The in-between…

Today is Ascension Day!

What a wonderful time of the year. It has been 40 days since Easter and in 10 more days will be Pentecost…

But now we live in the in between. Jesus has gone, ascended to the Father, and the Spirit has yet to come, as Pentecost is still 10 more days.  So now we wait, like expectant children on Christmas morning…

I’m not sure how Christmas works at your house, but at our house once the tree goes up, presents start showing up under the tree.  Presents from mom and dad to the kids, from the kids to each other, from the kids to mom and dad, from the kids to grandparents, presents to friends, and other family members…

And those of you who know me, know I am a big kid, so I look for my name.  And there it is, on the big box in the back. WOW what could that be…  Can I shake it?  It might break…  And my kids do the same thing.  We are often heard saying, “don’t touch the presents, or they will all go away!”

Is this the kind of expectancy we have for the coming of the Spirit?  Do we long to have the Spirit, to see where we will go once the Spirit arrives?  Or are we not wanting to go where the Spirit will take us, and reluctant to even open the box?

Jesus went to heaven, but he did not leave us, he is always with us, and so is the Father and the Spirit.

Live in the expectancy of the moment, and follow God where er he might lead.

I Can be a Christian by myself…

Avery and Marsh have an ironic song called I Can Be a Christian By Myself. The first verse goes:

I can be a Christian by myself.
Leave my dusty Bible on the shelf.
I’ll sing a hymn and pray a bit.
God can do the rest of it.
My heart’s the church, my head’s the steeple.
Shut the door and I’m the people.
I can be a Christian by myself.

Some of the other verses include these lines:

I’ll break some bread and drink some wine.
Have myself a holy time.
I’ll take the off’ring then I’ll know
Where that money’s gonna go.
So please remember, Lord, when I die,
Give me my own cloud in the sky.
After this life with its labors
Don’t bug me with needy neighbors.

This is interesting… kind of goes along with the self made person.
However I do not think this is what the Bible tells us about Christianity…
We can not be a Christian by ourselves – Christianity is a communal religion, and we are to be in unity…

End of your Rope…

Isn’t it interesting how we claim to be self made men and women!

We say we pulled ourselves up by our own boot straps, that we are self made, we do not need anything or anybody, because we got it all together.  And that might seem to be the truth, but what will happen when it all falls apart?  What’s going to happen when the chips all fall off the table and your self made world is crashing down around you like a bull in a china shop?

Where will you turn? to whom will you run?

Most of us turn to God at this point. God why did you let this happen to me?  Why do these bad things have to happen to me, after all I had it all together, and was doing really good all on my own, I didn’t need anyone, and I let you alone so you could help all those people that really needed your help.  I left them alone too, so you could help them.  God why did you let this happen to me?

It is funny how we always turn to God in our need, but when things are going “our way” we do not worry about God, but it is at the point we have it all together that we need to invite God in and allow his plan to work.  Matthew 5:3 in the Message says it this way “You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.”  If you can allow God the room upfront, when you are actually at the end of your rope, God will be there with you, and you will know it, and it will not seem so desperate.

We are not self made, we are made by God and our lives begin when we realize that God is the only thing we need, because he will provide for every other need…

I am caught on the blue apple

One of my professors from seminary preached at a classmates wedding and had a blue apple.  This blue apple is the long sought after treasure, you search and search and once you find it, put it away for no one to see, and so it does not get damaged.

And that is what we as Christians do…

Now I took a big leap there, so I’ll back up a bit.  The blue apple is love.  That long sought after person, the love of our lives, the one we have been matched with and so we search and search for them, and once we find them, we are protective and do not want to let that go easy…

But not even the love of our life, the one God has ordained for us to be with, the one that completes you.  But that is what we have in Jesus, right the love of our life!  The one who has given us the perfect blue apple.  And we hide it away and want to keep it all to ourselves.

That is not what Jesus’ gift is for.  The gift of love we are given is to be shared, and nurtured among the community, so it grows and feeds others.  It’s like the Magic Penny.  Love isn’t really love until you give it away and chance losing it…

So share the blue apple, and allow it to buil community, the place God created you to be!

God’s timing…

Have you ever felt like you needed to be doing something for God, but it is not clear what or how.  Or maybe  you know what it is, and for some reason the time, or the material, or the know how to do this thing you know God has called you to is just not there…

It is very frustrating to see something that God has shown you, a time in the future when this plan has ome to completion, yet now it lays in ruins, in waste…

Just think how Zerubbabel felt when he was trying to rebuild the temple, as governor of the Israelite community returning from captivity.  He wanted to make progress, but it was a long enduring slow process…  The foundation of the physical temple had laid in ruin for over 2 decades, mocking Zerubbabel and the task before him.

But the thing Zerubbabel and we must remember is that it is all in God’s hands, and on God’s time.  The temple was still there and God was still leading and guiding his people, just as he is today.  So let Him take care of you, just like the birds of the air and the flowers of the field…