Kitty Bean Yancey, a USA Today reporter, wrote a 2006 article describing a unique camp experience for adults. Camp Get-Away and others offer adults the chance to rejunenile one's life. Author Christopher Noxon coined the word which describes one "seeking a vacation from their adult side." Camp Get-Away is not alone. Most major league baseball teams have fantasy camps; there is Rock and Roll fantasy camps and even Michael Jordon's Flight School in Las Vegas.
The reason many adults need to rejunenile one's life is partly due to our world's pace. In 2006, a survey of 1,313 managers on four continents found that "one-third of managers suffer from ill health as a direct consequence of stress associated with information overload. This figure increases to 43 percent among senior managers." This may be due to the huge number of tasks, memos, emails, phone calls and expectations heaped on them.
Ronald Rolheiser, President of Oblate Seminary, describes many of us as "pathologically overextended." It's a desire to "have our cake and eat it too". He writes: "We want to be a saint, but we also want to feel every sensation experienced by sinners... we want to have a simple lifestyle, but we also want all the comforts of the rich; we want to have the depth afforded by solitude, but we also do not want to miss anything; we want to pray, but we also want to watch television, read, talk to friends, and go out."
At the root is losing touch with who we were designed by God to be—people intimately in touch with a loving creator and savior.
For the overextended and out of touch among us the best hope we have is Christ and how He lived. Not as an empty example but as a powerful witness what is in store for those who follow relying on the Spirit of God as He did. In the gospels Jesus is never in a hurry. In the gospels Jesus is never out of touch with is purpose and focus. Why is this?
Dr. Archibald Hart of Fuller Theological Seminary wrote: "The life of Jesus was a prototype of calmness and composure—the very opposite of what most of us experience in our hassled and hurried existence. The life of Jesus was a model of unhurriedness and balanced priorities.
Jesus and his four cohorts left the synagogue and headed to Peter's for Saturday dinner. What they find is that Peter's mother-in-law, yes he was married, was laid up with a fever. What caused it? We have no idea. Would it have been fatal? We have no idea. But what we do know is that Jesus helped her up and the fever left her and she started getting things ready. She served them.
At sunset, when Sabbath was over, the people came to Jesus. The experience in that morning may have left them shaking and wondering if my kid can get healed I'm there. If my crazy brother-in-law can be cured I'm going to take him. So they came. They brought those who were ill and demon possessed. And Mark writes the whole town came out.
In a very simple way of writing Mark says Jesus "healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons" v. 34 That is why the Son of Man comes. He comes to heal, to grant release and freedom and proclaim the acceptable Year of the Lord. Isaiah passage describes the work of the Lord who refreshes:
29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;
31 but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
There is something to be said for a Savior that answers the needs in honest, clear and meaningful ways. To the weary and busy, the put upon and the clueless Jesus is the hope that life makes sense. To the ill and demon possessed Jesus is the answer human cures hadn't helped.
It had already been a busy day for Jesus and now it's a busy evening as well. The next morning when the disciples get up Jesus isn't there. As life starts to stir in the town people begin to come back by Peter's but Jesus is not there. The bible tell us that "while it was still dark", Jesus headed out to pray.
When the disciples find Jesus they are anxious to get back to the village and get going with that day's agenda of healing and teaching. Jesus has other plans and says, "let's go someplace else". Why move? There's a group of people here, now. Let the other villages come to you.
Christ's power came from His prayer life, from the time He spent with the Father. This is where Jesus got His Father's directions. It is where He sought the answers to the next step along His journey. His power didn't come by being busy but by being available to God. He didn't get jazzed by having been part of a cool miracle. He was jazzed when He knew He was doing what the Father told Him to do. This is why he was never in a hurry or hassled, He was in touch with the one who is in control of the universe.
Our Center is Renewed
Prayer, biblical prayer, forces us to pay attention to God. I said "biblical" prayer for a reason. Prayer that merely lists things we want God to do for us, with us, or to others is not the type of prayer we see in Jesus'. This is the difference between "saying our prayers" and "being at prayer". Prayer is being in the presence of God. Prayer is waiting for God to give us our orders not the other way around. Prayer is an act of trust in the one who has our best interest at heart and who has the power to make it happen.
Try this, pray and don't ask God for anything except to lead you. Don't ask for help, power, healing, answers, or directions. Wait on Him and let His Spirit speak to you about what He needs us to do, where He needs us to go.
He already knows the number of hairs on your head. He knows the intent of our hearts, and the needs we have before we can ask. We already know how to ask for things the challenge is whether we know how to listen to Him.
Clarity is Enhanced
The tyranny of the urgent is broken when meet God in a place of quiet listening. We discover we can first things first, and relegate the "must do" items to further down the list of importance. Those hundreds of emails, calls, expectations, friendships and the like are suddenly put in perspective. Then we can begin to deal with them according to God's agenda not our felt needs or emotional desires.
Not only do you want to pray not asking God for anything but I want you to pray with a sense of expectation that God will tell you what His most important task, goal, or issue is for you tackle. You might want to spend that time in prayer with a piece of paper and pen so you can jot things down.
Here is my personal test for spiritual maturity when it comes to listening to God. When there is a sense of leading they don't expect everyone else to be led the same way. Those still discovering this spiritual maturity tend to believe if God is telling them to wear bright yellow bathing suits when preaching everyone else also has to wear bright yellow bathing suits, or God won't bless them.
Calm is Restored
There is a balance in one's life that has discovered this kind of empowering prayer. I wish I could say I have it down but it's not easy. But each time I make headway I discover my life becomes a bit simpler, it seems to make more sense.
Life is lived in a proper relationship between work and play, interaction and solitude, joy and concern. The truth of that passage in Ecclesiastes, for everything there is a season a time and a purpose under heaven becomes truer.
For a week, or at least for the rest of today, we are going to seek God's face rather than ask God for things. We're going to listen to God's voice not our own words. We're going to be uncomfortable because it isn't what we're used to. But I think we'll have taken a big step forward in discovering what it means to pray as Jesus prayed. Amen.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Do you want an amazing life? February 1, 2009
I love magic, I love watching close magic like Harry Anderson and the huge spectacular feats like David Copperfield. I was so amazed when Copperfield appeared far from where he had been locked in a safe and a building was imploded on him.
Four of us Scouts enjoyed an amazing tent while camping at Big Basin Redwoods Park in the Santa Cruz Mountains. We slept inside of a standing, living redwood tree. Decades before, it had been gutted by a fire but it was still alive, growing and hollow. I've been shocked to silence at the amazing sight of our galaxy spread out in the darkness far away from a city and from the sight of whales breaching off of Maui. Yet nothing was more amazing to me than the birth of our three boys.
So what causes you to be amazed? We usually think of amazing in positive terms but not so in the ancient world. The root of the word actually comes from the idea of being "slapped" in the face. It has strong negative undertones of uneasiness and dismay. It's the feeling one gets just before everything goes terribly not right. And Mark uses the word twice as he describes the reaction of the worshipers to Jesus teaching and to the healing that took place.
I assume this was Peter, James, Andrew and John's home synagogue. Each Saturday they probably sat in the same place as usual. Each Saturday the Rabbi or another would read the scroll and explain what other great men had said about what was read. Each week the same people, the same friends, the same business associates and the like were in their same places. It was a comfortable and predictable place to spend a Saturday.
What made this week different was Jesus. News of these four fishermen walking away from their nets was known. There were probably more than a few conversations with their families and a lot of speculation on just who this teacher, this Jesus, really was. That Saturday, as tradition demanded, this Rabbi Jesus was asked to read and teach.
This is where the problem began. Worship didn't remain predictable and comfortable as Jesus taught. He didn't rely on the hand-me-downs from past Rabbis. He didn't rely on Mishnah and traditions. He "taught as one who had authority". It may have well been as he did in Matthew where he said, "You have heard it said... but I say to you." Mark's concern is with the reaction of the people to Jesus not to what Jesus said. And the people were amazed, [remember amazed equals bad]. Then the real stuff started to happen. The demon's in a man there at worship start to shout at Jesus and to identify him to the crowd. In short order, Jesus silences the demons and casts them out and the man is delivered. Once again, the people are "amazed".
Here's what I believe God wants us to hear from His word. Jesus enters into the most comfortable places in our lives with authority. He tells us a new reality has come, a new day has dawned, and a new Kingdom is among us. When this happens the comfort becomes uncomfortable because we know we have to do something with this Jesus.
Jesus' authority is backed up with the power to change lives. We know nothing of this man other than while teaching demons with him exploded in fear and loathing at Jesus. It seems entirely likely this guy was there regularly at worship. If so, consider this; the demons were never threatened by the usual teaching that went on in there. They were never worried. They never felt confronted. They were never afraid to be among religious people. It wasn't till Jesus happened on the scene that things became unsettling and painful.
Today Jesus does the same things. He shakes up our comfortable and predictable world with his teaching. Then he takes our foibles, sins, hang-ups, mistakes, past, present, future, relationships, and habits and when they raise their ugly heads like excuses for not changing they are cast away and we are set free from them and our excuses. Jesus shakes us up challenges us and changes us. Yet sometimes we are too amazed at Jesus to see his offer of hope.
When someone accepts Christ's authority they become new. Their lives and direction change. That is what people probably saw in those four disciples of Jesus' who were with him in worship.
In Andrew Greeley's novel Patience of a Saint a hard-bitten Chicago newspaper writer has a religious experience and returns to his faith. He is transformed. A man, who was the subject of this reporter's newfound honesty, commits suicide. Those who Red Kane thought would be overjoyed to see such a change attack him mercilessly. Red goes to a priest who knows him.
Blackie says to Red, "Red, you should have kept off the road to Damascus. Everyone looks up to you, admires you, laughs at your jokes... They lament that you have become something of a moth-eaten, down at the heel character, hiding behind the mask of cynicism. When the Lord God activates your hidden potential and...a new Red Kane—crusading journalist, dedicated truth teller, scourge of dishonesty and corruption, brilliant writer, sensitive and loving husband, sympathetic and helpful father, dedicated churchman. Do we all shout hooray for the new Red Kane? ...Nonsense, rather, down with the new Red Kane. People don't like us to get better."
Jesus is in the business of making us better and he does it by his teaching and backs that up with his power. There is NO evil that Jesus cannot overcome. There is NO barrier that can stand against His authority. And that is why we come to this table this morning. It is here that we discover once more the truth of just how far Jesus would go to transform us. It is this cup and bread that Christ meets us and offers to transform us as well.
Some of us have been holding on to old things way too long. Some of us have become comfortable in our spiritual lives and elsewhere. Some of us don't want our politics, social views, friendships, or lives touched with anything that will move us away from the status quo. If you're one of those people you need to stay the heck away from Jesus because his total purpose for coming, the entire reason we have this meal, is because he wants to leave us amazed and transformed.
Come to this table if you dare. May Christ amaze you, and in that amazement may you sense His call to follow Him. Let us come to the table this morning.
Four of us Scouts enjoyed an amazing tent while camping at Big Basin Redwoods Park in the Santa Cruz Mountains. We slept inside of a standing, living redwood tree. Decades before, it had been gutted by a fire but it was still alive, growing and hollow. I've been shocked to silence at the amazing sight of our galaxy spread out in the darkness far away from a city and from the sight of whales breaching off of Maui. Yet nothing was more amazing to me than the birth of our three boys.
So what causes you to be amazed? We usually think of amazing in positive terms but not so in the ancient world. The root of the word actually comes from the idea of being "slapped" in the face. It has strong negative undertones of uneasiness and dismay. It's the feeling one gets just before everything goes terribly not right. And Mark uses the word twice as he describes the reaction of the worshipers to Jesus teaching and to the healing that took place.
I assume this was Peter, James, Andrew and John's home synagogue. Each Saturday they probably sat in the same place as usual. Each Saturday the Rabbi or another would read the scroll and explain what other great men had said about what was read. Each week the same people, the same friends, the same business associates and the like were in their same places. It was a comfortable and predictable place to spend a Saturday.
What made this week different was Jesus. News of these four fishermen walking away from their nets was known. There were probably more than a few conversations with their families and a lot of speculation on just who this teacher, this Jesus, really was. That Saturday, as tradition demanded, this Rabbi Jesus was asked to read and teach.
This is where the problem began. Worship didn't remain predictable and comfortable as Jesus taught. He didn't rely on the hand-me-downs from past Rabbis. He didn't rely on Mishnah and traditions. He "taught as one who had authority". It may have well been as he did in Matthew where he said, "You have heard it said... but I say to you." Mark's concern is with the reaction of the people to Jesus not to what Jesus said. And the people were amazed, [remember amazed equals bad]. Then the real stuff started to happen. The demon's in a man there at worship start to shout at Jesus and to identify him to the crowd. In short order, Jesus silences the demons and casts them out and the man is delivered. Once again, the people are "amazed".
Here's what I believe God wants us to hear from His word. Jesus enters into the most comfortable places in our lives with authority. He tells us a new reality has come, a new day has dawned, and a new Kingdom is among us. When this happens the comfort becomes uncomfortable because we know we have to do something with this Jesus.
Jesus' authority is backed up with the power to change lives. We know nothing of this man other than while teaching demons with him exploded in fear and loathing at Jesus. It seems entirely likely this guy was there regularly at worship. If so, consider this; the demons were never threatened by the usual teaching that went on in there. They were never worried. They never felt confronted. They were never afraid to be among religious people. It wasn't till Jesus happened on the scene that things became unsettling and painful.
Today Jesus does the same things. He shakes up our comfortable and predictable world with his teaching. Then he takes our foibles, sins, hang-ups, mistakes, past, present, future, relationships, and habits and when they raise their ugly heads like excuses for not changing they are cast away and we are set free from them and our excuses. Jesus shakes us up challenges us and changes us. Yet sometimes we are too amazed at Jesus to see his offer of hope.
When someone accepts Christ's authority they become new. Their lives and direction change. That is what people probably saw in those four disciples of Jesus' who were with him in worship.
In Andrew Greeley's novel Patience of a Saint a hard-bitten Chicago newspaper writer has a religious experience and returns to his faith. He is transformed. A man, who was the subject of this reporter's newfound honesty, commits suicide. Those who Red Kane thought would be overjoyed to see such a change attack him mercilessly. Red goes to a priest who knows him.
Blackie says to Red, "Red, you should have kept off the road to Damascus. Everyone looks up to you, admires you, laughs at your jokes... They lament that you have become something of a moth-eaten, down at the heel character, hiding behind the mask of cynicism. When the Lord God activates your hidden potential and...a new Red Kane—crusading journalist, dedicated truth teller, scourge of dishonesty and corruption, brilliant writer, sensitive and loving husband, sympathetic and helpful father, dedicated churchman. Do we all shout hooray for the new Red Kane? ...Nonsense, rather, down with the new Red Kane. People don't like us to get better."
Jesus is in the business of making us better and he does it by his teaching and backs that up with his power. There is NO evil that Jesus cannot overcome. There is NO barrier that can stand against His authority. And that is why we come to this table this morning. It is here that we discover once more the truth of just how far Jesus would go to transform us. It is this cup and bread that Christ meets us and offers to transform us as well.
Some of us have been holding on to old things way too long. Some of us have become comfortable in our spiritual lives and elsewhere. Some of us don't want our politics, social views, friendships, or lives touched with anything that will move us away from the status quo. If you're one of those people you need to stay the heck away from Jesus because his total purpose for coming, the entire reason we have this meal, is because he wants to leave us amazed and transformed.
Come to this table if you dare. May Christ amaze you, and in that amazement may you sense His call to follow Him. Let us come to the table this morning.
A Voice of Purpose -- January 25, 2009
A single mom with two kids in school. She works 15 hours at a bank and another 20 hours at a convenience store. Most months she gets by unless a kid is sick and she has to take off work or pay for extra child-care. If you ask you’ll find she’s on the emotional edge— just waiting for the next doctor’s bill, note from school or rent increase. There’s no abuse but her kids teachers will tell you it’s obvious the kids are missing out on the time they need with their mother. To this woman comes the word of God— “Repent and believe the gospel”.
He’s a second-generation small business owner in the area and he too has heard the word of God say, “Repent and believe the gospel”. His was a good business; people came to him for advice and he was viewed as an important part of the community. That was till the investigation. When it was all over his personal assets, his business, even his self-respect was on the auction block.
Dad and Mom gave their all for their children. Discipline and love were blended. They strove to develop responsibility in their children and did a good job releasing them into the world at the right time. One became an addict. Brought home, cleaned up and helped the addiction still controlled this one. Finally the parents have decided they can do nothing but pray for their child. No more rehab, intervention or help. They’re not sure if they feel guilty, angry, hurt or numb and they don’t know to whom they should direct their emotions—God, their kid each other or society in general. To this family, the parents, the addict and others comes the words of Jesus who calls them to —“Repent and believe the gospel”.
A senior high student just can’t seem to get their act together. No matter what they do it’s never quite right. At school others make fun of them and teachers seem to be gunning for them. Friends pull and push them and tempt them so they aren’t even sure what’s right and wrong anymore. They see nothing better ahead of them. They've lost all hope. Graduating means more of the same. Their despair is desperate and in the darkness of night when the horrible thoughts voices come to them another voice breaks through and says, “Repent and believe the gospel”.
Can such a "religious sounding" message have anything to do with the real life? How does repenting and believing impact work, school, home and friends?
A General Observation
People like the ones I described are all around us. You have met them. Some of them may be in your family. You drove by some of them on your way here this morning. You may have sat next to one of these folks on MAX or nodded good morning to them on the street on your way to or from work last Friday. You may have told a joke to one during the course of your day. The student may have a locker next to yours. It may be the loner at school or the one who laughs hardest at a joke hoping to “fit in”. It can be the nice church family down the street that harbors drug addiction. It can be the homeless man or woman who looks through your recycling each week for cans to redeem.
When we're in these situations we don’t wear signs saying, “My family’s messed up”; “my kid’s an addict” or "I don't have a clue". They, we, keep the hurt shoved deep inside, and sometimes so deep they, we, honestly believe everything is alright.
Here is Great News. God’s special timing has arrived. God's kairos, God’s rule, His Lordship, His Divine Kingship is here and it is able, and willing to transform lives now. That’s the general observation Mark makes in this story. Mark 1:15 reads: "At last the time has come!" he announced. "The Kingdom of God is near! Turn from your sins and believe this Good News!"
The TIME has come. This word describes more than some ordinary sense of timing. It is THE time, the right time, the proper time, the expectant time, the ripe time for God to work. Jesus doesn't come when it's convenient but He was in the right place at the right time. And when Jesus breaks into our reality all bets are off.
Grater still is that this time isn’t past yet. The Kingdom has come (past tense) but the kingdom's impact and the affect of continue into the future till this very day. That’s the force of the imperfect tense that Jesus uses.
Nice and Hard
Tina Turner introduced her version of “Rolling on the River” saying, “we don’t do anything nice and easy”, we do things "nice and hard." That's a good way to think of this phrase “Repent and believe the gospel”. These words fall into the "nice and hard" category because they are commands.
There is no hope these words aren't heeded. There is no way if those commands aren't obeyed. God’s doesn't negotiate with us. He clearly tells us what it takes to have our lives change, to have our lives make sense, to give us life with a future.
Observation lived out
The practical outworking of Jesus’ call, or command, is seen in the response of these first disciples. "Come, be my disciples, and I will show you how to fish for people!" A little farther up the shore Jesus saw Zebedee's sons, James and John, in a boat mending their nets. He called them, too, and immediately … went with him.
What a picture. These men had heard Jesus before but NOW the critical TIME had come for them. It was time to fish or cut bait, they could follow or stay put. They could leave it all behind or remain tangled in their excuses and rationales. They chose to follow.
Today, Jesus’ call to repent and believe the gospel is carried through His Body—the Church—us. So the question becomes how do we [you and I] echo Jesus’ call to our world? It happens many ways. It's there in the attitude a congregation shows to its community. What activities and programs do Christ’s people take on for the sake of the larger community? Mostly it is during non-Church time that we are invited to share God's call. It’s in the attention we pay to our neighbors during the week. It’s the how we pray for our co-workers, bosses and even customers.
The first step is prayer:
A few years ago during our 50-Day Spiritual Adventure we were encouraged to pray for our neighbors. And this is one of the keys to how we share Jesus’ call to repent and believe. How do you pray for your neighbors? A great starting place is to use the word BLESS as an acronym for our prayer.
B—Body—physical needs health and energy
L—Labor—their work, income, job satisfaction
E—Emotional—inner like, peace, joy.
S—Social—family, relationships, friends
S—Spiritual—repentance, faith, holiness
Next pray for ourselves. Pray for our eyes—that we will see our next-door neighbor as Jesus sees them. Pray for our ears—that we will hear what is being said and what is NOT being said by those around us. Pray for our touch—that we’ll be sensitive to feeling what others must be feeling. Pray for our emotions—that God will quicken us to feel life as they do. Pray for our heart—that God will be able to quicken us to meet the needs others.
The second step is action:
It is to take steps to meet the needs, show the hospitality, welcome, love, care for and share with those whom the Lord has given you to care for. This is tantamount to those disciples saying good-bye to their father hand heading off after Jesus. This second step is in line with Jesus’ command to love our neighbors—and that means those we don’t think of as our neighbors or deserving of our love. We’re talking about radical acts of love and acceptance for others. It doesn’t mean we have to agree with their lifestyle, or choices but it means we love with them with the same love with which Jesus loves us.
I think, as a congregation, we're continuing to do a pretty good job. Many of you have been involved in some way with the care Kenton is showing to the homeless in Portland. We're going to be doing lunches again the morning of Valentine's Day. Other opportunities are in the works and being prayed about by the mission committee.
Individually God is doing many different things I hope. Each of us has different neighbors. Each of us has different gifts and skills so what God calls us to do will be different. What might it mean? It may mean taking dinners to a couple who has just had a baby. Maybe it's mowing the lawn of someone who has just undergone surgery. Perhaps you're being led to host a weekly barbeque for the neighbors when the weather gets better just so you get to know each other.
Maybe you're hearing God’s call to repent and believe. It may be the first time you've heard it or you've heard it but never thought it applied to you. For some, they may have said yes to Christ years ago but conveniently forgotten or become too busy for Jesus. If the TIME has come then perhaps you should join with the rest of us who are following Christ along this great adventure.
My recent blog references the late Governor of Alabama, George Wallace, and the change he went through following his assignation attempt. One of the things which led him to repent of his segregationist views was his suffering. See:
http://theologicaledge.blogspot.com/ January 19, 2009
He’s a second-generation small business owner in the area and he too has heard the word of God say, “Repent and believe the gospel”. His was a good business; people came to him for advice and he was viewed as an important part of the community. That was till the investigation. When it was all over his personal assets, his business, even his self-respect was on the auction block.
Dad and Mom gave their all for their children. Discipline and love were blended. They strove to develop responsibility in their children and did a good job releasing them into the world at the right time. One became an addict. Brought home, cleaned up and helped the addiction still controlled this one. Finally the parents have decided they can do nothing but pray for their child. No more rehab, intervention or help. They’re not sure if they feel guilty, angry, hurt or numb and they don’t know to whom they should direct their emotions—God, their kid each other or society in general. To this family, the parents, the addict and others comes the words of Jesus who calls them to —“Repent and believe the gospel”.
A senior high student just can’t seem to get their act together. No matter what they do it’s never quite right. At school others make fun of them and teachers seem to be gunning for them. Friends pull and push them and tempt them so they aren’t even sure what’s right and wrong anymore. They see nothing better ahead of them. They've lost all hope. Graduating means more of the same. Their despair is desperate and in the darkness of night when the horrible thoughts voices come to them another voice breaks through and says, “Repent and believe the gospel”.
Can such a "religious sounding" message have anything to do with the real life? How does repenting and believing impact work, school, home and friends?
A General Observation
People like the ones I described are all around us. You have met them. Some of them may be in your family. You drove by some of them on your way here this morning. You may have sat next to one of these folks on MAX or nodded good morning to them on the street on your way to or from work last Friday. You may have told a joke to one during the course of your day. The student may have a locker next to yours. It may be the loner at school or the one who laughs hardest at a joke hoping to “fit in”. It can be the nice church family down the street that harbors drug addiction. It can be the homeless man or woman who looks through your recycling each week for cans to redeem.
When we're in these situations we don’t wear signs saying, “My family’s messed up”; “my kid’s an addict” or "I don't have a clue". They, we, keep the hurt shoved deep inside, and sometimes so deep they, we, honestly believe everything is alright.
Here is Great News. God’s special timing has arrived. God's kairos, God’s rule, His Lordship, His Divine Kingship is here and it is able, and willing to transform lives now. That’s the general observation Mark makes in this story. Mark 1:15 reads: "At last the time has come!" he announced. "The Kingdom of God is near! Turn from your sins and believe this Good News!"
The TIME has come. This word describes more than some ordinary sense of timing. It is THE time, the right time, the proper time, the expectant time, the ripe time for God to work. Jesus doesn't come when it's convenient but He was in the right place at the right time. And when Jesus breaks into our reality all bets are off.
Grater still is that this time isn’t past yet. The Kingdom has come (past tense) but the kingdom's impact and the affect of continue into the future till this very day. That’s the force of the imperfect tense that Jesus uses.
Nice and Hard
Tina Turner introduced her version of “Rolling on the River” saying, “we don’t do anything nice and easy”, we do things "nice and hard." That's a good way to think of this phrase “Repent and believe the gospel”. These words fall into the "nice and hard" category because they are commands.
There is no hope these words aren't heeded. There is no way if those commands aren't obeyed. God’s doesn't negotiate with us. He clearly tells us what it takes to have our lives change, to have our lives make sense, to give us life with a future.
Observation lived out
The practical outworking of Jesus’ call, or command, is seen in the response of these first disciples. "Come, be my disciples, and I will show you how to fish for people!" A little farther up the shore Jesus saw Zebedee's sons, James and John, in a boat mending their nets. He called them, too, and immediately … went with him.
What a picture. These men had heard Jesus before but NOW the critical TIME had come for them. It was time to fish or cut bait, they could follow or stay put. They could leave it all behind or remain tangled in their excuses and rationales. They chose to follow.
Today, Jesus’ call to repent and believe the gospel is carried through His Body—the Church—us. So the question becomes how do we [you and I] echo Jesus’ call to our world? It happens many ways. It's there in the attitude a congregation shows to its community. What activities and programs do Christ’s people take on for the sake of the larger community? Mostly it is during non-Church time that we are invited to share God's call. It’s in the attention we pay to our neighbors during the week. It’s the how we pray for our co-workers, bosses and even customers.
The first step is prayer:
A few years ago during our 50-Day Spiritual Adventure we were encouraged to pray for our neighbors. And this is one of the keys to how we share Jesus’ call to repent and believe. How do you pray for your neighbors? A great starting place is to use the word BLESS as an acronym for our prayer.
B—Body—physical needs health and energy
L—Labor—their work, income, job satisfaction
E—Emotional—inner like, peace, joy.
S—Social—family, relationships, friends
S—Spiritual—repentance, faith, holiness
Next pray for ourselves. Pray for our eyes—that we will see our next-door neighbor as Jesus sees them. Pray for our ears—that we will hear what is being said and what is NOT being said by those around us. Pray for our touch—that we’ll be sensitive to feeling what others must be feeling. Pray for our emotions—that God will quicken us to feel life as they do. Pray for our heart—that God will be able to quicken us to meet the needs others.
The second step is action:
It is to take steps to meet the needs, show the hospitality, welcome, love, care for and share with those whom the Lord has given you to care for. This is tantamount to those disciples saying good-bye to their father hand heading off after Jesus. This second step is in line with Jesus’ command to love our neighbors—and that means those we don’t think of as our neighbors or deserving of our love. We’re talking about radical acts of love and acceptance for others. It doesn’t mean we have to agree with their lifestyle, or choices but it means we love with them with the same love with which Jesus loves us.
I think, as a congregation, we're continuing to do a pretty good job. Many of you have been involved in some way with the care Kenton is showing to the homeless in Portland. We're going to be doing lunches again the morning of Valentine's Day. Other opportunities are in the works and being prayed about by the mission committee.
Individually God is doing many different things I hope. Each of us has different neighbors. Each of us has different gifts and skills so what God calls us to do will be different. What might it mean? It may mean taking dinners to a couple who has just had a baby. Maybe it's mowing the lawn of someone who has just undergone surgery. Perhaps you're being led to host a weekly barbeque for the neighbors when the weather gets better just so you get to know each other.
Maybe you're hearing God’s call to repent and believe. It may be the first time you've heard it or you've heard it but never thought it applied to you. For some, they may have said yes to Christ years ago but conveniently forgotten or become too busy for Jesus. If the TIME has come then perhaps you should join with the rest of us who are following Christ along this great adventure.
My recent blog references the late Governor of Alabama, George Wallace, and the change he went through following his assignation attempt. One of the things which led him to repent of his segregationist views was his suffering. See:
http://theologicaledge.blogspot.com/ January 19, 2009
What Will You Do? January 18, 2009
Candid Camera made people laugh with the way they caught people unaware. Recently ABC's Primetime made people think with a series of episodes titled "What Would You Do?" The premise was simple. Let people see others doing something and record whether or not they get involved.
A man is shown putting a powder into his dates drink. One man at the counter sees it and confronts the man over his wife's objections. There are the couple of "ugly Americans" in Paris and we watch as we see how far you can push the French and fellow travelers before they intervene. But, perhaps the worse and the best occurred when an actor behind the counter in a convenience store confronts a Hispanic, also an actor, with a nasty and bigoted attitude. One person at the counter just snickers as the clerk refuses to serve him till he can speak English and mutters when he's asked, "Do they look legal to you?"
The good comes when an obvious regular hears this and gets in the face of the counterperson. He goes so far as to get the attention of the owner or manager and tells him to straighten the guy out because we don't do things like this here.
Each and every one of us is subject to the same sort of observation as these unsuspecting people. The difference is that our action and inaction aren't being broadcast to the TV sets of our friends and neighbors across our country. We're being observed by none other than God Himself. Psalm 139 is not just poetry but instructive, as to just how much God knows and sees. Jesus reminds us that our very hairs are numbered, so great is God's attention to us.
Psalm 139 is a word of promise and comfort to those who are in the process of walking openly with Christ each day, but it's a warning and a bit disconcerting to those who want to keep secrets from God and others. It isn't unusual for it to have both affects at the same time for some of us. That's because we live in the world, are called to not be of the world, and we fail at keeping ourselves unstained by the original sin, so embedded in our souls.
Most of us are familiar with Peter's great statement of faith, when Jesus asks the disciples, "Who do you say that I am?" Peter says, "You are the Christ." Mark 8:28-30. But it is Philip who accepts the teaching of his mentor John the Baptizer and tells his brother Nathanael, "We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." Philip was certain Jesus' was the Christ and when Nathanael understood the claim Philip was making.
Nathanael's response was sort of the way Portlanders feel about those from anywhere else but he gets up and follows Philip to meet this teacher. When Jesus sees him he refers to a story which any Jewish man would know well, the story of Jacob. Unlike Jacob, Nathanael, had no dishonesty, larceny, or guile he was the type of Jewish man God had intended for His people to be. Nathanael, overwhelmed with Jesus' knowledge declares, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God and the King of Israel!" and you can almost hear a laugh in Jesus' voice as he says, Nathanael, you're going to see so many greater things and the rest of you, you will observe the heaven's open and the same sort of experience Jacob had with angels ascending and descending on me, not some rock.
As wonderful as it may seem simply to believe God knows everything about us it is more wonderful when we live out the work God toward which leads us. There are some wonderful examples of this right around us in Portland. Have you ever wondered by there aren't any John Astor, Andrew Carnegie, or Commodore Vanderbilt hospitals? The reason is there was money in industry and railroads but not hospitals.
Who started hospitals? It was those who heard Jesus say, "Follow me" and who, in discovering the truth about Jesus, like Philip, rushed off to do go where Jesus sent them. Because of that in 1858 a group of nuns from the Sisters of Providence opened a hospital in Vancouver, WA and Seventeen years later St. Vincent in Portland was dedicated. The Episcopal Church saw a need and because of the generosity of Bishop Morris Good Samaritan Hospital also opened in 1875. Lutherans also heard this call and transformed an old Victorian home into a 28 patient hospital and nursing school about the same time Kenton was being formed, 1912-1915. It's now called Emanuel Hospital. Had there been money in medicine you can bet your life those tycoons would have been involved. Instead it was left to Christ's people to care for the ill.
What would you do if Jesus said "follow me"? What would you do if you heard a voice tell you to go start a hospital, a prayer ministry at school, or sponsor a child through Compassion or World Vision? What would you do if Jesus is who He claims to be, the Christ, the King of Israel?
A 19 year-old heard God's call to become a missionary to the Motiolone tribe in South America. Bruce Olsen heard a voice tell him, "I want you in South America." The churches mission board rejected him because he didn't have the degree which missionaries usually had.
Again, Bruce heard the same voice with the same message. This time Bruce said, "but Lord, I can't go. I was rejected!"
The answer was, "Rejected by who?...I didn't reject you. I want you in South America."
Bruce went. His family thought he was nuts but off he went to Caracas. In the course of living with the Motilone Indians Bruce was shot with arrows, contracted hepatitis and was short of food and water on more than one occasion. But in spite of this, his continued care and work with this group saw them come to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. It wasn't because he got the education, jumped through hoops or pleased others, Bruce became an inspiration to others to serve in such places simply because he gave God first place in his life. He cared more about pleasing God than pleasing the critics.
We are going to face opportunities when we will be challenged to take a step forward in the name of Jesus and for the sake of our Lord. They may be scary places. They will most certainly be uncomfortable places. Regardless, when we obey and step in we discover the glory of doing what God calls us to do and being who Jesus desires us to be. I'll end with a favorite saying of Dr. Laura Schlesinger, "Now, go do the right thing."
http://www.providence.org/phs/archives/History_OnLine/stvincent1.htm; http://www.legacyhealth.org/body.cfm?id=1822&oTopID=1822&PLinkID=35; http://www.legacyhealth.org/body.cfm?id=144&oTopID=144&PLinkID=33
A man is shown putting a powder into his dates drink. One man at the counter sees it and confronts the man over his wife's objections. There are the couple of "ugly Americans" in Paris and we watch as we see how far you can push the French and fellow travelers before they intervene. But, perhaps the worse and the best occurred when an actor behind the counter in a convenience store confronts a Hispanic, also an actor, with a nasty and bigoted attitude. One person at the counter just snickers as the clerk refuses to serve him till he can speak English and mutters when he's asked, "Do they look legal to you?"
The good comes when an obvious regular hears this and gets in the face of the counterperson. He goes so far as to get the attention of the owner or manager and tells him to straighten the guy out because we don't do things like this here.
Each and every one of us is subject to the same sort of observation as these unsuspecting people. The difference is that our action and inaction aren't being broadcast to the TV sets of our friends and neighbors across our country. We're being observed by none other than God Himself. Psalm 139 is not just poetry but instructive, as to just how much God knows and sees. Jesus reminds us that our very hairs are numbered, so great is God's attention to us.
Psalm 139 is a word of promise and comfort to those who are in the process of walking openly with Christ each day, but it's a warning and a bit disconcerting to those who want to keep secrets from God and others. It isn't unusual for it to have both affects at the same time for some of us. That's because we live in the world, are called to not be of the world, and we fail at keeping ourselves unstained by the original sin, so embedded in our souls.
Most of us are familiar with Peter's great statement of faith, when Jesus asks the disciples, "Who do you say that I am?" Peter says, "You are the Christ." Mark 8:28-30. But it is Philip who accepts the teaching of his mentor John the Baptizer and tells his brother Nathanael, "We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." Philip was certain Jesus' was the Christ and when Nathanael understood the claim Philip was making.
Nathanael's response was sort of the way Portlanders feel about those from anywhere else but he gets up and follows Philip to meet this teacher. When Jesus sees him he refers to a story which any Jewish man would know well, the story of Jacob. Unlike Jacob, Nathanael, had no dishonesty, larceny, or guile he was the type of Jewish man God had intended for His people to be. Nathanael, overwhelmed with Jesus' knowledge declares, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God and the King of Israel!" and you can almost hear a laugh in Jesus' voice as he says, Nathanael, you're going to see so many greater things and the rest of you, you will observe the heaven's open and the same sort of experience Jacob had with angels ascending and descending on me, not some rock.
As wonderful as it may seem simply to believe God knows everything about us it is more wonderful when we live out the work God toward which leads us. There are some wonderful examples of this right around us in Portland. Have you ever wondered by there aren't any John Astor, Andrew Carnegie, or Commodore Vanderbilt hospitals? The reason is there was money in industry and railroads but not hospitals.
Who started hospitals? It was those who heard Jesus say, "Follow me" and who, in discovering the truth about Jesus, like Philip, rushed off to do go where Jesus sent them. Because of that in 1858 a group of nuns from the Sisters of Providence opened a hospital in Vancouver, WA and Seventeen years later St. Vincent in Portland was dedicated. The Episcopal Church saw a need and because of the generosity of Bishop Morris Good Samaritan Hospital also opened in 1875. Lutherans also heard this call and transformed an old Victorian home into a 28 patient hospital and nursing school about the same time Kenton was being formed, 1912-1915. It's now called Emanuel Hospital. Had there been money in medicine you can bet your life those tycoons would have been involved. Instead it was left to Christ's people to care for the ill.
What would you do if Jesus said "follow me"? What would you do if you heard a voice tell you to go start a hospital, a prayer ministry at school, or sponsor a child through Compassion or World Vision? What would you do if Jesus is who He claims to be, the Christ, the King of Israel?
A 19 year-old heard God's call to become a missionary to the Motiolone tribe in South America. Bruce Olsen heard a voice tell him, "I want you in South America." The churches mission board rejected him because he didn't have the degree which missionaries usually had.
Again, Bruce heard the same voice with the same message. This time Bruce said, "but Lord, I can't go. I was rejected!"
The answer was, "Rejected by who?...I didn't reject you. I want you in South America."
Bruce went. His family thought he was nuts but off he went to Caracas. In the course of living with the Motilone Indians Bruce was shot with arrows, contracted hepatitis and was short of food and water on more than one occasion. But in spite of this, his continued care and work with this group saw them come to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. It wasn't because he got the education, jumped through hoops or pleased others, Bruce became an inspiration to others to serve in such places simply because he gave God first place in his life. He cared more about pleasing God than pleasing the critics.
We are going to face opportunities when we will be challenged to take a step forward in the name of Jesus and for the sake of our Lord. They may be scary places. They will most certainly be uncomfortable places. Regardless, when we obey and step in we discover the glory of doing what God calls us to do and being who Jesus desires us to be. I'll end with a favorite saying of Dr. Laura Schlesinger, "Now, go do the right thing."
http://www.providence.org/phs/archives/History_OnLine/stvincent1.htm; http://www.legacyhealth.org/body.cfm?id=1822&oTopID=1822&PLinkID=35; http://www.legacyhealth.org/body.cfm?id=144&oTopID=144&PLinkID=33
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Strongly rooted=healthy Spirit January 13, 2008
More than a decade ago, Matt Thom, a few helpful young teens and me conceived of and set in motion a tree house for our back yard. The tree had a great section where branches came together but it wasn't large enough for a good side platform. Instead, we placed four 12' pressure treated 4x4's around the tree. They were planted 3-4 feet deep and cemented into place. To these ran a set of 2x6 stringers, carriage bolted to the posts.
The end result was a platform that didn't touch the tree but was amidst the branches. Everything added to it, from the stairway to the sidewalls were accomplished because we had a very solid base from which to build.
How important is a foundation? Psalm 1 tells us that those who are settled and blessed are those who are "planted" in a place where they are constantly fed by God's word. Jesus describes a foolish and wise builder by the place on which they lay their foundation. Fools would settle for the smooth, fairly stone-free sandy base of the seasonal Wadis which were fine till the seasonal rainfall came. Then they were a lot like Vernonia or Tillamook in a flood. Wise builders put up with rocks, cleared the ground and worked hard to build a house that was out of harm's way when the creeks rose.
In 2 Timothy, Paul writes to the young pastor of the congregations in Ephesus that, he, Timothy, should continue doing what he'd learned was right and true. What was Timothy's source of knowledge? It was Paul's life and experiences. It was his own life lived out under other believers and it was the Word of God that provides the means for "teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness."
Today is the start of four weeks of looking at God's Word—the what, why's and how of reading it. We're aiming at the February 11 kick-off of reading through the Bible in a year. And before I ask you to consider something that difficult you ought at least to understand the value of the Bible.
Jesus is the one we trust in life and death. But how do we know about Jesus? Someone tells us stories. We've been raised in church and, like a virus we caught Him. We listen to the sermon and watch Christian TV. Any of these can help us to understand Jesus but the only continual witness to Jesus is God's Word. In classic theological language one talks about Jesus being the Word Incarnate or made flesh and Scripture as the written Word. Without trust in Jesus the Scripture remains a confusing, daunting book. Without Scripture, Jesus often becomes a misunderstood revolutionary or simply a good man who was caught up in the politics of His day and age.
God's word is foundational to our understanding of who Jesus is and what His life, death, bodily resurrection and ascension mean for us today. It is the basis from which all ministry, service, work, evangelism, and mission in the name of Jesus proceed. But doesn't this take place in every church, everywhere? You a very quick comment from Rev. Jim Berkeley show that some Christian leaders have a different view of what's foundational for faith and life. Last January, Berkeley wrote for The Institute on Religion and Democracy about being an observer for IRD at a meeting between our denomination's Committee on Social Witness Policy and National Council of Churches meeting in New York. Rev. Marcel Welty, NCC Associate for Research and Planning, attempted to make small talk with him. Here's Jim Berkeley's recollection of that:
It is because to such folks, politics are the foundation upon which they base their existence. Just so you know this can be true of progressive and evangelical as well. Scripture is the foundation upon which we base our knowledge of Jesus Christ (orthodoxy) and our behavior as a follower of Jesus Christ (orthopraxy).
Paul tells Timothy that God's word is profitable for "teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness". When it comes to our study of God our feelings or what we believe aren't the final authority, it is what God says that goes. You are free to believe God wears pink bunny-rabbit slippers if you want but that doesn't make it valid or true, in spite of our politically correct world. There seems to me a type of progression in these phrases. From understanding theology the Word of God rebukes. The Amplified Version uses the phrases, "for reproof and conviction of sin". It is a correcting word. It tells someone that what they are doing is wrong. It points out the sin and, building on the teaching, it shows them from God's word where it violates God's standards. From this it moves on to correction. We might think of reproof and correction as the same word but the aim is totally different.
Correction seeks to make things right. The first time I helped my dad prep a car for painting I got the glamorous job of wet sanding it by hand. I got done, went in the house and my dad said, "Are you done?"
I got my usual senior high ego in a twist and said, "Of course. It wasn't that hard." After lunch, my dad went out to look at the car and soon called me over. One guess; do you think it was because I'd done such a good job that no one would ever sand a car again to that quality? Yeah! He ripped me up one side and down the other. I'd missed some places totally and went too deep in others. Then he did something that was embarrassing. He took the sandpaper and block, put them in my hand and with his hand on mine showed me what good sanding looked like. I hated it. It was demeaning. I felt like a fool. But I could probably still sand a car today because his correction gave me the right feel for the amount of pressure needed.
All of this, teaching, rebuking and correction lead to the goal of "training in righteousness (in holy living, in conformity to God's will in thought, purpose, and action), so that the man and woman of God may be complete and proficient, well fitted and thoroughly equipped for every good work." Amplified Version
Let me go back to Psalm 1 to do the work God created us to do is to bear fruit in the proper season. And to do that we are rooted, fed, watered, and made strong by our "delighting in God's Word" and it is upon this law that we meditate, ponder, and study.
When our foundation is set in Christ we are secure and blessed. The tree house I mentioned at the start is coming down this spring. You see, the tree is splitting and sagging against the fort. Yet the fort still holds because it is rooted well. When the pressures around us fall on us will be a strongly founded on Christ?
The end result was a platform that didn't touch the tree but was amidst the branches. Everything added to it, from the stairway to the sidewalls were accomplished because we had a very solid base from which to build.
How important is a foundation? Psalm 1 tells us that those who are settled and blessed are those who are "planted" in a place where they are constantly fed by God's word. Jesus describes a foolish and wise builder by the place on which they lay their foundation. Fools would settle for the smooth, fairly stone-free sandy base of the seasonal Wadis which were fine till the seasonal rainfall came. Then they were a lot like Vernonia or Tillamook in a flood. Wise builders put up with rocks, cleared the ground and worked hard to build a house that was out of harm's way when the creeks rose.
In 2 Timothy, Paul writes to the young pastor of the congregations in Ephesus that, he, Timothy, should continue doing what he'd learned was right and true. What was Timothy's source of knowledge? It was Paul's life and experiences. It was his own life lived out under other believers and it was the Word of God that provides the means for "teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness."
Today is the start of four weeks of looking at God's Word—the what, why's and how of reading it. We're aiming at the February 11 kick-off of reading through the Bible in a year. And before I ask you to consider something that difficult you ought at least to understand the value of the Bible.
Jesus is the one we trust in life and death. But how do we know about Jesus? Someone tells us stories. We've been raised in church and, like a virus we caught Him. We listen to the sermon and watch Christian TV. Any of these can help us to understand Jesus but the only continual witness to Jesus is God's Word. In classic theological language one talks about Jesus being the Word Incarnate or made flesh and Scripture as the written Word. Without trust in Jesus the Scripture remains a confusing, daunting book. Without Scripture, Jesus often becomes a misunderstood revolutionary or simply a good man who was caught up in the politics of His day and age.
God's word is foundational to our understanding of who Jesus is and what His life, death, bodily resurrection and ascension mean for us today. It is the basis from which all ministry, service, work, evangelism, and mission in the name of Jesus proceed. But doesn't this take place in every church, everywhere? You a very quick comment from Rev. Jim Berkeley show that some Christian leaders have a different view of what's foundational for faith and life. Last January, Berkeley wrote for The Institute on Religion and Democracy about being an observer for IRD at a meeting between our denomination's Committee on Social Witness Policy and National Council of Churches meeting in New York. Rev. Marcel Welty, NCC Associate for Research and Planning, attempted to make small talk with him. Here's Jim Berkeley's recollection of that:
“So, what do you think of President Bush?” he asked, with all the grace and delicacy of a drunken hippopotamus. Why politics came to his mind as a sociable topic of conversation with a guest, I’ll never know. Why not ask about my faith or my family for starters? Why home in on what to Welty just had to be an obvious bone of contention?"
It is because to such folks, politics are the foundation upon which they base their existence. Just so you know this can be true of progressive and evangelical as well. Scripture is the foundation upon which we base our knowledge of Jesus Christ (orthodoxy) and our behavior as a follower of Jesus Christ (orthopraxy).
Paul tells Timothy that God's word is profitable for "teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness". When it comes to our study of God our feelings or what we believe aren't the final authority, it is what God says that goes. You are free to believe God wears pink bunny-rabbit slippers if you want but that doesn't make it valid or true, in spite of our politically correct world. There seems to me a type of progression in these phrases. From understanding theology the Word of God rebukes. The Amplified Version uses the phrases, "for reproof and conviction of sin". It is a correcting word. It tells someone that what they are doing is wrong. It points out the sin and, building on the teaching, it shows them from God's word where it violates God's standards. From this it moves on to correction. We might think of reproof and correction as the same word but the aim is totally different.
Correction seeks to make things right. The first time I helped my dad prep a car for painting I got the glamorous job of wet sanding it by hand. I got done, went in the house and my dad said, "Are you done?"
I got my usual senior high ego in a twist and said, "Of course. It wasn't that hard." After lunch, my dad went out to look at the car and soon called me over. One guess; do you think it was because I'd done such a good job that no one would ever sand a car again to that quality? Yeah! He ripped me up one side and down the other. I'd missed some places totally and went too deep in others. Then he did something that was embarrassing. He took the sandpaper and block, put them in my hand and with his hand on mine showed me what good sanding looked like. I hated it. It was demeaning. I felt like a fool. But I could probably still sand a car today because his correction gave me the right feel for the amount of pressure needed.
All of this, teaching, rebuking and correction lead to the goal of "training in righteousness (in holy living, in conformity to God's will in thought, purpose, and action), so that the man and woman of God may be complete and proficient, well fitted and thoroughly equipped for every good work." Amplified Version
Let me go back to Psalm 1 to do the work God created us to do is to bear fruit in the proper season. And to do that we are rooted, fed, watered, and made strong by our "delighting in God's Word" and it is upon this law that we meditate, ponder, and study.
When our foundation is set in Christ we are secure and blessed. The tree house I mentioned at the start is coming down this spring. You see, the tree is splitting and sagging against the fort. Yet the fort still holds because it is rooted well. When the pressures around us fall on us will be a strongly founded on Christ?
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