Lately, I've been thinking about bars. No, not the places that people go to drink but more in terms of standards, levels, and benchmarks.

Lawyers have to pass the bar.

To fish in the ocean, you've got to get past the bar of the harbor.

For athletes and academics to achieve top honors, they must raise the bar of their efforts.

Bars, bars, bars.

I think Jesus's message from the mountain in Matthew 5-7 speaks of bars too. In fact, I was thinking the other day on a prayer walk that Jesus simultaneously lowers the bar of entry to the kingdom while raising the bar of obedience for those who wish to be in it! 

The kingdom comes to those who may feel undeserving and belongs to those who love Jesus and obey Him - not just with exterior action but with heart motivation.

Matthew 5:3

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

Jesus offers entry into the kingdom as we put our faith in Him as our Savior and Lord and by our faith, we meet the demand he spoke of in Matthew 5:20, "For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."

May we be a church that moves at the rhythm of Jesus - raising the bar on obedience while at the same time, lowering the bar for entrance - for all who by faith want to be part of His kingdom of heaven.

A Bright Sadness

Our Lady of Guadalupe Trappist Abbey

According to the traditional liturgical calendar, we are in the 2nd week of Lent. Many of us are still discovering more about this special time leading up to Easter. In my church background, I was unaware for years what this was all about. As I've learned more, it has become something that I usually practice in some way each year.

What is Lent really? The word originally came from

a word for 'spring' and is connected to the idea of 'lengthen' as a period of penitence.

Traditionally this practice began in the 2nd century originally lasting just a few days (only much later did it become a 40 day fasting time honoring Jesus' 40 days in the wilderness recorded in Matthew 4). So, for about six weeks (except Sundays which are not days to fast), Christians opted for just one vegetarian meal in the evenings for spiritual growth - preparing for the celebration of Easter and resurrection.

The Eastern Orthodox church speaks of Lent as "a bright sadness" which involves both a realignment with the Lord and a relinquishing of things that weigh us down.

A bright sadness...hmmm. 

What in our lives can be relinquished?

What in our lives needs realignment?

I appreciate these words from Joan Chittister, author of The Liturgical Year, "Lent requires me, as a Christian, to stop for a while, to reflect again on what is going on in me. I am challenged again to decide whether I,  myself, do truly believe that Jesus is the Christ - and if I believe, whether I will live accordingly when I can no longer hear the song of angels in my life and the star of Bethlehem has grown dim for me."

May this time leading up to Easter be rich for all of us - rich in contemplation and communion with Jesus - relinquishing what needs to be pruned away and realigning with the heart of God!

Psalm 62:5 (New Living Translation)

"Let all that I am wait quietly before God,

    for my hope is in him."

Anxious for...nothing?

Do you know what the most common mental illness in the United States is currently - affecting 20% of the population?

You guessed it: Anxiety Disorders.

Whoa.

I enjoyed a seminar during a conference this past weekend that some of our worship team attended and the seminar was on anxiety - I learned a bunch!

First, anxiety is beyond normal stress (which actually helps us in the proper moments!). Anxiety is much deeper - a place that is unhealthy to stay for too long. It involves things like:

• Unrealistic worry or concern
• Excessive ruminating in negative thought
• Disrupting to daily activities
• Physically damaging at certain levels

Now sometimes professional help might be needed for those of us overwhelmed (no shame in that!), but for others of us, we can really lean in to using tools such as: proper rest, regular exercise and eating good foods.

From a pastor's perspective, I think it's hard to see and experience God's presence while wading through the fog of anxiety, so, I want to offer some additional Scriptural tools I use:

1)Being still

2)Breathing

The practice of being still shows up many times in Scripture. Its a call for us to stop always trying to fix things and actually let God do the fixing!  Try this exercise maybe as a prayer - from Psalm 46:10 - slow it down...

Be still, and know that I am God

Be still, and know that I am

Be still, and know

Be still.

On the second tool, we use the breath of life God gave us all when He created us (Genesis 2:7). 

As Psalm 150:6 sings:

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!

So we consciously and intentionally breath deeply in, hold it for a few moments, then, slowly let it out - it does wonders!  

Try this 4 - 7 - 8 exercise:

1. Blow out your breath slowly in exhale
2. Breath deeply in for a count of 4
3. Hold that breath in for a count of 7
4. Then, slowly exhale for a count of 8

Then we can hear Paul's encouragement in Philippians 4:6 with fresh ears:

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, 

present your requests to God.

Letting go of some anxiety today along with you!

Ben

Back to the basics of love

Read a prayer this morning that reminded me of our ground zero space as Christ-followers:  to love God and one another and of course to love our neighbor.  This will speak so much more loudly than protests and tweets and Facebook rants.

Pray this with me today:  "Lord, you have shown us what love looks like. Help us through acts of forgiveness and reconciliation to so love one another that our neighbors know we are your disciples and know that to be good news. Amen."

God's grace

Sometimes we resist it because it seems too good to be true.  When Paul wrote his letter to the Ephesian Christians that is is indeed by grace we are saved through faith and how this is not our doing but God's gift, I tend to want to add, yeah, but I'll go ahead and (you fill in the blank).  Grace and mercy presented to sinners like me can feel threatening - as if there is some fine print involved or strings attached or a no-interest now thing.  In one of my devotionals this morning I read this prayer that stopped me in my tracks (by Robert Capon):

"Lord, please restore to us the comfort of merit and demerit.  Show us that there is at least something we can do.  Tell us that at the end of the day there will at least be one redeeming card of our very own.  Lord, if it is not to much to ask, send us to bed with a few shreds of self-respect upon which we can congratulate ourselves.  But whatever you do, do not preach grace.  Give us something to do, anything; but spare us the indignity of this indiscriminate acceptance."

Unconditionally loved is the reality for us - which, if we embrace, it releases us from the pressure and offers us forgiveness and replaces our fear with faith.  In Christ we are liberated from having to make it on our own.  Freeing right?

Lord, increase my faith to live by grace!

(the devotional I got some of this from is It Is Finished by Tullian Tchividjian, David Cook Publishing 2015)

Well said Mr. Martin Luther King...

Martin Luther King Jr. said this: “There was a time when the church was very powerful. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. Whenever the early Christians entered a town, the power structure got disturbed and immediately sought to convict them for being ‘disturbers of the peace’ and ‘outside agitators.’ But they went on with the conviction that they were ‘a colony of heaven,’ and had to obey God rather than man. They were small in number but big in commitment. They were too God-intoxicated to be ‘astronomically intimidated.’ They brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide and gladiatorial contest.”  

Lord, restore Your church to be the force of love and good in the world to bring your Kingdom come!  

Lord God, help us to live out your gospel in the world. We pray for those who do not know your love, that they would be wooed by your goodness and seduced by your beauty. Form us into a family that runs deeper than biology or nationality or ethnicity, a family that is born again in you. May we be creators of holy mischief and agitators of comfort . . . -people who do not accept the world as it is but insist on its becoming what you want it to be. Let us groan as in the pains of childbirth for your kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven. Help us to be midwives of that kingdom. Amen.

Prayer in a world of 'shortcuts'

I read and prayed this prayer in my devotional time this morning - may it be a blessing to you!

Holy One, so often we claim to see but prefer our blindness. Send us teachers and saints whose lives speak loudly of faith and perseverance to guide us when we unknowingly stray from wisdom’s course. Help us to find the Way, the Truth, and the Life in this world of shortcuts, deception, and death. Amen.