Thought For The Day

"You gain strength by admitting you need help."

                                                   Miles O'Brien, CNN

Perisseia For March 5 Canceled

Perisseia, the women's growth group at Windsor Chapel, has been canceled this evening, March 5, due to the snowstorm.   May you all have a safe, warm, and cozy day!

The Glory of the Lord

“Lord, make me see thy glory in every place.”  So wrote Michaelangelo, one of the most gifted and renowned artists in human history.  While there is a great deal of speculation regarding Michaelangelo’s spirituality, sexuality, and even morality, there appears to be no doubt that he was blessed with an awesome God-gift.  And, he got one thing right: Michaelangelo recognized that God’s glory was everywhere and that he needed God’s help to see it.  And arguably, God answered Michaelangelo’s request.  As Michaelangelo saw, so he painted, sculpted, and designed.  We are the beneficiaries of Michaelangelo’s God-given gift and God-given sight, as we admire the Cistine Chapel, The Pieta, St. Peter’s Basilica, and The David, among others.

It is easy for us to understand that an artist needs to see God’s glory.  A photographer friend of mine once observed that the great photographers weren’t so much skilled with the technical elements of a camera as they were gifted in seeing the “special” in what they saw, and then capturing it with a camera so that the image could be shared with others.

But what about us “regular” folks?  Most of us are not artists.  It may seem to matter little in our day-to-day existence if we see God’s glory or not.  We are often too busy or too tired to care.  I will admit that I view some days and some tasks as unlikely candidates for “glory sightings.”  I have come to the conclusion, though, that this is a short-sighted attitude that disappoints the Lord of glory who attends our every move and indeed, who lives within us.  It also dims our joy and limits our capacity to pursue the Biblical mandates of encouraging one another and proclaiming the Gospel.  If we do not see God’s glory, we simply will lack the fuel to effectively participate in God’s redeeming work in us, among us, and through us.

I am not saying that every circumstance, event, situation, conversation, etc. is a glorious experience.  We are fallen people living in a fallen world, and much of our life experience is tainted with sin, pain, frustration, and loss.  These are most definitely not glorious.  But as God is present in us and in our world, so is His glory.  I believe that it is worth seeking.  Encountering God’s glory invites us to leave the confines of our own perspective and take a “joy ride” with God.  It gives us reason to praise and motivation to share.  It helps us to make our faith a verb and not merely a noun.

I think we would do well to make Michaelangelo’s words our own before God.  If we believe that God’s glory is everywhere, let us ask our Lord and Master to reveal that glory to us.  Spring is coming, and God’s glory will be evident in nature.  That is worth celebrating and sharing.  But let us not stop there.  Since we humans are God’s image-bearers, His glory is in each of us.  Jesus has taught us that in order to see that glory we need faith: “Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”  (Jn. 11:40).  Although Jesus is in this passage encouraging Martha just before He raised Lazarus, the principle has a much broader application.  May we in faith ask God to reveal to us His glory in one another and then encourage and bless others and preach the Gospel with integrity and honesty.

I suspect that none of us is destined to be a Michaelangelo or an Ansel Adams.  We can, however, ask God to reveal His glory to us and then “capture” that image in our minds to share with others.  An encouraged heart or a soul committed to Christ is even more glorious than the Cistine Chapel.

Thought For The Day

"People may doubt what you say, but they believe what you do."

                                                                              Jan Karon

February: A Month of Mixed Blessings

My husband and I are most definitely amateur pet owners, but in the course of the last 25 years, we have learned a few principles about training dogs.  With our last dog, our vet recommended we try a head collar (sometimes called a Gentle Leader) to help Daisy remain calm when we took her to new places.  We dutifully headed to the pet store, and as we opened the package, I was struck by a bit of information that was included with the instructions: “the more a dog resists wearing a head collar, the more he needs it.”  We were not surprised that Daisy absolutely hated the head collar.  She far preferred to direct her own activity rather than be directed.

I am afraid to say that the same it true with me and the month of February.  I am sure that I am in good company when I say that I really don’t like endless gray, cold, and damp days.  But I think my dislike of February goes deeper than that. 

From a creation standpoint, February (in New Jersey) is a time of rest and waiting.  After the harvest in the fall, the earth rests from its work and waits for spring and the beginning of another growing season.  The sun rises late and sets early.  Many animals head to warmer climates or hibernate.  There is a sense of stillness and recovery in the outdoor world before the anticipation of spring begins with more abundant sunlight, blooming plants, and chirping birds looking for mates.

This is why I don’t like—but very much need—the month of February.  In many ways it is a time of rest and waiting for me as well.  The push of the holiday season is over, and I have an opportunity to recover from the rush.  And although ministries re-start, there is also the sense of waiting for spring and the resurgence of outside activities.  I don’t like to rest and wait.  I far prefer to “do.”  But when I persist in my busy-ness, I miss out on the Lord’s refreshment, and I am less prepared to bear fruit at His appointed time.

I would do well to welcome February as my “head collar,” to see it as a tool to help me give up my own ambitions and desires and let God refresh and direct me.  I may not like it, but perhaps I can begin to appreciate February as a blessing, as a gift from my Lord who would have me abide in Him and bear fruit for His glory.

2015: Expectation or Expectancy?

It is time for a new year, again.  It is not always easy to welcome a new year.  We are still cleaning up after the holidays, returning gifts and paying bills.  It is cold and dark.  We are tired.  Some of us have just said our good-byes to loved ones not seen often enough.  For others among us, the pain of abusive or absent families experienced during the holidays lingers.  Some of us ate too much; others ate alone.  It is difficult to summon energy and enthusiasm for a whole new year.  Too many expectations and too few internal resources.

One of my favorite books is Wm. Young’s The Shack.  It is a fantasy in which a desperately hurting, middle-aged man finds himself sharing a wilderness shack with God for a week-end.  Mack needs to know God if he is ever to let go of his guilt, shame, and performance orientation.  Over the course of the week-end and many conversations with God, Mack begins to correct many of his faulty notions about who God is.  He begins to let go of his guilt and shame; the Great Sadness that has descended upon him since the murder of his daughter begins to lift.  But he still doesn’t have all the pieces put together.  As the week-end begins to come to a close, Mack asks God what He expects of him.  God is appalled at the question, and Mack learns the most important truth about God:  God is a God of relationship, and He wants, first and foremost, relationship with Mack.  God tells Mack that relationship is not about expectation, but rather about expectancy.  Partaking in a relationship is not driven by duty but by desire and joy.

If we take what Mack was learning and apply it to our New Year’s perspective, we need not sigh or wince at the prospect of a new year.  The New Year is not about making resolutions to finally “get it right,” or improving ourselves so that God will be pleased with us, or even to fix ourselves so that God can use us.  The New Year is God’s invitation to look back and appreciate His redemptive and faithful goodness and to look forward with anticipation of what our Savior and Lord will do in our lives in the coming year.  Our Master is calling us to draw near to Him in faith.  Yes, we may need to confess and repent of sin that keeps us from a genuine faith-relationship with God.  But as we lay our sin and our faith before our Master’s feet, He will cleanse us and take the smallest drop of faith and magnify and multiply it to accomplish His glorious purposes.  We can face a New Year without the doubt and fear of failure that come with expectations and with the excitement and joy that comes with the certain expectancy that our God is living and sovereign. Our God delights to fulfill His purposes in us and through us.  Even on a dreary winter day in New Jersey.

A Celebration of Christmas

Last summer, Ken and I took our daughter Ruth to New York to see Aladdin on Broadway.  The movie had been a favorite of hers as a child, and it was great fun to enjoy it with her.  I approached the evening, though, with a bit of ambivalence.  I, too, loved the movie; would the Broadway production meet our expectations?

The show was good, really good; but it was not as good as the movie.  And of course there was the problem that since we had already seen the movie, knew the plot, and were aware of the happy ending to the drama, there was nothing new to look forward to.

Still, we had a marvelous time.  And although part of it may have been the excitement of seeing a live play on Broadway, for the most part I believe it was the transforming power of the play itself.  Despite the fact that this rendition lacked some of the magic spun by Robin Williams and that we already knew that Aladdin would get the girl and that Jafar would get what he deserved, it is a wonderful story of redemption. 

Seeing Aladdin on Broadway gave us an opportunity to relive the story, to immerse ourselves in the drama, and to appreciate the power of truth, grace, and redemption.  Sitting in those seats, we were able to live the story, again.

I believe that celebrating Christmas is much the same.  We know the story, complete with details.  Holiday celebrations often do not measure up to years past, our desires, or  another’s expectations.  And I have been told in the past by “mature” Christians that Christmas is the “lightweight” holiday, and that Easter is where our focus should be.  I beg to disagree.  While it is true that the celebration of Christmas has been diluted by hype and commercialization, it is, nonetheless, an opportunity for us to soak in the incredible truths of our need and God’s rescue mission initiated at the incarnation.

Yes, we know the plot and awful drama of the story, and its glorious end.  And we may not be able to celebrate as we have in the past, or as some would have us celebrate.  But each year the Christmas season invites us to partake anew in God’s infinite goodness.  God incarnate, come for us, each of us, as we are, today.  Such Love is worthy of our utmost attention and fullest response.  May we savor the story and celebrate its message truly, deeply, and without measure.