Pastor's Corner - December 2010

At just the right time it happened. The answer to the problem of human sin was expressed. The Christ has come. No longer do humans need to live separated from the life of God. No longer is the fear of death or a looming judgment the common theme of human behavior and thought. With Christ’s arrival, hope became real. Why the wait? What made this the “right” time and other times “wrong”? We could ask ourselves the same question with a myriad of other situations.At what point do we “do”? When do we start? Where do we begin?

So often life doesn’t present us with a common place to start. It seems we are always busy, in the middle of something, or recovering from one thing or another. It’s often hard to make a change, do a new thing, break old habits or rituals. This isn’t always true, but we all know life is complicated, and turning a page can require great effort.

Looking at Jesus’ birth we can observe timing realities. For example, the Roman Road system, the Pax Romana, coinage, monotheisms existence in a culture of polytheism. On and on, we can see reasons for the inbreaking of God in human form. Still, it wasn’t smooth sailing. The culture, human nature, and old religious habits were strong enemies of the Hope that was birthed in their midst. Yet God knew that the time was right.

My question for you is, “what are you waiting for?” Life will go on and on as long as God allows. Why don’t we choose to say “yes” to time? “Yes” to hope? Look, things aren’t easy, Jesus said they wouldn’t be. Yet he invites us to live with a certain expectation that somehow He is leading us, holding and empowering us. We truly can stand up in the storms, routines and sameness of life and say, “Now!” “Yes!” Today, right now, I wish for you a sense of God’s presence, nudging you forward with anticipation. I pray for youthat God’s light leads you out of the power of yesterday into a hope filled tomorrow. All He asks us to do is say “yes, come Lord Jesus!”

Merry Christmas!

Pastor Mark

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Pastor's Corner - June 2010

Anyone who has a yard to mow knows what it means when you wait too long between cuttings. The grass is simply harder for the mower to deal with. Motors bog, bags get backed-up with clumped grass and the whole process takes more time and attention. Of course, sometimes these delays are unavoidable. Maybe it rains for a few days, the mower (or you) are in need of repair, or some other exigency crops up. Sometimes, however, we simply put it off. We know we need to do it, but we find ourselves avoiding the task. After all, what will another day hurt? Maybe tomorrow will be cooler or I won’t be so tired. Grass does not show favoritism. If you own it, you must care for it.

Getting behind yard work (housework, homework, relationship work, health work AND spiritual work) is addressed by the teachings of Jesus. For example, we know He uses agricultural imagery (seeds, soil, weeds, etc.) to teach us the importance and power of the spiritual world and the way it operates. Yet other lessons are evident: timing, effort and size. Just as He expresses the importance of knowing the time of God’s visitation and the windows of opportunity we have to hear Him, there is also a call to understand the movements of life. People you love will not always be here. Doors of opportunity may not always be open. There truly is a season for everything. So pay attention and do, love, listen and be with while you can.

Effort too is taught. The Bible doesn’t anticipate positive results for the sluggard. Jesus teaches us to come to Him. He reminds us our relationship with Him will cost us more than is comfortable. We are to be on the alert for Satan’s predations and the sins that so easily best us. Doing and being (even in our stillness) requires effort.

Size is also taught as being deceptive. Jesus says a mustard seed grows up to be a helpful gift to nature. Even a little on our part can be blessed and multiplied (the fish and the bread, for example).

  So how do yard work and the teaching of Jesus go together? Easy.

• Don’t take for granted the time you have to trim the bushes or get your spiritual house in order. The man who wanted to build bigger barns the next day was challenged by Jesus with the truth of his imminent demise (“Tonight your soul will be required of you”). Don’t put off what you know you need to address! Yards, health, relationships, money and bills all gather into one unmanageable mess when they aren’t cared for consistently and watchfully. Most tragic of all is missing God’s gift of grace in Christ. Now is a good time to hear Him.
   
• Put forth the effort to be the person you are called to be. Jesus taught us we would have trouble in this world (as disciples). It is not easy to be faithful in all our tasks God has given us to do under the sun. It is especially challenging when we think all we have to do is sit and let God do it. An old man once quipped to a person wondering about the power of prayer, “ Like a man caught in a storm with the safety of land in sight; pray, but keep rowing.”
   
• Just as grass grows imperceptibly to the human eye, a little bit of any- thing can make all the difference. That saying is true: you take the first step, God takes the second step, and by the time you take the third step you’ll know it was God, who moves and empowers us, who took the first step. God asks us to recognize the power of little things because God Himself can, and does, take the “weak and beggarly elements” and uses the small and inconsequential to do great, abiding things.

Now, cut your grass, say “I love you”, forgive, pray, laugh the laugh of the redeemed, on and on. Today, right now, maybe the perfect, little moment of God empowered time to be a light in the world of broad, deep darkness.

Pastor Mark

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Pastor's Corner - May 2010

My mother called me not too long ago with laughter in her heart. She read the April Pastor’s Corner and noticed that I must not know the difference between a hyphen and an apostrophe. OK, perhaps there was a tinge of concern, as she raised us to pay attention to the proper use of English. Admittedly, I was mortified at my mistake. I do know the difference in the two and, I think, my mom believes, hopes, trusts, prays I do know. Nevertheless, it was out there. The word was spreading throughout the land and the nations raged. Well, at least I feared they would. What I discovered was, in spite of the educators, speakers, and preachers in my family, I simply misspoke (wrote!). How can such a grievous wrong be redressed?

1. Own it. I wrote it (though I knew better). Don’t make excuses.
   
2. Address it. Speak out and fix it if possible.
   
3. Learn from it. Pay attention to the details.

Within a Biblical framework I see it unfolding this way. God tells us we have a proclivity to evil, sin, missing the mark, failure, selfishness, etc… You get the point. He teaches us that we are to pay attention to our walk (with Christ). We are to be aware of the deceitfulness of sin, the lure of the flesh and the predations of the Wicked One. He also has given us great and precious promises. We have the help of the Holy Spirit and a sure hope that He has birthed in our hearts. He also brings people into our lives that can help us stand, teach, and encourage us. For example, this Mothers Day, remembering the loving, constant, patient Mothers in our lives who have nurtured us for years.

We should be reminded that auto-pilot is a bad way to live life. We should pay attention, engage, and interact with those things and people God has allowed into our lives. Don’t assume we can blindly, thoughtlessly do or say, believing it will always be right or helpful. We should be intentional Christians. We should remember our high calling to love and our charge to speak words of hope into the lives of others. We should pay attention to Jesus’ reminders that tomorrow is not promised to us. Remembering how important it is to love those in our lives while we have them. Seeing, moment by moment, opportunities to reflect Christ’s light into those around us and the world God has given us.

So, pay attention. Life is quite brief and the times and places we have to be the aroma of Christ in word and deed are known only to God.
Love deeply and obviously. Listen carefully and thoughtfully. Speak warmly and helpfully. And let Christ be present, even in the small stuff.

Pastor Mark

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Pastor's Corner - April 2010

April’s fool? April fools? What’s the difference? None beyond the apostrophe. Yet we all know what apostrophes do. They create contractions and statements of ownership. (For you English majors, cut me some slack on this one, I’m doing the best I can.) If as a contraction, then could we say April is (for) fools? Not really, I know. Yet maybe we could say be fools for Christ’s sake in April, May, June... on and on. It’s a stretch, but why not? We’ll get back to this thought in a minute.

What if we speak of April possessing us? We belong to April. We are owned foolishly by that which has no right to own us. Matter-of-fact, like much of life, giving power (over us) to anything is a constant battle. Things, people, ideas, memories… What is it that has you in its hollow embrace? To whom have you given power? What has set boundaries on your dreams and taken your freedom? This points us back to the first thought about “April is for fools”. What if you and I actually let silly thoughts of freedom, forgiveness, hope, change, and power percolate inside? I know we shouldn’t let such thoughts bother our made-up, wise, adult minds. Trouble is, Jesus doesn't let us off the hook that easily. He invited the broken and stuck, the powerless and oppressed, the very old who have been religious all their lives and the young who have not yet to fall into sacred rites, to come and dream with Him. I know. This does once again make us think of an idea that seems like a dream for the naïve, a story for children or a blissful thought for the ignorant. It’s just as hard for me as it is for you. I too, know the wearying path of running uphill in the sand. One step forward, and I feel that step lose its grip as I focus on the next step.

Still, even if I didn’t tell you it’s still what Jesus invites us to. Even it I fall and fail to dream, the message does not change. The Bible is full of people trying to be the dreamers, the fools for God, while falling hand over foot into religious structures and cold-heartedness that numbs them to God’s wooing. They became captive to self and others who had no claim on them.

For us in 2010, we must always choose to be fools for Christ’s sake. If you don’t choose Him you will be the fool for something. This world, our minds, the impulses of the flesh, the blistering reality of pain and deep suffering will be trying to capture your attention and blind you to the Dreamer, the One who is our hope. Choose again, and again, and again, keep choosing the One who has chosen you. Be His fool this April and beyond.

Pastor Mark

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Pastor's Corner - March 2010

March is the beginning of the road biking season. What will happen is a bunch of cyclists will gather together, and go on a twenty-something mile ride. Considering the fact that in a matter of weeks we will be riding double, triple and quadruple this distance, it doesn't seem all that far. Yet, because it is the first ride of the year after, for many, a long off-season, it will be enough. The point is, many, like me last year, will be struggling mightily. It will take some time to get back what inactivity has stolen.

The parallel in our spiritual lives is uncanny. Because of Christ we can “go boldly into the throne of grace”. Yet we are often so removed, distant, unaware of the invitation to a close intimate relationship with God we are awkward, uncomfortable, and often resistant to its possibility. Like riding up a long hil when we aren’t in top shape, so too is the possibility of sitting at the feet of the One who invites you into His seemingly unattainable presence. The reasons and reality of this dearth of relationship with God are pretty obvious. For some, they are taught that God is distant, holy, other. Yes, God is holy, other, beyond, YET, He is near, accessible, available, empathetic. We see this in Christ. Others are simply drifters or those whose sin, loss and other broken-world realities have made God’s presence more of a thing to be dreaded or a reality long ago forgotten. Whatever the cause of our disconnect or discomfiture, we find ourselves panting with dry, thirsty souls.

What does Scripture suggest we do? It begins with coming to grips with three facts:

1. We need to be in God’s presence to have the kind of lives that radiate strength and purpose. Jesus said He would send the comforter (Holy Spirit) to help us. Later, Scripture teaches us we should walk /live by the spirit, until we are “home”. His presence is experienced as we walk in His Spirit. This is the kind of life we were created to live, with Him, through Him, in Him, for Him.

2. Try to discover what it is that keeps you from Him. Why do we lose our spiritual-relational fitness? What causes us to hang it up, so to speak? There are as many possibilities as there are people whose stories are wrought with living in an unforgiving world that seems to take no prisoners.

3. Okay, let’s talk about the one we don’t want to admit. This is the faith issue. Mark 9:24 speaks of the problem most of us face. We believe, but there is a seed (or full-grown tree) of unbelief from time to time or, for some, all of the time. People don’t go to God because they truly don’t know if He is (exists). My thought is practical and easy. If we’ve been given the measure of faith God chose to give us then the amount is not the problem. The issue is what we do with the “mustard seed” of faith we have. God says elsewhere in Scripture that we should taste and see that He is good. Talk to Him, choose to walk with Him, even for a moment, and see if His way speaks to your soul. His way is not easy but it is strangely satisfying and somehow right.

So, get off your spiritual couch and get active with Him. If you find you can’t move, talk to Him where you are and, if appropriate, invite another person of faith to help you stand. It’s important that you know He desires you. He sought you and continues to call you. Don’t let anything stand between you and the One in whose presence you were created to dwell. Go to Him. He is waiting.

Pastor Mark

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Pastor's Corner - February 2010

Caught between writing about love and winter has put me in a place that allows for both and neither. Both because God is love, we are loved, we are to love as He loved and He knows, without love we are not His and we cannot flourish. 1 John speaks of this reality.

Winter is an appropriate topic because it speaks of God’s design in nature, our need for change (and sameness) metaphorically, death, hibernation, spring, and relationally with God and others. So, both are appropriate.

Neither, because some if not all of us on occasion notice nothing of seasons or love. Some of us drift through life with built in emotional gyro-stabilizers or relational sea-legs that make us oblivious to the gift of winter and love. Though God does not change and we often thrive when the expected is a sure thing; the spice, stirring, shaking of our lives help us to grow both outwardly and inwardly. Yet, I don’t think “absence making the heart grow fonder” (and other such sayings) is the experience for most of us. Matter-of-fact, saying that to hurting people when their loves are absent is silly and not thoughtful to say the least. Quite frankly, we are fraught with pain and turmoil when what we love is beyond our grasp. However, there is a nugget that has fallen from the gurney of this overused expression. We see it in Jesus’ suffering to give us life. It is visible when God speaks to us of Divine discipline which works in us something rich and life changing. We notice it when God says that trials and tests of faith produce something we cannot obtain when days are full of love and warmth. We are not to waste “winterism”.

What I’m saying is, don’t let the cold put your soul on ice. Spring comes one way or the other! God will say, “Enough”, at some point. When? Who knows but God? I’m like you. Winter’s grip lasts longer than old pea coats and wool hats can stand. Yet, His love sees beyond the shivering dark into a light whose warmth radiates through the pounding, cold waves of Superior to the empty frigidity of Everest. Maybe we can stand together, keeping warm, loving one another, until the One comes again to take us home to the place illumined by His glory and love. A place where darkness and cold find no place to settle, or hurting hearts to steal.

Pastor Mark

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Pastor's Corner - January 2010

Writing about challenges faced by the common Christian is important. Striving and stretching is good for us all. Sometimes, however, it is important to be reminded of what we already have. The trouble is we live as if we don’t remember what has been given to us, what is true, settled, ours. What are some of these things we tend to forget? The things we have in our grip, yet because of numb hands and hearts we don’t remember in our comings and goings.

1. Unbelievable love. Yes, unbelievable because we do act as if we are beyond the reach of God’s love. We act as if God’s love is contingent on Divine whim or human performance. Jesus shows us that God’s love reaches through our closed, dark world, into our hearts, cleansing them, giving us an eternal hope that is not shaken. All He asks us to do is receive it. Then stop running from Him and learn to walk in-step with Him. I know it is hard for us to understand because our lives are continually judged by those whose favor is as fluid as the wind. Well, God is not given to variation or shadow due to change. His love is yours, ours, always.

2. Forgiveness that covers even “that”. What is “that” you ask? I don’t know what your “that” is, but I do know we tend to live as if God is holding on to the sins we have committed. Somehow He has forgiven us for the snotty comment, but what about the divorce? Or, He forgives gluttony, but not this or that. The point is, we tend to live as if He truly hasn’t forgiven us completely. The problem, at least as I read Scripture, is not God’s forgiveness of our sins, but our own lack of letting stuff go. Look, you and I are sinners. Deal with it! God loves you and, in Christ, has forgiven you. Accept it! Stop living in your failures and start living in His forgiveness - It is done.

3. The help that you need if only you let go of the self-direction and self-powered life that all of us seem to lead. Jesus taught His disciples that following Him would not be easy. Yet, He called us to die to self and live in Him, following, learning, loving, ‘leaning’. It is this leaning that reveals the need we would have if we did follow Him. He told His disciples that they wouldn’t be able to do it without His help. This help comes especially in the One who is called the Helper - the One who would come alongside and dwell within. The Holy Spirit who helps us walk the walk He has called us to walk with Him, in Him, for Him, because of Him. So, lean not on your own understanding or power but on the One who is here to grip our hand, animate our hearts and put purpose in our steps.

Remember these things. God does not forget them, just as God has not forgotten you.

Amen.

Pastor Mark

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Pastor's Corner - November 2009

The “ought” is not the problem. We ought to love, forgive, pray, worship, give, share, help the hurting, be a witness, be thankful, etc. I know the oughts , you know the oughts , they (outside the Christian family) know the oughts - especially what the Church ought to be doing, being vs. what it often does and is. No, the problem isn’t so much the knowing, it is the doing in the context of broken bodies, dreams, minds, hearts and spirits. Thanksgiving is here. I (ought) to be thankful, I (ought to) give. I ought to give thanks, be grateful for, live a life oozing with gratitude because of what God has done for me. Matter of fact, He is still doing for me and will continue to do until He takes me home. I ought to know this!!!

The trouble is things aren’t easy. Many things are flat out so challenging (Christian talk for “horrible”) in our lives, living in gratitude is not as accessible as it ought (or more accurately, as we want it) to be. I just want you to know that I know, we all know, we should be thankful for an eternal life promised to us that should help us hold on until then. I, we, know too, sickness, sadness, money troubles, powerlessness, tiredness, can create momentum away from the truths of hope, life, forgiveness, love, etc., that ought to be that aroma of Christ the Bible speaks of coming out of us.

What then can be done? 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says: “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” All circumstances? The fix for me is the realization that being thankful is not the absence of conflict within as I struggle with God’s promises of presence and strength. Kind of like courage not being the absence of fear but choosing to stand in the face of it. And though, as we see in Job, God spoke to Job at the end of all his questions about justice and pain - who are you to question Me? And we hear the witness of scripture teach us about vessels made for honor and dishonor, clean and unclean, thorns in the flesh, weakness of self, on and on. I remember, too, I am but dust, that my flesh is weak, I can do nothing without Him (Christ). Maybe this whole gratitude, thankful heart thing is choosing when life’s challenges offer a real tug in the direction away from a thankful heart. What I want us to consider doing is stir up one another’s faith in the promise that we are not home, yet.

Jesus teaches us we will have trouble in this life, but in spite of it we can, with His help, be of good cheer (the gratitude, joy, hope thing). We are not called to pretend. We are not called to deny reality. We of all people should know reality as it truly is. God said there is evil and pain. He says there is even personified evil seeking us, wanting to destroy us. He also said we have precious promises that have been made and fulfilled in Christ (and remember, they killed Him for speaking radical words of grace, mercy and love that messed up their model of righteousness and rightness).

So what I can do is choose to believe, be, receive His message, even as I pant for home. Even as my knees buckles. Even as I fall. It is His mercy I fall into. It is His love and forgiveness that surrounds me and helps me to pay less attention to the roarings of the Wicked One and the broken one (me, you, us). It is possible, even with trembling hands, to embrace the ought of thankfulness - because I choose to, at this moment, believe Him.

Remember Him,

Pastor Mark

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Pastor's Corner - October 2009

We were just finishing our bike ride Thursday night when some college students called out from their porch. They were laughing at us for looking as “interesting” as one does when wearing colorful biking attire. I thought they were teasing, so as I rode by, I returned their comment. No profanity laced tirades or anything at all over the top. Simply guys being guys poking fun at one another. Matter of fact, the remarks were uninspiring and unimaginative as far as poking fun goes. My response was even laughed at by my biking colleagues. Anyway, once we pulled in to the parking lot, a time of guilt overtook me. Who - me? Guilty? Stop! I felt the need to apologize for my silliness to my biking club buddies. From their perspective, an apology seemed quite unnecessary. The guys laughed with me at the silliness of the two second exchange. As I think about it, I’m quite sure I wasn’t the only biker who said anything. What’s the lesson for me?

1. Don’t wear biking shorts when riding past college students.

2. Don’t do #1 with a bunch of other middle-aged people.

3. Ignore #1 and #2 and simply ignore the insults (even good-natured ones).

Actually, the lesson for me is the power of the moment. The Bible teaches us that we are a torn people. We generally want to do and be our best, but moments sometimes steal that desire. I was officiating a funeral this week and used Proverbs 14:13 as a point of contact. It says, “Even in laughter the heart may ache, and the end of joy may be grief.” I was telling them that though we laugh and smile, the reality of pain’s closure will not be dismissed. We are a people with disappointments and dashed dreams who have learned to laugh in spite of the “stuff”. What we have to be aware of is the “stuff” can sometimes burst forth in a simple joke or a more challenging manifestation like depression, addictions of many sorts, and unhealthy ways of being that create frustration and pain. We are challenged to be aware of our weaknesses and avoid, when possible, situations that can draw out of us the “stuff” of our sinful nature. We are one decision, one response, one moment away from being the person God challenges us to be or the person we are trying to grow beyond.

Look, we all have our moments when confronted with opportunities for the flesh. The question is, what will you choose to give-in to. God tells us that if we walk in the Spirit we won’t fulfill the lust of the flesh. Not easy, I know. But you know what? When I apologized to my biking friends, it wasn’t because I was afraid God stopped loving me and I needed to fix my relationship with Him. A silly comment wasn’t jeopardizing my eternal destination. Rather, I simply want to be the best that I can be, even when it’s not always easy. And I have a hunch you do too.

Pastor Mark

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