In case you’re having a bad week (or even just a so-so week or a decent but overly long week), here’s a picture of an adorable smiling puppy. You’re welcome.
Here’s another cute puppy. Just because.
And last but not least, here’s my cat.
Ragamuffin Gospel
Going Through the Motions
“Then she let him fall asleep on her lap and called a man to shave off the seven braids on his head. In this way, she made him helpless, and his strength left him. Then she cried, ‘Samson, the Philistines are here!’ When he awoke from his sleep, he said, ‘I will escape as I did before and shake myself free.’ But he did not know that the Lord had left him” (Judges 16:19-20, Christian Standard Bible).
“But he did not know that the Lord had left him.” That may be one of the saddest statements in the entire Bible. Samson had come to trust in the gift– his hair– rather than the Giver. His hair wasn’t what made him strong. It was only a symbol of the command God had given him much earlier.
He had come to rely on his strength and not in the God who gave him that strength. In the end, God wasn’t even so much as an afterthought in Samson’s mind.
Sometimes, I wonder if this could ever apply to the Church.
We sometimes rely so much on high production values, musicianship, and charisma that we’ve left little to no room for the Holy Spirit to work and move. If God suddenly removed His Spirit from our worship services, would we even notice? Would it make any difference?
It’s one thing to be able to manipulate people’s emotions by overwhelming them through powerful songs and dramatic preaching, but that’s not always synonymous with the moving of God’s Spirit.
What if you took away the comfortable chairs and the modern facilities? What if you took away the professional lighting and sound system? What if there was no worship band or charismatic speaker?
Would God’s Word be enough? Could we still sense the Spirit moving without all the sensory overload?
The saddest testimony about the modern Church would be that the Spirit of God one day left and we went about our business as usual and didn’t even know it until it was far too late.
Keep Your Eyes on Jesus
“Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!” (Hebrews 12:1-3, The Message).
Keep your eyes on Jesus. That’s the key.
For me, if I look around me and compare myself with others, I either get despondent and envious or I get self-righteous with a false sense of superiority. It doesn’t end well.
If I look at my circumstances, I get overwhelmed. I don’t have a good enough perspective on the big picture to understand my present situation.
I feel like Bilbo from The Hobbit sometimes. In one scene, the dwarves ask him to climb a tree to see how near they are to the edge of the forest. Bilbo obliges, only to see an endless sea of trees. If he had only found a taller tree to climb, he might have found that they were much closer to the end than they imagined.
Keeping your eyes on Jesus is seeing your life from the absolute best vantage point. You realize that it’s not really about you after all but that you get to be a part of what Jesus is doing, and that’s huge. Remember, you may not feel like much of anything, but Jesus still chose you to be not just on His side but to be the very means He uses to turn the upside down world right side up again.
Keep your eyes on Jesus.
A Quote that Punched Me in the Face
First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—
and there was no one left to speak for me” (Martin Niemöller).
Martin Niemöller was a German pastor during the Nazi regime. According to what I read, he spent the last seven years of their reign in concentration camps.
I found this quote when I was scrolling through the saved websites on my phone. It did almost feel like a punch to the face. It reminded me that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere and silence in the face of injustice amounts to consent and approval of it.
I’m left asking the question: Who do I need to speak out for?
A better question is this: Who do I know that doesn’t have a voice that I’m not speaking out for?
Who will speak out for me if I don’t speak out for them?
That’s Why They Play the Game
I saw where the Mississippi State Lady Bulldogs pulled off the upset of the season when they knocked off the defending national champs in the University of Connecticut, 66-64, on a last second jumper.
At the start of the tournament, I like many others picked UConn to win it all for the fifth straight time. I seriously doubt that anybody outside of the Lady Bulldogs’ team expected them to win.
But that’s why they play the game, right?
There’s probably a deep spiritual analogy here, but I’m too tired to think of it at the moment. Maybe the takeaway is perseverance in the face of insurmountable odds. In other words, just keep showing up day after day and doing what you know to do and good things will happen.
I do know that if you take risks, you may or may not succeed, but I know for certain that you fail at 100% of the risks you do not take. As Michael Jordan once said (or at least I think it was him), you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.
So keep plugging away and don’t quit.
Unless it’s almost 11 pm, then you can go to bed.
Fixed Hearts
Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen” (Collect for Fifth Sunday of Lent, Book of Common Prayer).
I’m getting a little ahead of myself (and a couple days early for this collect), but I do so love this one, especially the part about “swift and varied changes” contrasted with “our hearts may surely there be fixed.”
That’s the key. Everything else is fleeting. From one moment to the next, you can never count on anything to be the same. Just when you’ve gotten used to something, it changes and becomes something completely different.
But Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He’s that place where our hearts can surely be fixed and can finally find rest.
That’s comforting and assuring during this season of Lent where we seek to find our bearings again and to be reoriented to the Truth that does not change with the culture or with passing trends or societal norms.
In a frenzied and frantic world, He still leads us beside still waters and restores our souls. Even in the midst of the deepest darkest valleys, He’s with us and His rod and staff still guide us.
That’s what I’m hoping and praying you and I find during this season of Lent and Easter– rest. Not lots of good naps (although they are still the best way to pass a Sunday afternoon), but times of refreshing where you are rejuvenated down to the core of your very being. That’s what I want for all of us.
What’s Your Worth?
Today for a lark, I decided to look up the value of my 1997 Jeep Cherokee on the Kelly Blue Book website. I had no delusions of grandeur, thinking I owned a Lamborghini or a Mercedes Benz. I knew my car was old and had over 300,000 miles on it.
Still I was a bit surprised by the result. $800 was the maximum value of my car. I could probably trade in my car for a nice bicycle, but not a really nice one. Just sorta nice.
I was more amused than offended. I know that I couldn’t get anything close to as good as the car I have now for $800. I’d be doing really good to get something that even ran for $800.
I got to thinking. If you took all the raw materials that made up a human body, what would be the worth of all those elements? I was curious, so I googled it and got the result of $5. That’s the going rate for a body’s worth of these raw materials.
I remembered something my pastor said. He said that your worth is more than what you are made of. If you were on Antiques Roadshow, the appraiser would put on his white gloves and talk in hushed excited tones.
My pastor said that if he could turn you upside down and show you the Artist’s signature, that would prove that not only are you of great worth, you are priceless.
You have more than God’s signature on you. You bear the Imago Dei, the image of God, in you. You are unique and one of a kind, and there has never been nor ever will be anyone else exactly like you.
You are also worth Christ dying to redeem you. Bear that in mind when people judge your worth by your income or your title or your possessions. Whether you live in a gated mansion or in a cardboard box, your worth and your identity is not what you have but in Who made you and Whose you are.
Oh, and I still love driving my $800 Jeep.
Tested Faith
“No faith is so precious as that which lives and triumphs through adversity. Tested faith brings experience. You would never have believed your own weakness had you not needed to pass through trials. And you would never have known God’s strength had His strength not been needed to carry you through” (Charles Spurgeon).
Leave it up to the old dead guys to speak some serious truth in a way that few now speak it. I’m not saying that everything old was great and everything new is crap, but there is a lot of wisdom out there that has been tested through the years and proven worthy, much in the same way that the purity remains after the gold has been refined by fire.
This quote spoke to me profoundly, even though I’m not currently in the midst of a crisis. Maybe you are. Maybe this will speak to you on a whole different level than it did to me.
Tested faith doesn’t come through prosperity and wealth, despite what some preachers might say. It only comes through hardship and poverty (sometimes material but more often being poor in spirit).
I keep thinking about how the apostles actually rejoiced because they were counted worthy to suffer for the sake of Jesus and the Gospel. Such language doesn’t fit the culture we live in that worships success and comfort. Sadly, you find little of it coming from pulpits on Sunday mornings.
But that’s the kind of faith that lasts and leads to Christlikeness. That’s still the kind of faith that changes the world.
Take Heart
“I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world” (John 16:33, New Living Translation).
Take heart. Don’t lose courage.
Whatever you’re facing right at this moment that seems impossible, God has already overcome.
I told you before that as believers we fight not for victory, but from it. That victory is already a done deal.
So as you lay your weary head on the pillow tonight, take heart. God has overcome the world. God has already overcome every obstacle and hardship and trial that you will ever face.
Sleep in the knowledge of that and may abiding peace be yours.
Jeff Buckley on the Brain
I’ve been listening to a whole lot of Jeff Buckley lately.
I’m well aware that most people probably have no idea who he is (or was, since he died in 1997 in an accidental drowning).
He was the son of Tim Buckley, a very famous and accomplished folk musician. Jeff was very gifted in his own right with an amazing voice. Although he only released one official album during his lifetime, he left behind a wealth of music that begs the question of what he might have become had he lived.
All of us have known people who died with untapped potential and unrealized talent. So many died so very young, way before it was their time. Too many who could have contributed beautiful things into the sometimes grey world we live in.
In Jeff’s case, he did leave behind that one fantastic album which features his cover of the Leonard Cohen song “Hallelujah,” which became famous in the wake of the 9/11 attacks four years after his death. That’s the one song that most everybody knows but which very few know who sang it.
I myself know very little about the man. I only know that though he’s dead, his music still speaks to those who are discovering his unique artistry.
What’s the point? Don’t die and leave behind unfulfilled dreams because they were dangerous and scary. Step outside of what’s safe and pursue what’s in your heart, even if it doesn’t succeed like you want it to. At least you will have tried.
Also, listen to Jeff Buckley’s music. It’s great. Some of it has a raw and unfinished quality, but even then there’s beauty to be found. It’s not safe and predictable radio-friendly music, but it’s good. It’s sometimes a little scary, but it can also be haunting and lovely as well.
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