July 29, 2018

Pentecost: Diamonds in the Rough


Last week we considered the idea that ‘God is making a masterpiece’ as Mark Roberts notes. There are many layers to each of us and they are being changed and transformed day by day. Hawk Nelson, in his contemporary Christian song Diamonds agrees. He sings, “He's making diamonds, diamonds/Making diamonds out of dust/He is refining and in His timing/He's making diamonds out of us.”

I think it is reassuring to think that God is ‘making diamonds’ from the layers of ‘stuff’ that we accumulate in our lives and in our hearts and minds. Incidentally, diamonds do not start as coal (I know, I was surprised, too). They are made from the element carbon under extreme pressure. Coal is also formed under pressure, and includes organic components that diamonds don’t. Diamonds are formed, according to Geology.com at “very high temperatures and pressures. These conditions occur in limited zones of Earth's mantle about 90 miles below the surface where temperatures are at least 2000 degrees Fahrenheit.” Diamonds can also form where one layer of the earth’s crust goes under another (subduction) and by (or sometimes in) meteors. 

It takes the correct combination of carbon, pressure, and temperature to make a diamond. It happens, sciencing.com tell us, when the “carbon atoms bond together in…a particular way that lets them share electrons--a regular, three-dimensional geometric pattern that, if left to grow without interference, produces large, pure diamond crystals.” Science can now make synthetic diamonds using similar pressure and temperature processes.  

Even after the diamond is in your hand, it’s not done. It takes time to make the chunk of rock formed by heat and pressure into a sparkling gem. Rough diamonds are nice stones, but not something you’ll want to show off in a ring, necessarily. It takes a master craftsman to turn that rock into a polished diamond fit for a piece of jewelry. 
It takes time, and work, to change us into the beautiful diamond masterpiece God plans. Mandisa, another contemporary Christian artist sings, “my God's not done/Making me a masterpiece/He's still working on me/He started something good and I'm gonna believe it/He started something good and He's gonna complete it.” (Unfinished)

On those days when I feel, as Nelson says, “I'm in the fire in above my head/Being held under the pressure don't know what'll be left.” It is then that “I'll surrender to the power of being crushed by love/Till the beauty that was hidden isn't covered up.”

The jeweler knows how to chip away at the stone until the beauty is revealed. We don’t like that chipping away process. It’s not easy to surrender, even to God’s love. We want too much to believe that WE can MAKE it OK. Our world tells us that we are 'in charge of our own destiny'. God's love says, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest". (Matthew 11:28) 

We have to let the Master Jeweler work. Ultimately, we’ll be glorious diamond masterpieces. Even now, God sees us as that jewel, because God knows that is what we are. I have to remind myself that ‘I’m just unfinished.”

Diamonds are formed by pressure. Are you under pressure today? Can you believe that God is making a diamond with that pressure?

Does it comfort you to know that God already sees you as a completed masterpiece and flawless diamond? 

July 22, 2018

Masterpiece-in the making


In the Letter to the Ephesians, Paul says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:8-10)

Mark Roberts of the Fuller DePree Institute notes on June 18 that the “Greek word [translated handiwork] is poiema, related to the verb poieo (to make), had a broad range of meaning in Greek, referring to many things made by a creative agent, usually a human being.” Roberts states that in other translations the word is variously translated as “accomplishment” (CEB), “workmanship” (ESV, KJV), or “masterpiece” (NLT). I like the translation as ‘masterpiece’. To me that means that God is working on something extra special, not just an everyday piece of work.

Roberts goes on to say, “When we respond to God’s grace through faith, not only do we receive assurance of our future salvation, but we are also remade by God’s creative power. We become new people, even though we continue to live in our old bodies. In this sense, we are God’s handiwork, accomplishment, workmanship, or masterpiece…God doesn’t make damaged goods or mediocre products. Whatever God makes could, in a real sense, be called a masterpiece.”

How does that idea make you feel? It humbles me. Too often I don’t feel like a ‘masterpiece’ at all. I am very good at identifying the traits I have that are ‘bad’ or at least not very ‘Christian’.

Roberts says we all ask ourselves, “How could I possibly be God’s masterpiece?” Then he responds, “your status as a masterpiece is true, not because of how healthy you are, how accomplished you are, or how moral you are. You are a masterpiece because of what God has done in your life by his grace. You have been newly and wonderfully created through Christ, so that you might live in relationship with God and for his glory. This is God’s work in you.”

It is God working in me and in you that makes us the masterpiece. It is not what we are doing or not doing. God's grace is what makes and remakes us again and again

When I first read this meditation, I thought of the work that art restorers do, and how they are now using technology like ‘multi-spectral imaging’ to see the various layers of art beneath what we see as the finished masterpiece.  They have discovered that, even under something as famous as Mona Lisa, there are other images. Da Vinci started out with one idea and then modified it as he went along. 
I ponder whether my actions and reactions to God at work in my life make God readjust how the finished masterpiece will look. The basic design is there. God’s call and love and grace are unchanging. I, however, might make a mistake or ‘spill paint’ resulting in a reworking of something in the final piece.

God’s Grace ultimately will triumph and I will be the masterpiece God already sees. That is a beautiful thought. Nothing I can do will really ruin the beautiful creation God is making. 

Does it change anything to think that God is making you a ‘masterpiece’?
Will you look at yourself differently?
Next week, we'll continue exploring this topic.

July 15, 2018

Family


Last week I was with my husband’s family for our nephew’s wedding in Nebraska. It was lovely to be with his siblings, many of our grandchildren and others of the extended family. Seeing the joy and love of the bride and groom was a reminder of the love that our Lord has for us as the Bride of Christ.

As an only child it was, in one sense bittersweet, to see the relationship re-blossom between my husband and his siblings who hadn’t all been together for over a decade. On the other hand, because his family has been part of my life since I was in 9th grade, it was a also a reunion for me.

Psalm 64:5-6 notes that God is “A father of the fatherless, and a defender of the widows, is God in His holy habitation. God settles the lonely in families; He leads the prisoners out to prosperity, but the rebellious dwell in a sun-scorched land.” No matter how scattered, or lost, our birth families are, God’s family is huge.

We are all part of the Family of God, just as we are members of our own extended families. It is too easy to forget how much we have in common when we neglect to keep in contact. Watching my husband pick up the relationships with his brothers and sisters after not being together for over a decade brought tears to my eyes. Getting reacquainted with his sister, who was my maid of honor (so many years ago), was delightful and I was sorry we’d let so much time pass without sharing more than a Christmas card.

My husband and his siblings had drifted apart simply by not chatting regularly. Once together, they remembered how much they had in common and how much history they share. The same is often true in day-to-day relationships, too. We think we have nothing in common with someone until we start talking, and then discover that we grew up in the same town, or majored in the same subject, or even both just like cats.

Just as we need to maintain relationships in our biological families, we need to keep open the lines of communication between our neighbors, churches, and even with those we may not agree. I like the meme that shows up every so often on Facebook. There is a number laying on the ground. The person on one side sees it as a ‘6’ and the other sees it as a ‘9’. Both are right, from their perspective. From the outside perspective of the viewer-both are right. When we disagree, it can help to step outside the confrontation to try and see the other side, or even better, to see both sides. 


God uses us to welcome the lonely and to create a ‘family’ for the fatherless. As the song says “We are the family of God/Yes we are the family of God/And He's brought us together/To be one in Him/That we might bring light to the world.” 
Let's build relationships, instead of tearing each other apart. Let's find common ground and learn to be civil. Let's build bridges instead of walls. We are one family, after all. 

Is there someone you might be able to mend a relationship with?

Have you been meaning to contact an old friend, but haven’t because you think too much time has passed?
Can you think of someone you might have something in common with, even if you don’t know it?

July 1, 2018

Pentecost: You Can do it


As we come to the end of this series of reflections on living into a Spirit-filled life that acts on Jesus’ Commandment to “Love God, Love your Neighbor, Love yourself” we might feel overwhelmed. We have looked at the hard work and commitment it takes to stand up against society and even evil that threatens to destroy the people and creation of God.

It is not easy to live a life of love for others. Some days we don’t even love ourselves, much less our neighbor. Loving God can be difficult, too, when things seem to be falling apart and God feels far away.

Back in 2014, I pondered, “But how DO you love those irritating neighbors who play loud music at all hours? Or that co-worker who takes all the credit? Or the driver who cuts you off in traffic? Or the murderer or rapist or abuser on the news or (for some) closer to home? I don’t have the answer. It’s not easy to do as Jesus says and love as we are loved. Maybe it has to do with the lesson from last Sunday: “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matthew 11:29) When we let go of our various ways of trying to control the outcome and allow Jesus to take the bulk of the load we/I might just find that it is easier to see Jesus in everyone. It’s also found in I Corinthians 13. “faith, hope, and love/charity abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love/charity.””

We come back to the questions that Laurie Brock asked in her 50 Days meditation. “Will we make mistakes as we strive to live this love of Jesus? Yes, as did the disciples as we’ve read in Acts. Will we all agree on exactly how we live this love of Jesus? No, and neither did the disciples, as we’ve read in Acts. Will being blown forward by the Spirit into this love lead us to new and extraordinary places, especially places far outside our personal comfort zones? Yes, as it did to the disciples, as we’ve read in Acts.”

We will make mistakes because we are human, we will disagree on what is important and how to live in a loving way. In fact, each of us is called to love in our own unique way. Some are called to activism and leadership. Some are called to bring joy to family and friends by ‘dreamingsmall’.  Some are called to create beauty in word and art and music as a way of showing love. Some will show love by simply smiling at everyone they meet even though they may not have (in the eyes of culture) any reason to smile.

At the Last Supper, Jesus said, “I give you a new commandment that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” Jesus didn’t say that to make us feel bad or inadequate. It is, as Brock notes, “Work Jesus is convinced we can do.”

We are not alone, either. Jesus promises, “my yoke is easy and my burden is light”. (Matthew 11:30) Jesus walks with us through each day, through each joy and challenge. Jesus is even there when we try to go our own way and do our own thing.

Another writer, Linda McMillan, notes, “We have to somehow shed the baggage of other people’s expectations of us and how we should live in the world, and choose the small round stones right in front of us. God seems to have a way of putting your job right in front of you. You will not have to look far. The only thing that really helps all of us, the only way to defeat the giant in our midst, is for each one of us to be our authentic selves, using the gifts that we already have, and doing the work that is right in front of us.” 

Like the disciples in the upper room on the first Pentecost, we have been given the Holy Spirit to empower us. Like Peter and John we can stand before councils and governors, and our neighbors, and be witnesses of God’s love. It takes a commitment to standing up and to loving even the unlovable.

You can do it. God is working in you and in me. Be yourself. Use the ‘stones’ right in front of you-the gifts you have been given. And then as Francesca Battistelli says, “Watch the giants fall.”

I’m taking this next week off for a family reunion trip. See you on July 15 with a new series for this ‘Ordinary Time’. 

Palm Sunday

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