Tag: Jesus

Categories
Religious

Tears in a Bottle

“You yourself have kept track of my misery. Put my tears into your bottle—aren’t they on your scroll already?” Psalm 56:8 (Common English Bible)

Many of us have a bucket list—a list of experiences we would cherish before death. They require no explanation to others, no defense. They are deeply personal. Further, an explanation may reduce the depth, color, and richness of personal meaning. Most people recognize that what is experienced deeply can rarely be expressed with words. Words are useful for the communication of thought. They are less useful for conveying deeply held emotions, feelings, and convictions. A strong writer can approach this depth of meaning better than most. But always, words have a reducing effect. Permit me to simply state that high on my bucket list are three experiences I would value: a cameo appearance in a stage production of the musical RENT, a balloon handler in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and sharing a cappuccino with David Hyde Pierce.

Some will remember that David Hyde Pierce played the character of Niles Crane on the popular television series, Frasier. On three occasions, I have enjoyed watching David Hyde Pierce on a Broadway stage: Spamalot, Curtains, and Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. If I were to have an occasion to have a private conversation with Pierce over coffee, my first question to him would be, “What makes you cry?” An answer to that question often points to deeply held convictions; it points to those values, struggles, and principles that grip our hearts. Again, words are limiting. But they can point another in the right direction. An answer to the question, “What makes you cry?” provides a window into the depths of another’s soul.

Naturally, tears come in a rich variety. A powerful conviction of truth draws tears to my eyes every time. I simply cannot read in Luke’s Gospel the story of Simeon taking the infant Jesus in his arms without my chest becoming heavy and tears forming in my eyes. Here, Simeon recognizes this child as God’s salvation. This is a story that reaches beyond the descriptive; it is evocative. In faith, Simeon sees God’s decisive hand in the unfolding drama of human history. Grief is another variety of tears. Old Testament teacher, Walter Brueggemann, helps us with understanding this passage from the Psalms. Here is a confidence that God has kept, treasured, and preserved “my tears”; that is, all the pain and suffering that the psalmist has experienced. “God is the great rememberer who treasures pain so that the psalmist is free to move beyond that pain.”[1]

There is an ancient Jewish practice that provides care in times of misery and grief. A small bottle is provided to collect the tears of anguish and loss. The top of the bottle has a small hole in it that would allow those tears to evaporate over time. When the bottle is completely dry, the time for grieving is over. The Psalmist wants us to know that God has a bottle with our name on it. When tears of grief flow, God collects them in that bottle. This is how seriously God takes our grief; how God honors and shares in our loss. But there is a small hole in the top of that bottle. Over time, the tears will evaporate. When the bottle is dry and our eyes are clear, we see that God remains. And God redirects our eyes to tomorrow.

Joy,

[1] Brueggemann, Walter, and William H. Bellinger, Jr. Psalms: New Cambridge Bible Commentary, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2018, 254.

Categories
Religious

Overthrowing Moods that Disrupt Life

“The Lord’s word has brought me nothing but insult and injury, constantly. I thought, I’ll forget him; I’ll no longer speak in his name. But there’s an intense fire in my heart, trapped in my bones. I’m drained trying to contain it; I’m unable to do it.” Jeremiah 20:8b, 9 (Common English Bible)

Pressed into the hearts of those preparing for Christian ministry are these, or similar, words: “Pastors and chaplains must maintain a ‘non-anxious presence’ among those they serve.” There is sound wisdom in the instruction; those who seek our care desire that we are strong when they are weak, steady when their world is shaken, and confident in faith when they struggle with doubt. It is an exercise of professional management—the management of the engine room behind the professional facade. And it is a façade. Pastors and chaplains are not cut from a different cloth than everyone else—not cut from a cloth that is finer and sturdier than what is common to other people. Ministry professionals experience the same moods as those we care for in our offices, in their homes, and at the bedside. It was so with great characters who populate the pages of our Bibles. Take the prophet Jeremiah, for example. In this teaching from the twentieth chapter, Jeremiah wanted to quit ministry. As he puts it, the vocation of serving God has brought nothing but insult and injury. Constantly!

Jeremiah had his share of moods. Carefully read the Book of Jeremiah, and one will discover that tears appear often. In fact, many biblical scholars reference Jeremiah as the “weeping prophet.” Jeremiah was no different from many people who occasionally find emotions welling up. Often the result are eyes becoming “a fountain of tears.”[i] Jeremiah continues to say that if his head were a spring of water, he would weep day and night for the wounds of his people. Nor is this any different from you, me, or anyone else. We all have crying moods. A man in my office said, “I am tired—as a child is tired at the end of the day. But I wake in the morning with the same weariness. I am tired of being tired and crying all the time.”   It may be helpful to recall that Jesus wept. Crying is natural unless it becomes excessive and disrupts life.

Jeremiah also had his moods of depression—on one occasion becoming so depressed that he cursed the day he was born.[ii] In the depths of his depression, Jeremiah sought to remove any blessing his mother may have experienced at his birth. He found himself wishing curses upon the one who brought word of his birth to his father. Jeremiah wished he had been born dead![iii] Such people have sat in my office. Hopelessness threatens to suffocate them, which would satisfy their desire for death. What word of comfort or encouragement can a pastor or chaplain bring in such a moment? Just this, that they are told that they have been heard, that they are loved and cared for, and sharing with them Jeremiah’s story. Jeremiah sat where they now sit, and then stood, despite it all, and became useful to God. A steadying sense of God’s presence makes possible the greeting of a new day.

Other moods that haunted Jeremiah included disgust, cynicism, and vindictiveness, each of which had the potential to disrupt life. While much has changed in the world since the time of biblical characters, people are the same. A thousand more years may pass, and people will remain the same. The fundamental problems that Jeremiah wrestled with confront people today and will tomorrow. Therefore, there is guidance located in looking at the life of Jeremiah and discovering there what helped him to overthrow disruptive moods. The clearest is in our passage above, the conviction that God has intended Jeremiah for a great work, “there’s an intense fire in my heart, trapped in my bones. I’m drained trying to contain it; I’m unable to do it.” Jeremiah moved the focus from himself to God. With this new focus, Jeremiah recovered his great love for people, was strengthened in his conviction that God was still present and working in the world, and finally, that life would be lived by God’s power, not his own. Moods would still come and go, but no longer would they have a disruptive power over his life.

Joy,

[i] Jeremiah 9:1

[ii] Jeremiah 20:14

[iii] Jeremiah 20:17

Categories
Religious

Praying New York Style

The following meditation is by Dr. Bruce Main, Founder & Executive Director of Urban Promise. It will appear in Dr. Doug Hood’s forthcoming book, A Month of Prayer & Gratitude: Five-Minute Meditations for a Deeper Experience of Gratitude.

“Stay alert and pray….”

Matthew 26:41 (Common English Bible)

I remember a story about one of Pastor Hood’s mentors and role models—the Reverend Bryant M. Kirkland, who pastored the acclaimed Fifth Ave Presbyterian Church in New York City from 1962 to 1987. 

One September day, a Princeton Seminary student boarded the commuter train at Princeton Junction, New Jersey, to downtown Manhattan. This Master of Divinity student was to attend a lunch meeting with Reverend Kirkland at the New York Athletic Club to discuss his ministry field placement. Awed by the marble floors and stately columns of the eating establishment, the student nervously navigated his way past the receptionist to find pastor Kirkland sitting at a white-clothed table adorned with silver utensils and glass goblets—a vivid contrast to the rather austere seminary cafeteria. 

“Have you ever prayed New York style?” stated Kirkland as the lunch arrived. Perplexed and bewildered, the student cast his eyes downward and sheepishly whispered, “No sir.” 

“In New York, we pray with our eyes wide open,” began Kirkland, scanning the large dining room fully attentively. “Dear Lord, we pray for the waitress serving us today, lift the burden she seems to be carrying. And for the businessmen at the back table, we pray the decisions they make will be just and fair for their employees. For the couple to our left who seem tense and at odds, we pray for their marriage.” Then Kirkland paused, looked at the young seminarian in the eyes: “And God, thanks for my new friend. May our friendship be as delicious as the food we’re about to receive. Bless him. Guide his steps as he studies to be the preacher and pastor you have called him to be.”

Prayer is not simply closing our eyes and reciting our wish list to God. Prayer is opening our eyes to what God needs us to see now and respond with grace, empathy, and love. That’s New York-style prayer. That’s praying with our eyes wide open. 

Joy,

Categories
Religious

The Disciple’s Rest

“ ‘Come to me, all you who are struggling hard and carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest. Put on my yoke, and learn from me. I’m gentle and humble. And you will find rest for yourselves.’ ”

Matthew 11:28, 29 (Common English Bible)

There is a saying among pastors that in every congregation a third of the people are in a crisis, a third of the people are coming out of a crisis, and a third of the people are about to go into a crisis. If you are not in a crisis, chances are, there is something out in front of you heading your way. Anxiety and uncertainty seems to mark the countenance of many people today. Everywhere there is evidence of a certain strain – exhaustion from struggling to carry more than one person can reasonably bear. Attempting to face challenges that are beyond our strength, people move with fear, the wrinkle of worry etched deeply in their face. Absent are the rest, the assurance, and the strength available in the person of Jesus Christ.

We require the stimulus of a companionship with Jesus – the restful realization of God’s presence and care for us. Such rest is offered here by Jesus, “Come to me…I will give you rest.” This rest is always a gift. It is not earned. This rest comes as the fruit of a relationship. It is not from our labor. It is an immediate gift but its value is continuously experienced as we probe deeply into the riches of the relationship with Jesus. Much as falling in love, there are continually rich discoveries that are uncovered and realized as the relationship grows deeper, is explored, and cherished. The invitation to, “Come to me” prepares for, and actually leads to, the second part of the invitation, “Learn from me.’

Presbyterian pastor, author, and teacher, Eugene Peterson once declared that if you are too busy to read, you are to busy. Similarly, if we are too busy to spend time each day with God, to read the Bible and devotional literature, to “learn of Jesus,” then we are too busy. Each day is then powered by our own strength, which, eventually, becomes exhausted. Writers cannot write from exhaustion. Musicians perform poorly without adequate rest. Those who fight experience defeat without the replenishment received from time off on the battlefield. Woven into the fabric of God’s good creation is the “seventh day” that is for rest and simply knowing God. Jesus asks that we learn from him that the gift of rest might be fully experienced.

Instead of living with aimlessness and exhaustion as though we were on our own, Jesus invites us to a sure and restful intimacy with him. A person who comes to Jesus and spends time in that relationship – learning from Jesus – discovers someone whose strength and force is tremendous! Such people move through the darkest storms of life with apparent ease. But it is the ease that is linked with the infinite – the very God who created all there is. Such people possess spiritual energy rather than manifest symptoms of panic. They recognize the wealth and power of allies in God and face the difficulties of life with restful assurance. “Come to me” invites Jesus, and we will be distinguished from the world. We will have rest.

Joy,