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More about Grief and Death…
Devotional/discussion thought of the day…
12 What return can I make to Yahweh for his generosity to me? 13 I shall take up the cup of salvation and call on the name of Yahweh. 14 I shall fulfil my vows to Yahweh, witnessed by all his people. 15 Costly in Yahweh’s sight is the death of his faithful. 16 I beg you, Yahweh! I am your servant, I am your servant and my mother was your servant; you have undone my fetters. 17 I shall offer you a sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of Yahweh. 18 I shall fulfil my vows to Yahweh, witnessed by all his people, 19 in the courts of the house of Yahweh, in your very heart, Jerusalem. Psalm 116:12-19 (NJB)
If you read this blog yesterday, you know that I am dealing with a number of families who have had loved ones pass away. It is a bit sobering, and yet, I am sure God will bring them comfort, through His word, through His presence, even if that comfort, if the revealing of His presence is done through a broken person like me.
This morning, as I looked at my calendar, it is my aunt’s Birthday – my dad’s sister who passed away a few years ago. It reminded me of how grief never completely leaves us in this life, as I thought about their three story (they lived on the first story) in North Andover, and out walks to the little river that few into the Merrimac. Or the Dairy’s ice cream shop that was up at the top of their street, and across the busy thoroughfare. (awesome pistachio ice cream there – but I always had it in a cup because if I didn’t – it would be all over the place) Or later, her house in Salem….
Melancholy accompanies the return of the grief – and missing what we didn’t realize we had.
But then, to come across the passage above – which is both a foreshadowing of Jesus, and yet a comfort for us as well. For God doesn’t take pleasure in our death, It costs Him, it cost Him dearly, for indeed His only Son died that death wouldn’t be our end.
That is what the rest of that passage is about the Son of the maidservant, who would fulfill His vows and offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving, as sacrifice of his own life.
I used the specific translation, the New Jerusalem Bible here for a reason. Rather than replace the Name of God, (as is the tradition of many translations) with LORD in all caps, the NJB uses the Name God gives us to call on Him, the Name He gave first to Moses. A personal Name, not just a title (Lord) or a descriptive noun (God, Deity), but the Name.
Especially in times of great grief, this brings me great comfort, to know that YHWH wants us to call on Him, wants us to know He is present, wants us to know He is there to comfort us. As well, that the people who mean so much to Him, our loss is not overlooked, and it matters to Him as much as us. Even more, as we consider what He has done, to rob that loss of any eternal significance. For those who believe and are baptised, having died with Him, shall certainly rise….
Knowing that, showing these promises, showing them how God is here, as we dwell in His presence…. that makes a difference, that leave us, realizing as well, His peace.
Lord, You’ve had great mercy on us!
A Unforeseen, a second blog this day!
The Unforeseen Second Devotional Blog of the Day:
Plan everything? Everything! you told me. All right: we need to use our prudence. But bear in mind that human undertakings, whether they are hard or simple, always have to count on a margin of the unforeseen; and that a Christian should never shut off the road of hope, or be forgetful of God’s Providence. (1)
If you read my first blog this morning, maybe you can understand why I am struggling to get about my “duties”. About planning 4 services, two funerals, to regular church services. I want to put off the work, as I would want to put off mourning – what sociologists call “denial”. If I don’t plan them..well.
So I turned to a favorite book, some short quotes and comments (if you are a regular here – you know I often work off of these writings – or find them complimentary to my own devotions) and I see the above quote. It strikes me as oddly powerful – even as I realize how much I am weak as my days change, as my plans have to adapt.
Don’t get me wrong, I tend to thrive in the unknown, in times of chaos…. there is something… thrilling isn’t the right word… but.. energizing? in dealing with the constant flow, where God’s presence is needed, and indeed, becomes palpable. Yet even as I thrive on such times, they can weary me, unless I realize what St Josemaria tells us to focus on above. The “road of hope”, the very journey expecting, knowing the promise of God that sustains our steps, the providence of God, the mercy and grace and love that more that causes us to be sustained, that causes us to soar with wings of eagles….
I am not saying God can’t work with us in our ruts, in our daily grind, in those days where we have to plan, to be disciplined. For in those times as well – we have to dwell in hope, we have to account for the blessings we will encounter, the providence that lets us rest…
It all boils down to this very things…. the Lord is with you.
Therefore you have hope – and expectation of His grace…and you are sure of His providence.
Lord Have Mercy…. we cry…trusting He does!
(1)Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). The Forge (Kindle Locations 2648-2651). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
The Challenge of Seeming Failure
Devotional Thought/Discussion point of the day”
10 In my life in union with the Lord it is a great joy to me that after so long a time you once more had the chance of showing that you care for me. I don’t mean that you had stopped caring for me—you just had no chance to show it. 11 And I am not saying this because I feel neglected, for I have learned to be satisfied with what I have. 12 I know what it is to be in need and what it is to have more than enough. I have learned this secret, so that anywhere, at any time, I am content, whether I am full or hungry, whether I have too much or too little. 13 I have the strength to face all conditions by the power that Christ gives me. Philippians 4:10-13 (TEV)
One of the conversations during my trip on the mission field, was about the harsh reality of ministry, how the dreams of how it would be can come crashing down, when we face the daily grind on the field. When the results we long for, do not come to fruition right away, or even after a year or two. For young people in ministry, this can be a hard lesson. It doesn’t always get easier either, and far too often I have known the feeling – could I be more productive for God’s kingdom in another place? Could I do things differently? It’s easy to get caught up in visible results – and loose hope. This is most certainly true when it seems we have to teach the same lesson, repeatedly, year after year, month after month, heck – sometimes in the same Bible Study or counseling appointment.
Despite what Paul is saying – it is hard to be content with life at times – and that means it is also hard to be content with life in the ministry at times. This is true for pastors, and it is true for those one the foreign mission field, and I suspect it is for all of us.
After all, don’t they know the treasure we have? Why don’t people respond like on the day of Pentecost? Isn’t that the way it is supposed to happen, with hordes of pagans coming forward to be baptized, to be cleanse of their sins, to win the battle over the anxiety and fear caused by sin, satan and death’s bondage over them?
As I “re-enter civilization” (though I found China far more civilized than the USA) I wonder about my own ministry. Why can a church in China respond in months and be 500 plus people, while mine hovers in the 50’s? Is it that my people don’t treasure and trust in God’s love enough? (and if they don’t – does that mean I am a failure as a pastor?) Is there something wrong with what we are doing? Could there be a place where I am more productive, is there a pastor that would be more productive here? All those questions run through our heads, and I witnessed that in China, among those serving God there as well. It is easy to get disillusioned, disheartened, it is easy to let our minds run wild with questions….
Those questions occasionally need to be asked. But not in the darkness of night, not in the times when we are alone, when Satan can even more draw our attention from God’s presence. We do need to consider what we are doing, how we do it. But that shouldn’t be such that we feel condemned – but focused, energized, our vision clarified, our hope in God renewed….and ourselves content with the place and situation where God has put us.
That is the purpose of self-evaluation, it why we do it in the light of day, in the presence of God, with strong advisers who are willing to invest themselves in helping us. We especially focus, not on our work, but on the mercy of God – on the very thing we treasure, for the reason we started to serve others, either as a lifetime, fulltime vocation, or just as part of our regular day. We have to look to Him at these times… for there the shadows and doubts are dismissed by His glory, and we see things as they are.
Once again, I find some.. help focusing at the end of my devotions…in the words of someone familiar with both the successes and seeming failures of ministry.
“You must be careful: don’t let your professional success or failure—which will certainly come—make you forget, even for a moment, what the true aim of your work is: the glory of God!” (1)
Now, let’s get back to working at our Father’s side. Depending on His power, His mercy, His love…..
Godspeed
Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). The Forge (Kindle Locations 2576-2577). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Three Mondays This Week! Lord, have Mercy!
Devotional thought on my first day back in the office:
17 Everything you do or say, then, should be done in the name of the Lord Jesus, as you give thanks through him to God the Father. Colossians 3:17 (TEV)
Monday morning started early in Hong Kong, as I was up at 4:30 am. FInalize jamming things into a suitcase, jump in a taxi – then to the airport. A flight to Tokyo, where at five in the afternoon I boarded another plane. Eventually fell asleep about 6 hours later… to wake up on Monday morning, and landed at LAX. That was the second Monday literally, and here in my office, 16 hours later, I face the grind of a third Monday, getting the paperwork and studies down for the week….
Three Mondays… capping a 12 day tour – 5 sermons, 8 Bible studies, tons of encouraging and trying to help those who have sacrificed so much to serve God on the foreign mission field.
Let me be honest – its hard to get my desire up to kick into high gear… to get focused, to plan out my short week. And oh wait – a pastor’s conference coming up – Thursday afternoon through Saturday Morning.
And then, in devotions this morning – the above passage comes into my view…. and this..
If we really want to sanctify our work, we have inescapably to fulfil the first condition: that of working—and working well!—with human and supernatural seriousness. (1)
Part of me – wants to dismiss these things as if they are too pietistic, to hear them as law and thereby dismiss them, assuming that grace will overcome my lack of desire, and my lack of action. THe excuses flow quite naturally, from the old Adam. You’ve worked hard – you need time to rest, to recuperate, let others… and in my heart…. I know that is why Paul wrote Romans 6:1 – should I let my sin abound… no.
My only cure… my only way to get back in the groove…is too look to that supernatural seriousness – to realize that I am not working alone – that the Lord is with me. To realize that this work, whether it is doing prep work on a sermon, or visiting shut-ins, or looking through worship for this week and planning Lent… it is all about the greatest, most incredible thing I have ever heard, or experienced, the thing that sustained me on the foreign mission field, and now sustains us, as we work together in this mission field in the USA.
Something so basic, we begin and end every study here at Concordia with it… we use it over and over in our services, as if we need to be constantly reminded of this very things…
The Lord is with you! And with our spirits..>>
He is here…
Time to get back to work… with HIM!!!!!
What an incredible blessing – to see Him working!
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). The Forge (Kindle Locations 2558-2559). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.(1)
Church- our Home… where we are neveraway from Home
DEvotional thought of the Day…or was it yesterday…?
A small sanctuary, really a room that doubles as a classroom, a meeting room, a reception area, a thousand and one other things.
Not the largest group I have preached too, in fact, perhaps one of the smallest, fourteen people, with two guests, of which I was one.
Two musicians, struggling to learn to play together – very different in styling – yet the voices soared in praise of God. It was…… how do I find the words.
the word? Home.
Thousands of miles away – miles I will travel tomorrow…to once again hold my wife, to hug my son.
Yet this odd feeling of being home… in a land I can’t remember coming to…. relationships seemingly forged in 3 days?
A few hours later, I sit in a hotel room – trying to stay awake to greet my family as they wake up…. thinking about the service 5 hours ago… still somewhat in awe…
That is what being part of God’s family is like – being able to be home – to truly neverbe away from our family….for we find ourselves united in Christ Jesus. It could only be the Lord of all that could make such a time happen, only he could do that which is describable….yet undescribable.
Would we realize that every worship service is this…. incarnational, this relational, this incredible. They are… for He has promised to be there.. where He gathers, convicts, heals, blesses, reconciles, loves…grants peace.
TOo often, no matter the style, our worship can seem like work, the humdrum daily grind…. Regarding “work” a priest once wrote:
Jesus, our Lord and Model, growing up and living as one of us, reveals to us that human existence—your life—and its humdrum, ordinary business, have a meaning which is divine, which belongs to eternity. (1)
If God can take doing the dishes, or filing paperwork or baking bread and give it a divine meaning… how much more that time where He calls and gathers us together – to reveal again His love… to bless and pour out Himself….
And if moments like this… are so… transcendent… how much more will it be… when we see Home… our eternal Home?
(1)Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). The Forge (Kindle Locations 2525-2526). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Praying for Miracles…
Devotional thought of the day.
It is Thursday morning for me, just about 6. I am sitting in a terminal of an airport in Tokyo, waiting for the next connection and a five hour flight to my first destination for this trip. Very tired.. yet…
About the time I crossed the international date line, I read…
The power of working miracles! How many dead—and even rotting—souls you will raise, if you let Christ act in you. In those days, the Gospel tells us, the Lord was passing by; and they, the sick, called to him and sought him out. Now, too, Christ is passing by, in your Christian life. If you second him, many will come to know him, will call to him, will ask him for help: and their eyes will be opened to the marvellous light of grace. (1)
That is my hope on this trip – that I will be able to see, or hear about later, the work that God does, as we interact with people, as we share with them the gospel, as we teach them that God desires to walk with them….as Isaiah points out – with the same desire that a bridegroom desires to see his bride. It is a message hard enough to communicate to people in the USA – there seems to be some kind of block to realizing God’s love and desire for them to be in His presence. May they – as well as those I will minister to – and minister alongside – know your love!
May the people you pass by today – realize that they have been visited by the Holy Spirit, for God dwells with you.
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). The Forge (Kindle Locations 2445-2449). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
