The Charcoal Fire

I grew up in a family filled with men who loved to fish.  My memories of my Father are few, but many of them are about fishing.  A boat, a river, a washtub full of fish which I am sure were counted by him and the uncles who joined him that day are but a few.  One thing I have learned about fishing stories over the years is that there is always a number.  While some might say, "we got a mess of fish," and while others might hold up the fish laden stringer, the real fish stories always include the number of fish brought home.  If a fish story is told without the number of fish caught, the story might be suspect!   

 

The litmus test of fishing stories is in the number which is why we know the story told in the 21st chapter of John is true.  After the resurrected Jesus showed Himself to the disciples, Simon Peter announced not a church meeting, but a fishing trip.  After the cross and resurrection, who can fault Peter for wanting to wrap his hands around something which was comfortable and familiar.  "I am going fishing," (John 21:3), Peter said to six of the other disciples who joined him in the boat that morning.  It was a fishing trip which netted "...large fish...a hundred fifty-three of them..." (John 21:11).  It was quite a catch, but the real news of the morning was the appearance of Jesus on the beach.   For those disciples who were looking for the touch of something real, Jesus cooked breakfast on a charcoal fire on the beach. 

 

The crackling fire and the smell of charcoal was not lost on Peter.  We must not let the power of what was subtle be lost on us.  It was the sight of the low burning flames and the smell of the smoke from a charcoal fire which filled the eyes and nostrils of Peter in that moment of betrayal.  The same Greek word for the charcoal fire is used in both places.  When Peter was invited for a walk on the beach with Jesus, the smell of that fire surely brought back memories of the sin of betrayal.  Jesus did not chastise him, nor speak words of judgment, but forgave him and entrusted to him the work of the Kingdom.  He continues doing this even today with folks like you and me.

Gifts of God

The older we get, the more we accumulate.  We accumulate stuff, relationships, memories, and experiences.  In one of those retrospective moments which seem to hang out here at the farm, it occurred to me how little I had fifty years ago when I was assigned as the pastor of the Talbotton Church.  All the stuff could be moved in a single U-Haul compared to the move into retirement which required several loads of a friend's borrowed covered truck. The people in my life then were important, but they are not nearly as many as those whom I was still to encounter.  Of course, the same is true of memories and experiences.   

Of the four, stuff is the least important.  I like the stuff around me.  It is like a warm blanket woven with colored threads of the past, but what is most important are the relationships with which God has blessed me.  The people in my life not only bring meaning to the present, but they are the stuff of which memories and experiences are made.  In these more recent years I find myself most grateful for the people whose lives have intersected with mine over these years which are reaching closer and closer to eighty.  

The people of the past have become like a storehouse of blessings slowly being released into my life.  Each phone call, note, or renewed connection from the past brings back memories and experiences which bless my heart as surely as rain gives life to the soil of the earth.  Not only am I discovering the treasures of this vast storehouse of relationships from the past, but God is continually bringing me into relationship with people never known or seen which reminds me that His blessings are not just from the past, but they are ever unfolding before me.  I know that whatever is ahead, I have been blessed and continue to be blessed by these precious gifts of God.

The Will of God

Discerning the will of God is complicated by our inability in deciding what we want to do. Instead of living with a "Thy will be done," attitude, we often find ourselves working up a spiritual sweat as we try to fit what we want to do, our own will, inside what is often the clearly heard Word telling us to move into a season of change that is frightening to us because it takes us away from the security of our status quo.  The real problem for many of us with the will of God is not so much in knowing what it is. as doing it.  

For Moses it meant a task which seemed impossible.  For Elijah it meant sitting beside a drying up stream for three years.  For Mary it meant risking the ridicule and scorn of people.  For several of the disciples, it meant leaving their livelihood.  For Jesus it meant going into Jerusalem when He knew He would have to die on a cross before leaving it.  Of course, these are all the Biblical stories and we want to regard those stories as being different from our stories, but the truth is, they are not really so different.   

Most recently God has given me so many new people for whom to pray that I am tempted to tell Him my page is full, but just yesterday He added another.  What I know is that it is His will for me to enter a season of being a more active and involved intercessor for others.  There also seems to be something just beyond the spiritual horizon that I cannot see, but yet, find myself being drawn toward it.  Any of us who are are intentionally seeking to walk with Jesus have a story of discernment.  We sense God's leading, but as is always the case, we want to hesitate since taking the risk puts us in a place of being uncomfortably vulnerable.  One thing we have learned about the will of God is that going after it takes us to a place where depending on Him is required.  This is the frightening part since we would rather go after those things we know are possible in our own strength.  

A Pure Heart

I am living incognito now.  Most of my hair disappeared during chemo.  Today I went to the barber for some trimming and his suggestion was shaving what was left of my beard.  I thought about that one a minute.  In some ways I feet more attached to the hair on my face than the hair on my head.  Until now I have always had hair on my head.  It has changed colors and gone from thick to thin, but it has remained until now.  On the other hand, my beard has been with me since 1986.  Most folks will not know me.  My face has been invisible a long time, but no more.  All that ugliness I have been hiding is now clearly exposed for all to see.   

It is good to know that God recognizes me and knows me regardless of the amount of hair on my head or face.  He has known me when I had unblemished skin even as He knows me now despite my wrinkled and worn out skin.  My appearance has never affected the way God accepts me and loves me.  I have been reminded through the years that God looks not upon the outward appearance, but the heart.   The Word says, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God." (Matthew 5:8).  In another place it says, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me."  (Psalm 51:10). 

There was a time when it seemed that we could make our heart pure by doing what we were supposed to do and not doing what we not supposed to do.  I long ago quit playing that game.  Like the Psalmist David said long ago, a pure heart comes not because of us, but because of God.  When we say "Yes" to Jesus, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us and to create in us a clean and pure heart.  A pure heart is indeed about a heart that has been given over to the control of the Holy Spirit and His ongoing work of grace in our life.  

The Table

This Sunday was Easter Sunday.  It was also the first Sunday of the month.  This no doubt created a bit of a dilemma for some Methodist preachers who maintain a tradition of offering Holy Communion on the first Sunday of each month.  Of course, Easter Sunday is no ordinary Sunday.  The sanctuary is packed.  Music gets a big part of the worship time and the preacher hopes for a few minutes for the Easter sermon.  Where does this leave offering Communion which no matter how it is done, is going to take up more time than the people who are in a hurry to get to the restaurants want to give.  

I am not sure what most churches did.  Some probably decided to delay the Sacrament until second Sunday.  Some may have decided to wait until the next first Sunday.  The church I attended today apparently did not see it as a problem since people were invited to the Table at all three of the morning services, one of which was the Sunrise Service.  I received the Sacrament at its first offering and then became a watcher at the other two.  One of the things which struck me was the way we are all equal around the Table of the Lord.   

It is a common gathering place for nurturing the soul of the doctor and the homeless.  Some were struggling to walk and others were led by holding the hand of a parent.  Skin color, shirt collar color, economic status, church affiliation, and political persuasion were not important.  Everyone one who needed the gift of grace was welcome to come with open hands and seeking hearts.  I was grateful that I had a place at the Table of our Lord this morning and grateful, too, that so many different people came to join me.  

Easter

The last time I did what I did this morning was before retirement.  I went to an Easter Sunrise Service, had breakfast at the church, went to an early morning contemporary service with a stage full of guitars and drums, and then enjoyed the vibrant organ and piano music of the traditional Easter worship at 11 AM.  Oh yes, everything was at the same church!  Believe it or not, there is still another Easter worship service I want to share later online.  It has been such a great Easter Sunday!  Holy Communion was offered at each service and the final service concluded with the "Hallelujah Chorus."  I walked away with my cup running over!   

Easter is not something which disappoints.  I have shared Easter worship in large churches with all the bells and whistles and in very small churches where it truly was more like where "two or three" are gathered.  The only thing which could have been better about my Easter worship experience would have been preaching at the service.  Preaching on Easter Sunday is one of the highlights of any preacher's year and it is not because of the larger crowds, but because of the resurrection message.  Of course, any preacher who offered me a pulpit on Easter Sunday would be viewed with suspicion since no preacher should ever be found guilty of giving up their pulpit on Easter.    

Christ is risen!  What a wonderful message!  The reality of the resurrection of Jesus changes everything which is a part of life.  It is not that it is just an event which frees us from our fear of death, but one which frees us to live as life could never be lived without it.  Thanks be to God for the glorious life changing message which the church celebrates on this day.

Prayer for the Church

O Church of my heart, how long will you shut the door to what cannot be seen?  How long will you listen to the many voices instead of the one Voice?  How long will you stand at the crossroads and not look for the ancient path?  How long will you fear the risk that goes with faith in what is yet to be revealed?  How long will it be before signs and wonders once again appear midst your people?  How long will you wait for that which is yours?  O Church, when will you call out with a hunger in your soul for the gift of God's Spirit?

 

How long, O Lord, before there is a fresh anointing of Your Holy Spirit upon Your church?  How long will You hold back Your refining fire?  How long will it be before holy wind comes and drives the church out into the world?  How long will it be before the ordinary days of the church become filled with the extraordinary?  How long will it be until miracles become commonplace?  How long will it be before men and women who desire nothing but You come and stand as leaders, preachers, and prophets among us?  O Lord, how long?  How long will You tarry?

 

Come quickly, Holy Spirit.  Your church needs Your power.  Your church has lost its way.  Show it the ancient ways where good lies and where there is rest for the soul.  Come now, Holy Spirit.  Your church needs to know Your Holy Presence.  May Your shekinah glory be visited upon it once more.  May Your church once again become a spring of love for the unloved, a river of compassion for the suffering, and a deep ocean of passion for the lost.  Come, Holy Spirit, not later but now.  Your church needs You more than its silver and gold.  Come now, come quickly, Holy Spirit.  Your church has become powerless and needs Your power to be poured out once again upon it.