This week I am reading in each of the Gospels what happened on each particular day of Jesus' final week. Today is Tuesday - the day Jesus did much of His final teaching. As I read these accounts, some several times because of repeats in each Gospel, I find it funny how you can read a familiar story over and over but one particular time something will stick out to you.
That's what happened to Elisa Morgan, a woman I met at the Children's Pastors' Conference in San Diego this year. I went to her workshop which focused on one sentence in the Bible. A sentence that I read again today. A sentence that was spoken on the Tuesday before the crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord.
While He was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on His head. Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, "Why this waste of perfume? It could have been sold for more than a year's wages and the money given to the poor." And they rebuked her harshly. "Leave her alone," said Jesus. "Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her." Mark 14:3-9
She did what she could.
I often times get overwhelmed by the problems of this world. I usually don't even watch the news because it just stresses me out and makes me sad. Sometimes the darkness just seems so dark and there seems to be just too much that needs to be done. There are so many people hurting, dying, starving - so many who are lonely, homeless, living in fear - all over the world. How on earth is there anything that I can possibly do that will make a difference? My to-do list of personal things overwhelms me - much less the to-do list of humanity. I am just one girl.
Mary was just one girl, too. The girl of Mark's story is Mary - the sister of Martha and Lazarus, the daughter of Simon the Leper. Perhaps Simon was the leper that Jesus had healed at the very beginning of His ministry, just after He called Peter, James and John to be His disciples (Luke 5:12-14). Regardless, this family had become very close to Jesus. Jesus often stayed at their home in Bethany - this is also the same Mary that was found not working with her sister, but at the feet of Jesus listening to His teachings.
Mary loved Jesus and she knew that He loved her. She spent time in relationship with Him. She had heard Him foretell His death and resurrection and I can imagine she was confused and scared. Her friend, her teacher, her Lord had said that He would soon be put to death. There was nothing that she could do to stop it. But because of her deep relationship with Him, I'm sure she felt she had to do something. Her relationship resulted in a response. She did what she could. Mary lived loved and she showed her love to her Lord by anointing Him with extremely valuable perfume.
This perfume was made from nard and cost 300 denarii, nearly a year's wages. Nard was imported from Egypt. Mark tells us that she broke open an alabaster jar. Once you break open an alabaster jar - you have to use it all. There is no corking it for later, the perfume spoils if it is not all used immediately. Her actions are a big deal. In my mind, I can see Mary concocting this plan up in her head, acting impulsively, and then when the disciples indignantly rebuke her for being foolish - I can picture her holding her breath and thinking, "Oh crap. What will Jesus say? He's always telling us to help the poor."
Instead of rebuking Mary, Jesus reprimands the disciples and tells them to "leave her alone." In giving what she could give, in doing what she could do, she did a beautiful thing. Now think of how lovely the perfume smelled running down Jesus' head. This is Tuesday before Jesus is arrested on Thursday night. The likelihood of Him hopping into a shower is not good. The fragrance of this expensive perfume more than likely lingered with him throughout the rest of week - He could smell it during His trial, His beatings, and while He hung on the cross. When Mary did what she could, her blessing lasted much longer than that Tuesday evening.
What if we didn't worry about doing everything, doing it all, and being the best at it all? What if we did what we could and we didn't feel guilty about the rest? What if we lived loved - and out of that love, we did what we could, when we could for Jesus and others?
If you did what you could and I did what I could and every Christian did what they could - what could we accomplish together? What if we stopped worrying about all the darkness that surrounds our world and just concentrated on being a light that shines in it?
Today, I pray that you release the guilt of not being able to do everything and be everything to everybody. I pray that you do what you can to be His light in the world around you. I pray that this day, you live loved.
(Thank you to Elisa Morgan for inspiring this blog. Check out her book, "She Did What She Could.")
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Big God Story
A little over a year ago I began to listen for the sacred echoes of God. I heard a speaker, Margaret Feinberg, define sacred echoes as repetitive, scripturally sound themes, events or ideas. She holds the idea that God uses these echoes to get our attention because He wants to teach us something. As I started listening and watching, I found that in my own life, this is how God often speaks to me. If He wants to make something known in my life, He echoes.
About three weeks ago, new echoes began. One day after we had returned from Israel, I was flipping through the channels, trying to find something interesting to watch during daytime TV (which I am not used to watching). Something caught my attention and I stopped on ‘Channel 47.’ Although I don’t usually watch this Christian station, I recognized that the man on the screen was in Jerusalem. Since I could identify the backdrop for his teaching, I stopped and listened for a moment. The man was talking about the return of the Messiah. He said when Jesus comes back, He will descend on the Mount of Olives and the mountain will be split in two. “On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south.” Zechariah 14:4 I had been to the Mount of Olives only weeks before, so the picture of this green mountain was fresh in my mind. I had briefly heard someone mention the mountain in relation to Jesus’ return when I was there. I continued flipping channels, not thinking much about it.
A couple days later I was reading my Bible. I hadn’t found any certain place that I wanted to land - just randomly flipping through - when I caught a word that was familiar to me from my time in Israel. I began reading in Ezekiel where He prophesies about the Valley of Dry Bones. I had seen that valley. I continued reading from Ezekiel when he describes the Messiah. “My servant David shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd...my servant shall be their prince forever...I will set my sanctuary among them forevermore...my dwelling place shall be among them...” Ezekiel 36:24-28 I hadn’t ever just read through Ezekiel before.
A few days after that I went to the evening Praise and Worship service at my mom’s church. They have been watching Rob Bell’s Nooma videos series for their “sermon” time. The Nooma for that night was called “Trees” and it wasn’t one that I had seen before. In the video Rob Bell describes how there are two trees in the Bible. One is at the very beginning - the tree in the Garden of Eden, the Tree of Life. In the last book of the Bible, Revelations, John describes another tree that is in the center of the city of the new earth ... the place where we will spend eternity, where God will dwell with us once again. He says we are living in the time between the two trees.
We are living between the trees. I was fascinated by this concept. I had never spent any time reading Revelations, so when I opened my Bible the next day, I decided to find this tree at the end of the Bible. And there it was, just Rob said. I spent time that day going through the book of Revelations ... learning about the return of Jesus, the defeat of Satan, the new heaven and earth that will be established and the restoration of humanity. “On either side of the river is the tree of life...and the leaves of he tree are for the healing of the nations.” Rev. 22:2 - “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first earth had passed away...I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘See, the home of God is among the mortals. He will dwell with them...” Rev. 21:1
By this time, I was really paying attention. I thought that there might just be an echo occurring, but I couldn’t piece it all together. All this talk about the end-times and the Messiah had to mean something, but I had no idea what.
A couple other things happened along the way, but I forget now the specifics. A week later, though, I went to a Saturday night service and the Pastor started his sermon talking about the end times. “Okay God, I get it...but really I don’t,” I thought to myself.
The next day I left for San Diego to attend the Children’s Pastors’ Conference. I arrived to the conference in a much different place than I ever had in the past. I usually arrive to CPC depleted, empty, tired, done. This was the first year that I came without the need of being refreshed and renewed. However, I still carried an expectation to hear God speak, to see God move, and have Him guide and lead me in amazing ways.
With this expectation, I went to a workshop called Transformational Teaching by Dr. Michelle Anthony. She talked about the concept of teaching kids “The Big God Story.” The Bible is actually one, big story - the story of how God has worked throughout history, calling His people into relationship with Him. A story that begins with God creating the earth and everything on it; a story that continues in a beautiful garden in Eden and the first act of human rebellion. A story full of a God who wants to set things right and to redeem and restore creation to himself. A story that ends with the nations coming together to spend eternity worshiping the God who created it all. It’s a story all about Him - a story of which we play only a part. One story - between two trees.
So often we teach kids stories from the Bible but we only allow them to see pieces of the bigger story at any given time. Our kids can tell us about Moses and Noah. They know about Joseph and his coat of many colors and about Peter and John, the disciples of Jesus. So often these stories are fragmented, told in isolation. Many times we don’t put these stories into the context of the bigger story where God is central. We make Moses the main character or Noah the hero. In reality, God or Jesus should always be the main character and the hero. What if we taught kids about The Big God Story and shared with them the truth that they play a supporting role in this story, just like Moses and Noah, and Peter and Paul. God has worked through men and women throughout history and God can work through us, too. When we allow children to see themselves as a part of this bigger story, we invite them to feel the awe of being part of something way bigger than themselves. “We can tell them the concrete stories of history in the context of the bigger picture, and we can create opportunities for them to put what they are learning into action,” writes Michelle Anthony.
Michelle Anthony also says that we need to “make the Jesus of Revelation known to our children - to make Him the hero of our lives.” I’m not sure I would have gotten that if God didn’t start echoing to me weeks before. I’m not sure if I would have be challenged to make this mind-shift. The Big God Story might not have had the same effect on me - if He hadn’t started getting my attention (using the end of time) and if He hadn’t continued to echo. If He hadn’t started at the end, I might have missed the big picture.
“At the heart of our Christian faith is a story ... Unless the story is known, understood, owned, and lived, we and our children will not have faith.” John Westerhoff
May you know today that you are a part of the greatest story ever told. And may we strive to teach this story to our children.
About three weeks ago, new echoes began. One day after we had returned from Israel, I was flipping through the channels, trying to find something interesting to watch during daytime TV (which I am not used to watching). Something caught my attention and I stopped on ‘Channel 47.’ Although I don’t usually watch this Christian station, I recognized that the man on the screen was in Jerusalem. Since I could identify the backdrop for his teaching, I stopped and listened for a moment. The man was talking about the return of the Messiah. He said when Jesus comes back, He will descend on the Mount of Olives and the mountain will be split in two. “On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south.” Zechariah 14:4 I had been to the Mount of Olives only weeks before, so the picture of this green mountain was fresh in my mind. I had briefly heard someone mention the mountain in relation to Jesus’ return when I was there. I continued flipping channels, not thinking much about it.
A couple days later I was reading my Bible. I hadn’t found any certain place that I wanted to land - just randomly flipping through - when I caught a word that was familiar to me from my time in Israel. I began reading in Ezekiel where He prophesies about the Valley of Dry Bones. I had seen that valley. I continued reading from Ezekiel when he describes the Messiah. “My servant David shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd...my servant shall be their prince forever...I will set my sanctuary among them forevermore...my dwelling place shall be among them...” Ezekiel 36:24-28 I hadn’t ever just read through Ezekiel before.
A few days after that I went to the evening Praise and Worship service at my mom’s church. They have been watching Rob Bell’s Nooma videos series for their “sermon” time. The Nooma for that night was called “Trees” and it wasn’t one that I had seen before. In the video Rob Bell describes how there are two trees in the Bible. One is at the very beginning - the tree in the Garden of Eden, the Tree of Life. In the last book of the Bible, Revelations, John describes another tree that is in the center of the city of the new earth ... the place where we will spend eternity, where God will dwell with us once again. He says we are living in the time between the two trees.
We are living between the trees. I was fascinated by this concept. I had never spent any time reading Revelations, so when I opened my Bible the next day, I decided to find this tree at the end of the Bible. And there it was, just Rob said. I spent time that day going through the book of Revelations ... learning about the return of Jesus, the defeat of Satan, the new heaven and earth that will be established and the restoration of humanity. “On either side of the river is the tree of life...and the leaves of he tree are for the healing of the nations.” Rev. 22:2 - “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first earth had passed away...I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘See, the home of God is among the mortals. He will dwell with them...” Rev. 21:1
By this time, I was really paying attention. I thought that there might just be an echo occurring, but I couldn’t piece it all together. All this talk about the end-times and the Messiah had to mean something, but I had no idea what.
A couple other things happened along the way, but I forget now the specifics. A week later, though, I went to a Saturday night service and the Pastor started his sermon talking about the end times. “Okay God, I get it...but really I don’t,” I thought to myself.
The next day I left for San Diego to attend the Children’s Pastors’ Conference. I arrived to the conference in a much different place than I ever had in the past. I usually arrive to CPC depleted, empty, tired, done. This was the first year that I came without the need of being refreshed and renewed. However, I still carried an expectation to hear God speak, to see God move, and have Him guide and lead me in amazing ways.
With this expectation, I went to a workshop called Transformational Teaching by Dr. Michelle Anthony. She talked about the concept of teaching kids “The Big God Story.” The Bible is actually one, big story - the story of how God has worked throughout history, calling His people into relationship with Him. A story that begins with God creating the earth and everything on it; a story that continues in a beautiful garden in Eden and the first act of human rebellion. A story full of a God who wants to set things right and to redeem and restore creation to himself. A story that ends with the nations coming together to spend eternity worshiping the God who created it all. It’s a story all about Him - a story of which we play only a part. One story - between two trees.
So often we teach kids stories from the Bible but we only allow them to see pieces of the bigger story at any given time. Our kids can tell us about Moses and Noah. They know about Joseph and his coat of many colors and about Peter and John, the disciples of Jesus. So often these stories are fragmented, told in isolation. Many times we don’t put these stories into the context of the bigger story where God is central. We make Moses the main character or Noah the hero. In reality, God or Jesus should always be the main character and the hero. What if we taught kids about The Big God Story and shared with them the truth that they play a supporting role in this story, just like Moses and Noah, and Peter and Paul. God has worked through men and women throughout history and God can work through us, too. When we allow children to see themselves as a part of this bigger story, we invite them to feel the awe of being part of something way bigger than themselves. “We can tell them the concrete stories of history in the context of the bigger picture, and we can create opportunities for them to put what they are learning into action,” writes Michelle Anthony.
Michelle Anthony also says that we need to “make the Jesus of Revelation known to our children - to make Him the hero of our lives.” I’m not sure I would have gotten that if God didn’t start echoing to me weeks before. I’m not sure if I would have be challenged to make this mind-shift. The Big God Story might not have had the same effect on me - if He hadn’t started getting my attention (using the end of time) and if He hadn’t continued to echo. If He hadn’t started at the end, I might have missed the big picture.
“At the heart of our Christian faith is a story ... Unless the story is known, understood, owned, and lived, we and our children will not have faith.” John Westerhoff
May you know today that you are a part of the greatest story ever told. And may we strive to teach this story to our children.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Who You Know
Fun Night is the biggest fundraiser of the year for my kids' school. The evening is full of carnival games, food, and Silent Auction baskets. My family joined in the fun this past weekend - and it was great, as always. Just before we were ready to leave, we had a brief mix-up in dinner plans. Long story short, we ended up with $10 worth of extra tickets for food. Lee tried to sell them back but the people at the ticket table just laughed at him. Poor guy. A friend said that she would take them and get the money back at the end of the night. "It's all in who you know," she said. Isn't that the truth? She took the tickets, gave us ten bucks, and that was that.
The next night I was invited to go to a Hoe-down school fundraiser with another friend. She had played the role of "Elvira" for the promotional videos and was able to bring a couple friends along at no charge. When we got there, instead of paying our $50 to get it, my friend said, "They are with me." Sure enough, our names were on the list and we walked right in-with free drink tickets, too!
Don't you love "knowing people"? When Lee worked in the restaurant business, I loved going in for dinner - complementary, of course, because I knew the manager. Sometimes it's free drinks at the bar because you know the bartender or free concert tickets because you know the band. Maybe it's just better service because you are friends with someone's boss. When was the last time you had an "in" because you knew someone?
It made me start to wonder .... is that what it will be like when we get to heaven? We'll arrive at the pearly gates and Jesus will nod His head and say, "She's with me." Now that is someone worth knowing! Free parties and free food is nothing compared to free life eternal.
Jesus gives us hints to the benefits of a friendship with Him:
"You are my friends if you do what I command...I have called you friends, for everything I learned from the Father I have made known to you." John 15:14-15
"And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." John 14:3
"For You granted Him authority over all people that He might give eternal life to all those you have given Him." John 17:2
But just like it takes work to maintain good friendships on earth, the same is true for our friendship with Jesus. Friendships are two way streets and give and take; good communication is needed. Who wants a friend who just uses you for their own benefit? I don't think that we can just play the "I know Jesus card" and call ourselves good.
Jesus asks a lot from us. No one said that following Him was going to be easy. We spend a lifetime trying to figure out how to be like Him and trying to do what He would have us do. But even when we mess up, He loves us still. He never turns His back on us, as long as we keep trying. He's always there, waiting to welcome us back with open arms.
Now that's a friend.
The next night I was invited to go to a Hoe-down school fundraiser with another friend. She had played the role of "Elvira" for the promotional videos and was able to bring a couple friends along at no charge. When we got there, instead of paying our $50 to get it, my friend said, "They are with me." Sure enough, our names were on the list and we walked right in-with free drink tickets, too!
Don't you love "knowing people"? When Lee worked in the restaurant business, I loved going in for dinner - complementary, of course, because I knew the manager. Sometimes it's free drinks at the bar because you know the bartender or free concert tickets because you know the band. Maybe it's just better service because you are friends with someone's boss. When was the last time you had an "in" because you knew someone?
It made me start to wonder .... is that what it will be like when we get to heaven? We'll arrive at the pearly gates and Jesus will nod His head and say, "She's with me." Now that is someone worth knowing! Free parties and free food is nothing compared to free life eternal.
Jesus gives us hints to the benefits of a friendship with Him:
"You are my friends if you do what I command...I have called you friends, for everything I learned from the Father I have made known to you." John 15:14-15
"And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." John 14:3
"For You granted Him authority over all people that He might give eternal life to all those you have given Him." John 17:2
But just like it takes work to maintain good friendships on earth, the same is true for our friendship with Jesus. Friendships are two way streets and give and take; good communication is needed. Who wants a friend who just uses you for their own benefit? I don't think that we can just play the "I know Jesus card" and call ourselves good.
Jesus asks a lot from us. No one said that following Him was going to be easy. We spend a lifetime trying to figure out how to be like Him and trying to do what He would have us do. But even when we mess up, He loves us still. He never turns His back on us, as long as we keep trying. He's always there, waiting to welcome us back with open arms.
Now that's a friend.
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