“I love thee, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliver, my God.” (Psalm 18:1, 2)
David was a man after God’s heart. He was a man whose relationship with God brought forth the praise and worship recorded in the Psalms; a man who knew God delighted in him; a man who depended on God for his protection, guidance, and well being; a humble man who spoke intimately with God and knew God to be his all-in-all.
David was not perfect in his doing, but he was in his being. When he failed in keeping true to God’s desires it grieved his heart. He knew it hurt the One whom he loved and turned to God in repentance, not out of fear, but out of love. David’s life was one of worship. He sang, danced, clapped and lifted his hands high to God, whom he loved and adored with all his heart. His heart was in a state of worship throughout the day and throughout the night. His life became an act of worship in all he thought, said, and did.
When our hearts are filled with the love and the adoration of God, they just naturally overflow into our thoughts, our words, and our deeds. Agape love, God’s love, just can’t be contained. It makes us smile, even when there is nothing to smile about. It makes us feel safe, even when surrounded by fear. When we become people after God’s heart and people whom God delights in, then, like David, our lives will become acts of worship and God will pour out his love in abundance.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
"A Song of Peace"
I was brought to tears by a song today
A Song of Peace for a war torn world
It came as a plea as we read the news
Of killing and fighting and bombing and death.
I’d forgotten how to feel, to cry
For the perils of others so far away
But as we sang, the tears did come
It surprised me…but then I knew.
The passion I believed was gone
Had never really left for good
Just hid away behind my life
Awaiting the time when I would rest.
So here I came and rest I did
From all the busyness, stress, and strain
And when my soul could finally move
I was brought to tears by a song…and I knew.
The passion inside, it was not dead
Just buried deep inside somewhere
Beneath the debris of all the things
Distractions that had come and stayed.
I was brought to tears by a song today
A Song of Peace for our war torn world
And now that I’m awake and see
I’ll guard that passion more carefully.
A Song of Peace for a war torn world
It came as a plea as we read the news
Of killing and fighting and bombing and death.
I’d forgotten how to feel, to cry
For the perils of others so far away
But as we sang, the tears did come
It surprised me…but then I knew.
The passion I believed was gone
Had never really left for good
Just hid away behind my life
Awaiting the time when I would rest.
So here I came and rest I did
From all the busyness, stress, and strain
And when my soul could finally move
I was brought to tears by a song…and I knew.
The passion inside, it was not dead
Just buried deep inside somewhere
Beneath the debris of all the things
Distractions that had come and stayed.
I was brought to tears by a song today
A Song of Peace for our war torn world
And now that I’m awake and see
I’ll guard that passion more carefully.
Monday, October 10, 2011
YIN & YANG OF SPIRITUAL EXERCISES
As I was reading about Teresa and Ignatius I felt like I was experiencing the yin and yang of spiritual devotion and exercises. Teresa’s devotional methods were much more passive and developmental where as Ignatius’s seemed like devotional boot camp. Teresa talks about the watering of a garden, with each step bringing us away from doing and more into BEING. Then she talks about the silkworm, spinning its cocoon, dying, and then being transformed in a butterfly. Her descriptions are so gentle and calming and draw you right into that space of forgetting about the action and enjoying the contemplation.
Ignatius, on the other hand, sets up his spiritual exercises like a devotional “boot camp”, examining, confessing, ordering one’s life, setting priorities, and achieving goals. I was exhausted just reading about the exercises without even yet attempting to try them. His military background came through loud and clear. Schmidt suggests that he left his legacy in the Jesuits, who are “called to do something, not merely to be something.”
Fortunately there is a need for both methods because people are different and respond differently to methods that work best for them. What is even better to combine the methods and create a balance of doing and being. I think Teresa did this as I read her saying, “It won’t do for everyone to spend long hours in prayer, because there must be someone to cook the meals.” There are always conflicts about being vs. doing in the Christian walk. I must admit I would put the being first, and then the doing would be truly fruitful.
Ignatius, on the other hand, sets up his spiritual exercises like a devotional “boot camp”, examining, confessing, ordering one’s life, setting priorities, and achieving goals. I was exhausted just reading about the exercises without even yet attempting to try them. His military background came through loud and clear. Schmidt suggests that he left his legacy in the Jesuits, who are “called to do something, not merely to be something.”
Fortunately there is a need for both methods because people are different and respond differently to methods that work best for them. What is even better to combine the methods and create a balance of doing and being. I think Teresa did this as I read her saying, “It won’t do for everyone to spend long hours in prayer, because there must be someone to cook the meals.” There are always conflicts about being vs. doing in the Christian walk. I must admit I would put the being first, and then the doing would be truly fruitful.
WATCH - WAIT - LISTEN
Peter gets all excited after experiencing the transfiguration of Jesus up on the mountain (Luke 9:28-36). It was, after all, a magnificent event. He is already to build things and do this and that for God. He tells Jesus what is good and what to do. God’s voice intervenes in Peter’s plans, acknowledging Jesus, and tells Peter to “Listen to Him.” We do way too much of the talking when we are in God’s Presence. He is the Creator of the universe. He is the one true God and Jesus is His Word to us. We need to be quiet and listen to Him!
God repeatedly throughout the Scriptures says to stop our way and listen to his. “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways.” (Isaiah 55:8,9) “Lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:5,6)
How many times have we been like Peter? Seeing something exciting and then running around planning on building shelters to keep that something, yet all the while “not knowing what he was saying”? Often times it’s our shelters and establishments for our religious experiences that cause a majority of the problems of life these days. God’s plan is much simpler…”This is my Son, whom I have chosen, LISTEN TO HIM!”
God repeatedly throughout the Scriptures says to stop our way and listen to his. “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways.” (Isaiah 55:8,9) “Lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:5,6)
How many times have we been like Peter? Seeing something exciting and then running around planning on building shelters to keep that something, yet all the while “not knowing what he was saying”? Often times it’s our shelters and establishments for our religious experiences that cause a majority of the problems of life these days. God’s plan is much simpler…”This is my Son, whom I have chosen, LISTEN TO HIM!”
WEARING HIS SANDLES
“She (Mary) will bear a Son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins (that is, prevent their failing and missing the true end and scope of life, which is God)” (Matthew 1:21 amplified). Is God really the true end and scope of our lives? In listening to conversations or watching television or observing how people busy themselves, I would wonder if God is even a blink on the radar screen of most people’s minds. Would people say I reveal God as the true end and scope of my life? I believe he is, of course, but does my life reveal that message? And how would my life reveal that? What do I talk about? What do I do during my waking hours? How do I respond and react to situations? How do I communicate and commune with other people? It seems to me that if God IS the true end and scope of my life, then the fruits of the Holy Spirit would manifest themselves in all of what I do and say.
There are some folks who use “church speak” in all of their conversations that make others uncomfortable. To me that is like wearing the robes of the Pharisees, so that people can see them and be impressed. I desire to wear the sandals of the fisherman who spent time with Jesus and people would know I had been with him.
When my brother worked in a deli making submarine sandwiches all day, we always knew when he entered the house because he carried with him the aroma of where he had been. Somehow we should carry the aroma of our time spent with God as we enter places and others would know where we have been.
There are some folks who use “church speak” in all of their conversations that make others uncomfortable. To me that is like wearing the robes of the Pharisees, so that people can see them and be impressed. I desire to wear the sandals of the fisherman who spent time with Jesus and people would know I had been with him.
When my brother worked in a deli making submarine sandwiches all day, we always knew when he entered the house because he carried with him the aroma of where he had been. Somehow we should carry the aroma of our time spent with God as we enter places and others would know where we have been.
SCATTERED SEEDS
Matthew 13:1-23…”A farmer went out to sow his seed…”
We live in a world of scattered seeds, sound bites, and bullets, talking about God. Flip through the channels on any given day and you will hear preachers giving sermons, yelling and screaming about God, about the evil in the world, about end times, or what we need to be thinking, doing or believing. Many books, magazines, daily devotionals, newsletters, and pamphlets containing articles and writings about God fill the bookstores. Then there are the multitude of churches on Sunday, each with their own message and teaching. All of these are scattered seeds…by well-intentioned sowers of seeds, telling us what they know about God. With all that religion being scattered and spread, one would think this and this world would be a much better place in which to live. But, it’s not really about the seeds or the sowers. It’s about the seed finding a place to grow, good soil in which to be planted. Good soil prepared and cared for, a place to put down roots, to grow and mature into healthy spiritual fruit. How does that happen? What makes good soil in people? Jesus says it is hearing and understanding that are the necessary elements of good soil. But what does he mean by that?
Before Jesus explains the parable of the sower he says that “this people’s heart has become calloused; they are ever hearing but never understanding, ever seeing but never perceiving.” Understanding is not only a mind thing; it is a heart thing. But what is a calloused heart and how does that prevent us from hearing and seeing?
“Even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him.” (John 12:37) It has always perplexed me that Jesus would go around doing all these miracles and healing people but all the Pharisees were concerned about was that he was breaking the rules. He healed a man and rather than be excited about that they argued with him because it was the Sabbath. He raised a man from the dead and they got angry. Where was their love and compassion? Surely they had passed by these people every day. How could they not see them and stop to help them? Is this calloused heart, blindness and deafness a consequence of
a lack of love for God and a lack of compassion for God’s people? Were they not supposed to be the deliverers of love and compassion rather than merely the keepers of the law and rules?
Is this not true today? People are lost and hurting, greatly in need of God’s love and compassion and healing. Are we a people who have a calloused heart, ears that hear but never understand, and eyes that see but never perceive? There are multitudes of religious programs and impersonal ways that can introduce people to God. There are a lot of people who believe they are doing God’s work here on earth. But is it effective and fruitful? If it isn’t I would wonder how much of the religious work being done is actually God’s work. Jeremiah 2:13 says, “My people have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.” Is this true of us today? If it is then it is time to stop what we are doing and find another way.
I took a class in organic gardening one term at Pendle Hill, a Quaker Retreat & Conference Center. As a class we were responsible for preparing, planting and tending the garden that provides a lot of the food for the center. We did not simply scatter seeds. Each seed we planted was carefully nurtured until it germinated, planted in soil blocks, and watered daily until the plant was big enough to plant. Then we would take the soil blocks and put them out of the green house for a part of the day to harden them and get them used to the elements. Then we planted them in the soil that we prepared by digging and loosening up so the roots of these plants could dig deep in the ground to be fed and watered on their own. It was a beautiful experience to watch these plants grow tall, bear fruit and eventually be part of the salad we ate at lunches during the summer.
I think it’s time to stop simply scattering seeds and be more intentional in our commission of making disciples. First we need to apply the salve of God’s love to our hearts and then to the hearts of the people in this world so that the hearts are no longer calloused. This is preparing the soil to receive the seed. We need to tenderly handle the seeds of truth we give other people. God’s words are for healing and making people whole. They need to be planted in hearts that are prepared to hear them, the calloused hearts softened by the love and compassion rooted in the love and compassion of God. Then the seeds will grow tall into the plants that will bear good fruit.
We live in a world of scattered seeds, sound bites, and bullets, talking about God. Flip through the channels on any given day and you will hear preachers giving sermons, yelling and screaming about God, about the evil in the world, about end times, or what we need to be thinking, doing or believing. Many books, magazines, daily devotionals, newsletters, and pamphlets containing articles and writings about God fill the bookstores. Then there are the multitude of churches on Sunday, each with their own message and teaching. All of these are scattered seeds…by well-intentioned sowers of seeds, telling us what they know about God. With all that religion being scattered and spread, one would think this and this world would be a much better place in which to live. But, it’s not really about the seeds or the sowers. It’s about the seed finding a place to grow, good soil in which to be planted. Good soil prepared and cared for, a place to put down roots, to grow and mature into healthy spiritual fruit. How does that happen? What makes good soil in people? Jesus says it is hearing and understanding that are the necessary elements of good soil. But what does he mean by that?
Before Jesus explains the parable of the sower he says that “this people’s heart has become calloused; they are ever hearing but never understanding, ever seeing but never perceiving.” Understanding is not only a mind thing; it is a heart thing. But what is a calloused heart and how does that prevent us from hearing and seeing?
“Even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him.” (John 12:37) It has always perplexed me that Jesus would go around doing all these miracles and healing people but all the Pharisees were concerned about was that he was breaking the rules. He healed a man and rather than be excited about that they argued with him because it was the Sabbath. He raised a man from the dead and they got angry. Where was their love and compassion? Surely they had passed by these people every day. How could they not see them and stop to help them? Is this calloused heart, blindness and deafness a consequence of
a lack of love for God and a lack of compassion for God’s people? Were they not supposed to be the deliverers of love and compassion rather than merely the keepers of the law and rules?
Is this not true today? People are lost and hurting, greatly in need of God’s love and compassion and healing. Are we a people who have a calloused heart, ears that hear but never understand, and eyes that see but never perceive? There are multitudes of religious programs and impersonal ways that can introduce people to God. There are a lot of people who believe they are doing God’s work here on earth. But is it effective and fruitful? If it isn’t I would wonder how much of the religious work being done is actually God’s work. Jeremiah 2:13 says, “My people have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.” Is this true of us today? If it is then it is time to stop what we are doing and find another way.
I took a class in organic gardening one term at Pendle Hill, a Quaker Retreat & Conference Center. As a class we were responsible for preparing, planting and tending the garden that provides a lot of the food for the center. We did not simply scatter seeds. Each seed we planted was carefully nurtured until it germinated, planted in soil blocks, and watered daily until the plant was big enough to plant. Then we would take the soil blocks and put them out of the green house for a part of the day to harden them and get them used to the elements. Then we planted them in the soil that we prepared by digging and loosening up so the roots of these plants could dig deep in the ground to be fed and watered on their own. It was a beautiful experience to watch these plants grow tall, bear fruit and eventually be part of the salad we ate at lunches during the summer.
I think it’s time to stop simply scattering seeds and be more intentional in our commission of making disciples. First we need to apply the salve of God’s love to our hearts and then to the hearts of the people in this world so that the hearts are no longer calloused. This is preparing the soil to receive the seed. We need to tenderly handle the seeds of truth we give other people. God’s words are for healing and making people whole. They need to be planted in hearts that are prepared to hear them, the calloused hearts softened by the love and compassion rooted in the love and compassion of God. Then the seeds will grow tall into the plants that will bear good fruit.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
BREAKING UP THE FALLOW GROUND
NEW BE-ATTITUDES
Matthew 5: 1-12
It is easy for people to allow their hearts and lives to become like the hard ground of winter. We do the same things over and over by habit or we are surrounded by so many difficult things that we just simply shut down and stop feeling anything. It is then that we calcify and become hardened. Life is difficult. Often it is easier to do things like we have always done them, keeping our thoughts and attitudes the same, not allowing the shovel and hoe to penetrate the hardness so we can get a new and maybe different perspective of life. We see things as unfair or unjust or just plain sad; yet feel powerless to do anything about the circumstances or situations. So we become hardened, discouraged and cynical.
The people Jesus was speaking to were also living in difficult times. Many were poor, outcasts, discriminated against and even persecuted. Something drew these people to come and listen to this new teacher who was saying new things about a new kingdom that was coming, one that they could be a part of. His words were full of hope and speaking to their condition. But they were words that at first didn’t make much sense. The ideas he was expressing seemed upside down, not the usual ways things go. He was saying those who are “blessed, happy, to be envied and spiritually prosperous, are those who are poor, meek, persecuted and reviled against.” How could that be? How could people in those circumstances feel blessed? And then this teacher honors those who are merciful, pure in heart and are peacemakers. Be merciful, pure in heart, and peacemakers in a society that tortures us? How can this be?
Jesus’ words were cracking through and breaking up the hardness and futility that had grow around their hearts and minds just as a plow breaks up the fallow ground of winter so that new seeds can be planted. Jesus wanted to show them a new way of seeing their lives and their circumstances and create new attitudes and new ways to BE.
Matthew 5: 1-12
It is easy for people to allow their hearts and lives to become like the hard ground of winter. We do the same things over and over by habit or we are surrounded by so many difficult things that we just simply shut down and stop feeling anything. It is then that we calcify and become hardened. Life is difficult. Often it is easier to do things like we have always done them, keeping our thoughts and attitudes the same, not allowing the shovel and hoe to penetrate the hardness so we can get a new and maybe different perspective of life. We see things as unfair or unjust or just plain sad; yet feel powerless to do anything about the circumstances or situations. So we become hardened, discouraged and cynical.
The people Jesus was speaking to were also living in difficult times. Many were poor, outcasts, discriminated against and even persecuted. Something drew these people to come and listen to this new teacher who was saying new things about a new kingdom that was coming, one that they could be a part of. His words were full of hope and speaking to their condition. But they were words that at first didn’t make much sense. The ideas he was expressing seemed upside down, not the usual ways things go. He was saying those who are “blessed, happy, to be envied and spiritually prosperous, are those who are poor, meek, persecuted and reviled against.” How could that be? How could people in those circumstances feel blessed? And then this teacher honors those who are merciful, pure in heart and are peacemakers. Be merciful, pure in heart, and peacemakers in a society that tortures us? How can this be?
Jesus’ words were cracking through and breaking up the hardness and futility that had grow around their hearts and minds just as a plow breaks up the fallow ground of winter so that new seeds can be planted. Jesus wanted to show them a new way of seeing their lives and their circumstances and create new attitudes and new ways to BE.
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