Solunar Tables

I don't want to go hi-tech on you but when you are fishing you want to give yourself the best advantage possible.  Of course you choose lures and bait that are what the fish like.  But there are other factors.  Last Friday and Saturday I was at the Choctawhatchee Bay fishing.  I noticed that the fish were feeding and not feeding based pretty accurately on what are known as solunar tables.  These mathematical calculations predict the times when fish are likely to feed based on tides, and the position of the sun and the moon.  It might sound a bit astrological but it is more the pull of gravity, the times for the tides and whether the tides are incoming or outgoing.  The best site for bay fishing is called tides4fishing.com .  It makes the process simple enough for even me.  At the bottom of the tide chart you will see little fish.  The more fish, the better the day to fish.  While weather, wind and other factors are important, I have found that the solunar tables put more fish on my table, and that is a good thing.

In our fishing for people I was wondering if we could maybe think out-of-the-box and gain some extra insight on when and how the "fish" will feed?  Here some thoughts.

We know the Spirit (pheuma or wind in the Greek) blows where it will.  Maybe finding the fish in the mood to feed might mean we need to be attentive to listening and perceiving the Spirit.  John Wesley thought that our spirit and God's Spirit were in communication and that if we were listening, attentive to the means of grace and in fellowship with God and people we would perceive these movements.  Thursday night of last week I could feel, hear, smell and taste the Spirit as it moved through the room while we sang, "A thousand times I've failed, still your mercy remains!"  God's Spirit moves when people are reminded that God is faithful even when we are not.

I have often felt there was a great gap between the language of the Church and the language of culture.  While I am not suggesting we dilute any of the message, it would seem prudent to examine the institution of the Church and get rid of anything that is not a movement of God.  John Wesley worried that while the people (institution) called Methodists would persist the power of God might become lost in the structure.  We must constantly be careful to remember that God's Church has always been a movement of scattered, uncomfortable but fulfilled and passionate people.  Let's speak the language of our present age while speaking the truth of the Gospel.

Finally, do you remember how Jesus was not afraid to get rid of the "dead horses?"  Jesus looked around and say sheep without a shepherd because the shepherds had displaced God's purpose with their purpose.  When I fish I change tactics if the current tactic is not working.  If something in our daily operation is not working or not reaching the "fish" we are trying to catch, we must be willing to change, modify or eliminate that non-functioning method.

In the end we are trying to bring the fish into God's great net.  They might be dirty, stinky, slimy and not our cup of tea.  But I am reminded of a T-shirt that said, "St. Peter's Fishing Company.  We Catch Em, He Cleans Em."

Plan

Do you remember the A-Team?  I loved what Hannibal used to say.  When things worked out he would say ... "I love it when a plan comes together."  So, I'm going to say that phrase with a few caveats.

Jeremiah 29:11-13 says, "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."  I love it when a plan comes together but I need to remember (v:11) they are God's plans and things work out best if I latch on to His plan rather than make one of my own.  This is hard for me because I love the creative side of doing things.  But God is the master creator and He is way better at planning than I am.  I must become less so He can become more in this great plan.

The second caveat is one that is a necessity if I want the plan to happen right.  I must do my part while seeking Him every moment.  He is in the process.  He is in the people.  He is in the prayer.  He is part of the story that is unfolding and I will miss seeing His handiwork if I work without keeping seeking eyes on what God is doing.

Yesterday we met in our Administrative Board session at NOON.  It was good to share the Good News of how God's plan for AUMC is unfolding.  It seems that the seed for Red Bird Mission and Belize that has been planted by faithful people here is growing and spreading it's roots out to other churches and other denominations.  There was a day when this might have been a bit intimidating because it means we (at AUMC) must give up some control.  But then I reflected on God's plan expressed in a long prayer in the Gospel of John.  Verse 17:22-23 says "The glory you have given me I have given them so that they may be one as we are one.  I in them and you in me, that they may be completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and I have loved them as you have loved me."  I believe God's great power and glory are shown more in our unity than almost any other way (at least to those looking in from outside).  When we forget our divisions and remember our mission, our purpose and our calling it points straight to Jesus and God the Father.  I love it when a plan comes together!  Randy

Prayer for Light

Sunday I shared the thought that we must, as God's people, as Americans, as those saying we are followers of Jesus, "love the light more that the darkness."  The message was from the story of Nicodemus in John Chapter 3. I also shared and prayed a prayer that several people wanted me to "re-share."  So ... here it is!  It will make the most sense if you read the story of Nicodemus from John 3.

"Jesus ... I have read your word.  I (like Nicodemus) know you are from God.  I have accumulated lots of head knowledge.  But my nature wants to take over.  I've got it all figured out.  My brain, my control, my pride, my darkness wants to take over.  Please Lord ... shine your light.  Show me rebirth. Show me your truth.  Show me your light.  Let me fall in love with your light and let your light destroy my darkness.  I am worn down because I trust me and other people more than I trust you.  I remain unhealed because I don't believe.  Yet, I am thankful that you are loving enough to welcome me when I come to you in the cover of my darkness.  Let me see redemption, rebirth and help me share it faithfully.  In Jesus' name, AMEN!"

Worn

Last evening I heard a song (we hope to do it on Sunday) that expresses the sentiment of several of the people I spoke with yesterday.  There are two sides to the song.  On the one hand it talks about being worn down by the things life has thrown at the songwriter.  You can get to this state of mind easily if you begin to look around and see the hurts, the pains and things that defy a logical explanation.  I spoke at Calhoun Prison in Morgan, Georgia and saw the faces of about 200 men who have made choices that have had life-changing consequences for them and those they love.  They prayed for freedom, for families they no longer get to see and for dreams that are in limbo.  They are caught on the bad side of that physical law of inertia ... the tendency of an object to preserve its present state, whether still or moving.  They are stuck, tired and worn.  In a comical thought I reflected on the old Hee Haw show and one of their regular songs that had the line, "Pain, despair and agony on me, deep dark depression and excessive misery, if it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all, pain, despair, and misery on me."

But there is a better side.  As Christians we can be at rest and stuck in depression just as much as anyone else.  I don't think that place or attitude honors God or expresses faith that God has done what he said in John 16:33 "Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world."  But we can also be moving toward God.  Paul called it new life.  The writer of Hebrews referred to unshakable eternal things.  Isaiah called it a new thing, springing up out of the dryness of despair and the defeat we often feel.  Jesus called it resurrection.

The part of this song I really like is the prayer to God to allow us to see a resurrection.  We petition the God who has overcome the world to show us (daily) the great things that flow from his hand and proceed from his Lordship over every event Satan tries to turn to evil.  So I pray for those men and for you ... "Lord ... break the bonds of inertia.  If we are stopped in this world move us toward yours.  If we are running toward things not of you, turn us and show us your way.  If we are worn down, show us that you are working your good stuff even in the midst of our weariness.  Let us rise up on wings of eagles, walk and not get tired and run and not get weary.  We pray this in the name of the one who changed everything ... Jesus Christ!  AMEN"

Who's In Your Herd?

Adam Hamilton preached a sermon about "Who's In Your Herd?"  He used a video I will use Sunday showing the value of the people we associate with.

So ... who's in YOUR herd?  Are the people you are hanging out with beneficial to you?  Do they have your interest at heart or are they out for themselves?  I often counsel people who tell me all the bad things going on around them.  They describe people who are toxic and damaging to their Christian walk and to their physical/spiritual/emotional health.  And they can be anyone.  They can be family members.  They can be so-called friends.  They can be work associates.  Who's in YOUR herd?

Jesus hung out with 12 disciples and another larger group of followers that included secret friends like Nicodemus (who helped with burial arrangements for Jesus), women like Julia (who seemed to be present in almost every major event of Jesus' adult life) and what is thought to be about 90 people.  This was Jesus' inner circle (just outside the close relationship with the 12).  This was Jesus' herd.

The crowds that followed Jesus were not part of the herd.  They were often spoken of negatively with Jesus using phrases like "an evil and adulterous generation," "seeking signs and wonders," "not true children of Abraham" (because they lacked Abraham's faith) and "standing off at a distance."

As I read and reflect on Jesus' herd I wonder if we seek to create herds and congregations that meet our convenience rather than Jesus' purpose.  Our herd should nurture (bear each others burdens).  Our herd should protect (take care of God's garden).  Our herd should be known for its resemblance of Jesus ("they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus" [Acts 4:13]).  Ask yourself a few questions ... does your herd challenge you? ... does your heard cause you to grow in Christ? ... does your heard seek you when you are lost? ... does your herd enjoy fellowship and breaking bread together?.  These are attributes of healthy Christian herds.  Who's in your herd?

What is There

There have been times when life's struggles are boiled down to the bare essentials.  I remember in Seminary when I was cooking one evening.  The menu was leftover Brunswick Stew (always better the second day) because it combined several of the leftovers we had.  Money, time and food were commodities that were scarce so we treasured hearty meals that could combine something good for us with something that was frugal.  I was reheating the stew in the ceramic crock pot that I had used to cook the stew the day before.  This would save time and I would have one less dish to wash.  My mouth was watering for the meal and I had even cooked cornbread as a side.  Then I found out something I never knew.  When you used a microwave to rapidly heat food in a ceramic crock pot, the crock pot couldn't handle the rapid increase in temperature.  As I moved the hot stew across the room the entire bottom came off the crock pot and a column of hot stew sped to the floor and exploded into every nook and cranny in the entire downstairs of that house.  I expect that old Methodist parsonage still has spots of stew we never found when we cleaned up.

I was sad we had lost our meal for several reasons.  First, it was about all we had ... plan B was ramen noodles.   We struggled for the food we had (something that was a new experience in the poverty of seminary) and the loss of even one meal was something that was felt financially and, that day, even emotionally.  Second, I liked Brunswick Stew ... it was a treat that was rare in those days of eating what we could scrounge up and afford.  Finally, the struggle for daily bread reminded all of us of the value of a good meal and the luxury of having a meal we actually liked.

I wonder if that part of the Lord's Prayer is all about appreciating whatever you have? When we pray "give us this day our daily bread" are we truly appreciative of God's gifts to us?  The air we breathe?  The food we have?  The roof over our heads?  Do we really believe we will thrive today on God, ourselves and what life sends our way?  "Lord, forgive me for expecting life without struggle.  Teach me, in the struggles I face every day, that I can learn, thrive and have joy, even when the pickins are meager.  Remind me that 90% of the world would love to have what I count as inadequate.  Remind me that the world owes me nothing and that You have given be far more than I ever needed because you are an extravagant God who blesses His children.  Grow my thankfulness and give me a heart for the needs of others, not my own (1 Cor. 10:24). AMEN!"

Source

C.S. Lewis has an interesting perspective of hell.  In his book "The Great Divorce" Lewis presents hell as a place where everyone can get what they want and move wherever they want to move.  Only the places and possessions are of mundane quality.  How the people respond to this is interesting.

They move to a new neighborhood, get a new house, get new stuff but are in a perpetual state of dissatisfaction.  They want more and better "stuff."  They want more stuff than their neighbors.  They are constantly observing the things wrong with their neighbors so they pack up an move to what they believe is an ever-expanding world where they just move on to the next place where "the grass is greener."  Lewis says that what is really happening is that this fictional world is not expanding ... it is contracting.  It is constantly collapsing on itself until it reaches the point of all things from Satan ... total emptiness.

As I thought about this I had an epiphany I hope you can appreciate.  Maybe the reason Lewis reaches this conclusion is that Satan and hell are all about the powers of darkness.  Jesus and heaven are all about light.  In our faith, light has a source as all light has a source.  Light flows from power and energy.  Darkness is not power at all.  It has no source.  Darkness is the absence of energy and the absence of substance.  I think Lewis is onto something ... the ultimate destination of hell is into the nothingness from which it flows.  It might be why Jesus once said, “Cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matt. 25:30).  Yes, hell is real, harsh and horrific, but in relation to God's kingdom, hell and Satan are destined for the total darkness and emptiness from which they came.