Reconciling Ministries Network

Impartial, Compassionate God of All Lives

Adrienne Trevathan

Tune: St. Denio (same as "Immortal, Invisible God Only Wise")

Impartial, compassionate God of all lives,
In Christ you have shown us your love actualized,
Incarnate and weak in the arms of the poor,
Destroying all systems that keep closed the door.

Unholy, unjustified fear we incite,
When we shun our neighbors yet cling to our rights.
Your children still wander the streets left in pain,
We pass laws against them to prove our disdain.

Creator of beauty, we stand not in pride,
We do not assume you will stay on our side.
For yours is the sacred, untarnished by sin,
A refuge for outcasts that all may come in.

Our hope is your freedom for both great and small,
To strive for perfection and know all means all.
We challenge and question each law without grace,
Affirming the image of Christ on each face.

All honor we give you, O help us to see,
Your children are worthy to claim victory.
And so let our actions flow out of our praise,
To seek transformation, your kindom to raise.

Prayer for Strength to Do Justice (adapted from Psalm 104)

By Audrey Krumbach

(reprinted from United Methodist Young Clergy)

During the 40 day prayer campaign we will follow the contemplative threefold path.  Our first leg on the journey: purgation.  As we pray together, let our prayers first include a confession that we are lost apart from God's leading, a desire to rediscover the depth of God's love for us in fresh and life-giving ways, and a hope for new ways that we might be faithful followers of Jesus in our generation.  Thank you for joining us on the journey.

 Prayer for Strength to Do Justice (adapted from Psalm 104)

 O Lord our God, you are honorable and majestic, surrounded by all good things.
                You have stretched out the heavens to cover us,
                set the sunbeams on the waters to warm us,
                and blown sweet winds to refresh us.
When life feels shaky and everything is uncertain,
                you stand by me.
                You fill my life with hope.
You make water flow in the oceans,
                filling up rivers and springs.
                You even make mountains to stop the waters from covering all. 
                You give grass to the cattle,
                sunlight to the trees, seeds for the birds.
Give me also all that I need.
Lord you know I think I need things, money and position,
Help me to see what is truly good:
                share with me the provisions for life,
                the intimacy of friends and family,
                the strength to seek your good,
                the power of your Holy Spirit.

When you send forth your Spirit, life is created.
You renew all things from the ground to the living creatures to the skies.
Our prayer is that all things bring you joy, God of love.
                Make us part of your work.
                Cleanse our hearts from sin into pure love,
                Attune our energy to the needy crying out for mercy
                Make our soul gentle and full of your justice,
                Make our souls firm and full of your compassion.
When I have no answer, send me your wisdom.
For you came and walked with us, teaching, and healing and loving.
Do not stop now but remain with us, teach and heal and love.

Bless you, O, Lord
I will sing to you as long as I have breath
Praise you with all of my being.
Praise you, O, Lord

Audrey Krumbach is the Field Organizer for the Reconciling Ministries Network and a candidate for Elder’s ordination in the Northern Illinois Annual Conference.  She graduated from seminary in 2008, and has a deep passion for evangelism and working within the Holy Spirit to usher in the kin-dom of Jesus.

Devotion: Rolling Away the Stone

by Peter L. DeGroote

Who shall roll away the stone? Mark 16:1-8

1. By the time Jesus’ body had been placed in the tomb it was the Sabbath (after sunset). No work could be done until the third day. So, early on that day three women walked to the tomb with spices and oil for the body, a common burial practice. Wondering who would roll away the stone that covered the entrance, they discovered it had already been done. Inside the tomb was a young man who told them Jesus was not there, he had risen.

2. In the Book of Acts is an understanding of the early church in the words of Peter: But God raised him up, having freed him from death… (2:24). In the resurrection God had taken a stand against the human hate and violence that had killed Jesus. God had taken a stand against death. (The Greek word anastasis, which is often translated as resurrection, means a stand against death.)

3. Who will roll away the stone to reveal to us God's stand against our death? What are the tools by which the stone blocking our spiritual insight, understanding, and growth is rolled away? We cannot avoid the importance of the Way of life Jesus lived and taught. His rejection of the values and procedures by which humans usually design their lives and societies was the reason for his crucifixion. Jesus taught a way of life that can seem almost like a parallel universe that we can step into. In the words of early Christians: There are two Ways, one of Life and one of death, and there is a great difference between the two. Jesus taught the Way of Life.

4. The communal table became the central symbol of Jesus’ good news. It is a symbol of community, of the necessary reconciliation among people in order to find the individual and community harmony that leads to a harmony with God.

5. Just as important as the table, the empty cross is the symbol of God's stand against death. Better said, it is a symbol of God's stand for life-for the Way of Life Jesus taught. Validating the table, the empty cross is a constant reminder of two things. First, that we cannot defeat God's activity against hatred and intimidation, violence and killing.  Second, that being at the table is a way of joining in God's activity.

6. Living in Jesus way, in community, in the shadow of the empty cross is the Way to life as it was designed to be.

Devotion: I Trust My Place With Jesus

Jesus was indignant and said to them, “Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them. Mark 10:14, 16

The image of children on the lap of Jesus was visible in the stained glass window of our Sunday School when I was 6 years old. It helped to seal the message of our “Jesus loves Me” song. The story of adults trying to brush children away was told and we listened.  It was the response of Jesus is what caught our attention ~ imagine! He scolded those adults and made room for kids. I loved it.

As an adult, I also hear “Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a Little child will never enter it.” He not only welcomed the children, he elevated them as an example of faith.

For years, I have been confident of my place in this church even though some adults would brush me aside. I am able to present scriptural and theological support for my confidence. But I suspect that having a ground-in sense of worth and place that came with the Sunday School lesson to a 6 year old (and repeated yearly) may be the real foundation of my resilience.

Nowadays the topic of homosexuality is more often discussed than it was when I was small. I am not sure whether this makes it more easy or more difficult for a young person realizing who they are. I know that some teenagers are coming out in high school and even middle school. I know that parents are more aware that their child may be homosexual.

I found a great book on sexuality written for parents of young children and teens. The authors write with sweetness and humor as they hold parents accountable for the well being of their children. They tell a few stories of irresistible children and ways that parents can help them to thrive ~  how to talk about homosexuality in age appropriate ways and how to create an affirming home.

When a little girl said she loved her friend and asked “Am I a lesbian?” Mom said, “That’s friendship love. That doesn’t mean you are a lesbian. The kind of love a lesbian has for another woman is like the love Cinderella felt to the prince. If Cinderella were a lesbian, she would have fallen in love with a princess.”

Chapter 5 is called, Think about it: Considering your child’s sexual orientation. In it they write, “Consider the possibility that you have been charged with the responsibility of raising a gay son or lesbian daughter.” And “Your child needs you to be the parent. You may not be an expert on homosexuality, but neither is he.”  Page 143

We are children of God. Jesus created an affirming home for all of God’s children.

I thank God for family and Sunday School teachers that allowed me to thrive. I trust my place with Jesus.

Sue Laurie
Outreach Coordinator, Reconciling Ministries

Everything you NEVER wanted your kids to know about Sex, but were afraid they’d ask. J  Justin Richardson, Mark A. Schuster

Devotion: With Sighs to Deep for Words

By Rev. Katy Krumbach

For (when) we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. Rom 8:26

Morning prayer was an essential part of our ‘retreat’ experience. We gather for two weeks twice a year as part of our DMin studies and, each time, we quickly became a community- in class, in studies, at meals and in prayer. We were able to carry one another’s burdens.  When we departed for distant homes, we mourned the loss of our community.

Today the words Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ over me and Christ under me spoke directly to my heart. I knew I was feeling unsettled, uncomfortable, uneasy with concerns at home. Was it possible these words were in bold print? No, on the paper the words were printed, as always, in regular, 12 point, Times New Roman font. The boldness must be in my heart.

I looked again around the room and saw our circle, at peace and complete, and I was part of the circle. Although I felt out of sync, all was good in the Body of Christ. But I became aware that these words were exactly what I needed to hear. Where did that boldness come from?

As we moved from the liturgy into community prayer time, our normally noisy, supportive, caring and compassionate group prayer was silent. The silence was not uncomfortable, just unusual. The silence spoke to my heart. I wondered at the unity of our unspoken thoughts. There was a sense in my soul that it was good, it was all good.

I heard the movement of the second hand on the clock. Click-click- click-click- click-click. Every time the second hand paused after it moved forward, my heart would beat in time. Click-beat-click-beat.

Then, in the rhythm of the silence, I heard a groan. Was that really a groan? I tuned out the clock and listened again, more closely. I heard the movement of the clock hand in unity with the beating of my heart. There was another groan, and also sigh.

In my confusion, clarity came.

For (when) we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. Rom 8:26

In my confusion and lost-ness, I no longer felt alone. I felt the assurance that I was a loved and precious part of the Body.  I was being supported and cared for even as I had not yet admitted my needs. But God knew, the Spirit knew.

Amen was spoken, and felt.

Devotion: Look out or look in?

John 5:2-9

²Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Hebrew called Beth-za'tha, which has five porticoes. ³In these lay a multitude of invalids, blind, lame, paralyzed. ⁵One man was there, who had been ill for thirty-eight years. ⁶When Jesus saw him and knew that he had been lying there a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be healed?" ⁷The sick man answered him, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is troubled, and while I am going another steps down before me." ⁸Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your pallet, and walk." ⁹And at once the man was healed, and he took up his pallet and walked.

I visited the Holy Land several years ago. Many of the sites we visited, and in particular where the angel spoke to Mary, His baptism, the Sermon on Mount, the wedding at Cana and the site where Jesus instructed Peter to cast his net again, the crucifixion, and the tomb were not the actual sites of the experience. They were the places that second and third century Christians selected as ‘possibly the site.’  Those who might have known had died, and so had any hope of really knowing the exact place.

My first reaction was shock and then bewilderment and loss. I was seeking, through visiting places where Jesus had been, a REAL experience of His presence. I wanted to connect to His life and His compassion. I desperately needed to connect with His reality and truth. I was looking in the past for the validation of the present.

Then we visited the Pool of Bethesda. Finally I was visiting an actual site. Here was reality. There was certainty that this was the Pool at Bethesda  and many had come to be healed. But still I did not find my truth. The pool had no visible water. In fact, where the pool had been was dry, rocky, and over-grown with weeds. It certainly did not look like any pool I had ever seen. I wondered too –if this was the real site where was the evidence of Jesus? Where were the crowds? The healing? The sense of expectation and hope? I saw only dry rocks.

Dry rocks? Where once there was life and hope, there was now only emptiness, and desolation. Dry rocks? If I looked, maybe I would see dry bones too.

I have seen dry bones. And I have seen God put flesh on dry bones as old people had visions and young people dreamed dreams and life was breathed into a dying congregation. I have seen God breathe life into people with new identities, opportunities, community and grace. I have seen God here, now, acting, and visible - both in my life and in the lives of others.

In my search for God in the Holy Land, I discovered that what I expect and what I see does not limit God’s presence- neither in the past nor the present. As I remember my own past, I see my own dry pools and God stirring the waters’ for my healing. I can see the multitude of places where God’s love offered me over and over the opportunity to enter the water, be accepted and hear: this is my child in whom I am well pleased.

Looking for the reality of Jesus in the Holy Land I learned it was not always found in a particular place. Jesus can be found in the experiences of spiritual rebirth, acceptance, following, walking, learning, proclaiming, denying and continuing. All of these ‘sites’ can be seen, and visited within our own stories.

Connecting with the reality of Jesus is a close as our own life. We can be assured of this truth, not only by physical evidence, but by our lived experiences- other’s. We need only to look within ourselves to see the reality which surrounds us all. God’s presence, love and grace is as close as our most recent experience or memory. We only need to look.

Katy Krumbach is a pastor in the North Georgia Annual Conference getting her D.Min. in Spirituality and Leadership.

Devotion: Acting as One Body

By Joey Heath

1 John 2:9-11 (NIV)

“Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother lives in the light and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded him.”

I recently heard a sermon in which this was the scripture passage. The person preaching had a beautiful analogy for this verse. He said to imagine you are on hike and it begins to get dark so you turn on your headlamp so you are walking in the light. Then suddenly the batteries die and we are surrounded by darkness. Instead of stopping and changing the batteries we just continue on walking in the darkness stumbling over everything in our path. This is what happens when we allow bitterness and hatred into our hearts.

John wrote this around 60 years after the death of Christ. He wrote it to a church that was really still establishing itself. In fact they really didn’t even have churches in the sense of a building. They would meet in the courtyard of whoever’s house that had room to accommodate everyone. In this young church there were some disagreements. What John was saying here is when there are disagreements, and there will be disagreements, we can not allow that to turn into bitterness and hatred towards each other. We must always remember that this is our brother or sister in Christ. John is writing a very basic message here. He is saying love is good. Bitterness and hatred are bad and if we allow it into our hearts we will be stumbling in the darkness. Our only hope is to release that bitterness and turn to Christ.

Paul spoke a similar message in Ephesians 2 when he said:

“Consequently you are no longer foreigners and aliens but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.”

What Paul and John are speaking about is a central message in the Bible, that we as the body of Christ are all joined together even in our differences. We are in fact one united and yet very diverse body of believers and we are called to come together as one and to show the love of Christ to a world that cant see it.

As Christian how much time do we spend walking around in darkness because we have allowed bitterness in our hearts? How many times have we allowed something someone said or did to just fester in heart until it becomes a bitterness? If we are in Christ we should let go of that bitterness and embrace our brothers and sisters, even the ones we disagree with, and meet with them at Christ’s table because if we act in bitterness we are not walking in the light of Christ.

If we say something and it is not loving or able to be used to build people up, then we are not walking in the light of Christ. I believe you can loving rebuke someone in Christ if you truly are walking in the light of Christ in your heart about an issue and I believe that will show. But sometimes we can have the best of intentions and still be walking in darkness. What I mean is that if we say something to someone “on the other side” in order to show them how they are wrong and it causes them to think negatively about God or the church or feel that they have no place in the body of Christ then we have really need to check what our motives were and make sure that we were not acting out of bitterness, hatred, or disgust. I say this because to truly show God’s love to someone that is a believer, there is no way they are going to have negative feelings toward God because God’s love will be shining through anything we are saying. 

There is an organization that I receive news from. Im not going to name the organization because Im just using them as one example, as there are many organizations on both sides of most issues that do this. This one organization, which claims to follow Christ, who recently published an article accusing an LGBT organization of having misled a local school board into making a decision. The interesting thing about this article is it offers no proof of this other than to say that the organization misled them. It tells what those that opposed did to try and stop it and how they felt afterwards but never again mentions the organization or exactly how they misled the school board. I studied political science in college and this is what I would call propaganda. I use that term intentionally because it evokes images of war. I don’t believe there is such thing as a loving war. To many who oppose equality for LGBT people that is what it is, a war. In the same way many of those that support equality for LGBT people also see it as a war. War creates sides and division and enemies and does not harbor reconciliation or coming together. Out of war comes propaganda like I just mentioned. It stirs emotions but is really only a half truth. So I ask, how is creating propaganda like this walking in the light of Christ? To me it seems much more like walking in the darkness and bringing others into that darkness.

This organization also allows comments to their articles. Sometimes the comments are more enlightening then the actual articles. Many of the people who comment will claim their faith in Christ as they comment. Then they turn around and say bitter, hateful things sometimes even to the point of calling names or even praying for the death of those who are “on the other side”. Again this happens on both sides. I again ask how is this walking in the light of Christ. I think John, who physically walked with Christ, would say it is simply not.

I recently read where a leader of a conservative organization said “we did not start the fight over LGBT equality” almost as if that is justification for acting in bitterness. My only question to that is what have you done to end it? What have you done other then throw more stones? What have you done to try and at least meet those you see as “the other side” in the middle where you have common ground like a Savior in common?  When have you loved your brothers and sisters enough to meet them where they are at? I say this to both sides because I believe both have fallen short and have allowed bitterness to keep them from walking in the light of Christ just like John said.

 If we allow our differences to create divisions no matter how passionately we believe the “other side” is wrong well that is where we start walking in darkness because as soon as we see the other side as the “other side” instead our brothers and sisters in Christ, as soon as we start to question the Christianity of someone that claims Christ than we are walking in darkness because only God can speak of where a persons heart is. For those that say well the loving thing is to point out how they are not Christian I ask you how loving it felt the last time some one said you weren’t living in Christ or as a Christian. Most likely you felt a little defensive and as soon as that happened you were looking for the way prove that they were wrong and from then it doesn’t matter what either person says because neither is really going to listen to the other. We start to create sides and begin walking in the darkness.   

Paul and John both wrote of unity in the body of believers. We cannot let our differences divide us any more. We need to come out of the darkness and in to the light of Christ and act as the one body. We need to release the bitterness and hatred in our hearts and erase the dividing lines. We need to stop thinking of “them the other side” and start thinking of “us the one body”. In doing this we will be able to move past those things that divide us and move towards the real work of the kingdom, showing God’s love and mercy to the many in the world that have never seen it or experienced it  and so that we can “Go into the world and preach the good news to all creation.”

God in Heaven,

I ask you today to remove the bitterness in our hearts that so easily divides us these days. We ask that you unite us as the one body of Christ. I pray that though we have differences that we strongly believe, we would always remember that we are brothers and sisters in Christ. Most of all I ask that you remind us of the ties that bind us to together like in you is the forgiveness of sins and in you we can place our complete faith. Please bring us together so we can share your love with the world.  Amen.

Devotion: Where Brother Will Love Brother

Matt 26:36-40 (NRSV)

Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane; and he said to his disciples, ‘Sit here while I go over there and pray.’ He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and agitated. Then he said to them, ‘I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and stay awake with me.’ And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want.’ Then he came to the disciples and found them sleeping; and he said to Peter, ‘So, could you not stay awake with me one hour?

Matthew, with few words, describes for us the struggles, grief, and disappointment of Jesus in the garden as he prays, seeking permission to skip this part of his life, his ministry. For years I understood this passage as Christ wanting to avoid what he knew would be embarrassing, difficult and painful. I understood this passage through my own life experiences: simply, when I did not want to do something, I looked for a way to avoid it. When my mother developed Alzheimer’s, I agonized with her over the loss of independence, then memory and finally her very identity and self. While I continued to love her, care for her, support her, and assist her, I too prayed: Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. This was a difficult time and I too wished to pass the cup. I thought I was simply doing as Christ did.

Then, last summer I was diagnosed with breast cancer. A small cancer, an early cancer, an easily treated cancer. Early in my treatment, I reread this passage and I saw a new possibility. Christ was not agonizing over the difficulty of the task; Christ was not dreading the pain or embarrassment as I had always thought. Christ loved his disciples, Christ loved his work and ministry and being with the crowds and maybe, just maybe, Christ was agonizing over the thought of having to leave all those whom he loved. Facing the loss of both life and those relationships I treasured, I too fell to my knees and prayed: “Oh God, if it is possible, may this be taken from me.” The gift of life, love, community, relationships and sharing became very precious.

“For God so loved the world. . .” How can we begin to imagine the depth of God’s love as it is shared in Christ Jesus? I had a glimmer- a glimpse- of God’s deep and abiding love for all people as I watched Jesus agonizing in the garden- not in fear and dread but with cutting pain by the realization that he was to leave his precious brothers and sisters.

We now see only in part- but with each precious gift of experience, understanding, and clarity, I am drawn more deeply into the Kingdom where the Lion will lie down with lamb, and where brother will love brother. The love of God, fully experienced, does indeed bring new hope and truth into each day, and each life.

May you too know God’s love, fully and completely and may it bring you the sweetness of life and love.

Katy Krumbach is a pastor in the North Georgia Annual Conference getting her D.Min. in Spirituality and Leadership.

Devotion: Our Unclean Spirits

Mark 1.21-24 : They went to Capernaum; and when the Sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught. They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us” I know who you are, the Holy One of God.”

As Jesus is teaching, a man with an unclean spirit comes up to him and asks why he’s there.  Jesus shushes the spirit and calls it out.  At the command of Christ, the spirit exercises its only option: obedience.

When Mark’s Gospel was written, demons were very much a part of the regular worldview.  While some of us may or may not believe in demons, they are still very much a part of the worldview of some areas of our Christian faith.  Furthermore, our Western society is fascinated with the supernatural and paranormal, and many non-western societies still think that demons play an active role in life; sometimes they are used to explain unknowable illness such as seizures and strokes.

This text’s primary function in the narrative is to show Jesus’ power and authority. I think that we can focus on the unclean spirit here, if we look at it not as a demon from the spiritual warfare perspective I was brought up with: angels and demons as the servants of two great beings – one greater than the other in the fullness of time – warring over us, possessing people and taking control of their bodies.  No, I think that if we look at unclean spirits from a different perspective we can safely examine our lives in terms of spirits, both clean and unclean.

I think we can ask ourselves from this text, What unclean spirits do we have in our lives? 
I do not wish to suggest that things in our lives are the product of demonic possession. 
As we approach Lent it might do us – certainly do me – well to start thinking now about
    that which separates us from God and our neighbor,
    that which dims the image of God in us,
    that which keeps holds us back from trailing the One who has called us to simply follow,
    as we consider things to give up and things to take on as Lenten disciplines. 

Is there animosity hidden in our hearts?  Do we have addictions – public or private – that hold us back?  Do we lack the fruits of the spirit?  Are there things that affect us that we can actively work at to try to change?  Jesus has the authority to fix those things which keep us in bondage…but that doesn’t, to me, mean only praying for Jesus to cast out the unclean spirits in our lives.  I believe that God has given us reason and science and people to help us sort things out, too.

Writing that last paragraph was hard, as I sought to craft the words in such a way that don’t tell us to hate who we have been created to be. 

I fear that someone will find this on the website and think, “I can do this!  I can pray my gay away and go to therapy and get better!”  I think that specifically because I’ve been there and I would’ve been the person hoping that’s what it said.  That’s not what I meant, and I hope you know that.  We are created in the image of the Most High God who loves us and wants us to love ourselves.  I hope you can hear me and understand me saying that there are things that keep us back, and God can help us – often through others.  She has brought into existence who nurture us from time to time.

As we wind down Epiphany season – going forth to show the manifestation of God in Christ making disciples – I hope we can look at the things in our lives that hold us back from walking in love as Christ loved us, and ask for God to help us get rid of our own unclean spirits.

Joseph Matthews, Reconciling in Alabama

Devotion: Things New

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “See the home of God is among mortals.  God will dwell with them; they will be God’s peoples, and God will be with them; God will wipe every tear from their eyes.  Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.  And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.” --Revelation 21:3-5

To be honest, the Book of Revelation is not the book of the Bible I usually turn to for devotions.  But, writing this on the day following President Obama’s Inauguration, these words resonate with me.  And two personal family stories have also made me believe that, here and now—not in some distant, hard to understand future—God is making things new.

Gwyneth Anne Jarrett entered this world on December 10, 2008, surrounded in love by her birth parents and her adoptive parents--my daughter, Elizabeth, and her partner, Emily.  Too young to care for a baby as they would wish, her birth parents had chosen Emily and Elizabeth from the adoption agency’s internet posting last summer.  The two couples bonded almost immediately and have agreed that this will be an “open” adoption—wanting Gwyn to know, from the start, how many people love her.  

While some states have recently passed laws prohibiting adoption by same-sex couples, they’ve found nothing but total acceptance in Minneapolis.  The agency, the midwife, the doula, the hospital staff where the baby was born all treated them with respect and gentle care.  Elizabeth and Emily, present at the birth, were even given a hospital room for two days so they could be with the baby until it was time to take her home.  Once home, meals and baby gifts came pouring in from friends, neighbors and members of their church family.  The birth parents have visited regularly—and three sets of grandparents have doted on this baby.

The second story begins 40 years ago when my sister gave birth to a baby she could not keep.  This was a different time.  She was alone in giving birth—she never saw the baby who was immediately put in foster care for five months while the adoption process took place.  This was a deep, dark family secret—never talked about, emotions never shared--until a few weeks ago when she received an e-mail message from a man who had been searching for seven years for his birth mother.  The details he had were accurate—this was her son.  Overwhelmed and scared, she said it was the story of Gwyn’s birth that helped her be able to respond “You have found your birth mom.”  She has been in daily communication with him since then, as well as with his wife and their two boys--and has a date set to meet him face to face, hug to hug soon.  Our family—joyfully--grows exponentially!

God is making things new—and they seem to always be motivated by love.

Helen Andrew, Parents Steering Committee member, RMN board member, and member of Memorial UMC, White Plains, NY, a Reconciling Congregation. http://www.memorialmethodist.org/