Simple Joys and Nauryz

Watch and See

An Inkling

There are two kinds of blindness:  can’t see and don’t see.  Few suffer the former.  All suffer the latter.  Those who suffer the former know it.  Those who suffer the latter typically don’t. 

When those who suffered the former met Jesus, they usually asked for healing, and he healed them.  But when you don’t know you’re blind, you don’t know to ask.  Gratefully Jesus doesn’t always wait to be asked (e.g., John 9).

Imagine the scene:  the “can’t see” blind man sees for the first time – sees colors, sees the faces of loved ones he had only touched, sees the face of the Savior who just healed him.  New sights were soon blurred by tears, and then explored over and over as the tears cleared, to ever expanding joy.

It works the same with those who “don’t see.”  At the touch of Jesus they begin to see, some things anew, and some things for the first time.  They start to see the beauty of God’s ongoing works that they had overlooked – such things as:

• the splendor of the James River running at flood with the spring thaw; God does amazing things with simple gravity, light, and liquid.
• the wonder of our most familiar face companions, each made in the image of God, and yet each so unique and amazing.
• the astonishing capacity of God to work good even from evil (e.g., watch how many Muslims come to Christ not just in spite of ISIS, but because of it).
• and that most amazing beauty of all – the cross; the light which flows from its darkness illumines all, and is the essential source for new sight.

Thankfully Jesus doesn’t always wait to be asked.  But it doesn’t hurt to ask.  And so together we say, “May we see yet more of your goodness?”  And yes, he has yet more to show us.

Watch and see!

Keith

From Sardonic to Joyful

An Inkling

It’s a comedy skit classic – Bob Newhart’s therapy session.  It’s funny because we’ve all struggled with behaviors we don’t want, and most of us have tried various therapeutic and self-help approaches, to no avail.  So Newhart found some easy pickings for sardonic laughs.

Has any culture at any time or place ever had more resources to change behavior?  So how are we doing?  Some of the therapeutic and self-help approaches do seem to bear some fruit.  But overall, whether it be the two word or the ten word approach, our record for changing behaviors for the better is mixed at best.

The Lord has his approach too.  Rather than rely on our will power (two words) or fear (ten words), he goes to the heart of the matter, and fixes our “wanter.”  It’s not an overnight matter (see Romans 7).  But over time, by his grace, forgiveness, healing, and transforming power, we’re changed from the inside out, so that our desires are more and more to the good. 

What a novel concept:  instead of trying to find a way to get us to stop doing what we want to do, how about changing what we want to do to the good, and then saying “go for it!”  

That’s just one part of the abundant life Jesus brings.  But it’s a good one.  And along the way our laughter moves from the sardonic to the joyful, a very good sign indeed!

Blessings,

Keith

A Shoot

An Inkling

A shoot shall come out of the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots  (Isaiah 11:1).  So begins one of Isaiah’s prophecies about the coming Messiah, and the gospels describe its fulfillment.  But it is more than a prophecy specific to the life of Jesus.  It also typifies how life works in his Kingdom.

We’ve all seen the sight Isaiah described – a tree stump that looks for all the world like it’s dead.  But then comes the shoot from one corner, bending toward the sky.  In the Kingdom life is resilient, and the flourishing of one season soon yields to a different form in the next.  But always there is life.  The Branch who grew from the roots himself sees to it.

Our Elders got a reminder of that Kingdom pattern when Taylor Greene dropped by Monday evening.  Taylor is our Student Connector, a very part-time staff role.  He facilitates student relationships with each other and the adult leaders.  

Last summer our Student Ministry came to a stump moment.  Sarah, Scott, and Jake, the remaining core of the ministry’s last season of flourishing, were heading off for their freshman year in college, leaving just a handful of students in middle and high schools. 

But the Lord wasn’t stumped.  He brought forth a shoot through a student ministry partnership with our sister church, Christ Presbyterian.  Each brought a few students, and with some others brought by Jo and Tommy from their Highland Park neighborhood, a whole new mix of students has grown up – now with the critical mass necessary for student ministry.  They gather at Christ Church on Sunday mornings and here on Wednesday evenings.  And already there are buds and the signs of coming fruit – all the more robust because of the cross-pollination.

What makes for a flourishing student ministry?  Most churches seek the right mix of three ingredients:  a hip youth director, a cool space to meet, and whopping events.  And those can all be useful.  But as St. Giles has found, it’s hard to keep them all going in the right mix. 

So it’s all the more fascinating that for this new shoot all of those are secondary.  This shoot is flourishing through relationships, diversity, and a clear focus on the core of the gospel and what it means for teens.  Who knew?  The One who brings forth shoots in the right way at the right time.

The Elders rejoiced to hear what God is doing, and they concluded by laying hands on Taylor and praying for yet more of the Spirit to pour upon him, the adult leaders, the students, and our partnership with Christ Church.  Won’t it be fun to watch the Lord’s shoot grow?!

Blessings,

Keith

Joy in Any Language

An Inkling

I got a lesson in joy Sunday evening – in Arabic!  And I learned that when it comes to joy, translation is optional.

The Christian Arabic Church worships on Sunday evenings, and this week they were ordaining their Elders and Deacons.  Their Pastor, Fakhri Yacoub, invited some of us from the presbytery to join in.  That happy invitation came to Larry Moffett, Sarah, and me from St. Giles, and to Steve Hartman and Corey Widmer (newly retired and newly commencing Lead Pastors) from Third. 

Our role was to provide the pomp and circumstance.  They needed no help with the joy, as you can see in the attached pictures (courtesy of Mark Sprinkle and others), and hear in their music, led by Emil Awad.  And such are their gifts for celebrating that they made even the pomp and circumstance come alive.

Fakhri did the heavy lifting of translating Arabic into English and vice versa.  That helped us capture some of the nuances of the moment and helped his congregation understand us as we carried out our roles.  But the joy needed no translation.

Someday, in the presence of the Lord, we’ll hear and understand each other fully – along with the Chinese, Swahili, and Russian speakers.  And in the meantime the Lord gives us these lovely previews, full of joy.

We thank God for our sisters and brothers in the Christian Arabic Church.

Blessings,

Keith

"You've Got Mail" -- and a Whole Lot More

An Inkling

I was reading through my 1995 prayer journal, and found that Sarah and I were going over to our friends, the Davises, to see something new they had on their computer – AOL.  That led to us debating whether it would be worth the monthly fee ($9.95/month for five hours of on-line time – but how could you possibly use that much time?!), whether email would catch on, etc.  We decided to go for it, and in a few weeks our home was sounding with “You’ve got mail.”  Twenty years later we’re still discovering the full impact.

And twenty years later, my iPhone has much more computing power and memory than my big box computer did in 1995.  With it I need not even type – I just tell it what I’m seeking, and it goes to find it, or makes a call for me, or reminds me that it’s time for my appointment, or….  And I carry it in my pocket!  Amazing.  E.g., it took me less than a minute to find out what AOL cost in 1995, and what you got for that $9.95. 

Many have said that the internet is having an even bigger impact than the printing press.  Twenty years later the world was still discovering the changes that all those books brought.  And we are certainly just beginning to discover the full impact of the internet.

So with the caveat of just twenty years’ experience, I offer these theological observations about the internet:

• The difference between information and wisdom is all the more obvious.  The supply of information is now limitless and instant.  The supply of wisdom is no different than it has ever been, and is often even more hidden by the cyber-mountain of information.
• All amplifications of human abilities (think arts, sciences, athletics, etc), magnify our capacities for both good and evil, and are ever-ready occasions for idolatry.  So, too, computers and the internet.
• As valuable as cyber-connections are (I treasure Facetime with my grandkids, and keep up with scores of old friends through Facebook), they are not the same as face-to-face relationships (not as slow, not as challenging, not as rewarding, not as formative).

You’ve got mail, and a whole lot more.  And we are still discovering the full capacities of this amazing resource to serve the Lord!

Blessings,

Keith