Fear of Life's Final Moments

Last weekend I preached on "Fear of Life's Final Moments," borrowing the title from chapter 10 of Max Lucado's book Fearless. You can find a link to the message here.

Toward the end of the message I quote from a book by longtime missionary to India, Amy Carmichael. While the quoted passage is from the Gold Chord, I also commend to your reading A Chance to Die. Amy Carmichael once described missionary life as 'a chance to die.' Elisabeth Elliot borrows that phrase for the title of her biography of Ms. Carmichael.

Earthly Good

You've heard the expression "he's so heavenly minded that he's no earthly good." Yesterday as I was praying through the third petition of the Lord's Prayer ('your will be done on earth as in heaven') a different kind of prayer came to mind: "Lord make me so very heavenly minded that I am of great earthly good."

This is what Jesus talks about when he says the kingdom of heaven is at hand. God's kingdom life is immediately available to you and me here on earth - and extends into eternity. But the kingdom life in Jesus Christ isn't some sort of private head/soul trip. Rather it's living in the cross-hairs where earthly and heavenly realities intersect. It was precisely in Jesus' heavenly mindedness that the sick were healed, the lame walked, the blind saw, the hungry fed, and prisoners were set free.

John Wooden

Here's the poem that John Wooden reads in the piece I showed in worship today. It seems that it was written by a former player of Wooden's.

Yonder
by Swen Nader:

Once I was afraid of dying,
terrified of ever-lying,
petrified of leaving family, home and friends.

Thoughts of absence from my dear ones,
brought a melancholy tear once,
and a dredful fear of when life ends.

But those days are long behind me,
fear of leaving does not bind me,
and departure does not hold a single care.

Peace does comfort as I ponder,
a reunion in the yonder,
with my dearest one who is waiting for me there

Another of Nater's poems in honor of his coach is called Beyond The Basketball. I especially appreciate the closing lines of the poem referring to "The Teacher" (capital "T"). I can't help but wonder if he has in mind another teacher whom disciples called Rabbi. When our lives are lived in service of the Kingdom in the name of the master teacher of life, whatever we do has lasting consequence beyond the thing itself.

Beyond the grand Pavilion,
Where Bruin banners span,
Beyond the accolades, I learned
To be a champion man.

Far beyond material,
Or book on any shelf,
Beyond the break, the pass or play,
I learned about myself.

Beyond the fundamentals,
Or how to work the task,
Beyond the "how," I learned the "why"
And learned to think and ask.

Beyond the Bruin uniform,
Beyond the Blue and Gold,
I gained a pride in who I am,
That lasts until I'm old.

And far beyond instruction,
Beyond the hardwood class,
Beyond the game and all the tests,
Beyond the fail or pass,

The Teacher loved me, so he coached
Beyond gymnasium wall.
I thank my God, The Teacher taught,
Beyond the basketball

the Gift of Listen

Since graduating from seminary 18 years ago (whew!) a handful of my classmates and I have met every year as a "covenant group." We take turns playing host and typically spend about four days together. Again, we've been doing this every year for the past 18. Pretty amazing, I think. We've experimented with various formats and content. We've critiqued one another's sermons, studied books together, and have met with mentor pastors and church leaders around the country. But from the very beginning one staple of our time together has been the "hot seat." No matter what format our covenant group takes on a given year it always includes a "hot seat" for each of us.

We take turns putting the focus of our attention one person at a time and we listen. We listen to what's going in our jobs, with our kids, and in our marriages. The focus stays exclusively on that one person until the group decides we're done.

What makes the "hot seat" such a great gift is that my friends' listening isn't just polite head nods and occasional clarifying statements ("what I hear you saying is…"). I mean they do that too. But their listening more real. It's the kind of listening that plunges between the words and peels back your soul. When I'm in the "hot seat" they know when to listen in silence while I ramble around to the deeper truth of my own words. But they also know when to listen to me with their own words. (Sometimes they talk at me a lot when I'm in the "hot seat.") But oddly enough, I need that kind of listening too. I guess it's the artful dance between listening in silence and listening with words that makes the gift of listen meaningful.

Uncertain times, really?

Saturday night a couple hundred folks gathered to pray for those in our community impacted by the upcoming changes at NASA. The news reports say as many as 7,000 people in our area could lose their jobs. Add to that a sagging economy, health care reform and a just all the personal stuff people are facing these days and you get a feeling of insecurity. It's hard to predict what the future holds for us. What will happen to our economy, our churches, our schools, and our families if things continue the way they seem headed now? Will we have jobs? More importantly, those who have given their lives to human space flight are wondering even if they have a "job" will it be for anything that remotely matters. Questions abound. Uncertainty looms.

As I was praying Saturday night for all of us facing these "uncertain times" I had a startling revelation: Isn't all our time uncertain?

James 4:13-14 pokes at our well intentioned plans for the future and reminds us that all of life is a mist.

Perhaps God has us living in such a time of overt uncertainty to remind us that all of life is uncertain except for the life which we find in our sovereign and loving God?

I'm not going to give up planning for and working toward the future. I don't think James is asking us to sit on our hands and just let life happen. But I do think he's inviting us to hold our illusions of certainty in an open hand before a God who is the only one we can really count on for sure.

What good is a prayer - or even 500 of them???

The "Friendly Atheist" wonders what good our praying for the NASA community will do? (see blog "How Should We React to Their Prayers.") My atheist friend isn't going to boycott our right to pray and he won't confront anyone face to face with the futility of our praying, but it does make him want to laugh. If I read him correctly, the "Friendly Atheist" would rather we do something that might actually do some good and save jobs.

The "Friendly Atheist" is well of aware of studies that people who are prayed for often "get better" but, according to him, this is due to no more than the person being cared for by another. "But the people doing the praying aren’t thinking that. We know that. They think a god is going to act on their prayers. That’s just silly." (How Should We React to Their Prayers?)

Oh, I LOVE that!! "That's just silly..." "They think a god is going to act on their prayers."

Yup, Mr. "Friendly Atheist" that's exactly what we think happens when the people of God pray.

God acts.

Stuff happens.

Lives change.

And yes, it is silly... just silly amazing to be a part of.

Daylight Saving Time

Daylight Saving Time (DST) is a relatively new thing for us native Hoosiers. All the time growing up we were one of the few states in the Union who did not spring forward or fall back each year. Just a couple of years ago (2007, I believe) Indiana finally joined the rest of the nation with DST. So, even though I've been a Texan now for almost two years there's still considerable confusion in our house when it comes this time of year. Oh, well. Hopefully all the clocks are set correctly tonight as I go to bed and I won't be late (or would it be early??) for church tomorrow!

Ten Commandments

Several people after worship yesterday asked if I would pass along the Texan/Cowboy version of the Ten Commandments I used in yesterday's message. You Saturday night worshippers didn't get this version either. So, enjoy!

1. Just one God.
2. Honor yer Ma & Pa.
3. No telling tales or gossipin'.
4. Git yourself to Sunday meeting.
5. Put nothin' before God.
6. No foolin' around with another fellow's gal.
7. No killin'.
8. Watch yer mouth
9. Don't take what ain't yers.
10. Don't be hankerin' for yer buddy's stuff.

(...and to give credit where credit is due, I lifted this from an old blog of Rev. Matt Tittle.)