Brainwaves

With a granddaughter's wedding requiring our presence in the Florida Panhandle the first part of June and plans already made to take the younger ones to Disneyland in August, Spring Break was intended to be no more than a week off from school. The sudden invitation to visit our pastor and his family in Pensacola for a few days, however, was too tempting, so I rented the Dodge version of a hot-rod hearse and drove south for twelve hours this past Saturday . The church service Sunday morning, the prayer meeting Monday evening, and being with people you love justified the journey. Dan and Kathy's heart goes far beyond opening their home unto others. Their life, for the many years I have known them, has long been invested into the world around them. Feeding the hungry. Assisting the oppressed. Reaching the down and out. Their small congregation is as multi-ethnic as any I've ever encountered and their agenda has nothing to do with building bigger barns for personal accumulation. What comes into their bank account goes right back out into meeting the needs of others. Black. Korean. Hispanic. White. Business men and ex-junkies. The guy who works at Wal-Mart, the woman who sells insurance, and a pew full of fellows recently released from prison, living at a half-way house. Young. Old. Ministry takes place. Worship just happens..............

I realize, of course, not all are called to be a Paul Brand or a Mother Teresa. Community in the Bronx is somewhat different than in a small, rural town in the middle of Kansas, but the task set before any believer remains basically the same. A person can do no more than give himself unto the voice of God and those circumstances set before him. Christianity was never meant to be shoving our individual, doctrinal version of the Gospel down the other guy's throat. Faith isn't defined by our ability to pray down personal prosperity from heaven. That message rings false. Void of His heart. Emptied of His humility. The Almighty's word unto us cannot be reduced to mere ink upon parchment, which we in turn define for ourselves. We do not create Him. The Bible is either a surgical sword wielded by the Spirit, creating life in the process, or it is no more than any other book, balanced by my mind and subject to my interpretation thereof. An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth. Hurt me; you're going to regret it. A man can build a multitude of erroneous doctrinal foundations from its pages and accomplish no more than life as usual. Make me, though, a vessel for the reality of a resurrected Christ to fill and overflow, and Jesus walks this earth in all that He is. Perform a continual cleansing of our arteries, re-new our heart on a regular basis, and we might just maintain a working relationship with that condition...............