Stories from Jen

  Prayers for Sunday, April 3 It’s April.   But it is still Lent.   Flowers are awakening from their winter slumber, their fragile petals doing a morning stretch, seeking the sun and summer.   But it is still Lent.   Our fragile and repentant hearts are stretching toward your arms of forgiveness.   Most gracious, most merciful God, grab our hesitant arms and pull us into your enthusiastic embrace of grace.    (Prayer response:  Taize "Lord, Listen to your children praying") It’s April.   But it’s still Lent.   Even though we know that the cross is empty, we will journey to Jerusalem and once again celebrate the greatest love story ever told.   But we are not the central characters in this story.   YOU are.   You are the one who receives the fragrant oil that will be soon be carried to your tomb of death.   You are the one who chastises Judas for his early betrayal that will be trumped by a betrayed kiss. ...

  Heaviness Some background : In our recent nondenominational worship service on board our cruise ship, we heard Luke’s Gospel story of the temptations of Jesus in the wilderness.   I had the privilege of leading prayers, the Lord’s Prayer, and then the benediction.   Always wanting to be contextual, I included Ukraine and the past months of trudging much of the journey of the slave trade in the SE USA, Polynesia, and now the West Indies.   I’m sharing our heaviness with you, trusting that God is always listening.   Lead-in for praying in our worship service : In prayer, we look deeply at our lives, we examine the world we inhabit, we admit our failures, we seek forgiveness, and we rejoice in the unending grace of God who gives us hope for another day.   Today, each Lenten prayer petition will end with “Lord, please listen.”   Then you will join me in singing our prayer response each time. (teach “Lord, Listen to Your Children Praying”) Let us ...

  Introductions “Hello, my name is Jennifer and…” is the practice for beginning a confession/admission at an AA meeting. “Our guest for today is Pastor Jennifer Henry.   She has served…”is the polite introduction heard at past area or church events. “This is my sister/friend/colleague, Jen” is the casual acknowledgement that puts a name to the face. But let me ask you:   how do you engage in a conversation with someone who may not actually care who you are because your paths are more parallel than intersecting?   Thirty years ago, when Jerry and I were teaching in China, one of our units was self-introductions with people in the Western culture (from our perspective), especially in an airplane seat or at an international business conference (all our students were majoring in Foreign Trade).   As Jerry and I walked the talk in lesson prep, we discovered that introductions are more complex than straightforward, more protective than revealing, and oftentime...

 I’m Not into Religion… Self-made men and women.   Successful.   Intellectual. Ahead of the curve in their occupation.   Thinkers.     Problem solvers.   Confident and self-confident. Competent in their field.   Passionate.   Market and current events savvy.   Open to meeting new people.   Surface communicators, adept at elevator talks over dinner.   Bored.   Seeking a (like-minded?) community. Enjoy talking. Listen in order to speak.   Either conservative or liberal but there are no inbetweens.   These are some of the adjectives I’d assign to the many people we’ve met 1/3 or the way into our cruise.   Casual acquaintance happens at meal tables--unless we choose a table only for two, at intentional events on board that invite small gatherings in larger spaces, or on land excursions.   A typical first time meet begins with either one’s first name or “Where are you from?”   then usually slides in...

  Ash Wednesday Like most of my pastor colleagues, we began planning the Ash Wednesday service months in advance.   Rather than having snow and ice as a potential obstacle, our timeline must align with a sea day rather than a port day.   If we’re in a port, then guests are off the ship involved in an activity; whereas, a sea day means we are traveling between ports and all on-board activities are a go.   Given the uncertainties of sea conditions as well as world news, we are never sure about schedule changes. Gratefully, Ash Wednesday fell on the only sea day before 10 port days in a row.   Helen A. Worley**, the retired Anglican priest and I met with the British couple who act as hospitality liaison with the ship’s leadership.   We started these planning sessions in late January, resisting the impulse to look ahead to Holy Week and Easter, because we have absolutely no idea where the ship will be by then, let alone whether it will be a sea or port day. ...

  Turning Around Jen writes: Lent is just around the corner with its theme to repent.   Turn around.   Re-set your relationship with the Immanuel who craves a relationship.   A healthy and honest and lasting relationship that is headed toward a future that is hopeful. To everything turn, turn, turn There is a season turn, turn, turn And a time to every purpose under heaven Even when we were six time zones away, we had also been turning.   We shared this.   But we evidently weren’t clear about where we’re headed.   A time to gain, a time to lose A time to rend, a time to sew A time for love, a time for hate A time for peace, I swear it's not too late When we left the warm waters of Hawaii and headed westward to the many Polynesian islands, we learned that Covid restrictions no longer guaranteed that ports would be opened in Japan, Asia, and Africa.   The around-the-world tour no longer was.   But this didn’t have to be the end...