LIVING OUT MY BIRTHRIGHT

There is never a moment when I am apart from God.  He is the very Life within me. God breathed live in the human being.  God deals personally with every human being, which is absolutely amazing when I think of how many of us there are, have been, and are still to come.  John writes of Jesus that “He was LIFE and the LIFE was the light of men.”  When I look into a child’s eyes, especially a baby, I see that light, still as bright as if it was straight from God’s Presence and glory.  It is so clear to me that the life of God is within them as they innocently come into this world.  The Spirit shines out onto everything and it is sacred, as all life is.

I was born innocent, but eventually the dust of time, circumstances, and events grows thick and settles onto this flesh I am contained in.  The Spirit is still there but gets covered over and somehow that connection is interfered with by the things of the world.  I forgot where I came from and wondered around trying to find something I knew I was a part of and usually carried my search into all the wrong places.  God searches for his lost sheep and when he finds them the Spirit without quickens the Spirit within and they make the connection once again. “To all who did receive him, and believe in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”  It is my personal choice to accept this original birthright, squander it, or reject it altogether.  When I choose to accept it I commit myself to live out the responsibilities that come with it.  On Palm Sunday, 15 April 1973 I chose to accept it.  At times I squandered that birthright just as the Prodigal son did in Jesus’ parable.  Thankfully, like that son, I found my way back, returning in repentance, and finding my Father’s open arms welcoming me home; no condemnation, just celebration.

God will not force himself on anyone.  Paul tells what happens when people reject their birthright, when they reject God.  “God gave them up to the lust of their hearts; God gave them up to dishonorable passions; God gave them up to a debased mind.”  God gave them up to the life they wanted to live, doing what they wanted to do.  God gave up His Son to give us life.  But He will not force Himself on anyone who chooses not to receive, believe, and accept that Life.  Out of love He accepts the choice made to live one’s own life, just as the father in the parable let his son go. But the cost is great if one is not repentant and return to the Father.  The spirit is diminished and dies.  I believe this grieves God’s heart.

I know how I feel when I look into the eyes of someone I love and care about and they say to me, “Frankly, I don’t care what you or anyone else thinks.  I am doing what I want to do; it is my path to walk and I choose the path I want.”  It grieves my heart because in their eyes I see only darkness and a void emptiness.  The light is gone, extinguished by their own breath.

It is God’s business to determine the final condemnation and judgment for this refusal of the birthright.  But I know there is no celebration in the Father’s house for any lost soul.

I, like everyone, am God breathed; but I am far from perfect.  But I believe that God isn’t as concerned about perfection as He is about presence.  He created us to be with Him, to dwell with Him, and commune with Him.  How can anyone choose anything else?

COMPOSTING WORDS IN SOLITUDE & SILENCE

I don’t want my words to be just my opinions, built upon my prejudices and preferences.  I don’t want my words to be a recitation and regurgitation of the opinions of others.  I want my words to come from deep within, where my experiences and knowledge have been composted with the energy and heat of the Spirit of Truth that resides there.  When I submit to that process I can be sure that my words will be true and that they will be few.  One true word can do much more than many opinions or recitations, just as one apple seed can produce many more apples.

God created the whole world with three words; “Let there be light.”  God redeemed the people of the world with one Word; Jesus Christ, His Son.

Jesus was a man of few words, as was His Father. Their recorded words fill up one fairly small book, in comparison to the multitude of commentaries and books written about them and their words; a drop in the bucket, but those words fill the earth with life.  Their words are seeded with authority and have the power to transform lives.  The other words are read and relegated to their homes on book shelves, lifeless and gathering dust.

Don’t get me wrong; I love to read and study these books.  Over the years I have devoured many of them with great enjoyment.  But they are limited in their scope; they simply fill my head with information, some good, some garbage; they lack the power in the words that God speaks; the power to inspire and transform my life.  While they are beautiful for a season, they become like the fallen leaves and dead debris that gathers on the ground during fall.  In themselves they are worthless, but composted, broken down, and worked on by the Spirit of Truth they become fuel for new growth.

Solitude and silence are my compost pile.  They are the place I bring my experiences, my thoughts, and my knowledge to.  They break down deep within me to be worked on by the energy and heat of the Spirit of Truth and will then be the words I can speak; words that like seeds will be scattered to produce good fruit in the lives of those who hear and who read them.  That is my honest intention; that is my hope.

PREPARING A PLACE FOR US

For five years I worked on the Operations Team at Pendle Hill, a Quaker Retreat Center in Wallingford, Pennsylvania.  The mission of that Team was to provide “radical hospitality” to the people who visited there for rest, reflection, and workshops.  We prepared the space where people could be free from providing basic necessities of their physical lives and focus on meeting their spiritual needs with little or no distractions.  We cooked their meals, cleaned their rooms, and made them as comfortable as possible.  We worked hard so they didn’t have to; we ran quickly so they could walk slowly.

I loved my job.  I worked with and met some truly wonderful and amazing people who influenced my life and provided some wonderful memories.  One of the greatest lessons I learned was the importance of preparation. This lesson has done me well in my personal life, physically, mentally, and spiritually.

Preparation for anything I do is the key to its success.  It is the process of building a good foundation from which to safely build everything I do on.  It generally takes the most time, attention, and work; it generally is the work that is unnoticed, unacknowledged, and unappreciated.  The house cleaners, sou chefs, cooks, and maintenance people remain hidden in the background, behind closed doors; or in Downton Abby language, downstairs from the upstairs.  Of course, this is true in other places as well.  The training an athlete does, the drudgery of playing scales a musician does, the hours of study a student does seems insignificant to the trophy won, the concert performed, or the degree earned.

The person I am in my mind, soul, and spirit, is the result of preparation.  Just as a garden will remain barren if the soil isn’t cultivated and the seeds are not sown, so I must work to prepare a life to my liking.  I cannot reap what I do not sow.

As I grow older I become more reflective of my years that have past by me.  At times I can feel worthless because of my inability to do as much as I could when I was younger.  But if I look again with a perspective of seasonal living, I see that now is what I prepared for; the days I walked quickly allow me now to be fulfilled by walking slowly.  Years of conquest of every idea about God have now led to a greater sense of communion; years of exploration have now led to enjoyment; years of filling have now led to fulfillment; years of struggle have led to simplicity; years of preparation have led to Presence, both with God and with my true self.

I see God as One who honors preparation.  In the beginning He prepared a place for me to live; His creation.  When I got lost God prepared a way back to Him; the crucifixion of His Son.  In the end He will do something new, something Jesus left this earth with the promise to prepare a place for me to dwell with him forever. 

I love to wonder about what kind of a place he is preparing.

GOD WORKS IN MIGHTY & MYSTERIOUS WAYS

When Jesus was born it was in a stable because there was no room in the Inn.  Angels heralded his birth which brought shepherds to see him.  A star in the sky led wise men from the East to come to see him.  Other than those announcements no one would have known the Word of God had come to earth. After the invited guests left he went into obscurity; unknown, no one special, just a good boy who followed his father’s trade as a carpenter, waiting for his appointed time to come.

When Jesus died it was on a cross, nothing out of the ordinary for those who had disobeyed the rules of the day.  He did not die in obscurity or unknown.  He had left his mark on people across the spectrum of society. Pilot, the ruler of Rome, publicly acknowledged him as King of the Jews on the sign he put upon the cross.  A Centurial in the army acknowledged him as the Son of God as he watched him die.  Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews who had met with him early in Jesus ministry, now had become a follower assisted   Joseph of Arimathea, also a Pharisee and member of the council, a good and righteous man who had now become one of his disciples.  These two men fearlessly and in public went to Pilot and secured his assistance to give Jesus a proper burial.  And of course the women who had followed him, one from birth to death had remained fearlessly loyal in his presence.

Jesus touched individuals, relating to them face to face.  A small group of individuals who loved Jesus and faithfully followed him would grow into a worldwide acknowledgement of this man who died for all their sins.  The seeds he planted in a few would grow into multitudes.  He came to earth as nothing out of the ordinary, taking the form of a servant, being born into the likeness of men. (Philippians 2:5-8)  He left earth a victor over sin and death.  He will come again as the one who is glorified and sits on the throne of God in His kingdom.  He is returning, not to stay, but to come for those who receive him and believe in his name, to take those who are children of God to the place that he has prepared; where there is always room in the Inn for whosoever will come; where his Father dwells, and rules over His creation as it was from the beginning and now shall ever shall be.

There are life lessons in the events of those days that changed the world.

One was for his disciples, the ten who had abandoned and deserted him in his hour of need; who ran and hid in fear.  After all those years of being with and learning from their Master, the disciples were helpless, powerless, and useless at his death.  Their pride and arrogance was finally broken.  They now knew experientially that without him, they are nothing.  Finally they became who they were meant to be and would be able to do the work that God through His Spirit would lead them to do; the work Jesus had trained them to do, but could only be done by broken men.  They had now been crucified with Christ.  It will be no longer they who live, but Christ who lives in them.  That lesson is for all who follow Jesus as well, as Paul points out in Galatians 2:20.

Another lesson for all who follow Jesus is that one should never despise small and seemingly insignificant moments and events; they have the potential to grow like the mustard seed or spread like leaven.  One quiet word, one small deed; one may never know what great and abundant fruit they may bare; so be faithful and hopeful, always aware that it is God’s Spirit working, and His Spirit works in mighty and mysterious ways.