Just Like Honey

God’s Word to us is beyond sweet, it is life itself. God Himself is the Word and is our food. God’s Word is Life. The Word is Christ. God calls us to the table to feed on Him.

I remember the first time that I read scripture and understood what it said. I was reading Matthew 6:31-34. These words of Jesus instructed me, “Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ “For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. ” These scriptures spoke the very Word of God to me. I understood these words and they spoke to my worry filled, and sin dead life. God awakened something inside of me and I felt His presence there. I felt alive, assured, cared for, and I did not worry. These words spoke to my fear and loneliness and God sent a clear message that He was there meeting my every need. These words fed my soul and promised to feed my body. I believe them even now, and I believe in God who speaks these words, the Word Himself.

I have had a love affair with God and His Word ever since reading these scriptures and being empowered by God’s presence and Holy Spirit to understand them. One of my favorite passages is John 1, where John says that Jesus is the Word of God and that this Word is the Genesis of life itself. John says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1).” John goes on to say, “In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men (John 1:4).” Jesus also said, “I am the light of the world.” in John 8:12. John is connecting for us that Jesus, the Word Himself, is the one who spoke creation and every living thing therein, into being at the Genesis of creation. You can hear the eco of Genesis 1:1 and 3 in these verses, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. . . God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.” God created by speaking the Word. God spoke creation into being and He started with light. John wants us to know that the Word is Jesus and the Light of the world is Jesus. God’s Word is life itself, God speaks life, and God creates and sustains life.

The prophet Ezekiel encountered God and His word in Ezekiel 2 and 3. God was speaking to Ezekiel in visions and called for the prophet so that He could speak with him, Ezekiel listened to the following message in Ezekiel 2:8-3:3:

“Only take care, son of man, that you don’t rebel like these rebels. Open your mouth and eat what I give you.”

When I looked he had his hand stretched out to me, and in the hand a book, a scroll. He unrolled the scroll. On both sides, front and back, were written lamentations and mourning and doom.

He told me, “Son of man, eat what you see. Eat this book. Then go and speak to the family of Israel.”

As I opened my mouth, he gave me the scroll to eat, saying, “Son of man, eat this book that I am giving you. Make a full meal of it!”

So I ate it. It tasted so good—just like honey. ”

God gave Ezekiel His Word so that he could send God’s message to His people. Ezekiel ate God’s Word, he took it in, and he believed God’s word. He fed on them and then he was called by God to feed others. God’s Word gives life, to Ezekiel and to us. Will we consume God and His Word? Will we take Him in so that He consumes us?

We get at this eating God’s word, like with Ezekiel, in the communion service in the Anglican Church. In this service, Holy Eucharist Rite Two on pages 361-365, we read of Jesus, the Word Himself, breaking bread with His disciples. We also read these words from 1 Corinthians 11:23-24, “. . . the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” John also recalls in John 6:48 that Jesus Himself said, “I am the bread of life.” Jesus makes the connection for us in John 6:51 that He is the bread that came down from heaven allowing His people to be sustained with His daily provisions, through Himself, the living bread, in the wilderness. Jesus tells us to “eat His flesh” to have eternal life, John 6:56. This “eating of His flesh” is believing in Jesus’ life giving Words and accepting, receiving, and taking in His sacrifice for us. This sacrifice is Jesus offering Himself up on a cross for our sins and rising again from the grave, defeating death. Simon Peter responds in John 6:68 just as we should respond to this, “Lord to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life.”

This is why we say these words in the communion service before we come to the table to take in the Word of God, Jesus Himself: “The Gifts of God for the People of God. Take them in remembrance that Christ died for you, and feed on Him in your hearts by faith, with thanksgiving (1979).” We feed on Jesus’ Word. We feed on Jesus Himself; the bread of heaven; the bread of life. When we feed on His Word and His life, His kingdom becomes clear. We seek His kingdom because of His Word, and when we do so, we find every need met in Him as we “feed on Him in our hearts by faith, with thanksgiving.”

God supplies all our needs in the wilderness of this life when we seek first His Word and His kingdom and righteousness. In Matthew chapter 4, before Jesus speaks about seeking the kingdom and having our needs met, Jesus is led into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. The first temptation that Jesus had was to turn stones into bread for Himself while he was fasting. Satan said, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread (Matthew 4:3).” Jesus responded by quoting this passage in Deuteronomy, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4).’” Jesus was able to resist His temptation by Satan in the wilderness by quoting God’s word, which He had committed to memory. Jesus fed on God in the wilderness and we too can feed on Him.

Jesus also told His disciples, after meeting with the woman at the well, that “He had food to eat which they did not know about (John 4:32).” The disciples were astonished that Jesus would say something like this and wondered if someone had brought Him something to eat, but this food Jesus was speaking of was doing the will of God (John 4: 33, 34). God meets our needs and feeds us with His Word and His will, if we would just seek Jesus and His kingdom first, if we would just sit at His table and dine with Him and feed on Him. Jesus has given us the invitation and will feed us with food that the world may not know about, but it has been revealed to us. He has done it. God has fed us with His Word. He has offered us Himself.

Now may we “feed on Him in our hearts by faith, with thanksgiving.”

Feeding on the Word of the Lord, which is sweeter than honey,


Robbie


Bibliography

(1979). The Book of Common Prayer. New York, Church Publishing Incorporated.

New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995, S. Mt 6:31-34

Peterson, Eugene H.: The Message : The Bible in Contemporary Language. Colorado Springs, Colo. : NavPress, 2002, S. Eze 2:8-3:3

“Ironing Out” Work

Colossians 3:22-25

"Do your best. Work from the heart for your real Master, for God, confident that you’ll get paid in full when you come into your inheritance. Keep in mind always that the ultimate Master you’re serving is Christ. The sullen servant who does shoddy work will be held responsible. Being a follower of Jesus doesn’t cover up bad work."


There is an old expression, or figure of speech, rather, that says that one can "Have too many irons in the fire." This expression comes from blacksmiths, I believe, who would heat up their irons in the fire to shape them into tools or horse shoes, or whatever they were working on or crafting. When the iron would cool, it would cease to be moldable. They would place the iron back into the fire and pick up another that was being heated in the fire and the process would continue so that their work was constant and fluid so that they could maximize their productivity.

If you had “too many irons in the fire,” it would be easy to lose track of what you were working on. You could also leave your works in progress in the fire for too long if you had too many going and they would be ruined. Balance is a key to doing good blacksmith work. It is also an art as much as it is a science.

Balance is the key to doing any work, because of these same reasons mentioned. If we do not have a balance in our work, we may mess up what we have going because we cannot give it the time and attention that it deserves. If we are not doing enough work, or in this case, if we do not have enough irons in the fire, then we waste time and our work ceases to be fluid and we stop being as productive in our work. There seems to be a line that one has to walk in his or her work. Either one works too little and is lazy or one works too much and is sloppy and has poor quality in what they do.

This is the trap that I find myself in. I have the tendency to "Have too many irons in the fire." This can make me sloppy and can make my work poor quality. I am always working on a variety of differing projects at the same time. At times, this is a “juggling act.” This doing too many things steals the joy and pleasure that my work is supposed to be, as well as affecting the final product as it pertains to quality and excellence. There is supposed to be a balance in our work and work is supposed to be fulfilling and pleasurable. Work is supposed to be a joy and it is a blessing.

I find that work can be a burden and not a pleasure if there is too much of it or if there is too little work. There has to be a balance. To overwork is sinful and to under-work is laziness and is also sinful. We tend to lean toward one or the other, but I believe we are called to a balance and that we are supposed to work as unto the Lord. Our work is supposed to point to the God who we serve. Our labors work to make God Himself look good.

I love what Proverbs 30 verses 7 through 9 have to say about balance. These verses are not so much about work, but there is a principal that we can find here about work and balance and over- and under-functioning and what this says about our view of God and self. Here is what these verses say:

Proverbs 30:7-9

"And then he prayed, “God, I’m asking for two things
before I die; don’t refuse me—
Banish lies from my lips
and liars from my presence.
Give me enough food to live on,
neither too much nor too little.
If I’m too full, I might get independent,
saying, ‘God? Who needs him?’
If I’m poor, I might steal
and dishonor the name of my God.”

The writer of this proverb captures something very important here concerning balance, though he is speaking simply of provisions. We can pervert even a good thing, such as having enough to eat, or having enough money, or in this case having enough work. If we work too much, it is tempting to look at our labors and say, “Look what I have done!” and subtract God out of the equation, and maybe even forget God all together. If we work too little, others may say of us, “Look at how lazy this person is!” and then we make God, whom we love and serve, look bad and we dishonor Him and His name in the marketplace.

Our prayer and our effort in our work and lives should be like the prayer of the author of Proverbs 30:7-9, “Give me enough work and provisions that I recognize you, God, and praise your name. Do not give me too much, so that I rely on myself or put myself in your place. Do not give me too little that I may curse you or defame your name by sinning against you. Help me to know you more and make you look good in life and work.”

Being worked on to honor Jesus’ name,


Robbie


Bibliography

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/142/352666692_7ce26b35ca.jpg?v=0

http://wadehouse.wisconsinhistory.org/Explore/Blacksmith/Interior.aspx#slide

Peterson, Eugene H.: The Message : The Bible in Contemporary Language. Colorado Springs, Colo. : NavPress, 2002, S. Col 3:22-25

Peterson, Eugene H.: The Message : The Bible in Contemporary Language. Colorado Springs, Colo. : NavPress, 2002, S. Pr 30:7-9

Diverting Streams

Jeremiah 17:7-8

“But blessed is the man who trusts me, God, the woman who sticks with God. They’re like trees replanted in Eden, putting down roots near the rivers— Never a worry through the hottest of summers, never dropping a leaf, Serene and calm through droughts, bearing fresh fruit every season.”

There were these giant Willow Oak trees in my yard back home when I was growing up. They were huge, especially the ones in the back yard by the stream that ran on the left side of and behind the yard by the neighbor’s fence. One of these trees was rooted right by the stream at the back of our property. This tree forked into two huge trunks at about eight feet off the ground. I loved this tree. It was enormous. It was so big and impressive, that I decided one day to build a tree house in it. There were no plans or designs; I just started building, taking the wood from a contractor’s garage, which was left over from our home’s construction. I didn’t stop building until I had a mini palace built into the trunks of this huge Willow Oak Tree. This was no ordinary tree house and was very impressive for an eleven year old. It is even impressive for this 35 year old man, as I reflect back on it.

One would think that the spikes that I nailed to this tree to hold up my 30 square foot tree fort, complete with roof, door, window, furniture, and a look-out tower would have killed this mammoth tree, but no it stood there strong as ever, even years after I had to dismantle my 18 foot high tree kingdom. This tree even withstood the fire bombs we built beneath it, the years that wore it down and Hurricane Hugo back in 1989. This old tree seemed timeless and indestructible. I felt connected to it and it was very much a part of my adolescence.

The other trees that have had significance in my life were the old Loblolly Pine and Cypress Trees in the Congaree National Swamp, ten miles outside the city of Columbia. The state champion loblolly pine, found along the park's lower boardwalk, which goes through the swamp, is about 155 feet tall and is slightly over 15 feet in circumference. Best estimates for the age of this tree are around 200 to 250 years old. Some of the Cypress trees are old-growth bald cypress varying from 16 to 26 feet in circumference, and sometimes reach up to 132 feet tall and they can be up to 1000 years old. These trees are magical, kind of like my Willow Oak Tree in my back yard growing up.

What makes all these trees so enormous and beautiful and what makes them endure time, weather, and natural disaster is their strength that is from their nutrient rich soil and the access of their root systems to an abundance of water. Without the nutrients and the abundance of water, these trees would not stand as tall, they would not endure, and they would not be so magnificent.

I remember the day when my tree finally fell. It was a few short years after the little stream behind our home was piped in by the Highway Department in order to divert rain water more effectively out of our neighborhood. My old friend did not stand a chance. The source of his drink had been tapped and he was left out to dry. For decades this tree had enjoyed an abundance of life giving water, and just like that, it was over.

I found out years later that the neighborhood popular masses had been requesting that these streams be piped and diverted for aesthetics and property value, and so this was the fate of the Old Oak. Its years of strength, and the timeless character that had endured Hurricanes, were snuffed out by some business-minded housewives, brokers, wheelers and dealers, and the South Carolina Department of Transportation in what amounted to about a week and a half’s worth of time. I stood and watched them place the pipe, and I watched as they covered them over. Then, years later, I witnessed the tree’s fall, and I split the wood to be burned in the winter’s fires.

The Loblolly and the cypress, well, they still stand out in the swamp’s nutrient rich water filled bottom land out by the Congaree River, just as grand as they have always been.

These trees haunt me and so does the scripture from Jeremiah 17:7-8: “But blessed is the man who trusts me, God, the woman who sticks with God. They’re like trees replanted in Eden, putting down roots near the rivers— never a worry through the hottest of summers, never dropping a leaf, Serene and calm through droughts, bearing fresh fruit every season.”

I cannot help but to think of the times that I did not trust God and how I still struggle to trust Him even now. I cannot help but think of the times where I wither like my Willow Oak Tree because I have diverted Jesus’ living waters by refusing it, or thinking I don’t need it, or because I just want to go my own way, or do my own thing. At times I have chosen aesthetics and things of worldly value over Him. There are times I have been about my own business and not the business of His kingdom. I have taken dry and barren back yards over rich, lush, Eden like, water flowing soils of swampy bottom lands down by the river. I have diverted the stream, piped it up, and covered it over.

Jesus says in John 4: 13-14, “Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again and again. Anyone who drinks the water I give will never thirst—not ever. The water I give will be an artesian spring within, gushing fountains of endless life.” Jesus goes on to say in John 7:37-38, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Rivers of living water will brim and spill out of the depths of anyone who believes in me this way.”

May we not divert His stream. May we come to Jesus and drink. Would we be like the tree in Jeremiah that is planted by the river in Eden. Drinking from this water, may we not worry, and never drop a leaf, but experience a serene calm and produce fruit bountifully, and beautifully, like the giant Cypress Trees and the Loblolly Pines.

Drinking from His fountain,


Robbie


Bibliography

http://www.nps.gov/cong/index.htm

http://www.friendsofcongaree.org/

http://www.friendsofcongaree.org/photos/tree-walk/

http://www.friendsofcongaree.org/photos/big_tree_2005/

Peterson, Eugene H.: The Message : The Bible in Contemporary Language. Colorado Springs, Colo. : NavPress, 2002, S. Je 17:7-8

Peterson, Eugene H.: The Message : The Bible in Contemporary Language. Colorado Springs, Colo. : NavPress, 2002, S. Jn 4:13-14

Peterson, Eugene H.: The Message : The Bible in Contemporary Language. Colorado Springs, Colo. : NavPress, 2002, S. Jn 7:37-38

Crossing Repentance Creek

Luke 13:2-5

“Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”

I can’t begin to tell you how dangerous creek crossings can be in the backcountry in the beginning of April. The risk of hypothermia is great if you fall into a creek, stream, or river. In the fall, winter, or early spring it is very difficult to dry out your gear if it gets wet. The cold doesn’t help either. If you cannot get dry because all of your clothes and your sleeping bag are wet from a plunge in the river, you can find yourself in grave danger.

We were backpacking in the Shenandoah’s backcountry in April on a trail called Jeremy’s Run. This trail crosses Jeremy’s Run Creek upwards of 17 or so times. Getting your feet wet is unavoidable, especially in the spring thaw. The river was flooded on our expedition and new creeks, that are normally not there, were gushing from the mountainside contributing to the flow and the amount of crossings. The instructions were clear, “Unbuckle your backpack belts and safely, cautiously, and slowly cross the creek at a shallow, calm, and clear crossing. Do not try to attempt to keep your feet from getting wet by rock hopping or crossing logs, because you might just fall completely in, just cross at the trail.”

Earlier in the trip we had an incident where one of our group members had taken a fall into Jeremy’s Run Creek. Luckily he had packed his gear correctly. His sleeping bag was at the top of his pack and all of his clothes were in water resistant bags, so he was able to get dry and warm and the incident was not life threatening. This incident caused us all to cross the creek more carefully and our level of respect for the day's challenge grew. We adjusted our vigilance and no further incident occurred that day.

On our last stretch the next day it was the group’s turn to lead us out of the backcountry to our next expedition and the rock climbing portion of our trip. They were to lead themselves out without the leaders help and make their own decisions based on what they had learned. We had safely, all but the one incident, crossed all the creek crossings, except for about five, on Jeremy’s Run. The group began their leading without the help of the trip leader. At the fist creek crossing of their day everything fell apart. Two people in the group crossed the run safely, one of which was the gentleman who fell in the day before. The other two, who were “the more experienced,” we will call them Jamal and Danny to protect the guilty, attempted to trail-blaze up the creek and cross over on some rocks and some debris. They almost fell in several times, still ended up wet, and barely kept their packs out of the water. The risks were great: sprained ankles, hypothermia, if they fell in, and they could have gotten separated from the group by going their own way, not to mention they were contributing to erosion by going off trail by the stream, and were breaking the rules by not following the instructions.

These two guys were attempting to keep their feet dry on the last stretch of trail. They put themselves and the whole group at risk. It also took about 25 minutes to accomplish this chaos, it should have only taken about 5 minutes, and this put us way behind schedule. It wasn’t just at the first crossing that they attempted this. They tried it at the second crossing of the day as well, even after a debriefing about how what they had done was dangerous and unwise. Jamal and Danny were not repentant.

Repentance would have been the two gentlemen learning from their mistakes, and the mistake of their teammate earlier, the young man who fell in the day before. This gentleman had learned from what had happened and crossed extra cautiously after his incident. He followed the instructions. This is what repentance is. It is turning from your old way of doing things and not doing them again. It is learning from your mistakes and obeying. Repentance is going the right way and resisting going your own way. The Strong’s Concordance defines repentance this way: “to change one’s mind, i.e. to repent. Repentance is to change one’s mind for the better, to heartily amend with abhorrence of one’s past sins (or wrong doing).” Repentance is when a person knows that they have done the wrong thing and they can see clearly to turn and do the right thing.

This repentance is what God desires of us all. None of us are free from sin and wrong doing. We are all guilty and need to turn from going our own way in life. For some of us it is small things, for others, it is something major. Jesus did not come for the perfect. He came for the sinner and He calls the sinner to repentance. This is all of us. Jesus says this best in this story from Matthew 9:10-13: “Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.””

May we cross over to the other side of the creek of repentance successfully by His Grace.

Turning from my own selfish ways to Jesus, by His grace, mercy, and power,



Robbie



Bibliography

Strong, James: The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible : Showing Every Word of the Text of the Common English Version of the Canonical Books, and Every Occurrence of Each Word in Regular Order. electronic ed. Ontario : Woodside Bible Fellowship., 1996, S. G3340

The New King James Version. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1982, S. Mt 9:10-13

The New King James Version. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1982, S. Lk 13:2-5

Beginning to Pray

Beginning to Pray

If you really want to begin to pray, don’t buy a book on prayer or buy into a formula on prayer, but begin like Jesus taught us to begin to pray in Matthew 6: 9-10: “Our Father in heaven, Reveal who you are. Set the world right; Do what’s best—as above, so below (The Message).”



I was reading a book recently called Beginning to Pray, by Anthony Bloom, which delved into how one begins to pray. I was surprised at how the book began. Some say that “You cannot judge a book by its cover.” Maybe they should say, “You shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.” I try not to. However, in picking up the book Beginning to Pray, as I always do, I read the back of the book, the front cover, and then I moved to the contents page to see what I was in store for. I got stuck on the following quote on the back of the book that set the tone for the remainder of my experience of the book: “The realm of God is dangerous. You must enter into it and not just seek information about it . . . The day when God is absent, when He is silent-that is the beginning of prayer (Bloom 1970).” I was and am turned completely off by this quote and it alerted me to read vigilantly throughout this work. I do not like what I found. Not only do I disagree with this quote, but I found myself disagreeing with a lot of Bloom’s text in Beginning to Pray. I will start with this fist quote from the back of the book, and my disagreement, and move inside the book to a few more problems I had, and then I will close with where I believe we should begin in our praying.

I am with Anthony Bloom about the realm of God being dangerous. As C.S. Lewis said in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe about Aslan the Lion, referring to God, “He's not safe, but He's good.” This is true of God, and His “Wild Kingdom.” This is why prayer is so important and why it is so amazing. We can communicate with the God of the universe. “Prayer is a relationship.” as bloom says on page 26. Here is where my problem with Bloom begins in the second part of this quote, “The day when God is absent, when He is silent-that is the beginning of prayer (Bloom 1970).” God’s silence and His absence are not the beginning of prayer. God is the beginning of prayer. I also think that these previous two statements are false. God can seem to us to be absent, but is indeed omnipresent. In all fairness, Bloom does clarify this for us on page 26 when he says “God is never really absent.” As for the second part, God’s seeming to be silent can be our own hardness of heart, sin or distance from God. I was disappointed that God was not the beginning where Bloom began his work Beginning in Prayer. Instead of his book beginning at the beginning of prayer, we get a long, and I think indulgent, interview with Anthony Bloom by Timothy Wilson as the introduction, when I, the reader, was just looking to begin praying.

Another quote that I disagreed with in the first chapter of this book, The Absence of God, is this one, “As long as we ourselves are real, as long as we are truly ourselves, God can be present and can do something with us (Bloom, p. 30).” No. There is nothing right about this statement theologically. Again, the author is beginning with someone other than God, which is a non-starter. We cannot keep propping ourselves up, as if prayer were about us at all, or as if we even had the power on our own to pray. We are sinful and fallen people and cannot pray without God’s initiation. When Jesus taught his disciples how to pray, he began with God. “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. . . ” Jesus said nothing of us or being ourselves or of us being real. What does that even mean? It is prayer that could lead us to life change in Jesus, who could then empower us to look a little more as we should, or to be our true selves, or to be real. This idea that “I have to do____________ and then God will hear me,” Is works based religion. This puts the focus, the power, and the burden on us and not God.

Bloom saves this issue somewhat when he speaks of prayer needing the “fertile ground of humility” (p. 31, 35) and that God’s power is perfected in our weakness (p. 33). I agree with Bloom on this and really appreciate that he references one of my favorite prayers of the Pharisee and the tax collector in Luke 18: 10-14 that clearly makes the point that prayer is an act of surrender to God’s power and mercy, in great humility, and that prayer is not at all about our doings (p. 32). This begins to put the focus back onto God. Bloom also addresses the fact that we must be kingdom minded in our thinking about God and prayer. Jesus also said this about how we should pray in Matthew 6:10: “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Bloom says we must “surrender to the king and that God is God (p. 30).” This is good, but it goes south, takes a turn for the worse, at the end of the chapter and into the second chapter, Knocking at the Door, where Bloom says that “We are outsiders to the kingdom of God (p. 36).” This is where we will pick up next.

In the chapter Knocking at the Door, Bloom says that “We are outsiders to the kingdom of God and that we need to knock at the door to be allowed in (p. 39).” Bloom does not want us to take for granted that we are insiders and miss something of God and I can respect that thought, but he takes it too far and it is a skewed thought and is a bad theology of who pursues who in the relationship between God and ourselves. Revelation chapter 3:20-22 describes Jesus knocking on our heart’s door: “Look at me. I stand at the door. I knock. If you hear me call and open the door, I’ll come right in and sit down to supper with you. Conquerors will sit alongside me at the head table, just as I, having conquered, took the place of honor at the side of my Father. That’s my gift to the conquerors! “Are your ears awake? Listen. Listen to the Wind Words, the Spirit blowing through the churches.” It is clear in this passage that God does the knocking and pursuing of us.

I know that Jesus also said, “Knock and the door shall be opened unto you” in another great passage on prayer that I highly regard in Matthew 7:7-11, but scriptures also tell us in Romans 8:26-28 that “the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.” This scripture, coupled with 1 Corinthians 2:10, which says that “we have seen and heard it because God by his Spirit has brought it all out into the open before us,” Illustrates that knowledge of God, and the propensity to pray, are all God’s works and not our own doing or knocking.

The ideas of poverty and kingdom, as they relate to prayer, come up in chapter two as well with a paragraph that stands out in a serious way. Bloom says, “This is the kingdom, the sense that we are free from possession, and that this freedom establishes us in a relationship where everything is love-human love and love divine (p. 41).” I agree, on the surface, with Bloom that poverty and simplicity may draw us closer with God, but I disagree that this is the kingdom. I am overwhelmed by this over simplification of kingdom here and do not think that it helps deepen prayer. A deeper thought is that we should be possessed by God in all aspects of our life and in our prayer.

It seems to me that Bloom is piggy backing off of A.W. Tozer’s idea of “The Blessedness of Possessing Nothing” in Chapter 2 of his book, The Pursuit of God, which I highly recommend for drawing close to God in life and prayer (Tozer 1949). To credit Bloom with some ideas that I appreciate here, it is worth pointing out that he seems to have influenced one of my favorite Catholic authors Henri Nouwen in his work on prayer, which I also highly recommend titled With Open Hands (Nouwen 1972). In this work Nouwen also hits on this idea that Bloom presents of keeping your hands open to what God puts into them and to what God may take out. Poverty is the beginning to receiving from God and not standing on your own.

Prayer is a relationship with the creator of the universe. He is the author of life and of prayer itself. The very nature of the incarnation, God coming in human form and dwelling with us, dictates that God pursues us and wants a relationship with us. God draws us to himself. God sent His only begotten Son to die on a cross and raised Him from the dead so that our sins could be forgiven and we could relate directly to Him and have a relationship with Him. Prayer has its genesis in the God who created us, and prayer itself. We begin with God in our praying.

When Jesus was hanging from the cross and dying for us so that we could know Him and enter into His Kingdom, He cried out, and the earth shook, and the Temple Curtain tore in two from the top to the bottom. This curtain separated the Holy of Holies, where God dwelt, from the rest of the temple populace and only the priests could meet God there to intercede on the sinner’s behalf. When God tore this curtain at Jesus’ battle cry from the cross, it gave us all direct access to God through His son (Matthew 27: 45-54). God is not silent. His cry allowed our cries to be heard and answered. This is where we begin to pray; at the foot of the cross.

The title of Anthony Bloom’s book, Beginning to Pray, let me down and then the content let me down. You would think that you could give a book with a title like this to a new believer or someone who is struggling to learn to pray. I can’t. I could not recommend this work to someone beginning to pray, because it does not start right. I would recommend to someone wanting to learn a lot about prayer so that they could set out on their own to read Richard J. Foster’s Prayer: Finding The Heart’s True Home (Foster 1992).

May we begin our praying in Jesus,


Robbie


Bibliography

Bloom, A. A. (1970). Beginning to Pray. Mahwah, N.J., Paulist Press.

Foster, R. J. (1992). Prayer: Finding The Heart’s True Home. San Francisco, CA, Harper San Francisco.

Nouwen, H. J. M. (1972). With Open Hands. Notre Dame, IN, Ave Maria Press, Inc.

Peterson, Eugene H.: The Message : The Bible in Contemporary Language. Colorado Springs, Colo. : NavPress, 2002, S. Mt 6:9-10, S. Ro 8:26-28, S. Re 3:20-22, S. I Cor. 2:10

Tozer, A. W. (1949). The Pursuit of God. Camp Hill, PA, Christian Publications Inc.

The Holy Bible : English Standard Version. Wheaton : Standard Bible Society, 2001, S. Mt 6:9

Shabbat, Grandma! Shabbat!

Shabbat: to rest from labor

I love Grandma, but her Sunday religion used to tire me.

My Grandmother had a simple rule that was unspoken, but it was understood. Sunday meant you went to church. If the church doors were open, you were supposed to be there. There were no exceptions to this rule. Sunday was the Sabbath Day, which for her, and therefore us, meant you go to church and work hard for the Lord. You did not just go to church, but you were to be the first one there and the last one to leave. My Grandma gets up at 4:00am on a Sunday morning and her day is dedicated to church, all day, and then discipleship class all night. It is a marathon of a day. She unlocks the doors, prepares for the people to arrive, and when they leave she locks up and is the last one out, because this is what you are supposed to do. The woman is a saint, she does it all. Growing up and having to go to church with my grandparents, I always equated church with work.

Like I said, I love Grandma, but her religion makes me tired. It just seems like a lot of work.

In thinking about the Sabbath, I am wondering if Grandma and Jesus would see eye to eye on how to observe the Sabbath. As a matter of fact, Grandma and I have had, with mutual respect of course, this debate concerning the observance of the Sabbath many times. She does not always agree with my views, nor do I always agree with hers. I believe that the Sabbath is a day of rest that is different than any other day. It is set apart. It is Holy. It is a day that God has given us, or commanded us rather, to go “off the clock.” The Sabbath is a day of rest. It’s not just a Sunday. Sabbath helps us focus on the fact that God is God and that we are not God. Grandma would agree with me that the Sabbath is Holy and that she and I are not God, but she thinks that this is the day we should work hard for the Lord. My fatigue makes me disagree with this sometimes. I also wonder at times if Grandma even knows what rest is. Maybe working for the Lord is rest for her. If this is the case, I might be able to see eye to eye with her a little more.

According to Paul Achtemeier and the Harper’s Bible Dictionary, the word Sabbath (from Heb. Shabbat, ‘to cease, and desist’), is the weekly day of rest and abstention from work enjoined upon the Israelites. The origin of the word Sabbath, an etiological origin for the Sabbath is supplied in Gen. 2:1-3, which speaks of God Himself ceasing from the work of creation on the seventh day, blessing the day, and declaring it holy (Achtemeier). Jesus Himself, being both Jewish and God, observed the Sabbath. There are many accounts of Jesus withdrawing to solitary places to pray. These occurrences were not always on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, however. Jesus also chose to “work,” on the Sabbath, and healed, and allowed His disciples to pick grain and eat corn; one point for Grandma.

There is something about the Sabbath that seems to be less about the day as it is about a mindset of rest and ceasing work. Jesus seemed to be doing something more with Sabbath. As I mentioned before, the Jews celebrated the Sabbath on Saturday. The Bible Dictionary goes on to say, “Jesus’ claim to lordship over the Sabbath (Mark 2:28) was an important element in the hostility he aroused in those who felt that Sabbath traditions were incumbent on all Jews (e.g., Mark 3:6; John 5:18). Jesus’ attitude toward the Sabbath, coupled with the tradition that his resurrection occurred on the first day of the week (Sunday; cf. Matt. 28:1), meant that Sunday rather than the Sabbath (Saturday) became the chief liturgical day for Christians. ” This is two points for Grandma. So, we as Christians celebrate the Sabbath on Sunday. So who is right? The one who observes the Sabbath is my answer.

This is where I am realizing something about Grandma that you should know. She loves to travel and vacation, to work in her yard, to help people out, to go on walks, to visit the sick, to take naps, to watch her daytime television, to work in her garden, to read her newspaper before anyone else is awake and to sip her coffee, and when no one is looking, this Baptist dances the Charleston. Grandma does many other restful disciplines throughout the week as well. These disciplines seem to me, the more I think about it, to be just like Sabbath. I see her in a very different light than Sunday in these times.

I love the words of Jesus concerning the Sabbath in Mark chapter 2, verses 23-28:

“One Sabbath day he was walking through a field of ripe grain. As his disciples made a path, they pulled off heads of grain. The Pharisees told on them to Jesus: “Look, your disciples are breaking Sabbath rules!” Jesus said, “Really? Haven’t you ever read what David did when he was hungry, along with those who were with him? How he entered the sanctuary and ate fresh bread off the altar, with the Chief Priest Abiathar right there watching—holy bread that no one but priests were allowed to eat—and handed it out to his companions?” Then Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made to serve us; we weren’t made to serve the Sabbath. The Son of Man is no lackey to the Sabbath. He’s in charge!””

The implications of the Sabbath being created for man, not man for the Sabbath, are many. God Himself is in charge of the Sabbath and He has gifted it to serve us. This may even mean that Grandma and I are both right about the Sabbath. If the Sabbath is our day, if it is for us, then there seems to be some flexibility to it. Grandma must concede, and so must I. I don’t have any more right to impose my rules on her than she does imposing her rules on me concerning the Sabbath.

Part of stopping our working puts the focus on the provisions of God. God Himself has done the work and we can freely partake in His rest and His supply. We can stop and acknowledge His Lordship over us and our work. The grain is ours to pluck. The weary making religious rules and regulations of the law can be life giving and not burden producing to us. The one who is in charge of the law of Sabbath has given it to us for our enjoyment of His good graces. His life giving bread has been broken for our rest and nourishment. The Sabbath is not there for us to serve, but for us to be served. God is God and we are not.

In Matthew chapter 12 verses 9-12 the legalistic Pharisees, the religious leaders of the day, were seeking to accuse Jesus and to discredit Him by questioning Him about the Sabbath day when He had the opportunity to heal a cripple man’s hand on the Sabbath. This is how the story unfolded:

“Jesus left there and went into their synagogue, where there was a man with a crippled hand. They were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they asked him, “Is it right to heal on the Sabbath day?” Jesus answered, “If any of you has a sheep, and it falls into a ditch on the Sabbath day, you will help it out of the ditch. Surely a human being is more important than a sheep. So it is lawful to do good things on the Sabbath day.” Then Jesus said to the man with the crippled hand, “Hold out your hand.” The man held out his hand, and it became well again, like the other hand. But the Pharisees left and made plans to kill Jesus. ”

As I look back over my Grandmother and I debating over the Sabbath, the reality becomes clear to me that I was that sheep in this story that Jesus told. My Grandma was getting me, and people like me, out of that pit on Sunday. I owe my Grandmother everything. If it were not for her and my Grandfather and their tireless service, I would have never been able to rest from my own labors as a lost sheep. I would still be working and striving to get out on my own. She led me to the Lord of the Sabbath. I cherish my Grandma’s faithfulness and example to me and the countless vacations that I drove them on when they were able to take their own Sabbaths.

Thank you Grandma!

May we all keep the Sabbath Holy and rest from our labors.


Robbie


Bibliography

Achtemeier, Paul J. ; Harper & Row, Publishers ; Society of Biblical Literature: Harper's Bible Dictionary. 1st ed. San Francisco : Harper & Row, 1985, S. 888

The Everyday Bible : New Century Version. Nashville, TN. : Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2005, S. Mt 12:9-12

Greenberg, M. ‘Sabbath.’ Encyclopaedia Judaica. Vol. 14. Pp. 557-62.

Peterson, Eugene H.: The Message : The Bible in Contemporary Language. Colorado Springs, Colo. : NavPress, 2002, S. Mk 2:23-28

Porten, B. Archives from Elephantine. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1965. Pp. 122-33, 150, 173.

Sirens of Confession and Grace

1 John 1:8-10

“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”

When I was a kid a friend of mine that lived up the street from me had the most amazing toy that a boy could ever dream of. This thing was a megaphone for your bicycle, but it wasn’t just any megaphone, it was a siren and a megaphone. This device had a switch that allowed you to make the sound of a siren; it had the sound of a fire truck, a police car, and an ambulance, or you could simply amplify your own voice using the microphone that was attached to it. It was awesome! I still wish that I had something like this. It was a lot of fun.

Once I asked my friend if I could borrow his amazing device before he was scheduled to go out of town with his dad. I didn’t think that he would miss it and I was hoping to give it some use while he was gone. He agreed and let me borrow it and I played with this thing every day, and then, I broke the switch. I didn’t mean to break it, it just sort of happened. It came off in my hand seemingly without any cause. I guess I didn’t know my own strength. I was horrified at what I had done. For an eight year old this was the end of the world. “What would happen when my friend found out?” I wondered. Here it is that he trusted me and I let him down. I could not sleep and lost my appetite thinking about what I had done. I knew I had to tell him and I wouldn’t rest until I did.

When I thought that my buddy had returned home, I gathered all the courage and strength that I could muster and I took the megaphone to his house. I was terrified at what would happen. I would have to pay for his toy, I thought, or even worse, I would lose a good friend. When I got to the door I was so afraid. I knocked before I could think twice. His mom answered the door and welcomed me. My friend was not back yet. I shyly told her what had happened and how sorry I was for breaking the toy. She gently took it from my hand and assured me that it was ok and that she forgave me. I offered to pay for it or work to make it right, and she said that there would be no need and that there was nothing that I needed to do. She was so kind and gentle toward me and I can still remember her smile.

This was one of my very first encounters with grace, confession, and forgiveness. I have always carried this life lesson with me and will continue to carry this throughout my life. This event shaped me and continues to shape me to this day.

Years later in High School when I was working as a cabinet maker at a local cabinet shop I had an accident at a customer’s home. I had accidentally bumped her SUV mirror with our delivery truck. It was not at all damaged and no one saw it, but deep down I knew that I had to tell her and my boss. I remembered the siren, I heard its call. I had the same feelings going on in me that I had when I was a kid. I went in and let the customer know what had happened and said that I would walk her out and show her where I had hit her mirror. She said that there would be no need because I had just told her that everything was ok and that she trusted my word. All was forgiven. I was moved once again and the lesson became even further ingrained into my being. Confession is right.

Some of the major feelings that I felt after these two incidents were that of thanksgiving, freedom, release, joy, relief, and humility, just to name a few. Having come forward and come clean, I got the blessing of experiencing grace and forgiveness. This wasn’t easy for me, but without my confession, these feelings and this glorious grace and forgiveness that I received would not have been possible. If I would have hidden, or ran, or kept to myself, I would have been captive by my transgressions. I would have been a slave to my sins. They would have enslaved me to loneliness and despair, and distance from God and other people, kind of like the days leading up to the return of the siren and megaphone.

What we confess says a lot about what we believe.

Sounding and heeding the siren of confession and receiving His grace,


Robbie



Confession: 1. Admission of wrongdoing, an admission of having done something wrong or embarrassing, 2. Admission of guilt, criminal law a voluntary written or verbal statement admitting the commission of a crime, 3. Open acknowledgment of feelings, a profession of emotions or beliefs such as love, loyalty, or faith, 4. Declaration of sins, Christianity a formal declaration of sins confidentially to a priest or to God, 5. Something admitted, something that is confessed or disclosed, 6. Declaration of beliefs or doctrines, religion a declaration of the beliefs or doctrines of a religious body, 7. Religious group sharing beliefs, Christianity a religious group that has a specific set of beliefs and practices (Encarta Dictionary: English (North America)).


Bibliography

Encarta Dictionary: English (North America)

The Holy Bible : King James Version. electronic ed. of the 1769 edition of the 1611 Authorized Version. Bellingham WA : Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1995, S. 1 Jn 1:8-10

Planet Wisdom Prayer

http://www.planetwisdom.com/tour/

The Planet Wisdom Prayer

The Planet wisdom prayer is a prayer that was inspired and given by the movement of the Holy Spirit and was compiled by the prayers of the youth and adults who attended the Planet Wisdom Youth Retreat on March 6th and 7th 2009.

“God help us to fly the white flag of surrender. Turn our doing into being, knowing that you have graded us and have declared us your valedictorians in your Son Jesus. We cannot earn what you have already done on the cross for us. Help us to know our standing with you and in you. Turn our doubts into knowing. Help us to know you as our Ultimate Hero and turn us into heroes for those we love and serve. Help us to surrender, to listen, and to hear you. Help us to know how real you are and to see you how you are. Turn our knowing into deep belief and would the shadow of doubt and unbelief be eclipsed by your presence beside us, behind us, in front of us, and within us. May we worship you in deep intimacy and praise for who you are; would your music guide us along your journey for us; and instead of our fleshly doubt would we clearly see and obey your call and purposes for your life for us. Hear, oh Lord, our prayers and offerings of tears and joy of surrender to your way. Lead us into this way as your unlikely heroes. May we be quick to obey and enter into your adventure for us. Would we be led by you away from our fleshly temptations to be the sluggard, the mocker, or the know-it-all. Would you help us to see the path that you have mapped out for us along this journey that you have us on. May we follow this path without hesitation. Would we love and mentor one another along this journey and help one another in our lives and callings, because we are all in this together; we are learning and growing, together. Lord, you care so much about how we are doing and you give to us and bless us even in our sleeping. May we receive you in our sleeping and waking hours, and always. Would wisdom, your wisdom, visit us often. Would we be wise; not as Solomon, but as Wisdom Himself, Jesus. Would we walk in the ways of your wisdom without fear or insecurity and would we minister as we are ministered to by your Wisdom. In all things, Lord, we are your redeemed because of your strength and what you have done for us. Help us to see our redemption in you and through you and to live out of our redemption in you, always pointing our lives to you and others to your redeeming love. There is redemption in God!

It is in the mighty name and power of Jesus Christ that we pray this.”

“Amen!”