Keurig Patience

I am writing this week’s column from the beach, Oak Island, NC to be exact. This is our annual family beach trip. We have been coming here for the past 8 years or so, and we have stayed at the same condo complex each time, but we have stayed in different condo units. We are creatures of habit, I suppose. But we have found something that we like and we have stuck with it. This works for us. All of the condos are laid out the same, and inside they are all furnished about the same, and we don’t come for the condo décor anyway, we come for the beach.

                One thing that we do check in the amenities list is what kind of coffee maker the unit has. I know, this might sound a little trite, but Heather and I really do like our coffee. So we need to know, is there a conventional coffee maker, or is there a Keurig. We have a Keurig at home, and I guess we are a little spoiled by it. Anyway, this year SSV #202 at Oak Island, NC showed it had a Keurig. So we brought 48 K-Cups with us (and other than Little Debbie’s and bottles of water this was the only food we brought).

                When we arrived at the condo we saw a very nice Black & Decker 12-cup coffee maker, but no Keurig. We searched the cabinets. We looked in the closets. No Keurig. No problem. We had to go to Food Lion to get real food anyway, so we bought coffee filters and coffee. It’s all good, we are on vacation, after all.

                Sunday morning I sat waiting for the coffee maker to brew. It wasn’t a pause-n-brew. And I waited. And waited. It seemed like I waited longer for this cup of coffee than I had ever waited for any cup of coffee ever in my entire life of waiting for coffee.

                And then I realized that I have Keurig-patience. Not with everything, mind you. In some things I feel that I am a pretty patient person. This has been an area where God has grown me over the years, and I thank Him for that and recognize that while I am not where I need to be, I am not where I used to be either.

                Colossians 1:10-11 says, “live a life worthy of the Lord a please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you might have great endurance and patience”.

                We are all growing in this Christian life; growing in grace, growing in love, growing in understanding, and, yes, growing in patience.

                And while we may grow in our patience with waiting on hearing God, or in our interactions with family members, maybe there is a patience involved in little things in life…like waiting on the coffee to brew. It’s in these little day-to-day activities and times of waiting that we need the Black & Decker-patience, not the Keurig-patience. We need the patience to just be still and wait, not just in the monumental life-changing decisions that need to be made, but also in the little ordinary decisions that might not seem to have such a huge impact on our lives.

                Because it is in these little things, like waiting for coffee to brew, that we can experience God. Maybe these are times in our day that He has given us to connect with him. During that long brew cycle, that red light, that train that has blocked your road, or that mid-day power outage where you can’t watch TV or surf the web.

                Maybe these are times we have with our Lord. Maybe these are times we are growing. Growing from the Keurig to the Black & Decker.

                May God bless you this week, and may you grow in patience, even if it is during the brew cycle.

                

Sweet Spot

             Sometimes articles, blogs, and sermon prep seems to come easy. It like a quiet conversation where all the information and parts and pieces just come together in simple and peaceful harmony. That is no doubt a Divine time.

               And at other times none of it comes easy. This column has been the latter. After a day of starting and stopping with different ideas that all dead ended by the third paragraph, today I took a trip downtown to one of my favorite stores, Mauk’s. Of course I love the merchandise in Mauk’s, but I also love the people there too.

               And while sitting on the world’s most comfortable couch talking with Mary Ann about church, mission trips, and children, she recalled a time her daughter had asked her, “do you think God has a sweet spot for me?”   

               And there it was.

               The Sweet Spot.

               What a beautiful picture, right? I played baseball when I was younger so the thought of the Sweet Spot automatically brought me back to those swings that connected with the pitch and you didn’t even feel the ball hit the bat. Yeah, that was the Sweet Spot.

               I have heard golfers talk about that Sweet Spot when teeing off the perfect drive. Even tennis players have a sweet spot between ball and racquet.

               And when you think about it, we do too. Not a sweet spot where you pack on a few extra pounds from your love of red velvet cake, but a Divine Sweet Spot. A holy place in your soul, where when met with a holy activity, results in a perfected driven purpose.

               Most people I know live their lives looking for their sweet spot. But I don’t think we find it by looking for it.

               “For I know the plans I have you”, declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”. (Jeremiah 29:11)

               “You (Lord) created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb”. (Psalm 139:13)

               “I (God) will sustain you, I have made you and I will carry you. I will sustain you and I will rescue you”. (Isaiah 46:4)

               “And we know in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose”. (Romans 8:28)

               And the list of verses could go on and on. Reminders and promises of God’s abiding presence, love and direction.

               We find it in connection with doing, serving, loving, and being the created being the Creator created us to be.

And where and when this all meets in us, when our life (our daily, ordinary, working and walking, eating and playing, average life) meets our Sweet Spot (that Divine-infused, holy purpose-filled and love driven, resolute tenacity of our core true being) then we are living with holy purpose.

In 2005 Max Lucado published a book entitled “Cure for the Common Life”. If you feel that you aren’t living life in your Sweet Spot, I would recommend this book to you. Perhaps you need to really understand yourself, who you are in light of the One who created you. Or perhaps you need to re-evaluate what you are doing, or maybe why you are doing it. Perhaps it is your motives, perhaps it is your heart.

But once you find and live into your Sweet Spot, I promise that you will know it.

“I have come that you might have life, and have it abundantly”—Jesus. (John 10:10)

And that abundant life is found in your Sweet Spot.

Time Capsule Reflections

May is once again going to be a busy month for me. We have had our community spring revival week and National Day of Prayer. I have plans made for church trips in June. I am registered for classes I need to take this fall. And school is out in a couple of weeks for summer. That’s always a pretty big deal around my house. But this year the month of May marks another pretty big deal: High School Graduation.

               My second oldest will graduate from David Crockett High School this month.

“Two down/three to go”, I tell my wife. But the reality is that this is both exciting and sad, relieving and frightening. We have produced another adult that is heading into the world. I hope we did well. I think we did all we could do, even if we didn’t at times do all that we should have done.

So this has got me thinking about when I graduated high school. I have also read these blog posts of great writers and modern day theologians of what they would tell their younger selves if they could. Of course they can’t, but the whole idea of being able to go back in time, or write a letter that your 18 year old self would discover in an old show box, is a fascinating idea. That’s the stuff good B-movies are made out of.

But maybe if we knew what we would write to our younger self to advise or warn about, maybe that would help us in what needs to be said now to the young men and women who are graduating high school this month. Maybe we do have some tips (other than ‘don’t eat the yellow snow’ or ‘pull my finger’) that would actually be helpful.

When I was younger I spent a lot of time making things more complicated than they had to be. As I get older I spend more time trying to keep it simple. Because what matters really is just that, simple. In 2010 United Methodist bishop Reuben Job published a small little book based on John Wesley’s General Rules entitled “Three Simple Rules; A Wesleyan Way of Living”.

So I have been thinking about my 18 year old self in this context. What would I say to myself? I have seen Huffington Post articles such as “52 Things I would tell my Younger Self”. First off I know that it would have be to short and sweet, 52 things is waaayyyy to many,  my 18 year old self didn’t have a very long attention span, in fact my 40 year old self...wait a minute, I forgot what I was going to say…

Maybe keeping it to 3 things is a good idea. And maybe that Wesleyan list is a pretty solid place to start. Here are a few things I would tell my younger past myself, and so perhaps would also offer up to our graduates today, for what it’s worth. Here are my time-capsule reflections:

·        Do no harm.

Don’t do harm to yourself. Just because someone tells you it’ll make you feel good doesn’t mean that you have to drink it, smoke it, snort it, or swallow it. Don’t do harm to others. You don’t always have to say exactly what it is on your mind at every moment. Your words have consequences. Don’t harm the world. It’s been here a long time, and God willing it will be here a long time after you are gone, so take care of it.  Your actions have consequences.  Smile and laugh.

·        Do good.

Every day do something good for yourself. You are a special creation. Take care of yourself. Enjoy that second helping of red velvet cake, just take a little extra time tonight to go walking, make that a habit every day. And when you walk enjoy this amazing creation that you are part of, and pray. Talk to God. He really does hear every thought, trust me I know that now from experience. Do good to others. It’s the little things that matter and that you will remember. Call for no reason. Drop by to visit. Help out when you are asked without making excuses. One day you might get married and have children. Play with your children every day, hug them every day, and tell them you love them every day. Kiss your spouse many times every day, and have a date night every week. Be fun to be around, nothing is really worth being miserable over, no matter how it seems at the time.

·        Love God.

This is the crux of it all. I realize this now. The job, house, car, vacations weren’t the main things. Even the family, as much as you love them, isn’t the main thing. The main thing is your relationship with God. A relationship based on reciprocated love. You will get to a point where you really do enjoy reading your Bible, this will be a time you treasure during the day. So go ahead and get into the habit of it now, just one verse a day. Some habits aren’t all that bad. Find a church where you feel like family and get involved by doing some of those good things we were talking about. This is important because you can’t do this life thing alone, and God has put other people around you to help you, love you, and care for you.

And finally, don’t do the mullet and parachute pants. It’ really not a good fashion idea. And those pictures will still be around 30 years later.

The Resistance

Acts 11:1-18 is actually a retelling of an event that happened in Acts 10. There we see that Peter was still in the city of Joppa and had a vision of this animal filled blanket, while at the same time God was speaking to a Gentile man named Cornelius who was praying to a God he didn’t completely understand or have correct info on, and God told him to send for Peter. Peter came, reluctantly, to this man’s house and shares a message of a God who doesn’t play favorites, of a God who is no longer designating clean and unclean and of a God who will fully accept anyone, of any nationality, of any race, if they call upon his name.

Down came the blanket with those creepy, crawling snakes and birds and pigs and other animals on it.  In fact, the heavenly blanket came down three times. And each time the blanket descended, Peter said, "No, not me!"

Peter's response to God's picnic invitation was not mere squeamishness.  Peter found the menu repulsing.  None of those animals was acceptable food for a Jewish person.  Peter's "no" welled up from deep within him.  An observant Jew, Peter had spent a lifetime trying to remain ritually clean.  His "no" to the heavenly invitation was the reactive, reflexive result of years of religious learning & conditioning. 

But God was dropping the blanket, God was tearing down a wall.

You can’t watch much TV these days, particularly CNN or FOX News without hearing something about fences or walls. We as a human race have done a good job building fences-to keep people out or to keep mother-nature in, and building walls to protect what is ours.

Robert Frost, in his poem The Mending Wall has a conversation going on with someone wanting to wall things in or wall things out and this person says “good fences make good neighbors”.

Some fences are a little harder to see, some seem almost invisible.

An invisible fence has two components:  a wire buried along the desired boundary and a dog collar that sounds whenever the boundary is approached, finally, a mildly unpleasant tingling sensation from the collar whenever crossed over.  So with practice and conditioning, dogs learn to stay in the backyard.  The fence is still there, the boundary is still up, even if you can’t see it.

In our passage from Acts, the blanket from heaven carried with it the promise of God's unimaginable generosity for all humankind. God's blanket was blotting out the boundary between Jew and Gentile, a boundary that God said was now unnecessary because of Jesus.  What God had made clean was clean indeed.   For Peter, Gentiles were as unclean as the weird cuisine in the dream.  Peter refused God's invitation to get up and eat, three times. But the story isn’t really just about food, food was the analogy played out in the dream.

The food represented people in the dream to Peter, and it still does today. For Peter the people were Gentiles, which was every non-Jewish person, which is us.

For us, who does the food represent? What walls are we hiding behind in our lives? What invisible fences are we afraid to cross? 

Resist evil, oppression, and injustice is what we said we would do as Christians in our United Methodist baptismal covenant. Sometimes resistance to evil means standing up for people that the church herself has deemed unfit for membership or ministry. In our own Methodist history just a couple hundred years ago John and Charles Wesley spoke boldly against slavery of all sorts, and in particular the practice of enslaving people of African descent. And still today we are seeking to resist and eradicate the racist attitudes that are so deeply embedded in our American Christianity.

Alienating, or rounding up, or labeling, or building a bigger wall to maintain a division of a particular group of people based on their ethnicity is hate, it is fear, and this Spirit that Peter was talking about is not a Spirit of fear.

And although the biblical accounts are clear that women held significant positions in early Christianity, since the church began woman have been refused certain leadership positions in the church. Even today, in the majority of Christian communities woman are not allowed to preach or teach men in the church. Methodists began to ordain women in 1956 and today women outnumber men in our seminaries, but in this facet we are still chipping away at the invisible fence.

Closer to home, and maybe closer to our hearts, Jesus calls us to cross invisible fences that separate us from those who have hurt us or those whom we have hurt, so that we may see and love others just as God sees them and loves them. Peter had to get up and go to Corneleus’ house, maybe there is someone’s house we need to get up and got to also. We are called to be Christ’s representatives in this world, we are on this mission of love and reconciliation as part of our mission from God, our missio dei.

Fred Craddock, a Tennessee pastor and Emory professor, said,  "To give my life for Christ appears glorious, To pour myself out for others. . . to pay the ultimate price of martyrdom -- I'll do it. I'm ready, Lord, to go out in a blaze of glory. We think giving our all to the Lord is like taking $l,000 bill and laying it on the table-- 'Here's my life, Lord. I'm giving it all.' But the reality for most of us is that God sends us to the bank and has us cash in the $l,000 for quarters. We go through life putting out 25 cents here and 25 cents there".

Listen to a friend’s troubles. Go to a committee meeting, or visit a church member in the hospital or just call someone to check on them. Volunteer to cook a Wed night meal, or set up chairs or help with VBS. Feeding a meal at the Melting Pot or Shades of Grace. Bringing in items to your church for families here in our area that don’t have them. Usually giving our life to Christ isn't glorious. It's done in all those little acts of love, a quarter, at a time. It would be easy to go out in a blaze of glory for Jesus; it's harder to live the Christian life a quarter by quarter over the long haul."

Through the mystery of the incarnation, God showed up for us in the person of Jesus Christ.  And the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us, still dwells here among us today, God is indeed with us, as we see Christ in other people, Christ who calls us to a conversion of our own heart so that we may cross the invisible fences that separate us from each other.

And often all of this resisting of evil, injustice, and oppression, is done in small, little steps.

The Kingdom and the Tunnel

Last week I had to drive to Barbourville, KY to take a class on New Testament studies. The class was primarily dealing with the gospels of Matthew and Mark during that first weekend. The gospel of Mark is believed to have been the first of the gospels written, and that Matthew is an extended account of what is in Mark (Matthew is twelve chapters longer). As you read Matthew you will notice that there are many themes in this book of the Bible that characterize the purpose and the audience to whom this was originally written. These themes are important to understanding what Matthew was saying about Jesus, and these themes are important to us today as we grow in our understanding and relationship with Jesus.

               One of the major themes in Matthew is “the kingdom of heaven”. Throughout Matthew’s gospel Jesus says that this kingdom has come near. And it is in Matthew’s gospel where we have Jesus teaching his disciples a model prayer (Matthew 6:9-13) that today we know as The Lord’s Prayer. Here is this traditional version of this prayer that many people have memorized:

Our Father, which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come. 
Thy will be done in earth, 
As it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive them that trespass against us. 
And lead us not into temptation, 
But deliver us from evil. 
For thine is the kingdom, 
The power, and the glory, 
For ever and ever. 
Amen.

            In this prayer, Jesus taught us to pray that God’s kingdom come and that God’s will be done here on earth as it is in heaven. The phrase “the kingdom of God” or “the kingdom of heaven” can be broadly defined as God’s rule and reign over all creation, but is also a very personal spiritual realm where God is the ruler of the hearts and lives of those who willingly submit to His kingship and His kingdom.

            Jesus said over and over that God’s kingdom was coming near. Some people just couldn’t see that at the time. Some people still can’t today.

            When I was on my way to that class at Union College in Barborville, KY I had to go through a tunnel leaving Tennessee and entering into Kentucky, the Cumberland Gap Tunnel. It was my first time going through it, and I didn’t know that it was there until I was right up on it and then right inside of it. Now I don’t have anything against tunnels really, but there is something about the concept of a concrete hole going through the bottom of a mountain that I am not a huge fan of. Plus I have seen enough movies were being in a long tunnel like that can be hazardous to your health. If you’ve seen Independence Day you know what I mean.

            So I was driving through this tunnel and I knew that at some point I would be out of it. I knew that eventually I would be in Kentucky. But when I first got into the tunnel I couldn’t see where it ended. So I just kept driving, which by the way is the smart (and legal) thing to do when you are in a tunnel.  As I got closer to the end I could see a glimmer of the opening, not the whole thing, but it was a start. So I kept on driving. Then I could see the opening get a little bigger, then a little bigger still, then I was out of the tunnel. I knew the opening was there all along, I just couldn’t see the entire thing because I was too far away to start with, then as I got closer there were cars in front of me blocking my view.

            The kingdom of heaven is sort of like that. Mortimer Arias, in his book Announcing the Reign of God, referred to this as an “eclipse of the kingdom”. He described the kingdom of heaven like an eclipse, where you can see part of something, but it is being slightly obscured by something else, but you still know it’s there.

            The kingdom is partially here because Jesus was here, ushering in a new revelation of the kingdom of God and bringing us all closer to its completion. In another sense the kingdom is still out there down the road, and we can’t see all of what it is going to be when we get there, but we know it’s there, even if the view is partially blocked right now.

            So while we are travelling this tunnel together, moving toward the light of the kingdom together, let’s pray together that God’s will be done here on earth as it is heaven, and that His kingdom come.

            “Marantha, come Lord Jesus” (1 Corinthians 16:22b).

Tune Out the Doubt

I wish we could just pray for blessings, and it’s done, it’s all good, you’ll never have another ache or pain again, your teenage daughter will never roll her eyes when you ask her to do the dishes because she will be filled with purpose and her countenance will shine with the glory of God like the angelic hosts of heaven! But the fact is you may ask God to bring light to your situation and the sky keeps getting darker.   

Mark 5:21-43 deals with a situation just like that. Someone asked God to do something big, and it seemed like a miracle was going to happen, the prayer is getting answered, change is coming, the faith is rising, things are getting ready to turn around, then BAM! Things get worse.

Jairus had a sick daughter, and Jesus was on his way to heal her, but she died before Jesus got there.

So here is the paradox of walking in faith and trusting God for big things. You want to see God move in your life? You want to see God use you? You want to see God come through? On one hand you’ve got God speaking inside of you, giving you hope that it’s possible, and the Biblical promise is that all things all possible to him who believes. And God is saying it is possible, you can break through, you can break free, you can make a difference. And then you’ve got the enemy right there in the other ear saying “why even bother”.

If you’re going to walk in faith and do great things for God then you’re going to have to learn Mark 5:36a (the key word is “ignored”). There are going to be times when people around you, even the voice inside of you, says it’s not possible, that you can’t do it, that nobody has ever done it, why even bother?

Here’s what I think about those things. If it’s never been done before maybe that’s because God intends for me to do it. Maybe God has left this thing for me to do. If it’s never been done before maybe you’re alive at this very moment in time to do it.

We’ve got to learn to tune out the doubt. And that’s what Jesus did.

A little girl is dead, I don’t want to hear about that, let’s go. See, from a human perspective the situation doesn’t get much worse than this, a 12 yr old girl is dead. But God doesn’t look at our situations the same way that we look at our situations!

If the situation seems dead, if it seems lifeless, if it seems broken, if it seems there is no hope, God can resurrect it.

On the one hand is why bother, on the other hand is just believe. And the smartest thing that Jairus does in this situation is he keeps his mouth shut and does what Jesus says.

That’s a great strategy for us when we find ourselves in a situation where it looks like everything is against what God has promised, you’ve got to keep his promises in the front and center of your life, keep your mouth shut and follow Jesus back to the house.

There is still doubt, it seems like the situation is dead. Doubt is like a telemarketer, the best strategy is to never even pick up the phone.

May you displace all of your doubts with the promises of God. Just believe. 

Are you just dealing with your IBT?

By now you have had probably had your fill of hollow chocolate bunnies and Reese cups in the shape of eggs. Easter Sunday was a few days ago, and this is the pinnacle story for the human race. It points us to the purpose, the meaning, the focus, of what God wants to do in the lives of each human being and it leads us to the real hope in life, found in the resurrection of Jesus. The freedom that we are searching for can only be found in Jesus.

But this is important: It was a 3 day deal. Friday Jesus died. Sunday the tomb is empty. Saturday night is only mentioned once in the Bible (in Mark) as a day that some women had bought the burial spices that they would take Sunday morning to properly anoint Jesus’ body, other than that the Bible seems to say this was a day of total silence. To appreciate Easter you have to understand the totality of the story.

When Jesus showed up on the scene there were people who had been expecting him for a long time. It’s not he just showed up one day and started telling some neat stories and telling people to follow him so they did. The real followers of Jesus has been anticipating the arrival of a messiah since they were a child. This carpenter’s son, this teacher, rabbi, he was different than anyone who had ever lived. He talked about the kingdom of heaven being “out there” but also “in here” inside of us. He talked about God in a loving relationship and he spoke of freedom and healing. So people decided to follow, drop everything, left jobs and families, and walked with him day after day for about three years. They saw the healings, and people’s sins forgiven, and weights lifted off of them as they are set free.

Then there was a special meal, then a prayer in the garden, a betrayal, an arrest, and then a death on a cross.

Jesus told these followers all this would happen, but they didn’t really hear him. They had dreams of how their life would go, and they watched these dreams get nailed to a cross, and watched these dreams get laid dead in a borrowed tomb.

Saturday was the in between day. An IBT, not an IBS, but it can feel like it.

Dead rabbis had a tendency to stay dead, they were in the in between time of Saturday. The in between times are between despair and hope, the IBT are between life and darkeness, the IBT are between failure and freedom.

The IBT is the place where most people actually live.

It is the time between the diagnosis and the final outcome, the divorce and fresh start, between the pain and the healing, between the failure and the success, between death and an actual life out there somewhere. That’s where the struggle is, in the IBT. That’s where the regret is, guilt, anxiety, frustration, loss and emptiness, loneliness.

There are some options for living with the IBT:

1. Face up: Just face up to the fact that’s just the way its gonna be, I wasn’t created for positive stuff in my life. I was never meant to have anything special. I am just ordinary. I can’t be anything, I don’t matter. This doesn’t work for long.
2. Clean up: Jus get your act together. Go to church, read your Bible, try to live a good life, and maybe things will be better. This doesn’t work either. But there is a third option.
3. Give up: Not give up hope, but give up trying to be in control, being you own savior, give up bitterness, anger, failure, shortcoming, loneliness, depression, the pride…and the reason you give up is because of Easter.

The old you got nailed to the cross with Jesus. The old you got put in a borrowed tomb with Jesus, And when Jesus stepped out of the tomb on Easter Sunday he stared death straight in the face and death ran away, and what means is that we have a chance to get up today and actually be free!

               But it all depends on how you choose to live with your IBT. Let’s take this week after Easter and really give it up, really let go and let God, realize that God is good all the time, and live into the life that we were created to live.