PRAYER, LOVE, AND GOD

This Sunday we are beginning a three week series on prayer.

Knowing God's Love
Experiencing God's Love
Sharing God's Love

The main passages are found in Ephesians 1, 3, and 6.  Paul the Apostle is calling out in prayer that we might know God, experience God, and share God.  That is my prayer for this series.  That individuals, families, and our church will Know, Experience, and Share God in new and powerful ways.

People have needs in their personal lives that only God can fulfill.
Our return to Sierra Way creates opportunities for us that only God can fulfill.
Don't miss this opportunity to gather with your church family and call out to God!

I believe He is ready to meet you!
Paul

God Has a Target for Each of Us--by Linden Malki

Some people seem to have been born with a life target and the talent and drive to go straight for it. Most of us weren't.  And that's OK.  Most of the time what we think we want to do as children comes from a romantic picture and limited knowledge.  Even so, we are fortunate to have the freedom to dream. 

 Opportunities may be limited by where we live,  the expectations we grow up with, our physical abilities or disabilities, the economic conditions we find ourselves in.  In fact, none of us have unlimited options.  Not even riches or power can make everything possible.  There  is a story of a royal prince, who, upon being asked what he'd really like to do, said "I wanted to be an engine driver, but realized that I'm kind of stuck."   The power to do anything one wants does not create happiness; the most dramatic historical illustration of that is Caligula, the third Roman Emperor (AD 37-41), who rejected any limits upon his behavior or power and insisted  being worshiped as a living god. He is considered to have become insane, and was assassinated by a conspiracy involving most of the government.

God is is not bound by what we see as limits. The One who knows best what  "all that we can be" really is, is the One who made us what we are. We do have choices, however.  The most important choice is to recognize this, and to accept His authority and wisdom.    As the writer of Hebrews puts it, "Anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that He exists, and that He responds to those who seek Him." (Heb 11:6b)

We were all created with a different set of gifts, talents, and interests.  Talents often show themselves young, but our understanding of our giftings and callings usually grow as our relationship with God and His community grow. Sometimes they get mixed up with a quest for status and attention, and our human ego. Often others recognize our gifts before we do.

The story of our calling can be very simple and straightforward, or very surprising and convoluted.  I found out my first year in college what I was not called to do, and my interim plan was to learn as much as I could about whatever available interested me, so as to be prepared for opportunity when it appeared.  As it turned out,  God dropped me into a place and a job that I could never have predicted nor expected. Over the years, talents and interests that I had growing up have developed into callings that again, I would not have imagined.  (This blog is one of them!)

Learning to recognize who we truly are, and who we were created to be, is  part of learning to be open to God, and listen.    Or, as a very wise man put it, 'Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. " (Psalm 19:14)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Courage: Fear on its Knees--by Linden Malki

In a perfect environment, there would be no need for fear. In Eden, there was only one feat that Adam and Eve could have needed--and they didn't have enough of it: the fear of displeasing God--until they were already in the soup. The result was being sent out into a world full of risks and dangers. To live in this world, we were created with the potential to fear. The problem is not the existence of fears in our life; the problem is the proper evaluation of our fears.

A life without fear is a life without the opportunity to learn to deal with danger. We tend to think that protecting ourselves and our children is wise, which it is--to a point. Too much protection can be self-defeating; "helicopter parents" who hover over and run interference for their children run the risk of raising a child who doesn't do well in a crisis, because he has learned how to fear, but not how to overcome it.

It is fitting that Jesus told his followers that if they are in the right relationship with God, they only need one fear: the one that Adam didn't understand. Yes, we have other fears; we also have a proper companion for fear: courage. Courage is not fearlessness; courage is acting on a recognition that in the situation in question, fear is less important than the goal facing us.

God's plan may very likely put us in a potentially dangerous situation. When Joshua was facing the invasion of a land full of iolatrrous and dangerous people, God told him not once but three times: "Be strong, and of good courage;fear not, nor be afraid...for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." There was, however, another side to this coin: "..that you may observe all the Moses taught you". Again, there is one appropriate fear: the consequences of not doing what they were commanded to do.

Life in this world has its dangers. There may be times that we overthink the danger. There may be times that we not adequately understand the danger. St Paul, as he faced the calling God had for him, Much of it was not easy; but he was a living example of courage. This is his conclusion: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (Phil 4:13) Even the pagan Romans understood that a man of courage is also a man of faith. (Cicero).

Paul's courage extended much further than just his own survival. It has been said that there are times that standing against evil is more important than success in defeating it; the greatest heroes stand their ground because it is right, whether or not they themselves survive.

The End of the Rope--by Linden Malki

When you come to the end of your rope, what do you find?
For one thing, a lot of advice.
The classic answer, attributed to Franklin D. Roosevelt, is to "tie a knot and hang on."

The problem with it is that you're still at the end of your rope, just a little more securely.  There are times that just hanging in there is the appropriate thing to do, but how do we know for sure?

Much of  the advice boils down to things like: know yourself, recognize your feelings, try to figure out how you got there, persevere, encourage yourself, think positively, do something!  Better than wallowing in self-pity or trying to find someone to blame, but still limited to your own strength. I also found some offbeat ideas: if you're going through hell, don't stop, keep moving!

A next step can be to begin to look outside of yourself. One interesting suggestion was to get a "new rope".
Thinking about that, there are at least two ways to look at that. Maybe the rope is the problem--
but is blaming the circumstances ("the rope") itself appropriate or an excuse? What is the other end of the rope attached to? These are things you need to know.

Moving outward, reaching out to someone can be a real positive step. But not just anybody; make sure they are trustworthy and up to the challenge. And Who is the most trustworthy person available? The Message puts it like this: "You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you, there is more of God and His rule." (Matthew 5:3) Sometimes we have to come to the end of our own rope, and there we find God with His new and better rope, ready to splice us into Him.
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Whether to persevere, make changes, or drop off and start over, what we should find at the end of our rope is God, waiting for us to stop depending on ourselves and ask for strength, wisdom, willingness to follow, faith, and the hope of His Kingdom.

It Just Keeps Ticking....by Linden Malki

 

When God created the universe, He also created Time. He made for us an earth that spins, creating light and darkness. He arranged the sun, moon and earth all in motion, which gives us day and night, seasons of the year, and a bonus: a moon to give us an awareness of this deceptively simple dance. He created us with bodies and minds that require downtime to refresh and reorganize. Even animals and birds have biorhythms based on time; probably the first alarm clock had feathers.

Some of the oldest artifacts we have of ancient people are time-related. Many ancient stone constructions and carvings have connections with astronomical time markers. Marking hours with sundials is a very old accomplishment; we find a mention of a shadow time-marking device at the Temple in Jerusalem about 700BC (2 Kings 20). Mechanical clockworks were invented about 1300AD, and the precision with which we can measure time has constantly improved. More and more, we depend on knowing what time it is.

We also find God using time markers to teach His people and remind them of the basics of their history and faith. The festivals of Passover, Pentecost, Rosh Hashona ("head of the year") and Yom Kippur are tied to the calendar and shape the life of the community. Over the years, other commemorations were added to the calendars. Our calendar is tied to a 5th century computation of the probable time of Jesus' birth; the holy seasons of Christmas and Easter are important markers not only in churches but in the wider culture as well.

The clock has just ticked over to a new hour, a new day, a new week, a new month, a new year. We live with the knowledge that time keeps ticking along, inexorably, and there is nothing we can do about it. What we've done is done; for good or bad, and we hopefully deal with the consequences. There are always consequences, good, bad, whatever. If we try to ignore them, they have tendency to crawl back out from under the rug and trip us up. We have been reading about Peter's experience with this: when he denied knowing Jesus during the events that led to the crucifixion the cock crowing was the trigger to his realization of his guilt. But he did acknowledge it, and rather than avoiding the issue, actively sought reconciliation and forgiveness. And we see him not long afterwards preaching the message of Jesus at the crowds in Jerusalem for the Feast of Pentecost.

The ancient Jewish celebration of Rosh Hashona involves looking back and seeking forgiveness and reconciliation, going into a new year. Our New Year holiday is a good time for us as well to learn from our failures and replace them with hope.

Children and the Baby--by Linden Malki

Somehow, children and Christmas go together. We all have memories of Christmases when we were children; most of them good, sometimes not so good. But whatever they are like, they are usually a big part of our mental landscape. If we have children, we usually try to give them good Christmas memories. After I moved to California, I was surprised at the Christmas lists some of my friends were working on for their children. I remember getting one nice but moderate gift from my parents, and then a few small stocking stuffers.  I don't forget the time an acquaintance--a sister of a friend--asked me if she could borrow $500 so that her "kids could have Christmas." I felt sorry that she had been raised to equate Christmas with going overboard into debt for "stuff", and that she couldn't imagine "having  Christmas" otherwise.

I hope that our children are touched by the Christmas story not because of "stuff". but because of a Baby.  God created the human race to grow by families bringing children into the world with love.  We are created with a "soft spot" for babies; but sometimes that goes bad. A baby is the start of a whole life, and our attitude is colored by our expectations for that life.  Mary and Joseph, Simeon and Anna, the shepherds and the Wise Men saw in the baby whose birth became Christmas the Promise of God and the Hope of His People. What Herod saw was  a threat to his political position, and his reaction in fear was to order the killing of any child who might be this rival.

Most children are fascinated with babies. Most children gravitate towards other chldren if they can. When God "moved into the neighborhood" as "The Message" translation puts it, He came as a baby; grew up through a normal childhood, and became an amazing young man. We can tell from the story of Jesus'  return to Nazareth after He left the woodworking business for His Godly calling, that they  remembered Him as having been an ordinary kid.  (Mark 6:1-4) The writer of Hebrews tells us that He took on human nature, that He knows what we are like from the inside.

This is part of the miracle of Christmas: that even a child can recognize that this little Baby in a manger was a baby, just as they were, and a kid, as they are.  This year we added the song "Little Drummer Boy" to the NCF Choir caroling outreach. We'd had a number of requests for it, and I think one of the reason people resonate with this story is that the little drummer boy was told this was a newborn King, but what he said when he saw the Baby was "I am a poor boy, too".  And he offered the only thing he had: he shared what he  could play on his drum. His thanks was the only thing a baby has to offer: His sweet smile. And this is what we want our children to appreciate most about Christmas: that this Baby with the sweet smile grew up to be a Savior Who loves them.

Hope at Work--by Linden Malki

Joseph was a child of his father's hope--but his jealous brothers destroyed this hope, and almost Joseph himself. How often are slave traders the bringers of hope? When they are a piece of a puzzle God is putting together! Judah insisted saving Joseph's life. And, as been said since ancient writers put it, "where there's life, there's hope."

We are told that Joseph knew and served God. Jacob may not have been wise in the way he discriminated among his sons, but he had taught Joseph about his God. Joseph's faith--his knowledge of God--was the bedrock of his hope.

We also see that Joseph's faith and hope were not just lazy, wishful thinking. His actions gave his hope "boots on the ground." He didn't just kick back and do just enough to evade the worst; he proactively used all of his strengths--his faith, his intelligence, what he had learned growing up watching his father run a good-sized family business, his determination. 

At one point his character and self-discipline got him into trouble. This is not uncommon; there are people out there that will retaliate if you do not wallow in their muck. (People haven't changed much in 4000 years!) But again, he made this new crop of lemons into lemonade. Patience and hard work fueled his hope, even when he must have felt forgotten.

And it paid off. Not only did he gain the recognition and position beyond his hopes, but he recognized what God was doing all along. We see him telling his brothers that "God sent me here before you, to make sure of survivors in your land, and to save your lives..So it was not you who sent me here but God." (Genesis 45:7-8)

We see the fulfillment of his fondest hope--made possible by his faith and the use of all the strengths God had given him. He was reunited with his whole family--the brothers whom he was able to forgive, and his father and young brother whom he loved.

And the rest of the story: we saw Judah insisting on preserving Joseph when the other brothers talked of killing; and we see Judah also taking the responsibility for Benjamin's safety when they had to take him with them on their next trip back to Egypt. (Genesis 43:8 ) In the subsequent history of the Israelites, it was the tribe of Judah that became the royal tribe of David, and later of the Christ, the hope of mankind.