Friday, October 26, 2012

Patti's God-drenched world

Two months ago my friend underwent brain surgery for cancer. This was followed by 6 weeks of chemo. Then a cyst grew where the cancer had been and she lost use of her left side. Another surgery and now she is home sleeping a lot as she awaits another round of chemo. I phoned from another state. I hadn’t seen her in two years. She hears my voice and warmly responds with - ‘Pastor Dean’.  I’m not sure what to say to encourage her. ‘God is good even when it’s hard,’ I say.  She responds, ‘Oh it’s more than that. I delight in God. He is wonderful. Every morning I look out my window and see a wooden cross. I say, Thank you Heavenly Father, wonderful Savior, Holy Spirit and comforter.  Every night before I go to sleep I look at that cross and I repeat my prayer.’  ‘Before surgery,’ she goes on, ‘My husband prayed over me. A nurse saw us and asked what we were doing. I told her we were praying and she asked if she could pray too. She joined us praying beautifully in Hebrew.’

“How God’s hand moves when we trust Him”, she goes on, “when we reach out to Him, His hand is moving out to us. He’s right there. One night I lay there while my husband slept in his easy chair in the next room.  I prayed. ‘God I really want to talk with Brian. Would you wake Him up?’  Immediately I heard him stir and climb out of his chair. He came into the room saying, ‘I don’t know what woke me up.’ But I knew!” 
She continues, ‘You know, I still have work to do, to reach people.’ ‘She ministers to everyone she meets’, Brian had told me. She goes on, “My doctor told me”, ‘I know your work isn’t done yet.  Your attitude is wonderful.’  She says, ‘I told my doctor one day that I saw green bushes along the way as I went to feed my horses. My husband told me there were no green bushes. The doctor told me that folks often hallucinate with my kind of surgery. But he said that they often see terrible things’.  She said, ‘Sometimes I see children on white ponies.’  Her doctor responded - ‘I love you, Patti. It tells me who you are as a person.’  

Whose doctor says that!? What a place this world would be if we all ministered in a God-drenched world like Patti does!

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Chesterton in a God-drenched world

If we would see God everywhere in our God-drenched world we must aggressively resist our culture’s boredom with all things Christian. (yesterday’s blog) GK Chesterton writing 100 years ago from a ‘bored with all things Christian’ British culture, warned, ‘The worst judge of all is the man now most ready with his judgments; the ill-educated Christian turning gradually into the ill-tempered agnostic, entangled in the end of a feud of which he never understood the beginning, blighted with a sort of hereditary boredom with he knows not what, and already weary of hearing what he has never heard.’  (“The Everlasting Man”) 
 
Chesterton goes on to say that we’ve come to admire anything but what is distinctly Christian. (Like Islamic culture in Senegal - again yesterday's blog)  But the fault does not lie in dynamic Biblical theology! Fallen man has given in to the ‘heavy bias of fatigue’ with what is familiar.  But our gospel is the power of God for salvation - to make things new! Our God himself gives everyone life & breath & everything else. He is not far from any one of us, for in Him we live & move & have our being. So reach out for Him & find Him. (Acts 17) Let’s discover, trust and celebrate our Lord at every opportunity!   

How surprised early believers might be, Chesterton suggests, to see The Church, ‘two thousand years afterwards rushing through the ages as the winged thunderbolt of thought and everlasting enthusiasm; a thing without rival or resemblance; and still as new as it is old.’

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

While I was listening to PBS

A lady with a British accent was talking in a low voice almost breathlessly describing the scene before her.  ‘The Muslim holiday is near.  The excitement in the air is palpable. The Senegalese love their sheep.’  Cut to a new Senegalese female voice: ‘Our sheep are important to us. We keep one around the house for good luck. Remember, it was Abraham who was offering his son when the miracle ram appeared.  Cut to a bustling market place and a new voice describing how Senegalese men loved to keep sheep as pets.  You can almost smell the scent of life!

This got me to thinking. I’m not a hater. I love learning about other cultures and seeing how they live.  But I also love my own Christian heritage.  Imagine this scenario on a PBS radio program:

Fade in with a crisp British accent, ‘A Christian holiday is near. Here in a small town in America the excitement in the air is palpable.  It is Thanksgiving Day. Cut to a warm anywhere USA female accent: ‘Our whole family gathers around the table as we give thanks to God for His gracious provision. We overeat and laughter rocks the table.’ Cut to an uncomfortably full family member after dinner as the lad opines, ‘I can’t imagine that first Thanksgiving day. The Pilgrims had fled religious persecution in England. They arrived in a wild country, lost half their number to starvation and disease that first winter. American Indians helping them survive became the basis for a long term friendship preparing the way for William Penn and what would become Pennsylvania!’ Cut to the hushed, British accented person saying quietly, ‘We’re just in time for the family prayer.’  A voice says reverently, ‘Thank you our heavenly Father for this good food and for your watchful care throughout the year. We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.’ The sound of laughter, conversation and the clanking of plates ensues slowly fades. The excitement in the air is palpable. You can almost smell the scent of faith in God.  

Thursday, October 11, 2012

The contagiously happy church.

‘Do everything without grumbling so that you will become happy children of God dancing around drawing smiles in a dark, grumpy world.’ Philippians 2: 14-16 (My paraphrase)

Is it too trivial to want a happy church?  Is it too much to expect? Perhaps the greatest criticism of the church is that it is a tired, grumpy place in a tired grumpy world.  If we are sitting on the light, under a bushel, proving to the world that Jesus is not relevant or worse, not good - how bad is that?  But even in the church we need super heroes. Not a grumbling pretense of spirituality that steals our joy while promoting our self-righteousness. But believers in Jesus Christ that show their faith by refusing to grumble, ever.  If enough of us get together our church can’t help but reflect the life Jesus planted inside us.  Our torches will blaze as one. Transformation comes from the inside out but what if grumbling transmogrifies ('Calvin':) it back again! Satan loves to take believers, redeemed by the blood of Jesus, and use them to reinforce the opinion of many that we don’t have a clue about real living! Don't let Satan win!
Reject that pity party.  Point out God’s blessings to a discouraged brother - or just give him a shoulder to cry on. Forgive, don't harbor a grudge. But don't go to the throne to complain!  Bees buzz. Grumblers Grumble. Children giggle.  Grumblers turn the church into a mirror of an already grumpy world.  Everyone ends up in a dark place. Don’t be a grumbler.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

The contagion of contentment.

‘Do everything without grumbling so that you will become happy children of God dancing around drawing smiles in a dark, grumpy world.’ Philippians 2: 14-16 (My paraphrase)

Grumbling is discontentment in disguise. It lets the world subtly know that I’m just not happy with the lack of cooperation I’m getting.  Things just are not quite up to my expectations. I let the world know with a toss of my head, a roll of the eyes or perhaps a deep ‘pregnant with meaning’ sigh.  A small gesture suggests that this world exists to make me happy & I’m just not feeling it! Is it just me or is this the polar opposite of humility?  God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. Can a nonverbal grumble speak that loudly? Compare what happens when we resist grumbling. If we do ‘everything without grumbling’ we will ‘become children of God above reproach’ in a grumpy, twisted world - ‘holding out the word of life.’ (Phil2:14,15) Two things happen - we become strong on the inside and a shining example of real living!  In other words, our contentment gives hope to a tired, grumpy, confused world.  Now that’s something worth celebrating!
So next time someone grumbles around you - don’t respond with sympathy.  It is not harmless. Grumbling is deadly. It steals your joy while promoting your self-righteousness. Don’t give in to discontent. Bees buzz. Grumblers grumble. Children giggle.  Don’t be a grumpy!

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

The contagious joy of not grumbling.

‘Do everything without grumbling so that you will become happy children of God drawing smiles in a dark, grumpy world.’ Philippians 2: 14-16 (My paraphrase) Not grumbling is the key to happiness!  Grumbling dissipates your spiritual power; separates you from God; and pollutes your relationship with others. Over the next 3 days I’m going to discuss the dangers of grumbling.

Grumbling is self-defeating. God is in the business of making you a spiritual powerhouse.  He puts difficulty in your life so that you will learn to trust Him above your own adequacies and inadequacies. As you trust God you become your true you. Grumbling destroys trust.
(1) The easiest way not to trust is to grumble. I don’t have to even admit I’m not trusting.  I simply invite resentment in. It pollutes my happy heart. Resentment never stays in its own corner of the heart. It soon takes over! Now I am a weight on others, introducing my resentment to their hearts.
(2) The second easiest way not to trust is to complain to someone else. At times our burdens are too great to bear. Ask for help. This is not the same as whining. Ask and you shall receive. Complaining suggests that someone is being unfair. But God is actually developing spiritual power in my life. My lack of patience and trust cannot be shirked onto someone else’s shoulders. I must grow deeper into trusting God as a child trusts his father.
(3) The third easiest way not to trust is to blame someone else for my problems. I don’t have the courage to blame God so I blame someone else - either to his face or about him behind his back.  We are now in the unhappy arena of rivalry and strife. When I grumble I leak spiritual power. I can blow a spiritual gasket. I become part of an already dark grumpy complaining world. Bees buzz, grumblers grumble and children giggle.  Don’t grumble!

Friday, October 5, 2012

Pulpit freedom Sunday.

I support ‘religious freedom Sunday’! People of faith must be bold.  The British despised what they called ‘the black robed regiment’ and gave the clergy credit for defeating them in the American Revolution. Reliable historic sources record that every right expressed in the Declaration of Independence was voiced from pulpits first.  In this tradition let me state:

1.      I believe that traditional marriage between a man & a woman is not based in government decree but is the foundational building block of society given by nature & nature’s God. It may not be tampered with without severe consequences.
2.    I believe life is sacred. Abortion - from conception to birth - is a holocaust and precursor to infanticide. I vote justice for the unborn & I believe in grace for tragically wounded mothers.

3.    I believe that Biblical truths inspired our Constitution. The USA is unique in the world because of the freedoms found there. We are an international inspiration because of it. I vote for the party that most closely defends the Constitution as its original authors intended it to be understood.

4.   I believe that this world is not my home, that even the best nations have many faults. Jesus said, ‘I will build my church’. Jesus said, 'Go and make disciples of all nations.' The church is built on the bold expression of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the sins of the world. The Gospel is the power of God for salvation.  Nations have risen and fallen - even God’s own people Israel. ‘Is it not indeed from the Lord of hosts that nations grow weary for nothing. For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.’ Hab2:13,14 Fill this world with your glory! Come Lord Jesus & rescue us! This world is not my home!