Well, I guess the Lord's Prayer works

For the 9th Grade Glenn High School Basketball Team and Coach Byrne

He has dreamed about that since he could talk and walk and hold a ball.  His first word was ball. He has practiced that shot over and over again in his head, in my living room, in his bedroom, in the gym, in the driveway.  Last count, we have 10 basketballs at my house.  I was not happy the day happy Vance and he were playing in the living room and broke a peice of my pottery.  They tried to hide it from me.  The half court in my living room was history after that.  I bought his goal you know.  Weird, huh?  That Vance didn’t and I did.  Not that Vance didn’t want to; it is just how it worked out.  Another one of those games where it didn’t look like they were going to win, but they did and I won $250 and became a Maryland fan.  It  just seemed fitting to buy a basketball goal with the winnings.

So, it was 4.4 seconds to go.  They were playing their cross town rivals. They were down by three and had trailed most of the game and at one point were down by 10 points.  It kind of looked like the game was over.  But they never gave up.  They never quit playing.  They believed somewhere deep inside, it wasn't over. It's what they do best.  Play hard and keep each other up.  The ball was in bounded to Davis and he took the ball up the court and dribbled past two defenders and at the buzzer, two steps away from the three point line, he took the shot, banked it and made it.  Game tied. OT.  It was one of those shots, you just can’t believe.  It was the kind of stuff dreams are made of.  Shots like that.  If you are lucky enough to play basketball and lucky enough to be in a game like that and lucky enough to take that shot, about once in a lifetime you will make it.  It is why you take the shot.   You might make it.  And they won in OT.  Davis told them in the locker room, “guys it was just a lucky shot.”  The team said, “Well, then, guess that Lord’s Prayer works.”

It does.  And truth be told, that is the most important lesson Coach Byrne has been teaching.  It works. It will work when nothing else in your life will.  I don’t know if it wins ballgames, I don’t know if God chooses sides during ballgames, and I don’t know if angels are sitting on the rim just waiting to tap the game tying shot in or not. And I don't know if praying determines the outcome of games.  Ray Lewis said it last night after his team won in OT too.   It works. So, remember, guys it works.

Our Father in heaven, hallowed is Your name…

 Always remember guys from where you came and that really you have nothing to prove because God has already approved of you.  It works, you know, your Coach told you it did.

Your kingdom come, your will be down on earth as it is heaven….

Always remember to pray that your hearts will stay open and that you have the wisdom to make good choices.  It works, you know.

Give us this day, our daily bread.

God gives what you need.  Remember to be thankful and it will be ok.  Your Coach told you it works. 

Forgive our sins as we forgive those who hurt us.

Always be the one who always apologizes first, it is the only way happiness can last.  Be friends with the one person you have to you have to pray to love and it makes everyone scratch their heads, and say, “huh?”  It works, you know.  

Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil.

Pray for your enemies so stubbornly until your enemies are illusions and everyone is your friend.  It works, you know.

For the kingdom, the power, the glory is Yours forever.

It works you, know.

It will work in the classroom when you don’t know what to do.

It will work when the world is coming down on you.

It will work when it feels like no one loves you anymore.

It will work when you are scared to the core and you don’t know who to turn to anymore.

It will work.  No guessing about it guys, it works and that is miracle.  When you remember that game, when you remember how good it feels to win and how good it feels to run up and down that court, remember the most important thing…the only thing…the most important thing the Coach taught you..

The Lord’s Prayer, it works.  

I still haven't found what I have been looking for

I always wanted to be a magi.  Mainly, because they had the most elaborate costumes in the church nativity scene.  And they rode on camels.  And they got to carry scented lotion. They also had really cool names.  They had a pretty cool job too.  They counted stars and interpreted dreams.   NASA says it is possible to count all the stars in the universe.  And for those of you counting at home the latest count is 300,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. That's 300 sextillion. Just think, the magi were looking for just one.  Just one in 300 sextillion.

Given my love for aromatherapy, I am pretty sure that if I were a magi, I would have been in charge of the gifts, not the counting or looking for a star.  I happen to love the smell of frankisence and myrrh and may have chosen that.  But lavender and rosemary would have been high on the list.  During the Christmas season, I keep frankisense and myrrh soap in my kitchen and bathroom.  I would have raised my hand for packing too.  Melchoir probably would have fussed because I overpacked and we would have probably had to hire another camel just to carry the luggage. 

Looking for that star though, would have frustrated me.  Davis and I thought we would lay out in the backyard and count the meteors on December 13^th and 14^th during the Geminid meteor shower.  According to my NightSky app, we were suppose to see 120 per hour.  It was about 27 degrees that night and we lasted about 14 minutes.  We saw 2.  Davis quickly did the math and informed me that we would only see 32 if we stayed all night.  He decided that seeing one each was plenty.  He reminded me that the wisemen only saw one and the baby Jesus was the payoff. 

I think that is why I love the Feast of the Epiphany.  Epiphany celebrates the searchers.  Epiphany tells us the questions. I find myself at odds with the religious expressions that claim to have it all.  I find myself at odds with the type of spirituality that seems to have all the answers.  If finding Jesus was that easy, would they have had to cross a desert on camelback in the bleak midwinter with only words of dreamers and prophets and one star in 300 sextillion to guide them?  Not to mention that even Herod the Great couldn’t find Jesus and ordered all babies under the age of two killed to squelch an imagined threat on his power.

And that’s the miracle of the Epiphany.  Not that they found Jesus, but that they searched.  The magi didn’t claim to have it all.  They saw their lives as a journey as discovery.   

 And yet, there are times when I find myself uncomfortable with the sort of religious expression that claims to have it all.  Bono and U2 wrote a song, “ I still haven’t found what I am looking for.”   I think it would make a nice anthem on Epiphany.  You see, the example of the Magi was that they were searchers. They didn’t claim to have it all but they saw their lives as a journey of discovery. And in that they are an example to us. We don’t know it all. But if we like them are prepared to be diligent seekers, then like them we may be graced by a vision of God’s light, by our Epiphany. So a message for today, is to dare like them to take the risk of seeking and God may well bless us with our own Epiphanys which transform us as doubtless the Magi were transformed by what must have been a surprising experience for them as they knelt before the infant Jesus.  Because there were always be days, when you still haven’t found what you were looking for.  And it is the grace of diligently seeking that we see the one star in 300 sextillion, the one…

We are not that far from Bethlehem

7 days.   6000 miles.  2 millennia.   That is about how far we are from Bethlehem. Many of us probably slid into that pew last Monday night, exhausted, distressed, frustrated, worried, depressed, scared, weary, grieving, hopeless, joyless and not quite ready.  Mary must have thought the same.  The only thing she knew for sure was she was going to have a baby and his name was to be called Emmanuel.  The angel had told her that much.  Bethlehem almost missed it.  I suspect we do too. 

The church in all its wisdom originally set aside twelve days for Christmas. Most of us have already opened gifts, put up our decorations, have resolved (as of this morning), to eat less and exercise more. For many the holidays expose the fragility of their relationships, the reality that their hearts are not filled with joy and a post-Christmas depression develops.  We stop celebrating Christmas before it even begins.  We realize rather we admit it or not that we are lost and our hearts are not quite right and sadly we most often don’t know why.  Or perhaps we do, but we are distracted by many things or we would rather not look hard enough to find out.

I can imagine that Mary felt much of the same.  First, Joseph decided at the most inopportune time to take a road trip.  He forgot to make reservations.  It was crowded in Bethlehem that time of year and money was tight.  More likely than not, the extended family was not exactly over joyed at the new addition and for a while, Mary hid out at her cousin’s Elizabeth’s house.  Apparently, the birth of Jesus caused a king to commit infanticide.  And she and Joseph had to run away to Egypt.  And maybe, just maybe Mary wanted a girl and maybe, just maybe she had another name in mind.  She probably was not at all thrilled at the prospect of having to raise Jesus away from her kinfolk.  Her mom or sisters or aunts were not going to be around for childrearing advice.  Joseph probably wondered if they were hiring carpenters in Egypt. 

So, while everyone was sleeping, Mary and Joseph chose to keep moving forward.  She and he believed in the hope the angel had promised.  She and he saw love being born and knew that God is with us, God is in us, and God is for us.

We just aren’t that far from Bethlehem.  

We can live our days with hope, with joy, with peace, even if only for today.  And sometimes today is enough.  We can remember the hope that was born in Bethlehem that night.  It is not that far away, really. 

This night on the first night of the New Year and on the eighth day of Christmas… We pray…

We pray that we will live our days with hope, with peace, with joy.  We pray that we will remember the hope He believed in, promised and brought.  We pray that our lives will reflect the dream He had and to know that Peace on Earth is not that out of reach…It is not that far…It is only as far as finding mercy, love and forgiveness.   We just aren’t that far from Bethlehem.

Happy New Year and wishing you the hope that was found in Bethlehem and may you always realize it is not that far…