“To wait upon God is not to sit with folded hands and do nothing, but to wait as men who wait for the harvest. The farmer does not wait idly but with intense activity; he keeps industriously ‘at it’ until the harvest. To wait upon God is the perfection of activity. We are told to ‘rest in the Lord,’ not to rust” (Oswald Chambers, The Place of Help).
I think that says it all.
May all of us learn daily how to wait well as we rest (but not rust) in the Lord.
What happens in 28 days?
Relax. There will (hopefully) be no outbreak of zombies.
There will however be an outbreak of autumn, my very favorite season.
There will be pumpkin spice everything, bonfires, hayrides, s’mores, flannel, crisp mornings, leaves changing colors, and a million memories that fall always conjures up for me.
There will be no humidity, no excessive sweating, no bugs, and no sunburns.
Fall means Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Advent (which leads into my all-time favorite holiday, Christmas).
Fall reminds me of the words Jesus said, of how unless a seed falls into the ground and dies, it will remain only a single seed. But if it dies, it will bear much fruit. Autumn symbolizes the season where so much is happening that you can’t see, but you know that a great harvest is coming.
So many of my favorite movies are set at least partially in the fall. There’s the iconic scene of Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan walking through Central Park surrounded by a riot of colors from the leaves changing colors.
Fall seems more quiet than the other seasons, more conducive to reflecting and remembering. Maybe that’s the reason I like it. Or maybe it’s one of the plethora of reasons I like it.
I will have my pumpkin spice latte with my pumpkin spice scone and sit somewhere with a patio where I can people-watch. I will wear every flannel shirt I own at least once. I will give thanks that for every fall and winter and death, there comes a spring and a summer and new life.
I will keep typing until I get in my 300 words for the day because I am a bit OCD like that. Still not there, so still typing. Only eleven more words to go. Now only five more to go.
BOOM. Made it.
Seeing as how this is Holy Week, I thought I’d continue with the theme I started yesterday. This is a prayer of confession and forgiveness that was also a part of the liturgical Kairos service last night:
“We serve a risen Saviour yet live as if in chains. Forgive us, Lord that we are so hesitant to live the resurrection life. Forgive us that we fail to show through word and action the truth that you loved us into your kingdom through the glorious mystery of the Cross. Forgive us that there is still fear in our lives that prevents us from achieving our full potential. Draw us close. Open our eyes to the glory of the risen Christ, our hearts to the wonder of the Cross and our hands to the service of your kingdom where you have placed us. That your name might be glorified through our lives.
AMEN
God of resurrection
of life and death
rebirth
All: Renew our hearts and minds
God of promise
of all beginnings
and all endings
All: Renew our hearts and minds
God of hope
of new growth
and harvest
All: Renew our hearts and minds”
I hope that for me, Easter is a reminder of the penalty that I could NEVER have paid that was paid for me, the cost to redeem me from sin that I could NEVER have afforded but was paid for me. He who knew no sin BECAME sin that I might become the righteousness of God in Christ. He who never did wrong and never took ONE disobedient step ever in His ENTIRE life bore the punishment and shame for ALL my misdeeds and sins and disobedience and rebellion.
As much as I’m all for Easter eggs and bunny rabbits and candy (especially those Cadbury eggs), I hope I never lose sight of why I really and truly celebrate Easter this and every year. Jesus died FOR ME.
Tonight at Kairos we had a liturgical Easter service but with a Kairos-style twist. It was a very cool blend of modern and ancient forms of worship. I was particularly moved by the responsive reading we did at the start:
“Blest are you, Lord Jesus who came to us a little child
one of us,
flesh and blood to share in our humanity
For God so loved the world
ALL: That all might have eternal life.
Blest are you, Lord Jesus who came to us as carpenter
and yet in whose creative hands a world was fashioned
For God so loved the world
ALL: That all might have eternal life.
Blest are you, Lord Jesus who came to us as fisherman
and yet pointed to a harvest that was yet to come
For God so loved the world
ALL: That all might have eternal life.
Blest are you, Lord Jesus who came to us as teacher
and opened eyes to truths that only
the poor could understand
For God so loved the world
ALL: That all might have eternal life.
Blest are you, Lord Jesus who came to us as healer
and opened hearts to the reality of wholeness
For God so loved the world
ALL: That all might have eternal life.
Blest are you, Lord Jesus who came to us as prophet, priest and king
and yet humbled himself
to take our place upon the cross
For God so loved the world
ALL: That all might have eternal life.
Blest are you, Lord Jesus who came to us as servant
and revealed to us the extent of his Father’s love
for human kind
For God so loved the world
ALL: That all might have eternal life.
Blest are you, Lord Jesus, who rose
from the ignominy of a sinner’s death
to the triumph of a Saviour’s resurrection
For God so loved the world
ALL: That all might have eternal life.
God so loved the world that he gave his only Son
for the sake of me
and you
and other sinners too
God so loved the world
Blest are you Lord Jesus, our Saviour and Redeemer.
ALL: Thanks be to the God of Love. Amen”
I think it’s good to step out of your comfort zone when it comes to worship. For me, that meant going to a Roman Catholic Ash Wednesday service last year. Whatever it is for you, it’s good to get out of your own faith tradition and see things from different points of view sometimes. It helps you to know what you believe and– better still– why you believe what you believe.
More on that to come tomorrow.
May God bless your mind and give it unity of thought and focus, so that you are totally committed to building the Kingdom of God and helping people find freedom and deliverance through Jesus Christ.
May God bless your hands so that your hands become God’s hands and your touch brings healing and restoration and people who’ve been around you will know that they have been touched by the very hand of God.
May God bless your feet so that you walk in His footsteps and every place you go is no longer sin’s domain, but the place where God reigns. So that wherever your foot lands becomes holy ground.
May God bless your eyes so that you see beyond yourself and see lost and hurting people, see the pain in their eyes, see the need all around you, and see that the fields really are white unto harvest.
May God bless your heart so that it feels what God feels and yearns for what God yearns for. May what breaks God’s heart break yours and may His perfect and complete love flow through you to everyone you meet.
May you not only speak Jesus and live Jesus, but be Jesus everywhere you go. May you be the pleasing aroma of Christ in every place and may every breath you take be a prayer and every word you speak be a praise.
Go forth and turn this upside-down world right-side up again. In the name of Jesus.
Amen.
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