What time is it?

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. - Genesis 1:1–2

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. - John 1:1–3

Time.

It is impossible for us to really understand the concept of an existence without time. We live in time; for us to try and understand what “outside of time” actually would be like is like trying to describe color to a person born blind or taste to a person with no taste buds. We might be able to make approximations, but they would be just that; they would be shadows of a thing we cannot know.

Yet that is where God lives. God lives outside of time, without time, before time, yet he is somehow in time, all of the time. Confused yet?

At the time when all that we know, feel, see, or sense had it’s beginning, God was already there. Time is a created thing, a divinely created thing, a reality that each of us lives in, and that God does not.

Let your mind play with that idea for a while. And stand in awe of a God who is so much bigger than our idea of Him.

- What does it mean that God is “outside of time.”?

- How does this reality give you hope when you are going through a time of pain that seems like it will go on forever?

- How does this give you rest in the business of world without enough time?

Peace, hope and love

Doug

See? People.

Shout! A full-throated shout! Hold nothing back—a trumpet-blast shout! Tell my people what’s wrong with their lives, face my family Jacob with their sins! They’re busy, busy, busy at worship, and love studying all about me. To all appearances they’re a nation of right-living people— law-abiding, God-honoring. They ask me, ‘What’s the right thing to do?’ and love having me on their side.

But they also complain, ‘Why do we fast and you don’t look our way? Why do we humble ourselves and you don’t even notice?’ “Well, here’s why: “The bottom line on your ‘fast days’ is profit. You drive your employees much too hard. You fast, but at the same time you bicker and fight. You fast, but you swing a mean fist. The kind of fasting you do won’t get your prayers off the ground. Do you think this is the kind of fast day I’m after: a day to show off humility? To put on a pious long face and parade around solemnly in black? Do you call that fasting, a fast day that I, GOD, would like?

This is the kind of fast day I’m after: to break the chains of injustice, get rid of exploitation in the workplace, free the oppressed, cancel debts. What I’m interested in seeing you do is: sharing your food with the hungry, inviting the homeless poor into your homes, putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad, being available to your own families. Do this and the lights will turn on, and your lives will turn around at once. Your righteousness will pave your way. The GOD of glory will secure your passage. Then when you pray, GOD will answer. You’ll call out for help and I’ll say, "Here I am."

If you get rid of unfair practices, quit blaming victims, quit gossiping about other people’s sins, If you are generous with the hungry and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out, Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness, your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight. I will always show you where to go. I’ll give you a full life in the emptiest of places— firm muscles, strong bones. You’ll be like a well-watered garden, a gurgling spring that never runs dry. You’ll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You’ll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again.

If you watch your step on the Sabbath and don’t use my holy day for personal advantage, If you treat the Sabbath as a day of joy, GOD’S holy day as a celebration, If you honor it by refusing "business as usual," making money, running here and there— Then you’ll be free to enjoy GOD! Oh, I’ll make you ride high and soar above it all. I’ll make you feast on the inheritance of your ancestor Jacob.

Yes! GOD says so! - Isaiah 58:1–14 MESSAGE

I decided to quote Isaiah 58 in it's entirety because I think it is an fascinating passage and worth reading. When you are done reading it, it is worth reading again and finally reflecting on it (and maybe reading it once more). It's fascinating because it's the voice of God actually spoken to and through the Old Testament prophet Isaiah, and telling people who want to follow God what authentic worship looks like. According to God, worship or religion or faith that most pleases Him is not what people often think it is or what they most often do. It is not times of singing, gathering together on Sunday, living good lives or even seeking God, that is if you are not doing other very concrete things. If we do the things I just mentioned, but live lives that are not terribly different from everybody else who is looking out for #1, God says to blow a trumpet announcing we are wrong. God says through the prophet Isaiah that people who have really encountered God should be easy to spot -- not by how they worship and pray (as important as those things are), but by how they love -- especially by how they love those who society does not love.

People who have been marked by God should be concerned about injustice, poverty, the hungry and the homeless -- not just concerned but bothered to the point of action. Now look at what it says after the requirement to love; this is not some "do this because I say so," command. God actually promises that as we live this love in action, as we actually move into physically caring for the poor, we will discover that we will not run empty, but actually will become more full; firmer muscles and bones, healthier, more content, able to know God's will, able to hear His voice and able to have our voice heard by Him. "Yes! God says so! Read it again, these are amazing promises.

Amazing promises, and amazing requirements; amazing and hard. What does it look like to invite the homeless into our homes? Does God really want you to do that? What about safety? How do you actually share our food and put clothing on the shivering ill clad, where do you do it, is that even practical? Is writing check to others who do it ok? Are we supposed to do it ourselves? What does this all actually look like lived out here in 2010? These are hard, real questions. Questions that we need to ask and struggle with in community, and then to step out, to experiment together with the many ways we might begin live this way, discover together the very practical ways that we can refuse "business as usual," and move into being restorers of things that are broken, who make communities livable again. "Yes, God says so."

This past Sunday Dustin Cross with One4One shared a little of his story and the stories of his friends on the street, his friends without homes. He shared very practically how we could begin the process of moving away from business as usual, step by step. He suggested that when we see someone who is homeless, that we start with simply making eye contact and saying hi to them. The next time you see them, tell them your name and ask them theirs. Next time, ask if they would like a cup of coffee. Move toward asking them to join you next time, in a continuum from an unseen person to a person seen, a person known, a friend. It actually sounds kind of easy, when put that way, doesn't it? Is there somebody who comes to mind when you think through this continuum? What would stop you from doing it?

Peace, hope and love

Psalm in the Key of Life

The LORD is my shepherd,
I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,

and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. - Psalm 23

I don't know about you, but until recently I really had never given much thought to the 23rd Psalm. Maybe it was a case of familiarity breeding contempt; not contempt actually, more like complacency. The times where I have read through the Psalms, I almost always had skimmed this one because I knew it so well, I'd heard it so often. Am I the only one? Can you relate?

The 23rd Psalm is sometimes known as "the funeral Psalm," I've read it at funerals myself. It's called "the funeral Psalm," I think, because it talks about not fearing and walking through the valley of the shadow of death. Death, sadness and fear are so closely linked. Recently I have become convinced that it is not a psalm about death at all, it's a "life Psalm," actually an abundant life Psalm. Take a look at it again. Read it slowly, line by line and see the life that flows from it.

Starting with God, and his leading of you to:

- Satisfaction
- Rest
- Peace
- Restoration and healing for you
- Direction into a way of life that heals the world
- Contentment and comfort even in times of shadow-like darkness (the word death here is actually the hebrew word "tsalmaveth" which means darkness or gloom rather than literal death).
- A trust in God so real that you want his leading of you wherever he wants is comforting
- A sense of God's care and presence even when it seems all the world is against you
- A welcoming by God at all times
- Abundant, extravagant provision of all you need.
- A resultant life and presence that naturally brings goodness and love and mercy to those it comes in contact with.

Ending with, and resulting in a life that is lived continually in God's presence, wherever you are.

This is not a "death Psalm," at all! It's a "life Psalm," a Psalm about the abundance of a life rooted in God.

One day Jesus told some religious leaders who challenged the motives for his ministry that he "came so [we] can have real and eternal life, more and better life than [we] ever dreamed of." (John 10:10) He describes this abundant life which starts and ends with him this way, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love." (John 15:5–10)

Do you hear the echoes of the "Life Psalm" in the words of Jesus? From the mouth of the Psalmist and from the mouth of Jesus our abundant life begins and ends -- finds its very sustenance --in a life rooted into, abiding in, and dwelling with God. Any good that we become and any good that we do flows from Him, and leads us deeper into His goodness.

- Is your life one of abundance (satisfaction, rest, peace, healing, goodness, mercy and love)? What if it could be?
- Where do you find yourself in Psalm 23?
- Where do you find yourself in the words of Jesus?
- Do you believe the words of the Psalmist?
- Do you believe the words of Jesus?

In the words of a father who so wanted to believe Jesus could heal his child, "I believe, help my unbelief."

As always, share your thoughts with me and with others on the journey.

Peace, hope and love