Who has your back (and side and front???)

An author writes:  “One day I was walking with a couple of friends in front of a bar, when all the sudden a bar fight, like an old Western, spilled on to the street right in from of us.  Three men were beating up one lone opponent.  Being Christians, and feeling the need to stand up to stop the violence, I took a risk to yell at the men to stop fighting.  Preparing for my first fistfight in years, the thugs suddenly looked up at us, and with fear in their eyes they started to slink away.  This caught me by surprise, and I almost ran after them to ask them why they were running away.  Then I looked behind me.  There standing behind us was a huge man.  He was the bouncer at the barroom.  The man stood about six seven and weighed probably 250 pounds.  If Hercules had married Xena the warrior princess, this would have been their child.  We later called this man: Mongo, though of course not to his face.  He just stood there with his muscles bulging.  He looked as though he hoped that the fighting men would take him on.  In that moment, I wanted to yell to the fleeing fighters: “You better not let us catch you hanging around here again.”  I was now ready to confront with resolve and firmness.  I was released from anxiety and fear.  I was ready to serve someone who needed help.  Why?  Because I had “Mongo” standing behind me.  I was convinced that I was not alone.  The middle of a barroom fight was perfectly safe for me.

 If I were convinced that Mongo were with me 24 hours a day, seven days a week, I could take a different approach to life; I could face many fears.  The reality is that as Christians we already do, he is the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.  He is the one who has promised to be with us.  Yet all too often our lives do not reflect it.  All too often we shrink back when we should confront; we worry when we can pray; we cling when we could generously share.  “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin the clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us…”  Perhaps, it is so easy to get caught up in our own particular paths of challenges as we live today that we forget that we are not on this path alone.  For not only is God present with, and sometimes carrying us through things, but also we have a family of faith that surrounds us.  This family of faith is our own devoted family members, those who have witnessed the Gospel to us through the years, whether they are physically here or not, and this particular community of faith, Christ the Redeemer Lutheran.  Sometimes it is about sharing each other’s burdens, celebrating each other’s joys, beyond the high importance of coming together for worship.

From Pastor Randy's Sermon on 8/18

Announcement

The meaning of our lives is always bigger than our experience. And because the meaning of our lives is always bigger than our own life experience, we hold to a promise that points beyond our mental capabilities. In holding to our faith, we then can take risks in our beliefs, we can dare to think another way. We can be challenged by the Gospel so that we may be enriched further in faith.

"We're announcing the future with the way we live." Because we have faith we can make those transitions in our faith, have it grow deeper as the Spirit penetrates into our lives. "Faith gives substance to our hopes and convinces us of realities we do not see..."

(From Pastor Randy's Sermon 8/11)

From Pamela

I am glad that there is always more going on than meets my eye.  I am glad, too, that I can't always see the results of my actions (done or left undone).  My prayer at the beginning of the day is usually "help me stay out of the way of what you are trying to do through me, gracious God."  and my prayer at the end of the day is often:  "I am sorry I got in the way." 

So I know that I will never announce that I am infallible or that I will ever get "it" perfect  ("it" being the Christian life).  However, I want to announce the hope that if I keep trying, and if I keep saying "use me as you wish, gracious God" I will leave behind me a wake of experiences that are for the "good" of the world and other people. 

As Christians, the oneness we seek is the oneness of living in Christ‑‑being an incarnational presence of God. Paul asks that we live in Christ, be rooted and built up in Christ, abounding in thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is a prayer without boundaries, for prayers of thanksgiving do not seek to control or manipulate, only celebrate.  Paul cautions us to allow ourselves not to be taken captive through "philosophy or empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe..." In other words, whatever binds and controls and limits - keeps us from being fully embodied in Christ. The mystery is that being embodied in Christ is a boundary‑less experience. Our point of entry into oneness with Christ is our baptism, which is a time of dying to the old and the beginning of living into the new.   To achieve this, like Jesus, we seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit. This, as our Gospel passage for today points out, can be the thrust of our persistence in prayer.

           Because the human will is so strong and there are so many pitfalls, we can seek each other's help, and coming together for worship and hearing again the core of our life and faith goals, helps us to get at that.  As each of us grows stronger in our relationship with God, the whole community grows stronger in its relationship with God; and the realm of God, which is in our midst, becomes ever more known to us and to others who walk through this door, and to others we encounter through the week.  How can we grow stronger as a community of faith?  (From Pastor Randy's Sermon 7/27-28) 

From Pamela:  I remember when the issue of "boundaries" was the current most necessary topic for workshops and inservices.  Issues regarding time, space, personal intimacy, public interactions all factored into the discussion of boundary violation.  

I understand the importance of these considerations, and I also appreciate the freedom unleashed when we are securely rooted and built up in Christ.  When we abound in thanksgiving we are in a mode of gratitude (and appreciation).  We see others as gifts and blessings, and we are compelled to be a gift and a blessing to the other in all we do and say.  No manipulation, no controlling, no violation, no judgement.  

So here are my questions:   Whenever we are with another -- where do we see Christ in the interaction?  How did the encounter bringing us closer to one another and closer to Christ?   

Martha was caught up in what she had to do, and she was missing what was being done. Jesus tells her "you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing." As Christians we can ask ourselves today: Where is our attention? Where is our focus? What is blocking our path? What are our distractions? It is when we can step back and take a look at our lives, that often we open the door for the comforting presence of the Spirit. May each of sit at the Lord's feet and listen to what is being said to us.  

(From Pastor Randy's sermon last weekend)

 From Pamela:  I believe that sitting at the Lord's feet is, ultimately, activating.  God's presence can be comforting, healing and transforming.  It is also instructive; and once we have moved aside from our own preoccupations and received what God is offering, the next movement is often to "Go and do"(something) in the name of Christ in response to the blessing received from God. 

I pray often and I pray, sometimes, for long periods of time.   Yet it isn't about just sitting around enjoying the feel good feeling of being in God's presence.  After praying (that is, sitting at the Lord's feet) I set about "doing" whatever is before me in a more clear (not distracted) fashion.   I benefit from the way God helps me perceive people and places differently than if I am left to my own devices. Listening to God opens my ears to hear the requests or the opinions of others through a filter of God's love and wisdom.  

Sometimes that makes all the difference!  

Powering through or sailing with the wind filling your sails?

The journey.  Author John Ortberg talks about our journey in life being a one of piloting a motorboat or a sailboat.  How are you living your journey?  In the motorboat we become so goal minded, sometimes so obsessive that we are focused only on gassing up the tank, and setting our course, that sometimes we miss God’s gifts happening around us.  We start the motorboat engine and we live life being in control as much as possible.  But a sailboat is a different story. We play a role in hoisting the sails and steering the rudder, to be sure, but we are utterly dependent on the wind.  The wind does the work.  I am not simply speaking about being laid back assuming that God will do everything and I have to do nothing.  It is much more complex than that. Our task is to be spiritually transformed by our course in discipleship.  And our spiritual growth requires discernment.  As our journey continues we look for God’s spirit, which literally means wind, we look for God’s wind to direct our sailboats.  An experienced sailor can simply look at a lake and tell where the wind is blowing the strongest.  The wise sailor knows when to raise and lower the sails; so to it is for us as we mature in the faith.  We learn to respond to the fresh wind of the Spirit, for God does provide them. 

Where is God’s wind in your life?  What is the Spirit directing you toward?  Are you going there?  Or are you going the opposite way?  And how many times in our lives when God called us one direction, did we try to go another?  How many times have we tried to flee God?  Have you ever had an experience when you simply could not see God in your life and even rejected the whole notion of faith?  Perhaps sometimes we become such a motorboat in our life thinking that we don’t even realize that we are not stopping to let the wind of God direct and redirect us.  

Listening and watching for God’s wind, God’s Spirit, is not a call to sit back and watch the world go by.  It is not a call to let everyone else make decisions and do all the work, it is not a directive to say we are not influential in the direction of catching the wind in our sails, instead the journey is about being wise enough, and faith filled enough to know that living and sharing God’s grace, is bigger than my one boat, is bigger than my one engine, and receives its power not by my own supplied gasoline, but by God’s wind and Spirit.  May we catch God’s wind in our journeys, may we watch for signs of the times, that let us remain open enough to have our life redirected along the way.

 From Pastor Randy's Sermon 6/29-30, 2013

From Pamela:  

Most of the readers know that I am an experienced sailor.  Years ago, I would go out on the lake, often single handed, and sail for hours wherever the wind was blowing.  If I had crew, I would go out on the edge of storms (the best wind is often on the edge of a storm) and press craft and crew to maximum capability.  

Now my boat is almost 40 years old.  I am over 60. Although I am confident my boat could manage "sailing on the edge" of the storm, I am not sure my body or my psyche are interested.  It is all about allowing life to provide lessons about taking risks, pressing one's resources and respecting the desire for longevity (that is, I would rather stay in port and sail into the future than confront a passing storm).  

The boating metaphors relate well to the practice of spiritual discernment.  In life and ministry (as well as in sailing) it is wise to check out the craft (ie, physical resources) the crew (ie, the people involved) and the wind (ie, the sense of God's inspiration) when making choices about vision and mission.  

It is true that passengers on my boat often are frustrated with the amount of time I spend checking my rigging, "ship shaping" the lines and the gear.  But I always remind them that things happen very quickly in a high wind, and that is not the time to be working with fouled lines.  

In the same way, people may get frustrated or impatient with the amount of time we take to pray and discern God's will for our individual lives and our shared ministry.  But time taken to prepare our hearts and minds to confront the hard facts and details of life in this world is time well spent. 

Prayerful discernment is a source of balance that enable me to travel safely through the changeable paths of life and ministry.  When I am balanced I can navigate safely through all sorts of winds, with maximum effectiveness, by staying under the wings of God's sheltering wisdom.  

Fighting and screaming?

Many times I have followed the devices of my own heart, and other opportunities to be brave, kind and honest, I have not followed at all.  But the reality of it all is that, all of us, each with our own memories and past, have not given up, and that tells us that despite our weaknesses, despite our foolishness, enough wisdom, enough hope, enough faith has flickered in our lives that our hearts and selves have moved forward.  (from Pastor Randy's Sermon 6/23)

From Pamela:  Once upon a time a long time ago somebody said to me:  "Pamela, you can choose to ignore God's Will for your life, but you can't change it!"  

That is wisdom! 

And time after time I have noticed the difference between running away from God's call and leaning towards it.  How awesome, that God's call applies not only to the big picture of my life, but also to those daily (or even hourly) nudges to either receive something from God or take action in Christ's name.  

Here's another thing:  Accepting God's call to do something that is not necessarily my preference provides an opportunity to be utterly dependent upon God.  And as I am dependent upon God, I find joy, hope, and love that spill outward.  

Amazing!  

This Far By Faith

In Pastor Randy's most recent sermon (part of the series, "This Far by Faith") he quoted the following from one of his favorite authors:

 “In unexpected ways and at unexpected places and times people of all sorts, believers and unbelievers alike, make their way to us, looking for something that often they themselves can’t name any more than you can well name it to them.”  But our lives with our people and events continue to shape us.  Perhaps that is why the early church, and apostles like Saint Paul, continued to hold up the significance and impact of a community faith.  All of us here, in a way, are merely passengers on a journey, in a slower way we are sitting here together in this building as passengers on a train.  We are co-riders together with our hopeful destination being a full life, a faith filled life, and a grace filled life.  We are partners together on this journey, and people come in and out all the time, and whether a newcomer, whether we move away to another train, whether our mortal life ends, we are still impacted and affected by each others’ presence.  And often times in life, “the decisions that we think are most important turn out not to matter so much after all, but whether or not you mail the letter, the way you say goodbye or decide not to say it, the evening you toss everything aside and go and watch the sunset, these are apt to be the life changing moments for ourselves and others.”

From Pamela:  As Pastor Randy said, not all lasting moments come in spectacular packages.  I experienced a formational moment long ago when words of one of my adult children reminded me of the importance of paying attention to what is TRULY lasting.  The situation was pretty typical:  

     My husband and I were preparing to paint the living and dining room.  I was eager to try something "creative" with color. I wanted to paint the walls a couple of differing shades of the same color, and have the ceiling be something other than the predictable "white" it had always been.  My husband wanted it all the same (which would, of course, shorten the amount of time needed for the project).  At one point in the conversation (my child was also present,but wasn't saying anything) the voices were getting a little testy. 

     My adult child sat there listening and finally said:  "Can I offer an opinion?" Ah, I thought, now we will have a "tie breaker".  But instead, this is what was said:  "I really don't care what color(s) you choose, but this room will be less enjoyable for me from now on if the main thing I remember about this project is your raised voices."  

     Wow....  that event happened almost a decade ago, and I quite honestly don't remember how the color debate turned out.  But I know the voices immediately lowered and some humor was interjected which changed the tone of the entire project.  I think of that one sentence now when I am discussing plans or projects -- the words spoken and the tone of voice are what will echo long after the observable results take their place in history.  

     Spontaneous words can be life changing!