Clay in the Hands

I hit my Pandora radio limit yesterday – and it was only the middle of the month.  Pandora is an online music site that allows you to set up an account and then set up different “stations” based on the genre of music you like.  Last month they announced that they were going to limit the amount of time you could stream music.  Once you hit your limit, you could pay $.99 for the remainder of the month and keep listening.  So what did I do?  I did what any music lover would do in that situation – I opened iTunes, clicked on the radio button and went back to listening some stations I used to listen to before I discovered Pandora (Club 977 the 80’s channel was the choice of the day).

As I listened to the station, I was reminded that they play good music too.  I had just moved on to newer, cooler options – but the old faithful was still there.

In our spiritual lives we are always looking for new and fresh – creative ways to grow spiritually – to “be fed.”  But I want to challenge you today.  There are old, tried and true practices that still lead us to the heart of God.

How many of you, when I mention centering prayer, meditation, the Jesus prayer or Lectio Divina think “Oh yeah, I forgot about those things?”  Most of us on the Protestant side of things are somewhat unfamiliar with these practices.  In fact, some may even cause you to raise an eyebrow of suspicion thinking these practices might be an infiltration of “new age” meditation practices.

But in reality, these practices are as old as Christianity itself.  The desert fathers and mothers used these hundreds of years ago.  So new and fresh isn’t always the ticket.

I am not knocking contemporary trends, in fact, I love them.  But I am saying that we also need to look at age old practices that work.  The good thing is that we have been away from them for so long, for most of us they are new and fresh – now isn’t that interesting!

Please comment and / or contact me if you would like more information on spiritual practices and disciplines – there is a whole new (old) world out there.

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I woke up last night and could not go back to sleep.  I tossed and turned for about 2 hours and finally gave up and just got up.  I think part of my problem was all the things running through my head – all the plans and ideas I have to do great things for God’s Kingdom.  But as I lay there thinking and praying, I began to question my motivation.  I tend to be a dreamer in some regards which is not a bad thing but one of the things I am always cautious of is the motivation behind my dreams and aspirations.

Motivation is an important, if not crucial, element to life – any life.  Without motivation we would not get out of bed in the morning.  There would be no sense of purpose.  Now understand, motivation can be external – someone else telling us “You better do this or that.”  Or it can come from within.  It is this inner motivation I am talking about.

It is vitally important to make sure, as a follower of Jesus, that our motivation to do great things comes from a desire to serve Jesus and others and not ourselves.  As long as our motivation is purely and humbly grounded in serving Jesus and pleasing God, then all the other things we are concerned about will either be taken care of or merely fade into irrelevance.

So what motivates you today?  I challenge you to pray for God to search your heart – that place so deep inside that only you and God know it – ask God to search you there and reveal to you areas that may not be operating out of pure motives.  The Kingdom will be furthered and you will be blessed in the process.

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One of my favorite authors is Richard Foster.  He has written extensively in the area of spiritual formation.   His most recognized work was a book entitled, Celebration of Discipline.  In that book he made this statement:  “The desperate need today is not for a greater number of intelligent people, or gifted people, but deep people.”

Now he wrote this book about 30 years ago but this statement is still as true today as it was then.  Our culture has a tendency to move at the speed of light and the result is people who can get things done and move on to the next thing – successful people.

But at the core of most of what we see there is little depth.  When there is no depth, there is little passion and direction.  We are simply living day to day, from demand to demand.  How much better would our lives be – how much better would our world be – if we all had a spiritual depth that birthed true, God-centered direction and passion.

I would like to live that life – I would like to live in that world!

What do you think?

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I have always been a huge Journey fan.  I think I wore out more than one cassette from Steve Perry and the crew back in the day.  And they continue to be among my favorite 80’s bands.  A little over a year ago, Journey released a new album – (sorry, I’m a product of an earlier time) a CD in today’s terms.  On this new release they featured a new lead vocalist named Arnel Pineda.  Arnel is from the Phillipines and has an incredible voice.  But the key to his acceptance as the newest member of the group is that he sounds amazingly like Steve Perry.  In fact, the CD has a full offering of new material but it also contains a sort of greatest hits cuts sung by Arnel as well.

He is an artist in his own right, but it is obvious that Arnel was chosen for the role because he is an accomplished imitator of the original.  It will be interesting to see where this talent takes him and the rest of the group.  I am very impressed with Arnel and his talent, but call me set in my ways –  there is only one Steve Perry.

But I am reminded in all of this that we are all called to be imitators.  (Read about it here).

If we are to fully live out what God wants us to be, then we must strive to be more like Jesus – imitators of his life – imitators of the original.  We find in the imitation that we learn to experience life as it was intended to be experienced – a life of joy and love.

Keep on imitating!

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This week at Vacation Bible School I have had a part in the drama each night.  I have been a phony athlete, a mean soldier, an arrogant statesman and last night I was a thief.  Last night during the gathering time before we began, I was mingling with the kids on the front lawn and one little girl came up to me and yelled, “You’re a liar!”  Now normally I would have taken offense to that kind of abuse, but I knew she was referring to the character I played on Monday night (at least I hope she was!).  I knelt down to her as she was still pointing and laughing and explained that the person I played on Monday night was just make believe.  She understood and gave me a big hug.  But it reminded me that people watch me and it only takes one mistake to damage a reputation.

The more important issue is that when we make mistakes, the potential is always there to damage our Christian witness.  Paul said we should strive to live a life worthy of being called a Jesus follower (you can read it here).

If we are to truly make a difference in this world, or at least our little piece of it, then we must continuously strive to live as Jesus lived.  It isn’t easy but Jesus never said that following him would be.

Have a great weekend!

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I thought I would do one more post on prayer today.  I am working through all the elements found in this passage for the sermon on Sunday.  One of the things that I think we can understand from Jesus’ words is that authentic prayer is just that – authentic.  It must be real, it must be from your true self.

All of us carry baggage – we are complex beings with many layers that make up who we are.  But when we strip away all the external layers and get at the heart of who we really are, that person that really only God knows, we have reached the true self, we have reached the point of being able to pray unhindered.

I encourage you today to get real with God – be yourself.  God already knows you anyway!

Have a great weekend and as always, thanks for reading.

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Since we are talking about prayer this week, I feel led to speak to an area of the Christian walk that we don’t want to talk about much.  But if there is anyone reading today going through trying times (I would be shocked if there aren’t) this is for you.  If you aren’t going through tough times right now, that is a blessing.  But I would guess that all of us have at times and will again in the future.

When we go through trying times, God does not leave us.  Friends are placed around us to help – to listen.  Strength comes to us in ways that don’t make sense.  But what I feel I need to say today is this:  there are times that are so rough that we realize talking to a friend does not help, talking to a pastor doesn’t help.  Making ourselves busy to get our mind off of it doesn’t work either.

What then?

There are times in our lives, in our Christian walk, when there is no one or nothing to turn to.  No place we can go to get away from it.  No apparent relief to be found anywhere or in anyone.

It is in those times we must turn to God.  My own experience teaches me that even though the times can be painful, God never leaves me.  I can’t explain the sense of peace that comes when we rest in God and let go of our fear or anger or anxiety – I can just say that it is real.

So today, if you are in the midst of tough times, turn to God.  Cry out to God and let yourself rest in the arms that will never let you go.

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Yesterday, my post discussed that we should spend time alone with God.  I would like to keep that theme going today.  I want to begin with a question, “Is it possible to be alone with God even in the midst of a crowd?”

One of my most meaningful experiences I have ever had in sensing God’s presence in the midst of a crowd came a few years ago in a busy lobby of a hotel in Chicago.  I was waiting on my next meeting to begin and so I sat down to read.  I was reading Thomas Merton’s little book, Thoughts in Solitude.  The following is from my journal entry that day, July 26, 2006:

I took out my little book and began to read – normally I’m ready to check off another chapter but this time I read about 6 lines and stopped – going back to read them again.  I then stopped and shut the book and just praised God in all the hustle and bustle and noise – all of which would be insurmountable distractions at any other time.

What I read that made me stop was this:  “When I am liberated by silence, when I am no longer involved in the measurement of life, but in the living of it, I can discover a form of prayer in which there is effectively no distractions.  My whole life becomes a prayer.”

As I pondered these thoughts – I was swallowed up in the noise around me.  I heard nothing at all and everything all at once!  I praised and thanked God for the joy of life – as I saw people sharing a drink I praised God for the joy of friendships and relationships . . . The general praise was for the gift of life – a gift we take – I take – for granted, and certainly do not normally see it in a crowded, busy, downtown hotel lobby.  But this day was different.  This day I did!  Thank you God!

The point of all this is sensitivity and focus.  God is all around us – God is with us no matter where we go or what we do.  We just have to look for God.  We should most definitely have a place we meet with God regularly.  But in the in between times we must learn to make a space inside ourselves to meet with God as well.

Have you ever had experiences of God’s overwhelming presence in the midst of odd circumstances?  Let me hear from you.

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