Category: Uncategorized

Posted in Different Thoughts, Uncategorized

Responsive Reading for a Church Board

Posted on by Wick

(For use in opening a church board meeting. I recommend asking different members of the board to serve as each “Leader”.)

Leader: Lord, we come together today as a group of your children.  We come from days that have been busy and full of people.  We come from days that have been quiet and lonely.  We come tired and ready to be finished.  We come energized and excited to contribute.  We pause, here at the beginning of our time together, to center ourselves on You.  

We are an organization, but we are first and foremost a community of lives and homes being transformed and renewed in Your Love – for Your purposes in our neighborhoods and world.  We pause to be thankful – for it is a holy gift of Your grace that we are invited to serve with You in these Loving ways.

ALL: Lord, come unite and minister to our hearts in Your presence.

Leader: We are gathered here, representing different parts of this local body of Christ.  We confess that we know our own parts intimately, but must humbly depend on one another to come to full knowledge of the body as a whole.  

ALL: Father, help us to listen to all areas of the body. Even those not represented here.

Leader: Even more than we listen to the parts of the body, Holy Spirit we want to listen to your voice.  Sometimes you will speak through one of us. Other times you will speak in the silence, or in the discomfort.  Help us to hear you, and to respond.

ALL: Holy Spirit, guide us by Your presence and in Your Loving Wisdom.

Leader: We come to approve reports and budgets that represent ministry that can never be fully measured, and yet we have been entrusted with this holy task of being faithful with all we’ve been given.  We also recognize that “being faithful” is measured differently in Your Kingdom, than by our worldly measurements.

ALL: Jesus, we offer all these things to you.  We confess that our own abilities, perceptions and measurements fall short of Your wisdom and power.

Leader: We have visions, and dreams, and other things we imagine for the sake of this local church and our impact out in the community and world.  Yet even the best of these things are not seen with Your Vision, nor are they of any value without Your Loving presence.  We come together excited with our ideas, but holding all things loosely for the sake of following Your heart, Lord.

ALL: God, come and have Your way.  We invite You to have these moments, and have this community for Your purposes now, and for tomorrow.  Amen.

Posted in Different Books, Uncategorized

Finding Home (book review)

Posted on by Wick

From the book cover: “For nine months in Auschwitz, eighteen-year-old Eva Fleiss clung to sanity by playing piano on imaginary keyboards. After liberation, Eva and the five remaining Jews of Laszlo, Hungary, journey home, seeking to restart their lives. Yet the town that deported them is not ready to embrace their return. Their former neighbors and friends resist relinquishing their newfound status and property, and they struggle with their roles as perpetrators, enablers, and bystanders during the Holocaust.

Longing for connection to her old life, Eva agrees to clean her former home, now the mayor’s home, in return for practice time on her piano. As her profound experiences allow her to access music at a depth she didn’t know existed, Eva’s performances begin to affect those around her-with unexpected consequences.”

Quote from the book: “The women in the camp said Jews mitigate the distress of loneliness through communal compassion, but except for the baker Eva didn’t know any of these men. What did she represent to them? A lost daughter or sister? A community that no longer existed? She didn’t want to be their Jewish hope for the future, she didn’t want to be anybody’s anything. Maybe she was being selfish, but the weight of her own grief was hard enough to bear without being responsible for anyone else’s happiness.”

Here we have just one example of the beauty within “Finding Home”, a historical fiction recently released, written by champion of great coffee, Dean Cycon. Even with so many books written that involve this tragedy of human history, this book stands out as a unique invitation to know the hearts of a particular experience. His research and his own heart shine through over and over again throughout the book, as he captures and shares well what it may be like from the perspective of each character. I hesitate to write too much, because I really don’t want to spoil anything. Having lived in Hungary, and having grandparents who fled Jewish persecution years before The Holocaust, the book hit home several times. You are invited to wrestle with God in a faith that becomes more than words. You can imagine strolling the streets of a post-WWII Hungarian village. You are introduced to cultures and worlds you knew existed, but always from a distance. You can imagine the difficult relationships a young woman would need to navigate as she returns, infinitely wounded, to a place where wounds have become the way of life.

Thankfully, you can also hear whispers of hope and healing throughout. Even in the darkest of nights, a small light shines and can make all the difference. The power of music to transcend our woundedness, even as it gives voice to a healing lament, is a moving part of this story – and our world still today. Cycon also does an amazing job of “explaining” elements of both Jewish faith and classical musicianship in ways that help you feel invited – even if you’re an “outsider” in these areas usually.

As with any book involving the immense suffering and injustice of The Holocaust, I would use discretion in recommending to younger readers. Most everything about this topic should offend us. Parents – read it first, and decide for yourself. But there is nothing offensive included gratuitously.

I highly recommend reading this book, especially while sipping a cup or 10 of great coffee, and enjoying a Kakaós Csiga as well. Caution: Seriously, you will end up wanting to visit Budapest after reading this book. If that happens, let me know – I’ve got some great friends in Hungary who would love to help you plan your stay. Until then, “Olvassa el ezt a könyvet, és Isten áldja meg.”

Posted in Spoken Word, Uncategorized

At Lent’s End…

Posted on by Wick

Enjoy a read, or listen here… https://wickwaves.bandcamp.com/track/at-lents-end

As the final days of 40 pass by
So many start to wonder
As thunderheads don’t seem to show signs of clearing
Is celebration really nearing?
We feel like fasting has gone on for far longer than we signed up for
So sure that we had a choice in the matter
That to deny our selves would make Him gladder
Yet the passing of time starts to shatter the expectation
That there would be celebration simply because we marked the dates.
As if all fates were sealed, and it was up to us to have the Kingdom revealed
But we have not been healed as much as we’d perceived
At least, not a healing that is everlasting
For our fasting was not the type for which He’d asked
Tasked with something far greater than we’d known
To reveal His throne here at the footstool
To undo what cruel men had endeavored to establish in stone
Fruit grown from seeds sown in oppression
And in succession, we protected the status quo
But we know, and cannot pretend to be blind any longer
Knowing that His Love is stronger than any power we might obtain
Framed for better understanding – His Freedom comes demanding itself for all
Listen to the call from Isaiah – Is this not the fasting He Desires?
To inflame the fires of justice for those without a voice
To use our power of choice, our ability to go against the grains
And to loosen the chains of those still bound
To see those building on grounds of shifting sand, and give them foundation on which to stand
Tall – As those who saw their own freedom not only as something to celebrate, but something to proclaim, those given a new name, birthed as creation made new
The dew on the blades of resurrection morning as hearts are warming the air of longest nights
The lights are beginning to dawn from East to West, and “hashtag blessed” is no longer
What we seek – rather, the meek capture our heart because it beats with His
The one betrayed with a kiss, yet lovingly submitted – his head fitted with a crown
Meant to mark Him as defeated, now seated as the Lord
Debt we could never afford to wipe clean
And so obscene when we offered such pitiful amounts of grace to those who owe us
God, show us Your mercy.
Do not treat us as we treat our own brother, but may we discover within the arms of your embrace, the face of true compassion – love not just in words, but in action
We find in all these things, Easter brings reason once again for celebration
For every nation made up of humans being, humans seeing their weaknesses on full display
Again this year we say – Hosanna – Savior Save Us
How grave a situation we were in – grim, our only path
Grafted in to a covenant that came before
Tide returning to a shore we thought was gone but on further inspection
We see the coming of resurrection…