Today we talked about the problems that happen when we assume things.
Looking Ahead
We are now roughly two months into the Covid-19 pandemic here in the United States. To say that this is a life changing thing would vastly underestimate the effect it has had on our lives. We don’t know what the future holds, whether immediate or long term. You can find a different prognosis and prediction for each day of the week. I don’t believe anyone has the complete picture. Regardless, the future will look a great deal different than what we have been used to.
There are some things I hope will be true in our lives in the days to come. I hope that we will be kinder people, more patient and understanding. That seems to be true right now, and I hope i t continues. I hope that we continue to care about others, even sacrificing out own interests to help someone. I hope that we actively look for ways to do good to our neighbors. I hope that we will cherish our families and the time we have with them.
I hope that we can put differences aside, whether political, philosophical, or social, and work to recognize and do what is good for all, rather than what benefits one group over another. I hope that we as a culture can be truly pro life, from the womb to the nursing home. I hope that we can welcome those who come here looking for a better life without blaming them for our ills. I hope that we can recognize the value of everyone in our society and pay wages that allow them to take care of themselves and their families. I hope that we can realize that it really doesn’t profit anyone to gain the whole world only to lose their soul.
I hope those of us who follow Jesus will realize that the church is not the building or the institution, but is the people. I hope that we will cherish our brothers and sisters in Christ, and seek to love them as Jesus loved us. I hope that we will be known more for what we are for than for what we are against. I hope that we show the truth, goodness, and beauty of Jesus to our neighbors and demonstrate the hope of people who know that this world will be renewed.
I hope that all of us will have a better idea of what really matters. I hope that the next crisis that comes along will find us better prepared to handle it in a way that benefits us all.
Pipe dream? Maybe, but I will not give up hope.
Thoughts on Easter 2020
The Easter season was a bit different this year. Instead of gathering in person with our brothers and sisters to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, we gathered around our computer for a livestream service via Zoom. In stead of greeting dear friends with a hug, we waved to the images on the screen. Instead of getting together with friends or family for a feast, we had an Easter dinner for two in our dining room. It was a very good day, and I am grateful for what we were able to do, but it was different, in a strange way.
The coronavirus pandemic, which has devastated much of the world, has changed the way we do just about everything. Many people have been at home for a number of weeks, as “shelter in place” becomes the norm. The great majority of churches have closed their doors, either meeting on line, watching services on television, or not meeting at all. Businesses have been forced to close, and social distancing has forced upon us a new way of relating with each other.
Jan and I found some positive things coming out of an Easter weekend during time of quarantine. We gathered on line with friends Thursday for an altered Seder, followed by an online Maundy Thursday service. Friday evening we watched a Tenebrae service online, and Saturday found us experiencing an Anglican Easter vigil on line. Even though we didn’t do the things we normally do this time of year, we were able to experience a little of the breadth of the the Christian tradition’s celebration of the resurrection.
As the pandemic continues, many of the things we have taken for granted will have to be abandoned or revamped. The ways we work, shop, relate to others, and do church may look totally different in the days ahead. I think that will turn out to be a good thing. There are things that we need to change as individuals, families, churches, nations. As we come to grips with what is really important in our lives, we can become more understanding people, who treat each other as persons made in the image of God. As we learn to work together, we can become more unified. Maybe we can conduct our public lives with an eye toward what is best for all, rather than for our side of the aisle. As churches are forced out of the routine, maybe we can rediscover that the church is not the four walls, but is the family of God who are called to love and serve our neighbors.
Easter is all about hope. The hope that all will be made right, and we will be resurrected. In the midst of tragedy and hopelessness, we can know that Jesus defeated death. Because he walked out of that tomb, nothing will stand in the way of our Father’s plans to restore his creation. Nothing can change that. As the apostle Paul wrote, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Seeking God’s Wisdom: Joshua 9
This Sunday, our congregation had our first virtual service. We’re working on improving things so they flow more smoothly, but here it is:
Musings From the Past Few Days
Last Wednesday, my life changed. That afternoon I experienced what someone my age hopes will never happen. My heart decided I needed to take a little trip to the emergency room. After arriving by ambulance and having a couple of EKGs done, the cardiologist on duty decided that it was time for me to go to the emergency heart cath room. While there, the doctor found that the artery in back of my heart was 95% blocked and a stent needed to be inserted. While this was happening, my heart tried to make things even more difficult. Fortunately it calmed down and the procedure was completed. After resting in the hospital for a couple days, I was able to go home on Saturday. I am feeling much better and getting anxious to start rehab and get back to some semblance of normal, although I know that the definition of normal will be different.
Between my adventure and all that is going on around the world with the COVID19 virus, I have had some time to think. One thing that something like a heart attack or pandemic will do is cause us to come to grips with what really is important.We chase around trying to find significance in so many different things and we many times forget what really counts. The current virus has pretty much brought the world to a standstill. Almost all sporting events have been cancelled, and the Olympics are in danger of not happening this summer. Restaurants, theaters, even churches are shuttered in an attempt to flatten out the curve and get ahead of this. It is likely that folks will begin to lose jobs, and there is the very real threat of a global recession. There is a great deal of fear as the unknown looms.
All of the dislocation and hardship that folks have gone through or will go through is hard and I don’t want to downplay or minimize their suffering. I grieve with those who are grieving the loss of opportunities, jobs, or especially the loss of loved ones. I am not suggesting that my thoughts are the answer for anyone else. The recent events in my own life and the “new normal” Jan and I are already dealing with, have led me to do a lot of taking stock, trying to determine what is really vital.
First, my relationship with God is the most important thing. Without that, there is nothing else. Loving God with every fiber of my being is the one thing. Next after that comes loving Jan as Jesus loved the church, giving myself for her. Then comes loving my children and their families and being a good grandad. Beyond that comes loving my brothers and sisters in Christ, especially those I am in community with, as Jesus loved me. Then there is loving my neighbor as myself. Regardless of what else may happen in the days and years ahead, if I can do those things I will consider myself to have done well.
Have you thought about these things? What do you consider to be most important?
February
This is the month we hear a lot about love. Most of what we hear is not an accurate picture of what love really is. Especially for those who follow Jesus, love has more to do with action than with feeling, although feeling can sometimes be involved. Jesus tells us that the greatest commandment is to love God with every fiber of our being, and that along with that we are to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Those two commandments cover it all. Jesus then says that we are to love our brothers and sisters in Christ as Jesus loved us. So, how do we love others, particularly fellow believers? The Apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians 13 tells us what that kind of self sacrificing love looks like.
Love is patient. It doesn’t give up. It keeps on seeking the flourishing of the other. Love is kind. It is compassionate and gentle. Love is not envious, does not boast, and is not proud. Love doesn’t try to build itself up at the expense of others, but puts them first. It rejoices with those who rejoice and weeps with those who weep. Love does not dishonor others, but instead, builds them up. Love isn’t self-seeking, but rather has the mind of Christ in Philippians 2.
Love is not easily angered and doesn’t keep a record of wrongs. It doesn’t blow up at the slightest provocation. It doesn’t keep track of how many times it has been hurt or how many times it has done good to the other. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It doesn’t rejoice when bad things happen to others, but it takes pleasure in the flowering of truth in others.
Love always protects, hopes, trusts, and perseveres. Love is strong. It surrounds the other and shields them. It never loses hope in the other, because it trusts in the grace of the Father. Love doesn’t look for hidden agendas or motives, but trusts the other. It also trusts the Father to do his work in them. Love always stays strong. No matter how tough it gets, or how long it takes, love sticks around.
Love never fails. When prophecies cease, tongues are stilled. and knowledge passes away, there will still be love. Love is the greatest thing, ahead of even faith and hope. When it all boils down to the basics of living as a follower of Jesus, what is left is love.
Sounds impossible doesn’t it? It is impossible, if we try to do it in our own power. I mean, how do we love our enemies when we have a hard enough time loving those who are our friends? We do it because the Father has first loved us and put his Spirit in us to empower us to love as we are loved. Will we love perfectly? You know as well as I that the answer is no. That is one reason why love has to be patient, kind, trusting, and so on. It has to be that way to be able to continue to love those who imperfectly try to love us, even as they try to love us who imperfectly try to love them.
Let us seek to love others as Jesus has loved us, and trust the Father to shine his love through us onto others.
Blast From the Past: The Story Continues
This was originally published in January, 2008. In the fall of 2006, my mom and dad had both passed away within a month.
I had lost my hero, my adviser, my example. That next Christmas was hard. The biggest thing about the celebration of Christmas for me had always been family, and now I was an orphan.
At the same time a group of us in our church had decided that things needed to change or we could no longer continue there. A few months before this, we had gone to two Sunday morning worship services. One was a traditional service and the other was a more contemporary service. The church was losing people and it was thought that if we provided opportunity for people to worship as they preferred, it would strengthen and grow the church. The contemporary service quickly became just like the traditional service, only with cooler music.
Our group of “revolutionaries” believed that we needed to approach “church” from a fresh angle. We agreed that the church needed to reach into the community around us. We began to meet weekly to set out a course of action and to plan the weekly gatherings. At first, things were moving in a direction that really encouraged me. I was an elder, and had agreed to become an elder in order to try and influence the church in a direction that was more “emerging”. Someone accused us trying to break away and start a new church. I said that I had no interest in planting a new church. (Famous last words)
As time went on I realized that the only way we were going to do what we believed God wanted us to do was to actually begin a new church under the auspices of the original church, with our own leadership. Unfortunately, there were a number of people in leadership, as well as other influential members, who wanted to have a say in what we were doing. We were accused of dividing the church and conditions were put on what we were doing. The conditions were probably good but they essentially put brakes on our efforts. As time went on, the enthusiasm for “doing church” differently waned and the worship service reverted to same old same old with cooler music. At the same time, there were positive signs, so I still planned to stay around and minister where I could.
Toward the end of the summer, I heard about a possible church plant here in Rock Hill. I was immediately intrigued. Some of you know Frank Hamrick. I contacted him and as we talked and got to know each other a little bit, God began to nudge me in the direction of helping in the plant. As time went on and I began to read and study, I became increasingly convinced of the need for a new church in Rock Hill. God continued to work on me, and by the end of December I decided to leave the current church and help Frank.
So now, I’m about to set off on another leg of my journey. Where this one will lead only God knows. If there’s on thing I’ve learned through the years it’s that no matter how much the road twists and turns, and no matter how dark things get, my Father is with me and is leading me exactly where he wants me to go. That makes the trip an adventure rather than a chore.
Should be fun.
Lonely or Broken?
Back in the 80s, the group Yes put out a single titled “Owner of a Lonely Heart.” One line in the song reads, “Owner of a lonely heart, much better than the owner of a broken heart.” There are a lot of people who would agree with that sentiment, along with that expressed in Simon and Garfunkel’s song, “I Am a Rock.” I can understand the feeling. Many have had their hearts broken by friends, family, lovers. Abuse, violence, and death is a common part of the human experience.
While I can understand wanting to withdraw from intimate contact with other people, thinking that hiding the heart will make life better, I would disagree with the sentiment that being lonely is better than being broken hearted. I agree with C.S. Lewis, who wrote: There is no safe investment. To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one , not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully around with hobbies, and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket – safe, dark, motionless, airless – it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside of Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers of perturbations of love is hell.
I believe a large part of the problem is our culture’s definition of love as something that will make the one loved happy and make the lover happy. It is a very self-centered thing. Because we can never make another person completely happy, and no one can ever make us completely happy, going into any kind of relationship with another person will be no safe investment. If you try to love others, whether as a spouse or friend, they may hurt you and you may hurt them.
As a follower of Jesus, I am commanded to love others. Not necessarily to seek to make them happy, and certainly not to make myself happy, although both of those things can and will happen at times. I am called to love others in a sacrificial way that seeks their good, even if that good may make them unhappy for a time. I am also called to love everyone, those who are like me and those who are different. This is where the rubber meets the road. Can I love my brothers and sisters in my local fellowship when we don’t see eye to eye? Can I love those who follow Jesus differently? If those whom I fellowship with aren’t “as far along in their walk with God as I am” can I love them?
In A Fellowship of Differents, Scot McKnight writes that to love others we must be committed. We must commit to be with those we seek to love. We must spend time with them, being a faithful presence. We must commit to be for them, to be on their side and let them know that we are for them. We must also commit to love them unto the person God has created them to be. As God’s faithful presence in us and his commitment for us transforms us unto the likeness of Jesus, so our loving relationships can transform those we love. It is in that loving unto that we run into difficulties. We don’t always take well to correction or teaching. We must be careful that we don’t hurry the unto before we have loved with and for. By our presence and support, our unconditional love, the Spirit can work in the hearts of those we love.
As someone who likes to be the one who fixes things, often with not so good results, I can tell you that what we need to do in our relationships is be faithful in our presence and support, and then trust the Spirit to do the work of changing hearts the way God wants, not the way we want. This is not easy because our love for others leads us to want them to be Christlike, and it can be heart breaking when it doesn’t happen. But, the results are not up to us. We are simply called to love as Jesus loves us. Period.
Let us show the world around us that we belong to Jesus by our love for others, especially our brothers and sisters.
Feasting and Fasting
In the liturgical traditions, this time of year is the season of Lent, a period of fasting, reflection, and repentance leading to the remembrance of Jesus’ crucifixion and the celebration of his resurrection. The Lenten season lasts 40 days, beginning with Ash Wednesday, a day of repentance and remembrance that we are dust and to dust we shall return, and ending on the Thursday before Easter Sunday. During this time, people fast from certain types of food, from alcohol or tobacco, from social media, or any number of things. Others add some sort of service to others or other spiritual activity to their schedule. No matter what is done, the focus is on the fact that we are broken people living in a broken world. It helps those who follow Jesus reflect on why he died on the cross.
In many places where Lent is practiced, there is a period of time known as Mardi Gras, or Carnival. It is a time of feasting and partying, sometimes to excess. The day before Ash Wednesday is called either Fat Tuesday or Shrove Tuesday. According to Wikipedia, Mardi Gras is French for Fat Tuesday, referring to the feasting that takes place. Shrove Tuesday refers to the liturgical season of Shrovetide, which ends on that day. Many traditions consume pancakes on Shrove Tuesday. In many places, the Mardi Gras celebration begins the weekend before and Fat Tuesday is the culmination of the feasting.
The Bible speaks of both feasting and fasting. The Old Testament Hebrews were commanded to fast at certain times. There were also times of fasting for certain types of people or ministry. There were also time of feasting commanded. There were seven different feasts which the Israelites were commanded to attend. Deuteronomy 14 commands the people, once a year, to carry their tithe to what became the Temple in Jerusalem and eat it before the Lord in that place. If the way was too long for them, they were to sell their tithe, and when they arrived at the city, to buy whatever they wanted: oxen, sheep, wine or strong drink. The people of God were commanded to fast at certain times, and they were commanded to party at others.
Our little community of believers tries to carry on a bit of that tradition. We have a Mardi Gras celebration the Saturday before Ash Wednesday every year. We feast on pork, gumbo, and other foods. There is wine and strong drink, although it is rare when someone imbibes excessively. We believe that Christians should throw the best parties and bring the best wine. We also believe in reflecting on the fact that even though we are in Christ, we still sin and need to repent. This year we gathered on Ash Wednesday to serve dinner to a group of men at a homeless shelter, reminding us of our human condition. We will celebrate Good Friday and will feast on Easter Sunday.
We believe that the times of fasting or repentance remind us that the Kingdom has not come in its fullness, that we live in that in-between time. When we feast we look ahead to the wedding feast of the Lamb, when all things will be made new and we will live in the New Jerusalem, when there will be no need for fasting.
Even so, come Lord Jesus.
Goodbye and Hello
2017 has passed into history. There have been a few years in recent memory to which I bid “Good riddance.” This past year is not one of those. 2017 was a good year for me and my family. Jan and I became grandparents. Twice. I started a new job, which I love. There were some hiccups. It was not a perfect year, but overall it was peaceful, without the drama of some recent years.
As I look back on the past year, I am thankful for the good things that God has blessed us with. Grandchildren and the new job are right up there at the top of the list, along with a deepening of our relationship as husband and wife. Our relationships with our friends has also grown stronger, and we are grateful for them. This year has been more active than most, but we have been blessed with the energy we needed. I have no idea what 2018 holds. I hope that it is as good as 2017, but I realize that it may not be.
I don’t know if your past year was good or bad. I don’t know if you are looking forward to this new year or not. I do know how it feels to be glad one year is gone and also dread the coming year. While I can’t totally understand what everyone goes through, I can empathize. I can also hope and pray with you that 2018 is a good year for you.
Let me encourage you to trust God this coming year. There may be times when you can’t even begin to figure out what he is doing, or if he is even working at all. Those times when you can’t see his hand at work, trust his heart. Trust that the Father’s love for you is so strong that he will never let anything come into your life that he does not use for your good. The last part of Romans 8 is true. There is absolutely nothing on earth or in heaven that can separate you from Abba’s love.
Don’t live this year worrying about the state of your finances, your health, your relationships. Don’t be worried about the future of the country’s politics, or world affairs. The Creator of all things, who is your Father, is in complete control. Since even the fall of a tiny bird doesn’t escape God’s attention, trust that he has your situation firmly in hand. As Julian of Norwich said, “…all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.”
May your 2018 be full of the love of Abba!