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Photo Credit Ralph Felzer A HUMBLE PRAYER FOR YOU Since our prayer service this past Sunday (wasn't that awesome, by the way?) I've been thinking quite a lot about prayer and trouble and humility, so I thought I would share a few insights with you, and then I want to pray for you!  I hope you'll be blessed.  Let me know! We are coming off of a Christmas season that, as always, has been wonderful for some but sorrowful for others.  It's good for us to think back on the past year (or years) and remember God's track record with us.  I wonder if you can see yourself in this passage from Deuteronomy 8 that I just read this morning: Remember the long way that the Lord your God has led you … in order to humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart….  He humbled you by letting you hunger, then by feeding you with manna, with which neither you nor your ancestors were acquainted, in order to make you understand that one does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. (vv. 2-3) Think back over the "long way God has led you" over the years.  The hardships.  The illnesses.  The loved ones who have passed away.  The disappointments.  The broken relationships.  But also the healing, the deliverance, the provision, the new relationships. Now consider that while we may not know the whole picture, God has led us in this way "in order to humble us."  It is not just good, but very good  to be humbled, to be reminded that we are not the focal point of all creation!  Think of the company we keep when the Lord humbles us!  Think of David's words in Psalm 119:   Before I was humbled I went astray,      but now I keep your word…. (v. 67) It is good for me that I was humbled,      so that I might learn your statutes…. (v. 71) I know, O Lord that your judgments are right      and that in faithfulness you have humbled me…. (v. 75) So first, when the Lord humbles us we are reminded that like Adam we have been formed from the dust of the earth and that He has breathed His very own life into us–we owe our very existence to God's loving, shaping hand!  It can never be wrong to be humbled before the Lord, if for no other reason than to remember that we are dust and to remember that those whom the Lord humbles, He also raises up! Secondly, His humbling teaches us to know our own hearts.  Remember what God says through the prophet Jeremiah: "The heart is deceitful above all things" (17:9).  Not only do we tend to have too high a view of ourselves, we also tend not to know ourselves very well either!   God allows Israel to be hungry–that is, to know lack. Sometimes we hunger for more than food. Sometimes we don't have everything we wish we did or think we need.  Why would He let us suffer lack, need, hunger?  In order "to test us to know what is in our hearts."  This doesn't mean that God  doesn't know what's in our hearts, but that we don't! He humbles us, Deuteronomy says, by letting us hunger so that He can then feed us.  It's beautiful, isn't it?  (If it weren't often times so hard!)  There really is a beauty in the hardship, in the humbling, in the hungering, because then we know what it means for the Lord to provide for us.  Because all of this is meant, He says, to teach us that we "do not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord."  When I read this I see a picture of a momma bird feeding her young in the springtime.  Those little ones chirp away all day long, clamoring to be fed, and momma makes sure it happens!  Think of those birds when you read this from Psalm 84: My soul longs, indeed it faints,     for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh sing for joy     to the living God. Even the sparrow finds a home     and the swallow a nest for herself,     where she may lay her young, at your altars, O Lord of hosts,     my King and my God. Happy are those who live in your house, ever singing your praise. I bet by now you thought I forgot about prayer, didn't you?  Aha, no!  Think of how often and incessantly we are like those birds, clamoring and chirping and tweeting our little hearts away, asking God to feed us!  Of course, there's nothing at all wrong with being persistent in our prayers–don't get me wrong!  It's just that every now and then God tests us to know what is in our hearts, to humble us, to help us grow strong in faith and love.  Think of the picture we see in Psalm 131: I do not occupy myself with things      too great and too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul,      like a weaned child with its mother;      my soul within me is like a weaned child. (v. 2) The aim, the goal, of God's humbling of us is that we should remember that He is God and we are not, that we owe our existence, our very breath to Him; that it is He who feeds us and not we ourselves, giving us the proper food at the proper time; and that there is a calm, a shalom peace, an overriding sense of well-being (like that of a weaned child) in store for all those who trust in the Lord. And thirdly, the food God gives us is Himself!  He doesn't just give us "stuff. " He doesn't just provide the food on our tables or the clothing on our backs or the shoes on our feet–all this is too little by far (though we certainly do need all these, and He knows that!).  He gives us His very self–Jesus.  And Jesus says this very thing in John 6 (remember again back in Deuteronomy where God feeds His people with manna from heaven?).  Jesus says, "It wasn't Moses who fed you in the wilderness, it was my Father who gives you the true bread!  I am the bread of life.  Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.  This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.  I am the living bread that came down from heaven.  Whoever eats of this bread will live forever, and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh." (vv. 32, 48-51, lightly edited) I want to leave you with more than just an encouraging word for those of you who are stuck right now in the middle of a hard, dark, challenging place.  I want you to know  that the very God who made the heavens and the earth is not only in the business of humbling you, He's in the business of raising you up, of nourishing the soil of your hearts, of growing fruit in you from which you yourselves can eat and be strengthened and refreshed! (Notice how much "fruit-bearing" is happening in the following beautiful passages!)  There is "a hope laid up for you in heaven through the gospel.  And just as it is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world, so it has been bearing fruit among yourselves from the day you heard it and truly comprehended the grace of God…." (Col. 1:5-6, lightly edited, emphasis mine). I want to close by praying for you.  Receive this prayer right now. And just as the Apostle Paul prayed for the Christians in Colossae, I pray these words over you:  Father, I ask that those who read these words "may be filled with the knowledge of God's will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that they may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to You, as they bear fruit [there it is again!] in every good work and as they grow in the knowledge of You.  May they be made strong with all the strength that comes from Your glorious power, so that they may have all endurance and patience, joyfully giving thanks to You, their heavenly Father, who has enabled them to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light.  You have rescued them from the power of darkness and transferred them into the kingdom of Your beloved Son, in whom we all have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."  (1:9-14, lightly edited). May you know the love of the Father, the peace of Christ, and the comfort of the Holy Spirit throughout this coming year! Be encouraged, friend, for God, the Maker of Heaven and Earth, who spoke all worlds into being, is both with you and for you.

Photo by Ralph Felzer A LIGHT SHINES IN THE DARKNESS We all know that God spoke the whole of Creation into being in Genesis 1.  "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…."  Day and night, sea and sky, stars and planets, and human beings.     And then, in a work of incredible beauty and profound complexity, the Apostle John picks up this creation melody at the very beginning of his gospel.  "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4 in him was life, and the life was the light of all people."   From all this, we understand a simple truth that, in spite of its simplicity, we can never plumb the depths of–when God speaks, life begins.  Where chaos and darkness rule, order and life have come.  Things that had no being suddenly come into being.   And then we see Luke providing us with a little backstory to John's account of the Word–Jesus–coming into the world: the Nativity Story in Luke 1-2.  The angel Gabriel appears to the virgin Mary and announces that God has a plan.  But just when we expect God to simply act , we see something incredible–we see God invite Mary to participate in His plan!  He doesn't force His way, He doesn't coerce or manipulate her in any way, He simply announces what He intends to do.  If she chose, Mary could push back against Gabriel's announcement, but instead her reply is the beautifully simple, "Here I am, the servant of the Lord.  Be it done to me according to Your word" (Luke 1:38). I say all this in part because it's Advent and we're anticipating Christmas.  But I say it also because in a way I believe we are all Mary.  In Genesis 1 God spoke.  Throughout the history of the people of God and the raising up of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, God spoke.  When Israel went into captivity in Egypt and Moses challenged Pharaoh to set God's people free, God spoke.  When the time for the Messiah arose, again God spoke (first to Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist) and then as we've seen, to Mary. Let's back up for a moment and look at the story of Joseph, Jacob's son.  When he was just a child, God sent him dreams that he and the rest of his family knew foretold that his brothers would one day serve him and bow down to him.  In the meantime, Joseph grows up, his brothers grow increasingly jealous and, stopping just short of actually killing him, they throw him into a pit and leave him there to die (they had consciences, after all!).  But Joseph is rescued from the pit, taken into Pharaoh's household and given a position higher than any but Pharaoh himself.  Again, though, he faces hostility and unjust accusations are made against him, and he is abruptly thrown into prison.  Other prisoners promise to help him, but they forget all about him when they are released.   It seems that Joseph will be lost and forgotten. What about those dreams, though?  I love this passage about Joseph in the Psalms:  "Until what He had said came to pass, the word of the Lord kept testing him" (105:19).  You see, God had spoken a word over Joseph, and throughout all of Joseph's trials, the question was not so much " Will God be faithful  to Joseph and fulfill the dreams of his childhood?"  No, the question was: " Will Joseph continue to believe the word God spoke over him?"  This is how God "tests" us.  God is testing Joseph's faith, meaning He is casting Joseph's faith into a sort of crucible into which we might put gold or silver ore in order to cleanse it of impurities.  Joseph's faith is purified and strengthened in the crucible of doubt and difficulty, in the fire of adversity.  Joseph chooses faith and rejects despair. God still speaks.  It's one thing for us to study the lives of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Zechariah, and Mary looking for principles and patterns of faith that we can perhaps learn from. But my question for you is:  What creative "Genesis" word has God spoken over you?  What is it that God wants to call into being in you?  Just as He spoke into chaos and darkness and created the universe.  Just as He spoke to Mary and with her consent life came into being in her womb (again, see John 1).  Just so, He continues to speak. Do you believe that?  Do you believe God is speaking to you?  What new life does God want to birth in you?   Over the years, God has used a number of Scripture passages to reveal Himself to me and to give me affirmation, healing, encouragement, and direction.  Among them are Philippians 4:8-9, Isaiah 61:1-4, Psalm 74:3, and Colossians 1:9-12.  I could (and would love to) give sermons on every one of these … and more!  But the point is that God is speaking .  And the question is "Do we have ears to hear?  Are we listening?"  Will we harden our hearts against the word God is speaking to us?  Will we be like those in John 12 who, when the Father confirms to Jesus and the disciples that He has–and will–glorify His name, fail to hear God's voice and instead hear only … thunder? What are the verses, stories, characters that have shaped you ?  Go deeper than just "my favorite passages."  Ask yourself, " Why do these stories resonate in me the way they do?  What virtues, traits, and characteristics do I admire–and want to see formed–in me?  How has God's Word transformed me over the course of my believing life? We can only know so much of any other person's story, but how beautiful would it be if people could tell their life stories simply by assembling a collection of the Bible verses, stories, and characters that have shaped them!  How much greater and deeper would our love for one another be if we knew the tale of one another's long journey to wholeness and new life in Christ? As part of your Advent preparation, why not consider writing some of those down?  Why not share them with someone?  What a wonderful way to deepen intimacy in our relationships!  What a great way to challenge ourselves to be vulnerable with one another!  We might say to one another:  "Right in the middle of the most painful time of my life, God led me to the story of ______ , and I found strength and hope and peace with which to face it, and grow beyond it.  I'm a better man/woman today because God spoke to me then!" Genesis 1 says that chaos and darkness covered the face of the deep.  But God then spoke and all things came into existence.  What creative, life-giving word has God spoken over the chaos and darkness of your own life?   I believe with all my heart that God has spoken these life-giving words over every man and woman who has ever drawn breath.  The journey of life is about discovering that word, listening for it–and then listening to it, obeying it, following it, living it. What are those stories for you?  What are those verses?  Who are those characters? Be encouraged, friend, for God, the Maker of Heaven and Earth, who spoke all worlds into being, is both with you and for you.

Image by Makoto Tsuka on Unsplash INTO THE DEEP END Okay, so I know it's Thanksgiving week, but I also know that many of us are going to be struggling our way through it, so this won't be your typical Thanksgiving piece.  My hope is that you'll find God's peace in the season you're in, and that these words might serve as a sort of lifejacket while you struggle through whatever deep waters you find yourself in today. When I was forty I learned how to swim.  Yep, that's right, I'm a late-bloomer.  Actually, Grace was planning a mission trip to come alongside some missionary friends of ours in the Bahamas (yeah, I know).  I thought it would be a shame to get all the way there and not be able to do anything but stand on that hot, white, sandy beach thinking how deliciously cool it would be to get into that ocean.   So I decided to sign up for swimming lessons at the Y, and a fascinating thing happened:  Our instructor told us to go into the deep end of the pool and hold onto the side.  Then we were to push ourselves up and then shove ourselves down as hard as we could so that our feet would touch the bottom, and then push ourselves back up to the top.   I couldn't do it. No, I didn't run out of the Y scared and tearful.  I just literally could not get to the bottom of the pool!  Even after a few tries.  I was amazed!  I had always assumed that since I didn't know how to swim, if I got into deep water I would just sink like a rock.  But no! And yet….  When I got to the Bahamas and had my chance to get into the ocean, I got in, of course, but I didn't go very far out at all.  I don't even think I got our into water more than a couple feet over my head.  I knew better in my head, but I hadn't learned yet how to trust  what I believed.  (But hey, I can say I swam in the ocean!) I was reminded of all this the other day when I found a couple journals in my church office.  When I opened them up, I discovered Doug's hand-made Scripture journals for Galatians and Hebrews (they were very much like the ones we give away for our Sunday morning services, only Doug made them by copying and pasting Scripture passages into the journals, and then writing his notes on the opposite pages).   And then I thought of how Phil, too, got thrown into the deep end a few years ago when his dad, Pastor Doug, died.  And now these journals pop up and he finds a little more strength for his journey. I found myself giving thanks for the work God is doing–and has been doing–in Phil for the last nearly three years.  You know, Phil didn't start loving Jesus when he became our pastor, he's loved Him for years.  And he knew the Holy Spirit long before he got his own church office.    All the same, three years ago, Phil was thrown into the deep end.  His dad died just three months into a two-year mentoring and transition plan.  I think now of how ill-prepared Phil was.  I think of the plans Doug had made to mentor and train Phil for pastoral ministry.  And I think of the long, deep conversations, the "informal training" of father-and-son talks I know they had.  But God had other plans. Here's the thing.  I think Jesus is always calling us into the deep end.  You might be feeling in over your head even while you read this.  It's a metaphor, I know, but all of us will, like Phil, sooner or later find ourselves in over our heads.  We'll find ourselves face to face with someone or something we are completely, utterly unable to handle on our own.  Not because we don't have enough confidence or self-esteem or life skills, and not because we don't love Jesus and hunger for His Holy Spirit, but simply because we are facing giants that truly are bigger than we are. This is why we are people of faith.   Faith has no place in a world that doesn't know giants.  Faith is the possession of people who know what it is to be in over their heads. I was talking to a do-er the other day.  You know, the kind of person who feels more comfortable doing and fixing and making than praying and asking and receiving (you might even be a do-er yourself!).  He's in his own deep end right now, and he has several friends and family members who are also in their own deep ends.  And being a do-er he wants to fix it all and make it better–who doesn't?  He reminded me of our series on the spiritual practices last summer that focused on all the sorts of things we can do  in order to put ourselves in a position for God to get at us the way He wants to.  And he asked me, "So what practices can I do  that will help me and my friends and family get through all this junk?"   Before I answered him it occurred to me that maybe all of our do-ing is part of the problem.  There will always be a place for do-ing in the Christian life, but sometimes I think the point of finding ourselves in the deep end is so that we can learn to trust the water rather than trust our own flailing arms, so that we can learn to trust the Lord rather than our own efforts, even our own spiritual practices.   I wrote a piece recently called  Life in the Middle Voice , and one of the points I made is that we need to learn how to get more comfortable with passive activity or active passivity.   Think of it like floating.  Your body won't float all on its own, it needs a little help.  So we put our body in a position  to do in water what it naturally wants to do.  We need to remind ourselves to do the same thing in daily life.   So I told my friend that the spiritual practice he ought to be doing is one that would help him learn to surrender, to let go.  We've done a frequent exercise on Sunday mornings lately in which we practice two minutes of silence with no agenda other than making ourselves available to God.  What if we took just a couple minutes to pray "Into Your hands, Lord."  Or "Have Your way with me, O God."  Or "I give You permission to do in me whatever You want, Lord."  Or like Mary, "Be it done to be according to Your word."  Or something else.  Or all of these!  This is a wonderful way to practice putting ourselves in a position to stop our restless do-ing  and enter into God's rest, giving Him permission to work in us and through us.  We become the work of God instead of always working for God.  See the difference?   God wants very much to accomplish something in you!  He doesn't only want to do something through you.  In fact, there's a good possibility that He won't be able to do what He wants to do through you until He accomplishes what He wants to in you. So, are you in deep waters these days?  Just simply knowing that you are in over your head is a gift of the Holy Spirit.  Give thanks and know that God is offering rest and peace for your soul.  Phil's waybread this week came in the form of a couple old journals found in an office in which his dad used to sit.  Where will yours come from?  Try taking two minutes and see! I'm so thankful that God is blessing Phil as our pastor (and blessing us through him!).  But I also want each of you to know that the very same hand of blessing that rests on Phil's head rests on the head of all those who love Jesus and entrust themselves to Him. "The Lord bless you     and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine on you     and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you     and give you peace."  (Numbers 6:24-26) Be encouraged, friend, for God, the Maker of Heaven and Earth, who spoke all worlds into being, is both with you and for you.

Photo by Ralph Felzer STRENGTH FOR THE JOURNEY "I am severely afflicted– give me life, O Lord, according to Your word."  ~Psalm 119:107 It's hard not to be overwhelmed by the sheer number of griefs, sorrows, and sufferings going on in our midst these days.  They run the gamut from threats to the roofs over our heads, to the safety and well-being of our children, to our own chronic illnesses and disease.  When a great sorrow hits, the weight of it just seems to collapse onto our hearts, pressing them down and taking our breath away.  Chronic pain, long grief, and aching loss surround us on every side.   There's a reason I called this column Waybread.  Waybread is sustenance offered travelers along their way.  I want the words here to offer you all strength and encouragement for your own journey through life.  And I'm feeling profoundly these days the need we all have for strength on our various journeys. We all have different lives and different stories that are complicated by all sorts of dysfunctions and disasters, boons and blessings.  And yet at the same time, none of of our stories stands on its own. We all have our individual stories, but all of those are wrapped up in one grand, marvelous Story that began in Genesis 1.  Together and collectively, we are the Body of Christ.  When one of us grieves, we all grieve.  When one of us rejoices, we all rejoice.   My absolute favorite things about the Body of Christ are baptism and the Lord's supper.  I love them because they are beautiful and concrete pictures of who we are together.   Sure, when someone gets baptized, only that person gets wet.  But something mysterious and wonderful is also taking place–the entering of a soul into the kingdom of God, of which all the rest of us are already citizens.  We are welcoming another into our country of love, joy, hope, and peace, a country overseen by a loving Father, a compassionate Son, and a sustaining Spirit.  A baptism is an event for all of us , not just the one getting wet! And at Communion, my favorite moment is stepping aside while everyone comes forward to receive the bread and the cup, and I notice what an enormous variety of folks we are.  What a motley crew!  What a hodge-podge of humanity!  But as different as we all are, we share much, much more in common–our faith in Jesus Christ, a faith that knits us together more permanently than blood relations.  We are a people, made one by faith, made one by baptism, made one by the common sacrifice of Jesus, once for all, our Lord, our Savior, and our Redeemer.  All this is truer of us (and a tighter bond between us) than the stuff of income, class, age, and race that only appear to divide us.   "To glorify God as His faithful people."  One call, one mission, one identity.  But we certainly are a work in progress, aren't we?  We are "building a community to reach a community."  We aren't done yet.  We are a people on the way.  Pain, loss, disease, confusion, and anxiety may run rampant among us, but they don't define us, they don't tell us who we are--we are the Church of God, the Body of Christ, children of the Most High, no longer our own, but bought with the precious blood of Christ shed on the Cross.  This good news, this gospel of Jesus, means that we have a strength, a power alive within us–the life of "Christ in us, the hope of glory" (Col. 1:27).  And this Life is ours transcends the brokenness of life, not removing the possibility of suffering, but giving us kingdom of God resources with which to overcome that brokenness and suffering.  In Christ, we truly are "more than conquerors through him who loves us" (Rom. 8:37). I'm reminded of God speaking to Moses at the burning bush.  When Moses asks Him what His name is so that he can answer those who want to know who sent him, God replies, "I am who I am," or "I am that I am" (Exodus 3:14).  The Name God speaks to Moses is a verb that means "to be."  So when God says, "Tell them 'I am' sent you," he's simply saying, "The One who IS, who always has been  and always will be  is My name."   Friends, God is .  That's all.  And that's enough.  When we grieve, God is.  When we rejoice, God is.  When we are perplexed, confused, anxious, angry, frustrated, and so sorrowful our heart seems to be breaking … God is.  Right there with you, right there in the middle, in the thick of it, weeping His own very real tears right alongside you (remember, "Jesus wept"), God simply is.   And God is Love.  And compassion.  And help.  And healing.  And wholeness.  And redemption.   I'll leave you with an old hymn that I believe is God's word for us in this season. Let these words wash over you, heal your heart, and lead you into worship (and then go look it up online and give it a listen--or two). Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation! O my soul, praise him, for he is your health and salvation! Come, all who hear; now to his temple draw near, join me in glad adoration. Praise to the Lord, above all things so wondrously reigning; sheltering you under his wings, and so gently sustaining! Have you not seen all that is needful has been sent by his gracious ordaining? Praise to the Lord, who will prosper your work and defend you; surely his goodness and mercy shall daily attend you. Ponder anew what the Almighty can do, if with his love he befriends you. Praise to the Lord! O let all that is in me adore him! All that has life and breath, come now with praises before him. Let the Amen sound from his people again; gladly forever adore him. Be encouraged, friend, for God, the Maker of Heaven and Earth, who spoke all worlds into being, is both with you and for you.

Image by Annie Spratt on Unsplash LIFE IN THE MIDDLE VOICE "Only let us hold fast to what we have already attained" (Phil. 3:16). There is a fascinating tension in this verse.  "Let us hold fast" makes it sound like we're hanging on to the edge of a cliff–"Hold on!  Don't let go!"  While "to what we have attained" sounds as if we're already there, we've already climbed up onto the cliff–we've arrived, now we just need to stay there. This tension is everywhere in our Christian walk.  God has done so much for us, more than we deserve and more than we can repay.  "If I can just hang on!  If I can just remember who I am in Christ today."  And yet, on page after page of the Scriptures we read things that sound a lot like:  "Do all you can!  Outdo one another in acts of kindness!  Sacrifice!  Serve!  Give!  Don't hold anything back!"  We feel like we barely have enough together to get through today, let alone race to outdo one another in service, love, and devotion. But I would like to consider a slightly different perspective. One thing I've learned over the years is that maturity in Christ doesn't mean serving more or loving more or having more frequent and regular quiet times.  And it doesn't mean giving more hours to the food kitchen or homeless shelter or putting more dollars in the offering basket.  But if it's not these things, what the heck is it?    I think the key to understanding what it means to grow in Christ, what it means to mature in Christ is spelled out in Philippians 3:16, where Paul says, "Only let us hold fast to what we have already attained." First, I'm taking it for granted that we all know what is necessary for salvation: grace and faith.  We take our place in Christ's death in order that we may take our place in His life .  As the apostle Paul says in Galatians, "I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me.  And the life I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" (2:20).   So what does it mean to grow in grace, in faith, and in belief?  I don't think it means to do any of these better  than we now do.  It means to increase our capacity  for grace, faith, and belief.  Faith and belief are gifts of grace, and since grace is a gift from God, so are faith and belief.  They aren't so much things we do  as they are things we receive  and hold onto .   And this is where we catch up to Paul in Philippians 3:16, "Only let us hold fast to what we have already attained."  Christian maturity hinges upon not so much getting hold of more faith and more belief, it means holding onto what we have already attained.  Faith and belief are like muscles we use to hold onto the grace we have already received.  Maturity is not getting more faith and belief, it's enlarging our capacity to hold onto the grace we have already received.  As we mature, we can't get more, but we can hold onto more. Let me show you what I mean.  Marathon runners don't have access to any more oxygen than any of the rest of us–we're all immersed in far more oxygen than we need or use.  The difference between us and marathon runners is that they have a greater capacity for oxygen than we do.  They take fewer breaths every minute.  Their hearts beat less often because they process oxygen so much better.  And as a result, they can take more oxygen into their bodies and use it more effectively and efficiently. Faith and belief are like muscles, and muscles are only good for something beyond themselves.  Big, strong biceps aren't good for much of anything unless you need to lift heavy things.  Faith and belief find their highest purpose in giving thanks and praise to God.  Our souls enlarge their capacity for faith and belief as we practice thankfulness and adoration.   And this is where I'd like to talk about what we English teacher folks call The Middle Voice. THE MIDDLE VOICE In English, verbs (action words) are either active or passive.  In the active voice, I am the actor.  I initiate the action.  For example, "I give advice."  My personal mission statement is packed with the active voice.  Notice the active voice in the verbs I made bold below:   I will abide in the larger, stronger, quieter life of Christ. I will affirm the good, the true, and the beautiful. I will lead my family in paths of grace and truth, living among them as a steward and a servant. I will be creative  within the chaos of art, family, ministry and work.   I will initiate in my relationships & live authentically, making my desires known to self & others. I will maintain a well-ordered heart, a hospitable home, and a simple lifestyle. I will cultivate self-renewal through exercise and rest, regular retreats, and daily silence. In the passive voice I am being acted upon.  I receive the action.  "I am given advice."  We're uncomfortable with the passive voice because we prefer to act rather than be acted upon.  But sometimes we can use passivity  as a defense against having to take responsibility for our actions–we only deal with or address what other people, or circumstances, DO TO US.  Many of us Christians fall into this when we're complimented and we say, "It wasn't me, it was the Lord.  I can't do anything.  I'm just His instrument."  Now, there's an element of truth to this, but we don't see it for what it is until we understand THE MIDDLE VOICE. So most of us stop with the active and passive voices, but there is another voice, the middle voice .  In the middle voice I am an active participant, but the action doesn't begin with me.  I am joining  the action of another.  Tyler Staton says, "We participate in the action, and we reap the benefits of the action.  We are not entirely active.  God's action doesn't depend on our initiative.  Neither are we entirely passive.  God has freely chosen to act almost exclusively in partnership with people.  When we pray, we both participate in God's action and benefit from God's action.  We join  God.  All of our interaction with God in prayer happens here–in the middle voice, the voice of participation ." The best example I know of of the Middle Voice is Jesus' mother Mary when the angel Gabriel comes to her and says she will be overshadowed by the Holy Spirit and give birth to the Son of God.  What is Mary's response?  "Be it done to me according to your Word."  Mary is not initiating anything here, God is.  And yet Mary is not entirely acted upon either.  She voluntarily chooses to surrender, to make herself available to the God who acts. The Middle voice is the voice of permission, of surrender, of offering and sacrifice–even of worship.  These are ALL things that we ourselves DO, but they are all ways we participate, ways we respond, to God's initiative. We see the middle voice in many of the most powerful and inspiring passages in the Bible:  We see Isaiah giving Permission : "Who will go for me?"  "Here am I, send me." (Isaiah 6:8) We see the prodigal son Surrender :  "When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ (Luke 15:17-19) When Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane, he Offers himself, "Father, if it is possible let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will but as You will." (Matthew 26) Abraham is told by God to Sacrifice his only son, Isaac.  Abraham would NEVER have done this if God not taken the initiative/directed him to. And the Father's command to Worship , emphasized by Jesus, in Matthew 22:  "Love the Lord with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength" is not something we are even capable of unless there were Another motivating us, empowering us to. We also see the Middle voice in Proverbs 21:31:  "The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to the Lord."  Victory in all things depends on God alone, and yet ... the horse must be prepared by us for the battle.  There is an interdependence at work here.  We participate together with God.   And in Psalm 127:1-2, a passage many of us are familiar with, the psalmist says, "Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.  Unless the Lord guards the city, the guard keeps watch in vain.  It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil, for he provides for his beloved during sleep."  How beautiful is that image of God providing for us even while we sleep?   And yet … the builder still builds and the watchman still stays vigilant.  Each participates with God in His work–as do we. Notice the contrast between that idea and Ecclesiastes 2:22-23, "What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? 23 For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest " (emphasis mine).  What a far cry from the easy rest during which God provides for His beloved!   This is the mystery and the wonder of the Middle Voice:  He calls us to participation but not control, involvement but not guidance, action but not management. So let's return to our passage for this morning:  "Only let us live up to what we have already received."  What HAVE we already received?   Life, Grace, Love, Peace, Forgiveness, Joy Grace upon grace, blessing upon blessing has been bestowed upon us (PASSIVE VOICE).   But what shall be our response?  How do we participate in this life of grace, this life of entirely unmerited favor?     Living in the Middle Voice means living what I call the Etiquette of Grace, by which I mean learning to live our entire lives as one big long "Thank You!"  A thank you we live into with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength.  This past Monday, October 6, I celebrated 22 years since I was told I had cancer.  That news rocked my world.  It looked like I was going to die, and I was more scared than I've ever been of anything because I knew I was in a battle I literally could not fight.  I was driven to my knees, and I spent hour after hour walking and praying at Wildwood metropark.  It's a long story, but the really cool thing is that not only did God heal me of my cancer, he healed my heart of several other things I was powerless over as well. I learned that God would stop at nothing to make me the man He wanted me to become.  And after my surgery and the news that the cancer hadn't spread, and that I wouldn't need chemo or radiation after all … I was scared all over again, because: If God won't stop at anything to make me who He intends me to be, then I had no idea what I was in for!  And much of the next several years were spent in a place of fear. It took me many years to recover the Middle voice, to come back to a place where I could pray like Mary:  "Be it done to me according to Your word." What really helped me was not shielding myself from hard things, but learning to open up and say THANK YOU to the Lord with my whole life, learning to "live up to what I had already attained":  life and hope and healing and joy and peace.  Learning to love and serve and encourage others, learning how to teach and guide students in faith and love not out of a sense of duty but out of a deep gratitude for having been saved out of a place where I could literally do NOTHING except place myself in the presence of the living God and cry out for mercy–and then go out and LIVE MY THANK YOU BEFORE THE WORLD! Living life in the Middle Voice means we have nothing to prove, no duty to discharge, beyond saying THANK YOU for a Life we didn't create, Grace we cannot earn, Love that has no bounds, Peace we cannot comprehend, Forgiveness we don't deserve, and Joy we cannot contain.  We have all been given grace upon grace, blessing upon blessing, and a grateful, believing, trusting response is all that's asked of us.  I had to learn what the psalmist says in Psalm 86: "Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart to revere your name.   I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever. For great is your steadfast love toward me; you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol."    ~Psalm 86:11-13 Be encouraged, friend, for God, the Maker of Heaven and Earth, who spoke all worlds into being, is both with you and for you.

Photo credit: Ralph Felzer EVERY MOMENT IS SACRED Our current Sunday series on Ecclesiastes is teaching us that life experienced "under the sun" without God is nothing more than smoke, vapor, emptiness– hevel.  Taking any part of life on its own terms , whether goodness, beauty, hardship, loss, pain, or grief, is to entirely miss the presence and activity of our good and beautiful God.  Our heavenly Father–through Jesus and by the gift of the Holy Spirit–comforts, strengthens, affirms, heals, redeems, and soothes every wound, every sorrow, every grief.  Every one.  But the key is keeping  God at the center of every single thing life throws our way, no matter how painful or perplexing … or even beautiful. In every moment, however delightful or dark, the secret to finding solid meaning and comfort instead of empty handfuls of vanishing vapor is the presence of God.  God is everywhere all the time.  If we don't see Him or hear Him or sense Him, the barrier is more likely in us than in Him. Ecclesiastes is also teaching us is that the secret to keeping God at the center of our life is worship.  And worship assumes a couple things.  The first is faith, since worship is ultimately about looking up and out from created selves to a transcendent, eternal God.  And on top of that, "without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him (Heb. 11:6 NIV). Which leads us to the second aspect of worship: gratitude.  All of us have received grace upon grace.  As the Apostle Paul says, "What do you have that you did not receive ?  And if you received it, why do you boast as if it were not a gift? " (1 Cor. 4:7, emphasis mine).  Life itself is a gift–it wasn't your idea or mine to just wish ourselves into existence or to form ourselves in our mothers' wombs.  And so we give thanks, and our gratitude both keeps us humble and helps us remember the greatness of God.   In the end, though, both faith and gratitude hinge on belief .  No one worships a God they don't believe in.  No one gives thanks to a God they don't believe exists.  In fact, I would say that the highest form of obedience we can perform is not any form of ministry or service, it's not giving, it's not even going into the mission field.  Don't get me wrong, these are all wonderful and glorious, and they ought to be more a part of our lives than they are, but they are all secondary to: belief. In John 6, after Jesus feeds the five thousand, the crowd tracks Him down and asks, "What are the works God requires of us?"  And Jesus' response is: "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent" (John 6:29, NIV).  Did you catch that?!  The "work" God requires of us is believing in Jesus –no more ... but no less.  Of course, believing in Him will lead us to acts of devotion and service and faithfulness, but far more important than any of these is the belief  that underlies and inspires them! I might also say here that this is precisely the kind of belief we see in Mary when the angel Gabriel announces to her that she will become pregnant by the Holy Spirit and give birth to the Son of God.  What is her response?  "Be it done to me according to your word" (Luke 1:38).   Belief requires agreement, consent, allowing … abiding.  "Be it done to me according to your word" should be our motto for living every day. To believe in each moment, and then to do what each moment requires –whether picking up a straw or a piece of litter or picking the kids up from school or preparing a meal or closing an account or finishing a job for a client–is our highest form of obedience.  Obedience is never "out there" somewhere in the future, it is not resolving to do later today or tomorrow or next year what may be required of us then.  Obedience knows no other moment but this one, right now. Jean Pierre de Caussade wrote a book called The Sacrament of the Present Moment.   The title itself says so much more than I have in this little article about true obedience.  It says that this very moment is sacred, holy.  This moment transcends all other moments lingering from our past or hovering over our future because we have no access to any of our past moments or any of our future moments.  The only moment we have any access to at all is this present one. A simple story from Genesis 28 will show you what I'm talking about.  Jacob has just dreamt of angels ascending and descending a ladder stretching from heaven to earth, and God tells him: "Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you."   When he wakes he says, "Surely the Lord is in this place–and I did not know it! … How awesome is this place!  This is none other than the house of God and the gate of heaven" (Gen 28:15-17). Isn't that amazing?  Doesn't it make you wonder just how often we miss God and the nearness of His kingdom?  How often has He walked right past us and we failed to see Him?  How often has He spoken and we failed to hear His still small voice?   I wonder if one way we can train ourselves to really see God's activity around us is to practice slowing down long enough to step out of our busyness and whatever else we might be doing for just a couple minutes each day.  We've been encouraging this in one another often lately by stopping for just two whole minutes a day.  No agenda at all.  We're not looking for answers to big personal problems or deep theological questions in this time, we're just stopping and offering ourselves to God.  "Into Your hands, Lord."  "Open my eyes, Lord."  "Be it done to me according to Your word, Lord." What if we took just two simple minutes at the beginning of our day to simply be open like this to God?  To be grateful that we exist, and breathe? I'm reminded of a message I gave a few weeks ago when I asked Lucas Wrobel to come up front and try to give me a handful of smoke.  And then I had him try to hand me a rock that was far too heavy and substantial for him to lift.  Remember the point?  It seems to us that the things of God and His kingdom are like smoke–hard to grasp and difficult to understand.  And it also often seems that the stuff of this life "under the sun" is so real and solid.  In actuality of course, it's just the opposite, the things of this world are all passing away (ourselves included), but the things of God are solid and eternal.  We fall for this almost every time, but I think one way of "breaking the spell" and of learning to see and know the kingdom of God in us and around us is to simply practice our two minutes.   Let us remember to take Paul's advice and "Set our minds on the things that are above, not on the things that are on earth, for we have died, and our life is hidden with Christ in God" (Col. 3:2-3, paraphrased). Be encouraged, friend, for God, the Maker of Heaven and Earth, who spoke all worlds into being, is both with you and for you.

Image by Oskars Sylwan on Unsplash FINDING INTIMACY WITH GOD Have you noticed how many new faces we have at Grace these days?  Just a quick look around the room on Sunday morning will show you that God really is doing a new thing among us.  It is so exciting to see this kind of growth happening right alongside the hunger and thirst for God that is stirring in so many of our hearts!  Mary Brack asked Pastor Phil and I earlier if we had noticed this "new thing."  We've talked about this before at Grace, remember?  In Isaiah 43:19 God says, "Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?  I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert" (Isaiah 43:19).  God is blazing a trail in the wilderness and at the same time making streams of living water flow into desert hearts!  It's so beautiful and inspiring to see and know that God is at work.  This Sunday, there's a good chance you'll see a face you haven't seen before–say hi! This "new thing" makes us want to know God more and more deeply, doesn't it?  It creates a desire, a longing, in our heart of hearts for intimacy with God.  We just naturally want to get close to the God who makes life flow like a river and love burst forth like a fountain.  But many of us feel like we're not qualified for that kind of intimacy with God.  We feel like we don't measure up, or we're too mired in sin, or we don't feel bad enough about our sin, or there's so much more we should be doing for the kingdom of God. Well, I'm here to say that NONE of that disqualifies you from the life God wants for you.  In fact, the more inadequate you feel, the more qualified you happen to be!  Here's the rub, though–are you willing to let go of all that--of anything and everything that hinders your approach to Him--and enter into the fountain of life that flows 24/7?  Whenever you're ready, He's right there waiting for you, ready to begin a new work in you.  Any time.  Day or night. I was reminded of this new work God is doing in us a few weeks ago when Pastor Phil shared an article with some of us called "Seeking the Face of God," by James Emery White.  White writes about what we've been talking about so much in recent months–that God is "doing a new thing," that abiding in Christ is central to walking with Christ, and that spiritual practices are an essential element to formation and intimacy with God. And it's that intimacy that I want to mainly focus on today.  Once we see in ourselves a desire to be close to God, to be more like Jesus, to bear fruit for the kingdom, we very often get off on the wrong track by trying to do  all sorts of things to bear that kind of fruit.  But White reminds us that fruit is just that–the end result of something else going on inside of us.  I'll let him explain:   "Fruit does not exist in and of itself. It is something that is produced. It comes from a life source—a branch or a vine. A person does not decide to be patient, much less will themselves to be patient. Patience must be cultivated from the source of patience. That is why the Bible speaks of such things flowing from the Spirit. They emanate from a life with, in and through the Spirit. Only when a spiritual life is cultivated will spiritual fruit be manifest. The true goal of spiritual formation is not the fruit of the Spirit, but rather the relational intimacy that produces the fruit of the Spirit… " (James Emery White, emphasis mine). We work hard at being good people (or at least better people), which usually means doing more things than we're already doing, or trying to do what we're already doing better  or more faithfully than we have.  But do you see White's point?  It's not our more energetic efforts or improved intentions that produce fruit, it's intimacy with God (see John 15)!   And we don't know very well how to do this–at least I don't.  White reminds us of Psalm 105:4, "Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always" (Psalm 105:4, NIV).  It's all about relationship, connection, which way we're pointed.   And it's more about learning how to not do, how to stop our misguided doing and simply abide with Christ–after all He already abides in us.  Let me show you what I mean. Years ago, when I turned 40, I signed up to lead a mission trip to the Bahamas to support a missionary friend of ours.  I decided that this might be a good time to learn how to swim (that's right, I didn't learn to swim until I was 40 (even now, I might be able to save my life in a crisis, but then again, maybe not)!  I was shocked to learn two things.  First, my body wants to float.  My instructor told us to go to the side of the deep end of the pool, then push ourselves up as high as we could and shove ourselves down as deep as we could go, touch the bottom of the pool and push ourselves back up to the surface.  I couldn't do it.  No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get to the bottom of the pool!  "No wait!  Let me try again!"  But it was no good.  My body wanted to rise to the surface.  The whole time I thought my body wanted to sink like a stone  it actually wanted to rise and soar.  Amazing.  That possibility had never, ever occurred to me. A little while later, she taught us (well, me–I was the only student left by then) how to float.  I learned that if I simply put my body in the right position , I would float.  Get that?  I didn't really have to do anything.  All I had to do was put my body in a position to do what it naturally wanted to do! I think spiritual formation, abiding in Christ, and bearing fruit in the Spirit are almost identical to floating.  The secret is not trying harder or doing more stuff–or doing more stuff harder –it's putting our souls and spirits in a position  where God can get at us and do His work of transformation in us.  This is the whole purpose, the entire purpose, of the spiritual practices.   And this is how we find intimacy with God.  Left to ourselves, the weight of our sin will cause us to sink like stones.  But when we're joined with Christ, His life in us rising and soaring, we can know intimacy and fruitfulness with God that we could never otherwise know.  We simply put ourselves in a position where His life courses through our veins.   I'll say one more thing about my learning to swim.  When I finally did get to the Bahamas, I couldn't wait to get to the ocean!  I had never in my life seen water so clean and clear–and you could see so far down!  But you know what?  I didn't venture out very far.  I got a little beyond my depth and then assumed the position.  I loved it.  I was floating in the Atlantic Ocean, for crying out loud!  But I'll bet I never got into water more than twenty feet deep.   My guess is that many of us are this way in our relationships with God.  We've learned to trust–a little.  And, like Peter, who gets out of the boat and starts walking on the water toward Jesus (Mt. 14:22-33), we get a little wobbly in the knees pretty quickly and cry out for help. My encouragement for you today is to take David's advice–"Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always."  Don't be frightened by the vast depths beneath, just look to the Lord.  And lastly, do what I didn't have the courage to do in the Bahamas–get out of your depth!  Find a spiritual practice (like fasting or solitude) and practice getting out of your depth so that when you get into the deep end in real life  you can flourish as you were meant to! Be encouraged, friend, for God, the Maker of Heaven and Earth, who spoke all worlds into being, is both with you and for you.

Photo by Elisa Photography on Unsplash THE COMFORT OF HIS PRESENCE Good morning, friends, it's been a while!  I've been thinking about the burdens of loss and pain and difficulty many of us have been shouldering lately, and it reminded me that we all need strength and encouragement for our long journey of following Christ–which is the whole point of Waybread!  So I offer this little piece in the hope that, if you're one of those carrying a heavy load these days, you'll find rest, strength, and hope here. When you think about it, it's interesting that there is no real systematic instruction about prayer in the Bible–no lectures, so teachings on the various types or categories of prayer.  There's very little on studying prayer, and nothing whatsoever on offering classes to learn how and why to pray.  What we do see, though–everywhere, all the time, on virtually every page–is men and women just praying!  And I find that encouraging because it reminds me that my first order of business isn't to study or define or search my concordance for prayer (as helpful as all that may be), but just to pray!  Isn't it amazing how often we get sidetracked from the most important things by trying to figure them out first instead of just doing them? Prayer is not rocket science, it's just conversation with God.  We spend so much time wondering if we're "doing it right" or whether we're making things up, or whether our sense of what God is saying to us is really God or just bad digestion or a spiritual "mood" that we wind up losing the heart and soul of prayer in all of our questioning and insecurity about it. My best times with God don't come when I sit down on purpose to pray.  They come when I linger in His presence for a while after reading a passage of Scripture, or when I'm confused or in pain or discouraged and I just cry out (either aloud or in my mind), "God, help me," or "I don't know what I'm doing here, Lord, show me the way," or even "I sure screwed that up, Jesus!  I should know better than to trust my own intentions or abilities." When I just talk to Him and tell Him what's on my mind, when I let my concerns about friends, family, and neighbors flow out of me into His hearing, I can, for just a moment, step outside the confusion and chaos of life.  I can enter into His comforting presence and find peace even in the midst of all the trouble.  And I can listen for His timely word of hope and peace, maybe just a simple Bible verse or a quiet thought, and I can sense Christ's presence more clearly.  Whether your experience of times like these is the same or different doesn't matter–what does matter is that He is most certainly present  with us, whether we sense Him there or not.   It's also helpful to keep in mind that the kingdom of God is so much bigger than my life and concerns, don't you think?  And to remember that His kingdom isn't just "some day in a faraway future" or the eternal life we'll only know after we die–no, God's kingdom is here, now, "near at hand," as Jesus says. And this nearness of God and His Kingdom is a great comfort, isn't it?  Think about how often He tells us how near He is: ~ Jesus says the kingdom of heaven is "near at hand" (numerous times) ~ Paul says that people will "search for God … though indeed He is not far from each one of us" (Acts 17:27) ~ Moses says the word of God "is not too hard for you … nor is it too far away.  It is not in  heaven … nor is it beyond the sea….  No, the word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe" (Deut. 30:11-14) ~ Solomon says "there is one who sticks closer than a brother" (Prov. 18:24) On top of this intimate nearness of the Kingdom, I also think of it as not only being present here and now, but of even invading this world, this life.  It's helpful for me to picture this life and everything and everyone in it as black and white, but as the kingdom of God invades  all of it gradually comes into color!  When I come to faith in Christ I become a new creation, I shift from a one-dimensional black-and-white person into a 3-D person of vibrant color and light and clarity.  Now, of course, it doesn't always seem that way, but it sure helps me see and understand the tension between life in this fallen world and life in God's present kingdom differently–it gives me life and hope and even joy right in the middle of all I might be going through. Don't you find that God is both near  and mysterious  at the same time?  How marvelous!  How wonderful!  How … challenging!  The only way we can make sense of such a mystery is through faith.  Faith sees the majesty and wonder of everything that surrounds us so that we say, "How could I doubt Him?"  And yet, however firmly we may believe, we seldom understand.   Faith and understanding don't always walk hand in hand. I have found great comfort in dealing with this tension, this conflict, in Psalm 69–and in one verse in particular: "At an acceptable time, O God,  in the abundance of Your steadfast love,  answer me" (Ps. 69:13). Oh how often I get frustrated in prayer because I don't get what I want!  But this helps me remember that prayer is not so much about getting what I want as it is praying for what God wants (God's will).  And then I realize how often what I want conflicts with, butts up against, what God wants.  When push comes to shove, do I really prefer my desires over God's ?  (In many cases, at least for me, the answer, unfortunately, is yes.   But this teaches me humility, and I learn  to give up my own priorities in order to take hold of His.  After all, isn't this what Jesus was modeling for us in the Garden of Gethsemane?  "Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done" (Luke 22:42). Maybe today you find yourself in your own sort of "Garden of Gethsemane moment."  You may feel hemmed in, cornered, up against a foe or a force greater than you can face.  I don't have the way out for you, but I do have a word of hope: Take heart, friend!  God is near!  His kingdom of love and peace and freedom is at hand!  At just the right time, in the abundance of His great love for you, you will find the answer–you will find that He is your answer.  Not just a way out, not just a solution, but God Himself, His Spirit and His presence will be with you and will lead you! Be encouraged, friend, for God, the Maker of Heaven and Earth, who spoke all worlds into being, is both with you and for you.

Image generated by AI at stockcake.com ABIDING IN CHRIST IS THE ABUNDANT LIFE Like a river full of water,     God enriches the earth and provides people with grain,    because this is how He works in the world: 1 You water its furrows abundantly,     settling its ridges, softening it with showers,     and blessing its growth. You crown the year with your bounty;     your wagon tracks overflow with richness. The pastures of the wilderness overflow;     the hills gird themselves with joy; the meadows clothe themselves with flocks;     the valleys deck themselves with grain;     they shout and sing together for joy. 1 My paraphrase of Psalm 65:9. I was reading these closing verses from Psalm 65 this morning (one of my favorite passages in the psalms), and I was impressed all over again with the bounty, the abundance, that God wants to pour into our laps, not because we're so lovely or deserving, but simply because it is His nature to shower blessing and abundance upon those who love Him! And I haven't been able to stop thinking lately of what a blessing it is to abide in Christ–and how beyond-blessed we are to know that He abides in us!  And I also can't stop thinking of the fruitfulness and abundance and richness that flow from abiding in Him. At the same time, I'm mindful of how easy it is for us to separate our practicing of the practices from our abiding in Christ.  The whole time we're keeping Sabbath, or reading our Scriptures, or giving away our possessions, or fasting, or whatever, we should also be abiding in Christ.  We do all these things with Him and in Him, and in the end we become like Him!  What a wonderful mystery!  But also, what a privilege to not just wait for this oneness to be dropped into our laps, but to actually participate with Him in fulfilling His promises to us!   We participate with Jesus in the practices because He went before us in practicing them–He shows us how to abide because He Himself abides in the Father.  And when we engage in the practices while we abide in Him, we are weaving them–and Him–into the rhythm of our lives. And I'm also thinking this morning of His promises.  Read that Psalm 65 passage again (go ahead, I'll be right here when you get back!). Do you see the grace? the abundance? the favor? the blessing in every verse?  Hardened ridges and furrows softening even as the rain falls upon them, a bounty so rich and full that the wagons overflow as they bounce along the path, the meadows and hills crowded with grain and sheep, and they, even they, shout and sing together for joy! This is no stingy God who has to have blessings pried from his clenched fist! It's a beautiful picture, but it's also a beautiful promise.  The hills and the sheep shout and sing, basking in the bounty and perfection that God has provided for them, and their shouting and singing reminds me of what Jesus says during His Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem: "I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out!" And we are no different than the hills and sheep, except that, because we're human beings made in the image of God, when we bask in God's bounty and provision, He also involves us in His work. He longs for our willing and eager participation.  And the practices are just simply how we do this. One of the ways we live the promise that God has opened up before us is to give the blessings back, sharing them with whoever crosses our path. And it's no different with the difficult people around us--when we keep ourselves from judging others, when we forgive and bless them as abundantly as we have been forgiven and blessed, we are participating in the abundant life of Jesus.  As He says:   "Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap, for the measure you give will be the measure you get back" (Luke 6:37-38). And do you see there the gracious thread of connection between God's rich blessing, our taking hold of that blessing, and then our generous passing along of that blessing to others?  If our practices don't help us live this way among other image-bearers in the world, we should leave them behind and find other, better practices for abiding in Christ. Another passage God showed me this morning was from Deuteronomy 30.  It's a long passage, but I only want to focus on a few brief thoughts that will help us enter more fully into God's promises and guide us into a more fruitful following of Him.  (I'll highlight key thoughts I want to show you in bold italics.) “When all these things have happened to you, the blessings and the curses that I have set before you, if you call them to mind  among all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you and return to the Lord your God , and you and your children obey him with all your heart and with all your soul , just as I am commanding you today, then the Lord your God will return you from your captivity and have compassion on you , gathering you again from all the peoples among whom the Lord your God has scattered you. Even if you are exiled to the ends of the world, from there the Lord your God will gather you , and from there he will take you back . The Lord your God will bring you into the land  that your ancestors possessed, and you will possess it; he will make you more prosperous and numerous  than your ancestors. “Moreover, the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, in order that you may live….  Then you shall again obey the Lord , observing all his commandments that I am commanding you today, and the Lord your God will make you abundantly prosperous  in all your undertakings, in the fruit of your body, in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your soil . For the Lord will again take delight in prospering you , just as he delighted in prospering your ancestors, when you obey the Lord your God  by observing his commandments and decrees that are written in this book of the law, because you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul (Deuteronomy 30:1-10). First, we need to remember all the blessings of God (as well as His warnings, but if we remember and obey, we need not concern ourselves with those!).   And if we have wandered from right paths, and return to Him (and the evidence of our returning is obeying Him!), He will then return to us and have compassion on us (and our very returning to Him is the fruit of His compassion!). Our response to His compassion is our whole and joyful obedience, loving Him with all our heart and soul.  The chains of our captivity to sin will be broken and He will welcome us back with great compassion to the land of promise. And the result of all this gathering and returning, loving and obeying, is fulfilment, abundance, joy, peace, and prosperity! And lastly, because God is so eager for us to embrace His promise , He repeats it all again in the next paragraph, with still more heart and compassion and, if I may be so bold, still more yearning for His people.  I hope you see that yearning here, I hope you hear it in His voice!  The passion of God is for His people–always has been and always will be.  If you watch for it and listen for it, it's everywhere from Genesis to Revelation:  "I will be their God, and they will be My people." There is great encouragement and joy and freedom in abiding in Christ because to abide in Him is to enter His joy, to become boys and girls, men and women, who embody joy and gladness and abundance!  As Nehemiah 8:10 says, "The joy of the Lord is your strength."  And what does this mean except that God is Himself the most joyful of all beings and that, by abiding in Him, His joy becomes the fountain of a strength beyond our own–and who can contain that! Be encouraged, friend, for God, the Maker of Heaven and Earth, who spoke all worlds into being, is both with you and for you.