Hope ~ Take Two



The People who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness - on them light has shined.  Isaiah 9:2

 

The first week of Advent is grounded and guided by the single word and light of "Hope".  In the English language we often use the words "hope" and "wish" interchangeably.  As a random example, I hope I get a new ipad for Christmas...oh how I wish my wife reading this blog post would heed my not-so-subtle wish for a new ipad.  See how that works?  Hint...Hint...Hint.

 

Yet, within the life of faith, I think there is a difference between hope and wishes.  It is a difference rooted in what God is doing in our midst right here and now; and what we wish God would do at some future point to conspire/conform to our expectations.

 

I realize this might be splitting syntax hairs or playing with words, but I also think that it matters as we journey to Bethlehem.  What exactly are we expecting when we step inside the stable this year to stand in the straw amid the cows and shepherds?  Do we expect to see just another baby?  Will we gaze upon the Christ child and think, "Yup, just as I had thought!" 

 

Or are we willing to be surprised by what we encounter on the road to the manger this year?  John Claypool has said that "surprise" is just another name for God.  Are we surprised by God any more?  Or has our faith gotten into such a well-worn rut that nothing about church/religion/worship/ encounters with God has the ability to leave us speechless?

 

Surprise is important for our understanding of hope because if we only see what we thought we'd see, then maybe we need to be willing to look again.  Hope is about being open to what God is doing, how God is slowly bringing about new life in our world, even here and now.  It is hard to hold onto hope.  It can feel like sand slipping between our fingers.  The more tightly we grasp, the more frustrating it is to see the tiny grains still fall to the ground.  But, am I only seeing the pile of sand congregating on the floor?  Or perhaps do I see the sand that is so stuck to the palm of my hand it would take real effort to get every tiny piece brushed away?  Anyone who has ever been to the beach knows that sand has a glue like quality to it...along with the ability to get in all the wrong places!

 

Brian McLaren has said that where we look will determine what we see.  What we are expecting will impact what we actually observe.  If I am looking for evidence of a broken world, I will see it.  If I am looking for signs of hope, then there is a possibility to see that as well! 

 

Part of the reason why Hope is the important first word of Advent is because if we are not clear about what we hope we might see when we get to Bethlehem this year, we run the risk of seeing only what we've seen every other December.  But the truth is we are different people than we were last year at this time.  Events, experiences, and encounters in 2013 have left a mark upon us.  The road to Bethlehem, while vague familiar, has unexpected twists and turns, if we are awake, alert and aware.  If we are on auto-pilot, however, chances are we will still arrive at a stable, but we may have missed the journey!

 

What I hope for this year is to be aware of God's movement in my life and to hold onto the promise that God is full of surprises.  I will reserve my wishes for packages under the Christmas tree knowing that even if my wishes go unrealized (hence no ipad), I still will encounter something much more beautiful and fulfilling and hopeful this December: God's presence.

 

May the traces of God's presence stir in your life this week.

 

Blessings ~

 

 

 

Hope

 

The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it.  John 1:5

 

The four Sundays prior to Christmas are part of the church season called, "Advent".  It is a time to prepare for the birth of Jesus.  But how exactly do you do that?  What kind of game plan or plotting would you come up with to prepare to welcome Jesus?  Do you need a banner for that?  Maybe a band?  Or is this just some kind of intellectual exercise?

 

During Advent we use words in church like, "awake", "alert" and "aware".  It sounds like we are being hyper-vigilant or overly anxious about all of this.  Especially when we think about all the other items on our to-do list like: shopping, sending cards, making cookies, attending parties, listening to and singing carols.  And that is just what I hope to do this week!

 

Do those activities help you prepare?  Do you dread some of those tasks?  Maybe the company Christmas party causes you to have a pit in your stomach that isn't just about the food that will be served.  Do you sometimes find yourself wondering why?

 

While those moments when we question why don't always make us feel all warm and fuzzy inside (like we sometimes have lead ourselves to believe we should during the month of December),  why is a very important Advent question.

 

Why does God choose to come to us in the form of a vulnerable infant?  Why do we try to cram so much into the last four weeks of the year?  And especially, why would the church light one Advent candle and call it, "Hope"?

 

Those are good questions.  And I certainly do not have definitive answers for them.  I have some guesses and hunches.  I think God's ways are not our ways.  God says "no" to power systems both at Christmas time and Easter time.  God says that love is often seen in our world as weaker than might and military force but we have to make choices about where we will place our trust, which way will we travel?  I think we tend to over extend ourselves this time of year, because like those late nights before a test/project was due in college, we don't want to enter a new year with regrets or "should haves".  Plus, the frenzied pace of December has become such a cultural force that it actually takes more energy to resist getting caught up in the hoopla than to just go with the flow.  I think the church lights one candle, calls it "Hope", because it is a beautiful action that might actually cause us to stop in our tracks!

 

We call the first Sunday of Advent, "Hope" because in Jesus the hopes and fears of all the years are met in him.  We have hopes for our lives...for our families...for our churches...for our community.  In fact, one of our fears might be that our hopes will go unrealized or unfulfilled.  That certainly makes my stomach churn like I just ate too much of the bacon wrapped sausages at a party! 

 

Can we be honest in this the last month of 2013 about our hopes and our fears?  Can we take prayerful time, light one candle, and sit in silence with God who hears those hopes and fears?  I hope you can.  I pray you will.  And I pray you will sense a trace of God's grace in that.

 

Blessings ~



How Do You Give Thanks?

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-17

This seems like fairly simple, straight-forward advice...especially on the day before Thanksgiving.  But, I invite you to really try living this tomorrow.  We might be thankful for family, but the truth is also that no one knows how to push your buttons in the exact right order to annoy you quite like your family.  To rejoice always might make us a bit skeptical.  We might wonder what exactly is Mr. Smiley Von-Smileson really hiding?  No one is happy all the time, especially after that comment Uncle Frank just made that was insensitive on so many levels.  How about we just rejoice when everyone is out of the house and the holiday is over?

Speaking of which, we might try praying without ceasing, and on Thanksgiving it might go like this, "Please God, help me make it through this meal."  Or "Please God, give me wisdom to not talk about the Health Care Act with certain members at the table."  Or "Please God...just please."  

But it is the third piece of Paul's advice that always strikes me.  Give thanks in all circumstances.  You would think there would be some circumstances where gratitude cannot be found.  I am thinking the Philippians right now.  Seeing the devastation on T.V. breaks my heart.  Only I also know that there are families there that are grateful to be alive, while deeply grieving the lost of friends.  I might think about debilitating disease, but I have also found some incredibly joyful people facing some very awful physical pain.  

Then, it was pointed out this week by Ed Dobson, that the passage has a very important preposition, "in"...NOT "for".  I don't have to be thankful for every situation.  That would not be honest to God who knows me better than I know myself (see my last post).  Rather, I can be thankful in the midst of even difficult moments. Of course this requires us to be aware of what we are looking and how we are looking at things.  If all I do is look at the negative, chances are I may have a difficult time in that moment to find something to be grateful for.  But if you look around enough, even if you feel like you are in the dark, there might be some faint glimmer of light to be grateful even in the midst of the darkness.

I think this is a practice.  You don't just go out and buy gratitude.  It is cultivated like a tomato plant.  Like that ruby, red tomato plant, it takes time to grow and bear good fruit.  One day is not enough to really taste the fruits of cultivating gratitude.  It takes weeks, months, and sometimes years.  But, I think there are ways to do this.

First, be specific.  Rather than just saying, "Family"...name something more descriptive.  Your son's sense of humor, your wife's sarcastic remark this morning about the weather, your daughters endless joy.  

Second, be intentional.  If you just think, "Oh, I can do that," without making a plan or appointment to carry this out, it will be hard.  But if you begin each morning with giving thanks for certain moments the last day or end each night with giving thanks for serendipitous moments, these are intentional practices which can begin to cultivate gratitude.

It will be work ~ like your job or working out or watching your diet.  Any practice worth doing will cost us something.  But any practice worth doing will also eventually bring some grace-filled moments.  I believe if we can be intentional and specific beyond just one day on our calendar, we will sense a trace of God's grace this week and every day we engage the gratitude of life.

Blessings and Happy Thanksgiving ~

What is Thanks?

A Psalm of thanksgiving.

1 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth.

2     Worship the Lord with gladness;

    come into his presence with singing.

3 Know that the Lord is God.

    It is he that made us, and we are his;

    we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving,

    and his courts with praise.

    Give thanks to him, bless his name.

5 For the Lord is good;

    his steadfast love endures forever,

    and his faithfulness to all generations.

This psalm pretty well says it all for me.  I think God loves a joyful noise, whatever you can get your hands on.  A drum?  Great.  A lute?  Play on, my friend.  Two wooden spoons?  You go!  An accordion...whoa, slow down there!  No need to get too carried away.  

There is something infectious and contagious about joy.  If you are around a happy person you either find yourself starting to smile, or you will find yourself get more and more annoyed by that person. There is no neutrality.  

The psalm affirms the truth of Genesis 1, that we are made in God's image.  And it is more than reflecting God's fingerprints, God intimately knows us.  Perhaps better than we know ourselves.  

Often though, we have some fear and trepidation about God knowing us so well.  If we take that to its natural conclusion God isn't fooled by the nice clothes and ties and hats we wear on Sunday morning.  God knows what lurks just beneath the pearl or cross necklace.  And God really knows what we did at work or on Friday night, we might not see that as good news.  

But what if it was?  Can you imagine someone covering all you are with a love that will not let you go?  Perhaps we want to be punished, that some how that makes us feel better.  Only God is not interested in making us feel better.  God is interested in love, a steadfast love that endures always.  The Hebrew word here is hesed, it means a lovingkindness that can come only from God...occasionally from humans in the book of Ruth, in the ways Ruth treats her mother-in-law Naomi.  It is a beautiful narrative of what human hesed looks like.  Otherwise, hesed usually comes from God.

If we are wrapped in that kind of love, then perhaps our thanksgivings will lead not only to gratitude, but leaning and living out that gratitude more purposefully.  Making decisions based on gratitude, not on the impact on our bank account.  Listening with kindness and love, rather than for a pause to get our words in.  

I invite you as we enter into this week of thanksgiving to focus on the word, "Gratitude."  How would you define that word?  How would you live that word?  How might that extend that past this Thursday?

I pray as you think about this may you sense more than a trace of God's grace.

Blessings ~ 

God in the Ordinary

Click here to read Exodus 3

I am a child of the Eighties.  I grew up pumping quarters into the Pac-Man machine at the arcade, wanting to own a black trans-am sometime in my life, and thinking it was so cool to push your sleeves up to your elbows.  All this to say that the good old days were perhaps not always so good.   And then there is this.  I don’t know what kind of sinister, James Bond-like villain, Darth Vader breathing evil genius came up with the idea that trying to get all the same colored stickers on the same side would be fun.  This tells me the truth that you can use your powers for good or for bad.  Most of the time I love puzzles and mysteries and brain teasers.  But when the puzzle pieces won’t fit, when the last chapter of the mystery novel is missing, when the brain teaser starts tormenting refusing to reveal a solution, then, then like this Rubik's cube, it stops being fun.  And let’s face it most of life is filled with paradoxes that will not submit to simplified, straight forward solutions.

And one of the most vexing paradoxes in life is that there are moments of incredible joy and times of tremendous sorrow.  There are times when laughter comes easy and times when pain won’t budge in your heart.  Happiness and tears are woven into our lives.  And somewhere, at some point, we got the crazy idea that faith was suppose to solve this paradox, make the puzzle pieces of life fit neatly together, and solve the mysteries.  Preachers for far too long have sold people on faith being a commodity you consume to cure what ails you.  Faith does not lead us toward fame and fortunate, faith challenges us to live our life not as our own, but as belonging to God.  Nowhere is that more evident than in the life of Moses.  The name Moses means drew out, deliver, save.  Moses was born at a time when the Pharaoh’s fear ordered that all baby boys be killed.  But Moses’ mother put him in a basket of reeds, set him sailing down the river where the Pharaoh’s daughter undermines her father’s public policy and drew Moses out of the water, raised him as her own in the palace right under the Pharaoh’s nose.  As Moses grew, he one day saw a guard beating a Hebrew person, and took the law into his own hands, killed the guard, but realizing what he had done he ran away.  At that moment the only thing Moses was saving was his own neck, the person he was delivering was himself and he left Egypt faster than a piece of chocolate is devoured at our house, can I get an Amen?

Moses married, settled into life, took over his father-in-laws shepherding company.  It was an ordinary life, Egypt was so distant in the rearview mirror it could no longer be seen, it was not even a small speck on the distant landscape.  Until that one day Moses was out with the flock and stumbled across a burning bush that was not consumed.  The setting the story matters.  Moses was on Mount Horeb AKA Mount Sinai AKA that mountain where Charleston Heston receives the 10 commandments.  The burning bush is important because it is a visual reminder of God’s presence.  And also we are told that someone inside or around the bush was the angel of God, a messenger of God, but this angel is mute, but the point is not really the burning bush at all.  That was just to get Moses’ attention, because in the midst of our ordinary lives we often miss the traces of God’s grace.  We often miss the smile of a co-worker because we are too caught up in deadlines or miss the child laughing hysterically because we behind on our to-do list.  Moses might have missed that bush had it not been a blaze and the warmth baptized his skin.

And when he realizes that the sacred and ordinary have converged in that moment, he says, I must turn aside, turn away.  How often do we do that?  How often do we think that we can explain away, rationalized, force logic upon the mysteries and holy moments we encounter day in and day out?  I can’t explain why a hug from someone can fill me with such joy, so I will just talk about nerve ends connected to my brain as though all I am is some science experience in life.  When we encounter the sacred in the midst of running errands, do we pause long enough to witness and even hear as Moses does God calling our name?  And do we respond by saying, here I am?  One of the most central promises of the Christian faith is not that God will solve all of our problems and paradoxes and puzzles with a little pixie dust and suddenly everything is rainbows and roses.  The central promise of the Christian faith is God’s presence here with us and then and there this week.  And that promise is holy.  We want to remove our shoes, which in Moses’ day was a sign of submission and vulnerability and is so too today.  And lest you think it is not vulnerable, take off your shoes!  Right now!  How many of you just felt your heart skip a beat and pray to God that I was not serious, but I am.  God identifies God’s self not through parlor tricks of burning bushes, God reveals God’s self in the everyday, ordinary, mundane moments when we least expect it and we are invited to notice and name the ground as holy.  The ground at work, at home, at play, at prayer, and at church as holy because God is here.

Yet, God, like this Rubik's cube is not so easily understood or solved.  Moses tries every evasive maneuver he can think of.  Moses ducks and weaves in this passage to avoid his mission to go back to the land and the Pharaoh he fled because it seems impossible.   Moses first says he stutters, which the Hebrew means that he had heaviness of tongue.  I love that, because I have heaviness of tongue sometimes when I have to confront someone I love or question someone who I know is going to be defensive.  So, I practice right.  Moses grew up around Rameses the Pharaoh and knew him to be a hard-hearted man.  I, too, would have a heavy tongue or such a dry mouth that my tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth.  But God compromises.  So, Moses asks for God’s name.  God says, I will be what I will be.  Or better yet, God says, I will be there.  In this narrative God is not a noun or just a name, God is a verb, a promise, a presence, but still a puzzle that will leave us scratching our heads.

Moses’ narrative reminds us this morning of two truths.  First, there is no distinction between our spiritual life and our everyday life.  You are just as likely to encounter a burning bush here in church as you are at your work, if…IF…you are willing to notice.  Second, the point of life is not to resolve all the tension or put an end to the paradox, the point of life and faith is to lean into the tension, the risk, and the mystery of faith in our everyday life.  Mary Oliver has a great quote, she writes “Instructions for living a life.  Pay attention.  Be astonished.  Tell about it.”

Echoes of God

  

Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps.  But let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream.  Amos 5

This is a favorite passage of many who like to talk about justice.  Yet, what Amos is more than a bump sticker for our cars.  Amos says that what is happening in worship has gone so awry that the singing, preaching, and playing the harp can no longer be redeemed.  When our spirituality does not support our lives, something is not right.  When what we say and sing on Sunday has no impact on Monday something is not right.  When our worship surfs over the surface of our lives without challenging us to change both what we are doing inside and outside of the church, then in the famous line of I Love Lucy, 'We have some 'splaing to do.'  

One of the favorite quotes I picked up along the way was, "We want justice for everyone else and mercy for ourselves."  Justice is great when we are talking about CEOs who raid pension funds or companies that pollute the environment or that neighbor who borrowed tools two years ago and now claims they are 'his'.  But what about us?  The clothes we wear.  The cars we drive all over.  The pension funds that are invested in places we don't even realize...or want to realize.  Then, please God have mercy on us.

And what about our worship?  When we coast through the prayer of confession.  When we zone out during the scripture reading.  When we contemplate our shopping list during the prayer.  I love the ending of Amos...but I need to realize that when the justice rolls down it is going to wash over me in ways that will forever change my life.  All of us will need to be transformed, not just the people who disagree with us.

N.T. Wright's book, Simply Christian, he names justice as one of the echoes of God.  The other echoes include the thirst for spirituality, relationships, and beauty.  These interconnected echoes support and sustain each other; they need one another.  Spirituality that is not concerned with the suffering of this world can soon become escapism.  Justice that is not connected to worship and true relationships might slowly whither because progress moves slower than a sloth sometimes.  And in the end, there are moments we need to understand the truth when God says to Job, "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?" (Job 38:4)  There is beauty all around us and sometimes it becomes a blur because of our frenzied pace.  

I have invited you to think about ways of giving thanks.  And now, can we begin to see beauty around us, between us with others, within us in a prayerful life, and in our actions of sharing God's compassion with the least and lost among us.  If we can, I trust there will be a trace of God's grace.

Blessings ~ 

Thanksgiving Part 2

The classic symbol of Thanksgiving is a cornucopia.  While we are used to nuts, dried corn, pumpkins and gourds flowing forth from this odd shaped basket.  In fact, it is actually a horn that comes from Greek mythology.  One of the more well known stories is about Zeus, who has an infant, broke off a rams horn that became an endless source of food for his nourishment.  You will never look at your centerpiece the same.

Regardless of where the cornucopia comes from, today, we find it to be an expression of bringing in the harvest and the abundance of life.  Yet, I wonder if we might find other ways to fill the cornucopias of our lives.

Besides fall items/food that are warm oranges, brilliant yellows and browns that still seem to radiate life, perhaps we could start to think about people and experiences and events to fill our cornucopias.  Or, we could think about, besides food, what nourishes our growth?

For me, worship on Sundays nourishes my growth and stirs my souls.

My family nourishes my growth and fills my cornucopias.

Last Friday, I enjoyed the movie Free Birds with the kids.

These moments are not only what helps nourish me, they are also traces of God's grace.  These moments become ways I sense God's presence in my life.  

I invite you to continue to consider what is nourishing you and what blessings are flowing in your life right now.

And as you notice and name those moments, may you sense God's presence and a trace of God's grace.

Blessings ~