reality blog

HOPE IN RESURRECTION

/ joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

We continue to stand with Mom in the In Between place as she waits to walk into the embrace of Jesus.

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It has been a bit surreal walking through this year’s Holy Week with the spectre of death just around the corner every moment. At the same time the hope of resurrection has also been with us throughout the week.

We have been listening to Christian music exclusively since Thursday morning. No television shows. No news. Just worship. We are filling the house with the praises of our God to help Mom’s passing be one of “peace that passes all understanding”. Just today Brenda and I were listening to People and Songs and this song just really spoke. https://youtu.be/ed_pL2MDqNU?t=22

Today Amanda, James and Kristine took Lela, Cloddles and Sevy to see the Easter Bunny at our town’s Easter Egg Hunt.

You can’t tell these two are sisters can you?
My daughter Melanie dressed up as our town’s Easter Bunny…the kids had absolutely no idea.
Quite a haul.

Tomorrow Deacon Jody Clapp and DLT Director Carrie Hackett will be sharing the sermon for Easter in my absence. Melanie will be leading the worship and Pastor Amanda will be performing the baptism. Our life keeps moving forward, even in the face of death, because even death must bow before the hope of resurrection.

This is the hope our family is functioning in. As hard as this process is, we know this is not the end. It is just a transition.

These flowers came for Brenda today from her lifelong friend Barbie, to remind us that the world is full of color and that hope remains!

IN BETWEEN

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It is quiet now. Joe has gone off to work at school and the rest of the house is still asleep. I can hear the quiet rattle of mom’s breath in the other room as she walks the In Between place between life and death.

We are in the last days, now, of this hospice process, at least as far as any of us can predict this kind of thing. Mom awoke yesterday with great pain in her arms. Her right arm had swollen again. Mom’s kidneys are shutting down and she is retaining fluid.

Her arms have swollen before, but yesterday was different. There was shaking and more confusion, much, much more. Then she went to sleep. Pain and shaking came back a few hours later and we began medicating to stay ahead of the pain.

The nurse came to put in a catheter because Mom’s body cannot void without help now. She has been resting quietly since. Her oxygen level is very low but her breathing is not labored. She seems peaceful and that is our prayer for her, that she may depart in peace.

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On this Good Friday, our family is standing vigil with Mom. We are in the In Between with her watching, as watchmen on the walls, for the time when Jesus will come to take her unto Himself.

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God[a]; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. John 14: 1-3

SPRING FESTIVAL WEEK #2: AN ICY SPRING

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THIS POST IS WRITTEN IN RESPONSE TO DAWN’S SPRING FESTIVAL CHALLENGE. CHECK IT OUT!

Once again New England has not disappointed. Spring has given me some beautiful photos….just not of flowers.

Holy Week started out with an ice storm that put many of our congregants in the dark. While the Vicarage never lost power, the towns directly North of us were without power for almost forty-eight hours.

It was a chilly start to the week, but not without its beauty.

…and the ice made a beautiful backdrop for our Palm Sunday parade.

The Spring rains have come now. The ice has melted away, possibly for the last time. The temperature is now in the forties. Maybe this next week we will see some actual budding in the trees. I know the birds are anxious for Spring. I can hear it in their songs.

PREPARE OUR HOMES PT. 3

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This year as our church HAS been given a congregational sentence that comes through the many prophetic words which have been spoken to us over the last year or so. That sentence says: “Prepare! Prepare! Prepare! Prepare you Spirit (come out of the decay of your strongholds). Prepare your Souls(Prepare to practice and feel compassion). Prepare your facility (your structures, infrastructures and plans). Prepare for the storm (Pray for action plan, Pray for a spirit of perseverance). Prepare your witness (know your gifts, earn the right to speak, build your relationships with those outside the church, build your example). Prepare your hope and faith (think hope, speak hope, act in hope). Prepare your love (love each other, love the people in your towns, love those who disagree with you, love through the doors that open).“

seven prepare statements will be broken down into a series of brief devotionals we as a church will be learning to implement over the span of 2024.

Devotion # 9- Prepare your plans (your structures, infrastructures and plans)

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When we talk about preparing our plans what are we talking about? We are talking about our mission, our vision, our core values and the execution of those things.

Let’s refresh our memory about the writing on the wall. Cornerstone’s vision is literally written on the walls of Cornerstone Church.

OUR PURPOSE: Souls Saved and Lives Changed! How are you doing in this arena? Are people coming to Jesus because of your witness? Are lives being changed because of something you are doing?

OUR VISION: To know Jesus and to make Him Known! How are we doing? Are people coming to know Jesus in relationship because of us? Because of you?

OUR MISSION: While doing life together • We will Reach the Lost • By Sending the Found • As We Discover Our Gifts • To Change this World! Three years ago we began doing life together with each other in DLT groups. Two years ago we began reaching out to our community to do life together with them. This year we must really begin to understand and use our gifts in community to change the worlds around us. THIS YEAR WE ARE SENDING THE FOUND DEEPER INTO COMMUNITY. 

DO YOU KNOW WHERE GOD IS SENDING YOU? 

DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOUR GIFT IS AND HOW TO USE IT ONCE YOU ARE IN THE PLACE GOD WOULD SEND YOU?

An Icy Parade Of Palms

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We had an ice storm over night.

The day dawned bright, sunny and cold.

Nature decorated our Palm Sunday service with diamonds in the trees. Some of the towns in our area lost power due to power lines downed by ice laden trees.

I was a little worried it would be too cold for the Parade of Palms our local council of churches had planned.

But by noon the sun had warmed things up nicely.

About 70 people….family and friends gathered with palms in hand to march up our Central St. behind a donkey to commemorate Jesus’ Triumphal Entry.

We finished with prayers by the clergy for our town. I got to pray.

Rabbi Ken prayed in Hebrew.

Jon Bauver the director of The Worship Room House of Prayer prayed.

Father Henry from Immaculate Heart prayed.

Finally Pastor Calvin Miller the coordinator of our event closed us out.

How Did You Spend Your Palm Sunday.?

WEEKEND COFFEE SHARE FROM THE VICARAGE

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If we were sharing coffee today at the Vicarage, you would be drinking a strong generic French Roast from Market Basket. It is strong because I put an extra scoop (to two) in the basket. We would also be sharing any number of pastries from our kitchen: Coffee cake, Apple Fritters, Donuts, Turnovers. The congregation is keeping us well stocked during this season of my mother’s hospice.

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Brenda, Joe, Kristine and I have worked hard this week to take care of Mom and Sevy.

Amanda,Melanie, James and the girls were vacationing in Pennsylvania.

I would share with you that it was a good week. I got a lot of work done from home. I even got to take some time on Thursday night to pray at the worship room.

Well everyone is back home safely now. Brenda, Mom and I are watching Dr. Dolittle (well Mom is sleeping peacefully through Dr. Dolittle) while the kids are playing Everdell in the other room.

Next week, starting tomorrow, promises to be busy. So today is rest up day and get ready day. What is your day like?

Freezing Flower Of Promise

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Soooo cold….. It is 19 degrees with a windchill on this fine Spring day. To top it off we have 2- 4 inches of snow coming tonight.

But it its Spring and I am thinking of gardens. I really want to work outdoors this Spring and summer. To clean up. To burn brush. To plant. To water. To weed even. And to harvest!

At this time of year Spring snows are to be expected, even if they are never welcomed. The promise and the hope, of course, is that the snow will not last. It will come and it will go as do all of life’s trials. The roses will bloom again. Until then we hold onto the hope of flowers yet to grow and the memory of flowers faded and passed like the one above.

HERE IS A SONG ABOUT ALL THAT.

THIS POST WAS WRITTEN IN RESPONSE TO CEE’S FLOWER OF THE DAY CHALLENGE.

TRAINING WHEELS COMING OFF

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In my last coaching session I used a couple of similes to describe how my mother’s hospice care makes me feel. I said it makes me feel like Nemo at the edge of the reef staring out at the open ocean.

I also said it felt like the training wheels were about to come off of my bicycle.

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In ministry, I have always struggled with not getting consumed by the expectations of others. It has been hard to navigate the waters of what other people think I should be doing as. minister. I have a problem with approval addiction.

Since I moved in with my mother over a decade ago, her health has been a concern and a governor for the amount of ministry I could do. As her health has declined over these last three or four years the ministry has become more governed. I have had to prioritize the things I really felt God telling me to do, THE FOUR THINGS, and let the rest of people’s expectations go.

Now as our family faces Mom’s passing I am faced with a question about how I will navigate ministry after her passing. Without her health concerns to guard, guide and keep me focused, will I fall back into old habits of being consumed by the ministry expectations of others? Will the old monster of approval addiction once again rear its ugly head and take control of how I work?

My coach asked me a good question in my last session with him: “What will be the new governors of your ministry work?”

I do worry about my ability to say “No!”

I do worry that my agenda will not be enough.

I know I need an intentionally thought out plan or I may just go back to…. old ways….old days.

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE THINGS YOU USE TO KEEP YOURSELF FROM GETTING DISTRACTED?