Exodus 13: 17-18a When Pharoah let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was nearer; for God thought, “If the people face war, they may change their minds and return to Egypt.” So God led the people by the roundabout way…
In geometry, math students learn that the shortest path from point A to point B is a straight line. As a task-oriented individual, I am prone to view life that way. Efficient and concise, the straight line is very appealing. Shouldn’t life follow a similar line? It works in geometry!
Our geometry doesn’t always work for God. Much to my dismay, the best path is not always the most efficient. Like the children of Israel, there are reasons God leads me along ‘the roundabout way.’ There are lessons to be learned, character to be built, a life to be developed in the wilderness.
And, like the Israelites, there are worse things to be spared, sometimes, by the roundabout way. God doesn’t see fit to answer to me. Often I have no idea why I am taken through an experience. Wilderness feels, well, wild and uncontrolled, not logical and not efficient. Yet if I am honest, it is those wilderness times that draw me closer to him. I let go of the mindsets and ways of being that enslaved me. I learn to trust God for more and more of my life.
Because God leads me, the roundabout way is not so desolate as it might have been. When the time there is done, I am more prepared for what comes next than I would have been otherwise. The roundabout way is not NO way, it is the way where God leads. God has blessed the roundabout way with his presence, and I am learning to be grateful for the inefficiency of the path.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Monday, November 3, 2008
The Sacrament of the Barbecue Sauce
Sometimes the greatest gift we give others is remembering.
Last year in a Stewardship meeting, we were planning our annual hog roast. Mike Miles, an amazing cook, commented that we'd use Sweet Baby Ray's barbecue sauce because everyone liked it. In a probably overly-opinionated way, I said, "Everyone but me. I prefer the eastern North Carolina-style sauce." Vinegary, peppery, not so sweet. Having spent time at Duke, and having sampled many types of sauce in my stay there, I was quite adamant. Mike revised his statement with a chuckle.
This year, I didn't have much to do with planning the hog roast. Mike and his small group spent hours creating the side dishes from scratch, planning and preparing and serving. They sacrificed time and energy to bless their entire church family. When I slipped in the kitchen to thank them, I was told that Mike had made a special sauce, just for me: eastern North Carolina-style, with his own signature tweaking. In all his doing for the whole church, he had done this one thing for me alone.
A year and a half later, Mike remembered our conversation. He recalled what I liked, and he did something about it. How incredibly kind! I felt so honored and humbled by that gesture. He couldn't have blessed me more if his gift had cost a mint of money. Mike remembered, and he acted, and his action showed his care. What's more, in a way I can't explain, that barbecue sauce was more than delicious (which it certainly was). It was a means of grace, a way that God communicated his infinite love and care for me, personally.
Sometimes, all it takes to bring life and joy and blessing to someone else is to remember and act. We think about doing big things for the glory of God, when often what communicates God the best is something rather simple. Mother Teresa said it: "We can do no great things, only small things with great love." I would simply add that small things done with love are indeed great things in the Kingdom of God.
Last year in a Stewardship meeting, we were planning our annual hog roast. Mike Miles, an amazing cook, commented that we'd use Sweet Baby Ray's barbecue sauce because everyone liked it. In a probably overly-opinionated way, I said, "Everyone but me. I prefer the eastern North Carolina-style sauce." Vinegary, peppery, not so sweet. Having spent time at Duke, and having sampled many types of sauce in my stay there, I was quite adamant. Mike revised his statement with a chuckle.
This year, I didn't have much to do with planning the hog roast. Mike and his small group spent hours creating the side dishes from scratch, planning and preparing and serving. They sacrificed time and energy to bless their entire church family. When I slipped in the kitchen to thank them, I was told that Mike had made a special sauce, just for me: eastern North Carolina-style, with his own signature tweaking. In all his doing for the whole church, he had done this one thing for me alone.
A year and a half later, Mike remembered our conversation. He recalled what I liked, and he did something about it. How incredibly kind! I felt so honored and humbled by that gesture. He couldn't have blessed me more if his gift had cost a mint of money. Mike remembered, and he acted, and his action showed his care. What's more, in a way I can't explain, that barbecue sauce was more than delicious (which it certainly was). It was a means of grace, a way that God communicated his infinite love and care for me, personally.
Sometimes, all it takes to bring life and joy and blessing to someone else is to remember and act. We think about doing big things for the glory of God, when often what communicates God the best is something rather simple. Mother Teresa said it: "We can do no great things, only small things with great love." I would simply add that small things done with love are indeed great things in the Kingdom of God.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Faith in the in-between
Someone loaned me the book, 'The Secret,' recently. It is based on the idea that if we envision what we want (instead of focusing on what we don't), then what we want will come to us. The Universe, supposedly, works that way. The author claims that this positive thinking is the secret in all major world religions, a secret 'they' don't want you to know.
It is seductive to think that if we imagine checks in the mail, they will appear.
Let me quote Mondi Bridges as she lay dying from cancer, talking with her husband, William. "This positive thinking stuff is crap," she said to me one evening as I sat on her hospital bed. "But then, so is negative thinking. They both cover up reality -- which is that we just don't know what is going to happen. That's the reality we have to live with. But it is easy to see why people take refuge in optimism or pessimism. They both give you and answer. But the truth is that we just don't know. What a hard truth that is!" (The Way of Transition, William Bridges, Da Capo Press, 2001)
Positive thinking aside, God does not promise us an easy road. Jesus's invitation is not to 'think positively' but to take up our cross daily, living as those who know that death is inevitable. Inevitable, but not final. We take up our cross daily, knowing that God is with us in the Valley of the Shadow as well as on the mountain of Transfiguration. Change will occur, whether we like it or not. Life will be filled with joy and pain, as well as many ordinary days somewhere between extremes. Thinking positively or negatively are quite beside the point.
Will we hang on with God, regardless? Isn't that faith? Continuing the conversation with God, even when it is a cry of agony or anger or blame? Walking with God, humbly, on high days and low roads, and every boring day in between. Noticing God's presence, learning, learning, always learning that God's grace is sufficient. Choosing to trust that, somehow, God is in the midst of it - with us - is not a secret. It is life.
All of these words don't make the valley easier, do they?
It is seductive to think that if we imagine checks in the mail, they will appear.
Let me quote Mondi Bridges as she lay dying from cancer, talking with her husband, William. "This positive thinking stuff is crap," she said to me one evening as I sat on her hospital bed. "But then, so is negative thinking. They both cover up reality -- which is that we just don't know what is going to happen. That's the reality we have to live with. But it is easy to see why people take refuge in optimism or pessimism. They both give you and answer. But the truth is that we just don't know. What a hard truth that is!" (The Way of Transition, William Bridges, Da Capo Press, 2001)
Positive thinking aside, God does not promise us an easy road. Jesus's invitation is not to 'think positively' but to take up our cross daily, living as those who know that death is inevitable. Inevitable, but not final. We take up our cross daily, knowing that God is with us in the Valley of the Shadow as well as on the mountain of Transfiguration. Change will occur, whether we like it or not. Life will be filled with joy and pain, as well as many ordinary days somewhere between extremes. Thinking positively or negatively are quite beside the point.
Will we hang on with God, regardless? Isn't that faith? Continuing the conversation with God, even when it is a cry of agony or anger or blame? Walking with God, humbly, on high days and low roads, and every boring day in between. Noticing God's presence, learning, learning, always learning that God's grace is sufficient. Choosing to trust that, somehow, God is in the midst of it - with us - is not a secret. It is life.
All of these words don't make the valley easier, do they?
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Joying the Day
Have you noticed today how blue the sky is? Have you taken into your soul the flaming autumn trees as they brush against that infinite blue? Have you felt the brush of the fresh breeze on your skin? Have you allowed the sunshine to saturate your soul?
Have you turned off every human-made sound and let the silence have its way? Have you let what or whomever is around you convey God's presence?
Have you heard the voice of someone you love, the bark of a dog, the rush of traffic?
Have you smelled cinnamon or burning leaves?
Have you tasted something delicious and savored every bite?
Why not?
Have you turned off every human-made sound and let the silence have its way? Have you let what or whomever is around you convey God's presence?
Have you heard the voice of someone you love, the bark of a dog, the rush of traffic?
Have you smelled cinnamon or burning leaves?
Have you tasted something delicious and savored every bite?
Why not?
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Thoughts and Change
Last night in our Bible Study, God Views, we read this advice to perfectionists: Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly.
It made me laugh. Just try something, anything. Don't wait until you can do it perfectly, or exactly, just do something. That's is the polar opposite of my usual train of thought.
Our thoughts are powerful. It's no wonder Kathleen Norris, in her newest book Acedia and Me notes that the seven deadly sins used to be called the eight bad (or tempting, perhaps) thoughts. The earliest Christians who wrote about their lives spoke often of how to overcome these thoughts. Their writings describe internal struggle, and what treasure they had found in learning to marshall their thought-life toward God.
Today I was feeling very 'beaten' by a sinus infection, Randy being gone, some bad news from friends and a busy week to come. Sitting in my class at the hospital, I was challenged to think about what I want to be, instead of what I am not. Ponder that for a moment. The leader reminded us we need more time to think than we usually allow ourselves. "So sit in your chair, take deep, wonderful breaths, and think," she invited.
I thought of all things I want to be, and it was incredible to note the amount of energy that simply flooded through me when I stopped focusing on what I wasn't (feeling well, to start with) and started thinking about what I want (to be healthy, to start with). I honestly felt more awake, less sick, more hopeful.
While we don't control which thoughts float in and out of our consciousness, we do control which ones we allow to live there. That, I think, is where the power of Christ comes in. There is, quite simply, no way to send those thoughts packing without the power of Christ through the Holy Spirit. In Christ, however, we find it possible to simply notice all that is going on in our mind, and allow only what is Christly to stick around.
It's a pretty frightening time in our nation's economic history. All around us, people are losing their jobs, at least here in Elkhart. Older folks are putting off retirement out of necessity. Younger ones feel insecure. The election has brought out the usual nasty rhetoric. There is not a lot of hope amongst the masses.
I could focus on that. Or I could remember the value of Philippians 4:8 - 'Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable -- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy -- think about these things.'
How about this? From now on, I pray only positive. Instead of what I don't want, I will ask for what I do. Instead of noticing the failures, the stupidity, the negative, I'll give thanks for those things that lead me to my goal. A free country (isn't it awesome that we can have dialogs in public?); a prosperous community (isn't it so cool that we all have food on our table and there are so many generous people sharing their wealth?); a bright future (God promises when we pray he'll give us good things - bread, not stones).
Ok, it might sound corny to you. Still, why not? What is there, really, to lose? After all, anything worth doing is worth doing poorly! I want to be a person who works for God's good, bringing Christ near to others. I will let him train me to think and live in his Way. Who knows what he will make of me?
It made me laugh. Just try something, anything. Don't wait until you can do it perfectly, or exactly, just do something. That's is the polar opposite of my usual train of thought.
Our thoughts are powerful. It's no wonder Kathleen Norris, in her newest book Acedia and Me notes that the seven deadly sins used to be called the eight bad (or tempting, perhaps) thoughts. The earliest Christians who wrote about their lives spoke often of how to overcome these thoughts. Their writings describe internal struggle, and what treasure they had found in learning to marshall their thought-life toward God.
Today I was feeling very 'beaten' by a sinus infection, Randy being gone, some bad news from friends and a busy week to come. Sitting in my class at the hospital, I was challenged to think about what I want to be, instead of what I am not. Ponder that for a moment. The leader reminded us we need more time to think than we usually allow ourselves. "So sit in your chair, take deep, wonderful breaths, and think," she invited.
I thought of all things I want to be, and it was incredible to note the amount of energy that simply flooded through me when I stopped focusing on what I wasn't (feeling well, to start with) and started thinking about what I want (to be healthy, to start with). I honestly felt more awake, less sick, more hopeful.
While we don't control which thoughts float in and out of our consciousness, we do control which ones we allow to live there. That, I think, is where the power of Christ comes in. There is, quite simply, no way to send those thoughts packing without the power of Christ through the Holy Spirit. In Christ, however, we find it possible to simply notice all that is going on in our mind, and allow only what is Christly to stick around.
It's a pretty frightening time in our nation's economic history. All around us, people are losing their jobs, at least here in Elkhart. Older folks are putting off retirement out of necessity. Younger ones feel insecure. The election has brought out the usual nasty rhetoric. There is not a lot of hope amongst the masses.
I could focus on that. Or I could remember the value of Philippians 4:8 - 'Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable -- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy -- think about these things.'
How about this? From now on, I pray only positive. Instead of what I don't want, I will ask for what I do. Instead of noticing the failures, the stupidity, the negative, I'll give thanks for those things that lead me to my goal. A free country (isn't it awesome that we can have dialogs in public?); a prosperous community (isn't it so cool that we all have food on our table and there are so many generous people sharing their wealth?); a bright future (God promises when we pray he'll give us good things - bread, not stones).
Ok, it might sound corny to you. Still, why not? What is there, really, to lose? After all, anything worth doing is worth doing poorly! I want to be a person who works for God's good, bringing Christ near to others. I will let him train me to think and live in his Way. Who knows what he will make of me?
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Question and Answer
Answers. I like them. According to all tests, I'm a J on the Myers-Briggs, so I like decisions to be clear (and preferrably made quickly). I like to be right. I like to know the answers.
Only I don't think life is conducive to that, very often. One of my wise friends says to assume God is sending what we ask for or something better. My optimistic self wants to believe that, but then I think about the Jews and the Holocaust, and I wonder. No answers. Job didn't really get answers to his questions either. All he wanted was to have his day in God's court, I suppose to accuse God. What he got was God accusing him, nailing him with questions. Not answers.
Moses asks God how to tell the Israelites who God is. God just says "I am that I am." Not really an answer. We have turned that cryptic response into a name - Yahweh or Jehovah - but it's still not really clear, is it?
Why did the Levite chop his concubine into pieces? What were you thinking then, God? Were you behind that grisly effort? What was the reasoning behind Lot sending his daughters out to be raped instead of the heavenly visitor? Were you there with them?
How do I help the couple who comes to me, on disability, addicted to tobacco, $2000 behind in their rent? How do we work for the improved economy of Elkhart, what can you say to the thousands of people here who have no work and no prospects? What will happen when the unemployment runs out?
That doesn't even include cancer (something God created? a mutation? what purpose does it serve?) and child abuse.
My Jewish friend asks, "If Jesus was really the Messiah, why are people still dying? Don't you Christians think he conquered death?"
I don't have an answer - I am sure there is a theologically sound one, but it won't really answer him. He wants to SEE the resurrection, and I am no different. We both want answers. All we ever get is faith. All the Jews in the Holocaust got was faith. God just doesn't give us the answers we crave.
Jesus didn't answer a lot of questions; in fact, he asked more than he answered, just like God in Job. Jesus didn't solve his disciples' problems or end poverty in their lifetime, though some commentators say the Devil gave him a chance. A lot of Jesus's friends ended up with many more problems because they followed him. Some of them died for it. Answering questions, making it all make sense, doesn't seem very important to God.
Not trying to be depressing. It's just life. Sometimes, there aren't answers. Jesus just gave us himself, without answering a single question. Maybe that's the way to live without answers. Maybe that's the way God intends it to be.
I have no answer for that, either.
Only I don't think life is conducive to that, very often. One of my wise friends says to assume God is sending what we ask for or something better. My optimistic self wants to believe that, but then I think about the Jews and the Holocaust, and I wonder. No answers. Job didn't really get answers to his questions either. All he wanted was to have his day in God's court, I suppose to accuse God. What he got was God accusing him, nailing him with questions. Not answers.
Moses asks God how to tell the Israelites who God is. God just says "I am that I am." Not really an answer. We have turned that cryptic response into a name - Yahweh or Jehovah - but it's still not really clear, is it?
Why did the Levite chop his concubine into pieces? What were you thinking then, God? Were you behind that grisly effort? What was the reasoning behind Lot sending his daughters out to be raped instead of the heavenly visitor? Were you there with them?
How do I help the couple who comes to me, on disability, addicted to tobacco, $2000 behind in their rent? How do we work for the improved economy of Elkhart, what can you say to the thousands of people here who have no work and no prospects? What will happen when the unemployment runs out?
That doesn't even include cancer (something God created? a mutation? what purpose does it serve?) and child abuse.
My Jewish friend asks, "If Jesus was really the Messiah, why are people still dying? Don't you Christians think he conquered death?"
I don't have an answer - I am sure there is a theologically sound one, but it won't really answer him. He wants to SEE the resurrection, and I am no different. We both want answers. All we ever get is faith. All the Jews in the Holocaust got was faith. God just doesn't give us the answers we crave.
Jesus didn't answer a lot of questions; in fact, he asked more than he answered, just like God in Job. Jesus didn't solve his disciples' problems or end poverty in their lifetime, though some commentators say the Devil gave him a chance. A lot of Jesus's friends ended up with many more problems because they followed him. Some of them died for it. Answering questions, making it all make sense, doesn't seem very important to God.
Not trying to be depressing. It's just life. Sometimes, there aren't answers. Jesus just gave us himself, without answering a single question. Maybe that's the way to live without answers. Maybe that's the way God intends it to be.
I have no answer for that, either.
Friday, October 10, 2008
You Who Never Bore a Child
Sometimes, the old prophecies come true, right before our very eyes. Isaiah wrote millennia ago: "'Sing barren woman, you who never bore a child; burst into song, shout for joy, you who were never in labor; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband,' says the LORD." (Isaiah 54:1).
I have 2 children to raise. Much of my time and energy goes to training, influencing, shaping, loving these 2. My friends who have no biological or adopted children, in contrast, have hundreds of children. One friend, a pastor, I have watched struggle with the reality that she would never bear a child. She wanted very much to marry, to raise a family. She wanted even more to please God, and his call on her life moved her in directions away from marriage and parenthood. It broke her heart for a time, and I grieved with her, even while I watched her pour out her life to help the youth in the church we served together.
Another, a missionary, is married but she and her husband have made a conscious choice not to have children. She has never shared with me those discussions. I don't know her heart. But I do know that hundreds of families are stronger, more secure, and more aware of God's love because of her work. She is able to serve in her mission with unreserved passion, because she does not have to hold some back for those who wait at home.
In Old Testament times, these women would have been considered cursed. Children were social security, they were future, they were signs of status and bonds to cement marriages. In many ways, they are all those things today. Some women so yearn for children that they do not feel whole without them. Others find marriages breaking under the weight of unrequited hope. I have counseled 'barren' women so sure that God has somehow cursed them for past mistakes and decisions that they feel utterly abandoned by God.
Yet Isaiah proclaims the opposite as he reassures the people of God and offers hope of a Messiah who will offer God's forgiveness, mercy and blessing. This may not be reassuring to the woman who sorrows for a child that never comes. Syncing our lives to what happens when it is not what we asked for is a surrender that doesn't come easily to anyone, let alone the woman who has convinced herself that God or her own past has cursed her life.
Isaiah's prophecy is an invitation to see things through the eyes of a Messiah yet to come, to envision a world turned on its head by the arrival of God's Chosen One. When I look through Jesus, I see my women friends have many more children than I could ever hope to raise. Nieces and nephews receive their love, grace and attention. Youth and adults where they serve are trained and influenced, enveloped in love and given a future.
To be sure, my so-called barren friends do not take children home with them at night (very often). No infant kicks them from the inside, or calls them 'Mama.' There is grief in that for those who long for it. I don't mean to belittle the desires and hopes that life sometimes dashes for us, though I pray that those who bear heavy senses of cursedness will find their hearts and minds lifted by truth.
As Christians, let's celebrate these 'barren' women of God! Let's thank them for their ministries, let's be sure they don't lack for thanks and hugs and smiles and friends. Though Isaiah's words are metaphor, they are also very real and true. Children do not make women blessed. God does, and all too often, his blessings flow through women who offer God their desires, their present and future, their time and energy to bless the world.
I have 2 children to raise. Much of my time and energy goes to training, influencing, shaping, loving these 2. My friends who have no biological or adopted children, in contrast, have hundreds of children. One friend, a pastor, I have watched struggle with the reality that she would never bear a child. She wanted very much to marry, to raise a family. She wanted even more to please God, and his call on her life moved her in directions away from marriage and parenthood. It broke her heart for a time, and I grieved with her, even while I watched her pour out her life to help the youth in the church we served together.
Another, a missionary, is married but she and her husband have made a conscious choice not to have children. She has never shared with me those discussions. I don't know her heart. But I do know that hundreds of families are stronger, more secure, and more aware of God's love because of her work. She is able to serve in her mission with unreserved passion, because she does not have to hold some back for those who wait at home.
In Old Testament times, these women would have been considered cursed. Children were social security, they were future, they were signs of status and bonds to cement marriages. In many ways, they are all those things today. Some women so yearn for children that they do not feel whole without them. Others find marriages breaking under the weight of unrequited hope. I have counseled 'barren' women so sure that God has somehow cursed them for past mistakes and decisions that they feel utterly abandoned by God.
Yet Isaiah proclaims the opposite as he reassures the people of God and offers hope of a Messiah who will offer God's forgiveness, mercy and blessing. This may not be reassuring to the woman who sorrows for a child that never comes. Syncing our lives to what happens when it is not what we asked for is a surrender that doesn't come easily to anyone, let alone the woman who has convinced herself that God or her own past has cursed her life.
Isaiah's prophecy is an invitation to see things through the eyes of a Messiah yet to come, to envision a world turned on its head by the arrival of God's Chosen One. When I look through Jesus, I see my women friends have many more children than I could ever hope to raise. Nieces and nephews receive their love, grace and attention. Youth and adults where they serve are trained and influenced, enveloped in love and given a future.
To be sure, my so-called barren friends do not take children home with them at night (very often). No infant kicks them from the inside, or calls them 'Mama.' There is grief in that for those who long for it. I don't mean to belittle the desires and hopes that life sometimes dashes for us, though I pray that those who bear heavy senses of cursedness will find their hearts and minds lifted by truth.
As Christians, let's celebrate these 'barren' women of God! Let's thank them for their ministries, let's be sure they don't lack for thanks and hugs and smiles and friends. Though Isaiah's words are metaphor, they are also very real and true. Children do not make women blessed. God does, and all too often, his blessings flow through women who offer God their desires, their present and future, their time and energy to bless the world.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)