poetry

the 'orchard thieves' blew it
embarrassed, their cover gone,
ever since they've been
trying to get back in
and go for the other tree
        - RFM

You, plural, describing the church . . .

We've been blessed with many new, good, enlightening translations of the Bible, and I, for one, am glad. My college Greek is long ago withered, and I never studied Hebrew. The "thees and thous" of old translations are foreign language any more. That is good.

But one little word, "ye", Y - E, was a valuable word-- the plural of "you", Y-O-U, because in several places we read it as for individuals, for ourself, when it is meant to include the whole body of believers.

For example, in I Corinthians 3:16 our modern English reads "you are the temple of God" and the old versions read "YE are the temple of God." What's the difference? Later on(6:19) it does read "your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit" which I understand to mean me, my body, personally. But here "ye" means that together, you and I, and the whole mystical union which is the redeemed body of Christ--all those imperfect people we worship with as well as all our warts an all-- we, together, are where God dwells on earth, and where God meets human life as it happens.

Looking for the glory . .

. . .so elusive, and yet it is there in surprising places . . like a shining coming through the trees . .. it is the love of Jesus almost always unconsciously given . . . broken bread that feeds the giver . . . it is not ours but we can share it . . .

Thoughts about glory . . .

I've been thinking about glory lately . . . not notoriety, or fame, or praise, or anything about 'me' at all . . . but glory as in love, as in shining, as in Presence, as in wonder . . . glory that cannot really be parsed out and explained or earned or deserved . . . the glory of being loved and the glory of knowing God is loving through you, too.

Three Great Things

The Great Commission--
We need to tell the world God is GOOD! That God the Good News is for everyone who will call on the name of the Lord...
The Great Commandment--
The hallmark of the Church is LOVE! If we love God and belong to God, then we had better learn to love God's people . . . even the ones who think we're too (liberal, fundamentalist, Catholic, conservative, fillin the blank) . . and even the ones with which we disagree in the details. If they say "Jesus is Lord!" be careful how you judge...
The Great Promise--
The LIFE of the Church is the Holy Spirit! We can be filled! Luke 11:13 is just one of many promises that we may have God indwelling us day by day! "If you being evil know how to give good things to your children, how much more will the Father give the Holy Spirt to those who ask Him?"

Walking by Faith

Psalm 107 begins by saying, by exhorting "Oh give thanks to the LORD for He is good!" And then commanding "Let the redeemed of the LORD say so." Say what? That God is GOOD!

Then the Psalm goes on to give four examples of people in trouble . . . people who cry out to the LORD. In every case when they cry out God hears and answers. Then comes the refrain:

Oh that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men!"

Just now I am in trouble . . . in a spiritual and physical and relational crisis . . . praying for a loved one's physical healing . . .praying God to intervene in a desperate situation. It is for all those involved a Gethsemene.

I want to affirm here and now that God is GOOD! His mercy endures forever! I desperately want God to give a miracle! I ask God for the faith we need to see God's GLORY shone (John 11:40).

End of the World and Fundamentalism

The Harold Camping prediction has brought to the world's attention the absolute folly of fundamentalism; of Christians who give answers to questions that are actually shrouded in mystery, and who need to control the interpretation of scripture. They are equally to blame with the very intelligent theologians and scholars who also need to make control pronouncements explaining away the supernatural; who tell us what God is and is not.
The fact remains that our Truth is a Word spoken by God; what is written down is not true because it is written down, but it was written down because it is True. That Word is beyond "explanation." We can KNOW the Word, but only as the Word chooses to be made known to us. I believe the Word is speaking, has spoken, will continue speaking. I am trying to listen.

I believe . . .

I believe the Bible is true, but somehow I know it is not true because it is written, but it is written because it is true.
This ismuch more than a play on words. Maybe theologians and philosophers have sophisticated words for what I am trying to say . . . but
"TRUTH" that is God is beyond "explanation" and the mysteries of creation, and miracles, and divine inspiration cannot be reduced to catch phrases and even to true doctrine.
"TRUTH" is a Person. God has expressed His love for us by sending Jesus to be identified with us. This is THE profound miracle. If we believe that it is by revelation. All other true "facts" are of lesser importance...
The Bible exists to reveal Jesus...Jesus who said
"If you know Me you have seen the Father."

Audacious Sermon Fragment - - Really Old!

Think with me through two or three "inner dramas" of people coming to seek salvation. See how the idea of what sin is goes to the heart of how we come to trust: 1. A commonly held "Nazarene" idea of finding salvation: Sin is being "bad," and sinning separates me from God. Salvation is being GOOD (once I've been to the altar to take care of being BAD)- And later I should come back to the altar to take care of the SIN ("bent to sin") that makes me wobbly at the center. The "drama" goes like this: I come to the altar. I confess my sins as I am told. I am given a clean slate, which assures me I will go to heaven if I die. I have a list of things I must and must not do. I must read and pray. I must not smoke or drink. I should go to church when I can, but then I sometimes see others who are rather casual about it, so maybe that isn't all that important. I start out with confidence. Then a couple of bad things can happen: (1) I keep all the neat rules, like NOT smoking and NOT drinking and so forth, and so I "know"(presumption!) I am saved even though from year to year I never really come to know the Lord Jesus in any personal way, and I never help any fellow mortal move one inch closer to the kingdom of God; or, (2) I soon find out that my clean slate is all messed up. I start over several times. Finally I quit in disgust saying that I cannot honestly live a Christian life. I drop away and say there is nothing real in this fake religion. (3) Or-- in spite of not having a perfect understanding of all these things I find a personal, growing knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, and somehow the miracle continues to grow! 2. Let me have the audacity to change the scene. Now I am a hard-shell Baptist, or a child of strict Reformed or Calvinist roots. My definition of sin is sort of all the above PLUS-- sin is ANY COMING SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD! And by that I mean any place I should do better and don't, or shouldn't do bad and do. It is ALL sin! All my life I hear the Bible preached as propositional truth. "God said it! I believe it! That settles it!" Here's how MY "salvation drama" goes: I "come forward." With good solid counseling I "receive the Lord Jesus as Savior." I understand that He is my Substitute, and that His righteousness is IMPUTED as my own. God now looks at me, and instead of my sins He sees the righteousness of His Son. I am honor-bound to read and pray and prove the reality of my new birth by (1) Baptism; (2) Tithing; (3) Witnessing. If I do these things (1) I often come to live far above the raw simplistic application of the very real Truth of this system, and the discipline carries me into a genuine relationship. OR, (2) I drift into old ways, and from time to time I "re-dedicate my life" during times of emotional challenge. All the while I am more-or-less consoled by the fact that I have received "eternal Life" which by definition can never be forfeited (presumption) , otherwise how is it "eternal?" (3) Or-- in spite of not having a perfect understanding of all these things I find a personal, growing knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, and somehow the miracle continues to grow! 3. Let me be even MORE audacious! Let me describe a person with some form of Catholic up-bringing. Sin to me is pretty much defined by the Church. There are mortal sins; there are venal sins. Jesus Christ is GOD and Savior, but the idea of salvation is strictly mediated through both the Word and the Traditions of the Church. I need to (1) be baptized; (2) confirmed; (3) keep current by taking Mass regularly, which should involve regular confession as well. My "salvation drama" comes when somehow these truths I have been taught become personal to me. I am saved by being in fellowship with the Church, and obeying from the heart its teachings, and I trust without inner assurance what I have been told- my salvation is "second hand" but the Creeds and Gospels move me from time to time. Or, I become a skeptic, a "nominal Catholic" and my life is no different from the culture in which I live, OR, Or-- in spite of not having a perfect understanding of all these things I find a personal, growing knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, and somehow the miracle continues to grow! IN ALL THESE DIFFERENT STORIES LIFE-CHANGING SALVATION NEEDS A PRESENT SAVIOR No human agency can fully present the truth so powerfully and true that "correct theology" will save. Somehow, by the Word being released and through the preaching I hear, in whatever church, I must grasp -the Idea that God knows ME-! He cares that I have sinned. He is angry with my sins, but I know He loves ME. I am enabled to enter into a personal relationship with Him. I ask Him for mercy and forgiveness. He grants it. I sense that I belong to Him. We do not know all the profound things that take place when the New Birth takes place! We properly quote our theology-- Justification – Regeneration – Adoption – Sanctification -- but it is never ours to say whose faith in genuine and whose is not. This is God's One Holy Catholic Apostolic church-- it is God's call. The Church is God's Beloved! Be careful not to rip and tear at what God loves! Salvation is a relationship has been established. It is not easily broken!

The Jesus Prayer

People I respect and love come from many different backgrounds, and many different sets of values. I want to be honest and real with every friend, but it is easier with some than with others to disagree at times and still feel unshaken fellowship. Some of my friends are convinced that the emerging church is the reason for a falling away in my denomination. Others of my friends are sure that people in political office are the greatest threat to our way of life, to the point of obsession. Some haver abandoned the music I grew up with, and the hymns that are written on my very heart; others excoriate the new, loud, casual music and cannot imagine how guitars and drums can ever bring a spirit of worship. I'm not saying it very well, but so many times what we are "against" becomes so strong that we forget what we are f\"for." Or, more properly, sometimes we hve to make our points until in our spirits we deny the very core of what we say we are. Actually, it is not what we are for, but Who is really our Life. Bottom line: The spirit (Spirit in us!) is everything! Even in militant opposition to sin as we understand it it is still the Jesus in us that people need to see. I have known many people whose doctrine is far different from my Wesleyan-Arminian persuasion-- but who lived and breathed a love for Christ that made me love Him more. I'm rambling, I know-- old people do that sometimes. But let me say this: the Word of God is a Person. The Bible is not true because it is written down-- it is written down and passed on because it is true. Sometimes TRUE means more than we can understand-- when it comes to how we got here, and why God permits this and that-- and why it seems hard for us to understand each other. The Church is God's darling. Don't rip it to shreds because it isn't like you think it should be-- rather pray that the One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic church-- bigger than any "denomination"--purer and more holy that we can understand and yet imperfect and in need of grace (because I belong to it-- and you) --PRAY THAT WE WILL LET GOD BRING US TOGETHER AS HE SEES FIT. There is an ancient prayer that sums up what we need, day by day. Pray it with me: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

EAT IN FRONT OF YOUR ENEMIES

When faced with the evils of sciety Christians usually fall into one of two categories: either

ACTIVIST, or CONVERSIONIST.



1. Activists create pressure. They seek to enact law. They

form a moral majority or a green peace. They protest.



2. Conversionists seek to evangelize. Nothing wrong with

that-- except that all too often this means "Join MY group

the way WE say and then circle the wagons and wait for the

cavalry." I do not deny that I believe that people need

to be born again, and that unless a person is saved he or

she is lost.



But there is a third way. Stanley Hauerwas suggests that

this "third way" is not in any way a blending of the other

two, but a radically different approach to Christian

reality!



3. This third way says: EAT IN FRONT OF YOUR ENEMIES! Don't

just try to block them in legislature, or persuade them to

become a member of your church-- but show them your

Shepherd!



Instead of an ACTIVIST APPROACH or a CONVERSIONIST APPROACH, this

is A CONFESSIONAL APPROACH to Christian living. . . . saying: "Jesus

Christ is MY Shepherd! He is MY Lord and MY Master. I will seek to do

everything I do in a way to please Him and reveal Him to the world!

You and I are called to be Christ's body! He is the Bread of life!
As He satisfies our deepest needs . . . as He loves through us where we are . . . the most powerful force in the Universe is brought to bear on the ills of society that frustrate mere human effort.

Prayer
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight,O LORD our Strength and our Redeemer. Amen

The Promise: Wait and See!

In January 1991 the Middle East was in crisis--so what is new? Is this Egypt thing "the end"? What do God's people do?
Here is a sermon God gave me then-- it seems to fit "now"...

January 27, 1991
Isaiah 40:28-31

A PROMISE OF GOD'S STRENGTH

Introduction

There is no question but that these are days of stress all over
the civilized world. The events in the Middle East are brought into
our living rooms and our minds, and they are sobering, to say the
least.

Yesterday the Patriot Ledger said that people of faith
everywhere are turning to prayer: some for guidance, some for solace,
some for God's intervention. I would hope that we would be people of
prayer.

The question is: Where do God's people have any advantage over
people who profess no faith at all? What difference does faith make?

Faith does indeed make a difference! I am sure that you are
already finding this out. Perhaps you don't even need to be told that.
But I find that it helps me to be reminded of God's great promises.
Times of stress, whatever the reason, are good times to return to
favorite treasures, to the passages of scripture that have 'come
through' with assurance over and over again.

One such passage that we can claim together is Isaiah 40, and
especially that last paragraph which says, in part:

" . . .they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their
strength . . ."

I. ISAIAH IS A PROPHET OF GREAT HOPE

[Isaiah is also a great Messianic prophet, and is
sometimes called "the Fifth Evangelist" (along with
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, because we Christians can
see so much of Jesus in his writings.]

A. Some "key words" that open Isaiah's message as we read are
words like "expectancy" and "hope" and "peace." Isaiah lived in
expectancy for a long time, through many difficult times. But Isaiah
was "forward looking." He believed that God was in charge, and that He
was in charge of the future. Isaiah is the one who told us that
Messiah would be called "Prince of Peace."

B. The heart of Isaiah's message is the fact that God works not only
on a cosmic scale, but personally. God was interested in kings and
nations, and Isaiah observed roles and rituals of religious ceremony
along with his fellow priests and prophets. But the message came in a
PERSONAL way to Isaiah himself. Isaiah felt his own personal
uncleanness before the holiness of God as well as that of his
people. Isaiah experienced personal cleansing and empowering. The
message that God gave him interfaced with his own family situation.

And-- Messiah would be a PERSON! Not just the nation of Israel,
but a Suffering Servant, a man among men and women!

Majestic and meek. Baptized - and a baptizer with
fire! Life-bringer who came to die! This personal
Savior would be called by the names of deity: WISDOM
POWER IMMANUEL! God with us!

C. Isaiah tells us in this passage that the reality of God's gifts
of HOPE and STRENGTH and PEACE are personally available, held out to
those who will 'WAIT UPON THE LORD!'

Wait upon the Lord!

II. WHAT IS THIS 'WAITING UPON THE LORD'??

A. "Waiting" would seem to imply something like 'killing time;' like
reading old magazines in a doctor's waiting room somewhere while the
appointments are an hour behind schedule.

Or, waiting might seem simply to let the years go by until God's
time gets right, and a certain day or hour appears and God says, "Now
you've waited long enough!"

But "wait" here has a personal aspect. It doesn't simply mean
letting time pass, but means waiting in expectancy, or looking to God
in trust as we watch to see how God will answer our prayer.

And no one, in any age, ever really waits on God in vain! No
one ever comes in trust and obedience that does not somehow find that
God is IN the prayer, that God is BEHIND the prayer-- and that,
ultimately, God is HEARING the prayer. [I certainly do not minimize
the mystery of prayer. I do not dispute the fact of genuine struggle
and even travail in prayer. But God does hear and answer prayer!]

B. But what, then, does this waiting mean?

1. Waiting on God indicates a sense of DEPENDENCY. Being
dependant somehow goes against our All-American western culture
Protestant work-ethic positive self-image self-confident way of life
and living.

[There ARE benefits to a healthy self-image which I do not deny.
There is enormous worth in looking at a task and thinking "I CAN!"]

But in matters of eternity and life and death "I CAN!" somehow
fades away into the realization that among the spinning galaxies of
ultimate reality there are many things which "I CAN NOT!"

[In "skits" of Bible stories which we used at a recent
pastors' retreat one mini-drama had to do with the
centurion who came and asked Jesus to heal his servant.
The man who represented the centurion was deeply moved,
even to tears. Later he said, "I realized that in
temporal things I had great authority: 'I say to
one, "Come!" and he comes, etc.' But in the things which
really mattered (i.e., the life and death of the beloved
servant) I was totally helpless, dependant on Jesus."]

Waiting on God is saying to God: We can't do it unless and until
YOU do it!

C. So waiting on God is not so much TIME as it is ATTITUDE. It is
listening for God. It is seeking to give God our attention. It is
being ready for communication from the Master. [It is perhaps like a
little dog trotting along, always looking back, always looking up to
make sure the master or mistress is coming along, and everything is
all right.]

And as we wait, we will hear God! As we wait the things will
happen that would NOT have happened if we had not waited! Isaiah
makes it clear that the benefits of waiting on God are in the HERE AND
NOW!

THEY THAT WAIT UPON THE LORD SHALL RENEW THEIR STRENGTH!

[But we are NOT little dogs trotting along, looking up to the
Master's face. We are PEOPLE, living in a tremendously complex world
situation. We have tremendously complex lives to lead. Is there any
practical guidance for waiting on God?

III. GIVING GOD OUR ATTENTION

A. We can pray DELIBERATELY to be filled with God's Spirit.
William Barclay says:

"The only way to receive the Spirit is to silently and
prayerfully WAIT upon the Spirit."

A helpful verse to me is Luke 11:13. Jesus says that if we ask
the Father He is more anxious to empower us with the Spirit than we
are to give things to our own children! But we need to ASK!

Barclay goes on: "In a church life in which the church
is increasingly organized, and in which strenuous
activity is the key-note, and in which ACTION is valued
above all things it is hard to find time for that
apparent doing nothing which means everything."

B. But can we be even more PRACTICAL? More SPECIFIC? How shall we
pray in such a way that we can renew our strength? [I have FOUR
suggestions:]

1. By praying HONESTLY. God will only receive as much of our
lives as we are willing to give freely to Him. This God who could
easily overwhelm us never pushes His way in past locked doors! If you
need His help in areas of your life make certain that you have made
Him welcome in EVERY area. [sin / confession / open-ness]

2. By praying REGULARLY. Prayer life is not so much a series of
major repairs and overhauls as it is keeping a schedule of daily
maintenance. Fifteen minutes a day is better than two or three hours
every other week!

3. By praying CORPORATELY. Worship together with the Body of
Christ is an essential part of waiting on the Lord. Worship is much
more than just a convenient time for religious people to get together
to hear a common word. The CHURCH has power as it joins in prayer
together. "Not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together" is the
word of God (Hebrews 10:24.)

Finally,

4. By praying TOGETHER. Not just in the assembly of the Body,
but in the daily traffic of life and living, Christians must learn to
pray with each other, and pray for each other.

We need to reach out and ask for help. We need to say, "Let's
pray!" If it seems like a weakness, it is only admitting before God
that He alone is our strength! There is strength and power in weaving
the potency of prayer into the daily conversation of our living.

Conclusion

William Barclay again:
"God will 'do it again;' that is, renew and revive,
both for us individually, and for the church, if we
remember that He asks nothing but our attention, and if
we learn to wait INTENSELY upon Him."

Prayer:

Lord, We confess freely our need of Your strength. We believe that
You are as good as Your word. Help us to wait in simple faith and
trust- to give You our full attention. Help us to hear Your Word of
power. Amen