Don’t Postpone Life

Summertime can sometimes feel like we take our foot off the accelerator of life. School is out, vacations are coming, some sporting events cease and the weather is warm. No doubt we need rest for our souls and bodies, a time to let our shadows catch up to us.

I also challenge you to find meaning in your summer days. It would be sad when summer is over and you would be disappointed by the things that you had hoped to do but didn’t. I find that you have to be intentional with your days. Are you going to do something this summer in your yard? Do you want to read some good books? Do you want to spend some quality time with the family? Do you want to entertain friends at an outdoor barbecue?

Jesus saw the deadening streak in our human nature, the ever present temptation to procrastinate, to postpone life. Jesus talks about the five wise and the five foolish virgins, half of them missed the wedding and the feast that followed. In another narrative, Jesus tells about a great super all prepared. Unfortunately, the invited guests were too busy to attend: one looking at a piece of ground, another looking at a yoke of oxen, another taking care of a new bride. They missed the feast.

As I see lives end, as T. S. Eliot put it, “with a whimper, instead of with a bang,” it isn’t because these lives have been willfully, purposefully evil. Most of them have just been dribbled away. They are the stories of opportunities neglected, challenges unmet, inspiration stifled, potential allowed to deteriorate, and talents undeveloped–all due to procrastination. There is a story of the old recluse who had a bad leak in his roof. When he was asked why he didn’t repair the leak, he always said, “Well, when the sun is shining, I don’t need it repaired and when it is raining, it’s too wet to work on it.” That is the story of so many lives, the moments that come and go.

Cherish today. Today matters. Harvey S. Firestone, Jr. puts it this way, “Today is the first day of the rest of my life.” Think about the profundity of that statement. Start now with the most important: to establish a deeper relationship with God, a loving relationship with family and friends, and a meaningful purpose at your work and your play. “This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it!”

Go with God,

Pastor Qualley  

Lord, Teach Us How to Pray

“I just don’t feel comfortable in my payer life. I don’t even know how to talk to God and when I do, it seems like I have a laundry list of requests. Shouldn’t my payer life be more than this?” That was the conversation not too long ago with some Lord of Life folk. Perhaps you have similar thoughts. Our desire is that we can strengthen our life of prayer, one way to is to ponder the importance of the prayer that Jesus taught in the “Lord’s Prayer.” It is only a few sentences long but it offers a depth of meaning.

Jesus was a teacher of prayer. He was able to do the remarkable things He did because He was plugged in to the source of meaning and power in life. Prayer is where that contact took place. He prayed daily as a matter of custom. But especially when He had a decision to make, a difficult task to do, or a cross to face, He would first spend time with God in prayer.  The disciples knew that prayer was the source of Jesus’ power. That’s why they asked him, “Lord, teach us how to pray.” Today, that’s our request as well.

Lord of Life’s first Mark of Discipleship is “Pray daily.” The key is to keep at it. Make prayer an important part of your everyday routine. One thing you can be sure of is that if you take prayer seriously, it will change your life. Perhaps you’ve heard these words, “Prayer changes things.” Often prayer is able to change the situation in which we find ourselves. But always prayer is able to change the person who is praying. In prayer we receive love and guidance and strength.

I like how someone defined the familiar acronym ASAP this way: Always Say A Prayer. God knows how stressful life can become; he wants to ease our cares. He’ll respond to all our needs so, ASAP.

Go with God,

Pastor Qualley

All are One in Christ Jesus

All are one in Christ Jesus is a familiar statement one hears many times and in various places. This phrase, and many like it, is frequently used to describe the common ground for Christians as they describe the basis for the common life of the church universal. However, when it comes time to deal with particular issues, we easily abandon the oneness we confess around the person of Christ, and splinter according to habits, expediency, localized agendas or simply strongly held opinions.

Perhaps that pattern is inevitable. We especially live in a time when events and opinions are converted into impassioned words and pictures which find their way into the minds and attitudes of people in almost every corner of the globe. There is precious little of verification in the vast clouds of information and opinion that become the environment within which our sense of reality forms. Conclusions are readily drawn from the most convenient medium, the press, television, the web, gossip, friends and neighbors, fellow workers, bosses politicians and celebrities.

The personal opinions of ancient working class people are hard to research, but they seem to have been shaped by the tyranny of heavy handed rulers, clever religionists or primitive myths and superstitions, and of course by the compromises forced by the struggle to survive. Many similar pressures still weigh in on us, shaping the arenas of our conflicts. For us, however, there is more. We are the recipients of many messages, arguments, images that we often do not even recognize, bending our minds to lean one way or another. Many of these messages bring us information which is often either subtly biased or blatantly claiming our allegiance to one or another vested interest. We are tempted to join ourselves to various communities of similar opinions, and find comfort not so much in the desirability of the positions we endorse, but rather in identifying ourselves with certain person whom we respect. Having either incomplete information or simply being overwhelmed, we allow them to sway our allegiances.

Isn’t it true, especially in our times, that the One in Christ phrase actually could have the power to pierce through the din of all the chatter and debate and dissent of our times? The chief matter is still that rightly or wrongly the grace of God reaches out for every heart, whether an ally of ours or an opponent, whether we can persuade him to agree with us or not. When the day comes that the wise and the proud are long disenfranchised, when the celebrities are indistinguishable from the rest of us, when the suffering and the agonies are long past and when the heated debates about all the issues of this moment have long been swept into the rivers of history, the one shining realty will explode to the farthest reaches of heaven itself…One in Christ!

As a matter of fact, would we not be very wise, even now, to examine every issue of our time, every challenge and every allegiance in the gracious light of that final and inevitable day?

Of course,

Pastor Jansen

Sum..Sum…Summertime

Congratulations to all the graduates who have come to the end of a significant and successful course of study and who also enter a summer that will actually be for them a commencement into the next arena of growth and challenge. May God bless you all, and accompany you with the strength of his presence, protection and clear guidance.

More than any other season, summer is a time of change. If we can recall how often reference is made to summer in popular songs, we get into some descriptive phrases like, “…the living is easy,” or “…no more pencils, no more books” and so on. There are many stereotypes and most of them give summer higher marks than the other three seasons. For a while, life can be different. Some of us will be looking for summer work or toward summer camp or summer vacation. There will be many summer schedules. Even the heat pumps have, of course, already been changed from heating to cooling.

It might be helpful to remember that summer is not simply some downhill race into the glee of the last day of school, nor is it a lingering euphoria of having completed a difficult course of study, and now the summer months can be given over to unwinding only. Most of us know that somewhere in the summer months comes an awareness of autumn and that the days grow short with amazing speed.

If we let it, summer can be a kind of new beginning, at least for a while. Somewhere in the coming weeks will be new experiences, perhaps new places to see and opportunities to gain perspective on the trajectory of our lives. When the disciplines and restraints of routine can be set aside we face new and sometimes deeper issues that expose to us who we really are and reveal qualities that are more than required response to mandated behaviors.

Summer can be a good time to make sure that the windows of your life are wide open to let the fresh air of the presence of Jesus Christ have a new access to your soul. There’s a world out there (or at least a part of it) that is waiting for your witness, your kindness, your unique way of looking at things. “Take Jesus with you wherever you go,” is what we were always told, and that is a really good idea, especially in summertime.

If you are out of town, and Sunday comes along, find a church to visit for worship and if you are in town, don’t miss a single opportunity to worship with your brothers and sisters in Christ here in the old neighborhood.

Pastor Jansen

The Gift of Giving

Robert Fulghum says that he placed alongside the mirror in his bathroom a picture of a woman who is not his wife. That’s risky business! Every morning as he stood there shaving he looked at the picture of that woman. The picture is of a small humped-over woman wearing sandals, a white robe and white and blue head scarf. She is surrounded by important-looking people in tuxedos, evening gowns, and the regalia of royalty. It is the picture of Mother Teresa receiving the Nobel Peace Prize. Fulghum said he keeps that picture there to remind him that more than a president of any nation, more that any pope, more than a chief executive officer of a major corporation, that woman has authority because she is a servant.

Obviously, we can’t all be Mother Teresa, but we can all live in that spirit. In our own ways, we can all learn to give. We begin by first giving ourselves. It is the inevitable result of a grateful heart. It was embedded in my mind and heart early in my childhood when I would gather in youth meeting and sing, “Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on one. Melt me, mold me. Fill me, use me.” That includes both my time and my talent. Have you ever noticed how your time follows your interests?

We add to that our resources. Money follows your heart. Jesus worded it this way, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Money is nothing more than congealed personality. It is a barometer of our Christian discipleship.

We are blessed to be part of a church family that has a mission and ministry that reflects the grace and love of God to people of all ages and in all places. What a privilege it is to offer ourselves, our time, and our possessions. There is no better way in spending ourselves than by helping one another. We ask everyone to make a commitment in this ministry with your time, talent and treasure. When we give, love is no longer just an idea, it is an action. I know that we can do great things as we together offer ourselves, our time and our possessions. It will be our response to our bountiful God!

Go with God,

Pastor Qualley    

Undaunted Courage

Stephen Ambrose has written a bestselling account of the Lewis and Clark expedition in a book called, Undaunted Courage. I’ve enjoyed reading about Lewis and Clark battling nearly insurmountable problems: hunger, fatigue, desertion, enemies, severe illness and death. They had reached the headwaters of the Missouri River. All their advance information had led them to believe that once they reached the continental divide, they would face about a half-day portage, and then reach the waters of the Columbia River and float safely to the Pacific Ocean. They thought the hard part was behind them.

Meriwether Lewis left the rest of his party behind to climb the bluffs that would enable him to see the other side. Imagine what he felt when, rather than seeing a gentle sloping valley, he saw the Rocky Mountains. Crossing the Rockies would be perhaps the supreme achievement of the whole trip. This challenge would call forth enormous creativity and perseverance but would also provide them with spectacular sights and unforgettable memories.

We could image that finally getting our Clifton campus opened; we could float into the future. However, I believe that God has challenges before us–maybe something like the Rocky Mountains. Two ministry campuses require generous commitment of time, talent and measure of every one of us. We are launching into the future with a bold ministry plan that is not for the faint of heart. We are called to share the Gospel in a growing unchurched culture. Children and youth are growing up in our communities without any connection to the Christian faith. Households are stressed with the daily cares of life. The economy and real estate markets have added further pressure.

Yet we move forward because we are people of God on a mission, “That ALL may know Jesus and His love for them!” We move into the future not only with the strength of each one of you but with God going before us to show us the way, beside us to befriend us, behind us to encourage us, above us to watch over us, and within us to give us peace. I like how John Quincy Adams puts it, “Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish.” Scriptures put it this way, “[We] can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

Thanks for being people

 of adventure and faith!

Pastor Qualley

Summer Time

You cannot set aside for yourself a good supply of time, stored safely to be used at your beck and call for one purpose or another. You cannot harness time, so that holidays are big and working days are small, the happy long and the unhappy short. You cannot “visit” another “time.” No matter how marvelously the writers of fiction invent “time machines” it is incomprehensible that reality, once ended can be reconstituted, or reality not yet created could be experienced.

In one sense time does not exist as a quantity; it is rather the way we describe a framework for the occasions and the seasons of our lives, and a way to organize events so that we can relate them rather than leave everything in one great heap in our memories. Some people think that they are able to control history by managing their time. For such people the turn of the seasons means a challenge to organize and assign the “when” for their desires and ambitions. One may control what one does, and allow a “time” for it to occur, but the passage of time is in no way affected. If your watch stops, time keeps right on passing.

“Teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts to wisdom…” (PS 90:12 KJV) or “Teach us how short our life is so that we may become wise.” (TEV) To be conscious of time gives us a perspective that other creatures do not possess, as far as we can tell. Time is something like an environment within which the events of our lives stand in relation to each other. We sense time. It is like an instinct that makes it possible to cope with both the past and the future, without losing our grasp on the present.

You don’t spend a year all at once. Life must be lived within a God-given set of sequences. When we “number” our days they become units of existence within which the meaning of God’s gift of life takes shape.

This as we enjoy the “hazy, lazy, crazy days of summer” we can also take time to take the measure of the months ahead. Try a few new things on for size. Think of it as a gift of God that needs to be spent to best advantage. Time can be your friend if you spend it well, especially this summer.

In the final analysis you will be spending it all, one way or another…

Pastor Jansen    

What’s in a Name?

“What’s in a name? Asked Shakespeare’s lovesick Juliet, and though I would agree with her that, “…a rose by any other name would smell as sweet…” I believe there is something in a name. There is something interesting, something work discovering in your name.

Throughout the Bible are countless instances revealing God’s interest in individuals and in their names. So deep was this interest, He sometimes changed names in order to better work out His plan in their lives. He’s also interested in you. I believe God has made you a special creation. He has a unique life for you. He wants you to live up to the potential He has placed within you. He wants you to live up to your name.

Every name has a meaning drawn from the language of its origin. Sometimes that meaning is obscured because of changes in the culture or in the customs. There is more to a name than its literal meaning, however. Each name can and does suggest a character quality, a goal for which to strive. I have a book that lists the meaning of names. The name Beverly, for example, means “by the beaver dam.” Since beavers are known for their industry, Beverly’s character quality is industrious. You are welcome to look up the literal meaning of your name, suggested lifetime Bible verse and suggested character quality or Godly characteristic.

At Lord of Life we are encouraging worshippers to wear nametags. We want people to get to know your name. There is something special about being called by name. So we ask each of you to make the effort to put a name to the face and make a relationship with them as well. Whenever you see the name tag table, put your name on and rejoice in the name that you have been give. Your name is unique and is as important as you are. May we let God show us how to live up to it.

Go with God,

Pastor Qualley

Love is a Verb

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself.” Mathew 22:37-39

 

Among the parts of speech common in the English language is the verb. As we learned in early grammar, the verb is an action word, a word used to express motion or exertion. When we classify any word as a verb, we give it a special meaning: we intend for it to symbolize an act, a deed, something accomplished, something done.  

The word love, among other things, is a verb. As used in the New Testament by Christ, the author of love, it is almost always associated with specific actions or deeds. To love our neighbor as Jesus described it is to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and visit the sick. To love our enemy is to pray for them and treat them with kindness, and even to turn the other cheek. And to love God is to keep His commandments. In each case, love is defined in terms of action.

Then Christian love is not merely a principle, thought, or expression. To be properly defined it must go beyond theory to active demonstration and application. The above verses are mandates to act. It is no more possible to truly love God and people without action than it is to transmit light by memorizing Einstein’s theory of relativity.

Because of love the universe was organized; the stars and planets set in their respective orbits; and human beings, the spiritual offspring of God, started upon the path to eternal life. It was the sublime love of Christ, which led Him to the cross to act out in agony His final demonstration of universal affection.

Lord of Life has chosen outreach this year as one of our key initiatives. Part of our outreach is that of compassionate service. Our words and deed are to reflect the love of Jesus. Consider how you can make a difference in the lives of others. Remember the thoughts and words of love require works of love. It is not only for those we love but also for the friend or stranger who we encounter in daily life. For love is a verb.

Sharing His love,

Pastor Qualley