brennan manning

In The Shadow of the Almighty

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

“Put all ‘supposing’ on one side and dwell in the shadow of the Almighty. Deliberately tell God that you will not fret about that thing. All our fret and worry is caused by calculating without God” (Oswald Chambers, Run Today’s Race).

That’s it. I should just end this post here. Oswald Chambers has been one of my favorite devotional writers for years because he was able to articulate truths like few others.

Worry is practical atheism. I confess that I’m just as much guilty of that as anybody. Sometimes I feel like anxiety and worry are default settings that I revert to when my circumstances get stressful.

The antidote to anxiety is worship. Worship isn’t telling God something He doesn’t already know, but reminding yourself of His infinite power and goodness. Worship is declaring the worth of God in everything you do– not just in singing– as a way to reboot your mind to see that God is still working out all things– including your stressful situations– for His glory and your good.

Worry is calculating without God. All those scenarios that cause such dread are missing one key ingredient– God. It’s easy to do when God doesn’t seem as present as your problems.

That’s when you trust the heart of God. You trust that faith really is believing when common sense tells you not to. You believe that God’s promises are just as guaranteed in this moment as they were through all the generations of the Bible, and that they are for you.

I’ll just end this with a quote from one of my favorite writers that sums it all up perfectly.

“Worry is belief gone wrong. Because you don’t believe that God will get it right. But peace – peace is belief that exhales. Because you believe that God’s provision is everywhere – like air” (Ann Voskamp).

 

 

When Harry Met Sally Strikes Back

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

harry1

I’m still processing the fact that Princess Leia died today. I understand that all of us humans have an expiration date and will face death someday. I was hoping her’s wouldn’t be so soon.

I decided to honor her memory by revisiting a classic movie where she plays one of her best roles, When Harry Met Sally.

This movie is a cultural icon. Just about every frame is memorable. Through older eyes, I find it both timeless and a time capsule to all things 80’s. The themes are eternal. The hairstyles, fashions, technology, and trends? Not so much. They lend a touch of nostalgia to the film.

I understand that celebrities are just as human as the rest of us. They make poor choices that have consequences. Sometimes, those consequences are fatal.

Still, a lot of them are a part of the fabric of my growing up. I can watch one of their movies and be instantly transported back to when I was 17. For that, I’m forever grateful.

I admire Carrie for her absolute refusal to kowtow to anyone else’s expectations of how she should look or behave. She followed her own path and couldn’t care less if anyone else approved or not.

I’ll most likely be watching the original Star Wars movies some time soon and reliving more old memories. Rest in peace, Princess Leia. You were one of a kind.

 

Boxing Day Randomness

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

Here it is, the day after Christmas, when the usual sense of post-holiday despair sets in.   Only this time, I’m at peace with the world and feeling very much contented.

I still love the joy on the faces of my nephews and niece at opening their presents. It’s such a fleeing pleasure that gradually dims a little as they grow another year older.

Speaking of growing older, I’m finding that my own joy comes less and less from the gifts I receive and more and more in the giving. It’s less about the spectacle and more about the quiet moments where the full meaning of the reason for the season sinks in a bit further.

I’m not taking for granted that everyone I love will always be around– even for next Christmas. I’m learning to savor all the times we spend together, to soak in as many memories as I can before it all becomes past tense.

I didn’t quite get around to all the required holiday movie viewing, so I may have to extend the deadline on that one just a bit. I still haven’t seen A Christmas Story, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, or Elf yet. I know, I know. I’m seriously slacking.

I’m also thinking of ways to carry on the Christmas spirit beyond December into the new year. I’m thinking of the sermon at the end of The Bishop’s Wife. David Niven’s character says that the best gift for the baby in the manger who’s birthday we’re celebrating is treating others like we want to be treated. Or better yet, treating others and loving others like Jesus has loved us.

There really should be some kind of special observance for December 27. I’m not ready to give up the Christmas season cold-turkey. Maybe I can commemorate it by continuing to live out that spirit of generosity and kindness and seeking to live a more Christlike life.

That should be a good start.

 

Boxing Day 2016

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

Christmas Day officially ended 37 minutes ago. Even though I know that the Christmas spirit lives on, I’m always a little sad to see the day end because I know it means the end of all those festive decorations and lights.

Still more than that, it means the end to the time when I feel most closely connected to the past and all those family and friends who are no longer here. Somehow, those memories seem to visit me a little more freely at this time and I’m a little more thankful for them.

The beauty of Christmas is that because of the child born in the manger, no one I loved is ever really lost to me. I have the hope of seeing them again one day. Those of us who have received the greatest gift of Christmas in the form of Jesus can grieve not as those who have no hope but will the full assurance of the blessed hope that Christ has given to us.

That’s the same hope that nullifies any fear of death and the grave. It cancels out any fear of what anybody here on earth can do to me. That hope not only gives me a future but also an abundant life here and now.

It’s now 12:45. It’s all quiet except for the sound of my geriatric cat purring on the pillow next to mine. I’m still trying to make sense of the blur that has been the last five weeks since Thanksgiving.

I know that the next Christmas Day rolls around in 364 days but I also know the promise that day holds will be good tomorrow and the day after that and through all the days of the year.

That same gift that came in the manger so long ago is still available to anyone who asks and seeks the Christ in faith.

 

 

The True Meaning of Christmas 

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 2 Comments

“O God, you have caused this holy night to shine with the
brightness of the true Light: Grant that we, who have known
the mystery of that Light on earth, may also enjoy him
perfectly in heaven; where with you and the Holy Spirit he
lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen” (from The Book of Common Prayer).

It seem like the old adage is true. The older you get, the faster time goes. As a kid, I thought Christmas would never arrive. Now, I feel like if I blink, I might miss it.

This year, I’ve barely had time to revel in the season of Advent and Christmas, and tomorrow is Christmas Day. If only I had a remote control for life with a big pause button to slow everything down for a bit just so I could savor all of the sights and sounds and scents.

But the true meaning of Christmas is for more than just December 25. Its still good after all those ornaments have been taken down and the tree put away for another year. It goes beyond December and into the new year and follows all the days of every year.

God has come near. As my pastor says often, Christianity isn’t that we can get to god but that God in Jesus has come to us. He didn’t wait until you and I got our acts cleaned up and made ourselves ready to receive the Incarnate. He came when we were in the middle of our biggest messes. He came when we needed a Savior the most.

Even after the shine wears off of those gifts, the best gift will still be that Emmanuel is still here. He has not left us and He never will. The hope of Christmas is the hope that will sustain us always.

 

 

Just Like the Movies

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

I had a scene from a movie that actually played out in my own life recently.

In the movie Christmas in Connecticut, Elizabeth Lane writes a column about a long lost rocking chair from her childhood. In response, her readers send in rocking chairs in droves. Never mind the fact that she wrote about life on a farm with a husband and child while she actually lived in an apartment as a single woman.

I wrote a blog post about wanting a folding rocking chair a while back. Recently, one of my most devoted followers was kind enough to send me one. I just got it in the mail today. This may be one of my top five all-time favorite gifts, not so much because of the gift itself, but because of the generosity and sacrifice of the giver.

Christmas is about the ultimate gift of generosity and sacrifice. God send His one and only son Jesus into the world for many who would scorn and reject the gift but also for those who would open their hands and hearts to receive this gift.

My prayer for you at this season is that you are truly overwhelmed by the magnitude of God’s gift. No one forced Him to give it. It wasn’t done out of obligation or duty but 100% out of sacrificial love.

Maybe this Christmas we can all move a little closer to showing our gratitude for that gift though our own sacrificial giving and love. None of us can begin to hope to repay the gift or prove our worthiness, but we can pay it forward and point others to that Ultimate Sacrificial Gift.

“When the Maker of time, the Word of the Father, was made Flesh, He gave us His birthday in time, and He, without Whose divine bidding no day runs its course, in His incarnation reserved one day for Himself. He Himself with the Father precedes all spans of time, but on this day, issuing from His mother, He stepped into the tide of years. Man’s Maker was made Man that He, the Ruler of the stars, might nurse at His mother’s breast, that the Bread might be hungry, that the Fountain thirst, the Light sleep, the Way be tired from the journey, that Truth be accused by false witnesses, that the Judge of the living and dead be judged by a mortal judge, that the Teacher be beaten with whips, the Vine crowned with thorns, the Foundation be suspended on wood, that Strength might be made weak, that the Healer be wounded, that Life might die” (St. Augustine).

 

The Right Time

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

“When the right time arrived, God sent His Son into this world (born of a woman, subject to the law) to free those who, just like Him, were subject to the law. Ultimately He wanted us all to be adopted as sons and daughters” (Galatians 4:4-5, The Voice).

More than any other time or season, the Advent season reminds me that God’s timing is perfect.

Jesus came into the world at just the right time, not to condemn the world but to save it and redeem it.

That’s the hope for all of us out there who are still waiting on God’s promises and holding on in faith to what we do not yet see. God’s timing is perfect.

“Strength of my heart, I need not fail,
Not mind to fear but to obey,
With such a Leader, who could quail?
Thou art as Thou wert yesterday.
Strength of my heart, I rest in Thee,
Fulfil Thy purposes through me” (Amy Carmichael).

Praying for Real

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

“To pray, I think, does not mean to think about God in contrast to thinking about other things, or to spend time with God instead of spending time with other people. Rather, it means to think and live in the presence of God. As soon as we begin to divide our thoughts about God and thoughts about people and events, we remove God from our daily life and put him into a pious little niche where we can think pious thoughts and experience pious feelings. … Although it is important and even indispensable for the spiritual life to set apart time for God and God alone, prayer can only become unceasing prayer when all our thoughts — beautiful or ugly, high or low, proud or shameful, sorrowful or joyful — can be thought in the presence of God. … Thus, converting our unceasing thinking into unceasing prayer moves us from a self-centred monologue to a God-centred dialogue (Henri Nouwen).”

I confess. I suck at prayer.

Lately, what starts out as prayer either turns into daydreaming or just plain dreaming.

I have such difficultly keeping my mind focused on prayer when I’m praying. How sad is that?

I also confess. Prayer isn’t about me. It’s not about how well or how poorly I pray.

The Bible says that the Holy Spirit can translate even the deepest of sighs and groans into words that God hears. When I can’t find the words to pray or the voice to speak them, God still hears.

Sometimes, I think when I’m at my most eloquent is when I’m actually doing the least amount of praying. It ends up being me performing for others instead of petitioning my Father in heaven.

The most beautiful prayers in God’s ears are the ones for which there are few words, like the one the tax-collector prayer over and over, “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

For that I’m thankful.

Let the Stable Still Astonish: A Repost

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

I’ve posted this on numerous social media platforms (and even here at least once), but this one deserves another repost because it so beautifully captures the heart of the Advent and Christmas season.

In all the hustle and bustle and rushing about, it’s good to still our hearts and quiet our souls to reflect on the miracle wrought in a stable so long ago:

“Let the stable still astonish:
Straw-dirt floor, dull eyes,
Dusty flanks of donkeys, oxen;
Crumbling, crooked walls;
No bed to carry that pain, 
And then, the child,
Rag-wrapped, laid to cry
In a trough.
Who would have chosen this?
Who would have said: ‘Yes,
Let the God of all the heavens and earth
Be born here, in this place’?
Who but the same God
Who stands in the darker, fouler rooms
of our hearts and says, ‘Yes,
let the God of Heaven and Earth
be born here–
in this place'” (Leslie Leyland Fields, Let the Stable Still Astonish).

I’m Still Here

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

“You’re not a failure until you stop trying. If you have no other testimony you have this one: ‘I’m still here'” (Joyce Meyer).

Winston Churchill once said that success is never final and failure is never fatal, but it is the courage to continue that counts. Aside from some very impressive alliteration, there’s some good truth here.

So hooray for all of you who made it out of bed this morning when you felt an overwhelming desire to sleep in and give up on the day.

Hooray for all of you who adhere to the old motto that faith is believing when common sense tells you not to, or as the author of Hebrews puts it, it’s the “assurance of things you have hoped for, the absolute conviction that there are realities you’ve never seen (Hebrews 11:1, The Voice).

Hooray for those who doggedly adhere to that faith through trials and doubts and who have never given up on God because they know God has never given up on them.

Hooray for those who still dream after so many previous dreams have been dashed to pieces and who keep longing after their desires have been countlessly delayed and denied.

Hooray for those who persevere in the midst of pain and suffering while wearing a smile through it all.

Hooray for those whose only victory today might be the declaration “I’m still here.”

Not only will your endurance lead to a reward, you are leaving a legacy to those who follow to not give up.

After all, Advent is all about how waiting on God’s best is always always worth it.