Active Duty

An Inkling

Last week I received this letter from James, an elder here whose reserve unit got called to active duty in Afghanistan.  James had already been to Iraq twice, and had hoped that he would not be called up again.  But so he has, and he is counting this not just as a call from Uncle Sam, but from the Lord.  So he is plying his physician talents, but also seeking every opportunity to minister in the name of Christ.

I found his letter so inspiring that I asked him if I could share it, and he said yes.  So here it is. 

***************

Dear Keith,

It has been a month since leaving home for Afghanistan. It is no use to bore you with news about being homesick and missing Dodie and family. That goes with the turf.

I work in the outpatient clinic here at Bagram Air Field in Northeast Afghanistan. The command has not assigned me to the ER; neither do I expect them to. This is a very nice one-story concrete hospital building (in Iraq we had doublewide trailers) with an excellent staff.

The sadness is the horrific injuries brought to the hospital by helicopter. The military’s strategy is obvious. They try to serve the Afghan people by consistently showing up and trying to build goodwill with the people. This strategy makes our troops very vulnerable to ambushes, IED’s and land mines.  Please pray for President Obama and our leadership to have wisdom on how to handle this war.  

I had a young Air Force woman (36 yrs/old) that I was out-processing today for return to her home station.  As I listened to her story about going home and planning to run a marathon in Alaska, I discovered she was a nurse on a FAST team (forward advanced surgical team). Then my focus changed because I knew she had been in some heart breaking situations. We get their patients in our ER after they do the initial stabilization surgery down range. All I could think was, ‘she is just like our daughters’. I started to communicate with her about being aware of how hard her tour must have been, and the tears began to flow. She reduced me to tears as well. All you could do is just hold her and let her sob. This war has not made her heart hard because she already knew the Christ who can bring hope out of despair, light out of darkness and life out of death.

Last night I accompanied a group from this hospital and stood outside a cargo plane as 100 troops loaded a coffin on a plane for home. The Chaplain talked about Psalm 23 and 24, and then everyone walked on the plane in groups of five, saluted the coffin, then knelt beside it and had a moment to pray for the family back home. Life is far bigger and harder than I can handle. He who holds the Universe together by the word of His power (Hebrews 1:3) is gentle enough to hold the broken hearts too and bring healing.

On being here, when I consider home, I feel an urgency to take the influence of Christ from within our churches out into our communities and city. We need to utilize the opportunities that we have in America to love and serve the poor and the broken. If we do not intervene with God’s love, then the farther a culture gets away from the influence of Christ, then the uglier it gets. Selfishness only does damage. It seems worldwide that if a culture is not influenced by Jesus Christ, then fear is used to control and power is used to oppress. Let us not waste our lives on ourselves.

Because war strips the veneer off and so many of these soldiers hearts are wide open, probably 6-8 times a day I am communicating with soldiers about their fears, their relationship wounds, or their hopes in life. I get to talk to army rangers, jet pilots, infantry and support staff and the truths of the Gospel are mesmerizing. One of my favorite statements to build from is, “American Christianity has dumbed-down God. Most define Christianity in terms of behavior modification. Most of us try to put God in a box with formulas so we can control Him and then get what we want. If He really made the Universe, can we control Him? Either Jesus is who He says He is or He is schizophrenic. The doorway to intimacy with the God of the Universe is through a relationship built on trust”. Because they live in a military culture, they understand trust. Please pray as these soldiers let me into their hearts, that I plant the truths of Christ such that they follow Him. I pray for grace to care more about their souls rather than to impress them.

John writes in 1^st John, “God is light and in him is no darkness at all”. Let us live in this truth. Jesus bless you, James

***************

Afghanistan seems very far away.  But we all have our call to active duty, and frequently with assignments to places we would not have chosen.  It’s no more random for us than it is for James.  So let’s be in prayer for him, and for our own eyes to recognize the ministry possibilities God has opened for us on active duty.

Blessings,

Keith

Whacking Away

An Inkling

One more whack at how we use time.  Last week I wrote about getting a handle on how we use our time.  This week’s focus is on deciding where to trim.

For most of us the problem is not just in eliminating all of the evil and worthless things we do.  Even after shop lifting, drunken brawls, and drug dealing are crossed off our to do lists, we still have too much to do!  And I mean too many good things – which is not a good thing.

So how do we decide which good things to prune from the schedule vine?  As any good gardener knows, some of what must be pruned is living, and that smarts.  But there are smart ways to prune.

Here’s a tool for pruning your schedule.  List all of your repeated activities.  By “all” I mean everything, such as:  watch the news, mow the lawn, teach Sunday School, go to work, read the children a bedtime story, meet monthly for lunch with the book club (with the attendant book reading), meet with my small group, etc.

Then go down that long list of activities (you’ll have visual evidence of why life feels so busy), and mark next to each one the letters C,B, or E.  C is for committed, B is for burden, and E is for enjoy.  You will have two letters next to many, and maybe even three.

The activities with just a B are prime candidates for pruning.  When I see B’s on my list I wonder, “Why am I still doing this?!”  Most of these activities can be eliminated.

The problem is that eliminating only the B’s is usually not enough.  The more painful choices come with pruning back C’s and E’s.  But even some of those must be pruned for the vine of our schedule to bear fully.  And as with any vine, it needs to happen regularly – say once a year.

You may have a better spin on how to do this.  Gardeners do well to share their discoveries.  So let us know.  And may the fruit abound!

Whacking away,

Keith

Where Does the Time Go?

An Inkling

More thoughts on last week’s blog pursuit:  being busy with what matters most as servants of Jesus…  Wanting to be busy with what matters most, and actually living in a way that makes this possible, are not the same thing.

That’s how it works with money too.  We want to use this finite resource wisely.  Yet it’s amazing how few people actually have a plan to make that desire practical – i.e., a budget.  Some folks think budgeting is fun.  I worry about them!  But fun or not, it’s a simple tool to bring sanity and purpose to one’s financial life.

Back to time.  Time can also be budgeted.  Of course if you’re going to budget time, you have to have some sense of how you’re using your time.  Two tricks for that have been helpful to me.

The first is to spend a month keeping track of how you use time.  Do you have any idea of how much time you actually spend in a week watching TV, or surfing the internet, or working, or doing ordinary chores, or exercising, or studying scripture and praying, or conversing with your family, or sleeping, or serving others?  For almost all of us, the answer is “No.”  Not no, we don’t do all of that and more, but no, we don’t have any real idea of how we apportion our time and energy.  We spend less time than we would guess on some pursuits, and more than we would guess on others.

Why guess?  Set aside a month to keep track of how you’re using your time.  Create a chart with your major activities (you’ll have to add some as you go), and then every 2 or 3 hours, stop and jot down what you’ve been doing in 10 or 15 minute segments – before you forget.  Then add it up at the end of the day.  Then add the categories up at the end of the week.  And since weeks vary, do this for a month and get an average for how you’re using your time.

Then look at what you’ve learned.  Is this how you want to use your finite amount of time?  If you want to be busy with what matters most to you as a servant of Jesus, are these time choices furthering or frustrating that ambition?  What needs to be trimmed?  Dropped?  Expanded?  Added?

These are hard choices.  But until you know how you’re using your time, you’re not really choosing to be busy with what matters most.  You’re simply busy.

Next week I’ll write about the other trick, which helps with discerning which of your activities is really about what matters most.

Blessings,

Keith

Busy is as Busy Does (and Doesn't)

An Inkling

I’ve just finished Eugene Peterson’s memoir on being a pastor.  It’s wonderful.  I commend it, and not just for pastors.  It offers much wisdom for growth as a disciple in company with other disciples – i.e., the church. 

In it Peterson touches upon one of his favorite themes, namely how pastors (and others) are too busy.  For years I have felt guilty about being too busy.  But I’ve given up on that – not on being busy, but on feeling guilty!  I’m taking Peterson’s exhortation to heart, but I’m reframing it.  I don’t want to give up being busy with what matters, just on what doesn’t matter.  As for what matters most, I want to pursue that intensely for as long as I can.  And I’m happiest when I’m doing so.

Actually, it’s a bit more complex than that.  Unlike God, we live with finite time and energy, which means that we can’t pursue everything that matters.  Thus we must pursue the part of what matters that God gives to us for this season of life.  Getting specific about our part in what matters is what makes busyness faithful.  

That and having busyness paired with “unbusyness.”  For along with a calling to be about what matters, the Lord has given us another calling, the Sabbath – a day apart from busyness.  The Lord sets the pattern himself.  He creates the universe in six days (how’s that for busy?!), and then takes a day to be unbusy – to go slow and enjoy what he has made (Genesis 1:1 – 2:3).  Then he tells us to do the same, as one of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:8-11).

It looks to me like God was pretty busy for a while there.  Read on, and you’ll find that he has stayed busy guiding the universe he made, along with the jillions of people made in his own busy image.  But he pairs that busyness with unbusyness, as a pattern for joyful living.  The unbusy day stands as a shield against the megalomania that comes  with being all-busy all the time.  It’s easy to get an inflated sense of one’s importance in the Kingdom, especially if our busy pursuit of what matters is not punctuated by God-designed and God-modeled Sabbath unbusyness.

There’s more to be said about how we can be busy with the portion of what matters that God has specifically given to us.  But that will wait until next week’s blog…  I’m too busy with several other pursuits to take that on right now!

Blessings,

Keith

Vibrant

An Inkling

Brennan Manning tells about a note found in the office of a young pastor in Zimbabwe soon after his martyrdom for his faith in Jesus.  He had written:

I’m part of the fellowship of the unashamed.  I have the Holy Spirit power.  The die has been cast.  I have stepped over the line.  The decision has been made—I’m a disciple of his.  I won’t look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still.  My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, my future is secure.  I’m finished and done with low living, sight walking, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, worldly talking, cheap giving, and dwarfed goals.

I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or popularity.  I don’t have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded.  I now live by faith, lean in his presence, walk by patience, am uplifted by prayer, and I labor with power.

My face is set, my gait is fast, my goal is heaven, my road is narrow, my way rough, my companions are few, my Guide reliable, my mission clear.  I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded, or delayed.  I will not flinch in the presence of the enemy, pander at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity.

I won’t give up, shut up, let up, until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up, preached up for the cause of Christ.  I am a disciple of Jesus.  I must go till he comes, give till I drop, preach till all know, and work till he stops me.  And, when he comes for his own, he will have no problem recognizing me...my banner will be clear!

The old saying is that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.  If so, the blood of such martyrs will produce a vibrant strain indeed! 

May it be that we would find the Spirit moving in us such a vibrant fashion!  May we, too, be “part of the fellowship of the unashamed,” living the joyful adventure of service to Jesus with an abandon that reflects his own. 

Blessings,

Keith

The Maker of Great Moments

An Inkling

The greatest moments of my life have taken place in worship.  A lot of honorable mentions occurred in other contexts:  family vacation at the lake; graduations; the fellowship of small groups.  But far and away the best moments are eight which took place in worship:  when I exchanged mar­riage vows with my dear Sarah, the baptisms  and weddings of our three daughters, and recently the baptism of our grandson, Hilton.

I both anticipated and enjoyed each of those moments great­ly.  Oddly enough, the moments have not faded into nostalgia.  Rather, with the passage of time, their meaning has grown.  For it is only with time that the meaning of a mar­riage or a baptism comes to full flower.  And the buds are still opening.

Over the years framed reminders of those great moments appeared in our family room – a wedding, followed by baptisms, followed by weddings, and now again baptisms.  Cherished pictures of vacations and graduations may prompt nostalgia, but reminders of weddings and baptisms are the ones that prompt awe:  "See what God has done!"

My appreciation of those moments is dependent in part upon a moment I can't remember myself.  But I've been told.  And I've seen a picture of a fat cheeked baby boy on his way to the First Presbyterian Church of Baird, Texas, for his own baptism.  Even before my memory took hold, God was reaching out to me in love.  So, too, the bud that sprang forth that day is still coming to full flower.

Many are the memories of human making.  But the greatest moments of life are the work of God.  And he's still working.

With you!

Keith

God's Birthday Gifts

An Inkling

Today I’m completing year 56.  Here are my random observations as I try to gather enough breath to blow out a forest of candles…

Fifty-six sounds old to me.  I don’t feel that old.  I also don’t feel mature enough to be that old.  I would have thought that by now I would be bearing the fruit of the Spirit more abundantly, and that I would struggle less with the works of the flesh (see Galatians 5:19-23).  So I’m most grateful that the Lord’s mercies are new every morning – even after a bunch of mornings!

On the other hand, I do feel that old – at least physically.  For the first time in my life I get winded by climbing stairs fast.  And with a changing metabolism I am also discovering what my heavy friends meant by not being able to lose weight.  I’ve always thought that they just didn’t try hard enough.  I’m starting to understand.  So the fantasies of forever young are fading – another of God’s gifts, since fantasies don’t serve well for long.

As those fantasies fade I’m also all the more amazed at God’s persistence with me.  Even after decades of mixed results working with me, he has not diminished his expectations.  He still intends to reshape me to be more like Jesus.  And that’s no fantasy (see Ephesians 4:13-15).  What a gift! 

Such growth, while tailored to who I am, is not private.  It comes only in partnership with others whom the Lord is forming.  I count you, my partners in Christ, as the best of God’s many birthday gifts.  Thanks for being you.

Blessings,

Keith

Knowing Your Place

An Inkling

“Where’re you from?”  I felt like I needed an answer, and “Texas” was as close as I could get.  But it wasn’t true.  My parents were from Texas.  I didn’t know where I was from.  The only place we had was where Boeing assigned my dad, and that turned out to be plural, not singular.  I was not alone in that.  Most of my peers in the suburbs were like me – they had wheels, not roots.

“Where’re you from?”  Now I answer, “Richmond, Virginia.”  I’ve never felt so quickly at home anywhere I’ve ever lived.  Even after being here four years, there is still a delight for me in being here.  Maybe at the ripe old age of 55, a fellow who learned young how to roll, is finally learning how to root.

Both skills are useful in life, for God directs us toward each at various times.  The scripture recounts multiple occasions of each for our instruction.  For example, God rooted his long-transient people in a land of their own.  And Jesus uprooted his disciples, who left their nets to follow the one who had no place to lay his head.

It’s well to ponder such stories, for over the course of our lives we have multiple occasions for both rolling and rooting.  These play out geographically, vocationally, relationally, congregationally, etc.  For most of us one or the other tends to be more familiar, more comfortable.  But God works in both ways, and is with us in both modes.  And finally, even in this life, we begin to learn what we will fully know in the Kingdom, that our place is with him.

Blessings,

Keith

Fixing Our Wanters

An Inkling

The scripture says it many ways, but this one is particularly lovely:  Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart (Psalm 37:4).  On first reading we take that to mean that God gives us what our hearts desire.  But there’s another way to read it – that God transforms what our hearts desire.  Not only does he give us what our hearts desire, he gives us new desires for our hearts!  In other words, he fixes our “wanters.” 

Most of the time people do what they want to do.  Occasionally people will discipline themselves to do what they should do even if they don’t want to do it.  But that usually doesn’t last very long.  Witness the shelf life of New Year’s resolutions.  It’s when we really want to do something that we find a way to do it, and we keep at it.

I was reminded of this last week on our Kazakhstan trip.  One of our team members, Tim, went because he really wanted to go.  And he had to want to go strongly, for there were dozens of reasons not to go – e.g., it cost a lot of time (half of his annual vacation), it cost a lot of money, it took him apart from his wife and two teenagers, and the trip came at a pressure-packed time in his banking job.  But Tim went.  People do what they want to do.  And what Tim really wanted to do was lovely indeed – to see and to bless the two children that he and his family sponsor.

We can tell people what they ought to do, and occasionally they will do it.  This was the Pharisees’ approach, and they were perplexed that their directives didn’t work better.  (Actually the “ought to do it” approach didn’t work so well in their own lives either, despite their careful efforts to project the image.) 

Jesus took a different approach, the Psalm 37:4 approach.  He wanted the delight of our relationship with the Lord to reform our desires – to fix our “wanter.”  And so he described our new life in him with images like this:  The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field (Matthew 13:44).  The man doesn’t see it as a burden to sell it all so that he can acquire the treasure; rather he joyfully does, despite the cost!  People do what they want to do, and so Jesus strategically shapes what we want to do, wedding freedom and obedience in a union of great joy.

May it be that our delight in the Lord would give him full access to our “wanters.”  They need fixing!  Upon repair, those wanters put us to doing some amazing things, some Jesus things – and we’ll not let anything stop us.

Imagine that!

Keith

Adorned by Love

An Inkling

I am writing this week from Kazakhstan.  Do you know where that is?  I know I didn’t, until I came to St. Giles and learned about our partnership with an interchurch group that enables us to join in blessing orphans ten time zones to the east.  I first came here in 2008, and am most grateful to be able to come again.  

Many of the state’s orphan care efforts are admirable.  But even where it works as well as possible, there is a huge love deficit.  That’s where we come in.  We just show up and love the kids.  They show us their rooms, what they’ve made in school, and their pictures of family – if they have family.  I’m not particularly gifted in working with children.  But this takes no great gifting – just a willingness to show up and love.

That love has found a particular focus for me this week in Anastasia.  She is the little girl that Sarah and I have begun to sponsor through Interlink.  She’s eight years old, and has been in the orphanage for most of her life.  She’s not an orphan in the classic sense.  Her parents are living, but they have yielded her and her brother to the orphanage, due to their inability to care for them.  If anything, that’s a sadder legacy than having no parents at all.

Anastasia is like the other kids, hungry for love, and for someone to be especially focused on her.  That’s been my job this week.  My tear ducts have gotten a good workout in the process, and especially so the second day I saw her.  I had brought her a box of brightly colored ponytail holders that Sarah found for her as a gift.  We weren’t certain what she would like.  But all doubt was removed when I saw her on that second day, with all of the ponytail holders in her hair at once – as you can see in the picture.

I lost it.  Just seeing her with every color in her hair at once – her proud effort to receive this simple gift fully – was as beautiful a sight as I’ve ever seen.  May it be that we would receive the full rainbow array of adornments given by the One who has not left us as orphans (John 14:18).  In his love he would make us beautiful.  And my guess is that our eagerness to sport his adornments might well bring tears to his eyes.

Of course in my case I trust he has something other than ponytail holders… Ha!

Blessings,

Keith
P.S. – My friend, Tim Brown, who is on the trip too, saw my blog post and made this youtube video to fill out the picture a bit. Thanks Tim!

In the Blacksmith's Shop

An Inkling

One value of conflict is that it makes us think through why we believe what we believe.  Unchallenged beliefs can remain vague and confused.  Not so beliefs that are challenged.  As they say, “Iron sharpens iron.”  We find ourselves in the blacksmith’s shop courtesy of a biblically unfaithful choice made by our denomination this week. 

Here’s the short of it.  Last summer the General Assembly (our national governing body) voted to remove from our church constitution the requirement that ministers and elders must live in fidelity in marriage between a man and a woman or chastity in singleness.  The proposal then went to the 173 presbyteries around the country for their consideration.  Three times in the last ten years we have defeated similar proposals in the presbyteries.  But this time it passed, with the majority gained this week.

Knowing that this biblically unfaithful proposal would likely gain a majority vote sometime in May, our Session has begun to talk about how we will respond.  The Session’s letter to you can be found on our church website (see the link just below).  In the coming months the Session will enable us as a congregation to discern God’s guidance.  There will be several options for faithful response, and we will be seeking the one to which God is guiding us.

In the process the iron of our beliefs will be sharpened about such basic matters as:

·      Sexual ethics – what does the Bible teach?  Considering the ferment in our society about sexual ethics, it’s well to have clarity.

·      Biblical authority – why should we care what the Bible says about sexual ethics? 

·      The nature of God’s grace – is God’s grace a love and acceptance that prompts transformation, or is it simply an unconditional positive regard?

·      Our relationship with the historic and global church (beyond our denomination) – what does it mean that this action divides us from the historic position of the church, and from almost all of our global partners?

·      The nature of the church – yes, we’re one in Christ, but how much diversity of belief can a church handle without making itself crazy?  Whatever that threshold is, it looks like we’ve passed it.

·      Etc, etc, etc.  These are just some of the basic matters that we’ll be addressing as we seek God’s guidance.

I don’t know what all God is going to do through this.  But I know the blacksmith shop in which we find ourselves belongs to him.  And I know that we’ll be sharpened for more effective service.  That’s to the good.

Blessings,

Keith

Reporting From Japan

An Inkling

How was the trip?  The short answer is, “very good.”  Sarah and I had never been to the Far East, and so when our daughter, Dorothy, and her new husband, Brandon, landed there courtesy of his Navy Chaplain duties, we decided to make the big journey. 

It has been a wealth of new sights.  As I write this on my way home, I’m still processing it all.  Here is some of what I observed (along with a few pictures):

It was fun to see Dorothy and Brandon’s new life together.  Family traits and values show, but they show differently in a new setting and season.  The greatest joy of the trip by far was seeing how they are serving the Lord in such a different place.

We visited lots of Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples.  I was fascinated by the various facets of these faiths, as adherents seek to make sense of life and its limits.  I prayed for those we saw burning incense and bowing to various idols, that they might come to know the One who sent his Son for us.

At one of the shrines we saw a hillside of baby Buddhas.  We were told that they place such images to remember lost babies, some of which are by miscarriage, and most of which are by abortion.  It was one of the saddest sights I’ve ever seen.  Abortion is a scourge in their land, as in our own.  May all such heartsick moms meet the One who alone can heal the heart.  And may both their land and ours be delivered of this scourge.

We saw lots of young Japanese people wearing shirts and jeans with English phrases emblazoned on them.  Most of them were either misspelled or entirely nonsensical.  Apparently English is fashionable in appearance, and the sense of it is irrelevant.  I didn’t know what to make of that.  I’m eager to be back where English at least makes some sense!

And I’m eager to be back with the St. Giles family!  You’re the biggest part of why “there’s no place like home.”

Homeward bound,

Keith

Confirmed

An Inkling

It doesn’t get any better for the Elders of our church than this:  we were gathered to hear Rachel, Geoffrey, and Matt tell about their faith in Jesus.  Dwight Hedges, our Director of Student Ministries, had been meeting with them for ten weeks, and they were more than ready – even if a bit nervous.

Here are some of the questions they answered:

§       If Jesus Christ has shown us what God is like, then what do you know about God from having observed Jesus? 

§       Can you affirm that you are ready to follow Jesus, and that you consider him as your Savior and Lord? 

§       What people or events have led you to trust Jesus? 

§       What does the word “Trinity” mean? 

§       What are some meanings of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper? 

§       What are the missions of the church?  What part of the mission appeals to you?

The zeal and understanding with which they answered truly blessed the Elders.  Now they’ll complete their profession of faith during worship this Sunday.

What qualifies them to do so?  The right answers to the questions?  No.  They are no more qualified to be a follower of Jesus now than they were five years ago, when defining the Trinity would have been a stretch.  They’ve not been qualified; they’ve been confirmed.  Thus our term for this process:  confirmation.

They have a role in this.  They have studied so that they can profess their faith with understanding.  So they are confirming their faith. 

But more importantly, they are being confirmed by the One who has used all manner of things to form them in Christ:  from the vows their parents spoke at their baptisms, to a thousand family prayers, to scores of Sunday School classes and student ministry outings.  Having been confirmed, they are now ready to stand in worship this Sunday and confirm what they believe.

Then, with the rest of us, they’ll get to confirm that belief by the ways they live.  And it only adds to the joy that we get to do so together.  God’s goodness has been yet again…

Confirmed!

Keith

A Week that Rubs Off on Us

An Inkling

We call it “Holy Week.”  But that doesn’t mean that it’s made of silver or gives off mysterious smoke.  In the scripture the word “holy” first describes God, and the quality of his being that sets him apart from the ordinary.  God is holy, and through Jesus we are welcomed into his holy pres­ence, and are even made holy ourselves.

What is Holy Week?  Its celebration goes back at least to fourth century Jerusalem.  It’s no surprise that the saints there, with the places of the passion all around, would come to celebrate the events leading to Jesus’ resurrection.  The custom soon spread, and so Holy Week has been celebrat­ed ever since.

So how is a week holy?  The simple answer is that it is not.  It’s no different than any other week, in that we celebrate Jesus’ death and resurrection every week.  Yet the church discov­ered that our every week celebration is enhanced by a special week with a singular focus on the last week of Jesus’ earthly life.  For in that week the holiness of God was most clearly revealed.  Thus its celebration is called “Holy Week.”

Holy Week begins this Sunday with Palm Sunday.  We’ll celebrate the Lord’s glorious entry into Jerusalem and his reign in our lives.  Then comes Maundy Thursday.  “Maun­dy” is from the Latin word mandatum (mandate), recalling that Jesus mandated his remembrance in bread and cup.  Our service is at 7:00 p.m.  On Good Friday we will gather at noon for a service that focuses upon the cross.  Then on Easter, we’ll have a grand resurrection celebration at each of our worship services.

What are you doing for Holy Week?  How about following a centuries old tradition by gathering with other Christians to worship the One who is wholly holy.  Part of the good news is that it (God’s holiness) does rub off, making for…

Holy Presbyterians!

Keith

Sloganeering

An Inkling

How do we describe ourselves?  At St. Giles we describe ourselves via website, mission statement, E-News, and signs.  Each has its purpose. 

Now we also have a slogan.  A slogan has to be short and catchy – short enough to fit on a sign or a website banner, and hopefully catchy enough to be memorable without being trivial.  We wanted something that captured our essence as a church.

The Session has been seeking a slogan for months, and now we believe we have it:  Christ for All – All for Christ.  That’s not a play on the Three Musketeers’ slogan.  It’s who we are in brief.  Here’s what we mean:

Christ…

·      The One God sent for the salvation of the world is Jesus Christ.  He is the beginning and end of what God is doing in the world, and in our lives.

·      Not Christ reduced to convenient size, but Christ in all his fullness and scandal, Christ in his radical claim to be God’s unique provision for salvation, and in his equally radical outreach to all, Christ the Lord of each life and all creation.

… for All…

·      We respect all people and religions, but we humbly take up Christ’s own radical claim to be uniquely the Savior and Lord of the world.

·      We seek to love as Christ loved, reaching across all divides, be they personal, global, or something in between.

… All…

·      Through his love Jesus Christ has captured us: heart, soul, mind, and strength!

·      We intend to live under his lordship, and to practice the spiritual disciplines that foster this intention.

·      Those disciplines include worship, study, prayer, solitude, silence, service, fasting, simplicity, and fellowship.  Through such disciplines God advances his reign in our lives.

… for Christ.

·      Finally a purpose big enough to live for!   All we have, are, and do is for Jesus Christ – not Christ as we imagine him, but as he is portrayed in the scripture, and described in our creeds.

·      Thus we decide how to use our time, energy, and money by no lesser standard than this:  is it ultimately for Christ and his Kingdom?

How’s that for bold?  We’re not there yet, but we’re on our way – with Jesus!  What a privilege!

Blessings,

Keith