Growing weary in doing good

Galatians 6:9    “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

There are many reasons for growing weary. One of those reasons is because we step away from God and deprive ourselves of the nourishment God provides through His Word and fellowship with believers. We grow weary in our efforts, missing the harvest ahead, because we’re busy trying to accomplish everything in our own strength without ever stopping at the cross of Christ.

If we look at the verse from Galatians, we see that reaping the harvest arrives in “due time”—that is God’s time and because of His work. Our responsibility in the equation, however, is to continue to do good work – meaning strive to fulfill the call on our lives according to Scripture truths; and to not give up –not allow difficult circumstances or challenges to cause us to throw in the towel and stop persevering to the end. We need to nurture our relationship with the Lord through being with God personally and with the body of Christ. We also need to ask God to shake up our priorities so that He is first in our lives as we look to the harvest ahead.

Gracious God, I pray that you will strengthen us when we become weary and help us persevere to see the harvest ahead. Thank you, Lord, for the work you are doing in us and through us. I pray this in Jesus’ name, Amen.

What does it mean to be a Missional Church?

We hear so much lately about being "mission-minded" or becoming a "missional church"; but what does all of that mean? According to Alan Hirsch, most churches think they are missionally minded because they have a mission statement or they talk about the importance of mission. But a missional church is a community of believers who are more focused on moving outside the church and allowing God to work in and through a person in every sphere of his/her life. No longer are we to attract people to "come and see", but we must place our energies on "go and be".

Ray Oldenburg writes about "third places" in his book, The Great Good Places. First places are our homes. Second places are where you and I might work or the place where we spend most of our day hours. Third places are the informal settings where we enjoy hanging out and relaxing with friends. Places like coffee shops, restaurants, the mall, or fitness centers. All of these settings are "mission fields" design to share the Good News of the Gospel. Being missional is to be evident in the whole life of a believer in Christ, not just while they are in church.

Below is a link to a video that explains the way you and I are to be missional in our thinking both as an individual and as a church.

http://missionalchurchnetwork.com/missional-community-simple/

"Ordinary Time"

We are about half way through what the church calander call the Pentecost Season. Yet it appears that the further we move from the celebration of Pentecost during “ordinary time”, life within the church can appear to be dull and boring. Let’s face it, Advent, Christmas, and Easter Seasons are all so exciting. Our worship services are different with lively music and color. Even Lent is exciting because of the mysteries associated with sacrifice and prayer.

So why have the Church Fathers and Mothers designed our church year with such a long Pentecost Season? I believe one reason is that it gives you and me time to grow -- to dig deeper in our relationship with God. Remember Pentecost was the coming of God’s Holy Spirit to dwell within each of us. The book of Acts talks about how this indwelling of God’s Spirit was manifested in the lives of the disciple of Christ -- so too for you and me. Pentecost Season is a time for you and me to discover the ways in which God’s Spirit works in and through our lives.

God knows better than anyone what our deepest potential is in relationship to the larger picture of life. Our responsibility is to discern from God’s Spirit what God’s will is for us so that we can live into it. Another way to say this is that we need to cultivate spiritual discernment.

Spiritual discernment is the quest to discover God’s will in our lives. Jesus said in John 5:30 “I can do no thing on my own … I seek to do not my own will but the will of [the One] who sent me.” In today’s world, you and I are the body of Christ. Our purpose as Christ followers is to allow God to act in and through us as we live out our lives.

Spiritual discernment allows our rational minds to join with our intuition by allowing God’s Spirit to mysteriously reveal to us what we need to know and how we need to act. It is a prayerful informed and intentional attempt to sort out the voices we hear with in. By cultivating our spiritual senses, we develop a keener sense of what God’s voice sounds like within us. Our goal in spiritual discernment is in fact to find the mind of Christ.

Though prayer is a key component of spiritual discernment, it is not about saying prayers to ask God to guide us, but more of a sense of being still and listening with the ear of our hearts. It draws us in and harmonizes our lives with God’s plan. It requires silence and waiting. Practicing spiritual discernment quips us to be constantly alert to the presence and guidance of God’s Holy Spirit. Jesus said, “Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.” (Jn 15:5)

Pentecost Season is long and ordinary because our focus needs to be within – growing deeper in our connection to God’s Spirit. It is a time to become grounded in our conviction that God’s Holy Spirit is an active presence in our everyday lives. God’s Spirit is eagerly waiting for us to open ourselves to God’s will. Can you discern that?

The Plumb Line

Last Sunday’s scripture reading in Amos 7:7-17 talked about God using a plumb line as a standard for the Israelite people. The simple plumb line is the oldest tool used in the construction trade. It is used to determine if something is or is not perfectly aligned or upright. God’s Word functions as a plumb line that tells us how the stresses of the world will make faulty human construction doomed to collapse. God’s Word is the Holy Scriptures, but much more. The Holy Scriptures are about God’s involvement in the existence of humanity. The Old Testament gives us the story of God’s presence and involvement through the Israelite people. The New Testament is the story of God’s Son, incarnate, living among us as an example of a life lived centered on (always pointing to) God. God’s Word is not only the written scriptures, but also the living Christ. Christ is our “plumb line” for living in this world. It is the measure by which you and I deem what is important.

The Church today finds itself, as Amos did, a reluctant prophet to the world reminding the world of the unpleasant realities of human crookedness. But as the Body of Christ, we, the Church, have a standard to follow that standard is Christ, himself. We are called to be in relationship with the living God always checking to see if we line up with God’s love, mercy, forgiveness and peace. When Christ’s followers live uprightly, then the world will be able to see its own crookedness.

St. Barnabas' Feast Day

Today, June 11th, is St. Barnabas' Feast Day. Since our church is named after St. Barnabas, it is a great day of celebration. Our church community will celebrate on Sunday, June 13th to honor our patron saint.

All we know of Barnabas is to be found in the New Testament. A Jew, born in Cyprus and named Joseph, he sold his property, gave the proceeds to the Apostles, who gave him the name Barnabas. He lived in common with the earliest converts to Christianity Jerusalem. Barnabas was instrumental in persuading the community in Jerusalem to accept Paul as a disciple. With Paul he brought Antioch's donation to the Jerusalem community during a famine, and returned to Antioch with John Mark, his cousin. The three went on a missionary journey to Cyprus, Perga (when John Mark went to Jerusalem), and Antioch, where they were violently opposed by the Jews that they decided to preach to the pagans. When a dispute arose regarding the observance of the Jewish rites, Paul and Barnabas went to Jerusalem, where, at a council, it was decided that pagans did not have to be circumcised to be baptized. On their return to Antioch, Barnabas wanted to take John Mark on another visitation to the cities where they had preached, but Paul objected because of John Mark's desertion of them in Perga. Paul and Barnabas parted, and Barnabas returned to Cyprus with Mark; nothing further is heard of him, though it is believed his rift with Paul was ultimately healed. Tradition has Barnabas preaching in Alexandria and Rome, the founder of the Cypriote Church, the Bishop of Milan (which he was not), and has him stoned to death at Salamis about the year 61. The apocryphal Epistle of Barnabas was long attributed to him, but modern scholarship now attributes it to a Christian in Alexandria between the years 70 and 100; the Gospel of Barnabas is probably by an Italian Christian who became a Mohammedan; and the Acts of Barnabas once attributed to John Mark are now known to have been written in the fifth century. Barnabas’ feast day is June 11. St. Barnabas is known to be an encourager, one who empowers others to use the gifts that God has given them. He was instrumental in leading many to Christ and strengthening them in their spiritual journey.

Why Go to Church?

There is a lot of talk these days about how going to church is no longer necessary. Our technology provides us with preaching on TV, Internet, Iphones and various other communication tools. We can fellowship on facebook, twitter, and other chat rooms. But the best reason that I think a Christian believer should go to church is because Jesus did! Luke 4:16 says that “as was His custom, Jesus entered the synagogue on the Sabbath” (emphasis mine). Jesus did not go to church because of what he could get out of it, he went because it pleased God. Our commitment to church every week is not based on if we feel like it or not, but it is based on what God gets out of our going. God wants us to be there – personally- because you and I are the Body of Christ and where two or three are gathered, God is in our midst.

There is much we have yet to learn about the spiritual function of gathering together to worship. Our “church” family is as important, if not more important, than our physical family. Anne Ortlund in her book Disciplines of the Beautiful Woman puts it this way:

Let me tell you about my friend Bruce’s family of schnauzers. We paid a visit when mamma schnauzer had her puppies. The whole family of them were in a playpen in the kitchen. That enclosure was their whole world, and those tiny pups snuggled to their mother for warmth, food, love – everything they needed.

They had no idea that they were totally dependent on a larger family, a human family – Bruce, June, and their children – who were (under God) the ultimate source of the provision of all their needs.

Your physical family can provide you with warmth food and love, but recognize that the true source of godly love, warmth, nourishment, and togetherness comes from a larger family – the eternal family – your faith community.

The Scriptures tell us to use our gifts to nourish the Body of Christ and to draw nourishment from the Body so that all of us (adult singles, young people without Christian parents, and married without spouses) will be able to feel cared for, loved and nourished in God’s beautiful forever-family. When we are loved, fed and prayed for in our church family, the relationships in our physical family are wonderfully healed and nurtured.

Paul holds us, the family of God, to be the highest of all human relationships when he says to the Philippians, “It is only right for me to feel this way about you all, because I have you in my heart…. God is my witness, how I long for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more.” (Phil.1:7-9)

In every one of our lives there is a can of worms. There are skeletons in the closet of every human being. We need Christ and we need each other to grow into the people God created us to be. It may be painful or even embarrassing, but God has given us each other to help us grow into the full stature of Christ.

Pentecost

Yard Sale

Recently our church hosted a “Yard Sale”. Actually, it was held in our parish hall, but still it involved collecting used items that people had in their homes that they no longer had need of. We received some very nice items that showed little or no use. We also received items that had shown much use and a lot of love. What amazed me about the items collected was the variety of “things” that people have in their possession. Some items were very useful in their function, other items were hard to determine what they were used for and still some items were beautiful and others plain ugly. For the people who donated the “things” in our sale, well, they no longer had use for them or they had stored them for so long that the space the item was taking up was needed for something else.

As I walked among the tables that held these “things”, I began to think of the old axiom “one man’s junk is another man’s treasure”. As I pondered this idea, what surfaced was how we as people see each other verses the way that God see all of us. For many, people are viewed as objects, what can be gotten out of another, what can they do for me, how will this benefit me. People, if they do not meet the criteria that a particular group sets, well then, they do not measure up and therefore are seen as “junk”. But in God’s eyes, we are all seen as precious treasures or another way of saying it – as collectibles.

There are two primary characteristics of collectibles: desirability and rarity. You have heard the saying that “God does not make junk”. This holds true to the way that God sees you and me. We are collectible. We are wanted because God desires you and me. “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you” (John 15:16). You and I have been chosen by God – God desires us. But unlike the collectibles we have, God does not place us on a shelf to be admired. God calls us to go and bear fruit, that is, to share God’s love and caring with those around us.

Rarity, another characteristic of a collectible, is how God views us. No one on this earth who has ever lived is just like you. Oh, there may be someone who may look like you, such as a twin, but to be exactly like you – there is none. That is why people can be identified by their DNA. God says, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations." (Jeremiah 1:5) and  “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:13). God tenderly and lovingly created us. God could have just thrown us together with a snap of the finger, but no, God chose a delicate, intimate way of forming us in our mother’s womb. God has been completely involved in creating you and me as a rare creature designed to love and be loved.

One man’s junk may be another man’s treasure, but in God’s eyes there is only treasure to be found. For you and I are desirable and rare from God’s perspective.

Alleluia, the Lord has risen!

"Why do you weep?" This question was asked of Mary at the tomb of Jesus by two angels and Jesus, himself. Death is not the end of the story of Jesus nor is it the end of our stories. Jesus first spoke to Mary at the tomb and yet she did not hear him. She saw him as a gardener because she expected Jesus to be dead. The saying, "What we perceive is our reality", holds true with Mary and the other disciples. If we do not expect God to work in and through our lives, then the chances are that we will never see evidence of God's hand in our lives.

"Why do you weep?" Jesus spoke to Mary, but she did not hear. Is Jesus speaking to you? Is he asking to be recognized (perceived) by you as the Jesus who is alive - the Jesus who is risen? What does your heart want to answer? This Easter season, take a moment to listen to your heart and perceive the risen Lord. Alleluia, Christ has risen. The Lord has risen, indeed!

Refiner's Fire

Recently at St. B's we were able to bless our new fire pit that we constructed back in December 09. It was such a wonderful time to be together as a church family. Not only did we thank God for our beautiful setting, we were also able to enjoy some hotdogs, smores, and just spend time relaxing and sharing our stories. There is something about fire that stirs within each of us a myrid of emotions.

In scripture, God is represented many times by the image of fire.  The danger and mystery that fire invokes has a way of touching our souls. In Malachi (3:2b-4) it says, "For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the LORD in righteousness." God is constantly working on our behalf to burn away the things that keep us from fully loving and being loved by Him.

In Hebrews, God is a consuming fire. For many that can take on a very negative, fearful understanding of God. But what if we looked at it a little differently.  In the Gospel of Matthew (3:11) John the Baptist says "...but He (Jesus) will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire." God is a consuming fire, baptizing you and me with fire. This could mean that God so desires you and I to the extent that our Creator is willing to totally engulf and immerse us in his love as a fire consumes and absorbs everything in its path. By consuming us, we are transformed into the image of Christ. God wants us to be whole and complete the way we are intended to be.

As we journey through Holy Week experiencing the path that Christ took to the cross and then the excitement beyond, remember that God so desires to not just be a part of your life -- but desires to consume all of your life, thereby allowing true life, resurrected life to shine forth.

De Colores - The Many Colors of God

What an exciting weekend Dave and I have had! We have just come back from Honey Creek after a wonder-filled Cursillo weekend. All the love and excitement we experienced has left us both exhausted – but exhausted in a good way.

In reflecting on some of the things that we experienced, one thing (of many) stood out to me and that is the “colors”. Rainbow colors everywhere. Reds, blues, yellows, greens, oranges, purples, blacks, browns, pinks – all the colors one could name. But have you ever wondered, “What color is God?” The use of colors in scripture and our tradition is vast.

According to the law of color, there are three primary colors: red, blue, and yellow. All other colors are a combination of these three colors. White is the combination of all the primary colors and black is the absence of any color.

When white light is focused through a spectrum, the colors contained in the white light forms bands of color. We see this in the form of a rainbow. Psalm 19: 1-2 says, “The heavens are telling the Glory of God and their expanse shows the work of His handiwork. Day to day they speak and night to night reveals knowledge.”

It is said that the three primary colors (red, blue, and yellow) represent the character of God. The secondary colors that are formed from these primary colors represent the roles of God as He seeks to reconcile one character to another within us. The colors of black and white reflect the status of the human life as we either reject or accept the living God.

Red is the sacrifice of God through His Son, Jesus Christ. “In Him we have redemption (deliverance and salvation) through His blood, the remission (forgiveness) of our offenses (shortcomings and trespasses), in accordance with the riches and the generosity of His gracious favor.” Ephesians 1:7 [AMP] It means life. The blood of Christ cleanses us making us a holy people. “For the life of the flesh is in the blood.” (Leviticus 17:11)

Yellow or gold signifies the Holy Spirit in our hearts. If we compare two passages of Scripture we see that fire is symbolic of the Holy Spirit. "He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire" (Matthew 3:11) and "There appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost" (Acts 2:3-4). Fire refines and can change material from one form to another. Fire purifies, warms, and illuminates. God changes us by purifying our character through the Holy Spirit in to gold. “I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich.” (Revelation 3:18) “And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.” (Malachi 3:3)

Blue speaks of God, the Father and Creator of the world. God is in covenant with us. God covers and shields us with His mercy until all are brought into right relationship with Him. Blue is the color of the sky and sea, it has often symbolized divinity, as well as height and depth and breath of God. It represents God’s Glory. “And they saw the God of Israel and under his feet there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself.”(Exodus 24:10)

White is the perfect balance of all three – in love. Love motivates you and I to allow the completeness of God (the Holy Trinity: Father, Son, Holy Spirit) to be lived out in and through us. Come now let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool. (Isaiah 1:18) God is not just one of these colors, but much more. The colors are only distinctions that God is working to reconcile you and me to Himself.

Black is not a mixture of any color because it is the total absence of all colors. There is no connection to God. Christ became sin for us when he hung on the cross so that you & I might come into right relationship with God. “He made Him who know no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) Our journey is no longer in darkness, but in light.

It is the visible spectrum of light that is the part of our everyday vocabulary. The colors of the rainbow paint our world with the beauty of God’s grace production. The shades and combinations of the basic colors give way to thousands of colors that thrill and delight our world. For those who walk in the light of God’s grace, color in our world helps us understand divine truth giving you and I a vivid artistic portrayal of God’s plan for our lives.

Mother God

It never ceases to amaze me the number of times in scripture that God is referred to in the feminine. Yet, how little we pass that image on to others. In our Gospel reading for this Sunday, Jesus refers to God as "a hen who gathers her brood under her wings."
What a beautiful image of God's loving, protecting arms encompassing us.

Too often these days we chose to live in isolation. I do not mean that we live as a hermit out in the wilderness alone from all inhabitance. What I am referring to is that you and I can be in a crowd and yet we choose not to interact with the people around us.  Instead we choose to plug our ears or focus our eyes on Ipods, Iphones or other technological gadgits and thereby isolate ourselves from making connections with each other. We choose to shut out the world around us. A world that is suffering and hurting. A world that so longs for the human touch.

Being a Christian is about relationships. Relationships with God and each other. It is about being the body of Christ and our willingness to embrace our suffering and hurting world. If we choose to ignore and isolate ourselves, God's Spirit is hindered in healing our world. If we choose to connect with God's creation, then healing will come.

During this Lenten Season, let your hearts choose to connect with God's heart and allow the Spirit to guide you to someone who's heart is hurting.  Then be prepared to see the world transform.

Prayer - A Lenten Practice

Lent is a good time to develop or strengthen our rule of life through prayer. Prayer is essential if one is to grow spiritually. Communicating and communing with God through prayer is how we build and nurture a deep, meaningful relationship with our Creator.

Jesus gives us simple instructions on how to pray:

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened." (Matthew 7:7-8)

Prayer is an important element of the Lenten Season. Begin to set aside a time each day to meet with God. God is so eager to hear our prayers, so pray, and meet with God today.

Some ways of praying include:

Mindful Prayer is holding little conversations with the Lord within our head, its visualizing God as Father, Creator, Lover, Provider, as a Beloved Son or as Friend. It's reading a passage from Scripture, meditating on it then imagining the scene and placing ourselves in it.
Vocal Prayer is said out loud alone or in groups.
Contemplative Prayer is 'being lost' in the beauty and wonder of God and His creation, acknowledging His greatness in all things.
Silent Prayer is closing out the world from distraction and in silence 'opening the door of the heart' to the Lord.
Reading Prayer is with Scriptures or meditating upon the writings of recognized Christian writers.
Singing Prayer is in the joy of song and music through hymns and spiritual songs. Today there are many spiritual songs that draw us deeper into our love for God because many of them are based on scripture. What a great way to memorize the scriptures through song.
Working Prayer is dedicating our day's work joyfully and honestly to the Lord.
Vernacular Prayer is bringing God's name back into everyday language - 'Thank God' or 'Thanks be to God' during conversation.
Thanksgiving Prayer is praising and thanking God in all things, even in the difficult situations.

There are many excellent prayers found in Scripture to pray. Praying the Psalms is an excellent place to start. Using the Anglican Rosary can also be a wonderful tool that helps us in our prayers. The Liturgy of the Hours, an ancient practice of praying throughout the day: Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, Noonday Prayer, and Compline is an wonderful goal for Lent. Our liturgy should always be prayer, so a good discipline for Lent would be to make an effort to attend worship services on a regular basis whenever possible.

In the beginning.....

Well, I have taken the plunge and started a blog. I thought this might be one way to keep everyone up to date about what is happening at Saint Barnabas Episcopal Church in Valdosta. I hope that this will become a tool to inspire, encourage, and challenge everyone who visits. So keep checking to see what is happening at St. B's