An Invitation

Long years ago a pastor friend moved from here to there. He went from a neighboring church in Columbus to one in Texas. From time to time we would connect, but, perhaps, there have been more connecting in the last few years. Recently, Jim shared with me that he was doing a one minute breakaway on a local rock station in Houston. For those who missed the daily inspirational thought, there was an internet subscription. I became a subscriber and after reading a few, I'm glad I did.

I have listed Jim Jackson's blog, "Jim's Daily Awakenings" on my short list of blogs to visit. I invite you to visit the site. Since each entry is designed for a minute, it will not take long, but the thoughts shared will stay with you for a much longer time. Jim is a lover of Jesus and an encourager. You will sense this as you read what he writes.

There are so many ways to be a blessing to others. New ways are opening up to us all every day. How important it is that we stay in touch with the Christ who has changed us into something new so that we miss not a single one of those unfolding opportunities.

Rain Makers

It was noon and the church parking lot was mostly full. However, it was today, Thursday, and not Sunday. Had it been Sunday I would have known what was happening. Since it was Thursday, I had to ask and when I did, I discovered the church was having a meeting to pray for rain. If I had known I would have slipped in to add my prayers to theirs instead of continuing on my way.

While some might smile at the naivete of those simple country folks, they model a serious attitude toward drought and prayer. Immediately, our memory of scripture takes us to weather related prayers. Elijah is, perhaps, the first rainmaker who comes to mind. While the written story does not tell us, Noah was likely praying for rain as he was building that boat with the ridicule of neighbors raining down upon him. Of course, Jonah saw more than his share of stormy rain and water. And, then there is Jesus. He walked on the water with storm raging around Him and spoke clear weather into existence.

Today was not the first time a group of those who belonged to God gathered to pray for rain. Neither will it be the last. Tonight as I hear approaching thunder and see flashes of lightning in the distance, I hear myself praying that God will bring the rain closer and soak the dry earth that is all around me.

A New Place

Anyone who knows much about my preaching preparation knows it has always included preaching to empty pews. No, not on Sunday morning. Certainly, there were those Sunday mornings when more pews were empty than filled, but the reference to "empty pew preaching" has to do with Saturday night. Preaching is a form of verbal communication and it always seemed important to me to finish my preaching preparation by preaching the sermon several times to empty pews.

Retirement has put me in a different world. As I go to the Rocky Ford Church each Sunday, I find myself once again in a preaching ministry. Since the church is ten miles away from our home, going up to do practice preaching is a bit difficult. Some kind folks might say that after 39 years of preaching, I could let the practice go, but they would be wrong. For me it is still important for more reasons than I have room to enumerate here. So, in lieu of a sanctuary, I go out of the house to a pecan shaded place between our blueberry patch and the garden. Using a black wrought iron table as a pulpit, I preach my sermon to any of God's creatures that might pause to listen.

This new place I use to practice my preaching is a different kind of sanctuary. In the brick and mortar ones where I practised my preaching, I was always aware of the symbols and signs of the holy all around me. What I have discovered in this new place is that it, too, is filled with signs of the holy. Indeed. They abound!

Easter

No matter where we are, Easter is still Easter. In my last few preaching appointments, Easter was a day of overflowing crowds as 700 to 800 folks showed up to worship. This past Sunday at Rocky Ford United Methodist Church a larger than average crowd showed up, but it was still much smaller than recent memories of Easter crowds. But, it still felt like Easter. It was an exciting moment of worship that was full of joy and celebration.

What I had experienced in other places on Resurrection Sunday was experienced again last Sunday. Once again it was good to hear the Easter greeting, "Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed!" The singing of those Easter hymns seemed a little stronger, more heart felt. The Biblical readings for the day hung in the air filling the place with power. Once more this preacher sensed the passion that accompanies preaching on such a glorious day. I know it can be done, but it is hard to mess up Easter. There is a power and presence peculiar to this day of worship which remains unparalled.

An added bonus was the blessing of "getting it." Back in January I posted a blog entitled "Stuck." It was a word sharing my struggle at figuring out why I was stuck with the first three verses of the book of Ezekiel. I wrote, "Over and over I find myself reading these few words with a feeling that I have not gotten it yet." I am now free to move on. When I left Easter worship this past Sunday morning, I almost immediately thought about these Words from Ezekiel and heard myself saying, "I got it!"

NO. 40

For the past thirty-nine years I have had a place to preach on Easter Sunday. When I retired, I figured that "preaching streak' would end. No preacher I know invites someone to preach for them on Easter Sunday. To do so might be cause for the Bishop to question the preacher's call to preach. However, life has strange twists and turns and once again I find myself with the opportunity to preach on Easter Sunday. When asked back in February to fill in for a couple of months, one of the first thoughts I had was that it would give me one more Easter Sunday to preach. Tomorrow at Rocky Ford United Methodist I will be preaching Easter sermon No. 40.

Over the years I have done a number of things with the preaching on Easter. There were times when I really failed to preach the message. One thing learned over the years is that trying to be cute with some catchy thought on Easter is pointless. People do not come to Easter morning worship because they need to be entertained. Entertainment is everywhere we turn in our world. What brings them to Easter morning worship is the message of the resurrection and to focus on any other theme is to waste the preaching opportunity and their time as well.

So, tomorrow I have one more time to preach that marvellous life changing message that Jesus has been raised from the dead and that He desires for us to share that same victory when this life of ours on this earth comes to an end. This is the message people come to hear. It is the only message worth preaching on a day which C.S. Lewis said, "causes the foundations of hell to tremble." May it be so where we all are on this Easter Sunday, 2011.

Conflicting Words

The world is full of messages for those who are watching and listening. Some are blaring into our ears in such a way it is impossible to ignore them. Others are so subtle we hardly realize we have allowed the message to slip past the barriers declaring right and wrong. Some are on bumpers of vehicles and some are on the portable message signs which stand in front of so many businesses. On a recent trip into Savannah, there was this message which said, "A clear conscience is a sign of a bad memory." It was an invitation to make light of a conscience which might actually steer someone away from entering the lounge and game room under the sign.

Of course, the scripture does not equate a clear conscience with a bad memory. Instead, it equates it with living in a right relationship with God. When the Apostle Paul stood before the council condemning him, he declared, "Brothers, up to this day I have lived my life with a clear conscience before God." (Acts 23:1) And later, Peter would write to the church and say, "Keep your conscience clear..." (I Peter 3:16). For Paul and Peter a clear conscience was about living in a right way before God. It was important for them to be able to look back with no memory of bad choices, only right living.

Surely, that thing we call "conscience" seeks to steer us toward the same kind of life choices made by the Apostles. A clear conscience is not a thing which is actually impossible to possess as the message board would suggest. The Word of God declares a different thing. It is possible to live with a clear conscience, knowing that we are living in a right relationship with God and our brothers and sisters. The Hebrews called it righteous living and so we are we all called and empowered to live.

Amazing Places

Those who know me, know that I do re-reads like some folks do re-runs on television. It is my belief that reading a book once is no reason not to read it again. Some novels by favorite authors have been read six, seven, or more times. While I thinned my library harshly upon retirement, one book I kept because I knew it would be read again was John Eldredge's Walking With God.

Very simply it is a book about prayer. The underlying theme of the whole book is: "An intimate, conversational walk with God is available." When the book is taken seriously, it shatters the shell of contentment we often construct around our prayer life. According to Eldredge, an intimate prayer life requires work done on our knees, time measured not in moments but in big chunks, and the willingness to replace routine patterns of prayer with risk and experimentation. He taps that desire in us to want more in our prayer life and then challenges us to go after it.

But, perhaps, one of the most prayer changing things he teaches is the art of asking. No one taught us in seminary to ask God what to pray about in a pastoral prayer, or how to pray for someone who comes with a need which seems so obvious. Like many others I have learned the art of depending on my own insights and impressions instead of stopping and asking, "God, how do you want me to pray here?" But, I am also beginning to learn that asking can take us to amazing places in our praying.