Pray Without Ceasing

Long before I was putting words on a computer monitor, I was writing them down on a piece of paper.  As long as I can remember I have been writing something one way or another.  When I went to my first pastoral appointment in Stapleton, I wrote a weekly devotional for the county newspaper.  As one who has always written a preaching manuscript, I suppose it to be true that the necessity of preaching every Sunday gave me another reason to write.  This blog in this season of my life must surely be a part of the evolution that began a life time ago.    

Like all folks who love playing with words to see how they come together, I sometimes look at an empty page unable to find a word to put on it.  Some call it "writer's block."  Whatever it is called, I run into it from time to time.  Years ago I ran into a book in which the author shared that she always prayed for divine guidance whenever she sat down to write.  It was something I often did as I prepared to preach, but had never thought about doing for everything to be written until I saw it on a page she had penned.    

Whenever I remember her advice as it applied to writing, I often think of it as advice for good living.  How much better the ends we seek to create would be if we prayed about where we were going and what we were going to do before we got started.  This applies to writing, but it also is applicable to fixing a meal, doing the dishes, cutting the grass, meeting a friend for lunch, taking a trip, or paying the bills.  If it sounds like a lot of praying, maybe it is.  Maybe it brings to mind Brother Lawrence who prayed over the dishes in the kitchen.  And, maybe, it brings to mind the verse of Scripture which says, "pray without ceasing."  (I Thessalonians 5:17)

The Blessing Place

Worship in the sanctuary with the gathered people of God is an interesting thing. There are times when it simply does not happen despite our best efforts and intentions.  From beginning to end it seems like someone stumbling and trying to retain his or her balance.  The purpose ceases being responding to God through worship, but getting through the moment to the benediction.  Everyone who has stood behind the pulpit or sat in the pew a few times has endured these painful moments when nothing seems to be going in the right direction.   

What is also true is that there are other times that worship happens, not just ordinary worship, but soul stirring worship, and it seems to take place despite us.  In those moments we know what it feels like to have a little bit of Pentecost being sprinkled upon us.  We leave those moments knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that what has happened had nothing to do with us and everything to do with the Holy Spirit.  Of course, extraordinary moments of worship are not always about a spontaneous work of the Spirit for there are those times when careful attention is given to the act of worship by the worship leader and the Spirit chooses to bless it beyond measure.    

I love being with the people of God when lively worship takes place which not only stirs my senses, but my soul as well.  I stood and shared in such a moment this morning.  It was powerful, refreshing, and made me eager to go back to the blessing place. It was like standing beneath a heavenly fountain with undeserved grace and unexplainable joy being poured over me.  Thanks be to God for the way He blesses His gathered people and thanks be to God for getting me there!

Let God Be God

To speak of learning to listen for the voice of God as He speaks His Word to us sounds so unspiritual.  It resonates more with something which we do in a math or biology classroom.  Yet, the term is appropriate because God does not relate to anyone of us in the way He relates to another.  We are each an individual.  Each one of us is a child of His and even as we relate differently and communicate differently with each one of our children, so does God with us.  The reference to learning is appropriate because it points toward recognizing the way He speaks to us.   

As we look at some of the Biblical characters we see that Moses heard the voice of the Lord in a bush.  Or, was it in the fire that consumed the bush?  In another place the Word says, "As the blast of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses would speak and God would answer him in thunder."  (Exodus 19:19)  From the depth of mystery, Samuel heard his name called in the silence which prevailed in a temple shrouded by the darkness of night.  (I Samuel 3:1-10)  Isaiah heard the voice of the Lord in a vision of glory in the Temple while others heard it in a dream.  It is not a good thing to limit God to one way of speaking His voice, nor is it a good thing to expect Him to speak to us as He speaks to another.    

As we enter into the discipline of listening, we are likely to think we are hearing His voice when it is our own.  And while I know someone whose spiritual life I value, testifying to hearing long discourses from the Lord, experience has taught me to listen for the few words instead of the many.  The important thing in this discipline of listening is to let God be God. In faith expect Him to reveal Himself in the way He chooses.  Know that even when it seems He is silent, He may speaking a Word to us that we need to hear.

Learning to Listen

Listening for the voice of God requires learning to live in the silence.  The silence is not one emptied of external sounds and distractions, though, it is a good thing to create as much external silence as possible if we are serious about hearing a Voice that often speaks very softly.  When we come to the moment of entering into the presence of the Holy One, turning off televisions, music, and hand held devices is a good practice.  Of course, the external distractions are not limited to such modern technological devices for even in the day of Jesus we hear Him saying, "...whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you."  (Matthew 6:6)     

Obviously, creating a place where silence prevails over the external noise is a good start in experiencing the silence needed to hear the voice of the Lord, but the real place where the silence must prevail is the inner places of the heart and mind and spirit.  All of us have drawn aside into some quiet place only to have our mind filled with the concerns of the day, some nagging question for which there seems to be no answer, or even some catchy jingle which has gotten hung up in our mind.  Stilling the inner self and its voices can often be more difficult than turning off the noisemakers of the day.   

It is in those moments of stilling the inner noises that the learning curve is huge for many of us.  Learning to live in the inner silence is not as easy as turning off a switch.  One suggestion is to ask the Spirit for help.  Those things we cannot do alone, He is always ready to provide help.  Another is to be prepared to recite quietly some simple spiritual mantra like "Jesus is Lord, Jesus is Lord," as a tool to help us find our center once again.  Learning is a key word as we seek to live with inner silence.  Like any discipline, it takes practice in order for it to become a natural part of our life.

The Voice of Ego

As we move into our quiet time with the Lord and seek to hear His voice, we may be surprised that there are other voices to hear.  One of the most difficult to discern is our own voice.  All of us from time to time have prayed the prayer which has nothing to do with "thy will be done,"  but one which instead is about "my will be done."  In other words, we have prayed asking, or telling, God what we think He should do and must do.  As we pray such a prayer, it takes us only a step away from hearing our own voice speaking a word convincing us that we want is what God wants.    

The truth is that God's agenda and our agenda is often different.  We are looking for the quick fix.  We are expecting a story to end according to our expectations.  We know what God should do and when He should do it.  To pray in this way long enough is likely to result in our ego convincing ourselves that what we have said to God is what He is saying to us.  The truth is God often says, "No," or "Not now," neither of which is what we want to hear.  God is usually in less of a hurry than we are.  His time is not our time. 

The voice of our own ego can speak loudly enough to speak over any other voice, even the voice of the Lord.  It is a voice which speaks from within us that requires our measuring it against what we know to be the will of God.  His will is revealed in the Word.  It may also be revealed through conversations with those who have proven themselves to be trustworthy friends that are genuinely interested in our well being and the well being of our relationship with God, and not just "yes" people in our lives.  Whenever we pray and listen seriously for God's voice, we need to pray for discernment lest we take a wrong turn at an important juncture of our life simply because we have decided it is the thing to do.

Marker #76

Out on the expressways there are those mile markers telling us how far we have come, or depending on your perspective, how far we have to go.  Today a new mile marker showed up for me on the journey.  I reached my 76th birthday.  Never been at that point between here and there before.  While some might say it is time to start folding the tent, it feels more like a time when new things are unfolding before me.  I find myself living with a heightened sense of gratitude for each day and the blessings which come with each day.    

Like everyone who reads this, the journey from there to here has had some rough, dark, and hard places.  But, it has also had moments which could only be described as better than I could have ever deserved.  As I go forward with the journey from here to there, I am sure that this part of it will not change.  The storms and sunshine have come to us all and they are still going to come.   The good news is that the Holy One who has walked with me as I traveled from there to here is going to travel each step of the way from here to there.    

As I have walked into this day which marks year number 76, I do so with two words to guide me.  One is gratitude; the other is generosity.  I know that I have never been so conscious of the spirit of gratitude in my life.  It came like a powerful wind as I entered into a season of noting the small blessings which were coming into my life on the stormy days as well as those filled with blue skies and sunshine.  One of the byproducts of a growing sense of gratitude is a growing desire to be more generous with the things which I have mistakenly thought of as mine.  To live a few extra years is to realize that nothing is mine, it is all His.  I am grateful for all He has shared with me and grateful, too, that He is giving me more opportunities to share what is His with others.  

The Dark Shadows

Listening for the voice of God is tricky business.  As we listen for that Word, the tempter often slips in, speaking a word that seems to be the voice of God.  As we remember the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness after His baptism, we see that Jesus recognized from the very beginning that the voice He heard was the voice of the evil one.  We do not always so quickly discern that the evil spirit is seeking to lead us.  The reason is obvious.  To look at the story found in the 4th chapter of Luke's gospel is to see that we are often tempted to do a good thing for the wrong reason.     

The first temptation was about feeding the world's hungry.  If we heard a plan to wipe out world hunger, we would certainly lend an ear to hear.  If we had power to control the powers that oppress the world's people, we would be in a position to change the lives of so many victims of the unjust systems of our society.  The final temptation was about being a powerful leader who could change the direction of the world's masses.  Jesus did not have go to a cross to save the world, there was an easier way.    

All of these moments of temptation had within them the potential for good, but it also meant choosing the short cut to God's plan.  It meant choosing the expedient way instead of the sacrificial way of God.  It meant choosing a way which spoke of what I can do instead of what God can do through me.  The things Jesus was tempted to do were not bad things.  They were good things.  The temptation was to do the good, but to do it according to our own agenda instead of the agenda of God.   The voice Jesus heard is still being spoken.  As we seek to hear the voice of the Lord, we must never forget this voice which comes from the dark shadows.

Tricky Business

Hearing the voice of the Lord can be tricky business.  It is not like there is some heavenly public address system with a huge amplifier blaring out the Word He wants us to hear.  Instead, the voice which He speaks is more likely to be the voice that requires learning to pay attention to the moments filled with silence.  After Elijah's great moment on Mt. Carmel, the bold prophet is filled with such a spirit of fear that he flees to another mountain where he hides in fear.  As he hides, the Lord comes to speak.  There came a wind so strong it split mountains and broke rocks.  After the wind came an earthquake and then a fire.  But, the Lord was in none of these.  Only when the "sound of sheer silence" came did Elijah hear the voice of the Lord.  (I Kings 19:11-13)     

It was not in the loud thundering sounds that changed the shape of the earth that the Lord spoke, but in the silence.  It would seem that hearing the voice of the Lord would be for us an easy thing instead of something which requires a discipline of silence and a dedication to listening.  Not even the servants who are entrusted to speak the Word of the Lord can be trusted for they are often tempted to speak their own opinions, or even worse, speak words which tickle our ears to insure their security among us.  Hearing the Word of the Lord is tricky business.    

How do we know if the Word we hear and suppose to be the Word of the Lord is really the Word of the Lord?  As we remember from the story of the first couple in the book of Genesis and from the Temptation story of Jesus in the wilderness, the voice we hear may indeed be the whispering, enticing voice of the tempter who has nothing in mind but leading us away from the plan and purpose of God for our life.  As we pray with the hope of hearing the voice of the Lord, discernment becomes an important word.  II Corinthians 12:10 speaks of the gift of discernment which reminds us to listen with care for the evil one is still on the prowl seeking to disguise his voice so that we think it is the voice of God.  

The Goal of Maturity

In the beginning of our spiritual journey, most of us are not really interested in hearing what God has to say to us.  Actually, we are not listening.  Praying is not a spiritual discipline for hearing the voice of God, but one which enables God to hear our voice.  In the beginning our praying is one sided.  It is all about us telling God what He needs to hear from us.  It never occurs to us that He might have something to say to us.  If we are going to hear God speaking, it is going to be when some ray of sunshine shines on a verse in the Word opened before us, or in the midst of some Sunday sermon from the pulpit.   

When we start walking with Jesus, our praying is not about listening.  It is about talking.   There are numerous places where the Scripture contrasts the difference between those who are immature in their faith and those who are mature.  In I Corinthians 3:1-2 the Apostle Paul wrote, "...I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but rather as people of the flesh, as infant in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food."  If we keep turning the pages, we come to a word from Peter as he says, "Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, so that you may grow into salvation."  (I Peter 2:2) It is inevitable that we are immature in the beginning of our walk with Christ, but immaturity is not our goal.  Maturity, or perfection is our goal.     

It is easy to embrace those habits of spiritual immaturity as the norm. Such is what often happens in our praying.  The praying of the beginning is not so much about listening as it is talking.  There is nothing unusual about this, but it is not the place we want to stay.  Listening for the voice of God is something which involves a discipline not associated with the first prayers of telling and asking.  Listening requires first a belief that God speaks to us and, secondly, a spiritual discernment that comes only as our hearts are stilled enough to hear what is rising forth from the Holy Spirit who abides and dwells within us.

Hearing the Voice

Numerous times the Scripture speaks of God speaking to people.  Either He speaks directly, or through a prophetic voice such as Jeremiah, of even an angel.  With these narratives we have no problem.  However, if some man or woman down the pew from us starts talking about God speaking to them, we raise our eyebrows of skepticism and doubt.  It is not problematic for God to speak through the Biblical people, but a bit of a stretch for us to hear such a report from our neighbor down the street.    

I find myself standing alongside of those who know in their spirits that they have heard the voice of the Lord speaking to them.  I remember the first time as being that moment when I accepted into my life the Christ as the Savior sent from God.  In that moment of personal inner change, I also heard the Lord calling me to preach.  It was not an audible voice heard with ears, but one which was received and heard in my spirit that was as convincing and powerful as any word I have heard.  Over the years there have been other moments of inner urging which I knew to be from the Spirit of God, but none are remembered with such clarity as the first one long years ago.   

Coming into the years of retirement has brought me into a season when there has been much more awareness that we can expect to hear that Voice which cannot be heard.  One day in the garden while kneeling in the dirt and weeding the okra seedlings there came from within me an awareness that God was speaking and saying to me, "Pay Attention."  I have no more forgotten that afternoon than the night I knelt by my bed in the Alamo parsonage and heard the call to preach.  Hearing that Voice has directed my life, but it has not come because I am special.  He seeks to speak to all of us.  The hymn, "In the Garden," speaks of hearing the voice of God in all of its three verses.  God still speaks and those who listen, hear.

The Waiting Life

I have never been one to go to the last chapter of a book to see how it ends.  I always figure the end is there and I will get to it  when I get there.  However, as I read a book entitled, "The Promise of the Spirit," by William Barclay, I broke my reading rule. The journey through the interior pages took me into places of such powerful insight, I could not keep myself away from the concluding chapter.  The final words were framed by the passage from Isaiah which says, "They that wait upon the Lord, shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint."  (Isaiah 40:31)  

Waiting is not something we do well.  Every fiber of our being calls us to the active life, instead of the waiting one.  The reward for waiting is irrelevant, we still wait with an impatience that agitates our soul instead of bringing peace to it.  It is in this context that Barclay wrote, "For an age which believes in incessant action, silent waiting is an unpalatable prescription.  For a man whose every waking moment is occupied, and who even steals time for work from the hours of sleep, there may be necessary a complete reorganization of life if he is to find time for the  silent waiting on the Spirit."   

As usual, Barclay is right.  For us to learn to live carrying silence in our heart may require more than just a conversion if conversion means a turning away from one direction and going another.  What is going to be required of us to know the revealing power of the silence which enables us to walk in holy presence is a hunger and thirst for God that transcends any other longing of the soul.  Jesus truly pointed the way for us as He said, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness....Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. "  (5:7-8)

Simple is Enough

Simple things are enough.  Thoreau certainly had it right with his call to simplify.  Complicating something simple is not an improvement.  Modern athletes have all kinds of apps and devices which are designed to make them better athletes; yet, the best athletes are those who simply stand at the free throw line, or in the batting cage, or get up every day and run the miles.  Super saints, if there is such a thing, are not made by a ten step program for sainthood, or praying a special prayer, but by embracing the basics such as the discipline of prayer, immersion in the Word, and staying focused on Jesus.   

Some may add one or two things to the basics, but the listing was never meant to be a closed list, but one which would suggest the simple road to travel.   A recent read about Ignatius lifted up the way that he in his earlier life looked at those he saw as faithful saints of God for the purpose of modeling his life after them.  His early spiritual education came as he watched the feet of some who walked alongside of God before him.    

Keep it simple is a good mantra for those of us who aspire to walk the way of faith.  A prayer as simple as "Lord, have mercy," a copy of the Word, and a desire to follow after Jesus is more than enough.  Unfortunately, there are churches and people who often make it more complicated, but simple is enough.  The Scripture points the way.  God has through His grace provided all we need for salvation.  All that is asked of us is faith in the Christ who is the way set forth by the Creator.  Simple is enough.

Table Blessings

Long table blessings are not the most popular prayers when stomachs are growling.  The first such prayer I remember praying began with "God is great, God is good..."  Later on the rote prayer of a child was replaced by extemporaneous words of thanksgiving.  Over the years of family gatherings, everyone knew who prayed the short blessings and who prayed the long ones.  At one family gathering everyone stands and sings the "Doxology,"  There is something special about singing it in a circle around the table as those gathered look at one another.  It is not uncommon to see some eyes being wiped dry as the song comes to its ending.   

There is no hard and fast rule about what should be included in the table blessings. In recent days it has become not only a moment of thanksgiving, but also a moment of intercession as the names of people who have asked for prayers are called.   As we pray around the table, we thank God for the hands that have prepared our meal which is certainly an appropriate prayer, but it can also be a prayer which is broadened to include the many hands from farm workers to truck drivers to clerks in grocery stores.  The food on our table does not just show up, but is the result of the efforts of many who are not seen by us.   

Of course, table blessings remind us to live with a spirit of gratitude for everything.  Life is full of blessings.  They are too abundant to fit on our table.  They are too many to sit and name at any given moment.  Every single moment we live brings its own blessing.  We live best when we live with grateful hearts.  Being grateful changes us.  We begin to understand the magnificent grace of God which is constantly touching our lives.  As we grow grateful hearts our soul becomes more content, our hands cannot rest without serving, and our spirit overflows with praise.

The Jones Legacy

Tonight I finished my little 120 page biography of the great 19th century evangelist from Cartersville, Georgia.  There are so many things which can be said about Sam Jones.  In the early part of his life, his first love was the bottle; however, after his father's death, his first love became Jesus.  One day he was looking at a bottle and the next day, he was looking at the Christ.  Sam Jones became a Methodist preacher.  His story makes me proud to be one as well.  He drew large crowds in meetings in large cities.  He was unafraid to preach sermons which confronted the evils of his day.  He was controversial.  He preached for conversions.    

The church and its preachers have changed in too many ways to count since the days Jones's voice thundered as the voice of the Lord.  In his day the church was timid in the face of evil which does not seem to have changed much through the century.  It still struggles to stand with it feet firmly planted in the authority of the Word.  Unlike Sam Jones, the church seems to have grown timid in preaching for conversion.  If there is anything which sounds like a death knell in today's church, it is the silence heard when the moment is calling for messages inviting people to repentance and the acceptance of Jesus in their lives.   

In so many places it seems that preachers and the church live and work with the assumption that everyone in the church has experienced the life changing work of conversion.  And, in even more places, all the energy of the church is directed toward keeping the membership happy to the point that those who are lost outside the church are going to stay lost.  Like Jesus, Sam Jones would shatter the comfort zone of many churches and preachers.  Sam Jones is in heaven and the history books.  May God raise up another and another and another.

At the Altar

I do not want to be like the drunk man who one dark night stumbled into a well, gave his life to Jesus before morning came, was rescued, and then forever was leading his old drinking buddies to the well where he pushed them over the edge and into the well.  I am not sure about practicing that kind of evangelism even though I have a strong affinity for the power of kneeling down at an altar.  I have a lot of altars in my spiritual history.  

I knelt at the Hebardville Church for baptism.  The Alamo Church had one where I knelt at least a hundred times during my high school years.  One afternoon during a revival at Asbury College, I knelt and experienced the sweeping power of the Holy Spirit in my heart in a way never before known.  There have, of course, been other altars, but these are the most memorable.  There is something about kneeling at an altar that not only puts our body in a different position, but our heart as well.  Kneeling provides a different perspective for all but the most hardened souls.  

To kneel gives perspective to the Creator-creature relationship, to the God-human relationship, and to the Savior-sinner relationship.  It is a moment of knowing that the power lies not in the one kneeling, but in the One before whom we kneel.  When Isaiah experienced his great moment with the Lord, it was from the altar that came the blotting out of his sin and it was from that same altar that he went when he heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?"  (Isaiah 6:8)

The Throwaways

I was on my way somewhere else with a little time to spare when I saw the used book store with a flashing sign which said, "Open."  Even though I knew longer than fifteen minutes would make me late, I pulled in a parking spot at the front door.  Within five minutes I found my prize.  The name of the book was "Sam Jones, A Fire out of Georgia," by Ray Hughes.  Born in Cartersville, Georgia in 1856 Sam Jones became a Methodist evangelist who preached all over Georgia,  Texas, Kentucky, Indiana and a host of other states.  When he died in 1906 his body was laid in state in the Georgia State Capital so the many could pay their respects.    

Before Sam Jones was called to  preach, he was a failure.  He failed as a lawyer.  He then lost his next job as a miner and the next one as a driver of a delivery truck.  After a six week drinking binge, he was brought to the deathbed of his father who said to him, "My poor, wicked, wayward, reckless boy.  You have broken the heart of your sweet wife and brought me down in sorrow to my grave; promise me, my boy to meet me in heaven."  It was a moment of reckoning and repentance for young Sam Jones who cried out, "I promise...I quit!"  He was true to his word and preached against the liquor business bringing many a man who loved the bottle into a loving relationship with Jesus.    

To read this man's story is to think that God could have done better in the moment of calling.  Liquor was his love.  It was his life.  Nothing about his life could possibly hint that here was a man who would preach to thousands in evangelistic meetings in major cities such as Nashville, Atlanta, St. Louis, and Cincinnati.  God is full of surprises.  He often uses the throwaways to accomplish His Work.  We know this to be true through the reading of Sam Jones' story, the Holy Word, and by looking in the mirror.

Inner Markings

We are all different.  Sometimes the differences are miniscule, subtle, and insignificant.  It is also true that the differences can be quite significant, polarizing, and as far apart as the east is from the west.  The trick is to live with others in such a way that what is extremely different and polarizing is not acrimonious and divisive.  The world is too small and time is too precious to allow such to happen; yet, we seem to be living in a day when civil conversation and respectful listening are in short supply. More than ever we need to see each other as we are and not as we pretend to be.  

Who we are is a child and creation of the Creator of the universe.  We are all conceived and born with the markings of the divine upon us.  Each one of us has within us the essence of the Creator God who made us.  Just before the seventh day dawns in the order of creation, the author of the Scripture pauses in a moment of reflection and says, "God saw everything He had made, and indeed, it was very good."  (Genesis 1:31).  On other days the concluding word was "It was good," (Genesis 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25).  In verse 25 after the creation brought that life giving eternal light into humankind, the word is not "good," but "very good."     

We are a part of the creation which God saw as very good.  Everyone we meet regardless of how they look, or how different their values are those who bear the essence of God.  When our conversation or our relationship seems to be getting frayed and impossible, it is good to remember that we all share a common point of origin.  It is good to remember that we are loved by the same God.  Even as we do not throw away family members because they have different views than us, neither can we thrown away some acquaintance, or stranger, or friend simply because their outward markings are different than ours.  It is not the outward markings that count, but the inner one which declare "this one bears the essence of God."

The Way Home

I read "The Pilgrim's Progress" by John Bunyan long ago.  I remember getting my first copy from my grandfather's library when he died.  It was a small volume.  The most striking thing about the book was the way it was frayed around the spine and wore worn out covers.  Some of the pages were folded over from the opening and closing.  It was worn enough that I knew it had to be an important book.  It had to be one that was read more than once.  It was not a book that had gotten worn out from sitting on the shelf, but from being held in the hands.   As anyone would assume, it was about a  pilgrim's journey.    

In the case of Bunyan's allegory, it is the story of a pilgrim's journey from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City.  Perhaps, one of the reasons for its timeless popularity is that we are all pilgrims.  We are all on a journey from where we began to where we are going.  We began in the heart of God and to the heart of God we are going.  It is a physical journey we describe as one which takes us from conception to the grave, but it also the spiritual journey which takes us back to the place of our belonging.  We belong to God.    

There is a forgetfulness which afflicts so many who share this journey with us.  So many times it seems that we have forgotten where it is that we are really going.  It is not up some ladder where power and prestige await us.  It is not to some place which has the sign, "Arrived."  Our forever anxiety and stress is related to our forgetfulness.  We are a people who have forgotten who we are.  We are a people who have forgotten where we are going.  We have too often ignored this longing for the heart of God.  We have too often forgotten the real purpose for this life as well as the way Home.  It is to meet this need that Christ has come.  He shows us who we are and the way Home.

An Ancient Way

Celtic spirituality is an old stream of Christian tradition which has come to me in the last few years in such a way that it seems like one of those new things God is doing in my life.  Celtic spirituality goes back to the fifth and sixth century.  Inside the regions of Ireland and Scotland it took root and grew in a time empty of the control and influence of the Roman Catholic Church.  In some ways it bears the primitive markings of an authentic spiritual culture which was not shaped by the dogma and the ritual of the early church anchored by the ways of the Apostles and later Augustine.  This stream of faith was influenced more by John, the disciple, who is said to have heard the heartbeat of God as he leaned over the chest of Jesus at the final meal. 

Thus, it is a tradition not bound by the discipline and doctrine of the early church.  As this Celtic tradition has found its way to my heart, it has been received like a breath of fresh air.  The Creation is spoken of with such reverence and authority that it is likened unto a second sacred book.  It is also a faith which has great respect for the Word of God.  As I began a life here at the farm some fourteen years ago, I knew that some new way of seeing old things was growing within me, but it had no name until the stream of Celtic spirituality started unfolding before me.   

Some have mistakenly described it as pantheistic.  It is a spiritual tradition which is not pantheistic (God is all things), but panentheistic (God reveals Himself in all things).  Another defining feature is that these ancient Celtic saints traveled as pilgrims, but their destination was not to some specific place such as a holy shrine, but to the place of their resurrection, or the place of their new beginning.  Their spiritual journeying was modeled after Abraham who was called by God to go to a land "...that I will show you."  (Genesis `12:1)  Again and again it has seemed that my journey since retirement has been to the land of "know not where."  In the spirit of Abraham and these Celtic saints who came after him and before me, I now go.

In the Gap

It was an unusual, but moving end to Sunday morning's worship service.  A young woman had enlisted in the Navy and was getting ready to leave for her basic training.  It was her last Sunday in her home church for awhile and as the service ended, the pastor called her forward for a moment of blessing.  Several Navy veterans also came and stood there alongside of her.  After a few moments of recognition, she knelt at the altar, the veterans stood around her, and her pastor offered a prayer of blessing for her as she prepared for a new beginning.    I

It was a moment when the power of that church's fellowship was focused in lazer like fashion on a single member of the community.  As she left that place, she surely knew where she belonged.  She knew she belonged to that church community, but she also knew she belonged to the Christ who would be with her wherever her new beginning took her.  I am sure tears were in the eyes of more people than this old retired Methodist preacher.  And while I am not one prone to do much clapping in worship, I rose with the rest to celebrate this moment which so captured the power of the care of the spiritual community we know as the church.     

New beginnings are always difficult and sometimes frightening.  Part of the reason is that beginnings are always preceded by some act of departure, or letting go.  It may be a departure precipitated by the death of a loved one, or the painful breakup of a marriage, or even the birth of a child.  Many of today's graduates are experiencing the excitement of new beginnings, but also grief over the inevitable departure from familiar surroundings, friends, and family.  As my graduating grandson said, "It is bittersweet."   It is great when the church seeks to stand as Christ's presence in the gap between endings and beginnings.

The Walk into Mystery

To walk the journey of faith in Christ is to know that every day is a day in which the One who walks ahead of us and beside us is seeking to speak and reveal Himself to us.  He may be the Invisible One, but He is also the One who makes Himself known to us.  He may be the One without a voice heard by our ears, but He is also the One who has a voice heard by our hearts.  He is the One who speaks words full of common sense, but He is also the One whose words are so filled with mystery, we are constantly scratching our heads and asking for wisdom to understand.    

To think that the Christ who walks with us and with whom we walk is the Christ of the box we carry is absurd.  He is constantly about accomplishing things so ordinary we give Him no credit while at the same time He is about things we really believe to be impossible though we ask for them.   A friend recently chided himself for his failure to believe that a simple thing he could not do was impossible for the "God of the Universe."  "How could I not believe that the God of the Universe could not do such a simple thing," he said as he laughed at the absurdity of the moment.    

Limiting the Unlimited God is not the act of one who has the mustard seed faith which can move mountains, change hearts, and send the power of evil packing.  What we cannot do alone is what He can do through us.  What we can do alone, we should do, but when we face those things which we understand to be His will and yet impossible for us to accomplish, then we can rest knowing that here is what He seeks to do through us and by us.  If it sounds impossible to understand, then simply remember the journey is not the predictable journey mapped out ahead of time, but the one full of mystery and led by the Holy One who is not only full of mystery, but defines its meaning.

Sure and Certain

The past few days provided an opportunity to be with college friends from another era of my life.  Back in 1966 when I went to Young Harris College, we stayed connected to our families at home through handwritten letters which went through the post office and phone calls that were made while standing out in the hall next to a phone that was attached to the wall.  A surprising thing happened while enjoying such a wonderful re-connection.   The internet and phone connection upon which we all depend went berserk and our normal connectivity went awry creating a kind of emotional anguish for some who lost their accustomed internet fix each day.   

While none of us experienced such emotional distress that emergency mental health teams were called to the campus, it was not uncommon to hear whining conversations about it throughout the day.  We have become so dependent on the phones we carry in our hands.  Some might even speak of it as an addiction.  It does seem to be a rather unhealthy dependency.  It is something which could not have possibly been imagined back in the '60's when the phones hung on the walls and we carried notebooks and pens to classes.   

Things have changed a lot in the decades since those days.  What has not changed is the accessibility of God.  No matter how disconnected we might have been back in the days before the internet, He was just as present with us as He is in the present moment.  Jesus promised to always be with us and He has kept that promise since He ascended into heaven long centuries ago.  The only way we can ever experience any disconnect from Him is by our own choice.  He is with us.  Upon His presence we can count.  Where we live, when we live, and what we have done matters not.  God is with us.  He is always seeking to reveal Himself to us.  Unlike our taken for granted internet connectivity, we can count on Him.  He promised to be with us and His promises are sure and certain.

A Difficult Moment

After a fifteen year hiatus, I am going to the Annual Conference of the denomination which ordained me back in 1971.  Until retirement in 2010, I had not missed a sesssion.  Actually, my going to Conference record goes back even further.  When I was a teenager, it was our family vacation.  My Dad, who was an ordained member, attended and along with him went the whole family.  Money was shorter than short in those days and the church took care of the motel expense for him alone or the whole family.  So, we all went.  My sister and I spent as much time as possible in the motel swimming pool.   

When I became an ordained member, I went every year, but spent most of the time involved in the Conference.   No longer did I enjoy the pool, but I did enjoy seeing other pastors.  Our fellowship was a unique one.  In so many ways the other members of Conference became like family.  We grew from young ordinands to worn out retired preachers during the course of those years.  We shared each others stories, the joys, and the woes.  We sang, "And are we yet alive, and see each other's face?"  at the beginning and "God be with you till we meet again," at the end and there was a such fellowship between the two.  

Today's gathering will be a bittersweet gathering for this worn out old preacher.  So many will not be present.  Of course, some have died, but so many more have left for reasons of conscience as they struggled with a denomination in the throes of  radical change.  It has been one of the most troubling times of my life within the United Methodist Church.  I greive for the loss the fellowship has suffered.  I grieve for a church in such distress.  I pray God will continue to bless whatever it is we are able to do in the name of His Son wherever we each find ourselves doing it.  

Call Me Surprised

Some churches go to great efforts to encourage their visitors to return for another visit.  I remember one church which took a fresh loaf of baked bread to Sunday visitors on Sunday or Monday evening.  Another took a jar of honey and still another a fresh baked pie.  At the St John Church in Columbus we had a group of people who were Parking Lot Greeters.  They were out there greeting everyone, but especially alert to help visitors feel comfortable.  At the Richmond Hill Church we had visitor parking places near the front door so that it was just a few steps from the car to the front door of the church.  The problem with the parking place ministry was that it encouraged some folks to maintain visitor status instead of seeking  membership!    

There are more ideas and gimmicks than could possible be mentioned within the brief space of this blog.  Over the year I came to believe that the most important element of any ministry to new people were the people who sat in the pews.  Visitors did not always like treatment so special that they had to stand up and do a jig, but they did appreciate the greeting they received from the folks around them.   

Another thing discovered is that folks expected a visit from the pastor or staff, but were pleased and surprised when some lay person took the effort to make a welcoming contact with them.  Of course, I may be talking about a ministry that no longer exists.  In my day it was all about personal contact with folks.  It was about the kind of contact that enabled people to actually be in each other's presence.  Maybe it is true today that it is more about some impersonal internet connection that passes for being personal.  It just always seemed to me that nothing could take the place of one person reaching out in a personal way to another.  Maybe I am old fashioned.  Maybe there is a better way.  If so, call me surprised.

Little Things

I have decided to call this past year of attending worship, "The Year of the Visitor."  In all my years of church going, I have never been to so many different churches in such a short span of time.  Twelve different churches in four different denonominational groups make up my record.  I have made an effort not to identify myself as an ordained person in the early part of any visit as the ordained and the unordained get treated differently.  At least such as been my experience in "The Year of the Visitor."   As a pastor of many churches, I always told folks it is important how visitors are treated and now I can offer a perspective from the pews.     

First, as a visitor, it really is important to have someone speak to you.  To be in a room full of people and not have anyone speak to you means leaving with such an empty feeling that going back for a second round is unlikely.  This is not a hard nut to crack.  All of us are creatures of habit.  Even in worship we sit in the same place.  A quick look around our area to see who is not usually present and then going to speak takes care of an important issue for any visitor.  What is one of the most important things to learn about the visitor from the conversation?  It is simple.  Their name.  Remember it and use it.    

A second suggestion really goes hand in hand with the first. The second suggestion is to be aware of surroundings.  This morning as I was leaving one of those twelve churches, some folks started waving to us from the sidewalk as we were driving away.  Their waving was so enthusiastic, I started to stop and speak thinking that surely I knew them.  But, I kept going and as I drove away, I remembered that I parked in the parking spot reserved for visitors.  I had forgotten, but the wavers on the sidewalk noticed and did their part to help increase my welcome quotient.  In my "Year of the Visitor,"  I have noticed that little things matter!