Remembering.

Some of you may recognize what the elements in the picture are and what they represent for participants. I am visiting my parents this week, my stay includes a Sunday, and on Sunday, my parents pray. 

They pray, 
they read the Bible 
and they take communion.

They do all of these things at their home now instead of participating in a larger faith community.

My father thought they (the faith community) were marketing the message through a lens of humor. And while my dad has been known to create an entire sermon point around a new funny story he wanted to tell, at this point in his life, he wants a plain and simple message.

Not in a watered down, or less intelligent discussion, but one that is honest. Today's message is, 'love each other like your brother or sister.' Asking for thoughts or comments, my mother, ever the pragmatic one, says: 'that makes some assumptions about your brothers and sisters! What if you don't like them for very good reasons?' As Mom and I laugh, Dad attempts to regain the moment of reflection he had created. 

It's gone.

Mom shares a smile with me, Dad tells the same story he told 5 minutes ago, followed by Mom saying, 'Are you going to dismiss us?' Dad teases her, 'you do it.' Don't ever tell my mother to do something that she wants to do if you do not want an immediate response. Before I can look back to Mom, she has dismissed us and the conversation turns to where we are going for lunch.

But a couple of thoughts and experiences stay with me. While no longer a participant in their faith community, I respect the decision to create behaviors, patterns, and rituals that remind them of the values they hold to be true. All shaped through the lens of their 67-year-old marriage.

I also think about holding up family relationships as a lens for healthy, wholesome and perhaps holy relationships. The relationships that are the daily, in the moment, opportunities to demonstrate integrity, grace, and forgiveness. The relationships that challenge us to be authentic to ourselves and others, because they know the stories of your early childhood and the stories you never told your parents. (still not telling!)

For me, this is the plain and simple message today:
love self and others in a way that doesn't hide from ugly parts of one's self or of others, 
love in a way that says 'i've got your back,' 
love in a way that seeing someone wearing purple, you catch your breath, because your sister who has been dead for almost 4 years now, loved purple.

Love like that.