The angel of the Lord appears and says to him, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”  Now what would I do if that presence came over me and made that claim?  Gideon responds with some legitimate questions about “how come?’  If in fact you are such an awesome God and you have delivered our people so long ago, the why is is that we find ourselves under seige and living in caves here in our own land?  A rather bold response, I’d say.

The narrative goes on to tell how instead of trying to defend God’s actions (or perceived inaction) the angel tells Gideon to “go in this might of yours and deliver Israel…., I commission you.”  After Gideon offers up some excuses  the Lord simply and directly says, “But I will be with you and you shall strike down the Midianites, every one of them.”  And following worship and the confirmation that this is, in fact, the Lord speaking to him, he obeys the voice of God and becomes one of the six deliverer-judges of Old Testament lore.

I have thought about this in terms of how important those touchstone moments are for us.  There is something that is clarified for Gideon here.  He finds who he is and what God has for him to do.  For most of us it is not this dramatic, but no less of a clarification.  I am grateful that God found me at various points along my way.  He called me out at an evangelistic crusade meeting in 1958 and wrestled me back into school, when I had given up, and in the process empowered me to attain an undergrad and seminary degree.  He put people in my life, like a devoted wife who encouraged, challenged and enlightened to help me find where I belonged.  And now we celebrate the adult children we have enjoyed and helped grow.

As ordinary Gideon found, God is faithful.  I hope you and your story give witness to touchstone moments and come up the same. 

Blessings!

The most recurring name for God in the Old Testament is “Yahweh,” found in Exodus 3. It is what God calls Himself when Moses asks Him His name, so that he can respond when the children of Israel and/or the Pharaoh in Egypt inquire, as they most certainly will. The name literally means, “I am who I am” or “I will be who I will be.” God will be introducing himself to His people and to the world through what He does, how He acts. this is a relational word that lets us know God through interaction. As a result, each week we have been introduced to a new name for God through Scripture texts which describe God through his interactions with the characters in the Old Testament accounts.

We have seen God as Creator (elohim), healer (Jehovah-rapha) and as provider (Jehovah-jireh).

Today, I was recounting how God intercepts us in our lives and gives us what we need in his own precisely effective timing. I recalled how my own mother in a time of great crisis in our family used to pray early in the morning as she read the Scriptures. She would tell her two young sons how God is with us always and provides the necessary things for us to live. And He did!

Those lessons were not lost on us kids either. All of us have this undercurrent of faith that accompanies us in what each of us do for a living and in our role as parents and spouses.

The most important truth I have found in my life and in the development of this series of messages is that God is working constantly, even today, to know us and to come alongside us as our advocate. My prayer as you read this is that you know this God who uniquely and carefully comes to you, asking for friendship, asking to bring the very best for you.

And I can hear my recently departed mother saying, “Amen!”

But it all seems so backwards, upside down, inside out compared to the life we know in the twenty-first century.  I suppose that is why we must spend time looking at what these words are all about.  I have not preached with this much focus on each beatitude ever in my years of preaching.  They are worth the look! 

Jesus begins each one with the word “blessed.”  It is a hard word to carry over into English without some explanation.  It is sometimes translated “happy,” but that leaves us short of its true meaning.  He means to impart a godlike joy to the recipients, a setting on the right path that can only bring deep fulfillment in life.  And we see the pure grace of God when we see who he includes for this blessing, the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek and even those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.  They are blessed with the “kingdom of heaven,”  “comfort,” an inheritance “of the earth,” and  a satisfied, full life.  We were taught the victorious, the exuberant, the assertive and, at the least, those who did good and righteous things, they were the ones who came out on top. 

Jesus comes at life from another direction and comes up with a newly creative approach to how we experience God’s blessing.  By the way, the Beatitudes have many times been preached and taught as commands about life.  As if to say, live poor in spirit, in mourning while living in meekness.  And above all be righteous in all you do.  But that is not what he seems to say.  I have thought, we don’t have to try and be that way.  Life will find us poor in spirit, broken hearted and defeated, hungry for righteousness.  It is these whom he blesses. The composite of those states leaves us hungry for putting things right and wanting to see renewal and he is there with his blessing for all those who find themselves in those hard places.  Quite a text, even if it seems upside down!

This Memorial Day weekend, may we all remember to give thanks to God for his goodness and his faithfulness to us.  Let it be gratitude which remembers all those who have shared life with us, particularly those who have given their lives for us.  Seems to me the greatest gift anyone can offer is his or her life for another.  Jesus is the supreme example, and his life and gift is unique.  But this weekend we thank God for those who made the supreme sacrifice that our life might be lived in freedom.  Enjoy the holiday, and remember.

This week I have been able to spend five days with pastors I have been with off and on for  many years and mine the depths of Scriptures, share ideas and pray together over one another.  this year I have been able to bring along my wife Ruth and together we have been able to situ under the extraordinary Bible teaching of our old friend, Dale Bruner, renew acquaintances and talk together about our futures and the future of the church.

All this is done in the beautiful confines of the California Redwoods in the Santa Cruz mountains and the hospitable environment of Mt. Hermon Christian Conference Center.  My mother came here frequently  as a child and renewed  her faith and Ruth and I are staying in a room not far from the exact spot where mom ignited her faith in Christ.

This week has again reinforced my sense of what sabbath is all about.  The need for rest and renewal is fundamental to what we do as pastors.  On some occasions, I have tried to teach and preach from a dry well, and it can lead to disaster and even more.  My thanks to those in our congregation and presbytery who have made sure we get this time away.  It always pays off when any congregation offers this kind of resource to their pastor.

I find myself in a set of challenges that as myself, my family and our congregation progress, we are shaping a defining moment.  Having to stand before my congregation each week, especially during this high and holy season of the church year and preach prophetically calls on all I have to bring.  It is interestingly ironic that Scripture texts I chose months ago seem to speak not only to our people, but into my circumstances.  Such are the hazards of being a preacher of the gospel. 

Recently, more than ever, I find myself wrestling personally with the truth of the Scriptures I have chosen.  A case in point is this past week.  We were celebrating Palm Sunday and I was preaching on II Corinthians 4:8-12, where Paul writes about, guess what……digging through the travails of life. He says, “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. ^ We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.”  I spoke about how my impression of Paul was that he derived strength in the Holy Spirit because he could see through his present circumstances along the way.  He could deal with what was on his plate and endure whatever came his way because he had his eye on the great hope that was his in Christ.  Funny the comments I heard while greeting people at the door following the service.  There have been numerous other comments these past few days, encouraging me to listen to the sermon from this past Sunday.  Oh well!

I have an increasing sense that God is in all of this and is making me a stronger follower and a more in-tune pastor, even as I deal with missteps I may have made.  I am reminded of one of the most amazing pieces of art any preacher could ever see and appreciate.   It is a statue of Phillips Brooks outside the Trinity Church in Boston, where he was pastor in the 19th century.  Brooks was a great preacher but is also known as the composer of “O Little Town of Bethlehem.”  The statue shows Brooks at his pulpit with a towering figure of Christ behind him with a hand on his shoulder. 

So the work continues even in hard times and in the high calling as a pastor, I can truly say this Easter week that God is so good and I am so blessed!

It is said of one local sports icon here in So Cal, Kobe Bryant, that his

A focused Kobe Bryant

This past week, I preached on the story of Jesus’ first public message.  It happened in the synagogue in Nazareth, his hometown, among the people who knew very well who he and his family were.  Here was this one they first knew as the one from the home of Joseph and Mary, who had learned the carpentry trade and had somehow managed to become a rabbi, a teacher of note.  He had returned to his village and was now in the local synagogue reading and commenting on the Holy Scriptures.  And it what he said turned heads.  After first being positively impressed  people were aghast, so much so they tried to kill him.  Read about it in Lukc 4.

In his words, he clearly lays out his mission to those closest to the heart of his father and to proclaim God’s favor on  the poor, the blind, the imprisoned and to proclaim the good news of liberation for all people.  This is what he intended to do and what he has called on us, his church, to continue to do in our own place and time.  And our message is to be active and verbal all in one.  I have come to believe this is what preaching, the kerygma, is meant to be.  One without the other is empty of meaning and substance.  These two focused on Christ offers a rich clarity.

The same Sunday I preached on this, Scott Williams, a member of our church and fellow blogger (www.creationhope.com)  stood to tell of the work coming out of our community garden project. A portion of our church property has been divided into plots so that members can prepare, plant and harvest various organic foods which are then cleaned and delivered to families in our community who are in need.  He spoke of how some of them have expressed their amazement at how anyone would take the time and effort to do so for people they don’t really know.  My sense is that a door has been opened to share the message of Christ and it comes in word and deed, action and proclamation.  This is the result of a focused idea of ministry with a rich clarity of purpose.

What wonderful opportunities we all have in days like this!  Find clarity for your life and ministry.  Don’t miss out, the Spirit of God is stirring!

Bodie Miller at 2006 Winter Olympics

Our opportunity for redemption comes along in life for us all.  Sometimes, personal failure helps us to learn about ourselves in new ways and new horizons appear.  We have many in our own church family who have experienced a successful marriage after meltdowns the first time around.  Others have failed in business, only to learn and later find what their niche is and go on the great things.  I know one who had a huge catastrophe as a career law enforcement officer, only to find redemption in a successful career as an executive in a successful company.

But the Scriptures are full of stories of people who have found new life, real life, deep spiritual life with God in Christ.  Take Zaccheus for example.  You can read about him in Luke 19.  Here was a successful tax machine, who bilked everyone of his kinsmen he could find and as a result had so friends, hated by all his townsfolk in Jericho.  Then Jesus came to town and singled him out, ate with him in his own home and changed his life.  It was dramatic too, as he returned the money he had taken from his people, four times over.  Jesus said, “Today salvation has come to this house!”  This was real redemption.

Have you experienced this kind of life change?  Jesus promises this to us all.  This is what true faith is about.  It can change your life and lead to true redemption!

In addition to spending quality time with my family, another bright spot is the work of my son-in-law, Scott Williams and his friend Jon Mestas, of our church staff.  Scott has been filling up the internet with his work on a new idea to help get churches and Christians in general amped up about what we can learn of God’s love and hope through his creation.  The apostle Paul even writes about this in Romans 1, the revelation of God’s purpose in what we can sense and experience in God’s magnificent created order.  Check out the site (creationhope.com), you can get there through the link on this post.

More will come later!

As I went to college and then married and left home, mom took a position in the church working with the poor and indigent folks off the streets of Hollywood.  She would come home at night and tell stories of many who had fallen on hard times and needed a helping hand.  She would offer food, clothing or links to resource agencies in the community.  And she always had tales of bizarre behavior too, as only the Hollywood scene could bring.  But her response was always the same, the compassion of her Lord, in whose name she served.

Without sounding malancholy, there is a part of us who is now gone, left for the home where she longed to be.  She made the best out of her most recent years, yet we could tell she was looking ahead to being fully restored.  Mom was a woman who lived life to the max, in a faithful sort of way.  And because of that characteristic, she will be missed. 

The last thing it told her was, “Goodbye mom, we’ll be along soon.”  So it will be!

I remember when I was a kid, growing up in Hollywood, the President came to town.  His name was Dwight Eisenhower, theGeneral and everyone liked to call him “Ike.”  He was planning to speak in the Hollywood Bowl and his route was to take him right through our neighborhood and past the church where we worshiped.  The city got all laced up and people went out and bought American flags and stood along the

Presidential Bubbletop

planned route.  This was before the threat of assasination was such a big deal and so we all know what streets he was planning to travel to the Bowl, so there we were and …….there he went, in an instant.  All I saw was his bubbletop car and his shiny head, with a waving hand.  But I saw him, yes I did!

The coming of the King is a much bigger deal obviously, and we are encouraged to be ready.  True that Christ has already come, that which we celebrate this time each year.  But he has promised to return, a second appearing, and we must be ready.  This advent we make ready our lives and our homes, our churches and our relationships, to celebrate Advent, the coming of the King.  This means he comes not just to dash past in a bubbletop limo, but to really come to live, to “tabernacle” with us, to set up his residence with us.  How good is that?!!

Whatever uncertainties you face this Advent season remember that we are in an Advent mode.  Christ has come, God with us, and that means he remains with us in a dynamic, impacting presence.  He faces the future with us, promising never to leave us nor forsake us (Deut. 31:6), Jesus himself vowing to his disciples that he would be with us “to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).   And he promises to come again in glory (Matt. 24:30).  In the meantime (and the times are mean, aren’t they?) we are told to be ready, to make ourselves ready for his appearing (I Peter 1:13).  We are told to ready our minds and live into the hope that is given to us by such an awesome God.  the way we live and spend our time and our money, as well as the way we worship makes us ready for the Advent.

The word for advent issues in a very descriptive word in English, “adventure.”  May Advent 2009, be a hopeful experience, indeed an adventure for us all in the midst of uncertain, even daunting times, as we look forward to what our God has just ahead!