{"id":3271,"date":"2014-03-11T11:53:17","date_gmt":"2014-03-11T18:53:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/irreverin\/?p=3271"},"modified":"2014-03-11T11:53:17","modified_gmt":"2014-03-11T18:53:17","slug":"if-my-wings-should-fail-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/irreverin\/2014\/03\/if-my-wings-should-fail-me\/","title":{"rendered":"If My Wings Should Fail Me"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I\u2019m back among the living after a week down with the flu. Not a 24 hour flu bug type thing: actual influenza. Think sharp knives stabbing your chest every time you cough (which is, let\u2019s just say, often) chills, all-over body aches and general awfulness. And then my husband and one of the kids got it, and well\u2026 all downhill from there.<\/p>\n

But like I said\u2013I\u2019m back among the living today, newly aware of the fragile state of life embodied.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t take much to lay us flat. And at all times\u2013even when we\u2019re healthy\u2013we live within the limits of the human frame. We can\u2019t fly (which I\u2019ve always thought was a bum deal); we can\u2019t heal ourselves, or others, in the way that we wish; we cannot be in more than one place at once (also a bum deal); we can\u2019t change time, or alter the weather, or say and do that just-right thing to\u00a0save the world and absorb all the suffering, ever. We are at the mercy of our body\u2019s needs for shelter, food, drink, and oxygen.<\/p>\n

This is the gift and the\u00a0burden of life as we know it. We catch glimpses of some transcendent Spirit sort of thing, of God\u2019s aching desire for humanity: in art; in music; in liturgy; in nature; and in the depth of human relationship. It\u2019s almost there. We can almost see, touch, taste, and bring it into being. But so not quite. We are yet embodied.<\/p>\n

So\u2026Lent! A season to be about the work of catching those glimpses; denying some of the bodily demands that keep us firmly rooted to the earth, and freeing up some space for those Spirit things to live and breathe.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m doing a sermon series called\u201dRise: More than Bread Alone.\u201dIt\u2019s inspired by Jesus telling the temptor that \u201cone cannot live by bread alone.\u201d Because\u2013and here\u2019s the good news\u2013we are more than this body that holds us down sometimes, more than its pain, more than its needs and desires\u2026 And, as long as we are so embodied, we need more than just physical sustenance to do the work of the gospel. Throughout this series, Jesus will meet strangers on the road, giving them\u2013and us!\u2013the kinds of things we DO need, more than bread. Things like compassion, imagination, courage, and community.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the trip we\u2019re on, in this season of the soul.\u00a0Together, we follow Jesus. We lay some stuff down. And we pick up what we need to sustain us for the work of discipleship, and compel us\u00a0towards new life\u00a0in the Spirit. Know what we need for that trip? A playlist. Here it is:<\/p>\n

Souls Like Wheels<\/a>, The Avett Brothers<\/p>\n

Vapor,<\/a> The Liturgists<\/p>\n

Step Out<\/a>, Jose Gonzales<\/p>\n

In My Time of Dying<\/a>, Led Zeppelin<\/p>\n

Shake it Out<\/a>, Florence and the Machine\u00a0 (I know, I know, this is on my list every year. But every year<\/em>, it is the perfect soundtrack for all this darkness and hope).<\/p>\n

I Shall Be Released<\/a>, The Band<\/p>\n

Dirty Feet<\/a>, Dear Saint Isaac (I\u2019d never heard of these guys til a friend told me about them the other day, and holy smokes, they are amazing.)<\/p>\n

Let it Go<\/a>, Idina Menzel\/Queen Elsa\u00a0 \u2013Yes, I\u2019m sick of it, too. But yes, I\u2019m totally serious. Maybe every little girl in America is onto something. But, if the Disney-ness of it all is still a bit too much for you, watch the GMA Frozen Sing Along<\/a>\u00a0version. Pure joy. Let the storm rage on, y\u2019all.<\/p>\n

Roll up into\u00a0Jerusalem\u00a0playing some Beautiful Things<\/a>, (Gungor), and shake the last of winter, of sickness, of the baser impulses from your frozen frame. God is doing a new thing.<\/p>\n

Who says we can\u2019t fly?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m back among the living after a week down with the flu. Not a 24 hour flu bug type thing: actual influenza. Think sharp knives stabbing your chest every time you cough (which is, let\u2019s just say, often) chills, all-over body aches and general awfulness. 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