Running on Empty

Those of us who fly on occasion are familiar with the Flight Attendant's words about oxygen masks: "Place your own mask on first, before helping a child or another person with theirs."

To those of us in ministry or in a helping profession, that feels counter-intuitive! It's practically in our DNA to help other people first. Take care of everyone else, and put our own needs aside. Self-sacrifice is admired! To act otherwise would seem... selfish.

Here's the kicker: if you are passing out from lack of oxygen, you won't be able to help anyone else with their oxygen mask.

We can apply the same principle to our spirit. If you are in ministry or in another helping profession, you GIVE of yourself all the time. Unless you attend to your own spiritual needs first, you can't help anyone else. We cannot give what we do not have in the first place. When your spirit is dry - when you're running on empty - you won't get far, and you can't help anyone else.

That is why retreats are so important. Taking the time to get away from your daily routine and attend to your spirit is essential! You need to reconnect with God on a regular basis in order to be equipped to help others.

That is what The Oasis Renewal Center provides. A place where you can connect with God and connect with others. A place to relax, pray, and listen; a place to get a spiritual refill! Come visit us!

Deacon David's update

The Oasis Renewal Center has been open a year now and we are amazed at the blessings God has given us, and we are so grateful for all of the help we have received along the way.  Thank You!

Susan and I are now living in Sonoita full time and making the adjustment to a simpler, more focused life.  We were without internet service for several days in July - seems the satellite system does not work in the rain and the Monsoons have started.  There have been lots of other challenges along the way.  Yet we know we are called to serve and we have never been so happy together.  We have made the Oasis our calling and our mission and we have been richly blessed.

Here are some of the highlights from the last year:

• ·        In 2013 we had more than 25 guests come stay with us and grow closer to the Lord;

• ·       This year we have had several larger groups, including 9 pastors one weekend and a church group of 8 adults, 5 kids (and a dog!) on another;

• ·        In April we held a Men’s Retreat which was spectacular and transformative. All of the men who attended came away feeling closer to God and with a clearer understanding of His call in their lives;

• ·        We had several individual and small group retreats through the spring; so far we’ve had more guests in the first half of this year than we had all last year!

• ·        Roxy and Zorro proven their worth time and again as therapy dogs; providing unconditional love to everyone they meet.

We continue to work at making the Oasis a quiet, relaxing and safe retreat for those who want to get closer to God.  We finished the process of drilling the new well even after the drill rig almost sank into the mud! 

We have also been working on the walking paths and gardens around the property. The Oasis is located on 16 rolling acres, covered in Oak and Juniper – teeming with wildlife. Our walking paths provide the opportunity to pray and reflect in solitude or with others.  We now have more than a mile of walking paths.  This fall we will be planting raised garden beds, and installing irrigation and drains.  Next spring we will plant a variety of fruits and vegetables that will feed us and our guests. 

We have been blessed with so much support and are very grateful to all of those who have helped.  Our goal is to continue to improve the property and the amenities to create a restful and worshipful place for everyone who wants to be closer to God.  We received more than $30,000 in donations in the past year from a number of generous donors.  This year we are hoping to fund several new projects and every donation helps, no matter how small. 

If you can’t make a monetary donation, please consider volunteering some of your time to help us at the Oasis.  We will provide lodging and great meals in exchange for some help around the property.  There is plenty to do no matter what your skill level.  And up here in the mountains the weather is fantastic and cool, unlike the Valley of the Sun (or the “Surface of the Sun,” as it is fondly referred to during the summer).  Come visit! www.oasisrenew.com

Jesus and The Walking Dead

Today’s lectionary Gospel reading is John 11: 1-44 – the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. For those of us who’ve spent any time in Christian circles, we’ve heard it all before; this is a familiar story, and sometimes when stories are familiar, we tend to tune them out.

You may be thinking, “So Jesus raised Lazarus, yeah, yeah, that’s great, but it doesn’t have anything to do with us, or our society today. Dead people don’t get back up and walk around, except on TV, and that usually doesn’t end well; for them or anyone else.”

Before you tune me out, consider this. The story isn’t even about Lazarus. I mean, Lazarus does precious little in this story. He gets sick, he dies, and then he stumbles out of a tomb. Lazarus is just a supporting actor in this story. In fact, if this were a movie, Lazarus would have a very short, walk-on part. He doesn’t even have any lines! People talk about him, but only Jesus speaks to him, and Lazarus isn’t on screen when He does.

No, this story is really about the tenuous, wavering, vacillating nature of faith.

The story takes place towards the end of Jesus’ three year ministry. All of the people involved had been with Jesus for the past few years; they knew who He was and had complete faith in Him. They had seen Him perform miracles, cast out demons, and heal people of diseases – sometimes from a considerable distance. So when Martha and Mary sent word to Jesus that their brother Lazarus was very sick, there was an implied expectation that Jesus would DO something.

But He didn’t. Jesus kept doing whatever He was doing, staying right where He happened to be. By the time Jesus finally decided to go to Bethany, Lazarus was already dead and Jesus was four days late for the funeral.

Clearly this irked Martha. Not only did Jesus insult the family by missing the funeral, but He let them down by not healing Lazarus when He had the chance. When Martha met Jesus just outside of town, the first thing she said was “If you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died!” I can hear the accusatory tone in her voice.  Mary followed suit a little later, with the exact same words!

Mary and Martha’s faith was shaken. They had faith that Jesus would come help them, and He didn’t show up.

Jesus told Martha that her brother would rise and live again. She was probably thinking, “Well yeah, of course Lazarus will be resurrected on the last day, just like everybody else. Duh.”

Should we be surprised by her reaction? The reality was that her brother was dead. And dead meant DEAD! Or, to paraphrase Monty Python, Lazarus was no more; he had ceased to be.  He had joined the Choir Invisible. He was pushing up daisies. He was a stiff; bereft of life, he had passed on. Lazarus had expired and gone to meet his maker!  Lazarus. Was. Dead.

Of course having faith means believing in things that are not seen.

When Jesus asked Martha if she believed that “everyone who believes in Me will never die,” she said she believed Jesus was the Messiah. Technically that isn’t the same thing as saying she believed Jesus would bring her dead brother back to life, especially since hospitals, ventilators and life-support systems hadn’t been invented yet. It probably never entered her mind.

Martha was having trouble reconciling what she clearly knew (her brother was dead) and what she had just experienced (his burial four days ago), with her faith in her close friend Jesus who was too late to even attend the funeral and spoke in riddles. What did that even mean, “I am the resurrection and the life?”

I think this is perfectly understandable. If I were in Martha’s shoes I would be confused and disillusioned too.

So how are we supposed to have faith that Jesus will be there for us, when everything we see and know and experience is telling us something to the contrary?

When we look at everyone who was following Jesus, we see that faith by its very nature is tenuous, wavering, and vacillating. Not one single person in Jesus’ crew had a rock-solid faith, 100% of the time; not even Peter, whose name means rock. Martha’s faith wavered. Mary’s faith was weak. Thomas was doubtful. The Jews mentioned in the story who believed in Him were baffled, and Jesus’ followers were confused.

We are in good company when our faith gets a little unsteady and wobbles a bit. Like the man who exclaimed, “I do believe! Help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24) we may have faith and doubt in equal measure. The problem is we don’t see what God is up to. Jesus waited until Lazarus was good and dead before He even set out for Bethany. He knew when Lazarus died (v. 14-15) but He also knew the real reason He had to miss the funeral – so that everyone in Bethany would “see the glory of God.” (v. 40)

Even if we can’t see what God is doing behind the scenes, we have to trust that He always has our best interests in mind. Lazarus might argue that having to die and lie moldering in a grave for four days before Jesus called him out wasn’t in his best interests. Becoming one of the walking dead must have been terrifying and extremely unpleasant for Lazarus. The whole episode was certainly a miserable experience for his sisters, but Jesus made sure the end was worth it. They just had to have faith.

What about you? Has your faith every been wobbly?

 

Love. No, really. Love.

It’s Valentine’s day! Because it’s Valentine’s Day, I thought it appropriate to write about love. However, this left me wondering exactly which angle to take. It would be WAY too easy to just spout out some drivel about romance, it being Valentine’s Day and all.  And the blogosphere has already been inundated with the love vs. sex debate, thanks to Fifty Shades of Grey. I’m not even tempted to go there. I want to go deeper; to really delve into what love is. What, I asked myself, does love really look like?

Being a pastor, I naturally went to the Bible for answers. The Apostle John seemed like the most obvious choice for answers on love, as he wrote about it a lot.  He used the word at least 57 times in his Gospel alone. Add to that his 3 letters and the book of Revelation, and....well, John wrote a lot about love.

In his first letter, John wrote, “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” (v. 4:8)

According to the Gospel of John, chapter 15, Jesus told his disciples:

·        As the Father has loved me, I have loved you. Now remain in my love. (v. 9)

·        My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. (v.12)

·        Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. (v.13)

·        This is my command: Love each other! (v.17)

Seems pretty clear. We’re supposed to love one another. In church camp we used to sing, “They will know we are Christians by our love, by our love...” Of course, that still begs the question then – what does love look like?

I do not think love looks like what our culture insists it looks like – fabulously wealthy, sexy people with pouty lips having babies, then posing and selling the photos for millions of dollars to magazines.  (Sorry, Kim and Kanye.)

Love isn’t about candy hearts and chocolates and flowers – although those things are, indeed, lovely – nor is it about telling someone that they are “your valentine” on the one day a year that Hallmark has reserved for it.

And while I’m on the subject, none of those things have anything even remotely in common with the original Saint Valentine, who was martyred in the year 269 AD, by the Emperor Claudius. Valentine, apparently, was a Christian priest in Rome who protected other Christians and hid them from the Emperor’s interrogators.  Since professing Christianity and aiding fellow Christians were crimes, Valentine was arrested, imprisoned, beaten with a club, stoned with rocks, and finally beheaded for his stubborn refusal to recant his faith.  Not very loving.

Valentine was canonized by the Catholic Church and (for reasons that elude me) was made the patron saint of love, marriage, engaged couples, epilepsy, and plague. (Yes, you read that correctly. Plague!)

What that has to do with chocolate, candy hearts and flowers, I don’t know, but I suppose it’s better than “Happy Valentine’s Day – have some plague.”

But I digress.

So, what does love look like? A researcher asked some children what love looks like. Their answers are rather thought-provoking.

·        "Love isn't always how you look.  Look at me.  I'm handsome like anything and I haven't got anybody to marry me yet."       - Brian, age 9

·        “When you tell someone something bad about yourself and you're scared they won't love you anymore, but then you get surprised cause not only do they still love you, they love you even more."   - Madison, age 7

·        “Love is when Momma goes bungee jumping and Daddy goes with her even though he screams bloody murder the whole time like a girl.”  - Sasha, age 8

·        "When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That's love."     - Rebecca, age 8

·        "When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You know that your name is safe in their mouth."   - Ashley, age 4

·        "Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen."           - Jason, age 5

When I was a little girl, I insisted that I loved everyone in the entire world. I remember feeling very comfortable and happy about this. However, someone told me, “You can’t love everyone. That’s impossible.”

I was crushed.

I truly believe that’s what God wants for His children – that we will love everyone in the entire world, just as God does! Jesus was pretty clear when He said, “Love each other!”  

Every human being on the earth has value. Every human being is loved by God, and is worthy of being loved! To extend compassion and respect and kindness to everyone – regardless of where they live, what they do for a living, what language they speak, who they love, or what they believe – is commanded by God. “Jesus replied, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your strength... and love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Matt 22: 37, 39)

It isn’t up to us to find a loophole.

Jesus prayed that his followers would be one, just as He and the Father are one (John 17:21-23) and that we would experience unity. If we are truly “one,” that infers that we ought to love others as God loves us.

We aren’t doing a very good job of that. Don’t believe me? Turn on the news. How many people have been killed or abused or gone hungry today? I rest my case.

I do think that it is still possible for Christians to love everyone as God does. Maybe I’m just a raging optimist, or maybe I’m certifiable, but I remember that huge feeling of warmth and goodness, compassion and peace, and...well, love...  that completely filled my heart for the people of the world back when I was little. And I still have that feeling.  Not necessarily all the time, but I still feel it.

I felt it when Malala Yousafzai demanded that girls have the right to go to school despite threats from the Taliban. The feeling intensified when Malala was shot in the head, and again when she not only recovered, but addressed the UN General Assembly.  I felt it when I heard about the earthquake in Haiti, and watched on TV as the dogs ran over the rubble, searching for survivors. I feel it whenever there is a hurricane, or typhoon, or flood, or tornado, and people race in to help. I feel it every time I see a photo of the teeming streets of Delhi, or Beijing, or Rio de Janeiro.

I feel it when I watch children playing. I feel it when I visit the residents of the nursing home. I feel it when I see strangers smile on the street. I feel it when I hear music from faraway places. I feel it as I watch the Olympic Games on TV this week. And when I feel that feeling, I just want to wrap my arms around the world.

So. What does love look like? The only way to really know for sure is to look in the mirror.