Lenten and Easter Thoughts

References:
• Psalm 102:8-28
• Isaiah 55:1-13
• John 15:1-17

I can’t remember if I have mentioned this or not, but the Bible Study that I have been leading has been going through the Heidelberg Catechism for the last several months. It has been a very interesting journey together, studying this catechism in order to better understand our own faith. Not only do these questions and answers, with their Scripture references, challenge us with our own relationship with Christ, they also give us tools to better articulate what we believe and why.

While we were going through the several pages of Scripture references for Question and Answer #31, I was struck with how appropriate three of them were for this Season of Lent. One is a Psalm, one is a passage from Isaiah, and the third is from the Gospel of John. Let’s take a short look at each of them.

Psalm 102 is a psalm of distress where everything feels helpless. It is almost like that author has hit rock bottom in his/her life, that he/she has to “look up to see the bottom of the well.” Not only does the author feel like his/her enemies have surrounded them and closing in, but the author also feels like God Himself has “lifted me up and cast me away.” Deeply troubling, wouldn’t you say?
In all honesty, how often do we feel like evil people are closing in on us and that we have no hope? How often does it feel like no amount of praying is solving the problem? How often does the darkness that we are currently walking through feel like it is all consuming? Once in a while? Often? Daily?

We all go through seasons like this, where there seems like there is absolutely no home left. We often wonder why God is so ‘quiet’ in our lives, all the while we go through darkness and pain. There are, unfortunately, no easy answer. Although we all endure times like this in our lives, we often don’t understand why. For me, it is so very frustrating to be experiencing these things, know that God loves me and will take care of me, but yet the “valley of the shadow of death” is all too consuming.

All we can prayerfully do is keep our focus on Christ and remind ourselves that He has a purpose for us. In the Psalm 102:12-28, the author reminds him/herself of this. That since God has founded the heavens and the earth, that though they all will perish, He will still endure. And, since God is a loving and faithful to those who call on Him.

Along this line of thought, let’s turn to the Isaiah passage. Here Isaiah dictates as God speaks, come to Him for free grace. God contrasts our need for physical food and drink, that is only temporary, to the free spiritual nourishment that He gives those who will receive it.
When Isaiah writes, “everlasting covenant,” he is referring to the kind of one-sided covenant that God made with Abram in Genesis. During ancient times, people would make a blood covenant with each other by walking through the blood of animals much like what Abram (later Abraham). The idea was, whom ever would break the covenant (like a peace treaty) with the other, then the person who broke the covenant should be killed like the beasts that they walked between. Both people making the covenant would walk through after agreeing what each had to do in order to uphold their part of the bargain. However, in verses 12-21, God makes the covenant with Abram, as a ‘flaming torch (v. 17) and God alone walks through the blood covenant. It is understood that the ‘flaming torch’ then consumes everything as He goes through it so that Abram cannot go through. The meaning? It is all dependent on God, not us. All we are required is to ‘trust and obey’ within our ability. God will take care of everything else.

One other thing that really stood out to me are verses 8-11. For me, these are very comforting in that, though I do not understand all that God calls me to do or why I experience all that I do, God has a plan. God calls me to obedience and to trust Him with the results. Since I do not have the “eternal perspective” that He has, I do not understand all that He is doing through me. But, God’s promise to me is that what I do in faith, He will honor and bless. If He calls me to do something, there is a reason and that God will accomplish something through it.
Fast forward several hundred years from Isaiah to when John wrote his Gospel…. Starting in John 13, we see that Jesus is celebrating the Last Supper with His Disciples. In John 13:31-38, Jesus predicts Peter’s denial. Then in John 14:1-15, Jesus states that He is the only way to come onto God (receive salvation). After this, Jesus promises the Holy Spirit to all believers in verses 16-31. Then in John 15:1-17, Jesus teaches them about Him being the Vine and everyone else being the branches. When we are connected/grafted into Him, we receive our spiritual nourishment and grow, even thrive. Cut off from Him, we wither and die.

But, what I want to focus on most is John 15:15-16. During this last, intimate meal between Jesus and His Disciples, Jesus now calls the Disciples (and us as well) His friends. Though Jesus is Lord of all creation, He calls each and everyone of us who believe in Him and His grace, His friend. Not only are we chosen by God to be His friend, but we are also chosen by Him to “bear fruit.”
This Season of Lent and Easter, let us choose to remember that God has called each of us out of our deepest pain and despair to receive His free grace. Not just that, but even more! Through the finished work of Jesus Christ, God calls us to be His friend and to ‘bear much fruit!’ Though we may understand little of what we go through, God has a purpose for each and everyone of us. Though Jesus is our Lord and Savior, our Holy and Righteous Creator, He also wants to be our close and trusted friend. How awesome is that?!

Asking The Right Questions

This morning after church, we had a congregational meeting to discuss some important future plans. Two years ago last January, our church burned down. There was, praise God, no loss of life. Just the loss of the church. Almost from the start, some people were already talking about how soon we could start rebuilding.

At this time, some plans have been drawn up and a lot of money has been set aside for building the new church. It isnot fully funded yet. But we have some moeny set aside already. We have a good start; but, I am concerned that our focus is not where it should be. My greatest concern is that there is too much of a focus on the physical building, a physical church, but not much thought on being the church to our community.

What do I mean by "being the church?" Much, actually. Being a Christian is more than just making verbal confessions, carrying a Bible, with you all of the time, more than just memorizing Scripture, and attending worship worship at a church. It is much more than that. It is, first and foremost, a personal relationship with God throughthe life, death, and resurrection of Christ Jesus. But, it doesn't end there. Not by a long shot.

Being a Christian means being a Follower of Christ. It means living a life of obedience to not just how God wants us to live morally, but also with how He wants us to serve Him and others. I think that my current life is an excellent example.

As many of you might already know, I work at a State prison here in Nebraska as Custody Staff. It is not a job that I actively sought out. In fact, when I have been job hunting, I have sought out a ministry position. Working in a church or a Christian organization is my heart's desire. I attended seminary ad got a Master's of Divinity (2000 at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary) because that is where I felt God was calling me. But yet, I am working someplace totally different.

Not just that, but personality wise I am in a very challenging place. As an INFJ, I excell in theological study, teaching, and ministering to people. But yet, God is choosing to use me in a place very much outside of what come to me naturally. The last few weeks have been even more vividly so. Over the last year, as I have learned more about the personality that God has given me, I have begun to better understand why I have always been sensitive to my emotional surroundings. Keeping that in mind, it might come to a shock to you that God has been keeping meposted in visiting. My job in visiting, as Custody Staff, is to enforce rules with Inmates and the visitors.  On top of all that, during the visiting periods are a huge, volital mix of emotions. Just a few of them are anger over bad d3cisions, grief over damaged and destroyed relationships, grief over shattered dreams, anger over not being in contol of one's life, etc. The more people who are together, the greater the intensity of these feelings. Yesterday, I had three big groups to deal with, with one being an almost to compacity of the large room. By the end of the day, I felt like I was a 110 volt motor that had been plugged into a 220 volt outlet. Being "very exhausted"was a gross understatement. One might logically ask, why would a loving God put someone like me in an environment that was so draining?! I wrestle with that a lot.

God has given me a few glimpses here and there. Over the 7+ years that I havemworked at this particular prison, God hasnused me to greatimpact many lives there. Both staff and inmates. It doesn't always appear like I do. But, I doget glimpses at times. For example, as I was getting ready do do my searches on a group of Inmates before their visiting session, they were already grumbling about how long it would take. Then one Inmate said, "Hey, I know Underwood... He's cool..." That is all he said. Might not seem like much, but I felt a large amount of the building anger and frustration drop. They all chose to cooperate and, when another staff member arrived to help, things ran very smoothly.

Why did I share this story? Over the last 7+ years, I have had to live in utter dependence to God for strength and with guidance for doing my job. A lot that I do as Custody Staff does not come naturally as an INFJ. It has been a huge struggle on many ocassions. But, from time-to-time, God gives me glimpses of how He has touched lives through me. But, tnis is only because I prayerfylly choose to be God's instrument.

For us as a church, I see us at a crossroads. Will we focus on our physical needs of having our own church building now,; or, will we prayerfully seek to learn how to be The Church to our community? One is a road of easy decisions. One is a road of very difficult introspection and decisions. And, the worst th8ng of all, living uncomforably.

I do not know why God has me where I am at. Working at the prison has been a growing experience, but also a painful one. It is definitely not what I want and would have chose on my own. But, my desire to be obedient to God has beenthe reason why I have stayed so far. And, I believe that we, as a local church, is facing a similar kind of decision. We greatly need God's help in making the right decisions for doing His will. It is a great strugglento be obedient as an individual. The more people who gather to seek His Will, the more conflict and confusion can arise. Especially if each is seeking what makes them, as an individual, feel safe. But, since when has God called us to do things that make us feel safe? I think that Abraham, Moses, Dietrich Bohnhoffer, Frederich Douglas, Maartin Luther, Martin Luther King, Jr., etc., would argue that our comfort is not God's greatest concern.it is our obedience. Let us prayerfully contemplate that.

Blood Oaths and Grace

Scripture:
Genesis 15
Ephesians 2:1-10

The other evening (17May2015), I was sitting in Chapel and the text of the sermon was based on Ephesians 2:1-10. The sermon was focused on God's Grace and that we don't deserve it and cannot earn it. I did enjoy the sermon, but I was distracted for a while.

I don't know about those of you out there reading this blog, but there are times where I am listening to a really good sermon, speech, TV show, etc., and my mind suddenly starts wandering on to something else. Sometimes this is because my mind tries to translate what I am hearing from English to German. And, since my vocabulary isn't the greatest (use it or loose it), I sometimes miss a lot because my mind is searching for the right German word or phrase for something that I just heard. Sometimes my mind wonders because of things going on in my life at that time. With either of these two situations, I usually have to consciously reign my mind in and refocus on the situation at hand so that I can continue to glean from what is being said.

Then, there are times like this evening where I am listening to something and then a Scripture passage comes to my mind. It has been my experience that, when this happens, it is because God desires me to do something with it. Sometimes, it is to share with a friend because the Scripture passage addresses something in their life. Other times it is something for me. Sometimes the connection is obvious. But, there are other times where the connection is not so obvious. In this particular situation, it took me a few moments to see the connection.

The passage that the Chaplain was using was Ephesians 2:1-10, talking about God's unmerited grace. That is, grace that we do not deserve and cannot afford to purchase. It is a free Gift from God and given to us, in spite of what we've done. This unmerited Grace puts us all on the same, level playing field. That is, we all stand before God in the same fashion, not deserving what we get. No matter what any of us have done (how 'good' or how 'bad'), all of us have sinned and are in need of God's grace. At the end of the day, none of us is any better than anyone else. All of us have sinned against God, each and every day, in though, word, and in deed. We all should receive His justice. Instead, He offers us His Grace.

It is interesting to me that God would bring to my mind the blood oath that took place in Genesis 15 during this sermon. Here is a good discussion of what a "blood oath” is and how it relates to Abram (later renamed by God to Abraham). In this context, it was a covenant that God made with Abram, promising him an heir from his own body. Remember, Abram was approximately 75 years old (Genesis 12:4) when he left Haran for Egypt. Because Abram and Sarai were childless, Abram assumed that his inheritance would go to one of his servants (Genesis 15:2-4). But, God again told Abram that would have a child born to him and Sarai. And, God made a covenant with Abram, a blood oath.

In Abram's time, two people would sometimes make a blood oath to seal an important purchase, treaty, or other important event. The large animals were cut in half and all of the blood and gore would be collected within an area, and perhaps birds of some sort, also. Then, both people would walk through the gore, between the dead animals. As each person did this, they were essentially declaring “may the rendering of the animals be done to myself if I do not uphold my part of the deal.” But yet, God does something different with Abram.

Instead of both God and Abram walking through the gore and each having to uphold their part of the deal, God prevented Abram from walking between the animals. In the form of a torch, God passed between the animal carcasses, but Abram did not. That is because God caused Abram to fall into a deep sleep and was unable to move. God and God alone would be responsible for all parts of His promise to Abram. There was nothing Abram could do to earn this blessing, and nothing that he could do that would take it away from him. God was granting Abram this blessing without any requirements. All Abram had to do was trust God to fulfill it, in His good timing.

That is what God gives to each of us. His Grace, that is very costly to Him, is something that we cannot ever earn. It is His free Grace that we have to accept on faith (to trust in, to receive). The Bible is full of God extending His Grace to us, in spite of our many, many failings. We are not to treat this Grace lightly. Because of how costly this Grace was for us, we should not just receive it, but respond with a thankful heart and live a life of worship, a living sacrifice to God. Not to 'repay it,' for there is no way that we could ever earn or pay back the Grace the God has given us. All we can do is receive it, trust in it, and live a life of thankfulness in response to all that God has done for us.