Lectio Divina

In last term's class at Rockbridge Seminary, we discussed various ways to study the bible. One of the more interesting methods was an ancient one - lectio divina.

The idea is to help the readers slow down and let the text speak rather than rushing through deconstructing the text. You pray your way through Scripture asking the Holy Spirit to lead you to truth. A lot of us in that class were interested enough to investigate further. I wish I had known about this book then.

I have a copy and am looking forward to practicing this ancient way of learning more about God through His Word.

Wedding Pictures from Dec 30th, 1973

Our oldest's comment when he viewed these was "daddy married up". Uh, yeah.

On Evangelism

In two days, I'll begin the new term at Rockbridge Seminary and start the core course on Evangelism.

The Theology & Practice of Evangelism E5301
This course is a study of the doctrines of man and redemption and of God's purpose to reach the peoples and nations of the world for His glory through the church. Emphasis will be given to the biblical mandate, the church's outreach in history, the mission task today, and how mission translates to the level of the individual believer. Learners will design a mission's mobilization strategy for their congregation, ministry, or small group.

I've already taken an elective under the evangelism banner -

Next Steps in Planting and Growing a Missional Church E6408
This course is for those who are in the initial stages of a church plant and need to know how to take their new work to the next level. The course will address the spiritual formation process of leaders, expanding the church's influence, multiplication through evangelism, weathering crisis points, measuring health, and knowing when and how to leave.

As well as having taken Personal Evangelism at New Orleans, participated in the trial of an evangelism strategy program for the FBC,(the Intentionally Evangelistic Church - spearheaded by Dr Don McCutcheon) learned and taught EE, Contagious Church, and will soon be teaching "Just Walk Across the Room".

And yet, I am not an evangelist.

If anyone should be, by virtue of training and experience, I should be. But I do not have the gift of evangelism, I just do the work of an evangelist and hope to train others to do the same.

The singularly hardest part of evangelism is to keep after it in prayer. No it's not the program, and it's not in my view the actual work. It is to open yourself to correction and instruction, to petition God to give you opportunities even if those opportunities put you far outside your gifting and your comfort zone.

I am so very aware that I need God in this.

Years ago, I thought that this was a skill I needed to master, and that once I had the skill set, I would be blessed with amazing tales of evangelistic success and would one day be trotted out on stage at the convention to applause.

Little did I realize that the skill is useless without the Holy Spirit's empowerment.

My background was in sales, and I was successful there. Here, I was giving away the keys to heaven, and though I delivered the "pitch" perfectly, most of the time either nothing happened, or the person made some weak profession not followed up with life change.

My most successful period occurred while I worked at a ministry center and gave out the gospel to people who were in need. I would come home fired up and amazed at what God was doing. That little house was seeing more conversions than the mega church across the street. But we weren't a church, and though we tried mightily to get the converts placed in churches, our track record was horrible.

So over the last few years I have come to see that the Holy Spirit's work of evangelism does not require trained evangelists, just available people. And that if the spark of spiritual awakening is to become a flame that consumes the converts self, it requires community to make it so.

Here at New Hope, we've pushed out into affinity groups and small group Bible studies, as well as taking the message to parks, community events, and points of contact such as schools. It's in the spirit of Francis of Assisi who wrote "preach the gospel everywhere - if necessary, use words." We'll be ready when the Holy Spirit says go.

I hope I'll learn more in the course, but really, I hope the people I serve and I will do more of the work of evangelists in 2008 - in our homes, our workplaces, and in the community. We need to share our faith, not try to sell it.

On House Churches

I was walking through the kitchen this afternoon, and looked over and saw a cookbook from Grace Baptist Church of Juliette, GA. I had forgotten that the folks in our failed house church/plant had produced that. Leafing through the recipes and looking at the names, I remembered the sweet fellowship and genuine love we had for each other. It was deserving of the name Grace.

The church started in the worst possible way - as a split off of Dames Ferry Baptist. That church served as my introduction to pastoral ministry. As a newly minted bivocational pastor, I accepted a pastorate in a church that changed pastors the way Paris Hilton changes limos. A church whose baptistry served as a place to store Christmas decorations. We had to take a blowtorch to get the water flowing.

Still, there was success early on as I worked hard and the Holy Spirit smiled on us. Dames Ferry grew. It doubled. Those who came hadn't always been there. They were fellow Christians, but they weren't family. And that combined with my pastoral inexperience led directly to a troubled parting.

In hindsight, I should have walked away and not looked back. But a group of people who really wanted to see God continue working in that community called me and I accepted the opportunity to be their pastor. We met at first in a house down the street from Dames Ferry. We called ourselves "Grace".

Our journey lasted two years together. We went through some vision issues, got absolutely no help from the Georgia Baptist Convention even though we rose to 42 people and had an offer to give us 3 acres of land. The convention said we had to have 5 acres before they'd help. We eventually got the opportunity to share space with Juliette UMC but by then we were just playing out the game.

What I learned...

In that rural environment, house church didn't work. We couldn't get people to come to the house and worship. The folks we had were winsome people, and generally speaking outgoing. But we had a stigma - maybe a double one from the split.

Some problems cross church structure lines. Leadership is an issue wherever. Conflict can occur regardless. In fact I was shocked to find that one family who had always been abused by the powers that be in the former church quickly became abusive of others at Grace.

In that environment, having a building and a denominational affiliation would have helped a great deal. But we were in an associational environment with an "Area Missionary" who had three associations and frankly was terrible. He had to have been someone's brother in law. We were trying to do something that wasn't done - plant a new church. Then amp that with the whole house church deal. Maybe he thought we were moonies.

I'll tell you this, I still love those people dearly. Every week when we met, it was awesome regardless of how few we were. I wish we had made it.

Could it work today? In some places I think it could. But is it the cure-all?

No.

34 years together

 

Today is the thirty-fourth anniversary of the day a young man with few prospects received the greatest gift this earth can give - the hand of my bride, Bunny.

So much has changed since that day, but our love has grown stronger, though buffeted and tried at times.

For folks on the outside, it would be exceedingly hard to explain just how important the love of your marriage partner makes as you try to work with God and His people. It would also be impossible to overestimate the toll our (the pastors) job makes on their lives.

Bunny has been so involved in everything good that has happened in our sojourns in different places of service, but nowhere more so than here at New Hope. She's taught children, worked with youth, worked with and led music (fashioning Easter and Christmas music as well), started a women's ministry, facilitated small groups, and so much more publically.

But privately she has given me the benefit of her relationship with Jesus through the context of her love for me.

We serve right now in a military town, and we love these people dearly and are deeply thankful for what they do. Every medal and memorial is well earned and much deserved. So when I say that there ought to be recognition for the work of pastor's wives I'm not taking away from what our veterans deserve.

I'm just acknowledging that there are all kinds of wars. :)

Thank you Bunny. Love forever, David

On the SBC

Small church evangelist Les Puryear has had my admiration for a while now. In a church culture that seems at times to shout "Go big or go home!", Les shouts back "House church? I'm up for that!" :) Les is seriously into championing the smaller - ok - the average sized church in the SBC. He's even set up a conference in March to help small church pastors grow. (Les, I'm trying to work it out to get there.)

Recently he wrote a post on SBC Impact that listed some things he'd like to see in the SBC.

I'll list them here, but go read the whole post and the comments.

Things I would like to see implemented in the SBC in no particular order:

* More small church emphasis at all SBC entities and agencies.
* A worship film-making division that would produce worship videos.
* A small church pastor (less than 200 in average Sunday morning worship attendance) be elected as president of the SBC.
* More teaching of practical ministry techniques in seminary, i.e., how to baptize, how to conduct the Lord’s Supper, how to handle conflict in the church, etc.
* Broadman & Holman print a series of books about small church leadership.
* Passing of a Regenerate Membership resolution.
* Revise the method of electing trustees so that rather than voting “yes” or “no” on a nominating committee’s entire list, change it so anyone who wishes to run for the office of a trustee can do so by filing for election similar to the method currently used to elect Town Council representatives. Then the convention messengers can vote for trustees by marking their ballots for each name and the ones with the most votes win. This seems to me to be more democratic than the nominating committee process.
* Spiritual awakening.
* Less storytelling in sermons and more biblical exposition.
* True desire for holiness.
* Love for brothers and sisters in Christ who do not agree with each other on non-essential doctrines.
* More cooperation among local churches rather than being in competition with each other.
* 8,000 IMB missionaries on the field by 2012.
* Pastors live what they preach.
* Explosion of house church planting in the USA.
* Every church member regularly tithing.
* Reaching the lost who are within sight of our church steeples and then reaching the lost beyond that.
* Greater penetration of evangelicalism in the northeast and western parts of the USA.
* The WMU not moving away from the SBC and toward the CBF.

You know, I don't agree with everything Les wrote, but I can sure work with a guy who loves what I love - smaller churches. And rather than hash out the differences, I'm going to make a list of what I'd love to see in the SBC from my context.

* Revamping of the seminaries to make them more pastor - in particular small church pastor friendly. The 30 hour on campus requirement is onerous and nigh onto ridiculous in today's interactive age. It is preventing many people like me from courses and degrees that would help our ministry effectiveness. Train pastors first, not professors.
*Revamp the association and bring back associational missionaries who are church planters and catalysts for action not deck chair rearrangers. In our association we are taking a year to study the need for change when we should be changing now! The DOM being tied to big church money isn't working well for smaller churches.
*Stay out of the newspapers unless you are helping someone. The Richard Land crowd makes me flinch everytime I see their names in print because I know we're about to be outed as "agin'ers". We've stopped being known for what we are for, just what we are against.
*Put some energy, effort, and money into RA's and men's ministries. We are hemorrhaging men. We get programs like men's fraternity that are so expensive and so big church oriented that our guys get tired of trying. Give us a break guys.
*Break the stupid convention into regions. If you want us to actually go, quit tossing darts at a map, look at the cost and timing. Oh and quit deciding ahead of time what we should do when we are there.
*Help us facilitate networks of like-minded churches along missional lines not geographic ones. My church has precious little in common with the FBC down the street but might have a lot with another church 50 miles away. Get Stetzer on it.:)
*Help us train for today's challenges, not yesterday's. We need help with outreach, media, worship, marketing, site selection and maximization. We need training on relational evangelism, or incarnational ministry, not more door hangers and Evangecubes.

I got more, but that's enough for now. I have been an SBC guy my whole Christian life and fought to stay on course when others called. I love the Cooperative Program and our doctrinal distinctives. But we have to keep those while constantly evaluating our methods for effectiveness.

On Men and Faith

The internet has provided me with so many benefits, but at times the information it brings isn't pleasing at all. Dee Lauderdale, the moderator of a pastor's group I'm in posted the results of a survey he found in a Men's health magazine. The findings do not bode well to any of us who are serious about reaching men.

In God We Trust? from December 2007 issue of Men’s Health

How would you describe your religious beliefs?
Very Religious: 21% Somewhat Religious: 26% Spiritual but not religious: 35%
None of the above: 18%

Which belief do you most closely identify with?
Christian (nonspecific): 27% Catholic: 17% Protestant: 16% Atheist: 11%
Agnostic: 10% Buddhist: 10% Jewish: 3% Mormon: 3% Scientologist: 1%
Other: 3%

If you were God for a day, what would be your first order of business?
“Eliminate corruption in all governments”
“Banish to hell everyone who has killed in my name”
“Get everyone to stop relying on men and take responsibility for their own lives”
“Whatever’s on the agenda, I suppose. I’m assuming God has a personal assistant”
“I wouldn’t want that kind of responsibility”

Do you believe that morality can come only from faith?
Yes: 29% No: 71%

Have you ever witnessed a miracle?
Yes: 32% No: 44% Unsure: 24%

How often do you attend services
More than once a week: 12% Once a week: 21% Once a month: 10% On religious holidays: 9% Almost never: 28% Never: 20%

If they shortened the service and relaxed the dress code, would you attend more?
Yes: 7% No: 93%

Are you more, or less religious as you age?
More: 35% Less: 25% Neither: 40%

Have you ever terminated a romantic relationship because of religious differences?
Yes: 18% No: 82%

10.When politicians say things like “God Bless America,” does it comfort you or freak you out?
It’s comforting: 56% It’s creepy: 44%

Is it important for your kids to be religious?
“Yes. We all need a moral foundation.”
“No. It’s more important that they are happy and fulfilled.”
“I want them to have at least one constant: God”
“I’m responsible for their life, not their afterlife”

What’s your reaction when retailers say, “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas”?
It irks me: 31% I’m glad: 13% It’s a silly debate: 56%

How much influence should religion have in the United States?
More than there is now: 19% Less than now: 50% It’s fine as it is: 31%

Can religion help with today’s problems?
It’s still useful: 46% It’s out of touch: 31% It’s part of the problems: 23%

In the next century, will religion grow, stay the same, or diminish?
“Decency and morality will exist for their own sake”
“It’ll grow freakishly stronger”
“It will diminish as people become more educated”

When you die, where will you go?
Heaven: 50% Hell: 1% Purgatory: 3% Back to earth in another form: 8%
Somewhere else: 11% Nowhere: 27%

When you break it down, it's clear that for most men, churchianity doesn't "work", if by work you mean add anything meaningful to their lives. And efforts to make church more man-friendly by cutting sermon length and relaxing dress codes aren't the answer. Over half think that religion either doesn't help today or is part of the reason things aren't as they should be.

When I looked the survey over, I was sitting in the room here with my wife Bunny. I was a 19 year old guy going nowhere when I was invited to Bethesda Baptist Church in Macon GA to play church basketball. At the time I was playing in three separate leagues. But after seeing Bunny, I realized she was in a league of her own and came as often as I could to be near her. As a result, I was saved and committed my life to Christ.

Just to be clear - I was dead in my sins. I wasn't looking for God. I came to play ball and stayed to play ball and to hang as close as possible to Bunny until my charm and rugged good looks wore her down. :)

So I read the survey and thought, what has happened?

It seems that within the last 30 years we've gone from being an option for guys who were looking to find a place to do guy stuff and find a nice girl to a place that isn't even on the radar. We've gone from acceptance through toleration and are now in aggravation/wish you would go away land.

Networking used to be one of the reasons people would come to church. Some of them even got saved. But now with the culture shift, those people are more likely to bunch up on the golf course, the PTA, or at soccer practice for the kids than come to church.

And with the church's moral behavior on par or even below par with the culture, finding a "good girl" at church might not be a given to say the least. We are in a heap of trouble with men. No need for us, nor reason to lean our way, and in fact some annoyance thrown our way.

It's going to take everything we can muster to get back on the options list with men.

First thing is we have to admit we have a problem. Duh.
Second thing - pray that God would guide everything we do.
Third thing - We must begin to get into the places where men hang out and build relationships with people. It's not what we do well, but it's always been the way the gospel has spread.

My friend Bill Martin put it this way:

It can't be about the institution anymore. It has to be about personal relationships. (That doesn't sell well in the Bible belt, but that doesn't make it any less true.)

I wonder if we can do it.

Oh I know God can do it, but can a generation who equated church growth with bigger and better - can we get small? Can we go from empire builders to insurgents? Can we stop yelling long enough to have a cup of coffee and talk?

Can we learn to count conversations and ask God to let us be involved in His work to change the hearts of men?

Glorify your name Lord.

"How to kill a movement"

How To Kill A Movement - by Sam Metcalf

1. Require education for the leadership
2. Demand conformity of methodology
3. Refuse to provide administrative help and let it suffocate under it’s own weight
4. Get spooked by supernatural phenomena outside your paradigm
5. Make no room for younger, less experienced leadership
6. Be obsessed by theological purity
7. Put the safety of the people involved as a higher priority than sacrifice

There's much more, go read it all.

So much of what I think is holding many churches and denominations back is encapsulated in Sam's list. Unfortunately my spiritual family, the SBC, is guilty of many of these and doesn't seem the least inclined to change at the moment.

Maybe that will change. I hope and pray that it will. Too many souls are at stake.

"Let me go with you because..."

I have become convinced that people do not become fully devoted, disciple-making followers of Christ through the excellency of man-made programs. Churches may grow in number through their professional worship team, their seamless organization chart, their savvy marketing, and their cultural relevance. But I believe something more powerful is at work when we see a person who has never known God become acquainted with a faith community, become a regular participant in that community, become a believer, and then become a fully-devoted disciple. I believe that when that progression takes place it is because that person has looked upon a community of Christ-followers, become overwhelmed with the reality of God in their midst, and cried out, "Let me go with you because I have heard, and seen, and felt that God is with you!"

Bill Huffhine

It is this velcro that builds the Kingdom of God. Those who are held together by the Spirit of God working within them and within their relationships become the entrance to the Kingdom for others who then call others to come and die to self with them.

Lots of people have a dream church - right size, right posture, right location. Bill has articulated mine - oh to be part of such a gathering of souls. It is what I'm working for at New Hope.

He Came Into Our Neighborhood

They had known this day was coming. For months now Joseph and Mary had talked about "when the baby is born..." and how life would be different then. So different. Every couple wonders how they will transform from husband and wife to father and mother. But knowing that this baby was the Son of God made every conversation even more of a wonder.

Mary was just so small, and the baby had grown so.

Joseph would have never chosen here for the baby's birth. So far from home, so far from help. But he believed. And he put everything he had - all his attention, all his energy - into helping Mary do whatever it was she need to do. They had just arrived in Bethlehem and found a place to stay. It wasn't much, but it would do. It would have to.

When the first contraction came, it straightened her up for a moment. The weight of pregnancy had changed her posture somewhat, from a young and lithe girl, to a woman "great with child." Her arms wrapped around her belly as she felt the wave wash over her and the pain swell and then subside.

Joseph's face went through several phases almost within seconds - surprise - concern - worry and now determination. What could he do? In his culture, men weren't present at birth. Women entrusted that secret to midwives while the fathers waited anxiously outside. Everyone knew that the birth of a baby could bring great joy or great heartache. This one would bring both in due time.

There! Again! But stronger. And followed quickly by another. Joseph held Mary tightly, seeking in vain to transfer some of his strength to her but knowing that this was her battle to win. How long would this go on? She couldn't take much more.

Suddenly she sat straight up and gasped out loud. A strange look crossed her face and he couldn't tell what she was feeling. Was it pain, or was it... joy? Her forehead grew slick with perspiration and she clutched his hand tightly. She was focused on something in the distance, and then she grew rigid and seemed to stare at - or into the ground at her feet. A quick breath - then none - only a guttural cry - a moan and she seemed to stiffen, then expend herself into...

And then, quicker than he ever thought - a soft fall into the clean straw and there he was - covered with the fluids from His mother's womb and flushed from the battle to be born. Mary collapsed, exhausted. Joseph picked up the baby and wiped his face as he lifted him from the straw. Then Jesus, Son of God and son of man breathed the air of the world he had created and began to cry.

At that, Mary raised herself on her elbows and smiled.

But she wasn't through yet.

Joseph cut the cord that tied mother to Son, and Mary groaned again as she delivered the after birth. Joseph laid the baby in her arms and replaced the soiled cloths with fresh ones, and then put more fresh straw and blankets beneath Mary. She wrapped the baby in the strips of cloth and kissed him. And kissed him. And kissed him.

Joseph stroked Mary's hair and marveled at what she and God have done. He took a finger and placed it in Jesus' hand. So small. So very small. And yet one day the scepter of the King of Kings would rest there. Amazing!

He was here! Messiah had come!

So many questions. So much they didn't understand.

But they knew.

God was with them.

He took the baby and placed him in the manger beside where Mary lay. She was so exhausted, that she gave him a smile and fell asleep. The mother of God became a teenager again. Joseph watched them sleep and marveled again at what had happened.

The Prince of Shalom had come.

--
God bless you and keep you. May you have the Spirit of Christmas tonight and all through your life. And may you always remember, God is with us.

David

Visit with me at my blog:
http://davethepastor.vox.com/
Or visit New Hope!
http://www.newhopevalp.org/

Growing Up Into Christmas

78 Through the heartfelt mercies of our God,
God's Sunrise will break in upon us,
79 Shining on those in the darkness,
those sitting in the shadow of death,
Then showing us the way, one foot at a time,
down the path of peace."

Luke 1:78-79 (MSG)
If there's a season that is more sentimental than Christmas, I haven't experienced it. I find myself time-traveling between remembering what it was like as a child, remembering what it was like when we had young children, and thinking about the kids we know from New Hope and how their Christmases will be.

Funny isn't it, how I can't remember how my parents struggled to provide their boys some Christmas toys. I really cannot even remember much of what I got, or what we've given our kids. I just remember the feeling of Christmas.

When our oldest left here the other day, he left with a CD on which I had burned 27 minutes and 11 seconds of his Christmas morning experience in 1982. On that recording (transferred from cassette), you can hear my aunt Louise, uncle William, and my brother, father and mother as they got to see Adam come into the living room and see what he got.

The tape starts with us trying to wake a very sleepy boy. As I recall, telling him that Christmas was here and his presents were waiting had no where near the impact than "Grandmother is here". She loved Adam and later Sean with the same fierceness she had first loved my brother Bruce and me.

Waking up to find his Grandmother there was Christmas enough for Adam. Everything else was just icing on the cake.

I've really been thinking and praying through Christmas this year. There have been some major changes as we've lost family in the last couple of years that have pretty much severed my childhood from today. All those links are gone now. I'm blessed with an awesome wife and her wonderful parents - my "in-loves" who are like parents to me and have been for almost 34 years. Obviously my sons Adam and Sean give me great, great joy. And I have an awesome New Hope family here from the littlest to the eldest.

But there's been a "blueness" to this Christmas for me. So many memories of those who are gone. So many events that can never be repeated.

And yet...

When I listened to Adam's reaction the other night, something clicked in my soul.

It was as if God was telling me to grow up - into the real Christmas.

Not the one I remembered, that was centered on people - memories.

But the one that brought me Someone Who will never leave me. Someone who gave His very life for mine. Someone Who constantly is working in my life for my good. Someone who loves me more fiercely than anyone ever has or could.

It was as if God was telling me, isn't Jesus enough?

I'm embracing His peace today. I'm trusting in His mercy and grace for today and praying He'll give enough tomorrow. It took a four year olds little voice on a 25 year old recording to help me grow up into Christmas and realize that all I ever really wanted for Christmas is wrapped up in a person. And that person can sweep all my blues away into clouds of bright and beautiful joy.

He's what I hope you'll receive and treasure too.

Jesus.

Merry Christmas,

David

--
Visit with me at my blog:
http://davethepastor.vox.com/
Or visit New Hope!
http://www.newhopevalp.org/

One Bright Light

“We are in a world of mystery, with one bright Light before us, sufficient for our proceeding forward through all difficulties. Take away this Light and we are utterly wretched—we know not where we are, how we are sustained, what will become of us and all that is dear to us, what we are to believe, and why we are in being.”

—John Henry Newman—

On Christmas

The Word Made Flesh

The Word of the Father, by whom all time was created, was made flesh and was born in time for us. He, without whose divine permission no day completes its course, wished to have one day for His human birth. In the bosom of His Father He existed before all the cycles of ages; born of an earthly mother, He entered upon the course of the years on this day.

The Maker of man became man that He, Ruler of the stars, might be nourished at the breast; that He, the Bread, might be hungry; that He, the Fountain, might thirst; that He, the Light, might sleep; that He, the Way, might be wearied by the journey; that He, the Truth, might be accused by false witnesses; that He, the Judge of the living and the dead, might be brought to trial by a mortal judge; that He, Justice, might be condemned by the unjust; that He, Discipline, might be scourged with whips; that He, the Foundation, might be suspended upon a cross; that Courage might be weakened; that Security might be wounded; that Life might die.

To endure these and similar indignities for us, to free us, unworthy creatures, He who existed as the Son of God before all ages, without a beginning, deigned to become the Son of Man in these recent years. He did this although He who submitted to such great evils for our sake had done no evil and although we, who were the recipients of so much good at His hands, had done nothing to merit these benefits.

St. Augustine, Sermons on the Liturgical Seasons, Trans. Sister Mary Sarah Muldowney, R.S.M., Vol. 38 in The Fathers of the Church, ed. Roy Joseph Deferrari (New York: Fathers of the Church, Inc.), p. 28.

Christmas - weakly

While rereading the accounts of Christmas again, it occurred to me - God's powerful act of Incarnation couldn't have come to a more unlikely group of people. His mighty actions and revealed plans to change everything elicited a very weak response from those who received the news.

Zachariah doubted God and couldn't even believe when an angel showed up.

Joseph searched for another way to explain what Mary had told him.

Even Mary, a model of faith asked "How can this be...?"

Each and every one of them had a moment or moments when the situation they were presented with was just too much to believe.

Have you ever been there?

I sure have.

There have been times where, despite years of trying to live a live of faith and devotion to Jesus, something will happen and I'll silently ask the question "How can this be...?" Or really, how in the world am I going to make it through this?

To that question, God answers - "wait."

Uh, not really helpful - see we have this situation here and I need to get it fixed. And to that you say - "wait?"

I realized when I typed it that "wait" is not a word we would ever associate with Christmas, unless we add the obligatory "I can't.." as a prefix.

And yet, waiting is exactly what God required of each of the people involved in Christmas.

Zachariah and Elizabeth had prayed for a son all their married lives.

Joseph and Mary agreed in their betrothal to wait a year before consummating their marriage.

Even after the angel's announcements to them, there was the usual nine month wait for the babies that were promised to appear.

How long have you been waiting for your Christmas miracle to come? I'm not talking about that long promised pony or motorcycle.

I'm thinking of that moment when the faith you have...

...expands to fill your whole life.

When this verse becomes reality... to you.

What is faith? It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see. Heb 11:1 (NLT)

You know what?

I'm encouraged that Zachariah wouldn't take an angel's word for it.
Likewise by Joseph's worries and Mary's concerns.

Because I am no weaker than they were, when they failed to grasp Christmas.

But then it's not about us, in our weakness.

It's about God, and His unfailing love.

We can have the faith they had when we, like Mary, say to God, "let it be to me exactly as you wish. I trust you."

May we all be given the grace to do just that.

Grace and peace,

David

--
Visit with me at my blog:
http://davethepastor.vox.com/
Or visit New Hope!
http://www.newhopevalp.org/

Christmas - weakly

While rereading the accounts of Christmas again last night, it occurred to me - God's powerful act of Incarnation couldn't have come to a more unlikely group of people. His mighty actions elicited a very weak response, didn't they.

Zachariah doubted God and couldn't believe when an angel showed up.

Joseph searched frantically for a way out.

Even Mary, a model of faith asked "How can this be...?"

Each and every one of them had a moment or moments when the situation they were presented with was just too much to believe.

Have you ever been there?

I sure have.

There have been times where, despite years of trying to live a live of faith and devotion to Jesus, something will happen and I'll silently ask the question "How can this be...?" Or really, how in the world am I going to make it through this?

To that question, God answers - "wait."

Uh, not really helpful - see we have this situation here and I need to get it fixed. And to that you say - "wait?"

I realized when I typed it that "wait" is not a word we would ever associate with Christmas, unless we add the obligatory "I can't.." as a prefix.

And yet, waiting is exactly what God required of each of the people involved in Christmas.

Zachariah and Elizabeth had prayed for a son all their married lives.

Joseph and Mary agreed in their betrothal to wait a year before consummating their marriage.

Even after the angel's announcements to them, there was the usual nine month wait for the babies that were promised to appear.

How long have you been waiting for your Christmas miracle to come? I'm not talking about that long promised pony or motorcycle.

I'm thinking of that moment when the faith you have...

...expands to fill your whole life.

When this verse becomes reality... to you.

What is faith? It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see. Heb 11:1 (NLT)

You know what?

I'm encouraged that Zachariah wouldn't take an angel's word for it.
Likewise by Joseph's worries and Mary's concerns.

Because I am no weaker than they were, when they failed to grasp Christmas.

But then it's not about us, in our weakness. It's about God, and His unfailing love.

Inasmuch

In a certain town there lived a cobbler, Martin Avdeitch by name. He lived in a small basement room whose one window looked out onto the street, and all he could see were the feet of people passing by.

But since there was hardly a pair of boots that had not been in his hands at one time for repair, Martin recognized each person by his shoes.

Day after day, he would work in his shop watching boots pass by. One day he found himself consumed with the hope of a dream that he would find the Lord's feet outside his window. Instead, he found a lingering pair of worn boots belonging to an old soldier.

Though at first disappointed, Martin realized the old man might be hungry and invited him inside to a warm fire and some tea. He had other visitors that evening, and though sadly none were Christ, he let them in also.

Sitting down at the end of day, Martin heard a voice whisper his name as he read the words: "I was hungry and you gave me meat; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you took me in. Inasmuch as you did for the least of these, you did unto me."

Story told in Leo Tolstoy's Walk in the Light while there Is Light and Twenty-three Tales (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2003).

So many times I forget. The person in front of me, or on the phone is the person Jesus put me here to serve. Forgive me Lord.

On Preaching

“Every preacher has a different routine for preparing a sermon. My own begins with a long sitting spell with an open Bible on my lap, as I read and read and read the text. What I am hunting for is the God in it, God for me and for my congregation at this particular moment in time. I am waiting to be addressed by the text by my own name, to be called out by it so that I look back at my human situation and see it from a new perspective, one that is more like God’s. I am hoping for a moment of revelation I can share with those who will listen to me and I am jittery, because I never know what it may show me. I am not in control of the process. It is a process of discovery, in which I run the charged rod of God’s word over the body of my own experience and wait to see where the sparks will fly. Sometimes the live current is harder to find than others but I keep at it, knowing that if there is no electricity for me, there will be none for the congregation either.”

(Barbara Brown Taylor, The Preaching Life, p. 80)

Maybe the most descriptive quote of how I feel about trying to find yourself in the text I have ever read.

My goal is to inhabit the text. To tabernacle there. To listen to it speak to me and call my name. If it's a passage where a biblical character exists, then I want to know everything about that person and how he received what God had for him.

It is a helpless feeling until it happens. To still be searching for the voice of the text late in the week can raise the blood pressure and make one frantic. The hardest thing to do then is to slow down and listen.

The text needs to capture me, so I can turn it around and let it loose on Sunday.

On Faith

Now Faith … is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods. For moods will change, whatever view your reason takes. I know that by experience. Now that I am a Christian I do have moods in which the whole thing looks very improbable: but when I was an atheist I had moods in which Christianity looked terribly probable. This rebellion of your moods against your real self is going to come anyway. That is why Faith is such a necessary virtue: unless you teach your moods “where they get off,” you can never be either a sound Christian or even a sound atheist, but just a creature dithering to and fro, with its beliefs really dependent on the weather and the state of its digestion. - C.S. Lewis

A sermon from 1998

As a baseline of how I've changed over the years, here's a sermon from 1998. I was working full time, and filling the pulpit at a small rural church in Laurens County GA. Be interested in your perceptions between now and then.

I Love To Tell The Story
Matthew 28:1-10 and other scriptures

I am so glad to be here this morning to share with my fellow Christians the glory of the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Early in the week, Ricky Hilburn sent me the program for today by email and I marveled at just how many of you were going to be involved in the celebration this morning. Young or old, all seemed to want to share in the joy. Each of you who participated in this has told your story in song, testimony, or prayer of what Jesus means to you. Thank you for your sharing.

Each of us who has taken the name of Christ in identification should have a story to tell. I love stories. They lift the facts off the pages and give them life and make them alive. I’ve always used stories as I preached and I guess it’s because I love them. My Mother used to read to me when I was a little boy, and my favorite stories back then used to begin with, “Once Upon A Time”. Since I took Jesus as Lord and Savior though, my favorite story always seems to begin, “Once upon a cross.”

I love to tell that story.

I guess what I like so much about Easter is, well the story of Easter. Just hearing someone read the Scripture when the angel tells those faithful women, “Why are you looking for the living among the dead? He is not here. He has risen, just as He said.” Matthew 28:6 Sends chills down my spine.

It has been an emotional weekend for me.

Friday at noon, we met with others at Bethesda Baptist church in Macon to observe Good Friday. Their cross rugged and wooden was draped in deepest darkest black. The communion table was covered with symbols of the day, 30 pieces of silver, a hammer, some nails. As I sat there and looked at that cross, all I could think of was how horrible a punishment that was. Looking back over the years of my life, I remembered this sin, then that one, and another, and another. Times when I didn’t do what God wanted me to. Times when I did the opposite of what I knew to be right. The hammer and the nails were there. It looked to me like the hammer would fit my hand well. I looked at the silver. That was a lot of money back then. Then I looked up at the cross - and I knew I was guilty.

When I was in elementary school, there were times when I was invited to spend a little time after school. I had distinguished myself in one way or another that day, and the teacher found that though the school day had ended, she simply could not bear to let me go so soon. So I was given the rare treat of additional instruction. One of her favorite things she liked to teach me was cleanliness. She did this by allowing me the high honor of erasing the blackboards for her. Not everyone got to do this you understand, only those of us proved worthy by our actions. Some of those might have, but by no means were limited to, talking in class, failing to do assignments, etc.

I’d get the erasers and wipe the boards for all I was worth, and was satisfied that I had done a good job. Unfortunately, she wasn’t. Seems you could still read some of the words. She had me wet a towel and wipe them clean, until you no longer could tell there had ever been anything written there. It was like a new board, that had never been stained at all.

Jesus did that for me and you. Somewhere in God’s memory was a blackboard with all our sins written on it for all to see. Jesus, with His blood, washed our sins away, until they were completely gone. He died, was buried, and rose again to let us know that in Him, we can have life forever free of the heartache and full of the love of God.

Knowing the story makes Good Friday a Good Friday! It makes seeing the agony and pain that Jesus went through for my sins and for my failure to live a life pleasing to God bearable. It is an amazing thing to me to know that as the Bible says, “This is love: Not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” I have to tell that story, for like Paul, “I am convinced that One died for all, and therefore all died. And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him Who died for them and was raised again.” 2 Cor. 5:14-15 I love to tell the story

It’s the story I love. Reading it year after year, even though I’m like the little boy I read about. Robert Russell relates:

I love to go to Easter passion plays. One night I sat behind a 5-year-old boy who was enthralled. When the crucifixion scene took place, he got real quiet. But
then Jesus came back from the grave and there was a song of celebration and
his eyes lit up. He looked at his mother and said, "He's alive, Mom. He's
alive!" and began to clap. And he hugged her around the neck. It was fun to
see somebody understand the resurrection for real.

Once, we showed a cartoon video of the crucifixion and resurrection to our littlest
Sunday School class. When Jesus was buried, one little boy who knew the story pretty well turned to a buddy and said, 'He's dead now, but he'll be back.”’

Well beloved, He is risen! Because He lives we can have hope grounded in the fact of the resurrection. I Love To Tell The Story!

As some of you know, I have two sons. As they have grown up, I have sometimes went with their Mother when it was time for clothes. A few years ago, I saw this line of clothing called - No Fear. I laughed when I saw it. No fear. That’s a great concept, but it hasn’t entered reality yet, or has it?


What do you fear the most? Losing your job? Losing your family? Losing your life?

Many times I have stood looked into red swollen eyes as we gathered around an open hole in the ground and told them straight from Jesus’ heart through my lips, “Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies.” John 11:25 That is resurrection power!

Hear me! Most of us before we came to know Christ saw the enemy we could not fake out, could not dodge, could never get around as death. Everything else was important, sure, but our death or the death of the ones we love was too much to bear.

But listen! Here come the women back from the empty tomb telling us the story. Of an angel’s question, and empty tomb, and a risen savior! Death is no longer final. Nothing is!

One thing I have learned for certain as I have lived the last few years is that there are events in this life that will happen and they will hurt. Sickness may come. Death may claim loved ones. We may find ourselves not being able to do what we used to do easily. Finances come together, finances fall apart. Life, this vapor we inhabit just now, is not easy. But in Jesus and His resurrection, we find that nothing can defeat us. There is no reason to fear.

Not disease - for in heaven, there is no such thing as cancer or Alzheimer’s.
Not handicaps - for our bodies will be perfect. Those disabled now will leap to their feet to embrace Jesus. The blind will see the source of all light. The deaf will hear the praise of heaven.

Wow! What a story! No wonder the women were in a hurry to tell it.

I love to tell the story of Jesus -

It has resurrection power over the past. The “If only’s” Many here today have deep and lasting regrets over things that have happened in their past.
If only I had had parent’s that loved me more.
If only I had studied harder, stayed in school, made more of my life.
If only I hadn’t gotten married so soon, or at all.
If only I had married him, or her.
If only my children had not disappointed me.
If only…

Well, we started this story in a cemetery. A place where the past lies buried forever. But in this cemetery, the Lord of the Living is risen to triumph over death, the grave is empty, ready to receive your regrets. Give your if only’s to Jesus. Let the Lord of life give you victory over your past. He will set you free and as the Bible says, “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

The resurrection of Jesus has power over the past.

And power over the present.
A missionary was speaking to a remote tribe of people who had never heard
about the life and ministry of Jesus. Seated in the front row, listening intently
to all the missionary had to say, was the chief of the tribe. As the story of Jesus came to its climax and the chief heard how Christ was cruelly crucified, he could restrain himself no longer. He jumped up and cried, "Stop! Take Him down from the cross! I belong there, not Him!" He had grasped the meaning of the gospel; he understood that he was a sinner, and that Christ was the sinless One.

As you consider that scene of the Son of God hanging on the cross in agony,
with blood flowing from His wounds, can you say from your heart, "I belong
there!?" The Christian can, and then thank God for Jesus.

I tell the story for me, but what about you?

Can you see yourself as the reason Jesus had to die? For your sins? Can you understand that even while you were still sinning, God sent His Son to die, for you? Can you accept that great a love?

Then go one step further and put your trust in Him as your Savior, so
that you can say with Paul, "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer
I who live, but Christ lives in me" (Gal. 2:20). Jesus took our place and died
in our stead. Because He bore our sins, He has opened the way for us to be
brought into fellowship with the Father.

Can you say, "I belong there?" If you can, then you have a story to tell.

Whoever you are today, however black your sins may be, right now, this moment, you can say “I belong up there” and claim Jesus as your personal savior. Right now. That’s resurrection power! That no matter how dead you may be inside, Jesus can give you life again, make you a new creation.

Do you have that Christian? Do you want that fellow sinner? This story doesn’t end in the cemetery - see for the Christian, the end is just the beginning. And I love to tell the story of Jesus and His love.

Where We're Failing

Churches have failed in their obligation to teach relevant, interesting, and insightful map-reading skills. There are more and more Bibles and more and more translations, but we have little encouragement and direction as to how to read the map—this precious word, this Word of God. This is not just a pastor’s, a scholar’s, or seminary student’s task, but it is the responsibility of all Christians. We have, generally speaking, become unskilled and illiterate map readers, and this is bound to carry with it grave consequences for our spirituality and our churches.

HTLiving Spirituality: The Exodus Church - Part 6