A Good Death

I’ve been thinking a lot about death this week.

                I know, that probably sounds a little morbid, perhaps just plain weird to you. So, let me explain.

                As I am writing this it is the first week of November, which in the church where I serve as pastor means All Saints Day. The first Sunday in November we celebrate this day by sharing together in Holy Communion, recognizing the Communion of the saints around us, and name those saints who have moved on to heaven this past year. The word “saint”, by the way, means “holy” or “different”, which is what we are all called to be as followers of Jesus. All Christians are, because of the forgiveness of sins and the holiness given us by Christ Jesus, saints.

                So I have been thinking about the saints who are no longer physically here.

                November also marks the 2 year anniversary of my mom moving to heaven, so I’ve been thinking about that.

                And in my planning for All Saints Sunday, and in thinking about all these saints,  I have been working on a sermon entitled, “Dying a Good Death”.

                I think that’s important, that idea of “dying a good death”. Maybe you’ve never thought about that, or maybe you don’t even want to think about that. I get it. I really do. But death is an inevitable part of life here on this planet until Jesus returns. And death is not a final ending event.

Death is more….transitional.

 In death we move from earthly life to eternal life, from our temporary home to our heavenly home, from mortal bodies to eternal bodies.

                Jesus said, “I have come that (you) may life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10b), and later says, “unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds (life)” (John 12:24-25).

              

                I hear a lot of talk about living a “good life”, like that’s the goal of this life here on earth. And mostly when we talk about living a good life we talk about things: a good job, a big house, a nice car, a good marriage, a reliable income, a solid retirement. Stuff.

                Sometimes maybe we mention family and friends as being important in “the good life”.

                All of these things are good, and can be important. There is nothing wrong with having a drive for achievement, unless the drive for achievement has you.

                But maybe living a good life is really found in being able to die a good death.

                I’m not being morbid again, bear with me.

                John Wesley, the man who is named as a father of the Methodist movement, is reported to have said, in his last words on his death bed, “And the best of all, God is with us.”

                That’s pretty impactful, especially to those who were gathered around him as he took his last breath in this life and his first breath in eternity.

                And do you remember Stephen from the book of Acts? When he was being killed for his faith, stoned in the streets by people who claimed to be the religious ones of the day, Stephen looked up to the skies and said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. Lord, Jesus, receive my spirit. Lord, do not hold this sin against them” (Acts 7:56, 59b).

                Maybe in dying a good death we can see what is truly important in life. Maybe in dying a good death we can offer forgiveness of those who wronged us because we really understand how much forgiveness that God has offered to us. Maybe in dying a good death we can ask God to be merciful to others, because we realize how much mercy has been shown to us. Maybe in dying a good death we will see the heavens opened, and our Lord Jesus waiting on the right hand side of the throne of God the Father, ready to bring us safely home.

                And maybe if this is a good death, then that helps us to have the right perspective to live a good life. Maybe in thinking a little about death in the right way, it will help us live life the right way as well.

                                 

Delivered from "fear"

I love how all the Psalms are written from real life experience. Some of them we know the situations that were happening in the lives of the writer, others we are simply left with a beautiful verse of praise and adoration, or a heartfelt questioning of wondering and asking.

            This morning I read Psalm 34. There is quite a story behind this psalm! You can read it in 1 Samuel 21:10-15. It is a psalm of David, and one that I think we could talk about for days.

Why don’t you grab your Bible and let’s read it together, ok?

There are so many amazing verses in here, imagery that is painted by David’s skillful artistic use of words as he reflects on a time when God heard him and God saved him.

We have all had times like that. Probably more than we even realize. But one verse really stuck out to me today.

“I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears” (verse 4).

First David sought the Lord. That might seem obvious, but I think it’s important to say. We seek after many things in life, even on a daily basis. And while God should be the primary object of our seeking, the reality is that on some days we can get distracted by many other things. In fact there are many other things, even right now at this very moment that I am writing this and this very moment that you are reading this that are vying for our attention and our focus.

There is a beautiful promise from God that is tucked away in part of a letter that the prophet Jeremiah wrote to the exiles living in Babylon after the Babylonian king Nebuchannezar destroyed Jerusalem and took Judah captive, and it reads, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with your whole heart. I will be found by you”, declares the Lord’. (Jeremiah 29:13-14a)

Not just sort of seeking God, not just seeking God when you close your eyes to make your request in prayer, not just seeking God in the minutes spent in the morning reading your Bible, but a life spent seeking God, first and foremost and above all things.

That’s why Jesus said, “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33a).

So, Davis did that, he sought the Lord, earnestly and intently, and with his whole heart.

And then God answered David.

That’s what the Lord promised Jeremiah, that He would be found when He is sought.

God is not hiding, He is simply waiting for us to seek Him completely.

But here is the most compelling part for me today, the last part of that psalm verse says, “he delivered me from my fears”.

Fear.

If you read the background from the psalm that is found in 1 Samuel there is plenty that David needs to be delivered from, in particular from Achish, the king of Gath. And the background of that scenario is that David is also fleeing from Saul, the king of Israel.

Yet David does not thank the Lord for delivering him from Saul, nor from Achish. He says that he sought God, and that his prayers were answered, and that he was delivered from his fears.

I wonder what fears the Lord would like to deliver you from today. What fears are you facing that, perhaps is even preventing you from fully seeking the Lord with all your heart, and from fully loving the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and loving your neighbor as yourself?
            There is another psalm that says, “Say to God, ‘How awesome are your deeds! So great is your power that your enemies cringe before you” (Psalm 66:3).

Fear is an enemy of God, and fear cowers before the Lord God of hosts because God is love and perfect love casts out all fear (1 John 4:18).

And while there were plenty of things (and people!) that David needed delivered from, he needed delivered from his fear at this moment in his life so that he could fully move in direction God was leading him, so that he could fully seek God with his whole heart, and so that he could fully praise God with his life.

May you seek God fully this day. May He answer you. And may your fear be cast aside so you can be fully delivered from its hold and bondage. And may you believe, not in a spirit of fear but rather in the spirit of power in which you have been clothed in the name of Jesus, that while “the righteous person may have many troubles, the Lord delivers him from them all” (Psalm 34:17).

#Unveiled

            One of my favorite short stories is “The Minister’s Black Veil” by Nathaniel Hawthorne. He is probably more remembered for “The House of Seven Gables” and “The Scarlet Letter”, but this Black Veil short story was my favorite of his.

            If you’ve never read it you can read it for free online through many public domain sites, or grab a copy of an anthology of classic American literature and you will probably find it in there.

           (Or, if you're OK reading a classic like this online rather than without the warm musty book in hand, you can here: https://www.ibiblio.org/eldritch/nh/mbv.html)

            The story is about Rev. Hooper, a well loved and kind parson who one day shows up in town with a black veil over his face. The townspeople were confused as to why Rev Hooper would do this, and they all talked much about it amongst themselves, but no one asked him. Perhaps, they thought, this is some odd idiosyncrasy that will end at some time in the near future.

            But it did not. Day after day and week and week and month after month and year after year Rev Hooper wore the black veil every day. Reports were that he never took it off, and even slept in the horrid black veil, seeing every minute of his life and every person he encountered through the shadow of the dark cloth.

            And while the speculations grew about what Rev Hooper could possibly have done to warrant in his own mind to cover his face in shame with the black veil, no one asked, and he continued to don this most disgracing display.

       (Ca you guess who's under the mask in this French film portrayal of Hawthorne's classic?)

   

  I won’t tell you the short story ends, you need to read it yourself. But I will say that it is a parable, and there is a biblical connection to Hawthorne’s story.

            Exodus 34 tells us of Moses going up Mt Sinai to meet with God regularly, and that when he came down from the mountain to where the people were gathered his face was shining, literally glowing, with the glory of God. Being in the presence of God changed Moses’ expression. But the people were scared, this was a strange thing happening to Moses every time he went up the mountain, so in a merciful gesture toward the Israelite people, Moses wore a veil over his face to cover up the glory until it faded away.

            Later, in 2 Corinthian chapter 3, the apostle Paul references this event and how Moses covered his face with a veil to hide the glory of God, but Paul uses this to say that there is a veil that covers many people today, and that “whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away”.

            Here’s my point with all this for us right now. I think that many people still wear a veil to cover up what they don’t want others to see. Maybe it’s from a feeling of shame for what you did in the past, or perhaps what was done to you. Maybe it’s because of a perceived short coming that is in your life today. Whatever it is, we often try to hide this. Even in church.

            Maybe we put this veil on right before we see people, or maybe we have worn it so long that we don’t ever take it off, like Rev Hooper.

            Maybe we can’t take it off. Maybe that’s the point Paul is making in that Corinthian passage, when he says it is “only in Christ is it (the veil) taken away”.

            Here’s what I want to encourage you to today: take the veil off. If you are wearing something that is covering up who you are, or trying to cover up a past experience because that seems easier than doing the hard work of dealing with it, trust that “in Christ” the veil can be removed. And when that happens, when the Holy Spirit has this opportunity to work in and on you, then you will reflect God’s glory, even on your face for others to see!

            Sometimes we spend so much time on what was that we miss what is and will never experience what will be.

            By God’s grace, may you reflect God’s glory today with unveiled faces through a bold hope in Jesus. And after you read Hawthorne’s short story, pair that with Paul’s message in 2 Corinthians 3:12-18.

            Today be #Unveiled!

Stuck in a Loop

Last month Heather and I went to see “Yesterday”. It’s a movie about a struggling singer/songwriter named Jack who just can’t get a break in his musical career. And then through a strange cosmic time-warp event the world is moved into a parallel universe where the Beatle’s never existed. So, Jack begins singing Beatles songs as if they were his own, and then records them and becomes the biggest singer/songwriter in history (until he can’t live the lie anymore and comes clean and goes back to his job as a teacher, married and living happily ever after).

            The point I want to make today is that when Jack was recording all these Beatles hits he had to sing them, then play all the instruments, and then record the background tracks. This is a recording process called looping. Looping is where you record a track and just let it play over and over, and then add something new (like vocals or percussion) over top of it to create a new element to the song.

            Here’s how I think this relates to us spiritually. We can get stuck in that loop, that same rhythm that just loops over and over and over and over. If we could add something new to it we could change the tune completely, we often don’t.

            Maybe there was an event that happened in your past where you were hurt, or betrayed. And that event becomes the defining aspect of your life. You’re stuck in that loop.

            Or maybe it was the death of a loved one, or a divorce, or an end to a career that you didn’t anticipate or even see coming and you were caught off guard, knocked for a ‘loop’, or completely deflated of any desire to trust or to be engaged with others again. You’re stuck in that loop.

            Or maybe it was a diagnosis that left you reeling and confused, where were the answers to all those prayers for God’s healing? You’re stuck in that loop.

            The Hebrew people knew this as well. Exodus recounts the stories of God’s miraculous and amazing deliverance of His people from captivity in Egypt. He guides them on their trip to this new “promised land” where He would fulfill His promise to Abraham to make them a great nation, as numerous as the sand on the seashore. And when they get to the edge of the promise, they stop.

            The people who live in this land are like giants, and we are like grasshoppers compared to them! (Numbers 13).

            So, the people revert back. They lament and wish they were still in Egypt as slaves (we tend to live with a captive mentality most of the time). They even talk about how much being better being in slavery was than the situation where they were in at the time. They went back to their loop, and they were stuck (again!).

            Sometimes even the loop might have started out as a good routine, But maybe now your day is that you get up, read your Bible, go to work, come home, watch TV, go to bed, get up, read your Bible, go to work, come home, watch TV, go to bed, get up…..

            And you’re stuck in a loop.

            Loops deprive us of the joy of life. Loops keep us circling the same path when God is calling us to check out a new direction He has for us. Loops keeps us focused on how things are, or even how things used to be, rather than seeing how things could be or what God is already doing now!

            In fact, hear these words from Isaiah (this passage was written for the people of Judah as they were preparing to be sent into Babylonian exile):

This is what the Lord says—he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together,
and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick: “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!  Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. (Isaiah 43:16-19)

            How do you get out of a loop? You can’t change the loop that has been playing, that is in the past. But you can allow God to add in a new melody overtop of it. God says he drew you out of that past. So don’t dwell on it! God is doing a new thing. Not will do. Not might do. He is doing it, making a path, providing a provision, showing a new way, adding in a riff….

            Do you see it?