The Good Way

When we started the faith journey years ago, we carried with us our favorite verse.  If asked about it, we were quick to pull it out for a recitation.  After awhile of walking with Jesus and letting the Word soak into our spirit, we are more likely to ask "Which one?" when asked about a favorite verse.  As the years add up, we start carrying not one, but many.  One of the most recent verses which has been added to my favorite list is Jeremiah 6:16.  It says, "Thus says the Lord:  Stand at the crossroads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths where the good way lies in it, and find rest for your soul."    

Perhaps, it is a verse which has more appeal for folks like me whose hair has gone from black to gray to white.  It is certainly true that age has given me a perspective which would have been impossible to see fifty years ago.  One of the things this passage does is to create images of moments and choices which come to all of us as we navigate the roads of faith.  More and more do I find myself wanting to touch the ancient ways of faith which have stood the test of time and more and more do I want to walk that way.   It is the way of some of the Biblical giants and the more contemporary saints.  It is the way I shunned for a more modern way when young and the way I find myself now eagerly seeking.   

A memory of a time of upheaval and darkness is in my not too distant past and while I have walked beyond its shadow, I remember seeking a spiritual tradition other than my own where I could be immersed in ancient liturgical prayers and where the Holy Meal was offered at each gathering time.  These ancient ways brought healing ointment to the brokenness within me.  When we stand at the crossroads of life, it is a good thing to look for the crowd that esteems the core values of our faith and to go in the good way they have walked. 

Starting Over

Starting over is never easy, but is always necessary.  We do not always see the starting over moments as transition moments from where we where to where we are going.  If we do see, we often push back against them trying to hold to what is behind instead of letting go so we can move into the future that is unfolding.  It is also true that our fear of what is out there just beyond what we can see causes us to ignore the reality of a starting over moment pressing down upon us.  We often only see starting over moments in the big changes of our life which send it spiraling down a road not anticipated and miss them in the daily ordinary moments which may be pulling us away from the past even before we are able to see them.  

When Saul was holding the coats of the stone throwers who were killing Stephen, something was taking place in his life which he could not see and if he could have seen it, he would have fought it tooth and nail.  It was only on the road to Damascus that the starting over moment begun with the stoning of Stephen became so visible to him that he was blinded by it.  At the moment of the blinding light, Saul probably did not think of what was happening as a moment of starting over, nor did he likely connect it to the seed planted as he held the coats of murderers of Stephen.    

It should not surprise us that God works in such a way in our lives.  In the most unpredictable and surprising ways, He brings into visibility a new reality which He had been unfolding in our presence for a long time.  We simply did not want to see the new thing God was doing in our life because we were so comfortable with what He had been doing.  When we find ourselves grieving over some ending and lamenting the changes it seems to be pushing heavy upon us, it may be a moment for pausing, looking for the wind of the Spirit that is pushing us away from where we were to where we are still to go, and then, going with it.

"Me and Jesus"

Some folks talk about their Christian faith as "me and Jesus."  It is a comment which is usually followed with a declaration of independence from the church.  The "Me and Jesus" folks have no need for those Sunday hypocrites who get together in churches.  The "Me and Jesus" people are those who prefer the river, or the golf course, or any place other than the church building.  These folks need no one but Jesus.  "Me and Jesus" makes for a very small community.  

While the "Me and Jesus" person may be espousing what is thought of as a very personal faith, it is actually a distortion of the Christian way.  It is a way Jesus never intended.  He did not call one disciple, or two, but twelve.  He invited each one to live with Him and the rest of the group as a community bound by their devotion to Him.  Each one of those twelve made a commitment to Jesus and to the others when they started the journey.  It was not a perfect group.  They lived with egos that got in the way of community living.  They argued over who was the greatest and who should get seats of honor.  They were at times guilty of saying one thing and living another.  In many ways they modeled a prototype of the church before it was called into being.  Certainly, they looked a lot like those Sunday hypocrites who get together in churches.  

Surely, Jesus called the community of the twelve into being as a way of teaching that disciples do not live alone.  The "Me and Jesus" model simply does not work.  It does not fit the mold laid out by Jesus for His followers to embrace.  We need one another.  We need a community for fellowship, worship, and service.  "Me and Jesus" see no feet to wash.  They cannot hear the sounds of worship or the celebrations of life.  They are claiming the cross as God's gift to them and them alone when it is His gift to the whole world.

A Hard Discipline

One of the Lenten disciplines is self-examination.  It is a spiritual discipline which requires a different kind of effort than reading the Scripture or praying.  Both of these have a degree of specificity about them that is both visible and measurable.  It could be said that such disciplines are external while the discipline of self-examination is definitely a work with the internal and invisible part of us.  It is also a more subjective spiritual discipline than some.    

What might make it an easy thing would be to think that self-examination requires no more than measuring the external dimensions of our spiritual life.  For example, does spiritual discipline point us toward measuring how many chapters of Scripture we are reading this year as compared to a year ago, or is it about looking at the calendar and counting up the number of Sundays we are worshiping compared to the last Lenten season?  This may be valid concerns, but the to enter into self-examination certainly requires walking in deeper water.  To this day the preachers after the discipline of John Wesley are asked at ordination, "Are you going on toward perfection?  A similar kind of question might be framed with the question, "Am I still confessing the same sins that I have always confessed?  Others might be, "How am I experiencing God differently now?" or "How is that I am hearing God speak to me and what I am doing about what I am hearing?   

There are no prescribed questions which fit each one of us, but each one of us knows where it is that our heart still has too many rough edges.  We also know where it is that we find ourselves confessing, "I know what to do.  I know the right thing, but I am just not ready to do it yet.  Why is this true?  Self examination is a hard one.  It may even require the help of some trusted friend who can listen and speak truth to us.  It is always true that these spiritual disciplines which cause us to do serious heart work are the toughest and many would rather find an easier way.

Journey of the Heart

In the mid years of my ministry while I was serving the Vidalia Church, I preached a six month series on the letter Paul wrote to the Romans.  It provided me meaningful preaching text for the year, but it also forced me to do a more intense study of a section of Scripture.  It could be said that I did it for the church, but I also did it for me.  I kept those sermons for a long time.  Somewhere in the move into retirement, the sermons got lost.    

I wish I still had them.  It would be interesting to read something I did over twenty years ago to see if I would say it differently.  I have a feeling the years might cause me to say or express things differently.  From the very beginning of my preaching ministry, I would stick a copy of a preached sermon in a file.  I remember somewhere along the way looking back at those first few years of preaching and being amazed that I preached what was on the paper and that anyone stayed to listen.  One thing learned, and there have been many things learned along the way of being a disciple of Jesus, is that things change.  The Word surely stays the same, but every time we come to it, we come to it looking through a lens never before used.  Our changing view of the world and our experience does not change what the Word says, but it can cause us to read it differently.  

The longer we live and study the Word, the more we see the grace of God between the lines.  We see more kindness.  We tend to be more generous in our own giving of grace and less judgmental.  In some ways the the life lived in these retirement years has brought along with it an awareness of how much God's grace has blessed me and how I need to be more grace giving of others.  This journey with Christ is always a journey.  Sometimes it takes us to different geographical places and other times it is a journey of the heart.

Trust Not Your Gut

Advice often given in these days is "Trust your gut."  May I suggest it is not good advice.  The "gut" can be trusted to tell you if you are hungry, or if you have eaten too much.  It can tell you if you have eaten some bad food.  It usually speaks to us with a rumbling sound, or as in the case of eating bad food, a voice that is far worse.  Trust your gut on matters pertaining to the digestion process, but when it comes to making choices that require intuitive awareness, trust your spirit.  

As the gut is the voice for digestive matters, so is the spirit the voice to be sought when we need to know what is in keeping with the core values which were instilled within us when God put His hand upon us at conception.  We were not created without thought.  We were not pushed from the womb of our mother to live carelessly, without regard for right and wrong, and unconcerned about caring for those around us.  We can trust the spirit within us to push us toward those core values that reflect living that is both responsible and grateful.  To live according to the purpose for which we were created not only speaks of responsible living, but it is also an expression of abiding gratitude to the Creator God for bringing us into being.   

The Word of God reminds us that our life is best lived when we live according to our purpose.  It is best lived when we allow God's Spirit an abiding place within us.  To provide space in our life for God is not just some religious or spiritual duty, but it is the only way we can truly live as we were intended to live.  We are not created to live separate from the Creator, but to always live mindful of our connection and our dependence upon Him.  To embrace the spiritual life is to embrace this reality which directs us to the essence of who we are.  We can trust our spirit to be the source of guidance for our life for it is where the Holy Spirit desires to abide in our life and from that place within us, He is always going to direct us according to the Creator's purpose for us.

A Song for Every Day

"This is the day that the Lord has made" is a song often sung in worship and when it its refrain is lifted, we are likely to see people swaying just a bit and singing with a little more gusto.  Of course, it is a song which comes straight from the book of Psalms.  Psalms 118:24 records it.  "This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it."  It is interesting that David spoke its words into existence centuries ago.  It is also interesting that some of our contemporary music fans who disdain singing hundred year old hymns take such pleasure in a song which is truly ancient.   

Do you suppose that David sang the song in every day of his life?  Was he singing it when he was hiding in a cave from Saul?  Did he sing it when his son, Absalom, died?  Did he sing it when Nathan came as the voice of Lord to confront him with his sin?  Did he sing it when he was betrayed by those he thought loyal?  Did he sing it when he saw the slaughter of war?  Did he sing it when his heart was broken?   While we can never really know, it is something to think about as we read the story of David.   

It is also something to think about as we review our own life.  Is is a song which sounds forth from our heart when all the props are knocked out from under us?  Is is a song we sing when we let go of those we love?  Is it a song we sing when there is not a ray of sunshine, but only some dark storm which seems greater than our ability to stand in the midst of it?  If we are honest with ourselves, we may confess that we sing it selectively; yet, it still remains true that every day is a gift from God.  Every day comes to us after passing through the hands of God.  Actually, it is not just a song for the good days, but for every day.