Comforters

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Mt. 5:4 NIV).

My father-in-law grew up in West Virginia, without the benefit of central heating. At bedtime on the cold wintry evenings, he would back up to the wood stove and get his backside as hot as he dared, then sprint for his bed. Diving onto the cold mattress, he warmed it up until it chilled him down. In the morning he would awaken to find snow drifted into the bedroom through cracks around the window. What he wouldn’t have given for the lovely comforters of today – large, thick, fluffy, filled with insulating goose down…

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles…God is our Comforter. Infinitely large and filled with delicious warmth and compassion, He comes to us and offers exactly the comfort that we need in this cold, hard world. He comes today to you, and…

He comes with a smile of kindness instead of the dreaded frown of condemnation (Rom. 8:1).
He comes to bear your burdens today (Ps. 68:19).
He works in every aspect of your current situation for your good (Rom. 8:28).
He assures you that sorrows are temporary things (Cor. 4:17).
He reminds you that an eternity of uninterrupted joy awaits (Rev. 21:4)
He promises to personally wipe the last tear from your eyes (Rev. 21:4).

Who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort that we ourselves have received from God (2. Cor. 1:3-4 NIV). Each of God’s children are designed to be “little comforters” – lap robes, you might say, fashioned in the likeness of His King-sized covering. We’re privileged to bring a bit of God’s warmth and compassion to the miserable and shivering who pass by us day after day. We can display God’s smile of kindness, share their burdens, strengthen their faith, and point them to the One Who will one day end this season of winter and bring eternal summer.

As God’s children through faith in Jesus Christ, we have a constant Comforter, so we don’t have to fear chilly mournings. And we are comforters, because we are filled with Him. How blessed we are!

So spread the warmth this week!

Running Against the Tide

Spain’s Pamplona Bull Run, which ends Wednesday, began long ago as an annual religious festival in honor of San Fermin, a Catholic saint and martyr. By the 19th century it had become commercialized and included street theatre, human cannonballs, and circus animals. In 1926, Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises attracted people from all over the world to the event, and today’s festival is overcrowded with thrillseekers and enthusiasts.

Spanish-fiestas.com goes on to describe the event:
“The Pamplona bull run takes place at 8am every morning from 7th to 14th [of] July. Runners must be in the running area by 7.30am. The actual run stretches from the corral at Santo Domingo where the bulls are kept, to the bullring where they will fight that same afternoon. The length of the run is 825 metres [about 1/2 mile] and the average time of the run from start to finish is about three minutes…

“First [the bulls and runners] climb Santo Domingo and go across the Ayuntamiento Square…The most dangerous part of the bullrun approaches as there's a closed curve leading into Estafeta which is the longest stretch of the run. Next comes a small section of Duque de Ahumada which is known as the Telefónica stretch. The last stretch is also very risky as the route leads into a dead end street providing access to the Bull Ring.

“The vast number of people taking part in the bullrun nowadays adds to the already considerable danger of running alongside wild bulls weighing in the region of 700kg [1500 lbs.] each. Too many drunks taking part also increase the risks for everybody. There are plenty security guards and first aid personnel but there is little they can do during the running of the bulls such that 15 people have died and over 200 been seriously injured since 1924.”

In Matthew 6 Jesus urges His followers not to worry about what they will eat, what they will drink, what they will wear. The pagans, He said, run after all these kinds of things, but you are to trust that Your Heavenly Father knows what you need and will provide all that is necessary for His perfect will to be accomplished in your life. So don’t worry about tomorrow. Prepare, yes. Do all you ought to provide for yourself and loved ones, yes. But worry?... no.

Don’t worry about tomorrow? Oh, my. That’s irresponsible. That’s risky. That’s running against the tide of humanity. When you try to envision living like that, you see yourself pounding the pavement of Pamplona, turning the corner, and discovering that you’re going the wrong way! A veritable tidal wave of humanity – and a few thousand pounds of enraged animal – are bearing down on you without mercy. In seconds you will be mowed down, mashed flat, mulched by Nikes and hard, sharp hooves.

But picture this: you say a desperate prayer and move out to face the overwhelming odds. And miracle of miracles, a slim way opens just as the tidal waves hits. It’s a mini-parting of the Red Sea, engineered by God just for you. He’s making it possible for you to keep going the “wrong way” on a one-way street, in the opposite direction of a crowd hell-bent for a dead-end.

Keep that picture in your mind over the next weeks as we continue to learn about “The Kingdom Experience.” We will hear things that will sound foreign to the crowd around us. We will be asked to run the “wrong way,” to think and act differently than those we work with and live near. But don’t let the thought of changing direction, of turning to face an oncoming wall of humanity, become too much to ask.

Trust God to split the crowd and make a way for you, one humble little soul, to walk against the flow. For you to take on, through His power, the pressure and weight and influence of an entire culture that has rejected the Kingdom Experience… and emerge, as Jesus promised in His Sermon on the Mount, blessed – “Happy, to be envied, and spiritually prosperous – with life-joy and satisfaction, regardless of [your] outward conditions” (Mt. 5:3 Amp).

Olé!

His Truth is Marching On

“The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” so beautifully sung by our choir on the Fourth of July, was once a marching song for the Union soldiers of the Civil War. It’s easy to imagine hundreds of troops advancing steadily and purposefully to that rhythmic chorus, “Glooooo-ry, glory halleluuuuu-jah…”

Yet as anyone who’s studied the Civil War knows, there were some very inglorious moments in that conflict. Days, seasons even, when things looked dark and unpromising, when precious lives were sacrificed, it seemed, for nothing. When good men suffered and enslaved men seemed no nearer to freedom than when the war began. In those hard days, mere boys took up the fife or drum and entered the fray - literally. It is said that some of the musical brigades of both the northern and southern armies accompanied their commanding officer right onto the field and played patriotic songs while the bullets and cannonballs – and comrades - fell around them.

What would it have felt like to be blasting out “His truth is marching on” when progress had ground to a halt or the troops were even falling back, giving ground to the enemy? To finish the last notes of the last chorus and fall silent on a battlefield strewn with fallen friends? Was His truth still marching on? Many surely asked those words as the years dragged on and the war waxed and waned. Many others had their lives snuffed out before they ever saw the fulfillment of what they’d given their lives for.

Same with us. There’s a Truth that’s been marching since the Creation, and when we read our Bibles we see that it marches right off the pages of Revelation into eternity. This Truth wins in the end. And all who sacrifice their lives – give their time and energy here on earth for its cause – are resurrected to share in the victory at the end. What they didn’t see accomplished here because they had to leave “early,” they will see and enjoy in their heavenly home. And all injustice and unrighteousness will be past.

In the meantime, a trumpet has been sounded that shall never call retreat. His Truth is marching on. So let us play our little fifes and drums for all they’re worth, because the cause is worthy, and the Commander is worthy, and the outcome is sure. There may be days of darkness and death and the years of conflict may drag on, but we’re to keep playing while the bullets fly and the cannonballs explode around us. To keep playing while the wounded groan and the agnostics curse. To keep playing, even when we see the whites of the enemies’ eyes… because His Truth is marching on and, as one little-known verse of the song declares,

“He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave,
He is wisdom to the mighty, He is succour to the brave,
So the world shall be His footstool, and the soul of Time His slave,
Our God is marching on.”

Glory, glory hallelujah!

Waiting Well

I remember my summertime pregnancy with Greg, our youngest. I especially recall sitting in the July heat at a friend’s birthday party, nursing swollen feet in a kiddie swimming pool… waiting.

Waiting for birth. Waiting for the discomfort to be over. Waiting for the unknown to be to known, the still-out-of-reach to be welcomed with open arms, the hidden and the silent to be visible and touchable and squawking at the top of his lungs.

As Pastor Dave Phillips pointed out Sunday, we’re in a similar position here at FAC. Waiting. Wishing this uncomfortable stage was over. Nursing the aches and pains that come with the territory, counting the months, asking each other and the elders, “Why can’t it happen sooner?” Maybe some are convinced that the process is nearing full-term, and we should talk about scheduling a C-section! We’ll make this thing happen!

But, as Dave pointed out, we don’t want to deliver a preemie. I don’t think any of us want that. So the challenge is to wait, and wait well.

May I confess something? I sat down with my congregational survey and began to fill it out.. . and had the same reaction as some of you. Why so technical? Why so focused on the person and particular preferences rather than on prayer and the leading of the Spirit? I thought about Samuel the prophet who was sent to anoint the new king of Israel… and God bypassed all those who “fit the bill” and ordered Samuel to anoint the least of them – the youngest, called in from the fields as an afterthought. Would this survey help us find a David, I wondered?

But in the middle of my concern, the Lord seemed to respond with this: Haven’t you trusted the elders in the past? Why would you fear now that they are missing the high road? Do you think they will forget to consult Me? Don’t lose confidence in them. Trust them also in this, and let them complete the process they’ve been given to do.

A pregnant woman is a formidable thing. She can get testy and impatient and unreasonably demanding and moody and… well, you get the picture. Let’s not go there. Let’s not make our elders spend all their time placating our fears, indulging our whims, waiting on us hand and foot while we wait impatiently for them to produce the senior pastor. I’m simply saying this: Waiting is hard for everybody. Our elders and staff deserve – need – our support and confidence.

God only knows how many months we must wait, but let’s wait well, and encourage each other as we do it. Nobody stays pregnant forever. In just the right time, our new pastor will emerge, and we’ll welcome him with open arms. And the pain of waiting and laboring and delivering this leader will be eclipsed by the joy of knowing we have a pastor designed by God and designated just for us. The waiting will be over and unknown will be known…

Let’s just hope he’s not squawking at the top of his lungs!

Generators or Reflectors?

We are people of influence, each of us. That means, by definition, that we have an effect on the thoughts and actions and spirit of others. It’s inevitable. We just do.

Although most of us occasionally have a negative effect on others, I think we all sincerely want to have a positive effect, modeling how to live as disciples of Christ, encouraging those around us, spurring them on to fulfill their potential. But influencing others is a tricky thing. Pastor Ben referred to an especially powerful portion of Scripture which gives important guidance to this whole idea of influencing others:

“You are the light of the world – like a city on a mountain, glowing in the night for all to see. Don’t hide your light under a basket! Instead, put it on a stand and let it shine for all. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your Heavenly Father” (Mt. 5:14-16 NLT).

Yes, belt it out: “This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine.” Do, as John Wesley admonished, “all the good you can to all the people you can in all the ways you can as long as ever you can.” But a word of caution is in order as regards the doing and shining. For many of us, it comes oh-so-naturally. We love to do and shine. We wouldn’t think of hiding our works under a basket – they might go unnoticed and unrewarded!

But Jesus’ teaching reminds us that the light which emanates from good deeds and right living and positive influence is not meant to cast a flattering glow on us. It’s not meant to bathe us in a heavenly aura that makes people ooh and aah and put us up on a pedestal. The shining, the influencing, isn’t even about us at all.

We’re to shine in such a way that those who see are moved to praise God. Not us. Not our family. Not our church. God.

Wow. That makes it all a little tricky. It means doing what doesn’t come naturally. It means reaching out to others in Jesus’ power, according to His plan, desiring only His purpose and results, and intentionally guarding against lesser motives. It means refusing the perks and attention that people naturally give to shining lights. It means continually checking our reasons for and methods of shining. It means humbly insisting that our light comes from God; He is our Source, and without Him we are embarrassingly low wattage indeed.

It’s so easy to pursue influence for the wrong reasons, and so easy to justify those reasons. But in the end, we are really only… reflectors.

The apostle Paul said it this way: “Whenever anyone turns to the Lord, then the veil is taken away… And all of us have had that veil removed so that we can be mirrors that brightly reflect the glory of the Lord. And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him and reflect his glory even more” (2 Cor. 3:16-18 NLT).

So let your little light shine… not as a self-generated spotlight, but as a reflector of His glory. Then the glow that’s cast will highlight Him, and your influence will count for eternity.

A Higher Faith

I spent the weekend with a group of FAC women at the Castle, a Christian retreat center outside of Franklin, Pa. On Monday, I listened to Pastor Phillip’s Sunday’s sermon online – and found that it was from the book of Philippians, which we had also focused on at the Castle.

Paul wrote that “Book of Joy” from a prison in Rome. He had endured a chronic “thorn in the flesh,” frequent beatings and persecutions and perilous adventures, and had ended up imprisoned – again – for preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. He didn’t know if he was going to live or die. But his attitude shines through:

“For I live in eager expectation and hope that I will never do anything that causes me shame, but that I will always be bold for Christ, as I have been in the past, and that my life will always honor Christ, whether I live or die” (Phil. 1:20 NLT).

“Eager expectation and hope”! How many of us actually face the future with that attitude? More often it’s with clenched teeth, with a resolute determination to “soldier on,” with a nagging fear that we’ll make a fool of ourselves and be a disappointment to God in the process. Or we cover our eyes to avoid dealing with the future at all! But to actually expect that our lives will not bring shame to us, but always honor Christ – now that takes faith in more than ourselves. We could never pull that off, and we know it. It takes faith in God, utter reliance on Him, utter trust in His care and provision.

Most of us don’t have that kind of faith just yet. But we need to hear there is such a thing as Rhonda Gunn sings about here . We need to know that a higher faith is possible in this life, that some, like Paul, have gained it, and they really do face the future with eager expectation and hope.

If we want to join them, we need to let God know we’re yearning for that new level of faith. That by His grace we are willing to apply ourselves to the hard lessons and follow the challenging road that will take us there. His path for each of us will be different. The lessons will be tailored to our specific individual needs and learning styles. But He’ll take us higher if we really want to go… if we really want to see the scenery of the high places and breathe the fresh air and look down from His perspective on the hard places in our lives and feel them finally under our feet, instead of looming over us.

Then we will know what Paul meant when he wrote, “I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me; I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency]” (Phil. 4:13 Amp). We’ll know that no matter what comes down the pike, He’s got a firm grip on us. We’ll be sufficient to the challenge - because of Him. Now that’s a higher faith. Do you want to go there?

A Porcupine in Our Pajamas

Psychologists tell us that people tend to view change in terms of loss. That is, when our lives are disrupted we are prone to focus on what’s been taken away rather than what we’ll gain. That fact was perfectly illustrated by Tom Froehlich’s “porcupine in the pajamas” analogy.

Imagine waking up tonight to find, for a change, a porcupine in your pajamas. Now this would be change you did not invite and do not want to entertain for long. And you would definitely view it in terms of loss… loss of sleep, loss of peace and comfort, loss of self-control (hence the bloodcurdling screams), and probably a little loss of blood, too!

But something good might also result from that unwelcome shakeup. I imagine that with a burst of adrenaline you would be up and moving, the cobwebs of sleep instantly obliterated. No more drowsy dreamland, no obnoxious snoring, no mindless slapping the snooze on the alarm. Like it or not, it would be “time to fish or cut bait.”

Something like our situation at FAC. We’re in the midst of change we did not invite, and we’re not exactly urging it to make itself at home. We’ve experienced a loss of peace and comfort and control. Hopefully nobody has lost any blood yet – but maybe some sleep. Yes, change brings loss.

But change brings gains, too. Let’s say, for example, that we had grown just comfortable enough in our former state that it was time for a shakeup. Maybe we’d even begun ignoring the voices that sounded a warning, “It’s time to be up and moving! Seize the day! Make the most of every opportunity!” Maybe we’d begun to like our daydreams better than reality, and gotten used to the sound of our own snoring. Maybe God just has something great up ahead, and He’s getting us ready – through change.

Those sharp prickly pinpoints of change can clear the head pretty quickly. It can make us sit up and take notice of our surroundings. And it says in a voice firm and loud, “This is the new reality. This is where God is leading; don’t miss it. Heads up. Listen carefully. Follow closely. Trust implicitly. Christ means to redeem everything and work everything together for your good. Keep faith in the Lord of the Church…

“And get out of those pajamas, anyway. It’s ‘way past noon and you deserve a companion like that porcupine.” Well, God’s probably not saying that… but maybe something close!

Alan Redpath wrote, “There is nothing, no circumstance, no trouble, no testing that can ever touch me until, first of all, it has come past God and past Christ, right through to me. If it has come that far, it has come with a great purpose.”

No porcupine of change has wriggled into FAC’s pj’s without God’s permission. No quill has dug in without His purpose. May we embrace both the purpose and the benefits as He intends.