Searching for Sacred

Today is Holy Thursday, the day the disciples reclined around the Passover Table with Jesus – leaned with their whole selves and listened to the words, “This is my body . . . this is my blood . . . eat and drink in remembrance of me.”   This is the day Jesus took off his garments and washed the feet of the disciples.   This was a humble gesture, Jesus making himself a servant and cleansing the dust trodden feet.   A symbol mercy and forgiveness and instructions to do the same for one another.   I try and picture myself in this story.   What would I do?   How would I react?   What would I do with the words I heard?   I find it easy to wash the feet of strangers.   As a nurse, I have patients come in soiled and dirty and I find it a privilege to help clean each person up in their time of need.   They are vulnerable and helpless, and I can help.   We have homeless come into the hospital with dirty, calloused feet and mud-caked b...

U2 wrote the song “40” inspired by Psalm 40 in the Bible.   The Psalm goes like this, “Surely, I wait for the LORD; who bends down to me and hears my cry/ Draws me up from the pit of destruction, out of the muddy clay, sets my feet upon rock, steadies my steps/ And puts a new song in my mouth, a hymn to our God . . .”   U2 adds, “How long to sing this song.”   To listen, click here .     How long to sing this song?   In my search for perfectionism, “40” is the theme song.   How long until I am healed?   Until I feel this drawing out of the muddy clay?   Until I feel the firmness of the rock under my feet?   Until I have that new song in my mouth?   This is the last week of Lent – 40 days of spiritual cleansing.   40 days Jesus was tempted in the desert.   40 years the Israelites wandered in the desert working their way towards the Promised Land (40 years that should have only taken a few weeks at best.)   My i...

If I could be any character in a play, it would be Jo March from Little Women.     Feisty, opinionated, tom-boy, not enjoying the dress-up activities that come with femininity, a closet writer . . . characteristics I know well.   There is a beautiful scene where Jo loses her temper (for the hundredth time) and Marmie comes to her side and talks about her own struggles with controlling her temper.   We never see the fighter in Marmie, but with her words she assures Jo she understands all too well her temperament.   I had a Jo and Marmie moment with my oldest today.  Ironically, her middle name is Josephine naming her after Jo March.   She lost her temper and threw her brother’s hair gel across the room leaving a trail of goop long and wide.   I saw the mess, grabbed paper towels, and firmly directed her toward the destructive path that was her responsibility to clean.   This then triggered a meltdown in the midst of the morning hustle o...