Second Wind

On Friday of this past week, I had the privilege of attending a simulcast in Cranbrook, BC called the Chick-fil-A Leadercast.  Apparently this is an annual event that has been in existence since 2008.  It brings together some of the best in American leadership to thematically address issues about leadership — Andy Stanley, Jack Welch, Condoleezza Rice, John Maxwell, and David Allen being some of the most notable this year.  It seems that the vision for this enterprise has strong Christian roots even though some of the presenters may not be speaking from a church leadership perspective.  This year 4000 gathered at the original site in Atlanta while some 120,000 people watched by satellite in 750 locations across America and Canada. The site in Cranbrook had grown by more than 300% to 217 from last year and brought together people from a large variety of professions besides church leadership.

Andy Stanley began the Conference by emphasizing the importance of clarity in line with the theme of simplifying leadership.  He said that leadership has constantly to answer three simple questions: What are we doing, Why are we doing it, and Where does one fit it.  The first speaks to the idea of vision.  He said it is imperative that everyone in the organization is able to answer the question of what the organization is all about.  ”If you don’t have a simple answer to the question of what you are doing, you haven’t worked on it long enough.”  But the second question speaks to the emotional aspect of the organization’s reason for existence.  It considers the question of what would happen if the work or ministry didn’t exist.  What was the original impetus for the organization’s existence?  Somewhere in the midst of the complexity of a business’s operation is a compelling answer that harnesses the hearts of the people who are committed to that business.  The third question helps people in the organization know exactly what their unique contribution is.  Stanley’s challenge in this was for every staff-person to create a one-sentence job description that enables each to keep focused.  Stanley’s own one-sentence job description is this: To inspire our staff and congregation to remain fully engaged in our mission and strategy.  His point is that if each one’s job is not clear, people will end up doing whatever comes to mind.

David Allen was a new face for me on the subject of leadership.  His talk called, Bringing Order to Chaos, emphasized the tremendous significance of creating space in the midst of the complexity of our work in order to think.  This requires the ability to take time out to reflect and gain perspective.  In Allen’s view, we need to prioritize our time so that we are able to back away from the intensity of what we are working at in order to strengthen our efficiency.  Making lists can help alleviate the clutter in our minds.  I know how important this is in my own experience.  Making an itemized list enables me to rest because it sets up an agenda and gives me freedom to work at other things.  Allen says, If you don’t do this, the mess will short-circuit your creativity.  

Henry Cloud had another perspective to offer: He spoke of leading more simply by confronting necessary endings.  He spoke of the significance of pruning for more effectiveness.  One of the hardest things for leaders to do sometimes is to decide to get rid of something because it’s draining resources that could be used for more focus in the main thing.  There are times when we have to let go of things, maybe people too.  We have to answer the question of what’s good but not best, what’s sick and won’t get well, what’s dead and won’t come back to life.  Cloud’s contribution was that he called for focused attention.  Leaders attend to what is relevant, inhibit everything else and create a working memory (by which he means that you communicate in a way that enables people to follow your ideas).  Cloud, a trained clinical psychologist, says that the brain functions by the use of oxygen, glucose, and relationships.  He said the simplicity of leadership is relationship.  And relationships develop best in the context of listening.  He ended his talk with an interesting story about a monkey in a cage whose chemistry was being tested for stress levels while being bombarded with a host of conflicting stimuli.  But with the entrance of a buddy in the cage, while the same stimuli were being administered, the monkey’s stress level was reduced to about half of what it had been.  His insightful conclusion was that leaders need to create structures where their teams can have deep connection with one another.

I found these principles very affirming for my own work of leadership in the context of church ministry.  I have more to summarize from this excellent simulcast, but will continue that in the next session.  I need to take some time to digest some of what the first three speakers had to offer.  I want to look closely at their web-sites and writings to see more of what they had to say about effective leadership.  There is much to digest here about leadership –something that we who practice are constantly seeking to improve.

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Those of us who have the privilege of preaching on Sundays often come to the end of a Sunday feeling just a little emotionally drained.  Apparently this is not uncommon.  The anticipation of leading God’s people in worship and giving them a message from God each Sunday is very  energizing. All things being normal in our lives, pastors go into a weekend really excited about the possibility of leading the church body in worship on Sunday morning and speaking a message from the Word.  It’s always amazing to me how we who pastor churches can go into a Sunday with such vision and energy week after week.

But it is equally amazing to see how it’s possible to experience the other end of the emotional spectrum too when it’s all over — most often on Sunday evenings.  Having given oneself fully to the task of leading God’s people in worship on the Lord’s Day, it is not unusual to feel a kind of spiritual and emotional let-down at the end of the day and even into Monday.  For some of us the feeling of depression after Sunday mornings can be almost overwhelming.  It is difficult for the average Christian church member to appreciate this aspect of the pastor’s experience.  Perhaps these let-downs are common to people who serve in public life but no doubt the Sunday night blues are even greater for pastors because of the spiritual dimension of their work.

The anticipation I had going into the Service today was huge.  I was excited about the message God had given me to preach which happened to be on the subject of proclaiming God’s good news.  My objective was to help the church see that the communication of the Gospel was foundational to our “raison de etre.”  Using 2 Corinthians 5 as the text I wanted to help people in the congregation today understand the nature of the Gospel and the motivation we should have for making it known.  The idea was to help prepare people for a national campaign initiated by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association called, My Hope.  The plan is to encourage Christians everywhere to see that God can use them in making the message of the Gospel known to their neighbours and friends through sharing their own story of how they answered God’s call to follow Him.

In preparing a Worship Service, the pastors visualize how all of the elements will flow together to accomplish a specific purpose.  But it never goes exactly like one dreams. There are hitches of one kind or another — announcements that end up being too elaborate, technical problems that emerge in the execution of the plan, the message being longer and perhaps not as concise as envisioned, innuendoes that discourage.  Nevertheless, the immediate response is encouraging.  People comment on the helpful nature of the Service, how glad they are to be part of the church, how helpful the message has been.  There are great conversations with people after the Service indicating that it’s all good.

But most pastors are also left with nagging questions about the larger impact of the message, how people really felt about the Service, what their overall impressions and feelings are about what’s happening in the church, and whether they feel good about the contribution their pastor is making.  No doubt this is normal mental activity for most pastors after every Sunday’s Service.  The experience is a test of emotional control and spiritual fortitude.  While some measure of introspection is good for everyone from time to time, it is important to recognize that Satan is able to take advantage of Christians and Christian leaders when they are most vulnerable.  Most commonly for pastors the time for such an attack is Sunday night.

Pastors should take comfort in the fact that this experience is very common to all of them.  It’s one of the occupational hazards of pastoral ministry.  It helps if one develops the discipline of not dwelling on the positives or the negatives of the day too soon.  It’s also helpful to remember not to take oneself too seriously.  And it’s really good to plan on some down-time after Sunday — a way to disengage from the experience after it is over.  That’s why many pastors take Mondays to do something completely different.  This is not a bad idea.  It’s amazing how good the week ahead begins to look after you’ve been able to do something recreational.  I think I need such a time tomorrow.  Golf, here I come!!

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Recently I Twittered about Facebook alluding to the possibility of thinking about Facebook as an image of connection and relationship with God.  I spoke of “Holy Facebook” as the experience of having time alone with God in His Word and in prayer.  What prompted this idea was something that is probably pretty common in our experience — our tendency to reach, first thing in the morning, for our iPhones or other data devices that immediately connect us with friends through digital social media before we take time to communicate with God.  At least I’ve found this to be true on more than one occasion in my experience.  In thinking about it, I find it kind of ironic that FaceTime has become more about our interconnection with one another than it is about our time with God.

There are a couple of instances in the Old Testament where we read of Moses having a face-to-face connection with God.  Exodus 33:11 says, “The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend.”  Then again in Deuteronomy 34:10, we see this same idea expressed: “Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face.”   I’m not sure if this reference is what Zuckerberg and associates (friends) had in mind when they created Facebook, but it certainly is evident that its idea didn’t begin with them.  Face-to-face communication is what characterizes a good friendship.  It speaks of candidness, transparency, and social intimacy.  So it is that Facebook or FaceTime has become almost synonymous with friendship.  The Internet has created an opportunity for communication and friendship that goes way beyond what was offered in an earlier time by the telephone.  The significance of Facebook is that it creates an immediate network of relationships that can be frighteningly disarming.  And therein lies its appeal.

As I thought about all of this I wondered what it would be like if, each time we heard about Facebook, we thought of God’s original intent to have the kind of intimate communication with us that characterized His relationship with Moses described by this “face-to-face” expression?  What if each time we heard the word, Facebook, we were reminded of the kind of intimate relationship we could have with God?  And what if, instead of seeking meaning first in our relationships with one another, we came to realize that face-to-face communication with God is where meaning really begins?  What if FaceTime brought to our minds the importance of the occasion of intimacy with God — as expressed in those references to  Moses and his time with God?

I suspect the creators of Facebook wanted to establish a place on the Internet where friends could connect with one another in the most casual and transparent way imaginable.  We now know they have succeeded in a manner far beyond their wildest dreams.  We also know that an awful lot of pain has been generated by participants on Facebook — mainly because people are ultimately incapable of a holy and wholesome social intimacy apart from divine grace.  In a sense it’s impossible to have meaningful face time with another person until we first understand what it is to have meaningful face time with God.  In that way Facebook can easily become a substitute or “god” that distracts us from the most important intimacy of all.

I think it’s the case that Facebook can be a lot more meaningful if we first take time for intimate fellowship with God.  It probably is a good idea for us to reach for our Bibles as a “Facebook” before we reach for our electronic data devices to access our friends on social media.  Wouldn’t it be great if Facebook by its name had the power to point us to the importance of spending some time in God’s presence rather than simply being a place for human interface?

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I am sitting in the airport in Vancouver again this Sunday Evening with a long lay-over from Cranbrook.  What should be a four or five hour flight through Vancouver is turning out to be an eight to nine hour one.  The arrangement was an attempt at being a good steward of the trust given to me.  But these times need not be lost.  I am tired and anxious to get home to see my wife, Carolyn, after being apart for two weeks.  But as a brother used to often remind me, “good things come to those who wait.”  I know it’s not quite that simple, but patience is virtuous.

The sun was shining in Vancouver when I arrived in the late afternoon, and the signs of spring were everywhere.  (It really is a beautiful city — when the sun shines!)  I decided to spend the five-hour layover by up-dating my Blog (if I had time!!) but not before taking the train to St. John’s Anglican Church for their Evening Service.  I knew it would involve a small walk, but I needed the exercise and thought I would enjoy the cool spring air, the sunshine, the green grass, and the blossoms.  I grabbed a quick bite to eat and was on my way — but not before running into an acquaintance on the train platform.  The small trip in uncharted territory went well, and I arrived only a few minutes late.

The reason I wanted to go to St. John’s, if they had a service in the evening, was to engage with a church community that I knew as being traditional, but soundly evangelical, as well as one that had gone through a good deal of difficulty in the last number of years.  During the greeting time in which we were asked to greet folks around us who were defined by either being under or over thirty years of age, I talked to a gentleman who has been part of the church for some time.  He informed me that the church had to vacate their beautiful building on Burrard Street a couple of years ago because they lost a Supreme Court challenge regarding the right of the congregation to retain a conservative theological conviction regarding homosexual practice as well as the property they used for worship.  Presumably the members of the congregation had paid for the property but their disagreement with the diocese in regard to homosexuality raised the issue of property title which no doubt was held in the name of the diocese.

In the end, the church opted to rent a comparable facility not too far from the site of the original worship centre from the Seventh Day Adventist Denomination.  Of course, they no longer belong to the diocese of New Westminster and have since formed or joined a new Canadian Anglican fellowship with several other churches in the same situation across the nation.  In reading the Rector’s Annual Report, it is evident that the experience for the congregation was significantly unsettling for many, but not enough to put it out of existence.  In fact, the congregation has rallied and is moving forward with four services every Sunday and a ministry budget in excess of $2 million per year.  In his report, the Rector calls for renewed commitment to making the Gospel known.

As I engaged in the liturgical form of worship with these sincere believers, I was impressed by their sense of persistence in the face of a definite kind of persecution.  By taking a stand for truth, they were seriously censored by peers within their former fellowship.  Though the Service was advertised as being “contemporary,” it was definitely subdued and liturgical compared to anything in my experience by that designation.  Yet it was obvious that the congregation this evening consisted largely of younger families.  There was a short series of contemplative worship songs before the congregation was engaged in liturgical prayer and church announcements.  The sermon was based on the prophetic passage of Mark 13.  The young speaker struggled with providing a good explanation of Jesus prophetic references but emphasized the need to live our lives in the light of Jesus sure commitment to draw everything to a conclusion.

This turned out to be a great lay-over experience.  It affirmed for me the value of seeking constructive use of “down-time,” the beauty of diversity in God’s world and His church, the glory of persistence in the midst of suffering, and the importance of Jesus’ promise regarding His return.  It was a wonderful opportunity for me to connect with a very special church in the heart of Vancouver’s west-side.  No doubt, as is the case of so many large evangelical churches, there are people who attend out of a sense of traditional value, but there are many others who sincerely love the Lord and find meaningful worship, fellowship, and service.

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In thinking a bit this month about the significance of leadership in the local church I’ve been focused today on the importance of vision.  I’ve noted in my transition work with churches that one of the greatest needs is for visionary leadership.  Churches, organizations, and people’s lives suffer for lack of vision.  All easily deteriorate into simply performing minimal expectations from Sunday to Sunday, from week to week, or from day to day.  I know from personal experience how easily this can happen.  We grow weary in the battle, feel overwhelmed from dealing with one crisis after another, easily becoming satisfied with mere survival in the process.  Life and ministry becomes perfunctory rather than fruitfully engaging.  In such a case, something has been seriously lost.

In the words of Bill Hybels of Willow Creek Community Church, “vision leaks.”  It easily dissipates in the face of the many challenges that come our way in the ordinary course of our lives.   The test of leadership, I think, is to maintain a clear sense of vision in the midst of the challenges.  Because without vision, says Proverbs 29:13, “the people cast off restraint.”  Without vision, people languish in their carnal lives.  Without vision, people begin to engage in self-centered pursuits.  That’s why, in the context of church ministry, vision is so important.  In fact, vision is really what church ministry is all about.  Vision, properly gained and communicated, gives the church its life and sense of purpose.  Vision provides God’s perspective on what our lives are really all about.

In his recently published book, Master Leaders, author George Barna concludes that what great leaders do really well is communicate a clear consistent vision that everyone in the organization can rally around.  He goes on to say, that …one of the main things a leader does is to share the vision and mission of an organization…  Leaders are able to effectively show people what, why, and how the work they are doing is moving them toward fulfilling a bigger purpose.  A good leader will help define that for people.  So it is, I believe, the primary work of the pastor of a church to help it find and fulfill its God-given vision.  It is the responsibility of the pastor to guard and effectively communicate that vision.

Biblically, it is clear that vision is a supernatural experience of coming to see by faith what God has in mind for His people.  There are many examples of  this in the story of God’s people.  Leaders among God’s people were those who were given insight into God’s plan and purpose for His people and were supernaturally anointed by God to effectively communicate and rally support in His cause.  Usually we find, they were people, like Abraham, Moses, Samuel, or David who spent time in God’s presence to know Him and His will for the lives of God’s people.

Likewise today, those who would seek to effectively lead God’s people into their rightful inheritance must be people who spend regular time in God’s presence and in His Word, being thus renewed in their understanding of God’s heart for His people.  Rightfully understood, vision involves grasping a clear picture of God’s plan in the Gospel and adopting values that consistently move one’s own life and the lives of others toward its realization.  It seems to me that vision easily fades when we get bogged down by life’s profaneness, by that which is of this world.  Leaders need to continually come back into the presence of God to see His face, to hear His voice, and to be spiritually renewed.

I am convinced that vision, properly understood and acquired, is the key to effective pastoral leadership in the church.  Vision is the very nature of the Christian faith that calls us to believe something that we have come to see in the very essence of Scripture and the Gospel. It is vision that inspires a people to commit great amounts of energy and resources toward the realization of a great cause.  Vision guides in the establishing of values that describe the culture of what a church is all about.  There is something very beautiful about seeing a people united in a vision that prevails against the forces of evil and is increasingly fruitful toward God.

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If you read my previous post you will know that I don’t like to refer to the celebration of the events of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection as Easter.  I much prefer speaking of it as the New Passover — because I think it more appropriately describes the reality of what happened at that time, coinciding as it did with the annual celebration of the Jewish Passover.  Today we remember the fact of Jesus’ glorious resurrection from the dead.

It seemed appropriate that my reading this morning was from Psalm 74.  This Psalm describes the state of the city of Jerusalem after it had been desecrated  by the Babylonians in 567 bc.  It must have been a horrible experience for those who were there  and had known of the glory of this City and its temple.  The writer of this Psalm is overwhelmed by the awful reality of what had happened to God’s magnificent sanctuary.  Worse still, he feels rather hopeless about the prospect of change for good even though he prays and knows that the God he worships is capable of overcoming the Enemy completely — based on His reputation of all He has done in the past and in creation.

Remember your covenant promises, he writes, for the land is full of darkness and violence!  Don’t let the downtrodden be constantly disgraced! …Arise, O God, and  defend your cause (Vs. 20 – 22).

This prayer describes not only a desire for change among God’s people in that time, but the longing of all of God’s people throughout world history for the restoration of God’s kingdom and rule.  God’s beautiful creation has been desecrated by the Enemy of our souls and we wait patiently for the resurrection demonstrated and promised in Jesus Christ.  The resurrection of Jesus is our reference for the promise that things will not always be as they are today.  We live in a land that is full of darkness and violence.  A grey pall exists over the face of the whole earth.  Despite the evidences of God’s goodness and grace in the world the signs of death are everywhere.

But the Good News is that it won’t always be that way.  For we remember a day when the One who died for our sins on the cross burst forth from the grave and drove back the soldiers who were standing guard so that they fell on their backs and became as dead men before the triumphant Christ.  So it was, and so it shall be at the end of time!  But so it can also be for us in the midst of the darkness of our times.  The beauty of living the Christian life is that the same power that raised Christ from the dead is ours to experience now (Ephesians 1:19, 20).  As we walk about amidst the ruins of our “city,” God gives us strength to share His Gospel grace in many different ways and gives us hope that a day of final triumph is inevitable.

Weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning!  (Psalm 30:5).

Yes!

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Maybe Easter is a good illustration of what happens when Christians try too hard to accommodate themselves to secular culture in order to communicate the message of the Gospel.  What I mean is that Easter actually has more to do with pagan ideas than Christian theology.  It is very likely that the name Easter comes from the name for a pagan goddess worshipped among the early people of England as Estre, and of Germany as Oestern.  Among these peoples she was regarded as the goddess of the dawn, the light, or even fertility.  As is typical of paganism, in their ignorance of God’s revelation in Scripture, people ascribe divine powers to different aspects of nature, just as Paul describes this in Romans 1.

This is also the reason the time of celebrations surrounding the death and resurrection of Jesus is more closely connected to the spring solstice than it is to the regular Jewish Passover.  And it also explains why the hare, with its prolific reproductive powers, is the Easter icon in secular culture.  Though not related to rabbits, these associations of Easter is the reason for the season’s focus on eggs.   It appears that Easter is the way we commonly refer to the celebration of Jesus’ death and resurrection because the Roman church adapted itself to the pagan ideas and practices of an earlier time.  Unfortunately, we have been left with a pagan way of referring to the celebration of the most central event in history.

Maybe serious Christians should take a another look at calling the pivotal events of Jesus death and resurrection for our sins, Easter.  Perhaps Christians, knowing the derivation of the ideas of Easter, should re-evaluate some of their Easter celebrations.  What do you think?  On the other hand, should Christians, in their efforts to be relevant in communicating the true nature of the Gospel, make a big deal out of these pagan ideas?  It’s the kind of tension that true Christians continually have to consider.  But maybe, if Roman Christians had been more discriminating originally, we wouldn’t have ended up with the kind of confusion that is associated with Easter today.  Maybe they should have stuck with the idea of a New Passover and called it by that name, or something similar, to preserve the meaning of Jesus’ death and resurrection.  And maybe the communication of the Gospel in the end could have been purer and more effective.

A reconsideration of how the concept of Easter developed might be a lesson on how Christians make the message of the Gospel known.  On the eve of St. Patrick’s Day, this subject of relevant evangelism is also related to that little piece of history.  Because if St. Patrick’s day is about anything, it seems to me that it is a poignant illustration of this very issue, the mixing of Christian ideas with local pagan practices.   Relevancy in evangelism is important, but surely not at the expense of diluting the very nature of what the Gospel is all about.  It’s just a thought….

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This title suggests serenity, growth and beauty.  But in the case of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, it was anything but that.  This garden, for Him, was like the name suggests — an instrument that crushes ripened olives under the weight of a huge stone to extract their precious oil.  It was there in the Garden that Jesus identified Himself fully with the burden of a world that is full of sin and evil because of what happened in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit.  Satan had visited Jesus before to dissuade Him from His mission, but here in the Garden it begins to reach a climax.  Jesus’ soul, in this time, is overwhelmed with darkness and foreboding as He approaches the cross.  He feels terribly alone and prays to His Father, that if it is possible, the cup of God’s wrath might be removed from Him.

I can’t begin to know all that Jesus came to experience in that hour of sorrow just before the greater burden that He was about to assume, but at the least it was an attempt by Satan to keep Him from going through with the sacrifice that He was about to make.  So much was at stake in this hour of Jesus trial.  The whole weight of the world’s salvation hung upon His shoulders.  Clearly, the emotional and spiritual struggle that He had to endure was indescribable.  Would He be able to do it?

Well, we know the outcome.  He not only made it through that intense time of emotional suffering; He also made it through the suffering of the cross to the time of His glorious resurrection.  What an amazing story of endurance in view of all that He was going through.

What this story teaches us, recorded for us in Mark 14:32-42, is that Jesus prevailed in this struggle through prayer.  Not only was He praying for Himself, but it seems from John 17 that He was also praying for us.  It was an occasion of His high priestly ministry on our behalf — something, according to Romans 8:26, 27, continues for us by the ministry of the Holy Spirit.  What an awesome thought: Jesus. and His Spirit, are praying for us.

This story also teaches us much about the humanity of Jesus.  He was in all points, tempted just as we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15).  Sometimes, I think, we forget that Jesus knows about the hard things with which we have to deal.  It’s important to recognize that He identifies with us in our weakness, not only because of sin, but because of the attack of the Evil One.  The words of Corrie ten Boom come to mind in which she reputedly said, No pit is so deep but that His grace is not deeper still.  He’s been where we have been in our darkest moment, and He knows.

There is another thing about this story that is rather disconcerting.  It is this: Jesus’ disciples missed the significance of what Jesus was going through and fell asleep, despite His request to have them pray for Him.  The failure of the disciples in this regard is such a sad commentary on our tendency to be oblivious to the seriousness of the situations that fellow-believers are going through, and of the significance of our prayer for them in it.  This story hi-lights the nature of intercessory prayer and the importance of it.  How ironic that while Jesus is intensely praying for His disciples, and for us, they are falling asleep and not praying.

And one more lesson from this story is that everyone who becomes a follower of Jesus will likewise be called to go through similar kinds of suffering to that of Jesus.  It’s important for us to recognize that as we identify with Jesus and His righteousness, suffering will be an inevitable part of our experience.  It may come in the form of an attack from the Enemy of one kind or another.  But, as sinners, we have the added burden of having to deal with suffering because of our own wayward ways.  This is the message, in some respects, of Lamentations.  What a great sorrow came upon the children of Israel because of their blatant disobedience to the true prophets of God at that time.  But the good news for us is that God is able to take us through these times of suffering as they come — even if they come because of our own sin.

By the ministry of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, I am strengthened to endure suffering.  This comes both by His wonderful example and by His prayers for the likes of me.  I  know suffering will come in one form or another as I identify myself with Christ. But the good news is that by His power we can and will prevail.

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I’ve been thinking a lot about the relative sense of superficiality that humanity ordinarily engages in compared to the things that are really important.  I know I sound like my parents and a previous generation when I say that the older I grow the more I see how so much that we value in life is really not worth very much.  I don’t mean to put a damper on genuinely enjoying all that God has blessed us with, but we need to be careful lest we make those things and experiences ends in themselves.

The things that we tend to spend our energy upon are really often so transitory and of little consequence in the larger scheme of things.  This opinion is from the perspective of one who has lived into the maturing years having had a lot of amazing experiences including travel, recreation of various kinds, and the blessings of many wonderful things.  In this regard life has been very good to me.  I have so enjoyed the wonders of creation, the thrills of physical recreation, and studying the accomplishments of people.  But if I didn’t know about the 3rd dimension as made known to us in the Bible I might easily be at a point in time in which I would be asking the question: Is that all there is?  

As it is, I am beginning to see how small human interests are when compared to the larger reality of things that last forever.  One of the reasons for this kind of reflection, I’m sure, is the fact that I have seen so many people of great stature suddenly gone.  Last week I stood at the graveside of a man whom I didn’t know personally, but who had lived a very long time.  Apparently he had a most profound influence on a whole lot of people for good over the years, but now his suited body lay in a fluffy linen-lined casket that would soon be covered with earth.  We try to do everything we can to avoid the dust-to-dust image that is the end of our lives here on earth but the fact is they are very brief and soon forgotten.

But there are one or two things that transcend this superficial aspect of our lives.  These two things are the Word of God that lives on forever, and people within whom dwells an eternal soul.  There is a world so much larger than this one whose size and everlastingness can’t even begin to be calculated.    It is a world made known to us in God’s Word, by God’s Son, and by God’s Spirit.  It is a world that values worship as the supreme activity of living beings and people as eternal souls created in the image of God and redeemed by God’s great sacrifice.

What do all these reflections do to me?  Well, they make me value the life that has been given to me.  I so much appreciate the physical blessings that I have been given.  But these reflections make me realize that all these things are relatively unimportant compared to the things that are eternal.  I need to appreciate people like God does and give all my attention to engaging them to share in the eternal life that God intended.  It means I need to make the most out of the time and resources that God has given in order to help the people God brings into my life.

I come to this conclusion because, in the end, it is what lasts forever which is the most important of all.  I want to love with God’s love and talk about God’s truth in a way that engages the most valuable entity on earth — people.

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I can’t believe that almost a month has passed since my last post.  I just emptied my spam folder which had accumulated more than 10,300 spam hits.  So the site is popular!  But probably with the wrong people!  Time for a new post.

Being close to Valentine’s Day, I spoke on Young Love again this morning.  This is one of my favourite messages because I usually present it in a different place each year, and it usually gets a good response because it is so relevant to people’s lives.   It’s based on Song of Solomon 2:1-7 and Revelation 2:1-7.  So it includes the idea of romance in marriage but also the “first love” idea in one’s relationship with God.  My main point is that just as romance is vital to our marriage relationships so it is also really important in our relationship to God.

The characteristics of romance in marriage include such things as spontaneity, surprise, creativity, and also a sense of sacrificial cost on the part of the one who gives it.  Romance laughs at sensibility regarding cost calculation.  It is a brief moment in which one abandons more practical aspects of life for the sake of showing affection for someone else.  Romance doesn’t necessarily include sexual fulfillment but no doubt that is the ultimate expression of it in marriage.

One of the best illustrations of romance is that moment in which a man proposes marriage to the woman he loves and they become engaged.  Typically, the man plans the occasion which will undoubtedly include a non-routine kind of time together.  If he is really romantic, he will give a lot of thought to creating the place, the occasion, the words, the atmosphere, and no doubt it will involve a good deal of surprise.  And of course, since he is planning to ask the woman to marry her (which in itself involves a huge commitment and expression of self-sacrifice) he will also be prepared to present her with a ring as a token of his promise to marry her.  This too will probably involve a good deal, if not all, of his savings for the occasion.  It is a most romantic moment for him and for her.   He knows what her response will be, but the engagement ritual is very important.

The problem for many couples is that over time, because of practical considerations and a few bumps and bruises in their developing relationship, not to mention the needs of their children, they easily abandon the fine art of romance — much to the impoverishment of their lives and marriage.  And sometimes the romantic spark diminishes to the point of near extinction until, sadly, it is rekindled elsewhere.  And the lesson we all have to learn in marriage is that romance is not only for engagement, but also should be regular part of our married lives.  We need to return often to that place of “first love” in our relationship in order to re-ignite the romantic fire of our marriages so that we can successfully sustain the challenges of marriage and daily life and move forward in accomplishing shared goals.

And so it is in our relationship with God.  Since marriage is an illustration of this special relationship with our Creator, open to every person on the planet, we can learn much from God’s intention for marriage that is also applicable to anyone’s relationship with Him.  It is important to recognize that there needs to be an element of romance in our relationship with Christ — experiences of fellowship with Him that are out of the ordinary, that are full of surprise on our part, that are creatively planned, and have that element of almost thoughtless self-sacrifice in terms of the cost involved.  I can imagine how much God loves it when we pour our hearts out to Him in these ways.  It’s clear from Scripture, that He wants more than our routine expressions of service and worship.  He wants the kind of response that inspires deep love and obedience to Him.  Romance does that!

I must confess that in my heart of hearts, I am a romantic!  But the truth is that all of us are like that!  All of us yearn for romance — to love and be loved in ways that are fresh, creative, spontaneous, and self-sacrificing.  That is why we live!  And that is exactly what God wants to give us in our relationship with Him and in our marriages.

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