In The Broken Places

The headline last week read, “Lower Manhattan Thriving After 9/11, Study Says,” and the story talked about how it’s “back and better than ever” pointing to population, economic and other growth.

 

At first I thought, “That’s great!” And then I remembered a few things and it made even more sense…

 

One of the best parts of my all-time favorite novel, A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway goes, “If people bring so much courage to this world the world has to kill them to break them, so of course it kills them. The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places…” Strong at the broken places. Lower Manhattan Thriving After 9/11.

 

Then I remembered, “But he (God) said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).”

 

Strong at the broken places. Lower Manhattan Thriving After 9/11. For when I am weak, then I am strong…

 

We know these are true. We’ve seen it many times. And yet, we are so used to avoiding our broken places – they make us uncomfortable, they can make us feel ashamed – we just want them to go away! We put a lot of effort to cover, hide, and numb them – not to much success though. I think part of the math is that if we “go there” to the broken places, we are just going to become more broken. But…

 

Strong at the broken places. Lower Manhattan Thriving after 9/11. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

 

It doesn’t help that we often think of “saints” as people who don’t have any broken places. I don’t think I ever thought that way, but I really don’t now. The most beautiful faith stories are the ones in which people saw the truth of their broken places, named them, let God in to heal them and then used that healing to comfort others. That’s the real deal! People who operate as if they have no broken places and who don’t need God or others are usually in the most pain and will only end up harming themselves even worse.

 

I know you and I have our broken places. Real and painful. Some are because of loss and grief. Some are because of being harmed or abused. Some are because we made destructive decisions. Some are because we are addicted. Some are because we are separated or divorced. Some are because of dysfunctional relationships. Some are because of a lost job or career. Some are because of heartbreak and losing heart. There is so much brokenness in our lives and in this world! Oh, how I wish it weren’t like this! But all I can tell you is how God works – works through – not around – all the brokenness. And, He often meets us most powerfully, most obviously, and most vividly at our broken places…

 

Strong at the broken places. Lower Manhattan Thriving after 9/11. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

 

If you are waiting for everything to go back to normal, if you are waiting to wake up as if it were all a dream, if you are waiting until you are better or “more together” – that may not work nor may not happen. But please know you already have everything you need for God’s healing and restoration to begin…

 

It doesn’t end at our broken places; it begins.

 

Amen!

 

PS – And I would go there with you if you needed me to…

 

 

 

Rev. Christopher B. Wolf

Isaiah 42:7

cbrianwolf@gmail.com

www.christopherbwolf.com

 

Christopher B. Wolf is the author of Giving Faith a Second Chance: Restarts, Mulligans and Do-Overs (2007) and the forthcoming, With You: Every Step of the Way (September, 2011).

 

“It is a matter of sharing and bearing the pain and puzzlement of the world so that the crucified love of God in Christ may be brought to bear healingly upon the world at exactly that point.” N.T. Wright

Read Full Post »

Arise

“My beloved speaks and says to me: “Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away; for now the winter is past, the rain is over and gone.” Song of Solomon 2:10-11

“Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will appear over you.” Isaiah 60:1-2

“They shall build up the ancient ruins, they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations.” Isaiah 61:4

“He (Jesus) clasped the little girl’s hand and said, “Talitha Koum,” which means, “Little girl, arise.” Mark 5:41

“I’ll say to him, Father, I’ve sinned against God, I’ve sinned before you; I don’t deserve to be called your son…and he arose and went home to his father.” Luke 15:19-20

“Why do you look for the living among the dead? He (Jesus) is not here, but has risen.” Luke 24:5

All throughout history, God has been raising His people up. Up out of slavery, up out of destruction and exile, up out of despair, up out of sin and guilt, up out of wildernesses and being lost, up out of sickness and disease, up out of addictions and prisons, up out of impossible situations, and ultimately – through His Son – up out of death. This is a God of salvation and raising up – it’s His nature and His plan.

In what ways can the Lord raise you up today?

Read Full Post »

Heavenly Peace

Philippians 4:6-7

Heavenly Peace (Remix of Sunday’s Sermon – audio at www.firstgrandville.org under Resources and Downloads)

Peace, real peace seems hard to come by these days. Where can it be found?

In the world, in our nation, in our churches, in our communities, in our homes and in our hearts – there is little peace. Everywhere you look, there seems to be strife, turmoil and havoc.

And it shows no signs of stopping.

I don’t know that I have any answers about stopping it. Which really only leaves – how to exist, survive, and maybe even thrive in the midst of the turmoil.

Obviously, there are a lot of choices as to how we try to search for peace in our lives. This peace can be defined as rest, or an escape, or an inner calm.

Usually we seek peace through the things of this world. And we usually seek it on our own power.

Have you ever heard the phrase “Starting off on the wrong foot”? Any search for peace that begins with “I” is like that. It may work for a while, but in the end it will probably make things worse.

For example, when we are stressed and overwhelmed by all this turmoil in our lives and we want to find some peace, some might think, “I need a drink” or “I need another prescription or pill” or “I need to go on the Internet to look at some pictures” or “I need to use (drugs or people)” or “I need to go shopping” or “I just need to control others or situations” or many other things that “take the edge off.” And unfortunately, when we rely on these “sources” of peace too often, well, they can become quite the opposite of peace – they can become prisons and cause more and more chaos in our lives. When we rely on them so much – we can start to worship them. The problem is that they are “gods” that don’t give life or peace – they steal them.

You see, the things of this world cannot produce the peace we actually desire. Seeking peace with anything that begins with “I” won’t work. But there is one thing that can…

“Don’t fret or worry.  Instead of worrying, pray.  Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns.  Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down.  It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life (Philippians 4:6-7 The Message).”

Did you catch that? “A sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down.” God’s wholeness – better than anything on earth – check. Everything coming together for good – not worrying about yesterday, today or tomorrow – check. (It) will come and settle you down – received rather than sought after or created – check.

Received from where?

Received from knowing and believing in Jesus as savior and that through Him we are forgiven and free – this is the one true source of peace in this world, but not of this world – from Heaven above.

“None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I am absolutely convinced that nothing – nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable – absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us (Romans 8: 38-39 The Message).”

Received how?

Received through prayer. Prayer doesn’t start with “I” – it starts with “Lord” or “God” or “Help!” “Instead of worrying (or seeking peace in the things mentioned above), pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers…” Like using a hammer, we need to use prayer to bang and shape our fretting, worries and strife into requests and cries to God – who will hear them and respond.

Guess what else prayer does? There is a letting go in prayer. Maybe you have heard it as “Giving it over to God.” When we are “doing” something ourselves or just continuing to worry we are keeping it. When we pray, we are giving “it” to God. Each time we pray about something, it is a little less ours and little more in God’s hands. Do you see?

I have heard so many great stories of people, in the middle of disasters and chaos, talk about feeling at peace – facing death even, with peace. Some have described it as feeling like they are being enveloped in a warm blanket. I just know it’s real. I have been blessed to witness it many times. For me personally, I can think of times where things looked pretty bad, but somehow I felt okay – the experience was like God whispering “It’s okay” and I believed it and it was wonderful. I just need to rest in that more!

“It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life (Philippians 4:7).” Focusing on Christ and others instead of ourselves through prayer is a main catalyst of this process of displacing worry and all the ways we have tried to deal with turmoil in our lives.

Speaking of prayer, my prayer for us during this season when we think and sing about “heavenly peace” is this: I pray that God gives each of us the clarity of vision to see and name those places in our lives where we are seeking peace in ways that ultimately make things worse; and that the peace of Jesus Christ will not only knock on the doors or our hearts but will tear them down if necessary and chase away strife, turmoil and havoc and replace it with a peace we have never known.

Amen.

Discussion Questions

1. Before reading this, how would you describe peace?
2. Are there some things you are doing to deal or cope with life that may offer peace in the short-term but are actually destructive? Is there someone you can talk to about it?
3. Are you feeling overwhelmed often? What are the sources of these feelings? Try turning each one into a prayer.
4. What are some ways you can turn worries into prayers today?

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Christopher-B-Wolf/17378287393

Read Full Post »

Naming and Tearing

Naming and Tearing

Remix of Sunday’s Message “Tearing Down Idols” (audio available at – http://www.firstgrandville.org/content.cfm?id=213&category_id=4)

Exodus 32:1-14; Luke 18:18-24

 

The story goes that a guy, who has everything going for him, comes up to Jesus and asks a very important question, “What do I need to do to have eternal life?” He goes on to explain that he is a very religious guy and plays by all of the rules. You may recall that Jesus’ answer is something like, “That’s great; just one more thing – sell all your possessions and give the proceeds to the poor…and follow me.” And the story ends with the guy walking away very distraught because he couldn’t let go of his wealth – it turns out he already had a god.

 

Another story goes that God had rescued His people out of oppression and slavery. And while God is writing a covenant for them with His finger, they got, let’s say, antsy. So instead of waiting for Moses to come down from the mountain, they made a golden calf and starting thanking it for rescuing them. Sound crazy? I know God has rescued me, but how many times do I forget that and get tempted to put my trust in stuff that did not and could not save me? Too often.

 

We can say that it is a human nature thing to cling. We want God to be close – that is a good thing. But we also know that human nature is sinful – and so often when we don’t feel like God is close we…cling to other stuff. And that is how idols are made.

 

And let’s not forget that God wants to be close to us. In the story of God’s people above, He wants to be in covenant with them. It’s why He sent Jesus into the world. This is God who is jealous (in the best way) and wants a full, personal relationship with each of us – the real thing!

 

And yet, Martin Luther said, “That to which your heart clings is your god.” And in these two above stories, that is how it played out. And yet it plays out in many ways in our time too. But here is what we have to understand. An idol takes life; God gives life. An idol can only accept worship – and it just keeps taking; God receives worship and gives life – eternal and abundant life!

 

But here is what happens, as Augustine explained, “My sin was this, that not in him (God) but in his creatures – myself and others – I sought for pleasures, honors, and truths, and so fell headlong into sorrows, confusions, errors.”

 

Think about it, most of our sorrows, confusions and errors are a result from seeking pleasures, honor and truths in things that aren’t God!

 

So, we have to be vigilant about two things. Naming our idols and tearing them down!

 

First, naming them. Please reflect on these questions – On what do we spend our thinking, time, discussions and resources? What is getting in the way of our fully enjoying a relationship with God through Jesus? What do we cling to or depend on when we are stressed out?

 

Yesterday in worship we named a number of them. We did this by asking a group of members to present scenarios of modern idols and how the idols impact lives. The group members consisted of all ages and were only presenting possible idols that people can struggle with. They were not offering testimony; they were simply representing an idol to help listeners think about them. For example, Elizabeth does not have a problem with food and Brett does not have a problem with alcohol and so on. Though they did a great job and were convincing even though only presenting; they spoke to and blessed many people through their efforts to be authentic.

 

Among the ones we named were: sports, food, image, alcohol, TV, money, jobs, other people, ourselves, religion, music and others. And there are others we can name too – pornography, drugs and others. There is no shortage of idols in this world that have the illusion of helping us or saving us. But please know their power is greatly diminished when we name them (honestly to ourselves, to God in prayer, to others who care for us); their power flows from being secret and subtle.

 

Once we have named our idols, we have to tear them down. And so we did. Each presenter tore the poster with the name of the idol on it. But also we then asked people gathered to write it down on a piece of paper in and come forward and toss the paper and idol at the foot of the cross. (It was a beautiful sight to see so many people do this! Praise God!) This is because we can only tear down idols when we put them to the cross.

 

You know, according to Scripture, as Jesus died, the curtain in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. Which meant that thanks to his death on the cross, from that moment on, nothing in this world had the power to stand between God and us anymore. Believing in Jesus would open the door to God and with the coming of the Holy Spirit, would offer the power for any obstacle to be overcome in a relationship with God. Amen!

 

The good news is we can tear down our idols by putting them to the cross. The good news also is that we never do this alone. God is with us, and we are called to carry one another’s burdens too. When seeking to tear down idols, don’t go it alone. Ask me or a trusted friend to walk with you – we all need to do this when an idol has taken over.  

 

You see, we have this beautiful gift – the gift of a life-giving relationship with God. It is precious and holy and fully satisfying – if and when we fully engage it through Christ. Too often, we love other things, and cling to other things, unwilling to let go of them in order to receive and fully experience this once in a lifetime, saving, restoring gift!

 

Whatever it is you are clinging to today, whatever your idols are – please know that they can be named and torn down and on the other side of that journey, is a joy and peace and life none of us can fully imagine – the embrace of a loving God and Savior who will never let go.

 

Praying all of this for you today.

 

Amen.

 

 

Discussion Questions

1. Are you wrestling with an idol in your life – something that is a god to you? Can you name it?
2. Have you wrestled with some idols for a long time they just keep winning? What might you do differently?
3. Have you found it difficult to tear some idols down? What are some reasons for this?
4. Please think of someone who loves you and in whom you can trust to help you tear some down – it will make the difference!

Read Full Post »

Out of the Darkness and Gloom

Psalm 107:10-16

Out of the Darkness and Gloom  

10 “Some sat in darkness and in gloom, prisoners in misery and irons, 11 for they had rebelled against the words of God, and spurned the counsel of the Most High. 12 Their hearts were bowed down with hard labor; they fell down, with no one to help. 13 Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he saved them for their distress; 14 he brought them out of darkness and gloom, and broke their bonds asunder. 15 Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wonderful works to humankind. 16 For he shatters the doors of bronze, and cuts in two the bars on iron.”             

I often think of ministry as sitting outside prison cells, listening, encouraging through the Word and reaching my hand into prison cells to hold the hand of prisoners for a while. And don’t think that I don’t have my shackles too. They are clanking behind me as I come by…              

I think a lot about prisoners – I always have. Ones in actual jails and the ones in other kinds – mental, spiritual, relational and circumstance prisons.            

I have to think that a lot prisons don’t look like prisons at first. The new jobs, the marriage, the new responsibilities all look wonderful and exciting at first. Not as wonderful, but there are also those things we have done because at the time we needed to – again jobs and relationships come to mind. And then many of us don’t even see or realize the formation of the bars and walls. They appear slowly and stealthily. Stuck. And then it is too late…or is it?           

The voice of Psalm 107 tells us exactly how the “misery and irons” were attached. They had “rebelled against the words of God and spurned the counsel of the Most High (11).” Translation: they didn’t listen to or apply God’s Word in life and didn’t listen to Him in prayer and thought.           

The results according to Psalm 107 are “darkness and gloom (meaning is very close to “shadow of death from Psalm 23),” misery and heavy hearts and burdened with hard labor. Not fun. But you have to realize that this is where a lot of people, too many people are – varying degrees.            

The point here being that God’s Word is freedom, it is salvation in the eternal sense and in the living of life way. I ask you to think about the worst times of your lives – the prison sentences – that happened because of decisions. Review in your mind how you came to those decisions. Was God, through His Word or prayer, a part of them?            

A prison, literal or figurative, is not a natural thing. In the same way an imprisoned spiritual life is not natural either. Prisons of misunderstanding or of some doctrines or of guilt or of some traditions are not what God intended either. And yet the bars are still locked…           

But the one thing that a prison of whatever kind or material cannot hold or contain is prayer – prayer in the form of cries for help. “Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble… (13).” He can hear you through the walls, through the sorrow, through the responsibilities, through the burdens, through the guilt, through the addiction, through the unawareness, through the darkness and gloom.           

“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens (falling down with heavy hearts and hard labor (12), and I will give you rest,” Jesus says in Matthew 11:28.  

Could it be enough to “cry out to the Lord” or “come to Jesus.”? Yes. Does it mean that the prison doors burst open right away? No, but…             

“…and he saved them for their distress; he brought them out of darkness and gloom, and broke their bonds asunder…for he shatters the doors of bronze, and cuts in two the bars on iron (14, 16).”            

I can’t tell you what it will look like. I don’t know the timing – “how long O Lord (Psalm 13:1)?” But I do know this – He is the only one who can do these things – save us and bring us out of darkness and gloom.            

There was once a prison and place of darkness and gloom. It was the tomb into which Jesus was placed after dying on the cross. And while on the cross (another prison) He cried out to the Lord, His Father. Now He didn’t get there because He ignored God’s Word – just the opposite. And just like everyone else who died before Him, it was a dead end, literally. And He went into that place of darkness and gloom, shed His blood and died for us and entered into death – the author of life!            

On the third day, that prison of death and sin was a prison no more. The doors of bronze were shattered, the bars of iron cut in two (16) forever!            

And this is the sadness of all of us living in our chains and prisons. Here is the life in which we have been invited to share, “ he brought them out of darkness and gloom, and broke their bonds asunder. Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wonderful works to humankind (15).” This is the accomplishment of the cross and resurrection – bonds broken asunder and the invitation to a life of giving thanks in everything we do to the Lord for his steadfast love and his wonderful works – a “Thanksliving.”           

One of my first jobs after college was a temp job, something I needed to do. It was a prison, in part because of my attitude, and because of my own decisions. And I worked with a woman named Donna. And I remember Donna looking at me a couple of times in desperation and saying, “Chris, there has to be a better way!” What she meant that working at that place was not so great or not so great for her and she hoped there was something else.            

I have always remembered that. I don’t know where Donna is today. I don’t know if she has found the better way. I hope so. I know that many of you are hoping for a better way too. The cruel irony of being in a prison is that you often have a lot of time to think and to dream; but often no way of doing anything about it. There is a better way…           

Whatever makes your prison – fear, perfectionism, guilt, past sins and decisions, destructive desires – all connected to ignoring God’s Word – today, “cry out to the Lord (13)” in your distress from your prison. He can hear you! By His Word and promise today, it will begin the process of cutting the bars and of breaking the doors.            

It might even start with someone, a fellow prisoner coming by your cell, encouraging you with “God’s words” and reaching his hand in to hold your hand to comfort you and to give you hope.           

Amen.  

Discussion Questions

1. Are you prisoner? Of what? Why?
2. Have you tried a “prison break” on your own (without the Lord)? What happened?
3. What are some potential prisons coming down the road in your life? What can you do about them right now?
4. Do you believe that the Lord can save you from your sins and from your distress? Why or why not?
5. If you were going to or need to “cry out to the Lord,” what would you say? How about now….

Read Full Post »