The Big Picture

Sin and Simplicity

2012-01-30T09:17:00.001-05:00

Complex. Complicated. Confusing. Dynamic. These are words I have heard used to describe our rapidly changing times. Can life be simple anymore? What relevancy can simplicity be to our multi-tasking selves?

Prayer
Lord Jesus, we are often a fractured people. We feel torn apart by competing needs, split into our many roles and goals in life. Give our hearts and minds focus, our souls integrity, and our lives the simplicity of your Kingdom so that we may be free to deeply live. Amen.

Isaiah 40

In today's reading, the people of God are in exile in Babylonia. They were taken from their homeland, split up into groups and scattered among the lands and cultures of Babylonia. Isaiah tells the people that God is going to comfort them and renew their strength. God who is more powerful than all the armies of all the nations will restore his people. He tells them they will be moving from captivity to freedom, from being shattered and scattered as a people to being reunified and freed to follow God.

As I read verse two "her sin has been paid for," I was struck by the serious costs of sin! The theology of Isaiah and other prophets sees the conquering of their nation as a result of their unfaithfulness to God! The cost of their sin is the loss of a homeland, loss of life, the dispersion of the people, and the captivity of their hearts, minds, and souls.

Then I started thinking, "what are the costs of our sins today?" "What are we captive to as a result of our sins?" I know that in our heads many of us realize the Sunday School answers to this. Our sin separates us from God and each other. It causes problems in our relationships, and brings death and disorder into the creation and into our lives. But if many of us are pressed to identify our sins and their consequences, we might struggle a little more with our answers.

Many sins seem innocuous, part of "normal" life in 21st Century American culture. They often escape our attention.

We are part of a system, a way of life that encourages overconsumption, greed, fear, protectionism, and selfishness. Even though the economic struggles of recent years have opened our eyes to see that we don't need as much as we think, we live behind gates, eat more than we should then exercise to "work it off." We work too much and are stressed about all of the things we "must" do. American life is often a study in the costs of excess! Our expectations are so large about the houses we should live in, the cars we should drive, the "perfect" schools or sports teams our kids should be on, the "perfect" figures we should have, the hobbies and vacations we deserve, and the amount of activity we can stuff into 24 hours that we are crushed underneath their weight as we go into too much debt, sleep deprivation, impatience, and stress!

Though recent economic struggles have been devastating to many families, particularly the poor, for others they have been a wake up call to consider simplifying their lives. Indeed, practices of simplicity and fasting are in order to help us become more aware of the costs of the sins of excessive expectations. I find them hard to practice, but I love some of Richard Foster's practices of simplicity from the book Celebration of Discipline. "Buy things for their usefulness. Reject anything that is producing an addiction in you. Develop a habit of giving things away. Refuse to be propagandized by the custodians of modern gadgetry. Timesaving devices almost never save time. Learn to enjoy things without owning them. Develop a deeper appreciation for the creation. Look with healthy skepticism at all "buy now and pay later" schemes. Obey Jesus' instructions about plain honest speech. Reject anything that breeds oppression in others. Shun anything that distracts you from seeking first the Kingdom of God."

Thank God for the promise of restoration for his people! We are called to turn from our ways of life that lead us into captivity to things and people and our own expectations, find forgiveness in our gracious Lord, and enter a new life of freedom through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord. Thanks be to God!

Life Questions

1. What is holding me captive that I need the cross of Jesus Christ to free me from?
2. How can I practice greater simple focus on "seeking first the Kingdom of God" by the grace and power of Jesus?

Prayer

Loving Father, lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil, for thine is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory forever and ever, amen!

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Love and Truth

2012-01-26T08:30:00.000-05:00

"You say you love me, but that doesn't make it real." How many love songs have been written about that? What we call love these days often tilts toward the extreme of "love avoids all conflict because it is nice" or toward the extreme of "love means telling you the truth about yourself when I am right!" How do we share our deepest, most passionate beliefs about what is right and communicate our love and care at the same time?

Prayer

Lord Jesus, we are not good about communicating. It's our selfish desire to look good, to be right, to be superior to others that gets in the way of love. Love us past our brokeness. Teach us to love others so that they may come to know your love, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

I Corinthians 8

Comments

So some Corinthian Christians wrote Paul a letter or two regarding problems they were encountering, practical issues of day to day adventures learning to follow Jesus together and teaching pagans to become Christians. The question in chapter 8 that Paul picks up goes something like this,"Why can't we eat the meat from Temple Zeus? They always use the best sauce, and since we now know that their idols aren't real gods anyway, what difference does it make if we eat the good meat?" The reasoning is "since we know what it is true, we don't have to worry about it because we know our actions are right in God's eyes." And, "Why should we care what other people think of us?"

According to Paul, and through Paul according to God, there is more to following Jesus and helping other people follow Jesus than just the right answers. There is loving application of our knowledge. We need to understand where the people we are discipling are in their faith, what their current beliefs are, and where they are most vulnerable. We need to sensitively think about how our words and actions, no matter how correct they are, will impact our impressionable young Jesus followers.

In this case, it was not loving to simply grab a slab of ribs off the table at the market from a vendor in front of Temple Zeus and, knowing like everyone this was leftover sacrificial meet offered to an idol, proclaiming, "Since there are no idols I'm going to thoroughly enjoy these ribs!" To a person who once believed in Zeus, worshipped in that Temple, ate that meat for years while thinking it was to honor their god, and who had just begun to see that Jesus Christ is Lord and that Zeus is not, this would have been difficult and confusing. It might have even caused a crisis of faith and doubt. "Am I sure that Zeus won't hurl any thunderbolts at me? Is Zeus even real? What about this Jesus I am learning about? How can I know? Now that I am his follower, how can I do anything that even remotely resembles my old life?"

According to Paul, and God through Paul, though our theology may be sound, we must lovingly, carefully consider that tender, early shoots of faith in Jesus are easily trampled and uprooted. They need tending and thoughtful care. They need building up and gentle encouragement. Without this love and concern for our Christian family, especially our newest, youngest members, we may be right in mind but wrong in heart, and that is a sin.

The alternative way of teaching Jesus invites us to is to "speak the truth in love." Love takes into account where another person is compared to where God wants them to be, and it considers the best way forward for that particular person. Truth is communicated best through a loving relationship of trust and encouragement. Loving application of the truths of life in Jesus is what builds up his Kingdom. Let's be good builders then, shall we?

Prayer

Holy Spirit, enable us to tie love and truth together for the sake of our salvation and the salvation of your creation. Amen.

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New World Order

2012-01-17T09:06:00.000-05:00

January is the month of establishing priorities. New eating and exercise plans are made to "get healthy." Some people are more determined than ever to get their spiritual lives "together," so they start attending church. People are making plans on their calendars promising "not to let our schedules get too busy this year!" Everyone's looking for a new order.

Prayer

Dear Jesus, when our lives feel like they're being spun in a blender, and we are gasping for a better order, give us grace to turn to you, to allow you to put our pieces back into the places where they belong, so that peace may reign within us and life may be at its fullest in you. Amen.

Matthew 1: 14-15

Comments

Understanding that Jesus came to crash the Kingdom of God back into time on earth is essential for his followers. The life order of God broke fully into time and space in the person and life of Jesus! He came to reorder the lives of those who would follow him, live with him and in him and thus live in the Kingdom of God.

"Turn around and have faith and you can enter the Kingdom! Your life can be reorganized by the giver of life!" This is the great invitation! Who doesn't want messed up relationships to find health, joy, love and peace? Who doesn't want to find work that is satisfying, makes a difference, and provides sustenance for their families? Who doesn't want their ailing bodies to be made healthy again? Who doesn't want peace on earth, and end to war, greed, and suffering? Good news, the Kingdom of God, a Kingdom of love, justice, and mercy is present in Jesus Christ.

Our work, the work of Jesus' followers is to assist God in advancing this Kingdom way of life on the earth, and we do that by living our lives in the grace of Jesus in the Kingdom order and by extending an invitation to others to enter this Kingdom through Jesus.

Life Questions

1. What parts of my life are in need of reordering by the graceful touch of Jesus?

2. How can I point others to Jesus who need to find life and health and peace?

Prayer

Gracious Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, you invite us into your Kingdom by the graceful love of Christ through his life, death, and resurrection. Give us courage to give up our disorders so that we may boldly live in your new order. Forgive our sins, heal our brokeness, give us power to show others the life-giving ways of Jesus! Amen.

Listening and Leadership

2012-01-09T09:10:00.000-05:00

"Me? I'm not a leader. I don't lead anything," you might be saying to yourself. Like it or not, we are all examples to someone!

Prayer

Give us grace to follow your lead, Lord Jesus, into good living that brings healing and peace to this broken world. May others be drawn to your salvation when they see your light shining in us. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.

I Samuel 3

Comments

It is a well known fact that effective human communication involves a) what verbal and non-verbal cues are sent and b) how the listener interprets the verbal and non-verbal cues. A break down in either a or b does not allow people to connect and creates misunderstandings and issues that deteriorate relationships.

Our relationship to God is no different. How effectively we listen to God's cues determines how well we follow God's lead in life. It also determines how well we lead others. So much of our prayer lives is spent talking to God about what we want and what we need and what the world wants and needs. It is far more challenging to practice listening to God.

Eli, a priest for God, had begun focusing more on the benefit of getting to eat the choicest cuts of meat from the sacrifices the people were offering to God than on listening and obeying God's commands. He was even allowing his sons to practice the priesthood in ways that did not honor God without correcting them. I interpret the sentence, "The word of the Lord was rare in those days" to mean that God wasn't being listened to much in those days!

So God called forth Samuel to be his servant, his leader of the people. And one of the most important phrases of this whole passage is how Samuel is taught (ironically by Eli!) to address God by saying, "Speak, Lord, your servant is listening." Good listeners of God are good spiritual leaders.

You may believe that you are not a leader, but I assure you that you are. Everyone is an example, albeit a good or bad one, to someone. Thus, everyone is a leader, like it or not. The question for all of us is, what kind of a spiritual leaders are we? The answer to that question rests on how well we listen to God.

Set aside some time each day, even multiple times a day to pray this prayer, "Speak, Lord, your servant is listening." Then be silent for a few moments and see what the Lord says. THEN go work, parent, husband or wife, play, and lead by how well you follow the Lord.

Life Question

1. How am I doing listening to God in his Word, the bible, and to his Spirit as it speaks to me in prayer?
2. How am I doing following God's lead?

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Opportunists

2011-12-19T14:08:00.001-05:00

The moment comes. It surprises you. You didn't realize these possibilities could become reality, but here you are, on the cusp of dreams being turned into flesh and blood, dirt, air, grass. Are you prepared to take advantage of what is before you?

Prayer

Gracious Lord Jesus, we confess that the crush of daily responsibilities keep us focused on survival and maintenance. Help us make time to slow down long enough to look up and see visions of new reality, new life, and the opportunities to realize them by the grace you give. May Your Kingdom come into our hearts and lives and into this grand creation you have made!

Matthew 25

Comments

We are in the waning days of Advent, the season of waiting and preparing for Christmas and for the eventual return of Jesus our King who will judge the living and the dead and bring the fullness of his Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. That's why the text for today is particularly appropriate. It deals with the second coming of Jesus Christ, the Messiah.

There has been a great deal of conjecture about the last days of the world in the past few years. Truthfully, though, humans have been obsessed with this topic since forever! A classic Hollywood joke played out in movies and tv shows is the person wearing a billboard on the sidwalk which reads, "THE END IS NEAR!" These projections about the end were especially prolific at the end of 1999 as the new millenium approached. Earlier this year, a pastor projected that the end of the world and judgment day were to happen, but here we are. Jesus has yet to return.

So what does Jesus tell us in Matthew about his return and final judgment? He tells us stories and gives us imprecise, spacious images filled with questions and mysteries to deal with. Isn't Jesus great!? He does enjoy leaving plenty of room for the mysteries of God to unfold in ways that don't fit in our boxes! There are three things we can grab hold of about the end times, though.

First, Jesus affirms that no one knows when his return will be. The bridesmaids didn't know when the groom would return to claim his bride. The stewards didn't know what day or time the Master of the house would return for an accounting. We don't know if Jesus will return on Tuesday or in the year 3,000, when we are asleep or caught doing something we shouldn't be doing. Guessing when Jesus will return is clearly not something Jesus wants us to spend our time doing. So, with due respect to my brothers and sisters who publish and preach about these things, I recommend we follow his lead and focus on number two.

The second thing Jesus tells about the end times is that we need to be prepared for them, whether he returns before dinner or in 32 years. The bridesmaids who had the foresight to bring plenty of oil for their lamps in case the groom was delayed got to go into the wedding banquet and celebrate the marriage. Those who weren't thinking ahead, made no plans, and just showed up got shut out of the party.

Third, Jesus clarifies for us how we can be prepared. The good stewards were found using their Master's things in ways that expanded the Master's resources. They were prepared. The bad steward did nothing with the Master's things. He was unprepared. The sheep in the last parable fed the hungry, clothed the naked, visited the imprisoned, and cared for the needy. They were found using the time, energy, money, and personal resources helping the helpless, and so were prepared for the day of Jesus return and judgment.

How shall we prepare for Christmas and the ultimate return of Jesus our King? Don't waste time worrying about when he will come, and be ready by caring for the least, the last, and the lost of this world.

Life Questions

1. What part of our lives do we need to ask God for the grace to get ready for his return?
2. In what ways can we serve the imprisoned, hungry, naked, and lost? In other words, how can we serve Jesus "in his most distressing disguise (Mother Theresa)?"

Prayer

Give us grace, dear Jesus, to turn our yearly holiday focus on helping others into a lifestyle that reflects your boundless love for the least, the last, and the lost of this world. Enlarge our love and generosity by your grace, so that we grow to be more like you! In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.

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Go Ahead, Be Judgmental

2011-12-12T08:56:00.000-05:00

When asked what they think about Church and Christianity, many non-Christians levy this charge, "They are so judmental!" On the one hand, they are right. On the other hand, the alternative to making judgments about life is paralysis and indecision. Every choice demands a judgment. What are we to do?

Prayer

Lord Jesus, we confess that we spend too much time criticizing others and not enough time criticizing ourselves. It's less painful for us to point out others' faults than it is to own up to our own. Give us grace to acknowledge and confess our own sins so that we might experience the joy of forgiveness and freedom. Then give us grace to share your joy and freedom with all others who need it!

Matthew 7: 1-5

Comments

This reminds me of the phobia we Christians often have of being "judgmental." The truth is that we are all judgmental, not in the ugly sense we often use the word, but in the sense that we must make judgments about things and people and situations everyday in order to make choices. Every decision is between good and evil, right and wrong, good and great, not good and very bad. We must measure things to see how they stack up to what God's desires are.

Where judging goes wrong is when we are comparing ourselves to others. It is a good idea to judge others next to God in order to decide whether we will follow their example or leadership. If what they propose lines up well with God's ways, then our judgment should tell us to follow them. If what they propose is off of God's ways, then our judgment should tell us not to follow. The moment we place ourselves in God's shoes and judge others as though we were God is the moment we are in real trouble for the real root of sin is idolatry, our desire to be God. That's what got us in trouble in the garden of Eden in the first place.

We don't get to decide who gets in the Kingdom of Heaven and who stays out. We don't get to decide who God loves and who doesn't (for God loves everyone and everything God has made). We don't get to decide who can come to church and who can't. Our real job is to point people to Jesus who is the measure of all that is good and life-giving. God will do the convicting and the heart and life-changing. After all, we should be so busy yanking planks from our eyes in the grace of Jesus that we don't have time to look for the faults of others.

Prayer

Give us the guts to see ourselves for the broken, angry, greedy, hurtful people that we sometimes are. Forgive us, we pray. Free us for joyful obedience to you, loving Jesus! Then use us to point people to you so that they too may be judged by you and saved by your grace! In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, amen.

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For Those That Need It

2011-12-05T08:56:00.000-05:00

"I need help!" It is so hard to say that sometimes. That's like your tongue having an intense wrestling match with the words "I'm sorry" before they can be thrown out of the ring of your mouth! We are taught to be self-sufficient in America. Jesus teaches us that his grace is sufficient to give us the gift of life in his Kingdom.

Prayer

Lord Jesus, who humbled yourself on the cross in obedience to your Father's command to lovingly save us, give us the courage to be humble, to see ourselves clearly, to see our desparate need of your grace for our every moment! We are too proud and hardened and much poorer for it. Open our hearts to humility so that we can receive the life-giving flood of your saving grace!

Matthew 5: 3-6

Comments

It seems as though Jesus was contrasting the spiritual pride of many religious leaders around him with the spiritual hunger of regular people who knew they were weak and tired and needed God's help. This contrast between the spiritually proud and the poor in spirit helps me see more clearly what Jesus meant. It's not that Jesus wants us to be spiritually poor. He is correcting a problem. Those whose spiritual lives have led them to believe they are self-sufficient and superior to others are those who cannot inherit the Kingdom way of life. Those who recognize they are in need of grace and are no better than others have the Kingdom open to them.

This reminds me of the old Smith Barney commercial during which an old scratchy person's voice says, "We make money the old-fashioned way, we eeeaaarrrnnnn it!" In the Kingdom, we can't earn it. We must humbly accept it as a gift. Life with God, the way God intended is a gift, not a right, not an accomplishment. It is a gift. All of our effort goes to remind us of our need for grace and to respond to that grace with our greatest effort to love God and others.

This past weekend we talked about the humility of Mary who came from a poor family in a "nowhere town" called Nazareth. Why did God choose her to be the earthly mother of Jesus, to carry the King of Kings into the world through her body? It's possible God did this because Mary's poverty meant that she knew her dependence on God and she would have had fewer dollars, social commitments, and important appearances to weigh down her commitment to do as her God asked her? For those of us who have much, let us ask God to free us to be obedient no matter what it may mean we have to give up!

Life Questions

1. What comforts, things, reputations, self-perceptions do we have that might be difficult to give up to

follow where Jesus leads?

2. Where does pride keep me from acknowledging my need for God?

Prayer

"Tis the gift to be simple, tis the gift to be free, tis the gift to come down where we ought to be, and when we find ourselves in the place just right, 'twill be in the valley of love and delight. When true simplicity is gain'd, to bow and to bend we shan't be ashamed, to turn, turn will be our delight, till by turning, turning we come out right ("Simple Gifts", Elder Joseph Brackett). Thank you for calling us to the freedom of humility. We need you, the grace you give, the Kingdom you offer. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen!"

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Justice, Really?

2011-12-01T08:35:00.001-05:00

We like to think we want justice, but do we really? When the same measuring stick we use to evaluate others is applied to us, do we still want justice to be done? That's when we all recognize our need for grace!

Prayer

Generous God of overflowing grace, we thank you for giving us far more than we deserve! Remind us that apart from the gifts of your hands we have nothing good, and we would have no hope of growing better. Your grace sustains us, forgives us, makes right what we have done wrong, and brings peace and good living through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Thank you! Amen.

Matthew 20: 1-16

Comments

"That's not fair!" How many times have we said that in our lives? How many times as parents have we heard the words shoot out of our mouths like water out of a pressurized hose,"Who said life is fair?" Yet, part of the reason we say that with such vigor is because deep down we want life to be fair and just and equitable. When I became a teen ager, my mother confessed to me that she would buy an equal number of gifts for my sister and I at Christmas because she knew we would be counting them to see that we each had the same amount!

But do we really want justice to reign supreme? Do we really want everything to work according to the letter of the law? That would be fine, I suppose, if we were perfect. Then we wouldn't worry about the consequences of our bad behavior, and we would have the added benefit of being able to say to others who make mistakes, "Well, you got what you deserved." But we aren't perfect. We are flawed, every last one of us. We just can't seem to get life entirely right. Think about your day today thus far. Hurt anyone's feelings yet? Do anything you shouldn't have? Think of anything you shouldn't have? Hmmm...

Enter grace and our generous God to bring us great news that he gives us more than we deserve and even forgives us when we have broken the law and been unjust! Jesus Christ, born into the world to save sinners like us!

To be honest, the part of me that wants the world to be just doesn't like Jesus' parable today. "What do you mean the landowner paid the people who worked only an hour the same as those who worked all day?!? That's not right!" And when Jesus says that in the Kingdom "the last will be first and the first will be last" I want to say, "What, that can't be! We work hard to get first in line!'

But then, I don't get on track with God everyday until late sometimes either, and in those moments I am grateful that God gives me way more than I deserve. And after all, it's not like those who worked all day didn't get what they were promised. God gives more to those who need it because he is generous, good, and merciful while not taking away from the needs of others. In my bad moments, I am grateful that there is more to God than justice. There is gift, grace, generosity. How about you?

Prayer

Gracious Jesus by the power of your Holy Spirit, help us to be as generous and graceful to others who are flawed as you are to us. Give us your strength and love to forgive as we are forgiven and to give to those in need as you have given to us on the cross. All this so that the world may know of your goodness and give you praise! In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen!

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The New Great

2011-11-21T11:44:00.000-05:00

Children have been in the spotlight the past few weeks, sadly, in the role of victims. Jesus lifts them up as role models for his Kingdom that we all are called to follow.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, giver of all good things, as we enter this week of Thanksgiving, help us to slow down long enough to actually see the many gifts you have given us. Remind us that our place and importance is yours alone to assign to us. In Jesus' name, amen.

Matthew 18: 1-5

Comments

As adults and parents, we often think of the importance of teaching our children how to live and live well. We teach them manners, math, and how to pray. According to Jesus, however, there are important things we need to learn from them about living in God's Kingdom.

We, like the disciples, tend to think of greatness in terms of whether we make the all star team, are the top earners in our companies, get promotions, or gain recognition. Jesus, however, points to a vulnerable, trusting child, whose everyday existence is an exercise of trust in those around her and says, "Now that is true greatness to my Father." Greatness in the Kingdom seems to be measured by how much we trust and depend on God, not in the accomplishments we acheive on our own power.

So many of us are control freaks, living our daily lives as though we were the ones solely responsible for our survival. Parker Palmer uses the phrase "functional atheists" to describe all of us who may say we believe in God but live as though God has left us alone to fight for our own survival. Life in God's Kingdom looks very different. It looks like a peaceful, trusting, response to God's continual provision and care.

Jesus lays down a great challenge for us. He says that no one can even enter the Kingdom of God unless we have the kind of deep trust that we see in the lives of children. That kind of trust is foreign in our world where the vulnerable are often exploited. That's probably why Jesus was so ticked off when he warned anyone who causes a vulnerable one's trust to be damaged that it would be better for them to jump off a bridge with a stone around their neck. So...

Life Questions:

1. How can we humble ourselves and trust more fully in our Heavenly Father?
2. May God give us grace to be worthy of the trust of our children and of the God who gave them to
us to help raise in faith.

Prayer

Precious Jesus, who heals the sick, feeds the hungry, forgives the sinners, frees the oppressed, and whose grace sustains us every single moment of the day, give us larger faith to trust in you. When we see children, let us see our relationship to you through their eyes. Thank you for your love. Amen.

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Keys To The Kingdom

2011-11-14T10:45:00.000-05:00

Ever get lost in the mundane tasks of daily living? Ever wonder how significant your life is while you are changing diapers, stuck in traffic on the interstate, or washing dishes? The mundane and seemingly "insignificant" are of more eternal value than you think!

Prayer

Jesus save us from our blindness to the magnficence of daily tasks! Open our eyes to see the potential in every moment for love and grace, to see that all time is an opportunity for Your Kingdom to break into time, to crash into this broken world of ours. Help us acknowledge Your presence in the kitchen, at work, in bed, in our cars, and everywhere we go. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit we pray, amen.

Matthew 16: 15-19

Comments

Remember the first time you had car keys dropped into your hands with that thrilling jingle? You had the power and authority to take the car! You were the master of the engine, telling it where to go, how fast to go. You had freedom and power, and your world of possibilities grew exponentially! If you were like me, you also had to pay for gas and $3500 for the car!

Jesus says some astounding things in today's passage. He says to Peter,"I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven; whatever you bind (tie to/connect) on earth will be bound (tied to/connected) in Heaven, and whatever you loose (untie/disconnect) on earth will be loosed (untied/disconnected) in heaven." Peter has been given a measure of authority and power in the Kingdom of God! The Church, the followers of Jesus on earth, in fact, have been given the authority and power to expand the Kingdom of God or to expel destructive influences from the Kingdom of God! What power and freedom and possibilities open up for us, and what great responsibilities we now bear!

So what does this mean for people learning to follow Jesus today? Among many things, it means there are no fans, no observers, no Jesus followers who can sit in the stands of life and cheer on "those other Christians" who are confronting sin and the evil powers of this world. When we say "yes" to Jesus' invitation to "come follow me" we say yes to being participants in advancing his Kingdom. That means we point out and celebrate what is good and right with the world (bind on earth what is heavenly!). It also means that we confront sin and evil where we find it with the saving love of Jesus (loose on earth what is not of the Kingdom).

We have an obligation now, a calling. Our daily lives possess a great significance. When we see love expressed in a thousand tiny ways (a kiss on the cheek, taking the garbage out, working to secure a livelihood for our families and to serve others, showing courtesy and kindness to others, putting a hamburger in the hands of the man with the sign near the overpass, a visit with a lonely person), we point it out and celebrate it, for it is a sign of the Kingdom of God among us. And when we see abuse, dysfunction, destructive conflict, hunger, pain over a lost job, disease that causes suffering, greed that takes from others, we are called to point it out and help offer a counteractive solution.

Unfortunately, this week's events at Penn State remind us of how vitally important it is to oppose sin. With proper intervention and reporting of the alleged cases of abuse, it is likely that further abuse could have been prevented, the integrity of an institution and its people could have been preserved, and deeper trauma could have been avoided. May God help all of us be more attentive to protecting the weak and powerless among us.

One final word about the passage this week that is vital for the hope of all creation is that the powers of death will not overcome the love we find in God's Kingdom. Love really does win in the end. Paul wrote "For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor demons, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8: 38-39)."

Life Questions:

1. Where do I see sin and evil around me that I need to stand up to?
2. Where do I see beauty and love and service to those in need in big or small ways that I need to celebrate?

Prayer:

Your Kingdom is at hand this moment! Give us grace to enter it and grace to help you bring it more fully into this day we live in and into the lives we interact with! Come, Lord Jesus!

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Breaking Open

2011-11-07T10:02:00.000-05:00

Your work bag or brief case is over-stuffed. You stand on it, stretch it, pull it to try to get it closed. Your smart phone calendar is colored in. There is not white space in which to breathe. Does your life ever feel to small to fit in all of your expectations and the expectations of others?

Prayer

Dear Jesus, what if we are the ones trying to shrink You and the life You invite us to down to a manageable size? What if our hopes and dreams of life are much smaller than Yours? Free us, break us open wide to enter a bigger life of love and grace than we can imagine right now. Give us courage, hope, and faith that You want to use us to expand Your Kingdom of love in this world of darkness. Amen.

Matthew 12

Comments

I enjoyed shrinky dinks as a kid. My friends and I would color on the plastic animals, people, and objects, then place them in the little oven to shrivel and shrink down into hard plastic art. Sometimes I wonder how often we try to shrink God down to our size. God is so big, so unmanageable for us, and, frankly, God's ways can overwhelm us. "Love your enemies...really? Forgive...really? Sell all we have and give to the poor...really?"

It's much easier for those of us who try to follow Jesus to try to shrink his teachings and way of life down to our size. One of the ways we do that is to distill his mind-blowing, heart-changing, disquieting, and freeing stories into a list of things for us to do or not do. While this process is important for us in order to "flesh out" how Jesus' teachings transform how we live, it is vital that we don't get so wrapped up in our "answers" that we stop listening to Jesus, stop allowing his teaching to challenge us. When we start defending our small ideas of Jesus' Kingdom against Jesus, that's when we find ourselves in trouble.

Matthew 12 shows Jesus to be like a crazed, sledge-hammer wielding God-man in a china shop, happily wrecking the misunderstandings and rituals the religious leaders came up with to try to shrink God's ways down to a manageable size. Unfortunately, the religious leaders, in their attempts to faithfully live according to God's laws, made many rules for "not working" on the Sabbath out to be more important than healing others or receiving God's provision to satisfy hunger. The Sabbath, intended to be a time of rest, renewal, and being in worship with God, became a huge, burdensome, fretful series of rules. Jesus broke those open as he broke open the heads of grain to eat on the Sabbath and as he extended his hand to heal the man with the withered hand. Several times in this passage he said, "I tell you, something greater than the ______ is here."

Anytime our vision of God's way of life (the Kingdom) gets to be too small, Jesus has a way of breaking our vision open and expanding it! Though that process can be a disturbing one, calling us to acknowledge where we are wrong and turn back toward Jesus' ways, it is life-giving! It is expanding. For love, mercy, and healing are greater than rules, laws and regulations, thank God! And we will know when we are following Jesus when we see the fruits of love, mercy, and healing.

Life Questions

1. Who is it that we don't want to be around, that we just don't like? This person might be our opportunity to see how big God's love is. How can we be at peace with them or reach out to them?

2. Where are we focusing on the "minor" issues of life while neglecting love, mercy, and healing?

Prayer

Gracious God, thank You for not allowing us to get too comfortable, for breaking us open when our love needs to grow bigger like Yours. Thank You for being slow to anger and rich in mercy. Give us the power of the Holy Spirit to love, heal, and forgive so that the world may know You are the Lord of heaven and earth and everything in them.

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Jesus Is Good News

2011-10-31T09:41:00.000-04:00

"I can't let them see me this way." "I've got to get cleaned up and put some make up on before we can go." "God couldn't possibly love me. Do you know what I've done?" "I can't go to church like this because everybody there is always so happy." Hmmm...Jesus challenges us to rethink these thoughts!

Prayer

Lord Jesus, let's just call a spade a spade. You know we are quite a bit less than perfect. We struggle with our obesessions, our impulses, our anger, our fears. And our closets have bags of bones in them! But we're looking for some good news today. Help us find some hope, some good, some beauty. We need your help. Amen.

Matthew 9

Comments

What did we expect God to be like, the meanest boss we've ever had, the school teacher who seemed to look forward to punishment, the moody friend who made us wonder if they ever liked us? I've met many people who seem to think that God only loves perfect people, and God is lurking behind every corner excitedly waiting to pounce on all others. This is not the same God that we find in the Bible!

Here is Jesus, fully God and fully human, showing us that God is love. Jesus is not waiting impatiently with a stormy red face and a tapping foot for us to "get it right." Jesus goes to the outsiders, the irreligious, the sinners, the diseased, the demon possessed and gives them great news! Following Jesus by faith will lead them toward health, forgiveness, freedom, and the true religion of love for God and others! This is great news!

For all of the bad news we hear about in the media and all of the "dirty laundry (reference Don Henley's song by the same name, it's a great song!)" aired out through our tv's, mobile phones, and iPads, finally, we have some good news! Jesus invites us broken, dirtied, sinners to follow him into new life. There is hope! "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick." Jesus invites you..."Come, follow me!"

Prayer

Heal us, Great Savior and friend! Make us whole where pieces of us have broken off and where shattered pieces of others have gouged us. You are the hope, the good news to the world, that all can be made whole through your cross and empty tomb. Thank you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit we pray. Amen.

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Small Faith, Big God

2011-10-25T17:34:00.000-04:00

This is a time of disillusionment. The American dream is crumbling around the edges and cracked in the middle. The life we thought we would have is not the one we’re living. Who has the power and authority to bring us new life?

Prayer

God of endless love and mercy, help us find our way! Jesus, you grab our face in your hands, look us in the eyes and say, “Trust me. I alone have the power to bring salvation.” We are weak and doubtful, give us faith in your power and your Kingdom. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, amen.

Matthew 8

Comments

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1).”

Each of the short story “clips” in this chapter raise a question for us: “Do I have faith in the power of Jesus to change my life?” Some in the stories believed in Jesus’ power more than others.

The man with leprosy sought Jesus out and kneeled before him believing that if Jesus only willed his healing, it would happen. He did not doubt Jesus could do it. He had faith in Jesus’ power to heal him. When Jesus commanded, all heaven and earth moved to fulfill that command.

The Centurion, an important man who gave leadership to many soldiers, came to Jesus with faith that Jesus’ power could act by “remote control!” He believed Jesus didn’t even need to be physically present to heal his servant! He believed that Jesus’ power was accessible anywhere on earth or in heaven!

The demons even acknowledged the power of Jesus and trusted that his command could make them move.

And then there were the disciples, panicking over the wind storm they were enduring on the sea of Galilee in their boat while Jesus slept. It’s ironic how outsiders and people who didn’t grow up in church seemed to have more faith in Jesus’ power to bring new life than his close followers and future leaders. It’s not that the disciples had no faith at all, it was simply insufficient, not large enough to see the blue sky and flat seas of the day after the storm.

What disease, death, or storms are we facing that invite us to have faith in Jesus to bring new life through? The economy? Splintering relationships? Cancer? Death? I’ll be the first to admit that it can be hard to have faith in the face of such difficulties. Thank God Jesus rebuked the wind and the waves even though the disciple’s faith was too small!

Prayer

Lord, help us in our unbelief! Give us greater faith in you, our loving God who rose from the dead, unconquered. Come, Lord Jesus, bring your Kingdom to full flower!

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Undivided Heart

2011-10-17T09:31:00.000-04:00

Integrity. Wholeness. Peace. Unity. Hmmm...what does Jesus have to teach us about these?

Prayer

Like 63 voracious pirhanas, the world comes nibling furiously at us, wanting to take our hearts, minds, souls, and strength. Advertisers clamor for our attention, time, and money. Bosses squeeze us for productivity like toothpaste , and our entertainment options lure us into worshiping them with our time. Give us strength, dear Jesus, to stay focused on You and Your peaceful Kingdom way of life in the midst of cymbal crashing world! Amen.

Matthew 6

Comments

The question always comes up. The CSI team stands around the crime scene, weapon clearly identified, the chalk outline of a body on the ground near gruesome stains, and someone asks, "We've got the method, but what's the motive?" This is a great question, not just for solving crimes, but for those who desire to follow Jesus into eternal life.

What is our motive? Why do we do what we do? Does it count in God's eyes if we do the right thing for the wrong reasons? Is God interested in our reasons? Read Matthew 6 and we get a resounding "YES!" According to Jesus, we can pray, share, serve, fast, and work for all of the wrong reasons and miss out on the Kingdom way of life God intends for us to have.

In my mind, all of chapter 6 is about asking "How completely devoted are our lives to the love of God?" If we are going to worship, giving our time and money to church functions, even to helping the poor, so that other people might think highly of us, then we aren't pleasing our Heavenly Father. We are still devoted primarily to ourselves and to building an image of ourselves that other people might worship. We are not wholeheartedly focused on honoring God in our worship, prayer, work, sleeping, eating, husbanding, childrearing, playing, etc.

The alternative life, filled with the rich provision and abundance of God is a life whose one desire, one aim, one purpose is to love and honor God above all else in its every aspect. When our lives are purely devoted to God in this manner, we become people of integrity, wholeness, and peace, because every part of our lives is brought into order by the one supreme purpose of our lives, the worship and love of God.

That Jesus invites us to lives of wholeness, peace, and integrity is great news, for one of the terrible symptoms of living in this age is how divided our hearts are, leaving us confused about our priorities and unclear about our purpose. His power alone can knit us together. Let's call upon him for help that we might be saved!

Prayer

"Save us from the many things that might distract us. Please take them away and purify our hearts. We don't want to lose the eternal for the things that are passing (One Thing, Rich Mullins)." Lord Jesus Christ, we worship you above all other things and through the proper use of all others things today. You are the Lord of our time, our work, our relationships, our money and things. We offer it all to Your use and disposal. May Your Kingdom come! In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, amen!

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Grow Up!

2011-10-11T16:52:00.001-04:00

Want to improve, get better, maximize your potential? See what Ephesians says about growing up.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, be patient with us. Sometimes it's hard to notice that we are growing and changing for the better. Sometimes it feels like we are just revisiting the same issues in our lives over and over again. Remind us that, with faith and trust in your grace, you are refining us, reshaping us, remaking us in your amazing image! Give us great faith! In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit!

Ephesians 4: 14-16

Comments

When I finally gave up baseball, it was largely because of the post-game "chats" that the coach held for 33 minutes after each game. He would go on ad nauseum about our many mistakes, telling us repeatedly that if we wanted to win we needed to try harder to do things differently. His vision of Little League baseball was to make us all fit for the World Series. My vision was to have a good time with my friends and learn a little baseball. It's no surprise that at the end of that season, I moved on to drumline and track.

Looking back on that experience with 27 years of hind sight, I can see the value in pausing to review what is working and what isn't. Sometimes after a project, we need to step back and take time to improve our awareness of what we're doing right and what we're doing wrong. It's good to check your way points once in a while to see that you are still heading the right direction.

Life with Jesus is no different. Yes, it is fun and enjoyable, filled with many rich blessings of relationships and opportunities to make a difference in people's lives for the Kingdom. And, yes, we still need to stop, take a good hard look at ourselves next to Jesus, and confess the ways that we live that still are not in line with his. Then we need to receive his life-changing grace again and the power of his Holy Spirit, and move forward in his footsteps.

We need to be told the truth about ourselves, however painful or glorious that is. That's how we will grow up to be like Jesus. "We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine, by people's trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ..." Let us give thanks to God for those in our lives who help us see the truth about ourselves next to Jesus. They may annoy us, but they are God's grace in action, perfecting us in Jesus Christ.

Life Questions

1. Do I come to God in worship, prayer or Bible study open to knowing the truth about how I am a sinner in need of grace or do I come merely to be justified, comforted, and pumped up?
2. Who is in my life that tells me the truth about myself? How can I purposefully ask them to help me be accountable to my life with Jesus?

Prayer

Fairest Lord Jesus, who sees through our every deception and pretense with eyes of blazing truth and love, burn away our impurities so that we may be more pure in your sight, more empty of sin and full of love. In the powerful name of Jesus, amen.

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We've Been Adopted!!!

2011-10-04T09:31:00.001-04:00

Feeling unattached, disconnected, unloved, alone? Find out how God has adopted you into his family!

Prayer:

Hi God, it's us again, the ragged people who are trying too hard to hold everything together. We need you to tie our loose ends together, to make us whole again in heart, mind, soul, and body. Only you can do that. So here we are, Jesus, save us, make us whole again in the power of your Spirit and love. Amen.

Ephesians 1: 1-14

Comments

My son and I were reading a mystery the other night in which orphans were secretly being forced to work in a secret mining operation and in secret labs where strange experiments were being done. The sad orphans were carried from place to place hidden in the back of sour smelling garbage trucks. They were barely fed and clothed and without anyone in the world to know they were in trouble or to protect them. These kids longed for someone to welcome them into a family where they could be loved and cared for.

It amazes me that there are more people on our planet than ever before in recorded history, and we have more ways to communicate than ever before and yet millions of people still feel alone, unappreciated, unknown, and unloved. To those feeling alone, orphaned, or in destructive family situations, there is great news from the Bible today...you've been adopted into a loving family! "He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved (Ephesians 1: 5-6)."

The Bible reveals that one of the consequences of our sins is that we are cut off from God, alienated from his family. In a sense, we all have orphaned ourselves by choice. Thankfully, God's love stretches beyond justice into mercy and grace. God lovingly offers himself in Jesus Christ on the cross as the atonement for our sin, satisfying the just penalty of our sin, and providing the way for us to be adopted back into his family. The height, depth, width, and length of God's love for us cannot be measured!

What does it mean to be adopted? First it means we have a new relationship with our God who loves us. Secondly, it means that we are given the right to inherit the fullest life in God's Kingdom. Third, it means that we have the responsibility to represent the family name and to enter the family mission to draw all things to peace with God through Jesus Christ.

Let's give thanks to God for the riches that his grace freely gives us in Jesus Christ! Let's live in and for our Heavenly Father and for His family above all.

Life Question

1. In my work, my home, and where I go every day, how can I represent Jesus Christ and my
heavenly family well?
2. November is national adoption month. Pray about adopting a child into your family or about
helping mentor someone near you who needs some direction.

Closing Prayer

Thank you, Lord, for loving us enough to die for us and for welcoming us back into your family. Give us grace to live as your representatives in our day to day lives. Help us work with you to bring others into your ever expanding family, the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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God's Special Forces

2011-09-26T08:58:00.000-04:00

Do you have a greater purpose in life than trying to survive and have a little fun along the way?

Prayer:

Lord Jesus save us from the constricting visions of what our lives are about that are given to us from the world! You have called us to be more then consumers of goods and services, more adventurous than safety conscious, more useful to Your Kingdom than comfortable. We are made in Your glorious image and nothing less! Give us the grace to see ourselves in light of You! Amen

Ephesians 1

Comments

I got bored with the daily reading plan I was using, so we're all going to Ephesians for a little while to see what God says to us there! Boredom is not really a part of the spiritual life, because God is always being creative, always moving toward the salvation of his broken creation, and always enlisting us on the mission. If you find yourself bored when you're following Jesus, it is a signal that it is time to pray and ask for the direction of the Holy Spirit! Trust me, you won't be disappointed! I did that this morning and was directed to Ephesians. And what did I find? Amazing stuff!

As followers of Jesus Christ, God reminds us through Paul that we are set apart (saints) for special use, destined for God's glory (the fullness of salvation), adopted into God's family, forgiven, and redeemed from the eternal consequences of our sins by grace! If your self-esteem needs a shot in the arm, this is it! Look what Jesus has done for us! We, like the Israelites before us, have been chosen by God, in spite of our sinfulness, to be God's special forces, used by him to be a blessing to the world, to point the sin-sick world back to God, to be living examples of the life-changing, grace-filled love of Jesus Christ! That's our job today and every day.

I saw a tv show about the Navy Seals Special Operations training requirements. Absolute dedication is required. Prospective Seals push themselves to absolute extremes of physical endurance going without sleep, exposing their bodies to freezing temperatures, running past the point of vomiting for weeks at a time. God invites us to nothing less than the absolute dedication of our lives and resources to loving God and others through acts of worship and service.

Life Question:

1. How can we dedicate our every moment to loving God and serving others at our work, in our
     homes, at the grocery store, in our neighborhoods today?
2. Are we honoring any other powers and authorities in our lives above Jesus Christ, the King of
     Kings?

Closing Prayer:

Lead on great King Eternal! We await your command to spread Your Kingdom in the hearts and lives of people today. Give us eyes to see their needs, energy to respond in compassion, and Your Spirit to draw our lives more fully into Your Kingdom! Amen.

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Life Or Death

2011-09-19T15:59:00.001-04:00

The quality of our lives hangs in the balance.

Opening Prayer:

Merciful God, give us grace to hear what you have to say through your Spirit and your Word, so that we might live the abundant life you have won for us through the cross and empty tomb. Amen.

Deuteronomy 30: 1-20

Comments:

"Doctor, come quick. It's a matter of life or death!" We may have heard this line in a movie a few times, but have we ever thought of our relationship with God through Jesus Christ in this light? Living God's ways promotes life, and not just long, eternal life, but the richest, highest quality of life that can be had. From the beginning, God hasn't only been interested in our obedience to him because God is God and deserves it, but also because God knows how we have been designed, what we have been designed for, and how we can live most fully and completely.

Many people view God's laws in the Old Testament as evidence that God likes to create endlist lists for us to follow, like great hoops for us to jump through as though God needed the entertainment or wanted the power trip to show us who is boss when we fail. According to the bible, however, God gives us laws so that "it may go well with us," and our lives may be full, abundant, giving praise to God. Jesus once said, "I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly."

Our text today may have been written after God's people suffered a time of exile then combined with other material from Deuteronomy. God's people were disobedient, weakening them and making them vulnerable to a hostile takeover and exile from the land. In this passage, God called them back to obedience of his laws, to a fully devoted love of God so that they might live and live fully. "The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live (6)." The author frames obedience to God as a matter of life or death.

Jesus, when teaching his followers the cost of discipleship, said, "For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul (Mark 8: 35-36)." Taking up a new life with Jesus means leaving behind the old one, a broken life for a whole one, the ways of death exchanged for the ways of life. That is God's invitation to us.

Life Questions:

1. What are the habits we practice that tear down relationships, that promote death?
2. What habits do we practice that promote love for God with our whole heart and love of our
neighbors?

Prayer:

Jesus, give us the grace to respond to your invitation with great faith, following your footsteps and practicing habits like forgiveness, love, service to the poor, healing, reconciliation, peacemaking, disciple making, thankfulness and praise. These are the habits of our new life with you. Thank you for your cross and empty tomb which open the door for us to enter your Kingdom way of life! In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit we pray, amen.

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Weekly Prayer: Directions

2011-09-12T09:06:00.000-04:00

Looking for directions? Isaiah has a few from God.

Opening Prayer:

Lord Jesus, we confess we live in a confused age. There are so many options, so many choices to make, we struggle to see which ways promote life, love, and peace. Uncrust our eyes to see the prints your feet leave behind so that we may walk in your paths that lead to life for all. In Jesus Christ our Lord, amen.

Isaiah 58: 1-14

Comments:

Yes, the prophets can be irritating some times and downright mean, but we have to admit that we all need a swift kick in the butt sometimes. When we're stubbornly going the wrong way, the person who lovingly grabs our shoulders, squarely faces us, stares into our eyes with fire and says, "If you keep going this way, you'll fly over the cliff. Turn around!!" is to be treasured! That's Isaiah's job for God's people then and for us today.

The people of Isaiah's day seek God through prayer and humility, but they aren't connecting their acts of worship with their lives. They seem to have completely disconnected their "spiritual practices" of prayer and worship from the way they treat other people in their businesses and their homes. "'Why have we fasted,' they say, 'and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?' Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists (verses 3-4)."

So it is today. Many people see attending worship or praying as an insurance policy for "getting into heaven" or as a feel good tool for attaining greater relaxation or "something important to do for the kids." God uses Isaiah to clarify the directions that lead to salvation. Salvation comes when we worship God not only in our singing, praying, and reading of Scripture, but especially in the way we work, care for the poor, and treat our families. It seems that the kind of people God saves in Jesus Christ are those who trust him enough to love as he loves, heal as he heals, and care for the poor as he cared for the poor each hour of every day, not just one hour on Sunday with singing in a building called a "Church." "Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear (verse 8)."

Life Question:

1. Who around me is poor in body, mind, or soul that I can offer healing to in the name of Jesus
Christ?

Closing Prayer:

Great God of our salvation, Your Spirit is constantly working in the the people around us to draw them to life-giving faith in Jesus Christ. Help us see the needs of others. Give us courage and joy in sharing the love of Christ in tangible ways. And may your Kingdom of love continue to expand. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, let it be so.

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Which Leader Do You Trust?

2011-09-06T21:48:00.000-04:00

Opening Prayer:

Gracious Father in heaven, we are lost without leaders. We are wandering, floundering, bumping into things and longing for directions in a complex world. Worse yet, we sometimes walk off the cliffs our leaders take us to! Above all powers and thrones, we submit to your leadership first in our lives. Guide us, direct us we pray, in the mighty name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Psalm 146

Comments:

Who's really in charge here? Yes, if we have a boss, that boss is in charge of our work area. If we are the boss, we are in charge of the success or failure of our company. Yes, the President of the United States is in charge of the Executive Branch of our government and the House and Senate oversee the legislative branch. But I'm talking about the bigger picture, no, the biggest picture. Who's really in charge in the universe, over everything that has been and will be created? Who started everything and who will bring history to it's ultimate destiny?

Science can't touch this question because it is too big of a question to be contained within the realm of what we can measure with our five senses. This question is the realm of faith. The Psalmist proclaims that the God of Jacob, the creator of all things, is the only one who is in charge of history's destiny. This God alone is faithful and trustworthy. Further in the Bible, Jesus Christ, God made flesh, is acknowledged as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

And what ultimate destiny is God bringing us too? God is intensly interested in freeing the oppressed, feeding the hungry, and caring for the alien, the fatherless, and the widows. In the end, God will be sure that they are well-fed, cared for, and have a rather large family to belong to. As for those who aren't oppressed, hungry, aliens, fatherless, or widows, God is intensly interested in our participation in caring for others in need.

We are living in times of terrific uncertainty. We're all looking for leaders to blaze a trail in the wild overgrown jungle we find ourselves in. The Psalmist says, "Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save. When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing." We need great earthly leaders, but more than we need them, we need the One true leader who is trustworthy and who holds a future full of love and justice in his authority.

These days it's hard to find leaders to trust. Who do you trust to lead you forward?

Life Question:

1. Who do you trust to lead you daily? Your "gut?" The human leaders around you?
2. Who do you trust with your life?

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, we thank you for showing us in your cross and empty tomb that we not only can trust in your love for us, but we can trust that your power is great enough to overcome all sin and evil. Forgive us when we cower in fear or when we desperately look for leadership in the wrong places. Help us keep our eyes and hearts on you. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, amen.

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Weekly Prayer: Squeezed

2011-08-29T09:19:00.000-04:00

Opening Prayer:

Loving Lord Jesus, when we are squeezed like oranges by the pressures of living, fill us so full of grace that your love is what pours out into this thirsty world. Speak to us now, we're listening.

Isaiah 8: 11-22 and 9: 1-7

Comments:

I can hear some of you saying, "Say what?" You've been plopped down into the middle of a much larger story. The Assyrians, rising world power of that time, were ready to sweep over the nation of Israel. God's people were being squeezed. War was imminent. Loss of self-government, of homes, of lives, of everything familiar to them was imminent. How would God's people respond?

Many were running to worship other gods of the time in hopes that they would be saved. Some wanted to cut a deal with the Assyrians to save their own skin. Some sank into worry, fear, and despair. Others consulted mediums. I love what God says about this,"Should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living?"

God's message to Isaiah and to his faithful disciples was this, "Do not call conspiracy what these people call conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear. But the Lord of hosts, him you shall regard as holy." In other words, God is greater than all angelic/demonic armies, let alone earthly ones. He alone is to be praised and feared, worshipped and trusted. And he will become "a sanctuary."

We are squeezed by many things in this fast-paced age of rapid technological revolution. Our expectations about how much more we can do in so much less time constantly squeeze us. The competition of world markets and constant changes in technology press us to keep up so our businesses can stay productive. Our mobility strains and stretches essential relationships. And the massive bombardment of entertainment and advertising options threatens to distract us from what is essential to good living. Like the lime I squeezed over my chicken tacos last night, what is inside of us will pour out when we are pressed. Jesus said, "Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks (Luke 6:45)."

So what is inside of us? When we are squeezed, will a determined, faith and trust in God pour out? Will doubt, fear, and a consultation with false gods or the dead drizzle down? Like Isaiah, God invites us to trust him, to "regard him alone as holy." Yes, we may feel afraid, struggle with doubt, and wonder if there is an easier way through, but God wants to know if we will choose to trust him with our lives in spite of our feelings.

Life Question:

1. When I'm being squeezed this week, what will pour out of me?

Closing Prayer:

Give us great faith in you when we feel like we are hanging over the edge of the cliff. Remind us you are Jesus, who conquered fear, hell, evil, and death and that nothing, NOTHING, can separate us from your love. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen!

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Patient, Persistent, Prayer

2011-08-22T10:19:00.000-04:00

Opening Prayer:

Today, right now, remind us, great God of every star and planet, of every living thing that we are not alone. You are calling us closer to you this moment. We need your strength and wisdom to live well, and we need your love to transform us! We're listening...please give us Your Word.

Psalm 40

Comments:

I've heard the saying "good things come to those who wait but not to those who hesitate." I don't know who said it but it speaks the truth that there is a time to wait and pray, and there is a time to act on what God has already revealed without hesitation.

David's prayer mentions his patient waiting upon God to respond to his prayers. It makes me wonder how long he had to wait. Knowing that in many other Psalms David is found almost to be screaming and crying to God saying, "How long must I wait? Have you left me here to suffer and die," I wonder how patient is his idea of patient?

How patient are we in waiting for God to respond to our requests in prayer? Sometimes God tests us to see how much we trust him by seeing how long we will wait. Abraham was told by God's angel to take his only son, Isaac, the one he waited until he was 90 to have, and sacrifice him. So Abraham walked a few days to the site where the sacrifice was to be held.  Imagine Abraham praying with each footstep that God would tell him not to do it.  Imagine Abraham and Isaac reaching the top of the mountain with no word from God.  Imagine Abraham tying Isaac up to the altar and there being no word from God! Imagine Abraham praying through sweat, anxiety, and tears; Abraham lifting the knife and then...God saying, "Stop!" God never wanted Isaac dead. He only wanted to see how much Abraham trusted God.

Jesus must know we have trouble patiently waiting on God in prayer. He told many stories about praying persistently. One of my favorites is of a man who was in bed asleep with his whole family (in those days the whole family slept in the same bed...can you imagine?) when his friend knocked on the door during the night asking for bread to share with a visitor who came to see him. Jesus says that the man in the bed didn't come to the door because he was his friend but because of his persistent knocking! In other words, the man at the door annoyed his friend into action! Now that's a funny image of prayer!

Part of following Jesus is learning to keep knocking on God's door, trusting God to answer out of the love He has for us.  We may not understand God's time or God's ways, but, in the end we believe, like David that God will "incline to me and hear my cry." God will literally stretch way out to offer us what we need.

Life Question:

1. What are we praying about that demands patient persistence from us?
2. Where do we struggle with doubt that God will provide what we need or what others need?
3. Let us pray the prayer of the father of the demon possessed man in Mark 9, "Lord I believe! Help
     my unbelief!"

Closing Prayer:

Lord Jesus Christ, give us the persistent, powerful faith that moves mountains, the kind you showed as you mounted the cross for our salvation! Help us trust in your unfailing love for us and in your tender care. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.

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Weekly Prayer: Emptied Out And Filled Up

2011-08-15T14:01:00.000-04:00

Opening Prayer:

Merciful and kind God, thank you for being quick to forgive and slow to anger. As we start this week, save us from our small thoughts that this week is only about making more money, keeping everyone happy, having a little fun, or "just getting by." Restore us to your vision of good life which is nothing less than life lived out of gratitude for your love, life spent honoring you by doing great things and by serving those in need. That is life worthy of eternity.

Scripture: Matthew 3: 1-17

Comments:

This past weekend I got a better idea of what it looks like to empty myself. After swimming and biking in the Florida summer heat at full speed, I got off my bike and began to run a 5k on the way to completing a sprint triathlon. My shoes squished with sweat each time I took a stride, my mouth was dry, my head was pounding, and I was running out of energy. Sportscasters working the Tour de France often say of cyclists climbing one of the Alps, "He's turning himself inside out!" I certainly wasn't climbing an Alp, but I did feel like I was turning myself inside out, expending every last drop of energy. Hmmm, I wonder if spending every last drop of energy in life on Jesus' work to bring wholeness to this broken world is what Jesus means when he says to his disciples and other followers, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it (Mark 8: 34-35)?"

In today's reading, we find John the baptist in the desert crying out to the world to turn away from their sin and turn back to following God. The desert...really? Why not go to Jerusalem or New York City where people actually live if you want to get the word out? Why would God want to call people out to the desert to turn back to him? Hmmm...could it be that going out to the desert requires us to be inconvenienced, to have to go out of our way, to step aside from what is normal for us, to empty ourselves of our broken ways of living so that we will be cleaned out and ready to receive the new life Jesus comes to give?

This God of ours doesn't always seem interested in our convenience or in perpetuating our life-denying ways of living. This is no namby-pamby, feel good, positive thinking, "programs to make your life better" God. This is a God who says, "You want eternal life, you've got to die to your selfish ways and turn back to me, plain and simple." Hmmm, that will need some time to ponder. God seems resolutely focused on reorganizing our lives according to his ways, ways of love, justice, and mercy, even if that means inviting us out to the desert to empty ourselves.

Life Questions:

1. In what ways do I love convenience more than I love God?
2. What in me needs to be empty on my way to the desert to be filled by the loving, saving presence
of Jesus Christ and his Spirit?

Closing Prayer:

Save us from a life of weak resignation to "normal." Fill us with a passionate, all out love for you and the creation you have died and risen to save. In the name of Jesus who fills us with life overflowing, amen.

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Weekly Prayer: God And Your Body

2011-08-09T09:57:00.011-04:00

Opening Prayer:

God of power, love, and creativity, thank you for taking the stuff of dust and dirt and breathing life into them so that we can live! Your creativity is boundless and beautiful! In all of the tasks and busyness of living, help us see the gifts in the present moment so that we may enjoy them and give you praise! In the name of Jesus, amen.

John 1: 1-18

Comments:

John is all about the big picture and Jesus, the cosmic impact of the enfleshment of God! Jesus is the Word, the organizing principle and power and source of all living things. He is the life and light of all that grows and breathes. When Jesus becomes flesh the divine and human are joined, the spiritual and physical are sown back together after having been torn by sin, and all that is good and right and beautiful about the physical world is given the possibility and power to be restored by the gracious loving sacrifice of God. So what does that have to do with us today?

Many people don't see that faith in Jesus Christ has any impact on their physical lives. Over the centuries some bad teachings have led people to believe that the physical world must be destroyed and left behind in order to become more spiritual. Some have taught that the pleasures of physical life like sex, eating, and the enjoyment of beautiful things like art and music should be avoided at all costs in order to please God. And historically, when the world has been a painful place to live, people have resorted to an "escapist" faith, looking so forward to the blissful heavenly life after death that they forget God's interest in the physical well being of his creatures in the present.

When "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us," Jesus came to restore the connection between the spiritual and physical. God is not just interested in whether you go to heaven or hell when you die. God is interested in the life-giving order of his Kingdom being restored "on earth as it is in heaven!" God is not just interested in whether we say the words "I trust Jesus as my Lord and Savior." God is also interested in whether our bodies act like the Body of Jesus we have joined by faith. God is interested in whether we love like Jesus with our hands, with how we spend our time, with how we work every day , with how we treat our spouses and children, with how we vote on issues, with what we do in our sex lives, with what we eat, with how we spend our money, and with how we treat our bodies and the bodies of others. In short, God is very interested in our bodies!

Life Questions:

1. How do you use your body in ways that honor God and promote love and good living in others?
2. In what ways do you use your body that are destructive?

Prayer:

Merciful God, thank you for caring for our bodies! Forgive us when we have used our bodies as weapons, when our words have injured others, when our actions have broken relationships and the bodies of others. Thank you for the good that our bodies can do! Restore our minds, hearts, bodies and souls through the life-giving cross and resurrection of Jesus so that we may live for you joyfully today and in each moment you give. Amen!

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Weekly Prayer: No Panic

2011-07-12T12:54:00.000-04:00

Opening Prayer:

God of power, love, and grace, we are worried about many things, the economy, our jobs, being able to provide for our children, our health, the state of world affairs. Remind us that you are our salvation, not our efforts, not our politicians, not our technology. Though each of those is important, without you, we cannot find salvation! Speak to our hearts that we may find strength, peace, and love to share. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Psalm 62

Comments:

What I find amazing about this Psalm is that it is apparently written while David and his people are being battered by enemy forces in battle. How do you "wait in silence" while you are in a fight for your lives and the lives of those you love? This is either stupidity or amazing trust in the power and care of God! Though there is upheaval and chaos all around, David is not panicking or caving into fear. He is silent and resting. "For God alone my soul waits in silence...On God rests my deliverance." Though David surely understands his royal role as leader of the battle, in this Psalm his role is dwarfed by the idea that this is God's fight, and God alone will bring peace and salvation.

The other thing that stands out to me about this Psalm is how in this time of prayer, David maintains an eternal perspective. Verses 9 and 10 clarify that David puts no confidence in his possessions or his power or his status. Hoping for these things to bring salvation is futility. "Do not set your hearts on them." God alone is the source of all power and love, the hope for our salvation.

I don't know what battles you are fighting today, but I know that we are invited to wait in silence, to rest on God, our Savior. He alone is our hope that peace, love, joy are coming.

Prayer:

Though the wind blows, the lightning flashes hot, and the thunder shakes the ground, plant our feet firmly on you. Ground us in the love and resurrection of Jesus Christ who is our hope. Give us faith so that we can wait on you and rest in you in the middle of the fights we're in. May you find us faithful. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

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Weekly Prayer: Justice And Beauty

2011-07-06T10:29:00.000-04:00

Opening Prayer:

Gracious Lord, we made it to the keyboard and to this time of prayer. Salvage us from the wreckage of our busy lives so that we may taste the full goodness of life with you! Speak to us, fill us with your love and transform us into the kind of people who love beyond reason. Amen!

Isaiah 1: 21-26

Comments:

Justice is a popular issue at the moment. Baseball, swimming, and cycling stars are under scrutiny for cheating by using performance enhancing drugs. Millions of people have stayed glued to the details of the Casey Anthony trial. Many are angered and disappointed with the verdict. What is right anymore? Where is there justice? Are there any rules to play by anymore or is "win at any cost" really the best way to live?

God uses Isaiah to reaffirm that justice is not only in God's character, it is the foundational structure of all that is good, loving, and beautiful about life! Notice how unfaithfulness to God and God's rule of justice conjures up ugly words like "whore," "murderers," "rebels," thieves." What was made by God to be beautiful becomes tainted, dented, dirtied, and poisoned by the choices of those who are unfaithful to God's ways. "Your silver has become dross, your best wine mixed with water (22)." A watered down and ugly life that is destructive is the fruit of inattention to God's ways of justice.

Thank God for his saving judgment! Justice will come! It may hurt us to see how we lack care for the well-being of others, how we treat others unjustly, but in the end, God wants to clear the dross from the silver, protect the full-bodied taste of the wine, and see that the widows and orphans and powerless people among us are cared for. Then we will be beautiful again and justice will reign and all praise will be given to God our Savior through the Lord Jesus Christ!

Life Questions:

1. Do I live by the rules because I care about others and because I love God?
2. Do I treat others justly and fairly? Do I pay particular attention to caring for the powerless?

Closing Prayer:

Heavenly Father, when I've been powerless in my sin, you have come to forgive and save me through the love of Jesus Christ! I am grateful for your justice and mercy to me. Give me joy in serving the least, the last, and the lost today so that I may grow more beautiful in your sight. Amen.

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Weekly Prayer: The Kingdom Is Now!

2011-06-27T13:01:00.000-04:00

Opening Prayer:

Lord, open our hearts and minds that as we read Your word and commune with Your Spirit, we may hear with joy and hope what You say to us today. Amen!

Matthew 10: 1-15

Thoughts:

I think it should shock us to realize the kind of power Jesus gives his disciples. He gives us authority over all of the forces of evil, sin, disease, and death! Then he charges us to go out and counteract these forces with the healing, forgiving, resurrecting power of God's loving Kingdom! I know what some of you are thinking, "It's great that Jesus and the disciples did that kind of thing back then before they had science and medicine, but that stuff doesn't really happen any more." Others may read Jesus' call for us to cast out demons and immediately have images from the movie "The Exorcist" playing in their minds, heads twisting a full 360 degrees and throwing up green goop (that movie still gives me the creeps!). Those running these films in their minds may be asking, "Is that what Jesus has in mind for me to do to follow him?"

Regardless of how we feel about it, the fact remains that Jesus calls his disciples then and now to be a force in the world to counteract evil, sin, and death in whatever forms they are presented. The Bible doesn't have a problem acknowledging that forces of evil and our sinful choices are at work to destroy God's good creation. The Bible also doesn't have a problem with reminding us that the ultimate forces of our loving God and His Kingdom are greater! The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ conquers evil, sin, and death!

So where does that leave those of us seeking to follow Jesus? It leaves us on the same mission as the 12 disciples in Matthew! Jesus calls us to go into our neighborhood, office, family, soccer field, and restaurant, prayerfully casting out evil, bringing healing, and proclaiming the forgiving, saving love of Jesus Christ our savior! We must live the Kingdom way of life and help people see what God is doing to save his creation by proclaiming the Kingdom!

Life Questions:

How is God asking me to show the Kingdom of God to someone this week? Is it through prayer, through kindness, through forgiveness, through healing, or service?

Closing Prayer:

God of grace and God of glory pour your power on us, your people, so that we may advance your Kingdom of healing love in the name of Jesus Christ our King! Amen.

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Weekly Prayer: Extraordinary Kindness

2011-06-20T12:47:00.000-04:00

Opening Prayer:

Heavenly Father, from whom every good thing comes, thank you for your abundant love for us. We taste it in good food, feel it in the warmth of the sun and the cool of the rain, and know it in the love we share with others. Open our hearts, make us receptive to the gifts of your Spirit during this time. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Ruth 2: 14-23

Comments:

I may be among the few who has specifically avoided any news coverage of the Casey Anthony trial, but I can't escape it! I tried to get a view of the weather radar to see if it was going to rain the other day, and the news channel was showing irritated (and irritating) people waiting in line to get in to see the trial, passing the time by pushing, shoving, hitting each other, and yelling "this old woman cut in line!" I was embarassed that the rest of the world was forming their opinions about Americans from this press! Has every drop of respect and care for others bled out of us?

Contrast this with the story of Ruth, Naomi, and Boaz. Ruth, though she is not legally bound to care for her mother-in-law after the death of her husband, chooses love and loyalty, deliberately leaving her country and people to look after Naomi and to follow Naomi's God. Naomi wisely helps Ruth navigate the potential treacheries awaiting a foreign, unmarried woman in a strange land with her wisdom and care. Boaz not only welcomes Ruth, a foreigner, as a gleaner, one who is impoverished and, by God's laws, should be allowed to pick wheat and barley from the leftovers of the harvest, but orders his workers to protect her in the fields and to load her up with choice parts of the crops! Though the story does not explicitly name God as a prime actor, it is implied that God is the origin of all of this kindness, loyalty, and love for strangers and widows and hungry people.

I know there are many people hungry for the scoop on the trial and hungry to "get what's due to them" no matter what that means for others. I still hold out hope that these are just misplaced, misdirected hungers and that what people are really hungry for is the way of life Jesus offers. In Jesus' Kingdom, we share out of the abundance of all God gives us, we are kind because God has been so kind and forgiving to us, and we love with commitment not just the feelings of the moment.

Life Question:

How can I show the kindnes and love God has shown me with someone this week?

Closing Prayer:

You give us life. You forgive us when we deliberately disobey you. You search for us when we are lost. You give us your Spirit's presence to cheer and guide us each day. You love us even when we have acted unlovely! Give us an unquenchable desire to love others in the same way. In Jesus' power, amen.

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Weekly Prayer: Don't Save An Ounce

2011-06-13T10:49:00.000-04:00

Opening Prayer:

God of mercy, forgive us for losing our focus on your presence in our lives. We get so busy, have so much to do, yet apart from you we can do nothing of any importance or value. Free us to joyfully drink from your Holy Spirit's presence within us when we wake, when we work, when we play and rest! Speak, we are listening!

Deuteronomy 6: 4-25:

Comments:

It's easy to love God on Sunday morning in a worship service or on a mission trip to somewhere we don't normally go or in a bible study group. It's not so easy to love God in the daily tasks of eating, cleaning, working, parenting, communicating with our spouses, and paying bills. Yet, we are given God's very presence, God's Holy Spirit, to live within us every moment of every day to enable us to love God fully in heart, mind, body, and soul no matter where we are or what we are doing! The way of life Jesus invites us to is one of loving God with our heart (will/emotion), mind (thoughts), soul (holds our hearts/minds/and bodies together as whole persons), and strength (body) and loving our neighbors as though they are part of our own selves! There is no "time off" from life with God! Nor do we want there to be when we know that a life filled to overflowing with love is the best life we can have.

We have been taught that our lives are broken down into pieces that are unrelated. We have our work selves, our parenting selves, our spousal selves, our church selves, and, where most of the trouble lies, our "private selves." We struggle to hold them all together because we are often taught to separate them from one another. This is the way to disintegration. When Jesus comes to save us, he comes to make us whole in ourselves, with God, and with everyone and everything else.

That's why the Scripture for today has always been a central Scripture to God's people and to Jesus! He said that if we could love God with our whole selves, every minute, we would be fulfilling every commandment in the Bible. That's why Deuteronomy tells us to write the words reminding us to love God with our whole selves on our doorposts, talk with our families about them, and attach them on our bodies! Loving God is what holds our lives together and gives us joy.

Life Question:

How does it look to love God when I'm at work, at home, and when I'm alone?

Closing Prayer:

Fill us with your love, God of grace! Give us the power of your Holy Spirit to love you each moment with every cell in our bodies, every thought in our minds, and every ounce of our will so that we may know a life of peace and love! In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.

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Weekly Prayer: Spiritual Overhaul

2011-06-06T11:41:00.000-04:00

Opening Prayer:

Gracious Lord Jesus, save us from tepid religion, from lukewarm faith that is more like a hobby than an outright commitment to you. Fan the coals of our love for you into flame, so the world may feel the searing heat of your healing grace!

Ephesians 4: 17-32

When we start following Jesus, we start a new way of living. Having faith in Jesus isn't just about getting our past sins forgiven so we can feel better about ourselves. It isn't just about getting a "free pass to heaven" after we die, and it isn't a license for us to do whatever we want since we know that we'll be forgiven. It is about a death and a resurrection...ours!

This passage fills out our understanding of Christian baptism. When we are baptized with faith in Jesus Christ, we are buried in the water. Our old sin-sickened selves are left to rot under the water. When we rise out of the water and take our first breath, we are born again by the resurrection power of Jesus, with new minds, hearts, and lives! Our old self dies, and our new self in Jesus lives!

Thanks to Paul, we see more clearly that our resurrected selves should be different in tangible ways, especially in our relationships. We should speak truth and not lie. We can be angry, but we need to refrain from sinning in our anger and from holding onto our anger. We need to do good work and not steal. Our speech should build people up, not tear them down. And we should be forgiving.

I don't know about you, but I find myself needing to pick up my cross and die to some part my old sinful self daily so that I can live more fully in the new life Jesus died and rose to give me. Though we receive a new nature predisposed to honoring God when we have faith in Jesus, we still must work on the left-over sin-stained spots in our lives. John Wesley said that we are "going on to perfection." He meant that we are ever growing to be more fully loving like Jesus Christ whose love is perfect.

Life Questions:

1. What in you needs to die today so you can love more like Jesus?
2. What in you needs to live today so you can love more like Jesus?

Closing Prayer:

Give us courage, dear Lord, to see ourselves clearly, stains and all. Forgive us when we are unloving and unkind. Free us to love more courageously, more gracefully, forgiving others, being kind but not fake, and using our words to encourage others.

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Weekly Prayer: That They May Be One

2011-05-31T14:05:00.000-04:00

Opening Prayer:

Dear Jesus, I finally made it here to be with you in these moments. Speak to my heart and soul. Fill me where I am hungry. Be living water to my thirsty soul that my life might be changed, might be filled to overflowing with your love. Speak, I'm listening.

Titus 3: 1-11

Toward the end of his life, Jesus prays in the gospel of John that God will help all of his followers be unified in their life and mission so that the world may know that they are his followers. Unity of spirit, purpose, and action are important to Jesus since we Christians are to represent his Kingdom on the earth.

Titus encourages us to "avoid foolish controversies...and arguments." He doesn't say avoid all controversies and conflicts. In fact, he tells us to enter conflict by holding our fellow believers who are being divisive accountable, warning them twice before we stop relating to them. This may come as a shock to those of us who thought Christians were always supposed to be nice! But Jesus said that we are to love our neighbors, each other, and our enemies, not be nice to them. Love and accountability go together.

I often struggle between avoiding the conflict of holding others accountable and being too harsh when holding others accountable. The writer of Ephesians gets it right when he instructs us to "speak the truth in love." When we tell each other the truth because we want each other to be as close to Jesus as possible, we love. Cross-shaped love holds accountable and forgives. It holds us together in unity, our common goal being to deepen our lives and other's lives in Jesus Christ.

Life Questions:

Who do I need to lovingly hold accountable at home, at church, at work, in my neighborhood?

Closing Prayer:

Merciful Lord, give me the grace to love others as you love me. I want to see everyone reconciled and brought to unity through your cross! Give me courage and love in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.

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Weekly Prayer: Being Bent

2011-05-23T16:26:00.000-04:00

Opening Prayer:

"Quiet our minds of incessant chatter and the constant parade of images. Quiet our hearts of the swirling emotions we feel. Help us breath and become still...speak, Lord, your servants are listening."

Numbers 24: 1-13

Balaam was a hired gun, so to speak. Balak, King of Moab, hired him to curse God's people, believing this would doom the Israelites to failure in their quest to inhabit the land God promised to give them. A true curse, in those days, was understood to be guaranteed to happen. The problem for King Balak was that the curse had to be in the name (and thus in the power of) of God. Balak wanted to use God against God's own people! So Balak tried three separate times to get Balaam to curse Israel, offering more and more reward. Each time God made Balaam bless the people of Israel. Though Balaam deeply desired the reward, God would simply not be bought. Balaam didn't get what he wanted. King Moab didn't get what he wanted. It looks like God got what God wanted. Israel was blessed. God bent things into the shape God desired.

In some ways life as a Christian is like being a metal tool forged over the hair-burning coals of a furnace. The smith puts the metal into the fire to soften it, then bangs away with a hammer, sparks flying, metal giving in to heat and force. Jesus wants us to willingly present our hopes, dreams, and expectations of life to him, knowing full well that he may burn and bash a few into a different shape.

Life Questions: How willingly do we offer our lives back to God to be shaped in his direction? What are we fighting God about?

Closing Prayer: Lord of love, give us grace to freely offer our bent lives to you for straightening. Remind us that the heat and hammer are wielded with unmeasurable love, and that you have something beautiful and useful in mind for us.

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Weekly Prayer: Grace Isn't Free

2011-05-16T18:41:00.001-04:00

Opening Prayer: "Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening..."

Reading: Luke 7: 36-50

What a contrast! Jesus compares a holy man, who tries with all his might to do right by God but does so out of a desire to be better than everyone, with a woman who is a notorious sinner. We are not told what or how she sins. Doesn't everybody sin some in their lives? Why is she singled out by the holy man as "a sinner?" One is trying hard to be perfect "for God," the other is only overwhelmed with faith and gratitude for grace she knows she has received!

This passage takes the cost of grace seriously. There is no such thing as "free grace." Yes, forgiveness is free to us, a gift generously given, but it was certainly costly to God. This woman who dropped her tears on Jesus' feet and poured expensive perfume on them understood the cost of God's grace and couldn't help but pour out her gratitude and love on Jesus.

One of the most moving worship experiences of the year for me is "Good Friday," when we force ourselves to face the cross, touch the splintery wood, feel the weight, envision the bloody pains, and remember our cruelty to God. We don't do this because of a morbid fascination. We do this so we don't forget how enormously expensive and precious Jesus' gift of salvation to us is! What can we do, then, to love and honor the Lord with all of our hearts, like "the sinner" in the story?

Life Question: How can I love Jesus more lavishly this week?

Closing Prayer: When I am weak, tempted, tired, and stressed, remind me how deep and wide your love is and that nothing can separate me from it. Show me who else needs to hear about this generous love, and give me courage to share. Amen.

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Weekly Prayer

2011-05-09T09:35:00.001-04:00

Hey, I want to invite you to join me weekly for a brief time of prayer and Scripture reading. God willing, I will be able to keep up with this weekly. Here's a site that gives us a daily prayer resource from a great new prayer book called Common Prayer. You can connect, follow the daily prayer guide along with me and thousands of others, then see some of my reflections below. In order for this to become an online prayer group, I expect you to participate by sending your comments as well. What has the Holy Spirit spoken to you about in the reading of the Scriptures and the prayers? Start here at http://www.commonprayer.net/.

Luke 5: 27-39 struck me on two counts. One, for the most part, the Pharisees are people seeking to be deeply faithful to their understanding of God, but they believe God wants them to be separated from sinners to keep themselves pure and, therefore, able to worship God in the Temple. There's nothing wrong with being concerned about one's purity before the Holy God of the universe! However, according to Jesus, they seem to be missing the point on how their holiness translates into their relationships with others, particularly sinners. Jesus demonstrates by reaching out to Matthew, a tax collector and, apparently, a well known sinner. Jesus invites Matthew to be with him, and even goes to his house to eat with him! They might actually touch each other's food, shake hands, or welcome each other with an embrace (sarcasm should seep between the lines here)! Jesus shows that true holiness is concerned with healing people and calling people drowning in sin to repentance and salvation.

Life Question: What sick people (mentally, emotionally, or physically) or sinful people might Jesus call me to invite into my life and into life with Jesus?

Your thoughts and prayers are welcome on this blog as they may encourage others in faithfulness!

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Be Who You Are

2011-04-06T16:04:00.000-04:00

     Over a year ago I was on a retreat called "Courage To Lead" where I was invited to wander on rolling, wooded, retreat center property until I found my favorite place. When I found it, I was instructed simply to "be there," to be present and see what I could learn from the place. I was immediately pulled, as if by some gravitational force, to the shoreline of a lake. I've always felt most at home near water. I sat, looked, listened, and felt. Over the course of the year I returned to that place at each of the successive seasonal retreats.

     The water fascinated me.  It changed colors as the angle of the sun moved and the shades of the leaves surrounding the shore brightened . It retreated and advanced, telling me how rain had fallen since last time. It rippled or smoothed revealing the migrations of fish and the power of wind. For all of the water's daily, seasonal changes, it suffered no identity crisis or change of purpose; it remained itself, a source of life for everything around it and something mysterious and enjoyable to look at.

     I must confess that much of my life attempting to follow Jesus has been spent trying hard to be what I am not now. I am broken yet I want to be whole in Jesus. I've tried to drown my sinful inclinations in a deluge of Bible study, prayer, worship, and good works. I've often flexed my muscles of self-control until they felt like popping. I've tried chasing down the ideal of being like Jesus as though I could accomplish that on my own power.  I have often felt the scraping of my chin and the dry dust of the trail in my nose as I have failed.

     Now I've come to find that growing to be like Jesus is less about my effort (though aligning my will with God's is vital) and more about simply being what Jesus' life, death, and resurrection have already made me. Colossians 3 reads,"Since you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God." My sin-craving self is already dead, drowned in baptism and in the blood of Jesus. My new, God-like self is now alive in Christ. No longer is the task of following Jesus about trying on my own effort to become what I am not. Now, I am called to be what I already am in Jesus Christ, my new self, restored in the image and beauty of God. Here is a call to all who follow Jesus, "Be who you already are in Jesus Christ."

Prayer Of The Weary

2011-02-15T08:17:00.000-05:00

When I awaken, encrusted in the unfinished business of many days past,
Bullied by the demands of a bent-mirrored world that can't see straight,
Spent from the work of straightening,
I am a grouch.

I've become an unruly, untended garden with weeded thistles more tangled than teen bedhead.
I seem to reach just to snag and draw blood from those close by.
How have I become full of the prickly world's desire to sting?
When did my vision become the warped mirror of the world?

Tend to me...rip, pull...melt, straighten...pour out the venom I've ingested.
Make me smell of sweet dirt, ripe tomatoes and pole beans again.
Make me shine straight, mirroring Your beauty
And all the good you intend the world to be again.

Know Your Why!

2011-02-02T12:23:00.000-05:00

I spent Sunday and Monday at a "Resupply: Passionate Leadership" conference in Winter Park, Florida. There I was inspired to think about my "why." Bishop Dick Wills shared that, even if you know what and how to do something, even if you are really good at it, without knowing why, you will eventually shrivel up and quit. What motivates you? What are you passionate about? What is your "why?"

Luke 4: 14-20 shows Jesus beginning his ministry to God's chosen representatives, the Jews. He carefully unfurls the scroll in the sacred quiet of the synagogue and reads about God's Spirit giving him his why. He is to bring good news to the poor, sight to the blind, release to captives, and freedom to the oppressed. Furthermore he is to tell all he meets that God is pouring out blessings upon them! Why did God take on human flesh and emotion? Why did he grow and love and walk and teach and lead and risk irritating people who thought they had it all figured out? Why did he continue to show and tell people about his Kingdom even when he faced execution? Why did he then rise from the dead and ask his followers to keep confronting a sick world with his healthy Kingdom? Jesus' why was to bring sight, good news, freedom, and blessing!

So what's your why? What passion has God given you? I know a woman whose passion is to make things beautiful through decoration. I know a man whose passion is to share Jesus with others. I know a person who loves to bring joy to the world through the art of cooking. I know others whose great joy is bringing healing through therapy and medicine.

So many people spend the precious few days they are given to live knowing what to do and how to do the what, but starving because they don't know why. Pray about it. Search your heart and the heart of God. Ask God's Spirit to fill you and show you why you are here. The world will be a brighter place because of you!

Honor

2011-01-25T10:38:00.000-05:00

My church in Sanford, Florida is beginning a series of classes on parenting from a Biblical perspective. The word "honor" was noted to be a foundational Biblical concept when it comes to relationships. So, of course, this got me chewing on the word in my own life. What is honor? When have I experienced it? When have I shown it to others?

I remember reading a chapter in Love Is A Decision, a book by Gary Smalley, that translates the greek word for honor in the Bible as "weighty" or "heavy." In other words, to honor your father and mother is to take them seriously, to accept their presence, words, and directions as of great value to you. This makes sense because the heaviest and most valuable of metals used in Biblical times was gold. Interestingly enough, Smalley points out that the greek word for dishonor is translated literally as "mist" or "vapor." It means that when we dishonor people we treat them as insignificant, unimportant, and as if they are of no value to us.

When leading the palbearers through graveyards on the way to the burial place for the body of one of God's children, I take great care to lead the group to walk around the gravesites, not directly over them. It is a way that we show respect for the lives each person lived, a way to honor the memory of one God took great care to create and to lead, one Jesus died and rose to save.

Jesus has honored us in a tremendous way. Jesus gave himself over to the torture and death of a cross for the forgiveness of our sins and rose from the dead to open the door to new life in him! In other words, he wanted us to experience life in him so much that he was willing to lay down his life! John records Jesus as saying,"Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." Jesus honored us, treated us as valued, and desires that we find life by valuing him as our saving God above all else.

How do we honor God? Place no other priorities in front of our prayer and worship of God. When we work, strive for excellence as an act of worship, not merely to please our boss or customers. When we play, do so with all of the joy we can muster, giving thanks for God's gift of life. Relate to people and all created things as belonging to God's family. In Philippians chapter 2 Paul writes,"Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus...(vs. 3-5)." Maybe it looks like paying close attention to someone when they are talking to you, facing them squarely, making good eye contact, quieting the thoughts of your mind so that you can focus on what they are saying. Maybe it looks like talking to a child on their level, instead of talking to them from above. Maybe it looks like finding small ways to show your loved ones you care.

I don't know about you, but I've got some work to do in these areas. "Gracious God, give us strength and grace to honor you above all and to honor others as you have honored us. We can't do it without the power of your Holy Spirit. In the name of Jesus, our savior, amen."

For more on parenting, honor, and life in Jesus, check us out on facebook or on video!

What Are You Training For?

2011-01-18T14:08:00.000-05:00

So it's January, time to think about the upcoming year, maybe set some goals. One of my goals each year is to pick a race or two, a 10k run or a short triathalon. It usually takes me about 12 weeks to start training to be ready to run well. Training...hmmm...now there's a concept that applies to every area of life, including the spiritual life.

Because being "saved by grace through faith" in Jesus Christ is central to how Christians understand the process of being made whole, we sometimes shy away from the importance of training to enter more fully our new life in Jesus Christ. What we often fail to understand is that God's grace uses specific practices (yes, practice is important to life in Jesus) to continue to shape us more and more into the kind of people who love like God, practices like prayer, worship, reading the Bible, serving, receiving communion, and being together in a community. John Wesley called these "means of grace," or channels through which God has chosen to continue to pour out his saving grace.

To underscore the importance of training, let's assume you are someone whose hands have morphed into your remote control and cheeto bowl since the endless weeks of college bowl games and that you haven't run a step since Thanksgiving. Now try running 10 miles. Chances are not good a) that you will finish and b) that you will finish with positive feelings about running! Contrast this with what it might be like for you to start by running and walking a mile several times the first week. Continue by running 2 miles several times the next week and so on and so on, training your body to handle running 10 miles. The odds are good that a) you will finish and b) that you will finish feeling positive about yourself and your running.

Some of us are setting new educational goals, desiring to finish a new degree to enhance our careers. Some of us are setting relationship goals, hoping to become more loving and patient and fun to be around. Some of us are setting fitness goals, hoping to lose weight or acheive our first marathon or eat healthier. Some of us are setting the goal of growing more fully in our love relationship with Jesus Christ. All of these goals will take practice. Like a baseball player practices batting over and over and over again until his muscles memorize a compact, powerful swing that shoots the ball off the bat like it was shot out of a cannon, so we must practice new ways of being with God, of living in God if we hope to grow more loving like Jesus is loving. And remember, it's God's work in and through our practices that changes our lives!

What are you training for this new year? How about your new life in the eternal Kingdom of God? We'll be talking about this Sunday at my church in Sanford, Florida. You can also catch this video series "Why Should I Read The Bible?" or see us on facebook.

Peace of Jesus to you!

Manifesto

2010-12-07T09:22:00.002-05:00

     I received a letter from myself in the mail this week. It was a manifesto I wrote while on a retreat called "Courage To Lead." It was an exercise to help me clarify what I long for in my life. A manifesto is "a written statement declaring publicly the intentions, motives, or views of it issuer (Merriam-Webster.com)." It occurs to me now that we Christ-followers are baptized into the manifesto of the Kingdom of God. On that day we declare that "we renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness, reject the evil powers of this world, and repent of our sin." We "confess Jesus Christ as our Savior, put our whole trust in his grace, and promise to serve him as our Lord." We "accept the freedom and power God gives us to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they take." We promise to be Christ's representatives in the world and support his work through the Church by our prayers, presence, gifts, and service.

     Jesus, when asked by followers of John the Baptist whether he was the Messiah replied, you might say, with his living manifesto. "Tell John the baptist what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them (Matthew 11: 4-5)."  His living manifesto broke the healing Kingdom of God into time! As followers of Jesus, the baptismal manifesto and the living manifesto Jesus sent to John become our manifestos. We'll be talking about this Sunday at my church in Sanford. You can also catch the sermon online or find out more about how we seek to live this out on facebook.

Retreat Manifesto

*Run when you want to, especially in the rain.

*Write in season, out of season, when there is a why and where there isn't, just because you can and want to and need to and, best of all, because it gives you pleasure.

*Be thrilled and scared swimming in mysteries you don't understand, and don't wait for those on the shore who think they have the answer or those on the other shore too afraid to ask.

*Stop worrying how everything will turn out. Stop trying to manage your life as though you could keep it. While scrambling to assemble it the way you want it will have already passed by, surprises and all.

*Be mindful of your departure day and the gifts of clarity it will bring about what's important...love in family and community, joy in food and breezes, satisfaction of good work, and looks that tie one soul to another.

*Refuse to run the world's race. Life is gift not conquest. The spoils are to the walkers, the meanderers, those who savor, reflect on, and soak in the full taste of what is in their mouths. There is no need for more when goodness has been fully appreciated.

*Learn the patient patterns of the seasons, feel them, smell them, don't insulate yourself from them. Let the cold run through you like a sword and the heat melt you like wax. Be refreshed and hopeful in the changes.

*Play, especially when you're tired and grumpy.

*Rest when you're tired. You don't need anyone's permission.

What is your manifesto?

When God Says "Shut Up!" (Luke 1: 67-79)

2010-11-22T14:06:00.000-05:00

     I know, I know! It’s rude to say “Shut up!” to anyone. And, no, God did not literally say, “Shut up!” But he may as well have! Zechariah, a priest fulfilling his service to God in the Temple, had been praying that his wife Elizabeth would be given a child. As Zechariah was burning incense at the altar, God sent an angel to tell him that Elizabeth would soon be pregnant and give birth to a son who was to be named John. Instead of leaping for joy and singing songs of praise, Zechariah, like any person who is realistic, said, “How will I know this is true?” That’s when God might as well have said, “Shut up,” because the angel closed Zechariah’s mouth until the time John would be born as a sign and, apparently, as a consequence to Zechariah’s unbelief.

     The God who shuts up is also the God who opens wide! Upon John’s birth, Zechariah became a prophet, telling of all that God was about to do through John and, more importantly, through the savior, Jesus Christ, who was soon to be born. Zechariah and Elizabeth had hoped for years for a child. The people of Israel had hoped for generations for God to send a savior, and this broken, conflicted world has been hoping from the moment of Adam’s sin for healing and wholeness to come from God who alone has that kind of power. God sent John, Zechariah says, to “go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet in the way of peace (Luke 1: 76-79).” God opened Zechariah’s mouth to say to the world, “all you have hoped for and believed would come is on the way in my son Jesus, the savior.”

     What are you waiting and hoping for when Jesus returns again to bring the fullness of his Kingdom to earth? Talk to God about that in prayer, and keep your eyes open, believing that Jesus is still in the business of bringing salvation!

     I welcome you to join our church in Sanford over the next 4 weeks leading up to Christmas as we try to find biblical answers to the question "What Difference Does This Baby Make?"   Check out our videos or follow us on facebook!

Plenty To Share

2010-11-11T09:22:00.001-05:00

     Last week we discussed the truth that God gives us plenty of time to do what God wants us to do and that, often, we feel we don't have enough time because our expectations of what we think should be done are out of line with God's. We talked about being stewards of the time that God gives us, choosing by faith to use it to live more fully in God's Kingdom of love and to help others find salvation in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 3: 20-21). And we talked about how following Jesus means walking with him, not rushing with him. Here is the link to the video many of you enjoyed http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17ZrK2NryuQ.

     This week we will hear how our abundant God gives us plenty to share. You will hear the story of the disciples responding to Jesus' call for them to feed the crowd of 5,000 people late in the day by saying, "With what?" And you will hear Jesus say, "Let's start with what you've got!" You will hear the story of a couple who realized through Financial Peace University the power of being good stewards of what God gave them and what a difference they could make in the world through their generosity.

     We will be asking our Sanford church family to prayerfully consider how they will offer themselves generously to God's ministry of gathering, growing, and sowing the love of Jesus in 2011 by filling out an "Estimate of Giving" card in person or online. Next week, November 21, we will present them to God as we share that God gives us plenty of reasons to celebrate our life in Jesus Christ!

     I encourage you to view this message series: "Abundance: Plenty of Time, Plenty To Share, and Plenty To Celebrate!" on our video site or you can keep up on facebook and our website.

Plenty: God's Life Of Abundance

2010-11-02T15:15:00.001-04:00

“I don’t have enough time…I don’t have enough money…If only I had “x,” then I would…” What if these statements really aren’t true? What if what we have been given is plenty to do what God wants? And what if it’s our expectations that are out of whack? Join us the first 3 Sundays in November as we learn about the abundant life God gives us through Jesus Christ. We will learn that God gives plenty of time, plenty to share, and plenty of reasons to celebrate. You will hear real life stories from people like you about God’s great work in their lives. You will hear about God’s work through Lakeside United Methodist Church. You will be encouraged to open your eyes to see the many gifts the Lord has given generously to you,and you will be asked to prayerfully consider God’s call on your life to generously share in God’s work of gathering, growing, and sowing the love of Jesus. So come, invite your friends, and enjoy the abundant blessings of God! If you can't make it in person, catch the video or keep in touch via facebook. This week we will learn how God gives us plenty of time to do what God wants us to do!

"Teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom (Psalm 90: 12)."

Laughter As A Spiritual Discipline

2010-10-27T15:24:00.000-04:00

     "Spiritual Disciplines." Sounds a bit like going to the principal's office or being pulled over by the police doesn't it? Christian spiritual disciplines are really practices that God uses to grow us more into the likeness of Jesus Christ. I've been wandering through the wilderness of some tough issues lately and today had this thought go through my head, "What you really need to do is read some good jokes." Those of you who know me realize that, at times, I am "joy challenged." I lean pretty far toward the serious side of things and could use as many opportunities to laugh as possible. So today, I logged on to the Prairie Home Companion website where they have a joke section. I took some time scrolling through the jokes. Some were good, and some were downright bad! All in all, though, a chuckle here and there brought me to a place with a brighter perspective on my day.

     Ecclesiastes chapter 3 reads, "For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven...a time to weep, and a time to laugh (NRSV)." When Sarah heard the angel tell her husband that she would have a son even though "it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women." she laughed, and her son was named Isaac which means "he laughs." Sarah said "God has brought laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me (Genesis 21: 5, NRSV)." Jesus says in Luke 6:21, "Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh." Apparently laughter is not just about being suprised or joyous, it is a sign of our hope and trust in the God who heals, restores, and saves. We might say that laughter in the face of impossible obstacles, even in the face of death, is a sign of our faith in our resurrected Lord for whom death was powerless to stop from giving his saving love!

     The best funeral I've ever been to was filled with laughter. I knew the old man being eulogized, and I knew that he was tough and mean and, at times, narrow-minded, yet, the church sanctuary was packed with people. Maybe it's because he admitted his struggle to be kind, to express his caring side. Most likely, though, it was because he learned that humor could round even the hardest edges of his life. One Saturday evening he decided that he would gather all of the beer cans he could find and scatter them in the pastor's yard so that when the pastor came out to get the paper in the morning he would stumble all over them. Then the whole neighborhood would wonder just how much alcohol that pastor could handle! The pastor at the time, who also was doing the funeral, then recounted all of the pranks he used to "return fire" on his parishoner. The whole church was filled with laughter and tears, a great release of sadness, joy, wonder, and hope that God could take a tough person and file down his edges with laughter on his way toward loving like Jesus, on his way into the Kingdom beyond death.

     Stressed? Worried? Weighted down? Read some jokes. it's a good spiritual discipline! By the way, what do you call a dog with no legs.........................................................................Don't bother because he won't come anyway!

     Join us at our Sanford church or on facebook as we start our series on the "Abundance Of God" or check it out on video.

Suffering And The Way Of Christ

2010-10-21T09:29:00.000-04:00

"...that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead (Phillipians 3: 10-11)."

     One of my college psychology professors once stood up and told the class, "All upsets happen because of one simple fact; we aren't getting what we want." It's true from the time we are born until the time we die! These days there are many versions of "Christian" faith that teach Jesus is solver of all of our problems, the way to getting the life we want, and the way to our personal prosperity. I often wonder how those who hold these beliefs hold onto Jesus when he leads them into more problems than they had before or to the life he wants them to have or when he asks them to pick up their cross and follow him into sacrificial service.

     Jesus has given me tremendous freedom and joy because he has forgiven my sins. He has also given me comfort and direction in times of struggle and joy in the awareness of his many gifts. But I am sometimes upset because he doesn't always give me what I want! Times like those remind me that he meant what he said, "He who loses his life for my sake will find it."

     This all becomes very real when Jesus calls us, his followers, to go and serve an upset universe where relationships are broken, living things suffer, and things aren't the way they are supposed to be. It is upsetting. It is tempting for us to run away from the pain, but there, in the middle of it, is Jesus, beckoning us to share in his sufferings so that we may also share in the joy of his resurrection. Thankfully, suffering is not an end in and of itself in the graceful hands of Jesus. In his saving presence and through the power of his resurrection it becomes a sign that new life is being born. Suffering as a sign of death becomes a sign that new life is on the way.

     Gracious and all powerful Jesus, teach us how to resist the temptation to run from suffering when you call us into it. Give us your power to engage it and your presence through which resurrection comes.

"It has never been either practical or useful to leave all things and follow Christ. And yet it is spiritually prudent (The Monastic Journey, Thomas Merton)."

Side By Side

2010-10-14T16:49:00.000-04:00

     Who is alongside who? It's a simple question. It's a sharp question whose blade can cut through every outer layer of fashion and skin to reveal what is on the inside. It is another way of asking, "Who is in charge here?" which is yet another way of asking, "Who is God?" If I ask God to come alongside me, then I have set the direction; I have chosen the road; I have chosen the speed and means of travel. I am asking God to bless my efforts and be my companion while I do things my way.

     But if it is God who calls me alongside him, then I must stop what I'm doing; I must go God's direction; I must go on God's road; I must go at God's speed. If God is God and I am not, then God must lead, and I must follow. I am God's companion. My work and my life must be a response to God's invitation and initiative.

     "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light (Matthew 11: 28-30)." There is the invitation to come alongside Jesus as he walks in the Kingdom quality of life.   How is what I'm doing right now a response to Jesus' invitation to live side by side with Jesus?

Sports Crazy

2010-09-29T22:17:00.000-04:00

     The orange dust cleared out, but not before the shouting began. First it was the umpire yelling, "out!" Then it was my coach rushing the plate, "You must be blind!" Then it was a coach from the other dugout screaming, "You're crazy, he was out!" I was seven, and all I knew was that my coach told me to run, I ran, my knees were bleeding, and all of these grown ups were really angry. At that moment I wasn't sure whether I wanted to continue my first season playing baseball.

     Unfortunately, every season there are children left wondering why they are playing ball when it doesn't seem to be much fun and why a game makes so many "grown ups" behave so badly! It's not only baseball that elicits the poor behavior of adults. This behavior can be found in any youth sport. The questions this kind of behavior raises in me are, "Why are these games so important to these adults?" and "Why is there so much pressure on kids to win?"

     Now that my son has begun playing baseball, and my family and I are learning to juggle 2 practices and a game per week, I'm also wondering how much is too much when it comes to youth sports. Other parents at my church in Sanford, Florida have told me how their kids are required to practice 5 days per week and spend their Saturdays at the football field. Really? Do we demand our kids spend that much time on their homework or their spiritual lives? Does this time bring our families closer together or pull them further apart? All of my questions lead into one big one: "How important are youth sports anyway?"

     I love sports as much as, if not more than, anyone. I love the life lessons about the importance of practice and team work, about the joy of accomplishment, and about learning how to win and lose in life. Yes, I love winning and hate to lose. But somewhere amidst the shouting matches and the overscheduling of our kid's lives I have begun to feel like we are taking them too far. Surely, I am not alone. Yet very rarely have I heard anyone question why we place such a heavy emphasis on youth sports. Do that many parents truly believe that their little Johnny is going to make the pros and supply them with retirement cash and prestige? Is that Little League win really going to be reviewed by the college scouts? And do we really believe that if we don't push our kids to give so much of their time and ours to these sports during the fleeting days of childhood that, no matter how talented they are, they will miss out on their only opportunity to make it big in the sports world? The truth is that very few kids will ever make the college or pro levels. The other truth is that kids pretty much enjoy sports because it is fun, they make friends, and it feels good to learn something new.

     There is an old word that may be useful to reclaim as we consider the role of sports in our world: recreation. It is true that sports teach us many valuable life skills, but the sports themselves are not life or death issues. Sports are opportunities for re-creation, times to be renewed, refreshed, to have fun and to break from work. Doing surgery, caring for the hungry, educating the next generation, raising children, these are life and death issues. Maybe when we get a more clear perspective on the role of sports, we'll question why it costs so much to buy a ticket to the game, why we're willing to spend so much of the precious time we're given watching the games, why athletes get paid as much as they do, and why so many adults find themselves yelling at the youth fields. I think we're pushing the kids too far. What do you think?

What Do I Say Now?

2010-09-21T10:11:00.001-04:00

I communicate for a living. That's a scary thought given some of the things that come out of my mouth. My wife, who is a speech therapist, catches me sometimes when I say something stupid. She then makes her eyes go different directions, twists her lips sideways, and pokes fun at me by saying, "I am a communications professional!"

In 16 years of ministry, 4 years at the church in Sanford I currently serve, I have noted how dog-gone hard communicating is. I want to vary your literary diet here on my blog, so today I am giving you one of my poems about the challenges of communicating. It came to me during a "discussion" I was having with my wife one evening. I was having trouble expressing myself so I stepped away, gave myself a time-out, and this came to me. Enjoy it!

What Do I Say Now?

There are things I want you to know,

But I cannot speak them, only feel them.

Words don't adhere well to these emotions.

Like weak magnets slide off the fridge they go,

Unable to define the margins that make

Reason useful to feelings.

So my tongue flops like a dying fish,

Making a slimy, bloody mess on the floor,

Where we stand together for now.

I don't know what to say.

I dont' know how to say it.

I feel deeply but don't know what, why, or how.

So I look away, lost in the deeper pools of myself,

Away from you and the mess I have made.

Hopefully, if I swim for a while here,

Breathing fully in the water,

I will revive and understand

How all I've done and been and felt

Tell me what I'm missing

And where I do and do not want to go.

Then I may return to you

With feelings that have grown the handles of words,

With hope of making peace,

You knowing me fully,

Me, empty, but full of you.

Cameron Lashbrook January 2, 2010

This week's sermon will be about a man named Jeremiah who was a master communicator. This week he communicates about having faith in spite of circumstances. You can keep up with Lakeside Fellowship United Methodist Church on Facebook as well!

Joy on the journey!

Holding It All Together

2010-09-15T09:51:00.007-04:00

    Integration. This word has always interested me. When something is integrated it has parts that are pulled together into a seamless whole. We get the word "integrity" from it. A person of integrity is a person who has their social, emotional, physical, mental, spiritual parts working together in one direction. In Biblical language we might say that a person of integrity is a person who is experiencing "salvation." Salvation is when a person's relationships to all things (God, others, and all creation) are rightly connected with justice, grace, mercy, and love. When that happens a person and all they are related to experiences peace. In the Christian worldview, we believe that salvation is a gift from God given through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, a gift received and put into action by faith.

     Lately my eyes have become more open to some ways in which our American culture dissects us into many individual parts without a clear concept of how those parts need each other for good living. Our medical system often approaches healing by trying to isolate the troubled parts of a person's body so that those isolated parts are treated. Thus we have developed a wide range of specialists who have are proficient at treating parts of a person but sometimes struggle to articulate how the disease and treatments affect the whole person. Our politics are frequently paralyzed by so many special interest groups who fight for attention and resources, while the whole of society suffers because little thought is given to how one part affects another or how one part depends on another.   Families face greater struggles to stay together because technology draws our attention away from each other to focus on distant relationships and global issues, because our work pulls us away from the home, because our recreation is individualized, and because we travel for just about everything. Finally, our economy has become dependent on big businesses operated by people who often lose awareness of the effects their business has on local communities and local ecology. And we wonder why we often don't feel close to our neighbors, we often feel like a number to the businesses we support, we often feel squeezed for time, and we often struggle to hold ourselves and our families together. Like a thin napkin soaked with water on a table, we feel softened, torn, and pulled apart. We try to find wholeness, integration, indeed, salvatin in our lives, but we find it increasingly difficult to "hold it all together."

     I point this out not because I wish to be a pessimist but because it has helped me understand some of the larger issues behind the malaise I see in people I work with and in my own life. If you really want to read some penetrating social criticism I encourage you to read an author by the name of Wendell Berry. Art of The Commonplace is a book of his essays that really clarified for me the effects of some of the social forces we face in American culture. I point this out because I am trying, with God's grace, to creatively find ways in which I can tie back together the things that are disconnected to be more integrated again, to find greater wholeness. Here are some things I'm learning:

1. Trust in the grace of Jesus to make me whole. I can't do it on my own. I need forgiveness and the strength of the Holy Spirit to be saved. All creation needs the grace and strength of Jesus to be saved!

2. Give priority to local relationships, starting with my family, including patronizing locally owned and operated businesses.

3. Buy locally grown food.

4. Find ways to network people and businesses together locally.

5. Be an interested, involved, and helpful neighbor.

6. Find ways for my local church in Sanford to be the center of building relationships in our community through worship, recreation, education, business, and service.

7. Learn about the history of the community I'm living in.

     Jesus said in John 10: 10b, "I came that they may have life and have it abundantly." How do you "hold it all together?" What ideas do you have?

     If you want to learn more, try looking at the latest sermon series or facebook.

Jesus And Other Religions

2010-09-07T15:23:00.000-04:00

Ok, here we go...You knew we had to get into the sticky, gooey, messy issues sooner or later didn't you? There is a church in Gainesville, Florida that, unfortunately from my point of view, is getting world-wide press because they are sponsoring an event to burn as many copies of the Koran as possible on September 11th. I have been getting asked about this at my church in Sanford Florida, so I think it is time for me to begin addressing the issues presented here.

     This event raises many questions. How should people who claim Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior relate to people of other faiths? What are the differences between faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and other faiths? How should people relate to each other when they disagree about their fundamental views of reality? There's no way I can tackle all of that here and now, but I want to give you a few thoughts to chew on, and then I'll look forward to reading your responses (I think).

     Because there is often a slippery, non-commital approach in America to truth, and because we live in a time when people are often creating their own religions by borrowing a little of their faith from one religious website and a little more from another religious website, it is important for me to say that truth matters. There are right beliefs and wrong beliefs, beliefs that lead to good life and wholeness and beliefs that lead to death, confusion and destruction. What we believe as true directs the decisions we make and the quality of lives we experience. Some people believe it's true that their God is pleased that they fly planes into buildings, killing thousands of people. Some people believe that it's true that their God encourages them to amass great wealth while ignoring the poor and weak of the world. Some people believe that their God will be pleased if they attack other religions and burn what is sacred to them. Interestingly, these beliefs can be found in all different kinds of religions, including Christianity. Truth matters!

     Here are some basics of what I believe. Though I have not studied all of the details of every other religious faith, what I have studied and been exposed to has led me to believe that salvation (wholeness of self and everything created) is through the life, death, resurrection, and return of Jesus Christ. Furthermore I believe that as I learn to live in and for Jesus Christ and his Kingdom, I will be made whole, and I will be more fully living a life that will help others find wholeness in him. That is the truth that I am pursuing. This God who loves his creation so much that he is willing to die so that it can live is who I understand to be the one true God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

     So how should I and other people who believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior relate to people of other faiths? What record does the Bible put forth regarding this? As I read and understand the Bible, God emphasizes the importance of God's people remaining completely faithful and devoted to God alone, being living examples (witnesses) of God's way of life, and challenging/inviting others to embrace the one true God from whom all life comes. The emphasis is not on actively pursuing and destroying other faiths, it is on finding life in the one true God. Even in the Old Testament where there are troublesome instances of "Holy War," the emphasis seems to be on keeping God's people pure in their devotion to the one true God, not on actively pursuing and destroying other faiths.

     In the New Testament, Jesus is shown eating with, healing, teaching, exorcising, and inviting into his Kingdom the pagans and prostitutes and vulnerable of the world.  Any time Jesus is harsh and judgmental is when he addresses his own people! Even if some people go beyond being different to being our enemies, Jesus commands that we love and pray for them so that the world might see the same love the Father has for us (Matthew 5: 18-38)! Jesus instructs his followers how to deal with people outside of the faith when he reveals the reason he came "not to condemn the world but to save it (John 3: 16-17)." Finally, Jesus says, "So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them (Matthew 7: 17)." These are some strong clues about how Christians are called to relate to people of other faiths!

     Early Christians, like Paul, are shown to be actively sharing their faith that salvation is through Jesus Christ with people of all other faiths or no faith at all by preaching, teaching, inviting, and living in such a way that the quality of their lives reveals the one true Kingdom of God. Yes, conflict ensues because their understanding of truth opposes what others believe. Christians are even put to death. But in witness to the belief in the life-giving power of the resurrected Christ, Christians aren't shown actively seeking to destroy other faiths, they are shown witnessing to the truth that Jesus is the living, resurrected Lord who has conquered sin and death and evil.  Christ-followers are called to live differently, teach differently, and invite people to find life in Jesus.

     Because this is how I view God's teaching to Christians about how to relate to people of other faiths, I have a hard time accepting the burning of the Koran as a practice consistent with Jesus' way of doing things. It makes more sense to me that we host open forums to foster peaceful understanding of other faiths or find ways to work together with people of other faiths to promote peace and wholeness in our communities.  In the context of these relationships we can present our differences and give an invitation to people of other faiths to find life in Jesus.

     Today, if those of us who call ourselves Christians spend more time and energy on following Jesus by feeding the hungry, releasing the captives, helping the blind to see, caring for the poor and widows, and proclaiming good news that salvation is through Jesus and less time burning what is sacred to others, I wouldn't be surprised to see more people drawn to the new life of forgiveness, reconciliation, peace, love, and service that Jesus came to bring. May God give us grace to live differently, teach differently, and challenge and invite people to find salvation in the love of Jesus.

     I'm still learning and growing too, so I welcome your comments and thoughts.

     To see and hear more on other topics, visit my video sermon archives.

     To stay up to date on what's happening at the church in Sanford, Florida, see us on Facebookwww.facebook.com/lakesidefellowshipumc.

Have You Enjoyed Your Work Today?

2010-09-01T10:03:00.000-04:00

     As I was heading out the door, children grumbling about school, stumbling into their mother's car, my computer case bashing into the side of my car as I fell in, I heard my wife say, "Hope you have a busy day today!" I know it was intended as "a productive and fruitful day," but I pondered that all of the way to the office. Hmmm...a busy day...is that anything to wish upon a person? I think people in our culture often equate busyness with productivity and productivity with value. In other words, you are a more valuable person to our society the more you produce. So, whether we are being productive or we have passed the point of diminishing returns, we'd better look busy so that we can feel important and valuable. "Quick, look busy, the boss is coming!" What we miss in this equation is the conversation about what constitutes quality work, good work, work that makes a life-giving, life-sustaining difference for people, creatures, and the environment we live in, work that allows you to sit down for dinner, give a great sigh of satsifaction, and know that what you did was good!
     Genesis records that God's favorite thing to do after his work of creation was to stop and say, "It is good!" It's as though God pulls his chair back from some great banquet, satisfied and pleased. Work, for God, is creative, life-giving, and downright joyful! And since we are made in the image of God, we too are called to work creatively in ways that promote good life and that give us joy. So what happened?
     The minute Adam and Eve messed up God's order of creation, even work began to be a joyless drudgery. "Cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground...(Genesis 3: 17b-19a)." Human sin has even messed up our work, go figure!
     Since Jesus came to restore us to the fullest quality of life God originally intended, it makes sense that his followers, by grace, begin to do work and experience work differently. We look for ways that our work sustains or restores good life to people and the creation we live in. We work hard, with passion, creativity, and love. We work as an act of worship.
     Now look, you'll find me mumbling and complaining about my job some days too. I, like you, work in a damaged world with a mixture of wonderful and broken people who struggle with greed, addictions, hopelessness, and downright meanness, but I ask Jesus to give me eyes to see ways in which my work works with his work of salvation, restoring wholeness, peace, love, and joy to his creation.

How do you find satisfaction and joy in your work?

If you don't what can you do differently that may help you find it?

I'd enjoy hearing from you. Check out the messages at my church in Sanford, Florida, watch the video series, or check out more on facebook.

Sabbath: Enjoying Life

2010-08-24T08:49:00.000-04:00

So I've been thinking lately about rest and hurry. My two week vacation in the mountains of North Carolina and Georgia fishing, hiking, reading, and playing really calmed me, refocused me, and reminded me that life is a gift. It also bubbled up a question,"Why was I in such a hurry all of the time back home?" This is kind of a stupid question that only gets asked on vacation. The answer is self-evident. My job requires me to be responsible to hundreds of people and on call. I have two small children. My wife runs her own business. And modern life not only spreads us out in many directions but our gadgets keep us continuously "plugged in." There is never a day when I go home with my task list all checked off the blackberry, rarely a day when I say to myself, "Well, what do I do now?"
I read this book over the summer called, Living The Sabbath: Discovering the Rhythms of Rest and Delight by Norman Wirzba. A key theme that grabbed me was the point that God set apart a Sabbath day for rest and delight! DELIGHT! So much of modern life in America is so full of so many good things, yet so many people seem so discontent, often, including me. So I've been struck lately by the importance of taking the time to rest and simply open my eyes to all of the good gifts that are around me. I've been practicing the art of enjoyment!
At Lakeside Fellowship United Methodist Church in Sanford, Florida where I pastor, I started a sermon series last Sunday called, "Rhythms of Sabbath." Last week we learned what Sabbath is from Genesis 2: 1-3. Sabbath is a day God sets apart for rest, enjoyment, and refreshment in relationship to his creation. The next three weeks we will tackle these questions: How is the Sabbath Holy? What is the relationship between work and Sabbath? How is Sabbath a taste of the Kingdom of God? For more information on the series, please visit http://www.lakesidefellowship.org/ see the video of the sermons on http://www.lakesidevideos.com/ or visit us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/lakesidefellowshipumc.
In the meantime, I would like to hear from you. What do you do for rest? What is your understanding of the Sabbath? How do you take time to practice the art of enjoyment and the praise of God?

God And The Economic Crisis

2008-10-10T13:24:00.001-04:00

There are events that shape every generation. My grandparents were shaped by the great depression. My parents were shaped by Vietnam and the 60's. Our generation is being shaped by 9/11 and now this economic crisis of 2008. For some, the crisis is still a bit removed from them. They still have a job, and they are making their mortgage payments so they can keep their homes. For others, however, this crisis is intensely personal. They are trying to figure out if they can keep their homes and feed their children. They are scrambling to find a new job or piece together mulitiple jobs in order to provide for their families. It is a painful time.

I've been wondering what God is doing among us at such a time as this. Certainly God is intensely concerned about the poor and the struggling. God always takes particular interest in those in need of help. Certainly God is calling the Church to extend hospitality, care, and tangible aid to a growing number of people who find themselves in need. In the big picture, though, I also believe God is inviting us to evaluate our current economic practices as individuals and as a nation.

Our economic system is an expression of the values and desires of our society. Jesus said, "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." For years we Americans have valued and desired more and more wealth, comfort, and pleasure. We have been taught and have literally "bought into" the idea that more is always better: more money, more food, more house, more to do in less time, more sales, more promotions, more awards, more stuff. I'm no economist, but common sense indicates to me that the insatiable, unsustainable desire for more, which has driven the economic growth in America and the world, must have a limit. The assumption underlying the irresponsible risks many companies have taken seemed to be that there was no ceiling to our consumption, no limit, no law of diminishing returns to our appetites. Greedy for more of the profit pie, many companies and individuals lost all grasp of reality, taking exaggerated risks in lending and housing. Many forgot that there really are limits to even the most voracious of appetites. I am reminded of the still photo of a giant python in the Everglades that exploded trying to eat an alligator. Truly more is not always better.

Well, the child hitting the ceiling while jumping up and down on the bunk bed has a more clear understanding of boundaries, and unfortunately, we are learning that there are boundaries to our consumption and our earning potential. The pain of this discovery is already evident for many. But beyond the pain, or better yet, through the pain, is God present and inviting us to grow and learn? I have to say, "yes!" God has consistently done this throughout history. The Israelites endured the discomfort of wandering in the wilderness before entering the promised land. The gruesome cross of Jesus led to the empty tomb and opened the pathway to a new quality of life with God. Romans 5: 1-5 reveals one of the patterns in God's bigger picture...God can produce good things through suffering, namely a reshaping of our character. So what good is God inviting us to in the current crisis?

Here are a few ideas:

1. God is inviting us to clarify our wants from our needs. In American culture, we expect so much in the way of material things and in the way of entertainment that we are easily disappointed. Chronic disappointment leads to chronic unhappiness. I believe this is an opportunity for us to get reasonable again about our expectations, to cultivate a deeper gratitude for all that we have and have been given each day. The more clear we are about our needs, the more clearly we can see how God does provides us with daily bread. A life of gratitude for basic needs is more enjoyable than a life of dissatisfaction for not getting our wants fulfilled.
2. God is inviting us to consider simplifying our way of life. There is a beauty and joy in living simply. I once heard someone say, "The more things you own, the more things own you." In my own experience of life, the more things I try to pack into my days and the more things I have to take care of that I own, the less time I spend actually enjoying the gift of life, the people I've been given to relate to, and the God who has given it all. Living with less can be a freeing experience, leading us to greater focus on what's important and to greater contentment and gratitude.
3. God is inviting us to open our eyes to the experience of the poor. Several people I have spoken to in the last few weeks have said, "I realize how close many of us are to being homeless and hungry. It makes me wonder about the stories of the people I see on the street and how they got there." In good economic times, it is tempting to believe that poor people are poor because of their own poor choices. Times like these reveal that we are all vulnerable, and that we ought not to be quick to judge another person but be concerned with extending a hand to those in need.
4. God is inviting people of faith in Jesus to share with those in need. When Jesus desired to feed 5,000 people desparate to be with him even without food, he took what was available, gave thanks for it and gave it to the people to share. Though it was meager, it was more than enough. The early Christians shared their resources, giving to those who had a need so that all had what they needed. Sharing not only fills hungry bellies, but it promotes love and well being in relationships. It promotes community.

My grandma and grandpa used to come over to my house when I was young, and my grandfather would tell story after story (often the same stories over and over again) about living on a farm in the depression. He shared about the complete lack of money and how his family couldn't afford Christmas presents. But he also shared that it was the closest he ever felt to his neighbors and his community. If one family raised pigs on their farm, they would share the meat with the others. If another family had a good crop of vegetables, they would share too. No one had a need that they couldn't meet together. They certainly didn't have everything in life that they wanted. But to see the gleam in my grandfather's eyes when he talked about life with his family and neighbors during the depression made me believe he had more than that.