Remembering

Tuesday, March 31, 2020

Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins.  You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world.  He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God.  All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature.  By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.  But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead.  (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)  For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus.  So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus.  God saved you by his grace when you believed.  And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.  Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.  For we are God’s masterpiece.  He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.  Ephesians 2:1-10

Particularly among Evangelicals, the last few verses of this text get the press.  Grace alone was the main thrust of Martin Luther’s reformation.  And, while there is no argument on my part that God’s grace deserves first seat in Christian doctrine and practice, I have a high place in my heart and mind for resurrection; both from the grave, and from the death of what used to be.

The gist of that to which I’m pointing is similar to the history my bride and I share.  We’ve been married a long time.  Occasionally we will just sit together with almost no conversation.  Inevitably, one of us will begin to marvel aloud at the history we have together, and how God has led us through so much.  The marvelous part of it is how we both understand we’d never be on this end of our journey, still together, and still wanting to be together, had it not been for the grace of God providing some pretty awesome strength for that journey; especially during the lean and difficult years.  Life can (and does) test any marriage up to, and beyond, the breaking point!

Grace enters this conversation Elizabeth and I have about our history because we both understand the power that has seen us through many dangers, toils, and snares, is the undeserved, but unreserved kindness and mercy of God in Christ Jesus.  It is that power which holds all things together; from the molecules he first created eons ago, and then re-formed from chaos into the wondrous order of all we see in the earth and universe, all the way to the forces, events, and even thoughts in our minds…it is prevenient, provident, and beneficent grace that God bestows upon us.  Our lives, even the next breath you take, are an impossibility, except for the hand of Jesus Christ.  I see that in the same way the apostle Paul wrote about it:

Everything was created through him and for him.  He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.          Colossians 1:16b-17

For You Today

Take it from a genetic introvert; while you’re stuck at home it’s a blessing you’ll not regret to look back and see how God has held you together through life.  Take a little time today to thank Him for where He’s got you right now!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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Title Image:  Pixabay.com  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

For other posts on Ephesians 2:  see Turn Back...and Live   and  Grace Alone – Part 1 and    Grace Alone – Part 2 and   James the Just – Part 6 The Upward Spiral of Metamorphosis  

Two Roads - One Destination

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Friday, January 3, 2020

“But what do you think about this?  A man with two sons told the older boy, ‘Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.’  The son answered, ‘No, I won’t go,’ but later he changed his mind and went anyway.  Then the father told the other son, ‘You go,’ and he said, ‘Yes, sir, I will.’  But he didn’t go.  “Which of the two obeyed his father?”  They replied, “The first.”  Matthew 21:28-31a

For me it’s always a holy moment when I look back to “connect the dots” on the pathway that unfolded as God led someone to bow the knee and serve the King.  Our Mom had a full scholarship to attend Moody Bible Institute in Chicago and become a missionary.  However, this was during The Great Depression, and her father shut down that opportunity, insisting she stay at home after high school to earn money to help support the family.  

Mom never lost the missionary fire within; she was a shining light quietly inspiring and changing lives.  The first life she impacted was Elwood (Slim) Brownworth.  She wouldn’t go to the movies with him unless he agreed to come to church with her.  That started a different kind of fire, and it lasted 67 years.

Mom served our Lord in the church we attended in those early years, as Sunday School superintendent, leading Vacation Bible School, and attending to many other details of church life.  But the missionary-in-residence of our humble 4-room cottage most lived-out her commitment to Christ in the day-to-day routines of the faithful life of a Jesus disciple right in front of her two children.  That visible testimony of the grace of God had the effect that it always has; two different lives impacted to travel two different roads, with one destination.

My brother, Thom, four years older than I, went off to Houghton College when I was a freshman in high school.  Thom was the first college student in our family.  His plan was for ministry studies, but the financial burden of college costs was too heavy, and the scholarship from the State of NY could only be used for non-ministry purposes.  So, the math major was born, and my big brother graduated with honors.  This pathway started a different kind of ministry than Thom had imagined.  In the classroom at Stony Brook School he would teach math to students, but the ministry became modeling faithful Christian discipleship for his children, grandchildren, students and peers.  That lasted more than five decades.  It wasn’t the road he’d planned, but God leads the way we can serve Him best.

Meanwhile, Thom’s brother was treading a different path.  College was a bust, and the younger brother became an education drop-out, drafted, and wandering in the far country.  

Eventually, God’s Spirit finally got through to the more hard-headed of the brothers, whose wandering gave way to a re-call into commitment of life; this led to a different kind of wandering – 40 years of itinerancy – like Abraham, following God far from home and family.  

Getting back to the elder brother; Thom retired from the classroom a few years ago…to become a student.  (It seems the Brownworth boys can’t help this).  

This time, however, there was no scholarship hanging in the balance; this was a long-delayed dream-following which would culminate a month ago in being commissioned as a deacon in the Lutheran church, to serve at the Lord’s beck and call, teaching and ministering to others in need.  The classroom is now, as John Wesley would say about his parish, the world.

For You Today

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

In retrospect there is an easier (and better) way to do things than imagining we chart our own course and captain our own ship.  Mom knew that; her boys took a while to figure it out.  Learned in the process…answer God…it’s never too late!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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[1] Title Image:  Pixabay.com      Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

This Holy Week - Part 4

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Maundy Thursday of Holy Week, March 29, 2018

“These are your instructions for eating this meal:  Be fully dressed, wear your sandals, and carry your walking stick in your hand.  Eat the meal with urgency, for this is the Lord’s Passover.  On that night I will pass through the land of Egypt and strike down every firstborn son and firstborn male animal in the land of Egypt.  I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt, for I am the Lord!  But the blood on your doorposts will serve as a sign, marking the houses where you are staying.  When I see the blood, I will pass over you.  This plague of death will not touch you when I strike the land of Egypt.  “This is a day to remember. Each year, from generation to generation, you must celebrate it as a special festival to the Lord.  This is a law for all time.  Exodus 12:11-14^(NLT)

Friday evening Jewish families will be gathered all over the world to celebrate Passover, the moment God’s very special chosen nation was born.  They ate the bread of haste, and marched out of Egypt on their journey to the Land of Canaan.  Now that sounds simple and jubilant, doesn’t it?  It was jubilant; how could the end of 400 years of slavery be other?  But simple is another story.  Passover is a beginning, not a conclusion.

That rest of the story includes many battles, wrong turns in the wilderness, judgment and conquest.  Winning the right to occupy the Promised Land was a snap compared to walking the straight and narrow of keeping it!  The whole record of Israel’s history is spiked like the stock market…up one day, and crashing the next.  Every time you blinked someone was doing evil in the sight of the Lord, getting punished, and the next day the cycle would start all over again.  Rags-to-Riches, Hero-to-Zero, and back.

If that story strikes a familiar chord with our life experience, it’s because Israel’s story is our story too in this way:  Like Israel, we are born into humanity in an instant; the next threescore-and-ten years are a labyrinth of exploration, pain of wrong choices, momentary happy times, and lots of surprises.  It’s not all melancholy, but Life-101 can be a tough teacher! 

If repeating the mistakes of our ancestors isn’t enough, most of us also find new ways to create potholes in navigating our life’s highway.  Trouble, like Job’s sparks flying upward from the fire, is the way of humanity.  If it isn’t a natural disaster, we create enough unnatural ones, wars, terrorists, meddling relatives, greed, lust, envy…and so the minefield continues.  

The people who celebrate the Passover are the same as those who come to the Lord’s Supper table.  We all eat the bread with urgency, with the taste of bitter herbs on our tongues, remembering the acrimonious darkness of sin and how it enslaves us.  And we try to heed the instructions to be fully dressed, wearing sandals of peace, helmet of salvation, belt of truth, and staff/sword of the spirit in hand[2].  All of this signifying we’re ready to move-out, drop it all, leave everything behind at the sound of our Lord’s voice.

Is it any wonder the Christian life is called a pilgrimage?  When you live life as a pilgrim, home is always somewhere else.  As with Augustine[3], how can we be at rest anywhere until our souls are at home with Him?

For You Today

If you celebrate a seder (Passover) meal, or the Lord’s Supper this week, remember this is the mark of a pilgrim; you’re a traveller…you’re not home yet. 

So, travel well, be sure-footed and safe, as you stay close to He who leads the way.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[1] Title Image:  Courtesy of Pixabay.com

[2] Ephesians 6:10-18

[3] Augustine, Confessions