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Though I write and post daily on Facebook, I have not blogged since June. I know my blog posts end up on Facebook. This is an experiment to see if it can work both ways. Check out my profile.
Genesis 35:16-18: Then they moved on from Bethel. While they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth and had great difficulty. And as she was having great difficulty in childbirth, the midwife said to her, “Don’t despair, for you have another son.” As she breathed her last—for she was dying—she named her son Ben-Oni. But his father named him Benjamin.(NIV)
Background: Genesis 35-41
Benjamin was Joseph’s little brother, but in many ways, his name was a template for Joseph’s life. The sons of our sorrow become the sons of our strength through the transforming power of God in our lives. In his father’s house, Joseph learned these lessons:
1. To shepherd sheep – Thus he learned the basic laws of leadership.
2. To dream great dreams … and yet, one more …
3. To be in the pits of rejection and despair … and still not to surrender ones dreams.
In Potipher’s House, he learned these lessons:
1. To manage a great business and the people in that business.
2. Agricultural principles which would later be employed to save an entire region from famine.
3. To resist temptation with integrity and yet, one more …
4. Not to be concerned that someone else received the credit and benefits of his work.
In jail, he used and developed all the lessons he had previously learned and more:
1. To manage people who did not want to be managed.
2. To make the best of a bad situation without growing bitter.
3. To help other people understand their dreams, and yet, one more …
4. To deliver bad news honestly and promptly.
All of these lessons brought him to Pharaoh’s house where God could use all these lessons and here he learned one more:
• How to speak truth to power with courage.
As a result, he was able to exercise the greatest leadership skill of his life: INFUENCE! And, by exercising influence, he was able to lead a nation and, indeed, many nations, through a time of famine.
© 2012, Thomas B. Sims
Brightest Brilliance,
Breathtaking Vision,
Expanding across a grey sky
Dispelling darkness in a
Festival of spectral colors.
Shine unfiltered
Into these eyes dimmed and
Heart quenched in the
Calcifying hardness of my
Stubborn stillness and
Persistent self-interests.
Disturb me, God of Light.
Trouble my soul from false and
Superficial peace and
Pastel imitations of Light
Until I ...
Desperately
Earnestly
Eagerly
Seek and Find ...
LIGHT
in Thee.
I have been negligent about posting, but I intend to come back. Here is my message to you.
Anthony “Ap” Armour, Bryan Feil, and Garth Richards cannot tell you who “runs” Neighborhood Thrift. What runs the organization is a sense of mission and a vision for what the ministry can and does accomplish in people’s lives. Read More
There are several bald spots on my metaphorical head from metaphysical head scratching. Mind baffles have frequently made me drowsy to the point of stupor. Not everything adds up because, to embrace everything, one must also embrace unknowns and unknowns challenge our sense of control and self-sufficiency.
"Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it." - Psalm 139:6
"Yet in the midst of my madness, God had been making himself known to me in profound ways. In my drunken prayers, God's presence was ever-captivating. My journal would reveal tears of desperation and longing for God. I couldn't reconcile the fact that I was doing something wrong and the fact that God was showering me with love. I have a tendency to view life in terms of black and white, good and bad, happy and unhappy.. I was finding life to be filled with shades of grey and God ruled over it all. I was starting to come to terms with the fact that I didn't have all the answers." - Nathan Foster, "Wisdom Chaser - Finding My Father at 14,000 Feet" (IVP - ISBN 978-0-8308-3630-7)
I am captivated by Foster's story of hiking high peaks with his famous father and spiritual "giant," Richard Foster. The authenticity and raw honesty have drawn me into his story of hiking 14,000 foot peaks with his dad and the lessons both were learning. I was drawn into the story of this young man's spiritual growth ... gradual and steady ascent.
I was not prepared for turning the page to 105, chapter 13. You'll have to read it yourself, but you may find your story there. You didn't know anyone else had lived it. You were making such progress with God, in so many areas, but there was something, a drag, more than a drag, something yanking you down.
Not all progress is steady and it is seldom neat ... usually very messy.
Mystery. What sort of God is this? Job thought he knew Him but realized he knew only OF Him. When they finally met "face to face," it was not to impart all the answers to this faithful servant. The truth was in the encounter. The reconciliation was in the relationship.
Every day of our lives, we are surrounded on all sides by knowledge we do not possess, swimming in a sea of wonder, marinating in questions we do not know to ask. We possess less understanding than we will have tomorrow, but vastly less than the universe holds -- much less the God of the universe.
We can skip some steps and slip through a spiritual wormhole emerging, through folds in space-time continua to that lace on the other side of the creation where we can meet the God who knows and bends reality to His own purpose.
But we still won't know everything.
And cllimbing willl still involve struggle.
And we will have some bad days, some very bad days ... and some good days ... and some that don't seem to fit any category at all.
But if we keep climbing we will find we are going somewhere. Along the way, some of the answers will be clearer. At the summit, there willl be a very clear perspective.
I am convinced that the Somewhere and Someone of it all are worth the climb and I have chosen to continue. Who will go with me?
The heavens tell the glory of God.
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Though I write and post daily on Facebook, I have not blogged since June. I know my blog posts end up on Facebook. This is an experiment to see if it can work both ways. Check out my profile.
Laughter us a great gift for celebration, not a weapon of denigration.
It is the natural spill-over of the joy that wells up inside of us and in response to surprise, absurdity, and silly wonder.
It can be an offering of praise or a response to relief.
It is something to be cherished and employed wisely.
It is an activity in which our Father participates, with us and which we can enjoy together.
Here are some reflections on laughter from The Message.
19 But God said, "That's not what I mean. Your wife, Sarah, will have a baby, a son. Name him Isaac (Laughter). I'll establish my covenant with him and his descendants, a covenant that lasts forever.''
5-6 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born.
Sarah said,
God has blessed me with laughter
and all who get the news will laugh with me!
1 Hannah prayed: I'm bursting with God-news! I'm walking on air.
I'm laughing at my rivals. I'm dancing my salvation.
15-17 Mordecai walked out of the king's presence wearing a royal robe of violet and white, a huge gold crown, and a purple cape of fine linen. The city of Susa exploded with joy. For Jews it was all sunshine and laughter: they celebrated, they were honored. It was that way all over the country, in every province, every city when the king's bulletin was posted: the Jews took to the streets in celebration, cheering, and feasting. Not only that, but many non-Jews became Jews—now it was dangerous not to be a Jew!
1-2 On your feet now—applaud God! Bring a gift of laughter,
sing yourselves into his presence.
don't hold a grudge against us forever.
You aren't going to keep this up, are you?
scowling and angry, year after year?
Why not help us make a fresh start—a resurrection life?
Then your people will laugh and sing!
Show us how much you love us, God!
Give us the salvation we need!
17-18 Don't laugh when your enemy falls;
don't crow over his collapse.
God might see, and become very provoked,
and then take pity on his plight.
“I personally believe that each of us was put here for a purpose -- to build not to destroy. If I can make people smile, then I have served my purpose for God.” - Red Skelton
So let's take a few moments for a smile and a belly laugh. We are never poor if we have laughter in our lives. That is especially true if we can learn to laugh at ourselves.
http://youtu.be/Um08hUHX7uk
The longer I live, the more, not less, I make the same request to the Master, "Teach me to pray," sometimes realizing that such a request is also a prayer. If I can pray no other in the moment, for ignorance or willfulness, it is a place of meeting and if a place of meeting, a place of instruction, and if a place of instruction, a time of listening and increasing.
This year, as I intentionally pray this prayer, the Master is teaching me the prayer He gave His disciples in response.
He is teaching me daily.
I am the guy who squeezed 4 years of college into 6 and 3 years of seminary into 5 and a half. I need a lot of schooling and am like Andrew Murray, "With Christ in the School of Prayer."
No need to graduate until I stand in His unfiltered presence.
Peter Brietbart, of Brighton, in England, is a writer for the Freethinker Magazine and a self described, skeptic, atheist, humanist, secularist and President of Sussex University Secular Society."
That is fine.
He is also a budding film make on a shoestring budget.I complement him for his entrepreneurship.
He has zeroed in on a quote from C.S.Lewis in his soon-to-be-released film, "Madman or Something Else."
Here is the quote (and I have used it often to call people to faith):
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic -- on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg -- or else he would be the Devil of Hell."
"You must make your choice"
"Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
As much as I respect C.S. Lewis, to allow this quote of his to define the entire debate over the ethics of the Kingdom of God that Jesus summarized in the Sermon on the Mount is faulty (even though I may have used the argument myself a time or two). Peter Brietbart does.
Even if I were not a Jesus follower, I believe I would be attracted to what I intrinsically perceive as true in principles of fidelity, non-violence, heart-origin of violence, forgiveness, and the other issues addressed there.
Brietbart says, "Jesus of Nazareth was an awful moral philosopher. He compares badly to such modern greats such as Mill, Rawls or Ross and also to historical thinkers such as Aristotle, Diogenes or Plato."
I never got the same sense of intrinsic truth and balance from these other great thinkers. Why I perceive tJesus' teachings as intrinsically true and truth is another discussion. Why did Ghandi? I sense that it has something to do with an implanted seed of response-capacity within us .... but there I go getting all spiritual.
All that aside, Peter Brietbart, producer of the film, in the trailer (which, in all fairness, is all I can evaluate at this point), zeroes in on the issue of mortality and immortality while proposing to criticize Jesus' ethics. That seems a tad incongruous to me. Jesus' teachings on immortality were quite clearly not a denial of death, but a defiance of death while confronting it, validating its reality, and experiencing its pain fully. He never minimized its impact or taught His followers to devalue the reality that we must live with a sense of the finite nature of time.
The teachings on eternal life, namely that one aspect of eternal life that speaks to life beyond death, is an encouragement to live and love morally, but not the only reason He gave for doing so.
Perhaps I have played into the usual strategy of film-makers to get free publicity by creating controversy before the release of their films. I am neither encouraging nor discouraging viewing of this one. I am merely pointing to what I see as flaws on the front end.
To quote from the web site, "God is little more than a pleasant fable for adults, a pacifier for the mind that quells the nervous forebodings of death. "
I find that simplistic and uninformed. Jesus wept and agonized over death. He was not pacified.
Nothing in the God-message of the Bible has ever pacified me within my soul. To the contrary, divine comfort has tended to stir me, move me, and motivate me to disturb the status quo and keep questioning myself.
"His moral contributions are not original, and his original contributions are not moral. "
I am curious to see which teachings the producers are referring to here:
Love your neighbor?
Forgive and keep forgiving?
Your sins are forgiven; go and sin no more?
Love one another?
Perhaps he is speaking of the call to give, be peacemakers, live non-violently, welcome children or Jesus' example of treating women with dignity and respect. I am not sure.
Had no one ever hinted at these things before? Maybe. Certainly some of the prophets did. Had anyone embodied or clearly presented them as a whole with such impact? Who? When? Where?
In an out--take frame on the web site, a character is viewing a book with a chapter title, "The Law of Reciprocity," which we have come to know as "the Golden Rule."
Was it original to Jesus' teaching? No. We do not claim it to be so. If is in the Hebrew scriptures. It has its versions in other religious traditions. It is a universal truth, not a hidden mystery.
I applaud Peter Brietbart for getting down and dirty with the debate. At least he is honestly disclosing his position and his influences. I have read some of his Twitter and blog posts. He is not a light-weight thinker, but he frames the arguments selectively and, I believe, erroneously. Perhaps this is the next and last arena of debate and maybe Lewis is keeping us all honest.
Yet, I think it is still possible for those who struggle with the claims of Jesus with regard to immortality and the nature of God, to stick their feet in the cooling waters of His moral teachings and find something refreshing that rings true. That is what Brietbart is questioning here and I believe he is on shaky philosophical ground in doing so.
You can make up your own mind, but I am sticking with the skeptics of Jesus' day who said, "No one ever spokethe way man does." Bible Gateway passage: John 7:46 - New International Version.
I can hear a storm coming :) I encourage my friends who jump in on this to be respectful of each other. I have no quarrel with honest skeptics.
See it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sZBgdGRhDQ
Tongues of fire descended ...
and something individual happened.
Lighting upon each ...dividing ...
They united all in one Spirit.
A paradoxical contradiction connected multiple languages,traditions, and customs
into curious Oneness.
What could not be achieved by ingenuity,invention, or inquisitive cogitations became
Obvious in a Divine Moment.
One Divine Moment of Descent.
One Holy Moment of Movement.
One Direct Intervention of Eternal Fire.
Pentecost!
Welcome Holy Spirit!
We welcome You!
I see that Harold Camping, a man for whom I experienced a couple of days of deep sympathy, is at it again - revising his dates, missing the point (The point being that this is not about points, that the kingdom of God is more analogue than digital), and hoping that he can get the same momentum behind him that he had last week.
In the meantime, we have wars, rumors of wars, earthquakes in diverse places, and all the other sorts of trouble we've been having for the last 2000 years since Jesus predicted it and admonished us not to be disturbed -- or impatient.
We may not be able to expect Camping to relinquish his stubbornness or his board to fire him. We may not be able to rescue those who will continue to follow him or those who have lost their faith as a result of doing so. We may not be able to stop all the prognosticators, usurpers, or manipulators of the world, but we can keep on keeping on.
We can be assured that God is still as present among us as always, that God is still working in this world, that good news is still good news, and the kingdom of God is still about light penetrating darkness, good overcoming evil, grace winning over judgment, love conquering hate, and God's Messiah being Lord of All.
It is still about bearing a cross by bearing the burdens of others. It is still about proclaiming a righteousness that comes through faith, and it is still about serving the poor in spirit and in this world's goods.
We are called to live in compassion and integrity and to bear witness without asking for special favors or preference. We are called to be the people of God.
And some day, in His own time, and His own way, in a way we can neither predict nor prevent, God will bring all of this to the appropriate fruition and evaluation when the kingdoms of this world become the Kingdom of of his Christ and He shall reign forever and ever - King of Kings and Lord of Lords ... forever and ever.
http://youtu.be/76RrdwElnTU
There is much talk about the rift in American life - left and right - blue and red - on and on.
I was watching a report from a major news source where the commentators were suggesting that it is irreparable and deep. Furthermore, according to them, it goes to our deepest values so that we have no more shared values, principles, and worldview.
Right AND wrong.
In one sense, it has always been so. Jesus Himself said that the good news of His kingdom was divisive - but that is not what is dividing America at the moment. This is no God versus the world thing. The division between light and darkness has always been present -- but there is light on both sides of this rift. There is also darkness.
This is a division of perceptions, politcal philosophies, and priorities. Some are profound. Some are vital. Some are not. Some breaches can be mended. Some can be tolerated. Some can be celebrated. Some must be endured.
It is also a wrong assessment to say that we are divided on every crucial concern. Since the rift in American political philosophy cuts across religious convictions (perhaps not evenly, but nevertheless, genuinely), it is not an ultimate rift. One cannot identify God's Kingdom with either "side" of this division. At least I cannot.
Who says we are two Americas? I have dear friends who are Democrats and dear friends who are Republicans. We can talk. We agree on many, many important things. We all love our families. Many of us love God and embrace the same moral values. We all value honesty, integrity, kindness, concern for broken people, and many other things.
We may differ in implementation or perspective, but we differ without being all that different.
Likewise, I have valued friendships across the lines of faith and non-faith. While my faith is an ultimate value in my life - actually THE ultimate value in my life, it touches to commonalities of humanity that I share with all humans. From my perspective, each of us is made in the image of God and thereby reflect common questions and yearnings. From the perspective of my non-believing friends, the cause for our commonality is described differently, but acknowledged nevertheless.
Why can most of us get along with people who differ in opinions from ours and our leaders find it so difficult - at least publicly?
While I believe that common folk drive culture in our world (or should), leaders have the high profile positions that enable them to set the pace by setting examples.
I probably cannot influence representatives of an opposing party as well as those of my own, but I can influence whatever party with which I affiliate. So, here is my challenge:
Forget the nastiness, unfairness, and unwillingness of the other side for a while and reach out. Insist that your representatives in Congress and Senate, those of your own party, reach out to the other side in friendship.
Reach out and keep reaching out. Reach out when the reach is rejected. Reach out when the criticism is unfair. Reach out when the issues are deep, divisive, and bitter. Reach out when the other side is perceived as uncooperative, unbending, and ruthless. Reach out and don't stop reaching out. Make friends with your opponents.
Don't look for the speck in your neighbor's eye. Look for planks in your own.
Make friends with your opponents "on the way to court."
Jesus said to do it.
You can do it, as He did, without backing down from principle, without compromising truth, and without losing your negotiating edge.
Here's where I would start if I were king of the legislative universe: Reorganize the seats! End this custom of parties sittting together. Mix and match. How riddiculous to institutionalize a divide like that. There are no parties in the Constitution. We should not be organizing the seats that way.
I expect our leaders to set an example to heal this artificial divide. If they don't, we'll start moving into red and blue neighborhoods and shopping at red and blue stores.
If we can be friends on Facebook, Congress can make friends in Washington!
Let's insist on it.
“Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence” (1 Timothy 2:1-2)
I am praying for our President this morning. I am also praying for governors, mayors, and all elected and appointed officials.
I am pulling out all the stops and utilizing all means to lift this leader: supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanks.
This is the same prayer arsenal that Paul urges first, for all people.
Peterson translates it this way, "Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know."
Barack Obama, a man vilified by so many of my brethren, would come under the category of "kings and all who are in authority." Kings included Nero who was running rampant persecuting the church, burning Rome, and blaming Christians. Our President is no Nero. In fact, he is a brother in Christ.
It included all in authority, (και παντων των εν υπεροχη), "and all them that are in high place."
It is for these that Paul gives us a reason to pray. The rationale is:
Politics is becoming less dignified in some circles by the minute. Popular commentary has become strongly influenced by the forces of entertainment and bombastic outcry. Assumptions are exaggerated; pretensions are generalized; vitriol is homogenized - and let loose on the Internet.
We lamblast Congress, the Supreme Court, the President, the military, the police, the mayor, the governor, the legislature, and our next door neighbors. Seldom is there heard a clear and compassionate call for prayer. Our excuse for criticizing is often rooted in a sense of threat to our lifestyle and our ability to live out our piety in peace.
Paul says that living out our piety in peace is a worthy goal ... but that the means to that end is prayer. If we pray two things may change, first our circumstances, but more importantly, ourselves.
I've posted this before, but you and I need it today as we often do. Be encouraged by this scripture set to music. Whatever you are going through, remember that the key word is the preposition, "through!" It is not your destination; it is a passage. The resurrection says, no, shouts, "This isn't all! God gets the last word!"
So keep on keeping on.
Focus on the "to" and not the "through.:"
"I remembered you, God, and I groaned. I meditated and my spirit grew faint." - Psalm 77:3 (NIV)
What about the comfort, assurance, and peace pour quiet times are supposed to give us?
What aboout the nurturing, loving, contemplative moments that we are told we will experience daily through the spiritual disciplines?
This sounds like work. It sounds soul-wrenching, agonizing, and spiritually surgical? Groaning? Fainting?
Read on to see doubting, complaining, and restlessness.
The psalmist wrestled with his heart in prayer to God. He went deeper. He dug into the rocky soil of his soul and extracted ... dirt!
But every geologist knows that dirt isn't just dirt. it is minerals and organic material. It is microscopic life. It is nutrients.
You can't grow much of a garden in a sanitized pool of water.
So, the question is: Do you want to grow something inside of you, and thus, grow yourself or do you want to lulled, rocked, and soothed?What do you want from your quiet time? If you meet God, you muight also bump into yourself. There might be a collision. There might even be a transofrmation.
I don't often call it a "quiet time" any more. It is a devotional time. It is "dropping anchor." It is a meeting with God. It is all those things, but it is nbot always quiet within me. I get disturbed, shaken, rattled, and inspired. I also get shaped and encouraged.
Read on. Read the whole psalm. God wins and the psalmist is ultimately comforted and encouraged.
But it wasn't easy.
For the director of music. For Jeduthun. Of Asaph. A psalm. 1 I cried out to God for help;
I cried out to God to hear me.
2 When I was in distress, I sought the Lord;
at night I stretched out untiring hands,
and I would not be comforted. 3 I remembered you, God, and I groaned;
I meditated, and my spirit grew faint.
4 You kept my eyes from closing;
I was too troubled to speak.
5 I thought about the former days,
the years of long ago;
6 I remembered my songs in the night.
My heart meditated and my spirit asked: 7 “Will the Lord reject forever?
Will he never show his favor again?
8 Has his unfailing love vanished forever?
Has his promise failed for all time?
9 Has God forgotten to be merciful?
Has he in anger withheld his compassion?” 10 Then I thought, “To this I will appeal:
the years when the Most High stretched out his right hand.
11 I will remember the deeds of the LORD;
yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.
12 I will consider all your works
and meditate on all your mighty deeds.” 13 Your ways, God, are holy.
What god is as great as our God?
14 You are the God who performs miracles;
you display your power among the peoples.
15 With your mighty arm you redeemed your people,
the descendants of Jacob and Joseph. 16 The waters saw you, God,
the waters saw you and writhed;
the very depths were convulsed.
17 The clouds poured down water,
the heavens resounded with thunder;
your arrows flashed back and forth.
18 Your thunder was heard in the whirlwind,
your lightning lit up the world;
the earth trembled and quaked.
19 Your path led through the sea,
your way through the mighty waters,
though your footprints were not seen. 20 You led your people like a flock
by the hand of Moses and Aaron. (Psalm 77, New International Version, ©2011)
A note; It is Palm Sunday. On the outside, it seemed that everything was affirmative and welcoming for Jesus. i suspect even He enjoyed the moment. But He also knew what lay ahead and that it wasn't going to be an easy week ... but it would be a transforming week ... and what would be acccomplished would change everything forever.
7 Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” (Jeremiah 29:7, New International Version, ©2011)
If only for selfish reasons, let us seek a pray for even the cities where we are exiled.
So often, we have this stranger-exile complex that separates us from the daily concerns of the people of the cities where we dwell. After all, we are "pilgrims and strangers" in the earth, a holy people, a kingdom of priests. All these things we are as God's people, but they are reasons for engagement rather than isolation.
Here is a key phrase:
"... to which I have carried you."
We are here, in this time, in this place, for a purpose higher than we can know.
The cities where we live are our own. Our lives, prosperity, well-being, and peace are intimately interwoven into the same fabric as our neighbor's. We are people of God, but we are also people of the city. Incarnational witness means that we rise or fall with the tide that moves all ships.
We shall transcend and we shall rise, but, in the meantime, we sink or swim with the poor, downtrodden, oppressed, and repressed people around us at every place on the social or economic strata.
All the people around us are our people.
We must seek the peace of the city and pray for it. Notice in the text how seeking comes before praying. This may be merely a literary device or it may be an intentional reminder that the prayers of those engaged in active seeking are more heartfelt, specific, and effective than those of the passive and unconcerned. Our passion arises from our engagement.
Our involvement is our witness as much as and, probably more than, our words. Let us present ourselves to God during this season of Lent, and always, as instruments
through which our prayers for peace can be used to bring shalom to our cities.
“We are a colony of heaven on earth.” (Philippians 3:20a, Moffatt translation)
20 Remember the agreement you made with us,
because violence fills every dark corner of this land.
21 Do not let your suffering people be disgraced.
Let the poor and helpless praise you. (Psalm 74:20-21, New Century Version)
There is this recurring theme in the scripture of justice for the poor. We are called to be fair and compassionate in our attitudes and actions toward the downtrodden and marginalized. This is the work of God and God works through us. At the same time, there is a theme of acknowledgement that we are all, somehow, in some way, poor ourselves. So, what we wish for them, we wish for ourselves.
This prayer, possibly from the days of exile, intermingles praise and lament in a cry of hope for the oppressed.
Tables turn, sometimes for the worse, sometimes for the better. It is crucial that we invest our confidence in what is worthy of our confidence.
Real estate, once thought to only increase in value, can become a bottomless pit of devaluation. Stock markets fluctuate and individual stocks in companies with great assets and greater possibilities, can plummet to near zero. People may fail us; they may move away; they may die. Careers may crumble. Our carefully honed skills may become obsolete. Guarantees made my insolvent guarantors gravitate downward to an abyss of worthless promises.
But there is a covenant that is sustaining and sustainable. There is a guarantor that will never lose power, authority, and ability to remember that covenant of love. There is One who is faithful and whose providence emerges amidst a backdrop of hopelessness to lighten our loads and lift our broken souls. The poor and helpless join the chorus of praise because they are not disgraced.
Violence fills the dark corners of our planet and seeps into hamlets of perceived safety and isolation. There is no isolation from the decadence of our day, only insulation. Our bodies may be bruised; our purses may be emptied; our homes may crumble with our false securities, but the covenant of hope and grace continues because the One who made it is strong and faithful.
Great is God's faithfulness. This season of lent lengthens our perception of the degree to which our God will go to reach us, teach us, and redeem us from destruction. God descends into the darkness and illuminates our spaces and places with abundant graces. Like the psalmist, we are invited to cry our in utter honesty, but also to affirm faith - audacious and irrational - the kind that activates our side of the covenant, reis thy faithfulnesswhich is to receive with gratitude, the gift. of hope.
It was 1961. Laws were different then. Some were inherently wicked because their sole intent was to keep people down. That is happening all over the world today. Jim Crow had a franchise on the South. Businesses could decide, based upon genetics, whom they would serve and whom they would exclude. To defy these laws and break these barriers was risky. It would require some folks standing together, sitting together, and moving together. It would require some blood, some bruises, some jail, even some death mingled with a lot of uncertainty, much fear, and even more faith.
It would require getting on a bus and riding in the freedom ride to the heart of darkness, deep into Alabama.
There would be joy and singing on the bus, but the looming reality of danger was always present. It would change the lives of those who took the ride, but the courage it took to get on is beyond imagination!
It took a decision. Once the decision was made, that decision informed a person's feet and one got on the bus. Then the bus itself moved the travelers along.
But they had to get on ... and many did.
Recently, an historical researcher asked the question of some students, "Would you have gotten on the bus?"
The answers were mixed.
I heard this report in those moments between sleep and awakening with the news in the background and they startled me to wakefulness. The question was personal and much in line with the season of Lent.
Would I get on the bus?
Will I get on the bus?
Jesus got on the bus.
51And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem, (Luke 9:51, King James Version)
What is the bus I need to board today? What sort of courage and resolve will it take? What will be the risks? What will be the joy of it? What songs will I sing? Who will be on the bus to share the ride? What will it change in me?
Will I get on the bus?
Will you?
"And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work." (2 Corinthians 9:8, New International Version, ©2011)
In the KJV, this verse reads that folks, blessed by God will have "sufficiency in all things" so that they may "abound to every good work."
In these days of perceived deprivation and desperate anxiety over economic concerns, one takes comfort in knowing that God always resources His mission. That includes His calling for you and mission for your life, for His church, for His sacred work in the "secular" arena, and for the totality of His Kingdom enterprise.
"Thy Kingdom come" is shortly followed by, "Give us this day our daily bread."
The sufficiency promised was an assurance given to a group of poor but generous believers whose hearts were touched by the needs of their starving spiritual siblings separated by miles, language, and culture. They begged to give and the Apostle Paul encouraged them that God would supply them with that ability and with their own needs.
In fact, they would abound. Sufficiency is one thing, but abundance is a step beyond.
At energy's end, resource depletion, and the deserts where new ideas are like dry river beds, God is able.
At the end of the road, there is an unexpected bend and the road continues.
At the intersection of hopelessness and despair, there is an encouraging word.
In the pits of despondency, the caves of darkness, and on the very gallows of death, God shows up with something new to renew us.
Lent comes, etymologically, in the lengthening of days when the doors seemed to be closing on the life, mission, and ministry of Jesus - when in reality, His reach was extending. Things are not always as they seem. When our own capacity is spent, God is only beginning to reach into His wallet of possibilities to supply His sufficiency to abound.
Let's start with this: I like birds and I don't want to kill them. So, "killing two birds with one stone" is a metaphor that is unfortunate, but descriptive.
I also like to multitask and I plan certain things in life to maximize effort by combining task and building multiple purposes into one activity.
Yet, it seems, without a primary focus, it is very easy to lose all sense of purpose and the activity itself becomes primary rather than what it is, a tool.
I can't find the word "focus" in the bible translations I normally use, but the word "seek" is very prominent.
So, I have spent some time seeking this morning. It may seem that I've been playing on Facebook and Twitter, but those activities have been peripheral to the primary focus. (I also PRAY on Facebook - I have found it a powerful too-l for intercessory ministry without getting in anyone's face about it).
I am seeking through the things I read, through prayer, through meditation, through what I write, and through thinking.
I woke up with all of this on my mind because there is so much to do and so little time. Because of the rush, I felt led and compelled to slow down and build this space into my day. I am expecting lots of birds to fall - poor little birds.
I am not sure we often have the luxury of doing one thing at as time with full concentration. When those times come, savor them and embrace them. In the meantime, we need to focus on the primary and include the peripheral. That is life.
Take comfort, birds, I am not going to kill you. It is just an unfortunate expression.
In the meantime, we have to find the One thing of the moment and let that be our compass.
1 Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2 Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? 3 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. 4 Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” 6 Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. 7 So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’ 8 “‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. 9 If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’” (Luke 13:1-9, New International Version, ©2011)
Jesus is confronted with the deaths of some people that His countrymen assumed were evil. They wanted to know if it was God’s judgment. He read the intent of their questions and replied that they were no worse sinners than the other Galileans, but cautioned the folks that unless they changed their living and thinking (repentance), they would die like the others.
Notice how he is always personalizing things, taking the onus off of the “other guy” and bringing it back to our choices.
Then He ups the ante and refers to some very fine people who had died. The question is rhetorical. Of course these did not have tragedy come into their lives because they were worse sinners than anyone else. That is not the meaning of tragedy – then or now.
Trouble comes to everyone, sometimes it just seems random.
Again, He points back to them with a life lesson – Indeed, however, lack of change (movement, repentance, elasticity in our lives) will lead to death. Here, He refers to death in the spiritual dimension whether He is referring to a last judgment or just to death for all intents and purposes in this life. In either and both cases, the loss is great to ourselves and to others who would benefit from our living. Above all, as He will indicate, the loss is greatest to god Himself.
REPENTANCE:
R – Resiliency in the face of tragedy.
E – Effort extended when ease is expected.
P – Progress when it is easier to sit, wait, and let the world pass you by.
E - Exiting the arena of negative habits and entering the realm of new possibilities.
N – Nagging the part of ourselves that drifts into routine ruts of negative thinking.
T – Tickling and teasing our thinking so that we are always moving to the edge.
A – Accepting diversity and ambiguity as part of life.
N – Noticing the changes around us as the signs that call for adjustments of our courses and the urges through which God may be speaking.
C – Calling on God in confession and contrition for constant conversion to His image and purposes.
E – Ever energizing ourselves in the power of the Holy Spirit to be stirred, moved, disturbed and empowered to LIVE (opposite of DIE!) as people who make a difference …
OR .. we can …
DIE – We can die through …
D – Decline. We just die a little at a time, drifting away from the source of life and vitality into a dark abyss of disconnected despair.
I – Inactivity, irrelevance, inertia, or inward focus. These sap our lives in an endless loop of selfish hum-drum-ness.
E – Extinction of all that makes us alive to God, ourselves, and others.
BUT – Then He tells us a parable of a farmer and a fig tree. The fig tree story reminds us that God takes no joy in our death and has not given up on us. He is extremely reluctant to do so and stalls to give us ample opportunity to find the place of repentance (life and mind change).
We can change or die, but to change is far better. The resources are available. The grace is free. The power is abundant. The choice is ours … daily.
Hard times are creeping all over.
Everyone looking for a four leafed clover.
Life as we know it isn't so easy.
Verses like this getting mighty cheesy,
Days are long. Rewards come slowly.
More time to waste, less time to be holy.
Everywhere I go, huddled masses huddling
Folks talking about hard times and muddling.
They're just trying to make it, fake it,
Shake it, bake it, and rake it in.
Preoccupation with lack of occupation
Lots of people on a forced vacation.
Where two are three assembled be
There's an "Ain't It Awful" assemble-ly.
(or a discussion of the economy
with a large dose of "woe-is-me")
Here's the challenge as I see it play out.
And you can either agree of call it way out.
When hard times come, we can let them define us ...
Or ... we can lean in, leap forward, and let them refine us.
( http://youtu.be/4n9mCcpatig )
Isaiah 48:10
"See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction."
Yesterday, I wrote about foolishness ... the good kind and the bad kind.
I posed the question, "What kind of fool am I?"
I feel most foolish when I make pronouncements, applications, and pontifications on faulty premises that time, memory, and mush have mixed into one cognitive soup that has hardened into a slab of concrete assumption over the years.
It is the dark side of getting older and wiser.
Alas, I have become my own illustration and I find it humbling.
Indeed, I did become pastor of my current church on April 1, 1996. Indeed it was April Fool's Day. Not so indeed, it was not Easter Sunday. That was a week later. Thanks to a new friend for pointing this out. Thanks to wonderful internet sources for confirming it.
I am humbled. I didn't seek humility. I stumbled onto it. I suppose that is a good thing.
Proverbs 11:2
"When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom." (New International Version (c) 2011)
It is April 1, 2011. That means it has been 15 years to the day since I became officially the pastor of Baptist Temple, now the Fellowship of Joy and 4141 Ministries in Fresno, CA.
It was Easter Sunday, but it has never escaped my attention that it was also April Fool's Day.
Proverbs 1:7b says, " fools despise wisdom and instruction."
I am not there, and I have not said in my heart that there is no God.
So, what kind of fool am I (Not even considering the possibility that those who invited me were ... no, not that!)?
Of course, I have also read these:
1 Corinthians 3:18 “Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.” 1 Corinthians 3:19 “ For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.”
1 Corinthians 4:10 “We are fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised.”
And then, there is, II Corinthians 11:16, "I say again, let no man think me a fool ..."
The deal is that there is foolishness and then, there is foolishness. We want to shun moral-ethical foolishness and willful ignorance and avoidance of knowledge and counsel. We do well to embrace wisdom and pursue understanding.
What we can't afford to care about is the evaluation of the masses, especially if the masses are wearing glasses of distortion, limited thinking, and extreme conventional "wisdom" that discourages all innovation, introspection, and reflection.
I am OK with any implication that April Fool's Day marks my anniversary in Fresno and defines some dimension of my ministry if what is really being said is that I make it difficult to enforce categories on myself and the work of the kingdom here. No problem. If that is what it is, fine ...
But I'd do well to keep everything under constant evaluation.
I make plans and I plan things to make.
Sometimes I follow through.
Sometimes circumstances cooperate.
Sometimes it all seems to fall apart.
I am reading family history. Some folks had plans go terribly awry. In fact, their lives fell apart ... or so it seemed.
But if they hadn't, I would not have been here.
Personally, I am glad to be as long as I can be useful.
Use me, Lord. Here are my plans. Here is my life. Take me; make me; shake me; make me pliable and reliable.
Amen.
New Living Translation (©2007) Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you," says the LORD. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.
Do you make notes to yourself?
I do and sometimes I read them.
Then, sometimes, I respond.
Sometimes I dispute, but the act of writing things down has always been helpful to me. It clariies things. Scattered thoughts come together. Extraneous ideas are filtered. It works for me.
There are many biblical examples of a person receiving an insight or even a revelation and writing it down. Sometimes, it is is even a command. One example, however, stands out.
Jesus was being manipulated ... or at least they tried ... by detractors and critics. They were trying to control His agenda in order to discredit Him. He took His time, made the dirt His paper and His finger a pen. Then He wrote. We don't know what. It is fun to speculate. Maybe folks could read His writing; maybe not. It possibly wasn't for them.
John 8:6: " They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger."
The fact is that when He was done, He knew what to say and what to do.
I can't think of a better endorsement for making notes to myself in all of history, literature, or scripture.
Make a note of that!
I am at the Richmond International Airport transitioning back to California time, which is frightening because it is 2:50 A.M. there and I have been up for hours.
What is nice is that we have internet access. We have grown so accustomed to that convenience of modern times -- and we like it free and fast.
Free and fast access -- to information, news, email, friend updates ... the world.
I like it, but what I really like is the access I had at 3:00 A.M. EST before I even thought abvout turning on the laptop. That was the access I enjoyed as I sat on the side of the bed with an open bible and an open heart. It is the access I had as I laid my head on the pillow last night and all through the night.
It is the access that continually transitions and transports me beyond time and space. It is the access that I have had fpor so many years to One who knows me, accepts me, loves me, and walks alongside me.
" 19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body ... " - Hebrews 10:19-20
I have been on vacation and, according to the purpose of such, I have been reviewing and renewing my life, my goals, my routines, and my activities. I've been getting up early - just like at home. I've been reading, walking, praying, preparing, visiting, and refreshing, but without hurry or expectations.
Reviewing, renewing, and refreshing - sounds like a pretty good sermon or something.
Maybe I will work on that.
Just a thought - The model prayer is inclusive.
"Our Father" is an invitation to invite all for whom we intercede, with whom we are concerned, and for whom we deeply care to be included in our prayer for kingdom come, the benevolent will of God, the generous provision of God, the gracious forgiveness of God, and the overcoming power of God.
Perhaps the next time you pray the prayer, you will pause and specifically, intentionally, and lovingly include some friends and family scattered and gathered in your own prayer time before God.
"Simon answered, "Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets." - Luke 5:5 (NIV)
Been there!
I've done my best. I am sure I've exhausted all the possibilities, expended all the energy, and exercised all the faithfulness possible with no results.
It is as if reciprocity has evaded us and the laws of nature have been suspended to deny us just recompense for our efforts.
It is the dark side of light, the defining moment of discouragement. We have worked all night for nothing and we are ready to quit. We could not muster another moment except ... and then ... and until ...
...comes Jesus ...
Infuriating and inspiring Jesus comes and bids us cast our nets one more time.
One more time!
We would not do it for anyone else, even ourselves. We don't want to try again. We don't even really believe ...
But your word!
At your word, if you say so, we will.
And that is all it takes!'
We let down the nets one more time and this time, only this time, they are filled.
What will we do today, with feeble hands, faltering faith, and failing history, simply and wearily at the word of the Master? Even if we have no hope of success, we will drop our nets and let Him fill them as He will.
Amen.
As I was despairing that my old neighborhood was being neglected by businesses and forgotten by the world, I made a wonderful discovery - Taza Coffee 'n Creme . I am encouraged. The neighborhood can come back because these folks are offering a place, a hangout.
I had been getting a Nehemiah complex, but it looks like there are some Nehemiahs already here - and some Josephs!
I've been walking around looking at empty buildings that once buzzed with neighbohood commerce, a park where Curly Neal of the Harlem Globetortters played basketball, A library that has kept community alive and where I learned to love books, a school that has survived, reinvented itself, and thrived, and neighborhoods that have continued to house and nurture people. It is the empty stores that bug me. I wonder why they are empty. There was such a village here.
Why do people drive outside their neighborhoods to do business?
Taza is making a difference, Ben and Mary, Avian, and Jackie welcomed me, engaged me in conversation, and shared their vision which is a wonderful encouragement to what we are doing in Fresno at 4141 Ministries.
I can't do anything about my hometown, but it is good to know people are. This place is busy and you have to work hard to find it! It is the same way, almost with Joseph's Java Junction and Caryl's Cottage. But clearly, for all, once found, folks keep comin g back.
I am encouraged and inspired - not just for Westover Hills, but more so, for 4141 N. Fresno Street and our neighborhood as we live out our 21st century expression of Genesis 41:41, the commission to BLESS our communities. My walks are solidifying my vision for where we are called and my understanding of the larger mission when we export our influence and develop a reproducing, organic, life-force in the Kingdom.
I have been inspired by Harold Schultz in many ways with his Starbucks implementation of the 3rd place concept. If anyone is called to bless and build communities and people, empower, and encourage, it is the church. It is Joseph and Nehemiah - rebuilding walls, strengthening infratsructures, setting tables, creating entrepreneurial initiatives, developing leaders, and feeding their communities - thus and through these things, announcing the kingdom of hope, the presence of Jesus, and the possib ility of metanoia (life-change, possibilities, hope).
I have watched lots of folks come in during the last hour as I have been here using the free internet and delicious coffee. All have been warmly greeted. I am renewed to get back the Joseph's Java Junction.
I am supposed to be on vacation, but this is better.
"Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand;" - Joel 1:1
I don't own a trumpet; I don't play a trumpet; I can't actually, literally follow this directive.
But I do love the sound of trumpets and this trumpet sounds like one I can relate to.
The "day of the Lord!"
It is a day of judgment and that can be terrifying ... but it can also be comforting.
It all depends on how one aligns oneself.
For instance, if you are protesting an evil repressive regime and calling for justice, the trumpet might sound quite appealing. If you are suffering under the weight of that oppression, you may long for the trumpet to sound.
It is the day of setting things right.
But it is also a day of great mercy.
Trumpets sound
Ifyou are suffering under the weight of debilitating disease, the weight of a persistent addiction, the weight of depression, guilt, shame, or financial worries, you long for the sound of the trumpet. If you wake up pondering and mourning the state of the world, you dance to the sound of the trumpet.
"Even so, come, Lord Jesus!"
You are looking, longing, and languishing for a new day. The trumpet lets us know that the day is here and now ... even as a greater day is coming.
But we don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves.
These days of Lenten preparation begin with the ashes of grief, sorrow, penitence, and pain, but they do so against the backdrop of a trumpet announcing a new day.
Hand me a trumpet and I will do my best to play along with the band.
Daily Readings for Lent: Psalm 5, Psalm 147:1–11, Psalm 27, 51, Jonah 3:1—4:11, Hebrews 12:1–14, Luke 18:9–14
Ash Wednesday Readings: Joel 2:1-2, 12-17 or Isaiah 58:1-12, Psalm 51:1-17, 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10, Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
I am committed to doing more video blogging this year and this is my start - Proverbs 6:6-8- Little Lessons.
The ANT is tiny. It has no commander. Much like the recent campaigns in some cities through Facebook to access the hunger funds Walmart is donating, there is a convergence of energies where ants (and people) just seem to know what to do and start doing it.
Then, leadership emerges, but there is no commander; no one giving orders; no centralized structure.
Ants work. We can be caught up in a paralysis of analysis and go nowhere ... or ... we can do no analysis and spin our wheels.
Take time to think about purpose and goals. Have a direction and then take the next steps - WORK the plan! Start now and move forward TODAY!
Ants work hard, store, and gather.
Here is an acronym for ANT:
A - Acting - Just pondering, wondering, wandering, waiting, and wishing will not accomplish a goal. Accomplishment is a three letter word: ACT!
N - Nothing, not anything can stop you. There are excuses galore available in the buffet of negative nourishment, but you can negate the negative by declaring that nothing will stop you today!
T - Take courage. Take time. Take the next step. Take off!
Here's a video to supplement these thoughts. If the embedded video does not come through (like for you Facebook readers, the URL is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6KZbmehM8I
Something remarkable has been happening in Fresno and other cities. Businesses, community benefit organizations, government officials, faith-based organizations, pastors like me, and ordinary citizens have been rallied and have cooperated to show community support for a great cause.
In the metropolitan area of America with the greatest level of concentrated poverty, with staggering unemployment, and with profound homelessness, there is also an exceptionally strong community base of people who work together to make a difference. Fresno is that city. Walmart has offered a million dollars to the community that shows the strongest demonstration of community support. We have been working to show that.
But it has not been enough so far. The numbers are very impressive, but we have been up against some confusing rules, some automated posting software, and the clock. We need to broaden our community to include our friends around the globe.
What is in it for you and your community? A sense of mission and an opportunity to see how social media can provide a platform for your message and a means of collaboration like nothing we have ever seen before.
Churches, NPOs, businesses, watch. I don't think any of us understands the full extent of what has been happening here, but we are on tiptoe to find out. Watch the video and lend us your support.
Visit our Walmart support page on 12-31 to "Like " and spread the word! Be sure to leave a comment and let it post to your Facebook page: http://fightinghunger.walmart.com/city/Fresno-CA
The story of the Magi is the message of Jesus' coming as a break-out movement, a preview of the universality of a message that could not be contained by culture, geography, language, or even religion. God sought out strangers to come and worship the Son and is always calling us as strangers to come and become friends and family.The Emmanuel Moment is, was, and always shall be bigger than anything we think or suspect.
""I feel like a prize in a box of cracker jacks with God's hand reaching down to pick me up. I have been under medical care for months. My wounds are getting bigger. I have trouble breathing. I am ready to fly home. I won't be here much longer. I can't do anything about it. My heart is too weak. I want to say goodbye to everyone. In the past you have generously supported me with prayer and finance and we will probably still need financial help. My plan is to be buried in a simple pine box with some flowers inside. I'd like to push back the darkness with my bravest effort. There will be funeral information posted on my website, in case some of you want to attend. We are not sure of the date when I will die. Goodbye, farewell, we will meet again.”
"“Goodbye, farewell, we'll meet again
Somewhere beyond the sky.
I pray that you will stay with God
Goodbye, my friends, goodbye.""
- Larry Norman from http://larrynorman.com
"The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country." - Abraham Lincoln
Discussion Questions:
Which dogmas are now inadequate and why?
What are the difficulties, the real difficulties we face?
In what ways must we think and act anew and what would that look like?
What does it mean to disenthrall ourselves?
I can tell you this, Lincoolns words, spoken today, would be no less shocking then they were in his context. New thinking, fresh each morning, is almost too big a challenge for most of us. Old dogmas, to which he refers, are never the core, unchanging truths; they are those that were adequate for their time and quite situational.
We need fresh situational thinking that is constantly reconnecting to timeless truth.
I am most moved by the call to disenthrall myself because I am not entirely sure what he meant. But I do know i must be disenthralled WITh myself and come unglued from my static self-absorption and cloistered attitudes.
I think that there is much entralling that needs to be corrected at every level and layer of the body politic (meaning all of us). Self-interests and narrow, contextualized views of the world have us looking at each other and not seeing, talking at each other, but not hearing, and seeing our opponents as enemies.
We need Lincoln.
Listen.
Sometimes on the phone,
Sometimes in person,
Often on-line,
Occasionally when knocking on the door of the privy,
Always first thing in the morning ...
Gotta go!
When the waves of life's stormy seas become more
Than the tired cliche they are ...
And actually start to soak the boat,
Then,
I gotta go.
I do mean, to be correct, "I have to go" or
"I must go" or
"Pardon me"
OR ...
"Bye now!"
But "Gotta go" is just more ...
REAL.
GOTTA
G - Grabbing necessity
O - Overwhelming urge
T - Temporal urgency (urge on steroids)
T - Trust me; its true!
A - After I've gone, I'll explain.
GO -
G - Get going and get in the groove; its time for movement.
O - Out of here.
And that is where I am now ...
And will be at moments through the day ...
BUT ...
I felt
I had to write
Even something trite ...
I may not have time later.
What must be done, must be done now
Because ONE DAY ...
SOME DAY ...
When I say,
"Gotta Go!"
I'll really have to go ...
And ...
In spite of my efforts ...
Or anyone's
I'll be gone.
You too!
Gotta go ...
I'll probably be back ...
But you never know.
SEIZE THE DAY!!!!!
SEIZE THE MOMENT!!!!
Maybe the dancers "get it" more than some of the rest of us who contemplate and pontificate.
God is inviting us to a dance and whether or not we are skilled or talented, we can join in and, as we do, He will teach us the steps.
After listening to Peter, Paul, and Mary singing, "Don't let the Light Go Out" in honor of Chanukah, I was thinking about light and oil and miracles and how we gravitate toward celebration in singing, dance, and giving.
Every spark, every glimmer, every ray of light in my life has been a miracle and a gift from God.
In my tradition and faith, we celebrate Advent and Christmas. Though they are different and unique events from Chanukah, I have always appreciated that they come at close to the same time each year. My Muslim friends have recently ended a long fast with Eid, a joyful three day celebration which includes gifts and charity.
What is this human urge to celebrate with light and laughter and generosity of spirit?
There is gravity and solemnity in much of what we do religiously, but there is also celebration and joy.
Religions are different. If I were not convinced that God had spoken and visited us in Jesus, I would be something other than a Jesus follower. I state my beliefs, humbly, as truth because I am convinced of their truth. I don't apologize for that and never expect my friends who are convinced of their beliefs to apologize for them either.
However, my conviction that I am settled on Jesus does not negate the common elements of our experience. They are present because truth is universal and because the God who fashioned us in His image is always reaching out to us and touching that something in us that makes us want to stand up and dance.
We are made for something more, something "Other," something eternal. All of us! We are all created by and for God and with a deep urge to embrace what Nehemiah called, "The joy of the Lord," and described as "your strength."
The oil in the temple was just not in ample supply for the days of dedication when the first candle was lit. Yet, there kept being enough ... enough for each day. The description of the event was and remains, "A great miracle happened there."
Our lives are miracles. The oil of joy, healing, and anointing for significance does not seem to be ample for the demands we face. Yet, each day, if we will light the candle in faith and celebration, there seems to be just enough ... and enough ... and enough for each day.
And our hearts desire is to celebrate, to give gifts, to light candles, to be charitable and jolly and gracious.
This is a God-connector. It is a sign. It is a message through us and back to us that we are loved, have been visited by the God who made us, and are invited to join the song and the dance of time and eternity.
Jesus said, "seek and ye shall find." It is an open invitation to keep our hearts open to the One who loves us. Joy, grace, giving, and gratitude are all different facets of the same diamond in my faith and language in which it was expressed.
I am not a "Dancing With the Stars" fanatic like most of America and my own household, but I do "get it." We are made to sing and to dance. It is intrinsic and one of the ways God woos us.
Back to my own faith. There were Magi. They did not practice the same faith as Jesus' family or my traditions. In fact, we might find some of their beliefs at real odds with our own - like astrology for instance. But they most likely lived in a place where the influence of the Jews had been strong and they were acquainted with Jewish scripture.
They longed for the divine moment and the appearing of One who would be worthy of their worship. The scriptures I embrace say that the Eternal One crossed the barriers of race and religion and drew them to the place where they could see and do what they longed to see and do.
I am talking about the longing we share.
We can wish each other well in this common quest and encourage the seeking. If I believe my Master, and I do, seekers find. Those who knock get doors opened. Those who ask, receive.
Why do we share some common experiences when we have such differing beliefs? Without arguing for one universal religion or watering anything down, I can say with confidence that there really is only One God and whether we describe Him correctly or incorrectly or somewhere between, that God is always reaching out to all of us to supply the oil and light the candles within us,.
To the extent that we respond to that, it ignites something within us that wants more and more and more.
So, let's dance! As you dance, you might just learn the steps and get to know the Choreographer!
Being awake is more than a condition, it is a command for living.
So, I am musing over it "acroymically."
A=ATTENTION - I've heard this as a command as you have. It usually sounds like a short "a" with a dramatic "TEN," followed by a profound "HUT!" It means, "Come to a state of attention mentally, spiritually, and physically." Only then do we begin to awaken.
W=WATCH - Sometimes awakening just means watching for what is next. We awaken with a sense of wonder and "not knowing" about the day. This morning, I woke up and spent some time in a morning "watch" as I considered the day, prayed, and meditated.
A=ADJUSTMENTS - We begin to adjust our thinking, schedules, and even muscles (translation - STRETCH) as we prepare to be awake for a day of opportunity and productivity.
K=KNOWLEDGE - We need it. We need more of it. We need to gather it, assimilate it, and use it. If we are truly awake, we will be growing in knowledge. If we grow in knowledge, it will help to keep us awake. It is a cycle.
E=Energize. Do it. Drink your green tea; read your bible; pray; listen to some news; pray some more (The news will do that for you); eat a healthy breakfast; exercise; keep praying; work on your to-do list; pray some more (Do you see a pattern here?). Get energized for the day and then, start spending it.
Wake Up!
Just an acronym for TODAY:
TIME - Today is certainly a matter of timing. It is now, the time you are in, the only time you can be sure you have. Use it or abuse it; it is what it is.
OPPORUNITY - There are opportunities today that did not exist yesterday and may not exist tomorrow. Will you embrace them or let them pass? What will you do about them? We are well into today. Decisions must be made. Make them now and follow through.
DEFINITION - TODAY is easily defined. Everyone knows what it is. It needs no explanation. If I say I will do something today, it means before midnight. Tomorrow is another matter. What will you do today? It is a matter of integrity to DO what you say you will do within this well defined moment in time.
ACTION - Attitudes drive actions, but actions reveal our real attitudes. Now is the time to decide on a course of action that will drive you to the next level of movement toward your objectives.
YES! Say , no shout YES to your hopes, dreams, and challenges today. Embrace today and squeeze every ounce of life out of it that there is. Then rest tonight and rise for a new day tomorrow!
"'Tut, tut child,'" said the Duchess. 'Everythings got a moral if only you can find it.'" Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
Everything.
We are not all stuck in a Carollian Wonderland.
Or are we?
We are all observers of the stories of others as they intersect with and pass by our own.
There are thousands of stories within our reach and somehow, one big story comprised of layers and strands of weaving themes.
History.
And everything has a moral ...
IF you can find it.
Today, as I live, part of and outside of the hectic hubbub of harried, hurried masses, I am looking for the moral of the story.
I want to hear the music and sing along.
I am searching for the meaning, anchored to the greater meaning thaqt anchors me, I want to hear the Message.
I do not believe that the Author and Composer orchestrates every event; He invites us to participate as co-authors in that process. However, I do believe He orchestrates the symphony of meaning that emerges from the dissonance of our bleating attempts to find the right notes and join the rhythmic pulse of the ensemble.
He makes it beautiful and weaves it into the eternal story that we might find the moral of the most mudane.
If I can find it!
I shall consult my composer/conductor who, like every conductor for whom I have ever sung, keeps reminding me not to keep my nose buried in the score with these words, often shouted ...
"LOOK AT ME!"
A "tude" is condition, state, or quality according to the dictionary definition of the suffix.
Our problem is not with the suffixes of our lives. We may not be able to fix them, but we can certainly pre-fix them and thus, redefine and reorient them into something positive and productive.
If you are interested in the vartieties of tudes one might exude, brood over this list.
A sample would include: aptitude, attitude, and altitude, three of my favorites (which make a nice speech or sermon).
One would also be imbued with: magnitude, quietude, vicissitude, and terpitude.
But today, I propose a servitude to gratitude, that one tude that colors our view of our world and informs our thinking about most everything.
Gratitude lifts us as it lifts others out of chance and circumstance and into a higher place of purpose and grace.
We are a people blessed by God. Let us live, not in our conditions, but let us condition ourselves by cultivating the state and quality of thankfulness in every circumstance. Let us prefix that tude to every thought, word, and deed.
Vastness ... Heavens declaring the glory of God .... Wonder ... Magnificence ... Mind boggling awe ... Playful grace ... Awesome power ... I'm glad to live here too ... wherever we are ... centered in His love!
"To climb steep hills ... requires slow pace at first." - Shakespeare
The bard was right. Climbing is difficult and arduous, but it is the only way up.
Whether we climb quickly or slowly, it is a process. As Jonathan rallied his armor bearer to climb the mountain and to take on the Philistines, so we have hazardous climbs ahead of us. It is good to know when to climb and how to climb.
Just thinking about climbing and recalling both painful and exhilarating moments in the process, I wondered if an acronym might emerge.
C - Constant clarity and consciousneess of a calling to a higher purpose and the courage to complete the journey - These are the "c"s that seize us for the climb. Perhaps CLARITY and COURAGE are the key "c"s. We must know where we are going and be willing to pay the price to get there. This is where we start and is where we mist stay connected.
L - We need to be liberated from all that holds us down. The liberty to pursue our dreams is vital to our ability to climb higher. We have to loosen our loads and lose our unnecessary burdens before we are free to climb. Assess what is necessary and what is adjunct. Lose the adjunct baggage and lighten yourself for the journey.
I - We must be inspired. Inspiration is as necessary as respiration. It means "spirit within." We must breath in life and breath out all that is not life. God is the ultimate source of our inspiration because it is He who first breathed into us the breath (wind, spirit) of life when we became living souls or persons. Hope inspires. Feed your mind, heart, and spirit constantly with ideas and spiritual food that inspires because after the I comes the M:
M - Mundane monotony is in your future if you choose to climb higher. That is hard because climbers are ofter people whose minds are very busy and whose hearts gravitate toward fresh ideas and new challenges. A commitment to persevere through the boredom of putting one foot in front of the other will move us closer to our goals. Monotony is, sadly, a key word. There will be much adventure, variety, creativity, and room for self-expression along the climb, but there will also be some sheer drudgery. Endure it and keep climbing.
B - Be encouraged to be the best at climbing. Be busy. Be bold. Be brazen without being rude or cruel. Some will always think you to be out-of-line and audacious when you openly attempt great things. Ignore the criticism and opinions of others when that drag you down and BE who you are and who God has called you to be. Get used to the fact that you will be thought odd and worse. You have been fashioned for a purpose. Be willing to invent your own life with God's guidance and to live it.
C = Clarity & Courage; L= Liberty; I = Inspiration; M = Monotony; B = Be
Keep Climbing!
Death is natural. Some things should die. All things shall die. But that which dreams is still alive. If there is even a flicker of a dream, fan it to a flame. As long as you are dreaming, you are living. As long as you are living, keep moving. The Dream Giver is prompting you, step by step, to move in a direction that will surprise and delight. Never stop. When it is time to die, the Dream Giver will let you know and take you by the hand to lead you to the that which is next - the Dream that never dies.
Given the fact that not all people have the exact same political convictions (not even all solid Evangelical Christians), that our country is more important than our individual views, and that we have been through a nasty, hostile, and polarizing political season, I have a suggestion and request. Let's give it a rest.
Relationships are more crucial to building national well being than legislation. Legislation itself, depends on cooperation. Good will is more characteristic of the American experience and aspiration than pervasive bigotry and mistrust. People are willing to bend toward opposing ideas when respected and heard.
All these factors are ample reasons to give the infighting, backbiting, inciting, igniting, and left-righting a much needed rest. Rest from the insults, innuendos, accusations, assumptions, generalizations, characterizations, manipulations, politicization, polarizations, and pious pronouncements along with dire predictions and victory marches. Just rest.
Rest is good. Regroup, rethink, retool, and reflect.
Your opponent's motives are not all wrong and your presumptions are not all right. Knowing that is a good mix of graciousness and humility.
It would be nice to have a conversation with friends I love and respect without having to choose between biting my tongue or defending my positions.
We can maintain our personal integrity without expressing every opinion we have in every context on all the time. And ... my fellow Christians ... we might try trusting God and each other a little more ... especially the One who said, "Come unto me and rest."
There will be ample time to duke it out. I'd just like a break from it - at least the nasty part of it.
Peace cannot be defined by what it is not.
It is not the absence of conflict. It is more.
It is not the cessation of violence. It is that which creates an atmosphere where violence cannot exist.
Peace is well being, within and without. It is wholeness and holiness.
Peace is what we deeply desire and yet, war against within our souls and in our relationships.
Peace is desireing for others what we most profoundly desire for ourselves - the best and fullest joy and grace. It is desiring it and working for it.
Peace is about something within us before it is about something outside of us.
When peace pervades and God's peace stands sentry over our hearts, something beyond comprehension and description happens and we can become instruments of peace.
Let us sow love. Let us proclaim pardon. Let us nurture faith. Let us speak and act in hope. Let us be and reflect light. Let us stimulate genuine joy. Let us die to all that is death and be born to live to all that is truly life.
I have little use for a culture of anger and fear. I have little patience with bickering and polarization. I have an aversion for political fights, but I understand their place in the process. Now is the time for men and women of good will to work together toward peace. Now is the time to do what is best by becoming what we were created to be.
Let there be peace - wholeness, well-being, wisdom, and love.
Amen.