS. If the greatest disease today is being Unwanted, Jesus, The Great Healer, has shown us how we must Treat sufferers we come in contact with on a daily basis. Doctor Jesus used the medicine of Love and Respect to treat the undesirables, the unwanted.  As you go about your “daily rounds” this Lenten season watch for God’s Children who might be suffering the disease of neglect, the disease of unimportance, the disease of being unwanted, the disease of low self-worth.

Jesus knew that these diseases could be treated with caring, love, and direct, physical and loving contact. Reach out to your patients! Make it your practice to practice the healing medicine of Jesus and Mother Teresa.

Thursday, Day 8

We had a Baptism in church this week. It is a life-altering event. After Jesus life-altering baptism by John, the Spirit of God escorted Jesus into the desert to spend a prolonged period reflecting on what had happened to him. Let God lead you into the desert this Lenten season, where you can pharmaceutically reflect upon your awesome baptism, whether you were baptized as an infant or, like me, as a 16 year old.

May this Lent be a time when we awaken to our rarely exercised, or even perceived anointing at baptism, that we are disciples of the risen Christ. May we find renewed awe in the dignity of baptism. With Baptism we are Transformed.

My prayer today is for all of us to feel and act on our Baptisimal Transformation. This means that we acknowledge the presence of God in our flat tire, or honor God amid the jammed rushed traffic, and above all we see God’s goodness in the gift of an empty parking space.

With Baptism we are called into Holiness by union with God ... and the Risen Christ.

Pray that we may be worthy Disciples.

Wednesday, Day 7

I was recently visiting family in California. They live in the mountains at an elevation of 7,000 feet where there are tall pines and lush ferns. We were driving a steep road that takes a dramatic steep descent onto the floor of the Mojave Desert. At one point you can see the sweep of the desert before you and are awestruck. Since our Jewish ancestors were wandering desert nomads, biblical texts abound with references to the desert as God’s dwelling place.

Our Lenten task is to discover God’s abiding presence everywhere in the world. God is present in a noisy bustling work-world and amid a fun-filled raucous in your home or a time of personal meditation. Jesus said that God is present and among us here and now.

My prayer is that you will feel his presence.

Tuesday, Day 6

The LENTEN PHARMACY is having a special on Castor Oil. As a drug, castor oil is bitter tasting, and Egyptian physicians mixed honey with it to make it more palatable.

Among Christians, Lent has always been a time to give-up or purge ourselves of things that we see as negative habits or practices. When Jesus emerged from the desert he was a changed man. No longer the quiet village carpenter ... he was a prophet, powerful in word and deed.

Good Physicians take their own medicine. So what was it that Jesus administered to himself that so radically altered his life? The scriptures are silent. Yet this silence may hold the answer.

Business makes noise in our heads. When we retreat away from the activity of daily living into soliturde and quiet we can begin to hear the tiny, quiet voice of God speaking to us from deep within our being.

This Lent find time to purge yourself of business. Find time to be quiet and alone with God. He has a lot he wants to talk over. He may tell you what his plan for you is ... after all he knew you and wrote your plan a long time before you were born.

Monday, Day 5

Today I read Mark 1:12-15. This tells how Jesus, led by the Spirit of God, walks away from his work and responsibilities and goes into the desert. My reading tells that a Palestinian proverb in his day was “Physician, heal thyself.” For Jesus the isolation in the desolate wilderness without food or water and stripped of the security of things that made up the surroundings of his daily life … his companions ... his family ... his support system meant that God alone becomes his sustenance! He learns God is all he needs. He learns to release all that he has known and to place his trust and entire being in God. We, on the other hand, go about our lives thinking we can be independent of God. This independence, this isolation from The Great Healer, is like an eye infection, blinding us to the reality that even our every breath is dependent upon God.

As Jesus began his teaching he said, ”The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news!”

Saturday, Day 4

Did you know that the average American works at least 350 hours more a year than the average European. Americans also suffer  more cardiac arrests, cancer diagnosis, and stress-related illnesses that do Europeans. What is this saying?

The draining, relentless pressures of constantly working, whether at your job or at home, siphons away resilience and creates a joyless desert in life and in our important relationships with significant people in our lives. We find ourselves bone dry ... there is no more to give!

If you have not been taking your “healing-medication”  on Sunday, start this healing tonic this Lent. Begin to keep the Sabbath. Begin by resting and by worshiping our Heavenly Father, the giver of all the gifts that we have.   

We need to refill our being with the healing balm that only The Great Healer can give and we need to do this in Community, together.

Friday, Day 3

We all have wounds. Lent is a time to look a this brokenness and a time to ask the Healer to make us well and whole. Jesus said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick do” (Mark 2:17). Everyday during Lent pray about your wounds. Ask the Great Physician to heal you. Though we may be unaware of the healing that is taking place, we may remain faith-filled our Prayers are being answered. Let us open our hearts and our being so that the Christ-Light can break forth within each of us to heal not only our wounds ... but heal the world.

Thursday, Day 2

Parish Nursing is different than “regular nursing.” A Parish Nurse is as concerned for your spiritual health as they are for your physical health and mental health. For that reason I am taking you with me on my spiritual journey this Lent. My hope is that it will lead you to explore your own spiritual growth.

I will be using THE LENTEN PHARMACY: Daily Healing Therapies, by Edward Hays. This study will focus on Jesus the Healer. My prayer is that together we may embrace God’s goodness and open ourselves to the wholesome spiritual healing that Jesus offers us.

Ash Wednesday

Today is Ash Wednesday. This year it will be different. For so many years, we have had a Soup Supper on Ash Wednesday followed by our Ash Wednesday Service. This year our Church Family will hold an Evensong service.

Another thing that is making me uncomfortable is that “It’s too soon.” I have just welcomed a small infant who is the LIGHT OF THE WORLD. I must now prepare for Christ’s death. Makes me wonder how uncomfortable Christ was forty days before he was put to death. I think this uncomfortable feeling is good for me to have as I begin thinking about my faith and Christ’s presence in my heart, my mind and soul. I begin to think about how I reflect Christ’s Light out into the darkness that is around us in this world. Does my light shine?