Humbled in Haiti

Thursday, September 21, 2017

Haiti

Matthew 20:25-28 & Philippians 2:5-8

Brenda and Warren Taylor

In preparing for this reflection, the (NKJV) phrase, “But Jesus called them to himself” (v25), struck me.  This calling is not the type that screams, “Hey y’all, get over here.” No, it is the Way of Christ, a drawing to, a charismatic attraction, the magnetism same as the humble carpenter walking along the sea of Galilee beckoning to a few fishermen, “Come follow me.” Paul describes it this way in his letter to the church at Philippi, “Who being in very nature God” (V6, NIV). When we are called this way, we stop what we are doing. We “drop our nets.”

Our team left today for Haiti on a medical mission. Being the first time for me, I can only go by what I have heard from those who have gone before and before me. Do we already have the same mindset as Christ? Well, for me, I believe it is a lifelong quest.  When I listen to how our servant team describes their experience of past Haiti mission trips, I can imagine they came by their “same mindset as Christ” or a glimpse of that same mindset as a byproduct of the willingness of their servant’s heart. Does our humility come before the act of service? More, I believe, it comes from the very humble nature of those served: God’s children who inhabit this devastatingly poor and destitute area; a people hungering for the breath of the Holy Spirit to whisk them away if not just for a few affectionate, attention filled moments.  Indeed, it is these moments that humble our servant team and allow us to adopt, if only for an instant, the same mindset of Christ.

By the way, today’s gospel scripture repeats in Mark 10:42-44, which gives this truth lesson in humility a double shot of importance.  We have it on good accord that Mark was basing this journal of Jesus’s teachings on Peter’s own eyewitness account.

Yahweh, soften our hearts today, opening the windows of our soul and let the Holy Spirit whisk in a bit of Lord Jesus’ humility. Amen

Bradford Bosworth

Haiti Devotional Series

Sixes UMC Haiti Mission 2017

Beginning tomorrow, Thursday, September 21, 2017, 'The Standard Chronicles" will begin a weeklong series, uh, well, chronicling the experience of  a group of Christian Missionaries in Haiti. The daily posts will be in the form of a Devotion. Each Devotion will be based on a submitted Holy Bible scripture reference. The submitters are folks who have sponsored myself and my dear friend Patti in our participation with the Sixes team. Patti, a Nurse, has been doing this medical mission trip for five years and encouraged me to join in.

Port -au- Prince, Haiti

In gratitude for their support, I will write for these friends a daily devotion from their submitted scripture. I trust that, as is already the case, the Holy Spirit will be active in my inspiration to relate the Word to what is happening on the ground, so to speak.

If the reader desires to incorporate the devotions into their daily practice of prayer and meditation here are a few suggestions: Have a Holy Bible or Bible app (i.e.: "Bible Gateway") available for you to research, for the Devotion reference will be book/chapter/verse only. The devotion will be missing context without the reader absorbing the written Word. Carve out of your day some quiet time listening to what our Creator speaks that only You can hear!

If you are inspired to see what each day has to offer, here is a brief description of our loving support group:

Five Finger Friends Reprised


Over the course of a lifetime one learns that true friends do not pepper life’s path nor can they be plucked from trees and vines as if low hanging fruit. Instead we often discover them when we stray from the well-worn path or in climbing to great heights. My faith has convinced me that these friends are indeed Angels that our heavenly Father has placed along our path at just the right time with the right lesson to teach us, just when we are most teachable. I also am certain teach ability is a required characteristic of humility. For most of my life I have believed that if one could count these true friends with one hand they would be considered highly blessed. I am here today to say my true friend philosophy is changing and it looks like I need two hands now, particularly with beautiful Patti in my life! These Haiti Mission Sponsors are considered five finger friends of Patti and I:

John McCorkle, Ed Hogg, Brenda and Warren Taylor, John Fleming, Joyce and Michael Newsom, Randy Pettit, Jeanette and Ryan Karstensen, Chuck Whiteside

Here is a story that when I stop and consider it, I stand amazed. My first job out of college in Daytona Beach was in 1975. There at the local NBC TV affiliate a seasoned photographer and Viet Nam Vet took interest in me and showed me “the ropes”.  He and his marvelous wife welcomed me in their home. They have witnessed with me weddings, funerals and graduations over the years. Then there are two men who I worked together with in the financial services industry and as three recently divorced bachelors in 1982 became roommates.  We would reunite after 30 years in large part through Walk to Emmaus. There is a man who I first met at the 1984 Great Miller High Life Chili Cook Off. Five years later he would hire me and become my boss at a major Alcohol Beverage Wholesaler. Two decades later I would sponsor him on Walk to Emmaus. Then there is the man, a licensed Pastor in the Christian Church Disciples of Christ and certified addiction counselor who helped me get sober in 2008. He and his wife are wonderful friends. There are also two men who have graced my life since 2010 in the important recovery fellowship to which we belong and are also my Emmaus Brothers.  Then there is a couple who have been in Patti’s life for years and are her closest friends now becoming mine. A little over a year ago and through Walk to Emmaus, they played a big part in the coming together of Patti and me.  Can anyone say Angels in our path? How marvelous, how wonderful is my savior’s love for me. *       Amen

* Lyrics from:"I Stand Amazed" Chris Tomlin. Music and worship is one way to get one in a prayerfully meditative mood. Check it out.

I hope to see you here again soon.

Love Always and In All Ways,

Bradford Bosworth
September, 2017

Recently Published

"Disciplines"

A Book of Daily Devotions 2018

A little over three years ago I began submitting poem prayers to "Alive Now" magazine a periodical published by the Upper Room. Over a two year period they published my work in five different issues. During that same time I struck up a conversation with Rita the Editor of their "Disciplines" 365 daily devotional. I wrote some sample devotions for her and she consequently invited me to write for this 2018 issue.  Since they had already issued invitations for the 2017 edition and were in the middle of compilation and editing for same, I did not expect to hear from her again for almost a year. I guess God had other plans. One of Rita's 2017 writers had to drop and she was left with a week to fill. She contacted me with a very short notice deadline and not wanting to miss the wonderful opportunity, I agreed to submit.

"Disciplines" 2017

It was a very daunting task at first, as I considered the company of writers I was joining. This neighborhood was comprised mostly of Clergy, Doctors of Divinity, Professors of Theology and the like. When at first I began corresponding with Rita, I had very little knowledge and understanding of the Revised Common Lectionary. With support from my Smyrna First UMC Pastors Joey and Barbara and inspiration from the Holy Spirit, my "Who Are Those Guys" devotions filled the week of May 8-14 including Mothers Day, a great blessing and dedication for my mom Jeanne.

"Disciplines" 2018

Even though Rita had previously offered an invitation for 2018, when the official call came with scripture attached it was a giant validation for me as a writer. She had thought enough of my writing to include me a second time. For me that is no small achievement. God is Good! I will be forever grateful to our Smyrna First UMC Associate Pastor Whit, a young'un on fire with the Holy Spirit. He gave me immeasurable advice and encouragement for this effort.

My contribution to the 2018 edition of "Disciplines" scheduled for the week of June 18-24 is titled: "The Best and Worst in Us." I have been using this devotional for three year now. I have heard say that the three year cycle of scripture comprising the Revised Common Lectionary, if read, will- in many ways- take one through the entire Holy Bible. One thing I can attest to is that you will often hear from the pulpit Sunday, a message corresponding to the Lectionary scripture of same week.

If you would like to order the 2018 "Disciplines click here: Get your 2018 Devotional

Eternally grateful,

Bradford Bosworth
September 2017

Seeking Our Connection Point

    Yearning to be Yoked

The story of mankind has been one of emigrational search and discovery. Columbus sailed to find new lands not certain that a fall over the horizon was imminent. The Oklahoma land rush of 1889 was a chance for one's own little plot of land. John Glenn showed the masses we might even be able to escape our own inhabitable planet. Many of us individually have  longed to find our somewhere, a place where we belong. We long to become whole, complete, One. This quest becomes so self centered that it sometimes boils down to a simple effort to be comfortable in our own skin.

Christmas tree and Syzygy?

No doubt we were meant to be in fellowship, joined together in common purpose, linked to one another, connected to something greater and more meaningful than our unsettled selves. What I experienced a week ago today was the most extreme example of this seeking I have witnessed in my sober lifetime. I would like to share with the special audience that reads this blog what the 2017 Solar Eclipse meant to me through the signs our creator placed before all for personal discovery.

In preparing myself for the mystery of this celestial wonder, I learned a new word: Syzygy. It is an amazingly spiritual yet scientific word. My understanding in relation to the 2017 Solar Eclipse is it represents a celestial phenomena where three bodies: sun, moon and earth reach perfect alignment.  (See:Syzygy) Wow, alignment, is not that something we hope for with the wheels on our car? We strive to keep ourselves on the right road smoothly in a straight line, correct? Sounds a bit synonymous with belonging and becoming whole, no? This past week's heavenly alignment does not occur often. In fact, where the path of totality crosses the entire continental United Sates- one coast to the other- well, it had not happened for ninety nine years, more than a lifetime!

Oh the richness of the symbolism in this gift of the Universe! It was estimated that about 20 million people could or would be in the American path of totality. This is where the moon blots out the whole sun. Totality, wholeness, completeness, peace, all of same import. Isn't this what we are searching for? Well, at least it is for me. So off I went -as I guess I do everyday- seeking the "Path of Totality."

I found myself in Andrews, North Carolina on Monday, August 21, 2017 amidst a festival day atmosphere with many a pilgrim young and old gazing upward in awestruck worship. Andrews is located in the exact center of this path of totality, point zero.  I discovered Syzygy is not complete, not whole. It does not reach it's fullness without us as receiving witnesses becoming one as our Creator's masterpiece. Our Father desires us to be part of His alignment. We will be at peace when we are aligned with His will. Right at the point of total eclipse it became very quiet and still, very peaceful.  On the exterior of the Andrews United Methodist Church there was a large sign. It spoke of the day. It yelled to me. It pointed to the path of wholeness, completeness, oneness, totality, if you will. It was a suggestion for a Way to peace from words of Christ to us:

Jesus's words on the sign from Matthew 11:28 were not the words that rung out to me that day. If you clicked the Syzygy link a few paragraphs before this one, you might have noticed the Greek origins of the word mean to "yoke together." Hear His words from verse 29-30

"Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

Based on the experiences in Andrew's NC last Monday- now more than ever- I believe Abba's gift of Syzygy needed US to complete it just as He needs US now to complete the gift of His Son and Holy Spirit to carryout His will in the world.

Father may we make ourselves available to you as willing witnesses. May you guide each of us to our own path of totality that we may know your good and pleasing will for us.

Amen 

***********

Bradford Bosworth

August, 2017

In or Of the World?

Grace in Small Things

Costa Rica's Blue Morpho Butterfly

This past week I found myself moving through a tropical rain forest in various modes of transportation. The diverse media included: zip line, horseback, two feet and four wheels. The most pulsating was hanging over majestic gorges through rain clouds in the soft falling rain with the Pacific ocean looming in the distance. 

"Look at eleven o'clock" suggested our guide Donald, who also pointed out his last name was not Trump!

My friend Patti and Donald

In his book "The Ragamuffin Gospel" Brennan Manning quotes a Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel from his death bed, "Never once in my life did I ever ask God for success or wisdom or power or fame. I asked for wonder and He gave it to me."

I am grateful that I often experience wonder in my everyday comings and goings. The screech of a red tail hawk flying overhead, a fleeting appearance of a dragonfly with no water near by, a night owl lighting under a street lamp or the sweet sound of "good night" over the phone from my girlfriend Patti.

The freshness that comes with travel to a new locale always heightens one's sense of wonder. Although, being raised in tropical Miami, Florida, some things in Costa Rica were not so new for me. I have lived in and among palm trees, seagulls, hibiscus plants, orange trees, waves breaking on the beach and of course the swim up pool bar. I quit that pool bar activity a few years back.

The Park

What was most wonderful to this man was watching the little creatures. On our first day Patti and I decided to count butterflies and dragonflies. Within hours we abandoned this effort. There were too many to count even on the grounds of our resort. When we traveled to the Rincon del a Vieja park and in the rain forest our sense of wonder bordered on infinite.

The rain forest is a busy place! There is much coming and going, God's grand central station if you will. The most notable traveler had to be the ever present and largest of the prolific butterflies. It's name is the Blue Morpho. One of our guides pointed out that it's likeness is on their currency. Either I or this beautiful creature were never still long enough for me to get a picture. The ones in my memory will suffice.

While on this vacation, a friend and I were engaged in a deep spiritual conversation over a game of chess. We were talking of being in the world  as opposed to being of the world.  The name morpho brings with it meaning changed or modified. When we are in the world, we have the opportunity to change the world. We can ask for and receive the wonder of God's creation; His Grace in the littlest things. When we are of the world, we are subject to the world changing us. We often miss His little details and the wonders of Creation.

"He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much."

Luke 16:10 (NKJV)

This Gospel scripture has always spoken to me: Unless you can see and appreciate His Grace in the smallest things you will never truly appreciate the wonder of it on the grander scale.

Father may I be more in the world than of the world so I might receive the wonder of your Grace. Amen.

Bradford Bosworth

August 8, 2017