Help for a Healing Heart

I'm not sure what I expected from Stained Glass Hearts by Patsy Clairmont. The subtitle, Seeing Life from a Broken Perspective, certainly seemed to apply to anyone who has lived a life which contained disappointments. So, I kicked back, cracked it open, and dug in. To start with, the author's writing style is very, very chatty. I could almost hear her. I really enjoyed, at the end of every chapter, her suggestions for healing activities: Scripture, music, art, literature, museums and the like.

Clairmont is very personable, seemingly very open about her own struggles with agoraphobia. She seems incessantly cheery, almost to the point of being flip. In fact that became a problem for me; I could not imagine sharing such a book with a suffering friend. I almost put it down. But somewhere around the middle, in a chapter appropriately entitled “Stained Glass Prayer,” the author truly let the reading have a glimpse of her broken heart. I began to get a real sense of the caming that holds her broken heart together: “ . . . when we lose our joy, the Spirit replaces it with endurance, that indestructible internal insistence to keep on keeping on.” And so, finally, I saw how the Almighty pieced together her broken heart through prayer, reading, poetry, nature, and grace. That is what I needed to hear.

Would I share this book with a broken-hearted friend? Probably not. But I would certainly share it with one whose heart is healing.

Buttermilk Sky

Candid Camera Moments

Now that the holiday programs in our congregation are finally over (with the exception of Christmas Eve Communion), I'm coming up for air and just had to share a moment from youth/children's program rehearsals.


(Background info: we were in the transition week between an outgoing interim youth director--who was fabulous--and an incoming "permanent" youth director--who seems fabulous--both of whom were in attendance and desperately trying to maintain some sense of order.)

Picture the small sanctuary (seats 300) of a county-seat church with the ENTIRE children/youth department (K-12) working on the program:

Grades K-3 bathrobe shepherds are in one corner,

Grades 1-4 angels are in another corner,

middle/high school youth clearing the chancel to use as a stage,

responsible adults trying to teach lines and staging in the midst of the usual utter bedlam.

In the middle of the chaos, enter the men's sections of the choir (with director and organist) who proceed to rehearse "E'en So, Lord Jesus, Quickly Come" with the organ because it has a built-in transposer and their program is a week before the youth program.

And when the cacophony had reached its apex, I stopped and looked around for the "candid camera" that just had to be in the corner. It was like some archetypical holiday movie. I couldn't help but laugh and praise the Lord that He does work even in the midst of chaos. Both programs were blessings, each in its own way.

As I write this, I realize that maybe that "candid camera" moment really was archetypical of the way we share God's love in the world. Rarely is the ministry of a congregation the well-designed, thoughtfully-planned, cohesive program we'd like it to be. More often it is like a worn patchwork quilt stitched together that, somehow, despite a few new patches, strained stitches, frayed edges, and holes worn by overuse, still manages to provide warmth and comfort.

So, if you're feeling a little frayed, or strained, or just plain worn out, take a moment to remember that He is with us in the midst of sickness and sorrow and strife and storm and joy.

Peace to you.

The Last Roses of Autumn

New Home for Wayside Wall

Well, new place. New post to come soon!