Category Archives: belief

changing me.

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We were singing about the Bible.

Ancient words, ever true
Changing me, changing you

I looked across the room. I saw someone signing the song to her husband in his wheelchair. He had a stroke a few years back. He was in nursing care for a long time, but finally was able to move home last summer. They work really hard and they need help.

Most of us singing were looking at the lyrics. We were talking to each other, but we didn’t look at each other. Except for these two. They were looking right at each other. And when she signed “changing me” she pointed at herself. And when she signed “changing you” she pointed at her husband.

That’s just how the signs go. I know that. But it is one thing to sing words. It is very different to say them with your body, to acknowledge by pointing that the words of the Bible, the words from God are changing me. A physically tangible, identifiable, me. I can say lots of things. But when I have to raise my hand, when I have to sign my name, when I have to point at myself, I’m involved in a different way.

And it is a remarkable thing to point at someone and say, “I see that you are changing. God’s words are working at you, chipping at you, shaping you.”

Knowing the story of these two, I cried as I watched. As she signed, she was demonstrating gesture by gesture compassion and commitment and love. Suddenly the lyrics aren’t just words you sing. They are life. They are conversation. They are affirmation.

I’ve often had a sense that signing goes deeper into songs that singing. I don’t know whether that’s true.

But it was true on this Sunday morning.

—

Ancient words video

And here’s the link for today’s 7×7: 2.27.12 And you can subscribe for emails of 7×7.)=

again and again

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You know people who tell the same stories over and over? The people who come to family reunions and tell the old stories about how Uncle Ed could always get  lost walking home, because he was reading while he walked. The people who stand come to the church potlucks and remind you that Sister Hazel’s pies were always the best because she kept the crust dough in the freezer. The people who end staff meeting with “I know you know this.”

I know those people too. I’m one of them.

Sometimes the same stories are important to tell. Uncle Ed’s diligence in reading that made him the first member in the family to go to college. Sister Hazel’s baking skills and foresight. Your boss’s passionate commitment to the core values of the organization.

Peter was one of those people too.  In the second letter bearing his name he wrote,

So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things.

Because he had seen Jesus, he wanted to made sure that no one forgot the stories. It was, literally, a sacred trust for him. From his own experience he knew that under pressure people forget things. People act impulsively. People lose control. And one way to help is to get those core truths firmly planted.

So that when they think about you, they remember the stories.

I believe in the forgiveness of sins.

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As I sat down to write about the next part of the creed, I realized that I have talked about sin and forgiveness of sin a lot.

  • I wrote about Jesus and a sinner, a woman from a different culture and life than Jesus.
  • I wrote about the hard work of repenting, the process of turning around, of rebuilding relationship.
  • I wrote about Good Friday and the forgiveness in the middle of excruciating pain  I wrote about the same thing in Like God.
  • I wrote about Patrick’s forgiveness in going to Ireland, the land where he had been held captive (About the saint in Patrick).
  • I wrote about five ways that David journaled his prayer, including asking for forgiveness.
  • I wrote about the importance of personally acknowledging my sin (I did it).
  • I wrote about the Mary who poured perfume on the feet of Jesus (It’s okay to not know everything) in gratitude.
  • I wrote a whole series on the part of Matthew 18 where Jesus talks about how to handle sin in the context of church. (It’s here in one document: Matthew 18)

As I looked through these posts I see that apparently I believe in sin. That’s the first part of this clause. In order to believe in the forgiveness of sin, there has to be something to forgive, there has to be something more than a mistake, a slip up, an error. We’ve got to see that there is something that was wrong.

And then that there is someone that was wronged. someone who deserved right.

And then that the person wronged has the capacity to forgive.

And then that the person wronging asks for forgiveness.

It’s not complicated, this forgiveness of sin I believe it. But it’s often quite hard. Because it means I’m the one who wrongs.

I believe in the Holy Spirit

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(Part of the Creed series)

My friend messed up his marriage. He’s trying to clean things up. He wanted to help at church in a public way. His wife said it made her very uncomfortable. He wanted to know what to do, since helping at church is a good thing, right?

I said, “Imagine you and your wife were working in the kitchen together. Somehow, you cut her hand, pretty seriously. As the cut is just starting to heal, imagine walking over and poking your finger into the cut.” I said, “That’s what you’d be doing.” We both flinched. He understood.

I believe in the Holy Spirit.

I didn’t want to apply for the job. I was an obvious candidate, but I didn’t want to apply. “Nope, I never want to sit in that chair.” One day, walking through the building, after saying again “Nope, I don’t want to,” I thought “I don’t get to tell God that.” Later, I started writing an application letter to the search committee, explaining. Mid-paragraph, the committee chair walked in.

I believe in the Holy Spirit.

I didn’t get the job.

I believe in the Holy Spirit.

I sat next to the little coffin. As I waited, I was aware of a feeling in my chest. I know the feeling of butterflies, the anxiousness before speaking, before performance, before importance. I know that feeling well. This was the opposite. Not deadness, but a living, moving peace.

I believe in the Holy Spirit

Jesus was talking to the disciples, the eleven: “The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.”

I believe in the Holy Spirit.

I don’t understand. I can’t explain. But I believe. How could I not?

the one who decides.

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(We are going back to the creed. Here’s what we’ve written so far.)

Most of us think judgment should exist. We want an end to gang violence and justice for families wrecked by meth manufacturers. We want an end to child trafficking and justice for those who buy and sell children like property. We want an end to brutal dictators and corporate theft and people who take our place in line.

We want just justice. We want fair judges to make the decisions, people who won’t yield to special interests or political expediency, people who will decide on the merits of the case, people who won’t allow the guilty to slide by on a technicality.

We want merciful justice. We want mercy involved in judging so there is protection for people who didn’t know any better, who were seduced against their will, who didn’t understand anything. We want someone judging who understands how complicated it is to be human, with weak wills and confusing choices.

The creed talks about judging. We read in the creed From [the right hand of the Father] he [Jesus] shall come to judge the living and the dead. The room divides. The ones who think they’re right. The ones who feel judged by the ones they believe think they are right.

When the room divides, some linger. They know that the date of judgment isn’t in the creed, nor is there any detail when the day is.  They don’t try to figure out rapture and tribulation, Lake of Fire, Armageddon.

Instead, we say we believe that the person who was the only-begotten son of God, who was born miraculously, lived, died, rose again, ascended and is sitting next to God the Father is going to come and judge us.  Who understands abuse and underdogs. Who knows both human and divine. A judge who could be just. And merciful.