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Posts Tagged ‘God’

Sacred Temples

Posted in Time Up to Pentecost, tagged , , , , , , , , on April 21, 2010| 5 Comments »

Among the synonyms for “sacred” are words like cherished, revered, guarded, sanctified, and holy. Do I cherish the body I have? Do I treat it reverently? Do I really care about it? And what about the bodies of others? Do I cherish them, the sacred others?

I Corinthians 3:17
If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple.

On Facebook I have a friend, Tracey Tiernan, who has started a group called “Flipping the Switch” (She writes, “It seems like my pursuit of being healthy is like a switch in my brain that is either flipped off or on.”)

Isn’t our view of ourselves and others the same way? Flipping a switch is a clever way of calling for a choice. Or, in poker, revealing a hand. It’s time to lay the cards on the table and go with what we have. Use what we have. Honor what we have. Cherish what we have.

Like many people, I am in denial about the state of my body. I can justify putting my health and my body on the back burner because “I’m so busy.” Oh, it’s holy to pray every day. And it’s beneficial to others and to me to write every day. It nourishes the brain to read every day. It nurtures the soul to study the Word every day. But, what am I doing for this body?

Oh yeah, I’m feeding it all right. Good for me: I take vitamins and minerals. And then I go out for a latte and a donut (a munchkin, because it disappears before I can think about it). I pop chocolate. I ride when I could walk. I sit when I could stand. I sleep as little as possible. I drink about one glass of water a day and the rest is tea and coffee (pat on the back, I’ve given up soda and aspartame). I eat in my car, at my desk, and sitting at a computer. I cook with a microwave. Is this cherishing behavior?

My body is a microcosm of God’s world. The parable about planting and then leaving a vineyard in the care of servants while the Master goes on a journey also applies to the body [Matthew 21:33-41]. I am the caretaker for my body. It has been entrusted to me in this 3D world.

I want to accept who I am IN this body. I am mind, soul AND body. Lord forgive me for treating this temple so casually as though it doesn’t matter. It does matter. You are within. And it really is time to flip that switch.

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Deep Things of God

Posted in Time Up to Pentecost, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 18, 2010| Leave a Comment »

How do we know? Isn’t it highly presumptuous to imagine I can actually know the deeper things of God? The answer: I can’t know, except in one regard, the mystery of a Redeemer given for humankind . . . given for me.

I Corinthians 2:10
” . . . but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.”

So many mysteries in our world: some live while others die; some are weak while others are strong; some are rich while others are poor; and some are sensitized to the Spirit while others are not.

Why did it all make sense to me back in 1979? Why did words/ideas from the Bible suddenly jump out to me that day and speak to my inner being? I stepped over the line from unbelief to belief. At first it made no sense and the next day it did. My inner eye was opened. My mind was reset. My spirit found connection.

That place is the first step toward the deep things of God. That was my first mystery revealed. I couldn’t answer any of those other questions for anyone else. I only knew that moment was real for me. I encountered a real God: a real Spirit.

Where is reality? For my work, I just read a book that received the 2009 Printz Award for distinction in young adult literature called Going Bovine by Libba Bray. It’s not a particularly easy book to read nor is it particularly spiritual. But there is a current of thought through it about the world within. The boy is quite ill with Creuzfeld Jakob’s disease (Mad Cow disease) and is confined to a hospital bed and mostly unconscious. During that time, he lives through a great adventure, a quest. Was it real?

And so it is with the deep things of God. These things are also real and beyond our three dimensional understanding of time and space. We must let go to know. We must let go to live that bigger life within.

That which is redeemed is within.

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Foolishness & Wisdom

Posted in Time Up to Pentecost, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 12, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Wisdom is the interpretation and application of knowledge. Foolishness is the inability to do either one with knowledge. When I am acting foolishly, I am not thinking clearly or considering future consequences or outcomes. Worse, I am acting selfishly–which is never wise.

I Corinthians 1:21
For when the world with all its earthly wisdom failed to perceive and recognize and know God by means of its own philosophy, God in His wisdom was pleased through the foolishness of preaching [salvation, procured by Christ and to be had through Him], to save those who believed (who clung to and trusted in and relied on Him). [Amplified]

According to James 1:5, wisdom is a gift while foolishness is nothing more than human frailty (the default).

With wisdom, we can adapt to change, we can process struggle, we can build on mistakes.

Why wouldn’t everyone want wisdom? Why don’t we ask for wisdom every day? Why don’t seek wisdom? Why don’t we hunger and thirst for wisdom?

Why don’t I?

The first Bible study I started was on wisdom. I learned so much during that time, but I didn’t use that information wisely (how ironic). I didn’t build on the foundation.

I think there are a lot of building blocks that are set in place throughout our lives but we don’t take advantage of them. Many experiences in my life came to an unworthy demise: relationships (a family who loved me in Germany during a student exchange, friends from high school, friends from college, friends from Chicago, friends from Atlanta, friends from New York — all lost to me); skills (playing guitar, speaking German or sign language, playing piano); and creative pursuits (plays, articles, and stories I have written, ideas lost, crafts started and stalled). I responded to all of these events foolishly.

Wisdom would have integrated my events, people and experiences into a wholeness that continues to elude me after all these years.

But here’s the good news. Wisdom is unconcerned about my age or place in time. Wisdom is still here to lift me up. Wisdom is my sister. “Wisdom calls aloud in the street . . . [Proverbs 1:5a]. She is patient, like her other selves in God. She is willing to take me with her. She is here now

Come sweet sister and manifest in me this day.

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Unity Isn’t Uniformity

Posted in Time Up to Pentecost, tagged , , , , , , , , , on April 11, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Unity, like love, requires consciousness and choice. We will never always agree. Like the old cliche of “pick your battles” with one’s kids, the same is true for the body of Christ. Not every disagreement requires the drawing up of sides and the raising of battle flags. I suppose a better word for unity is compromise or even love.

I Corinthians 1:10b
. . . that there be no dissensions or factions or divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in your common understanding and in your opinions and judgments.

I would say my closest friend is Kathy. We have known each other almost 40 years (age hint). Historically, I have been the conservative one and she the more liberal one. We don’t agree on everything by a long shot, but we know each other and we trust each other and as a result, we respect each other. And so, yes, we are in unity. We don’t live close by and we don’t talk every day, but when we do connect, it’s meaningful. We share deeply and we share honestly. When we disagree, we speak it, but we know that no disagreement is powerful enough to divide our hearts. We anticipate growing old together, 21st century Golden Girls.

But every relationship is not so easy. There are people who have put me under the microscope and nothing I say or do seems right to them. I am suspect and therefore, I am a challenge. There are people, I’m sorry to say, to whom I have done the same thing. My expectation is that they will behave badly and when they do, I am not surprised. Who knows if they behave well, I’m not looking for that. In neither of these cases is unity possible. Even though there is no outright hostility and on the surface everything seems fine, the inner turmoil is fraught with misery.

We will never be all the same. It’s not the way our creative God works. Everything in nature is about uniqueness. It is putting uniqueness together that makes a new “whole.” We each bring our special something to the table.

I can remember when Mike and I used to attend pitch-in suppers at our old church in Atlanta. Most of the cooks brought fried chicken, southern-style green beans, cole slaw, and mashed potatoes. I brought hummus and tabouli. I don’t need to tell you what was barely touched. It’s not that it wasn’t good, but it was outside the box for a church supper, at least back then. Most people wouldn’t even try it.

Each person’s personality has a little tabouli or baba ghanoush in it. Unity comes from tasting … trying … accepting … loving.

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Overflowing Hope

Posted in Lent, tagged , , , , , , , on April 1, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Hope is already powerful in itself. There is a sustaining energy to hope that is unlike any other belief. With hope, anything and everything is possible. Now, imagine hope flowing over a glass like a carbonated drink. It’s exhilarating, really.

Romans 15:13
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

When Jesus came into the world and revealed himself to a poor and hurting world, he was a beacon of hope. In our culture, unless people are fighting serious illness or sudden loss of livelihood, we don’t have as much appreciation for the power of hope. We have replaced the potency of hope with desire. But hope is much more dynamic than mere desire.

Hope is so strong it can live and grow in the worst circumstances. Hope needs no proof, no logic, no reasons. Hope needs no group and no training.

Hope begins with two simple words: I believe. And hope expands with two more: I trust.

I believe in a sovereign and loving God. I believe circumstances can change. I believe anything is possible. I believe in miracles.

Today, I want to re-imagine myself with undaunted hope. That kind of hope would, indeed, produce peace and joy. Yes, I can imagine that, even for me.

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Accept What Is

Posted in Lent, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 31, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Opposites. Either I judge others quickly, forgetting I am equally fallen; or, I wash over reality because I want everything to be smooth sailing. (Don’t rock the boat.) Both ways are problematic and reflect denial.

Romans 15:7
Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.

Paul writes that we must accept one another but the acceptance must be based on truth. It’s not about accepting someone as we “wish” he or she might be (eventually) but accepting what is really there. That’s not particularly easy if the person is difficult.

I confess, I withhold a lot of my acceptance of others based on their behaviors. I accept them “up to a point,” but not really. And yet, Christ accepted me right where I was 30 years ago: alcoholic, drug-dependent, crass, slovenly, and immoral. Jesus did not wait until I got my act together or became approachable. I was book smart but Bible naive. I didn’t know I needed a savior. I didn’t believe I needed anyone.

The stories of Jesus show his ability to accept others over and over again. It’s one of the reasons the Pharisees and “teachers of the law” chastised him: eating and drinking with sinners. Jesus allowed himself to touch, listen, and understand others who were immersed in sin but was confident in the Spirit of the Father within to keep him centered and whole. Jesus knew Himself.

Historically, I have been a bit of a chameleon and unconscious mimic. When I lived in the South for a few years, I developed a pretty strong southern accent, just by sheer exposure. When my kids bring home slang from school, I find myself incorporating it into my daily language without effort. I am too much like a sponge.

One of my favorite illustrations of this phenomenon was years ago when I had my first real “day job” in an advertising agency accounting pool back in Chicago. Thirty women sat in rows of desks with calculators and piles of paper. Initially, I was the oddball, the hippie in my colorful clothes and wire-rimmed glasses who mocked those girls for talking every day about their dinners the night before and what they watched on television. A year later, I had become one with them. I was talking recipes, husbands, television soaps, and vacations. I had acclimated and conformed to the daily norm. It was a type of acceptance, but not the one that Jesus proposes.

It’s not about fitting in. It’s about being strong in heart.

Accepting others comes from within. Accepting others, based on truth, requires an honest assessment of oneself first, then others. Accepting others is a kindness, a type of love. Accepting others is inclusive. Accepting others gives permission for that person to simply “be.” Accepting others allows for differences.

Today, I know, I will be challenged to accept others. Keep me centered in order to be fully present in the reality of others. Keep my heart open and yet fully infused with the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. Thanks be to God.

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I Can Only Live My Story

Posted in Lent, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on March 26, 2010| 4 Comments »

Just live my story, that’s all I am asked to do. If I could keep it clear in my head that it’s my own journey that is mine to share, to correct, to adapt, to transform, and unfortunately, to also withhold, warp, or destroy, then I wouldn’t be so judgmental of others.

Romans 14:10, 12
Why do you criticize and pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you look down upon or despise your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God. . . . And so each of us shall give an account of himself [give an answer in reference to judgment] to God. [Amplified]

God has the end of all the stories in hand. I cannot know what is in the heart of another person or their struggles or their understanding in this moment. Each person’s way carries its own challenges. Truly, who am I to say whether this one or that one is doing the best with what has been given to bear. We are all trying to figure it out. We are all trying to make the best of it.

These passages from Romans are actually an invitation to freedom. It is not for me to carry another’s journey. I can walk beside. I can live fully in my own understanding of a life in Christ and it is in that living that others might experience contact with love, hope, joy, etc. But it is not for me to drag the unwilling along my way. Nor is it for me to condemn their way (for the path could change in a moment).

To help another is simply to be present with that “sacred other.” To help another is to give access to my heart and soul. It is only my authentic self that can give life. It is only the Christ within who can touch a life.

Oh Lord God, may my account in that last day be a testimony of discovery: more of Christ and less of me.

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