I’m reading a book called “The Fire Within”, which is about St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross and their prayer lives. It fits with what God is doing in my heart right now. I feel God’s reality, love and presence like I may never have felt before. I don’t know when I’ve ever felt this clear and open confidence in the Lord. In reading about Teresa, I feel I recognize her as such a kindred spirit–feisty but so keenly aware of God’s mercy and great love; intolerant of B.S. but knowing she has been forgiven much. I hope these quotes bless you and kindle within you more and more love of God.
“It seemed my soul wanted to leave my body because it didn’t fit there nor could it wait for so great a good. The impulse was so extreme I couldn’t help myself, and it was, in my opinion, different from precious impulses; nor did my soul know what had happened, nor what it wanted, so stirred up was it. Although I was seated, I tried to lean against the wall because my natural power was completely gone…The glory of this rapture was extraordinary. I remained for the rest of Pentecost so stupefied and stunned I didn’t know what to do with myself, or how I had the capacity for so great a favor and gift. I neither heard nor saw, so to speak, but experienced wonderful interior joy. I noted from that day the greatest improvement in myself brought about by a more sublime love of God and much stronger virtues.”
“…This time the Lord desired that I see the vision in the following way: the angel was not large but small; he was very beautiful, and his face was so aflame that he seemed to be one of those very sublime angels that appear to be all afire. They must belong to those they call the cherubim, for they didn’t tell me their names. But I see clearly that in heaven there is so much difference between some angels and others and between these latter and still others that i wouldn’t know how to explain it. I saw in his hands a large golden dart and at the end of the iron tip there appeared to be a little fire. It seemed to me this angel plunged the dart several times into my heart and that it reached deep within me. When he drew it out, I thought he was carrying off with him the deepest part of me; and he left me all on fire with great love of God.”
Citing the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s call to civil disobedience, 145 evangelical, Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christian leaders have signed a declaration saying they will not cooperate with laws that they say could be used to compel their institutions to participate in abortions, or to bless or in any way recognize same-sex couples.
“We pledge to each other, and to our fellow believers, that no power on earth, be it cultural or political, will intimidate us into silence or acquiescence,” it says.
The manifesto, to be released on Friday at the National Press Club in Washington, is an effort to rejuvenate the political alliance of conservative Catholics and evangelicals that dominated the religious debate during the administration of President George W. Bush. The signers include nine Roman Catholic archbishops and the primate of the Orthodox Church in America.
They want to signal to the Obama administration and to Congress that they are still a formidable force that will not compromise on abortion, stem-cell research or gay marriage. They hope to influence current debates over health care reform, the same-sex marriage bill in Washington, D.C., and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation.
I apologize for not posting an entry last night; I was out with the Forerunner Street Evangelism team in the Plaza section of Kansas City. This was the first time I’d done anything like this. It was pretty audacious, even for me. :) There were about ten of us who went out to simply bring the good news to folks that might never darken the door of a church. We split into teams of two, and I was paired with a young man named Nathan. He had done a lot more of this than I had (which was none), so I told him that I was just going to follow his lead.
The Plaza is a shopping disctrict of about six or so square blocks of upscale shops (Brooks Brothers, Anthropologie, etc.) and restaurants. Being Friday night, lots of people were out on the town, dressed up pretty fancy, and no one in a big hurry. Nathan and I had some tracts and some flyers for an upcoming presentation here at IHOP by a man named Bob Weis, who actually had an experience of being in Hell for 23 minutes. (I’ve heard the recording; it’s quite compelling.) We had a couple of brush-offs, but nothing like you’d experience in NYC. One woman was kind of hostile and had made up her mind that she “did not want to hear anything about Jesus.” (Ask my mom; she said the same thing to me once, only not that civilly.)
Maybe two months ago now, I had been listening to a teaching on prophetic evangelism by Hal Lindhart, who is the head of the evangelism department here. He said something that stuck with me: that we must not despise a particular method of evangelism just because we think, or have heard, that it doesn’t “work” or that it’s distasteful or cheesy. That hit me so hard and really humbled me. I think we can have a really superior attitude toward certain forms of evangelism. Come on, haven’t YOU made fun of Chick Tracts? I have. But last night I was givin’ ‘em out–and you know what, people asked us for them.
Here’s a little synopsis of some of the folks we spoke to: (more…)
This morning I went to the Forerunner Evangelism Institute’s weekly “open house”. It was really sweet; about 30 or so people in the room with very simple, unpolished worship, prophetic prayer (the woman praying for me had a picture of me with a spear that I was going to throw a long way, with a message on the end of it), and a message by David Vagnoni (sp) on preaching repentance. Wow. Fantastic.
What I realized through this is that I’ve been preaching half a gospel. I’ve gotten pretty decent at the “God loves you” part when I’m speaking to the lost. The problem is that it leaves them with, at best, a warm fuzzy feeling about God, and perpetuates the belief, which is actually NOT true, but most people believe, that God forgives everyone (especially if they, whoa, say “sorry!”)–in fact, it simply cements the belief that what people call “grace” is more like an umbrella under which people have license to do whatever they want. What we need to be calling to is the flip-side of the “faith” coin: Repentance. (more…)
Welcome to those of you who haven’t visited my blog before. Esther’s is a place for discussion about women and faith. Anyone’s welcome to read and comment (comments are moderated). Just as a refresher, Esther’s is based on the story in the Book of Esther (in the Bible), about a common girl from a barely tolerated people group who wound up becoming a queen. In the process of her preparation to meet the king of Persia, who wanted to choose a new queen, she was part of a harem of women all undergoing a year of intense beauty treatments and training in courtly life. We imagine it must have had its perks, but that daily life must have been as mundane as ours in a certain sense. We also imagine that lots of talk went on about, well, being women, about spiritual matters, and what they observed in the world around them. That’s the essence of the blog as well. By way of reminder, also, you are welcome to submit articles for consideration. I’m not the only blogger on the column. The most valuable thing, though is the discussion that happens in the comments area. So go ahead–join us! (If you’re shy, you can write in “anonymous”.)
Well, I’m beginning a 4 or 5 part daily series blogging my trip here in Kansas City at IHOP–Prayer, not Pancakes. :) (more…)
What I’m going to write on is, to some, somewhat controversial, but I thought it important to post because maybe some of what I’m going to write may help someone. And I believe as the church (worldwide) we need to open our eyes.
I have been watching the free simulcast of the onething Conference from IHOP for the past few days. The focus of the conference has been the Book of Revelation. OK, OK, hold on. Some have been concerned about that, and I understand. What makes IHOP a great place is their focus on prayer and intimacy with Christ, but more importantly their focus on what David Bryant terms the “Supremacy of Christ”. Anyone who has visited IHOP knows, however, that they also have a significant focus on the End Times. The fact that they are focusing this conference on the book of Revelation has caused some to question whether they are getting off-track regarding the focus on the “one thing”–that is, the supremacy of Christ.
In watching these sessions, my answer to that concern is, absolutely not.
I believe that we as a church (I mean worldwide) have treated the book of Revelation like Martin Luther treated the book of James–as a problematic book that we wish weren’t even in there. But I ask you: Is the book of Revelation the Word of God or NOT? (more…)
For those of you who aren’t familiar with her, I encourage you to subscribe to the podcast or listen on the radio to “Speaking of Faith” with host Krista Tippet. The following quote was part of a very intriguing episode on prayer. I was incredibly humbled by this one. It’s by one of the “Desert Fathers”.
“If a man wants God to hear his prayer quickly, then before he prays for anything else, even his own soul, when he stands and stretches out his hands towards God, he must pray with all his heart for his enemies. Through this action, God will hear everything that he asks.” Abba Zeno
Thank you, Abba Zeno. Touché. I’ll be holding onto this meditation for a while.
I wanted to take a minute to write in light of this past Sunday’s worship time. I felt it from up there, and a few people confirmed it, that it was, let’s say, a difficult time for some of us. I felt it was important to acknowledge that, and try to shed some light on some things.
First and foremost, I *know* that worship went very long this week. Please forgive me; I take full responsibility for that. I know that we have a time line, and when I went into the nursery, the kids had it written all over their faces–they were spent! I took that as confirmation that it was just too long. And I apologize that it cut into the sermon time as well.
Secondly, I know that people have had trouble with times of more “improvised” music. It’s kind of like getting your school picture taken–”What do i do with my hands? Do I smile, or keep a straight face? Did my double chin show in that one?” (OK, that’s the end of the analogy.) People have expressed this feeling of discomfort not just with my leading, but with Ben’s too. Some chalk it up to a “looser” or more “artsy” personality. Believe me, I hear that concern. It is not at all my intention, nor Ben’s (I know I speak for him), to alienate anyone. I understand that some folks like to sing the song straight, and that some would like no form at all. I’d like to encourage you to think of those times as “Selahs”, like in the Psalms. A “Selah” is a musical interlude, and is meant to give space for reflection on the passage that was just sung. Sometimes this comes in the form of a word-less instrumental time, and sometimes there is a refrain that the worship leader thinks of, or is prophetically given, that takes a “snapshot” of what was sung.
Maybe this will help: You are not required to sing at those times. Take the time to sit, kneel, close your eyes, open your Bible, and just listen. You are under no obligation or pressure to “follow along”. Don’t worry. You’re not “lost”, and the worship leader is not trying to throw you a curve ball.
The third thing that was brought to my attention was the volume of new songs we have been learning. Again, I apologize; I know it is challenging. But again, there is no pressure to “achieve” anything in worship; if you flub a word or don’t get a melody right away, it’s OK. We have weeks and months to absorb songs into our vocabulary. It might help you to know that the lovely and talented Marya Mendelsohn has been tackling the streamlining of the worship book, or our repertoire. She told me today that she estimates we have five hundred songs. I’ll bet you didn’t know that! Who knew you could keep close to 500 songs in your brain?! But they’re there, and they were all new at one time. I assure you, I am trying to balance new and old. However, I felt (and could be wrong!) that since summer is a somewhat looser time at church, that it would be a better time to learn a couple of new ones so that come fall, there was a contingent of folks already familiar with them. Safety in numbers.
Lastly, I wanted to make sure everyone knew that there is a change underfoot at Lamb with worship; the team that has been leading these past weeks (with Ben and Scott gone) is going to be a permanent team, in rotation with the main worship team. Each team will have its own flavor. Nobody likes a ton of change, and I understand that and hear it. But nonetheless, I’m asking that you allow a measure of grace to us as we get our sea legs. There’s nothing over-spiritual about logistical errors–sometimes the team isn’t at their best, and this Sunday we all realized that. In fact, I am reminded a lot lately of the struggle that happened when Ben started leading worship. It wasn’t pretty. But we all love Ben’s leadership now, and we’re used to it (which is part of why it’s hard these past couple weeks for some). The best way that you can help us as a new worship team is to enter in as best as you can. And please, please please, ask tons of questions. We are one body made of many parts, and each must bring their offering to the table. We as a new team need the congregation. I really invite your dialogue about this; you won’t hurt my feelings (ok, please be nice about it, though!). I can take critique and in fact welcome it. I am no expert–I’m learning just as much as any other person, and so is the team. My deepest desire and aim is to love and know Jesus, and to make him known–whether that’s to strangers, or to my very dear brothers and sisters on Sunday mornings.
Psalm 118:8-9 It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to trust in princes.
I am meditating on “Empty Arms”. Tonight I was looking through an old photo album that I brought home from my grandmother’s house that had a lot of my baby pictures in it, and it also had photos from the wedding of my mom and stepfather. I’ve looked at it now about five times, but tonight, something about it took off a scab I thought was healed. I’ve forgiven my stepfather many times over the years, but it is so deeply seated in that primal place of the parent-child relationship that I know it will be with me until I die. He chose to empty his arms of me early on. I have never know what it is like to be held by an earthly father, and I never will. Empty arms.
Today, my son jumped off of his bunk bed with a stringy stuffed animal around his neck. Thankfully, all he got was a flesh wound (a nasty one). But don’t think it escaped me in how many different scenarios
he could have gotten seriously hurt, or worse. I faced the possibility of empty arms, as every mother does at least once in her motherhood. But there is Ben’s cousin, Sarah, sitting in a hospital room with her 7-year old, who is suffering with lymphoma, whose pain meds don’t even take because the chemo sucks them right out of his little body. And he is scared. He looks at his mom with pain and fear in his eyes, and she is powerless to do anything. She faces the very real possibility of empty arms.
Sisters, this world is painful. I know it with you. Whether by choice or not, our arms will ache with emptiness at least once in this world. The only thing we can do it throw them up in the air, with a raw, vulnerable heart open to the only one in whom we can take refuge: Jesus Christ, the one who allowed himself to be pried out of the Father’s arms. Oh, to think–that every mother who has ever had to bury a child, and every child who has never known a parent’s tenderness–has an intercessor who sympathizes. A Father and a Son who emptied their arms of each other in order to fill them with you and I.
And so how can we ever cause each other strife? Oh, sisters, we need to embrace each other, put aside grievances, expectations, slanders, misunderstandings, and simply…ache with each other when it aches, rejoice when it’s really good…but guard ourselves against strife and fill each other’s empty arms with each other and with Christ.
What I’m going to write on is, to some, somewhat controversial, but I thought it important to post because maybe some of what I’m going to write may help someone. And I believe as the church (worldwide) we need to open our eyes.
I wanted to take a minute to write in light of this past Sunday’s worship time. I felt it from up there, and a few people confirmed it, that it was, let’s say, a difficult time for some of us. I felt it was important to acknowledge that, and try to shed some light on some things.