The Journey

As for Me

Scripture: Joshua 24:1-2a, 14-18

I have seen this passage or portions of this passage in many homes that I have visited. Many of the people that have this posted over their families truely do all they can to follow what the passage speaks, while other I wonder…

But who am I to judge I do not have this hanging anywherein my house, but that really is not saying a whole lot since from my experience as soon as I start hanging things we end up moving shortly after. But I do not own a picture saying this, to even consider hanging. It is not that I do not believe it or anything I just cannot choose which of the countless options I like best.

Today I really thought about what the context of this passage was saying. Joshua gathered all the elders and gave them a history lesson basically. Then he says I’m not going to live like those people that lead before, the ones that over the course of time lead us to where we are, but I’m going to live devoted to God. (That’s what I see anyway in my personal paraphrase). He is telling them I am going to do something different. I am going to live my life, and I am going to treat others according to my beliefs in God.

Do we really live like this, whe we put that picture quoting this passage over our doorways? Do we really live fully devoted to God in our words and actions? Do we treat our family, government, neighbors, and community like we would I God werestanding right next to us? Do we use the resources He has allowed us to use for God honoring endeavors or are we using them for the cults of wealth and greed? These are tough questions that I had to ask myself as I prayed with this passage today. To take it even further, since I am a pastor or someone who is looked to to be a spiritual guide among a community am I leading in a way that reflects the heart of this passage? Am I allowing my personal politics, dreams, goals crowd out or hinder others who are trying to live this life?

We each have to live life, how will we do it? Will we live following the courses others put us in or will we embrace something different? I encourage everyone to really look at your lives who are you following and what drives your decisions? Where is God in that and Who is that god? After you answer this question I encurage you to live all out in your expression of faith and devotion.

Time is Short (but not for that reason)

Scripture: Ephesians 5:15-20

Today I really got to thinking. This passage has usually been a temperance passage for me, but today not so much. It caused me to think of what is really important?

I was praying today before heading out to my job outside the church, and this passage really hit hard, asking me what is the most important things in my life? A wise person would focus on the most importat things and let the other things fall to the back of their minds, deal with them later. Making the most important aspects of life the highest priority.

The fools will focus on the things that do not really matter and then lose basically their entire life to the void of randomness. But what is the most important things in my life, or in the church?

It really makes me wonder if I’m stuck in some sort of vortex of foolishness, but then I stop and rethink. Relationships are the most important aspect of life. Hear me out. We spend our childhood playing, all the time we want our parents and friend to watch us. What does this mean? We want to be able to relate to others. A child will act out and continue to act according to the responses they receive, so they develope ways in which they can relate to others by either seeking greater learning, better pranks, or more trouble. So the wise would train their children in the way they should go by relating to them.

The next stage of life is that weird time where it isn’t the parent’s attention we want but the attention of the people we want to attract, for lack of any better term, sexually. How do we go about doing this? In a large part it reflects how we gained the attention of our parents, but of course we throw in a few twists of our own. Again the focus is on relationships.

Once we attract a “mate” we begin the cycle all over again. The problem is where is our standard on relationships? How do we build or encourage each other? As I reflect on the stories of God I find that God created humans as relational beings, however that creation happened scientifically. God said “let us create them in our image.” Our, us, them these are all relational words. God is relational. The image of god is relational as well.

The wise would not focus on things outside of building friendships and deepening relationships. As a church this should be our greatest goal, to deepen our relationship with God, and to encourage others to do the same. We can only do this if we ourselves are devoted to relationships and not our own selfish motives. But we also need to remember to be careful not to over extend ourselves as well. Our first priority is to train and encourage those closest to us. Then we can go out to others.

Time is short, not because the end is near but because relationships and friendships are sensitive. If we procrastinate on building relationships we will lose everything important to us. Our jobs, careers, money, and socalization methods are not the main point these are just tools used to help us build relationships so don’t be foolish clock out when you can and clock in to your family. Time is short. Our goal at the parties and weekend events should be on building friendships not to get drunk or to hook up. So drink less and talk more.

Most of all praise! If you do not take time to respect and live in awe of the God that created you and created the world and universe we live in, we miss out on something amazing. Engage in learning about the amazingness of the world around you how nature itself reflects the divine relational aspects of God. And remember that God did this for love, He came to us for love, died for us out of love, and rose to restore our hearts and lives to love Him and our communities. We cannot understand the true nature of our world, our families, or our friends without God. So spend time in praise and in prayer because time is short and our relationships need us to be wise.

Willow Creek Friends Church Labyrnth

We all walk a path in life.

The question is where is it leading? The Labyrnth is a spiritual tool used by many faiths but among Christian it is used to reflect on your life with Christ and to assist in prayer.

I liken it to an Unprogrammed Quaker Meeting for Worship on the move. These are some pictures from the labyrnth we painted on the lawn at our Meeting House in Kansas City.

It is really interesting to hear what people say after walking the path, for some it was very moving others just like to make the turns. I encourage you all to walk one in your area and if you don’t have one let me know and I can share with you how I made this one.

As you walk around the path you move closer to the center, then you seem to move away again. This reflects our spiritual lives in so many areas.

 We have spiritual high points and low points. When we move away from the center we may feel like we are going the wrong way, but that is not always the case if we are still on the path. The people we encounter in our lives can do a couple of things, helping us stay on the path or distract us from our goal. At times we must stop and let someone or a problem pass and then begin the walk again. Always to the goal. But once we are there we are not finished we must go out and again engage the world around us. This is our witness, or ministry. These to take many twists and turns and again we encounter trials. I love the symbolism in this pathway.