One Day At A Time

It continually amazes me when I take the time to listen and be aware of the Divine presence in my life.  God communicates with me through reading, through other people, through small whispers and through songs that randomly jump in my head.  For the last several months God has bathed me in the admonition to be still and wait.  The message has shifted over the last few weeks to one of "One day at a time."  A lady greeted me as we left the church building a few weeks ago asking that I pray for her to know what God wants her to do with her life and how she can serve God.  I looked at her and said let's start with this:  Tomorrow morning wake up and ask God what God wants you to do with that day.  I told her that she didn't have to have her whole life figured out.  Later in the week it dawned on me that the message God had given me for her was also a message God had given me for myself. 

Yesterday, I realized I had been singing the chorus of a song over and over in my head for the better part of a two hour drive that I had after seeing my son.  I had not turned on the radio.  I had not turned on my book to listen to.  I was lost for two hours in my thoughts and in this song that kept repeating in my head.  It dawned on me that it was an old Christy Lane song that my mother used to sing in church when I was a young girl.  You might guess that the title of the song is "One Day At A Time." 

The words: 

"One Day at a time Sweet Jesus.  That's all I'm asking from you.  Just give me the strength to do every day what I have to do.  Yesterday's gone sweet Jesus and tomorrow may never be mine.  Lord help me today, show me the way, One Day at a Time. " 

My scripture reading today was from the famous portion of scripture that contains Jeremiah 29:11 "I know the plans I have for you says the Lord, plans to prosper you and not harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future."  These are certainly encouraging words but people neglect to understand the context of this verse and the verse that comes right before it.  Jeremiah is writing these words to the Israelites who are exiled to Babylon and are suffering.  The verse right before this famous verse states that only after 70 years will God rescue them from their exile.  Yes there is hope.  Yes God will and did rescue them.  Yes they did return from exile.....70 years later.  By then some of them had likely died.  You see this promise was a promise of God's presence to a community of people.  This promise was a promise of victory.  It was not a promise of victory without pain.  It was not a promise of victory without suffering and grief.  It was a promise of God's presence and God's control over the final outcomes of life. 

In the last two months I have watched two friends suffer tremendous loss and I have been following their journey of grief via Facebook.  One of them quoted the portion of scripture where Jesus is in the garden praying about his upcoming crucifixion.  

³⁸ Then he said to them, “I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and stay awake with me.” ³⁹ And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want.” Matthew 26:38-39.  (NRSV)

I had never let it sink in the depth of the grief Jesus was experiencing.  I never let it sink in the loneliness he felt in his grief when he found the disciples sleeping.  It was not until I read this from the point of view of a grieving mother that the power of these two verses really sank in.  Jesus, our Savior, our Lord, felt the same kind of grief that we feel and his response was to turn it over to God's hands and to trust God with the ultimate outcome.   

So, I hear God telling me One Day at a Time and I pray the prayer the Psalmist of Psalm 63 prayed:

O God, you are my God, I seek you,
    my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
    as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
² So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,
    beholding your power and glory.
³ Because your steadfast love is better than life,
    my lips will praise you.
⁴ So I will bless you as long as I live;
    I will lift up my hands and call on your name.

⁵ My soul is satisfied as with a rich feast,^[a]
    and my mouth praises you with joyful lips
⁶ when I think of you on my bed,
    and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
⁷ for you have been my help,
    and in the shadow of your wings I sing for joy.
⁸ My soul clings to you;
    your right hand upholds me  Psalm 63:1-8

 

Advent 5: Waiting in Silence

We continue to wait this advent season.  Today’s advent reading comes from the book of Job, chapter 33:29-33.  It reads:

“God does all these things to a person—
    twice, even three times—
³⁰ to turn them back from the pit,
    that the light of life may shine on them.

³¹ “Pay attention, Job, and listen to me;
    be silent, and I will speak.
³² If you have anything to say, answer me;
    speak up, for I want to vindicate you.
³³ But if not, then listen to me;
    be silent, and I will teach you wisdom.” (NRSV)

Our church is reading Finding Bethlehem in the Midst of Bedlam, by James Moore, this advent season. Our lives fill up more and more with bedlam.  My church members define bedlam as noisy and complete chaos.  What a gift silence can be in the midst of all of that. 

 More and more through this season of life I hear God calling me to be still, wait and most recently to be silent.  This theme of silence came through this past Sunday as we looked at the story of Zechariah, John the Baptist’s father.  Zechariah had a question about how we recognize the voice of God.  Part of the answer was that Zechariah became mute.  Some people see that as a punishment for his questioning.  I don’t.  I believe that Zechariah’s silence was a gift that enabled him to have closer communication with God. 

We hear this theme of the benefit of silence here in the words in Job.  Job is one of my favorite books of the Bible.  Most people associate Job with patience.  I, however, associate Job with questions and with conversation with God.  In Job we find that it is okay to go to God with our deepest questions.  In Job we find a God that is present in the darkest moments ready to listen to our questions and respond. 

In this little portion of Job, we find a promise that God will repeatedly pursue us to help us out of the pits of life, to bring light back into our lives that have been permeated by darkness.  Listen to what he tells Job.  “Be SILENT, and I will speak.”  “Be SILENT, and I will teach you wisdom.” 

A few posts back I introduced the concept of centering prayer to you.  My uncle and another mentor have both been suggesting this practice to me for some time.  I felt called yesterday to begin this as a daily practice.  I thought it would be hard to sit in silence for 20 minutes.  I thought it would be awkward.  I lit candles in the house and darkened the house except for the candle light.  I centered myself on the word love as I filled my heart, lungs and body with breath through my nose and exhaled through my mouth; I breathed in love and I exhaled love.  Anytime a thought invaded my mind, I let it pass through and again inhaled and exhaled love.  Love turned to joy.  Joy turned to peace and when the 30 minutes ended I opened my eyes to the beauty of the candlelight surrounded me and I felt contentment.  I had clarity in that moment that living in the present was the best gift I could give myself. 

Won’t you take a moment out of the bedlam of life and practice silence.  You will meet God there, I can guarantee.  In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen. 

Advent 4: Waiting with birth pangs.

        

        Romans 8:18-25 describes another kind of waiting.  The waiting this world does for the full redemption in Jesus Christ.  The waiting for that time when God’s Kingdom is fully realized.  This passage of scripture describes a world that is suffering and in decay.  We read this passage on the hills of yet another mass shooting here in our own country.  We are reminded that the violence that is being ravaged across the world is also present right here in our back yard.  We wait and we wonder if that day will ever come when swords will be turned to plowshares. 

The writer doesn’t only speak of the world wide suffering.  He also speaks of the inner suffering we each deal with.  That inner suffering may be a broken relationship, an addiction we fight, grief over the loss of a loved one, or a lost job.  The list can go on. 

In advent we not only remember the waiting for the birth of the Messiah but we look ahead to that day when Christ comes in all of his glory to fully redeem this world.  The writer compares it to birth pangs.  Talk to any mother who has suffered birth pangs and she will tell you that as painful as that was, the end result of that baby being placed in her arms washes all that pain away. 

So we look forward to that day that day.  This day is described in the book of Isaiah.  Those days will be a day when “the wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them.  The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.  The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.  They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lor as the waters cover the sea.”  Isaiah 11:6-9.  Dear God, Let it be so. 

Advent 3: When God Renders Us Speechless

Luke 1:22 says about Zechariah:  “When he did come out, he could not speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the sanctuary.  He kept motioning to them and remained unable to speak.” (NRSV)   I wonder when the last time was that God rendered us speechless.  When was the last time God stirred us so much that people could tell that we had just experienced God? 

This scripture takes me back a few years to when a dear friend’s precious mother had spent many days in the ICU with her life hanging in the balance.  On this particular day the doctor had called the family in to make a decision about a potentially life saving surgery that he feared she would not live through.  The family had to make a choice.  She was sure to die without the surgery but was likely not to make it through the surgery.  The family did not feel like they had any choice.  They wanted to opt for the best chance of life no matter how small that chance was. 

The scene was quite remarkable.  Family members and friends from all walks of life had gathered.  The ICU waiting room overflowed out into the hall with people who had great love and admiration for this woman.  Her life was in the hands of this surgeon, and more importantly in the hands of God.  My faith was weak, I must admit.  Things didn’t look good and I am not one to want to give people a hope for them only to be devastated and crushed when that hope is not realized.  I had no words.  I knew though.  I knew that as a pastor I was expected to say a prayer.  As the doctors wheeled her out of the ICU I stopped them.  I laid my hands on her, told her in her comatose state who I was and I prayed.  I can’t tell you what I prayed.  What I can tell you is that the energy that flowed through my body that night was an energy outside of myself.  What I can tell you is that as I said Amen and turned to look around at the circle of hands joined together, I knew what faith community looked like.  I can tell you that when I saw that picture I crumbled in thanksgiving to God who holds us in the midst of the questions.  In that moment I was speechless.  In that moment I had experienced God. 

Thanks be to God she survived the surgery.  Thanks be to God she was given several more years to be with her children, her mother and her grandchildren.  Thanks be to God today she watches over them all from her place in heaven.  Thanks be to God for God’s presence in all of it.   God breaking into the messiness of life.  Come thou Long Expectant Jesus…..In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen. 

Advent Ponderings 2: Zechariah: Blameless yet still Questioning-Given the gift of silence

                As I continue to look at the story of Zechariah, father of John the Baptist, I am struck that he is described by the author of Luke as being a priest and a righteous man in the sight of God.  It is said that both he and Elizabeth “observe the commands and decrees of God, blamelessly.  Yet, it was this man who questioned God.  I think Luke was very clear about Zechariah’s faith so that we might know that yes, people of great faith, people who are even described as blameless, have questions for God and that is okay.  Zechariah asks the Angel “how do I know?”  Zechariah, the priest.  Zechariah, the one who has been chosen to father the one who would make sure people are prepared to receive the LORD.  Zechariah, the one who follows all of God’s decrees perfectly.  Zechariah questioned…How do I know? 

                Many people look upon what happens next as a punishment.  I am wondering if it were not a gift.  The Angel tells Zechariah this:   ^“And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.”(Luke 1:20)  I wonder if God wasn’t given Zechariah the gift of silence so he could hear the directions of the LORD.

                God has given me very clear directions over the last couple of months to be still and to wait.  It is hard to be still and wait and to HEAR over our own voice.  Sometimes to hear God’s voice we must practice being quiet.  Centering/Contemplative Prayer has been one way Christians throughout the ages have found their way to a position of being able to listen for God’s voice.   I have provided a link to a website that has much information on contemplative prayer. Click here to be directed to that website.  This is one tool that I plan to begin using in my own spiritual journey of learning to be still, and wait.