Monday, March 5, 2007
Reflection on Psalms
18:6
When I think about one
of the times that I felt most alone, the summer before I decided to return to
school comes to mind. I had already completed a bachelor's degree, yet I knew
there was something out there that I was meant to do and working as a secretary
was not that. I would go to church, sometimes in tears of frustration, asking
God, "What is it I am here for? How can I best serve you?” I was confused
because many of my friends and family had gone to school, found a job in their
chosen field and were perfectly happy. What had I done wrong?
Through the help of my
employer, I went to career counseling. I lost count of the questionnaires I had
to fill out, however, I did enjoy learning about what
my options were as someone reentering academia. I decided that I wanted to work
in a medical lab, assisting patient care behind the scenes. I talked to God
thinking, "Ok, I think this is where I need to be, you let me know if you
have plans otherwise." I spent about six months looking for an evening position
within my company, which would allow me to attend classes during the day. The
week I quit my job as a secretary, I found a transcription position that
started at 3pm. My days would start at five in the morning and end at eleven at
night, yet I was willing to make that sacrifice to return to school.
One December, I found
out that I had received the lab externship at the hospital I picked as my first
choice. I was thrilled and terrified. My grades were great; however, would I be
able to apply all this information in a professional setting? Could I remember
all the normal thresholds of tests? What if I didn't see my family or friends
for the next six months? I talked with God again, saying, "Thank you for
giving me the strength over the past two years to attend class and work. I am
honored that you have set me on this path. Please help me as I finish this last
hurdle." During my last (and most difficult) rotation, I was hired at a
local hospital. I passed my first certification this past fall.
Thank you God, for all that you have granted me. For hearing
me when I felt as if I were the last person anyone had time for. Grant me the
patience to hear your word as you speak to me at the quietest of moments.
Tuesday,
March 6, 2007
Luke 11: 5-13
He also
said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend and goes to her in the middle of
the night to say, ‘My friend, lend me three loaves, because a friend of mine on
his travels has just arrived at my house and I have nothing to offer him.” and
the woman answers from inside the house, ‘Do not bother me. The door is bolted
now, and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up to give it to you.” I
tell you, if the woman does not get up and give it to him for friendship’s
sake, persistence will be enough to make her get up and give her friend all he
wants.
So I say
to you: Ask, and it will be given to you, seek and you will find; knock, and
the door will be opened to you. For the one who asks always receives, the one
who searches always finds, the one who knocks will always have the door opened
to her. Who among you would hand a child a stone when she asked for bread? Or
hand him a snake instead of a fish? Or hand her a scorpion if she asked for an
egg? If you then, who are imperfect, know how to give to your children what is
good, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who
ask him!”
I changed the gender a few places when I copied
the scripture (Jerusalem Bible). It makes the familiar story seem fresh and more
contemporary. And besides, it is quite possible that it might be a woman who
rouses her good friend in the middle of the night for some bread. It is just as
possible that the good friend would tell her to go away and let me, I mean her,
sleep. After all, she should have been better prepared for emergencies.
But a good friend would know she could keep
knocking, that the friendship would stand the strain of disrupted sleep. No
matter how irritating it would be to make her trundle down the stairs grumbling
and complaining, their friendship would still be
intact in the morning. One can presume such grouchy, loving tolerance from only
the best of friends – and from God.
In the familiar verses that follow the story, we
are told to be persistent in our prayers. Ask. Seek. Knock on God’s door in the
middle of the night. Assume that the Lord wants your trust. Brave the
possibility of irritating your Creator. .
Our persistence makes us refine our requests. It
helps us listen to ourselves, to express our deepest desires, to discern our
intentions. I have found that the wait between when I think God should provide
a solution for me, and when God actually does it, is the most instructive
portion of the process. Things change. I discover aspects I hadn’t considered
at first. I come to see the greater need, the bigger picture, the deeper intention of my prayer.
And, after grumbling about our timing and our
limited perception, God astounds us with answers that are surprising, brilliant
and perfect - crafted out of pure and infinite love.
I come to
you at the oddest moment, I know. My requests seem shallow. I am not really
prepared to address you in all your glory. But I do. And you listen as I ask
them again and again until revelation comes within the asking. You guide my
prayers and then you answer them. I put my trust in you.
Wednesday,
March 7, 2007
Colossians 3:23
Whatever you do, work at
it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men,
The
Lord works in mysterious ways. As I rushed to pick out a verse on the last
Sunday before they were due, I came across the verse in Colossians 3:23 and
thought, "I can easily write something about singing to the glory of the
Lord in choir or giving 100% in all that you do." But, before I started
composing my entry, I decided to check the context of this verse in the Bible.
I also performed an internet search to see if there was any further commentary
or applications. Much to my surprise, I found an application for the verse that
involves an issue that I have been dealing with at work for the past several
months.
The
end of the year is always a very busy and stressful time for me at work, and
this past year-end proved to be no different. Co-workers were out on vacation
and management was not helpful in addressing the heavy workflow that typically
occurs. Also, problems that had been building throughout the year seemed to
come to a head. Unfortunately, it is the same every year. So after five years,
I had had enough and became very angry and critical of what was happening. I
also started communicating my discontent. So, needless to say, when I came
across the following application for the verse on the internet, it really hit
home. "We do not do our job unto the Lord when we take miserable attitudes
to work or when we make noises like we are unhappy with the boss and
environment." I had no idea that being unhappy with my job and speaking
out about it had anything to do with not serving the Lord. The internet finding
went on to say, "We do not serve the Lord when we loaf when the boss is
not looking. We do not serve the Lord when we undermine another employee to get
him in trouble with his boss." Still further admonitions included,
"When the boss comes around, we patronize him. Licking the boots of the
boss is not the best way to serve the Lord. Kicking people in the teeth below
you is not the best way either! Scripture does not recommend these
things!"
I
had no idea that office politics were addressed in the Bible. In Paul's letter
to the Colossians, he tells them to keep their sights set on heaven and to do
away with earthly things. That our real life begins in heaven. Unfortunately,
that is easier said then done. Especially, when we get bogged down in our daily
lives here on earth. We tend to lose sight of the final goal. Clearly my
challenge is to let go of the anger and frustration that I feel at work. Even
though, I will make suggestions for improvements, I need to keep in mind,
"if we keep God in view in everything we do at work, we honor God at our
place of employment."
“Lord, please help keep
me focused on You daily. Help me avoid the many
earthly distractions and temptations so that all my work is done for Your glory.”
Thursday, March
8, 2007
Ephesians 2:21
We are
carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord.
‘Remodeling’ God’s Home
This passage helps us
reflect upon our church community and the events that continue to shape our
faith and church family. Moving into a one pastor model, the arrival of Pastor Bob,
the discernment process of the Renovations Task Force, recruitment of the RSSC
architects, and the unanimous commitment of the body of Christ to move forward
with the Capital Campaign are just a few examples of the spiritual remodeling
of the First United Methodist Church of Pittsburgh.
From Peterson’s The
Message, “…The kingdom of faith is now your home country…You belong here,
with as much right to the name Christian as anyone. God is building a home. (S)he’s using us all-irrespective of how we got here-in what
(s)he is building. (S)he used the apostles and
prophets for the foundation. Now (s)he’s using you,
fitting you in brick by brick, stone by stone, with Christ Jesus as the
cornerstone that holds all the parts together.”
We
are both humbled and proud to be on this spiritual and structural remodeling of
God’s home. After all, not all remodeling materials or ideas have to come from
Home Depot. These materials come from our church community and from all people,
regardless of their spiritual journey, that seek refuge within and beyond the
stone walls of
Dear Lord,
please help us to consistently reshape your temple as you mold and shape us. We
acknowledge that this is a process and feel so blessed to be the bricks and
stones in your community of faith. Amen.
Friday,
March 9, 2007
1 Peter 4:11
Do you have the gift of
speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you
have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that
God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus
Christ. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen
STEPPING INTO THE SHOES OF GOD
Part
of my job as in-house counsel involves regulatory compliance. When our company proposes
construction involving a telecommunications tower, we must comply with certain
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requirements, including the National
Environmental Protection Act (NEPA). The law requires the FCC to ensure that
the construction will not have a significant impact on the environment. The FCC
allows for industry’s self-regulation of the NEPA regulations, whereby my
company “steps into the shoes of the FCC”. We perform the due diligence
necessary to evidence that the environment will not be negatively impacted. In
practical terms, we speak for the FCC and do the FCC’s NEPA evaluations for the
benefit of the environment.
God has made human beings in the goodness and
likeness of his image. God has given us humans the gift of being able to
communicate, in some form or another. It is likely that we all have some
limited capability of helping others. As such, we may be stepping into the
shoes of God. How awesome is that! God loves us so much, that he has entrusted
us with being caretakers of the world. Everyday can be a day that I glorify
God.
When I speak, I should speak gently, not in
anger; honestly, not with deception; zealously of my faith, unafraid of
ridicule; humbly, not arrogantly; kindly, not with a mean spirit; in every way,
speaking as God would speak.
God has bestowed upon me a great honor, allowing
me to step into his shoes to help others. Although I enjoy my career, and the
material possessions it affords me, such satisfaction only stretches so far. I
can share my gifts joyfully through volunteerism and stewardship. I can nurture
my loved ones. Having said that, sometimes it is difficult to discern how to
help others, and it requires prayerful consideration. Moreover, there are
periods of my life when I need to concentrate on helping myself, and I am
unable to help others. It is a struggle to balance attempting to be God-like
with simply being human. I pray for God’s strength and energy to put on those
shoes, but sometimes I need to wear something more comfortable.
Dear Lord,
Thank you for the gift of speaking. Thank you
for the gift of helping others. Give me
the strength and energy to bring glory to you through Jesus Christ. All glory and power to you forever and ever!
Amen.
1 Peter 1:8
You love him even though
you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you
rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy.
You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. Peter says four things (in verse 8) about his Christian readers: They love Christ; believe in Christ; rejoice in Christ; are experiencing this even though, like us, they have never seen Christ in person. This is true Christianity: God is saving our souls by working in our hearts a love and confidence and a joy that is against the stream of secularism and godlessness and worldliness in our society. True Christianity is loving Christ and trusting Christ and enjoying Christ. In other words, Christianity is first and foremost a matter of the heart (love, trust and joy), not a matter of external performances. Loving Christ means experiencing Christ as precious for all his character and virtue. Trusting Christ means experiencing Christ as reliable in all his promises and all his counsel. Joy in Christ is the deep good feelings in loving him and believing him. It's the echo in our emotions—our hearts—of experiencing Christ as precious and experiencing Christ as reliable. It's the deep good feelings of being attracted to him for who he is and the deep good feelings of being confident in him for what he will do. So I conclude that attraction to the ultimate preciousness of Christ (which we call love), and confidence in the ultimate reliability of Christ (which we call faith) are not less than a deep good feeling, called joy. They are more; there are other elements in them besides the deep good feeling of joy, but they are not less than joy. So this holy joy that Peter refers to in verse 8 is a constituent part of love and faith, and together they are true Christianity. Precious Lord Jesus, I honor you and reach up to you because I love you and I know you love me. Sunday,
March 11, 2007
The Prayer
of Saint Francis
Lord,
make me an instrument of thy peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where these is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O
Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.