The Lord will Perfect That Which Concerns Me

Oftentimes, when something flips my "that would make a good blog post" switch...stuff floods into my head in multiples. Information, old and new, stored in the archives of my brain.  A snippet here...a quote there...a book, a blog post, something someone posted to one of the online forums where I participate.  They come in groups...sometime rushing in faster than I can keep track of.  This post happened like that.

I was reading in the book of Psalms and came upon:

The LORD will perfect that which concerns me; Your mercy, O LORD, endures forever; Do not forsake the works of Your hands. Psalm 138:6-

And I remembered something that had been posted earlier on EU...from a devotional by Chip Brogden that goes really well with the verse.

WATER INTO WINE
“His mother said to the servants, ‘Whatever He says to you, do it’” (John 2:5).

“Whatever He says to you, do it.”
If we would only heed this advice from Mary. To be sure she has learned this in years gone by. Through many experiences she has at last learned where to go. Her automatic reflex now is to go to Jesus and lay the problem at His feet: “They have no wine.” That is all. In this relationship she makes no demands, she does not even ask Him outright to do something. He knows what she means. It is an understanding that is borne out of relationship.

And so the water was turned into wine. This Scripture says that in this way He “showed forth His glory” (John 2:11). “Showing forth His glory” is another way of saying He revealed something of Himself. This, brothers and sisters, is the whole purpose for the trial you find yourself in. It may be that you have no oil, no bread, no fish, or no wine. Whatever the situation, bring your problem to the Lord of Infinite Supply, and do whatever He says to do. He wishes to reveal His glory in you. He longs to see His Power displayed through your weakness. The very thing you see as a problem is really an opportunity to see Jesus in a depth you cannot otherwise see.

 

The Lord will perfect that which concerns me.  Like Mary, in the story above, we do not even have to ask him outright to do something.  He knows what we mean.  He knows what to do. 

Whatever the situation, bring your problem to the Lord of Infinite Supply, and do whatever he says to do. 

Praise Him With a Dance - 3

Psalm 30:11

You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy

More from the article about the Dancing Saints....

The Dancing Saint whose life, in Dukes's (the artist)opinion, most poignantly embodies the message of the work is Malcolm X.

"The justification for having him here is very powerful," Dukes says. "Here is someone who was a gangster. A racist. So he went from that, and he grew. And I think that's holy, to be on that spiritual quest. No one starts out perfect, and very many people don't end up perfect either. It's the quest. He had a revelation of seeing all men as being brothers. No more, ‘if you're black you're my brother, and if you're white you're a devil.'"

Which is kind of what Roy talked about in his email...that the orchestra is not only mankind as a whole...but mankind individually...and perfecting the harmony is something that happens in everyone...just like the change that occurred in Malcolm X.  Just like the change that is occurring right now in you and me. 

"Let them praise His name with the dance"

Psalm 149:3

And one more closing thought...something Keith reminded me of this morning.  He remembered something in one of Preston Eby's writings about an orchestra.  He found it for me online, so I am copying and pasting it below. 

A brother related the following experience. “When I first went to Nashville, Tennessee, some friends, thinking they were doing me a favor, called me and said, ‘We have tickets for the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra that’s coming to town, and we want to take you as our guest.’ Well, I love music, but I know nothing about it, and I can’t sing it — I always help congregational singing by keeping quiet. Frankly, I couldn’t think of anything more boring than a whole evening of symphony! But I had to go because they were so kind and I wanted to be polite, so I accepted graciously and went along.

“I had never been to a thing like that before, and I was impressed by what I saw. We went in, took our seats, and in a few minutes there began to drift out from the sides the musicians. They were in shirt sleeves for the most part, and each man went up to his instrument and started tuning it. The fellows with the fiddles too big to put under their chins sawed back and forth — oh, it sounded terrible. The fellows with the little ones they put under their chins squeaked up and down with those. The ones with the horns — oh my, nothing was in harmony. It was a medley of discordant, confused noise. Then after they got through with that kind of a disturbance, they all disappeared again, went out through the wings.

“Another five minutes went by when all of a sudden the lights in the auditorium went off, the lights on the platform came on, and the musicians walked out. This time they had on their coats. My, they looked so nice. Each one came out and stood or sat at his instrument. Then there was a hush in the auditorium, a spotlight was focused on the wings, and the conductor stepped out. When he did there was thunderous applause for him. He bowed. Then he came to the podium and picked up a thin little stick. He turned around again to the audience and bowed, then turned his back to the audience, lifted that little stick — total silence came over the auditorium, you could have heard a pin drop — then he brought that little stick down. And, my friend, there were goose pimples all over me. I never heard such music in all my life. Oh, what harmony, what wonderful harmony there was!” — end quote.

The above excerpt is part of an article entitled:

KINGDOM BIBLE STUDIES: THE UNIVERSAL SONG by J. Preston Eby

Praise Him With a Dance - 2

In yesterday's post, Roy talked about the different instruments mentioned in Psalm 150. And he mused whether all mankind is the orchestra...the different instruments representing the many, varied aspects of mankind? The trumpet, the lyre, the harp, the organs, the crash of the cymbals...

The NIV renders Psalm 150

Praise the LORD . Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty heavens.
² Praise him for his acts of power;
praise him for his surpassing greatness.
³ Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,
praise him with the harp and lyre,
⁴ praise him with tambourine and dancing,
praise him with the strings and flute,
⁵ praise him with the clash of cymbals,
praise him with resounding cymbals.
⁶ Let everything that has breath praise the LORD .
Praise the LORD .

In the Young's Literal Translation, verse 6 is translated

 All that doth breathe doth praise Jah! Praise ye Jah!

When annie posted a link to an article about The Dancing Saints mural at St. Gregory's  Episcopal Church in San Francisco, it fit so well with the back and forth musings between Keith and Roy.

Psalm 150 also talks of praising the Lord with dancing...and the mural is an awe inspiring work depicting the saints...both likely and unlikely...as they praise the Lord with dance.  Yes...that is Jesus...larger than the other Saints...dancing in the center of the mural.

The artist, Mark Dukes

....recently completed a ten-year commission to create a giant, neo-Byzantine, iconographic mural titled The Dancing Saints, which covers the entire modernist rotunda of St. Gregory of Nyssa Church, home to a progressive Episcopalian community in the Potrero Hill neighborhood of San Francisco.

There are other pictures of this amazing work or art that can be viewed HERE and HERE. 

More tomorrow....

 

Praise Him With a Dance....

This post is another example of several things...from different areas/aspects of my life...no doubt stored in different "folders" in my brain suddenly coming together...with an almost  magnetic like force to form an idea for a blog post.  I think I mentioned this a few days ago. 

A week or so ago, Keith emailed me to tell me his views on the last verse in Psalm 150...what is usually translated "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord."  He thought perhaps the word "let" might not actually belong in the text if one was faithful to what the original language conveyed.  Sure enough...after checking in a literal translation (Young's) and a Hebrew Lexicon (Interlinear Analyzer 2 at Scripture 4 All) we discovered that the verse should actually read more along the lines of,

Everything that has breath praises the Lord.  

In an email he wrote to our friend Roy, he said:

In addition much can be added about the act of breathing in Scripture. God breathed into man and he became a living soul. It has been said that when God exhales we must inhale. I also think that the Hebrew word Ruach means spirit as well as wind and breath and air. And in saying that, if I am not mistaken it is the same word that is translated as "cool" as God walked with Adam in the "cool" of the day.

To which our friend Roy replied:

I wonder also if it is not a prophetic picture? We have the example of an entire orchestra here.....those that play all forms of instruments each instructed to praise the Lord. It would seem ALL instruments are instructed to praise. So. if all mankind is the orchestra is there a day ahead when all will praise Him in benevolence, mercy and all other wonderful aspects of kindness, love and goodness? We know all man's works praise the Lord now though hard to understand those that cause such misery at the present time. But, does this Psalm, on one level, point to that day when all will turn their own "music" (that higher life that is within them by His power) toward Him openly and freely, unhindered?

     So many depths and variances of meaning!
     Again then, if we apply the Psalm's meaning inwardly on an individual basis is it not necessary that the orchestra within each of us be subdued and coordinated to give off a harmonic music toward the Lord? My stringed instruments are not in unison with my wind instruments and such.....But, He is orchestrating the music within so that on a certain day and in brief blasts now the music harmonizes and comes together in Him. There shall be a day within when the last trumpet shall sound, that is, the last trumpet/ instrument shall come into harmony within me in Him. Then, He shall set me free to descend upon mankind with a shout, that is, He in me. And, even at that moment that beautiful music brought together in my heavens shall descend within me to the lowest parts of my earth gathering me together as it enables me to be a vessel to gather all around me together this last trump setting free the orchestra of His life within raising me to the heavens and gathering all around me in Him and by His excellent grace! We are blessed to see and experience those glimpses now......

More on this in my next post....

Interfaith Dialogue....at Christmas and All Year Round...

Several things have popped up lately that I think go along with this happy whatever you wanakuh series of posts.  One in my AOL mailbox...and one showed up randomly on a google search while I was looking for something pretty much unrelated.

The first was a link to an article that annie found and posted on EU entitled, Three Clergymen, Three Faiths, One Friendship.  The article is about Rabbi Ted Falcon, the Rev. Don Mackenzie and Sheik Jamal Rahman, the “interfaith amigos.” They travel around the country speaking about interfaith dialogue. They are buds in spite of doctrinal differences. How do they stay friends since religious beliefs are such a hot button topic and oftentimes cause such discord?

Rabbi Falcon told the crowd at the Second Presbyterian Church here. “We try to honor the truth. This is the truth for you, and this is the truth for me. It may not be reconcilable, but it is important to refuse to make the other the enemy.”

During their presentation, each of them tell the audience what they value the most in their own faith tradition. 

The minister said “unconditional love.” The sheik said “compassion.” And the rabbi said “oneness.”

But then, they fess up and reveal what they regard as untruth.

 The minister said that one “untruth” for him was that “Christianity is the only way to God.” The rabbi said for him it was the notion of Jews as “the chosen people.” And the sheik said for him it was the “sword verses” in the Koran, like “kill the unbeliever.”

And about those "kill the infidel verses in the Koran?"

“It is a verse taken out of context,” Sheik Rahman said, pointing out that the previous verse says that God has no love for aggressors. “But we have to acknowledge that ‘kill the unbelievers’ is an awkward verse,’ ” the sheik said as the crowd laughed. “Some verses are literal, some are metaphorical, but the Koran doesn’t say which is which.”

And neither does the Bible, Sheik Rahman.  Many of the religious squabbles among Christians are because every denomination picks and chooses which verses they deem literal and which verses they deem spiritual.  

 

             

 

The other article I came across this morning...and it is not nearly as current.  It is an interview between Shane Claiborne and Tony Campolo about interfaith dialogue.  Tony sums up a very important point.

In a mystical relationship with God, there is a coming together of people where theology is left behind and in this spirituality they found a commonality.

It seems to me that when we listen to the Muslim mystics as they talk about Jesus and their love for Jesus, I must say, it's a lot closer to New Testament Christianity than a lot of the Christians that I hear. In other words if we are looking for common ground, can we find it in mystical spirituality, even if we cannot theologically agree, Can we pray together in such a way that we connect with a God that transcends our theological differences?

So we make sure we don't compromise what we believe. But we also make sure that in mystical spirituality we find a kind of oneness that we leave judgment of who goes to heaven and who goes to hell in the hands of God and just preach the truth as we understand it.

Could it be that the little pet doctrines that we cling to are not all that important to God?  Perhaps there are so many irreconcilable differences even among Christians...(thinking free will/determinism, the various atonement theories, inerrancy of the scriptures)...because God purposed it to be that way?  Perhaps theology (or to borrow an annie term..."theory-ology ") is not what God wants us to focus on. 

And Shane says: 

When it comes to living out the Biblical vision of justice and peace, there are times when I feel like I have more in common with folks of other religions than I do with some other evangelicals. I have often found that while we may not agree theologically, we have a similar vision for how God calls us to live. Can we work together in service and action, even though we disagree theologically?

These two articles sound promising...hopeful but as Tony says:

There is going to be one segment of evangelicalism, just like there is one segment in Islam that is not going to be interested in dialogue.

Hmmmm....Ann Coulter comes to mind.  Jerry Fallwell...Pat Robertson....Fred Phelps...Kirk Cameron...Jack Chick, John Hagee. 

But there are other evangelicals who will want to talk and establish a common commitment to a goodness with Islamic people and Jewish people particularly.

The article contains several stories which tell of actions, heroic and selfless, that crossed religious lines. 

The Recycle Your Faith Website

Check out the Recycle Your Faith Website. Self described thusly:

Short and compelling videos are posted every Monday at recycleyourfaith.com. Each video encourages spiritual exploration through candid interviews, thought-provoking topics, and stories of people attempting to walk in the footsteps of Jesus. Various perspectives are presented and topics are left unresolved. It is our hope that these videos challenge you to question your faith and perhaps recycle it into something more closely resembling your personal experience with Jesus.

I watched ten or so of the high quality videos..most of which are under 3 minutes...but with lots of thought provoking ideas to sit up and pay attention to. It would probably not be a web site to recommend to very traditional Christians because they talk about all kinds of things, including the inerrancy of the Bible, homosexuality, leaving the institutional church and other controversial topics.

There are also two interviews with Paul Young (of The Shack fame). One is a snippet...3 minutes or so...and the other is a longer interview. About 17 minutes. It is a very candid interview about his past. I didn't know how much of his real life story paralleled Mack's story. Some of the statements that impacted me the most were..

It took me fifty years to wipe the face of my father off the face of God.

Shame destroys your ability to distinguish between an observation and a value statement.

He talks about his visit to a prison in Edmonton.

This gal comes over, falls into my arms. She is weeping. She's weeping and her tears are running down MY face. And she whispers as she's weeping, between her sobs, "do you really think Papa is fond of me?" And I said, "Honey, he's especially fond of you." and she said, "That's all I needed to know."

Check out this video...check out the site. And for heaven's sakes, if you haven't read The Shack...read it.

Not Dissing Christmas....

I am very open to and accommodating of the beliefs and traditions of other faiths during the holiday season and I veer more toward the "Happy Whatever You Wannakah" way of thinking.  But I am not dissing Christmas.

Granted, as a family, we do not go all out for Christmas. The kids usually know what they are getting ahead of time (because I try to buy them what they actually want...and forgo any attempt to "surprise" them) I don’t think we go overboard.  I think we are quite practical. There have been times the two sets of parents...Keith and I and their dad and his wife.... have pooled funds in order to purchase a “bigger gift.”  We try to keep spending reasonable.

Keith and I don’t do the party circuit...nor do we buy gifts for each other....I don’t bake endless pans of cookies....wrap stacks of presents...deck the halls with more than a Christmas tree and a plaque on the front door....I don’t shop till I drop....but....I have a very soft spot in my heart for Christmas. I can’t read or listen to the “Christmas Story” in Luke without tearing up when the angel declares...

Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.

There are two holidays in particular when I vividly remember the reading of the Christmas story.

The first one I remember so clearly because I’m the one who had to read it. Out loud. In front of the church. At the Christmas Eve service no less!!! The pastor...Vernon Burrows....had this thing for my voice and the “lilting” (his word) way I read. We lived in Nashville. He was from Texas. It must have had something to do with the absence of a southern drawl....but he called on me to read all the time.

Now the church was small...and there were probably less than 100 people at the Christmas Eve service. We are not talking mega church here....but I was just as nervous. I didn’t know how to pronounce some of the words so I called my best friend, Kathy, several times during the day while I practiced. ”How do you pronounce this. How do you pronounce that?” Kathy was a long time Christian and she, more than anyone, was the person who helped to introduce me to my heavenly father. I worried about it all day...I was nervous but I did it...sweaty palms, heart racing, my kids rooting for me.

One year later, Kathy’s husband Monte, read the same passages from Luke... as we all sat around the big brick fireplace in my family room. Christmas Eve services had been canceled because of the weather but our families, being from the north and not fazed by a little bit of snow, got together anyway. Christmas that year was bittersweet. My sister had passed away that very morning, in the very early morning hours...from terminal cancer that lasted six weeks from diagnosis to her death. I jokingly told my pastor that Vicki was “in heaven” that Christmas, getting ready to "celebrate Jesus' birthday"....along with

a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”

Truthfully, I don't care if Jesus was REALLY born sometime in September...or if many of our holiday traditions were birthed in a pagan culture and really have no connection to Jesus.  Christmas is still the season, more than any other time of year, when many pause amidst all the secular trappings and holiday hoopla and, for a moment, however doubting...however fleeting, think about the "reason for the season."