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  • How do we treat testimony and the witness?

    by Doris Horton Murdoch

    Testify coverJohn 9:24-25, NASB: So a second time they (Pharisees) called the man who had been blind, and said to him, “Give glory to God; we know that this man [Jesus] is a sinner.” He then answered, “Whether He is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I do know that though I was blind, now I see.”
    John 1:46. NASB: Nathaniel said to him, “Can any good come out of Nazareth?” Phillip said to him, “Come and see.”
    Jealousy and fear led to the accusation of Jesus being a sinner and not of God. Does unbelief and worldly desires cause division? What must the “believing body” be very careful of? Does the church question change in a person’s life when a testimony is shared? Does the body truly forgive others and find joy in one’s redemption? Does the body encourage and nurture the new believer to live out the shared testimony? What is our response to John 1:46?
    Check out Part I of the book, Testify: By the Blood of the Lamb and the Word of our Testimony.

    Order Testify: By the Blood of the Lamb and the Word of Our Testimony here: https://energiondirect.info/christian-living/testify

  • The risks of testifying in one's own congreation

    by Doris Horton Murdoch

    Testify coverJohn 8:31-32, NASB: So Jesus was saying to these Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth and the truth will make you free.”
    Is it culturally risky to share one’s testimony? Is it more difficult to share with church family than the unbelieving world? How does the church body respond to testimonials?
    When one has made a drastic change in life and shares a personal testimony, it may be difficult to share the testimony with long-term believers. One may be living in an environment that is not approved of by the congregation or may be in a job that requires Sunday obligations. The new believer may be marginalized by the congregation due to economics, education, disabilities, racism, misjudgment or misunderstandings. Persecution may come to the person who chooses to testify to the Truth of Jesus Christ. John 8:31-32 speaks of spiritual freedom through the Truth, Jesus Christ.
    Has the congregation that persecutes or segregates truly found freedom through the Truth? Does God expect us to damage our worldly reputation to become reputable witnesses for His Kingdom?

    Order Testify: By the Blood of the Lamb and the Word of Our Testimony here: https://energiondirect.info/christian-living/testify

     

  • Markers of spiritual growth

    by Doris Horton Murdoch

    Testify coverMust others see changes in the Christian’s walk in order for us to be ongoing witnesses to the world? Once we’ve accepted Christ as our personal Savior, can we remain at this initial stage of belief? Without interruptions on this walk that move us in new directions, are we truly growing as Christians? What is the journey of sanctification?
    As author of the book, Testify: By the Blood of the Lamb and the Word of Our Testimony, I believe the Christian’s life should be filled with spiritual markers that redirect the footsteps of the faithful, ever-drawing the disciple closer to the likeness of Jesus and God’s eternal kingdom. Read the book. Become aware of spiritual markers and how these markers change the believer’s life. Internalize the process of sanctification so that there is a personal awareness of God ever-moving in the believer’s journey to complete salvation.

    Order Testify: By the Blood of the Lamb and the Word of Our Testimony here: https://energiondirect.info/christian-living/testify

  • WRONG ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT JESUS AND ISRAEL

    Care RootsChristians who have not realized and valued the Jewish roots of the Church can have wrong assumptions about Jesus. For instance, a famous work of art, “The Last Supper” by Leonardo daVinci, is in error in almost every historical detail, but the Church has never questioned this depiction of the Lord Jesus Christ and His disciples. Dwight Pryor of The Center for Judaic Christian Studies points out that The Last Supper was actually a Passover Seder, and the correct setting is in the evening, commemorating the night the death angel “passed over” the homes of the Israelites as they were preparing to flee Egypt. In the painting fish and bread are served, but the food Jesus and His disciples had was matza (unleavened bread) and a lamb from the Temple sacrifices. In the painting Jesus is seated upright at the center of a long table. However, Jesus and his disciples would have been reclining on the floor on cushions, leaning around a u-shaped table called a triclinium. Jesus, the guest of honor, would have been placed in the second position from the right end. Instead, daVinci painted “thirteen Europeans in Renaissance clothing having a midday meal in an Italian palace!” says Pryor. Jesus was robbed of His Jewish identity!
    We lost the awareness of the Jewishness of Jesus and of Christianity when the Church began changing from a fully Jewish membership (about ten years after Pentecost) to a Gentile religion, especially after the dispersion of the Jews following the Second Jewish Revolt of A.D. 135. A famous Jewish evangelist, Jonathan Bernis of Jewish Voice Ministries, said that before his eyes were opened to see the true identity of Jesus of Nazareth, he thought Jesus was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Christ! His false assumption was similar to that of the brothers of Joseph when they were sent from Canaan by their father Jacob to Egypt to buy grain during the famine. Joseph, the Prime Minister of Egypt, appeared to them to be a Gentile. How shocked they were later when he revealed himself as their own brother! (Gen. 42-45) Just as Joseph was “received” as “Savior” from the famine by the Gentile Egyptians, in the same way Jesus was received as Savior from sin by the Gentiles. But the time is coming and is already here when the Jewish people will recognize their Jewish Messiah, just as Joseph’s brothers finally recognized him, “and all Israel will be saved” (Rom. 11:25-26).
    Christians can have wrong assumptions about Israel also. Many wrongly assume that the Arabs and Jews should share the land equally, but they don’t take into account that the covenants God made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (name changed to Israel) regarding the land are everlasting covenants. Those who don’t respect the authority of the Bible but lean on their human understanding have made wrong assumptions. God made generous provisions of land for the Arabs, descendants of Ishmael and Esau, but His covenant was with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob/Israel (Gen. 17: 18-21). Moreover, He identified Himself to Moses as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying “This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations” (Ex. 3:15). Their descendants, the Jews, were promised the Holy Land, which was first defined to Abraham as the land from the Nile River to the Euphrates River (Gen. 15:18). That includes the so-called “West Bank” (Judea and Samaria) where many Jews have bravely settled and claimed their biblical inheritance in the midst of hostile Muslims.
    Even though the Palestinians continue to threaten that they will push Israel into the Sea, God has guaranteed that Israel will exist as long as the sun, moon and stars exist! (Jer. 31:35-36) The Muslims do not want a state alongside the state of Israel; they want a land devoid of Jews. It is not a territorial dispute, because the 22 Arab nations have over eight million square miles of land (rich with oil), and Israel has only eight thousand, six hundred thirty square miles. God has deeded the land to Israel, a fact which the world rejects, because they reject the authority of God’s Word.
    The Palestinian-Israeli conflict is actually a religious, and indeed, a spiritual conflict.  All peace plans have and will fail because of misunderstanding this.  When Israel was recreated in the center of the Islamic heartland in 1948, demonstrating that the Bible, and not the Qur’an, was God’s true Word, this was a direct challenge to Islam.  The Qur’an demands that jihad be waged until Israel is wiped out.  Today the Covenant of the Hamas states, “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.” (The Martyr, Imam Hassan al-Banna, of blessed memory).  The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Muslim generations until Judgement Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered: it, or any part of it, should not be given up. There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors.”  This Covenant is based on Mohammed’s “hadith” (sayings and laws transmitted orally) in which He claimed the Final Hour will not come until Muslims slaughter Jews, and even the rocks and trees will betray the Jews hiding behind them.  This portrayal of the Final Hour means a Muslim, who by faith has to believe in the Hour, has to also believe in this mass slaughter of Jews” (http://www.mideastweb.org/hamas.htm).
    Again, this is a spiritual conflict.
    The world falsely assumes that the conflict has a human solution, but the Bible says otherwise. The flash point for the conflict centers on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, where Satan has been planning to set up his throne ever since he was kicked out of heaven (Rev. 12: 7-9; Isa. 14:12-14; Matt. 24:15-16; II Thess. 2: 3-4). The Lord Jesus will return to that holy place, vanquish Satan and all His enemies, and begin His reign over all the earth in New Jerusalem (Zech. 14; Rev. 19-22).
    New Jerusalem will be a Jewish place with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel written on the twelve gates of the city! The wall of the city will have twelve foundations with the names of the twelve Jewish apostles of the Lamb on them. It would be wise for Christians to get rid of their false assumptions about Jesus and Israel, God’s Holy Land, and begin rehearsing for our heavenly destiny by caring about our Jewish roots!
    What are some ways you can begin to show that you care about the Jewish roots of the Church?

  • YOU ARE GOD’S POEM

    by Nancy Petrey

    Habitation of HoneyAfter my book, Habitation of Honey: Poems and Songs, was published this May, I continued to write poems, and they came in quick succession. God would inspire me with a thought or a verse from Scripture, and the words would flow out in rhythm and rhyme. Writing a poem or a song is more fun and easier than writing prose. The advantage of poetry is that it isn’t complicated, it takes less time, and it encapsulates truth that can fly like an arrow to the heart.
    I wrote a poem, “His Shaft of Light,” as a poetic response to the shooting in the AME church in Charleston, South Carolina, and the subsequent controversy about the Confederate flag. Here is an excerpt of that poem:
    Ramping up the rhetoric, accusations rife,
    Doing all they can to get you into strife.
    Please don’t take the bait, and let your temper flare.
    Behind it all is Satan, of whom you’re not aware
    Principalities and powers, fanning flames of hate,
    People rush to judgment, but God calls out to wait.
    Pause and say a prayer to the One Who sees it all.
    Be a source of healing, be ready at His call
    .….
    Look for opportunities to be His shaft of light,
    When anger smokes and voices rage,
    His Spirit scatters night.
    Warfare is our portion, so it’s best that we obey
    Our Commander, the Messiah – He will lead the way.
    The next morning I awoke with a big question mark in my soul. Was this poem really from God or just my own “take” on the situation? I asked the Lord and then turned at random in the Bible to see if He would answer with a certain verse. It so happened I opened at Ephesians 2, and my eye fell on the little boxed-in section at the top right of the page, “Word Wealth,” with the definition of the Greek word for “workmanship” from the 10th verse: “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”
    This is what I read: “Poiema (poy-ay-mah): from the verb poiea, ‘to make.’ (Compare ‘poem’ and ‘poetry.’)” OH! I GASPED! It was obvious God was speaking to me! I held the Bible to my chest and began to worship and thank Him for answering my question and convincing me that my poem was indeed from Him! Then I read on: “Poiema emphasizes God as the Master Designer, the universe as His creation and the redeemed believer as His NEW creation (Eph. 2:10). Before conversion our lives had no rhyme or reason. Conversion brought us balance, symmetry, and order. WE ARE GOD’S POEM, HIS WORK OF ART.”[1] Wow! Just to think that I am God’s work of art, His poem!
    Satan had tried to squelch my creative endeavor, but God graciously affirmed me as a poet. I was scheduled to speak at a women’s meeting a month later, and I shared my testimony about how God spoke to me in the midst of my doubts. Then I recited a new poem God had given me from Ephesians 2:10 just for this group of women, “God’s Poem.” Here is an excerpt:
    …
    Put on His whole armor, quote His word out loud,
    You are God’s poem, of you He’s very proud.
    Maidens on the march, publishing His word,[2] As you speak in love, know that you’ll be heard.
    God wants a multitude, a wedding is His goal –
    Jesus and His bride, His poem to unfold.
    …
    All my poems and songs in my book, Habitation of Honey, are based on Scripture. The recurring theme is the destiny of the Church as the Bride of Christ, her highest calling. I think of these poems as helping to prepare the way for the return of the Lord. John the Baptist did that the first time the Messiah came to earth. Remember, he ate locusts and wild honey in the wilderness. To be ready for the Bridegroom, the Bride needs to continually eat the honey – read and study the Scripture. These scriptural poems and songs can serve as daily devotionals. They are varied, some calling for action, some extolling the awesomeness of God in creation, and some contemplative. I need this one, “Sit Quietly” (an excerpt):
    As the butterfly flitting from flower to flower,
    You’ve tasted the nectar in this world’s hour.
    Your wings have shimmered with light from above,
    But I would tuck you under my wing, little dove.
    You’ll never want to fly away,
    Nestled by Me, you’ll want to stay.
    You will hear my heart, if you lie very still,
    And you’ll have my power working in your will…
    There are seasons in life, and you’ve run the race,
    But nothing is better than seeing My face.
    Sit quietly now, look up at My smile.
    I’ve been gazing at you a long, long while.
    What kind of poem is God making of your life? What truth is He displaying through His workmanship in your life? What facet of His beauty, power, and love is He showing forth in the poetry of your life? You are God’s poem! Rejoice!

    [1] Jack W. Hayford, Gen. Ed., Spirit-Filled Life Bible (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, New King James Version, 1991), p. 1789.
    [2] Psalm 68:11 – “The Lord gave the word, great was the company [feminine noun] of those who proclaimed it.”

    Order Habitation of Honey: Poems and Songs here: https://energiondirect.info/christian-living/habitation-of-honey

  • MY CONTINUING JOURNEY AS A MIZPAH

    by Nancy Petrey

    Jewish RootsIt was on August 18, 1995, that God called me to a specific work in His kingdom, that of a “Mizpah” for Israel. It came in the form of a personal prophecy from my husband, who said, “The Lord has told me you are a Mizpah for Israel.” A friend pointed me to the story of the covenant made between Jacob and his father-in-law, Laban. “And Laban said, ‘This heap [of stones] is a witness between you and me this day.’ Therefore its name was called Galeed, also Mizpah, because he said, ‘May the Lord watch between you and me when we are absent one from another.” Later I found out that Israel and the Church were indeed “absent one from another,” because the Church had cut off her Jewish roots!
    A personal prophecy is not meant to direct your life but to confirm a direction that God is already leading you in. I had already been acting as a witness and a watchman for Israel after being inspired by my first tour there in 1994. Being in Israel gave me the feeling I had gone home, and upon my return I wrote a report entitled, “Back to My Roots.” This was before I even knew there was a Jewish roots movement. Now God was calling me to help the Church to be reconnected to her Jewish roots.
    The real beginning point of my Jewish roots journey began back in 1975, when I read Corrie Ten Boom’s book, The Hiding Place. The courage she and her family had in hiding Jews from the Nazis in Holland really impacted my life. On a trip to Israel in 1998, with a seven-and-a-half-hour layover in Amsterdam, I was able to visit the Ten Boom watchmaker’s shop where the famous hiding place was located. How dramatic that I could step into the cut-out wall to stand in that hiding place! While in the house I also had the blessing of playing the piano and having others gather around and sing “You are My Hiding Place.”
    On my most recent trip to Israel in September-October, 2012, I had another priceless musical experience. My friend and I visited the Jerusalem Prayer Center, which is the former home of Horatio Spafford’s daughter, Bertha Vester. Her piano was in the chapel, and my host in Jerusalem, Roy Kendall, played Spafford’s beautiful hymn, “It is Well with My Soul,” on that piano, as our group sang along. My spirit soared.
    Other exciting things have happened to me on my seven trips to Israel, but nothing is more satisfying than seeing my Jewish Messiah in Scripture, as I continue my journey as a Mizpah! I see Yeshua the Messiah closely identified with Israel in the servant passages in Isaiah – “Israel, My Servant” (Isa. 41:8-9; 43:10; 44:1, 21; 45:4; 48:20; and 49:3) and “Yeshua My Servant” (Isa. 42:1; 49:5-6; 50:4-10; 52:13; and 53:11.) The servant roles of both Yeshua and Israel are juxtaposed, however, within these three verses: “… You are My servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified … And now the Lord says, Who formed Me [Yeshua] from the womb to be His Servant [Yeshua], to bring Jacob back to Him, so that Israel is gathered to Him … It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles …” (Isa. 49:3, 5-6).
    Never forget that Jesus was born King of the Jews, died King of the Jews, and is coming back to Jerusalem, the Jewish capital, as not only King of the Jews, but King of the whole world!
    Although national Israel today does not recognize Yeshua of Nazareth as their long-awaited Messiah, they will soon. Zechariah prophesies, “… they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn” (Zech. 12:10), indicating repentance and recognition! It is interesting that the word “whom” in this verse was inserted by the translators, because the Hebrew word, “et,” is not translatable. This little word, “et” looks like this in Hebrew – את, and it is always used between a verb and its object. The two Hebrew letters making up “et” are Aleph (א) and Tav (ת), which are the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet. In Greek they would be Alpha and Omega! Who does that remind you of? The little word “et” gives the identity of the “WHOM,” connecting “Me” (Jesus) and “they” (Israel) in this verse! He is the Aleph and the Tav, the First and the Last! The Hebrew letters form a picture of His sacrifice – Aleph (א), the ox, a sacrificial animal, and Tav (ת), a CROSS in its earliest form! Chew on that a while!
    It is satisfying to see a portrait of the Jewish Messiah hidden in the Hebrew alphabet. And knowing that we are grafted in to the Jewish olive tree (Rom. 11:16-24) causes Scripture to really open up to us. Current events in Israel become more personally relevant also. We will not only see Bible prophecy being fulfilled, but we can choose to be involved in it!
    Maybe I have whetted your appetite to take a Jewish roots journey. I pray so. What kind of journey are you on now in your walk with the Lord?

    Order Jewish Roots Journey here: https://energiondirect.info/theology/jewish-roots-journey 

  • "If It's Broke—Fix It!"

    by Steve Kindle

    I'm Right coverI always enjoy hearing from our foreign missionaries. They all hold in common a belief that God always precedes their arrival at the mission field, and prepares the way. This notion is fraught with theological insights. Not the least of these is that God is with people whom we may consider “lost,” yet, there God is. With charity, we can call this a relationship.
    A human characteristic we all share is the tendency to regard our culture superior to all others. This would include our religions. In America, we regard democracy as the best form of government and actively seek to democratize the rest of the (backward) world. This is certainly true for most adherents of Christianity—we want the whole world to adopt our faith.
    This is, of course, an extension into the modern world of ancient tribalism. Not only do we find the presupposition of “We are the best,” but also the accompanying fear of those who aren’t like us. Couple this with the capitalistic notion of “win or lose” and you have the recipe for constant and continuing strife among the religions and peoples of the world.
    What’s to be done about this? If you are a hardcore tribalist, you will insist on winning over all. “We have the truth and you must come to us for salvation,” is the rallying cry. Nothing will change if this predisposition dominates, and it dominates throughout the world. I find it ironic, if not humorous, that those who most exemplify this attitude are the very ones most upset when they find it in others. “Radical fundamentalist Muslims” deplore evangelistic Christianity. Fundamentalist Christians deplore “radical Muslims.” They are two sides of the same coin.
    It has been said often that the only hope for world peace is that people give up exclusive claims about their own religion and accept that they are not the only ones with the truth. This is surely at least partially true. Religious strife is as ancient as Cain and Abel (the proper way to sacrifice), and as recent as ISIL. Yet it is an impractical solution; it will never happen, at least for the foreseeable future. But this doesn’t mean that the adherents of these religions can’t take this step.
    Gandhi is reputed to have said, “Be the change you want to see.” If you feel that the answer to world peace is acknowledging the value of other’s truths, at least for themselves if not for you, then by living this out, there is one less person in the world agitating for division. Who knows? It might catch on.
    When I read in the Bhagavad Gita, for instance, “They alone see truly who see the Lord the same in every creature, who see the deathless in the hearts of all that die. Seeing the same Lord everywhere, they do not harm themselves or others. Thus they attain the supreme goal,” I marvel at the truth therein, and my soul is enlarged. I love meeting people of other Books, and often find my own self failing in comparison to their lives and loves.
    Now I know the objections to this approach are many. “The Bible says…” and “We have been given the Great Commission,” just to name two. Fundamentalists will never abandon these “truths.” It’s true that the Great Faiths are not teaching the same thing, but I believe that they are capable of producing the same kind of person—loving, considerate of the earth, peaceful—and that is the point, after all, isn’t it? In fact, if Christianity produces hateful people, willing to kill others for its “truth”, who condemn all who disagree, and hold them in contempt, why bother with it?
    If I must go into all the world and preach the gospel, I will affirm that God loves all people, that God wants all people to love each other, and that God supports all who obey the Great Commandments regardless of where it is found or who said it. And you know what? God will already be there ahead of me, teaching the world in its own way the Truth.

  • Love the Questions: Incubating instead of Answering

    by Kent Ira Groff

    Table Talk coverLiminality is a zone of ambivalence, ambiguity, even disorientation, as anthropologist Victor Turner’s pioneer research shows. But it’s simultaneously a “realm of pure possibility where novel configurations of ideas and relations may arise,” says Turner (The Forest of Symbols). That’s one value for practicing centering prayer, where you have no agenda except to empty the mind of thoughts, to cultivate liminal space that leaves you prepared for surprise.
    “Love the questions… live the questions,” says the poet Rilke. How can we cultivate the value of questioning? By honest praying as in the Psalms: first, to develop genuine awareness of self, others and God; second, to claim vocational empowerment—to seek an invitation in the stress; and third, to practice compassion for self and others. In Kitchen Table Wisdom, Rachel Naomi Remen writes, “An unanswered question is a fine traveling companion. It sharpens your eye for the road.”
    Among all four Gospels, Jesus is asked 183 questions, directly or indirectly. How many does he answer directly? Three! And Jesus asks 307 questions—often in response to another’s question: “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus asks, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” (see Luke 10:25-37). By giving questions back to people, by getting them buzzing with his own questions and Zen-like parables, Jesus creates liminal spaces for churning, ruminating, incubating.
    Irritation to Invitation
    I feel the barbs of this little irritation,
    cycling round, coursing in my veins.
    Ah, is there within the irritation
    some invitation I might waste
    if I suppress it—or in haste express it
    raw? Or let it gnaw at my heart?
    If I do nothing, it will do something
    I do not intend. How can I take
    this attitude of annoyance and let it
    turn to gratitude and grace? I pray
    for a middle way. Yet well I know that
    I will come upon this neutral zone
    in a dark wood of waiting….
    There the way is incubating….
    I’m advocating the use of questions for yourself as well as for others, and not only as a method of creativity, but as a prayer practice to keep your own heart open.
    Most of you reading this spend time with friends and colleagues who turn to you for wisdom in work, in families, in board meetings, in one-to-one and community settings. By learning to convert an insight into a thoughtful question, you may offer everyone several priceless gifts.
    You slow down the rapid pace of conversation. While you’re converting your insight into a question, you have to pause—a creative, prayerful space. When you give back another question to whomever you’re with, it creates a second pause within that person. You’ve practiced kenosis—empty space—not just for your own soul but also for the other’s soul. You’ve given the gift of liminal spaces.
    Playing around with moment-by-moment emptiness can free my ego from the need to act smart. Alan Alda of TV’s M*A*S*H fame went on to host the PBS “Scientific American Frontiers” for over ten years, interviewing renowned scientists. Speaking at Chautauqua Institution, New York, Alda told how when he tried to act smart by asking brilliant questions, it didn’t work. The scientist would answer back with technical information, losing both the audience and Alda. He learned to ask dumb questions, in short, to practice “negative capability.” Experimenting with a “dumb question” frees me from needing to be the answer person by acting intelligent or by fixing my neighbor’s problems.

     

  • Felix culpa: “a good mistake”

    by Kent Ira Groff

    Table Talk coverSometimes you can reflect on a failed project or a dumb little thing you did last week—in light of St. Augustine’s concept of felix culpa. Often it’s translated, “happy fault or fortunate fault,” referring to the fault/fall of Adam and Eve, which becomes the occasion for each of us to realize the “grace in the grit” as each of us leaves the garden our own less than perfect lives. I like to translate it “a good mistake.”
    Only retroactively do we see good coming out of a failed experiment. But even to frame failure as an “experiment” begins to redeem it. Thomas Edison could say he didn’t fail, but found 1,000 ways how not to make the light bulb. Proactively, what we can do is pray to notice flecks of grace in the gaff or the goof—that it can become a good mistake.
    “Drops of experience” are never wasted, according to mathematician philosopher Alfred North Whitehead. When you lose computer data on new members or drive two hours to a hospital to visit a cancer patient who was just discharged or eke away hours learning new technology for a website, tell yourself: All that time I spent praying for new members or for folks with cancer or for our congregation to connect with tech generations.
    Here’s a really good mistake. In September 1928 Alexander Fleming returned to the laboratory of St. Mary’s Hospital in London after being on holiday for a couple of weeks. He discovered Petri dishes that his students mistakenly left in an incubator had formed mold in the dank atmosphere. Fleming noticed—and noticing is the miracle of any genuine discovery—that the mold had killed a ring of bacteria. Fleming’s surprise discovery of penicillin is a real life story of how a good mistake created the gift of healing for generations. His vacation led to his vocation.
    Micromanaging. The need to control people and situations is one of the demonic expressions of perfectionism. At the root of the demon of micromanaging lies a secret fear of shame: I don’t want another’s half-botched job to reflect poorly on my own self-competence. Another demon behind micromanaging is failing to trust in God by not trusting people.
    Humility in a strange way is actually spiritual self-confidence: confidence that you can celebrate the gifts of others, rather than belittle them, while at the same time claiming your own. It’s a God-confidence that there are enough gifts for both your neighbor and you to claim your potential for the good of the cosmos, without exploiting or belittling each other. And that’s a good definition of Greek telios: mature—even though not perfect.
    Spiritual Practice: “Let It Be” Listen to the Beatles’ song “Let It Be” (on iTunes or CD). “Mother Mary” refers to Paul McCartney’s dream of his mother, who died when he was fourteen. The title also can be heard as a subtle take on Mary’s response when the angel Gabriel announced she would bear a child—seemingly impossible: “Let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). As you hear “Let it be…” in your mind imagine letting go of an issue that you can’t control, or accepting a challenge that may want to “birth” itself in you.

     

  • Traces of grace in the grit: Holy humus!

    by Kent Ira Groff

    Table Talk coverA woman on silent retreat was praying when she and I heard a construction worker say, “Holy shit!” Later she and I queried: Can this pop phrase mask our human yearning for life’s “waste” to morph into wholeness—even holiness?
    Maybe some folks are “praying” without knowing it—that life’s lowest places might be consecrated: “Holy humus!” Why not use that in our liturgies? The expression can mean more than venting your spleen. We can pray to see traces of grace in the grit of our own or others’ defeats and discouragements.
    Grit Seasoning
    While I do this grit
    work, season
    the irksome pieces
    with enough
    Ahas! to remind me
    of the reason.
    The “reason” is your life mission—your “why to live,” your purpose for being on this earth, your passion (Resource Three in Clergy Table Talk). Such Ahas! come unbidden, by surprise—often right when we feel our own brokenness, even shame and unworthiness.
    In a hospital Clinical Pastoral Education training program, a new student chaplain was assigned to visit Marie Smith, a patient with terminal cancer; she had called to request a visit. It was this seminarian’s first real encounter with death. As he made his way down the hallway in the oncology unit, he was overwhelmed with the stench of necrotic flesh. Upon knocking and then entering the room, he felt overwhelmed by her ashen color. He thought he would throw up. But from somewhere in the back brain, he remembered that it can help at such times to sit down and put your head in your hands. So he sat that way for four or five minutes, and the sickness did lessen.
    But when he looked at the woman, he felt so embarrassed by what had happened that he got up and left. Feeling he had failed, he went to the meditation room to sort things out. He decided he would tell his supervisor the next day that he was resigning from the program, and maybe even quitting seminary. Perhaps this ministry thing was not for him.
    But the next morning, before he could find the supervisor, she found him. Marie had just called again: Was he the chaplain who visited her? He thought, Oh no.
    “Well, this time she just wanted to say thanks. After she called yesterday, she wished she hadn’t; she was so sick she didn’t feel like talking, and surely didn’t want any minister preaching to her.” “But somehow,” the patient said, “the chaplain who came must have sensed that. Because he just came in, sat down, bowed his head and prayed for me for maybe five minutes. And then he gave me the most loving glance, and then left. Of all my times at this hospital, this is the most meaningful visit I ever received.”
    Once when I told this story, someone asked, “But the chaplain wasn’t really praying, was he?” Another said, “Oh yes! He was praying with his gut.” His intense identity with the patient’s pain was his visceral praying, his yearning for her with “bowels and mercies” (splagchna in Greek; see Philippians 2:1, KJV).
    Buddhist and Christian metaphors convey the same reality: that beauty rises out of the garbage, that even wasted experiences can morph into new life. A Buddhist scripture says, “A sweet-smelling, lovely lotus may grow upon a heap of rubbish thrown by the highway” (Dhammapada 58-59). And where is Jesus crucified, but on a tree at “Golgotha,” the town garbage heap?

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