You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism. ~Erma Bombeck … [Read more...]
Spiritual Priorities
Remember the old Abbot and Costello skit: “Who's on first, What's on second, I Don't Know is on third...” I have been pondering that question lately: Who’s on first? Who is first in my life? I wish I could say God was all the time, but to be honest, that is not always true. I heard a speaker a few years ago, Rev, Dan Schrock, pastor of the Berkey Avenue Mennonite Fellowship in Goshen Indiana, speak about five attachments we cling to instead of God. Many of these affections are not bad, but just disordered. We hold onto them tightly, putting them in first place – a place reserved only for God. “Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.” Exodus 34:14 What takes the place of God as priorities in our hearts and lives? 1. Physical objects – that new truck, our laptop, the home we have lived in for 26 years 2. People – This could be a highly regarded mentor, a close friend and … [Read more...]
A Native American Prayer – Give Us Hearts To Understand
Here is a great Native American Prayer to enrich your devotions: Give us hearts to understand; Never to take from creation's beauty more than we give; never to destroy wantonly for the furtherance of greed; Never to deny to give our hands for the building of earth's beauty; never to take from her what we cannot use. Give us hearts to understand That to destroy earth's music is to create confusion; that to wreck her appearance is to blind us to beauty; That to callously pollute her fragrance is to make a house of stench; that as we care for her she will care for us. We have forgotten who we are. We have sought only our own security. We have exploited simply for our own ends. We have distorted our knowledge. We … [Read more...]
The Invitation – Entering Into Worship and Prayer
I learned something new lately about preparing my heart to enter into worship and prayer. I have been helping with the beginning of our church’s worship service. I lead the opening prayer and share the children’s message. What is new is that I am wearing a wireless microphone. I am aware of every cough, clearing of my throat and escaping hiccup could be broadcast quite loudly over the speakers during the time I am “live.” Part of that time is when we sing our first hymn. mmm, I don’t want to have the rest of the congregation subject to my singing being transmitted throughout the church so have been silently mouthing the words of the opening song. What has surprised me is this has evolved into a quiet time of prayer with God. Silently saying the words brings the lyrics alive as I offered them up to God. “Those who sing, pray twice.” - St. Augustine. God has shown me a new way of entering into his heart for worship. I wonder what others means … [Read more...]
GUIDANCE – God and I Dance
Guidance. God and I dance. Do you see in the word Guidance - the words God and I dance? A friend took this photo of a gravestone a few weeks ago. Inscribed was the perhaps familiar to you poem about the word “guidance" and "God and I dance." When I meditated on the word Guidance, I kept seeing " dance" at the end of the word. I remember reading that doing God's will is a lot like dancing. When two people try to lead, nothing feels right. The movement doesn't flow with the music, and everything is quite uncomfortable and jerky. When one person realizes that, and lets the other lead, both bodies begin to flow with the music. One gives gentle cues, perhaps with a nudge to the back or by pressing lightly in one direction or another. It's as if two become one body, moving … [Read more...]
The Long View – Oscar Romero – Quote of the Week
It helps, now and then, to step back and take the long view. The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is beyond our vision. We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work.Nothing we do is complete, which is another way of saying that the kingdom always lies beyond us. No statement says all that could be said. No prayer fully expresses our faith. No confession brings perfection.No pastoral visit brings wholeness. No program accomplishes the church’s mission. No set of goals and objectives includes everything.That is what we are about: We plant seeds that one day will grow. We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise. We lay foundations that will need further development. We provide yeast that produces effects beyond our capabilities.We cannot do everything and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something, and to do it very well. It may be incomplete, but it is … [Read more...]
I’d Rather Have Jesus
I know I just posted about music on Tuesday so this must be music week. When I attended the Write to Publish Conference a few weeks ago (love Christian writing conferences for the atmosphere and the worship) we sang the classic “I’d Rather have Jesus.” I hadn’t sung that song for ages. I’d Rather have Jesus started out as a poem written by Rhea Miller in 1922. Ten years later a 23-year-old musician named George Beverly Shea sat at his mother’s piano. He noticed the poem lying by the piano and the words touched his heart. Shea immediately write music to accompany the words. It is said the first time he sang it, his mother came out from the kitchen with tears in her eyes. She encouraged him to sing the new song in church the following Sunday. A few years later, George joined together with another young man - Evangelist Billy Graham and this became one of his favorite songs. Shea just died this past April living to the age of 104. He sang into his 90s and received many, … [Read more...]
Love Changes Everything
Ever have a song stick to your soul? Your mind keeps repeating the words. The tune plants it roots in the ears of your heart. God nudges me to listen and listen deeply. He is reminding me of His truth. Love Changes Everything haunts me this week. Haunts in a good way. Deep down I want to believe that love changes everything. Love creates meaning. Love heals hurts. Love mends relationships. You are never the same after His love. Love transforms. If I don’t know the answer to a situation - I choose love. If I have two options, I ask which one shows more love? If I want to be more like Jesus, I choose love. I love the music and lyrics to the song by Andrew Lloyd Webber, from the musical “Aspects of Love.” I pray, “Yes love, love changes everything. Lord, now I tremble at your name. Nothing in the world will ever be the same. Love will never, never let us be the same.” Take a moment to listen, enjoy and pray: Love, love changes … [Read more...]