Isaiah 64:8

"Yet, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand." -Isaiah 64:8

We are all the work of God's hand. That's a pretty good place to start as we head into the season of Advent, is it not? I mean, with all the expectations that the coming month can throw upon our shoulders and into our already busy lives; what if we could just keep in our mind, soul, and heart that "we are all the work of God's hand"?

How might that humbling, yet comforting phrase help us to clarify the priorities of this month? In what ways might we treat our siblings in faith, as well as all those with whom we come into contact, differently? Might remembering that we are all the work of God's hands help us stop from time to time throughout these next twenty-six days to pause and give thanks for being held in God's hands?

When and how will you work to better understand what it means to rest in God's hands even as the crush of Christmas bears down on us all?

O Lord, watch over us as we prepare our whole selves for the mystery and beauty of the Nativity. Guide us into a greater understanding of what it means for us to be the work of your hand. And with that understanding may we see both our siblings in faith and the stranger on the street in a whole new way. Amen.

Family Visits

Today my in-laws arrived in Twin Falls. They are here for a short 48 hour visit. Don't get me wrong, its not that I'm complaining, I have been blessed with pretty good in-laws. What I mean by that is that when the visit the reconnect with their daughter and do an excellent job grandparenting, all the while being respectful of me.

The reason I'm posting this is that we are all entering the time of year when we will receive guests as well as being guests ourselves. And how we fulfill those roles is an excellent time for us to practice our faith. For as we move into what can be awkward or at least different situations we are presented with opportunities to choose to follow Christ by loving our family even if we feel as though they aren't always loving towards us.

I'd like to encourage you to pray and think about the family you've been given. Really take some time to count your blessings for those whom God has placed you in relationship through birth and marriage and do your best to love them with the love of God. For when you take that opportunity to work on the relationships that you have been given through marriage and birth then I believe that you will be better equipped to work on all of the relationships that you have been given in this life.

So, as you prepare for the holiday tradition of visiting and receiving family I encourage you to find the courage to love your family as much as Christ loves us.

A Time to Heal

Ecclesiastes chapter three begins, "For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven...." and for many of us there is great relief that the 2008 election is all but over; give or take a few thousand votes to be counted around the country. Even as a majority of Americans clearly backed Barack Obama, there are many others who did not. So, for all of us who call on the name of Christ, no matter which candidate we supported, today begins a time of healing.

For those of you who supported John McCain, my prayer is that you will embrace the central message of his campaign with a twist. I hope that you will not only be able to put "Country First", but as a follower of Christ, that you will be able to put your Lord and Savior into the midst of your relationships with those whom you disagree politically. For that is how the Body of Christ is healed and made one, and as Christians who live in America, once we heal our relationships with our siblings in Christ, then healing the country will be so much easier.

For those of you who supported Barack Obama, my prayer is that you will embrace the sober mood of his acceptance speech last night. All too often the temptation of victory is to gloat and to walk around with an "I told you so" attitude, but again for those of us who call on the name of Christ, such boasting is out of line. I hope that you will be able to put your Lord and Savior into the midst of your relationships with those whom you disagree politically as well, and take a moment to love your neighbor as you would want to be loved if you were in their shoes.

For all of us, this day after the election perhaps another Scripture passage that we should consider is Psalm 51:10 "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me." Let us all seek to have a heart cleansed from partisanship and brought together as Christians first and Americans at a close second. Let us also seek a right spirit of building up the Body of Christ first, so that we are more prepared for the challenges and opportunities to reconcile with our family, friends, and sibilings in Christ with whom we disagree.

Arriving or Journeying On?

In our congregation's grand adventure of reading the Bible in one year a theme that comes up again and again is God calling people to set off on a journey. Whether it's Abram being sent to the Promised Land or Moses leading the people into the wilderness or the flights of the fancy that David endures before he finally becomes King of Israel or Jesus wanderings all over the Holy Land or Saint Paul's adventures on land and sea journeying on in faith is a constant theme in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation.

The question implied in the title, though, is whether our faith is more about arriving or journeying on. There are some who seem to think that being saved, accepting Christ into your heart is a matter of ultimate arrival. But if we consider the brought scope of scripture, it seems to me that accepting God's grace and love in Jesus Christ is just the beginning of the grand journey of faith.

Of course, that can be a little scary, can't it? I mean, if there is not arrival are we just wandering aimlessly through life? To which I maintain that we aren't so much as wandering, if we have and can rely on Jesus as our constant traveling companion then, no, we are not just wandering but rather its more like we are engaged in a wonderfully fantastic road trip. With Jesus as our co-pilot and sometimes allowing him to take the wheel for us, we can enjoy the scenery, we can know that the stops and detours and forks taken are, if not always guided by him, then at least we won't find ourselves too far off course in the journey.

So where are you in your journey of faith? Have you arrived and you are just going to sit back and watch life pass you by? Or have you loaded up with the resources and companions for the journey ahead? Or are you at a rest stop waiting for just the right moment to get back into the flow of things? Or are you in some faith-based airport terminal waiting for just the right flight to get on board?

Wherever you are on your journey, I hope and pray that you will rely on the love of God that we can know most clearly through God's Son, Jesus Christ, as our ever ready road trip companion.

Single Parenting

Well, Eric and I are nearly through in our adventure of being without Kathy/Mom for half the month of October. She is in Orlando and will be home late on Friday, October 24th! Being without Kathy has made me appreciate the overwhelming responsibility and need to acknowledge, pray for, and seek to reach out to those whom we know who are parenting without the benefits of a spouse.

Typically Kathy gets Eric up and my responsibility is to put him to bed, when I am at home. Not to mention, that when he is not in Kindergarten, every afternoon, Kathy is there to parent while I am being a pastor. Then on weekends I typically spend more time with Eric while Kathy gets a little "time off", but she is not far if my skills become insufficient. All in all--it works!

But for the last three weeks, minus a few days and twelve hours, it has just been
Eric and me AND I AM POOPED! Not only do we both miss Kathy/Mom, but I find myself in awe of single parents and have been moved to be more mindful and prayerful on behalf of those single parents that I know. For no matter how good of a kid Eric is, he is still quite a handful by myself with no relief.

All of this is to say or to reiterate, if you know someone who parents alone, give them a call, offer them a helping hand, or just offer a prayer to God for their patience, sanity, and love.

Higher Loyalty

Yesterday morning I continued my odd calling in life to stand up, just about every Sunday, and share a few words about what God says to us through the Bible. Yesterday's reading was Matthew 22:15-22, the story about Jesus being asked whether or not taxes should be paid to Rome. The line that Jesus speaks, that stuns his listeners probably as much today as two thousand years ago is, "Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's."

As yesterday's sermon was delivered on Stewardship Commitment Sunday, the focus of the sermon was on our financial commitments for the year to come, both as members of FPC, Twin Falls, as well as in our lives in the wider world. Another way to pursue the same wisdom of Jesus would have been to speak about the quickly heightening negative rhetoric being splashed over the various media outlets covering the national election. That is, by giving to God the things that are God's we are called to a higher loyalty than merely our own opinion of who is right and who is wrong in any election.

What I mean to say is, if we take seriously the need to give to God the things that are God's, then we have to remember that the greatest commandment, at least according to Jesus, is to love God and then love our neighbor. And in the current political environment where accusations of socialism on one side and being out of touch with reality on the other side are being thrown around by both campaigns, perhaps a healthy dose of Christianity should be thrown into our considerations of these issues. For, if you are a Christian, and you engage in such damaging rhetoric with your friends, family, and acquaintances, then you are not living up to the higher loyalty to God of loving God first and because of God's love, in turn loving your neighbor even if they don't agree with you politically.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting that you can not have a robust political opinion or even an uninformed political opinion. Rather, if you are a Christian and call on Jesus Christ as your guide in life, then how you express those opinions does matter. It is not a matter of political correctness, instead it is a matter of correct living as a follower of Christ and a beloved child of God. That is, no matter who is elected 15 days from today, if your ultimate loyalty is to God, then you are going to have to think and pray long and hard about how you are going to be in relationship with those friends and family and complete strangers with whom you disagree.

Why? Well, my guess is that from God's perspective, none of us are perfect or completely correct or as loving as we ought to be and yet God loves us still. And maybe, just maybe, its time to treat those with whom we disagree with some of that amazing grace and love as well.

Second Home

Granted, the title of this blog might speak to a dream home at the beach or one in the mountains, somewhere where an individual or a family can escape the trials of life. And those certainly are nice for those who can afford them, but I'm thinking about a second home that many families and individuals can find right in their own communities. I'm speaking about church as a second home.

Last night while I was at LOGOS, after a busy day and trying to get a lot done, a feeling came over me of contentment that some might find in a second home which is an escape from daily life and gives them the energy to go on with the rest of the week. Yes, I had seen many of the same people on Sunday morning, but as pastor, and I suspect for most church goers, the Sunday morning event does not allow for the same depth of relationship that a meal or common task affords.

But mostly, for me, the sense of a second home came after dinner when I sat down with two senior high boys for Bible study. We are watching the "Lord of the Rings" and then talking about how ideas in the film connect with the Bible and life. While we were settling into a clip about Loving Relationships, a dad and his preschool daughter joined us for some movie watching and then consideration of how the Bible and a popular film talk to us about being in relationship with God and one another.

It struck me in that space: how different, how removed from regular life, and yet how valuable it was, what an opportunity for relationship building to have two senior high boys, two thirty-something dads and a preschool daughter listen in on a conversation that God started a long time ago, about what makes for loving and lasting relationships.

Having that time apart from the crush of deadlines and expectations and goals and concerns is vital for the life of both the individual and the family. And it is a joy to be part of forming a second home for the people of First Presbyterian Church in Twin Falls, Idaho. I hope you, too, will continue to join me in building this second home, as well.