Category Archives: spiritual exercise

Shepherd or Magi?

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I was struck today on the similar yet distinctive reactions of the shepherds and the magi to Jesus’ birth.  While both are notified by heavenly objects – angels for the shepherds, a star for the magi – and both respond with joy by searching for the baby, their response has some sharp contrasts. The shepherds leave their flock that very night and immediately go in search of the baby (Luke 2:15-17).  Of course, Jesus is in their local community and they share the news with all.  Meanwhile it takes the magi up to two years to plan and accomplish their journey to Bethlehem (Matthew 2: 1-12).

Shepherd?

I think the two reactions help us understand how many of us respond to the good news of Jesus Christ.  Some of us respond immediately to the message of God’s love and embrace it with all joy at the outset.  We see Jesus in our neighborhood and we respond right away.  We always sense that Jesus is close by.   I would place myself in this camp.  I grew up knowing Jesus as my Lord.

Or Magi?

Others need more time, more thought, and the journey is much longer.   In a metaphorical way, they have to leave their own country to find Jesus in a new land.   But when they do, they embrace him fully as their King.  The journey and the encounter has changed them.  The author Frederick Buechner describes such a spiritual odyssey in his book, The Sacred Journey (1982).   

Neither the response of the shepherds nor the response of the magi is better or preferred.  God uses a vast array of messengers, visions, experiences, relationships and ideas to call us to himself.  I delight in the wonder of each path and journey.

Would you describe yourself as a shepherd, a magi or some other character in the Christmas story?

Finding Jesus in Jamaica

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Working Together to Meet Jesus

I am still thinking about the magi’s journey to Bethlehem to see baby Jesus. Preaching on a text sometimes hammers it deep into one’s psyche.   What strikes me is the investment the magi made.  They gave not only the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, but also the time and energy for the trip itself.   They entered a foreign culture to pay homage to an infant king who was not immediately their own. 

I see so many connections in this story to the value of short-term mission trips, especially to different cultures.   As one who has lead over a dozen mission trips to Jamaica, I see the investment and hopes that people make when they go on a “vacation with a purpose.”   A key element of that preparation is to recognize that they go to discover Jesus in that place, more than to bring Jesus to that place.   The Christian service or actions that the missionaries perform are important, but the relationships, conversations, and participation with the people of that new culture are what become holy and blessed.

Too often I can become fixated on the physical accomplishments of a trip.  When I have worked with Habitat for Humanity it brings me satisfaction that we have constructed a safe, secure, simple structure for a family in need.   And when a team runs out of building materials or out of time, I feel frustrated and disappointed.  

Still the bigger accomplishment in any trip is the network of relationships that develop in the community.  Worship, meals, conversations and play are just as significant as the work done on the house; we often meet Jesus, hidden in the smile of a child or in the song of an impromptu choir.  Those encounters with Jesus change and enlighten us, if we give them “homage.”    Time for reflection and prayer have been a key element in my mission journeys because they help us bring Jesus home after the trip.

I look forward to leading mission trips in the future.  I sense that Jesus is waiting.

Have you ever encountered Jesus in a different culture than your own?

Getting into It – Part II

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Yesterday I posted about my decision to get into winter and enjoy cross-country skiing as an alternative to my running.  Yesterday afternoon I drove to a nearby county park, Cottage Grove Ravine Park, anticipating excellent snow and groomed trails.  I was a bit rushed because the sun was low in the sky and I was unfamiliar with the park.   I missed the entrance for the parking lot, so I started a quick turn around.  In my haste I slid off the road and into a snow bank.  

At first I thought I could simply drive out.   The spin of the front tires told me otherwise.  I tried to clear the snow from the front of the car.   It was too compacted and I had no shovel.   Sheepishly I asked a couple of skiers to assist me.   Though we pushed and pulled, the car was stuck.  Finally I had to admit I was truly trapped in the snow and called AAA for assistance. 

A car like mine waiting for help

While I was calling AAA on my cell phone, a second call came through.   I soon discovered I had a pastoral emergency with one of my parishioners!    With some embarrassment, I called the family and explained my predicament.   I would come as soon as the tow truck pulled me out, which was further delayed because the truck driver got lost.

As I sat in the car, waiting for the tow truck, I ruminated about my plans.  I had wanted to “get into it” by doing some skiing.   Instead I literally “got into it” with my car in the snow.  I was frustrated, but also reflective.   My haste had put me in this predicament and I could blame no one but myself.   There will be future opportunities for skiing and exploring.  I was thankful that my slide had cause no damage to car or myself.    Finally I decided once again to practice what I often preach to others,  patience and thanksgiving.    I could “get into it” by seeing the mercy of God in my own foolishness.

Life of Pi

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Life o Pi

Yesterday I wrote about a visit to a church in the novel Still Alice.  That scene stands in sharp contrast to the church visit  described in Life of Pi by Yann Martel, the other novel I am reading.  Whereas Alice receives little spiritual comfort from her short visit , Piscine (Pi) takes a much more patient approach to his visit.  He is a young teenager, who is on a spiritual quest in his native India.  While his family is on vacation, he climbs a hill to a Christian church and walks around it, afraid at first to enter.  Behind the church he discovers the rectory and from a hiding place, he secretly observes the parish priest inside.   After a period of observation Pi states,

“I was filled with a sense of peace.  But more than the setting, what arrested me was my intuitive understanding that he was there -open, patient – in case someone, anyone, should want to talk with him; a problem of the soul, a heaviness of the heart, a darkness of the conscience, he would listen with love.  He as a man whose profession it was to love, and he would offer comfort and guidance as best he could.” p. 52

Pi eventually walks into the rectory and has several long conversations with the priest.   Those conversation may be worthy of other posts, but the main point today is how does one prepare such an open, receptive setting for those who come on spiritual quests?  Would those seeking even come to a church today?  How do we practice true hospitality?

Heroes

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Joyful Preacher

Last Labor day I flew down to Arkansas to load a U-Haul truck with furniture and files from my father-in-law’s home.  James McCrary died a few years ago and it had taken time to sift through all his things.  Several of the files I brought back contained his sermons from nearly forty years of preaching.  My wife has now been reading through her father’s sermons, discovering some real gems worth keeping and sharing them with me.

The Rev. James P.  McCrary remains one of my heroes.

He was a great father-in-law as well as a dedicated Presbyterian minister who loved to tell old, corny jokes.  He had the gentlest of spirits and loved to converse with anyone.  Though he never ran a race, he appreciated my desire to run marathons and encouraged me whenever he had the chance.  I remember one Thanksgiving when he was visiting us and he insisted on helping me rake the leaves in my backyard.   He said that he wanted to work up a good appetite for the meal and what better way than to rake.

Also he gave me the greatest advice that any father-in-law could give prior to the wedding.  He told my wife and me, “you can walk down the aisle on your wedding day, fall flat on your face and still pick yourself up and have a great marriage.”   Fortunately, I didn’t fall on my wedding day and neither did my wife, since Jim walked her down the aisle, then turned around and preformed the wedding.

He was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s at age 73, and though he lived for ten years with the disease, he continued to have a gentle, loving spirit.  I can’t help but think that Jesus greeted him, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Do you have heroes who have shaped you?

Trust in the rope

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Three fold cord

Trusting Jesus can seem easy at times.  Like on the bright and sunny days, surrounded by friends and family.   Or on the mountain peaks when the vistas are magnificent and the air is clear.  Yet life is rarely all sunshine and mountain tops.

In my wedding sermons, I remind the bride and groom that not all of life will be like their wedding day, filled with excitement, joy and celebration.   The couple will not always be surrounded by the support of family and friends. Like all people, they will need to face life’s storms and life’s valleys.   As a married couple, they will have the strength of each other, but they can also learn to trust in Jesus’ power and love to carry them through such challenging days and months.

The fourth chapter of Ecclesiastes describes the benefits of two people working together.  It ends the section with this phrase:  a threefold cord is not quickly broken (Ecc. 4:12). The thought shifts from the strength of two to the strength of three.  What is the third cord in the rope?  That third cord is Jesus Christ, woven into the fabric of  life, especially a marriage.  But that woven strength is not limited to married couples.  Jesus is the strong cord that can carry any individual through challenges that come with the storms and valleys of life.

And a big part of that “challenging” strength grows out of the daily attention given to our trust in Jesus.  Trust is something that deepens over time.  It rarely appears like magic, on demand.  Our trust in Jesus grows through reflection, prayer, study and grace.

More on that in a future post.

Graceful Dancing

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Yesterday afternoon I took a walk with my mom from her apartment through the skyways to Woodbury’s YMCA.  We stopped for a few moments to watch an aerobic’s class in session.  After a couple of minutes I discovered that it was a Zumba fitness class that utilizes Latin dance steps and movements for fitness.  The Zumba fitness motto is, “Ditch the work out, join the party!”   I quickly noted that there were no males participating and that I would have trouble doing even the simple moves.  Still I am intrigued.

One reason for my interest is that I have often used the image of dance to express how our life with Jesus flows.   Dance is more complicated, more nuanced, than simply walking or running.  It has rhythm and expression that expresses a wide range of emotions and ideas.  I believe our life with Jesus is more often a joyous dance with others moving in and out of the circle, than a somber march of following certain rules and regulations.  Like dance, life in Jesus involves practice and spontaneity, community and solitude.

I doubt that I will be joining a Zumba class soon; I continue to have trouble discerning my left foot from my right.  Recently at my mother’s apartment they had a dance and after some hesitation, I escorted my mom on to the dance floor.  As we “danced” she said to me, “we’re not really dancing, we’re just moving our feet.” I laughed.  

As we live with Jesus,  sometimes we dance, sometimes we simple move our feet.  But it is all graceful with his presence.

Jeremiah 31:13  Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old shall be merry. I will turn their mourning into joy, I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.

Installation Prayer

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Almighty and Gracious God, as I am installed as lead pastor of Resurrection today,
I pray that the power of Christ’s resurrection will be evident among your people.

Together may we learn to trust you above everything else.
Together let us live the call proclaimed in your word.
Together teach us to serve the people in our community and around the world.

Though we cannot see the ending, nor fully comprehend the challenges, we place our hands in yours, trusting you to guide us into your future.
Thank you for the opportunity to serve among such hopeful, caring people. Thank you for being our Lord and Savior.  In Jesus’ powerful name I pray.  Amen