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Put Down the Phone or Remote and Pick Up a Book!

read more1In the Bible, words, especially God’s words have power. God speaks and the worlds are created,

Genesis 1: 3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good…

Psalm 33: 6 By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all their host by the breath of his mouth. 9 For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.

The gospel writer of John refers to Jesus as The Word or expression of God.

John 1: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Continue reading “Put Down the Phone or Remote and Pick Up a Book!”

Orthoducksy or Orthopraxis?

The knowledge of God is very far from the love of God. Pascal

   Orthodoxy and Orthopraxis are two distinct approaches to faith, life, and love. One is more popular and the other far more productive. Like all good paradigms, each has its own fancy Latin word.

  • Orthodoxy, or right thought, assumes that thinking comes before action, and if you think the right thoughts, accept the correct precepts, then you’ll make the right choices and do what is right. The application within the church is – believe in Christ and you’ll act like Christ.
  • Orthopraxis, or right practice, asserts that action precedes thinking, and if you do the right actions then you will think the right thoughts, and what’s more, you’ll become who you are trying to become. The application in the church is – act like Christ and not only will you believe, you will become Christ-like. Continue reading “Orthoducksy or Orthopraxis?”

Where the Wild Things Are

where-the-wild-things-are-2-1In Genesis chapter one, God creates both/ands…
God makes both light and dark and calls them “Day.” Each day has both bright and night.
God makes both land and sea as the earth.
God makes animals that are both wild and tame.
This world of both/ands, God calls, “Good.” God doesn’t say “perfect” though, in this balance there is a perfect unity of both/ands.
In this world of the tame and wild, there is a peace that can only be found outside of the walls we surround ourselves in for protection, beyond control and into the naturally ordered chaos, where the Wild Things Are.
Here are two poems that capture the essence of this wide wild world as good, among the wild things…


The Peace of Wild Things
by Wendell Berry

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

Wild Geese
by Mary Oliver

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

World Communion

Image result for communitySunday, October 7, is World Communion Sunday when we envision a table and the world that is beyond our divisions and walls that separate us as expressed by poet Jan Richardson.

AND THE TABLE WILL BE WIDE
And the table
will be wide.
And the welcome
will be wide.
And the arms
will open wide
to gather us in.
And our hearts
will open wide
to receive.
And we will come
as children who trust
there is enough.
And we will come
unhindered and free.
And our aching
will be met
with bread.
And our sorrow
will be met
with wine.
And we will open our hands
to the feast
without shame.
And we will turn
toward each other
without fear.
And we will give up
our appetite
for despair.
And we will taste
and know
of delight.
And we will become bread
for a hungering world.
And we will become drink
for those who thirst.
And the blessed
will become the blessing.
And everywhere
will be the feast.

 

 

Wisdom Rocks

   A man encountered Sophia at the market selling used books. As he searched through a pile, Sophia reached below the table, pulled out an old book with a ratty cover, and when certain no one was watching, whispered, “Try this one. It is a treasure.”
   The man bought it for a few pennies, took it home, read it, and to his surprise, on the inside back cover he found scribbled in tiny letters a few sentences, a brief description, about a magic stone that could turn anything it touched into pure gold. According to the book, the stone was lying somewhere on the shore of the Black Sea among a million other pebbles that looked just like it. The one difference was that the magic stone was warm to the touch whereas all others were cold.
   The man set up a tent on the shore and went to work. Each stone he picked up, if it was cold to the touch, he threw it far into the sea so that he wouldn’t keep picking up the same stones.
   Stone after stone, he picked each up, felt it, and hurled it deep into the water. Stone after stone…
   He worked a week, a month, ten months, a whole year, patiently feeling each stone and tossing it into the sea.
   Then, one evening, he picked up a pebble, and it was warm to the touch! Through sheer force of habit, he threw it far out into the water.

In the name of God, stop a moment, cease your work, look around you.  Leo Tolstoy

Cayla’s Way

I have a magician in my church. Her name is Carolyn Baumgartner. She can make a handkerchief disappear and then reappear again. I’ve seen it.

She can also make some books disappear as well. For their sixtieth wedding anniversary, instead of gifts of more stuff they don’t need, they asked for donations and bought a book for every student in the local elementary school. Continue reading “Cayla’s Way”

The Way God Is

When I chose the artwork for the cover of the 2014 edition of The Psychology of Jesus, I picked this painting by Bartolome’ Esteban Murillo.

8 Murillo return-of-the-prodigal-son-1670

        To me the subject of the painting and the story it tells is obvious. To my surprise, even the most Biblically literate have not immediately recognized this story brought to art by Murillo. I even asked my son, “Who is in this painting?” Not knowing what to answer, he gave the answer most twelve-year-old pastor’s sons would offer, “God.” The painting’s subject matter is given away in the title, “The Return of The Prodigal.”  Painted later in his life, Murillo was part of the Brotherhood of Charity. The group felt that charity was the only activity that people could do which touched the heart of God and eternity. All accumulating, whether power, wealthy, or even knowledge was temporary and lost in death. They highlighted seven acts of charity and mercy. Besides, retelling the story of the prodigal, Murillo’s painting highlighted the act of clothing the naked visually clear in the large pile of clothes the servant holds for the son.  Continue reading “The Way God Is”

The Journey is Home

Travel with those who love a journey,
accompany those who enjoy adventure,
be a companion to those who laugh often.

 If you heart is like a house with no door,
how can you ever feel at home with anyone?
If your heart is open, you can be at home
with anyone, everywhere.

 The people of The Way are never lost
because they are always at home,
no matter where they are.

Be like eagles,
why care where your nest is,
when your home is the sky?

Blessings at the Crossroads

Martin Guitars has an ad campaign called, “Crossroads.” In the ad, they retell the legend of Robert Johnson’s encounter with the devil. It’s a gloomy night at a crossroads on a rural Mississippi plantation in the early 1930’s. A struggling blues musician named Robert Johnson has a burning desire to play his guitar better than anyone else. At this lonely intersection, the Devil waits for Johnson. With the moon shining down, the Devil plays a few songs on Johnson’s guitar. When Robert Johnson gets his guitar back, he has complete mastery over the instrument. His soul now belongs to the supernatural being, and for the next 5 years or so, he creates music that will live past his tragic, suspicious death in 1938 at the age of 27.

A closer look at the lyrics of “Crossroads” shows not a man struggling with the devil and fame but with loneliness and pain. The crossroad is whether or not his pain will overwhelm him or whether or not he can come through it with a song. Continue reading “Blessings at the Crossroads”

Lenten Devotional: Day 32

Paradise Lost

Erich Fried translated by Stuart Hood
 
When I had lost
my first country
and when in my second country
and in my place of refuge
and in my third country
and in my second place of refuge
I had lost everything
then I set out
 
to look for a land
that was not poisoned
by any memories
of irreplaceable losses
 
So I came to Paradise
there I found peace
Everything was whole and good
I lacked for nothing
 
Then a sentry
with a flaming sword
said: Pray: Get away
Here you have lost nothing’

Pray: Deliver Me

From the cowardice
that dare not face new truth,
 
From the laziness
that is contented with half truth,
 
From the arrogance
that thinks it knows all truth.
 
Good Lord,
deliver me!

April Foolish Easter

Pastors everywhere are wondering what to do with Easter falling on April 1st this year. The coinciding of Easter and April Fools is a gift – and an opportunity for one of the most memorable Easter Egg Hunts ever!

Hear more in this audio sermon: Beyond Nothing on Mark 1 

1 Corinthians 1: 18 For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. 22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, 23 but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

Lenten Devotional: Day 26

Simply Trust

Issa
 
Simply trust.
Do not the leaves flutter down,
just like that?

Pray: Jonah 2 (from inside the Great Fish)

I called out to You,
out of my deep distress,
and You answered me.
 
From the grave,
from deep darkness,
I cried, and You heard my voice.
 
You threw me into the deep,
You cast me into
the heart of the sea,
where the torrent surrounded me,
where Your surf,
Your waves,
crashed over me.
 
Then, I said, “I am lost,
out of even the sight
and presence of God.
I am truly alone.”
 
The waters closed in over me.
The deep encompassed me.
Weeds wrapped around my head.
At the base of the mountains,
I fell into the deep where the darkness closed upon me.
I surrendered. Gone forever.
 
Yet, You pulled me
up from the Pit.
My Lord! My God!
As my life faded, vanished,
I remembered You!
My prayer came to You!
My voice entered into
Your holy presence,
where You heard me!
 
Salvation and deliverance
I am Yours.
This day, this moment, this instant
are all Yours.
 
Amen. 

(The inspiration for this version of Jonah’s prayer is from Going Nuts! Click cover below to learn more…)


 

Beyond Divisions – Hyponyms Part II

When we are young, and beginning to explore the world, we learn about what something is through its opposite. As quickly as you can, go through the following list and name its opposite. The first one is done for you.
  
   hot… cold
   young…
   clean…
   big…
   dumb…
   skinny…
   friend…
   east…
   night… Continue reading “Beyond Divisions – Hyponyms Part II”

Adam and Eve Flunked the SAT

Adam and Eve flunked the SAT because they didn’t know what a hyponym was…

Like Adam and Eve,
God has given you the world as your garden paradise.
If you choose to eat from the forbidden fruit
in order to label everyone and every experience ‘good’ or ‘ill,’
you will turn your heaven into a hell, just as they did. Continue reading “Adam and Eve Flunked the SAT”

You Can Always Choose so Choose Love

Luke 6: 27 But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. 29 If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt.

Praise those who curse you.
If someone tries to steal your coat, give it to him gladly.
If someone classifies you as “enemy”, reject their label.
If someone hates you, love them.
When you give to someone, give freely,
and do not keep a ledger expecting something in return.
Why? Because you can. That’s the power of The Way.

If someone strikes you, you do not have to strike back,
you can always choose.
If someone wrongs you,
you do not have to wrong them in return,
you can always choose.
No matter what evil someone does to you,
you do not have to repay evil for evil, violence for violence,
wrongdoing with an even greater wrongdoing.
No one ever forces your response,
you can always choose.
Why? Because you can. That’s the power of The Way.

War never brings peace.
Hate never produces love.
Only liberated people who choose
can dream the world into a new reality.
That has always been The Way.