A Certainty in Trouble

The troubles of these troubling days are often compounded by watching the news on television.  While there is nothing wrong with staying current about what is actually happening and learning what the experts say we should do, a steady diet of troubling news is only likely to drag us into deep overwhelming despair.  Keeping the news going in our ears all day long is not really a healthy thing.  It only seems to make the hole deeper.

 

Our all day love affair with someone talking about our troubles makes it difficult to see the blessings which are still coming to us.  And make no mistake, blessings are still coming to us.  They are still coming to us because God has not changed just because we are dealing with trouble.  He is always working in such a way as to bring blessings into our lives.  Is this not what Romans 8:28 tells us?  "We know that all things work together for good for those who love God..."  God has not chosen this difficult moment to take a vacation.  Instead, He continues to work in our lives and to bless us.

 

It may be that our eyes are not disciplined to see.  Or, it may be that we are so immersed in the bad news that our spirit is not receptive to anything else.  But, what we know from past troubles and from what we hear in the Word of God is the truth that blessings are always unfolding around us.  One thing many of us have learned in the dark moments of our life is to look away from the center where the darkness is deeper to the edge where we are able to see that blessings are present.  In the beginning we may only see the kindness offered by a friend.  The more we look at what is on the edge, the more likely we are to see blessings even in the darker parts of our predicament.  What is certain is that we can trust God to bless.

One Day's Trouble

When we find ourselves in a season of trouble, it always seems like it will never end.  These troubling days are certainly no exception to the rule.  Not even the experts can predict how long the new normal is going to be the status quo and no one is ready to say that the worst is behind us.  One of the things peculiar to the difficulties of these days is that we are separated from our supporting communities of people.  As we look for encouragement until the light at the end of the tunnel can be seen, we find ourselves searching all over the place for words to keep us going.

 

One word from Holy Scripture which has always been a real blessing to me in hard times is found in the 34th verse of the 6th chapter of Matthew.  In this section of the Sermon on the Mount in which we are admonished to live without worry, we hear Jesus saying, "So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own.  Today's trouble is enough for today."  I remember finding that verse back in my high school days and it is one to which I have gone many times throughout these years of living.

 

What we often do when we are going through troubling days is to look too far ahead.  We can spend so much time wondering about  "what might happen" that we are unable to cope with what is around us in the present moment.  One of the pieces of advice which comes from most groups like AA has to do with living one day at a time.  Not too many difficult things in life can be handled by lumping all the days together in a management plan.  One day at a time is enough even for the best of us.  Jesus agrees.  One day's trouble is enough for today.  And, that one day is today. What He calls us to do is to pay attention to the only moment we have which is the present moment.  As for all that is ahead, He calls us to trust Him to handle it. 

Changing Seasons

The book of creation that God has written and opened for us to read reveals the reality of the changing seasons.  And, as the writer of Ecclesiastes reminds us, there are more than four seasons within the creation.  The calendar four are more artificial than the ones the Creator of the Word points out to us in this Old Testament passage.  "For everything there is a season, and a time for everything under the heaven..."  (Ecclesiastes 3:1) 

 

Seasons are a permanent part of the creation, but they are also ever changing.  We see this very clearly as we live through the progression of the four featured by the calendar  As we reflect upon our life we begin to see that we have lived through the progression of many, many seasons.  Some of them we might not have called a season, but they bear the marks of one, nonetheless.  And while we have been through many seasons of trouble, this one which is now upon us will likely be one long remembered.  As we stand in the midst of it, no one knows how long it will hover over us and when it will finally pass. 

What we do know is that there will finally come a day when sorrow will be replaced by joy.  No seasons are permanent.  Looking at what God reveals to us through the creation and what He says through the Word gives us this assurance.  While this does not change the reality around us, it does give us hope for a day when we can see one another without fear, know the joy of conversation with friends, and be able to look forward once again with confidence.  If it sounds like a new season, it is.  As real as is this season of trouble, it will pass.  A new day will come.  It always has and always will.

Something to Remember

A few weeks ago six Barr Rock chicks came to live here on the farm.  If all goes well there should be some fresh brown eggs in August or September.  About the same time a "rental bull" came to live for a few months in our pasture with the nine heifers who know this place as home.  Once again, if all goes well, there should be a calf crop on the ground sometime around Christmas.  Much the same thing could be said about the old pecan trees which are now putting on leaves.  Sometime around October pecans should be on the ground.

 

What do these things all have in common?  Through them we are reminded that creation works slow.  Few things come and go quickly.  While modern culture's child may think having a peach, or an apple, or some broccoli is as quick as opening a can, creation speaks a different word.  Creation does not work in a hurry.  We are the only part of creation obsessed with the idea that hurrying is both a good thing and unavoidable.  Perhaps, one of the things being learned from these days of trouble is the truth that it is possible to live without being in a hurry. 

It is odd that we are considered the highest of all creatures, yet, we are most out of sync with the rest of creation.  No other part of the creation hurries.  We do it all by ourselves.  Surely, this says something to us about how we live.  Living in such a hurry that we cannot really focus on where we are and who is with us is not living.  It is existing.  One of the things we are beginning to learn in these troubling times is that there is more to life than hurrying from one thing to another.  Hopefully, when the season of trouble passes, we will remember. 

Rediscovering Relationships

One of the characteristics of these troubled days is an increased amount of time with the important people in our lives.  There was a day when we defined the important people in our lives differently.   The influence of peers and the value we placed on getting ahead of others created a list of important people who are no longer so important to us.  The trouble which is all around us has pushed us toward the truly important people in our lives.  For most of us the important people are defined as those who are a part of our families. 

 

Somewhere along the way things got all tangled up for us.  We let the unimportant  become the important.  We sold our soul to the devil who said that all the time we spent earning money was the real measure of our love for the ones we said we loved.  In the midst of the trouble around us we are once again learning that there are those in our lives who love us not because we have earning  power in the market place, but because of who we are.  All these want from us is to enjoy life with us.  It is one of the things so many are rediscovering in these days of stillness and silence.

And, if we are listening to the Voice of God in the stillness, we may be hearing much the same message from Him.  In the days of Lent we might be tempted to think that what God wants from us is a more consistent effort when it comes to reading His Word, or better praying.  Or, maybe staying busy serving others has been our thing.  It might be worth considering in these days that what God really wants is for us to enjoy the life He has given us and to let Him share the joy with us.  He has never really been One who measures us according to what we do.  Actually, He has no desire to measure us.  His desire is for us to simply be who He has created us to be. 

The Road Home

When churches have altars they usually have kneeling pads.  Kneeling down on a hard board surface might not be an encouraging thing for the kneeling sinner seeking forgiveness.  Most of the churches in my memory not only had kneeling pads around the outside edge of the altar, but they were often handmade and placed with pride by a women's group within the church.  Getting them dirty was not acceptable.  Spilling grape communion juice on one of them was one of the unforgiveable sins.

 

In more recent years I have discovered another kind of kneeling pad.  This kneeling pad is cheap and getting it dirty is a part of its purpose.  This time of the year most gardeners are doing a lot kneeling as plants are planted and weeds are pulled.  Having a kneeling pad under old knees is a wonderful thing.  It eases the pain of kneeling on small rocks or pieces of debris and alleviates some of the soreness at the end of the row.  The older the gardener the more the kneeling pad becomes a treasure

A day or so ago the kneeling pad went missing.  All morning finding it was something being done, or thought about.  Finally, finding it was designated a lost cause.  The kneeling work would have to be done without a kneeling pad.  As the day was winding down, it showed up laying on one of the side tables of the outdoor grill.  Some might say what was lost came to me.  When what was lost was found, the air was filled with a shout of joy.  There was even a wild moment of thinking that it was time for dancing!  As I hurried to the garden to announce the news of great joy, I thought about our Father in heaven shouting and dancing with joy in those moments when we lose our way and finally get ourselves back on the road home again. 

Word From a Tiny Tree

Back before Christmas two bare root Japanese Maples were planted here on the farm.  A little less than two feet tall, there were nothing more than a stem with a few small branches when they were put in their place in the dirt.  During these months of winter I have watched them wondering if they had survived.  Finally, it seemed reasonable to think that what was seen above ground had not really been nurtured by the life giving soil in which they were planted. 

 

After giving up hope, a glancing look in the direction of these trees caused a need for a second look.  Much to my surprise, almost invisible buds of life were showing at the top of these tiny trees.   And, then the bigger trees around here have been sending their own message as well.  The pecan trees are budding and showing small green leaves against the blue sky.  Folks around here have always said that when the pecan trees start showing leaves, winter is over.  I have become a believer.  Both the tiny Japanese Maple seedlings and the towering pecan trees have sounded a word today that a new season is coming. 

In this season of such trouble, we are all looking for a new season.   We are looking for a season in which life flourishes, a season where hope abounds, and where once again touch is not taboo.  The Word of God tells us, "For everything there is a season..."  (Ecclesiastes 3:1)  This season of trouble will pass and a new one full of life will come again.  It always has worked this way.  This time is no different.  Though trouble seems to have the upper hand today, surely we will soon see signs which assure us that a new season is about to break forth upon us.  Such a powerful word was spoken with divine power today through a tree so tiny it takes a second look to see it. 

Walk Deeply

As we are pushed deeper into these troubled days, we are also being pushed into a deeper stillness.  This life which is no longer so centered on activities, doing, and hurrying makes many of us uncomfortable.  We are not sure what to do with it, or ourselves.  There is a part of us which has often longed for a slower paced life, but now that it is being thrust upon us, we are not so sure such a life is for us.  Stillness of body speaks of a level of inactivity, or a least a level that is emptied of so much of the stress and pressure of the external world. 

 

What is surely beginning to be experienced by many of us is time in the stillness to become connected again to the inner part of us which suffers when the external stuff permanently takes center stage in our life.  In the Old Testament there is this Word which says, "Be still, and know that I am God..."  (Psalm 46:10)  There is a part of us which does not demand noise, requires no activity, and is unafraid of silence and solitude.  It is the place spoken of by the Apostle Paul in his first letter to the Corinthian Christians.  "Do you not know that you are God's temple, and that God's Spirit dwells in you?"  (I Corinthians 3:16)  It is the place of deepest communion with God.

The Temple in Jerusalem was a holy place associated with the revealed presence of God.  If there was no other place of holy presence, it was surely this place.  As we allow the external stillness to wash over us, the still places of the heart will be opened to us.  What we will find in that place is a surprising sense of holy presence within our own spirit.  While it may not be possible to be in a place of worship, there is a holy place within us where the presence of God is revealed and where His Word can be heard.  Walk deeply into that stillness.  Let its silence overwhelm.  Know that the Creator God is present. 

Visions in Troubling Times

When Ezekiel arrived in the land of exiles and saw the predicament of his own people, the Scripture says that he "sat there among them, stunned, for seven days."  (Ezekiel 3:15)  What he saw, heard, and felt in that strange land was something for which he was totally unprepared.  His whole life with all of its plans was turned totally upside down.   The trouble which surrounded him and overwhelmed him took him far away from his routine and everything familiar in his life.  For seven days he sat like a man tied to the misery around him.

 

After seven days the stillness and the silence brought him to a place of seeing things he had not seen and caused him to discover holy presence in a way never imagined.  Out of that stillness came an awareness of the Lord speaking and visions that changed forever the way he would live his life.  While the trouble of these days is so different than that experienced by the prophet, it has pushed us into a stillness which seems like a strange land for many of us.  It has also changed the way we do things.  Instead of dumping children out at the rec department for organized play, parents are now interacting with children at home during the day and in the evening.  Board games are finding new life and couples are walking together instead of running in different directions. 

Perhaps, in this stillness which is enveloping us we will have enough silent space to once again touch the inside part of us, to reconnect with the essence of our self, the abiding presence of Christ within, and our families.  We may even find ourselves seeing a vision of how our life has run amuck by all the things we thought had to be done in order to live well and how life might indeed be lived differently and better in days to come.  Listening carefully may even enable us to hear that voice which Ezekiel heard which is spoken of as "the Word of the Lord."  (Ezekiel 1:3)

In the Stillness

Troubling times can be overwhelming.  When Ezekiel finally landed in the land of the Chaldeans with the exiled Hebrews by the River Chebar,  he did not know what to do.  Nothing about his training to be a priest in the Temple of Jerusalem prepared him for what he saw and experienced.  In verse 15 of the third chapter the Word speaks of his arrival in this new place, "I came to the exiles at Telabib, who lived by the river Chebar.  And I sat there among them, stunned, for seven days."  When he saw first hand what he had only heard about, any plan for action upon arrival seemed useless.  He was overcome.  He was stunned.

 

The image created in these words is of a man sitting in silence.  He has no words to offer and he has no ears to ear whatever comfort might be offered to him. What is interesting in light of the trouble of our own day is the way the troubles of this ancient prophet pushed him into the stillness, into the silence, into the depths of his own heart.  One of the things we have experienced in these days is the way we have been pushed away from superficial social interaction, dependence on the status quo, and our addiction to the dictates of alarm clocks and appointment calendars. 

 

And even as we have been pushed away from these things, we have been pushed into the stillness.  Activities no longer fill our day.  They no longer dictate how we use our time.  Instead we are being pushed into a stillness and a silence that is being filled with important family stuff we never seemed to have time to do.  Another thing to remember is that as Ezekiel learned to live with the new awareness of stillness in his life, he began to experience God revealing Himself in new ways.  He became a man of visions.  He became a man with a personal relationship with God.  He became one who understood what it meant to hear anew the Word of the Lord.  As we learn to live with this new awareness of stillness and silence in our lives, we should not be surprised at a new awareness of the Spirit prowling around in our hearts. 

Dealing With Fear

One of the things we carry with us in these troubled days is fear.  While there is a certain amount of fear that is relative to our own personal health, there is also a good measure of fear that we carry of other people.  Never can I remember a time when such fear entered into the equation of human relationships.  Instead of seeing everyone around us as one who has within the essence of God, we are now first seeing those around us possible threats to our health, or the health of our loved ones.

 

Whether we are ready to confess it or not, fear is running rampant even as we interact with one another at a distance.  One of the things which might be considered in these days to help us keep our sanity and our perspective is to bridge the gap between ourselves and others with prayer.  It is no new idea to pray for others, but as we realize how fear is taking hold of the dynamics of our relationships, praying might be an antidote which would help us to continue with a caring spirit.  We can pray for those who remain physically distant from us as we speak, or we can begin to pray for our neighbors who we are not seeing as we did before these days came upon us. 

The Scripture is rich in encouragements to pray for one another.  These days of being separated from normal activities and the people normally socially engaged surely put a strain on all of us, upon our family relationships, and our inner life.  And, even as we pray for one another, we should not be hesitant to pray for ourselves.  Loving others and caring for them always begins with loving ourselves and caring for ourselves.  A stocked pantry is a good thing in hard times.  Even better is a heart that is filled with an awareness of the abiding presence of Christ. 

Presence in Troubled Times

Exactly how the Old Testament prophet, Ezekiel, got to the river Chebar in the land of the Chaldeans is up for interpretation.  Some figure he walked with the rest of those being exiled from Jerusalem.  Others point to Ezekiel 2:12-15 and suggest that he was lifted up from all that was familiar by the Spirit and dropped there by the river with those who had arrived by foot.  Figure it out.  Regardless of the mode of transportation, this young aspiring priest who had spent a life time training for his work in the Temple ended up in a strange place wearing not the robes of the priest, but the mantle of the prophet.

 

One of the more interesting comments about the whole affair is found in the third verse of the first chapter of Ezekiel.  "...the hand of the Lord was upon him there."  In a strange place midst troubling circumstances, Ezekiel was given an awareness that he was not alone.  The God who had always been so associated with the Temple in Jerusalem was present with him in this new and strange place.  Certainly, He was revealing Himself in a different way, but about His presence there was no doubt.

As we journey through the troubled days of our life and as we find ourselves living in the strange place created by the trouble, we can live with the same assurance Ezekiel knew long ago as he settled with the exiles in the land of Chaldeans.  The hand of the Lord still rests upon us. What we may be discovering is that the old ways of experiencing His presence no longer work, but such a realization only means that we must be vigilant to the ways He will reveal Himself.  It is certain that He will make Himself known to us.  This ongoing revelation is not dependent on familiar and certain circumstances, but upon His love for us.  And, remember,  there is no end to the love He has for each one of us. 

Praying in Troubled Times

Nothing puts us on our knees like trouble we cannot handle.  Of course, it often takes some of us a bit of time to realize that our trouble is beyond our ability to manage.  We tend to depend upon ourselves and our ability to figure a way out of our dilemma.  Some troubles provide no exit.  Personal perseverance makes no difference.  There are those times of difficulty which simply batter the human spirit until our spirit has no have legs upon which to stand. 

In those moments of being at the end of our rope, we most often turn to prayer.  Why it takes us so long to get to a place that feels so logical and needed is often hard for us to figure.  The important thing, however, is not how long it takes to arrive, but the fact that we come to a place of praying.  How we pray is not nearly as important as the spirit of desperate need which we confess on bended knee.  To pray out of desperation is to pray out of a faith that recognizes that deliverance is not within  us, but inside the mercy of God.

Whenever we come to a moment of stepping in and immersing ourselves in that ever flowing river of prayer, what we take with us is not as important as Who it is that is listening with compassion to our praying.  When words fail us, when we are not sure how to pray, God remains as the constant.  He is not listening so much to our words as He is to our heart.  There are times when our prayers are more like a waterfall of tears empty of words and there are times when we find ourselves kneeling in silence with no words rising up from within us.  It matters not.  God hears both the words of our mouth and the unspoken words of our heart.  Sometimes in deep trouble it seems that our prayers fall on deaf ears, but never does it happen.  The ears of God are always listening even as His heart is always working to bring us out of our trouble. 

Do Not Be Afraid

Since Adam and Eve walked out of the Garden of Eden, troubling days have dawned upon the face of the earth.  While there are many windows through which to read and understand the Word of God, reading it as the story of troubled times is one which is easy to do.  It begins with the moment one brother killed another to the Hebrews becoming slaves in Egypt and carries to the persecution of the saints such as Stephen, James, and the Apostle Paul in New Testament days.  And, of course, the troubling days for humanity did not cease coming with the close of this era, but have continued as a part of the thread of history.

 

Midst the record of these troubling times is the presence of the Holy One who brought the creation into reality.  In more ways than can be counted those who read the Word are reminded that God is with us.  No sin and no catastrophe ever caused God to turn away, give up, or wash His hands of the struggles taking place among people like us.  In fact, God's response to our suffering, some of which we bring upon ourselves and some which simply shows up like an unwanted intruder, was to send His Son to live among us and die for us as a means of deliverance.  

"God with us" is one of the primary messages of the Word from Genesis to Revelation.  It is a theme which resounds during the holy season of Christmas, but surely we can know it as a Word which can sustain us in our own ordinary times which like the days of so many before us are filled with trouble. In the midst of all that is happening, God is still with us.  And, as we listen to what He would say to us in these days, surely one of the Words we will hear is also a Word which echoes through the Holy Word, "Do not be afraid."  Remember the reason.  We are told, "Do not be afraid" because God is with us.

Troubling Days

The Old Testament prophet, Ezekiel,  stood with the people of Israel in a troubling time.  The first few verses of this book of prophecy tell us that the Israelites were in captivity in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar.  A young priest who had been in training for work in the Temple of Jerusalem was with them.  All his adult life he had been preparing himself to be a priest.  Biblical scholarship enables us to know that in his thirtieth year, he was ready to step into a life of ministry as a priest in the Temple.

 

Instead, of his plans coming to fruition, Ezekiel finds himself in the land of exile with a the mantle of prophet thrust upon him.  The exiled people could no longer look to the Temple as a source of spiritual strength and guidance.  It was gone.  It lay in ruins in another land.  In this troubling time, they, like the young man Ezekiel were forced to find new ways to worship the God of their past and learned to understand that He was revealing Himself in different ways as well.

These are troubling days for us.  And one of the things which makes the trouble different is the way it separates us from the usual ways of gathering with the people of God in worship.  As churches are forced to close on Sunday morning, we find ourselves in a strange land separated from what has always been a source of spiritual comfort, spiritual strength, and spiritual guidance.  The way forward is compounded by the fact that those spiritual leaders who are seeking to stand with us have been trained for ministry within the walls of a church more institutional than spiritual.  What we will surely soon discover is what the people of Ezekiel's day found to be true.  God is with us and God will lead us forward. 

Blessings from the Garden

These recent days have held a promise of Spring.  While it seems that winter's hold is broken, there is always the possibility that the creation is only teasing with this foretaste of warmer temperatures and greener landscape.  Around here the life giving dirt has been turned, seed cast into the ground, and hopes for a harvest are beginning to take root.  With the planting of each new garden, there are memories of gardens past. 

Way back in the early '70's, our first garden was out behind the parsonage on the edge of an unused field which actually belonged to a neighbor.   After three years of planting the Stapleton garden, the Bishop said it was time to move which meant moving before the garden would be ready to produce.  So, do you plant a garden for the next preacher to harvest?  The decision was to plant and leave it for someone else.  When the new preacher was told a ready garden was waiting, he replied that he and his family did not really like to eat the stuff of a garden.  It was the first and last garden planted for the next preacher!

Gardens are filled with seed, sweat, and hope.  They are not for everyone.  For some it is easier to buy from the store.  Others plant religiously.  Some plant blessing the seed and the ground as they walk down open rows.  I have been blessed by the many gardens which are a part of my past.  They have blessed me with food, but they have also blessed me with a growing awareness that working in the dirt is nothing more than a partnership with the Creator.  In these later years, it seems that the more I looked at the dirt, the sky, the trees, and the growing things all around me, the more aware I am of the God who is with me and the many varied blessings He has put all around me. 

Digging in the Dirt

A recent encounter with a website entitled "The Contemplative Monk"   gave me a new view of an old image.  Obviously, the idea of the spiritual life being a journey is something to which I have given much thought over the years.  When it came time to name this blog, JourneyNotes seemed like a most appropriate name.   In many ways it has seemed like the journey of faith has been about being led from where we are to where God wants us to be.  And after some time I have come to a place of knowing the journey itself is more important than arriving at some level of spirituality, or a destination.

 

This website definition provided a new cud on which to chew as it said, "The path isn't a straight line; it is a spiral.  You constantly come back to things you thought you understood and see deeper truths."  Such is so very descriptive of the journey in these recent years.  There was a time when everything was about doing and staying busy, but as the years have changed into a different season, the doing part of life has been replaced by a realization that being is enough.  A part of this transition has brought me to places where so many of the nailed down theological things have been pulled loose for another look. 

 

While I am not always sure I am able to see the deeper truths mentioned in this new definition, there is an awareness that there is more to see than meets the eye of the mind.  Another author I have been reading suggests that the spiritual journey is an inch long and several miles deep.  There is indeed much to probe as we journey along in the midst of holy Mystery.  To travel for more than a few days is to find ourselves understanding that the first glance might have been so superficial that we missed much of what lurked there just under the surface for those who lingered to dig in the dirt. 

Miracles

I did some miracle work with God yesterday.  I rolled the garden tiller out of winter hibernation and turned the soil to get it ready for the Spring garden.  There is something wonderful about freshly turned dirt.  It has a unique smell which must surely come from the hands of the Creator.  To pick it up is to know you hold life itself in the palm of your hand.  After the ground was turned, I pulled out the ancient push plow which has planted more gardens than I can remember.  And, finally, I dropped seed in the open furrow and pushed the dirt over it. 

 

Miracle work.  My part is small compared to my partner is this holy enterprise.  God, the Creator, has provided the dirt which is life giving.  He sends rain and sunshine for the growing. He handles the mystery part which eye cannot see except gradually as thin stem and tender leaves push themselves out of the dark dirt.  What happens after the seed is covered is full of mystery.  It is always beyond the planter's ability to see.  Soon, the seed will be a green shoot, then a knee high stalk of corn, and finally a day of harvesting will come when that one seed will multiply itself a hundred fold or more.

 

Pure Mystery.  Miracle work.  What a blessing it is to be a part of this life that is coming forth from the dirt.  Soon, as Spring begins to break in upon us, there will be evidence of innumerable miracles taking place before our eyes.  Barren trees will become full.  Brown earth will become green.  What is resting will begin working.  The creation will come forth in such a way as to point those who have eyes to see that the Creator is still doing miracle work.  What a privilege and a blessing to work with the Master Miracle Worker of the Creation. 

My Teacher

It took me nearly a hundred years to realize what she was doing.  By the time I finally came to understand what hindsight shows as such an obvious thing, she had died.  I have regretted for a long time I did not thank her for the impact she had on my life.  I was too busy for so long to see such things.   Mrs. Evans was her name and she was my English and Literature teacher in high school.  She opened a world I had never seen as she introduced me to great writers and she taught me basic stuff about the use of words and encouraged me in numerous ways to write.

What she did was prepare me for my life's work.   As a hammer is a carpenter's tool, mine has been words.  I have taken words and shaped them into sermons.  And, if preaching was my professional passion, writing has been my personal passion.  For as long as I can remember, I have been drawn to putting words together.  Somehow she took what was in me, gave it shape, and sent me on my way as one who was more prepared to do what God would later call me to do.

She was not doing anything special for me.  What she offered was for anyone in her class.  But, after all these years I have come to a conviction that she was a partner with God in getting me ready to do His bidding.  To be able to see this in these days is to wonder how it is that God uses you and me to prepare other folks for what He will be calling them to do.  It may not be a life of preaching, but something like passing on an act of kindness, or understanding, or forgiveness in what seems to be an impossible situation.  Could it be that God is using the things we are offering to others in our relationships with them as something which is actually preparing them for a ministry, or, perhaps, a great moment of darkness which is looming up the road they walk.  My teacher has taught me to know that such is always a possibility. 

Morning Watching

A lot of people miss the blessings of morning.  Some simply cannot seem to acclimate themselves to rising early enough to experience the sun rising out of the eastern sky.  And when they do, it is for them like viewing one of the seven wonders of the world.  And, of course, there are others who rise before or with the sun, but never really know the blessings rising to greet them.  It is the alarm clock, school bus schedules, anticipated traffic jams, and hurrying to get to work on time which dominate the early morning hours. 

 

Missing the blessings of morning is symptomatic of a culture and a way of life that is out of touch with the creation God has put in place around us to bless us.  Each part of the day opens up a sacred time for us.  To miss the blessings of the sacred hours of the sun rising is like walking out of step with the rhythm of life introduced to us when the sun first starts revealing itself on the gray horizon.  So many of the saintly men and women of faith who have walked the clay paths of the earth before us speak of it being a time of getting the soul in step with the intentions of the Creator God.  We know not where to walk, or how to walk, because we have missed the early morning encounters with the One known as the Light of the World.

Something holy and unique takes place as we make the effort to rise and greet the sun.  It is a good place if we have a place which allows us to sit in the dark facing the east.  There we can sit, watch, and wait for the glory of a new day to fall upon the earth and ourselves as well.  Surely, such a moment is a reminder of the blessings which fall heavy upon us as we sit and watch expectantly for the glory of the Lord to be revealed to us in the ordinary moments of our day. 

The Evening Stillness

The evening stillness in the midst of twilight was so still my walking in it seemed like an intrusion.  No animals scurried across dried leaves, no birds flitted on barren limbs, no wind stirred the air, and wind chimes hung as if overcome by death itself.  There was no breath moving upon the earth.  The red rays of evening sun fought valiantly against the overhanging grayness in a silent struggle, but there were no warring sounds to be heard.  I should have stopped.  A moving body did not belong midst such stillness. 

 

Yet, I slipped on out of the things so still around me to sounds and lights of the beckoning house filled with the things of home.  In the midst of the final steps out of the stillness, the air suddenly seemed filled with the sounds of a Voice speaking about the need for stillness within.  A Word from the Psalms came roaring in my spirit, "Be still, and know that I am God..."  (Psalm 46:10)  Within the time it took to take a few steps, the Holy Spirit used the creation and the Word to speak a clear word about a need of the soul. 

I wondered how the stillness in which I had walked could unfold within my inner being.  There always seems to be competition between the stillness and the movement of so much all around me.  There is always noise, clutter, and folks like me scurrying from one place to another.  Ah, the stillness.  Perhaps, knowing and experiencing stillness in the soul is like walking midst it in the evening.  It comes as a blessing from the Creator God in such surprising and unexpected ways.  It comes to our soul not according to our plans and efforts, but as a gift of grace in which to walk for a moment with a heart filled with gratefulness.   

God With Us

Before here,
   there,
    Unseen then,
      now seen.
Full of glory,
  full of clay,
   The Invisible
     now visible.
With Him,
with us.

Always there,
  ever here,
    other than,
     abides within.
Inaccessible,
  and available,
    in darkness,
     eternal light.
Unfolding
the Mystery.

A Homecoming Memory

One Homecoming Sunday I always remember took place some twenty years after I left the Tennille Church.  I went there as a very young and green preacher and when controversy arose and folks started choosing sides, I forgot all about reconciliation in favor of my side.   When I left after the second year, I left glad to be leaving and most likely there were folks in the church who were glad to see my tail lights pulling out of town.  Hard feelings were carried with me on that trip to the next appointment and it took some years to resolve the issues in my own heart.

 

So, when an invitation came to go preach Homecoming some twenty years later, I told the preacher who was new to go back and check with his leadership to make sure my coming was not going to create a lot of problems for him.  He did and called back to say the invitation was still good.  Wondering how things would go when I saw those who were antagonists, I went back to preach.  I do not remember the sermon.  What I remember are the words of reconciliation offered and received, the strong handshakes, and the awareness when I left that what needed tending had been handled in a way and at a time determined by the God we worshipped that Sunday morning.

 

It is not always true that our forays into the past come out so well.  While it took me some years to get my own heart settled about the brokenness, I never felt a need to make overt attempts at getting matters reconciled.  The peace given when I came to terms with my own need to forgive did not require the kind of face to face communication normally necessary.  It has often seemed that God had His own time schedule for this to happen.  And, when it did, it brought reconciliation in such a surprising way that it could only have been orchestrated by the One who came to join those together whose brokenness had separated them. 

Homecoming

One of the annual events observed by the church of the past which is mostly forgotten these days is what was called Homecoming.  Quite often Homecoming was followed by a week of revival services, but it was an event which was strong enough to stand on its own legs.  Of course, it took place on Sunday morning and a former pastor was invited to come preach the Homecoming sermon.  But, more than just a former pastor returned as it was a time for those who had been a part of the church in the past to come home once again. 

 

Homecoming was about an overflowing crowd for worship and a covered dish meal lunch that covered several tables.  All the cooks brought the dishes for which they were best known.  The cakes and pies were homemade instead of those pulled out of a box.  And after everyone had their fill, there was often a gospel quartet group which started up and folks filed back in the sanctuary for an afternoon of toe tapping music which featured a lot of songs about the heavenly homecoming.  Homecoming was a moment of remembering those who were buried in the church cemetery and celebrating the joy of belonging to a community with a rich heritage and a great hope for the future.

 

It is unfortunate that the Homecoming event is no longer on most church calendars.  Most likely, it was bound to be buried when folks started moving from where their families had always lived and worked and died.  When movement is so characteristic of a culture, roots are lost, identities are established more by trends than tradition, and churches tend to be less homogenous.  What  Homecoming celebrated was membership in a spiritual community which provided nurture from the birth to the grave.  And, it also was a clear reminder that the veil between the spiritual community on earth and the spiritual community in heaven was very thin.  It was indeed a foretaste of the heavenly Homecoming still to come.

White Knuckles

Back in the revival days of the church, people were prone to get white knuckles.  It was not some kind of physical disease though it might have been contagious.  There were times when it would afflict a whole row of pew sitters.  This phenomena was a symptom of a spiritual problem which could only be cured by taking a trip down the aisle of the church to the altar.  Or, in the even earlier days of the camp meeting, it necessitated a trip down what was a sawdust aisle to an altar which was generally more primitive and plain in appearance. 

White knuckles came from holding on the back of the pew in front of you.  The knuckles turned white because the tightness of the hold would cut off blood circulation from the fingers.  What caused the tight hold really spoke to a heart problem.  People afflicted with white knuckles had heard a word from God that caused the heart to be overwhelmed with repentance and sorrow.  White knuckles was a sure sign that some sin needed handling.  It was what the revival preacher had come to do.  He had come to preach about Jesus in such a way that those who heard realized a choice had to be made between Jesus and the sin present in the heart. 

The church of our own day could use more preachers who came to the pulpit convinced that the most important message which could be preached was the message that called people to choose Jesus instead of a life of continued submission to the power of sin.  It would be the kind of preaching which would require a personal response or decision.  And, if such preaching once again became a dominant message from the pulpit, there would be more folks on the back row where I sat as a boy holding on with white knuckles.

The Fixer

While some traditions do not have altars in sanctuaries, and while it is a rather common omission in many of today's contemporary minded churches, it will be a sad day indeed when altars disappear completely from the interior of the church.   When I was growing up in the small Methodist church settings, the altar was used mostly for prayers at the conclusion of the Sunday evening worship service, at least quarterly for the Holy Sacrament, and at the end of every service during the week of the annual revival. 

 

Any preacher who did not invite folks to the altar during the revival was regarded by most as not being much of a preacher.  I have sat through more than just a few of those services where the invitation seemed to be an unending event.  If all the verses of "Just As I Am" did not bring some soul from the pew to the altar, it simply meant the song leader started back over with the first verse.  Many a soul has hung on to the pew with knuckles turning white to keep feet from walking the aisle.  And while some folks could be counted on to go to the altar and give themselves to Jesus every year during the revival, such did not take away from the fact that there were those times when lives were surely changed by the moments on bended knee.

 

Given the mindset of the church today and the influence of the culture around it which has such shaping power, it is hard to imagine that there might ever be a return to those days.  Such a truth is even more sad than the disappearance of the altar from the church.  People have not changed so much that kneeling now and again with an broken and repentant heart would not be a good and spiritually healthy moment.  Who is still needed is Jesus and the power He brings to us for a life lived beyond the grasp of  the power of sin.  And, of course, dealing with kneeling is not nearly as big a problem as dealing with the reality of sin and the need for Jesus.   What politicians try to fix with programs is really a spiritual issue which can only be fixed by the One who fixed us in our Mother's womb.

Two Things

I sometimes wonder if there is much altar work done in churches anymore.  From the looks of things, it would seem that not much of it happens.  The only time people come to the altar and kneel is to receive Holy Communion and, of course, some traditions simply pass it to the folks in the pews, or provide a hurried "walk by and grab" ritual for the act of receiving the Sacrament.  And, while this is certainly a ritual which can be included inside the definition of altar work, there is another kind that used to be more prevalent than it is now.

 

This kind of altar work involved praying.  When I was growing into becoming a Methodist it was a common practice to invite the pew sitters to come to the altar at the conclusion of the Sunday evening worship service.  Now going to the altar to pray and Sunday evening worship is an anachronism.  Perhaps, retirement is a good thing for this old preacher who would likely be called old fashioned and out of touch by some within the church of today.  It always seemed that important work got done at those altar gatherings.  Some of the work would likely not have been done in another place, or at another time.

There is something important which happens when a person lifts himself or herself up, turns loose of the pew, and walks down an aisle before God and everyone else to kneel before our Father God and pray.  As someone who learned to meet a lot of folks at that kneeling place, I discovered that the needs which brought them forward were not the obvious things.  One of the things learned was not to assume, but to ask something like, "How can I pray for you?"  Asking is the only way to really know. When someone asks us to pray for them, it is always a good thing to do two things.  First, ask the question, "How can I pray for you?"  and, then, pray then and not later. 

A Prayer Idea

When it comes time for the preacher to prepare for the Pastoral Prayer which takes place during the Sunday Morning worship service, many a preacher has done nary a thing since what the moment amounts to is praying and praying is all too familiar an arena for most preachers.  No preparation is probably not a good thing.  And while some might prepare by writing the prayer to be read during the time in the ritual for praying, there is something else which might be of even greater benefit.

Instead of using the head to figure out what to pray, maybe using the heart is a better option.  Instead of getting it written down and figured out, praying and asking God for guidance might be the best idea.  It might seem strange to some to simply ask God the question, "How do You want me to pray today?  About what do You want me to pray this morning?" but if it is something not tried, the results might be surprising.  Actually, such a prayer could be a good idea for anyone who draws aside to pray.

Years ago after reading some notes on prayer written by someone farther down the road of faith, I decided to be more intentional about asking God how to pray before launching forth.  I remember the first time someone came in the office asking for prayer and instead of just assuming I knew how to pray for this seeker, I entered into some silent time in their presence before actually verbalizing the prayer.  I was surprised at the results and learned from the brief moment that asking God for direction in praying was a better idea than assuming I already knew.  It is an idea which has helped this preacher when praying in the public places as well as the quiet closets where only God was present.   

Praying Gone Awry

People can get to be predictable.  I remember one of those who listened to me preach those ten years while I was pastor of the Vidalia Church telling me how many times I said, "To be sure" in a sermon.  While we both had a good laugh in the moment of the telling, it became one phrase I intentionally never used again in a sermon.  "To be sure!"   I suppose it is hard for those of us who preach not to show our predictability.  It just happens.

 

But, one place where predictability should not appear is in the Pastoral Prayer offered in most places in some form or another during Sunday morning worship.  It is never a good thing when those who are eavesdropping from the pew are able to speak the words the preacher is praying before they are spoken.  It would seem the Pastoral Prayer would be a moment when the heart of the praying preacher is revealed to the people for whom the praying is offered.  But, the sad truth it is often so routine that any evidence of passion is hard to hear. 

Some preachers write their Pastoral Prayers.  Perhaps, such is the way to avoid the problem created by the routine.  However, a read prayer sounds like a read sermon.  A read sermon puts people to sleep and to read a prayer when people already have their eyes closed is bound to introduce the sound of snoring in the sanctuary.  While some have a gift for reading sermons or prayers, it is not an art most preachers are able to master.  A Pastoral Prayer does not have to be a completely spontaneous experience, but when it becomes something so predictable no one, including the preacher, is listening something has gone awry.   

Like a Guitar

The Morning Prayer, or the Pastoral Prayer as is called in some places, is like playing the guitar.  As one who played around with learning how to play the guitar back in younger days, I learned that the guitar is a good musical instrument that is easy to play badly.  So, it is with the Pastoral Prayer which takes place in many sanctuaries on Sunday morning.  It is a good prayer that is easy to offer heavenward badly. 

 

There is nothing wrong with this particular part of the ritual.  The Pastoral Prayer is an opportunity for the preacher to eye ball the congregation and pray.  Before any preacher offers this Sunday morning prayer a good long look across the gathered crowd would be a good thing.  There are people present whom the preacher needs to see.  In the seeing there is an opportunity to see the needs different folks have brought with them.  To look for a moment is to see people suffering with things that have been shared, but also suffering with things that are unseen, unspoken, and, perhaps, even unknown to everyone, even the preacher.  With the Pastoral Prayer the preacher has an opportunity to gather up all those needs before the Father in heaven. 

 

If it sounds like an impossible situation, it is.  Yet, it is still what the Pastoral Prayer is all about.  It is that special moment of gathering together the hurts, the needs, the struggles, the joys, and the celebrations of the gathered congregation.  Given the nature of what the moment is all about, it is sad when the preacher approaches the moment as just another routine moment in the ritual.  There is nothing routine about it.  It is not a moment for praying like last Sunday because every time the congregation gathers, it is a different congregation with a different set of needs.  If struggling to preach a sermon keeps the preacher awake at night, how much more should struggling to pray in that moment filled with such hope. 

Venturing Forth

Over the years the praying I have done has been offered to the Father in all sorts of forms and shapes.  Some might say my ritual of prayer has changed from time to time.  Of course, the constant has been the praying.  None of this is to say that I have been as faithful to the practice as I could have been, but to simply confess that praying has always been a part of my faith walk with the One who knew me in the days before the beginning. 

 

Somewhere along this journey of praying, I came to a place of writing prayers and sending them not only to God, but to the persons for whom I was praying.  At first there was a hesitancy to pray the prayers in a written form lest it seem that the writing was more important than the praying.  Jesus did remind us in the Sermon on the Mount to be careful about the motive of our prayers.  Praying in secret is not exactly done when the words are put on paper for someone else to read.  And, of course, there is always the danger of thinking too highly of the arrangement of the wording of the prayer.  (Matthew 6:5-8)  

Nonetheless, I chose to venture forth into what was at the time a different way of praying.  Of course, as I began I realized I was only walking in the steps of the Apostle Paul who wrote prayers in the middle of theological discourses.  (Ephesians 1:17ff, 3:16ff.)  One of the things I have come to understand about praying for others is that being in the presence of someone who is praying for me is in itself a blessing.  I always know it is not something anyone has to do for me, but something they choose to do.  It is my prayer that my written prayers arrive before the one for whom I pray in such a way that they are aware of my desire to somehow kneel before them, but most importantly that they experience being in the presence of our Father God who desires to bring blessings.