Monthly Archives: February 2010

Ash Wednesday

It’s hard, as an evangelical and Pentecostal, to remember these important markers in the Christian calendar. Today, reflection begins for Lent. It is time to come aside with purpose to seek the Lord and prepare our hearts and lives for Resurrection Sunday.

6 Seek the LORD and live,
or he will sweep through the house of Joseph like a fire;
it will devour them,
and Bethel will have no one to quench it.

7 There are those who turn justice into bitterness
and cast righteousness to the ground.

8 He who made the Pleiades and Orion,
who turns midnight into dawn
and darkens day into night,
who calls for the waters of the sea
and pours them out over the face of the land—
the LORD is his name.

9 He flashes destruction on the stronghold
and brings the fortified city to ruin.

10 There are those who hate the one who reproves in court
and detest the one who tells the truth.

11 You levy a straw tax on the poor
and impose a tax on their grain.
Therefore, though you have built stone mansions,
you will not live in them;
though you have planted lush vineyards,
you will not drink their wine.

12 For I know how many are your offenses
and how great your sins.
There are those who oppress the innocent and take bribes
and deprive the poor of justice in the courts.

13 Therefore the prudent keep quiet in such times,
for the times are evil.

14 Seek good, not evil,
that you may live.
Then the LORD God Almighty will be with you,
just as you say he is.

15 Hate evil, love good;
maintain justice in the courts.
Perhaps the LORD God Almighty will have mercy
on the remnant of Joseph.

(Amos 5:6-15, TNIV)

No More Rules on Style

I wish I had studio pictures from the Olympic coverage in Vancouver. Maybe someone who has them could pass them along. What  am referring to is the NBC studio set where they sit in two chairs by the fire. It’s a lovely picture, except for whoever sits in the guest chair. This year there seems to be some unwritten rule that you a) need to wear some goofy looking boots, or b) where completely out of date preppy ties with corduroy jackets.

Tom Brokaw had some funky black boots that looked PLASTIC. Dick Button, who has to be about 90 years old, had on tan hiking wannabe boots. Some other guy… preppy tie! You know… squared off at the bottom, knitted, goofy pattern… whole nine yards.

Fellas, leave the goofy outfits for the figure skaters, will you?

Struggles with Ego

Over the weekend I spent time in silent retreat meditating on Ephesians 1-3. One of the key disciplines of a silent retreat is taking time to quiet the soul. Henri Nouwen used the description of getting the monkeys out of the trees. We get all the distractions flying at us and chattering away in those first hours of silent retreat.

That happened for me. I fully understand that it truly takes three full days in silence to overcome those monkeys and hear the voice of God. However, I also realize I don’t always get that opportunity, so I must trust the Lord fully to speak. He is so gracious to help me in the time that I have to commit to the discipline.

I was so grateful to pour into Ephesians 1-3 and have the Lord pour his love out to me. Even so, the monkeys still chattered. The worst of them were exposed, which I suppose should be a blessing. I know the root of one of my deepest struggles. The trouble is DEALING with that struggle. So, it is absolutely no surprise to me that I run across an article dealing with the exact issue I confront. I am so grateful for those God-ordained appointments! It doesn’t make it any easier, but I sense the tools being given to me. I am thankful for the gifts of the Spirit to help me battle my huge ego.

Some of the thoughts from the article:

At first I thought my anger was giving me strength, bolstering my courage so I could deal with the issues. But the anger soon betrayed me, sapping my energy and compromising my ability to act according to wisdom and divine direction. It’s only as I have turned my hurt—and the overwhelming urge to prove that I’m right—over to God that I’ve begun to be able to respond (and sometimes resist responding) from a place of holy, rather than human, strength.

I do not have a conflict with a particular friend, but I do have a deep conflict in myself with a group of people. The struggle is my own. They are probably not even aware. Yet, it is a struggle, and I deal with the anger.

The Scripture the author finds to help is Psalm 37. The key is to roll this issue onto God. Yet, it is not so “easy” as to just “roll away.”

But here’s the thing: I would be fine with rolling my burdens onto God if I were guaranteed resolution. There’s a joke that describes the effects of playing a country song backwards: Your spouse returns, your dog is resurrected, and your truck starts working again. I wish that surrender to God worked the same way.

This is the crux of my dilemma. I want to know that my issues will be heard. I understand full well those things probably will not be heard. I will continue to be ignored. Being ignored is the worst. I would rather be confronted. Being ignored has made me angry. I am looking for a guarantee in my resolution. That is not my call. So, I must roll my burden onto the Lord without a guarantee of “resolution.” How fair is that?

Here is the conclusion of the article:

I have a choice. I can wear myself out pushing the boulders of my life around my prison yard. Or I can be meek, and roll those burdens onto God. I’m not sure exactly what Jesus meant when he said the meek will “inherit the earth,” but I’ve certainly discovered that this world is a better place when I roll it off my shoulders and into his hands.

There is a leaning on the grace of God that keeps getting tested. I think I keep failing.

My Great Loves

Happy Valentine’s Day!

I confess my great loves today.

First is my great love for God. I spent this weekend in a “silent” retreat contemplating Ephesians 1-3. I love Ephesians. For the past 15 plus years of my life it has been bedrock to my life. Once again I was blown away by my God’s great love for me. I am IN Christ! What a great Savior! How can I NOT respond in love? I confess I do NOT respond in love far too many times. I confess my foolishness. I confess I chase other “lovers” from time to time. But when I get back to his great love for me… I am in awe.

Next is my great love for my wife. She is absolutely incredible. We are approaching 22 years of marriage and my life is so much RICHER because of her love, her presence, her passion, her friendship. So much of who I am is a result of her love.

My great love for my wife extends to my great love for my boys. One has passed out of the teen years this month and is headed toward marriage. The other two are in high school. When I think of them, I am filled with gratitude and pride. They are great joys in my life.

I must finally confess my great love for the Church. There is something stirring deep within me, something I hope to dig out and actually put into words. To love Christ IS to love his Church. It is his Body. When we insult the Church, we insult Christ. He is the head. When part of our body feels pain, we KNOW it! When I find Christians insulting the Church, I sense the hurt of Christ.

My life is in ministry. I teach and I preach and I pastor. I have tried other things. My realization is this: I have no other marketable skills… and I don’t WANT any other marketable skills. I’m not rich. I won’t be rich. I’m not well-known. I don’t have a lecture circuit or speaking circuit. No one wants to hear from some small time pastor!

But I LOVE the Church of Jesus Christ. I love the expressions. My own expression is Pentecostal. But I have a deep love for Baptists, Catholics, Orthodox, Lutherans… and more. I LOVE the expressions of the Body of Christ.

Today, I proudly profess my great loves.

Happy Valentines Day

Standing Between the Living and the Dead

Intercession. The picture I see of intercession is found in Numbers 16. A plague has rushed through Israel’s camp (again) because of their complaining (again). Moses (AGAIN) intercedes for the people. He falls to his face asking God to stop the plague. He then sends Aaron out with the censer from the altar. The incense was offered up as a prayer. Aaron stood between the living and the dead and the plague was stopped.

Are we ready to intercede? Are we ready to stand between the living and the dead and beg God to do his work? Are we willing to stand in the gap for those who need prayer? Our lives can be offered up in prayer for those who need to see God touch their lives. Take up the censer. Offer up the incense of prayer. Call to God on behalf of those needing his touch.

Experimenting with WordPress Appearances

I have changed a few times because I start to like a look, then realize I can’t do some things with that look. The last look I had was something I liked, but I couldn’t find a way to get my Blogroll on it, and I like having my blogroll there. One reason I like having it displayed is when I’m not on a home computer with my bookmarks, I can easily access my favorite blogs through my own blog.

So, for those of you on my blogroll, keep writing! :)

Spiritual Reading

I am working my way through Thomas Merton’s Seven Storey Mountain again. I am not good at re-reading many books, but this one I’ve ready probably 5 times. It is his story of coming to faith and entering the monastery as a Cistercian brother.

As he came to faith, he struggled his first year. He was a PhD student at Columbia in 1938-39. He was learning about following Christ. The comparison he offered was Israel coming out of Egypt and moving into the promised land. God has called us to a new land and it’s a different place. We can’t act like we’re in Egypt anymore.

You can no longer live here as you did there (in Egypt). Your old life and your former ways are crucified now, and you must not seek to live anymore for your own gratification, but give up your own judgment into the hands of a wise director, and sacrifice your pleasures and comforts for the love of God and give the money you no longer spend on those things, to the poor.

Above all, eat your Daily Bread without which you cannot live, and come to know Christ Whose Life feed you…

We can’t insist on living like Egypt in the Promised Land. We have a new life given to us. The rules have changed, and they have changed for the good. No more thinking like a slave. Live free in Christ.

Learning from the Pentecostal Monks

I am lecturing on my favorite subject: Pentecostal monks. One monk who has been influential in my life has been Evagrius Ponticus. In preparing my lectures, I came across this thought from R.R. Reno in “Fighting the Noon Day Devil”:

There are no intellectual solutions to spiritual problems. Acedia is fought with spiritual discipline. We hate that. We fantasize about a life without spiritual demands. We are too used to being results-oriented. We want to be free… to be ourselves. We want shapelessness! We don’t want to sharpen our lives. We sculpt our bodies at the gym and leave our souls shapeless.

We are so pragmatic in our church practice we are lazy in our spiritual pursuit. It is hurting us as a church and we don’t recognize it.