12/22/11 My breath prayer for the day comes from the prophet Isaiah 52:7, "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace, who brings good news, who announces salvation, who says to Zion, 'Your God reigns.'" Week by week, sometimes day by day, I get to be a messenger of good news. As a preacher, it comes with the job title. Especially at Christmas, people come to worship hungry...desperate for good news. On Christmas Eve, I am going to adopt the character of the angel who announces to the shepherds (to us...to the world) that a Savior is born. The title of my monologue is Tidings. Today I bring you good tidings of great joy, for unto us is born this day in the city of David, a savior, who is Christ the Lord. Might we become messengers too?
Love,
Lynn
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
light
12/21/11 My breath prayer for the day comes from John 1:5-6, "In him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it." I like it that the light comes at the darkest time of the year. Today is the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere, the shortest day of the year, the longest night of the year, the day with the most darkness. Some people suffer from SAD, seasonal affect disorder. They don't get enough light hitting their eyes, and they grow depressed. For some this is the time of year when the grief from losing a spouse or child or friend or job is felt more intensely. It is a dark time.
In Christ, we have the light of the world. He doesn't make the darkness go away, but he overcomes it. He shines in its midst. The contrast is sharp. The hope is real. May Christ be our life and light.
Love,
Lynn
In Christ, we have the light of the world. He doesn't make the darkness go away, but he overcomes it. He shines in its midst. The contrast is sharp. The hope is real. May Christ be our life and light.
Love,
Lynn
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
spoken
12/20/11 My breath prayer for the day comes from Hebrews 1:1=2, "Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son." We all have different primary channels in communicating. Some folks are visual. They need to see it to get it. Some are tactile. They need to feel it in order for it to be real. Some are auditory. They need to hear it to understand it.
In this passage, we have a "wordy" God. God speaks. God has spoken down through the ages through the prophets. In this season we claim that God has spoken through a Son. As John's gospel says, "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us."
Love,
Lynn
In this passage, we have a "wordy" God. God speaks. God has spoken down through the ages through the prophets. In this season we claim that God has spoken through a Son. As John's gospel says, "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us."
Love,
Lynn
Monday, December 19, 2011
sing a new song
12/19/11 Yesterday, we had our annual service of Lessons and Carols. This means that we read a lot of scripture that had to do with the coming of Jesus Christ, starting with Old Testament prophecies through the birth stories and adoration by the Magi. In between the readings, we sang. This service is one of most highly attended of any all year. We love to sing. We were made to sing. Singing gets us right with God, close to God. I always end the service with a benediction from John 1:1-14, a passage that usually says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Greek word logos could also be translated as follows: In the beginning was the Song, and the Song was with God, and the Song was God. My prayer verse for the day is Psalm 98:1, "O sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done marvelous things. His right hand and his holy arm have gotten him victory." Keep singing. Sing to the Lord a new song.
Love,
Lynn
Love,
Lynn
Thursday, December 15, 2011
generation to generation
12/15/11 My breath prayer for the day comes from Mary's song after she learns she will be giving birth to the Messiah, Luke 1:50, "His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation." A book that has had a tremendous impact upon me has as its title "Generation to Generation." It was written by rabbi/psychotherapist Edwin Friedman, who applied the family systems theory of Murray Bowen to the religious communities. He notes the power of foremothers and fathers to shape our lives as we are all connected in relational/emotional systems. To connect with what Mary is saying in Luke, I hope that we can see the God of the Universe, the God who loves us so much that God comes in the flesh in Jesus the Christ, as working all down through history and into the future, from generation to generation.
Love,
Lynn
Love,
Lynn
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
magnify
12/14/11 My breath prayer today comes from the song that Mary sings when she learns from an angel that she will give birth to the Savior. It is traditionally called the "Magnificat," based upon the word "Magnify." Luke 1:46b-47, "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior."
I thought of a magnifying glass....how it can make something look larger. But a magnifying glass can also focus the rays of the sun into a single point, so that it can cause a fire to start. Is the coming of Christ like this? Does Christ help us to see things better, in larger perspective, with more clarity? Does Christ, the Son/Sun, get so focused that He can cause people to became aflame with passion for the Gospel? Can He change the hearts of groups, congregations, denominations, nations....to warm up to love, reconciliation, hope, forgiveness?
Can we be part of the magnification process? How will we magnify the Lord?
Love,
Lynn
I thought of a magnifying glass....how it can make something look larger. But a magnifying glass can also focus the rays of the sun into a single point, so that it can cause a fire to start. Is the coming of Christ like this? Does Christ help us to see things better, in larger perspective, with more clarity? Does Christ, the Son/Sun, get so focused that He can cause people to became aflame with passion for the Gospel? Can He change the hearts of groups, congregations, denominations, nations....to warm up to love, reconciliation, hope, forgiveness?
Can we be part of the magnification process? How will we magnify the Lord?
Love,
Lynn
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
rest
12/13/11 My breath prayer for the day comes from II Samuel 7:11b where the LORD speaks to David these words, "I will give you rest from all your enemies." Most of my enemies are internal, not external. I have inner demons, compulsions, brokenness. My primary one is trying to save myself by my own goodness, which leads to working too hard, overfunctioning, and tiring out. I need rest....rest that comes from outside me...rest from all my enemies. The word for today is rest.
Love,
Lynn
Love,
Lynn
Monday, December 12, 2011
forever time
from my sermon on 12/11/12 from I Thes. 5:16-24
How do you spend your time? I find it interesting that we treat time like money....we spend it...we waste it...in jail we "do time"....can you lend me a few minutes of your time?....I'd like to borrow an hour of your time...Do you have enough time?.....if I do this now, I can buy myself some time.
I am in a series of sermons on time. I am finding that time is our most valuable commodity. What's your time worth? In counseling, you pay $50-200/hr for really 50 minutes. You lawyers out there, you bill by the hour, actually by the tenth of an hour. Imagine every 6 minutes, you are accounting for your time.
In our culture around here, time may be more valuable than money. Graham Nash, of Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young (really dating myself by this music group), broke both of his legs. Being laid up gave him a new perspective. "Time is our only currency. Even Bill Gates, as rich as he is can't buy a single second. We have to use our time wisely."
Our scripture for the day has some counsel, Rejoice ALWAYS, pray WITHOUT CEASING, give thanks IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES, which could be translated as AT ALL TIMES. I call this forever time.
And now you say, who can possibly do this, forever be rejoicing, praying, giving thanks...especially when you read the news of 24 children being slain in the civil war in Syria or the remains of 274 servicemen and women being cast into a landfill after giving their lives for our country. Harry Emerson Fosdick wrote a book, A Faith for Tough Times, in which he recounts a woman's struggle with the diagnosis of a painful arthritis. A friend visiting her said, This illness will certainly change the color of your life. To which the woman responded, And I propose to choose the color.
It is our choice how we respond to anything in life. We can choose to rejoice, pray, give thanks or not. For us followers of Christ, it because part of our spiritual discipline. Signs of our maturing in Christ, growing our souls, are being able to be rejoicing, praying, and giving thanks more and more. It is a process. I believe that as we go on with God, we are able to take on more of the world's pain, with greater intensity, for longer periods of time. Our box of coping skills grows. We may even get to the point where we wake up not saying, Good God, morning, to saying Good morning, God. At the early service, one man told me, he reverses the order, beginning in thanksgiving, which leads him to prayer, and finally to rejoicing. Whatever order works for you. I believe that learning to rejoice always, pray constantly, and give thanks at all times leads to the only life of sanity there is.
How do you spend your time? Annie Dillard writes, How we spend our days is of course how we spend our lives. It is a moment by moment, day by day, process. How do you spend your time? I heard a talk that said, if you show me your checkbook and your calendar, I will show you your priorities in life. Eric Hoffer, that longshoreman/philosopher wrote that our busyness was not from having purpose in our lives but rather worrying that our lives were being wasted. We get crazy busy because we don't feel we real count for something.
Now you ask, Pastor Lynn, is there any good news here? Yes, first all of the verb tenses and pronouns are second person plural. There all say "you all" or as we say in Texas "y'all." It is a community exercise. "Y'all rejoice always, y'all pray constantly, y'all give thanks at all times." We do this together. Our bishop in the SWTx Conf., Jim Dorff, experienced this in Africa. He was there to see those mosquito nets we have been purchasing for Imagine No Malaria. There was supposed to be a meeting. He kept looking at his watch, folding his arms, sighing. Finally, his African host, said, "In America, you keep time. In Africa, we make time." Bishop Dorff relaxed. The meeting would begin when everyone got there. In community we learn.
Another example of forever time is from the senior pastor I began ministry with, Mal Hierholzer. One day, he was visiting one of our unwillingly absent members, a woman facing the limits of her life. She despaired that she was of no use, homebound, without purpose. Mal said to here, Here's something you can do, you can pray for me. And she did. In fact, she became a prayer warrior, getting the prayer concerns called into her. We live this rejoicing, praying, giving thanks together.
The other part of the good news is that this is God's work in us. It is not our simply gutting it out. God's desire is simply for our deepest happiness. I love what the passage says, "May the God of peace sanctify you entirely, and may your spirit and your soul and your body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and He will do this."
God came from beyond time, to enter time as one of us, in Jesus Christ. In fact, we mark our time by his coming into B.C. and A.D. We live in Anno Domini, in the year of our Lord. Christ has joined us and continues to work in us his will, confronting us and comforting us. God wants us to be persons rejoicing always, praying constantly, and giving thanks forever.
So that this worship time is actually rehearsal time for eternity. Think about it....what will you be doing in eternity? How will you spend your time? What appointments will you need to keep? Look at your calendar and what entries do you find there? We are practicing here what we will be doing for eternity, rejoicing, praying, giving thanks.
A closing story, a man was in hospice care in London. He asked his nurse, Am I dying? His male nurse took his blood pressure, his pulse, his respiration. Yes sir, you are actively dying. Will you help me do this? Yes sir, I will be right here for you. No, will you help me do this? The nurse took his hand, I am right here sir. No, will you get in bed with me? I think if you help me do this, I can do it well. The nurse got up in the bed and held the man....and the man did it well.
How will you spend your time?
How do you spend your time? I find it interesting that we treat time like money....we spend it...we waste it...in jail we "do time"....can you lend me a few minutes of your time?....I'd like to borrow an hour of your time...Do you have enough time?.....if I do this now, I can buy myself some time.
I am in a series of sermons on time. I am finding that time is our most valuable commodity. What's your time worth? In counseling, you pay $50-200/hr for really 50 minutes. You lawyers out there, you bill by the hour, actually by the tenth of an hour. Imagine every 6 minutes, you are accounting for your time.
In our culture around here, time may be more valuable than money. Graham Nash, of Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young (really dating myself by this music group), broke both of his legs. Being laid up gave him a new perspective. "Time is our only currency. Even Bill Gates, as rich as he is can't buy a single second. We have to use our time wisely."
Our scripture for the day has some counsel, Rejoice ALWAYS, pray WITHOUT CEASING, give thanks IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES, which could be translated as AT ALL TIMES. I call this forever time.
And now you say, who can possibly do this, forever be rejoicing, praying, giving thanks...especially when you read the news of 24 children being slain in the civil war in Syria or the remains of 274 servicemen and women being cast into a landfill after giving their lives for our country. Harry Emerson Fosdick wrote a book, A Faith for Tough Times, in which he recounts a woman's struggle with the diagnosis of a painful arthritis. A friend visiting her said, This illness will certainly change the color of your life. To which the woman responded, And I propose to choose the color.
It is our choice how we respond to anything in life. We can choose to rejoice, pray, give thanks or not. For us followers of Christ, it because part of our spiritual discipline. Signs of our maturing in Christ, growing our souls, are being able to be rejoicing, praying, and giving thanks more and more. It is a process. I believe that as we go on with God, we are able to take on more of the world's pain, with greater intensity, for longer periods of time. Our box of coping skills grows. We may even get to the point where we wake up not saying, Good God, morning, to saying Good morning, God. At the early service, one man told me, he reverses the order, beginning in thanksgiving, which leads him to prayer, and finally to rejoicing. Whatever order works for you. I believe that learning to rejoice always, pray constantly, and give thanks at all times leads to the only life of sanity there is.
How do you spend your time? Annie Dillard writes, How we spend our days is of course how we spend our lives. It is a moment by moment, day by day, process. How do you spend your time? I heard a talk that said, if you show me your checkbook and your calendar, I will show you your priorities in life. Eric Hoffer, that longshoreman/philosopher wrote that our busyness was not from having purpose in our lives but rather worrying that our lives were being wasted. We get crazy busy because we don't feel we real count for something.
Now you ask, Pastor Lynn, is there any good news here? Yes, first all of the verb tenses and pronouns are second person plural. There all say "you all" or as we say in Texas "y'all." It is a community exercise. "Y'all rejoice always, y'all pray constantly, y'all give thanks at all times." We do this together. Our bishop in the SWTx Conf., Jim Dorff, experienced this in Africa. He was there to see those mosquito nets we have been purchasing for Imagine No Malaria. There was supposed to be a meeting. He kept looking at his watch, folding his arms, sighing. Finally, his African host, said, "In America, you keep time. In Africa, we make time." Bishop Dorff relaxed. The meeting would begin when everyone got there. In community we learn.
Another example of forever time is from the senior pastor I began ministry with, Mal Hierholzer. One day, he was visiting one of our unwillingly absent members, a woman facing the limits of her life. She despaired that she was of no use, homebound, without purpose. Mal said to here, Here's something you can do, you can pray for me. And she did. In fact, she became a prayer warrior, getting the prayer concerns called into her. We live this rejoicing, praying, giving thanks together.
The other part of the good news is that this is God's work in us. It is not our simply gutting it out. God's desire is simply for our deepest happiness. I love what the passage says, "May the God of peace sanctify you entirely, and may your spirit and your soul and your body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and He will do this."
God came from beyond time, to enter time as one of us, in Jesus Christ. In fact, we mark our time by his coming into B.C. and A.D. We live in Anno Domini, in the year of our Lord. Christ has joined us and continues to work in us his will, confronting us and comforting us. God wants us to be persons rejoicing always, praying constantly, and giving thanks forever.
So that this worship time is actually rehearsal time for eternity. Think about it....what will you be doing in eternity? How will you spend your time? What appointments will you need to keep? Look at your calendar and what entries do you find there? We are practicing here what we will be doing for eternity, rejoicing, praying, giving thanks.
A closing story, a man was in hospice care in London. He asked his nurse, Am I dying? His male nurse took his blood pressure, his pulse, his respiration. Yes sir, you are actively dying. Will you help me do this? Yes sir, I will be right here for you. No, will you help me do this? The nurse took his hand, I am right here sir. No, will you get in bed with me? I think if you help me do this, I can do it well. The nurse got up in the bed and held the man....and the man did it well.
How will you spend your time?
Thursday, December 8, 2011
time
12/8/11 It's funny that I am preaching about time this season of Advent. It's funny because right now I don't have enough time. We had church conference on Monday night, Finance meeting last night, and I have a weekend retreat with Dr. Hax from MIT on Fri- Sat, then all day literally busy on Sunday, with no breaks until the next weekend. I am taking off right after Christmas for that week until New Year's. But right now I haven't spent enough time in study or catching up on people. The one saving grace is I have spent time in prayer and exercise every day. How are you spending your time?
Love,
Lynn
Love,
Lynn
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
marking time
from my sermon on 12/4/11 from 2 Peter 3:8-15a
God's view of things and ours are different. May I tell you a story? There was a man who grew close to God. One day, in his praying, he became so bold as to ask God, "What's a 1,000 years like to you, God?" A thousand years is like a second to me, answered God. "Well, God, what's a million dollars like to you?" A million dollars is like a penny to me. The man got even bolder and after a pause, asked, "God, can I have one of your pennies?" Sure, said God, in a second.
The text says that with God one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day. God's view of time is different from ours. I am doing a sermon series on time. I am finding that time is our most valuable commodity, even more valuable than money. Today, I want you to listen for 2 things about marking time.
One, for us, time can slow down and speed up. You remember from your study of physics that as we approach the speed of light that time will slow down. Scientists have actually proved this with extremely accuarte atomic clocks. You know this from personal experience. You are driving on these slick streets like we have right now. Everything is ordinary (have a metronome going back and forth at a reasonable pace). Then, all of a sudden, this flatbed truck is turning right in front of you, blocking both lanes. Time slows down (make the metronome go slower). You see everything with perfect clarity. You understand that you will not have time to stop. You will hit the truck. You notice the name of the lumber company on the door of the truck. You see that it is a Ford R-450. If you are a parent, even if your kid is not in the car with you, you will throw out your right arm, trying to defy the laws of physics, in order to stop the child hurtling forward. You see that the steel bed of the truck is right about where your neck is in your car. By the grace of God, you don't hit the steel bed, but the read wheels of the truck, and you live. It only took a few seconds, but for you it took a lifetime.
Time can speed up...especially as you get older. My doctor friend describes it like this: when you are a baby and you have lived one day, that is all the time that you know...just one light period and one dark period, a few feeding times. What happens when you are 80 years old...well that is 29,220 days. For you, a day is a tiny fraction of all the time that you know. How many light periods and dark periods have you experienced? How many meals, baths, traffic signals?
What does this have to do with the scripture passage? In the early church there was an issue around the delay of the coming of Christ. They expected him to return quickly. From the way they marked time, Christ seemed to be slow. Peter is saying from God's perspective, the way God marks time, is that this so-called delay is actually a gift from God. It is a time to repent, a time to respond to God's mercy, a time to experience God's purifying fire. We take time now ...in silence...there may something you want to repent of....we have a prayer of confession coming soon...there may be something you need to give over to God's mercy....there may be something you have been holding onto more tightly than God's desire to hold onto you. We take time now to repent.
The second thing I want you to remember about marking time is this: some said that Christ's delay in coming back meant that they could do whatever they wanted. It was a license to licentiousness. Others thought that it meant that they didn't have to do anything. It was an invitation to idleness. Friends, this is not the problem most of us have today. We overfunction. We are crazy-busy. We don't see time as God's time, but as ours solely, and we fill it up, every minute of it. We must be doing something all the time, and then we complain that we don't have enough time.
The second thing I invite you to do this Advent is to allow for "gap time." This means to not be so busy as to not leave time for God to break in. As a pastor friend of mine says, to allow for God's unscheduled appointments. Peter in this letter says, it is to lead lives of holiness and godliness, where righteousness is at home.
It was right at this moment in writing this sermon that God broke in. A man we will call Tom came to see me. Months ago, I had helped him out. He had been visiting in worship here. He had told me that his family needed food. I told him about all the different agencies through which we worked and that I didn't hand out money. He told me his child was hungry. And I never do this, but I took him over to HEB and bought him groceries with my own credit card. Then his car was low on gas, so I filled it with gas on my credit card. I wouldn't miss the money. But then I didn't see Tom again. He was gone. Ah, I thought, lesson learned again. I got taken again. Then he shows up right when I am talking about gap time. He said that he had gotten work up in the Dallas area after a hail storm. He was bidding on roofing jobs. Now he was in desperate straits again. We went through all of the options. None of them would help. I told him I didn't have any money to give him and I didn't know what to do. He said, "You could pray for me." Ah....I understood...what he really needed was for me to listen to him and to pray for him. That was gap time.
Then on Friday morning I am working on Habitat for Humanity. I love that time. I get to work with guys with power tools. Kevin and I are hanging doors. Gerard, our project manager comes in with a couple. I ask if they are the homeowners. They say yes. They apologize, saying that they won't be able to come back on Saturday to work on their house. Why, I ask. Maggie says that her sister, carried a baby to 7 1/2 months, but lost it, and she is now in ICU. I ask if it is OK to pray (I never assume it is). Yes, Maggie replies. There in the front room of their new house we pray all together in a circle of love. That is gap time.
I am asking you this Advent to mark time by allowing for gap time. We can get so busy in a worship service, we may miss God. I get anxious when there is silence in worship, but maybe that is the time that God speaks. (silence) We need gap time here today. We can get so busy in the church calendar we can squeeze God out. Maybe we need to have fewer meetings so God can show up in gap time. For you as a student in school, you ask someone how they are doing, and she responds "fine," but her voice drops to let you know she is anything but fine. So you pause and you listen. That's gap time. You receive a call from a wrong number, but there is something in person's voice to let you know it is not a wrong number for you. You listen. That's gap time. You remember that in music the rests are just as important as the notes. We need gap time.
This Advent, we are marking time, not just sitting around being idle, but making time count, looking for ways to practice holiness and godliness, where righteousness is at home. The good news is this: We know that God has made time for us.
God's view of things and ours are different. May I tell you a story? There was a man who grew close to God. One day, in his praying, he became so bold as to ask God, "What's a 1,000 years like to you, God?" A thousand years is like a second to me, answered God. "Well, God, what's a million dollars like to you?" A million dollars is like a penny to me. The man got even bolder and after a pause, asked, "God, can I have one of your pennies?" Sure, said God, in a second.
The text says that with God one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day. God's view of time is different from ours. I am doing a sermon series on time. I am finding that time is our most valuable commodity, even more valuable than money. Today, I want you to listen for 2 things about marking time.
One, for us, time can slow down and speed up. You remember from your study of physics that as we approach the speed of light that time will slow down. Scientists have actually proved this with extremely accuarte atomic clocks. You know this from personal experience. You are driving on these slick streets like we have right now. Everything is ordinary (have a metronome going back and forth at a reasonable pace). Then, all of a sudden, this flatbed truck is turning right in front of you, blocking both lanes. Time slows down (make the metronome go slower). You see everything with perfect clarity. You understand that you will not have time to stop. You will hit the truck. You notice the name of the lumber company on the door of the truck. You see that it is a Ford R-450. If you are a parent, even if your kid is not in the car with you, you will throw out your right arm, trying to defy the laws of physics, in order to stop the child hurtling forward. You see that the steel bed of the truck is right about where your neck is in your car. By the grace of God, you don't hit the steel bed, but the read wheels of the truck, and you live. It only took a few seconds, but for you it took a lifetime.
Time can speed up...especially as you get older. My doctor friend describes it like this: when you are a baby and you have lived one day, that is all the time that you know...just one light period and one dark period, a few feeding times. What happens when you are 80 years old...well that is 29,220 days. For you, a day is a tiny fraction of all the time that you know. How many light periods and dark periods have you experienced? How many meals, baths, traffic signals?
What does this have to do with the scripture passage? In the early church there was an issue around the delay of the coming of Christ. They expected him to return quickly. From the way they marked time, Christ seemed to be slow. Peter is saying from God's perspective, the way God marks time, is that this so-called delay is actually a gift from God. It is a time to repent, a time to respond to God's mercy, a time to experience God's purifying fire. We take time now ...in silence...there may something you want to repent of....we have a prayer of confession coming soon...there may be something you need to give over to God's mercy....there may be something you have been holding onto more tightly than God's desire to hold onto you. We take time now to repent.
The second thing I want you to remember about marking time is this: some said that Christ's delay in coming back meant that they could do whatever they wanted. It was a license to licentiousness. Others thought that it meant that they didn't have to do anything. It was an invitation to idleness. Friends, this is not the problem most of us have today. We overfunction. We are crazy-busy. We don't see time as God's time, but as ours solely, and we fill it up, every minute of it. We must be doing something all the time, and then we complain that we don't have enough time.
The second thing I invite you to do this Advent is to allow for "gap time." This means to not be so busy as to not leave time for God to break in. As a pastor friend of mine says, to allow for God's unscheduled appointments. Peter in this letter says, it is to lead lives of holiness and godliness, where righteousness is at home.
It was right at this moment in writing this sermon that God broke in. A man we will call Tom came to see me. Months ago, I had helped him out. He had been visiting in worship here. He had told me that his family needed food. I told him about all the different agencies through which we worked and that I didn't hand out money. He told me his child was hungry. And I never do this, but I took him over to HEB and bought him groceries with my own credit card. Then his car was low on gas, so I filled it with gas on my credit card. I wouldn't miss the money. But then I didn't see Tom again. He was gone. Ah, I thought, lesson learned again. I got taken again. Then he shows up right when I am talking about gap time. He said that he had gotten work up in the Dallas area after a hail storm. He was bidding on roofing jobs. Now he was in desperate straits again. We went through all of the options. None of them would help. I told him I didn't have any money to give him and I didn't know what to do. He said, "You could pray for me." Ah....I understood...what he really needed was for me to listen to him and to pray for him. That was gap time.
Then on Friday morning I am working on Habitat for Humanity. I love that time. I get to work with guys with power tools. Kevin and I are hanging doors. Gerard, our project manager comes in with a couple. I ask if they are the homeowners. They say yes. They apologize, saying that they won't be able to come back on Saturday to work on their house. Why, I ask. Maggie says that her sister, carried a baby to 7 1/2 months, but lost it, and she is now in ICU. I ask if it is OK to pray (I never assume it is). Yes, Maggie replies. There in the front room of their new house we pray all together in a circle of love. That is gap time.
I am asking you this Advent to mark time by allowing for gap time. We can get so busy in a worship service, we may miss God. I get anxious when there is silence in worship, but maybe that is the time that God speaks. (silence) We need gap time here today. We can get so busy in the church calendar we can squeeze God out. Maybe we need to have fewer meetings so God can show up in gap time. For you as a student in school, you ask someone how they are doing, and she responds "fine," but her voice drops to let you know she is anything but fine. So you pause and you listen. That's gap time. You receive a call from a wrong number, but there is something in person's voice to let you know it is not a wrong number for you. You listen. That's gap time. You remember that in music the rests are just as important as the notes. We need gap time.
This Advent, we are marking time, not just sitting around being idle, but making time count, looking for ways to practice holiness and godliness, where righteousness is at home. The good news is this: We know that God has made time for us.
Thursday, December 1, 2011
what a combo
12/1/11 My breath prayer for the day is one of my favorite verses and comes from Psalm 85:10, "Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other." Steadfast love in Hebrew is chesed, which is covenant love, God's fierce love for us. Faithfulness is God's trustworthiness. Righteousness is right relationships, not merely keeping the law. Peace in Hebrew is shalom, not just the abscence of war, but a sense of wholeness, completeness, centeredness, no matter the outward circumstances. Imagining all of these coming together, meeting, kissing. What a combination! Maybe this is what happens in the coming of Christ.
Love,
Lynn
Love,
Lynn
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)