Tag Archives: Spirituality

Learning from The 70’s

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Every time I enter my “year of birth” in a web form, I’m reminded that my life spans seven decades! That doesn’t mean I’m 70+ years old, but as a child of parents from The Greatest Generation and born in the ’50’s, I’ve “rung in” my share of decades.

One of those decades was The ’70’s – a pivotal discovery time for a lot of reasons.  Maybe the most important is that I learned what not to do. For instance, don’t try to run in 3 1/2 inch disco stacks. Some body part will get hurt. Or no matter how proud you are of it, nobody really cares who paints your senior class year on a road or bridge. And don’t drive 95 miles an hour to get back to school from a mid-morning coca-cola and honey bun run, if you own a Pinto. Yes, you know who you are!

Here’s the big one I learned. What not to chase! In the ’70’s, we had a lot of options to spend our lives doing, public and private. Some were a waste; others earned money, a fleeting influence, or a name on a street; while other options left deposits of eternity in others’ lives.  I was a young, struggling follower of Jesus in the early ’70’s when God captivated me with His undeniable truth and unexplainable compassion for me. And it followed that, if he love me (an average invisible teenager with issues) he loved others… around me and around the globe. It knocked me into a new orbit, with Jesus at the center.

Last week, I attended a party at Seacoast Vineyard Church in Myrtle Beach that focused on celebrating The ’70’s. It was a real blast from the past, and gave me a taste of what my church friends looked (and acted) like a few decades back. There was even a disco ball with the lights chasing around the room. And it left me thinking about today, and how I’m different because of that decade.

Matthew records what Jesus said about what to chase and what not to chase:

“So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’  These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs.  Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. (Matthew 6:31-33 NLT)

The ’70’s legacy? Chase the King and His Kingdom, trust God for the stuff of life, and above all don’t drive your Pinto over 35 mph.

Pursuing the Kingdom -Rick

Looking for God

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It was 1986, and it was another Sunday morning. My role at the church I serve in San Antonio was as pastor of discipleship and evangelism. We had begun a Hispanic church on half of our campus, and had recently begun a small group program in homes around the neighborhoods. And God was showing up in the homes in refreshing ways. One of our “nights of worship” with all the small groups together lasted long into the evening (long, especially for Baptists on a Friday night.)

The Sunday morning in question had been a better-than-normal crowd. The message was good for the moment, but I can’t remember it. The worship was very normal (and very forgettable) for a Baptist church with a choir loft and organ. The invitation was short; the results escape me. What was memorable happened as I was gathering my Bible and notebook together at the end of the service. In fact, I will never forget the words nor the look on the faces of the young Latino couple who found me at the front of the church.

“I have heard we can find God here.” The couple looked really out-of-place among the stained glass and maple woodwork. And at the same time, they looked like perfect candidates for the altar we were standing beside. The sunlight magnified the dust particles in the hazy air of the empty sanctuary these two had invaded, with hopes of finding God.

I said, “Yes, I can help you find God right here.” We prayed.

Skip forward to tonight. My pastor at the Beach led a membership class tonight for about a dozen people. I was there because I help with small groups and disciple-making. He talked about values, the history of our church, and told stories of how God has been working and how He has led us to this point.

Then he shared what kind of church he envisions us becoming. The top of his list didn’t include large numbers, huge buildings, a publishing house or film department (that seems the rage lately.)

He looked out the front door to the streets, the beach, the road to the local schools, the bars, the strip clubs, restaurants, malls, and the hideouts for the street people who live here. “I want the people who don’t know God to know that, if they can just get to our church, if they can just get here, they will find people who will love them, and they’ll find the love of God.”

He was the prophet tonight. There are people who come looking for God. The word is out. Hope…help…healing… wholeness…the love of God is here. God wants the place where church meets to be a place that people who may not look like they belong in church can look for God. Like the latino couple, they can risk the question, “Can I find God here?”

“…so he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.” (Luke 15:20)

Keeping It Together

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The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 
For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 
He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 
And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 
For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,  and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. (Paul to the Colossian Christians)
 
 

What Disciples of Jesus Need (Part Two)

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Maybe you, like I, can have an issue with others telling me what I need, too – especially if I haven’t had a chance to decide for myself. But if you are a follower of Christ, it’s likely that you have thought about what it means to be His… and follow Him. These paragraphs can maybe help put words to these thoughts and longings.

Every follower of Jesus needs to meld. A strange word to put into a spiritual context, but stay with the rationale. To meld means to mingle, mix it up, or combine. It relates to two primary industries: metal-smithy and whiskey-making. Both use it to describe mixing unique elements to create something stronger than the individual parts. One creates very practical and concrete results; the other… well, let’s say random and less practical.

I need to meld my life with others. I am better and live the life of “Christ-in-me” with more consistency when I spend time with a small group of other followers. What I am made of somehow brings strength to them; and they make me stronger.

This need for melding landed hard on my life one day when I was at a funeral of a friend. One day, I was sitting next to my friend and his wife – Susan and I in dress-casual, they in full leathers and colors related to their biker group. Three days later, I am sitting in the balcony of a church, watching the ushers wheel in his casket. I watched as fifty or more bikers filed in to the center seats, and realized I was alone. I knew no one well; and worse, no one knew me.

Plato wrote, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” The Psalmist says: “Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” I examined my life and realized I needed some people around me who knew me, loved me, examined me, and “watched my back” as I sought to progress in my journey with Christ.

Whatever I call my group: small group, Sunday School, Life Group, Cell Group, or “Can-We-Meet-For-A-Coffee Group;” as a follower of Jesus, I need a group. I’m known, I fit, I can learn to use my gifts and “experiment” in learning to love and serve like Christ. Most of all, when I mix it up with these guys who are committed to me, I am stronger.

The Need? A place to meld with others. The Kingdom activity? I get to be involved in Kingdom service and relationships. And when I buy into this whole “melding” need, I get to see the activity and compassion of God in others… and this pleases Him.

By the way, every other week, I meet (read: meld) with a group of around eight others who are committed to be followers of Christ. It’s what a disciple needs.

Mixing it up,
Rick

Pain and timing

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I’m hard-pressed to find a stronger example of the difference between freedom and imprisonment than this morning’s Genesis read. Joseph was a unique guy for sure, and a little cocky, but he took on some serious undeserved pain: he was abandoned, rejected, hated, enslaved, tempted in a huge way, accused wrongfully, imprisoned, forgotten, and otherwise tossed around by life. (start in Genesis 38 for the whole story.) He stayed at peace with God through it all; he trusted that God was at work, even in the pain.
His older brothers (count ’em at 10) were his opposites. They hated, rejected a life of faith, lived for the moment and thought nothing for the future. They might have lived outside of the prison cell, but their guilt and what their actions brought them fabricated bars stronger than iron.
No freedom can match what a clear conscience delivers. And viewing the pain, deserved or otherwise, we face through the lens of faith liberates us. It’s not good or fun, and none of us stand in line for more of it. But trusting that God is working something good inside of us, and fitting our lives into the nexus of his timing and will somehow creates peace in the middle of the pain.
When Joseph re-introduced himself to his brothers after all the pain they had cause him, he put all of it in perspective, and said: “God sent me ahead of you.” Going through pain, disappointment, delays, and dark times with trust in God’s goodness aligns our passions, our timing, and our place in His will, to His agenda.
Looking for the big picture from here,
Rick