First Christian Church

On September 18, at the Central Rocky Mountain Region Women’s Renewal, I led a workshop called “Praying in Color” based on the book of that name by Sybil MacBeth.  Her premise is fairly simple – some people have a hard time praying just in words.  She’s developed a practice of using colored markers to doodle, draw, write, create prayers on paper to set the mind free to just BE present with God for a while.  I had set this practice aside for a while, opting to journal, read and meditate during my regular devotional times.  Now, I find myself coloring again, and I wonder – what new shades is God busy forming inside of me that I can’t yet see?

Last Sunday evening, we had 13 young people come for our first combined youth group.  It was a delight to watch elementary school children, junior highers and high schoolers play and laugh together.  We revisited the story of Noah – which everyone thinks they know so well – and discovered that if you actually READ the Bible, it can SURPRISE you!  (What animal did Noah send off the ark first?  What type of wood was used to build it?  How many of each kind of animal did God ask Noah to collect?  Check out Genesis 6-9 to find out if you REALLY know the story…..)  So – there we were, the “cool” older kids helping the little ones cut and paste pairs of animals onto construction paper, talking about a favorite Bible story and coloring rainbows.  I saw afresh, what of course I’d known before, every color is precious to God.  I don’t just mean that brown children and taupe children and lightly tanned and almost pink and coffee colored and sienna skinned children are “precious in God’s sight” – which of course they are, and that’s a fitting meditation in itself in this week leading up to World Communion Sunday – but I was reminded that ALL the “colors of ministry” are a gift from the Holy One.

The grey days when teardrops touch my cheeks after praying a saint onto the way to heaven.

The bright days shining as brilliantly as a Wyoming summer sky when a new believer is baptized, a baby is dedicated, a new ministry succeeds in touching lives!

The deep, black days when my own soul feels dark and I’ve wandered away from prayer and God and need help finding my way back to the loving, waiting Lord.

The days as radiant as spring green when sun shines through new leaves and the Son shines through our worship and work, when pulpit preaching powers up people or heavenly hospitality holds a hungry soul, and we “get it right” – at least for a moment.

It’s all good.

God is in all of our many colored ministry days.

May your life be a rainbow – filled with surprises, graced by both sun and rain – and through it all may you know the Holy One whose promise is always true.  Amen.