Thicker Skin?

I encountered an angry man on Friday. I haven’t the foggiest idea why he was so stirred up, but my mere presence acted as a trigger for his eruption. To the best of my ability I tried to listen, speak slowly and answer with gentleness. Despite my attempt to defuse the situation, his anger continued to spiral upwards. When he had escalated to a point that I felt threatened, he finally began to back off. He swiftly turned, grabbed a briefcase from his car and entered a local business. I remained frozen in the parking lot. Part of me was immobilized by the flood of emotions that were welling up in my core…the other part of me thought that if I was stationary long enough, he would return and we could repair what had transpired over the last few minutes. When it was apparent that he wasn’t going to come back, I retreated to a nearby park.

After I got to the point that I was able to release him back to God, I became rather frustrated with myself. In terms of opposition and attack, my little encounter would barely be a blip on the spectrum scale of what others have endured. And yet, for all intensive purposes, I was rendered useless for the next two hours. While I am aware that my highly wired INFJ personality is a massive contributing factor to this, I found it discouraging that a minor event such as this one could shift my demeanor so dramatically. My analytic side kicked in and I began foreshadowing how much my tendency to be easily moved emotionally would affect any ministry that I partner with. Acknowledging the destructive quality in feeling too much, I reasoned that a need for thicker skin was in order and thus I placed an appeal for before God. His response over the last couple of days has challenged the wisdom of my request and so I retract it. As much as I’d like to avoid the negative baggage that comes with feeling in this world, the cost of callousness is more then I am willing to pay. Let me be moved.

Seeds

I bought some seeds a couple weeks ago. While I posses no ground to plant them in, I like the idea of having them. They are currently fastened to my bathroom mirror, (actually the packet they are contained in is taped there…but you get the point.) Would these small little wonders ever to meet the earth, they would spring up as sunflowers.

I have always been under the impression that the name for these brilliant plants stemmed from their paralleled appearance to the sun. Wikipedia has been so kind as to set the record strait:

“At sunrise, the faces of most sunflowers are turned towards the east. Over the course of the day, they follow the sun from east to west, while at night they return to an eastward orientation.”

This sun following pattern continues for as long as the flower grows. At the end of this stage, the stem will stiffen causing the bloom to always be oriented in the eastward direction.

Oh, to get following the Son on that level. To rise with Him, track His every movement, and with great enthusiasm return to the starting position so that not a drop of His light is missed the next day.

I am fascinated that a flower in the process of dying turns east. The voice of J.D. Walt rings in my ears, “Look to the east, He’s coming back.” While the theological soundness of this could be questioned…I picture a sea of saints, who spent their living days soaking in the Son, facing east. Waiting, worshiping. He’s coming back. Earth will be restored and they have a front row seat.

As a random side note…and something for your head to play with… a wild sunflower typically does not turn toward the sun and will orient it self in many directions when mature. Despite this, its leaves will flow suit with the tame flowers. Deep down, I wonder if a small part of everyone yearns to become aliened with His order. Just a thought…

Rehearsal

The Nave family’s nomadic lifestyle has offered me the privileged of sitting under a number of remarkable preachers, teachers and mentors. Of all the sermons I’ve heard on the cross and Christ’s resurrection, none have stirred my spirit more then a series Jon Weece taught nearly five summers ago. He prompted me to take a closer look at Feasts of the Hebrew nation. They are drenched in love and promises.

I needed to be reminded of these riches this week. I lamented to a friend this afternoon that I am weary of lent. There is heaviness around campus, particularly in chapel, that I can no longer endure. I’m ready for Easter and my heart can’t wait till Sunday. If you too are feeling weighty, I pray the following snippet will help lop off the gloom. Celebrate my friends. The tomb has been empty for years.

The Feasts functioned in the same way our holidays do. They were used to eat, remember and anticipate something bigger to come. Their word for feast is best translated as a “rehearsal.” Leviticus 23 sets the foundation for explaining some of the larger “rehearsals” practiced by the Israelites. The Feast of Passover, Unleavened Bread and First Fruits were packaged together.

-Passover was to be celebrated on the 14th day of the 7th month (Nisan.) Four pictures can be drawn out of this the first Passover (Exodus 12). First, God was attempting to set His people free from slavery and bondage. Second, God was willing to kill all of the first-born sons of Egypt to accomplish this redemptive plan. Third, God would cover and mark His people with the blood of a lamb to protect them. And fourth, all of this would happen in the darkness of the night as the death angle passed over. By the time Jesus shows up on the scene, Passover had had 1,400 years to develop into a beautiful and significant feast. Josephesus, a Jewish historian, tells us that 250,000 – 400,000 lambs, who had been born and raised in Bethlehem, were sacrificed on the alter during this festival. The smell of burning animals never left the nostrils of the Hebrew people. It was a constant sensory reminder of the smell and stench of death and sin. Visually there was so much blood coming out of the lambs that is was literally ankle deep in the temple courtyards and flowed down into the city streets. There is nothing to be romanticized about the Feast of Passover. One could say that the overarching theme of this Feast is the people asking God for deliverance from death.

- Unleavened Bread was scheduled on the Jewish calendar to take place on the 15th of Nisan. This feast was set up as a way of asking God for bread from the earth. As farmers, the Hebrew people linked bread with life. So what are they really asking is for God to bring life out of the earth.

- The Feast of First Fruits was to be celebrated the next Sunday following the Feast of Unleavened Bread. During this time people would bring the entire yielding of their first harvest to God. They offered it to Him as a sign that they trusted Him to meet their every need. Come hail storm, locus or drought. As Jehovah-jireh, they trusted Him to provide. The theme for this feast would be summarized as “God, keep us alive.”

In the final week of Jesus’ life, the 14th fell on a Friday. Recall that the Hebrew nation measured time by the moon, not the sun. Their days’ ran from sunset to sunset. So for all intensive purposes, Passover began on what we would call Thursday night at 6:00. This means that Friday night beginning at 6:00, marked the beginning of The Feast of Unleavened Bread. The very next Sunday, for which the Feast of First Fruits would have been celebrated, happened to be the very next day. As mentioned previously, the Hebrew nation functioned on a lunar calendar, and therefore lost 11 days a year – meaning that every 4 years they would have a leap month. All this is to say that having these three Feasts lined up back-to-back would only happen once in a lifetime.

So on Friday the 14th, the entire Hebrew nation is gathering together to celebrate Passover. While sacrificing lambs they are asking God to deliver them from death. Meanwhile, as the skies begin to turn dark, Jesus, the first born of all creation, the Bread of Life, the lamb who was born in Bethlehem, is on a cross. Unbeknownst to them, God is listening and responding to their prayers.

The next day, Saturday, is the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The entire Hebrew nation is asking for God to bring life out of the earth. Meanwhile, Jesus is being put into the ground. If you’ll recall, all the gospel writers are clear in telling us that there was a rush to get Him in the ground by sundown. Why? May I suggest that God wanted His Son in the ground by sunset because sunset marked the beginning of a new day, Saturday, and the beginning of a new feast? Don’t make the mistake of saying that Jesus was buried that day. No friend, Jesus was planted that day. Do you remember what Jesus said in His ministry? “Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit (John 12).” The entire Hebrew nation is asking for God to bring life out of the earth and God is planting the bread of life into the ground.

Sunday marks the Feast of First Fruits. What day does Jesus walk out of the grave? Sunday. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:20, “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”

I case I lost you in any of that, here is the Clift Note Version: Friday, as the people are praying “God deliver us from death,” Jesus is dying. On Saturday, as Jesus is being planted in the ground on Unleavened Bread, the people are praying, “God bring life out of the earth.” And on Sunday the people are praying, “God keep us alive,” and Jesus is walking out of His tomb.

The God we serve renders me speechless.

No Greater Love

Years ago, Kanakuk Kamps created a sub-camp system called Kids Across America. Their vision was to revolutionize inner-city America through empowering their children with the message of Christ. I had the opportunity to spend four months working with urban youth from NYC, Chicago, San Fransisco, and countless other metropolises. Like most volunteer experiences, these youngsters added more to my life than I could have ever offered them. One of their priceless gifts woke me up this morning.

This was the best version of the song I could find on-line. It is a little long, but the meat of it starts at about three minute mark. I pray that the words wash over you. Be refreshed friend.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FgpRUhQVKA

Withdraw Your Hand (Part 2)

“Thou art the God of the early mornings, the God of the late at nights, the God of the mountain peaks, and the God of the seas; my God, my soul has further horizons than the early mornings, deeper darkness than the nights of the earth, higher peaks than any mountain peaks, greater depths than any sea in nature – Thou who art the God of all these, be my God. I cannot reach the heights or the depths; there are motives I cannot trace, dreams I cannot get at – my God, search me out.” ~ Chambers rendition of Psalms 139

Last week was an academic rarity….no papers, no tests. As the fallout of my spare time and Urim and Thummim ponderings, I figured it might be helpful to physically label some my abstractions. A trip to a creek and a bath tube lined with dirty rocks later, I have a fuller vision of what I have been gripping so tightly.

Each rock now bears a name, word, or phrase; and each morning I get to decide whether to carry the concern or withdraw my hand and offer it to the Creator of all things. I must say, I’m feeling a lot lighter these days. :)

Withdraw Your Hand

I woke this morning with a line of one of my favorite poems running through my head.

“I'm needing a 'yes,' a go-ahead sign.
or even a 'no,' to which I'll resign."

I chuckled to myself, “Boy, what I wouldn’t give for a set of rocks right now."

During some of the earliest turning points in Israel’s history, the High Priest used gemstones called Urim and Thummim to determine God’s will in “yes” or “no” situations. While the nature and exact usage of these stones aren’t altogether clear… and at first sight the practice appears to be nothing more than hocus-pocus, I really fancy the whole notion.

The rendition of this “system” in 1 Samuel 14:19 is priceless. As the commotion began to rise around them, Saul requested for the priest to “withdraw his hand.” In essence they were taking the decision out of their own grasp and turning it over to God.

Physically letting go of something concrete seems a lot easier then emotionally letting go of an abstraction. The surrender process is different. In case one, I can recognize when I am picking the “thing” back up. In case two, the boundaries are not as clear. But maybe it is in this not knowing that faith rises.

The poem I mentioned earlier concludes this way:

“He seemed then to kneel and His eyes met with mine
and He tenderly said "I could give you a sign.
I could shake the heavens and darken the sun.
I could raise the dead and cause mountains to run.

I could give all you seek and pleased you would be.
You'd have what you want, but you wouldn't know Me.
You'd not know the depth of My love for each saint.
You'd not know the power that I give to the faint.

You'd not learn to see through the clouds of despair;
You'd not learn to trust just by knowing I'm there.
You'd not know the joy of resting in Me
when darkness and silence are all that you can see.

You'd never experience the fullness of love
when the peace of My Spirit descends like a dove.
You would know that I give and I save for a start
but you'd not know the depth of the beat of My heart.

The glow of My comfort late into the night,
the faith that I give when you walk without sight.
The depth that's beyond getting just what you ask
form and infinite God who makes what you have last.

You'd never know should your pain quickly flees,
what it means that My grace is sufficient for thee.
Yes, your dearest dreams overnight would come true,
but, oh, the loss, if you missed what I'm doing in you.

So, be silent, my child and in time you will see
that the greatest of gifts is to truly know me.
And though oft My answer seem terribly late,
My most precious answer of all is still wait.”

Purposeful Stillness

Following the opening hymn during Tuesday’s chapel, Dr. Kalas remarked on a unique attribute of our Asbury organist. While this man loves to play, at some point during the song he chooses not to. His generation of silence allows for the “sounds of the people” to be heard. The weight of this organic observation caused me to miss Kalas’ actual sermon (which is regretful to some degree because the number of times I get to sit under this giant are limited). But I began to wonder how often we liken nonmoving with inactivity? Our senses frequently cheat the beauty of what is happening when it appears that nothing is going on. This is unfortunate, as I believe that things grow in these quiet spaces long before they are ever seen.

I must admit that I am often negligent in this process of purposeful stillness. For all of us who struggle with being excessively time-conscious, quietness isn’t easily crossed off a “to do” list. It doesn’t always feel like important work. But may I suggest adding, “hearing Him breath” to our lists tomorrow? Curl up inside of Him and rest knowing that more is being accomplished then countless hours of movement.