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Archive for the ‘Advent’ Category

Giving My Strength

Posted in Advent, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 12, 2009| Leave a Comment »

There’s probably not a pastor or Christian fund raiser who hasn’t used the phrase, “it is more blessed to give than receive,” but it seems everyone has focused on the monetary piece of this and missed some other crucial possibilities. Giving is not limited to dollars and cents.

Acts 20:35
In everything I [Paul] did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ “

To be honest, I can’t even find a place where Jesus actually said this phrase in the gospels. That’s a bit problematic for me but for argument’s sake, let’s assume Paul wouldn’t make that part up.

But what else is he saying? I hear him emphasize the importance of hard work and how he and his followers met their own needs and still had enough to also meet some of the needs of others.

Paul gave what he had and in this case, I’m thinking it was his strength, his knowledge, his dauntless faith, as well as the fruit of his labors. As a former Pharisee, he was probably a good student. He knew what it meant to study and then to teach. He was smart. He was committed. He was zealous. When he became a follower of Jesus, he practiced and worked as a tent maker. He worked.

In Paul’s time, some people could not work. Some people were sick (both physically & mentally) and could not help themselves. Widows and orphans were alone in the world and needed support. People were caught in the cycle and web of poverty and despair. Any different from today?

Paul believed that those who can work, must work and share with those who cannot. But, again, it’s not just the money, it’s the work itself… the labor, the strength to do what must be done.

I am a high energy person. I know this. I can usually get a lot done in a day. My parents, my mother in particular, brought me up with a strong work ethic. I have worked at some kind of a paying job since I was fourteen when I lied about my age and washed test tubes and urine bottles in a medical lab (back in the day). Since then, I have been a candy salesman, a waitress (several times over), a bookkeeper, a bartender, a filing clerk, an office temp, a secretary, an administrative assistant, a toy salesman, a Realtor, a teacher, an actress, a model, a spokesperson, a mascot, a director, a playwright, a magazine writer, a director of a nonprofit agency, a manager of a dance company, a manager of a theater company, a speaker, a trainer, a photographer, an entrepreneur, a web master, a librarian, and a branch manager.

But work is not just physical labor, there is also the work of my mind and my spirit. Writing is work. Speaking is work. Thinking is work. Planning is work. Problem solving is work.

And then there are other non-paying jobs like washing dishes, mowing a lawn, cleaning a house, photographing an event, planting a garden, driving a car, cooking a meal, and raising children.

If I am capable of doing any of this work, then I am capable of giving from the fruit of this work (money) or I can give the work itself. There is even more power in giving my self and my time. I can be present. My spirit, my time, my strength, and my energy are probably my most precious commodities… even more so than the dollars I make with my knowledge and labor.

Yes, it is more blessed to give… of oneself… that to receive… of another. Here I am Lord, send me [Isaiah 6:8].

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Cup of Grace

Posted in Advent, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 10, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Each day has an abundance of bad choices, wrong steps, hurt feelings, and ill temper. If my sins were collected in bottles, I’d have a case of them in no time at all. This is why I am so grateful for a faith that offers an abundance of grace (unmerited favor, spiritual blessing, and mercy [Amplified]).

Acts 20:24b
“…if only I [Paul] may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.”

The people of Paul’s time were equally downtrodden with the burdens of their day. For the Jews, it was the codified law that had become a heavy weight around their necks. There was no way to follow and meet the standards of that law. For the non-Jews who believed in Yahweh (and thereby, one God), there was this overwhelming sense of being on the “outside” of the whole truth, stepchildren of the faithful. And for those who had walked away from God, there was no hope of redemption at all.

This was the message of grace that Paul offered to everyone he met: accept Jesus as the Messiah and find freedom in his rabbi’s yoke.

Some fear this emphasis on grace and have coined the appropriation of God’s Grace when applied everything and everyone as “cheap grace” particularly when a person calls on grace to cover ongoing and willful sins or bad behaviors. But, if grace belongs to God, then it is God who ultimately sorts out the application of His love to a person’s circumstances or human troubles.

My job, like Paul’s, is to tell the story of God’s Grace in my life. I cannot know how grace will feel or look in the life of another. But I do know, on the day that Grace covered me, I was made new. Where there had been no hope, there was hope. Where there had been disillusionment and fear, there was confidence and peace. Where there had been deep sorrows, there was a possibility for joy.

And so it goes each day, I pour out my bottle of sins and grievances into the hands of Christ and He has me drink instead from the cup of his mercy.

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Paul’s Filibuster

Posted in Advent, tagged , , , , , , , on December 9, 2009| Leave a Comment »

I do get some satisfaction knowing that Paul was flawed. And apparently, among his imperfections was his long-windedness. On this occasion, in Troas (part of modern day Turkey), the last day of his visit there, he talked and taught almost 24 hours!

Acts 20:7b, 9a, 11b
Paul spoke to the people and, because he intended to leave the next day, kept on talking until midnight. … Seated in a window was a young man named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on…. [then] After talking until daylight, he [Paul] left.

Luke wrote that Paul talked “on and on” [NIV] indicates to me that this was a long session even for the devoted disciples.

I think it’s important to remember that Paul was not perfect. He was anointed by God and did marvelous works as a faithful apostle. He taught many. He changed the composition of the believers, opening hearts and doors to non-Jews. But he wasn’t perfect! In fact, he was on the extreme side of things. He had been a Pharisee before he accepted Christ as the Messiah. He already had a bent toward compulsiveness.

We must read Paul in this light. Besides, in a time when little was written down, how could anyone remember what Paul said in a 24 hour sermon? Unlike Jesus, Paul did not lean to parables and simplicity. He was a scholar… a theologian… an academician. Face it, to read the books and writings of scholars today can be daunting as well. It takes lots of energy and focus to capture the essence of what is written in these complex texts.

Each person brings his/her uniqueness to the kingdom story. The spirit of Jesus in me manifests differently than the spirit in you. Of course, there are common denominators, but there is that part of the story that only I can tell… that only I can live…. flaws and all.

Confession, I’m a big talker too. I think out loud and my listeners have to sort through the half-baked ideas to glom the big picture. I talk with such confidence and enthusiasm that people often miss my insecurities and fears. Sometimes I say things so fast that I manage to talk myself into trouble, putting my foot into my mouth, as they say, up to my thigh. And then, there’s the gossip factor. It’s all about talking… and talking… and talking.

And yet, in midst of the jabber, I also know there are truths. I love being a follower a Christ. I love that spiritual aspect of my life. Secret? I think I could talk about my faith, my God, and the Messiah for 24 hours too. Unfortunately, I don’t think I could guarantee to raise anyone from the dead who fell out a window.

In the end, I think I’m supposed to be quiet today. Let’s see how that goes.

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How Did I Get Here?

Posted in Advent, tagged , , , , , , on December 8, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Acts 19:32b
“… Most of the people did not even know why they were there.”

How many times have I looked around and asked myself how I ended up in a particular situation? Sometimes, it’s a crowd thing, to be sure, just being caught up in the synergy of the thing and suddenly, there I am, in the midst of a mass of people who are shouting and carrying signs. I’m not shouting; I’m not carrying a sign. I’ve just realized where I am and I don’t want to be there, but how do I extricate myself?

Some of these things have happened because I didn’t stop to really think. I just went along for the ride not realizing where the ride might lead me. This is usually a type of teen behavior. I should know better.

I remember my first marriage. I was only eighteen and when I accepted that proposal of marriage, never did I realize that I would be caught up in a whirlwind that would not stop. And so, on that fateful day as I walked down the aisle, I knew I was making a mistake. But it was too late and I was not brave enough to be a “runaway bride.”

I remember going up to Toronto when the Toronto Blessing was big news and people were flying in from all over the world to experience this “new wave” of the Spirit. It was all so exciting until I found myself standing on a line with hundred and hundreds of other people waiting for someone to come along and pray for me with the expectation that I would be “slain in the spirit” and fall backward (they also provided catchers). Now, I know that being slain in the spirit can happen, it has happened to me once or twice and I went from upright to flat on the ground, with no catcher, no injuries, and thoroughly blessed. But my Toronto encounter was a conveyor belt and I wondered what I was doing there.

The list of these “where am I” experiences is long. Did someone tell me ahead of time? Did someone try to stop me? Did someone warn me? Unfortunately, I don’t remember that part. I was always too caught up in the moment, in the crowd, in the momentum.

As a parent, I am trying to be that voice of caution or “reality check” for my teenagers. They’re not listening either. Instead, they are calling me a “bubble breaker” who pricks the balloons of excitement and enthusiasm for a project.

But following a momentum without really thinking doesn’t just happen to teenagers. We are all guilty of not looking at all sides of a situation. It can be something as simple as raiding the grocery store for milk, eggs, and bread at the slightest hint that there may be a snowstorm. It can be showing up at a county council meeting to scream about taxes or budget cuts. It can be passing along an email or a blog post that is caustic or crude or downright wrong.

How do we get into these situations? We don’t take time to think… to pray… to consider the consequences of our actions. We lose courage in the face of the crowd, the group voice, the assumptions of righteousness.

Lord, give me a heart of courage this day. Give me sensitivity to your voice, your Spirit. And above all, give me mindfulness.

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Fifty Thousand Drachmas

Posted in Advent, tagged , , , , , , , on December 7, 2009| Leave a Comment »

There is so much power in the written word that many people have died for what they have written or what they have read. And historically many great books and writings have been lost, mostly because the words were feared.

Acts 19:19
A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas.

Of course, in this story, the scrolls that are burned are actually writings used in sorcery. I’m not sure how they manged to place a dollar value on them… was it the cost of buying these scrolls? If so, this is a huge amount of money. A drachma is a silver coin usually assumed to have the value of a day’s wage. Relatively speaking, what would that be in today’s economy? Even at the low end of $50 per day, this is still millions of dollars. What writings have such value today?

The books in Paul’s time were destroyed because of the way they were used. Their power was in the person who “wielded” it. But we miss that point and instead, we fear the writing itself.

This is such a compelling concept that Ray Bradbury wrote Fahrenheit 451 back in 1953 and it is still considered a “must-read” by all students. Hitler too destroyed books that might challenge his authority. Communists did the same and tightly controlled what would be published.

I am a librarian and a book lover. Reading is one of my greatest pleasures and I read a wide variety of books from fantasy to contemporary fiction to religious nonfiction and reference books. When I first started working at the library I had a flashback of myself at my childhood library. I spent many many hours there since it was within walking distance of my home. I remember holding my body flat up against the books on a shelf wondering if I could absorb the words by osmosis. I wanted them all inside me.

We are now living in an age of information. Words are everywhere, particularly since the Internet has brought words and information of all kinds, both healthy and perhaps unhealthy, depending on one’s point of view. Words are even translated into hundreds of languages all over the world. Information is there for the reading. Unfortunately, it is not all true or accurate. And here is another challenge.

Some people are afraid of words. It is true that words have power but that power can be diffused or endowed by the reader. We must read with intelligence and discernment. Not every book that is labeled Christian is good. Nor is every book that is not Christian bad.

What is the value I place on the words I read? What is the value I place on the scriptures on my book shelf?

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Handkerchiefs and Aprons

Posted in Advent, tagged , , , , , , , , , on December 5, 2009| Leave a Comment »

I can’t imagine having so much of the spirit of Christ within me to have an overflow. Like Jesus and the woman with the “issue of blood,” when she touched him, he didn’t feel the touch, he felt the power go out him.

Acts 19:11-12
God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.

And here is Paul, with such an overflow that handkerchiefs and aprons which had come into contact with him curing people. I know there have been charlatans throughout the ages who have sold pieces of garments or cloths saying that they were blessed and prayed over and as a result had healing power. This is not like that. This is the overflow. Paul didn’t touch the clothing and then say, “take this and put it on her wounds to heal her.” It was just overflow.

One of my favorite Christian movies is The Robe with Richard Burton. This idea that Jesus’s garments had power is traditional. To my knowledge, there is no reference in scripture that his robe went on to do powerful healings on its own. But if small items like handkerchiefs that Paul touched were powerful, wouldn’t it make sense that Jesus’s garments would have some of that same overflow power?

Another piece of fabric that has always intrigued me is the cloth that was laid over Jesus’s face when he was interred and then, after his resurrection, it was neatly folded off to the side. [John 20:7] Who folded it? I’m thinking Mary, his mother was there, but of course, that is mere speculation. I certainly don’t think Jesus rose from the dead and then straightened things up before leaving the tomb and folded his face cloth. And I wonder, was there overflow power in that small thing as well? Of course.

How does cloth carry power? I think it’s like aroma. It permeates natural fibers. How often have we heard that people can still smell a loved one’s scent on their clothing. Overflow power works the same way.

2 Corinthians 2:14-15, it says, “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.”

He’s overflowing into us…. into me. My presence in the midst of others should be a pleasing aroma by the presence of the Holy Spirit. It’s so simple… just be a handkerchief and touch those in need.

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The Way

Posted in Advent, tagged , , , , , , , , , on December 4, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Acts 19:9a
But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way…

“The Way” is an old term that appears several times in the New Testament referring to following Jesus (way of Truth, way of righteousness, etc.). It’s a simple phrase that speaks powerfully of direction. If someone says to me, “here’s the way,” I understand it’s a type of revelation or discovery of the path that will lead me to the right end point. Either this “way” has to be clearly marked (like a trail in the woods) or a leader needs to show the way. And if I come to a fork in the road, I must determine or decide, “which way” is best or shorter or more scenic or safer.

Some of the post-moderns and emergents have adopted this term, describing their faith as “the way of Jesus.” This, they use, as an alternative to “Christian,” which now seems to carry a lot of extra baggage that is not necessarily related to following Jesus alone, e.g. political, economic, and social assumptions.

I also like the phrase because it reminds me that I am on a journey. Following the Christ is a process, a way of living, a string of encounters and learning. I think some Christians do a disservice to new believers by putting so much emphasis on the destination (heaven) and not enough emphasis on the path itself.

Being on the Way with Jesus is an adventure. I have never appreciated that truth as much as I have in the last few years. It makes so much more sense to invite people to join me on this exploration, to walk with me and run with me and discover with me what it means and what it takes to stay on the path together. And if there are “lions and tigers and bears” along the way, we can do battle side by side. And if one grows weary and falls, the other can lift her up. And if one becomes ill, the other can stay alongside until help comes. And if one is blind, the other can see. And if one becomes discouraged and tries to turn back or take another path, the other can say, “Come, this Way.”

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