Corner

We had an excellent class today in Sunday School. We began by reading The Runaway Bunny, a children's book I had brought for a baby shower gift. It is a wonderful little book with a sweet message. Next we revisited a lesson we had a couple of weeks ago on the role of women in the church and our relationship with men. This is a difficult subject, and we are grappling with it together. We talked about the difficulties involved and further discussed some of the ideas we had dealt with earlier. I knew the girls in the class had bristled somewhat at the whole "submission" idea, and I wanted to encourage them that we have to line up with scripture whether we like it or not.

Then we got to Rob Bell's DVD called Corner. It discussed the part of the law given to Israel which said that as they reaped their crops they were not to pick them clean, but they were commanded to leave some of the crops (a corner) for the poor, the widow and the immigrant. And Rob's point was, "It's not fair. It's not fair that I do all the work and someone else benefits from it. God's not fair." Haven't we all felt that way? And this played right into what we had talked about earlier in our discussion about women.

Grace isn't fair. It isn't fair that one person dies, and another lives. It isn't fair that the thief on the cross prayed and was saved. It isn't fair that Inez got to return to the US legally when others are still waiting, others who did the right thing from the beginning. No God's not fair; grace isn't fair. And THANK GOD FOR THAT!

Because we have been saved, liberated, freed, we have been commanded to care for those who need our help. Not just for their benefit, but for ours. Helping those in need changes us. It expands our life.

And so we have begun to talk about what we need to do. As a class we are exploring options for something we need to get involved in to meet the needs of others, to right an injustice, to heal a wound. What should it be? We are open. We have some ideas. We may have to try a few different things to find the best fit for us.

But we're thinking. It's exciting!

Reminiscing Part 1

This is the house I grew up in. I lived here until I was about 11. We lived in one side of a double, and my grandpa and two of my aunts lived in the other side. In the double next door lived my uncle and his family. I have lots of good memories of growing up here. Even though our house and yard were small, I never thought it was a problem. And even though we lived right in the city, I never felt like I wasn't safe. We roamed the neighborhood, walked to school, and had a great life.

Kids in the city play different games than kids in the country. When we were out in the evening we often watched for the street light to come on. We would shout out, "Pam Brim, 1239 S. Shepherd St., First one to see the street light come on!" Why did we do this? I don't know. We also played a game I'm sure we made up called Movie Stars.

This was the park we played at. The playground was new when I was a kid. Lots of tall swings that would swing really high, and of course, we would jump out of them. It also had a huge slide shaped like a rocket. Obviously, it has been redone since I was a child.














I have great memories of this hill. In the spring and summer we would often just lie down and roll down it like a log. In the winter it was the perfect hill for sledding. Great speed and nothing in the way at the bottom, and not too high so it was not a problem to climb back up. I couldn't believe it when I saw the sign. If you can't sled here, where can you sled? It's crazy!

Enough of this for today. More later.

This Easter season has been different for me. I have stepped out of the norm and done some things that are traditional in other denominations but not for Baptists.

First of all, I decided to observe Lent. Kathryn had told me that she observed it a couple of different times and she goes to a church in Kansas that observes it. And then I saw on Facebook that Melissa Tibbs was saying goodbye to all of us because she was giving up Facebook for Lent. That’s when I decided to try it.

For those of you who need an explanation of Lent here is a good one I found online:
“Lent is the season of the Christian year where believers examine their own humanity and ways they separate themselves from God (sin) to prepare for Jesus' death and resurrection at Easter.
Lent lasts for forty days, reflective of the forty days Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11). As Christians enter their own symbolic wilderness during Lent, they remember their own humanity, vulnerable to temptation, just like Jesus in the wilderness.”

Now I considered what to give up, to fast from. There were some things I thought of that I knew it would be no use to try because I would fail. Things like chocolate, TV, all drinks except water, Facebook. In the end I decided to give up all carbonated drinks. I know it seems so small, but I wanted something I could stick with.

Here’s what I learned: Keeping even this small commitment was hard. I messed up a couple of times, once by accident (I bought flavored water and found out when I drank it, it was carbonated); a couple of times I bent the rules and drank some that had gone flat (see how you can think in warped ways?). So if I can have trouble with just this one little thing, it makes me realize the impossibility of my ever being good enough to face God. I am without hope, aside from the mercy and grace of God in Christ Jesus.

And even though you cannot even remotely call not drinking carbonated drinks suffering, every time I had a pang of desire for one, and felt the “pain” of not getting one, it reminded me of Jesus’ suffering. And I am thankful for that reminder.

The second thing I did differently this season was to attend the Maundy Thursday service at First Baptist. Maundy comes from the Latin and means “mandate.” During the Last Supper, Jesus gave the mandate for the believers to love and serve one another and set the example by washing their feet.

During this service, which was very somber, we remembered Christ’s death for us. It was a time of quiet reflection. The songs added to the mood. And then we took communion together. It was very moving. I think we often set aside reflecting on the suffering and death of Christ to focus on the glory of the resurrection. But setting aside the death and suffering diminishes the glory of the resurrection. Any time you can make an extreme contrast, the impact is magnified.

I think the Protestant church has set aside many rituals as a reaction against the misuses of them in many churches. I am here to say that they have great meaning if they are thought of correctly and I am thankful for the meaning they have had in my life during this Easter season.