Unbelievable, But True

I'm still waiting for a computer cord (power). I have a camera full of pictures, a box brimming with unanswered email, a pile of thoughts unblogged, a thousand articles unread, You Would Think that At Least my house would be clean. But its not.

But at least Matt is home.
If this cord doesn't arrive today I don't know what I'll do. I'd like to think that I'd run screaming through the neighborhood, but probably I'll just work and go another day without being online.

Still No Cord

Matt is off gallivanting about for half the week with the only computer cord in our possession, so I'm sitting down here on the desktop for a few minutes reading email and staring at laundry. Its going to be raining all day so A, instead of being outside, is building an elaborate train track right next to the front door so that when someone comes by, they will trip, fall, break something, and perhaps never come back again. He is moving this track down from the upstairs hallway where I have been tripping over it for the last week. Every time he whines, I take another train (or knight in shining armor) and he has to do a job to get it back. Since starting this policy I've discovered that he clean the dining room, clean his room, wash off dishes and carry whole baskets of laundry. I'm kicking myself for not thinking of it sooner.

Having no computer cord all week allowed me to write several whole blog posts in my head without ever committing them even to paper, let alone a machine. Probably they are lost forever because I can't keep one thought around for very long. I remember, yesterday, vaguely enumerating to myself all the things I've learned since becoming a mother. But now I can't recall any of them. And I made another list in my head of all the things I love about my own mother. And I had plenty to say on the whole subject of the 'socialization' of home schooled children. But that's gone too. Maybe I'll get it back, but probably I won't.

In the meantime I'm going to wander around picking up toys, folding laundry, waiting for Matt to skype, and something else, hmm, wonder what that other thing was.

Relucantly

Matt recorded me yesterday (or rather, Micah) preaching and posted it here. Its ok. I've noticed some serious and unhelpful ticks (saying 'right' every few lines and 'um'). I have sneaking quiet unhappy suspicion that I sound grating, like Hilary clinton, just one more reason for women to be 'quieter' in church. Anyway, enjoy.

My Sermon for This Morning

It isn’t often that the Feast of Pentecost coincides with Mother’s Day. All week long I debated to myself whether I would rather talk about and extol the virtues, duties, privileges and trials of being a mother, or whether I would rather talk about the incomparable riches, grace and mercy given to us through the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. But, given that the thing Every Mother Needs Most is the Holy Spirit, I think we’ll have a dip into Pentecost this morning.

So what is Pentecost? Or, as some Anglicans like to say, Whitsunday? Whitsunday comes from both ‘White’ Sunday, because of the vestments and clothes of new converts—white—and also ‘wit’ Sunday, as in ‘wisdom’ such as that received by the disciples on this day. That was just a little something for some of the altar guild.

Pentecost, actually, was, well, is, a Jewish Festival celebrated 50 days after Passover. If we had more time, I’d go into all about it. But instead, turn with me to Acts Chapter Two. You can also have a finger in 1 Corinthians 12. The disciples, at the time of the Jewish Pentecost, were waiting in Jerusalem, as they had been told to do, crammed together in the upper room, basically afraid, insecure, completely unclear about what their future would look like. Their decision to be obedient and sit in Jerusalem and wait is a model for us. Think of all the unhelpful things they could have done, roving over the known world, telling people about Jesus without the direction and guidance of the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, consider the many times in Scripture that God has asked someone to wait, even a very long time, before he acted, and that in waiting the person was able to participate in a key way in God’s Work in the World. Sarah springs to mind, Hannah, Ruth, Elizabeth, just to name some important mothers. The waiting of he disciples in the upper room is no different that the waiting you do in your every day life for God. God is patient. He’s not in a hurry. Neither need you be.

If you look down at your text, you’ll see also that the disciples were all together. It may be that it was only the 12, or rather, the 11, but I think it included a lot more people than that—all the people who had been with Jesus along the way, all the people, in fact, who would make up the Church. If you’re looking to be filled by the Holy Spirit, I don’t recommend going off into the forest by yourself. You want to be with other believers, you may even want to be doing actual work. And as you are with the church, during the work of the church, the Holy Spirit will enter your life in a powerful way, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

And while they are all together, waiting, the Holy Spirit manifests himself to them, descends on them Powerfully in two visible ways. There is a mighty Rushing Wind, and tongues of fire. The wind is a sermon all by itself—the Breath of God, the life giving breath that brought creation into being and sustains it. This morning I want to talk a little bit about the Fire.

As they heard the Mighty Rushing Wind, waking them up, enlivening them, alerting them to the presence of God in the room, Fire descended from Heaven and individual flames of fire separated and rested on each of their heads.

Let’s look at the properties of real Biblical Fire for a moment. Fire, in the Bible, is the visible sign of God’s perfect holiness. The First Great Fire of Holiness, apart from the flaming sword in Genesis, blocking the entrance to the Garden of Eden, is the Burning Bush. Moses, by no means a model of holiness and goodness, is by himself in the wilderness and God breaks apart his whole world by Burning a Bush, and yet the bush does not burn up, it is not destroyed. The fire of the Burning Bush later translates to the Pillar of Fire by Night, showing the people of Israel when to go forward, when to stop and wait. The fire was God’s direction and presence with the people. Then, there is the Tabernacle, or Tent of Meeting, and later the Temple, full of fire—the fire of hundreds of sacrifices being burned by which the atonement or forgiveness of the sins of the people was applied ultimately through the complete sacrifice of Christ. Some of the sacrifices would be obliterated, destroyed by the fire. Others were cooked in the fire and then eaten. And how can we not mention Shadrach, Meshach and Abendego, walking around in a blazing fire, completely unscathed, not a hair on their head burned, or their clothes singed, not even the smell of smoke.

God is Holy. He is so Holy, so Perfect, so Full of Righteousness, so Completely Good, that evil cannot exist in his presence. It just burns up. There are some interesting moments of people dropping dead in the Old Testament, having come in contact with the Holiness of God, they just don’t survive. But for the most part God protects his people from being annihilated 1. by not letting them see his actual face 2. by giving them the law so that they can understand who he is without seeing him and 3. by giving them the Sacrificial System by which they could be forgiven of their sins, and then come and be in his presence without dying.

So, when the disciples are altogether in one place, waiting for God to show them what to do, and individual tongues of fire come and rest on each of their heads, they do not, sensibly, think that this is a nice warm cuddly time whereby they are affirmed for who they are by God. No, God’s very holiness is resting on them, indeed is Indwelling them, is Filling them.

How is this even possible? Because Jesus has died, risen, and is seated at the right hand of the Father doing two things 1. Interceding for them, that is, bringing them before God’s face, their needs, desires, hopes, problems. They are in the very presence of God, through Jesus. But 2. Very Importantly, Jesus is covering them with himself. His death is sufficient for the forgiveness and obliteration of their sin, his blood covers them. So when God looks at a Christian, at a believer, he does not see the mire and coldness of sin, that person doesn’t fall down dead in his presence. No, God sees the pure, holy, righteousness of Christ.

We are reading, in the Ladies’ Bible Study, the book of Job. It’s been a real trial for us. We enjoy moments of it, but basically it’s a hard slog. We can’t wait until it’s over and we can read something more fun. I don’t have time to tell you the story of Job, but at one point, his “friend” Zophar, in an attempt to get Job to admit what an awful person he is, says this about God’s relationship to the wicked (that would be everyone not found in Christ), “To fill his belly to the full God will send his burning anger against him and rain it upon him into his body”, one translation read, “to rain it upon him, as his food”.

Apart from Christ you can expect the holiness of God, the Fire of God’s Justice and perfection to bring you to death, to destroy you. But, but, In Christ, With Christ, if you are found in him and know him and believe in him, the Very Fire of God comes to live in you. The fire of wrath that the wicked are made to ‘eat’, now is the fire of cleansing, the sanctifying Fire of the Holy Spirit actually living in you, in your very flesh.
Which is why, if you are living a real, honest Christian life, you will find, at moments, that is I not at all a comfortable experience. At times it may actually be painful. How could it not be? The fire of God, the Holy Spirit, is alive in you burning away the dross, the sin, the parts of you that are not wholly devoted to him. And not only that, but this Spirit that is sanctifying you, that is making you holy, is also bringing you into the church, into the body of believers, the Body of Christ. You do not live for yourself or your own To Do List any more. You live for the sake of Christ, for the Church. And you are equipped, enlivened, directed in this Life by the Holy Spirit. Do you find that you’re here every day scrubbing floors? You can thank the Holy Spirit. Are you serving on Vestry? Do you listen, carefully, to the Bible, and understand, for the most part, what it says? Are you out in the world, telling everyone you meet about Jesus? Are you in school bringing every thought and moment captive to Christ? Do you cut hair after church? Are you in Bible Study during the week? Are you serving meals, organizing Rummage, marinating chicken, praying every day, forgiving those who have offended you, seeking the forgiveness of others, of Christ? I know you are. This church is on Fire. The Holy Spirit is making Christ present Here, is making you into the Image of Christ, is building us into the very Body of Christ, that is the church.

If you want to take stock of your life as a Christian, if you want to be sure that the Holy Spirit is working in you and through you, your first step is not to look inside yourself and see how you feel, or if you’re becoming a nicer person (although that may play a part), but Rather to evaluate and consider your life in the church. I’m sorry to say it, because I know it’s terribly inconvenient, but the Church is the center of the Christian’s life. All the gifts the Holy Spirit gives you are for the building up of the Church, the body. Now, that doesn’t mean spending every waking minute here. That would be great, but it’s not practical. It does mean ordering your priorities rightly. If you want God to use you, to fill you with the Holy Spirit, to give you all the gifts and riches of his grace, you have to come to church and order your life with church at the center. I’m hoping very much that Matt will talk about what exactly this looks like next week when he talks about the Holy Spirit. In the meantime, this week take a few moments to look at your life, your routine, your priorities, both for the purpose of being encouraged by all the things that God is doing, and to be challenged to find if things are in order.

Let’s Pray
Heavenly Father, fill us with your Holy Spirit, this morning, show us your power, and presence and glory. Build your Kingdom, here in this place. Build us into the Body of your Son Jesus. Amen.

God Must be Trying to Teach Me Something

Still no Cord!
Loosing my mind and temper.
Computer sitting idly and forlornly by.
Prayer Required.

Plans for the Future

E: After dinner, and after I clean my room, I'm going to run away from home.
Matt: I'm sorry to hear that. Where will you be going?
E: Behind the couch.
Matt: We will miss you a lot.
E: Yes, but I'll be back for meals, and to go to school.
A: What about sleeping?
E: I will come home to sleep as well.
Matt: Well, you seem very organized.
E: Yes.

Technological Problmes

A small, roundish child carefully picked up my computer and flung it on the floor yesterday. I came downstairs in a glow of contentment, induced by a really strong cup of tea and a perfect omelet (two kinds of cheese-Matt's been practicing) brought to me in bed, to be shattered by the vision of my computer on the floor, upside down, the cord horribly mangled in a fall. I coaxed my machine to life and found everything ok.

So Matt is kindly sharing his cord with me while we wait for a new one.
Blogging may be light until it arrives.

Portion Control

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m on my own Bible Reading Schedule. And even though I feel bad about missing a lot of what the church is reading together, I haven’t, at this moment, left my own routine because God has been so faithful in pursuing me and showing me his will and purposes day by day. Yesterday I read, depressingly, of Uzziah being stricken with leprosy in the temple for offering up incense when he was not authorized to do so.

But then the Psalm for the day, for me, was Psalm 73. And, as usual, the words of the psalmist traced themselves over the experience of my days and times.

“Why” I have recently asked God, “Are the wicked allowed to prosper?” Why don’t you do something about the mess of the church, or the neglect and abuse of children, or the continued unmitigated slaughter of unborn babies?

So I read the opening lines of the psalm.
“Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped. For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked…”
Lest God does not know the ways and perverseness of the wicked, the Psalmist describes them for 9 verses.
“They are not in trouble as others are; they are not stricken like the rest of mankind…pride is their necklace; violence covers them as a garment…”
“Do not,” said a lady in my Bible Study, “compare yourself to anyone else! Don’t do it!” It is so easy to compare. It is so easy to look around at the world and then measure yourself, up or down, according to what you see. But the comparing road is a slippery road. First, because in the world, the goodness or wickedness to be seen has to be teased out, like pick up sticks. With all the good is mixed in a little bad. In all the bad a little good can be discovered, a way to let someone off the hook, or a means of forgiveness discovered. And second, because we are all a little stricken.
‘But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task…”
And here also I have dwelt, weary to understand what is going on in other people’s minds and hearts. I cannot know.
“ …until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end…”
And that is where the rubber meets the road. Either we get on board with God, we go to him on his own terms and learn what he purposes and Is, or we slip and grow weary and envious and faint hearted. The road of pride is filled with the stones of anxiety, malice, envy and trouble.
"Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever.”
And then, shoving away cats and putting a plug (pacifier) in G’s mouth, I turned over and read “But the Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” Lk 10:41
A full portion of Jesus, a full measure of time with God. That is all I require.