Relentless

Sunday morning retuning: We were reminded of the forgiveness Jesus offers to “50” and “500” sinners.  (See Luke 7:36-50)  We have been forgiven much, but do we love much?

As I sat on my couch last night listening to the wind howl outside one word came to mind: relentless.  This “super”-storm sounded different than most other in that the wind did not seem to stop or let up.  It sounded like the blower that inflates our boys waterslide each summer, constantly blowing, just MUCH BIGGER!

That got me thinking about what God might want to be speaking to me through this.  [Do you do that?  When a thought comes to mind, take it back to God and ask what He is saying, that it.]  Don’t get me wrong, I do not do that all the time, but when I do, it’s always good.

I felt first of all…no wait, let me tell you something else about this concept before I give you my first impression.  I did a quick word study of relentless and learned it only appears in the NIV 84 one time, where it refers to God’s enemies.  In The Message, it is used a number of times and most often refers to God’s righteous anger.  Only in Solomon’s prayer of dedication for the Temple is it used to describe His love.  Yet, that is the sense that comes to mind for me when I think of this word.

Now for my thoughts.  I though about David, you know the “man after God’s own heart”, that is, who pursued God’s heart.  He passionately went after God, yet not without fail.  Just like us.  In response to His relentless love for us, we should love and pursue God relentlessly, without any sign of slowing or stopping.  How often we fail.  I think of the line sand Sunday from Shine into Our Night, “We’ve seen Your glory Lord, but looked away.”  Why do we do that?

We asked forgiveness on Sunday for “our obsession with creating a life of constant pleasure.”  How true.  Instead of creating a life filled with the Glory of our Creator, we strive to fill it with creature comforts.  How do we get our eyes off of ourselves and onto Him and his purposes?  We pray, relentlessly.

How do we pray?  Here’s an idea.  Open Up the Heavens.  Can you feel their passion as they sing?  [Worship team members, singers and players alike, we could take some notes from their facial expression and their engagement in singing their praise.]

This kind of prayer will broaden your perspective.  It will get your eyes off of the struggles and problems right before you.  It will remind you of how lofty and great is the hope we have in Christ.  What we see before us is not all there this, but only a shadow.  The grave was not the end for our Master and will not be the end for us either.  This song reminds of that in typical progressive bluegrass fashion.  [When she shared this with me Sarah was wondering when we might do this at NMC.  I replied, “When we have a banjo player.”]

Jesus, help us be relentless in our pursuit of You.  Have mercy on those who are caught in the relentless pounding of Hurricane Sandy.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.  

In Christ,

Pastor Timothy

Tired of the Negativity?

Sunday morning retuning: Two weeks from today we will cast our ballots? Are you prepared and well-informed?  There are some resources at the North-Mar Church website that can help.  

If I see one more negative add I think I am going to scream!  I understand what one CNN analyst said when he quoted some statistic about the effectiveness of negative adds to influence voters, but I would really like it if they candidates could spend more time, AND MONEY, telling me how they are the better choice based one what they will do.

And what they say they will do should be what influences our votes in a couple weeks, but not because of it’s impact on our pocket books so much as our conscience.  We must discern where the candidates stand on issues of morality and let this information influence us above all else.  The economy, foreign policy and any other number of issues are important, but less important than those of morality.

Even still, as I was reminded this morning, our hope is not in the future president of our country, but in Jesus, our Messiah.  Our greatest responsibility is not even to vote, though I plead with all of you to do so, but in living out our hope in lives bent to his purposes. 

Romney said something in the debates last night that sounded presidential, something about believing in America, the great hope of the world.  Jesus Himself is the great hope, and America can be an expression of that, but we have forgotten in many ways many of the truths this nation was founded upon, because many believers have failed to live up to the light we have.

I saw this video a few weeks ago, and considered showing it in our services, but decided against it after conferring with Pastor Myron.  I think it has a positive message to it, one that I would much rather see repeated on my television screen, even if I do not agree with every single thought portrayed and image used.  It reminds of the promises we are hearing these days then takes a turn you do not expect.  I pray it will encourage you to be a positive voice, in these next two weeks, and beyond…

Jesus, help us to be a positive influence upon the world around us, even as we look to you as the source of all Hope.  Shine Your light into our darkness, until Your glory fills our eyes.  

In Christ,

Pastor Timothy

What’s Your Vise?

Sunday morning retuning: Are you living a life of repentance?  The analogy from Sunday of a vise really grabbed a hold of me.  Sorry for the shameless pun.  It will be difficult to live a life of where you have turned away from your something until you have identified it.  Have you?

I grew up with a clear mental picture of the purpose of a vise.  My dad always had, and does to this day, a small vise on his workbench in the basement.  I remember as a kid putting things in it, cracking them down super tight and smashing them with a hammer.  Even when I would try to bend them back, they were never the same.  They were marked by the pounding and the grip of the vise itself.

If I were to ask you what your “vice” is [notice the different spelling] you would likely think of a fault, a negative character trait, a defect, an infirmity, or merely a bad habit that marks or plagues your Christian life.   I find it ineteresting that these two words, vise and vice have very different but associated meanings.  Sorry but I really like words and their meanings so you will have to bear with me.  I had never considered these two before.

Let me make this a little less academic and a lot more personal.  We are studying the concept of margin as a staff.  Our text is a book of that title, Margin, by Richard Swenson.  [There is a sample at the link.] He defines margin as “the space between our load and our limits.”  I liken the concept to the margins of a book.  Does you life have some space, like the margins of a book, or is it jammed full like the page of a book that has words going all the way to the edges so that you have to move your fingers to see them all?  If you are feeling like you do not have any, take solace if you can in the fact that what you are feeling is a societal epidemic.

Pastor Scott asked us a great question today, he has a gift at that you know.  “If you think back, when did margin start becoming a problem for you?”  As I pondered this, I could not remember when I first noticed it gone.  Only when I became aware of the concept several years ago, did I realize it had been crowded out at all.  This led me to the conclusion that at least in my thinking, margin-less living was fairly ingrained.  I confess that it is a vise for me, squeezing the life out of me, unless I am conscious of it, and war against it, or turn from it, which I routinely try to do.

Before you think, what’s the big deal with that, you have to understand that it effects not only the way I think, but by default every decision I make, every word I speak, every thing I do, unless I consciously choose to live a life of repentance.  Do you see where I am going?

Living with margin is my vise, or more truly one of them, but it might not be yours.  What is?  Once you have identified it, you have a much better chance of turning from it successfully.  I pray you will today, for God’s glory and your good.

Jesus, help me and my friends live lives of repentance.  Thank You for Your light which shines the way, and Your strength which enables us to walk it, one step behind You.  

In Christ,

Pastor Timothy

Resting...Resting

Sunday morning retuning: I was retuning Sunday.  For the first time in a long time, I was not in any church service of any kind.  I actually did not feel like being anywhere either.  My family was all at church and the house was quiet.  Weird!  Helped me realize how much I really enjoy getting together with that quirky bunch of folks called the church...  

"It is advised that at least one week be taken off of school or work.  Gradually increase your activity each day."  Funny how mandatory rest can seem on one hand like a week of vacation, and on another like a prison sentence.  I guess it's really all about perspective, right?  Well, that's what I am working on today it appears.

And there is a difference between active rest and passive rest  The former I suppose is filled with purposefulness and meaning, the later seems devoid of true significance.  I know I need the rest, but there are other things I would like to do.  I feel like I am waffling back and forth between the two.  Maybe blogging about it is my way of being passively active?

As I was reflecting on resting this morning, the text of a wonderful, old hymn came to mind, "Jesus, I Am Resting, Resting."  That link will take you to the text and the original, or at least widely recognized tune for this great text.  Though the entire hymn is rich with imagery of the experience of resting in Jesus, I really love the line in the 3rd stanza which speaks of His love which "Compasseth me round with blessings, Thine is love indeed."  My experience of His love for me flows directly out of my simple trust in Him.

I came across a newer version of this old hymn about ten years ago, and it included those words, but I could not find one today for you to listen to that did.  I like this version by the Shelly Moore Band best of the ones I heard because the tempo helps me imagine resting better than many others.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.  Jesus, I am Resting, Resting


Let me leave you with a question.  Are you resting today in the joy of what Jesus is?  If not, what's stopping you?  Pain, obligations, responsibilities, commitments, friendships, family, work, debt, plans, dreams, etc.  Determine today to find out the greatness of His loving heart.

Jesus, help me and my friends to rest in you today.  Whether we are active or passive, draw us close to You.  Whether we are working or waiting, teach us to rest. 

In Christ,

Pastor Timothy

Stopping the Flow

Sunday morning retuning:  So what was your fill in the blank?  “Jesus, I’m in pain with ________.  Help me!”  Continue to invite Him to do so.  He loves you!!

We were listening to something as a staff earlier today that really had an impact on me. So much so that I wanted to share it with you, believing full well it will have an impact on some of you as well.  Here it is:

Spiritual disciplines are more rightly viewed as anything that stops the natural flow of sin in your life.

When I have thought of spiritual disciplines, I have always thought in terms of prayer, bible reading/memorizing, worship, etc.  Not only that, but I have thought of them in terms of making me a better, stronger Christ-follower, not in terms of stopping the flow on sin.  And so I have often struggled with what I understood were the excepted norms of spiritual disciplines without the ability to understand part of why.

I have talked for years about worship being a way of life, or a lifestyle.  Worship is not something we do as much as a they way we do it.  When we worship Christ as a way of living, everything we do is bent in this direction.  I have often quoted 17^th century monk Brother Lawrence who was responsible for the wisdom of The Practice of the Presence of God and I believe was a cook in a monastery said something like “I slice carrots to the glory of God.”

That phrase has resonated with me across the years but I have seldom heard someone echo it.  This idea of stopping the flow of sin in our lives, could just as certainly be stated as directly the flow of our lives to praise.  You see, that is what God has called us to in Christ, living our lives “in a manner worthy of the gospel”. [Phil 1:27]  In this way, anything that stops the flow of sin, or starts the flow of praise, can be viewed as a spiritual discipline, in my humble estimation.

Do you see where I am going with this?  Tonight, when I kick the soccer ball around with 7-year old Josiah, that can be a spiritual discipline as I demonstrate the love of the Father to my son, and stop of the flow of potentially otherwise self-centeredness.  Don’t mistake what I am saying, I could do that, or ANY other thing for that matter, in a way that does not glorify God, or stop the flow of sin, but I will make the conscious choice, I will discipline my mind, to show Christ to my son in that moment.

What will you do today to stop the flow of sin in your life?  Read the Bible, play soccer, or something else.  May God bless your increased awareness of Him as you do.

Jesus, help me and my friends know you better as we stop the natural flow of sin in our lives and live in a manner worthy of the gospel.

In Christ,

                      
Pastor Timothy