Uphill idealist

In the fall of 2010 I was introduced to TED talks.  I watched an eighteen minute talk by researcher and storyteller - Brene’ Brown. ( brenebrown.com ). If you haven't seen a TED talks they have become an international phenomenon,  where people from various and unlimited backgrounds share short talks that are:  “Ideas worth sharing”. (For more information on TED talks – look online here: www.TED.com ) Brene’ Brown captured my attention in her short talk when she talked about the difference between divided living in contrast with “whole-hearted” living. Through her extensive research, Brene’ discovered an essential ingredient to “whole-hearted” living – vulnerability . She claims that vulnerability is an important key to living out lives in the place of wholeheartedness.  The more I listened to her words, the louder my own heart pounded. The words I heard were making something deep inside me sit up and take notice.  Once my perspective on vul...

This article first appeared in First Lutheran Church's January 2015 newsletter, but I share it here because the message of what "track" we listen to and live by has legs here as well. Thank you for your grace on the context, and may this track be one that is life-giving to you in the days to come. We are on the heels of the Christmas season and there has been some time to pause and reflect on the story of the Christ child and the message of love and forgiveness God brings to us through him. You have heard the story of the Nativity from the Sunday School youth of our church, heard beautiful music proclaiming the gospel from our choir led by Kimberly King, and perhaps have listened to the Jamestown High School A’ Capella Choir sing for the vespers service (the 90 th year anniversary by the way.) There has been a great deal of proclamation as well a much to take in and listen to. Personally, this last week of Advent has been a challenge for me as I’ve been with...

When I was about 10 years old... I remember my Mom coming home from a church activity with a jar of batter that was called 'Herman'. For the next several months, my mom baked many loaves of 'Herman" for me and my siblings to eat. Herman made a big impression on me. How could something so small make so many loaves of bread? How exactly did 'Herman' grow and regrow itself with very little involvement or fuss?  As a child I began to think of 'Herman' as having his own personality. Herman was: Smart, giving, easygoing, self sufficient, mysterious, smelly (like yeast), resourceful, and patient. The more I think about 'Herman' as an adult, I think his/her personality are ones I'd like to claim for my own. (Minus the smelly part of course.) For the last several weeks, the gospel lessons for the lectionary readings have been about Jesus being "the bread of life".  ( John 6: 51-58 ) I thought about the ingredients of bread, th...

This week, I had some time to catch up with some friends over dinner. We all are moms. we take care of people in our vocations and we all share faith in God. We talk about everything when we get together: work challenges, family stuff, health problems, joys, losses, the present, our pasts and our hopes for the future. It's always a lively time for conversation, laughter and a few tears. This time is precious to us. On my way home from our dinner, I caught a ride with my friend Sally to my office and was sat for another good hour and continued to talk about God, our work and how all that works with family. Sally and her family created and work in a ministry called 6 Baer Essentials. Here is Sally's excerpt from her website that better explains the work they do: ____________ 6BE has a heart for the impoverished community of Dahley Ethiopia-a rural area just outside the capital city of Addis Ababa.  We believe that working with the folks of Dahley through our after-school...

Image found at Facebook for Treasure Lake . *Take a deep breath. Close your eyes for a moment and imagine a quiet pond, complete with singing frogs, tall reeds and plenty stones for skipping.  Pick up two stones. Think about two things you would pray for: One for the world and you personally.  Toss your stones to skip across the water and watch the ripples as a result of their impact. As the ripples grow, pray for God to work in the world and your life - and help you to act on making ripples for good.* ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- All week I've been thinking about this scripture text in order to prepare for a children's message this Sunday. I've considered talking things that "swamp" our lives with unnecessary fear, but I keep coming back to ripples. In this text, the disciples are afraid (when aren't they), Jesus is tired from teaching and ...

Fish in the light of day, fish with your whole heart. Fish for people today - cast off, make a start. Be bold, stand strong through the night till morning's dawn. Be brave, stand true till beautiful feet touch morning's dew. Just when you think it's over, just when you think it's done the journeys' just beginning - the struggle Jesus has won. Live love out in the light of day. Life love even in the dark. Give love to the full - never sparing a part. Be willing, be open to the road ahead. Be real, be broken - lean on me each step. Just when your dream has ended. Just when it fades away. The sun had just risen - it's the beginning of a new day. Copyright T.L. Eastman June 2012 Luke 5: 5-11 5  Simon answered, “Master, ( E )  we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. ( F ) But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” 6  When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. ( G ) 7  So...

Image found at Classic Mary Moments. God is holy, loving, creative and generous. If you had to choose one word to describe God, do you think you could do it? When I asked the children at my church this week the same question, they all agreed that one word is not enough to describe God. God is wonderfully complex! I told them about the word from Old Testament times that people would use to try to capture the essence of God, Yahweh. Most folks agree that this word is a combination of letters that attempted to represent God and might have meant "I am" or "To be". The word Yahweh is really amazing, but event this one can't capture all the details of God. One word simply isn't enough to describe the greatness of God. This week's gospel lesson was from Matthew 20:1-16. Jesus tells a parable about God's generosity, challenging the common assumption that God rewards people according to what they have earned or deserve. (If you want to read the lesson, I'...

Image from AJM Networking . When someone is a VIP they are bound to receive some wonderful treatment, adoration of fans, and world wide attention. VIP's are treated special and are sometimes seen as "better than" the average person. After all they are very important people. Right before Jesus ascension into heaven Jesus gives his followers a new commandment. John 13:34"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." Jesus could have given any instruction to his followers that day, but he choose to emphasize the primary and life-long importance of living a life of love. The love we have and share with the people around us is better than anything we could give or receive, even all those things a VIP might be likely to have. To become a VID(Very Important Disciple) , one needs to look first to the needs of others and go about the busines...