More than I ask or imagine. . .

New Book Review: Sexual Sanity for Women by Ellen Dykas

New Growth Press just published a very unique study for women in conjunction with Harvest USA. This resource, Sexual Sanity for Women: Healing from Sexual & Relational Brokenness, fills a tremendous gap in small group resources for women.  As a pastor and former campus minister, I have been aware of the need for women to have studies that address issues of sexuality and lust, especially when a third of visitors to porn sites on the internet are women.  Sex and lust are typically seen unfairly as "every MAN's battle" causing more shame for women who struggle in secret.  

The layout for this study is a 90 minute small group of women.  My recommendation would be to create a group dedicated to dealing with sexual issues for women rather than placing this study on an existing group.   The 20 sessions take each participant through an understanding of the human heart as a 'Tree" with our actions as "fruit", our worldview as "shoots", our God-given desires as "roots", external influences as "soil", and the condition of our heart as "seed" .  Time is taken to think through temptations and future growth.   I highly recommend this study as an example of good theology and compassion combined with excellent practical applications.  This book is easy to understand and well-planned.  May this book give hope to women who struggle in silence with pornography, sexual fantasy, and illicit sexual encounters, so that in Christ the whole church may find forgiveness and hope for change.

Advent According to Isaiah: An Introduction to an Advent Sermon Series

After years of enormous economic prosperity and peace, the good ole days were coming to an end for Israel and Judah. As the Assyrian nation began to expand their boundaries conquering by military might and political will, life as they knew it was changing.  As the enemy from the North was threatening the divided Kingdom, Isaiah was there to proclaim that Yahweh was the King and Protector, and there would be consequences for their unfaithfulness. 

Throughout the book of Isaiah, the prophet proclaims judgment to elicit repentance and hope to instill comfort.  While these two results seem opposite, repentance of sin leading to the comfort of Christ is the mark of the Christian life.  We see that God is revealed as one who must have justice for the oppression of sin, yet at the same time gives himself through Jesus Christ to comfort us as sinners and victims of sin.   When Isaiah looked forward by God’s power, he saw the divided kingdom of David coming to an end as a result of Israel and Judah forsaking the protection of Yahweh.  God declared his promise to comfort after the Assyrian victory in 732 BC and the Babylonian victory in 586 BC by making everything right.   Making everything right was not just putting the world back to the way it was in the past, but also something greater more profound and more world-altering than ever had been experienced.   Hope comes from a long look Godward and Isaiah can just begin to describe it through images and visions God gives him.

As we celebrate Advent beginning on December 2, 2012, we see in hindsight what Isaiah longed to gaze upon: all the promises of God being a person, the Everlasting Man, Jesus.  But we also know that there is more to come.  Advent always confronts our hopelessness and our doubts with the truth that brought comfort to those who heard Isaiah, the best is yet to come. What wonderful news!   This is by faith because hope by its nature is unseen.  Advent allows us to long and yearn for the fruit of our hope in the midst of our sin and weakness.  Advent is a calling upon God to remember His people by coming to them.   Advent according to Isaiah pushes us to see beyond our circumstance, beyond our darkness into the glory of his prophetic vision.  Our future in Jesus Christ and His Kingdom are so beyond our experience we must be told through the God given metaphors in
this book of the Bible. 

May the Lord richly bless our church as we long for our Savior and celebrate His Birth.  God has not forgotten us and in fact he never will be distant again because in Jesus, even that picture of weakness in the Manger, is God-With-Us.  May the Advent sermon series challenge and comfort you according to His Grace and Love in Christ.

A Viral Video for Advent: Missing the Father

 

I shared this video on Facebook that struck me along with many others about a little girl who asks Santa for her Father to come home for Christmas.  So far, this video has been shared over 82,000 times. What makes this video so powerful?

Maybe we all know what it is like to miss someone.  Maybe we miss someone so much because of the joy they bring. Maybe there is a nothing like a longing heart being met by the presence of the one they longed for.

This is not just a sentimental video.  It echoes the human heart. The longing that we celebrate in Advent.  We live in a world where we long for the one we miss.  All the suffering, lonliness, and loss in our world creates a home sickness in us.  Our heart is somewhere else.  We know that this is not the way it is supposed to be. 

Our Father comes with blessings for everyone, but to us, His Children, He gives us His Presence.  Jesus is God with Us, coming to us in all our longing, acheing, and home sickness, to give us our heart.  Our tears for this video reveal how much we long for our Father a good father who is more than a mere 'Santa Claus'.  In spite of all of our denial, we want Advent and Christmas to be as real as a little girl hugging her daddy. 

See yourself in this little girl during our Advent season.  May the Lord give of Himself to those who long for Him.

Book Review: Wordsmithy: Hot Tips for the Writing Life by Douglas Wilson

As an early Christmas present my in-laws gave me a copy of Wordsmithy by Doug Wilson, and I read it very quickly.  I have read many Doug Wilson books so I am used to his voice and perspective, but in this book he really is playful and expansive.  This is not a how to manual for aspiring writers with nuts and bolts, there are some good books that can do that, such as The Book on Writing by LaRocque. 

This book is all about how live as a writer.  Read good books, live a life with something to say, practice in other genres, and do not be afraid to be bad.  These are simple principles but Wilson does an incredible job of motivating you by using his life, his writing life, to communicate a passionate worldview of writing.

I highly recommend this book on anyone who has a creative calling.  Whether its preaching sermons (my case), writing children's stories, fashion designer, songwriter or graphic designer, this book will be valuable. It is a short book that can be read in a night or two, but be careful this book will get into your bones and you will want to start writing again or blogging. 

A Demonstration against Secularism: The "Natural" Healing of Music

Secularism is "the negation of man as a worshiping being, as homo adorans: the one for whom worship is the essential act which both 'posits' his humanity and fulfills it".  Alexander Schmemann said this in his famous book For the Life of the World.  Every now and then, there are items in the news or on the web that testify to humanity's fundamental desire to worship. 

Below is a video that has been shared on Facebook and Twitter from a documentary about a Music Therapy treatment.  An elderly man with Alzheimer's Disease or Dementia, begins listening to music and he is brought to life.  The doctor says "Henry is restored to himself, he has remembered who is, and reacquired his identity for a while through the power of music".  Although the clip ends with a praise of technology, the real healing was not from drugs or therapy but the "music of the spheres", a gift of God Almighty who sang life into being. 

Oftentimes, I forget that I am a beloved son in Christ.  When I forget this, my anxiety will take over as the fruit of my selfishness.  Through the ages, music calls us out of the selfish abyss and brings us back to ourselves.  We remember who we are.   The Call to Worship every week in Church is a call to die to myself and live as part of a new humanity as the Church.  In myself, I am in exile, and every Sunday is a homecoming.  

Enjoy the video, remember who you are and worshiping the God from whom all blessings flow. 

 

New Clothes for Easter: A Sign and Seal of Something More

I wrote this following article for our Newsletter at Lycoming Centre.  After I told my Mom that I got a new suit for Easter, she and Dad came up for Easter as a surprise, but it just shows how much they taught me through even something like clothing.

I remember my brown suit.  I was 4 or 5 and the pictures show me standing proudly in my Easter suit.  In my early childhood, I can remember wearing new suits every Easter and my sister having a bright and beautiful Spring dress.  My parents always dressed us up for church, but on Easter, that was a game changer. We wore bright-colored new clothes that were only fit for weddings or Christmas if we had not grown out of them by then.

Easter, from my earliest memories was about color and newness. I have no idea about the origin of pastel colors and Easter, but my parents entrusted me with a great worldview by communicating the newness and uniqueness of Easter. The greatest central fact of our faith is the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from Death on the Cross.  The resurrection is his enthronement celebration where God declares before the watching world that- Yes, He is the Son of God! This is not some random coincidence or aberration in history, but the very beginning of a new history.  All things are being made new now in King Jesus' lordship, and his primary means of that work of newness is you and me.  The Church's calling is to be a New People.  Granted, we are sinners, but the Holy Spirit that raised Jesus that first Easter is raising us in Him as well. We are no longer dead in our sin!

In the first few centuries of the Church, new converts were baptized on Saturday night or Early Sunday morning before Easter.  After the baptism, they would be given new white robes to wear for the Easter service. Easter was celebrated for 7 weeks culminating in Pentecost Sunday. So every Sunday, these newly Baptized believers would remind the Church that they are new people and have a new calling.

This Easter, consider where are you called to bring the newness of Jesus' Kingly New Reign. Where is God calling you to die to your selfishness and pride and to live a resurrection life? How can you, your family and this church show our community that Jesus is renewing all things? Let not just your Easter apparel show that something is special about April 8 this year, but let your conduct, your repentance, your generosity, your forgiveness and your newness of heart be a witness to Christ's resurrection!

Holy Saturday Reading: Psalm 88

The modern existential novel holds no thrill for me except on Holy Saturday.  I am thinking of James Joyce's Ulysses or Faulkner's Light in August as epitomes of this genre.  These and other such novels show an angst and an experience that is not driven by narrative but rather what life is like when the narrative is lost.  There is an ebb and flow and a journey but no plot resolution.  For many readers this is simply unsatisfying.  I want a good story, but the novel will end with nothing there to give that satisfaction of the completed story.

For one day a year, that lack of resolution should stick with us.  Psalm 88 is a perfect Pslam for this day, and is used in many lectionaries for today.  Why is Psalm 88 a good one?  Because it does not resolve. It never comes back to "But I will trust in the Lord" or "wait for Him" or "seek refuge in the Lord's Anointed".  It just ends with no resolution, being in need, oppressed, and lonely.

Reading Psalm 88 identifies with our experience as experience long before existential angst was popular in the 20th century. In fact, the nature of faith is a posture that is honest about suffering and longs for God to redeem even when circumstances seem to not be resolving.  The psalm also reminds us that God "remembers our frame, and knows we are dust" (Psalm 103). Ultimately, our stories, our journeys may not be satisfyingly resolved for us, but our story will resolve in the larger great narrative that God is writing. The satisfaction must wait.

As we wait on Holy Saturday, let us remember Psalm 88:

      1 LORD, you are the God who saves me;
         day and night I cry out to you.
      2 May my prayer come before you;
         turn your ear to my cry.

      3 I am overwhelmed with troubles
         and my life draws near to death.
      4 I am counted among those who go down to the pit;
         I am like one without strength.
      5 I am set apart with the dead,
         like the slain who lie in the grave,
         whom you remember no more,
         who are cut off from your care.

      6 You have put me in the lowest pit,
         in the darkest depths.
      7 Your wrath lies heavily on me;
         you have overwhelmed me with all your waves. i
      8 You have taken from me my closest friends
         and have made me repulsive to them.
         I am confined and cannot escape;
         9      my eyes are dim with grief.

         I call to you, LORD, every day;
         I spread out my hands to you.
      10 Do you show your wonders to the dead?
         Do their spirits rise up and praise you?
      11 Is your love declared in the grave,
         your faithfulness in Destruction?
      12 Are your wonders known in the place of darkness,
         or your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion?

      13 But I cry to you for help, LORD;
         in the morning my prayer comes before you.
      14 Why, LORD, do you reject me
         and hide your face from me?

      15 From my youth I have suffered and been close to death;
         I have borne your terrors and am in despair.
      16 Your wrath has swept over me;
         your terrors have destroyed me.
      17 All day long they surround me like a flood;
         they have completely engulfed me.
      18 You have taken from me friend and neighbor—
         darkness is my closest friend.


The New International Version. 2011 (Ps 88:1–18). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

Entering into the Darkness of Love: A Maundy Thursday Reflection

The term Maundy Thursday comes from the Latin for "New Commandment" Mandataum Novum.  It comes from Jesus on that night before he was betrayed and arrested John 13:34 34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another." 

Jesus will demonstrate the full extent of his love in washing the disciple's feet and eating with them.  But his love does not end there. Through this night, Jesus will go through that lonely valley as he anticipates his calling to the Cross beginning with the arrest, the stripping, the flogging, the trials, and the shame.  It is this dark time that Jesus enters into, and that we must enter into as well.

Jesus enters into this new commandment, and this is only a preview of what he is doing by enduring the Cross. The call of Maundy Thursday is not just to cognitively remember but to re-enter the drama of that night.  If you have ever really loved someone, you hate to see them go through pain.  What is even more painful is when they are walking on a path that will eventual pain.  Love in this sense is what Paul alludes to in 1 Corinthians "Love suffers long" (King James). Love must experience this darkness.

We must understand the call of love is always a path to service and suffering.  We must examine our loves. Do we love those God has placed in our life with such a long suffering? Do we understand what we label as love is just infatuation to be terminated when we do not "feel" the same way again?  Have we refused the call of love? Would we rather 'fix' people than walk with them, weep with them, and even be hurt by them?

Behind all of these questions is the example of the Great Shepherd who has gone before us who endured the Cross fully entering into the darkness of love.   The effect of entering into this darkness means that light has dawned.  It is no longer darkness because the light of love has illuminated everything. Our Shepherd is good and calls to us, saying, "Follow Me".

Follow Him, this Maundy Thursday.

What We Really Mean When We Say, "I Know God Forgives Me, but I Just Can't Forgive Myself"

You have done it again.  Last time you swore you would not do this again. It may be a burst of anger, an addiction, a lie spoken in fear, or a hurting of someone you love or yourself.  Immediately the dark thoughts come, "how can there be any fear of God in my eyes?"  You can start beating yourself up making promises to yourself and others about "never again".  After a while the surmounting broken promises to yourself make you think that you are unusually sinful, broken, and lost.   You may even tell a friend, "Yes, I understand God forgives me, but I just can't forgive myself!"

Actually, this quote really shows that you do not understand that God forgives you in Christ.  When you can't forgive yourself, you are really saying, "I can't believe that I have done that!"  It really comes back to you, your performance, and your pride.  Actually, when you are at your worst having blown it and know that there is no good in you, then and only then, are you ready for Grace. 

Grace turns your gaze away from your failures, your broken life, and your pride to look deeply at the Triumphant and Relentless Love of God in Christ.  Psalm 51 and Psalm 103 are great songs of joy in the midst of getting caught or being at the bottom.  Notice in these psalms how the focus is on the "plenteous" grace of God in Psalm 103 and joy in Psalm 51.   Sin promises the world, but only our God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ can really deliever on his promises that we may enter his rest and joy.  So we can boldly claim His promises, we can come, be forgiven, and find joy.  There will be consequences to train you, but they are signs of God's loving discipline as a son or daughter. Those hard times are part of his love because in the end there will be joy.

This Holy Week, know that you are forgiven and be at peace.

The Day before Palm Sunday, Blind Bartimaeus

In my daily reading of Scripture, I came upon the story of Blind Bartimaeus which is such a bridge between Jesus instruction to serve instead of rule to the Triumphal Entry in Jerusalem.   James and John ask to be great, but Jesus asks if they can drink the cup or be baptized with his baptism.  Of course, they have no idea what Jesus is talking about even though he had just predicted his death again.  But Jesus tells them that the path of greatness is through service.  Then shows this to his disciples by asking Bartimaeus what he wants. Service bookends Palm Sunday. Jesus enters Jerusalem as a King, but he serves the people through the Kingly Rule of the Cross.

Service is always a dying to yourself and a giving of life to others.  This can be exhausting if you do this from your own strength, but the power must come from some where else. All my power goes into preserving my life, but that greater power, that weight or burden of glory is being worked in me that I may serve.  Service will always interfere with what others think is important, but greater importance is Christ's call to service healing, teaching, dying and rising.  I am still learning this and have miles to go for sure.  The sure sign of Christ's Spirit is a working of joy in service with patience and self-control.  May it be in us as well.