Transformation - Day 4

So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better. We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy, always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light. For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son,  who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins. - 1 Colossians 1:9-14

Paul returns to the topic of prayer and I am again convicted by how much he is praying ("we have not stopped praying . . .") and what he prays for - not for medical healing, for finances/jobs, for safety, comfort . . .  rather  "we ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will . . .  spiritual wisdom and understanding."

Knowing God's will.  I really want to know AND FOLLOW God's will.  I want everyone at my church to know and follow God's will.  The results are mind-blowing.

• living this way honors and pleases God, 
• it produces every kind of good fruit (love, joy, peace, patience . . .)
• it brings greater intimacy with God ("know God better and better"

the second part of Paul's prayer - that the Colossians be strengthened with God's power for endurance, patience, thankfulness and joy.  I want more of God's power in my life.  I need to remain connected to Christ my source.

I am amazed at how often I come back to the life verse for The Vine. John 15:5, Jesus' words - "If you remain in me, you will bear much fruit. Apart from me you can do nothing."  My greatest task is to abide in Jesus.  Everything else flows from him.  I can accomplish some things in my own effort, even do some good, but none of it is sustainable.

And Paul uses the same language - intimacy with God, fruitfulness . . .  it starts with a prayer life that seeks God's will.

Father, I pray right now for those you have entrusted to my shepherding.  As we seek to become the faith community that you long for us to be, help me to stay connected to our Source, Jesus Christ, who is both the revealer of God's will and the power to keep me on the path.  Help us all to hunger for and seek your will, on the deepest level.  And as we hunger, feed us your good and perfect and pleasing will.  Then give us the courage and strength to be obedient.  May your people be filled with joy, always thanking You for the life you have given us, the freedom we have in Christ, the forgiveness of our sins, and the inheritance you've shared with us.  Father, transform us into the image of your Son.  Amen

coming home

after Michelle's five months in Uganda trying to get Laz's visa approved, we finally are reunited.  i was holding a video camera trying to "capture the moment" but not wanting to miss the moment myself. forgive the poor camera work and live in our moment of joy.

i think this is what Heaven's gonna be like some day - only better.

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remember your baptism

we celebrated new members joining our church yesterday. it was a great day - Pentecost - the birthday of the Church (another topic). during the celebration, i invite these almost-new-members to come forward and to "remember your baptism and be thankful." i also offer a caveat as these folk are invited forward - "do whatever it takes for you to remember your baptism - you can simply look at the water, or touch the water, or mark yourself with the water and if you need to - you can even dump this whole bowl of water on your head if that's what you need to remember."


so new folk came forward and gazed into a baptismal font - a basin filled with sacred (set apart) water - to reflect on how God has brought them to this point. some were baptized as children/infants and really can't remember their own baptism, others came forward baptized as adults and do remember that moment. some simply look. some take the water and splash their faces. yesterday was a first - a young expectant mother raised her blouse and "baptized" her protruding tummy. the moment is always significant and often deeply moving because these persons see the hand of God now at work in them, even before they were aware of it. yesterday was one of those days - deep reflection. deep thankfulness, deep joy. (as pastor, i have the best "seat" in the house for noticing these things.)

last of all was Karen. Karen was someone who i met in December at our soup kitchen Christmas dinner. (wonderful servants in our church put on a banquet for the less fortunate in our community, complete with great food and even a visit from Santa - it's the annual highlight of our soup kitchen ministry.) so someone introduced me to Karen. i listened to her story - no job, lost her daughter years ago in an automobile accident. she was deeply wounded. there was deep sadness and pain in her eyes. i invited her to church, to meet God in worship. she said she would come but the skeptic in me thought "how many times have i heard that before?"

but Karen did come and she heard a message on peace. then amazingly she came back the next week and heard a message on love (it was Advent). and when Karen came up to me after the service, there were tears in her eyes. God was at work, healing a broken soul. Karen kept coming - more faithfully than most of our members. she connected into a small group of women who were also working their way through healing of damaged emotions. she started mowing the church's lawn - a way she could give back since she didn't have anything to put in the offering basket. someone in the church offered her a job to get back on her feet. she came to a new members prep class then came to see me - she said she felt guilty because she felt to good - so at peace, so much joy. she couldn't stop smiling. nine years weighted down by anger were gone. a few weeks later when a couple came to worship to share about their vision for us joining with them in partnership to build a health clinic in Munyarari Zimbabwe, Karen felt the call of God to go to Africa.

all this leading up to yesterday - the day she was joining our church. as i remarked about taking the whole bowl and dumping it on your head, Karen, sitting in the front with a big smile, with all her misfit small group friends, let me know in no uncertain terms that this was her plan. (that's why i invited her last!)

so Karen came forward, her back to the congregation, a huge smile on her face. "Karen, remember your baptism and be thankful." she looked at the water, hesitated, maybe because there was more water in that basin than she realized, then in words that thankfully no one else could hear said, "oh what the f***," picked up the bowl and dumped a gallon or so of water on her head and across the floor! sopping wet she stood there with a great big smile on her face and a cheering congregation behind her.

and i'm just smiling and thinking - what a great way to end my ministry at my current church. this is a treasure i will never forget.  dismiss the language and look at Karen's heart.

soon i'll be moving to Abingdon, Maryland to plant a church. my dream is to connect the Karens of this world with the God who loves them. yesterday i got a foreshadow of what is to come. God is smiling and so am i.