As we celebrated and I said good-bye for the second time this year to a grandmother, I realized that I come from a long line of strong women.  I'm thankful for the opportunity to share a few words about her with friends and family as we celebrated her life here with us.

This passage reminds me of MawMaw.

Psalm 71:18-24The Message (MSG)
You got me when I was an unformed youth,
    God, and taught me everything I know.
Now I’m telling the world your wonders;
    I’ll keep at it until I’m old and gray.
God, don’t walk off and leave me
    until I get out the news
Of your strong right arm to this world,
    news of your power to the world yet to come,
Your famous and righteous
    ways, O God.
God, you’ve done it all!
    Who is quite like you?
You, who made me stare trouble in the face,
    Turn me around;
Now let me look life in the face.

If you heard the part about this person “keeping at it until they were old and gray.” You might think that’s why it reminds me of MawMaw. And to be honest, I don’t remember a time when my grandma’s hair wasn’t gray/or white, except for the times when I was younger that she’d return home from a trip to the beauty shop—and then her hair was a glowing blue-ish color)--she was my blue-haired MawMaw☺

This passage speaks of someone who is brave.  And anyone who knew MawMaw knew she could stare trouble in the face as the verses say, and with no fear speak exactly what was on her mind.
She was fiercely brave in that way, but she also showed courage in the late 1960s. When both Aunt Trish and Dad were in college she decided to go to school herself to become a nurse. Most people her age today—much less a woman at her age in the 60’s—would have not even attempted something so daunting. But not Maw Maw, she was determined and fierce—ready to stare any challenge in the face.  And for MawMaw being a nurse was not just a profession but a calling. She nursed others to healing in and out of the medical office.

But what really settled her courage for me was when I watched my “blue-haired” grandma climb a latter to a platform 15 feet off the ground to grab a trapeze bar attached to the large oak tree branch above and swing off it—now that was brave for a grandma, but what I really found brave about it was that she did it knowing that my dad had built that trapeze☺

The passage also speaks of a person who understands the importance of exploring the wondrous world and people created by God’s hands. MawMaw placed great value on experiencing the wonders of God’s world, and she believed in sharing those experiences with us.  Whether it was too far away places when she was younger taking Aunt Trish across the globe to Europe—or hopping on a bus with other seniors to places out West like the Grand Canyon or up north to Niagara Falls. She explored Hawaii & and Alaska & many other places.  Her adventures were not only about going to faraway places but about the importance of experiencing life to the fullest.  She drove all three of us grandkids 2 ½ hours just so we could catch a train & have the experience of riding on a train. It wasn’t always easy, she often reminded me that she had to start taking blood pressure medicine after taking us--three bickerings, whining grandkids--to Georgia to visit historical sites like Roosevelt’s personal retreat home, “The Little White House”.

She always cheered me on as I traveled to new places and experienced new things.  In my last extended conversation with MawMaw a few weeks ago, I told her about what some would call a crazy 12-hour round trip drive with 4 kids we had planned to go visit President Carter’s Sunday school class in GA. She told me how proud she was that we made it a priority to give our children opportunities to discover new places and learn new things: and I’m thankful I had the opportunity to tell her, “You taught me that, you know.” She instilled in me & others a passion to explore and experience the wonders of God.

And last, this passage is about a person who was faithful to share about God’s “strong right arm to this world, & the news of God’s power to the world yet to come”. MawMaw did just that with many of us in this room and beyond. She taught me & others about Jesus. Not only have I heard several you speak about her teaching you in Sunday School & what a great teacher she was, but for me, one of my earliest memories of another person praying with me was my MawMaw.  Today, I often think of her warm, very soft and gentle hands wrapped around mine, when I pray with my children.

They say that life is not about the number of breaths you take, but of the moments that take your breath away. On this day, I am proud to say that MawMaw “looked life in the face” & had both a full number of breaths that she took & moments that took her breath away in her 88 years with us.

Mary Alice Penton
July 22, 1927-September 16, 2015

I found a great guide to setting limits on screen time this spring at Your Modern Family. We used it after school, and the kids responded to it so well. My children were asking me for chores! Even our little guy asked for his chore:) And my oldest, who loathes chores, chose to do the list on most days. The great thing is that she had a choice, and she liked that.

You can download the original list from Your Modern Family or the list I updated for our family--and yes, I had to include "brush your teeth WITH TOOTHPASTE" for certain humans living in our home!

A cup of Sunshine for Teacher Appreciation Week. Dollar Store tumbler filled with "sunshine": yellow highlighter, lip balm, mini twix, peanut m&m, butterfingers, crystal light lemonade individual serving packets & juicy fruit gum or yellow box of chiclets gum. Download the card here: PDF

As a parent watching your children do something significant for the first time is a special gift. Speaking their first words, taking their first step, riding their bike for the first time without training wheels, etc. But sometimes it doesn't go quite as expected. We serve communion every week at Ekklesia, and anyone is welcome to participate. Most of the time our younger children are in the nursery during our service, but for some reason Aubri, our middle daughter, sat in the service one week with me when she was about 4 years old. When it came time to receive communion everyone filed up the aisle, and we followed. Aubri is very observant—particularly when it comes to figuring out how things work. I watched her taking note of precisely what each person did as they cupped their hands to receive the bread, and after dipping the bread in the cup, placed the elements in their mouth. When it was her turn, she cupped her little hands as if she knew exactly what she was doing, & our friend serving said, "Aubri, this is the body of Christ broken for you." I did notice that she stared suspiciously at him. But without prompting, she dipped the bread into the cup, and as she heard the server say, "This is the blood of Christ shed for you," an expression of horror emerged on her face. She immediately shoved the soaked bread my way, saying, "No Way!"

I did find some relief (at least at that stage in her life) that if everyone in the room were drinking blood, she would not follow the crowd.

But as I read Matthew 26, I thought of Aubri's shock, and I wondered how many of us have become dull to or, like the disciples, fallen asleep to the shocking message of Jesus and this in-breaking of God's kingdom and our practices of Christ's teachings.

I'm not sure why the disciples could not stay awake that night--was it because they'd been up for a very long time? They were full of bread and wine, and that would make anyone sleepy. Luke says their grief overcomes them.

While I don't fully understand why Jesus found the disciples sleeping not once but three times, I can relate. I too become full on this meal of bread and wine, these practices of our faith, these words and stories of Jesus, and like the disciples I fall asleep. I find myself not awake to the in-breaking of God's kingdom. I slumber while others work to build this kingdom of God, and I sleep while people in our community and the world suffer in agony awaiting its fullness.

The disciples had seen Jesus sad before, but surely they noticed a difference on this occasion.

Jesus, in this dark hour, overwhelmed with sorrow, only asks them in verse 38 to "stay here and keep watch with me." That's all. Be with me—what a simple request. In seminary, I learned the term "non-anxious presence." It describes the act of being present. Being with another person or persons experiencing great pain—and not feeling uncomfortable being there with them—not being anxious, not feeling like you have to do anything to fix it, or saying anything to make it better. The practice of being fully present.

I think Jesus' request, actually Jesus' need to have a few close friends be with him in his most agonizing hour tells us a lot about ourselves and how God works…well, or how God hopes things will work when dealing with our imperfect, as the Gospel writer puts it: our "weak" fleshy selves.

Jesus is in great pain, and in this critical moment of the in-breaking of the kingdom of God, Jesus himself needs the presence of fellow travelers.

When I was 23 years old and working in campus ministry at Florida State, I got an unexpected call from my mom that my cousin, who was 27 at the time, had suddenly died. It was some type of aneurism, and my aunt (my mom's sister) wanted me to come back to Mississippi to do her funeral. Now my cousin had lived a complicated, sad life which included drugs, arrests, and other tragic events. My uncle arranged for me to fly home that day, and as I talked to my family members I felt this massive sense that they were waiting for me to arrive. They said things like, "we just need you to be here." And honestly, I had very little connection with my cousin, and I loved my aunt, but we were not extremely close. For most of my mom's extended family, church attendance was not a regular practice. So I felt a little overwhelmed. I called my mentor and former campus minister and told him what was happening. I told him it was like they are all waiting on me, what am I supposed to do? He said, "Well, you just show up. Colbey, you represent God in their lives. They see you as a representative of God, and when you show up, God shows up for them. They are just waiting on God to show up through your presence." And it was just that simple, and it was a special memory for me to be with my family.

As I've read Matthew 26, these sleeping disciples have reminded me not to slumber through this Holy Week and the next few days. May Jesus wake us up to the suffering around us and the people we come across each day waiting on God. May Jesus jar us awake over and over again that we might be present to the weary mother in the grocery store line struggling with toddlers to make it through the checkout process and offer her assistance or a word of encouragement instead of judgment and disdain. May we be awakened to unjust labor in our world or unequal opportunities for education in our community—and not just slumber past them because they "do not affect" us personally. While our world is in agony waiting on the fullness of God to arrive, we cannot sleep.

In the Color Purple by Alice Walker the character Shug says, "…tell the truth, have you ever found God in church? I never did. I just found a bunch of folks hoping for Him to show. Any God I ever felt in church I brought in with me. And I think all the other folks did too. They come to church to share God, not find God."

She's sort of right, isn't she? I mean Sunday's coming, and will we be jarred awake in the early morning hour by those words: "he's not here, he is risen"?

Matthew 26:36-46 (Shared at a Holy Week Noonday Service at University Baptist Church, Hattiesburg, MS)

Here are the supplies for a Dr. Seuss snack for $2 (makes 30 bags):

Teacher Appreciation gift that's really cheap! $.97 for Fels Naptha soap, 1 cup of borax & 1/2 cup of washing soda made enough for 100 teachers. (All ingredients can be found on the laundry isles of super centers). Download the Recipe and Note Tag.