Love. Grace. Hope.

I am overjoyed to announce the launching of PATCHWORK!

We will meet for the first time June 2^nd at 5pm, the Winnebago Presbyterian Church has graciously offered to host this service and partner to amplify GRACE, LOVE, and HOPE.

Patchwork Mission: To teach in and through the grace of Jesus Christ.

“Patchwork is the celebration of all people groups coming together to create a canvas of worship for our God.”

The name Patchwork came from the understanding that as a ministry we want to encompass anyone and everyone – those who already attend the Sunday Service at the Presbyterian Church and those who don’t, those who claim to be Christians and those who do not, those who have it pretty easy and those who have had it really hard, those who live nearby and those who are willing to commute.  EVERYONE.  Which creates a canvas sown together to celebrate people through God and to celebrate God through people. Excited? I am!

We have only 18 days until launch with much to do and we need your help!

First and foremost we need your prayers. We as a team have prayed diligently over this new place we are embarking and now we are asking you to join us… because this is about us and you, it’s about all of us coming together and getting excited!

Secondly we are hoping to come up with a Patchwork logo!! Artists out there please send your submissions to us! We can’t wait to see your ideas and celebrate you!

Thirdly please follow us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Patchwork/364362790280234) and Twitter (https://www.twitter.com/WeArePatchwork) because the reality is we cannot get the word out without you. We need you. It will also be how we communicate upcoming events, message topics, and cool things along the way. Plus we want to know your excitement and movements.

And most importantly we want YOU! Please join us, please become part of our community whether you can celebrate with us on Saturday nights or not. Your voice, your heartbeat, and your movements matter to us!

YOU ARE ALL AMAZING. Period.

 Submissions, questions, concerns, and joys can be submitted here: ChaplainDesirae@gmail.com

THANK YOU FOR WHO YOU ARE!

**A Special thanks to Ashley Lewis for naming our new ministry/service!

A rule of thumb I’ve learned the hard way is that people don’t change because someone else tells them to. People change because they want to. And it is much easier for us to see the speck in someone else’s eye than identify the log in our own.

I’m not saying ignore the problem, I’m saying love the person.

I’ve noticed a growing number of people desiring to help other people. People helping other people and loving on other people is beautiful. It’s how, I believe, we were designed to be. A growing, loving, transforming community of people connected throughout the world. However I’ve also noticed that a growing number of those ‘desires to help’ are attached to an evil twin known as the ‘desire to fix’. When our desire to help each other becomes our desire to “fix” each other the initial, gracious motive becomes foggy.

If you want to help someone; love them.

If you want to guide someone off of the path you see them tumbling down; love them.

If you want to show someone a better way; love them.

If you want someone to change; love them.

Love them.

Direction, motivation, inspiration, and even wisdom are just empty words on a page if not attached to love and grace. This is a concept I believe we need to review daily. Every day we need to ask ourselves, “Am I speaking and leading through love or am I just simply throwing words into open space?”

This is not a new concept, in fact it’s a concept over-debated and underused. Love can and has changed the world; therefore love can and will change our own personal worlds if we choose to move inside it. Love is causing waves in the lives of people who are willing to move in love and grace.  

Love ignites real compassion. Love redeems value. Love embodies grace. Love allows change.

Don’t take my word for it. Try it in your own life. Where can you inspire simply by loving? Where can you lead simply by being willing to listen with real compassion? Where can you add value to someone’s life by letting them know they matter?

The best decision I’ve ever made is to love instead of judge. It is a decision I have to choose to embark on daily. I won’t always get it right but I would rather fail trying to love then succeed at not trying at all.

I don’t worship you because of the bible stories that make everything ok.

I don’t fall to my knees in utter amazement because I was told I’d burn in hell.

I don’t claim to be a Christian because it makes me better than someone who isn’t.

I don’t go to church because I’m supposed to.

I don’t love you because a denomination created rules around you.

I don’t need you because you were the last resort.

I don’t act like you’ve given me a contract for an easy life.

Instead.

I do worship you because your grace loved me in my darkest hour

I do  fall to my knees because I can’t believe you saved a wretch like me.

I’m a Christian because I am madly, deeply in love with the grace of Jesus.

I do go to church because I want to hold hands with fellow ragamuffins

I do love you because you taught me how to love.

I do need you because without your grace I am nothing.

I do act like I’m living a second chance… because I am.

 I’m not a very good Christian. I’m good at convincing people I am and worse yet I’m good at convincing myself I am, but to be extremely honest… I’m not a very good Christian. A lot of people make beautiful excuses like, “well nobody is perfect” or “everyone deals with temptation” and I agree with them. I can even say I recall many times where those exact words have left my lips in advising someone or defending myself. And while it is true, everyone does deal with temptation, that thought is incomplete. I think it should read, “everyone deals with temptation, but not everyone falls to it.”  So that’s why I’ve started this off being as honest as I possibly can be because if you are looking for words from a person who has done everything right, I can’t write those words. All I can tell you is what God has placed in my heart and what my experiences can help type onto these pages.

          “Everyone deals with temptation but not everyone falls to it.” I love that line, I’m not sure if I made it up or somewhere in the many services I’ve listened to I heard it; either way I’m claiming it as a truth we should consider. I’ve lived most of my life believing only the first part of that statement. Having the “well shoot I messed up again-time to ask God to forgive me-and then I’ll be ok” mindset. You know, living and believing I deserve every chance and every opportunity He’s given me. Abusing my privileges, stretching my limitations and ultimately being plopped right back into reality when my world comes crashing down. It’s as if I’ve lived expecting His grace and plowing forward with my next plan in life without looking back.

            Here’s a great thought for you. What do you think would happen if we actually lived a life claiming all of this statement? What if instead of expecting His grace, we humbly lived a life that allowed us the opportunity to accept His grace? What if in moments where only He can fill the void, the emptiness, the brokenness we choose humility and open ourselves up for Him to do so? Well, that very thought is why words stretch across the page and hopefully embrace your heart enough for you to feel invited to share in my thoughts ahead….

(Today’s blog is the Intro from Grace & Green Sticky Notes.)

http://www.amazon.com/Grace-Green-Sticky-Desirae-Schneider/dp/1105394786/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1330616497&sr=8-1

To those who have been let down, given up on, and deserted.

To those who have been persecuted by their friends and foes.

To those who have been judged when they should have been loved.

To those who have been dismissed before they got started.

To those who have been belittled because of their age.

To those who have fallen into the depths of darkness.

To those who have gotten lost along the way.

To those who have known they were headed for destruction and gone anyway.

To those who were looked down upon because of their upbringing.

To those who were ignored because of their past.

To  those who were insolated because of their sexuality.

To those who were beaten because of their race or gender.

To those who were told they were not welcomed or wanted.

To those who were drowned in the cruel waters of gossip.

To those who were told they were to broken to fix.

To those who have sold themselves for survival

To those who have taken hits they can’t cash.

To those who have threatened their own life but stopped short.

To those who have fought addiction and lost.

To those who are tired of the fight.

To those who are scared out of their mind.

To those who are happy and sad and unsure.

To those who can’t look in the mirror.

To all of you out there no matter which sentence strikes you the most… know this…

You are loved. You are celebrated. You are wanted. You are cherished. You are seen.

Your story is important.

And no matter what chapter you find yourself in today, no matter what hill you may have to climb or what hole you have fallen within remember loved one… Grace covers all things.

** I am honored to say you can also view this post on my friend Matthew’s blog:  http://woodsjourney-mrw2403.blogspot.com/2012/02/friends-post.html

I was watching a Grey’s Anatomy Episode and something said on the show truly shook me to the core. Regardless of your opinion of the show I cannot imagine you walking away from this quote without it doing something to you as well…

A dying woman in her hospital bed tells the doctor,

“It isn’t death that scares me anymore, it’s hope.”

That’s powerful. That’s painful.

But why?

Because in life it isn’t death or darkness or pain that scares us but hope. It’s the anticipation for the suffering to stop and the anguish to heal that is honestly terrifying. Why? Because the reality is we are often being asked to place our trust in an unknown future.

Hope and trust are daunting words in today’s world… they often can even be unimaginable. And that unimaginable variable is what keeps people in what they know…even if its damaging or agonizing or deadly. At least where they are walking that day, however broken, is a known place. They know what to expect and they know how it will feel…however painful. But if they stepped out with this unexplainable word called hope they may not know what lies ahead….because hope is trusting beyond your current circumstances.

So how do we move from here -in the lies that tell us comfort is staying in the known brokenness and anguish – to over there – stepping into unknown territory through words we barely understand; hope and trust?

I believe that word is grace.

Grace tells us no matter here or there we are loved. Grace wraps us in its arms and says we are worth something, that we hold value in the world, that we are wanted. And when someone knows they are wanted, when someone understands they are valued simply for being whoever they are in the moment that reality finds them…well then grace can radically move a heart into hope.

Grace melts the cold mirage around hope that says it has sharp, unnerving edges by giving our hearts courage. By saying even if we step out, even if we move forward we are loved. We matter. That YOU matter.

Those are influential words. Those are empowering words. Those are courageous words.

Because isn’t that the terrifying mirage put around hope? Put around moving forward? The fear that once we do lean into hope we will be exposed to ourselves? That maybe the grass won’t be greener because we somehow weren’t up to par? That someone or everyone will be disappointed to see us?

Grace is the game changer because we are already valued and seen and cherished in the darkness. Grace doesn’t depend on us or what we do – instead it finds we as we are, no matter who we are, and deems us worthy of compassion and love. And we can take that reality… that gorgeous, breath taking reality and we can step out in hope. We can embrace this new place where we are allowed to hope.

Do you have any idea how different the world would be if everyone, everywhere understood here and now they are loved? Do you have any idea how powerful hope would be if everyone, everywhere knew they were worthy?

Grace empowers Hope.

Hope embraces Grace

Grace says we are worthy to Hope.

Hope says we are beautiful in Grace.

Grace allows for us to Hope.

Hope moves us back to Grace.

Last week POTSC launched a new poster for Labels lie.

To say it was powerful is an understatement.

I remember when I actually faced this topic with the reality of how graceless I had been…

I was in my first year of seminary.

I was excited, hopeful, and maybe even a little arrogant. I had finally finished the worst year of my life and while it wasn’t an easy road it was a least a little kinder. Classes were simple because I was passionate, I was making something out of the war wounds I had created and endured. Nothing could get me down, nothing could make me question my new path.

 And then the hardest question I’ve ever been faced with came across my ears.

 “Des, would God deny someone into heaven because of who they love?”

 Simple. Honest. Painful.

 You see this topic… this topic of homosexuals isn’t talked about, it’s debated. We throw around this conversation with thoughtlessness as if we aren’t talking about humans at all, just subject matter. So when one of the best people I know came to me very openly, very honestly and asked, “will I be denied grace because of who I love?” well… I lost my breath.

 And I didn’t lose my breath because of her question, I lost my breath because I realized the label I put upon her without even realizing my implications.

 Unworthy.

 I drop my head in shame telling you this but until then this was just a topic of discussion for me. There was no skin to it, no heartbeat… just a line to use or a verse to quote.  But her question wasn’t a debate, it wasn’t conversation for conversation sake… it was her heart on the line and I realized how grace-less I had been with the hearts of so many people.

 I didn’t run to get my bible to engage in this conversation. I didn’t quote the Old Testament or some theologian I adore. Instead I told her how loved she was. The kingdom is for the meek, the weak, and the forgotten. I had forgotten her. I had lost myself in words not love.

 But I was given a second chance. A chance to try to love on the label I had so thoughtlessly given her. 

I got to tell her what grace really was…

Grace isn’t a locked up word used only for the elite rather it’s a movement that leaks out into every corner of existence. 

Grace has nothing to do with your skin tone, your upbringing, or your sexual orientation.

Grace is not bias rather it boasts in its unmerited compassion.

Grace finds you in your unworthiness and labels you loved.

Grace encompasses you in your loneliness and labels you found.

Grace treasures you in your hurting and labels you wanted.

Grace engages in your questioning and labels you needed.

Grace delights in your findings and labels you adored.

Grace never runs out and grace is always enough.

Period.

Well it’s official. Grace and green sticky notes is now an ebook on Amazon for $3.99!  It will be available for nook and ibookstore next week.

http://www.amazon.com/Grace-green-sticky-notes-ebook/dp/B006CVFIG2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1322093074&sr=8-1

Thank you to everyone who has been so supportive over the past couple years as I jogged back and forth on publishing, messing with it, running away from it, and coming back to this point and season in my life. Your support means the world to me…

Let me know what you guys think!!!

There was once a time you were transparent in my mind. It was not that you were unseen in my day to day but that you did not block another thought from coming. As you passed through my sight I could still see the next moment on the horizon. You were like an outline, a ghost of what could be a full mind’s wandering… though it wouldn’t be until much later that you became as haunting as you are beautiful. 

There was even a time you were less than a glimpse… you faded into the back of life’s busyness and snuggled in for a winter’s rest.  You hid patiently frozen among the un-touch snow of thoughtless days, you found no rush to be seen.

But as the heat of spring’s life melted my heart you too came forth to find me. You blossomed in my thoughts, captivating me by the colors you poured across the bleakness I had become. The warm breath of your words trickled down my senses and I found myself unable to see beyond you. Your once translucent presence grew life within me and I became expectant of what’s to come. Questions of absurdity filled with beauty and hope became the heartbeat of my days. And now, no matter if you leave me here with only courage at my back, you’ll never really be gone. Your touch will always burn within me, the deepest understanding of myself.

There was once a time you were transparent in my mind…but that was seasons ago..