The Pursuit of God by Tozer - Reflections (3)

“Current evangelicalism has…laid the altar and divided the sacrifice into parts, but now seems satisfied to count the stones and rearrange the pieces with never a care that there is not a sign of fire upon the top of lofty Carmel.” (pp. 8 – 9).

“There is today no lack of Bible teachers to set forth correctly the principles of the doctrines of Christ, but too many of these seem satisfied to teach the fundamentals of the faith year after year, strangely unaware that there is in their ministry no manifest Presence, nor anything unusual in their personal lives. They minister constantly to believers who feel within their breasts a longing which their teaching simply does not satisfy." (page 9).

While Tozer will develop the above statements, I am quoting them for their directness – with more to come. The first excerpt draws from 1 Kings 17:20 – 40, the confrontation of Elijah with the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. 

“So with the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD…Then he arranged the wood and cut the ox in pieces and laid it on the wood…Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.”

Paul tells Timothy that Timothy is to “rightly divide” or “accurately handle” the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15). This is more than an academic exercise, it is more than an expository verse-by-verse (stone-by-stone) exegesis that can be taught to anyone with basic intellectual skills, for Paul makes it clear that his message was “in demonstration of the Spirit and power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God” (1 Corinthians 2:4 – 5).  He further states, “The kingdom of God does not consist in word but in power” (1 Corinthians 4:20). Building an altar, arranging wood, and even killing and laying out an ox, is a sterile exercise without the fire and power of the Living God.

“For our Gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction…” (1 Thessalonians 1:5).  

Is our preaching and teaching essentially an exercise in rearranging stones in different combinations week after week? Do we offer an ox one week, a lamb another, a goat another, a heifer another…all without fire? 

What would we do if fire actually came from God? What would we do if the Holy Spirit replicated His manifestations of Acts? It might be the cause of some embarrassment.

Would we say, “O…hello God…we didn’t expect you”?

Tozer writes of those who “seem satisfied to teach the fundamentals of the faith year after year.”

I think this is one of the scandals of the professing church, we have good - hearted men and women who have attended church all of their lives and they know no more today than they did 70 years ago. In fact, it is likely that some had a deeper faith as trusting children than as senior adults whose hearts have been dulled by being fed the fundamentals year after year, fundamentals which have become rote and dry and without Divine relationship. 

This reminds me of people I’ve known in the workplace.  You can have two twenty – year employees in the same company; one has twenty years of experience, the other has one year of experience repeated twenty times. When the latter is confronted with this reality, he will either say, “O my, I didn’t realize this, teach me please, I want to learn.” Or he will be offended and quit. The same is true of folks in the professing church, including pastors. One difference between the workplace and church, is that in the church we are seldom confronted with our lack of depth, with the great chasm between our lives and the wonderful relationship to which God calls us. 

Perhaps, as we explore The Pursuit of God, we’ll gain some understanding of why these things are, and what we can do to change, how we can pray, how we can believe, how we can obey, how we can encourage one another. Of course this must all be by the grace of God, by the enabling of the Holy Spirit. 

I wonder if we really know how much God our Father loves us. For sure I don’t think we have an inkling of what it means to be the sons and daughters of the Living God, the sisters and brothers of Jesus Christ. This is a critical element of the Gospel, and yet we don’t know it, we don’t teach it – so how can we live it? 

God so loved the world, that He not only gave His Only Begotten Son, but that He births us as His sons and daughters in the Only Begotten Son – in Christ we are all begotten, the Son with an eternal uppercase “B”; Jesus’ many sisters and brothers with the Holy Spirit (in thist sense, with another Upper Case “B”).

Tozer writes that there are “believers who feel within their breasts a longing which their teaching [that of the Bible teachers] simply does not satisfy.”

Do you think this is true today? 

I don’t think it is true in the United States. I think those who attend church are typically satiated with programs, music, “how to” teachings, rearranging the stones and the sacrifices, with what amounts to group therapy, and with knowledge devoid of power. 

I seldom hear any professing Christian yearn for more of Jesus, just as I seldom hear professing Christians speak of Jesus, either of learning about Him or of living in friendship with Him. We seem to be satisfied where we are. O for sure we want church growth, we may want more programs, we may want more of this or that – but the only real question is whether we want more of Jesus. 

Do you hear folks talking about the Person of Jesus Christ and their relationship with Him? Do you hear folks desiring more of Jesus? Do you see people sharing Jesus with others? 

On the other hand, it is surely possible that many do desire Jesus, but they are accepting “Christian” substitutes, it may be that we have come to the point where we don’t know any better, surely a challenge for both pastors and congregations. 

Well, again, perhaps as we travel with Tozer our vision will improve, perhaps we will see Jesus as never before. 

Do I desire Jesus today?

Do you? 

The Pursuit of God by Tozer – Reflections (2)

“In this hour of all-but-universal darkness one cheering gleam appears: within the fold of conservative Christianity there are to be found increasing numbers of persons whose religious lives are marked by a growing hunger after God Himself. They are eager for spiritual realities and will not be put off with words, nor will they be content with correct “interpretations” of truth. They are athirst for God, and they will not be satisfied till they have drunk deep at the Fountain of Living Water.”

Thus does Tozer begin his book, The Pursuit of God.

It may take us a while to understand what Tozer means, both in this first paragraph and throughout the preface, for 77 years separates us from 1948 and it just may be that 77 years might as well be 500 hundred years. 

I wonder if Tozer’s contemporaries saw the “all-but-universal” darkness that Tozer did. WWII had ended in August 1945, the Iron Curtain had fallen over Eastern Europe, Americans were recovering from the horror of war, experiencing relief that the war was over, facing global uncertainty, and on the threshold of the prosperity of the 1950s. We cannot grasp what our European and Asian neighbors were facing in terms of starvation, marginal food and housing, economic viability, and political turmoil. The United Kingdom was under food rationing well into the 1950s. The global war may have ended, but peace had not been won.

Perhaps the foregoing helped create the “hunger after God Himself.” 

In this first paragraph Tozer sees a “cheering gleam” in the midst of darkness; a thirst for more than words and interpretations, a thirst for God. 

Do we know what Tozer means when he distinguishes between words and interpretations and God Himself? Does this differentiation make sense to us, or is the contrast unfamiliar? If it makes no sense to us, hopefully we will come to understand its meaning as we follow Tozer on this journey. As I wrote above, it may be that the 77 years between us and Tozer might as well be 500 years. It may be that Tozer’s concepts, concerns, and perspectives are like an unfamiliar language. It may also be that we will benefit from understanding them. It may be that they will help us draw closer to God.

I want to give a word of caution about the term “conservative Christianity.” This likely does not mean today what it meant in 1948. I write “likely” because I’m sure there is someone who could argue that the meanings are close, even if not identical, but I don’t think so. For sure the terms “liberal” and “conservative” were loaded then as they are loaded now, but I am not sure that there was the melding of religion and politics in 1948 for the average professing Christian that we see today. I also sense that in the world of theological academia there has been an erosion of distinction and a mixing of thinking and practice that may not have existed in Tozer’s time. This probably makes no sense to the average reader, and that’s okay. I’m not going to spend any more time on this, other than to say that we are better off to ignore the term “conservative” so that it doesn’t sidetrack us – it is not material to what Tozer writes. 

Tozer writes about drinking at the Fountain of Living Water, an allusion to Jesus and the woman at the well of John Chapter 4. 

“Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up to eternal life” (John 4:14). 

The woman met Jesus carrying a waterpot in which to put water, she left her waterpot to go tell others about Jesus. Are we people who carry waterpots, again and again and again; constantly filling them, emptying them, and filling them again? Is this the picture of our spiritual lives and the lives of our congregations?

Or are we people in whom Jesus has placed a fountain of Living Water, His very Presence, and are our lives pouring forth the Presence and Life of God to those around us? 

When we gather as God’s People, do we come carrying water pots, or do we come flowing with Living Water to share with one another? 

“If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water” (John 737 – 38). 

Jesus calls us to lay our waterpots down, to receive His Living Water, His Fountain of Life within us, and in so doing we move from being consumers to being producers; we transition from looking to the outside for sustenance to giving to others from Christ in us and us in Christ (John 15:1 – 5).

To know Jesus as the Fountain of Living Water is to experience a reorientation of life, of thinking, of understanding, of perspective. It is to experience God.

Are we experiencing God…today? 

The Pursuit of God by Tozer - Reflections (1)

 

Vickie and I recently had breakfast with friends visiting our area from Richmond, VA. It was a delightful and refreshing time, especially since it had been about six years since we’d seen them. During the course of our time together the husband mentioned that a small group he is in is reading A. W. Tozer’s The Pursuit of God. Since that breakfast I’ve taken The Pursuit of God off my bookshelf and have been pondering it once again. I first encountered Tozer’s writings in 1966, and one of my treasured memories is working through The Pursuit of God with a friend about 35 years ago, which included a Friday night and a Saturday set aside to wrestle with the book. 

I’m going to attempt to explore the book in a series of posts and I hope they will be beneficial to you. The Pursuit of God is readily available from booksellers, and it is also available for free online. It is a classic and has remained in print. 

My edition is produced by Christian Publications, Camp Hill, PA. It is only 128 pages, with a preface and 10 chapters, so it is a short book, but it is a dense book. I hope you will consider reading the book as well as participating in this journey with me. 

Tozer has been called a 20th century prophet. You can make your own judgment about that, I think there is some truth to the observation. 

The Pursuit of God was first published in 1948, 3 years after the end of WWII. If you are young, 1948 may seem like a long time ago; if you are my age it is part of your continuum of experience, and if you are of a certain temperament, it is as if it were yesterday. Yet, I am struck by how far apart Tozer’s time is from ours, it is more than 77 years, it is more than chronological, it is the way we think, the things we think important, our sense of Christ and the Father and the Holy Spirit, our understanding of mission; it is as if we have traveled from one planet to another. Again, you must form your own judgment about this.

Reading Tozer may require patience, both in terms of content and in terms of writing style. Good content often requires patience because it challenges us. Every book that has been a lifelong friend to me challenges me when I open its pages. Is not the Bible our best examples of this? 

Tozer’s writing style is closer to the 19th century than the 21st century. Consider that his first pastorate was in 1919. Frankly, we are adults and we ought to learn to read unfamiliar styles. Our propensity to want our spiritual food pureed has contributed to our collective spiritual infancy – we discard the treasures of the past for the entertainment of the present. Our sugar – coated diet has led to our teeth falling out and we can no longer chew the meat of the Word.

Just as the ONLY way to know the Bible is to actually read the Bible, the only way to learn to read different styles of English is to read different styles of English. One benefit of reading an unfamiliar style is that it s-l-o-w-s us down and requires us to think a bit more about what we read. I have more patience with the styles of Tozer or Andrew Murray than I do with many contemporary authors, for Murray and Tozer are challenging me, while many contemporary authors are seeking to either entertain me with religious cotton candy or are focused on man rather than the Christ of the Cross and the Cross of Christ. 

Ponder the difference between what we are typically fed today with this quote from Bonhoeffer, "Like ravens we have gathered around the carcass of cheap grace. From it we have imbibed the poison which has killed the following of Jesus among us.” 

We’ll begin with Tozer’s preface, but not with the beginning of the preface because that will require more comment than I want to write in this first post, which is itself a preface. Instead, let’s look at this statement:

“To great sections of the Church the art of worship has been lost entirely, and in its place has come that strange and foreign thing called the “program.” This word has been borrowed from the stage and applied with sad wisdom to the type of public service which now passes for worship among us.” (page 10).

Is it possible that we have expanded what Tozer term “program” into every area of church life? That is, what was once the main “program” is now complemented, or supported, by many programs. 

Do we have the equivalent of Johnny Carson, Ed McMahon, and Doc Severinsen before us on Sunday mornings? (My apologies in using an older group to illustrate a point, I am out of the entertainment loop). Are our Sunday morning programs as tightly scripted, if not more so, as the Tonight Show? 

Why do people “attend” a church? What part does the Sunday program play in this decision? What part do programs offered by the church contribute to this decision? How does this way of thinking compare with what the Bible teaches about the Church and our relationship to our brothers and sisters? 

It is said that we don’t know what we don’t know. There are things we are simply unaware of, we just don’t know anything different from our own experience and knowledge. This is one reason why knowing the Bible is critical for the Christian, for one question that should always be before us is, “What is the Biblical standard? What is the Biblical norm?” If we do not have a sense of the Biblical norm, then we cannot judge our own norm, our own experience, our own goals and desires…as individuals or as a people.

Seventy-seven years ago A. W. Tozer wrote, in essence, that we were moving into the entertainment industry.  Many of us cannot conceive of anything other than what we’ve experienced, and if we’ve been raised in a “Chirstian” entertainment culture we can’t imagine anything else. If we have been raised (chronologically or spiritually) in a church culture that caters to the wants and desires of people, rather than calling us to follow Jesus and be Jesus to others, laying down our lives for Him and for one another, then it is a challenge to conceive of any other way of life. (Mark 8:34 – 38; John 15:12 – 13; 1 John 3:16). 

In the publisher’s introduction to the book, we are told that Tozer’s “great spiritual discovery [is] that to seek God does not narrow one’s life, but brings it, rather, to the level of highest possible fulfillment.” 

Perhaps as we explore what Tozer has to say we’ll better understand what he means by “programs.” Perhaps then we’ll be better able to judge the truth of what he writes about our slide into entertainment. 

Is God worth pursuing? 

Is Christ Jesus worth knowing? 

"It is Finished"

 

“He said, ‘It is finished!’ And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit” (John 19:30). 

“‘Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.’ Having said this, He breathed His last” (Luke 23:46). 

My life, my hope, my reason for living and my expectation when dying, rests upon these words of Jesus Christ. 

The Tree of Life becomes the Tree of Death which will once again become the Tree of Life. If the Grain of Wheat does not fall into the ground and dies (John 12:24), I have no hope and neither do you.

But He does die, and He declares that “It is finished!” He says to the Father, “I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do” (John 17:4). In dying and in rising a New Man, a New Race, a New Generation, a New Seed, comes forth from the earth (Psalm 22:30; Isaiah 53:8,10; Hebrews 2:9 – 13).

We cry, “Abba! Father!” (Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6). We are now the heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, no longer sinners but daughters and sons of the Living God (Romans 8:16 – 17; Galatians 4:7).

Mystery of mysteries, as darkness covers the land the Lamb is sacrificed and the Divine Transaction occurs, veiled from the eyes of sinful man, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). 

The veil is rent, the Holy of Holies is open for us to know intimacy with God our Father (Luke 23:44; Hebrews 10:19 – 22). God invites us to come and know Him, to live securely in Him with joy and peace. 

Jesus is both our High Priest and our Sacrificial Lamb. He is the Priest who offers Himself, the Shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep (John 10:11). As our High Priest and Lamb, Jesus “sanctifies us through the offering of Himself once for all” (Hebrews 10:10). As our Sacrificial Lamb and High Priest Jesus has “perfected for all time those who are sanctified [made holy, set apart for God]” (Hebrews 10:14).

Note the phrases “once for all” and “for all time.” Jesus cries on the Cross “It is finished” because His work is complete, which means that we are complete in Him (Colossians 2:10). Jesus is indeed the “Author and Finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2). 

Since we are secure in our Lord Jesus Christ, since we are indeed the daughters and sons of God, we can take up our cross and follow Him (Mark 8:34 – 38), loving God with all that we have and all that we are, loving our neighbor as ourselves, and laying down our lives for our brothers and sisters (Mark 12:29 – 30; John 15:12 – 13; 1 John 3:16). 

Because Jesus has delivered us from the fear of death (Hebrews 2:14 – 15; 2 Timothy 1:8 – 11), we can now freely give ourselves to Jesus and to others, learning what it is to share His sufferings, learning what it means to be His Presence, His suffering and gracious Presence, in the lives of those around us (Philippians 3:10; Colossians 1:24; 2 Corinthians 4:12). 

May our prayer and desire be this Easter, that others will behold the Crucified and Risen Jesus Christ within us; within us as individuals, as husbands and wives, as families, as congregations, as the Church of Jesus Christ. 

Amen and amen. 

Theo of Golden - Reflections (6)

 

Author Allen Levi is a Tiffany in developing memorable characters as jewels and in placing them in relationship with one another as a master of stained glass. When light penetrates the glass, the sum is greater than the parts – there is holistic beauty. 

The Federated Church of Becket, MA has a beautiful stained-glass window at the entrance to the church, the centerpiece is Jesus the Good Shepherd. There were Sunday mornings when I’d ask the congregation to turn around and ponder the window in order to make a certain point – as a pastor I could not go wrong by having us keep our eyes on Jesus, our Shepherd. 

One of Allen Levi’s many gems in Theo of Golden is Ellen. Ellen communicates innocence, wisdom, pain and suffering, joy, beauty, kindness, and humor. The scene in St. James Church on a certain Sunday morning is a healing and humorous balm following the tragic account of the best day of her life. This is a remarkable juxtaposition by Mr. Levi, and I wonder if we don’t especially see the merging of Allen Levi the musician and song writer with Allen Levi the author in this orchestration. 

Ellen challenges me. 

To begin, I wonder if there isn’t some Ellen in all of us. That is, I wonder if we aren’t all just a bit “different” than we let on. I wonder if perhaps the main difference between Ellen and most of us is that we have learned to hide the parts of us that are “different.” Could it be that we have learned how to evade the goons from Columbia by hiding and conforming and saying and doing the things that are expected of us? Perhaps we have had stage moms and dads who were just doing to us what had been done to them? 

Was not Ellen’s problem that she didn’t know how to “act”? 

This is not to say that expectations and norms are all wrong, but it is to suggest that what is below the surface may just be more vital to life than what we superficially observe. Mrs. Ocie Van Blarcum, an unforgettable character among other unforgettable characters, reminds us that while man judges by appearance, God looks upon the heart. As the narrator of Theo points out, Mrs. Van Blarcum recognized the “least of these, my brethren.” 

A few years ago I made the acquaintance of a pastor from another region of the world who was born an albino; since he was born in a population with mostly deep dark skin, his albinism stood out. There was an unfortunate belief among some of the population of his home region that albinos ought to be sacrificed to traditional gods. As you might imagine, this led to a certain anxiety on the part of his family. Growing up, he restricted his travels to population centers within his home country. 

I’m not sure that we in America are much different that this pastor’s home country. When people don’t look like us or act like us or think like us or speak like us, is it possible that we are too ready to sacrifice them to our traditional gods. This is a powerful motive for conformity, whether as children or as adults. It is reason to keep our differences hidden; in families, at work, at school, in church. 

Sadly, often when we hide our differences we hide our giftings, our special talents, insights, the particular beauty that our Father has placed within each one of us. And here is another thing…I don’t understand it but I know it is true…we need one another to pull the beauty out of us. Theo saw beauty in others that they didn’t see in themselves – and rightly so – and beauty of beauties – Theo saw beauty in Ellen and Ellen saw beauty in Theo. 

Many of us, looking back over our school years, can likely recall a boy or a girl who was “different” in our class, who didn’t fit in, who didn’t participate in activities the way most of us did – whether we wanted to or not. I wonder what we all missed by not paying attention to all of our classmates? 

While many of us admire C. S. Lewis, I wonder if we would have been good classmates to him. Lewis did not care for sports, he did not fit in with the crowd, throughout his life he considered himself “all thumbs.” Yet, he loved extended walking trips, he loved engaging in projects around the Kilns, what he and Warnie termed “public works projects,” so it wasn’t as if he didn’t enjoy physical activity – he just wasn’t into football and cricket and rugby. Lewis may very well have been too “different” for us. We may have missed the opportunity of enjoying an enduring friendship.

Ellen also challenges me in that she confronts me with the cruelty of society. Our society steam rolls over those who are different and who cannot speak for themselves. Often, if people do not have economic value they do not have intrinsic value, and they certainly don’t have political value. Is it possible that we prefer those like Ellen to be out of sight so that we need not confront our attitudes and actions?  Do we really want the Ellens of the world in our worship services? After all, if we welcome them to morning worship they may expect us to invite them to afternoon tea, or chicken dinner, or to watch a football game in our home. Can I be honest enough to ask myself about my own heart in these matters? Will I ask God, by His grace, to help me? 

I’m not sure.

Is it possible that we have learned to hide our differences to such a degree that we may die never knowing who we really are? Is it possible that I may never know you, that you may never know me, and that I may never truly know who I am…who my Father created me to be? 

The Ellens of this world have blessed me so much more than I have ever blessed them. 

Joe was a disabled veteran who lived in our small town of Becket. The nature of his disability affected his speech and mobility, and while in many communities he may have been invisible, to his neighbors in Becket he was a beloved figure. Joe’s movement was slow, his speech was slow, and conversations with him could not be hurried. To a person outside Becket, Joe might be viewed as “different,” within the Becket community Joe was Joe. 

One morning I was in my office feeling a bit depressed, I suppose we could term it “pastoral isolation.” It was cold outside; it was cold inside. My office was cold, the building was cold, and I suppose my heart was a bit cold. I had a space heater in my office and the door was closed to contain the heat. I was the only person in the old drafty building…or so I thought. 

There was a “tap, tap, tap” at the door. 

“Come in,” I said.

The door opened and it was Joe. In his hand was a brown bag.

“Reverend Withers, as I was walking to the General (the Becket General Store which was next door to the Federated Church) I was thinking of you. I saw your car outside and thought I would bring you a coffee and a muffin from the store. I don’t know if you take cream or sugar but I brought them too. I hope you like them.” 

Out of the bag Joe brought the coffee and the muffin and the cream and the sugar and placed them before me on my desk along with a napkin. 

“O Joe, thank you so much. I can’t tell you how much this means to me.”

“You are welcome, Reverend Withers. I hope you have a good day.” 

As Joe left and closed the door, my heart was overwhelmed and a sacred warmth invaded my soul; Joe had bestowed a holy blessing upon me. Perhaps this is what Theo experienced when Ellen gave him a featherwood. 

Yes, Ellen challenges me. 

The Sanctity of Others – Wallets, Mail, and the Internet

How would you feel if a law was passed that required us all to carry transparent luggage, purses, man bags, and wallets? Would it affect what you carried and how you carried it? 

I recall when Vickie and I, with one of our daughters and one of her friends, went through customs on a certain island on vacation. The customs inspectors opened our luggage and did what I considered an unnecessary inspection of women’s undergarments. The two girls were in high school, and Vickie and I were well into middle age, and I was embarrassed for my wife and the girls. However, it was better to say nothing than to spend my time in interrogation, so we moved on to what became a delightful visit. In retrospect, upon our return to the States I should have sent the customs inspectors a lingerie catalog. 

Last year our school district began requiring all backpacks to be transparent; I was reminded of this recently when I chatted with one of our neighbors who is in elementary school. I was glad to see he was carrying a dictionary. My desks have never been tidy, nor have my satchels or briefcases, so I can only imagine what a backpack would be like. There is a reason Vickie packs for our trips.

While we complain about the intrusiveness of Google, Apple, Amazon and the like, I wonder if we aren’t hooked on this drug ourselves. Don’t we manifest an insatiable desire to know details about people that really should be no one’s business in a sane society? What does this say about our own lives, about the substance or lack thereof in them? 

We make celebrities out of men and women and young people who expose themselves, literally and figuratively, and we think it is great fun – and I suppose we see this as much in the professing church with its celebrity culture as in the world. 

People no longer represent the image of God to us, they no longer are accorded sacred space; could Cole Porter have envisioned such an “Anything Goes” society?

And this brings me to wallets, mail, and the internet. (Of course dear reader, you undoubtedly knew that this is just where we were going.)

I recently found a man’s wallet in the parking lot of a shopping center. It took a moment or two to register that it was a wallet, after all, you don’t expect to find wallets lying about a parking lot. It isn’t unusual, though it is disgusting, to see dental floss, but you don’t expect to see wallets. 

After picking the wallet up, I opened it and saw that there was a wad of cash, closed it again, and pondered what to do. The only other thing I saw in the wallet was a driver’s license from South Carolina, this was through a plastic window compartment in the center. I did not look at the details of the license. 

I had three choices, I could take it into the store where the man had probably been shopping, I could open the wallet again and try to contact the owner with the information inside, or I could take it to the police department. It seemed to me that the police department was the best option, so after picking up a few things in the store I drove to the police station. 

I said to the lady at the station’s front desk, “Someone is having a miserable day right now. Let’s make it better.”

She replied with a smile, “We can do it. We’re pretty good at finding people.” 

Within about 30 minutes I received a call from a deeply grateful man.

Now here is the point I want to make, when I opened that wallet I felt like I was invading someone’s personal and sacred space. I did not read the driver’s license; I didn’t look through whatever shopping or credit or medical cards may have been in the wallet. I didn’t see how much cash was in the wallet – for all I knew it could have been all one-hundred-dollar bills or all one-dollar bills. I simply wanted to verify what I had found. 

The same principle (and feeling) applies when I collect neighbors’ mail when they are away. Our local post office is not known for its efficiency, and so many of us ask a neighbor to collect our mail when we are away, rather than ask the post office to hold it until we return. I do not shuffle through the mail as I retrieve it from my neighbor’s mailbox, I put it in a stack, go back to our house, and deposit it in a bag or box to await our neighbor’s return. 

Now let me share with you what has me thinking about this subject of honoring sacred individual space. It may make sense to you, it may not. 

Over the past few weeks I’ve received some very encouraging emails from a reader of one of my blog threads. They are some of the most thoughtful notes anyone has ever sent me, they are much more than, “Nice job!” They explore the dynamics of both content and style and they encourage me to work a bit harder and more thoughtfully at what I do, to be a better steward of God’s grace. 

I have never met this person, I have never spoken to this person, I don’t know whether this person is a man or woman because the name could be either. I only know this person through his or her thoughtful writing, through the person’s “voice” and content. The only thing I know about the person is that the person is associated with someone who I do know a little about, but that is all I know. 

This morning, as I was pondering this correspondent’s most recent note to me, I was curious to know more about him or her. So I thought, “I’ll do a Google search and see what I find.” And then…and then…it just didn’t feel right. 

Better to honor our conversation, better to respect where our relationship is, wiser to acknowledge the sacred trust that is inherent in our interactions with others, than to invade the space of others, than to consume information about others, than to treat others as objects of curiosity. 

Does this make any sense to you? 

Theo of Golden - Reflections (5)

 Theo of Golden – Reflections (5)

I read the last words of Theo of Golden to Vickie yesterday evening. At points my voice was quivering and my eyes were moist; like playing a piece of music, I honored the “rest” symbols. Better yet, the rest symbols forced themselves on me. As Vickie listened, her face was in motion, her eyes bright one moment, sad the next, her expressions many.

If we could speak with Lamisha, perhaps she would tell us that experiencing Theo is like experiencing music at the Bet. At the Bet the notes fly up into lights hanging from the ceiling, later to appear once again. In reading Theo the words enter our souls, bringing images and conversations and joys and sorrows and hopes and challenges, appearing again and again. On a bench by a fountain we see and experience heaven and earth kissing, we see the Face of God. 

In Psalm 27:8 we read, “When You said, Seek My Face, my heart said to You, Your face O LORD, I shall seek.” O that we would know that our kind and loving heavenly Father desires us to see His Face. Do we not see His Face in Jesus? Jesus says, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).  

Our loving God’s promise to us is that we will indeed see His Face in its fulness and that His Name, His Nature, will be in us, we shall be One with Him, and in Him One with one another (Revelation 21:1 – 8; 22:1 – 5; John Chapter 17). No wonder Theo is looking forward to heaven.

Theo of Golden helps us visualize how seeing the Face of God, and being the Face of God, might look on this journey; it presents possibilities as to how we might experience the Presence of Christ with others in this life. Perhaps Theo is a romance, a dance of heaven and earth, heaven and earth kissing each other on a bench at the Fedder. 

“Lovingkindness and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth springs from the earth, and righteousness looks down from heaven” (Psalm 85:10 – 11). 

Is there not a sense in which every face is the Face of God? Are we not all created in His image and likeness? Shall we be like Cleave and desecrate faces, or shall we be as Theo and honor the people around us, serving them, encouraging them, seeing beauty and potential in them…no matter how different from us they may be? (How different are we really from one another? Do we not all have hopes and dreams and pain and worries?)

In honoring the faces around us, are we not honoring God? I use the word “honor” in the sense of acknowledging worth and preciousness, of recognizing the image of God in humanity…as messed up as we may be. 

Jeremiah laments, “How dark the gold has become, how the pure gold has changed! The sacred stones are poured out at the corner of every street. The precious sons [and daughters] of Zion, weighed against fine gold, how they are regarded as earthen jars, the work of a potter’s hands!” (Lamentations 4:1 – 2). 

As Jeremiah surveyed the destruction of his beloved Jerusalem, the gold appeared as earthen rubble, but the prophet knew that he was really looking at gold. Theo knew that he was seeing gold in Golden; he was experiencing a golden year with golden people in a city named Golden, why even the leaves dropping from the trees were golden. Furthermore, out of the suffering and pain of the people around him, indeed out of his own pain and suffering, life and hope and love sprouted, grew, and bore healing fruit; fruit to be shared with others. 

I am challenged not only to see the Face of God in others, but also to desire that I present the Face of God to others. Aren’t we called to say with Jesus, “He who has seen me has seen the Father?” Aren’t we called to be conformed to the very image of the Firstborn Son (Romans 8:29)?

If we are indeed the Body of Christ, then shouldn’t those who see us see the Face of Christ? Ought we not to be collectively portraying the Face of Jesus Christ? Ought we not as individuals, by God’s grace, to be seeing others through the eyes of Jesus? Ought not our hearts to be beating as Jesus’s heart? 

As much joy as I find in Theo of Golden, I must say that I also find much challenge and godly conviction. 

The New Jerusalem seems to be primarily made of gold, holy and pure and transparent gold. Perhaps Golden is a pathway that leads to that eternal city, perhaps Golden is a reflection of that City as it unveils itself in our lives, on this earth. There are precious stones in the New Jerusalem, there are precious lives in Golden. 

We all have our own Goldens, and there are precious lives in them. We all have our own Promenades, with their communities, with their disparate people. 

Wherever we are, our Father has placed us there. Shall we find our fountains, shall we find our benches, shall we drink from our chalices, and shall we be Jesus to others? 

O yes, and will we allow others to be Jesus to us? 

The Sacraments of Life (4)

Coffee Mugs (3)

Our mugs from Alaska were given to us by Letisa. I worked with Letisa during the last seven years of my career in multifamily management. Letisa’s parents lived in Alaska, though they were originally from Harrisonburg, VA. When I think of dear Letisa I think of “family.” I think of her mom, her grandmother, and of her entire extended family. I also think of the entire group of wonderful property managers I had the joy of serving with during those years. 

I first met Letisa when she worked for my friend Gloria (more on Gloria in another reflection). The apartment community that Letisa managed for Gloria was being sold to another owner and our company needed to find another job for Letisa so that she could stay with our firm, which valued long-term employees. I had a property on Chamberlayne Avenue in Richmond that needed an assistant manager and so we offered Letisa that position, which she accepted, until another manager’s job opened up.

I was new to the firm, and so I was learning both the company and my portfolio, which consisted of apartment communities in Richmond and Petersburg, VA. One of the vital elements of learning my portfolio was learning about the people who operated each property, from the managers, to leasing agents, to maintenance folks, to grounds keepers and custodians. Every person mattered; everyone was important. I was also learning about my clients, some were individuals and some were financial institutions. 

We also brought another employee from Letisa’s property over to our Chamberlayne Ave. community, I’ll call her Jane. Jane had also worked for Gloria for a while and we were committed to keeping her employed; once again, this was a core value with our firm and I really appreciated this and still do as I look back. Our challenge with Jane was that I couldn’t justify her as a full-time employee at just one property, but I could justify her presence at two properties, splitting her hours during each week. Our plan was that once a position opened where she could work at just one location that we’d assign her to that community. 

To my surprise, Jane wanted nothing to do with our plan and quit. She was angry that she would have to split her week between two locations and resigned. This isn’t the only time something like this happened during my career, and I’ve never really understood it. In every instance motives were assigned to “management” or to me that simply weren’t valid, we were attempting to keep people employed and because they didn’t like the circumstances, they either resigned or the misunderstandings (let us call them that) led to soured relationships. 

One reason these occasions have puzzled me is that there was a time in my own life when my boss did all he could to keep me employed during a corporate layoff. I was with a national homebuilder in the late 70s – early 80s when mortgage rates of 18 – 21% caused a slowdown in residential construction. When he was told that my position was being eliminated, he called the president of our division and went to bat for me, according to what the president later told me he said, “We’ve got to keep Bob employed.” 

The result was that I was transferred from a position that I enjoyed, from a boss that I loved working for, to a new environment with new opportunities – not having any idea how close I’d come to unemployment. While I had no idea at the time, the transfer would open doors that led to my career in property management as well as to seminary. An added blessing was that I also enjoyed my new position, had another great boss, learned, was challenged, and had fun. 

Perhaps because I’ve never forgotten what my boss Dave did for me when I faced unemployment, I’ve always tried to keep others employed. Another reason is that I deeply believe that we are called to be blessings to others, just as our heavenly Father is a blessing to us. Whether folks appreciate this or not is pretty much irrelevant to me, for we don’t always appreciate the kindness of our Father yet He still sends us refreshing rain and warm sunshine (Matthew 5:43 – 48). 

Not long after Letisa came to work for me, I had to replace the manager of her community, she was in over her head and she wouldn’t accept coaching (there are those who do and those who don’t, both in the marketplace and in the church world). I offered Letisa the position but she turned it down. The community in question was in a tough financial situation with many challenges, it had been repossessed by a financial institution which had retained our firm, and we were charged with turning the property around and putting it on a sound footing. The pressure in these situations can be intense – a client’s expectation is weekly improvement – they often don’t care to take the long view. 

I’ve never asked Letisa why she turned my offer down the first time, maybe she was uncertain about me, maybe it was the formidable challenge. I then made a bad hire, a really bad hire. This happens, you think you are making a good decision and you aren’t.

The new manager turned out to be a dictator, mistreating employees, contractors, residents. I think she lasted less than two weeks, better to admit your mistakes and protect people than close your eyes to the truth. I’ve made some good hires, bad hires, and mediocre hires over the years, but this hire was likely the worst and the employee’s tenure the shortest of any hire. 

I went back to Letisa and asked her, “Well, do you want me to try this again, or do you want the job?” She accepted the manager’s position and did a stellar job. 

This led to a vacant assistant manager’s position, and our hire for that position became not only a wonderful manager on my team, but became a life-long friend for Letisa – they are like sisters, quite the duo. 

I wrote above than when I see my Alaska mugs and think of Letisa that I think of “family.” I really think of two families, I think of my work family, represented by Letisa and her colleagues, and I think of Letisa’s family. Vickie and I loved (and love) both families. More on this in a future reflection. 

Seeing life as a sacrament means seeing Jesus and His grace in all of life, including our vocational life. Every relationship matters. Every person matters. Every day is an opportunity to learn and grow in Jesus and to serve others. The way we treat others matters, for we are the daughters and sons of the Living God. The workplace is sacred just as our gatherings on Sunday are sacred, just as our interactions with neighbors are sacred.

Our loving God comes to us throughout every day, in every way; Jesus is always appearing to us, and hopefully He is touching others through us, whether they realize it or not, whether they sense it or not. 

Life is indeed sacramental in Christ.