Three Rules

During the days of John Wesley there were believers who came to him seeking guidance in fleeing the wrath to come.  Out of this seeking after God came the organization of societies, or small groups which were built around growing in faith, being accountable to one another, and spiritual transparency.  There were three rules which gave direction to those who were members of these early groups and today they are still retained in "The Book of Discipline" and are outlined as "General Rules".   

Those three rules are simply stated: 1. Do no harm.  2.  Do good.  3.  Love God.  There is such need for those of us who call ourselves Methodists to brush the dust off those closed pages and read these words again.  Among so many there is language which is meant to demean and make light of those who disagree with us.  As the language of acrimony is sent forth from our mouth and heart, it is like an arrow sent forth to end up doing harm in some heart in the land of know not where.  We need to remember, too, that we are a people called to do good.  Doing good obviously means caring for the poor, the lost, and the forgotten of our society, but it also means remembering that Jesus calls us to do good to those who mean us harm.   

It is the final rule which holds everything together.  Without being intent on loving God what we do and how we live sounds like a "noisy going or a clanging symbol." (I Corinthians 13:1).  Loving God is the glue which gives everything we do for His sake its meaning and power.  To love God requires we love one another which means that our lives must begin to model forgiveness and grace instead of anger and animosity.  It is time to take these rules of Wesley out of the archives of Methodism and implant them again in our hearts.

Wesleyan Economics

John Wesley was always concerned about the gap between the rich and the poor.  What he saw was a rising of the poorer class of people into the middle class and then an indifference to the poor.  The movement from the poor to the more affluent was a logical result of Wesley's preaching which included a call to earn as much as you can and to save as much as you can.  The third prong of his economic plan was often ignored as it is today which is to give all you can.  Wesleyan economics can be summed up with three words; "earn, save, and give."     

In his sermon, "The Use of Money," he said, "But not let any man imagine that he has done anything,...by 'gaining and saving all he can,' if he were to stop here.  All this is nothing...if he does not point all this at a farther end...God placed you here, not as a proprietor, but as a steward: as such He entrusted you, for a season, with goods of various kinds; but the sole property of these still rests in Him...As you yourself are not your own; but His, such is, likewise, all that you enjoy."  Wesleyan theology calls us to understand that everything which we call ours is really His and to care for the poor by giving as much as we can to make a difference.    

It is in the "give as much as we can" that we run into the practical dilemma lived out by so many.  We make life choices which elevate our own lifestyle so that we can have things we want but do not necessarily need.  Without setting out on such a course, we often end up being the slave of all that we accumulate.  Thus, the "giving all we can" is limited by life style choices that limit our ability to give.  We give but only after our wants and wishes and needs have been satisfied.  As those who seek to live out the Wesleyan theological way as well as the way of Jesus, we must confess that this is a perversion of what God has planned for us.

A Fifty-nine Year Old Memory

It has been fifty-nine years since the Lord showed me a verse of Scripture that has been for me a lifetime Word.  It came to me on the night when I gave my life to Jesus.  Of course, that night was not the first time, but the night that is remembered as the night it stuck.  I bumped into that word again in a morning reading of Scripture.  To be honest it slipped up on me.  I was reading the 118th Psalm without thinking about this verse showing up 14 verses into the chapter.  "The Lord is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation."   

As I started reading and realizing where I was in the Scripture, I felt my heart being warmed by a precious memory of the beginning moments with Christ.  A second thought which came ever so quickly was that the verse was not only true for me then, but it has remained true for a life time.  The Lord has enabled me to be about a ministry for Him that I could never have accomplished in my own strength.  He has been for me like a song which has constantly been coming forth from the deep places of my heart.  He has not only become my salvation, He has been my salvation, and He will continue to be my salvation.   

When John Wesley wrote in his journal about his life changing moment on Aldersgate Street, he wrote, '"...an assurance was given go me, that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death."  Fifty-nine years ago in my bedroom at the Alamo Methodist parsonage that same assurance came to me.  It did not stop that night.  There have been so many times when I confessed my need for God's forgiveness and each time there was the same assurance that my sins were forgiven.  The Apostle Paul wrote an assuring word when he wrote, "where sin increased, grace abounded all the more."  (Romans 5:20). Thanks be to God for grace abounding!

The Open Table

One of the things I have always liked about Methodism is its open Table.  Anyone and everyone is invited to come to the Table when the Holy Sacrament is offered.  One of my earliest communion recollections as a young boy is the communion I could not receive.  We were visiting extended family, went to church, and at the end of the service the preacher asked those who were not members to leave as communion was about to be served. I still remember rising with my mother and sister and walking down the aisle and out of the church.  Such a thing could not happen where the Methodist spirit prevails.   

Over the years of ministry there were times when I was asked at what age should a child come for communion, or if a young person could come before confirmation.  My answer was always that no one regardless of age or status should be made to feel unwelcome at the Table of the Lord. Wesley spoke of the Lord's Supper as being "a means of conveying to men either preventing, or justifying, or sanctifying grace, according to their several necessities."  In that same journal entry he underscored that "we come to His Table not to give Him anything, but to receive whatsoever He sees best for us."  He concluded the entry by writing that no fitness is required, "but a sense of our...sinfulness... our helplessness."    

Surely, there is no place where we gather more as brothers and sisters.  To kneel to receive the Sacrament is like kneeling before the cross.  There is a place there for all of us.  We are all invited and welcomed.  We are all there as broken beggars in need of healing and life giving grace and God is eager to fill our hands and our hearts. 

Hope for Methodism

On this day in 1703 John Wesley was born as the fifteenth child of Samuel and Susanna Wesley.  While only nine of her children lived beyond infancy, Susanna was a strong spiritual influence on each of her children.  His father was an Anglican priest and John would follow in his footsteps although his journey with the church would be far different than those who came before him.  On his way to becoming a spiritual giant who would create a movement still in existence today, he came to the colony of Georgia in 1736 as a missionary and to a meeting on Aldersgate Street in 1738 which changed the trajectory of his life.   

Before the experience of having his heart strangely warmed by the love of God and a deep awareness that his sins were indeed forgiven at Aldersgate, Wesley had lacked the fervor and focus that gave birth to spiritual movement which has reverberated with power for over three hundred years.  Wesley was an ordained member of the Church of England and never intended for the Methodist movement to be anything more than an instrument of reform and renewal within the church.  There are few people within the church today who would deny the need for renewal within the church as we know it today.  Though the centuries it has endured all kinds of battering and splintering, but still it remains.  

The stream of of Methodism remains strong today even though the institutionalizing of it has brought to it great and serious compromise, but it is a faith of the heart.  It is a tradition of faith which expects the Holy Spirit to work to bring about change in the human heart.  As long as the Holy Spirit has freedom to work and there are hearts hungry for that work, Methodism will survive as it already has these past three hundred years.  The institutional unity may be severed, but the core of Methodism is strong because it requires not an institutional framework, but a heart open to the Spirit.

A Means of Grace

The Wesleyan tradition is one where grace abounds.  In his journal Wesley wrote, "For God hath in Scripture ordained prayer, reading or hearing, and the receiving the Lord's Supper, as the ordinary means of conveying His grace for man."  In another place he wrote about the Lord's Supper being the "grand channel" whereby the grace of the Spirit is conveyed to human souls.  For Wesley it was not a sentimental moment, but a holy moment of receiving God's grace as He deemed fit to give it to those who hold open hands and hearts before Him.    

To think of Holy Communion according to Wesley is to think of it primarily as a means of grace.  In one of his sermons he identified means of grace with the words, "By means of grace I understand outward signs, words, or actions ordained of God and appointed for this end...to be the ordinary channels whereby He might convey to men preventing, justifying, and sanctifying grace."  When we kneel at the Table we come with different needs, but we come with an openness to receive whatever the gift of grace God desires to give to each of us individually.   In the Wesleyan tradition the Lord's Supper and baptism are regarded as sacraments that convey to believers the gracious gift of Christ.  

As Methodists we do not hold to the idea that we hold the actual body of Christ in our hands, but that what we hold is a means of grace which Wesley spoke of in a letter to his brother as being "life giving food filled with the spirit and power of Jesus Christ."   It is a shame that we find ourselves in a hurry when the Table is uncovered in our midst and the invitation is issued for us to come.  Better that we go with a hunger and thirst for what is being offered.  Better that we go as one who knows that life and wholeness is dependent upon the gift of God's grace which He so freely desires to give to each one of us as we approach the holy Sacrament.  

Methodists and the Table

While there may be many ways contemporary Methodists have strayed from their Wesleyan roots, the practice of the Lord's Supper is a more glaring example.  When I was first introduced to Methodism as a boy in rural south Georgia, the Sacrament was offered at best on a quarterly basis.  During the four decades of my ministry, a monthly first Sunday observance became the norm.  Only in recent years have some of our Methodist churches started making the Sacrament available weekly, though usually at a time other than the primary service on Sunday morning.    

Wesley himself communed weekly whenever possible and encouraged the people who were a part of the Methodist movement to do likewise.  In 1784 through a published sermon, he encouraged American Methodist to celebrate the Lord's Supper weekly.  The early American Methodist experience did not lend itself to such a practice.  It was not anchored in the expanding American culture by a building and weekly worship, but by a circuit riding preacher who moved westward along with the edge of the frontier.  The infrequency of the appearance of the circuit rider and the American mindset which had a strong aversion to anything English and Anglican also explains why the practice of the Sacramental meal was more infrequent than frequent.  

Thus, for such a long time Methodism has been a preaching, or pulpit oriented tradition rather than a table oriented one.  Older churches featured the pulpit in the center of the holy space and only in more recent years has the split chancel format allowed for the communion table to be seen front and center.  What is still lost among so many is that Methodism is deeply rooted in a weekly table tradition instead of one that places it on the edge of the congregation's life.   

Returning to Wesley

With all the negative stuff which has been floating in the air among Methodists in recent years, there have been many on both sides of the controversy who claim the true insight into what John Wesley was preaching and teaching back in the 18th century.  Everyone on both sides of the theological chaos suddenly has become an authority on Wesley.  In such discussions it is easy to assume that the one posing as an expert really is an expert when he or she is doing little more than reporting what someone else has said.  In such times is is good to go the source which is not what our neighbor is saying, but what Wesley actually said.  

While doing some reading in a book entitled "A Wesleyan Spiritual Reader" by Rueben P. Job, some words of Wesley showed up on the page.  "I am a creature of a day, passing through life as an arrow in the air.  I am a spirit come from God, and returning to God:  Just hovering over the great gulf; until, a few moments hence, I am no more seen:  I drop into an unchangeable eternity!  I want to know one thing--the way to heaven, how to land safely on that happy shore...For this end He came from heaven.  He hath written it down in a book.  O give me that book!  At any price, give me the book of God!  I have it: Here is knowledge enough for me.   Let me be homo unius libri."  Wesley was indeed a man of one book which speaks of the foundation for his personal faith and his practice of that faith.  

The Wesleyan tradition is one built upon the foundation of the Word of God.  It is a tradition which boldly declares it to be one of its foundational stones.  This quote from Wesley also points us to a theology that is practical in that it has as one of its goals the bringing us into the eternal presence of Christ.  Wesley would tell us that our days here on earth are finite and fragile, but that even as we came from God, returning to Him is a part of our spiritual heritage.  Here for awhile, but in heaven for eternity is a message today's Wesleyans need to once again hear preached from its pulpits.

A Day of Praise

I really do not think much about the number of my years except, maybe some, as my birthday approaches which is in a few days.  When I was young I never thought much about living 77 years which is the number I am counting this time.  Some discount the importance of the numbering.  The Bible makes a big deal about the number of years folks lived.  It is also full of numbers that have some meaning beyond just being a number, but I mention this only to say numbers have something to say to us.  Seven were the days of Creation and, thus, seven speaks of completion for many of us.  

Wow!  So, here I am at double sevens.  If I were a number freak and a gambling man which I am not, I might be thinking this year is going to be my lucky year.  Of course, life is not about luck, or chance, or coincidence.  If I have learned anything about life in these seventy plus years, it is this one truth.  Life is not about chance, but about grace.  It is not about what might happen, but what is unfolding through the unseen plan of God.  Life is so big and grand we fortunately cannot see it all at one glance. More of it will always be unseen than can be seen.  It began with the shining of the eternal Light which gave life to my soul and when this life as I know it ends that same eternal Light will still be giving life to my soul as it is transformed into a life being prepared by Jesus in the unseen eternal realm.  

As I consider this birthday I am more convinced than ever in my life that Jesus is who He says He is.  I know that any positive marks that might be attributed to me in this life are really because of His kind and gracious use of the strength of my years.  More than ever I am grateful to Him for coming, and dying, and rising, and living again.  What is true for me is true for all of us.  What we have seen of His invisible nature and what we know about eternity is but a drop in the bucket as we consider what is still before us  because of His unconditional love, His unending mercy, and His incredible grace.  Praise be to the name of Jesus!  Praise Him.  Praise Jesus! 

Enough! Enough!

The Old Testament law of retribution, "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth," (Exodus 21:24) validates proportionate acts of violence against those who have committed violent acts against us.  It was not a word which condemned the violence, but one which sought to control it.  It was ineffective then even as it is now.  It is not enough to chop off a finger when there is a hand.  Anyone who has ever indulged in slapping another in a battle of insults understands that each one requires a bigger one in response.  When violence and anger and resentment is let out of the can, there is no end to the ever growing cloud of retribution.    

The only way for this destructive cycle to end is for someone to say, "Enough! Enough!"  Anyone who is really listening to Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount clearly hears these words coming from His mouth.  "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye  for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.'  But, I say to you, Do not resist evil an evildoer.  But, if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also..." (Matthew 5:38-39).  Jesus is telling those who would follow Him that at some point someone must step back and say, "Enough! No more!"  Only then can the cycle of getting even and vengeance be broken.  Only then can the power of evil and ugliness be overcome and replaced.     

It is not just one word from the Scripture that those immersed in cultural and ecclesiastical battles need to read, but surely this one from the Sermon needs plenty of meditation time.  In the Methodist tradition of which I am ordained, leaders on both sides are too intent on looking back with judgmental noses and pointed fingers.  Going forward is impossible in this world of escalating blame placing.  The answer is not in winning the war of words, but in saying from the heart, "Enough, No more!"  Such is also true in places of political leadership.  Is the future of our country going to be directed by spiraling out of control political power on both sides of the proverbial dividing aisle?  It seems to be our destiny unless we find a way to hear Jesus saying "Enough!  Enough!" and then make it not just His word but ours as well. 

A Day for Gratitude

When I think back to the formative years of my faith in Jesus Christ, the trip down memory lane is getting longer and longer.  A week from today I will mark my 77th birthday.  I am not sure how long I thought I would live back then, but I am surely amazed as I experience the gift of looking back.  When I make the memory lane trip to the spiritually formative years, I always am standing at Young Harris College with a copy of the Phillips translation of the New Testament in my hand.  

Getting to this small north Georgia college was a gift of God's grace and the Bible was a gift from my Dad.  Young Harris was the community which helped me, protected me, gave affirmation to what God was doing in my life, and provided me practical opportunities of exploring what it meant to be a disciple of Jesus and one called to preach.  The hard bound blue copy of the New Testament is frayed and worn out, but still has a special place on my book shelf.  From the way the gospel of John bears underline markings, huge circles, and notes it is obvious that the most read book in the present was the same way back then.  

As important as were those two factors to my spiritual growth, the people I met during those years were influences that have had lasting effect.  I found myself gifted with a strong Christian roommate, a circle of guys who became an important community, an evening gathering of like minded believers at vesper services, and faculty members who left positive marks on my mind, but also my spirit.  There were weekends of venturing out to share my fledgling faith at Lay Witness Missions and opportunities to preach some of my very first sermons.  A lot of people invested their lives in me.  I wish I had seen things more clearly back then.  If I had I would do what I cannot do now.  I would take the time to thank them.

The Leading that Surprises

There are times when God is leading us forward.  We sense in it our being, but we also know it is to destination, or to a task which is undefined and unseen.  What we know as believers is that the Spirit is always leading us into the future He has in His hands for us, but we also know there are moments when such an awareness it sharpened to the point that it seems that life is being lived in a strange expectancy.  In those moments of spiritual attentiveness, we walk through our day surprised not that God jumps out from behind a bush to speak, but that He has not done so yet.  

When Moses encountered God in the burning bush, he may have been on such a journey.  The language of the third chapter of Exodus speaks of him going beyond the wilderness where he normally tended his sheep to Horeb, which the writer defined as "the mountain of God." (Exodus 3:1)   The faith of Moses which was leading him to this undefined and unseen moment in his life brought him to a moment of hearing God calling, "Moses, Moses!"  Did Moses go with such an expectation, or did he go according to an awareness that he could not stay where he was if the stirring within his heart was going to know its purpose?  Moses may have been surprised by what God said to him about the work of delivering his people, but there does not seem to be any surprise that God revealed Himself and spoke to him from the burning bush.  When he heard his name, his spirit knew it had arrived where it was being led and Moses said the only thing he could say, "Here I am."  (Exodus 3:4)   

There are surely times when we have a clear sense of where God is leading us, but it should not surprise us that God puts within us a discomfort and discontentment that will not enable us to be still.  Even if we know not what to do, or where to go, we know where we are is not where God wants us to be.  So, we go. We go with an expectant faith.  The Apostle James wrote about it, "But, ask in faith, never doubting for the one who doubts  is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind."  (James 1:6).  In those moments of choosing to go with God even though we know not where, He calls us to exercise a faith that is not ornamental or ritualistic, but life directing.  Whenever we go beyond the edge of where we are comfortable, we should not be surprised that God shows up behind a bush to call our name.  

Tail Wagging Joy

Long before I heard the expected harsh sounds of hospital corridors, my ears were captured by the softer sounds which were waiting as the whoosh of the automatic doors closed magically behind me. I am not sure what hospital planners call this softer space.  Back when I did daily runs to the hospital as a pastor, there was little to soften the sounds of people hurrying to ride elevators that were in no hurry.  There were voices around the desk just inside the door which sought to manage the chaos, there were the rhythmic sounds of what seemed to be wooden shoes soles scurrying down polished hallways, and the rising of whispered conversations as couples approached to pass and then to disappear around a corner.  

Today there was a welcoming inviting space which invited the walkers to do the unthinkable:  slow down.  Before the large spacious room spun those who walked in different ways, there were tables by windows which captured some of creation's glory, a gift shop, and a place where "Mom and Pop" knew everyone's name and used it when they handed them their version of the best coffee.  What really grabbed my attention was not something seen or smelled, but something heard.  Just on the edge of the mainstream a woman sat softly strumming a harp. Though late for an appointment on another floor, I could not help but slow my step to let the blessing she was giving wash over my soul a little longer.  

I remember others who have given me unexpected blessings.  There was a guy in Newport News, Va who played his bagpipes from the roof of a car garage during his lunch hour.  Over the years I have seen groups come into places where many of our old feel trapped to help them find music once again in their lives.  I have held the prayer shawl made by some Episcopal women in Fayetteville, Ga., opened my mailbox to find caring cards bearing water color paintings of birds seen by a friend outside her North Carolina window, and petted the service dog brought into a chemo treatment room for a moment of tail wagging joy.  I pray the numbers of this tribe of servants will not only increase, but that one day my face will find a way to be seen among them.

Window Shaking Thunder

 Awake, now I listen,

     window shaking thunder,

        hard rain turned gentle

          then the sudden silence.

           Listening, not sleeping,

             aroused to what might be,

in darkness now I wait.  

 

The boy I used to be

   heard the nighttime voices.

     Unlike the ones tonight

        that said, "spirit listen,"

          then I covered my head

            lest I become one found 

by one from whom I hid. 

 

The awakening Spirit,

   who thunders in the night

     who bathes with gentle rain

         stirs slumber to be heard,

           but not by just anyone

            for some dismiss the holy

as nighttime settling sounds.  

             

Moving Too Fast

Years and years ago I went to a House of Prayer not too far from here and the retreat leader ask us to take our Bibles and find a place somewhere on the grounds where we could be comfortable and alone.  Looking back at who I was then, I know my life was too much about hurrying to experience what was there for me to experience.  Why we are so caught up in hurrying is one of the great mysteries of life.  Of course, the one hurrying can offer a hundred benefits of such a lifestyle and all of them may have some measure of truth, but it is always at the expense of living.   

It has been some thirty-five years since that day and I am slowly learning the value of sitting silently, hearing what God might be saying through what is in front of me, and being more alive than I was yesterday.  I see those around me who are like the younger version of myself who lived long years ago and I want to give them a warning, but, alas, they would only dismiss my words as I would have dismissed the same words long decades ago.  Sometimes life grabs us and shakes us in such a way that our eyes are opened to the frailty of our life, but even then, it is easy to go back to things as they were before the rocks fell on the road of our life.  I thought I was having a heart attack back in '91.  It turned out to be nothing more than stress.  I kept the blue hospital bracelet on my desk for the remainder of my ministry, but I must confess to forgetting what it was telling me about every day of my life.  

"Slow down, you're moving too fast" are lyrics in a song that I would like to sing to some folks, but they likely would not listen as they continue to live in denial.  I am grateful for the mercy and grace of God and time I could have used more wisely, but instead wasted.  God has been patient.  I am grateful, too, God, is still reminding me to put the brakes on my life so I can hear and see what it is that He is unfolding before me in the present moment He is giving.         

Prayer Lists

I have met many a person who prays with a prayer list.   I do so myself.  Sometimes they can become unwieldy in that they become so long it is almost impossible to pray for everyone each time we pray.  Church bulletins are notorious for long prayer list.  There are so many names and the names stay on the list long after the need is no more.  When Aunt Susie who died six months ago is still on the list, it might be a clue that the prayer list needs some attention.  Our own personal prayer list can become a useless tool as well if we are not careful.   

One thing we can do to make our prayer list a more effective tool is to make it one where names and concerns are added and deleted.  There is nothing virtuous or spiritual about having a page long prayer list.  It can also be helpful to date each entry and then at some point to write a note about the way God responded to the issue of our praying.  It is always encouraging to have a record of the way God is at work in the lives of those for whom we have concerns as well as through our prayers.   

Another helpful thing to do when someone asks us to pray is to pray for them immediately instead of taking their concern home to pencil it in at the bottom of the list.  When someone ask us to pray, a good thing to do regardless of where we are is to say to them, "Let us pray right now," and then pray.  A final suggestion is to ask the person who is seeking our prayers, "How can I pray for you?" and then when praying to ask the Holy Spirit to help and direct the praying.  We do not always know how to pray for someone in need and asking is a good way to keep our prayers focused on the real need and the will of God.

A Greater Calling

When the Apostle Paul wrote to the church of the Thessalonians, he did not berate them for straying from the path, or to warn them of the seeds of heresy being planted, or to defend himself as a leader of the church.  As we read the words to this church, we hear warm words of affection, appreciation for their faithfulness, and thanksgiving for the way they received the gospel as the Word of God.  The Thessalonians seemed to have it together.  They were depending on Christ.  When Paul was unable to go himself, he sent Timothy to go in his behalf and when Timothy returned to Paul, "he brought good news of faith and love."  (I Thessalonians 3:6).    

What comes as a surprise is the way the Apostle Paul calls them to do even more.  Twice in the fourth chapter of the first letter, he pushes them onward and upward with words such as are found in the 10th verse, "But we urge you, beloved, to do so more and more..." (also vs. 1).  While Paul was grateful for their faithfulness to the gospel and while he uses the letter to applaud what they have done, he does not want them to rest on what is in the past, but to strive toward an even greater level of service and love in the future.   

Of course, this is the Apostle who wrote,  "Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal, but I press on to make it my own...this one thing I do...i press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Jesus Christ."  (Philippians 3:12-14)  A leader of the church with such a vision is not likely to give the church permission to be satisfied with a record from the past or the status quo.  His is a word that reminds us that we can never settle.  We must always be moving toward greater works for as Jesus said, "...the one who believes in Me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father."  (John 14:12).  Such is our calling.

To and From There

When you see someone going there where you have been, wanting to help them as they go there is a natural response.  The problem is that most of our journeys to there have to be walked alone.  There is usually a place no one really wants to go, but a place to which we inevitably must all go.  When we have been there and gone beyond it, we are often aware of our friends who are steadily moving toward that unseen abyss which will suddenly throw them into a world they have never walked, but despite our intentions, there is nothing we can do except pray for them as they move into that place of darkness they never would have chosen.   

When we get to those places where loss and despair and darkness seem to be running rampant, and we all do, we feel swept away from every reality we have always known.  All the constants are wiped away except for the constant which never changes despite the circumstances and that is the presence of God (Hebrews 13:8).  The truth is that it is common to wonder if He is still present with us in those moments.  We often find ourselves entering into a moment which causes us to know kinship with the words which Jesus uttered from the cross when He cried out, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46).  To feel such coming forth from within us does not mean that we have lost or abandoned our faith in God, it simply means we are who we are.  We are a suffering soul broken by loss and feeling separated from all that gives life its meaning and purpose.  

What must be remembered is that the Jesus who uttered these words of deep despair is the same one who was raised from the empty tomb to new life.  God will do for us what He did for Jesus.  He will raise us up to become someone new.  Someone who never existed before will come forth from the darkness and the new someone, though slow in coming into being, will bear the light of life in a way never before seen.  God never leaves or forsakes us.  He will always be there with us and from there He will take us to know life once again.

A New People

This past Sunday's church attendance included a retirement dinner for the pastor who was preparing to hang up his preaching robe for a pair of overalls at a farm.  It sounded a bit familiar, but more than the familiarity with such a transition were the memories of what it personally felt like on that final Sunday some fifteen years ago.  One of the things I remembered most was the awareness that I would no longer have a people.  To put it it archaic and traditional terms, I would be a shepherd without a flock.  No longer would I have a community of God's people entrusted to my spiritual care.    

As the memory of that moment washed over me again, I remembered, too, with gratitude how wrong I could be.  First, God enabled me to serve a small church up the road and across the river from where I lived and there among those folks I experienced community in a way that has extended beyond the years of my pastorate there.  Shortly after those four years ended, the blog I was writing began to evolve into a daily ministry I could never have thought possible.  As I sat there in the midst of last Sunday's celebration, I remembered the new people, the new community,  God had given me through the writing ministry.    

When I was preaching my sphere of influence for Him was mostly limited to the city limits of the community to which I was appointed, but through JourneyNotes it now stretches into eight states and somewhere around twenty five communities in Georgia.  What I have been given through the writing ministry is a new congregation, a new people, scattered across such a wide region.  I write with much gratitude for the gift of continued usefulness.  I remember, too, that part of the prayer of Jabez in which he prays, "...bless me and enlarge my border..." (I Chronicles 4:10).  Will any of us come to a place in this life of not being useful to God?  I think not.  No, think is the wrong word. I know none of us will live beyond our usefulness to Him and His Kingdom's work.   

A Difficult Verse

One of the more troubling verses in the Bible for many folks is John 14:6 which records Jesus saying, "I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me."  The first part of the verse is no problem.  The second is problematic for some.  It is a word which focuses on the narrowness of the gate of which Jesus spoke in Matthew 7:14.  Believers who lean more toward a universal view of salvation which includes everyone find it a word to be torn out of Scripture as do those who make cases for all religions to be viewed equally.  It is also a problem for many conservative evangelical Christians who accept the verse but with some discomfort about the way it seems to exclude so many good and decent people who are religious, but not Christian.    

What adds to the problem for many evangelical conservative believers is not what the Scripture says, but how the Scripture is viewed through the lens of that tradition.  For the conservative believer this verse speaks to the necessity of an experience involving confessing publicly Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.  It is the hoop which is created by the believer that creates the problem.  No one makes it to the Father apart from such an experience which is surely what this verse implies.  Such is the logic which some feel compelled to embrace even though there is discomfort about the way it excludes our neighbors of other religious persuasions.    

Could this verse not be a Word which points us away from our tradition and practice to embracing the belief that Jesus is the gatekeeper?  He is the One entrusted with providing the way.  He is the giver of life.  He is the dispenser of grace.  He is the One who holds the keys to the gate and who admits those whom He chooses.  Maybe it is not up to us.  Maybe it is not up to a tradition and practice with which we are comfortable.  Maybe, it is up to Jesus.

As He Promised

I cannot begin to count the number of times the first few verses of the fourteenth chapter of John have been read at graveside services.  They are read because they are comforting.  They are read because they are true.  After telling the disciples that there were many dwelling places in the Father's house, He said, "If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare and place for you?" And without giving time for a reply, Jesus went on to declare, "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to Myself so that where I am, there you may be also."  (John 14:2-3).   

There is no reason for the living or the dying to question what Jesus has said.  What He says, He will do.  He is absolutely trustworthy.  To be anything else would be against His very nature.  Who is this Jesus who spoke these words which challenge all that cries out in our life for logic to prevail?  In verse 6 of the same chapter He speaks of His identity, "I am the way, the truth, and the life."  He is the way from conception to eternity.  He is the way that goes from birth to Home.  He is not just a truth, but He is truth.  The very essence of His being is truth.  Finally, he tells those who are hearing and listening that He is life.  When death seems to have the final word, He stands as one who declares and illustrates that it has no power over the life that is in Him and in us because of Him.  

To read this section of Scripture is to hear Jesus say, "You can trust me on this one," but then, when has Jesus ever said anything that was not true? When has He ever made a promise He did not keep?  Jesus told the disciples that He would be killed in Jerusalem, but that He would rise from the dead.  He kept that promise.  As those at the empty tomb were reminded, it happened just as He said it would happen.  When we come to our own moment of dying, Jesus will have finished His preparations for us in the heavenly place and He will come to take us Home just as He promised.

The Great Mystery

Growing up with my black zippered King James Bible which was complete with colored pictures of great Biblical moments, I learned that Jesus was promising mansions in heaven.  (John 14:2, KJV).  As the years passed and I got older, heaven must have gotten crowded with all of us Baby Boomers heading that way and the promise of a mansion was downsized to a room.  The downsizing started happening about the time I put my King James Version on the shelf and it was replaced with the Revised Standard Version which read, "In my Father's house there are many rooms..."    

Actually, the important thing is not the size of the place being prepared.  Be it a mansion, or a room, or a shack, it will be heaven.  To be honest speaking of heaven with such descriptive words that are confining no matter the size is a poor way of speak of something as infinite as eternity.  Still another thing to ponder is, "Who cares?"  If Jesus is going to be present in such a way as to "see His face," (Revelation 22:4),  who is going to get out the tape measure and check out the size of some dwelling place which, of course, is another way of thinking about the mansion of the King James Version or the room of the Revised Standard Version.   The promise of Jesus is not about size, but being with Him throughout eternity which is the bottom line of heaven.  

Eternity is as difficult as is heaven to grasp.  Perhaps, such is as good a definition of heaven as we will find.  It is about a life which is impossible to comprehend as well as a life filled the mystery of being in the presence of all that is holy.  We may figure that heaven will bring an end to all the mystery we know here on earth as we consider the holy, but there is a feeling in this pilgrim that life in heaven will only keep our heads shaking in wonder at the great mystery of God's grace which enabled us to finally get home.

Overcoming Troubles

When Jesus spoke those so often quoted words, "Let not your hearts be troubled..." (John 14:1), He must have been seeing faces that were stressed with anxiety.  The lighthearted days of beginning the journey were far in the past and in the moments of Him speaking this word, life was filled with foreboding.  Each disciple who looked at Jesus that day surely knew the gravity of the day.  The antagonists who had always lurked in the shadows were now boldly armed and threatening with the weapons of the status quo.  It was a dangerous time.  They knew it.  Jesus knew it.  It was  a trouble they could not hide.   

Jesus could not erase the trouble, or at least He was choosing not to do so.  What He did do was point them toward the cure for their trouble.  The word He spoke was no new word from Him for them.  "Let not your hearts be troubled, you believe in God, believe also in me."  The word which He offered to them as something which could handle the trouble of the present moment was trust in Him.  He challenged them to continue believing and depending upon Him and everything He had said to them in the easy moments of life even though there was nothing easy about the present condition of their life.  Trust in God is always the opposite of worry.  

To be consumed with trouble created worry is the opposite of faith.  Faith and trust is about abandoning everything even all the emotional mechanisms upon which we so casually depend when life seems manageable.  Worry is caused by the troubles that want to take root in our heart.  Jesus saw the disciples looking more at the darkness of the troubles of their lives than Him.  His gentle word to them and us on that day from so long ago is indeed the word we are called to embrace as we seek to live fully midst the troubles which confront us.  Trust.  A simple but powerful word.  Trust in Jesus.  It is the way to overcome troubles.

Heaven

While the Scripture talks about heaven, the church is reticent.   Life after this life is the subject of sermons on Easter Sunday, though not always in every place.  If our church is liturgically oriented, we will likely hear a second word about it on All Saints Sunday in the fall.  Of course, heaven might be mentioned as "a better place" at funerals and memorial services, but even then, it seems like a topic that must be handled carefully. The church at some time in its past might have been accused of being too other worldly oriented, but no one can seriously make the accusation hold up in these days.  

The church of our day has become an outpost of service in the world.  There is much talk about being the hands and feet of Jesus in the places where the needy and suffering of the world struggle to live.  Certainly, there is nothing wrong with those messages which inspire the saints to be those willing to wash feet, touch the untouchables, and to live generous lives.  What is troubling is that it must be one or the other instead of both.  What we want to avoid is becoming so other worldly that we are of no earthly value.  We also do not want to become more like a social service agency than a spiritual community committed to preaching a gospel message which lifts up the preparation Jesus is making for us in the heavenly place.      

There are only a few things in this life which are certain and one of them is that we will all die.  I have known a few who believed firmly that they would not die, but would live to see Jesus returning in the clouds, but even their voices have been stilled.  The church has a unique place in the world.  Its message of the abundant life is heard nowhere else in our society.  The church seems able as it equips people to live, but another part of its calling is to enable people to die with a sure hope in the resurrection power of Jesus Christ.  May we be found faithful.

Heaven's Main Attraction

I am no authority on heaven though I must confess to having some interest in it since that day my father was quickly taken from me in what can only be described as the twinkling of an eye.  I was seven years old and soon decided that if my father was gone from us, he must surely be in heaven.  Neither am I an authority on the New Testament book known as Revelation.  I have taught Bible courses focused on this last book of the sacred writings, but my teaching may well have done more to confuse than to enlighten.  All I know for sure about heaven is that there is much I do not know about it.    

Some folks seem to have heaven all figured out.  They can flip through the verses of Revelation with a quickness and certainty that is amazing.  They seem to know so much while I see myself hanging on to the very little I think I know.  One of the things which is heard so often has to do with how our arrival at the Pearly Gate is going to enable us to see our fathers....and mothers, wives and husbands, children, and a host of other family and friends.  It will be like a Homecoming at one of those small country churches, only ten thousand times better.  While I hope it is true, I find the anticipated scenario a bit troubling as Jesus gets mentioned more as an afterthought instead of the main attraction.    

Revelation 21 begins with the words, "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth..."  (vs. 1) and then transports us to the verse where John writes, "And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God..."   (vs. 2)  As we move from these words, we find a long section focused on John's vision of the New Jerusalem as well as "the river of the water of life, bright as crystal..."  (Revelation 22:1).  As the vision is wrapping us, there is no mention of that Homecoming my soul longs to experience, but there does come another word which causes us to realize something more important than seeing those who have raced ahead to finish the course of this life.  John writes, "...His servants will worship Him (The Lamb of God); they will see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads..."  Revelation 22:3-4).  I hope to see my father and others I have loved, but what I know is that I will see the face of Jesus, "the pioneer of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2)  and truly, that will be a greater blessing than any I could ever imagine. 

Keep It Simple

A spur of the moment decision this morning carried me to a worship service in a small Baptist Church hidden down a winding road in the north Georgia mountains.  There were about twenty-five or so souls seated in the pews.  They all knew one another.  They had all known one another for most of their lives.  They shared memories of the saints who used to sit alongside of them in those worn pews.  The pastor walked to and fro up front along the first row of pews with his Bible in his hand and with a heart full of love for his people.    

It was a church that lacked the glitz and glamour of the megachurch.  There was not even a video screen on the wall to guide people in their singing.  As the preacher preached, people across the sanctuary had their opened Bible in their laps and their fingers moving across the page to follow the reading they were hearing.  It was obvious that those who worshiped there loved one another, shared each other's burdens, loved their pastor, and most of all, they loved the Lord. I was grateful to be among them in worship this morning.   For every big church there must be a hundred or more churches like the one I attended this morning.  Those small rural churches are often dismissed by the larger church as insignificant, but they are far from insignificant.  

The small church people hold tightly to the core values of Biblical faith.  Jesus is not an idea, but a living  risen Christ who is here with us and who is good to keep His promise about preparing a place in the heavenly home.  They get through all the things life can throw at them without the help of a therapist.  Instead they cling to their faith when others might be tempted to abandon it.  I love being with such folks.  They remind me to keep it simple. 

The Right Direction

I have planted a few pecan trees on the farm.  Some of the trees already there are ancient.  Some say they have been growing for over a hundred years.  As I behold the size of their trunk and branches, I have no reason to doubt they have watched several generations pick up their precious fruit.  The trees I have planted have been there ten years or so and are making a few nuts on their young branches.  Planting a pecan tree by hand is harder work than most want to do.  Because of the needs of their root system, they require a very big and deep hole.   

What I did not know when I was sweating the hole out of the ground with a shovel was the satisfaction the new tree would bring.  Planting a tree is a gift to the future, to those who will come after me, and to the Creator with Whom I partner to make it grow.  I think often of a peach farmer over in Talbotton who was then about the age I am now planting a new peach orchard which was going to take seven years to produce peaches.  My youthful face must have showed my surprise that he would plant something which would likely take longer to produce than he had years to watch and so he said, "I want my grandchildren to know I was pointed in the right direction."  Obviously, I have not forgotten those words of wisdom uttered into existence nearly fifty years ago.  

Perhaps, the few young pecan trees among the ancient ones on the farm will speak such a word to my grandchildren.  I pray, too, that they will remember me not as a perfect man, but as one who was always pointed toward loving Jesus and serving Him.  I will not be remembered as those men of faith recorded in the book of Hebrews, but I pray I will be remembered as a man of faith, one who believed in Jesus and trusted Him for the unknown future.  I guess I am not so different from the old Talbot County peach farmer who wanted folks to know he was pointed in the right direction.