St. Andrews by the Lake

THIRD WEEK IN LENT

       O God, you alone are gracious, good,

              and this is cause to give you thanks.

       We praise you for the love you’ve shown

               which never knows a limit but lasts forever.

       Let every creature touched by mercy’s hand declare

            that they have been redeemed from evil’s grasp.

   For you, O God, have searched and gathered them from every land,

          from East and West, from North and South they come.

                                                          Psalm 107: 1-3

       From: Ancient Songs Sung Anew by Lynn Bauman

    Art image used by permission, ©Melanie Weidner

  It is a windy March day, today.  Windy days make me think of kite flying. Kite flying is something enjoyed by people all over the world. If you read the book, Kite Runner (by Khaled Hosseini), you recall the story begins with kite flying in Afghanistan.  During the summer days of Duluth, you’ll sometimes see large gorups of people at the end of the Point flying kites. For some, kite flying is serious business. For others, it is totally playful.

     There is a Greek word, ’spoudogeloios’ (wrap your tongue around that one!!). It means something like ‘grave-merry’ or ’serious playful’.  If one is ’spoudogeloios’, you don’t take yourself too seriously, yet you can also appreciate the deep dimensions of the human situation that surrounds us in life. To be ’spoudogelois’ is really a balancing act — of keeping playful and serious in balance.

     If you think about it, there is a light side to Christianity. The word ‘gospel’ means ‘good news’. St. Paul says, “If God is for us, who can be against us”.  Jesus said, “I am with you always; yes, to the end of time”.  One church Father (Iranaeus) said the spiritual life is ‘a divine children’s game’.

     At the same time, the life of faith has a ‘heavy’ side as well. You can find a number of very serious passages in scripture:   “Keep sober and alert, because your enemy the devil is on the prowl’ or, ”Go away from me, with your curse upon you to the eternal fire…for I was hungry and you never gave me food…”.

     On our life’s spiritual journey, it is important to learn to balance the heavy and the light  — like a kite that feels both the string tugging it to earth and the wind lifting it off toward the heavens (north, south, east and west).

     I have been reading a book during Lent called, “Pilgrim Journey” by Albert Holtz. In one of the meditations, he wonders whether “some Christians become so grim about their relationship with God that religion becomes a deadly serious, white-knuckled, and humorless project, centered on sin and eternal damnation.”  When one has a relationship with God like this, the kite is almost too heavy to fly.

      Others may be too casual about their life in the Spirit. They want a God who is like a ‘kindly, generous old uncle who makes no real demands on them. They avoid any talk of sin, self-discipline, or the need to deal with the potentially destructive forces at work in the inner selves.’  Those taking the journey in this manner will have a kite that will careen around all over the place - and not be anchored in the truth of the gospel.

     Balancing is a skill that comes with a life-time journey of practice. It takes a life-time to arrive at wisdom - or become ’spoudogeloios’.  Wherever our kite flies, we can be thankful that we have a God who loves us - whose love never knows a limit, but whose love lasts forever - no matter where we are on the journey.

      Peace to all,     Cindy