Life Spark of Faith

Parting Words

2011-07-05T13:42:00.000-07:00

July 5, 2011

To My Friends:

For eight and a half years every waking moment, every prayer, every resource and every talent has been directed to establishing a new church infused with a spiritual contagion, and focused on being a place unlike any other where people for whom traditional forms, styles and structures were an impediment to faith.

o Small group meeting instead of social clutches o bible studies instead of just Sunday sermons o leadership teams instead of committee meetings o a Session to resource mission initiatives rather than controlling what happens o building a non-geographic mission boundary beyond the familiar New England village/neighborhood church identity o accentuating ministry along with denomination identity o enjoying flexible worship alongside the familiar forms o finding stewardship in joy as a way to fulfill a sense of commitment o open exploration of spiritual experiences that can expend and deepen dogmatics o enthusiastic responsiveness to the fringed mission constituency taking priority over catering to the comforts of the core o all as God’s community for others more than for ourselves.

We have enjoyed many exciting moments. We found a powerful appeal among the unchurched not wanting to get sucked up into an organization. We blew the doors off conventional expectations when we finished the construction in five years instead of ten, built an endowment to fund the building costs so tithes could flow directly to ministry, reestablished a Sunday school, opened the Tuesday music jam and meditation times. Unfortunately, we couldn’t do it all. I have not been able to lead the core as far as I would have liked and have generated some animosity instead of enthusiasm. Our consultations with our Presbytery’s Committee on Ministry, Paul Nickerson of Griffith Consultants who advised us during the initial transition and Frank Poole our past Synod Executive who started this project with us, concur that we are ready for the next stage of ministry, one that should not follow the full-time pastoral model we employed to plant the church, but creatively shift to something that is, well, not too defined at the moment. We’re at a good transitional time and with the Presbytery’s help, I am sad to announce, we will be closing our pastoral relationship on July 15, turning the church back to the Presbytery, and pray for the gracious providence of our Lord to take us all to the next level of greatness.

Customarily, pastoral closures have an eight to ten month period, but given the need to continue our progress expediently, the Presbytery, our Session and I have agreed to close the relationship sooner than later, and immediately commence the planning and consultations for the next phase of ministry.

This Sunday, July 10, will be my last sermon with a reception following. The Rev. John Merz of the Presbytery, whom many of us know from his visits over the years, will join us in worship and accept the moderating role from me, commencing with a brief congregational meeting to act on the closure of our pastoral relationship. Subsequently, Mr. Merz will serve as your temporary supply and moderator.

I understand this may come as a shock to many. It was not our plan, but the momentum to chart the next course for the church must be freed to take hold. The ministry ahead requires courageous faith shown in the history of this church, one that often means stepping into places that appear dark and confusing. Yet be it ever so true, in faith, with prayer, focused on Christ as Lord and with gracious hearts, we will move forward in expectation and love for the glorious Kingdom of God.

Sincerely,

The Reverend John Mark Rodkey, Pastor

2011-04-24T16:36:00.000-07:00

“It’s Possible to Dream Again”

or, “Just when you thought it was safe to go back”

April 23, 2011

John 20:11-18

¹¹ Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb ¹² and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

¹³ They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”

“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” ¹⁴ At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

¹⁵ He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”

Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”

¹⁶ Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).

¹⁷ Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

¹⁸ Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.

Every graveyard where our ancestors lie, every headstone honoring a life that has past, shouts with existential nihilism, “What resurrection?

Who does not feel the despair at one point or another when all hope is lost. Mary returns to attend to Jesus that first Easter morning, in a ritual of respect to honor the dead; the morning dew on the cool earth sparking before the morning sun as it cut through the olive trees and bid farewell to the last of the dark night’s shadows.

4:00 o’clock on Friday she had gathered linens rubbed with resin extracted from agave and socotrine aloes with a scent of balsam to cut the inevitable stench of a decaying corpse. Jesus was dead.

What hope she may have had for some salvation from her earthly addictions had been washed away when Jesus’ last blood drained and death reign triumphantly, “Where is your God?” All hope was lost.

This was utter, tragic defeat. The grief among the followers was poignant: a volatile fuel that explodes with all consuming heat destroying all hope. It burns quickly, and leaves little in its wake but a sense of detachment from reality. It is a vulnerable time.

It is hard to even get up in the morning when such infernos consume our realities. But Mary does get up; embroiled with failure, trying to regain her footing, looking to get grounded again, she moves with resignation, walking into the graveyard with a soul resigned to the inevitable: there is only death.

She knew it all along. Why would she have held out hope for something else? This should have been accepted, and now it was. It was safe now, even if depressing, to return to her old ways.

One of the deepest and most disparaging times in traumatic transition comes when the dysfunctionally familiar patterns that have sustained our integration with the world become exposed for their explicit failure, and we don’t -- as of yet – have in place a new behavior system with which to engage the world. Our reality becomes so shattered that we waver between recoiling to the old ways of thinking, and trying to scratch out a new way of true individualization of our being.

Too often, we default to the way things were. At least the old way felt safe and familiar. So back to the grave, even if it means living in a way that leads only to death. At least we know what to expect.

So, Mary returns to the grave resigned to death, feeling for the moment at least, this is safe.

Steven Schwartz, one of Linda’s colleagues, in Opening to the Infinite, writes,“When we begin to question what has been familiar, the existing paradigm goes into crisis. If we insist on defending the old paradigm, we become very vehement and passionate in its defense. We see a lot of that today, because we are on the verge of change brought on the merging at the edges of physics, biology and medicine.”[i]

Is it possible to pause for a moment and possibly see that victory, real spiritual victory, comes by passing through valley of the shadow of death? death to our addictions, death to our old habits, death to the things that once were comfortable and predictable, but really do not help us thrive; patterns that are only "characterized by compulsive [behavior] ... [riddled with repetitive] physical, psychological, or social harm.” [ii]

Insanity is doing the same thing in the same way and expecting different results.

Jesus approaches Mary in the Garden and asks her if she still wants to look at life the same way and expect the same results, or can she open the portals of her soul to see the real victory wrought in his torrent of torment.

In 1947, Life Magazine ran a profile of Albert Schweitzer’s medical hospital in Lambaréné, then French Equatorial Africa. At that same time a cattle rancher in Arizona, married with four children, seeing the images wrote to the Schweitzer’s only to be invited to visit their African hospital.

On somewhat of a lark, Larry Mellon and his wife Gwen went, only to be overwhelmed by the impact of the Schweitzer’s world view that opened them both to understanding living was an act of Christian devotion that must embrace a full reverence for life.

When they returned to the Arizona, cattle-ranch life they had vacationed from, Larry and Gwen could have gone about to the same, familiar ways of raising beef, making money, nurturing children and praying they were doing something important to change the world. But the portals of perception had been cracked open, and the way it had been could no longer be the way it should be.

He quit ranching, applied to Tulane University Medical School, then took the family to Haiti for the summer of 1953 where he gathered material for his senior thesis in tropical yaws. It was there that Larry and Gwen found an abandoned Standard Fruit banana plantation in the heart of the Artibonite River Valley, with existing houses and enough land for a hospital, and realized it was to be the setting for their life’s work, and on June 26, 1956, the Hôpital Albert Schweitzer began medical services, free of charge, to the impoverished population. It is still in function today.

Mary could have sat and rested her back on the cold stone of the tomb, absorbed in her love, her grief, her resignation to the familiar concepts of death and loved Jesus in his grief, but in such a blind love, she would have missed the enormous triumph; the new promise; the Good News.

Larry and Gwen could have set back on the porch of their Arizona ranch, absorbed in the love of Christ, going to church every Sunday, living in the familiar concepts of good Christ-loving, church-going people doing the familiar rituals of their childhood and making money to provide for the family, but they would have missed the enormous triumph, the new promise, the Good News of new life.

As long as we see Jesus from the grief of the grave, we will forever see only the history of the past, and live our lives by retreating to the graves of our history.

But turn your eyes to the resurrected Christ, who lives not in the graves of our familiar pasts, and it is possible we too will see the glory of resurrection lived in a new age and a new day, and we too will rise!

[i] Stephen A. Schwartz, Opening to the Infinite, c. 2007, p. 361

[ii] Newport Academy, Orange, CA, Residential treatment program for teens suffering from substance abuse and co-occurring disorders, “Addiction Defined,” http://www.newport-academy.com/treatment-program/addiction-defined/

2011-04-17T13:41:00.000-07:00

Palm Sunday, 2011

Mark 11:8-10

What a glorious day! (I hope you enjoyed the new hymn from Casting Crowns, written by Mark Hall, Michael Bleeker, Wilbur Chapman. It really conveys the powerful joy we can know from all Jesus is and has done. Dig that refrain: “Living he loved me. Dying he saved me. Rising again, He justified me!”) Wow!

Jesus, moving into Jerusalem after three years of ministry, must have escorted a glorious day for the city; full of all that pent up expectations from years of failed hopes, unfulfilled dreams, disappointing projects, dejected spirits, and rejected souls at the hands of Roman occupation; – their national identity compromised; questioning the validity of the covenant with their ancestor Abraham (how could God let the chosen people of God be loose their independence, their economic power, their position of privilege?

-- finally ... finally ... finally they see their redemption.

It must have been like that day in 2004 when Curt Schilling persevered with a bloody ankle as the moon stood in a lunar eclipse over the once oppressive powerhouse from Louisville (that kept us from winning the 1967 World Series – oh, that was a sad day) and the long suffering and cursed boys from Boston won the World Series! Do you remember the energy that surrounded the Red Sox Nation that night! For once the world was right!

Looking over the hills, across the valley, the light of the afternoon made the temple spires shine like golden arrows pointing to heaven. A warm breezed carried the dusty fragrance

of the olive trees below up along the hillside until they swirled around the head and give off a sweet scent of something familiar.

It was still hot. The air in Jerusalem could parch one with its 95 degrees; ...a slight bead of perspiration on the brow.

It was the about to begin. A few steps down the cobbled street and there was no turning back. Already children knew something was up. A few of Jesus’ friends had made an unusual request to borrow a donkey tied up against a wall, down in the city; a few guys hanging out there wondered what was going on, but they didn’t need an explanation as to why; just a glance at the eyes of these devoted men and something in the mind snapped into a reverence that this was a request that could not be refused (for anyone who looks in the eyes of a committed, born-of-the-spirit disciple of the Living Lord can never be the same).

And as those strangers led that borrowed donkey back out along street, children were the nest to notice. They felt a reverent authority as if a parent just walked into the middle of their youthful bantering and brought a hush to their silliness. They followed. Other’s followed. Curiosity grew. The guy who helped untied the donkey from its hitch on the wall walked along with them, keeping pace, and as folks asked, he told them what he had heard; what he had felt; but words could never fully express what they sensed. Shaking his head one man said, “I have no idea what’s it about, just that their Master needs that little beast, and I believe them.”

Somehow word passed out of the city to the cobbled street leading up the hill to where Jesus was walking down, and word passed back down the valley and pass the city gates to the crowd following the borrowed donkey that it was HIM: ... the one they had heard about, ... the one known to be the prophet Elijah, ... the one whom that eccentric preacher, John, down by the Jordan a few years ago baptized only to be struck with visions of doves, and spirits, and voices and clouds when this one-coming-down-the-hill came up out of the waters. This WAS him!

Have you ever felt the nervous excitement that something great was about to happen? You shoulders get tense? Your posture bends forward? Your fingers start to tingle? A chill shots down your neck to small of your back and fires right back up? You can feel your brain shifting gears as the adrenaline powers you up and every nerve in your body is on hyper alert ... knowing at the next instance your whole world could change.

A preacher invited the church to gather during a drought to pray for rain. He walked up and down the aisle and proclaimed, “Oh ye of little faith. You come praying for rain, but no one brought an umbrella!”

Do you really expect that you will encounter Jesus when you leave the church, put the key in the ignition, head out on 202; that at any instance Jesus is going to meet you? Or, are you just like the majority of church going Christians who come to pray for a proverbial rain, but don’t bring an umbrella because you really don’t believe it.

For once, on the byways of Jerusalem, it didn’t matter if your debts were killing your family. It didn’t matter if your addictions were unmanageable. It didn’t matter if your life was a failure and your dreams would never come to pass. It mattered not if you kept getting involved in dysfunctional relationships, or, your kids hated you, or, your boss abused you, or, your neighbors were idiots. Maybe, just maybe, ... this was it!

The joy was tempered in the eyes of Jesus, however, for he knew their joy was somewhat displaced. Like the Red Sox Nation euphoria, what they worshipped would not last. What they needed was not something anyone could envision.

Yes! Something was about to change, something that meant giving up those shallow ideas that salvation would come from something we could fully envision. But Jesus knew the beast of burden on which he sat symbolized the burden he himself was willing to carry. But did anyone see it?

It meant sacrificing all the ideals of success constructed out of the patterns of familiar rituals we construct to please God. Jesus knew something was about to die and something was inviting a small part of everyone in that crowd (as He is inviting us) to die with it.

Since 1972 when I was ambushed by Jesus in the hills of Northern Idaho, and my desire to be a radical anti-disestablishmentarian died with Christ, I have known that this Lord is the only power of the universe that lets me say,

“Jesus, take this garbage in my heart,

this two bit crud that clogs my soul,

this rubbish of rebellion that ravishes my sense of peace,

take this wreckage to the grave!”

My problem (and I dare say is the problem for all of us), as it was the problem for the crowds in Jerusalem, and Judas who didn’t stick around long enough to see what would happen on Sunday, and Thomas who held out doubt no matter what anyone said, and Peter who denied he ever knew Jesus, ... my problem (and I dare say is the problem for all of us), I don’t want to let go of my addictions. I like them, even if they are killing me.

The crowd was addicted to temple worship, and unless they could give it up, let it die there was no hope of anyone seeing the true temple was not in the building, but the temple is within.

The Newport Academy that works with teenagers views addictions as "characterized by compulsive [behavior] ... despite [known] physical, psychological, or social harm.” [i] We have the knowledge to know what behaviors we need to change, but we have the unwillingness, or the powerlessness to want to change.

· The Haggan Daz tastes too good (even if one pint is been packed with enough calories for a whole day), so we keep eating and get fat.

The smokes are just too relaxing (even though they kill directly and indirectly), so keep lighting up and gat lung cancer.

The five o’clock high ball is too comfortable (even when one high ball becomes five high balls and we need one just to get to sleep),so we keep pouring another.[ii]

Our religion is too important (even when it means we repel others, commit atrocities like the Crusades, and don’t want to open the bible because it might mean we would really have to love someone other than ourselves) so we keep doing three-hymns and a sermon and sitting in church like death warmed over ... because we like the comfort zone we’ve created ... instead of allowing Jesusto fill us the joy of life released in the fullness of God!

By the end of that week in Jerusalem, the joy of the crowd would be buried in a blood soaked tomb, and only those willing to allow a change a heart to infuse their minds, only those able to let Jesus take their sin-filled garbage with him to the grave, would see life does not necessarily die in the hopelessness of that dark day of Friday afternoon on Golgotha’s stench of Mount Calvary, but will rise in freedom of a new day dawning.

“God, we can just have the strength to let go of all the stuff we cling too because it is just too familiar, and are just too frightened to live without it, and to let you bury it all in the depths of the crucifixion’s darkness?”

In our country, 63% believe religion should have a role in public life, we know it’s important, they see its benefits.[iii] And 77% say Christianity is their religious preference.[iv] People like being part of the crowd in Jerusalem...

...but a mere 40% of professed Christian bother to be part of a church,[v] and 59% of these do so because it’s a social activity not a spiritual powerhouse of salvation.[vi]

In other words, most church-going Christians like being religious on the streets on Jerusalem, but are not so interested in being spirit-filled lovers of Jesus and having their carnal quests crucified on the cross.

We don’t need religion as much as we need Jesus, and Jesus is love. Do you, will you, can you accept this love? John put it this way,

“No greater love has the Father than this, that we should be called children of God. And so it is.”[vii]

The poor crowds just couldn’t see it; and come Friday afternoon they were gone, just as badly off as they were before.

Hopefully, we can see Jesus before it is too late and will let Him sacrifice our sin on the cross and change with glory to glory.

As the song says, “Life does not end, it’s begun, at the cross.”[viii]

[i] Newport Academy, Orange, CA, Residential treatment program for teens suffering from substance abuse and co-occurring disorders, “Addiction Defined,” http://www.newport-academy.com/treatment-program/addiction-defined/

[ii] Dean F. MacKinnon, M.D., John Hopkins University School of Medicine, “Sate ain't So, Hungry, horny, or weary? Maybe it’s all in your head,” Psychology Today, April 16, 2011.”

[iii] Gallup Research, January 30, 2007, “Public Generally Satisfied with Role of Organized Religion in America”

[iv] Gallup Research, April 10, 2009, “Christianity’s Slow Decline in the U.S”

[v] Frank Newport, Gallup Research, April 6, 2007, “Just Why Do Americans Attend Church?

[vi] Ibid..

[vii] 1 John 3:1

How to Eliminate Interruption... IF that's your goal.

2011-03-26T07:12:00.000-07:00

John 4:4-7

⁴ Now [Jesus] had to go through Samaria. ⁵ So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ⁶ Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. ⁷ When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?”

You probably want to get more things done than you do. Our brains are always buzzing trying to interpret a multitude of signals and navigate the turbulence of technology, globalization, and information.

Newsweek’s recent edition headlined the information overload as reaching a point of “brain-freeze” where we become so saturated with incoming data that our neurological circuits freeze up.

Journalist Sharon Begley summarizes our dilemma, “The ‘Twitter-ization’ of our culture has revolutionized our lives, but with an unintended consequence: our overloaded brains freeze when we have to make decisions.”[i]

Somehow we are supposed to get it all done and keep our little corner of the world spinning in equilibrium.

But, inevitably, the computer will crash, the brakes will quit, the market will turn, the dog get sick, the basement will flood, the doctor will call, you’ll run out of shampoo, you’ll miss the bus, you’ll forget to shave, the creditors will call, the neighbors will yell, emotions run high, patience runs thin, your life collapses...

"I'll never get it all done!" "Everyone wants a piece of me!" ... and the morning coffee hasn’t even finished brewing yet.

In “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps,” Gordon Greco confesses to his Wall Street protégée, “Money is not the prime asset in life. Time is.” And, W. Edwards Deming, a statistician and business consultant best known for his work in the 1980’s in Japan, observed that “The average American worker has fifty interruptions a day.” [ii] In the course of our eighteen waking hours, that’s over three interruptions an hour.

That’s the world we live in.

Jesus’ life story was full of interruptions: his mother’s demand for more wine at the wedding at Cana, Nicodemus in the night, that funny little tax collector, Zachaias, up in his tree, Peter’s impetuous interjections, Herod’s infanticide in Bethlehem that forced Jesus and his parents to Egypt and, yes, the encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well of Jacob. Only this time, it is not Jesus being interrupted, but Jesus doing the interrupting.

I see two gems of wisdom from the encounter Jesus had with her: 1) Accept the interruptions ... so, 2) You don’t miss Jesus.

The woman at the well doesn’t seem to be a person who needed extra interruptions. First, we can reasonably assume that he life was stressed by her social position. She was not first class.

I like to fly Southwest because everybody’s in coach. I don’t have to walk through the first class cabin on the way to my seat in back of the plane, and face first-class passenger glances that I tell me I really don’t belong here among the privileged people.

So it was as a Samaritan. You were not legitiment descendent of Abraham and Isaac, but sort of half-Jewish relative who descended from Abraham’s other son birthed from his wife’s maidservant Hagar. As such, we might reasonably assume, sociologically, that her life was difficult and filled with a sense of inferiority.

Also, we can reasonably assume that she lived in failed relationships with men. Reading further along in the story, in John 4:18 we discover that she had had five husbands, and that to the man she was now living with, she was not married. She couldn’t keep her man.

As such, we could be reasonably assumed that psychologically, her life was a struggle with dysfunctional personalities, failed relationships and sense of insecurity. She had a difficult life that didn’t need extra interruptions.

But Jesus ...(something like a “but God” instance we spoke of last week) But Jesus ... interrupts her anyways. If she lived in 2011, she could have managed the interruption by, .. say,...

1. Putting her cell phone on silent.

2. Turning off the porch lights and not answering the door.

Clicking “delete” on her email before she read it.
Staying home from work.
Not checking Twitter.
Resigning and collecting unemployment

... sort of “Turn-on, Tune-in and Drop-out” with Timothy Leary.[iii]

But, the woman at the well was operating more like a TIVO recorder here, where, when the phone rings, the email “dings,” the neighbors call, the Twitter tweets, she is of a mind to pause her life, listen to the situation, and then, when all is said and done, receive the grace that has been presented to her.

The issue may be less trying to eliminate interruptions, than knowing how to accept them.

She engages, she listens, she waits, and what she might have missed in a tirade of fury, became the gateway of grace.

It happens all the time between people... for those who are willing to listen...

Betty Smith, recovering in the grief from the lost of her husband only three month earlier, received one of those irritating telemarketing phone calls right when you’re ready to head out shopping.

Most of us are irritated with these interruptions, but Betty, in her ever-present patience, struck up a conversation. “I’m really not interested in a time-share in Texas, but thank you for calling. How are you doing?”

And with a pregnant pause on the other line ended with a deep breath, the telemarketer sighed, “Well, my husband passed on about a week ago and I’m just trying to get back to work. Thanks for asking.” And against all quota criteria of the marketing department, Mary, on the other end, started talking with Betty.

After five minutes, Betty asked if it would be permissible for her to call Mary later in the day at a number that would not interfere with her work.

Numbers were exchanged, and over the phone, an interruption that would have infuriated most of us, emerged as the opportunity for the much needed friendship and compassion that desperately need to carry us through the dark corridors of grief.

What might have missed in a tirade of fury, became the gateway of grace.

It happens all the time in prayer... for those who are willing to listen.

We often see prayer as talking to God. We have words, we have prayer books, we have liturgies,we have the Lord’s Prayer, but in our cranial need to have a constantly active pre-frontal lobe, we may have forgotten that prayer is a conversation – one that we cannot have if we do all the talking.

Listening to God -- though frustratingly slow -- if we give ourselves space between the words, to pause and listen, be silent and pay attention to God,

is invites us to be interrupted by God with thoughts that otherwise might not have crossed our mind. [iv]

What might we have missed in a diatribe of prayerful demands, can, when we listen for the voice of God in the space between the words, become the gateway of grace.

Whether between people or in conversation with God, it involves surrendering our agenda, opening our hearts, and listening to what God is doing around us in through us.

Eckhart Tolle, Buddhist teacher and philosopher, calls it the “Power of Now;” living in a mindfulness of the carnival happening around us and realizing we our part of it. [v] (But Jesus was already there.)

Maybe we need to take a lesson from the Samaritan woman whose life was interrupted by Jesus sitting on the edge of Jacob’s well asking her to pause from her own chaotic carnival of life and help him get a drink, and learn that our responsibility is less to create a safe bubble of comfort and ease, than about being humble, open, willing, and flexible; to see that the God-interruptions aren’t meant to drag me down, annoy me, teach me a lesson I should have already known...

... but they are opportunities to touch and taste and see and hear and participate in the Kingdom of God here and now; a chance to intersect with other people’s real lives, a chance to intersect my own spiritual formation with the rich formation of others, a chance to intersect with God himself.

Was this not exactly what the writer of the letter to the Hebrews said in Hebrews 13:2?

“Be not forgetful to entertain strangers:

for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”

[i] Sharon Begley, “I Can’t Think,” Newsweek, February 27, 2011

[ii] W. Edwards Deming, quoted in http://www.time-management-success.com/managing-interruptions.html

[iii] Dr. Timothy Leary, PhD., “Tune In, Turn On, Drop Out,” Original release: Mercury 21131 (mono)/61131 (stereo), US 1967, Executive producer: Henry Saperstein, Associate producer: Richard Krown, Guide/Narrator: Timothy Leary, Voyager/Narrator: Ralph Metzner, Divine Connection: Rosemary Woodruff; Original psychedelic music by Maryvonne Giercarz (veena), Lars Eric (guitar), Richard Bond (tabla)

[iv] Sister Ann Marie Wainwright, St. Scholastica Monastery, 1001 Kenwood Avenue Duluth MN

[v] Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment, New World Library, Novato, CA

2011-03-14T20:01:00.000-07:00

Wake Up! God’s Calling

March 13, 2011

Jeremiah 1:4-7

⁴ The word of the LORD came to me, saying,

⁵ “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
before you were born I set you apart;
I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

⁶ “Alas, Sovereign LORD,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.”

⁷ But the LORD said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. ⁸ Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the LORD.

Did God choose you? This ineffable, cosmic presence of ethereal energy to shape the universe, spin planets, manage the human genome, ignite the Big Bag, fuse hydrogen, slit atoms, balance gravity and black holes ... did He choose you?

In the face of universe, maybe at one time or another, when you paused on a mid-summer’s night and starred into the vastness of the canopy of the stars overhead, you wondered -- like Jeremiah, or Gideon, or Moses, or Abraham, or Sarah, or Peter, or Paul, or Thomas, -- “Who me?”

Do you sometimes feel like Jeremiah, unqualified? “Whose going to listen to me? No one takes me seriously!” (Jeremiah 1:6 paraphrase )

There are many times we have to put on airs of being competent for our jobs that we really feel unqualified for, but people expect confidence and competence, so we pretend, sometimes with a bit too much arrogance, that we have it all together.

Late at night, under the stars, starring at the canopy of endless margins, alone, no one but you, your breath and the Holy Spirit, you breathe in deeply and feel a rush of weight crushing upon your chest knowing you really have no idea what in the name of God you are doing. And you pause, like Jeremiah, and cry out to God, “You must be nuts. How I am to do this?”

This is also the way Gideon saw himself as well. In Judges 6, Gideon we get a hint of the problem confronting Gideon. In Judges 6:11, we read he, “threshed his wheat harvest in the winepress,” which may not mean much unless we realize wheat is usually threshed on the threshing floor. Gideon was hiding himself from his adversaries, the Midianites, cowarding in the winepress, feeling unqualified and scared to face his challenges. (Judges 6:11)

I have told some of your about this during our Tuesday night prayer and meditation time, of what happened to me in 1972 after being ambushed by Jesus in Spokane, Washington. I had some inkling that I should be doing something for God other than going to school and working, but my reputation preceded me and I more often than not recoiled to what people thought of me, more than to what God was calling me. Who on earth would listen to a young, undisciplined, rebellious, troubled, insecure, frightened kid who embraced more of the works of the flesh than the fruits of the spirit? I popped open my third grade Bible, (I don’t think I had opened any other time expect to give the appearance that I knew where things were in the bible during Sunday School), and the pages fell open to Jeremiah 1... verse 6.

Like Jeremiah, Gideon questioned God’s choice of him. In his day, Gideon’s reputation was synonymous with the national mood of the Hebrew tribes trying to settle the Promised Land to the west of the Jordan River. Everyone in his tribe lived the part of the oppressed. There was a lack of courage, and Gideon demonstrated this widespread fear in himself.

Like Gideon, Jeremiah Gideon, questioned his competency for the job. In his day, youth were better “seen and not heard.” Think of the time the disciples refused to let the children come near Jesus simply because of their youth. Jeremiah reflected the cultural ethos of his day. There was a lack of respect, and Jeremiah demonstrated this widespread contempt in himself.

Both Gideon and Jeremiah were being defined by their past.

Carl Jung in The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious, said, “Out of our common experience we become locked in unconscious expectations that replicate the patterns of the common experience.”

In effect, as psychiatrist Dr. Judith Lewis Herman pointed out, “Our problem is less that we have had a trauma in the past, than that we keep repeating and reenacting the trauma in the present.”

Jeremiah, Gideon, myself, most of us, are replaying our reputation, often unconsciously, and defining what we do based on our past, our reputations, what other say we are, or what we have experienced. As long as we keep reenacting from the past, even unconsciously, we will be saying to God as he calls, “Who me?” and walk away, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. That’s insanity.

But look at how God sees Gideon:

And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him, and said unto him, ‘The Lord is with you, you mighty-man-of-valor!’ (Judges 6:12) To the coward God gives the title, Man-of-Valor!

And, look at how God sees Jeremiah:

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
before you were born I set you apart;
I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” (Jeremiah 1:5) To the insecure youth he gives the title Prophet to the Nations!

God “calls ‘em like HE sees ‘em!” not the way we see ‘em.

We see God doing this throughout Scripture – God assigning responsibilities to people who really don’t seem to fit the part, because God sees what we can become less than what we have been. While the rest of the world defines us by our reputation, God defines by our potential.

You may not feel like much, it may be because you are defining yourself by your reputation and your past and your patterns. For most? Well, it seems to be, “que sera, sera,” “c'est la vie.”

But God ... (those are becoming my favorite two words of the bible) But God! ... But God seems to be unwilling to let “whatever will be, to be” or to resign to “such is life.”

Jeremiah was defined by age limitations. He was too young. But God said, “Do not say, ‘I am only a youth,’... Do not be afraid ..., for I am with you and will rescue you” ...and Jeremiah did as he was called. He went and proclaimed

Gideon was defined by emotional limitations. Gideon felt cowardly. He hid in the wine press where the challenges before could be avoided. But God said, “The Lord is with you, you mighty-man-of-valor!” ...and Gideon did as he was called. He led the nation out of their malaise.

And let’s not forget Abraham. Abraham knew he was ill-equipped to father a son at 100 years old, and his wife Sarah at ninety was far from her child bearing years. They even laughed a God for his divinely strange humor. Abraham was defined by physical limitations. But God said, “I will bless your wife and she will surely give you a son.”...and Abraham did as he was called, he kept the covenant with God and found his wife with child.

And let’s not forget about Isaiah. Listen to how Isaiah say himself. “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.” (Isaiah 6:5) Isaiah defined by his sinful limitations.

You too may feel unworthy, but God calls you worthy.

You too may not feel not ready, but God will make you ready.

You too may feel ill-equipped, but God will equip you.

Abraham felt overwhelmed by his physical limitations,

Gideon by his emotional limitations,

Jeremiah by his age limitations.

Isaiah was overwhelmed by his secret sins. tormented in his soul.

But God said, “Isaiah? Your guilt is taken away; your sin atoned for.”

And Isaiah responded ... ... “Here am I, Lord. Send me!”

Go! Go in the confidence. God has called, assigned, equipped, and enabled You. And in the confidence that He will remain with You ... Go!

2011-03-06T17:43:00.000-08:00

You Have More Control than You Think

March 6, 2011

Matthew 9:27-29

²⁷ As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” ²⁸ When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” “Yes, Lord,” they replied. ²⁹ Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith let it be done to you”

Not more than a few years ago, Rachael was vacationing in Miami Beach enjoying her first chance visit the sunshine paradise. Blocks from the resorts on Collins Ave., across the channel berthing yachts and speed boats, Miami Beach spreads out like most ordinary cities; crowed, smog, noisy, strip malls, and non-descript apartments; save for one that caught Rachael’s eye, perhaps set back sixty feet from the sidewalk.

It was skirted with a long, wide porch on which there were neat rows of rocking chairs warmed by the afternoon sun; each evenly space, in exactly the same position, nothing touching anything. Many of the chairs were occupied by quiet, elderly people, rocking gently to the hum of the traffic and the wafting breeze; every one ... however, just staring ... straight ahead ... at the street.

Rachael says, “I keep thinking, ‘All their lives, everyone on this porch worked hard, loved little, saved what they could, and it’s come to this: eight inches away from each other and no one to talk to.’”

If you ask me, that’s a scary thought. How much of our lives are spent nurturing ourselves until we have nothing left than ourselves.

Is it possible that by the time we are sitting on the porches of retirement homes, rocking quietly in the gentle breezes of an afternoon’s setting sun, that we have been so beat up over the years that this is all we have left?

As Eric Roth wrote in The Good Shepherd, “Do you know what my deepest fear is? That I will end up friendless; completely alone.”

Therapist Laurie Ann Perlman acknowledges we are motivated by needs that develop over years of gratification, frustration, reinforcement and disappointment. They become deeply unconscious and drive us to find associations that will balance our sense of self. We gravitate to things that give us safety, provide trust, allow for intimacy, build self-esteem and help us get some control over our daily grind.

What is it that is going to give us the deepest sense of purpose in our lives?

What is it that is going to address the voids we feel within?

What is it that will determine our blessings?

Have you watched the Dr. Phil show? I catch it once and a while. He’s not that bad at encapsulating patterns and offering perspectives for working through them. Dr. Phil McGraw basically works at "getting real" with behaviors and creating positive lives.

Last week his show was “The Mistress Revealed.” (You can imagine how I thought that we were in for a Jerry Springer, chair-throwing evening.) But, Phil McGraw calmly exposed the destructive belief system that was bringing destructive patterns into a marriage. His first guest-couple were fighting through a husband who had had seven adulterous affairs in five years, and rationalized it on the basis that his wife was too busy raising the kids and his wife was no longer physically attractive to him.

Now I ask you, what was his belief system? He believed in lust

In what had he placed his faith? He put his faith in his libido.

And what blessings had that faith bestowed him? a few minutes of titillating thrills and an alienated wife.

Had he turned his chair to that which God had given to him in the first place, turned his attention to his wife (as God so advises in Eph. 5, Gen. 3, Matt 5, Gal. 5), would he not have found the blessing in the marital sanctity that can be the highest halls of human happiness?

All that most of us do is put our hopes in quick fixes, instant gratification, self-centered satisfaction, driving ourselves to a “Shangri-La” of our own creation ... and it is death.

“Those who sow trouble, reap it.” Job 4:8

“Whoever sows injustice, reaps calamity.” Proverbs 22:8

“They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind. The stalk has no head; it will produce no flour.” Hosea 8:7

“Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly.” 2 Corinthians 9:6

”Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; “

But....”whosoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.” Galatians 6:8

If I live by my libido, I’ll face the consequences of STD’s, broken trust, betrayal of children. If I live by money, I’ll reap the benefits of its material gains along with its seductive alienation. If I live by power, I’ll gain the blessings of influencing others along with its deep loneliness, its paranoia over losing clout, its isolation from life.

However, as we see in the encounter of Jesus with the two blind men we really need to live in the shadow of God’s mercy, to seek Him, to put ourselves under His way, His truth and His life. In Jesus there is the invitation to turn our chairs towards something that can really heal us, to live for something that can really move us; to trust something that will really renew us.

In effect, God has given us more control over what happens to us than we may have thought. I have free will to choose who and what will by my god, and subsequently to decide what blessings I want to have in my life. The choice is yours.

If I live my myself, well ... count my curses...

If I live by God, well... count my blessings...

³ ... for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

⁴ ... they will be comforted.

⁵ ... they will inherit the earth.

⁶ ... for they will be filled.

⁷ ... they will be shown mercy.

⁸ ... they will see God.

⁹ ... they will be called children of God.

¹² Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven! (Matthew 5)

“This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses; life or death, blessings or curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live!” Deuteronomy 30:19

It is up to you. What do you believe in?

2011-02-13T12:24:00.000-08:00

The Time of Your Life: Use it Wisely

February 13-2011

Ephesians 5:15-17

¹⁵ Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, ¹⁶ making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. ¹⁷ Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.

Why is it that winter seems to last for ever? In fact, we really only fight through about nine weeks of it out of 52 each year. But come summer time when we hang at the beach, enjoy vacations, enjoy baseball, time goes by like a flash of lightning, when in fact we have about 20 good weeks and good fun and good weather. Time drags when you want it to pass quickly and flies when you need more of it? It's not very cooperative!

Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers from NPR’s Car Talk argued ,

1. Time is money and money is work

2. Money is the root of all evil.

3. So if A=B, and B=C, then C=A, or we can conclude that

4. Work is evil, ... so let's go golfing.

Driving a furniture truck in upstate Vermont, we worked hard for not much money; starting out at 7:00, loading and unloading furniture, navigating back roads and getting home after dark tired and hungry. But we loved it. It was honest work and we met some interesting people.

Once we delivered a mattress to a small, one room apartment made out of a converted motel. We unloaded the mattress, set it up, packed up the old and loaded it into the truck only to find that the truck battery had died and we had to wait for another truck to drive over from the warehouse to give us a jump.

It took about an hour, and in the hour I felt a bit sad visiting with the young, unemployed father, his wife and one year old daughter. During the entire hour, they just sat in their lazy-boy’s watching TV, sort of in a semi-comatose state.

Rather than wasting time or spending time, achievers invest time. They make the most out of each moment.

Last week I mentioned how in an interfaith world Jesus is Buddha: the concepts of Buddha are of Jesus. This makes sense. If Jesus is the Lord of all that is good, then all good should be expected to be part of Jesus. However, Buddha is not Jesus; that is salvation, forgiveness, intimacy with God, personal communion with the Father are not part of Buddhism.

Mindfulness of Buddhist philosophy plays a central role in the teaching of Buddhist meditation, and it is intricately woven into the realities of the living Christ.

Described in Buddhism as a calm awareness of one's body, one’s feelings, the content of one’s consciousness, its discipline results in (... listen to this...) the development of "wisdom." How keenly connected this discipline is with the truth Paul is talking about. Almost is passing he says.

¹⁵ Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise...

Be mindful of every moment.

YOUR TIME IS YOUR LIFE.

Think of it this way: when you give someone money, you've given them something that really is replaceable (a few hours work, another investment trade; it can be replaced). But when you give someone your time, you've given them a part of your life. This means "time management" is really "life management."

The Philips Translation has paraphrased this passage as,

"...Make the best use of your time. Don't be vague, but grasp firmly what you know to be the will of God." (Eph. 5:15-17 Ph)

I'd summarize these verses this way:

1. ANALYZE YOUR LIFESTYLE! “Be mindful of how you live.” (v.15) Be aware of what's going on. Be mindful.

2. UTILIZE THE PRESENT! “Make the most of every opportunity.” (v.17) Make the most of each instance.

3. RECOGNIZE WHAT'S IMPORTANT! “...understand what the will of the Lord’s will.” (v.17) Focus on priorities that last.

A question to consider as you work this week: how much of what I'm doing right now is going to count ten years from now, ...50 years from now, ... or for eternity?"

2011-02-07T09:10:00.000-08:00

Your Greatest Weakness is God’s Greatest Platform

February 6, 2011

2 Corinthians 12:7-9

⁷ ...Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. ⁸ Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. ⁹ But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”⁹...Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. ¹⁰ That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Few, if any, will ever know what it feels like to be Chuck Close. Most of us have not idea of who he is. I had not run into his story until this last week. But in his story I do believe all of us have something monumentally important to learn from him.

Chuck Close is portrait artist. Unlike the days of old when portraitures were a paramount part of preserving your legacy, there are not many today who request this talent. Still, Chuck Close seems to have become a rather respected portrait artists of our time. When you look at his work, huge 10’x9’ canvasses, you would think you were looking at massive photographs. But on closer examination you’d notice there is no grain as with film, and no pixilation as with digital formats. They are painting in acrylic, or oil; or pencil sketches done with such detail they stun the senses.

But if you knew his backstory, well that you really give you something to think about.

Close suffers from prosopagnosia. It’s a disability where you can’t remember a face. You meet someone, and five minutes later, you see their face, but you cannot make any recollection about who it is; hear their story, have them mention their family, and then the connections are likely to return and you can remember who you are talking with. But to remember who’s who by the face alone is nearly impossible. In effect, the disability leaves one desperately alienated from the social world.

Faces are his greatest weakness. And yet, Chuck Close creates powerful masterpieces from the very things that are his greatest weakness. His weakness rather than adding to his alienating, becomes the motivation for greatness. To quote Chuck Close, “Everything in my art is driven by my disability.”

His greatest weakness is the source of his greatest strength. The weakness provides that platform where his greatness is elevated.

Few, if any, will ever have a disability like Chuck Close’s, and yet all of us face similar conditions. Who among us does not have to deal with weakness in one shape or another:

Some of us feel completely inadequate for handling the responsibilities we have and feel like complete failures.
Some of us feel like we are too callous, heartless, selfish and careless to have a healthy relationship with our spouse..
Some of us have been so traumatized in our past that we feel paralyzed in the present. ..
Some of us are overwhelmed by physical ailments and our bodies are eating away at our health.

For every person, there is Good News.

I so much would like to get this News into our world that has dismissed Jesus as just another option. Many see Jesus as just another idea on par with the Buddha, or Mohammad, or a Wiccan who focuses on the energies of the earth. I have been to interfaith chapels where a cross, a Buddha, the star and crescent of Islam and a rock are poignantly displayed on a shelf next to each other symbolizing equity between the faiths. But as I look into the alternative religions, all valid and helpful with truths for wholeness and healing, I’ve realized the Jesus is Buddha. The concepts of suffering and mindfulness are all in Jesus. Jesus is Mohammad. The teaching of justice and discipline in the original revelations of Mohammad are in the revelations of Jesus. Jesus is the earth. The pagan communion with earth are in Jesus, “Who was from the beginning,” and we celebrate in Genesis and Psalm 24. But, and this is a big “but,” Buddha is not Jesus. Mohammad is not Jesus. Wiccans are not Jesus; for Jesus is a reality that embraces all, but not one of which all else embraces. Jesus invites us into a relationship that NO OTHER religion dares embody. Jesus is God embracing weakness, personally; living and breathing in our pain and suffering and, as Paul preaches, lives in the weakness to glorify God’s strength. All other faith systems are valuable and have tremendous wisdom for humanity, and each is in harmony with Jesus, but Jesus is more. In the interfaith chapel I have wanted to gently pick of the cross the put it above the other religious symbols, in only in my mind, to reflect what I do believe is a deeper reality. Jesus is all, but not all is Jesus. He lifts me in my weakness to glorify the Kingdom.

Jesus speaks to Paul, and Paul speaks to us,

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

In weakness, any greatness is not me, but of the One who made me. I become the vessel for glorifying God, if I but let Christ take my life and embrace me in my weakness.

Our greatest weakness may actually be God’s greatest platform for elevating His power and glory in our lives.

Many, many times we find ourselves with loved ones, friends, neighbors - - incapacitated, debilitated, deteriorated, depreciated, decomposed, decayed, putrefied, petrified and calcified. We say, “They have no use.”

Frank had undergone surgery for a heart valve. As they were finishing the procedure and moving him off the ventilator, he aspirated and choked so severely that for 13 minutes no one was able to get air to his lungs. His brian in effect died and Frank was comatose.

His wife, Loretta, took him home, nursed him for seven years, Frank never regaining consciousness, before his died. During those years many would wonder, and some would say, “It would be a blessing if Frank would just die.”

But Loretta pointed out some profound wisdom, right from the revelation of Jesus to Paul, “I know Frank is a burden, but I also have seen how his illness has brought out the heart of compassion in his daughters who have learned through him how to love deeply, and relished every breath God has given them.”

Frank was, by all accounts of our utilitarian value system of a secularized world that see worth only in terms of usefulness, ... Frank was useless. But in the eyes of those who could see, for those who stopped long enough to sit by his bedside, there emerged a deep gratitude and mindfulness for the moment of each instance of life. Live, in the face of Frank’s weakness, because a great value.

In 2 Corinthians 12:9, Jesus tells Paul, and Paul tells us,

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

God’s power is the perfect counterpart to your weakness. It’s more than enough for you and it’s completely available to you. God isn’t scouring the universe looking for a perfect person through whom He can display His power and glory. Remember whom Jesus spent time with. Yes, he spent time with the aristocracy of Jerusalem, but he was more interested in the hated tax-collected, the leper, the widow, the blind, the lame, the outcast: the hurt and weak... people who had no claim to fame, or hope of fame, through whom he could rise them to a glory known only to a God who lives and reigned within.

No matter what you’re going through, no matter how weak you feel right now, God will use the “thorn in your flesh” and raise you on a platform of triumph.

2011-01-30T18:09:00.000-08:00

How to Gain Strength in Stress

January 30, 2011

Matthew 11:28

“Come to Me all you that are weary and heavy burdened and I will give you rest.”

Ever have one of those…a bad day? It seems the longer I live, and net number of “bad days” accumulate, it gets easier to become discouraged. William Ward, a British pioneer and Baptist missionary of the 18^th century, wrote:

Discouragement is dissatisfaction with the past, distaste for the present, and distrust of the future.

Discouragement is ingratitude for the blessings of yesterday, indifference to the opportunities of today,and insecurity regarding strength for tomorrow.

Discouragement is unawareness of the presence of beauty, unconcerned for the needs of our [neighbors], and unbelief in the promises of old.

Discouragement is impatience with time, immaturity of thought,and impoliteness to God. -

When we are over-stressed, over-worked, over-taxed and over-run, we fall to the attitudes William Ward depicts; we basically burnout. Moving from burnout to balance involves shifting our orientation of thought. Jesus said in Matthew 11:28, “Come to Me all you that are weary and heavy burdened and I will give you rest.”

Three characteristics of God Jesus is pointing us to in this morning passage.

1) It’s Invitational 2) It’s Personal 3) It’s Mutual

1) It’s Invitational

This is an invitation; a polite invitation. No one is coercing any of us into a relationship with Jesus. The days of the Inquisition and heresy trials were blind to this key character of God . We lost Joan of Arc. We suppressed Galileo Galilei. We beheaded Thomas Moore among countless innocence tortured in the name of orthodoxy and in direct contradiction to Scripture.

My understanding of this characteristic emerged from, off all places, Ephesians 5 during a pre-marriage class. Ephesians 5 deals with marital relationships. For the husband, Paul tells us, “Husbands, love your wife as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her.” Hence, men, we need to ask ourselves what was it that Christ gave up? Nothing less than life itself, and as such our role is sacrificial for the wife.

But then Paul turns to the wife and says, “Wives, love your husbands and submit to them for the husband is head of the wife and Christ is head of the church.” The brakes go on here when ever this is raise. It contradicts our modern family structure.

I mentioned to the class that I didn’t have a clear understanding of this. But a young bride, not schooled in church life or raised in church school, interjected,

“Well wait a minute. I’m wondering if we women need to ask the same question you poised to the men, ‘How is it that Christ is head of the church?’

“It seems to me that Christ is a voluntary association. I choice Christ,because He chose me and in Christ I see all the goodness that I seek to aspire to. So, shouldn’t I also be seeking a husband in whom I see such goodness reflected that I too willingly accept him?”

So it is with Christ. He waits for us in expectation that in Him we will see all such goodness so as all I want to do is voluntarily submit myself to Him. No one coerces me. It is a free invitation. I don’t have to join a club, attend a motivational conference, pass a test, win any election or prove anything. It’s just an invitation.

Just come.

2) It’s Personal

In the Bible people came to Jesus for many different reasons. Some came for forgiveness. Some came for answers. Some people came for healing. Some came for salvation. Some came for eternal life. And too all these Jesus adds, You could come to Me for rest. Rest from the stress, rest from overload.

Jesus says, “Are you weary? Overloaded? Come to Me.” He says “I will give you rest for your souls.” We’ve overloaded in our mind. We’ve overloaded in our emotions. We’ve overloaded in our spirit. We need soul-rest. Release from worry. Release from tension. Release from stress, from guilt, from fear, from bitterness, from anxiety. Soul-rest.

And Jesus says, “If you’re worn out, if you’re tired, overloaded, come to Me and I will give you soul-rest.” Jesus doesn’t say, “Come to my seminar. Come to my house. Come to the movies. Come to Key West.” It isn’t a call, a place, an activity or vacation. It’s personal.

In our Tuesday study we reviewed meditation passages in the bible. The Old Testament is full of the business of meditating. It discusses meditation as the practice of consciously detaching oneself from the daily grind and going about the business of reflecting upon God.

But we also noticed that when we get to the New Testament, the idea of meditation takes a backseat to another activity: prayer. Jesus prays. Peter prays. Paul prayers. We are taught how to pray. Rather than just meditate on the precepts of God, in the New Testament, we are invited to actually talk with God. “It’s not business, Sonny. It’s personal.”

3) It’s Mutual

Oxen work in a team. They are yoked together to share the load. It is a shared burden. Feeling overwhelmed? Orienting your thoughts and priorities to things holy invites a shared distribution of the burden. We don’t have to go at it alone.

You may turn to food when you’re exhausted. You may turn to video games, or prop your feet up and go numb in front of the TV. You may turn to a drink or a pill. But none of these things can help pull the burden, but Jesus can!

It is as if Jesus is declaring the fulfillment of Isaiah has arrived. (Isaiah 40:31 (New King James Version)

³¹ Those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.

How?

If you don’t know how, turn to Matthew 6, or Luke 11

⁵ “And when you pray, ...⁶ ... go into your room, ... and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. .. ⁹ In this manner, therefore, pray:

Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. ¹⁰ Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. ¹¹ Give us this day our daily bread. ¹² And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. ¹³ And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

That’s all it is. Accept the invitation, know that it’s personal, talk to God and God will share the burden.

Meditation and Good Health

2011-01-26T09:16:00.000-08:00

DAVID WAS RIGHT!

Psalm 1

¹ Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
² but whose delight is in the law of the LORD,
and who meditates on God's law day and night.
³ That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever they do prospers.

Did you know the more we meditate on God, the better we are physically and emotionally? I’m not talking about some anecdotal story from some pop-psychologists, but hard, verifiable science.

Brief prayer, those short shout-outs to God, has not shown to have a direct effect upon our well-being, and may actually increase depression, as reported in American Journal of Geriatric Psychology (Apr. 15, 2007; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17384312).

However, longer, intense meditation and prayer practiced within the context of weekly religious activities effectively treats, as reported in Complimentary Therapies in Clinical Practice (Aug. 12 2006):

hypertension,
cardiac arrhythmia,
chronic pan,
PMS, insomnia,
anxiety,
depression,
hostility,
infertility,
side effects of cancer treatment and AIDS” (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16835029).

So, if you are feeling out of sorts, depressed, weak, ill… well, don’t be a stranger to the very disciplines God has given us to keep us as whole as possible. Be part of the practices that (get this) even improve mortality! (International Journal of Psychiatry Medicine; 2006).

David was right; but then for the religiously focused soul who is already active in a religious life, this is common knowledge.