In His Presence

Oswald Chambers was born before the turn of the 1900's and died on November 15, 1917.  As I came to the end of the story of his life, I realized that he has been dead for 102 years.  Even though so many decades have passed and even though so many new generations have been born, the daily devotional he authored still remains as one of the premier spiritual guides ever written.  The more I read about this man's spiritual journey, the more I see his spirit in the words of "My Utmost for His Highest."

 

When he died in Egypt, his wife, Biddy, sent a cable to friends and family in England and Scotland.  The cable which shared the news of his death simply read, ""Oswald in His Presence."  Those who read the words knew.  Oswald Chambers had died.  Of course, to turn the pages of the book is to come to the conclusion that this saint of God who learned to live in the presence of Christ long before his death only walked into a more intimate sense of divine presence in the moment of his dying.  Oswald Chambers carried with him a sense of expectant wonder and anticipation concerning what God was getting ready to do. 

We all know from the Word that the abiding presence of Christ is with us.  Some of us live with a greater awareness of this inner presence than others.  However, the reality of the presence of Christ does not depend on our feelings or emotions, but upon His promise to us.  Chambers was one of those who lived inside this promise with what appeared to be an amazing degree of consistency.  His living faith caused those who experienced his death to see it as only another step in the presence of Christ.  While in the presence of Christ in the temporal realm, he stepped into the presence of Christ in the eternal realm.  Would that it could be so with each one of us. 

A Simple Definition

Over the years of ministry I considered many different definitions of the church.  Some of them used the language of Scripture.  A few of them probably could have been something borrowed from Wall Street or Hollywood.  And, there was a time when I saw the church as a hospital where everyone was seeking wholeness.  Some were further along than others, but everyone was seeking it.  In the latter years I came to a place of simply speaking of the church as "a spiritual community centered on Christ."

 

I discovered that this definition was not contemporary sounding enough for some and too churchy for others.  Some likely figured it to be too vague and a word which affected folks like water rolling off a duck's back.  And, maybe it is true.  Maybe we all come to our own working definition which enables us to see a dimension of the church which is most important to us.  At times the church seems like the elephant the blind men of the fable touched.  Each touched the same animal and spoke of it differently. 

One of the reasons I have carried this definition for such a long time has to do with a core belief that the church is not an institution to be managed like a business, nor a community civic club working to do good, or even a fellowship of like minded people who enjoy being with one another, but a community which is both visible and invisible.  Its business is not prosperity, but service.  Its essence is not physical but spiritual.  It belongs not to me, or you, or any denomination, but to Christ.  Its health depends not on human creativity, but upon the energy and power of the Holy Spirit.  It is not just a community.  The world has many of them.  It is instead a spiritual community centered on Christ instead of me or anyone else.  There is nothing like it in our midst.  May it always be so. 

 

Spiritual Soaking

When I was growing up, worship on Sunday was not an option.  It was mandatory.  Nothing short of being dead was an acceptable excuse for an absence.  While I pulled against the parental bit often, I nonetheless ended up in a weekly spiritual soaking which had lasting effect.  During these Sundays of soaking, I stood alongside of others and recited the things of the ritual like "The Apostle's Creed," through recitation learned "The Lord's Prayer," and ended up storing a library of hymns in my heart.  At the time I never realized what was happening while I was getting my mandatory weekly spiritual soaking.

 

What was happening was spiritual stuff was getting in despite all the barriers I had put up between myself and matters of the faith.  As I have moved away from those soaking years and entered the years which are closer to the end than the beginning, I have come to a deep appreciation for parents who gave me no choice about attending worship.  Through the discipline they imposed, I carry with me a theological manual, a prayer book, and a hymnal.  These spiritual resources are not on the printed page, but got memorized and saved when I was not paying much attention to it happening. 

 

I lament the fact that so many of today's young are growing up without the spiritual tools which have served the church through the centuries.  These spiritual tools have been replaced by a culture which has put aside things which are traditional for the sake of being contemporary.  Being trendy and current has replaced the ancient words of faith which have such lasting foundational powers.  I often wonder if the young of today are experiencing those soaking moments which will enable them to move through the dark moments which loom ahead in their lives even as they do in all our lives. 

The Two Books

When retirement dumped me on the farm where I was literally overwhelmed by the presence of the creation all around me, things began to slowly change within me.  For a long time I did not speak of it for it seemed like I was going to a place in my faith that was far away from where I had roamed all my adult years.  I started seeing what was around me as a vast cathedral full of so many signs of the Holy One.  I began to understand that the church was not the only holy space, but instead, all space on the earth was holy. 

 

In recent years I have discovered the theology of Celtic spirituality which has given a name to the place I have come.  In one of the many books I have read on the subject, I found words that gave understanding to this new awareness.  "Christian tradition tells us that we have received two books of divine revelation:  the book of scripture and the book of nature.  Creation itself is a sacred text through which the presence of God is revealed to us."  ("Water, Wind, Earth, and Fire" by Christine Valters  Paintner)  While I have not gone off on such a deep end that I am seeing trees and rocks as God, I am beginning to understand that His voice and presence can be heard out there in the wild of creation.

 

It is always more than a little frightening to venture off in some new theological woods.  I could get lost.  Others might decide I have lost both reason and sanity.  Someone might even come up with a new name to fit their perception of my wandering away from orthodoxy.  I find myself walking slowly, but steadily forward.  More and more it seems that God is truly in everything around me and that there is nothing around me through which He cannot speak or make His presence known.   What is re-assuring is the growing awareness that many faithful souls have walked this way before me. 

Yes. Yes! Yes!

"Pilgrim at Tinker Creek" by Annie Dillard is not a book to read in a hurry.  A hurried reading guarantees that much will be missed.  A recent read had me holding the book in my hands thinking as much as it had my eyes moving across the pages.  On one of the latter pages there is a word which I have not been able to put aside.  Even when the book is closed, the words keep coming back to my mind.  "There is no guarantee in the world.  Oh your needs are guaranteed, guaranteed by the most stringent of warranties, in the plainest, truest words: knock; see; ask.  But you must read the fine print, 'Not as the world giveth, give I unto you.'"       

A little further down the page, there is more.  "Your needs are all met.  But not as the world giveth...You see the creatures die, and you know you will die.  And one day it will occur to you that you must not need life."  All of this was a word which required more thought than I came to the page ready to give.   All of us who live more than a few years have times when we find ourselves thinking about our own death, but thinking about it in terms of not needing it took me to a different place.   

Could it be that the moment of dying comes with an awareness that something more than life itself is needed?  Could it be that this thing so precious to us, this thing we hold to more tightly than anything else is in the end something which is overshadowed by an even greater need?  Could it be that as life slips away, the Hand that takes us provides the guaranteed need?  Could it be that the One who slipped from the empty tomb that Sunday after the horrible day of crucifixion comes in that moment to take us to all that has been prepared for us?  Yes.  Yes!  Thus, I believe.  The promise of the Resurrected Jesus is the greater need, the guaranteed need, and He will be faithful to meet it.  Yes.  Yes! Yes! 

Abandoned to God

I came across another book on the already read section of my book collection which I felt compelled to pull out and start reading.  While I am not one to read biographies, this one became a "must read" when I saw it on the shelves years ago.  While I have read Oswald Chamber's daily devotional book entitled "My Utmost for His Highest"  most years since 1968, I had never read a detailed account of his life until I found David McCasland's "Oswald Chambers: Abandoned to God." 

 

One of the interesting things about the daily devotional which bears his name is that he did not actually do the work of writing it.  When he died unexpectedly in 1917 at the age of 43, he never imagined that his work would be remembered and read for over a hundred years.   Actually, his widow put together writings and devotionals that he verbally delivered so that we have this inspiring collection of spiritual writings. 

 

Aside from the Bible itself, no book has impacted my life as much as this one.  And, as I write such a witness, I know it is not just my witness, but the witness of so many through many years.  When I bought the book it was at the suggestion of a girl who would become my wife.  Maybe I started reading to impress her, but the reason for keeping it close all these years has to do with the way it has directed my spiritual journey.  Oswald Chambers died in 1917, but his words still bless me.  If my words ever end up as a blessing to someone, it is a sign that Oswald Chamber's faithfulness continues to be planted in the lives of others through folks like me who have been blessed by him. 

Eyes to See

To see the creation may simply cause us to stand in awe at something as beautiful as a sunset, or as overwhelming as rolling waves on the sea, but it can also intensify our awareness of the presence of the Holy One around us and within us.  It is one thing to admire the creation as one might admire a masterful painting in a museum and still another to see the way the creation blesses us at every step.  As we begin to see the creation as a means by which we are constantly being blessed, our eyes and hearts are made aware of the presence of the real Master of the universe. 

 

Being aware of the presence of God is not so much about what we do as it is about what we are willing to receive.  God has graciously revealed Himself and is constantly speaking through all that is around us and through everyone who is before us.  To be aware of this part of the order of the creation brings us to a deep and constant awareness of God in our life.  We are simply too busy.  Too busy to see.  Our eyes have not been trained to note the details in the bigger picture unfolding before us.  We see the forest, but not the trees.  We see the trees, but not the creatures who live in the trees.  And we see the creature without seeing them as coming from the same Creator as do we.

 

When we begin to slow down and see how all that is around us is bringing blessing into our lives, then we are entering into that dimension of awareness where our gratitude will open us up to the presence of God in our midst.   The world is full of created things which point us to the Creator.  The world is full of things which bless us.  It may be the coolness of the shade of a tree, or the softness of grass beneath our feet, or the rain from the sky on our face.  There is no end to this list of the created things which bless us and open our hearts to receive the ever present Presence of the Holy.  We only need eyes to see.

Awareness

Around here good books often get a second read.  Sometimes even more.  One of those which merited a second read is one written by Richard Rohr entitled, "Everything Belongs."  On one of the earlier pages, he writes about experiencing the presence of God.  "My starting point is that we're already there.  We cannot attain the presence of God because we're already totally in the presence of God.  What's absent is awareness." 

 

How many times have we thought about doing something like worship, or reading the Word, or praying as a way of experiencing the presence of God?  Most of us have had this as our goal many times on our spiritual journey.  We even often consider some of the problems we are facing and think that what we need in the midst of the difficulty is to get away somewhere so we can be in the presence of God our Father.  Maybe it is just a language issue, but it also seems more likely than not that Rohr nails it.  The spiritual issue is not presence, but awareness.

 

None of us would disagree with the truth that God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are always with us.  Even a casual reading of the Word and an elementary understanding of the faith we profess brings us to such a conclusion.  The Holy Presence is always with us.  We never walk apart from His presence.  Even in those moments of agonizing loneliness and dark despair, we walk with the presence of God.  Circumstances have nothing to do with His presence.  What Rohr calls us to do is to live with an awareness that every step is taken in the presence and with the help of the Holy.  Even as we breathe air without being aware we are doing such a thing, so do we live constantly in the presence of the Holy One without any awareness that He is indeed with us. 

The Question of Wholeness

Jesus asked the lame man, "Do you want to be made well?"  (John 5:6).  Instead of answering the question, the sufferer told Jesus why he had continued to be lame.  "Sir, I have no one to put me in the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me."  (John 5:7)  When asked if he wants to be made well, the man responds by saying that he would have already been whole had it not been for people not helping him.  His answer told Jesus that he blamed others for continuing to be an invalid.

 

The blame game is an easy game for us to play in our spiritual journey.  All of us would no doubt be more into praying if we did not have to spend so much time in the marketplace, or with our families, or doing stuff for the church.  The spiritual life is not as easy for us as it is for the monks who live and pray in the monastery.  It is always easy for us to offer such excuses for our own spiritual mediocrity.  We look at others who seem to have it all together in their spiritual lives and as we do we are always thinking that such would not be possible if they had to live in our shoes.

The question Jesus was asking was the question which required the lame man to assume personal responsibility for his own life.  It is what we all must do if we are to come to any degree of wholeness.  As long as someone else has the power to determine how we live, we are never going to be able know anything but our current level of spiritual wholeness.  "Do you and I want to be made well?  Do we want to be spiritually stronger?  Do we want to be whole?"  As was the case in Jerusalem that day long ago, Jesus is always ready to help us.  But, first we have to determine if we want His help, or life as it has always been.    

Stirring Questions

When I read about the suffering ones gathered at the pool of Bethsaida (John 5), I cannot help but think of the places where the suffering ones gather in our own day.  Anyone who has had a reason to go to the Emergency Room on a weekend night has surely seen all kinds of broken and hurting people gathered in one place.  Another place where such a scene is seen is in a treatment room where those struggling with cancer are receiving chemotherapy infusions.  And surely, a place not seen by many of us are the battlefields where men and women lay wounded and dying. 

 

To think of the story in the gospel of John and to imagine similar places in our own day is to wonder what Jesus would do were He to walk into such places.  When John told his story, he did so describing the many who were at the pool of Bethsaida waiting and hoping.  "In these (five porticoes) lay many invalids--blind, lame, and paralyzed."  (John 5:3)  He also spoke of the lame man healed by Jesus as one who had been ill for thirty-eight years.  Thirty-eight years is a long, long time to suffer.  So, what would Jesus do today?  Would He look for the one who had suffered the longest?  How would He decide if He was not going to heal them all?

 

And, of course, the bigger question is "why not?"  Why did Jesus not heal all those who were gathered at the pool of Bethsaida?  How could He walk away leaving so much suffering when He could have healed the many as well as He did the one?  And, why does He show up in the places where sufferers gather today and leave anyone at all still suffering?  My questions stir around within with more certainty than the waters of the pool of Bethsaida.  My answers are few.  Whenever I begin to speak them, I soon become quiet for they sound trite and empty to me.  Surely, they would to the suffering ones as well. 

Neck Deep in Hot Water

The lame man healed by Jesus at the pool of Bethsaida (John 5) had hardly taken a step or two before he found himself neck deep in hot water.  It would seem that the keepers of religion had some of their underlings out watching every move made by Jesus.  By the time the man had taken up his mat and started walking, the Jews with authority were confronting him about breaking Sabbath law.  To the man who had been cured, they said, "It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your mat."  (John 5:10)

 

Figuring out what can and cannot be done on the Sabbath has been a thorn in the flesh of organized religion since the Ten Commandments were written in stone on Mt. Sinai.  Sundays were far different back in the days of my childhood.  My father who was an avid fisherman and not a religious person told me not to fish on Sunday.  "The fish need a rest," he always said.  And, then there were prohibitions about doing anything fun on Sunday.  Movies were taboo.  Of course, businesses were closed so no one thought about shopping for groceries, or clothing, or anything else on Sunday. 

It is such a different world on Sunday in these days.  There is no need to describe the difference.  Anyone with a few years remembers and those without them find it hard to believe.  Figuring out what it means to observe Sabbath is still a trick for many who seek to be faithful to the God who brought everything, including Sabbath, into being.  No single definition seems to fit, but there is within the two words "Sabbath rest"  something which requires anyone serious about faithfulness to spend more than just a moment or two pondering.  It may even require a lifetime. 

The Unpredictable Healer

The healing of the lame man at the pool known as Bethsaida is unusual in a number of ways.  First, there is no mention of faith.  The lame man did do what he was told to do, but obedience is not faith.  Secondly, the man who was healed did not even know the name of the Healer.  And later on when chaos seem to grow around him, he made no effort to find the Healer.  The Healer found him.  And then, there is no expression of gratitude on the part of the man who had been lame.  He just picked up his mat and went to walking.  (John 5:1-14)

 

The whole business seems a bit outside the realm of other incidences of healing.  It was also outside of any religious rituals.  In some ways it seems like a random act of healing on the part of Jesus.  The lame man was not the only man at the pool that day who was in need of the healing touch of Jesus, but he was picked out by Jesus to receive it.  One can only wonder if the other broken people called out after Jesus to help them when they saw the lame man walking.  If they did, it would seem that Jesus simply walked away healing one and leaving the others to wait for the stirring of the waters.

 

There are so many questions to be asked.  There are so many unexplainable parts of the story which are not told.  There is a kind of tension in the story which is seen as we begin to read the words not written between the lines.  Perhaps, it should not be surprising that everything about the moment is not nailed down as tightly as we might choose.  It should not be surprising for few of us live a life where everything is nailed down securely.  And, most assuredly, after an encounter or two with Jesus, it becomes clear that He is likely to be more unpredictable than predictable and so gracious in giving that it goes beyond understanding. 

Broken Boot Laces

Some time ago the laces on my boot broke when I was pulling them tight.  Unfortunately, the nearest boot lace store is thirty minutes away, so I just took the two ends, tied a good knot and laced them up just like they were new laces.  Well, a few days ago the laces broke again, but not at the knot.  It reminded me I had not gotten around to buying a new pair of boot laces.  But, the store has not moved closer so I tied another knot and kept on with what I was doing. 

 

Some mornings we get up full of plans and energy and suddenly life hands us broken boot laces.  We can use it as an excuse not to do anything, or we can tie stuff back together as  best we can and get on with our life.  Jesus ran into a man at a pool in Jerusalem where broken people gathered.  They gathered there hoping to be the first in the pool when the water stirred because of a belief that the first one in the water would be healed.  Jesus asked one of them an usual question.  The man had been broken for thirty-eight years and Jesus asked him, "Do you want to be made well?"  (John 5:6) 

The question seems strange until we realize that not everyone wants to be whole.  The fellow at the pool might not have wanted to exchange a life of other people taking care of him for a life of taking care of himself.  He might have preferred whining to taking hold of his own life.  It was a broken boot lace moment.  Broken boot laces give us an excuse for doing nothing.  The man at the pool decided there was still some living to do and chose to do it with the help of Jesus.  It is true for any of us when the boot laces get broken.  We can choose whining or getting on with living.  If we choose to get on with living, we can count on Jesus to give us a hand.

Look for Mystery

When I went to my first pastoral assignment back in 1971, I started a preaching ministry that would stretch out for the next 43 years.  What also started was a writing ministry.  I noticed the local weekly county newspaper did not have a religious column so I volunteered.  With the exception of a few years while in Columbus, Georgia I have been fortunate enough to have a weekly column in a newspaper.  As I moved toward retirement, I started writing blog posts such as this one and now eleven years and over 1600 blog postings later, the writing ministry goes on and on.

 

I had no idea back in those early days of my ministry that this part of it would last so long.  In some ways it always seemed like a sidebar to ministry.  Now, it is to a large degree the one thing which has remained constant with continuing power.  It reminds me that what we know about what God wants to do with us is more mystery than certain in the beginning.  And, maybe the same thing is true with every day that we live.  Could it be that there is more mystery to this walk with God than it might seem?

Maybe part of the reason our daily lives lack a sense of holy mystery is because we never really get around to seeking what it is that He wants us to do in the day which stretches before us.  We assume we know.  Oh, we have our plans, our schedules, and all the things on our "must do" list, but we are usually more likely to ask him to bless our plans than ask Him about His plans for us in the hours which are ahead.   Everything is so planned there is no room for the Holy Spirit to work and bring mystery into the ordinary moments of our living.  The good news is that there is another way!

No Props Needed

Long years ago when most of my preaching was still unwritten and unspoken, someone said that a preacher needed two things to preach.  One was the morning newspaper and the other was the Bible.  Today's preacher likely does not depend too much on the printed news, but is more likely to listen a news channel which reflects personal political views.  Hopefully, the Bible is still in the mix.  As I reflect back over the years of preaching, I am not so sure it was sound advice then, or now.

One of the things discovered in the years of preaching is that the Scripture is both the source of the preacher's authority as well as the one thing which will guarantee relevancy. It is easy at times to become event driven in preaching.  Something happens which upsets and stirs folks and the preacher becomes obligated to build a sermon around it.  The way the news is reported these days, such a preacher will soon become nothing more than one whose preaching is based on the news with a sprinkling of scripture to make it seem authentic.  Such a preacher does not trust the Word to speak to the issues which stir the hearts of those who come and fill the pews. 

When the Word is preached systematically, I am convinced the preacher does not need to worry about sermons being relevant.  The Word of God written in the holy pages has not suddenly become irrelevant after all these centuries of relevancy.  Today's news has not outstripped the Word's ability to be relevant.  The Word of God does not need a  prop to be relevant.  All it needs to be relevant is a preacher who trusts it and the Spirit who inspired it.   

The Divine Timepiece

Sometime before I retired from my preaching ministry, the watch I wore on my left arm quit working.  I made a conscious decision not to replace it.  While many of the pew sitters always lamented the times preaching went past noon, I tried not to pay much attention to the time.  By that time I had come to a place of figuring I was going to preach until I got finished.  I planned to have everything which was a part of worship completed within an hour, but if it went over I did not go into panic mode. 

 

Actually, no preacher needs a watch as a reminder that noon has arrived, or that the sermon is getting too long.  Unless the preacher is glued to reading a sermon, those listening will be seen taking long looks at their watches, or perhaps, taking the watch off and shaking it near their ears to see if it is still working.  So, with all this in mind, I decided not to buy another watch. 

 

By the time I got to the retirement years, I had grown accustomed to not wearing a watch.  What I soon discovered was that the Creator had a time piece which could be trusted.  After a season or two of watching the sun make its journey from one horizon to another, I learned to sense where the hands of the clock might be had I one to see.    But, on a scale larger than the minutes of the day, the Creator God has given us markers of time.  Things like rising moons, bud breaking, fall foliage, and the shortening of days are just a few of the things which speak of the order of the creation around us.  I have come to appreciate the Creator's time piece.  It puts me more in sync with what He is doing than the watch I used to wear on my wrist. 

Thresholds

Life is full of transition moments.  Sometimes we can see them coming, but sometimes they surprise us.  More recently after having read a good deal about Celtic spirituality, I have started calling transition moments by a different name.  In Celtic spirituality these moments are called thresholds.  What caused me to embrace the Celtic word is the image it creates.  Every time we walk into a room, a church or a home, we step through a threshold.  It allows movement from one place, or one time, to another. 

 

While the moment of death may seem like the biggest threshold of all, we are constantly stepping into such moments in our spiritual journey.  Most assuredly our baptism is a threshold moment.  Many of our mountain top spiritual experiences also fit the definition as they always take us from one point to another in our spiritual life.  Sometimes people walk into our lives and speak such a word that we know that heeding their word is going to mean walking in a different way which is still another threshold moment. 

 

However, the most common and ordinary threshold moment is found in the space between the immediacy of the present and the immediacy of what comes in what is about to become the present moment.  When we consider how God goes with us, we usually think of Him out there ahead of us making the way forward for us.  Actually, God is not experienced today in the future, but in the moment into which we are walking.  He is as close as the next step, the next moment, the next place.  God is always revealing Himself in the here and now moments of our life, but we often do not have eyes that have learned to see. 

Cows at the Gate

A recent farm chore was moving the round hay bales from the places where the baler spit them out in the field to the area next to the tractor shelter where they are kept in rows as they wait for the day they go to the cows in the pasture.  As I moved them in line, I had an audience.  The cows in the pasture hovered together near the gate fussing and carrying on as if to say I should be taking them a bale to eat.  It did not matter that two bales were behind them in the pasture.  They were hollering for more.

 

It sounds almost human.  They do not understand that I can be trusted to work ahead and prepare for their needs in the future.  I even have sacks of winter grazing seed to sow as a supplement to their winter feed.  They could save themselves a lot of apparent fretting if they could just trust me to take care of them.   All of a sudden it was as if God hit me upside the head and said, "Now you get it.  It is what I do." 

It is always easy for us to worry instead of trust.  Worrying seems to be our default response to anything that looms on the horizon as difficult or uncertain.  I have spent my time at the gate hollering at the One who has already told me He would take care of whatever was ahead.  Many times I have received the assurance from Him that He is working ahead and preparing for my needs in the future.  I seem to be slower at getting it than those cows bellowing at the gate!

Both Visible and Hidden

Seeing the visible and the hidden is not an end in itself.  What is visible in the creation is obvious and not hard to figure.  The landscape which unfolds before us is filled with the visible things of creation.  The hidden things are the way these visible things point us toward God and enable us to hear Him speaking to us.  To see the hidden requires a slowing down and an awareness of both the present moment and  the present place.  The part of us that hinders seeing the hidden has been nurtured and pushed to the forefront of our lives so long that we are not even aware we are looking through a lens that cannot see.

 

The hidden within the creation is where God reveals Himself to us.  It is where hearing His word comes to us in much the same manner that it comes to us through the written Word.  What we see in the panoramic coloring of the sunset is more than just a landscape painting of nature, but a moment of holy revelation.  Everything about the creation has passed through the hands of God and been declared as good by Him so it should not surprise us to experience His presence constantly breaking through as we learn to remove the blinders which have kept us blind for so long. 

 

A large pond across a field or two which is becoming more visible as the trees cast off their foliage is the swimming place for hundreds of Canadian Geese.  In the evening they rise to fill the air with the sound of flapping wings and a rowdy honking that surely must be heard in the heavenly place as a choir offering praise to the Creator.  Some evenings I stand in awe watching as if for the first time and wanting to offer the noise of my voice to theirs as an offering of praise to the Creator.  And, some evenings I linger in my watching and listening with an awareness that it could be the last time I hear their praise.  I am blessed to see these geese visibly fussing in the air above me and blessed also to hear the Word hidden in their coming and going.

Wonders

I wonder what it was like when the man born with eyes dark from birth suddenly had those unseeing eyes filled with light. (John 9)  It must have been an astounding moment of visual overload.  There was so much to see all at once.  I wonder if a lifetime of darkness sharpened his ability to see enabling him to see more than other men, or if, he like some of the rest of the seeing world, learned to live without really seeing what is out there to see.

 

One of the things for which I have become grateful in these last years is the way I am learning to see the wonders of the world.  Long ago I learned that there were Seven Wonders of the World.  But, it was false learning.  There are more than seven.  Maybe there are thousands.  Or, tens of thousands.  Or, a million.  No, most assuredly more.  I have been blessed by having the opportunity to see some of these wonders of the world that I had not seen in the years when I was seeing but was blind.  Some days I am blessed with my own version of visual overload although there are still too many days when I walk midst the wonder without the awe.

These wonders to see have been surprising.  Some of these wonders are a young hen's first egg, deep green grass waiting for its conversion to hay, a large fox squirrel scurrying up the tree, an owl revealing itself in the late afternoon shade, rain racing across an open field, a laughing boy catching falling sycamore leaves as they journey to the ground, grandchildren running across the top of lined up round hay bales, an annual stopover of a Baltimore Oriole, a fallen limb that spoke about mortality, and foliage filled tress catching the unseen wind.  There is so much to see in this creation the Creator has put together.  Seeing with eyes that see is the greatest of blessings.

The Long Shadow

It was the long black shadow long on legs and short on torso that grabbed my attention.   The still very bright sun was obviously low on the horizon to cast such a long dark shadow in front of the photographer.  What was immediately clear was the simple truth that walking forward meant walking into the shadow.  And, no matter, how fast or how hard the maker of the shadow walked, it was not going to be possible to go forward without walking into the darkness waiting on the ground. 

 

Of course, such a shadow is not a permanent fixture.  The moving sun will soon shorten the longest shadow causing it to disappear.  Unfortunately, some of the dark shadows which stretch out before us and into which we must walk do not disappear so quickly.  Not only do they remain ahead of us, but they often seem to be deeper and unending.  We find ourselves walking forward into the darkness as if we are trapped in a world of no other possibility.  It is frightening.  It is overwhelming.  We look for a way out of what is ahead, but nothing shows ahead but longer and deeper darkness.

Sometimes we walk in the land of long shadows.  It is never a chosen or easy journey, but one where the road of our life seems to take us.  Someone spoke a word the other day in a moment when discouragement and fear could have taken a firmer hold and reminded me that before I knew I was in the darkness, God knew it was ahead.  It was a simple word.  It was also a word which reminded me I had not been walking in a strange land unknown to God, but that He had already walked it ahead of me.

In His Presence

I have heard it said by more than one person, and maybe I have said it myself a time or two, "When I get to heaven there are a few things I want to ask God...."  Well, maybe so.  But, not likely.  At that point questions will surely disappear in the valley of the shadow of death and be no more.  The reasoning for such a conclusion comes after thinking a bit about the call moment of Isaiah which is found in the sixth chapter of that Old Testament book.  The moment described seems to be about as close to being in heaven in the presence of God as any Word we might read in the Scripture.

 

When the glory broke in upon Isaiah's little world over which he felt in control, we hear him saying, "Woe is me!  I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!"  It would have been a great moment for the young priest in the Temple to say, "Lord, glad you dropped by, there are some things I have been wanting to ask You."  But, instead Isaiah responded more like Peter, James, and John on the Mt. of Transfiguration.  In their moment of standing midst the holy, all they wanted to do was bury their face in the dirt. 

 

And as we think about our own experiences of being overcome by the transcendent, majestic, all powerful presence of the Almighty, we are more likely to remember dropping to our knees than standing and pulling out our notepad with all its questions.  There is something about being in the presence of God which causes the doubts and questions to fall away into the realm of the unimportant.  When God is present, it is not our mind which takes the lead, but our soul.  And, our soul can only respond in praise and awe as does the rest of creation. 

Holy Encounters

Spiritual experiences are never things to explain or define, but only things to which we can bear witness.  When Isaiah experienced the glory of the Lord in the Temple, he did not seek to do anything but to speak of his experience.  He might have anticipated a thousand questions of all the skeptics, but it was not a moment for convincing the doubters.  It was a moment for bearing witness to the way in which God had revealed Himself.  The witness found in those words which seek to describe glory are presented in a believe-it-or-not fashion.  What anyone might think could not change the reality of the moment for Isaiah.  (Isaiah 6)

 

We are often tempted to bookend our testimony of God being at work in our lives by disclaimers and explanations which end up watering down a transcendent moment of grace and glory.  Such happens as someone begins a witness with words like, "I know this is hard to believe, but..." or, "This may sound strange..."  The Old Testament prophet simply spoke of the way he experienced the majesty, the glory, and the forgiveness of God.  What others did with it did not concern him. 

 

There is a kind of holy boldness in such a witness.  Actually, we have grown a bit shy about talking too much about the moments of extravagant grace.  We do not want anyone to get the idea we think of ourselves as someone special.  We want very much to be like everyone else.  Blending in is the name of the game.  But, anyone who has encountered the Holy One can never blend in again and be true to his or her own soul.  When God has touched us, we are never the same.

Where God Abides

While reading an educational newsletter which somehow found its way home with me, I came across a tidbit of information which inspired and encouraged me.  I never knew that Thoedor Seuss, the much loved author of children's books had his first book rejected by 27 different publishers.  The books that were not good enough for these publishers went on to sell more than 600 million copies worldwide.   The manuscript I wrote is now hidden back in the bottom drawer of a file cabinet and only bears the scars of four rejections.  Maybe it is time to get it back out and in the mail! 

It is always easier to give up than it is to persevere.  I have experienced this in trying to get a book published and I have also experienced it in my spiritual journey.   Paul wrote a real word of encouragement to the Galatian believers and to all of us when he wrote, "So  let us not grow weary in doing what is right..."  (Galatians 6:9).  And, of course, there is another word even more powerful found over in his letter to the Philippians, "...this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead..." (Philippians 3:13)  Quitting is only an option for those of us who are content with mediocrity and just getting by with the bare minimum of efforts and blessings.

Discouragement can overtake any of us as we journey from where we are to the place where we are going.  The important thing is not found in the markers that we might use to measure how far we have journeyed with God, but in the knowing that wherever we are between here and there, He is with us.  What we sometimes forget is that the place God is always taking us is the present moment.  No matter what the circumstances, and no matter how dark the discouragement, we can seek God and know Him in the present moment of our life for such is the place He abides. 

The Call

One of the most important things the Old Testament prophets had in common was a powerful encounter with the Almighty.  There is not a single incidence where some guy wakes up one morning, looks at all the career possibilities, and decides he is best suited to be a prophet.  Neither did such a decision get made at a Career Fair in the market area of Jerusalem.  None of the prophets responded to a job opportunity in the classified ads in the daily newspaper.  It was the call of God in their life that caused them to pick up the unlikely and often unwanted mantle of a prophet.

One of the more powerful descriptions of such an encounter is found in the sixth chapter of Isaiah.  Biblical scholarship points to Isaiah being in his mid twenties when he ran headlong into a life changing moment with the Holy One.  Midst the most holy place in all the land, this religious professional was overwhelmed with a transcendent moment for which no amount of religious training could have prepared him.  Quicker than the eye could blink, the Almighty appeared full of power, majesty, and mystery in the Temple.  When Isaiah heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?"  he said, "Here am I; send me!"  (Isaiah 6:8)

To go into the future with God's call resting heavy upon the heart is indeed a frightening thing, but an even more frightening thing is to embrace a future of handling the holy things of God and caring for the people of God without the call.  More than theological training and ministry degrees are required by God.  Unfortunately, there are some who regard such as enough.  But, it never is.  What is always needed if the road is to be walked is an encounter with God which brings to the ears of the soul the unmistakable Voice calling and ordaining to go. 

Required of Prophets

The prophets who walked the pages of the Old Testament could never be accused of being crowd pleasers.  When they spoke, kings ignored them and the people of the streets refused to heed their words.  But, popularity and likeability were not issues for these men like Elijah, Isaiah, or Jeremiah.  What possessed them was a radical determination to be a man of God who thundered "Thus says the Lord..."  No one gripped them like God and nothing was more of an imperative than speaking in His behalf.

 

In today's religious circles it is different.  Few of those who proclaim the message of the Holy One do so from the perspective of these ancient men of God known as prophets.  The preacher in today's pulpit regards nothing more dangerous than preaching a word people do not want to hear.  The message of today's proclaimer must be attractive, marketable, and wooing.  Bigger churches are not built on the proclamations of a prophet, but on the proclamations of a preacher who understands how to cater to the feel good factor of the people.  If the preacher's message is not one which tickles the ears of those who are in the pews, those who listen can try out a new pew in a different church.  And, to the horror of the preacher, they will take their money with them.

In most of our churches, the proclaimer of the Word is directly dependent on the listeners of the message for their livelihood.  It makes being prophetic like the Old Testament prophets practically problematic.  It can also make for timid lukewarm preaching that is about being entertaining and crowd pleasing.  It was not easy being an prophet in those Old Testament days.  It is not easy today to stand and speak a message which is bound up in "Thus says the Lord..."   To do so requires a radical dependence and trust in the God who did the calling of the one who wants to be a man or a woman of God. 

The Prophet in our Midst

Israel's history as it was written in the Holy Writing was full of prophetic appearances.  Some came by way of the priesthood such as Isaiah and another came from the farm such as Amos.  None of them were entertaining and popular.  Jeremiah lamented the loneliness which was a part of his life and Ezekiel had to do a do-over as he went from the Temple to the River Chebar.  The one thing they all had in common was their commitment to speak what they heard from the Lord.  It was not an easy word to speak, but they spoke it, nonetheless. 

 

By the time of Jesus it seemed that there were no prophetic voices in Israel.  Some thought John the Baptist was a prophet because he looked like their image of a prophet and he spoke like a prophet.  It could be said with more truth than most would choose to admit that there is a lack of prophetic voices in today's religious communities.  Some voices which might claim to be prophetic are really political as the message gets filled with political rhetoric rather than a Word from God.   Of course, the pulpits are also too filled with those who fancy themselves as entertainers instead of preachers, or prophets.

A prophet is not a political pundit, or a predictor of things to come, but one whose ear is listening to the heart of God.  The prophet is one who senses the grief of God and cries with Him before the people.  The prophet is one who knows the unending love of God and dares to live it out it in the midst of a society that chooses up sides rather than choosing one another.  The prophet is one who dares to stand apart and speak what is received as such a Word from God that even those who do not want to receive it know that the source of the word is not from a human heart, but from the heart of God. 

A Path of Blessings

It has been a little over nine years now since I stepped across the threshold that took me into the world of a retired United Methodist pastor.  It was a big change in many ways, but chief among them was movement from what had largely been an urban life to life on a small farm where livestock greeted me each morning instead of parishioners.  Back then I often thought of the time ahead which I knew was not going to be as long as the time behind as the last season of my life, but since then, I have learned that life is filled with one season after another.  The last one is still out there over the edge of the horizon.

 

What has come to be supremely important is the present season, or the present moment.  I have known some folks who talk about the way the Lord gives them a "Word" to carry with them through a particular period of time and while it one time sounded strange, such an experience does not seem as strange now as in the past.  When I came here and started settling into life, a Word began to come and grow in me.  At the time I did not call it a Word from the Lord.  Now I am not so sure.

 

Early on as I walked over the threshold that separated the past from the future, I kept hearing within a word which said, "Pay Attention."  It came to the front of my mind and heart so often I soon learned it was not a Word to be ignored.  If there is any Word which I believe came to me from the God who has brought me to this time and place, it is this word.  Paying attention means treasuring each hour and each day.  It means experiencing blessings from sources I had never received them.  But, most of all it means learning to live with a spirit of gratitude that stretches beyond one moment into all of life.  I am grateful I was able to hear and receive this Word.  After all these years have passed, it still comes like the sunrise reminding me that blessings are always in my path. 

A Clear Warning

The hot summer that will not end along with near drought conditions has taken its toll on the grass in the pasture where the cows spend their days and night.   With the grass disappearing, it has become necessary to start feeding the winter hay earlier than would be preferred.  Starting early with the hay means running out of stockpiled hay before the grass is growing again in the Spring.  When the rain is short in the urban areas, the lawn suffers.  In the rural countryside where there is livestock and crops to grow, a lack of rain is more than just an inconvenience.  It can be devastating and life changing.

 

The creation around us is a marvelous thing to behold.  It is full of beauty and wonder.  But, there is also a certain unpredictability to it.  A blue sky day can turn into a dark night of terror during tornado season.  A drought can cause the loss of a crop and, in some cases, the loss of a farmer's livelihood.  The closer we live to the creation that is around us, the more we realize that tomorrow is not to be taken for granted.  An old saying which I heard as a boy still rings true:  "Don't count your chickens before they hatch." 

 

Sometimes we do.  We make our plans.  We know better, but still we do.  The Word speaks a clear warning to us as it says, "Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and  making money.'  Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring.... Instead you ought to say, 'If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that.' "  (James 4:13-15)  Of course, we cannot live without thinking about or planning for tomorrow, but as we do, it is the mark of a wise person to do so knowing that tomorrow is dependent not upon the one doing the planning, but upon the Creator God who has brought all things into being, the Christ who holds all things together, and the Holy Spirit who moves and works midst the chaos of our lives.