Mine

Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s. Mark 12:17

Years ago, my Dad found this harp in pieces left behind in a church basement. When I was a little girl, I took some harp lessons but was never comfortable with the instrument because my teacher was so strict. I have taken it everywhere we have moved and had to have the sounding board replaced while I was in seminary. In Delaware, I found a harp teacher, who taught me by ear, and taught me to love the harp as if it was a part of me. In the past few years, I haven't played it very often, but I still look at that harp and know it is directly connected to me, and through that harp I am connected to my Dad and a world of music that is familiar and challenging throughout and beyond my own life.

Jesus is challenged by folks who want to catch him up in legal dogma. He wants to talk about relationships and who we belong to. God says top us all today, "you are mine." Not the state of New York's, the U.S.'s or the Episcopal Church's - but "you are mine" says the wondrous loving God who created us all, so different, so unique and so loved.

May this be a day full of signs of who we belong to. May God's love for us radiate through the people and place we encounter today. May we rejoice, knowing who we belong to and who made us, perfectly shaped in the image of God.