Preparing ...

As I am preparing to preach from Hebrews, I am reading the commentary from Interpretation on that book. Of Hebrews 1:1-4, that author writes:

• Hebrews is an evocative text that calls for the courage of living out the love-centered, God-centered life even in the midst of persecution;
• It is a communal text where a community, not just a gathering of individuals, listens to hear God;
• It is a dialogical text where all, including the preacher are in dialogue listening for God in their midst.

Such has gotten me to listen to Hebrews more attentively.

someone has testified somewhere!

Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains^* all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

Now God did not subject the coming world, about which we are speaking, to angels. But someone has testified somewhere,

‘What are human beings that you are mindful of them,
or mortals, that you care for them?
You have made them for a little while lower than the angels;
you have crowned them with glory and honor,
subjecting all things under their feet.’

Now in subjecting all things to them, God left nothing outside their control. As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to them, but we do see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father. For this reason Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters, saying,

‘I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters,
in the midst of the congregation I will praise you.’

Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12

Let me hear ...

His name is Leander Keck known as "Lee". He is a professor of New Testament at Yale. Before he left Emory to go there I took his class that was "Christology in the New Testament" in which he presented the "pictures of the New Testament writings taken of Jesus from different angles". He was one of those lecturers that could get away with reading his lectures with face down quite a lot, and yet could end with standing ovations. There are just a few that can get away with that. We were anxious to hear what he had to say.

Such a memory came to mond when I read the words of a much more awaited speaker ...

Let me hear what God the Lord will speak,
for he will speak peace to his people,
to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts.

Psalm 85:8

Doorkeeper

The word "doorkeeper" brings a lot of images to my mind for when I think of doorkeeper I picture a greeter at the door of a business that opens it for those entering. But my mind also remembers a door we replaced in one of the parsonages in which we lived. I took the time to sand it, seal it, and place varnish used by wooden ships upon it. Or I think of the doors in my house that are all painted and the time it took to take the doors down for repair, painting and rehanging. Doorkeeper--one who keeps prepared the entrance into a building or a room.

The psalter reading for today has the word "doorkeeper" in it.

"For a day in your courts is better
than a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God

then live in the tents of wickedness."
Psalm 84:10

Luke 1:78b

How do I sleep?

"By the tender mercy of God..."

How do I awaken?

"By the tender mercy of God..."

How do I begin?

"By the tender mercy of God".

How do I have insight?

"By the tender mercy of God..."

How do I plan?

"By the tender mercy of God..."

How do I work?

"By the tender mercy of God..."

How do I have hope?

"By the tender mercy of God..."

How do I make calls?

"By the tender mercy of God..."

How do I hang in there?

"By the tender mercy of God..."

How do I sit back?

"By the tender mercy of God..."

How do I rest?

"By the tender mercy of God..."

john@arlingtonum.org

Arlington United Methodist Church

1360 Murfreesboro Road

Nashville, TN

(between Brily Parkway & airport runway)

Sunday Worship: 10:00 AM

A happy fear!

Happy is everyone who fears the Lord,
who walks in his ways.

(Psalm 128:1)

Psalm 128 is a psalm of praise that simply gives God all the credit for what is good about life. Those areas such as fruit of labor, family, prosperity, and peace (or wholeness/completeness).

For me, fearing the LORD, is a happy and fulfilling fear. It is more such a respect for the LORD that whatever we sense that the LORD wants us to do will get done. The LORD is to be like a financial advisor who teaches us where to invest our time and resources.

That pushes me to ask, "Of my life, where would God encourage me to invest most?"

Just a moment of praise ...

The Lord is faithful in all his words,
and gracious in all his deeds.
The Lord upholds all who are falling,
and raises up all who are bowed down.
The eyes of all look to you,
and you give them their food in due season.
You open your hand,
satisfying the desire of every living thing.

(Psalm 145:13b-16)

Just my imagination ...

Now, for those who may not know, Easter is the season when it is remembered that God Almighty raised his Son, Jesus, from the dead. With that in mind ...

There is one Easter Sunday Scripture text where I imagine it being preached in a cemetery for an Easter sunrise service. The cemetery I picture is one surrounded by woods so the pre-sunrise moments are even darker. And as the Sunrise service is about to begin the preacher comes out of the woods wearing a white robe, and then the preacher shouts out in the center of the cemetery with hands and arms outstretched into a cross position (shaped like a "T"):

"Mortal, can these bones live?"

(Ezekiel 37:3a)

Easter says, "They sure can because God raised his only Son, Jesus, from the dead. Such is the crazy hope that Christians have ... if God can raise his Son from the dead then there is hope for even us, even all, even me."

Struggling toward Christian perfection

I will admit that it is critical for leaders to feed themselves. But the feeding I am talking about is not necessarily the meals we eat as much as it is to feed yourselves with reality. For the one person even leaders can change is only themselves. All the leadership works agree here. At most what we can change is our approach to those we lead. Such calls for listening and communicating well in an excessive manner. The easier it can become the more it is done. I admittedly am always in an eternal struggle to discover better ways of leading. I guess it is that United Methodist journeying toward Christian perfection drive (to always be moving toward better loving God, neighbor, enemy and self). So this verse will, more than likely, always grab me ...

Thus says the Lord God: Ah, you shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? (Ezekiel 34:2)

Tennessee Conference Review: TENNESSEE CONFERENCE REVIEW September 18, 2009

Tennessee Conference Review: TENNESSEE CONFERENCE REVIEW September 18, 2009

King Neb

Daniel's story speaks to me for his is a Scriptural book that is definitely centered on the time of Israel's military defeat and, even more, being conquered by the Babylonian (or any other) empire. It tells various stories of how the people of God during that time were tempted to vacate their devotion to following the God of love, justice and truth when conquering nations demanded that their human rulers be worshiped. And king-worship was demanded by the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar as well. (Afterwards here, he will be called 'King Neb').

Some of God's people, such as Daniel, kept their focus on being God-centered even in challenging moments. Daniel even goes so far as telling 'King Neb',

'You are going to lose your ever-loving mind if you keep on asking other people to worship you'. And this comes true in the beginning Daniel 4, and by the end 'King Neb' has gained his mind back by admitting that only God is God!

Now I, Nebuchadnezzar,

praise and extol and honour the King of heaven,
for all his works are truth,
and his ways are justice;
and he is able to bring low
those who walk in pride.

Daniel 4:37

How the Mighty Fall and Why Some Companies Never Give In

The title for today is another book by Jim Collins. After writing works such as Good to Great and co-authoring Built to Last about companies that excelled in this new book he explores why some of the greats fell apart. Like Good to Great in which he expressed stages of success, in How ... he explores stages of failure.

Now as a pastor who has been predominantly appointed to churches in the downfall mode I can identify with How the Mighty Fall. It is not just a book whose author bows his head and weeps, but also a work that may well make one better attentive to the reasons for fall and the stages reversing trends up toward greatness once again.

Remembering 9-11

When it occurred the choir director and I were on the way to a worship workshop in Lake Junaluska, North Carolina. Just as we had crossed into Carolina his phone rang. It was his wife calling him to let him know what had just occurred ... the first plane had crashed into the tower. After his conversation, we immediately turned on the radio to a station reporting the news. We listened and commented all the way to our destination.

Together, we made a choice not to immediately return home but to stay for our 2-3 day workshop on worship. We phoned home and the doors of the church would be opened for prayer and when we returned the worship was shaped around facing the tragedy. Even in the midst of tragedy we are still called to focus upon God, neighbor, enemy, and self. For us, those two days focused upon God and our plans in God's called upon response to the tragedy.

My prayer ...

Daniel said:

‘Blessed be the name of God from age to age,
for wisdom and power are his.
²¹He changes times and seasons,
deposes kings and sets up kings;
he gives wisdom to the wise
and knowledge to those who have understanding.
²²He reveals deep and hidden things;
he knows what is in the darkness,
and light dwells with him.
²³To you, O God of my ancestors,
I give thanks and praise,
for you have given me wisdom and power,
and have now revealed to me what we asked of you,
for you have revealed to us what the king ordered.’
(Daniel 2)

My prayer for today.

Bow

"The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign forever and ever" (Revelation 11:15b).

LORD, this morning I bow my life before you.

Mystery ...

"...the mystery of God will be fulfilled..."

(Revelation 10:7b)

Mystery.

The LORD is cool ...

"The word of the LORD came to me ..."

(Ezekiel 22:1 , 17, 23; 23:1).

Such really blows my mind that the word of the LORD comes to people at all. Have you ever really thought about that that the LORD who can fully exist in joy without us still hangs out with us as if his "soul" depended upon it? Such is unbelievable yet as true as "north is the opposite direction of south"!

The word of the LORD came to me like a letter in the mail. The word of the LORD came to me from a blogger site. The word of the LORD came to me from facebook. The word of the LORD came to me from Scripture. The word of the LORD came to me in a community worship experience. The word of the LORD came to me in God the Son, Jesus. The word of the LORD came to me in my 'natural conscience' empowered by God the Spirit.

The LORD is cool.

Focus of worship ...

What is in your mind shall never happen—the thought, ‘Let us be like the nations, like the tribes of the countries, and worship wood and stone.’ (Ezekiel 20:32).

Oh, the temptation to be like everybody else. Yet, the best realize their God-given strengths and human weaknesses and focus upon ways to use them well.

Use of strengths such as being an excellent listener, a loving servant, giving witness, and having insight, etc. And use of weaknesses such as loss of family; struggling with disease; and having a healthy way of dealing with the negatives of life.

And most of all just realizing that you don't have to be like everybody else because God has made you uniquely who you are.

the owner and giver of salvation ...

After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice, saying,

‘Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!’

And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshipped God ... (Revelation 7:9-11).

From my experience, work toward praising God first thing in the morning for such shapes your entire day. Short liners of prayers while awakening such as "I love you , Jesus"; "This is the day that You have made"; or simply, "Good morning, Jesus" can begin the day well.

To be like who?

Ahhh, I am still under that pressure to be like _________ (you fill in the blank). There is so much pressure to deny how God has made each of us unique with the strengths and weaknesses that are curious to each of us. But then the world says, 'you should do', 'you should be', you should ... should ... should ... should ...

Deeper than all the human 'shoulds' is who and whose we are. We are creatures and we belong to God. Keeping in mind to whom I belong is an aid to me in decisions. So my thoughts drifted this morning as I read:

"What is in your mind shall never happen--the thought, 'Let us be like the nations, like the tribes of the countries, and worship wood and stone'" (Ezekiel 20:32).

If there is any applicable "let us be like" for me, it would be, "let us strive, struggle, focus on being like Jesus who gave himself over to loving God, neighbor, enemy, and self".

a response

After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice, saying,

‘Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!’

And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshipped God...
(Revelations 7:9-11)

makes me smile and take a deep breath ...

Be pleased, O God ...

"Be pleased, O God ..."
Psalm 70:1a

That thought is enough to consider for today.

THE SHACK

OPEN DISCUSSION GROUPS TO BEGIN DISCUSSION OF

THE SHACK

on Wednesday nights from 6:30 to 7:30 pm

FREE SUPPER PROVIDED AT 5:45 pm.

(The Shack is a fictional work that wrestles with tragedy in the world. It tells the story of a father, 'Mack', whose daughter was murdered and is given the opportunity to talk it over with God in the shack where his daughter was murdered.)

Books will be available ...

For any questions call (615) 361-4896

Amen!

"And the four living creatures said, ‘Amen!’

And the elders fell down and worshipped."

Revelation 5:14

'Amen', we say it so much yet I confess it was only a few years ago that I learned what it means to end a prayer with this word. The word 'Amen' has a Hebrew language beginning in the Old Testament, and it simply means "so be it". That word was taken into the New Testament (Greek language) and into multiple modern languages.

The root Hebrew word for 'Amen' can also be translated as 'to be firm, confirmed, reliable, have faith', and simply 'to believe'.

So for me when the four living creatures say "Amen!" before God they are noting that God is firm, confirmed, and reliable. So in God they have faith and in God they believe.

Wow! The meaning of one word so often said.