O By The Way

How important is clarity?  In my worst moments I am all over the map, uanble to get any singular focus on any one significant task or direction in all the scramble.  As many of you who know me are aware, I get a real kick out of watching and participating (though less as time passes) in sports of various kinds.  When we see an athlete who trains and prepares for his or her events, we can see focus and clarity of purpose in the very best of them. 

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

 focus on preparing for a basketball game is intense. He spends time with his family, but is so determined and geared in on his mind and body being ready it is almost frightening to opponents and even teammates at times.  His rigorous and daily grind to be in the best of shape, especially during is daunting to any of us who try to eek out a few days a week in the local gym.

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!

I love watching the Olympics.  This time, I have been able to watch more than most others and having been to Vancouver recently (the banner photo at the top of this page is one I took of Whislter-Blackcomb Mountains in 2008) makes this one most enjoyable.  Anytime there is an Olympic Games, there are certain buzz words we hear that have a myriad of stories behind them.  These winter games have given us the word “redemption.”  Certain names have been used, from skaters to skiers to whole teams of people.  However, one hangs with me, and it is Bodie Miller.  Here is an athlete who has been called the greatest American Alpine skier of all time, but in the last Winter Games in Turin in 2006, 

he failed to medal and was a huge disappointment to many.  In the build up to these games, he even went thorugh a bail-out, leaving the US team and his hopes to medal in Vancouver.  A change in his lifestyle, building a family and a new attitude has brought him to this point and a new opportunity in which he has found “redemption” as a highlight in these games.

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!

I am on vacation and family leave, to see my grandson and his family in Seattle and then to return for the memorial service for my mother.  A needed rest and some time to renew myself after a rough couple of months! 

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!

This past week my mother died.  It is a watershed moment in the life of our family, as mom was the center of our lives for so long.  My dad died some years ago, and while that is a significant event in a guy’s life, mom’s influence on us kids made her’s the end of an era in our family history.   She leaves a legacy of a faithful life and of relationships all affected by her graciousness.  With her kids, she was a rock of faith for her entire life, from raising her children over many years alone while our dad struggled through mental illness.  When Dad returned to our family, she was the one who helped him regain order and a sense of normalcy to his life.  She led from faith and that faith impacted all those around her each day no matter where she was.

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!

Someone, was it Bob Dylan (?) and many others I am sure, who wrote time flows on like a rolling river to the sea.  And here we are another year in the books and Thanksgiving (and Black Friday) is behind us, and dead ahead is the path to Christmas, or as we call it Advent.  Advent is from the Latin and it simply means “coming.”  Something important is coming, a noun in ancient times used to describe the impending visit of royalty, or even the king!  For the Christian world, it is used to describe the four weeks in advance of Christmas and the celebration of coming of the Messiah, his first incarnation and his second, which is yet to take place.

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

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!