Amazing, is it Not?

Christianity brings two earthshaking and life changing words.  One is incarnation and the other is resurrection.  There is nothing in all of history which can cause these two realities to be shadowed.  Go to the story of Bethlehem for the truth of the incarnation in narrative form, or go to those eight words in the gospel of John for the theological language.  "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us." (John 1:14).  Listen to Jesus declaring, "I am the resurrection and the life.  Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live" (John 11:25) or go to the ending of each of the four gospels for a first hand account of the event upon which the Christian faith is centered.   

The common denominator in both history altering events is Jesus.  There is none like Him in all the pages of history.  He is known as Good Shepherd because of His compassion.  He is known as Son of God as He is the sent one of God.  He is known as Savior because of His redemptive sacrifice on the cross. The name of Jesus is the name above all names.  The gospel message centers on this One who came from God, lived among us, died for us, rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven.  

The creed we proclaim on Sunday when we gather for worship is about more than nice sounding words.  As we stand and recite the ancient creed, we are declaring two things.  The first is "This is what God has done for us."  The second is, "This is what I believe and upon this foundation I live."  The gospel is not a theological event, but a moment in history that is transforming and life changing. Jesus is not just a character in a story.  He is one who invites us into a personal relationship with Him.  Amazing, is it not?

The One Revealed

The Scripture has been important to me almost since I learned to read.  I was baptized when I was nine years old.  Exactly when I got my first Bible I am not sure, but I know it was probably one of the first books I owned.  None of this is to say that I have been the faithful reader I could have been, but it is to say that it is a book which has never been very far away.  As the years have added up, it has stayed even closer.  I am grateful that the Scripture has been a constant in my life.  Throughout my ministry, I have always thought of myself as one of Wesley's preachers and have grown to appreciate the "one book" tradition which is a part of my Methodist heritage.   

There have been times when I have said that my life is based on this holy book, but as I pause I realize that as important as the Bible has been in all my days, my life has been based not on the book as much as the One revealed in the book.  I have been influenced by many saints who have gone before me.  I have learned to glean some of the truths proclaimed from other faith walks, but Jesus is the One who is the foundation of my life.  There is no one like Him.  He has done for us impossible things.  

John 1:18 declares, "No one has ever seen God.  It is God the only Son who is close to the Father's heart, who has made Him known to us."  In another place in the same gospel we hear Jesus saying to Philip, "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father." (John 14:9).  These are amazing, mind boggling words.  To see and know Jesus is to see and know the heart of God and this is only one of so many things revealed to us through this book we carry with us on the journey.

Unbelievable

Some things are hard to believe.  Sometimes we think our eyes must be deceiving us.  Such is what I experienced not long ago when I noticed that the page view counter of JourneyNotes was at 1,001,176. This has nothing to do with my blog presence on Facebook.  Instead, this number reflects the number of times someone has seen my blog from blogspot.com.  If you have never seen it on blogspot, the url address is http://billjourneynotes.blogspot.com/ and once there you can subscribe via email.  It was never my intent back in 2008 when I started JourneyNotes to write a daily blog, but it is to such a place that I have come.  

What I have come to understand in these years of seeing the blog turn into a daily writing venture is that it reflects God calling and blessing me in a ministry transition from preaching to writing. I am grateful to Him for enabling me to fulfill this ministry and even more grateful for the way so many have shared being blessed by what He has enabled me to do.  The congregation who used to hear me preach all lived within shouting distance of the sanctuary and through JourneyNotes it now goes beyond boundaries I could never have imagined being crossed.   

I know that JourneyNotes is not about what I have done, but what God has done and is doing through the gifts for ministry that He has bestowed upon me.  As unbelievable as one million page views is, it is even more unbelievable that He called me to ministry back in 1966 and since the day of calling has had the patience to allow me the privilege of being useful in His kingdom's work.  Another unbelievable part of this whole writing venture is that so many have become faithful readers and to each one of you I am grateful.  

The Real Thing

Christianity is not about associations, but a relationship.  The heresy is that we are made Christian by our association with the faith of our mothers and father, a religious affiliation, our peer group, or an identity in a community that seeks to do good through service.  Such an understanding of Christianity does not need Jesus. Jesus was not and is not about institutional membership, but is instead about knowing those who come after Him, being known by them, and beginning a journey together.   

It is not what we do that makes us Christians.  Others may look at us and see a good person who is doing good things and declare us a Christian and we may do the same when we look in the mirror and see ourselves, but the only thing which identifies us as a Christian is that we have chosen a relationship with Jesus.  The relationship with Christ is not one we can initiate, but one God has initiated and made possible through the sacrificed blood of Jesus on the cross.  We become Christians not when we join, but when we accept this relationship which is always about the grace of God. 

Until we identify with Christ in this divinely ordained relationship, we may be worthy of the name good, or the name respectable, or even the name pillar of the church, but we only become Christians when we say "Yes" to what Christ has done for us and allow the Holy Spirit to begin God's work in us.  The church's witness and ministry in the world is diminished when we equate membership, or a willingness to serve others with being a Christian.  We become Christians not by joining a church, or associating with certain groups, but by choosing a personal relationship with Jesus.  Anything less is counterfeit.  It only looks like the real thing.  

Praise in Praying

When we pray and most of us do, our praying can become like other things we do.  We hurry.  It is not a thing like leaving late and hurrying to arrive late, but embracing a pattern of prayer which makes us hurry to our intercessory prayer list.  Make no mistake.  Intercessory prayer is a good thing which is useful in the hands of God.  Instead the question being posed is, "When was the last time we came to our time of prayer and soaked ourselves in a season of praise?"  

If we wonder what this kind of praying might look like, or if we need some models to help us break with the way we have always done things, we might read the last six Psalms (145-150).  A further suggestion would be to start with Psalm 150 and read backwards to Psalm 145.  The suggestion is not to read them all at one time, but to allow these verses so full of praise to God to reveal a form for praising God in our prayers.  And finally, this paragraph of suggestions might also include the suggestion that the praise be allowed to come from a stilled and unhurried heart.  

One of the things which happens with this kind of praying is that it creates a different spiritual atmosphere.  It might be likened to walking into a cooling shade filled with the evening breeze after a day filled with scorching heat and soaking humidity.  It becomes a place that we do not want to leave.  It becomes a place where our spirit is powerfully refreshed and renewed by being in the presence of the Holy.  Once we arrive at such a place in our praying, the hurrying spirit is soon replaced by a spirit that longs to linger.

An Old and New Timepiece

Just before I retired, my watch gave out.  I remember looking at it one day and realizing that it no longer was keeping up with time.  In the moment I made a radical decision.  I decided not to replace it.  Perhaps, it was intuition leading me toward an unseen season which was about to dawn when I would leave the world of the day planner for a life more attuned to the sun dial I placed in a sunny spot on the farm.  Looking back I can see that laying aside the watch was a step that served to prepare me for a different lifestyle.  

As I walked into those early years of retirement, I was drawn toward a lifestyle of paying attention.  One of the things to which I learned to pay attention was the movement of the sun from the faint light of the morning to the soft fading light of the evening.  Without some conscious decision, I started noting the location of the sun and the shadows it set in place on the ground.  As the months began to add up,  the creation of which I was becoming a part started telling me the time as surely as had the wrist watch of a more hectic past.  What was interesting was that the more I paid attention to the present and the people in the present, the more I saw and heard.  

I not only began to see and hear the messages sent by the Creation, but also the messages sent by the Creator God who revealed Himself and made His voice known through the Creation.  Most folks who come to the farm speak first of the silence, but staying awhile and embracing the life it unfolds brings to the ear and the eye things which once seemed silent and invisible.  The Creation is really not such a silent place.  There is always a stirring in the trees, hawks and crows hollering in the sky, and "the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze." (Genesis 3:8).

Wrath and Righteousness

Talking about the love of God is far more popular than talking about the wrath of God.  Most preachers would prefer ignoring it in preaching and most people of the pews would rather not hear it mentioned in preaching.  The common consensus is to stay focused on positive and uplifting things.  The only problem is that the Bible speaks often of the wrath of God.  Romans 1:17 reads, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of those who by their wickedness suppress the truth." The problem of a God of wrath is compounded by another word Paul wrote a little later in the letter, "But now apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed..." (Romans 3:24)  

The Word of God calls us to live with the tension created by holding in the same hand "the wrath of God" and "the righteousness of God."  Understanding the wrath of God is more difficult than understanding the righteousness of God.  The wrath of God is not about vengeance, or uncontrollable anger, but about the justice of God.  The wrath of God is empty of grace as it is about evil getting what evil deserves.  Even as the wrath of God is empty of grace so is it empty of the lovingkindness which is implicit within the Old Testament word, "hesed."  It is hard for us to think of God in such terms. 

John the Apostle wrote, "...God is love...(I John 4:8, 16).  Of course, nothing makes this truth clearer to us than the presence of Jesus in the flesh in our world.  The righteous God who is disclosed to us is one of love.  He is one filled with lovingkindness.  He is one who gives the free gift of grace.  Thus, we live midst a mystery filled with theological tension that is not about choosing one or the other, but both.