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.