please and thank you

Last night I was already in bed when Rachael took the dogs out for their late night potty break.  I had been almost asleep when she came and called Maggie and Gabriel out. I woke up enough to realize there was a very cool breeze from the open window.  It had been warm enough during the day that I’d opened it for the fresh air and I’d forgotten to open it. Now it was too cold.

When Maggie came back in I asked Rachael to close the window.  I don’t even think I said please, but it was a request, not a demand.  She didn’t grouch. She didn’t demand that I say ‘please.’ She didn’t even stomp her feet on the way to the window.  She simply went across the room and closed it.

It started me thinking how complicated ‘correct’ social behavior can make life. So much interaction between close friends and family is made difficult by selfish quirks and the desire to make even loved ones jump through hoops of our own self regard.  

When I studied Navajo I discovered that traditionally the Dineh did not have a word for our polite ‘please.’  The assumption was that if you could help you would do so because tomorrow or next week or next month you might be in a position to make the same request of them. It's probably changed now since anglo society is making inroads into Navajo ways. Yes, sometimes the situation was taken advantage of, but the same thing happens in our society even when someone uses a polite and respectful ‘please’ before their request. 

I’ve known two women in my life who were very particular about folks using the polite forms of speaking in any situation.  Their children were severely reprimanded for not saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you.’   They were subjected to harsh repercussions if they were so excited about some childish thing if they interrupted an adult conversation no matter how trivial. They ran the risk of being ignored completely if they didn’t approach mom in a polite way to ask something or tell her something.  Others were treated to a cold stare if a please was omitted.  Or sometimes even an outright reproof--not very politely worded.

The thing is, the women could be very self serving in their own actions. They had no qualms about interrupting a conversation—politely—but still the interrupted with the assumption that what they had to say was oh so much more intellectual and knowledgeable than what you were saying.  They used the words ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ but the phrases cloaked a demand and arrogance that showed through clearly.  Their attitudes and expressions were rude and arrogant regardless of their cloak of courtesy. 

The one, thankfully, has mellowed since she came to know the Lord.  The other divorced her husband under almost concocted circumstances and has alienated her children.  She is now a lonely and emotionally isolated woman.

I heard it said once that manners oil the wheels of personal interactions. But I’m not so sure. Sometimes I think they make things more antagonistic because real motivations and emotions are hidden behind the facade of civility and a polite conversation.  Responses are then forced into conformity and amiability.  Because ‘polite’ words were used people are forced to comply and not reject the request or overture outright as they might were it not hidden behind politeness.

 I’ve noticed that when relationships begin to break down, the courtesy becomes more compelling with a huge under-current of hostility.   When friends or couples are angry the ‘pleases’ and ‘thank yous’  fly thick and fast, but the anger and bitterness isn’t hidden at all. And all the polite words in the world don’t keep the situation from escalating.  In solid loving relationships, the courtesy is not so evident because the love and innate consideration of one another permeates every essence of the bond.   How much better it could be if all interactions were motivated by honest affection or emotion (good or bad) and left to rest as they were stated.

So, half asleep, I asked Rachael to close the window for me.  And she simply came and did it. 

Of course, it could always be said her actions were based on a life-time of obedience, but she’s an adult.  She doesn’t obey me anymore.   She doesn’t have to.  Her response to my request was motivated by love, whether or not I said ‘please.’ 

Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise;  That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.  Eph 5:2-3

responses to What the church is...and isn't

I was a little shocked at some of the responses to my last post.  I also posted it on Facebook and it was surprising to me how many people I'd always considered to be honestly following the Lord and walking close to Him regarded it.  They ranged from an attitude of discounting and disregarding the questions to open hostility toward them.

I guess the original questions came from a book on pagan Christianity--kind of an oxymoron.  The book was pointing out how many of our Christian traditions can be traced to old pagan customs.  I've not read the book so I don't know what exactly it said, but I do know that many of the things done in churches today can have their sources traced directly back to pagan ways of worship. Early 'church' leaders wanted to incorporate the pagans into the church without the necessity of a real conversion so they simply cloaked the teachings of Salvation under a semblance of paganism.  Christmas, for example, was a pagan custom observing winter solstice.  "Christ-mass" was instituted to combine the winter solstice observation and the celebration of birth of Christ.  The Christmas trees and yule logs and so forth were simply carry overs.

OK, enough of that.  The one woman, with the most violent opposition, didn't want to address the questions at all, but only wanted to dispute their validity because they had come from that book she read.

Here's the point I wanted to make.  Regardless of the 'source' of the questions, the person who sent them to me posed them to make his readers seriously consider the things they were doing that they considered 'worship' which were not pleasing to God. The Word teaches us that But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. (John 4:23,24) If we are incorporating pagan rites into our worship we have stepped away from the Truth of the Word.

Kit Pharo, the author of the devotion where I found the questions, has been impressed to make ordinary Christians aware of the state of modern Christianity in his own little corner of the world.  I have been blessed at the way the Holy Spirit is leading him into truth.

He has been given the beginning of an understanding regarding the Church. I'm anxious to see how the Lord leads him on.  His desire is that people will look at they way they worship, at the way they follow God.  He wants them to learn that 'church' is not a place we go once or twice a week. He wants them to know that WE are the Church as we follow God in Spirit and in Truth.

Consider the questions, not as sourced from some book that you can discount, or as from some guy that made them up, but as a way to evaluate your place before God and to grow closer to Him.  And as I said, it could be vitally important to your salvation. 

what the church is....and isn't

A friend of mine had been posting for several weeks about what the Church is.  And what it isn't.  Sadly, his conclusion has been that the religious organization that we call 'the Church' today is nothing like what God requires of His People. I have agreed with him 100%.  He doen't come from a 'church of God' background, but he definitely comes from a 'holy spirit taught' background.  A little while ago he posed several questions that every single church-going person in the world ought to consider.  I'm posting them here.

So consider these scriptures:  Psalm 78:36-38;  Isaiah 29:13;  Matthew 15:8-9;  Mark 7:6-8;  Acts 2:42-47

Now think about these questions:  

What if… everything we’d been taught and think we know about “church” and worship is wrong?

What if… we have not been worshiping according to God’s standards but rather human traditions?

What if… we began to seek God’s truth in how to worship and what He wants instead of trying to justify our traditions with His Word?

What if… we weren’t supposed to meet a few times a week for worship in a special building but rather meet every day for worship and fellowship?

What if… there wasn’t supposed to be church buildings, Sunday school teachers, orders of worship, pastors, sermons, Sunday morning dress-up and performances, worship leaders, ministers of music, tithing, clergy salaries, grand baptism performances, abbreviated Lord’s Suppers, altar calls, or formal Christian education?

What if… we devoted ourselves to God’s Word, Christian fellowship and prayer?

What if… we sold our possessions and gave to anyone in need?

What if… God added to our numbers daily those who were being saved?

What if… we allowed Jesus through the instrument of the Holy Spirit to be the Head of the church and truly lead us in worship with our single focus on pleasing God?

What if… everyone really participated in worship as described in the Bible?

And the other side of the coin: 

What if… there weren’t 38,000 different religious denominations?

What if… our worship was only rules taught by men?

What if… our worship was not pleasing to God?

Think about it. How serious would these questions be if every single one of them is applicable to our Salvation?  

Maybe it is time we laid aside everything we have been taught about how we are to worship and really put our faces in the Word of God with enough sincerity to allow the Lord to lead us.

.

It might make a BIG difference in your life!

early morning

Do you know the peace of the very early morning?  

Until just a few years ago I didn’t.  For a lot of years, I was busy. The busy-ness all involved very legitimate things-teaching, working on the mission, taking care of my mom, raising my kids and holding down a job, much of it all at the same time. If I woke up in the early morning my first concern was going back to sleep so I could have the energy to get all of those legitimate things accomplished.

It has only been since I retired that I’ve come to know how blest we can be in the early hours of the morning. I’ve not had anything of pressing importance to keep me from sitting and soaking up the peace. 

The world is sleeping. Our neighborhood is a very quiet one anyway and at three in the morning it is even absolutely hushed.  Our house is absolutely still, even the busy cats are asleep and, of course, the dogs are dead to the world. Even those little noises that come with every house-- the sound of the warm air flowing from the ducts, the gurgle of water in a pipe, the click of a clock-- are muted.  Nothing disturbs the stillness.

It’s then that God can be so very near and it is so very easy to hear His Voice. 

I’ve learned to simply sit and reflect on life and the things of God.  One of the greatest blessings that hascome with reading the Word of God for nearly sixty years is that it becomes engraved in your heart and mind. (For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people.   Yep, it’s true!)  And when you are still, the Holy Spirit brings those scriptures back to mind.  You don’t even need to pick up the Bible, He just scrolls them through one after another until His sermon is finished.

And after the Holy Spirit has led you through those scriptures He begins to bring to mind those people in your life who need your prayer.  To me that’s as amazing as how He lays the scriptures on your heart because sometimes those He brings to mind are people that you would have no reason to think of or pray for and yet there it is, the burden of prayer resting heavy on you. 

How does He do that? 

I don’t know but I know the blessings of it.  It happens most often in the dark silence of early morning.  It is at that time of day we can truly ‘be still and know that I am God.’ And it is at that time of day we can realize that we are a very, very small part of the Lord’s Plan.  It is humbling and uplifting at the same time.  When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.

Doesn’t that make you feel so special in the eyes of God?  And doesn’t it make you feel so insignificant in His overall Plan?  A less familiar scripture, one of Job’s questions, says What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him? And that thou shouldest visit him every morning, and try him every moment?  Job 7:17-18 

I think it is only in the early hours that we can realize how much He has magnified us and set His heart on us.  I know for me those hours of realization have become a special part of my life because it is then that He is so close.

I’m not one of those people who say you have to get up at the crack of dawn and have devotions.  Nor do I feel that I must ‘discipline’ myself to spend time in the Word or with the Lord.  For me there is no ‘discipline’ involved in reading or meditation on the Word of God.  I do it because there is a part of me that draws me to it. It is like breathing. I do it because I am drawn to it like a magnet draws iron filings.

I used to read my Bible, ordinarily, at the end of the day and go to bed with the words in mind. I had a tiny bible that I kept in my drawer at work and sometimes during the day a scripture would come to mind and I would take a couple minutes to go and read the text. Or sometimes in the morning I would look for something that had been in my mind as I woke up. Now I read and study on and off all day long.  (How good to be ‘retired’.) And all of those times are sweet.  But I think my favorite time is at three or four in the morning when I just wake up for no apparent reason and spend the next three hours being quiet with the Lord.  For so many, many years I wasn’t able to do that, but now I can.

Makes me think of Ecclesiastes.  To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:  Old age is a season and the purpose of it is that we now have time to sit still and dwell in the presence of God in a way we never could when we were younger.

If you can, the next time you wake up three hours before you usually get out of bed, go ahead and get up.  Don’t turn on the radio, or put on a CD or even turn on the lights.  Just go out to your favorite chair and sit there quietly.  Think about the Lord and His blessings.  Allow the Holy Spirit to lead you and let the Lord sit right there in the room with you.  It will be a blessing.

Dessie got married yesterday

I haven't written here forever, but so much happened yesterday that I have to begin writing about it. 

 I was so happy to be at Dessie’s wedding yesterday.  Lots of things came together to make it a good day.  Lots of memories surfaced.  Almost too many to put together.

First off.  Dessie was beautiful, radiant. The wedding was simple-not a big one as society events go, but with all the people who loved her and her new husband. The decorations were simple: A few candles with white tulle and red roses.  Suites were not mandatory.  Dressy dresses weren’t necessary for the guests.  The spotlight was on the bride.  She wore a long dress with a fantastic ruffled train.  I took a picture of the train alone!

The groom was handsome in a deep red shirt with a white rose on his shoulder.  The groomsmen wore black shirts with a red rose.   The bridesmaids wore long red satin dresses.  Kati’s little girl was the flower girl. 

McKenna wore a pretty white dress with a lacy hair ‘doojie’ that had streamers down the back.  When it was her turn to walk down the aisle and sprinkle her red rose petals she took one look at all the people, turned around and ran back to the door!  Her Aunt Luci had to go take her hand and lead her down the aisle while she dumped hands full of rose petals every little bit!  All the while with tears streaming down her face.  Poor baby.  But that’s just one of the things that make weddings special! Dessie will remember that long after other wedding details may have been forgotten. 

The thing that thrilled me most was the intermittent seeping of tears from the groom’s eyes.  Any man so deeply touched to be waiting for his bride must love her tremendously.  I hope he always remembers that feeling as the years go by.

For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh  Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.   Matt. 19:5-6

I wish you the best, Adessa and Michael Harris!  All my love and prayers go with you.

Modern Religion

Notah and I were talking this morning. He was saying that the youth in their congregation were doing a spaghetti dinner to earn some money for the youth group.  They aren’t sure what they are going to do with it but they decided to do it as much for a youth activity I think as a real money making venture.

There had been some talk of using the cash for the kids to attend the youth campmeeting in the summer, but the adults weren’t too enthusiastic about that since rather than a real bible learning/teaching experience that Youth Campmeeting is more of a summer recreation camp.  Several adults from the congregation had gone a year or so ago and didn’t seem too impressed with it.

I remembered when I was a teen.  We didn’t have such a thing as a ‘youth camp.’  We went to real campmeeting for a week.  There were three main services every day and an early morning prayer service.  There was also an afternoon youth meeting for those of us between 13 and 19 or 20 years old.  We stood in a circle meeting at a designated place where there was not a lot of foot traffic.  There was a short bible reading or lesson, time for testimonies and a prayer time where the youth were able to request prayer for the sorts of things that burden young people.  The prayer time lasted until everyone who had a burden of prayer had voiced their petition.  Sometimes three or four prayed; sometimes only one, but it was a ‘real’ prayer time.

My friends and I were in all three main services and generally in the prayer service at 8:00 AM and the youth meeting.  The local youth from the congregation there were not so diligent, but they did show up for most of the services and youth service—kind of like their parents who had jobs and family responsibilities that couldn’t be put on hold for the week of campmeeting. 

We heard the testimonies of the old saints (and the younger ones, too.) We learned that the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man could accomplish.  We learned to pray with a simplicity and burden that is seldom found in modern congregations.  We learned to remain in prayer until prayers were answered.  We saw men and women coming for healing trusting the Lord for His Promises.  And we saw bodies healed of crippling afflictions, tumors and twisted bodies. 

The old brothers used to talk of stakes being driven in out lives.  It was a strange reference for me for many years. Now I understand it.   Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities: thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken Isa 33:20  Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes   Isa. 54:2    That is what they meant about having a stake driven in our heart.

Those testimonies and prayers and eyewitness experiences drove stakes in my heart.  They were direct evidence of the Holy Spirit’s power in the lives of men and women who were sold out and devoted to following the Lord.  They left an indelible imprint on my heart.  Those ‘stakes’ were the thing that anchored me solid and secure during high school and college. They fastened my focus on God and the things of God.  They held me when other youth were leaving the Church for the World.  They blessed me when everything around was pulling away from God. 

I wish our youth today could experience those old campmeetings.  

Shortly before my father died, he wanted to go to a campmeeting site that we had gone to when I was a child 7, 8, 9 years old.  I can remember it from those days.  The campmeeting was filled with godly men and women.  They spent their days in prayer, praise and preaching services.  They dressed in modest apparel and made their kids behave themselves.  The children were right beside them, leaving only for a short trip to the bathroom.  There was an afternoon service for the kids while the adult service was going on.  Some of them returned to their parents when the kids’ service was over; others played under the leaders’ supervision in a selected area.  We had friends that we played with between services and for a while after the night service, but by and large, we spent the time with our parents in services. 

I believe my dad wanted to meet an old friend there so we went down.  It was only about an hour from where we lived in Sugarcreek. 

We were shocked at the change!  The only thing I recognized was the layout of the grounds!  We arrived about the latter half of the morning service.  The tabernacle was only about half filled.  There were as many people wandering the grounds as there were in service.  There were kids running everywhere, but very few in service. 

We had lunch in the dining hall.  (At least that was the same.  Everybody ate.)  It was about an hour and a half until afternoon service.  I didn’t see anyone I knew, but dad met a few people his age who were there.  He enjoyed talking with them about old times.  The camp grounds had many large trees scattered over it and there were benches or chair under them where folks could sit and visit.  But when the bell rang for service not very many bothered to leave their shady seats to go to the tabernacle.  A shelter that could have held a couple hundred or three people had a scattering of around a hundred.  There were more people outside.

The other thing I noticed immediately was that there were NO youth around any place.  When I mentioned it to someone, they said, “Oh they took the youth to the ------ Water park in Columbus!”  I couldn’t believe it but everybody there treated it as common place and completely acceptable.  No wonder the Church of God denomination has such a shallow stand today.  They don’t guide their youth into even the superficial experience the adults hold!

I’m burdened for my grandkids and for the kids of this generation.  They are never having the experience of honest-to-goodness spirit led preaching and spirit filled singing and testimony.   Consequently they accept any noisy, enthusiastic ‘concert’ for real praise and worship. They swallow any little lesson with several scriptures incorporated into a social dialogue as ‘good messages’  And when they are exposed to spirit filled worship and preaching, they don’t like it.  It makes them uncomfortable.  They are brought under conviction and it isn’t something they know how to deal with.

God help us!

“The things of earth will dim and lose their value, when we recall they’re borrowed for a while.”  

It’s coming on Christmas and I suppose it is natural to remember all the Christmases that have gone before.  Rachael and Michael have been putting up Christmas decorations. (If they’re lucky, they’ll have the tree decorated by Christmas eve.)  I’ve been remembering all of the keepsakes that have been packed away with the decorations- little things the kids made in school, ornaments left from my childhood and those from Rachael’s growing up years, gifts from my children in preschool and day care. They all bring back memories.  

   

Sitting here in the quiet of early, early morning, I went from thinking of those things to remembering the pieces of glassware and dinnerware and furniture and other things that I’ve treasured for so many years because they belonged to my mother and grandmothers.  Some of them are packed away still in the basement; some have been taken out and displayed in our house. And I enjoy looking at all of them.  They make me remember my grandma and my mom and the stories Dad told of his mother and step mother.  They bring back thoughts of Rachael and Notah when they were growing up. 

   

But they aren’t as precious to me as they once were.  It isn’t that I don’t treasure the memories, but the objects aren’t as valuable as they once were.  I’ve been thinking of the song “Until Then,” especially the messages in some of the lyrics.  “The things of earth will dim and lose their value…and things of earth that caused the heart to tremble remembered then will only bring a smile.   This weary world with all its toil and trouble will take its toll of misery and strife.’  The soul of man is like a waiting falcon, when it’s released it’s destined for the skies!”

   

I’ve always liked the song, but the last few years I’ve grasped the deeper reality of the words.  The things that I used to hold dear have dropped away.  I haven’t thrown them out; they’ve passed into other hands to treasure, but for me I don’t hold them so close.  My treasures and the loved ones they helped me to remember have moved from the earthly scene to heaven.  I only need to quietly to remember the days of work and heartache, happy times and joy, blessings and burdens.  And they are stored now in eternal storerooms.  I sit here in Rachael’s house with very few sit possessions of my own.  I don’t own a house.  I don’t own a car.  Most of the things accumulated over the years have been given to other family and friends. I have my cozy room and my favorite pictures on the wall. And my dogs.  I have clothes to wear and a warm place to sleep. Rachael makes sure I have the right diet available when she does the grocery shopping.  What more can I ask for in life.

    The things of earth have lost their value.  The trials and heartaches and hard places have all strengthened my faith and drawn me closer to God.  I can look back on them and smile because in hind sight I can see the hand of the Lord working in my life. 

    

    Now more than ever my focus is on things eternal.  And until then my heart does sing.