Do You Have at Least One Ear?

Dear Faith Family,

I love Jesus, for many reasons. Not the least of which being his ever-repeating invitation to live. Not just exist or get-by or even to figure it out, but to use my born faculties to really live.

The invitation that fills the Gospels and concludes each letter to the seven-churches goes like this: "He who has an ear, let him hear..." All you need, it seems, is one working ear! Not even the set! An ear to hear Jesus calling you into the life he's given for you to walk in. A new life, full and forever. 

As Dan challenged us on Sunday, we'll we listen? Will we throw off the distractions that keep us from hearing the powerful invitation of Jesus to live, really live? Will we use what God's given us to lead the lives God's calling us into? 

May Malcolm Guite's poem draw us into using our ears this week. Love you, faith family. God bless! 

How hard to hear the things I think I know, 
To peel aside the thin familiar film
That wraps and seals your secret just below: 
An undiscovered good, a hidden realm, 
A kingdom of reversal, where the poor 
Are rich in blessing and the tragic rich 
Still struggle, trapped in trappings at the door
They never opened, Life just out of reach ...

Open the door for me and take me there. 
Love, take my hand and lead me like the blind, 
Unbandage me, unwrap me from my fear, 
Open my eyes, my heart, my soul, my mind. 
I struggle with these grave clothes, this dark earth, 
But you are calling, 'Lazarus, come forth!' 

How long does it take to make the woods?

Dear Faith Family,

April is national poetry month, in case you didn't know! And so I wanted to share with you a poem from Wendel Berry. A poem about the rest of refining, which the narrowing of life to "the works" of Jesus inevitably brings about. A poem that is good company to the pastoral words of our Good Shepherd who is the gate, the way, the light, the beginning, and the end, and whose kingdom is always finished and forever being made.

May you rest in your refining as you find yourself "among the trees planted by streams of living water." 

How long does it take to make the woods? 
As long as it takes to make the world.
The wood is present as the world is, the presence
of all its past, and of all its time to come. 
It is always finished, it is always being made, the 
act of its making forever greater than the act of its destruction. 
It is a part of eternity, for its end and beginning
belong to the end and beginning of all things, 
the beginning lost in the end, the end in the beginning. 

What is the way to the woods, how do we go there? 
By climbing up through the six days' field, 
kept in all the body's years, the body's 
sorrow, weariness, and joy. By passing through 
the narrow gate on the far side of that field
where the pasture grass of the body's life gives way
to the high, original standing of the trees. 
By coming into the shadow, the shadow 
of the grace of the strait way's ending, 
the shadow of the mercy of light. 

Why must the gate be narrow? 
Because you cannot pass beyond it burdened. 
To come in among these trees you must leave behind
the six days' world, all of it, all of its plans and hopes. 
You must come without weapon or tool, alone, 
expecting nothing, remembering nothing, 
into the ease of sight, the brotherhood of eye and leaf. 

Love you, faith family! Praying our Father's blessing, the Spirit's filling, and the Son's calling over you this week.

Getting Older or Growing Up?

Dear Faith Family,

I read a quote this week about the difference between growing up and getting older. As you read the words below, listen. Listen for and discern the echoes and Spirit of those "seven letters" which have taken our attention lately. 

“Most people don’t grow up. It’s too damn difficult. What happens is most people get older. That’s the truth of it. They honor their credit cards, they find parking spaces, they marry, they have the nerve to have children, but they don’t grow up. Not really. They get older. But to grow up costs the earth, the earth. It means you take responsibility for the time you take up, for the space you occupy. It’s serious business. And you find out what it costs us to love and to lose, to dare and to fail. And maybe even more, to succeed."

— Maya Angelou

Growing up into who God has created us to be as uniquely named individuals and his collective priestly progeny is an exercise in finding "out what it cost us to love and to lose, to dare and to fail. And...to succeed." That's a pretty good summation of the message from Jesus to the churches, to our faith family.

Have we not recognized in these letters that Jesus' apprentices are learning the cost of loving him more than the ways and things of the world they inhabit? What it costs to lose and to fail and to dare to hold fast. And living together with Jesus through affirmation, admonition, and promise; learning also to succeed, to "conquer."

The journey from new birth to life forever grows us. We don't merely get older; we mature, we change. And this change happens as we "take responsibility for the time [we] take up, for the space [we] occupy," as "the church in Dallas."

Am I taking responsibility, or just doing "adult" things?

That's the question Angelou's quote and Jesus' address has me asking today, and praying that we would be ones who don't just grow older, but grow up.

I’ll leave you with one more quote to reflect on this week:

"beloved, since you are waiting...be diligent to be found by Jesus without spot or blemish, and at peace...grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen."
(2 Peter 3:14,18)

Love you faith family! God bless.

After Easter

Dear Faith Family,

The days after a major holiday can feel a bit aimless. Especially if we've put a lot of energy into preparation and anticipation for the "big day." Think about how you feel after Christmas morning when all your Advent devotionals are spent. Rising in you is both a sense of accomplishment of what you've completed and a sense of uncertainty for what to do now. Granted, you might not consider this until the haze of overeating and overspending has begun to clear! 

While Easter may not have the same societal build-up (or overindulgence) as Christmas, it nevertheless has garnered much of our attention these last several weeks. For many Jesus followers, their participation in the Lenten season (including our faith family's invitation to weekly fasting) along with the focus of "holy week" with its Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, and Good Friday; means this week might lack the spirit and clarity of the weeks prior. And much like the days following Christmas morning, we are left wondering where to focus our energy now? 

Well, in the church calendar, the next "big day" is the Day of Ascension. Thirty-nine days after Easter morning (May 13th this year), the church recounts the day Jesus alive ascended from earth to the right hand of the throne of our Father (see Lk 24:50-53 & Acts 1:6-11). Between resurrection and ascension is nearly six weeks of Jesus alive again with his friends and followers, connecting the dots of his witness and his work to their lives in God's kingdom. And then, he was gone. Gone and yet never leaving nor forsaking those who now partner in his witness and his working still to come (see Matt. 28:16-20). 

This connects the dots from Jesus' life to our lives with Jesus alive again that becomes the Church's focus after Easter.  After Easter's joy comes everyday life with Jesus alive, ordinary life lived in the extraordinary power of our ascended King. 

Malcolm Guite's sonnet, Ascension Day, helps us make the after Easter transition. As you reflect on the ascension stories (especially in Acts), may Guite's words bring our focus onto the life we know live because Jesus lives. 

We saw his light break through the cloud of glory
Whilst we were rooted still in time and place, 
As earth became a part of heaven's story
And heaven opened to his human face. 
We saw him go and yet we were not parted, 
He took us with him to the heart of things, 
The heart that broke for all the broken-hearted
Is whole and heaven-centered now, and sings; 
Sings in the strength that rises out of weakness, 
Sings through the clouds that veil him from our sight, 
Whilst we ourselves become his clouds of witness
And sing the waning darkness into light; 
His light in us, and ours in him concealed, 
Which all creation waits to see revealed. 

Love you, faith family! Praying our Father's blessing, the Spirit's filling, and the Son's calling over you this week.

Something to Consider

Dear Faith Family,

In just a couple of days, hundreds of millions of people--including our faith family--will take part in traditions, celebrations, and worship all because Jesus died and is alive forevermore (Rev. 1:18, 2:8).

This "holy week" is filled with remembrances of Jesus' execution and resurrection, offering us the opportunity to meditate on the love of God poured out for us through Jesus (Jn. 3:16). God's love flooding our hearts through the Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:5).  

Of all the things this week we could consider (sin, life, death, power, sacrifice, joy, etc.), I encourage you, faith family, to consider love. To consider the love that compelled our Father to persistently and patiently endure our rebellion until the right time (Gal. 4:4). To consider the love that compelled Jesus to "take the form of a servant" (Phil. 2:7) and give his life so that we might live. To consider, with Paul and Timothy, what our lives would look like if we could say,

"For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised."
(2 Cor. 5:14)

May you know God's love, and may God's love be known through you and us. This week, and forevermore. Through Jesus Christ, "the first and the last, and the living one."  Amen. 

Love you, faith family. Praying our Father's blessing over you and looking forward to worshiping with you Easter morning! 

A Run In At The Grocery Store

Dear Faith Family,

It's amazing how quickly our hearts can calcify even if we hunger and thirst for living rightly. This is especially true when the stressors and toil of daily living are heightened as they have been throughout this past year. Before we know it, we are ever on the defensive. Every word and everyone a threat to what we have earnestly worked to safeguard, whether at the macrolevel (freedom, justice, truth) or in the micro-relations (health, dignity, responsible choice). Our hearts harden even in our active, persistent endurance. And here is how we know it: by the way we respond to daily offenses. 

Take, for example, my interaction with a fellow shopper at our neighborhood grocery store last week. Having both wrapped up a quick stop, we got into our vehicles just a couple of spots apart. He pulled out first. I followed.

At the exit of the parking lot, he split the lanes. Not sure if he was going straight or turning right, I pulled up behind him on the far right side of the exit. To be fair, I was pretty close to his car. Not touching his car, but certainly closer than I should have been. I thought he was going to turn immediately, but he didn't. Instead, he turned around in his seat, threw up both middle fingers, and began to yell what I assume were a string of profanities that indicted my lack of neighborliness. And then he calmly drove away.

The driver was no ill-tempered youth. His flowing white beard and random assortment of bumper stickers led me to peg him as easily in his sixties. He seemed stable enough in the check-out line, and there was no odd behavior on our way to the parking lot. Certainly, my encroachment into his personal space was unnecessary, but should it elicit such a dramatic response? Obviously, there was more going on in this man's life and his heart. And that's the point. The way we react to other people, especially people who cross a boundary we've so earnestly defended, shows how soft--or hard--our hearts have become. 

While it is not difficult to see the hardening taking place in another's reactions, we can easily miss it in our own.

I don't have to think too far back to recall a few instances in which my internal response looked a lot like my neighbor's in the grocery store parking lot. The offenses were real, some major, most minor, and even a few accidental. What, sadly, was consistent was my responsive temperature and volume. While only occasionally spilling out, the internal combustion is enough evidence of a heart hardening amid the stressors of faithful living. Unfortunately, I don't think my heart condition is unique. Rather, it seems to be a common disease among Jesus' followers. 

Jesus tells us the issue I'm facing (and maybe you too?) is not an issue of anger or anxiety or even exhaustion, but rather love. Specifically, "abandoning the love you had at first." (Rev. 2:4). What keeps our hearts from crusting over as we strive to follow Jesus faithfully is not diligence or routine or doctrine (all of which are important), but love. More accurately, God's love for us and others. 

In the same context in which Jesus names our issue, he provides for us the medicine for our healing: "Remember therefore from where you have fallen..." (Rev. 2:5). 

Jesus implores us to remember the rhythmic beat of God's love for the world, including us. A melodic cadence that has filled our lives and a pulsing pattern that has shaped all of history. When we remember God's steady meter, it's quite easy to see how far out of beat we've fallen in our responses to daily offenses and offenders. 

Psalms 136 and 139 are psalms for remembering. Psalm 136 for remembering that "his steadfast love endures" across all the ages and over every realm. Psalm 139 for remembering that his love is sewn into every fiber of your being and has encircled every season of your living. His love is, and has always been, "first" (see Jn. 3:16 & 1 Jn. 4:10). 

Psalm 139 ends with a request of God to help keep our hearts soft and on beat with his. A prayer I encourage you to pray with me today, this week, and often in our patient endurance in following Jesus. 

Search me, O God, and know my heart! 
Test me and know my anxious thoughts and concerns
And see if there be any offensive--offbeat--way within me, 
and lead me along the path
--in the metered pattern of your love--
ancient and everlasting. 

Through Jesus Christ.  Amen. 

Love you, faith family! Praying our Father's blessing over you this week.

Honoring A Change

Dear Faith Family,

I was thinking of my grandmother the other morning. Stepping outside, I could feel and see the seasons' change fully underway. The air was crisp, and the buds on our Pistache were beginning to take form. This was her time of year! 

Many of you know that Karen's mom, my grandmother, passed away a couple of weeks ago. "Mow," as we all called her, loved when the cold winter days gave ground to the cool spring mornings. She was an exceptional gardener and had a special affection and skill for growing flowers, especially spring blooms. 

Nearly every memory I have of Mow includes flowers of some sort, from her expansive floral beds at her and Pop's house to the more modest but ever-present, potted and planted arrangements at her retirement village. Even when she moved in with my parents towards the end, flowers were a constant feature in her room. 

Born at the front end of the Great Depression (she would have been 93 this coming Sunday!), Mow experienced quite a few seasons' changes. All along the way, she gardened, spending hours, days, weeks, and even years caring for and learning through her floral blossoms. So, in honor of Spring's soon arrival and Mow's lasting life, I want to share with you some floral wisdom that Mow penned to encourage us through the seasons of life. 

Take Time To Smell The Roses
by Velma "Mow" Smith
 
Take time to smell the roses,
as the thorns of life you fight;
while you are struggling with the thorns,
those blooms may fade from sight.
 
Take time to touch the petals,
just feel that morning dew!
Those thorny things you’re struggling with;
will wait a while for you.
 
For the rose has but a season,
it’s here now, then it’s gone.
But the thorns of life you struggle with
seem always to go on.
 
So just inhale that fragrance,
forget now all the thorns;
Enjoying roses while they’re in bloom,
makes the struggle more easily borne.

Love you, faith family! Praying God's blessing over you this week. 

Our Response

Dear Faith Family,

I'm wagering that you've received a larger-than-normal number of communications from your places of work, businesses you frequent, apps you have downloaded, and your social media feed over the last few days. I'm also willing to bet that a major reason for these additional notifications has to do with our state officially "Reopening" today. 

Regardless of how you feel about the situation, we all have to respond to it, And it seems like everyone is more than happy to share their response, so why not our faith family too! 

So, here is how Christ City Church is responding in life together at this moment: with hopeful, considerate, perseverance. 

It is no coincidence that the change in public policies coincides with a season of focused bodily fasting and a weekend of church-body affirmation. Over the last month, we've been aligning our whole persons (hearts, minds, souls, and bodies) with God's Spirit, aiding us to participate with His will being done on earth as it is in heaven. Fasting as a response--as we saw in Isaiah 58, Zechariah 7-8, Ezra 8, Matthew 4, Mark 9, Luke 2, as well as Acts 13 and 14 (just to name a few!)--moves God's people to hope for restoration (healing/health), wholeness (peace) and completeness (happiness) for themselves and others. A hope that commissions us to consider our place in God's actions towards the vulnerable and forgotten, those walking out-of-step with God, those who do not yet know Jesus, and especially those with whom we share life daily. A hope that empowers us to persevere for the good, and not just the desired. 

Whether we knew it or not, our corporate focus and collective practices have prepared our response to this particular moment. Brought together (wholly aligned) in our fasting as we build one another up in love to maturity in Christ (Eph. 4:1-16), we act out of confident hope in God's merciful restorative work, conscientious of our participation with God in the lives of others, and joyfully persevering until faith becomes sight. 

Perhaps the last two paragraphs seem a bit dramatic, especially in response to state policy. And maybe you're right. But here is the thing, while every situation in our cultural moment seems to demand a new response from us, the consistency of our Father's character and actions means we can be consistent too. 

For Christ City, that means we'll continue to keep our Gathering Guidelines in place for the time being, out of consideration for one another. At the same time, we have begun patiently and expectantly planning for being together again in ways we have all sorely missed over the last year. 

So, that's our response to this day--hopeful, considerate, and persevering. By God's grace, it will be our response tomorrow too! 

Love you, faith family! Praying God's blessing over you this week. If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to let me know. 

Think Small

Dear Faith Family,

A few weeks ago, we introduced fasting into our individual and collective faith family rhythms. For most of us, fasting was either an unpracticed or so rarely practiced habit of faith that it felt like something totally new. Despite our limited experience, I have been so encouraged and impressed by how you have dove into the heart of fasting thus far together! 

Fasting is not mechanical. It does not guarantee a predictable result like a mathematical equation, nor are there particular fasting inflections that ensure the incantation "works." No, fasting is a whole-body response that, over time, aligns or syncs up our hearts, minds, souls, and bodies with our heavenly Father. It's a way for our entire being to be with Jesus in particular sacred moments, which in turn, helps us be together in ways that honor God and each other. 

While I am excited that we are learning to fast together, I realize that our efforts to add a new habit come when those resolutions many of us made last month are starting to falter--and so is our resolve to keep good, basic habits! 

If that's you today (and if it isn't you today, it probably will be on another day!), I want to encourage you to think small. We're doing this with fasting. Encouraging fasting just once a week for three weeks and keeping up the habit for a few weeks more until Easter if you're up for it. You can apply the same thinking to our faith's basic habits that keep us in-step with Jesus: scripture, prayer, and worship. 

If nine weeks into the new year, you feel the culturally normative fatigue in mind, body, and spirit, where it seems easier not to do the good things that require more effort than you have the energy, then think small. 

• Each morning, simply pray the Lord's Prayer (Matt. 6:9-13) while washing your face, brushing your teeth, or while in the shower.

• On Saturday morning (or your day off work), with a cup of coffee or tea in hand, reflectively read a Jesus story, and then

• on Sunday morning, worship with your faith family.

While "more" will be both required and desired to live fully in Jesus, these small habits will sustain in seasons where we feel we cannot do "more." And the incredible thing, at least in my experience, is that the small habits always lead me back to both the desire and strength for more. 

Love you, faith family! Praying God's blessing over you this week. 

A Lovely Wait

Dear Faith Family,

I said on Sunday that fasting is a natural reaction in the organic process of maturing as whole and holy humans. Fasting is our bodily response that unites our emotions (heart) with God's heart and actions in particular (often grievous) "sacred moments." 

While fasting is natural, it is certainly not normal, at least for most of us. The choice to forgo food for a set period of time is one habit we are more than happy to classify as "for them" and "not for me"! Whether out of timidity, misunderstanding, or legitimate concerns, fasting is a practice in which we are unpracticed. 

And yet, our scriptures and our Savior assume that we would be people who fast (see, for example, Matt. 6:16-18 and 9:14-17 and see what word Jesus puts before "fast"!). So, for the next several weeks, we will put into practice what Jesus assumes we will do as his disciples and fast together. 

To help us practice fasting with a heart that aligns with Jesus', I want us to not just fast together but worship together too. Specifically, on the days we fast, let's join in worship with this song which  Chaz lead us to sing on Sunday: 

A LOVELY WAIT

"A Lovely Wait" is a helpful reminder that fasting is about being with the One who satisfies all aches in body and soul. We fast to join with Jesus and our Father in the midst of weighty moments, and when we keep to the heart of fasting, delaying the fill of our stomachs can truly be "A lovely wait..."

May your hunger and thirst for righteousness find satisfaction, my friends.

Love you faith family. God bless.

On "Ash Wednesday"

Dear Faith Family,

Today millions of Jesus followers, churchgoers, and religious practitioners worldwide begin a season of abstinence known as Lent. Over the next 40 days, they will abstain from alcohol, social media, sugar, and “anything that hinders our communion with God." (Willis, 21). Some will fast sunrise to sundown, giving up food entirely. Some will freely choose this self-denial for the full 40 days leading up to Easter Sunday, others for three weeks, and some still for the week before Good Friday. 

While the methods and duration may differ, what begins today on Ash Wednesday is a preparation "for the miracle of forgiveness on Good Friday and its life-giving power on Easter." (McKnight, 92-93). The Lenten season is dedicated time of "self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God's holy Word" (Book of Common Prayer, 265).  

While many in our faith family will joyously and knowledgeably join with our sisters and brothers worldwide in Lenten practices, there are just as many (including myself) who have a little history with such tradition. So, if you are like me, might I suggest two small steps we can take to join our global faith family at this special time: 

• Make the Prayer of Examen a daily routine. You can find guides here (scroll down to "Practices').

• Join us in a weekly Fast starting this week. You can find a guide here.

Whether today is a significant day in your faith or a day you know hardly anything about, let me invite you to pray with me the "Litany of Penitence" and share with all our brothers and sisters today, a reminder of our mortality and the gracious gift of everlasting life. Pray with the Chruch:

Most holy and merciful Father:
We confess to you and to another, 
and to the whole communion of saints
in heaven and on earth, 
that we have sinned by our own fault 
in thought, word, and deed; 
by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. 

We have not loved you with our whole heart, and mind, and strength. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We have not forgiven others, as we have been forgiven. 
Have mercy on us, Father. 

We have been deaf to your call to serve, as Christ served us. We have not been true to the mind of Christ. We have grieved your Holy Spirit. 
Have mercy on us, Father. 

We confess to you, Father, all our past unfaithfulness: the pride, hypocrisy, and impatience of our lives. 
We confess to you, Father. 

Our self-indulgent appetites and ways, and our exploitation of other people, 
We confess to you, Father. 

Our anger at our own frustration, and our envy of those more fortunate than ourselves, 
We confess to you, Father. 

Our intemperate love of worldly goods and comforts, and our dishonesty in daily life and work, 
We confess to you, Father. 

Our negligence in prayer and worship, and our failure to commend the faith that is in us, 
We confess to you, Father. 

We turn to you, Father, and away from the wrongs we have done: acknowledging our blindness to human need and suffering, and our indifference to injustice and cruelty, 
We hold fast to you, Father. 

Acknowledging false judgments, uncharitable thoughts toward our neighbors, and prejudice and contempt toward those who are different from us, 
We turn to you, Father. 

Acknowledging our waste and pollution of your creation, and our lack of concern for those who come after us, 
We hold fast to you, Father.

Restore us, good Father, and let your anger depart from us; 
Favorably hear us, for your mercy is great. 

Bring to maturity the fruit of your salvation, 
That we may show forth your glory in the world. 

By the cross and passion of your Son our King and Friend, 
Bring us with all your saints into the complete joy of his resurrection. 

Amen. 

Love you, faith family! God bless.

"Be Like Mike" and Pray!

Dear Faith Family,

On Sunday, we concluded our yearly Kingdom Epiphanies with Jesus teaching us to pray. His prayer/parable/pronouncement response to a disciple's question on the most common and commonly frustrating endeavor of kingdom life was, Lord willing, quite freeing. 

In thirteen quick verses, Jesus removes all preparations for prayer and simply invites us into communion with Father, Son, and Spirit. Without pretense telling us to "ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be open to you" (Lk. 11:9). It seems nothing is prohibiting us from engaging God for our most fundamental and necessary needs and desires, and the joy of satisfaction found in His generous Spirit. 

But let's be honest for a moment, prayer is something we all struggle with. It may be true that we are invited into a candid, caring, and personal conversation with God as the basic means of abiding in Him, yet we (myself included) often confess that "Prayer is dry," that "Prayer is difficult," and even "I don't know how to pray." 

Usually, when we make such confessions, we do so longing for something different and hoping that there is a solution to satisfy. Usually, too, the solution comes in the form of a book, program, or principles on prayer. None of which are bad, by the way. Well, some of the books and programs and principles are a bit silly, and a few are disgraceful, but generally, our go-to resources are not completely unhelpful! 

But here is the thing, we don't learn to pray through resources and tools; rather, we learn to pray through praying together. The best way to learn to pray, and to improve your prayer life, is not to get a book but get a prayer partner. 

"Prayer partner" may sound too traditional for some of us, but the reality is, we learn and remain fresh in prayer when we pray with other people. While prayer is personal, it's also relational, and we learn how to relate by doing things like living, playing, and praying with others. 

I remember when I learned to pray. I had at that point been praying for years on my own; in quiet times and on occasion praying as I listened to parents and pastors pray. Even so, I wouldn't say prayer was natural for me, though it was routine. I had many of the words but not much of a relationship. Then I met a guy named Mike Fechner. 

Mike didn't begin to follow Jesus until later in life, at which point he left the business world and entered the church world, but his worldly (i.e., non-churchy) ease of relating never really wore off. Every Wednesday afternoon, Mike invited me and a handful of other young men to his office to pray with him. No lesson, no agenda, no formula, just inviting awareness of God-With-Us and then start talking...i.e., praying. 

Usually, Mike would start things off. I think he did so purposely, not intending to control but to cultivate. And Mike would pray for anything and everything, anyone, and everyone. Nothing was too big or too small. And the crazy thing was, as Mike prayed, you got the idea that he was bringing us into a conversation that had been going on a long time, and that he was glad to have us jump into with him. 

I am sure we (myself more than the other guys!) prayed some pretty silly prayers. Timid prayers. Self-centered prayers. Self-righteous prayers. Naïve prayers, and the like. But Mike never "corrected" our prayers; he just simply kept praying with us. Over time we began to pray with similar freedom and richness from the relationship Mike invited us into. 

For nearly a year of Wednesday afternoons, we learned to pray by praying together. We learned and experienced the lavishness of what Jesus said as truth, "For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened" (Lk. 11:10), all because Mike invited us to pray with him. 

So, faith family, here is my challenge to you: find someone to pray with. Maybe you are like me and in need of someone like Mike. There are several "Mikes" in our faith family; women and men who we can learn a lot from by simply praying with them. So ask them. If you don't know who they are, ask me, and I'll point you in the right direction. 

Maybe you're like Mike, and prayer (though it has its struggles) is more natural for you; well, be like Mike and invite others to pray with you. And maybe, just maybe, we'll all get to "Be like Mike" in the depth and ease of our relationship with Jesus and one another. 

Love you, faith family! God bless. 

A Word on Wisdom

Dear Faith Family,

In some traditions, yesterday marked the official conclusion of Epiphanytide--though the season will wrap up for us on Sunday! If you remember, the Epiphany season and the weeks that follow emphasize the story of the "wise men" who found in their pursuit of wisdom the child Jesus. A most unexpected find, I am sure! Nevertheless, the light that guided them in search of the treasure of life took them to "The true light which enlightens everyone" (Jn. 1:9).  

It's the wisdom of Jesus, the knowledge and understanding on which our lives are built (or rebuilt), that we've been searching for through his parables. We, at least those of us reading this note, are after a good life, a true life, a beautiful life, a life we believe can only be built upon the resources of God-With-Us, God-For-Us that we discover in Jesus' revelation of "the kingdom of heaven." 

Admittedly though, with all the wisdom, knowledge, and understanding thrown our way, though we believe it and its necessity for a full life, we have a hard time knowing how to put it to work. Am I right? 

Well, praise be to our heavenly Father, who knew we might need a little help! 

Chapter 8 in the book of wisdom we call Proverbs begins with two questions, "Does not wisdom call? Does not understanding raise her voice?" These are not questions of longing or searching, but sarcastically rhetorical, as the next few verses demonstrate. One version translates the author's reply this way,  

"She [Wisdom] has taken her stand at First and Main, at the busiest intersection. Right in the city square where the traffic is thickest, she shouts, 'You--I'm talking to all of you, everyone out here on the street!" 

Right in the midst of daily life, where we work, shop, raise our kids, run into each other, in the places of power, economics, and everyday life, there She is, "Lady Wisdom," shouting out to us to busy to hear, "Don't miss a word of this--I'm telling you how to live well, I'm telling you how to live at your best." (v. 6) 

All that we are after, a life of beauty, harmony, justice, prosperity, and the like (v.12-21); "Madame Insight" helps bring together. Wisdom, personified as a woman who stands beside God as a "master workman,"  "making sure everything fits," (v. 30), and who is "Delighted with the world of things and creatures, happily celebrating the human family" (v. 31) She is not hidden away in some hidden room deep within a maze of religion or intelligence. No! At every entry point of daily living, Wisdom is there, calling to us, raising her voice so that we might listen (v. 2-4). 

Jesus names the same Spirit of Wisdom whose delight it is to shape something beautiful out of the raw materials of everyday existence, "Helper" who is “the Holy Spirit” (see Jn. 14-16). The Spirit of truth that fills us, guides us, and is the guarantee of life now and forever in God's kingdom. Again in Jesus' description, the assumption is that the Helper is not distant or hidden, but intimately near, "with you forever," (14:16) dwelling "with you and will be in you." (14:17). 

So you and I, standing at the entrance of a new day, ready to build (or rebuild) on the foundation of a God-With-Us life, but unsure how to put all the pieces together, perhaps the wisest thing to do is to stop and start with listening*, 

"So my dear friends," says Wisdom, "listen carefully...Blessed the man, blessed the woman, who listens to me, awake and ready for me each morning, alert and responsive as I start my day's work.

When you find me, you'll find life, real life, to say nothing of GOD's good pleasure." (v. 32-35) 

Love you, faith family! God bless. 

*NEED HELP LISTENING TO "THE HELPER"?
Our scriptures are clear that God is not far from us, nor is it his intent to be hidden from us. Instead, especially through the life of Jesus, we come to know a God who speaks, and who does so often and in ways that are understandable and intimate.

And yet, many of us struggle to have ears that hear. But' don't fret! Such unfamiliarity is neither uncommon nor a condemnation. We all need to learn to HEAR GOD. And that's what the resources here are meant to help you with.

If you have questions or would like help learning to listen, please don't hesitate to let me know.

Out of Nowhere...Sort of!

Dear Faith Family,

Our annual starting of the new year in the parables of Jesus has had us immersed in two foundational stories with intent. Two crafted narratives meant to reveal the essential nature of our daily existence. Though admittedly, they are only clarifying to those with ready hearts for a kingdom made in God's image and not in our expectations or assumptions. 

On Sunday evening, having spent the morning in one of these foundational parables and the afternoon getting ready for the week ahead, I found myself on my final chore for the day: laundry. Though Deedra does the brunt of the labor on this household necessity, I do throw in where I can...do the least damage! If something goes wrong with my loads, the family will still be able to function! 

For those familiar with the task, laundry is a pretty straight forward endeavor. Separate the clothes. Measure the appropriate amount of soap. But both into the machine. Enter the proper settings, and away things go! Though admittedly, I have to ask what is "appropriate" and "proper" far too often!

Anyway, as I contributed to our family's order, I realized I was singing an old song. A song that filled my childhood, at least on many Sunday mornings, yet a song I couldn't recall the last time I'd heard, much less sang*.

The moment it dawned on me I was singing this particular song, I wondered, "Where did that come from?' And then it hit me. My lips were echoing the heart of the parables in Matthew's gospel. The song I was reflexively singing was a resonance of the kingdom stories' revelation. 

Rather than continue to describe the song for you, why don't you take a listen and see if your heart resonates as well.

LISTEN HERE

*I'd later ask Chaz if we had sung this song during a Gathering anytime recently, and he kindly informed me that we sang it last week!

So maybe the words weren't too deep and distant from my memory, but that fact doesn't change how well they "stir us up by way of reminder."

Praying that your heart and mind, and actions this week flow from the wondrous reality of God-With-Us and for us in Jesus. May we see new mercies morning by morning and strength for today in the faithfulness of our farming Father.

Holding fast to Jesus with you today and always. Love you, faith family! God bless.

We Are We Now?

Dear Faith Family,

Today our nation swears in our 46th president. Writing this note, I am praying that while you read it, we are not witnessing anything like what we observed on January 6th.

Within our faith family, I am sure that we have a variety of emotions, thoughtful opinions, angsts, and expectations for our nation's current and future state. I am confident; however, we share one thing (at least): a longing for peace. Very few people enjoy chaos. Even those who are at their best under pressure can admit that it's a twisted joy that takes pleasure in people's lives and relationships fractured and unsettled.

Our scriptures call this shared desire "shalom," and describe it as harmony. A life lived in harmony with Creator, creature, and his other creations. Such a life in harmony that brings forth harmony would be a life easily called bountiful or prosperous. Don't you think?

Well, I think so. And, I think this is an image Jesus would have break into our minds as we read the story of the seed and the soil. A story that has me thinking on a day in which all the troubles and uncertainties and doubts swirl within as our past year and future come together. A day in which I wonder, can we (I) really experience harmony?

Jesus' story tells us yes. That as he grows up in us, we grow into ones' whose lives bear a bountiful harvest. Yet while I receive Jesus and his promises with joy, I have to admit that I struggle in the face of tribulation to not stumble over doubts and fears and the costs of holding on to His seemingly slow working. Maybe you can identify with my struggle? If not today, perhaps at some other time?

Jesus describes ones like me (and maybe you) this way, "he has no root in himself" (Matt. 13:21). It's not that I (we) don't joyously receive Jesus and his promises or even that I (we) don't understand what Jesus shows us, but rather that my (our) connection with Christ in us is shallow.

Think about it this way. If I were to experience life, with all its tribulations and troubles, in sync with Jesus as He experienced the same things, what would be different? Would I feel and experience what I do now;  a revolving mixture of anxiousness, anger, and apathy? Surely not. Jesus certainly felt the entire gamut of emotions and experienced the entire spectrum of pain and loss, and yet I doubt anyone would ever have described his life as a mixed bag like mine. 

So what's the point? We all agree that Jesus would respond differently in most cases than we do because, well, he's Jesus, "God-With-Us." But you can't expect us to be in that kind of harmony with God.

Oh, but I can! 

Paul says it this way, "we [that's you and me] have the mind of Christ." (1  Cor. 2:16). To share Jesus' mind is the same thing as saying that Deedra and I share the same mind. We're synced up, we're on the same page, knowing what each other is thinking, expecting, feeling, etc. Why? Because we are in an intimate relationship! We are together, a union, one flesh in harmony. And because our relationship is a primary means for how we function in the world, we are bound to feel and experience anxiousness, anger, and apathy when we are out of sync. 

If that's the way it works in pivotal human relationships, why would we think it works differently in our relationship with the One who designed how we relate? So if you are like me, receiving the person and promises of Jesus joyously, with a knowledge of the life Jesus intends for us to live, and yet stumbles in trials and troubles to experience the harmonious fruit of faith; perhaps our issue is intimacy, not information or even fortitude. We have the will, but lack the root, the entanglement with the One in us. 

So what's the fix? Like any important relationship where the parties are on different wavelengths (i.e., out-of-harmony!), the straight forward solution is time and attention. There is no magic solution (or a mechanical one), but there is something wonderous (and divinely constructed) when two people intentionally focus on being with the other. Especially when they do so over extended periods of time. Our family practices like Silence & Solitude, Lectio, and Recollected Prayer are meant to help us be with Jesus in an intimate, relational way. But remember, as Luke said, this fruit comes with patience (8:15), so hold fast! 

I am sure you didn't expect to end up discussing intimacy issues when the conversations started on inauguration! But that's the marvelous nature of Jesus' parables; they way work their way in from the side, often taking us to places we'd least expect! 

Holding fast to Jesus with you today and always. Love you, faith family! God bless. 

I Think We Are Onto Something

Dear Faith Family,

I want to share with you a note I shared with our Gospel Community earlier this week. As most of you know, I found myself unable to play my part in our Gathering on Sunday due to a rather abrupt and intense illness. Though I am extremely grateful for Deedra's nursing skills and Chaz joyously jumping in to ensure the Gathering was something worth being a part of, I did truly miss getting to serve you and worship with you! 

In the twelve-plus years of vocational ministry prior to starting Christ City, I didn't even need a full hand to count the number of Sundays missed because of illness. Yet, it seems in these last eight-plus years since our faith family's inception that I've had to start using my toes to keep track! And I'm about to run out of digits! 

While there are certainly multiple factors contributing to this trend, it has been my experience that when we are collectively onto something important for our lived faith, that the enemy and illness often make their presence more directly felt, at least in my life. And while I cannot say for certain what was ultimately behind my untimely absence, I do know that what we are onto in the stories Jesus tells is no small thing for us and our neighbors. 

The parables are not merely children's stories told at night to help us sleep well or even make sure that we do the right things. The parables are Jesus' way of getting to our hearts so that our hearts might beat in rhythm with His. These stories with intent, get us in on life with God and God's life into us. As Stephanie read for us Sunday, "Whenever someone has a ready heart for [the mystery of Christ in us, the good news of the kingdom], the insights and understandings flow freely...That's why I [Jesus] tell stories: to create readiness, to nudge the people toward receptive insight." (Matt. 13:12-13). 

Jesus uses this indirect communication to get around our ignorance and arrogance regarding who God is, especially how he works in our lives and the world. The parables are told so that we might experience Kingdom Epiphanies. It is Spirit-filled meditation on Jesus' sideways stories that allow the apostle Paul to communicate what is at the heart of the parables so directly: 

"Those who trust God's action in them find that God's Spirit is in them--living and breathing God!

Anyone, of course, who has not welcomed the invisible but clearly present God, the Spirit of Christ, won't know what we're talking about. But for you who welcome him [who have 'ready hearts']--even though you still experience all the limitations of sin--you yourself experience life on God's terms. It stands to reason, doesn't it, that if the alive-and-present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, he'll do the same thing in you that he did in Jesus, bringing you alive to himself? When God lives and breaths in you (and he does, as surely as he did in Jesus), you are delivered from the dead life. With his Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ's!" (Rom. 8:6, 9-11)

Just imagine what our daily living, our families, our neighborhoods, our city, and nation will look like when we are "alive as Christ"! May our hearts today, this week, this year be ready for "the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to His saints...this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." (Col. 1:26-27). To the fullness of our lives and the blessing of others.

Love you, faith family. God bless!

Join In a New Year Tradition

Dear Faith Family,

For those who are counting, today marks the 12th and final day of Christmas! The light in the east has been followed, and like the wise men of old, we arrive at the appearance of God-With-Us in full humanity! Our Savior and King's manifestation in the unexpected place of a common boy born to common parents. 

Epiphany is the name given to days recounting the "three kings'" search for wisdom. Epiphanytide, is the name of the season after Epiphany, after we discover God-With-Us in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, when the Church focuses her attention on the revealing nature of Jesus' life, teachings, death, and resurrection, as well as our role in reflecting his light to all peoples, tribes, and nations. 

Our faith family joins in this global rhythm by starting each year off entering into kingdom stories told us by Jesus himself. Jesus' parables are Kingdom Epiphanies, stories with intent meant to disarm our (mis)understandings of life with God and one another, crafted narratives designed to engage our minds and hearts as they give shape to our daily living. 

Now here is the thing about parables, they don’t define, diagram, or systematize; they describe something, usually something just as real but more challenging to see than the familiar elements of the short stories themselves: things like our souls, our hearts, our relation to the world, how God relates to us, and that reality we call "the kingdom of God."

Eugene Peterson once said that “Parables trust our imaginations,  which is to say, our faith. They don’t herd us paternalistically into a classroom where we get things explained and diagrammed. They don’t bully us into regiments where we find ourselves marching in [moral, unthinking conformity].” Parables are crafted to foster relationship with the communicator and the "deeper" reality he describes as we find ourselves immersed in the stories themselves. Parables don’t do the work for us; they require us to put in work, imaginative or meditative work. Effort we could call the work faith. They train us to hear the voice of the Lord and see with the eyes of the Spirit (see Matthew 13:11-17).

So, as we begin a new year together, let me encourage you to join in the work of faith by immersing yourself in Jesus' parables throughout the week. Do not just wait until the Gathering to jump in, but walk with Jesus into these stories with intent at least twice a week during January. To help, we’ve put together a schedule along with some questions to ponder along the way. You can access the entire parable schedule for the month here, but I've included this week's parable and practices below. 

May we be blessed with eyes to see and ears to hear what the prophets and righteous of our faith have longed to experience! 

Love you, faith family. God bless!

THIS WEEK

Pick two days this week, perhaps today and Friday or tomorrow and Saturday, to read and reflect through this coming Sunday's parable: The Parable of the Sower. Use the instructions below to guide your time. 

• Day One: Read “The Parable of Sower” in Matthew 13:1-9, and then the disciple's questions and Jesus’ response in verses 10-23. Then re-read the parable and write down any thoughts, observations, and questions that come to mind.

• Day Two: Re-Read Matthew 13:1-23, and then consider the following questions:

  • Who is the sower?

  • Who or what is the seed, “the word of the kingdom”?

  • What does the seed consistently do on each of the four “soils”?

• Sunday: Re-Read Matthew 13:1-9, asking for eyes to see and ears to hear what the prophets and righteous have longed to experience.

Ringing In the New Year...And Ringing Out the Old!

Dear Faith Family,

Tomorrow, the rather infamous year of 2020 draws to a close. For many, this will be a celebration, hoping, fully expecting even, 2021 to be better. How could it not be, right?! 

Like everyone, my prayer, too, is for something more and different in the coming year. Yet, as well know, the calendar's turning is no guarantee that change is coming or for good. This is why, on this last day of 2020, I am praying with and for you this poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson, which you'll find below. A poem about ringing out the old and ringing in the new. A new that is Christ in us, through us, and for us and neighbor. 

May this prayed poem help us leave 2020 behind and enter 2021 expecting that we will be different as Christ is rung in. Love you, faith family! Happy New Year and God bless. 

In Memoriam CVI | Alfred Lord Tennyson

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky, 
The flying cloud, the frosty light:
The year is dying in the night; 
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die. 

Ring out the old, ring in the new, 
Ring, happy bells, across the snow: 
The year is going, let him go; 
Ring out the false, ring in the true. 

Ring out the grief that saps the mind
For those that here we see no more; 
Ring out the feud of rich and poor, 
Ring in redress to all mankind. 

Ring out a slowly dying cause, 
And ancient forms of party strife; 
Ring in the nobler modes of life, 
With sweeter manners, purer laws. 

Ring out the want, the care, the sin,
The faithless coldness of the times; 
Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes 
But ring the fuller minstrel in. 

Ring out false pride in place and blood, 
The civic slander and the spite; 
Ring in the love of truth and right, 
Ring in the common love of good. 

Ring out old shapes of foul disease; 
Ring out the narrowing lust of gold; 
Ring out the thousand wars of old; 
Ring in the thousand years of peace. 

Ring in the valiant man and free, 
The larger heart, the kindlier hand; 
Ring out the darkness of the land, 
Ring in the Christ that is to be. 

Something Worth Sharing

Dear Faith Family,

Christmas is a time for sharing, and so I have something I'd like to share with you. 

We are, unarguably, a small faith family. Yet, we have always believed that size is no indicator nor limitation for God's activity. I have been reminded of this truth over the last week. While we may not have grand numbers, we have--better, you are--women and men laboring in love and steadfast hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

I have been reminded of this joy over the last few days as stories of how you have cared for the sick and lonely among us have made their way to me in various conversations. Stories of how you have prayed and fasted for the anxious and unborn. How you have navigated difficult times and relationships with meekness and courage. How you have sincerely and boldly shared the good news with neighbors and friends. How you have wrestled flesh and sin for a holy singlemindedness. How you have persevered in seeking after and acting on our Father's heart for justice. How you have invited people into relationship amid one of the most awkward times of getting to know someone new!

All this and more you have done and are doing, not to be seen, but because of the love and steadfast hope in Jesus that possesses you. And for that, I am most grateful, proud, and challenged. Your abiding obedience helps make full my joy, and I just wanted to share my joy in you.

I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace...
(Phil. 1:3-7a)

Love you, faith family! God bless. 

The Songs of Christmas

Dear Faith Family,

One of my favorite parts of the build-up to Christmas is the music that fills the airways, our homes, and our gathered times. Even as I write this note, the songs of Christmas permeate my compact home "office." 

There is just something about this seasonal music that even the instrumental melodies are enough to awaken in me a spirit of joy and peace and goodwill. A spirit most needed in this (albeit a little less) cluttered (but certainly not less) chaotic time of this particular year. 

And while the simple tonal structure of these classic tunes is enough to engender the spirit of the holidays, I believe the reason for this power stems from the words we (at least me) sing in route. Even without thinking, the depth of humanity's longing and the divine actions expressed in these familiar choruses strike our core, kindling our fallen nature to its God-created warmth.  

My encouragement over these next few weeks as we listen and sing together these recognizable songs of the season is to consider why they make us feel the way they do. Listen to the words that express the deepest cries of need and wonder. Listen, really listen, to the story told of God's action for us and his presence with us--even still. 

To help us listen, Chaz has put together an ADVENT PLAYLIST. Click here to sing along and listen with your faith family.  

May we have ears to hear what the Spirit says to our church, especially in this season. 

Love you, faith family. God bless!