Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘God’

Accepting Story

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , on June 2, 2009| Leave a Comment »

John 3:33
The man [or woman] who has accepted it [his testimony] has certified that God is truthful.

Everyone has a story but until it is heard or accepted, it has no power. This is true for anything we hear, including gossip, television news, blog postings, sermons, chit-chat, memories, songs, entertainment, explanations and so on. It is really just a story until we integrate it into ourselves. There is a point of choice with everything we hear. We can accept the story and thereby validate it within or we can reject it. Once it is is integrated, it becomes our truth.

Unfortunately, we also fall prey to habit. We often accept a story as true without giving it much thought. Or, sometimes, we accept what we hear as true simply because of the source. The source may not always be authoritative, but we don’t like to question or investigate its authority. That takes effort and may shake up our norms.

One of the best tools I received from acting school was to ask questions of a story: both in speech and text. What does this mean? What are all the possibilities? How do I interpret these words? Why does this story touch me so deeply? What do I fear? Why do I care? Does this story resonant with me? Why? Who is telling this story? What is the point of this story?

Jesus told many stories. He told stories to teach concepts and he told stories to prepare fallow ground for truth. He told stories to break down barriers and he told stories to reveal himself to others. He told stories to explore the meanings of words like “kingdom of God” and “eternal life” and “forgiveness.” He told stories to explain his purpose on earth. He told stories to explain his identity.

It is possible to go through life and never accept or integrate Jesus story into our lives. But that did not happen to me. I decided 30 years ago to accept the stories that are recorded about Jesus and his message. I believe Jesus is who he says he is. I believe Jesus spoke true….both then and now.

As a result, my story is an expression of his story within me…. just as his story is an expression of God within him. This does not mean that I have stopped asking questions. In fact, if anything, I am asking more than ever. And His story prevails.

Read Full Post »

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.

Read Full Post »

Heaven’s Gifts

Posted in Time Up to Pentecost, tagged , , , , on May 21, 2009| 1 Comment »

John 3:27
… John replied, “A man can receive only what is given him from heaven….”

There are many gifts that we receive from heaven…. that is, from God. These are our natural gifts. And it is with these “gifts” that we are challenged to create within our world.

So often, we look outside ourselves and say, “If only I had more money” or “If only I was prettier” or “If only I could sing like that [small tribute the American Idol finale, which I didn’t even watch ;-)]” … then we could accomplish this or that. But the truth is, we have everything we need already.

In the same spirit as the metaphor about the church being like a “body” (I Cor 12:14-16), where the hand and foot have different functions, so it is with our natural gifts. Each of us is gifted in particular ways to contribute to the world. Each of us is given raw materials to work with. Each of us can work with what we have been given.

I think I have spent a good deal of my life chasing after other people’s gifts, hoping those gifts would be my ticket to happiness or contentment … well, I should be honest, what I’ve really wanted the most has been fame! That’s embarrassing to say.

It’s only in recent years that I have started letting go of this “temptation” and started nurturing the gifts I already have: speaking, writing, and connecting the dots for others. I am the energizer bunny. Each day is becoming more and more of an adventure. I’m curious how these gifts will manifest today. I give thanks.

Read Full Post »

Spending Time Together

Posted in Time Up to Pentecost, tagged , , , , , on May 20, 2009| Leave a Comment »

John 3:22
… Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them, and baptized.

It’s really very simple. To get to know someone, you have to spend time together. If we want to be known, then we have to spend the time. But, our contemporary life is making the spending of time with others more and more difficult. We are busy… too busy to “spend” time. We will spend money before we will spend time. We will rush from place to place, event to event, workday to workday, phone call to phone call… but is it really spending time together?

To me, spending time means giving no thought to my own agenda, but giving that time as a gift to another. If I am more interested in the other person and listening to that person, I am spending my time on him or her. There is a difference.

I confess, I enjoy telling a good story. I can “entertain” anyone or any small group with a series of anecdotes about the Browns… one teen story after another, one work story after another, one random act after another (for instance, I fell out of my shoes at the last Chamber of Commerce luncheon: I landed on the floor and my shoes remained standing like two brave soldiers… a funny story at my expense). But, have I spent time with the person? Have I listened to them? Not really.

The time has come to make a conscious effort to “give” my time, my presence, my heart to others. It’s time to spend the time. And of course, the same is true for the time I spend in prayer and meditation. As I give time to God, I am rewarded with more time to give. “… to him who has, more will be given…” (Luke 19:26)

Read Full Post »

Save the World

Posted in Time Up to Pentecost, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 19, 2009| Leave a Comment »

John 3:17 (Amplified edition)
For God did not send the Son into the world in order to judge (to reject, to condemn, to pass sentence on) the world, but that the world might find salvation and be made safe and sound through Him.

How many of us have forgotten that the Son didn’t come just “to save” us as individuals but for the sake of the world. Just like the world in the time of Noah, we have been on a crash course for ruin. And everything has suffered: the animals, the landscape, the oceans, the weather, the children … everything. So God sent his “only Son” to make a supreme sacrifice so that the law of sowing and reaping could be nullified for anyone who believed in Him. This process is not just so you and I can go to “heaven” when we give our bodies back to the Earth. This “deal” was made for the whole world. This was a supernatural transaction.

Those of us who have believed are in the recovery business…. recovering that which has been lost.
We are in the lighting business… shining in the dark places.
We are in the food business… bringing savor (salt) to the tasteless.
We are in the hydro business… bringing streams of water to the dry places.
We are in the messenger business… bringing the good news that the Kingdom of God is near.

Read Full Post »

King of the Earth

Posted in Time Up to Pentecost, tagged , , , , on May 15, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Psalm 47:2
How awesome is the LORD Most High, the great King over all the earth!

This morning I was really floundering around as I looked for a verse or thought that I could meditate upon and then write about. My mind was like an empty cave: nobody home! My prayer life tends to operate so much on the edge, on the stress side of things: asking, begging, pleading, hoping, longing, crying out to God for something, for help. When the cave is empty of fears and anxieties, I’m a little lost. 🙂 I’m not used to a contented or calm interior self. That’s amazing!

And so, I give thanks for the “Om” within today. I give thanks to the King of the Earth, who is sovereign over all that is without and within. I give thanks and praise to the God of my mind, my heart, my soul.

Read Full Post »

Unfailing Love

Posted in Time Up to Pentecost, tagged , , , on May 8, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Psalm 32:5b, 22
…the earth is full of his unfailing love… May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD, even as we put our hope in you.

The earth is full of examples of God’s love. Today, we have sunshine after long days of rain. The fields and grass are vibrant and green. The flowers are blooming. Early in the morning, the birds sing and celebrate a new day; Children laugh, dogs bark, cats purr. Oh the glory! How can I miss it?

The promise of God’s love is unfailing.

There is only one condition to experience this unfailing love: hope. We are asked to place our hope in His unfailing love. And as we do this, we will have the strength to face anything, to survive anything, to stand.

Whether we are in pain or not, whether we are whole or not, whether we are rich or poor, strong or weak, political or apolitical, victim or victor, soldier or slave, does not change God’s unfailing love. The difference is my acknowledgment of this love in the midst of it all. This is a choice.

Today, this is my mantra: My hope is in God’s unfailing love.

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »