The Embrace of the Savior

It surely must seem to some that I am just an old preacher who longs for days which exist only in my memory.  Perhaps, I come across as one who is too judgmental about the church as it moves into an era of ministry which is so different than the one I knew.  I have no argument with anyone who reaches such conclusions.  The younger version of myself was not always open and receptive to the words of those pastors and preachers upon whose shoulders I stood every time I stood in the pulpit.  The truth is I do not hope and pray for the past to be re-invented, but that the church would once again become intentional about inviting people to experience a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  

A preacher whose sermons I hear often keeps talking about the need to connect head and heart.  Of course, he is right, but it is also true that the church of our day is too much about the head and not enough about the heart.  Knowing the right thing to do is not the same as being the person who does the right thing because of a heart changed by a relationship with Jesus.  The church puts the cart before the horse when it calls people to serve Christ in the world before connecting them to the Christ in such a way that His living presence is known in their heart.  We call people to go to the ends of the earth without the fuel to get there and without the spiritual life which will enable them to stay once they go.  

My conviction is that our problems are not political or psychological, but spiritual.  So many are wandering without a destination and without an awareness of home.  More and more I am convinced that there is more spiritual hunger out there in the world as well as in the church than most of us think could be possible.  I long for the church I remember to become the church that not only provides a safe place, but one that also invites people to know that home is within the loving embrace of the Savior.   

A Fear of the Church

There are no doubt some churches where emotionalism runs rampant.  There are communities where the measure of a worship gathering is the emotional response.  The stronger the expressions of emotions, the more the Spirit is at work is something which might be said.  However, in so many of our mainline churches of the day, an emotional response on the part of someone is a fearful thing.  In the years of being out of the pulpit I have heard powerful testimonies which ended with a "thank you very much, now let's get back to the order of worship" kind of response.  I have also heard sermons in which the Holy Spirit was so present that people were on the edge of their seats eager to respond only to have the benediction pronounced.   

Being one who has led worship services for over forty years, I appreciate the need for worship that is intentional and orderly. The problem is that sometimes we are so married to the order of worship that the Holy Spirit has no room to slip into the room with a new plan.  At all costs the mainline church wants to avoid any appearance of being charismatic, or even evangelistic.  Of all my laments for our contemporary church, the loss of invitational sermons and an atmosphere that encourages people to make a personal response for Jesus is the greatest. The assumption seems to be that everyone who is in the church on Sunday morning is already locked in to being a disciple of Jesus.  I have always maintained there are too many who are Christians by assumption rather than decision.  

While there is nothing wrong with baptisms of infants and members of the annual Confirmation group, I long for the day when the baptismal waters are constantly being stirred because people are being touched to the core by the power of the Holy Spirit, the grace of God, and the love of the Lord Jesus Christ.  A church that is not baptizing new believers needs to be asking "Why not?"  A church that is not encouraging people to experience something more in their spiritual journey is missing the mark.  A church afraid of people shedding tears of repentance has lost its way. 

The Prayer Box

Along the highway out in the country not too far from the farm is something on the side of the road which is as striking as the roof tops on barns which shouted out, "See Rock City.'"   It may not command to be seen, but it is planted above the mailbox on the edge of the road as it waits for daily mail.  It is actually a half size replica of the mail box and has written on it in red letters, "Prayer Box."  Every time I pass that way and I have often in recent years, I think I should stop and meet its owner.  

It also sets me to wondering.  It is obviously there for people to leave prayer request.  Is it part of a church's prayer ministry, or is it some individual's response to God?  Could it be some house bound person's way of praying for the community and the world?  The tire tracks in front of it tell the tale of people stopping and putting something in the box. It is not just an ornamental statement of faith, but something useful for the Kingdom of God.  I wonder how many prayer requests are put in the "Prayer Box" each week and if there is any communication between the person praying and the person in need of prayer?  For those of us who might be tempted to say that due to our circumstances there is nothing we can do for God, this pint size prayer box speaks volumes.  

I remember a worn out saint at the end of her days who had pictures of the church staff stuck to a mirror over a dresser so she would be reminded to pray for us each day.  I shall never forget a widow of limited financial means who canceled a magazine subscription so she could give to the church's mission project.  What we do for God may sometimes seem to be small and insignificant, but in the Kingdom all the mustard seeds that are planted bear fruit a hundred fold. 

Come, Mortal.

"Mortal, I have come, it is time."

"Time for what?" I quickly said.

"Time for you to come and leave

what is behind for what is ahead."

"I cannot.  Go away.  Leave me be

for I have things to do, places to go, 

a life full of stuff not yet done."

 

"Go!  Go now, and quickly!" I said, 

I have no time for You in this day."

"Ah, but do you not yet know

that time is not what you have?

The times that comes and goes

is now no more and all that is left

is the time set aside for leaving."

 

"Call me not, Mortal, for I am more.

See these words that are on my walls,

I have a name, I have titles and awards.

I am honored by others, respected, too.

When I speak, others know to listen.

Call me not, Mortal, for as you see,

I am not just anyone, but someone."

 

"Mortal, all you say matters not, 

it is time. Not for anyone or someone,

but for you it is the appointed time."

"Please, wait a day," I cried aloud,

"I have things to do for those I love.

Important words I have not yet said."

"Mortal, come now." And so I went. 

A Horrible Story

Hidden in the pages of the Old Testament book of Judges is the story of Jephthah, a mighty warrior of Gilead.  It is such a horrible story.  It seems to defy understanding.  "...the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah..." (Judges 11:29), but still he was afraid as he stood on the eve of a great battle with the Ammonites.  In an effort to secure the victory, he made a vow to the Lord, "If You will give the Ammonites into my hand, then whoever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return victorious...shall be the Lord's, to be offered up by me as a burnt offering." (Judges 11:30-31).  When he returned home victorious his daughter, his only child,  comes out  of the house with timbrels and with dancing.  (Judges 11:34).  The story ends with the Scripture simply saying of this warrior and father, "he did with her according to the vow he had made."  (Judges 11:39).    

Try as we might to make it spiritually palatable and some commentators do, it is a story that is so repulsive it makes us sick to read it.  The only way to make any sense of the story is to see it as an example of how sin can destroy us and all those we love.  The Lord did not require the vow.  It was already in His heart to give the victory to Jephthah.  The vow was Jephthah's decision.  Human sacrifice was clearly forbidden by Yahweh. (Leviticus 18:21, Deuteronomy 12:3, 18:10-12).  Baal worship which was practiced by the tribes of the region as well as the Hebrew people themselves from time to time allowed for human sacrifice.  Jephthah's vow was not something required or desired by the Lord and was birthed from the sin in his heart.  It could reap nothing but destruction.  

What may seem like an ancient barbarian story that has no relevance actually has a great deal of relevance.  It speaks to those of us who try to live in the world that calls us to get ahead and accumulate at any cost while Jesus calls us to put self aside for the sake of the Kingdom of God.  Standing in both worlds is impossible.  We must decide where we want to stand.  Jephthah speaks to us of the disaster inherent in the sinful choice.  

Sixty Years on the Road

It occurred to me a few days ago that it has been sixty years since I knelt by my bed in a Methodist parsonage and received Christ into my life.  While that moment was not my first encounter with God, it was the one that has carried me through this long journey.  When I was seven years old, my father died which resulted in a conclusion that there had to be a God and there had to be a heaven.  I could not conceive of any other alternative.  At age seventy-eight, I still stand by the conviction of my childhood except now I would not use the words, "had to be."  Instead, I would use the words "there is." 

I was baptized at age nine by a pastor who my mother would later marry and the influence he had on my faith journey could never be measured.  Though baptized I can only confess to dabbling with what it meant to be committed to Christ during my teenage years.  I went to many altars during those years, but nothing really took with holding power until that night in the Alamo parsonage.  I have not made that moment of beginning the whole of my story, but being the beginning, it will always be an important part of it.  

While there are many people of faith in Christ who speak not of a moment of beginning, but of a lifetime of not knowing what it is to live without loving God, we are all somehow mysteriously given a life which can only be described as a new creation.  While there are many who have cast a strong and lasting shadow of influence on our life, there is not one who has worked the miracle of change and transformation as has Christ Jesus.  Like the father of the prodigal son parable, He is the One who enables us to know home.  We were marked with His holiness at conception and though we choose wandering, He waits with patience for us to turn toward the home He has been preparing and holding for us.  I am grateful for both his patience and His grace. 

A Freight Train of A Word

I cannot really say that I remember hearing the word before I arrived at Asbury College in 1968.  It is a word that carries enough letters to be a long freight train.  I ran into again a few days ago as I was reading a daily devotional from Oswald Chambers' "My Utmost for His Highest."  I started using the devotional guide back in my Asbury College days and ever since it has been no further than a reach away.  After his death in the early part of the 20th century, Oswald's wife actually compiled the readings from his talks, writings, and devotionals.   

A few days ago I read, "Sanctification is not my idea of what I want God to do for me; sanctification is God's idea of what He wants to do for me and He has to get me into the attitude of mind and spirit where at any cost I will let Him sanctify me wholly."  It is a word that brings to mind I Thessalonians 5:23 which says, "May the God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly..."  The New Revised Standard Version of the Bible has the word "wholly" reading "entirely," but in this instance I am going to hang on to the way I memorized the verse.  For many of today's believers that freight train of a theological word is scary.  It is scary because it is misunderstood.  

The sanctified are not some group of spiritually elite souls removed from the trials and temptations of life, but those are seeking the help of the Holy Spirit so that they can leave a life of total surrender to God each day.  Though both Scriptural and Wesleyan, it is not really preached or taught in a way that calls those committed to Christ to step into a life of absolute abandonment to God so that the Holy Spirit is free to do with us, to shape us, and to lead us regardless of our own desires, wants, and wishes.