When eagles fly ...

 In the book of the Prophet Isaiah at the end of the 40th chapter you will find this amazing promise ... "Yet those who wait upon the Lord will gain new strength;  they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not get weary ..." 

It is a familiar verse to all of us who held our breath during the movie Chariots of Fire and marvelled at Eric Liddel's faith and fire.  Everyone of us who has ever laced up running flats has hoped for that renewal as we approach "the wall."

This morning in church we experienced that renewal. 

Sometimes the Lord chooses to sovereignly intervene in His house, to speak to His church, and to refresh His people.   Today was such a day.  Pastor never preached;  we didn't do announcements, and we just barely had a collection.  But we had CHURCH.  This morning there were calls to repentance, calls to obedience and calls to seek His presence. 

I love pentecost because we admit that God still rules in His house and the gifts of the Holy Spirit remain a part of the life of the church as well as a part of its history.  Our altars were filled with those who wanted to experience more of God and were not content with anything less than all that God has for His children.  I cannot wait to see what the Lord will do next.

I could not help but wonder if this was a taste of the great and marvelous things that He has in store for us.  I imagine John the Baptist heading out to the desert knowing only that he was called to be the forerunner of the Christ and to prepare the way. He could not have known all that would come to pass, but he boldly proclaimed that the Kingdom was at hand.  I am convinced that the Lord reveals just enough to give His people boldness if they will trust him for the next step.

I hope that what we experienced this morning is the forerunner of greater grace and a wave of revival.  It is marvelous in this season when we remember and celebrate the birth of the baby Jesus to anticipate a renewing work in His church.  Nothing would honor the Incarnation more than the church which He died to create becoming that shining city on a hill. 

Salt of the Earth ...

One of my favorite parts of the Gospels is the Sermon on the Mount in which Jesus reveals just how radical and how different the Kingdom of Heaven is from the kingdoms of this earth.  When you read it carefully, it is inescapable that the rules of that new kingdom are so different from what we think and do.  In verse 16 of the fourth chapter of Matthew's gospel, Jesus said "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven."  (Matt. 4:16).  

That is so opposite from how we behave when left to our own devices -- we want everyone to notice when we've done something -- I always gather an audience to appreciate my latest painting project even if I put it off for months!  We all desire recognition and praise, but Jesus says that our motivation is that our heavenly Father will be glorified instead of us.   I know that the Father doesn't need my praise and His glory doesn't increase because I recognize it.  And yet we are commanded to bring glory to His name.  That's another reminder of how different our thinking is from heavenly thinking.

    I've wondered about the meaning of the verse that precedes this ... "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how will it be made salty again? ..."  (Matt. 4:13).  I've heard many conversations about how salt preserves and how the church is to preserve the culture.   I think that anyone who has ever eaten ham or prosciutto understands how salt preserves.   ... but I think Jesus was talking about salt as the flavor of life.

   Think about how salt is used in cooking -- you sprinkle it, a little salt is added to the pot, a little salt is mixed into the rest of the ingredients.  The measures for salt are always small -- less than a teaspoon, a pinch, a dash, but never a tablespoon or a cup.  When there's too much salt we gag.  When there's no salt the flavor is gone.  Salt is about balance  -- enough to enhance, enough to brighten, enough to influence without being seen for saltiness.   When salt is done right, you don't notice it.  You notice salt only when there's not enough or there's too much. 

   That's the model for how the Christian is to permeate the culture -- giving savor, bringing out the best in the others, encouraging, brightening and showing the joy that is our birthright in Jesus.  In Peter's first letter, he tells us that we are to be "ready to give everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that lies within you."   (1 Peter 3:15)  If we're really busy about being salt -- distributed in dashes, pinches, and teaspoons -- making all around us brighter, you will be asked and our heavenly Father will be glorified.

  Be salt!  Sprinkle!

Keep the faith.

Missing the Point!

The lighthouse at Nauset Beach no longer stands at the shoreline -- it's been moved inland a bit following beach erosion.  Its companion lighthouses known as the "Three Sisters" are now in a park that can't be seen from the water.  They, and the Nauset Lighthouse, are now memorials to what they used to be and do.  They are no longer serving as active lighthouses, but they look the part.  Sometimes our most precious institutions are like these lighthouses -- a memorial to what they once were.  They look marvelous,  but  you need a sign to tell you where the lighthouse is! 

The same is true in some churches -- if you didn't have the sign out front, you couldn't tell.  

This weekend the plans of an independent church in Gainesville, Florida  to burn copies of the Koran on September 11th  has been all over the airwaves.  Most of the commentators have entirely missed the point.  The confrontational aspect of the proposed burnings and its potential impact on US military stationed in harms way seems to be the principal objection.  It's not hard to find claims that Islamophobia is the motivation and primary issue.  However, the commentators simply don't get the real point.

Jesus told us in the Sermon on the Mount -- "Just as you want people to treat you, treat them in the same way."  (Luke 6:31).   Most of us learned that verse as the Golden Rule -- Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.  The pastor and congregation of Dove World Outreach Center haven't understood or applied this simple commandment from the One they name as Lord. 

Is there a Christian church anywhere that would not be profoundly outraged and offended by the burning of the New Testament?  Why, if Christians desire that others respect our sacred books, do we not extend the same respect to the books that others hold to be sacred?  Precisely because I hope that the Bible will be given its due respect, I will respect the feelings of Muslims everywhere and treat the Koran with honor.  That doesn't mean that we agree with it or with the claims that Muslims make for it, but we must extend to it a recognition that many hold it dear.

One of my favorite verses from the New Testament is found in Peter's first letter ... "always being ready to give every man a reason for the hope that lies within you, with gentleness and respect."  (I Peter 3:15)  There are two keys to Peter's command to the church -- that the hope that Christians have should be evident from our joy and peace and that when we talk to others about that hope, we are gentle and respectful.  In the almost thirty years that I have served Jesus, I've never met anyone who became a follower of Jesus Christ because they lost the argument!   Conversions happen when hearts are turned, not when the debate is over.    How will burning a Koran open a dialog with the very people you hope to reach with the Gospel?

As we approach September 11th and the circus begins in Gainesville, it should be the church of Jesus Christ which says to the world -- these people are being disobedient to the clear commands of the Bible, they're wrong and we object to their poor witness to the love and mercy of our Savior.

Keep the faith.

where's the real rest?

July is that time of year when we begin to actually take the vacations that we planned all year long.   We tell ourselves in the bleak midwinter that summer will be glorious.  As we are lacing up the winter boots, our thoughts turn to sandals and walking barefoot in the sand.  Mostly we tell ourselves that we deserve a good rest.  I trust that you have plans to pack a very light suitcase and go somewhere where you can smell salt in the air, eat BBQ and actually need to wear sunblock.

Last week we took a short trip to Portland, ME just to extend the 4th of July weekend and to see the lighthouses, rocky coastline, eat lobster (pronounced lobstah) and pretend that I really didn't have to go back to work.  On our way home, we stopped in the village of Biddeford Pool, found the Audubon Sanctuary, walked the trail, and were rewarded with a marvelous view of the Wood Island Light from a tiny rocky beach.   Needless to say, I did not leave without several photos of the lighthouse.  When I saw this working boat pass by the lighthouse I couldn't resist connecting the lighthouse with the reason for its existence -- the safety of working boatmen.  

When I got home and reviewed the pictures, I found a small slice of life in this picture.   If you look carefully at the back of the boat, you will see one of the fishermen on that boat dead asleep as they sailed past the markers and the lighthouse. (click on the picture to see it larger; use the return arrow to get back)  It reminded me of someone else who was asleep in the boat and could rebuke the wind and the waves (Luke 8:22-25).   How was it that Jesus could sleep in the midst of that storm?  Luke tells us that the boat was "being swamped" and that they were in "great danger."   His disciples included Peter, Andrew, James and John who made their living as fishermen on that very lake.  Their fear was based on experience, a knowledge of the strength of their boat and the strength of the storm. 

After He awoke, Jesus rebuked the wind and the waves - telling them Peace, be still!  (Mark 4:39) - when the sea became calm, Jesus had one question for His disciples ... Where is your faith? (Luke 8:25). 

Real rest begins and ends in faith.  Just like the fisherman in the picture, you have to trust the pilot and the boat to sleep.  How many times have we forgotten that our entire lives are played out in and by His grace?  Is our restlessness a statement about our level of faith or the difficulty of our circumstances?  The writer of the book of Hebrews tells us "there remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God." (Hebrews 4:9).  He has prepared a rest for us -- all we have to do is trust Him.

Keep the faith

Richard

real freedom -- it's worth celebrating!

Today, I had a conversation with a friend who described his 4th of July plans -- to take his grandchildren into Boston for the reading of the Declaration of Independence.  He said that this was a tradition that he wanted to pass on.  What made it all the more meaningful was his delightful Polish accent -- which took great pride in this tradition.   There are so many Independence Day traditions -- the fireworks, BBQ, the Bristol Parade, the Boston Pops on the Esplanade with the 1812 Overture -- all of which remind us of those amazing ideas that all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with inalienable rights which include life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. 

Lately I've been thinking about what guarantees our lives, our liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  It's easy to look at our history as a nation and find those moments -- like George Washington at Newburg, like Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address, like Martin Luther King Jr at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial -- where the spirit of the nation stood on the edge of a razor.  At each of those moments, a leader validated the promises of the Declaration with courage, wisdom and hope. We  rejoice in the good fortune, honor the men who graced us with their lives and take hope from the fact that men like Washington, Lincoln and King are part of our heritage.

There is a deeper guarantee -- one for eternal life, one that promises freedom from the bondage of sin and evil, and one that promises that the pursuit of happiness is not a chimera. In John's Gospel, Jesus told us that I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. (John 10:10).  The apostle Paul wrote in his second letter to the church at Corinth -- if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature, old things have passed away, behold, new things have come.  (2 Cor. 5:17).  These promises -- of abundant life, or newness, that the old things are really behind us when we are in Christ -- animate the life of freedom that the Christian can live as a birthright.  We can live as redeemed children of God and know the life of peace and joy that Jesus set before us.

But there is a key to experiencing the fullness of the joy set before us.  It is the key of forgiveness.  C. S. Lewis made the observation that those who say that forgiving is easy have never had anything to forgive!  I am convinced that when Jesus told Peter that he must forgive his brother seventy times seven times (Matthew 18:22) He was being quite literal.  On the path to forgiving someone four hundred ninety times, you will learn the heart of forgiveness and stop keeping score.  You will also learn the power of the prayer that Jesus taught the disciples ... And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors ... (Matthew 6:12);  that our experience of the joy of being forgiven is tied directly to how freely we forgive others. 

I am also convinced that along that path to forgiving four hundred ninety times, we will learn what Gandhi told us "The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong."  The strength to forgive comes from the understanding that none of us is perfect and from a heart that is grateful that it has been forgiven much.

If we would have life, liberty and pursue happiness -- they all begin in a life surrendered to Christ.  If we would find happiness and freedom, they are on the road of forgiveness.

Keep the faith

Richard

living independently -- how to celebrate the 4th

The Declaration of Liberty is a promise which continues to be fulfilled by each generation.  The first installment was the Revolutionary War.  The second installment was the Civil War.   In the Revolutionary War this nation was blessed to have a leader who choose to become a Cincinnatus who would walk away from power when it would have been easy to hold it.  In the Civil War the nation was blessed in the person of Abraham Lincoln.   When I look over the life of Lincoln, I can see a man who found wisdom and learned the value of letting go of pride and the freedom of forgiveness.  

Some of his practical wisdom ... "We should be too big to take offense and too noble to give it."  When you look at his cabinet -- read A Team of Rivals -- and you begin to understand that only someone who could choose not to take offense could have worked with that team.   Lincoln also said  "I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice." and "I destroy my enemies when I make them my friends."  Those ideas came to fruition in his 2nd Inaugural Address which he close with this amazing paragraph.

With malice toward none, and charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations. 

Remember that those were the words of a president who was winning the war - a war in which more Americans died than all of our other wars combined.  A war that left deep scars on the nation's soul.   What is profound is that Lincoln  embraced mercy when vengeance would have been so much more popular.  The great tragedy of the 19th century in America was the failure to choose mercy during Reconstruction.  The legacy of  Reconstruction was an impoverished South, Jim Crow, the KKK and a nation that called a grown man "boy."  I often wonder how different the life of the nation would have been if the high calling to mercy and restoration had been embraced by a war weary nation.

The prophet Isaiah wrote "He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore." (Isaiah 2:4).  Jesus said  "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing"  (Luke 23:34) 

Peace is the lesson that the Lord would have us study -- He would have us perfect peace, not conflict.  He would have us practice mercy and leave justice to His wisdom.  Forgiveness is the heart of the Gospel -- it is what we need most desperately to receive, and it is what we most desperately need to give.

Keep the faith.
Richard

The Other Independence Day -- March 15, 1783

Very soon we will celebrate the 4th of July with picnics, parades, fireworks and a remembrance of just how extraordinary the Declaration of Independence remains. Some of us will think about the risks that its signers took -- placing their lives, their fortunes, and well being in the venture. As we celebrate, it's good to remember the courage and the blessing that the promise of the Declaration sets before the nation and the world. Each generation of Americans has invested that Declaration with greater meaning and brought its promises closer to fulfillment. It is a great blessing to live in a nation that declares as a foundational truth that all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with inalienable rights. So many live in places where that promise is rejected out of hand.

We learned about Bunker Hill, Valley Forge, Trenton, Saratoga, and Yorktown in school. We learned something of the very dear price that was paid for making the first installment on the Declaration. Perhaps we understood something about the cost of freedom if we listened carefully and used our imaginations to walk in the snows of Valley Forge and face the years of defeat punctuated by improbable victories. It would be easy to see the story of the Revolution and the years that followed that culminated in our Constitution as a stream that just had to occur exactly as it did. It would be easy to believe that the Constitution had to follow the Declaration just as day follows night.

It would be easy, but it would be wrong. A quick read of history tells us that most revolutions fail even when they sweep the Ancient Regime aside. Most become dictatorships or worse. So much depends upon the character of the men who lead the revolution.

By 1783, Cornwallis had surrendered at Yorktown and the negotiations with England dragged on in Paris. The English still held New York and the Continental Army was still mustered at Newburgh to hold that English army in the city. Unfortunately, the Congress struggled with exactly how to pay the army and many of its officers were close to mutiny. By March of 1783 a full blown conspiracy to march on the Congress in Philadelphia and force it to pay back wages was well underway. One of its leaders was Horatio Gates who had been involved in the Conway Cabal, a plot to replace George Washington during some of the darker days of the Revolutionary War.

George Washington was informed of this conspiracy by Alexander Hamilton and met with the rebellious officers at the Public Building in Newburgh. The rebellious officers were sullen, but when Washington paused before attempting to read a prepared speech, to put on his eye glasses he said to them ..."Gentlemen, will you permit me to put on my spectacles, for I have not only grown gray, but almost blind in the service of my country." With that simple statement, the remembrances of shared ordeals and loyalty overcame anger. The heart went out of the conspiracy in that moment. The nation was saved from becoming just another banana republic with a dreary series of juntas and dictators to punctuate a sad history. We are a blessed people that when liberty stood on a knife's edge, good men remembered what they had suffered and sacrificed for. We were blessed to have a leader who knew humility is greater strength than boasting.

So as you celebrate the Fourth, think about George Washington's spectacles and how they saved us. We all need help remembering what the apostle Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus, "In your anger do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold." (Eph. 4:26-27) When you find that your anger is capturing your heart, remember Washington's spectacles. There is always more that holds us together than will pull us apart -- if we are willing to see it.

Keep the faith

Richard