Jesus

The Wait: Peace that Protects

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What is peace like?
Perhaps peace…
…looks like green pastures and still waters.
…feels like breeze and sun that caresses just right.
…sounds like…

Alas, the Valley of the Shadow of Death is inevitable.  
When Chaos and Conflict arrive, where can Peace be found? 
Philippians 4:7 speaks of Peace that transcends all understanding, guarding our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
This Peace of God is not merely serene. This Peace protects.
It doesn’t always protect us from circumstances and hard times.  Life still be lifing. 
Yet in my sanctified imagination, I see Peace on guard within my soul.  

Here are some thoughts on practicing the presence of Peace during Advent.

Your Call: How does Peace speak to you in this season?  How can you practice its presence?

Advent 2: Preparing the Path

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A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord,  make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”  Isaiah 40:3 (NRSV)

 A voice says, “Cry out!” And I said, “What shall I cry?”
All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades,   when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades;  but the word of our God will stand forever. Isaiah 40:6-8 (NRSV)

 “I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”  Mark 1:8 (NRSV)

What does it look like to prepare a path for the Lord in this wilderness we find ourselves in at the end of 2017?   Honestly I’m too weary to figure this out and should know better than to try.  If I could interview John the Baptist, I would ask him, “How do we cry out to those who deny their own fragility and mortality?” I can’t hear his answer, but the Gospel writer Mark reports that he told the people that Jesus would baptize them in the Holy Spirit.

In the desert, there is a scorching breeze that can stifle our breath. We can’t cry out to prepare the way of the Lord if we can’t breathe. Our only hope right now is the Breath of God, which makes the first move in preparing a path in our minds and souls so that we hear the word that we need and can act on it with the power we need.   This is a season to breathe more deeply than ever before.

Your Call: What spiritual practice would help you make room for the Breath of God to give you the Word and Power you need to discern and fulfill your assignment in this season? Some options may be to offer a prayer like the video above, to allow for more silence and solitude, or to simply take time to breathe deeply as a reminder that the Spirit of God is present.

Q&A

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“I’ll take ‘Fix my life Jesus’ for $1000, Alex.”

And so it goes in the imaginary Jeopardy! episode that airs in my mind from time to time. I have always found it odd that contestants on Jeopardy! have to come up with the right questions to the answers.

For the past seven years, Memorial Day weekend has marked the time when I lost my father.  As I recall that time of grief, I realize that my question “Why now?” went unanswered.  Yet an answer came in the form of a sermon that I heard months later titled, “Be Not Afraid.”  Another answer was in the text preached in that sermon, “The eternal God is your refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms.” (Deut 33:27)  So what were the questions?  Maybe, “How will I get through this?” and then, “God who are you anyway?”  The significance of all of this had escaped me until this past Holy Week.  On Good Friday, I sat with Jesus’ haunting question from the cross – “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matt 27:46)

The next day, an incident, while relatively minor in of itself, nevertheless awakened a deep vulnerability and sense of loss that made me feel forsaken.  I had left home fairly upbeat but returned home crestfallen, only to find that a dear sister in Christ tagged me in a video that she posted on Facebook.  The song in the video, “Try” by Colbie Caillat, was clearly God’s answer for me that day.

It was as if that Jesus reached into my soul and turned on the faucet, washing away residue of performance anxiety and quests for approval.  So what was the question?  Some time ago, I was meditating on Zephaniah 3:17 where it states that God would rejoice over God’s people with singing.  In response, I journaled and asked – “What song are You singing over me?” The answer came to me a little over a year later by way of the video.

Whenever I ponder Jesus’ cry to God on the cross, I can’t help but consider how His question is echoed at the beginning of Psalm 22.  And just about every time, what captivates me is the psalmist’s declaration in verse 21b (NKJV) – “You have answered me.” While not always answering the questions I pose, God is often in the habit of responding to questions that I haven’t asked.

The answers come how they come. Sometimes in word.  Sometimes in silence.  Always with Presence.  I worship an answering God.

Your Call: What questions are you wrestling with right now?  Could it be that God is offering answers to different or deeper questions?  

Seeing in the Dark

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ImageMy mother loves to tell a particular story about me, and has done so countless times.  When I was little, I spent many summers down south at my grandfather’s house out in the country where there was nary a streetlight.  Suffice it to say that when it got dark, it got real dark, and so at one point, I cried out “My eyes are open, but I can’t see!”

Decades later, my understanding of dark places has evolved.  I’ve had moments when melancholy has arrived on the threshold of my soul uninvited.   I have dwelt in shadows of obscurity, whether by choice or by circumstance. I have faced seasons when an abundance of question marks took up residence in my mental space.  I’ve bumped into grief and stumbled over fear as I groped along foggy paths to the unknown.

What does it mean to navigate dark places with eyes wide open?  Perhaps Lent is the time to ponder this question. As the Light of the World, Jesus could have just pulled me from a dark place to a brightly lit space.  Yet, having traveled from the wilderness to Gethsemane to Calvary, He made another choice – He showed up, sat down and lit a candle.   So now I consider what it might look like for me to light a candle for another.  Perhaps lighting a candle translates to sending up prayers of lament and intercession on someone’s behalf.  Or listening deeply to a neighbor’s story. Or nudging him in the direction of a therapist, spiritual director or community of support. Or reminding her that she is not alone. Or simply being present.

Your Call: What could “lighting a candle” mean for you right now?

Fierce and Fearless

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Gabrielle Union received the Fierce and Fearless Award from Essence Magazine some time last year.  I have never had what would conventionally be thought of as a “fierce and fearless” persona, but over the course of my years in ministry, I’ve often been tempted to put one on.   I’ve also been guilty of dimming my own natural God-given shine, but now I’m on the road to recovering it. And that’s why Gabrielle’s acceptance speech resonates with me.  She held strength and vulnerability together while confessing her flaws and struggles. She affirmed the community of family and friends that have accompanied her on the journey.  There is something fierce about facing fear.

Jesus has named his followers after himself – the light of the world.  No longer is it acceptable to live in a dimmed existence that tries to disappear or an artificial fluorescence that seeks to outshine  — both are rooted in hiding under a basket. The Gospel is beautiful in that it allows the radiance of Christ to shine through the uniqueness and unity of a fierce and fearless people who have received God’s grace.

“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”   Matthew 5:14-16 (NRSV)

Your Call: Watch and reflect on the video.  What would it look like for you to become fierce and fearless?

Get Me Bodied

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Recently, I attended a surprise birthday party and over the speakers, I heard a melody
that was vaguely familiar.  Beyonce was singing Get Me Bodied.  Apparently the song had been released a few years ago, but I didn’t take notice of it at that time.  At its most basic level, Get Me Bodied is an infectious dance song, so I could leave it at that. But I won’t, mostly because I’m on a quest to feel more aware of and at home in my own body.  As easy as Bey makes it look (at least in the video), walking in the psalmist’s declaration of being fearfully and wonderfully made often takes some soul work.

I have fond memories of family gatherings when I was a child and much less self-conscious.   We would get together and do the Bump and the Bus Stop.  (Yes, I’m dating myself.) And when the Jackson Five’s Dancing Machine came on, all of us kids stopped what we were doing and started in on the Robot. Every year around this time, I enjoy my ritual of watching the dance scene from A Charlie Brown Christmas. When I watch those lovable characters in the Peanuts gang, I am struck by their exuberance and their comfort with moving in their own rhythms.  Some are on beat; others are off.  None of them care one way or the other.  All of them are having a great time.

As I strive to befriend my body, things get complicated when it doesn’t cooperate.  While I feel blessed to be relatively healthy, I do have some issues that give me pause and remind me of the need to be vigilant.  What happens when your body seems to turn against you?  An OB/GYN answered this question in a revolutionary way right before she had a double mastectomy.  I looked at her video again and remembered where I heard Get Me Bodied before.

Sometimes I wonder how Jesus experienced his own body, especially before his public ministry.  Did he ever feel unattractive or awkward as a teenager?  Did he get sick or have to watch sick people suffer and die?  If he did, perhaps he recalled a previous conversation that he had in another space in eternity.  A conversation amidst the Holy Trinity’s lament over a fallen world where he spoke up and said “Get Me Bodied.”  Actually, he hasn’t stopped saying it. He continues to say it to you and me.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.  John 1:1,14 (NIV)

 Your Call: Take some time to watch the videos.  How do they make you feel?  How would you describe your relationship with your body?  In what sense might Jesus be telling you “Get Me Bodied?”

Breaking Bread: The Power of Conversation and Community

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Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them;but they were kept from recognizing him. He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”  They stood still, their faces downcast.
Luke 24:13-17 (NIV)

It has been months since Easter Sunday, but I still find myself captivated by the disciples’ trip to Emmaus. I can imagine their state of mind. Perplexed. Expectations dashed. “We had hoped that [Jesus] was the one to redeem Israel,” said the disciples to the Stranger who had joined them on the journey.

Last weekend, I attended a women’s conference that revived me in a way that I had not experienced in a while.  It was as if the wind of the Spirit blew into my soul afresh, and I rejoice in a renewed sense of purpose and potential.  Yet a week later, I find myself overwhelmed as I discern what my next steps should be. After these mountaintop experiences, my challenge is always to maintain momentum when I get back to sea level. In the meantime, I grieve recent tragedies such as the shooting in Aurora, CO. I recognize that in the shadow of the resurrection, death remains. The death of loved ones. The death of dreams. The death of relationships.

“We had hoped that…”

I can relate.  Don’t we all have those thoughts, those if-onlys, haunting us from time to time? I had hoped that my father would live to see certain milestones in my life.  Parents of the victims in Aurora had hoped to see their children thrive.

As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”   Luke 24:28-32 (NIV)

There was something about this Stranger who entered into conversation and community with the disciples.  He inquired. He listened. He brought clarity. He challenged. He blessed. He broke bread.  And all of a sudden, the disciples knew that the “rumor” was true.  Jesus was alive and sitting right there in front of them!

Lately, I’ve asked myself, “when was the last time my heart burned within me, in a good way, based on a conversation?”  By conversation, I do not mean hearing from the Lord through sermons or personal prayer times, though these are vital practices for me.  What I mean is talking with others. I realize that conversations can get a bit messy. After all, Jesus broke the bread; he didn’t slice it.  The good news is that the Presence of Christ can show up in the midst, messiness and all.  Plus, there’s a heartiness and substance to bread that is broken compared to the neatly sliced bread that I often buy at the supermarket.

I’m starting to ask myself a lot more questions to help me envision what “breaking bread” really means.  Please join me.

What if we were more intentional about reminding each other that Jesus is alive and that we can live out that truth between Sundays, conferences, retreats and revivals?

What if we spoke life into desolate places in each other and in the world around us? 

What if we agreed with God that death, while present, does not have the final say? 

What if we not only grieved for families of victims in Aurora, but also confronted the culture of violence in the United States?  

What if we invited the “voiceless” into the conversation? 

How is God calling us to represent the resurrection of Christ in the world?

Your Call:  Read Luke 24:1-35; what stands out to you about the journey to Emmaus?  What is the role of conversation and community in your life? 

Oasis

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“Head held high
and never cry,” said I
on my trip to Sahara
where sand
flew in my eyes
and rendered me blind.

Then,
I heard Hagar
and Moses
and Elijah
say,
“This is holy ground.”

And I heard Jesus say,
“Come…”

He took my hand
and blew into my eyes
and reached into my soul
and turned on the faucet,
collecting tears long overdue
in a bottle which He had,
before the beginning of time,
reserved just for me.
And when I drank,
something crazy happened.

Like straight from the honeycomb,
All I tasted was sweet.

© Sharon Fleshman, 2012

Your Call: How has God shown up for you in dry seasons and wilderness places?