The Order of Things

As many of my beloved readers may be aware, I am a routine individual (refer to the previous blog, “Bovine Creatures”). Last week was proof yet again of how discombobulated I become when my routine is interrupted! In my normal week I have daily devotions every morning and I also work-out three times a week. Mondays are usually my day to do a regular housecleaning: laundry, scrub floors, vacuum, clean bathrooms, pick-up, and generally set my agenda for the week. I see clients on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday and between clients I write, do personal bills and our business invoicing and bookkeeping, along with ministry research. Fridays I leave open for a variety of things: writing, gardening, or perhaps major household projects. Basically, every day has its routine.

Last week however the routine was interrupted. I had a funereal to attend on Monday which encompassed most of the day. Therefore, Monday’s work got pushed to Tuesday leaving Wednesday and Thursday to become overwhelmingly busy so that I would be free to assist my husband on Friday with his business. Needless to say, all week long, I had to consult a calendar to remember what day of the week it was and avoid missing client appointments. I like my routine, the order of events; order allows me to accomplish my work and maintain sanity and the comfort of our household. I become confused, tired and grumpy when my routine is altered.

Oddly enough, during my devotion reading last week, I realized that Jesus had a routine, an order, to His life. As I was reading John 13:1-5, I was immediately arrested by the order of events as He prepared to wash the feet of His disciples. The passage reads like this:

It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.
2The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. 3Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. John 13:1-5

Beginning in verse 1, John shares with us that Jesus knew that His time to leave the world and return to the Father from whom He had come was rapidly approaching. Jesus is longing to show His disciples the full extent of His love. Then, in verse 3, we read that Jesus knew that all power was His, that He had authority over everything, and that He had come from the Father and was returning to the Father. Did you catch it? That was the order: knowing how deeply beloved Jesus is by His Father and His authority was from God. Then Jesus would display His unfathomable love for His disciples. The only begotten Son of God, the Prince of Peace would don a simple towel, and take on the role of a servant to wash the filthy feet of His disciples.

I’m not saying that Jesus could not have become a servant to His disciples without first recognizing God’s love for Him. He’s perfect; of course He knew God’s love for Him! My point is that under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, John spells out an order of events for broken, weak, and faulty people: us. If we truly want to become the loving servant demonstrated by Jesus, we have to first stop and acknowledge to the depths of our soul how deeply loved we are by our Father; that we belong to Him as His children and He to us as our loving Father. God and God alone is the source of our power – power to love our neighbor and become their servant. Only as we acknowledge His love and care for us can we then, by the power of the Holy Spirit, become the loving servants God created us to be, in that order! Otherwise, we will become confused, grumpy, and exhausted!

If confused, grumpy, or exhausted is your state of mind, take a look inward. Are you focused on God’s love for you, even reveling in it? Or are you focusing on crossing your duties off of a never-ending list of chores, feeling resentful? Find the correct routine! Get things in order! I can’t speak for you, but I know that I have much to do to further His kingdom today and I do a better job when I do things in the correct order!

Bovine Creatures

“Grab her!” my mother yelled as I rounded the corner of the barn. Lucille, one of my mother’s Jersey cows was tossing her head and trying to push past three other cows to be the first to get into the barn. Mom leaped aside avoiding the stomping hooves and holding onto Pet’s halter for all she was worth. I jumped to grab Lucille’s halter and pulled with all my might to turn her away from the barn door. She needed to be the last cow in the barn so that she could give her new calf a drink. But Lucille was used to going into the barn first for the grain “treat” that would be awaiting her and was exhibiting her displeasure by trying to push Pet aside which was sending the rest of Mom’s small herd of seven cows into a mini stampede!

I learned a lot about cows growing up. Cows, as it turns out, are interesting creatures. While very curious and somewhat cantankerous, they are very routine animals. All of the cows know the routine; everybody has a stall to go into, in a very particular order, and if the routine is altered in any way, chaos will rule the day until the new routine has been established. Change does not come easily for cows.

Recently I have recognized that same bovine tendency in myself. Change does not come easily to me and I have been experiencing a season of changes; changes in relationships, changes within my church family, and even within my immediate family there have been some major changes. Some changes have been painful, others positive, and still others just dreadfully sad. I have felt my emotions fluctuating wildly depending on the events of any given day. Just as a herd of cows reacts to changes in their routines when they enter the barn, I am similarly affected when the routine relationships of my life are changed.

I think that is why knowing the truth of Hebrews 13:8, that “… Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever” has always been so precious to me. While changes are inevitable and seasons of change can be disconcerting, knowing that Jesus is constant, immutable, and unruffled by change is reassuring. My Savior knows the beginning from the end of everything that I am experiencing and none of it is unknown to Him. That fact gives me peace in spite of changing circumstances and relationships. How I praise God for His sovereignty through this changing season that feels chaotic to me! Now if I would just stop trying to push my way into the barn!!

Be Strong and Courageous

My heart leaped for joy at the power of the resounding “Aye’s” in the business meeting as the believers vigorously affirmed a willingness to embrace a new vision for our church! After many painful struggles, our church has decided to focus on becoming “outward” focused in ministry, to truly live out the Great Commandment (Matt. 22:37-39) AND the Great Commission (Matt. 28:19-20). I’m broken hearted for all those who decided to walk away from this particular church during the difficult struggle, but as I contemplate John 15, I rest in the knowledge that God has done some agonizing pruning in order to facilitate a season of fruitfulness that we can only imagine!

For the present there is work to do. My work: to make sure that my heart lines up with the vision. As a church, we are entering a season of mourning, confession, and repentance. Consequently, I have been praying and searching my heart in preparation for this season, so that I can enjoy a rich season of fruit-bearing which will surely follow. I am reminded of Joshua and how he must have felt as Israel was about to finally enter the promise land. If ever there was a time for Central Baptist Church “to be strong and courageous”, this is it.

I want to weed out more of my selfishness, my need to be “right”, and intentionally seek a spirit of unity and singleness of mind. I want to put my pride behind me along with my own agenda and replace it with His agenda! I want to be so in love with Jesus and His plan that I am willing to set aside any programs and ministries I might have thought were mine and lay them on the altar. For this change of heart to succeed it must be a work of the Holy Spirit and my job is to submit to that Holy Spirit, period. That will require strength and courage.

I suppose one might say that this is a pivotal moment for Central Baptist Church. As we stand on the threshold of the “promise land”, we have to make the decision to put replace our words with action and live it out. We must be “strong and courageous” and trust what God is doing in our church and as such, be prepared to love the communities in which we live, to show the people around us love, regard, and inclusion instead of judgment, disregard and exclusion. My prayer for our church is to figure out what Jesus would do here in Middleboro, Lakeville, Carver, Taunton, and wherever we live and do what Jesus would be doing, love whom Jesus would love, and further the kingdom of God in today’s world. “Father may your will be done on earth, and in my heart, as it is in heaven.” Amen!

Healing from Disease

Ezekiel 17:24: “And all the trees will know that it is I, the Lord, who cuts the tall tree down and makes the short tree grow tall. It is I who makes the green tree wither and gives the dead tree new life. I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will do what I said!” (NLT)

As many of you know I am an avid gardener. I love spending time in my gardens and watching the beauty of God’s creation unfold through the seasons as the plants, shrubs and trees go through the assorted stages of growth. However there are times when a plant just doesn’t thrive for various reasons. Then I have to research the needs of the plant to be sure of the amount of sunlight or rain it receives, if it is getting enough nutrients and checking it for parasites or disease. Ideally, as the issue is addressed, the plant will return to a healthy state and continue to grow.
Through the autumn months, I have been watching one of my favorite trees suffering through an issue of ‘split-bark’ disease. ‘Split-bark’ disease is sometimes the result of large temperature changes that result in the splitting of the bark of thinner barked trees. It may not kill the entire tree but the area of bark that splits needs to be treated so that a callous can develop and prevent any other disease from setting in. Smaller limbs above the split will manifest the lack of nutrients by the leaves curling up and dying, and may lead to the death of the rest of the branch. However, with the removal of the affected limbs and treating the affected bark, many times the rest of the tree will continue to flourish, the gaps from previous removal of branches will eventually fill-in and the tree will be restored to health and vigor.
Right now I believe my church is suffering through a very similar issue of ‘split-bark’ disease. Individuals have sinned for various reasons (splitting bark), and the result has been accusations (withering of leaves) and the death of relationships within the body (death of limbs). We have tried to treat the affected area of damage, but gossip (other disease) has set in, and now the whole body (tree) is suffering.
But amazingly enough, we are still seeing new growth! God’s amazing grace mercy and love are supplying the nutrients for new growth in spite of the disease! New people are coming in the doors of our building to learn about and worship our risen Lord. People are growing in their relationship with Jesus Christ and new people are accepting Christ, almost on a weekly basis. God is showing us His mighty power. He is taking center stage which is where He belongs in the first place, and growing His body, the church (tree). My joy knows no bounds!

Perfect Perspective

I have always loved flying. My husband, who is more traveled and more sophisticated than I am, doesn’t get as wound up about flying as I do. He will want to sit next to the window so that he can sleep! Sleep! Who can sleep? I revert to behaving like a five year old, I get so excited. I will beg to sit next to the window so that I can look out and observe the world from a cloud’s perspective. I don’t want to miss anything, especially if it is a clear day. I strain to find the local rotary as a reference point so I can try to find my house if we head south from Boston. I search the shoreline for landmarks to help me know which city or state over which we might be flying. I love how mountains look like wrinkles on the surface of the earth, and watching rivers snake back and forth through the expanse of the landscape below. I scrutinize the ocean with bated breath in anticipation of spotting a whale, an ocean liner or a carrier when flying over water. We have such an awesome perspective when flying thousands of feet above the earth!

Unfortunately, I do not always have such an awesome perspective on my spiritual life. Last week I blogged about my own perspective on an upsetting issue. As I prayed through my confusion, fear, and anger, God in His faithfulness revealed something that was painful for me to see. He started subtly since our Father is a gentleman and I can be somewhat slow on the uptake! However the subtlety ended when, through our pastor’s sermon, God hit me right between the proverbial eyes of my soul. Idolatry! I have been guilty of the sin of making my church an idol! And to add insult to injury, idolatry was the topic of the lesson I was teaching for the Women’s Sunday school class! Ouch!

After a time of confession and repentance I have gained a new perspective on the issues at church. Luke 6: 41 spells it out for me loud and clear: "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye”? Why indeed? Jesus showed me very clearly that, as my mother would say, I should tend to my own knitting! At the end of the day, I am going to stand before God and account for my actions, my thoughts, my sins; no one else’s. I have plenty of work to do on myself in my quest to be more Christ-like; my time would be better spent focusing on Jesus, above the church, above my loved ones, above anything, especially the actions of others. Caring for the hearts of others is the responsibility of Jesus and frankly, He is much better suited to it than I am. After all, He has the perfect perspective!