Scripture Focus:

Aways be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again – rejoice! (Philippians 4:4, NLT)

At its most basic level, Christian faith is about joy. It is about the deep, abiding joy of being in relationship with a God who accepts us as we are and pledges never to abandon us. The by-product of following this God is the overflowing joy of being received even when we are not worthy, of being forgiven and restored to a life buoyed by the redemptive, healing, recreating love of God. Because of this truth, Christians ought to be the most joyful people on the planet. And yet, for some reason, we’re not – or at least we don’t always appear to be. Rather than joy being our best-known attribute, it seems to be our best-kept secret.

There’s an old story about Mark Twain who cut himself shaving and burst forth with a torrent of swearing and vulgar language. His wife heard him and was mortified. She hoped to shame him into better behavior, so she repeated his tirade back to him, word for word. When she finished, he smiled at her and said, “you have the words, my dear, but I’m afraid you’ll never master the tune.”

Joy is our best-kept secret because we have the words of faith but haven’t mastered the tune. We remain people of the verse instead of people of the breath. We know our bible but are disconnected from God’s breath moving through it. Yet, joy is the tune of our faith. At each step of our spiritual journey, we need to bring the words and the tune together, immersing ourselves in the stream of love and joy that flows from God.

One of the best ways to do this is to think seriously about our salvation. In June and July, we focused on that salvation experience – recognizing our sinfulness and accepting the gift of God’s grace that heals us. And yet all too often the “realness” of that experience fades into the background as we travel farther along on our spiritual journeys. The farther we get from the reality of our salvation, it seems, the less visible our joy becomes.

There is a deep connection between our awareness of our salvation and the depth of our joy. To truly understand our salvation requires a true understanding of the intensity of our sin. The depth of our joy will be in direct proportion to the depth of our sorrow for our sin.

Scripture vividly illustrates this. In story after story, when people come into relationship with Jesus, the most grateful, most joyful ones are those whose need is the greatest – the woman who anointed Jesus with oil, blind Bartimaeus, Zacchaeus. The most joy-filled letter Paul ever wrote was written from prison. He tells the Philippians to rejoice and always be full of joy.

Martin Luther said that we will have as much joy and laughter in life as we have faith in God. That’s because the joy God offers isn’t connected to our circumstances. It’s deeper than that. It’s grounded in our awareness of our salvation and rooted in our commitment and trust that God will take care of us. Paul writes, the “same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19, NLT)

The biggest enemy of joy is self-pity. It separates us from the stream of divine love and joy because it dislodges God from the center of our being and focuses us entirely on ourselves as the center of the universe.

From the photos that have come from the James Webb Space telescope, it is very clear that human beings are not the center of the universe. God has created a vast and magnificent creation and we are minuscule beings in the midst of it. The good news that leads to deep joy is that even as specks amid the mind-boggling expansiveness of God’s creation, God has chosen to love US, reach out to US, and offer US love, forgiveness, healing, and restoration.

And yet despite that truth, human beings are still remarkably prone to self-pity. Scripture emphasizes this. Take Elijah for example. God cared for him throughout his life and ministry – kept it from raining when Elijah asked for no rain – used ravens to bring him food for an entire year – provided a widow to hide him from his enemies – sent fire to Elijah’s altar when the priests of Baal were unable to create even a spark. Yet, when confronted with the prospect of facing Jezebel’s soldiers, Elijah’s memory of those experiences faded and he was filled with self-pity, certain that God had abandoned him.

A difficult truth to accept is that God doesn’t always work in the way we would like God to work. Even more important is the truth that just because God doesn’t work the way we would like doesn’t mean God isn’t working. Our joy comes not in the WAY God works; our joy comes in the confidence and trust THAT God works.

Following Jesus isn’t meant to be drudgery. It’s not meant to be a joyless experience of grim obligation. Following Jesus is a process filled with the kind of immense and deep-seated joy that comes when we are aware of our salvation and trust that God will stick with us and care for us come what may.

As you pray and fast this month, my prayer is that you would consistently make the connection between your faith and daily living; that the joy of your salvation would become visible, and that joy would become your best-known attribute rather than your best-kept secret.

Scripture Focus:

When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, no one is likely to die for a good person, though someone might be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s judgment. For since we were restored to friendship with God by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be delivered from eternal punishment by his life. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God – all because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done for us in making us friends of God. (Romans 5:6-11, NLT)

We’re continuing to reflect on the nature of our faith by exploring where we are on our spiritual journey and how our relationship with God has unfolded in our lives. We have discovered the point of departure in our divine-human relationship – that inner conflict between the good selves we were created to be and the allure of evil around us. Moving forward from that point involves realizing that we don’t have to resolve that conflict alone. In fact, if left to our own devices, we can’t resolve that conflict. Our internal battle is not one we can win on our own power. Knowing God’s law and understanding God’s teachings, only serve to make us aware of how incapable we are to keep them.

The good news is that we don’t have to fight this battle alone The very God who desires to be in relationship with us is the God who makes that relationship possible by providing the resolution to our inner conflict – Jesus Christ, who through his death and resurrection conquered the power of evil in the world. Scripture is completely clear about this: Evil has been overcome. Our hope, as we follow Jesus is not just hearing that message but experiencing that victory ourselves. It is grasping that God’s grace is more powerful than our sin. It is in recognizing that our relationship with God is one of friendship. By becoming human in Jesus, fully living, sacrificially dying, and triumphantly rising for us, God has made us his friends.

Experiencing God’s grace and restoring our friendship with God begins when we recognize our sinfulness, earnestly repent, and accept the forgiveness God offers us through Jesus Christ. This grace is the redemptive, healing, recreating love of God. It is a gift that we receive not because we deserve it or have earned it, but because God freely gives it. It is a radical love for us, a love that is more powerful than sin, that reconciles our relationship, and makes us “right” with God. When we accept that grace, God wipes the slate of our lives clean, and empowered by God’s love, we can take the first steps to move forward on our spiritual journey.

Over these past few months, we have reflected on the importance of Scripture as a crucial way to connect to God’s movement in our lives as we follow Jesus and our spiritual journey unfolds. We have discovered that the inner conflict that lies at the heart of being human is only our point of departure, not our final destination. As you fast and pray this month, my prayer is that you would remember taking that first step of your spiritual journey. That as you continue to follow, you would become more and more aware of God’s grace and God’s ongoing desire for you to be his friend.

If you can’t recall taking that first step, I pray that you would recognize that God desires you to begin moving toward the good self God created you to be. That you would come to understand that Jesus Christ is the only means of resolving our inner conflict between good and evil. And that you would experience God’s grace in all it fullness, calling you to become a friend of God. 

Scripture focus:

It wasn’t so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn’t know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It’s a wonder God didn’t lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. (Ephesians 1:1-3, The Message)

As we have seen during our walk together this year, self-examination is an important part of following Jesus. This month marks the halfway mark of 2022, so it seems appropriate to step back for a moment and reflect on how our relationship with God has unfolded thus far. Where are we on our spiritual journey? The best way to begin that kind of reflection is at the beginning, at our point of departure.

Our experience often confirms what we learn from Scripture about the relationship between God and human beings. It’s a relationship of covenant making and keeping on God’s part and covenant making and breaking on our part. The good news is that God created each of us as one whole, good self. God desires to be in a relationship with us and again and again makes covenants with us to seal that relationship. And because God wants this relationship to be free, instead of coerced, manipulated, or forced, God gives us an independent will and grants us the freedom to choose.

The sad news is that somewhere along the way, something happened to that good, whole self, and to our relationship with God. Our wholeness became fragmented and our relationships with God and one another became estranged. We used our God-given freedom to choose in unhealthy ways and became supremely vulnerable and responsive to the power of evil.

This lack of wholeness and estrangement is a huge predicament. The good selves we were created to be are in a constant battle against the evil that lies all around us. Paul described it this way:

No matter which way I turn, I can’t make myself do right. I want to, but I can’t. When I want to do good, I don’t. And when I try not to do wrong, I do it anyway.

(Romans 7:18-19, NLT)

Two things lie within each of us – the desire to follow the good and an intense receptiveness to the appeal of the evil that surrounds us. This inner conflict is our point of departure. It is where we begin as we reflect on our relationship with God.

Many of us are uncomfortable talking about this inner struggle but identifying it shouldn’t discourage us. It’s simply an objectively observable aspect of being human.

I have always been fascinated by physics. I don’t understand very much of it to be sure, but I still find it amazing. Gravity is one of the four fundamental forces of physics. It’s one of those objectively observable aspects of our universe. I don’t have to know why gravity exists and I don’t have understand every detail about how it works. But I do need recognize that it exists. If I refuse to do that, I will never be able to completely grasp physics. But once I recognize the objective fact of gravity, I can begin to grow my understanding of it and deepen my comprehension of physics.

It is the same with the inner conflict between the good selves we were created to be and our receptiveness to the evil that surrounds us. Once we recognize it exists, we can begin the journey of deepening our relationship with God and following Jesus more closely.

But that isn’t the whole story! Even as we comprehend the objective fact of our inner struggle, we also remember that we belong to God, who created each of us as one good, whole self, and who has been seeking to be in relationship with us ever since.

As I was growing up, my parents would repeat this word to me over and over – you are a unique, unrepeatable miracle of God. That’s good news! Each of us is a unique, unrepeatable miracle of God. God freely chose to create us, we belong to him, and he wants us to realize that.

God wants us to understand that even as we experience this internal struggle, we have been given the freedom to choose. We can move toward God and the good selves we were created to be, or we can live in greater sync with the evil that surrounds us. This is an empowering experience! We don’t have to remain at the beginning. Our situation of inner conflict is our point of departure, but it is not our destination. We don’t have to yield to our inner responsiveness to evil. Instead, we can choose – every day – to deepen our relationship with God and allow him to move us closer to becoming the good selves he created us to be.

As you fast and pray this month, take stock of where you are on your spiritual journey. What role has the conflict between the good self God created us to be and our receptiveness to evil played in your spiritual journey thus far? At this midpoint in 2022, I pray that you would be aware of the ways in which good and evil pull at you as you make choices. And I pray that you would recognize that this inner battle is not your destination, but only a point of departure for you as God shapes you more and more into the good self he created you to be.

Scripture Focus:

For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me. (Matthew 25:35-36, NLT)

This month we return to our reflections on Scripture as the word, breath, and path of God. Though these are important concepts, we must be careful how we use these ideas about God’s Word. Many of us have been deeply hurt by those who would use Scripture as a hammer, thumping others on the head and heart with “the Word of God.” Preachers sometimes proclaim that the Bible is absolute truth, but what their unspoken message is that is that they themselves have absolute truth. Such unspoken messages wouldn’t be as difficult to bear if they didn’t so often result in the “absolute truth” being used to alienate, tear down, and oppress. The problem with claiming that we possess absolute truth is that no human being can ever completely grasp absolute truth. Only God can contain absolute truth. We are simply not big enough.

That means that rather than wondering if we possess absolute truth, the better question is, Does absolute truth possess us? That leads us in a much more helpful direction, because if absolute truth possesses us, our focus won’t be on quoting and memorizing and hammering the hearts and heads of others with words contained in Scripture. Instead, we will be single-minded in our desire to demonstrate the power of God’s Word in the world. If absolute truth possesses us, others will know it because they will be able to see it in our actions. The proof is never found in how much Scripture we know; the proof will always be found in our actions toward people.

Though we have only just celebrated Easter, I’m reminded of the controversy that arose years ago around Christmas in my small midwestern town in the United States. The county government enacted an ordinance that limited the display of a creche on the lawn of our courthouse. For years after that ruling, every Christmas Christian folk would write letters to the newspaper expressing outrage at the secularization of this most important holiday. And each year I would wonder where, in the metaphorical sense, was the creche on the front lawn of these people’s personal lives? How could they proclaim Christ as the “reason for the season” when their words were so shrill and even hurtful?

Following Jesus is not simply a matter of mastering God’s word. Following Jesus is about incorporating God’s word into our daily lives so deeply that we become a channel of God’s love in the world. In Matthew 25 Jesus tells us that in the end it will be the power of God’s love expressed through our actions that carries the day, not our knowledge of Scripture.

“When did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?” And the King will tell them, “I assure you, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!”      Matthew 25:37-40 (NLT)

Absolute truth will possess us when we begin to live God’s word rather than simply read God’s word. Yet this is almost impossible to do alone. We human beings have an incredible flair for rationalization. We have proven time and again that we can (and will) make the Bible say whatever we want it to say. That is why the Christian community is so important. In my own personal journey, I need the community to help me understand God’s Word and transfer it to my daily living. I need it to guard me against tuning the gospel of Jesus Christ into the gospel of me. The community of faith, particularly a small group, provides us with sounding boards, giving us important confirmation – or significant words of caution – as we seek to live out what we read in God’s Word.

As you pray and fast this month, I am praying that you would continue to immerse yourself in Scripture. That you would surround yourself with fellow travelers on your spiritual journey for guidance and encouragement. And most importantly, that absolute truth would take possession of you so that you might be a channel of God’s love in this world.

This month begins our journey to Jerusalem and our celebration of the resurrection – the heart of the good news! Jesus has risen from the dead, overcome evil, and given us eternal life!

And yet, this good news comes amidst a lot of difficult news. War in Ukraine, genocide in Myanmar, illness, death, injustice, oppression, poverty, hunger – the list goes on. That’s why it’s important not to rush too quickly to the good news that comes at the end of the story. We grow in our faith when we sit for just a bit with the difficulty that came first.

Mark tells us about that difficulty in chapter 15, verses 42-47. For Jews, Sabbath begins when the sun goes down on Friday and by time Jesus died on the cross it was getting late, so his friends wanted to get him buried before sunset. If they couldn’t do it by the time the Sabbath began, his body would be left out in the open until Sun and who knows what would have happened to it.

The problem was that there wasn’t enough time for the women to prepare Jesus’ body. There was only enough time to get him down from the cross, wrap him in some cloth, get him into the cave and roll a huge stone across the entrance. So that’s what they did and as the light faded, they went home to honor the Sabbath, praying, pondering, wondering, and waiting for the Sabbath to end so the women could return to prepare the body properly for burial.

Let that scene sink in for a moment. Jesus’ body laid quickly in a cave. A huge stone rolled in front of the opening. No one could get in. No one could get out.

That’s exactly what the women were talking about as they walked to the tomb early Sunday morning carrying burial spices. What were they going to do about the stone? They knew it was too big for them to manage. They knew that if they couldn’t do something about the stone, they wouldn’t be able to reach Jesus. (Mark 16.1-3)

That’s quite an intense concept – that something could be so huge that it could block us from getting to Jesus. But that’s the way it was that morning – a huge stone stood in the way of these women and the person they’d committed their lives to, their Lord Jesus. If something amazing didn’t happen with the stone, they wouldn’t be able to reach Jesus, end of story.

Now thankfully that’s not the end of the story – but again, our faith is deepened when we don’t rush too quickly to the end.

Life is full of stones. With the pandemic still impacting so many parts of our world, it’s easy to feel like a gigantic stone has been blocking everyone’s path for the past two years. But even in good times there’s still pain, suffering, guilt, shame, secrets. There are stones in the good times and there are even more in the bad times.

I remember being in Africa a few years ago and we were in a jeep driving down a dirt road. We crested a hill and there was a huge elephant standing in the middle of the road. Our driver came to a quick stop, and it was clear the elephant wasn’t going to be moving anytime soon. So he turned the jeep around with the simple explanation – elephant roadblock.

Roadblocks. Things that keep us from moving forward on our spiritual journey. Stones that keep us on one side and Jesus on the other.

What are the stones in your life right now? What might be blocking you from experiencing God’s love and mercy and forgiveness in all its fullness? Are there things that are keeping you on one side and Jesus on the other? Are there things that are keeping you on one side and someone you love on the other? Are you like the women who went to the tomb that morning – if you can’t do something about that stone, you won’t be able to reach the one you love?

It’s hard work to identify stones and face them. It requires us to get honest, which is always hard. But that is what opens us to the power of God’s Holy Spirit. When we are honest about the stones in our lives, the Holy Spirit will always show up.

And that’s when the whole thing is turned into good news.

When women arrive at tomb to their amazement the stone had already been moved. The huge stone that they had worried over, the huge boulder they knew they would never be able to move on their own, it was no longer blocking their way. It had been moved. Matthew says that not only had the stone been rolled aside, but an angel sat on it.

We all have stones that need to be moved but are too big for us to move on our own. As you pray and fast this month work to identify those stones but do that work trusting that you don’t have to move the stones on your own. The truth is that none of us can move them on our own. But the good news is that we don’t have to.

God has power to move every stone. And God doesn’t just move them, angels sit on them.

That is the good news we will be celebrating in a few weeks. Nothing can separate us from love of God in Jesus Christ. Nothing. There is no stone too big, no guilt too great, no shame too strong, no struggle too overwhelming. NOTHING. God moves every stone and angels sit on them.

Scripture focus: I run the way of your commandments, for you enlarge my understanding. (Psalm 119:32, NRSV)

We have begun 2022 with two understandings about Scripture. It’s God’s path and God’s breath. This month I want to offer a third understanding about Scripture. It’s God’s Word. I realize describing Scripture as the Word of God can make some of us uncomfortable because in certain contexts it can sound narrow and limiting. We’re uncomfortable because we assume that Scripture is meant to be constraining. Sadly, that’s a mistaken assumption that can often result in our missing the transformative experiences God desires for our lives.

Scripture was never meant to be constraining. It was meant to be life-giving. God has chosen to communicate with us for our benefit. That means that Scripture has the power to expand our perspective and move us beyond our current ideological mindsets. That’s what the Psalmist realizes in our Scripture focus for this month. When we make God’s Word part of our daily lives, our understanding increases.

God’s Word is a life-enlarging word, a word that moves us beyond the limits of our own point of view. Saying the Bible confines us is like saying that God’s Word is smaller than our word. Such a statement is a prime example of human pride and arrogance. Ashleigh Brilliant, a humorist of the 1970’s wrote, “all I ask of life is a constant and exaggerated sense of my own importance.” That idea is at the heart of viewing God’s word as limiting – an exaggerated sense of our own importance. How can it be that a human word, a human perception, could be larger than God’s word, the very word that when uttered brought all of creation into being? I can imagine God’s response to us when we assert such an overconfident idea. It would probably be like the one Job received:

Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you know so much. Do you know how its dimensions were determined and who did the surveying? What supports its foundations, and who laid its cornerstone as the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy? … But of course you know all this! For you were born before it was all created, and you are so very experienced! (Job 38:4-7, 21, NLT)

That our word could be more expansive than God’s Word sounds strange because it’s a misunderstanding. It is our word that is narrow and limiting. Bringing ourselves into alignment with God’s Word opens our perspective and widens our understanding. That was my experience viewing the painting Shore Talk and then reading Luke 5 that I described last month. Recognizing the Holy Spirit flowing through Scripture enabled me to be receptive to God’s movement in my life in a new and different way, even as the Bible itself and the story in it remained unchanged.

Understanding the Bible as God’s powerful Word reinforces that receptivity. When we dispel an exaggerated sense of our own importance and become conscious of the limits of our own word, the narrowness of our own perspective, capabilities, and discernment, that’s when we’re able to approach Scripture with a sense of awe and wonder. That’s when we become keenly aware of the expansiveness of God’s Word and its ability to open us to new and deeper levels of faith and understanding.

Scripture is God’s path; it’s God’s breath, and now we see it’s God’ word. We are beginning the year with this focus because it is important to see the intimate relationship between God’s self-communication and our following the Jesus way. Our God is not some abstract notion. Our God is not a disinterested observer, a deity who created but then stepped back simply to watch as the drama unfolded. Our God is a God who is intensely connected to all creation. A God who chose to reveal God’s self through the divine drama of human history, culminating in God’s self-revelation in Jesus Christ. And our God is a God who continues to reveal God’s self through Scripture, the dynamic, interactive, God-breathed Word of God through which each of us can find our path.

Earlier this year, Dave Smith appeared on the WME podcast, Real Faith ~ Real World. Dave is a wonderful bible teacher who understands the power of the God-breathed Word of God. In the podcast episode The Bible: Source of the Transformed Life he gave us a wonderful reminder, “The early church actually believed that if you were around baptized believers that preached the Word, read the Scriptures and obeyed them, and prayed, you would be around God himself.”

Then Dave asked a great question for us, especially as we dedicate ourselves to prayer and fasting. What would happen if we actually began to apply Scripture to our lives and live like little Jesus’s all over the place? I agree with Dave – I think we would see a movement of God like we haven’t seen in a long time.

This month, I pray that we will all be open to God’s continued self-communication through Scripture. That we would recognize it as the God-breathed Word of God and apply it to our lives to find our path. And through our obedience, a movement of God would be released like we have never seen before.

Scripture Focus:

God, teach me lessons for living so I can stay the course. Give me insight so I can do what you tell me – my whole life one long, obedient response. Guide me down the road of your commandments; I love traveling this freeway! Give me a bent for your words of wisdom, and not for piling up loot. Divert my eyes from toys and trinkets, invigorate me on the pilgrim way. Affirm your promises to me – promises made to all who fear you. (Psalm 119:33-38, The Message)

Our Scripture for this month is meaningful to me because it reminds me of the present-tense quality of the Bible. The psalmist desires to be immersed in God’s word, to understand God’s teaching, to make “my whole life one long, obedient response” (v34, The Message). This isn’t a desire for some future time. And it isn’t a reflection on an earlier time of insight. It’s a present-tense desire, a desire that right now, in this moment, God’s word would permeate the psalmist’s entire being. This present-tense experience is what I think of when I think of Scripture as being God-breathed. When we unite our voice with that of the psalmist, we are not simply reciting an ancient prayer; we are praying in the present-tense – teach me, give me insight, guide me…NOW.

The God-breathed nature of Scripture, it’s present-tense quality, becomes real for me over and over again as I read and reread the Bible. I become aware that Scripture is alive with the breath of God each time I read a familiar passage and come away with a slightly different understanding, one that fits my need at that particular moment.

My sister is an artist and last year she painted a scene from a story in Luke 5 called Shore Talk. It’s one of my favorites of her paintings and seeing it prompted me to revisit that story once again. A crowd had gathered around Jesus while he was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret. There were fishermen who were nearby washing their nets after a night of fishing. Jesus saw their empty boats and decided to use them for his purposes:

He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” Simon answered, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.” When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. (Luke 5:3-7, NRSV)

This has always been a favorite story of mine. Aspects of it have been very meaningful for me over the years. Jesus’ request that Simon move into “deeper water” has always been a challenging word for me. Simon’s obedience in letting down the nets even though he was tired and didn’t think his effort would bear any fruit has been a source of encouragement. This time, however, as I read the story those things didn’t jump out as they have in the past. In fact, as I read and reflected, nothing really hit me at all.

Then I realized that Shore Talk wasn’t painted during a typical season, and I wasn’t reflecting in normal circumstances. So, I began to read again and when I did, the passage began to come alive. I could feel God’s breath as it moved toward me from the page. I read what happened when Simon obeyed: “They caught so many fish their nets were beginning to break. So they signaled their partners…to come and help them.”

My need in that moment was in front of me. 2020 was unbelievably difficult, but we met the challenges as best we could and prayed that 2021 would be easier. It wasn’t. As I read the story a second time, I was confronted with how alone I felt in my responsibility to lead WME in the middle of a global pandemic, and how heavy the burden was to guide others amidst suffering and spiritual questioning. But on the heels of that recognition was an even more important one: I was not alone. I had partners that I could signal for help. The breath of God awakened in me the need to reach out for support during those difficult days – and the need to make that support more readily available to others.

The Bible contains all the clues we need to negotiate our journey of faith. It’s our map and holds the very breath of God. I encourage you to open yourself to experiencing God breathing through Scripture. Open yourself to experiencing the dynamic, vibrant, “right now” quality of God’s Word. And as you fast and pray this month, I will be praying as well, that you would be aware of the movement of God’s Spirit breathing through the Word, and allow its power to touch you in the uniqueness of every situation in your life.

Scripture focus:

Show me the path where I should walk, O Lord; point out the right road for me to follow. Lead me by your truth and teach me, for you are the God who saves me. All day long I put my hope in you. (Psalm 25:4-5, NLT)

Our Christmas nativity scenes often include the magi who patiently followed a star, recognizing that it would lead them to something profound and life-changing. What we sometimes forget is that this journey took a long time. The magi didn’t make it for the birth. But they did make it. They weren’t always sure of the path they were to take, but they trusted that if they followed the star, the path would become clear.

That’s the way it is for us as well. As we follow Jesus, the path may not always seem clear, but we have a star to follow – a map of sorts, given to us for our journey. That map is Scripture. The star wasn’t the destination for the wise men, but it did guide them to where they needed to go. In the same way, Scripture isn’t our destination, but it does map the path toward the purpose and future God has created for each one of us.

Some years ago, I preached in the chapel at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois. Before my arrival, the chaplain’s office sent three pages of instructions in anticipation of my visit. There was all kinds of information – the schedule for the day, a description of the chapel service, directions to my hotel and to the college, a walking map of the campus, and special points of interest. It was clear that they wanted to make sure that I got to Wheaton and that I stayed there once I arrived.

As considerate as the Wheaton staff were, their kindness was simply the politeness shown to any guest who may not know their way around unfamiliar territory. How much more do you think God loves us? God loves us so much that God was willing to become human and die – for each one of us. And God has given us a map – the Bible – multiple pages of instructions and information to make sure we “get there.”

Scripture isn’t the destination, however; and it may not always feel complete as we try to use it to move toward the destination God has created for us. In fact, we’re told that there were many things that Jesus did and many God-events that people saw and experienced that aren’t even written down. But we are also told that there is enough written down, the map is detailed enough, to be able to come to believe in Jesus Christ as God’s means of salvation and restoration (John 20). As we come to believe, as our faith is strengthened, we become more able to move God closer and closer to the center of our lives, trusting that God’s Word will provide the instructions we need to reach our destination.

One of my favorite series of movies is the now classic Indiana Jones trilogy. In the last one, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Indy must negotiate a set of life-threatening challenges in his quest to find the Holy Grail. He discovers a diary that contains mysterious clues to guide his quest and at each challenge, remembering those clues saves him from certain death. Finally, he finds himself on a small ledge on the side of a cliff. In front of him is a huge chasm; on the other side is the pathway he needs. Below him is a seemingly bottomless abyss. There appears to be no way forward. He begins to panic even as he continues to recite the last clue – the path of God…the path of God. There doesn’t seem to be any path.

“The path of God, only the leap from the lion’s head will he prove his worth.” As he says these words, Indy realizes that he must act on faith; he must leap, trusting that the clues that have guided him so far will continue to bear him along. He screws up all his courage and steps forward into the abyss. As he does, rather than falling into the chasm, he steps onto a stone bridge that miraculously appears beneath his outstretched foot, bearing the full force of his weight and carrying him safely to the other side.

Even in the best of circumstances, there will be times when the path God has laid before us seems unclear. As we begin year three of the COVID pandemic, this feels especially true. We may be uncertain about where God is leading us. We may feel insecure about our future and God’s purpose for us. Yet, even amid uncertainty we must remind ourselves that everything we need to know has been given to us in the context of God’s Word.

Just as the magi trusted that the star would lead them to something life-changing, we trust that the clues that have guided us thus far will continue to bear us toward God’s future. With that trust, we can step out in faith, confident that as we commit ourselves more and more to living out God’s Word, a path will appear that will lead us in the right direction.

God spoke through the prophet Jeremiah, saying, “I know the plans I have for you…They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” (29:11, NLT) As you pray and fast in this first month of 2022, I pray you will keep this passage in your mind, remembering that God uses God’s Word to reveal God’s path to you. And I pray as well, that you would be a light in the lives of others, enabling them to see God’s path as well.

Scripture Focus:

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14 (NIV)

The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, Generous inside and out, true from start to finish. John 1:14 (The Message)

In the book of Acts there’s a story of the stoning of Stephen. I’ve read this story many times but the most recent time it struck me a bit differently. I love how the story begins:  “Stephen, full of grace and power, did great wonders and signs among the people.” That’s a great description – full of grace and power. How amazing would it be to have someone describe you as full of grace and power! But of course, when people are full of God’s grace and power it can be threatening to those who hold worldly power, and that’s what happened with Stephen.

As he shared what he’d experienced and how it all fit together with what he believed as a faithful Jew, the Holy Spirit gave him wisdom that made it difficult for others to resist. Not surprisingly, this angered those in power, so they set him up to be arrested.

When they brought Stephen before the council, Scripture says his face became “as bright as an angel’s.” He began to tell the story of Israel and of Jesus, their long-awaited Messiah, and finally of their betrayal and murder of the Righteous One sent by God. Obviously, the high priest and council were infuriated with Stephen – so angry that they gnashed their teeth at him. But, empowered by the Holy Spirit, Stephen sees the glory of God in a vision, with Jesus standing at the right hand of God. He describes what he sees to the council, but this is the last straw. Those in power can’t take it anymore so they drag Stephen out of the city and stone him.

Here’s the part of the story that struck me a bit differently this time. While they were stoning Stephen, a young man named Saul was standing by watching. This is the same Saul who persecuted Christ followers with a zeal that would make your blood run cold. We shouldn’t be surprised that he stood by, watching and doing nothing.

And yet, this Saul is also the soon-to-be-transformed Paul, champion of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The young man who stood by watching was Paul, BCE – Before his Christ Event. That Paul could do what Paul, AD – After Damascus could never do. Paul, after Damascus, would never just stand by.

That’s the way it should be with all Christ followers. We are not BCE people. That means that if we are following in the Jesus way, we can’t just stand by, we have to enter in. That’s what the incarnation is all about. That’s what this season of Advent anticipates. God became human in Jesus. God didn’t stand by, watching, doing nothing. God became flesh and blood and entered into our world, into our communities, into our neighborhood.

If we take the incarnation seriously, if we truly believe the miracle of Christmas is that ‘the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us’ – that God really did put on skin and bones and made God’s home on earth – then we can’t stand by; we must enter in. We must enter into situations of injustice, poverty, hunger, oppression – and all of the other aspects of our world that break God’s heart.

One of the truths made known in the Incarnation is that if it’s bad news for the world, it’s bad news for God. And the God who became human in Jesus is calling us not to be Paul, BCE, but to be Paul, AD. To stop looking on from the safety of our spiritual sanctuaries or watching from behind the barricades of our ideological positions. And to enter into the lives of those around us, sharing their pain and celebrating their joy.

As you pray and fast during this Advent season, I challenge you to think about ways in which you might be standing by rather than entering in. What is happening in your world right now? How might you enter into those situations and bring the light of Jesus with you? I pray that as you anticipate the coming of Christ into our world, you would be moved to enter into the lives of others more fully and boldly so that they might see the one-of-a-kind glory of Jesus,  generous inside and out – through you.