Where the Road Goes

In the book Voices of Advent, Matthew Skinner writes about what it would have been like for Joseph, with so many unasked and unanswered questions. And yet Joseph followed God anyway.

Skinner writes:

[Obedience to God] involves says, "I don't know what this road is going to be like or if my journey will be easy or agonizing, but I'm going to walk it." Sometimes we know - or we think we know - the destination where a road will take us, but nonetheless the journey from point A to point B is usually much less clear.

Each year I teach a series of classes for those seeking certification as Certified Lay Ministers. They start, and sometimes even finish, the class series not knowing where God is calling them to go or what God is calling them to do. I think that is OK. We don't have to know; we just have to follow the next right step.

Skinner writes, "You don't have to have it all figured out before you begin. You don't have to know the solutions. Just take the next best step. It's a long road."

A Prayer for my call

Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders

Let me walk upon the waters wherever you would call me.

A couple of years ago, I was asked to write a Call Story for my CLM interview with the DCOM. I posted it in 2023.

At Jurisdictional Conference this month, someone quoted the song that I quote above. It's called Spirit Lead me by Hillsong United.

This quote is the prayer of my call story. It really resonates with me, and it succinctly describes my experience of call. 

 

Wrong People. Wrong Bus.

Have you noticed in the Bible how God doesn't call the people we would expect him to call? God calls people like Samson.  Like David.  Like Tamar.  Like Ruth.  These are not the people we would have chosen for God to recruit.  He calls the slaves out of Egypt to the Promised Land, and they complain and wander and worship gold idols. 

In the book Missional Leader, by Alex Roxburgh and Fred Romanuk, the authors write, "In the incarnation, we discern that God is always found in what appears to be the most godforsaken of places - the most inauspicious of locations, people, and situations."  And also, "This God who pursues us is always calling the wrong people onto a bus that isn't expected to arrive."

As I read that today, it occurred to me that we are less than humble when we think about this.  "God calls the wrong people" we think.    "Surely God doesn't want that person to have a leadership role in this ministry."  All along we forget that we have been called - that we are the wrong people - that God has taken a chance on us. 

If that were not the case, then the only assumption is that we are the perfect, good people, judging everyone else.  That's not the case, is it?

No.  We are the wrong people, called onto a bus by God - a bus that isn't expected.  How can we fail to welcome anyone else?

Logos: Isaiah 61: 1-4, 8-11

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; 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. (Isaiah 6:1-3a)

The Year of our Lord 2020 has been a doozy, hasn't it? Think about where we stand right now. There are those among us who are mourning the lose of loved ones - to the virus, to violence, to hatred, to negligence, to illness. There are those among us who are homeless, jobless, hopeless. There are those among us who are oppressed, alone, lost. The world needs the spirit of the Lord.

And not only Israel, but we are anointed by the Lord. To do what? Just look around? How can you change the year to one that is the Year of the Lord's Favor? How can you bring good news? Bring justice to the oppressed? Heal broken hearts? Proclaim freedom? How can you, today, bring comfort to those who are crying for the loss of those they love? How can you bring your neighbors out of the ashes? What can we do to offer gladness and a healing balm? Where can we offer praise?

We are anointed for this work.

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 desks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. (Isaiah 61:10)

We are anointed. We are equipped. We are blessed so that we can love our neighbors.

Isaiah's Call: Never Worthy

Next, let's look at the call of Isaiah found in Isaiah 6.  This is a different call than those of Abram and Moses.  This isn't a person walking through a desert.  In this passage, Isaiah is telling us about a vision he had of God.  It is majestic and other worldly.  And yet Isaiah's response is very human.  Read verse 5:  "And I said, 'Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!'"

What is God's response to this statement? A seraphim approaches him with a hot coal, and touches it to his lips. See verse 7:  "And he touched my mouth and said, 'Behold, this has touched your kips; you guilt is taken away, and your sin atones for.'"

There are a couple of things I notice here.  First, the cleansing of guilt and sin comes before Isaiah has a chance to either hear or answer a call.  He doesn't earn this 'salvation' by his actions or ascent.  God just acts.  This is grace.  This is the grace that we receive, every day.  We don't always see it; we never earn it, but it is there.

Secondly, our sin is no excuse for not responding to God.  God approaches us where we are (remember?) and God knows who we are, even to the darkest and most secret parts of us.  And yet God calls.  And God prepares us.  

We are never worthy. And yet we are called.

Moses' Call: No Excuses

Let's look next at the call of Moses - Exodus 3:1-4:7.  I imagine you know this story.  Moses is walking and sees a bush that is burning but is not being consumed.  

First of all, look at verse 3:3 - "Then Moses said, 'I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.'"  That tell us something about call.  To hear God's call, we have to be willing to turn aside from what we are doing and look.  Listen.  Participate.  One might say that Moses couldn't help but see a bush on fire that wasn't burning up, but think about how much attention you have to pay to something that is burning to notice that it is burning, but not being consumed.  This requires some attention.  It might not be obvious.  And, I daresay, our calls are not nearly as dramatic as a burning bush, most of the time.  To hear God's call, we have to turn aside, and pay attention.

So once Moses approaches, and listens, he is not as eager as Abram was.  Moses offers many excuses:

• 3:11 ButMoses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and  bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”
• 3:13 But Moses said to God, “If I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The  God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his  name?’ what shall I say to them?”
• 4:1 Then Moses answered, “But suppose they do not believe me or listen to  me, but say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you
• 4:10 But Moses said to the Lord, “O my Lord, I have never been eloquent,  neither in the past nor even now that you have spoken to your servant; but I  am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”
• 4:13 But he said, “O my Lord, please send someone else.”

After each of these questions and excuses, God answers.  God participates in this conversation.  God does not blow out the burning bush and abandon Moses to his questions and doubts.  He answers them.  

I love Moses last, probably exasperated, comment.  "O my Lord, please send someone else."  The answer to that plea was no.  God sent Moses.

I think this tells us that call is sent in relationship.  A call is not usually a plunking down of an assignment with no interaction with God.  If you have doubts and questions, God wants to hear them, and God wants to respond.  Your doubts do not disqualify you.  

And no matter how much we want God to find someone else, we each have a call.  Even if we say no, we still have a call. Maybe it changes with circumstances, but God will not leave us alone.  We have a call to answer.  

Abram's Call: God finds us

Let's spend a few days thinking about call.  I recently taught a class in the Western district concerning lay servant ministry.  As I wrote the outline for the class, I started with a few call stories.  I think each of them can tell us something different about how God, in relationship with us, calls us to ministry.

Review Genesis 12:1-9.  This is Abraham's call (Abram at the time).  Verses 1-3:

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

As a sidenote, the blessed to be a blessing concept is one of my favorites from the book of Genesis.  It is the motivation for our call.

If you read all of this passage, you'll see that God calls, and Abram goes.  He picks up what he has, and his family, and he leaves where he lives, heading out, following God.  Abram lived in a city in what is now possibly in Turkey - although there is not consensus about this.  He traveled to the land of the Canaanites - even ending up in Egypt at one point.  The Canaanites lived in what is now Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, southern Lebanon, and southern Syria. No matter how you look at it, or where you place ancient cities, Abram traveled.

And yet, at each place, God found him.  At each place, God was there.  

God comes to us where we are.  Where we are geographically; where we are spiritually; where we are emotionally; where we are physically. God calls us - finds us - values us - wherever we are.  And when we say yes, when we obey, we will find that God travels with us.  God does not leave us alone in a foreign land.  

The Summons

Have you heard or sung the song The Summons?

Will you come and follow me if I but call your name?

Will you go where you don’t know and never be the same?

Will you let my love be shown,

will you let my name be known,

will you let my life be grown in you and you in me?

Read more about the hymn, John Bell (who wrote the lyrics), and the Iona Community in Scotland at this link. I found it all very interesting.

According to the material on the Discipleship website: 

The Summons” of Christ is to a radical Christianity. We are challenged to “leave yourself behind” and to “risk the hostile stare” (stanza two), “set the prisoner free” and “kiss the leper clean” (stanza three), and “use the faith you’ve found to reshape the world around” (stanza four).

A few weeks ago at church, Terry preached a sermon based on Mark 1:14-20.  This is the call of Jesus to Simon and Andrew --> "Follow me and I will make you fish for people."  A summons if we ever heard one.  In the sermon, she said, "We live in a time of decision. The Summons is on us fresh and new every day. Every day there is a new, urgent opportunity to transform the world."

We don't always think of call as something that arrives on our doorstep every day, do we? I love the idea (and am entirely frightened by it) that there is a new call of us every day - a call that is urgent and that is an opportunity to transform the world.

What call is on your heart today?

Acts 8: Answering God's Call

A few weeks ago in Sunday school we looked at the passage from Acts where Philip meets and speaks with an Ethiopian Eunuch.  (Acts 8:26-39). In this story, Philip follows a call from God and encounters an Ethiopian eunuch who is riding in a chariot, reading the prophet Isaiah. Have you ever noticed how rich this passage is?

I want to focus today on how obedient to God both Philip and the Ethiopian were. 

Verse 26 says, "Then an angel of teh Lord said to Philip, 'Get up and go twoard the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.' (This is a wilderness road). So he got up and went."

That sounds simple. "So he got up and went." But imagine how much power is packed into that sentence. He heard God, so he did was he was called to do. It might as well have Mark's favorite word in it: immediately. No hesitation. No pondering. No wondering why God would send him on a road no one probably travels. Go. So he goes. 

And then there is the Ethiopian. He has traveled all the way from Ethiopia to Jerusalem to learn more about God. He's reading Isaiah (have you ever read Isaiah? Argh!) as he travels. He hears the word revealed to him, and then he jumps out of the chariot and is baptized. Just like that.

Their actions change the world. Christianity is spread. Faith is changed.

Do we do that? Do we hear God's call and respond? 

Gideon, Part 4

This week has been a reply of my notes for a Sunday School lesson I taught at Annual Conference using Judges 6:11-18.  Today's post concerns our discussion regarding application of what we can learn from the scriputre.

Fear:  Gideon and the Israelites were living in constant fear.  Think about it for a moment - what is it like to live in constant fear?  Can you think of a place in the world where the people live in constant fear? Has your safety and/or security ever been threatened? How did you respond?  This is a sidenote, but I wonder if understanding what it is like to live in fear or to have your security threatened can help increase our kindness to other people who are experiencing life like that.

Abandonment: Gideon has grown up with stories told about how God rescued the Israelites from Pharaoh through the work of Moses. He has heard about God working through Joseph in Egypt. He has heard great stories about God doing wonderful, fantastic, unbelievable things.  And Gideon wonders – has God abandoned us? Why would God do that? Have you ever been in a difficult situation and felt like God had abandoned you? Can you imagine that people would feel that way?

Doubt: Gideon experiences doubt. He doubts that God is present with them in their current circumstances, and he doubts that God is calling the right person – so he is doubting God’s abilities. What do you think about doubt? Is it a sin? Is it a natural part of faith? I think doubt is evidence that we are exploring our faith deeply – I think doubt is the growing pain of sanctifying grace – in order to mature in our faith, we have to ask God and our faith questions. I think we can trust God enough to bring God our doubts. When have you experienced doubt? Do you doubt your ability to answer God’s call? Do you find doubt in your faith? Does Gideon’s doubt help you relate to him?  How does God respond to Gideon’s doubt? with patience or impatience? How will God respond to your own doubts? How should we respond to other people’s doubts?

Why?: One of the most difficult questions we struggle with is why bad things happen to people who we judge to be good people? What are some of the ways that people answer that question?  If God makes good things happen to people who are believers, then what does that say to a faithful disciple who experiences terrible tragedy?  I worry that we steal people’s faith from them when we say things like, “God needed another flower in his garden.” The logical step from that is that God made my child sick and let him die in order to have another flower – we throw terrible blame on God when people need God the most.

Call: What does verse 14 say to us? “you have strength, so go and rescue Israel from the power of Midian. Am I not personally sending you?”

1. Do we hear in this verse an answer to part of our question about why bad things happen? Do we hear in this that we have a role to play in God’s plan?
2. Think back to the feeding of the 5000. Jesus tells the disciples, “You give them something to eat.” And at the end of the story, the disciples see the baskets, still full. I think this is a lesson for them – the abundance that is in front of them, when they only saw scarcity. There is power in God that God uses to equip us for the work to be done.
3. We are the answer to people’s prayers.  Is there a flood story that could be told here?

God with us:  One of the things I took with me when I completed my Emmaus walk is that God will be with me, all the time - whatever he calls me to go, I will not have to do alone.  Do you believe that God is always with us?  Have you had an experience that confirmed this for you?

Call to ministry:  Do you have a call to ministry? Important distinction – everyone is called to ministry – not just pastors.  Who does God call? The perfect? The wonderful and powerful? Does God choose who we would choose if it was our responsibility?  What is God calling you to do? What is standing in your way of doing it?

Conclusions

As we leave this place, keep in mind verse 16. The God who spoke to Moses from the burning bush is the same God who called Gideon, even though Gideon was full of doubts. This is the same God who fed 5000 people amid the doubts and scarcity mindset of the disiples. This is I AM. This is your God; this God is always with you, even when you don’t “feel” it.  And I AM is calling you.

How will you respond?

Is God calling you?

Is God calling you? Do you believe God has made a mistake? Do you make excuses to ignore the call? 

The work God calls us to and the answer to our call isn't about who we are - it's about what God can make us into. It isn't about what we can do - it's about what God can do through us. It's not about the gifts we have - it's about the gifts God will give others through us. It's not about our sins - it's about the grace we can offer to others.

Thought for the day: Your call may not be about you; it may be about those around you.

(Note about the image: This is a piece of stained glass crafted by our Conference Lay Leader to represent 2400 professions of faith in the conference.)

On Vocation

On Vocation: The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet.  (Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking).  

Yes, that means I'm in the V Chapter of this book. I will finish it this week.  Maybe tomorrow.

I had to stop and write about this particular quote that I read today. It is the very first quote I ever read from Frederick Buechner, back in 2005. I had been invited to preach for Laity Sunday, and I was looking for something like this - I didn't know who had said it or what exactly it was, so the Lay Leader at the time sent it to me. It became a part of my sermon, and then after the sermon, the Lay Leader gave me a thank you gift - a Frederick Buechner book called Beyond Words. It's still sitting on my bookshelf in my office, and I pull it often for devotional material.

There are sentences that follow you through life, don't you think? In music it's called a "lifesong." I don't know what it's called when it's a quote, but this one has stuck with me for over 10 years.  There are so many tenants of faith for me in this one sentence:

1. God calls - God calls you. God calls me. Don't forget that you are called to something. Everyone is.
2. It takes discernment to find that place of calling - you have to work with God to discover what you are to do. If that wasn't true, the sentence wouldn't exist - no one would need encouragement to look for their call; they would already know what it was. Finding it might not be easy.
3. We are called to deep gladness. We sometimes think that if we are suffering, then we are answering our call. I'm not saying there won't be suffering, but if you are not experiencing deep gladness, then you haven't found your calling. Underneath the hard work, the frustrations, and the muck of doing what you are called to do, there is deep gladness. 
4. It's not about self-gratification. There is a purpose to your service. There is a need the world has that God is calling you to meet. It's about giving of yourself, not to make yourself happy, but to fulfill a mission you have been given.

The place where your deep gladness and the world's deep need meet is a sacred place. It is the burning bush. It is where you throw off your shoes and say, "Here is where I meet God."  

I Have Heard You Calling in the Night, Part 5

Heard You Calling, continued...

In the third part of the passage we read in Matthew, we see that after Herod died, Joseph has another dream. This time he is told to return to Israel. Great news! So they are able to return home. But when they arrive, they find that a ruler even more horrible that Herod, Herod’s son. Archelaus began his rule with the slaughter of the 3000 most influential people in the country. Joseph hears who is ruling this part of Israel, and is afraid. Who wouldn’t be? In a dream, an angel directs him to go to the region of Galilee, where a different son of Herod’s reigned.

So Jesus grows up in Nazareth, where he is safe. This was a town at the crossroads of two major roads, so Jesus lives in a place where he is exposed to people from all over the nearby world, and I imagine this could only serve as a good thing for what the future holds for him.

We are afraid – we are called to do what we do not know how to do in places we have never been. What we can learn from Joseph is that God is trustworthy. We may be afraid, but our God can be trusted, and we can go where God leads and do what God calls us to do.

We live in a world where we see terrible things happening. We live in a world where is it wise to be afraid. We live in a world that desperately needs God, and we hear God calling. Do you hear God calling you? In your dreams, where is God calling you to go? What is God calling you to do? What is God calling your church to accomplish? How will the world be changed by what you do for God?

I said earlier that God allows us free will, and that God’s ultimate desire for us will be accomplished, even in spite of what we do. We have the opportunity, every day, to respond to God as we hear God in our dreams. And if we do, then instead of God’s will be accomplished in spite of us, it will be done through us. Imagine for a moment what joy that brings.


So, when you hear the Lord of sea and sky calling you in the night, what will your response be? Will you say, “I will go Lord, if You lead me.  I will hold Your people in my heart.”

I Have Heard You Calling in the Night, Part 4

Heard You Calling, continued...

We don’t want to read the next part of the scripture. In this passage, Herod orders the death of the children in Bethlehem, because he is afraid of losing power to a new king.  This is not out of character for Herod. William Barclay says, in his commentary, “Herod was a past master in the art of assassination. He had no sooner come to the throne that he began by annihilating the Sanhedrin, the supreme court of the Jews Later he slaughtered 300 court officers out of hand. Later still he murdered his wife Mariamne, and her mother Alexandra, his eldest son Antipater, and two other sons, Alexander and Aristobulus. And in the hour of his death he arranged for the slaughter of the notable men of Jerusalem. So ordering the death of 20 or 30 young boys – nothing new for Herod.  What does this horrible act say to us?

Horrible things happen in this world.  Horrible, terrible things, that we cannot understand. We are not protected from them, and we will experience the pain of suffering and grief. We may not, thankfully, experience what the parents of these children did, but loss will come to us.

In 1944, Methodist minister, Rev. Leslie Weatherhead, delivered 5 sermons to his congregation in London. Their city was under constant siege – they were seeing death and destruction all around them – including of their church building, City Temple.  Weatherhead’s sermon series during this time was later published as a book called The Will of God. I highly recommend it.   In these sermons, he speaks about God’s will for his people, and how it is accomplished.

He suggestions God’s will can be seen in three parts:

1. God’s Intentional Will – These are the desires of God’s heart for us, His ideal plan, flowing out of His goodness.
2. God’s Permissive Will – This is what God will accept, given our choices, good or bad, in particular circumstances, so as to not limit the free will He has given us. 
3. God’s Ultimate Will – This is how God achieves His ends, given man’s choices, be they good or bad. He works all things together for the good of those He called, who love Him.

Too often, for me, I hear people say, when suffering happens, that it was God’s will.  I don’t believe that. I believe God’s will for us flows out of goodness. Was it God’s will that Herod murder these children? No. Emphatically, no. God has given us free will, and accepts our choices. And yet, there is, thankfully, God’s ultimate will – and God’s ultimate will for us is good, and it will be accomplished, in spite of what we do.

God sent Joseph and Mary to Egypt to protect Jesus. So that the world transforming Christ could live to accomplish God’s ultimate will.  In the meantime, God is present with us – in the good and in the bad. God stays with us, even through our suffering.  God was with the refugees – Joseph’s family, and God was with the parents in Bethlehem, and we can rest assured that God is with us, and remains with us.

I Have Heard You Calling in the Night, Part 3

Heard You Calling, continued...

Have you ever been in that situation before? Have you ever felt that God was calling you to go to a new place, or to do something you have never done before? How did you react?

I’m not Joseph, and I’m not suggesting that I am, but I’ve felt that way before.  More than nine years ago, I was working in medical research with Marshall University at the VA Medical Center. I enjoyed my work, but I had this feeling that God was calling me to change. I look back now, and I can see how I was preparing to leave – I was inventorying all my samples, and creating indexes of them, so that other people would be able to find what they needed if I weren’t there. I was clearing out what needed to be thrown away, and making sure all the procedures were written down. I had no idea of where I would end up going, but I was preparing for it, all the same.

In the spring of 2008, a friend hinted that I should apply for the opening at the Foundation. I heard that, and thought, “There is no way I could do that. It’s not at all what I want to do. Bad idea.” And then I went to bed.

And I did not sleep.

And I thought about it all night long.

And I wrestled with God about it for hours.

And then I woke up – well, got up, because I did not sleep that night at all – and I told my husband, Steve, “I think I’m going to apply for the Associate Director position at the Foundation.”

I have a Master’s degree in biology. I am not trained for this job. Leaving what I was doing was a complete leap of faith. Even now, when people ask me why I did it – why I left a job I had had for 19 years to do something completely different, that I knew nothing about – I say, “Because God called me to do it.” When we sing that song, “Here I am, Lord” and we get to the line, “I have heard you calling in the night,” it almost always makes me cry. I did hear God calling in the night, and here I am today.

It was the best professional move I ever made. I love what I do. Everyday. I am able to use the gifts God has given me to do the work that God needs me to do, and I am in a sacred place. I am only here because I said yes. Even though I was afraid. Even though I didn’t know what I was doing. Even though I wasn’t completely sure. When God calls, listen. Say yes, and see where God takes you.

I Have Heard You Calling in the Night, Part 2

Heard you calling, continued...

Sometimes, when we think of the Christmas story, we combine what we read in Luke, what we read in Matthew, and what we traditionally have heard.  I think it is good to take a moment to pull the pieces apart, and look at each of them separately.  The birth narrative in Matthew focuses on Joseph – it is in Matthew that we see the angel visiting Joseph in dreams – first to convince him not to abandon Mary, and now again in these verses.  Remember that one of Matthew’s purposes in writing his Gospel was to place the story of Christ in a framework for the Hebrew people. If you read this passage carefully, you can hear the story of Moses echoing through it.  Think about it. Both what we read today and the story of Moses include a trip to Egypt (for Moses’ ancestors), a baby in peril from power as children are massacred and a return from Egypt. When we read the first two chapters of Matthew, we get a better picture of Joseph – and I think we can place ourselves in his shoes – or maybe sandals – a little bit better.

The passage from Matthew (see yesterday) can easily be divided into three parts, and I want us to look at each of them, and see what God is telling us today in these words written 2000 years ago. What does God’s call on Joseph’s life say to us? What about the killing of the young boys? And what about the return to Israel from Egypt? These words weren’t written about us, but I think we can hear God’s words to us in them.

We pick up the story right after the wise men leave. After they left, Joseph is told in a dream to take Mary and Jesus and flee to Egypt, and to stay there until Herod had died. Think about that for a minute. I wonder if Joseph had been a world traveler before this? I’m guessing not. So, in a dream, God tells him to leave, right now, with his baby and wife, and go across a desert to a land where he hasn’t been before, and stay there, for who knows how long. And what does Joseph do? He obeys. How would he have felt? I imagine he was afraid – that both of them were afraid. I imagine that they would rather have stayed where they were – a place familiar to them – than go to Egypt. Our nativity scenes don’t depict this – they don’t show a Joseph and Mary who are refugees, far away from home. This is not an “Away in the Manger” story – this is a story of a family fleeing the country for their lives – or at least for the life of their child. Joseph and Mary go – because God calls.

I Have Heard you Calling in the Night, Part 1

January. It’s that time of year when we may or may not make resolutions. It’s the time of year when we pack away the Christmas decorations. It’s that time of year when I’m glad we use an artificial tree, and I feel sorry for those of you who have to dispose of the real ones. The last time Steve and I did that, we suffered through the whole process, getting jabbed over and over by dry needles – the same dry needles that then fell to the floor to bury themselves in the carpet.

Anyway, it’s the time of year when we pack away the stockings and the nativity scenes.  Except in our house. In our house, we keep the nativity scenes up all year round.  And we collect them, so there is an entire bookcase in our house devoted to nativity scenes. Big ones and very tiny ones. One of them is from my childhood, and I remember it always being under the Christmas tree. I would play with it, moving the pieces around. The characters are a little damaged, and when you look at them, you can see some attempts at repair, but the set reminds me that our faith should be accessible to all of us, including our children. It reminds me that my faith has been a part of me since I was a child. Another set is from Guatemala, and it reminds me that Christ is bigger than we can imagine – Christ is not a gift we can keep to ourselves, but must share with the world, and Christ is a gift that the world shares with us. One set is made of rock, and it reminds me that God is older than I can ever understand. One set is just of Joseph and a pregnant Mary as they make their way to Bethlehem. The two pieces are made so that Joseph interlocks behind Mary, sheltering her, and it reminds me of Joseph, and the role he played in the nativity scene.

These sets are beautiful – some to look at, but all are beautiful in the language they speak to me, reminding me of our faith, and what it means. Even so, they are not complete – they do not tell the whole story. And sometimes, in their beauty, we miss what might be the most important parts of the story of the incarnation of Christ.

Hear these words from the book of Matthew, chapter 2, verses 13-23:

Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, “Out of Egypt I have called my 

When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah:
“A voice was heard in Ramah,
    wailing and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
    she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.”

When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said,  “Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.” Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee. There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, “He will be called a Nazorean.”

The word of God, for us, the people of God.  Thanks be to God.

Sacred Place

I may have mentioned before that each week at our office meeting, one of the staff members begins the meeting with a devotional.  This week was my turn. Sometimes, when I'm searching for a devotional topic, I turn to the book by Frederick Buechner called Beyond Words: Daily Readings in the ABC's of Faith. 

The book was a gift to me on October 16, 2005. I had been asked by the Lay Leader of the church we attend to give the sermon on Laity Sunday. During the writing of the sermon (which took me months), I asked him if he remembered the source of a quote I had heard - he did; the author of the quote was Buechner.

The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet.

The book was an appreciation gift for the sermon, and before he gave it to me, he had placed a bookmark on the page. The bookmark is still there.

The actual passage is longer than the quote I have above, and I read the few paragraphs at the office meeting, and talked about calling.  I am grateful that I have been called to this place, and that I have found joy in the work that I do. It is a sacred place.

I pray you find (or have found) that place. 

Philip

Philip found Nathaniel and said to him, ‘We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.’ Nathaniel said to him, ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’ Philip said to him, ‘Come and see.’  (John 1:45-46)

Read the first chapter of John again, especially if you haven't read it in a while.  I love love love the poetry of the writing at the very beginning.  And then, as you get to the end of the chapter, there are two call stories.  What's great about them - or what I am seeing today - is that Andrew brings Simon to Jesus and Philip brings Nathaniel.

I was in a meeting yesterday, and the devotional was centered around the Philip and Nathaniel story. The speaker asked, "Who has been Philip to you?"

Who has brought you to Christ?  Who has been Philip to you?

Who have you been Philip for, bring another person to Christ?

God speaking

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him.   And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’  (Mark 1:9-11)

Mark compares the Spirit descending to a dove. Luke says that the Spirit descended in a bodily form like a dove.  Imagine for a moment a dove descending onto Jesus.  What would that have been like?  Would it have been a quiet, soft glide of the bird as it gently approached Jesus?  Would it have been more noticeable, like a dive bombing bird after french fries?  Either way, I imagine those around paid attention.  It was not an ordinary action.  The voice from heaven probably added some punch to the message, too.  Could anyone have gone away that day doubting that something extraordinary had happened?

Then the Lord called, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ and he said, ‘Here I am!’ and ran to Eli, and said, ‘Here I am, for you called me.’ But he said, ‘I did not call; lie down again.’ So he went and lay down.   (1 Samuel 3:4-5)

In this passage, we see that Samuel is hearing the Lord, but his mentor, Eli, doesn't recognize who is calling to Samuel (at least at first).  It takes three times for Eli, the Priest, to clue into what is happening.

In both incidents, God isn't being subtle.  It's the listeners who need to listen and see.

The beginning of chapter 3 in 1 Samuel says, "The word of the Lord was rare in those days; visions were not widespread."  How often do we say something similar?  How often do we doubt that God is communicating with us?  Maybe God is, and we just aren't listening.