I Wonder--April 24

In the rush for productivity, we often rush too quickly. . . We rush to be effective and be thorough. But in doing so, we might just miss the opportunity to Be the Church that Jesus asks us to be. 

I wonder when was the last time you interrupted your well-laid, well-thought out, plans to reach out to someone and share good news with them? When did you last put aside productivity and to choose to dwell with the other person?

On each Wednesday at noon I have a zoom meeting with a group of ministers. We meet for 1 hour to discuss the sermon text for Sunday and talk about general worship plans that we are making. During that meeting my iPhone rang on the table next to me. I saw the call and I read the transcript of the voicemail sit came in. The transcript told me that there was good news waiting for me--but it never said what the good news was. It was up to me to call back. 

The meeting ended at 12:50pm and I got back to work while forgetting the voicemail which I imagine is a temptation that you might fall into. After all there are things to do, and tasks to work on. Yet something in the back of my mind kept reminding me "check the voicemail. Make the call."

It was only when I did that I heard the good news--and it was well worth it! 

I felt my heart swell and my spirit lift during that call. The entirety of the call was less than 2 minutes. But I had a choice to make. I did not have to call back. I could have waited; I was busy. 

Perhaps you have the same choice running through your mind today as you read this post. 

But I encourage you to resist that temptation. You are not too busy to interrupt your day and let God break in and change you, and by extension change the other person. Make the call. Listen to message. Be the Church. 

I Wonder--April 15

As I was reading today I came across the following entry that made me stop and think. 

Yes, today is Tax Day. And yes, I do not enjoy today either. It is a day that I too complain about. But perhaps these words that I share with you below might give you a reason today to pause. They might give you a chance to think differently as you seek to live out your faith as a member of the Body of Christ. 

While thinking about Tax Day, Ryan Holiday wrote:  

"Everything we do has a toll [or price] attached to it. . . Rumors and gossip are the taxes that come from acquiring a public persona. Disagreements and occasional frustration are taxes placed on even the happiest of relationships. Theft is attack on [the] abundance and having things that other people want. Stress and problems are tariffs that attached to success. And on and on and on [this goes]. . ."

There are many things we can complain about in life and many things that we cannot escape. Instead of just complaining or bemoaning them, as we are tempted to do. Perhaps today, we have the chance to notice where our energy rests, where our attention lies. 

And as we notice this could we focus our attention away from poor choices and back toward living and acting as God intends for us? Maybe the price that we need to pay is one of following the cost of discipleship? 

I Wonder--March 27

Last night Bethesda had the opportunity to care for their community. We served our community in faith and in love by providing food to any needy individual who came to the church until we ran out of food. 

It was a night of community building and communal ministry. And I wonder if it was also a night of worship? 

James K.A. Smith says this: 

"Worship that restores us is worship that restories us." (You might want to read that again.... it is not misspelled). 

As we met with members of our community last night and as we listened to them we heard stories of their lives that they felt comfortable sharing with us. We heard stories that they were comfortable sharing--and we never pressed them for any details. 

We heard stories about their families. Stories about their Easter plans. We heard stories about teenagers just learning to drive and stories filled with the hope that families would come together around the Easter table.

We heard stories about the how Jesus would bless the community on Resurrection Sunday but that particular stories was interspersed with stories about the loss of work and the struggles of health and the struggles to make ends meet. 

As I listened to so many stories that were shared with me, and heard the accounts of stories that were shared from other church members, I worked if together, in our act of service, were we not worshipping God? Was this act of worship not something that was re-shaping the story of Bethesda, and the people of Bethesda, who gathered in the parking lot and offered a word of encouragement and blessing to their neighbors? 

We know that stories come in all shapes and sizes, perhaps as you listen to one today, it might become an act of worship that changes you because it is an act of worship. Take some time today in Holy Week to share one today. 

 

I Wonder--March 19

Many aspect of our Christian faith are just the way that they are. The practices of faith resemble what tradition taught us that they were and they are. 

But sometimes, when we linger around Christ, when we watch, and wonder, and study God's word, the Lord might just break through and ask us to look at things from a different perspective that challenges us to grow and widen our faith and gaze.  

As an example, let me tell you a story from this year's confirmation class. 

To set up the story, let me also say that I have used this process three times in confirmation. 

Previously I have handed out the same exercise and asked the students, and their mentors, to consider "The Church." I want them to 'build a church.' They are asked to make certain decisions and choices and then talk about why and how they made those choices. From there we enter into a group discussion about what a church looks like and how 'The Church' is formed and established and sustained. 

The process is straightforward and I have never had any issue with it... until I handed the assignment out this last time and one of the students remembered the passage of scripture that talks about how Jesus lives in our hearts. This student wondered: if Jesus lives in their hearts, and if Jesus walks with them everywhere they go, then does it not stand to reason that the church is not a building, but isn't the church 'me?' Am I not the church, this person reasoned? 

Now while you might roll your eyes at the teenage logic that was presented. The student was correct. 

The church is not a building. Frankly building-centric logic is what got the Pharisees into trouble with Jesus and His message. Since God lives in each of us, and God walks with us each day, wherever we commune with God can be, and should be, an active place of worship where we are molded and shaped by God. 

From a teenage question came a meaningful pause for the group. And the adults who sat among the students felt the pause grow in us as we noticed that God was breaking in.

Some things in our faith are just the way that they are. But there are also places in our faith to draw close to God and wonder if more is possible? I wonder if you can find something today in your faith and in your relationship with God that can be broadened and expanded? What might God be telling and showing you?  

I Wonder--March 14

In our Christian faith there is always room to expand and grow as we spend more and more time with the Lord. We can add a spiritual discipline to our life at any point--and God invites us to do so. We can read the Bible differently. Study the Word using a new translation or begin a new devotional practice. 

Lent is not the only time that God invites us to try something different. 

This sense of experimentation has been on display in the life of the confirmands here at Bethesda. As I have listened to them, I have heard them consider how they might augment or change how they practice their faith. In some moments they double-down on what they believe. . . but in others, I see their brows scrunch and they wonder... is this the time to try something different. Either way, their experimentation has been positive and healthy and enriching.  

From places of wonder and experimentation God can do great things. But we must have the courage to wonder what is God asking us to become. 

Consider these two examples as demonstrations that trying something new can have dramatic results: 

Georges Perec wrote an entire book without using the most common letter in the French alphabet: e. His book went on to become one of the most celebrated experimental works in modern literature. 

The painter Yves Klein decided to limit his palette to one color. This let him to discover a shade of blue no one had ever seen before. The shade itself was seen by many as effectively becoming the art itself, and was later named "International Klein Blue." 

These are just two examples of people experimenting and trying something new, something unheard of, and their efforts changed their community. 

So I wonder, what practice of your faith could you do differently, could you try? What might reshape you? It might be something you try just for a week or even a season. . . who knows the effect could end up reshaping your faith and your relationship with the Lord. 

I Wonder--March 12

Imagine with me a great runner. . . They are fast. Strong. Agile. For years they honed their form. When this person runs, their arms and legs flow smoothly. Their heart pumps fresh blood throughout their body. Their lungs send plenty of oxygen to their organs. 

Running for this person is graceful. Smooth. It is elegant. They seem to glide when they run. It is as if their feet do not even touch the earth. . . They fly. 

Now imagine it is the day of an important race. 

After years of faithful, diligent, practice, this runner comes to the starting blocks. They are locked in; ready to run and ready to perform. They blast out of the blocks establishing themselves in the lead of the race. They move to the front of the pack gaining a commanding lead when all of a sudden they crash to the ground like a sack of potatoes. 

The other runners pass them. But the runner is not deterred. They return to their feet to begin again. But this time the runner is bloodied, bruised, and broken. They stumble; they cannot regain their footing and finish dead last. 

So I wonder, is our runner whose story we just imagined a bad runner? Of course not. . . They just had a bad race. 

If that runner was part of your family, and if you cared for that person, you would comfort them. You would tend to their wounds and offer them words of encouragement and remind them that there would be another race that they could win. You might help them train and encourage them to put this bad memory behind them. You might say, "press on toward the goal."

 

And I would do the same. 

So the question for today is: do you live this way when someone in the Body of Christ falls down on the track of life, cuts their knees, bruises their soul, and finishes in last place for the day? Or do you remind them that they failed epically and offer them little if any grace when that is truly all they want and need in the moment? 

In the Christian faith God asks us to practice what the gospel teaches knowing that we will not perfect our faith. But each day, we hope and we believe in what is possible. . . and as we do, we offer grace to those who fail.   

I Wonder--February 28

Have you ever stopped to consider what God's answers to prayer sound like in your life? 

Consider them with me for a moment. . . We come to God for a variety of reasons.  This is why space needs to be created when we pray to be still. In the stillness of our hearts, we find room to let our hearts express what is deeply occurring there. Prayer is communing with God on many levels. 

But have you stopped to consider God's response. . . what does it look like and what could it should like? 

Lauren Winner once said these words: 

"Most women are 'sure to remember exactly what the OB or nurse or midwife said--positive or negative.' I wonder what Jesus heard His father say in the garden. Whatever it was let Jesus go on."

Think about that idea for a moment. In the garden Jesus pours His heart out to His Heavenly Father. We know that Jesus asks that the cup pass from His lips on more than one occasion. None of the gospels record what God in heaven said to His Son. But whatever it was, however that response took shape, it gave Jesus the resolve to continue toward the cross undeterred. 

God spoke to His Son and the Son heard it clearly. 

You see, I believe, God always answers our prayers. The challenge that we must face is are we willing to linger long enough to hear the answer. 

I wonder today if you, among a busy and perhaps painful day, can find some room to just stay where God is and listen to hear what God's answer sounds like?  

I Wonder--February 13

Today has a few names for us in the church... Fat Tuesday. Mardi Gras. Shrove Tuesday. Each has a meaning that is significant to the person. For me today is "Tuesday... the last day before Ash Wednesday." Tomorrow I begin Lent with Bethesda. 

As we begin together I found a particular parable presented to me twice. Since the Lord showed it to me in two places, I believe that I am supposed to share it with you as we get ready for the change in liturgical season. 

So here goes: 

There was a young man who had gone into the desert to pursue the holy life. After a year or two of fasting, praying, and meditating on the Word, he began to feel that his rule of life is not rigorous enough, so he goes to his teacher and asks for a more stringent discipline. The teacher replies, "Simply do this: go back to your cave, pray, as you usually pray, fast, as you usually fast, sleep when you are tired."

The student, disappointed by this less than scrupulous response, goes to a second teacher, and again ask for a more stringent rule. The second teacher says, "Go back to your cave, pray, as you usually pray, eat when you are hungry, drink, when you are thirsty, sleep when you are tired." Frustrated, the man goes to a third teacher, who tells him," Just go back to your cave."

The point, is that you can't simply pursue God in the desert; you must also begin to pursue yourself wherever you are. You cannot fast, if you have not first notice that you were hungry; your hunger is what the cave can teach you.

Lent is the opportunity to notice where you are and what God could be teaching you. 

So I wonder, what do you think God is going to teach you? And how are you preparing yourself to learn from the Lord this season? 

I Wonder--February 5

The Church of Jesus is about to celebrate His Transfiguration once again this weekend. 

Together we will read the gospel account of the Lord taking Peter, James, and John up the mountain where He will be 'transfigured' before them. On that mountain Jesus' appearance on earth will be as close, I believe, as to how He appears in heaven before His Father. Those three disciples will then be confronted with a choice. 

While the choice is not presented in the text--it will live in their hearts for the rest of their lives. 

The choice is simple: what are they called to do, in response, to this revelation from God that takes place on that mountain top? Jesus did not bring them up the mountain, He did not reveal Himself to them, He did not show them Elijah or Moses, just for show or as a display of power solely. Christ invites us, and them, into a partnering relationship. 

As it has been said many times throughout history: we are in this together. 

In the book that I just finished reading it says it this way: 

"Nothing begins with us. The more we pay attention, the more we begin to realize that all the work we ever do is a collaboration [with God.]." 

The season of Lent, which begins on February 14th, is our season of witness and reflection. 

We witness to the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. We witness to what He is willing to endure on our behalf to restore us, and our relationship, to the Father. 

But we also participate, or collaborate as the quotation says, with Him in the spreading of the message of hope and evangelism that comes after the cross. The question for you to ponder today is are you willing to collaborate with Jesus in this work? Are you willing to travel up the mountain, witness what He shows you, and then work alongside of Him in your local community? 

 

I Wonder--February 1

I wonder if a ministry project ever truly ends? 

In October Bethesda distributed lunches to their children of their community for one week while the students were out of school. We will do this again in February. These are two specific weeks where a need is present. But once those weeks are concluded, does the project end? 

I have been considering this idea because I read something recently that sparked my curiosity. This is what I read: 

"Re-reading even a well-understood paragraph or page can be revelatory. New meaning, deeper understandings, inspirations, and nuances arise and come into focus." 

Think about the last time you re-read a significant passage of God's word, something that touched your heart previously. It still had resonance. Why? I suspect that the answer you would give is that the more frequently you re-read and re-examined something that held meaning and purpose to your heart, the more God brought it into focus for you. 

So then it stands to reason that if a mission and ministry project touches your heart then you are not truly done serving the Lord when it seems to end. Ministry does not end because the Lord continues to passionate touch your heart.

Instead, practices of discernment asks us to regularly return to God and ask deeper questions. Practices of discernment asks us to wonder what further learning and consideration might God be inviting us into in our future. Who might we bring into the conversation? And what might partners such as they have to offer us? 

Even something at seems clear on the surface can still teach us more and more the longer we linger with the Lord on them... 

I Wonder--January 29

Yesterday, in Sunday School we addressed one of those truly hard, challenging, concepts of our Christian walks that lives in the Sermon on the Mount. And while I would like to state that we 'solved' this one, we didn't. Frankly, no one since the Lord Jesus walked the earth has anyone truly been able to live up to the standard that Jesus taught in Matthew 7. But as Paul reminds us, we keep working at it diligently and we trust the Holy Spirit to help us (Phil. 2.12). 

But I value the conversation yesterday. I value the ability to think deeply. I value the vulnerability that it takes for men and women of the church to look at each other deeply and speak from their hearts . . . and as you know, I appreciate people willing to come alongside of me and: wonder about such things. 

In the book that I just finished I read these words which ring true to my heart: 

"The ability to look deeply [to wonder]

is the root of creativity. 

To see past the ordinary and mundane

and get to what might otherwise be invisible."

I believe that we are called by God to look deeply at ourselves, and at our community. We are called by God to notice what is easily noticeable and act--that is the easy part. A lot of people do that each and every day. A lot of churches do that every week. 

Yet at the same time we are also asked to stand beside God, look out into the community deeply, and wonder about what we are seeing. . . that is where transformation takes place. Long-lasting change takes place. 

Certainly the things that we are seeing and witnessing might mean one thing--and that one thing might be clear and direct. 

But what if it isn't? 

What if God is asking you and I to creatively linger in one spot. Gaze a little longer. Notice something mundane. Something that might be present the whole time but because no one else is looking at it, it is invisible to the vast majority of the church and community at-large? No one sees it. . . perhaps no one cares about it.  

I wonder what would happen to that thing, in the life of that one person (or persons), if we and God creatively spoke about whatever it was that we saw? 

I wonder--January 25

Do you participate in the work of God in the community or are you a passive observer only? Is the mission of God too big for you or could you imagine yourself being part of what God is doing in the community--even in some small way?

Another way of asking the question is: do you bring something of value to God and God's work to redeem the community?  

To consider this question let's keep thinking along the same lines as yesterday and wonder together. . . In the book, The Creative Act: A Way of Being, we read: 

"We perceive, filter, and collect, data, then curate an experience for ourselves and others based on this information set. Whether we do this consciously or unconsciously, by the mere fact of being alive, we are active participants in the ongoing process of creation."

 If these words are correct (and I believe that they are); then we are participants in the process of ministry with God. The Lord is inviting us into partnership. And more than simple partnership, which would be a wonderful blessing for any of us, God might just be inviting us to co-labor with Him in the community to spread the redemptive work and mission. 

God might just ask us if we are willing to work side-by-side with Him in the local community.

And while you and I might tempted to think that we are unworthy to stand beside Jesus and work alongside of him, we are all sent into the mission field by the Lord because He trusts us; He believes in us. For we all witness what is taking place around us in this world. Every second, of every day our eyes, ears, and our lives witness opportunities to share the love of Christ with another persons. 

I wonder.... who do you think opened your eyes, your ears, and your hearts to notice this in the first place? Perhaps it is the one who called you into partnership in the first place... 

I Wonder--January 24

 For a while now I have seen a certain book at my local book store and it has caught my attention. Finally last week, I broke down and bought the book and I am so thankful that I did! The book's author is a famous music producer whose has worked on some of the most important rock albums for the last 40 years. 

As with many great creative thinkers, the book does not follow a traditional format. There is a chapter that consists of a few pages followed by three lines of prose centered on a page or two. Then another short chapter followed by some more prose. This repeats throughout the entire book. But if you dare to open the book and consider with Rick is writing about, you will find a gold mine to consider. 

In the first chapter, a chapter titled: "Everyone Is a Creator," he writes this: 

"To create is to bring something into existence that wasn't there before. It could be a conversation, the solution to a problem, a note to a friend, the rearrangement of furniture in a room, a new route home to avoid a traffic jam. . . Through the ordinary state of being, we're already creators in the most profound way, creating our experience and composing the world we perceive." 

While Rick is not write from a Christian theological perspective but one of a musical producer, I find it hard not to hear an entrance point into our community in his words. 

We often think that to serve the Lord in our community has to be a big, large-scale, dynamic, vibrant project. It must be reproducible; it must shine. It must look good on social media and/or fit well on a flyer or some other form of media--and at times that is indeed necessary, I do confess. 

But if Rick is right, if something as small as moving a chair closer to another person so that they can see that we truly do care, if that "creative act of furniture moving" is also an act of ministry, then I wonder what small thing God be asking you to do today?  

For God see the world both in the macro and the micro. Jesus had the time to save the entire world, but He also had the time to sit by a well with an unwelcome woman and talk with her during the hottest part of the day when no one else had the time or the desire. 

Maybe there is something creative that God is asking to you participate in right now? What does it look like and how much time does it take?

I Wonder--January 18

Today I was listening to a new audiobook and something the author said caught my attention. She was speaking about the future and how we perceive it. The section in question that I was listening to was from the introduction and Jane wondered about how long it might take someone to read a new book.

She went on to ask, 'what might happen if you gave yourself 10-years to read that book?' (For some of us, having 10-years to read a book might be freeing or helpful).

Now while that seems like an excessive amount of time, consider Jane's rationale. She says:  

“What matters is whether your brain perceives an abundance of time. So give it a try. Give yourself luxurious ten-year deadlines. You might be surprised at how much faster and more happily you do things you’d otherwise put off when you feel time-rich, and therefore more in control of your timeline.”

Jane is not writing or considering ministry in the church or a faithful response to God's revelation. But what if she was?

In ministry we are in the 'long game.' . . Perhaps the 10-years game. Results may come. And those results may take a long time--but they do come because they come in Christ Jesus. And Christ Jesus is faithful. 

Why do we think, or why have we been lead to believe that the results have to come overnight? I wonder what might happen in your life and in your faith if you gave yourself the grace of time and received the grace of the Lord. 

Blessings

Derek

I Wonder--January 11

We are now in the season of Epiphany. 

During this time of the church calendar the focus shifts from the joy of the Incarnation to the needed response to Christ's birth in the new year. For the next five weeks the church is asked to consider its response and how it will take the revelation of Christ into its local community--and ultimately the world. 

Quite simply we are tasked with evangelism--and it is not a passive call. 

As I think about this mandate from God and ask I consider the  responsibility for the church, I remember the words Albert Outler wrote. He said: 

"Give us a church, whose members believe and understand the gospel of God's healing love of Christ to hurting men and women. Give us a church that speaks and acts in consonance with its faith – not only to reconcile the world, but to turn it upside down! Give us a church of spirit-filled people in whose fellowship life speaks [of eternal] life, love to love, and faith and trust respond to God's grace. And we shall have a church whose witness in the world will not fail, and whose service to the world will transform it."

This past week, I asked the children here at Bethesda if the Christmas season was complete, and amidst jokes about snow marking the end of Christmas, we discovered that Christmas is not complete. It is not complete because we have the evangelistic responsibility placed before us by God to share the miracle with our community. 

The decorations may be put away, but the message should not also be put away. 

The Christmas season is not complete because you have the opportunity, and the call, to pass on what you learned and experienced from the Messiah. To paraphrase what Oulter was saying in the above quotation: we will transform the world because we witness to the power of God in our midst. 

I wonder if that is something that we as the Body of Christ will do during this Epiphany season?  

I Wonder--January 4

One thing that I am not fond of is a New Year's resolutions. For most people these are promises that are not kept. The effort seems to be lacking. Certainly I want to 'do' better, 'be' better every day of my life as I am in Christ. So why wait until January to attempt to do anything about this? Should not our growth as Christians be a constant, consistent matter?  

I wonder if God asks us to continue progressing towards Him and His will in our lives? 

Writer Evelyn Underhill addresses my struggle in this way. She writes:  

"Some people may seem to us to go to God by a moving staircase; where they can assist matters a bit by their own efforts, but much gets done for them, and progress does not cease. Some appear to be whisked past us in a lift; whilst we find ourselves on a steep flight of stairs, with a bend at the top, so that we cannot see how much farther we have to go. But none of this really matters; what matters is the conviction that all are moving towards God, and, in that journey, accompanied, supported, checked, and fed by God."

God asks each of us to practice our faith. He asks us to remember that He is always present and accessible to us--in the good and in the bad. 

Perhaps what Evelyn is talking about resonates in your heart and life? Perhaps the message in 2024 from God might be a reminder that He is there and wants to grow your relationship together. . . Maybe that is a resolution that we could actually keep.