brennan manning

Perfect

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There’s still nothing better than good music playing in the car with the windows rolled down as the sun is going down. A good song can transport you into a place of calm and peace and make you feel good all over.

I’m still old-school when it comes to my music. Occasionally, I will plug my iPhone into my car stereo and play a random selection of all my downloaded music. Usually, I have CDs.

I know that some people are content to turn on the radio and leave it on whatever station they find. I’m not judging, but I find that I am less and less of a radio person the older I get. I’m less and less of a top 40 songs kind of guy.

What music are you listening to in your car? I really want to know. This isn’t a question meant to take up space on my blog post so I’ll have a bigger word count. I’m always open to broadening my musical horizons, to discovering new artists and new kinds of music.

PS If you want to find me on Facebook, look for Greg Johnson. My profile picture is of my geriatric feline doing one of her sleepy poses. I welcome friend requests.

 

An Early Saturday Morning Post

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“You poor, you nobodies, you of little account by the world’s standards, you are blessed. It is my Father’s good pleasure to give you a privileged place in the kingdom– not because you worked so hard, and not because you are saying all the right things or doing all the right things or becoming all the right things, but because my Father wants you” (Brennan Manning, The Importance of Being Foolish).

I had this fantastic idea for a blog post earlier today. At least I believe it was fantastic. Not only can I not remember what I was going to write about, I can’t remember if it was average, good, great, or epic.

Sad.

What I do know is that tomorrow’s Saturday, which means I turn off my alarm and sleep in. The older I get, the more I fantasize about actual sleep– not sleeping with someone, but simply sleeping.

The older I get, I also realize that every day I get to wake up is a day where I’m blessed. More and more people I know didn’t get that privilege. Too many people I know won’t get to live to be my age, much less grow to be old.

I’m blessed not because I particularly deserve it, but because it was the Father’s good pleasure to bless me. It is the Father’s good pleasure to give me the kingdom simply for the joy of giving it.

I certainly have made poor choices in the last 24 hours, both in things done that I shouldn’t have done and in things left undone that I should have done.

That’s why I remain thankful for those mercies that are new each morning when I wake up. I’m grateful for God’s grace that sustains me through the days and weeks. Grace is what got me here, and grace is what will get me home.

 

 

More Musical Goodness for Your Consideration

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Recently, I picked up Natalie Merchant’s Paradise Is There: The New Tigerlily Recordings. For those of you who missed the 90’s, Tigerlily is one of the defining albums of that decade.

It was Natalie Merchant’s breakthrough as a solo artist after fronting 10,000 Maniacs for over a decade. Listening to that album always takes me to a place where my soul is at rest and worries fade away.

The 90’s saw a renaissance and resurgence of singer-songwriters, particularly female artists. Some of my favorites from that era are Sarah McLachlan, Paula Cole, Fiona Apple, and– of course– Natalie Merchant.

I can’t wait to hear the new takes on old tunes. Of course, I will have to revisit the original recordings first. I can envision a scenario where I’m in my car with the windows rolled down, driving at dusk toward my destination. That’s still my favorite way to experience music.

I’ll let you know my thoughts on Paradise is There. In the mean time, I remain as always open to your musical suggestions. The further off the beaten path of the usual radio fare, the better.

 

 

The Space Between the Words

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“The spirit lives in the space between the words. The danger in becoming too wordy is that we miss the space between the words” (Macrina Wiederkehr, Seven Sacred Pauses: Living Mindfully Through the Hours of the Day).

I often think about something I learned in one of my advertising classes at Union University. The key when you’re creating an ad is not to cram in as many words and images as possible onto a flyer or a brochure. People would be overwhelmed by all the information hitting them all at once, and thus be highly unlikely to actually read the ad.

White space in an ad is extremely important in allowing the eye to rest and emphasizing the words and images.

Most of us live our lives at such a frenetic pace, trying to fill every possible space with words and activity and doing. No wonder so many of us feel like we’re running in place, exerting a great deal of energy but not really moving any place.

It’s vitally important to create margins in our lives. Those are the white spaces where we find rest. It’s also crucial to embrace silence and stillness not as enemies of our productivity but as allies in our quest to work and play smarter and not just harder.

How can any of us hear God speak if we leave no space between our words and our deeds? How can any of us grow into the grace of God apart from margins and boundaries?

No one naturally gravitates toward silence and stillness. Most of us will, left to our own devices, trend toward the tyranny of the urgent instead of nurturing and caring for what is most important– our communion with our Maker.

“When all the sheep have been gathered, [The Good Shepherd] walks on ahead of them; and they follow him because they know his voice” (John 10:4, The Voice).

Work Is Love Made Visible

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“Work is love made visible” (Kahlil Gibran).

That one little sentence jumped off the page at me while I was sitting in my car in the parking lot of Radnor Lake State Park.

There’s so much profound depth in those five words that both comfort and convict.

How can my work be love made visible if I come to it with a bitter attitude and an ungrateful heart? How can I be loving in my actions and yet hateful toward others at the same time?

The truth of the matter is that all work can and should be sacred. All work is an act of worship. The question is whether it will be like Abel’s acceptable offering or Cain’s rejected offering.

Work is part of my witness. If I see my vocation as a way to serve others either directly or indirectly, then even the menial parts of my job take on a whole new meaning. There is no wasted effort, nothing meaningless. All of it means something if I do it out of love for God and for others.

The Bible says that whatever you do– whether you’re a lawyer, doctor, plumber, or a janitor– do it all to the glory of God. Do everything as an act of worship to show forth the goodness of God to those you work with and those you work for.

I love what Kahlil Gibran says next:

“And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy.
For if you bake bread with indifference, you bake a bitter bread that feeds but half man’s hunger.
And if you grudge the crushing of the grapes, your grudge distils a poison in the wine.
And if you sing though as angels, and love not the singing, you muffle man’s ears to the voices of the day and the voices of the night”

Thanks for 25 Years

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Thanks, Uncle Mikey, for 25 years.

You’ve been pastor of Brentwood Baptist Church for a quarter of a century. The only things I’ve done consecutively for that long are eating, sleeping, and driving.

25 years ago, I was on the verge of my freshman year at Union University in Jackson, Tennessee. Brentwood Baptist Church and Kairos were nowhere on my radar.

25 years ago, I was nowhere near the person I am today. I think a lot of who I am now is due to your influence.

10 years of Kairos (mostly under your teaching) have made a huge difference in my life. I never would have known about the brilliance that is Henri Nouwen had you not recommended him to me a long time ago.

You taught me that what I do isn’t nearly as important as who I am (and Whose I am). My identity isn’t wrapped up in or defined by my job title, my marital status, my income, the car I drive, or my net worth. My identity is define by who Jesus says I am– Beloved. Who I am is a son of God, a child of my Abba, redeemed and cherished.

You always ended Kairos by telling us that if we hadn’t heard it from anybody else, that you and the rest of the Kairos crew loved us and that we mattered. I wonder how many people in the crowd heard those words directed at them for the very first time in their lives.

I probably won’t ever get a chance to say these things to you in person. I’m not nearly as good expressing myself in conversations as I am writing things down. But I do want you to know that I am one of the people whose lives are better for you having said YES to Jesus all those years ago and been faithful to the call which led you to Brentwood Baptist Church 25 years ago.

Thanks, Uncle Mikey. We rise up and call you blessed.

 

God’s Inner Circle

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Perhaps you’ve been around an inner circle or two. You know what it feels like not to be included, not to have the inside information. No matter how long you’ve been around, you never get invited to said inner circle.

The good news of the gospel is for outsiders like you and me. The hope that Jesus offers is for those who never quite fit in or say the right things.

God has an inner circle and guess what? You’re invited in.

God’s inner circle is big enough for all of us. It’s for all the misfits and losers and has-beens out there.

Jesus said to His followers, “I don’t call you servants any longer; servants don’t know what the master is doing, but I have told you everything the Father has said to Me. I call you friends” (John 15:15).

You get to be a part of what God is doing in the world. You don’t have to know the password or the secret handshake. You don’t have to wear the right clothes or know the right catch-phrases. You don’t need a hipster haircut or facial hair.

All that is required is that you say YES to God in Jesus. All God wants to be able to use you is you.

This is a repeat but worth repeating: God chose you because He wanted you. He didn’t pick you because the people He really wanted were already taken. He saw you and chose you because He wanted (and still wants) you. He made you with a unique combination of talents and passions and a calling that only you can fulfill.

You get to be a part of God’s inner circle, a circle that’s wide enough for everyone who wants in. No one who truly seeks Him in faith ever gets turned away.

 

 

A Little Love Goes a Long Way

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“I never thought it was such a bad little tree. It’s not bad at all, really. Maybe it just needs a little love” (Linus Van Pelt, A Charlie Brown Christmas).

I keep thinking about Charlie Brown’s Christmas tree. Yes, I realize that it’s August and still unbearably hot outside. Yet, I can’t help thinking about that classic Christmas special that airs every year without fail.

It’s the scrawny little sapling that that round-headed kid picked out of a lot full of shiny aluminum trees, just barely a branch with a few twigs on it and even fewer needles. Most people wouldn’t give it a second glance and 9 times out of 10, it ends up in a trash can.

Yet all it needed was a little love to flourish and grow.

That same applies to lots of situations and people. A little love goes a long way with a lot of people and in a lot of places.

You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Just the act of acknowledging someone’s existence. of being a witness to their life, and simple words of encouragement can be the difference between despair and hope, death and life, damnation and salvation.

Even the smallest gesture has the power to turn around someone’s day (and possibly even someone’s life). You never know. I do know that the smallest act is still better than the grandest intentions never acted upon.

I’m also thinking about the kids at the Tennessee Baptist Children’s Home, many of whom are starved for affection and attention. They need to know that they are valued and worth the effort of loving. Many of us are the same way.

There’s a saying from the Jewish Talmud that goes like this: “Whosoever saves a single life, saves an entire universe.”

Saving a life always starts with a simple act of love.