anxiety, Circumstances, Jesus, Joy, Light, Lighthouse, paul, Prayer, worry

Do not be anxious about anything.

Posted on October 14, 2023 by narciejeter

As my niece entered middle school, my mom told her, Jesus gives us peace. You can access it anytime by just calling on the name of Jesus. She can tap into that hope anytime because she’s a daughter of the Most High King as a follower of Jesus. I picked these verses specifically for today as we are all feeling anxious in this world. Watching the news, seeing horrendous images, rising food prices through inflation, shrink flation, rising gas prices, and the angst, bitterness, and division that creep into our cars, buggies at the grocery store, lining up at checkout lines and in extension the way in which we talk and interact with one another, in person and online, we desperately need the words of Philippians.

Listen to Paul’s words to the church at Philippi.

Philippians 4:4-7

4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. 5 Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

We as a people are naturally anxious about everything. And this verse tells us to not be anxious about anything. Ann Landers, in her advice column, used to get about 10,000 letters a month about people’s problems. She was asked, what is the number one problem that people have? She said the number one concern of most people is anxiety. She said people are afraid of losing their health, afraid of losing their wealth, afraid of losing loved ones. She said people are afraid of life itself. Your mind can distort anything into a worry or a fear, especially when we are tired, rundown and already in a stressful situation. Go on a walk. Listen to Christian, Gospel or any kind of music that makes you chillax. Read the Word of God. Get centered with a devotion at the start or end of your day. It seems we put off the exact things that will help us, when we get stressed out over our to-do lists and worries.

When Paul wrote this letter, he was in prison and sentenced to death. He wrote this letter on death row. We think we have it bad. Paul was literally chained to a Roman soldier and guarded day and night. And yet he could still write, “Do not be anxious about anything . . .” He had been shipwrecked, beaten, ridiculed, stoned and abandoned and he still said, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice!” You and I were made not made for a fearful, anxiety filled life, we were made for joy.

The North Carolina Poet Carl Sandburg understood that. He once wrote about children:

You were made for joy, child.

The feet of you were carved for that.

The ankles of you run for that.

The rise of rain,

The shift of wind,

The drop of a red star on a far water rim . . .

An endless catalogue of shouts and laughters,

Silent contemplations

They made you from day to day for joy, child, for joy.

The question is how do we tap into that joy that is available to each of us?

The insightful writer Isak Dinesen said, “God made the world round so that we would never be able to see too far down the road.” And that’s true. We can’t see down that road. That itself is the cause of anxiety for many of us. Sadly, we often look down that road with fear rather than with faith. But we’re not supposed to. 1 John 4 says, “Perfect love casts out fear.” Some translations say it “expels” all fear and it’s not just sometimes or sometime in the future. We have God’s promise and God’s peace now.

I heard a commentator this past week say we take Jeremiah 29:11 out of context. He accused us of not looking at what was really happening in the Babylonian exile. What if we knew the context all along? What if we knew it wouldn’t be a quick fix? What if we knew it would take time? But we take God’s peace and promise with us in the exiles of our lives.

Jeremiah 29:10-14, 10 For thus says the Lord: Only when Babylon’s seventy years are completed will I visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. 11 For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. 12 Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you. 13 When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart, 14 I will let you find me, says the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.”

See the Israelites were in a spin cycle of sin all throughout the Old Testament and they pushed God to act as the Loving Parent giving them consequences. 70 years certainly takes the long view, but the promise is the same. God’s promises are the same yesterday, today, and forever. We do not fear or let the anxiety monster grab us because we trust in the Lord, the maker of heaven and of earth. No matter how long it takes, no matter what circumstances we’re in, as Nehemiah 8:10 says, “The joy of the Lord is my strength.” We grasp tightly to joy because it is a presence we encounter. As the German theologian, Moltmann puts it, “God weeps with us so that one day we may laugh with him.” God came down to earth to dwell among us, to walk with us, right beside us. He knows our anxiety and tendency to fret and worry. What did the angels say to the shepherds in Luke 2:10-11, “Do not be afraid, for see, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.” Joy. Not just wishy-washy joy, but a joy that lasts.

In his book Talking to Ducks, James A. Kitchens explains there are two major types of joy: internal joy and external joy. Internal joy comes from within, but external joy comes and goes with whatever is happening in our environment. It is extrinsic because it arises from the outside. When the circumstances change in a good direction, joy comes. When fortune reverses, joy leaves. Internal joy stays with us regardless of our external circumstances.

Pastor Anthony Evans tells about the night that darkness descended on New York City during the blackout of 2003. Evans happened to be there that night and he witnessed the chaos. Manhattan, including Wall Street and the United Nations, was completely dark, as were all area airports and all rail transportation including the subway.

There was one exception to that darkness. Evans happened on a restaurant where people were lined up to get hot food. He reports that in this dark situation there was this one place with all this light and joy and music and laughter and warmth. He went over to the assistant manager and said, “Mister, I don’t understand. It’s dark everywhere. The airport is right over there and it’s dark. My hotel is right across the street and it’s dark too. Everything is dark, and yet you are lit up like a Christmas tree. How can this be?”

The manager said, “It’s really fairly simple. When we built this [place], we built it with a gas generator. We’ve got power on the inside that is not determined by circumstances on the outside. Even though there’s nothing happening out there, there’s plenty happening in here.”

Anthony Evans goes on to say, “When you accepted Jesus Christ, He came into the inside. So what’s happening on the outside shouldn’t determine whether or not you’ve got a lighthouse on the inside. What’s happening out there shouldn’t determine your joy. God has given us a generator of life and liberty in our souls through our relationship with Jesus Christ. We don’t have to live our lives determined by life’s circumstances.”

That’s the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding. How do we get that peace? That joy? Prayer plus thanksgiving equals an entirely different view of the world.

Pray

As some of you may know, there is a Bible App by a company called YouVersion which has 400 million users worldwide. Every year the producers of this app announce the most popular Bible verse as chosen by its readers’ searches.

In 2019, the most popular verse in this online Bible was from our lesson for today, Philippians 4:6, in the New Living Translation. It reads like this: “Don’t worry about anything; instead pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done.”

Verse 6 is written as a command. This is how we are to live. “Don’t worry about anything; instead pray about everything.”

Prayer is as simple as a breath. A sentence, Lord have mercy. A plea for strength. Intecessory prayer – prayer for the hostages and their families as well as the people of Gaza and those that area hurting all over the world.

Thanksgiving

There is a “Peanuts” comic strip where Charlie Brown says: “I’ve developed a new philosophy. I only dread one day at a time.” Chuck, oh boy, in fact the opposite is true. We are to be thankful for each day and count our blessings one by one. When we are stressed or anxious, that is exactly the perfect time to name the good things God has given us.

Some people lose their joy and peace because they’re playing the comparison game, instead of giving thanks to God for what we have. Futurist Faith Popcorn says that one possible downside of the Internet is the development of what she calls Comparative Anxiety. The internet has created a networked world that allows everybody to compare everything, instantly. How much money are you making compared to people your own age who graduated from the same college? How many words does your baby know versus millions of babies her exact age, around the world? It predicts that this ability to benchmark yourself in seconds with others is creating an increasing epidemic of comparative anxiety and a national wave of insecurity.

Joy is not a product of possessions, pleasure, busyness, affluence, or accomplishment. Joy is the experience of knowing that nothing, not sickness, failure, famine, war, or even death can separate us from the love of Christ.

Joy is a choice we make. Life can make us bitter or it can make us better. It can leave us grumbling or make us grateful. By remembering to give thanks for the little things, we develop a habit of thankfulness. It won’t happen overnight, but it will change how we view the world.

That brings me to the Big Picture.

Ken Lindner is CEO of Ken Lindner & Associates and the author of the book, Crunch Time: 8 Steps to Making the Right Life Decisions at the Right Time (2004). Ken is also a championship Paddle Tennis player.

A few years ago, Ken’s team lost in the final round of a national Paddle Tennis tournament. Ken was determined to learn from this disappointment. So, he decided to go up into the stands and watch the winning team play a few rounds.

Ken got an entirely different view of the game and of his opponents when he saw them play from up in the stands. From up there, he could see the Big Picture. He recognized the other teams’ techniques, their strategy, their weaknesses. As Ken sat there and soaked up a whole new perspective on his opponents’ game, he realized that he could apply this wisdom to every part of his life. As he writes in his book Crunch Time, “The lesson was: Far too often, while fighting our day-to-day battles on the ground, we never look beyond ourselves, or the immediate moment, situation, need or craving at hand. Therefore, we fail to view things from the fuller, richer, wider context of the Big Picture.”

When we walk with God, we are able to take a Big Picture view of our lives. We are able to replace worry with trust, choose a gratitude attitude, and focus our thoughts on those things that are not of this world – the peace that this world doesn’t understand because it’s not from this world – Jesus.

A Catholic priest named Johannes Tauler tells of meeting a poor man along the road one day. “God give you a good day, my friend,” said Tauler.

The poor man answered, “I thank God I never have a bad day.”

Tauler, astonished, kept silent for a moment, then added, “God give you a happy life, my friend.”

The poor man answered, “I thank God I am never unhappy.”

“Never unhappy!” cried Tauler, “What do you mean?”

“Well,” came the reply, “when it is sunshine—I thank God, when it rains—I thank God, when I have plenty—I thank God, when I am hungry—I thank God; and since God’s will is my will, and whatever pleases God pleases me, why should I say that I am unhappy when I am not?”

Tauler looked upon him with awe. “Who are you,” he asked.

“I am a king,” said the poor man.

“A king?” Tauler asked, “Where is your kingdom?”

The poor man smiled and answered simply, “In my heart.”

As followers of Jesus, we carry around a kingdom in our hearts. We grumble and complain and are fearful and anxious sometimes, but we’re still sons and daughters of the Most High King. Trying our best and growing in sanctifying grace. We are the recipients of God’s promises and God’s incredibly gracious love and mercy. If we really understand that, our joy will overflow. If you want to be set free from your circumstances, your stresses and your worries, then follow the instructions God gave us to live in joy: replace worry with trust in God, don’t compare yourselves with others, develop an attitude of gratitude, and think of the bigger picture. Good wins. The light DOES overcome the darkness. Take a deep breath of the Holy Spirit, call on the name of Jesus and let him fill you up with joy and peace, and God will be your strong tower and sure foundation.

Advent, God, Joy

Deck the Halls

Posted on December 15, 2020December 17, 2020 by narciejeter

Deck the Halls

Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11

1 The spirit of the Lord God is upon me,

because the Lord has anointed me;

he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed,

to bind up the brokenhearted,

to proclaim liberty to the captives,

and release to the prisoners;

2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor,

and the day of vengeance of our God;

to comfort all who mourn;

3 to provide for those who mourn in Zion—

to give them a garland instead of ashes,

the oil of gladness instead of mourning,

the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit.

They will be called oaks of righteousness,

the planting of the Lord, to display his glory.

4 They shall build up the ancient ruins,

they shall raise up the former devastations;

they shall repair the ruined cities,

the devastations of many generations.

8 For I the Lord love justice,

I hate robbery and wrongdoing;

I will faithfully give them their recompense,

and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.

9 Their descendants shall be known among the nations,

and their offspring among the peoples;

all who see them shall acknowledge

that they are a people whom the Lord has blessed.

10 I will greatly rejoice in the Lord,

my whole being shall exult in my God;

for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation,

he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,

as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland,

and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

11 For as the earth brings forth its shoots,

and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up,

so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise

to spring up before all the nations.

Evy doesn’t like us to decorate before her birthday, November 30th, but we talked her into decorating early because we and the world need so much joy right now. We’ve cleaned up our mess, now we get to enjoy our decked out halls.

Why do we decorate our homes, our sanctuaries, our offices or cubicles, even our notebooks, we want the world to know who we are. We want to invite them in. We want to celebrate with them. We want to put our best foot forward with a complete, clean picture. At first glance, this Isaiah passage does that. It’s all happy, happy, rah, rah, renewal, bridegroom decks himself with garland and the bride adorns herself with jewels, but is the whole book of Isaiah like that. No!

Isaiah answers when he heard God say, “Whom shall I send?” “Hear I am; send me!” He’s what they call a major prophet. Not just for the size of his book, but for his words and importance in the life of Israel. He was a prophet that defended the people of Israel more than anyone and the people of Israel were in the midst of their spin cycle of sin. You know how it is. God is faithful, a covenant making God. The covenant with Noah to not flood the Earth again and the covenant with Abraham to make his descendants like the dust of the earth by day and the stars of the sky by night. The Israelites will be God’s people and Yahweh will be their God. Hadn’t he delivered them from Egypt? Hadn’t he provided manna and quail for them to eat? Hadn’t Moses struck the rock and water streamed forth when they complained of being thirsty? They follow God for what seems like a second and then turn away and disobey. Then God sends a prophet to speak to Kings and to the people. Sometimes the prophets break through and repentance happens but more often than not, they don’t. Most of the book of Isaiah he’s warning them and despair and destruction are happening. He mixes messages of hope of things to come with messages of anguish. Like Isaiah 9:2-3, “The people who walked in darkness

have seen a great light;

those who lived in a land of deep darkness—

on them light has shined.

You have multiplied the nation,

you have increased its joy;

they rejoice before you

as with joy at the harvest.”

And later on in the same chapter:

For a child has been born for us,

a son given to us;

authority rests upon his shoulders;

and he is named

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

His authority shall grow continually,

and there shall be endless peace

for the throne of David and his kingdom.

He will establish and uphold it

with justice and with righteousness

from this time onward and forevermore.

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

God gives them hope, about One to come. But they, like we, are easily discouraged. Even during this pandemic, I wish I could snap my fingers and everything would be back to normal. It’s hard crafting a new normal, a new rhythm, a new way of being. It’s hard when all that’s around you is changed. I watch movies now and wonder why they’re not social distancing or wearing masks, but the tv show Monk was ahead of its time. It’s hard to not get down in the dumps or in a funk during these strange times.

It’s hard going back to a ghost town. I used to take the scenic routes to South Carolina when I lived in Florida. I would see these once thriving, bustling communities on the railroad route or these textile plants which have long since shut down and wonder what it was like 100 years ago.

This is nothing compared to the destruction of Jerusalem. Jerusalem was deserted. The strong walls, which had held back invading armies for years, had been pulled down. The HolyTemple, the house of God, had been desecrated and was now only a shell. The Babylonians had destroyed the city and scattered the people to a distant land.

After years in exile, the people were returning home to a land that was devastated. They were resolved to begin the task of rebuilding, but they were getting discouraged, and TIRED, just as we are. They want to snap their fingers and go back to their normal lives. They’ve been in exile, now they’re back.

The story is told about Betty Hutton, a former movie star and box office attraction of the late ’40s and ’50s. Hutton fell on hard times and battled alcoholism and depression. A few years ago she encountered God and invited him into her life. God turned her life around and headed her in a different direction. She started on the trail to a comeback. Hutton joined the cast of the Broadway musical Annie, playing the role of Mrs. Hannigan. Those who were in attendance at the first performance noted the extensive biographical sketches of the members of the cast. However, under the picture of Betty Hutton there was no elaborate sketch. Instead, there appeared five words which Hutton had written herself. Those words were: “I’m back. Thanks to God.”

God has Isaiah sprinkles these promises in because God doesn’t ever want us to ever want us to be discouraged and despondent; God wants us to cling to God’s promises in the dark days, in the days when doubt and despair overwhelm us. God promises joy in our mourning. Isaiah says,

“God has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed,

to bind up the brokenhearted,

to proclaim liberty to the captives,

and release to the prisoners;

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor,

and the day of vengeance of our God;

to comfort all who mourn;

to provide for those who mourn in Zion—

to give them a garland instead of ashes,

the oil of gladness instead of mourning,

the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit.

They will be called oaks of righteousness,

the planting of the Lord, to display his glory.

It echoes Psalm 30:11, “You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;

You have loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness.”

God didn’t abandon God’s people and God doesn’t abandon us. God loved us enough to send God’s own son, Jesus to make our joy complete. Joy is not happiness, it’s rooted in something much deeper. It’s roots go all the way to our hearts and it is rooted to our very beings. Sometimes its hard to imagine how we are going to feel any joy again.

In the darkest days of my second brain surgery, my mother recounts the first time I laughed. We were sitting in the den all together and he said something, as he is want to do, and I laughed. That’s a simple thing. Even babies do it. But that was SUCH A BIG DEAL. In those dark days, when I couldn’t speak, when I had to read a paragraph at Speech Therapy in tell him what it said, and I lost my right arm and hand movement, so I couldn’t even shave my legs…things that we all take for granted, my laughter gave my mom some much-needed hope.

We have to let ourselves feel the peace, love, hope, and joy of this Advent season. We have to start living. We have to live into the new reality of NOW. The Israelites came back to a new reality, but with God’s help they got through it and decked their halls and with God’s help we will get through whatever we’re wading through and deck our halls. My prayer for you this season, is whenever joy comes into your life, you will cling to it, you will grasp it with both hands. “For a child has been born for us, a son given to us;” Joy in Jesus is just foretaste to Heaven.

Joy to the world, the Lord is come. Let Earth receive her King!

Darkness, Flashlight, God's love, Jesus, John the Baptist, Joy, Light, Love, Prepare

Clean Up Crew

Posted on December 6, 2020December 11, 2020 by narciejeter

Mark 1:1-8

The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

2 As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,

“See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,

who will prepare your way;

3 the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:

‘Prepare the way of the Lord,

make his paths straight,’”

4 John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6 Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7 He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. 8 I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

Mark read this passage at the Advent service last Wednesday. It’s a very familiar passage this time of year. Mary and Elizabeth her cousin were pregnant at the same time. Luke 1:13-17, “13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John. 14 You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, 15 for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He must never drink wine or strong drink; even before his birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit. 16 He will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. 17 With the spirit and power of Elijah he will go before him, to turn the hearts of parents to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” Further down in Luke, Gabriel was talking to Mary and said, “36 And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” And even further down in the 1st Chapter of Luke, “39 In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, 40 where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit 42 and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. 43 And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? 44 For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.”

The child leaped for joy! John leaped for joy after hearing Mary’s voice? Do you think women nested back then? Tidying up, organizing, preparing….John comes to prepare us for Jesus. As we make preparations to Welcome Jesus and Welcome one and all this Christmas! We prepare our hearts to Welcome the One who knows us intimately and still loves us with an abundant and steadfast love. We need a clean up crew to prepare a place in our hearts for Jesus and to prepare to show the world the love that Jesus has for them.

We put up the tree after church last Sunday. We may have bitten off more than we can chew. It’s taken us all week to put up the Christmas decorations. We first have to unpack the Christmas decorations to store the “regular” stuff we have away. Enoch and Mike tackled the outside and discovered the lights in a whole section were blown. Evy and I tackled the tree and we discovered the lights had different plugs so Evy decorated the banister with those lights. Stuff was piled up everywhere…all week…they had virtual school…it never seems like we have another hour in the day. We’ll have no parties at the house this year, we have no family coming in, we’re preparing for ourselves and most importantly for Jesus.

The first lines of Joy to the World – “Joy to the world, the Lord is come; Let earth receive her King; Let every heart prepare Him room.” Let every heart prepare Him room.

How do we prepare our hearts?

Focus – It’s easy to get lost in the hustle and bustle, even this year, we can fill our to-do list up to the top and not leave Him, Jesus room. I always love any Amy Grant Christmas song, particularly her “I Need a Silent Night.”

I need a silent night, a holy night

To hear an angel voice through the chaos and the noise

I need a midnight clear, a little peace right here

To end this crazy day with a silent night

We need to intentionally, carve time out time to be with Jesus – our wonderful counselor, everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace. Our Old Testament reading for today is

Isaiah 40:1-11

Comfort, O comfort my people,

says your God.

2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,

and cry to her

that she has served her term,

that her penalty is paid,

that she has received from the Lord’s hand

double for all her sins.

3 A voice cries out:

“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord,

make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

4 Every valley shall be lifted up,

and every mountain and hill be made low;

the uneven ground shall become level,

and the rough places a plain.

5 Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,

and all people shall see it together,

for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

6 A voice says, “Cry out!”

And I said, “What shall I cry?”

All people are grass,

their constancy is like the flower of the field.

7 The grass withers, the flower fades,

when the breath of the Lord blows upon it;

surely the people are grass.

8 The grass withers, the flower fades;

but the word of our God will stand forever.

9 Get you up to a high mountain,

O Zion, herald of good tidings;

lift up your voice with strength,

O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings,

lift it up, do not fear;

say to the cities of Judah,

“Here is your God!”

10 See, the Lord God comes with might,

and his arm rules for him;

his reward is with him,

and his recompense before him.

11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd;

he will gather the lambs in his arms,

and carry them in his bosom,

and gently lead the mother sheep.

God comforts us. God if our good shepherd. God carries us in God’s arms. Maybe this Christmas it’s hard to feel any kind of Christmas Spirit – the hope, the love, the joy, the peace. Maybe you’re experiencing grief of a loved one, a job loss, a change in health status, maybe you’re feeling bbllllaaahhhhhhh, maybe you’re feeling discouraged, maybe you’re feeling frustrated, maybe you’re holding all the fear and worry wrapped up under a facade, Jesus knows. Jesus is our Emmanuel. God with us. Do y’all know how important that is? The Great God of the Universe came down to dwell with us. Love came down at Christmas. Love all lovely, Love Divine, Love was born at Christmas, Star and Angels gave the sign. We can lay our burdens down Jesus’ feet. We can cry out to Jesus because he knows our pain intimately. We can even question God, like Jesus did in the Garden of Gethsemane. He knows. He knows the fullness of God and the fullness of humanity. Jesus has a purpose and a calling; he embodied God’s love and wants us to do that too.

Father Gregory Boyle tells the story of a young man named Pedro. Caught in the gang life on the streets of Los Angeles, Pedro was filled with rage and resentment that he covered up with addiction to crack cocaine. Whenever Father Boyle would offer to take Pedro to rehab, he would decline.

Until one day, Pedro changed his answer and began the long, hard journey of returning to himself. Thirty days into Pedro’s rehab, his younger brother, caught up in similar demons, took his own life. When Father Boyle called with the news, Pedro was devastated.

Father Boyle later was driving Pedro to the funeral when Pedro began to tell Boyle about a dream he had the night before. In the dream, Pedro and Father Boyle are in a large empty room, alone. There are no lights, no windows. It is complete, total darkness. In the dark silence, Father Boyle takes a flashlight from his pocket and turns it on. Slowly, deliberately, he shines the flashlight around the room until its narrow beam illuminates a light switch on the wall. No words are spoken, no explanation offered, just a beam of light revealing a switch on the wall. In the dream, Pedro stands up slowly, with some trepidation he makes his way to the switch, takes a deep breath, he flips it on. The room is flooded with light.

At this point in the retelling of his dream, Pedro is sobbing. With a voice of astonishing discovery, he said, “And the light is better than the darkness.” As if he did not know this before. Then he said, “I guess my brother just never found the switch.”

Boyle writes, “Possessing flashlights and occasionally knowing where to aim them has to be enough for us. We all find ourselves in this dark, windowless room, fumbling for grace and flashlights. You aim the light this time, I’ll do it the next.”

We do not have to do it on our own. The Holy Spirit prepares the way and intercedes for us when we are in the darkness with sighs too deep for words and also gives us a community to lean on and to depend on.

Richard Rohr writes, “But after any true God experience, you know that you are a part of a much bigger whole. Life is not about you; you are about life. You are an instance of a universal and even eternal pattern. Life is living itself in you. It is an earthquake in the brain, a hurricane in the heart, a Copernican revolution of the mind, and a monumental shift in consciousness. Frankly, most do not seem interested.

Understanding that your life is not about you is the connection point with everything else. It lowers the mountains and fills in the valleys that we have created, as we gradually recognize that the myriad forms of life in the universe, including ourselves, are operative parts of the One Life that most of us call God. After such a discovery, I am grateful to be a part — and only a part! I do not have to figure it all out, straighten it all out, or even do it perfectly by myself. I do not have to be God.

It is an enormous weight off my back. All I have to do is participate! My holiness is first of all and really only God’s, and that’s why it is certain and secure — and always holy. It is a participation, a mutual indwelling, not an achievement or performance on my part.

After this epiphany, things like praise, gratitude, and compassion come naturally — like breath and air. True spirituality is not taught; it is caught once our sails have been unfurled to the Spirit. Henceforth, our very motivation and momentum for the journey toward holiness and wholeness is just immense gratitude — for already having it!”

Love lived out is showing compassion, empathy, kindness, bravery, patience, and humility. Just as John paved the way for Jesus 2,000 years ago, we have the direct calling to pave the way for Jesus today! We each need to pick up our brooms and sweep away our doubts and fears. We need to pick up our shovels and shovel out love to the world. We need to vacuum complacency and apathy and use windex to wipe away our tears so we can see clearly that we have a story to tell. It’s not a picture perfect Stepford story, but it’s real, with all the twists and turns of life. We’ll show the world love in active, practical ways – as we worship, as we pray, as we serve – whether it be helping with Living Christmas Story, or the Angel Tree or baking cookies for Katie’s Krops, or bringing food to the Blessing Box. We WILL prepare the way for Jesus by a GREAT Big Show and Tell. We will Show our love with our actions and we will Tell it by sharing God’s great love.

Rachel Held Evans writes this prayer that pretty much sums up our calling. “God, go with us. Help us to be an honor to the church. Give us the grace to follow Christ’s word, to be clear in our task and careful in our speech. Give us open hands and joyful hearts. Let Christ be on our lips. May our lives reflect a love of truth and compassion. Let no one come to us and go away sad. May we offer hope to the poor, and solace to the disheartened. Let us so walk before God’s people, that those who follow us might come into God’s kingdom. Let us sow living seeds, words that are quick with life, that faith may be the harvest in people’s hearts. Amen.”

We need to prepare the way for love. It’s like we walk down a dark, windy, steep path leaving bread crumbs along the way so our fellow travelers know which way to go. We know the way, because love came down at Christmas, and showed us the way, the way that leads to love, peace, joy, and hope. The way that leads us home.

attitude, Joy, Mommy, Seasons, transition, Uncategorized

Seasons

Posted on August 9, 2016 by narciejeter

Ecclesiastes 3 (NRSV)

Everything Has Its Time

3 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

²a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
³a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
⁴a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
⁵a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
⁶a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to throw away;
⁷a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
⁸a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.

The God-Given Task

⁹What gain have the workers from their toil? ¹⁰I have seen the business that God has given to everyone to be busy with. ¹¹He has made everything suitable for its time; moreover he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. ¹²I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live;¹³moreover, it is God’s gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil. ¹⁴I know that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it; God has done this, so that all should stand in awe before him. ¹⁵That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already is; and God seeks out what has gone by.

This time of year has always held a mixture of excitement and nerves. As a kid I loved getting new school clothes and the neat nick in me loved the clean notebooks and the perfectly sharpened pencils with the new erasers. I still like that part of it. Buying new school clothes or uniforms and checking off everything on my kids’school supply lists, gives me a sense of satisfaction as if I’ve accomplished something. Add to it the list of things that you have to complete when you’ve not only moved schools and communities, but states, and even my peppy cheerleader organizational mode gets tired and discouraged. Ever notice how a bad attitude is contagious? It really IS. (Christian music is what keeps me positive. Without it? Yikes!) When you’ve had to go to the DMV over 5 times to get your license and license plates, all arrows are pointing to God teaching you patience, perseverance and endurance. It’s a constant test. The corollary is true too. As hard as it sometimes is to choose joy instead of frustration, it’s well worth it in our workplaces, with our friends, and DEFINITELY with our families. So after the fourth time at the DMV, I stopped by a craft store and bought this picture, as a reminder to choose joy.

Today after Point Hope’s prayer time, where we intentionally pray for the prayer request cards lifted on Sunday and anything a person has asked us to pray for, this Mandisa song came on the radio as I was listening in my office. It’s called “He is With You” and below are the video and the lyrics.

There’s a time to live
And a time to die
There’s a time to laugh
And a time to cry
There’s a time for war
And a time for peace
There’s a hand to hold
In the worst of these

He is with you when your faith is dead
And you can’t even get out of bed
Or your husband doesn’t kiss you anymore
He is with you when your baby’s gone
And your house is still, and your heart’s a stone
Cryin’ God, what’d You do that for
He is with you

There’s a time for yes
And a time for no
There’s a time to be angry
And a time to let it go
There is a time to run
And a time to face it
There is love to see you
Through all of this

He is with you in the conference room
When the world is coming down on you
And your wife and kids don’t know you anymore
He is with you in the ICU
When the doctors don’t know what to do
And it scares you to the core
He is with you

We may weep for a time
But joy will come in the morning
The morning light

He is with you when your kids are grown
When there’s too much space and you feel alone
And you’re worried if you got it right or wrong
Yes He is with you when you’ve given up
On ever finding your true love
Someone who feels like home
He is with you

When nothing else is left
And you take your final breath
He is with you

It was a perfect song for me to listen to right then. There’s a time and a season for everything and God is with us through it all. We choose every day and all throughout the day whether to grasp hold of the negative or we choose to give it to God and choose joy because we trust and believe God can make a way when there doesn’t seem to be one.

Even when this tired Mommy Pastor is worried about “Meet the Teacher” on Thursday afternoon, and the first day of school on Monday; I have to trust and pray that Enoch and Evy will have excellent teachers and will make new friends and we will find our new rhythm and places that we like. Enoch said tonight, “We need to find a good doughnut shop and a good comic store.” And we do. But we also need to be gentle with our selves, as we grieve past things and embrace the new. God is ever in the midst. As Birdee Pruitt says at the end of Hope Floats, “That’s what momma always says. She says that beginnings are scary, endings are usually sad, but it’s the middle that counts the most. Try to remember that when you find yourself at a new beginning. Just give hope a chance to float up. And it will, too…”

As we begin this school year, with all of it’s crazy hecticness, I give thanks to God for always being in the mix, guiding and leading us on this adventure, helping us to trust and lean into grace, God’s abundant grace. If you’re feeling anxious about anything, then I leave you with these verses to carry in your heart.

Philippians 4:6-7 (NRSV)

⁶Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. ⁷And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.