The Prevailing Power

Although there are some who would argue that everything some might call an expression of evil is nothing but some psychological problem, or sociological issue, I will continue in my belief that evil remains very much imbedded in our society and sometimes even in our souls.  When some say psychological; others might say evil.  This is not to take away or deny the reality of mental illness, but neither should we in a similar kind of stroke dismiss evil as an explanation for so much of what we see within the society in which we live.   

At one extreme there is war.  War means that people do horrible things to other people.  Terrible things take place which were thought to be beyond human capabilities.  And at the other extreme are the things one person inflicts upon another person in what appears to be a normal moment.  Doing violent acts simply for the sake of doing them and with such random abandonment is hard for reasonable people to understand.  The very presence of evil in the world is often times the only explanation for the horrible things we see and sometimes experience.  It is a good world that God has created, but it is also true that evil has permeated it to the point that some are tempted to forget whose hand brought it into being.  

The Scripture affirms that the Creation is good and that the essence of God exists in everything and everyone, but neither does it deny that evil is the great perversion that undermines goodness and confuses some to the point of thinking that there can be no good when evil is so rampant.  We must never forget that it was evil which put Jesus on the cross, but it was the goodness of God which prevailed in lifting Him from the tomb in resurrection power.  In a world where evil exists alongside of goodness, goodness always and ultimately prevails.

Come Holy Spirit

One thing I would be the first to say at this time in my life is that my memory is not perfect.  But, if my memory is correct this time as I think it is, there is a song which was introduced by our Minister of Music at the Perry Church some years ago on Pentecost Sunday which struck me as powerful then and now.  It was one I would request now and again, but it seemed to strike a chord the church needed to hear and still needs to hear.  The chorus was a call to the Holy Spirit, " Come Holy Spirit dark is the hour. We need Your filling, Your love and Your mighty power. Move now among us stir us we pray. Come Holy Spirit, revive the church today."  (The Holy Spirit Came at Pentecost).   

While this was sung on Pentecost Sunday, it is also a hymn which is so appropriate for Reformation Sunday which the church celebrates today.  Surely, the Church was in need of reformation in Martin Luther's Day.  Surely, the Church was in need of reformation in the day of John Wesley.  And, surely the Church is need of reformation in the day in which we live.  The church as we know  has become far too cultured centered, much too political, and far too obsessed with money, buildings, and membership.   

Some would say the church is in need of reformation and others would simply say a great revival would be more than enough.  Obviously, what is needed is something other than the status quo.  Continuing with what is in the present will only take us into the future as the church of this present moment. Such is not a place we want to go.  'Come Holy Spirit...Move now among us we pray."

Dangerous Believers

There are those who say the Biblical literalist is dangerous.  They say the Bible was never meant to be read with a literal view.  People who do so are unreasonable, set in their out-of-date ways, and a menace to the believers who want an honest conversation about what the Word is saying.  The Christian who reads the Bible with the literal view is simply ignoring Biblical research and common sense.  The problem with the literal view is that it allows for no other interpretation than what is printed on the page.    

Of course, the critics of the literal reader want to make something other than the written Word the center of truth.  For them the Bible is subject to modern day research, changing cultural norms, and the reader's individual perspective.  For such people the Word is not the center, but the one doing the reading.  If being a Biblical literalist is a dangerous position to hold, surely it must be said that making the individual the authority is an equally as serious danger.  

What is often missed is that both have some things in common.  Each maintains that there is only one way of interpreting the Word.  Each one lives with inconsistencies in their viewpoint.  One is not likely to gouge out an eye and the other speaks about the authority of Scripture even while giving that authority to culture mores. And finally, for each the system of belief is more important than the One in whom they are called to believe.  Both are dangerous to those who seriously seek to walk the way of Christ.  

Not Yet Finished

As I come to the days more toward the end than the beginning, I realize that there are some things about the beginning which never really disappeared.  When I went to my first appointment back in 1971 at Stapleton, I asked if the local county newspaper would be interested in a weekly religious column.  When the  editor of that county paper said "Yes," it was the beginning of a writing ministry that would continue to this day.  In every appointment except for the one in Columbus, I wrote columns for the local newspaper.     

Before I retired I started writing JourneyNotes which I envisioned as a weekly ministry to keep me in touch with my congregation.  I did not imagine back in 2008 that it would turn into what would be a daily spiritual offering for people I knew and for some I would never see.  What is interesting is that something which was more of a peripheral part of my ministry in the beginning is now the mainstay of the ministry God has given me.   There was a time when I thought there could be no ministry apart from preaching.  I was wrong.     

The one constant in my ministry through the forty plus years of serving churches and now in the years of retirement from the pulpit has been writing.  What was in the beginning continues in the now.  Perhaps, my high school English teacher saw a boy in her classroom who would make a living and find purpose working with words, but I surely could not have conceived of such a possibility back then when I was diagramming sentences and learning a few things about grammar.  I am grateful for the writing ministry and ministry opportunity afforded to me through this blog and am amazed that God has through it reminded me that He is not through with me yet.

The Spiritual Village

I wonder at times how it all happened.  How did all those Biblical verses and stories get so ingrained in my spirit?  What I often think is that so much of our awareness of the Biblical truth comes to us through osmosis.  Maybe that is what mothers do.  They make sure their children sit in places where the Bible is being taught and preached until it soaks in when no one is paying attention.  Of course, fathers can do it, too, but for some reasons so many of us remember our mothers as strong spiritual influences in the home.  

But. it does not happen by their efforts alone.  It is said that it takes a village to raise a child and a child with the benefit of a good village is blessed indeed.  As most of us remember our spiritual village, we remember Sunday School teachers, Vacation Bible School volunteers, youth leaders, preachers, and the ordinary folks who sat in the pew with such a faithful spirit Sunday after Sunday.  Some stirred our souls with their witness while others tussled our hair to encourage us.  Some spoke; some modeled.  Both pointed us to Jesus.  

None of grew up in some Bible School where what to believe was pounded into our heads from one day to another.  Neither were we denied the normal experiences of growing up that were filled with both pleasure and pain.  Instead, if we grew up within a spiritual village, we were loved.  We were on someone's prayer list.  We were respected.  We understood what it was to have others believe in us.  The Christians in our spiritual village were not perfect.  Sometimes they let us down; sometimes they made mistakes.  But, they were there.  They kept their lives pointed toward a life of faith and they did what they could to keep us on course as well.  It is our inheritance and what we have to pass to the next generation.

An Early Departure

 Poor old Lazarus,

   sitting at the Table,

    wiping his mouth,

       at the heavenly feast

          overcome by the smells

tastes that smacked of heaven.

White linen table cloths,

     golden candlesticks.

         savory, succulent

           mouth watering food,

            food fit for a King,

and not for newly arrived saints.

Then an angel appeared,

     leaned over and whispered

         in the new arrival's ear,

            "Bad news I fear,

               You gotta go back,

The Lord''s calling your name.".

With a quick regret filled eye,

     the new saint saw the Table,

        The King at its head,

          saw the holy nod,

            bowed his head

and as quick he was gone.

Away from the great feast,

   back to the dark grave,

      hearing the holy echoes,

        his name filled the place

          and so, ever so quick 

Lazarus came forth from the tomb.

A Word of Witness

When Joe Bridges, the District Superintendent of the Dublin District, came to the Alamo Church that Spring evening just before my graduation from High School for a Quarterly Conference and said in his devotional, "When you see a need and realize you can do something about that need and do nothing, you may be neglecting the call of God on your life," he was not sending forth a call to ministry, but such is how it was heard.  I left there and later in the evening knelt down by my bed in a darkened room and gave my life to Jesus.  It was not the first time I gave my life to Jesus, but it was the first time I gave it and did not take it back.    

As I knelt there in that moment being made new by the power of the Spirit, I knew that those words I heard from the preacher were words meant for me.  They were words I did not want to receive and it took some months for me to come around to accepting that part of what was happening in my life that night.  I knew when I climbed into bed that everything was different.  The course was set.  It took me some months to publicly acknowledge the call to preach, but there was no doubt about God's call in those moments of beginning.    

Over the years the certainty of what happened that night has lingered and persisted.  I have doubted so many things in the doctrinal arena and in matters of personal faith, but never have I doubted the call.  And even though the expression of that call has changed in these years of retirement, I know in the deep places of my spirit that I am one called to ministry.  It was something I never would have chosen, but something chosen for me by the Father God who knew more about me than I knew about myself.  

Another Era

Back in another era of the church in these parts, most churches had Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting.  Perhaps, at one time it was a gathering mainly devoted to prayer, but by the time I got to going it was mostly like a Bible study with hymns, or an even more informal version of what happened on Sunday night.   Many of my friends did not go, but since I was a PK (Preacher's Kid), participation was not optional.  I went.  Of course, Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting is a thing of the past in most places.   

It has been replaced by something not quite so spiritual sounding and most likely something not nearly as spiritual.  Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting has been replaced by Wednesday Night Supper which includes a meal and a program that would fit into most civic club lunches.  There are exceptions to this broad generalization, but it is not an exaggeration to say that what is hardly is like what used to be.  I imagine if the meal got omitted and just a Bible Study was offered, few would be able to make it.  And, if only a prayer service was offered, the smallest of rooms would be more than adequate.  

I often wonder what has happened.  Are people not as spiritual as they used to be?  Or, are they better Christians and do not need the midweek course correction?  The answer is much deeper than such questions.  While the church has certainly changed, the culture around it has changed even more.  Life styles are different in more ways than there is room to list.  Will we ever see a return to Wednesday night events at the church that are designed to feed the soul instead of the stomach?  Probably not.  But, then who knows what the Spirit might do in our midst to create a spiritual hunger that will transcend the influence of the secular culture on the church.

The Desperate

People show up in church on Sunday morning for all sorts of reasons.  Some show up more for the cofffee and doughnuts than the bread and wine.  Some show out of duty, others as a way of exposing their children to another choice, and some have those Sunday t-shirts which can only be worn on Sunday at a particular church.  And some show up in desperation.  They need some word to get through the present darkness in their lives.     

The word the desperate need to hear can come in different ways.  It may be in the sermon which is one of the things which always drove me in preaching.  I always preached as if someone is there who really needs to hear the word that was given.  Sometimes it became obvious, but more than likely, not.  The years of preaching and knowing some of the desperate ones has convinced me that preaching is an important part of worship, too important to approach with a careless attitude.  And, too important not to have been built on prayer.   

And, of course, music is another way the desperate can hear the word needed in their lives.  Music goes to a deep place of the heart and soul.  It is not just heard with the head, but experienced with the heart.  Music is often more about feeling and emotion which is a powerful means of hearing something which is often missed by the comfortable.  Never forget, too, the power of a kind and concerned word to a pew sitter down the way, or a touch that expresses love and compassion.  Worship is a great place for expressing kindness.  It always goes further than we can know.

Friends

When I went to Young Harris College, I was blessed with good friends.  I went there knowing one guy who I met through ham radio, but everyone else was a stranger.  As a I look back at those days, I see how fortunate I was to have become a part of a group of guys who were strong positive influences.  And while I do not now see these guys as we all went different ways, there are a number of them with whom I still keep in touch and count as friends till the end.  I am grateful to God for putting these guys in my life.    

Of course, most of us find that our friend group changes over the years.  For some who grew up in one place and remained in that place, the friend circle is something which is cemented more firmly.  But, even then, there are some who leave and some new ones who come.  As I have entered fully now into these years of retirement here on the farm in a small community, new friends have come to take the place of the ones who were in the past mostly clergy.  After twelve years here now, there are only a few who call me "Preacher," a name which gets stuck on most people of the cloth.  It has been nice to shed the name of what I used to do and simply become the guy who lives down a certain dirt lane and is married to one born here.   

And as I think about this new place I have been put by the Father God for these days of my life, I am grateful, too, for the new friends who have become a part of my daily existence.  It is by far one of the most diverse groups I have ever had as friends.  They are all mostly real without much pretense.  And when we run into each other, there is always a sense of belonging to something new and different.  In a new land and in a new time, God has blessed me once again with special people who give nurture and blessing to my life and allow me to share in theirs.  

Gratitude

It has taken a life time and maybe a bit more, but ever so slowly the reality of what it means to be thankful is slowly dawning upon this very slow learner.  I think the Apostle Paul was writing about being grateful when he wrote, "I have learned to be content with whatever I have."  (Philippians 4:11)  "Whatever I have"  does not necessarily have to speak of those things we hold in our hands which might suggest to us that we are rich, or poor.  Actually, the longer we ponder the passage, the less it seems that it is pointing us to the external stuff as much as it points us to the things which come as a part of our living.  

I think often in these days of the words found in Romans which says, "We know that all things work together for good for those who love God..."  (Romans 8:28).  It, too, is a Word which has at its core the idea of contentment and if contentment, then gratitude.  Finding the the truth of this passage has not always been easy.  What has come to me through the wisdom of others who are further along the way than I have walked is the truth that sometimes the darkness is so great, so overwhelming, that it is necessary to look at the edges of it in order to live with gratitude when common sense says there is nothing here except that which should create bitterness and a whining spirit.  Learning to look on the edge of the darkness has taken some doing, but again, ever so slowly, understanding is coming even if it is more like a glimmer than a panoramic view.    

And, perhaps, part of this journey toward being thankful in all circumstances is found in one other word from I Corinthians 10:13 which says, "God is faithful, and will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing He will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it."  So, in the midst of the darkness when nothing is making any sense and hope seems like an illusion, we can be grateful that even then God is caring for us.  It may seem like a strange expression of care for us, but in the final analysis there is no other way to see it.  We are never out there alone.  We are never without what we need to get through whatever.  We are never but one more step away from where He is and where He is enabling us to be..

Being Human

We often excuse some of the things we do which we know we should not do by saying, "Well, I am only human."  To read and think about the story of the beginning in the book of Genesis is to come to a different conclusion.  To take those words seriously would cause us to declare the fact that we do some of the things we do which we should not do because we are not human.  To be human in its rawest form is to be one who bears the imprint of the Holy.    

We are not made as anything but holy.  We are created as God intended for us to be.  We are created for a purpose as surely is every bush and tree, every creature great and small, and every wonder of creation that we see in awe.  The creation points toward the Creator.  Each part of it glorifies the Creator by doing what it is created to do.  We best glorify the Creator not by our words of praise and lifted hands, but by living according to the purpose for which He created us.  In our case we were born to glorify Him with our living.  It is our purpose.   

We are conceived and born as a holy creation of a loving Father and Creator.  It is the moment of our conception and birth that we are, therefore, truly human for we are in sync with the reason for our being.  It is when we are swayed to accept some other choice in life other than our created purpose that we become something less than human. It is at this point that our humanity becomes tainted with sin and it is out of that brokenness that we wrongly blame our creation.  To say we sin because we are only human is to blame God for our sin.  He did not create us for sin, but to bring glory to Him.

The Important Day

When remembering the important days, do not forget today.  When looking behind at the days that serve as markers and when looking ahead toward the days that serve as goals, do not forget about today.  It may seem to pale in comparison to some of the memorable moments, or even the hoped for days to come, but it is a moment that must not be overlooked.  Some may argue that some days are more important than others, and in such an argument, know that no day is more important than the one we hold in our hands.   

Without being fatalistic or pessimistic, it is a day which is fleeting.  We do not know what it holds, who we will hold through it, and how life will look when it comes to an end.  It could be our last one.  Or, it could be the first of more days than we can possibly count.  Either way it is foolish not to live it as if it is the most important one we have.  It is the most important one we have because it is the only one we have.  Yesterday is gone and tomorrow is not yet here and there is no promise that it will be.  However, today is here.   

"...making the most of the time..."  (Ephesians 5:16, Colossians 4:5)  is something the Word of God calls us to be about in our daily living.  We cannot make the most of the time if we are looking over our shoulder, or down the road.   Our focus in living is to be in the present moment with the people God brings along the way to share the journey with us.  Every day is filled with new expressions of God's presence and every day brings us into contact with someone who has never been seen and likely will never be seen again.  What a shame to waste such a precious moment! 

The Way

As we begin to walk the Way of the Christ, we soon learn it is the unplanned way.  It is the way which causes us to look ahead at the Leader and wonder if He has lost His way.  Surely, it was never His intention for us to walk the way the Way He walks is taking us. It is not just the unplanned way, but it is the hard way.  Not just the hard way, but the very hard way.  Good sense says that if this is the best He can do for those who follow Him, then maybe those who follow Him should find another to follow.   

Yet, even though common sense calls for us to forsake Him and His Way, faith has a way of keeping us on in the Way He called us to walk so long ago. We fuss.  We complain.  We tell Him we deserve better. We even suggest what better looks like and He listens, but continues in the Way He is going.  And, what do we do?  We continue to walk the Way He is walking. 

It is as if our faith tells us that there really is no other way and that the One who leads is not calling us to walk where He has not already walked.  Perhaps, a thing more important than the Leader having walked the way we are walking is the way our faith gives us a vision of Him knowing the way that is stretching out before us.  Faith tell us that He will not be surprised at what is ahead and that somewhere between here and there, He will get us ready for whatever it is that is out there.  It is not an easy way.  But, it is the Way.  And we walk it in faith because we trust the One who walks ahead of us and because we know His goal is to lead us Home.

Monday Thoughts

Monday has a bad rap.  It is the day that ends the weekend.  It is like the bell that signals the end of recess and announces that it is time to return to class.  Most folks only want to see Monday because it means that there is another weekend coming even if it is down the road a piece.  When I was at Asbury College back in another life time, Monday was a no class day.  Classes met from Tuesday to Saturday noon.  I suppose it was a way to keep students on campus through the weekend.  There was even a required Saturday morning chapel at 8:00 am.  But, no classes on Monday!     

Of course the calendar is a human creation designed to make life a bit more orderly.  When God did His creation work, He did not label the days.  The word does note the passing of days as they are numbered, but the naming of the days was an idea created by one of His creations and not Him.  Imagine for a moment a world without a calendar.  The truth is that one is not required to know that time is moving along.  In the scheme of things a calendar is a a relatively new creation.  Long before one was brought into being, folks paid attention to the creation.  Seasons were noted by what was observed and what was observed over time gave an order to the life that was being lived.  

Some years ago while I was still working, my watch quit working and so I took it off and never replaced it.  The watch spot on my arm remains uncovered.  I cannot tell that it diminished my life any at all.  If anything it has made me more conscious to the way the creation is unfolding in the days that is upon me.  Maybe this paying attention speaks more to the divine intention than the watch watching we do.  At the end of this Monday, I sure hope this is true.  

Sabbath Musing

Sundays are not what they used to be.  Sundays gone by were filled with work.  Sundays in the present are filled more with rest.  Back then it was hardly a day empty of work, but one filled with more than could be done in a day.  Now not much work gets done now when the Sunday sunrise rises.  Oh, there are things that need doing and get done.  There are some things which get done such as taking care of the needs of the animals and slipping around in the garden pulling a few weeds when God is looking in the other direction.  Overall, Sunday is more a day of rest now that I am out of the pulpit.     

Of course, I could have always done the Sabbath thing on another day back then, but to be honest is to confess it was something talked more about than practiced.  Work and getting ahead can be as addictive as anything we let control our lives.  This is not to say I have this Sabbath business all figured out now that I have retired and taken up life on the farm.  The further I go along the more it seems that keeping Sabbath is not so much external as it is internal.   

Keeping the Sabbath reminds us that life has a rhythm between work and rest.  Maybe balance is a better word.  It also reminds us that doing something to remind ourselves that it is not all about us is a good thing.  It is helpful for the ego and the soul.  What has been impressed upon me more recently is that every day is holy, but there is still that word which says to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.  And, thus, in the final analysis, it is not a Word to be ignored. 

A Million Leaves

The ancients wondered how many angels could stand on the head of a pin.  Perhaps, thet were more mystical, or more connected to the eternal than this old guy who meanders around the farm seeing things never really seen before.  I do not wonder about angels on a pin, but I have found myself wondering how many leaves are on one of these hundred year old pecan trees which stand as timely landmarks of the passing generations.  As I watched leaves floating in the air today, I figured there must be a million, no, maybe two million.  Who knows, maybe ten million?  And how would you count if you could and who would want to spend any time counting leaves on a pecan tree anyway?   

There is this new part of me that wonders and considers things never before really noticed.  I am not losing any sleep over this uncountable fall event, but as you might note, I have wondered.  I wonder a lot.  Maybe too much.  There is so much around me these days which has always been out there, but I have never paid any attention to it.  And, more importantly, I am also aware that a lot of what is out there, if not all of it, is filled with holy mystery.  

There is nothing out there, or up there which has not been touched by the Creator's hand.  In some way it bears the imprint of that holy hand which put it in its place to fill some ordered purpose in this complex Creation which comes alive in a new way with the coming of each sunrise.  Of course, the creation does not really come to life with the rising sun, it is as much alive in the deep darkness of the night as it is in the bright sunlight.  Much like we are.  In the moments of joy, in the moments when the vigor of life is full within us, and when all seems to be going somewhere, it seems that we are much alive.  And while this is true, it is also true that we are just as alive when the heaviness of the darkness of despair settles upon us.  Even then God is blessing and giving life.  

Hope in Christ

Hope is what has gotten us through many an impassible obstruction, through many a deep darkness, and through many a moment which seemed unending.  Hope is not always easy to define.  It has never been seen though it has been a part of the human experience since the beginning.  For those of us who trust in God, hope is more than just something conjured up from within the human mind, but something which has become a precious life giving gift and blessing.    

It is God who gives us a hope that is indestructible, overcoming, and everlasting.  When the Apostle Peter wrote his first letter to  a persecuted church, he wrote, "Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you."  ( I Peter 3;15)  Peter did not call these Christians who lived in what we might call hopeless circumstances to remember the creed learned in moments of instructions, or to repeat some Psalm, or even to pray.  Instead, he pointed them to the hope that had come into their lives as a gift from God through the life and death and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ.  He is our hope.    

Nowhere is our hope more vividly set forth than in I Corinthians 15. It is a powerful reminder that no matter what the difficulty, God is going to get us through it.  Nothing we face in this life has the power to change the reality that in Christ we shall live now and in the life being prepared for us through Christ.  This is our hope.  This is what takes us through the darkness, overcomes the obstacles, and carries us from here into eternity.  We hang on to hope not in desperation, but in faith and trust in the One who has given it.

An Afternoon Rain

 Late in the afternoon the much hoped for rain finally came.  A young neighbor boy who works with me on Wednesday afternoon and I were down in the pasture tearing down old fencing when it started.  We were too far from the truck to run so we just got our tools together and leisurely walked in the rain to the truck.  It was one of the best parts of the day.  How often do we walk in the rain?  Most of the time we unleash leftover memories of being young and run for cover, but not today.  We walked.  We got wet.  And, I would not trade the moment for a hundred days of sunshine.   

As we get older we lose sight of what it is like to enjoy the things enjoyed as uninhibited fun seeking children.  We become too preoccupied with doing the adult things like opening umbrellas, or putting something over our head, or acting grown up.  Actually, there is nothing wrong with walking slowly in the rain.  It has a soul cleansing effect.  You might even say it is like a baptism that gets us cleansed of some of that adult thinking that is narrow and confining.    

I often think of the way Jesus called disciples to be like children.  Most likely He had more in mind than playing in the rain, but then again maybe not.  Maybe we reach these adult years thinking that we are more important than we really are and that life is more complicated than it really is.  If there is anyone we can trust when it comes to figuring out how to live, it is surely Jesus.  I can remember being a child.  And, I am grateful that God looks at us as His children and takes joy in our moments when we are able to experience blessings simply by doing something like walking slowly in an afternoon rain.  

Falling Leaves

Today has been a day filled with the journey of many, many leaves leaving their lofty limbs for the death below.  Back in the early Spring these brown pecan leaves were tiny green buds filling themselves with life and now with the pecans ready to fall, their work is done.  As I knelt picking up the falling pecans, I found myself in a swirl of falling brown leaves and was reminded of two things.  One was the word, "abandonment"  and the other was a word of Jesus.  John 12:24 records that word which says, "...unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain, but if it dies, it bears much fruit."      

A word often used within evangelical circles to describe the way Christ calls us to live is this word "abandonment."  Of course, we have also watered it down to a more manageable concept.  The leaf turns loose of the branch, falls to the ground knowing not where it will land, and finally disappearing as compost which will provide nurture for the continued growth of the tree.  Here is an image of "abandonment"  which matches the words of Jesus and brings to mind Dietrich Bonhoeffer who wrote, "When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die."  ("The Cost of Discipleship)     

If we can somehow hold the image of the falling leaf with one eye and the words of Jesus in the other, we will come to a place of understanding how far we often fall short of who Christ is calling us to be. It is easy for most of us to say in the beginning that we follow Christ wherever He leads and that we will even die for Him, but there is this disconnect between those enthusiastic words of beginning and the way we end up living out the life we are called to live.  Most of us are not yet ready to go to know-not- where which is the kind of abandonment Christ calls us.

Nodding in Church

I must confess to having seen a lot of people sleeping when I was preaching.  In the beginning I was sure no one would ever nod off while I was preaching my powerhouse sermons, but I soon learned differently.  My first sleeper nodded off in my first church.  He sat on the front row.  He went to sleep almost as soon as I started preaching and snored loudly to add to my mental confusion.  After that I learned to recognize that the folks who leaned over with their heads toward their knees were not praying.  More than that first guy who snored slept through a sermon of mine.     

On one occasion when I had finished baptizing a baby, I took the child and walked down aisle and called to individuals by name as a way of reminding the congregation of our responsibility to live rightly before the baptized child.  Without paying as much attention as I should have, I called out one man's name who almost fell out of the pew as he was waking up.  After that I only called on those who had their eyes opened.  It made for less of a stir in the congregation.      

And I also remember one time when I wanted to emphasize how uncomfortable we are with silence by sitting in the pulpit chair a few minutes before getting up to preach.  I sat too long.  Folks thought I was having some moment of physical distress as I found out later when one of my daughters told me how worried she was becoming in those pre-sermon moments. Of course, my stories do not measure up to the one about Eutychus who went to sleep and fell out of a window, (Acts 20:7-12), but they are more memorable.  No need to pass judgment on any pew, or pulpit sleeper, as we have all come back to where we are by the nudge of a neighbor's elbow.  

A Means of Revelation

It should not surprise us that some of our dreams are distinctively spiritual.  We may be accustomed to having to work with our dreams, pondering over their meaning, and sorting through layers of images and symbols before we can recognize and affirm the spiritual dimensions of these nocturnal messages.  But, it also true that the spiritual meaning is so powerfully clear that it is overwhelming to our senses.  Such was surely true for Jacob as he watched angels descending and ascending on a ladder that touched both earth and heaven (Genesis 28:12).  And most assuredly, such was true of Joseph as he was visited by an angel from the Lord. (Matthew 1:20)    

As a preacher I must confess to those moments of preaching in my dream life.  The sermons I preached were always stirring and seem to flow endlessly.  The only problem was not being able to remember them when the clock sounded by the bedside.  I have known of dreamers who report dreaming of praying as they sleep and of being so caught up in a spirit of praise that they woke up with the praise sounding in their hearts upon their lips.  There seems to be no question that the Spirit can work in amazing ways with a mind and heart that is totally abandoned and vulnerable to the holy power.    

One of the important things to know about our dreams is that they are not to be dismissed.  Someone has said that a dream not interpreted is like a book not read.  Over the years I have come to understand and believe the reality of what the writer was trying to say to those of us who were reading what he had come to know in his personal life.  God is eager to make Himself known.  He may exist in an invisible spiritual dimension, but it is His desire to reveal Himself to us in so many ways and surely one of those ways is through the dream life with which He has gifted us.

The New Ruler

The one thing not really needed to understand, or even interpret, the dreams which come to us is a book from the book store which is filled with explanations for the things we see in our dream life.  The first thing needed to begin to understand our dreams is a willingness to pay attention.  What is often discovered as we begin to do this is the the fact that some things reoccur in different dreams.  There was a time when all the dream action of my dreams took place in a huge rambling house.  It took me awhile to figure it out, but one day it came.    

The truth is each one of us has a different set of experiences for understanding our dreams.  They are the experiences God has given us through the course of the day.  As we dream some of those experiences begin to come forth in a new light.  Sometimes that new light might be understood as the illuminating shining light of the Spirit as He seeks to help us see the way forward, or to resolve some conflict which is plaguing us.    

There is no verse in Scripture which tells us that God's guidance is limited to our waking hours.  Actually, the hours we sleep are moments when the filters are mostly removed and things are seen more clearly even though they may be disguised by unusual looking situations and people who are not really a part of those situations.  During the day the conscious mind is in charge.  As we dream the sub-conscious mind pushes the conscious mind off the throne as if to say, "Let me figure on it awhile."  The One who may actually be doing the night time figuring is the Holy Spirit as He seeks to work out stuff for us even when there is no awareness it is happening.  The Spirit can be trusted.

The Voice in the Dream

While it might surprise some to say that God speaks to us through our dreams, it is likely that many of those folks would also question whether or not God speaks to us at all.  Too many folks of today who call themselves Christians have no confidence that the voice of God still sounds in the silence of the stillness.  We have become a culture of folks trained to listen for what people think God might be saying instead of what He is saying.  To approach the reality of God speaking is too much of an absolute for those who regard everything with a relative and skeptical eye.   

Yet, as sure as there is a story about Mary and Joseph in the book of Matthew, so is there a story about the way God used the dream life of Joseph to resolve a conflict, protect his new family, and finally to bring them home again.  Joseph did not wonder about his dreams.  Instead, he saw them as a means by which God was speaking to him about how he was to live in the midst of what was a confusing and dangerous time.  Again and again the Word says, "an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said,..."     

It may take practice and discipline for us to be able to hear the voice of God when we are sleeping, but as we grow ears to hear what our sub-conscious is saying to us, we are able to hear that Word which unquestionably is coming from God.  One of the practical things which can be done is to write down notes during the night about our dreams so they do not become the unforgotten dreams of the night.  Being able to recall them during the waking hours for the purpose of pondering them with an open mind to what God might be saying to us is an important first step.  Of course, the real first step is the one of faith that God does speak to us in many ways including the dreams we dream during the darkness of the night.  

While Sleeping

Anyone who maintains that dreams are of no consequence, but are instead random ramblings of the sub-conscious does not take the Word of God seriously.  If there was ever anyone who was affected in his dreams by the Spirit of God, it was Joseph, husband of Mary and earthly father of Jesus.  When Joseph was trying to figure out the news that Mary was going to have a child that was not his, the Scripture says, "...an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream..."  (Matthew 1:20).  Later we hear almost the same words as the Lord directed him to flee to Egypt and then later to return to Nazareth.     

It should not be outside of reason to consider that God uses our dream life to speak to us, to direct our path, and to help us to make the decisions we need to make.  When we sleep our sub-conscious pushes our conscious mind aside and does work that is still undone.  What shows up in our sleep may be some unmanageable stress, or some indecision, or, perhaps, a gentle nudge toward the place God wants us to be.  If He is able to work with our conscious mind during our waking hours, it should not be difficult to consider the reality of the same work taking place when our sub-conscious has control.   

Perhaps, part of the difficulty we might have with God being active in our dream life speaks to the issue of control.  When we are awake, we are figuring it out.  We are in control of where our thoughts are going and, thus, the results are more relative to our human ingenuity rather than divine intervention and guidance.  Over and over the Word calls us to the abandoned life.  When is it that we are in a more abandoned condition than the moment when our conscious mind sleeps and our sub-conscious mind is awaken by the Spirit?

Words from a Dreamer

Call me a dreamer.  Call me a dreamer not because I have such great ideas that have the power to revolutionize every day life, but because I dream a lot.  My nights are filled with dreams.  Some are so ridden with anxiety and stress that I will wake myself up to get out of the dream and some end long before I want them to end.  I was on the verge of winning a marathon race a few nights ago, but the excitement was too much and I woke up.    

As a dreamer I have always been drawn to the dream narratives found in the Scripture.  The epic Old Testament dream has always been Jacob's dream at Bethel (Genesis 28) and in the New Testament the dream of all dreams is surely the dream of Joseph in the early verses of Matthew's gospel.  Over the years I have spent a lot of time trying to figure one dream or another and in the process have learned a bit about what stirs within us in those moments when we are sleeping.  The one thing I learned early on which was not needed was a book which listed the signs found in our dreaming.  I have come to believe that we all have our own book.  There is not a one size fits all.    

More importantly, I have come to believe that dreams are a means through which God speaks to us.  If the story of Joseph reveals nothing else, it surely reveals this truth.  And, secondly, it seems our dreams are expressions of the struggles and joys experienced when we are awake.  No one can doubt this was happening with Joseph.  And, finally, if we are learning to pay attention to our dream life, we will find a word in our sub-conscious which informs our conscious mind as decisions are being made.  Dreams are a gift from God that open a door to our inner self and as such they are surely a blessing given to us from God.  

Contentment

When the church gets caught up in "Keeping up with the Jones," or the church across town that seems to be running over with folks trying to get in the doors, it has lost sight of who it is.  Even as there is only one of each one of us and we run amuck when we try to turn ourselves into someone else, so it is with the church.  Each church on the block is different.  Each one is brought into being to be who it is and not simply a replica of another in another place.  

To say we do not get caught up in this trap is pointless when we consider the number of books we have read by "successful pastors" and the number of how-to-do it seminars we have attended, or would like to attend.  Too many of those of us who serve the church know that only one more book, or one more training experience will turn the place where we are into some church that will be the envy of the ecclesiastical world, or at least the envy of the community pastor's association.    

Contentment is a hard thing to attain.  And, then, contentment can be a negative factor if is it is a fail safe used when the hard work of preaching and pastoring does not want to be done.  Too many times those in spiritual leadership cannot be settled with the place God has put them.  We end up looking over the fence and spend more time trying to figure out how to get over the fence instead of being content with working the patch where we are standing.  God does not call churches to keep up with any other church, but to simply be the Christ centered spiritual community God calls it to be in the place He has called it to be.     

Ongoing and Unfinished

One of the things ministry in the church and life on the farm have in common is unfinished stuff.  Most of the pastor friends I know are quick to say that the end of the day comes with stuff still needing to be done.  Maybe it is some hospital visit, or some sermon preparation, or a promised phone call, but ministry is the kind of thing which is both ongoing and unfinished.  In these years of retirement here on the farm, I have discovered the same is true.  Only the tasks are different.  There is fence work which needs doing, cleaning up for the expected fall of the pecans, and repairing the door on the barn.  Always something ongoing and unfinished.    

Maybe what this tells us is that life is also ongoing and unfinished.  And, if we take the more serious look which carries us to the internal stuff of the spirit instead of the external stuff of the "to do" list, we realize that this is where the real ongoing and unfinished stuff lingers.  This is one of the reasons I have come to appreciate the word "journey" so much as I write and think about the spiritual life.  It is never about getting there, having it done, and sitting back with satisfaction, but always realizing that there is a way still to go.    

Our spiritual lives may seem to start off with some singular experience which sets our heart in motion toward God, but what is characteristic of the disciple is that life with God is always unfolding.  There are always new things to consider, unexpected challenges to shape faith, and acts of service that suddenly appear before us.  The way Home started somewhere in the past, but is constantly unfolding before us and as we go we carry with us the ongoing and unfinished business of walking with Christ.  When we get Home, we will hear Him say, "Well done,"  but until then it is living with the tension created by the stuff which remains to be done.   

A Blaze of Glory

I should not be surprised anymore, but it still happens some evenings.  The story of the beginning in Genesis says, "They (Adam and Eve) heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze..."  (Genesis 3:8)  While it may well be true that the Lord God showed up in the evening to visit with the couple in the garden, I imagine He also showed up because He wanted to see the sunset He had made for that day.  Everyone likes a good sunset and surely such is true of the Creator as well.    

Tonight just before dark while walking around I commented to myself that there was not much of a sunset to see and then as I turned and headed back toward the house, I saw a blaze of glory where the sun would rise the next morning.  The setting sun which did not show up as spectacular did a number on the tops of the trees on the eastern horizon.  A literal blaze of glory is the only word I know to describe the wonder of what was there to behold.  As quick as it was there, it was gone.  Before I reached the house, the glory had faded and had become only a memory of how God's glory is constantly being revealed to those of us who take the time to see.    

I wish I had a bigger storehouse of the moments God's glory has been revealed to me.  Too many times I was too busy to see.  Hurried is what I have been for too many years, but lately slowing down a bit due to age and retirement has enabled me to see what has always been there to see, but missed because of a lifestyle which did not allow for the stillness and the glory which is within it.  Like the glory of the setting sun in the tree tops of the eastern sky, so it is with us constantly.  The glory of God is always out there to see, but only for a moment.  Now you see it and now you don't.  I regret I spent too much time on the now you don't mode.  

Distractions

Sometimes things distract us when we gather in the place of worship.   One of the things I always wanted to check ahead of time was making sure the two candles were equidistant from the outer edge of the table on which they sat.  If they were not balanced, I spent all my time looking at them as if looking could make them move.  Other people notice other things like the subtle differences in the color of the preacher's stole and the paraments, or the dust on the back of the pew in front of them, or the obvious need to replace burned down candles.     

Long years ago I had one person confess to me at the end of the worship service that she had counted all the crosses in the sanctuary.  As she talked about them, they were everywhere and not just in the places they were expected to be.  And while she also gave me the number, I have long since forgotten that tidbit of information about that particular appointment.  In another place at another time with a paid professional musical ensemble accompanying the church choir for an Easter cantata, the minister of music stopped in mid stream and told the violinist to sit but not play anymore.  It seems she had become a major distraction to him!   

No matter how hard those in charge of worship work to make everything perfect, the distractions will always remain.  It is as impossible to rid the world of them in that moment as it is to rid the world of them at any moment.  The proof of this is not some Biblical text, but our own life.  Distractions abound in everything we do.  Sometimes the distractions may speak about the hand of God stirring us to something different than we planned.  We will never know unless we ask.  

Blessings

People can be such a blessing.  Oh, it is also true that there are a few sent our way who make us wonder if such is true for everyone.  The other day when very little seemed to be going right and when all that had been planned seemed to be falling apart, people started showing up.  As I was speaking to the stranger behind the counter explaining why we needed to re-schedule something with her company, she said, "Don't worry, life is unpredictable."  I should have known that one.  What a blessing she was in those morning moments.    

And then, shortly, the phone rang.  A woman who works in a doctor's office we frequent called to tell us she noticed we had changed an appointment and she was going to be gone to another job by the time we returned.  She wanted to say good-bye.  What a surprise! What a blessing!  And finally before the day ended someone showed up with warm bread in their hands to place in ours.  It was a day which seemed bent on being impossible, but through three unexpected people it turned out to be a day of memorable blessings!    

God managed to work in our day in such a way as to bring such unexpected blessings.  I wonder if those who served Him as blessings knew what a blessing they were being in the life of someone in need of such care.  Blessings are surely all around us.  And, if we watch ourselves closely, we may see God putting us out there in someone's life to be a blessing for them.