In the Midst of Others

Hello Ladies,
If you have been reading this blog from the beginning, you may remember a Greek word I talked about, Meta, which means companionship in the midst of others. It can also be translated fellowship in the midst of others.
I am experiencing that all over this week as my sister has come to town for a visit. The one who has known me all of her life and still loves me; the sister who laughs at my jokes-even the really lame ones; the sister who sounds so much like me that we can fool our mom on the phone. Caller ID put a stop to that joke, but it was fun while it lasted.
As we have talked, chilled, laughed, broken bread together, told her son to stop picking on her daughter-together, I have felt the warmth that having wonderful, close family brings.
I get that all the time with pastor Keith's family living so close, but this is different. They came into my life when I was an adult.
My sister Milissa came into my life when I was six. So we have played dolls together, watched cartoons together, sorta wished we were one of the Waltons together, learned to cook together, learned we didn't love math but were capable of doing it-together, got grounded together and finally grew up together. Though one of us couldn't wait to do so and the other fought it kicking and dramatically stomping her feet-I'm not saying which one us was which-you decide.
Aside from cyber-teasing my sister, or using self-deprecating cyber-humor (again, you decide), I wanted to share all this with you, my sisters in Christ, for a deeper reason. Whether you have siblings or not, whether you have a sister who's now a friend, or a friend who is as close as a sister, hopefully all of you have been blessed by a deep friendship with somebody. Someone with whom you can experience Meta.
There are some people who have never had that. They feel lonely or perhaps guarded. Some people, and maybe you can relate, have spent so much energy just trying to get through each day that they haven't had energy or time to connect with neighbors or co-workers let alone experience Meta.
The Bible tells us that we are meant to be connected, to draw close to God-together. To experience fellowship in the midst of others.
One of my favorite Bible passages is in Acts chapter 2, where we can read about the early church.
 "And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayers. " vs 42.
Later in the passage we read, "And every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple complex and broke bread from house to house. They ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people, And every day the Lord added to them those who were being saved." vs. 46-47.

There's a lot of substance here, enough for Pastor Keith to unpack into a three point sermon. I want to focus on two things though: Within six verses we see mentioned two times two things. Devotion to meeting together and eating together.
I think if the Bible places emphasis on them, so should we. We might feel that we have enough friends, are too busy to nurture the relationships we have, or worse, are too busy and emotionally tired to reach out to others in pursuit of friendship.
These are all things I have heard from women who tell me they are lonely, or have fair-weather friends, but not deep, sister-like friendships.
I have also heard from people who have great friends, that they feel badly for someone they've encountered who seems lonely, "somebody should reach out to them." They declare.
I often respond to that, by asking, "Do you think it is possible that God placed them in front of you because you are the somebody who should?"
God means for us to be together, to devote ourselves to meeting and eating together. Not solely those endeavors, of course, as there is work for all of us to do on Christ's behalf in our communities. But if we feel lonely, or are standing next to or in front of someone who does-we are called to reach out, to spend time together.
To experience Meta-fellowship in the midst of others-is to experience deeper connection, to laugh at each other's jokes-even the lame ones, to experience a rare closeness in the midst of others whom you are also close to, but not as close.
I encourage each of you reading this to reach out to someone God places in front of you, to nurture the friendships you already have, on your road towards experiencing Meta.
Blessings, Lorilise

Coffee Coffee Coffee!

This weeks blog title is taken from one of my favorite old shows, the Gilmore Girls. One of the lead characters in the show, Lorelei is knowingly, willfully and at times woefully in the throws of daily coffee consumption.

Sisters, I confess that never before have I so related to a television
Show character's foible, as I relate to Lorelei's coffee-affection. And so I laughed out loud when the character was forced to enter a new establishment for her morning ritual, and ordered saying, "Coffee, coffee, coffee!" The barrista presented Lorelei with three cups of coffee, and Lorelei tried to explain that when she had said coffee, coffee, coffee! It was a desperate cry for caffeination in a cup, not an order of three.

I can relate to both being misunderstood and a desperate cry for caffeine in a cup.

As I write this, Pastor Keith and I are at our Annual Conference (read hours and hours of long meetings, for three & a half days). This means I am away from the home brewing extravaganza that sons Luke and Seth gave me for Christmas. I am also away from my beloved chosen brand of brew, as I own a reusable coffee filter that is, alas, too big for the single cup machines in the hotel we always stay at in Springfield. Yikes!

Fear not for me sisters-I have long known the way to the two coffee houses closest to said hotel, and will frequent one of them later. For now, I suffer the lesser hotel coffee. It's okay. Caffeine in a cup, yes; organic, shade grown, equal trade, bold Guatemalan-not so much.

It does serve a purpose though in fueling my mind and body to a degree. All this coffee talk has me thinking about two things: you all, my sisters in Christ, and fuel. For fuel of it's kind was certainly what initiated my entry into polite coffee-drinking society. All those specific preferences evince my great fortune in living in a country where I have so many choices for a morning mug.

Let's focus on fuel of other varieties for a moment. There are many things that fill us up, energize us for the day, or sometimes days. We all have our individual energizers. For myself and another sister, Kelli Wernle, there's nothing like a good six mile run to clear our heads and fill up our bodies tank with fuel to move forward. For my friend Lynette Beeny, painting and making jewelry refill her. She's a gifted artist. For our own Children's Ministry Director, Becky Nichols, after a long day of teaching and caring for little ones, a conversation with another adult gets her stoked. For my pal Joy Renz, who incidentally is making the coffee at The Word tomorrow, a different type of adult conversation fuels her. At this time she is caring full time for her mother. Much of her time is spent trying to simultaneously direct her mom, and honor her for the role she has had in Joy's life for so many years. Come to think of it at the end of the day, perhaps Joy might greater appreciate some quiet. Hmm.

While we all have these individuated fuel needs, there are also some universal fuels. Going to The Word on Sunday and hearing a good message, being brought into the presence of God by the band's worship set- that's some serious fuel! Praying is some serious fuel too. So often we experience prayer as that thing we do before a meal, before bed, before a message on Sundays, and these are all great times for prayer. But I hope we are accessing the filling up God has for us in prayer more often than that.

One of the challenges from last week's blog was to pray for the people of Joplin, and all the disasters which have occurred since March. I ask you to continue praying for these people. God wants to hear from us. And honestly, if we can pray beyond our own needs, pray thoughtfully, trying to picture those we lift up, not only will God listen and honor our prayers with action, He will fill us, blessing us with fuel to do more. Seriously.

As Keith and I are away in Springfield I am fueling up with the local java joint's cup of caffeinated sunshine, and with prayer. The latter form of fuel is far more uplifting, as much as I love the former.

When the apostle Paul tells us in 1Thessalonians 5, "pray without ceasing", he does so knowing it will do more than make our requests known to a Creator who after all, already knows them; it will fill us, draw us closer to God, and bring us into a real conversation with that Creator. The fueling of prayer leads us closer to God, a relationship which as it is enhanced, fuels us even further.
How cool is that?

By way of announcement, I experienced a bit of fueling up yesterday as Pastor Keith, Word volunteer Mike Chance and I were privileged to deliver donations for the women of Joplin to the Salvation Army here in Springfield. They will be getting 28 purses donated by both women of The Word At Shaw and our mama-church, Morning Star. Morning Star's incredible outreach team shared enough toiletries for 35 purses. After filling the 28 purses we had, the remaining toiletries were placed into seven gallon size freezer bags so the volunteers could place them into additional purses donated by women in Springfield.

Thank you for your generosity ladies. This wasn't a month long campaign like we are used to, but a seized opportunity with a week from start to finish. Shows what we can do, doesn't it?

I encourage you to spend some additional time in prayer this week. Don't miss out on the fuel God has for your Spirit.