June 2019 – Clinging To The Rock

Suggested Scripture Reading: John 3:1 – 17

Text Emphasis: John 3: 1-3

“Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”
3 Jesus replied, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”

A young parishioner sat on the opposite side of my office desk. The evidence of the torment that had brought her here was manifesting in her downcast eyes and the wringing of her hands.
“You are feeling an uneasiness in being here,” I offered. The young lady managed to lift her eyes, and a faint smile played at the corner of her lips, indicating a positive response. Without further hesitation, she momentarily surprised me with a sudden outburst, as though she found it necessary to strike now or else abandon her mission altogether. “Who is this God who is so deeply troubling me? Will you please teach me about Him and help me understand Him? A brief silence followed before continuing in anxious haste with words that indicated a heart flooding with fear: “Do you think I am strange to have such feelings?”
“Far from having that thought, I have nothing but the greatest admiration for you!” I assured her. “I would encourage you in time, to bless others, just as you have blessed me today in the sharing of your beautiful witness.”

Paul Tournier, a world-famous medical doctor, and psychiatrist in his still valuable book, The Meaning Of Persons, writes:
“I have a threefold vocation: Medical,
Psychological and Spiritual. I confess that
it is the Spiritual vocation which interests
me most, for the very reason that all my
experience has taught me the limitations
of medicine and psychology, and because
the supreme and universal need of man is
to find God.” (1)
Before one can begin to answer the question, Who is God? One must make an effort to satisfy the age-old inquiry, who or what is a man\woman? In Christian theology, the tripartite view holds that humankind is a composite of three distinct components, Body, Soul, and Spirit.
There is an inwardness to human beings as real as if one could view it through a rent in the physical Body! Without this ‘Inwardness’ we are not persons, we occupy a vegetative or animalistic state!

It is within this realm of Inwardness that hopes, dreams, love, beauty, and God dwells. Spirit is the term used to capsulate this most important phenonium in the domain of Inwardness. But there is yet remaining another entity we must consider in the realm of this Inwardness. The name SOUL or Psyche identifies this entity. The term Soul is the ‘life principle’ of human beings and animals, while the term Spiritual is reserved exclusively for ‘homo sapiens.’
The Soul primarily is the ‘Decision Making’ domain where personal decisions are examined and executed. Three separate entities, then, constitute human beings. Namely, they are the Body (Somatos), The Soul ( Psychic) and Spirit.
The Body is the physical, material reality that is most responsive to the physical, material world. The Soul is continuously receiving ‘messages’ that are being transmitted both through the Body on behalf of the material world and from the Spirit, on behalf of God, our Creator. The Soul must make the decision which messages to act upon and which to disregard. It is within the Soul where procrastination becomes an enduring temptation. Here, too, is the birthplace of fear and insuperable anxiety.
Return with me to my office for another brief moment. Two weeks have now passed since my first encounter with the young lady who demanded to know, “Who is this God, and what does He want with me?” She approaches me, on this occasion, like one whose feet have wings! Gone is every trace of burden and anxiety. Barely can she contain her excitement, “Not only am I beginning to understand God more, but I have discovered myself and understand better now than ever before!”
I read to her the story of Nicodemus. ( John 3). “Nicodemus interrogated himself with almost the identical questions you brought to me,” I told her. “And mind you, Nicodemus was a leader in religious matters in his community: yet he was troubled and dissatisfied. His Soul was receiving transmissions from the two sources, from the world, where he lived and worked. That message went something like this: “Nicodemus, you are a good man. You know more about the Scriptures than most others in your community; listen to the praises heaped upon you by your peers! Nicodemus fame, praise, and prestige will I give you, if only you will follow me!

The other transmission to his Soul comes from the Spirit, where God dwells. That message went something like this: “Nicodemus, I have called you by name, and you are Mine. Nicodemus, the blessings I have given to you are but mere tokens of the treasures I long to give you. When you permit your Spirit to become enfolded in Me, then will the Kingdom of God become your real home. You are born as if this were for the first time, but this time, you are born into a new city, “The City Of God.”

Now Nicodemus alone must choose which of the two transmissions shall claim priority. Nicodemus at first has no clear perception of the Spirit and its function. Jesus undertakes to make this matter clear to him. When one surrenders to the promptings of the Spirit, it is to be born again. Then one can more easily defy the dictates of the Body, that enslaves one to the world. “To be apprehended, by the love of God, means to be smitten in the very core of one’s being, to suffer it not as pain, but as the supreme joy, as happiness and peace, that is, the self knows that it is ‘at home in God.'”
Years have passed since that enlightened Soul came flying into my office to announce to me that she had found God, or rather that God had found her! In experiencing God, my friend discovered herself in the process. So may it be for all those who are troubled with questions about God and their relationship to Him.
Of course, there will be shades and clouds to contend with, but then, let your heart sing some merry song, celebrating His unconditional Love, and before long, you will hear ” the distant triumph-song,” accompanying you. (2)
Encourage your Spirit to reach out first thing in the morning, and the last thing at night and’ touch the Face Of God.’
Finally, learn to speak kindly to your Soul! Let it feel your appreciation for the gifts of The Spirit. Bid it listen for the ‘footfall of the Divine’ and experience the message of God’s love for you.
It is through the indwelling of this Spirit in the Soul that one can say with the Apostle Paul,” For me to live is Christ, to die is gain.”

You are invited to pray this prayer as your own

O Risen Lord, You are the SONG we sang on Easter Sunday Morning! There was electricity in the air as the old timbers vibrated with the sounds of an excited people awakened from a winter’s slumber: ” Love’s redeeming work is done, Fought the fight, the battle won; Lo! our Sun’s eclipse is o’er; Lo! He sets in blood no more.

Hallelujah!

Lives again our glorious King; Where, O death, is now thy sting? Once He died, our souls to save; Where thy victory, O grave? Hallelujah! (3)

You, Lord, fought and won the fight to be the Supreme Ruler in these Souls of ours. You, O Risen One, are The Spirit of our Father; You have broken the chains forged by this world to enslave God’s children, and thereby force them to worship at the altars of materialism or to worship not at all. But now we are Free; Our Souls are Free at last!

Come let us make a Highway straight from our Souls to the farthest corners of this world, that we may bring Light where there is darkness, Love where there is hate, Hope where there is despair, Singing on ‘The Road Of Tears,’ and the Light of Resurrection Glory where there is faithlessness. Enable each of us to bring out into this waiting world every Gift Of The Holy Spirit whichThe Living One is unpacking in our liberated Souls. Amen.

Hymn: ” Jesus, Lover Of My Soul”

Hymn:https://youtu.be/sEWTMyiWmiQ

EDITORIAL NOTES

The Scripture references are from the NIV Translation.

1. Paul Tournier, THE MEANING OF PERSON, SCM Press Ltd,

P. 37.

2. Reference to the hymn,

FOR ALL THE SAINTS,http://www.lutheran-

hymnal.com/lyrics/tlh463.htm. vs.5

3 Charles Wesley, Christ The Kord Is Risen Today

https://www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/charles_wesley/christ_the_lord_is_risen_today-lyrics-1155708.html (vs. 2,4,5)

INSIDE THE GATE

Suggested Scripture: Psalm 147; Luke 22: 39 – 53

Scripture Emphasis:
Psalm 147: 13-14
He strengthens the bars of your gates and blesses your people within you.
He grants Peace to your borders and satisfies you with the finest of wheat.

“A picture is worth a thousand words” is an English language adage. It refers to the notion that a complex idea can be conveyed with just a single picture”. That adage is true. It is also true that there are some pictures, imprisoned in a person’s mind, which cause such an emotional response as to render words attempting to describe the image, completely impotent. The incident of the Hebrew tribe held captive in Babylon, longing for the familiarity of their beloved homeland is impossible to capture, either by visual art or in mere words because tears remain impossible to translate.
” By the rivers of Babylon, we sat down and, we wept when we remembered Zion.” (Psalm 137)
The Scripture emphasis for this meditation falls into the same category of indescribable emotions. Permit yourself to shadow the main character in Psalm147, and try, as hard as that may be, to capture something of the feelings herein or in your own experience under similar circumstances.

You are now all alone, and in that meditative mode, where a deep silence is touching and infiltrating everything. Completely uninvited by you, your mind suddenly produces thoughts of your present situation. There is a marked absence of the sounds and the images, still fresh in your mind, from a recent newscast. There is no sound of gunfire, nor harsh commands directed at you. Nothing interrupts your reverie. You are at home, and the serenity of your dearly loved homeland seeps into every pore of your body, resulting in a sigh of perfect contentment. The surrounding Peace is pregnant with thoughts of the Divine, prompting you to turn your eyes unto the surrounding hills and mouth the words, “I will lift up my eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help? My help cometh from the Lord.” Without any movement or stir to suggest otherwise, you become aware that you are no longer alone. This present experience is so pleasurable for you that you long to share it with the most precious people to you in all the world, and so your family members are all here! Not in physical form, but rather united with you in spirit. In reality, all of them are hundreds of miles from you, having left home a long time ago to embrace lives of their own. “The tie that binds their hearts to your’s is blessed indeed. Distance has no meaning now! In an instant, miles are absolved, and you are all together, sharing in this exquisite moment of bliss! The experience may extend even further, to include the presence of ” someone loved long since and lost awhile.” You brush aside a tear and then lovingly you commit each into the arms of God once more!
Further, without breaking the mystique of the moment, there comes tripping into your consciousness, thoughts of kindness and the expressions of genuine love that binds this community together, like a family, where everyone has all things in common, and one man’s larder is never empty while another’s is full! (see Acts 2). The present view from your window begs admission into your meditation. It is of a meadow where a father, mother, and their seven children are engaging in the reaping of a bountiful harvest! Now let your dreaming end!

In reality, neither paint nor pen can capture the essence of such an experience as this, as beautiful as that representation may be. What are the emotions which lie concealed inside the heart? Love? Gratitude? Faithfulness? A sense of sheer Awesomeness? If the experiences recorded above come anywhere close to reflecting your own, then perhaps this is the moment to amplify the voice of the Psalmist’s Praise: ” Praise Your God, all you people! “Speak to Him, thou, for He hears, and Spirit with Spirit can meet— Closer is He than breathing, and nearer than hands and feet.” ( Alfred Lord Tennyson) 2.

Herein is meaning given to the essential ingredient for true Worship! Worship begins within the privacy of an individual’s soul. That moment transports one beyond the usefulness of words and representations of any sort! We must embrace the Eternal One, Who comes to embrace each one who takes the time to be still and know that He has indeed come to us at that given moment!

It is significant, as well as being a thing of beauty, that some things, thought to be ordinary by one person, can be vested with an ability to stir another person deeply. The British Romantic Poet, William Wordsworth expresses something of this thought in ” My Heart Leaps Up”: ” My heart leaps up when I behold A rainbow in the sky: So was it when my life began; So is it now I am a man; So be it when I shall grow old, Or let me die! ” 3.

In Psalm 147:13, the mention of ” A barred gate” evokes such deep feelings in me, from early childhood to this present moment. “Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem! He strengthens the bars of your gates and blesses your people within your walls. He grants Peace to your borders and satisfies you with the finest of wheat.” Ps. 147:13) It is always possible to dismiss the immediate application of any particular text in Scripture and to concentrate upon the differences in time and space. Be that as it may, I must, on this occasion, yield to my experience of this text. It is the barred gate, and the protection it affords, that demands my attention from childhood and to this hour!
Sitting, as it does close to the roadway, it was the reason why at the end of the lane from the back yard of my boyhood home, there was a gate. The gate was constructed of solid wood and bore all the signs of workmanship by one who toiled with pride and purpose. It was a ‘horned gate’ that was bolted snugly in place to the adjacent gatepost by a ‘U’ shaped iron instrument. But a more captivating detail yet awaits mention! It was the iron bar on the inside of the gate which remained in the blocking position except briefly to allow access or exit for the neighbor’s children and our friends. It is that barred gate that provides for me, even yet, moments of both ecstasy and refreshing uplift! The barred gate came to symbolize much of the essential preparation for the life we would yet experience.
Inside the gate, we learned about many of the ingredients that go into a healthy, and meaningful life! There was the art of ‘getting along’ with others; the necessity of compromise without surrendering truth and honor! We learned how essential it is, to always be honest, and trustworthy. Inside that barred gate, we learned the importance of discipline and how disobedience brings with it consequences. Within, there was unconditional love! Not that we kids, and there were seven of us, never quarreled, but within the confines of the space behind the barred gate, there was always a voice of profound wisdom. Love is never permitted to fail. And that lesson is even more challenging to learn when the immediate family circle is stretched to include our friends and neighbors. The doing unto others as you would have them do unto you isn’t always easily accomplished! This is always a challenge but a fundamental life lesson to be learned!

Although tragic circumstances produced the situation that made it impossible for us children to own all the many things that others owned; behind the barred gate, we came to discover that we had something to be treasured more than things, we had each other!

The barred gate reminds me of something more yet! In no way was the gate barred to shield us from the harsher realities of life. On the contrary, inside this gate, we were constantly learning how to face the challenges that await everyone in the broader field. The gate suggests to me a place of refuge inside which I find safety. Within this space, I will always be welcome ( if now but only in my meditation and dreams). There I still find healing and restoration after failing to realize some higher dream, or when I am wounded or weary. I recall how here we were permitted to dream, but not allow dreams ‘to be our masters.’ Further, we learned that all things and every dream could yet be accomplished through faith in God. And our mother’s life bore eloquent witness to that certainty.

An older man I am now, who is compelled all the more to ” Praise the Lord.” for the barred gate!
I am unable to tell you that my days in ministry have never been without loneliness, heartache, sorrow, and failure. There have been days, when like Peter, following his anguish for his failure, after Jesus’ crucifixion, announced to his friends, ” I am going fishing.” So have I thought of doing just that, many a day. It is then that I push open the gate,and going through, I meet the Master face to face. And then at His behest, I am ready “to brave another cruise.”

Each of You also has a gate, through which you may go to meet the Master Face to Face, and may that meeting fill your heart with endless praise.

You Are Invited To Make The Following Prayer Your Own

Jesus, My Lord,

Sometimes I feel unworthy to step inside the gate! When in my thoughts I see You kneeling in prayer, asYou were praying in the Garden of Gethsemane; as much as I desire to steal quietly to Your side, and just kneel there beside you, I am reluctant to intrude upon such a sacred moment! It is my sense of unworthiness that suggests my next action should be to tip-toe away into the silence of the night. I am stopped in my tracks when I hear my name on Your lips! You are praying for me! My heart feels the magnetic pull of Your love unleashed, Jesus! The next thing I know, I am kneeling at Your side! I try to pray and the only words that escape my lips, in a mixture of excited disbelief and gratitude, are, ” You remembered me. Today I am with You here in Paradise!”

“Be not afraid, Lo I am with you always,” I hear You say.” You will yet come to realize that wherever we are together, that is Paradise! In life, in death, in life beyond death, we are together, and that is Paradise! Arise, now and let us go forward and invite everyone we meet to join us in a living Paradise”. Amen

I Come To The Garden Alone ( Please click on the link below

https://www.facebook.com/echoofdeliverance/videos/1907187279301544/

Editorial Notes

1. The Scripture references are from NIV translation

2. Alfred Lord Tennyson. The Higher Pantheism.

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45323/the-higher-pantheism

3. William Wordsworth. My Heart Leaps Up.https://poets.org/poet/william-wordsworth