Who Knows?

DESTINY

Seven small letters forming a word with such huge impact.

Destiny is a scary word. It implies greatness and helplessness at the same time.
To me, destiny is associated with significance. To fulfill a destiny, to follow a destiny, to be "destined" to be part of something has always implied an action within an event of such magnitude that only God could have mandated the circumstances. Destiny requires big decisions - major crossroads, and complete releasing of self into the winds of circumstance (or the Spirit of God).

Destiny is something that real important people come to realize - but maybe not the average, everyday, middle class citizen - right? Not so sure about that...

I like the word PURPOSE better than destiny. It fits my lifestyle more. It is not such a scary, weighty, intimidating word. When I think of finding my purpose, it implies to me that I have found what I am supposed to be working on (or in), my purpose is my reason I am here - and for some reason I can relate much more in my daily living to a "purpose" than to a "destiny". Perhaps because daily living in a purposeful life still requires that I have input, I make choices, I have more control (and as a "Type A" that is a big factor). With destiny - it seems that the control has been handed over completely to God, and so with destiny,in my mind, we are working on something either bigger than life or concluding the purpose of life.

But maybe I am wrong about destiny - and who it applies to. Maybe each of us, the great and the not so great, have a destiny. It doesn't have to be something that becomes world renowned, heroic, or of giant magnitude. Maybe it is just a simple gesture or act of kindness - or maybe that I listen carefully each day for that pressing on my heart so I can be a small tooth on the giant gear of life that continues the momentum of the church in mission. Maybe that is destiny too.

I am always amazed when there are serendipitous moments in my life. I attribute them to the Spirit, and sometimes I see God smiling down because He knows I just need a little extra help getting the point ;-) but in my morning time I work through two different devotion books and here are the excerpts from October 10:

"We need to find our place in God's purpose, receptive and open to His direction and inspiration; and all creation waits as it were on tiptoe in excited anticipation of what can happen if we assume the destiny for which we were created, and stand as 'sons of God'. We become 'Christ carriers'. (From "Aiden Readings: October 10" from the book "Celtic Daily Prayer")

Ezekiel 37:14 - I will put my spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it declares the Lord

"The ability to let go, to abandon oneself in faith and obedience, creates a heart that is docile and humble. Both notions are fairly foreign to our independent, stubborn, self reliant spirits. Both virtues are fairly absent in our assertive, self-confident, self-indulgent circles. But uncovering their meaning and their message to us twentieth century Christians is crucial for a spirituality of our times." From "Every Bush is Burning" by John Puls

So I have been given much to ponder...I don't find it any small coincidence that these quotes were delivered during the same week I am studying about DESTINY in the book of Esther.

A Broad Brush

All day today I have been contemplating this statement from Beth Moore:

"God calls us by name. Satan and his hordes see us as numbers."

WOW. That single statement can be applied to a lot of issues in our contemporary society. Isn't this exactly part of the problem in America today? Mass generalizations made, painting people with broad brush strokes of assumptions without recognizing individuals? Doesn't it seem that we categorize people first, make judgements on what they represent and decide whether we will like them or not based on what box we have placed them in?

That is how to whip a frenzy, that is how to create dissension, that is how to accelerate hatred and meanness, by eliminating the personal stories. By painting a group of people with broad brush strokes of stereotypical fodder we force our own preconceived image of their motivations and opinions without giving them benefit of providing unweighted input. This is why there is so much anger and vehemence rising in the public dialog in our country.

And that is SO NOT Jesus' way is it...throughout the gospels we see that Jesus works one on one. He listens individually to each persons story. He responds individually to each of their needs. One-on-one. That is the way to the truth and to true relationship.

It is easy to get caught up in painting with broad brush strokes. Personal relationship takes so much time and intention - are we working this essential out of our society by our very "business"? Can we get it back before it is too late? When was the last time I just chucked my "to do list" and called a friend to sit down for a chat - no purpose, no agenda, no special reason...just to visit. Better yet, when have I ever attempted to do the same with someone I perhaps didn't agree with philosophically or politically in order to really hear their point of view? It is something I think I need to ponder and pray over.

Circles of Influence

Much of my reflection time this week has concentrated on the uncanny correlation between this Bible study of Esther and the sermon series at church.

The first two chapters of Esther provide very concrete evidence of the importance of our circle of influence in our lives. Xerxes is a perfect example of the dangers of surrounding ourselves ONLY with those who think the exact same as we do. Our very humanness requires that we continue to challenge our thoughts and also our convictions.

So - first the lesson from Xerxes as I see it...

Chapter 2 of Esther begins: "Later when the anger of King Xerxes had subsided, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what he had decreed about her." With the knowledge of context that Beth Moore has provided, this scripture TAKES ON A WHOLE NEW MEANING from what would be inferred if we just read the scripture as a continuance from the conclusion of Chapter 1.

When taken in the context of history, we realize that "Later" was FOUR YEARS LATER, and the "anger of King Xerxes" may also have been referring to the results of 4 failed conquests of the King into the surrounding Greek empire. The entire purpose of the King in Chapter 1 was to not only display his power to all, but to gather them in to support his efforts to expand the empire. We know from Chapter 1 that he had surrounded himself with "yes men", trusted advisors who pumped up his ego and always wanted to make him happy. That is a huge danger, especially when in a position of leadership. So note in Chapter 1 - who was the only person who didn't do this? Queen Vashti! She "refused" to come when beckoned. We never really know why, but now in Chapter 2 perhaps we have another clue. Four years down the road, King Xerxes "remembered what she had done and what he had decreed about her" I actually think the second part of the scripture is more signficant - and offer a contrarian interpretation of the first part. Perhaps what King Xerxes was "remembering" was that Queen Vashti had been the only one in his life that dared to challenge his thoughts and whims. Perhaps he was slowly realizing that he needed someone around who questioned him rather than blindly following and supporting him. These significant failures needed someone to blame and he didn't have anyone around him to lay blame on except himself...dangerous situation for someone with such ego.
And since he was "remembering what he had decreed" he also realized that he lost the resource of bringing her wisdom back to the picture. He had no advisor who would be honest and provide necessary challenges to work through his wacky ideas.

Instead of wise council, Xerxes has his "seven dwarfs" who are continuously working to keep him happy. What a disservice - but totally understandable from a survival perspective. If they allowed the king to be unhappy too long, his ego would require that he find someone to blame and they would not want it to be themselves!! So of course right away they suggest he find a replacement. What a great diversionary tactic! I can imagine the seven nobles in their private time coming up with this idea. Let's get him a queen, let's keep him occupied with the "try-outs" as long as we can to stop this other nonsense of going to war...

How perfect! Keep the king occupied with checking out beautiful virgin after virgin.,,sort of "The Bachelor" on steroids!!! I am sure that in all this ego feeding frenzy of working through the virgins, someone else would be left to running the empire -and I am quite certain those seven nobles were working hard on that.

Xerxes need for his ego to be fed, to be constantly confirmed in his convictions, to be reminded how powerful he was, was actually depleting his power instead.

Now - how do I apply this to myself?

Well, as a type "A" personality, I too suffer from the need to be challenged, to be questioned, to be forced to dig deeper into my motives and actions. On a very personal level, this issue is at work in my family as we deal with the issues surrounding my parents. While one sister is challenging what we are doing, do I personally consider her objections or do I just blindly discount them because they oppose my own convictions. Is there truth that I might miss by not listening critically to what she has to say?

How about within my church?

I think that as a church, especially one as large as LFC, we can also become complacent, satisfied with the status quo, not questioning our own actions. This particular challenge was brought home to me this very week. I was blessed with meeting a woman who came from very far away (across an ocean and much of western Europe) to explore a conviction in her heart that an area in OUR VERY BACKYARD was in need of the HOPE of Christ. She wants to begin a mission in a trailer park right down the street from our church. How is it that someone from 6000 miles away can see a need in our very neighborhood? Here is her video:

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Now the challenge to LFC (and me personally), is how to respond to this questioning of ourselves. Will we discount her because she is not from within? Will we determine it is not our call and send her off? Will we reject her mission because it is not grand enough or romantic enough? Or will we take seriously the challenge presented, prayerfully request discernment and respond to the call within our community? I would like to hope that as a church we will not be like Xerxes and only listen to our own egos.

Once Upon A Time...

Life comes at you hard sometimes - and the past few months have been one of those times for me. So imagine my joy with the special gift of the book of Esther. A cuddly fairy tale located smack dab in the middle of the Bible! I have been reading this book while carrying the mental image of sitting in my dad's lap, with my head on his shoulder - a child again - just resting in his embrace, secure in the knowledge that I don't have to carry the world on my own shoulders. A good story always helped me sleep at night as a child and it is no different with this special scripture tale!

Chapter 1 has all the necessary elements of a traditional tale - there is a king, a queen and a magnificent palace. I can't quite categorize Queen Vashti yet - is she a good queen or an evil queen? What was she thinking by refusing to come when the king beckoned her? That would be a daring act even by today's standards! She is lucky to remain alive with that insubordination. I wonder why she did that?

HOPE

HOPE is a popular word these days. It was the centerpiece of a successful presidential campaign, it was the catch phrase in a recent book I read by N. T. Wright "Surprised by Hope", the potential for hope or lack of hope seems to be the common thread through all our public discourse. What will bring hope to an economic situation, how can we alleviate hopelessness in a personal crisis, where is the hope...

This week we were asked to reflect on our own hope as Christians - what is the reason for my hope? I have been contemplating that a lot this week, my hope, and have found this to be a difficult task to really define specifically as it relates to my personal faith.

I think there is a huge difference between hoping for something and hoping in something. But somehow both phrases complete each other as it relates to my faith. I HOPE IN Christ to love me, forgive me, help me, strengthen me, guide me, carry me through, teach me, and complete me. I HOPE FOR happiness, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness and most of all peace in my own life and in this world. In other words, through my trust IN Christ, I might receive the fruits of the Spirit and might also contribute to that fruit within this world.

Hope is defined as:

hope (hp)
v. hoped, hop·ing, hopes
v.intr.
1. To wish for something with expectation of its fulfillment.
2. Archaic To have confidence; trust.

I believe those two definitions together cover my own reflection on what hope is to me. As a Christ follower, each day I must place my confidence and trust IN Christ. This essential daily releasing then provides the possibility to "wish for something with expectation of its fulfillment". The SOMETHING being the key element in Christian hope. This SOMETHING to me represents the reconciliation of our world in its fallen state to the ultimate vision of God's promise of a kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.. That is my SOMETHING. That one day, this world will return to the Garden. That the pages between Genesis 1 and Revelation 22 will be completed and God in full Trinity will be with us.

This is the Gospel - that the reconcilliation is in progress and that one day it will be complete and that the doorway to this kingdom comes through Jesus Christ. He is the promise, He is the HOPE, He is the ONLY WAY to this paradise. It is the constant promise through scripture for thousands of years.

Just this morning in my quiet time I was lead to this scripture from Jeremiah (emphasis mine):

31 "The time is coming," declares the LORD,
"when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah.

32 It will not be like the covenant
I made with their forefathers
when I took them by the hand
to lead them out of Egypt,
because they broke my covenant,
though I was a husband to [a] them, [b] "
declares the LORD.

33 "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
after that time," declares the LORD.
"I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.

34 No longer will a man teach his neighbor,
or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,'
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest,"
declares the LORD.
"For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more."

Thousands of years ago, God shared his vision of the final days - that one day "they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest". This is our hope, and this defines our purpose. To live our lives each day in confidence and trust that through Jesus we will be part of the kingdom where ALL will know God from the least to the greatest, and this is what we wish for with "expectation of it's fulfillment".

That is my hope