The silence on here is likely making me crazier than anyone else. My apologies, my friends, for the lack of posting lately. This silent stretch has been due to a few unusual factors:
1) Our nearly-always-healthy home has been anything but for much of the last month. Colds and flu bugs have cycled twice through our family, and I dare to dream we are nearly done with this new experience!
2) What started with sick children quickly turned into extremely fragmented night times, which led to sleep-deprived parents, which fueled the cycle of the sickness from the little ones to the big ones. Bundled into the short nights is the disruption of my early morning routines. This led to a breakdown in reading habits, exercise habits, and… my normal blogging time.
3) With health returning and nights stabilizing, I am hopeful that my morning routine, with all of its ingredients, can be regained. That means, more steady devotional habits, a healthier body, and more blogs posted!
Thanks for all of you who love me and my family. We hope your new year is off to a wonderful start!
My wife and I were chatting recently about how many wonderful things took place in our lives in 2013. In some ways, we wondered whether 2014 could possibly match up. But believing in a God who has already undertaken serious works within our lives, we are taking Him at His word that He is faithful (and interested) to take such undertakings to completion.
May your 2014 be a year of growth into the abundant life promised to those who bear the image of the Father, participate in the resurrection of the Son, and house the revealing Holy Spirit.
Welcome to the latest Six-Pack! I am so grateful for every reader who stops by to check out the latest assortment of “best links”.
As regular readers already know, these pieces are generally centered on faith or ministry, though we leave sufficient license to include who-knows-what as we discover it!
If six ever feels overwhelming, start with my two *Picks of the Week*, and move out from there.
For a steady stream of such links, follow me on Twitter to the right of this post. Sharp quotes and solid articles are tweeted 3-4 times daily.
Today’s edition:
1) New Life after the Fall of Ted Haggard (*PICK OF THE WEEK*) Seven years ago, one of America’s best-known pastors crashed in a blaze of drug and sex scandal. What does a church look like after such a disaster? One looks like this.
2) Ted Haggard on How Not to Repent
While we’re discussing Ted Haggard, David Murray makes these observations about what true repentance looks like.
5) God, The Bad, and The Ugly Bethel Church in Redding, CA, is the scene of what are some are calling an all-out revival. Some are swept up in the claims of what God is doing there. Some are skeptical of the place. Others just love the music they’re producing. Kris Vallotton, one of their pastors, wrote this piece about how they seek to respond to the criticism they receive from other Christians.
6) The Science of Posture Buffer, who make a great Twitter-related app, offered this recent post on how far-reaching the benefits of good posture might actually reach. Straighten up, my friends!
May your week ahead be filled with life, as you seek the One from whom it flows!
YOUR TURN: Your input makes this post better!
Which link above was today’s best-of-the-best?
Why that one?
Direct others to the best of the bunch with a quick comment.
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[NOTE: I shared this post earlier this week as part of our church‘s annual Advent Blog. For more of the Glen Elm Advent Blog, head over HERE.]
Simeon and Anna are two fascinating figures in Scripture. This elderly pair are featured briefly in Luke 2, portrayed as examples of righteousness and devoted service to God. Expectantly, they wait for His promises of salvation to land and take hold of their world.
Forty days into his life, Jesus’ parents took him to the Temple. A purification-related offering was to be made by Mary along with a dedication of their firstborn son to God. Not by coincidence, Simeon is present in the Temple that day as well. Through divine revelation, he perceives Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah, a figure the Holy Spirit had promised Simeon he would behold before his death. Holding the child and blessing him, Simeon marks the moment by declaring, “My eyes have seen Your salvation.”
But what had Simeon really seen?
He had seen an infant who cannot hold up his head.
He had held a Redeemer who is dependent on a teenager’s breast for nourishment and a carpenter’s hand for protection.
He has lifted a peasant and soon-to-be refugee child, yet he has the audacity to declare that he has beheld God’s salvation.
Am I missing something here?
Beyond the specific Spirit-revelation received by Simeon, I believe this passage identifies one of the paradoxes of faith. By its very nature, faith is not airtight. The holes are not all filled; the gaps are not all bridged. By definition, faith requires trust. It is certainly not blind, but neither is it 20/20. Faith is an odd middle-ground, where we are given just enough, and likely no more.
And faith has always been that way.
Abraham was told by God to pick up his life and leave his land. For where? “A place that I will show you.” Just enough information to move his feet forward, but not enough that he might sprint to his destination, or even map out the route.
Moses was instructed, “Go speak to Pharaoh; I will be with you.” Every reasonable objection raised by Moses was met by God’s insistence that He would accompany His servant. No elaboration, no explanation. Moses was to move forward from the burning bush one step at a time with confidence that he did not move alone. And that was to be sufficient.
Jesus taught his disciples to pray, “Give us today our daily bread.” There is no mention of tomorrow, there seems no thought of next week. We are coached to ask for a handful despite our desire to ask for a pantry full. We are urged to live contently with just enough, and not much more.
Early disciples left careers and communities to respond to three words from Jesus’ mouth: “Come follow me.” No job description, no benefits package. No peek at the last pages of the story. The invitation to come was to be enough for today’s response.
Someone said to me recently that following Jesus is not like him writing up a contract and then asking us to sign. Rather, he asks us to sign a blank sheet of paper, and then he fills in the details afterward.
And if we dare to put our name on that line, to align our lives with his…
Jesus will lead.
The Spirit will reveal.
And the Father will provide.
And at some point, or several, we will find our mouths very naturally forming Simeon’s words, “My eyes have seen your salvation.”
[NOTE: I shared this post earlier this week as part of our church‘s annual Advent Blog. For more of the Glen Elm Advent Blog, head over HERE.]
Last Sunday, our church viewed this video together during service.
Zechariah’s story is fascinating.
By birth, he was part of Israel’s priesthood. He and his wife Elizabeth, childless in their later years, had no doubt heard comparisons to their great once-childless ancestors Abraham and Sarah. However, it is highly unlikely that anyone expected this couple to be completely like that ancient couple by experiencing a late-life, God-gifted pregnancy. Certainly Zechariah wasn’t expecting such a thing.
Through a seemingly random process, Zechariah was selected to enter the Holy Place. Alone in that sacred space, he had a divine experience in which it was revealed that he and Elizabeth would have a son. And that son would be the forerunner to the Messiah. When Zechariah used his mouth to express doubt, God determined to close it for the next nine months or more. Zechariah was mute, a condition from which he was released only upon John’s birth.
What might happen within your heart or mind if a nine-month silent retreat were forced upon you?
What might become clear?
What convictions might cement themselves?
If the gift of words was re-given to you, how might you use it?
We read that Zechariah spoke prophetically (Luke 1:67-79), under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. He began like this:
“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people.” (ESV)
Another translation (The Voice) says it this way:
“May the Lord God of Israel be blessed indeed! For God’s intervention has begun, and He has moved to rescue us, the people of God.”
Two details from that reading impress me:
INTERVENTION: A&E has aired a fairly successful series by this title. It portrays the stories of families desperate to rescue loved ones from the darkness and destruction of addiction. Intervention is synonymous with interference of a loving sort. It is the willful thrusting of oneself into the life of another, who appears to have neither the ability nor the will to protect himself. Interventions involve helping the helpless. People of strength pull tightly alongside people in struggle. in an effort to save them.
PEOPLE OF GOD: God’s intervention has begun, we are told. Apparently, He is moving to rescue. Explicitly, He is moving to rescue us, the people of God. This sentence contains a vital reminder. Let us never believe the lie that the people of God are those who have no need of rescue. Let us never hold the deception that the people of God are those who — through clear thinking and sharp discipline, and wise choices — have governed their lives so well as to remain in the middle of the narrow way. Let it be forever known: The people of God are most assuredly not those without need of rescue or intervention. Rather, the people of God are those who have experienced intervention. They have tasted deliverance; they have received rescue.
And that’s why every December, such folks have no trouble singing: “Joy to the world. The Lord has come.”
