Uncertainty is certain but one thing remains: our desire for wonder. Wonder is imbedded in the core of our soul. Very few seek a boring life, with so-so relationships, a mediocre romance and a take-it-or-leave-it career. We yearn for wonder. But how do we get wonder?  Is wonder something we can capture like a trout at the end of a fly reel? Is wonder a formula? Is it a myth like the legends of Middle Earth, Sasquatch, or honest politics?

Time and time again in the Bible we get a view of wonder- how to lose it and how to seize it today. We see heroes who struggle- just like us. We see ordinary people who doubt- just like we do. And we see God compelling them to be all they never thought they could be. It all begins with preparation.

Chances are, this season of your life is all about preparing you for the next season of life. If you are anything like me and my church, you have big dreams and little budgets. Like a slingshot, you are being stretched to the limit in order to propel you into all the other phases of your life. This stretching time can determine your career, your lifelong friends, your financial future and ultimately, your spiritual direction.  (No pressure.) While so many celebrate with a series of mind-numbing parties and shallow, surface-thin relationships based on all the wrong things, God wants to lead you through the threshold of wonder, bliss and amazement that will last for eternity.

Here are Six Ways to Choose Wonder

1.     Seek out private worship.  Having a daily time of worship and Bible reading places you in the zone of the supernatural.  Shoot for seven days a week but hit at least five.  See what God begins to show you.
2.     Connect with one other person who is in agreement with you to follow God and seek Him daily. Meet once a week with that friend.
3.     Make a difference in one person’s life.  Pastor Andy Stanley says it like this:  Do for one person what you wish you could do for everybody.
4.     Set boundaries on frivolous spending and activities that disrupt your spiritual journey.
5.     Give up trying to control people.  Simply love them and work on yourself.  It’s amazing what happens when we allow people to experience the consequences of their actions. Instead of trying to fix people, just love them and let them see you live with integrity.

Look for God’s hand and you’ll be amazed!  There are miracles and unexplained mysteries all around us. Once you find them, you’ll bolster your faith to ask God for big things.

When the mighty winds of change shake the foundation of life, He is there.

When the storms of life flood our souls, He is there.

When the grey slush days seem to never end, He is there.

When death steals a friend, loved one, or brother, He is there.

When it’s so dark we can’t see any way out, He is there.

When we are betrayed by our closest friends, He understands and He is there.

When we grow angry and shake our fist in the air, even in times of our rebellion, He is there.

When lying lips continue to destroy without care, we remember that He does. He is there.

When we deny Him in a lost world and fail to share His love, still, relentlessly, He is there.

In every cruel circumstance, He is there.

In every wasted moment, He is there.

In every crisis, every joy, every silent midnight, every new morning, every day, every hour, every moment, every breath, He is there.

This is what God says to His family, His children, His creation, His sculpted masterpiece: I paid the price for you so stop being consumed with fear and constant worrying about the future. I’m completely aware of your unique identity. I’m not a “broad stroke” kind of God. This God truly is in the details. I know everything about you. I am aware of every tiny nook of your life- every cell, every weakness, every moment of your past, present and future. And when you are up to your ears in the whitewater rapids of tough times, I’ll be right there. The rivers will not swallow you. That’s a promise. And what about fire? I’m way ahead of you on that one. Your eternal life in Me is untouchable. The flames may come but rest in the assurance that you are completely covered by my fireproof grace. I will be there!

Isaiah 43: 1-2 (Wordspring Scriptural Rendering)

It was a moment of utter shock. It was unexpected

The Oscar for Best Picture of 2017 envelope was opened. Millions of viewers experienced the shock, embarrassment and confusion of the presenter as the wrong winner was called out. The social media world exploded. It sent the accountants, actors, winners and losers scurrying.

In short, it was a circus complete with the high drama on the tightrope of fame, ego and ambiguity. And everybody knew. All because of what was inside the envelope.

So I have a question for you. What’s in your envelope?

Everything we do is an indication of our trust in God and our holy discontent with a dying world. How we serve the people we love and even the people who don’t love us, as Jesus commanded all Christians to do is an indication of our devotion to Jesus. The questions we must ask ourselves are so important.

• How do we connect and serve others?
• How do we share our faith?
• How do we minister to the least of these?

The answers are all in the envelope.

And there’s an envelope inside the envelope.

It’s really a test of our faith.

It’s a trust that says, God I believe that you are going to take care of me. And this act of giving is my message to you that I am all in. That’s what we do when we tithe. We are placing our faith in the envelope. We are announcing to the world, that Jesus is our greatest, indeed, our only true eternal hope…

One day there’ll be another awards ceremony, far more important than the Oscars, the Emmys, the Nobel Prize or the Miss America Pageant.

This ceremony will be a time for us to celebrate our journey of faith. The envelopes will be opened.

All of them.

Jesus promised the Church: “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done.” (Revelation 22:12)

Paul challenges us to avoid the dispassionate, passive, selfish life and to be eager to do good.

For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. (Titus 2:11-14)

Our eagerness to do good should flood every day of our lives because we are reminded of the day when the envelopes will all be opened and the truth, our generosity, our faithfulness to provide for the poor, our willingness to share Christ– all of it will be revealed.

Wouldn’t it be a let down if our gifts to God never really reflected the majesty of His gifts to us?

So what’s in your envelope?

Dearly Beloved,

We are here to say good-bye to an old friend: a friend we have loved for years. We did not come to praise her; we came to bury her. What can you say about a church that weathered the riches of the 90s, the emergent movement of the 2000s, and the schisms of the 10s? In 2009 we knew she was sick, so we hooked her up to committees and brought in consultants.

Yes, we tried new-member transfusions, and we cloned new additions to her. We felt certain that a new recreation center, a change in music style, more variety of worship times would breathe new life into her veins.  We even blended our worship, but it caused more controversy among those hoping to save her.

What disease slowly squeezed the life out of her? Was it her inability to accept others because of their appearance, race, or social status? Or was it her constant obsession with the churches nearlby? She was always so busy, so conflicted. Yes, she had issues: the color of the carpet, the bitter taste in her mouth, her frequent bouts with fatigue, narcolepsy, and acute preoccupation. Yes, indeed, she was self-absorbed. But, no one can deny that she loved to have a good time. But, even good times and the good medicine of a merry heart couldn’t revive her.

We bury her today, but, alas, she died quite a long time ago. She just didn’t have the good grace to lie down until now. In truth, I believe it would be fair to say that her death can beattributed to her tragic flaws: an inability to love, to weep, to speak, to serve…

These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God.
Revelation 3:1-2

We are a savage tribe. Often hiding behind our rules to make us as a sort of spiritual hall pass. We live in a world where poverty is the dominant issue and we, the rich Christian nations, are more concerned about sports, tax breaks, and oil prices. In a larger sense our prayers are feeble attempt to affirm our existence rather than to exert the power of God in the world around us.

For instance, the key word throughout the book of Leviticus is not legalism. It’s not obeying the rules. Hands down, it’s holiness. Legalism is box-checking, and barely getting by. Holiness is a statement of relationship where we say, “Lord, I am so in love with you that I want to become like you! I want to run as fast as I can into your presence and I will remove all obstacles to get into relationship with You. I want to take what would seem absurd and obtuse to the world and hold it up to Your presence. We no longer burn the fat of animals. We don’t remove the kidneys and livers of goats in worship. (Thanks be to God!) But we are called to do things much more radical: To present our bodies, the very life we live, as living sacrifices. We are called to perform gratuitous acts of grace. It has been estimated that there are between 500 and 600 Levitical laws in the Torah. Jesus narrowed it down to two. Love God with everything you’ve got and love others as much as you love yourself. (Jesus laws are fewer but much more difficult to keep.)

For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have appointed it to you to make atonement on the altar for your lives, since it is the lifeblood that makes atonement.
Leviticus 17:11 HCSB

God from the very beginning has been about the business of redemption. Even in the complicated and labyrinthine book of Leviticus we see glimpses of the redeeming grace. We see instructions of sacrifice that ultimately down the path to the Sacrifice of Christ for our sins. All the instructions on sacrifice with elaborate details point to the cross of Jesus Christ.

Christ followers have to relentlessly ask if we are just checking off boxes, justifying our existence or truly falling in love with God. Is that what my life is about? Is that what the Church is about? Far too often it is not. Often the church doesn’t have time to deal with the pain of the world because we are too busy trading pain with each other. There is so much power playing in our religious organizations. It’s sick. We make rules about who can do what in the church. We (including me) are so easily distracted away from the great Commission and we forget that we are called to share Christ not America with the rest of the world.

This love of Christ and our walk to the cross is not complicated but it is hard. We need the wisdom of Forrest Gump: “I’m not a smart man but i know what love is.”

Amen, Forrest. Amen…

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to be awestruck by the grace of Christ. No, it only takes a believer.

It doesn’t take a physician to tell you that life is distinctly tied to the blood that flows through the body of a man.

And it doesn’t take a theologian to say, “Jesus loves me. This I know.”

It’s all there in Leviticus Life, grace, blood and forgiveness.

Lord Jesus, God’s only Son, I cease my self-congratulatory posture when I stop and think of all You are and evermore will be. I am amazed by Your power. I’m overwhelmed that I’m a part of this rich panorama of life. My soul craves to know how I fit into your story. I shutter to think of the times I denied your presence through my self-centered actions. I have often shuffled sideways to avoid You without realizing the absurdity of my actions. Hold me in your hands because it’s true. I am weak but You are strong.

So your boss sends you on a business trip and, somehow, you and your wingman decide to stay in a prostitute’s abode.

This does not look good.

It’s scandalous at the very least but it’s also straight out of the Holy Bible.

Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two men as spies from the Acacia Grove, saying, “Go and scout the land, especially Jericho.” So they left, and they came to the house of a woman, a prostitute named Rahab, and stayed there.

It’s found in Joshua 2. Most biographers and historians would have left out some of the more seedy details but I believe that, even beyond the Bible’s integrity, this aspect of the narrative speaks volumes about the mercy of God. Yes, it presents many dilemmas and questions but the exciting final mystery is that this pagan woman of the night gets connected to the story of the King of the Ages. She became a direct link into the lineage of Jesus. The gifts of imperfection manifest themselves in Holy Scripture. What an amazing God! He emphatically illustrates that He can use anybody He chooses to display His unstoppable providence.

And it all started with a woman who obviously had a lot of baggage. She realized that something incredible was on the rise and she had a chance to leap from the dredges of abuse, slavery, and disgust to epic eternal significance. What happened when she joined God in the overthrow of Status Quo Incorporated? Here are four things that happened to her.

1. Rahab lept from prostitution to passion.

The archetypical character of Rahab, reminds us of the call we all receive to move from the quid pro quo formulas of religion to the wild, radical rhythm of grace. We leave the mad-grabbing battlefield of survival to the adventure of passionate living- no longer prostituting ourselves in order to survive, but rather leaping into the great unknown of God’s plan.

God hates it when we give the best of ourselves away for a few coins or a little more security. It’s a theme throughout scripture:

You lay down and acted like a prostitute on every high hill and under every large tree. Jeremiah 2:19

‘I am filled with fury against you, declares the Sovereign LORD, when you do all these things, acting like a brazen prostitute!

Ezekiel 16:30

God doesn’t want us to prostitute this life so that we can get what we need. He deeply wants us to take the leap into a life of passion and risk and trust that He will take care of everything. Are you fearful? Engage life with loose hands and firm resolve. Leap into the unknown territory of faith.

2. Rahab lept from many gods to one God.

Rahab cut her teeth on polytheistic theology, much like the people of Athens in Paul’s time. Remember his proclamation to the Athenians of Acts 17?

`You men of Athens, I see that you are very religious and worship many gods.” (Acts 17:22

We, like Rahab, have an invitation to worship the one true God who calls us to the adventure.

3. Rahab lept from safety to adventure.

Rahab’s life inside the wall wasn’t nearly as attractive to her as life outside the walls of addiction, prostitution and isolation. Danger presented itself and she found it pleasing. It’s nerve-racking to go on an adventure because you never know where it will take you. But a divine adventure of risk and abandon is a risk worth taking on Earth because the payoff is so much greater in the life to come.

4. Rahab lept from status quo genealogy to history-making adoption.

If she remained a citizen of Jericho, her story, her life, her bones- all of it would have faded in the fuzzy billions or hazy humans who have lived and died on earth. But look what happened: She was recorded in the lineage of Jesus.

Likewise those who connect their lives with Jesus receive the same designation and name.

For consider what he has done—before the foundation of the world he chose us to become, in Christ, his holy and blameless children living within his constant care. He planned, in his purpose of love, that we should be adopted as his own children through Jesus Christ—that we might learn to praise that glorious generosity of his which has made us welcome in the everlasting love he bears towards the Son.

Ephesians 4:4-6 (Phillips New Testament)

We all have two roads diverged in different worlds. We must choose between the humdrum life in a flophouse of Jericho, living inside the walls of slavery and nothingness or leap into the wild blue yonder of God’s promise.

Let’s take a familiar journey to the foot of an ugly hill of slaughter outside the walls of Jerusalem. Your imagination has been there before, I’m sure. It was the auction block of the cosmos. Jesus Christ put everything on the table for us, willing to bear the brunt of a fallen world to rescue us.

I’d like you to listen to two very distinct voices.

The first voice reeks of sarcasm and mockery. The religious leaders who came to this showdown of power spewed forth words that will haunt them for eternity: “He saved others, but He cannot save Himself! He is the King of Israel! Let Him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in Him.” (Matthew 27:42 HCSB)

In other words, “Jesus, we knew you couldn’t defeat the power structure we’ve developed here. We’ve seen your miracles, we’ve witnessed your grace, we’ve heard Your teaching. Let’s see you be the King now that your body has been crushed. Now that you find that all you’re followers except three have fled. You threw yourself against us and you broke. We are still standing.”

Jesus Christ, grace and love incarnate, spent the last few painful beats of his earthly heart listening to the voice of men void of mercy. Taunting, mocking, laughing- yes, reveling in this horrifying moment. Just for a moment, observe a world without mercy.

Now turn your head slightly and view the death of a scoundrel. He’s spent his life in rebellion. The reason for his punishment isn’t political or philosophical. His punishment was meted out on the altar of justice. There was nothing becoming of his story- no real excuses as far as we know. It was too late to rationalize, remunerate, compensate, or even apologize. He would soon slip into eternity unsure if the punishment would be even harsher there than here. But as he approached the end of his life he calls out to Jesus, “Remember me when You come into Your kingdom!” The man surely didn’t have a resume’ to remember. He didn’t have anything. But the voice of mercy spoke the words that encourage all of the unworthy scoundrels of the world, (writer included) “I assure you: Today you will be with Me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43 HCSB)

While judgment, greed, fear, and hatred rule the year, the day, the hour. Mercy will rule for eternity. Mercy accepts the screwups and the misfits. It redeems the outlaws and miscreants.  The entire whole of the Gospel is mercy that saves.  We must reflect the grace of a God who gave His only son away to the rabble of the world in order to rescue us from our own tyranny and falleness. This opus declares the truth seasoned with love, hope, mercy and grace. It heals the heart and strengthens the soul. Mercy is the default of the Divine.

Cowards are cruel but the brave love mercy and delight to save.

I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice.
Abraham Lincoln

When our country loses its love of the poor we have lost our identity.

When we have lost our radical defense of the refugee, we have lost our courage and our soul.

The bread of brokenness

The wine of grace

The fellowship of His sufferings

Our hearts long for communion with the One whose glory overshadows every joy, ever fear, every act of contrition and amazement.

The broken bread

The red blood washing away cleansing, rectifying, forgiving, renewing, like rivers of hope

Flooding the arid field of our helplessness

Wash us Jesus

As we move into the about-face of repentance.

We’ve seen a glimpse of your majesty

We’ve experienced your fellowship in the furnace of suffering

And in the bliss of worship

Sometimes momentary, ephemeral

But we want so much more

So Lord Jesus

Son of God,

architect of infinity

Ageless wonder of mercy

Loose your power among us.

Devour us in love

Until we are lost in you.

So lost we can’t even find our identity outside of you!

As we approach these elements the bread and the cup.

We are saying yes to You.

Yes to everything about You

Yes to your holy purpose

Yes to your Spirit

You to the pain it may bring

Yes to the cross

Yes to the consuming fire- the eyes of love

Yes to all that will bring us into your courts of praise

We say yes to the bread and the wine

Which is bigger, wider, stronger, deeper, louder, and longer than anything this broken world could offer.

We want so much more.

As we call for more of you- we hear you calling for more of us.

And such is the element of communion

May we waste our lives in a reckless pursuit of You

Here’s a simple poem that works great as an ending to a sermon on the Healing of the Paralytic in Mark 2:1-12

Dust and shingles fall on the floor

Hypocrisy has blocked the door

A suffocating crowd around

And all of this distracting sound

These four guys had no building code

To renovate this small abode.

To see a beggar meet a king

Makes a roof a minor thing.

Religion always judges men.

Their patience now is wearing thin

But in the middle of the mess

A hopeless man meets holiness

And all the crowd could seem to say

was, “What a wild amazing day.”

~

And I don’t know your present state;

The things that cause your heart to break,

The people who have let you down,

The chaos swirling all around.

But this I know, one thing is true:

The God we trust makes all things new.

So take heart and learn to say

Each morning is a brand new day!