Jesus

Best intentions & grace…

So clearly I have fallen off my pace when it comes to blogging. Just as I have struggled with more than my fair share of illness this winter, I am now struggling with finding my stride again. Despite my best intentions I have simply not been able to keep up to the pace I set for myself as Lent began. I want to be “back to normal,” but I am not. I am more easily tired than I was in the fall. And I am seriously paranoid about getting over-tired and that leading to another cold or flu.

All of that to say I am slowly (but surely) learning to have grace for myself. It’s amazing to me that I am a passionate believer in God’s grace for me (and all of humanity, actually), but I have a hard time forgiving myself for a missed workout or a string of nights when I am simply too exhausted to blog at the end of the day.

So this week has been a lesson on how to have grace for oneself. And, though such lessons always seem to come in times of struggle, I find I am still thankful for the continued act of learning how to live this faith.

Be gracious to yourself, my friends, as you are gracious to other and as God has first been gracious to us all.

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Romans 5:1, 2 NKJV

Light…

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C.S. Lewis once said, “I believe in Christ like I believe in the sun – not because I can see it, but I can see everything else.”

I find that quote so very helpful. Jesus is the light by which I see all other things. That is what it means to live this life of faith. I don’t even know if I have all that much to say about that…maybe I just need to let that quote exist here on the blog. Maybe it will inspire you. Maybe it will help you understand your own journey. Maybe it will help you understand how you see the world.

Maybe this is a night where few words say more.

 Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”
John 8:12 NLT

Complex…

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I have often struggled with the idea of Lent. I think this is because, historically, Lent was a time when you couldn’t sing happy songs, when you couldn’t eat tasty foods and when you couldn’t wear bright colors. All of this was because you were meant to be participating in the sorrowful sufferings of Christ…so how could you possibly sing or eat or dress in joy? You were meant to be in mourning.

But my experience of faith is that things are not so hard-and-fast. In a time of mourning you may find yourself smiling or laughing. In a time of despair you may find yourself giving hope to another. In a time of brokenness you may experience healing. Life is kind of messy and emotions don’t stay in neat little boxes. Nor does God allow us to experience only one emotion at a time. God made us more complex than that.

So while I appreciate the idea of taking a season to remember all that Jesus has done for us and all that it cost Him to do it, I find it very difficult to impose what sometimes feel like false restrictions in order to do that remembering. Because that isn’t true to the beautiful, messed up, paradoxical life each of us is living.

For me, this winter has been brutal. I have struggled with illness after illness and while none of these illnesses were debilitating in the long run (it’s been two stomach flus bookending a wicked boomerang cold that came back just when it felt like it was on its way out), they have knocked the stuffing outta me and taken some precious time away from me. That’s been tough. I’ve shed more than one tear over that this winter.

At the same time, there are some very exciting things happening at St. Andrew’s, Brampton, where I serve as Associate minister. Our G.R.A.C.E. Group network is coming along, we are making strides forward. You see? Even in a time of struggle, God is at work, birthing something new and beautiful in our midst.

This passage from Hebrews reminds me of this “life doesn’t fit into neat little boxes” theory of mine:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.
Hebrews 12:1, 2 NLT

Because of joy, Jesus disregarded the shame of the cross. Because of joy, Jesus went willingly to lay down his life for us. Because of joy – and shame and suffering, and death and new life – we know what it is to walk through this life as a beloved, cherished child of God, never alone.

I am thankful, even in a time of struggle or a time of mourning or a time of remembering suffering, for the fact that God made us complex enough to experience more than one emotion at a time. I am thankful that on the cross, joy and sorrow meet. I am thankful for the new things God is doing in our midst.

Encouraging…

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Sometimes when you are a church leader, you have a conversation with a congregant that makes what you do worth it. Sometimes that person lets you know the difference you’ve made to them, and it is great when that happens.

But what I find even more exciting and interesting and strengthening is when someone lets you know how they are living their faith. When, in the course of a normal conversation, the person mentions how God was faithful in the situation they are facing, or how a passage of scripture impacted their week, or how their prayers were answered.

When that happens, it truly is a holy moment. And as a leader, it is what keeps us going on the days when it feels like no one is really getting what we are trying to teach.

Jesus said:

“You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.
Matthew 5:13-16 NLT

That is what it is like when a congregant shares their faith journey with us, their leaders. It is like the salt that brings the flavour out in food, or like a light shining in the darkness.

These are good things to talk about, they are good thins to hear. So I encourage you to talk about your faith, to be salt and light, to honour Jesus as you do that and to be encouraging to those with whom you share these conversations.

Rest…

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Today I am tired. I had a terrible time getting to sleep last night. My brain just wouldn’t shut off and allow me the rest I needed. It was after just 3.5hrs of sleep that I got up to face the new day.

As a result, all day I have been moving a little slower and looking forward to bed a little more than normal. So this will not be a long blog entry, as I don’t want to delay my rest any longer.

Jesus said this about rest:

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,   for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
Matthew 11: 28, 29 NIV

Today I feel physically tired, but Jesus was talking about being spiritually tired: sad or worried or stressed to the point where you just don’t feel like you can keep going. I find it so reassuring that Jesus addresses this. That he says that his way of living is the treatment for that kind of soul-weary-ness.

My physical tiredness will be easily solved by a good night’s sleep, but the bigger problem of spiritual weariness is in the hands of my maker. And He knows just what to do with it.

If you are soul-weary, I hope you will find yourself turning to Jesus, learning from him and trusting Him to give you the rest you need.

PS – The picture at the top is my girl, Koski. And like all dogs she knows how to rest better than any human being!

Prompted…

Sometimes God comes to us in big, bold ways. But I suspect more often, God comes to us in quiet ways, ways that might be overlooked if we are not careful. Often, I think God uses a simple conversation with a friend to speak His will to us.

This morning before worship I was chatting with James, a member of the congregation where I serve. He was telling me how he was participating in Lent this year. He said instead of giving anything up, he’d heard about a challenge to do 40 acts of kindness in the days leading up to the celebration of Easter. And then he asked me if I was doing anything to observe Lent.

The truth is, I wasn’t. Not at that point. But as we talked, I thought…what about a blog project? My friend Becky does one on her blog, meant to encourage people to make God a priority during this season. I am not thinking of doing anything quite so grand as Becky’s project…but I think it is high time I got back to blogging regularly, and I think Lent could be a good catalyst for it.

So starting today, and lasting at least until Easter, I will be publishing a blog entry six days of week (I still need my sabbath!). I encourage you to try Becky’s Lent project, read along on my blog as I journey through Lent, or find some other way of preparing for the celebration of Easter.

It is good to make God a priority. After all, God made us enough of a priority that Jesus came to be with us, came to teach us, and ultimately came to die that we might be made right with God.

All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see.
1 Peter 1:3-5 NLT

Mary’s lesson…

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All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often. The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them.
Luke 2:18-20 NLT

Christmas has been celebrated well in my house this year. We have laughed and talked and eaten and shared. Gifts have been opened, Merry Christmases exchanged, relatives and friends spoken to on the phone or by email. I even got a nap in (which is one of my favourite things to do on any holiday!).

You might think that tomorrow it is back to business as usual. But I have learned a lesson from Mary. I learned it so many years ago, I cannot even remember when…it is one of those things that seems to have always been part of my understanding of Christmas. It is the reason that the words “but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often” are my very favourite Christmas scripture.

The lesson is this: Christmas, like Easter, is a defining moment in the Christian faith. It is not simply a fun holiday, or a season of the year or a great story. It defines our faith. It makes us – those of us who follow Jesus – what we are.

Like Mary, we are meant to keep these things in our hearts and think about them often. We are to remember that God became a man, that He moved into the neighborhood, that His message is for the poorest and the richest alike, that wise men seek Him still and that the very first King sized bed was a manger full of hay.

The fact that God took on flesh and blood, the fact that he became one of us, in the person of Jesus, who is the Christ, makes our faith unique.

We are meant to remember that. We are meant to carry it into all the days that come as 2012 ends and as 2013 begins. We are meant to allow it to shape us, to help us interpret reality, to call us to the work God has for us to do.

So Merry Christmas, my friends. Like Mary, may we all hold the lessons of this precious time of year in our hearts and think of them often.

Be blessed, and be a blessing.

Angel’s song…

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 Suddenly, the angel was joined
by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—
praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in highest heaven,
and peace on earth to those
with whom God is pleased.”
Luke 2:13,14 NLT

 

These verses are so well-known to me, that it is easy to overlook them. To simply hear them as a part of the story, and not see the gold that is hidden in them. For there is gold here.

In this simple song of the angels is housed the ‘way it was all meant to be.’ Glory to God, they sing. Because God deserves the glory. Only God could come up with the plan for our salvation. Only God could send us Jesus. Only God could work a plan for humanity on so many levels – that Jesus would be our salvation…the one through whom we are made right with God; but also that he would also be God’s ultimate sign of love for us – He loved us enough to come here and live as one of us, so that we could never say “you don’t know what it is like”; and also that in the life and teachings of Jesus we would be given words of wisdom for how to live the good life, the abundant life; but also that through his Resurrection death would be defeated.

Yes, God deserves the glory. That is the way it is meant to be.

Peace on Earth is also the way it is meant to be. We are made for relationship with God and with each other. We are made to be at peace with each other. We are made to be at peace with the world around us. When we fail at peace (remember Shalom? – that is what I mean by peace), then brokenness occurs. When we don’t live holistically and sustainably within the world that God created for us, disease breaks out. When we don’t live holistically with our fellow man, violence breaks out. When we don’t live holistically with God, evil breaks out.

We need peace. We need not just an end to war or other violence, but an end to the way we exclude others, the way we poison our world, the way we try to fix things on our own and leave God out of the equation.

May the song of the Angels ring loud and clear this Christmas. May it remind us all of how it is meant to be. May each of us seek and find ways to give the glory to God and bring peace to the Earth.

Emotional complications…

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With the tragic shootings a Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut have come a whole slew of different reactions. Some call for the banning of assault weapons, others wonder whether teachers should carry guns. Some find comfort in the thought of these children being united with Jesus in heaven, others cannot find any comfort at all. I read an article today that said this is not the time for dancing or celebrating anything. I certainly respect anyone who feels their grief too keenly to engage in any celebration at the moment, but I also know there are others who find that even in their sorrow there is cause for celebration…there are reasons to smile and laugh. Life never occurs in a vacuum, or in neat, compartmentalized boxes.

It’s kind of a mess, and things are mixed up together. At every funeral I have ever presided over, there has been laughter through the tears. And I believe that’s the way it is meant to be. A life lived fully is a life where conflicting emotions are experienced together. Where joy and sorrow meet. Where the cradle dwells in the shadow of the cross. Where defeat and victory are experienced in the same event. That’s what Jesus’ story is all about. We have a way of white-washing it, of making it all pretty and nice, but the mess always existed in the story.

Take the shepherds and the angels for example:

That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”

Luke 2:8-12

Do you see that little phrase in the center of the passage? “They were terrified.” All heaven is breaking loose, with the best news ever, but the shepherds were terrified.

Because life is kind of messy, and you don’t expect all heaven to break loose in the midst of the night shift. Terror in the midst of joy. That is the mess of life. These things go together, and make the story more beautiful, in the end.

Not to give tomorrow’s passage away, but the shepherds will turn from terror into rejoicing. They will find their joy.

But for me, I’m glad to read that little phrase in the center of this passage. I am glad to know that I’m not the only one who knows what it means to feel more than one emotion at once. I’m glad to get to live this messy, confused, crazy life. And to know that it doesn’t always have to make sense.

Joy and sorrow can coexist within us, because God made us to be emotionally complex beings. I hope you can find some joy, even when sorrow seems to be all around. I hope, like the shepherds, though you may feel terror, you will not dwell there indefinitely. I hope you can hear the good news of great joy that is for all the people.

A long journey…

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At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) All returned to their own ancestral towns to register for this census. And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. He took with him Mary, his fiancée, who was now obviously pregnant.

Luke 2:1-5 NLT

Mary and Joseph set out for Bethlehem on the back of a donkey, because the powers that be had declared that everyone had to return to their home towns so that a census could be taken.

I can’t imagine what the journey must have been like. It certainly was nothing like the journey would be if you took it today. There were no highways, no buses, no roadside stops where you could buy food and drink. There were no hotels or showers or restaurants. Mary was obviously pregnant, which means she was also uncomfortable. All my friends who are Moms talk about that stage in their pregnancies as one where they were just ready to be done with it.

It must have been cold, and times frightening. I wonder where they stayed at night, what food they ate on the journey. It all looks so pretty on the Christmas cards we send, but the reality would have been quite different.

Isn’t that true of all of our Christmases, though? Often everything looks quite pretty – the family is dressed up, they gather at church together smiling at other families and friends. No one quite sees the cracks beneath the surface: the argument the siblings had on their way to the church service or the worry that the parents share over the bills that will come due in January. There is always more to the journey than meets the eye.

In Newtown, Connecticut, the first of the funerals for the children victimized in Friday’s shooting were held today. That town is on a journey of its own. Just holding the funerals is going to take quite a while, never mind all the time it will take for answers to be discovered or for healing to begin.

I am so thankful for a God who understands the journeys we face. I believe God was with Mary and Joseph on the road that they traveled to Bethlehem. I believe that God is with us on the roads we travel towards the celebration of Christmas. I believe God is present with the people of Newtown, as they journey from Friday’s tragedy to whatever the future will hold for them.

Whatever your journey looks like, may you know that God is with you on the road. May you know that Jesus took a long journey before he was even born, and continued to journey throughout his life. May these thoughts comfort you, and in finding comfort, may you pray for the comfort of others on the roads that they travel.