A God with ears

"Oh God!" people exclaim in times of surprise or trouble. It doesn't seem to matter if we're religious or not. An appeal to God seems a natural outburst when we are overtaken by life.

Christians use God's name in sincere thanksgiving or appeal: "Thank God!" when something goes well, or "Dear God!" when we need help.

Sometimes I explain that I'm not taking God's name in vain when I speak God's name aloud. His name is no mere comma or exclamation point in the chatter of the moment. Rather, we're continuing our ongoing conversation. He speaks and I listen. I speak and I know he hears me, too.

A Jewish prophet exclaimed that people used half of a stump of wood as firewood and the rest as a symbol for worship. They carved a bowl from one end ... and an idol from the other.

Then they expected help from the gods by venerating the piece of wood they'd crafted. "Idiots!" says Isaiah (my paraphrase.)

"[Wood] is used as fuel for burning; some of it he takes and warms himself, he kindles a fire and bakes bread. But he also fashions a god and worships it; he makes an idol and bows down to it.

Half of the wood he burns in the fire; over it he prepares his meal, he roasts his meat and eats his fill. He also warms himself and says, "Ah! I am warm; I see the fire." From the rest he makes a god, his idol he bows down to it and worships. He prays to it and says, "Save me! You are my god!" (Is. 44:15-17 NIVUK)

It's easy to condemn historical tribes for idolatry. It's harder to see where we fall into the same foolishness.

• Most American magazine photos of homes or gardens contain a "Buddha" figurine, an African mask, or Indian statue to symbolize peace and prosperity.
• People set up home altars and "tranquility corners" for meditation, furnishing them with photos, icons, or "meaningful objects."
• Here's a description from an online seller: "We specialize in manufacturing Indian God Statues as well as modern figures in various designs, shapes, colors and sizes are available. These Indian God Statues can be customized as per customers specifications. We are having enchanting collection of white marble Murtis & sculptures of Hindus God & Goddesses. These marble Indian God Statues are made from premium grade of raw material which ensure durability at its user end."
• We surround ourselves with material things, worshiping them by spending time cleaning, paying attention, and financing them.

The prophet Isaiah continues: "No one stops to think, no one has the knowledge or understanding to say, ‘Half of it I used for fuel; I even baked bread over its coals, I roasted meat and I ate. Shall I make a detestable thing from what is left? Shall I bow down to a block of wood?’" (Is. 44:19) The obvious answer is, "Of course not!" But in practice it's rarely that simple.

Our God is not like other gods. He is not a dumb stump, a shiny metal statue, or a mute image made by human hands. He is not malleable by human whims. He cannot be manipulated into our own image.

Set apart forever, God comes near to hear our prayers and exclamations. He listens to our hearts as they call out to him with pleasure, adoration, and desperate need. He stoops to His children's cries and answers.

Truly, there is no god like our God. His loving ears hear and His clear voice speaks! What does your conversation with Him sound like today?

Read more:
*Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life." Proverbs 4:23 NLT

Hear, you who are far away, what I have done; and you who are near, acknowledge my might. Isaiah 33:13 NLT

*Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Romans 12:9-13 NIV

*Paul wrote: We know that God has chosen you, because our message of the gospel came to you not in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. 1 Thessalonians 1:4-5 NLT

Moravian Prayer: Jehovah God, you promised not to forsake us. You hear us no matter where we are and acknowledge us when we cry out to you in time of distress. When we think we are destroyed, you are there. Thank you for choosing us every day. Amen.

Lent Day 14: Life on pause, temporarily

The same questions: "So what are you doing? You looking for work?" I've heard it dozens of times this sabbatical year. I'm always at a loss for an answer.

The last waiting season, I was in England while W finished his PhD. I took art lessons, toured Cambridge weekly with a fabulous (and free) blue guide, wrote, and rested. I'm similarly engaged this time around, compounded by work with/for other people. Last week I edited 4 articles for others. This week I helped 2 speakers pull together public talks. I've met with 6 people (but it's only Thursday morning.) This pause is productive: I'm helping others though it feels like my career and interests are paused. I bought an art notebook. I've written blogs, my Lenten discipline.

Real Simple Daily Thought here.

Friends remind me, "Don't worry. Remember the great fit that found you after the last sabbatical?" I do remember! Work that was pure pleasure, morning by morning. I couldn't wait to get there every day.

I'm not worried. I've begun to feel energy rising for the next thing. I'm not quite ready to apply for the jobs I've seen posted. The right thing hasn't come along.

Meanwhile, I'm happy. Very busy. Occasionally I feel a bit impatient, anticipating the new things ahead. (So I'm almost open, should you hear of work that's a good fit for a writer, speaker, editor, and connector. Smiles.)

Most of us will experience "seasons between." Jesus never seemed hurried or anxious about the future. He didn't rush toward the culmination of his life, that ugly cross and beautiful resurrection. He spent each day as it came, intentional about pleasing his Heavenly Father from morning to night. Why do we feel harried, rather than living one day at a time?

How can we value these pauses, when the next thing is not yet apparent?

1. Be grateful. How many people have time to reflect and choose their hours in Western society? Are most of your friends running on fumes? Thank God for the respite. He hasn't forgotten you. Maybe He's healing something inside you. Is He building something new, something not yet apparent?
2. Be prayerful. Seek God's face on these quiet days. On days when you're hunting for work. On days when you catch up on chores. On days when you have no to-do list.
3. Be intentional. Examine yourself to plan your trajectory, going forward. WHAT ARE: Your strengths. Your loves. What fills you with joy. How you best work (with others? alone?) The things in the past that made you laugh out loud. The skills you have developed over years of work and play.
4. Be mindful. How can you help those who are exhausted? My husband has the opposite schedule: every minute full, teaching, speaking, researching. I try not to load him with my ideas. How can you lighten the load for those around you? (Husbands, hint hint - how about picking up some cooking and cleaning stints for that exhausted wife? Dads, how about getting up at night to soothe the baby? Mom's actually WORKING during the day, too! Employers, relieve the burden of underlings. Coworkers, pick up a task for peers when you have a slow day?)
5. Be willing. Do what you need to do to bring in survival income. Volunteer. Help out in church and the community. Maybe the person volunteering beside you will be the link to your next opportunity.
6. Be alert. Look for opportunities coming your way. We are designed to work and enjoy it. What is on the horizon that will use your gifts, education, and experience?

Read more:

*The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him. Exodus 15:2 NIV

*And David became more and more powerful, because the LORD of Heaven's Armies was with him. 1 Chronicles 11:9 NLT

*The light of the moon will be like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold on the day when the Lord binds up the injuries of his people, and heals the wounds. Isaiah 30:26 NLT

*We want each one of you to show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope to the very end. Hebrews 6:11 NLT

Moravian Prayer: Giver of light and hope, keep your children safe as we wait for the promised day of healing. May we faithfully do your will, eagerly anticipating that day when all earth will rejoice in your presence. Amen.

God speaks. Can you hear him?

Need a God-phone?

Do you ever wonder if God still talks to people? Would he talk to you? If so, how can you tune in to listen? I'm sharing a few ideas about conversing with God today. Remember that a conversation involves talking AND listening:

1. The most reliable source for God-talk is the Bible. Find direct quotes or "God said" to eavesdrop on a God-to-humanity conversation.
2. Join a good church. Don't look for fads or trendy gatherings. The best companions are found among people on the journey of faith together. Here are a few churches I can recommend in looking for such groups around Seattle: Creekside in Shoreline; Neighborhood in Bellevue; New Life in Maple Valley or Renton; and Calvary in the UW district. (Add your recommendations in comments below.)
3. Take time to hear God speak and to talk to God. That might include setting regular "let's talk!" appointments of meditation or prayer.
4. Listen to the conversations of others. Seek out friends who have a relationship with God and talk to them about their stories.
5. Watch for God at work in your workplace or community, as you meet the needs of others, and as people share life with you. He's personal and loves to interact with us. Become intentionally aware of God's presence during the day or night.
6. Take a walk in nature or a neighborhood to observe God's beauty, his sense of order and renewal, and his care for the planet and its inhabitants.

Seems like a lot of people are inventing "designer gods" to suit themselves. They set up altars of nature or "important stuff" and worship god-in-their-image. They pursue greed or asceticism, seek nirvana (the winking out of the light of life), and cover the bases (doing good or being better than the next guy).

What an unsatisfying way to live: such human-made gods can never be bigger than we are. Life devolves into a continual DIY project and self-help. Co-creators of "god-likenesses" often infringe on others' rights and expectations, too.

The apostle Paul notes that the one true God reveals himself in nature so that everyone is without excuse: God already reaches out to each person (Romans 1:20).

No matter how wonderful or weird your life has been to date, God is waiting to chat with you, to introduce himself, and be found by you. Tune in today!

Read more:

*Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth. Our God comes and does not keep silence. Psalm 50:2-3 

*Please, LORD, please save us. Please, LORD, please give us success. Psalm 118:25

*“You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me, and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me."  Isaiah 43:10   NIV

*And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” Mark 1:9-11

Moravian Prayer: Lord God, you shine forth your word and call us to express ourselves in worship to you. Cleanse us and bless us as we offer our lives in dedication to you. We love you Lord and are grateful for your unconditional love. We lift our voices to you and sing your wondrous grace. Your word amazes us, verse after verse baptizing us into your truth. With a thankful heart, we pray. Amen. 

Worshipping foreign gods

We would have thought they were mad. Utterly bananas.

When I was a kid, had anyone placed an idol in their living room or spent hours meditating on "nothingness" for peace of mind, we would have called them crazy. Seems everywhere I look, there's a buddha sitting on a tabletop. Decorators like to express a feeling of tranquility in a LR or bedroom by adding foreign gods as symbols. You can find out how to build a shrine or "meditation room" in the DIY section of the library. Any neighbor on my childhood street who would have checked out such a book would have been marked as an insane person.

Reading history, it's easy to see how the West abandoned their love of God, in whom souls find rest, for the frantic pace of capitalism and consumerism. We fell in love with stuff, and then found our souls empty.

"Want to be really empty?" asked priests of world religions. "We can show you how." In came the gods made by hands, subtly in music (via John Lennon and Yoko Ono, yeah we thought they were nuts when they first broadcast Eastern rites). Foreign gods came creeping in with decor (oh, it's just a pretty statue. doesn't mean anything to me.) They disguised their houses of worship as holistic wellness centers (check out the "meditation rooms" that used to be chapels in hospitals, catholic retreat centers, and airports). And slowly but surely idolatry pervaded our homes and thinking ("You know, I think this guardian angel on my keychain really makes a difference, don'tcha, Saint so-and-so?")

It's not like we were ever all Christians. But the church used to be a place of refuge, where you knew someone would listen, pray to God with you, and offer help in times of trouble. I doubt if most of my fellow Seattle-ites would turn to the church rather than a bar or social services. Few people notice church buildings: it's like we have blinders on when we drive by.

I was creeped out by this photo on the BBC news this morning. Clinton is in Myanmar (formerly Burma). When would the heads of state take Communion in a Christian church... or even attend worship services with our government leaders? Yet with a smile on her face, Mrs. C. pours a symbolic water sacrifice on the altar of a god who is no god, a representation of demonic forces and evil. Is no one thinking about the message such a ritual binds us to as a nation?

We have bowed our hearts in the high places. Israel was severely punished for such abandonment of God. Rich and poor, influencers and peasants... all were swept away by economic downturns and wars and natural disasters. What makes us better than they? (Or has God become blinder to the sins of our leaders?) We will suffer God's justice because he notices those whose hearts incline toward him and those who worship things made with hands.

Christ sacrificed himself, One for all, so that we might have access to God. "Oh, Lord, let us not turn away from the abundance, peace, and joy you promise." We no longer have to sacrifice as the Israelites did, but we must turn day by day with hearts wide open to the God who has saved us and loved us enough to die on our behalf.

What abundant life we celebrate in this Christmas season! Don't let it be lost among those you love. In this season, decorations and business, presents and feasting can consume our time for worship and meditation on the One True God, who made us and wants to call us his own. 

Lord have mercy! Christ have mercy! Lord have mercy... on us all! Let's pray together today... for our governments, neighbors, and others who do not yet worship the Creator. 

Read more:

*Command the people of Israel to bring you pure oil of pressed olives for the light, to keep the lamps burning continually. The lampstand will stand in the Tabernacle, in front of the inner curtain that shields the Ark of the Covenant. Aaron and his sons must keep the lamps burning in the LORD's presence all night. This is a permanent law for the people of Israel, and it must be observed from generation to generation. Exodus 27:20–21 NLT

*Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness;  come before him with joyful songs. Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. Psalm 100 NIV 

*While Paul was waiting in Athens, he was upset to see all the idols in the city. He went to the Jewish meeting place to speak to the Jews and to anyone who worshiped with them. Day after day he also spoke to everyone he met in the market. Some of them were Epicureans and some were Stoics, and they started arguing with him. People were asking, "What is this know-it-all trying to say?" Some even said, "Paul must be preaching about foreign gods! That's what he means when he talks about Jesus and about people rising from death."

They brought Paul before a council called the Areopagus, and said, "Tell us what your new teaching is all about. We have heard you say some strange things, and we want to know what you mean." More than anything else the people of Athens and the foreigners living there loved to hear and to talk about anything new.

So Paul stood up in front of the council and said: "People of Athens, I see that you are very religious. As I was going through your city and looking at the things you worship, I found an altar with the words, 'To an Unknown God.' You worship this God, but you don't really know him. So I want to tell you about him. This God made the world and everything in it. He is Lord of heaven and earth, and he doesn't live in temples built by human hands. He doesn't need help from anyone. He gives life, breath, and everything else to all people. From one person God made all nations who live on earth, and he decided when and where every nation would be.

"God has done all this, so that we will look for him and reach out and find him. He isn't far from any of us, and he gives us the power to live, to move, and to be who we are. 'We are his children,' just as some of your poets have said.

"Since we are God's children, we must not think that he is like an idol made out of gold or silver or stone. He isn't like anything that humans have thought up and made. In the past, God forgave all this because people did not know what they were doing. But now he says that everyone everywhere must turn to him. He has set a day when he will judge the world's people with fairness. And he has chosen the man Jesus to do the judging for him. God has given proof of this to all of us by raising Jesus from death."

As soon as the people heard Paul say that a man had been raised from death, some of them started laughing. Others said, "We will hear you talk about this some other time." When Paul left the council meeting, some of the men put their faith in the Lord and went with Paul. Acts 17:16-34 CEV