Sustainability

earthtimes.org

‘Derived from sustainable sources’ is a phrase we see on products. Paper from sustainable forests. Ingredients from sources that renew themselves, and won’t run out. Sustainability is a big word now. We want a Federal budget that is sustainable. We want a social security system that is sustainable. We want communities with a sustainable source of needed resources. And we are concerned that if we do not find sustainability in all these areas, we will run out, run short, or stop functioning. It’s a big deal! We have to live with an eye to the future!

In the same way, our life is sustained by our Lord. It is only by his power and hand at work in our lives that we do not just endure, but live a constantly renewed and revitalized life!  As I’ve been reading about church history, especially in the first couple of generations after Christ, I see how difficult life was as our ancestors in the faith had their lives tried and tested with persecution, social upheaval, and inter-faith strife. It is amazing that their faith endured. But, it more than endured, it thrived! I want to live like that! I want our generation(s) to know the renewed and revitalized faith that can only come as we rely on our Sustainer, Jesus Christ! May these trying times so strengthen our relationship with Christ that His church shines bright!

Global Glue

home.howstuffworks.com

Hebrews 1:1-4

Falling apart seems to be what much of our world does best! Governments fall apart, international relations break off, politics degrade to name-calling, and we deal with the brokeness accross the entire spectrum of life! But just as 'things' seem to fall apart in our world, we are reminded in Hebrews that Christ holds everything together! His powerful words speak thruth and wisdom for us. We have the power of our maker behind us as we face the powers of our world. We are held together, and so are our lives, as we follow Christ together. The glue of life is Christ, and we find him not just on our own, but together as his body. This Sunday is World Communion Sunday. It is such a privilage to belong to this family, and be welcomed to the table of life and salvation where no one is turned away, and our lives are mended and healed! This wonderful good news is that Christ is the true global glue!

Life- We have an App for that!

James 5:13-20

abcnews

Apple recently came out with the iPhone 5. In a few days, over 5 million were sold! I do not have one, but have talked to some owners of iPhones, and the connection (no pun intended) they have to their phone is nearly a religious experience, as is evident in the overnight lines people waited in to be first in line for the newest model. It has a big, bright screen. It does lots of neat things. But the large number of applications available (‘Apps’) seems to be one big reason for its usefulness. There’s an app for almost everything! Apps for fun. Apps for business and accounting. But a major drawback is its application for navigation. As I understand the conversation going on about this- the GPS navigation maps are incomplete! A simple trip in which you use the phone to get you to your destination may not get you to your destination!

In life, we have many issues through which we must navigate. We have sorrows to pray through. We have joy to propel us into singing. We have sickness for which we approach our Lord for healing. We have oppression and violence in this world for which we cry out to God for justice and peace. All of this happens in our daily walk with the rest of the body of Christ, the church, the congregation. Our App for real life occurs in our spiritual family, the church. We come with our brokenness, and we find a life of healing and recovery of the joy of living. Our navigation system is not a new model, but a very old one, which can testify: this App, it works!

Live Well

How do we live well in a troubled world? This has been our human pursuit for millennia. Today 'Live Well' is a pursuit that includes a network, an app, a Facebook page, and more. Something tells us that there is a better way to fo life! So, we look to the advice of those whom we respect, and make note of the knowledge of how to live well that they have gleaned over a lifetime. We call it wisdom. We need it today as much as any time in history! In the third chapter of the New Testament book of James we hear that wisdom includes living well, living wisely, living humbly. It’s this humbly part that we need so desperately! Behind all the current violence and war, political bashing, and every kind of verbal wrangling, there is an atmosphere that is far from humble. And it is this that leads to skirmishes. That’s the situation that the letter of James addresses, and it reads like a prescription to today’s headlines! True wisdom, truly living well is shown in how much we understand that to live well we live at peace with each other. We seek mercy and blessing, and we find it if we choose to live it! We don’t find it in finger pointing, but we find it as we each, and we together, decide that as far as it depends upon us, we will live in peace. Jesus showed us this life of peace, of a Shalom that our hearts desire. Lord, give us the wisdom to live well, live wisely, live humbly! This is my prayer.

Captivity and Release

As I write this, police in bullet-proof vests are patrolling my neighborhood in hopes of apprehending, taking into custody, and eventually (it must be presumed) putting in captivity a crime suspect. It is disturbing! If this man is eventually taken captive, it is captivity by his own choice. If we break the law, we choose to put ourselves in the position of being captive for the offense.

anglicansablaze.blogspot.com

Breaking the legal law of the land is not unlike breaking other relational agreements- a covenant between two people. We make choices on how we live- to keep or break our relational ‘law’ or relationship agreements. In 1 Kings Chapter 8 we hear Solomon address the people in terms of our needing to have God restore us from our relational trespasses. We all fall short, and are in the captivity of our poor choices. But God offers restoration. And this restoration is available to us by God’s design. In Solomon’s day, it was his request that God do this in the temple which he built to God’s glory. Much later, Jesus tells us that he will build his temple among us- we are the temple, all of us as his body, the relational space and place within which grace and redemption can happen. When we are this body of Christ, we offer a relational space where people are set free by the spirit of Christ that is dwelling among us. God is so ready to make a home among us! His spirit is so able to be the healing and restoration! As I end this blog, the authorities are still chasing our suspect, and resolution does not seem close. But just as I pray for our officers, the suspect, and a safe resolution, I pray for God’s restoration of us all. It’s a process, and as God’s people, may we all see that we all play a role in God’s redemption coming into this world!

Filling The World With A Love Song

Where were you on April Fool’s Day 1976? I remember well a song that was released that day. It was written by Linda and Paul McCartney, and performed by Wings on their album Wings at The Speed of Sound (see Wikipedia.) If you haven’t guessed by now, these lyrics will give it away:



en.wikipedia.com

You’d think that people would have had enough of silly love songs.
But I look around me and I see it isn't so.
Some people wanna fill the world with silly love songs.
And what's wrong with that?
Id like to know, cause here I go again
I love you, I love you,
I love you, I love you,

it’s Silly Love Songs.  I remember the first time I heard it. It made me pause and think about how we are stuck on love songs.  According to  wiki.answers, 78% of top songs are love songs. It’s 60% according to a 2007 study by the University of Florida, as published in the May 31, 2007 article in the Gainsville news.

We crave songs about love. Being loved. Loving someone. Finding the words to say I love you. Even some silly, foolish songs about love can be very popular. Justin Beiber is expected to sell over 400,000 copies of his recent Believe album, with a style of music including lyrics such as “Baby, baby, baby; baby baby, baby.’ Not especially imaginative. But oh how we crave a love song.

We are wired to love. To give and receive love. To live with love as our emotional, physical, and spiritual atmosphere. Of all the things that our culture may get wrong, innately sensing the need for love is something that we can get right, even if our society sometimes does not express it in a particularly holy way.

But it is this holy love that will not let us go that we hear in the Psalmist as we ready Psalm 111. We hear of a love that is well deserved. As we ‘sing’ this Psalm, we remember all the good reasons to be in love with the one who loves us best. This is the atmosphere we were meant to live in. This is the kind of song we can sing over and over and never tire of.  Maybe it’s our job, or privilege, those who call on the name of Jesus, to so live in love that our life speaks like the lyrics of a beautiful love song.

News We Listen To

people-press.org 2009

It’s been an exciting 30^th Olympiad in London! To see the Fabulous 5, Mark Phelps, and Missy Franklin win has been welcome news that we love to listen to. But in recent years we haven’t been listening as much to the traditional sources of the news. Newspaper sales are down. Many news agencies have cut back considerably, and fewer reporters are being sent out now to collect the reports. People don’t believe in the accuracy of much reporting. According to people news, people are believing less of the news (see chart.) But there is more talking going on electronically now. People are less willing to listen to ‘experts’ on the news of the day, but want to listen more to people they know and choose. So what? It means that we have more opportunity now than ever in being speakers of good news. And we have the opportunity to tell the good news truthfully. Since the truth of our Lord sets us free from the darkness of life, we have more power now than ever to witness to the light of Christ, to a world that wants, needs, and longs for the healing that Christ brings. So let’s not grow weary in speaking the truth of Christ in love, the world really is listening for some good news!