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Sure, Mothers Day is probably the invention of the florists and the candy makers.

But holidays are a chance for us to share something in common.

And what we have in common is a mother.

For the first nine months of our existence, give or take, our existence was absolutely dependent on the hospitality, the welcome, the willingness of one woman to bear us.

Each of us is, only because of that gift. Absolutely, entirely, completely.

None of us started off alone.

Each one of us, as soon as we had ears to hear, heard our own perhaps, but also another’s heart beating.

Not just beating with us, or near us, but also for us.

Do you think that had an effect on our psyche? On our deepest longings? On our understanding of what LIFE is?

Thanks, mom, for the hint. That our task in life is to understand that life is a gift. And to understand that God’s heart beats with us, near us, and for us.

Here at this Anglican church, St. Mary’s in Central London, that is. (The book is in soft-cover here, and released sooner than in the States.) Been doing their Refresh conference and speaking at their church service on Sunday. Fitting, I suppose–my mother having been a life-long Episcopalian who probably never quite got my Jesus freak from of Christian faith, but loved me anyway as mothers do. Anyway, the unconditional love word. Any way to find a way to love, that’s anyway love. Read the rest of this entry »

Beside me for lo these many years. Is a believer. This past Monday, her birthday, we were on our way to the airport to go to the Vineyard national board meetings. It had been a harried and hurried morning, having discovered the kitchen sink pipes were frozen. So I’m under the kitchen sink with a hair dryer as we’re getting later and later off to the airport. Plus which it’s my day off, which I hadn’t had in a long while, and traveling to board meetings on my day off wasn’t putting me in a California frame of mind. So characteristically, as we’re late, and approaching the airport Nancy prays, “Lord, help us get to our plane on time, help us with the parking and the security lines….” and this lands upon my foul mood and I join the inner scoundrel chorus singing, “There is no God” or least not one who cares about us making our plane. Read the rest of this entry »

Lauren Winner, author of girl meets god and real sex is coming to town and will be speaking this monday, Feb. 4 at 8pm. I’m not a big fan of Christian books of the inspirational variety. They don’t inspire me. But Lauren’s stuff is different. I bought girl meets god for my then 22 year old daughter, Amy. An impulse buy because I liked the cover and the author bio. Amy loved it–and she’s a lover of good writing. I mean loved it. So I read it. And loved it. The problem with much Christian writing is that it is often constrained by the tribal sensibilities of it’s intended audience, which these days is evangelical. This inhibits candor and inflames caution which takes the art out of writing. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m off to our MLK day world cafe at church, then a blues concert at the Ark in A2 this evening. So I’ve got MLK on my mind today. Great op-ed piece in the NYT this morning with a wonderful quote from the man himself: “So this morning as I look into your eyes and into the eyes of all my brothers in Alabama and all over America and over the world I say to you: ‘I love you. I would rather die than kill you.’The love of enemies is the pressing concern of the Spirit, the challenge, the demand of the Spirit to the church in the 21st Century. We’ll be judged on this one, so I’m thinking we better bore down into it. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s a beautiful thing when the same old same old doesn’t repeat itself. Like the rest of the planet I’m so distressed by what’s happened in Iraq. And the lack of any national leadership to face the fact of our dependence on fossils fuels. But tucked into all this disappointment is the plain fact that George Bush has led the charge to dedicate more money to AIDS relief in Africa than any other president. Article in the NYT quotes Kerry praising Bush as a matter of fact.

For all of Clinton’s rhetoric on Africa, the money didn’t come. I’m sure the Congress he was working with didn’t make it any easier at the time. Then Bono took the treasury secretary to Africa, and eyes started to open. Too bad ideologues have hamstrung the use of the money. The official teaching of the world’s largest Christian organization forbids the use of condoms, the cheapest and most widely effective means to slow the spread of the AIDS epidemic. I talked with a leader in World Vision, the evangelical relief agency, who said one of the most powerful evangelical lobby groups also pressed them not to distribute condoms.

All this hurts, but the money released under the leadership of the president helps, and credit should be given where it’s due. And Kerry praising Bush is something no one expected. If there’s no rejoicing in the good, the bad is left to make all the noise.

This sunday, 9:30 service opened without a drummer in the band.  Later, after Jorella was done speaking, D. appeared behind the drum kit.  This young man who has never owned a set of drums but plays them as though he were meant to.  A young man who has owned very little in his life, having, it seems been saddled with every disadvantage save himself.  Struggling for well over a year to make his way beyond the life of the streets in fits and starts.   I caught up with him after the 11:00 service as per usual to check in.  Learned that his little boy had been in the ER most of the night (fine now) accounting for D.’s late appearance.  How’d you get here? I asked.  I jogged, said D.  On this cold Sunday morning, after being up all night with his sick infant son, he jogged to church (4 miles,  I’d estimate) to play the drums.  Which was his acceptable worship.