Walks with Barry - Profoundly Simple: A Walk Reframed

Yesterday I had the chance to work alongside a group of Sr. High youth and adults from my church at a food bank as they spent the week on a mission trip. I blow in for the day, but they had been at work and will continue at work after I return to the church, a few hours drive away. I am overwhelmed with the experience of watching these wonderful folk living out their faith in such a way. “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in.” Jesus teaches us these words in the Gospel of Matthew. I know these words. It was powerful to see them come to life before my eyes. As we served lunch, I looked into the eyes of many who were in a hard place in life. I saw the face of Jesus in each one. As I reflected upon the day, I wondered if people could say the same about me. Do I look at others with interest and compassion? Do I look at people with eyes of grace? When the people I encounter as I live my li...

  As I walked past my neighborhood school, I found this strange and confusing sight. Part of a bumper was all that could be found in the parking lot. It was perfectly lined up in front of the parking space. All that was missing was, well, a car. How did this happen? Did this part of the bumper just fall off, leaving the owner of the car unaware that they are driving a half-bumpered vehicle? Did someone find it and place it here in some attempt to help someone? Was the car stolen by thieves who decided to add insult to injury by leaving a little something behind? I wonder. This strange sight reminded me of all the people who have passed through my life and left a little of themselves behind with me. What a blessing they were - and are each day of my life. They are with me everywhere I go. “…we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.” I can see their faces and name so many names. They gave of t...

  Sometimes the light strikes just so in the sanctuary. Sometimes it is the way the stained glass paints the pews. Sometimes it is the floor of the chancel that is turned into a kaleidoscope of color. This day, it was the light shining on the communion table. I was walking through the narthex when it caught my attention. The sunlight was shining right down through the cupola onto the Bible. It certainly captured my attention. I stopped and went into the sanctuary. It was a nice pause and an unexpected joy. “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” I have known those words since I was a little boy. It must have been one of my first Sunday School memory verses. But today I not only knew those words, I SAW them. It was a powerful reminder that Jesus is the living Word. Jesus is the embodiment of all God is and all God desires. He is the “light of the world”. As we strive to follow Jesus in all we do and all we say, the word then truly becomes a “lamp unto my feet and...

  I don’t know how I could have missed this. Surely this landscaping is not new, I don’t think such a work of art could be completed in a day or two. The scene speaks to me of patience; patience with both the clippers and with time. These beautifully shaped plants were formed slowly, time after time, week after week. We are much the same. I remember as a boy wanting to be big. I wanted to just wake up one day tall and strong. We want to play an instrument, but we want to skip that whole “years of practice” thing. Learning a language. Mastering a sport. Learning to paint. The list goes on forever. We would do a lot of things if it didn’t take time. The scriptures speak of our transformation over time into the image of Christ. “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” “From glory to glory” doesn’t sound like an instant experience. It is the exper...

  As I walked down the street, the sun was at the perfect angle to transform the streams of water from a sprinkler system into flames of fire. It was strange to see what appeared as three fires in the distance turn out to be a sprinkler system just doing its job. Water and fire, so opposite, united in one of nature’s best optical illusions. Water and fire. Water the symbol of cleansing. Fire, the symbol of the unpredictable, wild Spirit. They really do go together after all. Jesus, in talking to Nicodemus, said, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.” It takes both to fully see life as God sees it. Forgiveness sets us free. The Spirit leads us forward into a new way of experiencing God, life and each other. Sometimes we experience God as the cool, gentle mist of water, refreshing and reviving. Sometimes we experience life in all its burning unpredictability. Either way, it is the same God and the same Spirit at work...

  In a world where nothing seems constant, in a world where nothing seems steady and stable, there is always the rising snd setting of the sun. Mysterious and beautiful, never the same, the sunrise and sunset keep watch over all creation. It seems that the sun has always led the human creature to turn their thoughts toward God. We have always been searching for something, not only to grasp, but to hold onto us. One of my favorite phrases in scripture is “from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same”. The Psalmist captures, in just those few words, the power of that constant reminder to our lives. There is no time when we are alone. There is no time when we are separated from God. There is no time that exists outside the circle of God’s grace and love. To a powerful extent, we can be that type of reminder to each other as well. We can be constant in the grace we extend. We can be steady and stable in being there for one another through both the good days and the bad. Our...

  As I walk the hot streets of my neighborhood, the result of all our Spring rain is evident. Everything is green, green, green. Lawns are thick and lush and green. Trees are alive with every shade of green one can imagine. Bushes are already overgrown with green branches waving wildly in the wind. Even in the heat, green rules the neighborhood. That is what makes the red leaves of this tree stand out boldly against the monochromatic background. In the midst of all the trees of various sizes and kinds, this is the one tree you notice. Why? It is uniquely itself. This tree is unashamedly different. It stands out in all its glory. We are all different, in our own way. The scriptures put it like this, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” So why do we spend so much time trying to be like everyone else? Why do we so often want to blend in ins...