Daily Byte
Yesterday, I shared the biblical story of Naomi and Ruth becoming unlikely partners journeying together, and today I will share a modern story involving two women who became unlikely partners journeying through life together. The story of Jeanne and Regina is a story with an ending unlike any that I have ever heard. Regina was an Black girl when her mother turned her over to Child Protective Services saying that she could not take care of her. You see, Regina’s mother and father had addiction problems that put Regina at risk of not receiving the care that a child should receive. Regina began a season in her life where she was moved from foster home to foster home, from placement to placement, from group home to group home. Regina said she stopped counting when the number of placement hit thirty. She tells stories of even being abused in some of these foster homes.
At the age of twelve she was tired of moving from place to place and she ran and turned herself into the local police station. Her case goes to court and at age twelve she is sent to a group home for girls. While there she meets a counselor by the name of Jeanne, a white woman, who encourages her and connects with her in a way that no one had ever been able to in the past. Regina gave her the nickname she never used for any of her foster mothers. Regina sometimes would call her “mama”. Listen to what Regina says Jeanne told her one-day. “No matter what – there will always be something or someone for everybody.” Regina reported that her response to this statement was that, “Somehow I made myself believe that God, in his plan, had made sure that nobody would never, ever in a million years be left on their own without being held up or helped out.”
Regina came alive while Jeanne mentored her and Jeanne became committed to seeing this young lady thrive. To Regina, Jeanne was that someone that God had placed on this earth to help her. At some point they entertained the notion that Jeanne would adopt Regina, and they both got excited about the possibility of Regina getting to leave the group shelter and have a more normal upbringing in a home. Who could oppose such a marvelous opportunity for this young lady? Jeanne applied to Social Services and petitioned the courts to adopt this child that no one else was coming forward to adopt.
There was one problem, Jeanne was white and Regina was Black. Well, the petition was denied. As a matter of fact, the courts indicated that the counselor's continued treatment to the child was hampering potential placements that they thought were better for her. The day that they thought that Regina would get to go home with Jeanne was the day that Jeanne was ordered to stop having contact with her all together.
Reflecting on what Jeanne had done for her, Regina writes in her memoir, “I wanted to let her know that for the first time someone had stood up and fought for me, just plain ole me. Not for the money they would get from the county, or wherever – but b’cause they just liked me. But most of all I wanted her to know that no matter what – no matter what – it was more than good ‘nough to know that finally, finally, somebody had wanted me for their own someone, just like I’d ‘magined. I wanted her to know that this was more than any body had ever wanted for me.”
Tomorrow I will share the dramatic conclusion to this story.
Focus Reading
Ruth 4:13-14
So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When they came together, the Lord made her conceive, and she bore a son. Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day without next-of-kin; and may his name be renowned in Israel!
Staying Online – Prayer
Lord, I thank you for all of the somebody’s that have been my life. Please allow me to be somebody to someone.
Wednesday, 7 July 2010
Tuesday, 6 July 2010
God Uses Broken Things
Daily Byte
The story of Naomi and Ruth is one of the most familiar in the Old Testament. It is a story that usually focuses more on Ruth, and thus the book is titled after her. But I often think of it as a story more about Naomi. The beginning of the book starts with Naomi and the end of the book concludes with Naomi. In between, we see the merging of two unlikely candidates for familial ties. The Hebrew Naomi and her husband and their two sons are living in Moab because of a famine in their own land. Naomi is Hebrew and Ruth is a Moabite. Nationalism and ethnic purity were strong barriers in that era. They are strong tendencies toward barriers in our current era.
As we view Naomi initially, she had to be happy, and if not happy she had to be hopeful for the future. She has a husband and she has two sons. Some say, that means she had three sons. Her husband represented fulfillment in the current day, but probably what gave her great joy was her sons and the prospect of having grandchildren. Naomi was living it up off of what she had and what she expected to have.
But we learn that Naomi’s husband suddenly died. Ouch! That had to have hurt her deeply. The story then says her sons married Moabite women, but they both suddenly died. Ouch and ouch again! This trilogy of deaths stopped me cold in my tracks to ask why are these men dying? The most probable reason was war. War then and war now takes lives. War has always been a widow-maker and if my speculation is right, it reached into Naomi’s life with a vengeance.
We find one of the Moabite women, Ruth, attaching to Naomi and together they move to Naomi’s hometown of Bethlehem. After some maneuvering, Ruth marries Naomi’s relative, Boaz. Ruth and Boaz have a son. That is where we pickup on the text today. Naomi is holding Ruth’s baby in her lap. What a joyous picture. This woman that had lost so much is now enjoying the role as caregiver to Ruth and Boaz’s child. If you cannot see some joy in that we need to check your pulse.
On top of that, the record is that the women that lived there got involved. They started saying, “Naomi has a son.” It was like they had a baby shower for Naomi. Something special happens when a baby is introduced into a room full of women. There was a shared joy that seemed to permeate the community. This was not a personal joy. To me, there is something suspicious about personal joy that is just for you or just for yours. Real joy is shared.
The moral of the story of Naomi and Ruth is that the journey to joy takes us through devastated aspirations and broken lives. Crumbled aspirations and broken lives are fertile ground for God’s work to be revealed. Often it is our intact aspirations and intact lives that hold God away. A shattering or a breakage is an opportunity for God to get through to us.
Focus Reading
Ruth 4:13-14
So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When they came together, the Lord made her conceive, and she bore a son. Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day without next-of-kin; and may his name be renowned in Israel!
Staying Online – Prayer
Lord we come to you and ask you to “take us, and break us, and make us just like you. Take us, and break us, and make us just like you”.
The story of Naomi and Ruth is one of the most familiar in the Old Testament. It is a story that usually focuses more on Ruth, and thus the book is titled after her. But I often think of it as a story more about Naomi. The beginning of the book starts with Naomi and the end of the book concludes with Naomi. In between, we see the merging of two unlikely candidates for familial ties. The Hebrew Naomi and her husband and their two sons are living in Moab because of a famine in their own land. Naomi is Hebrew and Ruth is a Moabite. Nationalism and ethnic purity were strong barriers in that era. They are strong tendencies toward barriers in our current era.
As we view Naomi initially, she had to be happy, and if not happy she had to be hopeful for the future. She has a husband and she has two sons. Some say, that means she had three sons. Her husband represented fulfillment in the current day, but probably what gave her great joy was her sons and the prospect of having grandchildren. Naomi was living it up off of what she had and what she expected to have.
But we learn that Naomi’s husband suddenly died. Ouch! That had to have hurt her deeply. The story then says her sons married Moabite women, but they both suddenly died. Ouch and ouch again! This trilogy of deaths stopped me cold in my tracks to ask why are these men dying? The most probable reason was war. War then and war now takes lives. War has always been a widow-maker and if my speculation is right, it reached into Naomi’s life with a vengeance.
We find one of the Moabite women, Ruth, attaching to Naomi and together they move to Naomi’s hometown of Bethlehem. After some maneuvering, Ruth marries Naomi’s relative, Boaz. Ruth and Boaz have a son. That is where we pickup on the text today. Naomi is holding Ruth’s baby in her lap. What a joyous picture. This woman that had lost so much is now enjoying the role as caregiver to Ruth and Boaz’s child. If you cannot see some joy in that we need to check your pulse.
On top of that, the record is that the women that lived there got involved. They started saying, “Naomi has a son.” It was like they had a baby shower for Naomi. Something special happens when a baby is introduced into a room full of women. There was a shared joy that seemed to permeate the community. This was not a personal joy. To me, there is something suspicious about personal joy that is just for you or just for yours. Real joy is shared.
The moral of the story of Naomi and Ruth is that the journey to joy takes us through devastated aspirations and broken lives. Crumbled aspirations and broken lives are fertile ground for God’s work to be revealed. Often it is our intact aspirations and intact lives that hold God away. A shattering or a breakage is an opportunity for God to get through to us.
Focus Reading
Ruth 4:13-14
So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When they came together, the Lord made her conceive, and she bore a son. Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day without next-of-kin; and may his name be renowned in Israel!
Staying Online – Prayer
Lord we come to you and ask you to “take us, and break us, and make us just like you. Take us, and break us, and make us just like you”.
Monday, 5 July 2010
Other boats
Daily Byte
The BDC this week is written by Dewey Williams
In this famous text that introduces the great account of Jesus calming the storming waters, an interesting fact is revealed. The scripture just doesn’t say that they put Jesus on a boat and set off for the other side. The scripture adds that there were other boats that went with Him to the other side. What a curious add on to the story. Other boats went with Him. Not other boats were docked at the lakeshore. Not other boats were in the water. Not other boats engaged in fishing industry. Not other boats engaged in recreational activities. No, there were other boats that went with Him. Some might think that this is wasted ink on the biblical page and has no significance. I am not of that opinion. God did not make a mistake when this detail was added.
Let me propose that the mention of the other boats was to inform us that we do not travel this way by ourselves. We are present with those that journey with us. We are attached to others as we make our journey.
In a figurative way, your life and existence is symbolized by the reference to a boat.
As an individual you dock in some places, you sail in certain places, and sometimes you are adrift in the waters of life. I know that your boat is special. But you are not traveling by yourself, and if you do not pay attention to the other boats you can wreck them and wreck yourself. You do not journey alone. I know your boat is pretty, curvaceous, strong, built for speed, and has nice amenities; but yours in not the only boat in the water. You better pay attention to those other boats or your pretty, curvaceous, strong, built-for-speed boat, with nice amenities can be sunk.
Have you ever met someone who thought they were the only boat in the ocean? Have you ever met someone who was so stuck on them self that they did not see others around them? Have you ever met someone that is always talking about them self? You know the type; they are always talking about, “What I have done.” What I want.” Where I have gone.” They never take time to even ask about you or others. They are self-centered egomaniacs that see only their boat.
This only boat that matters mentality permeates the religious world. Christians and Jews and Muslims all have for far too long acted like their boats were the only boats that mattered. All three of these dominant world religions have had fundamentalist that have pitted themselves against all others that did not bow down and worship the way that they prescribe. Each one of these religions has acted like they are the only boat in the water.
I could point out countless areas of being aware of the other boats, but I am drawn to speak about out being aware of those that are less fortunate than we are. There are other boats of the hungry, the homeless, those with less education, those with mental and physical health maladies, and those so poor that don’t even know where the poverty line is. Often in our middle class to upper class worlds we can become insulated from the hurting souls that struggle day by day to make it in this world. We can become smug and even arrogant regarding the poor. God sent me by to tell you that those in the boats of poverty are journeying with us and we must pay attention to the other boats. You better watch out. In this economic era, your boat could turn into a boat of poverty.
Focus Reading
Mark 4:35-36
On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him.
Staying Online - Prayer
God, we ask that you give us an awareness of the others that sail in the water with us. Help us see others that may not look like us, but who are souls that you have created. We thank you for Jesus Christ who saw our otherness and took us in. Make us like Jesus. Amen
The BDC this week is written by Dewey Williams
In this famous text that introduces the great account of Jesus calming the storming waters, an interesting fact is revealed. The scripture just doesn’t say that they put Jesus on a boat and set off for the other side. The scripture adds that there were other boats that went with Him to the other side. What a curious add on to the story. Other boats went with Him. Not other boats were docked at the lakeshore. Not other boats were in the water. Not other boats engaged in fishing industry. Not other boats engaged in recreational activities. No, there were other boats that went with Him. Some might think that this is wasted ink on the biblical page and has no significance. I am not of that opinion. God did not make a mistake when this detail was added.
Let me propose that the mention of the other boats was to inform us that we do not travel this way by ourselves. We are present with those that journey with us. We are attached to others as we make our journey.
In a figurative way, your life and existence is symbolized by the reference to a boat.
As an individual you dock in some places, you sail in certain places, and sometimes you are adrift in the waters of life. I know that your boat is special. But you are not traveling by yourself, and if you do not pay attention to the other boats you can wreck them and wreck yourself. You do not journey alone. I know your boat is pretty, curvaceous, strong, built for speed, and has nice amenities; but yours in not the only boat in the water. You better pay attention to those other boats or your pretty, curvaceous, strong, built-for-speed boat, with nice amenities can be sunk.
Have you ever met someone who thought they were the only boat in the ocean? Have you ever met someone who was so stuck on them self that they did not see others around them? Have you ever met someone that is always talking about them self? You know the type; they are always talking about, “What I have done.” What I want.” Where I have gone.” They never take time to even ask about you or others. They are self-centered egomaniacs that see only their boat.
This only boat that matters mentality permeates the religious world. Christians and Jews and Muslims all have for far too long acted like their boats were the only boats that mattered. All three of these dominant world religions have had fundamentalist that have pitted themselves against all others that did not bow down and worship the way that they prescribe. Each one of these religions has acted like they are the only boat in the water.
I could point out countless areas of being aware of the other boats, but I am drawn to speak about out being aware of those that are less fortunate than we are. There are other boats of the hungry, the homeless, those with less education, those with mental and physical health maladies, and those so poor that don’t even know where the poverty line is. Often in our middle class to upper class worlds we can become insulated from the hurting souls that struggle day by day to make it in this world. We can become smug and even arrogant regarding the poor. God sent me by to tell you that those in the boats of poverty are journeying with us and we must pay attention to the other boats. You better watch out. In this economic era, your boat could turn into a boat of poverty.
Focus Reading
Mark 4:35-36
On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him.
Staying Online - Prayer
God, we ask that you give us an awareness of the others that sail in the water with us. Help us see others that may not look like us, but who are souls that you have created. We thank you for Jesus Christ who saw our otherness and took us in. Make us like Jesus. Amen
Friday, 2 July 2010
Promises & Purpose - Part 5
FROM GOD’S HANDS by St Irenaeus (2nd century)
It is not you who shape God;
it is God that shapes you.
If then you are the work of God,
await the hand of the Artist
who does all things in due season.
Offer the Potter your heart,
soft and tractable,
and keep the form in which
the Artist has fashioned you.
Let your clay be moist,
lest you grow hard
and lose the imprint
of the Potter’s fingers
GOD’S HANDS by Barbara Brown Taylor
To believe in one’s own priesthood
is to see the extraordinary dimensions
of an ordinary life,
to see the hand of God at work in the world
and to see one’s own hands
as necessary to that work.
Whether those hands are
bathing a baby,
assembling an automobile,
or balancing a corporate account;
they are God’s hands,
claimed by God at baptism
for the accomplishment
of God’s will
on earth.
It is hoped that the modified and simplified format of these devotions this week has provided space for you to slow down and breathe in the midst of the hectic pace of this new year. As you reflect on the poems and prayers that have spoken about God’s promise and purpose for your life, conclude this time now by choosing the one that resonated most within you, and allow it to stimulate a heartfelt prayer of your own.
It is not you who shape God;
it is God that shapes you.
If then you are the work of God,
await the hand of the Artist
who does all things in due season.
Offer the Potter your heart,
soft and tractable,
and keep the form in which
the Artist has fashioned you.
Let your clay be moist,
lest you grow hard
and lose the imprint
of the Potter’s fingers
GOD’S HANDS by Barbara Brown Taylor
To believe in one’s own priesthood
is to see the extraordinary dimensions
of an ordinary life,
to see the hand of God at work in the world
and to see one’s own hands
as necessary to that work.
Whether those hands are
bathing a baby,
assembling an automobile,
or balancing a corporate account;
they are God’s hands,
claimed by God at baptism
for the accomplishment
of God’s will
on earth.
It is hoped that the modified and simplified format of these devotions this week has provided space for you to slow down and breathe in the midst of the hectic pace of this new year. As you reflect on the poems and prayers that have spoken about God’s promise and purpose for your life, conclude this time now by choosing the one that resonated most within you, and allow it to stimulate a heartfelt prayer of your own.
Thursday, 1 July 2010
Promises & Purpose - Part 4
The journey of this week’s devotions has taken us from the promise of newness that arises when we allow God to be God within us (Monday), to the risks and requirements of responding to God’s call with obedience (Tuesday and Wednesday). Today and tomorrow, the poems and prayers focus on the beautiful impact on the world of lives that are supple and willing to be used by God.
LOVE’S FIRE by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
Someday,
after mastering the winds,
the waves,
the tides and gravity,
we shall harness for God
the energies of love.
And then,
for a second time in the history of the world,
we will have discovered fire.
LEAD ME OUT by Ted Loder
Eternal God,
lead me now
out of the familiar setting
of my doubts and fears,
beyond my pride
and my need to be secure
into a strange and graceful ease
with my true proportions
and with yours;
that in boundless silence
I may grow
strong enough to endure
and flexible enough to share
your grace.
LOVE’S FIRE by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
Someday,
after mastering the winds,
the waves,
the tides and gravity,
we shall harness for God
the energies of love.
And then,
for a second time in the history of the world,
we will have discovered fire.
LEAD ME OUT by Ted Loder
Eternal God,
lead me now
out of the familiar setting
of my doubts and fears,
beyond my pride
and my need to be secure
into a strange and graceful ease
with my true proportions
and with yours;
that in boundless silence
I may grow
strong enough to endure
and flexible enough to share
your grace.
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