Lent Day 22: Everlasting and unchanging

Today everyone we met was smiling. The sun's out in Seattle and temperatures reached a high of 55oF. In March, that's considered a gift from heaven.

It's easy to believe in a good God when the sunshine is warming your shoulders. It may be more difficult to sense His love when circumstances feel out of control:

• When the baby's sick and you don't know what's wrong.
• When your teenager is out late without letting you know where s/he's gone.
• When those newlyweds seem to be clawing more than cooing and their marriage looks shaky. 
• When the bills pile up and there seem to be too few resources.
• When the boss hands you a pink slip.
• When you (or your parents) feel the effects of age and infirmity.
• When all your plans fall apart and there's no Plan B for the future.

The lovely reassurance of scripture is that God never changes. Since the beginning of time, He has overseen the universe and its motion, the peoples He made and their relationships.

He knows it all. Controls it all. Is able to direct everything - beauty and chaos - without planets colliding or whirling off course into black holes of nothingness.

We are securely guided and guarded as long as we do His will. When we get off track, we may feel the consequences. Yet, returning to God with our whole hearts, we're promised His resources to direct our paths and give us wisdom.

• Do you need the unfailing love and everlasting arms of God, your heavenly Father? He is strong enough to hold you. Kind enough to comfort you.
• Do you desperately need clarity for a murky situation? God sees a way through the darkness. Nothing is hidden from him.

• Do you need salvation from your brokenness? God provided One who became the sacrifice for our sins, the One who walked steadily toward the cross we will celebrate at Easter.
• Do you need power beyond your wildest imagination to solve a crisis? God created the world from nothing. He parted the Red Sea to provide escape for an entire nation. He broke a few loaves and divided a few fish to feed 5000 people. He promised us the resurrection power that brought Christ back to life.

With joy we celebrate the Lenten season and remember that God-Who-is-with-us is almightly.

Read more:
*The Lord is righteous, He loves righteousness. Psalm 11:7 (NASB)

*I will walk in freedom, for I have devoted myself to your commandments. Psalm 119:45 NLT

*God himself is righteous and he justifies the one who has faith in Jesus. Romans 3:26 NLT

*And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19 NKJV

Moravian Prayer: Help us to be so infused with your spirit, living Christ, that we will not just proclaim empty words but live as your followers. Challenge us by your example to act in ways that are kind, holy, loving, and just. Amen.

Lent Day 2: "I choose you"

It's great to be chosen. Remember those awful ordeals in elementary school, where the strongest kids were chosen for sports teams and the rest of us got picked "middle and end" of the draw?

Over 36 years ago, my good friend and I chose each other. We got engaged. My mom and I planned the wedding and sent invitations to friends and acquaintances.

Over 35 years ago, W (that friend) and I got married. We agreed our marriage would be "for better and worse, in sickness and in health, for richer and poorer." I walked down the aisle thinking, "This is the person I'll grow old with. I bet I'll still like him when we are 60." (Mind you, I also thought, "Thank God, I don't have to date anymore." A strange sentiment for a bride, perhaps?)

W and I have had romantic years and fight-it-out years. Kid years when we hardly saw each other: I nearly drowned in childcare and homeschooling while W worked overtime at church. We spent years praying and puzzling about how to guide our interesting and exasperating teens. There were years of sickness and health for our daughter when we had barely enough energy to get up in the morning. Two sons married. One child moved out of town. We went back to school to learn new things. We traveled to foreign lands to teach. And we're still together.

Even more enduring (and endearing) is the model of love we learned as part of God's family. God chose us and committed to us before we loved him or knew him. He called us to Himself, inclined us to listen and respond, and provided reconciliation between us through Jesus Christ.

On this second day of Lent, I'm grateful for many experiences of loving and being loved. God has taught us that love is meant for giving and receiving. W and I are blessed with good parents and siblings. We love our children. We have many friends to hold dear.

Underneath the experiences and the years are the Everlasting Arms, sustaining, caring, and enriching every interaction. I'm so glad to be God's beloved this Valentine's Day. How about you?

Oh ... and of course I'm grateful for Prince Charming, too! Love you, hon.

Read more:
*I am the Lord your God, who teaches you for your own good, who leads you in the way you should go. Isaiah 48:17

*Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.  So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Matthew 10:29-31 NIV

*Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 1 John 4:7-11 NIV


Moravian Prayer: Instructor of the universe, we wait with open and longing hearts for you to teach us the ways in which we should live in a right relationship with all you have created. Amen. 

First responses

All photos from BBC Day in Pictures, January 2

I woke this morning with a to-do list and a song in my head. The to-do list whirled around with possible outcomes:

• Did I understand that email correctly? Was I supposed to extend an invitation or is the meeting host making the arrangements. Check in with the leader before moving ahead.
• When I ask the store for this item, the response might be a) ... or b) ... or c)...
• The list from last week's team meeting: pull it out and get moving on it.
• Write a thank-you to ...

And so on.

The song conducting my waking toe movements is a happy one: (Click here to listen.)
Chorus:
You have been so good to me
You have been so good to me
I came here broken, You made me whole
You have been so good, You have been so good
You have been so good to me (repeat)

Verse:
How can I thank You, there is just no way
How can I thank You, Lord, how could I repay
For Your kindness, for Your tenderness
For Your constant Presence here with me

Before I roll out of bed, I grab the IPad on my nightstand to listen to a daily coaching moment with Dr. Dave Martin. This morning he talks about the consequences of humanity's fall. God asks Adam and Eve two questions: 1) Where are you? 2) What have you done?

In a coaching setting, what great questions to evaluate the past before doing the next thing.

As usual, my mind churns in a direction not necessarily intended by Coach Dave. My question is: What would have happened if Adam had been honest and repentant? What if, instead of trying to stay hidden, the first people had confessed: "We both messed up. We did what you forbade. How can we make it right?"

From everything I read in scripture, God responds to sincere grief over wrongdoing. An entire wicked city was spared from judgment when they mourned their sins. (Read about it here.) Would God have reacted differently to Adam and Eve, had they fallen on their faces with a heartfelt "Help us! Forgive! We are sorry!"?

Instead, Adam and Eve go into the world, raise children, and die at an old age. We can't prove that Adam and Eve were good people among sinners, as many of us assume. Adam died in the generation before the flood of Noah, when Noah's father Lamech was an adult and wickedness was rampant on the earth. Adam may have been the model of awfulness that his kids and grandkids followed, though the Redeemer was promised in his lineage. (Crazy to think about, isn't it?)

How faithful God is to his promise. How can it be that I fall among those chosen to believe? Unfathomable. Amazing.

By the time I eat breakfast, my head fills with theological possibilities, my heart's singing about God's faithfulness and "Barmherzigkeit" (lovingkindness and mercy coming from the heart), and I'm eager to see what the day holds.

What a wonderful way to start the week! How was your Monday awakening? What was your first responses to God's "Good morning, dear one?"

Read more:
*Then Solomon and all Israel celebrated the Festival of Shelters in the presence of the LORD our God. A large congregation had gathered from as far away as Lebo-hamath in the north and the Brook of Egypt in the south. The celebration went on for fourteen days in all—seven days for the dedication of the altar and seven days for the Festival of Shelters. After the festival was over, Solomon sent the people home. They blessed the king and went to their homes joyful and glad because the LORD had been good to his servant David and to his people Israel. 1 Kings 8:65–66

*Psalm 18:7-15; 1 Chronicles 26; Acts 16:30-17:3

*The Lord put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Psalm 40:3

*Jesus said to the blind man, “Receive your sight; your faith has saved you.” Immediately he regained his sight and followed him, glorifying God. Luke 18:42-43

Moravian Prayer: Compassionate Savior, we praise you this day. Keep your praises on our lips and in our hearts. Touch our spiritual eyes that we may see you more clearly and worship you faithfully as you created us to do. Amen.

God of the night

In my 20s and 30s, I tried to be thankful and open to God. I often heard people say, "I'm so grateful for dark days and difficulties. I was scooting through life without thinking about God, but trials have made me aware of His provisions and his presence." I read about "the dark night of the soul" and wonderful saintly experiences of God-with-us during torture and martyrdom.

So I reasoned, "Why invite (or tempt) the coming trials? I want to know and appreciate God in good times so that I never wonder if the ugly days are punishment for my inattention when times were good." After all, I grew up in a holiness church where God rewarded your good behavior with good things and smacked your disobedience with pain worse than Job's.

Since our daughter became ill, we prayed our way through many nights. We sought God's face and depended on His strength for each day. We've found no medical solutions and God has not healed her. We've spent weeks at her bedside, wondering at the pain she endures and God's "heartlessness" at her suffering. I honestly don't feel very grateful during those times or when I see others suffer. I rejoice that God stays close and life is short.

Sometimes I've prayed, "This too is from your hands. You alone could help, yet you choose not to. Give us contentment and endurance in suffering."

I've pleaded, "Hope You know what You're doing. We're in the dark when You are supposed to be the God of Light. If there's 'no shadow of turning' in You, why do we feel like You've turned away?"

Or wept, "Enough already, don't You think?"

Watching reports of famines and floods, or sitting at a hospital bedside, I've even prayed, "Glad You haven't allowed it to be worse. Why don't You just kill us all now. Heaven will be relief from this misery."

The cry of a mother's heart (when I think our child can't bear another surgery or painful day or I can't absorb reports of others' traumas) isn't very rational. It's heartfelt though it may not sound very respectful to outsiders.

God hears us and understands human despair. Jesus prayed, "If it's possible, let this cup pass from me. Yet not my will but thine be done..." If the Son could hardly bear his cross, why would we think it's going to be easy for us?

Others go through "far worse" than we have. However, comparing pain is impossible. If you're in pain, you hurt regardless of what others feel.

I've always known God cares and will get us through the night. However, that doesn't make life easier though the process of loss and grief is simpler: I'm more resigned to human helplessness. I'm quicker to acknowledge, "Here we go again. You're still enough for the day. Whether we live or die, we live or die to You."

I may never look forward to pain as exhilarating closeness with God: "Thank you, God, for what I know about you now. You are more faithful, more wonderful, and greater than I knew." As I age, I seem to have more doubts about God's will to intervene rather than more faith in his desire to rescue His children. I'm more aware of the brokenness of the world and the stamina of humanity. While He is GREAT, He does not keep the storms from breaking down the house. Life seems more incomprehensible than ever.

Especially, I am amazed that people who never think about God in good times have the nerve to blame him for those awful days when you want to rip out your heart and throw it on the sidewalk to say, "Enough. I give up."

This I am sure of: during the bright days, let's celebrate the gifts of sunshine and beauty. I don't want to wait to seek God in times when we're at dead ends or become mired in tunnels of darkness.

Knowing God is Good and that we have received many blessings from His hands helps us to claim Job's confidence: "The Lord GIVES and he takes away. Blessed be the Name of the Lord." I'm grateful for so many things.

Especially, I'm glad our daughter is coming home for Christmas 2012 without a surgery planned. Though she suffers greatly in Seattle weather, we'll be together. We don't know what the future holds for her or us, but we know Who holds the future.

Read more:

*Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands. Deuteronomy 7:9 NIV

*The word of the Lord is upright, and all his work is done in faithfulness. Psalm 33:4

*[Jesus said,] "At that time you won't need to ask me for anything. I tell you the truth, you will ask the Father directly, and he will grant your request because you use my name. You haven't done this before. Ask, using my name, and you will receive, and you will have abundant joy." John 16:23–24 NLT

*Jesus also did many other things. If they were all written down, I suppose the whole world could not contain the books that would be written. John 21:25 NLT

*By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised. Hebrews 11:11 (NASB)

Moravian Prayer: Steadfast God, we strive to believe but pray for help in our unbelief! Move close to us on those days when we do not feel your presence. We claim your promise that you will be with us to the end. Strengthen our faith. Amen.

Artist date

What's your hobby? How do you refresh your soul?

Every once in a while, I take an artist date. After church yesterday, I played with W&N watercolors at a Daniel Smith "Travel Journal" workshop. Since W and I will be traveling here and there this summer, it seemed appropriate to play while learning something new.

I'm a complete beginner who "does" art in occasionally workshops or classes. Why? Probably because I can't sit still long enough to "finish" anything that seems so optional and fun ... but requires a few hours of focus. I have the Sitzfleish [ability to sit still] of a gnat.

I found a photo of Dutch houses on a canal in Curacao and played around with that for a while. The pleasure of holding a paintbrush settled on me like a warm cloak.

I'm so grateful for a God who invests his creativity in us. I'm glad I come from a family of musicians. My husband flings his "can-do" skills at construction, music, computers, and words. Our sons design computer stuff; our daughter was born a fashionista and decorator; our daughters-in-law include a genius at accounting and an amazing people connector. Most such gifts and skills are acquired by ongoing work and practice.

What is your family's primary "art?" Numbers? Painting? Engineering? Wordcraft? Hospitality? Preaching? Construction? Thank God for his lavish love in spreading out gifts among the children of humanity.

Read more:
*Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you.
Psalm 33:22

*I will add to their numbers, and they will not be decreased; I will bring them honor, and they will not be dis-dained. Jeremiah 30:19 (NIV)

*When the mustard seed is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade. Mark 4:32

*By grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God. Ephesians 2:8

Moravian Prayer: Faithful and steadfast God, our gratitude is too great for words. You have offered us the gift of grace and you have shown us by your son's birth, death and resurrection how to accept this gift through faith.

As we see small sprouts return to earth in springtime, evidence of new life's return after the winter, remind us of the good gifts sent from you, the promise of eternal life with you. Amen.

Lent Day 32: Thankful for security in strange times

I've begun reading scripture with renewed curiosity and wonder. Studying makes you question everything – the assumptions of childhood that God is magical and at our beck and call, the confusion of teen years when only God knows what's going on, and the vigor of young adulthood that believes anything is possible if you feel it should be done.

The one thing that has remained is utter security. I'm certain that – whatever I know or don't know – God hasn't changed.

As I read the news in tandem with scripture, I'm amazed by the return to wickedness and immorality. There were times in American history when entire towns shut down their businesses so people could attend revival services. In the present-day USA, the Ten Commandments must be removed from places of government because they might offend someone.

History records that an American President received the first copy of the New American Standard Bible with gratitude and prayers. Today, Western cultures shudder at the term "sin" as self-righteous judgment of others and the mention of "wrong" as intolerance.

How strange!

This week, President Gauck was sworn in as Germany's new president. In a cheerful article listing his qualifications, coolness factor, and his confirmation by an overwhelming majority in German parliament, "Germany in Class" headlines bubbled that "the former pastor and rights activist, arrived with his partner, Daniela Schadt, at the presidential residence on Monday, March 19." Former pastor. Partner. In the same sentence, with no moral quiver.

I remember the ongoing indignation of my grandma, who was saved during the holiness revivals in Germany after WWII. She decried any hint of sin, any move away from conservatism in churches, and any ideas that seemed to lower standards for believers. She didn't fuss too much with those outside the Church because she thought God could deal with them. She believed that if Christians lived upright and righteous lives, sinners would be drawn to the Good News.

Reading this morning, I wondered what effect this "former pastor" Herr Gauck had on his congregation. Did some of them find the path to reconciliation with God? Did any hear the Word of Life when he preached? Did the scriptures speak to him personally, confronting his broken nature as it confronts mine?

Whatever I am called by others, I want to be tolerant and loving. I know those who do not follow Christ don't hold to the standards of Jesus. But I won't compromise by calling evil good or upholding immorality or looking away from destructive acts among those who claim His name.

I'd be insecure all day long if I considered human judgment and self-justification more important than God's disapproval. Pretending that His standards have changed would mean that His nature was transient and untrustworthy. That would make life more awful and terrifying than I can imagine. Grandma's wrath would be only a tiny foretaste of what is coming.


Read more:

*O LORD, you have searched me    and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.

Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD. You hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there;    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. Psalm 139:1-10 NIV

That which had not been told them they shall see. Isaiah 52:15

And the disciples went out and proclaimed the good news everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that accompanied it. Mark 16:20

Moravian Prayer: Like those early disciples, may we be so committed to serving you that the world will surely see you in the deeds we perform. Empower us to be your agents of justice in an unjust world, agents of healing in a sin-sick world, agents of welcome in a bigoted world and agents of peace in a war-torn world. Amen.

Happy Ash Wednesday

The ugly smudges looked like dirt. "What's that on your forehead?" I asked a friend. We lived in Cambridge, UK, and were learning many religious traditions left behind by low church Protestants.

"It's Ash Wednesday," said Terrie. She explained that her family and she had gone to an early Mass where the priest had crossed their foreheads with ashes after burning last year's palm fronds. They'd wear the cross all day, at work or at rest. The ritual fascinated me.

Though Terrie's family did not evidence faith in Christ by holy living, they celebrated Christianity in a continuous round of traditional calendar events. How many of us will thoughtlessly do the same in the coming season of Lent that leads to Easter?

Most of us will barely reflect on Christ's sacrifice. We'll go to church or skip a Sunday when it's inconvenient to meet. We'll walk through the foyer to settle into a pew, clap along with worship while watching a band on stage, half-listen to a talk by a pastor, and walk out again without any life change. My heart's cry is, "Oh Lord, please don't let that be me this year! Let me remember your life of meekness and your endurance on the cross."

During these seven Lenten weeks, I'm asking God for the ability to surrender to him. While I could stay on my knees forever, repenting for things done and undone, I hear his call to focus on all the wonders of following Christ. How good God has been to humanity - and to me! His love encompasses us and his mercies never fail.

Today, I'm happy, utterly thankful for God's patience as I've muddled my way toward him. How has his grace and longsuffering kept you from harm?

Read more:

* You have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling. Psalm 116:8

*The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.” Zephaniah 3:17 NIV

*Joel 2:1-2,12-17; Psalm 51:1-17; 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10; Matthew 6:1-6,16-21

*Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, "Lord, save me!" Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him. Matthew 14:29-31

Moravian Prayer: Creator of the universe, only you can deliver our souls from death. When we become overwhelmed with the activities of the world, let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, our Lord and Savior. Amen.

Hi, my name is God

Surprise! Another quirky and wonderful find from scripture this week = how God introduces himself.

When I answer the phone, it's usually, "Hi, Rosemarie here." The kids had to say, "Hello, K... residence," and my husband answers with his full name. We're happy to exchange names when we shake hands and meet new people.

Scriptural names not only identified people by name, but described the character of the person, or the expectations and experiences of their parents. So when God introduces himself, he tells us what he's like.

God promises his servant Moses a visit. Here's the account:

Then the LORD came down in a cloud and stood there with him; and he called out his own name, Yahweh. The LORD passed in front of Moses, calling out,

"Yahweh! The LORD!  The God of compassion and mercy! I am slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness. I lavish unfailing love to a thousand generations. I forgive iniquity, rebellion, and sin.

But I do not excuse the guilty. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children and grandchildren; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations." Exodus 34:5–7 NLT

When God describes himself, he doesn't say, "Hey, I'm the big one around here. Tah-DAH, look at me!" He talks about his compassion and mercy, his patience, love, and integrity. He LAVISHES love, though to be just, he must punish those who refuse to live by his holy standards. (All of us have paid for the sins of others at some time or another, and God promises to give full justice. What a relief.)

I felt a strange disconnect last night, watching the first three episodes of the Mary Tyler Moore show (first time ever). The show was pretty risque, back in the day, tackling issues like the crabby, alcoholic and sexist boss, the swarmy, dumb, but handsome, news anchor, and by-the-book, gone-wrong, parenting by friends and coworkers. 

Something seemed off in the presentation, until I noticed what was making me doubt its comparison to real life. This was it: 

• Mary's housemates popped in and out of her apartment (as did her boss, writing a drunken letter to his wife... the first evening after she started work). Apparently people didn't feel the need to lock their door against intruders in the "big city" of Minneapolis in the 1960s and 70s.
• No one called the police to haul the boss away, or to sue him for sexist behavior. 
• She didn't put a "do not disturb" sign on her door, but listened to the people drifting in and out of her flat. Weird. 
• Her friend dropped her 10-year-old off with Mary, who let the child run out to the corner store for TV dinners ("Put it on my account." There's trust! Plus, I remember how awful take-out food was, and how women who cooked looked down on those who bought instant meals.)

In gaining the "freedom" to do whatever we want, regardless of morals or standards, we've lost our sense of close community and safety. Children live with multiple "parents," sometimes here or there. We drift through relationships without ever finding our heart's home. And we sure can't rely on others to follow through with work or friendships, if they find more convenient options elsewhere.

All the while, God invites us to align ourselves with his nature, rather than to abandon the Great and Good, But Difficult. He promises us his unfailing love and kindness. He introduces himself to us as the faithful One who never changes, whom we can trust without reservation. 

I'm so grateful to be secure, held through the storms of life, regardless of what others do or say. The One who made us knows how to prepare our quiet place of refuge, if we will trust and obey. I want to be someone who is trustworthy and lives with integrity, because the God who introduces himself as Yahweh is boss of me. 

What would your name be, if it described you? I wonder what those around would name me, too. 

Read more:

* O Lord God, you have only begun to show your servant your greatness and your might! Deuteronomy 3:24

*Set all your hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring you when he is revealed. 1 Peter 1:13

Moravian Prayer: Eternal God, your promises for our future fill us with excitement. We spend this day, tomorrow and the next day with you. You have promised to keep us for all eternity. Your glory fills our hearts. Amen.