Disturb us, Lord

As we continue to forget the resolution and embark on a adventure with God, this prayer attributed to Sir Francis Drake in 1577 comes to mind.   May we allow God to use this prayer to disturb us into new territory today!


"Disturb us, Lord, when
We are too well pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we have dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst for the waters of life;
Haven fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wider seas
Where storms will show your mastery;
Where losing sight of land, we shall find the stars.

We ask You to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push into the future
In strength, courage, hope and love."

"Feelings Second"

I tried the treadmill and hated not going anyplace.  I tried the mall, but I don't even like to go to the mall to shop so why would I think that would be a motivating place to walk?  So, I decided that since the one place I enjoy walking is outdoors, I would not let the weather stop me from taking a thirty minute walk every day. 

However, I admit, on cold days like yesterday I am not feeling it.  Everything in me says, "Its too cold.  Just skip a day. Be honest: you just don't feel like walking today."  On those days when I do not feel like walking, I remind myself of this truism: "When I don't feel like it, I need it the most."  That is so true...less than half way through my walk I am feeling it and thanking God that I did not miss what has become a great time of prayer, stress relief and exercise for me.

I don't know about you, but too often I let my feelings dictate my action.  Now, please do not mishear me.  I am not one who devalues feelings.  God made us to be emotional creatures and our feelings have great value to all we are and do.  However, it seems that some where along the way our culture has wrongly taught us that feelings should always precede action. For example, our culture suggests, that when I feel like walking, I can then walk or when I feel like connecting with other believers in a small group to be real and transformed then I can do so or when I feel like I am dating again, then I can date my wife again or when I feel like serving, then I can serve. Our culture has taught us to assume we should not do anything we do not feel first.  What lunacy!

Jesus said, "Love God with all your heart, mind and soul and love your neighbor as yourself"  He did not say to love God and others only when you first feel it, but to love them even when you don't feel it.  Why?  So we can all be hypocrites?  No!  He tells us to love without the feelings so we will NOT be hypocrites.  Jesus said even pagans love those who love them first.  We are called to a more true way of living, which means sometimes we must act before we feel.

It is amazing how this works.  When I do the right and good thing even before I feel like doing it, I actually allow the feelings to come.  For example, when I walk even though I do not feel it, I have never finished the walk thinking I still don't feel it.  When Kimberly and I act lovingly toward each other even during those times when we are not feeling it like we were when we were dating, it is amazing how those feelings follow.  When I show up at the men's Bible study and accountability group tonight, I know from past experience, that even though my introverted self never feels like going, I always leave thanking God that I've gone because he always uses those men to let me hear Him and to move me into new territory.

What would happen if for the rest of this week we all were determined to act before we feel? Talk about an adventure! One thing is for sure, our corporate worship would go to a whole new level this Sunday.  Why not give it a try whether you feel like it or not? 

'Saftey Culture"

Google the phrase "Safety Culture" and you will find it originated after the Chernobyl Nuclear Plant Explosion in Ukraine in 1986.  It is a term that has become associated with measuring work place attitudes and actions that promote a culture of safety.  Obviously, we do not want another Chernobyl so "safety culture" is good when it comes to business practices.  I think one could argue that the "Safety Culture" mindset even spilled over into mainstream American culture as well. 

Think about it...it was not until the mid '80s that seat belt enforcement began in Ohio and growing up we would have made fun of kids who wore bike helmets.  But now, in our "safety culture" my kids would think I was crazy if I suggested no seat belts and no helmets, which is a good thing. 

However, if we are not careful we will tend to apply our culture's values to following Jesus.  And when it comes to "safety culture" Jesus is very counter cultural.  Jesus knew that the cross was waiting for him in Jerusalem and yet he intentionally went there.  He knew the guards were coming to take him away and when Peter drew a sword to protect him, Jesus told him to put it away.  Jesus was mocked, beaten, spit upon and killed on a cross.  I am so grateful that Jesus love drove him to the cross for me and you.  I am blown away by that kind of love. 

I know it sounds awful, but I am OK with Jesus facing the cross for me as long as he does not ask me to do the same.  The problem is Jesus says, "Anyone who would come after me must deny himself take up his cross and follow me." That is crazy talk in a culture like ours...we have insurance for our insurance...my kids wear more protection when they ride their bike than my Great Uncle had access to in WWII.  In our cultures attempt to keep us safe, has it put us in danger of missing the risk of the gospel?  Does our faith lack power because we are playing it too safe?  Can we even have faith at all if we insist on staying where we feel safe? 

Jesus says I am going to the cross, if you want to follow me then give up your right to be safe and let's pick up the cross.  The cross is not a burden in life that you have no choice but to carry.  The cross is a burden you don't have to carry but choose to do so in obedience to Christ for the good of others. 

And right there is where the adventure with God is. When we take up the cross God calls us to, we are no longer in control.  We don't have a chance of making it but by his love and strength.  Its the place where we are going to die, but is also the place where we come alive.  Remember, Jesus went to the cross, but he came out of the grave.  I know this runs against the grain of our safety culture, but Jesus does not invite you to carry the cross just to see you die.  He invites you to the cross so you can live alive like you have never lived before. 

What would it mean for you to to carry the cross today?  What burden of someone else is Jesus inviting you to carry for him?  It will mean something of pride or time or money or something else of yours will die.  But, what awaits you...the life he is trying to give you...it is so much more, so much greater than anything you could lose.  So, take off the spiritual seat belt and throw away the helmet and live in the "danger culture" of even if  you die, you truly live with Jesus. 

Something New for You

In the Life Group Kimberly and I are in we were challenged to read the Gospel of Mark in one week.  As we read Mark we were to pray for the Holy Spirit to bring to light God's word to us for 2013.  It was powerful to listen as each person in our life group shared what God had given them. For example,  One person shared that God had given her the word trust and then shared the Scripture through which the Spirit revealed this word.

Today, I would like to share with you the word God gave me from Mark for 2013.  In Mark 2: 21-22 Jesus says, "No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment.  If he does, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse.  And no one pours new wine into old wine skins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins and both the wine and the wine skins will be ruined.  No, he pours new wine into new wine skins."

Jesus has come to bring the new.  The religious of Jesus day do not get this.  They did not want this.  And, if we are honest, we don't either.  As much as we say we want the new thing God has for us, we tend to resist and sabotage it.  We make excuses to avoid it.  Or we simply tell God that we are fine with the new, but he needs to do it our way and in our time, which is just another way of saying we don't want the new.

I am as bad as anybody when it comes to resisting change, but this year I find myself hungry...even desperate for the new God wants to do.

That is what this Sunday's launch of the new series is about...a new thing for you!  Come this Sunday and discover why God is asking us to forget the resolution and embark on an adventure with him!  Whether you are 4 years old or 84, we will start this journey together this Sunday in a whole new way.

That is also why it is so important for every one who calls LH hope their home to make the decision and take the initiative to join a small group.  God never gives us the new thing he has for us in isolation. We cannot receive the new until we connect with His Body in a way that is real and poured out.  That is where transformation happens.

So, join us this Sunday as we forget the resolution and embark on an adventure in which we have no chance of surviving without God's supernatural power and love.  And yet, on this adventure God has for us we will not survive, but come alive to the new God dreams for us to live. Invite a friend and join us this Sunday at 9:30 or 11 AM. 

Not By, But By

"Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, " says the Lord Almighty."  Zechariah 4:6.  I think that says enough all by itself. 

Hope

Hebrews 6:16-20 (NIV)

^16"People swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. ¹⁷ Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. ¹⁸ God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. ¹⁹ We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, ²⁰ where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf."
  
In this passage hope is referred to as an anchor.  But it is not an anchor that is dropped to the bottom of the sea to hold a ship in one place, as we might imagine.  The anchor that is being referenced here is one that does not hold us steady, but moves us forward.  The image the biblical writer is calling his readers to picture is that of a ship coming into a tight harbor.  An anchor would be cast to a solid point in the rocks on the shore.  Once the anchor was secured to the shore, the ship would be safely pulled into and docked in the harbor.   

Hebrews 6 is not calling us to let down an anchor so that we may stay put in the storms of life, but is calling us to cast an anchor on the shore, which we are daily and even moment by moment allowing to pull us into the "inner sanctuary."  The inner sanctuary of the Jewish temple was the place of God's dwelling presence.  As such, the writer is letting us in on a promise. As we fix our anchor in Jesus, he pulls us where he is...into the harbor of God's realized, powerful, amazing, overwhelming, eternal and unchanging presence.  

 If we anchor our hope in people or money or health or appearances or a career or the results of an election (regardless of which side you are on) then we have given ourselves over to wishful thinking, but have not yet anchored ourselves in a hope that pulls us forward irregardless of anyone or anything else. 

Perhaps this is why the world is not interested in what we say we have in Christ.  They see us rising and falling in the same happiness and sadness they have found without Christ by dropping our anchor in the same temporal stuff as everyone else. What if today, just for one day even, we made up our minds that we would show the world that hope is only found in that which is continually pulling one into the presence of God?  One thing is for sure...even if it convinces no one else, you and I will be pulled into a harbor that does not rise and fall with the winds and waves that the rest of the world allows to determine their hope.  No better than that, "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf."

Election Prediction

My election prediction for Wednesday, November 7 (assuming the polls open on November 6), 2012 is...

2012 Election Results: Officials say, "Nobody wins!"

 "What?  How can this be?  Was there a problem at the polls?  Did Hurricane Sandy's aftermath create election havoc?  Was it a tie?  No, no and no.  The election results are in and the "winners" declared, but at the end of the day the country lost."

If the Democrats and Republicans were sitting before a  professional counselor or before any one who understood anything about interpersonal communication, both sides would have to hear the truth that the way they are approaching the issues is setting everyone up for failure.

For example, let's say Kimberly, my wife, and I are having a disagreement. Let's say she decides to blame me for what I have done wrong without acknowledging her part of the problem.  And then let's say I attack her to try to win the argument.  At the end of the day, who wins?  The answer is clear, when it comes to a marriage or any interpersonal relationship when we blame, attack and refuse to take personal responsibility for what is our part in the problem, and that is,  nobody wins.  

Look at the political adds you are receiving in the mail and watching on TV...review the content of the debates...listen to the campaign speeches...blame, attack, refusal of taking responsibility...can anyone win when our political system has been turned into a completely dysfunctional relationship?  

I have looked at all and been tempted not to vote this election.  I feel like to participate by way of voting is to encourage the dysfunction.  I probably will vote, but I do not believe I am alone among those who have grown increasingly disillusioned with two parties who are more interested in which side wins than whether or not the country wins.  I am disappointed in two parties that, be it because of pride or fear, refuse to sit down and do what it takes to make anything in life work and that is truly hear each other, learn from one another and not loose one's identity in the process, but have the best of each party's identities called to the surface so that someone besides them win more than an election.

Of course, the even more disheartening truth is that the reason the political climate of angry blaming and attacking is the norm is because pollsters and campaign managers have deduced this is what the American people want.  We don't want Democrats and Republicans to sit down and hear each other and learn to work together for the good of the country.  We want to watch a war because deep down we as a country want to fight rather than hear.  We would rather be on the winning side so we can shout "nanny-nanny, boo-boo" at the losers on the other side than to call on our leaders to do what it takes to let our country win and that is listen to each other and work together.  

Wonder why that is?  Why do we as a people encourage our leaders to refuse to work together for the common good?  Perhaps it is because to expect better of them would demand better of us in our own interpersonal relationships.  Perhaps to expect them to actively listen rather than fight, attack and blame would require us to first live out the same in our own homes, schools, churches and work places.  Perhaps that takes a level of love and humility that we don't want to devote ourselves too.  Perhaps the ugly truth is we don't want our country to win as much as we want "our side" to win. 

"Father, forgive me.  Forgive our Country.  Forgive your Church in America.  Forgive us all for encouraging a political climate of war rather than cooperation. Father, change my heart; change our hearts.  Heal our dysfunctional, ungodly relationships so that we might expect better of and have the right to call for more from those who lead us.  Forgive our leaders for not having the courage to lead us where we need to go rather than letting our personal and societal dysfunction dictate their actions.  Forgive us for thinking that Democrats or Republicans can heal our land.  Remind us of your words from old that never grow old in 2 Chronicles 7:14, 'If my people, who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.'  Thank you for your mercy!  Now, Father, lead us, your Church to live out this command that you may heal that all may win."