Aroma for Christ

The Bible is ageless. I don’t mean it has been around for 1000’s of years, though it has. I mean it appeals to all ages. When I was a child, I loved to hear the stories of children. Young David and his bravery in going up against the giant, Goliath. Samuel, in hearing the voice of God and being chosen to be his prophet. As a young woman, I read about the boldness of Ruth, the industry of Martha, and the mindless devotion of her sister, Mary. As a more mature woman, I am drawn to the Hannah’s and Sarah’s. To think of such faith and hope in the light of such insurmountable obstacles. Funny how my perspective has changed.

The story of Ruth and Naomi is a good example. I have always loved the love story of not only Ruth and Boaz, but the story of the love of Ruth for Naomi. Whither thou goest, I will go. How many times did I hear that verse at weddings as a young girl. But as I read the first chapter of Ruth this past week, I saw the words in a different light. I could not help but wonder, what was there about Naomi that caused Ruth to leave home and family to follow someone who physically had less than nothing to offer? Widows in that day and age were very vulnerable. Widows with no sons were especially vulnerable. Widows with daughters had their problems multiplied. So why did Ruth not only beg to accompany Naomi into a difficult and hopeless situation, but even swore an oath of death if she could not? I think Ruth saw something in Naomi that went beyond reason.

Even as Naomi tries to dissuade Ruth, bemoaning her estate, even using an Old Testament version of tough love, Ruth is not put off. What was there about Naomi? I have not been in Naomi’s situation, but I have been through difficult times. Times when I felt I had barely enough to keep my head above water, much less minister or provide for others. I had no time, no advice, no resources to offer others, as I was accustomed to doing. I could see no reason anyone would want to come around, I was of little or no use! I even drew apart physically and emotionally. But like Ruth, others were not deterred. Though I had nothing to offer, others drew near to me. Even more, they ministered to me.

What was there about Naomi that drew Ruth by her side and to her aid. What urged her to follow Naomi to a new and foreign land. Full of fear and little hope. It says in 2 Corinthians that

“we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing”.

Perhaps that was the answer. No matter what Naomi had or did not have, she had the aroma that comes from being a follower of the living God. There was something there that pervaded even Naomi’s own demeanor and actions. I think many times we see ourselves as “useful” only when we are doing something for God. If we are able to give, to do, to minister, then we are Christ-like. But when adversity hits or we experience tough times, we feel we are out of commission. We even tend to pull back from our church community, embarrassed or ashamed that we can no longer be what we once were.

This will be a hard lesson for me to learn. Just as I am struggling with the effects and changes going on inside my body as I age, I must realize my use in God’s kingdom may change, bringing with it different opportunities. And knowing me, I am afraid “I will not go gently into that good night”. My humanity will see it as my inability not the ability God has saved just for this time in my life.

It’s going to be a bumpy road for sure! LOL!

On a Teeter Totter with Christ

Why is it the closer we draw to God, the further we want to draw away from the world. I think this is why we have those folks that cloister themselves into a life of spiritual purity and ascetism. Denying all the world has to offer – good and bad.


Others choose a life of piety. But in doing so, they cannot resist viewing the world from this new perch. With growing disdain and condemnation, they are free with their advice and condemnation.

But, unlike Christ, we are not fully human and fully divine. We have this 50/50 arrangement. As a Christian, I have Christ dwelling within. I think, in my own mind, I have seen it as a struggle. As if I had to beat the human part of me into submission to Him. Or maybe, I pictured myself as living in a house with Him.

I want to see myself as moving out of the master bedroom, taking the smaller bedroom. My dream one day to move to the broom closet, giving Christ full reign of my life. But now, I see, that is not what He desires.

As much as I would love to wrap myself in scripture, meditation and immerse myself in Him, He knows that my address is still terra firma. He moved in to live with me, the human me. He wants to share my life. He wants to have lively discussions of His Word. He wants to view the sunsets and sunrises. He wants to struggle with the stress and strain. He wants to revel in the world He and His Father so carefully fashioned as my residence. He wants to be my roommate. Lord of my life, yes, but also the Love of my life. Maybe until I can love the “me” in me as much as He does, can I truly know how to live in and love in this co-ed arrangement.

It is a balance I am looking for. Child that I am, I want to teeter totter with Christ. He does not want to sit alone, nor I. There is no fun in that. It is only when we both get on, taking turns, that we can soar. And that is where the joy comes.

For until I love me, can I love you. Until I see me through His eyes, can I see you through mine.

Wow!

The Finger of God

My husband was very ill for about a year and required home nursing, three times a week. One of the nurses we had was a wonderful lady who had converted from the Episcopal faith to Buddhism. I am ever thankful for that year of getting to know her and what I learned not only about her faith but the beautiful spiritual discipline of meditation. One day as I sat beside her working, I am not sure even now how it happened, our conversation drifted to why she had converted. She said that she just came to a point where she could no longer believe in a God that would crucify His Son so that He might be reconciled with His creation. I will never forget that explanation and the questions it raised for me.


In the scripture reading for this Sunday in 1 John 4:7-21, that question is again broached and answered, in what I feel, is the only way it can be. God is love, not hate. He did not murder His Son, He sacrificed His Son for us. As I read those words, I thought of Micheangelo’s Creation of Adam, the beautiful painting found on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, and the isolated portion of the painting so often reproduced. The arms and hands of God and Adam reaching out to touch. In this case, though, I saw my arm, my finger poised toward God’s. As I struggled toward God, I suddenly felt a hand on my wrist. Looking up I saw it was Christ helping me to reach Him. Just before He guided my finger to His Father’s, Christ placed my finger into the nail rent of His other hand. I was shocked and I wanted to pull back, but He continued to guide me to God and the Father and I touched through that gruesome wound. Isn’t that just awful? But isn’t it so terribly powerful!

In the beginning, God initiatated the sacrificial system with Abraham, even to the point that He instructed Abraham to sacrifice his only living son on an altar in an act of worship. Of course, God stopped him before that happened, but the foreshadowing was powerful. This system of worship was common to the peoples of that time, even child sacrifice, and He continued to use that as the venue for Abraham’s worship of Him, using various animals. Throughout the history of the Jewish people, this type of worship was instituted and followed. Then when Jesus came to the point where He would make the supreme sacrifice, God’s only Son went as a lamb to the slaughter. His demeanor before Pilate was the best picture He could possibly give us of that sacrificial lamb. Then to be executed by the current Roman means of punishing criminals for their sins, was like putting one of those strobe lighted arrows to the glaring fact that He died for OUR SINS!!! Wow!

But back to my visual. As I sat there dumbstruck of the very means Christ used to join me to God, I looked up at His face. But it was no longer Jesus I saw, but the face of Michangelo’s God. And in that face of God I saw the most unbelievable mixture of love and pain. Tears coursing down His face as He looked into my eyes. And a tinge of hope, hope that I would understand just how very much He loves me.

I hope I never forget that feeling. I hope I never forget that face. I hope that in my heart of hearts, I spend the rest of my life not trying be worthy of it or earn it– that would be the greatest waste of my time - but to feel it, and glory in it, and live through it. To reach out to my brothers and sisters in my own feeble way.

I wish I could see that nurse again. In light of the gift she gave our family, I would thank her again, from my heart, for the wonderful care she gave my husband. In light of the gift she gave me in that explanation, I would thank her for that question. Then I would try, somehow, with the very limits of my language to express that God did not crucify His Son. Love did! Love did and hopefully it is doing the same each and every day in my life and the lives of those I call my family in Christ.

Not Everyone Is a Rocket Scientist!

Not everyone is a rocket scientist!                   
One of my favorite shows is the Big Bang Theory. I love it because it laughs at itself and enjoys doing it. I think we go through life seeing everyone one dimensionally. I think therefore I am. Well, it is more like I think therefore I think you think the same way I do. Well, folks, not everyone is a rocket scientist. Not everyone is a moron. And believe it or not, not everyone is you.

We know by basic scientific knowledge, that there are levels of human intelligence. Likewise, there are levels of human physical and mental capabilities. Add heredity and nurture and then throw in our cultural and ethnic differences and we might as well be all walking aliens.

What I am getting at, is why do we get frustrated with folks when they cannot comprehend or behave as I do. Why do I view them in light of what I know, what I have experienced, or what I perceive. How silly of me and what a terrible waste of my emotions to vent about persons or situations beyond their scope or area of credence.

Now, what about our faith. Why is it we find ourselves clucking our tongues and shaking our heads over a world that is gone to the dogs. As a spirit filled, Christ centered, child of God I see the world in one way. But a person who does not have the center, that has never experienced the overwhelming, grace endowing, burst at the seams love of a God who values them above His only Son, how can they possible think, act, and react like I do. They cannot! And my grousing and complaining and blaming is a total waste of the time God has allotted me on this earth. If I ever want to make my world a better place, I better get in the habit of spreading His love around. Of sharing heavenly glimpses of hope and joy and grace to a world needing it like a parched ground.

Shut up and show off – that is my new motto!

Days - Old but Good?

Equality – the American way. Except in high school!      

                                                                                                         

Don’t know about you, but when I graduated high school 40 years ago this month, there was a caste system. It was not delineated as peasants and nobility, but it was there just the same. The jocks, the drill team, the choir, the band, the academics (nerds).

Each had its pecking order. I had my foot in a little of several so I was able to migrate between the groups. More identifiable with some than others.

This past weekend, I had my 40th high school reunion. It was very interesting. We have several folks that have diligently kept the class together and had a good turn out. I have not kept up with everyone, so I was more or less on the fringe. But I did not mind, because I am a people watcher and I had the best seat in the house. Of course, everyone was really old. HaHa! It is funny how we are old as we look, not think. I am a 16 year old trapped in an old body! I looked better than some, worse than others. It was funny seeing folks and how they moved through the room.

One guy caught my eye. I didn’t know him well, but he did not run in the popular groups. In fact he was more or less a loner. But I saw him in the midst of a great group of friends and he seemed to be having the time of my life. I thought my eyes might be deceiving me, but when I got close, it was the same guy. I asked my husband about him and found out in high school this guy had more or less been a tag along. People were nice to him.

But this was not the same. He was smack dab in the middle of the fun and inside, I was a bit jealous. I realized that time had taken a toll on more than our bodies. Our caste system had mellowed to the point that it was not even visible. It was a level playing field. Those above had bent down and those below had reached up. The lowly not worried about being snubbed or ridiculed. The elevated not worried about their reputation or impression. We had all decided to play fair and share. Something we were taught in kindergarten and somehow lost along the way.

But you know what? This goes a lot farther than high school, or work, or even play. It goes to the heart of being a Christian. We see the least, the last, the lost as unfortunate souls that are below us. That we must reach down and offer ourselves to. But what of those above us. I realized that those that rely on wealth or fame or beauty can very well be in the same category. There will come a time when either age or trials or illness will strike and when they do, unless there is a unperishable foundation built, they can be as least and lost as it gets.

So when we spread our reach, let’s remember to reach up and down.