A beautiful prayer that comes from a heart with groaning too deep for words.
To recognize the darkness that is eclipsing my life,
to pray for the light of the Father to dawn again.
To feel weakness that robs even my body from endurance,
to pray that El Shaddai will renew my strength.
To feel the brokenness that reaches to the very marrow of my bones,
to pray that the Comforter will reconstruct what has been broken.
To see and feel the bruises that have been left on my soul,
to pray that the Great Physician will restore my heart.
To be so sick at heart that life has lost meaning,
to pray the the Father of Mercies will be the light at the end of this long and dismal tunnel.
That He will give strength to my weariness,
replace my weakness with power.
That He will empower me to soar on wings like eagles;
to run and not grow weary and to walk and not faint.
A simple posting on Facebook that spoke volumes to my torn heart. I have touched the bottom and it is sound. He has not abandoned me to yet another wasteland.
~ I watched a very cute movie, Chocolat, and I thought I would share its message today. It is a short video clip but worth it.~
At the end of the movie, a young priest stands up to give his Easter Sunday homily. Throughout the movie many changes have happened and he addresses what he has learned since the beginning of Lent.
In the movie Chocolat a small village has lived for hundreds of years in peace. Villagers went about their daily activities in quietness with much of their lives revolving around the local Catholic Parish. The leader of the village is utterly appalled that a newcomer, a woman, would open a Chocolate Shop at the very beginning of Lent. This movie might strike a chord with anyone who has experienced "church-life." Unfortunately, many people embrace a form of Christianity that is merely a list of do's and don'ts. They pride themselves on how much they have avoided sin in their lives. There is a story told by Jesus that sheds some light on this very issue:
The Story of the Tax Man
and the Pharisee
LUKE 18:9-14 (The Message - a translation by Eugene Peterson)
"He told his next story to some who were
complacently pleased with themselves over their
moral performance and
looked down their noses at the common people:
'Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax man.
The Pharisee posed and prayed like this:
Oh, God, I thank you that I am not like other people
-- robbers, crooks, adulterers, or heaven forbid, like
this tax man. I fast twice a week and tithe on all my income.
Meanwhile, the tax man, slumped in the shadows,
his face in his hands, not daring to look up, said
God, give mercy. Forgive me, a sinner.'
Jesus commented
'This tax man, NOT the other,
went home right with God.
If you walk around with your nose in the air,
you're going to end up flat on your face,
but if you're content to simply be yourself,
you will become MORE than yourself.'"
Things haven't changed much in the last 2,000 years. This pious attitude, in my experience, has two fruits. First, people who mess up are known by their misstep or assumed misstep.
"Oh, yes, she was Divorced."
"I think he might be gay."
"He had an affair."
"She drinks too much."
"Their kid is on drugs."
"I heard they are having 'trouble at home'."
These people become known by the labels we ascribe to them. Individuals are not viewed as a children of God, nor as an instrument through which God can work. Instead they are judged on their PAST, not their POTENTIAL.
The second fruit of this attitude is far more damning. Admission or the confession of a struggle, weakness or sin becomes fodder for church gossip or what some people justify as "sanctified gossip." Sanctified or not, it is gossip, it is sin, and DESTROYs and pollutes the Church of God. Not wanting to become the latest topic of gossip, we need to HIDE our missteps, thus becoming a part of the sterile veneer that fills our churches. The church has become a hotel for hypocrites rather than a hospital for the hurting. Confession is rare. Asking for help is avoided. Yet sin is still occurring:
How many Christians are addicted to pornography?
How many inappropriate relationships do Christians have on Facebook?
How many women are a punching bag for an abusive husband?
How many of our young people are involved in sexual immorality?
How many Christians are racists?
How many are abusing prescription drugs?
Yet on Sunday morning, we camoflage our own struggles, pain and sin with that nice "Christian Veneer." The shallowness of this kind of Christianity is causing our kids to leave the church in droves.
They see the hypocrisy, and quite frankly, want no part of it.
I think here again we should look to Jesus. As Paul puts it in Philippians 2:1-8, we will again use The Message:
"If you've gotten anything at all out of following Christ,
if his love has made any difference in your life,
if being in a community of the Spirit
means anything to you,
if you have 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 yourself aside,
help OTHERS get ahead.
Don't be obsessed with getting your own advantage.
Forget about 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 didn't think so much
of himself that he had to cling to those advantages
no matter what. NOT AT ALL.
When the time came, he set aside the privileges
of deity and took on 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.
Isn't it ironic that the self-righteous went about with their chests stuck out and their noses in the air, yet the one who had every right to do that, Jesus, became a servant.
Please, God. Forgive our stupidity, bigotry and self-reliance. Help us to see ourselves as you see us. More importantly, please help us to see others as you see them. Give us the courage to confess our struggles and sins to one another. God, please stop the rampant gossip, judgment and maligning that has polluted your church. God we ask that your Spirit will create in us new hearts that see the brokenness in this world and cause us to weep and pray for this fallen world. We ask, Father, to be your instruments to help heal the brokenhearted. In the name of your Son Jesus - Amen
I started writing this blog a little over a year ago. I have shared intimate stories that some were shocked to hear. I have been open about the failures and successes in my own life and the church in general. Today I have been reading from a book by Jim McGuiggan and was puled back to the foundations of my faith. A faith, I believe has been long forgotten and possibly even neglected by many of us. It is a simple response to a still quiet voice that calls to us in our suffering and calls us back to what is truly important.
Here is a quote from Jim's book, Jesus, Hero of Thy Soul:
"Only Jesus could give himself to all without pandering.
Only he could treat us as individuals while insisting that we belong to one another.
Only he could forgive us fully, freely, gladly -- but without
dishonoring us or weakening our resolve for righteousness.
Having seen Jesus, knowing how he has lived his life here, we can't settle for less than a genuine pursuit of his likeness. His very presence among us forbids us to settle for just being "nice" people who do "nice" things.
(The bland leading the bland and both falling into a "nice" rut.)
"I am sick of the literature that reduces the Christian life into quiet times, fixed grins, happy talk and saccharine songs.
I am tired of writers and speakers who indulge our whimpering and whining, who prescribe endless therapy for problems we wouldn't have if we weren't so outrageously self-centered, who encourage us to feather our own already fairly comfortable nests while oohing and aahing over our inconveniences as if they were crucifixions.
"I am sick, too, of scholarly literature that pours scorn on the people of God, judging them as nothing but self-serving hypocrites who either worship themselves or a petrified faith that should have been discarded centuries ago.
These wise men for whom, I suspect, life has become sour and boring, rip away at the foundations of the Christian faith, leaving disciples unsure of who they are and what direction they should go. What has the appearance of bold scholarship has no upward call and no sure message. Rather, it's the bored and peevish ramblings of academics who have lost their way.
"Finally, I'm one of a great multitude who are sick of themselves! But not so sick that we don't know who we are and whose we are. Not so sick that we can't see the glory of the biblical Christ, can't feel the magnetism of his person and the wholesome rebuke of his life, can't recognize our hunger for something more glorious as the work of God in us.
"No, in spite of our human limitations, we see the Christ out in front of us, calling us onward and upward.
We are determined, with blood-red earnestness, to live heroically for God and the world he so loves that he gave his son." pp.4-5
In the 2,000 or so years since Jesus walked this earth, sharing a simple message, people have devoted their lives to making it more complicated, political or even palatable. His message was simple:
"Do unto others as you would have others do unto you."
The only reason I can see that message getting distorted is - WE DON'T WANT TO. Jesus and the writers of the New Testament left this message in its barest essence -- live like Jesus did, treat people as Jesus did, help people as Jesus did, forgive people as Jesus did and love people as Jesus did. I am no scholar, but I can easily say that sums up the message of Christianity. It is not summed up by how doctrinally "pure" we are. How well we dress when attending Sunday services. Who has the best worship team or the fanciest building or who can claim the most piety. It is simply, do you look to Jesus the author and perfecter of your faith? And if so, do you treat people like he did? As for me, I pray that I can see this simple response to the gift of God in my life.
What do you do when you feel all of the depressing darkness around you? If you have spent any amount of time on this planet - you have screwed up. Yes, you can intellectually know that you are forgiven. You can know that you are doing your best to be at peace with those around you. Yet, in the midst of knowing those things, those mistakes and failures of the past have a tendency to pop up.
Darkness is a season. Darkness is Winter. It is a time to gather with those you love and feel the warmth of their love. Seasons are seasons, they pass. Knowing that it is just a season can help you know that Spring comes next. No matter how deep the Winter, it will eventually turn to Spring.
I get through darkness by getting up each day and I decide to put one foot in front of the other. Now you can stay in bed and have a royal "pity-party". Or you can get up and get on with your life. That is not an easy thing to do - every emotion in your mind is telling you to pull the blankets over your head. You have to make a conscious DECISION to get up. When you think that darkness will always be around, you have lost the battle. Albert Einstein theorized that there is no such thing as darkness, there is only the absence of light. There isn't enough darkness to extinguish one candle.
I shared my regrets that my kids do not share my faith. Yet, at the same time I am so thankful they are smart, critical thinkers. They have come out OK. They have faced divorce and even the death of their Mother. They are resilient and most importantly, they are young. When I step back and look at my regrets, I realize I am not being patient. I am not trusting the hand of God nor am I trusting my kids.
Darkness is a trickster. It makes you think that it is the only game in town. Darkness may have a hold of you right now. It is saying all is lost, you have failed -- give up! It is trying to mask all of the things in your life that are good. Even at the worst of times there are still things to be thankful. Go back to a time in your life where you actually felt the happiest you have ever felt. Picture that time in your life, see if you can even feel the emotions you felt then. Now focus on that time and only think of that. If you practice, you will start to feel those same happy emotions. When the darkness starts to wash over you, go back to that memory of happiness. One of the things I think about is hearing my kids laughing. There is no better sound to my ears than the laughter of children.
If you are a parent or are in a relationship - you have made mistakes. You also did some great things. Life isn't all or nothing. It is a lifetime that goes through season after season. Yes, Winter is here, but Spring is coming.
I hope you can see the beauty of seasons changing. All of the season we pass through are essential for us to become what God wants us to be.
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. Today, it will be patience. 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."
As the title suggests, today we are talking about Patience. Peterson translates the word as "We develop a willingness to stick with things." I would add to that, "We develop the ability not to give up."
Of all the topics I have written, this may be one of the most difficult. Here in the U.S. we are almost hard-wired for instant gratification. We are bombarded on our computers and phones with instant text messages, emails and calls. When we watch TV, we see difficult situations resolved in 30-60 minutes. There are more and more people who do not have the time or patience to read a book. What we want - WE WANT IT NOW! As an old man I remember writing letters and waiting the days for it to be delivered and the days for an answer. This would drive most people insane today. Our kids grew up on MTV which was a barrage of 3-4 minute videos. Attention spans are getting shorter and shorter. We get our news in sound bites and just want people to give us "the bottom line". If you don't value your life, drive the actual speed limit in the fast lane. Road rage has taken on almost epidemic proportions - "GET OUT OF MY WAY, I AM HEADING TO STARBUCK'S!"
I watched the Super Bowl yesterday, admittedly I was ambivalent regarding the game, Both teams are 3,000 miles away. I did record it and then replayed it, stopping for the commercials, which are amazing. There was a commercial that aired during half-time. It was by Chrysler and featured Clint Eastwood. As it turns out, it was one of the more controversial commercials aired. Politicians and Talk-Show Hosts are politicizing it. Yes, I know Chrysler received bail-out money from the government. I have heard the arguments both pro and con. I was more interested in the content of what Clint Eastwood said than about all of the political hullabaloo. What he said was powerful and it speaks directly to this discussion. We are facing difficult times. We have faced difficult times before, yet we have always found a way out. To a country that demands instant gratification, it is time to learn patience. Here is the spot:
As I write this short blog, it can't be too long or people won't have the patience to finish it. People all over our country are hurting. We have seen our neighborhoods ravaged by foreclosures and unemployment. We see a rising resentment to people who are successful, to our institutions and even the government. From the Tea Party to the Occupy Movement - people are angry and afraid. In the early 1960's I had neighbors that were building bomb shelters in their backyards, in case the U.S.S.R launched a nuclear attack. Now people are hoarding food, water, guns and ammunition. People have run out of patience. Patience is not some Casper Milquetoast response of putting our collective heads in the sand. It, like love, joy and peace comes from within us. It is knowing that we are citizens of the Kingdom of God before anything else - He will not abandon us. Patience does not expect instant gratification - rather preservers knowing our best days are ahead of us. Patience says we should pray, but not only pray, we need to roll up our sleeves, stop the pity party and find a way out.
Ask God to place within you the fruit of His Spirit - LOVE, JOY, PEACE, PATIENCE, KINDNESS, GOODNESS, FAITHFULNESS, GENTLENESS AND SELF-CONTROL.
If these traits are within us, we will have a bright future.
~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!
