.For today's word, "mercy," the OED has a solid definition: "Compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one’s power to punish or harm."

Lately this has been on my mind rather a lot as I seek to show mercy as Christ shows mercy to me in so many ways. I had someone ask how I dealt with someone who is rather quirky and high maintenance and when I smiled and said, "We just try to show her mercy," the response was a confused look and silence. Frankly I'm surprised any dictionary definition is not marked "archaic," since the word seems out of date in the context of our current culture.

In the Bible we see many instances where we ask for God's mercy and thank God for His mercy towards us. And that is certainly compatible with the OED definition.

But it is also true that we have the capacity to hurt people every day -- either overtly by dealing dishonestly with them or causing physical harm, but also important though less often considered -- by failing to offer compassion or forgiveness?

So how do we show mercy? As a friend of mine said, "Can we cut him a little slack?" as in not demand perfection or even mounds of compatibility? Can we follow James* advice to be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry? Can we offer kindness to folks who do not look like us, sound like us, dress like us, smell like us? Can we offer a kind word and a silent prayer for the mother (or grandmother) getting milk and bread with an impish child in tow? Can we be patient about waiting or holding doors for folks who are slower than we would like?

In the parable of the Unforgiving Debtor, Mathew 18:33 records Christ's observation: "Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?" 

As we go about our day, let us be mindful of how often we are quick to judge people and situations about which we have far more opinion than facts. Let us offer prayer instead of judgement; aid instead of excuses; and kindness instead of disdain. We may find those people are far more like us than we imagine....and we always appreciate it when folks cut us a little slack when we are not at our best.

O, Lord, have mercy upon us, Christ have mercy upon us, Lord have mercy upon us. And open our eyes to opportunities to show mercy as You have so abundantly shown mercy to us. AMEN

*James 1:19

Church, a church, my church, our church, The Church. Is it a storefront start-up? A mega-church on a hill? Is it my church family or all the churches of my denomination? Is it as small as my praying in the chapel or as large as the body of all believers throughout all time?

I'm wary of the "my church" notion, since if it is not God's church it is not church in the sense of "the church." And there are even folks who cloak their unbelief in the trappings of a church and cause great harm when folks stumble in on their knees seeking to find hope that God might love them, only to find cold hearts and worse.

But I do attend a mega church on a hill, and a small satellite in a struggling neighborhood, and I am part of the community of folks who minister to the incarcerated and their families so praying in a prison or a visitor's room or hospital is also church for me. And all that is blessing since I there find authentic spiritual training, many service opportunities, folks who are willing to pray for me in times of challenge and joy, and folks who share their faith, hope and experience with me honestly and generously.

But, as profoundly grateful for all that as I am, it is a modest blessing compared to "The Church", to "The Church of all believers from all ages, in all places." 

For those of us who seek to follow Christ, we know (or are learning to know) no one who does not present as a precious child of God. Some folks are so broken or ashamed or self-absorbed or indifferent that they don't feel like children of God and some resent that others see them that way. See them that way anyway, if I may echo Mother Teresa. The Bible is pretty clear on this one: "And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’* We are part of God's family; such relationship is defined by God's Covenant, not by our lack of understanding. 

And in The Church, life is all about walking more closely with God, being so kind and persistent and patient and honest altogether that those who meet us might wonder why we are so odd! If you have ever offered kindness where it is rarely experienced you may have seen someone puzzled about why you bother to even notice them, but also, you possibly see the glint of a willingness to learn more about why you act so differently than those consumed by their own comforts and wants. It may not happen the first time, but over time love makes a difference.

Some church buildings house folks who believe the church is all about them. The truth is this:it is all about God or it only a church building.
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Some church buildings house folks who seek to follow the example and teachings of Christ and are more worried about being a welcoming place to the broken searchers of hope and love and truth than if the color of the new pain is equally pleasing to all who enter.

Some church buildings are a base of operation for folks who are loving and welcoming folks who are just starting their conversation with God -- longing to be in a relationship with their Creator and Savior, but uncertain God is willing. They welcome folks whose attention has faltered and wonder if God is willing to give them another chance. They welcome folks who love God passionately and want to gather with others who seek to know God more deeply and serve God more effectively.

But God's church, The Church, has no boundaries, no new member committees, no barriers to belief. It includes the Thief on the Cross† and medical missionaries in far-flung corners of the world and folks who love folks in all places at all times. It is as intimate as God and me, yet all inclusive of those who love God and seek to serve him. It includes baby Christians and mature Christians of great renown throughout the ages, and everyone between. 

My advice is this: be The Church. This may be easy because you have a church home that perceives themselves as servants of God in The Church. If your church home seems more focused on taking care of themselves than in sharing the love of God in Word and deed, then look further. If you are seeking a church home as a new or renewing follower of Christ, don't let yourself be discouraged when you find flawed people at the churches you visit...you will fit right in!

As you search, ask the Spirit of God to help you, to find the place God would have you worship God and serve His children.

* Matthew 25:40
† Luke 23 34-42 of Luke's account of Christ's death and resurrection. 

From the OED "grace, noun: ....(In Christian belief) the free and unmerited favor of God, as manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowal of blessings."

Yes, but how wholly incomplete and, especially grace as "bestowal of blessings" is, in my view, off key.

SPOILER ALERT: I'm doing my best to share my perspective, but this is one of those times where language seems to be so wholly inadequate as to be more constricting than helping, but here goes.

Grace begins because God offers us a relationship where we can have a (naturally and necessarily imperfect) familial journey of learning, healing, love, redemption, renewal, restoration, and rehabilitation which empowers us with God-given capacity to become what we were created to be, fulfill our purpose, come to know God in ever deepening love and service.

OK, that sounds pretty deep even as I write it. But I can't find any simpler way to explain (and even this is woefully inadequate) even in small part my experience as a soul seeking to follow the teachings of Christ in both belief and action (which should never be considered separately in matters of faith, even though they usually develop in leap-frog steps where deeper learning leads to more commitment to service which leads to deeper understanding and a desire to learn and study more which leads to...you get the idea. It is rather like an elegant waltz in the arms of our beloved Lord where love and action are deeply intertwined.

We seem to think of blessings as little gifts given by God, like health or wealth or a nice house or attending a good school or having a nice family, but then where does that leave folks who don't have those things? Do we infer that God offers them less grace?

So that is why to me grace is more of this (which is available to all in any location under any circumstances):

To the degree I am open to God, I am given all good things: gift of the Spirit, healing, comfort, maturing faith, confidence in God and my ability to serve God according to God's Will--this is all grace. And the circumstances of our life are part of the responsibilities and resources for sharing all the above with everybody else.

If you are a boss, your relationship with your workers reflects your relationship with God and looking at that can help us in conforming our life to our adopted God-ordained values. Same with family. Same with community. Same with folks we do business with.

So, spread grace around as you go about your day, be a healing, comforting, mature, confident, wise, kind child of God living as God grants us His Grace to share widely and freely.
  

Today's word, "hope" is defined by the OED as an expectation or desire that something will happen, might happen, could happen, "hope against hope," with a note that there is an archaic definition of "trusting in something." Not only do the definitions seem to say hope is the possible "anti-hopelessness" more than than something substantial, the closest definition to what Christians mean by "hope" is out of date and only a memory for the OED folks.

I do not diminish value of the hope that desires something better. Viktor Frankl wrote that when the light of hope left his fellow concentration camp inmates, it was certain they were not long for this world. In fact, the hope of a pending Allied liberation which for years did not come actually exacerbated the frequency of the life-exhausting despair of lost hope. The need to hope is strongly correlated with survival. 

But for those who seek to follow Christ, hope is more than a hoped for better situation or outcome: It is a vibrant, joyous, trust-filled word that (with faith and love) provides the foundation of our spiritual journey, fills us with peace, keeps us forward-focused. 

We don't just "hope" God loves us, we trust God loves us. We don't just hope God will guide us; our hope is proved true each day through prayer, medication, tending the needs and wants of others, fellowship, study, worship and a persistent reaching for God in response to God's perpetual reaching for us. We don't hope that we ourselves, our children and our grandchildren will have lives of purpose; rather we, having experienced the joy of service in Jesus Name and the delight of seeking diligently to understand God's message to us, are certain of its availability and value.

We experience a different level of anxiety and fear when we have hope; in folks with a deep and mature faith, there is a marked difference in the way they process uncertainty and how danger is addressed. If this were not so, folks who minister in dangerous places (whether in this country or around our world) would be far fewer and their service brief.

So, my friend, if "hope" is something that leaves you feeling a little deflated, maybe a different approach might give you a lift!

1 Corinthians 13:6-10 Love does not gloat over other people’s sins but takes its delight in the truth. Love always bears up, always trusts, always hopes, always endures.

e word "surrender" has at most times a sense of submitting to an aggressor, a failure to protect one's safety, property or even cultural identity due to crime or war or financial manipulation. There is nothing attractive about the pictures the word evokes. 

In case of domestic violence the image of surrender is particularly disturbing where someone's self is surrendered in order to survive physically. The longer they are suppressed the harder it is for the victim to believe any other life is possible or even deserved.

So when followers of Christ speak of surrender, it is exceptionally hard for some folks to even want to begin such a discussion.

But for those of us who have experienced, often in the most challenging of circumstances, God's trustworthiness, God's power, God's love then the idea of surrender is not anything like surrendering to an aggressor's demand's. 

It rather reminds me of a frightened and endangered child who surrenders to the safety of his mother's or father's arms where they are confident that they will be treated with love and kindness and tenderness, and be restored to security and encouraged to step out again with a parent's coaching, oversight and care.

The notion of surrender is frightening, and fear of surrender has kept folks persevering in ways that have ensured the survival of the human race. So it is not surprising that surrendering ourselves is more of a process than an event. We trust God enough to offer allegiance and over the ensuing months and years of our life's journey we keep experiencing God's faithfulness, God's persistent honoring of His Covenant (contract) with all of His creation.

To the extent we surrender to God's plans for us, we experience peace, joy, delight, hope, and passion. It is common to feel offended that God has things He wants us to do and things He wants us to refrain from doing (which is a natural human reaction to someone trying to 'make us do something'). But we are interested and excited to find what someone who loves us utterly and has the power to lead us to our highest and greatest good, will show us, will teach us, will give us next!

Often I think I have "surrendered all" and then find something I am holding onto. For this reason I have quit thinking that I finally "have it together", but rather that I have "taken another step in the right direction." With each bit surrendered there is more room for love and relentlessly the Kingdom of God comes more fully.

Psalm 37:7 reads "Surrender yourself to the Lord, and wait patiently for him" in the God's Word translation and the Common English Bible translation it reads "Be still before the Lord, and wait for Him."

I have found surrender is a lifelong journey, but to begin by "being still before the Lord and waiting for Him" seems the perfect place to start.

Oh how we love...chocolate, puppies, cherubs, our favorite team, our favorite song, our favorite Christmas song, a trip to the beach. Oh how we love....our spouse, our parents, our children, our jobs, a "blood brother", sisters of choice, friends. Oh how we love....the girl or boy who sat behind us in 4th grade and made us blush, the star football player or cheerleader, our English teacher, the girl on the bus, the guy in the band.  

We use that word to describe everything from preferences to passions, connections to circumstances.

But "agape" is an entirely different experience. The word is said to date from the early 17th century: from the Greek: agapē is defined as 'selfless love'. It is often used in communities of faith to describe God's live for us.

What does God's love for us look like? "Selfless or unselfish love" are a start. But here is my view:

God's love demands nothing from us, though God invites us to love God, woos us persistently throughout our lives, stands at all times ready to help us love God. God loves us always the same, never more and never less, because God loves us each and all utterly. God is love; it is what God does.

There is nothing that I can do to enhance God. There is nothing I can do to improve God's lot or make God happier. There just isn't anything I have that God needs or wants....except to be willing to have a relationship with God. God saves; God instructs; God guides, informs, teaches, empowers, revamps, rebuilds, renews, restores, redeems, rehabilitates all because God loves us and longs for us to open our hearts to all that God would pour out on us. God persistently advocates for us to find our way back to God, improve our understanding (which will always be limited because it is just crazy to believe we can fully understand all that God is or does or has planned for us), to love God more fully as God reveals to us ways to participate in God's love for God's children.
 
So what can we call our love for God since love for God is also not like puppies or family or high school crushes? It seems odd to folks who get told they need to love God so they can escape Hell. But I believe that our love for God grows to be more selfless as we mature in faith. I don't love God because I'm scared or want to be "blessed" by material stuff. I love God because God loves me and I find that so compelling that it does not matter if I found out tomorrow that there isn't really any heaven...the fact that I am loved and valued by God, even for the nanosecond that my life is in the history of this world, is enough.

Now, I want to be clear, I expect to see you all in heaven, even though I have not the smallest idea of what it will be like or how I will respond to being there. But it is just not the essential thing, although I'm pretty excited about understanding more and learning to love God more deeply there. The essential thing is this: I love God as bestest I can today, and I pray, a little better, a bit more deeply, a smidgen more like God wants me to love God than I do today.

I guess that fits the 17th century definition too.

According to the dictionary to forgive is to stop feeling angry or resentful or to cancel a debt. Synonyms include overlook and commute. The image I get from this is someone who has messed up, erred, caused harm and longs to get back, get a do-over, which of course in the best of cases does not happen because we cannot magically undo damage our actions and words cause.

But my perspective of "forgive" as a follower of Christ is more this: that which is needed for someone who has broken a relationship, become willful and causes or exacerbates walls and fissures that distance people from one another. It is truly OK with me if I never again hear someone say, "Well, I'll forgive them but I'll never forget." I honestly think it would be kinder to forget and stay angrily away from them!

Here is how I have experienced forgiveness from my God: 

Where I am broken, I am not only healed but restored to a closer relationship with God because the experience of healing has resulted in greater trust, a deeper connection, a more urgent desire to bless others with understanding of what I have experienced. 

What I owe the creator for the gift of my being and what I owe my Lord for my willfulness and causing myself massive damage and what I owe God....well I don't owe God. Rather I would never under any circumstances have resources or capacity adequate to the job, so Christ paid in full for me. He did not demand I become His slave. He did not wait for me to "get it". He did not limit how much I would be blessed by that. He just loved me all the way to the cross and through the Resurrection until today and for forever.

God's forgiveness does not just take me back to where I started, or recovers what has been lost. God's forgiveness rehabilitates me into a shiny, delightful, amazing new person. For some folks, that is almost too much to accept and they keep trying to be "good enough" or "try harder" and they miss the free part to a large extent. They really have an incorrect egocentric perspective that does not understand, it not about them: it is all about God. There is really nothing I can "do for God" because God is not incomplete without me. So acknowledging my relationship with and in Christ is not about making God whole or being important to Got for what I can do or accomplish. My relationship with God is about accepting God's gift of wholeness and live a life of amazement and wonder at the joy and peace and love and light and truth that infuse my every day.

I think that is not what the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) was defining, but that is my life as God's forgiven (reconciled, restored, rehabilitate, renewed, reclaimed) child.

Have you ever tried to have a conversation with an engineer? I have two I dearly love in my family, but I so wish they had a better grasp of the English language because their exceedingly fluent "engineer-speak" leaves me feeling like I've gotten on the train to Moscow clutching my "travel phrases made easy" book.

But it is a good exercise for me; it is a good discipline. I have to listen with care, and speak, sometimes more than once, with love and mercy and persistence when something is especially important. Fortunately, they are good folks who persevere to communicate with me too.

It also is a good reminder for me about how confusing discussions of faith matters and Bible class points and sharing faith can lead to unintended circumstances. (Fortunately, the Spirit of God is the best "relief pitcher" ever.)

So for the next few days I am going to highlight some words that are important to followers of Christ because what we find in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is incomplete at best and runs down a very unhelpful bunny trail at worst.

Some of this is the fodder for millennium of truth seeking, theological discourse and not a few fist fights, so please don't take what I share here down to your clergy person and say, "See right here it says...."  Because I am in no way the speaker of perfect truth. But considering these things has been a blessing to me. So maybe you could say to your religious mentor, "What do think about the idea discussed here..." because seeking deeper understanding is always a blessing.

I want to start with TIME, as in God's time. Looking at the concepts of time as we believe they were understood at the time the New Testament was written is informative. 

In Greek chronos means time as in seconds, minutes, hours, day, weeks, months, years, era, eons and eternity, as a "point in time." Kairos is said to be the optimum time or "A propitious moment for decision or action." (OED) It is the kairos that followers of Christ might refer to as "God's time". We believe in times when "God provides an opportunity." But it is not, as the OED infers, a moment that can be enjoined or lost, but rather it is the idea that while we can and should wait for the best time to act, God makes "special times" for us to act or grow or reconsider along life's journey. A particular book or Bible study might shine light on something in our lives and, whether we remember something we have read earlier or insight from something (often a Bible verse or text) that is familiar or meet someone briefly who speaks words that touch us deeply at that particular "special time", we acknowledge it is God's grace showing up right on time in a way that we can at least get a glimmer of "something more."

These are the ideas that inform this position: (1) We are important to God and God has specific plans, opportunities, people, places, activities, and times of inactivity, that bless us, restore us, empower us, and enliven us, enlighten us, and this is God's omniscient (all wise) and omnipotent (all powerful) gift to us. (2) We have free will so we can accept the gift or decline the gift. (3) Because we fail to accept the gift at one point in time (chronos), God does not withdraw the offer of the gift (grace). (4) When we have missed something good, we are not excluded from figuring that out and joining in later, only to find that God's plan made use of our delay because nothing is outside God’s capacity to help us reach our highest good, our most authentic self that God created.

Kairos assures us that, even when we are not accepting of the gift, God continues to work in our lives, giving us experiences and knowledge and wisdom that comes in darn handy when we finally turn our face to God's, who has always been beside us, blessing us and equipping us for our tomorrows in this world and in the next. 

It is never God's purpose to deny us relationship with Him and God never withdraws His willingness to be in relationship with us. This balances free will (God did not create us to be His 3CPO or Data droid programmed to serve Him) with amazing Grace (God's persistent wooing of us and welcoming us to Himself).

As much as I love this and as important as I believe this concept can be in accepting and experiencing the utter awesomeness of God, I think I need a nap. This seeking truth thing takes work! But, oh is it worth it!

Today this is just the tender message I need, for myself, for our family, for my cousins and uncle saying goodbye to their mom and my beloved aunt. She was always filled with grace, shinned light, spoke truth and lived love into my life.

I'm looking forward to seeing her again.

Is Christianity reserved for the wealthy? We see plenty of wealthy folks who lead lives that show no respect for the things the Bible teaches will reduce our pain and suffering (like the 10 commandments). And we see plenty of everyday folks who show amazing love and strength (think foster parents or CNA's at medicaid nurses homes) who will never make Forbe's list of the wealthiest people. We are also blessed with folks who see their financial well-being as a responsibility to create, support, endow and otherwise seek to be God's hands and feet in this troubled world.  No I don't think wealth either insures great faith or precludes it.

Is Christianity a sop to placate the poor and disenfranchised? We have met or read of many people in dire circumstances who shine their kindness and live a powerful commitment to retain their humanity.* Of course, in the most dire circumstances, those folks often die to preserve their personal humanity. But there are plenty too who use any sorrow or loss or challenge as an excuse to proclaim that everybody else has it "better than me" and proceed to sow sorrow, violence and destruction in their families and communities. If it is a bribe, it does not appear to be working very well.

Is Christianity the sole property of intellectuals? Some are guilty of poor scholarship and other of intellectual snobbery and as long as theologians argue about what is the "exactly perfect way to be baptized" and which parts of the Bible are relevant, they do not model the kind of kindness or the humility that Christ modeled for us. We have all met folks whose academic prowess will not make them candidates for astrophysicist of the year, but who shine the love and comfort of God to us each and all, sometimes over centuries.** Some folks manage to be both wise and kind, but I don't see it as being an intellectual exercise with them.

Is Christianity for the perfect folks who have it all together? Only to the degree it is for the Easter 
Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, unicorns and the Elf on the Shelf.  (Get it? They are all mythical creatures! LOL). And, if there were such a people, what would they need with Christ?

Is Christianity for the brokenhearted? Does God offer love and hope and healing to the sorrowing, the lost, the terrified, those without hope, those who can see nothing in today and have no expectation of tomorrow that might suggest a point of light at the end of the long, cold, dark tunnel that is their lives? YES! Yes! Yes.

So people can be wealthy or destitute or anywhere in between; people can be smart as a whip, or simple as a child and anywhere in between; we can be in jail or prison or caught in a web of illegal behavior and stinkin' thinkin', or living in the free world with thousands of distractions and false promises of instant fun and happiness. But we must do this: in at least some small corner of our hearts or minds we must realize, acknowledge that we want more out of life, need more out of life, want our lives to matter--I want MY life to matter, want to make a difference, want to live free of lies and addictions and various forms of foolishness that drag us down, distract us, and even destroy us.

You can be anyone. You can be anywhere. You can be living "well" or barely getting by. Everyone is welcome at the table. Everyone has a story and they are unique, but they have the same ending: rest in the arms of God. For some the change in their lives will be public and testimonial; for others it will inform and heal in private moments and end-of-life moments.

But that is always the end game: rest in the arms of God both in this life and in the life everlasting.

* Man's Search for Meaning, Victor Frankl, 1946
** The Practice of the Presence of God, Brother Lawrence, 17th Century

I think it is important to keep in mind that the Bible was not written in "God". By that I mean that even if we learn Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic and study the oldest manuscripts that God is still limited in speaking to us because we don't speak "God". So God is consistent in mercy, and speaks to us in ways we can understand. 

Just a child cannot understand things with the same depth of experience and understanding as an adult, so as followers of Christ we grow in our ability to more fully consider what God is trying to teach us for our whole lives.

I am persistently and joyously surprised when I read a passage of scripture with a new appreciation for the mercy and joy it brings to me. So today's scripture is bringing me a smile, a tear, a heart full of praise for its truth. Here is the verse from 2 Corinthians 4:8-9:

We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.

Those of us who have walked with children or parents or siblings or cousins or friends who are or have been incarcerated have almost certainly felt pressed on every side: Lots of people want to explain the "best thing" to do at each crisis and are often offended when their suggestions are not immediately adopted completely. Other people loose interest or are horrified to think of having this happen to someone they love, so are distant, abrupt or otherwise full of their own fear. We have financial challenges. We often damage our health before we find healthier ways to love. We are aware everyday of how things will never be the same again and we often have trouble imagining a way they could even be really good. But when we develop a relationship with God we are comforted, informed, loved, tended and encouraged so that we are not crushed.

Much in the legal system is perplexing! But God is in charge and promises that our loved ones can find in Christ the antidote for despair. We do not have to live in despair.

When people treat us or our loved one like 2nd class citizens, or even when we are just living in fear of that, it is not hard to feel persecuted and wonder if everyone has such challenges or is this our personal hell. But the Spirit of God never abandons us, and rather persists in offering hope and wisdom and strength. We are not abandoned.

Our former assumptions and expectations about how life would be for ourselves and for those we love have been crushed. But our essential self rests safe and loved in the arms of our loving Lord. We are not destroyed.

We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.


Praise God!

I remember an interview with Sally Fields MANY years ago. She said, "I'd be happy to obey all the rules if only someone would write them down for me." I laughed and have remember it often over the years because I too would like a simple way to embrace God and live well. 

It seems perfectly clear that I am not to rob my neighbor or interfere with the trust in anyone's marriage or steal office supplies by the trunk-load. 

But there are so many things that seem less clear. How "helpful" can I be to be to a newly married son? Which college should I encourage my 17-year-old daughter to consider? How many children should we have? Should I take a new job or stay with the one I have? Should we buy a new house or build, or stay put? How do I deal with teachers who make me uncomfortable and distress my child; is it a growing experience or a dangerous situation? When is it "safe" to retire?

Really, I can drive myself to the brink of insanity in about 5 minutes if I start thinking of all I do not know or am uncertain of. Of increasing concern is this: what if that of which I am certain is actually not fully understood or, could it be, just wrong! The older I get the more I am anxious about what I do not know.

There is just so much we don't know about how our idea of helping might play out, or which option to exercise, or when is the right time to act or to refrain from acting. But it is much easier if we release the idea that we have to control our environment (which we can influence but not "fix"); or to protect our loved ones (who are not in need of us adjusting them in order to be fit for God, which, of course, they already are by God's accounting); or to fret over arranging for ourselves perfect finances, health, church friends, or neighbors to make our lives "blessed."

So I find John 5:30 of particular comfort today: "[Jesus said] 'By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.'" Interesting that Christ said, basically it is not about Him even in His perfect human form, but only what the Father wants.

No, my judgement is limited, but not so the judgement of God. My power is limited, but not so the power of God. My expectations are flawed, but not so the plan for my life which God laid out. My ideas, when I'm working at highest functionality, are always limited by what I know, by what I can do, by a narrow capacity to anticipate the consequences of my actions in the lives of those I love...and those I don't even know!

But the more I learn to wait on God's direction and instruction, seeking discernment even in the moment of choosing which door represents the best way out of a burning building, well, then things not only seem to come out better, but with each experience I learn to trust God more deeply, to lean into God, to seek God's face at all times and in all places.

I suspect Sally Fields has also learned there is no detailed rule book, no easy way. The only thing we can know for sure is this: God loves us passionately, yearns to teach us how to open ourselves to our own highest good and has both the will and the ability to transform all the crumby, scary, mistake-riddled parts of our lives into a life of joy, grace, peace, passion, adventure, safety and hope which we were created to live.

No, Sally, the rule book is simple but not possible to execute on our own. It has only three rules: A. Seek God with all your heart. B. Love your neighbor as your self.  C. Remember this each day: God is lovingly supporting you every step of the way -- as you are growing in your capacity to do A and B. 

Some family we know a little. Some family we may know a lot, even more than we might think wonderful at times. But in the end, family has the capacity to be such a blessing. 

When I was young we got a call from a distant cousin whose child was stranded at the downtown bus station and the next bus out was hours ahead. My mom was so excited that she was able to offer hospitality to the young cousin and comfort to the parents who had been more frequently seen when she was a child herself. 

Today we have some of our closest family are tending to urgent needs of aging parents and we are some distance away wishing we could find some tangible way to offer them comfort and so be comforted ourselves.

It is the same with family of choice, those folks who offer and accept the same kind of love and care over the years and become known among the family of blood that they have a place at the table at all times and in all circumstances.  

This is how God expects us to treat one another. We may not find the face familiar or the name pronounceable, but they are still our family as children of God. How wonderful, and too rare, that we have a follower of Christ who leads his church body with the courage to speak such wisdom.  Will we have a crisis in Syrian refuges if every 3rd church in the world reaches out to adopt one family or one person?

Matthew 25: 35-40  “Then the king will say to the godly people on his right, ‘Come, my Father has great blessings for you. The kingdom he promised is now yours. It has been prepared for you since the world was made. It is yours because when I was hungry, you gave me food to eat. When I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink. When I had no place to stay, you welcomed me into your home. When I was without clothes, you gave me something to wear. When I was sick, you cared for me. When I was in prison, you came to visit me. Then the godly people will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and give you food? When did we see you thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you with no place to stay and welcome you into our home? When did we see you without clothes and give you something to wear? When did we see you sick or in prison and care for you?’“Then the king will answer, ‘The truth is, anything you did for any of my people here, you also did for me.’

It seems to me that this is the crux of "what is family," questiong? Who are the family of God. It is all of us and we can always improve our family relationships.

“There is one other thing I have learned. God made people good, but they have found many ways to be bad." says Solomon.* It is quite astonishing the many ways people can justify harming themselves. I do it myself every time I skip a daily walk or let my attention wander during devotions or prayers. I certainly do it when I am less than kind, or too quick to assign responsibility to someone besides myself.

And once we start to justify our "little errs" by comparing our behavior to others we are really on a slippery slope. For one thing, we really have no idea how our "capacity" to "temptation" ratio affects us. I mean, I hate to get up in the morning, but I do not struggle with depression and would never compare my little challenge with the journey of depression. But we are tempted to rant and rave about the "unpopular sins" of others, using energy and attention needed to deal with own "white collar" sins and our own brokenness.

I remember someone (call her Louise to protect the innocent) ranting about the horrid sinfulness of a family member engaged in dangerous and heart-breaking sexual behavior and I asked, "When was the last time you were tempted to behave like that?" The answer was a huffy, "Why never!" Then I said, "Maybe it is unfair to make hasty judgement regarding temptations with which we do not wrestle, and instead work on our own challenges." I wish now I had been wise enough to add, "Maybe praying for that person would be more helpful to everyone." I am quite certain Louise assumed I was haunting the local lover's lane's with every Tom, Dick and Harry since I did not applaud her rant!

But here is the deal. Because I knew Louise intimately I was too aware of how much a little introspection was needed. Still today I see the lingering bruises caused by her self-righteousness attitude --injuries that haunt many years after her death. And I got to see up close how damaging this persistent attitude was to Louise's own peace of mind and relationships.

It is hard when we see someone we love struggling with bad choices. But often when we try to suggest alternative behaviors, the person we love gets so busy defending the indefensible they refuse to consider the possible changes.

But when we work on our own journey, live victoriously, offer mercy, and embrace grace, we speak much more powerfully. It may not invoke the changes we long to see, but that is really between our loved one and God. God really has this all under His loving control. And He longs to enjoy our full attention.

* Ecclesiastics 7:29

Almighty God, we thank You for Your tender care of all who suffered on 9-11 and in the days and months and years following even until today. Thank you for Ann Van Hine, fellow blogger and 9-11 survivor, who so generously shares her journey with us today. AMEN

Late on the evening of September 11, 2001, I opened my door to two representatives of the New York City Fire Department. They came to tell me that my husband, a firefighter, was unaccounted for. With those words, my teenage daughters and I embarked on a journey we had never expected to take.

A few weeks earlier, we were at family camp. A friend’s young child had gotten in trouble, and his dad picked him up to carry him back to the campsite. The child wasn’t happy and had gone kicking and screaming. God helped me see that whether the child went kicking and screaming or resting in his father’s loving arms, he was going on that journey. Now I realized that I had a similar choice: I could rest in the loving arms of my heavenly Father, or I could choose to resist the Lord. Either way, I was on the journey that began with losing my husband.

Through the many years since then, God has carried me. After a time, God put me down to walk. God allowed me to run ahead; and when I stumbled, God picked me up again. The Lord has never left me and has proven trustworthy over and over again.

You can read more from Ann Van Hine (New York, USA) at http://devotional.upperroom.org/blog/2015/09/vanhine091115

Published by The Upper Room Daily Devotional Guide for September 11, 2015

Because the physical church on earth is made up of volunteers from the human race, a broken and limited group, most of us have had something less than pleasant experiences happen at a church. The longer we have attended the more often this happens. Because of this limited capacity, if we attend a church with the smallest expectation, it is unlikely to be met in any good way because people come to church when they are ill or someone they love is dying or their marriage is broken or their kids are struggling or their debt is drowning them and so often people in church are just not at their best. For some reason, we expect to find in church buildings or church attendees help and hope and wisdom laid out on a banquet table.

In fact, we are all struggling to understand what God is saying to us, what we are called to do, what we aught to believe. We may be at different points along the path. And I certainly don't recommend a church that has no baby Christians, no seekers of truth, no broken hearts looking for hope, because if a church is full of people who profess to "have it all together" then how will they have any faith, hope or experience that can shine light on my little broken self?

No, the best part of a church is that we can gather together to learn from one another, to love and be loved, to grow and humbly teach, to encourage one another and be a place of refuge when the temptations of the world would lure us into complacence.

So, if you don't have a church home or if your church is not a home, then prayerfully seek a place where you can be part of a community that has each other's back, speaks truth to nonsense and are learning to trust God radically no matter the challenge of the day.  

Ecclesiastics 4:12: An enemy might be able to defeat one person, but two people can stand back-to-back to defend each other. And three people are even stronger. They are like a rope that has three parts wrapped together—it is very hard to break.

Since my first professional goal was to be an English teacher, I get a giggle nearly daily from newspapers, Facebook posts, advertisements, crossword puzzles and blogs. It gets increasingly easy to have what I still think of as "Rosanna Bananadanna" experiences where we are getting our feathers thoroughly ruffled over a minor point exacerbated by two poorly expressed monologues camouflaged as communication.

I have to be careful when I read the Bible or study Christian apologetics* because it is so easy to say, "Ah, ha! Just as I thought!" Because if I ponder and study matters of faith I need to be looking for more than just what I want to find. Of course, this can be a long, up-hill battle of trying to think deeply about what God might be trying to get me to understand. 

From the start, I find it dangerous to even flirt with the idea that any mortal being can be arrogant about understanding the mind of God. God, amazing, all-powerful, creator God, teaches us as we open to Him, but I see no evidence that God does brain surgery to implant the "perfect understanding" chip. Instead, God speaks with such grace and tenderness to the infirm, disabled, and frail and with passion and authority to the arrogant and self-centered. 

In other words, God meets us where we are. I see very different messages when Jesus responds to the broken-hearted, the off-track, the honest seekers, than when Jesus speaks to people with a personal agenda. Jesus is very blunt to those who would cloak themselves in "churchiness" while doing evil. But even they can be turned from their ways, if they but seek God with only a mustard-seed sized faith that God might hear their honest prayers. There is no evil bigger, nor anything more powerful than God....that is the whole point of Christ dying and rising.

Here is the best news of all...God accepts our deepest longings, our most profound shame, our feelings of utter-worthlessness and we don't have to pick exactly the right words or stand in a prescribed posture or jump any barriers at all: God does all the heavy lifting. God keeps working with us, weather we are newly exploring our longing to have our brokenness healed or if we are long-time friends of Jesus who are slipping out of this life into eternity and all along the road between. Every day open hearts get new insights into ways to grow, ways to love, ways to serve.

Most amazing God and Father, thank You for loving the least of us and those the world sees as "most" and everyone in between, each with an amazing love and a total willingness to redeem, restore, rehabilitate and renew so that each and all can grow ever closer to You. AMEN

* People writing or speaking about their faith journey, spiritual perspectives or other explanations their faith.-

The "information" that gets blasted at us culturally frustrates me because advertising is purchased by folks with something to sell. It is not necessarily things it is bad to buy; in fact it may be "selling us" on supporting worthy causes or making wiser choices.  But the fact remains that no advertising was every created to be wholly altruistic. In fact I did some advertising when I had a financial planning practice that, while I did get good feed-back from colleagues, never netted me a single client.

My ad reminded people to consider the difference between a need and a want when making financial decisions. (I was very tired of hearing modestly paid airmen proclaim they "needed a boat" or a struggling single mom say she really "needed those exciting new shoes." And I personally find I am healthier when I consider if I really need a package of Oreo cookies.) But the bank tells you you need a loan, because they profit more from the loan than from a modest savings account used to accumulate funds for a cash purchase. Grocery stores spend big advertising budgets to prove they have good "gluten free" sections or a range of organic goods, but frankly organic hot dogs are still a bad idea. 

It is the challenge of our age, to find a community where folks meet to share positive ideas; work to turn small hopes into dreams, then into plans; ask the hard questions and hold one another accountable; where folks can honestly disagree and still learn from each other. Some of our children have found such a community while incarcerated. I do not want to infer that prison churches are perfect...that would be impossible inside or in the free world. But because they live in such narrow circumstances many of them are very serious about loving and living and learning to live like Jesus taught. Some wear their Bibles out because they read it so much! And many read with a desire to learn all they can rather than to defend a particular doctrine.

Refugees and minority-Christians struggle around the world to be the Church when public expressions of faith are dangerous to the health and life of themselves and others they love. They are so serious, so intentional when most of us (who live where Christianity rarely causes death or even loss of livelihood) shrug and ask those who love us to "not be too churchy." I am awed by the strength of their faith. 

Won't you pray today in loving support of people who are in dire circumstances and seeking to follow Jesus in their lives?

Is it just me or do others get a bit anxious when things seem to be going well for an extended period? I feel like I'm getting a mini-vacation before there is a new challenge to face...a friend with a serious illness, a child or grandchild going through a challenging patch, a time of questioning if I'm on the right track. There are always changes, losses and questions along life's journey.

And, I think that is a good thing. I just am not very good about saying, "Well, Lord, thank you so much for the beautiful sunrise, my wonderful boss, my particularly kind pastor, my wonderfully messy family, my life-long friends, my new friends who feel like I've known them from forever, my capacity to pay my expenses, my need to stay consistent in my healthy eating and exercise choices, my shelter, my transportation, my challenges in adjusting to a changing world (is it a sin to swear at a computer?)"

So I accept that things will rarely, OK almost never, go "my way" when I am on the right track because the right track is the growing in grace track and that is never unmitigated jam. But I am able to rest in the constancy and power and love of God, even when I don't see the "why" or "how can this ever get better" perspective on the challenges that I and the people I love most dearly are facing.

When the most beloved people in my life are struggling, I too quickly forget that they have the right to grow too! And most always we grow because we are experiencing pain.

I had a grandmother who was a perfect kick in the keester and it was really too sad because she did try to be a faithful follower of Christ, but she clung to some ideas about Christianity that left her painted in a corner where there was so little room to change. Then her only surviving son and her husband died within 5 months of each other. The pain drove her out of the corner at least a bit and, being in wholly uncharted territory (having married between her junior and senior year of high school, she had rarely in 84 and 1/2 years lived alone or without one of her children living nearby) and she did change. She could still try the patience of a saint, but she made some progress in being kinder, and ironically, less afraid. The pain was very great; I hope she found a full measure of comfort. And I'm really quite sure my beloved aunt has a whole chest of gold stars waiting for her in heaven in addition to all the grace she experienced through those years.

So I shall try to pay better attention to the challenges I encounter so I can extract every bit of grace contained therein.

I have been trying to find a verse that I have found a blessing in the past, but could not locate it. Today it sort of dropped in my lap and in seeking to be more confident in my understanding, I feel I have learned that it is really much more wonderful than I thought.

Bear with me, because this is special.  In Isaiah 43:1 the Bible speaks of God "knowing our names" or in some translations "giving us our names" and that is pretty special. The whole idea of God knowing my name rather blows me away, but when I started looking more fully at this verse I found this translation in the Jewish Hebrew Bible:
Fear not; for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy shem; thou art Mine.

So I wanted to understand shem more clearly and I learned that although the King James Bible uniformly translates this as "name" (and it does sometimes mean that) that in this verse a functional SHEM definition is more like this: 'the essential reality of who someone is'. 

Wow. God knows the essence of who I am. Now in some ways that is pretty scary because I know better than anyone every unholy impulse, unkind thought, uncaring gesture that I am both capable of and guilty of.  So look at what God has said here: "Don't be afraid for I have redeemed you." That means that God finds me worthy and He goes on to call me His own! God is saying, "I know ALL about you and love you completely, long for your highest good, have planned a future for you of peace and hope and purpose."

As usual, God has so much more for me than I expect for myself. He does not just know my name; He knows the real me and cares about me and saves me and claims me.

Wow. I mean, really, Wow.

There is a new movie out call War Room and it is advertised as and is being marketed as a movie for the "Christian Market". I'm hoping to get my family organized to go see it this weekend.

But as I was checking it out this morning I was looking through the reviews and the first one to pop up was furious that it could not have been more evangelistic if it threw a Bible at the audience. I do find this funny. Would that same critic have reviewed a zombie movie by saying it was about stupid zombies. I mean, I don't watch zombie movies because I have no patience with nor find entertainment in them. But I can't really criticize the zombiness of zombie movies...

This is what puzzles church folks: why the vitriolic diatribe? why the rant and the rave? why the bitterness? If it is not your thing, then, since we are not dragging you by the hair into the theater, why the stink? Why the emotion? Sometimes it feels like people actually feel hateful toward church folks. 


I know there have been people who self-identify as Christians who have behaved horribly. But what group has not suffered that embarrassment? 

I mean, I kind of want to wear a T-shirt that says, "I am not a Jim Jones Christian. I am not a Catherine Medici Christian. I am not a Fred Phelps Christian." But I'm not so sure any of those folks actually embraced the teachings of Christ, so that is unlikely to help. 


It could be the problem for these distressed folks is that they have had a bad "church" or "church people" experience in their own lives, and for that I apologize, especially if I was the person who was so wrapped up in my own drama that I failed to offer courtesy and attention and kindness at a time when a little TLC was needed. For those who suffered injury at the hands of someone who wrapped their misdeeds in the cloak of a church, I truly would like to kick their tires on your behalf.

But it may be that God has been whispering in to them that He needs their presence, presents and participation to get some important work done, whether that is healing broken hearts, rebuilding lives, or simply getting folks to the place where they were created to bloom. 


If they are fleeing from that, then I understand why they are testy. I know I was.