My Jesus

I LOVE this video...but I love the song even more. The words are INCREDIBLE!!! Don't watch this if you aren't ready to be convicted, though...but it's worth it!!!
Even those of you who normally skip the videos (ummm, Jessica!!), give this one a try. Have I mentioned how much I LOVE this!!! It's especially perfect heading into Holy Week. Be blessed!

Going to Russia...

I am going on a mission trip to Russia this summer. I just finished a letter about it for our church newsletter. I thought I'd share it (below) with the blogoshpere, as well...because who knows how God will move or in what mysterious ways He might provide for my prayer and financial support needs.

For me, this trip is one of those "stepping out of the boat" experiences. My sensible side wanted to say "no"...realizing that I do not, personally, have the funds to pay for this trip. However, I felt like God was very pointedly saying, "Tina, you challenge other people to step out on faith and to see how I will provide, but then you hesitate when it comes to something I call you to personally do". All I can say about the whole discussion is "ouch". It is easier telling people to have faith than actually having faith myself! God was telling me to put my non-existent money where my mouth is. So here I am now...going and trusting...stepping out on the water and hoping I don't sink. I know, I know, it's only when you take your eyes off Jesus that you sink. I'm trying to keep my eyes where they belong, to not look down, and to get ready for the water-walking ride!

So, here is my letter:

I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to go on a mission trip to Russia this coming July 25th through August 4th. A team of West Ohio Conference leaders will travel to Samara, Russia to lead a Christian summer camp at an orphanage for Russian children. This is a chance to offer resources of leadership to those in our sister conference in Russia (our Conference of the UMC has several sister conferences in other countries, including Mexico, Africa, and Russia). This will also be a chance to for me, personally, to grow in leadership skills and in faith. Most importantly, this will be a way to help lead Russian children into a saving, growing relationship with Jesus Christ.

When I was first approached about this opportunity, I felt excited. I love Jesus and sharing Him with others. I love to travel and doing mission work of any kind. The only hesitation I had concerned the cost of the trip. As I prayed about the trip, I felt the Lord saying, "I am calling, will you go…and will you trust Me to provide?" What could I say then…except "yes".

I am seeking your support of my trip. Most importantly, I need people who are willing to pray for me, for the team, for the ministry, and for the children of Russia. If you are willing to consistently and fervently pray for me and this mission, would you send me a note or an email, letting me know of your "prayer partnership" in this ministry? I will make sure to keep you up-to-date on things to specifically pray about, as well as giving more details about the others who are going and the place we are going. I believe that prayer is powerful and I need your prayers. Would you consider committing to this ministry of prayer?

I am also seeking people who will participate in this mission trip through financial support. We cannot all go to Russia, but we can all be a part of what God is doing there—and a part of what He will be doing there this summer. The cost of the trip is approximately $2700 (the majority of which is for the plane ticket). Would you prayerfully consider being a part of this mission trip through a financial gift? If you would like to contribute, you can make a check payable to "Hopewell United Methodist Church", with "Russia" in the subject line or with a separate note included. You can also mail it to my attention (Hopewell UMC, Attn. Pastor Tina, 4348 London Lancaster Rd., Groveport, OH 43125). By giving/sending it to the church—instead of to me personally—the amount will be tax deductible. I appreciate your prayerful consideration in this matter.

In Christ,
Pastor Tina

Celtic Prayers

Friends, I wanted to share some prayers from the Celtic Christian tradition. Below are three prayers and then, in closing, one version of compline, which is a service of prayer for the end of the day. This mini-prayer service has been particularly meaningful as I’ve reflected on it just before sleep. I pray, out of all these prayers, one (if not all) may touch your soul and draw you closer to Christ.

The first prayer is one that emerged from the remote highlands of Gaelic-speaking Scotland. I cannot find who wrote this particular prayer, but I thought it was beautiful:

THOUGHTS
God's will would I do,
My own will bridle;

God's due would I give,
My own due yield;

God's path would I travel,
My own path refuse;

Christ's death would I ponder,
My own death remember;

Christ's agony would I meditate,
My love to God make warmer;

Christ's cross would I carry,
My own cross forget;

Repentance of sin would I make,
Early repentance choose;

A bridle to my tongue I would put,
A bridle on my thoughts I would keep

God's judgment would I judge,
My own judgment guard;

Christ's redemption would I seize,
My own ransom work;

The love of Christ would I feel,
My own love know.

All of the following is taken from Northumbria community (www.northumbriacommunity.org).
(from the website, a description of who they are: “The Northumbria Community describes a network of hugely diverse people, from different backgrounds, streams and edges of the Christian faith. We are united in our desire to embrace and express an ongoing exploration into a new way for living Christianly - a way that offers hope in the changed and changing culture of today's world. Inspired by, drawing from, and living in the spiritual tradition of monasticism, the Community is geographically dispersed and strongly ecumenical but with an identity rooted in the history and spiritual heritage of Celtic Northumbria.”)

(incidentally, John Michael Talbot—Catholic troubadour--has a beautiful song with this prayer as the lyrics)
Christ, as a light
illumine and guide me.
Christ, as a shield
overshadow me.
Christ under me;
Christ over me;
Christ beside me
on my left and my right.
This day be within and without me,
lowly and meek, yet all-powerful.
Be in the heart of each to whom I speak;
in the mouth of each who speaks unto me.
This day be within and without me,
lowly and meek, yet all-powerful.
Christ as a light;
Christ as a shield;
Christ beside me
on my left and my right.

Another prayer to inspire:

Lord, You have always given
bread for the coming day;
and though I am poor,
today I believe.

Lord, You have always given
strength for the coming day;
and though I am weak,
today I believe.

Lord, You have always given
peace for the coming day;
and though of anxious heart,
today I believe.

Lord, You have always kept
me safe in trials;
and now, tried as I am,
today I believe.

Lord, You have always marked
the road for the coming day;
and though it may be hidden,
today I believe.

Lord, You have always lightened
this darkness of mine;
and though the night is here,
today I believe.

Lord, You have always spoken
when time was ripe;
and though you be silent now,
today I believe.


Finally, for your reflection any time, but especially at night: The Aidan Compline

Aidan came to Lindisfarne from Iona in the year 635 at the request of King Oswald. He was a man of deep prayer who meditated on the words of Scripture, equipping himself in quiet for an active and highly effective apostolate. He remained at Lindisfarne for 16 years. In 651, Aidan was taken ill at Bamburgh and died. Cuthbert, who was at that moment looking after his flock of sheep on the Lammermuir hills, saw a vision of angels taking Aidan's soul to heaven.

O Christ, Son of the living God,
may Your holy angels guard our sleep,
may they watch over us as we rest
and hover around our beds.

Let them reveal to us in our dreams
visions of Your glorious truth,
O High Prince of the universe,
O High Priest of the mysteries.

May no dreams disturb our rest
and no nightmares darken our dreams.
May no fears or worries delay
our willing, prompt repose.

May the virtue of our daily work
hallow our nightly prayers.
May our sleep be deep and soft
so our work be fresh and hard.

I will lie down and sleep in peace
for You alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety.

My dear ones, O God, bless Thou and keep,
in every place where they are.

Into Your hands I commit my spirit;
I give it to You with all the love of my heart.

How precious to me are Your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake, I am still with You.

I make the cross of Christ upon my breast,
over the tablet of my hard heart,
and I beseech the Living God of the universe -
may the Light of Lights come
to my dark heart from Thy place;
may the Spirit's wisdom come to my heart's tablet
from my Saviour.

Christ without sin, Christ of wounds,
I am placing my soul and my body
under Thy guarding this night,
Christ of the poor, Christ of tears.
Thy cross be my shielding this night,
O Thou Son of tears, of the wounds, of the piercing.

I am going now into the sleep:
O be it in Thy dear arm's keep,
O God of grace, that I shall awake.

My Christ! my Christ!
my shield, my encircler,
each day, each night,
each light, each dark.

My Christ! my Christ!
my shield, my encircler,
each day, each night,
each light, each dark.
Be near me, uphold me,
my treasure, my triumph.

Circle me, Lord,
keep protection near
and danger afar.

Circle me, Lord,
keep light near
and darkness afar.

Circle me, Lord,
keep peace within;
keep evil out.

The peace of all peace
be mine this night
in the name of the Father,
and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

Money...wish you had more?

Sitting down to pay bills today it seems the minute money comes in, I turn around and send it back out again. There are even some bills this month that I have no idea how I will pay. When I frantically turn to the Lord in my financial fear and stress, His firm yet gentle voice says to me: "Tina, do you have a place to live, food, clothes, a job, transportation?" I have to answer "yes"...and it calms me down--and helps me to remember to take it one day at a time, not to borrow worry from tomorrow, because each day certainly has enough worry of its own.

All around me, people I care about are experiencing financial problems. Yet, in reading a recent blog, I was reminded of how very rich we are as Americans. A comment on that blog said: "Experts say to provide water, basic health, and nutrition for everyone in the world, it would take around $20 billion. That is what Americans spend in one year on ice cream. We are rich in America." Ice cream? Seriously?! We are so overwhelmingly blessed!

I have not heard that particular statistic before, but I have heard others--equally staggering. I thought I'd share a few more facts (below) about hunger and poverty to give us a little perspective on how blessed we are as Americans...and, perhaps, to inspire us toward greater compassion for our brothers and sisters around the world, who are suffering as we live high on the proverbial hog.

These statistics come from a wonderful organization called "Bread for the World" ( www.bread.org ). I encourage you to check out their site. It seems like a fabulous organization.

Hunger Facts: International

World Hunger and Poverty: How They Fit Together
854 million people across the world are hungry, up from 852 million a year ago.

Every day, almost 16,000 children die from hunger-related causes--one child every five seconds.

In essence, hunger is the most extreme form of poverty, where individuals or families cannot afford to meet their most basic need for food.

Hunger manifests itself in many ways other than starvation and famine. Most poor people who battle hunger deal with chronic undernourishment and vitamin or mineral deficiencies, which result in stunted growth, weakness and heightened susceptibility to illness.

Countries in which a large portion of the population battles hunger daily are usually poor and often lack the social safety nets we enjoy, such as soup kitchens, food stamps, and job training programs. When a family that lives in a poor country cannot grow enough food or earn enough money to buy food, there is nowhere to turn for help.

Facts and Figures on Population

Today our world houses 6.55 billion people.

The United States is a part of the developed or industrialized world, which consists of about 57 countries with a combined population of about 1 billion, less than one sixth of the world’s population.

In contrast, approximately 5.1 billion people live in the developing world. This world is made up of about 125 low and middle-income countries in which people generally have a lower standard of living with access to fewer goods and services than people in high-income countries.

The remaining 0.4 billion live in countries in transition, which include the Baltic states, eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Facts and Figures on Hunger and Poverty

Worldwide, more than 1 billion people currently live below the international poverty line, earning less than $1 per day.

Among this group of poor people, many have problems obtaining adequate, nutritious food for themselves and their families. As a result, 820 million people in the developing world are undernourished. They consume less than the minimum amount of calories essential for sound health and growth.

Undernourishment negatively affects people’s health, productivity, sense of hope and overall well-being. A lack of food can stunt growth, slow thinking, sap energy, hinder fetal development and contribute to mental retardation.

Economically, the constant securing of food consumes valuable time and energy of poor people, allowing less time for work and earning income.

Socially, the lack of food erodes relationships and feeds shame so that those most in need of support are often least able to call on it.


Go to the World Food Programme website ( www.wfp.org/english ) and click on either "Counting the Hungry" or "Interactive Hunger Map" for presentations on hunger and poverty around the world.


Facts and Figures on Health

Poor nutrition and calorie deficiencies cause nearly one in three people to die prematurely or have disabilities, according to the World Health Organization.

Pregnant women, new mothers who breastfeed infants, and children are among the most at risk of undernourishment.

In 2005, about 10.1 million children died before they reached their fifth birthday. Almost all of these deaths occured in developing countries, 3/4 of them in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, the two regions that also suffer from the highest rates of hunger and malnutrition.

Most of these deaths are attributed, not to outright starvation, but to diseases that move in on vulnerable children whose bodies have been weakened by hunger.

Every year, more than 20 million low-birth weight babies are born in developing countries. These babies risk dying in infancy, while those who survive often suffer lifelong physical and cognitive disabilities.

The four most common childhood illnesses are diarrhea, acute respiratory illness, malaria and measles. Each of these illnesses is both preventable and treatable. Yet, again, poverty interferes in parents’ ability to access immunizations and medicines. Chronic undernourishment on top of insufficient treatment greatly increases a child’s risk of death.

In the developing world, 27 percent of children under 5 are moderately to severely underweight. 10 percent are severely underweight. 10 percent of children under 5 are moderately to severely wasted, or seriously below weight for one’s height, and an overwhelming 31 percent are moderately to severely stunted, or seriously below normal height for one’s age.

Facts and Figures on HIV/AIDS

The spreading HIV/AIDS epidemic has quickly become a major obstacle in the fight against hunger and poverty in developing countries.

Because the majority of those falling sick with AIDS are young adults who normally harvest crops, food production has dropped dramatically in countries with high HIV/AIDS prevalence rates.

In half of the countries in sub-Saharan Africa, per capita economic growth is estimated to be falling by between 0.5 and 1.2 percent each year as a direct result of AIDS.

Infected adults also leave behind children and elderly relatives, who have little means to provide for themselves. In 2003, 12 million children were newly orphaned in southern Africa, a number expected to rise to 18 million in 2010.

Since the epidemic began, 25 million people have died from AIDS, which has caused more than 15 million children to lose at least one parent. For its analysis, UNICEF uses a term that illustrates the gravity of the situation; child-headed households, or minors orphaned by HIV/AIDS who are raising their siblings.

1 % (ages 15-49) of the world is HIV prevalent (2005 data).

1.1 % (ages 15-49) of developing countries are HIV prevalent (2005 data).

Approximately 39.5 million people are living with HIV/AIDS in the world. Of this figure, 63 percent live in Sub-Saharan Africa.

In 2006, 4.3 million people become infected with HIV and 2.9 million people died of AIDS.

Thoughts to Inspire

Since I didn’t get a day off last week—and because my usual Monday morning Bible study was serendipitously canceled this morning—I took today off. I rested, read, played with the dogs, enjoyed the sunshine, and even watched a movie on tv. It was great. Because of my lack of interaction with the “real world” today, I have no provocative “thoughts” to share…so I am posting, instead of my own thoughts, two writings that have meant a lot to me.

First, a prayer that we often hear, but only in part. I actually like that last part of the prayer better than the more familiar part. What do you think?

The Serenity Prayer
by Reinhold Niebuhr

God grant me
Serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can, and
Wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
enjoying one moment at a time;
accepting hardship
as the pathway to peace.

Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His will;
that I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him forever in the next.
Amen.

Second, I love this poem: one of John Donne’s holy sonnets. It is Old English, so it takes a certain amount of analysis to really understand it. I first encountered this as a freshman in college, during a British literature class. To me, it talks about the human struggle to love God as we long to love Him—how we can only love God well if God pulls us away from the lesser loves of our lives and binds us to Himself. I, unfortunately, relate way too well to this sonnet, but I love it, nonetheless. I hope you enjoy it!

Batter My Heart
by John Donne

Batter my heart, three-person’d God, for you

As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;

That I may rise, and stand, o’erthrow me, and bend

Your force, to break, blow, burn and make me new.

I, like an usurp’d town, to another due,

Labor to admit you, but Oh, to no end,

Reason your viceroy in me, me should defend,

But is captiv’d, and proves weak or untrue.

Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain,

But am betroth’d unto your enemy:

Divorce me, untie, or break that knot again,

Take me to you, imprison me, for I

Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,

Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.

Personality DNA

I like to read good blogs and perpetually search for new and interesting ones. I recently came across a blog called “Green Pastures” (http://www.pasturescott.org/) written by a wonderful, godly man who is a pastor, has interesting topics and seems to be just one of those overall great people. In reading his blog yesterday, he highlighted an online personality test that is really fun. So, I am totally stealing this idea from him, but thought I’d share my results and tell you about the site. I’d love to hear your results and whether you think they really reflect who you are. I thought mine was, overall, pretty accurate. If you know me pretty well, tell me if you think it is accurate or not.

The site is called “Personal DNA: Your true self revealed” and is located at: http://www.personaldna.com/

My results said I am a “Benevolent Artist”

This picture (below) is supposed to highlight my personality. For example, the boxes on the top row which are teal, greenish, and yellow represent (from left to right): very high spontaneity, very high openness, very high femininity.



The other colors all mean something, but I won’t bore you with that. Instead, I will paste the description of a benevolent artist.

You are an Artist
· Your appreciation of beauty, ability to think abstractly, and innovativeness make you an ARTIST.
· Never one to be tied to a particular way of doing things, you let your imagination guide you in discovering different possibilities.
· You would rather seek out new experiences than stick to your everyday habits, taking in as much of the world as possible.
· Your eye for beauty and your willingness to consider different perspectives make your creative efforts interesting—even though you may not realize this yourself.
· You prefer to think about things before voicing your opinion, considering a wide, diverse range of options. (don’t really agree with this particular one--too often I talk first, think later)
· While there are forms and styles that you prefer, you tend to keep an open mind when itcomes to your artistic preferences.
· You are curious about things, interested in the "why" more than the “how.”
· You have an active imagination that leads you express yourself in a distinct way.
· You're not afraid to let your emotions guide you, and you're generally considerate of others' feelings as well.
· You tend to do things on the spur of the moment, not sticking to a set schedule.

If you want to be different:
· Be more open to risks in your creative efforts, and don't be quick to dismiss the praise of others.
· Think about how attention to detail may help you be more sure of yourself.


how you relate to others
You are Benevolent
· You are a great person to interact with—understanding, giving, and trusting—in a word, BENEVOLENT
· You don't mind being in social situations, as you feel comfortable enough with people to be yourself.
· Your caring nature goes beyond a basic concern: you take the time to understand the nuances of people's situations before passing any sort of judgment.
· You're a good listener, and even better at offering advice.
· You're concerned with others at both an individual and societal level—you sympathize with the plights of troubled groups, and you can care about people you've never met.
· Considering many different perspectives is something at which you excel, and you appreciate that quality in others.
· Other people's feelings are important to you, and you're good at mediating disputes.
· Because of your understanding and patience, you tend to bring out the best in people.
· You're not afraid to let your emotions guide you, and you're generally considerate of others' feelings as well.
· You tend to do things on the spur of the moment, not sticking to a set schedule.


If you want to be different:
· You spend a lot of time taking care of others, but don't forget to take care of yourself!
· Sometimes you can get overcommitted, and when you sacrifice spending time with those close to you, it can make them feel unimportant. (this is SOOOOO me!)


At any rate, it is interesting…and it doesn’t take very long to take the “test”. Hope to hear about your personalities (especially you lurkers…I know you’re out there!!!)

What is Heaven like?

I found the following excerpt about heaven on a random blog I came across. I thought this was a great way to think of heaven and hoped y’all might enjoy it. Be blessed!

Contemplating the Trinity: The Path to Abundant Christian Life

by Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa
(Taken from

http://happycatholic.blogspot.com/2007/03/eternity-with-trinity-boring.html)

Eternity with the Trinity: Boring?
At this point the question spontaneously arises, What will we do from this point on? Won't it be boring to spend all eternity with the same three Persons, even if they are divine? We could answer with another question: is it ever boring to enjoy feeling wonderful? People get bored of everything except "feeling wonderful," and eternity brings "infinite well-being." ...

... The best answer to the question "What will our life be like with the Trinity?" is found in a legend narrated by a modern German author. In a medieval monastery there were two monks, Rufus and Rufinus, who had a deep friendship. They spent all their free time trying to imagine and describe what eternal life would be like in the heavenly Jerusalem. Rufus was a builder, so he imagined it as a city with golden doors studded with precious stones; Rufinus was an organist, so he imagined it as full of heavenly melodies.

They ended up making a pact that whichever of them died first would return the following night to reassure the other that things were indeed as they had imagined. One word would do. If things were as they had imagined, he would simply say Taliter! ("Exactly!"). If things were different -- but this seemed completely impossible -- he would say, Aliter! ("Different!).

One night while he was playing the organ, Rufinus died of a heart attack. his friend stayed awake anxiously all night, but nothing. He kept vigil and fasted for weeks and months, but nothing. Finally on the anniversary of his death, Rufinus entered his friend's cell at night in a circle of light. Seeing that Rufinus was silent, Rufus -- sure of an affirmative answer -- asked his friend, "Taliter? That's right isn't it?" But his friend shook his head no. Desperate, Rufus cried out, "Aliter! Different?" Again his friend shook his friend no.

Finally his silent friend breathed forth only two words: "Totaliter aliter -- Completely different." Rufus understood in a flash that heaven was infinitely more than what they had imagined and could not be described. He also died shortly after because of his desire to go there. This story is a legend, but its content is nevertheless biblical:
No eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man conceived,
what God has prepared for those who love him.
(see 1 Corinthians 2:9)

The tension of belief...

Politics and religion. You aren’t supposed to talk about things like that in polite company. But I broke the rules. That’s what I do. I’m a rule breaker. At a continuing education event with some former co-workers, we were asked to answer the “ice breaker” question: Are you a rule breaker or a rule keeper? The minute the question was asked, my friends pointed at me, laughed, and said, “We know what Tina is!” Not quite sure what that says about me, but I guess I march to the beat of my own proverbial drum. As one (of many) consequences of that independent marching, I often have discussions that most people avoid. Today was no exception.

Walking with a younger family member through a bookstore, we passed a book by Bill O’ Reilly; Suddenly “politics” became the discussion du jour. If I had to label myself, I would say I’m a conservative democrat (probably an oxymoron). My companion said he is a moderate republican. So I asked what made him “moderate” (other than disliking Bill O’Reilly). The vague answer: “I just have some more moderate views on things”. I prodded further: “What things?”

Turns out, one of the “moderate” opinions had to do with gay marriage: believing it’s a viable lifestyle choice for homosexuals to marry. (Maybe I just crawled out from beneath a rock, but that sounds more like a "liberal" opinion than a “moderate” one, but what do labels really tells us?) Here is the reason I’m blogging about this: My young relative prefaced his comments about homosexual marriage with the statement, “Well, you’re not gonna like this”.

As I’ve reflected on this encounter, it has made me realize how much I wish—desperately wish—that I could agree with him, that I didn’t hold beliefs that might alienate me from family members. I wish the world were all puppies and kittens and rainbows and doing whatever you want without any consequences. There are so many things I wish I could believe, because it would make life and relationships so much easier. I wish I could believe that:

--the act of homosexuality is acceptable to God as a way of living
--there is no hell and everyone ends up in heaven, happy and free for eternity
--happiness—instead of holiness—is the ultimate focus of our being
--sincerity of belief, not content of belief, is what really matters in the long run
--“all roads lead to God”

Here’s the problem, in my worldview, I don’t get to pick what I believe about those things. I have chosen to follow Jesus Christ and His standards for life and godliness. I also believe that the Bible is the Word of God, given to us so that we might know God and know how to live in this world. I didn’t come to my beliefs because I want to exclude people or because I like to be judgmental. I don’t want to come across that way, or be anything less than radically Christ-like in the way I love and accept people. I feel that, most times, I live at odds with the rest of the world…and appear “close-minded” because of my beliefs. I fear being grouped together with a lot of Christians who come across as hateful and un-Christlike in the expression of their beliefs and their coldness to the very real wounds of the world. My beliefs—beliefs that I believe are God’s standards for life and not ideas I invented for fun on a Friday night—produce tension in some of my closest relationships. For example, there are people I love DEEPLY who are practicing homosexuals; I would give anything to be able to accept that lifestyle—to be free to say, “that’s so great that you are living together and in love”. It is the same tension I feel about heterosexual people who are having sex outside of marriage or living together. And, in all honesty, I encounter that a lot more than I do issues of homosexuality. I’ve done about 30 weddings in my past six years of ministry. I’d say, of those couples: 75% were living together beforehand and 95% were having sex before marriage. Yet, I loved them and wanted to accept them as people, while not accepting what they were doing. The tension of deeply loving another person yet not agreeing with some things that they do is VERY difficult to live through, especially in our world that screams: “You don’t really love me unless you like every little thing about me”. I blame the self-esteem movement for that!!! I think REAL love means that you see the good and the bad in a person and still choose to love them and be in relationship with them, no matter how bad some of the bad may be. That is the kind of love God has for me. I am a deeply flawed, sinful person. Yet I know I am loved beyond limitation by the Lord. That doesn’t meant the bad stuff in my life pleases Him. The beauty of the Gospel is that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Before we could ever do anything good or right, God died for us and for our sins. God’s love is not dependent on our goodness. In fact, he loves in the face of our brokenness and sin. Martin Luther said, “We carry His very nails in our pocket”. That means my sin led to His death, my sin caused Him pain…and still He loves me.

The more I read God’s Word and the more I experience of His Presence in my life, I see that God is very concerned with holiness. Does that mean we have to be perfect people? No! It means that our sin gets in the way of our relationship with God—and with others. It also means that God has more in store for us than just being happy or doing what we feel is right. God intends for us to be absolutely transformed, from the inside out, so that we are more like Christ, every day. The Scriptures say we are to be “conformed to the image of Christ”. There are two paths set before us each day: the one is marked by our own wants, desires, fears, and need for happiness. The other is marked by surrender, sacrifice, pleasing God, and the desire for holiness. The latter is the better choice, but most often the more difficult choice. I would wager that, in the end, the more difficult path is the one that leads to the greatest happiness. Happiness seems like one of those elusive things—the kind of thing that you will never find if you are seeking happiness for its own sake. Happiness—true happiness--is a byproduct of something else; it is something that happens along the way. If we were made by God for His pleasure, then true, full life (and happiness) can only come through a relationship with God that is our first and ultimate priority.

If your ultimate desire is to please God above all else, it means you have to view the world through His eyes. So many people want to see the world on their own terms…and “happiness” is the ultimate litmus test for what is right and wrong. The ultimate judge of right and wrong is God. Our interpretation of “right and wrong” should be based on what pleases God…what God requires…what brings the most glory to Him…not what makes us “happy” in the present moment.

I’ve read that the Cross is where God’s love and God’s holiness meet. It makes me think that living out our faith needs to be a balance of holiness and grace, as well. I see Christians err--on either side--way too often. Sometimes we talk about God’s love so much that we turn it into a gushy, feeling-based love that accepts everything and has no concept of anything ever being wrong: as long as it makes you happy, it must be good. We picture God as this cosmic grandfather who just laughs at our transgressions and offers us candy. Other times, we get so focused on the holiness of God that we forget to love. We fail to offer forgiveness and grace. We judge and exclude. We refuse to walk with and embrace the least, the lost, the flawed, and those different from us. Somehow, if we could find a way to balance the two, I think we’d be a lot closer to understanding what God is all about. God is about leading us closer into relationship with Him, transforming us and making us new, setting us free, and making us like Christ in every aspect of the way we love and live.

So, my beliefs about pretty much everything come out of a heart that wants people to experience nothing less than God’s best for them. I care more about a person’s soul than I do about present, circumstantial happiness. It is not about being good or bad, right or wrong. It’s not about a bunch of rules just for the sake of having rules. It’s about so much more than human opinions and emotions. It is about the radical, life-changing love of God in Jesus Christ. But then again, I’m a rule breaker…so I would see it all that way! I get the impression that Jesus was a bit of a rule breaker, too, so maybe that’s not such a bad thing to be.

Mustard Seed Vows

I blogged about Zinzendorf yesterday. Have I mentioned that I LOVE his name and am considering adding that to my name, somewhere, somehow? Perhaps Dietsch-Zinzendorf or, better yet, Dietsch von Zinzendorf. Try ordering a pizza with that name!!! Wait, I’ve got it now: ZinzenDietsch. Now that’s a name!

I have been reading more about old Zinny and, it turns out, he formed a club…really, more of an “order” because of its orientation towards holiness. He and his friends called it “The Order of the Mustard Seed” (see www.mustardseedorder.com). It was a secret society, with a “vow” required for admittance. That vow consisted of being true, in all aspects of your life, to three things:

1. To be true to Christ;
2. To be kind to all people;
3. To send the gospel to the world.

The website describes it further: “Their society was conceived as a secret order of spiritual knighthood. To them, most of whom owed their positions in society to structures and traditions dating back to the middle ages, this was a normal and culturally acceptable thing to do. The difference was, their loyalty and service would be sworn to Christ alone. The emblem of the Order was a brooch bearing a picture of a mustard tree, and a motto in Latin which means ‘That which was formerly nothing’. Every member wore a ring carrying a Greek inscription meaning ‘None of us lives for himself'.”

The website also reports that “Zinzendorf continued to recruit members to the Order throughout most of his life. Later members included:
Cardinal Louis Antoine de Noailles, the Catholic Archbishop of Paris;
John Potter, the Anglican (Episcopalian) Archbishop of Canterbury;
Christian VI, King of Denmark;
General James Oglethorpe, Governor of Georgia;
Tomochichi, Chief of the Creek nation of native American Indians;
Erskine, a Scottish member of the British Parliament.”

For some reason, this whole concept fascinates me and has made me think A LOT about accountability and commitment and community…about how we—way too often—think Christian faith is about doing it on our own: “pulling oneself up by your own spiritual bootstraps”, if you will.

The following article (also from the www.mustardseedorder.com website) intrigues me all the more; it is a modern day perspective of a person wanting to make the same kind of vow to, in all things: 1) Be true to Christ, 2) Be kind to all people, and 3) Send the Gospel to the world.


A RULE FOR LIFE: GROWING UP & GROWING OLD
[adapted from the book “The Vision & The Vow” by Pete Greig]
Completely pilfered from: www.mustardseedorder.com/cm/story/2

I read somewhere that Billy Graham has built houses for his life-long ministry partners next to his own home in North Carolina, so that in these - his twilight years - they can remain close. What an amazing testimony to the way he and his friends have lived their lives: After all these years they are still together, loving God and loving one another's company too.

I've decided that I want to grow old with friends whose camaraderie spans many years, and that - even as an old man - I want to be asking myself the same three questions each day:
* How can I be true to Christ today?
* How can I be kind to people today?
* How can I play my part in taking the Gospel to the nations today?

I don’t know what ecstasies and agonies the future may bring, but I do know that the dream for the rest of my days, whatever may come, is to be consistently true to my Savior, kind to my neighbor, and committed to the nations of the world. This is—for me—what it means to be Christ-like, what it means to be a disciple, what it means to be a faithful lover of Jesus. For others, it may mean something else, but for me, this will do. I do not intend to become any more prescriptive than this, lest rules detract from the heartbeat of my relationship with Jesus, who is my reason for building this altar of praise.

Knowing the usual fate of my good intentions, especially the ones I make when I think I am standing firm (1 Cor. 10:12), I have decided to follow the example of pilgrims down the ages by binding myself to the Gospel through a solemn vow.

“Why should we bind ourselves to loving God, submitting to a religious rule; why take the vows?” asks Raniero Cantalamessa, preacher to the papal household. “The answer,” he says, “is that in a moment of grace you were drawn to God, you loved him and … dreading the thought of losing him because of your instability, you ‘bound’ yourself to guarantee your love from every possible change.”

Because I love God less than I want to, and distrust myself entirely, I am launching out on this journey with friends who are more than friends. Together we will find ways of exploring the meaning of these three simple vows year by year for the rest of our lives, going deeper in understanding, growing simpler in knowledge, allowing the Holy Spirit to speak to us about each one in new ways at different times.

CHANGING SEASONS
Perhaps there will be times when He will speak to us about allegiance to Christ, and it will mean withdrawing in prayer and worship for a season of intimacy and contemplation. But then at other times, He will command us to immerse ourselves again in His world.

Sometimes, Christ’s call to kindness may require of us a radical response to global injustice, but at others, it may mean shrinking the horizon on such grand concerns to eat ice-cream with kids.

The call to the nations will cause us all to live as pilgrims, moving with the pillars of cloud and fire; for some, it may well mean passports and visas, while for others, it will mean personal witness on the home-front and in the world of work.

Sadly, I know that I will fail most days in some way or other—most often I suspect in the realm of simple kindness. But as I keep my eyes on Jesus, there is grace to change. As Paul puts it, “we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory” (2 Cor. 3:18). Day by day, as I outwork my vows, God’s grace will subvert my selfishness so I can think big enough to disciple nations, small enough to care for my neighbor, and deep enough to be loyal to my Lord for life. “We, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being trans-formed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory”
(2 Cor. 3:18)

AMAZING GRACE
When I fail, please grant me grace. And should I succeed—so that one day they say “he was faithful, kind and lived his life for the gospel he loved”—give God glory for His extraordinary achievement, and remember a simple mustard seed planted by Zinzendorf, which grew into a tree. Climbing in its branches with my friends, perhaps we shall see the world from a different perspective—with elevated vision. As that tree grows, rooted deep in an ancient way of life, we shall enjoy its fruit and survive the storms of winter, secure in Christ through all life’s changing seasons.

“This is what the Lord says:
’Stand at the crossroads and look;
ask for the ancient paths,
ask where the good way is, and walk in it,
and you will find rest for your souls.’”
(Jeremiah 6:16)

Praying 24/7

The book I mentioned yesterday (“Red Mood Rising”) is taking up a lot of my thoughts right now. It is the story of the 24/7 prayer movement happening right now, all around the world. However, that movement is modeled after something that started a long, long time ago…with the Moravians in the 1700s. Being that my beloved John Wesley (father of Methodism) was greatly influenced by the Moravians, I am delighted to learn new things about their community. I feel like a person doing genealogy research and finding some long lost relatives; I am finding long lost spiritual relatives. For you see, my life and theology have been greatly influenced by John Wesley. Being a Methodist from birth, much of who I am and who I have become--in many ways--finds its way back to Wesley. Because of Wesley’s encounters with the Moravians, he came to know Christ in a deeper, life-changing, heart-strangely-warmed kind of way. This movement (described below) is part of that…and, in some way, I am part of that. It’s amazing to realize that what the Holy Spirit did almost 300 years ago is still affecting lives today…still affecting ME today! Scary and incredible!

So I present this story to you (below). It comes from the 24/7 prayer movement website (www.24-7prayer.com) which, when get a chance, definitely check it out! Plus, all of Operation World is on this website. Operation World is a book that tells you many ways to effectively pray for every country in the world. On the website, all you have to do is click on the map for the country you want—and the information pops up…and you can pray, right then and there, for the people of that place. It’s definitely worth your time.

"Zinzendorf"
Taken from www.24-7prayer.com/cm/resources/60

Some people look at you like you're mad when you talk about praying non-stop for a week, a month or a year. But a crazy bunch of people called Moravians, living hundreds of years ago near Dresden in Germany, did something that makes 24-7 look tame. In fact it was a visit to their village 'Herrnhutt' in August 99 that really began the whole 24-7 prayer chain.

It all began on 13th August 1727. An amazing young leader (with the catchy name: Count Ludvig Nicklaus von Zinzendorf and a very dodgy haircut) had allowed a bunch of refugees to build a village on his land. But they began to argue and back-bight and after 5 years of this, Zinzendorf got fed up. He gathered them all together in the church building to apologize to one another, to break bread and to pray. You might expect this to be an amazing meeting, but it was a lot more than that...

As they confessed their sins to one another, the Spirit of God fell with incredible power upon them. So great was this outpouring that the prayer meeting continued for a hundred years without stopping. 24 men and 24 women determined that the flame of intercession should burn at the heart of their community continually, and so they divided themselves to pray in succession around the clock. The number of intercessors actually increased as the years rolled on, especially amongst the children, generating a power centre that radiated to the ends of the earth for more than a century.

More than 3000 evangelists were sent out from that small village in the 200 years following that momentous night, taking the gospel to most countries in Europe as well as the Americas, Asia and Africa. It seems likely that some of the Moravians even sold themselves into slavery in order to reach the West Indian slaves with the gospel. John Wesley was one of their many converts and 'Mad Moravians' aflame with the gospel, keep popping up in obscure contexts and far-flung countries like a delightful motif running through 18th Century missions.

It all goes to show what can happen when we pray...

Read this book!!!

I am reading a book that is turning my life upside down, literally—and I’m only 50 pages into it! It is called “Red Moon Rising” and there is a whole bunch of information about it below. This book has made me realize how tired my faith has become, how shallow my prayer life really is, and how I limit what the Holy Spirit can do in my life, my church, and the world. It is call to let God be God on a much bigger scale than we usually do. I recommend this book to anyone who loves God and wants to love Him more. Be careful, though. Your paradigms will be shifted, you will feel convicted, and the Holy Spirit may just call you out of your very safe comfort zones. But I guarantee, it will be worth it!

If you want to read this, I will personally buy it for you! Just send me your address in an email and I will send one your way. Or you can go to the www.relevantmagazine.com website to get one even faster.

Red Moon Rising: How 24-7 Prayer is Awakening a Generation
by Peter Greig and Dave Roberts
--available from the Relevant website for $5.99 plus s&h; Go to: www.relevantstore.com/product_info.php?cPath=&products_id=77

Book Description:

An Army is Emerging
Even with the world getting darker, a new generation is learning to pray and obey like never before. This is their extraordinary story, an honest account of pain and perseverance alongside a pioneering mission and miraculous answers to prayer. It's the story of the 24-7 Prayer movement, which started in 1999 in England and has since exploded to more than fifty countries. An army of normal individuals are now simultaneously praying night and day around the world. Things will never be the same (from the Relevant website).

(all the following from amazon.com...don't buy the book there, though; it costs almost twice as much from amazon)
Book Description
An extraordinary story about the adventure of faith and the power of persevering prayer…
On a summer’s day in 1727 a community of Moravians started praying and didn’t stop for more than 100 years. Throughout history God has mobilized such movements and moments of 24/7 prayer – from the Upper Room of Pentecost to Azusa Street in Los Angeles, through ancient Celtic saints and extraordinary characters like Alexander the Sleepless.

This is the story of a movement of the Spirit in our time, a move as ancient as it is modern.

As young people desert the church and AIDS orphans Africa, a new generation is learning to pray and obey like never before. From Communist China to Washington DC and from the ranks of the Salvation Army to anarchic German punks, the 24-7 Prayer movement has been interceding continually, night and day, since 1999 in more than fifty countries. This is their extraordinary story; an honest account of pain and perseverance alongside pioneering mission and miraculous answers to prayer.

From the Author
Red Moon Rising is about the adventure of faith and the power of persevering prayer. It’s about what can happen when ordinary people dare to dream extraordinary dreams, responding recklessly to the whispered invitations of God. Our prayer is that readers will be inspired to say ‘yes’ to the Holy Spirit whatever that means for them and however inadequate they may sometimes feel.

From the Inside Flap
"Red Moon Rising is not just a book; it's an invitation. I have accepted the invitation. I think you will too, once you listen to the Spirit as he speaks through these pages. I invite you to join Pete and myself and many others in giving our hearts to this one thing - to prepare for a great harvest that will usher in the return of Jesus." (From the Foreword by Floyd McClung)

About the Authors
PETE GREIG founded 24-7prayer.com in 1999. He teaches and preaches all over the world and is one of the leaders of Revelation church and of Cultural Shift—a church planting team. He's married to Sam and has 2 kids.

DAVE ROBERTS graduated from being on stage as a deejay and emcee at large Christian festivals to a 10 year stint as an editor of leading UK Christian publications, including the award winning Renewal magazine. He has helped pioneer several large scale training conferences including Worship Together and helped co-found leading youth ministry resource Youthwork magazine. He is now an author, speaker and publishing consultant. He is on the leadership team of Living Stones Church in his hometown of East Sussex,England.

My favorite prayer...

I'm so tired. Sunday evening is not the best time for deep thinking--at least not when you work in a church. Your whole week is geared toward Sunday...and when Sunday comes to a close, so does your brain. However, the shame of my recent blog slacking has inspired a renewed resolve to blog each day: NO MATTER WHAT!!! Lacking any great and wondrous thoughts of my own, I thought I'd post one of my all time favorite prayers. I have prayed this--more times that I could possibly admit--when my own words failed me. I offer it to you and pray it will bless you, as it has blessed me.

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself.
And the fact that I think that I am following your will
does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you, does, in fact, please you.
And I hope that I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this, you will lead me by the right road
though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore I will trust you always
though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear, for you are ever with me,
and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.
--Thomas Merton

Words to live by...

Let nothing trouble you.
Let nothing scare you.
All is fleeting.
God alone is unchanging.
Patience
Everything obtains.
Who possesses God
Nothing wants.
God alone suffices.
~Teresa of Avila

Political Parodies and the Christian Message

My major source of news is, embarrassingly enough, a parody of a political news show: The Colbert Report, starring Stephen Colbert (on Comedy Central). From what I read, it is a growing trend for people my generation (and younger) to get most of their news from political satires, such as The Colbert Report or its parent show, The Daily Show. Stephen Colbert—with an extensive background in improvisational comedy—“plays” a hyper-conservative, right-wing, uber-Republican newscaster. He gives his commentary on politics and society from that perspective. His “character” is admittedly Christian, but you do wonder if there isn’t a little bit of truth is some of his religious beliefs. In real life, Colbert is reportedly a faithful Catholic and even, allegedly, teaches Sunday school. I have to say this for him, the man knows his Bible and Christian doctrine. He is a brilliant man, with razor-sharp wit and incredibly fast-paced come backs--and he rarely laughs at his own overwhelming hilarious jokes. That is how a 30-minute parody centered mostly around Colbert and his thoughts—airing Monday through Thursday--is one of the most popular shows on TV. I try to keep in mind that it’s a comedy show, but Colbert certainly keeps me up to date on current events. Every now and then, he steps over the line and says something that will make me blush, but then again, it’s a cable show that airs at 11:30pm…it’s not Disney. Overall, though, the show makes me think and laugh. My own mother, after being forced to watch countless episodes, will finally admit that Colbert is “so funny”.

All of this introduction is a set-up to talk about the interview section from last night’s show. The show always closes with an interview with some person of relative fame, usually in the political sphere. Last night, the guest was Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a feminist and political writer, daughter of the Somali warlord Hirsi Magan Isse. She is a prominent and controversial author, film maker, former member of Dutch Parliament, atheist, and critic of Islam and Christianity. She has received numerous awards for her human rights work, and in 2005, was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. She is currently a fellow at the think tank American Enterprise Institute (biographical info. taken from Wikipedia). She was interviewed on THE COLBERT REPORT because of her newest book, Infidel, which was published in February 2007.

I want to share part of that interview with you (pardon my rough transcription):
Ayaan: We have been taught in Islam, submission to the will of allah, that’s in the Koran…
Colbert: So the idea of submission bothers you?
Ayaan: The idea of submission bothers me; I don’t want to submit…no.
Colbert: You don’t submit?
Ayaan: No
Coblert: Well, is that why you became an atheist?
Ayaan: Well, in part, yes.
Colbert: Well because submission is also part of the Christian tradition too…our father…our father who art in heaven, hallowed by thy name, THY Kingdom come, THY will be done, on earth as it is in heaven…it’s not our choice, it’s what God decides. What’s the difference between, in that, between Islam and Christianity? Do you see any difference there?
Ayaan: I see a difference in the response between Muslims and Christians. Many Muslims refuse to question the doctrine itself—the submission within Islam--as opposed to the majority of Christians who’ve been questioning it for ages and who have now developed a Christianity that is defined only as love--love they neighbor--where they have abolished a hell. Whereas, in Islam, most Muslims believe not only in a hereafter but in a hell…you are not allowed to put question marks on what is in the Koran.
Colbert: I don’t know what Christianity you’ve been studying, but uh, hell is still fairly prominent in some of the churches I’ve been to…
(the interview continues, but I will stop there)

Two things jumped out at me from this interview. First, the concept of submission. I think Ayaan summed up the problem with most people...and most Christians. We have a problem with submission. We want to be in control. We want to call the shots. Yet, If Jesus shows us the fullness of what God is like, then his actions in the Garden of Gethsemane tell us that submission is paramount in a relationship with the Father. Jesus asks to be spared the coming suffering, if possible, but ultimately prays: “Not my will, but Thine”. That is what it means to love God and follow Jesus: to be one hundred percent sold out to the will of God…less of me, more of Him. Our basic sin nature tells us we need to be in control in order for life to be meaningful. However, we cannot find true, real, everlasting life until we come to the end of ourselves. That is truth. We can fight it or accept it. There really is no middle ground.

The second thing bothering me about the interview was that Christianity is reduced to nothing more than loving your neighbor. Seriously? Is that how the world summarizes Christianity? The Holy Creator of the world takes on human flesh and walks the dusty corridors of our experience…then He dies a criminal’s death on a cross to pay the penalty for our sins (past, present, future)…that true God of true Gods rises from the deathly tomb, conquering sin, death, despair, evil…not just that, but the Holy Spirit—that same Spirit which raised Jesus from the dead--is given to believers (every believer), to give us power beyond all imagination: to heal disease and brokenness, to release captives from every kind of prison, to bring hope where there is only despair, to forgive and love beyond human limitations, to become the very best versions of who were created to be…to actually be “little Christs” in this world of darkness. It really burns my butter that everything God is and has done for us—and everything we are meant to do and be in response--gets reduced to the “Christians are meant to be nice, loving people” mentality. Jesus did not die to make us NICE!!! He died to make us new, set us free, transform the world, bring a whole new revolutionary Kingdom to pass, right here and right now.

I wasn’t going to address her comments about Hell, other than to say I believe in an actual Hell. As far as who ends up there, that’s not my call and I stopped trying to guess a long time ago. The Bible tells us to “preach Christ and Him crucified”…so I am sticking with what I know--and what I know is that Jesus Christ is freaking amazing and I want the whole world to know Him. I want this Ayaan woman to know Him too. Let’s pray for her, that she might come to know the life-saving, soul-changing love of God that is found in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Rethinking Sloth

For Lent this year, our church is doing a study on the “seven deadly sins”. The sermons, throughout Lent, each focus on one particular deadly sin. The sin of the week for this Sunday is sloth. Those who know me well are chuckling, thinking of me preaching about sloth. Me preaching about sloth is equal to a pig standing at the front of the farm yard, telling the other pigs to stop rolling in their poo. Most every Sunday I find the Lord is speaking to me, personally, through what I think is MY sermon. The joke is on me! This week, the irony is more blatant than most weeks...so laugh, if you must.

Maybe I’m trying to make myself feel better, but “sloth” seems to encompass a whole lot more than just being lazy…you know, more than not making your bed or not cleaning your room, or not putting dishes in the dishwasher, or not cleaning out your car…ahhhh, the guilt is growing!! Procrastination--and just plain old being a bum--are part of sloth, but not the whole. As I do research, sloth appears to have more complex spiritual dimensions than I originally realized. Sloth has a lot to do with the “sin of omission": the good that we fail to do.

A brief description of this comes from www.beliefnet.com/story/110/story_11083_1.html in an article entitled, “The Spiritual Side of Sloth”:
“In many faiths, sloth is more than just laziness--though couch potatoes are frowned upon, too. World religions view sloth as more than simply lying on the couch for an entire afternoon. Though sloth today usually means physical laziness, in the original seven deadly sins, sloth was sadness, or depression. The word for sloth, acedia (from the Greek "akedia," or "not to care") meant "spiritual sloth." In many religions, sloth is seen as inhibiting or preventing virtuous conduct. It is considered sinful or wrong because inaction, in both the spiritual and wordly realms, can be just as bad as wrong actions. Sloth does include being a couch potato, but it is also often interpreted as wasting precious time, not doing enough to help the world, and avoiding a rigorous spiritual journey.”

A short story, from the same article, articulates the above sentiment:
“Orthodox Christians similarly view sloth as a spiritual idleness. This story from the Desert Fathers explains this view: A beginning monk, who went to a certain elder to confess, posed, among others, this question: 'Why, Father, do I fall so often into sloth?'
‘You lack the faith which makes you see God everywhere; for this reason you can be careless and lazy about your salvation,' the discerning elder wisely explained.’”

So, to be a spiritual sloth means failing to be the person God calls you to be. We were created to glorify God. Any time we fail to glorify God, we enter into sloth. This, of course, begs the question: what does it mean to glorify God? My short answer to that: I have no idea! My longer answer to that: It has something to do with the two greatest commandments. We are meant to love God first and most, and then to love others as much as we love ourselves. I do wonder, however, what that really means--what that really looks like in the midst of our every day actions. In part, it has to mean something about our responses to the world. A wise counselor once told me that, in my most difficult relationships, I needed to examine my thoughts, promptings and actions and ask: “What is the loving response here?” And by “loving”, he meant what is the most Christ-like response, what is in the best interest of the other (in the long run, not necessarily the short term...meaning, not always what that person likes/wants right now, but what will be of most benefit overall...you know, "tough love" and all that).

I had a teenager tell me one time that, if all he had to do was love God and love others, he already did that. I think that young man had a much smaller vision of love (and a pretty shallow understanding of himself and his motivations) than Jesus does. This love stuff—this sacrifice stuff—it is hard…and it rubs against the very grain of what we want and what we think we need. It is easier to NOT love at all…thus enters the sloth!

For my sermon this Sunday, I chose a familiar text to illustrate “sloth”…though, at face value, you might not label it as such. I chose the story of Mary and Martha. It might surprise you, but in that story, I think it was Martha who was most guilty of sloth. God calls us to do what will bring Him the most glory in the present moment. Meaning, there may well be an occasion where Mary needs to get off her butt and start doing some dishes. But in this particular story, Martha was the one making the wrong choice in the moment--the one who fails to chose love of God and neighbor above self. Some may argue (as I know my mom would!! Love you, mom!): “What could be more loving than wanting to provide a nice meal for your guests and family? People do need to eat.” That is true! But it is about timing, about attitude, and about where God is leading you in the present moment. Martha was focused on her sister’s lack of help in the kitchen, not focused on a sacrificial gift of love. Martha was not letting her sister be free to make her own choices to love and glorify God as He called her to do. For Martha, it was “me, me, me”. Maybe that is a good definition for sloth, or any sin: “me, me, me”.

This whole story (and when I say “story”, I do mean TRUE story) tells me that what it means for me, Tina Marie Dietsch, to glorify God in a certain circumstance may be totally different than what glorifying God would look like for another person in that same circumstance. There are people who are so busy, so driven, so overloaded that the most God-honoring thing they could do would be to take a nap. I had a professor say one time: “Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is take a nap”. I loved that! But, if you have been napping too much, if there are tasks undone, and people unloved in your midst--for you--the sloth-less thing to do would involve some kind of action.

It makes me think of “Chariots of Fire”, where Eric Liddell talks about why he runs. He says something like: “God made me fast and when I run, I feel His pleasure”. Within each of us, there are God-given gifts and graces, things that are peculiar and unique to us. When we fail to exercise those gifts, we enter into the realm of sloth. For Eric Liddell, NOT to run would be sloth. Is God calling me, Tina, to run? I hope not…because no one wants to see that! But there ARE things I must personally do to bring pleasure to God—and failing to do those things is failing to bring Him glory...meaning sloth.

Perhaps the question to ask, as we go through our days--making choices for action or inaction—should be: “What will bring God the most pleasure?” Too often, I think we ask: “Will this make God mad at me?” or “What is the most I can get away with and not end up in hell?” The more important question, in all that we do and chose, is: “Will this please God? Will He smile upon me? Will I be able to feel His pleasure?” The way to avoid sloth is seeking to please God, above all else. As the Westminster catechism so aptly states: “What is the chief end of man? Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.”

Amazing Grace, Amazing Change

About two weeks ago, our youth group went to see the movie “Amazing Grace”. The movie chronicles the life of William Wilberforce, a famous British abolitionist who spent his life (and health) working to abolish slavery in Great Britain. Turns out, he succeeded, along with the help of countless friends and supporters. Wilberforce’s great dilemma in life was the choice between serving the Lord as a minister or working in the public sphere to create a more just world. Through the influence of his pastor, John Newton (former slave trader and author of the song, “Amazing Grace”), Wilberforce became convinced God was calling him to make a difference in the world by working against slavery. It was a great message about serving the Lord with your life in every aspect…and about how you don’t have to become a pastor to make a significant difference for the Kingdom!

The movie, itself, was inspiring, but did drag in parts. One of my junior high boys entertained himself during the slow parts by “fake snoring”. Yet, in the end, I think most everyone was touched and inspired by the film…minus a few junior high boys; I comforted myself with the fact that most everything--of significance--is lost on that age/gender bracket! I would recommend the movie to anyone, Christian and non-Christian alike. It was a good and powerful TRUE story; that 'true' part is what spoke most powerfully to me. This is not something "made up". It happened. Someone actually made that kind of difference in the history of the world. Wow! Albert Finney’s performance as John Newton, alone, was worth the cost of the movie. My favorite quote—from Finney’s character, John Newton: “Although my memory's fading, I remember two things very clearly: I'm a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior.” Amen!

The thing that is most powerful to me, however, is what I have discovered since viewing the movie. I have read some extraordinary statistics on slavery, specifically from the website: www.amazingchange.com which is an outgrowth of the movie, serving to continue Wilberforce’s unfinished work of ridding the world of slavery. That site (which I highly urge you to visit) states: "It's estimated that 27 million people are in slavery around the world". Seriously? Still? I feel so uninformed, so blind, really.

I am pasting some statistics directly from www.amazingchage.com (below). At least go to the site and sign the petition against modern day slavery. If you have time, look around at some of what they have there. It is eye-opening…especially when you had no idea your eyes were shut so tightly to the suffering of the world.

Statistics on Modern Day Slavery:
27 Million: Number of people in modern-day slavery across the world
Sourced by the UN, New York Times, Amnesty International, The Christian Science Monitor, and Free The Slaves, among others.

800,000: Number of persons trafficked across international borders each year
Sourced by the US State Department, International Justice Mission, and Antislavery.org, among others.

17,500: Number of foreign nationals who are trafficked into the U.S. every year
Sourced by the US House Of Representatives, and the Polaris Project, among others.

91: Number of cities in the United States with reported cases of trafficking
Sourced by Georgia State Representative Jack Kingston, Freetheslaves.net, and Polaris Project, among others.

50: Percent of all victims are children
Sourced by the US House of Representatives Committee on International Relations, and the US Department of State, among others.

$50 Million: US Government budget for efforts against human trafficking
Sourced by the US State Department.

$19 Billion: US Government budget for efforts against drug trafficking
Sourced by the White House Drug Policy website.

20 Million: Number of bonded laborers in the world
Sourced by Free The Slaves.

218 Million: Estimated number of children working aged between five and seventeen
Sourced by the International Labor Organization.

126 Million: Estimated number of children who work in the worst forms of child labor - one in every twelve of the world's five to seventeen year olds.
Sourced by the International Labor Organization, UNICEF, and the US Embassy in Uruguay, among others.

300,000: Estimated number of child soldiers involved in over 30 areas of conflict worldwide, some younger than 10 years old.
Sourced by UNICEF, the BBC, and Amnesty International, among others

Letting God be God

I remember the first night I ever cried myself to sleep. It was because, in my young girlhood, I felt sad and alone. In contrast, I remember the first time a bout of nocturnal crying was not self-motivated or self-referenced. I was crying over the fate of someone’s soul…fearing that soul would be lost…wrestling in prayer for God to step in and rescue what seemed unredeemable. Over the years, crying and wrestling with God on behalf of another has become a common experience for me. As I’ve continually and sincerely prayed, “God, break my heart with the things that break Your heart”, God’s been faithful in answering that prayer. In my teenage years, I prayed fervently for my relatives who did not know Jesus Christ, fearing for their eternity, heart-broken for their present circumstances. Becoming a pastor, I was introduced to a whole new set of people with souls--souls for which I was now, somehow, responsible. But that is another blog entirely!

I distinctly remember one of my youth telling me, pompously, that he didn’t want to follow Jesus anymore because it was too hard and he wanted to be popular, instead. How I cried and prayed and mourned for him! There have been others in my “care” who’ve blatantly walked away from Jesus. Some cannot bring themselves to fully believe it: "it" being that Jesus is Lord and has rightful claims on my life and soul. The majority of those who “walk away”, though, do it quietly…little by little, day by day. When faced with who Jesus is and what Jesus offers, they say, “so what?” My heart hurts for these people. I find myself praying for people—fervent, tear-filled, demon-fighting prayers. It would be overwhelming, without balance. Somehow, I am learning to balance spiritual passion with "letting God be God"...not doing it perfectly, but learning.

When I was younger, I believed (deep down, in some hidden place that I could not admit to myself) that I was responsible for the salvation of the world--that if I failed to bring people to Jesus, the world would be lost, or at least all the people who mattered most to me (which was the extent of my “world”, back in the day). Somehow, I believed I was the messiah instead of Jesus. I didn't really think I was Jesus, mind you, but I felt this huge weight of responsibility for something that I could not possibly be responsbile for (i.e. the eternal destiny of people that I love). I have a friend who calls this kind of beahvior "being the Holy Spirit, Jr.” (like God needs an assistant or something). While God graciously allows us to participate in what He is doing in the world, the whole of God’s will does not rest on any one person’s shoulders. God repeatedly responds to my “prayers” (often my thinly veiled “instructions” for God on how to do His job) and says: “Tina, I know. I am working on that. It isn’t like this all took my by surprise or something. What seems overwhelming to you is not so overwhelming to Me. Let me do my job. You do yours. Don’t get your job and My job confused”.

What is my job, as a Christian (not as a pastor, mind you, but as a Christian)? Well, I have been thinking about that a lot lately. I think being a Christian means being passionate; it means caring about the things God cares about (things like people’s souls and eternity and injustice and holiness, just to name a few). Yet, somehow that passion needs to be tempered with a kind of abiding: a deep resting in God’s goodness, providence and power. That means, even if I fail or falter, still God is big enough to bring His purposes to pass. That means even though the Devil (and his cause) may appear to be winning the battle, we must remember that God WILL win the war. It is my job, as a Christian, to pray fervently, to inspire others toward prayer and action, to speak truth in love, to live a faithful and obedient life, to fan the flame of my love for God and inspire the same in others, to show and tell about Christ and Him crucified, and to trust completely in God’s all surpassing goodness, grace and power. That means I don’t have to be the savior of the world…Jesus has that covered. I need to remind myself of that from time to time. I need to let God be God...and most times, I just need to get Tina out of the way.

"He must become greater, I must become less".

~John 3:30

Taste and See

I see it has been 12 days since my last post...my sincerest apologies. Today, I don't offer something of my own--instead, I bring something that moved me. Being that I have the flu right now, moving my soul is a difficult task. But, before I placed my throbbing head on a pillow for some needed rest, I checked my email and found this little gem in my inbox. I thought I'd share it with you, my blogging friends...the ones who are still sticking with me, even during my days (dare I say, "seasons") of silence. May you taste and see, today, that God is good!

This is taken, in it’s entirety, from:

Christianity Today March 2007

"'Ordinary' Delights: Let us praise the consoling banality of good."

(for those who don't use the word "banality" in every day conversation, it means: devoid of freshness or originality; hackneyed; trite)

by Agnieszka Tennant posted 3/13/2007 08:35AM

There are no ordinary pleasures. Every good thing, no matter how trivial, can elicit delight. And delight is potent. Something of little significance provokes glee, and the spirit leaps. If you pay attention—and if you count all good things as coming from God—then the mundane can help you glimpse the maker of all delight.

Momentous thrills—a wedding day, the birth of a child, reconciliation between hardened enemies, and a stunning answer to prayer when you're low on hope—point to God more noticeably. So do tragedies, mistakes, and sins. But I'm talking about delights that we encounter more frequently, those we have at our disposal and to which we have become accustomed—the terrain of the trivial, the minor, the normal, the everyday, the routine, even the boring. They, too, reside in the realm of providence.

People shudder, rightly, at what political theorist Hannah Arendt called the banality of evil. As she pointed out, malevolence is good corrupted. If we don't relish the uncorrupted goodness around us, then evil—which is but a dreadful reverie that will never fully come true—is likely to overwhelm us.

So let us give praise for the consoling banality of good.

Ask the woman who anointed Jesus' feet with nard oil and the widow who offered her two mites, and they'd tell you: God takes pleasure in the seemingly insignificant. Ask the hemorrhaging woman who touched Christ's robe amid a pressing crowd, and she'd tell you: The barely noticeable matters to him. Ask the wedding guests in Cana, and they'd tell you: God pays attention to details like wine chemistry, even when it doesn't seem to matter to anyone else.Finally, consult your body, and it will tell you (chances are, it already has, many times): God wants us to partake in all kinds of pleasures.

"Love, and do as you please," said Augustine in a sermon on 1 John 7, 8. Folded into this advice is an implicit warning against addiction: You are not free to love God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind when you're owned by pleasure. But when you experience enjoyment within the constraint of loving God, it can only be good.

Besides being enjoyable, everyday pleasures can be useful. During those darker times when I cannot bring myself to face God, I still cannot turn off delight. I am stuck with goodness. Sometimes, it seems as though all I have to hold on to is one small enjoyment. Something feels good, and no one can take it from me—sun rays on my face, a toddler's hand in mine, managing to tell the truth, a shower, a day without a headache, the five minutes I spend reading an article in The Economist that makes my world both stranger and easier to grasp.

On those unguarded occasions when I can taste, see, feel, smell, and know that, in Gerard Manley Hopkins's words, "the world is charged with the grandeur of God," I revel a little. I notice. Something must have propelled the sun from behind the clouds. Some power must have suspended it in just the right spot.

Suddenly, without putting much thought into it, I find myself saying thank you. A lungful of marvel becomes a prayer of gratitude. Supposedly ordinary acts turn sacramental, with no effort on my part.

This, too, is worship: to receive all good things and to bow our heads in the knowledge that they come from God. To take whatever is lovely, splendid, pure, noble, and true—and to follow where it leads. To taste and see that the Lord is good.

In her Pulitzer-winning study of nature's microcosm in a Blue Ridge Mountains valley, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Annie Dillard cautions against "taking leave of our senses," by which she means ceasing to marvel at the world around us. Our curiosity must be like that of children, she says, whose senses work overtime.

"Only children can hear the song of the male house mouse," she writes. "Only children keep their eyes open. The only thing they have got is sense; they have highly developed 'input systems,' admitting all data indiscriminately." If we must become like children to enter the kingdom of heaven, then something tells me that commonplace revelry is part of the package.

I know this for sure: Goodness is prelapsarian. Before things turned bad, they were unqualifiedly good. Pleasure helps us see discontent as aberrant. And discontent cannot help but witness to goodness, even if backhandedly: It reminds us that something's amiss from the way things ought to be.

When a fleeting delight promises a lasting one, we glimpse the goodness of God.

Anything that does that is not ordinary.

One of those days...

Today has been "one of those days". First, I was running late to everything...which, if you know me, is nothing terribly new--so I really shouldn't count that as part of today's "badness". However, I believe my tardiness added to the first major annoyance of the day. Running late and lost on OSU campus this morning, I finally figured out where I needed to be headed--and I was going in the opposite direction. Turning around on the nearest street, I realized I was driving the wrong way down a one way street. I quickly turned into the nearest alley, only to be followed by a police man. Where did he come from?!!! I still haven't figured that out! The first thing he asked me was, "Do you realize you were driving the wrong way on a one-way street?" Seriously, are police trained to ask the most idiodic questions possible? Of course I realized that! I resisted every urge to be sarcastic and threw down my helpless female card. He was very nice and didn't give me a ticket, but warned me to "be careful in the future"...like I was on some crime-spree, driving like an upstreaming salmon down every one way street I could find. Arrrrgghhhhh....


Then, I had a wonderful lunch with some kids who used to be in my youth group (before they got old and I got even older!). Of course, I parked on the busiest street in Columbus, at a parking meter with a one-hour limit. I figured we were all on a tight enough time schedule that I would easily be back in an hour. Well, I got to talkin'...and showed up at my car one hour and 13 minutes later. Guess who had a ticket? Yeah. It was me...$20 worth of ticket. Seriously, TWENTY DOLLARS. That is $1.54 for each minute over an hour. Is the city of Columbus repaving a lot of roads or something, because that seems like a lot of money.


Perhaps there are days when you're destined to have a run in with the law. I had two such encounters in less than an hour and a half. A pastor and a rebel...that's me.


The rest of the day was filled with lots of other mishaps and mayhem. I won't bore you. But I will say, if you are going to get your two dogs groomed at Petsmart--and if you decide to purchase the "top dog" package--pick a day where there aren't unrelenting torrential downpours and flood warnings. Ariel and Pepper looked really cute parading their newly-groomed selves around the store. By the time we got to the car, it was all a distant memory. Ahhhh, the smell of wet dog in the car...truly, a joy for all ages.


We've all had those days...the days where everything that can go wrong, will go wrong. I think some people call that "Murphy's Law"; however, since one of my dearest friends from college had the last name 'Murphy', I've hated the idea of associating bad things with that name. There are probably just some days where it's better to stay in bed...unfortunately, I got up...


It makes me think of a phrase I've heard pastors say (at different times, in different ways): "Nothing is wasted in God's economy". The things that seem pointless and lost to us...well, that's just our limited perspective, really. Certainly, God brings good out of all things (even the annoyingly bad days). A lot of Scripture promises God will restore and redeem all that seems lost--but especially Romans 8:28, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." I love this passage in the Message paraphrase (starting back a little further, with verse 26):


Romans 8:26-30 (The Message)

"Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.

God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him. After God made that decision of what his children should be like, he followed it up by calling people by name. After he called them by name, he set them on a solid basis with himself. And then, after getting them established, he stayed with them to the end, gloriously completing what he had begun."


I'm not sure what that all means for each individual life, but think it has something to do with loving God and trying your best to be His person in this world; if that is your focus, then everything has meaning and purpose...even those grumpy, cranky, police-chase days; Somehow, God is using all of it to bring us closer to Him. So, we can be thankful, even in the midst of the crap...because God is at work, behind the scenes of what seems pointless and lame...doing something that no human could understand or imagine.


Really, that means we should be grateful--even on the bad days--for what is coming from God's Hand, remembering that we have limited, faltering vision. I'm not quite thankful for today yet, but after some serious sleep--and if the grumpies residing in my soul will pack up and go home--I may see it all in a better light. I like that phrase: "Nothing is lost in God's economy". According to that logic, even today had a purpose and a point. That's a good thing to know, even when you don't especially feel it.