may the Mystery Unfold.....

"Love is everything it's cracked up to be. 

That's why people are so cynical about it...It really is worth fighting for, risking everything for. And the trouble is, 

if you don't risk everything, you risk even more."- Erica Jong

It is Thursday and it is not just the typical kind of Thursday.

First, we dropped off color daughter at the airport this morning.  She is currently in the air on the way to China for a week.  Big Daddy and I did everything we could to embarrass her at the airport.  We yelled her name and gave the love symbol as she went through security and then as she got through she stood and stared and suddenly Big Daddy and I gave her the big heart draw in the air followed by our off color jerk dance..The heart draw is what we one time saw on a prison documentary.  Two of the female prisoners were in love and both being housed in opposite sides of the prison, when one would get her time outside she would stand at the opposite side of the yard while inmate number one stood on her bed to gaze out the window.   At just the right moment they would draw big hearts in the air and the one would yell, "I heart you!"  It has become one of our "warm fuzzy" ways of embarrassing the children.  The jerk dance is what we'd do at her band concerts when she looked at us.  Once one of her friends asked her to look at those weird people in the stands dancing to the music and off color daughter said, " I was too embarrassed to tell them those weird folks were my parents!"

Well she is off and just like when they go to school--you kiss them good by and place them into the hands of the Universe and pray for their protection. I have no doubt, China will never be the same!!!  And for sure there will be more stories to share.

It is a table talkin' kind of day.  Tonight, millions of folks practicing the Christian faith will gather in a place, break bread and remember part of the reason they "faith".

Loaves will be broken.

Wine or grape juice will be passed or served.  They will taste sweet or bitter on their tongue that has been coated with a doughy taste of flour and yeast and then they all wait...

wait for the Mystery of Life to unfold inside.

Sometimes

it is just an plain old bite of wonder bread---nothing happens---or so it seems

other times

there is an energy

a spark

a nourishing moment

when

"something"

hits a dry spot in our being

and

revives it

resurrects it if you will.

I really don't understand IT...

that thing

that Mystery of sorts...

but 

IT sustains me in ways and fashions I can't even begin to articulate.

I've been thinking today--doing a bit of soul searching about  who I wouldn't like to invite to the meal...who I have felt betrayed by...hurt by...injured by...about who I'd like to exclude

and

I wonder

wonder 

what kind of healing might take place

if just for a sacred moment

I starred across the room and saw

those who I'd rather not be with

all breaking bread and partaking in 

a Mysterious Banquet of sort

I mean

they have a place at the table just like me

they are loved just like me

they are valued just like me

and

yet

yet I wrestle 

with 

forgiveness and granting grace and mercy

and

risking

love.

The teacher

broke bread with

lepers,

tax collectors,

crazy folks-like me,

people who sold him out,

people who pretended not to know or understand his gifts...

The teacher broke bread

shared the cup

told the story 

lived the story

and

then 

washed 

their dirty feet.

I wonder...

just wonder...

how I might be changed...

if

I shared a bit of bread,

poured another cup and passed it on around

to my estranged brothers and sisters and people I'd just as soon not see...

wonder

what might happen if 

I risked enough

to see and touch and know them

risked getting underneath all that stuff we place upon our spirit

wonder 

what they might teach me

how I might grow

how the world might be transformed...

if

I

might risk

sharing bread

drinking drink

washing feet

and

allowing the Mystery

to heal and unfold.

May it be so

on this Holy Thursday!!!!

may the Mystery rise up

and

grab hold of you

the rambling rambler