Seasons

A few days ago the weather people told us that fall had officially arrived.  Along with their assessment came some moderated temperatures and cool breezes.  A few days were enjoyed outside which did not end up with a moment of wringing the moisture out of your shirt.  And, then it happened.  The heat returned with a vengeance and everyone was wondering about the arrival of fall.  After a day or two of summer temperatures and blazing sun, it seems that fall is still out yonder somewhere and waiting to come.     

Such is the nature of seasons.  There is no arbitrary day which signals their actual departure or arrival.  Seasons change, but never as abruptly as going from one day on the calendar to another.  And, of course, not all seasons are defined by the calendar.  Some of the seasons are defined by the things which show up in our life and dominate our spirit.  We have seasons of joy.  We have seasons of new beginnings.  We have seasons of grief.  We have seasons of coming and seasons of going.   The list is endless.  As the Old Testament writer says, "For everything there is a season...."   (Ecclesiastes 3:1)     

As we get away from the seasons of the calendar and consider the seasons of our life, we begin to understand that seasons are like the tides which slip up and down across the shoreline.  They seem to come and go.  For awhile a season may seem to be in the past and then before a breath can be taken, we find ourselves once again caught up in the rising of it once again in our life.  Such should not surprise us.   As God has ordered the seasons of our calendar, so has He ordered the coming and going of the seasons which touch our souls.  

Dreams

Most of us are dreamers.  This is not to say that most people waste a lot of their time as dreamers might be accused of doing, but instead, it is to say that sleeping is often accompanied by dreams.  When I was a child dreams were things at which to marvel.  Later in life after education has had its impact on the child which continued to live within me, they became strange windows which provided views of the world which required some measure of psychological interpretation.    

Somewhere in the middle of the years given to me, I began to see that dreams could be as the Voice of God being spoken in my inner being.  It should not have taken me so long to come to such a conclusion since by the moment of revelation I had read hundreds of times the story of Joseph having a dream that God used to change forever his future.  Unsure of whether he wanted to marry a young girl who was pregnant with a child which did not belong to him, he went to sleep.  While sleeping he had a dream and the rest is history.    

Dreams do not have to be thought of as night time disruptions caused by poor late night eating habits, but they can also be seen as a means by which the Spirit of God seeks to communicate and relate to us in the unguarded moments of our life.  Even as adults there is reason to wake up marveling at how our subconscious has been deeply touched by the Spirit of God.  Since most of us dream and since the Spirit is still seeking to guide and direct us toward the plan and will of God, it only makes sense to pay attention to what is going on inside of us even when we are sleeping.  

In the Storm

Dark nights will come

   when pouring rain 

      will rattle the panes

        blowing away the silence

of the soul seeking solitude.

The solitude holds not silence

    so much as sense of Presence

      needed by the seeking soul

        hungry and thirsting

for the Bread and the Water.

The nurturing stuff of life

    seems so far away

      when hard rain falls

         and raging winds blow

in the frightening darkness.

Midnight blackness hides the One

   Who allows and controls

      the storms in the dark

        and softly says, "It is I."

And then, "Be not afraid."

The Place of Resurrection

The Celtic monks of the regions in and around Ireland were greatly influenced by the Desert Fathers who actually lived in barren dry places.  There were no such regions around these Celtic saints so they went to the fringe areas, to the wild places, to construct their hermitages and live in solitude seeking God.  Often they were led to such places by the winds of the Spirit as they were given some sign that they had come to the place of their resurrection.    

At first the idea of coming to a place of resurrection sounds confusing.  To some it may seem that it has something to do with dying which, of course, was not the case at all.  It was more a reference to a place where God would do something so new in their life it seemed like being infused with new life.  And while it might seem that it would be overwhelmingly positive, there was often pain in leaving a place or a situation which was home, comfortable, and where God had provided many a blessing.  

It seems that it is always hard to move toward those resurrecting kind of changes in our life.  Of course, what we know is the reality that the changes are not necessarily geographic, but more likely to be things such as separation from spiritual friends upon whom we have depended, or maybe a different worship setting, or maybe even a radical change in an understanding of the ministry God has given to us.  Pilgrimages do not always require feet.  At times a willing and obedient spirit is all that is necessary.  

Pilgrimages

For some reason these recent days have been full of thoughts about the journey of faith on which I embarked so long ago and which has brought me now to a place which I can only describe as "know-not-where."  To this place I did not know I was going, but now that I have arrived in it, I recognize it as home.  The ancient Celtic Christians talked about pilgrimages which took them not to some destination such as a religious shrine, but to the place of their resurrection.  They were taken to that place not by a map or a plan, but by the wind of the Spirit.   

As I have in recent years walked deeper into the stream of Celtic spirituality, it has seemed like such a journey.  I did not plan to arrive at this place.  I believe that I am where I am because of the Spirit who moves us and in so many ways there has been a feeling of resurrection taking place.  Moving from the work of ministry to the work of the farm has the feeling of a spiritual pilgrimage, one taken without intent to move toward  "know-not-where."    

Reflection enables me to see that I have been moving in a spiritual direction without knowing where I was going.  A recent book by John Philip Newell entitled "Sacred Earth Sacred Soul" summed up this journey in the very first sentence of the book's introduction.  "We know things in the core of our being that we have not necessarily been taught, and some of this deep knowing may actually be at odds with what our society or religion has tried to teach us."   As I read those first words, I heard myself saying to myself, "Yes!"  I grabbed a pen to underline the sentence thinking that I should keep the underlining pen close at hand.

 

In Tune

It would not be true to say that I found Celtic spirituality, but the truth is more aptly written if I say that it found me.  I was not looking for this stream of spirituality.   It was not really something which was included in my world view of things existing.  But, all of a sudden it became as clear and as new as the sunrise in the morning.  Why it did not come to me earlier likely has to do with my own receptivity to something which asks not for a lot of doing, but more being.     

So many of us have been coached since the beginning days that real Christianity is about being busy.  There are things which must be done.  There are disciplines which must be kept.  There are churches which must be enshrined as the spiritual center of our life.  There are theological tenets which are unquestionable.  While we speak of resisting every effort to tell us how to think and what to believe, the truth is it starts so early we soon are unable to recognize the influence and power external voices hold over us.  The early Celtic Christians were much more in touch with the earth and the creation than we are in our day and they seem to have  had an ear for hearing the holy speaking in and through everything.  

At times the way of this faith is dismissed as pantheistic and pagan, but a deeper and closer look reveals it to be a way that seeks to be in tune with the heart of God.  When the doors of Celtic spirituality opened before me I realized I had been walking toward that way for a long time without being aware of where it was that I was going.  It was good to be able to give a name to what was growing inside of me and to know that it was from its very beginnings inside the stream of Christian spirituality.   

"Know-Not-Where" Land

There are times when our journey to the place known as "know-not-where" begins without us.  Or, maybe it is more accurate to say it begins without a sense of awareness concerning the journey.  My high school English and literature teacher started me on such a journey as she pushed me to participate in debating, writing essays, and understanding the importance of precise use of the English language.  What I could not see in those days was movement toward becoming a "wordsmith," someone who would use words to create images and ideas.    

When I arrived at the farm in those early days of retirement I started moving toward another place known as "know-not-where."   After walking on this land for a spell, both my vision of what I was seeing and my awareness of what was going on around me started changing.  In some ways the movement toward an unexpected place has been so subtle it was hardly noticed, but once noticed, it was experienced as monumental.  So much of my theological foundation has been shook and, thus, shifted by these years of faith living where the creation is at the center of life instead of the church.    

When a friend shared a book a few years ago about Celtic spirituality, I discovered a more precise understanding of the "know-not-where" place to which I had been moving ever so slowly and steadily.  What I read resonated in what was changing in my spirit and the words on the pages could not be read fast enough.  It was a word which brought me home and to be honest, I had not realized I was gone.  

Not the Long Liver

I could never have imagined how being here on the farm midst the great creation of God could have such a powerful impact on my life.  It is humbling to walk about the land and wrestle with it in working it for I realize that I am not the first and, hopefully, not the last to discover life on the land.  An old abandoned wood frame farm house built around 1910 still stands as a monument to those families who have come and gone.  Every now and again from the dirt comes some relic of living from the past to remind me that I am only here for a short span of time.  Others have been here ahead of me.  And other will follow me.    

And even as there is often a sense of the presence of others around me, so are there reminders that things like the old farmhouse are the real long livers around here.  Such can also be said about the hundred year old pecan trees planted long ago around the old house and the towering white barked sycamore trees down on the edge of the branch that stretch toward the heavens and continue to watch over those like me who walk still in their shadows.  If one were to fall tomorrow, its death would bring some sadness to my soul since they have been here so long and have so many stories to tell.    

I could never have imagined how being here in this season of my life would remind me again and again that my days are among those numbered by the Creator who brought me here.  Life is fragile.  Even though I have been around now over seven decades, my time in the creation is short and one day I shall join the rest of creation as it goes back to the earth again.  There was a time in younger days when I was sure I was in charge of my life.  How foolish it was to live under such an illusion.  The Creator is in charge and I am blessed to spend each day inside the magnificent order He has put in place all around me.  

A Broken Limb

It was an afternoon like a thousand other afternoons here on the farm.  Always there is some work to do and that particular day was no exception.  I was out cleaning up some under the pecan trees when I stopped pulling the weeds around the tree for a minute to pick up a broken limb that had fallen from the tree.  As I knelt there on my knees with the limb in hand, I heard for what must have been the first time on the farm the Voice of the Creator.  "Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return."    

I sensed that Word stirring within me and it was nowhere near Ash Wednesday!  It was as if the limb itself had spoken, but of course, such was not the case.  It was the Voice of the Holy One speaking through the broken and about to rot and disappear in the ground limb.  On a nice sunny afternoon with nothing really on my mind, this Word came in such an unexpected and surprising way that I knew it was a Word put into my heart by the God whose Voice I had heard many times through the church and the Written Word.   

It was the first of many such moments which have come to pass over the years of paying attention midst the creation.  It was not just the Word which came that day.  What also came was the expectation that there would be other Words.  It was an expectation which I have realized more times than I can count.  As the poet wrote, "Every common bush afire with God..."  It is true.  God speaks through the Written Word and through the Creation so full of the holy.  

A Spiritual Mantra

It was eleven years ago that I traded the pulpit for the tractor in a move to retirement on a farm.  It was a time when I realized that I had more memory of days past than I could reasonably see on the horizon of the future.  There would be memories to make, but the years were far more limited than they were back in the days when the future was unlimited.  One of the things which happened early on was the giving of a word.  I know some folks who ask God at the beginning of each year for a word to give them guidance through the new year.  I did not ask, but was given one anyway.  "Pay Attention" was the word I heard.    

I have come to understand that it was a Word from God.  It is as much His Word to me as any Word I might read in the Sacred Word.  When we come to see the reality of our days really being numbered, it becomes a Word which can have sweeping life changing power.  The Word became a reminder that each day is precious, it is not to be wasted, and is an opportunity to experience the holy presence of the Creator God.  As the Word settled into my spirit, I found myself living with expectation of some awareness of presence in the mundane.     

He truly became the God Who was there, out there, and maybe even here.  Even as the dirt under my feet became holy ground so did every moment become a moment filled with the possibility of divine revelation.  Being careless with the day being given was a sure way to miss what was being revealed and spoken all around me.  When our days are numbered and we know it, we do not want to miss a single one of those holy moments.  "Pay Attention."  

A New View

As I was learning from the owl that God was going to be revealing Himself in new and different ways in the season of retirement on the farm, there was also a growing awareness of the place where God had put me for what was unfolding as the present moment of my life.  As far back as I can remember the church had been at the center of my life.  This was even more true in the ministry years when the sanctuary of the church was no further away than the next door.     

On the farm the church was no where to be seen.  And while I preached at a small church ten miles up the road for four years, it was a place to which I went to preach on Sunday, not the center of my life each day.  All those working years it had seemed that the church was the sacred place in the midst of a secular world.  On the farm what I came to understand was that I lived not near the church, but in the midst of a great magnificent cathedral which was only a small part of the creation.  

The new place where God was experienced in worship was not bounded by brick walls, but by the distant horizons where heaven touched earth.   No longer did I walk from the sacred space into the secular space.  Instead, every time my foot touched the ground, it touched holy ground.  It touched what bore the imprint of the creative hand of the Creator so there could be no other way of seeing it and interacting with it.  What unfolded after the revelation of God through the wise old owl was a deepened awareness of the holy in every part of the creation and the sense of being blessed beyond measure to be immersed daily in it.   

A New God Icon

Shortly after getting here on the farm in the early days of retirement, I sensed that something new and different was opening up in terms of my understanding of matters of faith.  To be honest is to admit that what I believed and how I expressed those beliefs was poured with such a thickness of concrete that only God might imagine that it could shift into something new.  But, without much fanfare and without any  lights such as must have filled the Damascus Road on the life changing day of Paul, things started happening.    One of the earliest moments of awareness came when I was trying to hunt turkey.  Actually, there is little hunting to turkey hunting, it is more about sitting, calling, waiting, and watching.   

On the day being remembered I was so intent on trying to make the perfect turkey call that I did not know an owl had settled on a limb just behind and above me.  How long he watched I do not know, but I do know at some moment he must have decided enough was enough and he called out as only an owl can do which sent me falling off my bucket seat as I tried to rein in a runaway heart beat.     

I had other encounters with this old owl.  One day I tried sneaking up on him.  Another day I just sat and watched.  And at night as I lay in bed I would follow his hooting sounds as he moved about the farm.  Before I could comprehend it, the owl became my new icon for the holy.  Present but not seen; yet, prone to revelation.  Always aware of my presence even when I was thought otherwise.  And, even in the night I went to sleep knowing he was out there in the dark, or maybe I should say, I went to sleep knowing He was out there in the dark.

A Common Denominator

What has always been easy for us to see is the sin of our neighbor.  And, what has always been hard for us to see is the sin which common sense tells us to claim as our own.  Jesus warned us about the danger when He spoke those words we know as the Sermon on the Mount and said to His disciples, "Judge not..."  (Matthew 7:1)  It is a plain and simple word.  There are no exceptions and no personal exemptions granted to anyone simply because of their level of spirituality.   

It would seem that we would realize that our own sin is enough for us to handle without trying to handle the sin which is surely obvious in the life of another.  The letter Paul wrote to the Roman church is one which reminds us all that one of the things we have in common with every other person who wears the clothing of humanity is sin.  In the fifth chapter of that letter it is apparent that it is a blight on the soul of each and every one of us.  It may be that the sin which touches one life is different than that which touches another, it may be that it bears a different name, but the last name remains sin.  

Paul's words in that same chapter speak to the reality that sin is one of those things which connects us to everyone who has lived before us, lives as we live, and who will live after we are gone.  Sin speaks of the most painful and destructive part of our humanity, but fortunately, God does not leave us in our sin, but has provided a way out through "one man's act of righteousness..."  (Romans 5:18). Thanks be to God for the gift of His Son, our Deliverer from sin and death.

A Word from the Spider

What caught my eye in the early morning hour in front of the working coffee pot was a tiny black object dropping rapidly from the bottom of the cabinet above to the flat counter top below.  Before there was time to rub an eye still half asleep, I could see a tiny almost invisible silk like thread hanging there in the air.  It was a dead give away.  The tiny black object drifting downward was a spider and it was in the very early stages of making a web.  Spiders are intricately made creatures who throw that first line of silk like thread into the air allowing the currents of the wind to carry it to its destination.    

Most of us do a lot more planning in our life than the spider who trusts one tiny silk like thread to carry it to wherever.  When Jesus said, "Follow me," He did say something about the task ahead with His words about being fishers of men, but He never said anything about where the task would be done (Matthew 4:19).  His call is always a call to go wherever it is that He chooses to put us and the only resource upon which we are to depend is Him.  To trust in the line He casts for us to take leads us to the success of faithfulness and to choose another is to end up frustrated along the way and disillusioned at the end.   

It is hard to choose the road to wherever.  In the beginning it is really not the way we choose.  We start out hearing the call to follow, but we have our own notions about what that means and where it will  take us.  If we stay at it long enough, we will come to the moment of understanding that we had it all wrong in the beginning.  The call of Christ is not a call to specifics we can comprehend, but to a life that is always changing, impossible to predict, and only something which can be accomplished through absolute trust in the One who sends the Wind to direct our way. 

Incredulous and Amazing

Incredulous it is 

    that God in Christ

      should choose to die

        not just for everyone, 

           but for only me.

Amazing!  Amazing!

    'Tis indeed amazing!

Believable it is

    that I have sinned,

      short of the expectations

        for myself and my Creator,

          much more than just once.

Amazing!  Amazing!

   Still He loves me!

Miraculous it is

    that sins committed

     are sins forgiven

       through deep confession,

         divine mercy, holy grace.

Amazing!  Amazing!

   Christ died for me.

     

Let It Soar

Recent readings from the letter Paul wrote to the Roman Christians has had me thinking about going out on the front porch to sing.  I hold back simply because it would be a solo act and what I really would choose to hear would be the congregation singing.  One of the things which spoils preachers is the special privilege and blessing of standing between the trained voice of the choir and the not so trained voices of the pew sitters while the great hymns of the faith are raising the rafters.    

As I read words such as "Therefore just as one man's trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man's act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all."  (Romans 5:18), I started thinking about singing.  It also sent me on over a few pages further to read those powerful words of summation which said,  "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."  (Romans 8:1)  If those words and the spiritual blessing inherent within them do not stir the soul of this old preacher to sing, it may be that worn out is truly the appropriate word.    

In 1738 after his conversion, Charles Wesley wrote the hymn we know as "And Can it Be."  Two of the six verses have always stood out.  The first verse which says, "And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's blood!  Died He for me who caused His pain!  For me who Him to death pursued?  Amazing love! How can it be that Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?"   And then there is number six which is the favorite of so many of us who love to sing this hymn, "No condemnation now I dread, Jesus, and all in Him is mine; alive in Him, my living Head, and clothed in righteousness divine, bold I approach th'e eternal throne, and claim the crown through Christ my own."   Let the music begin.  Let it soar!

The First Response

It would seem that if sin is to be contrasted with something, it would be something like righteousness.  Or, maybe the contrast of obedience and disobedience would be the choice.  Interestingly enough, when Paul set out to write about the way sin has pervaded the human nature created in the beginning in the image of the Creator, he contrasted sin with grace.  We often miss the contrast when we read the fifth chapter of Romans, but it is there written with a boldness that cannot be missed for too long.  

With our eyes and spirit looking for the contrast, it begins to show up over and over until we come finally to that often quoted verse 20 which says, "where sin increased, grace abounded all the more"  And then this Word is followed by another which goes on to say, "...so that, just as sin exercised dominion in death, so grace might also exercise dominion through justification..."  (Romans 5:21)  It would seem that God's natural and immediate response to sin is not condemnation, but more grace.   

Of course, what we have learned from our own bouts with sin is that there is more than enough condemnation to go around without someone, even God, throwing stones into the ring upon us.  The first seeds of condemnation come not from outside of us, but from within us.  The Garden of Eden couple hid during the evening walks of the Creator not because He has issued judgment upon them, but because they had already issued judgement upon themselves.  In a world where condemnation is our first response to our own sin, it is good to know that God's first response is not judgment, but more grace.  

Through One Man

 Through one man?

     Or, a million and one?

         Who knows

            what cannot 

be known.

In the beginning, 

    a man, a woman,

       a snake,

         a tree of fruit, 

in a perfect place.

Was it perfection?

     Or, maybe Paradise?

        Quick as a bite,

          sin and death,

came to stay.

Lost and wandering,

     souls searching, 

       forever for the way 

          to the garden

and home.

(Romans 5:12)

    

  

Universal Atonement

There are some verses of Scripture which surely go down in the history of the Word as verses most likely to be memorized.  Certainly, John 3:16 is one such verse and the entire 23rd Psalm is another.  The letter Paul wrote to the Roman church is filled with verses which have been memorized by many over the centuries and will likely to continue to be stored in the memory of generations of believers still to come.  In the fifth chapter of this letter we find two such words, "...at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.." and  "..God proves His love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us."  Romans 5:6, 8)  These words are certainly worth memorizing.    

Not only are these verses worth memorizing, but they also proclaim a powerful truth about God, His goodness, and our hope.  Jesus did not die on the cross because of our worthiness, or because He knew we were capable of doing all manner of kind deeds in His name, or because of the way we might make a difference in the Kingdom's work.  Christ did not die for saints, but sinners.  He did not die for the godly, but the ungodly.   

What is being put in bold print here for all of us to see is a Word about universal atonement.  The cross is not for a few good folks.  It is for all of us.  Through the death of Christ on the cross the divine gift of atonement is made available to every one of us.  In other words what Christ did on the cross is a gift that enables anyone who chooses to be at one with the Creator once again.  While the Word underscores the importance of the faith response to the atoning act of Jesus on the cross, faith has nothing to do with this precious gift being available to everyone man and woman who breathes the air of this earth.     

Boasting

The game of bragging as I remember it being played when I was a boy and sometimes as a man who should have found something better to do is about personal superiority and putting other people down.  Perhaps, the boy's game of bragging about how far a baseball can be thrown is harmless enough, but the adult versions which we play from time to time do nothing but create a world of personal delusion and hurt for others.  The Jews of Paul's today tended to boast about being special because they were Abraham's descendants, a privilege which surely made them exempt from the wrath of God.    

Of course, the Apostle Paul would have none of this kind of thinking.  Those Jewish members of the Roman church were told in his letter that they had no reason to boast.  They were as guilty of sin and disobedience as the most sinful heathen.  It would seem that we would not fall prey to the same temptation, but as most of us realize, it is easy to start thinking that God should do better by us because of all the things we have done and are doing for Him.  And just in case His memory is short, we are often very quick to recite the list we carry with us in our pocket.   

In the 5th chapter of Romans, Paul tells those who trust in Christ that there are three things about which they should boast.  We should "boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God."  (Romans 5:2)  We should "boast in our suffering...."  (Romans 5:3) and we should "boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation."  (Romans 5:11)  Here is a different kind of boasting.  It is not one which plays into some game of spiritual one-up-man-ship, but one which declares our dependency of God for anything good to come out of our life.  

The Source of Hope

Life is hard.  Sometimes it seems impossible.  And, for many, even those words are woefully inadequate.  The one thing unimaginable to most of us is the degree to which some people struggle to get from one day to the next.  The smiles we see on the outside obscure the hell in which some sufferers find themselves.  It is easy for us to be glib and to offer the orthodox cliches of the church which are supposed to make suffering ones feel better, but instead of feeling better, they often only add to the sense of hopelessness.   

The early verses of the fifth chapter of Romans which speak of the a progression from suffering, to endurance to character to hope point us to the only basis we have for hope (Romans 5:3-5).  Hope is not found in changing circumstances which bring the pain and struggle to an end.  Sometimes there simply is no change.  No, instead the only real basis for hope is found in the love that God pours into our hearts through the ever present Holy Spirit  (Romans 5:5).   It is interesting that hope comes to us from an external source that is separate from any trial or difficulty experienced in our living.    

The Word from the Apostle Paul reminds us that we too often look in the wrong places in our search for something which will give us hope.  Our life is not in the hands of  a doctor, or caregiver without whom we do not think we can live, or in some inner well of determination and strength.  Each of these as well as the many other things to which we take hold in hope are changing and in the end, bound only by the finite and fragile nature of life.  God's love never changes.  It is unshakable.  From it we cannot be separated.  It is an anchor that holds us the heart of the God who has been with us since before the moment we know as our beginning and beyond that moment we know as our ending.  Our hope is found in this love which always fills us so much that it overflows from a heart inside the care of our Father God.  

The River of Grace

 Like a primordial river,

     flowing through Eden, 

        on to New Jerusalem,

         through and beyond

the river called grace.

A pre-existent deep river, 

     always running strong, 

       overwhelming all.

         who dare to stand

and be taken in its flow.

In God's good grace we stand, 

    drowning but not dying, 

       being carried in its power

         toward the shore

on the other distant side.

In this everflowing stream, 

    this river of grace, 

      we stand to live

        always upheld

and carried toward home.

(Romans 5:2)  

Bold Powerful Words

When the Apostle Paul wrote the letter to the Roman Christians, it did not take him long to pen those powerful and bold words which are found in the 16th verse of the first chapter, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith..."  As we come to the opening words of chapter five that very spirit of boldness permeates every word Paul is writing.  In powerful and bold language he writes, "Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ..."   What is written stirs our soul to its very core.  It is filled with holy boldness.    

Paul is now through with this tedious business of explaining the real condition of the Jewish members of the church who think more highly of themselves because of their birth than they ought.  With these opening words he is ready to march forward with the triumphant news about what God has done through Christ for each one in the Roman Church as well as each one of us.  It is obvious from these bold opening words of chapter five that Paul knows the supreme value of peace with God.  From the very beginning of our life on this earth, our soul searches for its perfect partner.

The people we love, those who surround us every day of our living, meet many of our needs, but they cannot provide that soul oneness which we long to know.  This peace with God that the Apostle mentions is a oneness with our Creator that enables us to be restored to the life set forth in the pre-Garden moments of the story of beginnings.  Our soul longs to hear the words about being very good once again and to be able to live with that inner sense of goodness restored.  It is Christ who does this for us.  No one else.  It is Christ and Christ alone!

A Prayer of Blessing

There are many places in the Scripture which encourage us to pray for one another.  To take the Word seriously is to accept the reality that intercessory prayer is simply something done by those who seek to follow Christ.  It is both explicitly stated as well as implied in numerous places.  And there are many stories where this kind of spiritual ministry is modeled for us.  Even the prayer taught us by Jesus which we know as the Lord's Prayer is a prayer that is not all about "me," but is instead a prayer for "us"     

There are many ways for us to pray for one another.  Some keep a prayer list and call the names of those listed on the page.  In addition sometimes we pray not for individuals, but for groups of people who are enduring a common circumstance which makes life hard and difficult.  In a reading today from "Celtic Daily Prayer"  a different kind of approach was lifted up with the words, "Be in the heart of each to whom I speak; in the mouth of each who speaks unto me."     

Here is a prayer which seems to go before us like the road that goes forward at sunrise toward the evening's sunset.  It is the kind of prayer which includes everyone we meet and causes us to see each person whose path we cross in a different way.  It is a prayer which seeks the blessing of peace and protection for us as we walk the road before us, but also a prayer that prays for inner peace in the life all those whom we meet.  It is not only a prayer which enables us to pray for one another, but also a prayer which brings blessings in every relationship that touches us.  

Therefore

In my first quarter of seminary at Asbury Theological Seminary, I took a course taught by Dr. Robert Traina which was designed to help students learn how to do Bible study.  It turned out to be a course not wasted.  One of the things remembered from that classroom was the admonition to know that when the word "therefore" appeared, it was time to get ready for something important.  It was time to wake up.  It was time to bring all your senses to the reading.  It was time to pay attention lest something be missed.    

The fifth chapter of Romans begins with "therefore."   It might be noted that chapter four was all about Abraham being justified by faith instead of the law and in some ways it seemed like a preacher who kept saying the same thing over and over and over for the duration of the sermon time.  There were times in the reading when sleeping was tempting so, perhaps, a good strong "therefore" was both necessary and appropriate.   

Of course, chapter five continues the message about justification, but it moves away from Abraham to the work of God through Jesus Christ.  There are a lot of fancy dressed up theological ways to talk about the doctrine of justification, but a very simple definition speaks of justification meaning that God looks upon us just-as-if-we had never sinned in the first place.  This divine work of grace is made possible through the shed blood of Jesus on the cross as Paul makes clear when he writes, "...we have been justified by His blood..."  (Romans 5:9).  Justification is universally available to everyone one us.  Christ has died, not for one or some, but for all of us.  

A Daring Faith

As a man who preached once or twice every Sunday for over 43 years, I can count a lot of sermons.  But, the truth is that I can remember only a few sermons.  One of those sermons remembered was preached at the Blakely United Methodist Church back in the days of doing summer youth ministry.  The pastor for whom I worked was Clark Pafford and before he gave me his pulpit on Sunday morning, he would sit in the empty church on Saturday night to hear my sermon for the first time.  The sermon I preached back then had as its text James 1:6-8 which reads in part, "But, ask in faith....for the doubter, being double minded and unstable in every way, must not expect to receive anything from the Lord."    

Many of our prayers are perfunctory and empty of conviction.  We ask, but we do not really believe God is going to respond.  The Apostle Paul speaks of the faith empty of conviction in his letter to the Roman Christians as he writes about Abraham with the words, "being fully convinced that God was able to do what He had promised."  (Romans 4:21)  With a hundred years behind him and ninety years behind his wife Sarah, it would have been an easy thing for Abraham to have said, "Sure, Lord" instead of giving one more try to what seemed like an exercise in futility.  A friend described Abraham's situation with the words,    "He looked at his body, and it was dead.  He looked at Sarah, and her body needed ironing.  But in faith he crawled in bed with her, made love with Sarah, and Isaac was conceived."    

There are things in our life which seemed equally as impossible.  Broken bodies, broken spirits, and broken hearts weigh heavy upon so many of us who are seeking the wholeness of God in our lives. Many times we pray prayers that allow us to live with the impossible parts of our life simply because we pray half-heartedly, not really believing God is able to do what He has said He would do.  Dare we take God at His Word as we follow the example of Abraham in doing all we can do while trusting God for everything else?

Waters Around Us

Since King David,

    and long before, 

      and even still, 

        souls have searched,

         lingered in longing,

for the flowing streams.

Satisfying streams,

   thirst quenching, 

     life giving, 

      living water,

       flowing from outside, 

filling everything within.

The smallest stream, 

    first a spring, 

      then a river, 

        moving waters

          with us inside

taking us toward home.  

Ever closer to God, 

    the Creator, 

      the Keeper, 

        the Provider,

          of everything

needed for living and rising.   

The Promise Maker

Promises are made for all sorts of reasons.  When I was a boy, I often promised to never do something again which had gotten me into trouble.  The promise was not made because of some change in my heart, but made as a hope it would reduce the punishment which was coming.  Of course, it is not just children who make promises as a way of getting out of trouble.  It is an adult response as well.  Promises abound in our culture.  Some are made as a way of meeting an obligation, some are made out of a sense of duty, and some are made to shore up what seems to be a weak commitment.    

God is a God of promises.   He is a Promise Maker.  And, He is a Promise Keeper.   The Apostle Paul wrote to the Roman Christians a descriptive Word about God as he wrote, "For this reason, it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace...."  (Romans 4:16)  This promising making, promising keeping God is one who makes promises that rest not on obligation, or duty, but on grace.   The promises God has made and directed our way are made not because we deserve them, but out of of a holy love impossible for us to completely understand.    

What makes every promise of God so incredible has to do with the fact that those of us who are the beneficiaries of those divine promises are perennial promise breakers. We not only break promises we make to one another, but we also break the promises we make to God.  Who among us wants to start listing the ways we have broken promises made to the One who is always faithful to us?  And even though the broken promises are too numerous to count, God continues to hold the power of His promises made over our heads.  They do, indeed, rest on grace.  Nothing but grace could keep us under the care of the countless holy promises He has made to us and for us.  

Shimmering

Not too long ago I was introduced to an author who focused on Celtic spirituality by the name of Christine Valters Painter.  One of the ways she invited her readers to experience the world was through a window she called "shimmering."  She would write that we should take a walk in the creation and see what shimmers.  Or, she would suggest that we read the Scripture and see what words seem to shimmer as they are read.  At first this shimmering thing seemed like a mystery until I realized it was an invitation to pay attention to what was present in the present moment.     

As I was reading and reading again the fourth chapter of Romans, there was a verse that shimmered.  Another time I might have said it seemed to be like bold print in a sea of ordinary print, but today shimmer seems like a good word.  "For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace...."  (Romans 4:16)   This idea of God's promises resting on grace seemed like a new idea.  It shimmered on the page.  It whetted the appetite of my spirit for a larger portion of understanding.     

Sometimes the Word speaks to us in such an indirect way we have to sit with it before the truth within it begins to appear.  It is as if we know there is something in the Word and while it is invisible in the moment, it is waiting to appear.  The image of God's promises resting on grace is such a Word in the present moment.  There is more here than I am ready to articulate, but I know it will come if patience and faith is allowed to prevail.  Shimmering is a prelude to revelation.