Praying with Honesty

I have had this prayer above my desk at home since I was in seminary. It speaks to the core of faith and doubt and is honest about an unwillingness to completely submit to our Creator and Savior. And you know what...I think that's ok, even with God.


Lord, I want to love you, yet I'm not sure.
I want to trust you, yet I'm afraid of being taken in,
I know I need you, yet I'm ashamed of the need.
I want to pray, yet I'm afraid of being a hypocrite.
I need my independence, yet I fear to be alone.
I want to belong, yet I must be myself.
Take me, Lord, yet leave me alone.
Lord, I believe, Help thou my unbelief.
O Lord, if you are there, you do understand, don't you?
Give me what I need but leave me free to choose.
Help me work it out my own way, but don't let me go.
Let me understand myself, but don't let me despair.
Come unto me, O Lord - I want you there.
Lighten my darkness - but don't dazzle me.
Help me to see what I need to do and give me strength to do it.
O Lord, I believe; help thou my unbelief.

AMEN

Wrap your mind around this.

Yesterday I was on my way to work, listening to NPR, like every morning. There was a story about this college student who was doing astronomy research with a prof and caught something quite amazing...a .005 second radio flash located about 1 billion light years away from earth.

It doesn't sound all that amazing, does it? But think about it. They measured something as short in time as a 50th of a blink of an eye that is located in a place that we couldn't get to in a million life times! Wow!

Let me get a little theological, for just a minute. When people who believe in God (I'm one of those) pray to the Lord of the universe and the Lord of all creation, God is present 1 billion light years away from all human experience at the same time that God is fully present in daily life here. Now that's a leap of faith, but one that I am willing to put stock in. Who wants a little God that we can place in our pocket? I'd rather have the God who is creative enough to be here and there and everywhere and has the power to care about my life as much as God cares about other parts of the universe.

Let me take it one step further...if God sent Jesus to redeem creation (read Revelation 20-22), doesn't that mean that the scope of God's redeeming action is far beyond the lives of Christians, even far beyond the live of humanity? What might be the most faithful role the Christians play in the world? Do Christians sell God short when the only concern is the eternal residence of people's lives? Aren't there more positive and productive acts that Christians can do to make the fullness of God's care and realm known to the world that often needs a gracious and redeeming word for their lives today? I'd think so. As a Christian, the call to follow Jesus leads me to believe that there is action to take in order to make the world that God has given us a more gracious and God-shaped place to live, here and now.

Do you have ideas of how to live as a follower of Jesus that makes a difference for the world in which we live? I'd love to hear them. Let's do this together.

Gross!

So, I took my dog for a walk yesterday and when we came back to the house I saw him eat the neighbor dog's poop. I don't get it! What possesses an animal to eat poop? I suppose if we let toddlers play with their poop, they would eat it too. I still don't get it.

Witnessing Hope in the Midst of Unsettled Times

This sermon is based on Luke 10:38-42 and Colossians 1:13-28

Arriving in New Orleans a few of weeks ago, I knew things would be different, I just didn’t realize how different. I had come to this place for fun in past times, but this time, I was with a group of people who had a different purpose. We were on a mission bring hope to people whose lives had been torn apart by Hurricane Katrina nearly two years ago. Yet as the week went on we realized this experience was going to be different than we first expected, it didn’t only involve gutting and rebuilding structures and houses, we had been sent to help people rebuild, restore and renew their lives and witness to the hope that is for them through the love of Christ. What we discovered is that hope had already come and we were but companions on their journey of rebuilding, restoring and renewing what was theirs to begin with.

The 14 people who traveled to New Orleans were messengers and workers who represented People of Hope and ultimately were faithful representatives of Jesus Christ to those we met and befriended there. We were a bunch of Marys and Marthas and Pauls, and throughout the week, we learned more deeply the value of each of these gifts, to serve, to sit at the feet of Jesus and to suffer for the sake of others.

Anytime we serve beyond ourselves, it can be easily overwhelming. As the mission trip group drove through the streets of the now infamous lower 9^th ward, where the water rose high above the houses right after the storm, we saw twisted trees and overgrown grasses that now covered what remained of dilapidated houses. We couldn’t help but think that something was missing, some things were missing…above all else, in this neighborhood the most prominent thing missing seemed to be real hope of rebuilding, restoring or renewing.

We had questions like:

“How, in heaven’s name, is it possible that two years after Katrina, there is no hope in some parts of this once vibrant city? Why wouldn’t people return? On the other hand, how could they return? And how is it possible that the families that we are working with have the strength and vision to believe they can rebuild?”

The rhythm of the week was to pray, work, question, work, and pray some more. Most of the time, these things were happening all at the same time.

As we come into Martha’s house with Jesus, in Luke’s gospel, we see a dispute break out as to what is best to do, serve or sit at the feet of Jesus. Martha is the dutiful host to Jesus, serving her hardest, and her sister Mary appears to be the doting listener of Jesus, unconcerned with the work of the household. When Martha asks Jesus if it’s right that Mary isn’t helping, Jesus’ response is that Mary has chosen the better decision.

Although this story seems simple and to the point, there seems to be much more to this story than a simple right or wrong answer. The answer is not as clear as it seems because right before this story is the better known story of the Good Samaritan.

The order of these stories is not an accident, the scholar of Moses’ Teachings asked Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life, and the man answers his own question by saying that we must love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our strength and with all our mind and our neighbor as our selves. Jesus responds to him by telling the story of the Samaritan who went out of his way to serve the abused stranger; and at the end tells the scholar to go and do the same.

So how is it possible that Mary has chosen the better option?

Given the way these stories flow, one from the other, Luke seems to be making the point that living as God wants us to live is not an either/or choice; either service or devotion, but rather a both/and kind of life. We both devote ourselves to God through Jesus, and live to help our neighbor.

Now the group from People of Hope spent the week in New Orleans in two different work teams. Equipped with fresh energy and a desire to do good work, one team met Kevin and his family, they worked side by side all week long. Kevin worked 11 PM to 7 AM, fixing other people’s homes so that he could fix his own, yet he was faithful to his family in making this house a home for them again. He had the work ethic of Martha.

The other team worked most of the week at Miss Rosetta’s 130 yr old duplex. She was living next door with her son and working 2 jobs as a social worker and elder care provider while working on her master’s degree at almost 60 years of age. She was trying to get the house back together so that her daughter and family could live next door to her. She was dedicated to having family close. She seemed to have the work ethic of Martha as well.

Although we came to help and to bring hope to these families by working on rebuilding their homes, we found ourselves listening like Mary in the midst of our working like Martha.

I talked to Miss Rosetta one afternoon and asked her where her strength has come from to make it through the last two years, and she just looked me in the eye and said, “God will get me through…God will get me through.” It seemed too simple to me, yet, we were standing on the porch, looking at the guts of her house sitting on the curbside, and her response was, “God will get me through.” In that moment she pointed me to Jesus and to the trust that is ours through faith in all life’s circumstances.

Her mind was not full of anxiety or worry, but it was on the goodness and mercy of God who blesses us with hope. She understood in the core of her being and through the power of her experience that Christ was her source of hope and that a big ol’ nasty storm may change her, but it will not shake her from the presence of God.

In that moment, I was sitting at the feet of Jesus, or at least sitting at the feet of someone who knew Jesus well, being reminded that all material things wither and die, but God has been here from the beginning and God will be here to see us through to the very end. Nothing in our lives has the right, nor the power to separate us from God, who restores, rebuilds and renews us everyday. When we live in this promise we can’t help but recognize Jesus in those that we serve. AMEN

Grace Happenings

I went over to my wife's coworker's house last night. She had some boxes to give us because we are moving next week. While we were there she asked if I would help her try to figure out why her garbage disposal and outlet by her sink wouldn't work. As she was talking I saw a reset button on one of the other outlets and dumbly pushed it. As I did that, she was saying, "See it just stopped work..." at that time she flicked the switched and low and behold the garbage disposal began to grind away, doing its job.

She was elated that it was working again. I thought that she was going to pick me up and spin me around. The look of joy and relief on her face was simply priceless. In that moment, I experienced undeserved grace. Thanks and more thanks came from her mouth. And all I did was push a button, but what she experienced was freedom. One never knows what actions will lead to. Gratitude is amazing. It's infectious and beautiful, and not always expressed as it ought. When one woman is so grateful for her garbage disposal working again, how great it is to be reminded of all the gratitude I have for all the wonderful and unexpected little grace happenings in my life.