Moving Experience

The hiatus in the blog has been the result of our moving from our nice apartment at the Triangle in Austin to our new house at 2129 Emma Long. 

Moving is sobering in many ways. You anticipate the move. You can hardly imagine actually leaving where you are and going to the new place. At the beginning, the move is far in the future—almost over the horizon. Then day by day, moment by moment, you creep toward the date. Suddenly it is the time. It is time to pack the apartment where you are living and sign papers and promises for an hour to buy the new digs. Then the movers show up and in three hours or so you don't live "there" anymore. You live "here." You had normal. Now you have new normal. 

So is that the way it will be at the end of this life? Will we have anticipated a move to a new home sometime, someday and then be surprised when moving day comes? I bet so. We will be surprised to leave our temporary apartment body and place and move into our new body and place. May we all find our lives firmly resting in Jesus so when moving day comes we move to his house.

God help us all.

Thanks Giving

The turkey, dressing and all guarantee that this could be a five pound holiday. It is worth it to be at the table with family and friends telling stories and passing rolls. In this setting of abundance, I am asked to reflect on my gifts and give thanks. 

This is an interesting year at Thanksgiving. People are losing jobs; businesses are losing customers; consumers are losing confidence; portfolios are losing value. The GNP is in ICU; interest rates are hardly interesting at all. As they used to sing on HeeHaw: "If it weren't for bad news, there'd be no news at all." And on these cheery notes, have a great Thankgiving.

But that is not really the point, is it? The point is not to be thankful only in abundance or only for abundance. Christians are called upon to be thankful in all situations. Read again Philippians 4:4-7:

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

The heart of the Christian can appreciate blessings when those folks who are filled with darkness would not see them. The eyes of a disciple are much more discerning. Christians in war-torn Sudan offer thanks. Christians in brutally mismanaged Zimbabwe offer thanks. Christians meeting in secret in China offer thanks. Christians on Wall Street offer thanks. Giving thanks is the product of focused, disciplined attentiveness to the work of God in the world. So let us give thanks — not just because of what we have, but because of the One who has us and is at work in everything around us.

God help us all.

Be Careful What You Pray For

You have heard, "Be careful what you pray for." Usually the seemingly wise person who says these words is trying to warn of the creative and difficult ways in which God seems to answer prayers. A prayer for wisdom may lead into a time of severe circumstances that try and teach, adding the wisdom of experience. A prayer for patience may lead to a lingering difficulty or chronic annoyance, teaching that patience is necessary in unchanging difficult relationships and situations. The warning to be careful sounds wise at the outset, but "Be careful what you pray for" makes it seem like remaining foolish and impatient is a better alternative to the path of challenging, God-ordained transformation.

A great friend from Abilene wrote to me yesterday asking about those who pursue gifts from God and exercise ministries of prayer and intercession beyond what would be plain vanilla in the Church of Christ. It seems that some of these folks are finding their prayers answered in the lives of those for whom they have interceded. They are praising God for his grace and mercy. My friend wanted to know what I thought. My first thought was, "Be careful what you pray for." 

My second and better thought called both him and me to a bolder obedience to Luke 11:13: "If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" We are going to ask. While we might like to know where a more fervent invitation for the Holy Spirit's presence and power might lead us, the prayer of faith does not demand a disclosure statement from on high. 

To be sure, the calling of God and the empowering of the Holy Spirit almost always lead those called and empowered to greater service and greater suffering. Such knowledge should not generate caution. Instead my friend and I have made a covenant with each other to ask God to bless us with the Spirit more and more and not to worry about where that might lead. I would invite any and all to join us in this simple response to the teaching of Jesus in Luke 11 … and as we respond, we will not be careful what we pray for.

God bless us all.

Do Not Fear—Believe

The words of Jesus to Jairus when they heard that the little girl had died are good words: "Do not fear. Believe." Here in the heart of Austin as we try to become the heart of Austin, we need to hear these words. God has great things in store for us to do in his name. University Avenue church wants to be a tool in the hand of God. God is willing to work with us and through us. We have to be willing to step with God into our own future.

The Israelites came out of slavery in Egypt and found themselves soon at the brink of the Red Sea with Pharaoh's army closing in hard behind them. The choices seemed to be wade and drown or fight and die. What do you do when the obvious choices are all dire and dreadful? Screaming and sulking, pouting and protesting are always high on the list of options. God invites us to another response: Do not fear. Believe. 

God invited the Israelites to step out into the dry land opened through the sea. Jesus invited Jairus to walk into the room of death. The Israelites marched out onto the other side of the sea and watched their oppressors be overwhelmed in the waves. Jairus walked out of that bedroom with his sweet daughter alive in his arms. Believe. Believe. What is obvious is not inevitable. What is impossible may just be the future we will know. 

Do you have the notion that you are caught between a rock and a hard place? As a church do we feel that we are caught between a difficult past and an uncertain future? Do not be afraid. Do not fear. Believe. Only believe and see the work of the Lord among us. 

God bless us all.

The Sweet Smell of Freedom

Jesus surprised and disappointed the leaders of Jewish orthodoxy. Their hopes for a Messiah probably involved finding a stunningly capable rabbi who would think their thoughts, only deeper,  and do their deeds, only more so. Their picture of the ideal Messiah no doubt would have looked a lot like the person they knew in the mirror. They would have liked him to surprise them with new, creative interpretations of the rigorous treatments already given to the Torah. If only he could be tougher, harder, narrower and more exclusive, he would be the perfect Messiah. 

What a disappointment Jesus was as he ate with the sinners, picked grain on the Sabbath and healed the crippled on the day of rest. He could not be the One. How could their orthodoxy be maintained by a heterodox Messiah! No wonder Mark says the Pharisees went away and conspired to kill Jesus with the Herodians,  their political enemies. The enemy of their enemy was their friend. The freedom lived out in Jesus was their enemy. The smell of such freedom sent the Pharisees hurrying back into the stench of their legalistic, judgmental lives.

I am afraid that I know the lure of a world that would never require a moral, ethic decision. If I could just have rules about every possible situation, I would never have to seek God's wisdom, wait on the Spirit or act out of simple understanding of the nature and direction of the heart of God. I would just have to know the rule that had already been established about the matter in question. Living would be a matter of keeping the rules. It sounds simpler than the world Jesus opens to me and to you. It might seem simpler, but the life God wants cannot be produced in it.

Jesus gives us principles to follow. The New Testament gospels and letters give us guidance in moral, ethical life individually and socially. But Jesus and the Scripture that followed him do not propose a world without the need for moral, ethical decision-making. We are called to a living relationship with Christ and to the life that flows from that. We are called to life as temples of the Holy Spirit and the choices that such a relationship demands. We are called to lives lived to the praise and glory of the Father. We are called make holy choices in the dynamic environment of real life.

I think it is harder to live watching the Ruler than it is to live making up and keeping the rules. As we try to be the Body of Christ in the heart of Austin, let us be a church ready to walk the path of a challenging freedom in Christ. May those who walk among us catch a whiff of the sweet smell of freedom.

God bless us all.

   

A Perfect Monday

Mondays get a bad rap. They can be blue Mondays. They can be the excuse for almost anything unfortunate: "Hey, it's a Monday." 

But on this Monday, October 27, birds sang, angels swooped in near and "heaven came down and glory filled my soul." On Monday Annette's oncologist in Abilene said Annette was released from care. This was after the check-up at the end of about five years since Annette was diagnosed with a stage 2A invasive ductile carcinoma that was estrogen receptor negative and strongly HER-2 Neu positive. That is cancer speak for a mean motor scooter of a breast tumor. Now after a lumpectomy, rounds of chemotherapy and weeks of radiation in 2004 and years of watching, we are set free to embrace the notion of complete remission and an out of commission cancer. 

Annette has been the focal point of the prayers of thousands of faithful brothers and sisters. God has blessed her and us with great gifts. 

The first gift was the cancer itself. Both of us have been profoundly changed. Our relationship is lived in the now, not in the some day. Our relationship to God is more immediate and honest. 

The second gift was the gift of the fellowship of the church. We received prayers, visits, a week of rice and broccoli, cards by the hundreds and on and on the blessings go. The church may not be perfect, but it is the Body of Christ being made perfect bit by bit. 

The third gift is the gift of more life in this world. We do anticipate the life to come and believe it to be the existence that will someday make our time here just a dim memory, but Annette does love the feel of her children in her arms. She does love the laughter of her friends. She loves to sing in worship, lifting her hands to the Lord. She likes butterflies and chocolate. And she loves walking in the park with a certain grandson. Annette and I receive life here as gift and grace—everyday.

So it was a Monday. What a great day! Just thought you might want to know about it. Celebrate with us.

God bless us all.

Into the Hands of God

The challenge to live in the kingdom of God gives us choices every day. The reign of God, on earth as it is in heaven, confronts every value this world holds dear and every source of security on which it trusts. Philip Yancey writes in The Jesus I Never Knew that the church embraced the very promises Satan made to Jesus in the wilderness temptations. Jesus rejected miracle, authority and mystery as sources of selfish security. The secular church took them into its selfish heart with joy. The power was so seductive. The illusion of control and stability was too much to let go. Miracle, authority and mystery wrapped in God-language, but disconnected from relationship with God, created great darkness.

We understand that the evil one stands ready to tempt us to life without radical dependence on God, without complete trust in the gracious blood of Jesus, without joy in the continuing fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Rejecting that temptation we commit ourselves to lives of faith trusting in the power and presence of God. Even when we cannot see exactly what God is doing, we will resist the urge to bring our lives into our own control.

Ruth Haley Barton in her book Solitude and Silence writes that a commitment to be in God's presence requires a decision and a practice. The practice is devotional solitude and silence. The decision is "to release the world and its fate, along with your reputation and success into the hands of God." That decision frames our resolve to enter the kingdom rule of God. We can make that decision. Our church makes that same commitment: to release the world and its fate, along with the reputation of University Avenue and our desire for its success into the hands of God.

What freedom there is in leaving the illusion of control and in entering the reality of walking with God in faith! The life of faith becomes adventure, risk and sacrifice. We move from what we plan and control to what God gives which is "more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us…."

The Gentleness of God

This Sunday most of the adult classes at UA will study the gentleness of God. The word translated "gentleness" is also the word translated "meekness" in many texts and versions. How can God be meek?

Gentleness or meekness is a word used to describe, among other things,  an animal that has been trained to accept a saddle, bridle, or harness. One of the greatest things you can hear about a horse you are about to mount is that the horse is gentle. Could it be that we should be reassured that our God is not one of unbridled emotions? Could it be that our God, the God who is God, is disciplined by his great love? 

Another definition of gentleness or meekness is that it is quality that allows someone to lose herself in something larger than herself. Jesus came into the world as one willing to empty himself for the sake of the redemptive work of God. Does God have the ability to give up some of his power and glory for the sake of our salvation? Absolutely! Jesus did just that. 

The Holy Spirit continues that gentle and meek behavior as he humbles himself to indwell our lives. What is the Holy Spirit of God doing in a cesspool like my heart? The Holy Spirit is there to work with my faith to create holiness in me. He is doing the same in you.

The Holy Spirit indwells the temple that each Christian fellowship becomes for God. Our churches are so imperfect. How does the Spirit of God remain among us? Some folks walk out on congregations that the Holy Spirit will never leave. The Holy Spirit is more meek. 

The gentleness in Scripture is not softness or weakness. Numbers 12:3 says that Moses was the meekest, humblest, gentlest man. Moses was no softy. He was willing to be harnessed by God for a difficult task over a long period of time. There is no long obedience without meekness or gentleness. 

In Matthew 11:28-30 we hear the invitation from the gentle, humble, meek One to become like him and accept his Lordship in our lives: 

Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

God bless us all. 

God Is Really Among You

One of the striking verses in 1 Corinthians 14 is 14:25. Paul writes that an unbeliever should be able to leave an assembly of Christians with a clear sense that God was with those people in that place during that time of worship. I think there should be a beatitude saying, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for God, for when they are in the assembly of God's children, God will join them." I think I could find the verses to make that beatitude come to life. We know that it is true.

Here in the heart of Austin, we have a hunger in our hearts for God. God is willing to join us as the Spirit within our hearts as he indwells us and among us as we gather as the temple of God. We are going to practice inviting God to join us. We are going to invite and welcome the Holy Spirit into our worship assembly. This Sunday we will pray the following prayer together as we begin our time of gathered worship:

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And you shall renew the face of the earth. O God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and every enjoy your consolations. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

We always worship with Holy Spirit present. He cannot be absent from the children of God. Still we will be blessed as we openly and intentionally ask the Holy Spirit to come among us and as we lay aside all impediments to his ability to transform our hearts and wills. May we and those who are visiting leave saying, "God is really among you!"

This prayer is not a bad prayer to pray as we start our day—any day.

God bless us all.

When All We Can Do Is the Best We Can Do

Today I walked into Cade Calvert's room at Dell Children's Hospital. He is just a little boy—Stanton and Ann's grandson. He was in a bad wreck on October 8. The surgeons had to get bone fragments out of his brain. His little head has stitches wandering down the right side. He is just a little boy, precious and good.

As I talked to his mom, all I could say was that it was horrible for such a thing to happen to her son and that our church would be praying for Cade. Her response to our offer to pray for her son was to thank us for ministering to their son and family through prayer.

We have nothing else we can do. We can feel so powerless standing in a pediatric ICU room. We often express our powerlessness with a frustrated, "Well, we will pray for you."

Really…all we can do is walk into the throne room of our Father, the Master of Heaven and Earth with our Friend and Brother Jesus at His side and pour out our honest desires, wants and longings with the Holy Spirit speaking even more clearly the things we don't even have words for. That's all. And we do that believing that God will always act for the good of those who love him, even through dreadful stuff. That's all.

We should never apologize for doing the very thing we should do first and always, even when it is what we can do "only." Jesus cleansed a temple so that it could become a house of prayer for the nations. We believe he has cleaned us up, so we can be houses of prayer, too. May the heart of Austin be a praying heart.

God, bless Cade. Help him heal perfectly. Bless his family. Bless the others who were in the wreck. And bless us all as we pray our way through this life. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

UA—The Heart of Austin

This is the first post on a blog intended to reflect and bless the life of the University Avenue Church of Christ in Austin, Texas. I have moved from Abilene to Austin, from University Church of Christ to University Avenue Church of Christ, from ACU to UT, from the five minute rush hour to the 90 minute gridlock... and all is well.

The University Avenue Church of Christ (UA in all other references) is a church with heritage and opportunity. A remarkable mix of folks make up its membership. The geographical position of the church facility and the dispersion of the members over the Austin metro area mean that the congregation can have a broad circle of influence in the area.

Like a physical heart, UA can sit in the center of the city and pump the blessings of the Kingdom of God into the city. It can help provide the energy for the city and help rid it of its poisons. All that is necessary is for the people of God to act as his people in this place. In the language of the day, this is a call to missional living. We at UA are invited into the ministry of God in Austin. We are not required to begin from scratch. God has had a long established love for the city. We are asked to love it as he does and join him in his work.

I am excited to be here. The challenges and opportunities are great. The power and presence of God is evident. Our need to be conduits of his grace and love is absolute. Bless all who are caught up in the work of God. Bless all who every morning desire only to be Christ in the world. Bless all who are clearing the brush and desolation from their hearts, so the Spirit can come and rule their lives.

God bless us all.