Ragamuffin Gospel

More Kairos Takeaways

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Something Tyler McKenzie said at Kairos has been playing on repeat in my head ever since. Basically, he said that we should see people at the very least as those made in God’s image and those loved and died for by Jesus.

Even Donald Trump? Yes.

Even Hillary Clinton? Yes.

The same goes for your gay co-worker, your Muslim neighbor, your obnoxious uncle, or anyone else in your sphere of influence.

It’s much easier to hide behind a laptop and cast stones at those who offend us. While we may claim to be a society of grace, what we really are is a society of outrage that would rather spew dialogue than seek understanding.

It’s much harder to seek to love as Jesus did, even with those who crucified Him. It takes someone who has experienced God’s love for him or her in Jesus to even be able to come close to loving like that.

When you’re more concerned about being reconciled than being proven right, you’re on your way to that kind of love.

When you stop dehumanizing those who disagree with you and hold opposing views, you’re on your way to that kind of love.

For true racial and ethnic reconciliation to take place, it will take all of us seeing each other through God’s eyes. Will it be easy? Not hardly. Will it be worth it? Absolutely.

 

Monday Surprises

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“Each day holds a surprise. But only if we expect it can we see, hear, or feel it when it comes to us. Let’s not be afraid to receive each day’s surprise, whether it comes to us as sorrow or as joy It will open a new place in our hearts, a place where we can welcome new friends and celebrate more fully our shared humanity” (Henri Nouwen).

Even Mondays can hold a few good surprises if you know where (and how) to look.

Life is like that. Some of the most memorable blessings often come in disguise and the best joys can come in the guise of heartbreak. Even the most mundane moments can contain the best surprises.

Here are a few of the surprises I encountered on this Monday, October 10, 2016.

  1. If I had to pick and ideal weather climate, I think I’d pick a place where the temperature and  wind and everything else was just like today. It was picture perfect.
  2. A friend of mine forsook our normal Starbucks meeting place in favor of some fantastic Thai food at Siam Pad Thai in Cool Springs. I can’t recommend their pad thai highly enough.
  3. We went for a walk as the sun was setting. I don’t know what it is about twilight and dusk, but they are my favorite part of the day, especially on crisp autumn days,
  4. One of my favorite simple pleasures is sitting in my Jeep with the windows rolled down at any time of year other than the hottest part of summer and the coldest part of winter.
  5. Even as an adult, nothing beats good chocolate milk. Well, very few things, anyway.
  6. Even now, I’m counting down the days to the start of Advent and all things Christmas, not forgetting Halloween and Thanksgiving (which too often gets the retail shaft but is one of my personal favorites).

The old hymn gets it right when it tells us to count our many blessings and name them one by one. It’s the counting of blessings which makes gratitude possible and it’s the naming of them that releases the joy.

I almost forgot one. Soft beds with warm covers to huddle under with the ceiling fan on high even in the dead of winter. That’s also one of my favorites.

Don’t Panic

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“Don’t panic. I’m with you.
There’s no need to fear for I’m your God.
I’ll give you strength. I’ll help you.
I’ll hold you steady, keep a firm grip on you” (Isaiah 41:10).

There’s a wonderful series of books called The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, in which all sorts of sci-fi shenanigans occur and in which one electronic book features prominently, the book after which the series is named, On the cover in big friendly letters are the words “Don’t Panic!”

I think that’s very good advice for these uncertain days.

No matter which way you lean politically, the end is not nigh if the opposition wins. America is not done for if “they” win.

No matter how out of control you feel right now, despair will not have the last word.

No matter how much you avoid looking in the mirror because you detest the image looking back, those voices in your head will not have the last word.

God will have the last word. Jesus already had the last words when He cried out on the cross: “It is finished!”

For those who have clung to the cross as their last desperate hope, victory is the final word. Peace is the final word. Joy is the final word.

I have read the last word of the last page of the Great Story. It is Amen. The Bible ends with the promise that the final victory is for all those who will simply drop their pretenses and come.

That’s the invitation. Come to Jesus just as you are, not after you’ve cleaned yourself up and pulled yourself up by your own bootstraps and vastly improved your morality. Just come, you and your scars and regrets and shame. He will never cast out anyone who comes to Him in earnest faith.

 

 

Going Old-School

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I’ve been on an old-school music kick lately, and the trend continued over the weekend. Among the music I had playing in the Jeep as I travelled were George Jones, Marty Robbins, Chet Atkins and Les Paul, Earl Scruggs, and Kris Kristofferson. That’s real country music.

I’m not opposed to new music. I’ve simply discovered that 99.9% of it doesn’t speak to my soul the way the old stuff does. Honestly, I really can’t find anyone who can emote heartbreak in a song the way George Jones did. Or sing cowboy songs the way Marty Robbins did.

Most people will be content to turn on the radio and go with whatever’s playing. That’s all fine and wonderful, but that’s not me. I’m a little more deliberate when it comes to my music.

As always, I’m open to suggestions about what I need to add to my musical playlist for my lengthy commutes. The older, the better. Also, I’m all for finding the artists that aren’t as well known.

Thanks again for reading these blog posts, even when they’re last minute, “couldn’t think of anything else to write about” posts. As I’ve mentioned before, it’s not always easy to come up with something fresh and original when you write these posts every day. Plus, you do know that my mind works in strange and mysterious ways.

 

 

State of Affairs

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I’m offering up an additional candidate for President of the United States of America– my cat Lucy. I think she’s as qualified and fit to lead the country as either of the two major party candidates.

I continue to see how people are hypersensitive to the faults of the opposing candidate and equally blind to the faults of their own candidate. The other side can’t merely be wrong. They must also be stupid and evil. There can be no dialogue and no understanding between the two sides, according to this so-called logic.

I also continue to see how people justify character assassination and hate in the name of politics. After all, the other side really isn’t human, is it? They have no feelings with which to hurt, right?

Too many people still believe that there are political answers to spiritual questions and that laws and policies can fill the God-shaped hole in each of us.

Contrary to popular opinion, the world will not come to a screeching halt on November 9, regardless of who wins. As I’ve mentioned before, we are electing a President, not a Savior. That position remains filled and will be so long after last President leaves office.

Our battle as believers is still not against flesh and blood, against the liberals (or conservatives) and the Democrats (or Republicans). It is against spiritual forces in the heavenly places. That remains true.

So think before you take a jab at a candidate or those who support him or her. Remember that in the Kingdom of Heaven, love is the currency we spend and the language we speak. Hate does not become us.

By the way, my cat Lucy’s platform is More Naps for Everyone. It’s something I fully endorse. She’s much less high-maintenance than either Clinton or Trump, plus she’s much cheaper on the economy. Vote for Lucy.

 

 

Another Good Borrowed Prayer

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“Lord, when I don’t like me,
You still love me, You still like me, You still lavish me with acceptance.
When I am fed up with me, You invite me to Your feast,
When I am done — with me, with life, with everything,
You whisper, ‘Hang on — I am making *all things* — *you* — new.’ (Rev21:5)
And when I want to quit, You cup my face: ‘This great work I started in you? I won’t stop that beautiful work until you are fully, completely, gloriously beautiful’ (Phil1:6, 1 Cor2:7)
So this becomes our brave & broken-hearted hallelujah, the one we sing into the dark, even when it’s hard to believe:
I am His Beloved, His Beloved, His Beloved… and even now I will be held.

In the name of the only One who loved us to death & back to the real & forever life… Amen.” (Ann Voskamp).

This is a good prayer for the week that never seems to want to end. This is a doxology for the difficult days that seem to come in bunches and never in just one.

I still remember the line from The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel that I quote to myself periodically: “Everything will be fine in the end, and if it’s not fine, it’s not yet the end.”

I remind myself that even the worst of days where nothing goes right still only lasts for 24 hours. It may feel longer, but the tell-tale ticking of the second hand on the clock tells a much different story.

I suppose this is another variation on my infamous “Don’t give up because God’s not done with you yet” rah-rah cheery blog posts. I don’t care. I’ll keep thinking of different ways to keep preaching the gospel to myself (and hopefully you as well) until it finally begins to sink in. And I think it’s working at last.

 

October 5, 2016

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“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower” (Albert Camus).

Is it really October? I still have a hard time wrapping my head around that little tidbit, especially when it got up to 88 today. To me, that’s not October weather.

I have to remember this is Tennessee, where if you don’t like the weather, you can stick around for a week and see all the other seasons so you can pick the one you like.

Still, my ideal October weather is in the low to mid-60’s during the day and crisp nights with an autumnal breeze. That makes for good bonfires and for good pumpkin spice everything. It also makes comfortable flannel wearing possible (and I have missed all my flannel).

Most of all, I just want to enjoy my life and not miss any of it for worrying about what’s been and what’s yet to come. I can’t control either one of those, so why obsess over them?

So there you have it. My ideal fall day involves hot frothy beverages, flannel, bonfires, s’mores, and a chill in the air with just the tiniest hint of frost. Oh, and maybe some color in the leaves before they flutter to the ground.

You can keep your sweaty summers with all the mosquitos. I’ll take fall, thank you very much.

“There is a harmony in autumn, and a luster in its sky, which through the summer is not heard or seen, as if it could not be, as if it had not been!” (Percy Bysshe Shelley)

 

Let Your Light Shine

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“Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.

Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:13-16, The Message).

That’s what lights do– they shine.

My takeaway from Kairos tonight is this: being a light and shining is not about me trying harder, like one of those wind-up flashlights that constantly needs winding. It’s not about me generating my own light by better morals and doctrines.

Being a light is about being plugged into the Source at every moment and reflecting the light. It’s not about self-promotion or increasing your influence or growing your brand. It’s about being God’s flashlight to help those in a very dark world find their way home to God.

If you do it right, God gets all the attention and the glory, not you. After all, the cure for a world full of broken and hurting people is the true Light of the world.

“We are told to let our light shine, and if it does, we won’t need to tell anybody it does. Lighthouses don’t fire cannons to call attention to their shining – they just shine” (Dwight L. Moody).

More Thanksgiving and Thanks-living

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“When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light, for your life, for your strength. Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason to give thanks, the fault lies in yourself” (Tecumseh).

Even on Mondays in October, there is always something to be thankful for. If I’m going to be a one-hit wonder, then my song will always be one of gratitude. I hope you never get tired of hearing just as I never get tired of telling how much joy there is in giving thanks.

Rejoice always. That’s God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. That means that gratitude isn’t just a preferred way of living. It’s prescribed.

Gratitude is the polar opposite of cynicism and sarcasm, two twin fuels that seemingly power social media these days.

I decided a long time ago that seeing the glass as half full was a much better way to live, a much saner way to survive the hard days and the dry days and the long days.

If I come across like a trumpet braying out a one-note symphony, it’s because I’ve seen the power of gratitude to transform not my circumstances but me in the midst of my circumstances.

“Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings” (William Arthur Ward).

“Gratitude is the inward feeling of kindness received. Thankfulness is the natural impulse to express that feeling. Thanksgiving is the following of that impulse” (Henry Van Dyke).

Give thanks. Try it. Just pick one thing, no matter how small or insignificant from your day, and be thankful to God for it.

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend” (Melody Beattie).

Perspective

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“How my eyes see, perspective, is my key to enter into His gates. I can only do so with thanksgiving. If my inner eye has God seeping up through all things, then can’t I give thanks for anything? And if I can give thanks for the good things, the hard things, the absolute everything, I can enter the gates to glory. Living in His presence is fullness of joy- and seeing shows the way in” (Ann Voskamp).

That’s it.

It’s all about perspective.

It’s all about giving thanks and being grateful.

It’s all about living in the present, thankful for what you have instead of envious and bitter over what you don’t.

God is always present to those who know where (and how ) to look. Those with open hands of both receiving and releasing of surrender, not with clenched fists that grasp and clutch.

Gratitude is a choice that I must make every single day. Every day I get, I must choose to pursue joy and peace and patience and kindness and gentleness and self-control. For me, it’s not a “have to” as much as it is a “get to.”

Not that I always do. Some days, I let fear win. I let anxiety and envy win. It’s easy to do when you listen to all the other voices around you instead of the Still Small voice inside you. The voice of your Abba that sees past your scars and still calls you Beloved.

But each new day is a chance to choose again and make a new beginning.

So, make Monday count. Buck the trend that says that Mondays have to be horrible and bad because they’re Mondays. Even Mondays can be good if you choose gratitude and thanksgiving.

That’s what I’m choosing tomorrow. That’s what I hope I’ll choose every day after that.