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Friday, 16 October 2009

Take My Life

Take my life, that I may be
Consecrated, Lord, to thee
Take my moments and my days;
Let them flow in ceaseless praise.

Take my hands and let them move
At the impulse of they love;
Take my feet and let them be
Swift and beautiful for thee.

Take my silver and my gold,
Not a mite would I withhold;
Take my intellect and use
Every power as thou shalt choose.

Take my voice and let me sing
Always only for my King;
Take my lips and let them be
Filled with messages from thee.

Take my will and make it thine;
It shall be no longer mine;
Take my heart, it is thine own;
It shall be they royal throne.

We sang these great words by Frances R Havergal in worship last Sunday to an exciting Latin tune that made you want to get up and dance. (Which of course we didn’t, since we’re Lutheran) But it was also a tune that got stuck in your head without much effort. So I wasn’t surprised when I found myself singing it over and over on the way home.

I was surprised, however, to realize that for the first time I was actually hearing the words I was singing. I had to focus to remember them as I beat out the rhythm on my steering wheel, which helped, but I also think I was finally ready to hear them.

It’s a hard thing to give up control, to let someone else dictate your direction, your actions, your thoughts, especially when that someone is a God we can’t see and aren’t always sure is really there. It takes faith, and trust, lots of trust. It takes believing that God really does love you and knows what’s best for you and the rest of the world.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect. ~ Romans 12:1-2

I think a lot of the time we say, “Oh yes, God is in control of my life. I will do what God wants, not what I want.” But when it really comes down to it, when we get in a jam, or aren’t sure what the future hold, we snatch it back, afraid God might ask us for something we don’t really want to give.

In Romans, Paul talks about it like a sacrifice, that we offer our lives to God as a sacrifice. It’s not really a sacrifice if we lay it on the altar, but pull it off again every time we get uncomfortable.

I needed that reminder in the car the other day. I think we all need it from time to time. Letting go of control and following what God wants takes effort, thought, and giving ourselves up over and over.

Where is your life today? On God’s altar, or in your hands?

Take my life Lord. Amen.

Wednesday, 20 August 2008

I thought I would finish my crazy summer for you. Vacation Bible School came next, and we hosted 94 kids with half of them only 3 and 4 years old. The pictures will come in a few days. They are still unavailable at the moment.
Finally, I ended up at Sr. High Week at Lake Chautauqua Lutheran Center.

It has been a crazy summer, but it has also been a summer of spending time in God's creation, getting to know God's people, and being revitalized and reenergized for the coming weeks and months. My overall impression...
You shall go out in joy and be led back in peace; the moutnains and the hills before you shall burst into song, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. ~ Isaiah 55:12

Tuesday, 19 August 2008

So, sometimes, I have a hard time knowing what to write, but sometimes, it is because there is so much going on that I am unable to add as often as I would like to this blog. This summer has been one of those times. It has been an exciting, energizing, and exausting summer with a ton of things going on, and most of them happened to be outdoors. Allowing me to take it the beauty of God's creation.
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. ~ Psalm 19:1
Take a look at the wonder and beauty I've seen this summer in creation and the faces of those I've spent my time with.
This was our mission trip with the youth group to Lake Chautauqua Lutheran Center for painting and doing whatever else the camp needed.

Next up was Confirmation Camp at Camp Mowana.

Vacation Bible School really got the kids involved. Pictiures will follow shortly.

Wednesday, 30 April 2008

Listening for the Spirit

You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses, in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. ~ Acts 1:8

It’s one thing to believe that we have been given the Holy Spirit and that through the Holy Spirit God gives us power and guidance, but it is quite another to live our lives that way.

Recently, I’ve been trying to notice the Spirit’s leading in my life on a daily basis. So far, I’ve been pretty unsuccessful at noticing it in the moment, or even thinking about it as the day happens. But, I have been intentionally taking time at the end of the day to think back, to focus on times when I can see that God was present in situations, people, words, and actions throughout my day. Sometimes it is easy and I can name lots of ways that God was working, other times it takes some real thinking to come up with just one, but I do it every day in hopes that some day I will see it as it happens, and that I will remember to look for those moments during the day.

Last week, I had one of those moments. I was driving home from work for the day, thinking about what needed done at the house, what I could put off for a while longer, and what I was going to have for dinner, and as I drove several police cars passed me. Before long, I saw them scattered across the road, blocking all but one lane. As I nosed my way through the now heavy traffic with my mind still on random things, I took in the cause of the commotion.

A group of people was clustered around a young boy, who had his back to me sitting on the pavement. His bike lay ten feet away from him, and a slightly damaged car stood idle beside him. The police were there, asking questions and calming the distressed. On the sidewalks around the area, others were gathered in clusters, families, friends, parents and teachers from the school across the street, all trying to get a better view and find out what happened.

As I drove past, some of the pieces fell together for me. Obviously, a child had been hit by a car while riding his bike on the way home from school. It was terrible to think about, but even more terribly and somewhat strangely, I could have sworn I recognized the boy. Something about him had reminded me of a boy who attends the church where I serve, but I had only seen his back.

I tried to reason with myself. How many boys look like that? How many boys attend that school? How many ride their bikes? The chances of it being who I thought it was were slim. In my mind, I wanted simply to continue home. It probably wasn’t who I thought it was, and whoever it was was well taken care of by teachers and paramedics and police.

Yet at the next opportunity to make a U-turn, I did, my heart ignoring my brain. I crawled back to through the traffic and parked nearby. I discovered through conversation with a watching parent that the child was indeed the boy from my congregation, and eventually made it across the street to his side as they loaded him into the waiting ambulance. I quickly learned that he was not injured except for a possible broken ankle, and watched the medics care for him before they headed off to the hospital where his mother worked.

On my way home once again, I was able to call his family and leave them a message letting them know that they were all in my prayers and that I had been present to offer my comfort at the scene.

It was a Holy Spirit thing that I was there at all. My human brain had been half way home, planning the evening. Yet, the Spirit had guided me to a better course of action, one that allowed me to see a child I cared for in need, one that placed someone else ahead of me. I knew, as I headed home, that I had heard the Holy Spirit, and that I had responded to it in this instance. I was reminded of what it felt like to hear the voice of God in my life, and what it means to respond to it – hope, service, and peace, suffering, sorrow, and pain.

You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses, in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. ~ Acts 1:8

Lord, teach me the movement of your Spirit. Amen

Wednesday, 09 April 2008

The Failure and Faith of a King

2 Kings 18:3,5,7 ~ Hezekiah..did what was right in the sight of the Lord. He trusted in the Lord the God of Israel; so that there was no one like him among all the kings of Judah after him or among those who were before him. The Lord was with him; wherever he went, he prospered.
So in the Bible, there is this story about King Hezekiah. And it starts with the verses above. We hear all about how Hezekiah listened to God, and did what God wanted. He destroys all the places to worship things other than God. He follows the rules God sets. He obeys God and trusts him with everything. We find out that God was with him in everything, and that he was even able to free his nation from the Assyrians, the biggest playground bully at the time. We hear that there was no one else like Hezekiah ever.
Pretty great recomendations, right? Hezekiah sounds like a great guy, with everything going for him.
I love Hezekiah, I discovered his story again yesterday, and I love the guy, not because of all the kudos he gets, but because of what happens next in his story.
God is with him, and he trusts God, and the next thing that happens is that the Assyrians come after him, and when they destroy a couple towns, Hezekiah sends them a message saying "You're right, I did the wrong thing trying to step out on my own, what do we owe you to be part of your friends again." And they tell him he owes them so much silver and gold, and Hezekiah goes to the temple where he worships God and takes out all the silver, and strips the gold off everything including the doors and pays the Assyrians.
He loves God. He trusts God. He does what God wants, and knows God is with him, but when the bully shows up and starts pushing him around, Hezekiah folds under the pressure. He not only gives up on God, he takes all the finery in God's house and gives it to the Assyrians. He takes his faith and puts it in worldly powers. Talk about changing sides.
I love Hezekiah. He's got everything going for him, and still he walks away from God for someone he thinks can take care of him better.
I know the feeling. Do you?
If you check the dates between this post and my last one, there's a pretty big gap. When I started this blog I said that one of the reasons was to be more conscious of God's presence in my life and in the world. Well, between November and now, there are lots of things that got in my way of writing down when I did see God at work, but to be really honest, a lot of the time, I wasn't seeing God. I was having trouble trusting, believing that God was moving and shaping things. I looked around at my life and decided that it was easier to put my trust in worldly things and not in God.
We all have those times. Things get in the way. We get shoved around by a bully. We get taken down.
Life doesn't seem to make sense. We face death, illness, unfairness, confusion, frustration, doubt, and lots of other things.
And sometimes, we give into that bully and pay them off. Sometimes we lose our trust in God.
But the best part of Hezekiah's story is that he is still described as the best king Judah had in a long time. He is described as a guy who loves God and does what God wants. Later in the story, God saves Hezekiah's life, not once but twice.
Hezekiah may have given up on God, but God never gave up on Hezekiah. God protects him, and heals him, and makes him a great king who does good work.
I love Hezekiah. He loves God and fails God, but God always loves him. And God never fails him.
Thank you for not giving up on me Lord. Amen.