Calvary's Anthem - A Meditation (1)

 

 

Calvary’s Anthem is the title of a prayer in The Valley of Vision, edited by Arthur Bennett and published by Banner of Truth. I have often found solace, comfort, encouragement, and inspiration in this collection of prayers and Calvary’s Anthem has spoken to me more than once. Over the past few days I have heard its Voice anew.

 

“Heavenly Father, Thou hast led me singing to the cross where I fling down all my burdens and see them vanish, where my mountains of guilt are levelled to a plain, where my sins disappear, though they are the greatest that exist, and are more in number than the grains of fine sand…”

 

I love speaking the word “Father” to our Father, I love calling Him “Abba” (Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6). Jesus teaches us to call Him “Father” in the Lord’s Prayer (Mt. 6:9) and if we listen to Jesus, if we watch Jesus, we come to know that He is indeed our Father and His Father, our God and His God (John 20:17; Hebrews 2:10 – 13). In one sense, the entire Gospel of John is about the Father, it is about the Son living in the Father and the Father living in the Son and you and I living in them in and through the Holy Spirit.

 

The Christian life is a life of communion with the Father, of constantly speaking His Name, of enjoying life in Him, of receiving His life and offering our lives to Him in and through Jesus Christ the Son.

 

While my Father is truly my Heavenly Father, He is very much here on earth with me. He is not far away; He lives with me and within me (John 14:23) – isn’t this a mystery? He teaches us to live in the heavens and on earth, our source of life is above, flowing from the Presence of the Trinity; we learn to express this life on earth, living in koinonia with the Trinity and with one another.

 

If we have joy in special friendships, how much more joy should we have in our friendship with our Father? How ought we to cherish every day with Him?

 

The image of singing as we approach the cross speaks of our praise to God for His love and redemption for us, inviting us to fling our burdens down and watching them vanish. We are reminded:

 

“He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:10 – 12).

 

We are also reminded that “This is the Day which the LORD has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it” is the Day of the Cross, “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief corner stone, this is the LORD’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.” (See Psalm 118:22 – 24).

 

When we read concerning the writer’s sins, ”though they are the greatest that exist, and are more in number than the grains of fine sand” we may think, “Surely whoever wrote this could not have the greatest sins that exist, surely they could not really be more numerous than are the grains of sand on earth – whether by the oceans or in the deserts.”

 

If we think that whoever wrote Calvary’s Anthem could not have had the greatest sins that exist, if we think they could not have been as many as the grains of sand on earth, we may be right, but there is only one way in which we can truly be right and it is not a pleasant way.

 

We can only truly be right if we have come to look into the mirror and realize, “I have the greatest sins that have ever existed, my sins are more numerous than the grains of sand on earth.” For when we see ourselves outside of Christ, when we see ourselves outside of Him as we truly have been, our sins overwhelm us and we see no one else’s sin, for our sin alone engulfs us in sorrow and despair and repentance.

 

We go “singing to the cross” when we realize:

 

“God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled we shall be saved by His life” (Romans 5:8 – 10).

 

What song will you sing to God today?

 

To be continued….

 

Eye Contact

 

I suppose I’m old school. I do not like ordering from a kiosk, I want to speak to someone, to look them in the eye, to ask them how they’re doing.

 

I don’t want to put my money in the cloud with something that’s supposed to be a bank, I want to have a place to go if I have a problem or a question, a place I can walk into, ask for the manager, look her in the eye and say, “I need help with this please.”

 

How old school am I?

 

A new gas station has opened where we live. I stopped there to get gas, got out of the car fully expecting to have three choices, high grade, mid-grade, and poor man’s grade. But oh no, there weren’t just three choices, there was another choice, I think it’s called E85. I stared at the pump like an opossum on an eight-lane highway looking at oncoming traffic with headlights on high-beam. Realizing I was in the wrong place I got in the car and left and I haven’t been back.

 

When I was younger we used to call places where you get gas “service stations.” You could actually get service at these places. Your oil could be checked, your tire pressure checked, your windows washed! (no kidding), and your gas pumped for you. Now you get to check your own tire pressure and if you need air they charge you for it and you get to put the air in the tires yourself – imagine that, paying for air. We’ve been conned for sure.

 

Being old school, a firm handshake and eye contact are vital statistics, they are components of first impressions. They are integral to communications, they can communicate trust, doubt, or warning and suspicion. I have a friend, Jim, who is a general contractor. I knew him as a contractor before I knew him as a friend; becoming friends was a natural process based on trust. When I first met him his eye contact and handshake communicated trust and truth and dependability. In all the years we worked together Jim never let me down. If he said he was going to do something, he did it. If there was a problem with work his team did, he took ownership and solved it. If Jim was on a job and called me and told me about an issue I needed to address, I didn’t need to go see it for myself, I could trust Jim. I could do business with Jim on his word and a handshake.

 

We used to live in an agricultural region that employed folks who were not born in this country. When I walked down the streets of our little town and saw one of these folks coming my way I especially wanted to make eye contact, smile, and say, “Good afternoon.” I wanted these men and women to know that they were welcome. However, many of them passed me with heads down and eyes on the sidewalk, as if they were trying to be invisible. I was ashamed that they would feel unwelcome.

 

If I was ashamed a few years ago, you can imagine the shame I have today.

 

Prior to retirement my office was in a building that housed several firms, and since my firm was located on the first floor there was foot traffic outside our doors as folks headed to and from the elevators. I always tried to speak and make eye contract with the women and men I passed in the hallway and lobby area. Since this was not Grand Central Station, I’m not speaking of crowds of people, a crowd might be two or three in our building, normally it was just me passing one other person.

 

It bothered me that so many folks were too busy for a civil return to my, “Good morning,” or “Good afternoon.” Forget about eye contact.

 

We have a fair number of walkers in our community. This is a great place to walk because there is no through traffic. It amuses me that some walkers are like the agricultural workers I mentioned. They seem to think that if they don’t make eye contact with me that I won’t see them. This is especially amusing when I’m walking toward them on the other side of the narrow street.

 

When Vickie and I are sitting outside and walkers pass our home we make it a point to wave, say “Hi,” and jump up and down to acknowledge folks. (Well, not really jump up and down, but it may come to that.) Most folks respond, but some do it reluctantly, giving something akin to a royal wave where the hand barely moves when the king acknowledges the unwashed masses.

 

A few mornings ago I approached the deli counter at our grocery store to purchase some lunch meat, it was early and there wasn’t much going on, I was the only customer at the counter.

 

There was a woman bent over a slicing machine beyond the counter. Without looking up and without making eye contact she said, “What can I do for you?”

 

“May I please have a half pound of low sodium turkey Ma’am?”

 

“Anything else?” (Still bent over and not looking up.)

 

“And a half pound of roast beef please Ma’am.”

 

I then stepped away from the deli counter to pick up some cheese and a baguette on nearby shelves while she retrieved the meats and sliced them.

 

As the corner of my eye caught her moving to the counter to give me my order, I saw that she remained bent over in her walk, head and eyes still downward. I then realized that she had a physical condition, and I was reminded of the woman in Luke Chapter 13 who had been bent over for 18 years. As I silently prayed for her and thanked her for helping me, two things came to me.

 

The first was how thankful I was that the grocery store employed her, many businesses would have passed her by.

 

The second was that there are people who would like to make eye contact with us but can’t. Some can’t because of physical conditions, some, like the agricultural workers mentioned above, won’t because of social conditions. I could give example after example of this, but if you think about it long enough, you’ll find your own examples. A question is, of course, “Am I contributing to the problem or the solution?”

 

Are we bridging the chasms or deepening them? Are we building walls or opening doors?

 

The Word was made flesh (John 1:14) so that God could make eye contact with us. The Incarnation is God’s great “look you in the eye” offer of a firm handshake with fallen humanity; His offer to return us to relationship with Himself and with one another. (We cannot have one without the other.)

 

If we claim to know Him, then our calling is to lift others up, to look them in the eye with the reconciling love of God in Jesus Christ, to identify with them, to embrace them, to love them, and to suffer with them.

 

If the eye is the window of the soul, then what do our eyes communicate to others?

 

Violence, hate, rejection, judgment, disdain?

 

Or compassion, love, care, understanding, and an offer of relationship?

 

Let there be no mistake, we must not walk through life with our eyes diverted from those around us, as if they did not exist. To do so is not only to reject our identity in God and in Jesus Christ, it is also to ignore the fact that the Eye of God is watching us.

 

If we live in eye contact with Jesus, we will learn to live in eye contact with others.

 

 

 

Reading the Bible, Knowing Jesus (7)

 

The second conversation that shocked me occurred less than two months ago, it is the most recent of the three. Vickie and I were sitting at our table with a dear family member. While we don’t see him often, for he lives on the other side of the country, nor talk to him with great frequency, we love him and his family deeply.

 

We were talking about reading and understanding the Bible when he said to me, “I’m not an intellectual like you, so it is hard for me to understand the Bible.”

 

My first thought was, “O my, what have I done?” I was completely taken aback.

 

I rose from the table, got a Bible from a bookshelf, placed it in front of him and sat down. Then I said, “Please open it and let’s read it. Open it anywhere.”

 

He opened the Bible at Daniel Chapter 10.

 

Now of all the passages in the Bible, Daniel Chapter 10 was not toward the top of my list to read with him because of its apocalyptic language and imagery, but as Reepicheep counsels, we must take the adventure that Aslan gives us. And so our nephew began reading aloud, and as he read a thought or two he’d stop and reflect on it with Vickie and me. It was a sweet time and before we knew it Neil had taken us through Daniel Chapter 10.

 

Neil saw the essence of the chapter. He didn’t need a commentary, he didn’t need Vickie or me to explain it, he did (I hope) benefit from our encouragement. While we made occasional comments about possibilities of meaning, it was more along the line of a hitting coach suggesting to a batter what pitches to look for with a particular pitcher. A hitting coach cannot face the pitcher, only the player at bat can do that.

 

After Neil had taken us through Daniel Chapter 10, we turned to Matthew and looked at a few passages. Since he was reading Matthew at home this seemed like a good idea – once again, to use another baseball analogy, he was making contact and putting the ball in play.

 

I don’t know what our nephew’s concept of “intellectual” is, perhaps it is more along the line of someone who receives formal education in a particular field, I suppose I should ask him. I do hope that in our time together that he saw that the Bible, by God’s grace, is accessible to us all – that as we come to God’s Word that God’s Word comes to us.

 

When I facilitate a small group, and when I preach, I tend to ask questions rather than give answers. This was also true in my business career, since I wanted my employees to grow, I needed to ask and seldom answer. Some folks respond well to this approach, others hate it. I think that once most people get over their insecurities that they not only begin to grow, but they learn to practice it with others and thereby help them grow.

 

I have learned much from the insights of others, insights which they would not have expressed had I been doing most of the talking. Often in a small group someone will say something that I had never thought of or seen in quite the same way – those times are exciting to me. Furthermore, whether in the Kingdom or in business, I’ve learned that if you give a group of people a problem and then leave them alone, they will usually come up with some great solutions and possibilities.

 

In the first conversation with our husband-and-wife friends, I was challenged by the erroneous idea that you need to exegete the Bible in a certain methodical way in order to understand it. In the second conversation I was challenged by the idea, also false, that you have to be “intellectual” to readily understand Scripture. In the first conversation I was asking myself, “Have I given that impression in my teaching and preaching?” In the second conversation I was asking myself, “How have I given that impression?”

 

The Scriptures are clear that only the Holy Spirit can reveal God’s Word to us (John 16:12 – 15; 1 Corinthians 1:17 – 2:16). Pastors and teachers fall short if they do not instill this in their people. All of our learning and education must go through the Cross of Christ for it to be of lasting benefit. Perhaps all seminary and Bible college students should memorize 1 Corinthians Chapter 2 before they begin their studies. Perhaps all teachers and professors should be required to take an annual refresher seminar on 1 Corinthians 1:17 – 2:16.

 

Perhaps Jesus’ words in John and Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians should be written above the entrance to every seminary and every seminary library. Perhaps every author who seeks to write a commentary ought to read these two passages every day prior to beginning his work.

 

It is the rare commentary that is unambiguous in its dependence on the Holy Spirit for conveying the Word of God. These are the commentaries that view history, archeology, textual spade work and transmission through Scripture and Christ, allowing the Holy Spirit to bring the “natural” alive, rather than building a foundation on the “natural” and forcing the Bible into the image of natural man. Many commentaries are a mixture and can be confusing to the unaware and wearisome to others (wearisome because the reader must constantly pick bones out of the fish). Some of us have learned to eat fish with bones faster than others; all of us should be careful when we do so.

 

The Holy Spirit either breathed the Bible or not. The Holy Spirit is either the Primary Source of the Bible or not. Yes, for sure God incorporates contemporary images, using them “as-is” or transforming them upward into higher and deeper perspectives – but the Primary Mover must always be the Holy Spirit, not the human author’s contemporary surroundings, understandings, beliefs, practices, intentions, and cultural biases. We must submit all things to Christ and seek Christ in all things. The Bible, by God’s grace, transports us into the eternals in Christ Jesus. We are not to live as earth dwellers.

 

We live in a time of exceptional information, I do not say that it is a time of exceptional knowledge, for to really know something requires, I think, a marriage of the mind and heart with the object to be known – whether in the concrete or the abstract (and the abstract is no longer the abstract to those who know it). Using this measure, we can seldom know anything by using a search engine. 

Employing a search engine and thinking the results by themselves give us knowledge is like purchasing a tomato at a grocery store and thinking that we have grown the tomato. We may gain data from the internet, but we are not likely to gain knowledge or wisdom. We may come home from the grocery store with a tomato, but that is not the same as our neighbor’s tomatoes on his table, for he has nurtured the soil, planted the seeds, cared for the plants, and harvested the tomatoes. Hothouse tomatoes seldom have taste, hothouse data from the internet is the same.

 

Interpretive methodologies may have their place, they may be helpful, but they must not sit on the interpretive (hermeneutical and exegetical) throne – Jesus has reserved that for the Holy Spirit. The wise interpreter submits himself and his approach to the Christ of the Cross and the Cross of Christ, knowing that “knowledge puffs up, but love edifies,” knowing that “the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”

 

If we remove the Holy Spirit, if we remove the supernatural, if understanding the Bible is open to anyone who can learn hermeneutical and exegetical principles, if 100% of the process of Biblical interpretation can be taught and tested – then what the Bible says about itself is a lie, 1 Corinthians 1:17 – 2:16 is a lie, because it teaches us that “a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually understood” (1 Cor. 2:14).

 

Our “faith is not to rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God” (1 Cor. 2:5).

 

We, who are in Christ, have been given the Holy Spirit “who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words” (1 Cor. 2:12 – 13).

 

Now, how we negotiate all this is another matter, and whether we can recover from where we are and return to where we ought to be in the Holy Spirit and the Living Word is another matter. How these things are worked out is beyond my vision – I suppose it must be local, always local – yet it may indeed have broader currents. Christ Jesus must always be our North Star; the Cross must always be our portal into the Divine and heavenly.

 

Someone has said that while over the past few decades we may have done a good job of teaching people the Bible (which I question), we have not done a good job at teaching people to know Jesus.

 

There is an irony here, when thinking about the Biblical text and interpretation. The irony is that when we remove the Holy Spirit and supplant Him with our methodologies, that our focus on the text is pretty much the same as those who teach the Bible solely as literature; neither approach requires the Living Christ, neither requires the supernatural, neither requires the Holy Spirit, both are controlled by “man.”

 

As John the Baptist said, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven” (John 3:27).

 

You may have discerned another possible irony, and that is that I may appear to have drifted into the “intellectual” after beginning this reflection insisting that being “intellectual” is not necessary for seeing and understanding the Bible. If thinking about things is being intellectual then I am guilty, but I don’t think so, I think I am simply seeing Scripture as it is written, that I refuse to gloss over passages such as 1 Corinthians 1:17 – 2:16.

 

If I am using terms and concepts and sharing concerns that are unfamiliar to a reader, I am complementing the reader on his or her ability to think about these important ideas and teachings from the Bible. We do not grow by being constantly fed baby food (Hebrews 5:11 – 6:3; 1 Cor. 3:1 – 2). Much of our small group and Sunday school material might as well be published by the Gerber baby food company.

 

I refuse to treat people as if they are stupid. I refuse to water down the Gospel and the Bible. I refuse to deviate from calling us to total devotion and commitment to Jesus Christ. I refuse to treat adults as children.

 

“For I determined to know nothing about you, except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2). Only the crucified Jesus Christ opens the door to seeing and understanding Scripture.

 

Let us trust the Holy Spirit to reveal Jesus and His Word to us (John 16:12 – 15).

Postscript: I realize that this can be challenging to those of us trained in hermeneutical and exegetical methods (methods of interpretation and communication). It is difficult for me to work through it, and I imagine I’ll die without having fully done so. Aren’t we always striving to see Jesus more clearly? To see His Word more fully? 

Some of my teachers have held “methods” loosely and graciously, giving room for their students to explore and grow as the Holy Spirit works and lives in them, others have been more rigid. All have loved Jesus; all have done their best. This is analogous to being trained to preach by a good teacher. I love Scott Gibson and Haddon Robinson – for who they are in Christ (Haddon is now in the Presence), for the content of their teaching, and for their own preaching.

 

As I have previously shared, I was trained so well by Scott and Haddon that I didn’t need the Holy Spirit. After I’d been pastoring for a few months and preaching every Sunday, I realized that I had so absorbed and bought into Haddon’s methodology, including his exegetical approach (which I incorporated with that of the broader faculty) that I could preach without reliance on the Holy Spirit and that few, if anyone, would notice. 

This frightened me and (I hope) drove me to a dependance on Christ (I hope in some measure, I’m still learning this Way) and helped me to hold all methods loosely. I may return to this subject at some point, we’ll see. When you live in a culture or system, it can be difficult to critique it – especially when it appeals to you.

He's Calling for You

 

 

“Martha went away and called Mary her sister, saying secretly, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you” (John 11:28 NASB).

 

Musings from John the Beloved Apostle:

 

I am often asked, “What was it like to write your account of Jesus?”

 

In response I usually have no response, just as I have no response to the question of what it was like to write the Apocalypse. There are some things that cannot be answered, at least in this life, and, I suppose, if they could be answered it would not be lawful or helpful to do so. Once in a long while I’ll look the questioner in the eye, pause, and then say, “You can only imagine.”

 

Yet, as I am with you today, I do feel like sharing an element of not so much what it was like to write the Gospel, but rather what it is like to live out of the Gospel I have written. One does not write a Gospel and have closure, anymore than one should read a Gospel, or Isaiah, or Job, and have closure. I dare say that anyone who reads Scripture and experiences closure has never read Scripture – for is not reading Scripture to enter into relationship with the Word who was in the Beginning, to live in the Eternal? Ha! Is it not to breathe His Life, to inhale and exhale? Ha!

 

O how I remember, how I still feel His holy breath upon us! How I felt it when I wrote, “He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit”.” (John 20:22). I felt His breath in the Upper Room, I felt His breath when I wrote those words, I feel His breath as I write these words. May I ask you, do you feel His breath right now?

 

To write is to remember, to relive, to experience, to be there – and it is for Him to be here; with me, with you, with us.

 

And so it was, when I related Lazarus’s death and Jesus raising him from the dead, when I described seeing Martha and Mary in their grief and Jesus in His compassion, when I wrote the words, “She went away and called Mary her sister, saying secretly, ‘The Teacher is here and is calling for you,’” that I thought, “Yes, amen, that is it, that says it all.”

 

Do you see what I mean?

 

Is this not what my life has been all about, since that Day when He called me?

 

There is Martha, conveying to Mary Jesus’ words of calling and His desire for Mary to come to Him.

 

“The Teacher is here,” Martha says.

 

Isn’t this what my life has been all about? To say to those around me, no...not to merely say, but to proclaim, to insist, that the Teacher is here! Right here, right now! The Word has become flesh and lives among us, He who was in the beginning, that is, He who is the Beginning, He has come, He is coming, He is here – O for people to know that He is here, here for them.

 

Martha speaks the calling of Jesus to Mary. “He is calling for you.”

 

Hasn’t this been my Message? Haven’t I learned from dear, dear Martha? O reader, there is more to Martha than meets the eye. Yes, yes, she may have her times when she is busy serving (John 12:2; Luke 10:40), but her serving also includes speaking the Word and heart of Jesus to others. Can you think of a more sacred charge than to say to those around us, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you”?

 

In the midst of her own grief, Martha speaks the presence and call of Jesus to Mary. This is, I know, a hard thing. It is a hard thing to go out of our own sorrow and pain and share joy and hope and peace and the call of Jesus with others. How well I recall when James, my sweet brother, was murdered by Herod (Acts 12:2).

 

At that very same time my beloved friend Peter was thrown into prison, indeed many of our brothers and sisters were persecuted, it was chaos around us. Yet, the peace of the Lamb was with us, the Teacher walked among us, and Voice of our Good Sheperd spoke to us…and I knew I must continue to encourage the sheep of our Lord Jesus, pray for Peter, and rejoice that my brother James had proven faithful to our Lord and His saints. I recalled Martha going to Mary as I was living through that particular trial, I recalled her words to Mary, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.”

 

Out of her own grief, Martha spoke words of hope to grieving Mary.

When Martha came to Mary their house was a cacophony of wailing and crying…it was chaos. Yet, Martha spoke and Mary heard. I have learned that no matter the chaos around us, no matter the noise, no matter the hopelessness, no matter the distractions, that if we will be the Voice of our Teacher, if we will be His Presence, if we will call others to Him, that His sheep will hear and respond.

 

Sadly, as I was reminded when I penned the Apocalypse, we often blend in with the chaos, make alliances with the world and the dragon, and fail to call others to our Lord Jesus.  

 

When Martha came for Mary, there was an empty place at their table. As the sisters would learn, in Jesus Christ there is never an empty place, for He is the Resurrection and the Life and when we believe in Him we never die…I reminded myself of that when I lost my brother James…a temporary parting you might call it…but since he remains with me it isn’t even that…one of those things you can’t explain, and if you could it wouldn’t be lawful to do so.

 

O the memories I had when I recorded my Gospel, how I relived what I wrote, how I learned from Martha and Mary…and how I am still learning from them, from Jesus, from Peter, from James…learning to say to others, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.”

 

Whom can you share those words with today?

 

With whom can you be the Presence of Christ?

 

To whom shall you say, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you”?

Reading the Bible, Knowing Jesus (6)

 

 

Now let’s consider what it means to read the Bible as a pilgrim.

 

"A pilgrim learns about themselves, and you learn about yourself by leaving your home and looking at it from a distance, you try to get closer to God through your travels.” Rick Steeves.

 

I have asked over the years, “Does a fish know that it lives in an aquarium?” This question has been asked in many forms over the centuries, asking it can be quite the journey, a pilgrimage. Can we answer the question without leaving the aquarium?

 

It is a challenge to “leave your home and look at it from a distance.” Generally, this is discouraged by the folks at home (in the aquarium).  Whether it is a family, a business concern, a religious tradition that exalts its practices and doctrinal distinctives, an academic institution, a political or social movement…whatever the system may be, traveling a distance and looking back to gain understanding is typically considered a threat to the system, and threats are either subjugated and brought back to be good little boys and girls, ostracized, or just plain destroyed.

 

Jesus was constantly asking His hears to travel and look back, travel farther and look back, travel even farther and look back again. “An hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father…God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:21, 24).

 

When Paul looked back at his impeccable Jewish pedigree, he wrote, “Whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ…I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ” (Phil. 3:7 – 8).

 

When we read the Bible as a pilgrim, we learn to read the Bible not through the lens of our religious tradition but rather learn to see our religious tradition through our reading of the Bible. In America, we have the additional challenge of learning to see our syncretistic Christianity through the Bible, seeing ourselves as Biblical pilgrims – passing through the United States just as we are passing through the world.

 

When we read as a pilgrims we read as an aliens, as people whose eyes are heavenward (Col. 3:1 – 4; Heb. 11:8 – 16; 1 Peter 2:4 – 12).

 

We ask the Holy Spirit to teach us about Jesus and about ourselves, with the Word of God piercing into the depths of our beings (Heb. 4:12 – 13). As we come to realize how intimately God knows us, we cry, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and led me in the Everlasting Way” (Psalm 139:23 – 24).

 

The greater the distance between us and home, the more we realize that home is not home, the more we realize that our Home is that City where the Father and the Lamb are the Light (Rev. 21:22 – 23; 22:5). Now this can be a problem, for few people want to hear this, speak this, know this, or practice this. We think the light is in our tradition, our doctrinal distinctives, the history of our movement. In America we think the light is in our syncretistic version of Christianity with its creation myth along with its justification for conquest, war, and extermination – and selling the souls of men (Rev. 18:13).

 

The farther we travel as pilgrims, the deeper God speaks to us about ourselves and where we’ve come from, and as we look back from a distance there may be things we are thankful for, things we regret, things we see in a new perspective, and things we dare no longer touch.

 

Pilgrimage is not encouraged; questions are seldom welcomed. Mystery is not acknowledged, and loose ends are quickly tied up or cut off. What do we fear? If Jesus Christ is truly the Head of the Body and we are under His authority, if He is indeed our Good Shepherd, then we can trust Him to care for us all on pilgrimage – we do not need all the answers, but we sure do need Jesus.

 

I seldom meet Christians on pilgrimage. I meet lots of Christians who care more about fitting in with their religious system but don’t think about fitting in with Jesus, about being conformed to His image. I have seldom heard a question asked in Sunday school or in a small group that was searching and penetrating and which had the potential to be life changing. True questions are not encouraged, on the contrary, it is more important to articulate the “correct answers” and to read the Bible in the image of our traditions, than to actually attempt to touch the hem of His garment and behold the Face of the Lamb.

 

We should not be surprised at this, it is our human condition, our center of gravity – it is a challenge to gain perspective, and it is most certainly a challenge to go against the grain of society and our associations. Perhaps this is particularly true when we are in religious and political environments, environments in which conformity is prized and insisted upon.

 

When we do sew a new piece of cloth on an old garment, or pour new wine into old wineskins, we soon have problems and find our actions quite unappreciated.

 

Ultimately, a pilgrim becomes a pilgrim – at least that is a possibility. What I mean is that the pilgrim may cross a point of no return in which his (or her) identity ceases to be that home county which he has left, and becomes rooted in that heavenly country which draws him with ever increasing desire.

 

The pilgrim realizes that the Jerusalem here on earth is in bondage; whether it is a city in the Middle East, or a flavor of doctrine, doctrinal distinctive, or particular practices – the possibilities are myriad, they all fall aside as the pilgrim beholds the Lamb. The pilgrim learns to live as a faithful citizen of heaven anticipating that blessed hope of eternal transformation (Phil. 3:20 – 21).

 

The city from which we departed appears dimmer and dimmer, indeed, without realizing it we cease to look back, it fades from our minds…as the glorious City of the Father and the Lamb descends from above into our hearts and minds, filling our souls, quickening our spirits, uniting us to the Bridegroom, opening its gates and calling us home – and we are pilgrims no longer.

 

“If they had been mindful of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a City for them” (Hebrews 11:15 - 16).

Full Circle

 

 

“He went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was first baptizing, and He was staying there” (John 10:40).

 

Well, old friend, here we are again. How long has it been? Three years? Almost three and a half?

 

How well I recall the look on your face as I approached you! Ha! What a surprise for you…or was it? Had you ever suspected that it might be Me? That I might be the One you were called to bear witness to?

 

The Voice from heaven, the Spirit descending like a dove, and your cry, “This is He!”

 

Did you realize what it all meant? I mean, did you realize that one day I would be back here, back here preparing to go to Jerusalem one more time, one more time for an appointment with yet another baptism, a baptism of death.

 

But it must be, must it not? Just as it was decreed that you would meet the executioner in Herod’s prison, so it has been decreed before the foundation of the world that I, the Lamb, would offer Myself for the world.

 

It seems like yesterday that you and I were here, by this river, in this river. I can still feel your hands on Me as you led me into the waters of baptism, as you raised Me up for the Father and Spirit to bear witness to Me, as you bore witness to Me.

 

Would you have leapt in your mother’s womb had you seen Herod’s prison with its executioner ahead of you?

 

Yes, I think you would have.

 

I won’t be here long, for My friend Lazarus is going to take a nap and I will go wake him up.

 

O John, O John, it is hard to wake people up, is it not?

 

Those who claim to see, do not see. Those who profess to hear, do not hear. Those who make a fuss about being alive, are dead.

 

Well, we have come full circle, have we not?

 

I will go to Bethany, then I will go to Jerusalem. There is a hill outside Jerusalem waiting for Me. There is a tree that has been growing, waiting to be transformed into a cross, waiting for Me. There are nails that have been forged that are waiting for Me.

 

Ah John, you waited for Me and I came. So I will come to, and not disappoint, the hill, the tree, the cross, the nails.

 

O John, but there is a joy beyond all of this that I see. The joy of My brothers and sisters returning to our Father, the joy of a glorious reunion of our Family – and so there is a fuller circle yet to come, a consummation in which God, who has ever been All, is seen as the All in All.

 

Well old friend, I’ve got to go now, it is time to head to Bethany.

 

I will see you soon.

Reading the Bible, Knowing Jesus (5)

 

Are you a tourist, a traveler, or a pilgrim?

 

I heard that G. K. Chesterton observed that “Travelers see what they see, tourists see what they came to see.” When you read the Bible, are you a tourist or a traveler? Is the Word of God changing your life and transforming you into the image of Jesus Christ (Romans 8:29), or are you pretty much the same person you were a year ago, five years ago, ten years ago, a lifetime ago?

 

Do we shape Paul’s letter to the Romans into our image, including our image as Baptists, Pentecostals, Lutherans, Roman Catholics, and Presbyterians, or does Romans shape us into the image of Jesus Christ? Do we read our confessions and statements of faith and doctrinal distinctives through the lens and filter of the Bible and the Person of Jesus, or do we form the Bible into our particular mold and “see” the Bible through our lens of doctrine, and tradition and practice?

 

In other words, when we read the Bible do we see what we came to see, or do we see what is actually there? What will always be actually there is Jesus Christ, it will not be our doctrinal traditions, it will not be our modes of expression, it will not be neat and tidy.

 

Our doctrinal statements do not generally encourage questions and allow ambiguity, they are meant to create uniformity in thought and practice; the Word of God keeps us off balance and yet at the same time, in Christ, creates a security and confidence in Jesus Christ that leads us into heavenly places and beckons us into a glorious eternity in Him.

 

One of the beauties of the Nicene Creed, unlike most other confessions of faith, is that if we actually believe it, we walk through a door of endless possibilities in our relationship with the Trinity and with one another. Most confessions confine us. They may not have been intended to imprison us, but they are used to imprison us. That is, their authors may not have intended them to inhibit our relationship with Christ, but in practice that is what they do, that is what they are used for by others.

 

As a Body, we are meant to have unity in diversity and diversity in unity. (1 Corinthians 12; Romans 12; Ephesians 4). The only way this is possible in when Jesus Christ is our Head, when all things flow from Him to us, and from us to Him (Ephesians 4:15 – 16). This means that Jesus Christ must be in control, that we must work and live “without a safety net.” This is not a pleasant thought for us, there are too many things can go wrong, too much mess to clean up – we like tidy theological houses, tidy congregations, we want to be predicable.

 

All of this contributes to our propensity to live as tourists, when we read the Bible we read what we came to see, we do not read what is actually there.

 

Travel writer and tour guide Rick Steeves talks about tourists, travelers, and pilgrims.

 

“The tourist typically seeks relaxation, entertainment, and escape from the routines of daily life through superficiality and, sometimes, frivolity. They prioritize fun over deeper connection and may depend on curated tours or package vacations to see the best beaches, landmarks, and restaurants that get overexposed not just in guidebooks, but on travel blogs and on social media feeds.” Rick Steeves.

 

The Bible-reading tourist enjoys a Sunday school class or a small group and then moves on with life. He may especially enjoy a video series, or perhaps a series on prophecy and the End-times because they can be entertaining and give a sense of being “in the know.” For the tourist, reading the Bible (or material that is supposed to represent the Bibe, like small group or Sunday school studies) is like visiting one tourist spot after another, you never remain long in one place. Looking back you may recall a nice experience here or there, maybe a good meal, some beautiful scenery, or even some people you meant. Over time all the spots tend to blend together, and while you may collect stickers to put on the back of your car indicating all the places you’ve been, you’ve been to them all as a tourist – you are still the same person you were when you took your first trip.

 

Many of our churches are tourist destinations, focused on entertainment, on experience for the sake of experience (and of course for the sake of getting return tourists). In fact, many pastors speak of “the Sunday morning experience.” When one church falls flat, a tourist will visit another church.

 

“Travelers, by contrast, are in search of more thoughtful experiences. Most travelers I know, they're proud to be known as a traveler as opposed to a tourist: 'I'm more thoughtful — I'm not just here to shop and get a selfie’…it is the traveler's goal to become a "temporary local" and experience real people, real food, and real culture.” Rick Steeves.

 

It seems to me that Bible-reading travelers do their homework prior to meeting with the saints, whether in Sunday school, a small group, or in congregational gatherings. They read the Bible text and other material, if the pastor is preaching a series, they read the text of the coming Sunday and ponder it. They read the Bible text, they pray about it, they read it again; they may read it in various translations, they read other Bible passages that relate to the text. They ask themselves questions, they seek to see Jesus, and they seek to know how to respond obediently to the text.

 

These people tend to appreciate working through a book of the Bible rather than hopping, skipping, and jumping all over the Bible. They instinctively know that you can’t bounce around in the Bible and learn much, they know that their lives cannot be molded with such an approach. These people do not want to be entertained; they are usually not in a hurry. They want to meet the people of the Bible, they want to meet the Bible, they want to drink in the Bible, they want to walk with Abraham, Moses, David, Paul, Deborah, Huldah…and of course, most of all, with Jesus.

 

Many of these folks can tell you about a study they participated in years ago, say in Jeremiah or the Gospel of Matthew, or Romans. They can do this because they didn’t go there to see preconceived images or popular destinations, they went there as travelers, they went to live in Romans, Matthew, and Jeremiah – to live in the text, to live with the people, to walk with Jesus through those books. Furthermore, they return again and again to renew their relationships – they return to meet old friends and to make new ones.

 

"A pilgrim learns about themselves, and you learn about yourself by leaving your home and looking at it from a distance, you try to get closer to God through your travels.” Rick Steeves.

 

What do you think a pilgrim looks like when reading the Bible?

 

We’ll reflect on being a pilgrim with our Bible reading in our next reflection in this series…the Lord willing.

 

 

 

 

The Mysterious Seb'n (5)

 

 

So it was that a few weeks ago when we were watching a documentary about Appalachia, that one of the residents of the Blue Ridge Mountains who was being interviewed answered my question of almost 76 years when he said, “It took ‘em ‘bout seb’n years to git it dun.”  

 

When I heard the word “seb’n” my heart jumped. “That’s it!” I thought. “He said, ‘seb’n,’ he said ‘seb’n’!”

 

I picked up my phone, hit the Google app, typed in “seb’n” and got a couple of hits. Sure enough, “seb’n” is part of an Appalachian dialect, and Nelson County is part of Appalachia in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

 

When my Daddy would say, “seb’n” (or seb’m) he was speaking the language of his childhood, he was talking Nelson County talk – talk with roots stretching across the Atlantic into Ulster and from Ulster across the Irish Sea to Scotland and England. To say that “seb’n” is not a word is to say that Bluegrass is not music, music that also traces its roots to peoples surrounding the Irish Sea.

 

Since then, I have read about Appalachian dialects (for Appalachia has many regions) and have been fascinated, realizing that I’ve heard many of the words and expressions and pronunciations over the years but never realized their roots. Some folks think that these dialects may bring us close to the form of English speech practiced in Colonial times. This reminds me of a study I read which concluded that the French spoken in Quebec is closer to the French of 1750 than that of modern France because of Quebec’s relative isolation from the home country after the Seven Years War (what we term the French and Indian War).

 

Whatever the case might be in terms of Colonial English, traditional Nelson County English now has a beauty for me that I never really appreciated nor truly “heard”. I am sorry we now live far away from those mountains and hollows.

 

Are there words or expressions you heard growing up that you’ve wondered about? Are there questions about the people who surrounded you, their language and their ways, while you were growing up? Should there be questions?

 

When we moved from the D.C. - Baltimore area to Richmond in the 1980s, one of the many changes we encountered had to do ways of doing business and of meeting people in general. In Baltimore and D.C. when you first met someone to do business you sat down and got to the point and then you left. In Richmond there was a warm-up conversation, and it nearly always had to do with, “Who are your people? What did your Daddy do? What about your Mamma? Tell me about yourself and your people.”

 

People did not want to know so much about where you were from; they wanted to know about your people. (I should also mention that in Richmond another thing folks often wanted to know was what college you attended. Where you a Hokie or Cavalier? Did you go to VCU or UR? In D.C. and Maryland, as a rule no one cared about that kind of thing.)

 

How might you describe your people? Your family and the families around you? What was your neighborhood or region like? How have things and people changed over the years?

 

I realize we may never make another trip to that honeycombed land of the Blue Ridge – but the land is etched in my heart, I can see it as I write this – and the people, the people I have known and wish I had known – it is a beautiful land, with a beautiful people, with a beautiful language.

 

One, two, three, four, five, six, seb’m, eight, nine, ten.

 

 

 

 

 

The Mysterious Seb’n (4)

 

 

Harvard once had an American dialect assessment you could take online, it was by far the most accurate tool of its type I’ve encountered; it nailed where I grew up as well as other regional ways of speaking that have influenced me. 

My Dad, with his “seb’m”, was from Nelson County, VA, but lived in the Washington D.C. area and in rural Northern Virginia after his father died. My grandmother Withers moved to be closer to her family in Northern Virginia, and as my Dad grew into his teenage years he lived with an older sister and her husband in D.C. When he was 17 years old Daddy joined the Navy during WWII. The childhood memories my Dad shared with me were of the Andersons, his mother’s family in Northern Virginia, not of the Withers family in Nelson County.

 

The population of the post-WWII D.C. area, in which I grew up, reflected the War years in that we had neighbors from many parts of the country whose families had moved to the area during the War to work for the Federal government, in associated organizations, or in the local expanding economy – the influx of people needed to be housed, fed, clothed, educated and entertained. My Dad may have been one of the few adults in our suburban Maryland neighborhood who had attended D.C. area public schools.

 

As a result of the foregoing, I heard many ways of speaking as a child, many accents, and various terms for the same thing. I recall having an argument with a neighbor friend over what meal was “dinner” and what meal was “supper.” Words mattered to me even as a kid. (As I recall, the Harvard dialect assessment dealt with the regional distinction between dinner and supper.)

 

A question on the Harvard assessment had to do with how you pronounce “Washington.” Some of us may be unaware that there is more than one pronunciation of the first syllable. This distinction extends to words like “water” and “washing.” How is “wa” pronounced?

 

Keeping in mind that I grew up in the D.C. area…drum roll please…I was raised with the pronunciation “Warshington.” This means that water was warter, and washing was warshing. I am not suggesting that all Washingtonians did this, but many Warshingtonians did it – it was natural. I’ve not taken the time to track down where this “r” came from, that is, whether it was imported from another region, but it was notable enough to be included in the Harvard dialect assessment – so I am not alone.

 

Which is to say that while my Dad had his “seb’m” that I had my Warshington.

 

Vickie, being from Iowa, was quick to point out what was, for her, my unusual way of pronouncing Washington. As I thought about it, and about the way most of the world says “Washington,” I did something I suppose I might be ashamed of and which I will confess to you, I changed my way of saying Washington, water, and washing.

 

I admit that even though it has been many years since I made the change, I still do not say “Wa-shington” naturally, for I was raised a “War-shington” boy and I’ll always be a Warshington boy; you can take the boy out of Warshington but you can’t take the Warshington out of the boy. People may hear me say “Washington” but I’m thinking “Warshington.”

 

Do you call Pepsi or Coke a soft drink, pop, soda pop, soda, or tonic? Is dinner the midday meal, or is the midday meal lunch? Is dinner the evening meal, or is that supper? Is the paper thing they put your groceries in a bag or a sack or something else? Do you go for a walk in the woods or in the timber?

 

 

 

 

War-sington

Reading the Bible, Knowing Jesus (4)

 

 

“Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He becomes a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him out” (Hebrews 11:6).

 

When we open the Bible, we can open it in the expectation that we will meet God. When we ponder the Scriptures, we can anticipate the appearing of Jesus Christ; we can look for Him, listen for Him, expect to sense Him; we can be assured that we can touch Him and that He will touch us. Now for sure, all of this will be on His terms, at the pace He sets. While we may have questions for Him, we may find that He has many more questions for us, questions that may take us a lifetime to answer.

 

Just what does He want from us? Actually He wants nothing from us, other than ourselves – this is where it must begin, where it always begins and always concludes – Jesus wants us – heart, soul, mind, and strength. Jesus does not want us to simply love Him, He wants us to love Him will all that we are – “all” means “all,” fancy that (Mark 12:29 – 31).

 

O dear friends, like Martha we can be troubled about many things, our minds may rush about with questions, with tasks to be done, with things we think we need to do for the Lord – we can be sitting in a chair, our bodies still, yet our minds may be zooming through life. There may be many things we wish to know about Jesus, but Jesus says, “I am not interested in you knowing about Me, I want you to know Me. You will not know Me unless you stop and pay attention to me. You cannot fool me, I see your mind racing about, I see the things you have set your heart upon. Quiet child, Be quiet. Let us spend time together.” (Luke 10:38 – 42).

 

What would the world be like if the professing church actually knew Jesus Christ? Why if we knew Jesus we would share Him with others. If we knew Jesus we would be Jesus to others. If we knew Jesus then Jesus would speak for Himself through us, as individuals and as His People. Wouldn’t that be refreshing? Rather novel…yes, I think so. Is not a body to express the head? Ought not the Body of Christ express the Head?

 

Jesus was once asked, “What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?” That is a fair question. Give us something to do, just tell us what to do. Is this not our way in congregations? Let us find our skill sets, our “gifts,” our aptitudes – let us put everyone to work. Let us be a people in motion, always in motion.

 

Jesus did not respond by handing out a gift assessment. He did not have the apostles do a needs analysis. Jesus did not perform a demographic study. Jesus did not give everyone a job to do.

 

“This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent” (John 6:28 – 29).

 

Later He will say to His disciples in the Upper Room, “I am the Vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

 

“Nothing?” we ask.

 

This is hard for us to swallow, hard for us to practice. It is so hard to sit still. So hard not to push our agendas! So impossible not to be in control.

 

Well, let us sit in expectation of His appearing as we open the Word, the Bible, the sacred Scriptures. Let us allow the words within the Word to soak our minds and hearts and be planted within our souls (James 1:21). As the words are sown, the Word comes forth, as the Word comes forth, we see Jesus.

 

How do we please God? We are told by faith; we are informed that without faith it is impossible to please Him. What does this faith look like?

 

It is, my friend, pretty simple, basic, and to the point.

 

“He who comes to God must believe that He is.”

 

I knock anticipating that someone on the other side will open the door. I ask, expecting a reply. I seek, in the hope of finding (Matthew 7:7 – 11).

 

How foolish to knock at a house you know is vacant!

 

How delusional to email a defunct address or call a number no longer in service.

 

Why,  O why, seek for something that isn’t there, that doesn’t exist?

 

As I said, this is basic, very basic.

 

We must come to Him believing that He is. Notice that we “come.” In the Bible we have passages in which He comes first and we respond; then we have passages in which we come first and He responds. Perhaps this is like chess, the white side moves first, then the black.

 

My brother Jim and I played chess for many years, first via snail mail and then via the internet. We always played two games at once. I played white in one game, and he played white in the other game. Therefore, when we began two new games they began with me making a white move in the first game, and with Jim making the white move in the second game.

 

Perhaps our Father and Lord Jesus have us playing two games at once; God moves first in one game, and He waits to see if we will move first in the second game. I am too old to worry much about all of this, other than  knowing that we can trust our dear heavenly Father in all things and He is well able to nurture us as His daughters and sons – He is our wise and kind Father and we are the lambs of our Good Shepherd, the Lord Jesus.

 

In our passage “we come to God, believing that He is.”

 

Now, in case you’re wondering, this does not mean that some cannot say, “God, I don’t know about You. I don’t even know if You are real. If You are, please show Yourself to me.”

 

I think our dear God honors honesty and a seeking sincere heart. But our passage is not about this, it is about coming to God believing that He is – our passage is about faith, it is not about where we might be prior to faith. It is wise to engage the passage in front of us.

 

But when we come to God there is more than simply believing that He exists, we come because we also believe that “He becomes a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”

 

In other words, we come to God believing that God will respond. We believe that God will meet us, that as we come to Him that He will come to us. We do not come to Him to figure Him out, we do not read the Bible to figure the Bible out – we come to Him to meet Him, we enter the Bible and open ourselves to God’s Word so that the Bible will enter into us…so that we will meet God, encounter Him, know Him – so that we can experience friendship and sonship (and daughterhood) with God, that we might live in the koinonia (fellowship!) of the Trinity (John Chapter 17).

 

As we partake of the Scriptures we partake of the Divine Nature (2 Peter 1:4).  

 

What is it to diligently seek Him?

 

Well, among other things, it means that we open the Book. It means that the Book is our primary source for communion, along with prayer (which entails both listening and speaking). As He sees us open the Book today, tomorrow, and the next day…He watches us…He watches to see if we are looking for Him or are seeking something else – perhaps religious knowledge, perhaps to improve ourselves, maybe to be smarter than we were the day before. He waits to see if we will wait for Him, if we will look for Him out of the window of our soul the way we wait for a dear loved one to return home after a long journey.

 

He waits to see if we will wait.

 

He speaks to see if we are listening.

 

He asks a question to see if we will respond.

 

Unlike us, Jesus is in no hurry, time does not matter to Him – you matter, I matter, we matter.

 

He becomes a Rewarder…and as the Holy Spirit opens the Scriptures to us (John 16:12 – 15) we realize something that can hardly be put into words…we realize that the Rewarder is greater than the reward – that He is our Reward…that He is our heart’s desire, the filling up of life, overflowing with joy and peace…and we cry with the psalmist:

 

“Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth” (Psalm 73:25).

 

Let us open the Bible and meet God – He is waiting.

 

A concluding thought:

 

When we lived in Richmond I met friends for coffee in coffee shops throughout the metropolitan area. I came to have my regular places for meeting others; it was like a chain of remote offices. With the Bible, you and I have 66 different coffee shops where we can meet Jesus – it is good to get to know all the shops, you may spend more time in some than in others, and there are some that you may take a particular liking to, but Jesus is there in each one to spend time with you…you may be surprised at what He shows you on the menus.

 

Occasionally I’d show up to a coffee shop to meet a friend and the person failed to make it – it is a sad feeling to look for someone, and look, and look again, and then realize that you’ll be having coffee by yourself, that you won’t have the pleasure of your friend’s company. Rest assured, Jesus will always be there – He will always be there ahead of you, waiting for you. The question is, will you keep Him waiting?