Comfort and Suffering

Remarkable are the extremes of faith and visible are the beloved who have experienced them. John the beloved disciple is seen in Da Vinci's last supper with his head leaning lovingly upon the chest of Jesus. What a tender display of love communicated and affection given by Christ to this one who drew close and confided in the deepest secrets of  Jesus. This is comfort. This is Christ. All is well, for a moment.

Fast forward to a desert island, a prison island of rock and sun, wind and rain, rough elements fit for the wild and the blistered and banished. Enter John the beloved and blistered. This time he is resting his whitened hair on a roll of straw after prayer. And he is taked in the Spirit! The scrolls and scenes unfold before him and he reels with the thrill of a man who is crossed in to eternal mind of God, to the future passed and yet to come. He has known comfort and with it peace. Now he knows suffering and with it revelation, deep and powerful as an deep ocean current sweeping time and nations and planets and the souls of the living and the dead  in a rhythm of culmination ending in recreation of all that is known.

I am always ready for comfort, like John. I seek it. But I never seek suffering, it finds me, elusively, like living on Patmos found  John; prepared and unprepared, angry and embarrassed, reconciled and repentant, searching for meaning in pain. Not  knowing yet  that the revelation to come will be sweet and holy, terrifying and enlightening and both His and mine. Comfort and suffering are both a gift to one who will embrace them as divine love. Welcome.

The Public Square

Last week Judy and I had the joy of walking slowly through the Cleveland Museum of Art. We took in lunch, exhibitions of Medieval Armor, numerous paintings and even authentic Egyptian Sarcophagi. One of the highlights was the lovely Roman statuary. They were carefully lit from above and along side to reveal the subtelties of the artists work and accentuate the boldest details.

They reminded me of a story that I read about the artist Michael Angelo.  It is believed that one of his apprentices was troubled by the lack of bright light in the workshop. His latest creation wasn't seen as well as he thought it should be. Michael Angelo took him aside and said, "Don't be so concerned how your work is viewed in here, rest assured, it will be thoroughly tested and critiqued in the light of the public square!"

Hebrews 4:13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from Gods sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must all give an account.

Following

Following

In 2008 Judy and I had an amazing time of discovery. We visited Greece, Turkey and Israel following the steps of the Apostle Paul and Rabbi Jesus!

We discovered what CNN wasn’t saying; there is world of people just like you and I that want to know more about Jesus and live in peace with their global neighbors.

Why doesn’t CNN ever have a story like “Good morning, It was another peaceful day in Antioch Turkey, were biblical pilgrims and Turkish citizens met and made friends over coffee?”

One time Judy and I went one way, while our luggage went another way, while tracking a lost passenger! It seemed we moved best when we moved together…following!

We followed Rabbi Paul through the sun-washed Greek Islands and shoreline, to Corinth, Crete and Cyprus. We are still following his teaching and lifestyle, his encouragements and lessons today!

How about those Corinthians for a learning community?

Like Christians before us, we learned through living and experiencing life with each other.

Remember Peter, James and John, Christ’s close inner circle? His follower’s who were ready to pray with him, learn from him, fight and even die for him; well…almost.

He invested in them. His daily life was their classroom! He invited them to walk with Him, close to Him, following His every action.

A friend once said to me “Ron, Christianity isn’t a religion, it’s a lifestyle believers live.”

He said “Will you follow me, to church Sunday?”

I followed him, who followed Him, and I am still following today.

And I wonder; how many more can we invite to follow Him? I am so glad He took the time to ask, “Will you follow me?”

Then Jesus said to them “Follow me and I will make you become fishers of men.”

Ron

The shooting zone

Today was the first day (after praying of course) for finding my call to the "shooting zone" in Lorain Ohio. It all started with a headline in the Morning Journal(Lorain Ohio) that showed 7 random shootings in an oppressed neighborhood near my community.

There is a daytime curfew for children. If they are out walking with no excuse from school they are taken in and booked as unruly children.

Honest, after pastoring churches for 29 years, its hard to sit and do church. There is something burning in my soul to engage people on a level that really matters to them, hopefully for today and eternity. This community stirred my heart.

So I asked the Lord for guidance. I saw a quick picture in my mind, of me on my knees on the sidewalk in that neighborhood. Great...I have to kneel in public in a neighborhood I have never been to and where people are getting shot. What chance does a white guy have there! (Lord I have issues with you, who else would treat me like this?:)

So I picked up the GPS and set the cross streets where the paper said the trouble was and off I went. And right on the corner of 13th Street and Route 57 (Broadway) was a church! Ok!

Getting out of the car was a little embarassing but the desire to please the Lord and follow him was greater. Just as I knelt, a car with a young black man was coming down the alley. Great I thought, he is going to see everything! And he did; making the corner 20 feet away from me, with his eyes glued to the idiot praying with classic folded hands (like the Lord showed me) on the sidewalk.

He just stared.

I got up feeling really good from doing what was right. The church was closed so I went into the neightorhood. I got long looks from gals on their porches and angry stares from "members" who were not happy at my white Tundra pick-up driving on "their" streets. I parked and got out to talk to one of the policeman doing extra duty there. After introducing my self I asked him "Why is it so violent here?" He said "I don't know, but its really bad." After that he appologised for the quick departure and went to help someone who was being robbed.

That evening I returned to find a community of faith to serve in. The first church was 97% Hispanic and 3 % black. And they made it clear there was no room for one white person. I thought we were on the same team...sad. Next I entered a white church caught in times gone by. Inbred and religious they tried the best handshakes and smiles they could muster, but the actions were so far from their hearts. I felt sad for them like one feels sad while watching news story and knowing that it will be the same always, locked in time. They really tried hard. And I will see them again for that...they tried!

Right now I am thinking that going to doors and offering prayer and Jesus love will be a great start! Where is that person of peace? I'm going to find them, I just know it! God loves those people big!

What Matters

Today I realized while driving through the countryside (with someone else doing the driving) that there are lots of levels of engagement in Gods Harvest field.

Sometimes I am looking for a promising area to begin to plow, and first it should be surveyed. After this comes the plowing of the land to break up the hard soil into ready soil to receive seed.

Then comes the watering and the care for months, years if I am planting trees. After the growing season with the conditions right, the Harvest can be brought in. With patience and hard work, a crop comes.

All the parts of the process are the harvest work. There can be no crop where all the other elements of the harvest are absent.

Today I talked with a pastor who shepherds 25 people. In the first few words he was sounding appologetic about the size of his church. I asked him "Do you lead these people into a deeper relationship with God?" He said "Yes" And then he began to tall me of a recent time when the city government of the city he lives in had invited him to bring comfort to a very hurting department that had suffered the deaths of three people.

Who had credibility? Who could be trusted? Who had God anointed to bring the Good News to these dear ones? The man who had proven his love over many years to a small group of Christians. Go figure.

I will not be too quick to write off humble beginnings. God has mights purposes in them. A wise man once said, "I can tell you how many seeds are in this apple, but only God knows how many apples are in just one seed."

Following the Lord in the place he calls me...that is what matters...to God

Lost in BSG 75

I'm hooked, I admit it!

 Judy and I picked up a copy of the first Season of Battlestar Galactica and it has been our nighttime fare ever since. 

This show has so many parallels to life today. A civilization adrift in a maze of time and space. There is a real enemy that persues them relentlessly. (Guess who?) There are also enemies who look like friends and friends who may be Cylons (Mutant, evolved AI robots in disguise)

 Who needs regular TV when you can track these homeless raiders through space as they look for their elusive home called Earth. Some don't even believe it exists! Does it? We don't know yet, at least WE don't we are on season three and diggin it.

Call it pure Sci-fi excape-ism  and call it well done. It is a world so real that I lay awake at night wondering how the human race is going to make it.   (I privately wonder that in real life too!)

So we remain lost in BSG 75!  The real world...well thank God for His Son Jesus that will light the way faithfully every day. Look out Cylons!

The comfort of hands

A couple of weeks ago i was visiting a simple church meeting, It was in a room in the back of a store converted for just this purpose. After the meeting, there was an invitation for prayer. Kind of an old fashioned (but not irrelevant) "hot seat." (It even had flames painted on it.)  

Im old pentacostal history there was a thing called "praying through." A person would sit on the "hotseat" and pray, with the help of others laying their hands  on them and continue until the breakthrough happened. Usually it was the person feeling Gods presence and knowing he was going to be with them. There is something to be said for persistence in prayer!

Anyway, being weary from the many encounters with emotionally needy people that week I said "Would you please pray for me?"

 I went and sat on the "hotseat" and within a few very short moments there were perhaps a dozen hands on my shoulders, neck, head and arms. Wow! There was instant comfort being transfered to my body and to my heart. 

I felt the presence of the Lord and also the presence of loving people. My entire being began to melt into a peaceful state of joy, peace,  affirmation and just plain comfortable relaxation. 

This was the first time I have ever come away from a prayer time just thanking the Lord for the Love of His people, communicated in this amazing way. 

Lord thank you for the comfort of loving hands!