Hurt

But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.  - 1 Corinthians 12:24–26

Yesterday I woke up to the news that a several churches, while celebrating Palm Sunday, had been attacked in Egypt, as of this writing at least 49 people had died…  Lord, in your mercy….

A member of the congregation I serve had a close family member, only days after hearing a dire diagnosis, die yesterday afternoon...  Lord, in your mercy….

And then I learn of a family who is in the process of losing much of what they have. I don’t know what all they are going through, but I can imagine…. Lord, in your mercy….

So yesterday evening, even after a long but fruitful day of ministry, I felt hollow.  Because on a human level, I can offer very little help in these situations that came to my attention. Theologically, I can sum it all up to the fallen nature of humanity. That’s not a lot of solace, but it’s a start.  But that fact doesn’t erase the hurt. 

Hurt

I think l of some words, written by Trent Reznor but stunningly sung by Johnny Cash not long before he died in 2003,

“I hurt myself today, to see if I still feel

I focus on the pain, the only thing that's real….”

And as I consider the writings of Paul about the Body of Christ (the church), I focus on these words… “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it….”

Hurt is appropriate. Suffering is real, and hearts should break. Hurt is part of being His church. It’s part of being alive. When one of us hurts, the whole church should hurt with it. Often it does.  It is what we are supposed to do; it’s in the job description.

And so it is Holy week, and…things are about to hurt even more. And we will commemorate once again the death of Jesus.  Jesus knew all about hurt, and in that hurt  he is going to be brutally nailed to several pieces of wood. Hurt. And left to die.

His death on the cross did many things, certainly the most important being that with those nails our sin gets left tacked to those wood beams with him.  But I can’t help but think that he also carried our hurt, our anguish, our questions, our anger... to the cross with him.

He knows how we feel. He knows how we hurt. And he loves and graces us anyway.

While that doesn’t necessarily provide all the solace we may need in times like this. It does point directly to what we need to be able to see through the indignities of the moment.  That the day is going to dawn very soon where that cross that Jesus was tacked to proves, once again, to be empty.

Hurt is real.

But the love, grace, truth and redemption of Jesus is also real and it is strong enough to overcome the hurt.  It may take time – this week may seem to be dark, but Easter is coming.

Yes, in His mercy.  The cross will once again be empty…..

Here is a link to Johnny Cash's version of Hurt.

deSire

“Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” 
-Psalm 73:25-26

  

I am rather fond of saying that there are times in all of our lives when the only thing we really, really have is God.  Years ago I was taught that all our earthly relationships tend to have a beginning and end; ebbs and flows.  But the one relationship we, if you believe and trust in Jesus, always have is with God.

The passage above takes my “rather fond” saying and sharpens it critically.  It’s not that “there are times in all of our lives when the only thing we really, really have is God.”  It is all the time.  Our father desires a relationship with us in the good times and the bad, in the sunshine and in the ashes; in our prosperity and in our poverty.  You get the point. Not just in our needy times.

Ultimately our desire for God needs to be a 24/7 yearning.  Needs to be.  And, if you are like me, it isn’t. Maybe that why season like Lent (that I honestly have some issues with) are important for us fallible humans.  Many people see Lent as a time of penitence, where we give something up in honor of and hopefully in remembrance of what Jesus did for us. There is great truth in that.

But I’m in a season personally of not feeling the need to give anything up.  But to take something on. To grow in my relationship with the One who wants us 24/7.  To focus my desires on my Creator.  That will be my Lenten discipline…perhaps sharpened by giving up a couple of things that I enjoy.  Maybe. But only for this one purpose.  To help me focus on my desire for God over anything on earth. Anything.

What about you? What are you giving up/adding on for Lent…and why? Why seems to be the crucial question here.

I’ll see how my focus is for the next six weeks.  And I’ll pray for yours if you would like….

Mom

Yesterday (January 11), as I was preparing for my small group, I broke out my guitar and started playing “In Christ Alone,” the brilliant song from Keith Getty and Stuart Townend. It’s simple enough to play on guitar. The chords are easy. But it’s the words that always get to me.  And yesterday I more deeply realized the elegance of this musical statement of faith; in fact, I’m thinking of using it as our corporate “Confession of Faith” in an upcoming worship service.

“In Christ alone my hope is found; He is my light, my strength, my song;
This cornerstone, this solid ground, Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace, 

When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My comforter, my all in all— Here in the love of Christ I stand.”

A few minutes after I was done working on the song, my phone rang. It was my brother, and he delivered the news that Susie and I had known was imminent. My mother, at age 93, had died.

Patricia Enoch was one tough woman. Not tough with other people, but just tough when it came to her personal circumstances. Maybe it was her upbringing of struggling through the deep poverty of Spokane during the depression that set her resolve, but the years since my father’s death in 2004 were not kind to her physically. She sacrificed her knees caring for dad, and her general health after his passing did not allow her to have the replacements she had needed for years.   Add a broken hip into the mix and her mobility became difficult, but that rarely stopped her. 

           

Deafness and blindness eventually took their toll, although I was still able to hold a brief conversation with her a week and a half ago over the phone.  She had been terribly ill for several months, and under hospice care since August. And heartbroken since Sept.1 when my sister died. I’m indebted to my brother Steve and his wife Kris, for all the care and help they have been to her, first in Sacramento, and in recent years, Bozeman.

Needless to say, I have many, many memories flowing through my brain at this time.  But one keeps floating to the top. After my father died, my mother approached me about being baptized. She never had been, and she decided it was time.

We had some deep talks about Jesus first; I made her join a church near where she was living in Beaumont, CA, and in June 2004 I was invited to preach…and baptize her in a service at her church. At age 80.

She is not the oldest person I have baptized, but she was the only one that was my mother. And I had that privilege.

When I last saw my mother at the end of October, we talked more about Jesus. Deep…and trusting. I can say that I believe she is with him now….

When I led our small group in singing “In Christ Alone” last night, the words became even more poignant for me….

“No guilt in life, no fear in death— This is the pow’r of Christ in me;

From life’s first cry to final breath, Jesus commands my destiny.

No pow’r of hell, no scheme of man, Can ever pluck me from His hand;

            Till He returns or calls me home— Here in the pow’r of Christ I’ll stand.”

Amen.

Bye mom.  I love you.

-Chris

Click here to listen to "In Christ Alone"

"In Christ Alone" Words and Music by Keith Getty & Stuart Townend Copyright © 2001 Kingsway Thankyou Music

Refreshing

“Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord….” Acts 3:19

            I received this short Scripture verse in the email the other day.  And a kept drifting back to this one partial sentence.  While it starts out with a warning (which many Scripture passages do), it ends with a great abiding promise.  That there will be times of refreshing. Times of refreshing.  I love that phrase.

            What is refreshing to you?

            An ice-cold drink of water on a hot summer day?  Maybe a much needed nap (yah, I know that one.).  The shade of a large oak tree.  Maybe a cup of hot chocolate in January (or even in March when it is cool outside, as it is as I write this).  Maybe a hot cup of coffee - such as I am sipping on now while sitting at the airport waiting for a flight. Maybe you find refreshment in listening to your favorite musical artist, or maybe engaging in your favorite hobby. Maybe it is found in being with your favorite people.

            My hope for you is that you would find refreshment…ultimately…in our Lord.  Through prayer and meditation, through Bible reading and study; through Christ centered fellowship.  Perhaps through serving Christ and his people.  Maybe in times of holy worship?

            Peter, in the passage above links “times of refreshing” with repentance and forgiveness. If we repent (regret our sin)…our sins are wiped out…. then there are times of refreshing….   I love that order.  I pray you do also.  It is the order of Christian life.  It is what Christ alone offers. 

            I pray you have accepted that offer.  And enjoy the refreshing.

Slippy

“For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison….” 2 Corinthians 4:17

Two weeks ago, I got stuck in the snow.  Well, my car did anyway. I was in my neighborhood on a cold and snowy afternoon, and my car, a 2007 Dodger-blue five speed Pontiac Vibe that I dearly love, a  car that doesn’t handle ‘slippy’ conditions real well, was laboring to climb up the small hill to our house, and once over the crest, was equally laboring to stop.  I convinced it to halt, put it in reverse to turn and back up into my gravel driveway; but the road was slick, and the turn was delayed, and instead of  turning into my spot where I wanted it to be, it ventured into a small snow bank.  I proceeded to put the car into first gear, and tried to will the vehicle out of the snow, but the wheels on the car went round and round…but the car did not nudge.

I got out of the car…whispered a few choice (but not really bad) words regarding my ability to guide that car in the snow…and went into the house to warm up and have a short lunch.

After lunch I went out to the car and looked it over carefully.  What had happened was that the snow was so high (well, not that high, my little car is just so low) that the car had sunk down to the frame in it, and the rear wheels had no chance to overcome that disadvantage.

The good news is that after I went to the garage and got out a flat shovel, and spent about 15 minutes reaching under the car and digging out the snow, I was able to get back in and convince my little vehicle to bolt out of the bank and onto the road…and back to the church I went.

And the apostle Paul writes… “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.”

In the overall scheme of things, my little misadventure in the snow was nothing.  But. At the time, I was fairly well irritated with myself.  For a moment anyway.

I know that the apostle was speaking of things far worse than a temporary wedged-in-the-snow situation, that he had more permanent and eternal blessings in mind. Still, I think we need to be very thankful when our ‘light momentary afflictions’ easily go away so we can continue in the here and now.  Because I know that our Lord is concerned about how things are in the here and now as well as how things are going to be in ‘eternal glory’ to come. It is all covered in His love.

And in all these things, major and minor, temporary or permanent, we need to trust in the grace and love of Jesus. His way is not ‘slippy.’ And the small snow banks become simple distractions when the big picture is considered.

I still love my car. The snow has long melted away….

And I’m grateful that He will always love me.