History’s Lost and Found

I preached yesterday – two sermons. One went pretty well, the other could have used a lot more preparation than it got. But the congregation was very generous. One of the things I talked about during the course of the first sermon was how history is related, and how the facts of history can be chosen to present the story of history in a certain light. It’s one of the things I remember as most significant from the major in history I undertook in my undergrad days. I pointed out that 1492 looks very differently to a successful American business woman than it does to a tribal chief on an Arizona reservation. Same events; same history.

Anyway, with that I had two significant encounters today along those lines. CNN ran an obituary about a woman in Ecuador who died. The significant thing is that she was born the same year as Charlie Chaplin and Adolf Hitler – 1889. She was 116 years old and was the oldest living person according to Guinness Book of World Records. She got married the year the United States entered World War I. Truman was in his full term as president 32 years later when her husband died. And I marveled that we are quickly running out of those who were alive in the 19th century when Queen Victoria ruled an empire where the sun was always shining somewhere. Soon it will all be left to books and no living memory will be around to tell any tale of those days. And that just struck me. I’m not sure why.

The other was a good, long conversation I had with a member of the congregation. He is approaching 80 and is recovering his strength in a hospital after several major surgeries and a few complications. He shared his testimony and some of his experiences in life. I could have listened all day – as long as he wanted to talk. I love listening to people and hearing their stories. I love hearing how their view on life has been shaped over the years, the things they did, and how they view those experiences now – good and bad. I learn so much from these oral histories. I am glad to listen while I can.

All of our knowledge comes from experience and the experience of others. And so much is lost through death. Imagine what we could do in a life that went on and on for all of eternity. I’m glad that is more than just wishful thinking – that eternal life is a very real opportunity for all that wish to accept it.  I look forward to spending a lot of time listening to people’s stories.

History’s Lost and Found

I preached yesterday – two sermons. One went pretty well, the other could have used a lot more preparation than it got. But the congregation was very generous. One of the things I talked about during the course of the first sermon was how history is related, and how the facts of history can be chosen to present the story of history in a certain light. It’s one of the things I remember as most significant from the major in history I undertook in my undergrad days. I pointed out that 1492 looks very differently to a successful American business woman than it does to a tribal chief on an Arizona reservation. Same events; same history.

Anyway, with that I had two significant encounters today along those lines. CNN ran an obituary about a woman in Ecuador who died. The significant thing is that she was born the same year as Charlie Chaplin and Adolf Hitler – 1889. She was 116 years old and was the oldest living person according to Guinness Book of World Records. She got married the year the United States entered World War I. Truman was in his full term as president 32 years later when her husband died. And I marveled that we are quickly running out of those who were alive in the 19th century when Queen Victoria ruled an empire where the sun was always shining somewhere. Soon it will all be left to books and no living memory will be around to tell any tale of those days. And that just struck me. I’m not sure why.

The other was a good, long conversation I had with a member of the congregation. He is approaching 80 and is recovering his strength in a hospital after several major surgeries and a few complications. He shared his testimony and some of his experiences in life. I could have listened all day – as long as he wanted to talk. I love listening to people and hearing their stories. I love hearing how their view on life has been shaped over the years, the things they did, and how they view those experiences now – good and bad. I learn so much from these oral histories. I am glad to listen while I can.

All of our knowledge comes from experience and the experience of others. And so much is lost through death. Imagine what we could do in a life that went on and on for all of eternity. I’m glad that is more than just wishful thinking – that eternal life is a very real opportunity for all that wish to accept it.  I look forward to spending a lot of time listening to people’s stories.

Early in the morning

Mark 1:35-39

In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there. Simon and his companions searched for Him; they found Him, and said to Him, “Everyone is looking for You.” He said to them, “Let us go somewhere else to the towns nearby, so that I may preach there also; for that is what I came for.” And He went into their synagogues throughout all Galilee, preaching and casting out the demons.

I think Jesus knew the reasons for the crowds and why they sought him. I think he understood them and their need, and what he had to offer them. But I also think that the crowds exasperated him. I suspect he preferred the independence and freedom of a carpentry shop. I think he longed for those interludes when it was him and the Father communing together. I think on his choice alone, Jesus would have stayed in the deserted, lonely places. But he knew that the need was great. He needed to go to the crowds and meet their longings and their needs. And he knew that because of prayer.

Before any major event in his life, the gospels record that Jesus went off by himself and prayed. Between his baptism and the start of his ministry. The transfiguration. Walking on water. Being arrested. They are preceded by Jesus in a solitary place, praying, asking God. I think his prayer times throughout his ministry were often like what we have recorded of his prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane before his arrest. Pleading with God for rest, respite, and a different path, but always leaving the time with the sense of purpose, conviction, and assurance that he was doing the right thing, the necessary thing.

He rejects the allure of popularity and acclaim offered to him by the crowds for the higher calling of the purposes of God. Jesus was popular because he was a healer, but the healings he did at the time were only temporary – the people still died. The crowds followed Jesus because he gave them good gifts and fixed their problems (however temporarily). But Jesus did not come to perform miracles and pass out Band Aids for problems. He came to call people to repentance and a new path, a difficult path.

How difficult is it to maintain focus when crowds are clamoring around, when peers and multitudes demand certain things from us? Jesus faced this as well, and I think he needed the time of prayer he often took to withdraw so that he could refocus and reclaim the mission and purpose for which he was sent.

Living on purpose

I am struck tonight by the great variety of people and ministries that make up our world. Our church supports a number of missionaries each month, and one of the couples showed up tonight virtually without warning. He spoke about the ministry that he and his wife share to their particular constituents in their field, and I was intrigued by how much we are each of us so specifically located.

We are told in the Bible that the church is like a body, made up of many parts, each with its own unique purpose. We are told that the church body would be less – significantly less – if any part were missing or failed to do its purpose. (How can an ear say to an eye “I don’t need you” or a foot say to a hand “away with you, I have no use for you”?) I have almost exclusively thought about this in terms of the local church. I almost said “as a Baptist, I have almost exclusively thought about this in terms of the local church,” but I think it is not so much Baptist or not Baptist as it is that we get caught up in our own place. I do know that I am swayed by the strong Baptist teaching that each local church is a mini Kingdom of God, and so that verse of Scripture applies to the local church. And I have almost always thought of it in terms of the local church.

But not tonight. Tonight, I am awestruck by the great variety of work throughout the Kingdom of God in all of the world. He calls so many people to so many specific tasks. I love the church that I am in, and I think it is a great fit for me. I look at some of the missionaries or other ministers I know or have heard about and think, “I could never do that.” And I am so grateful that I don’t have to! That I am made for here and now and where I am, and not for any other. That I can be assured that my strength as part of the larger body is precisely where I am. That is a comforting and peace-giving thought. And it allows me to live even more deliberately in the now, devoting myself even more fully to this place. I have a purpose. God created this body called the church, he formed me as part of it, and he has put me precisely where I need to be. I am no longer waiting to live, but I am living on purpose. Or is that living in purpose….?

On worship

I have been thinking about worship the last few weeks. Well, I imagine my new responsibilities will require that I think about worship next to constantly. Given that, I have spent more time focusing on it than I have in quite some time. I opened a Bible software program (to knock the dust off of it) and did a quick survey of uses of the word worship. That turned into a mini Greek word study (please don’t faint). Anyway, I noticed two words for worship: latreia and proskuneo. A quick survey seems to suggest that the former is more concerned about how we worship (methodology) and the latter is more concerned about why we worship (theology). I am curious what your thoughts are on why we worship and examples you have about how your experience of the church practices worship.

I look forward to your comments.