Surprising Seasons

There was a time when the year was clearly divided into the four seasons.  Later in life as I got involved in the liturgical life of the church, I became familiar with still another listing of seasons like Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, and Pentecost.  As these later years took me down a road where the calendar of the church faded from view, new seasons, seasons never really noted, have come into my life and sometimes passed at the dawning of still other moments of time.

The writer of Ecclesiastes hit the nail on the head when he wrote, "For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven."  (Ecclesiastes 3:1)  Some times in life are remembered as seasons of loss.  Some are remembered as seasons of great joy.  Some are experienced as seasons of change.  Others are called seasons of spiritual growth, or seasons of seeking, or even seasons of rest.  Life is not quite as orderly as we would like for it to be.  It gets messy and often stays that way for longer than we would choose.  Some seasons are filled with sunshine and blue skies and others come as dark powerful storms that change the landscape of our heart. 

But, even as spring and summer and fall and winter come and go, so do the other seasons of our life.  And even as the four seasons on the calendar speak of the order of the creation, so do these seasons that we end up remembering and naming in the deep places of our heart.  As surely as God is in control during the spring and winter, so is He in control in the season of loss and the season of heartbreak.  He is the One who holds together all the messy parts of our life.  What comes surely passes through divine hands.  The plan He has for the creation includes even the smallest parts of it like each one of us. 

The Hummingbird Encounter

A hummingbird did a fly-in on the front porch this morning when I stepped out to see where the cows were grazing.  I heard a loud buzzing noise which caused me to look around for the source of the noise.  When I turned around, it seemed that the hovering hummingbird and I were staring at one another eye-to-eye.  For the briefest of moments we spent a piece of the morning together and then he was gone into the air above the brown hayfield.  It was one of the memorable moments of the day.  The next time one stops by for such a close encounter I will not be so surprised.

Hummingbirds are marvelous creatures.  Who among us would have thought "bird" and created something so wonderfully made?  Actually, all the creatures God has made are wonderfully made.  Some may have more appeal than others and some may be more fascinating to us than others, but every creature that shares life with us on this planet is as much a creation of the hands of the Almighty as each one of us. 

 

Sometimes we forget this truth about ourselves.  There is nothing that is ordinary about any single one of us.  With more people on the planet that we could count, there is no one like anyone of us.  It is not just our outward appearance which makes us unique, but more importantly, the way God has hand shaped our soul.  With a personality and spirit different from any other, we each have been created to relate to the heart of God in a unique way.  Even as each of our biological children are different, we are even more different as one of God's created children.  Never should we look in the mirror and put ourselves down for we bear the image of the divine and carry the essence of our Creator God everywhere we go. 

I Am Blessed

When she came from out back to behind the counter in the bakery part of the store, I was not surprised to see this older woman dressed in an ankle length simple pink dress underneath her apron.  After all, it was a Mennonite bakery and restaurant.   As morning greetings were exchanged I said to her, "Hope your day is going well," and she responded by saying, "I am blessed."  The words she spoke resonated from the joyful countenance which showed beneath the small white cloth covering upon her graying head. 

All day I have carried her words, "I am blessed," with me.  In a way she could not have imagined when she spoke, she has blessed me all day long.  Whenever my mind found a neutral moment, those words took hold and brought blessing in my life.  Simple words.  They were surely words spoken from a grateful heart.  Blessings may come from God, but recognizing the gifts of God as blessings only comes to us as we receive them with gratitude. 

Try it some day when it seems that the gray clouds have pulled all the sunlight out of the world where we live.  As we begin to see and acknowledge the things around us which bless us, a sour attitude is likely to be overcome by thanksgiving.  And what blesses us?  Everything around us has the inherent power to bless our life.  We simply do not always have eyes to see.  A bird blesses us with the beauty of flight.  A tree blesses us with shade on a hot day.  A glass of cold water blesses us as it quenches thirst.   A stranger blesses us with a gesture of kindness.  Ah, blessings, simple blessings do abound and we, like the Mennonite lady, are surely one of those so grateful that we, too, could be heard saying, "I am blessed."

Not Alone

Today we journey, 
   but not alone,
   though no one ahead,
   no one behind,
   no one beside us.
Still not alone.
   God is with us.

Today we journey,
   in the Shadow,
   with the Light,
   always ahead,
   constantly beside.
Never alone.
   Christ is with us.

Today we journey,
   pushed along,
   sometimes pulled,
   swirling Wind,
   never stilled.
Alone impossible.
   Spirit is with us.

Today we journey.
   companions three,
   ever present,
   visible, invisible,
   over and around,
God, Christ, Holy Spirit,
   always being with us.

The Greater Gift

When the Celtic saint set himself in a small coracle and turned loose of the shore's hold to go wherever the wind and the current would take him, he saw himself as beginning a journey, or a pilgrimage which would lead him to the place of his resurrection.  The place of his resurrection was understood to be a place to which the Spirit led him spend the rest of his life.  It was a journey with no destination or goal in view.  Wherever it ended was up to the Spirit.

 

While I have read so many things in recent years which have sought to describe and define the journey of faith which is a part of the life of any believer in Christ, no image has resonated in such a powerful way as the image of these saints from another generation and another century.  In the beginning it seems to most of us that we have some understanding, and perhaps, even some control over where we are going with Christ.  We begin with our plans and rigidly work to keep those plans in place.

 

As the poem declares, "the best laid plans of mice and men oft go awry..," so, it has been with my plans.  Maybe it has been the same with all of us.  One of the insights of retrospection is that the journey has taken a course not planned, or anticipated.  It has been filled with things beyond imagination and things which would not have been chosen.  But, all along the way, the Spirit has been working to bring us to a place where the rest of life could be lived in faithfulness to God.  No greater gift could be given us on this journey.

Steps

Small steps,
   like those of a child
   learning to walk,
   faltering and uncertain
one way, then another,
   but forward.

Steps to ahead,
   wherever that is,
   an unseen place,
   strange, fearful
stretching out there,
   like stepping stones.

In His steps,
   dusty imprints.
   seen, then unseen,
   always signs
planted along the way,
   for eyes of faith.

Falling Yellow Leaves

From my porch chair I looked through the rising smoke of the grill and watched yellow leaves as they turned loose of lofty perches to begin their wind driven journey to the ground.  One after another turned loose and took the journey.  They were surely the first of hundreds of thousands still green and hanging tenaciously to the place they have been perched since bud break back in the Spring.  It is more than just a journey to the ground.  Their arrival on the ground is only the beginning of the rest of the journey which will once again join them to the tree and its continued life in another year.

 

As I watched, I was reminded of the journey of faith which is a part of our lives as we trust in Christ.  We are constantly being asked to turn loose of the things which give us a sense of security and comfort.  As we move along through the years of the faith journey, we come to understand that faith is always about turning loose of the things which grant us comfort and security.  What we are called to do in this journey of faith with Christ is to turn loose of what we hold tenaciously so that the Wind driven part of the journey can continue. 

 

When we turn loose and the Holy Wind takes hold of us, it will carry us to a place where the things upon which we depend for life become as dead limbs in winter's trees.  And as we are caught up in the holy journey, we discover that we are taken to a place where our own lives experience a kind of resurrection that makes us a part of what God is continuing to do in the world around us.  When we dare to let go and give the Holy Wind air under us, we can know that our own usefulness to the holy endeavors of God is about to be renewed.  What a blessing comes to us as we dare to allow our faith to set us free from the things we hold too tightly. 

More to See

As many times as Jesus spoke of His impending death, none of the disciples should have been surprised.  But, most likely it was too far a reach for any of them to really consider.  Nonetheless, it happened as Jesus said it would happen.  Another thing which must have greatly surprised every Hebrew was what happened in the Temple when Jesus died.  While the first three gospels all record the event, Matthew wrote, "Then Jesus cried again with a loud voice and breathed His last.  At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom."  (Matthew 27:50-51)

 

The curtain in the Temple separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the Temple.  Only once a year did the high priest go behind the veil to offer a sin sacrifice for the people.  It was regarded as the most holy place in all the land.  One of the interpretations often given to this event is that with the death of Christ accessibility to God was given to all.  No longer would only the High Priest go into this holy place.  With the death of Christ, everyone was granted access to the presence of God.  His presence would no longer be limited to the most holy place in the Temple and everyone had access.

 

It has been the interpretation I have carried with me on my journey.  Recently, as I was reading a book entitled "Everything Belongs" by Richard Rohr, I read, "In mature religion, the secular becomes sacred.  There are no longer two worlds.  We no longer have to leave the secular world to find sacred space because they've come together. That was the significance of the temple veil rending when Jesus died....There is no natural world where God is not.  It is all supernatural."  Rohr's words opened a new window for me to see something I have been seeing a long time, but just maybe, not seeing everything there was to see. 

Past and Future

When Jesus spoke of that old snake story from the past by saying, "And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life,"  (John 3:14-15) He was pointing toward the past and toward the future.  The story from the past would give meaning to the story that was not yet written.  The story from the past was written in the wilderness.  The story about to be written would be written on a hill outside of Jerusalem called Calvary.

As surely as Moses raised up the serpent in the wilderness, so would God raise up His Son on Calvary's cross.  On that cross He would suffer and die so that anyone who looked with a believing heart would know forgiveness, experience healing from the plight of sin, and be given assurance of eternal life.  The story about to be written carried with it a powerful life giving promise and the only condition for receiving it fully was looking with faith. 

Today as we read the Words found in the 3rd chapter of John, it is all a story from the past.  But, it still remains a story which affects both our present and our future.  It affects our present in that our decision about the sacrifice on the cross has a determining factor on our trip through this life being one that counts for something of value.  And, most assuredly it affects our future as the promise of eternal life made so long ago is still offered to everyone of us who looks toward the cross of Christ with faith.  This life is not the end.  There is more.  It is a promised reality offered by the One who has made a way for the best and the worst of us to know deliverance from the disobedient heart that has the inherent power to destroy us.

Jesus and the Serpent

The prelude to John 3:16 takes us back to the snake story told in Numbers 21.   The short version of that story tells us that the Hebrews sinned.  Poisonous snakes were sent into their camp by God as punishment.  When they cried out, Moses was told to make a bronze serpent and raise it on a pole in the camp.  As the snake bitten people looked at it, they would be delivered from their punishment.  

 

Of course, Jesus did not tell the story.  He simply made reference to it.  "And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life."  (John 3:14-15)  Any good Hebrew would hear the reference and immediately remember all the details of the story.  What Jesus said was more than enough.  Actually, He said far more than those first century listeners might have grasped at their first hearing.  The Hebrews in the wilderness were delivered from the power of the serpent's poison and were given back the rest of their earthly life.  The Son of Man being lifted up would result in those suffering from the weight and punishment of sin to have more than just the rest of their earthly life, but would, instead, be given the gift of eternal life. 

 

What Moses provided was good, but what Jesus was offering was even better.  One was temporal while the other was eternal.  In each case it was necessary to choose to look with faith.  Even as a snake bitten Hebrew could have refused to look at the raised serpent, so could anyone refuse to look toward the crucified Christ with faith.  The choice is still the same.  Jesus has been raised up as a means of our deliverance, but the next step is always up to us.  We have to choose to look, but not as an observer of history, but as one who looks with the desperate faith of one who knows there is no hope in anyone else. 

Bigger Than Our Box

The snake story in Numbers 21 is a troubling story.  It is not the poisonous snakes in the camp of the Hebrews that is troubling although those Hebrews back then would surely disagree.  What is really troubling is verse 6 which says, "Then the Lord sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died."  Again, as troubling as the snakes might have been, the most troubling part of the whole thing is that the Lord sent the poisonous snakes among the people to bite them.

 

How can a spin be put on these words which makes God look better than this verse portrays Him?  Of course, the same kind of question might be raised when reading about the days before the big flood, or the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, or the people being sent into exile.  God had a hand in all these things as well.  The Scripture makes no attempt to color the events, to list mitigating circumstances, or to absolve God of any responsibility for the bad things that happened.  The same hand which provided manna and quail in the wilderness sent the snakes.  Sent the snakes to bite people. 

 

It is a tough one for most of us to figure out.  At first glance we read and understand that sin against God is a thing that has consequences.  The consequences of sin are never good.  There is more than truth being proclaimed when we see that the Hebrews brought punishment down on their own heads.  But, still this troubling verse remains.  The Lord sent the snakes.  How do we ever figure God out?   Of course, we never will.   Not even Jesus helps us out.  An intolerance for sin and punishing judgment was a part of His message as surely as was love and mercy.  Maybe one day when this life is history we will understand, but as for now God will remain a Mystery and He will always defy being put in the box we have built for Him. 

Throw it Down

Whenever I read that snake story found in the first few verses of the fourth chapter of Exodus, I think of Tom Skinner (1942-1994)  Tom Skinner was a gang leader turned evangelist who had a powerful way of preaching.  His sermon on the staff of Moses is unforgettable.  In a style all his own he preached about Moses throwing his staff down on the ground and it turning into a snake.  When told by God to pick it up by the tail, Skinner had Moses correcting God about the correct way to pick up a snake. "You pick it up by the head, not the tail," he said.

 

But the most memorable part of the sermon came when Skinner talked about Moses reaching down and picking up the snake by the tail and it becoming a staff again.  This time it was no longer the staff of Moses.  It was the staff of God.  He gave it to God and God gave it back as a staff that would accomplish God's work in a way Moses would never have been able to do.  An ordinary staff became the powerful staff of God.

 

I can still hear the voice of Tom Skinner asking, "Hey, Moses, what is that in your hand?"  (Exodus 4:2)  Of course, to hear that question meant also hearing the evangelist asking, "What is that in your hand?"  What do we hold in our hand that God can use if we would only throw it down?  What do we hold in our hand that He might give back to us so that we can use what seemed so ordinary in an extraordinary way?  We will never know, will we?  At least, we will never know unless we are willing to turn it loose, throw it down, and make it available to God. 

Snake Stories

Snakes are not my favorite creatures in the creation.  Being in the country, they are out there with us, but never as welcomed visitors.  While my head tells me that they can be beneficial, the message never really gets to the rest of me.  What set me to this kind of thinking and sharing was that story in the beginning pages of Genesis which featured the snake in the Garden.  Apparently, its presence was no surprise or threat to the Garden couple. 

 

Of course, this snake story is not the only one in the Scripture.  Without scratching my head too much, I remembered another one in Exodus 4.  Moses was told by God to throw down his staff which became a snake on the ground and then to pick up the snake by the tail.  When he did, it became a staff again.  In Genesis the snake was a symbol of temptation, but with Moses it was a sign that God was with him. And, then, of course, there is the snake story in Numbers 21.  Poisonous snakes appeared in the camp of the Hebrews as punishment for their sin and then a bronze serpent was made by Moses to deliver them when bitten. 

 

So, where is all this stuff about snakes going?  The different snake stories speak of the serpent as being a tempter, a sign of God's power, a means of punishment, and a source of deliverance.  It is interesting the way God works.  Surprising.  But, then, as we look at creation we see the same truth illustrated with many other things.  Something can be benevolent and destructive.  The creation teaches the same thing the Word teaches.  Good and evil are ever present in our world.  When we encounter either, we should not be surprised.

The Question

It is the question of the broken heart.  It is the question of the greatest anguish.  The anguish within the question surely matches the anguish in the one Jesus cried out to the heavens when He was about to die on the cross.  "My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?"  (Matthew 27:46)  The anguish expressed in  that day so close to the beginning was greater than any human anguish ever known for it was divine anguish which was ripping open the very heart of God.  It is a question that will not leave us even though we leave it as we turn the page of the story. 

 

In the midst of that walk in the Garden at the time of the evening breeze, the Lord God encountered the two He had so wonderfully made, but on this occasion something was terribly wrong.  They were afraid.  They were trying to hide from him.  They knew the reality of making the choice of disobedience.  Instead of the Garden being filled with the joy of relationship, it was filled with the heaviness of separation.  Something never before experienced by God or humankind was the new reality. 

 

The divine question of the broken heart now overcome with terrible anguish was, "What is this that you have done?"  (Genesis 3:13)  The worst of all possible things had been done.  What had been done not only changed the nature of the relationship between Creator and created, but it also threw unavoidable consequences into the future which would forever be like an un-healable plague to men and women.  Sin had been chosen.  It would forever taint the heart of those the Lord God loved.  "What is this that you have done?" is the anguished cry of a broken hearted loving Father God who desired only the very best for those in whom He had breathed His own life.

Religious Sham

The story about the Lord God's walk in the Garden during the time of the evening breeze (Genesis 3:8) reveals much about the inner nature of all of us.  What we hear coming from the mouths of Adam and Eve in that moment is not a surprise for we have heard such words coming out of our own mouth.  Owning up to who we are really are, acknowledging the disobedient headstrong spirit within us, and claiming for ourselves the things we do wrong is not the first choice of anyone of us who is ego driven.

 

As we listen to the Garden of Eden couple, it is like standing aside from ourselves and listening to what we might say.  When confronted with the wrong committed against the intended will of the Lord God, Adam first of all blamed God for giving him the woman and then blamed the woman who gave him the fruit.  ""The woman You gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate."  (Genesis 3:12)  And when the attention was turned on the woman, she said, "The serpent tricked me, and I ate."  (Genesis 3:13) 

 

Isn't it just like someone like you and me to put the blame for our own wrongdoing anywhere but upon ourselves?  If there is a scapegoat, we will find it and if there is not one, we will create one.  What is generally our first reaction to any awareness of sin in our life is not exactly like what we hear in the prayer of David when he cried out, "Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your steadfast love;...For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.  Against You, You alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in Your sight..."  (Psalm 51:1, 3-4)  Before there can be any forgiveness of sin, there must be ownership of the sin.  Otherwise, asking for mercy is mere religious sham that counts for nothing. 

The Reason for Fear

The story of the evening in the Garden is one which causes our imagination to run wild even as it causes us to hold tightly to divine truths that have been operative since the very beginning.  It is a story that speaks of a moment which has become so commonplace that there is expectation on the part of the Lord God as He walks in the Garden and the couple who wait for Him to come.  The evening set forth in 8th verse of that third chapter of Genesis brings that relationship to a moment never before experienced.

While it is hard to imagine anyone being able to truly hide from the Lord God, the story does portray the Lord God calling out, "Where are you?"  (Genesis 3:9)  Perhaps, the question speaks to the way God does not force us to reveal ourselves to Him unless it is our choice.  Of course, He knows us.  He knows where we are.  He knows why we would choose to hide.  All of this is a given, but there is always still the sense that we have to choose to bring ourselves to Him.  So, the Lord God called out and the man Adam for the first time responded out of fear instead of eager anticipation. 

Often it seems that the fear we bring to some encounters with God speaks not of our fear of being cast aside forever by Him, but of our fear of what it means for us to be honest about ourselves with another even if the Other is God Himself.  One of our greatest fears is the fear of being real, the fear of owning up to ourselves about the things which have owned our heart and, perhaps, still own it.  Could it not be that our fear of looking into the mirror that shows us our heart and the real impulses and desires which dwell there causes more fear than holding on to them while we are in the presence of an Almighty God who has proven Himself to be merciful and forgiving time and time again? 

The Gift of Imagination

The Bible is full of great stories, but most assuredly one of my favorites is one of the first ones recorded in the beginning verses of Genesis.  The third chapter of that book of beginning has this story about the snake showing up in the Garden to tempt Adam and Eve.  It is also a story about God showing up in the Garden to seek out the Garden couple for what appears to be a moment of daily conversation.  One of the verses which takes us away from the impending outcome for just a moment is the 8th verse which says, "They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze..."

 

If our ears are turned to the sensitive level, we can hear the footsteps of God touching the earth with the gentleness of leaves being moved along the ground by a soft wind.  And if we are somehow able to put ourselves in the story at that moment in time, we come to an awareness that the end of whatever God was doing has come and it is time for a relaxing and refreshing walk midst the creation He made and with the couple He shared in relationship.  Of course, it is just a story that speaks to us of divine truths, but it is told in such a way as to call forth not only our intellect, but our imaginations as well.

 

Imagination is surely a wonderful gift from God.  We have been blessed by the creative energy inherent within the imagination of writers like C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien.  And, surely the gift of imagination which springs forth from our own life blesses us as it gives us eyes to see the things that the physical eyes cannot see.  When we read the Word, imagination is a blessed thing to carry with us.  We should not be afraid that it might lead us into some deep heresy, but grateful for the way that it can be used by God to bring His mysterious truths to our soul.

Required for the Journey

When I left home for college, I figured I had things figured out.  All the things concerning my young faith seemed nailed down.  Right was right and wrong was wrong.  By the time I arrived at Asbury College for my junior year, everything thing I thought I knew was saturated with doubt.  So much of what was nailed down had come loose and I joined the ranks of the skeptics who lived to pry loose what was nailed down in the lives of others.

I had more questions that I had answers.  What I have realized in these recent years when it might seem that I would have everything figured out is the reality that I have still have more questions than answers.  The difference now and then is that back then the questions created doubt and now they point me to Mystery.  How I came to a place where I thought I could figure everything out about matters pertaining to faith in Christ may be a great mystery, but an even greater Mystery is the One which stands before me each day in this journey of faith. 

 

Every day we walk with Christ, we walk enveloped in this holy Mystery of divine presence.  What is normal is not having everything figured out.  It is certainly nothing to be feared.  How can it be any other way?  What we know about God our Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit will always be less than what can be known.  We live not in a world of knowing, but in a world of unknowing.  It can be no other way.  It is no wonder that faith is required for this journey of going with Christ. 

One More Thing

When I was a student at Asbury College back in the '60's, there was a relic of the past not far from our campus.  It was a Shaker Community.  This Christian sect basically disbanded after the Civil War and by the time of my college days, the community buildings had been restored and it was becoming a tourist attraction.  They were called Shakers because of their ecstatic dancing during worship.  They embraced communal living, pacifism, and celibacy.  The communities were created as family units, but without natural reproduction, it was  difficult to survive as a community. 

Those who say it does not matter what you believe so long as you believe something could learn a lesson from this extinct sect of the Christian movement.  It has always seemed that an important thing to do with any embraced belief is to see where it will take us if carried to its logical conclusion.  A long time ago I came to a place which positioned me against capital punishment because I realized that I could not go to a prison and personally pull a switch that would take another life.  For me to expect someone else to do what I could not do was a place I could not stand.

It may not always be easy for us to ask ourselves where it is that our theological beliefs or the beliefs of our value system would carry us if we carried them to their logical, and perhaps, extreme conclusion, but it has served me as a guide along the way.  We all need some compass to help us stay on the course we want to travel.  John Wesley did this when he taught that good doctrine is based on Scripture, experience, reason, and tradition.  Maybe he would not mind if this old worn out Methodist preacher added one more thing from a life time of living. 

New Blessings

One of the things being learned in the present moment of my journey is the way all the things around me provide blessings in my life.  As a younger man I cannot remember being aware of the blessings coming to me through things like a new hatching of bluebirds flitting in the air, or a wild persimmon tree that has persisted in growing along the back fence row, or the moon creeping toward its fullness.  I may have seen such things, but not in the way they are appearing to these much older eyes.

 

Some might say what has changed is the environment.  During most of my life, I was more conscious of the signs of an urbanized life than the rural open countryside which now surrounds me.  But, reality also tells me what has changed is more than just the visible surroundings.  For so many years I allowed myself to stay caught up in society's deceiving games which promised that getting ahead and having more would make for a better more fulfilling life.  Even back in those days I knew it was a lie, but it was a seductive one that I did not always ignore.  I was too busy to see.  Paying attention to the now part of life was replaced by pre-occupation with tomorrow.

Being able to slow down has had its effect on the eyes which God has given us to see the things not seen by the eyes that see all the visible stuff in our life.  The creation which surrounds me envelopes me reminding me that I am the newcomer on the scene and when I am gone it will remain.  Everything that God has created and blessed as good is inherently a source of blessing on my life.  It makes me want to sometimes stand in front of that old spreading pecan tree and say, "Thank you, tree, for blessing me," and most assuredly that growing awareness has created a deep sense of gratitude to God for blessings He is now enabling me to see. 

Out of Sync

In our rush to become an urban world where sprawling concrete replaces black dirt and squared buildings replace towering trees, we are in danger of losing a vital connection to the creation.  We live in the creation, but we live in it without becoming a part of it.  There is a kind of detachment which characterizes our relationship to the created order.  When darkness falls, the work of the day is enabled by the flip of a switch on the wall.  Darkness may have ushered in a time of rest for the earlier primitive ones who walked before us, but we have learned how to manipulate the creation to what we think is our advantage.

 

The Scripture affirms the connected nature of the relationship men and women had with the creation of the Creator.  Wells were dug with hands.  Food was cooked over fire.  Days were for work and surviving.  Nights were for renewal and rest.  The creation as it was brought into being by our Creator God has a certain order about it.  Everything within it lives in step with that order.  Everything lives in sync with the creation and its order but those of us who were in the beginning given dominion over all living things and now walk upon it. 

 

Of course, the world is no longer a rural oriented world.  At least this is true in the places where so many of us live and work and rest.  But, whether our surroundings are open fields filled with towering trees or city streets lined with architectural endeavors of human kind, it is imperative that we somehow find a way to live within the created order affirming, respecting, and honoring the way the Creator has put it all in place.  As we do we surely join the rest of the created order in living according to our purpose and in the process give praise to the Creator who gave us life within the creation. 

Not a Mundane Day

Some days seem full of only the ordinary and mundane.  Everyone knows about such days.  Getting up and doing whatever is a  part of the normal routine and going to bed wondering what really got accomplished during the daylight hours makes for days that seem anything but extraordinary.   How many times have we been asked, "What did you do today?" only to reply, "Not much,"  or maybe "Nothing." 

 

The truth is there is nothing mundane and ordinary about any day we live.  Waking up each morning is nothing short of a miracle.  Walking up to a curb and not having to think about lifting your feet an extra six inches is another.  Being able to share a day with someone who shares a loving and caring relationship is another work of wonder.  The list simply goes on and on.  Writing down the ordinary common things that speak of blessings which are given to us each day can be an eye opening exercise. 

 

And, of course, we are loved.  We are loved not just by folks around us, but by the Creator whose grace brought us into being and whose breath sent us forward into the life we know.  Every day from the moment of our waking and through those moments of sleeping, He chooses to be with us, around us, before us, and behind us.  We are never without His protection and provision.  We are never without His love and mercy.  So, the next time we are tempted to call today just another day, we might stop and do what the old gospel hymn suggest, "Count your many blessings, name them one by one,....it might surprise you what the Lord has done." 

Not a Hallmark Movie

After reading the book of Job in his march through the Bible, our youngest grandson announced to his mother that it was just like a Hallmark movie,  "In the end everything works out good."  Never in all these years of reading the Bible and reading commentaries about the Bible have I ever heard Job likened to a Hallmark movie.   So many of us who have been reading the holy book for a long time have lost the ability to read the Scripture with fresh eyes, eyes that have never searched those holy pages, and in the process lost the ability to see as a child.

When we know the ending of the story, or when we have read a passage so many times it is all but memorized, it is easy to hurry on through what the Word might be saying to us.  What we sometimes forget is that those stories in the sacred book are not Hallmark movie plots, but the Holy Spirit's way of enabling us to hear a Word from God for the present moment of our life.  It is also the Holy Spirit's way of opening our eyes to see the things of the Spirit which are impossible to see with the eyes given to us at birth. 

So much gets lost by hurried reading, or reading that fails to pay attention to the familiar.  Every familiar thing around us is different when we see it.  If we stand under the shade of a tree that has blessed us long before we started counting blessings, or if we behold a lily that look like a hundred others that we have seen, it is likely we will see that today the familiar is not what we saw yesterday.  It is no different with the written Word of God.  The familiar Word we read today is not the same Word we read yesterday or last year because it is a living Word given so that we might hear fresh and new Words from the Almighty.

 

 

Rivers of Living Water

An opening word from a devotional written by Oswald Chambers put it like this, "The river touches places of which its source knows nothing..."  (My Utmost for His Highest) .  A river is another one of those very visible physical things which speaks to us about the invisible spiritual dimension of life.  As Chambers pointed out, Jesus said, ",,,Out of the believer's heart shall flow rivers of living water."  (John 7:38)   A river flows near here.  There have been times when I have drove the ten miles just to watch the river as it comes and goes. 

 

While it may not sound like exciting earth shattering entertainment, there is something about the movement of the water which has a way of stirring the heart.  Sometimes it flows deep and strong enough to sweep a man from his feet and sometimes it is a knee deep trickle in which small children wade and play.  It is ever changing.  It comes from some place that cannot be seen and passes to the same place in the other direction.  It is constantly touching and changing the landscape which seeks to hold it in its place.

 

To think of the life of Christ being in us like a river is a powerful image to consider.  In the upstream of my life, someone dared to say "Yes" to Jesus and put in a motion a life of flowing consequences which eventually touched my life to shape and change it in ways I never could have conceived.  And downstream from where I have lived that same life giving water of Christ flows touching folks unknown to me and unseen by me.  It is not necessary for me to know how the waters of Christ which flow through me have shaped the hearts of others to know that it has happened.  As surely as a river touches countless shores, so does the river of living water Christ set in motion from each of us have shaping power on the lives of others. 

Images

In these retirement years where I have slowed down to match the pace of everything around me, there is time to think, consider, and even contemplate.  Actually, the time to do such things has always been in existence, I was just too busy to notice and pay attention.  One thing which has loomed larger in my view in these days is the power of images.  Images teach us.  Images point us toward God.  Jesus created images with His parables and the mystics create them with the language of their contemplative spirituality.  I am aware teaching and inspiring images have always been around me, but my eyes refused to see them.

 

Of course, there is much to learn about God and how God is at work in the world from the books which expound theology and doctrine.   Unlike doctrine which is ponderously precise, images give our imaginations room to soar and our spirits freedom to create.  Images are visible physical things which invite us to consider the invisible spiritual things.  There was a time when it seemed that most of the images in my world were in the enclosed sanctuaries where pulpit and pews were placed, but more recently, it seems that images are everywhere in the world around us. 

 

Images point us toward God and what it means to be connected to God as surely as any book on theology or Christian living.  Every blade of grass, every limb on a tree, every creature that flies and crawls no matter how great or small, everything that has life whether it has breath or not can be seen as an image which though physical points us toward the spiritual.  As surely as it is true of each one of us, so do the things of the creation bear the marking of the handiwork of God.  Images of the Creator abound in the huge sanctuary of the universe and all we need to see are eyes not so blinded as to keep us from seeing. 

As Good as Done

Over the years I have read that verse in the first chapter of Acts which says, "All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer..."  (Acts 1:14) in a way which suggested that the praying had something to do with the Day of Pentecost.   I think in retrospect that my strong belief that praying makes a difference in the life of the church resulted in a blindness to what the text was really saying.  What happened on the Day of Pentecost was not about people praying, but about Jesus promising.  

 

Just before the Ascension of Jesus we hear Him saying, "I am sending upon you what my Father promised..." (Luke 24:49) and in the fifth verse of the first chapter of Acts, it is the about to ascend Jesus who said, "...you will be baptized  with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."  While there are many things which happen as the result of faithful people praying, it may be in error to make a strong connection between what actually happened on Pentecost and the prayers of the people of God.  Had no one prayed, the Day of Pentecost would still have happened because of the promise of Jesus.

 

Does this then mean that the praying of the disciples before Pentecost was a waste of time?  And, are there times when our praying is a waste of our time, and maybe, even a waste of God's time?   Certainly, there are times when we are wasting our prayer time.  We waste it when we pray for something we know is inconsistent with the will of God, or the way we understand God works.  We also waste it when we have gotten an unwanted answer to our prayer and we persist thinking persistence will change the mind of God.  And, most assuredly, we waste time which could be spent praying about other things when we pray for God to do what He has already promised.  If He has promised, it is as good as done!

 

 

A Fly on the Wall

A saying often used in these parts is, "I would like to be a fly on the wall," and so might we all as we think of the church praying on that day described in Acts 1:14.  About that moment the Word says, "All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer."  Jesus had told those disciples to wait in Jerusalem and while they waited, they prayed.  Pentecost was something which had not yet happened, and most assuredly, something they could not have imagined.   This prayer meeting described in so few words was surely the first of many.

 

To read those words and to let our mind wander is to wonder how those early disciples might have prayed.  If ever the church gathered with an agenda-less prayer, it was in those days.  They knew to wait and they prayed while they waited, but their praying was not guided by what they wanted to happen, but by the wonder and anticipation which was so heavy upon them.  They must have wondered what Jesus meant when He spoke of the Holy Spirit coming.  They must have wondered about what He meant by saying not to go until the Spirit had come.  They must have wondered what He meant by all that they could not possibly understand.

The church today could certainly become a stronger, more mature, and more loving church if it followed the example of these first believers in Jesus.  Today the church and its leaders often speak of the importance of prayer, but too much of that praying is according to an agenda carried into the prayer meeting.  Instead of being filled with wonder and anticipation at what the Holy Spirit might do, we start praying from the position of knowing what is best for the church and what the Holy Spirit should do to make it happen.   It makes for powerless praying and a confused and powerless church. 

Exciting Stuff

The book of Acts is, of course, an action story.  In breathtaking fashion the non-existent and invisible church becomes the existing and visible church moving across the world with extraordinary speed.  But, it is also a book which tells the story of a praying church.  Acts 1 speaks of the waiting disciples devoting themselves to prayer.  Acts 10 reports the powerful praying of Cornelius, a Gentile, and Peter, a Jew and the way their praying changed the world's view of the church.  And then, there is the prayer story of Acts12 which tells of the church's prayer for an imprisoned Peter.

 

The truth is the prayer stories are every bit as exciting as the action stories of the mission work which was bursting out upon the earth.   One of the things we see as we read and read again this textbook about the Holy Spirit is that prayer is one of the great tools of the church; yet, one which in surprising fashion continues to be pulled out either in a perfunctory manner or as a last resort.  Seldom does the church take the time to pray about the future and its challenges.  It always seems in too big a hurry to get things done to really invest time and energy in praying about its future and challenges.

Perhaps, it can be no other way.  The church is full of people afflicted with the disease of hurrying and staying busy.  Sadly, both seem to speak of the attributes we value more than paying attention to what our culture would declare to be the insignificant.   Sitting and waiting would be an impossible use of time for most church committees as well as worshipping congregations.  Sad.  What it means is that the church misses out on some of the exciting stuff the Holy Spirit would do among us. 

Listening for the Call

Many folks who live as believers in Christ live with the assumption that their lives are empty of the calling of God.  Preachers are called to preach and missionaries are called to the mission field, but a call just does not come to those not preachers or missionaries.  What is often missed is that a call may have a life time impact, but it is also true that sometimes the call of God is for a work or ministry that is so short term it can stare us in the face without being seen.   Discernment is often a gift for which we should more often pray as it is needed by all of us as we seek to know the bidding of God.

 

Not everyone is called to the pulpit or the mission field.  Not everyone is called to be a Jeremiah or a Simon Peter.  But, the reality is that if we live under the influence of Christ, we are going to be receiving some kind of call to be about some kind of ministry.  It may not be something which is grandiose and world shaping.  It may instead be some simple thing that speaks of meeting the need of someone who is as close as the neighbor next door, or the person whose path intersects with our own.  What is required to experience the call of God is not theological training, but an openness to the work of God in our life. 

 

How might our life be different if we started every day by declaring to God that we are available to do whatever it is that might need doing in the places where He will be sending us in the day stretching out before us?  How might our life be different if we went into each day with the expectation of being useful to God before the day was done?  Could it be that God is calling us to partner with Him in some act of love and care every day and yet we miss it simply because we are not looking or listening?  Sometimes God is calling and we are not listening.

The Requirement

In the very first words of the book of Jeremiah, we hear the Word of the Lord being spoken to a very young and surely frightened Jeremiah, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations."  (Jeremiah 1:4-5)  Like a lot of others such as Moses and Jonah, Jeremiah was not eager to do the Lord's bidding.  I remember my own moment of being called to preach as a moment of great reluctance.  What I sensed in my spirit that night in the Alamo Methodist parsonage was not something I wanted to do.  

That spirit of reluctance and fear may be more common than we think.  One of the reasons is that when God calls us, He often calls us beyond our reach.  What He asks us to do seems like something we are not equipped to do, something which generates anxiety, and something which causes us to want to run and hide.  When we begin to realize that whatever it is that God is calling us to do is beyond our reach, it is not an indicator that God has chosen the wrong person, but an indicator that He is calling us to a ministry which will require us to depend on Him to get it done. 

When people are involved in a response to the call of God, one of the worst things which can happen is for them to come to a place where they are comfortable.  Comfortable means "I can do this."  It means "I am adequate, I need no one to get it done."  What God calls us to be about does not fit into a teaspoon, nor is it something which is manageable with human hands or extraordinary intellect.  What God calls us to be about is always going to be something which requires the exercise of constant faith.  If it seems otherwise, it is likely we have gotten off course.