God talks to most people through nature or at religious events like sunrise services. As a child in Seattle I used to be dragged out of bed into the cold to sunrise services. Even when I moved to the warmer climate of California I am still sad to say that I have never had a religious experience at a sunrise service. Many do and insist on attending them yearly but God speaks to me at ordinary events like doing the dishes or going shopping at the swap meet. Let me tell you about one of these. We were trying to have a second child and I had just had my second miscarriage –ironically both had occurred on two Mothers Day weekends two years in a row. I was 43years old and I considered this my last safe year to try again. But as if a birthday gift on my 43rd birthday, I conceived again. It had been discovered on my second miscarriage that my body was lacking the correct levels of progesterone to carry a child to term. Due to this I had weekly blood work keeping meticulous track of my progeste...

“I thought my heart would mend, and babe you know I’ve tried but the pieces of the puzzle doesn’t match the one inside.”  Kate Wolf, Picture Puzzle Folksinger Kate Wolf wrote in her song, "Picture Puzzle" about the times when the pieces of our relationships don’t match up to what you had pictured them to become. This can also apply to our lives when the expectations of our lives don’t come to fruition or something unexpected happens to change our picture perfect lives. It’s when our lives get broken into pieces we never intended and as hard as we try to put them all together it just doesn’t match the expectations we had inside. Brokenness, is what Lent is all about when we remember how Christ was broken for us. We celebrate this in the broken bread of Communion. It is the reminder of how the brokenness of the Cross brings resurrection but also redemption – the piecing together of all the fragmented pieces of our lives making them not only fit but work into a much greater pic...

“To give them a garland instead of ashes…the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit.”     Is 61:3   One of the most meaningful Ash Wednesday’s of my life was when the Pastor in lieu of ashes handed out pins of flower blossoms to represent the garlands the scripture spoke of in Isaiah 61:3. Garlands symbolize what Christ with his resurrection would produce out of the ashes. Some translations use the term “crown of beauty” since the Hebrew word used here talks about an object a bridegroom would wear as a sign of joy. So instead of looking down at the ashes of our lives, our heads can be held high in joy. He also spoke of “mantles of praise”, which replaced the faint spirit or as other versions say a “spirit of despair”. Mantle is translated “garment,” thus you are covering the sad sack cloth of your soul with a garment of praise. This is probably the best theology I can find for buying new Easter clothes; it is symbolic of the new mantles of praise that Christ in ...

With moments of grace (shall we just call them by their initials - that would make this a MOG blog.), I think of good Samaritans. It seems like every time I get a flat tire, some stranger appears right on the scene and fixes it for me. These are the angels or good Samaritans that come into my life. Those who may not be familiar with the biblical story, a man is robbed and beat up by robbers and left to die. First a rabbi passes by and doesn't help him. Then comes a Pharisee, also high in the Jewish faith, and he to ignores the man. Then a Samaritan, considered a mixed breed that Jews segregate themselves from, comes by and has mercy on the man and takes him to lodging where he treats the man's wounds and leaves money for any other needs the man might have. I lived a bit of this story (though not as bloody or dramatic) when I enrolled my son in a new school. The only problem was he was on a waiting list for After School Care. Being a working mom I asked my neighbor whose child ...

Welcome to you who have just tuned into “Moments of Grace.” I have defined these as one of those moments in time when everything clicks together bringing little glimpses of reassurance of God’s love that gets you through your everyday life. For a further description of what these moments are read my entry, “Moments of Grace.” My hope is you will be open to the moments of grace in your own life this Lenten season, and will share these by responding in the space for comments. Interestingly Lent begins today, on Ash Wednesday, which also lands on Valentine’s Day this year. This is somewhat appropriate since today is the start of 40 days to reflect upon the sacrificial love of Christ for us. This love is much deeper than any flowers, chocolate, or any card Hallmark can come up with. This is the ultimate Grace with a capital “G”. One tradition of Lent is to give up something, which is somehow like New Years’ resolutions hard to keep, or like me you substitute oatmeal raisin cookies for the ...

For those of you not familiar with Lent, it is a season of forty days, which begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Saturday. Lent comes from the Anglo Saxon word lencten, which means "spring." The forty days represents the time Jesus spent in the wilderness, enduring the temptation of Satan and preparing to begin his ministry. Lent is a time of repentance, fasting and preparation for the coming of Easter. It is a time of self-examination and reflection. Today, Christians focus on their relationship with God, often choosing to give up something or to volunteer and give of themselves for others. Easter comes early this year. Many of us not brought up in this tradition can still embrace its emphasis of focusing on the gifts Christ has brought into your lives and finding ways to share the love of Christ to others. This emphasis of love goes along well with the beginning of Lent this year, Ash Wednesday, falling on all days – Valentine’s Day. So whether or not you plan...

When I went to seminary I had a professor who gave a sermon entitled, “Grace is not just a Blue Eyed Blonde.” Now I apologize to women everywhere about his sexist comment, and to anyone who knows a woman named Grace who has brown hair. The word “grace”, which several use to name their daughters, has been discussed by theologians for years. The church I grew up in was called Evergreen but several nicknamed it Evergrace since a lot of the teaching there came from the apostle Paul who truly put the word and the concert on the map. He wrote one of the verses that began the Reformation when Luther found, “By grace you have been saved”. Everyone of Paul’s letters starts with the greeting, “Grace and Peace be with you”. Grace for Paul was God’s unmerited love for sinful man revealed and demonstrated in the life and death of Christ. I use the term grace in my life with this unmerited favor way when I as a teacher give that one badly behaved child a sticker along with the rest s...