“When Jesus was at Bethany visiting the house of Simon, who had a skin disease, a woman came to him with a vase made of alabaster containing very expensive perfume. She poured it on Jesus’ head while he was sitting at dinner. Now when the disciples saw it they were angry and said, ‘Why this waste? This perfume could have been sold for a lot of money and given to the poor.’

But Jesus knew what they were thinking. He said, ‘Why do you make trouble for the woman? She’s done a good thing for me. You always have the poor with you, but you won’t always have me. By pouring this perfume over my body she’s prepared me to be buried. I tell you the truth that wherever in the whole world this good news is announced, what she’s done will also be told in memory of her.'”
~Matthew 26:6-13 
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A few years ago, my best friend Emilia gifted me with this wonderful prayer/coloring book called Mandalas, Candles, and Prayer: A Simply Centered Advent by Sharon Seyfarth Garner.  The book is full of mandalas to color every day of Advent, focusing on the Advent themes of Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love.  Each week there is a different spiritual practice that accompanies the theme. 

As you color the mandalas for Hope you focus on praying the Ignatian Examen. 
As you color the mandalas for Love you focus on Intercessory Prayer. 
As you color the mandalas for Joy you focus on Lectio Divina. 
And as you color the mandalas for Peace you focus on Centering Prayer. 

I was excited to make my way through this book as my Advent spiritual practice.  I began with the Advent Candle Lighting Liturgy and got to a centered place.  I had assembled all sorts of markers and gel pens on our dining room table.  Christmas music was playing on my phone.  I lit the Christmas Tree in our dining room.  This was going to be great and help me feel just a little less stressed!

Except my gel pen wouldn’t write.
Oh well, let me try another. 
That one wouldn’t write either! 

The sparkly gel pens were a gift from my sister Maureen and had been stored away for a special occasion.  Maybe you know this, but I didn’t . . . gel pens dry out sooner than other art supplies and form air bubbles.  The gel can get stuck.  Plus, you are supposed to store them upside down! I Googled how to fix the issue.  I even stuck the gel tubes in hot water to help loosen up the gel, to no avail.  So much for this helping my stress level.  Good grief! 

Though it pained me to do so, I had to throw out a bunch of those sparkly gel pens. 
Because they had sat unused in a drawer, just drying up. 
All because I kept saving them for some sort of “special” occasion. 

You see where I’m going with this, right? 

It made me think about the woman who anointed Jesus with that expensive perfume. 
The disciples totally judged her for it. 
But she used that perfume to anoint Jesus, to bring him comfort and to care for him before what was to come. 
In that moment, she ministered to him. 
And Jesus said that what she did for him would be told in memory of her.

Tomorrow is not guaranteed, beloved congregation.   
Don’t be afraid to use up the good stuff in your life.
The sparkly gel pens, the expensive perfume in some alabaster vase. 
And I’m not just talking about items you can find around your house. 
Let this “parable of the gel pens” remind you to use the gifts you have been given.

Love,
Pastor Lauren 

Photo by Rev. Lauren Ostrout.

Thursday Thoughts 12/14/23