Cupped Hands

Mom.

It’s one thing to get a child’s attention, by cupping their face in your hands.  It’s quite another when they cup your face in their hands and say: “I love you.”  Go ahead and feel your heart melting.  The seniors with whom I work understand.  They crave a gentle touch; these people who are well-fed and yet starving for joy and comfort.  “O tidings of comfort and joy,” is their heart’s cry.  A more wondrous Christmas present could not be given, if one was to offer a gentle touch.

You know, it takes time to be gentle.  It takes a spirit of humility to be gentle.  There is a grace found in a spirit of gentleness that you will not find anywhere else.  We’ve known it, when someone loves us well, and we can rejoice in the qualitative touch of a gentle spirit.  It is a great sadness, when we have left gentleness in the dust of our too-busy lives; anxiously reaching for the next empty apparition of more, more, more.

But we are not left without an example, nor are we left without any help.  If anyone exuded gentleness, it would have been Jesus; filled to overflowing with the fruit of the Spirit. No wonder the people flocked to him; no wonder he carries the titles of Good Shepherd, (John 10:11); Great Shepherd, (Hebrews 13:20); and Chief Shepherd,(1 Peter 5:4).  It does seem a paradox, though, that Jesus was ushered into the world at the proclamation of lowly shepherds.  But isn’t that the way?  I mean, don’t we recognize true strength of character in meekness and gentleness?  I marvel at God’s seemingly “upside-down” way of looking at the world.  

Pastor Pernell’s message about leaving vengeance to God is so fitting, as he spoke about using a spirit of kindness and gentleness to respond to those who have hurt us deeply; to those upon whom we would rather wreak havoc and vengeance.  By responding with gentleness, we may well lead the very perpetrator to repentance and faith. 

Meek is might, if we can take any lessons from Moses, the meekest man in all the earth, and from Jesus Himself, who was “…gentle and riding on a donkey.” (Matthew 21:4).  A gentle answer turns away wrath, says Proverbs 15:1, and this same meek and gentle Jesus answers to the righteous wrath of God, by holding our faces in His nail-scarred hands, and whispering to us in words loud and clear: “I love you.  I died for you.  I rose from the dead for you.  I live for you.  There is nothing too hard for me.”  Jesus' words, in Matthew 11:29:

“Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart;

and you shall find rest for your souls.”

We may get a lot accomplished in this life, on our hurry-scurry treadmills.  We might even get even with someone for hurting us.  But the pile of ashes at our feet, at the end of the day, will be all that is left; unless this fruit of the Spirit, gentleness, has been evident.  This Christmas, may gentleness be my hallmark, bringing tidings of comfort and joy.  I can start by taking my mother’s face into my cupped hands and saying:  “I love you.”  At 92 years of age, there may not be much time left for me to do this.  A daily dose would be a good thing, bringing rest to my soul and to hers.  Today was a good day to start a new tradition.  My Mom’s response: “And I love you.”

Reflected Light

Reflected light, this full and bright moon.

Shining the sun’s rays to me at night.

Arced across the sky, moving east to west.

Watching a faithful and beautiful sight.

Reflective. Shining.  Faithful.

So it is for me, in Christ.  

        Shine on.

"Again therefore, Jesus spoke to them, saying: "I am the light of the world; 

he who follows Me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life." 

(John 8:12)

(Jesus said)  "You are the light of the world.  A city set on a hill cannot be hidden."

(Matthew 5:14) 

November 20, 2015.

From another mother

As we’ve been studying the book of Ruth together, at our ladies’ small group, I’ve been moved by the faithfulness of a faithful God.  Having lost her husband and her two sons, Naomi left three graves in Moab and returned to Bethlehem with her daughter-in-law, Ruth.  Naomi says that she had left full but came back empty.  Not so, Naomi!  God has always been with you, faithful to the end; Ruth, whom you now call ‘daughter,’ has been ever-so-faithful to you.

One might ask: “What does it mean that God is faithful?”  He is faithful in His written word:

"Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away”.(Matthew 25:34),

and in His Living Word, found in Jesus Christ,

God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, 

Jesus Christ our Lord. (1 Corinthians 1:9)

Your refuge, my refuge, is found in this faithful God who calls believers in Christ to be faithful.  Really, all of us are refugees, looking for a safe haven.  Whether it is a teenager who is pregnant and needing care, comfort and courage to carry her baby to term or a senior who longs for a smile, a helping hand and conversation, there is an innate longing for faithful friends.  And no wonder, since we are made in the image of God.  This triune God is a God of fellowship between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  This triune God, in whose image we are made, has created us for fellowship, for intimacy, for joy and as a refuge for others.

Are we so selfish, that we will not allow others from another mother, to come into our country?  Will we really close the airports and the gates and the ports and the borders, so that fleeing refugees will be turned away?  Don’t we realize that Canada has its own version of evil: abortion-on-demand and the legalization of euthanasia?  Haven’t we killed enough of our own blood to staunch the flow of death?  Are we so self-righteous that we claim an excellent human rights tradition while our indigenous communities have no running water and cardboard houses in which to live?

Where is the faithfulness that the fruit of Spirit speaks about, in Galatians 5:22?  Are we so deaf to the cries of the needy that we can say, with alacrity and insouciance: NIMBY- Not In My Backyard?  Oh please, please- let us be a people who love the Lord our God and who love our neighbours, whomsoever they may be. 

Women, children, one-month-old babies are escaping the horrors of a war that has been none of their making.  The politics of generations has gone into these awful developments, and an organization like ISIS has deftly made their way into a vacuum where mercy does not reign, but terror tightens its grip on hearts and minds.  If we are in Christ, why do we feel paralyzed with fear?  Can we not provide a drop of mercy in these oceans of heartache and despair?

The violent takeover of lands and peoples is not new to Islam.  Such was the way of the prophet Mohammed; such is the way of those who follow him to the letter.  They are bent on creating a caliphate where women are objects to be used, where fear prevails and nary a drop of mercy can be found.  Are all Muslims to be painted with the brush of such extremists?  No.  Would some of them make it to Canada?  I wouldn’t doubt it.  But to think this is comparable to the myth of the Trojan horse that was sent into the heart of Troy and filled with the enemies’ soldiers is pretty far-fetched, Donald Trump notwithstanding.

   

Faithfulness to our God, faithfulness to our spouse, to our children, to our world- this fruit of the Spirit can only be played out in the day-to-day decisions that we make; in the places where perhaps no one sees us; in the interactions we have with our neighbours.  Being faithful is only a platitude unless we have a godly attitude- pointing people to our faithful God.  I am grateful for Samaritan’s Purse, who has boots on the ground at the point where these fleeing refugees are at their weakest- getting off rubber dinghies and landing on the shores of an island where they cannot be sure if someone will turn their boat around,sending them back across the lonely, salty waters; back to certain death.

(See here:  https://www.facebook.com/SamaritansPurse/videos/10153016512126809/). May it not be so here in Canada; may it not be said of believers that WE are more important than THEM.  ISIS longs for this; they want these fleeing refugees to think that ISIS is their refuge and as they watch and wait, we might well be playing right into their bloody hands.  Let it not be so, oh faithful God, let it not be so.

While Good News is putting her boots on...

“While good news is putting her boots on, bad news is already down the road.”  I’m afraid this old saying still rings true.  We just can’t wait to pass on a juicy bit of gossip and what my Mom calls facebook is sadly à propos:  “the porte-patchet,” which means “the gossip-column.”  I wonder, is that how you use facebook?  Doesn’t good news deserve a hearing?  In the book of Ruth, the sweet fruit of the Spirit-goodness- still counts!

It was around 1250 B.C. when Ruth, the Moabitess, went to draw water for her and her mother-in-law, Naomi, at the well in Bethlehem.  I can almost hear the other women: 

“There’s that woman from Moab!” 

“How dare she come to our land?  She is our enemy!”

“Her husband was Naomi’s son, and he died. She cursed the entire family!”

“She’s barren- it’s because God judged her!”

Ah, but there was someone who offered Ruth life-giving water and his name was Boaz.   Later on, out in the field where Ruth was gleaning, he said to her:

“When you are thirsty, go to the water jars and drink from what the servants draw.”  

(Ruth 2:9)

Oh, the goodness of this man, Boaz!  He need not have offered Ruth water- she was, after all, a foreigner and far worse, someone from a land where their enemies dwelt.  He knew her history- it had been reported to him.  But he gleaned the wonderful parts of her story- she had honoured her mother-in-law, left her own mother and father and her country, and had come to a people whom she did not know.  Boaz knew she had left all behind to stay with Naomi and follow Naomi’s God, the God of Israel. 

He didn’t tell her to go back to town and fetch water for herself at the well, nor did he tell her to go and fetch water for the others; he told her to drink, and to drink the water drawn by his own servants.  What dignity Boaz bestowed on Ruth that day!  Such goodness he showed this young widow, who knew only one person in the entire country, namely Naomi. 

Goodness means you don’t just offer help; give a date, a time, a suggestion and follow through.

Goodness means you put yourself out to meet someone’s need.

Goodness means you humble yourself before God, remembering that you are a sinner saved by grace, and you do the unimaginable: tell a prostitute that God deeply cares about them, bring food to a home where conditions are less-than-ideal, put an ad in your local newspaper saying you are available to mow a senior’s lawn for free, take a Bible to someone in prison, sit with a drunkard or an addict while they go through the horrors of withdrawal or…

Boaz was a Kinsman-Redeemer for Naomi and Ruth; a close relative whose role was to care for these two widows.  He could have chosen not to do so; not to demonstrate goodness towards them.  Unbeknownst to him, he was pointing to someone far greater than himself, when he offered water to Ruth.  He was pointing to Jesus Christ, the epitome of goodness,  and the ultimate Kinsman-Redeemer who gave up His life; so that we might have a well of water springing up to eternal life,(John 4:14).   

Ah, may Paul’s words to the church at Rome be true of us today:

"I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness,

                     filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another."               

(Romans 15:14)

Mercy Finds Us

Naomi - a woman of courage, a woman of honesty, a woman of joy; a widow bereft of her husband and two sons.  She, along with her husband Elimelech and their two sons, Mahlon and Chilion, had travelled to Moab to escape the famine in Bethlehem, the town whose name means ‘House of Bread.’   (You can read their story here).  Ten years later, she returns to Bethlehem without her husband, without her two sons and with her daughter-in-law, Ruth.  It was a less-than-glorious return, for the famine had followed her to Moab – a famine of spiritual proportions that she had not expected.

Two widows, one of whom was barren, were making their way back home. It was a journey fraught with painful memories; but somehow the longed-for comfort of being home and the companionship of a God who never forsook them made the odyssey bearable.  After seven to ten days of travel, they finally entered through the gate of the town of Bethlehem.  Did she remark to Ruth, on that long journey home, that she and her family had slept at such-and-such a place, or had gotten food at that particular town?  Was there weeping as they walked, remembering the graves left behind in Moab?  Regret, perhaps; regrets about leaving Bethlehem and turmoil about a return that would only cause questions and pronouncements of “I told you so?”  Never mind the raised eyebrows over bringing a Moabite into the land of Israel.  Would Ruth be safe- this foreigner who had pledged her allegiance to Naomi and to her God?  Would she even be allowed to get water at the well?  

Famine is such a huge metaphor for the spiritual drift that can happen when we ‘do what is right in our own eyes.’  Such was the time of the Judges; such was the setting for this story of Naomi - there was a famine in the land, which served to highlight the profoundly deeper spiritual famine that was starving the people of God.  It is a sad irony indeed that they took a never-forgotten journey to what I call ‘the land of dread,’(Moab), from ‘the house of Bread,(Bethlehem).’  And while we do not have all the details, it would appear that going to Moab was not the wisest choice this little family had made.  In the Book of Ruth, Naomi states it this way:  “The hand of the Lord has gone out against me.”(1:13)  “ Do not call me Naomi,(which means pleasantness); call me Mara, (which means bitterness), for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.”(1:20)  “…the Almighty has afflicted me.”(1:22b)  These are difficult and terse words but Naomi has not denied God’s right to judge, nor has she rejected Him as her God; she is identifying His sovereign hand at work.

Sin takes us on a journey that is longer, more difficult and more turbulent than we had ever planned, but mercy finds us there and repentance brings us home.  Naomi has come home.

My prayer:   “Lord, may my journey home be shorter!  Thank you for the cross.”

My paraphrase of 2 Corinthians 7:9,10

Godly sorrow is a groaning that leads to true repentance and life, while worldly sorrow only moans over being caught and leads to spiritual death.”

Changing our Clothes

“Thanks again EBC for the ongoing gestures of love and kindness.” I’ve been pondering this little note left on our church prayer-site, on facebook. It is written by a widow who is moving away from us. I say, away from us, as in our/her church family. We are sad and delighted at the same time- such is the quality of our relationship. She is moving closer to her daughter, hence moving a few hundred kilometres away from us.

As I have been walking along through the month of September with kindness on my mind, I’ve considered the following: Christians should be the ones who consistently bear this fruit as an outpouring of our faith. Kindness produces a sweet harvest, and the Holy Spirit is aching to bear this fruit in your life and in mine.

I love how the apostle Paul speaks about kindness as an item of clothing for us to wear:

“And so, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience, bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.”

(Colossians 3:12,13)

Earlier in Colossians, he speaks about putting to death:

'immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed which amounts to idolatry."

(Col. 3: 5)

and goes on to say:

"put off: anger, wrath, malice, slander, abusive speech from your mouth.”

(Col. 3: 8)

Some of us change our clothes several times a day; some of us only do it once. Regardless, as we get dressed, we can be reminded of our spiritual clothing. We would do well to consider “putting on” kindness and “discarding” sexual impurity and greed, as seen in verse five and character-destroying conversation, as seen in verse eight.

Could someone say to you today: “Thank you for your ongoing acts of love and kindness?” We can lavish this fruit of the Spirit on those around us, pointing them to the Saviour; to Jesus who poured out His kindness by shedding His blood, bearing our sins on the cross. And, as seen in my friend’s short note to the church, it must be demonstrated to fellow believers as well as to the world at large.

It may cost us, this kindness. Maybe we think a little too highly of ourselves; maybe we consider that rich neighbour as snobby and therefore we couldn't be bothered showing a kindness to them.  Or maybe we are called to reach out to someone who we think is unlovely-someone who doesn’t smell too good, someone who does not have a change of clothes. Go ahead, give them the shirt off your back; demonstrate true kindness. After all, I am so sure you have another shirt at home and the kindness given is the perfect shirt to give away.

Nothing random about being kind

It happened not that long ago; a demonstration of kindness shown to my Mom that touched me deeply. Perhaps the bearer of this kindness didn’t realize what their simple gesture meant, but for me, it was keenly felt. Sitting alone for a few minutes, my Mom was watching some of the children playing, after the evening service. A lady deliberately walked over, from the other side of the room, sat down beside her, and chatted with her for a few minutes. “Just lovely,” I thought to myself!

If you have been the recipient of kindness, you no doubt recognize that sweet sense of having been touched by something greater than us. Perhaps you have even asked yourself: “Why me? What have I done to deserve this?” And there may not be an answer; it is more often the fact that you have done nothing at all to deserve it; that it is, in fact, greater than us. The fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22 implies a harvest, and kindness is a sweet and sadly underrated fruit in our day-to-day lives. Is it any wonder that we are deeply moved when someone meets a real need, in God’s way and in His timing?

Strong’s Concordance states it this way:

“Kindness: well-fit for use, serviceable, beneficial, benevolent.”

By the power of the Holy Spirit, we are both called and equipped to meet a real need; to give that which is both beneficial and benevolent. This implies an understanding of a given situation. It means getting to know one another, in a church family, so that we can truly provide for one another. There are wonderful implications for kindness being shown to those who don’t know Christ; looking for ways to serve others in our community. The “Random-Acts-of-Kindness” movement has, no doubt, benefited many, but as a Christian, there should be nothing random about being kind.

I love the way King Lemuel’s mother speaks, in Proverbs 31:26:

   “She, (an excellent wife), opens her mouth in wisdom, 

and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.” 

I am struck by the juxtaposition of wisdom and kindness in this text, and while it is about a wife, it can be extrapolated for all of us. It is a powerful statement, really. Speaking wisely will mean demonstrating kindness more than selfishness; meeting needs rather than whining about wants; looking for concrete ways to serve rather than digging for useless information in order to criticize. Showing kindness means taking deliberate, concrete action for the betterment of someone else. Its opposite, cruelty, has a sly way of maliciously speaking about someone or it manifests itself in the withholding of love in your marriage or an “I’ll-make-them-pay” attitude toward someone who has grieved you. You will find neither wisdom nor kindness with cruelty on the tongue.

But in the Saviour's wise voice, we hear words of kindness~ beneficial and benevolent, useful and serviceable:

  "I am the good shepherd; 

the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." 

(John 10:11)

"My sheep hear my voice and I know them, and they follow me; and I give eternal life 

to them, and they shall never perish; and no one shall snatch them out of my hand. 

 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; 

and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. 

 I and the Father are one." 

(John 10: 27-30) 

Ah, there you have it. For those who know Christ, we are caught in His capable, nail-scarred hands and He and our heavenly Father shall never let us go.

Kindness, indeed!