Wisdom from the wild side

Friday night I attended a speaking engagement of Anne Lamott's at Mercer Island Presbyterian Church. As a friend of mine described her, "She's a wild woman." That's one way of describing her. She has had a unconventional life.

What I like about her is that she is so refreshingly honest about her faith. She doesn't hide her faults. She's not your typical evangelist (and I don't think she would call herself one at all), yet her self-deprecating, humorous stories draw people to reflect on their views of Christianity and take another look at Jesus. Above all, she believes in the power of the resurrection and it's power to change lives now as well as eternally. That's how she ended her talk friday night. After speaking an hour and a half (which seemed to fly by) she concluded with the thought, "There is just one story...the resurrection story." This is from a woman who is a best selling author and past recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship. She knows stories.

I love her emphases on mercy and grace and paying attention for the Divine at work. As she says, "Carry a pen!" She urged us to write it down...don't think you'll remember those glimpses of grace. I could relate to that. At times she sounded like a Spiritual Director. A woman after my own heart! Be observant. Be expectant. God is at work, even in the darkest times. It's ok to be scared. It doesn't mean that you don't have faith. As Lamott said, "Courage is fear that has said it's prayers."

In these difficult times, it's a wise reminder that we should continue to seek to glimpse God at work and know that Jesus will crawl down into any hole we're in and be with us. Thank God!

Surprising Grace

Have you ever had one of those days when you just didn't seem to be all there? Everyday tasks seem so much harder? That was my day yesterday. I woke still worn out from the day before and feeling like I was on the verge of a cold. It didn't help that it was time to spring forward for daylight savings time. I could have used another hour of sleep.

I had plans to attend a concert with friends in the evening and I seriously considered canceling out. The featured artist was to be Chris Tomlin - one of my favorite singer/songwriters. I have a number of his tunes on my ipod. But I was more inclined to go to bed early and call it a day...not just because I was tired, but because I just wanted to put the day behind me. Tomorrow would be a new day. I could always listen to my ipod.

I chose to push through my malaise and make the 45 minute drive to the arena.

It's been years (many years) since I've been to a concert of this kind. I naively thought I was going to listen to some music. What was I thinking? It was three hours of worship...and a lot of that was standing. They made it so easy for the 6,000 plus folks packed into the ShoWare Center. The lyrics were displayed on the two gigantic screens bracketing the stage.

I admit, it took me a few songs to make the transition. I even turned to one of my friends and said I hoped we weren't going to be standing all night. But my fatigue and malaise seemed to melt away as I sang from my heart.

There's something very special in the experience of lifting your voice in praise with thousands of others. Scripture tells us that God inhabits the praise of God's people. God's loving presence filled the place. After a lackluster day, God surprised me with a wonderful experience of Grace. It would have been so much easier to stay home. I'm glad I chose the discomfort of getting out, so that I could be surprised and renewed by Grace. It was a new day last night...I didn't have to wait for the dawn.