let's be civil

I recently read an outstanding book, The Case for Civility: And Why Our Future Depends on It, by Os Guinness, the first (and only) book I've read from him. I borrowed it from the library, but I'm convinced I need to get my own copy and keep working on it.

Guinness is Irish and has lived in the States for some time now. So his view is from Europe, so that he sees more clearly than most of us here, the value and worth of America, especially because of the First Amendment.

This is a brief description of something of my understanding of the book in a nutshell. The genius of America which makes it stand apart (and if you know me, you'll know that I've spoken of myself as a European because of issues like health care, but this book has given me a needed perspective) is its insistence, now lived out after decades initially of not doing well that way, but insisting on the distinction between church and state, or in the terms of the founders, religion and the state.

The Secular Left is profoundly in error to think that Jefferson did not want religion to influence the state. What the founders did not want was a state church. What they did want was freedom for people to be completely themselves in the public square. For people and groups to bring their influence to bear, and thus have a vigorous, but civil exchange with all others.

The root of this idea is in a Judeao-Christian ethic which sees limits in what any nation can be. No theocracies, no utopias. But places where God's word has freedom to be proclaimed and lived out before others. Where people can live in faiths of any kind, or in no faith at all. As God's word tells us, we're to let the wheat and tares grow together, and live out what we are in Jesus, as the salt of the earth, and the light of the world.

This goes against the Religious Right who want a "Sacred Public Square", Christian only. And it goes against the Secular Left who want a "Naked Public Square", in other words people neutered and muted, not being able to carry into public what may be most essential to them.

Of course this requires civility both in the sense of how we conduct ourselves, as well as what we actually can do in the public square, in the realms of government and in other voluntary societies. While giving freedom for people to live out fully their beliefs, of course within certain limits (no child sacrifice as in some olden religions, etc.).

And because of this freedom, it has made America for all its many ills (and there are many, and always have been) flourish and be a bastion of freedom and hope for many all over the world. We need to see the good here, and learn to value it. But this book gets to the heart of that goodness and what might be slipping through the cracks, if we're not careful. I would add to this, for the faults of our President, Barack Obama, I do think he exemplifies well what Guinness is seeking to get at in this book. A most marvellous read, and one I'd highly recommend. My thoughts on this book, so read it for yourself to see what he is saying. See also the Willamsburg Charter which Guinness helped formulate.

What would you like to add here?

God's goodness

We need to look for ways in which we see God's goodness around us. In ways that may seem little, but in ways that add up to something really big.

Of course this is grounded in a faith which looks to God and to God's promises found in Scripture and through Jesus. As we look in that direction we learn to see life differently, with a new perspective more and more. And we also can begin to see the mountains we would speak into the sea begin to move.

I am also reminded of Romans 8:28. Because of the way this can be misapplied, we can end up ignoring it altogether, a grave mistake. We need to see how God can work for good even in the bad that we experience in life. At least be open to that possibility, because we certainly can't see much of the time the good out of the trouble or evil we may be or may have experienced.

The goodness we see from God in our lives and in the world we live in should spur us to more faith and prayers and deeds and words of love, so that we can see God's goodness carried out to finish what needs to be done. God's work in Jesus in this world through us is a work of God's goodness. We need to look at problems in that way, how God will be at work in them for good. We must not underestimate God's greatness and goodness at work in this world. Something I need to apply to many issues big and small I see most every day.

How do you look at God's goodness? What would you like to add to this?

The Lord has risen indeed!

quote of the week: N.T. Wright on the first Easter

Christians believe that on the third day after he was executed- on Sunday, the first day of the week- Jesus of Nazareth was bodily raised from the dead, leaving an empty tomb behind him. That, primarily, is why we also believe that Jesus's death was not a messy, tragic accident, but the surprising victory of God over all the forces of evil.

N.T. Wright, Simply Christian, 111.

Pascha prayer (prayer for Easter)

O God, who made this most holy night to shine with the glory of the Lord's resurrection: Stir up in your Church that Spirit of adoption which is given to us in Baptism, that we, being renewed both in body and mind, may worship you in security and truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

from Book of Common Prayer

Easter Scripture reading

Jesus Has Risen
After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told you."

So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me."

The Guards' Report
While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling them, "You are to say, 'His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.' If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble." So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.

The Great Commission
Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Matthew 28:1-20

when all hope is gone

That first Holy Saturday as Jesus' body lay in Joseph of Arimathea's tomb, hopes seemed dashed. The disciples were either hidden (except for the women disciples), out of fear, or else they were pondering with sadness over their disappointment.

At times we experience this waxing and waning of hope, how it comes and goes. Of course for us in Jesus our hope is called living, alive through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. But at times, it seems like all hope is gone. Even Jesus himself seems to have experienced that hanging on the cross, as he expressed the anguish of being seemingly forsaken by God.

I marvel again and again just how God keeps giving us hope, after we experience periods when all hope seems to be gone. Yes, we know by faith that certain things are true, but unless we enter into the experience of that, beginning in this life, it's really of little or no value to us. I think of the word, "Taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the one who takes refuge in him!" It's not enough for us to simply say the Lord is good; we need to enter into that reality and experience by faith for ourselves.

This hope goes on no matter what. It's living, and destined to complete fulfillment in Jesus. But on that first Holy Saturday Jesus' disciples seemed at a loss. They hadn't yet cast their faith aside from what we can tell. I would guess that it was dormant. They continued to gather together, even if in hiding, and mercifully, the time between Jesus' death and resurrection along with his appearances to the disciples, was short.

I am thankful for this living hope which continues on to this day. We also experience our times of doubt and struggle. But before too long God makes himself known to us through Jesus by the Spirit, and often together. And all of this is not just for ourselves, but for our mission in this world of witness to Jesus through words and deeds.

What does this look like in your life, or how might you describe it? Or whatever you would like to add here.

prayer for Holy Saturday

O God, Creator of heaven and earth: Grant that, as the crucified body of your dear Son was laid in the tomb and rested on this holy Sabbath, so may we await with him the coming of the third day, and rise with him to newness of life; who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

from Book of Common Prayer

Scripture reading for Holy Saturday

The Burial of Jesus
As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus' body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.

The Guard at the Tomb
The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. "Sir," they said, "we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, 'After three days I will rise again.' So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first."

"Take a guard," Pilate answered. "Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how." So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.

Matthew 27:57-66

prayer for Friday in Easter week (Evening Prayer)

Almighty Father, who gave your only Son to die for our sins and to rise for our justification: Give us grace so to put away the leaven of malice and wickedness, that we may always serve you in pureness of living and truth; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

from Book of Common Prayer

Good Friday reading from Scripture

The Crucifixion of Jesus
As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross. They came to a place called Golgotha (which means "the place of the skull"). There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. Above his head they placed the written charge against him: THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS.

Two rebels were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, "You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!"

In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. "He saved others," they said, "but he can't save himself! He's the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, 'I am the Son of God.' " In the same way the rebels who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.

The Death of Jesus
From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" (which means "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?").

When some of those standing there heard this, they said, "He's calling Elijah."

Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. The rest said, "Now leave him alone. Let's see if Elijah comes to save him."

And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.

At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs after Jesus' resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.

When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, "Surely he was the Son of God!"

Many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for his needs. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee's sons.

Matthew 27:32-56

prayer for Good Friday (Morning Prayer)

Almighty God, we pray you graciously to behold this your family, for whom our Lord Jesus Christ was willing to be betrayed, and given into the hands of sinners, and to suffer death upon the cross; who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

from Book of Common Prayer

correction concerning yesterday's post

On yesterday's post I made the mistake of stating that Jesus commanded his disciples to wash each other's feet, just as he had washed their's. Actually it is not a command, though it could be interpreted as having the force of a command. But not necessarily so. More like an "ought", that they should do that.

I picked that up from reading somewhere, as I recalled it, that Maundy Thursday was so named because Jesus commanded (maundy meaning command) his disciples to do this. Actually the command comes soon after, the command to love one another just as Christ had loved them.

washing each other's feet

I was raised in a Mennonite church in which we had communion only once a quarter, four times a year (from what I can remember). And every communion we also had foot washing. The ladies would go downstairs to do theirs, as they had to take off their stockings.

I still remember doing that, how it felt. Ceremonial, but thought to be in obedience to Jesus' command that his disciples should wash one another's feet, just as he had done to them.

This Maundy Thursday in which this command was given is a good reminder that we are to be servants of each other, in Jesus. We are to serve each other humbly in love.

This is something we are both to do, and what should be a way of life for us. This should become second nature. I doubt that Jesus was telling his disciples to have a special service maybe once a year, washing each other's feet just as he had done, to symbollize the importance of serving one another. Washing feet was something servants routinely did, but not "regular folk". So what Jesus did was powerful in that context and culture.

But we need to have that same spirit in helping each other in our day. In a way which demonstrates the love we have for each other, a love in which we lay down our lives if need be, and in spirit live that out daily. But something not forced, but lived out by the Spirit in our midst, something both given and received.

Do any of you have something you'd like to share on this?

prayer for Maundy Thursday

Almighty Father, whose dear Son, on the night before he suffered, instituted the Sacrament of his Body and Blood: Mercifully grant that we may receive it thankfully in remembrance of Jesus Christ our Lord, who in these holy mysteries gives us a pledge of eternal life; and who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

from Book of Common Prayer

regular rest

God made us to rest regularly. When I, for whatever reason don't get sufficient rest, it is sometimes an effort just to get through an entire day. Such was the case yesterday. I was up too late and didn't get enough sleep the night before. And the work was challenging enough. So when I got home, besides visiting with Deb, I mostly just crashed.

There are those times every day when we need our rest. But this rest as in physical sleep, surely has a correspondence to a spiritual rest as well. We need that time of special rest in God, however we may carry that out. For some, especially for evangelicals (my tradition) it means a daily "quiet time", or "devotions". I don't really do that myself, as far as having one special time each morning or evening or whenever. I choose to have it throughout the day, seeking to get in the word, and be in prayer throughout the day. Though when I finally get my own copy of a prayer book, I intend to use that daily, though how I'll work that into my routine I don't know, yet.

Both for our physical and spiritual strength, we need those special times of rest. I look forward to breaks and lunch at work. And I look forward to attempting to draw near to God in the word and in prayers.

And Deb and I look forward, hopefully in an opportunity in May, to go to a Benedictine retreat for a day, primarily of silence.

How do you look at "rest", and would you like to share any practices you do, and thoughts, which could help us?

prayer for Holy Wednesday

Lord God, whose blessed Son our Savior gave his body to be whipped and his face to be spit upon: Give us grace to accept joyfully the sufferings of the present time, confident of the glory that shall be revealed; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

from Book of Common Prayer

prayer for Holy Tuesday

O God, by the passion of your blessed Son you made an instrument of shameful death to be for us the means of life: Grant us so to glory in the cross of Christ, that we may gladly suffer shame and loss for the sake of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

from Book of Common Prayer

being misunderstood

Due to a number of factors, it is quite easy and ends up being a part of life in this world to be misunderstood. And indeed we don't always understand our own full intentions. We may think we're pure and right, when actually we are not entirely so. Though by grace, I believe as a gift we can have good motives in what we do and say.

Usually the grief we receive is not without some grounds, even if given in an uncharitable, ungracious and skewed perspective. In the end we must give all over to God. God alone really knows our hearts, and we must ask him to search us. We must be open and aware as to how both Scripturally and in comparison to Jesus we do fall short.

Grace is so important, and if we want grace to be applied to ourselves, then we need to seek to apply it to others. Sometimes I just need to "step back" and pray over a matter, and give it some time.

Do you have some insights to share with us on this? Or anything you might like to add.

community's place in Jesus

I am enjoying and being edified in reading Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus: How the Jewishness of Jesus Can Transform Your Faith, written by Ann Spangler and Lois Tverberg who both live in our area (I will review it later). I was hit yesterday by a number of things, but especially by the Jewish insistence, carried on in Jesus' day and continued to this day, that the best study of Scripture is done in group, communal settings. And how, while solitude does have its place, and an important one, community should be the normal rule of life.

Like the authors point out, it's in community that we learn to love and get the rough edges knocked off.

I'm finding this book to be quite an insightful read, and I look forward to reviewing it later. Ann and Lois do a first rate job of helping us back to Jesus' time with a view of how to better read Scripture, and better understand God's call to our lives in Jesus. Written quite clearly, and no fluff.

But back to community. I have studied in seminary, and like to read at least some scholarly (and at times, difficult) books, along with books written for the entire church. But I've noticed time and again how God has spoken to me and to us in a group setting through the words of just any of God's people over a Bible passage, or with regard to God's working in our lives. Sometimes I share, and I think I'm sharing too much. But there have been times when I was mute, or largely so, and have been blessed in so being.

I too have been a part of an individualistic culture, and there's nothing I like more in an evening than being with my wife in the living room while we both read books with some classical music playing softly in the background. This thought was a good, even if a bit jolting reminder to me that I need to be open to what God wants to say and do as I rub shoulders with others in community. We need to think of ourselves as those in community in Jesus, not as individuals in Jesus who happen to engage in community activities here and there.

What would you like to add to this?

prayer for Holy Monday

Almighty God, whose dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other that the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

from Book of Common Prayer

quote for the week: John R. W. Stott on the centrality of the cross

There is then, it is safe to say, no Christianity without the cross. If the cross is not central to our religion, ours is not the religion of Jesus.

John R. W. Stott, The Cross of Christ, 68 from Scot McKnight, A Community Called Atonement, 61

prayer for the week: Palm Sunday

Almighty and everliving God, in your tender love for the human race you sent your Son our Savior Jesus Christ to take upon him our nature, and to suffer death upon the cross, giving us the example of his great humility: Mercifully grant that we may walk in the way of his suffering, and also share in his resurrection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

from Book of Common Prayer

cast on God

At work when I can I've been meditating on Psalm 22 from which Jesus quotes on the cross in his sense of abandonment by God. It is wonderful to slowly work one's way through a passage, and specifically this passage, pondering as one goes along.

Yesterday, among other things, I seemed especially struck with this phrase: "From birth I was cast on you..." (note these two interesting renderings of this).

For the psalmist this began at birth. But it's ongoing through all of life for God's people. I believe it includes all of humanity, but we need the eyes of faith to see and believe it.

To be cast on God for us is ongoing; we never outgrow this need. I think we readily see our need of this through the inevitable troubles we face in life. Some of them are problems we're used to, and up to a point we think we can handle. Though we should learn that our every breath and action is to be done in dependence on God and interdependence on others, particulary others in God.

I think especially of those troubling times and trials which hit us. They can be personal attacks against us. Scripture is filled with examples of that; Psalm 22 is a good example. They can be fears that hit and beset us at times. Anger in reaction to perceived injustice that we know we need to keep in check and deal with, while appropriately acting on it, primarily if not solely through prayer. I'm just trying to think of examples here, in which we are reminded anew of how we need to be cast on God.

It's a blessing to be cast on God, but also a necessity in this life in following Jesus. As we learn to cast ourselves and our cares on God, then we will find God's help and consolations. But this is ongoing for us in Jesus in this life. Part of being weak in Jesus so that we can be strong by God's Spirit to live out God's will for us.

What would you like to add to this?

blessedness

In Scripture, being blessed is far beyond being happy. Happiness is a gift from God, though when people are happy it may be misplaced, and often is in this fallen world. Yet there are a good number of gifts given to humans that bring happiness that are good, and of course from God.

Blessedness carries us toward God's great and good end in Jesus and so it goes beyond happiness. Though it certainly does not exclude happiness, or the good gifts God gives to all. But it does bring its challenges and challenge, because to be blessed by God means to be in covenant with God, and to be different: in, but not of this world. It not only anticipates the world to come, but it actually is, or consists of the world to come, even in this world. So it's a blessedness not of this world, but breaking into it, in God's kingdom present in Jesus.

Of course blessedness began prior to Jesus among God's covenant people Israel, and actually to all who responded to God by grace through faith prior to that.

Blessedness! I love it, and I am afraid of it. But in Jesus along with others, I want to embrace it and live in it, and live it out, through Jesus by the Spirit in this world.

Any thoughts on this?

thinking well

In loving God with all our being (and doing) we need to keep working hard on our thinking. I like what N.T. Wright said, something to the effect, "I want to know what you are thinking, not how you are feeling."

Oftentimes in my own darkness, I've been helped into light through thinking about truth. Of course it is the truth in Jesus that sets us free, and it begins in the mind, but is to change our hearts and be worked out in all of life.

This does not deny the need for a simple childlike faith, which doesn't insist on understanding everything, but simply trusts God and his word. But we must not underestimate the importance of words and the meaning behind them, especially we who are people of the Book, though really being people of the Spirit and the word/Book.

But above all, we need to love. Love helps us know as we really need to, and to know as God intends us to. In a relational manner, and not in an abstract and therefore lifeless way.

What comes to your mind that you'd like to share from these thoughts on thinking?

an important aspect of resting

Resting certainly involves physical sleep, something I did quite a lot of, since I've been home from work, yesterday (after doing taxes, and running into difficulties in doing that, the day before!). But resting for me also involves being quiet and saying little at times, and refusing to express myself nonverbally, as well.

What I'm resting from is my own activities, be they physical, mental, even spiritual. Although this exercise of resting is rather a spiritual exercise in itself. But in so doing, I find that God is finally given room in my life to begin to get through to me, as he wants to.

I easily can take that back along the way, and fall into my own muddledness. But I can easily move back into that rest, in which I come "to myself" again in God. God again being able to break through to me. So that my words and actions can be helpful, and more "of God".

What would you like to add to this?

being open to correction

Correction is needed, and for many of us as evangelical Christians, it has been largely, strictly a personal matter between us and God. After all, correction is one reason Scripture is given, in helping us to true Christian, spiritual formation.

But we need to be open to seeing how God uses the Body of Christ, that is other believers, to help us see deficiencies in ourselves. This happened for me, this past Sunday. I was taking a different slant on a case study we were thinking through with reference to the first part of Ephesians 4. Though Deb agreed (and at least another), that I had a valid point, I came to realize that my frustration over my point really not being heard or taken into account much at all, by the teacher (at least to my ears) was an indicator that something was wrong with me. At least a yellow light went on. And I realized that the subject matter we were on, was touching an issue that had troubled me over the years, in a way that could blunt my awareness of sin in my own attitude. I know this is nebulous, but I'm not sure that if I get specific it will be that helpful to getting this point across, as I will then be opening a new subject matter altogether (maybe for another time).

I was struggling, thinking this through as we went home. I had to hurry around to get ready for going to a nursing home to do a service, rushing to get some things down, as I had finally settled on what I was going to preach on, as well as tuning my guitar and getting some hymns down. Deb's prayers surely made a wonderful difference, as the service seemed to be a truly uplifting time for everyone, and most surely for myself.

But God in his grace gave me time to reflect on what had happened that morning at our church gathering. Indeed I need to gladly embrace all that might expose anything in my heart that is not according to God's will. And in my case it was getting over past grievances, and hardness in regard to them. Not that I'm arrived in that now, but it has become open to my awareness, so that it's no longer hidden somewhere in the dark, but in the light of God's truth so that it can be dealt with.

This is just to say we need to be open to correction and change especially when we take offense to something. Maybe, just maybe we need to stop and look and listen again. And be open to the fact that God might be saying something to us, for our own benefit.

What would you like to add to this?

God's kingdom now

Saturday's post on violence is a simple reminder that whether or not we agree on Christian pacifism, we are different in this world, as the people of God following Jesus.

Jesus told Pilate that his kingdom did not come from this world, though it most certainly had invaded this world. The kingdom of God came in the person of Jesus the Messiah and King. And it remains here, not only in the words of Jesus we have from the gospels, such as in The Sermon on the Mount. Living words to be sure, that can come home to the heart and begin to be at work in our lives, by the Spirit. But this kingdom is also present and living through the Spirit in the church. Though since this is a half way kind of station and place, in which we sinners are forgiven and being healed and transformed over time, it's not like the world is going to see a picture of exactly how the kingdom of God will have transformed all things in the end. Instead what is seen is the kingdom of God at work in and through the church. That is the way it's supposed to be.

Jesus said to his followers that they are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. They most certainly had not "arrived," but grace was at work in their lives, and they were to both live out and tell others of this good news of God's salvation having come in Jesus. Of course that is a message of repentance and faith involving commitment. And being taken up by God into a new reality in Jesus by the Spirit. One that we should not underestimate, humble though it may seem.

What would you like to add to this?

quote of the week: Scot McKnight on the Golden Rule

I used to think the Golden Rule was pablum, food for a child. I also thought that when I grew up spiritually, I'd put away pablum and eat meat. The older I get, the more experience I have in the church and with Christians, and the longer I seek to follow the Jesus Creed as developed in the Sermon on the Mount, the more the Golden Rule looks like the real meat and the supposed deep things look like commentary on the Golden Rule.

Scot McKnight, 40 Days Living the Jesus Creed, 109.

prayer for the week: for grace to remain fixed on God and God's will

Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

from Book of Common Prayer

violence

I hold to a Christian pacifist position, that is that followers of Jesus are to be people who follow in the steps of Jesus who taught us to love our enemies, and when hit on one cheek to turn the other.

Jim Elliot is often touted by Christians as a great example, but it is little known that he embraced a Christian pacifist stance, and was going to file as a "conscientious objector," if a draft was put in place.

I have been well reminded lately that the power we have as Christians is neither in the ballot box nor by the sword, but by the word of God. Not to say we don't vote, or that many Christians don't take up "the sword" as police officers, or in the military, though I don't accept the latter option. But to say that we are to be people who live out and speak the word of God, the revelation of God that is in Jesus.

This is a word that speaks against the ways of this world, the way of violence, and instead is about taking the way of the cross. As Christians, regardless of where we stand in what ways Christians can participate in society, and specifically in the state, we ought to be known as people who are followers of the Way, in the sense of being known as working for peace in terms of righteousness, which can only be realized through the message of Jesus- the gospel: Jesus' redemptive work for us, in his life, death and resurrection which we will soon remember and celebrate.

How this is lived out can be misunderstood. Some think it means we have to let ourselves be rugs for others to walk on. But that is a misreading of Scripture, and misunderstanding of what Jesus brought and continues to bring through the Spirit in the church. We must be bold, but with a boldness that is of God's Spirit, not of the flesh; not of this world, but of the kingdom of God come in Jesus.

Just a few thoughts on this. A subject I've blogged about before, but has been in my mind some lately. What would you like to add to this? What objections might you raise to what I'm saying here?

being happy

Recently Scot McKnight at Jesus Creed had an interesting post on happiness, and a kind of happiness index on which the Netherlands came out near the top, having one of the most happy people, supposedly, in the world. And that nation just happens to be one of the least religious. The post and comments are good.

Of course while the world might get quite a few things right about what it means to be happy, other matters are not taken into account. And the Christian belief does not at all mean that nonChristians will live unhappy lives. God's blessings are poured out on the righteous and the unrighteous alike, and in common grace, God fills people's lives with good things, and hearts with joy. The goodness of God is meant to bring people to repentance.

Add to that, the Christian message is about a cross and following the One who was nailed to the cross. We're called to the same existence in this life. It's to be a life of joy in the Spirit, a blessed life in communion with God and others in Jesus. But not a life assured of safety from troubles, even famine, destitution, persecution and death. The promise is of a blessed life in God's love through Jesus.

We live in the midst of good news, a news we're to live out and share with others. But people must have a sense that this good news is about something they need, and this is where trouble comes since people can be offended. And there is the devil who is at war against God's people.

Most every day I experience happiness of one sort or another. But I can also experience a darkness manifest in different ways, and I can realize that I am to live out a life of faith in that darkness. That part is neither easy, nor happy, but I find time and time again, as I continue on in faith, I find God's blessedness going through it, and even by it.

I just noticed in finding Scot's post linked above, that it was not just about being happy, but being moral. Of course that's a part of God's image still on humanity, and from which in part God makes the appeal to us on how we should live as humans created in God's image, and to help us see how we do need a Savior. But we can leave that part for perhaps another time.

What thoughts would you like to share on this?

head scratchers

When listenting this morning to the account about the 200 men who were too exhausted to pursue the rescue of their own wives and children, along with the other 400 men and David, I have to admit (and maybe this is the first time after going over this passage many times before), it was a bit of a head scratcher for me. I'd have to be practically dead to not be on my way, especially after the Lord had promised David that they would overtake the raiding party and rescue their loved ones.

Sometimes the critics of Scripture (and there are growing militants of that in Western society today) will call attention to passages like this one, in their disdain for Scripture and faith in God. But on the other hand, in Scripture, there is a refreshing realism in the stories, David's included, which as in Abraham Lincoln's portrait, includes "warts and all," just as Lincoln insisted.

I have experienced depression, and knowing how distraught the men were, how they were weeping and even suggesting treason by stoning David to death- I can understand why they might want to catch a cat nap, but why the others would refuse to wait, even for a half an hour. Of course I'm using my imagination here, and the text doesn't fill in the details, but we do need to see these as real life stories (not using "story" here as in the sense of myth, but in the sense of a special telling of events which happened).

The Lord gave special faith to David, and through him to many of the other men, I take it, during this crisis. And I would think the grace of humility to those who found themselves unbelievably exhausted. I could see myself in this portrait in more than one place. Maybe looking down on my brothers who didn't do whatever necessary to keep themselves going, and shaking my head literally over that. Or on the other hand, seeing myself as so completely exhausted, so completely spent over the deep depression, maybe even flagging in my faith, though one would think there was a renewed hope through the Lord's word given to David- I could see myself with others asking for a brief rest, maybe suggesting we'd be better off if we did.

I like what David did in insisting that the men who went and those left behind would share equally in the plunder, David making that a statute for Israel. Grace is needed all around. It's an attitude of needing each other, and not judging another, while exercising discernment, which I believe David did well at that point.

Good to think through, and especially to see ourselves in Scripture. And in all of that, to see our God and his ongoing Story at work in our lives and in this world through Jesus.

What would you like to add to these thoughts?

no condemnation

We are told that for us in Christ Jesus, there is no condemnation. This is because Jesus took our just condemnation on himself when he died on the cross for our sins. So that we can go away, free from guilt by the forgiveness of our sins, and free to live a new life in Jesus by the Spirit. It's interesting how this passage ties the new life we're to live out by the Spirit along with Christ's death for us. Yes, in Jesus we're no longer condemned, but we're to live out that life of no condemnation.

Over my life, even as a Christian, I've experienced many days in which I've felt condemnation. I've learned not to accept that so that those days have become less and less. I do have days in which the Lord is dealing with me in loving discipline. There is a big difference. We in Jesus must reject all condemnation, even if there is truth in the accusations to our hearts. Instead we must learn to rest in God, and seek the justification through Christ, which brings us peace no matter what.

I am glad God deals with me as one of God's children. So I don't accept the feeling of condemnation, even when I can't shake it. I simply seek to rest in God, and in the truth I find in God through faith in Jesus. The Spirit brings conviction to us, but not condemnation. A conviction over sin which helps us one step at a time deal with it in accepting God's forgiveness, making a clean break of it, while making appropriate restitution. Or, as in many times in my life, calling Satan's bluff, and standing on the truth that my sin is forgiven.

One other thing: Condemnation is on us and usually is hazy, whereas God's conviction on us is over our sin and is specific. And condemnation results in or would push us toward death, while conviction helps us find forgiveness and life in Jesus.

What thoughts on this would you like to add here?

excuse making

Related to the post on repentance, yesterday, I think we humans, and in particular we Christians can be very good, and creative at making excuses for either not doing what we should do, or doing what we shouldn't do.

Yesterday I was quite tired at work, and part of the time for me, the work was hectic. Even when not, I really felt out of sorts, being as tired as I was from having finished a project the night before, too long into the wee morning hours.

Then I remembered how Paul mentioned his sleepless nights. I remembered too how I don't believe in coddling myself or indulging in self-pity. As I worked through that the Lord seemed to help me, and I began to pray for others. And the Lord seemed to give me peace and a conscious sense of his help much of the rest of the day.

I got home, had a nice visit with Deb, ate while we watched the news, was reading a book before enough was enough, and I was sound asleep for a few hours. I know we have to have a balance in taking care of ourselves, and how not getting enough sleep can make us more susceptible to feeling bad. As humans we must have sufficient sleep.

Just the same, I think we're good at making excuses for sin. Sometimes bad theology or unsound and at least questionable interpretation of Scripture helps us excuse ourselves, as well.

The call here is simply to remind us that while we can't follow Christ on our own, and are in need of grace at every turn and in every moment, we need to learn to cast excuse making aside. We need to recognize it for what it is, a lack of faith in God and in God's word in Jesus.

Maybe this thought can help me uncover other areas of my life which need addressed. Of course we need our Guide, the Spirit. We can't do it ourselves. And we need to do so as those humbly in community with God's people. With the goal toward mission and fulfilling of our calling through Jesus our Lord.

What would you like to add to this?

repentance that matters

According to Byard "repentance is a vanishing concept today, even in the church." We have mentioned something of this before, but what stood out to me yesterday, as we worked through some news paper articles for discussion on this is the truth that "the person repenting must have a firm purpose and a definitely expressed resolution immediately to break with this specific sin ('I have hated my iniquity')."

Byard talked at some length of how we can have deep emotions and sorrow over our sin, yet fall short of true, biblical repentance. And words spoken, or not spoken do matter. We looked at cases where the person made excuses, shifting the blame on someone else for the wrong they had done. Another expressed concern over the way their open sin was handled, while church leaders called on others not to judge.

So we're reminded that when we do sin against another we need to take full responsibility without excuses. And we need to express a resolve to not do the sin any longer, and to change. Of course grace is needed, but it's offered to all from God through Jesus Christ. And the church is called to hold sinners accountable for their sins.

This kind of teaching is needed. And as we hear it, it helps promote godliness in us all. While we examine our own lives and seek to prayerfully call those who have fallen into sin, to true repentance.

What would you like to share on this?

quote of the week: Bonhoeffer on intercessory prayer

There is no dislike, no personal tension, no estrangement that cannot be overcome by intercession as far as our side of it is concerned. Intercessory prayer is the purifying bath into which the individual and the fellowship must enter every day. The struggle we undergo with our brother in intercession may be a hard one, but that struggle has the promise that it will gain its goal.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together, 86.

prayer for the week: for the Bread of life

Gracious Father, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ came down from heaven to be the true bread which gives life to the world: Evermore give us this bread, that he may live in us, and we in him; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

from Book of Common Prayer

communion

Something I long for, but seem to too rarely experience is communion with other people. I would define communion as being in fellowship with others on a level that touches the deepest and most significant part of who we are.

On some important human levels we can have communion potentially with any other human being. And that's important, and not something we should despise. We are all made in God's image, even though broken or cracked through sin. We have much in common with others.

But what I'm thinking of today is the communion we're to have among those of us who are "in Christ": in union with God through Christ by the Spirit. Having a common purpose as Christ's Body in this world.

I do enjoy the communion I have daily with my wife, Deb. We share as those who are one flesh. So we can share with each other what is in our hearts and thoughts, and just be together in loving companionship and communion. Learning to see and let our differences complement rather than divide each other. And blessed in that we are also one in Christ.

I also enjoy the communion I find weekly at our church gathering. All kinds of people gather, with all kinds of differences. Some of those differences that can be, and in this world are divisive by nature. Yet we are one and in communion because of Christ. The Spirit in love brings us together, and we find the basis of our fellowship to outweigh any and all such differences.

Communion with God through Christ by the Spirit is what I long for more of. And this includes communion with God's people. We remember this monthly, and for those who want to, weekly at our church gathering, as we gather around bread and "wine", in remembering and proclaiming the Lord's death by our participation together, of this "meal." This ends up being not only a personal matter between ourselves and God, but a matter between each other. Indeed this practice is called "communion" for good reason. As we recognize and acknowledge the Body of our Lord in both the elements used, and in our union together in Christ by the Spirit.

We were made to live in communion with God and with each other. Nothing less will satisfy us. And by the Spirit through Jesus we need to learn more and more about our life together in God. Being taken up into the love life communion of the Trinity, as participants by grace in that.

What other words might you like to share on communion? Or whatever else you might like to say here.

banned

In Scripture we read in Joshua of certain things devoted to destruction. They were under God's judgment and sentence. Yet Achan sinned in regard to those things, taking some of them for himself.

I wonder what we take that is banned from us. Things that are under God's judgment. Of course there's a whole host of obvious things. And this gets into the area of addictions.

But what can end up being just as draining on us are more subtle areas, yet also addictive. This is where we need the direction of God, the guidance of the Spirit, in accordance with the word- in Jesus. We need by grace to set our hearts on truly following God through Christ.

While to say no to some things is obvious, other areas are harder to negotiate. God knows our hearts and we do well to keep asking God to search us to uncover anything wrong in us, and lead us in the way everlasting. To be led in that way is important in helping us avoid what is banned from us.

What would you like to add to this?

when afraid

The fear factor is a plague which can hit us in any number of ways in this life and world. It is a major tactic of choice by the enemy. One that can come on me in a moment seemingly out of nowhere. FDR for good reason said that we have nothing to fear, but fear itself. Though of course that was only true in context of what FDR was talking about. By itself it's really not true.

But for good reason there is no command more frequent in Scripture than the command, "Be not afraid." Over and over again we need those words to our hearts and minds. That is why we need to keep going over and over, time and again all of Scripture. It's all there for a reason, even if we can't figure out why, for everything we find there. But it's a story, the Story of God. A story that is ongoing and for us to keep living out now, in Jesus.

What do you do when you're afraid? Of course we should pray. We should turn to God anew and afresh. Reading God's word, and committing ourselves to follow God through Jesus by the Spirit and in community with others who so follow, all this in mission to the world.

One thing I do besides is get busy. For me that can mean any kind of work. But especially reading. I set myself to read and learn, or just breathe in a part of life from a writer. Though most of what I read is theological and exegetical, apart from a special interest I might have in something. This seems to help me. Though I would emphasize what helps me the most is to read God's word in a prayerful, pondering way (or keep listening to it, as I do also daily).

Talk over your fears with your spouse, significant other, or a good friend. That too can help, as they listen, maybe share some thoughts they might have, and pray for you. I again appreciate my wife in this regard.

We need God's help to get a better perspective, and above all, faith. Faith of course involves a better perspective which can enable us to rise above our fears. But I have often found I can't wait for such faith, or an escape from my fear. I just have to move on in faith, in spite of the fact that I am afraid, or feel lost. That is a major way I overcome my fears.

What would you like to share on this which might be helpful for us? Or anything?

life is more than work

My father taught me to work, but not to love it. I never did like to work, and I don't deny it. I'd rather read, tell stories, crack jokes, talk, laugh - anything but work.

Abraham Lincoln (from Al Gini, The Importance of Being Lazy, 15 quoted by Scot McKnight, 40 Days Living the Jesus Creed, 101-102).

While in Ecclesiastes we're told that God can give us enjoyment in our work, and in all of life, received as a gift from God's hand, nevertheless, I think these are words we need to hear, particulary in busy, businesslike American society.

As Scot McKnight says in the book mentioned above, we're not to be centered in our work. Our lives are not to revolve around it. Not that we're not to work hard, and sometimes have to do so for long periods of time.

Our work should be one expression of our endeavor to be centered on "God and God's ways" (McKnight, 104). And we need, somehow by grace, to find pleasure in our work. Not that that is always possible. But by God's grace and gift we can find such pleasure. As we endeavor to do it as an expression of love for God and for others.

And one of the blessings of work is the rest and relaxation which follows. Add to this that we should do what we enjoy doing. And this should include loving God with all our strength. Because toilsome labor in and of itself is not normally desirable. We need to keep who and what we are to be centered on, in Jesus, in view.

What would you like to add to these thoughts?

the faith of St. Patrick

Speaking of evangelists, today is St. Patrick's Day, of course, and Patrick was an evangelist. In fact he engaged in the kind of evangelism which took most seriously all of life, not only one's soul and God (though it certainly did include that). Patrick evangelized Ireland late in life for a number of years. We have St. Patrick's Breastplate from this Christian tradition (click "About Patrick of Ireland" here). This is a wonderful book on Patrick's evangelizing and how it can help us evangelize today.

I love what I understand of Celtic Christianity which flourished for some centuries after Patrick. It sees all of life as a gift from God. And it's essentially God-centered, centered in the Trinity. Patrick used a shamrock to explain the teaching of God as Trinity. Yesterday I was listening to John Michael Talbot's album, The God of Life, its words from that tradition. Wonderful.

So today I do have some green on. I thank God for the faith of Patrick of Ireland.

What would you like to add to this?

prayer support

I remember a flaming evangelist of a Mennonite denomination who preached at our church when I was a young man some years ago. He stated that he wanted to go to New Mexico to share the gospel with Indians there. But that he did not, because he did not believe he'd have the prayer support he needed. I found that interesting, and one of those words I won't forget.

I have a wife in Deb who regularly gets on her knees beside our bed and prays for me when I have something to do or get done ministry-wise. I find this makes all the difference in the world. It's like the story of the woodpecker, pecking away on the pole. Lightening strikes the pole and it is broken, and the woodpecker takes a bow (something like that). God answers prayer and all we can do is recognize that, and thank him.

I have often gone off to ministry feeling anything but wanting to do what I needed to do, though I've learned long ago not to be moved by my feelings or lack of them. And I've seen what a difference Deb's faithfulness in praying for me has meant. Of course it works the other way as well. I need to be lifting her up in prayers, for God's blessing on and through her.

In the church we are to be praying for each other, and for God's servants in ministry. This is no less than a spiritual effort, but we often want to fight a spiritual battle with "sticks and stones." But ongoing prayer in the Spirit is what's needed.

I'm thankful to God for my wife, for her example, and for her practice. And together hopefully we'll grow in praying. And see God move mountains to impact the lives of others for profound good, by the Spirit through Jesus who himself faithfully intercedes in prayer for us.

What would you like to share on this?

quote for the week: Thomas Merton on prayer

We do not want to be beginners [at prayer]. But let us be convinced of the fact that we will never be anything but beginners, all our life!

Thomas Merton, Contemplative Prayer, 37 from Philip Yancey, Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference? 267

prayer for the week: for protection

Almighty God, you know that we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves: Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

from Book of Common Prayer

your mind matters

John R.W. Stott, one of my favorite authors from years past once wrote a small, helpful book entitled, Your Mind Matters. I think that thinking Christianity is one of the biggest needs and challenges for our day.

The gospel is the power of God for salvation to all who believe. No one needs a degree to hear, accept and share it with others. In fact God chooses those of low esteem in the world's eyes, both in becoming followers of God through Christ, and helping others to come to do so themselves.

But just as this post indicates, Scripture mirrors life in complexity. We don't do well not to work at learning to think well, and in dialogue with others. Indeed Jesus calls us to love God not just with all of our hearts, soul and strength, but likewise with all our minds.

Back to a balance, I don't think we're just minds. We're whole people, and life is more than just figuring out what we need to do. Revelation is not just in terms of mind, but it involves experience and relationships. So this post is not a call for everyone to sit in a chair and read much of the time. Though some of us will do that (or try to). We're all gifted differently.

But this is a post to call us back to loving God with our minds. Learning to think well in reference to God's kingdom revealed and present in Jesus by the Spirit in the community of the church. And the new reality in Jesus that is touching earth in transformative ways now, eventually to make all things new.

Again another meandering post. But just some food for thought. As we seek to live out of a deepened communion with God as members of Christ in this world.

What thought would you like to add here?

a taste of heaven

I find it wonderful when in conversation with someone as with my mother yesterday on her birthday, there is in the air something like a taste of heaven. This happens among us in Jesus when we enjoy each other's company, and especially so when we're together to meet before the Lord. Of course by grace and through the Spirit we're always living in God's presence.

Sadly in this life we can experience a taste of hell, as well. I think of sins of the tongue here. Of course both the good and the bad begin in the heart. We think unworthy thoughts of others, maybe with some truth in them though surely distorted. And sooner or later if we don't deal with such thoughts through repentance and prayer, we find ourselves acting and speaking from them.

The grace found in Jesus is what can make the difference here. It is a grace which by faith realizes that in Christ our own sins have been forgiven, and God therefore deals with us in love as God's dear children. And so we are to see others in Jesus in the same way, as those of our family in Jesus. And look at those outside of Jesus as ones for whom Christ died. And who are invited through Christ to join us.

What would you like to say about this?

caught up in

What are we caught up in?

There's just a multitude of things we can be caught up in, taken up with, living for. I am not referring to what we might call subsets of what is most important, such as caring for our families, or doing our job well. But what drives us, what motivates us in life.

Again, it's the Jesus Creed which should motivate our lives, by grace, in Jesus through the Spirit. Loving God and loving others as ourselves.

May God bring us back to this again and again each day, day after day, as long as we have breath in this life. That we might be caught up together in God's will for us in Jesus in God's working and mission in this world.

What would you like to add to these words?

change takes time

I was recently reminded of a maxim good for us to remember in the Chrisitian life: Change takes time.

When one comes to Christ in conversion, often they want to radically follow the Lord in everything, for indeed all things are brand new to them. That is good, and we should want to so follow.

But sooner or later the testings begin to come. After a time God may seem distant, or not present, certainly not as in the early days of salvation. And following the Lord seems more difficult.

Actually part of what is happening is that one is coming to a fuller realization of what following the Lord means, and who they are, their deficiencies. And that all is not well with the world. There's an actual battle we're in.

Change takes time. For me that is good when it seems like I have a day in which I seem to be going backward in my heart and walk in God. A day like yesterday. What is needed is grace. Grace to know that God is still God, that the true stable growth and change comes over time. It is incremental, certainly with growing pains, but also with needed pruning as in humbling. A deepening in our hearts in relation to God, to others, to ourselves, and to God's place for us.

What would you like to add to these words on change?

commitment

Related to the recent posts on repentance is the importance of commitment. During Lent these are good things to be considering and pondering in an inventory of our lives before God. 

True commitment has a power from God if it is truly a commitment to God. Related to this is the Biblical truth of covenant. Covenant in Scripture starts with God, but it needs to be reciprocated. In other words, returned to God. Of course this is all of grace, a gift from God, something we wouldn't do on our own. But since God takes the intiative in grace, I take it that we can respond in faith. Of course there is mystery in this. 

But to get back to the point I want to make, commitment if made sincerely to God has a power in God. This is a commitment that like repentance is of little if any value at all, if after it is made it is not lived out. One has to seek to live it out by grace day after day.

Within a commitment is an entrusting of oneself to God through Christ by the Spirit. This is intensely personal, but must be lived out in community. God gives us community in Jesus in order to help us live this out. This is where that commitment is tested (beginning at home, by the way) and in a true sense maintained, through ongoing confession of sin, and accountability, as well as sharing our faith in each of our unique, gifted ways, to each other. 

Of course commitment looks beyond one's own benefit, to following Christ in mission in this world. Loving God and loving our neighbor as ourselves is at the heart of all of this.

This was at the forefront of my thinking and praying yesterday. Life goes on for all of us. We need to ask ourselves about our commitment to God. Is is just one to get us through this life into the next? Or is it truly a commitment by grace everyday to really seek to follow Christ in everything? To do so in community and for mission to the world?

What would you like to say here?

repentance, continued

By request, Byard continued on repentance, and there was much discussion.

What stood out for me is how true repentance must have a God-ward focus. In other words one is not repenting because they're sorry about some loss they've received through their actions. But only because it offended God. That indicates, as Byard pointed out, a love for God.

Byard also noted how today in our society there is no agreed standard by which people can be held accoutable. Repentance among most any given group of people in our society therefore makes little or no sense. Everyone is doing what is right in their own eyes.

Part of the solution is for people to somehow get a vision of God. But that must begin with God's people. We can only understand God's law and the grace extended to us in Christ when we catch a glimpse of God, receiving a sense of God's holiness, sovereignty, goodness and love. We need to look to the "face" of Christ. In that face we see in contrast our sin, but we also see our salvation, God's love and forgiveness in Jesus.

That is why a true, healthy repentance- little by little (piece by piece, not dumped on one we've sinned against all at once) at the right times in God's timing does not shrink back from telling all: a frank, full confession. Only in that is there true and full salvation.

As I look at the handout we receive yesterday, I note that there may be more wisdom on this yet to come (the previous paragraph, one example). Our series on Ephesians continues to be interrupted, but considering repentance in depth anytime is a good thing, and is particularly fitting during Lent. 

Anyone have a thought to add, or wonder about anything here?

quote of the week: Scot McKnight on The Jesus Creed

The Jesus Creed exhorts us to see that the most important commandments in the entire Bible are two: to love God and to love others. All the other commandments and prohibitions - and there are 611 others - derive from one of these two most important commandments.

Scot McKnight, 40 Days Living the Jesus Creed, 1.

prayer for the week: Second Sunday in Lent - for grace to all who have gone astray

O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy: Be gracious to all who have gone astray from your ways, and bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of your Word, Jesus Christ your Son; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

from Book of Common Prayer

slowing down

I find myself overly busy now with a project I need to get done, and other things I want to do. Too many things, too little time! Add to that, we lose an hour this weekend, for Daylight Saving Time.

Unlike some who are gifted and can go through a book in no time with good comprehension, I do best taking my time. Sifting, thinking, pondering, continuing to read. Some of us are wired to keep asking questions and search. Though I think on a certain level this is part of the dynamic God wants for all of his children in this life. And surely in a manner having both continuity and discontinuity in the next as well.

I think we do well to slow down in what we do. I remember one of my favorite people I've had the privilege to meet and get to know a little: Dr. Ted Rendall. He was the Pastor of Prairie Tabernacle and President of Prairie Bible Institute in Alberta, Canada when I attended there.

One time I visited him in his office. He told me he was a few months behind in work that needed to be done, yet he wasn't rushed at all while talking to me. He listened well, and talked with deliberation, just the opposite of being in a hurry. And our time was most helpful for me.

I imagine Dr. Rendall was behind in large part because he was so gifted and was an example of following Christ, to all. But Dr. Rendall had within him a sense of not being in a hurry, of doing what he had to do well, to God's glory.

I never remember one class or sermon which was not stimulating and interesting, and all he did seemed to have the blessing of God on it. I remember him for a number of things (like humility, speaking the truth in love, and "life"). And one of them was that he never came across as being in a hurry.

I find this in Jesus as well. He seemed to be on God's time, not on people's. Of course living in this world requires living on the same cycles as the rest of humankind. But how we live them is what's important.

Does this mean I should never be in a hurry? I have to be sometimes at work. But I'm learning to slow down and seek in that to be in time more with God. Something I know so little about, but I think related to the moving of the Spirit and God's leading in our lives. As well as walking by the Spirit.

Does anyone want to add to these ponderings?

a helpful quadrilateral

I find what is called the "Wesleyan Quadrilateral" helpful in approaching Scripture and life. The quadrilateral consists of Scripture, tradition, reason and experience. John Wesley while well grounded in Scripture and in Reformed doctrine from his Anglican heritage moved beyond that in his time, anticipating what was to come in reference to a relational turn in theology and philosophy. And Wesley like Luther (I read)  emphasized the unity of the Spirit and the word/Scripture so that in God's work the two are never apart.

But to the quadrilateral. Scripture trumps all. But we never come to Scripture apart from tradition, reason and experience. Scripture stands in judgment of the others, but God also redeems them.  In this life we can't count on the latter three to be foolproof, but all three are an intrinsic part of our existence and humanity. So God is at work in all three. 

For example, tradition is important because in the church we find viable expressions of the faith, creatively different, yet bound together in what we affirm from Scripture. For me tradition is tied and related to the church and the work of God's Spirit in it. God gave us reason as a gift. Reason is submissive to revelation (general- nature/creation, and special- Scripture, Jesus), yet it is to be active, not passive. God gives us words (from Scripture) to reason through, and even calls us to reason together with him. Experience is where we live, and Scripture is given to us to help us learn how to live. The truth of Scripture and of God does us know good unless we taste of it! That again speaks of experience.

So Scripture, tradition, reason and experience I find helpful in seeking to approach and navigate life.

What do you think on this?

tough love

Tough love holds people accountable. Too often I think we Christians sweep sins under the rug that we really ought to confront in love. It's true that "love covers over a multitude of sins." I think there are surely plenty of times when we need to look past sins of others. But there is a time to lovingly confront a brother or sister who is sinning.

We do each other no favor by simply ignoring sins. I do not grow if I'm not called on the carpet for sin, neither does my fellow Christian grow if I don't seek to help them see their fault and need for change.

This is exceedingly hard. And it's better to remain silent and pray, than to come on in a harsh manner. Better to empathize and ask questions than ramrod "the truth" down the sinner's throat. 

But at the same time unless the error of one's ways is not brought to light, there can be no hope of repentance unto life. I think of one sin prevalent among so many of us: the sin of the tongue. We grumble against each other, we talk about so and so, etc. I learned to hate such sins early on, since I saw firsthand the damage they did to others. Though I can fall into the same sin as I take apart those who are so sinning.

Unless we're willing to confess as well as be corrected in the Body of Christ, we really are not living out the community in Jesus that we in Jesus are. Tough love means we are willing to be held accountable, and willing to hold others accountable- before God and before each other.

Much more to say on this. Would you like to add something?

misled by feelings

Emotions are a gift from God not to be despised. In fact I've heard that laughter can be quite therapeutic for us, releasing endorphins, which can bring a sense over us of general well being, and actually are for our well being.

The other side is just as real too. In fact gloom can put us into a darkness in which it is not easy to think straight, or well. Not that we can't, but it makes it hard or harder to do so.

It is good to experience the full gamut of emotions. Jesus wept, the Spirit grieves, there is the joy of the Lord, etc. Some seem especially prone to a darkness in which all hope is gone, despair sets in, and life is lived in a kind of survival mode mentality.

Yesterday I realized that there was no good reason I was aware of that I should be back in gloom. If I live by the truth in Jesus and see life from that perspective, what mattered before which was bringing me down, does not matter anymore. The truth in Jesus trumps all of that. 

Of course we do need to pay attention to our feelings, because they can be symptomatic of something that needs taken care of in our life (perhaps even lack of sleep). But I don't want to be hung up on how I feel, and be living by that. Or be hung up in looking at myself trying to figure out what is wrong. Instead we need to get a glimpse of God in Jesus, and like Isaiah of old, then we will get a true, healthy, helpful view of ourselves that will, like him, put us on our feet, ready to do God's will.

What would you like to share on this?

joy

In seeing our granddaughter Morgan crawling and standing as she held on to something, swinging her arms with her smiles, and expressing herself with words that are not yet intelligible to us, I was hit with pure joy.

If you know me, you know I've struggled some in my life with depression. Again the numbness of depression had descended on me in recent days. But seeing Morgan lifted my spirits and banished my depression so that the numbness was gone. And later hearing how God has helped my sister, Maxine, was a blessing as well.

Joy is built into life, if we have the eyes to see it. Yes, we live in a fallen world, impacted to its core by sin. But we know by faith that Jesus won and wins the day. And that victory of God begins even now, in this life. So that we can go beyond the joy in creation to where it points: the joy of the new creation in Jesus which will last forever.

Of course we're back to this life. A life filled with problems, difficulties, trials and sometimes tragedies. But even here, besides the common joy we share from our Creator, we can begin to experience the joy we find in the abundant life given in Jesus. A joy which is beyond circumstances, which like Paul said can accompany even sorrow. A joy unruffled in the depths of our being. Only because it is something beyond us, secure in Jesus. A joy from God which gives us strength for our days.

Much more to say on joy. Part of the fruit of the Spirit and part of the kingdom of God reality and experience. 

What would you like to add on this from your own life or thoughts?

more on repentance

Byard taught and reminded us well, yesterday, concerning repentance as he and Shalini his wife, gave us some helpful teaching related to Lent. Byard mentioned that the elements of true repentance are contritition (sorrow over our sin), confession and remuneration- can't recall the word he used here (making it right where we can, as Zaccheus did).

What I especially liked was the simple teaching that repentance is essentially a 180 degree turn of going from one direction in sin, to the opposite direction toward God. And that through Jesus Christ. A true message of repentance always leaves one with good news, the gospel. And never with a sense of condemnation. The good news being that Jesus became one of us in the Incarnation- God became human, lived the life we are to live before God but cannot, and died for us to take our place for our sins. And that he rose, and that by faith we die and rise with him, to a new life, which begins now, and someday is completed at the resurrection.

I wonder what our experiences of hearing repentance preached have been like. Have they left us with a deep sense of guilt and condemnation, with no answers? I remember when I was ten years of age, I went down to the men's restroom at our "church" and cried out in a loud voice to God over my sins. I found out later that others could hear me, even though they were upstairs and behind closed doors.

But did that acknowledgment by me do any good? Not at all. Because there was no gospel, no good news in it. I needed to understand that my salvation was not in my confession or repentance, but in Christ. Through Jesus I could then truly repent and begin a new life. But that was not to come until some seven years later.

What about you? Would any of you like to share from your own lives on this, or any thoughts?

quote of the week: Scot McKnight on facing the face of God

The Jesus Creed...flows from the face of God's gracious love. We learn to live the Jesus Creed when we begin to face God. Sometimes, like Adam and Eve, we hide our faces from God, hoping God might not find us as God strolls through the garden. We hide from God for all kinds of reasons: Perhaps we did not learn to love well from our parents or family, or perhaps we have experienced or are still in a deeply wounding relationship, or perhaps we are tired and weary from seeking intimacy. Such experiences can turn our face from God. But, facing God heals us and empowers us to become lovers of God and lovers of others.

from Scot McKnight, 40 Days Living the Jesus Creed, 24. Passages added in links from chapter and book.

prayer for the week: First Sunday in Lent - help against temptations

Almighty God, whose blessed Son was led by the Spirit to be tempted by Satan; Come quickly to help us who are assaulted by many temptations; and, as you know the weaknesses of each of us, let each one find you mighty to save; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

from Book of Common Prayer