One of the reasons I love Ash Wednesday.
Today is Ash Wednesday. I will utter the following phrase a couple hundred times today… “Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.”
It is a somber reminder that death is a reality, not someday, but it is a reality we deal with daily. We all sin, we will all die, when it comes down to it we are dust.
I really love Ash Wednesday. I really do.
You might be thinking how can you “love” such a glum day, such a downer of a reminder. Yes, it causes me to pause, to even become introspective, and even sad as I will be smudging crosses on the foreheads of people, and have that ashen smudge applied to my own very ample forehead.
I will apply these reminders on the foreheads of kids, who haven’t a clue what death means, and on to the heads of other kids for who have seen too much death already. I will smudge the cross on the foreheads of men and women who have lost a husband or wife in this past year, I will smudge this cross on the foreheads of those for whom I may very well make the same sign over their coffin in the not too distant future. It may seem grim, but dust is not the end of this story…
I think we need remind ourselves of our dusty nature because we need to remember who we are, what we are and most importantly who’s we are. You see even as we remember we are dust to need to remember that God does some of his very best work with dust.
“— then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being.” – Genesis 2:7
We are dust, but we are not just the dust that clings to our ceiling fans and on the back of the dresser. We have been formed by God, loved by God and the depths of that love and the life that it promises is what Ash Wednesday and Lent are all about.
Remember… remember you are dust… remember that to dust you shall return… remember what God can do with dust.
I am not the only one who loves this day, read this blog post by Nadia Bolz-Weber http://www.patheos.com/blogs/nadiabolzweber/ Pretty good stuff.
Planting Seeds
Last night LIFE began again. No, I am not being deep, nor philosophical in any way. LIFE is what we call our confirmation program for 7th and 8th graders. Teaching kids of this age range is always… um… interesting.
When I graduated from college in addition to my major I also had competed everything needed to be a teacher, I even applied and got my teaching licence from the state of Minnesota. I could teach Social Studies in grades 6-12. Never got a full time teaching gig though, as most schools were looking for a football coach, and quite frankly, that was never my idea of a good time, nor part of my skill set. I also knew from my student teaching experience that I never wanted to teach Jr. High, those kids are um…interesting.
So, as time went by, God in his wisdom and what I have come to know as an immaculate sense of humor, chose to call me to be a pastor. Part of this calling as general practice would have it, meant that I would have to teach confirmation to, well, yes, to Jr. High kids.
As a pastor, my deepest wish is that these kids grow in faith, make a connection to the living God that will bless them and in turn they too will be a blessing. But the mind and social atmosphere of Jr. High is… interesting! I have taken training in several different types of confirmation instruction. They all promise the moon, they tell you touching stories of students who experience deep and profound faith development. You come out of these things going “wow!”
Then you implement them, and find that you are still teaching Jr. High kids, which of course are…interesting. The social norms, the hormones, and the varying levels of social, physiological, and spiritual development are staggering! In this group of kids there is a young lady who has already developed a pretty deep devotional life, she knows the basic stories of faith by heart, but struggles with popularity issues. Then there is the young man who just that morning struggled with putting the right appendage trough the proper opening in his t-shirt that morning. He has yet to figure out why showering more than once a week is important, and church and faith, well, mom says he has to go so he does. Spin variations of those themes amidst the 36 kids we have in this years herd and that is what I have to work with each week.
Depth, is not something we always achieve, content is not always comprehended, and discipline for discipleship, well, these are Jr. High kids meeting at church on a Wednesday evening after being in school all day, someday’s it is a miracle that they can focus at all!
Amid this, I have to remember, I am just a farmer. I plant seeds.
“What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.”- 1 Corinthians 3:5-7
Thanks be to God!
The Word: Shapes – Day 34
Seven Wonders of the Word
“But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” – 2 Timothy 3:14-15
About 20 years ago, (wow where did the time go) I was the Executive Director of the Wright County Historical Society. I had applied for this job at a time when I was trying to figure out what to do with my life. I had the same position at the Meeker County Historical Society, and well, there didn’t seem to be too much of a future in History for me at that time, so I was looking. I had applied, and interviewed, and didn’t hear anything from them for a time.
During that time, I received my call to enter the ministry and was preparing to go to the seminary. As things would happen they called and offered me the job. Ugggg… now what do to. Well I told them no and thought that was that. They called back, and offered to be flexible if I wanted to go to school part time they would work with my schedule. So, it seemed to be a perfect deal.
The rest of that story may show up at some time, but what got me thinking about this was a display we had set up and a certain visitor to the museum. One day I was working on the “Nelsonian” a brilliant one-man band contraption that used pneumatic pressure to operate over 30 instruments. A gentleman came up to me as I was working and inquired about this display. We talked for a bit, and at some juncture he asked me if I was “saved.” I said well, yes, I was and he became quite effusive!
He pulled out his wallet and produced a tattered cardboard card with a date in the 70’s some time. This was his conversion date; this is when he became a “real” Christian. He asked when I was saved and I stopped and thought for a moment, and said, “February 12, 1964 I think, for that was the day I was baptized by my Grandpa Braaten in Elk River Minnesota. We then got into a conversation about that, which I think he didn’t see eye to eye with me.
The point is this; I have never not known that I was a child of God. I have had my moments of doubt, of denial, of struggle, but in hindsight even in those moments, God didn’t love me any less. I have even my moments of less than stellar faithfulness been a saved and loved child of God. I have never had what I call a “poof bang” conversion experience.
There have been times when I envy those who have had such times in their lives, great moments of clarity about life and faith. But I it seems I have something they don’t, I have been blessed with a consistency, an on going and blooming relationship with Jesus Christ. He has always been there where I was looking for him or not. Walking with me shaping me, and guiding me. This doesn’t mean I haven’t had my struggles, made bad choices, and all the rest, its just that I have never been alone. There were times when I felt that way, but in hind sight, I have no other explanation other than that God has been faithful with me even when I was less that perfect in my own faith.
I give thanks for my parents and others who have kept me in their prayers, who have witnessed to me what to what God has done and continues to do in their lives and in mine even as I continue to be shaped and loved into the image of Christ I first received in my baptism. It seems like that old “Nelsonian” my life too has been powered pneumatically, by the power of the Holy Spirit.
The Word: Shapes – Day 33
Seven Wonders of the Word
“They answered him, “We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, ‘You will be made free’?” Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” -John 8:33-36
A young couple that wanted to get married sat in front of me. She was not a Christian, had never been baptized or really ever been to church. They had come to me because the husband to be, had struggled, trying to explain his faith, the Christian faith to this young lady who he wanted to marry. He deeply wanted her to get it, to be baptized to join him in the faith.
Two problems…
1) By his own admission it had been, well… it had been since his confirmation since he had spent any serious time working on, or connecting to his faith. So as much as he tried he was ill equipped to do what he felt needed to be done, thus he brought her to me, the “professional.”
2) Now, this one is by far the bigger problem… She didn’t get it. “What didn’t she get?” you ask… um… just about everything.
Essentially she had no concept of anything outside of what would be needed for her moment-by-moment comfort. The idea of creation; she didn’t care. The concept of God; hadn’t really dawned on her. She did mention that her daddy was getting her one of those new smart phones (I had a comment, kept it to myself). To her the world was made up of two kinds of people, those she liked who did things for her, were her friends or family and those who weren’t in one of the afore mentioned categories. She was thoroughly, completely and one hundred percent convinced that she was perfect. I am not kidding, not even a little.
When she announced this to me at first I though she was kidding. Even the most self assured person I had ever met would be willing to at least confess a flaw or a weakness or two… She was not. I was flabbergasted. I was literally at a loss for words, and that never happens!
When we confess that “we are in bondage to sin and can not free ourselves,” I can think of no truer statement. But as this young lady showed me, we are often so bound, that we don’t even realize that is what it is. This over the years I have found out that this once young lady was sure as shoot’n not perfect. In fact she was so far from it she couldn’t see perfection with binoculars. She was bound to material things, chemicals, popularity and other things that clouded her vision. The good news in all of this, is last time I heard, she was getting a clue, and in that we find the persistence of the call of Christ. Both of them have some way to go, but that’s alright, they are not on the journey alone, and I think that is what finally opened her eyes to what Christ is doing, has done and promises to do, to and for us and that is to show us the truth; the truth of us, and the truth of God’s love for us. When we see this, we we realize what God in CHrist has already done for us, we are freed indeed.
The Word: Shapes – Day 32
Seven Wonders of the Word
“Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” – John 8:31-32
I never saw the movie “A Few Good Men” but I saw the trailers, I have seen a number of spoof’s of Jack Nicholson’s character bellowing out the line… “you can’t handle the truth!” There is if you will pardon me, some truth in that line. It’s not that we can’t handle the truth, its very often we don’t want to. When the truth is known, we lose control, we fear that the house of cards that we have constructed to give us the illusion of freedom will come tumbling down if the truth is truly known.
When Jesus speaks to his disciples, those who had been following them, he was laying bare the illusions that we cling to, that the world and our lives are all about us, that we are the boss, that we have everything in control. I think that is why Jesus addresses those who follow him in this way. To know the truth the real truth is to be exposed to its fullest in relationship to the God of all creation, nothing hidden, nothing reserved, we are fully connected to the Word and in being so known, we are free. Free to be who God created us to be in the first place. The problem is that often we are tempted to be something else, something we think we are supposed to be.
These things, the expectations of what truth is, can be imposed on us by family, culture, friends and even religion itself and we cling to them thinking that we will be truly free if we only… But Jesus points out a little later in John that he is in fact THE TRUTH. It is by connecting to him in relationship, fully known, totally exposed good and bad, that we find that we are loved with a love that not even death can defeat. When we cling to that love, when we draw our strength from that relationship we find that the Word shapes us and guides us into the fullness of truth and life and freedom.
Yes, I know connecting seems to be the opposite of freedom, but we all connect to something, we all align ourselves in some fashion or another, there is no such thing as a freedom apart, there is only freedom within. Jesus tells his disciples then as he does us today that if we want to know the truth, then we need to remain, or dwell in relationship with him and in him we are connected with the fullness of God.
When we are so connected, we find that we are free to live, free to love, free to serve, free to be who we really are, not just what we think we are, or what we think we need to be. The key here is where do you draw your strength from? Is it from the Word, or is it from yourself or other things that appeal to your sense of freedom? Jesus tells us that if we stay connected if we continue in all things we will be made truly free, all other ideas of freedom are forms of bondage, and in that light we very well might not be able to handle the truth. The truth of Christ, will change you, and maybe that is why we struggle with it. We like our own little self defined worlds, but Jesus doesn’t let you stay there with yourself as the center of the universe. The truth calls us beyond what we define ourselves as and into the fullness of what God has created us to be. Often we might squint deeply once we see, but it is in the light of God’s love for us that we not only can handle the truth, we can grow and flourish in this life and in our lives for others and be truly free.
This truth will change you.
The Word: Shapes – Day 31
“Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples.” – John 8:31
Do you know anyone who has never played a game like follow the leader, or Simon says? I am no cultural anthropologist, but my guess is that there are games like this in every culture. These games can be used to teach, to have the followers practice what the leader is doing. However, in my experience, these games tend to get more and more difficult trying to get their followers to lose their way. I guess that is the point of the game.
When we speak of discipleship we are talking about more than a game of follow the leader. The word that comes to my mind is to “abide.” When we abide in Jesus the Word, it shapes us we gradually take on its form and shape more and more each day. Unlike the game we this is no contest, this is about relationship, about walking with Jesus, growing to know Jesus as an active part of your life.
The key to this relationship I think is a quote found in my devotions today from Brother Martin; “The chief article and foundation of the gospel is that before you take Christ as an example, you accept and recognize him as a gift, as a present that God has given you and that is your own.”
This abiding this being shaped is not of our doing; Jesus comes to us and says I pick you! The good news is Jesus call is not limited to a special few… “For God so loved the WORLD!” Jesus call for us to be shaped by his loving word is for all people. Our call once we have heard this message to is continue in that word and to be shaped as disciples into his image. The good news for us is unlike games of follow the leader or Simon says, Jesus doesn’t want us to lose, he wants us to grow into the love the God has for each of us and as we follow.
The Word: Sustains – Day 30
Seven Wonders of the Word
“10For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
and do not return there until they have watered the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
11so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” – Isaiah 55:10-11
I admit it… I don’t wait well.
Never have.
Maybe it is related to the attention thing that I struggle with from time to time. Maybe it is in part due to the 24/7 nature of the world in which we live. I am not certain.
I have gotten a little better at waiting though. For six years I served a congregation on a small island in the middle of Lake Michigan. You can’t do much in a hurry on an island, you just can’t.
First off, you need to take a ferry to get on or off the island and you don’t have any say over the schedule. For a goodly chunk of the winter months there is only one ferry a day, and that is if the weather permits and the ice cooperates. During the summers the ferry’s run quite often, but as it is a tourist area, they are often packed and just because a ferry leaves at 10 o’clock, doesn’t mean you are going to get on it! Sometimes… um…. often… it means you have to wait.
One late spring, my family was to head off island so they could go visit my in-laws over spring break, as it was Lent, and pastors are sorta busy then, I couldn’t go. However it just so happened the school district needed someone to pick up the Drivers Ed car in Algoma and drive it back. So, we caught the ferry and my family dropped me off to get the car, and they headed on to Ohio, I turned around and spent the night in Sturgeon Bay until I could get the ferry in the morning. Next morning I show up at the dock, no boat. The ice had shifted overnight and they couldn’t get the ferry out of the harbor. So… back to the hotel I went. Twice. The next day was no better. It wasn’t until the Coast Guard ice breaker made it to the island that the ferry was able to make it out. 3 days, with nothing to do… well that isn’t true, I had much to do back home, but not there… not stuck in a hotel.
So, I waited.
Turns out I met some wonderful folks as I wondered around Sturgeon Bay. I had time to talk with fellow islanders who were stuck like me. I had time to think, to sleep, to pray and to well watch some really bad TV. But all in all when I got back to the island I was in good shape for Holy Week, I was well rested and I and ready to do what I needed to do.
You see the guys who run the ferry line do what they can to keep you safe. Sometimes that means waiting. Sometimes that means you don’t get to do what you want to do, but when you get on the ferry you can trust that they do what they can to get you to where you are going!
God’s Word is like that. Sometimes we have our agendas, our ideas of the way God’s justice, and God’s will should be done. It’s just that they are not always God’s ways. This passage from Isaiah we read today is in part one of the reasons I was able to say “yes” to God’s call for me to be a pastor. God will get done what God needs to do, it will accomplish that which God proposes.
We hear the word and trust in its promise, not our abilities. Yes we each are given ministries, and skills we are to use, and God works in and among them. God’s promise is sure, it has defeated the grave and we can count on it. This Word sustains us in our work, in our love and in our relationships. It is the rock in which we can trust, for God’s Word will succeed in the thing which God has sent it.
Today I will ponder where I need to wait on the Lord, and where I am being called to be a part of that redeeming word so others might be loved, forgiven and have life in that Word.
The Word: Sustains – Day 29
Yeah, that's me.
Seven Wonders of the Word
Incline your ear, and come to me; listen, so that you may live. – Isaiah 55:3a
I hear just fine.
I just don’t always listen very well.
Early on in our married life together, my wife figured out that if you want me to listen, really listen, to fully hear what she had to say, she need to have my full attention. This is not as easy as it may sound. First off, if she came to talk to me and I was watching the TV it had to be turned off. Not just muted, actually off. Its not because what I was watching on TV was all that important or even very interesting. But, because, frankly… I am very easily distracted.
If you have ever watched the movie “UP” there is a dog named Dug. Dug has a collar that converts his thoughts into human speech. Dug can often finish a thought because… SQUIRREL!!!! Yes, he is easily distracted, that is part of what makes him so endearing. However when someone you love is trying to convey some important fact of life, about their feelings, their needs, the fact that the trash needs still needs to be taken out, then being distracted is no so endearing, not at all.
This passage from Isaiah tells us to focus, to really listen, to draw close to God so that all our attention is focused on his Word. When we listen, when we really hear what God has to say there is a promise attached, “so that you may live.”
There is a deep truth to that! I have found that if I want life with my wife to be good, to be more than two ships passing in the night, to avoid conflict and to actually have life as husband and wife, it is very important that we listen to each other. Not only hear, but to comprehend, to fully understand, and to grok (that one is for my daughter) each other we need to draw near and listen with all we are. This doesn’t mean we always fully understand each other, but to really listen goes a long way down that road and generally makes life that much more livable!
So it is with God’s Word. God wants nothing but the best for us. God would have us come to him regularly, to walk with him daily in all aspects of life, and in particular take time to draw near and really listen, so that we might live.
The Word: Sustains – Day 28
Seven Wonders of the Word
“The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever. – Isaiah 40:8
WARNING HEAVY NERD CONTENT!!!!
Wait... did you just say my name?
I loved the fact that in our devotion today the author compared people talking about death, to the characters in Harry Potter not speaking Lord Voldemort’s name. (there is a red squiggly line under that name, do I add Voldemort to my computers spell check?) Instead in fear and trembling they referre to him as; “He who must not be named.”
For many years I have talked about the power of names, the depth of meaning of many of the names in the Bible. Like Adam…it comes from the Hebrew root word for dirt… I know right. Over and over again names in the Bible mean something, they are more than just a word, its a word that carries with it information, it carries with something of the person who it belongs to.
Years ago when I read the first Harry Potter book, something stuck in my craw about the whole “he who must not be named thing.” I mean it seriously bugged me, it just seemed bogus. Then the other day I was watching Dr. Who (yeah I am a nerd) and one of the underlying themes in the Doctors battle against the bad guys from all times and places is that there is power in a name. Often an unknown “badie” that is sure to cause the death of the earth or at least a great number of sentient beings, is sent packing when the Doctor
Yeah... its bigger on the inside.
figures out what it is what, or rather who is who, and names them. In the naming there is power, in knowing what it is that you confront, and that it has a name, and by knowing that name it ceases to have power.
Death is like that. How often do we treat it like Voldemort and use euphemisms; passed away, passed on, etc. instead of naming it. Don’t get me wrong, death is not pretty (neither is Voldemort for that matter and he is only mostly dead) and it can be tragic and upsetting, but as Christians we have a claim in the risen Christ that death is not the final word. We can call it what it is because in our baptisms into Christ we have been named and claimed (yes I know) by God. In that naming we are joined to Christ’s death and resurrection and in his naming of death, he has sent it packing for good. In Christ we have already died and we have nothing to fear from it.
In the darkest times of life when death intrudes we can name it, we call it what it is, and in so doing we need not fear. Trusting in the promises of God that not even death could defeat, we can be sustained in the Word and call upon his name for the forgiveness of sins, for grace, for mercy and for new life each day.
The Word: Sustains – Day 26
Seven Wonders of the Word
“A voice cries out:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD,
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.” – Isaiah 40:3-4
Prepare! Be Prepared! Gotta get your ducks in a row!
Ok, as I have officially fallen 2 days behind does this speak ill to my level of preparedness?
Well maybe. But I have an excuse! I have had 2 weddings and a midweek sermon to prepare, a wife to ship out to visit family, plus I have been “on call” at our local hospital this past week. Oh sure I knew about nearly everything that happened this week and I did in fact prepare, for most things. There was the “emergency funeral” on Tuesday and the “surprise” baby blessing on Wednesday… interesting stories the both of them, but they are not meant for this place and time.
Anyway, I fell behind on the devotions in part because while I was prepared for most of what went on this week, something had to give somewhere and it was this. I don’t really feel too guilty, because I had choices to make and in the big picture, I like to think that I took care of, and was prepared for, the really important stuff.
During both Advent and Lent a theme is preparation. Preparation in many ways isn’t a once and done kind of a deal, in some ways it is just life. As a people of faith we might prepare slightly differently than others. We act and behave differently. I was chatting with some folks at a wedding reception last night and we were talking about a situation we have had at church. An inference was made that how we handled this situation didn’t make business sense. Well, it didn’t, and that is too bad for business. You see as a congregation and it’s leadership we stepped up and did the Jesus thing as it were. We cared when the rules said you don’t have any obligation here. In the end, it all worked out for the best for all parties.
We were prepared to do the right thing because we had been prepared by the Word to do so. Life changes, things don’t always go the way we plan. With faith in the promises of God, when you know the future rests safely in God’s hands, it frees you do live into the fullness of the present even as you prepare for the future. In the witness of scripture and the life of the body of Christ, we really didn’t have to make a hard choice, it was one we were prepared in God’s love to make.
Well, I have one more wedding to prepare for….
eeeeek!
This past week our Gospel reading was from Luke 24 where Jesus is making his post resurrection appearance to his disciples and the first words out of his mouth were…”Peace be with you” 
What a very different greeting than the words that lead off our nightly news… fear arises as________ panic engulfs___________…. you can fill in the blanks.
The funny thing is human reactions to both Jesus blessing of peace, and today’s headlines of horror are about the same… The disciples we are told were “terrified” and how many people after hearing and seeing today’s news program are left in the same state.
Why are we so easily scared? I mean it is our default response to almost everything. I walk into the room and my wife doesn’t expect me, she looks up and she is scared out of her whits. She says “don’t do that to me” and I am like… ummm… what walk around my house? I mean it wasn’t like I was trying to sneak up on her (though I have done that!) I was just walking by her, in fact I wasn’t even in “her space” when she was startled. Go figure…
I am a Sci-Fi fan. Mostly books, but I am a big fan of both the major franchises, Star Wars and Star Trek. However, most of the books I like when made into movies are just plain old dung!
Not from the newest Star Trek film... this is real(ish)
Why?
Because they tend to focus on the fear and not the hope. Most Sci-Fi I can’t stand is because the authors, writers, producers cast their eyes on the future and all they see is fear. Dark and dreadful, foreboding and often very alarming. I also find it very interesting that in human vs. Alien stand offs we are nearly
always the good guys, if humans are the bad guys is is often because of some horrific mutation, that makes the bad guys no longer fully human.
I digress…
Take a look at the current Swine Flu hubbub… I mean, yes the flu can be horrible… and it does cost some of the most vulnarable their lives… but is it worth this panic? This absolute fear that grips 
us and fills our news papers and TV headlines…
Seriously… in a country of nearly 110 million people, 20 deaths have been confirmed, yet the news papers and on-line news outlets continue to flaunt numbers and phrases like this… “The death toll in Mexico is believed to be 160.”
Believed to be?? This is hard news?? Aw… come on.
Even so, these deaths though sad, are not out of the norm. Yearly flu of the more garden variety takes anywhere between 50 -150 small children each year in the US. They can’t even give you an accurate guess as to how many adults die, there are just too many other factors.
Now I am not saying fear is bad, in fact it is good it is what keeps us alive. We are litterally hard wired for fear, but not to be fearful. Fear saves us in what could be quite nasty situations, preditors, bad dates, or even zombies that only want us for our tasty brains.
Living in a state of fearfulness is bad, it keeps us from living the life God intended. When people are too fearful to help one aonther, when we are fearful of our finances or healh or anything we are all diminished.
When Jesus bid his disciples “Peace be with you” he was blessing them with a shalom, a peace, that enables the abundant love God intends for each of us, so that we might boldly go where… well wherever…with the good news that in Christ we are all called to life, now and forever, fear not!
