Sunday, March 20, 2011

Easter Express …

Get on board

the Easter Express

Gladden UP

755 Millers Run Road

March 29, April 5, 12, 19th

6 to 8 p.m.

Event includes: Craft, meal, Bible story and games

for children in grades preschool to Grade 5

with opportunities for older youth

to participate as leader assistants

Please help us be good stewards of resources

and pre-register

by calling

412-221-5594 by Mar. 25

Monday, March 7, 2011

“Seraphim in Disguise” by Ted Loder

A friend sent this to me this weekend, and I thought it was worth keeping and sharing:

O God,

everywhere present, but nowhere obvious, here I am where I always seem to be; betwixt cold fronts and crocuses, dreams and disappointments, failures and summons, flaws and gifts, growing up and growing old; betwixt isolation and intimacy, despair and hope, confidence and fear, life and death.

O God,

you must know how hard it is

to be in this between

where nothing is certain,

everything's in flux,

this relentless churning

from something I can't quite grasp

to something I can't quite see,

and it's all up for grabs,

and - please,God –

for grace.

Mercy out of me

this tumorous sense of fault,

this dead-weight of doubt

that I am not two-sparrows' worth,

and no concern of yours.

Deepen into me

the liberating assurance

that I am where you are with me,

stretched between the kingdom in our midst and the slow fullness of its coming.

Muster my courage

to let go of the clutch of grievances

that keep rendering me vaguely the same, to become vulnerable to surprise - by being one – taking some outrageous, specific dare of love.

Strengthen my trust

that you are in the turbulence

to intensify my struggles,

and to render me, as well,

sociable to joy, subject to your grace.

Keen my awareness

that uncertainty is my dance with you,

crises, seraphim in disguise,

rumpling the air with choice and change, tonging the coals of another chance, proclaiming betwixt as holy, cleansing my soul for gratitude, freeing me, when sent, to go for you, a little less afraid, a little more at ease.