Mr Rogers... TV Personality -or- Modern Day Prophet?

It WILL be a beautiful day in the neighborhood when more of us realize the Bible verse that says "Love your neighbor" is not a suggestion, but a commandment!

Jesus said the injunction to, "Love your neighbor as yourself." belongs right beside the first and greatest commandment: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart."

"But who is my neighbor?" someone asked.  Jesus answered the question with a story about a Good Samaritan.  You've probably heard the story before, but its worth reading again: 

Luke 10:25-37The Message (MSG)

25 Just then a religion scholar stood up with a question to test Jesus. “Teacher, what do I need to do to get eternal life?”

26 He answered, “What’s written in God’s Law? How do you interpret it?”

27 He said, “That you love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and muscle and intelligence—and that you love your neighbor as well as you do yourself.”

28 “Good answer!” said Jesus. “Do it and you’ll live.”

29 Looking for a loophole, he asked, “And just how would you define ‘neighbor’?”

30-32 Jesus answered by telling a story. “There was once a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. On the way he was attacked by robbers. They took his clothes, beat him up, and went off leaving him half-dead. Luckily, a priest was on his way down the same road, but when he saw him he angled across to the other side. Then a Levite religious man showed up; he also avoided the injured man.

33-35 “A Samaritan traveling the road came on him. When he saw the man’s condition, his heart went out to him. He gave him first aid, disinfecting and bandaging his wounds. Then he lifted him onto his donkey, led him to an inn, and made him comfortable. In the morning he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take good care of him. If it costs any more, put it on my bill—I’ll pay you on my way back.’

36 “What do you think? Which of the three became a neighbor to the man attacked by robbers?”

37 “The one who treated him kindly,” the religion scholar responded.

Jesus said, “Go and do the same.”

Do you know where you are going?

When I was 8 years old I was on my own one evening when dad was at work, mom was shopping and my sisters were with friends.  I didn't mind, it gave me a chance to do some exploring. We lived in the mountains in a little community surrounded by forest.  But through the forest and down the mountain there was a fair sized town with bright lights, 3 movie theaters, a couple of donut shops and a Sears and Roebucks department store.  All of this was only a mile and a half away.

So I headed for the forest path that led down the mountain and found myself in the "big" city.  Though is was only half an hour from home, it seemed like a completely different world. The mixture of bright lights, the sound of metal trolley wheels clanging along their tracks, and the aroma of Coney Island hot dogs and fresh donuts was... intoxicating, but disorienting.  Time passed quickly and by the time I was ready to head home, night had fallen.

The forest was dark and the path seemed invisible.  I stood at the edge of the darkness waiting for my eyes to adjust, but the trees created a thick canopy that shrouded the light of the moon and the stars. I was afraid of the dark, but even more afraid of getting home after my parents were home.  So I blocked out the sounds of the forest by talking to myself, Out Loud, and slowly made my way along the path until I was safely home.

It was many years before I understood the significance of that night. Much more than the scary experience of a young child, it became an important paradigm for how to find the way through the darkness.

Jesus said there is a narrow way that leads to life and a wide way that leads to destruction.  As a child I thought of these as two separate pathways that moved in different directions.  One was narrow, but unmistakeable.  The other was so wide is would be hard to miss.  Simple!  Just take the narrow way and everything will be okay.

But my experience in the forest that night offered a more accurate picture of the narrow way that leads to life.  It doesn't go around the forest, but right through the forest.  And the narrow way can be hard to see because the forest is often dark.  

So how do we keep to the narrow way that leads to life?  Be alert: whatever intoxicates also distorts and disorients.  Be faithful: we walk by faith and not by sight.  Be persistent: stay on course and finish the race. Be  courageous: "It is not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord."  And never walk alone!

Small Things Done with Great Love Can Change the World

Its an amazing story!  No matter what you believe about Jesus, there is no denying that he and a ragtag team of pretty ordinary people changed the world.  Not by force.  Not with money.  Not by making empty promises.  Not by building a political machine.  Not through marketing, mobilizing or manipulating the truth.  Jesus believed in the power of people who are committed to a kingdom purpose.  

Before he taught in the temple, healed the sick, or calmed the storm, Jesus gathered a team of people to carry on his work.   He shared his passion with them, explained his purpose to them, gave a vivid personal example to them and sent them into the world to accomplish his purpose.  Jesus believed in the power of people who are joined by a common vision and moved by a kingdom purpose.

Have you seen this acronym for TEAM? It may seem a little simplistic but it underscores an important value in the teaching of Jesus. He didn't come to mobilize an army.  He came to gather ordinary people and persuade them that Together Everyone could Achieve More... "for the glory of God and their neighbor's good." 

The Book of Ecclesiastes exposes the writers cynicism except when he describes what can happen when two people are devoted to working together:

Two are better than one because a good return comes when two work together. If one of them falls, the other can help him up. But who will help the pitiful person who falls down alone? In the same way, if two lie down together, they can keep each other warm. But how will the one who sleeps alone stay warm against the night? And if one person is vulnerable to attack, two can drive the attacker away. As the saying goes, “A rope made of three strands is not quickly broken” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12)

Jesus didn't say, "We can change the world if we can just gather a big enough army!"  He said, "Wherever 2 or 3 gather in my name, I am there among them."  And when Jesus is among us nothing can stop us because... a rope of three strands is not quickly broken.

In his bestselling book Tribes, Seth Godin offers some interesting insights into the brilliance of Jesus' ministry plan.  Godin never mentions Jesus, but what he has to say about leading, connecting and creating movements seems to reflect the thinking of Jesus and bear the imprint of his life.  You can view Godin's  Tribe TED talk, HERE.

The Parable of the Lifesaving Station

On a dangerous sea coast where shipwrecks often occur, there was once a crude little life-saving station. The building was just a hut, and there was only one boat, but the few devoted members kept a constant watch over the sea and with no thought for themselves went out day and night tirelessly searching for the lost. Some of those who were saved, and various others in the surrounding area, wanted to become associated with the station and give of their time and money and effort for the support of its work. New boats were bought and new crews trained. The little lifesaving station grew. 

Some members of the lifesaving station were unhappy that the building was so crude and poorly equipped. They felt that a more comfortable place should be provided as the first refuge of those saved from the sea. They replaced the emergency cots with beds and put better furniture in the enlarged building. Now the lifesaving station became a popular gathering place for its members, and they decorated it beautifully and furnished it exquisitely, because they used it as sort of a club.

Fewer members were now interested in going to sea on lifesaving missions, so they hired lifeboat crews to do this work. The lifesaving motif still prevailed in this club’s decorations, and there was a miniature lifeboat in the room where the club initiations were held.

About this time a large ship was wrecked off the coast, and the hired crews brought in boatloads of cold, wet, and half-drowned people. They were dirty and sick, and some of them had black skin and some had yellow skin. The beautiful new club was in chaos. So the property committee immediately had a shower house built outside the club where victims of shipwreck could be cleaned up before coming inside.

At the next meeting, there was a split in the club membership. Most of the members wanted to stop the club’s lifesaving activities, since they were unpleasant and a hindrance to the normal social life of the club. Some members insisted upon lifesaving as their primary purpose and pointed out that they were still called a lifesaving station. But they were finally voted down and told that if they wanted to save the lives of all the various kinds of people who were shipwrecked in those waters, they could begin their own lifesaving station down the coast. They did.

As the years went by, the new station experienced the same changes that had occurred in the old. It evolved into a club, and yet another lifesaving station was founded. History continued to repeat itself, and if you visit that sea coast today you will find a number of exclusive clubs along the shore. Shipwrecks are frequent in those waters, but most of the people drown. -- 'A Crude Lifesaving Station' by Theodore Wedel

"Bless the Lord, Oh My Soul"

Every so often a song comes along that scratches through the crusty residue that can tarnish my faith and blur my vision.   Matt Redman, a contemporary songwriter from England, has a way of writing songs that reflect an honest kind of faith and a passion for God that is real.  10,000 Reasons is one of those songs that renews my faith and rekindles my passion for God.  Here are the lyrics:

Bless the Lord, O my soul
O my soul
Worship His holy name
Sing like never before
O my soul
I worship Your holy name

The sun comes up; it's a new day dawning
It's time to sing Your song again
Whatever may pass and whatever lies before me
Let me be singing when the evening comes

Bless the Lord, O my soul
O my soul
Worship His holy name
Sing like never before
O my soul
I worship Your holy name

You're rich in love and You're slow to anger
Your name is great and Your heart is kind
For all Your goodness, I will keep on singing
10,000 reasons for my heart to find

Bless the Lord, O my soul
O my soul
Worship His holy name
Sing like never before
O my soul
I worship Your holy name

And on that day when my strength is failing
The end draws near and my time has come
Still my soul will sing Your praise unending
10,000 years and then forever more

Bless the Lord, O my soul
O my soul
Worship His holy name
Sing like never before
O my soul
I worship Your holy name

Give the song a listen HERE

The Only Thing We Have to Fear is Fear Itself

Who said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself"? Give up? It was Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the opening sentences of his first inaugural address in 1933.  Roosevelt took office at the height of the Great Depression, when many had lost jobs, homes, farms, and worst of all... hope. FDR was convinced that our greatest problem was not the national economic crisis but, "Nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance."

We live in a time when fear, once again, threatens to paralyze our ability to think, speak and act as faithful followers of Jesus.  

In my devotional time this morning I read a Bible story that focuses on fear and faith.  Jesus and his disciples got into a little fishing boat and started across the large lake known as the Galilee when... "A terrible storm came up, with waves breaking into the boat."  Everyone in the boat became frightened.  Everyone but Jesus, who was sound asleep.

The others rushed to wake him up, "Lord!" They shouted, "Save us! We're going to drown!" Jesus replied, "Why are you afraid?  You have so little faith!"

If you find yourself on the water with waves crashing over your boat, most would agree that fear is a normal human response. However, the way we respond to our fear can hinder our response to the wind and the waves. Fear can paralyze and prevent us from thinking clearly and acting courageously. 

Marilynne Robinson is an award winning contemporary author who brings a Christian perspective to her writing.  Two of her novels, Housekeeping and Gilead have won the Pulitzer Prize.  Robinson laments that fear has become a national obsession.  In an interview for the New York Times, she says:

"I think a default posture of human beings is fear.  I think this has become prominent in our culture recently --  fear is an excuse; 'I would like to have done something, but of course I couldn't...'  Fear is so opportunistic that people can call on it under the slightest provocation: 'He looked at me funny, so I shot him.'" 

She also laments that the "faith community" has  become infected by the spread of fear.  In an interview with the Religious News Service Robinson had this to say:

"There are Christians so scared of the world that they want to carry a gun... (but I think) it's a little bit unChristian to have thinking and behavior governed by fear."

"How did we get so scared of each other?  I have never felt as if I was in a situation that could remotely suggest to me the appropriateness of lethal violence.  And I'm not living in a gated community in Florida." 

As followers of Jesus we need to continue to wrestle with his challenge "Why are you afraid?  You have so little faith!"  

The Book of Proverbs offers a helpful prescription for the fear influenza sweeping the world:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not lean on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. (Proverbs 3:5) 

God's Masterpiece

Anna Mary Robertson was one of 10 children who grew up on a small farm in New York.  Money was pretty scarce on the Robertson farm, so when Anna Mary was 12 her parents hired her out to work on another farm. This sounds like a tough thing to do to a 12 year old, but it was pretty common back in that day. 

When she was in her 20's Anna Mary married a man who was hired to work on the same farm. They moved to Virginia, took up farming in the Shenandoah Valley and raised 5 children.  They had had 10 children, but five of them died at birth. 

After 20 years in Virginia, the Robertsons moved back to New York where they continued farming until Thomas died of a heart attack in 1927.  With the help of her son, Forest, Anna Mary continued to run the farm until she was in her 70's. After stepping away from the farm, she took up embroidery to fill her spare time, but arthritis made it difficult for her to hold the embroidery needles.  Her daughter-in-law persuaded her to try painting.

Anna Mary Robertson Moses was 76 years old when she discovered her passion for painting.  Over the next 25 years she completed 1600 paintings before her death at the age of 101.  

A few years after starting to paint, Louis Caldor, an art collector from New York City saw some of her paintings in the window of a drug store in Hoosick Falls, New York.  He bought the paintings and took them back to New York City where they were displayed in New York's Museum of Modern Art.  Grandma Moses, as she became know, became an overnight sensation.  In 2006, one of her paintings sold for 1.6 million dollars.  Not bad for someone who had no formal training and had spent most of her life doing farm chores.

Who would have imaged this outcome for her life?  Who? The who had designed, equipped and created her!  God created Anna Mary Robertson Moses with a passion for beauty and all of the talents she would ever need to express her passion.  It just too a while for her to discover what God had created her to do.

Each of us is a unique, one of a kind, custom designed child of God, designed with artistic genius and created with great love.  Look at how the psalmist describes the careful detail God puts into each masterpiece he creates:

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb.  Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!  Your workmanship is marvelous -- how well I know it.  You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I I was woven together in the dark of the womb.  You saw me before I was born.  Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. (Psalm 139:13-16)