My way!

But this was very displeasing to Jonah, and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord and said, ‘O Lord! Is not this what I said while I was still in my own country? That is why I fled to Tarshish at the beginning; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing. And now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.’ And the Lord said, ‘Is it right for you to be angry?’ Then Jonah went out of the city and sat down east of the city, and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, waiting to see what would become of the city. The Lord God appointed a bush, and made it come up over Jonah, to give shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort; so Jonah was very happy about the bush. But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the bush, so that it withered. When the sun rose, God prepared a sultry east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint and asked that he might die. He said, ‘It is better for me to die than to live.’ But God said to Jonah, ‘Is it right for you to be angry about the bush?’ And he said, ‘Yes, angry enough to die.’ Then the Lord said, ‘You are concerned about the bush, for which you did not labor and which you did not grow; it came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who do not know their right hand from their left, and also many animals?’ (Jonah 4:1-11, NRSV)

Have you ever wanted something and you prayed for it and you felt like it was going to happen, like this is really where God is leading you?

Jonah was there. He was sure the Ninevites were going to get it. They had mistreated so many for so long and had been living out of the path of God, and God was going to smite them. He sent Jonah to Ninevah to warn them, that they had 40 days. And they heard what God was saying through Jonah and they repented and God turned from His anger.

Jonah was now left with the emptiness of what he thought was what was going to happen not happening. Jonah thought God would do what Jonah wanted Him to do since Jonah did what God asked.

Do we ever find ourselves getting upset with God because He didn’t do it my way?

God does not need an adviser, He needs followers, people who will not get upset when things don’t go their way, but are ready to go and do as they are led for the good of all people!

So is it my way, or is it God’s way?

Repent!

The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying, ‘Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.’ So Jonah set out and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly large city, a three days’ walk across. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s walk. And he cried out, ‘Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!’ And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth. When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. Then he had a proclamation made in Nineveh: ‘By the decree of the king and his nobles: No human being or animal, no herd or flock, shall taste anything. They shall not feed, nor shall they drink water. Human beings and animals shall be covered with sackcloth, and they shall cry mightily to God. All shall turn from their evil ways and from the violence that is in their hands. Who knows? God may relent and change his mind; he may turn from his fierce anger, so that we do not perish.’ When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it. (Jonah 3:1-10, NRSV)

Jonah went to the Ninevites and told them that the way they were living was not how God wanted them to live.

He was one who took the word of God to the people of Ninevah.

And the people of Ninevah listened. And they heard the word of the Lord and they repented. Even the king of Ninevah removed his robe and covered himself with sackcloth and ashes. He repented of his evil ways and set his sights on God.

That is what God seeks for all of us. He wants for us to turn from our own selfish understanding to focusing on Him.

When God sees this, as He did in Ninevah He turns from anger to and turns to love!

So turn from your own desires to following God.

For whom?

‘Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven. ‘So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. ‘And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. ‘And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. ‘Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21, NRSV)

For whom do you give alms,fast,pray? Why do you do these things?

Is it to boast your own self image?

Look at me and the great things I am doing!

We are human, so we want people to give us accolades. We want the treasure that feeds us and give us the wonderful things in life now!

But Christ tells us to store up our treasures where it can not be taken from us.

We need to watch our motives and not try to stock pile here and make a name for ourselves. Jesus is telling us to hide our giving, fasting and praying not so others don’t know we are doing these things, but so we do not get caught up in the drawing attention to ourselves and miss the point of giving, fasting and praying.

We give, fast and pray to draw closer to God, not for ourselves! We are starting a trek to deeper discipleship and Jesus is helping us with a good GPS!

Photo a Day for Lent Challenge

One of the things I have grown in doing has been a photo a day for Advent and Lent. Usually there is one put out by RethinkChurch, a wonderful United Methodist site.

But this evening when I went there to discover their photo a day for Lent listing I could not find it…

So I Googled: Photo a day lent…

I found one at Catholic Sistas which is good, but I would have had to modify it for my Lutheran understanding…

So as I was lying in bed I started thinking of my sermon for Ash Wednesday and my sermon for the first Sunday during Lent and words started popping into my mind. So I created my own picture a day challenge for Lent.

So here it is…

Picture a day Lent 2014

I will be uploading my photos here and on Pinterest.

If you join me in this adventure please post a comment on my post here for the my picture of the day with a link to your picture.

I pray that this adventure will draw you closer to God as we travel these 40 days of Lent with our Savior!

Rejected?

I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel? ‘Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars; I alone am left, and they are seeking my life.’ But what is the divine reply to him? ‘I have kept for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.’ So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace would no longer be grace. (Romans 11:1-6, NRSV)

We sometimes think and get the picture form the New Testament that God has rejected the Israelites and moved on to the Gentiles…

But Paul clearly tells us here that God is not rejecting His chosen people. You see God made a promise to the Israelites, that is the Old Covenant as we Christians call it. The promise that was made that they would be His people and God would be their God.

And you see in that is grace! Grace has permeated the world from the beginning. There is no way we can do enough to be in the promise, that is grace.

So Israel is still God’s chosen people, and we get to be grafted into the body of Christ through the grace given to us…

So they are not rejected, and you are not rejected either…

Will you go…

‘Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning bush. When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight; and as he approached to look, there came the voice of the Lord: “I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” Moses began to tremble and did not dare to look. Then the Lord said to him, “Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. I have surely seen the mistreatment of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to rescue them. Come now, I will send you to Egypt.” (Acts 7:30-34, NRSV)

Moses gets a burning bush to tell him where to go.

Would you want to go back to the place you fled from if you encountered a talking burning bush?

I know we ask God all the time for clear signs to lead us where He is sending us. But I really wonder how many of us would run screaming away when we encountered a clear sign like a burning bush?

We say we are ready to go, but when Jesus asks us to do something we back pedal. We either trust Jesus or we don’t…

We are either ready to go on the ride of our lives and give up control, or we hold tight and not follow…

So will you go?

Will you follow?

Will you give up control for the ride of your life?

Listen!

Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. Then Peter said to Jesus, ‘Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I* will make three dwellings* here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.’ While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved;* with him I am well pleased; listen to him!’ When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, ‘Get up and do not be afraid.’ And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone. As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, ‘Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.’ (Matthew 17:1-9, NRSV)

I have always wondered as I read the texts for the Transfiguration, how did Peter, James and John know who Jesus was talking to? I mean it is not like they had photographs of Moses and Elijah to compare the figures to… Maybe Moses and Elijah had on name tags… Hello my name is Moses!

But what is this text telling us…

Listen to Him!

We get so caught up in the world of easy and quick and give it to me now. We don’t always stop and appreciate the silence. We don’t stop to appreciate the time with God. We don’t stop to listen.

We have easy mac and easy hotdogs, that you can microwave in less than 1 minute. How hard is it to cook hotdogs or mac and cheese?

And even as I type this I am drawn to the new commercials that 15 minutes to save money on car insurance is to much, now we have a company that can do it in 7.5 minutes!

We need to slow down and listen…

So take some time, to just be with God and listen to Him!

for dust you are ~ March Lighthouse Article

for dust you are, and to dust you will return. Genesis 3:19

Lent is upon us! A time of sackcloth and ashes!

A time for us to reflect and join Jesus in the desert as He prepares for His ministry. 40 days of wandering, thankfully not 40 years of wandering, but a time to focus us on our lives in Christ and what if the meaning in our life.

Many of you might remember when we would give something up for Lent. I recall one year before seminary, when we were still in North Carolina giving up something for Lent. The church we were attending was a mission congregation and we ran a coffee shop Monday – Saturday out of the place we had worship.  We had good coffee and it was all donation based for whatever you wanted. You could get at the Well and drink you could get at Starbucks! So for Lent that year, I gave up coffee. Yes the man with the big pink coffee cup gave up the sweet nectar of the gods the magic bean water… And no I didn’t cheat and have coffee on Sundays. I went from Fat Tuesday to Easter morning with no coffee. I felt closer to Christ that year than ever before!

You see Lent is not about beating ourselves up it is about growing in our relationships with God.

So I challenge you to give up something near to you for those 40+ days, or take on a task you have not done daily in the past, but have been thinking about. Go for a walk, read your Bible, do a daily devotional, have a family prayer time, but take on a spiritual discipline. If you are stuck on this just ask and I would be glad to help.

So let’s grow together and closer to Christ!