ADVENT ENCOUNTERS - JOSEPH AND MARY

A friend of mine, Tammie Gitt, writes a super blog called living 3368.  She makes a guest appearance today on THRIVING IN CHRIST with some thoughts on Joseph and Mary that I found intriguing.  Don't forget to click the commentary link. - Steve

Advent Encounters: Mary and Joseph

Did you ever wonder if Mary and Joseph welcomed the anonymity of the road to Bethlehem?
Think about what the past months have been like for them. It all began with an angelic visit. Then came explanations and tears, misunderstandings and revelations, whispers and rumors. No doubt there were still people in town who didn’t buy Mary’s story of becoming pregnant by the Holy Spirit  or Joseph’s insistence on a visionary dream … and the whispers continued.

For a few days on the road, they were just another couple complying with a Roman edict.

One commentary suggested the 90-mile journey would take about three days. They’re the scholars, but common sense tells me it took longer than that. To make it in three days would have required the couple to cover a distance of 30 miles a day — with Mary waddling along when she wasn’t on the donkey — at a pace of three miles per hour.

I’m guessing that didn’t happen.

I’m guessing it was a much more difficult journey, physically and emotionally.

Any comfort they had in being just another traveling couple on an ancient Roman road ended when they arrived in Bethlehem. They found busy streets and crowded homes. And, since this whole census thing was a government operation, there were probably lines and paperwork and surly counter agents.
But something happened in the midst of the chaos.

And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
(Luke 2:6-7 ESV)

It was no modern hospital, but it was a decent option overall when you think about Bethlehem that day. It was a warm, private, quiet place where Mary could have her baby without the nosy neighbors complaining about her screams of pain or the baby’s cries.

It was a place where Mary, Joseph and the newborn Jesus could be alone.

In the midst of the chaos in these final days before Christmas, find your stable.

Look for a private, quiet place where you can be alone with Jesus.

Try once again to wrap your mind around the mystery of God with us.

Emmanuel.

FUTURE PLANNING

"The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time."

- Abraham Lincoln

New Year's Day is more than a week away but I already have my planning calendar and it has dates written in it as far ahead as next September - 2011, that is.  I actually keep four calendars. One, my sermon planning calendar has been in my possession since early August.  In early September I purchased my long range planner  (the one mentioned above). It contains my daily planner (which is my third calendar) and I have fairly detailed plans written in for the first week of January. The fourth is my office calendar which I produce weekly for the benefit of my Administrative Assistant, Patty. It is on my computer and is printed out for her each Monday.  At the time of this writing, next week has about four confirmed appointments.

Calendars are one of the tools that I use to keep a clear focus on the future and plan to be ready to meet the future,  Such planning can be considered presumptuous.  James writes:

"Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.”  Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.  Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”  As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil." - James 4.13-16

If I believed that those calendars defined my future or put me in charge of my future; such planning would indeed be presumptuous.  More than that, it would be sinful.

But not too plan at all would also be presumptuous and even sinful.  I'd be saying, "God, I have no responsibility to be a good steward of my time." Simply going with the flow would give me an excuse to drift along any current instead of following the command, "Redeem the time."

We are warned not to worry about the future. Jesus says very plainly in Matthew 6:34: "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."       

Jeremiah 29:11 shares these words from the Lord."For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future."

Good future planning is to seek the mind of God to discover what those plans are and to plan to follow them.

THE STORY OF AMAZING GRACE

Here's a bonus for those of you who get the on line version of THRIVING IN CHRIST.

HEADING FOR THE MANGER

Reading: Matthew 2.1-12

We are now seven days before Christmas Eve.  People are hustling around trying to complete their Christmas shopping (or grabbing some time to wrap presents). There may be one or two Christmas parties left.  Family schedules are being adjusted so that we can get to all the stops we need to make for Christmas Day.  Many of us in this group will be in church Friday night to celebrate the Birth.

This is the story of the visit of the Magi to the manger. The Magi were royalty who had the time and leisure to be scholars--astronomers, it appears and students of the religious writings of the Middle East. In those days, stars were believed to be signs of momentous events or life messages. It was a bit more substantive than the current day's astrology and horoscopes. They were likely from Persia.  We do not know exactly when this occurred, but given the distance they would have traveled and the response of Herod after their departure, the journey could have been up two years.

By their own report, they started their journey after the saw the Star.  The scriptures leave us to understand that the Star first appeared in the night sky on the day of Jesus' birth.

They also came prepared--with gifts: gold, frankincense, myrrh.Gold is a gift for a King, symbolising Jesus' kingship. Frankincense is an incense used by priests, thus symbolising Jesus' priesthood. Myrrh is used in embalming the dead, which prophetically signifies that Jesus was born to die. These are the symbolic meaning of these gifts, but they must have also had a practical purpose. It is likely that Mary saved the myrrh for Jesus' burial; although it is also likely that some of it was used for Joseph's burial as well. The Frankincense may have been used in the home of Joseph when they celebrated te Passover.

The point here is this.  These men rearranged their lives to come to the manger, and they came with gifts that expressed an awareness of what Jesus would need. So here's the question - are you arranging your life to make sure that Jesus remains at the center, not only for this season but the whole year?  And have you asked yourself, what does God want me to offer Him as a reflection of my worship and thanksgiving?

GOD IS OUT OF OUR SIGHT, OUT OF OUR MIND

We live in a world where God is out of  our sight and out of our minds. Too many persons, including many Christians, live as if there is no God or as if He is irrelevant to their daily existence. Craig Groeschel calls the latter “Christian atheists,” persons who say they believe in God but live as if they didn’t.

Why is this the case? I don’t think it is because the true atheists have won us over. In fact, since the beginning of  the postmodern era, there are very few true atheists left. Postmodernism admits that man is a spiritual creature and most atheist’s arguments fall of deaf ears.
I don’t think it’s because God has failed to make Himself known. Nor that He Himself is disinterested in His planet and its inhabitants.
I do think it is because most of us are deists at heart and agnostics in practice.  Deism is the classic idea of the “clockwork God” who sets the world into motion and then steps away to let humanity work things out. God is there, but does not intervene in human events. Agnosticism is the belief that although God probably exists, He is basically irrelevant to human life. Sort of like your grandfather suffering from dementia and confined to a nursing home.

Isaiah calls this state of affairs and its inhabitants “people living in deep darkness.”

Advent is the season when we acknowledge that we are people living in darkness. In fact, if we manage a little honest reflection in between mad dashes to the mall for yet one more present, we admit we are in deep darkness.

That deep darkness confines generosity and good will to a few weeks before December 25.

It excuses our consumption and materialism while neighbors still starve and others have nothing.

It tolerates our intolerance of people not like us and blunts any compassion under the excuse of “being practical or realistic.”

Deep darkness keeps us living as if we are accountable to no one except ourselves, and then justifies our making an exception to all of our sinful choices.
But in all of this, we are not without hope. 

“The people living in deep darkness have seen a great light … for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given … and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9.2-6)

The light is in the world.
The light is on.
The time has come for us to open our eyes and see the light.

(C) 2010 by Stephen L Dunn

THE ROAD TO JOY

If you enjoy THRIVING IN CHRIST, you just nay appreciate another of my blogs, THE ROAD TO JOY.  This video was posted on it today. - Steve

THANKSGIVING

It is the end of a family Thanksgiving celebration. We have been gathered at the home of my daughter Katie and her husband in Toledo. For the first time in several years my entire family has been at the same place for this holiday. Two more of my children, Christi and Chris arrived last night with their families. When they finally arrived after several hours of traveling through the rain and sleet of the Midwest, we gathered at a local Mexican restaurant for a pre-Thanksgiving feast. This morning my two sons-in-law and I found the only restaurant that appeared to be open in this part of Toledo, a Steak and Shake, and began the day's eating with a good All American breakfast.


Throughout the day between us we made trips to Krogers and Walmart, various persons began cooking portions of the meal, and we watched a whole lot of football. I caught my son Chris and his new wife Megan dancing a couple of times (the cheek-to-cheek variety). My grandson Jake entertained us with his 2-year old brilliance. Katie's dogs, Bella and Maisie, sniffed and barked and begged. Later in the afternoon my son Michael and his family arrived from another Thanksgiving celebration. Then we ate ... deep-fried turkey and all the fixings. Pumpkin pie...sugar free for me. As the third football captured the tube, the ladies retired to the basement to play a mad game of Scrabble.

There were amzingly few arguments or tense moments.

There was the treasured moment of being the family patriarch offering the family Thanksgiving prayer.

It's 10:39. The Jets have only managed a 10-7 lead over the Bengals. Michael and his family have headed back to Michigan (he's the only one who has to work tomorrow). I am blogging from the kitchen. The sons-in-law are watching the game. Chris and the ladies have returned to the basement to avoid Tim's agony at the futility of his beloved Bengals.

In the midst of all this I pause to say this prayer:


Lord, blessed is the family whose heart belongs to the Lord.
Who has learned to love and enjoy one another.
Who treasures one another's company.
Who understands that their blessings are gifts from You.
This is as you intended it, and I am truly blessed to be the Father of such a clan.
May we ever remain faithful and thankful to You.
In the name of the Giver of Every Good and Perfect Gift, I pray.
Amen.

THE ONLY THING THAT MATTERS

I have long been a fan of Bill Watterson and his comic strip Calvin and Hobbes. His is not as overtly theological as was Charles Schulz in Peanuts, but every once in a while (I suspect inadvertently) Calvin makes a profound statement that triggers a scriptural truth. Here are two that I find in this particular strip.

The first is from James 4:17: "If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them." New International Version

Then Galatians 5:6." The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love." New Living Translation.

An authentic disciple understands that omission can be every bit as significant as commission when it comes to sin. Too many of us have changed the focus from loving our neighbor as ourselves to love myself and then give my neighbor the leftovers. Or be careful of loving my neighbor too much lest I not have enough for me. Or this one - love myself spontaneously but be sure and schedule how much I will do for my neighbor in need.

Maybe we need to walk through life with eyes wide open to opportunities to be a blessing to others, praying that our love will find greater expression than merely intellectual assent or carefully orchestrated projects.

AND NOW A RANDOM ACT OF CULTURE

Haven't had a good inspiration for this devotional this week, so let me share a random act of culture from the Opera Company of Philadelphia.

DO YOU HAVE A CONSCIENCE?

“Do You Have a Conscience?”

Reading: 1 John 1:9

It must have been a blistering sermon. In fact, to this day I don’t remember the topic or the text. I do remember Jody coming by me in the receiving line and saying, “Do they teach you guys in seminary how to make people feel guilty?”

“Yup,” I quipped. “Guilt 101!”

As she headed past she responded over her shoulder, “You must have gotten an A.”

To this day I don’t know whether that was a complaint or a compliment. Whatever it meant, it told me, “The woman has a conscience.”

People do not like being made to feel guilty. Heck, I understand that. I don’t like feeling guilty. It is one of life’s more unpleasant experiences. But it also may be one of life’s more important experiences.

Rebecca Manley Pippert says “Human beings have an infinite capacity to rationalize or to deny.” It is perhaps because we believe the lie that human beings are basically good. More likely it is because we know we’re not. We just don’t want anyone else to know it.

Yet living daily in the presence of sin, we come subtly under its influence. Undealt with over the long haul, it begins to change us. Like a virus that makes a subtle connection with your computer, it alters things and changes it so that it does not function properly. It corrupts the original design. It may even introduce new and even more unwelcome elements into our lives.

Our conscience is a gift from God. It is that spark of God’s image that the Holy Spirit breathes on to ignite a fire of holiness within us. It is God’s tool to help us remember that originally we were created in His image and intended to reflect His goodness and unconditional love.

I love this quote from one of this nation’s Founders and Framers.

"Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire called conscience."
--George Washington

That’s where guilt comes in. It pricks our conscience when we step across the line. Sometimes it hits us between the eyes to remind us that there is a line. Christians believe that acknowledgement of our guilt is the first step towards transformation into new people, better people, God’s people.

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins,
and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” – I John 1.9

A pastor once asked his flock, “What must we do to receive the forgiveness of sin?” After a bit of silence a little boy responded, “First, you gotta sin.”

Frankly, we have no problem meeting that requirement. Our conscience remembers that by allowing us to feel guilty. People of no or little conscience steal pension funds, abuse children, pollute the environment wantonly, manipulate elections, ignore the poor and needy.

Thank God we have a conscience and thank God it reminds us to feel guilty. For more often than we’d like to think – we are guilty.

(c) 2010 by Stephen L Dunn

DOUBT AND FAITH

 ¹ To you I call, O LORD my Rock;
       do not turn a deaf ear to me.
       For if you remain silent,
       I will be like those who have gone down to the pit.  ² Hear my cry for mercy
       as I call to you for help,
       as I lift up my hands
       toward your Most Holy Place.- Psalm 28:1-2

 Have you ever had a moment of doubt? I'm not speaking of sudden and utter disbelief about something you had previously affirmed. I'm speaking of that wave of uncertainty or that gnawing thought that robs you of your peace and makes you want to pause and get your bearings.

Some Christians believe that any expression of doubt, any entertained question about their foundations for believing will cut them off from God.  I always thought that was a little extreme.  Yes, they can pull out a text or two that standing all by itself on the platform of examination affirms their need for blind faith. But against the whole backdrop of scripture and what scripture affirms about the nature and intentions of God, such a position crumbles.

I appreciate this quote from John Ortberg:

“Theologian Lesslie Newbigin writes that we live in an age that favors doubt over faith. We often speak of “blind faith” and “honest doubt.” Both faith and doubt can be honest or blind, but we rarely speak of “honest faith” or “blind doubt.” Both faith and doubt are needed, yet it is faith that is more fundamental…I must believe something before I can doubt anything. Doubt is to belief what darkness is to light, what sickness is to health. It is an absence. Sickness may be the absence of health, but health is more than the absence of sickness. So it is with doubt and faith. Doubt is a good servant but a poor master.”
–John Ortberg, Faith and Doubt

Doubt enters into the mind of every person - both seeker and true believer.  Doubt may disturb those around us who want to remain undisturbed; but moments of doubt--honest doubt--often drive us back to the foundations of what we believe.  It reminds us that we do not and will not have answers to every question of our mind but we cannot stop living while we sort it all out.

A good friend of mine, Doug Nolt, used to have a sign on his door during his days as a campus minister:

I do not know all the answers

but I know the One who does.

For ultimately our faith is not rooted and grounded in our intellectual abilities or our prowess at securing unassailable answers.  Our faith is rooted and grounded in a person.

And that person is Jesus Christ.

PS - I love this quote from Eleanor Roosevelt "Never doubt in the dark what you have seen in the light."

(C) 2010 by Stephen L Dunn

'WHAT IF?"

"And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions." - Joel 12:28

Wednesday night at our BURN Student Ministry worship gathering, Jeremy (our Youth Director) began a series called "What If?"  He challenged the kids to expand their vision of who God is, what God is doing, and "what if" the kids decided to truly let God work in and through them. The results were very amazing in terms of the kids' response to this challenge. One girl wrote:

"I came home so pumped up about what God's gonna do through the burn ministry that while telling my mom every little detail of the night I had to pace around my kitchen to keep my thoughts strait (sic)"

More awesomely, a young man texted Jeremy with these words:

“I was praying for my cousin. He is one of the people I wrote on my on paper that I want to see come to GOD. He is going through a tough time right now and it felt so good to pray for him cause I felt like God was right there in front of me. It felt like I was talking to my best friend face to face and then I felt the pain of my cousin and what he is going through. It was unlike anything else and it was incredibly awesome.

Jeremy's response:
ALL OF BURN— YOU HAVE YOUR MISSION, WILL YOU EXCEPT THE CHALLENGE….? WHAT IF…?

---

When was the last time we sensed that challenge in our lives as adults? When was the last time we actually prayed that God would lift us from the familiar and the comfortable, to step out on faith and really see who God is and what He is able to do?

GOD'S HEART FOR THE BROKEN-HEARTED

“A broken and a contrite heart you will not despise.” – Palm 51.17

Back in the office this morning after an all-too-quick “end of the summer” vacation. Spent a nice time with Christi, Tim and Jake in Florence KY. I was in Fort Wayne IN Friday after through Sunday morning at one of my previous churches, Anthony Wayne Church of God, to unite my cousin Kelly and her fiancée Michael Gomes in marriage. They are a unique couple—Michael is a truck driver and part of a motorcycle club of men who were once on drugs and now many of them live boldly as Christians. Kelly was my Music Director at AWC and teaches elementary music. She has an incredible voice and has sung with Kenny Rogers. Here’s a photo of the happy couple, both members of First Assembly of God in Ft Wayne and who have a heart for people others often write off.

Visiting with their wedding guests – soldiers and their wives, a Starbucks barrista, highly educated teachers, bikers who had been married for more than 40 years, Vietnamese refugees, and the chef of a five star restaurant, former drugs addicts who could sing Amazing Grace with great gusto and pray The Lord’s Prayer with great heart – I was reminded of the call of Christ to be people who build redemptive relationships with all kinds of people so that you might influence those friends to find Jesus Christ. Both Kelly and Michael have stories to tell—stories of brokenness and stories of God’s healing grace. Who are we building relationships with? Are we willing to tell our stories of brokenness and grace? Who are we influencing to turn their lives over to Jesus?

HAVE A LITTLE FUN WITH MARK LOWERY MEETING AN ATHEIST

I've been on vacation and my creative juices have been a little thin. Enjoy Mark Lowery until I am back on track. - Steve

CLASSIC CARS

Reading: Jude 3

"Earnestly contend for the faith that was once delivered unto the saints." - Jude 3

I love classic cars.  There is something fascinating about these road warriors.  There was a time they owned the road--providing transportation to grandmas, gangsters, doctors making house calls, families taking a Sunday drive, salesmen trying to ply their wares.  They have a uniqueness and an elegance that stands out in the box-like family vehicles, the monster trucks and sporty SUVs, and the lookalike family cars occupying the road today.  Some of them were short-lived in popularity.  They bore names that today have little meaning - but they are really neat.

Unfortunately today, you have to be very careful with these cars.  Their "age" and uniqueness put them at great risk on the high-speed highways of today. You even have to ration the amount of road miles because their parts are no longer being produced.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is very ancient.  It has a beauty in its original form that makes it even more precious today with the trendy and sometimes indistinguishable religious imitators.

Fortunately, the gospel wears well on today's highways in today's world. It is not fragile, needing protection.  It is robust, needing faithfulness.  The gospel is not intended to be kept in a warehouse as a remnant of other times.  It is intended to engage the world where the rubber meets the road.

A classic car may have been built well, but only a few people have the means and opportunity to drive it.  The gospel today is for everyone--it is durable for eternity.

(C) 2009 by Stephen L Dunn, reprinted 2010

WHEN LIFE GETS MESSY

For years we had this poster hanging in our kitchen.  My wife Dianne had retrieved it from her younger brother Sam.  On a whim we hung it next to our kitchen table.  It stayed there a long time.

I really identify with the little guy in the photo. (In fact, if you compare this photo to one of my baby pictures, the resemblance almost appears genetically ordained.) Someone once said, "Life is tough and then you die."  At times this life would be an argument for staying out of hell come eternity. This life is difficult enough.

Life gets messy.  That's a given living in a fallen world. G.K. Chesterton once spoke of God's "terrible gift of freedom."  Because God has chosen to give humankind the freedom to choose to live in a right relationship with Him and experience the blessing, or choose to be our own god and experience the consequences; that collision of sinful choices has collateral damage on believers and  unbelievers alike.  God has delivered us from the penalty of sin and enabled us with the power to overcome sin, but we still live in the presence of sin until Christ returns to establish the Kingdom in its fullness.

Life gets messy -- and will get messier until this fallen world is redeemed.

In the time until that occurs, it does me little good to constantly lament the suffering and the frustration of living for God in a world that still wants to keep Him out of sight, out of mind, and out of work.  That just makes me a whining prophet.  What I need to do is to face the presence of sin with the promise of God.

That promise is best summarized by the apostle Paul, writing to the Church of God at Rome, which knew what it was to live in the messy, destructive presence of sin.

"If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?  Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.  Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died--more than that, who was raised to life--is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?  As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,  neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." - Romans 8:31-39 New International Version.

(c) 2010 by Stephen L Dunn 

 

This post also appeared yesterday in my new blog for Christians taking the faith seriously in a fallen world called IMMEASURABLY MORE

CROSS COUNTRY RUNNER

For two years in high school I participated in one of the most demented sports ever invented – cross country running.  I was a part of a varsity team from the now defunct Mendon-Union High School. Our sport required us to run two miles in a competition with other schools. Although there were more than 20 runners on our team, only the top five to seven finishers actually provided scores for the event. The first runner across the finish line scored one point, the second one two, and so on. The winning team had the lowest combined score.

A cross country match is not run on a track in a stadium surrounded by cheering fans. It is run over a course laid out on golf courses, quiet back roads, or simply across fields – wherever two miles could be mapped out and monitored.  The finish line was where the crowd gathered, usually milling about in relative comfort while the runners labored with aching arms, churning guts, and pounding hearts to turn in the fast time. In those days something in the nine minute range usually won. I ran closer to twelve.  A cross country race was not a sprint but a mini-marathon with a mad sprint at the very end to enter the mouth of the chute that formed a finish line.
In the case of most of our time, we did not run for the love of the sport but because it was required of any of us who desired to pursue the favored sport at our high school – basketball.  Our basketball coach operated an offense filled with fast breaks, full court pressure, and all sorts of stamina demanding tactics kept up constantly for the full 32 minutes of a game. Its goal was to wear down bigger teams and taller opponents. That required a conditioning best produced by the discipline of cross country. Hence, if you wanted to be on the basketball team you were automatically on the cross country team as well.  As I said, few of us ran for the love of running.

Except for Blaine. Blaine Edwards was quiet farm boy with a wry smile and gentle demeanor that could leave him unnoticed in the world of boisterous jocks and so-called athletes.  As a basketball player, he was not one of the stars but on the cross country course he was a superstar. Blaine was one of the fastest runners in our league, and in the state.
Blaine was not surrounded by great runners, but some of us weren’t half bad.  In almost every meet, Blaine would finish first; but our next contender was probably a seven or eighth place; the bulk of the team in double digit positions.  In dual or three-way meets, if our first digit was a one we often won, especially because of Blaine’s solitary one.

Blaine knew that, too.  Despite his star status, cross country was a team sport.  So when Blaine crossed the finish line, he would quickly catch his breath and return to the top of the chute. As one of us would run down it, he would run alongside us outside the rope encouraging and cheering us all the way. Then he would return and wait for the next runner and repeat the process until all five scorers had crossed the line.  One of the few times I was that final runner, it was only Blaine’s encouragement that reinforced my waning energy and will that got me across the line to be a part of winning the prize.

One of the core values of the Christian faith is encouragement. It is the belief that we are in this life together. When one suffers all suffer. When one wins, we all win. Although we will not all win the prize for which God has called us heavenward in Christ Jesus, we believe that we should contribute to as many achieving that prize as possible.

“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” – I Thessalonians 5:11

(c) 2010 by Stephen L Dunn

WALMART PARKING LOT

Came close the other day to going home to be with Jesus - as in heavenly home - for eternity. I don't know if it was the appointed time in God's will but the opportunity was definitely there for me to be yanked home to meet my Maker. That intersection of grace and free will (someone else's) was coming together to make this a real possibility. If it had happened, the launch point would have been the Walmart parking lot on Fruitville Pike in Lancaster PA.

I had just finished making my purchases and had returned to my Saturn. I was backing up slowly and cautiously because, of course, I was surrounded on either side by two monster trucks designed to obscure any view for at least a mile.  As I attempted to back, I had not yet reached the stage of cautiously inching my rear end into traffic when a vehicle raced by at a speed that would have earned a ticket on the interstate.  Then I took almost another full minute to back up stopping with great frequency, i.e., I lost count, as more vehicles backed out into the space I was trying to occupy.

When I finally made it "out", my vehicle was accosted by the rear ends of at least three other vehicles who seemed to have simply kicked it into reverse and pushed the gas pedal before even beginning to think that there might be someone else out there.  Once this exercise in "dodgem" was over, I still had to navigate a parking lot where people were making wide turns or occupying the center of the lane because they were talking on their doggone cell phones. (Actually, I had another expletive/adjective in mind but this is a religious blog site. Forgive me, Lord, for allowing that to even be in my vocabulary's secret vault.)

After about six minutes of near-death experiences (it seemed like sixty), I made it into the safety of actual traffic where God spared my life so I could be home to be with my lovely wife instead of my Maker.

Did you ever notice how dangerous life can be? Even for those people who try to insulate their lives by taking no risks, eating bland foods, staying out of traffic, avoiding their neighbors, keeping their heads down and mouths shut, life comes at you fast and you really have a lot less control than you'd like.  And at times it can scare the socks off of us.

That's why wise people like David teach us that we need to put our lives into the hands of the Lord.  "Even though I must walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me."  To do business as a human being requires us to venture into the Walmart parking lots and human intersections where another person's freedom can rob us of our peace and attack our joy. Where damage can be done that then we will have to deal with.

But we can live with confidence because "nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:35)  It's that confidence that removes my fear and allows me to live with confidence even in the Walmart parking lots of the planet.  I may suffer a fender-bender, or I may actually meet with a fatal "accident", but I cannot be separated from God.

FRESH FAITH

Reading: Acts 4:20

The day of Pentecost has come and gone. Now Peter and John, transformed and emboldened by the Holy Spirit, have captured the attention of both Jerusalem and the Jewish leaders by healing a man who has been paralyzed since birth, They are brought before the same Sanhedrin that had a few months earlier condemned Jesus to death. They, however, are being let off with slap on the wrist and a stiff warning, "Stop talking about Jesus!" and also by implication, to cease using His authority to empower their activities.

Peter and John listen politely, then boldly refuse the conditions of their release. "But one thing we can tell you: we cannot possibly restrain ourselves fron speaking about what we have seen and heard with our own eyes and ears," - Acts 4:20 the Voice:Reader's New Testament


They know they have a mission, a purpose, But more than that they have an experience and a relationship. It is an experience and a relationship that has transformed their lives and transformed them as persons. The result, as they say, is history.

By contrast so many of us as Christ-followers seem to require programs, incentives and constant motivation simply to talk about Jesus. Why is that?

Perhaps because we have allowed ourselves to separate our identity from the Person in whose image we have been created, We would rather people see Steve or insert your name here than have them see Jesus when they see us. Perhaps it is because we are content with old memories of what God has done in our lives or we have sought nothing new from Him recently. As a result those old memories lose their power when these experiences are a part of a distant spiritual past instead of a powerful spiritual present. When your small group or church shares their God stories, do they have to reach way back in the past or are they talking about God was doing just yesterday or is doing today?

Maybe our prayer today should be, "Lord, give me a fresh encounter with you today. Keep my eyes and ears open to what You are doing today, And letme choose to be a part of it." I suspect the more we shared this prayer each day, we would have no trouble with that passion to share Jesus.

(C) 2010 by Stephen L Dunn

THIS OLD HOUSE

"And we know that if this earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal heaven in the heaven, not built by human hands." - 2 Corinthians 5:1

This is the most recent picture of me available that I am aware of. Except that it preceded a much-needed haircut by about 36 hours, it is what it is. I mean, it's me.

Lately I have found myself thinking about those words from Paul. Still shy of my 60th birthday by more than half a year, but feeling very much like damaged goods body-wise.

Several weeks ago I stumbled over a suitcase in the room Dianne uses as an office. Pretty much scarred myself for life with the ugly gash that was left on my left forearm. A couple of weeks ago I ventured into the garage wearing shorts. I was trying to straighten the place; but it wasn't too long before I banged into something and opened a cut that is just now healing on my left leg. The very next day I banged the other leg on the exercise equipment in my office (which is still low to the ground because I haven't set it up). You guessed it, I gashed the other leg.

I awakened at 2 AM last Sunday morning with a lower backache that turned out to be a small kidney stone which I passed 16 hours later after great pain. And as I write this devotional on the next Saturday afternoon, there has appeared a similar pain in the same location. It could be a long and painful night. Could be the makings of a real hellfire and brimstone message tomorrow morning if the pain keeps up.

We all start to wear out physically. What worked when we were younger no longer works as well. The only place where time stands still is in a graveyard. We get older and our friends get older, and boy, do they look older.

But this old house, even though it will not last, is not our final address. As this old house begins to show signs of wear it is a sign that the time is drawing near to claim the lease on a far better place. The best is yet to come.

FINDING A ROUTINE

Two months ago the church's leadership and I agreed to a new position description - changing my title and purpose from being Senior Pastor to Lead Pastor. If you understand the philosophy of pastoral leadership, this is a very significant change; but now is not the time to unwrap that.

All of us develop routines for managing our lives and achieving our expectations. Routines are a tool of life management that
allow us work effectively, otherwise expectations are only dreams not reality. Routines allow us to organize so that we operate daily by the priorities of purpose instead of the tyranny of the urgent. Routines can be very helpful unless they become ruts that stifle creativity and defer initiative.

Part of my personal challenge is that routines are often tied to specific responsibilities. And in my case, responsibilities that cannot be dropped, they must delegated. So part of the challenge for me lately has been to find a way to step away from some responsibilities, so that I can develop a new routine that matches my new responsibilities. It is a little weird right now, sometimes a bit frustrating as I am eager to fully embrace my new responsibilities. However, if I persevere patiently and move in that direction intentionally it will become a reality and I will be able to develop and work by new routines.

Persevering patiently and moving intentionally is a good way of describing the process of becoming the person God has created you, redeemed you, and called you to be. The apostle Peter wrote these words to the early Christian church: (2 Peter 1:5-9)

"For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."

I pray that you will be able to find the routine (the pattern) and live in its discipline, so that you may be faithful and fruitful for God.

HIATUS

haitus a break or interruption in the continuity of a work ...

I posted a devotional on this blog yesterday. It was the first one in 22 days. Normally I am a tireless, prolific writer. My friend Dan Masshardt likes to tease me about the number of blogs I write and/or contribute to. Add that to sermons and training materials, and I can point to rivers or mountains of material, depending on your perspective. I do a whole lot of creative writing - almost constantly. Some writing can be done on demand and needs to be done on a rigorous schedule whether I feel like writing or not (sermns fall into that category). Some writing comes because I have an agenda or a mission - like the blogs I do on outreach or my general conversations with the world to builld a diaogue of faith, Some, like this devotional Thriving in Christ require inspiration (and time) or they simply do not happen.

Lately the pace of my schedule and creative writing that comes on demand have pretty much occupied my attention and drained a lot of my creative energy. In that scenario, inspiration is difficult to come by. No inspiration, no writing. I don't want to lower your expectations of the value of this devotional.

So a haitus is in order. At this point I won't return to this until mid-July. Thanks for understanding.

I CAN BE ALL THINGS TO ALL MEN THAT I MIGHT WIN SOME

"I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some, I do this for the sake of the gospel ..." 1 Corinthians 9:22-23a

This is one of the more memorable photos of me. It was taken a year or so ago at one of the wild and crazy parties our church was throwing for the community. As wild and crazy as a bunch of church people can get without totally destroying our image as a spiritual community. I first saw this photo when one of the teenagers of the church posted it to my FaceBook page. (Trust me, it elicited all kinds of comments from friends all around the country.)

As a pastor I have done a lot of things and taken on a lot of roles that normally I would not have gone near. I have slept on a city street to benefit a city homeless shelter and to draw attention to the plight of these people. Normally I have enough trouble simply sleeping a hard mattress in an air-conditioned motel room. I have endured a dunk tank on behalf of youth ministry. (You need to know I am a poor swimmer and the sudden drop from the trap seat greatly aggravated a tender back). As a pastor I have come to famly dinners for parishioners I barely know just because they wanted their family to have a religious presence to keep the peace. I have cooked dinner for crowds of people even though I hate to cook. I have politely read from the King James in country churches even though it has not been my translation of choice for at least five decades. The list goes on.

Yet I do it gladly (in most cases) for one simple reason. It is a way to say that people matter to God and I want to introduc them a Christ who loves them in spite of their sin, The witness of the Gospel is the most essential thing I do, and I dare not place boundaries or barriers out of personal preference, pride, or convenience.

CLICK IT OR TICKET

Reading: Proverbs 16.24

A whole lot of people chafe at the idea of seat belts. Perhaps it’s our belief in our own immortality, or the curmudgeon that seems to reside within so many of us. “Don’t tell me I need a seat belt!“ can actually be translated, “Don’t tell me how to run my life!”

Long before there was “click it or ticket” there were people promoting the faithful use of seat

belts. Early in our marriage my wife Dianne went on a campaign to get her husband to use a seat belt. “You have a college degree and now have a 4.0 in seminary. Surely you are smart enough to know seat belts are good for you.” Well, I knew broccoli was good for me, but for the longest time I didn’t want to see it on my dinner plate. I used to tease that Dianne believed in those Highway Patrol movies, You know the gory ones they used to show in driver’s ed, so bloody and so realistic that CSI would never dare to broadcast them on network television.

One day I she asked me to take our four year old Christopher to Nursery School. I was running late, so I scooped him up, deposited him in the passenger’s seat of our Pinto, reaching over to snap his seat belt into place. Then without thinking, I snapped on mine as well. Christopher’s mouth dropped open and then he said, “You put on your seat belt! Now you are safe from harm like Mommy, Christi, Michael and me!” Ouch!!!

It was about then that I began to surrender to the notion of seat belts, but I confess even 30+ years later, I tend to click it at the end of my driveway instead of when I get into the car. I guess I do think I am immortal, or am just an old curmudgeon after all.

"Pride goes before a crash." - Proverbs 16:24 loosely paraphrased

RESTING AND RELAXING

Reading: Genesis 2:2

"Weekends don't count unless you spend them doing something pointless." - Calvin and Hobbes

Although as a pastor, I work weekends, I have to agree with the eminent philosopher Calvin on at least one level. People need to learn to relax. They need to allow themselves to enjoy what Ken Prunty used to describe as freescence--permitting yourself to do what the rest of the world might consider unnecessary or frivolous. Our wholeness as persons is enhanced when our lives are more than obligation. Tim Hansel has another way of saying it, "People are human beings, not human doings."

I am always reminded that in the Genesis account of creation, God did not work for seven days. He did all that was necessary in six days and on the seventh day He rested. It is in the design of our Creator for us to take time out to rest, refresh, and renew. Relentless activity, particularly relentless work goes against what it means to be created in the image of God.

People seem obsessed with activity and take far too much self-worth from busyness. I know in a world shaped by the Protestant work ethic, and the secular performance culture - that no one wants to be a slacker. Yet as my friend Ed Rosenberry once said in an ordination sermon, "Whether you rust out or burn out ... out is out."

One of the reasons that Christians practice Sabbath is to honor the wisdom of our Designer. Although many of us make a point of worshiping God as a community on that day, we do so by choice. Marva Dawn calls worship "a royal waste of time." Waste equals pointless to a person who does not have a relationship with God, yet we recognize that what others consider pointless actually frees us because we are being who we are- "People who rest in God's grace." We do not live by the creed of the world that says that weekends are for working at your play or getting in more hours of work so we can have more things. "Come unto me all who are burden and weighed down," says Jesus, "and I will give you rest."

I once was knocked down by burnout. A friend sent me to his lake cottage to recover. It took me several days to get past the guilt of not working and being "productive." But laying in a hammock with no schedule, no obligations, and no particular place to go, I found myself experiencing the beauty sketched in the clouds of the blue sky above. I felt the refreshment of breathing easily. I started experiencing the peacefulness that ultimately would restore me to a life of fulfilling freedom instead of destructive obligations. I slowed down and let God remind who I was instead of trying to simply maintain who I had become.

But that road to wholeness began with the freedom to be pointless.

RESTLESS LEGS

Reading: Psalm 31:1-7

I suffer from an excruciating condition known as restless legs syndrome. My sister, who also suffers from it calls it crazy legs. I have some other names for it, but as a pastor I should not even think such thoughts let alone speak them.

Doctors still don't know a lot about the condition, just the chemicals that manage the symptoms. When restless legs hit it's like a thousand electric snakes wiggling around underneath my skin. There is pain, but pain that grows from discomfort - extreme comfort - comfort to the ninth power. At its greatest intensity, you simply cannot sit still - in fact, you cannot sit. Every iota of your attention is drawn towards the offending appendage and there are times you seriously think about amputation. So intense is my condition, that I find it difficult to carry on an conversation because the discomfort takes my breath away. A man of many words, I can easily be reduced to speechlessness.

There is a medication called Mirapex that helps manage the symptoms. I thank God for it daily. It has a half life of 12 hours, which medically means that it does its work for 12 hours and then you need another dose. Actually, it starts wearing off somewhere between 9 and 12 hours. If you simply take it every 12 hours, the condition asserts itself and you are once again in agony. It seems to wear off quickly. Within 15 minutes of feeling any initial discomfort, the situation returns and for the next 45 or so minutes I suffer some of its work effects until the new dose works its way into my system. I really have to guess a bit and take it somewhere before the 12 hours are up unless I am too busy and forget. Some of my anguish can be avoided if I watch the time and take the medicine on time,

There is an anguish that makes restless legs seem merely a nuisance. There is a pain that is so acute that you are easily overwhelmed and desperate. It is the pain of sin in our lives and in our world, and what sin comes close to home, invading our lives; it is easy to be overwhelmed and then desperate.

David knew what it was to be overcome with that pain. He knew what it was to desperate for God's care. He prayed for the Lord's quick rescue. He knew what it was to be afflicted by sin and in anguish in the soul. He also knew that such anguish should drive him closer to God.

We need to feel the pain of the world or we lose our sense of urgency about dealing with sin. But when that pain is beginning to consume our lives, we need to stop and call upon the Lord. We need to let go of our part in that sin and cling to the righteousness of our RESCUER.

A PASTOR AND HIS SOUND MAN

Reading: Acts 13:44

Sunday morning comes. As my friend George Agadis, the pastor is "on the big stage." He has labored long in the vineyard of his study prayerfully wrestling with a text, creating an outline, putting words to paper (and in my case, images to powerpoint), sweating, praying, sometimes rewriting on Saturday night. He has the responsibility to deliver the Word of God to the People of God (and anyone else who finds their way into the sanctuary at the appointed hour.)

The pastor gets up to speak. Every eye turns towards him, every ear is attuned to hear him (we hope that's the case). It's time to speak.

Except that you can barely hear his voice.
Or his voice booms out like a stadium full of roaring Penn State fans.
Or there is a powerful feedback that causes people to cover their ears in pain.

I have often said "the devil is in the electronics" and all of the above can reinforce that feeling.

In those moments, every pastor has a best friend (or a worst enemy). It is his sound tech.

The sound tech is often a quiet person sitting unnoticed in his corner, cubby hole, or cage. If you are fortunate, he knows electronics and loves Jesus. He may not speak to anyone except the pastor on Sunday. He rarely takes a microphone to share his faith or prayer concern. He is too busy making sure the darn thing works. He keeps his eyes fixed on the preacher and his ears alert to any disturbance of the Force. It's probably hard to keep his attention on Jesus. He's too busy, at times, making sure others don't lose their connection.

Yet the sound man is an essential part of worship and proclamation in the modern church. I am blessed with two excellent sound men - Vince and Tim. They have two backups-Mike and Keith and together they make sure that the Message God has given me is proclaimed and heard by those who need a Word from the Lord.

I thank God for these servants of the kingdom. I could do it without them -- but most of you would only see me do it, not hear me do it.

(C) 2010 by Stephen Dunn

NATALIE

Reading: Ecclesiastes 12:1-2

My oldest granddaughter (pictured here Easter morning with her sister Ashley) just had a birthday--her 14th.
Natalie lives more than 600 miles from me and if I am fortunate I see her (and her family) once a year. A budding author, she has generally had a good email relationship with her grandmother, a school teacher who loves encouraging creative gifts. Over recent years, I have spent little time with her, let alone talking with her. I tend to know more about Natalie from Grandma Dunn or the occasional notes from her mother. Early on I knew she loved horses, no, adored horses. Her Dad had turned her into a golfing partner and a ruthless player of the game Risk. When I saw her, it was often with her faced buried in a book or watching her wrestling with her dog, Popper.

But all that changed when Natalie went on Facebook. It was there I learned of her ambition to be a park ranger. (Grandma knew that already). She is a fan of House and plays in the school band. She is a budding entrepreneur and already packs a level of self-confidence that allows her to deal with adults on behalf of adults. She won essay awards from Rotary and has been a snow queen (or princess) for her community.

One day, the "chat with friends" feature on my Facebook page signaled me. It was Natalie. It was a simple "how are you conversation". But in the weeks and now months that followed we have regularly chatted about our lives, the weather, what each of us is doing. Although her Dad occasionally limits her computer time, Natalie and I have begun to have regular conversation. I may still only see her once a year, and speak to her by phone on birthdays and holidays; but I look forward to discovering with Natalie who she is and who I am.

Most of all I want to learn what she thinks about God, her values and faith. I hope to see the wisdom and passion God has already placed in her. And I hope now I can share with her parents in mentoring her about the life God has given her.

Natalie is a precious daughter of God and I am delighted that perhaps we now have a way across the miles to actually have a relationship. Pray I'll be a better grandfather because of this opportunity.

BACKSLIDERS

Note: This devotional is cross-posted on my LIFE MATTERS blog.

Recently I had the wonderful privilege of baptizing eleven teenagers who had given their lives to Jesus Christ. These kids chose the very public venue of a pool party where their friends (some of whom tend to avoid churches) could be present to witness what they were doing and hear the faith stories. I was very proud of these kids. Admitting to caring about spiritual things at all sets them apart from many of their peers. Going public with their faith in Christ really put it on the line for people to now observe, analyze, and make a judgment upon. I pray that this step will be more than youthful enthusiasm, that it has grown from a profound desire to be the persons Christ created them to be. Time will tell, but I have a lot of hope for these kids. I believe they are the real deal.

Unfortunately there are a lot of "Christians" out there who are not the real deal. They may have one time been enthusiastic about Jesus Christ, but they have let that passion grow cold. They no longer seek to stand out as salt and light. They much prefer "fitting in" and then choosing times to admit to their faith when it is advantageous. For years churches and theologians have debated the concept of "backsliding" and whether or not someone can lose their salvation. I come from the stream of Christianity that says you can lose your salvation. Such backsliding is serious business.

But allowing your faith to go from the center of your life to its periphery is also a form of backsliding. It is not backsliding that robs you of your salvation. It robs you of your witness. When people who are generally seeking God encounter you, they are probably going to keep looking because they quickly learn you are not the real deal.

A newfound faith is a precious gift from God, a gift of His grace. But if we really understand the value of the gift, we will always hold it precious. It will always center us and ground us and empower us. When we truly treasure and cultivate the faith God has given us, backsliding will not be an option.

CABBIE OR ANGEL?

Reading:

Sunday morning we had a visitor to our 10.45 service. A young lady came in just before the service and sat down quietly in the back of the A section. Young, Hispanic, well-dressed. At first I thought it was one of the older kids from Burn or the Agape Center or a mother from the Good News Club, except she was alone. Worship began and she appeared to be participating. When it came to the point in the service where we share God Stories, she raised her hand. Irv handed her the microphone. "This is my first time here." She proceeded to share about a problem she was having with her boyfriend. As the problem had escalated she had decided to cal a cab,to get a little space to cool off and reflect.

The cabbie, after a time, said, "Sometimes the best thing to do is wait." Apparently she began talking to the cab driver. The conversation turned to getting connected with a church. "Do you know a good church," she asked. The cab driver directed her to the Church of God of Landisville. She came. She worshiped with us. She experienced the heart of the community. She told me she'd be back.

We have no cab drivers among our membership, nor do we know of any cab driver connected to our church's ministries.

God works in mysterious ways. But when we see where God is working, we always want to go and work with Him.

(c) 2010 by Stephen L. Dunn

GO AWAY JESUS!

"The entire town came out to meet Jesus, but they begged him to go away and leave them alone." - Matthew 8:34, New Living Translation

This text is from the story of Jesus casting out demons and sending them into a herd of pigs, who promptly jump off a cliff. You can read the whole story in Matthew 8.

Why would anyone send Jesus away?

If you are into "little Jesus meek and mild" or Jesus as a love-gushing guru--you wouldn't chase him off. If you are a maturing believer who has embraced his character and his mission for yourself, you would not send Jesus packing.

But sometimes an encounter with him can be a bit frightening. The work of God is sometimes threatening and unnerving. We have this convenient lie that we are always in charge and in control. Then Jesus comes along and does something that proves quite the opposite to be true. Then we would like Jesus to go away so we don't have to deal with the power and potential of his presence.

Because make no mistake. Jesus will not be tamed nor controlled.

(C) 2010 by Stephen L Dunn

GRANDERSON

Reading: Isaiah 40:8

Ruminations of a diehard Detroit Tiger fan ….

Once again he is patrolling the broad expanses of center field. Long legs, graceful moves, and sure hands. His very first time at bat this season, he hit a long, powerful home run.
Curtis Granderson is on the job as the one of the premier defensive outfielders in baseball today whose ability to hit the long ball makes him a game-changer in every game in which he plays. He was one of the heroes of the Detroit Tigers when they won the 2006 American League pennant.

But what’s this? The uniform. There’s something wrong. Pin stripes. The Tigers wear crisp white uniforms. No! Those are Yankee pinstripes! He’s gone over to the side of the antichrist. Curtis Granderson is playing for the New York Yankees! The next thing you’ll be telling me is that Placido Polanco has backslidden to the Phillies. He has|? Oh,no!

It’s the beginning of the 2010 baseball season—and more than one baseball fan suddenly finds that the players from his home team, for whom he has rooted many years, are now playing for someone else. Sometimes your bitterest rival.

But that’s the nature of baseball these days. Baseball is a business. Players go where they receive the best compensation. Team owners shed fan favorites, heroes of years gone by to control their payroll costs. There are two bottom lines – one is financial, the other the World Series, Unless you are consistently achieving the latter, the former will always be the true bottom line.

Things change. Nothing is forever. Nothing lasts. Save one thing and Isaiah reminds of us what that is. The word of the Lord. "The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever." In a world where fortunes rise and fall, people switch sides, institutions thrive and then disappear, marriages are made and broken, we count on one thing to guide us through this all. The Word of the Lord.

(c) 2010 by Stephen L Dunn

HOW DEEP IS YOUR FAITH?

Someone has described modern day Christianity as "a mile wide and a few inches deep."

And indeed, in some sense there is a lot of shallowness to the faith of Christians who have lived most of their lives in the comfort of a culture that has let the church exist in slumbering peace. In fact, for too many Christians, their faith exists primarily on the surface, when it is on display in Sunday morning worship; but let a crisis hit or Monday morning arrive and that faith is set aside in panic or in accommodation. When the road gets tough, we start trying to wrest control of our lives back from God, lest He make things tougher. When the rest of the world comes along side, we want to go undercover lest we stand out and invite judgment and ridicule.

What do we do when we ask God, as did the apostle Paul, to take away the thorns in our flesh and he says, "No, my grace is sufficient for you." Is our faith deep enough to chose weakness when it is the way of God's working?

The world actually expects faith to be more surface than substance. It is comfortable with such shallowness because it can justify its own ignoring of the call of God upon its life.

Corrie ten Boom and her sister Betsy were imprisoned by the Nazis for helping the Jews of Holland escape the genocide. Faith was wonderful, even thrilling when they were outwitting the Nazis. But when they fell into the hands of the Nazis, Corrie's faith floundered in a sea of doubt and discouragement. Yet her sister Betsy continue to live with a strength that brought hope to others in the evil confines of a consecration camp.

Betsy was dying in that camp. And as she reached her final moments, Corrie despaired of what would happen when Betsy was gone. Corrie felt she herself would simply give up and die. But Betsy responded, "You must live, Corrie, you must live. And you must tell them, there is no pit so deep where God is not deeper."

How deep is your faith?

EASTER SATURDAY NIGHT

It was a grim night. The second night they had endured since Jesus had died on Golgotha. Only one of them had been there to witness the death. John in his youthfulness seemed to have no fear that the older men in their practicality had embraced. They were behind closed, locked doors. The Jewish leaders had seemed uninterested in pursuing them on that Sabbath evening when Joseph of Aramathea had hastily buried Jesus’ body. But now another day had passed and many sensed that the triumphant Sanhedrin might now turn a maliced eye towards the remaining disciples of that dead troublemaker.

The night of Jesus’ arrest had been one of turmoil and confusion. Then came word that Judas had hung himself. An impulsive Peter had followed Jesus, but by the dawn of Friday had denied Jesus three times. Then he had come slinking back in shame to join them in their grim gathering.

This night, Saturday night, a weariness had replaced some of the grief and even now some were asking if they should just slip out of Jerusalem. They were not sure of the welcome they would find in Galilee, but it might be safer for a time.

Desperate men, now discouraged and depressed.

It was Easter Saturday night.

AND THEY CRUCIFIED HIM

Reading: Mark 15:24

"and they crucified him ..."
Four words that bring us to a stark Judean hilltop called Golgotha.
Four words that bear a finality to the events of a week we now call holy.
Four words that only begin to describe the pain and the agony that was his death.
Four words that stab at our hearts ripping away any delusion of our righteousness.
Four words that describe full measure of God's love for a rebellious people.
Four words that haunt us with conviction whenever we belittle his amazing grace.
Four words ...

"and they crucified him ..."
Four words that change world history and our personal destiny.
Four words that build a bridge of reconciliation for people separated from God.
Four words that defy death to do its worst.
Four words that destroy the penalty or reigning sin.
Four words that cleanse the deepest sin in the darkest soul.
Four words that set the captive free.
Four words ...

(C) 2010 by Stephen L Dunn

WASHING THE FEET OF JUDAS

Reading: John 13

John, chapter 13, records the feetwashing that took place at the Last Supper. When you put all of the accounts together from the four gospels something important emerges. Jesus washed the feet of disciples prior to the communion. Judas left during the communion but he was still present for the feetwashing. This means Jesus washed the feet of the one who was about to betray him.

This adds a whole new significance to this act of servanthood on Jesus' part. He wasn't just washing the feet of the men who he would make the first members of the Body of Christ, but also the one who would reject Jesus and never see that day of fruitfulness.

Servanthood is hard. We easily do it to those who love the Lord. We work a little harder at those who need help but may not be grateful. But washing the feet of one who would stab us in the back, who was an enemy? Perhaps that, too, is what John meant when he said that through this feetwashing Jesus was revealing the full measure of his love.

God's love loves and even serves God's enemies.

AN ACT OF EXTRAVAGANCE

Reading: Mark 14.1-11

"She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial."

Jesus' appointment with Golgotha is now two days way. He knows that his journey will require him to go to the Cross. The disciples are still choosing to downplay his comments about his death. Together they go to home of Simon the Leper to enjoy a pleasant meal and a respite from the intensity of those two days in the Temple.

During the meal a woman (which we are told elsewhere is Mary, the sister of Lazarus) comes with an alabaster jar filled with incredibly expense perfume. She breaks the jar and pours the perfume on his head. Imagine its pungent aroma permeating the room as the perfume runs down over his face through his beard.

The disciples, especially, are upset. It is too extravagant a thing to do. They could have taken the money and fed the poor, thereby increasing Jesus' standing among the people. Yet Jesus defends her. "She understands," says Jesus. She recognizes the road I must take, the death to which it will lead, and the grace that it comes from. She has chosen to prepare me for that."

It is an extravagance that begins to approach the even greater extravagance of an unconditional love that will die for our sins. When was the last time you were extravagant in the service of Jesus?

IN OVER THEIR HEADS

Reading: Mark 11.27-33

Have you ever heard the expression, "He's in a battle of wits with an unarmed man"? It's Tuesday and Jesus is right back to the Temple. The first day it was for a demonstration of passion for God. Today it's about challenging the so-called Teachers of the Law. Like a Clint Eastwood western, Jesus strides into the Temple and various groups-Pharisees, religious seekers, Scribes, Sadducees--all come at him one at a time like so many spiritual gunslingers. One after another he sends them packing, stung by his answers.

Smarting from the previous day's demonstration and Jesus' obvious support from the people, the Pharisees take their first shot as soon as they see him. "By what authority do you do this and who gave you that authority?" They want Jesus to justify himself, hoping they can regain the upper hand.

But wisdom-wise they are unarmed men in the presence of the Christ. "Before I answer your question, answer one of mine. Was John's prophetic message and baptism from heaven or from men?"

His opponents now have a problem. The people clearly believed John was a prophet and many had turned to God because of him. If they acknowledge John was from heaven, then he's going to say "Why didn't you believe him?"

They're the keepers of heaven, so they think. how will it look if they appear disobedient to God. So their answer, "We don't know."

Jesus' response is basically "I won't bother to answer you because you wouldn't recognize heaven if you saw it."

Are you questioning God's authority or when you see Him working do you rush to His side?

(C) 2010 by Stephen L Dunn

HOLY WEEK - MONDAY

Reading: Mark 11:12-19

Key Verse: "My house will be a house of prayer for all nations, but you have made it a 'den of robbers." - Mark 11:17

Most people think of Jesus as "little Jesus meek and mild." In fact, people today who want to emphasize Jesus' love (read, loving and non-threatening) are a bit troubled by this story, And people who want to justify their angry, confrontative tendencies use this story as their mantra.

Jesus was clearly disturbed at the marketing and profiteering that had been introduced into the Temple. It had become a place where people were being taken advantage of. Where the worshiper had come out of an honest desire to honor God, they were forced to engage in the purchase of "just the right sacrifice" rather than simply letting God see what was in their hearts. Haggling had taken the place of psalm singing. And the people doing the selling seemed to have little regard for the worshipers and for the worship.

Jesus' response is not an angry burst of a violent spirit, it is a passionate heart for God confronting those who really belittled the things of God. Instead of casually accepting things the way they were, Jesus challenged the assumptions and actions of those who hijacked the proess of worship.

Do you have enough passion for God that you would go out on a limb, risk ridicule or repercussion rather than simply let "business as usual" occur when the business ceases truly being God's business?

(C) 2010 by Stephen L. Dunn