Season of Lent

We often speak of the season of Lent as a time of repentance and spiritual preparation for the soul as we take the inward journey toward the cross and the celebration of Easter when Jesus rose from the dead.  It's common for our conversation around Lent to focus on what we are giving up for God.  As children we were told that giving up some of our pleasures in life, like not eating chocolate during Lent, makes Easter even more special when we go to church on Easter Sunday and have chocolate in Sunday school and at lunch.  We even had our Easter Egg hunts at home on Easter Sunday and yes, chocolate flowed in abundance with many a chocolate covered egg and Easter bunny.  Of course, the bunny had nothing to do with Jesus, but it was sure fun eating a chocolate covered bunny for lunch.

This season for Lent, why not try a different route.  Instead of giving something up, why not take something on?  In some ways, it is more sacrificial to take something on given how busy our lives are these days, but what about taking something on that glorifies God and makes a positive difference in the life of another?  It could be something like working an Emmaus Walk, volunteering at a community kitchen, helping a next door neighbor who needs assistance, or even making an extra financial commitment to an organization that is making a difference in the community.  Many are the ways we can help by taking on something good.  Hopefully, it can make Lent a fun as well as worthwhile season of giving.  After all, Jesus gave the ultimate gift, his own life as sacrifice for all.  

John Wesley once said, "Do all the good you can.  By all the means you can.  In all the ways you can.  In all the places you can.  At all the times you can.  To all the people you can.  As long as ever you can." 

Dennis

Change, the only Constant in Life

Jill and I had time between Christmas Day and New Year's Day to celebrate our 34th wedding anniversary in Lexington, Kentucky.  Why Lexington?  We lived there from 1981 - 84 while I attended seminary, graduating from Asbury in 84.  During our time away we stayed at Rosecrest Farms, just north of Lexington, outside of Paris, Kentucky, so now I can say that my wife and I had dinner in Paris.  (I always wanted to say that and now I can.)  Rosecrest Farms is just half a mile from Claiborne Farm, where the famous racehorse Secretariat is now resting in peace.  While staying at Rosecrest Farms, we had the chance to feed the horse that is the grandson of Secretariat, who is stabled at Rosecrest Farm.  It was a great place to stay on vacation.

While we were there, Jill and I visited the many places we knew when we lived in Lexington thirty years ago.  My how time changes things.  The little shoe store where I worked is now gone.  The Lexington Humane Society where Jill worked as the education director and was honored as a Kentucky Colonel for her work there, has undergone such renovation that it doesn't look like the same old place, which is a good thing.  The mall where I once worked at McAlpin's Store, before my adventure as a shoe salesman at Jeff's Stride Rite, is now closed and McAlpins Store is no more.  One downtown restaurant that we knew while we lived in Lexington closed its doors the weekend we were there, but another had taken its place, only half a block away.

It all goes to say that the only thing we know is constant, is change.  The real question is whether the change is for better or worse.  What is true of cities is also true of human lives.  Life is filled with change.  As we start a new year, how will change impact your life?  Will the change you experience be better, worse?  Many people try to navigate the change in their lives, making the change they want to see happen.  This can be done, but with minimum success.  The truth about change is that most change comes unexpectedly, but how we see change and the way we deal with change is what makes a change good or bad.  When Jesus was born, the wise men were jubilant, but Herod was threatened; and yet for many, the birth of Jesus came and went, without much fanfare.

As you start the New Year of 2014, how has Jesus been born in your heart?  Are you threatened by the change his presence could bring to your life, or are you willing to take the journey and follow his light to the places where he leads you, a place where his presence can transform your life, or will you live into this new year as if nothing has changed much since you celebrated the birth of a Savior?  How you answer that question will most likely determine how you meet change, for better or worse.

Dennis

God's Gift of Light

The Rev. Donna Schaper serves as senior minister at Judson Memorial Church in New York City.  Her most recent book, Advent 2013 God's Gift of Love, includes this statement on page 45 where she reflects on the meaning behind Isaiah 9:2 which says ..."The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness on them has light shined."  Schaper writes, "These words offered hope to the people of Judah during a time of great political turmoil and war.  How can we hear them?  We have lived in darkness by looking for love in all the wrong places - in our appearance, our success, our ability to give to others.  When we have stopped looking to receive love because of our accomplishments, we have turned toward the light.  When we see God's long promised light in the baby Jesus, we see that we are loved by God.  We begin to turn around, to change our ways.  We no longer stare at the darkness because we love the light."

Rev. Schaper has given us some significant words to meditate on, and I encourage you to ponder her statement and see what it means for you.  For me, Rev. Schaper reminds me of how often I try to create light in my own life and others by the things I do for God and others.  I allow myself to think that the lights of human appearance, human achievement and human generosity will create a warm glow that makes us all feel loved.  But all too often, these lights are artificial and easily broken.  Yes, even my human generosity can be an artificial light when my impulse is to give so I can feel good.  Artificial lights reflect only our human persona.  These kind of lights will fade away in the darkness.

But if we can stop looking to receive love because of our accomplishments, then these artificial lights will fade, and in the darkness we will be given eyes to see the light promised by God in Jesus Christ.  This is the light that tells us we are loved, not because of what we do, or don't do, but because we are, God's children, and in Christ, God's children being redeemed.  This Advent season take time away from all the artificial lights that shine in our world and find a sacred place where you can be warmed in the glow of God's eternal light in Jesus Christ.  This is why we journey in Advent.  This is why we celebrate Christmas.  This is why we look forward to his coming again.  It is in His light that we see that we are loved by God, and it is the warmth of His light that woos our heart to turn around, to live differently than we lived before.  It is His light that gives us the assurance and the power to live a life with God.  We no longer have to squint in the darkness to see artificial light.  We love God's light.

Blessed Advent to Everyone,

Dennis

Veterans Day

Today, the day I write this blog, is November 11 and it is Veteran's Day in the U.S.A.  I always think of my father on this day since he served in the U.S. Army Air Corp during World War II.  My father joined the U.S. Army Air Corp in 1938 when he was 18 years old, just out of high school.  He was a ground mechanic assigned to London, England and was there during the Battle of Britain in 1940.  My Dad never talked much about the war, as was the habit of many in that generation, but what little he said was filled with praise and admiration for the many skilled Allied pilots who flew their bombing raids over Nazi Germany.  Dad saw many of these bombers shot up with gaping holes, but still flying as they returned to England from their bombing raids.  Like many vets who were lucky enough to return home when the war ended in 1945, he married Mahdeen I. Reissing of Midland, Texas (my mother) and, well, the rest is family history.  My Dad died of an unexpected heart attack in 1973 when I was only 15 years of age.  While I treasure the memories of my time with him and how he taught me to play golf, I always give thanks, for his service to his country every Nov. 11 on Veterans Day.  I know my Dad always gave thanks every Nov 11, and he never forgot those who gave the ultimate sacrifice, those who were not lucky enough to make it back home.

Today, I write this blog as both a Christian who has been blessed by veterans of faith with whom I share a world wide community; and as a U.S. citizen who has been blessed by veterans of this country with whom I share a life long heritage of freedom in government.  Let me encourage you, as both Christians and citizens who are living in the United States, to give thanks today, and throughout this month of November.  First, give thanks to God for allowing you to live in a country that protects your religious right to worship God according to the dictates of your own conscience.  Second, give thanks to a veteran, who put life on the line every day to protect these freedoms we now enjoy without question.  Many are the conflicts our veterans have fought in, from World Wars to Korea to Vietnam, to the Middle East and Afghanistan and most likely other places of military service that you and I are not even aware of: and of course, many are the soldiers now living and now serving who put their life on the line, even today, to protect these same freedoms.  We owe them our gratitude as well.  Always remember . .  . it's never too late to give thanks. 

Thank you God.  Thank you Veterans.

Dennis

Living in the 8th Chapter

When I was in seminary years ago, a professor of mine once asked us, "Are you living in the 8th chapter today?"  We were studying Paul's letter to the Romans and just recently finished a study of the 8th chapter of Romans when he asked that question.  What did he mean by asking the question?  Paul opens the 8th chapter of Romans saying, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  For the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the Law of sin and death."  The point of these opening words in Romans 8:1-2 is that we no longer have to live lives that are driven by our sin-filled human natures.  We can now live a life that is powered by the wind of God's Spirit and love.  We can choose to walk with God, not walk away from God.  To live in the 8th chapter of Romans is to live a life that walks with God, a life that is powered by the winds of God's Spirit and love.

It also means, as Paul writes in Romans 8:28, that God can work all things - both good and bad - into his greater purpose, and we will see this greater purpose played out in our lives if we are willing to love him and walk with him according to his purpose.  What this means is that we have to let God lead.  We don't walk with God telling him where we want to go in life.  We walk with God, letting God show us where to walk next.  Every fork in the road is a decision that needs to be led by God.

Such a walk can be lonely at times. While it is easy to visualize the Lord walking with us, leading us along the way, the truth about any journey with God is that there are times when God's presence feels far away.  There are times when we wonder where God is, or even why God has abandoned us.  It can cause us to ask, "Does God really care - does God love us still?"  Paul answers, Romans 8:38-39, that God still loves us, and always will.  In fact, Paul tells us that there is nothing in all creation that can ever make God stop loving us.  Hence, we walk by faith in confidence that God will provide the necessary direction when we need it along the journey.  We claim the promise that God loves us still.

All of us are on a journey going somewhere in life.  Some are looking for the next happy hour along the way, while others are trying to find a life that has meaning - one that makes a difference.  For the Christian is who walking with God, one question to ask is - Are you living in the 8th chapter as you walk with God?  There is no condemnation for those who walk with God.  He can use everything we do - both good and bad - and weave it into a journey that takes us where we need to be - if we are willing to love him and are willing to be called according to His purpose.  And when the road gets lonely - and it will at times - we can claim his promise and know by faith that He will always love us.

Life can be good, when you're living in the 8th chapter.

Blessings,

Dennis

Perfect Love Cannot Avoid Wrong Thinking

Recently I've been reading in John Wesley's A Plain Account of Christian Perfection, and while the title may seem odd, Wesley is clear that being filled with perfect love does not create an error free life.  He writes in his account, "A man (or woman) may be filled with pure love, and still be liable to mistake.  Indeed I do not expect to be freed from actual mistakes till this mortal puts on immortality.  I believe this to be a natural consequence of the soul's dwelling in flesh and blood.  For we cannot think at all, but by the mediation of those bodily organs, which have suffered equally with the rest of our frame.  And hence, we cannot avoid sometimes thinking wrong, till this corruptible puts on incorruption."

In a world today where some demand allegiance to their convictions, and no compromise; it seems to me that they would do well to reacquaint themselves with some of the classic Christian writings like Wesley's writings on Christian perfection for if they did, they might understand the truth behind Paul's statement in Romans 3:10 that .. "no one is righteous."  The consequence of our sinful human nature is we sometimes think wrong, and failure to admit such weakness reveals the presumption that we think we are right all the time and all the time we are not right.  So, if God's perfect love cannot remove wrong thinking from us, then how much more presumptuous it is to think that we can always be right on our own.  It's like saying we have the knowledge of good and evil, but such knowledge belongs only to God.  (See the creation stories in Genesis 1 and 2)

While it is easy to talk about this subject on the stage of national politics (what a great temptation that is) the rubber hits the road for most of us in family relationships.  Every couple has moments when one is convinced the other is wrong about something.  I heard Ralph and Nell Mohney share how they learned to end a conversation in which they held strong opinions that were polar opposites.  They would say to each other, "Well, you my be right."  Of course, they walked away from that conversation still thinking each other was wrong, but the fact that they were willing to admit the potential of their own wrong thinking kept a certain humility in play that helped them both grow closer over the years.  So, the next time you find yourself in a heated discussion, before saying anything you might regret, why not end the conversation with the words, "You may be right."  In the very least, it allows you to walk away, so that you can argue another day, but still love.

- Dennis

Gray is the Color of an Open Door

It's interesting, to read in the Gospels, how many times Jesus was confronted by Pharisees who tried to trick him with black and white scenarios.  On one occasion they said, "Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?" (Matthew 22:17) and on another occasion they brought to Jesus a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery and said to him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery.  In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women.  Now what do you say?"  (John 8:4- 5).  In both cases, religious leaders were using black and white scenarios as a way of trapping Jesus into saying something that could be used against him.

In both cases, Jesus saw the gray.  In regards to taxes, he said, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's.  In regards to the woman caught in the act of adultery, he said to the men, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be a first to throw a stone at her."  Well, they all walked away because none of them were without sin.  However, Jesus was without sin.  Jesus could have stoned her, but instead he said, "Has no one condemned you?  Neither do I condemn you.  Go now and leave your life of sin."  Instead of stoning her, Jesus chose to forgive her and challenged her to leave her sin filled ways.    Yes, even when some things are clearly right & wrong, Jesus left a door of gray open to move from wrong to right. 

Today you will encounter many people who live in many different lifestyles.  Some are living well while others are not, but what kind of doors are you opening by the way you interact with others?  Our words have the power to close doors, or open doors.  Jesus always used his words to open doors.  We would be wise to imitate his teaching and to follow in his way.

Dennis