The Juggler

It restlessly tumbles through my body

Like water, cascading down a

Rocky stream deep in the Cascades

Cascading down

Roaring

Pushing until my whole being

Is roiling

And so I sit

Phone buzzing

Mind racing

Bits of me scattered everywhere

A text

An email, a task undone

Clarion calls for action and response

That I feel I cannot

Dare not ignore

And there you sit

My friend

Attentive and caring

Wanting just a piece of my time

But the chaos claims me

And as I desperately juggle

The pieces of my universe

The precious piece that is you

Tumbles to the earth

And lays there neglected

a gift lost

________________________________________________________

There are way too many times in my life

When I, in my anxiety, am a juggler

I have so much up in the air at any one time

For fear that if I don’t answer that text, right now

Or that email, right now

If I don’t start worrying about that task left undone,

Right now

That all those things I am juggling will start to come crashing to the earth

And I will be revealed as what Brennan Manning calls “a faker, a poser, a wannabe”

For all of you my friends, who have tried to claim my attention

For just a moment

And have not gotten it 

I am sorry, and I ask for your forgiveness

For you, that person in front of me, is immeasurably more important

Than anything else on this earth

In that moment!

High Anxiety

Words like capricious dancers on the page

Refusing to rest or be captured

Float in front of eyes

That cannot focus

Thoughts come and go

Racing through a brain

That is noise and chaos

A relentless roaring that flows

From head to heart to stomach

rippling and tumbling through my being

Until my body beats

With the awkward rhythm of unrest

Somewhere in my core

Where solidity and peace should be

Chaos rules

A whimsical tyrant

Anxiety

_______________________________________

Those who know me well

know I struggle with anxiety

At times is is almost overwhelming

at other times, it is just a little ripple I barely notice

Sometimes it drives my behavior

at other times?

Well, lets just say I believe in what I share with my clients,

that so much of it is about how i think, how I frame things.

If I can move out of negative patterns of thinking, away from thoughts that don't work, but lead me into

fear, and guilt, sadness or anger, then I can begin to live a life of joy,

and I can be secure enough in my self, at my core, to reach out in healthy 

and giving ways to others.

One key phrase that I keep coming back to is that of Paul

"All things work together for good, for those who love God'

Whew!

Blessings, Stephen

Finding a "new way"

Well, it is almost a new year.  And as we approach the New Year many of us think about change.  We think about our lives, about how things have been, how we want them to be, and we make plans to improve our lives, improve ourselves…..Thus those things we call New Years resolutions!

Stephen, version 60.2

This Stephen will not wear his good clothes to mow the lawn or feed the horses

This Stephen will not use half a cube of butter on one piece of toast

This Stephen comes to complete stops at empty intersections and always matches his socks as soon as they come out of the dryer. The "improved Stephen" sounds like quite a guy!

In short, we want to change.  But its not that easy…

The Tibetian “Book of Living and Dying” has this little progression

1) I walk down the street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.  I fall in.  I am lost … I am hopeless.

It isn’t my fault.  It takes forever to find a way out.

2) I walk down the same street.

There is a hole in the sidewalk. I pretend I don’t see it. I fall in again.

I can’t believe I am in the same place.

But it isn’t my fault.  It still takes a long time to get out.

3) I walk down the same street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I see it there. I still fall in … it’s a habit

My eyes are open.  I know where I am

It is my fault.  I get out immediately

4) I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk

I walk around it. 

5) I walk down another street.

We all know how hard it is to change.  That is why NY resolutions are such a joke

That new way, that new street sounds really good.  But the reality is that the new street, the new way is nothing if not elusive.

And a lot of the time, as we think about meaningful change, we feel at least a little hopeless.

But I want us to focus on that amazing passage from Isaiah 43.

 "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.

 See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?

 I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.

When I read this passage I always think the Oregon desert, where I grew up.

Dry.  Big. Empty.  And amazingly twisted.  No matter where you are, you can’t get to the next place, not easily.  There are deep canyons, cliffs.  Dead ends everywhere.  Roads that just come to a sad end.  And Rocks.  Big rocks.  Lots of rocks, everywhere!!  Even with a map you start out, and find that your way is blocked.

But imagine God coming… Bringing the construction crew.  A huge caterpillar. Paving equipment…..

And suddenly there is a way in the desert.  God levels the high places, and fills in the low places.  And suddenly there is a freeway… and way in the desert.

In fact earlier in Isaiah, just a few chapters earlier, in chapter 40 we get almost that exact image… Isaiah 40:3-4: "In the desert prepare the way for the Lord;  make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God.   Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.

Think about it.  This is what God does.  He makes newness possible

He makes it possible for us to talk those old patterns, and change them

To take the old ways of thinking, and transform them

The old behaviors, and change them

He enables us to take the old person, and make that person new.

Like that image?  But wait, there is more… into the dryness he brings springs of water.  The brown becomes green.  The dead earth comes alive.  God only helps us find a new path, but his makes that path richer, more full of life than it ever was before.

Wow.  What a metaphor for what God can do in our lives…

In short, what God can do is help us move toward the thing we are all really seeking

God can help us move toward being the person we were created to be…

Now I know in fact it is not easy. We seem to have trouble grabbing hold of what God can do in our lives.  Thus God has to implore the people through Isaiah.  I am about to do a new thing:  now it springs forth, do you not see it?  Do you not see it?  So how do we get there?

Often the reason we have so much trouble is because our eyes are in the wrong place.  They are on our culture, which has a lot to say to us about who we are, what is right, what is wrong.  Our eyes are on other people.  Our parents, our peers, our significant others, who have a lot to say about who we are, what is right, and what is wrong.  Who all too often are more than happy to define us.  And perhaps even control us.  Our eyes are on our lives, the world around us.  On the economy.  On our jobs. Our calendars… and more.  They are on the things, “out there” that we would change.

But we grab hold of God’s new thing not by focusing on externals, but by going inside.

First we turn inside to find that inner power God has promised us.  In Colossians Paul writes, “the secret is this, Christ in us…”   God is in us.  In the person of Christ.  More specifically in the person of the Spirit.  That is the gift Christ promised his disciples in the upper room.  God is in us as the advocate, the Spirit of truth, as the one who is there to teach us “everything”, as Jesus put it.

We need to turn inside and meet God.  Listen to God. We need that connection.  WE need to hear God’s Iove you.  We need to feel that love.  Accept that love.   One writer puts it this way:  "When a person finally accepts the profound mystery that she is totally loved by God and there's nothing she can do about that, then she has a fighting chance at embracing her core identity as Abba's Child.  And then she slowly gains emancipation from all those controlling relationships.  She shifts what psychologist Julian Rotter called the locus of control - the place where decisions about change are made - from external control to internal self-control." 

That quote leads me to the second thing that we have to do.  Find our true self.  And in the context of that sacred presence, in the context of that amazing love, we can do just that.

Now this is where is gets kind of interesting..Because I think we often have no idea what our true self is….We have our outer self… which is the self we present to the world, that external self we put forward to those around us.  Most of us realize this outer self is rarely our true self…..

And we have our inner self, our true self

But our problem is this

What we THINK is our true self is not our true self

Because the inner self we see is another false self.

We see ourselves with our faults.  Our mistakes. 

We see all the stuff we don’t like, the stuff we hide.

And we THINK that is our true self.  This self that is often not enough, that self that is bad, that self that is full of fear, and guilt, and anger.

But that is not our true self

Our true self is our “created to be self.”  Or the self the one author calls “Abba’s Child”

Rob Bell talks about how we have our version of our story, and God has His version of his story.

He uses the story of the prodigal son to illustrate this.  The prodigal thought, that his true self was not worthy to be called a child of God.  That his true self was a loser.  One who could only be on the fringes of the Father’s family…. As a slave.    But look at the prodigal and his version of the prodigals TRUE self was reflected in these words… You are my beloved son”  Abba’s child!

What we think is the true self is really the self-created by the world.  By all the wounds, and pressures and influences that have assailed us from the day of our birth.   Our true self is the self that God sees when God looks at us.  The amazing child God sees.  A child with amazing value.  A child with potential.  A child that deserves respect.  A child who can grab hold of God’s new thing

And can become new

And strong

And… amazing!!!

So this year, as we move forward we need to resolve only two things

First, to turn inward, and seek that spark of God that is inside each of us,  that “Christ in us”

And to connect with the sacred within

And second, in the context of God’s love.  God’s forgiveness.  God’s acceptance

Begin to discover that amazing person we were created to be.

Will there be an instant transformation?  Probably not

Will we continue to struggle?  Of course

Will we make mistakes.  Undoubtably

Back in the early days of English history a Saxon missionary was asked by a Anglo King.  “What should I expect if I accept your message?”  The missionary answered.  If you accept, you will stumble on from wonder to wonder, and every wonder will be true.

We may well stumble. We will stumble. But as we keep going deep

And connecting with God

And letting God define us, and show us our true self…

We will move forward

We will grow

We will get stronger

We will find new paths, new ways of thinking, and thus behaving and being

And God’s new thing will spring forth..

We need each other

It has been a bit of a slower week.  The client flow is light.  I got the first 1000 slide digitalized, and I am on my own, with lots of silence surrounding me.  In such times I usually pick up a book.  this time the book is "Searching for God Knows What" by Donald Miller.  He has a wonderful chapter in which he talks about the fact that Adam, in the midst of Eden's glory, felt lonely.  Bottom line?  Adam needed someone else.

".... you and I", Miller writes, "were created to need each other... It is a striking thought to realize that, in paradixe, a human in incomplete without a host of other people."

Sitting here in the darkness of an early winter's evening, alone, I am struck by the truth of that statement.  We need each other.  

Of course that creates problems for those of us who are essentially loners.  Yes, I know, it seems odd that a person who has been a minister, a fund raiser, a counselor, and an executive director, should see himself as a loner.  But I am!  I love my space.  And when I am in a place where I am one on one with another... I don't always feel safe.  I realized once that I would rather stand up in front of 500, even a 1000 people and talk, then be in a social situation where I would have to interact with one other person for any length of time.

And yet, I know that without those others whom I reluctantly (sometimes) let into my life, I am not complete.  I need other people.  And some people are gracious enough, or perhaps grace full enough to take the time to connect with me, and be a part of my life.  

So in these days, as we go forward toward a new year, I would like to say thank you... to those special people who touch my life.  I won't name you!  There are too many, and no one likes a blog that is way too long.  But I hope you know who you are.

And to all of you, I say thank you.....

I would like to close with a passage I often use as a benediction in my church.   It comes from Paul, via J. B. Phillips.  "Now may the God who suffers us to endure, and gives us a parent's care, give us a mind united toward one another.  And then as one person we will sing from the heart, the praises of God.....  So open your hearts to one another, as Christ as opened his heart to you, and God will be glorified".  (Romans 15)

Blessings

Stephen

Testing God? Thoughts in time of chaos

There are days that make one wonder.  Months too.  Even years.

I have to admit, its been an "interesting" year.  Seems like little has gone right, and a lot of challenges have emerged.

Now I like a challenge as well as the next person.  But seriously God!

Would it be asking so much to get a little break here?

I mean state budget cuts;

A total transformation of the mental health system in the state, which may be awesome, or may be a total disaster;

some personal chaos (as if that ever ends)....

Add it all up and life seems to be almost more than one can take....

And often we wonder if we are up to the task.

I know some people even such such stuff as a test...

as if struggle is the way God measures our faith, our resilience.

I think that is a bunch of ....

Well lets just say that is not the way I think of it.

I like what Brennan Manning says:  "Scarcity and broken relationships aren't about God finding out what I'm made of -  God knows what I'm made of - its the other way around.  In or out of friendship, in scarcity or abundance or just enough, my life is about finding out what God is made of ."

Challenges give me a chance to learn, in a way that good times can never offer, just how amazing my God is.  How loving.  How forgiving.  How patient.  

There is one amazing thing about moments that put God to the test.  God doesn't fail.  God is always there.  With love, power, forgiveness, hope, with all the things we need.

On this "day after Christmas", in this time before the New Year begins, that is a good thing to remember, and on which to base one's future!

Blessings, 

Stephen

A Christmas Wish

In the past several weeks I have had more than one person I am working with tell me that they let other people control them.  But worse, that they let others define them.  And in some cases let others diminish them, even "erase" their sense of self.

In reading a Brennan Manning book (Poser, Fakers, & Wannabes) I ran across the following passage.  

"When a person finally accepts the profound mystery that she is totally loved by God and there's nothing she can do about that, then she has a fighting chance at embracing her core identity as Abba's Child.  And then she slowly gains emancipation from all those controlling relationships.  She shifts what psychologist Julian Rotter called the locus of control - the place where decisions about change are made - from external control to internal self-control."  

This ties in so beautifully with what Paul says in Colossians 1.  "The Secret is this, Christ in us, the hope of glory"

I am more and more convinced that the secret to being the person God wants us to be is quite simple (not easy, but simple).  Turning inside, and connecting with the Christ in us, and becoming intimate with our God.  And then, in the context of that intimacy, discovering who we really are.  Our true self.  Our "created to be" self.  

When we have this profound sense of God's presence, and this strong inner sense of who we are in Christ, then we can be in the world in a totally new way.

No longer does fear, greed, hate - all those things of the world - no longer do other people, our culture, and all those other forces, have the power to define us.  We are already defined by God, and by our grace filled relationship with that God.

How that kind of strong inner core would transform how we think, feel, and yes, behave.  We can only benefit from an internal locus of control however, if there is something good and strong inside us. If what is inside us is vague, if we are empty, or worse, if our inner self is cluttered with the stuff of the world, and the stuff other people throw at us, we will not find there the peace, the hope, God wants for us.

So our job is to constantly go inward... to that core.  And there find our God, and there find the empowering Spirit, and there find, who we truly are :)

This Christmas season, my hope is that we all receive the greatest gift of all.  That sense of God's indwelling, and of that self that we were always meant to be...

Blessings

Rooted in personal intimacy with God

Henri Nouwen sometimes wrote remarkable things.  Today I ran across this quote from his book "In the Name of Jesus."

"When we are securely rooted in personal intimacy with the source of life, it will be possible to remain flexible but not relativistic, convinced without being rigid, willing to confront without being offensive, gentle and forgiving without being soft, and true witnesses without being manipulative."

This really got me thinking

About leadership

About dealing with adversity

About being strong!

The key to being a child of God in this messed up creation has everything to do with personal intimacy with the source of life, God. More specifically, the Christ in us.  As we become intimate with that presence, then we find, and can become intimate with our true selves.  And then, and only then, can we function in the world in the way Nouwen describes.

I was thinking about the abused woman, who loves God, and wants to be God's person.  She has been taught, forever.  Give up your self.  Be a servant.  And now, as she seeks to find her true self she things it is wrong to stand up for herself.  Wrong to set boundaries.  It feels, harsh and unforgiving.  But with Christ, setting boundaries, holding firm the the self, not allowing another to erase her can involve being soft.  Without giving in once again to slavery to a one who is not God or Christ, but acts like he owns her.

I was thinking about those in power in Washington DC.  Imagine if you will, if they could have passion and power, without relativism and rigidity.  Would they, if they were securely rooted in personal intimacy with the source of life, be able to make decisions based on God's teachings, God's priorities, God's love, rather than political expediency, or a search for personal power?

I was thinking about the church.  And about how it would be if the leaders of the church did not have to pose, and did not focus on power and rules, and law, but instead were willing rest their leadership on personal intimacy with the source of life.  And were willing to be real.

The fact is, that historically, God has done God's best work when working through those who were not posers, but people who were aware, often painfully so of their own inadequacy.   As Brennan Manning would put it, "God works through the broken-hearted who know they don't have the courage to go on.  God works through the weak who know they don't have the strength to carry on. God works through the poor who know whatever it is, they can't buy it."

It all comes back to understanding it is all about God.  And what God can do, and will do.

So, for all those who are battered, abused, confused, struggling, weak, and yes, sinful.  This "grace" is for you.  Believe it!

Water in the desert

The body slumps in the chair

Every inch protesting at life

Tired

Beaten down

By events that rip and tear

By abuse and fear

Hatred and greed

Their minds echo the sad refrain

I am nothing

Nothing

I am not enough

I deserve what I am getting

God hates me

They have been told this too many times

By fists that have battered

Words that have scorned

You are stupid

You can’t do it

You are a whore

A loser

And even those who talk gospel

Have had no gospel

Only more demands

More calls to sacrifice, to become less

How can you become less when you are nothing?

And yet

Deep down

A spark of the divine still glows

That true self

That created to be Self

Still lives

Christ is in

Even this one so battered

So shaped by the sin and misery of this world

And even the smallest fragment of this divine presence is enough

Be it as small as a mustard seed

And with Christ that true self

Can be birthed again

Christ speaks

In that dark, almost empty space

You are a child of God, believe it!

You are God’s daughter

You are God’s son

You, that you I imaged from the beginning of all creation

That true you

Cannot be erased

God loves you

God wants to do his new thing

In your life

Yes

Yours

Water in the desert

See it

Believe it!

____________________________________

Isa 43:1-3, 19

1 But now, this is what the Lord says —

he who created you, O Jacob,he who formed you, O Israel:

"Fear not, for I have redeemed you;I have summoned you by name; you are mine.

2 When you pass through the waters,I will be with you;

and when you pass through the rivers,they will not sweep over you.

When you walk through the fire,you will not be burned;

the flames will not set you ablaze.

3 For I am the Lord, your God,the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;

19 See, I am doing a new thing!

Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?

I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.

1 John 3:1 How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!

Birthing God

Today in church we read the familiar story of Gabriel visiting Mary

The story of Mary is an intriguing one.  This story brings up a lot of stuff.

But for me all comes down to what Mary did!

What is the one thing Mary did?  Above all else?

Mary birthed God

She delivered God to the world

How did she do that?

Well there are two things really obvious… First, Mary couldn’t have done anything without God’s amazing activity.  No way that she, a young woman who “had not known” a man was going to be able to have a baby…. Sorry… doesn’t happen. 

But the other obvious truth is this - God couldn’t have done what he did without Mary’s yes…..

God needed Mary’s “yes”, and she could have said “no”

In his book Peculiar Treasures, Frederick Buechner imagines what the angel Gabriel could have been thinking when he told Mary not to be afraid: ‘You mustn’t be afraid, Mary,’ he said. And as he said it, he only hoped she wouldn’t notice that beneath the great, golden wings, he himself was trembling with fear to think that the whole future of creation hung now on the answer of a girl.”

Mary had to give her yes

Say yes to God’s choice of her

Yes to God’s love

Yes to God’s capacity

We have to give our yes as well

Our job is to birth God,  to deliver God to the world

John wrote in his Gospel… “See what love God has shown, that we should be called the children of God.  And that is what we are!!!!”  Brennan Manning takes that verse and says this…The highest calling in our lives is becoming like Jesus. This is not copying what Jesus does… It’s the very life of Jesus flowing in us and through us and out of us because God’s Spirit has taken up residence in the heart of us. 

In short.  God is birthed through us as we become open to the presence of the Spirit, and Christ moves through us… and we begin to live Christ, in love, compassion and forgiveness.

But how do we do this?  Well the first thing that is obvious is that it isn’t about our capacity.  We are often faced with things are at least a little beyond us.  And few of us, as we look at what life is throwing at us, say “Oh yeah! I feel total capable, bring it on!!”  No, it is all about God, with whom all things, all things are possible.

So the real key is our willingness….

I had a friend who use to talk to Senior High Students about the symbolism of hands

He pointed out that what we do with our hands often reflects our receptiveness.

Hands out - pushing away; rejecting.

Hands up - ready to receive; welcoming.

Try it.  How does it feel when you hold your hands out?  When you open and lift them up?

As you do, the different postures almost set you up for a different attitude.

Hands out - No! Wait.

Hands up - Ok! Come on.

Ever notice how some people seem to instinctively put their hands out.  They’re the skeptics of the bunch.  Won’t believe it unless they see it for themselves.  If it isn’t logical, if they don’t understand it, they don’t have time for it.  They tend to stand back. They tend to resist.

Unlike “hands up” people.  They’ll receive what you say. They’ll go along with what is told them.  Not necessarily gullible. But open. Receptive.

Hands out?  or Hands up?

Our choice is important

Through Mary the sacred came into the world

And the world was transformed by the Sacred, redeemed by it…restored

That is what happens, everytime we birth God….

Every time we are willing, God becomes a part of the world

And God’s presence cannot be denied

Author Regina Ryan writes these words in one of her books.  “Are not each one of us invited to conceive the Sacred One within our(selves)? Are not each one of us called upon to wait for the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit… ? Is it not our job to nurture God by healthy devotional practice, honoring the body, and celebrating the mystery of life that is (continually) taking place in each one of us?”  To this day, if Jesus Christ is fathered by God, he is mothered and made manifest by you and me. Kind of makes you proud, doesn’t it? How essential humanity’s role is to deliver God to the world?

The question that comes from this story is simple are we willing?

Are willing to believe in what God can do… and echo Mary’s words,  “Nothing is impossible with God”

Are we willing to accept our acceptance and let God dance in our soul,

Will to let the Spirit overshadow us….?

Are we willing to birth God, deliver God to the world?

Shouting the Gospel

In his book Ordinary Radicals, Shane Claibourne makes this challenging statement.  “If you ask most people what Christians believe they can tell you.  Christians believe that Jesus is God’s Son and that Jesus rose from the dead.”  But if you ask the average person how Christians live they are struck silent. We have not shown the world another way of doing life.  Christians pretty much live like everybody else; they just sprinkle a little Jesus along the way.  …..”

In Advent we are challenge to think about the coming Kingdom of God..

And about Kingdom living…..

What does that look like?  How would we be if we embraced….another way of life?

What would it look like if we were to, as Shane Claibourne puts it, “shout the Gospel with our lives?

In Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians, in his finally instructions in chapter five, we get some idea of what Kingdom living should look like.  This is not a negative snapshot -- or a dark one, or a rigid one.  Not at all.  In fact the life portrayed here is wondrous!  Amazing!  But definitely not easy.

1.  The first suggestion about what it looks like to participate in another way of doing life is this.  “Over come evil with good, do good to one another and to all.  In Romans Paul would say similar thing when he said, “don’t overcome evil with evil but overcome evil with good.”  And then he hammered the point home with graphic illustrations of what he was talking about.  “…IF YOUR ENEMY IS HUNGRY, FEED HIM, AND IF HE IS THIRSTY, GIVE HIM A DRINK; FOR IN SO DOING YOU WILL HEAP BURNING COALS UPON HIS HEAD."  Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

This is so alien to the way we often think!

     We want to get even

     We want to make the bad people pay

     We want to aggressively keep ourselves safe

So we respond to hate with hate, brutality with brutality.

But we are commanded to overcome evil with good.  Why?  Because unlike responding to evil with evil, hatred with hatred, overcoming evil with good actually works

A young American was once riding a train in the Suburbs of Tokyo.  At first the car was mostly empty, holding just a smattering of women and children, and a few old folks.  Then suddenly, at one stop, the door opened and a man staggered in bellowing violent curses. He wore dirty clothes and was big and very drunk.  Screaming he swung at a young mother holding a baby, knocking them to the floor.  As the man stood in the middle of the car looking for his next victim, the young man stood up. He was young, in good shape, and had been in aikido training for three years.  He figured he could grapple and throw this obnoxious man.  He was determined to protect the innocent, even if it meant meeting violence with violence

Then, as the man staggered toward him, roaring threats, a voice suddenly shouted “Hey!”  And there stood a tiny little man, easily in his 70’s.  “Come here” he said to the big man, “let’s talk!”  “Why should I talk with you?”  “Whatcha been drinking” asked the old man.  “I’ve been drinking sake!”  “Ah, sake”, said the old man.  “That is wonderful.  I love sake too. Every night my wife and I, she is 76 you  know, warm up a bottle of sake, take it out the garden, sit on an old bench, and watch the sun go down… We like to see how our persimmon tree is doing.  My grandfather planted it.”  “Yeah” said the big man, “I lover persimmons too.”  “And I bet you have a wonderful wife?”  “No,” said the big man..’my wife died.  I have no wife, I have no home, I have no job, I am so ashamed of myself.”  Tears rolled down his check.  “My my” said the old man.  “That is so sad, sit down and tell me about it.”  

A short time later as the young man left the car he looked back and saw the drunk man lying on a seat, his head in the old man’s lap.  The old man was softly stroking the man’s matted hair. 

That was love in action.  That was a time when someone overcame evil with good.

The second thing we are asked to do in this passage is rejoice always.  Again, not an easy thing to do. 

We often don’t feel like rejoicing.  Indeed, quite the opposite.  We feel like being angry, and bitter.  We feel like wallowing in the negative.  And there is a lot of negative to wallow in… but we are told to rejoice… be joyful

How can we do this?  We can do this because the source of our comes out of the assurances we hear from Isaiah. God offers us salvation that is tangible and real. Isaiah tells us that through God’s messenger God offers good news (hope) to the oppressed. God binds up the wounds of the brokenhearted, proclaims liberty to the captive (those held in slavery), release to the prisoners, restoration in the year of jubilee, justice or vindication, and comfort for those who mourn.”

 In these acts, we see God’s shalom or peace created. These are real, tangible things that touch us in this life not some wish for the life to come.  We can be joyful because of our God. Because of who God is, and what God does, and how God loves us.  We are challenged to remember where our joy really comes from.  Because sometimes we forget.  And we think other things, such as wealth, or jobs, or other people can be the sources of our joy. 

But we are called to remember where we can really find the joy we seek.  To focus on that source of joy, and not all the others, that disappoint. 

The third mark of “another way of living” is chronic prayer. Pray all the time !  Paul suggests.

I can’t say I’m good at this, but there it is.  Always stay connected to God.  Never let too much time pass without checking in.

Being in relationship with God is kind of like having a friend, a long ways away, someone you care about and love….What do you do?  You work at staying connected.  You email, you text… you check in.  You share your day - You share your joy and your pain…..and even across the miles the relationship flourishes….

Paul suggests that kingdom living involves that kind of intentional connection with God. Remembering God, all the time.  Having God on the edge of our consciousness at all time.  Slipping into thoughts of God.  Sending thoughts toward God.  Sending love toward God, all the time.  The way we do toward that person who is our beloved.

Give thanks in all circumstances is the third suggestion.  Are you kidding God?

Be thankful for budget cuts?

Be thankful for a struggling economy

Yes, be thankful in the in midst….

There is a Contemporary Christian song called Beauty for Ashes sung by Crystal Lewis based on this Scripture. Some of the words are, “He gives beauty for ashes, Strength for fear, Gladness for mourning, Peace for despair. When sorrow seems to surround you, when suffering hangs heavy o’er your head, Know that tomorrow brings, Wholeness and healing, God knows your need, just believe what He said. He gives beauty for ashes, Strength for fear, Gladness for mourning, Peace for despair.

We place our faith in God who cares for us, who is not indifferent to our suffering, but who is compassionate.  And because we have this kind of God there are reasons, even in “the midst”

Even in times of fear and mourning, despair, there are things to give thanks for

Above all the love of God, and Grace

As I thought about this passage I thought about my father’s illness… My dad was a workaholic, yes it must be hereditary.  But in his illness he had to slow down

He learn to sit, and talk, and listen, and share

And he had people come by….

And say… Dr. Paul… I want to tell you how much you mean to me

He might never have known….how much people cared.  He might have missed out on so many gifts.  So in the midst, he could give thanks.  There were things for which he wasn’t thankful for.  But there things he could find, always things he could find, for which to give thanks.

Give thanks in all circumstances

He learned to give thanks for the gifts that were coming his way….

So now we come to the bottom line of the passage.   Don’t quench the Spirit

I think of it this way.  As we think about Advent living, we can ask ourselves four questions, each day.

First, what “positive, good thing” can I do this day, to respond to the evil I see around me?

Second, what can I do to nurture joy?  How can I focus on God and God’s love and power in such a way as to find hope and joy, in the midst?  In what situation do I need to look for joy?

Third, how can I “connect” with God.  In what way can I seek to nurture contact with God?

And finally, what is a gift God has given me this day, for which I can say thanks?

This is how we let the presence, the reality of God burn in our lives and our hearts

This is how we participate in the Kingdom

This is how we participate in another way of doing life

Waiting on the Lord

On a winter’s Day

White capped sentinels

Thrust into startling blue

The frigid sun slowly slides behind the hills

Casting out weak rays of warmth

That bounce off rocks and trees

The smell of smoke wafts through the trees

And the coldness of the air takes one’s breath away

It is an amazing day

And yet beauty is not just in the eyes

But in the heart and mind of the beholder

And on this day

Joy does not fly

But lies trapped by

Emptiness

And loss

And so not even God’s grandeur

Can lift the heart

And cause the soul to soar

And yet one is told

To wait upon the Lord

And that in the waiting

The resting

Will come an answer

And one will once again

Soar like an eagle

Into that startling blue

And so I wait