A Tree Blessing

It looked like half a tree on the ground.  A huge pecan limb came crashing to the ground the other night in the darkness and left us in the darkness for several hours.  Before it was cut up and hauled off, I measured it by stepping it off.  Over sixty feet of tree with all the pecans it would have made were laying on the ground.  It was one of the older trees on the farm.  Most folks guess it to be as old as the old farm house which dates back to the early 1900's.  Watching it go made me think of all the folks it has blessed.

 

It has blessed generation after generation with pecans to eat and sell.  It has provided shade on hot summer days for those who toiled in the fields next to it.  Squirrels nested in it and birds made it their home.  I have seen an old hoot owl perched on one of its limbs watching the chickens who walked around the chicken yard.  It has brought me and others food and pleasure through the years of its life.  And even though a big chunk of it is gone, a larger portion still stands with promises of more blessings to come.

 

A tree planted so long ago has been such a blessing to so many for so long.  I can understand why some from other traditions would look at such a tree and thank it for being such a blessing.  The longer I live under the shadow of these long livers and long givers the more I, too, want to thank the trees for being such a blessing.  But, what they really call me to do is to thank God for this incredible creation which He has put all around me and for the way it continues to bless me as it has the many who have lived here ever so briefly in this place on the earth. 

The Hardest Repentance

During a night when sleep seemed to be in another room, I found myself moving about the house and finally stepping outside on the front porch.  To my surprise the hold darkness had on the earth was being broken by a sun that was still hiding under the eastern edge of the earth.  I stood there seeing what there was to see in that early morning light.   It occurred to me in those moments of looking that the sun was in no hurry to show itself.  The sun never seems to hurry.  It simply does it's thing every day in it's own time with no sense of hurrying, or being in a hurry.

 

We are the ones who hurry.  Of all the creatures in the creation, we are the one that hurries, stays in a hurry, and seems to forget all about the lessons of patience and waiting, lessons which the creation is always teaching us.  Everything else moves and grows without hurry.  Yet, as smart as we are and from our perch of having dominion over all things, we ignore one of the most basic laws of the created order.  Not even the Creator of the creation gets in a hurry.  We hold the market on always hurrying from one place and thing to another.

 

Hurrying does nothing to add to the number of our days, nor does it add to the quality of our days.  Actually, it only diminishes both the number and their quality. Though smart enough to know such is true, we still run from one thing to another without breathing.  Perhaps, this hurrying of ours is one of our greatest temptation and most common sins.  Who would have ever thought hurrying was a cause for repentance?  Of course, to repent means more than acknowledgment, but turning away to another choice.

A Marvellous Creation

One of the things which has resonated with my spirit in my growing awareness of Celtic spirituality is its earthiness.  It is full of references to water, earth, wind, and fire.  It touches the basics of life in such a way that dirty hands are seen as blessing and routine mundane work becomes a catalyst for prayers of blessing.  It is amazing how it brings the most common, most ordinary, most profane of things inside the realm of our spiritual life.

 

I thought about all of this yesterday as I marked another birthday.  As I thanked God for the blessing of seventy-one years, I remembered a Celtic prayer which dared to thank God for "the bed of my conception."  While it is unfortunately not always the case, it is a blessing to know our beginning was the result of love shared between two people who then lived to shape our lives for good.  And, what is true for all of us regardless of the circumstances of our conception and beginning is that God, the Creator, was present and a part of that moment of beginning.

 

The Word tells us that God knew us before our beginning and watched us as we were being shaped and formed in the womb of our mother.  It is a marvellous and wonderful thing this thing of creation.  The creation we see all around us is a testimony to the creative power of God.  It is truly astounding to behold.  Take a look in the mirror today and know once again the marvellous power of God.   And, know, too, that as surely as God has a plan for every tree which grows and every bird which sings, He has a plan for the one who is looking back at us in the mirror.

No Room for Pretence

In my early adolescent years I lived under the illusion that I could be a Christian and no one would have to know about it.  I laughed and participated in conversations and activities which demeaned other people as I told myself my actions repesented a facade that gave me peer approval.  I thought I could live with my actions saying one thing and still have a heart that was loyal to another.  It is amazing how we can deceive ourselves. 

 

When the woman of Samaria really accepted Jesus as the Messiah, she did not make it the big secret of her life.  Going back to her village where people regarded her as one of the chief sinners, she told them about Jesus who was out at Jacob's Well.  She spoke of Him in such a convincing way that she caused many to go out and see Jesus for themselves.  The sinner became the evangelist.  The one called unrighteous led the many to the holy righteous One who waited for them there on the edge of their village.

 

A phrase often heard is "walk the talk."  If we are truly a follower of Jesus, it should not be necessary for anyone to wonder if we are a Christian.  A follower of Jesus is the one who is the first to give love and seek reconciliation.  A follower of Jesus is always one who seeks the fruit of the Spirit.  A follower of Jesus is one who puts the agenda of Jesus ahead of all others.  It should be as obvious as day and night.  It should be such for any of us who allow our lips to speak of Jesus.

The First Encounter

There is truly something special about that first encounter with Jesus in which His life changing power is allowed to work in our hearts. Anyone who has chosen the way of Jesus has a history of many powerful moments with Jesus, but the one which sets the course for the rest of life is one which can never be forgotten.  The Samaritan woman who met Jesus under the heat of the noon day sun had no expectation which included meeting someone like Jesus, but there He was as if He had waiting for her all her life.

 

At first she did as so many of us have done.  She sought to push Him away.  She threw up all the defense systems she had used to protect herself from vulnerability and love.  Judgment was something with which she was well acquainted, but freely given grace and unconditional acceptance was not a part of her daily experience.  As is the case with so many of us, in the beginning she did not know what to do with someone like Jesus so she tried to escape.  Even as we run for some hiding place, Jesus comes running behind us.  He did not give up on this woman and He does not give up on us.

 

As long as I live and am able to remember, I will count with gratitude that night He waited for me as I knelt beside a bed that had become an altar.  It was a moment of confessing that my life was a mess.  It was a moment of a forgiveness I still do not understand.  It was a moment of knowing I belonged.  It was a moment of beginning.  I asked Jesus to come into my life as Savior and He did.  I have never looked back at that moment with regret, only joy and overwhelming thanksgiving.

Two Dimensional Conversation

The conversation Jesus had with the woman of Samaria at Jacob's Well was such a two dimensional conversation.  He was talking at one level and she at another.  She kept going to what was logical and pragmatic while He pursued a spiritual end.  When Jesus said, "...you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water" (John 4:10), the woman started talking about Him not having a bucket and the well being deep.  When Jesus spoke of "...a spring of water gushing up to eternal life"  John 4:14), she said, "Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water." (John 4:15)

 

She was not the first person to encounter Jesus and pull such a stunt.  More of us have done the same thing more than we might want to admit.  Perhaps, we have heard Jesus telling us to go and to serve in a specific way and we pushed it aside with a response that is less demanding than we know He intended.  Or, perhaps, we have memories of some very personal encounters with Jesus in which He showed us our real self as He did when He pointed out to the Samaritan woman that she had five husbands.  We often choose to live in a pretend world where Jesus does not really know and understand the things about us of which He speaks.

 

Two dimensional conversation is a way of keeping the conversation and the One speaking at a comfortable distance.  It keeps us from having to deal with the real issues of our heart by pushing back or thrusting them aside as issues not as important as Jesus would make them.  Jesus speaks a word to us about a need for confession and repentance and we say what I used to say to my Mother as a boy, "Everybody is doing it."  Fortunately, for the woman of Samaria Jesus finally broke through to heal her broken heart and know for sure that He is relentlessly doing the same with us. 

The Needs of Jesus

"Give me a drink,"  (John 4:7) was what Jesus said to the Samaritan woman at Jacob's Well.  She was equipped to handle the request since she was there to draw water for her daily household needs.  She was probably still surprised since as she put it, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?"  (John 4:9)  It was a natural request on the part of Jesus.  He had been on the road and He had nothing to use to pull water up from the depth of this ancient well. 

 

It is not often in the gospels that we hear Jesus asking for someone's help.  Certainly, He did at Jacob's Well and then again from the cross as he spoke through His agony, "I am thirsty."  (John 19:28)  There were certainly other times when others cared for His needs as Mary and Martha did in their home and Zacchaeus did when Jesus came into his town.  The truth is Jesus depended upon others throughout His ministry.  He was the Son of God and He did have divine powers, but His was not a solo act.

It remains the same today.  Jesus calls folks like you and me to help Him, to share with Him, and to partner with Him in doing those things He wants to do in the world.  While He could surely snap His fingers and bring His power to bear, or He could send forth a host of heavenly angels to do his bidding, He has ordained a way of accomplishing His work which involves using the likes of us.  The next time we sense Jesus is asking to do something, to care for someone, or to serve another, let us remember as we offer what He asks, we are accomplishing something He needs to get done. 

Count Me In

When the woman of Samaria went to Jacob's Well on that day her life was forever changed, she went figuring only on getting some water for her household needs.  Meeting someone like Jesus was the farthest thing from her mind.  Most likely she had decided long before that day that there were no men like the One she found waiting at the well.  She was a woman who would know such things.  She had known more than her share of men who saw her as damaged goods and treated her the same way.

 

When she got to Jacob's Well she not only met a man unlike any she had ever known, but she also met Jesus.  Jesus.  Maybe she had heard about him.  Maybe not.  What mattered was the fact that she met him and because of that encounter her life was never the same.   A little more than 53 years ago I went to a church meeting because I was told I had to go.  I expected it to be like a hundred other boring church meetings I had attended.  I went because I had to go.  Someone else made the choice for me.  Like the woman at the well, I encountered Jesus that night in a way that changed the rest of my life. 

 

It has surely happened that way for more than just me and the woman of Samaria.  Many times folks start out to do something as mundane as getting household needs handled, or fulfilling a duty, only to find that Jesus shows up in a way which cannot be avoided.  Sometimes it is like turning a corner and there He stands, waiting, calling our name.  Oh, He may make Himself known in moments in which we expect Him to be present, but it is just as likely that He will show up in our lives when we are not even looking for Him.  However it happens, it is a moment with the potential for a life changing encounter.  Such is the witness of more folks than can possibly be numbered and you and I are surely in that number as well. 

The Broken Ones

"It was about noon."  (John 4:6)  When noon came Jesus was sitting at Jacob's Well near a village of Samaria.  And at the same time, a woman from the village was on her way to draw water for the day.  If it seems late to be drawing water for the day's needs, it was.  But, there was a reason.  As we get into the story we see that the woman was one of the broken ones of the community.  She had made some bad choices.  She was living as a product of those bad choices.  She was not only broken, she was damaged.  She was the talk of the village.  When she showed up, tongues wagged and gossip flourished. 

 

When the woman arrived at the well where Jesus was waiting, she was seeking a time when she would not have to deal with the talkers and those who looked down on her as one of the sinners.  It may have been hot and an odd time, but it was a small price to pay for the solitude.  Little did she know as she walked to the well that Jesus was there waiting.  When Jesus saw her, He knew.  He knew her.  He knew her story before she told it.  And despite all of his knowing, His spirit was not full of judgment, but full of grace.

 

Grace had always been in short supply.  Such was true then and now.  Anyone who knows their own brokenness and lives with the scars of wrong choices knows the importance of receiving grace.  However, receiving it is one thing and giving it is another.  Even as we need it, so do those around us who live with broken spirits and damaged souls.  There is more than enough pain to go around.  No one needs to be reminded of the way they made wrong choices.  What others want is what we want and that is the gift of grace that enables us to move toward wholeness. 

Better than a Drink

As we read into the words of the story of the Samaritan woman at Jacob's Well, we immediately run across several different layers of separation.  First, this woman and Jesus are strangers.  There is no reason for them to have a conversation.  Secondly, she is a woman and Jesus is a man.  Their culture created divisions among folks for the simple reason of sexual difference.  A third and not so obvious reason for separation is found within the fact that she is the unrighteous and He is the righteous.  And, finally, the most talked about reason has to do with her being a Samaritan and Jesus being a Jew.   There was a long history of separation between the two of them.

 

Some of these reasons for separation obviously mattered to the woman who came to the well, but it is also obvious they mattered not to Jesus.  There is nothing about the encounter or the conversation which indicates that Jesus would have chosen to avoid her.  His first word to her was a request for water.  She had the means of drawing and collecting the water and He had neither.  What He needed was dependent on her willingness to provide it and help Him.  "Give me a drink," He said to her.  (John 4:7)

 

With the request for help the door was opened and the differences imposed by culture and religion were broken and cast aside.  She was slow to do so, but Jesus showed a quick willingness to lay them aside.  The things which divide us from one another are often not so obvious as the separating things at Jacob's Well, but then again sometimes they are those very things.  We put too much stock in the things which declare our differences and not enough in the fact that differences are just differences, but not things to separate and keep us out of a meaningful relationship with another.  When the barriers are broken, there is opportunity for giving life to another which is exactly what Jesus gave to the woman who simply came to the well for a drink of water. 

Alone and Watching

When Jesus and the disciples arrived at the village in Samaria near Jacob's well, it was noon.  The middle of the day was full upon them.  Time to eat.  Since there was no fast food place near the well, all the disciples left Jesus and went into the village to buy something to eat.  Why it took twelve men to buy some food is a question the Word does not bother to ask.  Only inquiring souls who wonder about such things would ask it.  Interestingly enough, Jesus decided not to go.  He was tired and chose to sit by the well.

Sometimes being alone can be a good thing.  Getting ourselves separated from the herd and its appetites can position us to be about things that might likely be missed otherwise.  For some being alone in a place where people are passing or gathering or looking like they belong to someone else is a frightening thing.  But, the truth is that it also provides an opportunity to look around and be open to someone in need whom God is putting in our path.

Perhaps, Jesus knew the woman was coming and He made Himself available.  If so, such fore knowledge remains impossible for us to know.  What is possible for us to know is the reality that God would choose to partner with us in meeting the needs of those whose paths cross the ones we walk.  We only have to be willing.  We only have to be positioned so that we can be aware of those who are around by His choice and not just our own. 

Gushing Forth

When I first started reading the Bible long years ago, one of my favorite New Testament stories was the story of Jesus and the woman of Samaria.  (John 4)  By the time I got to Young Harris College I had learned to play the guitar and sing, "Jesus met the woman at the well" and not too long afterwards it was a text which lent itself to some of my earlier attempts at preaching.  It is a story with a lot of stories within the main story of the encounter between the woman and Jesus.  And, it is full of the kind of details which always make for a good memorable story.

 

One of the details which has always stayed with me was the reference in verse six to Jacob's well.  A well as old as Jacob's story was still being used by folks for their daily water needs.  To those folks who came day after day, the well must have seemed like an inexhaustible supply of water.  Perhaps, there were times through the centuries when it turned up dry, but the water always returned and people such as this woman from Samaria continued to come.  It was at this well which had provided water for folks ever since the time of Jacob that Jesus paused and talked about the truly unending supply of nourishment.

 

In verse 14 we hear Him saying, "...those who drink of the water  that I will give them will never be thirsty.  The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life."  Here is a Word about unending inexhaustible abundance.  Here is a Word which tells us the source of our life is not found in the externals, but through the internal and always present presence of Jesus.  What He gives for living is not something which is simply enough or adequate, but something which gushes forth in abundance.

A Speck in a Thimble

As I pushed those post hole diggers into what I hoped was the bottom of the hole and the salty taste of sweat ran in the corners of my dry mouth, I heard the strong sure sound of wind touching the tops of the nearby trees.  And almost instantly the cool unexpected breeze came over my body as surely as if I had been doused with cold waters from deep in the earth.   From whence the wind came I knew not.  How it came I had no idea.  But, suddenly it was present and everything about the moment was different. 

 

Such moments never come anymore without the sense that so comes the Holy Spirit in my life, across my path, and filling all the spaces around me and within me.  As I stood for a moment aware of the cool wind and the growing sense of God's Spirit, I could not help but breathe a quiet and simple prayer of thanksgiving for the blessing of the wind in the trees and the Wind of the Spirit.  Such moments awaken both the physical senses as well as the spiritual senses which stir within the soul.

 

There was a time when it seemed that I had a fair enough understanding of God in our world and how He works in the midst of us.  For a life time I have written sermons and preached about such a thing from one pulpit after another.  But, in this season of my life, it is not how much I know that grips me, but how much there is still to know.  What I know about God would hardly make a speck in a thimble as I think about all that there is still to know.  There is surely more to know than I will have years left to learn, but maybe what evades me as I walk this earth will be seen more clearly on the roads of eternity.  "Come, keep coming, Holy Wind.  Keep washing over me."

The Blessing of Mercy

For so many years daylight disappeared into darkness while I was inside a building tending to the needs of some church committee.  Certainly, it did not happen every night, but too many for sure.  Regardless, of how many times it actually happened, these years of retirement have afforded me what seems to be the daily privilege of being out in those moments of change.  As the light fades and darkness takes hold there are end of the day chores to do.  Things like checking on the chickens, making sure the cows have water, and housing equipment always seem out there as things to do. 

 

As I walked from one chore to another, I found myself humming a song I remembered from my days at evening chapel during the Young Harris College years.  "Day is dying in the west...." it begins and then the chorus comes with, "Holy, holy, holy.  Lord God of hosts! Heaven and earth are full of Thee, heaven and earth are praising Thee, O Lord most high."  As I walked remembering and singing, it did indeed become a holy moment.  And I joined with the creation all around me in praise to the One who brought us into being. 

 

What I have learned about the Celtic spirituality tradition lifts up their idea that moments of change such as the moment day gives way to night are threshold moments when the veil is thin between heaven and earth.  The more I walk in those moments, the more it seems that they surely discovered something long ago that I am only now beginning to understand.  Every moment has within it the possibility of becoming a holy moment.  There have been too many years when I missed it and how thankful I am for the blessing of mercy that has granted me time to see. 

Four Disciplines

If the church was once dependent on the Holy Spirit for its life, it is surely true that today's church is dependent on meetings for its existence.   A look at any church schedule reveals a list of committee meetings longer than a tall man's arm.  Most of the committees seem to have little to do with the spiritual life of the church, but instead, give support to its life as an institution.   A year long moratorium on meetings in the church would surely cause it to slide and disappear in the abyss of chaos.

If it is hard to imagine the church without all these institution supporting meetings, then a look at Acts 2:42 reveals what the church started doing after the smoke and wind cleared out of the room filled with heavenly power.  "They devoted themselves to the apostle's teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers."  It is impossible for us to imagine the church of today only about these four things.  In the beginning it was impossible for the new believers to imagine being occupied with anything else.

The disciplines of Acts 2:42 speak about those things which give life to the church.  They point to disciplines which give support to the spiritual life of the church instead of the institutional life of the church.   Unfortunately, we are not likely to discover this truth through the reality of experience.  It would be a hard thing for those in power and those accustomed to the status quo to turn lose and allow such to happen.  It was hard for those in power during Jesus' day which is one of the reasons He ended up on the cross.  One can only wonder if it could possibly happen again. 

The Work of the Spirit

It is always a risky business for a preacher to fancy himself or herself as a story teller.  And, it is even more risky when the preacher seems intent on telling stories which are centered on personal stuff.  Some personal stuff is acceptable, but sometimes it becomes the main fodder for the sermon and people soon lose interest.  Simon Peter could have told a whale of a story on that Pentecost Day when the Holy Spirit came into the room with such overwhelming power.  He could have even taken his listeners back to the good old days when he was a walking companion of Jesus.

Instead, what Peter preached was Jesus.  To a crowd of people who might not have been the people most interested in hearing about Jesus, Peter preached Jesus.  There is no way to read the sermon Peter preached that day without understanding that everything he had to say centered on Jesus.  From prophetic utterances to the cross to the empty tomb, the preacher preached.  When he finished no one had to wonder what Peter was trying to say.  It was such a powerful moment of preaching that several thousand people had their lives changed and looked for the waters of baptism.

There are times when we preachers seem to lose sight of Jesus in our preaching.  We get caught up thinking the pulpit time is an entertainment gig.  Or, we think that people are really interested in what we think.  What people really want to hear from the pulpit is what the Word of God is saying.  The person they really need to encounter is not the preacher, but Jesus.  Instead of being hesitant to preach too much about Jesus, those of us who preach need to pray the Holy Spirit will do His work in us.  And what is the work of the Holy Spirit.  The work of the Holy Spirit is to point people to Jesus. 

 

Filled With the Spirit

When the wind subsided and only smoke remained in the room, Simon Peter stepped forward as a leader in this church so new those present hardly knew what to call it.  But, this is a different Simon Peter.  The one who went out and preached that powerful message about the crucified and risen Jesus was emptied of any fear and filled with a boldness that must have amazed even him.  What made the difference?  The Holy Spirit made the difference. 

 

If we use the more traditional language who we hear preaching is a Spirit filled Simon Peter.  It is the only thing which accounts for the difference in the man who often talked a bigger game than he could play.  This power filled moment with the Holy Spirit did not take away the possibility of Peter messing things up in the way he had back when Jesus was walking with him, but it did create a man who began living under the authority and under the influence of the Holy Spirit.  It was a watershed moment that transformed the disciples' life, but it was about more than a moment in his life.  It was about a new and different lifestyle.

 

As we run into this term, "filled with the Spirit," we often want to dismiss it as something which belongs to the realm of outdated language.  There is something about the term which causes us to be hesitant about using it to describe our own living because we are flawed and dependent on the grace and mercy of God.   Too often we have seen it as something which speaks of spiritual extremism instead of life being lived as God intends for us to live.  We all submit to some authority.  In that moment in the room in Jerusalem, Simon Peter was overwhelmed with the Holy Spirit and all the unknown possibilities it held for walking with God.  He said "Yes" to that moment which is a choice for each one of us as well. 

The Difference

It was a book written by E. Stanley Jones, a 20th century missionary evangelist to India, a window was first opened enabling me to see the radical difference the Holy Spirit made in the lives of the disciples of Jesus on the day of Pentecost.  Jones pointed out that on the evening of the day of resurrection the disciples met behind locked doors for fear of the Jews.  (John 19:19)  Such was not the case on the day of Pentecost. 

 

These men once so gripped by their fears were out in the streets proclaiming the message of Jesus.  Though timid and fearful, after the Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost, they were filled with a never before experienced boldness.  Peter took the lead.  The one who had denied Jesus on the day of the cross now stood head and shoulders above all the others preaching with such power that three thousand of those curiosity seekers became baptized believers.

 

It is no wonder so many long for a Pentecost type moment in the life of the church today.  The church of today might be characterized in many ways, but bold is not a word that quickly comes to mind.  And while its leaders are likely more educated and knowledgeable than any other generation of leaders, they tend to be cautious in preaching lest someone be offended.  In the story of Pentecost it speaks of people being "cut to the heart" (Acts 2:37) and seeking baptism after Peter's preaching.  Would that today's preached to be entertaining preaching had such convicting power.  So much has changed through the passing of the centuries.  The need for the Holy Spirit to come again with overwhelming power and presence still remains.  More than ever it remains.  "Come, Holy Spirit, Come upon Your church today.  Amen.

Inevitable Tension

On the day the wind and fire fell something was set in motion through the power of the Holy Spirit that continues to this day.  There have been times when those opposed to the presence of the Church in the world have tried to eradicate it, or diminish its influence, but what they sought to do was an impossible task.   In our day the opposition is not seen so much in external pressures as from within.  The opposing work is not overt, but subtle.  It is not as visible as it is invisible.  Still, the opposition is ever present and remains as relentless as always. 

 

The church is a spiritual community centered on Christ and given its life by the Holy Spirit.  It is, therefore, a presence in the world which will never be removed.  What is changing and is ever changing is the institutional church expressed not so much by the influence of the Holy Spirit as it is expressed by the influence of the people within it.  The institutional church and the community of faith are often two different creatures.  One is determined by grace and the other by more rules and orders than can be printed in a book.  The spiritual community which cannot be destroyed depends on things of the Spirit for its life while the institutional church depends on plans, programs, money, more people, better ideas, and its ability to blend with secular culture. 

 

It is often hard for us to separate the two.  To be a part of any church in our community is to be caught up in its institutional life.  It takes more soul searching than most of us want to do to understand how the institution undermines the community and takes us farther away from the wind and fire of the day of Pentecost.  Wind and fire people and keepers of the institution live in different time zones and, unfortunately, the tension is inevitable. 

Staying Too Long

There is no story like the wind and fire story in the second chapter of Acts.  Perhaps, there might be a parallel in the Old Testament story of the Valley of the Dry Bones in terms of imagery, but the experience of Ezekiel speaks of vision while the wind and fire narrative speaks of reality.  Who among us can imagine what it was like to stand in that brief moment when the wind and fire of the Holy Spirit burst into the room and overwhelmed it?  While we may have tried to imagine such a moment in our times of meditation, all our efforts surely fall short.

 

Like the moment of creation, there was a brief moment when the church was pure, only empowered by the Holy Spirit, and unsullied by human flaws and hearts determined on their own way.  How long did it take for those who were there to begin to think about what was going to happen in the future?  How long did it take for some of them to start thinking about human plans for this new thing which would be known as the church?  How long did it take for someone to start resenting the authority or the plans of another?  How long did it take for those who were its leaders to take it down a road away from the influence of the Holy Spirit?  How long did it take for the church to become more about the people who thought they were now in charge?  Probably, not as long as one might think.

 

What we know is that the church got settled into its life there in Jerusalem.  The mandate of Jesus to go into all the world seems to have gotten put on the back burner all too soon.  As we read into the book of Acts, we come to the story of Stephen and the persecution which fell upon the church after his death.  It was not the conviction of these new Apostles which drove the church out into the world to share the message of Christ,  but the power of persecution.  And even then, the Apostles still seemed content to stay in Jerusalem.  They got the part about staying in Jerusalem right.  They just stayed too long.

The Befuddling Work

The record of the earliest days of the church as it is set forth in the book of Acts depicts a situation which can still be seen in the contemporary church.  The instructions of Jesus were clear.  "...stay here in the city until you have been clothed from on high."  (Luke 24:49)  "While staying with them, He ordered them not leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father."  (Acts1:4)  And, to their credit, they stayed.  The did what they were told to do.  They did not head back to familiar places, but stayed in a place that was surely rift was danger, rumors, and turmoil.

 

What we preachers like to preach is that as they stayed, they spent all their time praying.  They waited, they tarried, they prayed.  But, while they surely did spend time praying for the Word says, "All these were constantly devoting themselves in prayer..." (Acts 1:14), it is also obvious they did some conferencing, some planning, maybe even some politicking.  Somewhere along the way between Ascension and Pentecost, they decided on the requirements for the successor to Judas and the way he would be chosen.  Before verse 23 could take place, there had to be a reaching of consensus. 

 

And while there is nothing wrong with any of what they did in figuring out that part of the future, it is likely that the waiting on God to act was difficult and that they thought their decision making might help God along with His work.  What the pre-church group had difficulty doing is the same struggle of the contemporary church.  Waiting on God was hard then and it is now.  We have never figured out exactly how to do it.  We pray and then we work.  Sometimes we work and then we pray.  But, to wait is a befuddling and difficult task.  It was from the very beginning and remains so even to this day. 

The Inbetween Mark

While it may not be the case on every gravestone marker, on most headstones there is the name followed by two important numbers.  The first number is the date of birth and the second is the date of death.  The two numbers marking the years is usually separated by a dash.  It could be said that even as the two numbered years represent the beginning and the end, the dash in the middle represents all the life that was lived between birth and death.  How strange that something so important could be represented by something as insignificant as a dash.

 

Graveyards do indeed have a way of humbling us.  They have a way of speaking truth to us that we do not want to hear.  We go through life with such a regard for all our accomplishments and all our accumulations.  How easy it is for us to come to a place where we think that life cannot go on without us.  But, it does.  Really.  Life never misses a beat even when we are no longer there to hear or feel it.  Oh, our life is an important thing, a thing of value, something brought into being by our Creator, but in the final analysis the Creator is in charge of it and not us. 

 

Not a single one of us has any way of determining how many years we live.  We can do all the healthy things and still have a short life.  And, we can do all the dumb things and live till we are older than most.   The number of our days is in the hands of the One who brought us into being.  What we do with the time given is to be used for purposes of that Creator.  Otherwise the dash counts for as little as it seems to count. 

Here and There

It is not an uncommon sight to see a fenced in graveyard out in the midst of a plowed field.  In some places graves might be moved to a new place to allow for progress to do its work, but out in the country it is more likely that the living will simply work around the dead.  There is even a very small graveyard nearby which stands on the edge of the wooded fringe of the highway right of way that can only be seen by those who know it is there and slow down enough to see.  Memorial cemeteries where every grave looks alike create a different feel than those where tombstones epitaphs tell stories about what happened between date of birth and date of death.

 

Folks have been burying their dead since the beginning.   Most of us were taught early on to show respect for those who are laid to rest around us.  As children we were told not to step on or walk on someone's grave.  The graveyard was not a place for playing, but for respecting and honoring.  The way we live with such regard for those who have gone before us says something about the way we value one another and life itself.

 

When the Hebrews headed back to the Promised Land after hundreds of years of slavery in Egypt, they carried the bones of their ancestor, Joseph.  When it was time to bury his wife, Abraham bought land so that it could be his land and not land that belonged to another.  When Jesus was taken down from the cross, two men of prominence made sure His body was laid to rest in a tomb lest it suffer some terrible fate.  For many of us those places where we have left our loved ones have become special places on this earth, perhaps, even holy ground.  Sometimes it seems as we walk those grounds, the distance between here and there is so diminished that sounds of heaven are all but breaking in upon us. 

Nothing to Fear

My father's death in a mid air plane collision brought my family back to Waycross, Georgia which was home to my parents and also where our extended family lived.  Almost every Sunday afternoon my mother would take me and my sister out the old home place deep in the countryside.  By the time we left for home, it was usually dark.  But, before going home, my mother would drive to the Pierce Chapel Church cemetery where my father was buried.  Dirt roads took us there.  A creek always ran across the road just below the cemetery. 

 

For my sister and I it was a scary trip.  The wooded dirt roads were frightening enough, but then the journey always ended at a cemetery.  When we arrived, my mother would get out of the car and spend some time in the near darkness there at his grave.  My sister and I stayed in the car.  Afraid to be in such a place in the dark describes how we felt.  I remember we often called to her to hurry up because we were afraid. 

 

I remember what she told us.  "There is nothing to be afraid of here."  It was one of my first lessons in theology.  There is nothing to fear in graveyards.  Jesus took away any reason for fear.  Death no longer has the last word.   The Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian Christians, "Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory?  Where, O death, is your sting?"  (I Corinthians 15:54-55)  Remember, too, what the angels said to the women at the empty tomb, "Do not be afraid." (Matthew 28:5)   Know to be true on the next visit to the graveyard, "There is nothing to be afraid of here."

Graveyard Stories

Graveyards may be quiet places, but they are also places that speak words to those who go with listening ears, open hearts, and imaginative minds.  Graveyards are full of stories for those who will pause for a few moments in the quietness.  I remember one graveyard whose tombstones tell the story of a man who married three sisters with the last of the three outlasting him.  On a recent visit to a nearby cemetery to do some clean up, I ended up uncovering a couple of headstones telling me two veterans were resting beneath my feet.  And, of course, the markers that tell of a life ending almost as soon as it started spends its own story.

 

Jesus no doubt visited many burial places.  Tradition tells us his earthly father, Joseph, died too soon.  The New Testament tells us of Jesus' trip to the burial site of his friend, Lazarus.  And as sure as we know of a few, we know there were many.  Life is not lived without making those trips as friends and family finish the course of their lives.  But, of course, the most told graveyard story is the one which took place three days after Jesus' spent his last energies struggling with death of the cross of Good Friday.  Those who came to his grave on the day after the Hebrew Sabbath came to finish the burial preparation, but instead found a tomb that was empty.

 

We speak of that event as resurrection.  It is not to be confused with the story of Lazarus.  This friend of Jesus was brought back from the corridors of death to die again.  His body was miraculously restored.  With Jesus it was different.  It was not a restoration, but a resurrection.  Where as Lazarus died once, was restored, and had to die again, Jesus was resurrected from death to never taste death again.  The Word tells us it is a victory that we share with Him through our faith.  As He died and now lives, so shall those of us who die with faith in him.  As surely, as He lives, so shall we.  This is the greatest graveyard story in all of history and it is one which touches everyone of us. 

Graveyards

Graveyards have been put in the backyard of our culture.  They used to be in plain sight, but nowadays it seems they exist not in the midst of those places we live, but on the edges on the communities where we spend our time.  We no longer have to see them as places to be passed as we go our way and neither do we have to think about the reminder their presence might speak to us.  As is sometimes said around these parts, "Out of sight, out of mind."

 

I remember it being different as I was growing up.  The churches which dotted the rural landscape were small, but most all had their own burying ground.  And, maybe it was because I went there one day to leave a father when he was too young to be going to such a place that I have so many memories of going and leaving the place littered with memorials to the dead.  Early on as a child I learned to live with the reality of death which soon took me to a hope of heaven and a resurrection.  Long before such a hope became a part of any understanding of doctrine or theology, this hope was growing within me. 

Of course, graveyards exist in the unseen places of our backyards, but they speak important words to us about our living.  Listening to those words about dying enables us to do a better job of living.  There are too few places and moments which speak to us about the fragile nature of our life and the certainty of our mortality; thus, we are tempted to live as if there will always be a tomorrow.  It may be a guarantee we want to give ourselves, but it is not one God gives to us.  He gives to a guarantee that right living will make our journey through the span of our earthly years worth something and He also guarantees through the great graveyard escape of His only Son that death does not have the last word.  It did not have the last word for Jesus.  Neither does it have the last word in our life. 

More Than Enough

The issue on the Mt. Carmel was lighting the altar without using any fire.  When Elijah set the rules for the mountain top contest he said, "...the god who answers by fire is indeed God."  ( I Kings 18:24)  So the prophets of Baal prepared their altar, did their praying and dancing, but no fire came.  When they were past exhaustion, Elijah prepared his altar, drenched it with water, and called upon the Lord to light it.  "Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, and the dust, and even licked up the water that was in the trench."  ( I Kings 18:38)

 

What makes the story such a miracle is not the fire falling from the skies.  A few days ago a powerful bolt of lighting came crashing down on a nearby wheat field ready for harvest and by the time the fire was put out over twenty acres of wheat had burned.  What makes the Mt. Carmel story so miraculous is not the fire falling from heaven, but its precision and timing.  Everyone on that mountain should have been running for cover in the seconds that altar was set ablaze.  It was indeed a moment which was surely retold in a hundred stories around many a campfire. 

 

The fire from heaven was more than enough.  God has a way of doing things in a more than enough fashion.  He let David pick up a handful of stones from the creek bed before going to face Goliath although one was going to be enough.  When Jesus fed the five thousand there was more than enough as baskets of leftovers were collected.  When we fall short of what God expects of us, when we sin till our bucket is full and running over, there is always more than enough grace in the hands of God to take care of the sin which is bringing ruin and guilt into our lives.  When God decided to let the world know how much love He had for all of us, more than enough was poured out on Calvary.  Indeed, He has always been and will always be the God of more than enough. 

Experiencing the Wind

With the work finally done, I found a Gatorade in the ice chest and a chair on the front porch.  The breeze I had been looking for the whole time I was cutting grass finally showed up.  I watched it touch the pecan trees across the way.  It was not something I had not seen on other days.  One of the things I have become since retiring is a watcher.  I have learned to watch things, to pay attention to things never seen in my working years.  As I watched the wind touching the trees, I realized something new.  Every tree experiences the wind differently.

 

While one was filled with swaying branches, its neighbor hardly moved.  Some were moving a lot as if the wind was filling them up and others were hardly moving at all.  Was it because of where they were growing?  Did it have anything to do with the roots set in the ground?  Or, maybe the explanation can be found in different limb and branch structure.  I never really came to a satisfactory answer to my question.  All I noticed with certainty was that every tree, though bearing the same name, was different and every one seem to experience the wind differently. 

 

Sometimes I sense that God is sending messages through the creation.  And, if He does, then I must confess to having spent most of my life not listening.  But, lately, in this season of paying attention, things are seen and heard in different ways.  I am slowly discovery that God does reveal Himself through the creation around us.  I am also learning to hear a Voice which has often been missed.  As are those trees, so are we.  Each one of us is different and each one of us experiences the holy wind of the Spirit differently.