The Shared Love of God

 

Quiet times, with music in the background and a good book to read, are the ‘sweet spot’ of life for me. But, the frequent days without much human interaction that came with my recent retirement has made me know, anew, how important it is to converse, to do life with other people. Those days that pass without the sound of a human voice is a little like living in a house without a heating system, functional but cold.  I need the warmth of words.  How about you?

 COVID brought times of extended isolation to most of us. We were working from home, limited in our gatherings for worship, perhaps even avoiding extended family.  As a result of this, depression increased. Suicide rates ticked up. General unhappiness grew. People did not do well coping with life -  job loss, financial difficulty, and/or the uncertainty that came with the virus. In part this is because we were not standing around talking before work, or sharing a cup of coffee in the church foyer, celebrating family birthday parties, or having those casual conversations in the grocery store.  

 
Without realizing it, we are therapists to one another, processing life, making sense of the senseless when we gripe and gossip and give thanks.  Like the newly retired Jerry, many had taken for granted the warmth of human interaction, only missing it when it was gone.

God created us to need people. Christians are part of a great community called “The Church” which He designed. The Holy Spirit inspired these words - "The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body  …  As it is, there are many parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” …  God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it." (1 Corinthians 12:12-27, NIV)   Our connection is not just to meet some psychological need, though it does.

We are called together to complete one another,
to become – together - what we cannot be alone.

One of the tragedies of the American practice of Christianity is the devaluing of ‘’church.”  Millions of professed Christians have abandoned worship gathering, denigrated spiritual leadership, and attempted a “Jesus and Me” faith. I think understand some of the reasons!  The Church has been scandalized by greedy pastors and lecherous priests.  What passes for ‘worship’ services are often a hastily thrown together conglomeration of songs, announcements, and “talks” that replace the Word with stories. Gatherings that are shaped as a performance instead of a divine encounter may fill our heart but our spirit will hunger still. A misplaced focus on the congregation rather than on the Mystery and Majesty of God leaves us spiritually hungry, even if we cannot articulate why. Yes, I who has spent his lifetime as a church professional gets why some have walked away from church, if not from faith.

But, despite the scandal, paucity of worship, and even some of those people in the pew we would admit we do not like all at that much, God desires that we connect, that we make our gathering together a priority, exercising faith and praying that in the act of corporate worship the Holy Spirit will do something to us and through us in this living Body of Christ. We resist the clear direction of God at great cost to ourselves. 

Hear the directive-  "Think of ways to encourage one another to outbursts of love and good deeds. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage and warn each other, especially now that the day of his coming back again is drawing near." (Hebrews 10:24-25, NLT)

Oh, I know that just being ‘in church’ is no guarantee of spiritual development or maturity. Many congregations include a person who has been in the 3^rd row virtually every Sunday for 50 years who is still mean, full of rage, and critical – but he is our brother. When we love him, obedient to Christ’s word, we grow in grace.  But, there is a joy, too, that is found in standing next to that person who came to Christ from a world different from ours who adds a dimension to our humanity as well as our faith. 

It is not just a psychological or sociological issue, either. There is the mystery of faith, the supernatural work of God that happens when we habitually present ourselves to Him in intentional worship with others.  And yes, there is this - when we take the Cup and Bread of the Holy Meal, focused on the mystery of the Presence of Christ in them, we are connected spirit to spirit and with His people from the ages. Together we confess our sin, realize anew His grace, and renew our hope in an unmerited salvation.  Christ commands this celebration of Him and our connection to others in the Body. We are poorer if we ignore His words.

Let’s prioritize worship with others, not just out of duty or grim discipline, but with delight in God’s command. Instead of going to ‘get something,’ let’s pray to gather to take our heart, mind, soul, and body to God: “Here I am, Lord, to declare Your worth.”  Let’s be the Body, loving others, learning the joy of shared faith.

Here is a word from the Word. "Be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. Always keep yourselves united in the Holy Spirit, and bind yourselves together with peace. We are all one body, we have the same Spirit, and we have all been called to the same glorious future. There is only one Lord, one faith, one baptism . . .  we will hold to the truth in love, becoming more and more in every way like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. Under his direction, the whole body is fitted together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love." (Ephesians 4: 2-5, 15-16, NLT)

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Come People Of The Risen King

Come people of the Risen King
Who delight to bring Him praise
Come all and tune your hearts to sing
To the Morning Star of grace
From the shifting shadows of the earth
We will lift our eyes to Him
Where steady arms of mercy reach
To gather children in

Rejoice rejoice let ev'ry tongue rejoice
One heart one voice
O Church of Christ rejoice

Come those whose joy is morning sun
And those weeping through the night
Come those who tell of battles won
And those struggling in the fight
For His perfect love will never change
And His mercies never cease
But follow us through all our days
With the certain hope of peace

Come young and old from ev'ry land
Men and women of the faith
Come those with full or empty hands
Find the riches of His grace
Over all the world His people sing
Shore to shore we hear them call
The truth that cries through ev'ry age
Our God is all in all

Keith Getty | Kristyn Getty | Stuart Townend

© 2007 Thankyou Music (Admin. by Capitol CMG Publishing)

CCLI License # 810055

When you ache for the good

The movie was drawing to a predictable close – the hero finally finds redemption and as a bonus he wins the girl’s heart, too – as I knew he would. It’s a movie, after all!  Still I found emotions stirring, tears welling in my eyes. I recognized the root of those feelings. They are a reflection of my intense desire for a world without the pain, life without cancer, where there are no friends that forsake you in your time of need, where personal failure does not dog you day after day, where the work you do is rewarded beyond money or fame.

I am not complaining nor am I telling you that my life is without joy.
But, it’s not heaven yet and I suspect, your life isn’t quite heaven, either.
Am I right?

There are echoes of Eden in us that draw us to the beautiful, the loving, the fulfilling. We know life should be better, that suffering is a signal of the ‘wrong’ that is part of living in a world that is, as we Christians say, “after the Fall.”  The tragedy of this world is the sin that separates us from our Creator God.

Deny it if you dare, but the evidence for the truthfulness of this statement is compelling: "We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way." (Isaiah 53:6, NIV)  Genesis tells us the story of decision, the choice to pursue Self over God that broke the perfect relationship. The snake hisses his invitation to ‘be like God. Take that which is forbidden.’ That fateful choice causes the Garden goes to weeds – in every sense.  Yes, the weeds still grow in me, too!

Each one of us still makes momentous decisions, day in and day out.
The Spirit whispers, “Walk with Me.”
Self clamors for its own way. 

Apart from the intervention of God, we have no choice for we are sold in slavery to sin. That is a harsh word, a conclusion much resisted by those who try to hang onto the illusion of humanity’s innate goodness in spite of so much evidence to the contrary. Of course there are momentary flashes of nobility, expressions of love that become those heart-warming human interest stories that end the network news. But, on the whole, the world has a dismal record – war, exploitation, greed, hate, lust, cruelty.

Paul says "When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!”   It is a grim assessment – in the grip of a power greater than our best intentions, marked by shame, destined for spiritual death.

Ah, let’s not stay there, however because the Story does not have to end with despair. “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:20-23, NIV)

The Curse is reversed in Christ Jesus, the Eternal God who became a Man, who entered into the broken world, drank the full cup of sin on our behalf as the Word says becoming “obedient to death— even death on a cross!”  He defeated Death, rose again, and His triumph is our hope. Yes, through faith, we who long for love and life are invited to share in the salvation He purchased.  We need not just dream about a new life, we can begin to live one in Christ, by the Spirit. 

Do you know that Life?
Have you received the Good News of Christ by faith?
Then, you are part of the Divine Conspiracy to change darkness to Light, despair to Hope, ugliness to Beauty. It is not instantaneous. It is not without struggle. The complete realization of this new life awaits the revelation of the Kingdom. But, we enter it today.

The word from the Word encourages us to discipleship, to that process that brings the Truth to reality.  Hear the Word. " Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life." (Philippians 2:12-16, NIV)

So, shed those tears that speak to the longing for what could be, then take the hand of Christ. You are called into His rule, a Kingdom of Love and Truth. Let Him make you a life-giver in a dying world.

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Because He Lives

God sent His Son they called Him Jesus
He came to love heal and forgive
He bled and died to buy my pardon
An empty grave is there to prove
My Savior lives

Because He lives I can face tomorrow
Because He lives all fear is gone
Because I know He holds the future
And life is worth the living
Just because He lives

How sweet to hold our newborn baby
And feel the pride and joy he gives
But greater still the calm assurance
This child can face uncertain days
Because Christ lives

And then one day I'll cross that river
I'll fight life's final war with pain
And then as death gives way to vict'ry
I'll see the lights of glory
And I'll know He reigns

Gloria Gaither | William J. Gaither

© 1971 Hanna Street Music (Admin. by Gaither Copyright Management)

CCLI License # 810055

 

For the invisible

 

The text said, “Did you see Sarah in church yesterday?”  It was good to know that someone cared about a person that is ‘invisible’ to many.  As life kicks off a new week I wonder if you are feeling invisible, or small, or insignificant?  As I grew older I started to take more note of those persons who are ‘left out’ because of physical problems, mental health issues, or even age.   It’s been my privilege to live in the center of community, surrounded by people who look to me for care and who love me in return, but what of those who do not enjoy that kind of  social status?  My theology reminds me that in Christ’s Body, His Church, nobody is a throwaway person.

In the first book of the Bible we meet a person without status. Her name is Hagar and she was a servant to Abraham’s wife, who was also a surrogate mother for the childless Sarah. After Hagar bore a son, jealousy erupted and she was shown the door of the tent.  In her desperate state, the angel of the Lord found her. After her encounter she said this:  “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” (Genesis 16:13, NIV) What a wonderful revelation, given to a woman who was, in her community, a nobody, of no consequence, a throwaway person.

Friend, wherever you are, whatever your social status, I hope that you know that God sees, God knows, God is ever-present. The worst kind of ‘forgotten’ is that moment when because of disappointment or failure, we are tempted to question the love of God. Isaiah preached sermons of God’s pending judgment. He reminded the people of the Lord that they were about to go through a terrible trial, that they had forsaken their God and would reap the consequences of their faithlessness. 

None the less, God would remember! "Why do you say, O Jacob, and complain, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God”? Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom." (Isaiah 40:27-28, NIV)

Let me remind us of these unchanging truths.

Our lives are bounded by beginnings and endings, birth and death, carried along in the inexorable current of time.  Success comes and goes. Today’s hero is forgotten as time moves on. But, the God we trust is eternal. He is without start or stop, unrestrained by time as we experience it.  He is the God who sees. You are always in His care.

Perhaps you have become fatigued, just flat out exhausted by life – feeling like an tiny cog in the vast machine of society.  That feeling of futility is often accompanied by a soul weariness and morphs into fearfulness about our ability to cope and doubts about our personal worth. When that is our mindset, everything looks more difficult, each situation turns into a mountain of impossibility when we are at the end of our physical, emotional, or mental strength!  God see you and knows your need.  Reach out, even if it just a whisper of a prayer, “Jesus help me.”  He does not tire of us, nor does He turn from us. We can be confident in this.

Then, too, we all find ourselves wondering ‘why’ don’t we?  When the apparent chaos of the world rises like floodwaters to overtake us, the effort to press ahead in life can make us feel alone, forgotten.  God sees us even in the darkest storm.  Jesus says “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?”  (Matthew 6:26)

We are not forgotten by Him. Hang onto that today.  Meditate on this passage, inviting the Spirit to make it living Word for you.

"Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand. ...

I am the Lord, your Redeemer. I am the Holy One of Israel.’   …
When the poor and needy search for water and there is none,
and their tongues are parched from thirst,
then I, the Lord, will answer them. I, the God of Israel, will never abandon them.

I will open up rivers for them on the high plateaus.
I will give them fountains of water in the valleys.
I will fill the desert with pools of water.
Rivers fed by springs will flow across the parched ground.
I will plant trees in the barren desert— cedar, acacia, myrtle, olive, cypress, fir, and pine.

I am doing this so all who see this miracle will understand what it means— that it is the Lord who has done this, the Holy One of Israel who created it."  (Isaiah 41:10-20, NLT)

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Not Forgotten
(an upbeat song good for a Monday morning dance around the kitchen)

I am not forgotten I am not forgotten
I am not forgotten God knows my name
I am not forgotten I am not forgotten
I am not forgotten God knows my name
He knows my name

He knows my name

Light over darkness
Strength over weakness
Joy over sadness
He knows my name
He knows my name

Father to the fatherless
Friend to the friendless
Hope for the hopeless

He knows my name
He knows my name
And I will praise You Lord
I will praise You Lord
For I am fearfully and wonderf'lly made
(Ev’rybody say)

I am not forgotten never forsaken (7X)

He knows my name
He knows my name

Aaron Lindsey | Israel Houghton

© 2005 Integrity's Praise! Music (Admin. by Integrity Music)

Sound Of The New Breed (Admin. by Integrity Music)

CCLI License # 810055