Philippians 4: 4-9
Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in your Creator! Make it as clear as you can to all you meet that you're on their side, working with them and not against them. Help them see that the Master is about to arrive. He could show up any minute!
Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.
Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into the most excellent harmonies.
SECOND READING—Luke 11: 33-36
No one lights a lamp, then hides it in a drawer. It's put on a lamp stand so those entering the room have light to see where they're going. Your eye is a lamp, lighting up your whole body. If you live wide-eyed in wonder and belief, your body fills up with light. If you live squinty-eyed in greed and distrust, your body is a dank cellar. Keep your eyes open, your lamp burning, so you don't get musty and murky. Keep your life as well-lighted as your best-lighted room."
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Great and wonderful God, You call us to walk in faith. We respond in love and praise. Give to our words action and to our desires commitment. May the words spoken here and the thoughts and prayers of all our hearts bring honor to You. Amen
Florida is the land of boating. Many of us have been out on boats—large and small—and the occasional cruise ship. The land of lakes and oceans calls us out onto the water—ah, doesn’t that sound delightful. How many of you, though, have ever been caught in rough waters or a sudden storm that more than likely resulted in you promising God anything and everything if only you lived to place your feet on dry ground again. There is a great story of a group of people who were caught out in the ocean in a sudden and violent storm. Everyone, well, almost everyone, was panic-stricken. One little boy calmly stood on the deck and his calm demeanor drew everyone’s attention. “Aren’t you afraid?” asked the adults. “No” was his response. “Well, why not?” they shouted back at him over the winds. The little boy looked at them calmly and said, “My father is the captain of this ship, and he is behind the wheel.” Everyone else was looking at the winds and the waves, but this little boy trusted his father, the captain of the ship.
Now, here’s the interesting part of that story: this little boy didn’t trust just anybody, he trusted somebody he knew—someone he knew well enough to know that he was, first of all, competent and capable and, secondly, that he cared enough about him to do everything possible to keep him safe. He trusted someone he had grown up with, spent time with, someone he loved. We cannot expect our faith to grow to the point that it will sustain us through the storms of life or the storms of ministry if we do not spend time with God who is the source of that faith. Faith is a gift, freely given; but it is not a magical potion. It is a practice that grows as we grow spiritually. Is this not what Paul is calling us to in his words to the Philippians. “Celebrate God all the time—cherish time with God as special and precious. Turn your worries into prayers by remembering to ask God for what you need. Don’t forget to send your praises to God as well. Without even understanding how, you will get a sense of peace and God’s wholeness.” Knowing that this gentle piece of advice might not be all that we need, he gives us some specific, how-to directions: “Fill your minds with thoughts worth meditating upon—things that are true, noble, reputable, authentic, real—things that call to you—things that are full of grace. Focus on the good, not the bad. Find things to think about that bring about praising, not cursing.” Paul, imprisoned at the time, calls them to “put into practice what they have learned from” him. He calls them to follow the spiritual practices of prayer and thanksgiving that they had observed in Paul in their own faith walk. Doing this, says Paul, makes it possible for God, who makes everything work together, to mold us into a harmonious oneness.
There are three specific things we can take from this admonition from Paul. First, that which we think most about determines how we see life—the lens through which we interpret everything that happens to and around us. You’ve all known people who were just plain miserable and determined to be so—sometimes proud to be so. More than simple miserableness, he reminds us that those things we spend the most time on color everything about our lives. You can tell when you are in the presence of a person who spends time thinking on the many blessings in their lives—the sense of authentic gratitude cannot be missed. Faith grows from that same behavior—from filling our thoughts with things that build us up rather than those which drag us down. Secondly, where I place my focus determines the quality of peace that I experience. The more I focus on how bad things are or, worse yet, how bad they could get, the less room I have for God’s peace. It’s not possible for those thoughts to occupy the same space successfully. Finally, the nature of my thoughts determines who I am as a person—as a friend, as a minister, as a child of God. My thoughts literally determine whether or not God can use me in this great work. We cannot miss the significance of this—allowing God to use us means that we necessarily focus on the things of God, the grace, the freedom and the love of God lavished upon us as royal children.
As we work together over the next few weeks, and begin to think about how each and every one of us fits into God’s plan for the ministries of Open Circle, we must start with the foundation of ministry—faith in the one who calls and sends, faith in God—but not just any faith—faith that comes from knowing who God is, spending time with Christ, inviting the regeneration of the Holy Spirit into our hearts and minds—faith that comes from living in the light—‘wide-eyed in wonder and belief’. Jesus calls us to live that way—telling us that when we live with our eyes wide open, our bodies fill up with light. Just as Paul encourages us to think and ponder on only those things which are good, Jesus calls us to fill ourselves with light. Failing to do so, getting mired down in the murky depths of hopelessness and despair, extinguishes our light—the very light we are called to keep burning for all time. So we move on to what it takes to keep the light burning.
How did the ship captain’s son come to know him as the trustworthy source of safety—by spending time with his father, studying who he was and how he captained the ship. Is this not how we , too learn about our shepherd, our creator, our source of hope and faith. I ask us to return to the contemporary version of Psalm 23 that we read aloud together as our call to worship. At the time that I wrote it, I wanted to simplify the 23rd Psalm, to help it make sense to folks who were just starting their walk with Jesus. Later, I realized that learning to let God, through Jesus, meet our needs is something we never outgrow—it is a continuous process. Allow me to comment on my own version of the 23rd Psalm.
“Jesus, the great shepherd is my shepherd; I will never want for anything.” All summer, in our summer of exceeding abundance, we looked at different aspects of God’s will for us to live life more abundantly than we could ask or imagine. Perhaps, given the way we now use the word ‘want’, I should have said, “I will never ‘need’ for anything.” Faith calls us to get our ‘wants’ in line with our ‘needs’—and when we do, we can be assured that our every need will be provided in God’s time and way. “When I am tired, He gives me lovely green pastures in which to lie”. Being tired is a fact of life and a fact of ministry—it is what we do when we are tired that sustains our faith. It is when we allow God to minister to us in the ‘lovely green pastures’ of our souls that faith holds us up and brings us back to life. “And then, when I am refreshed, He bathes my soul in the peaceful still waters of His presence.” First, by turning to God, I am rested and then my soul is restored to health and peace by spending time in solitude with God—allowing my spirit to commune with the presence of the Holy Spirit. “He heals my soul when I am hurting and He leads me down the right paths when I am confused.” It took me a long time to grasp the facts in these lines. Seems simple now, not so much then. I will hurt and I will get confused. God doesn’t promise me otherwise. But at those times, my soul is healed and my feet are set on the right path, when I ask. “Even at the darkest times of my life, I do not fear the worst, for Jesus is with me; comforting and protecting me with His rod and His staff.” Like a shepherd beating off the enemies of the lambs, Jesus comforts and protects. “When things seem hopeless, and I am hurt by people all around, Jesus prepares a special table for me and anoints my head for healing.” When we do not know where to turn, Jesus promises us that if we turn to the one we know from our communion in Him, in the process of developing an abiding trust, we will be treated as precious children of God. “It is then that I am overwhelmed with the love of my Shepherd.” Our joy is complete, the one with whom we have grown this relationship of faith and trust, fills us to overflowing with love. “My life will be continually blessed with goodness and mercy and I will live in the presence of God forever. Amen and amen.
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