Prayers For Melissa

lovingly remembering, joyfully treasuring, with deep gratitude, a precious gift

“There is nothing that can replace the absence of someone dear to us, and one should not even attempt to do so. One must simply hold out and endure it. At first that sounds very hard, but at the same time it is also a great comfort. For to the extent the emptiness truly remains unfilled one remains connected to the other person through it. It is wrong to say that God fills the emptiness. God in no way fills it but much more leaves it precisely unfilled and thus helps us preserve — even in pain — the authentic relationship. Furthermore, the more beautiful and full the remembrances, the more difficult the separation. But gratitude transforms the torment of memory into silent joy. One bears what was lovely in the past not as a thorn but as a precious gift deep within, a hidden treasure of which one can always be certain.”

― Dietrich Bonhoeffer

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Remembering fifty (and a hundred plus) years ago….

“The pale history books in Harlem and Birmingham told how the nation had fought a war over slavery. Abraham Lincoln had signed a document that would come to be known as the Emancipation Proclamation. The war had been won but not a just peace. Equality had never arrived. Equality was a hundred years late.

“The boy and the girl knew more than history. They knew something about current events. … They knew that, for years, their own lawyers had won great victories in the courts which were not being translated into reality.

“They were seeing on television, hearing from the radio, reading in the newspapers that this was the one-hundredth birthday of their freedom. … But freedom had a dull ring, a mocking emptiness….”

–excerpt(s) from the Introduction in “Why We Can’t Wait”, Martin Luther King, Jr.

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In the context of now more and more deliberate decrease of privacy in the new millennium, with the incessant deluge of data littering the information super highway, while traversing through the plethora of crass unbridled naked exposures marked by uninhibited blatant lack of discretions manifested via today’s burgeoning social network media environment, the sore stark need for raising the level in quality and character of public discourse with civility and higher education to facilitate such is that much more magnified and readily apparent, writ large on the internet’s web in the eternity of virtual space …. what a mess for all of the whole wide world to witness such a sad state, needing saving grace — Lord, in your mercy, hear

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http://instagram.com/p/aRSLkYSoPT/

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While I write on this morning in which my spirit is once again reawakening to the real presence of the One Who is alone steadfast, faithful and true to me and you, I am reminded of the saying, “April showers bring May flowers.”

The thought comes to mind that somehow or another the passing of the seasons is meant for us to experience the journey of faith through the passage of time in ways that would bring us closer in our relationship with God. Even when rain showers down upon our lives, though we might not regard it as a blessing at the time, the Lord God almighty is able to turn and uses them for good in our walk with one another in Christ.

The writer of wisdom in Ecclesiastes (3:1) tells us:

There is a time for everything,

    and a season for every activity under the heavens:

In all things taking place under the sun, God works for the good of those who love the Lord, who are the called out ones according to God’s purpose. (Romans 8:28)

As April showers would bring May flowers in this season of Easter through Pentecost, I also find myself reminiscing of times before when I might recall past celebrations of graduations, commencement exercises and wedding ceremonies at springtime. A renewing perspective of theological reflection and familial experience embraces me in these latter days as I bear witness to my eldest child graduating from college, a daughter’s confirmation in faith, the baptism of a precious little one to preside over, a niece and Godchild’s move from secondary education toward matriculation in her undergraduate studies, and a friend and relative’s anticipated vows of promise together in the covenant of marriage.

It is, for me it seems, amidst the transitions of life and ministry in the Lord that events transpire in a way that can make any sense. Through the ebb and flow of our lives lived for the glory of God in Christ, we are continually transformed by the power and presence of God the Holy Spirit who is ever conforming us to the image of Jesus. (Romans 8:29; 12:2)

As I await the next season of call for the glory of the Lord, and bid one another farewell upon the upcoming transition in ministry at this time and place under the sun, excerpts of lyrics in the song “Sunrise, Sunset” from the musical Fiddler on the Roof by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick echo within my soul.

Is this the little girl I carried?

Is this the little boy at play? 

I don’t remember growing older

When did they? 

Sunrise, sunset

Sunrise, sunset

Swiftly flow the days

Seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers

Blossoming even as we gaze

What words of wisdom can I give them?

How can I help to ease their way? 

Now they must learn from one another

Day by day

Sunrise, sunset

Sunrise, sunset

Swiftly fly the years

One season following another

Laden with happiness and tears

The Lord be with you and yours in these seasons under the sun through the passing of the years

In Christ,

Pastor Rex

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