Forgiveness

While it would seem that a believer's heart would always take the day when temptation stands in the way of faithfulness, anyone who knows about the walk of faith knows the foolishness of such a thought.  Those folks who read the Apostle Paul's letter back in the early days of the growing church were really no different than those of us who are a part of the same church in the present day.  We should not be surprised to see Paul writing, ", "...be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you."  (Ephesians 4:32).  They needed the reminder as do we.

 

Sometimes disagreement can get so intense among church folks that a reminder to live with forgiveness is more than needed.  I remember a couple of guys who got into a wrestling brawl on the ball field as they argued over who was going to pitch in a church softball game.   And then, in another place two men got out of sorts somewhere along the way and they purposefully did not go to the Table to receive communion at the same time.  Of course, the ending of some stormy administrative meetings left a lot of us in need of forgiving one another.

Paul had us figured out.  Perhaps, he was tempted from time to time as we are tempted.  It is not always easy to live with forgiveness as a directive for day to day living, but nowhere in the book about following Jesus is easy promised.  What the Word calls us to do is to not depend on ourselves.  If we do, we are not going to make it.  What the Word calls us to do is to live our lives under the complete control of the Holy Spirit which means living as if we have no right to ourselves.  Only then does the possibility of forgiveness in every relationship become a reality. 

Tenderhearted

It might seem to some that church folks would not need to hear a word like, "...be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you."  (Ephesians 4:32), but the folks who think such have never been to a church.   Unfortunately, not every disagreement within the church is handled in a way that models how Christians should live together and disagree.  There have been times when the church has burned at stake those with whom it disagreed.  There have been time when good religious folks cast other believers out of the fellowship.

 

Apparently, the church folks in Paul's day were like some who share pews and pulpits with us today.  While we should not need any reminders about how we should treat one another, we know we do.   One of the word the Apostle used is "tenderhearted ."  It is not a word we use in our normal conversation.  As we begin to explore what it means, we run into words like "gentle," "compassionate," and "caring."  They are words which speak of an overflow of the heart.  They are words which point toward the spirit of Christ. 

 

We might think we can manufacture tenderheartedness whenever it is needed.  But, it is not something we can put away some place in our spirit and pull out on demand for its expression is going to happen in a spontaneous manner instead of a planned one.  The minute we have to stop and think how we are going to respond to someone in need of the gentle compassionate touch, what we offer is diminished.  The tenderhearted ones act compassionately in response to human need.  It is not a considered action.  Paul had it right.  Those of us in the church need to be so controlled by the Spirit that our heart is so shaped after Christ that caring flows naturally from within us.   

Be Kind

All of us can look back at the world of relationships in which we have lived, or, perhaps, are living, and know that we could have chosen a different and better course.  I cannot begin to number all the meetings I have attended as the pastor of a church and there were more than a few which were contentious.  As the years have added up, something which might be called "senior selective amnesia" has erased the memory of most of them.  But, a few linger in my mind.  A few are impossible to forget. 

 

The ones remembered are the ones where I responded to someone around the table with a spirit not even close to kindness.  I must confess to those moments when I chose to speak words which would undermine not just the words of an antagonist, but the antagonist.  In some cases there have been opportunities to speak words which have led to reconciliation, but in some cases, it has not been an option.  Perhaps, there is a kind of eternal punishment in having to remember the words spoken which have left the taste of regret and sorrow in our lives.

 

The Apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesian Christians,  saying at one place, "...be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you."  (Ephesians 4:32)  It is strange that the Apostle is addressing believers within the church and not the pagans out there in the midst of a non-Christian culture.  It would seem those of us in the church, those of us who profess to love Jesus, those of us who know what it is to be forgiven by God, would never be guilty of unkind words or thoughts or actions.  But, we know otherwise.  "Lord, have mercy.  Lord, have mercy, Lord have mercy on me."

A Bird Sighting

A Baltimore Oriole showed up Sunday in one of our early flowering peach trees.  Walking across the farm with my youngest grandson and his Dad, we spotted him flitting about in the afternoon sun.  It has been a  few years since my last sighting of one so it was exciting to catch a glimpse of another  of these migratory birds which makes occasional appearances in these parts.  Once you see one, there is never any trouble identifying the next one.  Indeed, they are beautiful birds.

 

If a person can be blessed by a bird sighting, count this old guy as one who was blessed.  Of course, no one should be surprised at a blessing that come to us through the created order.  In "The Soul's Slow Ripening" Christine Valters Paintner wrote, "A ninth century Irish theologian, John Scotus Eriguena taught that there are indeed two books of revelation--the book of Scriptures and the  book of creation.  The first is physically small; the second is vast."   While some of the blessings of creation come to us suddenly like an unexpected surprise, others come as we simply allow ourselves to sit and let the creation come to us.

 

There are so many blessings to receive if we only can slow ourselves down to see all that is around us.  Most of the time we live with tunnel vision that enables us to only partially see what is right there in front of us which means that we miss so much that has the potential to enrich and bless our lives.  Unlike a landscape painting that is completed and ready to see, the creation is ever unfolding around us in such a way as to provide something new every step of the way.  This unfolding and renewing creation is full of blessings for those of us who have eyes to see.  How thankful I am that for one moment this past Sunday afternoon, I was one of those greatly blessed on the Lord's Sabbath.

On the Edge

Anyone who wants to see what dark looks like need only go to Stephen C. Foster State Park in the middle of the Okefenokee Swamp.  This place on the southern border of Georgia defines the word remote in a new way and the park itself is lighted so as not to take away from the darkness.  It is known for its alligators and its very dark night time sky.  But, there are, of course, other kinds of darkness.  Some of those places make this South Georgia state park look like the middle of the day. 

 

The folks who live in the midst of darkness that is spawned by suffering, physical pain, disease, broken marriages, children gone awry, and death itself peer into a terrifying deep darkness.  It is overwhelming, immobilizing, frightening, and without any exit signs.  It is always amazing that the Scripture calls us to "...give thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything...."  (Ephesians 5:20)  The Apostle Paul seemed to have figured out how to live in such a way, but for most of us it seems impossible.

 

How can we find things for which to be thankful when our life is falling apart around us?  One way might be to look not at the heart of the darkness, but to look first toward the edge of the darkness.  On the edge of the darkness we can see the coming of caring friends, the hopeful words they bring, and the reminders that we have not been forgotten.  And as we start seeing things on the edge of the darkness for which we can be thankful, we may be at a place where we can let our eyes move slowly away from the edge and closer to the place of the deep darkness.  Along the way our heart may be able to show us still other things for which to be thankful even though the darkness is still heavy upon us. 

The Source of Blessings

Most of us have at one time or another on the journey of faith been blessing hunters.  We get an idea that there is some blessing that will make us a stronger Christian and so out we go full of grit and pious determination to get it.  Some go after the gift of speaking in tongues with a fervor that goes far beyond any ordinary discipline.  Others set out to be mighty in prayer.  And, some seek a relationship with God that will mark them as one of the elite in spiritual circles.  We can come to the place, and many of us do, where we believe that receiving the blessings of God are more about what we do and how we position ourselves than the grace of God.

 

What may indeed be true is that the blessings we seek either come to us, or we do not experience them at all.  And the more we travel this road with Christ, the more it seems that the blessings we must have today are the blessings that come slowly to us, and sometimes, may not come at all.  The Word teaches us that God is the One who blesses.  We may speak words of blessings upon ourselves or upon others, but it is finally God who brings the fullness of the blessing upon us.

 

While there is nothing wrong with our desiring the blessings of God in our lives, it is better to find some way to sit and wait for the blessings God desires to grant to us.  It may be that what opens our hearts up to even greater spiritual blessing is not our own striving, but our waiting on God.  When we wait on God, paying attention to how it is that His blessings have already fallen abundantly upon our path, and we do so with a spirit of thanksgiving, it is likely that we will discover greater blessings than ever we would have dared to ask.  Even as love comes to us so do the blessings of God.

Thin Places

While I recognize that for some it borders on going off the deep end and to others somewhat ridiculous, the further I go along, the more I am convinced of those "thin places" which are set forth for consideration in Celtic spirituality.  Before anyone moves on to what is deemed more relevant subjects, hang in there for still another moment.  A long time ago I ran into an awareness of how there are moments when it seems like the veil between here and there, earth and heaven, is paper thin and I first started pointing to it around the table where the Holy Meal was served.

 

The Biblical witness does nothing to turn us away from such a possibility, or, perhaps, the better and stronger word is reality.  Jesus did encounter Moses and Elijah on the Mt. of Transfiguration and it was not just a vision for his eyes as Peter, James, and John witnessed their presence as well.  And as we read the account of the days around the birth of Jesus, there is Biblical evidence of angels coming and going.  Daniel also had a visitor in the here part of his life who came from the there part.  Maybe we are afraid to open the door to the possibility that there are moments when the great cloud of heavenly witnesses wanders more closely than normal to side where we are.  Or, maybe it us who does the wandering.

 

There are many things in life which seem less plausible than our being aware of the spiritual world of the Kingdom of God breaking into the realm in which we live on this earth.  Does it matter?  Maybe not.  But, then if those moments of sensing the presence of those gone before us happens, could it not be that it is happening for some holy God ordained purpose?  There are many things about the reality of the spiritual realm which is all around us that I do not understand, but the longer I go in this physical realm the more it seems that there are moments when the holy breaks in this ordinary life we mortals live. 

A Person Not a Cause

In today's offering from "My Utmost for His Highest" Oswald Chambers wrote an eye catching sentence.  "Paul was devoted to a Person and not to a cause."   It is such a subtle difference.  It is the kind of thing Satan is most capable of presenting to us and we buy into it without a thought.   As we remember our beginning days with Jesus, we know it started out with our love for Him.  We realized how He loved us and we responded with as much love as we could muster from the depth of our being.  We started out in love with a Person and not a cause.

 

But, the temptation mentioned by Chambers is ever there for us.  And it is easy to cross the line between being devoted to Jesus and being devoted to a cause.  I wonder about my own journey of faith.  Have there been times when I was devoted to my ministry instead of Jesus?  Have there been times when I have been devoted to the cause of building a new building or getting more people in the pews instead of being devoted to Jesus?  Have there been times when I got swept away by some great consuming and legitimate social cause to the point that it took the place of Jesus being the primary object of my devotion?  As I consider the questions, I find myself not really liking the answers.

It is not that any of us really ever set out to let our devotion shift from Jesus to something else, nor was it our intention in the beginning, but if your reality is like mine, there is plenty of room for confession.  "Lord, once again I can see that I have missed the mark.  What I did I did in the name of serving You, but I also realize that there were times when my acts of service replaced my devotion to You. Forgive me, Lord.  Grant me mercy according to Your love and not according to what I deserve.  Thank You, Lord, for Your faithful love and mercy.  In Your name I pray.  Amen."

Thresholds

Celtic spirituality has within it a deep consciousness of the thresholds of life.   As I have moved along in my spiritual journey, I have noted them, but always thought of them in other ways.  Most traditional sanctuaries have an inner space known as a narthex.  A narthex is a smaller space between the outside secular world and the inner world of the holy space.  It might be called a transition room between the profane and the sacred.  And, of course every moment of ending precipitates a moment of beginning.  Old passes and new becomes.  The static moment in the middle Celtic spirituality would refer to as a threshold.

 

As we move through these threshold places and times, it is always true that we have one foot in one world and one in another.  When we give reflection life in our inner being, it becomes easy to consider how all the world and all of time is nothing more than a threshold.  As believers in Christ we live with one foot in the physical world and one foot in the spiritual world.  We are residents of earth and citizens of heaven.  And so it is with our time as well.  We have one foot in the present and one in the world opening before us.  Nothing ever stays still.  Change is constant.  And in the midst of what is and what is to come, we live.  We always live in that static moment of in between.

 

To live in such a threshold filled world and time requires faith.  Each step we take removes us from where we are into a world that is beyond our control.  And while we think we are in control of that next step, such a thought is largely an illusion.  Only God knows what we think we know.  We are simply alive in between here and there.  We are paused on a threshold which announces something new is before us.   Such is where God has put us and such is where God intends for us to let our faith live. 

Pond Water

Back in the glory days, I played competitive high school basketball.  I never made star player status as I had two problems with the game.  One was dribbling and the other was shooting.  The ball kept getting away from me and the hoop never was quite big enough to accommodate my shots!  But, it was a good time.  It was a time which left me with a lot of memories.  I remember one of my teammates whose nickname was "Pondwater," a name he earned because he was so slow getting up and down the court.

 

Remembering my attempts at being a star and my friend's lack of speed on the court sent me to thinking about my spiritual journey.  While some may be amazed at the leap, it is where I ended up, nonetheless.  When I remember my spiritual life as the younger man I once was, I think it was a life of faith which was  always in a hurry to get somewhere.  I tried and worked at all sorts of disciplinary structures to sharpen my spiritual life and bring me the sought after spiritual blessings.  As the years have turned me into an old man, I am coming to awareness that my spiritual growth is more like pond water.  It is slow and not hurried.  The blessings and spiritual insights come, but never as hurried as a racing stream.  More like pond water is how it is.

 

Some might say that life slows down some as we get older and there will no arguments made against that reality, but is also seems that the blessings of the spiritual life come ever so slowly as well.  And, it is also seems that the ones received are not necessarily the ones sought, but the ones which the Spirit turns loose on the other side of the pond.  They finally make it to the place where I am, but in their own time and in their own way.  Being blessed is not about what I do to insure the blessing, but about the grace and mercy of the One who sends the blessings. 

The Deep Darkness

A lot of people became amateur astronomers at the recent lunar phenomena.  Despite all the goings on in places like Washington D.C. and Hollywood where the "political and entertainment stars" dwell, the moon doing its thing was the real big event.  Lunar eclipses such as the recent one do not come every night and so many braved the cold to watch the heavenly color show.   A surprising thing struck this watcher of the heavens.  What grabbed my attention and would not let go was the awareness of the deepening darkness.  The farther the moon moved into the eclipse, the deeper was the darkness.

 

Before it started the light of the moon enabled distant trees to be seen.  Walking required no flashlight.  But, then the darkness started settling upon the earth and it was a darkness so deep the light seemed to exist in another world.  It was truly one of the amazing parts of the nocturnal event.  It set me to remembering that verse from John's gospel which says, "The light (the Word...Jesus) shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it."  (John 1:5)  The heavenly event John described cannot be overcome by any deep darkness.  Jesus has the power to bring light into places which seem to have the power to extinguish any light, any hope, any prayer.

 

Sometimes I wonder, though, if the light of Christ which should be shining through me and others like me is not being diminished in a way Christ never intended.  Instead of being a transmitter and a clear filter through which His divine presence moves, I must confess to sometimes hindering that divine process.  What is troubling is that the darkness may be deeper than it needs to be because I allow myself to get out of step with what Christ is seeking to do in the world around me. 

The Unique Place

Preachers should always be careful about what they carry into the pulpit.  The only thing which should be carried into the pulpit is a Word from God that is based on the Word of God.  But, there is always a temptation to use the Word of God as a crutch to support something else the preacher wants to say to the congregation.  It is an understandable temptation and any preacher who denies ever having given consideration to succumbing to it is probably not in touch with the whole truth. 

 

Preachers are hopefully people who have heard a Word from God which sent them out to preach the Word, but everyone I have ever known is also human.  Very human.  Just like everyone else.  During times which might be characterized as contentious and difficult, preachers may be tempted to take their case to the congregation in the guise of a sermon.  The preacher always errs when the sermon is used to enlist support for his or her side when the only side they are to enlist support is the side of Christ.  And while it is important to be as relevant as today's news and not be afraid of the things consuming culture's conversations, the task of the preacher always remains proclaiming the Word of God instead of being another political commentator.

 

Preaching is a hard task.  It is a demanding task.  Anyone who does it and takes it lightly needs to find another profession.  When the preacher stands in the pulpit to preach the Word, the world stops to listen not because the preacher is a spell binder, but because people are in need of a Word which connects them to God and enables them to understand that life inside His will is what really counts.  There is no place except where the preacher is preaching that people can go and rightly expect to hear the Word of God.  The pulpit and the preacher stand in a unique place in this upside world of ours.  It is a shame, a tragedy, and a sin when the preacher waste the opportunity provided by the God who called and the people who come to listen.

The Mysterious Conversation

When we ask someone we meet how things are going, we are likely to get something like, "Fine."  And, if anyone is a student of social media, it becomes obvious that everyone is having a great life with wonderful loving family gatherings, exciting cruises, and positive things pouring over them from head to toe.  It is no real secret that there are a lot of people out there who are in love with untruths about their lives.  Or, maybe they are in love with what they wish was true for their lives.

 

The thing is we are mostly content with the responses we are getting in our casual hurried conversations.  Some weeks ago I remember asking someone I met how things were going and found myself a captive to his report of his life over the last six months.  I confess I stopped listening before he finished and was constantly looking for the pause which said, "Exit."  It is true that a lot of folks have some tough stuff going on in their lives and most of us do not really want to know about it.  We would rather not hear because we have our own stuff and we do not see ourselves as one who has the time to listen to someone lament about life very long.

 

I have noticed one thing about my praying.  Sometimes I really unload a lot of the stuff of my life.  It is mostly more than anyone, even God, wants to hear, but I have never walked away from a moment of prayer feeling like Someone was hurrying me out of the door.  Instead, He listens with patience and understanding.  He does not beat up on me for my failure to see the obvious, or chastise me for wanting to know what is too filled with mystery for human understanding.  The Word He has provided for me and you encourages us to enter into this mysterious conversation called prayer and whenever we do, He is a present listener and helper. 

The Real Issue

The contemporary church has gotten on a side track.  Somewhere along the way it seems to have gotten the idea that pleasing the culture around it was its primary task.  Thus, entertainment has replaced worship and building bigger buildings has taken the place of making disciples.  In many places the church goes to great efforts to avoid identifying itself with any language which might cause the world around it to think it is actually a church serious about Jesus.  And, maybe it is not.

 

I sometimes wonder if the Apostle Paul would recognize the church he spent his life spreading into the world.  And, as a United Methodist, I sometimes imagine that our founder, John Wesley, must have rolled over several times in his grave in dismay at what the church of his prayers has become.  No longer does the Word guide our church.  It seems to be more agenda driven than Spirit driven.  In so many ways it seems to have lost its way.

 

There are many ways the church can be described, but surely it is basically a spiritual community driven by the Holy Spirit.  Surely, its fundamental purpose is to point people toward Jesus in a way that is persuasive and life changing.  Whenever we wander too far from what seems to be the core upon which is was established, problems and heresies abound.  Some may say the problems within the church are far more complex, but a movement away from the simple may be the real issue.

Change

When I look in the mirror in these days, I hardly recognize the guy who is looking back at me.  I guess I am still looking for that dark haired young man who could jump fences.  Sometimes my look in the mirror surprises me.  Even now I guess I am looking for the guy who has been gone for a long time.  One thing is certain.  If we manage to move through a few decades of life, a lot of things are going to change.  I no longer look like the man I used to see in the mirror. 

 

It is also true that my inner looks at who I am bring some measure of surprise as well.  While my faith in Christ is certain, perhaps, even more certain than ever, I also know it has changed as well.  For most of my life the way I expressed my faith centered around the life of the church with all its rituals and order.  My calendar was not based on the changing seasons, but was dictated by the changing colors of the liturgical seasons.  And while it will surely sound strange to some, the thing which speaks to me daily of the change in my life is the pocketknife I now carry every day in my jeans.  But, it is not just something I carry.  Most every day I pull it out and use it for some task.

 

Even as retirement has ushered in a new era of my day-to-day life, so has it ushered in a new era in my spiritual life.  While there is still some structure and a measure of discipline in the way I express my personal relationship with Christ, it seems that I have come to a place where it is more about practicing the Presence.  Like Brother Lawrence each day brings me to a new awareness of how God is present in everything around me and in everything that I do.  None of this is a declaration that I have come to a spiritual place that is better than anyone else might be; instead, it is simply a declaration that even as my physical body has changed in its run through the years, so has the part of me that I recognize as my inner spiritual being. 

Walking on New Ground

It is no secret that I sometimes read a book a second time.  Actually, I have been known to read a really good book many times more than just twice.  Recently, I have been meandering through "The Celtic Way of Prayer" by Esther De Waal.  Within its pages are many Celtic prayers and blessings which have created a new liturgy for me.  These prayers and blessings are different from some of the liturgical things I have read over the years as they employ simplicity and repetition in a rhythmic form which lends itself to carrying it with you through the day. 

 

When I came to last page and paragraph of the book, I found this word about those blessings and prayers.  "They do not beg or ask God to give this or that .  Instead, they recognize what is already there, already given, waiting to be seen, to be taken up, enjoyed.  What a waste to go through life surrounded by all the good gifts that God showers on me, 'gently and generously" yet blind and deaf to His presence hidden in all things, human and nonhuman. As I learn not to take for granted, to wonder anew, I find that a constant attitude of gratitude is life-giving."

 

Ever so slowly I am beginning to learn that there are good gifts from God hidden in all things.  Some of those things may be as majestic as a glorious sunset, but surely there are also some hidden in the dark threatening storms that race across the horizon as well as those that invade the sense of well being that we seek in our living.  The Apostle Paul spoke of being thankful in everything.  I am not yet at the same place as he obviously lived, but there are days when these Celtic blessings open doors for me to that lifestyle of thanksgiving, enabling me to walk on new ground.

Reaching Out

What we never know is the rippling effect some act of kindness or some act of ministry might cast out into the future.  I know this to be true as I remember the influencers from my past.  When I have expressed appreciation to someone from the past who touched my life, they often respond with an incredulous look which is something I can certainly understand.  Most of us are surprised when someone from our past starts telling us how our life impacted theirs in a positive way for Christ.   

 

What makes it surprising is the way the most insignificant moments, or at least so they might seem to us, are used by Christ to accomplish something we never would have thought possible.  Some of the people who have impacted my life I have been able to speak with gratitude, but far too many slipped away into eternity before I got around to understanding just how important they were in my journey toward God.  There are some things we wish we could do over and certainly having an opportunity to speak words of thanksgiving when we failed to do so would be high on our list.

 

But, then there is this moment.  It is not yet gone.  And there are still people out there who might find great encouragement in a word from us which would let them know they are remembered with thanksgiving.  It need not be a shotgun approach which have us out there trying to find everyone who might have touched our life.  A good place to begin would be in asking God to bring to mind people to whom we should reach out for He knows better than we about the circumstances of their lives and the way such a word from us might make all the difference in their making it.

Under the Water

As yesterday was turning into Sunday evening, a friend who worked with me some years ago as an Associate Pastor sent me a note about his worship service on Baptism of the Lord Sunday.  When I was preaching, it was always one of my favorite days of worship.  His sharing with me sent me to remembering  something Wendell  Berry wrote in ""Jayber Crow."   After Jayber left his barbershop and home in town for life in a fishing cabin on the river, he speaks of an evening ritual.  It has become one of my favorite descriptions of baptism.

"I wait until all the work of the day is done, supper finished, and the dishes put away.  And then I take clean clothes, soap, and a towel and go down to the water.  I lay the clean clothes and the towel on the bow of the boat and strip off my sweaty things.  Carrying the soap, I wade out until the water is up to my chin.  I soap my head and face.  As I wade back toward the shore, I soap the rest of my body as it emerges.  I sit on the gunnel of the boat and soap my feet.  Then I put down the soap, stand up, and take two steps, dive, and swim down into the dark limit of my breath.  When I wade out again, I am cool and clean, delighted as a risen soul."

Neither the author or the character he created calls this a moment of baptism, but every time I read these words, I am taken to those moments when the water works its power upon the broken sin ridden soul.  It has done its work on me and maybe you as well.  Actually, the water has no power, but simply brings to mind that working on the repentant heart which is done by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Ah, but what an image.  This image of taking off and putting on, of washing until clean, and then being overwhelmed by the deep water speaks powerfully to this soul on his journey home. 

As Necessary As Air

Some figure faith is for the weak.  It is for those who think something more than just hard work and determination is needed.  Or, maybe it is just for those who are lazy and do not want to pay the price of making their own way.  Those who need no illusion of having an edge find faith an unnecessary thing.  It is something that makes no difference in life.  Some have simply deluded themselves into thinking that it does.

Actually, no one can live without it.  Faith is as necessary as air.  It may be that love gets us to the altar, but it is faith that keeps us in the marriage.  And, everyone who drives an automobile does so believing that the people in the other cars will stay on their side of the road and obey traffic laws.  And, anyone who has ever been in an airplane is literally putting their life in the hands of the pilot.  The truth is we all practice faith to some degree every single day of our life or we would not make it at all.

So, if faith is so built into the fabric of life, why is it difficult to accept that the way toward God is also the way of faith.  Our relationship with God is based on grace.  God is the One who initiates the relationship with us.  Apart from His act of grace and love toward us, it would be impossible for us to enter into a relationship with Him.  Our response it the act of faith.  God does not force Himself on anyone of us.  He waits for us to respond.  Faith is the necessary human response.

The River

Rivers have drawing power.  Around these parts, people are drawn to a nearby river for all sorts of different reasons.  Some go to fish.  Some go to swim.  Some go to float downstream.  And some just go to the river and watch the water move from some place upstream to wherever it is going downstream.  There is power inherent within any river.  It is always moving, going from where we can see to places where it can no longer be seen, but always flowing.  Always moving.

 

The Word of God begins with the story of a land by a river.  In Genesis 2:10 it is written, "A river flows out of Eden."  Other rivers with names like Nile and Jordan and Chebar flow from the pages of Scripture.  Jesus used the image of a river as He said, "Out of the believer's heart shall flow rivers of living water."  (John 7:38)   And even as the Biblical Word speaks of a river in its beginning pages so does it in its final pages as it reads, "Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright and crystal, flowing from the throne of God..." (Revelation 22:1)

It is not surprising that many of those who write and reflect about the spiritual journey lift up the image of the river to speak of life with God.  A river has power to change everything it touches, it has the force to sweep away everything within it, and it is always moving to some distant place not yet seen.  It is not hard to see how those who point us toward spiritual maturity would cause us to reflect on stepping into the river of God's power and presence to be swept away and taken wherever it is that He might choose to take us.  The kind of faith to which Jesus calls us to embrace is not for the toe-dabblers, but for those who are willing to risk it all in the ever flowing river.

The Precious Gift

Today as I stood in line waiting on my turn to place a food order, the guy behind the register hollered out, "I will help the next person!"  The girl in front of me who was next simply stood there with her eyes glued to her smart phone.  Apparently, her ears were closed, too.  With no one moving, the clerk hollered one more time and once again it ended in the same results.  It was time for someone to speak so I reached out and told the young lady it was time to move.  And with the nudge, she went.  I became sort of a folk hero to all the other gray haired folks behind me who thanked me and then softly muttered something to themselves.

 

What I muttered was, "You need to pay attention to where you and who is in front of you."  I said it not so much for the girl with the smart phone because she had already moved and was under the spell of the young man behind the computer screen as I said it for me.  It is something I am constantly saying in some form or another to myself.  I told someone the other day that I knew I had memories of more years than I would ever have years in the future.  A seventy year old guy such as I am should  understand the importance of making the most of every day.

 

Such is what the Word tells us to do.  "Be careful then how you live...making the most of the time..."  (Ephesians 5:16)  A modern day rendering of this word might be, "Smell the roses...or the coffee."  Regardless of how you say it, it is a such a loss when any moment of experiencing the present moment with all that is a part of it is lost.  The present moment is the richest moment we have and whatever it is that is all around us is more precious than anything which might be viewed in the hand or longed for one day from the heart.  The present is God's precious gift to us.  It is a gift that is forever being given and, unfortunately, forever being wasted.

The Going

Celtic spirituality introduces us to a kind of pilgrimage, but not the kind normally associated with the word.  When we think of a pilgrimage, we normally think of something like a trip to Jerusalem, or some other holy site.  Pilgrimages were more prevalent centuries ago. Nowadays, people go not as pilgrims, but as members of tour groups.  In the Celtic tradition people would leave their homeland and wander simply for the love of God.  Sometimes it was a walking journey and sometimes it was a journey in which the pilgrim would cast himself off from the shore in a coracle (a bowl shaped boat) without the use of an oar. 

Obviously, the Celtic pilgrim had no destination in mind.  He traveled wherever, trusting only that God would bring him to a place where he was supposed to be.  In the Celtic tradition such a journey was called peregrination.  With no specific destination in mind, it was indeed an inner journey.  It is also a metaphor for our own spiritual journey. When we cast ourselves off in Jesus' name, we may have thought we knew where the wind of the Spirit would take us, but after a life time of traveling, I have to realize I had no idea where He was taking me, nor do I have any idea where He plans to take me in the days that remain for me to live. 

Our journey with God is so much like the Celtic pilgrim who cast himself off in a round boat that had no oars.  Faith puts us in the boat without any assurance of where we will finally land.  What we begin to understand as we live by faith is the reality that arriving at some planned destination is not the point of the journey.  The point of the faith journey is found not in the arriving, but in the going.  It has always been this way.  To think otherwise is to miss the mark. 

The Short Journey

Both our origin and our destiny connect us to the dirt.  In the second creation account, the Word of God says, "then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground." (Genesis 2:7)  And after the human episode in the Garden that broke the heart of God, we hear a Voice filled with great sorrow and regret saying, "By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken: you are dust and to dust you shall return." (Genesis 3:19)  More than any generation of our kind, we have lost our sense of being connected to the dirt. It is a sign that we have lost our way.

 

Our feet are no longer dirty.  Our hands no longer hold the dirt and feel it slipping through fingers.  We no longer walk on its rough uneven surface.  Leaving concourses of concrete and asphalt is taboo.  And so for many, the dirt from which we came no longer exists.  Since we no longer are connected to the dirt, we seek to connect our lives to other things.  No longer do we kneel in that which reminds us of our coming and going, but on other things which speak to us of human life that is dependent on the things we have created with our own hands. These things seem to have such permanence which lulls us into living as if we do as well.

 

But, at best humanity is such a fragile part of the creation.  Our human life is but a small speck in the eternity God holds in His hands.  Having lost our connection to our origin and our destiny, we end up living unmindful of our Creator God.  Only too late do we realize that we have lost our way. Our way is not toward what we have made, but toward what God has made for us.  What He has made for us is our home which awaits us at the end of our short journey on planet earth.

The Celtic Way

The tradition of Celtic spirituality is very old, but early on the pressure of the Roman Catholic Church placed such pressure on it that it disappeared to become more of an underground movement which never really died.  It lived on through oral tradition which is impossible to irradicate and through the prayers and blessing which were recorded by some who came along to realize that a valued expression of spiritual faith was about to be gone.  There is much to say about the distinct theology of Celtic spirituality, but the thing which has proven to be such a blessing personally are the recorded prayers and blessings.

 

In her book, "The Celtic Way of Prayer,"  Esther De Waal wrote about the praying of those of the ancient Celtic way, "These are simple prayers, but we should not be misled by that.  They come out of a heart full of gratitude, thankfulness.  They are not beseeching God to give them this, or grant them that.  They are recognizing that God has showered them with blessings and they thank Him for what He has given...They are generous prayers, not claiming all these good things for ourselves alone but wishing to share them.  So they bring us back to two aspects of prayer that we might easily neglect.  They remind us of gratitude.  They remind us of a shared and corporate spirituality."

There is a simplicity about this approach to prayer which is almost mindboggling.  We come to the moment of our designated and scheduled praying with all sorts of rituals and routines to accomplish.  Most of our praying we would not think of as being as simple as a widening circle of gratitude. It does not seem that we have prayed until we have told God what He needs to do with the circumstances we face.  Celtic spirituality calls us to live thanking God for the blessings which abound around us in the people we see as well as in creation.  For so many of us it would mean walking into a new way of living out our life with God, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

The Crowd

Some say the Apostle Paul was not a particularly good looking guy which may be true.  A lot of us are afflicted with some degree of ugliness so there is no need to hold that card against him.  However, it does seem that he was a strong force with which to be reckoned.  He could stand toe to toe and hold his own in any debate and when it comes to being able to articulate sound theology, he stands head and shoulders over most folks.  To read the trials he endured is to know that he had stamina and determination.  He was not one to be stopped easily. 

 

Even though all this is true, it is also true that the Apostle Paul did not go it alone.  He had a group, a team, or a fellowship of ministry partners.  There were others upon whom Paul depended.  In the last   section of the epistle to the church at Colassae, he names them, "Tychicus, Onesimus, Aristaarchus,  Mark, Justus, Epaphras, Luke, Demas..." (Colossians 4:7-14)  These were the men who shared in ministry with Paul and some of these were the men who shared the prison from which he wrote this particular letter. 

 

What we sometimes forget is that we were never intended to walk the road of faith alone.  To think that we need no one else on the journey is a clear expression of our own self-righteousness.  Jesus traveled with at least twelve men, sometimes maybe more.  It is foolishness to think that the Christian life is just about me and Jesus.  It never is.  It is always about Jesus and the way we live with other disciples as well as the way we give love to those around us who may rub us the wrong way, or who seem to be undeserving.  Paul named the crowd that stood with him.  Maybe today is a good time to name the ones with whom we stand, who stand with us, and then give thanks for them. 

Second Chance Paul

It is somewhat surprising to find the name of Mark listed as one of the cellmates of Paul as he writes his letter to the Colossians from prison.  John Mark as he is often called was an early member of the group which was sent out with Paul and Barnabas by the church at Antioch.  (Acts 13:1-3)  The only problem was that the young cousin of Barnabas did not have the kind of stick-to-it-tiveness and ended up leaving and heading back to Jerusalem.  The Apostle Paul saw him as a deserter and later on he and Barnabas would have a parting of the ways over Barnabas's desire to bring his young cousin along once again. (Acts 15:36-40)

 

Apparently, something happened between the anger and companionship in prison.  Colossians 4:10 says, "Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you, as does Mark the cousin of Barnabas..."  Exactly when and how the reconciliation took place is not shared, but the fact that it happened is obvious from the words of the Apostle.  Paul may be judged as a hard man for the conflict he had with Barnabas, but it must also be said that Paul was a man who gave people second chances.

 

Maybe chance is not as good a word as opportunity.  Maybe what Paul gave and what we need to be quicker to give is another opportunity for someone to prove themselves.  Most of us can look back over the span of the years and remember some folks who disappointed us, let us down, or proved themselves unfit for a task and when we see them we see them through the lens of the failed past instead of through the lens of a changed future.  Certainly, Jesus was one who was willing to give messed up, fallen people like you and me another opportunity.  Somehow that part of the heart of Jesus took root in Paul so that he could forgive one who had let him down.  Maybe it is time for us to do some of this heart work ourselves.

Breaking Barriers

The world of the Apostle Paul had a very strict social order which separated folks who were different.  Of course, the biggest one of them all was the way the Jewish people called everyone else Gentile.  The term Gentile was not regarded as a compliment, but a way of separating the Jews from those regarded as having little  more value than dogs.  But, there were others, too.  Women had no rights. Neither did children.  People with serious contagious diseases such as  leprosy were forced to live whatever life they had left apart from the healthy community.  And, there were also some who were free and some who were slaves.

 

In Paul's letter to the Colossians, the Apostle speaks of one held in high regard.  "...Onesimus, the faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you..."  (Colossians 4:9)  What Paul does not mention in the letter is something everyone already knows.  Onesimus is a slave.  In the very small epistle written to Philemon, we learn that this faithful and beloved brother was and still is a slave of Philemon.  Paul's friend, Philemon, is encouraged to receive Onesimus as a beloved brother and not a slave. (Philemon 1:16)   "Welcome him as you would welcome me," Paul writes.  (Philemon 1:17)

 

In those days the gospel was breaking down barriers that self righteousness, pride, bigotry, and prejudice had thrown in place to separate some from others.  Unfortunately, these barrier building spirits still exist today.  Even more unfortunately is the spirit of apathy which allows those of who bear the gospel message to look the other way.  Many of us can look back to an earlier time in our life and regret that we did not take a clearer and bolder position about some of the barriers erected between people in our world.  It was not easy then.  It is not easy now.  But, Paul's loving way of speaking to his friend certainly points into the future that is before us.

All the Time

Always we are tempted as believers to think that being believers gives us a pass on the hard times.  While it is not something we might say openly to other believers, if we have ever heard ourselves saying in our prayers that we deserve better treatment than the unbelieving pagan down the road, then maybe it really is true that we figure we should be exempt from some of the tough stuff of life.  In a small and insignificant way the letter to the church at Colassae enables us to hear the Apostle Paul saying, "Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner greets you..."  (Colossians 4:10)

 

This wonderful letter to the early church in which Paul speaks often of his struggles and suffering was written from a prison cell.  This early Christian with the strange name was a cellmate of the Apostle Paul.  The Apostle Paul was not writing from a comfortable place, but a dark prison which held back the light and sought to destroy the spirit.  Anyone who reads this letter as well as others soon discovers that faithfulness provides no exemption to dark times of trouble. 

 

The fact that our life seems to be lived out in a place not of our choosing does not mean that God has forsaken us.  We glibly say when life is coming up roses, when all our prayers are being answered, and when a healing brings health instead of death that God is good.  "God is good.  God is good, all the time," we say in those moments of rejoicing.  The truth is that God is good regardless of whether our circumstances are good or bad.   The Apostle Paul who lived with much trouble in his life was the one who also wrote, "give thanks in all circumstances..." (I Thessalonians 5:18) and "I have learned to be content with whatever I have..."  (Philippians 4:11)  What Paul knew and believed was that God really is good....all the time...even in times of dark trouble.

A Wrestler

When I was a boy,  a very young boy, I went to a wrestling match with my father.  It was not anything I remember with great clarity.  I just know I went.   I have no recollection of the names of the wrestlers, or who proved himself to be the winner.   Later on as a schoolboy I did some wrestling out on the playground during recess.  It was not something that was planned, but something that just happened.  Once again I have no recollection of the name of the winner.  Later on I would learn about a more refined and cleaner kind of wrestling among high school and college wrestlers. 

 

While reading the Word I came across one who was described by the Apostle Paul as a wrestler.  "Epaphras,...is always wrestling in his prayers on your behalf, so that you may stand mature and fully assured in everything that God wills."  (Colossians 4:12)  It is word which brings to mind Jacob who wrestled with God the whole of one night.  But, Jacob's wrestling was not so much for the sake of others, but had more to do with the things of his own heart.  Epaphras, on the other hand, was one who wrestled in prayer for the sake of other believers. 

 

I wonder what it looks like to wrestle in prayer.  It is certainly not an image which speaks of soft prayers prayed in the most proper language.  Surely, it speaks of a kind of praying that is full of spiritual sweat and tears.  The image which most quickly comes to mind is the kind of hard praying that Jesus did just before the cross.  Most of us may do some really serious praying about the things which touch our own lives, but Epaphras was one who took hold of the needs of others and would not let them go as he held them up before the Father.  I wonder how much of the spirit of Epaphras God sees in me, or you, as our prayers are cast toward heaven.

The Golden Rule

I learned a lot of verses from the Bible as a child.  The church we attended when my family moved back to Waycross, Georgia after my father's death was a small country church with a larger cemetery.   My Daddy was laid to rest on those grounds and I started learning about Jesus.  Every Sunday night the kids had a moment to recite a Scripture verse with the reward being a gold star by your name on a chart.  My first memories of learning Scripture go back to those gold stars.  One verse carried forward from those years was, "Do unto others as you would have them to unto you."  (Luke 6:31)

 

It is a verse known as the Golden Rule.  While I was beginning to read a Bible back in those days, I imagine my mother was the one who put this verse in front of me.  In a sense it has been in front of me now for a lifetime.  Such is likely true for many others as well.  It is a simple enough word.  It is not one which requires a Biblical commentary or exhaustive teaching to understand.  Maybe what the song says about the world needing more love is true, but surely it is also true that the world would benefit greatly if we lived by the creed of the Golden Rule.

 

Imagine for a moment all the things which would be absent from our daily life if we treated others as we would like to be treated.  Our world would be empty of hurtful angry words.  There would be no gossip and slanderous words thrown out to undermine and destroy.   Care and concern for others would be part of our daily agenda and name calling would be taboo.  Imagine for a moment how different life would be if we contributed to none of the thing which destroy people in the eyes of others.  Imagine how different life around us would be if we were intentional about giving love, acceptance, and grace to whoever it is that we encounter along the way. 

Dangerous Things

We live in a time when people are thrown into boxes labeled left or right, conservative or liberal, traditional or contemporary.  Labels are dangerous things.  They inform us ahead of time that we can close our mind to what some might say or believe and that we can start applauding ahead of time what others are about to say.  Labels become like ear plugs.  They keep us from hearing what is being said and they certainly keep us from listening. 

 

I suppose Jesus encountered the usual gamut of people on the side of the roads He walked.  Some thought He was Messiah material.  Some thought He was a radical revolutionary.  Some were rich and some were poorer than dirt.  Some were so poured in concrete they had to be pillars of some entrenched establishment and some just looked His way with a desperate hope for mercy.  To read the gospel is to come to the conclusion that He took folks seriously.  He listened to them.  He did not agree with everyone, but He allowed them to keep their beliefs even if every indication pointed to their making a mistake. 

 

I am not always sure how to relate to everyone around me.  To be honest I have more trouble with those who are condescending, or those who fail to regard me and others with some measure of seriousness than I do the theological or political labels they wear.  Perhaps, the "condescending one" is just another label.  It does seem that we are called by our faith to live with a tension created by living faithfully to our fundamental beliefs about what it means to walk with God and offering acceptance to those who would attack us because of those beliefs.  The easy way to respond to that tension is through compromise.  The hard way is to cling tenaciously to the way revealed through the Word even though it never measures up to majority approval.