Come Di(n)e With Me

We work to make our churches attractive and welcoming.  We consider ease of parking and temperature and logos and the volume of our music.  We sometimes forget that what we are asking people to is signing up for their own death.  We try to make it kind of appealing.  And comfortable.  “Come and die” is quite a challenge to market. 

In Luke 14, we get a rather sobering description of the cost of discipleship.  Jesus is pretty gutsy.  He’s asking for it all.  “Set aside everything else that is important to you.  It all has to take the lower places now.”  And He doesn’t even apologize.  He doesn’t have to, because He’s living it out Himself, now doing ONLY what He sees the Father doing.

It occurs to me that the idea of giving something up for Lent is rather ironic.  If I had already been living fully for Him, taking stock of my life regularly as I really do try to do, there wouldn’t be anything left to “sacrifice” for Lent.  But this year, food intake, my tongue, and lack of exercise have all still made the cut.   That sounds rather petty compared to what He modeled, and yet, apparently, these other things have taken an improper place in my life.  He asks me to die and let Him determine what happens from there.  It is what He did (with what we would call a good ending) for Abraham with a ram, for Daniel in a lion’s lair, and for Jesus in a tomb.

Of course, there aren’t guarantees. For John the Baptist, Peter, and Paul, it didn’t go so well.  Neither was it a certainty as Daniel’s three friends were being bound and dragged to the fiery furnace centuries earlier, but they were willing to believe no matter the outcome.  What they all knew, as did the Christians in the middle east who have recently been beheaded, and do those who are still being pursued, is that following Jesus is worth the cost. 

Whether immediate death or not, the story doesn’t end in a tomb for anyone who trusts Him.  There IS the feast and the life after death and, for some, the opportunity of continuing on earth to help others find the way and be healed. That is the astonishing Good News we are the stewards of.  Our death, if our lives have been offered to Jesus, is there for His use and joy.  Our death is never the last word.  He, the Alpha and Omega, is. 

Churches are excellent at putting together bountiful tables for our traditional pot luck dinners, and we do have a reason to celebrate the life we are a part of.  Let’s just remember, especially in this time of such intense realities for our brothers and sisters in other parts of the world, that we are called to follow, to carry our cross.

Listen Closely

Anger is often a cry of pain disguised in another tone of voice.

Carry On

Each day, no, each moment in each day, we are given the opportunity to pour out what has been given to us as care or hope or truth.  Sometimes it is to look God’s way and thank Him for the miracle of life and for letting us be a part of it. 

Sometimes it is the particular need of a situation and holds the invitation for us to engage to bring a specific provision, or gift for celebration, a quiet presence to someone who is hurting, a moment of humor for an over-burdened friend, a smile for a stranger, a necessity of food or water or freedom or justice to the most broken and needy of the world.

We get to bring water of many kinds to a thirsty world.   Carry your bucketful today and watch for where it is dry.  Just be sure you’ve taken the time to be filled with the water first.  He’s got lots to give you to pass around.  

Can We Believe?

The Call…The invitation that Jesus made to the first twelve was not lengthy.  “Come, follow me.”  No verification that He was the awaited Messiah.  No terms given of details of the job or fine print warnings.  Just three small words that came shortly after John the Baptizer’s own three that had laid the groundwork, “Repent and believe.” 

He makes it pretty clear that sin is all the stuff that we do when we don’t believe the promises of God and put the vote of our life (our actions) there.  He’s tried to make it clear for a long time, though all of us have disbelieved Him to one degree or another. 

The Commandments could be looked at through this lens:

Don’t waste your time and heart on worshipping something less than the One who loves you dearly and powerfully, and is always working on your behalf.  The other guys promises aren’t backed by any resources.

Don’t stoop to the desperation of creating something to worship out of the materials that I have made for something totally good that has a far better purpose.   That is all backwards and foolish. 

Don’t use your tongue to speak against the One who gave you the gift of one.  Words are both beautiful and powerful.  Be careful that you don’t pollute the atmosphere around you by spouting out things that are not true and for the good.

Take regular times apart to consider and be amazed at the creation, by the Creator, and about your circumstances.  In everything, even very difficult things, I am weaving and working good.  Can you see it?  Can you find Me? 

Honor and bless all the people in your lives.  (I know that parents can be challenging, so I specifically mentioned them.)  Look into eyes and see that I have put life there.  It might be broken and need a lot of healing, but life is a precious thing and you will be better for blessing it.

Speaking of life, don’t end it on your terms.  You don’t know my purposes and hopes and dreams and all the work I am doing to remedy it and bring beautiful things forth.  Don’t give up hope.  My schedule is different from yours and my timing is right.  Trust Me for that.

Wait for a good spouse of your own.  Then cherish and care for the one I’ve given you.  Marriage will be a difficult blessing, but it is the closest replication on earth of the caring and intimacy of heaven.  Embrace and invest in it.

Believe that I will provide for you.  You may not have the sum of your wish list, but I am faithful to see and provide.  The doors open further as you trust Me for what you need.  And when your desires align with Mine, you will be stunned by what I will do.

Be a truth teller.  Anyone can create and embellish tales from some thin situations, even true situations.  Nothing good comes from false accusations.

I know that all human beings operate on an almost unquenchable thirst.  It was a gift I gave you that has gotten horribly twisted as the enemy has filled shelves and websites with an array of toxic and unnecessary stuff.  Don’t get Me wrong, I love beauty more than you could know—can’t you realize that by the mountain vistas, tropical paradises, and daily sunsets that I’ve hung for you?  But receive what I have for you.  Don’t bother chasing a bunch of other things that will poison you.

All this to reassure you that I love you, I have and am working in amazing ways on your behalf, and I really don’t want you to settle for less that what I have ahead for you.  Believe me, Love.  It’s so much better without all the chains and confining cells that the options will lead you into. 

What you do really does all come down to how much you believe me for all the desires and hopes that you have and that I have.  Take a look again at my Son.  Watch the way He lived and died to bring life to earth.  It just doesn’t get better than how He did it, trusting Me for every last bit of what was in my heart and storehouses and plans for you.  

Life Together

Today I want to wish my husband a very Happy Birthday! And I’d like to share a little about marriage, since it is the main context in which I know this man.

On our 20^th anniversary, John made the comment that we’d had 20 years of excruciating bliss.  I’ve always thought it was a humorous and honest description of marriage (ours, at

least).  (Have you noticed that it’s not always easy living together?)  Last week we realized how cutting edge he’d been when we listened to this 2 min. talk by Dan Allender.  (check out the included link).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5aeegCuUAI

Our experience aligns with what Allender says.  Marriage is a blessing and a challenge.  John has shown me more of the care and sacrifice of heaven than anyone on earth I know and also caused me the deepest pain I’ve experienced (seeing the reality of both my own shortcomings and his) as close-up, real-life relationships do.  It is the inevitable outcome as we flesh out this day-to-day, nitty gritty living.  At 38+ years together now, we’ve still got a lot to learn and we are leaning in and attempting to keep growing together. 

I’d also like to share a recent epiphany; perhaps it will be helpful to someone besides me.   Not long ago I had something occur that shook me to the core.  It was one of those “run to someone” moments that we all face sometimes, and I instinctively thought “To whom will I go?”  The answer was clearly John. 

He is a steady ship in my life.  He doesn’t rattle easily, and the things that press my buttons seem to never tip him off balance in the least.  There have been numerous times when he’s evened the waters of the moment I was in because he didn’t panic about whatever I was pretty sure would swallow me alive.  There are other parts of him that I struggle with, where he doesn’t easily respond to things that are important to me.  And what I realized, that I’d never seen before, is that those two things are two sides of the same coin, two parts of one element of his personality.  He is a very stable presence where things can roll off his back.  And sometimes the things I need him to understand roll off too. 

It was a significant gift to get a glimpse that the things I struggle with about him are of the same fiber as the things that bless me continually.  And I wondered how many other starry-eyed couples begin their life blissfully and then begin to run into the walls of the flip side of the coin of their spouse.  How many of us have mistaken the negative as an insurmountable problem when it was a part of the same wiring that most attracted us to our partner?  It’s worth thinking about. 

So there you go, just food for thought for this Monday morning. I will celebrate my husband today, I will give thanks for all the ways he blesses my life, the lives of our children, our friends, our community.  I will thank God for making him in a way that is resilient and pours out care to so many in his utterly dependable ways.  He tends to the practical needs of those around him more than anyone I’ve ever known.  And I will pray that we will both continue be shaped into better and more God-infused versions of ourselves as we live forward, loving, caring, and being stretched.  He’s a good man.  Happy birthday, John!

Come Together

We, the people of this generation, are building on the shoulders of the ones before us.  We may do new things, but it will be within the branches of the family tree.   Their faithful roots of those who have gone before us are deep and bring strength for the place in the Son we now live to bear fruit in this season.  Only as we do our part, secured well to the vine, will the next generation have sturdy branches to begin their own growth.

Older believers, stay strong in leaning in fully to the mission of the gospel and following the One you love.  Don’t ease up either on the disciplines that bring life or on the playfulness that comes because you know Whose mighty hands you are in.  Assess your life and ask yourself if you are still living passionately for Him and leaning in to the adventure of following radically today and are a good model for those who are watching. 

Younger believers, come climb on our limbs and tap into the wisdom of our experience and let us tap into your fresh energy.  The road is long, but it is full of joy and peace.  We’ve weathered some storms and can share what we’ve seen and heard.  And we need you to remind us with the enthusiasm and hope of looking forward that is fresh air for our older lungs. 

We need to do His work together.  We need each other’s gifts and energies and points of view.  We need to play together too, and see from many facets what He is weaving in our generation.  It’s family day.  Let’s worship and spend some time together.  

Let's Reconsider

It’s amazing, really, that we human beings have the opportunity all day long to do good.  We are continually offered that invitation of participating in holy things of bring good to earth one action at a time..  And it’s honestly as simple to do that as to do selfish and hurtful things.  Why then, do you think, do we so often choose to eat each other alive?

Beginning at the End

Some of us began Lent with the hearing of Psalm 103 as it was read in a beautiful candlelit room.  It brought back to mind something that seems to be a better “end of Lent’ story that I knew should be shared.  I had a little conversation with God though, about the timing of posting this today.  I was ready to make a note to share it somewhere around Good Friday when the drama of His sacrifice had built to near crescendo.  But once again He gently reminded me that His ways are not my ways, so that pretty well wrapped up the discussion.  I will share a little more about what came as the answer to “Why today?” in a moment.

Now, let me ask a couple of things of you.  Would you pull the text of Psalm 103 and read those 22 verses.  (I have been practicing reading things aloud for the last several months and am surprised by the “more” that happens when using my voice as well as my mind to read His word.  You might want to give it a try.  And I’d also suggest keeping this Psalm handy to read again mid-day and before you turn in tonight.  Or you may want to read it regularly throughout Lent.) 

Second, would you take a listen to this link now, before you move on to my third point? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuBV3uPxaAc

Third…A very short explanation of the background of this story:  Pastor Duane Miller had had to step down from his position in the pulpit after contracting a severe virus that had infiltrated the nerves of his vocal cords - a condition medical experts say to this day should have left him mute.  He was eventually asked  to teach at a Sunday School class where his gifts and knowledge could still be used in the smaller setting.  Still, he needed to be amped with microphone and speakers for the group to hear him adequately.  That led to us having the beautiful recording you just heard.

Now you can understand why I wanted to bump that tape to the end of Lent.  It is the best “Lazarus, come forth!” moment I know of to share.  Why get to the end of the story now?  Well, I wonder if it may be because we need its perspective as we move forward in these weeks of consideration of Jesus’ life, sufferings, and death.  It will strengthen our understanding to begin by remembering who it was that did all the things He did.  I was preferring this to be a great punch line at the end of a big buildup.  But God said, “Why don’t you just remember Me and soak for a while in the details of the Son I sent to you to rescue you by loving you, by walking up a long hill, dragging the sin of humanity and hanging its bloody reality on a cross, its self-indictment pretty clear.  We had already done considerable damage, and in our quest to not take any of the blame, we’d ended up killing God.  Great move, humanity; that will really show Him.  And it pretty well did.  Could our guilt have been any more clear? 

It was only because He truly is God that the story didn’t end there, but was written on by the hand of the One who holds both sword and pen and had something far better in mind for the ending.  He’d conquer the enemy.  He’d bust hell’s gates.  He’d invite us in.  He just had to get there by doing the job adequately and taking all of the mess down with Him to be put under His feet forever.  THAT’S who we’ll be talking about for the next several weeks as we look at the journey He took for us.  God was right again.  This is a great starting place.  

On Our Way Somewhere

Ash Wednesday.  It is a beautiful practice of the church, this marking of our foreheads with a cross of ash.  We remember our mortality…dust we are and to dust we shall return.  Our time is not endless here.  We remember our sin and repent.  Our choices here matter.  We remember He who came on our behalf, setting aside His glory to become one of us.  

For Jesus, the forty days in the wilderness was a time of fasting to feast on pure nourishment and drawing away to draw close.  But the journey there had immediately followed the gloriously fluid baptism and the grand announcement that His Father was most pleased with Him.  You’d think that moment would lead to a party, not a fast. 

The end of His desert visit would see the arrival of the tests, when His own human resources were as dry as the sandy terrain.  It was when He was spent that those decisions came to the table and He chose not to accept help from an enemy who was oh so ready to suggest easy substitutes and fast food meals.  Jesus chose to believe and to put His weight (even if it was several pounds lighter) on God, whether that meal would be manna or feast.

We begin our own forty days here today.  We acknowledge our limitations and our sin, we turn ourselves to Him to sit and learn.  We set aside lesser things to have a taste of something real. 

The ashen cross we will wear today will be hard to remember unless we are willing to face ourselves in the mirror and look ourselves in the eye.  We will see it on others though, and remember that their struggles and failed attempts to do this life successfully on their own is as futile as ours.  But this beautiful cross, today a more honest one that hasn’t been cleaned up and polished, reassures us that we are not alone.  God came to rescue us by going the full span of humanity, through death, down into the ground to complete His mission.  We remember that He got dirty (and bloody) and took the punishment on our behalf.  We turn and face and yield and receive.  We die.  We live.

Our Lazarus Opportunity

A short story told by Barbara Brown Taylor:  “I remember being at a retreat once where the leader asked us to think of someone who represented Christ in our lives. When it came time to share our answers, one woman stood up and said, “I had to think hard about that one. I kept thinking, Who is it that told me the truth about myself so clearly that I wanted to kill him for it?”

God Himself is all the treasure we could ever desire, but He is also, inevitably, holy, and honest with us. (He is God after all.)  If we decide to draw only close enough to get warm, but never set on fire, we will likely end up being of the lukewarm temperature and taste in His mouth that He spits out.  (Rev. 3:16, which, ironically, seems to be a fitting warning to go alongside of our favorite John 3:16.)   Do I want His goodies and comfort only, or do I want Him, in whatever transformation that means for my life?  If I don't take a close and regular look at my own condition, I am likely playing with my God toy for my own entertainment, a delusional game that will put at risk not only my game board, but my life as well, which are both destined to be turned over on some day down the road when the truth comes out.  

It's really difficult to let Him get close.  And it is truly the way to life.  We just have to pass through the death of ourselves to have it.  And that is the purpose of Lent, where we consider His life and death, and when we are specifically asked to participate in prayer, repentance, penance, giving, and self-denial.  Those are the hallmarks of Lent, which makes it pretty clear why the famous card company of the same name hasn't chose to commercialize it.  Not many buy in.  

Lent begins tomorrow.  Let Him close.  Let Him speak.  Draw close to the fire and see what new life can be had for you by Resurrection morning.  It might be a pretty amazing feeling to walk out of your own tomb when He speaks your name and says "Come forth!"  That is, after all, what we've been invited into.

The Story Being Written

I don’t know about you, but there seems to be a lot of mental and emotional underpinnings that come along with any mention of the word “obedience.”  Now granted, I’ve tried to develop self-disciplines and an intent to lean in, to walk on a good path, to make wise choices, and to determine what practices and values I want to shape my life.  It works pretty well a good bit of the time, especially when obedience is just being discussed or when the request is convenient or in an area that is one of the easier or more “natural for me” kinds.  But when the request has slid into another column that is harder or requires an out-of-the-way effort, I often find myself back to square one.  There the wrestling match begins again.

Does obedience quickly bring to mind for you also an assumption that what has been asked of you will have a loss written somewhere in the fine print if you agree to the contract?

Last evening in the middle of a conversation with a young man who was sharing a bit about some recent struggles and joys, a thought flashed through my mind…

Isn’t obedience actually a quick responsiveness to God?  The desire to take hold of His best plans, in His best timing, even when I don’t understand, even when I had something else in mind, even when I’d rather be doing something, anything else besides what He’s just suggested? 

Isn’t obedience a gold beribboned opportunity brought right to me, with the possibilities of seeing a miracle unfold because I’d been willing to bring my meager lunch of a couple of fish and a few small loaves that I’d planned to scarf down alone to nourish me for my afternoon?  And wouldn’t I actually be able to view it that way if my trust in Him was more secure because I’d already determined in the previous days to commit to doing life with Him in the driver’s seat?  It’s easier when I’ve practiced traveling with Him and have a journal full of the adventures we’ve shared, stickers of remembrance pasted all over the suitcases.   There’s been music and dance at those campsites in out-of-the-way destinations.

Obedience is the ticket to the next adventure.  Whatever your story has been, try starting on a fresh page of a new book, and begin to fill it with what He does as you say yes.  Just be prepared that sometimes it will look bleak, sometimes the fruit will look bruised, and sometimes you will feel like you’ve totally missed the mark.  But on some day down the road, He will pull you up close, take out the book He’s written of your life, and will read you the story from His point of view.  It will include a million things that unfolded that your earthly eyes never saw, and He will be smiling as He remembers those days. 

Be Still

Oh noisy soul that stirs for many of the things you long for, but also is distracted by much that you struggle against, be still.  Quiet yourself away from the noises and voices and beeps that are always a moment away and the often more subtle internal commands that you’ve been dictated by for years.  Be still. 

Draw close to Him, my soul.  Be still.  Let Him hold you close and whisper His words into your ear, so that you can know what a good home feels like.  Be still.  Let Him hold you so you can remember that He is the safe place.  Be still.  Breathe deeply.  Rest. 

Draw close and listen for His heartbeat against your ear, a rhythm that sings “You’re mine and I delight in you.”  Be still and let that song fill your mind and heart with everything that He will sing to you.  There is much you haven’t heard.  Be still.  Exhale the tensions that have become the brash staccato of your day and the tightness of your muscles.  Be still.  And wait there, receiving whatever gift He speaks to you today. 

There is healing and joy for you.  Be still.  Today might only be one step of the way forward, but receive what He has for you.  He will walk with you forward, faithful in every step.  Be still.  

You're Bathing in It

I’ve always thought of earth as…well, just earth.  This morning I am wondering though.  What if all this stuff around us isn’t just an alternate reality of heaven’s smooth and gem-laden shine?  Maybe I’ve taken it way too much for granted. 

What if earth’s sunsets, as Ted Loder penned after watching another one, is “like your mercy to gently lift the dark blanket from the earth and from my spirit, and the countless more times I’ve watched the sun set in such a splendiferous farewell it must reflect the fringe of your robe.”  Beautiful thought, eh?

We already know that Moses, or any other human, couldn’t handle the full presence of God.  His face was ablaze just from catching a glimpse of the back side of God.  It is way too much for a sin-tainted humanity who hadn’t really walked side by side with Him since the tragic fruit-fest in the Garden.  But still He comes in some amazing Valentine-like messages of love that are sent to us every day. 

He is far too creative to make them always the same.  Some are the brilliant sunshine, a bit of heaven’s glow.  Sometimes it is a cascade of water pouring from the sky that beats of His pulsing River of Life and periodically booms with the power of His deep and voice.  Sometimes glory flashes in tiny portions that get here when He speaks. 

Maybe the blues of a cloudless sky are the edges of the fabrics He’s shaken out in heaven while decorating one of the homes He’s preparing there, like the colors, apparently some of His favorites, that He chose also for decorating the tabernacle.  I don’t think He’s stopping at the construction part of making our future dwellings into homes.  

Maybe each amber sunset holds the drippings of heaven’s oil that had been offered to our days and not taken hold of.  There they may hang mid-way, reminding us that tomorrow is another day in which we could bring much more of Him onto our soil.

And maybe love is the biggest one.  This “stuff” that is the very air of heaven that has been shared with us to spread around.  When it passes from one human being to another, none can deny that something amazing has occurred.  It is the best of romance, and it is the best of caring for and serving one another. It is all the beautiful things that Paul describes in 1 Corinthians, but it is also sacrifice, most perfectly expressed one bloody red Friday that proves that  there were no limits He’d stop at.  Sometimes love, though we don’t consider it much these days, is heard in the more difficult words of truth and the reminders of caution and consequences. 

His love is the most vast thing in the universe.  Everything in the heartbeat of heaven and every created thing was made as expressions of  it.  No matter if scarlet roses and crimson cards grace your day or not, please know that He has sent you Himself today wherever you are.  It may be in the crispness of an envelope that looks landscape-white with all those seeds of spring buried there and waiting to be revealed, or in the sweep of cold air to awaken you to take a look, or in the steady rhythm of an ocean keeping time with His song.  His love notes to us are everywhere.   Receive the bundle of them today that has your name on them.  

Watch There, Little Guy

That we have been given lifetimes and the opportunity to love…that we’ve been invited into that holy enterprise of caring more about another than about ourselves…that we can choose to give of our time and energy and affection when what we may receive back, like it has often been the case for Him, is apathy or distracted attention or even anger…that we are offered the chance to receive love from another person who can’t read our mind or know exactly what makes us tick, but who sees us and cares for us and extends themselves to us…it’s all a miracle. 

Love is the holy language of a God who could pull it off.  Perfectly.  That He allows us these days and interactions of many kinds to bring that language to earth is unfathomably sweet and unexpected.  It’s like letting an out-of-control toddler carry around a crystal heirloom that’s been in the family for generations.  We have the potential to do far more harm than good, and we often do.  Yet He apparently thought it was worth letting us in on the divine gift that was the core stuff of the Father, Son, and Spirit.

Why would the God of heaven entrust such a thing to us?  Heaven’s most precious ingredient has been poured onto earth and we are both the bowls it comes into and the pitchers that it gets poured from.  We are shaped for such exchanges with the hands, feet, and mouths to carry it around and give it out, and then He arranges our lives to be chock full of moments that we can.  Maybe we could become a little more aware of watching for those opportunities and seeing them as the utterly amazing gifts that they are.

Could anything delight Him more?

Heaven + Earth

The two greatest commandments are these:  Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.  What symbol could more simply and powerfully remind us of those than the cross of Christ with its two beams, one stretching vertically and the other horizontally?

He is God who came as man.

He gave us life eternal by dying in a flesh and blood body.

He brings heaven to earth by dwelling as Spirit in our earthen vessels.

His miracles weren’t wafts of magical glimmers that stayed in the realm of philosophical theory.  He fed people and healed broken body parts and brought loved ones back to their families and friends and communities.  It was physical through and through, yet always woven with messages of eternal truths that stitched heaven into earth.

His actions seem to consistently confirm that though He is giving us something everlasting, He offers it through the simplest actions of the here and now.  Giving a hungry brother or sister a meal will only stave off a gurgling stomach for a few hours, but in that reprieve is a bit of comfort and a means of connection between two human souls, two pairs of eyes, the gift given from one and being taken physically into the other and meeting a need there.  The sharing of food and tending to sick bodies is how He brings us close together for a physical need to be tended to, but also for something much bigger.  You probably can confirm this by a goodness that has been done for you at some point along the way.  I would suppose that your story is like mine…a provision was brought to you, and what you may remember the most about it is the deeper gift you received in the giving…that the presence of the bringer was the greatest part. 

For God to come to earth and primarily feed and heal is remarkable.  When His cousin John sent a message asking the question “Are you  the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?,” he was sent this reply:  “The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.  Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me.”  We often want Him to wave a wand, but He is the God who brought heaven to us in and through the stuff of earth.  That, apparently, is the point...earth gets heaven.  And now we are asked to bring it to one another.  

Forgotten Tools, Missed Treasure

It’s all about relationship.

It was why He came--to make a way for us to be united with the Father and with one another.

The commandments give us a basic framework for how to be in good relationship to both God and man.

We mess it up all the time.

Our lives need continual repair on this one.

Most churches seem not to have a framework (dare I use the terms court and counselors—hang with me here, please) to help the inevitable messes be mended and restored.  It has to begin with a hope and intent of as much repair as we can muster.  (Can we get past our idols of independence and pride enough to even consider investing in such a thing?)

Good leadership in this aspect is rare.  Misused power in churches is nothing new.   I know of some attempts of reconciliation talks, but they seemed to have only the words of the matter as the goal in view (an appropriate starting place) but where everyone could leave feeling they’d done their part and looked willing, maybe even been willing to go that far.  What was missing, it seems, was a heart level engagement where ground was dug deeply enough to determine what the root of the issue was, and all parties willing to go to that more honest yet necessary place. 

We have not dared to ask or expect enough of ourselves.   Do we have the capability and responsibility to really do good and to be humble enough for true good to be gained?  But our failure is understandable since the church (us) has set aside its beautiful if sharp tools for enabling us to actually live that way.  We, the church, have a shed full of brilliant equipment that has gotten far too dusty (antiquated, we fear) from misuse.  We tend to hack away at one another with dull arguments instead of pulling on our work gloves, rolling up our sleeves, and walking to pick up confession, repentance, pardon, and reconciliation.  We have, instead, latched onto the nipple of grace and drunk its lovely milk to excess, becoming a very fat baby who cannot walk, let alone run the race of endurance.  Grace is an absolutely breathtaking gift, but it is a doorway that lets us begin a process forward together, not a bed for us to wallow in our excuses alone, or in an orgy with our like-minded friends. 

Any gathering of humanity will have problems.  What we seem to need is a framework for resolution, and a plan and the training for how to use those tools.  There they sit, while we are usually no further along in our peacemaking ventures than any other group, and quite likely in our arrogance will do far more damage at very deep levels.  Most churches don’t even seem to have enough of a structure for resolution for it to fail.  Need I state the evidence?

Can we willingly offer ourselves toward the greater good of reconciliation?

Can we submit ourselves under good leadership and wise counsel to work together for what we will never have if we are isolated?

Can we, church, pray for able leaders who will have the wisdom and discernment to guide fairly and rightly, to know how to be an example and oil the gears for people to come together with vision and care, all working together in the process and who will, themselves, embrace honest relationships of accountability so that the arrangement is prepared to prevent the risk of corruption?  

Can we be a people who would be willing to enter into such a process? 

Of course we will have our differences.  Reconciliation isn’t to get everyone to look like the same kind of cookie on the plate.  We don’t have to see everything the same way, nor should we.  But the church has laid its embarrassingly dirty linens out there on display with no apparent intent to get itself together.  I am not even sure we’ve admitted a need to.  We are much more inclined to focus on someone else’s laundry stains, or crawl to our corners and lick our wounds, or staunchly move on to greener pastures.  That was not exactly the heart of the 23^rd Psalm’s resting place.  I wonder how many other parts of His Holy Word we’ve read through a consumer’s lens and used to justify our actions of separation.

For God’s sake we are supposed to be a community.  “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”  (John 13:35).  Oh my, have we failed.  Love was supposed to have been a hallmark of the church.  We have rather kept far enough away from each other that we haven’t needed to face the contemptuous realities of either ourselves or of one another.  Perhaps we have just warred in more stiff and prideful ways than the world.

Lent begins in a week.  It is forty days of opportunity.  Forty days that may feel like a wilderness.  But He has given us ways to turn the wilderness into fruitful gardens.  Perhaps we could set aside some time we’ve given to other things and seek out His heart and ways for mending a relationship. It’s time to begin doing some of the work of our fields.  A harvest is ready, and we’ve often not even prepared ourselves for the task.  Perhaps today we could each take one step forward.  And tomorrow another one. 

The gospel IS relationship.  How are we telling the story?

Admit One

I wonder why we enter the Kingdom of God via the acknowledgment of our sin, failure, brokenness, by confessing it, and admitting our need of a Savior, but then, shift quickly into defending ourselves and calling for grace. 

“Grace,” according to the wise words of one man,  “does not overlook sin.  It is the empowerment for righteous living.”  Righteous living is the ability to do right.  It could also be called wisdom.  Or discernment exercised. 

We would probably be better suited for our work if confession, repentance, effort given to the repair of the damage we have done, and forgiveness (both extending and receiving it) were all part of the normal experience of church life.  Grace isn’t our free ticket to do whatever we are comfortable with; it is the invitation to dive deep into the work of our lives, facing our junk, knowing that we aren’t kicked out of the family as we lean in, stumbling though we will.  But it shouldn’t be a free pass to do damage and walk away without taking responsibility for doing what we can to clean up the mess we’ve made (or contributed to), to mend the hurts, to salve the wounds.  Maybe it would help if we would each begin to admit just one thing about the truth of ourselves to another person. 

We cannot have healthy communities if we give up the work of restoration, which will always be needed because they are made up of humans who will continually let one another down.  Grace is the amazing foundation, brought to us as a gift from heaven and is a tool that repairs.  But it doesn’t succeed without honesty, transparency, and humility, elements required to move in two directions between us as we live together.  

Come. And Get It.

The free will we enjoy has given us both privileges and responsibilities. We shouldn’t just pray for things that it is our place to help develop in our lives by doing what we know to do.  God will surely help us as we stumble along, but we aren’t supposed to wait until He gifts us with everything.  It is our work to believe and obey and be developed into more mature and useable vessels as we follow.  He has deposited gifts in each of us, but He will not hand us maturity any more than our earthly parents can hand it to us.  There is self-discipline and responsiveness that are part of the recipe and those ingredients are ours to bring and practice.  We won't do them perfectly, but we won't get maturity any other way.

You Are Cordially Invited

”A rose is a rose is a rose.”  Indeed.  Most of the things in creation are obvious in their function…a rose is its scent, a lion is its kingly roar, a butterfly is exquisite gracefulness, an orange—that orb of juicy wonder.  But what is a human? 

Only a human, titled “crown of God’s creation,” is a breed of diversity.  Humans are a bundle of wide variety…sculptor, engineer, teacher, nurse, chef, dancer, chemist.  And those, obviously, are only the tip of the iceberg of what work a human could be engaged in. 

We are the only species that captures the breadth of what was going on in the enthusiastic mind of God as He allowed one single part of His creation to have such an array of gifts for what He wanted to accomplish and enjoy.  We ARE the art that He hangs on His Holy fridge in a kitchen that is buzzing in preparation for the feast to come.   Only humans would have the potential to bless (or curse), to help (or hinder), to love (or hate) because He determined that a free will was also to be bequeathed to us as a core part of our design.  Only mankind has such a span of emotions and expressions and abilities that take us to a depth unseen in any other parts of the creation. 

He was so intrigued by all the possibilities of what could happen if someone decided they would take a chance of being a God-infused person, to see what could occur if we accepted the invitation to believe Him and let Him come in so fully that He could orchestrate His ideas in and through that individual.  Of course only His Son could keep His attention on the mission fully enough to pull off a whole life of such robust living, but Jesus modeled for us what it could look like.  He fulfilled His opportunity perfectly, and one has to wonder what He might still want to do through us, stumbling though we go through our lives? 

When He thought of you, He had some wonderful things in mind.  He was smiling as He envisioned what “YOU” meant for the world.  He foresaw a whole specter of ways that your unique gifts could speak something wonderful as He planned the time and place of your arrival to the planet. There is no other designer who  waits for the willingness of the objects of His delight to decide to be the materials of the masterpiece.  He is waiting for you, with more hope of the possibilities than disappointment in any of your past failures, for some of us to take a chance and find out what in the world He has in mind. 

Our fear hinders us.  Our own plans screech us to a halt from seeing far better plans unfold.  Our wounds get bandaged instead of healed.  But we still have a chance.  This morning when dawn broke onto us again, it came as a new invitation to give it a chance.  We can conquer our fears by facing them.  We can yield our plans to His.  We can stop licking our wounds and invest our aching bodies into small acts of giving and watch ourselves become healthy in the process.  Today, it is all there before you.  Go get it.