snapshots and sabbath

Yesterday I took a "Sabbath" rest from my roles at our church. It has been a busy few weeks with preaching, teaching, counseling, moving into a new facility, launching a new seminary course, not to mention a teething 5-month old and family juggling as well...it was much needed. Rather than attend our regular worship service my family and I had the joy of visiting one of our church plants nearby to worship with our "extended family" and see what God is doing in the heart of Amsterdam, NY. What a joy it was! The scene was set as we drove past closed-down factories, past enormous brick facades that told tales of a bygone era of prosperity for this city, and directly into the belly of this beast . As we approached Crossroads Community Church, which meets in the old (Old is not the appropriate term - ancient/archaic/oooooolllld) YMCA, we were surprised to find ourselves driving past 4 other houses of worship. At each one, a handful of cars sat in the parking lot, the buildings were in disrepair, the congregations were clearly not thriving, and these churches, quite honestly, are on life support. And then we rounded the corner at the Old YMCA and couldn't find a place to park. We walked toward the front door and saw couples, young and old, families, people of every different ethnicity and social class streaming into the building. We gathered for worship in a packed out old gymnasium, celebrated the living Christ, and pondered Spiritual Gifts as Pastor Scott Baldwin delivered a powerful and honest sermon on the gifting of the Body. 6 people responded in faith to the gospel's message, they took a love offering to meet the needs of one of their own, there was a huge pile of produce and bread in the back for anyone in need, and for over an hour after the service ended, no one wanted to leave as they ate, talked, prayed, counseled, and generally enjoyed the fellowship they share.

I have been intimately connected with this church for 4 1/2 years now, from the dreaming stages where 2 guys and their families sensed the call of God to do something crazy they had never considered before, to the first meetings in a real building (without heat, a polished assembly space, kids' spaces, etc.), to slow steps along the way building the church, enhancing the facility, guiding people to the risen Christ. I get to visit every few months and when I do, I feel like the loving uncle who just so happens to live too far away to see his nieces and nephews. So every time I do, all I can see is incredible growth and development. I have watched Crossroads grow in snapshots for the last 4 1/2 years and I am so proud of Scott and Scott and the church they have sacrificed to build, so proud of my church for sacrificially supporting them, and so excited to see what God will do in the future.

What a wonderful Lord's Day. All that, and I didn't have to "do" anything - I got to ride to church in one vehicle (hasn't happened in about a decade), I got to sit down and read the bulletin and talk to some people around me, I got to worship next to my wife without having to look after anything - what a freeing day. I took a cue from my favorite hippie and stopped being a pastor for a day and enjoyed just being a child of God. Thank you Temple, for your flexibility with us, and thank you God, for the great friends at Crossroads.

I blinked and it was gone

I had a wonderful opportunity recently. I attended the wedding of a wonderful young couple for whom I have tremendous love and respect and it just so happened that this ceremony was about 10 hours away from where I make my home in Upstate NY. So off I went. For 10 hours driving all by myself (something that is rare for a guy with a family of 5) I made my way to the Shenendoah Valley. And so I occupied my time with, among other things, focused prayer. Don't let me mislead you, I also listened to the Eagles game and found a great radio station that played nothing but my beloved mid-90's grunge and let's be honest there is nothing like some good Pearl Jam and Foo Fighters to soften a road trip.

I had known the groom for just about 10 years and started to remind myself of what God had been doing in his life and prayed for him as he embarked on this wonderful new chapter. And then I was blown away to realize that a whole decade had passed since we had first met. I started to prayerfully, thankfully remember step-by-step the seasons of my own life and how they had unfolded over the past ten years. What a journey that was. College and uncertainty about the "call," the obligatory college heartbreak, finding the woman of my dreams (losing her) and by God's grace getting a second chance, engagement and marriage, early struggles (financial, emotional, spiritual), my first youth ministry and all the successes and failures that are part of a 23-year old pastor's life. To reflect on the carnage of poor decision making, immaturity, pride was humbling. To see victory in other areas was exhilirating. Remembering the purchase of our first car, first home, first (and only) dog. The news that we were expecting (earth-shattering), the beautiful gift of our first born. The struggle of faith to trust God to meet needs as Amanda quit her job to stay home and then the beauty of watching him supply our needs through nothing less than miracles. To see God's movement and tension give way to His clear leadership. A move to upstate NY to start fresh, a great season of victory in a new ministry, the refining and unveiling of giftedness. More failures, more struggles, more lessons learned the hard way. Great victory over crippling struggles. Two more children, both boys. Uncertainty about my own future rearing its head again and being settled with a new "call" and new passions. All of it has happened in the last 10 years and so much more.

And the crazy part is not all that happened (through our family and in the ministries we serve and the people we love and the God who is so gracious with us). The crazy part is that it seems like just yesterday I was sitting in front of the E. Carter Glass Mansion in Lynchburg, VA, asking God to take my life, dreams, and future, and do something beautiful with it. The crazy part is that I blinked and it was all gone. Our lives truly are a mist, a vapor. They appear one moment and are gone the next. As I reflected on all that God has done, I was forced to look with hopeful expectation to what He has yet to do in me, in my family, in my church, in the Kingdom. And I was brought to a point of humble request - God, let me live today in light of eternity. Let what I give myself to today matter for You and Your Kingdom. We have so little time. Don't waste it.

pain in the offering

Last Friday morning, Tyson Lane Woody (age 2) said goodbye to this world and all of its pain and suffering, brokenness and illness. On Saturday evening, a host of worshippers said goodbye to Tyson, celebrating not only the life of one of the strongest fighters we have ever encountered, but also the God of all comfort, who gives and takes away, who carries us through dark valleys and leads us beside still waters, and by his grace, restores our souls. They don't prepare you for this stuff in college. Nothing prepares you for any of this. The funeral service of a 2-year-old cancer victim just feels out of sorts - something is not right here. And yet it was because God, by His grace and plan had ordained and allowed all the events to occur just as they had, for a purpose yet to be seen. I looked into the broken eyes of one of my closest friends - I saw the pain, I saw the hurt, I saw the mourning and grief, but behind that I saw something deeper, something truer, something at his core that spoke to me that it was indeed well with his soul. His faith in his God has not wavered. His trust in Christ has not diminished. His heart for the glory of God is anything but weakened. In fact, I would surmise that, at this moment, he is closer than ever to God, dependent upon his grace to survive day to day, looking with hopeful expectation to His return.

And there, in the midst of the grief and worship, the joy and the pain, I saw one of the most powerful things I have ever witnessed. The worship team and congregation were singing "How Great is Our God," most of them through heavy tears and with an equally heavy, but expectant heart. The entire Woody/McClure family and extended families were gathered together singing praises to God in the midst of their valley. During the middle of the song, the verse breaks into a powerful refrain: "You give and take away, you give and take away. My heart will choose to say Blessed be Your name." As we were caught up in that moment, singing to the God who gave and who had also taken, I looked down and saw Carson, Jeremy's 5-year old son, playing on the floor staring up wide-eyed as his entire family (and specifically his grandfathers and his daddy) were immersed in worshipping the God that they loved despite the pain. I wept. What an indelible image is forever ingrained in that young man's heart and mind - that in the darkest season of his young life the men and women in his family were rallied around the God of all comfort, lifting their voices as an act of sacrificial worship, even when pain was present in the offering.

I went to VA this past weekend to hold up the faithful arms of a brother in the Lord as he said goodbye to his precious son. I went with the intention to minister. I came home changed because of their testimony of faith, the sustaining grace of the Lord Jesus, and the hope we have in the Resurrection of Christ - that the grave has indeed been swallowed up in victory, and that death has lost its sting because Christ has won the victory for us. Amen.

Today I am praying for sustaining grace for one of the most amazing families I have ever been privileged to know. Please do the same.

Dorothy, Kansas, Timelessness...

Watched the Wizard of Oz with my kids the other day. Classic holiday viewing. I couldn't help but think back to watching the same movie with my mom and dad when I was a kid. Then, I thought about the fact that my mom sat with my grandmother and watched the same movie when she was young. Then, I checked the date of production and was blown away to see that the film was released in 1939. For those of you keeping track, that's 70 years ago! Before the Second World War, before the Cold War, before the Holocaust was public knowledge, before the tumultuous 60's, before the explosion of Rock and Roll, before the Cuban Missile Crisis, before so much of what has marked us. Fresh on the heels of Depression-era catastrophe this movie was released. Then I began to ponder all who had seen that movie in the theaters. Men and women who, like my grandparents, visited the local theaters in the late 30's as teenagers and enjoyed the very first color pictures in moving film. The men who sacrificed their lives on D-Day and the resulting conflicts in Europe, Asia, and Africa. I wonder how many of them had watched Dorothy's trek through Oz, nestled in next to their girlfriends in their hometown theater. And then I wondered how many more years families, like mine, would snuggle up on a couch during the holiday season in their pajamas and for, a couple of hours, be caught up in a classic story, journeying down the Yellow Brick Road with Dorothy and her rag-tag band of companions. How many more little girls will dream of going "Somewhere Over the Rainbow?"

Then my mind began to drift again - this time away from Kansas and Oz and the Emerald City; away from Dorothy and her rambling band of ineptitude to other far away places and timeless stories - tales of Creation out of nothing, of a Good garden, a beautiful Paradise, a tempting and crafty nemesis in the form of a serpent, of a Fall, a Curse, and glorious restoration. Timeless stories of another rag-tag band of inept pilgrims and strangers - men like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob (all of whom turned their courses and followed God), wandering through strange places, growing and developing along the way. I thought of heroes of a bygone era - men like Noah, Moses, Joshua, Caleb, women like Ruth, Naomi, Esther. I was caught up in stories of roving Apostles and missionaries, carrying the glorious gospel of Jesus to the ends of the earth, facing persecution, trial, beatings, death; these men were those whom the author of Hebrews described as men of whom the world was not worthy. How many countless thousands, millions have enjoyed these tales together, drawing encouragement and hope for their pilgrim-esque, wandering lives? How many of past eras have also enjoyed fellowship with God through His Son, having their paths lit by His word? How timeless is this faith that we are privileged to be caught up in. Truly, there is more to this family of God, than my mere "three score and ten" years allotted to me! Truly, we are part of something much larger than we can ever imagine. Truly, we are not in Kansas anymore. May we today draw encouragement and confidence from the legacies, heritage, and example of our "cloud of witnesses." May we be reminded that, although our lives feel somewhat unstable at times, we are tethered to a timeless community of faith in the Risen Son of God, to men and women who for all time have been recklessly wandering along their own "yellow brick road," as pilgrims and strangers in their worlds, and we are rooted and grounded in an Eternal God.

All that from a pretty farm girl, and her little dog, too.

This past week, among other things, I had the privilege of sharing with Union College's Inter Varsity Christian Fellowship a brief message on the meaning of Christmas. After the carols had been sung, the food devoured, and the white elephant gifts exchanged and stolen (I got a great gift for my kids - Moon Sand - stole it from Paul. Tough luck, dude - my kids love it!), we got to spend some time connecting with the students, some of whom follow Christ, some who do not. What a blessing. Here's what I encountered:

Ian - I spent about 45 minutes discussing the problem of evil, the existence of Original Sin, the apparent difficulties with understanding the Old Testament and New Testament "miracles," and the perceived conflict between the Sovereignty of God (specifically his ability/inability to intervene in my life) and my exercise of the divinely-given Free Will. What a conversation! These students are incredibly bright, have amazing abilities in logic and reason, and are desperately searching for what is true and real. I felt like I was in over my head at times, but had a great time - my head hurt by the end, I'm not going to lie. I had the great honor of pointing Ian to the Scriptures, explaining that some of his issues and "problems" were not nearly that significant as the Scriptures had directly answered them in plain language (for example, he was struggling with the parting of the Red Sea and how God would break his own laws of nature, "bending the rules," to accomplish that. He was surprised to see that God, according to HIs word, used a "strong east wind" to part the waters - nothing outside the realm of natural forces).

I was on my way out the door when I was drawn into another conversation with a young man who claims to be a functioning atheist yet is willing and open to searching for "god" through different faith systems. We had a great dialogue about the definition and nature of God. His hangup is that God seems too human. I was privileged to drive him to the Scriptures and counter that maybe God isn't made in our image, but we in His (this is, after all, the explanation the Bible gives us). This man believes that religion (specifically Christianity) is driven by the natural fears of men - fears of death, fears of a useless and meaningless life, fears of being alone. Christianity is, in his perception, a way to cope with the harsh realities of life. He believes that my God is a crutch, a figment of Western imagination, to allow us to deal with things that we are too scared to embrace. I spoke with him for almost another 45 minutes and was able to say some very pointed and difficult things in a respectful and non-combative setting. Praying for a great breakthrough in his life and in his heart.

But here's what really struck me - the questions that people are asking are changing. The barriers to the gospel are in some ways different, but in many ways still the same - hearts are hardened, minds are futile, understanding is darkened. The only hope for these people was the only hope for me - the glorious gospel of Jesus. Pray for my friend Jibu as he ministers to these wonderful college students and pray for God to open eyes and illuminate the scriptures that some might come to faith.

spirit and flesh; power and attraction

I had the great privilege of attending a pastors' conference in Troy, NY last Monday. The Acts 29 event was hosted by Terra Nova Church in downtown Troy and was just a joy to attend. The Acts 29 network focuses on church planting and so most of the men attending were new church planters, seasoned church planters, or aspiring church planters. However, it was a great feast for my soul personally. Among all the great things that were proclaimed and sung and discussed, there was one particularly profound statement that struck me above all else.

One of the pastors, JR Vassar, from Apostles Church in NYC, encouraged us to not "settle for the manifestations of the works of the flesh, but instead to pursue and expect the manifestations of the Spirit." Read that again and make sure you do it slowly this time. That was timely advice. There is a tendency in American Christianity (brought on by our specialized culture and our incessant need to hyper-analyze something to death) to reduce church growth and development to a series of nuts and bolts, systems, and curricula. If pastor "a" would simply insert cog "3" into system "x" and if the planets align at just the right spot, then your church will triple its size in a matter of 7 minutes without any conflict. If you want your church to "grow," then send us $19.95 for an instructional DVD to solve your ministry issues. If you act now, you can even get a tremendous discount on a jumbo coffee grinder/brewing system guaranteed to give your Sunday School ministry the needed spark. The reality is quite simple - church growth isn't rocket science, if you define that by gathering a crowd of people. People tend to be "attractional," they'll go places to see things. But growing the church of Jesus is something so different than attractions.

Attractions are prevalent, but what we have to offer people isn't. The work of the Holy Spirit of God, moving through His inspired Word, opening the eyes of people's hearts, convicting them of sin and rebellion, leading them to Christ for forgiveness and restoration - that isn't offered anywhere but the church. And those things - those works of the Spirit - are things that natural abilities and skills and slick programs simply can't produce. I was convicted that too often pastors (and let's be honest here - I'm talking about me) put an over-emphasis on the works of the flesh and forget that the real power in the church of Jesus is not her marketing or fund-raising or programs or teams of greeters driving golf carts through the parking lots. The power in the church of Jesus is the Holy Spirit of God working through His people to bless the community of faith and to invite those outside to come in. For that, there is no substitute.

Much more was said that day and all of it was helpful, but nothing stood out to me more than that great piece of counsel. I'm praying that God would pour out His spirit on this place and allow us to see and experience His power to change lives, to build up His body, to grow His church.

come quickly

Talked with a young father a couple of days ago who is wrestling with one of the most difficult situations imaginable. His young son has been valiantly battling cancer for a long time and my friend just sounded weary. Weary of the pain and suffering his precious son was enduring, weary of the emotional turmoil on him and his beautiful family, weary of the constant barrage of medicines and consultations, ...just weary. And as we were talking about life and ministry and our pursuit of Christ, he said something so profound: "I've never longed so much for the return of Jesus." After our conversation and for the past couple of days, I've not been able to shake his statement, mulling it over in my heart time and again.

There is something so sweetly comforting about the promise of the Scriptures that Christ, the Conquering King, will return for the Church to establish His new kingdom and fully and finally put an end to the Curse and its effects. Something in the hearts of humanity screams that the world as we know it is simply "broken." And that something deep in the hearts of Christ's followers begs Him to fix it. I was confronted with 2 very profound thoughts when praying for my friend and pondering his statement.

First, suffering and illness and disease are results of the Fall of Adam and Eve in the garden and the effects of sin entering into God's created order. As such, they remind us of the "temporary" format of this world, that the "way" things work here will one day be overrun by the glory of Christ and finally be "put to right" as NT Wright likes to say. Suffering and pain and illnesses force us to look to God and dream about what will be in that new world and long for its establishment.

Second, and more impacting for me today, is that those who have felt closely the disastrous and ravaging effects of sin long for Christ's coming more deeply. Those who have felt the sting of suffering and sickness and the destructive force of evil in this world are also those who desire most the coming of a new world.

So, what would God say to this young man, whose young son is hurting? He would say that He too, longs for the day when all is made right and all who are His will be able to be with Him unhindered by the Fall and its lingering. And He would tell my friend that He, too, knows what it feels like to see His beloved son ravaged and depleted by the effects of sin, tasting that sting and feeling that pain firsthand. And he would tell my friend the sufferings endured here on earth are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed in us.

And what do I say in a moment like that? Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus....Amen.