The Book That Won't Be Domesticated

I had an occasion not so long ago to speak about Jesus, using the story of Jesus' resurrection from a tomb, as conveyed by a tax collector known to us now as Matthew. I've been doing what I do for three decades, so I've focused on this resurrection story from the Bible many times. Approaching it this time I thought, "I know this account backwards and forwards; I don't see what could be said about it that hasn't been said before." Then something happened to me that happens quite regularly with the Bible. Something almost leaped off the page that I had never noticed before. As Matthew describes the experience of women who found Jesus' tomb empty and encountered a messenger from God, he says, "So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples." (Matthew 28:8 - New Revised Standard Version.) Every other time I had glossed over the fact that the women experienced both terror and great gladness at the same time. They didn't wait for fear to leave them before they moved forward in faith. I believe the Holy Spirit wanted me to see this, both for my congregation and for me, personally.

That's the nature of this thing called the Bible. It is vibrant and dynamic, and God speaks through it. I never can plumb the depths of it. Just when I think I have parts of the Bible figured out, something like the above happens to blow apart the containing walls I've built around it. When we reduce the Bible to being only a rulebook, when we limit encounter with the Bible to rote memorization, when we use it only as a club to beat up those who don't think like we do, we don't even begin to experience God speaking through us through this powerful medium.

I'm always impressed by durability and vitality. The Bible has endured a lot over the centuries: misuse, disuse, ridicule, dismissal, criticism, proof-texting, minimizing, etc. etc. Yet God keeps using it to speak in ways that break free of human confinements.

In our church fellowship we promote specific ways to take the first steps in hearing God speak through the Bible, and we would be happy to coach anyone who is seeking. I'll see you on down the river.

Adjustment

I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while. My wife and I just got back from a week long mission trip to the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma. We were a part of 350 students and adults from all over our state, who participated in a massive "Volunteers in Mission" workcamp. We worked for and with people in need, while experiencing immersion in a culture different than our own. Teams worked on houses of the poor and elderly, refurbished church buildings, led Vacation Bible Schools, canvassed neighborhoods, and generally joined in whatever was needed by our Cherokee brothers and sisters and their communities.

In addition to the opportunity to serve, I realized that all of us has the opportunity to experience something essential to following Jesus - we had the chance to adjust. Henry Blackaby teaches us that God's invitation to a relationship and God's invitation to join in what God is doing leads to a crisis in faith for us that demands adjustment. Relatively comfortable and privileged church people had to adjust this week in eastern Oklahoma. We had to adjust to crowded conditions; sleeping in school classrooms, twenty persons and more to a room. We had to adjust from video games and television in airconditioned comfort, to sweaty and dirty work in the hot July sun. We had to adjust from agendas we control to work requirements and service that surprised us every day. We adjusted from privacy to mass use of restrooms. We had to adjust from food on demand to military style meals, serving the same thing to everyone, like it or not. We were required to adjust from a faith that serves our personal needs, to a faith that gives up our needs for the needs of others.

It was dirty, grimy, demanding, draining, sometimes out of control, and relentless. And it was the Body of Christ being the Body of Christ. We need to do more adjusting, rather than expecting everything to bend to us. After all, Jesus made the ultimate adjustment of giving up His place in glory, to become human, and to take the form of a slave; obedient even to death on a cross.

I'm going to rest for a bit, but not long. You head on down the river. I'll see you soon.

Loving God

Sorry I haven't posted in a few days. It's been a pretty hectic week. Among other things, I'm preparing to give the eulogy at my aunt's memorial service on Saturday. She was a gracious and humble lady.

On Wednesday night a leadership training group in our congregation had a great impromptu discussion on what it means to love God. Those of us who frequent worship services hear about trusting God, praying to God, seeking the blessings of God, obeying God, etc. What does it mean to love God, especially when we're invited to love God first. It's hard for us to think about loving God, when we live in a world steeped in definitions of love that are based largely on our personal pleasure and good feelings. If some certain someone makes us feel a certain way, we're taught to regard that as love.

This is a discussion that needs to continue; we will never plumb the depths of it. One thing deserves attention, though. As I encounter the love that comes to us in Jesus, I see love that is more of a decision than it is a feeling. I see a God who chooses to love us, apart from anything emotive. It's like the love I have for my wife, my children or my grandchildren. Most often they do things that make me feel warm, happy, proud, or whatever. Once in a while they may frustrate me, and the warm feelings are not there. At all times I can say without hesitation that I love them. I choose to love them no matter what. Once the choice is made, it is my top priority, and everything else is conditioned by this primary commitment. It is a love that grows and continues to explore; it has no end. This is an imperfect example of what God's love for me is like, and a reflection of what my love for God needs to be like.

In our church's vacation Bible school event, twelve children responded to an invitation to start a relationship with Jesus yesterday. Do they fully know what this entails? Not yet. Do they feel the feelings associated with loving God in Christ? Maybe; maybe not. Do they love God? Yes. They have made a choice to know and love God, whatever that is yet to become in their lives. It's not that we feel the feelings, then we choose to love God. We choose to love God, and the feelings and everything else follow.

Next week I'll be involved in a Volunteers in Mission youth workcamp, and I'll likely not have access to the internet. I probably won't post again until Friday or Saturday. I'll see you on down the river.

A Produce Stand

In our area we have a roadside produce stand nearby our closest interstate highway. Depending on the season, it features locally grown strawberries, sweet corn, watermelon, in addition to other home grown items. The little structure isn't much more than a shack, but it doesn't matter. Those who run the stand make sure that people know how to get to it and what's available when we get there. Large signs, visible from the highway, tell us the featured item and make sure we know which exit to take, where to turn once we get off the interstate, and which access road will take us to the stand. The owners are more concerned with what the stand offers and getting people to the stand than with the stand itself. They have no trouble getting business.

As simple as this roadside produce stand is, it teaches something that many congregations of Jesus-followers have not grasped. I have travelled to many different church facilities of my denomination both in our state and beyond. I am convinced that one of the hardest locations to determine in any given community is the whereabouts of the nearest United Methodist Church building. We pour thousands of dollars into our facilities, and go head over heels in debt to keep them state of the art, then we assume people will know how to find us on their own. Too often we neither take the time and trouble to provide universally accessible direction to our locations, nor do we clearly communicate the product available once they arrive. With nothing intended or any ill will on the part of any follower of Jesus, we communicate a message that says, "We expect you to want to find us, and we expect you to do the work to get to us." Like it or not, that really says, "You really don't matter to us. If you take the time and trouble to get to us, we may or may not pay attention to you." Clearly that's not the message we want to send.

The roadside produce stand is not practicing high tech science. It's simple: the product you offer and making it easy for people to get to the product is as or more important than the place at which you offer it. Churches could take a lesson from that. I'll see you around the next bend in the river.

Persistence, Broader

I think I've been functioning with a limited view of persistence. I value persistence a great deal. Not having on overabundance of skill, creativity, or charisma, I rely on persistence to get things done in my life, my ministry, and my leadership. I realize, though, that I see persistence as something that originates in human effort. We persist in our work, in family relationships, in exercise and healthy living, and in a host of other things. Perhaps I don't spend enough time practicing persistence God-ward.

How often do we persist in prayer? I mean "big picture" prayer - inviting God's kingdom to invade and wash over us, our churches, our communities, and the world community. I don't know about you, but I'm too prone to pray once or twice for something, then to let it slide for some other focus. Luke the physician recalls a particularly peculiar parable Jesus tells of an unjust and ungodly judge who is approached repeated by a poor widow seeking some sort of justice in her life. (Luke 18:1-8.) The judge gives not one rat's hind end for the woman or her situation, nor does he care about what's right in the circumstance. Yet he gives her what she wants, because in her persistence she will not stop bothering him. Jesus quickly points out that God is about justice and about what is best and healthiest for each of us, in the value system of the kingdom of God. Shouldn't persistence in approaching God be worth it? (Luke 18:7.) Among other things, the parable invites us to persist in engaging God.

Persistence in prayer is not about wearing God down so God will finally do what we want. God already knows what is needed, and God is already at work. Persistence in prayer, over time, aligns us with God and God's movement. We begin to seek what God wants over and above what we want. How we lift our petitions to God begins to mold and shape us and our prayers God-ward. In time, we begin to see as God sees and realize that prayer is being answered the way it ought to be answered.

A group in our congregation now meets monthly to do nothing more than pray for our church's future and for our fellowship's alignment with that to which God has called us in our mission field here. A small group of pastors in our community meet weekly to seek God's direction and an outpouring of the Holy Spirit for our community. We're starting to see things happen in more ways than I can detail in this quick post.

I'm kind of dancing all around the concept of persistence in prayer. I hope this makes sense. What do you think? I'll see you around the next bend in the river.

Whose Initiative?

In his high impact book, Experiencing God, Henry Blackaby asserts that God seeks a love relationship with us that is real and personal. Again, people who would label themselves as "Christian" may not find anything unusual or noteworthy about these words. Yet this affirmation offers enormous implication. If this is true, it reverses the general approach of most religious expressions. Throughout history, human religion most often creates systems in which human beings take the initiative to please their gods. Seeking the favor, attention, blessing, or good will of a deity, human creatures offer sacrifices, pray in certain formulas, worship certain ways, behave according to certain codes, or whatever it takes to create an interaction with the god that turns out favorable toward humanity. We are the seekers, and God, the gods, whoever or whatever are the one(s) sought.

I believe those who would claim the name of Jesus and those who would lead Jesus-followers must, of necessity, embrace a different starting point. God is the seeker, and we are the ones sought. God takes the initiative and acts on it. Jesus is God taking that initiative. The very fact that any one of us turn God-ward demonstrates that God is already acting.

This changes everything. We no longer search frantically for an illusive, distant deity. We accept the radical truth that a personally involved God is already at work, and that this God's work involves reaching to us. This shifts the question from, "How do I find God?" to "What is God doing, how is God inviting me to join in, and how does God want me to respond?" If God is love, then as the answers to the latter question emerges, we will experience the love of a seeking God.

The human tendency is to keep the divine/human initiative to ourselves. It's a control thing. That's why Jesus-following keeps remaining radical, in spite of 2,000 years of human history trying to domesticate it. It assumes God has the initiative, and we must respond in radical faith, trust, and obedience.

The water and the fishing have both been good these last three days. I'll see you around the next bend in the river.

Be Like Dub

They call him "Dub." He lives at an assisted-living center in our community where my wife and I lead Sunday afternoon worship services once a month. Dub's had a tough way to go; his wife died not too long ago. Yet Dub is one of the most gracious and positive people I've ever met.

Dub does more than wear a smile on his face. His countenance is one of absolute welcomeness. When you're in Dub's presence, you know you matter. Dub makes sure that songbooks are available to anyone who comes into the lounge area of this facility when worship is happening. He's the first to leap to his feet to make sure a seat is available for anyone who happens to come late. Dub takes it upon himself to make sure everyone in the little group has a place. Some people talk about "radical hospitality." Some teach it, promote it, and struggle to practice it. Dub lives it.

Any person proclaiming Jesus appreciates audience members who smile while he/she is speaking. Dub does more than that. His face radiates a message of, "I'm with you. Give us the good news!" I'd take a church-full of "Dubs" any day!

Sometimes we worry and fret over how we should be as Jesus-followers and as congregations, in order to grow more disciples for the risen Jesus. Once a month I realize how simple it is. Just be like Dub. As a Casting Crowns songs says, just "love them like Jesus; carry them to Him..."

My wife and I are headed to the Current River tomorrow. Maybe I really will see you around the bend in the river!

What I Want for This Nation

As I type this, we're about two hours away from fireworks and the celebration of our nation's 238th year. I've been thinking today, asking myself, "How should I pray for this nation? What does God want for our country?" I think I have at least part of an answer.

There's been an old car parked on our church's parking lot for several days. Someone had car trouble, and that's as far as he got. It's a vehicle that has seen better days. One night early this week, as I headed into the church facility for a meeting, I saw two guys working on the car; a young man who was the owner, and someone he'd brought to help. Late for the meeting, I went by them at a distance in and a hurry, but I did get a look at the young man's face. Clearly he was distressed, and hoping he could move the car off our lot. He is a different ethnicity than most of the people who attend worship at our place, and he is considerably under the average income of our crowd. His car does not fit in with the bulk of those that will be parked around it on any given Sunday. His discomfort and embarrassment were evident, so I waved and smiled as I headed for the north end of the building.

The next morning when I came past the car, there was a handwritten note on one of the windshield wipers. It read something like, "I'm sorry. I'm trying to move my car off your lot as soon as possible." That kind of broke my heart. So I scribbled at the bottom of the sheet, "Don't worry about it. You're welcome here."

My prayer for this nation is that gatherings of Jesus-followers throughout this land create an environment in which people like him know they are valued, welcomed, and safe - not just in our parking lots, but in our hearts. I pray for environments in which a child of God like the car owner would not feel the discomfort and need to write such notes. I pray for a day when such presumed differences will not be noticed or tolerated. I pray for the moment that this young man knows that he is worth the life, death, resurrection, and return of the Son of God, every bit as much as the folks in the building into whose parking lot his old car limped.

That's my prayer for our country this day. What's yours? Happy 4th, and I'll see you around the next bend.

God Is Already At Work

One of the greatest truths I've ever learned is that God is always at work all around us. This might sound obvious on the surface, but a lot of us live as if we believe the exact opposite.

Think about it. We assume that if we just pray in the right way, we'll get God's attention. If I get the preacher to pray about whatever I need, then God will do something about it. If we can just get our church to do the right program, have a big revival, get involved in the right outreach, then we'll get God to pour out his blessings on us. Sometimes without even intending it, we speak and act as if we are responsible for getting God to act.

In fact, God is always already acting. Humanity came into existence because God was already working. A Savior walked out of a sealed tomb one morning because God was still working when everyone thought God had left. A hyper-organized, worrisome little Anglican priest named John Wesley led a spiritual dulled England in a massive awakening of faith in Christ because God was working even when John Wesley didn't know it. The very fact that you're reading this or any blog about the adventure of faith indicates that God is working in you.

It isn't a question of whether or not God is working. It's a question of whether or not we're joining in what God is already doing. I know these are concepts I've stressed before. I needed to hear them again whether you did or not. I'll see you around the next bend in the river.