Faith Venture

“Did you hear what I said?”

What mother hasn’t asked that question? Many times?

Or my wife when either I didn’t reply or replied too quietly for her to hear.

I was studying the story of Abraham and Isaac where Abraham was called by God to offer Isaac as a sacrifice to Him.

It’s a weird little story. Some drama. No emotion. Nothing like the dramatization of the TV show.

Notice Abraham’s lines in the story. “Here I am.” God calls to Abraham. Abraham answers, “Here I am.” Isaac calls to his father. He answers, “Here I am.”  God calls again to Abraham. Once again the answer, “Here I am.”

Are we present at the call? You know the joke, “The lights are on, but nobody is home.”

God doesn’t talk to us every minute of every day. It is our responsibility to notice when he calls and be present. “Here I am, God. What can I do for you?”

Sometimes, it’s not God directly who calls. Sometimes he uses other people to call you. Maybe a friend. A colleague. A pastor or teacher. It is up to us to recognize a call and then go and do it.

We don’t want to wind up like Jonah, I guess. Someone who heard the call and didn’t agree with it. God wouldn’t leave him alone. He tried to escape the call. God pursued. He did it, unwillingly, and grumbled to the end about the injustice of what God did (at least in his eyes).

Better that we just listen, acknowledge and act.

It’s Wednesday of Holy Week. I’m traveling this week first to Florida on business (rather successful, too) and then taking a couple of days off the grid in the hills of southern Ohio to refresh my thinking before Easter.

The year before this was Holy Week, Jesus continued to antagonize the religious leaders. He steered clear of Rome. Although his message was the direct opposite of Rome’s those he attacked were the leaders of his religion who had forsaken following God and replaced it with structured religion.

He had attacked the commercialism of the Temple–acting just like an Old Testament prophet. Symbolically attacking the seat of improper power. Events are rapidly heading toward conclusion.

But the conclusion is still a little over a day away. There is still uncertainty in the air. But things have started that cannot be reversed.

It’s the time between deciding and acting. That time of tension. Athletes feel it just before a game. You may feel it just before a big event.

Not like Jesus, though. It was life and death for him. And not a pretty death. But it was also anticipation of the resurrection. Really it was life and death…and life. But the waiting must have been tough. No wonder they recorded the scene in Gethsemane.

It is that still point of tension. Waiting for the inevitable.

Christmas is over. Feeling a sense of loss? Or “is that all it is?” Nothing has changed–or has it?

I’m with Jon Swanson who pondered that Joseph had a lot to think over. Mostly for him, it meant that the baby was born. Mary was sore and grumpy, yet motherly with the new infant. He now had responsibilities to bring the boy up in the faith.

This time between Christmas and New Year’s Day has always been a time of reflection for me. Look back over the past year. What new things have I learned? What should I do better? What new things should I work on during the coming year? Am I doing the important things? Are there new people for me to meet this year? What new things should I learn this year?

I no longer set New Year’s resolutions or goals. But I look at directions. Where I’ve been. Where I’m going. What is God calling me to do and be this year?

Stop, pause, reflect, refresh. Establish some new habits this year. Maybe set a new pattern for your life. But most of all, enjoy.

Christmas Eve. Consumed by anticipation of what tomorrow will bring.

Remember when you were young? You were so focused on what presents you would get. It was all about you. It was hard to go to sleep.

The season is one of anticipation. By now you should notice the days getting slightly longer. This is the anticipation of spring and then summer–warmth and growth. And the food growing cycle. Some people don’t like celebrating Jesus’ birth on a day that pagan religions held holy. But just because other people like something, doesn’t me we can’t interpret it in the light of God’s working in history and celebrate it.

Even though some adults I know are still filled with that anticipation of a present under the tree, most of us are aware that we know what the present was. The “present” was a person. He showed the way to the Kingdom of God, and he was the Kingdom of God right there in the midst of the people of the time.

What is your anticipation for this new year? As the days grow longer and point toward a season of growth, what growth do you anticipate? Is it time for a new focus? A new mission? To reinvigorate your current mission? To meet new people? To renew old ties? To learn something new?

Advent is on our religious calendar to prod us to focus on the anticipation of Jesus entering into our lives fresh and new. We live in the anticipation that Jesus is not through working on us, yet. There is something new in store for us.

Today, we live in anticipation. Tomorrow, we celebrate.

My good friend from Brazil linked me to this thought on her friend’s Facebook page. It was perfect to share here.

I’m not certain of the origin. The Facebook post refers to a book of the Grateful Dead–can’t believe it’s the rock group. Notice the wording. Nothing implies we are perfect in adopting these characteristics and some are more difficult to bring into your life than others. But it is true that ever since my first Spiritual awakening and more so with subsequent experiences, I notice these more and more often.

My Advent gift through my friend Teresinha:

12 Symptoms of Spiritual Awakening

1. 1. An increased tendency to let things happen rather than make them happen.
2. 2. Frequent attacks of smiling.
3. Feelings of being connected with others and nature.
4. Frequent overwhelming episodes of appreciation.
5. A tendency to think and act spontaneously rather than from fears based on past experience.
6. An unmistakable ability to enjoy each moment.
7. A loss of ability to worry.
8. A loss of interest in conflict.
9. A loss of interest in interpreting the actions of others.
10. A loss of interest in judging others.
11. A loss of interest in judging self.
12. Gaining the ability to love without expecting anything.

This is another one of those posts that I’m not sure where it’s going when I start.

Of course, I’ve been thinking about the last massacre perpetrated by an unstable person with an automatic weapon and lots of ammunition. And then I saw a news item about a bunch of kids in Afghanistan caught in its ongoing civil war and blown up.

It’s a crazy world. But maybe always has been.

I find it interesting that the gun lovers rush to defend the principle of having guns. The Freudian in me says there must be some latent guilt in there somewhere.

They are partly correct–people do the killing. But guns makes it easier. It’s less personal than a knife. And a knife is slow. Bombs take a lot of planning.

But, I was thinking about a perpetrator of such acts. Psychologist talking heads rush out to the news programs to offer opinions without researching facts. Misinformation spreads everywhere. The wrong person was identified and his Facebook page was filled with hate messages.

That bothers me. The hate. I’m not trying for understanding. Too late for that. But to retaliate hate for hate does not seem like a response Jesus would teach.

Back to the psychologists. They say that there are usually signs of these problems long before the final act is done. Did someone see this breakdown coming and not act?

I know people with Problems. Depression. BiPolar disorder. Narcissism. What am I doing? Jesus said I should help those in need. Maybe there was a lost opportunity for someone to recognize the situation with that young man and bring Jesus into the situation.

Or, maybe evil and chaos exists in this world. But we still need to follow Jesus when he said to love the Lord and to love (that is do things for) others.

Just listening to Andy Stanley who said, “Perfect faith is what moves me to trust God in spite of the fact that life isn’t moving according to my plan.”