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How to find strength in the face of adversity and trauma?
Discussion/Devotional thought of the day:
There are days when it seems the trials and traumas never end. For a pastor, perhaps we see this more often than others, but I don’t think so. There are so many things out there to cause anxiety, from health issues to financial struggles, to friends and family in trauma, to marriages and relationships that struggle and need supernatural help to survive and heal.
As I related yesterday, I’ve had a few myself – from dieing to surgeries, and to being there for people in the midst of so many issues. I have found that in the midst of adversity, in the midst of trauma, there is both a sense of peace, and strength that is there that isn’t mine, but it is available to me. It is one of the reasons I am writing a book about churches in trauma – to remind them of what is already there… for them..
In this mornings devotion, I came across two notes that reveal it a little, once you think them through:
475 You realize you are weak. And so, indeed, you are. In spite of all that—rather, because of it—God has sought you. He always uses inadequate instruments so that the work may be seen to be his. From you he asks only docility.
476 When you really give yourself to God, no difficulty will be able to shake your optimism. (Escriva, Josemaria (2010-11-02). The Way (Kindle Locations 1165-1168). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.)
I’ve been accused of being too optimistic once or twice, and while I would adjust St Josemaria’s statement a little – I agree with it. My adjustment would be to say “When you abandon yourself to God” rather than give. Give makes it sound like you can, like a child “take back” that which you have given. (and so often we do!) But to come to the realization that there is no other option, no other hope, then you do let God be God, the Master who promises to and designs your life as a piece of artwork. (see Eph. 2:10 – the word for workmanship there is the word we get poetry from!)
I am not talking about conversion here – at least not in the evangelical sense. For there, conversion has little to do with us, God simply reveals Himself and His love, through those who come to us with His word. Wesley may have called this a “second infilling of grace”, Robert Schuller calls this positive thinking (knowing that we are God’s brings about incredible strength in times of need – that’s the hallmark of most of his writing) , the prophet/leader Joshua would ask it this way “choose you this day whom you serve”. The apostle Paul talks about being confident that “all things work for good for those that love God.” Luther would talk about such as a First Commandment issue – don’t have other God’s – but call upon Him in prayer and praise. When you abandon yourself into God’s hands, and are confident that is the thing to do- you simply know and trust in Him.
What is mistaken for optimism – is simply a matter of confidence in God. Trusting Him, having faith in Him, knowing Him.
That is where the other point of St. Josemaria comes into play. When we realize we are weak – when we realize we have no real option but to abandon ourselves to God, then we begin to realize that God has plans, He has designs on our life, and those designs bring us to places we would have never imagined, to work with people we would never anticipate, and see them respond to the work of God in our lives. Not because we can do great things – but in the midst of the storms, in the midst of what should promote incredible anxiety, in the middle of it all… we know God is with us.
Having mercy, pouring out His love and comfort, assuring us of our place with Him……there is our strength, and knowing that, we can be incredibly bold – in being His people.
So know He is God, and you are His chosen people. And let Him do His thing… being God – He’s significantly better at being God than you are!
Love your neighbor and your enemy, actively
Discussion/Devotional thought of the day:
5:43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
Matthew 5:43-45 (ESV)
It is challenging enough to love one’s friends, one’s neighbors. Yet Jesus calls us to love as He does – to love even our enemies – as we love ourselves. Some may hear this as law – noting the impossibility of such love, and use that as an excuse for not fulfilling this law – or even trying to fulfill it, citing Christ’s fulfillment of the law. They dismiss the command, and seek a cheaper form of grace – one that is reactive, not proactive.
St Paul in Romans 6 would highly disagree – noting that we shouldn’t continue in our sin, that grace would abound more. Instead we should strive to obey and love our enemies – asking God to turn their hearts toward Him. A challenge indeed. I love how one of my favorite authors put it.
440 When you have finished your work, do your brother’s, helping him, for the sake of Christ, with such finesse and naturalness that no one—not even he—will realize that you are doing more than in justice you ought. This, indeed, is virtue befitting a son of God! Escriva, Josemaria, The Way (Kindle Locations 1083-1085). Scepter Publishers.
Love results in action, it’s not just “being nice” or feeling good about someone else. It brings a cup of cold water to someone working, then takes their place while they work. It goes two miles with the person who demanded (fairly or not) that you go one with them one.
Love your enemies – this will not only take the mercy of God, a true level of realizing how much you are in Christ and depend on His strength, but it will give you a new appreciation of His love for you!
Lord have mercy! And as you do, help us show your love and mercy to our enemies and our neighbors,
( by the way – this includes those politicians you’ve been complaining about recently!)
A Source of Brokenness: Who do you belong to?
Discussion thought of the day
“You don’t want to submit yourself to the will of God, and instead you adapt yourself to the will of anybody, and everybody” Escriva
In the 1930’s the Biritsh Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, thought the way to peace was to appease Hitler, to give into his little demands, to sacrifice others that Hitler would find contentment. It didn’t work of course, and the world was plunged into war. I think many of us do that today. Our friends are doing something we know is wrong, and we are quiet, afraid to destroy the relationship, yet all the time fearing for the consequences we know will come. We give in to our children’s demands, thinking that a moment of respite and quiet is worth it, rather than engage in disciplining them. We make deals all the time, with the illusion that it will bring peace, and minimize the impact on our lives.
Except of course, we don’t bow to God, we don’t listen to the one who designed us, and we get mad at Him when peace isn’t there. He points to simple things – love Him, love your neighbor, and points out the critical ways that can be done and lets us know we don’t have to submit to other God’s, we can use His name to praise and pray to Him instead of using it as a cuss word, we can cherish the blessings of marriage and life. We don’t have to covet other people’s lives and reputations….
DO these things, live in the way He designed, and there is peace.
If you don’t, confess them and He will provide the gift of cleaning it up, and making it right,
But we don’t even like that. “why do I have to confess my sins” they cry! “I don’t need a pastor, or a church, my relationship is with God!” I guess, but even in saying that, the self-centered focus is turning down the gifts of God, and my expectation is the time you could have spent with God’s people, the burdens you have, the guilt and shame – you will continue to bear as you bow to others agendas, and you appease them, for an illusion of peace in that moment. The reality of it is, we belong to whomever we try to appease or submit to…
My friends, let God be God, submit to Him, look to His wisdom and promises….. when you belong to Him, the peace isn’t momentary, nor an illusion. It is peace in the middle of storms, and through them. It is real peace in life.
And in crying “Lord have mercy,” we acknowledge we belong to Him, when we confess our sins, looking for and receiving His love and compassion and comfort – we realize it again. When we take part in the family of God, celebrating His presence, His promises, His gifts, the same – we revel in His being our Master, our Lord, our Savior.
SO this morning – who will you belong to?
The Church: Broken People healing while helping others heal
Devotional thought of the day:
It was one of those conversations I will never forget. A dad – obviously by the tatoos and mannerisms and piercings he one who had been challenged with a past. He was sitting on the planter, outside of my church, the night of a preschool graduation. As I walked by in my clerical collar, I greeted him, and asked him if he was shocked about how fast time flies and our kids grow up. His response shocked me,
“Pastor, I know with my tats and my piercings, I am not allowed in the church, but can I watch the graduation from the lobby”
I am still shocked someone would think that about any church, and even more schocked that they would think that about my church. Of course you are welcome in the house of God. Of course you can come – that’s why your child came in the first place. You see, my people aren’t anything like that, they wouldn’t care about the tats, or the piercings, they would be glad the man was there. More importantly God wants him to be welcome, to know the Lord’s presence is with him. I invited him in and told him to sit up front – where he would get a good view of it all. (People tend to stand up a lot to take pictures at such graduations, not thinking that they are blocking someone else’s view. ) But his response… really, is amazing, and it makes me wonder about our churches….the Church. How could they not know?
Luke’s story of Jesus love tells of an incident. One time, in dealing with some people that were a bit too self-righteous, he records “Jesus heard about it and spoke up, “Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? 32 I’m here inviting outsiders, not insiders—an invitation to a changed life, changed inside and out.” Luke 5:31-32 (MSG)
Church isn’t a place for perfect people – they don’t need to be there – they are perfect. It’s a place for broken people, people broken by the sins of this world, and yes, by their own sins as well. Its a place to heal, to have relationships fixed, to be assured of God’s love and His desire to work in our lives, as He speaks life into our tired, weary, and spiritually dead souls. As He makes His desire, His plan perfectly clear.
We belong in His presence, not because we are perfect, but because He desires us to be there, and makes it possible.
I am still not sure if the man believed me or not. I got the feeling that he had been turned away from other churches, in other times. I look at the planter daily, and often remembered our conversation. It is one of the reasons that Concordia’s mission statement, our motto, is simple…
“Where people find healing in Christ, while helping others heal…”
Lord Jesus, in our brokenness, come into our lives, bring healing, peace, rest, comfort, and open our eyes to those around us who need what You freely have given, for that is the Father’s desire, and why you came. Lord have mercy, and teach us to share that with all those around us. Lord as well, help us to never hide that brokenness, that weakness – from you or from those who need to see You working, bringing healing to us. Seeing that – may they realize it is theirs as well. †
AMEN
Prayer is not a FB update!
Thought of the day:
He has become so small—you see: an infant!—so that you can come close to him with confidence. Escriva, Josemaria
In these days of social media – it seems that we communicate more. I am not so sure of that – we may type more words, we may text and twit, we may read the updates of our friends on facebook, ut do we really communicate? There is far more to communication than words – there is body language, intonation, personality, culture, and… intimacy.
Example – if a person from group A says something to someone in group A, even if it is a very negative term for the group they are a part of, there is no issue. Yet the same exact phrase from someone outside of the group – say from group C – oh my gosh, the world is about to end, for world war three has started.
Social Media gives us the illusion of communication – but without all the things that make it comprise it, the “communication” is far more shallow, far less a dialogue, and far easier to misunderstand. I bring this up. I bring this up because I think we treat prayer like a facebook update at times. We tell God what we need Him to know – here it is – and we bulk send a ton of posts. We treat God as if He is as far as the person we are messaging (well except for those times when you message your spouse sitting 26 inches from you!) and we expect that some time later we will get a “y” or NO or a ROFL from God in return.
Prayer is intimate conversation – the most intimate. We see God’s desire for that in that He didn’t come as a great king – with thousands of guards that prevents us from coming close. He has come close, come near – come as a baby – grew up as we did, lived life with all its heart breaks, joys, sorrows, sacrifices, laughter…….He has come near… that we could be near Him, talk to Him, cry on His shoulder, be caught up in His joy as another child of the Father is revealed. He has sent the Spirit, the Comforter to abide with us, to indwell in us, a promise of our baptism, the guarantee of our inheritance, the guide and power of our lives.
Don’t mistake the tiny infant in the cradle for someone weak, someone fragile.. He was there..for you. To know how close you can come to Him……..to know how intimate our relationship is with Him
To know His mercy, to share in His peace..
So talk to Him.. know Him..adore Him, and fall in love with the God who has come near..
What do you pray…about?
Devotional/discussion thought of the day:
“You wrote to me,”To pray is to talk with God. But about what?” About Him, about yourself. joys and sorrows, success and failures, great ambitions, daily worries – even your weaknesses! And acts of thanksgiving and petitions, and love and reparation.
In short, get to know Him, and get to know yourself – ‘to get acquainted” Escriva
Sometime I think we project prayer as some kind of duty, an obligation, a spiritual check in with Dad as we approach curfew. We pray because we are told to, we pray because we are expected to, because we are good people.
If our prayer is only that, then we miss a lot, as we don’t comprehend the heart of the God who reveals Himself as our Father. Who longs to share His life with us, who longs to be with us, Prayer is a conversation with no bounds, and requires no special dignity or formal language. The Lord’s prayer is a basic outline – consider all the things covered by it! Yet as well, there are times where we need solitude and peace, those times too are times of prayer, as are times where we complain and rant and throw a tantrum like Jeremiah, or plead as Paul does for things to get better.
Recently, Andy Griffith died, and most of us recall first the closing to his television show, and he and a very young Ron Howard walk down a dirt road, on the way to go fishing. Such is the nature of the relationship we have with God….as we walk through life together…. know He is there… share the day with Him, rejoice as He pours out His love and mercy and grace… and talk.. and listen,
That is prayer…. try it… often!
Keeping God’s Commandments… a deeper look..
“All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me, therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to keep all I have commanded you, and lo I will be with you always, to the end of the age.!
It’s an incredible passage, one Christians and pastors – especially those who are focused on the mission of the church know well, at least we think we do.
Some focus on the going..
Some focus on the making of disciples…
Some focus on what it means to baptize,
Some focus on what they think teaching them to “keep” all that have I commanded you”
Some rightly focus on the incarnational presence of God – with us – for there is no way we could live our lives in Christ without knowing we do that which we do…
Been there, done that, have the t-shirts, the bible studes, the sermons i have written on all five of those great things….heck – talked people into going places and doing things – and those who did the right thing… may have done it for the wrong reason….
In the last few years – I’ve spent some time thinking and dwelling on this idea of Keeping and what is that which is “commanded” . Obviously this is a major part of our responsibility of the church – the vocation of all of us. So it bears a look into it.
First let’s deal with “keep”, which is sometimes erroneously translated “obey”. It is far more than simply obedience. And understanding the difference between keep and obey is critical. Keep in English is from the old English term for that place where you put that which you treasure, the castel keep was where the kings heirs, his wife, and the treasure – his and that of the people – when they are under attack, with they are oppressed. So to it is in Greek – it comes from the word for guard, to protect – to keep safe because it is a treasure. You can obey someone – without treasuring them…
That is far greater than the simple idea of blindly or knowledgeably obeying that which we are directed to do. We have something which is a treasure – it is more incredible than anything else we have! This which we teach to those who walk with Christ and those we are instrumental in bringing to walk with Christ – is something they are to treasure, something that will mean more to them than anything else that they have – could ever have.
So what is the treasure? What is it we ar to guard, to hold onto, to KEEP?
Our translations call it what Christ has commanded.
I have always thought it referred to the Ten Commandments, or the entire list of do’s and don’t in scripture. It’s more – to grasp that – we have to look at what did God “command”
Look to Creation…
He spoke the word, and there came into existence..
Look to our Re-creation…
The centurion’s cry, “only say the word and my servant shall be healed..
the demoniacs were dismissed by the command of the Lord…
We were declared righteous and holy… by the command of the Lord…
Our being called – our being cleansed and brought back to God, as St Paul says – “we are His worksmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works” He commissioned us, He has commanded that we are cleansed and given life…. life with Him. Think of Ezekiel’s valley of dry bones… and the Son of man commanding the bones to join and become enfleshed, to stand – and the command given to the Spirit to breathe life into those bones….
Yeah – that’s the treasure that Christ has commanded.. the Creation and Re-creation – of our lives with God.
That’s our treasure… that is what, as we make disciples, as we baptize them…. that is what we teach them to treasure, to keep, to guard….
AMEN!
Taking Sin Seriously…?
Devotional Question/Discussion point of the Day…. Do we…. do I take sin seriously?
It seems to be a trend in my life, and even more visible in society, that we take sin less seriously. Thankfully, it is beginning to bother me again, and maybe I haven’t been as lulled to sleep, or maybe I am beginning to wake up some.
There is a way in which we shouldn’t take sin seriously, because of the cross – it has already been dealt with – the sin, the shame, the little nagging feeling that “this is wrong”. Sin, no matter whether it is on the scope of someone being sentenced to serve their life in jail, or a junior high prank/theft, we shouldn’t take it so seriously that we can’t bring it to God, confess our sins and know, absolutely and without doubt that we are forgiven. That God would heal us, not only of the specific sin, but indeed the disease.
It is exactly because we aren’t healed in our eyes until we get to heaven, that we need to hear of that forgiveness often. Otherwise we lose heart, we think that it’s no big deal – and we begin to take being restored from that sin less than seriously.
And that is where we need to take it seriously – realizing that it cannot separate us from God, yet also realizing we need to deal with it, so it doesn’t. For the believer, this is a matter of realizing God is responsible for cleaning it up, has promised He would, and not letting our pride get in the way of it. Not easy! And I believe, that the more we do confess our sins, the more we ask God to comfort us and assure us of the forgiveness of them, the more we realize how wonderful He is….
And sin begins to break our hearts as it does His, the idea of people living in bondage to sin breaks our Hearts as it does His…. and we desires that they be freed, we desire that we are freed…. and healed.
Sin has little power, only the power we give it, only the mastery of us that we allow. We do need to take it seriously enough to take the cure of it seriously enough to realize that the forgiveness and healing is something wonderful something incredible, something so important that we adore the One who cares for us…
And realizing that… Paul’s words from Romans 6 come to mind…
6:1 What should we say then? Should we remain in sin so that grace may be given the more fully? 2 Out of the question! We have died to sin; how could we go on living in it?
Romans 6:1-2 (NJB)
This day, Lord Jesus, help us to realize the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives, cleansing our lives, setting them apart to serve You, guiding us and strengthening us. Help us be so aware of your presence and work in our lives, that we adoringly join You in that work in others. AMEN.
Golf and the Art of Discipleship
Devotion/Discussion thought of the day…
It’s after 2 o’clock and I am finally writing this entry, because I went golfing with a good friend and his son – both of who are much better golfers than I ( I also had some visits to make… please keep my friend Brenda in your prayers – she’s awaiting some reduction in swelling so they can remove her gallbladder..) I had planned to be back here around 10- – but life happens.
A s I was playing golf, it caused me to contemplate on our lives as disciples of Jesus, as those who try to walk with Him, imitate him (or imitate those who serve Him imitating Him). Far too often, my concentration isn’t enough – and though I hit off the tee well, and onto the green, I end up three putting. Or maybe my weight issues cause some imbalance in my swing – and off goes the ball into the trees. And sometimes, on the hole that appears to be the hardest, we relax knowing we can’t make it – and instead hit it perfectly, and find ourselves wondering why we can’t do this – every swing, every time.
It’s that Romans 7-8 thing – the things I want to do – I can’t manage to – the things that I don’t want to do – dang it that’s just going to happen (like on the 7th and 9th hole – where I hit the ball into the same spot in the same exact sand trap!!!!) So often in my Christian life – oh does that happen – I sin and can’t avoid it, I get frustrated because I can’t play like Tiger or Phil, I can’t seem to overcome the sins and anxieties caused by not trusting in God.
As the round ends, as you enjoy a diet coke (or a beer – but we were playing to early for that) , the game fades away, as you remember the laughs, the companionship, and realize what a great time you had – kicking back in the sun, enjoying the trees and the silly squirrel that wanted to attack the ball. That’s what makes the day – not the frustration of averaging a double eagle. So to – at the end of the day, as we realize that our bad “putts” and hooks have been forgotten, as we enjoy the day in the presence of our Father in heaven… as we realize that He just enjoys the walk with us – and He’s the One who judges whether the day was a success, or not – that’s life.
Don’t take the game seriously – enjoy the companionship, the fellowship… with the One who for joy endured the cross, and for laughs let us invent golf…..
