Changing Seasons

There is a stillness that speaks of anticipation of things to come.  Hardly a breath of air is moving.  The hanging pecan limbs are stilled in their gentle dancing.  The fields now are stripped of the waving green sea of grass.  Only the dry brown remains now cover the barren ground.  Once more the second cutting of hay is waiting for the baler.  The cows stop their grazing with the smell of freshly cut hay in the air and with longing stand at the fence.  Though summer has not yet turned lose of the earth, the signs all around speak of another season waiting to come.

 

Slowly the seasons change.  They never do so in a hurry.  It is like that with our life.  One moment we are in the midst of the season of the middle years and in a quick moment autumn seems to be edging over the horizon.  In much the same manner, it seems that there are seasons in our spiritual life.  There is a season of beginning.  There is a season of going and doing.  There is a season of being mentored and mentoring, of being encouraged and encouraging.  There is a season of stillness and being.  There is an ebb and flow in this journey of faith.  Hardly do we realize exactly where we are before we are on our way to still another time God has prepared for us.

 

We often want everyone to be in the same place we are and we are tempted in those moments of thinking that being where we are is where everyone needs to be.  But, it never works that way.  God is the One who is the Season Changer.  He holds them back at times and lets the change of another to come.  "There is a season for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens."

(Ecclesiastes 3:1)

An Old Soul

Today as I walked out of an eatery, a young bearded guy held the door open for me.  I thought at first that maybe he had a Moma like mine who taught him to hold the door for old people.  Maybe he looked at me coming to the door and thought, "I guess I better give a hand to that old geezer like my Moma told me to do!"  While I am a seventy year old who sometimes wonders who is looking back at him in the mirror, I really don't see myself as being old.  It must be that I see myself differently than the young guy holding the door.

 

I wonder how my soul looks.  While no one has ever really seen it, God surely gets a good look at it every day.  I wonder what He sees when He looks at the innermost part of my heart and spiritual being.  Does He see a soul stained and scared by too many encounters with temptation and sin?  Does He see a soul that has not really grown into a mature looking soul as it should have after all these years?  I wonder if it appears beaten up, or more like something that is fit and in good shape.

 

I sometimes wonder why I ever wonder such things.  Is life so boring that it is necessary to create impossible things to consider?  While I am not sure what God sees as it looks at my soul, I am hoping He sees a soul that shows not scars and stains, but one which appears as something made clean by the blood of His Son on the cross and the divine mercy which fills His heart.  My hope is that what He has forgiven, He has removed as far from His memory as the east is from the west.  As the old songs goes, "My hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus' blood and righteousness...." 

A Holy Place

I went into a sanctuary the other day at a time when the pulpit was silent and the pews were empty.  The hour for worship was still in the distance.  For the briefest of moments the room was suddenly filled with a vision of a long ago wedding, family funeral gatherings, and the faces of folks I knew who once sat in the holy place in which I was standing.  Quicker than I could mentally process what was happening, the holiness of the sanctuary overwhelmed me.  In a few moments I quietly left and as I stood outside the door, I slid into the dirty muddy shoes I had taken off before entering.  I took them off lest I muddy clean carpet, but upon leaving I sensed still another reason.

 

There are some things I wish were in everyone's history.  There are some things I wish every child could experience so that life sustaining and faith building moments could be stored away for the storms of tomorrow.  Learning old hymns of faith is one of those things.  Knowing some of the creeds and rituals which have been tested over the centuries is another.  And, another is a holy place where memories of faith being kindled and renewed are made.

 

What we carry with us into tomorrow is important.  I sometimes fear too many generations now have traversed those formative years without the kind of experiences which will enable and strengthen faith in those dark hours which are surely going to come.  They are going to come because they come to all of us.  No one plans on parents, or children dying.  No one plans on a busted marriage.  No one plans on a life threatening illness.  But, still they will come.  They do come.  A holy place that roots our life is one of those most important things which God can use to help us make it through those tough unchosen times. 

Musings About the Word

The Bible is filled with fascinating and memorable stories.  As a boy I read again and again the family struggles of Genesis, the walk the Hebrew took through the Red Sea, the epic battle between David and Goliath, and, of course, that fish story in the book of Jonah.  There were many others which I discovered inside the "Thees" and "Thous" of that old King James Version and they, too, captivated a young boy.  I sometimes wish I could somehow turn back the pages and go read those old stories with the same boyish excitement that I did so many years ago, but some clocks are hard to turn back.

 

When we read these stories as adults, the narrative gets lost as we find what we claim to be nuggets of discovery.  For a long time, Jonah was simply swallowed by a whale, but finally I got it that it was a big fish and not necessarily an ancestor of Moby Dick.  And, only as a adult did I take note that David picked up more stones from the creek than he would actually need.  One was enough, but he picked up more, perhaps, in case he missed. 

 

Some would say that the discovered details add to the story and give it more meaning and I am not one prepared to argue with such a thought.  But, sometimes I just find myself longing for the day when things were simple.  What was obvious in the reading was the truth and the point of the story.  It was not necessary to consult the Hebrew or Greek dictionary and no commentaries were on the book shelves.  Sometimes I long for the days when it was mostly just a boy and the Holy Spirit even if it was true back then that I did not realize He was along for the read, too. 

Where We Belong

Back in those years when I was actively serving the church as one of its pastors, my community was easy to find.  Even though I moved from one church to another, there was a ready made community waiting for me in the new church setting.  And even though I knew no one in the church community in the beginning of my pastorates, I had a clearly defined role within that community.  Maybe by some standards it was not really a community, but there was always a group of people who were a supportive and caring part of my life. 

 

Retirement changed that world.  Moving from an urban church setting to a rural one where no one really knew anything much about me put me in new territory as far as community was concerned.  The community that evolved lacked the organization and size of the ones known in those pre-retirement days and at times it seemed invisible, but ever so slowly I began seeing it being shaped around me.  None of us were created to live alone.  We need one another.  It is the way the Creator God made us and the way He intends for us live this life.

 

Community defines to whom and where we belong.  It has within it those people for whom we sense some responsibility, accountability, and concern.  And it is a two way street, sometimes the flow is in the giving and sometimes it is in the receiving.  There are many types of communities that touch our lives.  Some are social, some are academic, some are work related, some are value based.  While the communities we enter and leave may speak of the certain change in our lives, the one community which remains constant is the community of faith.  Whether it is experienced within the confines of the church, or out in the world, the community of faith is the one where the primary connection shared is the one with the Creator.  This community of faith roots us and enables us to live with a sense of knowing where and to Whom we belong.

Time With God

Time with God does not really happen in response to duty.  Duty speaks of time with God by measuring the minutes.  Duty only understands obligation and seeks to satisfy its demands.  Duty is not about relationship.  And strange as it may seem at first glance, time with God does not automatically happen in response to religious ritual.  Time with God can be replaced by time with religious ritual.  It is an easy thing for the ritual which points us to God to become such an end in itself that it become a substitute for God.

 

Time with God is far more likely to be experienced when the heart is broken and the spirit is filled with deep desperation.  When the soul has been deprived of spiritual food and the spirit has been weakened to the point of being emptied of everything but hunger and thirst and longing for God, we will be drawn toward time with God as surely as dry arid lands looks toward the heavens for water.  When Jesus spoke of the poor in spirit being blessed, he was speaking of those who know that only God Himself can satisfy the spiritual deprivation of a heart broken  longing for Him.

 

Time with God is not something which can be stored up in a spiritual rain barrel to replenish the dry places in times of spiritual drought.  Like the manna it can only come in a single day supply.  Each day it is necessary to go and gather once again that spiritual bread which brings life for the day.  Only a desperate soul who is hungry to the point of spiritual death can understand how important it is to experience time with God each day.  Time with God is about a relationship that gives life and hope and a promise of a new day to come as surely as the old one passes into the night. 

Not Inside Yet

A writer I have been reading quoted a Welsh poet named R.S. Thomas in a section in which she discussed the Celtic tradition.  The three lines were,

       "You can come in
       You can come a long way...
       But you won't be inside."

And then Esther De Waal writes, "So I try to walk in reverence, taking off my shoes, remembering that this is holy ground, and having to accept that there is much that I shall never fully know and that may in the end be the one important gift of the Celts."  It is strange the way the journey with God has changed.  In the beginning I knew there was much to learn, but I was sure learning and growing was in my grasp.  And, after some time of walking had passed, I came to a place where I thought I had come to understanding.  But, now, after all these years when the journey is closer to ending than beginning, what I do not know and what I figure I will never know is staggering to consider.

 

It is indeed a strange thing to realize that the Mystery of the walk is greater than the ability to understand.  It would seem that by now I would be there, I would have arrived, or at least I would be farther along the road of figuring it out, but the further I walk the more it seems I do not know.  What a road it is we take back in the beginning.  It is no wonder that getting on it requires faith for the closer we get to the end, the more we must depend on faith to continue it.

 

Knowing may seem to be the goal to those who must be in control, but to walk with God is to come to the place of knowing only that the journey requires letting go.  Living with what cannot be known but only believed and trusted to be true is the way forward.  But, the most important part of the journey is the One who walks it with us.  As long as He is on the road beside us, or ahead of us, we can walk without knowing.  We can walk by faith. 

Holy Mystery

I wonder sometimes if our troubles could possibly be part of the holy mystery in which we walk day to day.  After all, life is one great mystery.  It is not just the mystery of nature doing its thing like showing us a sunrise every morning, or giving breath to seed planted deep in the earth, or winged birds flying from one part of the world to another year after year.  The real mystery is the one which enables us to see and know the presence of the Holy One in the most ordinary of things of life.  Surely, when we think of the ordinary things of life, we think of its troubles and its sufferings for life cannot be lived without them.

This truth we learn and accept after a few years or more of living.  Trying to pretend all is well may work for some for a time, but it soon ushers in the deepest kind of despair.  The only way to live with the troubles of life is to embrace them as those things which are a part of its fabric.  All of the troubling and difficult things which come to us may not really come from God, but they are things that are allowed.  Why some things are not really a part of the intentional will of God, but the permissive will of God, I cannot begin to understand.  Mystery. 

We are always on the edge of it.  We are always in the midst of it.  We are born into it.  We live surrounded by it.  We will surely die with its shadow still covering us.  In the mystery is the presence and the work of God's Holy Spirit.  What He is doing out there in the unseen edges we cannot see and know.  But, our seeing and knowing what He is about is not necessary for Him to be out there in the unseeable realms of life doing good for us regardless of the circumstances.  Life is one mystery after another.  Such is the way God is revealed to us.

The Fundamental Work

A recent re-read of an old work by Dallas Willard entitled "The Spirit of the Disciplines" reads, "The church certainly is to lead the way in charitable works,...But, this is not to be the fundamental aspect of its service to the world.  Its fundamental work is to show those who gather in its meetings how to enter into full participation in the rule of God where they are."  At times it does seem we have gone astray from what this author is saying.  Maybe there have been times when we have thought the church had lost its moorings, or maybe its way.

 

I have known churches that were known for a lot of things.  I remember one known for its missionary sending ministry, another for the number of people called to ministry, and still another for its historical past.  I have also known a church known for its BBQ, another for the way it ate up preachers and spit them out, and still another known for its super music ministry.  The words of this writer point us to take hold once again of the fundamentals even it means that some of the energy and focus being spent on other good endeavors is lost. 

 

The church is a unique community in the world.  There is none like it.  Nowhere else in our society will be find people being called to membership and involvement in the Kingdom of God.  There is no other spiritual community which connects people to God as does the community of the cross of Jesus Christ.   As the church leads us into righteous living, it has done its fundamental work.  Righteous living is not about being more pious or holy.  Instead, righteouness is about being in a right relationship with God as well as with one another.  No more is needed.

The Community

When I was ordained forty-seven years ago, I entered into a new community.  Back then women were not being ordained by our church so this new community of preachers could be thought of as a brotherhood.  As a Methodist pastor I was never a member of a local church, but a member of this larger church which had ordained me and a part of this community of preachers.  As the years passed this new community of the ordained became a valued part of my life and I counted it a privilege to be a part of it. 

 

And now, after all these years I find myself still here while so many who started out with me, or joined with me along the way, are gone.  Recently several of these pastors with whom I have shared ministry have died and each time there is an awareness of a loss and a community being diminished by the passing of years.  With the recent notices, I have been reminded of words written long ago by Issac Watts, "Time, like an ever rolling stream, bears all who breathe away. they fly forgotten, as a dream dies at the opening day."

These words of Issac Watts comprise the fifth verse of that great hymn, "O God, Our Help in Ages Past."  At first glance they may seem a bit pessimistic, but then we realize they are sandwiched between the first verse which sings "O God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come, our shelter from the stormy blast, and our eternal home" and the sixth verse which is almost the same as it sings, "O God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come, be thou our guide while life shall last, and our eternal home."  As life is fleeting, so is eternity enduring.  To look behind is to see our help and to look ahead is to see our hope.  Thanks be to God!

A Frightening Possiblity

Lately, the afternoons have regularly provided a dousing of rain and some noisy rumbling from above.  Thunder in the distance is always a pleasant sound, but when it gets really close it can be a frightening thing.  Of course, the thunder is not the real scary part of the storm.  This afternoon as I was about to put my foot on the first step to the porch, there was a flash and a loud simultaneous crackling noise in the heavens above which caused me to go from the bottom step to the porch almost as quick.  Being too close to the thunder and lightning is indeed a frightening thing!

 

The Hebrews were no strangers to the lightning and thunder as they moved from Egypt to the Promised Land.  When Moses went up on Mt. Sinai for that barefooted, hair-raising encounter with the Almighty, the Word tells us the mountain was overwhelmed with such thunder and lightning that the people down at the foot of the mountain trembled in fear.  Already they had been warned not to set foot on the holy mountain and surely at the sight of what was above, they needed no further warning to stay put.

 

It sometimes seems that those folks who talk about God using such casual terms as "buddy" or "the man upstairs," have lost a sense a healthy sense of awe and reverence.  To stand in the presence of the Almighty does have its comforting side, but it is also a frightening thing to stand where the Holy One is making Himself known to us.  It is not that we should think being "struck dead" is a possibility, but the more we are in His presence, the more it is that the status quo of our life will be changed.   Such is always a frightening possibility!

Promises

After our afternoon dousing, I took a walk out to the garden and saw a band of colors spreading up from the southern horizon.  It is always good to see a rainbow.  They have always been things of wonder and today's color show in the sky was no exception.   The first word which always comes to mind when I see the arching rainbow is the word promise.   The first rainbow was accompanied by a promise of God to Noah and his descendants.  Of course, the original promise had to do with an assurance that there would be no more floods such as the one described in the Old Testament story, but whenever I see one I just remember that God has made promises.

 

His promises are keepers.  God is utterly trustworthy.  He is more dependable than the sunrise.  He is more constant than the movement of the universe.  He is more steady than a brain surgeon's hand.  He is not just a promise maker, but a promise keeper.  This utterly dependable and absolutely trustworthy God always and forever keeps His Word.  Every time I see a rainbow, I remember the Promise Maker is also the Promise Keeper and I am filled with gratitude.

Of all the promises made and kept, the one I thought about most as I stood before today's rainbow was the promise of Jesus to be with us.  Always.  Not some of the time.  Always.  He promised to be with me and with you.  The fact that I sometimes think He is gone does not mean He is not keeping His promise.  He means there is something wrong on my end.  He has promised to be with me always.  You, too.  As I stood there marveling at the color in the sky, I was most grateful for this single promise. 

Not a Weather Man

When I was an about to graduate from high school teenager, I went into my bedroom after a church business meeting known back then as Quarterly Conference and gave my life to Jesus.  There had been many more spiritual settings which had provided opportunities for such a commitment, but none of them ever became the real thing.  I knew that night as I kneeled by my bed that something stickable was happening.  I had not anticipated an encounter with Jesus when the day started, but as it ended, I knew life would never be the same. 

 

I suppose I had flirted with giving my life to Jesus long enough that I was not necessarily surprised that the moment came.  What did surprise me was the Part II God revealed to me that night there in the Alamo Methodist parsonage.  Part II was a call to preach.  A call to preach was not in my plans.  At the time I was infatuated with becoming a meteorologist, a fancy name for a weather man, but such was not to be.  Spending my teenage years in a parsonage gives an insider view of the church and by the time I reached that night, I had long ago decided becoming a preacher was not for me.

Of course, God was not caught up in my weather man ambitions.  He had something else in mind.  I have never really completely understood why He called me to preach.  I was a shy introvert who was not filled with a strong sense of confidence.  I was most comfortable when I was alone in my room operating my ham radio equipment.  So, God looked at the raw stuff of my life and figured I was preacher material.  He was the only one who would have figured such to be true.  Nonetheless, He called me to preach that night and I kicked and hollered about it for the next six months, but I finally came to the moment of saying, "Yes."  I sometimes wonder how good a preacher I have been, but I reckon I would have been an even worse weather man.

An Evergreen Cypress

For some reason I found myself reading from Hosea a few nights ago.  What took me there I am not sure, but, nonetheless, there I was reading along and suddenly running into a new image of God.  As we read the prophets we often find ourselves reading not what the prophet is saying to the people, but what God is saying.  In such a passage (Hosea 14:8) we hear the voice of God saying, "I am like an evergreen cypress..."  Of course, the Bible is rich in tree images and stories.  Eden had its trees, the Israelites made idols of them, Zacchaeus climbed one, and Jesus died on another. 

 

But, it was something new for this reader of the Word to think of God likening Himself to an evergreen tree.  The evergreen tree is just what it says.  It is always green.  It is not affected by changing weather which causes changes in the color of foliage.  It just stays green.  Constant is what it is.  When every other tree is barren, it stands full of the life that is within it.  It was one of those passages which hung around in my mind for a time as I kept thinking of God in this new way.

 

While God is constant and unchanging and utterly dependable to be Who He proclaims Himself to be, there is always something new to learn about Him and always new ways to understand Him.  The one thing we will never do is figure Him out completely.  He is as abundant in mystery as He is in power.  We might like to get Him in some box of understanding that we have constructed, but the truth is there is not a box for Him.  He is known in many, many ways.  We could write down a long list of names and images which help us know Him and His nature.  And now, there is another.  He is like an evergreen cypress.  It is what He has said about Himself and it becomes another window for us to see and experience Him. 

The Huge Limb

When I first saw it, the wind and the rain were gone and bright morning sunshine filled the place. While everything seemed to fare the overnight storm, the huge pecan tree was the exception.  A huge limb as long as the old tree was tall snapped from the top up next to the trumk, but instead of falling to the ground, it simply hung there perpendicular to the ground with its outer branch canopy holding it upright on the ground.  Immediately, it was obvious that it was too dangerous to mess with from the ground with a mere chainsaw.  So, I watched it and wondered what to do.

 

The answer came a few days later.  After a few days away from the farm, the first thing I saw upon driving up was that huge pecan limbs laying on the ground.  Parallel, not perpendicular.  Now it was easy prey to a noisy chainsaw.  It reminded me that every problem does not have to be resolved today.  The truth is some cannot be figured out and handled today.  They have to wait on their time to come. 

 

The old pecan tree on the ground became a lesson to this ruminating farmer that patience is something required by someone who wants to pray well.  Too often as I pray about what I perceive to be huge problems and difficulties, I am quick to tell God what He must to do.  It is hard for me to accept the place time has in the plan of God.  What I know is that He does not share my sense of urgency about the stuff of my life.  Sometimes He may take some time to lay my unmanageable problems at my feet and sometimes He never even seems to get around to doing much about them.  But, I am coming to a place of knowing that when the time is right for the story being written, a mysterious wind will blow and things impossible will become possible.

Simplify, Simplify.

I am not sure when it started happening.  Maybe it is always that way.  Maybe it is true that significant moments begin without our being aware it is happening.  Maybe it was in the decision to take an appointment calendar out of my shirt pocket for the last time. Or, maybe it started when my watch quit working and I chose not to replace it.  And  then there was that day of anticipating retirement when I started the painful process of culling my book collection which had been with me a life time.  It is only in the looking back that I realized the journey toward a more simple life had started.

 

But, what I discovered was that it was not quite that simple.  Being a preacher and living with a mindset which always caused me to think about the theology of what was happening, I came to realize that the call to simplify was not so much like the one sounded by Thoreau, but the one sounded by Jesus.  It is not in the process of discarding things that simplicity happens, but in the process of sacrificing the valued stuff of life until there is nothing left but our desire for God.  Abraham on the mountain ready to sacrifice his son is the classic Old Testament story.  The story of Jesus on the cross is the one to be remembered from the New Testament. 

 

To live more simply is to discard one valued thing at a time everything until there is nothing except our longing for the presence of God.  It is not that we no longer regard family and the pursuits of life as things of value, but that we come to a place of wanting to live with an awareness of God in our daily lives.  It is more than just a longing, but a conviction that all of life boils down to how we manage to live it out with God.  It is when our will and ego is finally sacrificed to God that we really start moving toward understanding what it is to simplify our life.

Passing It On

Living with pecan trees all around is a guarantee that there will be some work to do tomorrow.  When storms come through, or the wind hints a blowing, limbs start cracking and falling.  Nature has a unique way of pruning these big old pecan trees under which I am constantly walking.  The other day I asked a neighbor boy, a young seventh grader, if he wanted to work a bit and he did which may be surprising to some who think that teenagers cannot be pried away from the hand held devices.  As we picked up limbs and talked, I told him about "Walden's Pond."  He is a reader and has some interest in things that are rural so I passed it on as something he might look into one day.

 

Passing it on is one of the things important to us as we grow older.  I want to pass on those things that are valued.  I want my children and grandchildren to grow with an appreciation for the land and the way being connected to it enhances our living.  I want them to value dirty hands and hard sweat.  I want them to know that Thoreau had a good thing in mind when he invited those who read his words to simplify, simplify, simplify.

 

I also want them to know that as surely as being connected to the dirt has rooted me so has my faith in God rooted me.  I want them to value faith in Christ not by hearing it talked about, but by experiencing it for themselves.  Head knowledge never can take the place of heart experience.  I want them to be able to look back at the end of their lives and know with certainty that they lived connected to Jesus Christ.  How shall they know?  The only way they will know is by having that faith passed on to them by the likes of me and the other important adults in their lives.  "Lord, help me to be faithful in passing on what it means to be connected to your Son and my Savior, Jesus."

Hearing and Remembering

When I heard them today, it brought an awareness of not having heard them in a long time.  I had gone so long without hearing them, I forgot I had not been hearing them.  I suppose it had become my new normal and I never realized it.  What I heard today, but had not heard in a long time was a v-shaped flock of Canadian geese soaring overhead.  When I am most likely to notice them is in the evening as I go about the farm tending to what I have come to know as evening chores.  They are often overhead honking and calling for attention from those of us who walk instead of fly. 

 

But, today I realized I had not been hearing them.  I am not sure when it happened.  But, it happened and suddenly not hearing became the new normal for me on my evening walks and I just never noticed it happening.  Maybe the geese are returning from their visit up north.  Maybe they were doing a flyover on their way further south.  Maybe, just maybe, cooler weather is coming.  I am not sure about all of this, but what I am sure is that the moment made me think about how easy it is to come to a place of not hearing the voice of God anymore and not realizing it is no longer being heard.

 

I wonder.  It has happened numerous times in my life.  More times than I want to confess.  There are those days and times when I am so very conscious of divine presence and am mindful of a Voice speaking words not heard with ears but by the heart.  But, there have also been those times when I walked without any awareness that the Presence was gone and the Voice was silent.  Perhaps, it is not an experience peculiar to me alone.  Today I was grateful for the familiar sounds of honking geese overhead and the reminder that the Voice I have ceased to hear is going to speak again and this time I will hear it with gladness that He has not given up on me. 

The Task of Preaching

As the years have passed into decades and the decades into almost half a century, not too much stuff from those long ago seminary days is remembered.  Oh, the overall impact of those years is still lingering in the gray matter, but actual words said and remembered are few now.  However, one word which came from my preaching professor, John Brokhoff, has been remembered hundreds of times and has served as a guide in the pulpit since I first heard him utter, "People in the pews are not interested in what you think, they want to know what the Word of God is saying."

 

It has been an important word for this preacher all these years and it still has merit for anyone who wants to stand behind the pulpit and have a go at preaching.  The world has always been full of people who know how to say the people pleasing words, but such is not the task of the preacher.  The task of the preacher is to stand in the stream of proclamation in which the prophets like Elijah and Amos stood.  It is to stand in a stream in which walked Peter, the Apostle Paul, and even Jesus.  And, long after these Biblical preachers proclaimed the Word of God, there were others who bore names like Luther, Wesley, Spurgeon, Craddock, and Graham. 

 

Preaching the Word Sunday after Sunday to a congregation is an awesome way to spend a life, but it is also an experience which is humbling.  There are so many who would have done a better job of preaching than me.  There are so many who have deeper insight into theology and a greater grasp of how the Kingdom of God is breaking into the world.  But, longer than long ago, God in His gracious mercy called me to preach the Word.  I only pray I have been faithful in telling people what the Word of God said instead of letting them know what I think.

The Limping Church

Years ago when I was serving one of the several urban churches in Columbus, Georgia, a neighboring pastor and friend developed a small group ministry he called "The 2:42 Ministry." He gave me a copy of the outline for the small group work and I made use of it over the years.  It was based on Acts 2:42 which reads, "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers."  This verse which comes toward the end of the second chapter of Acts gives us some insight into the ministries which sustained the post Pentecost church as it went forward.

 

It also opens up another window for us as we consider the question, "How can we create and sustain a sacred community in a secular world?"  Surely, this verse points to the importance of sound doctrine and authoritative teaching as something which has sustaining power for the church.  As is always the case, there are many things out there being taught which fail to meet the criteria set forth by this verse.  Too much teaching is more about personal opinions and the message of the majority than something which is Biblically based.

 

It should not be a strange idea that the Word of God is a sufficient, authoritative, and true Word for the people of God in our sacred communities. (II Timothy 3:16-17)  However, it often seems that what the secular world wants these days is the Word of God Plus whatever it is that tickles ears and lessens its convicting power.  The sacred community we know and experience as the church can never really be sustained when the Word of God is compromised.  It may not die, but it will surely limp along down the wide road.   

The Essential Ministry

Pondering the question, "How do we create and sustain a sacred community in a secular world?" inevitably takes us to the discipline of prayer.  The record in the book of Acts makes it clear that much prayer preceded the power of Pentecost.  Acts 1:14 tells us, "All these (the disciples, Acts 1:13) were constantly devoting themselves to prayer,..."  Later the first verse of Acts 2 says, "When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place."  The implication is that they were together in one place to pray just as they had been doing for so many days of waiting on the promise of Jesus to be fulfilled.

A sacred community not built on prayer is probably going to spend its short live on life support.  Most of us who are in churches have a hard time accepting this reality.  We build big expensive sanctuaries with additional space dedicated to everything from bathrooms to kitchens to music rooms to fellowship halls to offices.  Name it and it likely has a room.  But, the truth is places dedicated to prayer are usually afterthoughts.  Prayer Rooms are converted closets, emptied storage areas, and that space which seems unusable for anything of importance.  Sad, but true.  And even more true is the fact that everyone is interested in every ministry of the church except the praying ministry. 

And, just maybe it is true that space dedicated to prayer is not going to be the savior of the church.  What is an even greater spiritual deficit is the lack of people who are praying for the church, its leaders, its ministry, its spiritual life.  Our actions and commitments seem to indicate a belief that a church with enough money, people, and buildings can do anything it sets out to do.  It is no wonder that mediocrity is so common in the life of the church.  The one thing which can be said about the church that shows up on Pentecost and beyond is that it is empty of mediocrity and filled with exceptional spiritual power.  Who would ever think prayer could be the thing which makes the difference?

New Leaders

To spend time with the question, "How do we create and sustain a sacred community in a secular world?" will cause some thinking about leadership.  When we allow the account of Pentecost to become a model for a sacred community, we finally come to a place of looking at leadership. To look at leadership in that account is to notice the difference in the disciples before and after.  E. Stanley Jones, a 20th century missionary to India as well as a great evangelist, wrote that the disciples were meeting behind closed and locked doors after the resurrection of Jesus because they were afraid. (John 20:19ff)

How different these timid and fearful men became after the wind and fire of Pentecost.  The Holy Spirit empowered them in a way they could have never imagined.  No longer were doors closed and locked.  Instead, Peter is out midst the crowds preaching about Jesus crucified and risen.  The fear that once possessed him is gone after Pentecost.  In its place is the boldness of a Spirit possessed man who is ready to give leadership to this sacred community being shaped even as he preached.  It is indeed a thing which can be described as one of those signs and wonders.

 

The sacred community for which we pray and long to see can only be created and sustained as the called ones, the leaders both clergy and lay, allow themselves to become Spirit possessed and Spirit empowered.  When I attended seminary long decades ago, we were taught theology, doctrine, and church goverment, but nothing much was said about the supreme importance of being one who lived to be used by the Holy Spirit for the work of the sacred community.  Too many times those who stand as leaders of the church forget that the church is first and foremost a spiritual community which can only be rightly served through submission to the will of God and the power of the Spirit.

No Perfection Here

Before the talking snake slithered into the Garden and spoke his seductive words, there was for the briefest of moments in all of time a place worthy of the name of Paradise, a place of true perfection.  In the same manner after the rushing wind rushed and the final flame of fire flickered there in the room where the disciples waited, there was for the briefest of moments in all of time a sacred community worthy of being known as the perfect church.  But, because those who were filled and touched by the power and presence of the Holy Spirit were mere mortals like you and me, imperfection quickly slithered into the room disguised as ego and self-seeking.

 

We want to point to the Day of Pentecost and declare the presence of the perfect church worthy of being modeled throughout the span of history.  The only problem with the picture of the perfect church is that it has the faces of men and women like us. Though commanded by Jesus to take the gospel into all the world, those gathered leaders seemed content with staying in Jerusalem.  The church became entrenched in the city so quickly that it took a wave of persecution to push it out into the outer reaches of the world.  And in Paul's letter to the Galatian Christians, he reminded them of how he took Simon Peter to task for his hypocrisy.  It may have been a sacred community created and sustained by the Holy Spirit, but it soon proved itself to be flawed like the people who were a part of it.

 

We sometimes find ourselves looking for the perfect church.  Some folks are constantly going from one church community to another in their pursuit of such a goal.  However, as long as those perfection seekers and folks like me are in it, the quest will continue.  This in no way negates the power and impact of the church in the world.  The church still continues even though the wind and fire is hard to imagine.  It continues despite us and because of the grace of God and the unquenchable power of the Holy Spirit.

Just a Glimpse

Anyone wanting to catch a glimpse of a Holy Spirit created and sustained sacred community needs look no further than the end of the second chapter of Acts.  When the wind ceased rushing and the tongues of fire disappeared, the sacred community begins to show itself.  It is characterized by preaching which called people to repentance.  This means that the saving power of Jesus on the cross was proclaimed in a convicting manner.  To read those words which Peter preached is to feel the fire and urgency of a message about sin and the need for heart transformation.  People did not wonder what Peter was trying to say.  It was clear.  It was direct.  It was to the point.

 

To move toward the end of the chapter is to read that the people of this new sacred community gave deliberate attention to the Jesus teaching offered by the Apostles.  They shared with one another in caring and supporting fellowship.  They showed a seriousness concerning Table gatherings.  And, they prayed.  (Acts 2:42)  And, as they practiced the discipline of selling personal possessions in order to care for the needs of the larger community, we see a church that cared about the needs of others.  (Acts 2:43-45)  One final thing which is seen throughout the account is the presence of strong and sure leadership.  In an environment which was full of threats, the leadership modeled boldness.

 

Maybe we do not always know how to get there as we ponder the question, "How do we create and sustain a sacred community in a secular world? but we certainly recognize it when we see it.  The sacred community empowered by the Spirit is not one that blends into the world, nor is it want that seeks to pacify it, but one that declares unashamedly and boldly the name of Jesus and the message for which He lived and died. 

The Unchangeable

When the wind and fire came on the day of Pentecost, it brought to an end a period of prayerful waiting.  The disciples were told by the resurrected and about-to-ascend Jesus that they should "...stay...in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high."  (Luke 24:49)  This command is re-iterated by Luke as he begins Acts with Jesus ordering the disciples to stay and wait in Jerusalem. (Acts 1:4)  They surely knew what Jesus had said to them.  They might have remembered teachings that focused on the promise of the Spirit, but it is likely they really were staying and waiting without knowing exactly what it would mean.

 

What the Holy Spirit did in response to their faith and obedience was to create a unique and unprecedented sacred community midst the secular world in which they lived.  They were as surprised as anyone.  The Spirit not only gave birth to this new sacred community, but He also continued to work among them in such a way that they were able to see and experience the sustaining power of the Spirit at work among them.  The sacred community that began that day has weathered many storms and battles, endured many surprising changes, but it still prevails today.

 

When we think about the way it has changed over the centuries, we usually think of the changes that are reflected in its institutional existence.  Outwardly the sacred community birthed on Pentecost looks different now than it did then.  But, the differences are external.  When the sacred community is most alive and vital, it expresses itself as a spiritual community that is connected not to denominations or culture, but one connected to eternity and established upon the foundation of the One who shed blood on the cross.  "How do we create and sustain a sacred community in a secular world?"  The obvious truth is that we do not.   The Holy Spirit does it with us and through us, or it is not done at all. 

Leave Some Wiggle Room

If the story of Pentecost in the second chapter of Acts is the model that answers the question, "How do we create and sustain a sacred community in a secular world?"  then there is a missing ingredient in most of our strategies for creating and starting new churches.  Before the Holy Spirit did the mighty work of wind and fire, the disciples practiced the discipline of waiting.  As churches are birthed the discipline of waiting is buried midst timetables, goals, and deadlines which often result in decisions determined by expediency instead of the slow deliberate movement of the divine directive. 

The disciples basically received one directive from Jesus before His ascension and that was to wait in Jerusalem.  They had trouble with the waiting, too, as they spent some of the time doing the administrative work of replacing Judas Iscariot.  But, other than this one thing, they did do the waiting thing.  Waiting on God to act requires patience, trust, and obedience.  Running ahead of God on any matter is usually viewed as a disastrous course, but as we get caught up in the work of creating a new church, expediency finally trumps waiting.

Too much of the planning in our own lives as well as in the life of the church leaves the Holy Spirit with very little wiggle room.  Perhaps, this is an expression of our desire to be in control.  Maybe it is expressive of not believing that the Spirit will get around to doing what we want Him to do.  Whatever the reason, waiting patiently for the Holy Spirit to make His will and purposes absolutely clear is a struggle for most of us.  The disciples did not really know what Jesus had in mind when He commanded them to wait, but they risked waiting, nonetheless.  Churches that have a hurried birth are coming into existence on a shaky foundation. 

Entertainment Centers

To ask the question "How do we create and sustain a sacred community in a secular world?" is to risk finding an answer by assumption.  Thinking we know the answer, or figuring that the answer is obvious will certainly short circuit the whole process.  For example, it is easy to figure we know what a sacred community is since we attend one every Sunday morning.  But, is it really?  It bears the markings of what we have always supposed to be a sacred community so it is easy to assume that the answer to the question will duplicate what we already experience.

 

However, as we consider the term "sacred," we are caused to think in a different way.  There are at least two significant aspects to the meaning of the word which must be given consideration.  First, a sacred community is one devoted to God.  It is devoted to offering worship to Him.  It is devoted to serving Him.  To put it in the simplest of words, the principal character in a sacred community is God.  If it does not please Him, then we have missed the mark.  And, secondly, a sacred community is a "set apart" community.  It is a community set apart for holy purposes.  Being set apart for holy purposes is at the core of understanding the essence of a sacred community.

 

Perhaps, thinking in this way makes us wonder about some of the so called sacred communities in our world.  Are they really something we want to see duplicated?  Many of the churches on our street corners are measured as successful instead of faithful.  Their life is dependent on how well they attract and please the masses.  If God is pleased, then all the better, but what really matters is creating a place centered around meeting all the needs of all the people. Maybe some of these churches are more like entertainment centers than places set apart for worship and service to God.