Passion Pumps Me

passion 
permeates 
my person 
pumps me 
then plummets 
unwieldy 
but willing 
for you 
to work magic 
transform 
passion 
into power 
potent 
patient 
wielded 
by you

Waiting is a challenge, especially when we yearn for what we’ve been told is coming. As a teen (that’s me in the photo above) when I was away at MK boarding school, I kept counting the days until Christmas or Easter vacation when I could be home for a while. When my mother was expecting her sixth child, I (the oldest) could hardly wait to hold that little one in my arms. But most of all, I was thirsty for spiritual growth. I knew I belonged to Jesus. I knew that he was teaching me how to depend on him for support rather than those surrounding me, at home or at school. But when I read books by spiritual mentors like A.W. Tozer, who gifted us with his classic The Pursuit of God, and Oswald Chamber’s My Utmost for His Highest, I wanted to achieve closeness to the Holy One that was beyond mere believing. I wanted to know he could work in me and through me. I wanted to be sure he lived in me.

When the missionaries gathered at the field conference one year, the scheduled speaker suddenly could not come. So a pastor who was there for another mission’s conference agreed to come. He spoke about the Holy Spirit in ways that made me yearn to know that I was filled with God’s Presence, his Spirit. One day many of the missionaries I loved and respected were joining the line that was waiting for the speaker to lay hands on them. Most of them were asking for healing. I turned to my dad, who was sitting beside me, and told him that I wanted to go and ask for prayer to be filled with the Spirit. He agreed to accompany me.

When it was my turn, I told the pastor what I desired and knelt in front of him. He prayed for me, but I was listening more to my own inner prayer. And after a moment there was a Voice audible only to me that said: “Hon, you already have me!” I stood, thanked the pastor, and returned to my seat.

What happened that day reassured me that being inhabited by the Spirit did not require flames of fire or a different language being spoken, as had happened to so many in Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost. They were gathered together, waiting for what Jesus had promised them. And on that day, the Spirit fell on them in a visible, auditory way, so that it would be obvious that they were entering a new era. Jesus had ascended but they would not be abandoned to live on their own. They had the assurance that the Spirit would be in them, gifting them as needed.

Pentecost was last Sunday, sometimes not mentioned at all in modern churches. It was a traditional harvest feast for the Israelites and became a time to remember the laws in their covenant with Yahweh, who had saved them from slavery in Egypt (Deut. 16:12). These Jesus followers in Acts 2 were now in a new covenant relationship with God, one sealed by Jesus’ blood. They needed to be equipped to serve their Master, and human effort was insufficient. With his Spirit in them, they would have the empowerment they needed. He had promised this when he spoke to his disciples just before he ascended to heaven:

45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the scriptures, 46 and said to them, “Thus it stands written that the Christ would suffer and would rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And look, I am sending you what my Father promised. But stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” 5 (Lk. 24:45-49 NET)

That was what they were waiting for, what Jesus said his Father had promised: a gift that would clothe them “with power from on high.” They were waiting, grouped together, about 120 of them, praying and encouraging each other in the wait. Ten days after Jesus had ascended, it happened: the Holy Spirit filled the believers.  The disciples had heard Jesus’ prayer after that Last Supper he had with them, a prayer to his Father filled with astounding words:

23 I am in them and You are in Me. May they be made completely one, so the world may know You have sent Me and have loved them as You have loved Me. (John 17:23 CSB)

The unity of Father and Son meant that when Jesus said that he was in them spiritually, God himself was in them. And then when he was ascending, he promised power from on high. This was the Spirit, who would empower them to take the Good News to the world. It’s true! As 1 Corinthians 13 makes clear, the Spirit is the one who decides which gifts each believer needs in order to fulfill their purpose in the Body. I know I could not have fulfilled the requirements of my ministry if it had not been for Spirit empowerment.

“To be filled with the Holy Spirit is to be energized and controlled by the third person of the Godhead in such a way that under the acknowledged lordship of Jesus Christ the full presence and power of God are experienced. Spirit-filling leads to renewal, obedience, boldness in testimony and an arresting quality in believers’ lives.”[1]

And every single disciple—that includes us—needs the Spirit to empower them to love others, a crucial heart change (cf 1 Corinthians 13). It is not something humans do naturally. There are always divisions threatening to rip unity apart. But if we are truly submitting to the Spirit he has sent to us, to live in us, he will give us the power we need to love others. That is what is meant by “fruit,” the qualities the Spirit grows in us:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. (Gal. 5:22-23 NET)

And he will give us whatever other gifting conforms to his plan. We may not know what it is when we start out, but he will teach us:

27 Now as for you, the anointing that you received from him resides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things, it is true and is not a lie. Just as it has taught you, you reside in him. (NET 2:27)

That “anointing” refers to the filling of the Holy Spirit: he resides in the believer, who resides in him as well. We live in him and he lives in us. And this filling is not a one-time event. We may not realise it when we read our English translations, or when we listen to certain preachers. Here is a Bible dictionary explanation. The terms “baptized with the Spirit” (Acts 1:5), “filled with the Spirit” (Acts 2:4), and “received the Holy Spirit” (Acts 10:47) “are virtually synonymous when used of initial experiences of the Spirit, but ‘filled’ is also used to designate subsequent experiences and renewings of the same divine power[2]. . .For example, the command in Ephesians 5:18, “Be filled with the Spirit,” is in the present tense, so it “implies the need to be regularly filled and re-filled with the Spirit.”[3]

These are truths I had to learn during my long spiritual journey. It is easy to become lax in practicing the Presence of God in us and instead begin to trust in our own impulses. But by spending time in the Word and in conversation with our Master, we can keep ourselves open to that regular in-filling. I see it as similar to the way a cup filled with coffee can get jostled and spill when the holder gets distracted and trips, or how sin can rip a hole in the fabric of our close relationship with the King and the filling slips out. We need to stay open to what the Spirit is doing in us and saying to us.

In my poem I was expressing my own strong desire to know the Spirit’s empowerment, and acknowledging my weaknesses in maintaining that imperative connection. Maybe you are there too. Our desire for that ability to do what we are told to do by the Master can be transformed into the strength to actually do it when we submit, and daily make sure we are submitting, to the Spirit who lives in us.

That is what I was learning when I was that teen yearning for intimate relationship with my Lord. His reassurance that he was not resistant to “filling me,” that he already lived in me, has been an anchor throughout my life. May we followers all have that same filling over and over! It brings the transformation we yearn for. As Oswald Chambers wrote, words that incited my poem:

“Forge and transform my passion into power…” 

[1] Martin H. Manser, Dictionary of Bible Themes: The Accessible and Comprehensive Tool for Topical Studies (London: Martin Manser, 2009).

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid.

But Wait!

“Go tell!” he said, “But wait!” 
What? Wait? We were so excited, 
overwhelmed with joy 
by all his words that made it clear: 
the Sacred Word had prophesied 
it all—his death but then 
this third-day miracle, 
life made new in him!
We touched his hands,
and he touched us.
This was no ghost:
he ate that roasted fish!

And he forgave our fearful hiding,
even Peter’s scared denying
that he knew him, yet another
prophesy we saw was true.
He loved us anyway!
But now he’s said goodbye.
And yes, we’d be his emissaries,
telling all the world this news
of radical forgiveness
now at hand, in his hand.

This is a gift of love for everyone
if only they would come to him,
say yes, accept it as the truth!
Jesus wants this whole big world
to know. “Go tell!” he said.
“But wait! You cannot do this
on your own. You have to wait:
I will be sending what you need!”

He blessed us all, then suddenly
was gone, lifted high
into the cloudy sky,
gone from view but leaving us
with hope. Everything he said
was always true, that we knew!
Two angels even came to say
he would be coming back some day.
“We’ll wait!” we all agreed.
We miss him, but we know
that anything he promises
will be worth the wait.
Now, instead of worrying,
we’re filled with worship
and undying trust.
As he said, his Holy Spirit 
would come soon and give us
all the strength we need 
to do his will: “Go tell!”
He will come through!

Waiting is always a challenge. When we have no idea when we will see what we’re waiting for, we fight impatience. When the resurrected Jesus was preparing his disciples for his exit from his time on earth, when he was  visible, they asked if now he would be setting up his earthly kingdom. “Only the Father has the right to set that date,” he replied. “But you will be able to do this work I am giving you, because I am sending the Holy Spirit and he will empower you!” (Acts 1:6-8)

So the focus shifted. Evangelism was to be their priority, and as the two angels came and told them, they knew that someday Jesus, too, would indeed return. So they began the first wait, for his Spirit to come and “baptize”  them. They formed an intimate group, constantly united in prayer: the eleven disciples, plus the women who had followed Jesus in his ministry and his mother Mary, along with Jesus’ brothers. At some point many others came to wait with them, 120 people in all! (Acts 9-26). The wait ended up lasting at least 10 days. That was a long prayer meeting!

They faced a test of trust in Jesus. Because what they were waiting for was so essential to their new phase of life with Jesus ascended to heaven, they joined together to stay in conversation with God. They could no longer see Jesus face to face to ask him questions. But they could pour out their hearts to the Godhead, praising God for what Jesus had accomplished and promised, waiting in faith for the next miracle to happen.

We face some similar challenges to our faith when we wait for God to answer our prayers, to come through as his Scriptures have promised. There are an incredible number of “waits” in the Scriptures, some of them centuries, some decades, some days. We do not have access to God’s calendar of future events; he is the Master of time and only he knows the details. But we must trust him, and wait in faith. Yes, Jesus will return. God hears all our prayers and answers in his way, in his timing. Gathering with brothers and sisters in community to pour out our hearts together can bring tremendous confidence and comfort.

And now we do have the Spirit to strengthen us—that will be next week’s focus, the blessing of Pentecost. The day commemorating Jesus ascension just passed, last Thursday, May 29th. Many of us did not even notice that, since in the U.S. it is not an official holiday. But the importance of that day should not be lost! The command Jesus gave and the promise of the Helper who was coming are both essential to how we live. We must not forget!

And some day Jesus himself will come. We wait!

Peter Speaks!

He said, “Love each other.” 
I asked, “Where will you be?” 
Evasive? or just sure 
we could not make the grade 
without him? 
 
He knew this too, and said, 
“The only way you can bear fruit 
is to stay attached to me.”
And yet, he went away.
Hope died.

When he came back he
twirled us into dreams
as he spoke peace to us,
and absolutely anything
seemed possible.

With each appearing,
joy grew more explosive – 
I even swam from ship
to shore to savor Jesus
on the beach.

But after breakfast, his words
scorched my heart.
He asked me if I loved him
(traitor that I’d been,
shamed coward)!

Silently I begged that
he would look into my soul.
and know I love him.
He’d always known my
every thought.

Then, having fueled the flame
of my tempestuous love
for all he is, for who
he is to me, Messiah,
master, friend,

he circled back to where we’d
started when our Judas left.
“Feed my lambs,” he said. “Care for 
my sheep.”  And once more:
“Follow me.”

I heard his thought as clearly
as he’d voiced it at the table:
“As I’ve loved you, in this way
now love each other.
Be like me.”

And this is how the world will 
recognize the Family:
our common cup of love
shared round in conscious copy
of our Lord.

I’ve spilled the cup a thousand
times, or maybe more.  But,
knowing what he said,
I bend to towel off the spill
with kindness,

and try to grasp each trembling
cup so tentatively offered
by a sister or a brother.
We’re caring for each other.
Loving him.

What would it have been like to be Peter?  He knew he was called, chosen (Mat 4:18-20). He had learned so much while following Jesus those years that passed all too quickly while Jesus was calling other Jewish people to follow his path. He eventually experienced incredible change: he went from promising to never desert Jesus, to denying that he even knew him in a critical moment of self-protection (Mat 25\:69-75), to being ready to die for him if he was doing what Jesus said. He wrote this to other believers:

But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened.” (1 Pet. 3:14 NIV)

Don’t be afraid of persecution, opposition that comes from doing justice! Don’t be afraid (and so deny the Master)! And he did die for doing what was right, at the hand of Emperor Nero—tradition says he was crucified upside-down, having begged for that rather than to die the way Jesus did.

What changed him so radically? It was his growth in knowing Christ Jesus better and better, even after Jesus had died, risen and left this earth. He added deep spiritual growth to what he could apply to the knowledge accumulated as one of the twelve disciples. Now he knew personally that his faith was being refined, and his love for the Master was not only deeper but truly joyful. He shared this with other believers when he wrote his first letter:

5 You are being protected by God’s power through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 You rejoice in this, though now for a short time you have had to struggle in various trials 7 so that the genuineness of your faith– more valuable than gold, which perishes though refined by fire– may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 You love Him, though you have not seen Him. And though not seeing Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 because you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls (1 Pet. 1:5-8 CSB)

Note the change in how Peter sees what he saw happen to Jesus and his present walk with the Messiah. He had been devasted by Jesus’ crucifixion—what a trial of his faith! How could the all-powerful miracle worker just let this happen? But he saw the risen Christ. And the risen Christ had underlined for him that what now counted was loving him, and seeing the struggles that came as spiritual refinement bringing praise, glory and honor—when Christ returns! Having seen him die and raised to life, he is now confident that his word is true and he will indeed return and be universally recognized, that his promise of salvation and everlasting life is true.

Not only that, Peter remembers how his last personal conversation with Jesus went. The walked along the lake shore and Jesus kept asking him, “Do you love me?”

When they had eaten breakfast, Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said to Him, “You know that I love You.” “Feed My lambs,” He told him. 16 A second time He asked him, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” “Yes, Lord,” he said to Him, “You know that I love You.” “Shepherd My sheep,” He told him. 17 He asked him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved that He asked him the third time, “Do you love Me?” He said, “Lord, You know everything! You know that I love You.” “Feed My sheep,” Jesus said.  18 ” I assure you: When you were young, you would tie your belt and walk wherever you wanted. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will tie you and carry you where you don’t want to go.” 19 He said this to signify by what kind of death he would glorify God. After saying this, He told him, “Follow Me!”  (Jn. 21:15–19 CSB)

His love for Jesus was now cemented; he would do anything for him, even move toward the death Jesus predicted. He would follow him anywhere.  He had seen him. Now the believers that he was writing to in his letter were following Jesus too, even though they had never seen him. And Peter was confirming that this what matters. He was passing on what he had been taught, what he had learned during his own refinement. He was shepherding Jesus’ sheep, showing them the right path to follow.

So how about us? Are we doing what Jesus said, loving him and following him? If so, we must do what is essential for all of us on this Jesus Road:

“I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you must also love one another. (Jn. 13:34 CSB)

The Chosen People had been told long ago how important it was to love God and love their neighbor, fulfilling the laws that came with the covenant God put in place with Moses:

Do not take revenge or bear a grudge against members of your community, but love your neighbor as yourself; I am Yahweh. (Lev. 19:18 CSB)

But now he was making a new covenant with his people. Jesus was clearly stating the conditions that came along with entering into this alliance with God. It would be lived out by humbly serving one another (John 13:14-15), and it would require a new standard of love:

 “I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you must also love one another.” (Jn. 13:34 CSB)

 It is only “new” because it means our love is now measured by how self-giving it is, not by how much we love ourselves! It requires humility and putting the good of others above our own.[1]

And these were some of Jesus’ last words to his disciples before he was arrested. The next days were full of incomprehensible loss, for Peter and the others who loved this extraordinary man. They were made even more unbearable for Peter as he realized that his denial of knowing Jesus was contrary to the new covenant law: self-sacrificing love for others, not selfish safeguarding of one’s own interests!

We, like Peter, are empowered to move forward by Jesus’ forgiveness—not just once, when we join ourselves to him, but every time we fail and come to him with true repentance. We literally have to stay “attached to the Vine” (John 15) in order to have his strength flowing into us, making us able to do what he says and actually produce fruit.

Remain in Me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in Me. (Jn. 15:4 CSB)

And a crucial part of that fruit is love for others. Peter had to learn it, and he passed on this lesson in his first letter, underlining what it means to be an eternally living new being, born again by obeying the truth—and Jesus is the truth:

22 By obedience to the truth, having purified yourselves for sincere love of the brothers, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, 23 since you have been born again– not of perishable seed but of imperishable– through the living and enduring word of God. (1 Pet. 1:22,23 CSB)

For what purpose are we to purify ourselves?  To be able to love each other sincerely, without corrupting our “love” with selfish motives. And where do we find the truth that we must obey? What attaches us securely to the Vine?  “The living and enduring word of God”! We need to take this seriously and digest that word, letting it become a part of us, living it out.

 Peter closes that first letter with an impassioned plea that applies even more to us now, since we are even closer to “the end of all things,” whenever that will take place. We are not to live in fear, or contribute to division. We are to cling to the Vine, spending time in conversation with him, our source of truth and strength. And we must love each other!

7 Now the end of all things is near; therefore, be serious and disciplined for prayer. 8 Above all, maintain an intense love for each other, since love covers a multitude of sins. 9 (1 Pet. 4:7 CSB)

Jesus taught his disciples and they passed it on to us: love each other the way Jesus Messiah has loved you! Even when we were still trapped in sin, he loved us and gave himself for us. Are we pursuing that intense love that forgives and produces the fruit our Beloved Master desires?

Peter moved from a life of just catching fish to working diligently for his Master, becoming a “fisher of humans”—bringing them into the Kingdom, and lovingly teaching them how to live as citizens and workers there. This is for us, too. We are now serving the Master who bought us with his own blood, “slaves” in the only wonderful sense of that word—rescued from bondage to evil and freed forever, given the gift of being servants to the God of love. Let’s show the world that this status is real! Let’s show love!

[1] [1] D. A. Carson, “The Gospels and Acts,” in NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible, ed. D. A. Carson (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2018), 1923.

The Red of Love

Love—deep red love— 
came struggling through 
the pressure of the birth canal 
and landed safe in loving hands
that washed away the blood
and held him close.
They did not know, not yet,
that Love’s own blood
would someday spurt
from lashes to his back,
from nails plunged straight
through his own hands,
and through his feet—
blood of Life and supreme Love
that would bring hope to anyone
who trusted in his words
and in the power of his shed blood
to wash away the curse of sin.
It sealed a covenant of peace
between the Lord and his dear ones,
a document of liberation
signed in crimson blood,
the red of Love.

Blood is not usually something we love to talk about. But that can change! Being involved in the process of translating the Bible into the Nyarafolo language has put me on a steep learning curve, and the importance of blood is one part of that climb.

One of the most significant elements for me was learning about “covenant.” It is a concept we only mention these days when we apply it to marriage. And yes, marriage is a legal agreement—a covenant—between two people, with promises to support one another and stay together. But this year during the Easter season as I contemplated Jesus’ last words to his disciples and the incredible significance of his death, this struck me: a new covenant was being made between God and the humans who would accept the criteria.

In the early 2000’s, Moïse and I were launching into translating the Old Testament, just after Mark’s Gospel had been translated and printed. We realized that the New Testament would not be easily understaood without the background of the Pentateuch. So Genesis was the challenge before us, full of new terms to understand.

The hardest one was “covenant.” When we asked other team members for suggestions, the most popular proposal was a Nyarafolo term that meant “promise.” It didn’t seem to fit in logically for me, but we went with it. We were working in association with SIL (Wycliffe Bible Translators), and they require that each translated section be checked by a consultant before it is given to the people. When the consultant was meticulously going through the first part of Genesis with us, we got to chapter 15 and whammed into the problem of “covenant.”

“The word you have chosen in Nyarafolo means ‘promise,’ you tell me. But what would happen if someone were to break their promise?”

The team’s answer was, “Well, you wouldn’t be happy with them.”

“So, no consequences?” the consultant asked. “That seems weak, because this covenant was actually a legal agreement that included promises if it was kept, and consequences if it was not respected.”

That led to another long discussion. The one word that seemed to fit the bill had been pushed away by the Nyarafolo team because it was an agreement that was negotiatied with other local gods in the traditional religion, a practice that is still ongoing. But the debate came to a wonderful conclusion when Moïse told how his family had previously needed to renew their contract yearly with the god of their farmland territory in order to have a good harvest. One year his grandfather was standing by the stream that bordered their land, and when he threw the sacrificial chicken into the water a crocodile appeared, grabbed his leg and pulled him into the stream. He was able to kick loose but limped the rest of his life. And the crops failed; the family lost all they had. They knew that some family member had done something forbidden in the agreement.

Moise was just about ready to underline the creepy occult background to this when he stopped, choked up. “Wait!” he said. “This one in the Bible is different: it is not a human reaching to a god, it is God reaching to Abraham to make this agreement!  He is not far away—he is the one initiating the relationship with a human!  We have to use this word!”

So yes, it is the word in the Nyarafolo biblical text, and it has great impact. Nyarafolos assume that God exists but is far off, so only local gods can be interacted with. The Bible’s message is the opposite. God is always reaching out to humans.

And here is an element that struck me: I suddenly saw a crucial link myself between blood and a covenant. Read Genesis 15 and you will see it. Abraham wanted to know how he could have descendants, and Yahweh told him they would be as numerous as the stars. Abraham believed God’s promise “and it was counted to him as righteiousness” (15:6). Then Abraham was required to gather certain animals and cut them in half. He lined them up. The blood must have been flowing into the path between them. When it got dark, God revealed the hard trials that would be coming to his descendants, 400 years of affliction but afterwards they would have a land of their own. A smoking firepot and a flaming torch passed between the bloody animal halves, and the covenant was sealed.

The Hebrew word for “covenant” is berith, “derived from a root which means to cut, and hence a covenant is a cutting, with reference to the cutting or dividing of animals into two parts, and the contracting parties passing between them, in making a covenant (Gen. 15; Jer. 34:18, 19).”[1]

And the Nyarafolo word for “covenant” is nyakungɛngɛ, which means “cut-mouth-give.” Interesting links there!  They also cut the neck of the sacrificial animal so that blood flows, then agree to the words the mouth speaks! This opens understanding to what the Scripture is telling us about the extreme importance of a covenant agreement!

When Yahweh offered his crucial covenant to the people of Israel through Moses, blood also sealed it:

3 Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD and all the rules. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words that the LORD has spoken we will do.” 4 And Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD. He rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. 5 And he sent young men of the people of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the LORD. 6 And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he threw against the altar. 7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.” 8 And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.” (Exod. 24:3-8 ESV)

The shedding of blood for those ancient covenants in the Bible has great relevance for the application of that term to the new covenant that Jesus sealed with his own blood. We hear about it when we take communion, following the process that he went through with his disciples during that last Passover dinner he shared with them. He shared the bread, his body broken for them, then the wine:

20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.”  (Lk. 22:20 ESV)

The wine represents his blood, shed on the cross for us. And that new covenant is the one we agree to when we come to Jesus, repent of our sins, give ourselves to him! He sealed it with his own wounded body and his blood. We enter it, this eternally valid legal contract that gives us life forever with him!

What Israel forgot, and what we often forget, is that a covenant comes with consequences for those who act against its requirements. Deuteronomy is full of those, and in one section where Yahweh was laying out the consequences of disloyalty to him when Israel turned their backs on him to serve other gods,  it says:

24 all the nations will say, ‘Why has the LORD done thus to this land? What caused the heat of this great anger?’ 25 Then people will say, ‘It is because they abandoned the covenant of the LORD, the God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt . . .((Deut. 29:24-25 ESV)

On the other hand, there is so much in that covenant to benefit those who are faithful:

All the ways of the LORD are loving and faithful toward those who keep the demands of his covenant. (Ps. 25:10 NIV)

Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the LORD, who has compassion on you. (Isa. 54:10 NIV)

And Yahweh made it clear, through the prophet Jeremiah, that he was going to make a new covenant:

33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”  (Jer. 31:1 ESV)

Knowing him personally was going to come with the forgiveness he would offer! When Jesus was explaining that the new covenant was in process right then, he said:

This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. (Matt. 26:28 NIV)

I hope you’ve walked this far with me in this reflection on the deep meaning of the kind of death Jesus suffered, one in which blood flowed from his back as he was whipped, and from his hands and feet nailed to the cross. There is so much more to explore here, because we Gentiles are also offered participation in this covenant—which is why we are reflecting on this together. We are also his people! And we believers participate in the covenant that brings us into relationship with the God who brings us peace and everlasting life and shows us how to live for him. The person who wrote the book of Hebrews underlines this in their farewell:

20 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, 21 equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.  (Heb. 13:2 ESV)

Amen! May it be so for each of us!

[1] M. G. Easton, Illustrated Bible Dictionary and Treasury of Biblical History, Biography, Geography, Doctrine, and Literature (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1893), 164.

Photo: ancient Hebrew scroll, Adobe stock images

Open Home, Open Heart

The travelers walked in the front door, 
hot and dusty after hours on dirt roads. 
Mom always found room at the table, 
one built for her by Dad, big enough 
to welcome at least a dozen guests. 
She added another vegetable, salad, bread—
done! There was always enough.

Then, grown up, it was my turn.
I learned to serve the local friend
who showed up right at mealtime,
thirsty, hungry, startled that we knew
an open home was an essential virtue,
a demonstration of community,
a value held dearly: test of character.

Our village friends showed us more,
caring for us when we stayed all night.
A brother would move out of his hut
so that we could rest in that space.
Or a sister would open her hut to me
to stay the weekend, along with others.

They had little, but love overflowed.
We were each given names, accepted,
honored as one of them. Open hearts,
open homes—we kept on learning.
We opened our door to welcome them.
It became our way, too, as it should be:
“Love your neighbor as you love yourself!”

This past Sunday, Mothers’ Day, one of the men in our “Grow Group” (adult Sunday School class) asked each of us to share something we had learned from our mother. I wish I had remembered this one! Our family lived in a town that was on the main road between three countries and several major cities, so many other missionaries would be passing through. And many were coming for medical help or to have babies at this safe hospital. Mom’s open door to visitors made it easy for me to put that same practice into effect in my life.

Our Lord sent Glenn and me back to that same part of Africa, but with the charge to focus on the Nyarafolo people who lived all around that town where I had grown up, Ferkessédougou. Those people taught us even more.

Out in the villages, near their farmlands, they lived in simple mud-brick huts. We needed more immersion in the language, so our language helper eventually let us stay overnight with our toddler daughter in his man-hut; he moved out to live with other family. We brought a gift of fish, something they craved (and good protein). They shared their meals with us, and their time. They did not yet know Jesus, so by welcoming us they were not sharing with people in their faith community or their ethnic group. In fact, we were Whites, which automatically linked us to those colonist masters who had been so brutal. At first they were polite to us as we came to spend a few hours, waiting to see what kind of people we were. And friendships began to form in amazing ways when they at last accepted us as overnight visitors. They were planting seeds of love, and so were we.

Later, when I began asking questions to dig into cultural values, I learned that if anyone shows up at your door as you are ready to eat, the right response is to offer them a chair at the table. There it was: offer a sleeping space to the visitor, a place at the table to the person in front of you.

At the same time I dug into one of those books that was mentoring me: Open Heart, Open Home by Karen Mains. I was being shaped.

Living this way definitely makes me think of the command given to those following Yahweh:

“‘Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD (Lev. 19:18 NIV)

So loving others definitely reaches beyond taking in a traveler that is a good friend. It includes “love your enemy,” that person who opposes you, otherwise why would the preface to the command include not seeking revenge or bearing a grudge? Jesus made sure that this was understood when he was preaching on the mountainside:

 42Give to the one who asks you, and do not reject the one who wants to borrow from you. 43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor’ and ‘hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be like your Father in heaven, since he causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. (Matt. 5:42-45 NET)

People obviously had been reinterpreting God’s command to love their neighbor. They said it only applied to those who are lovable, who are like you and who are loving toward you. Jesus turned that upside down. Father God is not like that. The sunshine and rain, both necessary for the good of people, are not withheld from those who do wrong. Be like him! Show love to those who oppose you! Be merciful.

Someone recently told me that it is not possible to feel love for someone who has hurt you deeply. Yes, if love is defined just as that emotional bond that you feel for a spouse or parent or child, or even a best friend, that positive leap of your heart is not what you feel when you see that person who has criticized you unfairly or withheld what you deserved. No, when Jesus said to love your neighbor as you love yourself, he was talking about a kind of love that is communicated to us in the New Testament through the Greek word agape. The various lexicons try hard to define it. The Friberg Analytical Greek Lexicon speaks clearly to this situation of loving the neighbor who is kind and the one who is not. Then agape means:

“especiallly . . . love as based on evaluation and choice, a matter of will and action.”

In other words, even if that person does not deserve that you show them acceptance or even help when they need it, you choose to do so. Why? Jesus told us why: we are to be like God, who values people for being people. Of course discernment is also necessary, knowing what is truly helpful for someone, and when a person is dangerous. That requires Spirit guidance.

Jesus was challenged for teaching this radical love, so to make it reach yet further he told the parable of the Good Samaritan. The shock of his choice of the “good guy” as a Samaritan is lost on many of us. That ethnic group was looked down on by the Jews that were his audience that day. The last thing they would expect would be to have a Samaritan show such kindness and generosity to an injured man from a different group, lying on the street. How would Jesus tell that parable to an American today? Which ethnicity would he make the “good guy” to show you that this command is not about loving only people who are like you? It is about disregarding class and ethnic barriers, reaching beyond them to show compassion. It is “a matter of will and action.”

When it is your decision to reach out to help someone, it is free choice—a different version of freedom than the world most often cites:

For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity to indulge your flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For the whole law can be summed up in a single commandment, namely, “You must love your neighbor as yourself” (Gal. 5:13 NET)

By serving one another, by loving a neighbor who is brought into our lives, by showing love through action, we live out the reality of God’s loving open arms. He loved us so much that he took on human form, a body so minute compare to his magnificent essence, and lived a simple life of barefoot travel and suffering, and died for us—wicked as we are (Romans 5:8). He showed us the ultimate form of self-sacrifice for the good of others. He himself is love, and we are on a life path to be like him:

Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (Eph. 5:1,2 NIV)

By walking in the way of love we are obeying our beloved Jesus. When we truly love someone, we long to delight them. And in his last evening with his disciples he underlined how key this is!

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love (Jn. 15:9,10 NIV

This Mystery

It’s a mystery of unity 
beyond my understanding: 
One God, three Persons, 
One Essence in deep harmony, 
working together as one 
to build a home in me 
and move in permanently!

You live in us, each one
a piece of your Family,
each one with access to
the heart of the Father,
the love of the Son,
and the intimate reality
of your Spirit as our guide.

And yet it is reciprocal,
this miracle of unity!
I am in you, my Savior!
Attached to you
I drink you in, so
somehow we are “one”,
living life together, forever!

The ties that bind us firmly
the Enemy cannot sever,
a spiritual communion
beyond dreams, a promise
you made to your disciples
who wrote it down for us.
And they knew that it was true.

The disciples were surrounding the table, listening. They did not realize this was their final feast with the Master before he would be arrested and crucified. Jesus was saying words of teaching and encouragement that had to be overwhelmingly difficult to digest:

He had said he was going away. He told them that he was preparing a place for them and that he was actually “the way” to that place. He would be there with his Father—and if they knew him, Jesus, they would have seen and known the Father, God! It had to blow their minds. He explains:

11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me, but if you do not believe me, believe because of the miraculous deeds themselves.  (Jn. 14:11 NET)

And then he promises that he will send them the Spirit, who will actually live in them forever!

16 Then I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you forever– 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept, because it does not see him or know him. But you know him, because he resides with you and will be in you. 18 “I will not abandon you as orphans, I will come to you. 19 In a little while the world will not see me any longer, but you will see me; because I live, you will live too. 20 You will know at that time that I am in my Father and you are in me and I am in you. 21 The person who has my commandments and obeys them is the one who loves me. (Jn. 14:16-21 NET)

Did you catch that mystery in verse 20, the unity Jesus said would happen that would make community life with the Trinity a reality for the disciple?

20 You will know at that time that I am in my Father and you are in me and I am in you.

I have been contemplating this for years. Chapters 14 to 17 in John have been one of the most comforting places I’ve found in the Scriptures. After I lost my first pregnancy in the seventh month, I memorized Jesus’ prayer in chapter 17. His desire for union in the Family, his picture of the individual believer living in him and him in them, is so very reassuring of his love in this very hour. He even told his Father:

20 “I am not praying only on their behalf, but also on behalf of those who believe in me through their testimony, 21 that they will all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. I pray that they will be in us, so that the world will believe that you sent me.   (Jn. 17:20-23 NET)

So we are included! We read the words that John and other witnesses wrote and we believe in the Way, Jesus, who is in the Father. And the Father is in him. Their Spirit, the Spirit of truth, lives in us! And a crucial aspect of this relationship is that we believers be “in” this Father/Son/Spirit three-in-one God! It is indeed a mystery, even when we are living it. He lives in us and we live in him. What does that mean? I will take us to the words of a biblical scholar who explains it well:

What it means for Christ to dwell in believers is clear enough: with the coming of the Spirit to dwell in believers, Jesus also may be said to dwell in them because of the unity of the Spirit and the Son. However, what it means for believers to dwell in Christ is more difficult to explain. At one level, it appears to be a metaphor for loyalty and obedience to Christ—at least, this is what Jesus stressed about believers abiding in him. The key text is 15:4–10, where, describing the disciples’ relationship to him in terms of branches in the vine, Jesus says that they ‘remain’ in him by allowing his words to ‘remain’ in them (15:7), and implies that this is the same as abiding in his love by obeying his commands (15:10). However, more than loyalty and obedience is involved in their being ‘in’ Jesus, as his prayer in 17:21 indicates: ‘Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us.’ It is perhaps best understood in terms of a union brought about by the coming of the Holy Spirit.[1]

So although we cannot understand it all, when we belong to Jesus, his Spirit lives in us, and because of that, we are “in” Christ too.

What a privilege to be invited into this sacred harmony, this home, to live there every minute, to share it with the Trinity!

Are we living it out? Are we resting there, conversing with them in our home, reflecting God’s glory?  That is yet another deep subject to explore.

Let’s revel in this privilege of being unified with God this way! We live in Christ, attached firmly to him (the parable of the Vine in in John 15, is a key part of this teaching). You and I are both part of this Family and this mysterious union. What grace!

And yet it is reciprocal,

this miracle of unity!

I am in you, my Savior!

Attached to you

I drink you in, so

somehow we are “one”,

living life together, forever!

[1] Colin G. Kruse, John: An Introduction and Commentary, ed. Eckhard J. Schnabel, Second edition, vol. 4, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (London: Inter-Varsity Press, 2017), 355–356.

Image from Pixabay

When My Heart Shrivels

When my heart shrivels 
thirsty for intimacy 
stretched by demands 
pressured and pummeled 

I come to you. 
Here in your Presence 
hope is re-seeded 
when I remember 

your love surrounds me
your power protects me
your tenderness holds me
your truth directs me.

And you are God:
the One who made me
the One who sent me
always with me.

Under pressure? Facing demands?  Feeling dry spiritually and emotionally, squeezed out?

There are days like that–we all face them sometime!

I admit there were moments when I was serving as a missionary that I felt like that. That is why I wrote the poem “When My heart Shrivels.” And there have been days like that here in the States, where “retirement” has become instead “retreading\:” getting back into being an exegete for Bible translation in Africa, but doing it with an online connection that may or may not work (very unstable on their end).

And then there are the days when the news squeezes the breath out of you: wars killing the innocent, rulers using their power to crush the hopes of the vulnerable, the rich skating through life with no concerns while the poor lose their access to healthcare.

Where is God in all this? The truth is, even when we cannot feel it, he is always with his dear ones. He is not a Father who is absent, always traveling and involved in business while his children struggle to grow up. He is not far away!

A conversation I had with a five-year-old the other day brought this reality to mind. She was staying overnight and had gotten up for breakfast. I was in the kitchen; she asked where my husband (a beloved “grandpa” to her) was. I said he had just finished his Bible study and prayer, and was upstairs getting dressed.

“So did he use his headphones?” she asked.

“You mean, to pray?” I answered. “No, he was just talking with God in his insides, in his heart and mind. God hears it all! In fact, he is always with us—he even knows how many hairs are in your head—he knows everything about us!”

“So no headphones?!” she exclaimed.

She knows that often people like to use headphones when communicating with a family member far away, using a computer. And “Grandpa” is often listening to things on his computer, wearing headphones. But this was a revelation to her: God is not just up in heaven, distant! He is beside you! He can hear your voice, even a silent prayer in your thoughts.

In fact the last words Jesus spoke to his disciples before ascending into heaven were these:

And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. (Matt. 28:20 NIV)

Always! Until this world as we know it ends!

There are two psalms that speak vividly to this issue. They underline God’s presence in the midst of personal distress and loss of hope.

Asaph, in Psalm 73, is wrestling with the way everything seems to be going right for the wicked who are prosperous, proud, and “with arrogance threaten oppression” (v. 8). People admire them and support them, seeing all their success and wealth. Whereas Asaph admits that in spite of trying hard to “keep his heart pure” and his actions righteous (v. 14), he suffers every day.Then he confesses that ultimately God will hold those wicked bigwigs accountable (vv. 16-20), and wishes he had not slipped into such bitterness. He grabs onto what would give him comfort in the middle of this swamp of evil, speaking to his God:

23 Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. 24 You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. 25 Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. 26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. 27 Those who are far from you will perish; you destroy all who are unfaithful to you. 28 But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds. (Ps. 73:23-28 NIV)

In Hebrew culture, the “right hand” was symbolic of action, particularly good action. With God beside him every moment, directing his life, “forever” carries a sense of delight and promise for Asaph. It is by being near Yahweh, King of the Universe, that he finds shelter from the storm, a secure refuge.

The other psalmist who underlines this constant nearness of God is David. In Psalm 139 he starts out with a detailed account of the way Yahweh knows everything he does and every thought he has. If he gets up or goes to sleep, if he says anything or thinks anything, Yahweh knows all about it. He admits that this is beyond understanding. There is no place on earth where God is not there, no place where anyone could hide from him.  This is his “omnipresence.” Is that a scary thing? Yes, if you are among those disobeying him and wish he didn’t see you! But for those who know Yahweh personally, is it precious reassurance:

 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, 10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. 11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” 12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. 13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. 17 How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! 18 Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand– when I awake, I am still with you.  (Ps. 139:1 NIV)

Wow! David thinks back to the truth that the Creator put him together, formed his being, in his mom’s womb! He made him to be who he is. He knew him even then, and not only that, God knew what his life was going to be like—he prepared him for what was in the plan!

 This psalm became my go-to place for processing hard times and resting my anxious thoughts. Sure, I was often living far away from my usual supportive cohort and family, even an ocean+ away from them. But I was never away from my God. He is not limited by geography, phone connections, internet stability. He is actually right here, wherever I am—wherever you are! The fact that he knows everything about how I am made, right down to my physical body (formed by him in the womb) and my life cycle from start to finish, affirms the truth that he is the one in charge of everything about me and will take care of me. He stays right beside me, whether I’m asleep or running through a field in the night (afraid of snakes), whether I am at work trying to do my best or resting in my chair to enjoy the company of friends or read a book.

Evil is still active in our world, but in the end, he is the one who will take care of the wicked (vv. 19-22). He sees me, inside and out, and yes, he holds me accountable too! I’m so glad he is forgiving and the one who offers empowerment. He knows my heart intimately. And that is not scary, but deeply reassuring—when I am walking life with him. He will show me how to change course or behavior, and the will walk with me all the way through my life path to the end goal:

 23 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (Ps. 139:23-24 NIV) 

All of this is true for you if you are a daughter or son of this loving Father!

That is where there is peace in the midst of turmoil or bigger-than-me challenges. And what makes this yet more personally thrilling is that Jesus has made these promises even more astonishing. We will be digging into that!

Serve the Word!

This is our calling 
when we follow Jesus: 
we are “servants of the Word.” 
He is the Word! 
He speaks to us, 
through Scripture texts 
(the written Word) 
and also through his Spirit, 
our Counselor, our Guide.

He lives inside me,
makes my heart’s eyes
see the highlights
he has stroked across
those texts so relevant
to me, my life.
Do I take note?
Do I get up and follow through?

How do I feel the nudge,
or hear that still small voice
that is the GPS 
showing the path ahead;
note the amber alert  
when danger is near;
hold to the word of truth
that tells me to go,
to keep on running 
to spread the news?

My part is to be still,
to stay attached
and welcome his instructions
and then to carry through.

My inner ears will learn
to carefully discern
that precious voice
that worms its way
through all distractions
to direct my moves,
my steps, my words –
to guide my growth
in this profession,
this divine obsession:
that I might learn the ways
to be a servant of the Word!

Easter worship brought intense joy as we contemplated all that Messiah Jesus accomplished for us on the cross, and reveled in the truth that he is alive! Then his last words to his disciples hit me in a very personal way: “I am now the authority over the universe, the Savior of the world! Go and tell this news to everyone, your kind of people and those who are very unlike you, even far away! I have died and risen for you all, for them all, and I long to offer them the gift of life that never ends! Cling to this: I will walk with you and guide you the whole way. Just serve me, doing what I give you to do.” (my interpretation–see Mat 28:18-19).

His disciples wrote his words down so that they could be passed on. They also did as the Master had said, traveling to many places in the Roman Empire including Greece and Lebanon to tell people the Good News about Jesus. Thomas went to India, Matthew to Mediterranean regions and Ethiopia. All were martyred except John, who nevertheless was confined to the island of Patmos because of his faith.

This has always underlined for me the truth of the historical account of the resurrection. If it were not true that Jesus died and rose to life, and had then told his disciples to go spread the news, would these men have given up their lives rather than be killed or imprisoned? No! They had known Jesus intimately and experienced his living presence after his resurrection. It was worth losing their lives. It was also worth doing exactly what he had said to do. One of them stayed in Jerusalem to lead the church there and do what the Lord gave him to do. The rest scattered, wherever they were led to go.

They were serving the Word of God! As John, one of them, wrote in his introduction to his written account of Jesus’ life and ministry:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (Jn. 1:1-5 NIV)

And Luke, making sure that his friend, Theophilus, would know the whole truth about Jesus, started his  book by writing:

I have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, 2 just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. (Lk. 1:1 NIV).

 The disciples themselves told the congregation in Jerusalem that this was their priority:

We ourselves will continue to devote ourselves to prayer and to the service of the word.”

If it had not been clear to them that the “word” was Jesus himself, this calling would not have meant so much. They had known him intimately, and they knew that God had communicated his good news of salvation through Jesus, through his teaching and his life. To serve the word was to serve him!  I would write it this way: to serve the Word was to serve Jesus! And that was what life was now about.

Is that our passion too? Do we do what he says to do, go where he wants us to go, live out his love? When he is the Master, that is our life work. We can trust his goodness and his plans, since he is God and God is completely good. And God is love! He has given himself for us. We need to give ourselves over to him in gratitude and joyful obedience!

So how can we know what he is telling us to do? First of all, let him renew us, change us. When our inner focus switches to him we will be able to discern how he is leading. Paul put it this way:

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is– his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Rom. 12:2 NIV)

The world is enticing, with all that it offers in the way of fun and riches and even power. But walking with Jesus requires turning our backs on those as goals. They are not what we are to spend our lives grasping for. Instead, when we are transformed we will learn to listen to our Master and recognize when he is the one speaking. He is the Word, the one trustworthy Word, and he does gift each of us with ways to spread his Good News. He will empower us to bless others, to serve them with the best of food: the bread of life and living water! Remember these words:

Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. (Jn. 6:35 NIV)

Let’s keep on serving the Word who supplies us with all that we need to accomplish what he has planned for us! May we each learn the ways he has in mind for us to be a servant of the Word!

Parade of the Lamb

Two disciples, eyes full of questions, 
brought him the donkey and her child, 
gave him a hand, and he sat on the colt  
(never ridden before) and began trotting 
towards Jerusalem, the City of God, 
its King displaying humility. 
He breathed in deeply, then exhaled,
moving toward his finish line
where the last scenes of his incarnation
would play out in horror.

The crowds were dense by the city gates,
come to celebrate this great Feast
when the Passover lamb would again be killed,
memory of rescue from their chains.
Those who loved him felt portents
swirling: Why a donkey? Why a parade?
Some, inspired, took off their cloaks
and spread them on the path ahead
to be clopped on by donkey hooves.
Palm fronds waved in joyous arms,
some thrown down, a carpet, too.
People now began to chant
songs drawn from prophetic Word:
Here comes the King in David’s line!
Praise him, envoy of  I AM
who just raised Lazarus from his tomb!
Praise him in the highest heavens,
praise the one who brings us peace!

His heart was heavy as he rode.
The crowd was happy now, but knew 
just half the story, hoping this
would be the day when all would change.
Yes, their king was riding in! 
But they had no idea he
would be the final sacrifice,
Passover lamb for all the world,
that this was God in human flesh,
come to be killed by their own hands
when it would suddenly become clear
that his goal didn’t match their dream
of earthly freedom, battles won.
They would shout a different song,
disillusioned, blind, distraught.

He knew this, but he moved ahead,
bracing for insult and pain,
suffering to fulfill God’s plan.
“Hosanna!” was the people’s cry,
“come save us!” If only they had known
that rescue was indeed his goal!
There were a few who saw his grief.
They’d heard him speak of gruesome death
and stored that deep inside their hearts,
questions roiling in their minds.

Now, we know. We celebrate
the slaughtered Lamb, Messiah, Lord,
the Most High King, our Rescuer!
He let us kill him, knowing that
he would transform malign intent
into a gift of freedom—Home!
If one thinks it clearly through
and realizes who it was
who rode the donkey through the songs
and palm parade, to face the cross
and hang to die, to bring us peace.

This week is one for contemplating the Lamb of God, sent to be our “once-for-all” sacrifice (Hebrews 10:10) Those of us who did not celebrate Passover like the Jews did in their ancient history can miss the powerful symbolism. The metaphor began when Yahweh liberated his people from slavery in Egypt (Exodus 12:4-14). The lamb’s blood on their doorpost protected them from death; those without that proof of a lamb sacrifice died. It was a strong message that was to be remembered every year at the Passover feast.

Then Jesus came. He fulfilled so many prophecies that week as Passover approached. This slaughter of an innocent lamb, which could not have any blemish, is the one that captures my heart this year. If I had had to kill a lamb each year at Passover it would have broken my heart. Lambs are so cute, so beautiful and helpless. Jesus knew that he had been sent to be the final lamb sacrifice, the one that would bring true protection from death—eternal death—to those who would accept his own blood as their salvation. He gave himself to offer them that.

It was, of course, not only rescue from death but also the promise of life forever with him. That we will celebrate next Sunday. This week as we move towards the remembrance of his death on the cross, may his humble obedience to God’s plan flood us with gratitude. He knew what was coming: emotional, spiritual and bodily suffering of incredible magnitude. But he got on that donkey’s colt and entered the city, willing to fulfill the requirement out of love for us, eyes on the ultimate goal. He did come to save us. Let’s be deeply moved with thanksgiving:

. . . fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Heb. 12:2 NAU)

 For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival (1 Cor. 5:7b-8a ESV)

*Photo credit Kat Smith

Keep on Running!

Run! Run! Run! 
The track is long 
getting longer 
not what I 
expected 
but this is race 
to the finish 
step by step 
to the goal 
He put in place. 

He planned out
the path ahead
prepared his runner
with practice runs
and breaks for rest
time to eat 
be refreshed
water for thirst
then shows the path
so run! Run! Run!

I’m not actually a runner—I much prefer speed walking—but I definitely relate to all the imagery in the Scriptures about running the race. Life that has purpose is like that: you have a goal, and reaching it takes energy and commitment. It includes a goal for service here on earth. It is also that ultimate goal of joining our Lord in life forever.

When my Master made it clear that he wanted me to analyze an unwritten language and produce its alphabet, then clarified that he was leading me into Bible translation in that language, I had no idea what a long race he was telling me to run.

As with any race, there are moments when it is fun, full of discoveries as you go around a corner and see something new or exotic, or maybe you hear the voices of faithful companions cheering you on with encouragement or prayer, or see someone personally touched by your race and its goal. Here’s an example of that last one: a newly translated psalm was read to a Nyarafolo group and a woman burst out, “I had no idea you could talk to God like that, pouring out your feelings, not just creating an elaborate prayer!” And someone else, hearing a New Testament passage, said: “So that is what that verse meant—I always wondered!” 

We knew we were working for our Master and he had purpose in all the long days of plowing through details, dealing with edits and figuring out how to communicate key meanings. But it definitely took perseverance. That word has become a banner for me, an underlying principle which reminds me that spiritual work, ministry for Jesus, is a long-term investment. And it is not done for nothing:

Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. (1 Cor. 15:58 ESV)

It may seem ironic that we are to be “immovable” while working hard. Work takes activity, right? But here it means we are to remain solidly committed to the task given us. We need to keep on applying ourselves to what the Master puts before us. In the imagery of the race, we run hard, we keep on running even when we reach a challenging section of the path that requires leaps or swerves. This is what the writer of Hebrews was underlining by remembering how so many faithful followers of the Lord had kept on keeping on, putting their faith in the Lord:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,  fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Heb. 12:2-2 NIV)

Jesus showed us how to run. He knew that he was here for a very special purpose, so he ran through every hard space and even up to that agonizing death, reaching the finish line set before him. He knew what joy was waiting for him past what looked like the end to those on earth watching him be murdered. He knew that he would rise to life, and that his death and resurrection would offer amazing gracious rescue to anyone who would accept it. So he threw off the hurts and the slander of those opposing him. He accepted the tough path. He did not give up. He made it to the goal and brought us the path to Life!

Along the way, Jesus did have moments of great encouragement has he saw people healed, as he saw crowds gather to soak in the truth of his messages, and also when he went away to quiet places to be refreshed in the Presence of God. He knew who he was and why he had become a human. All of it was a part of his race.

So it is with us. We gladly gobble down the nourishment he gives us, strength for the race. We rest in his loving care when we stop striving on our own and converse with him. And we keep on running the path that he lays out for us, trusting his guidance. He has promised:

 I instruct you in the way of wisdom and lead you along straight paths. When you walk, your steps will not be hampered; when you run, you will not stumble. (Prov. 4:11-12 NIV)

On those days when we have clear direction, we soak in the joys of ministry, of seeing fruit. Then there are also days of strenuous training when the Master builds up our endurance so that we can run longer stretches or deal with more uphill slopes. All of that is training that is normal for athletes; they have to build up their strength in order to compete.  And we are definitely in a kind of race and need to have our strength and agility increased. He said we would not stumble, but that is if we rely on the wisdom he provides. We have to listen to the Coach! As Paul said:

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26 Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. 27 No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. (1 Cor. 9:24-27)

This race requires strict training! It demands self-discipline which is actually a willingness to release control of my own self to the Coach. When an athlete goes into training, he is directed into grueling practice sessions to build up strength and competence.

So it is with us as we run this spiritual race. We must relinquish our selfish yearnings and instead enjoy the delight of delighting our Leader, our Coach and Sustainer. He does give joy! We are to remember to thank him for the joy of knowing him, the joy of knowing what he is saving for us as a prize, the joy of living life with purpose that is far beyond anything this world can offer. Someday all the darkness will be gone and we will live with him in the kingdom of light. For now, we do all we can to respond willingly to the coaching of the Spirit and run the path set before us wherever it leads, trusting him. Paul’s prayer for the Colossians can become our prayer for ourselves as we run this race:

[I] continually ask God to fill [me] with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, 10 so that [I] may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that [I] may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified [me] to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. (Col. 1:9b-12 NIV)

Let’s keep on running!

*photo credit Daniel Reche