ONE SOLITARY LIFE

Every year during the Advent season, as we journey toward Christmas and the day chosen to celebrate the birth of God into human history, I love to read a composition by an unknown writer called, One Solitary Life.  It is very popular and you've probably read it, too.  It speaks about Jesus and of his condition in life and of His ultimate influence.  I would like to share it here because one more time, it has touched my heart.  Maybe it will touch your heart, too. 

Merry Chistmas!

Rick

One Solitary Life.

He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in still another village, where he worked in a carpenter shop until he was thirty. Then for three years he was an itinerant preacher. 

He never wrote a book. 

He never held an office. 

He never had a family or owned a house. 

He didn’t go to college. 

He never traveled 200 miles from the place where he was born. 

He did none of these things one usually associates with greatness. 

He had no credentials but himself. 

He was only 33 when public opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. He was turned over to his enemies and went through the mockery of a trial. 

He was nailed to a cross between two thieves.When he was dying, his executioners gambled for his clothing, the only property he had on earth. When he was dead, he was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.

Twenty centuries have come and gone, and today he is the central figure of the human race, the leader of mankind’s progress. 

All the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man on earth as much as that One Solitary Life.

A THANKSGIVING NOTE

It is Friday afternoon after Thanksgiving.  The family is relaxed, loving our time together and enjoying a mild Arizona day.  There are twelve of us, including six grandchildren that I adore.  Family! What a great idea.

Tomorrow we head back into our post Thanksgiving journey home but we will be filled with memories and stories and laughter.  For our family the journey of Advent begins on Sunday and we will make our way to Bethlehem's manger and, by faith, we will look into the face of Jesus and refresh our imaginations, imaginations rooted in the outrageous grace of God. 

We will journey with another family, too; the church to which we belong.  Together we will walk the Advent journey as we seek to draw near to God in openness and transparency and self-examination.  Our journey this year is a journey of paying special attention to what God is doing in our world. 

In a sense what we do in Advent is no different than what we do everyday throughout the year.  It's just that Advent slows us down a bit and gives us the opportunity to clear out any cobwebs that might have found their way into our story. It is a time to remember, to look back, to look forward, and to embrace the present.  It is a time to remember that God really is at work in the world, and that the world, as desperate as it is for meaning and purpose and peace, is not out of control.  God is here.  He has not distanced Himself from us but has come up close and personal. 

Today, I just want to say thank You to the God of all grace.  Our world is broken but our God is not broken.  He's got the whole world in His hands.  He's got me in His hands, and that amazes me more than anything else.  The world is filled with uncertainty but Jesus helps me to make sense of things in the midst of all the non-sense. 

So, even though it is a day late I want to say "Happy Thanksgiving" to all my friends and family.  May His grace embrace you through and through.  May His mercy stun You everyday.  May His comfort encourage you.  May His love hold you steady.  May God guide you and keep you and direct you in the twists and turns of your life.  May the Holy Spirit empower you.  May Jesus touch your life to the core and give you peace.

God you bless you all,

Rick   

HOW DO WE GO FORWARD?

Wouldn't it be great if the two people who ran for the presidency of the United States would take to a platform somewhere today, stand side by side and say to America,  

"The two of us disagree on just about every issue facing our country today.  This will not change.  We will daily take our stand and fight for what we believe to be the good fight.  Today, however, we stand in solidarity as Americans.  We confess our country is not perfect.  We acknowledge that we are not perfect.  Yet, we love this country, and today we are calling for a new way of being in America.  Don't let your convictions go.  Fight the good fight but remember we are Americans all. We are a people of law.  We have a constitution.  We don't have to agree with each other but we have a constitution."

There is a great line from the 1995 movie, "The American President," where president Andrew Shepherd (played by Michael Douglas) addresses the American people.  He says to them, to us,

America isn't easy. America is advanced citizenship. You gotta want it bad, 'cause it's gonna put up a fight. It's gonna say "You want free speech? Let's see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who's standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours. 

American is in a world of hurt and if ever there were a time for her leaders to step up and lead it is now.  Israelmore Ayivor said,

“Contrary to popular opinion, leadership is not a reserved position for a particular group of people who were elected or appointed, ordained or enthroned. Leadership is self-made, self-retained, self-inculcated and then exposed through a faithful, sincere and exemplary life.”

I love this country, warts and all, and I hope, even pray, that somehow, someway, we will stand strong in the face of adversity and exercise "advanced citizenship."

ON BALL GAMES AND ELECTIONS

The U.S. elections are less than a week away but before that important Tuesday there is another contest to resolve—which team will be the winner of Baseball's 2016 world series!  In the series, each team has three wins and three losses, and tonight, game seven will decide it all.  Tomorrow, life goes on but tonight the thought on the hearts of many Americans is focused on one ball game and it's outcome.  Will it be Chicago or Cleveland, the Indians or the Cubs, my team or their team?  Oh, the drama. 

All that being said, let the record show that I will be in front of my TV tonight watching the spectacle.  The truth is, however, I have no invested interest in the outcome of the game, the series, or even Baseball for that matter. I'm just a fan and I enjoy the trip every year even though my team (who for the purpose of this article shall remain nameless) hasn't made an appearance in the World Series for a while.  Still, I love it when a season comes down to one game, winner take all.

What does all this?  Probably nothing.  It's just got me to thinking about life in our world.  Life seems always to come down to winners and losers.  And, most of the time, outcomes seem to be out of the control of we ordinary folks.  Late next Tuesday night (unless this election has hanging chads issues to be resolved) the result of our opinions will be given, and on Wednesday November 9, we'll all get back in the saddle and do whatever it is we do.

As a follower of Jesus I will vote my conscience and proudly wear my "I Voted" sticker but still won't put my hope in the ways and means of people.  I seek to live faithfully and truthfully in the world as one created in the image of God.  The prayer of my life isn't, "Give me your best, Hillary or Donald."  My prayer is, "Our Father, hallowed be Your name.  Your kingdom come.  Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:9-10).  Jesus convinces me that God is at work in the human story in ways I could never conceive, that He has the best interest of the world in mind, and that God has spoken into the deepest needs of the human heart in Jesus. 

So, no matter who wins the World Series or the presidency or the senate or the house, Jesus is Lord of all.  I refuse to get caught up in the political and often times, extremely harsh, rhetoric of the past several months.  I think today I will be child-like and let Annie speak for me.

The sun'll come out tomorrow Bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow There'll be sun!Tomorrow! Tomorrow! I love ya!
Tomorrow! You're always A day A way!

Whatever tomorrow looks like those of us who are followers of Jesus will need simply to get back to work, living a life that is shaped and formed by the Lord of history, the Savior of the world, and the one who continually calls us to Himself that we and our world might know the rest of God. 

Okay, that's all I've got today.  Now it is off to Pasadena and channel 11 on my TV, and a game that holds the future of the known world in his grasp. 

THE FRIENDSHIP FACTOR

There is a poem written in 1855 by Joseph M Scriven that has resonated with me since I first discovered it as a child.

What a friend we have in Jesus, 

All our sins and griefs to bear! 

What a privilege to carry 

Everything to God in prayer.

These words still speak to my heart and leave me with some questions:  Do I really see Jesus as "Friend?"  Do I really believe He bears all my "sins and griefs?"  Do I live awestruck at the privilege of carrying "everything to God in prayer?"

I know the Biblically correct answer is "Yes."  However, I live in the real world where I see a lot of people who claim the name of Jesus but who seem to live in a void of uncertainty when it comes to God, to the redemptive processes of Jesus, and to prayer. I desperately do not want to be one of those persons.

Truth is, I wonder if we Christians, myself included, speak a better word than we actually live.  We almost have an obligation to say the "right" words but, still, I sometimes wonder if we fall short of living out the meaning of "right."  The potential to fall short is troublesome, and I take the potential seriously.  In my case, I want to be a Christlike man.  I want to be authentic.  I don't want to look better than I really am.  I don't believe in show-and-tell Christianity.  Jesus really does call us to Himself and in that calling to take up our cross and follow Him.  He words are stunning: "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me" (Mathew 16:24).

Dietrich Bonhoeffer gave us the now famous line, "When Christ calls a man He bids him come and die" (The Cost of Discipleship, London: SCM Press, 1948/2001, p. 44).  For decades now people have talked about that phrase, myself included.  When I first used the phrase it was because of the drama in the wording.  It was just so powerful it needed to be shared.  More recently I have come to see it as a simple statement of Christian faith.  This is a word that every follower of Jesus should assimilate into their story, not for drama, but simply because of who Jesus is and what He has provided in this world.  When a man or woman has a friend the likes of Jesus, to die to all else pales in comparison to the gift Jesus brings to their life.  I don't think this is an overstatement in light of what Jesus said in John 15:14-15, "You are My friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you." 

I have called you "Friends."  Is that possible?  Can this be true?  Is this the way Jesus sees those who have denied themselves, taken up their cross, and are following Him?  He sees us as friends, not slaves.  The apostle Paul writes a lot about us being slaves.  Jesus talks about us being friends.  Are the two compatible?  I think so.  We are slaves in the sense that we are committed to do everything Jesus asks of us, no matter what.  We are friends in the sense that we would do anything friendship might require of us.  

I think about this often as I seek to grow in my faith.  We believers are not in a business arrangement with God.  It's not even an employer/employee contract.  It is a relationship, a relationship of covenant love. It is not a matter of crossing T's and dotting I's. It is a matter of the heart.  Jesus loves us so much that all He has heard from the Father He shares with us.  He loves us so much that He always speaks the truth to us.  He loves us so much that He suffered and then died on the cross.

How do we respond to such a love? The answer is not found in legalism or ledger- keeping or "practicing [our] righteousness before men to be noticed by them" (Matt. 6:1).  The love of God calls us out of ourselves and into His life.  His love calls us to live so as to have Christ formed in us (Galatians 4:19).  In fact, the fruit of His Spirit in us is, "Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control" (Galatians 5:22-23).  Love is calling out to us and calling us "friend."  And so it is we sing,

What a friend we have in Jesus, 

All our sins and griefs to bear! 

What a privilege to carry 

Everything to God in prayer.