Category: Different Scriptures

Posted in Adoption Journey, Different Moments, Different Scriptures

Oh, be quiet Larry…

Posted on by Wick

I remember back in late high school or early college:  There was this short Christian classic on sale or clearance or something and I wanted to get it.  A small part actually wanting to be the kind of person to read such books, and a larger part wanting to seem to be the kind of person to read such books, I snagged it.  I read through it a bit.  I smiled.  I even understood a few sentences.

In college, it was mentioned here and there.  I knew the topic vaguely, and smiled and nodded whenever someone mentioned it in conversation.  Yes, that is quite a good book.  Yes, I do so enjoy practicing the presence of God, just like Brother Lawrence did in “Practicing the Presence of God”.  Whether doing the dishes (as he did) or other menial tasks that my day to day existence brings me, I love the fact that Christ always offers to be very near.  God truly is with us, closer than we often realize.

I was a bit surprised then, when reading the book more closely for my current course on Spiritual Formation, to find so larrymuch in the book I didn’t like.  When the author writes Brother Lawrence (let’s call him Larry) to tell him of a friend who loses a close friend to death, Larry tells him to advise his friend to use these moments to his advantage.  “What a great opportunity to give the part of your heart previously given to your friend back to God where it belongs!”, he seems to say.  Or when the author himself is aging and enduring intense suffering of some sort, Larry refuses to pray his suffering would be taken away.  Instead, Larry insists on praying that God would strengthen the author to endure the suffering that is most likely God’s way of refining his heart and soul.  No, I do not like this guy much at all.  I don’t think I would have written him as much as the author seemed to.  A man who neurotically spent at least 10 years of his life anxious that he shouldn’t be distracted in thought or feeling by anything that might take God’s place, finally ending up with peace (albeit alone, and without much pleasure it would seem beyond the “presence of God”).  No, I do not like this guy much at all.

Yet…I can appreciate his heart.  A heart that yearns for the presence of God so much that everything else – even the extremely important things in life – melt away.  An experience of God’s presence, even in suffering alone, that gives him a sense of complete and udder wholeness that so many empty people in our world are hungry for.

I’ll admit, wrestling with his message comes at a poignant time.  Last week was the final week of Lent.  The season of preparing for Easter.  It was also a week of waiting for an important update in terms of our adoption.  This journey that has taken over 3 years, it finally feels like our boat has spotted land.  So it takes a bit of humility to confess that I, a pastor who was allowed to even baptize several people this morning, was distracted most of my week by checking my e-mail for an update that never came.  That dotting my week of anticipating the resurrection of Jesus Christ, I was experiencing the brokenness of a human whose heart is not at complete peace in this broken world.

Part of me realizes that’s probably okay.   Jesus was certainly not often “at peace” in this world.  Another part of me realizes, there’s something to all this stuff Larry was talking about.

But before you or I go out and leave our family, secluding ourselves in monasteries away from our spouses and children, aiming to live like Larry and push away anything that threatens to occupy a place in our hearts – I don’t think that is required.   But we can be reminded in powerful ways, the truths found in Scriptures like 1 Corinthians 15.  That Jesus died and was resurrected.  The truth of this powerful statement impacts us as individuals, and puts every anxious thought, every deep-seated need/emotion, and every well-intentioned prayer in a wonderfully redemptive context.

The Truth of a resurrected Jesus Christ releases us from serving the state of our situations.  Even though there are times (like this past week, and probably again in the future) we don’t want to hear it, the words of Brother Lawrence come as important reminders: Even really important and good things are not “foundational” the way Christ and His resurrection are.  We can have Peace, even in the midst of needing peace.  That is something the world considers foolish.   That is something scripture considers faith.

That is something my daughters need from their father.  Something my wife needs from her husband.  And so, not as an individual but as a family – we work to shape our heart to seek pleasure only in the things that please God.  We seek to walk with Him as the center of our being.  We confess that this is not an easy road, and we sometimes lose focus.  But we return to this walk and practice – together.

(and really really pray that our boat would draw a big step closer to “land” this week) 🙂

Posted in Different Moments, Different Scriptures

Suffering Joy

Posted on by Wick

This morning, it doesn’t take long for the difficult words from this past Sunday to come whispering back into my mind… “Rejoice always.  Pray continually.  Give thanks in all circumstances.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18a)

The world is broken, and mourning the loss of so many young lives.  Attackers stormed a school, with automatic weapons and the indifference of knowing they too were going to die, and killed over 126 people – mostly young children.  Largely between the ages of 12 and 16, the victims were just beginning to have grand thoughts about what to do with their lives.  Daydreaming, passing notes, and looking forward to the weekend….many of their lives ended without being able to express what was really on their hearts and minds.

My prayers are with them this morning.  The community that weeps.  The parents whose homes have been torn apart. The friends who’ve lost their classmates.  The young loves who’ve lost the one they were inspired by.  The students who’ve lost a teacher.  May God bring comfort, even to those who may not be able to give name to the source.

Certainly God didn’t have any of these scenes in mind when He gave us the words of Paul to the church in Thessalonica.  Surely if God would have known we’d have things like this happening, he would have given a different command.  Something closer to, “Rejoice when you can.  Pray if you can spare the time.  Give thanks before you lose it.”  But we know better than that.  Even as Paul gave those words, God’s people had known immense suffering.  God looked across the suffering that would come to His people, and painted a picture of who we are to be…even in the midst of the brokenness of our world.

Not those who avoid it.  Not those who seek it.  But those who seek God’s presence in the midst of whatever may come.  Those who are able to suffer with those who suffer, have “compassion”, and simultaneously be comforted by a God who has promised He is with us.  Those who are able to celebrate blessings in life with the humility that sees the reality much larger than the moment.  Those who recognize that the only way we become people with hearts grounded in God’s reality is to be those who “pray continually”.  Not starry-eyed false hope that someday this suffering will all make sense.  But a solid foundation of hope that today, right now, even in the midst of brokenness and ugly humanity – there is the presence of a God who says through His tears….”I love you.  I am with you.  Listen to my voice, and receive life that transforms.”

We cannot throw extra God-presence in a box, wrap it, and ship it to those suffering from this tragedy.  But we can allow these moments to call forth transformation in our own lives.  Give yourself time to pray today.  Rejoice, as one Beloved by the Son.  Spend time both speaking AND listening to the voice of our Father who loves you.  Give thanks for the movement of the Spirit that brings New Life.

Allow yourself to feel the story, even in the midst of a day/news-hour that moves right on to the next thing.  Allow the pain in your heart to enable you to cry out to God with them….”Lord, come.  Lord….come.”  And know that He has.  Know that He is.   Know that He will…

Posted in Different Scriptures

Luv is a Verb (part 2)

Posted on by Wick

So what does THAT look like? It seems to look, like Love. Not love like feelings and mushy stuff and roses. But love like laying down a life for ones’ friends. Love like sacrificing our own desires, and letting go of self preservation for the sake of living naturally as one through whom God loves. It’s not an effort-based thing either, not something they’ve been trying really really hard at, in an attempt to look like the loving Christian they know they’re supposed to be. Like the toddler earlier, it’s not an obsessive compulsion to make sure Loving acts are happening regularly. It’s a natural, and often “giddy” outflow of what exists in the heart sourced in Christ.

King Jesus tells them “for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.”

I always forget this next verse comes from BOTH those who followed Jesus, and those who did not. They’re taken back, surprised, and ask the King, “Lord, when was this?” They had NO IDEA they were serving and showing love to Jesus. They were simply living out of the New Creation they had been transformed to be. They were living naturally out of the heart of God. It might be tempting in our walk with Jesus to think, “I know God wants me to love each person as if I were loving Jesus himself. So I’m just going to pretend each person I bump into is Jesus.”

But if I look into the face of every person I meet, and only see Jesus, I’m missing out on the beauty and uniqueness of all the individual lives and ways God has shown his creativity. God doesn’t look down on us, and forget our names, faces, and stories, seeing only Jesus. But because of what Jesus has done, God is able to look fully at each of us as individuals. Your name, your story, and all the unique ways He has created you to reflect bits and pieces of God into the world. THAT is how we love, because that is how we have BEEN loved! Once again, the child of God can only do that which they see the Father doing.

So we see the people of God, not aiming for larger mansions in heaven. Not loving the least of these because they know it’s part of their Christian duty. Not even because they see Jesus in every face around them. But because their very nature has been changed. Their reflex is no longer “Self”. Their reflex has become “Love”, even to the very least of these. To those our world overlooks, tramples underfoot, and has forgotten about. Those our world is afraid of touching, or even just, afraid of. To the very last in line, the follower of Jesus is broken as God’s heart is broken toward them. Desiring justice. Desiring to care for them. The orphan, the widow, the poor, the hungry, the powerless, the voiceless, the sick, those with nothing to offer us in return. The people of God naturally reach out in love, with the heart of God. And in each of these cases, it makes us vulnerable. It costs something. It may lead us the way of the cross.

In his book, Bob Goff writes, “That’s because love is never stationary. In the end, love doesn’t just keep thinking about it or keep planning for it. Simply put: love does.”

Or as DC Talk put it back in the 90’s, “Luv is a verb”

This is not a foreign concept to us, as Free Methodists either. John Wesley wrote, “This is the sum of Christian perfection: It is all comprised in that one word, Love. The first branch of it is the love of God: And as he that loves God loves his brother also, it is inseparably connected with the second: “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Thou shalt love every man as thy own soul, as Christ loved us.”

It seems so simple. It seems a little mushy even. And yet we can’t get away from the fact that it seems to be completely tied to those who anticipate the coming justice and reign of Jesus as Lord fully over all things. It makes these “acts of love” even more vital, and even more connected to what is coming as the Son of Man returns to sit on His Throne. Because we are not just loving to make someone feel good. We are loving as a powerfully subversive statement that says, even in the midst of laws and cultures that say otherwise – LOVE like God’s is the way of my Citizenship. It is the way of my King.

So what is our challenge this morning, in the midst of these Truths? How do we ensure that we don’t end up like the second group? This group may have had a large and honest love for Jesus, because they genuinely wanted to be saved from sin, and wanted to enjoy heaven for eternity. They say to Him, “Wait….when did we even see you, and have a chance to offer you food, drink, clothes, or invite you in?” To them Jesus gives the same response, “..just as you did or didn’t do for the least of these, who are members of my family, so you did for me.”

How do we begin moving in the direction of the first group, who’s knee-jerk response was to love without regard? Based on what we hear Jesus describing in his response about what the son can do, it would seem we first need to start with realizing what the Father is doing. And what the Father IS doing? is loving.

God. Loves.

God Loves you, no matter what you come from, and no matter how you’ve lived toward Him. God loves you, whether you’re important and people listen to you, or you have very little influence and a timid voice. Whether you are a decision maker, or whether life pretty much dictates what road you have to travel. God loves you.

But also, God loves them. The people on the other side of the street, that make so much noise or act so different it makes you uncomfortable. God loves them. Those imprisoned for making horrible choices, and living what seems to be comfortably in broken lives. God loves them. Those who completely disagree with you theologically, politically, and work hard to make sure your efforts fail. God loves them. You. Love. Them.

And as we’ve talked about already, Love is a verb. God loves you. God loves them. God is pouring out His Spirit to unite your heart with His, so that you can actually experience Love for your enemies. So that you can be broken with God’s heart for them. So that you can look at the least of these, and not see Jesus, but actually see someone who is called “BELOVED” by God. So that you can look in the mirror, and not see your accomplishments or your failures, but actually see someone who is called “BELOVED” by God.

What if this week, as people are making giant lists of things they’re thankful for. For homes, for food, for clothes, for comforts, or many other blessings. What if you became united in solidarity with those who have very little thanks to offer, beyond the love of God? I’m not saying cancel your family dinner, and tell all the relatives you’re going down to work in the soup kitchen instead….although you’re certainly welcome to do so. What I’m saying is, to be aware of how beloved you are. To exist, as my Pastor has said before, with the “radical preoccupation with the preciousness of others.”

To ask God even now, that He would give you His heart. That he would transform your mind. That his ways of love in our world would be revealed to you, so that you can do exactly what you see Him doing. So that you can love in such a response to the love of God that you forget you even heard this story about it being Jesus you’re loving.

That will naturally look different in each of our lives. Each of us has a unique place in our communities and families. Each of us has unique things we can offer in love to others. But each of us has….LOVE. Love that responds to hunger with food. Love that responds to thirst with drink. Love that responds to those left out by inviting them in. Love that clothes the naked, cares for the sick, and visits those imprisoned.

Not because doing these things earns us the right to be called “Sheep”. But because we have been made into New Creations. We have been born again as Children of God, and have received New Life in Christ. We are made free from sin – for a reason. The justice of God is coming one day fully in Jesus Christ. We look forward to that day. And we proclaim that day, by living under His Lordship even now. By acting according to the ways of His Kingdom. Citizens not of the law, but of Love in which the law finds it’s perfect fulfillment.

It’s why we serve, and work toward the justice of God, even though we know it will fall short until Jesus returns. Because as we read in 1 Corinthians 13:7, “Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.”

The altar is open this morning, as we close with a final hymn, “Come, All Christians Be Committed”. A hymn of invitation that speaks about offering our lives to the Lord, and offering our love to each other.

Maybe you’ve already made the commitment to accept Jesus as your savior. But maybe today, you’ve heard God calling you to make a commitment to Love as God loves. To become saved not simply for yourself, but for the sake of being enabled to show love to others. Whatever the case, or if you simply want to thank God for His love….I invite you to respond to God for a moment before you click out of here and go about your day…