Coming Up For Air

The cartoonists had full rein this week at the New Yorker magazine. One of the efforts they featured had a priest in full vestments and a formal funeral setting, but offering the bit of hospitality, "Today‘s service will be using the hashtag “Jerry‘sDead.“ If we were entirely comfortable with that, there would be no need for the ink and the effort. If it were entirely farcical, it wouldn't have gotten anyone's attention as a favorite cartoon. This is a still shot of our culture with some bite because everything, even the death of a loved one has become fodder for social media. It's not enough to attend to signs of respect. We need to be SEEN doing so by a wider audience than is in our immediate physical surroundings. Most of the time, our experience with death is so peripheral that we only think about it well enough to avoid scandal with token gestures. CS Lewis warns in The Screwtape Letters that the removal of death from our everyday experience is much to the de...

Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep. John 21:17, New King James Version There's a scene in the movie Judy in which a worn down Judy Garland encounters a kindly doctor who interposes himself as the voice of caution. Predictably, he tells her what the role of Dorothy from 30 years before means to him. Wistfully, Garland recalls that people always seem to like the pigtails. Used hard by drink, and drugs, and the expectations of others, she is decades from from being able to convey pigtailed innocence believably. He pivots calmly, quietly. He prescribes, in a sense, that what he liked about Dorothy was how she always took care of her dog. Garland has never been allowed, or allowed herself, to prioritize such daily routines. More, grander, is expected of her as a Star. This doctor is calling her back to Earth where most of us live most of our lives, reminding her that the subtle, habitual things we do have value. I thought of Peter in the Bible. He is ready to pronounce his allegiance to ...

From Psalm 145 – 14 The Lord upholds all who fall, And raises up all who are bowed down. 15 The eyes of all look expectantly to You, And You give them their food in due season. 16 You open Your hand And satisfy the desire of every living thing. From Psalm 4 6 There are many who say, “Who will show us any good?” Lord, lift up the light of Your countenance upon us. 7 You have put gladness in my heart, More than in the season that their grain and wine increased. 8 I will both lie down in peace, and sleep; For You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety. Spurgeon declares from experience in Morning and Evening , "Abide with Jesus, and it is of secondary importance whether we live on the mountain of delight or the valley of deprivation." In a season of much getting and spending, the psalmist instills this same reflection. The Lord, he is certain, proves Himself where our goods do not. Whatever the source of his fall (Psalm 145:14) or the gravitational pull on those who continue to ...

From Psalm 145 – 1 I will extol You, my God, O King; And I will bless Your name forever and ever. 2 Every day I will bless You, And I will praise Your name forever and ever. 3 Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; And His greatness is unsearchable. 4 One generation shall praise Your works to another, And shall declare Your mighty acts. 5 I will meditate on the glorious splendor of Your majesty, And on Your wondrous works. 6 Men shall speak of the might of Your awesome acts, And I will declare Your greatness. 7 They shall utter the memory of Your great goodness, And shall sing of Your righteousness. “While it is good that we seek to know the Holy One," celebrates Dietrich Bonhoeffer in the seasonally appropriate God Is in the Manger: Reflections on Advent and Christmas , "it is probably not so good to presume that we ever complete the task.” ― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, God Is in the Manger: Reflections on Advent and Christmas I think the scope of Bonhoeffer's statement ...

5 Thus says the Lord: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man And makes flesh his strength, Whose heart departs from the Lord. 6 For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, And shall not see when good comes, But shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, In a salt land which is not inhabited. 7 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, And whose hope is the Lord. 8 For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, Which spreads out its roots by the river, And will not [c]fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, And will not be anxious in the year of drought, Nor will cease from yielding fruit. – Jeremiah 17: 5-8, New King James Version “It should not be possible for Christians to be disillusioned," argues Gene Edward Veith Jr. in Loving God with All Your Mind .  "It's We should have no illusions in the first place. Our faith is in Jesus Christ alone.” One of the interesting places the Bible offers to help us see as faith sees i...

9 Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation, 10 but the rich in his humiliation, because as a flower of the field he will pass away. 11 For no sooner has the sun risen with a burning heat than it withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beautiful appearance perishes. So the rich man also will fade away in his pursuits. I thought Michael Keaton cut an engaging, self-deprecating Bruce Wayne in Batman's 1989 cinematic outing. So did Vicki Vale, and her smitten reaction was irritating her fellow reporter who had eyes for her. When Wayne leaves, he consoles himself aloud, "The rich. You know why they are so odd? Because they can afford to be." James in writing his epistle in the Bible would not have thought of this characterization unrecognizable. The rich he surveyed there, he warned, could easily become defined by the idiosyncrasies in which they could indulge. The wind of the Spirit, though, is a leveling wind. It, in keeping with the inspired prophecy of Mary the m...

From John 10 – 22 Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter. 23 And Jesus walked in the temple, in Solomon’s porch. 24 Then the Jews surrounded Him and said to Him, “How long do You keep us in doubt? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.” 25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me. 26 But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you. 27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me." From Psalm 137 – 1 By the rivers of Babylon, There we sat down, yea, we wept When we remembered Zion. 2 We hung our harps Upon the willows in the midst of it. 3 For there those who carried us away captive asked of us a song, And those who plundered us requested mirth, Saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” 4 How shall we sing the Lord’s song In a foreign land? 5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem, Let my right hand forget its skill! 6 If I do not remember ...

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. James 1:5, New King James Version As much as we depend on and delight in gadgets in our house, we rarely update them until doing so has become a borderline need. In such concessions, I've discovered the principle of AND. Years ago, I wanted, and maybe needed, a new tablet because the old one would not take a charge. In meeting the need, in fulfilling the essential functions the old one would not, this bookish gentleman whose love language is audiobooks discovered that the new one would read e-books to him. I got the gift of AND from God who gives more than enough. AND doesn't always open magnificent vistas. Sometimes God just grants an AND beyond what we ask for by making the same things He has already enabled us to do easier and less irritating. He even speaks gadget here, and has done so recently. My e-book dealer, I mean vendor, through whom I hav...

A couple of weeks ago, without time for work to develop a full blog, I dashed this off to my like-minded Facebook community gathering in admiration of CS Lewis: I had a Lewis moment early, early this morning to which you might be able to relate. I woke up about 25 minutes before my alarm was supposed to go off, thinking, "This is the length of one sitcom. I CAN pray this long." My brain bounced from one topic and analogy to another, and I got frustrated. Then I remembered Lewis, backward through Screwtape. He urged us to pray as we are rather than to posture as we think we should be. Too often, I measure my Father's attention by PEOPLE'S. They can be dismissive or condescending when I stretch an analogy by which I'm fascinated or unfurl one too many of them or make people think on uncommon words. If the Father can chortle, He did. Pray as you are, He comforted and challenged even more than Lewis. Who do you think wired you this way? He assured me He delights...

1 Therefore, my beloved and longed-for brethren, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, beloved. 2 I implore Euodia and I implore Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. 3 And I urge you also, true companion, help these women who labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the Book of Life. 4 Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. 6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these th...

16 “Men and brethren, this Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus; 17 for he was numbered with us and obtained a part in this ministry.”  18 (Now this man purchased a field with the wages of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his entrails gushed out. 19 And it became known to all those dwelling in Jerusalem; so that field is called in their own language, Akel Dama, that is, Field of Blood.)  Acts 1:16-19, New King James Version "If we," interposes C.S. Lewis, "could see things from a sufficient height above we should all realize that we are in fact proper objects of pity.” Peter, then, is a man who between his denial of Christ and his great coming out in Acts 1:16-19 has seen things from a sufficient height. If I could know the whole of his spiritual itinerary, I would copy in stride for stride. Perhaps it as well, then, tha...

In The Kid , Bruce Willis plays a straight talking consultant. Whatever the differences between those he engages, he tends to have one particular target. He will ask, if they know what the number one killer of insert-your-demographic-here is, and the answer will always be self-pity. Donald Miller gives the idea transference into the evangelical world. In Father Fiction, he diagnoses that self-pity keeps us from developing emotional muscle. But, even in Scripture, those revered figures we would discern have already demonstrated plenty of emotional muscle are subject to undermining their identity and effectiveness in Christ with self-pity. Elijah's furry face is a prominent one to be flattened by this fugue of self-pity. Perhaps we can learn from the nature of the attack, and how the intrusive grace of God overcomes it.   2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow abou...

  But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain.  1 Corinthians 15:10 The tagline for Tuesday's experience in my little sphere is applied after the fact by GK Chesterton in Heretics . He surmises, "In the attempt to be everything, the first and most difficult step is to be something." In one day, God showed me a lot about the something I am in Christ. The day began, as many of them do, at some indeterminedly early hour with an impromptu after action report yesterday's events. This is otherwise known as insomnia. Little pricks from beginning a performance review on myself and a brief interaction with a student goaded me. Was I living up to the US Army's former slogan embedded since my childhood in my sense of self. Was I being all I could be, really? My day job as a career coach involves counseling students when they are brave enough to inquire about the transition between school and work. When students are about othe...

15 So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. 17 Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. 18 And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds. 19 But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. New King James Version "Real writers," the New Yorker 's Adam Gopnik who would know characterizes, "ought to bear witness to transformation rather than pretend it hasn't happened." Tuesday unfolded that way for me. It packed in transformation with unusual coherence within the subtle, small-scale context of one life. In accordance with Gopnik's dictum, and my own time proven experience that I wil...

James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad: Greetings. 2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. After several years away, my wife and I are reentering the ministry of foster care. We are doing so more wisely this time. In one respect, in our mid-40s, we have less expectation of using this as a means to claim an infant as "ours" through the eventual adoption process. We simply, sincerely, by the grace of God, both want to help where we can. We are wiser in another respect because God has provided us with counselors among whom Proverbs says there is safety. One of those is Kelly with Crossnore, the agency that is the conduit of personal grace between us and the at times lumbering bureaucracy of social services which left some bruises on...

I'm working through the Bible's book of Acts with my friend Curtis, and our weekly encounters over that text are a highlight. They are splendid from the angle that God has given us His Word and has given me a particular love for the book of Acts as He continues to display His glory after Christ ascends to Heaven. But these encounters are also splendid for more individual reasons. They are, in turn, a miniature book of Acts in my own life. I recently had my work hours reduced, and many of the hours I do work are from home. In a sense, I'm experiencing the gradual closing of one chapter with its loss of something like prestige and its diminishing opportunities for connection. By God's grace, though, He is closing out my excuses along with what can seem, humanly speaking, like lost opportunities. I know longer can say with any sincerity that I don't have time to reach out to people on the periphery of my social circle, to ask the extra question, or to offer to help to ...

9 Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. 10 And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, 11 who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.” New King James Version I had a former pastor who used to talk about the relationship between the whistle and the steam engine. People paid attention to the whistle. Sometimes they wanted it blown. But the steam which on occasion blew the whistle actually existed to power the whole train. That happens, he would say, with the spiritual gifts. We are attracted to the flashiness and the novelty of the gifts, to the times when they found the whistle rather than like steam, power the train. This could be the point at which we take off on a tangent on the evils of the distra...

Screwtape suffered a defeat in my kitchen an hour or so ago. More accurately, the principles espoused by CS Lewis's fictional demon were undermined in what began as a normal conversation. I'm hoping you can help me count the ways in which the demons were flummoxed and the Kingdom of God advanced in a subtly sanctified Saturday. Where the patriarchs built an altar in order to prompt memories, gratitude, and questions from passersby, I write a blog in the same spirit. Plus, I'm trying to come out from behind my tendency to insistently quote somebody else.  It builds more faith to share what God is doing in my sphere, usually little by little, because individual events are not as dramatic as those publishers will invest to put into print. I come back from Saturday morning Bible study face aglow  in exposition mode. I want to share what I taught and what God is doing. Although my wife is prioritizing putting away the groceries and other Saturday chores, it worked this time....

Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 2 Timothy 1:6, New King James Version I've taken to scrolling through Facebook's addictive On This Day feature. There are worse priorities than getting to take the pulse of one's passions on the same day over a period of years. Today, I was particularly struck by an insight from Michael Levine gleaned in a time when the quest for parenthood dominated my perspective. He confronted, "Having children makes you no more a parent than having a piano makes you a pianist.” In all probability gifted by God to encourage, nurture, and cultivate in roles other than parenting myself, I share the quote with a couple of Facebook friends whom I think parent very well. Both of them exhibit both an ongoing enthusiasm for the role as well as a reflective, self-scrutinizing adaptability. The results intrigued me. Both of them, I believe, could see Levine's point and, with me, extend it...

Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 2 Timothy 1:6, New King James Version "Take any doctrine and return it exclusively, "cautions a speaker whose balanced principle I revered without noting his name, "and you destroy it." Knowing that I dislike necessary confrontation and can make too much of consensus, I love when Scripture itself reconciles in one verse what can be competing doctrines of extremes. 2 Timothy 1:6 is such a verse, intermixing in the order it mentions, the blessing of disciplined, individual human responsibility, emphasis on the sovereign, unearned gift of God, and, even still, the crucial place of community for one who will live in the fullness of God's blessing. (1) Like Timothy we are blessed when we take responsibility to stir our gifts. Timothy's active part in becoming more like Jesus as he ministers in Ephesus is so crucial that Paul uses precious ink, precious paper, and,...