Archive for the ‘metaphors for life’ Category

Love and Fear Dance Together

September 14th, 2010

Today I read this post on Christine Sine’s blog. It was a great post and a wonderful addition to the recent synchroblog on Christianity and Immigration. At the end she quoted this poem by Michael Leuniq:

“There are only two feelings
Love and fear
There are only two languages
Love and fear
There are only two activities
Love and fear
There are only two motives,
two procedures, two frameworks,
two results.
Love and fear
Love and fear.”

As soon as I read this I had this picture in my head of love and fear dancing together. I thought about the Christian life as being a journey from fear to love. There’s a long phase of the journey where love hasn’t totally conquered fear yet, and so they dance together for a while. Sometimes love leads, and sometimes fear leads, but hopefully over the course of the journey love leads more and more often until one day fear is completely transformed and Love is all there is. I’ve been sitting with this picture all day.

Here’s a little something I wrote in response to all these thoughts:

Lord, I reach out to you in my darkness and there is fear.

I speak to you in my pain and there is fear.

In me is fear, around me is fear, from me is fear.

I am fear.

But, Lord, you reach out to me in my darkness and there is love.

You speak to me in my pain and there is love.

In you is love, around you is love, from you is love.

You are love.

Perfect love drives out all fear.

You come

And your love begins to dance with my fear.

And slowly, ever so slowly

Fear is driven out by love’s dance.

And you begin to whisper,

“Come, and do likewise!

Reach out your hand in love towards those in darkness

Speak out in love towards those in pain

Drive out fear from all places where it has made its home.

Be love to the other, as I have been love to you.”

Rejoicing in the journey -
Bethany Stedman

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A Salad Party

May 2nd, 2010

Last night we hosted our first real dinner party since before Thaddeus was born. I had been looking forward to it all week and I wasn’t disappointed.

Bryan and I have always loved opening our home and sharing a meal with friends. The first year we were married we had a standing open door policy every Thursday night. Thursday nights all our friends knew that we would make a big dinner and they were welcome to join us if they wanted. When we moved to Prague we dropped the weekly open dinner, but continued to regularly invite a variety of people over for meals. Since having Thaddeus though we haven’t really done this at all and I have missed it a lot. So, tonight feels really significant to me – in a way it feels like coming back home to something I love, that I momentarily set down.

There’s been a lot of that lately – a lot of stirrings in me to return to former loves. During my pregnancy I sort of set aside many of my hobbies, interests, and former passions. I don’t know why but pregnancy and the transition into motherhood felt all encompassing for me. So, blogging, writing, photography, cooking, health, yoga, reading, and entertaining all sort of fell by the way side. Now they are calling to me again. So, tonight feels like opening a door to these former interests and saying, “Yes, come in again. I’ve missed you.”

So, what did we do for our entry back into dinner parties? A salad party. Ok, I know that there are probably some people out there who would think this sounds a little lame, but believe me it was awesome!

Basically Bryan and I provided lettuce, salad dressing options and homemade bread. We asked everyone else to bring one thing to contribute to a salad for dinner. I think everyone brought more than one thing though, and we ended up having such a great variety and a really beautiful salad. Our salad had three types of nuts, three different cheeses, tomatoes, apple, dried cranberry, and bacon all atop a salad of three different kinds of lettuce. YUMMY! For desert we had everyone bring a fruit and we made a big fruit salad and topped it with homemade whipped cream and a drizzle of honey. Strawberries, coconut, pineapple, banana, mandarin oranges, candied ginger – Even more yummy!

My favorite thing about this was that it was so communal. Everyone contributed whatever they had or wanted to offer. Honestly, I wasn’t sure about how some of the flavors would go together at first (apple and tomato?) but in the end it was delicious. Everything came together to create a beautiful colorful tapestry of flavors. To me this is a beautiful little picture of the body of Christ.

We all are so different and unique. Sometimes we aren’t sure if we really have something to contribute to the body or the kingdom, but we all do. Each and every one of us adds a unique flavor to the salad. Each and every one of us makes the kingdom “taste better” through our involvement. Even if we think that we might not “go together” well , often we’d be surprised that our “flavors” mix just perfectly to create exactly what the salad needs to take it to the next level. As I ate my salad I couldn’t l help but think about all that.

The other great thing about this dinner party was it didn’t cost much. In fact it may have been the cheapest dinner party we ever hosted. All Bryan and I had to buy for it was some lettuce, and whipping cream, and yeast. We already had everything else for bread and a whole jar of Czech honey at home to contribute. Everything else for the dinner came from everyone else. And since everyone only brought a few things it shouldn’t have been very expensive for any of them either. I really thought it was a great way to divide the cost of a big dinner, so that it was really manageable for everyone. These days that’s a big plus around here.

So, next time you’re thinking of a doing a dinner party feel free to steal this idea. You can’t really go wrong with a great big salad! And you can use this idea over and over – each time you do it your salad will turn out completely unique and different from the last time.

What are some of y our favorite dinner party meals?? Or what things are you picking up again that you’ve set aside for a while?

Rejoicing in the journey -
Bethany Stedman

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Some Thoughts on Maundy Thursday

April 1st, 2010

IMG_4733Today I started sprouting some whole un-ground spelt. But, before I got started I decided to sort through the grains because there were these strange little black balls mixed in with the grains. At first I thought they were pepper, but on closer inspection there were not. (Aside: anyone know what they are? And why there were in my spelt?) Anyway, sorting through a bag of un-ground grains was a new experience for me. It was tedious and monotonous, but somehow it seemed like an appropriate activity for Maundy Thursday.

As I sorted the grains it felt a little bit like I was engaged in a type of litany – A call and response between God’s heart and mine. Here are some of the thoughts that God brought up as I sorted the grains.

First, he reminded me that it is not my job to sort. It’s not my job to sort or judge anyone else’s life or heart, AND it’s not even my job to sort my own heart. I have a tendency to be very hard on myself. I want to be perfect and I want to be perfect NOW. I want to change how I act, and think, and feel. I want to change my heart and at times I WORK HARD at trying to do so. But, the truth of the Gospel is that I can’t change myself. I can’t purify my own heart. I can’t sort out all the “icky” stuff from my life. There is none holy, no not one. And I can’t fix myself.

The hope of the Gospel is that Christ is powerful to cleanse us. He stoops down and cleanses the disciple’s feet, washing them clean, purifying them. And he does the same for me. He is the one who sorts through my heart and weeds out all the impurities – all the shaft, rocks, bugs, and little black things that I can’t even recognize any more. I don’t need to cleanse myself, I don’t need to judge myself. He is the One Judge and he is merciful. He is the one who cleanses me and his hand is gentle. IMG_4735

Another thing happened while I was sorting. As I sorted through the grains, I noticed that some of them were broken. For a second I actually thought about sorting out all the broken pieces while I was sorting out the other stuff – I know CRAZY, right? But, there was a little part of me that wanted everything to be perfect and look perfect and uniform. I know it was ridiculous. Those broken pieces were perfectly good pieces of grain even though they didn’t look as nice or perfect as the whole pieces.

Then I heard God whisper… “Bethany, I don’t sort out the brokenness either. The broken pieces stay.” It struck me that when God is cleaning and purifying and sanctifying my life he slowly picks away the rocks, the dirt, the bugs, but he leaves the broken pieces. He leaves the wounds, the hurts, the scars, the places of my life that aren’t neat and clean and whole and perfect. Sometimes I wish he didn’t leave the broken pieces, but there is something beautiful about the fact that he does. He’s not wasteful. He may refine me but every bit of me that is worth keeping will be kept even if it looks a little broken or misshapen.

Oh, and his work is slow. He doesn’t sort and purify quickly. He doesn’t use a machine and haphazardly throw me into a standard system. He slowly picks up and looks at each grain of my heart. He sorts by hand – strong, yet gentle hands.

Search me, Oh God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.

See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.

Rejoicing in the journey-
Bethany

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God as Nurturing Mother

August 19th, 2009

IMG_5833

Truly Lord, you are a mother
for both they who are in labour
and they who are brought forth
are accepted by you.
- Anselm of Canterbury

But our true Mother Jesus, he alone bears us for joy and for endless life,
blessed may he be. So he carries us within him in love and travail
- Julian of Norwich

Today I stumbled upon these quotes that compare God to a mother and really liked them. This idea of God as mother is definitely something I didn’t grow up hearing much, but it has been something I have thought a lot about since getting pregnant.

One picture that has come to mind often throughout this pregnancy is the picture that just as my baby is growing in my womb I am growing in the womb of God. I am surrounded, held, nurtured, protected by the unseen womb of a loving mothering God.

I think I have often had a difficult time picturing God as loving and nurturing. It is much easier for me to think of God as holy and other, as mysterious and unknown, as strong and powerful, as jealous and just. My usual images and metaphors for God (and the one’s I hear most often) consist of the merciful, but all powerful judge; the forgiving father; and on occasion the tender lover. But, they are all and have all been male images, and even the loving images have a hard edge to them. But, nurturing mother? Well, that’s one image or metaphor for God that hasn’t been a part of my repertoire. But, I wonder if I am missing out on a holistic picture of God because I limit my images of him mostly to male-centered father figures.

The picture of God as a nurturing caring mother feels incredibly powerful for me, especially at this season in my life when I feel immensely vulnerable. There is something entirely soft, warm, and inviting about a mother. I think we all have seasons of our lives when we long to be mothered, we remember our mothers care and kisses when we scraped our knees and burnt our hands and as adults there is still at times that longing to run to our mom’s and have our aches and pains kissed and cared for. The idea that God wants be that for me seems so beautiful to me right now. The idea that God wants to nurture and protect me just as I long to nurture and protect my child feels like an epiphany for me and I pray that God would take me deeper into the truths of his mothering, creating, nurturing nature.

Rejoicing in the journey -
Bethany Stedman

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Litergy for a time of Change

June 8th, 2009

Here is a litergy that I wrote for a friend a little while ago, but lately it has felt very appropriate for not only her life, but also mine and many others in my circle so I wanted to share it.

*Lord, God you are Alpha and Omega,
 beginning and the end

You are God of our beginnings
You are God of our endings


*God of the ending

*God who causes the sun to set
And the leaves to fall from the trees

*God who inspires the caterpillar to crawl into the cocoon
And the tides to rise and recede

You are in the endings

*May we be a people who end well

 

*This is a day of ending

We mourn together for that which will not be again.

(silence)

*We say goodbye to the years that have past,
And thank you for the years gone by

*We thank you for your presence

*We thank you for your guidance and provision

*We thank you for your love

We thank you for the work of your spirit

*We thank you for the mystery of cocooning,

*The darkness of uncertainty,

*The tears of yesterday.

*We thank you for the beauty of the setting sun,
the wonder of your presence in our midst,
the laughter that has been.

*May we never forget where we’ve been and where we come from

*May we honor the past that has been,

But move forward in power and freedom

*God of endings, break clean the ties that hold us down,
tear loose the chains that bind us

And set us free to fly into new beginnings

 

*God of the beginning

*God who causes the sun to rise
And flowers to blossom in new life

*God who inspires butterflies to burst forth into the sky
And the tides to rise and recede

You are in the beginnings

*May we be a people who begin well

 

*This is a day of beginning

We sing together for that which is yet to come

(silence)

*Together we welcome the coming tide of change
and look forward to the years to come

*We look forward to your presence with us

*We look forward to your guidance and provision

*We look forward to your love

We look forward to the work of your spirit.

*We thank you for the mystery of new birth,

*The lightness of your presence,

*The freedom of tomorrow.

*We thank you for the beauty of the new dawn,
the wonder of your presence in our midst,
the laughter which is to come.


*May we move forward in strength into that which is yet to be

*May we lean into your leading in our lives,

Move us forward in power and freedom

*God of beginnings, break clean the ties that hold us down,
tear loose the chains that bind us

And set us free to fly into new beginnings


*Alpha and Omega, you are God of All

*Be God of this new season. Amen. 

* change readers
Bold read in unison

Rejoicing in the journey -
Bethany Stedman

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