Musical Musings

I bought my third guitar yesterday.  It was one of those spontaneous spending sprees that was prompted by seeing a guitar staring at me when I sat down in an antique store.  It was really not very expensive and I did not know I wanted a guitar until that one saw me.  My first guitar I bought when I went to college and later sold it to a friend when I bought my roommate's old guitar.  When I retired I gave that second guitar to a young boy in my church who was more interested in playing it.  So, after thirteen years of not having a guitar, I am back in the music playing business.     

Of course, I say playing music lightly.  I only played well enough to entertain me.  And, maybe my mother.  But, the truth is I have always loved music, loved to hear it, and enjoyed singing very much.  One of the perks of being a preacher and worship leader was being able to stand in front of a singing congregation on Sunday morning when the seats were full and the hearts were brimming over with a desire to sing praise to God.  In those moments I loved to sing.  No one could hear my poor singing and all that good singing in the sanctuary just washed over me like a surging river that filled my soul to overflowing.   

The gospel writer, Mark, lets us in on a bit of Jesus trivia when he wrote about a moment after the last meal, "When they had sung the hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives."  (Mark 14:26)   Jesus was a singer, too.  Of course, the book of Psalms is a section of Hebews hymns.  So many of them have become the inspiration for hymn writers through the centuries who sought to enrich the worship life of the church.  And, then the book of Revelation enables us to know that there is singing in heaven.  "When we all get to heaven, What a day of rejoicing that will be!"  

The New Word

While in Texas a few weeks ago, my grandson who was traveling with me and I visited a couple of nights with a former casual friend who has become a best friend in many ways.  A word which continuously came up in our conversation was the word generous.  He told us many stories of some freinds who lived with the same spirit of generosity which he and his wife modeled as we were with them.   And since then there have been several others who have spoken the language of generosity by kindness extended in my direction.  Sometimes it feels like a word from the Almighty which is being given to me about being more generous in my own life.    

It might seem at first that generoisty might cost us something, or deprive us of things we might need, or even diminish our own stockpile of stuff, but what it really does is enrich our life.  We may not be able to be generous to the extent of some who bear the markings of the more affluent, but being generous is something we can all do.  It must surely start with being generous in giving things like a smile, or an act of kindness, or offering patience in a world filled with hurry.  Once we allow ourselves to be open to the spirit of generosity in the little things, the bigger things will surely follow.  It  flows out of us into the lives of others in ways that bring blessings to us and those who are touched by the wind of generosity born out of our own spirit.     

There can be no doubt that God is pleased with a generous spirit.  And, neither can there be any doubt that it is His intent for us to be generous in our living.  Constantly the Word of God calls us to care for those around us whose lives are filled with struggles.  We are admonished to give not according to obligation, but according to love.  It is the servant who hears divine words of affirmation for serving can only come from a spirit which does not count self more highly that others.  Generous people make for a better world which means that you and I can make for a better world.  

Middle of the Night Stillness

In the middle of the night the voices of the home are silent.  All that is left is the steady humming noises of some appliance that has a life of its own and the ever shining digital lighting.  The insulated walls of the house keep the night time sounds of the creation on the outside and away from ears that might hear.  At times the quietness and the stillness within is broken by the noise of wind rattling windows, the spattering of rain on the roof, or the distant hoot owl as it conducts its nocturnal searching.  

If we are able to get beyond being awake when our body says we should be sleeping,  we may be able to hear the voice of the Holy One who gently speaks in the inner stillness.  For even as the interior of the house is still so is the interior space in our spirit. The middle of the night hours have a way of pushing away the distractions of the day so that our sub conscious mind opens the door to the inner space which seems to have no voice in the heat and brightness of the day.  It is no wonder that the Psalmist wrote of meditating on the things of God during the night.  (Psalm 63:6)  

When sleep is elusive it may be God's way of bringing us into a moment of sensing His presence, or hearing His voice, or knowing an invitation to enter into the work of intercession for the Kingdom.  There is value in sitting expectantly for a few minutes in the silence to which He has awakened us.  Instead of fussing with ourselves about not sleeping, maybe we should pray the prayer of young Samuel, "Speak, Lord, your servant is listening."  (I Samuel 3:10)

Morning Stillness

This new day brings with it such a stillness.  To see out beyond the open door is to see stillness.  Nothing seems to be moving.  Pecan limbs and leaves which often seem to have a life of their own are now just out there hanging without any hint of wanting to  be moved.  Even the cows which are grazing a little further beyond the trees seem to move in such slow motion that they, too, appear to have joined the morning stillness.  It would seem that all the creation in which I am immersed is in a moment of anticipation, a  moment of waiting, a moment of expection of something still not here.    

My heart longs for such stillness.  It is a moment of being gripped by those words of the Psalmist, "As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for You, O God.  My soul thirsts for God, for the living God."  (Psalm 42:1)  My soul is like the soul of those unseen souls who are a part of my life.  They, too, hunger for God.  They, too, long for the stillness which is seen outside to be the stillness known in the inside where we have learned to know the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.   I wait, but not alone.  Together we wait. 

As the stillness of creation speaks of waiting with anticipation so are we called to live if we are truly in step with the plan of God which is always unfolding around us and in us.   He is always out there about to come; and yet, mysteriously enough, He has already come.  In such an awe filled place we are blessed to live.  Even though present with us, as we allow the stillness to fill us with the anticipation which is a part of that moment, we can expect to soon feel the stirrings of that gentle Spirit which will once again bring signs of new life coming into being within us.  

Reading the Psalms

There is probably no section of the Scripture that is read more often the book of Psalms.  Many of us remember the 23rd Psalm as the first one we memorized.  Along the way we have likely learned a few others, but no Psalm is more often quoted.  There are some folks who have memorized not just the 23rd Psalm, but the entire collection.  In spiritual conclaves such as monasteries the Psalms are read or experienced by the community every day in its worship.    

As we think back over the years of own spiritual journey, we know that God has spoken to us in numerous ways through these ancient writings.  In times of trouble we have found solace, in times of grief and mourning we have found the way forward, and in times of joyful thanksgiving we have found ways to express the gratitude and praise which comes rising up from within us.  They are expressions of the experiences of our humanity written by a man who was a lover of God as a boy who tended sheep and as a man who led his nation.   

Of course, what we know is that the Spirit used an imperfect and flawed man to write these words which have transformed the lives of so many.  The fact that they came from one who desired the ways of God even though flawed resonates with our own spiritual journey.  Like David we are flawed.  Like David we are hungry for God.  Life David we seek to walk beyond where we are able to walk alone and in our strength.  Like David we need the help and the deliverance of the Lord to reach the end of the journey in faithfulness.   And like David we have discovered what it is to walk in the paths God has set before us.  

Name Changes

Back in 1948 my parents put the name William Lester on my birth certificate and called me Billy.  I wore that nickname until I went to college when I took it upon myself to change it to Bill.  Maybe I thought Billy was a boy's name and Bill was more of a man's name.  Anyway, I had a name change.  My name change was rather inconsequential when compared to some of the name changes which took place in the Biblical story.  Abram and Sarai got their names changed to Abraham and Sarah.  God made this name change as a way of sealing a divine promise.  When Abraham was one hundred and Sarah was ninety, the old guy got a new name to declare that he would be the father of many.     

There are also some noteworthy name changes in the New Testament.  Saul of Tarsus became known as Paul the Apostle.  We often think that Jesus might have changed his name on the Damascus Road, but Acts 13:9 speaks of "...Saul, also known as Paul..." which suggests that he was known by both names, but came to be known not as Saul, but Paul.  And, of course, Simon became Peter by viture of a name change instigated by Jesus.  (Matthew 16:18-19)  

When it comes to name changing, the plan of God casts a net so big that we are all caught up in it.  We who were sinners are called saints.  In the letters to the church we read where the Apostles wrote to the saints in the church.  And in I Peter 2:9-10 we read of that great name change as the Word says, "But, you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people...Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people..."   Though known by the name sinner, it is by the work of the cross that we are finally known not as sinners, but as saints, the set apart and holy people of God.  

The Edge of Glory

 Under the shadow of the arm of the Almighty, 

       inside the amazing love of the precious Son, 

         surrounded by the holy wind of the Spirit

now abide those who have slipped away and

        found their eternal Home now finished.  

And now those who lag behind, folks like you and me, 

     find our unsteady step is slowly quickening,

        as our eyes have seen some of what is ahead,

our heart longs no longer for here, but for there

       where those loved here have become the saints there.

What grace and mercy the Holy One gives to all of us, 

     those whose eyes are now filled with glory

       and those who only hear the sound of it

through flowing tears and unending memories.

      May God who joins us together be forever praised!

Labels

It is easy to do.  And, we are quick to do it.  Putting labels on people is about as easy as drawing a breath.  There is no place where this happens with such ease as in the church.  The church has more labels to stick on people than the old saying about Carter having liver pills.  Liberal, conservative, progressive, evangelical, and reformed are just a few on the longer list we could put together.  Our people labeling is a way of defining people and it is also a way of separating ourselves from one another.   

 

It seems strange that it would be so prevalent in the church when the One known as the Cornerstone of the church said, "Do not judge, so that you may not be judged."  (Matthew 7:1)   Of course, some may say that our labeling is not judging, but simply an act of defining, but the truth is that most of our labeling of others becomes a means of declaring that their value system is broken and false while ours is rock solid.  It ends up declaring their wrongness and affirming our rightness.  

This is how we end up with two neighboring churches with one bearing the name of "The Right Church" and the other, "The More Right Church."  What labels do very well is divide people.  They do not lead us toward reconciliation, but brokenness.  They create an "us and them" mentality which hardly seems like something Jesus would have had in mind when He went to the cross to shed His blood for all of us.

A Path that Beckons

The ancient paths beckon us.  Jeremiah is the one who spoke of this path long centuries ago, "Thus says the Lord:  Stand at the crossroads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way lies; and walk on it, and find rest for your souls."  (Jeremiah 6:16)  It was a time when the Hebrews, the people who heard the Word from the mountain saying, ""I am the Lord your God.....you shall have no other gods before me," (Exodus 20:2-3) were hedging their bets.  Instead of holding firm in their devotion to the Lord, they went after the gods of the culture.  They did not desert Yahweh, they just worshipped Baal alongside Him just in case He was not able to deliver what they wanted Him to deliver.   

It is because their apostasy sounds familiar that the words about the ancient paths have such relevance for us today.  We have not abandoned God for another god, but we hedge our bets by putting our trust in Him and the common consensus of culture.  It is one of the reasons that our lives seem so unstable, one of the reasons why we feel like feet in the sands of the shoreline that pull us one way and then another, and it is one of the reasons we can be described in the words of James the Apostle who spoke of people "being double minded and unstable in every way."  (James 1:8)    

To use the language of Jeremiah, our souls are not at rest.  They stay in a state of confusion.  Unfortunately, the ancient ways are dismissed simply because they are ancient.  They are ancient; therefore, they can surely have no relevance for a society that is bombarded with constant change.  The Word promises that the ancient way is the good way which when walked provides rest for the soul.  It is such a tragedy that so many would choose some other way.

Holy Trash

Just before dark got here last night one of those roaring thunderstorms thundered in with enough lightning to cause the weather people to send out all kinds of warnings.  Despite the weather warnings the storm slipped around north of here and in its aftermath the grass was hardly wet.  What came as a surprise as dark finally came was a power outage.  It was only when the trucks pulled up here on the farm that I realized the reason for the outage was a huge limb that had fallen out of the top of one of the pecan trees.  When it came down, it took the power line with it.    

It took the guys from the power company about an hour getting the power back up.  It will take much longer to get the wood debris cleaned up.  But, when the chainsaw work is done I will have a good supply of firewood for the woodstove here in the house.  It may be hard to imagine cold weather in the middle of July, but it will come and when it does I will look back with gratitude for the wood that made its way to the ground on a hot July evening. Most folks would want nothing to do with cutting up a fallen limb for firewood when there is a theromostat in the house which can be adjusted to create warmth on a cold night.  But, there is something gratifying about taking what is given and putting it to use for a life sustaining purpose.  

What looks like trash to be hauled off  to some has great value to the woodstove and fireplace people.  There may be another power outage this winter when the ground is hard with cold and on that day the gift of this day will be thought of us as great treasure.  The limb on the ground is not something to be wasted.  Everything God brings into being is holy for it bears the imprint of His creating hand and this is even true of what some might say has no value and is no more than trash.  

Navigating Memory

As we navigate our memory into the days which are behind us, we find ourselves in the midst of once lived moments.  Some of them we might wish we had forgotten, but so many more warm our hearts as they are brought to mind.  Of course, the real treasures in that storehouse where memories are kept are not the memories of sunsets, but the memories we have of people who have shared the journey through the year.  Some of the faces remembered have left this life for the One prepared for them and others still linger with us as we move toward the time of joining those who are gone.    

It it no wonder that the written Word is so full of names and the stories that go with those names for such is how each of us have experienced life.  The story of our days is intertwined with the names from the past.  Some had such shaping power that their influence was written upon our spirit like indelible ink.  Others touched us briefly, but in an unforgettable way.  And when we think of the places we have lived, or to which we have gone, it is likely that those places are remembered as places shared with someone whose life was important to the living of our own.   

The Scripture is full of admonitions to remember.  What is in our past, and who is in our past, were put there for a reason.  In these older years I have become more convinced than ever that there are no coincidences in life.  Instead, it is filled with the unfolding plan of God.  It has been a plan not always seen clearly in the moment, but one that is becoming clearer as life brings me to a point of knowing that most of the days are behind instead of ahead.  Perhaps, it is such a place that brings me to a greater sense of gratitude for the many whom God has put on the path alongside of me to help me along the way.  

Random Thoughts

While I have never professed to being a morning person, I have come to understand that mornings have been for many and for me as well the best time of the day to intentionally seek a time of holy awareness. The contradictory sidebar to this statement is that seeking an awareness of holy presence is not really something which is necessary for those who have disciplined themselves to the art of paying attention to the constantly unfolding presence of God that is ever a part of our lives.  I am striving to be a part of this group who live with an awareness of the holy though I do not regard myself yet as a full member.    

The language we use to speak of our spiritual journey often becomes confusing to us.  We seek One who is already present.  We ask for God to give us more love for others when He has already given us love from His own heart which should be more than enough.  And, of course, we speak of our desire to be filled with His Spirit even though His Spirit comes to us not in part but in a manner which reflects His wholeness.   

The language we use to speak of our pursuit of the Holy....there we go again....How can One who is seeking us be pursued?   And so, the language we use to speak of our pursuit of the Holy often speaks of what is already granted to us through the mystery of the Kingdom that is both here and there.  Another way of connnecting the desires of our own Spirit with the intentions of the Holy Spirit for us might be in expressing gratitude instead of the seeking language.  Instead of seeking awareness of the Holy, we might enter into a time of thanking Him for being present in the glorious moments of revelation as well as in the moments when it seems He is in hiding.  

The Generous Spirit

Being generous is not an easy discipline for many of us.  We worry so much about the "what if's" of life that we end up holding too tightly to the things of life.  And, if that hold tightly spirit takes root in our heart long enough, we end up thinking that all we have is ours and that none of it has anything to do with the blessings of God.  The Scripture is full of verses which admonish us to live with a sharing spirit and while we are willing to share some, our sharing often speaks more of being prudent than radical.    

In Paul's first letter to young Timothy, he says, "As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.  They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share..."  (I Timothy 6:17-18)  Before we put ourselves in a category of not being rich, we should think about our internet devices which a majority of the world's people could not afford.  We are all blessed with more than enough to feed us so that there is a thing like discretionary spending in our life.  The Word calls us to a generous life style.  It calls us to hold lightly to our stuff and to our attempts at security.    

To be generous often means an intentional effort until it becomes a natural and spontaneous response to the world which God bring into our life.  It may also require us to pray and dare to ask God to show us how we can be generous as well as to bring into our lives people with whom we can generously share.  We must be careful as we pray such a prayer for God may not regard our stuff with the same value that we do.  What we think we must have, He may call us to let go.

A Holy Partership

When I was a boy and asked that eternal question asked to all children, "What do you want to be when you grow up?"  my first remembered response was, "I want to be a farmer."  In a manner somewhat like the Hebrew people who wandered in the wilderness for forty years before getting to the promised land, it took me forty years to get to the farm.  And, to be truthful even after living on the farm for thirteen years and doing farm stuff, I hesitate to call myself a farmer.  It seems to me that I am not worthy of such a title when there are so many hard working, crop producing, farmers all around me.    

Yet, here I am as I have been now for awhile tending pecan trees, growing bermuda grass for hay, and working a small herd of cows.  I have learned to do stuff I never imagined doing while working from the pulpit.  One of the surprising things has been the sense of satisfaction and fulfillment that comes with the moment of harvesting a crop.  The first time I had this new feeling was back in the beginning when we left the farm with a pickup truck bed full of pecans to sell at the market and the most recent time was yesterday when the bales of hay came rolling out of the hay baler and were left to grace the field like some mysterious holy icon that suddenly appeared.    

I have come to enjoy and find meaning in this partnership with the creation and the Creator.  No matter how much I do the right stuff to grow a crop, I have come to understand that His is the final Word.   The creation is filled with things like rain, sunshine, and wind which help bring the harvest and things like army worms, disease, and drought which hinders it.  It is God's creation.  I am just a small cog in that eternal wheel.  Psalm 104:14 says, "You cause the grass to grow for the cattle, and plants for people to use, to bring forth food from the earth..."   I am grateful to have a small part in this holy partnership with the Creator.

The Unseen Saints

Abraham is such a strong and powerful figure in the Genesis narrative that we sometimes forget that he was not alone.  The person who stood alongside him was a woman first known as Sarai and then later, Sarah.  She is first mentioned in the Genesis story simply as Abram's wife and then the next word said about her she carried with her until she was ninety years old, "Now Sarai was barren; she had no child."  (Genesis 11:30)  The road that Abraham walked, Sarah walked.  The disappointments which were a  part of Abraham's life were a part of hers.  The promise of God given to Abraham at the oaks of Mamre was given to Sarah.  And like her husband, she struggled through twenty-five years of waiting.     

It often seems that the Biblical story is a story of God dealing only with men.  Their names roll off our tongue much easier than the names of the women who played important roles as well.  One thing is certain.  The promise of God that resulted in the birth of Isaac took more than a man named Abraham.  It required a woman named Sarah as well.  Over the years I have seen many churches in which the leadership roster was dominated with the names of men, but it was also true in those churches that without the faithful service and ministry of so many unseen women, the doors of the church would have closed.  

As we think of those unseen women, our mothers come to mind.  Sunday School teachers are remembered.  The nurseries and piano benches were filled with women.  And even though the changing times has enabled many women to stand in highly visible leadership positions, they still comprise a minority.  As surely as Abraham needed Sarah, so does the church of our day need the serving spirit of so many women who have been and continue to be the unseen saints.  Thanks be to God for each one of them.

The Life of Faith

It is a remarkable thing that Abraham is listed in that Hall of Fame of the Faithful found in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews.   He certainly did not model perfection.  He modeled the flawed as well as the faithful man.  Out of fear he tried to pass off his wife as his sister, he attempted  to make the promise of God happen by having a son with Hagar, and he failed to trust in God's provision when he went to Egypt.  Yet, overall, the trajectory of his life moved him toward a life of faith and trust in God.    

In the beginning of his life with God, the Word says, "Now the Lord said to Abram, 'Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you....' " (Genesis 12:1)  And when the writer of Hebrews spoke of faith, he pointed to Abraham as he said, "By faith, Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going."  (Hebrews 11:8)  What is so remarkable is that Abraham left everything familiar as well as everything which spoke of security in his life for a journey to an unknown destination.  When he started out, he had no idea of where he was going.  He only knew that God was calling him to go to a land we might call "Know Not Where."     

The truth is that when God calls us, He always calls us to go with Him to an undesignated destination.  His call is to follow no matter what happens, to go wherever He leads, and to give up the plans of our own agenda for the plans that He only reveals to us in bits and pieces.  Faith means to be abandoned to a God who calls us to the unfolding life and to go with a trust that seeks nothing from Him but being with Him.  Faith is not about getting anything from God, but being with God in any all the circumstances of life.  For the faithful the worst thing is not being poor, or broken, or dying, but being without God.  "Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take your Holy Spirit from me."  (Psalm 51:11)

The Waiting Ground

The clock was ticking toward eight when I arrived at the cemetery this morning.  In my volunteer life, I am the caretaker for the local cemetery which means that I sell cemetery plots.  I was going early to meet a couple who wanted to have things in order for that day when a grave would be needed.  What grabbed my attention as I drove up was the morning sun brightly shining against the grave markers which stood like some ancient solar panel seeking to capture the brilliance of the eastern sun rising up against the far horizon.   

While some may not know, folks, at least in these parts, are buried facing the eastern sky.  It is a tradition that has its roots in the Scripture.  In Matthew 24:27 the Words says, "For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man."  His coming again is reiterated in the first chapter of the book of Acts where angels speak saying about the ascended into heaven Jesus, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven?  This Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw Him go into heaven."  (Acts 1:11)    

Graves face the east not only to catch the light of the rising sun, but the Word declares that they will also be captured first by the rising glory of the returning Christ in the eastern sky.  Long ago Paul wrote about this moment as he wrote to the early church, "For the Lord Himself, with a loud cry of command, with the archangel's call and with the sound of God's trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first."  (I Thessalonians 4:16)  This great mystery is more than this finite mind can grasp and hold, but the image of the domains of earth being split open by the triumphant sounds of that moment of resurrection's power and glory stirred this soul of mine as I went across that waiting ground.

Words from Another Century

Watching the continual breaking apart of the church which ordained me has not been made any less troubling by the passage of time.  Perhaps, time does heal all wounds, but it is so often a slow and painful process.  An Oswald Chamber's find at a used bookstore brought what seems to be just below the surface of consciousness back out into the light of day to see once again.  In this writing over a hundred years old ("Not Knowing Where"), the author wrote, "Whenever a religious community or movement begins to organize,it seems to lose its life.  Those who were once keen on proclaiming the Gospel are now bent only on the success of the organization."    

This malady which has infected the church so deeply has given birth to a church that has lost its first love.  The love for Christ has been exchanged for love for institutional or organizational success.  And, one of the frightening prospects is that those bent on reform and change seem bent on the same organizational success.  What is troubling is not just about the division and chaos which exists in the church, but how it can go forward without carrying the seeds of confusion with it.   

Of course, chaos and confusion speaks of the influence of Satan.  Some might like to attribute it to the winnowing fork of the Holy Spirit, but there is also an argument to made that a church living under the influence of the Spirit would have found a different way.  The spiritual giant of a hundred years ago points the way forward as he wrote, "The Holy Spirit delivers us from independent individuality and builds us into the mystical body of Christ."  The only hope for the church is going to be in its desire and ability to get out of the way and let the Spirit do what He wants to do.

The Latter Option

In a nearby town there is one of those Mom and Pop Pre-read book stores.  It is the kind of place where you buy used books cheap and take your old books for store credit which is totally unlike the franschise book stores which sell books by the millions.  It is only open two days a week and today I happened to be at the right place at the right time.  One of my finds was a book by Oswald Chambers entitled "Not Knowing Where" and sub-titled, "A Spiritual Journey through the Book of Genesis."  Since I have read Chamber's classic devotional, "My Utmost for His Highest" for over fifty years, it was not hard to buy the book.     

As the author writes about the creation story and how humanity manifest the image of God, he said, "Sin does not belong to human nature as God designed it.  Therefore, to speak about sin as being eradicated or rooted up is nonsense; it was never planted."  As I read these thoughts over a hundred years old now, it made me aware of a changed way of thinking which has been growing in me since I retired and came to live midst the creation at the farm.  As one taught early on that we were born in sin, it was hard to be open to the idea that we were born with the imprint of God's holiness upon us.  The Word says we are created in His image which stands in stark contrast to the thought that we are sinful as we are born.    

Maybe such things do not trouble everyone.  This doctrine of original sin that we have learned to embrace was conceived in the mind of church fathers like Augustine and then became something so orthodox that anything else bordered on heresy.  I have always had trouble looking at a new born baby and thinking "sin."  Some say it is more like seeing a reflection of the face of God.  In these more recent years that have given the gift of time for reflection, I have taken a seat in the congregation of the latter. 

Peacemakers

With our government's decision to provide cluster bombs to Ukraine, it seems that an already deadly battlefield and landscape is suddenly going to become more dangerous and deadly.  It will become more dangerous not only for the soldiers who are fighting this war, but for the civilian population of women and children who will be maimed and killed by these small bombs which do not always explode upon contact with the ground.  To say that war is a terrible thing is a gross understatement of reality.  It is the greatest of tragedies when men and women kill one another as a war demands that they do.  The use of cluster bombs only compounds the horror.     

Would that politicians and national leaders would work as hard at making peace as they do at making war.  While it always seems that Jesus does not fit into the political landscape of the world, His teachings and life always have life giving power.  In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God."  (Matthew 5:9)  In a world where we have more than enough ways of killing one another, we need the peacemakers who will continue to raise their voices against the increased human carnage.    

As is always the case the few who have power make the decisions which impact the morality of the way our nations conducts itself.  A life time friend called me tonight deeply concerned about the moral choices being made by those in power and asked me to pray with him for our nation.  I am grateful for his call and his concern.  I have mostly been out of the news loop in the last few months, but his concern has jolted me into a commitment to join him in prayer.  I know there are others who have had enough of the news of war and long for news of peace.  May God bless our combined prayers in the Kingdom's work of peace making.

Picking and Choosing

Bookstores are not places I should go when I have a few extra dollars.  It is always hard to walk out empty handed and with the same amount of money I had on entering.  The other day it happened again.  I was in a bookstore, saw a book written by Eric Metaxas who wrote a really good book on Bonhoeffer which justified gettng the one in front of me, so I opened the wallet and walked out with "Letter to the American Church."    

While it is a book that lifts up the similarities between the Lutheran Church in pre-World War II Germany and the church today in America, there was a interesting side section about Martin Luther from which I learned some new things about the old reformer.  According to the author Luther was so into justification by faith alone that he wanted to cut the whole book of James out of the Scripture.  Though he reconsidered his opinion about this "epistle of straw" as he called it, he was ready to leave it out of the Scripture because of the contradiction it created.    

Luther was not the first or the last to want to pick and choose when reading the Word.  When we read a Word that goes against the grain of what we want the Scripture to say, or which goes against the common consensus of culture, we find ways to relegate it to a place which justifies ignoring it.  It happens all the time to this writing which is "inspired by God."  (II Timothy 3:16)  C. S. Lewis once said that Jesus is either Lord or lunatic.  There was no middle ground for him.  In the same manner the Scripture is either the authoritative Word of God, or it has authority according to our personal opinion.  There is no middle ground.

The Last Word

Today I meandered around on ground full of roots.  It was not the kind of roots that tugged at your feet as you walked, but the kind that tugged at your heart and memory.  The first time I went to the sacred ground of that church cemetery was in 1955 when my father was buried in that place.  I was seven then and now seventy plus five.  It is not a big graveyard out there in the middle of nowhere next to what was until a few years ago a Methodist Church, but it is where the tombstones speak the different names that are a part of who I am and that I carried with me as I walked among that place of family roots.   

While it is not possible, every church should have a graveyard next to it.  Those chiseled worn by the weather tombstones give some perspectve to the message preached inside the sanctuary about the power of the resurrection and create a spirit of vigor as the hymns about the risen Lord are sung.  It is good to walk from the sanctuary to the graveyard for one announces our mortality while the other boldly proclaims that though we die, yet shall we live.   We need the message of both in these days.  

Our society is bent toward a message which directs us toward the non-existent fountain of youth and the finality of death is obscured by messaging that uses every word except the one about us returning to the dust from which we have come.  The gospel of the cross and the empty tomb loudly proclaim that death does not have the last word.   As the Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian Church, death has no victory, death has no sting!  (I Corinthians 15:55)  It is not death which has the last word, but the resurrected Jesus Christ.  Thanks be to God!

The Third Verse

If the hymn writers of old found out that the third verse of every hymn would never be sung, they would probably have counted them 1,2,4, and 5.  How many thousands of times have we sung hymns at church only to omit the third verse?  How we got there I do not have a clue.  But, we did.  And, so today while listening to a very familiar hymn, I was literally blown away by a powerful third verse.  It was from that song, "It is Well"  and the verse never sung has these words, "My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!  My sin, not in part but the whole, is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more, praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!  It is well...."    

It is such a powerful witnes by the writer of the hymn.  And it is such a powerful word about what God has done for us through the cross.  While the church often seems to be moving toward a theology without a cross, it will always stand as God's answer and solution to the reality of sin in our lives.  Of course, the church also seems to have a problem talking about sin as well which makes for a theology so watered down that it is mostly a feel good theology instead of one based on the sacred word that is inspired by God.  (II Timothy 3:16)   

The obscure third verse says what is true well.  God created a plan for dealing with my sin and your sin, not just part of it, but all of it.  Jesus' death on the cross is that atoning sacrifice that changes the trajectory of the human experience.  No longer are we destined for life separate from all that is holy, but we are in fact set on a path that will carry us to the Home which is even now being prepared for us in the heavenly place.  Praise the Lord, O my soul!

Independence Day

While I am not a big fan of celebrating the 4th of July in a worship service, I am still red, white, and blue to the core.  And even though it might be tempting to preach the holiday, preaching the gospel is more important.  The church's mission is not to glorifiy the country, but to glorify God.  There are times when it seems we get it tangled up and make the celebration of a secular holiday more significant than the opportunity to celebrate the power of the risen Christ in our midst.    

I am grateful to be an American.  I know that our nation has not always manifested perfection in social issues, nor has it always reflected the values inherent within the gospel.  I do not make excuses for our national failures, but neither do I carry such a spirit of condemnation that the good of who we are as a nation cannot be celebrated.  We are not a nation without problems.  But, we are still a nation made great in its striving for the freedom of its people.   

Independence Day gives us a moment for pausing in gratitude that our flag still waves over a people who are the recipients of many blessings.  It gives us a moment to pray that the values of faith in our Creator will guide us as we move into the future.  It give us a moment to wave the flag, remember our heritage, give thanks for those whose lives have been sacrificed for the cause of freedom, and to ask God to bless our future with grace instead of what is deserved.  

One Ever Present

As we know there are three separate and somewhat different accounts of the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness.  All agree that this moment came after the baptism of Jesus and all three agree that the Spirit had something to do with getting Jesus to that place of trial and temptation.  There are, of course, other similarities, but one of the distinctive notes is found in Luke's telling of the narrative.  As the encounter with Satan comes to an end, Luke writes, "When the devil had finished every test, he departed from Him until an opportune time."  (Luke 4:13)      

It is obvious that Luke wants the reader to anticipate a continued struggle on the part of Jesus with the one whose business was to undermine everything God was seeking to do though His Son.  Some see the presence of Satan in that moment on the cross when Jesus felt deserted, but what is truth is that Jesus made many references to the evil one as He walked those roads of Galilee.  He was present in the work of betrayal.  He was present in the moment when Peter drew his sword and slashed the ear of one who came for Jesus in the Garden.  He was present in the Roman tormenters and in the Jewish religious authorities who were seeking a solution to what they perceived to be the Jesus problem.      

More than any of us who read the gospels might think, Jesus was surely aware that Satan was never far away.  If he could not succcessfully tempt Jesus to stray from the course, he would try to attack those who might have some influence over Him.   Jesus recognized the power of the evil one.  He told us to pray, "...lead us not into temptation and deliver us from evil..."  While one of Satan's strategies is to bring us to a place where we do not believe he exists, He is surely present with us seeking to undermine the work God wants to do through us.  As the Apostle Pauls says, "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His power.  Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil."  (Ephesians 6:10-11)

A New Definition of Sin

To read the Temptation Story in the book of Matthew is to come to a new definition of sin.  It is a well remembered moment in the Jesus narrative.  After His baptism He is led by the Spirit into the wilderness where He is tempted by the devil.  As we look closely at the three temptations we see that the one thing they have in common is that they all represent the short cut.  What Satan tempts Jesus to buy are all good things: feeding the hungry, doing the spectactular to captivate a crowd, having all the kingdoms of the world bow down before Him.     

The sin is not in the end result, but in the means to accomplish it.  It is the old story about the tension between the means justifying the end.  The sin is in the shortcut.  And as we look back over our years and our moments of dealing with temptation, we see ever so clearly that so often our sins were framed inside getting a good thing now instead of later, when we wanted it instead of when God planned it, according to our need for instant gratification against God's Word about waiting.  The short cut always seems to have such a strong appeal.     

Jesus recognized what was going on in the wilderness.  He also knew that the Father's way was not the immediate painless way, but one that would take Him into the control of people filled with the evil of Satan and finally to a cross where He would die a slow and painful death.  Surely, the devil must have known that the temptation of the short cut was one that had merit, but still it was one that fell short of having such power as to thwart the plan of the Father which was taking root in the heart of Jesus.  Watch out for the short cuts that appear to take us toward the things of God.  They have a way of leading us into sin.

One Made Ready

When the Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness after His baptism at the Jordan River, it was an intentional and purposeful act on the part of the Father God.  It was not a moment of rambling, or meandering.  He was not there to observe the climatic conditions, or to check out the animal population.  There was some holy work which needed doing in those forty days and forty nights.  The mechanism of the work was being tempted by Satan.  Matthew says, "Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wildnerness to be tempted by the devil..."(Matthew 4:1)    

It seems to be a moment necessary for the work about to be undertaken by Jesus.  What happened during that long season of temptation and fasting was something designed to make ready the servant Son of the Father who would walk the divine plan to completion.  While it might seem to us that He would be One pre-programmed for what was to come, it would appear that some element of that programming had to be done through a flesh and blood experience which would be common to all those for whom He would die.  

In Hebrews the Word of God reads, "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but we have one who in every respect has been tested, (or tempted) as we are, yet without sin."  (Hebrews 4:15)  Of course, this moment in the wilderness would not be the only moment of being tempted.  It would not be His only encounter with the evil one.  Even as late as the cross, Satan was present in the voice of one of those on another cross who challenged him to come down from the cross and save Himself.  As surely as the baptism of Jesus at the Jordan marked Him as ready for the work of the Kingdom, so did those moments in the wilderness.  In some mysterious way they signaled that He was ready for the redemptive work to be done on the center stage of human history.