Going Forward

Going forward in our spiritual journey is not as simple as doing what we perceive to be the right things. Our spiritual journey is about going with God to wherever it is that He is choosing to lead us.  His leading does not necessarily mean a leading that takes us to a different geographical location or some unusual ministry situation. Where God is leading us may not be about the grandiose, but the ordinary; however, it is still His leading.  Our submission to that leading and our willingness to surrender our role as captain of the ship is the most important thing we can do to go forward with God.   

What we are often tempted to do in those moments of sensing a need for a different and deeper walk with God is to bulk up on our Bible reading, or to pray with greater fervor.  We might even think that some new spiritual best seller is the way forward, but the way forward is more likely to be in the being than in the doing.  There are times when the first step is to seek the Spirit, or perhaps, more appropriately, to wait on the Spirit.  We tend to live our lives in a rush.  We set a goal and then we hurry to get it accomplished.  

What is lost in our hurried pursuit of a stronger spiritual life is the journey.  The destination, or goal gets so in view that we cannot experience what God is doing in our life as He moves in our heart so that we can see the new things He wants to do in us.  We may think that reading ten chapters from the Bible is better than five as we pursue a deeper spiritual life when the real steps forward are taken as we sit still, quietly wait, and learn to listen in our inner being for the voice of God.

Friends

I talked to an old friend tonight.  I use the word old because he, like myself, is old.  While I am a little closer to eighty, he is only a couple of years behind.  We were both licensed as ham radio operators while teenagers which also speaks of how we knew each other before we both ended up at Young Harris College.  There were between then and now years of not staying in touch with one another, but the last years have brought us back into a friendship richer than the one with which we started,  In more ways than I can count, he has been a steadfast friend who has made a significant difference in my living.   

It is amazing how God brings us into relationships we could not have imagined.  Life is just not some haphazardly walk through a maze.  If the Scripture speaks truth when it says that God has a plan for each of us, it surely means that the people who touch our lives for good are a part of the way He works out that plan in our lives.  The other day while reading that worn out story in Ezekiel about the valley of dry bones, it dawned on me that God could have spoken directly to those dry bones and given them life, but instead, He shared His intent with Ezekiel and called him to speak and make a difference in His behalf.  

I once heard it said that God does nothing that He does not do through one of us.  While I am not ready to limit the way God works, it does seem that He is partial to using each one of us to do the work of His Kingdom.  I am convinced that God has used my old friend to keep me closer to the heart of Christ which makes me wonder if my life has had a similar effect on others.  I pray that when the dust has settled over my life, there will be a few who remember me as a helper to them on their journey.  Such is what we do for each other as friends and companions along the holy way.  

Morning Prayer

This morning's quiet time found me sitting on the front porch at the farm with my Bible and a hot cup of coffee.  One of my first thoughts was about the quietness and stillness of the morning.  After a few sips and a few verses, I started hearing sounds unseen in the silence.  There was the sound of rushing traffic over on the nearby strip of asphalt which carries those in a hurry to get somewhere.  There was the sharp thumping of a hammer on nails from a not too distant soon to be new neighbor.  I heard the distinctive noise of heavy equipment in reverse and the incessant and unmistakable whining of a chainsaw.   

Sometimes we wonder how we should pray.  Sometimes we wonder who needs prayer.  Oh, we have our list of friends and family and those whose names have been shared with us by burdened and desperate people.  This morning as the coffee cup reached the half full marker and the thin pages of the Word kept being turned by the wind, it came to me that I should pray for people who are hurrying to get somewhere. Some may be racing toward some unseen and unexpected crisis and without even knowing it, they may be in need of God's protection and care in the day unfolding.  Even from my morning perch where stillness prevails, it is obvious that many are out there today moving hurriedly to know not where.    

"Lord," I thought, "there are a lot of folks out there this morning in need of someone's prayer."  The guy in the distance with the hammer has his own home and is building a house for someone else's home.  As if in a vision two unknown homes were shown to me as places and people in need of blessing.  Finally, there was the guy with a chainsaw.  I have danced many days with one of those and I pray that he and the fellow working in reverse will go home safely once again.  There are many who earn their daily bread where danger and harm is a close companion.  After a spell I got up with the empty coffee cup and closed Bible amazed that I had wondered if there were souls around me in need of someone's prayers.

Risky Business

It is risky business for preachers to give altar calls at the end of a sermon.  When I was growing up, it was not so uncommon.  It did not happen after every sermon, but no one was really surprised when it did happen.  There were some folks who wanted the preacher to give an altar call after every sermon.  Today if an altar call is given, it is like a blanket invitation.  It is sorta like "whosoever feels like it, come" instead of something specific such as "Come and give your life to Jesus."   

It is risky business for preachers.  Some lay people are going to complain and say that it is embarrassing.  In their mind everyone who comes to church is already a Christian so an invitation to follow Jesus is not necessary.  Of course, some people are going to feel uncomfortable with such a pointed invitation.  Too many folks today equate feeling good about yourself and living a decent life with being a Christian and to suggest such an understanding is amiss is simply offensive.  If the preacher does dare offer an invitation to come and follow Jesus, it is possible no one will respond which might be embarrassing for the preacher and one of the most important thing to do on Sunday morning is to make sure everyone leaves feeling good.   

It is risky business for preachers. God may have brought someone to worship on a particular Sunday with a heart eager for the gospel and ready to say "Yes" to Jesus, but no opportunity is given which surely must be a disappointment to God.  It never has seemed like a good idea to disappoint God, or to risk His anger, but too many preachers have walked that dangerous ground, nonetheless.  It is risky business for preachers to give altar calls.  Sometimes, however, it is riskier not to give an invitation because the fear of the preacher may be getting in the way of important Kingdom work between some soul and God.

Coming, But Not Yet

Ever so slowly it comes,

   and then in a rush is here,

     like the sun gently rising

       to become a ball of fire,

         the hint of holy promise

touches dreams not yet dreamed.

 

The unseen now unfolding,

    changing what can now be seen

      into some breathtaking new

        that also has not been seen.

          No one knows from whence it comes,

this purpose filled plan of God.

 

As one squinting in bright sun,

    we look for markers not seen,

      on a way never walked,

        only knowing that all is new

           on this road to not yet seen,

but that faith will get us there.

      

         

A Question

There are times when I give thought to counting the churches I pass on Sunday morning as I make it to the one I attend.  It is obvious that one size does not fit all when it comes to churches.  One of the more obvious things is that there are many brands.  It is also obvious that many churches choose to keep the brand a secret,  or maybe no logo or denominational name on the sign means independent.  Autonomous is the going word for churches these days.   Growing up, mainline churches dominated the landscape, but such is no longer the case.  When considering the number of churches, mainline churches are like a drop in the bucket.    

Another thing my Sunday journey from here to there reveals is a few churches are large, but most are middle size or small.  One church has thousands attending and requires off duty police to direct traffic between the several morning services.  For those hurrying to other places, it makes sense to find an alternate route.  My years of noting cars in parking lot hints at the majority of churches having fifty, or maybe a hundred in worship which means they need no one to direct traffic.  Of course, one of the sad differences in now and back then are armed security people standing at the doors of so many churches, large and small.   

With so many churches in every neighborhood, it would seem that people in church would make up a greater percentage of the population than the group outside the walls of the community's churches, but as we know, we are a long way from seeing this happen.  A recent 2024 Gallop poll shows that 20% of the population attend church once a week, 41% once a month, and 57% seldom or never.  If churches want to grow, there are plenty of people out there.  One question is imperative to ask.  Does the church see the unchurched people as fodder for growth, or people with whom the church wants to share the unconditional love of God?

Restoring Community

One of the things created by the power of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost was a community.  It was a community different from any other community in history because prior to that moment there had never been a community centered on Jesus and given its life by the Spirit of God.  As a Jesus centered community it was created to be a community where external things used to separate one person from another had no place and where love was the prime directive for its existence.  It was a community which reflected the heart of Jesus and one which expressed itself in the world as His hands and feet.   

In a day when there is so much divisive chaos present in the church, it is good to remember who we are.  In too many places we talk about the need for people to join together as one in Christ; yet, in the next minute we are spouting some rhetoric which can only be divisive as it denigrates others and exalts ourselves.  Will we never tire of talking about who is right and who is wrong?  There is much room for repentance in every corner of the church for we have forgotten the language of reconciliation and the way the love of Christ looks when it is given to the world.  Instead of wailing at the sins of others, we would be better served to kneel at the cross until we can do nothing but weep. 

It is time for forgetting about the other person and how far from the truth that person is living.  It is time for looking only at one person and that person is the one who looks back at us in the mirror.  What is the person in the mirror doing to promote reconciliation and express love?  There is much work which needs to be done to restore the community we are content to be broken and as is always the case, the first step toward that work is mine to take.  Any maybe yours, as well.

A Wish

When I was a younger man, it seemed that there were answers to every question and a way to resolve every theological quandary.  One of the things I took away from seminary was the idea that the scope of scholarly study would bring order to any confusion and second mile insight to the historically problematic parts of the Biblical words and its theological truths.  There was little, if anything, filed under mystery.  The younger man I once was knew more than he really could possibly know and the older man I have become knows he knows so little.    

What has overwhelmed me in recent years is the growing awareness of holy mystery.  It is on every page of the Holy Word we hold in our hands and it is in everything which touches us through the creation.  I remember one of my seminary courses in which we spent the entire quarter talking about the sacred and the profane.  It left an impression on an impressionable seminarian.  I still remember the text and the author.  However, as the years have brought me to where I am, I live convinced that there is nothing which can be defined as profane, or not sacred.  Everything from sunsets, to bugs, to critters that crawl and fly, to dirt and trees, to people like you and me have been touched by the creative hand of God and if touched by His hand, surely there the mark of holiness is left.  Indeed, the Lord God made them all.    

Instead of a world to be figured out and defined, I see myself living in a world where holy mystery is always unfolding, where God is in surprising ways revealing Himself to us through the ordinary, and "where every common bush is afire with God."  The world seen through the eyes of this old guy is much different than the one seen by the younger guy.  I wish I could have helped him see sooner.

The Frightening Word

There are times when we go to the Word of God out of habit, or because it is a daily duty, and then there are times when we go out of hunger for a Word from Him.  We open the pages looking and hoping and wondering if there will be something which so resonates with our spirit that we know it has to be from God.  What is surprising to us is that when such a Word comes, we are surprised.  We wonder if it is what it is, or if it is coincidence, or just something we want it to be. 

 Instead of racing to tell others God has spoken, we simply sit for a spell with a bit of lingering doubt and wondering awe.  Finally, there comes that moment when we allow faith to take hold and claim what God has said, and, perhaps, is promising.  While such moments are filled with a quiet euphoria and an assurance that we are not alone, it is also a most frightening moment because it means that something about our life is on the edge of changing,  Questions begin to roll over us like a thick rolling fog causing us in an instant to lose sight of our moorings to the past which is always the first step toward moving into the unknown future God is slowly clearing for us to see. 

Before we walk confidently and boldly into this new place or season God is preparing for us, we may find ourselves taking small, cautious, tentative steps.   It is a natural thing to hold to the past.  It is secure. It is where we have some sense of being in control.  It feels safe.  It is not, however, where we will have our hunger satisfied.  We will find no nourishment in leftover stale bread from the past.  We will only be nourished and satisfied as we take the new Word God is speaking to us and daring to let it lead us toward  His purposes for us.   

The Gift Given

When the offering plate is passed across the pews on Sunday morning, it is an opportunity for those of us who worship there to offer gifts to God.  When I started preaching back a long time ago, it was my standard response to those who wanted to withhold giving as a way of protesting the church's involvement with certain ministries deemed to be questionable.  Looking back I wonder if my defense of the church was more about my naivete, or hopefulness than reality.  

The deeper I got into the years of ministry, the church seemed to be more shaped and influenced by what I came to know as the consensus of popular opinion rather than the Word of God.  It not only troubled me, but caused me to wonder if the gift I wanted to give to God was getting to His hands.  More than anytime in all my years does it seem that the church has been politicized, suffered from theological schisms, and its sense of community broken into pieces by a spirit of antagonism instead of glued together by a spirit of love. 

With all of this staring me in the face, I still wonder some Sunday mornings about my gift reaching the hands of God.   For the time being, I have resolved this confusion by remembering that what I give is a gift.  Certainly, what I give to Him is only what He has first given to me, but as I turn it loose on Sunday morning, it is also my gift to Him.  Such is how I give it.  Such is the spirit of the act of giving.  Like any gift once it is given, it is no longer mine to control.  It is gone.  There is a blessing in the giving.  I am not going to allow the chaos and confusion to deny me the blessing of giving the gift. 

Two Kinds of Giving

Most churches have some kind of financial campaign in the fall.  From a practical standpoint, it gives the church a means of evaluating the financial resources it can expect as it plans its ministry expenses for the next year.  One of the negative notes in what seems like a very practical exercise is that it creates a profit/loss mentality and turns many church leaders into pseudo CEO's instead of spiritual leaders.  When this begins to happen, the spiritual dimension of faith on the part of the giver and the church often disappears from the equation.  

For too many of us faith is not too much of a factor as we think about our giving.  Some remember the Biblical words about tithing and the issue is settled.  Others simply give what they have always given since the first check was written.  No thinking is required.  Some have their own formulas and some decide to wait until all the bills are paid each month and give some of what is leftover.    One thing noticed about myself and the giving habits of the many I have known over the decades is that too many of us give out of our abundance.  

Jesus told a story about the giving of a poor widow and the rich people who gave alongside of her.  (Luke 21:1-4)   She was praised because she gave out of her poverty meaning her offering of two copper coins put tomorrow's provision at risk.  Those who were rich were noted by Jesus as those who gave out of their abundance meaning that when they gave they knew there would be enough left in their pockets to take care of tomorrow and the many they figured to follow.  The widow took a risk of faith as she trusted God.  The affluent ones gave more, but their giving reflected a trust in self just in case God did not provide what they figured to want or need.  If we missed the fall financial campaign of the church, the beginning of a new year provides an opportunity to look at our own giving to see if it points toward trusting in God or ourselves.

Public Praying

Praying in public is a hard thing.  There are some in the non liturgical tradition who are critical of written liturgical prayers being prayed Sunday after Sunday.  While I understand, it is also true that many a non liturgical preacher stands up to pray Sunday after Sunday covering the same waterfront with words so predictable it could be last Sunday's prayer.  It may not be a ritual from a book of worship, but it still bears the marks of a ritual under the guise of spontaneity.  Praying in public is a hard thing.   

The real difficulty in public praying is seen, or heard, as the one praying turns the praying into a commercial for the church calendar.  However, if you really want me to get on a soapbox, put me in a place where the one praying turns the prayer into a political statement.  If there is anything that makes me want to stand up and holler, "Stop...enough!" in the midst of a prayer, it is in those moments when the one praying forgets to Whom the prayer is directed.   Prayer is not a verbal address that plays to an audience, but a word spoken to God.   

Public praying should be directed toward God and it should direct those of us who are sharing in the prayer through listening toward God as well.  It should not direct us toward the person praying,  It is not a show or a performance, but an act of devotion toward the God of the universe. Public praying is not an opportunity to impress others with our eloquence, or to model the skill of a master wordsmith.  This kind of praying brings to mind some words of Jesus, "And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward."   (Matthew 6:50).

The Question

How does one called by God choose to retire?  Does not faithfulness to the call of God exclude the possibility of retirement?  It was a question which came to me indirectly in a conversation shortly after I left the pulpit for the farm.  My initial response was to feel guilty.  Maybe there is no retirement for those called to preach was the consideration prompted by the conversation.  It took awhile, but I finally came to realize that the call to serve God was not lifted from my life.  What had been lifted was the call to preach, or as I have come to understand more completely, the urgency of preaching.    

This is not to say that at some point we are no longer of any value to God in regards to the work of His Kingdom.  Instead, it means that what He wants us to do may change through the seasons of our life.  I still value the occasional preaching opportunity, but I also know faithfulness to God does not require a personal commitment to preach every Sunday.  Faithfulness to God does require service, but not that particular service.  

Whether we are ordained or not ordained, it seems that God is always leading us into ministries that we may not have anticipated at some earlier season of our life and that a ministry which seemed like a ministry for life was more a ministry for a season of life.  Faithfulness to God's call on our life may be experienced more by the unfolding future rather than defining restraints of the past.  Each of us are called to serve Christ.  This is one of the things we accept at our baptism.  The question, "What do You want me to do, Lord?" is a question with an answer, but it may not be an answer for the rest of the days He gives to us. 

Within the Reach of His Voice

The place where God speaks is the place where God dwells.  The place where we are able to hear the voice of the Lord is wherever we are in any present moment of our life.  We may hear Him on Sunday morning in our sanctuary worship, but it will not be the only place.  We may hear Him in silence so still it hangs in the air or even in the midst of a city street so noisy we want to put our hands over our ears.  There is no place where the voice of the Lord cannot be spoken and there is no place where it is impossible for us to hear Him. 

In the 139th Psalm, we hear those familiar words, "Where can I go from Your Spirit?  Or where can I flee from Your presence?  If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, You are there.  If I take to the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea..even there...Your right hand shall hold me fast."  (Psalm 139:7-10). The passage proclaims that God is found in any place within the creation we can see as well as the creation which remains beyond the scope of our vision.  Wherever we find ourselves within this order of God, we are in a place His voice can be heard by our Spirit.   

We err if we think that God can only be heard in holy moments of worship, or quiet moments of personal devotions.  Once we are convinced that He is still desiring to speak to us and once we expect it to happen in our lives, we will discover that any moment and any place is one in which He may choose to speak a Word for our heart to hear.  We cannot go beyond the reach of His voice.  It will surely sound forth and our spirit will hear and know that it is the voice of the Lord.

The Voice From the Garden

Listening for the voice of God is like falling in love.  Those who go looking for love do not find it.  Love is one of those things which comes to us.  So, it is with listening for the voice of the Lord.  If hearing it becomes something we seek to the point of being obsessed with the seeking, we are not likely to hear the voice our soul longs to hear.  The Voice that speaks will come to us and it will be heard.  Perhaps, it will not be heard with the ears of birth, but it will be heard like the wind which is first heard in the distance before it sweeps over us.   

Somewhere as a gift wrapped in holy mystery, the voice of the Lord will resonate with the light of life within us.  As a child knows the sound of its mother's voice so will there be within us a deep awareness that the stirring within our spirit has been heard before as life was poured into our unshaped frame within the darkness of a silent womb.  When God speaks to us in the present moment, we will know it is the Voice first heard and the Light first seen.  What is etched into the essence of our being at conception can never be wiped away.   

Augustine of Hippo wrote what has not been forgotten, "Thou hast made us for Thyself, O Lord,and our heart is restless until it finds it rest in Thee."  Even as these ancient words still ring true, is it not also true that we are first of all Garden dwellers?   In the Garden of Genesis we read about the Lord God walking in the Garden at the time of evening breeze to share in conversation with those who inhabited it.  Conversation is about speaking and listening.  God still comes to speak.  We have lost our ability to hear, but still our soul longs for the Voice first heard in the beginning.

A Surprising Voice

Anyone serious about learning to listen for the voice of God in their prayer time will want to pray for a discerning spirit.  As we get into the silence where the voice of God is heard, we will find that there are many voices vying to be heard.  One of the difficulties we face is figuring out who is speaking.  One voice we may hear is our own.  We may find that we have some notions about what we would like to hear from God and upon hearing it, we are ready to let it be His.  

One of the hard things for many of us is turning loose of what we want God to say to us instead of listening for what He wants to say to us.   It is also possible that we will hear the deceiving voice of the evil one in the midst of our praying.  After His baptism the gospel writers tell us about Jesus fasting in the wilderness forty days and forty nights.  During that time of solitude and silence, Jesus had an ongoing conversation with Satan.  Satan spoke to Jesus in the silence about ways He could accomplish the Father's goals without Jesus going to the cross. We should not be surprised to hear the voice of the evil one tempting us to do some legitimate and good thing for the wrong reason.   

The bottom line is that listening takes some practice.  To hear the voice of the Lord in the innermost part of our being will require a time of discerning whose voice we are actually hearing.  What we can know is that God will speak no word to us which is incompatible with the sacred Word, or our experience with the Spirit of Jesus.  His Word will never take us away from the hard words of the Kingdom nor away from the road of the cross.  If the word we hear leads us toward an easier way than the way of the cross, we need beware,

An Uncomfortable Room

Since most of us are not accustomed to doing much listening in our praying, it is something we have to learn how to do.  While we may think that the word "practice" has no place in a discussion of spiritual disciplines,  practice is what we must do with each discipline which is a part of our life.  We learn to play a musical instrument not by talking about it, but practicing.  When we make a conscious decision to be more of a listener in our prayer life, it is not likely to just happen the first time we decide to listen.  Like it or not, for most of us it requires going through seasons of frustration and failure.   

One of the reasons is that listening for the voice of God requires we enter into silence.  Silence is not a room in which we are comfortable.  Of course, the greatest problem has nothing to do with the external silence, but the silence that is internal.  We can turn off all the noise makers around us, but stilling the things which start stirring around inside of us as we try to listen for the voice of God is an even greater problem.  Turning off the external noise makers does nothing to quiet the internal voices which call for our ear and our attention.   As sure as we start listening for God to speak, we will start hearing voices reminding us of some unfinished business at work, or a newly discovered health problem, or some moment filled with regret and a desire for a "do over."   

When we pray and find our mind wandering away from our intention to pray, it is not just an issue of concentration, but one of not being able to silence the inner distracting voices.  What may be discovered at this point is that centering techniques may be helpful, but, perhaps, not as helpful as asking for the help of the Holy Spirit.  While it may be humbling to have to ask for help at the very beginning of this prayer experience, it may be the place we need to go before our heart can be freed to listen for the voice of God.

More on Listening

Hearing the voice of the Lord might be a bit more difficult than simply saying, "Speak, (Lord), for Your servant is listening."  (I Samuel 3:10).  We sometime overlook the fact that the Lord spoke to Samuel three different times before he was able to know Who was speaking.  It is also true that the only reason he did hear was because his spiritual mentor helped him put himself in a position where he was open to hearing.  The story told there in the third chapter of the first book of Samuel tells us that recognizing the voice of the Lord is not as easy for most of us as opening a window.   

One of the first things which has to happen if we are to hear the voice of the Lord is to be convinced that He really does speak to us.  As James the Apostle warns us, we cannot be double minded.  Either it is true that God speaks to us, or He does not speak.  Like so many matters of faith, there can be no standing on the fence. If we have doubts, then we will live with expectations and an experience that reflect this spiritual confusion.  Exactly how we rid ourselves of this spiritual confusion is likely to vary with each one of us.  

If we are not sure about God speaking and our hearing, we will finally have to come to an act of personal faith that is unwavering.  Along the way we can read the Scripture and note the many instances of God speaking to folks like you and me.  Reading the Word will open our hearts and minds to the possibilities others know as reality.  For most of us who want to move into this new dimension of our prayer life, it may take some time.  Some patience.  Some persistence.  Some practice.  A faith that does not turn from believing what the Word of God proclaims.

Listening

When our prayer life seems to go bust, or dry as a summer drought, it may be a good time to take a look at what we are putting into our prayer life.  If what we are doing is getting a result that is less than what we desire, it makes no sense to continue doing the same thing.  If we persist in rituals of the past, we should not be surprised at the same spiritual dryness.  This is not to say that the tried and true rituals of the past have no value, but is to say that we should not be afraid of something new and different.  

Something new and different might be thinking about prayer as a place for listening instead of a place for talking.  Most of us give lip service to God speaking to His people.  We read the Word as if this is a spiritual phenomena that only happened in Biblical times to people like Moses and the Apostle Paul.  Our prayers often turn into a "to do" list for God.  Seldom do we enter into our prayer moments asking God if there anything He wants to say to us.  If we do ask if He has anything for us, He will likely need to speak quickly since our attention span for listening to Him is short.   

Listening for the voice of God is not something most of us do very easily.  If we were to enter into some kind of listening experiment,  hearing His voice might be more troubling than not hearing it because hearing requires some kind of action, or change.  One thing is certain.  If we want to add a new layer of excitement to a dry prayer life, learn to listen.  It will not be easy in the beginning, but if we practice the discipline of listening, everything changes.

Prayers in the Night

Sometimes being awakened in the middle of the night might be about the spicy pizza eaten too close to getting into bed, or it might be about a troubling phone call which took away the evening's peace, or maybe, just maybe, it might be about God saying, "It's time to pray.  Get up."  This nocturnal call to prayer may not even have a specific name.  It may have nothing to do with seeking relief from the spicy food, or the phone call which we wish we had not answered.  The need may not be definable, but it does not matter.  

If God is waking us up to pray, something important is afoot.  In such middle of the night moments the most important thing is to get up and sit in the silence the night affords us.  It is not a moment for rushing into prayer as usual.  It is for most of us an unusual moment and unusual moments require unusual praying.  We may sit in silence and ask God to reveal to us how He wants us to pray and He may, and then again, He may not. Do not be surprised if it is more of a moment when revelation is slowly unfolding rather than something which comes like a powerful wind.   

The important thing in these middle of the night encounters with the will of God is being present.  Being there.  Sitting quietly.  Listening.  Staying until the moment of release comes.  Even as we knew it was time to start praying, He will let us know when the praying is finished.  We may make our way back to bed after the moment of release having prayed little more than "Father, Thy will be done," and if so, we have done all that obedience to God asks of us.  The important thing for us and the Kingdom is that we have done it.

A Blessing of the Word

Something I did not plan was the way the Scripture opened to certain passages in the last few days.  While I am not one of those who advocates opening the Scripture in a random manner to read whatever page shows up, this week reading the Word has sorta had that kind of feeling.  The first passage was I Chronicles 29:14 which sent me reading the sections of Scripture around the verse.  It is a story of torch passing as a very old David gathers an offering for the building of the Temple and then passes the collection as well as the Kingdom to Solomon.  Old worn out retired preachers like myself pray we have been faithful in passing the torch. 

The second was an Old Testament lectionary reading for this past Sunday which was Baptism of the Lord Sunday.  I had read Isaiah 55 many times over the years on this annual day of celebrating baptism, but this year it was like I had missed reading it for a life time.  About the time I was reading the Word, I heard a Catholic choir singing "Come to the Water" and as I put the Word and the hymn together, it was overwhelming.  The Choir certainly gave a new perspective and a new blessing to a very familiar passage of Scripture.   

The third Word which showed up via what I have come to see as the Spirit's work was from II Timothy.  It is that Word early in the first chapter which brings to mind how our own faith is connected to the faith of the generational family which has gone before us.  I am always amazed at the strong faith of my mother whose life was filled with times of hard difficulties I know about, but cannot really imagine.  But, she went through them and she planted in my sister and me a seed of faith that has grown into something that most likely resembles the prayers she prayed for us.  I am grateful for these Words this week.  Each has been a blessing from the Spirit.

Not Timidity, but Boldness

The Liturgical calendar marks today as Baptism of the Lord Sunday.  During my preaching years, it was always one of my favorite Sundays.  I always made it a time for preaching what I prayed would be a strong sermon about baptism and the importance of personal faith in Jesus Christ.  Of course, the liturgy for the day leads the congregation to a moment of baptismal reaffirmation.  I can still see folks moving from their pew to the baptismal font to receive the wet marking of the cross on their forehead in much the same manner as they would come a few weeks later for the imposition of holy ashes.  

What was always most exciting was the moment before folks were touched with the water in an act of reaffirmation.  Before preaching that day, I would always tell folks that at the end of the sermon there would be an invitation given for anyone who had not been baptized to declare their faith in Christ by being baptized.  When I first started the practice, I did not know what to expect.  In the early years, I wondered if anyone would respond to the invitation for baptism.  After a few years, I wondered who would be coming when the invitation was given for never was the invitation given that someone did not come.  Actually, there was one Sunday morning when no one came, but before the evening service that day a man approached me asking if he could be baptized that evening since he could not get himself to move from the pew that morning!   

After over forty years of preaching, I am convinced that preachers need to be more intentional about inviting people to come to Jesus.  I have heard many a preacher offer a great sermon filled with the power of the Spirit and then walk away from the invitation that was hanging in the air.  It is a moment of such loss for the Kingdom.  Those of us who are called to preach are not called to a spirit of timidity, but boldness (II Timothy 1:7).  May boldness once again be the mark of those who dare to preach the gospel.

I Wonder

I wonder what God is going to do in my corner of the world today.  I wonder where He will will surprise me with His presence.  I wonder what Words He has stored up for me to hear.  I wonder how the people He puts in my path will present themselves.  I wonder who among those I know will be touched by His caring and loving hand.  I wonder what measures He will take today to offer love and grace even to me.  I wonder if He will be doing something extraordinarily different in some gathering of the church today.   

I wonder what i will be doing when God decides it is time.  I wonder if I will be paying attention to the silence within, or the external distractions.  I wonder if I will really see.  Really hear.  Really feel.  Or, will I really miss it all.  I wonder if I will know that I might be God's answer to someone's prayer.  I wonder if I will be a giver of grace.  I wonder if I will be an expression of God's love.  I wonder where it will be that I let Him down.  I wonder what confessions will be needed at the end of the day.  I wonder if my life will be pleasing and acceptable to Him today.  I wonder if He will see and hear me today and know I love Him.  

I wonder what it would be like to walk so close behind Jesus that I can only see Him lifting His feet so that I can put mine where His have been?  I wonder what it would be like to hear the Spirit rejoicing that there is nothing in my heart to hinder His work in me.  I wonder what it will be like to hear the Father say, "Well done."  I wonder what it would be like to move beyond moments of catching a glimpse of God's glory to standing in an eternity where glory is continually washing over me like great waves of the sea.  I wonder.

Wow and Amen

When reading the Word, we miss so much.  Sometimes we read a spell, see our reading time coming to an end, speed it up, and miss the Word that is glimmering and waiting to be seen.  On other occasions, we read our favorite stuff which we mostly have memorized and fail to get into what is mostly unknown territory for us as far as the Scripture is concerned.  Other times it seems that the Spirit just takes us up and sits us down with an admonition, "Read here!"  When we read a Word from the holy page and find ourselves breathing, "Wow!" what we know is how we got there is not nearly as important as getting there.  

Such is how it was when I stumbled over I Chronicles 29:14.  I must confess that it has been some time since I have done any reading in Chronicles and I must also confess that I was both surprised and blessed with the Word which glimmered among the black and white.  The larger context tells of a time when David's reign is coming to an end.  He is gathering an offering, a lavish one indeed, for Solomon to build the Temple.  After the gifts have been given, he speaks, saying, "But who am I and what is my people, that we should be able to make this freewill offering?  For all things come from You, and of Your own have we given You."  (I Chronicles 29:14).   Again, I will say, "Wow!"  Maybe a very loud, "Amen!" 

What a Word for us to hear.  Who are we to be so affluent?  How can we forget that everything, all things, come from our God who has blessed us beyond measure?  No matter how little, or how much we give, we give nothing which has not first come from His hands as a gift to us.  How can we hold so tightly to what He has given to us when there is such need around us?  When will we understand that what we hold or possess has first been given to us?  "Wow and Amen!"

Soul Food

I suppose every generation remembers people from its past differently.  When my grandfather who was a Methodist pastor died and I was blessed as a young preacher with some of the books from his library, I got a number of books written by preachers and writers who were obviously important to him, but I never really knew.  When I look back over my shelves, I realize the same is true about the books I have read and then kept.  Names like Hudson Taylor, George Mueller, Oswald Chambers, Charles Spurgeon, E. M. Bounds, and E. Stanley Jones show up.   Though I value their stories and am greatly inspired by how they lived, those coming after me will likely dismiss them as dead saints from the dark ages.  

Maybe those who peruse my shelves will be surprised by my reading more recent Roman Catholic writers like Richard Rohr, Thomas Merton, Henri Nouwen, and Thomas Keating.  Of course, those who know me know that I am an avid reader of writers like Esther de Waal,  John O'Donohue, John Phillip, and Christine Valters Paintner who write out of the Celtic spirituality tradition.   If I were asked for a suggested reading list, certainly some of these names would show up.  

It has always seemed like a good idea is to read a mixture of the old and the new.  Books that have endured through the centuries cannot be all bad.  Many of today's Christian writers focus on what is trendy and marketable which is one reason why book dollars should be squeezed more than once.  When browsing the religious books in the bookstore, look for those keepers that feed the soul.

O. C.

In these early days of January, I have started another year with Oswald Chambers.  Chambers is an unknown saint to many of today's believers.  Born in 1874 and dead in 1917, his life was short.  His life was just over 43 years long, but his legacy still lives today.  During World War he worked as a Secretary and spiritual leader with the YMCA among the English troops in Egypt.  He died following surgery for a ruptured appendix.  He delayed his own treatment believing the doctor were of better use tending to the wounded of the war.  

After his death, his wife compiled his sermons and writings into what is known as "My Utmost for His Highest,"  a daily devotional which has served the faithful for over a century.   I bought my first copy in the fall of 1968 from a local bookstore near Asbury College.  I finally had to replace my original torn and worn out copy for another which I am still reading today.  Along with my Bible it has been a desk top companion for over 57 years.  It has been recommended to more folks than I can count and has shaped my life again and again in many ways.   "My Utmost for His Highest" is rooted in the Scripture.  Chambers was convinced there was no power like the power revealed through the Word of God.  

His writings are not the ones for hurried devotional readers, but for ones who are willing to sit and let the Spirit inspired work of a servant of Christ to soak in the soul.  Again and again, Chambers writes about what it means to live as one abandoned totally to God.  It was the way he lived.  It is the way his writings beckon us to live.  There was nothing iffy about the way he spoke of the Creating God, the saving Son, and the empowering Holy Spirit.  If you should decide to read his works from over a century ago, you will join me in affirming that it is a timeless word that has power to nurture hearts and change lives.

Grace and Another Day

Everywhere we go, we have an opportunity to share someone's joy or pain.  It does take a moment.  It is not something which is going to happen in the lives of those who are tied to a schedule, rushing from one place to another, and looking so far ahead that the present becomes just a stepping stone to get there.  The hurried life is not really where any of us want to spend our days; yet, knowing and doing do not necessarily hold hands.   

Some people plan fifteen minutes around those "have to be there" moments so that there is time for breathing and seeing the present moment.  Others even dare to ask God in the morning to use them throughout the day as His hands and feet in the places where He goes through us.  For most of us, sharing the burdens and joys of the stranger who shows up in our life requires a life style change.  Such moments cannot be planned.  They are more spontaneous and fleeting.  They are either seized or quickly lost.  Once you walk past them, retracing your steps is impossible. 

I know.  I have lived in regret since an afternoon encounter with a woman whose mother died a few days ago.  I got that part when I asked how she had been doing and her eyes filled with tears.  When we finished the business that brought us together, I walked out without asking if I could offer pray for her.  I have kicked myself all evening.  And while I have, I was ashamed to confess to the Father God my failure to bring a suffering one into His presence through prayer.  Tonight I am grateful for grace and the possibility of another day.

The Origin of Serving

How did a worldwide ministry like Habitat for Humanity get started?  Back in the '60's Millard Fuller and Clarence Jordan had a vision for affordable housing.  How did a local ministry like the Amen Kitchen start feeding children in an after school program?  Some people became concerned about children being hungry in a south Georgia town.  How is it that a nearby church is always opening its door in times of crisis for those whose normalcy is turned upside down?  Some folks saw a need and found a way when others were saying it could not be done.    

There are things not yet seen which God wants folks like you and me to be about.  Ministries that serve people may be born out of community surveys and over the top programs, but more come into existence because some individual sees a need and decides something must be done.  The Scripture points to God as one who works with individual people instead of committees.  He plants a vision in the heart of some soul whose heart is open to possibilities that go beyond what is thought to be possible.   

When we see a need, the first thing to do is pray.  We might share with others our conviction that some need must be addressed.  Some will be interested, some will not.  God has proven over and over again that He can do amazing things with only one, or a few.   While we might pray for others to see the need, we must also know that we might be the one God wants to do what seems impossible.  What must always be remembered is that caring for the need we see is likely to be impossible if we do not depend on Him for direction and strength.   If God puts something in our heart to do, the success or failure of the effort is not the real issue.  The real issue is our obedience.  Out of such hearts, ministries that serve Christ come into being.

The Seventh Day

At the end of the narrative of the sixth day, the Word says, "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude."  (Genesis 2:1).  It is all done.  Completed.  But, wait.  As we listen to the record of the seventh day we are surprised.  Apparently, what was declared finished is not yet finished.  There are a few finishing touches.  "And on the seventh day God finished the work that He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all the work He had done."  (Genesis 2:2). Interesting stuff.  Sent me to a commentary for some more insight.  Seems that finished could be translated "ended" which clears some of the linguistic dust.   

The bottom line of the seventh day is threefold.  One, the work of Creation was finished though there is a sense in which it is never finished.  Finished and not finished sounds a lot like the way God works.  Secondly, the seventh day was a day of rest.  Rest is as much a part of creation as work.  Here on the farm winter comes across not as season when things have died, but a season when the creation is resting.  Thirdly, in a manner unlike any other day, God blessed and hallowed the seventh day.  The seventh day is to be viewed differently and lived differently.     

How to live on the seventh day has been an issue through many generations.  We have gone from the "Blue Laws" which were in place in my childhood to the "Anything Goes" of the current era.  Each represents an extreme.  The seventh day at its core is a reminder that life within the creation is a thing of balance.  Ignoring the need for balance in our lives is something we do at our own peril. 

The Sixth Day

On the sixth day the volume got turned up.  A creation once quiet except for water moving and wind racing across the land was suddenly jarred by the sound of sea monsters splashing and birds singing.  As loud as those sounds might have seemed against the sound of the silent creation, there was more to come.  What might have been like a whisper became amplified by the braying of donkeys, the roar of lions, the barking of squirrels, and the trumpeting of elephants.  Every animal that crept on the ground offered its distinctive sound in the rising crescendo of praise in this newly created chorus.    

God may have been ready to reach for his ear plugs, but there was still another noisy creature to be brought forth.  "Let us make humankind in our image, in the image of God He created them." (Genesis 1:27)  Walks in the Garden at the time of the evening breeze would no longer be quiet.  Not only would there always be some critter dancing in the brush, or swinging through the trees, but the man and the woman would always be talking.  The quiet walks in the stillness of creation would be forever gone, but then the Creator , "...saw everything that He had made, and indeed, it was very good."  Not good.  Very good!    

The sixth day is like the new day which comes with the rising of every sun.  Anyone who ventures out just before the sun starts bringing its soft presence to the horizon has heard the creation seem to wake up with birds and animals joining together like some heavenly chorus to honor God with their praises.  On those mornings when glory is indeed all around, those who dare to rise and see this early morning mystery often hear an invitation to take the voice given by the Creator to join the morning chorus.  When we hear that rising chorus, may there be no timidity in us.  It is a moment for singing.  So, let us sing!

The Fifth Day

The fifth day was a noisy day.  It was a messy day.  Creatures and critters show up on the dry land and in the waters.  From the moving oceans come "great sea monsters and every living creature that moves" (Genesis 1:21) and in the sky above could be seen, "every winged bird of every kind." (Genesis 1:21).  Prior to the advent of this fifth day, the sounds of the earth were those caused by the moving waters and the wind stirring across the dry land.  By the time of the evening of the fifth day, the near silence of the creation was broken by the chirping and whistling of birds and the roaring bellows of great sea monsters.  

To read and meditate on the words of the fifth day brings to mind one of the creation based hymns of the church.  It was written in 1848 by Cecil Frances Alexander and is still found in some of our hymnals.  The refrain has us singing those familiar words, "All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small, all things wise and wonderful; the Lord God made them all."  The inspiration for the hymn comes from the first chapter of Genesis, particularly the 31st verse which reads, "God saw everything He had made, and indeed , it was very good."  Both the roaring monsters of the sea and the sweet singing birds of the air bear the imprint of the holy hands of the Creator.   

The creation in which our life is centered is truly an amazing thing.  It is at times noisy with what seems to be chaos and there are other times when it seems messy and confusing with those things and creatures which threaten us.  We sometimes wonder what God must have been thinking to create as He did.  There are certainly things about the creation which are confusing and perplexing, but as the song says and the Scripture affirms, it is His.  He is the One who has brought it into being and nothing He does or allows is without purpose.  As long as we breathe this earth's air, we shall walk in the mystery He is unfolding through the creative process.

The Fourth Day

On the fourth day it was beginning to look a lot like earth.  Though it did not emanate from the sun or moon, there was light and darkness on the very first day.  It was not a light and darkness dependent on heavenly bodies in the not yet created sky, but one dependent on the light which burst forth from eternity.  By the end of the fourth day, there were familiar things like sky, sea and dry land, vegetation plants yielding seeds, trees bearing fruit, and lights in the sky that ordered the seasons.  Once again there was evening and morning and it was all good.   

By the end of the fourth day it is obvious that God does not do the work of creation with one quick swoop of His hand.  It is also obvious that the chaos of some formless dark void was not the primal essence of creation, but the eternal light.  Only when that light broke forth was everything made that was made. (John 1:3).  Chaos and darkness is not the primal matter of creation, but the eternal light which still shines forth bringing into visibility those things that have been invisible.   Another not so noticeable thing is revealed to us as each day's work is completed.  It is a Word which is said not only at the end of the fourth day, but other days as well.  ""And God saw that it was good." (Genesis 1:18).  Though the work of God was not done, what had been completed was good.  

Here is a Word which reminds us of the importance of recognizing that unfinished work is not a sign of failure.  It may simply be a sign that we recognize an order that does not require instant completion.  We live too much according to deadlines and schedules which often takes us away from standing back and appreciating what we have accomplished in the time given to us.  If our work is not a part of our life instead of all of it, our life is out of sync with the way of the Creator.  On the fourth day we are reminded that it is not sin if some work started today is finished tomorrow.

The Third Day

One of the emphases of Celtic spirituality is its tradition of thresholds.  This stream of spirituality holds that there is a thin veil between here and there.  The world of the Celtic saint was one where the temporal and the eternal were mingled together in such a way that the saints of earth were often aware of the saints of heaven among them.  Some places were like thresholds where one could almost stand with one foot in this world and the other in eternity.  Using more modern language and more contemporary images might cause us to envision a parallel universe.  One is seen and one is unseen.    

Such a threshold might be experienced at the place where the water of the ocean interacts with sandy shoreline, or a place where meadow disappears at the edge of a forest, or even at a common every day door frame which separates the interior of the home from the exterior world around it.  In some of those threshold places, saints might build hermitages, pilgrims might find new homes, and sacred places of worship might be built.  More than we are in our present day spiritual communities, these ancient saints seemed to be aware of the eternal world which overshadows this one.  

Before we decide such sounds a bit too pagan or "hokey pokey," let us remember the creeds we profess which speak of the communion of the saints, or Hebrews 12:1 which says that "we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,"  or the Scriptural accounts of angels breaking into our world with a word from the Lord such as happened to Mary, or the feelings of awareness of something or someone not seen when we gather around the Table on All Saints Sunday.  There are thresholds in our midst, too.  Maybe we call them something different than did the ancient saints, but there can be no doubt that those who have eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart that is open will know what it is to walk alongside of holy mystery here on earth.

 

 

Moments of going and coming were noteworthy moments and prayers of blessings would often be offered for those who were departing the security of home for a journey to another place. 

The Second Day

It would be interesting to visit with the version of myself that lived thirty years ago.  I wonder what I regarded as the most shaping sections of Scripture.  While I must confess to not being able to give a definitive answer, I would guess that it would have been the book of Acts and Scripture that centered on prayer.  As I recall those were years of working with church growth goals and a growing awareness of the importance of vital prayer ministries within the church.  

The man I know today is one who views the first chapter of Genesis and the Prologue to John's gospel as sections of Scripture which are foundational to my faith.   I recognize that the influence of movement to the farm from the pulpit has taken me to such a place.  Being on the farm has been like being immersed in the spacious cathedral of creation instead of being immersed in the brick and mortar world of the church.  Long before I could truly be aware that change was taking place, I was slowly opening up to the unfolding revelation of the Creator God in the midst of the creation which was all around me.  Sometimes truths take root in us long before we are able to see them growing.  

Such speaks of the spiritual journey in these years of retirement.  The younger version of me would not believe the older version of me would become who I am and the older version of me looks back to the younger version wondering why what is seen so clearly now could not be seen back then.   Perhaps, it is the way life is experienced.  Even as everything in creation is constantly changing and moving toward being something new that has never before existed so it is with each one of us.  For some folks like me, the change seems so sudden; yet, pausing for a moment of reflection gives life the reality of something taking root and grow imperceptibly and invisibly for a long time before breaking into the conscious mind.  Sounds a bit like the Kingdom of God at work.

The First Day

The first day was a day filled with light.  It was not just an ordinary light.  It was an eternal light.  What is surprising is that the first day was not brought into being by the first sunrise.  According the record of Genesis it was the fourth day before the two great lights that we know as sun and moon began bringing its distinctive light into the created order.  The light of the first day is a different light.  It is a light from which everything came.  It is the light which gave light to the created order and the light which still is woven into the fabric of everything created.  Genesis 1:3 speaks of that primal creative moment with the words, "Then God said, 'Let there be light;' and there was light.  And God saw that the light was good..."    

This eternal light of Genesis is brought to light through the reflection of John the Apostle as he wrote in his gospel about the Word being present in the beginning as the light that gives life and overcomes any darkness. (John 1:1-5)  Any doubt about the identity of this eternal light is taken away as the Apostle remembers Jesus saying, "I am the Light of the World.  Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of light."  (John 8:12)  Finally, our first day reflection takes us back to the Prologue of John where we hear the Word of God declaring, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God...All things came into being, and without Him not one thing came into being...."  (John 1:1-2).  

It is all about Jesus.  From Genesis to John and even on to Revelation, it is all about Jesus.  What a powerful word to carry with us as we begin our journey into this new year.  In what we know as our beginning, the creative light of the world described in Genesis touches us and gives us life.  In that moment we think of as our ending on this earth, we will move from the darkness into the eternal. The inescapable eternal light which touched us at conception shall reveal for us the road home.