Head and Heart

The church culture in which I lived as a boy was not one which was afraid to invite people to enter into an experience with Jesus which might evoke some kind of emotional response.  People were given a safe place to confess their sins and seek forgiveness.  While crying tears of repentance was not required,  many an altar has been salted with shed tears.  It was a spiritual environment which overtly invited those who worshiped to give their hearts to Jesus.  Preachers would invite people to do the work of repentance at the altar and then would kneel down alongside them at the altar to pray with them.   

I have a preacher friend who often speaks of connecting head and heart as he leads his people in worship.  In many churches the heart seems to be forgotten.  The message is more about how the community needs to respond to the call of Jesus rather than a word that encourages individual response.  Service has become the key word instead of salvation.  The focus is so much on the community's response to Jesus that there is no room for people to encounter Jesus in an experience which might be described as a personal conversion.  

Back in my college days at Asbury College a roommate went home over Christmas and found himself at an altar confessing his sins.  As he told the story there was a friend who was kneeling beside him who kept saying, "Now, Larry, you are not that bad.  You do a lot of good things for people." As I remember the story, it seems to be a visual which depicts the reluctance the church has in calling its people to a time of confession and repentance that could lead to a conversion, or salvation experience.  It is important that we carry our head with us to worship, but neither should we leave our heart at home.

Reflections and Fears

The movement of the church toward the contemporary is placing the church on a perilous slope.  It slowly is loosing its footing.  For so long it has been rooted in the traditions and liturgies of the past.  Worship is ceasing to be about commonly shared beliefs for the sake of worship where core values are framed inside the language of individualism.  Ancient creeds and prayers have been replaced with ear appealing statements which may show the work of a creative wordsmith, but still lack theological substance.  Worship that was once centered on symbols such as the cross, or the Table, the baptismal waters and a pulpit for proclamation have been removed in place of open space filled with nothing.   

This is not to say that worship cannot take place in the contemporary worship experience, but that its center is no longer about what God has done for us, but about what the worship leaders can do for us.  Worship which once seemed more centered on God has found a new center:  the band and the worship leader.  Instead of a gathered people doing together the work of God, we are becoming a gathering of people who are more spectators than participants.  In my earlier years of attending church, the church was a preaching centered church affirmed visually by a pulpit in the center of the worship space.  Over the years the same church has been moving away from a preaching centered church to a Table centered church.  The contemporary experience seems to be movement back to person centered worship instead of one that is really Christ centered.

Certainly, these are not thoughts which will be embraced by the large group of people who have found a home in a style of worship which is more contemporary than traditional.  While I respect the commitment many have toward contemporary worship, I do fear that it is moving us away from community to individualism and to a day when the church will gather without being rooted in a strong theological foundation. In such a world, culture will find it easier to direct the church that was once directed by the Word of God and the work of the Holy Spirit.

Sunday is Coming!

I have spent a little more time than usual at the computer today.  I accepted an invitation to preach this upcoming Sunday and the sermon which has been stirring in my head needs to find a place on some white paper.  It has been a long day.  If it was one of those days from long ago, I would have a trash basket full of wadded up paper pulled from the old manual Royal typewriter.  What I am saying is that the process of taking the mulled over stuff in my head to the pulpit has become a slower process than I anticipated.   To be honest, I am a bit surprised.  I have been praying, thinking, and writing the sermon in my head for some time.  The problem today has been getting it on the screen in front of me.   

Perhaps, the difficulty speaks of the rust which has accumulated since I preached my last sermon on Christmas Eve.  It may also be that I have some hesitation about preaching what I am feeling impressed upon me to preach.  While I know it is where I am going to end up, sometimes the journey to surrendering to the leading of the Spirit is not a straight and easy road. I also know my energy level is still not up to where I hope it will soon be, but I keep reminding myself of that verse which speaks of "God's power being made perfect in weakness."  (II Corinthians 12:9).

Regardless of all these things, it is as is often said, "Sunday is coming!"  It is a word which is always before every preacher who is preaching every week and it remains true for those of us who preach with less frequency. Sermons often come with a struggle.  Even though I preached for over 40 years, every sermon brings its own challenges.  I hate old sermons.  They are boring to preach and smell like three day old fish.  One thing is certain.  I look forward to the opportunity to once again stand in the pulpit to preach the Word God has given me for the people of God in the place He has provided.  

Living Wisely

An image I have come to appreciate in the days and years leading into this 78th birthday month is the image of life unfolding.  It is an image that speaks to me at a number of levels.  First, it is a reminder that there is more unseen in life than seen.  More belongs to the realm of the invisible than ever considered possible.  What is seen is more like the tip of the iceberg.  The greater part of life is in the invisible realm, but it is a realm toward which we are always walking and as we walk toward what is still in the future, it is slowly and, if I might add, revealing itself, but in God's time.   

It is an image which brings to mind the prayer Jesus taught us to pray.  "Your kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." (Matthew 6:10)  Even though heaven is an unseen reality, we still pray that what is unseen will one day be present here on earth.  In other words we pray for that day when the veil will be lifted and the seen and unseen will become as one.  To think of life unfolding is to position ourselves in a place of moving toward the will of God which though not always seen is always in the process of unfolding before us.  

It is not an image which accommodates our infatuation with instant gratification.  Try as we might, we cannot hurry the unfolding nature of the will of God.  Neither can we hurry into the future He has planned and prepared for us.  We can only wait for the Lord to reveal it to us. Whether we wait with patience or impatience, it does not change the fact that God is the One who is charge of the unseen which stretches before us.  He gives us today.  We wait for the coming of whatever it is that is a part of tomorrow and beyond.  It is unfolding.  The unseen part of our life is out there in the invisible realm and it is coming.  To live wisely is to learn the importance of waiting on the Lord as it unfolds.

The Unchanging Call

As this month of June unfolds and I walk deeper into my 78th birthday month, I find myself thinking again about a recent lesson learned about God's calling.  My first experience with the calling of God came just before my 18th birthday and weeks before I left home for Young Harris College.  It was one of those unexplainable moments that you knew you knew.  Though I had a long drawn out debate with God about the call to preach, I knew what I heard.  I simply did not like it, or want to accept it.  As it turned out, I loved preaching.  Of all the tasks which were mine as a result of ordination, preaching was the thing which I loved the most.   

When I retired it was strange to think of life without preaching, but before I had time to give it much thought an opportunity came to preach at a small church about ten miles from the farm.  Finally, though, after a little over four years, my circumstances changed and I had to step away from what would be my last full time preaching appointment.  A lesson learned over these last ten years of not preaching every Sunday is that God lifted the sense of urgency about preaching and led me into different ways of serving Him.  As I approach my 78th birthday, I am grateful that God is not through with me yet and that the call of long ago remains, but that it has moved me in new directions.  

As I write JourneyNotes on a nearly daily basis, I know the ability to do so is a gift from Him.  He has been as faithful to enable this writing ministry even as He did a preaching ministry of over forty years.  Another ministry which has unfolded before me in the place of preaching is praying.  While I have always prayed, more and more it seems that God brings into my life people for whom I sense the need to intercede in prayer.  What I have learned is that while what God asks or calls us to do may change, the fact that He is always calling us to be useful for His Kingdom's work is unchanging.

The Unforgettable Tree

On a recent journey from the mountains to the sea and back home again, many things stand out.  Watching the landscape unfold through the window of an automobile is like opening a great big coffee table book full of wonderful pictures.  Nothing is like the way mountains rise up to touch the white fluffy clouds and neither is there anything quite like the place where sand, rolling waters, and horizon all seem to be a part of each other.  There were mom and pop eateries, shops full of stuff not really needed, and so many people with stories to tell.  

Even though all these things are very memorable, a tree on the edge of the Flint River in Bainbridge, Ga. receives the award for the being most outstanding.  I first saw it in the early morning sun from the deck of a motel that provided a place for breakfast.  I do not know the species of the tree except to say it was a survivor.  It was the only tree standing in the area and its trunk sent huge gnarled twisted limbs into the sky.  Everything about it spoke of being of the ancient of days.  It was a tree that had survived flood and storm. When I first saw it, I thought of the first Psalm.  "They (the righteous) are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither, in all that they do, they prosper." (Psalm 1:4).  

Perhaps, part of the appeal was that it looked like a kinsman.  So many of us bear the scars and other evidences of making it through the storms and floods that have often seemed overwhelming, but somehow by the grace of God, we still stand as survivors.  Certainly another part of the attraction of the tree was the way it found its home by the river.  So many of us have planted our lives in the stream of living waters.  It has become our home, the place of our roots and life.  Our home is by that stream which "flow from the throne of God and of the Lamb..." (Revelation 22:1). Seeing that tree by the river was like being home and all I wanted to do was sit with gratitude flowing from within.

The Source of Silence

I have read the Creation story many times and only this morning was I caused to see an aspect of the created act that I had never before seen.  I had read about the creation of the earth and sky and sea.  I had read about the birds of the air, the animals of the earth, and the fish of the sea.  I had read about men and women being created in the likeness of God and with the imprint of the holy.  After listening to a friend's devotional this morning, I saw what I had been missing.  As surely as God created all the things we see around us in creation, He created the silence.   

What seems obvious in this moment is that God not only created the silence, but that He also created in the silence.  What we have been doing since the beginning is adding layers of noise.  While there was certainly noise before the Tower of Babel, that moment causes us to hear the confusion that noise can generate.  We live in an increasingly loud and confusing world.  The noise around comes at us like powerful race cars roaring around the track.  It not only fills our senses, it overwhelms them.  

Anyone who hears the silence and senses the stillness must develop an inner discipline which not only tunes out what is around us, but also enables us to hear what or Who is inside of us.  The Scipture tells us that the Spirit of God desires to dwell in us.  What His presence brings to us is a bit of the stillness and silence that was breathed into the very fabric of creation.  It is surely one of those things we have lost, but at least we know where to find it.  The silence is not found in turning down the volume controls on the external, but in turning the volume controls up on what enables us to hear what God has put within us. 

 

The Blessing of the Gull

The sun was still meandering around the eastern horizon when he came.  I was sitting quietly on the porch with a freshly peeled orange when he arrived.  I was not expecting him.  I looked up from my orange and he was perched on the handrail of the steps.  We were about six feet apart when I looked up and found myself looking eye to eye with a mostly white seagull.  For at least a minute or so ours eyes were locked on each other.  I stirred not, nor did he.   

Here is what is probably viewed by some as the strange part.  I spoke to him, "Good morning, friend," I said, "I hope you have a blessed day flying around the water today."  He said not a word.  He just seemed to be looking at me as intently as anything could look at another thing.  Suddenly he was gone as quickly and as quietly as he had come.  Perhaps, he stopped by for a visit because on other such visits he had found some easy food.  I do not know.  What I do know is that I may have verbally blessed that bird, but without saying a single word, he blessed me as surely as I did him.   

Like you I cannot count the times, God has provided a blessing through the Creation. Some call it earth or nature, but I am one of those who believe it is a living thing brought into being and sustained by God and is, therefore, a means by which He can bless each one of us.  I was blessed by a sunrise this morning.  I have been blessed by thoughts of how heaven and earth are so close they sometimes seem to mingle as I walk in this place where water and sand end and begin.  I am thankful, too, for the morning blessing from a visiting seagull.

Where We Live

We walk the spiritual journey in a world where there is ever present evil, far more than just three temptations, and enough stress to sink a ship.  Faithful living cannot be done in a spiritual cocoon.  Neither can we pull up our robes of righteousness and bury our head in the sand.  When we read the accounts of the Desert Fathers, we see that not even a life of solitude and silence kept the world away.  The truth is that as long as we carry our own heart within us, we will face those things which can turn our eyes from the direction we want to go.   

This morning provided a comfortable chair on a porch overlooking a river.  Birds were flying overhead.  Ducks were meandering around the water's edge.  The sun was working magic as it brought shadows and light on the landscape. In this midst of all these things which invited spiritual reflection there was the sound of hurrying automobiles on the nearby bridge.  Before that noise was tuned out, someone turned on a leaf blower.  Finally, a young woman sat down not far from my place of reflection and shared a cell phone conversation via speaker phone.   

Life is always full of distractions.  The quiet moments we anticipate with God are often hijacked by some unexpected intrusion.  The intrusion or distraction may be some unnaturally generated noise, or it may be our mind wondering off to worry about a problem.  It does not take a loud noisemaker beside us to take us away from where we intended to be to where we are.  This morning's message from God through His Creation reminded me that we live as His disciples not outside the world, but in it. 

A Personal Encounter

What seems lost in the church of today is the urgency or the importance of a personal encounter with Jesus. It is more likely that we will hear Jesus preached as someone after whom we can model our life, or someone whose example as a servant calls us to serve others.  Jesus is certainly both model and servant, but he is first of all Son of God, the Incarnate One of God, and the Savior who died on the cross.  To read the gospels is to hear His teachings and to see the signs and miracles which were a part of His ministry, but it is also a holy word which enables us to see people like us encountering Him in a personal life changing relationship.   

What led me to give my life to Jesus was not a social agenda, or theological teachings.  What led me to surrender myself to Him was the cross where I saw both divine love and forgiveness.  I said "Yes" to Jesus because someone invited me to know Him in a personal relationship.  This past weekend at a gathering of college friends, I listened to two men whom I have known a long time talk about the moment long ago when they had an encounter with Jesus which changed their life and the direction it took.  I love that story John told in his gospel of Jesus when two of the disciples of John the Baptist came to Jesus wondering what He was all about and Jesus said, "Come and see."  The very next day, Philip, went to a skeptical friend named Nathaniel and finally said to him, "Come and see." (John 1:39, 46).  

Before inviting people to become foot washers, the church needs to invite them to "Come and see"  this Jesus for themselves.  Before people set out to save the world, they need to have a first hand encounter with the loving forgiveness and the abundant grace given on the cross.  Without that personal encounter, those who start out for other reasons will grow weary and give up.

The Place of Blessing

It is not often that I attend a worship service and hear myself saying over and over, "Wow!"  It happened this morning.  From the first notes of the pre-service music to the moment when the sound of music faded into an echo, my heart was stirred.  I sang louder than I should have and sometimes sang in a whisper when I probably should have kept silent,  Seldom does worship begin with "Victory in Jesus," only to get better, but it did today.  The choir anthem was powerful.  When it ended most people clapped.  I restrained myself from standing and shouting!   

When the theme of the sermon was announced using the language of the ball diamond, I expected trivial and an attempt at being entertaining.  Again, I was wrong as I heard a sermon that was inspired, passionately delivered, and heart engaging.  The church was one far enough away from home that I was among the visitors, but I left wondering how soon I could return.  Tomorrow would not be soon enough!   

There are times when powerful worship takes place without any planning and without much prayer.  I have had too many moments in the past when I have experienced such to be true.  I have also learned over the years that God expects us be to serious enough about worship and preaching to give careful and prayerful attention to the details. We owe Him our best in preparation.  Today was a day when the Holy Spirit brought great blessing to a gathering of His people and I am so grateful that I was in the pews when the blessing was happening.  I left looking forward to the next Sunday I can be in this place of blessing!  

The Second Book

I cannot remember the exact year, but I know it was sometime between going to the farm and entering this month which contains my 78th birthday.  To reflect on what I have learned and what I carry with me as I go forward is to remember something which at first seemed to be un-Wesleyan.  John Wesley declared himself to be a man of one book.  Always I have agreed with him when I think about the authority for my life.  However, when I think about the way God reveals Himself to us, I have come to a place of adding another book.   

It is the book of Creation.  The ancient Celtic saints had the utmost regard for the written Word, but they also maintained that God had left another source of divine revelation.  At first it seemed to be a heretical thought, but as I lived immersed in the creation on the farm, I began to understand.  I began to read that second book.  It was not read with the eyes which read the written word, but the eyes of the spirit.  It turned out to be not just a written word, but a spoken one as well.  Those early Celtic saints called themselves people of two books as they declared that God revealed Himself through the sacred Word and the Creation,  One was a little book and the other was a big one.  

What I have learned and carry with me in this season of my life is that God does speak and reveal Himself through the Word I have read all my life, but He also reveals Himself in the Creation.  It is a book which when read is not seen and a word which when spoken makes no sound.  As I approach the 78th birthday still not seen on the horizon, I am learning to value this second book which has provided many a blessings.

The Unfolding Way

Into this 78th birthday month, I carry with me a lesson learned about waiting on the Lord.  The word, "waiting," is an ugly word in our culture.  Nothing about us wants to wait.  We want what we want now and not later.  Hurrying is what we do best even if it is killing us.  When we run into that Biblical word that calls us to wait on the Lord, we pause, say ok, and give God five minutes.  Of course, this is not what the Word of God has in mind as it reveals a Word such as, "Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!"  (Psalm 27:14).   

The lesson I have learned about waiting on the Lord is often personally expressed through the image of unfolding.  It is an image taken from the ancient Celtic spiritual tradition.  When I discovered this ancient stream of spirituality, I began to understand that waiting on the Lord not only speaks of trust in Him, but also of a patience that gives the life ahead of us time to unfold and encircle us.  Instead of forcing our way into God's will, it is a better thing to let God's will come to us.   

This lesson has been slowly learned only after a life time of trying to get where I was going ahead of God.  While I confess it is not a way of life which is always easy to embrace, I have learned that a spirit of waiting for whatever God has planned to unfold before me provides a life where worrying about tomorrow is greatly diminished.  Faith and trust in God is not about what we know and can see, but is about understanding and accepting that life is largely lived in the dimension of the "not yet seen" which is constantly unfolding before us.

Another Lesson

As I walk forward into this 78th birthday month, I do so with a mindfulness of the grace of God.  Life is about grace.  If our understanding of life begins with anything else, we have failed to pay attention.  Another thing which has come to me in these accumulating years is the importance of paying attention.  While it may sound farfetched to some, as surely as God has a voice and my spirit has ears to hear, there was a day shortly after retirement when the Spirit quietly whispered to my spirit saying, "Pay Attention."   

Life is not about tomorrow.  It is not about the future.  Life is about today.  It is not a reality known by us when we are young and the years seem as endless as eternity.  When I came to the farm, I began to realize that life was shorter than it was longer.  The most important  day was today.  It was a day too important to miss because I was looking over my shoulder, or toward some moment not yet seen.  Each moment of each day was something God had given out of His grace and it was, therefore, something to be savored.  Within each one were gifts from God and only by paying attention could I fully experience them. 

Alongside of realizing how important it was to pay attention to the present was an understanding that it was important to pay attention to every person whose path intersected with mine.  There was no room for being too busy.  There was nothing too important to keep me being focused on the one who was before me.  If I did not pay attention to others, I would become like the priest and the levite whose business became more important than God's business.  Having been that person, I had no desire to let that old version of me be recreated in my older years.  Paying attention has come to mean that no calendar or email or anything else in all creation is more important than seeing the neighbor in front of me.  Paying attention means taking the time to see whoever God brings into view.  

Morning Prayer

"Already, Lord, prayers are rising toward You like the incense which fills the sanctuary as Your people gather.  The sun has once again cast its soft morning light upon us breaking the hold of darkness on the land.  In Your mercy, Lord, so come upon us.  Break the hold darkness has upon our lives.  We struggle against powers we cannot see and cannot overcome in our own strength.  We know what to do and choose what we do not want to do.  

Forgive us, Lord, for choosing the darkness of sin for the light of Your love.  Come now upon us.  Rescue us from the power of darkness and enable us to live inside the eternal light of Your Kingdom so that we might know again at the beginning of this day Your forgiveness and the joy of our salvation.   As Your grace touches our lives, may You know through our prayers that we once again would present everything which is a part of us to You as living sacrifice.  May You receive it as a holy sacrifice, one that is pleasing and acceptable.  

We ask, Holy Father, that Your Spirit would grant us peace in this day.  There are many things which we allow to trouble us.  There are many things which bring fear to us at the beginning of this day.  Help us where we are weak.  Help us to live without the fear that overcomes and enable us to so open our heart to you that Your Holy Spirit finds a place to dwell freely.  Help us to live the life of the surrendered heart so that those we encounter in this day will see evidence of Your love and grace, Your forgiveness and acceptance.  Create in us a clean heart, Lord, so that we might walk blameless and so that others might know You by the way we live.  Thank You, Lord, for the freshness of a new day and a fresh touch of Your Spirit in our lives.  So bless us now in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Amen."

The Gift of Grace

June is my birthday month.   In a few weeks I will be entitled to have seventy eight candles on a birthday cake should one show up for this day of personal note.  While I cannot profess to accumulating the wisdom of Solomon, I have learned a few things along the circuitous road that has brought me from where  I used to be to where I am.  When I left my preaching days, I lost my captive audience.  When I find someone who seems prepared to listen for a moment, I have more to say than needs to be said.  I have watched more than one person who paused long enough to listen leave before their body got up and left.  

One among the many things I have learned is that life is about grace.  Actually, it is not just about grace; it is about the grace of God.  I am a debtor to the abundant grace of God.  I understand why the Apostle Paul would write to young Timothy, "There is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of which I am chief among sinners." (I Timothy 1:15 KJV). One of the great mysteries of this faith journey is the grace which called me from my sins, set my feet on a different path, and then gave me the privilege of preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ for over forty years.  

When I look at myself in the mirror, I say, "unworthy," and God says, "loved."  How can we not live in a constant state of gratitude?  How can we not rise in gratitude and end the day with it still rising from our heart?  Once when I was complaining to God about where I was, I remember saying to Him, "I deserve better,"  and He quickly told me I did not deserve even the least significant pulpit.  Of course, God was right as He always is.  How grateful we should be that life is not about getting what we deserve, but is instead, about the gift of the grace of God.

Morning Thoughts on Prayer

Prayer is something we all do.  Even those who show no evidence of believing in God will in unguarded moments call out, "God, help me!" Perhaps, it means nothing, but then it may be something which comes from a deep unconscious level.  Admit it or not, we are all made with the imprint of the holy upon us. Choosing to delegate the creation story in Genesis to a myth does not change the reality of what the Word of God is declaring to be true.  We are all conceived in that eternal light spoken of in Genesis and the gospel of John.   

There are surely many things happening in prayer.  Some people only pray in moments when life rages out of control.  Some seem to have come to a place of praying without ceasing.  Prayer has within it the elements of worship, petition, intercession, repentance, forgiveness, and guidance.  Sometimes it looks like a laundry list of needs and other times it looks like a love letter being spoken to God.  Reading the book of Psalms brings us into a room where the many dimensions of prayer can be seen.  The prayers we read in the Psalms are not about artificial expressions of religious ritual, but about the blood and guts of real life. 

Jesus assumed prayer would be a natural response to the Heavenly Father.  In that passage from Matthew He did not say, "If you are praying..."  What we hear Him teaching in Matthew 6:7 is, "When you are praying..."  In this instance there is a huge difference in "if" and "when."  Jesus never debated the necessity or the value of prayer, He just did it.  It is not just by His teachings that we are brought to an understanding of its place in our daily lives, but even more in the way He modeled this spiritual discipline.  It is easy to see Him as the healer and giver of forgiveness, but there were many moments when He was out there alone in some deserted place praying.  We can do as He says do and also we can do as He did.