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Freerange Friday: Let God Hold

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By Lilly Lewin

This week, our part of the world is experiencing another major hurricane that has devastated parts of the Caribbean and is on it’s way to Florida. My friends on the West Coast of the US are experiencing massive forest fires caused by the extreme heat of the summer. And last night a major earthquake hit the coast of Mexico! When you add all of this to political unrest, bombings and terrorism, IT IS A LOT! And thanks to social media and 24 hour news, we get all of this thrown at us ALL THE TIME! We need to be reminded that God is not far off, God is still here and in the midst of this with us.

The image above is what I drew in response to the one of our journaling prompts at thinplaceNASHVILLE Sunday Night. The original journaling prompt was:

It’s been another stressful news week, the terrible flooding in Southern Texas and Louisiana, and even in Nashville. And then there is the news from N. Korea…

Take some time and process this with Jesus.

Allow Jesus to carry this for you.

The image below is one of my favorites created by my friend artist Scott Erickson.

Look at the two images. Take some time to ponder and consider them.

Invite Jesus to speak to you through these images.

Am I allowing Jesus to hold all of the stuff? Or am I trying to control or fix it? or am I just being overwhelmed by it all? Talk to Jesus about where you are and how you are feeling.

Allow Jesus to CARRY the stuff and the craziness for you!

Allow Jesus to HOLD the stress, and the fear, the hatred and the anxiety.  

Draw your own image, or find one in a magazine or on line that will help you remember that God is holding all things together.

 

Lord God we are overwhelmed by the devastation and the abundance of suffering.

Help us to Love Anyway.

We are living in uncertain times that we cannot control.

Help us to trust you and remember that you are in charge not us!

Help us to seek you Anyway.

Help us to let go and let you carry our fear and our anxiety.

In the midst of it all, help us to Love Anyway.

Help us to serve anyway.

Help us to start small and and start with love!

One day at a time. One moment at a time. In your name! AMEN  

(Prayer inspired by Mother Teresa’s quote)

freerangeworship.com


Freerange Friday: Living in the Land of Enough

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By Lilly Lewin

Psalm 23 (The Message)

-3 God, my shepherd!
I don’t need a thing.
You have bedded me down in lush meadows,
you find me quiet pools to drink from.
True to your word,
you let me catch my breath
and send me in the right direction.

Even when the way goes through
Death Valley,
I’m not afraid
when you walk at my side.
Your trusty shepherd’s crook
makes me feel secure.

You serve me a six-course dinner
right in front of my enemies.
You revive my drooping head;
my cup brims with blessing.

Your beauty and love chase after me
every day of my life.
I’m back home in the house of God
for the rest of my life.

The twenty third psalm was the psalm of the day this past Sunday….During our journaling time, I wrote the following:

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.(NIV) GOD, my shepherd!
I don’t need a thing. (The Message)

Jesus help me know that you are ENOUGH! And with you I have everything that I need! I don’t really lack anything. ENOUGH…what does that mean? What does that look like?

What if I really believed that with Jesus, I have enough?

What if I knew, REALLY knew that with Jesus I lack nothing? What does that mean? What would it look like if I lived out The Lord is my shepherd, I LACK NOTHING? How would I be different?

What if I saw everything as enough?

Enough money, time, attention, focus, creativity, work, and love?

How does this change my thinking? If I really believe that I have enough, or that today I am enough, and if I believe that with Jesus, he is enough….. In ENOUGH I am not yearning for the next thing. I’m not comparing myself with other people! I’m not acting in fear. I’m not living in the land of anxiety and the land of hopelessness is banished from the horizon.

In the Land of Enough there is no fear of missing out, no FOMO, because I’m right where I am supposed to be. In Enough I am content with where I am and what is happening today, not wishing for the next thing or yearning to be somewhere else.

The Lord is my shepherd, I have ENOUGH….Time, Resources, Focus, Work, Creativity, Love.

I need to ask for forgiveness Jesus. Please forgive me that too often I act like I don’t have enough. I act like I don’t trust you that you are guiding me beside still waters and leading me to green pastures. Forgive me for doubting that you have just the right stuff planned for me. Jesus, I ‘m sorry. Help me to Live in the Land of Enough! Not in the land of scarcity. Not in the land of fear. Not in the land of anxiety and missing out. Help me to live with you in the land of Enough. Help me Jesus to know You are enough!

How about you? What does it mean to you to be in the land of ENOUGH?

Read the 23rd Psalm out loud in a couple of different translations. Listen for God’s invitation to you rather than a demand or command.

How does it feel to be invited to be in green pastures and beside still waters?

How or where do you experience beauty? What things bring you comfort and joy? Do you thank God these things? Take some time to be thankful for God’s care and for the beauty you see/experience in your life.

How does it feel to know that God has your back? That God knows what you need and is guiding you?

Maybe you are not feeling like you are being led by still waters. Maybe life is stressful or the path doesn’t feel like it’s going towards green pastures. Maybe the land of Enough is too far away and feels impossible. Talk to God about this. Allow God to show you God’s comfort, love and path.

Together this week, let’s practice living in the Land of Enough and remember our Shepherd’s care.

freerangeworship.com

Freerange Friday: Preparing for Advent with Art, Music &Technology

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By Lilly Lewin

Happy Friday! At our house we are on the third dishwasher filling and enjoying turkey leftovers after a wonderful Thanksgiving meal with family and friends last night. I stay home on Black Friday and keep Thanksgiving going a bit longer. We don’t start decorating for Christmas til after Thanksgiving, usually not until December 1st. But I do start Advent early using the Celtic/Eastern Orthodox dates to get me started preparing my heart for the baby king.

As you have some time this weekend, consider how you want to spend Advent this year. Traditional Advent starts December 3rd so you have some time to prepare.

Do you need to add some quiet to your life? Do you need to say NO to some things in order to say YES to better things? Are there new traditions you’d like to start to help you keep the season?

Start with Music!  What music draws you into the season? It may not be the holly jolly Christmas tunes they started playing at the grocery store right after Halloween. Take a few minutes to consider the music that draws you closer to God. You might make an Advent Play List to have on your computer or phone to listen to in the days ahead. One of our traditions is going to hear Handel’s “Messiah” each year and when we can, we find a “Messiah” sing along and join in! First performed in Dublin in April 1742, Handel brings the gospel of Isaiah to life and helps me engage the season of Advent. If you haven’t heard this amazing music check it out on youtube.

What about Art?  Another way I prepare my heart is through art and scripture. Vanderbilt Divinity School has a great lectionary page that includes a link to ART that goes with the weekly scripture passages. You might use these works of art as a daily focus for your prayer time during Advent.

Try Photography and Technology: I love taking pictures and in the past couple of years I have used photography as prayer practice for Advent. I’ve really enjoyed participating by posting a photo according to the daily theme. There are two places you can find the lists of the themes for the day and you can post on facebook, instagram and twitter. You might even get your whole community, small group or youth group to join you in this! Check out these websites and sign up for daily reminders. Even if you don’t take pictures yourself, you can follow the hashtags and see the photos taken by people around the world.

Life Enrichment Center does #pictureAdvent

http://lecfamily.org/advent/   #pictureAdvent

LECFamily is the intergenerational program ministry of the Life Enrichment Center, a retreat and conference center of :the Florida Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church

The Society of Saint John the Evangelism does #adventword

http://adventword.org/sign-up/ #adventword

Finally, Pray as You Go  has mini retreats you can take via your computer or smart phone. They have an app you can download and use as a prayer tool throughout the year, not just for Advent. For Advent this year they are doing something special. Check out this video and then follow them as Advent begins. https://youtu.be/m7Ak5bvDRSM

I am grateful for so many resources here at godspace and for the gift of technology that can connect us to things like digital retreats and art and music from around the world and from across the ages! In the midst of all the craziness and negativity, I want to help us all connect to the positive things on the internet and see how we can use the internet to engage God. So give it a try! I’d love to hear how you prepare for Advent and the arrival of Jesus this year!

I’d love to hear how you prepare for Advent and the arrival of Jesus this year!

freerangeworship.com

What words do we ever have to express our love well?

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By Talitha Fraser

Hang there, my verse, in witness of my love

What words do we ever have to express our love well? This is said by Orlando as he puts a poem in tree, Act III Scene II of Shakespeare’s As You Like It. He is in the woods to escape from his brother who is trying to kill him and his love, Rosalind, is also there banished from Court and disguised as a man.  As you’d expect – it is a play with comedy, tragedy and rife with misunderstandings.  The poems, or love letters to Rosalind, are nonsensical, unflattering and rhyme poorly… they’re bad. They’re bad poems. That’s what makes them so funny. But for all that, they are endearing for being sincerely felt. Orlando doesn’t know whether Rosalind will ever find them and read them but there is something in him to say that cannot go unexpressed.

I can relate to that feeling.  A longing to express something profound – a love I don’t have words for.  What faltering words do I have to try and describe God or to worship God that hasn’t already been said before? What does it look like to love God, to be so consumed by a love of God that it spills over, and you struggle to shape mere words to describe a love so large… how might it look to say what you want to say without weighing its value but freely giving voice to your feelings and thoughts as they come?

I want to talk to God. I want to talk about the joy, the grief and the misunderstandings. I want to talk to God in poems and journals, prayers – silent and spoken, reading, walking, talking, storytelling… and via notes left in the trees for God to find. I took paper (biodegradable with native daisy seeds pressed in it), a pen and a prayerful walk in the woods.  It felt like a foolish thing to do… and it felt wonderful.  I cannot know if this was an offering that was pleasing to God but I hope it was endearing for being sincerely felt.

Romans 8:25-28 invites us to wait with patience for what we cannot see and trust the Spirit to intercede and translate on our behalf to make simple words profoundly meaningful to the God who loves us… to the God who’s listening…

Hang there, my verse, in witness of my love

Freerange Friday: God speaks through Crayons

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By Lilly Lewin

As many of you know, I am a big fan of crayons! I totally believe that crayons are for everyone! I believe that all ages should have access to crayons in church and be invited to draw during worship.

I often post the art that I draw during worship gatherings, hashtaging them  #sermonssketching on Instagram. Art is how I express my worship to God.

This past Sunday our thinplaceNASHVILLE community gathered at the Frist Art Museum to do an Art Walk as our time of worship and reflection.

At an Art Walk we allow God to take us on a journey through the art museum and we take time to notice the colors, the story, the textures in the works around us. We allow the Holy Spirit to speak to us through the art as well as listening to a passage of scripture together (Lectio Divinia as we begin our time together). Then after an hour or so, we meet back in the café and talk about what we saw and where God took us on our walk.

One of the exhibits currently on view is entitled “Chaos and Awe” and reflects much of how our culture is now filled with disconnection and distance from one another.

Another exhibit is by an Iranian American artist named Afruz Amighian, amazing sculptor of form and light. Her works are curated in an exhibit called “The Presence of your Absence is Everywhere.”

Jesus spoke to me through both of the these exhibits, and even through the people at the museum on Sunday. It gave me hope to see so many families there together and so much diversity in the people gathered there. Art speaks to everyone! Regardless of color or nationality, or age!

At the café, after our meal and discussion, we closed our time together by choosing crayons out of a crayon box. We each took home three crayons.

One represented a color that we needed for the week.

Another was a color we would give away to someone else to bring them Joy and Hope.

And the third crayon we chose was a crayon to help us pray with during the week.

Get a Box of Crayons and you can do this too!

What do colors represent for you?

What does a box of crayons represent to you?

Fun, creativity, joy? Or fear or frustration because you don’t’ like to draw.

Pick a crayon that represents who you are…what color did you choose and why do you like this color? Maybe you need to choose more than one.

Or choose a color that reminds you of something you need to remember…or something you need in your life right now. I choose a beautiful blue crayon because blue gives me peace, like the ocean does.

My husband chose an Avocado colored crayon because he wanted to remember that “ you cannot please everyone, you are not an Avacado”

Now choose a crayon that will remind you to pray for someone else this week. Who is that person and what is their color? I chose a color that would remind me to pray for the president.

Now, Pick a crayon to give to someone else to bring them joy and hope this week. What color did you choose? Who do you want to give it to?

Finally, you might choose several crayons that represent your life right now or your emotions, and hold these crayons in your hand. Let your hand become God’s hand. Picture Jesus/God holding all the things, all the colors your life, your emotions, pain, joy and sorrows. Know that God is using these colors to create a beautiful picture.

Allow God to hold all your crayons today!

Remember that the God of the Universe created all the amazing colors in our world and God holds all the colors of our lives together in his hand!

Praying you take time notice the colors around you this weekend, or even take an art walk to a museum or gallery near you. Or get some paper and crayons and find joy in the coloring.

Freerange Friday: Paint your Prayers

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By Lilly Lewin

I have had a rough few weeks dealing with depression and just not feeling like doing much of anything that I enjoy doing. I’ve been stewing on things and usually that means I shut down, tune out, and watch a lot of Netflix. But my Freerange Friday Post called “Wonder or Wondering?” inspired me to do a practice that helped me process my emotions.

I prayed with ART! Creating! Creating things brings me life. Sometimes when I”m down, I will make chocolate chip cookies, or a pie to give away to friends or neighbors, sometimes I journal, and sometimes I do art. Art brings me joy! Creating brings me peace. Two weeks ago, I had a large blank canvas waiting for my art class to restart. This large blank slate seemed to call me. I grabbed some bright crayola markers and wrote down all the questions that were spinning around in my mind. Just having these things written down helped. But having these things written down in a larger format that I could see daily, made an even bigger impact in my mood and attitude.  After pondering the questions

What is being planted in your Garden of Wonder?

What needs Planting?

What is already being planted? What seeds are already there?

What signs of wonder can you already identify? What do you notice?

What needs Pruning? What Needs Cultivating? What needs more water?

What WONDER produce might need picking and sharing with others?

I decided to add to the canvas. I got out my Modge Podge, my gloss medium, tissue paper and some old sheet music and started covering the canvas. I also used my markers to write down things that I wanted to grow in my Garden of Wonder…..

Things like: Freedom, Peace, Justice, Joy, Hope, Love, Forgiveness.

As I covered the canvas with color, I began to ask Jesus to show me more of His love and grace. I used the process of messy gluing, and writing and painting as prayer. The collaging process was good therapy. I asked God to fill me with more wonder, more peace, more creativity, more awareness of the needs around me.

More of Jesus, less of me.

I let the newly layered prayers sit for several days. Allowing the colors and the covering of the words to cover me too.

Then this week I began adding paint to the canvas. Adding to the melody of words and paper. Allowing the Wonder Garden to really grow. Allowing the Wonder Gardener, God, to til the soil of my heart and heal my emotions.

How about you? What things heal your soul and bring you joy? What creative process brings you life? What if you allow this creativity to bring you closer to Jesus?

What could you learn through writing out, drawing out or collaging your prayers? I’d love to see and hear about it!

 

Freerangeworship.com

Freerange Friday: Art Inspiration

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By Lilly Lewin

Art speaks to me.

I am a visual learner so images speak loudly to me and God often uses images to speak to me and inspire me.
One of the artists God uses on a regular basis is my friend Scott Erickson.
I’ve talked about Scott before. His Instagram feed @scotthepainter is one of my daily devotions. Scott is not only an artist, but also a spiritual director who uses his creations and creativity to design work that tells stories about life, faith, our journey, and deep healing.

God has used the image above of the row boat in hands in the past year during my own spiritual direction practice.

What does this image say to you?

For me, it started out with a few questions …

Where are you Jesus?
Jesus are you just asleep in the boat?
Do you even care?

But eventually, as I prayed with and pondered the painting…I came to this:

Ah, Jesus! you aren’t just with me in the Boat, you are holding the boat and holding the water too!
You, Jesus, are in it all.
You, Jesus, are with me even when the sea is rough.
Jesus you are holding up my boat.
You, Jesus, are sitting with me and will give me the strength to keep rowing.
You, Jesus, will keep me from sinking.
You, Jesus are with me in the Boat! and thankfully you aren’t asleep!

I highly recommend checking out Scott’s website and art work. He also has an amazing Prayer Book that is being Re-released this coming week called

Prayer: 40 Days of Practice that he wrote with Justin McRoberts. It has both prayers, practices and Scott’s amazing images to use in your prayer time.

I have a copy from the original printing and I use it all the time. It would be perfect for a Lenten devotional this year.

You can even preorder it from Target for a great price. Didn’t know Target had prayer books on line. Amazon has it too and that helps Godspace.

Also, a couple of weeks ago, Scott was in Nashville doing his one man show  “Say Yes: A Liturgy of Not Giving Up on Yourself.” He is doing the show in several cities this Spring! You will be encouraged through everything from Centaurs to karaoke!  Go see it! It’s great church! And check out Scott’s videos on why the church needs art too! They are on his website here.

Take some time today to find a piece of artwork or an image that speaks to you. Allow Jesus to open your eyes and your heart to hear more from him. You might even get out your crayons or paint and create something yourself. I’d love to hear what art speaks to you and see what you create. As Scott says, just say yes!

NOTE: As an Amazon Associate we receive a small amount for purchases made through the Amazon links. This helps us keep Godspace alive. Thanks for your support.





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