Blessings of Grace

Not too long ago around here, church and community groups were praying for rain.  When the prayers were being prayed, there had been only a thimble full of rain in over five months.  The land was suffering.  Crops needed to be planted.  Wildfires were raging due to the extremely dry conditions.  Things have changed in the last few weeks.  I am beginning to wonder if there was too much praying.  Buckets of rain are falling day and night.  The land is saturated.  The rivers are full.  Churches now are showing some renewed interested in providing instructions for building arks.   

Who among us remembers that old gospel song, "There shall be showers of blessing?"  All this rain makes me wonder if we can ever get flooded with blessings.  It is likely that most of us have felt that we were blessed more than we deserved.  I have a friend who often responds to ""How are you?" with "Better than I deserve."  The truth of the matter is that the blessings of God have nothing to do with what we deserve.  If it did, some of us, would have a cup empty of blessings instead of one filled to overflowing.  Blessings are expressions of grace.  If there is a price tag for the abundant grace of God it would be found on the hill called Calvary.   The Apostle Paul made it clear in his letter the Ephesians that the blessings of grace are not about what we deserve, but about what God chooses to give. "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God..." (Ephesians 2:8).  

When the prodigal son came to his senses and turned for home, he was greeted not by a father who would give him what other people had said his son deserved, but love that was forgiving and forgetting and most of all, unconditional.  He did not count the blessings in the boys pockets when he left home, the blessings that had been taken for granted and squandered.  Instead, he poured out overflowing blessings upon the son who folks said deserved nothing.  Is it not a good thing that God gives blessings to us not according to what we deserve, but according to His unconditional love?

Waiting

These recent days have been a season of listening for a Word from God which seems to be spoken; yet, is somehow unheard.  Listening has been like straining to hear the sound of a breeze that is obviously blowing out yonder, but is not yet here.  It is not that I have not listened intently.  It is as if there is a voice speaking in another room.  The sound of the speaking can be heard, but it is more a sound like a murmur or a whisper than a speaking that turns the sound into words.  This season has seemed to last forever.  

I am aware that the season has slowly changed from one of listening to one of waiting.  To wait on the Lord is certainly a Biblical discipline. Many are the times when the Word of God calls us to wait.  "Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!" (Psalm 27:14). There can be no doubt that waiting brings with it spiritual benefits.  "...those who wait for 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),  Neither is there any doubt that waiting is a part of God's plan for our blessing, "While staying with them, he (Jesus) ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father." (Acts 1:4).  

What I have come to know is that the Word which seems hanging out there just beyond hearing may not be as important as the season of waiting.  God has not yet revealed the Word, but He has clearly brought me into this season of waiting.  Perhaps, at the end of the season of waiting, the Word which is beyond hearing will be heard.  It is also possible that at the end of the season of waiting, the Word which I am straining to hear will still not be heard.  Who knows?  Maybe the longing for the not yet heard Word is His way of bringing me to a season where His unfolding will is to be experienced. 

Visions and Dreams

Many have been the times when I wondered about the contrast implied within the image of young men seeing visions and old men dreaming dreams. (Acts 2:17).  I have come to understand fairly well the difference between young men and old men, but why one sees visions while the other dreams dreams is perplexing. It has also caused me to ponder about dreams and visions.  Dreams are moments when the conscious mind is sleeping and the sub-conscious mind climbs on the throne which belongs to consciousness.  Visions are different.  Dreams speak of revelation and visions speak of things seen, but not seen.  

This is not an effort at some spiritual double talk, but an acknowledgement that visions unfold slowly and we are aware of them before we able to see them.   Perhaps, it can be said that dreams come from within and visions come to us like gifts.  We are aware of them before we are able to know what it is that is unfolding.  Dreams may require some interpretation, but visions come shrouded in both mystery and clarity.  More so than dreams, visions are troubling.  

They are troubling because they position us to see that God is about to do something which may involve us.  When we are caught up in the aura of something new which God is about to do, it is both exciting and frightening.  While dreams may be put to bed with the rising sun, sensing that God is unfolding something new before us will weigh heavy until the moment of revelation comes.  When that moment of revelation comes, we will have to choose to walk into the vision or simply go back to dreaming.  

The Biblical Stories

The Acts of the Apostles contains so many inspiring stories.  What must not be forgotten is that they are not just stories told for our entertainment.  These wonderful stories within the pages of Acts are stories that speak the Word of God.  His Holy Spirit led Luke to choose the ones included in this sequel to his gospel from the many stories he knew and could have written.  Thus, it is safe to assume that the Spirit had some reason for these narratives to be told again and again through the centuries.  They are included to equip us for the work of God. (II Timothy 3:17).  

Reading these stories through the lens of our own situation tempts us to challenge God to work in the same way He worked in a day that is long ago.  This is not to say that He cannot and will not work in such a way, but is instead a reminder that it is risky to impose what we want to happen in some situation which touches our life upon the story in such a way that we are demanding God align our circumstances and need according to the story.  The stories in the Acts of the Apostles are not there for us to duplicate, but to hear a voice from God and to understand His ways.  

The ninth chapter of Acts tells us of the conversion of Saul of Tarsus.  Does it mean that every road toward conversion has a blinding light from the heavens and the the power to knock us off our feet?  It could happen, but it is more likely that it reveals to us that no one is beyond the reach of God and that the touch of Christ can bring about a powerful, surprising, and life changing experience.  It makes more sense to pray for God's life changing power to touch someone than to set them out to walk some road holding a lightning rod.  Unlike doctrinal teachings, stories have truth within them and in the case of the Biblical stories, they have eternal and divine truth within them.  It is best to read them with a heart open to whatever it is that God has to say to us.

Live With Boldness

Why are we so afraid to pray boldly?  Is it because we fear looking foolish if God does not respond as we are praying?  Why is that we live with a spirit of timidity instead of a spirit of boldness that takes seriously that word of Jesus about seeking, and asking, and knocking?  Why do we build and trust in our security systems as our first line of defense when trouble comes instead of calling upon the Lord to help and provide?  Is there something in us that tells us we can really only trust in ourselves?  What is there within us that keeps us from living with boldness this life of faith in Jesus Christ?   

A recent reading of the Scripture brought me to a fresh encounter with Hebrews 4:16.  In that verse the Word of God says, "Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."  This Word follows a section of Scripture in which Jesus, the Son of God, is revealed to us as the high priest,who unlike the high priests of the Temple tradition of Israel, was not called by mortals, but was appointed by God to handle sin once and for all times.  It is through this priest anointed and appointed by God that we are called to offer our prayers full of faith and to live our lives full of boldness.   

Why, therefore, do we linger in our fears?  Why, therefore, do we hesitate to run toward the abundant grace of God?  Could it be the evil one whispering in our ears?  Could it be that this one whose every intent is bent against the desires of God seeks to rob us of the blessings God desires to grant to each one of us?  Why are we so afraid to ask?  Anyone of us who lived a day or two with Christ only needs to look back and see that God is faithful to keep His word and His promises to us.  "Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness..."  Amen!

The Buzzard's Message

Buzzards are not our favorite bird.  If they land in our yard, we are likely to do what we can to send them on their way.  There are two places we mostly see them.  One is on the highway feasting on road kill.  The second place we see them is soaring high above us in the rising thermals.  With wings expanded and hardly moving they go round and round getting higher and higher with each circle. If it was any other bird, we would declare it to be a thing of beauty.  They are, despite our wanting to distance ourselves from them, creatures created by our Heavenly Father.  They come from His creative hand as surely as do we.  

Being one of His created creatures means that even that old turkey buzzard can be used by God to proclaim something of His eternal truth.  Such happened a few days ago as I watched one high above the farm.  I watched it soaring and then with a single flap of the wing, it caught a wind I could not see and went in what appeared to be a straight line from as far as the eye could see to the south to as far as the eye could see to the north.  Without any movement of the wings, it raced across the dark sky like a runaway train.  Though I felt no breeze at all, I knew that old buzzard had taken hold of a powerful unseen wind.  

I could not feel the wind which carried it, but I knew it was there.  "The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.  So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." (John 3:8). In my moment of watching, I did not hear the sound of the wind, but I could see evidence of its presence and power. As the Holy Spirit blows into our lives, there may or may not be a sound, but surely our lives bear witness to our being caught up in that holy life giving Spirit.  If there is no evidence of the Holy Spirit in us, then maybe it is time for a season of repentance so that we might once again know the power of a fresh touch of the Spirit in our lives.

The Ancient Ways

All of us lose our way at one time or another.  Actually, it happens more than one time, but more times than we really want to remember.  The God we declare to be good suddenly seems distant and disinterested.  What we experience instead of nearness is more like a deep chasm between ourselves and Him, and struggle as we might, we still feel the separation instead of the nearness.  We experience such moments as times for abandoning our faith, or declaring ourselves too far off the path of faith to ever return.   

There is a word hidden in the long chapters of Jeremiah which can guide us from where we are to where our heart longs to be.  It is found in the sixth chapter, the sixteenth verse.  It has become a favorite of mine in recent years and has served as a signpost when I have lost my way.  "Thus says the Lord: Stand at the crossroads, and look and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way lies, and walk in it, and find rest for your souls."  This verse does not call us to retreat and live in the past, or to make a shrine out of it, but to remember.  Memory is a powerful gift given to us by a gracious God.  The old ways are the proven ways.  It is by them that we have walked in faith.  It is good to remember them.

To look at the ways we have walked in the past is to know that there were times when we were led into a darkness that we could not understand, but those same ways always led us out into the light where God's love and presence was overwhelming.  The word from Jeremiah invites us to see that we sometimes stand at a crossroad where continuing as we are intersects with the way which the Spirit has used to nudge us forward.  The old way may seem empty and a way that seems to lead nowhere, but it is also the way which caused us to know God was walking with us.  When stumbling in the land of "know not where," it is good to remember the ancient ways.

The Language of the Rain

The rain has its own language.  Sometimes it speaks so softly the ears strain to hear it.  Other times there comes down upon the house a rising roar much like the sound of angry bees disturbed on a cloudy day. Sometimes it sounds angry and other times its language feels like a lover wrapping their arms around you. The front porch here at the farm is my favorite place to listen. There under the shelter of the porch, I can stay dry and still be surrounded and immersed in its many sounds as it come and arrives and pours forth water upon drought stricken land.   

A clerk in a grocery store today said the rain sounded like life pouring down.  "Not bad for a college student," I thought.  Most people her age would only see the rain as an inconvenience.  She was right, you know.  Water is life giving.  I saw a picture today of some African children joyfully drinking and splashing as water poured forth from a deep well that was new to their village.  A few days ago a cup of ice water brought forth a huge smile on the face of a homeless guy who was standing at the corner sweating and hoping.  Another image recently seen was a young man coming up out of baptismal waters with hands raised in praise to God. 

Jesus spoke to a Samaritan woman at Jacob's Well about a water which when given by Him would become in those who receive "a spring of water gushing up to eternal life." (John 4:14).  The Revelation to John ends with the image of "the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God...." (Revelation 22:1).  The Word of God speaks of the spiritual water emanating from the throne of God and experienced through the person of Jesus Christ as being life giving.  As it comes to us, a river of living water fills us and no longer shall we want, for it is like the still waters which restores our soul. (Psalm 23:2).  When we drink of it, we shall not want for we shall be satisfied. (Psalm 23:1).

Confusing Verses

Salvation is a gift from God.  Ephesians 2:8 makes this clear as it says, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not your own doing; it is the gift of God."  The word from Ephesians is like bedrock.  What creates a bit of confusion for some is Philippians 2:12 which reads, "...work out your own salvation with fear and trembling..." How can salvation be a gift and something we are called to work out?  While no analogy is going to be perfect, is it not true that some are born with bodies built for running and some seem to have a natural ability to hear music and play music?  Is it not also true that those so gifted still must work and train so that their skills carry them past mediocrity to excellence?  

Salvation is a gift that opens the door to our finding and knowing once again our true self.  It must not come all at once since Jesus calls the imperfect ones we are to "be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." (Matthew 5:48).  The Apostle Paul was surely gifted with salvation understood that the the moment of gifting grace led to more, "I do not consider that I have made it on my own...I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus."  (Philippians 3:13-14).  

The Spirit of God is about His work in our heart even as we are called to be at work as well.  Sanctifying grace does not come in a moment, but over a life time.  The work of the early church after the Day of Pentecost is framed inside Acts 2:42.  "They devoted themselves to the Apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and prayers."  With these four disciplines these newly gifted disciples of Jesus began working out their salvation.  Disciplines have no saving power, but they do prepare us for what God wants to do in and through our life.

Pentecost Blessings

Being a retired preacher means it is not necessary to go to the church where you preach. I suppose after over forty years of listening to myself preach, it was time to listen to someone else have a go at it.  Retirement not only provides the opportunity of choosing, but also of going to more than one service of worship on the same Sunday morning.  Pentecost Sunday seemed like a good Sunday to exercise that privilege.  What was discovered was a Sunday of double blessing.  

The first church visited was one that had no denominational sign out front.  The worship was what is characterized as contemporary worship. The music though not preferred by this lover of the hymn book was good and the preaching was a strong Biblical message about Pentecost.  I saw some old friends there which was a blessing.  Another blessing came when I saw my name on their prayer list.  Once again I was humbled to the point of tears that my name had been called in these recent months of being treated for prostate cancer.  Overwhelmed was I when I introduced myself to someone and was told, "We have been praying for you.  May I share how God has answered our prayers?"  

The second worship service came later in a church where the sign matched my ordination papers.  "People Need the Lord," a favorite song that goes way back in my ministry was sung by the choir.  This preacher, too, thundered the Pentecost text from the second chapter of Acts.  An image he used which I hurriedly scratched on an offering envelope was framed inside the words, "The day when God showed up."  I carried the words home in my shirt pocket and in my heart.  It warms my heart and blesses me greatly to know that there are young preachers in the church where I have preached over forty years who are taking seriously the mantle of preaching for another generation.  "Bless us, O God of wind and fire!"

Prayer for Pentecost

"Lord, I pray that Pentecost would explode in Your church today.  Bring such disruption to our controlled institutional status quo that preachers want to run for safer places and  tongues so accustomed to Sunday monotone shout such praise that it seems as if their words are driven by holy power.  Lord, holy disruption and liturgical chaos is what we need.  We are a church set in our ways.  Like an old man who has lived so long as to only tell stories from the past, so has Your church become.  We need the holy fire.  We need  the wind that blows us off the seats of the status quo.   

Lord, I don't know how hard it was for You to pry those scared disciples of long ago loose from their fears, but the present day task looms so very large.  We pray for Your Holy Spirit to come, but we temper those prayers with "not today."  Predictable is how we like it.  We see order and control as spiritual virtues.  Shake the shepherds You have called to lead us.  Turn them into fire breathing prophets who speak not only to the injustice in our world, but also apostles who speak with boldness about the life changing power of Your Son, Jesus Christ.   

Lord, it is going to take a hotter fire and a stronger wind.  There is so much dross accumulated and complacency is like a blinding cloud.  Come, Holy Spirit, breathe not, but blow, blow from the four winds with such power that we know what it is to worship once again midst signs and wonders.  Bring in a season of repentance and forgiveness.  Cleanse us, Holy Lord.  We have become like dead men walking.  We wear with comfort the mask of the spiritual pretender and the robes of self righteousness.  Forgive us, Lord, but please come today with fire and wind.  Come and leave nothing but a church ready to be broken and poured out for Your sake.  Revive us, Lord, Much we need Your holy power in this day.  Amen."

The Journey Home

On the journey home yesterday from where we had been to where we were going,  exits were made several times from the hurried way to the softer and gentler places where real people lived.  Two homes became a haven filled with blessing.  First, there was a surprise visit with two friends known as college classmates back in the '60.  The welcome was so warm it felt like the journey had already ended at home.  It was clear that we were in sacred space where live had been and was still being lived,  

The second trip down the exit ramp was planned.  No sooner had we arrived than we were taken to a table filled with food that settled our hunger and conversation so real and rich that we felt as if we were  lingering around a table that was indeed a foretaste of glory divine.  It, too, was a wonderful moment that in some ways seemed almost sacramental, in the sense, that together as host and guest we were inside a precious holy moment.  

Before these moments of blessing, there was another.  It came shortly after our departure from where we had been.  Stopped at a traffic light, there came into view a man on the corner with a sign pleading for help.  As I rolled down the window and pulled out some cash from my billfold, he grabbed a walking stick that looked as ancient as did he and hobbled over to the open window.  As I handed him the money, my wife took a cup of ice given to us by my daughter for the journey and passed it to me to give to him.  It was hot afternoon full of humidity, the rain had not yet come, and it seemed he was more grateful for my wife's cup of ice than my folded cash.  Little did I know at the beginning of the journey, that a stranger and old friends would bring heaven crashing down among us. 

Walking in Harness

The farm which I call home is really a small place compared to the "real" farms all around me.  Most of the farmers around me work their farms as a way of life and the means by which they provide for their families.  While I have been called a "gentleman farmer" by some, I have never really liked that moniker since it seems to imply using the land for pleasure instead of its purpose.  I prefer to speak of the land as a working farm though I am the first to admit that less and less work is going on around here as the years are piling on.  The purpose of land that knows itself as a farm is to produce.  

I have tried over the years of being here to walk in harness with that purpose.  Gardens have been grown.  Fruit trees have been planted.  Chickens and cows have found a home here.  The pecan trees make their own harvest and the open fields grow hay and provide grazing land.  I am the maintenance man who tends and cares for the land.  After sixteen years of being here, I realize that I have been the servant of the land more than the owner.  I have come to understand that it is not I who owns the land, but the land which owns me.  It has become a part of me in a way I never knew was possible.  For all the sweat and sometimes blood invested over the years, it has blessed me with a place I know as home and where my soul belongs. 

In a larger sense whether we live in the open spaces or crowded urban streets, the earth, or the Creation as I prefer to call it, is our home.  Creation is a word which speaks to me more about the creative hand of God than words like earth or nature so I mainly use it as a way of expressing respect and honor to the creating God encountered in the first pages of Genesis.  Regardless of what we see outside our window and regardless of names on deeds, we live in God's Creation and as we do so, it is important that we walk in harness with its purpose.  Its purpose is not found in our desires, but in God's plan.

A Tale of Two Prayer Rooms

Every church should have a prayer room.  Not only should every church have a prayer room, it should be a room where prayers are prayed.  It should be regarded as one of the power sources of the church.  Money should be set aside for its maintenance and ministry, people should be challenged to be a part of its important ministry, and it should be in a prominent high traffic corridor instead of a place no one can find without a GPS system.   Churches have space dedicated for every conceivable ministry and no ministry is more important than its ministry of prayer.  

In the past year I have visited two prayer rooms.  The first one was hidden.  It was hard to find and it looked more like a storage area than a place which encourages and nurtures prayer.  It was obvious that it had once actually been used as a prayer room, but it had become cluttered with stacks of tables and leftover chairs.  The second prayer room was one I visited some ten years ago when the new church was built.  It was equipped and set up for praying.  It was a blessing to step inside that space and think about the lives its ministry would touch.  It was a place that was like a visible invitation to pray and I sat down back then for a time of praying. Today I was back in that church which was no longer new and I made my way to the prayer room.  I could hardly get in the door.  Boxes of Christmas decorations, chairs, tables, and all manner of stuff filled it from one side to the other.  It was a place of such promise in the beginning.  Today I left it filled with deep sadness. 

There are many reasons our churches are struggling.  There are many reason for mediocrity from the pulpit.  There are many reasons churches are more enamored with their history than hopeful for their future.  There are many reasons why churches are seeing so few professions of faith.  There are many reasons why baptisms are a rarity instead of the norm.  Their are many reasons why so many look at the church as an anachronism.  The most basic reason is found in the absence of a strong prayer room ministry.  It is a much needed and mostly neglected source of spiritual power.

Sure Footed Saints

The early morning hours before the sun finds its way over the dark eastern horizon must surely be the time God set aside from the very beginning as time for the soul.  It is not just the thought of one like myself who has podded instead of racing along the road of faith in Jesus Christ.  Unlike sure footed animals who tread the high mountain paths, I have done more than my share of stumbling.  Not even such a history keeps me from understanding the testimony of the sure footed saints who have gone before me.  

So many have left journals full of writings which tell us that early mornings are the best times for the nurturing of the soul.  A very simple axiom has proven itself true many times over the years.  What goes in is important.  What goes in determines what comes out.  When we fill our hearts at the beginning of the day with a time of listening for the Voice of God in Scripture and prayer, it is more likely that the heart is going to outwardly express the spirit of Christ in the ordinary moments of the day.  "Seek God first each day" is a good rule to follow.  It helps us stay out the miry bog and provides a hand in dealing with the temptations Satan throws in our path.  

I learned this again as recently as yesterday.  The sun was busy when I jumped out of bed and started racing toward the first place I had to be in a busy day.  I arrived on time, waited two hours, and then was told I would have to come back two days hence.  As patience and kindness disappeared from my spirit, anger came to take its place.  Throughout most of the day I fumed inside and made life miserable for those around me.  If God brought people into my path for His purposes, I was too busy nursing my anger to notice.  If it sounds like a wasted day, I would agree.  I should have followed the example of one saint from the past who got up even earlier than this his normal rising time to pray because he realized that they were more than the usual things to do.

Perspective

For a few minutes today, I sat beside a rapidly flowing creek which was narrow enough that the younger version of me would have figured to be "jumpable."  The older version which is the current version opted for sitting and watching.  Strange as it might seem to some, it was in many ways the highlight of the day.  It was shady, cool, and, except for the sound of the water running over rocks, quiet.  It was an unexpected oasis of stillness in the early afternoon.  The water was clear and I had in my mind that I might see a fish which did not happen.   

What I did see were some things which reminded me of who I am and where I fit in the order of the creation. This tiny running stream is hundreds of miles away from the ocean; yet, the water that I watched will make it to the ocean and, perhaps, return in the clouds to water the dry ground upon which I sat.  I could not help but be reminded that we are connected to one another and to creation as surely as Wolf Creek is to the ocean.  Our being conscious of such a connection is not necessary for it to exist.  Not a single one of us is the center of the universe.  We are simply and importantly a part of it.  

It is interesting that the Creation story in the first chapter of Genesis does not begin with the human creature who has come to think far too highly of itself.  In fact were it not for the creative work of the first five days, we would not be walking around thinking that the world revolves around us.  Perspective is important.  I am grateful for a quiet moment in which once again the divine lesson of perspective was taught to me. 

The Book

I fell in love with books back in the day when my mother took me to the library and signed me up for a summer reading program.  Even today going into a library filled with shelf after shelf of books and quietness is like entering a sacred sanctum.  Later I became a collector of books.  Once read and placed on the shelf, they become like old friends.  Some books are about entertainment.  Some are about opening your eyes and heart.  Some are read and finally closed with a sense of reverence and awe.   

From the very beginning of my history with books, the Bible was regarded as different and special.  When my mother gave me my first Bible, it was a big deal.  She taught me Bibles were to be handled with respect.   A Bible was not an ordinary book.  I could not have imagined back in the beginning days the way that one book would change and shape my life.  When I travel, it is packed to go with everything else.  It is the one book which never has a place on the book shelf except when it becomes so frayed it is retired.  The Bible stays close.  It is almost never out of sight.  Unlike some books that I may have to hunt, I always know where it is.   

Some may find it strange that a book would be regarded as a writing inspired by God, but such is how it is regarded.  It is not a book where advice is found, or a book where answers to life's questions are found.  It is a book where the voice of God has thundered across the centuries.  It is a book which has led millions to faith in God.  It is one of the places where God has chosen to make Himself known to us.  The Bible is not a book to be read, closed, and put on the shelf, but a book to be carried into every circumstance and corner of life.  It is a holy book which always seems as new as the next page.  It is timeless because its words are eternal and equip us for the life we were created to live.

Unexplainable

Standing deep in holy mystery is a humbling and overwhelming experience.  Who among us deserves to be graced with the presence of God?  Who among us has any right to a single gift from our heavenly Father?  Who can understand the ways of God?  Why are some prayed for day and night only to be lost to us while others are still here among us for no other reason than the grace of God.  It is beyond what we are able to comprehend.  Why do some receive the double portion (II Kings 2:9-12) and others what seems to be no portion at all.  Questions abound for us as we experience holy mystery.  Answers are few.   

What can we say other than not one of us is forgotten by God.  What can we say except that He knows our name and cares for each one with the heart of the Good Shepherd the Apostle John describes in his gospel (John 10:1-18).  I first started struggling with questions about the ways of God as a seven year old boy whose father went to work one day and did not come home. I am now so far from seven that memories are heavy with the dust of the past, but still I look for answers I am not likely to know in this life.  

There are times when our hearts can only whisper, "Lord, have mercy."  There are other times when we look at what cannot be known and are left with the words, "Thank You, Lord.  Thank You for this gift of grace."  The farther I walk with Jesus the more I see the clouds of holy grace ahead above the way much as the Hebrews walked through the wilderness with the cloud of presence leading them.  (Exodus 13:21).  God's grace has always been sufficient (II Corinthians 12:9) and because it is grace, it is unexplainable.

What is God Thinking

We never know where what we do for Christ is going to go.  In the past few weeks I have gone twice to the theater to see "A Great Awakening."  The second time was as impactful and as powerful as the first.  "A Great Awakening" is the story of the ministry of George Whitefield, an English evangelist, whose preaching brought to pre-revolutionary America a revival so widespread it is known in history as the Great Awakening.  Watching the movie about this moment in American history was experienced in a way that brought revival and renewal in my own heart some 250 years later.    

Out of the blue, pieces of a hymn came to mind this morning and I could not rest until I found "Blest Be the Tie That Binds" in a hymnal enabling me to sing it properly.  A man named John Fawcett wrote the hymn in 1782.  The hymn writer was born to poor parents in Yorkshire, England in 1740.  He became a Baptist minister and served a small poverty stricken church for fifty years.  Early in his ministry, he was called to a prominent and influential church in London.  He and his family packed the wagon to leave, decided they could not leave, and stayed there the rest of his days.  Though he became well know through writing and preaching, he stayed where he started and never made more than $200 a year.  It was the fellowship and communion experienced in this single church which inspired him to write, "Blest Be the Tie That Binds."   

Oh yes, there is one other thing.  John Fawcett was converted at the age of sixteen through the powerful preaching of George Whitefield.  Is it not amazing how God uses what we do for Him?  Is it not amazing that what we do for Christ can have effects which ripple far beyond the span of our meager years?  Who would have thought of using George Whitefield to convert John Fawcett who would write a hymn which is blessing the church 150 years later?  It makes us wonder what God is thinking about doing with what we are doing for Him in the present moment.

The Spittin' Image

My father's death when I was seven years old was a moment that was then impossible too comprehend.  As I slowly moved toward the days which were awaiting me, one of the things I relished most was being told that I looked like my father.  "He's the spittin' image of his Daddy," was an oft heard comment and one that caused me to stand a little taller.  As a boy I would stand in the mirror and try to imitate the smile in the picture, or study the blue in my eyes which everyone said I got from him.  As a boy who had lost his father too soon, I wanted to be like him. I wanted to look like him.   

The Bible makes it clear that we are children of God.  He is our Father.  There is something within us that speaks of the "spittin' image of the Heavenly Father."  Such casual language is not meant to be disrespectful, but a way of speaking of how we are created with the imprint of God in our life.  We bear His image.  (Genesis 1:27).  Too soon we lose sight of who we are.  Holy is who we are.  His image is not seen as we behold our physical appearance, but is instead, a word which points to our unseen inner nature.  

This inner nature is transformed from who we have become to who we were created to be as the Holy Spirit is allowed to dwell and transform our heart so that more and more it outwardly expresses the spirit and heart of Jesus.  Theologians have a word for this powerful transforming work of grace in the heart.  Sanctification is the word which points to this work of grace.  In some circles, sanctification is spoken of mostly as an event confined to a moment, but more correctly understood, it is the process by which the Holy Spirit takes a surrendered heart and transforms it in such a way that it begins to bear the image of the Christ.  "May the God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly..." (I Thessalonians 5:23)

The Way of Christ

There was a time when I thought I could live on the farm, never see anyone, never speak to anyone, and be content.  One of the things I learned about myself after some time had been spent at the farm was that while I value solitude and silence, being completely alone is not who I am.  The ancient Desert Fathers and the mystics did it, but I have a need for people that I simply cannot ignore.  

When God was doing the creation thing about which we read in Genesis, it was not enough to create man.  In the Creation narrative, we hear the Lord God saying, "It is not good that the man should be alone."  (Genesis 2:18).  In a short time there were families and communities where people shared life together.  There may be some who are called to live as hermits and find fulfillment in that lifestyle, but it is not something for the most of us.  We need one another.  We need the touch of others on our life and we need to touch the lives of those around us.  Even as the Garden of Eden speaks of the woman being a helper, so do we all need helpers in our life.  It matters not if we are male or female.

To acknowledge our need for helpers is to recognize that others need us to be their helpers.  In the letter to the churches of Galatia, the Apostle Paul wrote, "Bear one another's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ." (Galatians 6:2).  Those words can be understood as Paul reminding the community to love one another.  We cannot bear the burdens of others, or love others in isolation.  It can only happen in a community.  The community may be small or large, but we all need one because it is within the community that we fulfill the way of Christ. 

Why Not Sooner

One of my favorite Hudson Taylor antidotes recorded in the biography which is a current read tells about a man named Mr. Ni, a long time resident of Ningpo.  Mr Ni was a Buddhist who had never come in contact with the gospel until he met Hudson Taylor.  When he heard about Christ, he was converted and became a student of the Bible.  A conversation is recorded between Mr. Ni and Taylor.  Unexpectedly he asked the missionary, "How long have you had the Glad Tidings in your country?  Taylor reluctantly replied, "Some hundreds of years."  The ex-Buddhist said in surprise, "What!  Hundreds of years? My father sought the Truth and died without finding it.  Oh, why did you not come sooner?"  

The church of our day has lost the urgency of the gospel.  We live in a culture where believing in something or anything is an acceptable alternative to believing in Christ. This position of accommodation has taken away the uniqueness of the Christ of the gospel.  Such a compromise may be embraced to keep from offending anyone, but it also refutes the reality of the Incarnation, the saving and forgiving power of the blood shed on the cross, and the victory accomplished through the resurrection.  

Jesus was not just a man who preached a message that merged with human created systems of theism. Neither did He come to become as a choice on the buffet table of religious thought. Instead, Jesus came as a presence who enables us to know the truth of God with us.  To truly be faithful to its calling, the church cannot speak of Jesus as being less the only One sent from God to show us the way to eternal life. So many people around us have not heard this message.  So many have not encountered Jesus. To paraphrase the convert from Buddhism, "Why are we waiting?  Why is the church not proclaiming Christ crucified and raised from the dead now instead of later?

Faith Based Missions

Before I finished a recent read about George Muller, a 19th century saint and caretaker for thousands of orphaned children, I was reading about one his contemporaries, Hudson Taylor.  Taylor is known for his mission work in China.  Like Muller, Taylor depended on God for providing funds and people to serve alongside of him in the mission work.  He, too, was a man of prayer as well as a man who trusted God without reservation.  In his day "faith missions were unheard of, the only organizations in existence being the regular denominational boards. "  ("Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret" by Dr. and Mrs. Howard Taylor).  

The Zoar Church was one of the churches on my first Charge.  Every fall the church had on its schedule a week long Missions Conference.  As a greenhorn preacher, I had no idea what to expect when several missionaries from the Oriental Missionary Society came for a week to share their mission work and invite the members of the Zoar Church to make faith commitments to support their mission work.  These were missionaries who could not go back into their work until they had raised financial support from local churches like Zoar.  They gave flesh to mission work as they told stories of the work they were doing for God in far away countries.  

The missionaries who came to Zoar were spiritual descendants of Hudson Taylor.   Like him, they believed and practiced a faith based ministry.  My denomination sent and funded missionaries, but these folks were different.  They practiced a risky faith and they came to visit churches which supported them.  For many of us it was our first contact with a real missionary.  Taylor was passionate about presenting Christ to the people of China and those who serve Christ today in faith based ministries walk in his steps.   

Approach Boldly

A few days ago while reading the Scripture, a verse showed up that stayed long after the book was closed and life went on to other things.  It was one of those words that filled the mind whenever it went into a neutral mode and a word that seemed to hang out in the deep places of the heart.  No matter how well it seems to be pushed away from conscious thought, it just simply returns on its own accord.  From Hebrews 4:16 it speaks, "Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness..."  

It is a word that follows a section of Scripture which speaks of Jesus, the High Priest, being able to understand our weakness when confronted with temptation.  The words of those verses remind us that He, too, has been so tempted and tested only to do so without sin.  Jesus is the Priest who hears our confession, who understands, and invites us to approach the throne of grace with boldness.  We are not invited to a throne where judgement is dispensed.  We are not invited to a throne where we are obliterated into a sniveling mass on the floor by His majesty.  No!  We are invited to a throne where grace is given.  We are invited to a throne where what we do not deserve is given freely.   

We are not only invited to this throne of grace, but we are encouraged to come with boldness.  This is not an invitation to come in fear or dread.  We need not walk as one who has been beaten into the ground by our failure. No!  We are invited to come with boldness to the throne of grace because of the blood shed for us on the cross.  "Mercy there was great, and grace was free; pardon there was multiplied for me, There my burdened soul found liberty, at Calvary."  (Chorus for "At Calvary").  Ah, the cross where the blood was shed for you, for me.  Ah, the Throne of Grace.  Because of the Cross, we approach the Throne of Grace boldly! 

Fresh Wind

There must be value in predictable worship since it seems to be the norm across the Christian landscape. It can also be boring.  It can become something which requires only the activation of our mental autopilot.  As a pastor arriving in a new appointment, I can remember looking through the files of one church and seeing that there had been no change in the order of worship for over a decade.  There was no need for a printed order for Sunday worship in that place as all the regulars carried one in their head.  

It is not that there is something wrong with the Apostle's Creed, or the Doxology, or the choir anthem, but why is it necessary for it to be in the same spot every Sunday?  What would happen if the congregation was greeted with the Affirmation of Faith instead of "Good Morning?"  And on those Sundays when the sermon and the choir anthem fit together like a glove, why not end the service with the choir's musical offering?  The point is that there are different ways of doing the same thing.  

While it is true that worship can be made boring and uneventful regardless of any changes, it is also a possibility that doing things differently from time to time might enable people to stay awake longer.  It would also justify printing an Order of Worship.  It might even make worship less predicable which would seem to be a good thing since predictability has no intrinsic value.  Who knows?  It might even open some windows for some fresh Wind to blow.

Another Muller Musing

When I finished reading "George Muller of Bristol," I was reminded of one of the many things I have learned in these years of retirement.  Many a preacher has floundered after leaving the pulpit.  It is the same with any person who walks away from forty years of going to work.  It is not an easy transition for the prepared and impossible for the unprepared.  Muller started his orphanage work at age 30 and spent the next 40 years building and maintaining five orphanages which cared for thousands of children.  At age 70 he was led by God to begin what he called "missionary tours" to countries all over the world.  

These "missionary tours" would be called preaching missions today as he traveled and preached like an itinerant preacher.  From his seventieth to his eighty-seventh year, he traveled in forty-two countries.  The distance he traveled was over two hundred thousand miles which is equivalent to nearly eight journeys around the globe.  He preached over five thousand times to an estimated three million people.  In all these mission tours, he depended on God to provide his every need which included steamer fares, railroad journeys, hotel accommodation, food and living expenses.  It was funded by God just as had been the orphanage work. He prayed and without any appeal for human help, God provided.  Step by step the Lord led him forward, providing his needs as he went.  

As I walk toward my seventy-eighth birthday, I wonder how he did it.  Of course, I know how he did it.  He did what he did because of the grace of God and the way God used a man of such faith that we stand in wonder over a hundred years later.  Muller is certainly a witness to the way God takes our weakness to make His power known.  Could it be that many of us wallow around in a mire of uselessness because we are not asking God what He wants us to do?  One word of caution.  It might be a good thing not to ask unless you really want to know!

Two Streams of Christianity

There are two different streams of Christianity present among us.  One is Scriptural Christianity and the other is cultural Christianity.  The first is authentic; the second is a pretender.  The first looks to the written Word as the final authority.  The second holds the Scripture as a truth, but one which is given its authority only as it blends and affirms changing social mores.  Scriptural Christianity lives with the tensions inherent within accepting its authority while cultural Christianity erases the tension by compromise.  

The two streams have been flowing alongside each other almost from the beginning.  There have been times when one would overflow and overwhelm the other, but eventually it seems they separate and once again move in different ways.  From the beginning the two have always been incompatible and even now such is true.  The Apostle Paul recognized the two separate and divergent streams.  Instead of denying the reality of what existed as something other than Scriptural Christianity, he wrote, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God--what is good and acceptable and true."  (Romans 12:2).  

One of the real challenges for the church and the believers of this day is to stand fast and to live in submission to the authority of the holy Scripture.  Wanting it to say something we want it to say, or not wanting it to say something which we do not want it to say speaks only of our desire for it to speak a word which is comfortable instead of one which creates tension in our life.  Too many times we have chosen what makes us feel good, or what seems less likely to offend than to chose an authority which transcends the ever changing cultural mores.  Today's mores will change even has as the ones of yesterday.  The Word of God; however, is as Isaiah said long ago, "The grass withers, the flower fades; but the Word of our God will stand forever."  (Isaiah 4):8) 

The Prayers of Not Knowing

It must be true that God sometimes speaks so softly that the sound of His voice is sensed, but the words are too faint to understand.  It becomes a strange moment of knowing and not knowing.  We know His presence.  We know there is something unique about the moment of revelation, but it is more a sensory knowledge than one that is visual or auditory.  We cannot argue ourselves out of the awareness that God is near and speaking to us.  It is something experienced and known more out of faith than certainty.   

It is the kind of spiritual intuitiveness which came to Cornelius and Peter before their encounter in the centurion's home.  Both were in separate places when the Spirit broke into the ordinariness of their day.  The first movement of the Spirit alerted Cornelius of Simon Peter's presence in Joppa.  Before the messengers of Cornelius arrived, Peter who was in Joppa on a roof top was brought by the Spirit into a puzzling moment of heightened awareness and expectation.  (Acts 10) What neither of them knew would happen at the sunrise of that day was a holy rendezvous which was first experienced in the spirit and required each to act out of faith that was operating not on the basis of what was known, but what was sensed at a level that was beyond understanding.  

When we come into those moments of knowing something so deep in our spirit that we do not have the words to speak of it, it may be the Spirit praying within us in the way spoken in Romans. "Likewise, the Spirit  helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs to deep for words."  (Romans 8:26).  There are certainly times when the Spirit works in the heart we have given to Him to lead us into the unknown will of God.  In those moments we know His presence and we know He is seeking to lead us, but knowing is beyond what we can know.  In such times we pray not because we know, but because we have faith in the One who is speaking to us out of holy mystery.

Movie Musings

A few days ago, I saw the movie, "A Great Awakening."  It is a great movie.  It is one I would encourage everyone to see.  It is a piece of historical fiction which is centered on a great spiritual awakening which took place in this country shortly before the Revolutionary War.  The characters through whom the story is told are George Whitefield, an evangelist, and Benjamin Franklin, a founding father of our nation.  It is a movie which is about more than just history.  Any serious historian will find some moments when the eyebrows of disbelief will be raised.   

The movie, however, is not a historical document, but is more a witness to the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  The letter to the Roman Christians has a word from Paul in which he proclaims, "...it (the gospel) is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith..."  In visual form "A Great Awakening," captures the power of those words.  Anyone wondering what happens when the raw power of the gospel of Jesus Christ is unleashed through witness and proclamation will be able to see clearly the answer to such a question.  

One of the things noted by many who love the church is that the signs and wonders of the book of Acts are seldom seen in the church of our day. There is little to amaze; instead what the Holy Spirit is allowed to do in the church is hindered by our need for control and predictability.  A result of this is that we no longer see the power of the gospel unleashed to change and transform lives.  My wonder when the credits had finished rolling was what would the church look like if it once again made a decision to risk presenting the gospel in such a way that people were consistently confronted with the life changing power of the gospel of Christ.

It is Sunday!

This past week it has seemed every day that tomorrow was Sunday.  Today, Sunday has finally arrived.  Yesterday I received a sign that tomorrow was Sunday when I overheard two preachers talking about tomorrow's sermon.  When I went to bed last night, I knew that the sun would rise tomorrow on Sunday, which is by the way, today.  Today is Sunday.  Today is, therefore, the day I will be blessed by the opportunity of going to a sanctuary to join with others to worship God.   

Perhaps, part of my inner confusion this week speaks of the lack of a fixed daily schedule such as I knew before retirement, but the truth which I know to be true is that it speaks of my longing for God.  There are times in our life when it might seem to us that we can get along fine without God.  Most of us are guilty of such at some point in the past which is a part of our life, but there have also been those times when something, or Someone, within us draws us toward Him as surely as the waters of the ocean are pulled by the distant moon.  Such is how the Holy Spirit has been drawing me in these recent days. 

A Psalm often quoted is the 42nd Psalm which begins with the words of longing, "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 42:1-2).  Sunday has finally come once again and while worshiping God is something we can do anytime and anywhere, it is good to gather in the house of the Lord.  "One thing I ask of the Lord, that will I seek after; to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple." (Psalm 27:4).  Thank God it is Sunday once again!

The Lord God of the Universe

Isaiah 55:8-9 has a Word spoken in behalf of God through the prophet; therefore, we need to hear it as if it is the voice of God speaking to us.  "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, says the Lord.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts."  When trouble comes, and it will even as it has, and we find ourselves trying to figure the way forward, this Word reminds us of our first source of help.  

Our troubles may surprise us, but they never surprise God.  We can only see as far as the curve up ahead in the road, but God's vision gives Him sight we do not possess.   The good news is that He not only sees what we cannot see nor understand, but He sees them differently.  In other words, the trouble which we see as overwhelming and impossible to manage has been seen through different eyes and is being held in different hands.  

The passage in Romans which reminds us that God works for good in the lives of those who love Him (Romans 8:28) certainly speaks of the Lord God of the Universe as the One who is at work.  His thoughts and ways are different, higher, and better than ours.  The Lord God of the Universe can do what we deem to be impossible; therefore, the first step into any trouble should not be one of human determination, but one of faith.