Lent 2020

“Remember that you are dust and to dust you will return.”

Each year for many of us, Lent begins with the pronouncement of these words and the smudging of an ashy cross on our foreheads. A sober reminder of our fragile humanity.

This year, however, the Lenten season has come to us with even deeper and more far-reaching impact, and regardless of faith tradition, we as human beings have faced our mortality and vulnerability with renewed awareness.

The traditional season of contemplation, fasting, and mourning has entered our lives in new, invasive, and uncomfortable ways in the form of a pandemic.

Lord, have mercy.

Christ, have mercy.

Brothers and sisters, members of the human family, we are dust. 

We are vulnerable, but love is strong.

Let us love well during these days.

Lament

Teach us to lament with You,

O God.

We feel Your grief; it rises strong

in us.

The hurt that fills Your heart

now floods

our own and makes us know

that You—

Ancient and Wise beyond our grasp—

still feel

the brokenness and pain that seem

always 

to come, to cut, to curse, to cure.

And yet,

You have not made Yourself

exempt

from all the harm of humanness.

You came,

and as a Man, You shared our lot.

You bore 

the bitter days of darkness, worlds

of grief;

absorbed into Your heart 

the ache

of all that evil’s rage has marred

in us.

Your life and death continue on:

the Church

reflects You, Three-in-One.

We share

with You in life and death, relationships and harm

and grief,

and, weeping, raise our own

lament.

"No One has Ever Seen God"

"No one has ever seen God."

This phrase appears twice in John's writings: a simple statement of fact.

There's an obvious reality that God is spirit, and we cannot see Him. We who believe in God do so by faith and, like it says in Hebrews 11, live "as seeing Him who is invisible."

Towards the beginning of his gospel, however, John points out that there is an exception to the whole not seeing God thing. He writes, "No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known" (Jn 1:18).

Here's the exception: although no one has seen the Father, the Son came and revealed Him. To see Jesus is to see God. Those who look on Jesus see "the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Cor. 4). For 33 years, God walked the earth, and people saw His face. This is a beautiful and deep truth, but if you believe what the Bible says about Jesus being God, then at some level, it's still a reasonable/understandable concept.

Later in his life, though, John writes a couple of letters, and in his first letter, he brings up the subject of seeing God again. "No one has ever seen God;" he says, but "if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us" (1 Jn 4:12).

Wait. What?

The first time that we read "no one has ever seen God," we are reminded that Jesus is an exception to that.

The second time that we read "no one has ever seen God," we are told that love among believers is an exception to that.

Don't miss the weight and profoundness of this!

(In fact, if you have any questions about what John is implying here, go back and read the larger contexts in which these two texts appear. The contexts totally support the intentional parallel of Christ bringing the fullness and knowledge of God to us, our receiving it, and then our being enabled to pass it along.)

In my church, we've been studying about Heaven during our morning services (highly recommend the series!). So as I've been thinking about this phrase from John's writings, it's mingled with thoughts about Heaven, and here's one of my main takeaways:

In Heaven, we will see the face of God. But today, others can see the face of God in the mutual love of believers. Others will recognize the face of God from seeing His love being given and received among His people. So, when I love my brothers and sisters like God does, I, like Jesus, am letting people see God, and I can do so now in a way that will not be mine to do (at least in the same way) in eternity.

God, please let it be that I and my brothers and sisters would so "keep ourselves in the love of God," that we live it out incessantly in ways that make You known/visible in our relationships with each other today. We believe You to be the Most Beautiful and Winsome of Beings, and we want You to be known and loved. We are amazed to think that anyone could catch a glimpse of Your face in us; it's the greatest honor we could ever have. (Like, the more I think about it, the more mind-blowing it is.) Let our gratitude and gladness find full expression today. In others words, let me and my brothers and sisters love each other so thoroughly today that someone gets to see Your face in ours. That would be more amazing than we could put into words. And give us faith to believe that You actually intend to reveal Yourself to others through us!

Thoughts from a Shepherd-Heart

One of my friends wrote these thoughts several years ago. It seems to me to be a beautiful portrait of a shepherd's heart, and I found that it well expressed my heart for the people God has given me to care for.

"Every now and then, when I reach out to one of my people, I get a surprised response, as though that one believed he or she had been forgotten. 

Such would not be possible, for my heart lives among my people. In the empty spaces of my life, my mind flies to one...or another...or another. And the full spaces of my life are ever filled by them. 

I revel in their triumphs. 

I ache for their setbacks. 

I strategize for their benefit. 

In the early morning, in the dead of night, and continuously in between, my energies, my resources, my talents, my thoughts, my plans, my dreams, and all my love is toward them."  - K. C. Giroux

A Prayer for Faith

Holy One, the Holy One from everlasting, our sovereign Lord, our living God, our God who is alive—real—existing, our God who rewards those who seek Him, our Father who has loved us and chosen us and called us: we are among those who want to draw near to You. We want to please You by exercising true faith in believing that You are who You say You are and that You do what You say You do.

We are among those who desire to please You only because You loved us more than we hated You. You wanted us more than we wished to get away from You. You overpowered us and brought us to Yourself. Thank You! Thank You! You brought us to Yourself. And along with us, You have brought an innumerable host of others who are also “bought with the precious blood of Christ.” You have called out a people—a people for Your own possession. We are Your people—Your church. You decided to get Yourself glory by creation and redemption. Thank You. Thank You for redeeming us. We praise You for such infinite generosity on Your part. You are the infinite God. We have no category for You. You break all of our boxes and all our preconceptions and all our expectations. We cannot fathom You. You exceed everything we could ask or think. In the extremity of our limitations (we are limited in every single capacity—without exception!), it is easy and natural for us to be frustrated with Your freedom and with our inability to comprehend You or predict Your doings. We don’t like being outclassed, and we do not really understand worship. And so we resent You, or we try to recast You into a form that we can process—something that fits in a box and resembles our native concepts of reality. But this never works for You. You shatter every human notion. You snap the chains with which we arrogantly and foolishly seek to bind You. You crush the boxes we designed for You. You will not give Your glory to another! You will not be worshipped like a mere idol is worshipped. You will be exalted and enthroned. You will take Your place as the Sovereign of the universe. You will exercise all Your freedom and capacity. You will do whatever You please. You will manifest every diversity that You choose. No one will stay Your hand. No one can rebuke You for what You do. No one can take You on and win. You have the absolute right to act according to Your own counsel and to pursue Your own glory and good pleasure. Good God, breath-taking, brilliant God, we praise You!

We praise You, and we come to You. We—our body, Hampton Park—needs You. We need You to work in us and grow and us and change us and let us know You. Break our boxes today. Shatter the limits of our finite demands and expectations of You. Forgive us for making an idol—crafting an image of You in our own imagination and calling it “God.” You are not “a tame lion.” You will not be domesticated. You are not safe. But You are good. You are wise. You are trustworthy. Forgive us for thinking that we can figure things out and live, in our own strength and understanding, lives that please You. Do violence to our paltry, shriveled paradigms of thinking and feeling and living. Enlarge our capacity for You and really, for life—for living: both now and Later. O to know You and Live! Open our eyes to see You as You really are. If only You would excavate our hearts! Teach us to know the love of Christ so that we are capacitated for being filled with all the fullness of God. The life of God in the soul of man—of necessity this is a painful, breaking thing. By definition, it is impossible. But the things that are impossible with men are possible with You. You can fashion the human heart into a temple that is fit for even You to live in. You can make the redeemed soul a home for Yourself, and You can live there with joy and power and peace. You can make many hearts come together and grow together and love together. O do this! Do this for our body! Come! Live in us—individually and corporately—even though the housing of the fullness of God tear our souls apart with the fierceness of the love and joy and the radical nature of the change. Scarring joy. Sweet pain. Genuine truth wedded to genuine love. You can make our church reflect this. You can grow us in truth and love and unity and joy. You can bring about true fellowship—with You and with each other. You can do this, so please do. Grow us.

Teach us to live by faith. If we are living by faith, then we will let You be who You are. We will not arrogantly seek to solve all the questions and provide all the answers and dictate to You what Your course of action must be. We will let You reign. We on earth will reflect Heaven as we reverence Your Name, as we pursue Your Kingdom, and as we do Your will. Accomplish this in us. Teach us to live by faith—O that Christ would dwell in our hearts by faith. It is because Christ is living in us and changing us that we are making these requests. It is on the basis of His standing before You, Father, and our standing in Him alone that we are here confidently and willingly spreading out all of our weakness and sin and inability and desire before You and asking for Your grace and power and truth and love to come and accomplish Your work in our body. We know that You give grace to throne-of-grace-comers. So we come. We love You, and we trust You. We believe that everything really is from You and through You and to You. Please be glorified in us now in increasing measure and then perfectly forever. Amen.

(originally posted 10/11/2011)