The Gospel of Peace

United 9-11 Observance at Holy Innocents'

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. Jesus - John 13:34-35

Yesterday was a rich day; complex, nuanced and deeply layered. The theme - of course - was acknowledging the 10th anniversary of the 9-11 attacks and thinking about how we - as followers of the Jesus Way - are engaging the ongoing task of bringing peace and hope to a our broken world.

Rebekah's message at morning worship was powerful; her words centered around hope, and of living into the powerful truth that not only is light stronger than darkness but that we are the emissaries of light. We are charged (quite literally holding a charge) with the responsibility to illuminate - to tell the truth about the Gospel simply by being, and we are loved so completely in order that we might - in turn - love eloquently and joyfully.

In the afternoon many of us from First Presbyterian headed over to the Episcopalian Church to join together for a shared memorial service. It was a meaningful hour of remembrance followed by fellowship and refreshments in the "Parish Hall" (gotta love those Anglicized building tags!).

It was a very appropriate move for us to join together with another community for 9-11. The coming together, while not a serious stretch for any of us, was symbolic of so much more.

In itself, the ecumenical observance was not exactly groundbreaking; Episcopalians are not, after all, generally so much of a scary bunch (our neighbors at Holy Innocents' are no exception) and the denomination always tends to get check marks next to "Plays well with others" on their report card. But it was the idea of stepping, if only a little bit, outside our normal comfort zone that made the event so important on this particular day.

Because I am concerned that many too many church-going Americans are buying in to the beginnings of what amounts to a confusing of Christian Faith with religious nationalism. When both America and the church begin to develop a "siege mentality" at the same time and in response to the same concerns, then the church needs to take a serious and deliberate step back from the politics of "My way or the highway," exclusivity, the move toward fundamentalism and retrenchment into the shell of our own narrow interpretations of truth....

Today, any movement toward a more visible unity is vitally important. The world needs to see how we love one another. In fact, the world is more likely to receive the love that Jesus has charged us to share "to the ends of the Earth" when Christians embrace each other with more sincerity and more joy in the heart of our own communities.

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.

"This is how people will know that you are my disciples..."

So afterwards, after worship and more visiting, my Sunday evening small group gathered at CrackerBarrell for dinner together. We didn't do anything else, really, other than love one another. And it was good.

It is by THIS that all people will know that you are Followers of the Jesus Way - DEREK

WWW - Surf the World-Wide-World

"Liechtenstein", taken a couple of weeks ago by Andrew Maul

I love the Internet. It's the perfect complement to my life as a writer.

If you're reading this, it's not because I write for some newspaper or magazine, it's because the miracle of the world-wide-web enables you to look over my shoulder as I do my morning devotions, sit at the keyboard, and get my writing engine running for the day.

I rely on the world-wide-web, and I can't imagine how I'd begin to survive as a professional writer if it suddenly went away.

If you're looking at the photograph of Liechtenstein, it's because my son, Andrew, captured the image a couple of weeks back while traveling in Europe. He then posted it on his facebook account so that I could pirate the picture and paste it into this blog.

Because of the Internet, the pictures I take on my camera and my phone are instantly available (one problem with this is the fact that many people post pics without first taking the time to sort, edit, and discard where appropriate!).

Research opportunities are at my fingertips. Contact with sources and source documents can be facilitated in seconds. Editors (and their rejection letters) are just the stroke of a few keys away.
"WWW" = Good.

Surf the world-wide-world

Surf the World-Wide-World. But today I want to tweak the "www" a little, and recommend we all spend less time on-line and a little more time surfing the "world-wide-world". I was inspired this week when Andrew labelled one of his photos - above - "Liechtenstein, country number 36 knocked off the list."

Now that is awesome. Personally, I can count just 27 nations (thus far). But I'm not simply talking about international travel, when I say (and this is the first time I've ever said it) "Surf the world-wide-world." I'm talking about the deliberate decision to be intentional about living large.

And by living large I'm not saying "Spend lots of money." Money may be able to open some doors, but money has absolutely nothing to do with the fundamental orientation of living large. Living large is a decision.
Living large is a decision, and I'd argue that it works best when entered into as a faith-based decision. Because I believe that it is built into our essential nature as human beings to live the life abundant.

My understanding of the teachings of the Bible is that Gospel means, "Good News." A huge element of the Good News is the fact that we were designed and created for the purpose of living a life that means something. Not just in the eternal but the here and now. Not just the hereafter but today, this very day, the one we're looking at from the vantage point of another new morning.

There's a thought that bears repeating: We were designed and created for the purpose of living a life that means something. Not just in the eternal but the here and now. Not just the hereafter but today, this very day, the one we're looking at from the vantage point of another new morning.

Over the next few weeks I'm going to be surfing the world-wide-world by investing myself in the wonder that is life. That means:

• Loving Rebekah with all the imagination and commitment and faithfulness and creative energy that I can muster.
• Becoming a granddaddy for the very first time!
• Putting quality time into relationships with people. People rock!
• Showing up at church and getting involved in the cool stuff going on there.
• Walking the dog with my smart-phone turned off.
• Doing my very best when it comes to my work.
• Reading several great books.
• Investing in my faith via prayer and Bible-study and education opportunities.
• Working in the garden.
• Traveling to a men's conference to keynote and teach.
• Playing my guitar.
• Traveling to Italy to enjoy some quality time with Andrew and fall in love a little more with this amazing planet.
• Plus a whole bunch of other stuff I can't think of at this moment....

Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.” - Lamentations 3:22-24

I'm surfing the world-wide-world!

New every morning! The possibilities are endless. There is so, so much to enjoy and to love and to be thankful for. Why don't you join me? Surf the World-Wide-World - DEREK

Dog Blog - "Scout for President"

Parts of today's blog were inspired by the following post from my friend Bruce Reyes-Chow: Applauding executions might be American, but it's not Christian.

Scout for President!

Yeah, that's right, Scout is thinking of running for president. Seriously. She took one look at the "presidential" debate yesterday evening and thought, "Why not?"

It started when the audience applauded Texas Governor Rick Perry after he revealed the number of executions notched up under his watch. Applauding not so much the idea of justice, mind you, as the raw number. It was clear that the audience was pleased with the body-count - as if a higher number would generate a more enthusiastic response.

Personally I would have appreciated a stunned silence, and an equally circumspect response from the governor along the lines of, "Any death is a tragedy, and it saddens me to see people's lives end in such a fashion."

Three-point platform

You see, Scout is a Christian Labradoodle, and as such she was as much disturbed by the applause of the audience as she was by the words of the candidate.

It reminded me of a discussion I had during my "Men's Room" small-group gathering several years ago. We were talking about the (then) ongoing search for Osama bin Laden.

"If I ran into bin Laden in a cave," one man said, "I hope and pray that I'd be able to follow through and kill him...."

I didn't miss a beat in the cadence of the conversation. "I pray even more," I said, looking him directly in the eye, "that you would have the courage and the conviction of your faith not to."

Scout is a huge proponent of three things in the world of politics:

• First, she believes that if you say that you're a Christian then you need to follow the tenets of your faith in everything you do. Following Jesus is 24-7-365. No more part-time Christian.
• Next, and this is her key point, she believes that - especially if you are a politician professing to follow Jesus - you need to make darned sure ("darned" is about as strong as Labradoodle language gets) that it really is Jesus you're following, and that you're not just manipulating the Gospel in order to prop up either your Americanism or your politics.
• Finally, she said she'd like to bring President Obama's Portuguese Water Dog Bo on as running mate. We don't actually see eye-to-eye on this.

Line-up of "suits" in Iowa

Anyway, point is we're both a little disturbed by the image of such a line-up of "suits" posturing and pontificating and power-brokering - and it's not even the summer of 2012 yet.

Scout said she'd like to sneak up on some of them in a dark cave, kind of like my friend and bin Laden. She said she'd likely take a couple of bites but nothing more. She's a peace-loving pooch, after all.

"Still looking for a running mate"

But Scout would like to pose the following question to everyone seriously considering public office:

"What are your core values? What do you have in mind when you say you want America to be great and to prosper? Because if it's all about the so-called standard of living, then we're not really talking about anything all that important. You see I love my family, I'm committed to them, and all I need is a secure place to sit down beside them so we can be together. I want freedom, and security, and dinner (lots of dinner!). Anything else is just fluff."

Here's an amazing scripture from Romans 12 that we read last night in my small group. Bruce Reyes-Chow also quoted it in his piece.

It also happens to be Scout's platform:

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us.
If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully. Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.
Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone.
If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him;  if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Walking into the Sunrise and Following the Rainbow

Walking down Laurel Oak and into the sunrise (7:07 AM)

This morning, Scout and I walked into this sunrise,paused to give thanks, turned around, and then followed the faintest of rainbows all the way home.

The rainbow was one of those watery, ethereal renditions that hangs on the edge of perceptibility. I enjoy such rainbows because they require a combination of sight, searching, belief and imagination or they slip away altogether.

Such rainbows are a lot like faith in the day to day. I have no doubt that God is real; but that reality is often just a faint presence that hangs on the edge of perceptibility. The light - always there - is easier to make out sometimes in the presence of the storm. The rain brings out its color.

I found, this morning, that I was able to see the rainbow for as long as I kept my eyes focused on the great arc of light's witness to the world. When I looked away it was very hard to find again. It's a lot like that with God. I like the way Paul puts it in 2 Corinthians 5, "We walk by faith and not by sight." And then, "We must keep our eyes on Jesus, who leads us and makes our faith complete." (Hebrews 12:2)

So this morning I walked into the sunrise for my devotional inspiration, and now I am (still) walking into the rainbow. I'm working hard to keep my eyes on Jesus, yes, but I'm also confident that the light of his love and grace is more real even than the sunlight that illuminates this world and is the source of all energy and life.

In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— John 1:4-12

Grace and Peace, and Light and Life - DEREK

9-11 and the Beauty of Hope

"Ladder Three" fire truck lowered into the 9-11 museum. One of the images that - I believe - defines why (and how) we are a great people

Today is already one of those thoughtful, rainy mornings. Scout and I got our walk in early and then the day suddenly shifted to tropical rains and gusty winds. Part of me wants to curl up with a good book and a cup of coffee, and part of me wants to process some of the ideas that have been settling into my mind as we approach the tenth anniversary of 9-11.

Either way, there has to be coffee.

Thinking about 9-11, I had expected to feel some of the weight of the darkness revisit my consciousness, and I have steeled myself for feelings of disillusionment, or despondency or despair.

However, rather than gloom, what's been driving my response this week can best be described as hope, belief, confidence and optimism. And it's deeply spiritual - although not anywhere near what most people imagine when they hear that word. My "spiritual" this week is as far removed from the tedious religiosity that often passes for "Christian" as a busy construction site is from a televangelist selling superstition to the desperate and lonely on a fixed income.

Two things have been responsible for this encouraging shift:

1. My focus on "The Life-Charged Life" is seeping into every pore of my consciousness. I'm no longer just saying "It's difficult any more to make a distinction between My Life and My Spiritual Life..." I'm experiencing God in my everyday life - more and more - as a natural reflex.
2. Rebekah and I have been watching a series of documentary films about the amazing reconstruction initiative on the site of the World Trade Center. Each episode chronicles a different aspect: the towers, the memorial, the "hub", the landscaping, the architecture, the museum.... Everything is being done in the context of telling and re-telling the stories, and with such sensitivity, and with such industry, invention and purpose.

And that's the hope that speaks so much more convincingly than our own bombings, and retribution, and killing, and unwillingness to understand that other peoples and cultures can never be compelled or persuaded to value or even respect the particular ideals that make America such a wonderful place.

An amazing new urban landscape

Instead, and this is why I am brimming with belief and hope, what is going on in New York is a demonstration of who we really are! It reminds me of the critically important idea that is behind a lot of my current writing, and that's my conviction that the best we can do is to "Tell the truth about the Gospel message simply by being."

At ground zero - and this is only a partial list - this is some of what we are up to:

• Taking a horrible mess and a black hole and calling forth something that is beautiful and good...
• Telling our own story without wasting any unnecessary words...
• Investing in a future that is - always - better...
• Honoring the lives of those who were lost...
• Showcasing stories of heroism and belief and personal sacrifice and human decency...
• Applying innovation and creativity to a complex problem...
• Celebrating the marriage of innovation, imagination, and technology...
• Shouting with a loud voice - "This is who we are and nothing will dampen our enthusiasm and our belief!"

Tell the truth about the Gospel, simply by being...

The most compelling message that any of us have, and that we have - collectively - as a free people, is that of living what we believe out loud and without reservation.

Think about that. Now consider what such a principle might look like as it plays out in our personal witness today, this week, over the 9-11 anniversary and into the rest of our lives.

Listen to what Jesus had to say about this in Matthew 7:

"You can identify people by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire.  Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions. Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter."

In belief, and in the beauty of hope - DEREK

Grateful: Planted by the Water

Looking over #7 green from our back garden

Okay, and in response to the few messages I've received today saying "Why didn't you post today?", I have two things:

1. I did post, over at my other blog, "The Preacher's Husband"  - Click on the link for some most excellent photographs and an update on the new church building.
2. I'll put up a photograph, with commentary. I hope that satisfies!

Here's the picture, taken in our back yard yesterday afternoon. The reason I chose the view is that it's so classically "Florida in the summertime." Deep greens, beautiful clouds, a golf-cart heading over the rise.

The air is heavy, laden with moisture that's constantly rising, mixing with the cooler air aloft, and bursting into thunderstorms that evaporate as quickly as they appear.

I always look forward to the late afternoon rains because they wash some of the heat out of the air, cool off the roof, and give the air-conditioning a fighting change going into the evening.

So I'm grateful. Grateful for electricity, for a roof over our heads, and for the blessing of rain. Most of all I'm grateful that I can live this contemplative life, where I can meditate, study, think seriously about whatever I'm writing about, and drink deeply from the often hidden places in my soul.

Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers; but their delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law they meditate day and night. They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper. - Psalm 1

Today, I'm sitting by the water, drinking in the words of God - DEREK

New Every Morning!

VALRICO - Thursday September 1, 2011 - 6:50 AM. "Great is thy faithfulness"

The LORD's kindness never fails!

If he had not been merciful,

we would have been destroyed. The LORD can always be trusted

to show mercy each morning. Great is your faithfulness!

Deep in my heart I say,

"The LORD is all I need;

I can depend on him!"

- Lamentations 3:22-24

I have no time to write this morning - I'm heading into Tampa for an interesting meeting that I'll probably post about later. I did, however, spend time in meditation and prayer. It was then, walking Scout past the church on the corner of Miller and Durant, that I looked up and realized that God has already written adequate commentary on the morning, and that all I have to do is to receive it.

• A new morning.
• A new day.
• A new month
• A fresh opportunity to live this life-charged life as if I mean it - because God most certainly does.

Peace and blessings - DEREK