christianophobic?

It's not quite 6 AM. I woke half-refreshed at 4 AM. It was worth it. Early morning lends a luxurious kind of silence, a garden for the soul. I've been reading Deuteronomy... blessings for all who walk in the Lord's ways. Curses to all who depart from him. And as hearts return to God, He returns to them. So does the joy of living.


Later today, I will visit a place where Muslims meet regularly for worship. I can prayer walk too. Our speaker will talk about Islamophobia in America. I wonder as I hear so much about violence in Syria: do Muslims ever suffer from Islamophobia? Nobody says too much about "Christianophobia." I know there's that whole characterization of backwoods people clinging to their Bibles and guns. There's militant atheism out there too. But I myself get a little Christianophobic. I love how church can be a place of healing. I don't love when it's a place people get burnt. 


Not long ago I visited a large church's blog. It had "Grace" prominent in their title. A minute's reading was all I could take. The tone was certainly not "grace", if anything it was an orgy of criticism. Then I fear the merchandising of the missional, people who want to bottle God's anointing and sell it to you for $ 19.95. The endless stream of seminars and media and what's next to make lukewarmness more spectacular. Afraid I've been there. I pray I never go back. In that sense, let me be Christianophobic.


Maybe fearing God requires a tinge of Christianophobia. To fear any lack of sincerity in myself or the Church of God. To despise any delusion that causes us to embrace something less than what His Ransom intended. Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. 


Grace makes room. Grace makes real. Grace secures. Grace graciously sets us straight. Fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears, to paraphrase, still has a lot to learn about love. Starting where?   "We love because He first loved us." ~ Breathe easier. 

Catching Hold of The Rail

It's nice that the snow has almost melted here, at least for a few days. But stepping outdoors yesterday, into the sunshine of mid-day, the walkway where snow was a day before was glazed and slick. Mea culpa, y'all. I didn't shovel out like I should have this time. This was the path I had to take to get where I needed to go. One shifts his weight very carefully as not to slip. Didn't feel like visiting an orthopedic surgeon, y'know? Now others, in a situation like this will reach out and catch hold of a rail. 

Tonight at prayer meeting we turn again to Psalm 119: 49-56. We'll focus on these verses too. Remember your word to your servant in which you have made me hope.  This is my comfort in my affliction that your promise gives me life. Or as the King James translators rendered it, ...thy word hath quickened me. New International Version? ... your promise preserves my life. The New American Standard Bible says, ... your word has revived me.


Seekers and servants of God will identify with all those wonderful acknowledgements. Like this psalmist, we sometimes feel our footing is tentative. Yet we are allowed to see that he counts on God to make His word personal, and fulfill what it was intended to produce, faith, courage, following the path God would choose for him.  When we have to step out and walk a distance and something about the situation makes us think we could take a fall, make this prayer your prayer. "Remember your word to your servant on which you have made me to hope."  Catch hold of the rail, and breathe a little easier.

Next Generation Evangelistic Network: Mission Possible: Reaching the Next Generation through the Small Church

Next Generation Evangelistic Network: Mission Possible: Reaching the Next Generation through the Small Church

Thanks, Doc! I'm breathing easier.

Now I Understand!!

"It's only minor surgery if someone else is on the operating table."  Yes, I am breathing easier. Yes, my nose is still in bandages. This wasn't optional. It was skin damage I couldn't ignore. Recovery includes saturating my thinking with truth Jesus taught. I hope to share some new insights tomorrow that may be life-altering and health-restoring too.


It's good to know, of course, that you're in good hands. On the phone today, I talked to a friend who had her own surgery yesterday. She wondered aloud what many of us have at some time, "How do people go through this experience without the Lord?"  God's children can breathe assurance and courage of heart. Therefore, we breathe easier.


I wouldn't want to go another day  (much less another year) without knowing He's the One operating on us, and with us. I'm so grateful for as good a surgeon as we could get. Now as the doc reshapes my nose, our Sovereign Lord is intent on shaping His own likeness. Lest this sound too self-absorbed, how good to know that this is how His Grace is operating in the whole Body of Christ by The Spirit! 


No matter what unhappy reports CNN may broadcast tonight, there's a great prognosis for everyone who puts his or her life in His hands. Testify.


Your investment brokers can't tell you the outcome. No presidential candidate can either. Not even your doctor can. But: I know whom I have believed; and I'm convinced that He's able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that Day. - 2 Timothy 1:12.


May what you've entrusted to Him be as plain as the nose on your face. Thus shall we ever breathe easier.

Choosing Group Ministry Options

If we hold our breath on the topic of "spiritual gifts"...  That's not breathing easier! 
These gifts are given so we can bless others: much in keeping with us "giving thanks". 


On Sunday nights, we heard a word on The Holy Spirit by J.R. Vassar, who pastors The Apostles Church in Manhattan. Pastor Vassar spoke about "that which is sensational, and that which is significant". The church in America needs that word today! So do I.
At Corinth, Paul paid more attention to spiritual formation than "special effects". He prayed that they might outgrow obsession with the sensational, and opt for what released the whole church for ministry. It wasn't the spiritual celebrities. In fact, Paul had critics at Corinth who thought him as dynamic as cold oatmeal.  But note the truth he set on the table for them:

When you make choices about gifts and ministry "best", 

Go for what's going to last.  Go for what helps the Church fulfill it's design. 

Go for that which develops & deploys the whole Body of Christ. 

We can't just spotlight the  exceptionall-gifted-and-accomplished. Give everybody room to grow. Thankfully receive what every child of God, walking right with God, brings to God's work. His or her gift.


Maybe some of his principles help us choose which ministry projects we should pursue, and which options we shouldn't. Doing things decently and in order? If you are an emergency response worker, expect last-minute calls. But when someone neglects planning and asks your ministry to bail them out, is that really your emergency? 
 God gives His people a wide range of service abilities. How does that shape the volunteer options you choose?  Is it God's call or someone else's you're thinking about? 
And near the top of our list: if the Body of Christ exists to witness for Christ, choose ministries that give more opportunity to share our faith. It's good to serve side by side with others in your community, but it's better when you get to say "the love of Christ compels us."

These are a few thoughts on serving God and community, and helping one another fulfill God's Call.

What thoughts would you add?

God's Calculations and Ours

The psalmist talked about a time when he was in so deep, he couldn't get out. But God got him out. Actually, he said, God's done that for us more times than we can possibly track.





Here's Psalm 40:5 from 
the New International Version: 

Many, O LORD my God,

are the wonders you have done.

The things you planned for us

no one can recount to you;

were I to speak and tell of them,

they would be too many to declare.

Browse a few Bible pages and you'll find that the ancient Hebrews were not handicapped when it came to their counting ability! In fact, I look at some of their census figures, financial reports, arms inventories, and such, one might feel they were obsessed with keeping detailed accounts.

The word for God's plans speaks of detailed calculations. Originally, the verb had to do with weaving: lots of strands coming together. Various aspects of a larger plan. Then the "recounting" could well be an "accounting report". 

No matter how vast his expertise for doing inventory, 

there's no keeping up with how many ways God is looking out for us.

... I found this news piece published October 28, 2010 about the world's most powerful computer. It  can do 2.5 thousand trillion calculations per second. And don't you know, some company is already trying to develop the next generation that can do more faster?  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11644252

God has not gotten smaller because technology has gotten bigger. 

Who He is and how much He does for us . . . we still don't have the equipment to calculate!                                                 ~ Breath easier.

Freedom to Set Others Free

Every so often I meet some guys in a diner for breakfast. And there's a quiet gentleman named Casey who drops by for coffee, too. He strikes me as a "strong, silent type" spiritually:  who's looking for ways he can be used of God to help others connect with our surrounding community's blessings. Each week, I get an email--mailed all over Chester County--that helps others know about important community services, like job training, and coping with the loss of a life-long companion, or finding a lifeline of support when habits begin to control one's life and spirit. What Casey does isn't flashy, but it's fundamental as a follower of Christ. He likes to see others set free.  So does Jesus.

"...He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives"  - Luke 4:18

The place God lets me preach is a special place, blessed by a unity that blends worshippers of varied background. So February seems like a good time to tell some stories of the Underground Railroad, of women and men who became free, and then risked it all to help others become free.


For the better part of thirty years, I have had some experience walking alongside of churches, observing God and observing people at work. Lately, I have been asking myself this question. 

When people think of church, 

is it a place where people are trapped?

or a place where people are being set free?

Through the month of April, my goal is for our congregation to look at a range of ways that God works "Setting The Captives Free".  Probably, this study will lead me to some places where Baptists seldom go. I can't be captive to that. Undoubtedly, this study will mean getting free of some old hurts and hangups myself. Undoubtedly, overdue. But if we go there, we'll be able to help others get there. 

Through His Cross, Though His Grace, 

Into a Springtime of Awakening ~ & breathing easier.