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Come to Your Senses

March 26, 2009 by Irmgarde Brown

Luke 15:17
When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!

The young man, often called the prodigal, is in a far country where he spent all of his money and ended up working as a hired hand, feeding pigs. Only after much loss and suffering did he “come to his senses.” He finally looked and really saw. He really felt what he was touching. He registered what he really was smelling. He confronted the truth of his situation.

Like the frog in the kettle, we often become anesthetized to our environment, not realizing we are dying. It’s not easy to face the truth because the truth will demand a response: action. And action means change. The first step is our own. We all fear change to some degree or another. But, let us remember the end of this story. The young man returns to his father’s house and is warmly welcomed. Father God is always ready to catch us when we make a leap of faith.

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Will You Recognize God?

March 25, 2009 by Irmgarde Brown

Luke 19:44b
“…They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”

“If it was a snake, it would have bit me.” That’s an old Southern saying about missing something in plain sight. Will I miss God today? So often, when we talk about being in awe of God (“fearing God”), we remember an amazing nature scene or something cataclysmic that shows God’s power or, perhaps it’s something man-made, but of such beauty, that we are sure it is inspired by God. But, what about the ordinary? What about the rocks in the road that would have cried out when Jesus entered Jerusalem that fateful week of his sacrifice. They recognized God in Christ.

Jerusalem was a city of sophistication. There was culture, knowledge, money, power, and much, much more. And yet, the people did not recognize God coming. They had stopped looking. They accepted the normal flow of things and people and commerce, but didn’t really see.

Open my eyes today, Lord, that I might see You. Open my ears… Open my heart. Let me see You in the ordinary.

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Why Do You Doubt?

March 24, 2009 by Irmgarde Brown

Matthew 14:31
Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

As much as God has done for me… why do I doubt? I think I know. It’s because I think/believe/fear the good things will stop. Some of it comes from my constant battle with condemnation: “you don’t deserve this,” etc. Some of it comes from old scripts, “you don’t appreciate what you have” (that’s my mother talking, in case you’re wondering). And some of it is my trust issues, “if I don’t protect/control this situation, it’s going to go downhill.”

God’s prophets, throughout the scripture, keep telling us to “remember!” We are to remember all the wonderful things God has done for us. And in this, our faith will be stirred. Our hope will be rekindled. Our trust will be buoyed. Our mind will be renewed.

Today, I will remember, keep my eyes on the Lord, and walk on the waters of fears.

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Humility is an Attitude Change

March 23, 2009 by Irmgarde Brown

Luke 18:14
“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Saturday, my friend and I went to see a Charles Fuller play called Zooman and the Sign. It is not an easy play to watch, over 90 minutes of a family in grief at the loss of their 12 year old daughter/sister/neice to a random drive-by shooting in the city. In addition, the audience experiences a series of interspersed monologues by the killer, Zooman, who has no remorse, and yet, we see his life as a series of losses … and despite his anger and viciousness, there is an “understanding” of sorts that evolves. And when he dies, there is a realization, that every person has a story and every person has a family somewhere and everyone has a kernal of sacred.

In the story about the Pharisee and the tax collector who come to the synagogue for confession, we see the difference between them. It is the tax collector (or street thug?) who knows who is is. He is humbled. So must I remember to be the same. Everyone has a story and it is not for me to judge… this is how I may learn to “love” all in Christ. This is how I may discover an authentic humility within.

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Seeking Savior

March 22, 2009 by Irmgarde Brown

Luke 19:10
“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”

Last Christmas I watched the entire first season of “Heroes” the television series. It was great fun and a good story. One of the “gifted” characters was a little girl who was a “finder.” As I contemplated this scripture today, I thought of her and realized how I think of my Lord in a similar way. He isn’t just searching like the shepherd who looks for lost sheep or the woman for the lost coin, he is also supernaturally seeking out individuals who, when He finds them, they recognize Him right away … like Zacchaeus, and accept being found. The hidden areas of my heart and soul are the same. They are lost in a morass of memories, mistakes, and shame. Come, Lord, find those parts of me and reconcile them to you. I am ready to be found.

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Finding What is Lost

March 21, 2009 by Irmgarde Brown

Luke 15:8
Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?

While following the Emergent Village twitter about the first ever Catholic-Emergent Conference that is currently happening in New Mexico, Brian McLaren, one of the speakers, said, “…what you’re focused on determines what you miss…” and it made me wonder about what I am missing.

Sometimes, we are clear about that, and as the woman did, we get out the lamp and sweep carefully to find what we lost. But, what about the things that are falling away because we are using a narrow vision (even blinders) to view our world. I know we cannot absorb it all. There is so much information … so much happening. We cannot see, hear, taste or touch it all. And yet, we must also remember, that there are times, when we must pull back and get the bigger picture. We must be willing to “enlarge our tent” and look more expansively. As we step back, we may realize we have indeed lost something valuable. And once we do, we should be diligent in finding what we lost.

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What Do You Want?

March 20, 2009 by Irmgarde Brown

Luke 18:40-41
Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?”

At my Thursday night Bible study, we are studying Philippians and the most recent lesson was on verses 3:2-11. All throughout the evening, my heart drummed with the phrase, “What do you want?” In years past, this question would give me pause. There were so many things I wanted…. I never knew how to answer. But today, the answer has become crystal clear. I want to know Jesus, the Christ.

David Hazard has paraphrased St. John of the Cross in You Set My Spirit Free:

Press, and keep pressing into His heart, until you have pressed the image of His invisible nature into the substance of your soul… God offers to take you with His loving hand and lead you where you cannot go by yourself… along a way that no human eye can see, and that is the way of the Holy Spirit.

Thanks be to God. I present my heart-soul. This is where I begin, pressing in and pressing on, in the way.

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