Morning Prayer – February 28, 2008

On this Saturday Morning, I am sitting at the kitchen table in Raleigh. I am here with my family to celebrate the life of our sister in law – Lisa, who is battling breast cancer. She is the wife of Martha Jo’s brother – Bobby Austin, who is the Solo Pastor of a growing church in the Raleigh area. Lisa, only 39 years old, with two adopted children, has fighting this disease for almost two years now. The doctors have found lesions on her liver and a number of small growths on her lungs. At this point, her body has failed to respond to any of the drugs used to treat this type of cancer. She is now trying alternate drugs and we are praying together for a miracle. The The family has gathered in Raleigh to pray for Bobby and Lisa and celebrate their birthdays – both occurring this past week.

This morning, both Bobby and Lisa were struck with a violent stomach virus that has kept them from joining us.

Meanwhile, I believe in, I trust in, I cling to, I rest in, I hope in…the Sovereignty of God. I must believe that God’s hand is in all of this. I must believe that there is more than this life. I must accept that we are all here this weekend by God’s Grace. I must believe that Bobby and Lisa are exactly where Christ wants them to be. We are where He wants us to be. We are at His Loving Mercy. We are in His Grace Filled Grip.

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Christ Jesus…Father…O Spirit of God…may your will be done, your kingdom come, your Word be spoken, your Story be told, on earth, just as it is in heaven. Dark threads…light threads. Your Story is a tapestry that is woven with dark threads and light threads. Joys and Sorrows. Pain and Pleasure. Grief and Gladness. You invite us to share in Your Sufferings. You embrace us in the yoke of your love. You weave us into your Glorious Narrative. This tapestry is Eternal. No sorrow is without reason. No pain without a reason. We are here, Lord Jesus. We are gathered at your feet. We await the wine of your Suffering. We dine on the bread of your Brokeness. We count ourselves blessed to be called your Beloved. Dark Threads and Light Threads. Joys and Sorrows. We are yours. Bobby and Lisa are yours. Abby and Jalin are yours. Bob and Jane are yours. Ron. Elizabeth. Austin. Anna. Allie . Tim. Martha Jo. Callie. Camp. Kurt. Susan. Sophie.

In grief and in gladness, In sickness and in health, yearning for Your glorious return, along with all creation, groaning for your redemption, until the day of your appearing…We are yours.

Father, pour your Covenant Blessings upon Bob Austin and his entire household. Hold Lisa in your tender hands. Whisper words of encouragement to her soul. As she continues to cleave to life, may you be the Life that cleaves to her, until such a time as you deem best to call her into the joyful Blessedness of Your approving smile. Give Bobby that temerity of Spirit, the courage and the grace, that is willing to travel with Lisa to the precipice of your Promised Home, and to place her hand in Yours, knowing that his beloved bride has always been more your daughter, than his wife; more Your Beloved than his.

Yet, until such a moment as this, help Bobby, and we, to cherish every moment, smile in every sorrow, dance in every shadow, and delight in every tear; knowing that one day we shall be free, that Your Divine tapestry shall be revealed and that all flesh shall see it together.

Thank you for the Cross, Jesus. Thank you for the Story. Thank your for Dark Threads and Light Threads.

We are yours.

Amen.

Ash Wednesday, Spiders, Jonathan Edwards, and the Glory of God in Small Things

“We hence see the exuberant goodness of the Creator, who hath not only provided for all the necessities, but also for the pleasure and recreation of all sorts of creatures, and even the insects and those that are most despicable.”

- Jonathan Edwards “Of Insects”

On this Ash Wednesday, as we begin the season of Lent, I would like to consider together with you the Grace of Christ that lurks in the nooks and crannies of our lives. On this somber day, for a moment, let’s allow the possibility that the Grace of Jesus is not wholly seen by our eyes; not fully heard by our ears; not truly understood in our perception. Grace is not often gaudy, but quiet, moving slowly and effortlessly within our hearts and in the world around us.

In the Scriptures we read about the faith of a mustard seed moving mountains and about being faithful in small things and about Christ saying suffer not the little children to come unto me and about Christ knowing how many hairs are on our heads and that He feeds tiny birds and clothes the wild flowers in beauty. Among other things, I think these verses tell us that Christ cares about small things…in between things…what we might call boring things.

Yesterday I read an article by Jonathan Edwards – one of the greatest theological minds ever to live in America. The article was about the beauty and wonder of spiders. Edwards went into intricate detail about how spiders, almost invisible to men, hop from tree to tree and shoot a miraculous “liquor” out of their tails to spin their webs. He explains that their webs are spun in the full light of day, yet we do not see them unless the light and our line of sight come together at the proper angle.

(They) are so exceeding small and fine as that they cannot be discerned except held in a particular position with respect to the sun.”

These tiny creatures, dancing in the shadows, after fulfilling their divine purpose, eventually construct a substance from their webs that enables them to fly by catching hold of the breeze, taking them out over the ocean and into the sea.

Edwards says that he learned these things about spiders through careful observation, which means he must have spent time out in the fields, observing the insect world. He went on to say that this taught him much about the Wisdom of God and how God does such miraculous “little things” among the insects.

Reading Edwards’ words caused met to consider my nature and the modern culture in which I live. We claim that we cannot hear God and never imagine that it is our pride that clogs our ears and not God’s silence. We, being blind, accuse God of hiding from us. We demand that Christ speak to us with large, over hanging words, written by hand in ornate calligraphy, replete with personal affirmations and affections. We order Christ to play his music according to our tastes, to dance a jig for us, to make much of us, to entertain us. We forcefully require Christ to be our Jester and not our King; we order the Church to be our spiritual muse while rejecting her as our mother.

Meanwhile, thinking ourselves abandoned and betrayed, we are absolutely drenched in the Glories of God. We are swimming in the Grace of Christ. We sit at a Banquet Table with clenched lips and accuse God of starving us to death while Manna falls from the heavens; but our eyes are closed. Our Line of Sight is not adjusted to the Sun. The spiders in the fields weave wonderful tapestries from the tip of their tails and ride the wind into the seas; but we do not see. The heavens are telling a story. Nature is singing a song. The Gospel drips from the trees as each branch reaches for the skies, lifting holy hands to the world’s Redeemer. But we cannot hear nor see nor feel the music because we are blind, deaf, unfeeling, unthinking…numb and jaded by our idolatry.

Yet, it is in the small things…in the life in between, in the so called boring stuff of life, where our Savior dwells; And holding out His Gracious hand, to blind and silly men, our Messiah, not our Jester, lifts us up into the Full Light of Day, and singing soft the song of Mystery, He invites us to the Cross. As we bow our ashen heads on this first day of Lent to consider our hearts before God, may the Lord fully awaken every spiritual sensibility, that we may know the Resurrection joy that continually holds us in the quiet Grace of Christ.

Note: Just so you know, Edwards was only 11 years old when he made these observations. You can read his article “Of Insects” by clicking HERE.

Scripture Verses to Consider…

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” – Matt 5:3

“Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.” Matthew 5:8

“But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” – Matthew 19:14

“He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much.” – Luke 16:10

“Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?” – Matthew 6:26

“The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech, And night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words; Their voice is not heard.” – Psalm 19:1-3