COME TO ME

Sometimes all we need are the words of a song to bring us to a place where we stop and remember how much God loves us.

May God Richly Bless You

~Peace

Al

THE GIFT

~Take a Break From Your Troubles 

and Listen to This Song~

We wake each day with a gift. Too often we are so consumed with the everyday grind, we miss what is around us. Yes, I could talk about the world's problems, i.e. The economy, The Middle East, disease, war and death. If you want to hear about those things, just turn on CNN, FoxNews or MSNBC. I believe that there are far too many of us obsessing on how bad the world is and are missing the gift that each day brings. There is a wonderful verse in Psalms 118:24, 

"This is the day the Lord has made,

Let us rejoice and be glad in it."

l am fully aware of the troubles that come our way and I have often spoken about those times of pain. At times the darkness is so overwhelming, we just want to crawl into a cave. I have been in that cave and the darkness was all around me -- BUT CAVES ARE DARK! The only way to get away from that darkness is to get out of your cave and walk into the sunlight. Take a moment out of each day and look for beauty, you will find it. We are a "get it done" kind of people. We fill the silence in our lives with noise and meaningless activities. Because of that we are not still enough to hear the voice of God. Regardless of the pain or hurt we are experiencing there can be beauty. I remember my ex-wife Angela, on her deathbed, had bird feeders right outside the window. She could watch the beauty around her while suffering from ALS.

We talk about having a "bad" day; that too is relative. Truth be told, no matter how bad your day is going -- someone is having a worse day. Now I do not know the context of this picture, but I can say, this guy is having a bad day. I would say he might have gotten carried away with looking for the beauty in nature and where his clothes are is anyone's guess.

Now that I have gotten the gratuitous nudity out of the way, let me just say - SLOW DOWN. Every day we are bombarded by urgent and important demands. Too often we rush to face the urgent and we miss the important. As your day starts to fill up, ask yourself if this next task is urgent or important. You will soon come to the realization that what is urgent is often NOT important. Urgent things drain us and important things fill us. Here are some important things:

• Loving your family
• Spending time with those you care about
• Quietness
• Spirituality and your relationship with God
• Caring for people who have less than yourself
• Helping people who can never pay you back
• The laughter of a child
• The embrace of a loved one.

Remember this: 

I don't know of a single person on their deathbed saying, 

"I should have spent more time at the office."

Learn to be still.

The song below is taken from an ancient Navajo, (Dineh) poem. It holds great truth.

Peace,

Al

LIVING YEARS

~ This Song Came on the Radio and it Touched Me. ~

I come in contact with so many people who have been hurt or alienated from a parent, friend or sibling. Often times there can be decades between any type of communication. In my own life, as a survivor of various types of abuse, I close a door in my mind on that person. I guess I got that from my Dad. He was a very "compartmentalized" man. He could seal off emotions, feelings and even memories that he chose to forget. I know now that is probably the worst thing a person can do. We stuff our anger and even hatred so far down inside of us we no longer seem to feel the pain.

That may be true to our conscious mind but it just brews and festers below the surface. We seem fine on the outside, but beneath is festering rot.Then comes a time when you can no longer talk things out. That person is gone and all is left is a nagging sense of shame and guilt for not acting sooner, or if that rot has progressed - you are glad that person has gone.

During these past couple of years it seems that many people I know have died. Maybe it is because I am an old man and my peer group is just getting smaller by attrition. But since I am an old man, I have learned a few things.

There is an interesting story at the beginning of John 8:

John 8:1-11 (MSG)

To Throw The Stone

"Jesus went across to the Mount of Olives, but he was soon back in the Temple again. Swarms of people came to him. He sat down and taught them. The religion scholars and the Pharisees led in a woman who had been caught in an act of adultery. They stood her in plain sight of everyone and said,

"Teacher, this woman was caught red-handed in the act of adultery. Moses, in the Law, gives orders to stone such persons. What do you say?"

They were trying to trap him into saying something incriminating so they could bring some charges against him.

Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger in the dirt. They kept at him, badgering him. He straightened up and said,

"The sinless one among you, go first: Throw the stone."

Bending down again, he wrote some more in the dirt.

Hearing that, they walked away, one after another, 

beginning with the oldest.

The woman was left alone.

Jesus stood up and spoke to her,

"Woman, where are they? Does no one condemn you?"

"No one, Master"

"Neither do I," said Jesus

"Go on your way. From now on, don't sin"

Did you catch those who walked away first? It was the oldest in the crowd. There is something that comes with age - knowing you are not always on the right side. With age, through the lenses of our own personal failures and pain, you realize that life is not as simple as it was in your 20's. In my 20's, 30's and even in my 40's I had all the answers. Now as I approach the sunset of my life, I see the questions I overlooked in my youth.

In my pursuit of the truth I had made the Bible into a rule book that I could use to order my life - and often times, order the lives of others. Now I look at the Bible in its entirety, I see a symphony or a dance that God has created to help us live, love and get along with one another in this world.

I don't know if you noticed they only brought the woman before Jesus. I always thought it took two people to commit adultery. Not to justify adultery, but what were the circumstances? Where was the guy? Was he in the crowd holding a stone? Was she set up to be a pawn? I assume Jesus understood the game that was going on. Many have wondered what he was writing in the dirt, I think he was bored with the entire spectacle and sickened by their religious hypocrisy. I imagine him doodling.

Now back to the topic at hand, Are there people in your life you are angry with? Have you hurt someone? Has someone hurt you? NOW is the time to straighten things out. I have spoken about my Father's abuse of me as a kid. I can also tell you that when my Dad passed away, we were on great terms. It wasn't my great ability to forgive or my compassionate heart. I had been touched by the grace of God. What caused me to do what I did came because I realized how much God had forgiven and accepted me.

My Dad was recovering from prostate surgery. (This is kind of gross) He hadn't had a bowel movement in three days and I was supposed to take him back to the hospital the next day. In the middle of the night the air in our house turned blue as I heard a string of profanity being shouted by my Father. I got up, and let's just say 'The dam broke". He was completely covered with excrement and VERY embarrassed. I pulled him into the bathroom and turned on the shower. I started removing his soiled pajamas, as he kept saying "No! No!" I got him into the shower and cleaned him up. He calmed down and was crying and said,

"After all I have done to you, how can you do this?". I just said, "Because you are my Dad."

From that point on, he was my Dad; we had a good relationship over the next three years until he passed away. I know there must be someone in your life you can reach out to. Whether you were the cause or the recipient - reconciliation is a good thing.


Peace,
~Al

JESUS

~A Thought Provoking Spoken Word. You May Agree or Disagree 

- But Don't Forget to Think.~

I am aware there will be many who will pick apart what this young man has to say, but he is summarizing what a generation is thinking and asking. (Please read my earlier blog - Losing My Religion.) Newsweek had this cover for their "Easter Issue". When I saw the topic, I must admit I expected another attack on Christianity. However, when I read the article by Andrew Sullivan, I found it thought provoking and worth some time thinking about what he wrote.


The article was entitled, Christianity in Crisis with this being the sub-headline:
"Christianity has been destroyed by politics, priests and get-rich evangelists. Ignore them, writes Andrew Sullivan, and embrace Him,(Jesus)"  


Andrew starts by referencing Thomas Jefferson's Bible. For those not familiar with it, Jefferson painstakingly cut out what he interpreted as the actual teachings of Jesus Christ. He then took those sections and assembled them into a smaller, different New Testament. He removed what he considered to be misconceptions of the teachings of Jesus. He referred to them as the diamonds in a dunghill. He referred to those diamonds as:

"the most sublime and benevolent code of morals 

which has ever been offered to man."

I am currently reading Simply Jesus: A New Vision of Who He Was, What He Did and Why It Matters, by N.T. Wright. N.T. (Ted) Wright is an Anglican Bishop and professor of Theology. He believes we have completely missed the message of Jesus. I would highly recommend you take a look at his book. (I put a link at the bottom so you can find it)

There is a crisis hitting Christianity. As I said in the earlier blog referenced, we are losing our kids. We are losing them to "Spirituality" - that may sound good, but it is dangerous. While many are dropping faith to embrace a rational and scientific based atheism or agnosticism, others are looking to multiple disciplines of spirituality. Many have been drawn to Eastern teachings like Buddhism, Taoism, Yoga and others. Some are exploring Native American teachings and others the New Age. Jesus is seen as just one of a large group of enlightened teachers. 


One of the interesting aspects of this shift is that it is not congruent. Many of these disciplines actually conflict with the others. Yet, it appears to have become a spiritual smorgasbord; you pick what feels right, or resonates, and ignore the parts you don't like. The apparent contradictions don't matter, if it feels right - go for it. 


Now on the other hand we see the church. Wracked with clergy hypocrisy, priests abusing children and then hidden by the Catholic Church. Then there are the get-rich-televangelists; preaching to their flocks God will reward them if they can donate them them. Reports of huge mansions, private jets, fleets of limos and millions of dollars - not to the flock but to the pitch person who seems to be the only one prospering.

So is the church evil? Not necessarily. A few hundred years after the death of Jesus the church had a paradigm shift -- It became a political power. It is still a political power. With our election drawing near, we have contraception being discussed by Republicans. We even have the President quoting Jesus to justify his healthcare program. Churches and Christian para-church organizations are funding Super-Pacts to support various politicians.


Jesus was apolitical. He called on his followers to give up power over others. Having that power will eventually lead to the use of violence, and we have all seen how well religion and violence has worked out. Look at Jesus' final apolitical act:

1. Jesus did not defend his innocence at trial.
2. Jesus never resisted his crucifixion.
3. Jesus turned to the men nailing him to the cross and forgave and loved them.

Jesus came preaching the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is made up of people who have surrendered to the will of God and have asked Him the reign in their hearts. Maybe, if we would focus on the Kingdom rather than  man-made buildings and corporate structures. If we truly decided to read what Jesus preached and lived it -- we wouldn't be losing our kids. The Kingdom says to love one another and even love your enemies. It calls us to forgive those who harm you. It calls us to find the best in people. It is the reign of God in your heart -- Yes, THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS WITHIN YOU! This is where N.T. Wright's book comes into play.

The purpose of the church was to have a group to encourage each other to have that kind of heart. Let us lay aside the bickering over doctrine, the gossiping and maligning of others and religious elitism.

Let's Pray That God is at the Center of our Hearts

and that we can begin to act like Jesus.

Peace

~Al

www.allachner.com

BROKEN

~I Invite You to Listen to This Song Before Reading Below~

Broken or brokenness is an interesting concept. 

It has two distinct aspects that are really intertwined and I hope to explain these in this week's blog. 

Stick with me on this one.

Not far from my home there is an adoption center for wild horses. When someone adopts a wild horse, if they plan to ride it, it has to be broken. The military has a process called "Boot Camp", it's primary purpose is to break and rebuild new recruits. In the new "politically correct" version of boot camp, they have removed "break" from the vocabulary. However, both of these instances accomplish the same objective. They remove a previous behavior, or group of behaviors, and replace it/them with new behaviors. For the horse, it learns to channel its energy and power to be controlled by the owner, (sorry P.E.T.A.). In the military,  it instills the need to work as a team or a unit. Isn't it interesting that the Army recently changed the recruiting ads to "An Army of One"?

As Americans, we have a problem with the this aspect of brokenness. We live in a culture that has become more and more selfish. We disguise this selfishness into "rugged individualism". Burger King says, "Have It Your Way." We want everything on our terms, built around a construct of our own selfish mold. If our needs aren't being met, we quit. We quit relationships, marriages, families, jobs, organizations, schools and whatever else does not meet our needs. The new motto for our culture should be "My Way or the Highway". 

This idea has caused us to view everything in our lives with an underlying, "What's in it for me?"  attitude. When we are faced with the teachings of Jesus, our culture is in diametric opposition to his world view. In Matthew 5, he says, "Blessed are the meek...". This word meek - praus can also be translated as humble, gentile, open and receptive. Interestingly enough, the etymology of this word is associated with a horse that is under control - broken. The concept of dying to yourself is consistent throughout the New Testament. Jesus does not ask us to be selfish materialistic consumers trying to live in the upper echelons of society. He actually calls us to be selfless and to serve society. Paul sums up this attitude in Philippians 2, again from The Message a translation by Eugene Petersen: 

"If you've gotten anything at all out of following Christ,

if his love has made a difference in your life,

if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you,

if you have a heart, if you CARE -- then do me a favor:

Agree with each other,

love each other,

be deep-spirited friends.

Don't push your way to the front,

Don't sweet-talk your way to the top.

Put yourselves aside, and help others get ahead.

Don't be obsessed with getting your own advantage.

Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.

Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself.

He had equal status with God but did not think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what.

Not at all.

When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity

and took the status of a slave, became human!

Having become human, he stayed human.

It was an incredibly humbling process.

He didn't claim special privileges.

Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and 

then died a selfless, obedient death

-- and the worst kind of death at that -- a crucifixion"

(Philippians 2: 1-8)

That is the first kind of brokenness. It is a brokenness from our selfish, American -- What's in it for me? -- attitude. The second type of brokenness has probably been felt by more of us than the previous.

I have spoken a great deal about the brokenness I have endured in my life. It is a shattering of what you believed, hoped and dreamed about your life. Everything is torn away from you and your life is laid bare. You see no way out. You can't trust anyone. You come to the realization that the deck life has dealt you, is stacked against you. Maybe a relationship has evaporated before your eyes. Maybe a group of people you trusted has betrayed your trust. Maybe death has come and took away a person you loved, and all you hear are pious platitudes. People have shared their stories with me. They have been stories of such intense pain, I wonder how they survived.

What I have learned through my life is surviving the second aspect of brokenness is dependent of the first aspect. Much of the time I spent in brokenness was spent in self pity. Instead of "What's in it for me?" it became, "Why is this happening to me?". The commonality in those two statements is "me". Yes, I have been in pain, I have experienced the end of relationships, I have experienced death of a loved one -- BUT, NEWS FLASH!--so has everyone else on this planet. My mistake in dealing with my brokenness was continuing to focus on MY brokenness. Even with all of the lip service to sacrifice and selflessness, I was still egocentric. I was still thinking about only me. My way out was to surrender to my pain and realize it was another step in my life. We are molded and perfected through the difficulties was are enduring. What I have found is that if I attempt to help others, my issues fade in comparison.

I in no way want to diminish the pain and hurt you may be experiencing, but if you will look past yourself, you may find healing.  

Peace,

~Al

PEACE

Peace - I grew up near Berkeley, California and was a late teen during 60's. Peace symbols, tie died shirts and peace signs were prolific. As most things I believed at eighteen, my mind has matured and I now KNOW what peace means. Peace is almost a mistranslation  to convey the Greek word - eirene. The more accurate translation is "Harmony" or "Serenity". If you are lucky enough to be named Irene, your name means harmony.

Over the past few weeks, I have been talking about the fruit of the Spirit. In Galatians 5:22-23, Paul talks about what should be the by-product of our faith. I would like to share these verses from a translation by Eugene Peterson entitled, The Message:

"But what happens when we live God's way?

He brings gifts into our lives,

much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard --

things like affection for others, 

exuberance about life,

serenity.

We develop a willingness to stick with things,

a sense of compassion in the heart,

and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people.

We find ourselves in loyal commitments,

not needing to force our way in life,

able to marshal and direct our energies wisely."

Peace is one of those listed, Peterson translates it serenity. Eirene is not a passive concept or an absence of conflict. Rather, it is active and it drives people to find common ground. It comes from within us and drives us to be at harmony in our relationships, environment and ourselves. When faced with conflict or pain, it is serenity. The song below was written in the midst of unbelievable loss, yet it begins with the words: 

"When peace like a river attendeth my way,

When sorrows like sea billows roll,

Whatever my lot,

Thou has taught me to say,

It is well with my soul"

~PLEASE LISTEN AND HEAR THE STORY TO THIS HYMN~

His response sums up the concept of peace. We have talked about forgiveness, joy, love, faith and many other parts of a relationship with God. Peace, or that inner harmony, like joy is what sustains us. There is nothing the world can throw in our path to derail us. Pray that God can bring harmony to your life, an inner contentment. Then share that peace with those whom you come in contact.

Peace,

~Al

~I am available to speak to churches and groups, 

Please contact me at al.lachner@gmail.com~

KINDNESS

~PLEASE WATCH THIS BEAUTIFUL VIDEO BEFORE YOU READ BELOW~

"Kindness" - When we read about the fruit of the Spirit, we see the template of what God wants us to become.

 "The fruit of the Spirit is: Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control" - Galatians 5:22

Did you notice that none of those attributes talk about religious division, hatred, prejudice, doctrinal purity, church attendance or having the "Truth"? They also are not things you do, but rather what is within you. In my almost six decades, I have met many religious people. Most have had these attributes in abundance, some have used their "religion" as a tool to show their superiority over non-believers. These self-righteous paragons of Christianity have been some of the meanest people I have ever encountered. They collect their adherence to dogma and their own moral code like a Boy Scout collects Merit Badges.  I believe the fruit of the Spirit is really the essence of Christianity.

The church was intended to be the incarnation of God in the midst of His creation. It was never meant to be a political or religious power. It is to be a group of people who, after placing their faith in God, continually reflect His kindness and love to everyone they encounter.

A large number of the people who follow this blog have been hurt by this very church. There are literally thousands of people who believe the church has left them. Sadly for many, they also believe God has abandoned them. I know exactly how you feel. I have written about what it was like for me to wander in the "wastelands", and it wasn't pleasant. Even though I felt betrayed and abandoned, I still knew there was a North Star within me calling me back to God. I have read a great deal about King David. He was a deeply flawed man, yet never gave up on God. He committed adultery and even planned the death of the husband of his lover. Yet he still, in his own feeble way, continued to make his way back to his Shepherd. My prayer for you is that you find your way home.

I many ways I am hoping that some church leaders will read this. To them I say, go out and find every person your church has alienated or marginalized. When you find them, apologize for your failure to treat them with the kindness God expects of you. Look at the fruit of the Spirit and see how much of your treatment of them reflects that fruit. See if reconciliation works better than judgment.

Now to the rest of you. Kindness does not cost you a penny. I would invite you to start incorporating random and intentional acts of kindness into your daily life. We live in a hostile competitive world. Kindness and compassion seem to get set aside as we continue our fast paced lives. Look for opportunities to be kind. Intentionally become an instrument of healing with those around you. Don't expect anything in return, nor expect the person to become miraculously what you want them to be. Just know in your heart you are doing what God would have you do. Maybe, just maybe, this world could become a better place.

Have a wonderful Day!

Peace

~Al

And for Josephine, Here's Johnny, and by the way, HE NAILS IT!