Come on in! I recently finished serving as the "Interim Co-Pastor" of a church located just inside the Washington, D.C., beltway. One of my responsibilities was to write a brief contribution for the church newsletter. That is most of what you'll find in this space. I hope you'll be blessed! I invite your comments and thoughts. You can e-mail me below.
Last week my car "ate" Psalms 1-45.
I decided a few weeks ago that I would use my car time for more than just an opportunity for prayer and reflection. I decided to put the tape player to use and also get in a little meditation on scripture. So, I went to the local mall and visited the religious-bookstore-gift-and-T-shirt-shop and ordered a set of tapes of the Psalms. A couple of weeks later, they came in--all one hundred and fifty Psalms (obviously Protestant Psalms--other parts of Christendom number them differently) spread over four cassette tapes. I picked them up and when I got to the car, took off the shrink wrapping and inserted the first one into the radio/tape player. The reading tended to be a little expressionless at times, but the reader did have a nice baritone voice and I was enjoying my auditory trips through the ancient Hymnal of Israel. That lasted about a week, until one day when I went to change tapes and the car--or at least the tape player--refused to comply. No amount of cajoling, fiddling, or manipulating has worked, so I am left with three tapes containing Psalms 46-150; "Leo the Geo" took a cool 30% of the book, right off the top.
I have a deep belief in the power of the Word of God to effect transformation, which is what led to this enterprise in the first place. Consequently, I'm waiting to see what this latest example of automotive quirkiness will bring in its wake. I don't think it's out of the question to expect that the power of God can be brought to bear on mechanical devices. We once had an old Aspen wagon that we used to claim Colossians 1:17 for: "...in [Christ] all things hold together." That seemed to work. My experience has been that God works within the framework of what is, so I don't expect "Leo" to suddenly turn into a BMW convertable roadster or a Miata. But I can envision some possibilities pertaining more to the "heart" of the matter (so to speak): Perhaps a change in automobile attitude...less quirkiness, more "responsiveness and ease of handling" because "I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart" (Psalm 40:8). Perhaps better traction: "The law of their God is in their hearts; their steps do not slip" (Psalm 37:31). Or maybe even a little more zip since, "The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul..." (Psalm 19:7). Who knows, after all is said and done, I might even get my tape back, because, "...by the word of your lips I have avoided the ways of the violent" (Psalm 17:4). If not, I suppose sooner or later I'll call in a ministering servant with a little mechanical savy to liberate the word. When I get it back, you're welcome to borrow it for your car.
Until then, "Thy word have I hid in my car...."
One of the most recent acquisitions for the church library is a book called Dying Well:The Prospect for Growth at the End of Life, by Ira Byock. Although the book is written by a hospice doctor and focuses on completing emotional tasks at the end of life, it might just as well be called Living Well because many of the ideas that it contains would enrich any stage of life. In particular, Byock lists "what hospice calls the 'five things of relationship completion...: 'I forgive you'; 'Forgive me'; 'Thank you'; 'I love you'; and 'Goodbye'..."(p. 140). Not only do these simple words complete relationships, they also sustain us in relationships as we continue our pilgrimage. They are reconciling words.
These days I find myself more and more taken with the idea of reconciliation as a model to explain God's saving work. "Reconciling" brings with it connotations of reaching out, gathering in, embracing, restoring. It conjures up images of the seeking shepherd, woman, and father in Luke's stories of the lost sheep, coin, and son (Luke 15). More than that, it offers us a model for living as well as a holy calling:
"All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation...." II Cor. 5:18Reconciliation. Five short sentences to put to work in your life and mine. Hard? Absolutely. Risky? Without a doubt. Painful? Most likely. Guarantees? Absolutely none. Possible? Only by God's grace and power. But oh, the possibilities!
After the great London fire of 1666 destroyed much of the city, including the churches and the cathedral of St. Paul, Christopher Wren, the Surveyor General, was tasked with the rebuilding. Nine years after the fire, Wren began work on the cathedral, a task which consumed the next thirty- five years of his life. John Claypool, in his book, God Is an Amateur, recounts what happened next:
When the project was finally completed, and Sir Christopher himself was a very old man, he personally conducted the then reigning monarch, Queen Anne, on an extensive tour through the whole building. When it was over, he waited with bated breath for her reactions. In typical British terseness, she used three adjectives to sum up her feelings: "It is awful, it is artificial, it is amusing." Can you imagine how the old builder must have felt when the one person whose opinion he valued the most described the "magnum opus" of his life in this way?
However, a biographer says that on hearing these words, Sir Christopher let out an audible sigh of relief, sank to his knees, and thanked her majesty for her graciousness.... For you see, back in 1710, the word "awful" meant "awe-inspiring," the word "artificial" meant "artistic," and the word "amusing" meant "amazing"(p.9-10.)Claypool's point is that the meanings of words change. In every age, the words--and deeds--that present the message of grace must be reformulated to meet the changing circumstances around us. The old message must be born again in new words, in new ministries, and in renewed lives--yours and mine--that accurately present the beauty, power, and hope of the Christ-life. The eve of the twenty-first century presents a wonderful opportunity to explore new visions of ministry. Christ calls us to this task and the Spirit empowers us; therefore, let us give ourselves to it wholeheartedly so that in the end, we might stand before the throne of grace and hear those wonderful words, "Well done thou good and faithful servant--that was truly 'awe-inspiring, artistic and amazing!'"
Perhaps your computer screen saver displays swirling geometric designs, moving messages, flying toasters or Starwars scenes; mine presents a kaleidoscope of church buildings. Heavy, romanesque structures with tiny windows alternate at random with airy gothic cathedrals and white frame buildings sitting in green meadows. Churches of every shape and size spanning centuries of Christian history flicker before my eyes. The pictures remind me that while there are some things common to all the buildings, we have not found a single architectural form that fits all times and all places.
Just as the idea of what a church should look like has changed throughout our history, so has the idea of what a church--a community of faith--should do. We have struggled to remain true to our calling as God's people in the face of the pressures of a particular time and place. But, just as there are commonalities in the buildings; there is a common witness that winds its way through all of our history, as Paul says, "There is...one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God...."Throughout our history, two questions have continued to demand our attention, "What is the Church?" and "What is its purpose?" The fact that we are here at all is due in part to the faithfulness of our spiritual forbears in struggling with these questions and in living out the answers that resulted.This transition time is an opportunity for us to ask ourselves these same questions. Or, to put it another way, we could simply listen to the words of the prophet Micah and ask ourselves: "What does it mean to ‘do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with [our] God,' at the corner of Braddock and Ravensworth?" The answers to these questions will define our ministry in the days, months, and years to come.
 A Production Of Spyder's Poetry Empire Next | Previous | Random Site | List Sites |
