Blog Archives

Preparing for Independence

6/27/2017

"Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. 1 Peter 2:16"

LISTEN TO: K'Naan, Wavin' Flag (Official Theme Song of the 2010 World Cup, in South Africa) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBPygYAqAug

Please listen to this also!  The joy contained here will touch you!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnxaMEAYRbg ( Wavin' Flag worldwide version)

Next week on Independence Day, July the 4th, we will celebrate the declaration of freedom the United States proclaimed against Great Britain over 200 years ago. This was just the beginning. Freedom did not come easy. The war itself did not end until 1784 -- some say 1795, when wars with the native American tribes ceased. The young nation experienced casualties of 50,000 from death, disease and injury - the highest per capita death rate except for the Civil War. A nation debt of 37 million was incurred; including an additional 114 million at the state level. Freedom comes at a price.

It is not easy to gain freedom. The people of Israel fought a harrowing struggle with Pharaoh before finally being allowed to leave (cf. Ex. 1-15). But even then the people weren't free. They longed for their old comforts in the former land of enslavement (Ex. 14:12). Freedom was uncomfortable. It took an entire generation to die out before it was safe to bring the people into the promise land. They needed to learn to be a people, under one God, together. They needed to learn to live under freedom's rules (Ex. 20ff). Freedom doesn't mean we get to do whatever we want, whenever we want, to whomever we want. Remember that classic example: "We don't get to yell "fire" in a crowded movie theater."  Freedom, as God designed it, is a freedom from bondage to sin, hatred, despair so we can love God wholly, and serve him wholly as we care for one another. So the Law was given as a "freedom code" to learn to behave and think as a free people under God and toward each other.

In Jesus we see true freedom -- a freedom that came ultimately at the cost of Jesus' life. The willingness to give up his stature to be a slave and servant to all. That is radical freedom. To be so free of selfishness, prejudice and fear and sin so that we sacrifice freely to inspire others to desire this godly freedom, the freedom earned by Jesus on the cross.

The truth is-- we will serve somebody or something. Will we serve God in Christ? Will we serve, our egos, our appearances, economics, real estate, power, prejudices, worldly principalities? Will we make our country into a idol? Be free! Serve as Jesus did, who embodied God's love and grace -- he was free to heal, forgive, even to confront those violated God's code of freedom. His freedom changed lives -- and still does.

So on Independence Day, let us not take freedom for granted. Let us claim national freedoms, and say, along with the Hebrew leader, Joshua, "But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”Josh. 24:15.

PRAY:  "Lord, set me free from all that enslaves me, seen and unseen. Set me free to serve you and my neighbor."

0 Comments

Faces - June 22nd, 2017

6/22/2017

0 Comments

Listen:  For King and Country, "Fix My Eyes,"   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xG3q-v8Uhjs

Psalm 141 - A psalm of David.
1 I call to you, Lord, come quickly to me;
    hear me when I call to you.
2 May my prayer be set before you like incense;"
    may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.
3 Set a guard over my mouth,lord;
    keep watch over the door of my lips."
4 Do not let my heart be drawn to what is evil
    so that I take part in wicked deeds"
along with those who are evildoers;
    do not let me eat their delicacies."
5 Let a righteous man strike me—that is a kindness;
    let him rebuke me--that is oil on my head."
My head will not refuse it,
    for my prayer will still be against the deeds of evildoers.
6 Their rulers will be thrown down from the cliffs,
    and the wicked will learn that my words were well spoken.
7 They will say, “As one plows and breaks up the earth,"
    so our bones have been scattered at the mouth of the grave.”
8 But my eyes are fixed on you, Sovereign Lord;
    in you I take refuge—do not give me over to death.
9 Keep me safe from the traps set by evildoers,
    from the snares they have laid for me.
10 Let the wicked fall into their own nets,
    while I pass by in safety.

How many faces do you see in the picture above? It's interesting to note what we see and don't see. We are trained to recognize the familiar -- we suppress the unknown. Imagine all we overlook in a regular day because our focus is fixed on a destination or our mind is preoccupied. We miss simple things, like a flower, the person serving our coffee, a piece of litter we could pick up.

The same is true with our spiritual sight. Take for example the imagery of Psalm 141. These verses talk to us about developing the desire to do good and to recognize wrong-doing in ourselves. Evil is subtle and cunning. It's the curse we utter when someone cuts us off or is rude. It's the resentment that hangs over our heart like a fog. It's then envy when someone acquires something we long for. It's the anger that inflames our spirit when a brother or sister say or do something we disagree with. It's the refusal to forgive when God has given us the grace to do so. It's the judgment against someone we barely know. It's the excuse we give over and over to not pray or attend to worship. It's the self-absorption we engage in on a daily basis. It's the careless waste of our environment, the neglect of the needy, the aged, the vulnerable. It's the hours we fritter away on the internet, gossip, or pornography. Each of us could examine our conscience and discover the "traps" we have fallen into.

The psalmist paints a vivid picture: evil is so bad for us that it is a kindness to be struck -- if it shakes us out of our apathy. A rebuke is like medicine to the soul if it awakens us that we are on a wrong path and brings us to our spiritual senses.

The remedy for spiritual ailment is training our eyes on God. We do this through prayer -- by lifting our hearts to God as quickly incense rises in the air. We bring our problems to God, we learn to repent of habits that are negative and ask God's help to replace them with positive and spiritual habits. We read scriptures that teach us what God desires of us. We learn to act as children of God. When we do wrong we ask forgiveness. We make amends wherever we can. The more we train ourselves on seeing God in our lives and around us, the more God is able to show us and teach us and guide us to avoid the "nets of wrong-doing."

This week, read Psalm 141 several times. Let its timely message sink in. Most important, ask for the desire to be consistent in prayer, to keep focus on God throughout the day, and the discernment between evil and good in our lives. God will help us to seek the good, and to root out evil -- if we just ask him for this grace.

Are we ready to let go? Are we ready to receive life-giving, life-restoring grace that will set us free from sin's bondage?

Pray:   "God, Teach me every day to examine my heart. Train my eyes to your ways and remove anything that keeps me from resting in you. "

0 Comments

The Gift that Is You

6/14/2017

0 Comments

"Do not neglect the gift that is in you... 1 Tim. 4:14"

Listen:  Jason Gray, "With Every Act of Love"   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Vqf9WRKYTs

A few years back, I asked the children at Children's Message time in church if they could have anything they wanted,what gift they would ask for. Well, that opened a flurry of responses. From Wii u -s, nintendos, xboxs, to tablets, iphones, American girl dolls, a day at Dylan's Candy Store, talking Elmo, a horse, and of course Barbie and all her accouterments -- the kids were not at a loss of thinks they felt would make their day.

It got me thinking: how early on we learn to confuse the gift and the giver. The giver is a just a means to an end- a toy, a meal, a place to call home, someone who loves and cares and accepts us. Do we realize how gifted we are to have all these things? I read somewhere that children in less fortunate circumstances answer differently: they pray for food, a new pair of shoes, clean water, a chance to go to school.

I realized how much more focus we need to put in celebrating our truly priceless gifts: our families, the love and teachings of Jesus to guide our lives, the opportunities we have in life to make a difference around us. How easy it is to take for granted the most precious gifts in our lives, all the people and circumstances that ground us and give us meaning and purpose. What a change we could create in our communities if each of us realized all the ways we are a gift. We are gifts to our families. We are God's gift to the world. We are a gift to the people we meet throughout the day. We can bring that gift of a new pair of shoes or shelter for someone.

Gift comes from the old English meaning to give. So "gift" is about doing! What a difference our day would be if we began each morning acknowledging that God is gifting us to the world today. What a difference if for a moment, we let sink in our psyche that we are gifts. If only we can take in the spiritual worth of that truth!

What if you are the only precious gift someone receives today? In God's hands, you will gift all the lives around you -- in different ways but always conveying something needed, something wanted and precious.

Whose gift are you this minute?

Pray:  "Lord, thank you for the gift of your love and your teachings on how we are to live. Make me a gift this moment to someone in need."

0 Comments

Nothing is Impossible

6/6/2017

0 Comments

"Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." Matthew 17:20

LISTEN TO: Jason Castro, "This Is Only a Mountain" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OWLs1G3q1o

In our front yard is an unusual round patch of ground. It is the mark of where a maple tree once stood. However it fell during Super storm Sandy and had to be completely removed. All that remained was a patch of wood chips. This round, barren spot captivated Forrest. He mixed in garden soil. He planted rings of nasturtiums. Then for good measure, in another stretch of the lawn he planted dahlias and sunflowers. Where that wonderful maple tree stood, now are beautiful orange/yellow nasturtiums. Why nasturtiums? They were the favorite flower of Forrest's beloved grandmother. And she loved nasturtiums because they were her mother's favorite flower. They are a symbol of enduring love and goodness. Life goes on and life finds a way to bloom, even in the wood chips and aftermath of storms.

If you were to ask me a year ago, would we be here, enjoying the beauty of nasturtiums following the felling of that maple tree, I wouldn't have been able to conceive of it. But that's what happens. The storms of life hit. Many precious things are destroyed and damaged in the storms' path. We discover that mountains are not just those large land-forms stretching above the land around it. the mountains we must scale have to do with loving in and living through difficult situations. Having faith that God will see us through when it feels like we've just been dropped down a crevice. Having hope that God will bring us through and open new doors. Paul reminds us in Romans: For in this hope we were saved. "Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. 8:24-25"

Forrest scaled his mountain in bringing new life to that wounded path of soil. He gave that soil his best: the sweet memory of his grandmother's love, a great-grandmother's love: strong as a mountain, a love that can weather any storm, that can bring nasturtiums out of wood chips.

That's how we conquer the mountains. We scale them with patience, faith and love. God's love, and the love we carry with us, down through the ages, and the love that around us -- that love will see us to the other side, where the nasturtiums are waiting to bloom.

PRAY: "God, grant me the faith to face my mountains"

0 Comments

Preparing for Independence

Faces - June 22nd, 2017

The Gift that Is You

Nothing is Impossible

Author

Archives

Categories