December 18, 2013

This is a special time of year! Today Bethany arrives home for the holidays. I will pick her up at the airport late this afternoon. Last night the children of our Wesley preschool, Kids of Creation, had a great Christmas program and packed the sanctuary with parents, grandparents and siblings. The weather is beautiful, with warmer days, sunny skies and the remnants of snow continuing to melt. 

I Chronicles 28

In I Chronicles David instructs Solomon on building the temple, and also on how to live. In verse 10 he says “So take this seriously. The Lord has chosen you to build a Temple as his sanctuary. Be strong, and do the work.” Given that the human body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, ("which is in you, which you have of God, you are not your own" - I Corinthians 6:19) this verse applies to every one of us. 1. The Lord has chosen me; 2. To build my life as a sanctuary; 3. I must be strong and do the work – fixing my eyes on Jesus "who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God." (Hebrews 12:2)

Psalm 53

Verse 2 “God looks down from heaven on the entire human race; he looks to see if anyone is truly wise,if anyone seeks God.”  I seek God, and have done so from my youth. I know he sees from heaven and holds me in the palm of his hand.

Thank you Lord for your Word this morning, for guiding my thoughts and for establishing my path. I seek you today, I bear in my body the marks of following Christ. I seek not the easy road, nor personal pleasure, success, fame, publicity. I seek your face, You are all I need. Guide me today in your grace, most Holy One. 

December 13, 2013

It is 5:45 am and I am glad to be up early! Audrey is up to check on the weather, and we just heard the live report that Springfield Public Schools (SPS) has cancelled school for today. Walking out to get the paper, the current weather is fine. But the radar and forecast calls for wintery mix to begin falling in the next couple of hours and to do so throughout the day. I am surprised that school is cancelled. And, just as I write this, I begin to hear precipitation hitting the skylight. My practice is to never cancel based on predictions, because this creates such uncertainty for the future. But there are exceptions, and the superintendent of SPS has made this call based on “dire” forecast. I was planning to take most of today off, in preparation for a busy weekend. This developing weather might curtail some of the weekend activity such as Upward and maybe the transition team.

My goal and hope is to be careful during December with my schedule and energy, as on more than one occasion I have fallen sick on or before Christmas Eve. The busyness of the month sneaks up on me, and throw in a couple of funerals and other crisis ministry and then I physically have no reserve, because I had no margin in my calendar. So, I try to build in margin. A couple of years I simply blocked off Thursdays, in addition to Mondays. This was not possible this year, but these snow days have effectively punched the holes into schedule that have allowed for me to get a breather.

I Chronicles 22-23

David makes preparations for the temple that Solomon will build. The materials and the people are put into place before David dies. The Levites are counted and number 38,000. They are assigned various duties and tasks related to the temple – administrative, ministerial, service, financial, artistic, and protective with some unique additional individual key roles. I recognize the similarity with the nation of Israel under David and Solomon, and the “Christian” nation of the USA during certain eras. The church has been an institution, with its ministers and staff serving in ways similar to the priests and Levites. Now that we are in a post-modern, post-Christian culture, the church behaves both as an institution (which is declining) and a movement (the nondenominational and newer expressions of faith).

It is so important to pay attention to the shifting cultural climate and to be daily open to how God’s Spirit is moving among us. I have discovered that there are many people in the church, who grew up in a “churched” culture, and who do not want to accept that our culture has changed. But ignoring it doesn’t change the reality. Wishing it were different does not make it so. My goal is to be faithful, obedient, take risks, identify opportunities and pursue the advancement of the kingdom of God in my generation.

Guide me today, Holy Lord on this icy uncertain Friday. May my work of preparation, planning, and shepherding be focused as You direct and lead me. 

December 10, 2013

On this beautiful day in December, I resume the blogging of my thoughts as recorded in my journal primarily during my morning devotions. I appreciate those who follow this blog through Google, and through Twitter. I will post our family Christmas letter (mentioned in this blog) later this week.

Audrey and I had a very good day yesterday. It was my day off, and school was cancelled due to weather. I wrote our Christmas letter, illustrated with photos, recorded a radio spot for Wesley, shopped at Wal-Mart (including a watch for me and one for a teenage girl), and exercised, doing 55 minutes on the elliptical. Audrey made blackberry jam from our own berries out of the freezer, and in the evening we continued preparing our letters for mailing. This morning I feel good about our day yesterday, and I am ready to head to the church office for a day of meetings, writing, planning and ministry.

II Samuel 22 - David’s psalm of praise for God’s role in protecting, saving, establishing him. Several of his lines also apply to Audrey and to me, such as verse 25 “The Lord rewarded me for doing right. He has seen my innocence.”  This morning I draw strength from verses 29-30 “O Lord, you are my lamp. The Lord lights up my darkness. In your strength I can crush an army; with my God I can scale any wall.”
 
Guide me today, most holy Lord as I serve as your undershepherd in Springfield. Lead my thinking, my planning, my caring; may your love be multiplied in my life today.