Who is My Neighbor?

The following thoughts/quotes are taken from the sermon we heard at Calvary Church this morning. Our guest speaker, Steve Moore from Missio Nexus, challenged us to think about what we call the story of the Good Samaritan, from Luke 10.

"It's a small world after all, and it's getting smaller faster."

"As the world gets smaller, the neighborhood gets bigger and loving your neighbor gets harder." 

"Information is the gateway to responsibility...Seeing leads to compassion, which leads to action."

 1. How you respond to the needs of others is determined by whom you love the most. If you want to become more compassionate to others, become more intimate with God.

 2. Find your passion and you will find your neighbor. What kingdom resources (gifts, talents, etc.) are inside of me? Use them to bless other people. 

3. Do for a few what you wish you could do for many.

These thoughts were helpful to me as I prepare to leave for Mozambique later this week. Poverty and suffering are rampant there, and I cannot meet the needs of everyone. But I will have the opportunity to touch a few lives, and I pray God will help me do that well. When I come home, I hope and pray these thoughts will impact my life here in the USA, and will give me insight in how to live my life here.

* WORK IT OUT *

" God pours his love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us." Romans 5:5

Oswald Chambers says, " you have to 'work out' what God 'works' in you ... so you will exhibit the evidence of a life based with determined, unshakable faith in the compete and perfect redemption of the Lord..."

God pours His love into our hearts.  Don't block the flow or hoard it. Instead, display the evidence!

What Should I Give Up for Lent?

Lent is traditionally a time of remembrance and sacrifice. On Sunday our pastor encouraged us to give up something during Lent to help us remember the suffering of Jesus - to "journey" to the cross with Jesus. I've held back from declaring what I intend to give up. Friends are giving up chocolate, sweets, facebook, and other various pleasures. While I've given up different things in the past, I don't feel like any of those would be much a sacrifice for me. So far the best suggestion I've seen this year came from Ann Voskamp, who suggest giving up ingratitude for gratitude. I've been thinking about what it would look like to truly give up my self, not just a "guilty pleasure." Less of me - more of Jesus; less of my agenda - investing more time in another person. Definitely worthy sacrifices, but, oh so difficult to put into practice. I'm still asking God to show me what He would like me to do.

"My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, you will not despise." Psalm 51:17

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?

Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.

- Isaiah 58:3-8

mem·o·rize

A few weeks ago, this blog post by Ann Voskamp at A Holy Experience inspired me to consider memorizing Colossians this year. I really didn't want to formally commit to it, because I was afraid I would fail. So I just sort of toyed with the idea, rolled it around in my head, and thought about it some more. I even learned a verse or two, but I was still unwilling to say or think, "I am going to do this." However, this Sunday, I decided to make the commitment when my pastor challenged our church to spend more time listening to God. A friend or two has even agreed to join me on this adventure, and I think that will help keep me on track.

By the way, the original meaning (around 1590) of the word memorize is "to commit to writing." It wasn't until around 1838 that memorize came to mean to commit to memory (or the mind). It's my desire that memorizing Colossians will not only commit the book to my mind, but to my heart and that the results will be seen in my life.

A First Step Toward Simplicity

Last week my facebook status read, "Why am I so attracted to books on organizing when I am so seldom organized?" I feel the same way about simplicity. I say I want to live a simple life, but too often I make it complicated. This week I've been working on Chapter 1 of Becoming a Woman of Simplicity. Part of the assignment was to meditate on Psalm 23 and answer some questions about what it means. Today I am posting a personalized application of Psalm 23 which I wrote out several years ago.

Praying through Psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd; God cares for me. He provides for all my needs, and guides me on my way, just like a shepherd cares for his sheep. I can trust Him.

I have everything I need. I can be content. I don’t have to worry about food, or clothing, or a place to sleep. God will provide for me. I can trust Him.

He lets me rest in green meadows. Rest! I can be at peace. I don’t have to be agitated. I don’t have to be perfect to receive God’s love. He gives me rest instead. I just have to trust Him.

He leads me beside peaceful streams. Peace! Walking or sitting beside a stream (or any kind of water) is my idea of the perfect day. Enjoying God and His creation produces calmness of spirit in me. I am content just to be with Him. He knows the way, so I don’t have to worry about where to go. I can trust Him.

He renews my strength. When I feel weak, God gives me His strength. He makes me a new creation! (Gal. 2:20) Troublesome circumstances look different when I have His perspective. I can trust Him.

He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his name. I don’t have to rely on my own skills, or find my own way. He will show me the best way to honor Him. I don’t have to worry or fret about where I am going. I can trust Him.

Even when I walk through the dark valley of death, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. The darkness isn’t scary, because God, the shepherd, is right beside me. Fear is gone, because the shepherd nurtures and protects me. I can trust Him.

Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me. God’s discipline is for my good. His discipline shapes my character. I can trust Him.

You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies. I can trust the shepherd to provide for me. He will bring justice when I have been wronged. I don’t have to. I can trust Him.

You welcome me as a guest, anointing my head with oil. God welcomes me into his family. He makes me feel important and loved, and treats me like royalty. I am precious and honored in His sight . I can trust Him.

My cup overflows with blessings. In Him there is abundance! Knowing Him is all I need. I can trust Him.

Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life. God satisfies my desire for love. I am always in His thoughts. I don’t have to worry that His love for me will “run out.” His love is always seeking the best for me. I can trust Him.

And I will live in the house of the Lord forever. I am His forever. His love is eternal. Forsaking All I Trust Him (FAITH).

Keep a Quiet Heart

This morning I joined a new bible study and we are studying Becoming a Woman of Simplicity by Cynthia Heald. One of the Bible verses we read today reminded me of a quote I read a few years ago in Elisabeth Elliot's book Keep a Quiet Heart. I needed to be reminded of these wise words.

Do Not Rush. TRUST. And Keep a Quiet Heart.

" I think I find most help in trying to look on all the interruptions and hindrances to work that one has planned out for oneself as discipline, trials sent by God to help one against getting selfish over one's work. Then one can feel that perhaps one's true work - one's work for God - consists in doing some trifling haphazard thing that has been thrown into one's day. It is not a waste of time as one is tempted to think. It is the most important part of the work of the day - the part one can best offer to God. After such a hindrance, do not rush after the planned work' trust that the time to finish it will be given sometime, and keep a quiet heart about it."

- Annie Keary

Sometimes I get so focused on my own agenda - on getting my work done, that I don't really consider what it might be that God wants me to do on any certain day. Maybe my work for the day is to help someone else, or maybe it is to spend time alone with God.

Isaiah 30:15 - This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it."

Summer Thoughts from the Transforming Center

Let Me Live Grace-fully

by Ted Loder

Thank you, Lord,

for this season

of sun and slow motion,

of games and porch sitting,

of picnics and light green fireflies

on heavy purple evenings;

and praise for slight breezes.

It's good, God,

as the first long days of your creation.

Let this season be for me

a time of gathering together the pieces

into which by busyness has broken me.

O God, enable me now

to grow wise through reflection,

peaceful through the song of the cricket,

recreated through the laughter of play.

Most of all, Lord,

let me live easily and grace-fully for a spell,

so that I may see other souls deeply,

share in a silence unhurried,

listen to the sound of sunlight and shadows,

explore barefoot the land of forgotten dreams and shy hopes,

and find the right words to tell another who I am.

Copyright © 1981 Ted Loder, Guerillas of Grace: Prayers for the Battle (Minneapolis: Augsburg Press, 1981), p 131.

Discipline, Duty, and Drudgery

"So don’t lose a minute in building on what you’ve been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others. With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus. Without these qualities you can’t see what’s right before you, oblivious that your old sinful life has been wiped off the books." 2 Peter 1:5-9 MSG

In today's reading from My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers writes: "Drudgery is the test of genuine character." I often struggle with doing the "daily" things in life. It's not that I don't do them. It's more a matter of doing them with the wrong attitude. I am often trying to please myself instead of trying to please God; trying to make myself look good or feel good, instead of serving others out of a grateful heart. Pleasing myself never produces the results I desire. I just end up feeling frustrated.

Peter pictures faith as the foundation needed for building character. To faith we must add spiritual understanding, patience, etc. It's like a puzzle, each piece fitting together and making the picture clearer. Take any of the pieces away, and the picture is incomplete or ruined. Chambers sums it up well: "If I will do my duty, not for duty's sake, but because I believe God is engineering my circumstances, then at the very point of my obedience all of the magnificent grace of God is mine through the glorious atonement by the Cross of Christ."

O Lord, help me to build on my faith with your building blocks. May my service to you and to others not be built out of a sense of duty, but out of gratefulness for what You have done for me.

Advent Poem

You keep us waiting.

You, the God of all time,

Want us to wait

For the right time in which to discover

Who we are, where we are to go,

Who will be with us, and what we must do.

So thank you ... for the waiting time.

- John Bell

Home Again

Returning from Mozambique is difficult on many levels. The 6 hour time distance plus the very long plane ride wreak havoc on the body. Finding the right time zone is a challenge. Catching up with work is difficult. And discovering what has happened at home while you were gone can be disconcerting. For us, this year, it meant learning that Bruce's mom had suffered a severe stroke, and was not expected to recover, and then just last Wednesday, she died, and now is living in Heaven.  A lot has happened in a very short time.

This morning my devotions were from Genesis 9:8-17. God put the rainbow in the clouds as the sign of his promise to never again destroy the earth with a flood.  The following poem reminds me that Bruce's mom has entered heaven, and instead of suffering pain and loss, she is enjoying the "light which never shall decay." For that we are thankful. 

A Prayer of Gratitude

The rainbow bending in the sky bedecked with sundry hues

Is like the seat of God on high, and seems to tell these news -

That as thereby he promised to drown the world no more

So by the blood which Christ has shed He will our health restore...

Unto such joys for to attain God grants us all his grace

And send us after worldly pain in Heaven to have a place,

Where we may still enjoy the light which never shall decay

Lord, for this mercy lend us might to see that joyful day.

- Adapted from "Gascoigne's Good Morrow" by George Gascoigne (1542-1577)

10 More Days!

Bruce, Rachel, and I are getting ready to head to Mozambique in only 10 days! I know the time will fly by. There are still a few things to prepare, but I think we're in pretty good shape. It will be good to be on our way, and doing the work God has prepared for us to do. Every day I have to remember to TRUST God. Worry is not an option. Trust is a choice, though. It doesn't come naturally. Sometimes, I just think, "I can't do this! I'm not qualified." Then I remember the Apostle Paul's words from I Corinthians 12:9 - But He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you,for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness so that Christ's power may rest on me.  

O Lord, Help me to trust You!

A Prayer for Effective Ministry

Fill me, O Christ, with wonder, love and praise, that I may praise you, God with us.

O Lord, be my light and my strength.

O Lord, in my weakness, perfect your strength.

O Lord, make me your messenger.

O Lord, arm me with the sword of you Spirit.

Lord Jesus, speak to me that I may speak for you.

Lord Jesus, help me to speak the truth.

Enable me to show how sweet it is to love you,

to weep with you, and

to rejoice with you.

     - Anonymous

Beneath Thy Cross by Christina Rossetti

Am I a stone, and not a sheep, 

That I can stand, O Christ, beneath Thy cross,

To number drop by drop Thy Blood's slow loss,

And yet not weep?

Not so those women loved

Who with exceeding grief lamented thee;

Not so fallen Peter weeping bitterly;

Not so the thief was moved;

Not so the Sun and Moon

Which hid their faces in a starless sky,

A horror of great darkness at broad noon -

I, only I.

Yet give not o'er,

But seek Thy sheep, true Shepherd of the flock;

Greater than Moses, turn and look once more

And smite a rock.

A Prayer for Entering into Lent

"O God of peace, who has taught us that in returning and rest we shall be saved, in quietness and in trust shall be our strength: by the power of your Spirit lift us, we pray, to your presence, where we may be still and know that you are God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."

Book of Common Prayer, page 832

as quoted by Ruth Haley Barton

www.thetransformingcenter.org/pdf/ash09.pdf

The More I Learn the Less I Know :-(

I am a college student this month. An interesting experience. I'm taking an interim class at Calvin College. It meets every afternoon for three hours. That's a huge chunk out of my day. I'm studying African Cultures and Traditions through Folklore, hoping to learn a bit more about the African customs in Chinhangane. We've read a couple of books, and several short stories. The professor is a Kenyan, married to a Tanzanian. I love it when she shares stories about her personal life. She said she hasn't been able to find any folk tales or myths from Mozambique, but some of her stories sound similar to things I have encountered in Mozambique. I'm still trying to decide whether to audit the class or take it for credit. I'm just not sure I want to write the last paper.

Some Good Advice

"Start with God - the first step in learning is bowing down to God; only fools thumb their noses at such wisdom and learning."

- Proverbs 1:7 (MSG)

If your life was music...

If the moments of your day-to-day life were recorded as musical notes, what kind of music would they make? Would they sound like a breezy pop song or hard-driving rap music? Or would they sound like a beautiful symphony with structured pauses that give resonance to the notes?

- Eugene Peterson

Waiting

God comes like the sun in the morning - when it is time. We must assume an attitude of waiting, accepting the fact that we are creatures and not creator. We must do this because it is not our right to do anything else; the initiative is God's not ours. We are able to initiate nothing; we are only able to accept.

Carlo Carretto, The God Who Comes

The Tahoe Experiment

Our family travels at Christmas instead of buying expensive gifts for each other. For the past 20 years, this has mostly translated into trips to Maui, where the days are sunny, the water is warm, and the breezes are always balmy. A lovely destination.

This year, for several reasons, it was decided that Maui was not going to be our Christmas destination. A couple of family members have always want to do a ski vacation, so this year we rented a house in North Lake Tahoe. The house is beautiful, big enough that a person can find a spot to be alone if needed. There's quite a bit of snow, although I think west Michigan gets the prize for snow this year! We are perched on a mountain, that overlooks Lake Tahoe. On a clear day you can see the lake through the pine trees. Very beautiful.

I think the skiers are very happy. Some of us are happy for quiet days by the fire, but I don't know how everyone will feel after the week is over. Does anyone have suggestions for next year's travels?

Thought for Today

"My friends, may I warn you from my own failures, that while you will be of immense help to the cause of Christ by being able to defend its intellectual position, you will be a thousand times more potent missionary if you exhibit a life that Christ has changed, if you show in your nature those fruits for which all people hunger, if you love the quiet serenity, that endless good will, that deep joy, and that passionate purpose which are among the important marks of a nature surrendered to our Lord." 

- Leslie Wetherhead, a British preacher