Change is hard…

Scott Erickson is one of my favorite artists. If you come by the house you’ll see half a dozen pieces of art that Scott has done. Check his work out! But he’s also a great public speaker, and he tells this story about a butterfly (butterfly cosplay from my daughters above). He asks the crowd, “do you know what happens in a chrysalis for a caterpillar to turn into a butterfly?” Well do you? I sure didn’t! And what was more surprising was why I had never wondered about it. It’s such a magical transformation and yet I just take it at face value. There’s another message in there, but back to the chrysalis. . . inside that mysterious pouch the caterpillar first dissolves. Dissolves, as in melts into a pile of goo!  Over the next couple weeks that goo moves around in all the right ways to reform itself into a brand new thing we all know and love.

It’s the process that’s so interesting to me. Because it’s probably one of the most traumatic and dramatic transformations in the animal kingdom. When you think about it you can imagine how painful and difficult that is to go through, and at the same time we have learned it as one of the most natural things in nature. Given time and food and safety the caterpillar WILL turn into a beautiful butterfly. That’s how it works.

At KUMC I have been thrilled to hear from many of you. Your Sunday morning comments and Weekday emails have been filled with excitement and Possibilities! You are excited about the future, even in the midst of struggle. You are honest about what you’ve gone through, without letting it hold you back. You are open to God encouraging you and me to grow and change together, and I am grateful to be here. Even on days I feel like a melted pile of goo on the couch. Given a little time and food and safety and a whole lotta love we will all grow into the church God has envisioned for us to be.

Will you pray with me?

There are many prayers that have been forming people for hundreds of years. Prayers are like a chrysalis in a way, as they burst forth from our hearts, strange and unformed, and God takes them and loves them and molds them into works of art. This is one of my favorites by Catherine of Siena (1347-1380), an Italian nun and mystic:

Dear Lord:

It seems you are so madly in love with your creatures that you could not live without us.

So you created us; and then, when we turned away from you, you redeemed us.

Yet you are God, and so have no need of us. Your greatness is made no greater by our creation; your power is made no stronger by our redemption. You have no duty to care for us, no debt to repay us.

It is love, and love alone, that moves you.

Amen.

“Listening is the first act of loving.”

Steph