This World Is Not My Home

This world is not my home

It’s not where I belong

My home is somewhere else

And in my soul I long

To be where I am me.

I gaze out on the sea

I look up to the sky

I know it’s out there somewhere

I’ll get to when I die

To where I will be free.

I am a misfit here

A plant without a root

There is no sense of rest

And no one gives a hoot

If I am here or I am not.

This world is not my home

It’s not where I belong

My home is somewhere else

And in my soul I long

To be where I am free.

MONEY OR MINISTRY

How many places today remain God’s temple; a house of prayer?  Whenever I hear the cry that “this ministry needs your support”, and that support is money, I wonder if it’s a ministry Jesus would support.  Jesus cleansed the temple of God in Jerusalem by driving out all those who bought and sold, overturned the tables of the money changers, and those who sold animals for others to use as their sacrifice.  People no longer needed to bring something of theirs to sacrifice; they could purchase their offering there.  It didn’t cost them anything of them selves; just their money.

 It seems like many ministries are founded upon the amount of money they can bring in to fund the ministry, or at least the running of the ministry.  So the ministry becomes dependent upon the money to keep it going.  When the money stops the ministry stops, the doors are locked, the buildings are deserted.  It seems to me that money is not a firm foundation to build upon; it is like building on shifting sand.

Money should be used as a servant of the ministry, not its master.  God is to be the Master and the people in the ministry are mere servants, not employees.  I have been a part of ministries where people were the major part of the foundation.  They gladly served with no thought of being paid for their services.  They saw their work as an offering, a ministry of service, not a job.  They had other jobs that provided for their needs; ministry was a gift to be offered, to God and to others.  Paul’s made his living as a tent maker; his ministry was to feed the masses, not put food on his table.

We have made ourselves dependent on money, just as we have made ourselves dependent on oil.  That dependence creates a need to sustain ourselves and our bad habits; it creates problems, tensions, and even wars.  I don’t sense this was God’s intent for His temple or for His world.

When money becomes the bottom line for a ministry, the ministry loses its focus and mission.  It becomes a priority to save the ministry, not the people it was to be ministering to.  Solutions to save the ministry that are conceived usually require asking for a sacrifice; we don’t want to sacrifice ourselves so we sacrifice others.  That is the world’s way.  Whenever a budget is cut it’s those that need the ministry the most, the poor and needy, that are cut off.

Businesses need hierarchy to survive.  True community cannot exist in a hierarchy.  The temple of God, the church is people in community; it was never meant to be a business.  Businesses fail for many reasons; lack of money, lack of vision, lack of good business practices.  The true church will not fail; it will have God’s provision, God’s vision, God’s practices, and it will stand forever to minister to people.

Nothing New Under The Sun

The authority of Jesus was challenged by the chief priests and elders

The authority of Jesus was coveted by his disciples

In the midst of this he was realizing the reality of his death

Made necessary by the challenge to his Father’s authority

In the beginning, in the garden

The authority of God was challenged by Satan

The authority of God was coveted by His human creation

There is nothing new under the sun.

The Son of Man was about to be delivered into the hands of men

They will kill him

The disciples respond to this expressed pain with

 “Who is greatest in heaven?” 

The Son of man will be delivered over to the high priests

They will, mock him, flog him, and condemn him to death

The mother of two of his disciples responds to this news with

“Say that my sons will sit at your right and left in your kingdom.”

In his pain and in his sorrow he found no one to care

In his pain and in his sorrow he found no one to listen

In his pain and sorrow he found no companion

In his pain and sorrow he found no one awake

In his pain and sorrow he was alone

In his pain and sorrow he was abandoned

In his pain and sorrow he was alienated

By the very ones he was enduring this pain and sorrow for.

Father forgive them for they know not what they do

When with selfish ambitions they take their mind off you

Father forgive us for we know not what we do

When with selfish ambitions we take our ears and eyes off you

Father forgive me for I know not what I do

When with selfish ambition I am not awake to you

Father forgive me and teach me what to do

Father forgive me and help me think, see, and hear only You.