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Archive for the ‘Time Up to Pentecost’ Category

Working Hard

Posted in Time Up to Pentecost, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 6, 2010| Leave a Comment »

What does this look like . . . working hard “in the Lord?” I’ve been thinking about this since yesterday. I’m thinking the essence lies in the word sacrifice – a sacrifice of time and energy.

Romans 16:12
Greet Tryphena and Tryphosa, those women who work hard in the Lord. Greet my dear friend Persis, another woman who has worked very hard in the Lord.

Truthfully, there isn’t much we can “give” to God since everything we have is gift from God already. Except for time. Granted, time is also part of God’s creation, and yet, we have free will in our use of time. It cannot be repaid and it cannot be controlled. Time marches on. Time is the qualifier to all of our lives. Time is our ultimate measuring stick.

How do I use my time?

To work hard within the constraints of the time given to me is, according to Paul, worthy of acknowledgment. The time I give to the things of God has more value than the time I give to anything else.

To work hard in the Lord then means I use my time for God. There are no surprises here: prayer (in all of its forms); helping the poor, widows & orphans; practicing koinonia with other believers; sharing our story (our witness); studying; teaching; and loving the unlovely.

Working hard in the Lord is not setting up church programs or retreats, cooking and serving a ladies’ luncheon, practicing skits, or building a building.

Instead, working hard is going against the easy way. Working hard is the way of the seed in soil or the caterpillar in its chrysalis. Working hard is transformation.

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For This One Act

Posted in Time Up to Pentecost, tagged , , , , , on May 30, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Luke 23:50-51
Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man, … and he was waiting for the kingdom of God.

There is another story besides the one about Joseph of Arimathea that comes to mind, and that from Esther, when Mordecai says to her, “….and who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?” [Esther 4:14] Both stories carry the same message for me: there may be only one moment that is our unique moment. There may be only one person who we must touch. The key is to be ready.

When I accepted Christ back in 1979, there was a young man who went to acting school with me. It turned out that he was a “closet Christian” (because he didn’t want anyone to know). In the end, everyone knew and particularly because of the conversations that he endured with me, my mocking of his faith and challenging his truths. And yet, it was this same young man who suggested I read the New Testament like a play script and put the words, “if this were true…” at the beginning of the text and take everything at face value until the end… only then, making decisions about what was true or not.

And I did just that. And I did read. And I did choose to follow the way of Jesus as a result. Whether there were or will be other moments of power for this man, I will never know. He left acting school at the end of that school year and went on with his life. But for that moment, he did what was needed…. what he was, perhaps, called to do: to tell his story to a callous, self-important, prideful young woman. And his story and his patience and his prayers, changed my life.

Joseph of Arimathea was there to provide a tomb. Esther was there to turn the heart of a king. And what about me? Or you? Has that defining moment come? Is there another? Am I ready?

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Do I Want to be Well?

Posted in Time Up to Pentecost, tagged , , on May 29, 2009| 1 Comment »

John 5:6
When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”

Do I really? Or am I giving the same answer as the lame man, “I have no one to help me…” One would think the answer would just be “Yes! Of course I want to be well!” But that isn’t always the case. Notice, Jesus’ question to the man was not, “Do you want to be healed?” but “Do you want to be well?”

What does it mean to be well? One of the definitions of “well” is “whole.” And with that in mind, the question is far more expansive. Do you want to be whole? Do you want to let go of the bitterness that is slowly eating away at your soul? Do you want to close the doors on past hurts and forgive those who have wronged you? Do you want to shed the disappointments that plague your contentment? Do you want to accept your face, your body, your intelligence, your talents, your abilities as the foundational gifts of the Creator just for you? Do you want to replace sorrow and anger with joy? Do you want to replace fear with courage and faith? Do you want to remove judgments of others? Do you want to see, hear, taste, touch, and inhale the renewing Spirit? Do you want to be whole?

Yes, Lord. I want to be well. I want to be whole.

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No Honor Here

Posted in Time Up to Pentecost, tagged , , , , , , , on May 28, 2009| Leave a Comment »

John 4:44
Now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own country.

Face it, sometimes we aren’t appreciated in our own backyard. It’s one of the reasons companies come up with little awards to recognize achievement. It’s not that people aren’t doing extraordinary things all the time, we stop noticing. It’s hard to step away and realize that our colleague, our neighbor, our friend, or even a family member has done something noteworthy. We expect everyone to behave the same way they always have. And, in the end, our expectations are unconsciously placing some pressure on others to never change.

How many times have people said about you (or you about someone else), “oh, she’s always late,” or “he’s clueless,” or “she never remembers …. whatever.” All of these ‘always’ and ‘never’ statements come out of expectations.

I think Jesus resorted to miracles initially to “get their attention.” He had to shake things up. Of course, then the miracles became the norm and everyone expected a miracle. For Jesus, it was a balancing act. I’m pretty sure this is one reason that Jesus never performed the same miracle twice in the same way. It would have become a “method” instead of an intent, a prayer, a gift.

I want to look at the people around me today with fresh eyes. I think there are lots of miracles happening around me already and I haven’t noticed. “Lord, open my eyes that I may behold wonderful things in your word.” [Psalm 119:18] … and the wonderful things that others do and achieve today. Help me to see the gifts of their presence in my life.

For myself, I ask the Lord to help me let go of “wanting or looking to be appreciated.” Let me, instead, bask in the light of Your love and hear your voice tell me, “well done, good and faithful servant.” [Matthew 25:23]

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Being the Samaritan Woman

Posted in Time Up to Pentecost, tagged , , , , , , , , , on May 27, 2009| Leave a Comment »

John 4:9
The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)

A couple of weeks ago, Mike and I watched the movie, Being John Malkovich. Now, that’s a strange film, but intriguing. Today, I began wondering what it would be like to inside the head of the Samaritan woman.

I have known what it feels like to be an outcast. As a first generation Latvian, I never felt part of the American community as a child. My father didn’t speak English and my mother had a pronounced accent. We were different. I did everything I could to blend in. On the converse, I wasn’t particularly accepted into the Latvian community either. My father died when I was nine and my mother raised my brother and me as a single mom. I discovered (years later) that she wasn’t really embraced by the Latvians after my father died because she was half German. She was on her own until other women became widows and sought her out for advice. So, while she was ostracized (for both her heritage and her widowhood), so were we.

In the end, both my brother and I became over achievers in an effort to find place. But, much like the Samaritan woman, I was still desperate for relationships. Before I met the Christ, I wandered in and out one relationship after another. Thankfully I didn’t marry each of them, but there is one divorce in my history.

By the time I met Jesus, I needed what she needed: acceptance, renewal, hope, connection, promise, change, transformation.

Upon my conversion, I found no need for drugs or alcohol, that was amazing. I even quit smoking. And then, I tried the great experiment, I became celibate. (Big discovery: those guys weren’t dating me for my mind.) And so, it was just Jesus and me. What a honeymoon.

I wonder why we never learn the Samaritan woman’s name. Perhaps she is a metaphor for all women. Perhaps the details are different, but the feelings and thoughts are ours. I’m glad Jesus was direct with her, telling her specifically who He was. I needed that too. And I believed Him. Thanks be to God.

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Power of Story

Posted in Time Up to Pentecost, tagged , , , , , , , , on May 26, 2009| Leave a Comment »

John 4:42
They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”

It all begins with a story. The Samaritan woman ran back to her town and told them what had happened to her at the well with the man, clearly a prophet, who revealed truth to her. Her story drew their curiosity and eventually, they too believed in the Christ, through direct encounters with Him.

I used to think that evangelizing or “bringing others to Christ” meant I had to know the “Four Spiritual Laws” or master the script from “Evangelism Explosion.” And although these programs work for some folks, they have not worked for me.

Meeting Christ and choosing the Way of Jesus transformed my life. When I met Jesus, I was flirting with the dark side in a major way: drugs, alcohol, filthy speech habits, and casual sex. It was ultimately just another young man’s story that made me curious enough to read the New Testament. This was my direct encounter with the Lord and I could not say “no” to His invitation. I asked to become his disciple the night of December 24, 1979.

I wish I could say that I was as enthusiastic as the Samaritan woman and ran to tell all of my friends that I had made a decision to follow Jesus. Instead, I was still embarrassed, worried about what they would think or say. And yet, they heard about it anyway. I was changed and people noticed. They asked questions. They wanted to know how I, one of the depraved, could have met Jesus. Like the woman at the well or the woman who washed Jesus feet with her hair, I was renewed by His acceptance and love.

But what about today? After 30 years, is there still power in my story?

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Worship in the Flesh

Posted in Time Up to Pentecost, tagged , , , , , on May 24, 2009| Leave a Comment »

John 4:23
Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.

So, if worshiping in the spirit is what the Father seeks, apparently, there’s a lot of worship in the flesh. What does that look like?

Most of the definitions for worship include words like reverence, adoration, homage, and veneration. If a person is doing these actions without an authentic intent… if he or she is just going through the motions… it is a lie. A person can go to church every week, stand up, sit down, kneel, sing, and recite and yet, do it without an ounce of reverence, adoration or homage.

In order to revere God, we must acknowledge our relationship with God. It is one of the reasons that other scriptures [e.g. Proverbs 1:7] speak of “fearing God.” I am not advocating that we become so afraid of God that we can’t enter into a relationship with God. But we must recognize that God is sovereign.

I believe I have gone through the motions more often that I would like to confess. I catch myself in church, while the pastor is praying, thinking about my schedule and what I must do after church. I catch myself, while singing, thinking about the worship leaders. I catch myself, even during communion, analyzing the quality of the disks and juice. Neither my heart, my mind, nor my spirit is in a state of attention, must less adoration.

Worship in the flesh is just going through the motions. God forgive me. Worship is a choice to be transparent. Worship, by its very nature, must be authentic or it simply isn’t worship at all.

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