The other day this poem was used at the Annual General Meeting of the Halifax Community Chaplaincy Society -a board that provides a chaplain who works with ex-offenders and their families.  The chaplain's closing prayer were these:

Fall in Love Prayer -Fr.Pedro Arrupe

Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is,
than falling in love in a quite absolute final way.
What you are in love with,
what seizes your imagination,
will affect everything.
It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning,
what you do with your evenings,
how you spend your weekend,
what you read, who you know,
what breaks your heart,
and what amazes you with joy and gratitude.
Fall in love,
stay in love,
and it will decide everything.

A touching that prayer that has and continues to digest for those who heard it that day.

Pentecost  C-   May 19^th, 2013 – Rev. Kimberlynn McNabb

As you most of you know, this morning Pastor Kimber is running her first full marathon.  She prepared this sermon while finishing her training, and found that there were lots of connections to be made between running and the festival of Pentecost.  For our inspiration she has placed her training shoes in front of the altar.  Note the colour; they are the same as the ones she is running in right now:   FIRE BERRY.

If you had asked Pastor Kimber in her 20’s, if she thought she would ever run, let alone run a marathon, she would have told you that you had holes in your head.  Growing up an uncoordinated child, clumsy beyond belief, one who ran into things and fell all the time; one who was not adept at sport; and who had asthma and allergies, often huffing and puffing from a quick walk...who would have thought running 42kms or 26 miles was a possibility.

If you had asked the disciples in the fifty days after Jesus’ death, if they thought that they would spread out from Jerusalem and enter all the known world with the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection; they would likely have told you that you were a dreamer with ridiculous ideas.  Most of them growing up around the sea of Galilee, fishermen; good at physical work, not so adept at public speaking; knowing Aramaic and being able to take their turn reading the ancient Hebrew of the scripture scrolls in the synagogue...who would have thought it possible that they would preach to a large crowd, so that the crowd heard the message in their own languages, and that their words were persuasive enough to cause thousands to want to be baptized.

For eight years, Pastor Kimber has been training for a yearly race in the BlueNose.  Since January she upped her training, running 30-75kms a week.  She took time to stretch and rest, to strengthen her core with Pilates, to soak in Epsom salt baths, to imagine herself running the route, broke in a new pair of running shoes, did speed and hill work, carb loaded, and focused her mind. 

For three years, the disciples have been training for the day when Jesus would not be with them, not that they knew they were in training.  They took time away from their occupations to walk with a teacher for three years.  They strengthened their knowledge and practice of the Jewish faith.  They learned to interpret the Law in a renewed way.  They had been taught to pray, to confront the religious leaders who chose to debate with Jesus, to talk of God’s kingdom with new images, and practiced the ministry of healing.  They had been sent off in twos to preach the Good News and then come back to report to Jesus. 

How many years have you been attending church?

For this many years, you have been in training. You have lived among God’s faithful people by being part of this community.  You come to church to hear the Word of God and partake in communion.  You have learned the Lord’s Prayer, the Ten Commandments, and have read the Bible. You have nurtured your faith.  You worship and pray.  You have participated in community.  In this way you have learned to trust God, to care for others and the world God made, and to work for justice and peace.

And it is in the training stage that many get stuck.

There are runners who run and never enter a race, giving all kinds of reasons and excuses why races are not for them.  There are all kinds of disciples of Jesus, people in the church, who believe and never enter into preaching, giving all kinds of reasons and excuses why preaching and telling the story is not for them.

To this I would say, put on some “fire berry” shoes. You are done training.  Go out and be whelmed by the Holy Spirit.

That first 10k race, or the first half marathon, and hopefully the full race –although Pastor Kimber doesn’t know for sure until after today -gives a runner what is called a runner’s high.  It is the experience of running with so many others, having the crowd cheering –people you don’t even know; it is going out and having fun after so much hard work, it is seeing the fruits of one’s labour;  it is living the training  in a way that invigorates, stimulates, and makes one feel good all over.  It is an experience that causes the runner to return to training with renewed passion, with a desire to run more races, to experience as often as possible that “feel good” moment.

That first Pentecost gave the disciples, now called Apostles, a higher calling and purpose.  It was the experience of the Holy Spirit, filling them through wind and tongues of fire, in the presence of a whole crowd.  It was speaking together of the amazing Good News that God had conquered death, that God’s kingdom had  come and will continue to come.  It was sharing hope with those who were open to hear.  It was living their training in a way that invigorated, stimulated, and made them feel good all over.  They were so inspired that Pentecost was not a one time event.  The Apostles kept preaching, teaching, and healing with passion.

That first time you step out from being a disciple, a learner, and move to being an Apostle –a bearer of the story, not just in actions but in words –what an experience.  Have you had this experience?

It would be one that would be so exhilarating that you would want to replicate the feeling again and again.  You wouldn’t be able to contain your excitement, joy, and need to tell another.  You would be passionate; living and breathing the Good News.

The hardest part of running is putting on the shoes and going out the door.

When in the house one can convince themselves of the reasons not to go: tired, too much to do, someone might see my butt wiggle, the weather isn’t quite right.  But once you’re outside, with the door locked behind you and you take the first few steps, you just keep going.

The hardest part of being an Apostle is getting out there by putting aside all the excuses.

Come race day, in fact weeks in advance, Pr. Kimber’s head works overtime, figuring out the exact combination of clothing to wear for every scenario of weather that might be encountered on race day.

She then, the night before the race, checks the weather, lays out her clothing choice, sets out the safety pins ready to bin on the race bib, and has pre- and post-race clothing in a bag.  Runners all have their pre-race rituals.  Maybe this is where disciples get stuck.  We have rituals for training, for being in this place called church, but have not bothered to picture ourselves out in the world as Apostles.

The last leadership event Pr. Kimber went to, one of the conversations was around, after feeling a call from God, what is it that gives leaders a sense of authority and a voice, so that they speak the truth in their places of service?  At the top of the list were phrases like: “putting on big boy or girl panties”, “having a power suit”, “wearing devil kicking boots.”  We’ve all been called through baptism and called to vocations of bringing God’s reign to earth.  Moving from being a disciple to an Apostle is really all in the head, and it has to do with perception.

Pr.Kimber has laced up FIRE berry shoes this morning.  She is going to run like fire.  Her bright coloured shoes leading the way, setting the mood, and the tempo.

What are you waiting for Apostles?  Lace up your fire berry shoes...shoes whelmed by the Holy Spirit; and step outside.  Trust that the Spirit is outside waiting to catch your feet on fire, and to give you the confidence and words to bewilder the crowd, such that a fiery passion for God grows in the hearts of the world. 

42 km Freak out

42kms is the distance of a full marathon, an experience I will partake in on May 19th.
There has been a lot of training with the longest run being 37k, completed a week ago Monday.
Since then Windsor Pilates has happened twice and three relaxed puny runs.  You see this runner had a deep chested cold.  What this has meant, as one is not to run when the ailment is below the throat, is that the kms of a regular taper have not happened. When one is a person who follows a schedule to the "t", it has caused a few moments of "FREAK OUT".

Now before races of shorter lengths, I always seconded guessed the training and freaked out a little then too.  But this is 42 kms!

There was grace to be found today, that finally, when the puny run was done...more might have been done.  No lung was about to be hacked up.  The ribs and belly weren't sore from harder breathing.
The race is coming and if the cold keeps shedding as it it, perhaps it will be the best run ever, all because myself will feel healthy and free.

Then running can become not worrying about overdoing it or coughing, but rather return to a mediation.  This is my prayer!