From Generation to Generation

 

Psalm 79:13 "Then we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will praise you forever; from generation to generation we will proclaim your praise." 

Yesterday, Cyd set up my office Christmas tree. This year though we used ornaments from a memory tree that Nancy made and used a few years after Dad passed away. The tree is a reminder that in the difficult journey of grief, believers have the opportunity to pass along the faith to the next generation. The last 20 years or so of my Dad's life he proclaimed the praise of the Lord loudly to anyone who would listen. I'm grateful that his faith challenged and encouraged me to lean into Jesus. 

We all have things in life that remind us of loved ones who have now joined the throng of saints proclaiming the praise that God alone deserves. Those artifacts could be books, clothing, or ornaments that remind you of a small part of their life and personality. Treasure those memories. Thank God for those memories. Then proclaim his praise to the next generation. 

A Weary World Rejoices

The line, "The thrill of hope, a weary world rejoices" in O, Holy Night always catches my attention. Perhaps this year more than ever I, as well as most people on the planet can identify with the sentiment. We know deep in our b
ones just how weary the world is. We realize how broken and hopeless life can seem to be, yet...hope, the thrill of hope. 

Restore us, O God; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved (Psalm 80:3). 

The theme of the Psalm is about God's restoration. This phrase is repeated three times. Restoration brings hope. Restoration brings salvation. One might say that salvation and hope are interchangeable. The hope of Israel was that Messiah would come. He did. He came to restore. He came to save. In his grand restoration and salvation endeavors, he brings hope. 

My prayer this Advent season is that the thrill of hope would fill our hearts in the midst of this weary world. 

Thankful for Discipleship

 For over a year now I've been meeting with a group of men most Wednesday mornings at 9 to help spur one another on to growth in Christ. We have un-officially adopted Proverbs 27:17 as our theme. "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another." We meet usually for about 90 minutes, sometimes we go longer, sometimes its shorter. We share concerns and prayer needs in our lives and the lives of our families. We pray together. We read and study scripture together. It's not fancy. Even during 2020 we met via Zoom several weeks. This time together each week helps me to know there are others trying to follow Jesus, who I can identify with. We don't pretend to be super spiritual. We each readily acknowledge that we need Jesus...desperately. We need grace, because as Brennan Manning said, we know that our cheese is falling off our cracker. I'm thankful for these men, their wives, and their families. 

Discipleship is essential for one to grow in our faith. My prayer this Thanksgiving is that you would be able to foster relationships with others that can help sharpen your faith commitment. 

The Contemplative Pastor

I have long admired Eugene Peterson. The former pastor, professor, and translator of The Message has a way of speaking truth in the most subtle of ways. Peterson's primary vocation was as a pastor. His knowledge of pastoral ministry and his insight into the demands and joys of pastoral ministry is in many ways unmatched. Perhaps his experience and knowledge is so significant because he is able to use the precision of a surgeon's knife to trim the dead parts of the pastor's heart so it can beat as God intends.

I have not read everything by Peterson, but I'm working on it. A book I ordered a while back from a second hand book website was sitting on my shelf in my office when I was looking for a different book for a quote last week. As my eyes scanned the shelf, they fell on The Contemplative Pastor. I pulled it off the shelf and considered re-shelving it right away, because it wasn't on my list. Yes, I made the discipline to sketch out a reading list at the beginning of each year to help guide my reading time. I'm a bit of a nerd with it, I sketch several titles under different headings and genres. When I complete the book, I note the date of completion on the list. I also write a few sentences or a paragraph in the back of each book as a summary of what I thought of the book. I told you, I'm a bit of a book nerd. I add some books to the list through the year, but I try to stick to the list as much as possible. I had two other books by Peterson on my list, so I thought, I don't need to read that one right now. I thumbed through it for a minute and decided I'll read a few pages and see if it grabs me. Well, it did.

The world is at a standstill because of Covid-19. Last week was Holy Week. I was feeling overwhelmed by the reality of doing ministry in this new paradigm while also trying to be the husband and father God has called me to be. If social media posts and conversations I have had with other people over the last few weeks are any indication, most people regardless of their vocation are struggling with caring for family, doing their jobs, and practicing self-care and well-being. So when I read Peterson's admonitions to pastors to stop, slow down, and look at the world God has made and see where he is at work all around us, I knew this was a book that I needed to read now.

Peterson chooses three adjectives to help redefine what being a pastor means: unbusy, subversive, apocalyptic. I won't spoil the whole book for you, but if you are in ministry, please take the time to add this book to your reading list. You will be stretched and challenged in your own faith and your vocation as a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

There are several quotes I could share with you, but I've chosen to share two from the Foreward and one other.

So the task is not to get God to do something I think needs to be done, but to become aware of what God is doing so that I can respond to it and participate and take delight in it (4).

My job is not to solve people's problems or make them happy, but to help them see the grace operating in their lives (5). 

The cure of souls, then, is the scripture-directed, prayer-shaped care that is devoted to persons singly or in groups, in settings sacred and profane (57).

Lent 2020 Day 47 EASTER

Scripture Reading

Matthew 28:1-10

The message of Easter is that out of utter darkness God gave life and light. At Easter we often have Easter lilies in our homes or at church. A lily begins as a flower bulb that is kept in a cool, dark place. Out of this dark place a beautiful flower grows. "Wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light things that are now hidden in darkness" (1 Corinthians 4:5). In the same way, God turned the darkness and despair of Christ's death on the cross into something beautiful. This season of Lent that we have committed ourselves to, have been preparation for today. Today is the day we have awaited.  We have touched the ashes in repentance over our sins, we have remembered the Last Supper that Christ had with his disciples, we have been reminded of the servanthood of Christ by seeing his example of washing the disciple's feet. We mourned on Good Friday as we recalled the events of Christ's suffering and death. Finally, today we come to our celebration. It is not about the candy, the baskets, the Easter Bunny, the new clothes or anything else that preoccupies our hearts and minds. It is about the incredible passion of Christ's love for us. Greater than the love of family or friends, it is love that exceeds our expectations, imaginations, or even what we deserve. Grace, God's grace is pouring down from heaven to us. Not because we are worthy of his love, but because he loved us enough to provide a way for us to have a relationship with him. Christ's blood was shed. His resurrection from the dead was the ultimate victory over the death and the grave. Today we celebrate. Let us worship and adore God the Father, Jesus his son, and the Holy Spirit. May our hearts be turned to him alone and our mouths be dripping with thanksgiving and praise. We worship a God that has conquered death. 

"I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparable great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms" (Ephesians 1:18-20). 

This same power that God used to raise Christ from the grave we have inherited as his children. As believers we have this incredible power and strength at work in our lives. God is at work in our lives, the same as he was in Christ's life. This Easter I pray that we will embrace the power of the resurrection. It is already ours. We must claim it as our own and let it infiltrate every part of our soul and body. May Christ's power shine through us a bright light to a dark world. Praise God! Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again!

Prayer: Praise God from who all blessings flow. Praise him all creatures here below. Praise him above the heavenly host. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen. 

Lent 202 Day 46

Scripture Reading

Matthew 27:62-66

The Jewish religious leaders wanted to make sure that Jesus' death was final. They knew the dedication and commitment of the disciples. The religious leaders believed that the disciples would even try to steal Jesus' body so that it looked like he had risen from the dead.

Pilate agrees to have extra protection against such a thing from happening. The details of the security of the tomb are included in Matthew to illustrate the supernatural event of the resurrection. Jesus did NOT faint or go into a coma while he was on the cross, he really died. His heart stopped. His life expired. He stopped breathing. Jesus' death was as real as your life. His resurrection wasn't something that humans could have accomplished, it was completely and totally the work of God. How can we do anything but believe it?

Prayer: God, thank you that the resurrection was not a trick by the disciples but was the most real and amazing thing that could ever happen. Amen. 

Lent 2020 Day 45 Good Friday

Scripture Reading

John 19:23-30

Imagine that you were there. You are one of Christ's followers and you are there at the foot of the cross. Can you hear the crying, the moans of Christ's pain? Can you see him as he gasps for air and struggles to speak? Do you see his mother weeping and the crowds around her cheering his death? The stench of hatred and death are around you and the one that you love and believe to be the Messiah is hanging on a cross before you? Now...someone tells you that this is "good." It seems unreal that anything good could come from what is around you. You want to believe, but how can it be good? 

The Christian life at times is hard for us to understand. Throughout scripture we are told things that on the surface do not make sense. If we give up our lives, we gain life. The poor in spirit will inherit the Kingdom of God. The meek will inherit the earth.  And the death of Christ is good. On that Friday, it must have been unimaginably difficult to believe that what was before their eyes was anything but heinous and painful. How difficult it must have been to try to see beyond the pain. How hopeless they must have felt. It would have been so overwhelming. Surely, it would have been difficult to remember and trust in Christ's words that he would live again. Maybe they didn't believe. Maybe they didn't understand. Oh, how Christ wanted them to know that his suffering was for the good of all mankind.

This day was for us. It is "good" because Christ's sacrifice allowed us to have a relationship with God. It restored what had been broken. For us, it is the single most important act of love that was ever done for us. Out of death, God brought goodness. Out of what was ugly and despicable to the world, God created beauty and hope. Today we grieve over the suffering that Christ experienced for our sake, but we celebrate that God made all things good through him.

Prayer: Father, thank you for sacrificing your Son for me. Thank you for your plan of redemption and the plan you have for my life. I pray that my life would reflect my gratitude. I praise you for your great and matchless gift of Christ.