Category Archives: Uncategorized

A Psalm for a Spring Day

25 Friday May 2012

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How lovely is your dwelling place,
Lord of heaven and earth.

The flowers bloom in your gracious Light,
The trees spread their branches in praise!
Even the sparrow finds a home
At the altar of your spacious Care.

My heart delights in your Presence!
My soul sings of your eternal Glory!

You are my Guide through each day,
The Fountain of my persistent hope,
The Ever-flowing Stream of peace,
The Source of this amazing life!

How lovely is your dwelling place,
Lord of all that is and ever will be.

Words (c)2012 Mark Lloyd Richardson

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Reaching Out

13 Friday Apr 2012

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Have you seen Jesus?
I’ve been looking for him.
I met him as a child.
He was rugged
but he liked to hold children on his lap.
He smiled and laughed a lot.
He was the kindest friend imaginable.

Sometimes when I felt sad or alone
I would pray –
“Hi Jesus. It’s me. Remember me?”
He always did.
Then the tears running warm down my face
made me feel like I was alive again and not dead,
like I was found and no longer lost.

I’m not a boy anymore.
Life has become way more complicated.
There never seems to be enough time.
And I get tired from the grind.
I only wish I still had time to stop
and consider the lilies.

~            ~            ~

Thomas wasn’t there on the first day of the week –
the day Jesus came and stood among the disciples
behind their closed doors of fear.
Thomas didn’t hear the words of peace
or see the Lord’s wounded hands or side.
How could he know for sure that the Lord had even been there,
though the others assured him?

Oh, how he missed Jesus –
the ache was almost unbearable.

Seven long days later – what felt like an eternity –
they were gathered again in the same room.
This time Thomas was there,
though his heart did not possess the others’ joy.

Again Jesus came and stood among them.

Jesus said to Thomas,
“Put your finger here and see my hands.
Reach out your hand and put it in my side.
Do not doubt but believe.” (John 20:27)

Thomas reached out,
and in his reaching out
his heart flooded with memories –
meals for hungry crowds,
the Master’s voice teaching,
miracles of healing,
offers of forgiveness,
walking the dirt roads of Galilee and Judea,
reclining by each table with its bread and wine,
praying for the kingdom to come.

“My Lord and my God!” Thomas nearly shouted,
his heart bursting with rediscovered joy.
It was like being alive again after feeling so dead inside,
like being found,
like coming home.

Words (c) 2012 Mark Lloyd Richardson

Keep the Flame Lit

01 Wednesday Feb 2012

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“What nourishes your spirit?”

Sounds like a reasonable question for someone like myself who is called, ordained, appointed and paid to be a spiritual leader within the United Methodist Church, don’t you think?

My spiritual director Donna asked me this question yesterday when we met. My tiredness was apparent. I know I sounded discouraged. There is always more work to be done in pastoral ministry than there are hours in the day. The need for congregational renewal is real and pressing. There is no time to waste!

Yet time is the very element of life that I need to redirect toward the nourishment of my own spirit if I am to be the kind of spiritual leader who can assist others in living out their faith in hopeful and life-affirming ways.

Intellectually I know this, but the demands of ministry frequently push me to neglect my own spiritual wellbeing. Before I know it I am depleted, and my sense of joy vanishes into thin air.

“What nourishes my spirit?”

It’s as though I need to continually ask myself this question, and remind myself of the consequences if I don’t ask it, because I am terribly self-forgetful. My memory functions reasonably well in most areas of life, but when it comes to caring for my own spirit – my own soulful being – I am often blinded by what I must try to accomplish and I tend to ignore the warning signs of spiritual or emotional fatigue. Before long I’m wondering if I can get through the day or the week, much less the season or the year.

So to answer the question – I am nourished by real relationships with other human beings who risk vulnerability with me. I am nourished by nature’s astounding beauty. I am nourished by exceptional literature, especially poetry. I am nourished by the art of arranging words in ways that reveal who you and I are as beloved children of God.

Thirty-three years ago as a college student considering that God might be calling me to pastoral ministry, I preached my first sermon in my home church on a text from Paul’s letter to Timothy. There Paul advises his young apprentice “to rekindle the gift of God that is within you” and reminds him that “God does not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline” (2 Timothy 1:6-7).

I reclaim these words for myself today, as I seek to rekindle the gift of God that is within me. The light of Christ shines through people – imperfect, broken down people like me – to illumine the world with God’s grace and love.

I must do my best to keep the flame lit!

Every creature is a word of God

19 Thursday Jan 2012

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“Brief is life but love is long” ~ Tennyson

Just a few months after Dallis and I were married in May of 2003, Sadie entered our lives as a very small bundle of furry affection. For nearly eight-and-a-half years, our little girl worked her magic and stole our hearts! It’s hard to overstate the power of unconditional love.

Whatever challenges life brought our way, she was always there to greet us with unbridled joy! I’ll let you in on a secret – joy is contagious. So is love. Herein lies the greatest gift I believe our pets give us – their stubborn devotion to us in ways that make us want to be better, more giving and whole human beings.

If we had known on Sadie’s last day on earth this past Monday that it was her last day, what would we have done?

We would have done her very favorite things – a long walk among the evergreens in Waller Park and then perhaps lunch on the patio at Novo Restaurant overlooking the creek in San Luis Obispo. As a special treat we would have invited some family to join us in simply enjoying this beautiful world together one last time. If we had known…

Do you believe in miracles?

Some of you are nodding yes. Or you may be among the skeptics. I wasn’t sure myself.

I think God uses ordinary people and situations to communicate God’s timeless message – Love wins! God uses other creatures too. Meister Eckhart once wrote: “Every single creature is full of God and is a book about God. Every creature is a word of God.”

Most people seldom open a Bible – it’s daunting, problematic, and not above serious criticism. However most people, if they see a kindness done, a blessing offered, a hurt forgiven, a relationship valued, or a love unconditionally shared, will at least entertain the possibility that a Higher Power or a Deeper Compassion or a Stronger Grace than any of us reveals to us how to live in life-affirming ways with one another.

You see we did not know that it was Sadie’s last day when we took her on a long walk in Waller Park among the evergreens.

We did not know it was her last day when we brought her with us to have lunch at her favorite eating establishment overlooking the creek.

And we did not know it was her last day when Dallis’ sister Lori and brother-in-law Alec and my daughter Hannah came to have lunch with us before heading back home and to college hours away.

Sadie could not possibly have dreamed up a better day than all of that!

Lastly, I never remember to bring my camera places. This day, inexplicably, I did bring it with me to lunch, and after lunch we took a few photos creek-side. These are the last pictures we have of our sweet Sadie with some of those she showered with love.

Consider me a believer!

                

Where nothing’s broken and no one’s missing!

14 Saturday Jan 2012

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I’ve been thinking about Core Values recently as I prepare a four week sermon series on the topic for the church I serve.

It can be a challenge to identify the Core Values of a group of people like a congregation, because people bring their own hierarchy of individual values into community with them. Still, every effective group or organization has Core Values that can be clearly identified by observing what they do. Think Sierra Club or the United States Army and you have a good idea of who they are and what values guide them based on what they do.

Likewise, every effective Christian congregation has clear Core Values that keep us on the same page as we seek to be the people God needs us to be for the sake of the world.

Even if you don’t belong to a church or believe in the church, I hope you’ll bear with me as I share why Core Values are important.

Core Values are like guiding principles that never change. As a child I learned the importance of telling the truth. When I was caught in a lie, I soon understood that I had betrayed the Core Values of my family. It wasn’t even spoken. I just knew, and that “knowing” and those “feelings” were punishment enough for me to think twice the next time I thought I could do an end run around the truth.

Core Values are like DNA – they identify what is unique about you and tell the story of who you are. Each person has a story and each church has a story.

Sometimes there are portions of our story we would rather not tell, because they are not as positive as the rest of the story. I served a church once that was approaching a significant anniversary and a member was asked to compose a history booklet. When he brought me the final draft to review, I noticed that it mentioned an episode in the life of the church that had been divisive and painful. Even as I said out loud to him, “Does this have to be in here?” I knew he was right to include it as part of our story. Even seemingly negative details shine a light on what the real Core Values are.

Before I go on too long and lose you, let me say that people have generally understood the Christian faith to be a matter of professing a set of beliefs in the teachings of Jesus Christ. But Christianity is so much more than a belief system. Beliefs only take people so far and then they crumble under the weight of human experience – the sorrows, disappointments, and heartaches of this shared human life.

To be Christian is primarily to be a follower of Jesus – that is, to have Jesus guide you in the way that leads to deeper trust in God and deeper compassion for your neighbor (and yourself). This is about movement, about action, about choosing to align your life with God’s Realm of blessing and life. It goes beyond mere belief to a place of growing trust in the goodness and grace of God.

When Jesus was asked which commandment is the greatest, he answered, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Matthew 22:36-39).

Jesus’ way is the way of love!

Love God, love your neighbor, love yourself!

Following Jesus, being a disciple of Jesus, means learning to love with the same kind of reckless abandon as Jesus did, who ate with prostitutes, tax collectors, and a variety of other sinners – maybe even wealthy politicians!

“We may be surprised at the people we find in heaven,” according to Bishop Desmond Tutu. “God has a soft spot for sinners. His standards are quite low.”

If heaven is not some distant destination in the future but rather the Realm where love reigns, then it is a reality toward which we dream and pray and act in this life.

Someone has said that heaven is where there is room for all God’s children at the table, a place where nothing’s broken and no one’s missing!

Heaven is the Realm where love of God and neighbor and self flow together in healing, restorative and life-giving ways! We get glimpses of it in this life if we have eyes to see.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. saw glimpses of it. He had eyes to see a world where love would conquer indifference, cruelty and hate. He had the strength to persevere in the long, hard work of justice and peace because he knew that in the Realm of God’s love the table is spread and all people are welcome. Dr. King once said, “Human progress … comes through the tireless efforts of those willing to be co-workers with God.”

I intend to start with this extravagant God-inspired servant love as I consider the Core Values of the Christian community I serve, and God only knows where it will lead!

It’s tough being a dog

10 Tuesday Jan 2012

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It’s tough being a dog!

You have to stick close to your owner.

You have to be vigilant and protect her from harm.

You have to give her the feeling that she is never alone (that’s right, never).

You have to eat on a schedule and not complain if there’s ever a lack of culinary creativity.

You have to take your medicine (that’s right, you heard me).

And then there’s the incessant studying – study this, study that. Sometimes it’s a new recipe (always for human food, mind you). Other times it’s a difficult piece of choral music, or some magazine called O, or a challenging word game. It’s always something, believe me.

Yesterday, for example, my owner was reading the Psalms for a class at church, and I thought I’d help.

First, the strategic positioning in the center of the activity!

Then, well, I may as well get comfortable I suppose!

This is technically called the “osmosis learning system.”

Aahhhh, now to catch a few zzzzzzzzzzzzz in between pages!

Part of dog played by Sadie, the wonder Pomeranian.

Part of owner played by my beautiful wife Dallis.

They Shall Run and Not Be Weary

08 Sunday Jan 2012

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I recently heard about a new study in the British Medical Journal that discovered that the human brain’s ability to reason, comprehend and remember may start to worsen as early as age 45. This was not music to my now 55-year-old ears.

However, the study also shows the importance of a healthy lifestyle – including eating foods that are good for the heart and maintaining good cardiovascular health through exercise – which may help prevent the effects of brain aging. This is starting to sound better.

Of course, there are plenty of great forms of exercise. For me though, running has always been a special delight. Here I am, in a photo my wife Dallis took a couple of years ago, running in one of my favorite places on earth, the bluff trail at Montana de Oro State Park near Los Osos, California.

 

I realize that non-runners are puzzled by runners, but I have always looked forward to putting on my running shoes and heading out the door.

When I was younger it was the thrill of competition that motivated me. Cross-country running required a combination of training, strategy and sheer guts, and there were plenty of times in high school or college that I was seriously in danger of losing my last meal out on the race course because of the intensity of the moment. I remember jostling with other testosterone-laden young men through narrow wooded paths, up steep slopes, across sloppy rain-drenched fields, all for the taste of victory. It was invigorating! Really … would I lie to you? It was!

Anyway, that was then. Today, thirty-plus years later, I still go out and run four or five miles several times a week. Naturally, I’ve gotten slower over the years. My legs require more “recovery time” in between runs. I’m no longer in it for the competitive thrill. I’m in it because it makes me feel good. Stress runs off my back (I bet you thought that was sweat). The fog in my head clears. My body comes alive (I know it’s alive because occasionally it complains just a little).

I now run mainly for fun and exercise, but it’s an added bonus to know that running is good for my brain too. Without realizing it, I guess I have been taking care of my brain all these years by simply stepping out onto pavement or trail and putting some miles behind me!

 

I have also found running to be a helpful analogy for living life. More than once, when I’ve hit rough spots in life, and I am out for a stress-relieving, heart-pumping, brain-improving run, I have recalled the familiar words of Isaiah: “Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint” (40:30-31).

Here’s to your health – holistic, head-to-toe, health in body, mind and spirit!

Kneeling in Adoration

06 Friday Jan 2012

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Epiphany is an annual Christian festival, observed on January 6, commemorating the manifestation of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles – who are represented by the Magi or wise men from the East (see Matthew 2:1-12). I’ve written a few brief reflections below on the meaning of this day.

Epiphany

To see with new eyes illumined by truth,
To drink in moments of divine surprise,
To discover joy in life’s brave search,
be it for love, beauty, or newness,
To accept this one startling life as sacred gift,
To bring whatever treasures one possesses,
humble as they are,
and lay them before the newborn Messiah.

This Epiphany…
Will you kneel down in adoration with the wise ones?
Will you bow before the angel-announced Child?
Will you see in his countenance God’s infinite grace?
Will you dream a world invaded by Holy Love?
Will you dare to be changed?

What’s in a name?

05 Thursday Jan 2012

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In preparing to launch this blog, I needed to create a name for it, which I quickly discovered wasn’t an easy assignment. After a few false starts, I did a little research and learned that a blog name needs to be: readable, pronounceable, spellable, memorable, concise and unique – a tall order! As I considered how I approach life, I realized that the words dream (with close affinity to imagination) and pray and act are descriptive of how I understand who I am. If I were able to draw a picture here for you – dreaming (imagining) would lead to praying would lead to acting (doing) would lead back to dreaming and so on – a kind of interactive process of engaging real life from a spiritual center. Life is adventure, just as God intends it to be. Will we do our part in creating a more humane, just, and peaceable world?

Dream
Dream a world at peace
Dream tables of plenty for all
Dream an end of violence against innocents
Dream tanks beaten into combines
Dream happy children everywhere
Dream God’s dream of harmony
Dream a resurgence of the common good
Dream reconciliation
Dream undeserved, relentless grace
Dream blessing on all people
Dream

Pray
Pray honestly
Pray hopefully
Pray trusting in the sacred worth of each human being
Pray believing that God still speaks
Pray with a grateful heart
Pray with a broken heart
Pray for the poor and the rich
Pray for the sick and the well
Pray for the weak and the strong
Pray for all the world’s children
Pray

Act
Act from a place of passion
Act where the world needs justice
Act where the world needs healing
Act while your heart aches
Act as though you are blessed
Act when you feel lost or alone
Act in the Spirit of the Christ
Act with courageous compassion
Act with humor and humility
Act without fear
Act

A Journey Begins

05 Thursday Jan 2012

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For years, people close to me have said that they think I should get my writing out to a larger audience. Writing is a passion for me. It helps me express what I am feeling and how I see this amazing world and beautiful life. I don’t claim to have any special wisdom or insight. Most days I struggle to be honest with myself. Still, I think we have much that we can learn from one another on this life journey when we are willing to explore our humanity together.

This blog is my attempt to share a view of life that is hopeful, thoughtful, and real!

Thank you for stopping by. I look forward to making use of this tool to have conversations on meaningful topics, to create and/or deepen friendships, and to share my perspective in a way that may be helpful to someone.

Peace, Mark