DON'T MAKE ME STOP MY SONG

I remember going to visit a friend of mine at Franklin Marshall College back in the 1970s.  They were having their annual Spring Festival with lots of activities and a keg on every corner.  Janis Ian was their star performer and she was to give an outside concert on the lawn in the early evening.  A loud crowd gathered with eats and drinks in hand and waiting to be entertained.  She began playing and singing which added great background music to a lot of chatter and noise of the crowd.  After she had sung a song or two she stopped and spoke clearly into the mike at full volume, “If you don’t shut the

F….up, I’m going to pack up and leave.”  Suddenly there was a hush over the crowd; you could have heard a pin drop.  She said, “Thank you.  I have some pretty good stuff here and I want you to listen.”  She proceeded and put on an awesome concert.  Needless to say, I was impressed enough to remember it over forty years later.

These days the crowds of God’s people are loud and noisy.  Discussions revolve around what is happening to religion, where did it go wrong, and what should we do about it.  It seems like God is in the background trying to have His say but we’re just going on and on trying to do what we feel we should be doing. I wonder if God, at some point in time, will stop His song and say the same thing that Janis said; only without the F word.

He did it once, with a smaller crowd; three guys on the top of a mountain.  They saw a miraculous transfiguration and Peter started running around talking, even though he didn’t know what he was saying, making plans for setting up tents and chairs.  God stopped him and clearly said, “This is my Son, listen to him.”  And they did.  But now days there is a lot more people making plans and a lot more chatter; He may have to stop His Song and yell into the mike to get our attention; “I have some pretty good stuff here and I want you to listen.”   

There Was Always Something About You That I Liked

There was always something about you that I liked

I didn’t follow you or get to know you

But I was aware of you

And there was always something about you that I liked

Maybe it was because I liked the things you helped make

I felt at home while playing on the rocky cliffs overlooking the ocean

I felt at home while diving in and out of the waves, and digging in the sand

I felt at home while walking in the woods and climbing trees

I’ve always felt like someone on the outside looking in

I don’t do well with the proud, or those who apparently have it all together

I’d rather sit on the curb with the kid no one at school likes

I’d rather be in the company of those who are misfits in this world

There was always something about you that I liked

Now that I follow you and have gotten to know and love you

I am more aware of your Presence in the places I feel at home

I am more aware of your Presence with the people I enjoy being with

I guess that is why there was always something about you that I liked

SIMPLE FAITH

God will come to those who simply and faithfully wait for Him; a young virgin, a carpenter, a priest and his barren wife, shepherds, kings from the East, and old, and a widow; they were waiting and watching for the Promise of God given so long ago.  Their eyes, ears, minds, and hearts were clear and focused.  To them God came and they simply knew it was Him.

It amazes me how simple and how faithful these people were.  They didn’t have the benefit of having the whole story, beginning to end, written out so they knew how it all ended.  They only had the promises of their traditions and the words of the prophets to hold onto.  Those who were responsible for passing down and overseeing that tradition would later be found faulty and eventually dismissed by Jesus, but even in lieu of that the Promises of God were transmitted and faithfully accepted by these simple people.  If that wasn’t true would Mary and Joseph have been so quick to submit to the angel’s words?  There were no questions to the authority of what was spoken; no process of days of discernment. There was only simple obedience and sincere faith and trust that nothing is impossible with God.

Simple faith that makes no demands

But simply obeys what God commands

Pure faith that simply obeys

Because heart and mind upon God stays

I long for that peace of soul and mind

That puts all doubts and concerns behind

To simply say yes to whatever God wills

And rest in a life that only God fills.

STOP, LOOK, LISTEN, AND WAIT

It seems to me that God’s original plan for instructing human beings in the matters of life was to have us know all things through knowledge of Him, by living in His Presence.  He laid out the lay of the land, said what was to be done and not done, and then simply enjoyed cohabitating with His creation.  It seems clear to me that God’s original plan for instructing human beings in the matters of life will be restored and lived out in eternity.  In the meantime I have to wade through the clutter of artificial intelligence, to remain faithful to the Truth my faith is built on, and wait till that time of restoration comes.

Down through the ages people, mostly men, have been preoccupied trying to figure the matters of life out.  Philosophies and theologies come and go.  Some become doctrine; some become heresy; all become clutter in the minds of people; people who were created to live by their hearts, souls, and not just their heads; people who were created simple, not complicated; people who were content with God’s good and perfect world until tempted to believe there was something more, something better, something they could do for themselves.

Simply speaking, I like God’s original plan and rather than wade through the clutter I am going to stop, look, listen, and wait for the return to the original plan.

I AM WHAT I AM BECOMING

I enjoy being a child of God’s

I enjoy being a follower of Jesus

I enjoy being a student of the Scriptures

It’s what makes me who and what I am

It’s what makes me who and what I am becoming.

Like a tree I am always growing

Bearing fruit in season

Shedding leaves in season

Lying dormant in season

In full bloom in season.

I am fed by the Spring that flows from the Source

I experience the winds of adversity

I experience the storms of sorrow,

But still I stand for I am firmly rooted

In God, in Jesus, and in the Scriptures.

THE FLESH & LEAVES DIE...THE SPIRIT LIVES

It saddens me to see the condition of many churches today.  It wearies me to hear all of the would of, could of, and should ofs, and the ‘we’ve got a new and better way’ chatter.  It’s not that the people are insincere in their concern; it’s just that they are only producing more of the same ideas that past church reformers have said and done, since the church came into existence.  As Einstein said, “Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is insanity.” 

As I am watching the final stages of life being demonstrated by my mother, it is changing my thoughts about dying.  Her flesh is decaying and will eventually turn to dust.  But her spirit is growing more and more brilliant and strong.  It is preparing itself for what ever journey it is about to embark on, that still remains a mystery to me.  But I can see it in her eyes that the transformation is happening, just as when I look at the Autumn leaves and know their journey and transformation is about to begin, when they reach their full beauty.  My ‘mother’ isn’t dying, just as the tree isn’t dying.  It makes me think that the ‘church’ isn’t dying; just its flesh and leaves.

The ‘church’ is all who receive and believe in the Ultimate Word of God, His Son, Jesus Christ.  This ‘church’ is nourished and protected by God forever; nothing and no one can destroy it.  Buildings will go; denominations will go; methods and doctrines will go.  But God’s Church will stand eternal because, He said, “I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”  

It is not my job to try and figure out how to build…it’s my job to listen to God and do what He says.  It’s not our job to try and figure out how to build…it’s our job to listen to God and do what He says.  He will say what needs to be planted; He will say what needs to be pruned; He will show where the brinks are to be laid.  “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.”  Unless the proper seed, the Word of God, is planted those who plant will labor in vain.

Whatever God builds; whatever God plants; that, and that alone will last throughout eternity.

BE and DO What You Were Meant to BE and DO

Get caught up in The Christ, not the cause

Get caught up in The Vision, not the victory

Focus on Jesus as Prophet and Priest, not the problems

Focus on God’s righteousness, not your rights

Abide in God and Jesus, not in your self

Abide in the Kingdom of God, not in this world

Then you will BE you who truly ARE

Then you will DO what you’re truly meant to DO

God Gives...We Make

God gives us golden things;

We make golden calves out of them.

God gives us trees;

We make lumber out of them.

God gives us the sky;

We make a space for waste out of it.

God gives us land;

We make a garbage can out of it.

God gives us oceans;

We make sewers out of it.

God gives us beauty;

We make ashes out of it.

God gives us love;

We make pornography out of it.

God gives us life;

We make a mess of it.

What in the world was God thinking?

RADICAL HOSPITALITY

Sometimes events happen that trigger my past, and the memories come pouring out from nowhere into my conscious mind.  Yesterday one of those events occurred and took me back in time, to probably the worst season of my life.  It was a time when I lost control, flung every good thing in my life to the wind, and lived without boundaries or reason.  I was hurting, disillusioned, and in despair so I looked to anything that would stop the pain; alcohol, sex, drugs, and pure rebellion.  I was miserable and did some really stupid and eventually regretful things.  Fortunately it was during the 60’s so I could fit in with the rest of the cultural happenings and hide for a while.  But that didn’t last long.  At some point I came to my senses.  I was deeply repentant and was very much aware that for the rest of my life I would never ever be the one to throw the first stone of judgment at anyone.

Through the years I was able to find people who had gotten caught in my wake of dysfunction, acknowledge my wrong doing, and fortunately receive their sincere forgiveness.  They were people I loved and who loved me and they knew as I did that there was never any malice or intentional harm meant in my actions; just one messed up soul trying to find something in my life to salvage.

God forgives, others forgive, but while I walk in their forgiveness it’s difficult at times to not forget and feel the regrets of my past.  Maybe there is some benefit to that I my present dealings with other people.  It keeps my self righteousness in check; keeps me humble; causes me to drop all stones of judgment and offer an empty hand of understanding and welcome to all I come into contact with that need that kind of radical hospitality.

God calls those who believe and receive Him to that kind of radical hospitality.  This world can be a harsh and mean spirited place to live; God hears the groans of His creation.  He invites and welcomes all who will turn to Him; and so should I because I have been on the receiving end of that hospitality for a long time.

Radical hospitality is not so much in what I do as it is in who I am.  When people come into my presence I want them to feel welcomed, attended to, and loved by God.  It doesn’t need to be in the grandeur of a Downton Abby.  It can be in my simple little home, a restaurant, or in the aisle of a grocery store; being radically hospitable means serving others in love; putting others first; being kind, and present to the moment and to the person in front of me.

I believe that is how Jesus was.  He somehow made every person he communicated with feel special, feel loved, and feel attended to, no matter what their past was.  He knew their past and looked beyond it to their present need.  The fact that I know my past makes me more than ever want to be like Jesus; looking beyond the faults, the past, and simply be radically hospitable in the present, offering the healing salve being welcomed, being attended to, and being loved.