In The Beginning

Welcome to All Saints Church’s first online book study and Lenten small group. This discussion officially begins on February 22nd and I will be posting a new blog entry every Monday. However, for anyone interested in beginning to think about Jesus and his last week in preparation for the book discussion please join me in answering a few of the questions found at the end of the book. There may also be occasions when I post more than once a week. Because this is a new experience for all of us, I would like the freedom to adapt to the flow of discussions and the season of Lent. Please feel free to follow all of the entries or only once a week for the main entry. If you have questions you may post them as comments to this entry or you can always email me at shamilton@allsaints-pas.org.

While it is certainly not mandatory that you register as a follower of this blog, it will help me to know that there are followers reading along, even if you do not make comments. However, I highly encourage you to make comments and share your insights as we journey though this book and Lent. It is from our combined journeys that God speaks the loudest and clearest. I also encourage you to invite friends and family to join. In many ways this is an experiment, but one that I am hopeful reaches far beyond those who can physically gather at All Saints Pasadena.

Questions for thought and preparation:

What are your first memories of Jesus?

My earliest memories of Jesus are from the stained glass windows in the Radnor Baptist Church. I spent hours laying in the smooth wooden pews gazing up at the large arched windows depicting familiar stories about Jesus. My mother was the church organist and I was required to accompany her to the church while she practiced. I am sure I learned the stories behind these picture windows in Sunday school or Vacation Bible school since I regularly attended both, but it is the images in these windows that are forever imprinted in my mind. The first is of Jesus carrying a lamb back into the fold. He is handsome, and young and kindness radiates from his face. I always knew that lamb was me and Jesus had come to find me when I was lost. Jesus was bringing me home, carrying me lovingly and I was happy to be in his arms. He knew me and he cared.

The second window that holds a strong memory and meaning was the triple window in the front of the church which was the back of the sanctuary. On this window was an artist’s depiction of Jesus kneeling in the garden. I often see that image in my mind when I pray, remembering that Jesus also prayed, drawing strength, wisdom and guidance from prayer. For me, that image of Jesus is one of the most powerful pieces of my Christology. Jesus prayed and even struggled in that particular time of prayer. In this depiction, Jesus has his face elevated to the light emanating from above and I understood the powerful connection he had with God through prayer. As a little girl I believed that warm, loving light was there for me as well as Jesus, forming another of the cornerstones of my theology to this day.

Years later even after I had left the Baptist church finding its teachings and theology unacceptable, I still chose to be married in that church. I could not imagine making those promises or taking vows anywhere else except with those images of Jesus surrounding me, reminding me of who I am and who Jesus continues to be in my life.

To my great sadness, that church with those beautiful stained glass windows at the heart of my theology was fire bombed by a Satanist years later. My family watched in the night as the large window of Jesus kneeling in the garden finally blew out from the intense heat built up in the sanctuary. I am so grateful for my indelible memories of those windows and the image of Jesus they conveyed to my young soul.

What are your first memories of Jesus?