Sunday, April 27, 2014

Moon Phases

Sunday 4/27/2014 6:52 AM
When I got up this morning a sliver of the waning crescent moon was hanging in the eastern sky.  I began thinking about the different phases of the moon and soon came to the conclusion that astronomers are one of the major contributors to the confusion regarding fractions that many of my students have.  I keep telling them that fractions come in families, like the fourths family.  Family members, from smallest to largest, are: zero-fourths, one-fourth, two-fourths, three-fourths and, finally four-fourths, which is one whole.  However, every month they hear that the moon goes from new moon to first quarter to full moon to third quarter and then back to new moon.  What kinds of fractions, other than halves, go from first to whole to third?  Further confusing things are the terms waxing, waning and gibbous.  The sun illuminates approximately one half of the moon at any given moment so, from the sun’s perspective, the part of the moon facing the sun is always completely illuminated.  From the point of view of earth, when only one half of the illuminated half of the moon is visible, we use the term first quarter.  That makes sense to me.  But then, logically, when the entire illuminated half of the moon is visible from the earth it should be half moon, not full moon.  If, on the other hand, one considers the whole moon to be only the half that is visible to someone on the earth then, at the first quarter, when half of the moon visible from earth is illuminated it should be half moon rather than first quarter.  It seems as if astronomers want it both ways.
As I ran I began to think about how I view myself, how I view others, and how they view me.  When I judge myself by using someone else as a standard it is usually easy to find someone who is better than me and someone who is worse than me.  If “good” is the equivalent to the illumination in the moon phases then sometimes the image I project to others is a crescent moon, sometimes the first quarter, sometimes waning gibbous, sometimes full, etc.  When my life is orbiting that of someone else or when their life is orbiting mine then the “goodness” I see in myself and that I see in the other person waxes and wanes like the ebbing and flowing of the tides.

2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”  Romans 3:21-22 reads, “But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.  This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.”  If I am a Christian, from God’s point of view, I have the righteousness of Christ; so he sees me as always being illuminated.  I judge things by comparing myself to others and by comparing others to me.  When I do so I vary from waxing to waning, from crescent to gibbous, and from new to full.  No wonder in 1 Corinthians 4:5 Paul encourages his readers with these words, “Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes.  He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart.  At that time each will receive their praise from God.”  I need to focus on God and upon the redeeming work of Christ on my behalf and leave the judging of others and of me up to God.

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Home

Wednesday 4/23/2014 5:11 AM
I called my mom three different times over the weekend and each time she talked about her death.  It was not in a morbid way but rather she expressed curiosity about it and also said that things that used to be important to her no longer hold the same appeal.  It almost seems as if she is, in the words of Shakespeare, shuffling of this mortal coil.
Today I read 1 Corinthians 5 as part of my devotions.  Paul writes about the earthly tent of our bodies being destroyed and how we will be clothed with a heavenly dwelling.  Verse 6 says, “Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord.”  I wonder if mom is beginning to come to grips with her own mortality and is beginning to realize that her death will release her from the pain and suffering of this world and will open up a new world that is better by far.
I find that as I age the things that seemed so important earlier in life are no longer important to me.  If you talked to me today I would say that I have no fear of death or of dying.  I wonder if my confidence is high in this regard because I see my death as an event in the distant future rather than something that will happen relatively soon.  Will I have the same confidence when I am lying on a bed with my body filled with cancer or if I will begin to doubt my future like many older people I know.  My hymn for the week is Some Day, by Charles A. Tindley.  I pray that the refrain of that hymn will be my song throughout my life.  “I do not know how long ‘twill be, nor what the future holds for me, but this I know if Jesus leads me, I shall get home some day.”

Saturday, April 19, 2014

The Table of the King

Saturday 4/19/2014 4:30 AM
Tuesday of every week Jaci babysits for our grandkids that live in California.  When Andy and Jessica come to pick them up they usually stay for dinner and if Garrison and Emily are not working they join us too.  We sit around the table together and have a family dinner.  We sit and enjoy the meal together and when we finish eating the grandkids often get up to play while the adults sit around the table and visit.  The conversation is nothing special; we simply share what has happened during the past week while finishing a glass of wine or whatever it is we had to drink with dinner.  The atmosphere is generally relaxed with lots of laughter and good-hearted banter back and forth.
Last night we attended the Good Friday service at our church.  At the end of the service we had communion and the members of the congregation filed to the front of the sanctuary to partake of the elements.  During that time we sang Behold the Lamb, a communion hymn whose lyrics and music were written by Keith and Kristyn Getty and Stuart Townend.

Behold the Lamb who bears our sins away,
Slain for us - and we remember
The promise made that all who come in faith
Find forgiveness at the cross.
So we share in this bread of life,
And we drink of His sacrifice
As a sign of our bonds of peace
Around the table of the King.

The body of our Savior Jesus Christ,
Torn for you - eat and remember
The wounds that heal, the death that brings us life
Paid the price to make us one.
So we share in this bread of life,
And we drink of His sacrifice
As a sign of our bonds of love
Around the table of the King.

The blood that cleanses every stain of sin,
Shed for you - drink and remember
He drained death's cup that all may enter in
To receive the life of God.
So we share in this bread of life,
And we drink of His sacrifice
As a sign of our bonds of grace
Around the table of the King.

And so with thankfulness and faith we rise
To respond, - and to remember
Our call to follow in the steps of Christ
As His body here on earth.
As we share in His suffering
We proclaim Christ will come again!
And we’ll join in the feast of heaven
Around the table of the King.


As we sang, the last phrase of each verse reminded me of our family dinner night and, for the first time, I thought of communion as sitting around God’s table sharing with the family of God in the same way as when our family sits around our table enjoying good food and enjoying each other’s company.  In the sacrament of communion we remember Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf that has resulted in the complete forgiveness of all of our sins, which makes sitting at God’s table possible.  Today I read Psalm 23:5, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.”  It is another reminder of the relationship that God desires with his people even when our lives are beset with things that are trying to sever that relationship.  During my quiet time each day I feel as if I sit down for breakfast with God, sharing my life with him and listening to the advice he has for me for the coming day.  God has prepared the table and he has made it possible for me to come and enjoy the food and the company it will provide.  The question is do I accept the invitation and take the time to feast at the table of the King?

Saturday, April 12, 2014

Doing or Being

Saturday 4/12/2014 6:20 AM
Over the course of the past couple of months I have wondered about the effectiveness of my life in pointing others to God.  As far as I know there are very few people who are Christians because of my interactions with them.  Jesus said that if his disciples remained in him they would bear much fruit and sometimes it seems as if my life is a barren tree, with no fruit visible to those who are looking on.
In his book The Living Reminder, Henri Nouwen addresses this issue.  He writes, “The main question indeed is not a question of doing, but a question of being.  When we speak about the minister as a living reminder of God, we are not speaking about a technical specialty which can be mastered through the acquisition of specific tools, techniques, and skills, but about a way of being which embraces the totality of life, working and resting, eating and drinking, praying and playing, acting and waiting.  Before any professional skill we need a spirituality, a way of living in the spirit by which all we are and all we do becomes a form of reminding.  One way to express this is to say that in order to be a living reminder of the Lord, we must walk in his presence as Abraham did.  To walk in the presence of the Lord means to move forward in life in such a way that all our desires, thoughts, and actions are constantly guided by him.  When we walk in the Lord’s presence, everything we see, hear, touch, or taste reminds us of him.  This is what is meant by a prayerful life.  It is not a life in which we say many prayers, but a life in which nothing, absolutely nothing, is done, said, or understood independently of him who is the origin and purpose of our existence.”

As I walk through my day I am constantly reminded of God in the things I experience and through the people I meet.  I am aware of God’s constant presence within my own mind but I wonder if others watching my life are made aware of God’s presence.  Somehow it still seems as if the love and care of God that I experience in such a real way needs to be communicated to those with whom I have contact as I move through my life.  It is one thing for me to see the Lord working and moving in my life but, ultimately, others need to see and experiencing the Lord moving in their lives.  And how that is communicated is the conundrum I struggle to understand.

Friday, April 11, 2014

Hearing Loss

Friday 4/11/2014 3:58 AM
I gave tests in each of my classes last week and Monday of this week.  The extra work to correct the tests takes a considerable amount of time.  I usually spend part of my weekend working on grading the tests but last weekend we spent time visiting with friends and enjoying their company and God’s creation together with them.  Most of the week I have had little sleep in order to finish my work and, as usual, my routine has been interrupted and I feel overwhelmed with the busyness of it all.

Urban Holmes writing in his book Spirituality For Ministry describes my life pretty well at this point.  “Many persons, ordained or not, live in a fairly constant state of noise, with their unresolved past and the uncertain present breaking in on them.  They lack a still center and it is only for such a quiet point that we can listen attentively.”  My listening for God’s voice has been nearly nonexistent recently.  The only voice I hear is the clamoring of tests begging to be graded.  It drowns out the voices around me that God is trying to use to increase my capacity to love or those voices he is trying to use to encourage me when I despair.  Either way I lose.