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?

Following Jesus...at a Distance

I’ve been thinking a lot about discipleship lately. Maybe because that was one of the classes I took this summer at Duke, Evangelism and Discipleship. Maybe because I had planned a summer preaching and teaching series on this at the two churches I serve as pastor. Maybe just because God has really laid this on my heart as being something we need to talk about more.

            And so I’ve been immersed in the life of the biblical disciple, Simon Peter. Partly because we have a good deal of information about his discipleship life in the Bible available to us. I think that Peter’s life is an example to us, and that in his life we can see ourselves as disciples, as followers of Jesus.

            When Jesus meets Peter he tells him, “come, follow me”, and Peter, (then his name was just Simon), leaves his fishing nets on the shore of the sea of Galillee and he and his brother Andrew head off following Jesus. And from there, from the moment of responding to the “call”, Peter is a disciple of Jesus.

            But that doesn’t mean that everything just goes perfect for him after that, or even that he acted perfectly in all situations after that.

            The night before Jesus was crucified Peter denied even knowing Jesus. Not once. Not twice. But three times. The gospel of Luke begins the telling of this story in this way, “Peter followed at a distance…” (Luke 22:54b).

            Before we ever get to those three times where Peter was asked by three different people if he knew Jesus, and before all three of the times where he would lie and disown Jesus publicly, Luke tells us where Peter was.

            Let me say I think that the following at a distance was both physical and spiritual. Peter was literally not close to Jesus physically at this time. He was afraid. Peter was still a disciple of Jesus, but he was following at a distance.

            You can be in church every Sunday and still be following Jesus at a distance. You can sing all the hymns, and look like the epitomy of discipleship, and your heart can still be far from Jesus.

            Peter was not close to Jesus, and then he did something that he swore he would never do, something that he never would have imagined that he was capable of doing.

            “I don’t know him,” Peter said.

            Being a disciple, in part, means being a follower. But how closely we follow the leader determines many things. For example, the closer we are to the person that we are following the better we will be able to hear what they say to us. The closer we are to the person we are following the more we understand them and have a chance to get to know them better. The closer we are to the person we are following the better equipped we are to see when they are making turns, or moving faster, or slowing down.

            I think that all this applies to our discipleship as well. If you have answered the call to follow Jesus then you are a disciple. The question today is how closely are you following Jesus?

            Are you close enough to “touch the hem of his garment” in your life? Or are you, like Peter, following at a distance?

            Take some time today and read this whole story regarding Peter denying Jesus in Luke 22:31-62. And if you need to get closer to the Lord in your daily walk with Him, He is nearer than you think, and ready to walk hand in hand with you today.

Sent People

There is a story in Luke 10 that is referred to as Jesus ‘sending out’ the 72. It’s a fascinating story as Jesus gives His marching orders to a group of disciples to go out and proclaim the gospel to the people.

    If you haven’t read this in a while grab your Bible and take a read of Luke 10 verses 1-17.

    That’s a great story, right?

    Jesus send out His people telling them to trust that they will be provided for and that not everyone will accept them, or even want to hear their message. These are hard truths. But I think they still apply to us as disciples of Jesus today.

    I am a United Methodist pastor, which means I ‘itinerate’. This word hearkens back to our frontier days of circuit riding preachers travelling miles on horseback to villages to preach the gospel and share in the sacraments of Holy Communion and baptism. Thankfully the travelling has changed, because I don’t own a horse. But I do now serve 2 churches in what we call a ‘circuit’ or a ‘charge’, Telford UMC and Asbury UMC. 

    I am appointed to these churches by our bishop. So, being itinerate means I agree to be appointed and to go where the bishop (and presumably where God) is sending me.

    When I read verse 1, I am reminded of this; “the Lord appointed 72 others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place that he was about to go” (Luke 10:1).

    But as I read this I am also reminded that it is not just United Methodist clergy that are being appointed and sent….it is all Christians!

    We are appointed. 

We have been given a task to do and we have been consecrated, or set apart, to do it. There are great opportunities in being appointed, as well as great responsibility.  Being appointed means that we don’t know for sure all that we will need to do, or even what we will need to do what we need to do. So we trust. We trust that God is faithful and that He will equip us since He has called and appointed us.

    We are sent.

    We aren’t called to sit and wait. We aren’t called to open church doors and wait for people to come in. We are called to be the Church that is sent by God to where the people are. We are a Sent-People because we have been appointed by God to go. 

    We are not going alone.

    They were sent out two by two. I can’t help but think about the animals marching up the ramps into Noah’s ark two by two. The animals were called as well, called by God to come into the ark for protection so that they could be spared the death that would happen outside the confines of God’s protective boat. And here the disciples are sent out into the world, two by two, with a message for all people. A great reminder of this picture is that we are not in ministry alone, we were never meant to do anything alone. The 2x2 concept is a pretty important visual image of what life is supposed to be like.

    We are heralds of Christ.

    The disciples were sent out to get people ready for Jesus coming to town! They were able to be the herald of Jesus, going ahead of Him to announce the good news that the Kingdom of God has come near! And we still get to do this as His Church! We get to go out into the communities where we live and announce the good news of Jesus Christ in love and peace, grace and forgiveness. 

It’s not always an easy task, some appointments are harder than others. But this is who we have agreed to be as His disciples, as His children. To be appointed. To be sent. To be able to say, “Peace to you, the Kingdom of God has come near.” And to know that we are not alone in this. We have each other, but best of all we have God with us.

   

Welcome Home!

Sunday morning is a day to get up and go to church. It's been that way for a while for me.
As a husband and father of five at Stone Dam UMC, we got up and went to church on Sunday morning.
Sometimes even when we didn't feel like it.
As a pastor of the two churches I have served, with my wife and children, we got up and went to church on Sunday morning.
Sometimes even when we didn't feel like it.
On vacation, with my wife and children, we got up and went to church on Sunday morning.
Sometimes even when we didn't feel like it.

For the past several years we have been vacationing the first week in June at Oak Island, NC. This is the week before our Holston Annual Conference at Lake Junaluska, NC, so it's great to have this week at the beach with my family, resting and playing.
But also worshipping.
Devotions are more engaging for me at the beach.
Writing is more focused for me at the beach.
And so, on Sunday morning, we get up and go to church, Oceanview United Methodist Church.

Some Sundays it's more of a challenge to get there for me. The drive in on Saturday takes about 8 hours with all the stops, and it's great to be at the beach, finally. Sunday morning would be a perfect day to get on the beach early. The weather is always perfect on Sunday mornings.
Most years I have let my children decide if they want to go to church. Sometimes they have, sometimes they have wanted to sleep in instead.
This year we only have our two youngest children with us, so I asked them to go to church with me and Heather. It's Sunday morning.

And so we went to the contemorary service for the first time. We usually go to the "Spirited Traditional Service" at 11:00, but this year we switched it up.
When we walked in the front door a greeter handed us a bulletin and said, "Welcome home".

Welcome Home.

She could have just said, "Good morning." Because it was.
She could have just said, "We're glad you're here." Because they seemed to be.
She could have just said, "It's a beautiful day isn't it?" Beacause defaulting to weather talk is easy.
But she said, "Welcome home."

And it is.
We intentionally go to Ocienview because it is a United Methodist Church. One year I tried a church at a cabana on the beach. The view was beautiful. But also distracting. The wind was blowing our little pages of sheet music. And the pastor was selling his music CD's for only $12 or 2 for $20 after the service.
It was nice on the beach.
But it wasn't home.

If you have ever read my blog you probably know that I believe that praying the Psalms is an important spiritual discipline, and something that I do to help me grow in my faith and this Christian life.
So today I was reading Psalm 90, because yesterday I read Psalm 89.

"Lord, through all the generations you have been our home!"  (Psalm 90:1)

Welcome home.

And that's where I was Sunday morning.
Home in the greeting, the passing of the peace, the Lord's Prayer, and the even in the announcements.
Home in the Communion where I was able to kneel with Heather and recieve the sacrament together and pray for us.
Home in the sermon, in the familiar story for this Ascension Sunday.
Home in the fellowship hall buying items left from their United Methodist Women craft sale.

Our home is in the Lord. Our annual beach trip is a vacation from many things. A vacation should be a time away from work, but not a time away from worship.
What a great time to be refreshed and renweed in your spirit!
What a great time to know that while you are away from home, you can still be at home in a nearby church.
What a great feeling to know that we are at home in the Lord.

If you haven't experienced the feeling of home in a church, I want to say I am sorry for that. Sometimes the church is not the perfect reflection of the love of Christ.
But I think that's because we aren't perfected in this love, yet.
But I also think that we're on our way. And sometimes, through the grace of Jesus, we get it right. And sometimes, in the heartbreaking of our Lord Jesus, we don't.

But it is home. It is the place that helps us make sense of everything else in life.
It's home because there are other people there struggling with the same things you are.
It's home because there are other people there who already have struggled with the same things you are.
It's home because there are other people there who one day will be struggling with the same things you are.

It's home. It's not perfect. But it's not about us.
It's home because our Lord has brought us here together. To live, to work, to learn, to love.

When I travel I look for the cross and flame. It's a sign of what home means to me.

Next Sunday I pray that someone hugs you at church and says, "Welcome Home!"
But if not, then I pray that you will be the greeter to say it to someone else.

Because we all need to hear it.
Because we all need to know it.
Because we all need to feel it.
Because we are all longing for it (read the rest of Psalm 90 here)

Welcome home!