Category Archives: trust

Microwave or Crockpot?

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This Sunday the gospel text will center on Jesus’ call of his first disciples (John 1:35-42). I am amazed at how quickly the first disciples responded to the call to follow Jesus.  They expressed no hesitation or reluctance.  In all four gospel  they immediately dropped everything and followed Jesus.  Their instant faith surprises me.

Are you like a microwave?

Several  years ago Pastor John Hogenson introduced me to the concept that some people are like microwaves, others are like crock pots.   He was not referring to their taste in foods, but to their speed in making decisions.   Some people are quick to process information and make decisions.  They see the opportunity and take it right away.   People may see the microwavers as courageous and decisive while others see them as brash and reckless.  I think many of Jesus’ disciples were like microwaves.  The best example may be Peter when later he asked to join Jesus in walking on the water (Matt 14:28-29).

Or like a crock pot?

Other people may be more like a crock pot.  They need time to process information before they make a decision. They want to “sleep on it” before they discern the proper couse of action. They may appear methodical or sluggish to others.  Over the years, I have learned that I am more like a crock pot (not to be confused with crackpot!) than a microwave.   I do eventually decide, just not immediately.  I struggle with the quickness of the disciple’s embrace.   I identify more with Moses and his hesitation at the burning bush (Exodus 3).  

Whether you are a microwaver or a crockpotter, all of us are called to respond to Jesus’ call eventually.   To push the analogy, we need to “get plugged in” to the true source of power so that we can “serve the meal.”  We need to trust in Jesus and discover our specific call in God’s kingdom.   All of us have a role to play, whether in a hurry or in time.

What image or analogy would you use to creatively describe your spirituality?

Water Thoughts

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Elwah River in Olympic National Park

Water images have dominated my thoughts this week.  Gary Bailey’s funeral (see 1/5 post), the Life of Pi,  and my Sunday sermon all have strong water themes.   The Life of Pi centers on a sea survival story; my sermon will be on Jesus’ baptism.   Water evokes both fear and hope, death and life.

Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, I saw a lot of water.  On a clear day my family home had a view of the Puget Sound, but I also experienced plenty of clouds and rain.   The abundant rain kept everything green and alive, but when I had to deliver the afternoon newspaper, rain could make the load and route miserable.  While backpacking in the  mountains I would marvel at how glaciers of ice carved such spectacular landscape.   Yet when it became necessary to cross glacier-fed rivers, I realized that with one wrong step I could easily become one of boulders tumbling towards the sea.

In the Bible water is a symbol of the chaos and destruction as well as life.  In Genesis 1:2, the water is part of the dark void before God’s creative Word is spoken.  In Exodus the Red Sea destroys the Egyptian army while providing a means of escape for the Israelites.   In I Kings  17-18, a drought is a sign of God’s displeasure with King Ahab, but later Elijah demonstrates God’s power to bring healing rain.  Jesus calms the stormy sea that threatens life in Mark 4 while in John 4 Jesus offers the Samaritan woman living water.  Water can destroy or give life.

What water image brings you life or hope?

River Prayer

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St. Croix River

Yesterday I preached at Gary Bailey’s memorial service and I was struck with his love of rivers.  He grew up on the Mississippi River, went to school in Winona, MN and often recreated  on the St. Croix.  His daughter remembered a shared St. Croix canoe trip in the rain.   A friend told a story about camping on a St. Croix Island and how Gary tried to share a sleeping bag with him (by mistake!).  Rivers flowed through Gary’s life.

The psalmist writes, there is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High (Psalm 46:4).  God delights in rivers and the scripture is full of river images, from the Garden of Eden in Genesis to the river of life in Revelation 22.  I often visualize God’s grace and love as a river that flows all around us.  As a result rivers have flowed into my prayer life.

 My prayer has become, “Lord, lead me in your river of life.  Teach me to trust in your stream of grace and to work towards what you are doing.  I don’t want to fight your current, but rather flow with you.”  The Lord’s Prayer states, “your kingdom come, your will be done,” which means that I want to align my will and my activities with God’s will and activities.  Prayer is getting into God’s flow.  

Have you ever experience God’s grace flowing in your prayers?  Or had times of drought?

Still Alice

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Still Alice

I recently finished the novel Still Alice by Lisa Genova.  Alice Howland is a respected fifty-year-old Harvard professor of psychology who is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s Disease.  Her memory loss throws her whole life and family into a tail-spin.  One scene in particular, after her diagnosis, stood out for me.

Alice is a runner and she finishes a run outside an Episcopal church.  Though raised a Roman Catholic, Alice has no active faith.  Yet she feels an impulse to enter the church with some vague hope for help.  Inside, she reads from a banner, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in times of trouble.”  She knows she has a great need for help, but “who is she to ask for help from a God she wasn’t sure she believed in?”   She hopes someone, a priest or parishioner, will come so that she might unload her burden.  No one comes. 

The scene haunts me because I believe so strongly that God is our refuge and strength.   There are no magic answers that will suddenly take Alice’s questions and fears away.  But there is the loving, powerful presence of God that carries people in the midst of their struggles.   I realize Still Alice is a novel, well written and thought-provoking.  I just pray that when someone with such questions or doubts walks into Resurrection Lutheran Church, there is someone who can bear loving witness to God’s compassion and care.

In what ways does your reading current fiction shape your faith?

Christmas Journeys

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The Journey to Bethlehem

The Christmas story is filled with journeys:  Mary’s and Joseph’s trek to Bethlehem, the magi’s visit to the child, the holy family’s escape from King Herod into Egypt.   Even the shepherds had a night hike from the fields to the stable in order to see the baby.    Perhaps we all need to do a little traveling to discover Jesus.

This week my two daughters are traveling home.  Christina flew in Saturday after her first semester at college.  Suzanne will arrive tomorrow from her new home in Bloomington, IN.   I will be glad to have them under our roof for a time; it will certainly add to the Christmas joy.  Yet I know it is temporary; their life-paths are taking them on new adventures that may or may not be in close proximity to Carolyn’s and mine.  I guess that is part of trusting Jesus to guide the way.

I am also remembering one snowy December evening when I was flying home to Washington state for Christmas.   I had been gone a whole year, having worked the summer near my college in Philadelphia.  I had to change planes here in the Twin Cities and a snow storm had shut down the airport.  I was sitting in the terminal, waiting for my Seattle flight, feeling homesick and very much alone.  I wondered if I would ever get home as the snow piled up outside.  As the night got deeper and longer, I thought about Joseph and Mary’s journey to Bethlehem.  How lonely they must have felt, yet God was right there with them.  It slowly dawned on me that God was with me that night as well.  Emmanuel, God with us, is the intimate message of Christmas.   Little did I know at the time, that I would invest more than thirty years in the Twin Cities, discovering God’s presence and power among its residents. 

In what ways have Christmas’ journeys impacted your life?

Joseph’s Prayer

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Almighty God, your servant Joseph faithfully followed your command to take Mary as his wife, in spite of her scandalous pregnancy.  Grant us the courage and conviction to follow you in all circumstances and opportunities.  Let us not bow to cultural pressures, but seek you above everything else.  The gift of your son, Jesus, is sufficient for all our needs and desires.   In your holy name we pray.  Amen.

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?

Dream Bridge Ahead

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Dreams and Bridges

I better be careful what I ask for.  Yesterday during our staff meeting we read Matthew 1:18-25, where Joseph is instructed by an angel in a dream to take the pregnant Mary as his wife.   I commented that in our culture, dreams are rarely considered as means by which God speaks to us.  So what did I experience last night?  I awaken from a vivid dream, wondering what it means. 

After last night’s stewardship meeting in which we discussed the progress of our “Crossing the Bridge” emphasis, I dreamed that I was crossing a large bridge in my car.  It resembled the large interstate bridge that cross the Mississippi River near Rock Island, IL.   I crossed it often in recent years, taking my daughter to college in Galesburg, IL.   In my dream as I crossed the bridge, it dipped below the water line, but strong glass barriers kept the water off the road way.  A bear and a wolf were crossing the bridge as well.  As I neared the far west side of the bridge, I noticed that vehicles were turning around and heading back.  I slowed as I neared the end.

A young teenager signaled for me to stop.  He told me that the road ahead was blocked and that I would need to wait or turn back.  I decided to wait.  I got out of my car, which then became my bicycle.  I leaned it against the wall and went to explore on foot.  As I walked up the road straight ahead, I could see it was blocked by a grand piano, lying on its side.  I looked for other routes.  There was a small path to the left, but it seemed to small for my car (or bike?).  However, there was also a major road to the right and that seemed to be the way to go, but a crowd blocking the exit from the bridge had not yet moved out of the way.

Needless to say, I have been playing/wrestling with this dream all morning.  Various interpretations leap into my mind.  Certainly part of it is my desire to push ahead quickly with the mission and ministry of Resurrection.  I don’t want anything to block our way!  Yet I discern the need to be patient, to explore the road ahead.  The obvious way may be blocked for the moment, but a new way will be found.  Psalm 16:11 You show me the path of life.

Has a dream ever played a role in your journey with God? 

Or do you have a different interpretation of my dream?

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.