Trust

 

11/6/2024

            When I was a small child, my father would throw me up in the air and catch me. I would laugh and say “Again, daddy.” Upon becoming a father, I delighted in throwing my son high, high up, and catching him. Do fathers just like throwing children? No. Fathers love seeing joy burst forth from their kids. There’s no better feeling in the world. Why do the kids go along with it? Why, at 4 years old, would I say, “Again, daddy?” Why would my 2-year-old son, being hurled aloft, have a look of delight on his face? Trust. Trust in safety; trust that the protector wants goodness, fun, and happiness for you; trust that the one protecting you will put your needs first.

            Is it hard to trust, living in the world as it is today? Maybe. Truth be told, I have many nights where I am awake at odd hours, unable to sleep because I find the world to be untrustworthy. Sometimes it angers me. Sometimes it scares me. It always tires me out. Exhausted, I must retreat into the arms of the Lord, who I know has my best interests at heart. At the very core of Christian joy and freedom is absolute dependence on God and absolute trust in God. We muddle along in a fallen, broken world, a world of pain and death, a world of contention and anger. Yet, even amid the chaos and pain of sin running amok, we can have joy and delight because of who walks with us. Our God can be trusted.

            What happened on November 5 neither changes that nor confirms it. Some of those reading this were pretty happy about the election results. Some were upset by how things went. The results are not a confirmation of God’s providence or special calling on the United States; neither were the results four years ago, or four years before that. God does not rescue worldly empires or favor one nation over others. In fact, the Bible, read through a New Testament lens, does not endorse any earthly government, not in Jerusalem, not Rome, not Washington DC. God’s word calls followers of Jesus to a sanctified indifference with the way the world is, including the United States government.

Sanctified indifference does not mean with withdraw from the world. Quite the opposite. God sends us to the world, and as citizens, we vote, we pay taxes, we serve in the military, and we might even run for office. Even as we fully participate in society, all the while we know we are aliens here (Philippians 3:20). Our destiny is the Kingdom of Heaven.

            Therefore, we do not ever tie our confidence to election results. We do not rely on the performance of presidents, senators, governors, or judges. “It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to put confidence in princes” (Psalm 118:9). Our so-called earthly leaders are untrustworthy, and trust is too valuable to give to those who won’t handle it with care. What happens if the dad throws his child up and then walks away, as the child plummets back down? If the child survives, he won’t gleefully say, “Again daddy!” He won’t trust a protector who fails to catch him. Eventually, the president and other elected officials will betray our trust and we will fall. It is better, says the Bible, not to put our confidence in princes (or presidents).

            The Lord can be trusted. That’s why we should do our best to resist outrage or elation over the election results. Elections, but if we are truly in Christ, they aren’t that important. We can’t be too upset. We have too much joy from our trustworthy God. Conversely, if our candidate won, we aren’t too giddy because we know real joy doesn’t come from him or her. We find real joy when we turn to the source: our triune God – Father, Son, Holy Spirit. It is to God that we give all our trust, knowing He will catch us, hold us, and walk with us. That’s true regardless of anything that happens.

 

The Paradoxical Proverb

 

 

Proverbs 22:4 says, “The reward for humility and fear of the Lord is riches and honor and life.” Odd. By its very nature, humility would not only seek no reward, but one acting humbly would actively avoid being recognized or rewarded. How can there be a reward for a posture and way of being that at its essence eschews recognition?

And what a reward! Riches, honor, and life. Just a few verses prior, Proverbs 22:1, we’re told, “a good name is to be chosen rather than riches, and favor is better than silver or gold.” How does one go about achieving a good name? Can one achieve a good name and still be humble? I suppose it doesn’t matter because the good name is more desirable than the payout for humility – riches and honor and life.

How are we to make sense of the word of the Lord, and specifically the different nuggets of wisdom in the book of proverbs? Understanding is the subject of the sermon preached at Hillside Church on October 6 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feOLTKHxTsM). Maybe that message will help the reader synthesize what all is to be gleaned in the word of God.

Humility is an important them in Proverbs, and theologically, humility is at the core of the messaging at Hillside Church for the next month. On October 13, we will have Don Harvey from the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina leading us in a discussion on different possible pathways forward for our congregation.

October 20, we’ll have our final message in the Proverbs series. Read Proverbs chapter 7. Verses 4-5 tell us to call wisdom our sister and insight our “intimate friend.” We need these close relationships because they will help us fend off the temptress. What tempts you to walk paths other than the one God lays before you? How do you resist temptation? Only in humility can acknowledge that we need help in being who God calls us to be. Proverbs 7, though couched in misogynist mythologies, offers a warning we must heed: the world with tempt us. Yielding to temptation, we walk the path of destruction.

October 27, Daynette Snead Perez will be our preacher. Please pray for Sheemoo Tatataw, our youth group, and me as head to the beach for a weekend of spiritual growth. And pray that God would speak to our church through the powerful, beautiful witness of Rev. Snead Perez.

Finally, in the first two Sundays of Novembers, we will look to the Gospel of Mark (10:35-45) and to the Psalms (146) to be reminded that real leadership is service and the only true king is our God. Those messages will reject a bipolar politics of division and winning-losing, and instead turn to the politics of the Gospel of Jesus. Yes, those messages are intentionally situated before and after the first Tuesday of November. Yes, the only to participate in either politics or faith, as a follower of Jesus, is to do so humbly.

Pray for the Neighborhood

Pray for the Community

 

This is my call to you, whomever you are, wherever you are, to pray for your neighborhood and your town. People are hurting. People are frustrated. People need Jesus, but they don’t know him and don’t know they need him. Through Jeremiah, God told the people of Judah, God’s chosen, to “seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf” (Jer. 29:7). They were not in the City of David, Zion, the place God called home. They were far, far from home. Yet the Lord told them, not only to seek the welfare of those Babylonians who had taken them into exile, but to pray for them.

What is exile? How does one exist when he or she is forced to leave home and go to a foreign place?

Paul considered himself a foreigner in his present age.  “Our citizenship is in Heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20).  In fact, his only motivation for remaining on this earth was to help people grow in their faith in Christ (Philippians 1:24-26). That was motivation enough. Paul joyfully (1:26) remained and, like Jeremiah, sought the wellbeing of his age. He was convinced wellbeing is tied to faith in Jesus.

I am too. We aren't at home here. Our place is in Heaven, with Jesus. Yet, he has us here. Most of our neighbors in Carrboro and Chapel Hill don’t go to church or in any noticeable way live lives of faith in Christ. Even if they appear to live happy, fulfilled lives, without Jesus, they are lost. God has planted us here to help our unbelieving neighbors find their way to Him. So, pray for our town. Pray for those on your street who don’t follow Jesus. Pray, and when the time is right, invite someone to church, or share why Jesus means so much to you. 

 

Science and Faith - the Conversation Matters

 

I begin by encouraging you to learn as much as you can about Biologos. Start here - https://biologos.org/about-us.

Why would I direct you to learn about this organization? It is where excellent scientists and committed followers of Jesus gather in cooperation to explain the natural phenomena of the world and to glorify God in the process. When I became the pastor of Hillside Church in 2006, I realized I would be preaching a few miles from one of the top research institutions in the country. Would I be able to intelligently explain faith in Jesus to a scientist who understood the natural world better than me?

My attempts to answer that question drew me down a path of learning. I have read works from atheist/agnostic scientists and philosophers who deny God’s existence. I have studied extremely conservative Christians who, from their interpretation of scripture, reject established scientific truths like evolution and a universe that’s billions of years old. The God-rejection and science-rejection are extreme viewpoints.

Apart from these extremes we can find true scientists who are also true believers in Jesus. How does this all fit together? One must do a lot of reading to answer this question. There are many podcasts and YouTube videos that also help.

Of course, a believer could just say, “I believe in Jesus and that’s it. I don’t know about evolution and am not interested in learning. I don’t know how old the earth is or how old the universe is, and I don’t care.” You have the freedom to take this type of approach. But, if you get into conversations with people, and they say, “Well, I don’t believe in God because I understand science,” how will you respond?

The Bible tells us, “Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15). We are commanded to love the Lord our God will all our … mind (Matthew 22:37). How will you explain your faith to someone who knows science in detail, and based on that knowledge, rejects all faith? We are called to be informed about the Gospel. We also compelled by God to explain the gospel intelligibly in our context. Readers of this blog who live near me in Chapel Hill share a hometown with some of the most knowledgeable scientists in the world. We must be ready to share the gospel in a way that makes sense to our neighbors.

Our neighbors still might reject God. We know from 1 Corinthians 1 that the wisdom of God seems likes foolishness to the world. We can’t control what people will choose to accept or reject. That’s between them and the Holy Spirit. We can, though, control how much we know. If we were witnessing in Cuba or Mexico, we better learn Spanish. If we are sharing the gospel in a rural setting, we can’t just be blithely ignorant about farming. It is imperative that our testimony be understandable. In the world UNC and the Research Triangle, it helps that we recognize that science is a gift from God.

That’s why I find the science-faith conversation so important. I will continue to read works by scientists and believers of different persuasions, and I invite you into the conversation. Discover God’s majesty as it is revealed in the natural world He has made. Scientists are the ones working to understand that natural world. Appreciate their work and help them see how their work can glorify the Lord.

Resolve to be Kind

 

            It is included in one of Paul’s so-called “virtue lists” (2 Corinthians 6:6). It is the way God will give grace when are gathered to him in his eternal kingdom (Ephesians 2:7). It is fruit produced in us when the Holy Spirit fills us, works in our lives, and through our lives (Galatians 5:22).

            Kindness. The United States of America desperately needs a tsunami of kindness to overwhelm us.

            The United States is beginning a presidential election year. Our politics have always been contentious, but the divisions of the past decade rival any from the most bellicose times in our nation’s history. Many of your neighbors are apolitical, but those who have political feelings hold them stridently and in the extreme. And if you are among the masses who would rather avoid politics, you will inevitably be pushed into political conversations by your aggressively partisan neighbors. It’s never a nuanced discussion respecting those who hold different perspectives. It’s always a vicious fight.

            What can followers of Jesus bring to these fractious times? Kindness.

            In 2 Corinthians, Paul writes, “We have commended ourselves … by kindness.” In other words, for Paul and his missionary colleagues, kindness is a job requirement. He can’t adequately travel and represent Christ without it. In Ephesians, we read that God has “raised us up with [Christ] and seated us with him in the heavenly places …, so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness. The heavenly eternity we long for is defined by kindness and unintelligible without it. “The fruit of the Spirit is … kindness” (Galatians 5:22).

            Some Christians are determined to be bold in their witness. I agree. We are called by God to courageously testify that Jesus is Lord. We are called to this proclamation no matter how much it costs us. However, boldness cannot be claimed as the forfeiture of kindness. In Christ, we can be both: bold and kind. We must be. To make a difference in a militantly polarized day, we have to insist that to follow Christ is to commit to kindness.

            I’m not recommending you make resolutions as we step into 2024. Neither am I recommending against resolutions. I have my own list of resolutions I hope will make me a more likable, helpful person. If the practice of keeping New Year’s resolutions helps you recenter and refocus your life, go for it! Just be sure and keep the resolutions you make!

What I as a pastor, charged with guiding souls in the way of Christ, do commend is the pursuit of kindness; all year! When the fighting around you gets loud and ugly, change the temperature by being an agent of kindness. Disorient your neighbors by meeting their intensity with your gentles, inviting spirit. Make it your 2024 goal to pursue kindness in your relationships, in the world around you, and in your own heart.

The Words of Advent

 

Hope, Peace, Joy, Love

When did these become the words of Advent?

Life is right for one who has these, but what else is needed? What more comes?

 

What about Faith, Grace, Mercy, and Justice?

What about Truth, Holiness, Resurrection, and New Creation?

Are these subsumed under Hope, Peace, Joy, Love?

The words of Advent

 

Do prescribed scripture readings walk in step, languidly with the words of Advent

or do they bump into one another and step on one another’s toes?

 

‘In those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light.’ Hope?

 

‘But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire.’ Peace?

 

‘He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly.’ Joy?

 

‘You will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus.’ Love?

 

As we wait for the coming of the King,

I bless you with the words of Advent

Justice, Truth, Grace, Laughter, Surprise, Holy, Faith, Mercy, Eternity, Direction, Purpose, Forgiveness, New Creation, Revelation, Resurrection, Hope, Peace, Joy, Love, Light

Those Who Trust in Themselves

 

The professional basketball player doesn’t sign a contract extension but instead plays his final season, intending to be so incredible, he’ll get a new, bigger contract worthy of superstar.

            He bet on himself, they say.

The boxers square off, two heavyweights with thunder in their hands.

            They faced off wearing nothing but their courage, the writer waxes rhapsodic.

            If you don’t believe in yourself, no one will.

            Jesus told a parable to listeners who trusted in themselves.

            The basketball player, betting on himself.

            The boxer, wearing nothing but his own courage.

            The motivational poster telling you, believe in yourself.

            The Pharisee in Jesus’ parable,

O God, I thank you that I am not like other people, thieves, rogues, adulterers or even this tax collector.

This tax collector. I actually met him, the tax collector from Jesus’ parable in Luke 18:9-14. I was on a three-hour drive and the tax collector was riding shotgun. And, there was a guy in the back on his cellphone trying to save the world one reconciled relationship at a time, but that’s another story.

How did I recognize my passenger-seat passengers as Jesus’ publican? He was so keenly aware of his own brokenness before God, he kept apologizing.

Hey Rob, what do you think of … and then before I can answer, O sorry, I shouldn’t have asked that.

Days after our trip, he calls me and I say, ‘hello,’ and he says, ‘So sorry for calling.’ Always apologizing.

He knows he needs God’s forgiveness, but doesn’t know how to ask for it. When God forgives, my new friend doesn’t know how to receive it. Not knowing how to connect with God, he does the best he can. He goes around apologizing for himself, especially if he’s talking with a preacher.

To some who trusted in themselves, Jesus told a parable about two men who went up to the temple to pray, a Pharisee and a tax collector.

O God, I thank you that I am not like …  this tax collector.

I won’t spoil it for you. It’s in Luke 18, verses 9-14. Read it. Are your someone who trusts in your own self? Jesus told this for you.

I fear the 21^st century is going to be a painful, painful lesson in what Jesus wanted to teach in this parable. Of course, it doesn’t have to be painful. Of the Pharisee and the tax collector, one of the two left the temple justified. Read it. You’ll know who. And you’ll know what you need to do before God.

Exploring Scripture

            Read the Bible. This is the theme of my newsletter articles quite often because the Bible is there and it doesn’t change. Styles of communication change. Styles of dress and hair and cars all come and go. Ways of talking evolve over time. Just read a novel from 1900, and then from 1945, and then 1995. How politics function changes over time.

            The word God is constant, always true, and always relevant. Recently, we heard Erin Stratton preach on Genesis 3 (July 30), and then Amy Brown preached on the same passage (October 1). Go back and listen to both sermons. The links are at the bottom. Amy’s message had some flaws in the video, but you can hear her entire message. Both preachers delivered strong messages that will edify your soul.

            Amy invited us to ‘explore scripture.’ I echo this. In a sermon on Genesis 3, she succinctly wove in references from 1 Kings, Proverbs, and 1 Peter. None of these allusions were forced. They all fit her overall point that when we come to God with honest questions and ask them, we grow closer to God’s heart. She did not promise God will answer every question; God won’t. There are things we aren’t ready to know. However, we are invited to seek.

            Thus, I return to my original point. Read the Bible. Make Bible-reading a life-long pursuit and practice. Be in the word. At other times, I’ve explained various approaches to Bible reading. Whether you read chunks of scripture, entire books in one sitting, or spend considerable time meditating on just a few lines of one or two verses, prayerfully, thoughtfully, attentively consume scripture. Be so driven to meet God in the word that it might feel impossible to live without it.

            If you do this prayerfully, if you read scripture in tandem with seeking God, you won’t have deleterious outcomes. You will be blessed and you will grow in your knowledge of God. I thank both our preachers who treated Genesis 3 for calling us to this most Christian of activities; the motivated reading of scripture with the motive of knowing God.

 

Erin - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKSKGoh1wmk

Amy - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jflucW5zMlw

 

Christian Distinctives?

 

Why should someone become a Christian? What makes Christianity distinct or unique? What is the appeal of the Christian faith?

            Hillside Church family, I need your help answering these questions. I am in a group of pastors and academics that meet biweekly to discuss theology. In one of our discussions, a women said she found herself perplexed by a question an unbeliever asked her. “What makes Christianity special?” She was tongue-tied.

            This is an intelligent woman. She’s a philosophy professor at a major university. She is a regular church attendee. She is very active in her church and in her faith. Yet, when pressed by unchurched person to give an account of her faith (1 Peter 3:15), she lacked confidence.

            How would you answer? Are you ready, as 1 Peter instructs, “to make your defense to anyone who demands an accounting for the hope that is in you?” We must be ready. Church attendance is in sharp decline across denominations in the United States. A scrutinizing public might ask those of us still committed to Christ, why bother? No one cares about church or believes in God anymore! Why do you?

            Here’s what I want you to do. Email me your answer; Robert.j.tennant70@gmail.com. It can be a couple of sentences or a couple of pages. Write a book if you want to. How ever you interpret it, answer this series of queries –

Why should someone become a Christian?

What makes Christianity distinct or unique?

What is the appeal of the Christian faith?

 

            I hope to get at least 30 responses from you in the Hillside Church family by September 1. I’ll share my answer in my September newsletter article.

Sacred Spaces, Innovative Places

July 5, 2023

            The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship has published two volumes of the short book Sacred Spaces, Innovative Places: Reimagining Church Property and Facility as Assets. Hillside Church is featured in the last chapter of Volume 2. You can pick up a copy as long as they last. Or, you can download the booklet - https://cbf.net/sacredspaces.

             The simplest explanation for why our church might be featured in a publication intended to inspire other churches is our willingness to say “Yes,” or “Let’s pray about this,” when new ideas for ministry arise. We never just shoot down a proposed idea with an abrupt “No!” Sometimes after prayer and discernment, God leads us to decline ideas or opportunities, but even then, it’s not necessarily a hard “no.” It’s closer to, “not at this time.” For example, I had announced we would be doing a short Vacation Bible School in August. After consideration and prayer, we decided that’s not a ministry we’re ready for in 2023. We’ll do VBS again, just not at this time.

            More often, we pray, then we give it a try. God opened the door for us to host a preschool. God made a way for us to work more cooperatively with both the Boy Scout troop that meets in our building and the Karen Baptist Church that shares our space. Solar panels? God led us to say “Yes.” And, we’ve seen one of our biggest ministries (in terms of people needed to run it and people blessed by it), the food pantry, continue to evolve. Some of our ministries do generate income for the church. Others are purely the church blessing those who come. Hopefully all ministries are an opportunity for our members and attendees to embody the love of Christ.

             While it’s cool to say ‘we’ve been written up in a CBF publication’ and it’s fun to describe these ministries – it is essential that our members and attendees participate! You can’t grow in discipleship by attending a church that runs a really proficient food pantry unless you help by volunteering. As you read this, pray about where God is calling you to jump in. Food pantry? Bible Study? Helping Hands Counselor? Music Ministry? We want to expand what we do. It can only happen if our members get involved. Many already are, but here, I specifically mean those of you who aren’t actively participating. Give up some time to love people and serve God through these innovative ministries our church offers. 

 

Summer Faith

 

Summer Faith Exercise

June 2023

 

            As it warms up, more and more people are getting outside. Hiking, jogging, bike-riding, golfing; the summer months encourage activity and exercise. I propose that in addition to working out your body for strength, endurance, and health, you exercise your spirit so you’ll grow as a disciple.

            There numerous spiritual disciplines and areas of focus one can practice to bolster one’s commitment to Christ. For the summer of 2023, I propose faith-life integration.

            Identify one area of your life; your golf game; your tv watching; your job; doing chores around the house; going out with friends; it can be any area of life that takes several hours in the week and that you regularly practice. I suggest picking just one.

            Once you’ve selected it, then do an assessment. What role, if any, does your walk with Christ play in that area of your life. Let’s say you select your job and you work as loan officer at a bank. How is faith a part of your work. Does following Christ cause you to work with greater precision, more compassion toward your clients, and more empathy toward coworkers? Or, once you arrive at your desk, is faith on the backburner until you get home? Or until the next Sunday when you come to church? Do an honest assessment.

            Then, make a plan. Identify ways you can remember your baptism in your work. Maybe week one, you commit to saying a 30-second silent prayer as you sit at your desk. In week two, you continue with the 30-second starter prayer and add to it a commitment to show greater care toward a specific co-worker. In week three, continuing with the commitments of the first two weeks, you add in a silent, 30-second prayer for each customer, as they leave your office after the transaction is completed.

            Each week, you add a small commitment that helps you remember the Jesus you follow even in a secular environment: your workplace. Note, this is not a call for ostentatious displays of personal piety. You won’t call attention to your faith exercise. You won’t tell anyone about it. You’ll just keep finding new ways to live as a disciple of Jesus within the world of your profession whether it is banking, medicine, or waiting tables.

            Each week, make notes. What differences do you see in yourself as a result of this focus? What differences do others comment upon as they interact with you? At the end of the summer, again, assess the place faith has in your work life. Compare your end of summer assessment with the one you did at the beginning.

            I hope everyone who reads this will take up the challenge and incorporate faith into some area of your life. If you want to check in with me, I’m happy to talk with you and pray with you as you seek to grow as a disciple of Jesus. This is your 2023 summer faith challenge.

Pursue Joy

 

 

            In the novel Don’t Cry for Me, Isaac’s dying father, Jacob, writes to his son. In telling his life story, Jacob remembers when his grandmother died. His grandfather, somber and seemingly angry, did not shed a tear at the funeral. He did, however, dourly warn the gathered mourners that judgment was coming and they’d best be ready. A hard life rendered the man dour, somber, and very angry. I don’t blame the character, though I want to jump into the story and tell him that faith in the Lord Jesus is more than soberly preparing for judgment.

            Paul writes, “The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness” (Galatians 5:22). Joy! ‘Fruit of the Spirit’ refers to what God produces in the life of someone full of God’s Spirit. We don’t work on being loving or joyful so much as we get to know God better. We work on aligning our lives with God’s ways and God’s purposes. We develop our relationship with the Holy Spirit. Then the Spirit produces fruit – love, joy, and the rest. The Holy Spirit produces these things in our lives.

            That said, I think a way to get to know the Spirit is to pursue joy. This fits at any time of year: Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve, a chilly, cloudy, gray Tuesday in February. However, focusing on joy is especially apropos in May. Summer is right around the corner. More people will be outside, soaking up the sun. Many go on vacation in the warmer months. Fun moves from being a pleasant, unexpected outcome to the purpose of the planned activity.

            It’s the fullness of time for going deep into God’s heart in pursuit of joy. This happens in a thousand ways, in as many places as you can imagine; sharing coffee with a friend in a café; a morning walk in the woods; lingering as you admire a sunset; writing poetry; leaning into the positive feelings certain colors produce in you; having your breath taken away as you take in the view from a mountain top; meeting fellow Christ-followers from another part of the world; feeling God’s pleasure as you spend time praying for someone you love; the list could go on.

            It’s hard to imagine the joyless faith Jacob displayed as something connected to a God whose Holy Spirit is manifested in joy in the lives of believers. We realize how God carries us through life as we get to know God better. We get to know God better as we walk in and feel the joy God pours into us to overflowing.

            Yes, the Bible mentions judgment often. The word rejoice comes up a lot too. As summer blossoms, my Christian friend, pursue joy. You will feel God’s arms wrapped around you and the warmth of God’s smile with the happiness that come to your life. And, you’ll be ready for the judgment Jacob feared, whenever it comes.  

After Easter

 

After Easter

April 2023

 

            The Challenge I set for the church before Ash Wednesday this year was to set aside 30 minute of solitude and silence every day, from Ash Wednesday right up to Easter Sunday. In that silence and solitude, tune out the noise of the world and tune in to the Holy Spirit. The world is a distracting, constant cacophony that robs us of serenity and peace. I believe God is speaking, but we miss what he says because we listen to everything but the voice of God, and he won’t compete for our attention.

            So, I proposed that we all give God all of our time, but especially 30 minutes of focused attention. To aid in this exercise, I suggested using a journal to write your thoughts. I also suggested a rotation of scripture passages: Psalm 5, Psalm 23, Psalm 51, Psalm 71, Psalm 91, Psalm 95, Lamentations 3, and Matthew 6:25-34.

If you followed this prescription, then for the last 40 days, you’ve given God 30 minutes of your undivided attention each day, cycling through these readings in the process. How did it go? I grew closer to God and felt God’s comfort and help when I had to endure difficult days.

With Easter now past, I encourage you to make this daily period of silence a top priority, and I offer a cycle of 31 readings to aid you as you lay your heart out before God. Let these reading help you see your life in God’s light.

Here’s the list:

 

Genesis 1:26-31                  Exodus 34:6-10                   Romans 8:31-38

Daniel 12:1-4                       Psalm 84                               Joshua 24:14-18

Exodus 3:1-6                        Revelation 1:4-8                 Acts 2:32-39

Isaiah 12                               Leviticus 19:1-4, 9-10        Isaiah 58:6-16

Mark 1:29-39                       Daniel 2:17-19                     Luke 12:13-21

John 18:33-38                      Job 28:20-28                        Revelation 19:1-8

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12             Matthew 5:1-13                  1 Samuel 16:6-13

Mark 15:37-39                    Revelation 7:9-17               Micah 6:6-8

Luke 10:17-20                     Jude 1:20-25                        Psalm 25

Proverbs 14:31-32             John 1:1-14                          Daniel 3:13-18

Mark 5:21-43

 

            Enjoy your time with the Lord.  

Where to Meet God

 

 In our Ash Wednesday worship service (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9M7dgGWufo0), I invited our church to practice silence and solitude as spiritual disciplines this year in the season of Lent. The challenge is, from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday, spend 30 minutes a day in silence and solitude. I believe God will speak to you, in the silence, if you take up this practice

            I found it to be difficult. In the silence, I think about the NCAA basketball tournament, the workout I’m going to try to get done at the YMCA, the tasks I need to get accomplished that afternoon, and 1000 other things. As soon as I drive one distraction from my mind, another takes its place. Some days I can get really quiet and centered so that I give God my full attention. Other days, I spend 30 minutes reaching for God with one hand and fending off competing thoughts with the other.

            This practice takes practice. This very morning, frustrated, I started writing in my journal about my frustration. I was drawn to Lamentations 3:23. God’s mercy is new every morning. God always has more grace to give, and I always need it, and He always gives it. So I thought, if God gives me grace, I’ll extend grace to myself. I finished a distracted 30 minutes. Tomorrow, I’ll try again.

            That’s my word for you. Try again. And again. And again. Relationships demand commitment and sticktoitiveness. In silence, we tune out other stimuli in order to give God our full attention. Learning to be still; learning to hear with the heart; it all takes effort and trial and error. If today’s effort in silent mediation faltered, try again tomorrow.

“It is good to sit alone in silence” (Lamentations 3:27). My prayer is first, you’ll try this, silent prayer, every day, 30 minutes; and second, as you do, you’ll discover why the writer of Lamentations says this is “good.” It is because the solitude and silence are where we meet God.

Bloated

 

I feel bloated. Wonder why?

Could it be the huge bowl of Golden Grahams, with three cups of coffee and a Krispy Kreme donut?

Or the four slices of pizza at lunch?

Maybe the three large chocolate chunk cookies at mid afternoon, chased by three of those “fun-size” Hershey’s chocolates. How is small “fun-size?” How is feeling bloated and fat a good thing?

Dinner was irrelevant. White rice. Duck sauce packets left over from Chinese take-out. Costco egg rolls and dumplings.

One day like that is not so bad. Living like that in a +50 body whose arthritic knees and surgically disrepaired ankle make cardiovascular exercise much more unpleasant than it was even 5 years ago – well that’s a recipe for a doughy belly and double chin.

I can’t tell if writing it down makes it any better.

I know when I get to the point where I feel so oversized, I, even I, with my appetite, have absolutely no desire for any post-white rice dessert – at that point, I need to change something up.

So hard, change. Maybe tomorrow. I’ve been saying that since Thanksgiving. Maybe tomorrow.

I feel like I am becoming a chocolate chunk cookie.

Who Tells Your Story?

Who Tells Your Story?

February 2023

 

            The past few years, I have tried, through writing sermons and newsletter articles, to shape the Christian story for people who listen when I preach and read what I write. Through much of 2021, I looked at Biblical narratives in Haggai, Zechariah, and Deuteronomy that define the community of God as it is being established. In the former texts, the people of God were rebuilding after exile. In the latter, they were settling the Promised Land after wandering in the wilderness. I imagined us as a church rebuilding after being exiled in quarantine and wandering in the land of COVID. I envisioned people streaming back to church after COVID.

I think we did some good work in Haggai, Zechariah, and Deuteronomy in 2021, and I am glad we examined those passages. The problem is COVID did not leave, and people did not stream back to church in-person in droves the way I though they would. So, in 2022, I drilled down deep in the grand story of Christianity. I though it was the time for us to revisit our basic foundation as a people saved from sin, saved for a life in Christ. We spent considerable time in the book of Romans. The 2022 sermons at Hillside were a journey into core-Christian theology.

Just as I was pleased with the 2021 preaching in Haggai, Zechariah, and Deuteronomy, even though that effort didn’t align with the conditions envisioned because those conditions did not materialize as I figured they would, I was pleased with our journey in Romans. I’m glad half of the 2022 Hillside sermons were based on that book of the Bible.

In 2023, we’ll take a much different approach. I’m asking a simple question that I hope you will prayerfully, thoughtfully consider. Who tells your story?

Who tells your story?

            The ghost of your mother, whom you always disappointed?

            A fashion model, whose body you will never have?

            A neighbor who drives a nicer car than any you will ever own?

            A voice in your head that says you’ll never be enough? Never smart enough. Never attractive enough. Never accomplished enough.

            As you sit with this question introspectively and honestly, listen to another voice, the voice of your Heavenly Father. His message to you is you are beloved. However today goes, you are beloved. Wherever you succeed or fail, you are beloved.

            In the weekly sermons, we’ll pursue this theme throughout the Bible. We’ll look at a different text every week. We’ll hold different passages from the Gospels and the Old Testament up alongside each other. The messages will be theological and researched, for sure, but the driving question will be who tells your story? And our landing point will be God’s reassurance that you are beloved.

            I’m looking forward to this walking this path of faith with you in 2023.

 

Jan 2023 - Power and Powerlessness

 

COVID-19 has impressed upon us a feeling we Americans do not like to acknowledge: powerlessness. We seize the day. We chart our own course. When life gets tough and challenges confront us, we pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps. These old canards, reek of half-truths. Yet, we cling to the mythology of self-determination.

            COVID-19 has ripped this independence from us. Maybe that’s good. We need to need one another, and we are poorer for it when we refuse to recognize our own need. When we step in bold self-reliance, our ability to thrive is limited to our own abilities. When we lean on one another, help each other, and live interdependently, we go places we never imagined. When we live depending on God for life and for good things, we discover there’s no limit to the wonders we’ll behold and be part of.

            I’ll begin my 2023 preaching examining power and powerlessness as we look at Ecclesiastes 3:1-13 on January 8. I was powerless to prevent COVID from interrupting my family’s Christmas celebration. I had the power to affirm and validate my relative’s disappointment. I had the power to pray for her and promise her we will get together soon and resume the family time that was interrupted.

            I cannot force my children to be who I think they should be. I have the power and the opportunity to get to know who they are and to love who they are, just as Jesus loves me as I am.

            I cannot make people in my community be nicer to each other and be kind even across the combustible political divides that so threaten our unity and neighborliness. I do have the power to be kind. God empowers us to be good neighbors.

            I urge you to recognize areas of life where you are powerless. Acknowledging it is no weakness. Rather, to name your powerlessness is to see it and to see that it is not as overwhelming as you fear. Name your powerlessness. Ask God to show you the power you do have. Ask God to redeem your powerlessness, to meet you in it. And learn to live depending on God in all things. That’s my word for our church as we step into 2023.

Come, Lord Jesus - December 2022

December 2022

 

            “Surely I am coming soon.”

            Amen. Come Lord Jesus!

            Thus ends the book of Revelation. It was a word from God for Christians persecuted by the Roman emperor. These Christians wanted Jesus to return and finish the victory that was won at the cross and in the resurrection.  They desperately wanted the promises of God and longed-for return of Jesus to come quickly. 

            I have friends who feel the same way. People I deeply care about, people who know what pain is, have said to me, “I just wish Jesus would come back, right now.”

Revelation and Advent are both for these weary disciples. In 22:17, we are invited to the waters of life (v.17), Revelation meets Christmas. 

We wait and anticipate. We shop, set up our trees, wrap our presents, hope for the smile when our loved ones unwrap them; we decorate, prepare for special worship at church because it is Christmas time; and then, finally, the day arrives. The entire season is one of waiting, anticipating, and then arriving. 

It can weigh heavy on person.  Vibrant faith gets crowded out in the hustle and bustle.  Revelation and Advent are for those who are holiday-weary or world-weary. “Come Lord Jesus.”  It’s a prayer. It’s a desperate cry. Jesus, come into my life!

He has, He is, and He will. The Jesus we meet in the manger is the Jesus who died on the cross, walked out of the grave, and sent the Holy Spirit into our hearts.  He sits at the right hand of the Father, and will one day return to judge the world. We can gain strength anticipating that day because we are sure of its coming. Equally we are sure of the Spirit’s presence in our lives today. Just we hope for the arrival of Christmas this year and the return of Jesus at the end, we can hope for the new things the Spirit will do in our lives today. Sing! Sing the song of Revelation 21.  Sing the song of Advent. Come, Lord Jesus!  Come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.