Thursday, September 27, 2012

Made Whole


"He revives my soul."  Psalm 23:3

Dear People of St. David's,

I pray that you are well and are making plans to volunteer and be part of the 161st St. David's Fair on Saturday, October 6. The tents are going up and there's a lot of activity in the sheds already. The momentum is clearly building. Please offer your time and talents to make this a great Fair and to have a little fun together.

The Fair is a helpful signpost in our lives together as community. Like Christmas and Easter, it is a moment in our life together when many of us come together with a common purpose and usually in very large numbers. Signposts in life are helpful for measuring how our lives are going. When you and I think back to other St. David's Fairs or other Christmas and Easter celebrations, we can often get a sense of how our lives are going. Some years our lives are going great and we are generally pleased and have a sense of peace in our souls. Some years, not so much, as the troubles and nicks and bruises and challenges of life seem to leave our souls a little worse for wear.

I know there are years and days when the burdens and struggles of life can wear us down to the point that, though we have to press on, our souls, our lives, feel heavy. It may be because of our struggles at work. It may be because of a challenge in our families or with a close friend. It may be because our bodies are wearing down as they all do. It may be because of choices we've made that have turned sour or outright sinful. We long for a little respite and repair in our souls and in our lives, not only to allow us to press on, but also to have a sense of hope and joy at the core of our lives.

Thankfully, in those moments when we're feeling a little worse for wear, God can do some of His best work. Maybe it's because we're ready. Maybe it's because we're open to a power beyond ourselves. Whatever the case may be, God is always ready and willing to revive our souls with His grace and presence and sometimes with outright restoration. God is interested in us living lives that feel whole and are whole. And when we open ourselves to God more and more, He will revive us. God will heal our hurts and wounds and take away our sins, so that we may live restored lives.

So, if you are a little fearful that the road ahead may be beyond your own strength, take a moment and invite the One who revives souls to revive yours. See you in Church.


Grace and Peace,

WFA

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Led to Good Places


"He makes me lie down in green pastures and leads me beside still waters."  Psalm 23:2 

Dear People of St. David's,

I pray that you are well and that you are enjoying some rest these days with a greater sense of God's presence in your life and a little less fear and worry.

When reading Psalm 23, the above passage usually passes me by. It doesn't strike me as all that important.  Probably, because in my humanity, I think that it is through my own power that any "green pasture" or "still waters" I come across are my doing and not God's. Now, when we live a good life and try our best, there are moments when we find ourselves in the right place, with a sense of peace-whether it is over a job well done or a good outcome. Those could be significant moments in life from graduation to landing a new job to helping a child with their studies so they can succeed. There's a peace and a contentment and a goodness about those moments that help us to cherish our lives all the more.

But if you're like me, my best efforts and intelligence don't always lead me to green pastures and still waters. Mostly, my work simply leads to more work. Sometimes my efforts to find still waters become so overly scheduled that I am more tired when I come home than when I left. Maybe it's because I rarely have my work-play dynamic in good balance or maybe it's because I'm the one who's trying to lead and not allowing God to lead.

The promise that God offers us is that He will lead us to green pastures and still waters. That's the intention of a good shepherd who guides the sheep to the places where they can be fed and where they can find peace and rest. The shepherd cares for the sheep as part of the "job description" - as part of the shepherd's plan. It gives the shepherd pleasure to see that the sheep are fed and are at peace. So it is with God and us. God is willing to guide us to green pastures and to still waters when we allow God to lead, when we stop for a moment in the midst of a decision or in our planning to invite God into our thinking, our discernment about our lives. Too often we go our own way and miss the gentle nudge of God. But if we will listen and trust that God is who God says He is, then we can release some of our control over our lives and be led to those places that make life so worthwhile.

So, as you're going about your day today and every day, take a moment and invite the Lord, the Good Shepherd to have a say in the direction you are going so that God can lead you where you really want to go.


Grace and Peace,
 
WFA

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Losing Your Life & Dropping Your Crutch for God to Save It


Introduction: The High Dive
It was the summer before I turned ten that the pressure finally got to me; when I was nine, I had jumped off the low diving board at the Walnut Hill Lane pool a half mile from our home; and that was great fun all summer as our friends and my two brothers jumped, dived, canon balled, and belly flopped our way through the typical 100 degree days of a Texas summer. The low dive was fun; it was safe – probably only three feet off the water; easy to climb up and the landing zone was near the ladder to climb out and line up again for your turn to dive.

But on the last day before school started, the last day the pool would be open; my older brother James and our best friend, Mike Fish (or Mac Fish as my wife Amy once heard him say his name in Texan) decided they were done with the low dive and would now jump off the high dive. The high dive was enormously high in the air; step after step to get to the diving board; I imagined at the top that you could see for miles across the flat Texas landscape; and the wind at the top, it was always windy, might blow you off and you would die on the concrete slabs around the pool.

Well, James and Mike jumped off one after the other; nothing too smooth, but they came grinning from ear to ear as they climbed out got in line to dive again, and beckoned me to join them. No way, I said, and that’s when the pressure started, a I watched their fun and began to fear for my life. I thought about it all winter, jumping to my death from the high dive or facing the taunts and loss of esteem for being a coward forever. When summer rolled around again and the pool opened, I made all kinds of excuses to stay away from the pool. It was baseball season and I was working on my fielding, batting, throwing; whatever excuse I could come up with, even summer reading;

But when little league ended, there I was at the pool – it was just too hot. I climbed up to the top of the high dive twice in the month of July. Only to find myself shaking and afraid; having to climb back past other boys and girls in line to take the high plunge. There may have been a few hot tears under the swimming towel by the pool and there was no mercy, especially after our younger brother, Brad, started doing swan dives and somersaults off the high dive. He was always a little show-off.

With two days left in the summer, I awoke to the resolve that today would be the day;
And before even getting in and getting wet; I marched to the high dive; walked out to the end of the board; shaking, maybe crying (I’ve always been a big baby) I jumped through the air and landed safely in the pool. The belly flop didn’t feel all that great, but I had gotten past my fears and realized that it wasn’t anything like what I had built it up to be; It was fun – moderately, dangerous fun; and all that day, my brothers and Mike and our other friends jumped and dove off either board until we were all exhausted and it was time to go home.

The warmth of victory and triumph made for some good sleeping those next few nights and some of the challenges and obstacles that came that year in school were met with a little more confidence and creativity and a greater willingness to try something new even when it was different or made me a little uncomfortable and afraid.

Crutches That Keep us From God
I drove by the Walnut Hill Lane Pool this summer a couple of times on my visits to see my mother and that high dive was probably all of eight feet in the air. A death-defying leap to a nine year old still today, I’m sure; but nothing worth the fear and anxiety and sleepless nights it cost me as a child. Sometimes our fears are just not all we make them out to be and we choose to sit out from the life that’s before us or we find crutches that help us get by but keep us from a life that’s really life.

I think that’s part of what Jesus is about with His first disciples this morning; teaching them the difference between living their lives with God; or relying on some of life’s crutches that allow us to get by; but keep us from living all the life and adventure and peace that come when we live our lives in hope; when we live our lives more fully with God.

Jesus and His first followers are in the northern part of Israel in today’s Gospel story; It’s a city called Caesarea Philippi – a city that contains all the signs of power and all the crutches of Jesus’ day and our day the worldly power and crutches that distract us from a life lived with God. From a life lived in hope.

In Caesarea Philippi, there is money and wealth – it’s a center of commerce; and the signs of prosperity and the things and the lives that money can by are all around them, dazzling their country boy eyes with luxuries they’ve probably never seen.

In Caesarea Philippi, there is power – Roman power. Soldiers; horses; chariots, palaces, fortifications, Roman administrators; all the trappings and the signs and realities of the greatest empire on earth.

In Caesarea Philippi there is religion – ancient religions, Roman religions the signs and practices of the gods that supposedly gave Rome their empire and have an effect on the every day lives of the every day person.

In Caesarea Philippi the power and the crutches of life are all around them; for who has not longed for enough money to take care of your needs and then some as a crutch that distracts us and keeps us from living the life that is before us and trusting wholeheartedly in God and God’s power in our lives;

Who has not longed for the political authority in our community and our work place to get what we need and what we want to make life go a little more our way a crutch that keeps us from being open to God’s way who has not wanted a religion that gives us some kind of power over God Himself that persuades us that our way is the right way of practicing religion, perhaps the ultimate crutch for going through life, but only partially connected to the life God offers us. Jesus knows these are all the low boards of life, the low boards of the world; adequate for getting by, but nothing like the thrill of the high dive and the life God is calling us to live.

So in the midst of all these signs of power and crutches of Jesus’ day and our own day Jesus asks them who people say He is. Now please understand, Jesus is not asking for positive reinforcement about His ministry and who He really is. No, Jesus asks in an effort to help His followers then and today to choose; to choose in the midst of all the signs of worldly power and authority, the life of the world or the life with God; the low dive or the high dive.

And Peter answers first among Jesus’ followers, that Jesus is the Messiah, God’s anointed, the one who will restore the fortunes of God’s people; But He doesn’t really know what this means as the people of God have been longing for a king like David; who would restore the economic, political and religious power they imagined they wanted as the people of Israel.

So when Jesus goes on to explain that He’s a different kind of Messiah who will be betrayed and killed and be raised from the dead on the third day; Peter rebukes Him. What kind of Messiah would be willing to die and what kind of kingdom of restoration could Jesus mean.

And Jesus rebukes Peter in return and challenges His followers to set aside their crutches, to deny ourselves and follow Him. Not to the low dive or the things of life that make us comfortable; But to the high dive, where life is thrilling and a little unknown; to a restoration from our sins and the power of death aand a life lived with God now and beyond death itself. For what good will it be, Jesus asks, if we have all the power and crutches of the world if we have all the money and prestige and religion we think make up our lives, we could have the life with God and the thrill of living our lives to their fullest in God’s presence and with God’s power at work in us. In Matthews’ Gospel, Jesus says, seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be given to you as well; have no fear as you pursue the life lived with God, Jesus promises because all the worldly needs will be yours, too.

Jumping off the High Dive
Living our lives without fear, living our lives in hope, begins and continues when we turn our lives over to God. When we offer who we are and what we’re about to the Lord who made us, who sustains us, and who promises to be with us always.

It’s a daily decision for everyone one of us as we set aside our crutches, as we set aside our focus on the things of this life and turn our focus to God instead; By asking for God’s presence; By seeking God’s purposes for our lives; By asking God to take away our fears and replacing them with peace and with hope so that we may live our lives to their fullest measure. You may be surprised as I have been throughout my following of Jesus that this high dive life is really all that much different from the low dive life that most of us live; but the thrill and the excitement and the safety of the life with God are infinitely more fulfilling and life giving.

So, whether you’re sitting by the side of the pool looking in on the Christian life or taking a few dives into this life from the low board; I invite you to ask God to set aside your fears and try life from the high dive. When you do, you will know a peace that passes understanding and a life that’s really life.

So, jump in, the water’s fine.

Amen.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Someone Watching Over Me


"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." Psalm 23:1

Dear People of St. David’s,

Thanks to all who came to our Kick-Off picnic. God gave us a wonderful day and I want to thank the men and all who made the event picnic such a great success. Many hands make light work and it was wonderful catching up after our summer activities.

In this year of Fearless—Living Our Lives in Hope, it is my hope that we can feed our faith rather than our fears. To that end, I want to spend these next few weeks offering some thoughts and practices that you may find helpful feeding your faith and quieting your fears - all centered on the 23rd Psalm.

The most well-known and beloved psalm of the Bible, many of us learned the these verses as children. We hear it at the funerals of our loved ones and read it during times of distress. I like to use it to quiet my fears in the middle of the night because that’s when my cares and problems and fears seem to take on a greater power. Maybe that’s because, most of the time, there’s little we can do to solve a problem at two in the morning. Maybe it’s because it’s dark which makes our sense of being alone seems greater.

So my response to fear in the darkness is the 23rd Psalm. I repeat it in my head. I whisper it aloud. I repeat it until the words start to catch hold and a calm and peace start to creep into my soul and the fears go away. It may take me a few times, depending on what’s going on in my life, but there is a comfort in remembering that someone is watching over us. It’s important to remember there’s a greater power at work than fear, and we should allow the power of God to work in us like a shepherd taking care of their flock. A shepherd making sure the sheep are guarded; cared for; guided in the right path of life. And when the power of God takes hold, I usually drift off to sleep and am refreshed by more than sleep when I rise.

The God who has given us our lives and the people and gifts of life is the God who promises to watch over us. When we remember Him and acknowledge Him, then our fears fade and hope grows strong. So the next time you wake in the middle of the night with worry and fear tugging at your heart or the problems of the day are keeping you down, remember that you have someone watching over you and allow God to calm your fears.


Grace and Peace,
WFA

Thursday, September 6, 2012

The Promise of Life in Abundance


"I've come to bring you life and life in abundance." John 10:10

Dear People of St. David's,

I pray that you are well and welcome you to a new program and ministry year at St. David's - a year when we as a community and as individuals will be focusing on living our lives in hope rather than in fear.

Each year we choose a theme to better help us live into our mission to know God in Jesus Christ and make Christ known to others. So, our theme this year, Fearless-Living Our Lives in Hope, will be the focus of sermons, teachings and publications with the desire that we may all learn how to better feed our faith, rather than our fears. I expect that many more of us will become Christians filled with hope during this coming year.

The beautiful thing about this particular theme is that fits into the much bigger promise our Lord makes. Jesus offers a life-changing promise in showing us the loving face of God through His life; the forgiveness He offers for our sins; and the life beyond the door of death that is given freely to all who believe, to all who offer their lives to Christ in some way. That life-changing promise is an abundant life.

You see, God wants all of us to live lives of abundance. It may include an abundance of the things of this life, but usually not. Instead, God wants us to live lives that are fully awake to the promises and possibilities that bring joy and peace and love in our relationship with God and in our relationship with others and with God's magnificent creations. He gives us life at birth and desires with all His heart for us to take up that life without fear and live it in all its fullness and abundance.

So join us this Sunday and throughout the year, so that your life may become a life filled with the abundance God intends for all His children. Set aside your fears, and come and feed your faith. Your life and the lives of those around you will be changed forever.

Grace and Peace,
WFA