Category: Religion

Doubtless, many thoughts on the New Year and resolutions are focused on losing weight (or at least healthier eating) and exercising routines.  And I must confess that I too am planning to get a new start in both of those areas.  These are definitely two important aspects that we should consider and incorporate into our lives.  Yet, the message can’t be repeated enough that it is not the outside of the person that matters the most – it is what is inside that counts.

In Psalm 51:10 David implores, “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” 

Predictably, we approach the beginning of a new year with a vision of a new slate, and hope for a fresh start in various aspects of our being.  Like David, we want to start anew with an unsullied past free of past burdens, mistakes, and regrets.  It is appropriate that a popular symbol of the new year is a baby in a diaper.  It’s hard to find anything more pure and sinless than a new baby.  Additionally on the first day of the year, we feel a new charge of energy – a surge of that youthful vigor we remember from our childhood. 

Yet, my exhortation to you this year is to remember this feeling, this hope, this surge of vigor does not have to be relegated only to January 1st of every year.  With David, we can pray for a pure heart and renewed spirit on a daily basis.  Remember every day can be a chance to start over with our failed dreams, missed chances, and words spoken in haste to others.  The sun rises every morning and God waits and stands ready to Forgive, Inspire, and Love.  Take Him up on His offer and then turn and offer the same to others in your life as well.   

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Many years ago I become a Certified Lay Speaker with the United Methodist Church.  This meant that I was able to fill in for a Pastor on Sunday morning and lead the worship service.  Although nerve-wracking, is was something I really enjoyed doing.  However, with school and work demanding all my attention I unfortunately let my certification lapse.  I do plan on updating as soon as possible.

On May 31st our Pastor was going to be out of town.  He asked mom to lead the service because she is now a Certified Lay Speaker as well.  Knowing my background he mentioned perhaps I might want to do it instead.  Since it had been years I didn’t feel quite up to doing the whole service, but was willing to deliver the message.  So, that Sunday mom and I did a “tag-team” operation with her taking care of everything else while I delivered the sermon. 

The message I choose to deliver was in a little different format than what most consider a typical sermon.  In fact it was a narrative, a story.  I had written it for a New Testament class I had taken at Gaston College.  The assignment was to take a story from the Gospels and pick out an un-named minor character that was mentioned there.  Then, we were to retell the story from that person’s point of view.  I chose to write mine about a fisherman, a contemporary of James, John, Simon, and Andrew.  This all resulted in A Fisherman’s Tale.

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For my birthday this past week, I received a GPS Navigation device for my car. It’s a truly great gift and I’m really excited about it, which is only fitting since it is exactly what I asked for. The only downside is that it’s 23 years late in coming. I needed this wonderment when I first got my Driver’s License. I have always been seriously directionally challenged. Being a voracious reader as a youngster had many benefits, but if I could do it over perhaps I would put the book down while in the car and I wouldn’t have had to spend many of my 20’s and early 30’s wondering where in the heck I was and how to get where I needed to be.

At the risk of sounding like an old Virginia Slims ad, “I’ve come a long way baby” since those days of wandering in the wilderness – or actually the highways and byways. I can now read maps (a little) and decipher the Interstate system. That said, my little GPS is still going to be a nice addition for road trips. One thing I really like is how it quickly reevaluates and redraws the route if you stray from the pre-planned directions, whether it be due to a roadblock, traffic, or a willful decision to just do it your own way. A voice announces “Recalculating” and tells you what changes need to be made to reach the original destination.

This technology has been around a good while now, but the principle has been around for ages. God possessed the ability to know the exact location of His children eons before the first man-made satellites were deployed into space. And as far as He is concerned, there is really only one destination – and that is closer and closer to Him. Likewise, He lays out the route turn by turn on how to get there. Inevitably, though, we stray from the pre-planned route, be it a stumbling block or our own pride that causes us to think we know a better way. Either way, the good news is that God still knows the Way to the planned endpoint. And if you will heed the words found in the Psalms that urges us to “Be still and know that I am God” you may even hear a small still voice whispering “Recalculating,” signalling that God is ready to reveal the changes you need to make if you are ready to heed them.

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I must admit I wasn’t overly excited about attending Sunrise Service and Worship Service on Easter Sunday two weeks ago, simply because I was trudging along on four hours of sleep with the cloud of another upcoming 12 hour shift hanging over my head.  Like Peter, James, and John in the garden of Gethsemane with Jesus my physical needs had a stronger hold on me at the time than my spiritual needs did.  Unlike the disciples, I had my mother calling me several times on the phone to make sure I got up.    God had a specific message for me that day and He was going to make sure I didn’t miss it.

With all due respect to Reverend Andrews that message was not delivered during the Sunrise Service.  He did deliver a very meaningful and emotional message in the form of a letter he had received from his own son, who is himself a living testimonial to the saving grace of Jesus.  It was truly appropriate, inspiring and no doubt touched many hearts that morning – mine included.  But it wasn’t the hand-picked message that God had planned for me.

That message instead came during the regular Worship service later that morning.  Again with respect to our minister, it did not come directly from his sermon.  It did originate there, but God instead decided to divert it through another vessel before it reached me.  Pastor Andrews was talking about the events that occured after Jesus’ Resurrection, specifically the disciples on the road to Emmaus.  Jesus appears among them and they don’t recognize Him for who he is.  Pastor Andrews related that to the assembled people before him, stating that there were people here who most likely won’t recognize Jesus when He returns and will not be ready to go with Him.

I can relate this because, yes, I was listening to the sermon.  However, I must admit there was a part of me – probably like many others in the congregation – that was somewhere else.  In my case I was trying to calculate what time it was and figure out how much of a nap I could squeeze in before going to work.  It was because of this half-hearted attention that I heard those words but I didn’t really react to them.  That’s when God stepped in and I did react to another’s reaction to them.

I was in the choir so my head was turned to the left to see the preacher.  This gave me a view out of the corner of my eye of the back row where the basses sit.  (The guys who sing low – not the fish, just in case there’s some confusion there.)  Because of this, I could see Luke Johnson sitting there with his dad.  Just like years ago when I taught him in Sunday School he was spending part of the time writing or drawing on either the bulletin or a piece of paper he held in his hand.  However, I know from experience not to mistake his busyness as distractedness.  No matter how occupied he seemed in Sunday School he was always ready to discuss the lesson and answer the discussion questions.  In fact, often to my chagrin he sometimes asked a follow-up that I wasn’t prepared to explain.  Oh yeah, did I mention this was the 2nd and 3rd grade class?

So, returning to that Easter morning. As soon as the pastor made the statement about some people present that wouldn’t know Jesus, I heard Luke utter a sound of surprise and then immediately bowed his head low into his lap, quietly moving his lips.  Luke hadn’t been listening half-heartedly and he understood instantly the ramifications for those people the preacher was talking about.  More importantly, it shook him to the core.  He was visibly bothered by the thought and concerned enough that he felt a conviction to stop right there and pray for those people.  No, I didn’t hear a word he spoke, but from his reactions there was no doubt as to what what he said.  It was at that point that I felt a pang of guilt that I had not reacted in the same manner.  God had used this young man to force me to recognize how selfish and self-centered I could be.  I was more concerned with planning a nap than I was with the fate of the people around me.

Any one who has been privileged to spend any significant time with Luke knows what a special and blessed young man he is.  His participation in the adult choir has been a ministry itself over the years.  From the beginning at a very young age, he sang without shame and with gusto.  Amazingly, he has a wonderful ear for music and sings right on key.  Yet, that isn’t what matters to him, it is the message and the purpose of the song.  On key or not, he would no doubt belt it out anyway.  Even when I know I’m singing in tune, I don’t have the courage to give it my all.

Easter was not the first time I’ve seen Jesus in Luke’s actions or words.  And I dare say it won’t be the last.

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Several months ago after I got off work at 1:00 in the morning, I went by my parent’s house to pick up Rusty, my dog.  He stays with his grandparents while I’m at work so he won’t be lonely.  As I approached the porch, I looked up and around to gaze at the night-time sky.  Rising from the horizon in all areas except from the west was a thick layer of clouds that obscured any view of the stars.  The small clear point on the western horizon stretched upward and outward creating a pie-shaped area in the sky where everything was clear.  The full moon was situated right above my head and slightly to the edge of the pie shining through a thin wispy layer of clouds.  As I craned my neck backwards and stared straight at the moon I experienced an odd and disorienting experience.  The moon appeared to be racing across the sky at an incredible rate of speed. This optical illusion seemed so real that for a second I even began to lose my balance.  Everything within me knew that the moon was not moving that it was in fact the clouds.  But I had to forcefully remind myself to rely on what I knew and not what I thought I was seeing.  I had to depend on the knowledge I had acquired over the years to stay grounded.

In these times of economic, social, and political turmoil it is easy to lose our grounding in our faith.  Many look around and wonder if God is still around and still in control.  There are many valid reasons one could think this.  But, just like my experience that night we have to rely on our years of knowledge and experience and not be fooled by what we see around us.  We have to reach deep within and depend on the promises and the reassurances that God has given us over time.  In my case looking up to the sky caused my dis-orientation.  Yet, in regards to our spiritual needs not looking heavenward will cause our dis-orientation.

I lift up my eyes to the hills – where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.

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