This one is a very simple one. The lesson is Servanthood.
Simply put, it's been the discovery of the joy that can be found in serving others. This has found expression in a lot of ways. But a big element of it has been the fact that, after 15 years focused on my pastoral ministry, God gave me a season in which my role was to add value to the ministries of other people - our pastors (Al, Doyle and Brian), our Worship and Music specialist, Mark; our specialists in other ministries such as youth and childrens' ministries (John, Tamara and Bernadette); even the seminary interns (Lutherans call them vicars) who served with us for one year at a time. These guys weren't even finished with their degree, they were only with us a year each, none of them had even hit 30 yet - it woul have been easy to feel as if I'd been set aside (and sometimes I did feel that way). But over the last 10 years I have learned the blessing of lifting up the ministries of others instead of my own - to ask "How can I serve you today?" and really mean it. This is not the kind of lesson that came easily to me - not natural for me - but necessary. And I am grateful for the opportunity I had to learn it.
Sunday
Lessons from the Journey II
Grace. That's all. Grace.
Sometimes Grace is a theological concept. The basic idea being that our Creator gives us what we do not and cannot deserve.
In its ultimate expression, Christians believe that we do not and cannot earn or deserve a relationship with God, but because of God's grace, we can have a relationship with God through faith in Christ. That is the essence, the big idea, of Christian faith. Two key passages underscoring this idea are:
"God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself" (2 Cor 5:19) and
"By grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast."
Sometimes Grace is a theological concept. But if that is all it is, we are missing out on the good life.
Grace is intended to be a way of life, a way of living. A way of interacting with other people. We are intended to be people of grace, behaving graciously towards others - giving them what they do not and cannot deserve.
But here's the deal: we can't give what we do not have. And if all we have is grace-as-theological-concept, all we can give is lip service: cheap talk about something we read about somewhere.
Grace is intended to be "lived out" of us, into other people. But before that can happen, grace has to be "lived into us" by someone else. Now the ultimate "someone else" is the God who gave up His heavenly stature and became man, in the person of Jesus.
But we need other people who can "live grace into us" by example. And that is important; and it is more important if there have been people who lived "un-grace", the opposite of grace, into us.
Wounds have the capacity to bleed the grace out of us. And even if grace has been lived into us by parents, siblings, friends and others, those wounds, left untended, can drain the grace right out of us.
Ten years ago I was, in the words of Jackson Browne, "running on empty". I needed a serious transfusion of grace. And I received it in many ways and from many sources, but predominantly from a small group of people with whom I worked day in and day out for about 8 1/2 years. I was spoon-fed grace.
Now remember that definition. Grace is about receiving the undeserved. So to be spoon-fed grace, you have to come face-to-face with your own un-deservedness. To be specific, you have to blow it. And I did. Many times, and sometimes in huge ways. And life had taught me that "blowing it big-time" leads to "crash-and-burn".
Only it didn't lead to that. It led to Grace being lived into me, which had the effect of re-training my mind, my limbic system, my lower nervous system, into believing that grace really is more than a theological concept. It is a way of living. Maybe a way that I had never learned beyond the theological concept; or maybe a way that I had forgotten or had been bled out of me. But I learned it by having grace lived into me.
Back into the present: people have looked at me in the past 18 months and have said "We are noticing this about you". They are seeing grace in me. And I am thankful - but I know it's not about me. It's about what I have learned, by the way others have lived their understanding of grace into me. What has gone around is coming around again.
Sometimes Grace is a theological concept. The basic idea being that our Creator gives us what we do not and cannot deserve.
In its ultimate expression, Christians believe that we do not and cannot earn or deserve a relationship with God, but because of God's grace, we can have a relationship with God through faith in Christ. That is the essence, the big idea, of Christian faith. Two key passages underscoring this idea are:
"God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself" (2 Cor 5:19) and
"By grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast."
Sometimes Grace is a theological concept. But if that is all it is, we are missing out on the good life.
Grace is intended to be a way of life, a way of living. A way of interacting with other people. We are intended to be people of grace, behaving graciously towards others - giving them what they do not and cannot deserve.
But here's the deal: we can't give what we do not have. And if all we have is grace-as-theological-concept, all we can give is lip service: cheap talk about something we read about somewhere.
Grace is intended to be "lived out" of us, into other people. But before that can happen, grace has to be "lived into us" by someone else. Now the ultimate "someone else" is the God who gave up His heavenly stature and became man, in the person of Jesus.
But we need other people who can "live grace into us" by example. And that is important; and it is more important if there have been people who lived "un-grace", the opposite of grace, into us.
Wounds have the capacity to bleed the grace out of us. And even if grace has been lived into us by parents, siblings, friends and others, those wounds, left untended, can drain the grace right out of us.
Ten years ago I was, in the words of Jackson Browne, "running on empty". I needed a serious transfusion of grace. And I received it in many ways and from many sources, but predominantly from a small group of people with whom I worked day in and day out for about 8 1/2 years. I was spoon-fed grace.
Now remember that definition. Grace is about receiving the undeserved. So to be spoon-fed grace, you have to come face-to-face with your own un-deservedness. To be specific, you have to blow it. And I did. Many times, and sometimes in huge ways. And life had taught me that "blowing it big-time" leads to "crash-and-burn".
Only it didn't lead to that. It led to Grace being lived into me, which had the effect of re-training my mind, my limbic system, my lower nervous system, into believing that grace really is more than a theological concept. It is a way of living. Maybe a way that I had never learned beyond the theological concept; or maybe a way that I had forgotten or had been bled out of me. But I learned it by having grace lived into me.
Back into the present: people have looked at me in the past 18 months and have said "We are noticing this about you". They are seeing grace in me. And I am thankful - but I know it's not about me. It's about what I have learned, by the way others have lived their understanding of grace into me. What has gone around is coming around again.
Friday
Lessons from the Journey I
When we concluded our ministry at Deerbrook Covenant Church in Humble, TX, the earnest prayer of our heart was that God would open a door to a new opportunity for pastoral service, and quickly. God opened many doors - but that one would remain closed for about a decade.
You often hear the remark that "God's Timing is Perfect", and I've always believed it - even though it rarely feels perfect when you're waiting. But earlier this week I began to reflect on all the things I would've missed out on in the past 10 years if God had provided quickly, what I waited until this week to receive - a pastoral call to a Covenant Church.
I can't list everything - the blessings of the last decade are too numerous to count - but just a few:
-the incredibly positive experience I enjoyed serving on the ministry staff at Christ the King
-the friendship I still enjoy with the staff as well as countless members and attenders both past and present
-the pleasure of my involvement with CentreStage Theatrical School and Company and the friendships I treasure among its many participants
-the amazing grace of God poured out through so many people who have prayed for us and supported us in so many ways over the past decade and especially the last 18 months
-the satisfaction of having spent over 12 years in one community and one house (I've been a bit of a gypsy)
-many spiritual lessons - not the least of which is - when God's answer is delayed, you can focus on what's lost or on what's left. And the choice you make will change your life.
You often hear the remark that "God's Timing is Perfect", and I've always believed it - even though it rarely feels perfect when you're waiting. But earlier this week I began to reflect on all the things I would've missed out on in the past 10 years if God had provided quickly, what I waited until this week to receive - a pastoral call to a Covenant Church.
I can't list everything - the blessings of the last decade are too numerous to count - but just a few:
-the incredibly positive experience I enjoyed serving on the ministry staff at Christ the King
-the friendship I still enjoy with the staff as well as countless members and attenders both past and present
-the pleasure of my involvement with CentreStage Theatrical School and Company and the friendships I treasure among its many participants
-the amazing grace of God poured out through so many people who have prayed for us and supported us in so many ways over the past decade and especially the last 18 months
-the satisfaction of having spent over 12 years in one community and one house (I've been a bit of a gypsy)
-many spiritual lessons - not the least of which is - when God's answer is delayed, you can focus on what's lost or on what's left. And the choice you make will change your life.
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