The Heart of The Matter

God, in his great love, has given us many gifts and provisions for knowing him and loving him more fully: the Church, the bible, the sacraments, liturgy, worship music - and countless other things to encounter him within and through. All of these things are holy, healthy, and necessary. They strengthen our devotion and remind us of our true love, of our truest reality and selves. And yet, they are shadows.

When I look at my wedding band, I don't think about the ring itself. I don't admire the gold or it's shape and design. Instead, I remember my wife. And in that remembering, an entire host of other experiences and sensations rush in on me: thoughts of the one I love the most; thoughts and emotions toward the one I find most beautiful and wonderful; events of warmth and love flood my soul. I hear her voice; I see her smile; I know her heart and her touch. All of this from an object that is separate from my wife and completely different in nature from her. All of this from a symbol of our love and marriage. It's really quite wonderful and amazing.

But what if I started to spend more time with my wedding band than my wife? What if I started talking more to my wedding band than her? What if all I ever wanted to do was to keep trying over and over to experience all the wonderful memories and feelings described above without ever being with and being present to my wife? The end result would be emptiness and frustration for she and myself because love doesn't work that way. Love has to be person to person.

Which brings me to the heart of the matter: relationship. In marriage and with the Lord, the heart is always relationship founded in intimate, honest, daily communication. Love has to be exchanged for it to be healthy; love has to be poured back and forth from one vessel to the other. We were created for this - a love relationship with God the Father. If we lose ourselves in trying to substitute his actual Presence and fellowship with the gifts and reminders he's given us, we lose indeed.

The relationship is more important than all else. Jesus wants me, my whole heart.
Do I want him and his whole heart? Yes.

Fruitful & Grateful

"You didn't choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name" (John 15:16, NLT).

"Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit" (John 12:24, NRSV).

Recently, on two separate occasions, the Lord allowed me to see the fruit of His life in me within the lives and ministry of others. And it blessed me deeply. Scripture says in John 3:27, "No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven." So, everything is a gift. And it's all of grace. Thanks and praise to God, who works in us all His good pleasure to the glory of His name!

Gleanings From The Retreat II (John 12:20-25)

"Now there were some Greeks among those who were going up to worship at the feast; these then came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and began to ask him, saying, 'Sir, we wish to see Jesus.' Philip came and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip came and told Jesus. And Jesus answered them, saying, 'The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal' " (John 12:20-25, NASB).

"For indeed Jews ask for signs (meaning miracles) and Greeks search for wisdom (meaning wisdom of men; philosophical, scholarly wisdom)" (1 Corinthians 1:22, NASB).

The Lord is not calling us to seek miracles or the wisdom of man; He is calling us to be that grain of wheat that falls into the earth and dies. Miracles will be there; scholarship and knowledge may be helpful; but we are not called to either of these. We are called to glorify Jesus. The world doesn't need miracles or the wisdom of man, the world needs to see Jesus.

This is our calling: to let them see Jesus in us.

Gleanings From The Retreat I (The Longest Reading)

I returned yesterday from a clergy retreat in Maggie Valley, NC.. Like the earlier retreat I attended, this one was spent praying the hours (i.e., the hours of prayer - Matins, Lauds, Prime, terce, Sext, None, Vespers, and Compline). And once again, it was an incredible time of prayer and learning.

One of the best lessons that God taught me was on the last day of the retreat during Lauds. The appointed Old Testament reading was Numbers 3. This chapter is full of difficult names and countless instructions - and it's one of the longest readings! The passage told the names of everyone's grandfathers, fathers, sons, and told of how the priests were to be divided up in ranks, how they were to arrange their tents, how they were to depart from the camp and who was to go in what order. And it went on and on and on. When the passage was finished, the poor reader was exhausted and maybe a little embarrassed.

I asked the Lord, "Why did you bother with all that information about who's who? And what's the significance for us, thousands of years later?"

The Lord's answer: "I'm in the details. The details matter to me."

I was blessed and reminded that God is in (i.e., interested in, working within, speaking within) the little things (see earlier posts). Not only is He in the names of individuals and the personal details, He is into the "how to" details. He is interested in specifics and little things; things that I would have a tendency to think wouldn't matter to God or anyone. But they do, especially to Him.

The question this poses, then, is: Do I pay attention to the "little things" in following Jesus? Or do I write them off as insignificant and unimportant? Do I ever stop to ask the Lord about the details of how I follow Him, worship Him, or even serve others? And finally, is this what it means when He says, "Whoever is faithful with little will be faithful with much"?

Rhythm & Life

I returned today from a 4-day retreat at a monastery in north Alabama. The retreat was quite an experience. I was involved in praying daily the eight traditional monastic hours of prayer (Mattins, Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers, and Compline). In Lauds and Vespers, we joined in choir with the Benedictine Sisters in their sanctuary. The chanting was beautiful and serene. I've never heard anything like it.

But why pray eight specific, set-aside times a day? And why pray some of the same prayers at every office, like the Our Father (a.k.a., the Lord's Prayer)? I can only answer from my own experience, as small as it may be:

1) Praying shapes our beliefs. During the hours (of prayer), we prayed the psalms; therefore, we prayed warfare prayers, intercessory prayers for loved ones and even enemies; we prayed for God's will to be done on earth exactly as it is being done in Heaven; we cried out for mercy, for ourselves, our loved ones and our enemies; we prayed supplications, trusting God to provide in abundance all that we need in all situations. Sounds a lot like the Sermon on the Mount, doesn't it? But we rarely left the psalms. Yet, while praying them, my mind is being renewed and reshaped into comformity with Christ and His teachings found in the Gospels.

2) The influence of a daily rhythm. By the middle of the second day, I noticed myself chanting under my breath, praying unceasingly while doing other things. The influence of each hour began to linger until it was time for the next. The invisible breath of prayer was being inhaled and exhaled involuntarily from being saturated with God. The days didn't fly by, nor did they drag by. They were calm and alive and in color. The rhythm of prayer was slowing us down, deepening our intake of life. The rhythm of prayer, being spent in the presence of the Eternal, was setting the pace for us now, not the clock.

I hope we will go back again every year. At first, I wasn't thrilled about it. But the rhythm of prayer began to shape my perception, my participation in the Spirit of Prayer, and most of all, me. May the rhythm of the Spirit of Prayer, the Holy Spirit Himself, always set my pace and the tempo of my heart. To the glory of God. Amen.

Ecclesiastes 9:8

"Let your garments always be white; do not let oil be lacking on your head" (Eccles. 9:8).

White garments always speaks of holiness and purity in Scripture. (Interestingly, righteousness is always addressed as "fine linen", a specific kind of fabric.) Oil always represents anointing from the Holy Spirit. Holiness without the anointing of God becomes harsh legalism; it focuses on externals. The holiness that God enjoins is holiness with His anointing; it focuses on purity of heart, which leads to the externals. May all of us pursue holiness and the Holy Spirit; after all, He's the origin of all true holiness.

Fireproof and The Season of Lent

One of the gifts that the Lord gave the Church is the Christian calendar, as it has come to be called. In actuality, it is the sanctification of time, so that each year itself re-enacts the gospel story through seasons, holy days ('holidays"), and feasts. Thus, the Christian year itself walks us through and teaches us the gospel, even discipling us.

But what about Lent? Why a season of examination and reform? Of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving? What's the reason for Lent?

Through Lent, we "enter into" our Lord's 40 days in the wilderness. We also remember the Israelite's 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. In those years, God removed their unbelief so that they could enter into the land of blessing that He had promised to them. Jesus was tempted and proved faithful to His Father and to His will. And while these points are valid, I suggest that there's more to Lent than penance, sacrifice, and repentance. There's more than giving up something in hopes of appeasing your guilt. There's a deeper "Why"...

Love.

In the movie, Fireproof, a married couple is teetering on the brink of a hateful divorce. Neither one loves the other anymore. In fact, they despise each other. But the husband (Kirk Cameron) begins to want to save the marriage. So, at his father's counsel, he begins reading a book that challenges him to do certain loving actions toward his wife over a period of 40 days. Each one of these actions inherently calls him to examine himself, to make sacrifices, to get rid of attitudes, behaviors, responses, and even desires that have taken priority over his wife and their marriage. In truth, each challenge brings him to repentance. He begins to himself for the jerk that he's been. But he also begins to want to be - and actually to be - the husband his wife deserves. Though the process is painful, uncomfortable, and humbling, he begins to fall in love with her in a new way. He begins to see that she is worthy of love. In reality, it's a movie about unconditional love.

In reality, it's a movie about Lent.