Masterpiece

It was 1985 when I walked into my 7th grade Bible class. I sat down at my desk to find seven words written in pencil in the top left corner. Those seven, cruel words were written about me and deeply and permanently seared themselves into my mind and heart. I immediately got out my eraser and wiped them from my desk, but I have never been able to erase them from my memory. Being an insecure, lonely, friend-starved, and hurting junior higher, those carelessly written words solidified what I felt about myself and had a profound impact on my ability to “get” the concept of the adoring love of Jesus, even into adulthood.

Not until five years ago did my belief begin to change. It was year two of Art Prize (a local art festival that I have fallen in love with and that draws worldwide visitors to the Grand Rapids area for several weeks each September and October). That Friday evening was one of those nearly unheard of times when my house was completely silent. My kids were all in bed, my husband was working and I had some time to just be.

Instead of turning on tunes or the TV, I decided to check out the Art Prize website and plan my adventure for the following weeks. As I was silent and perusing, I heard from my right side and slightly behind me, the words “You are my Art Prize”.  WHAT?!?!?  Did I just hear what I think I heard??? I responded by saying out loud, “God, was that YOU?”  I was in complete and utter awe as I sat there- stunned.

We are Saturday nighters at Ada Bible and so the following evening we headed to church for part three of the series “People of the Way”. The teaching was about who we are in Christ.  Jeff closed the message by putting a picture of a previous Art Prize entry on the screen and said…

“Remember, you are His masterpiece. You are His Art Prize”

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?!?!?

Needless to say, the floodgates opened and my heart broke. Yes, the Artist had indeed spoken those words to me. The Potter gently reminded this broken vessel that I was His art work, His creation and His masterpiece and that I was not what those seven words had echoed in my heart for all those years.

What I have come to realize was that the Artist spoke when I was quiet and still. He spoke when my heart was at rest. He spoke when (nearly) all other distractions were gone.

He spoke and I heard when we were alone…together.

“My soul is quiet and waits for God alone.” Psalm 62:5 NLV

~Sarah Bennor

Compassion While Spent

When life is going along good, it feels easy sometimes to take time to show compassion towards someone else.  We can feel joy and are ready to bless those around us.  

But how about when things are not going along smoothly?  You are experiencing your own difficulty or loss, and you feel spent and the need to be alone.  

Is it possible to still show love to others during such a time?

Jesus experiences this very thing.  In Matthew chapter 14 it shares how when Jesus heard that John the Baptist was beheaded, he withdrew on a boat privately to go to a remote place.  I’m sure he had planned to go there to sit at His Father’s feet to mourn the loss of his friend, but when he got to his destination he found a large crowd waiting for him.  He did not get angry or feel sorry for himself.  When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.  Matthew 14: 14  He set aside his own needs for the moment and poured himself into caring for those that sought him out.  He even met their needs for nourishment by providing enough food for them to all be satisfied before he sent them on their way.

Only then, did he do what he originally set out to do.  He went up on a mountain to pray.  He spent time with his Father to mourn, to pray, to be renewed.  Through the Father, Jesus received the strength and power to continue on his journey.  Which just so happened to be powerful steps on water! 

Father God, let me reflect you in this way.  That even when I am spent and my soul is mourning, when I see other’s needs, give me compassion so that I can set aside my needs and care for others.  Yet still may I find the time to sit at your feet and be refilled by you so I can continue in my life’s journey.  Thank you for your example in Jesus, and thank you that through you, I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.  In the power of Jesus’ name, Amen.

- Sue Parrott

Lamb of God

 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!  John 1:29

The Powerful God of the Universe came to earth, as a lamb.  Not as a mighty warrior, powerful and standing tall, as we in our human minds would picture.

He came as a humble lamb to be slaughtered.

He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.  Isaiah 53:7

And He was slain, and death was overcome!  He was worthy!

And He stands in the center of the throne room of God, not as a mighty warrior, powerful and standing tall, as we in our human minds would picture.

He stands as a lamb, looking as if it has been slaughtered.

 And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it.  I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”

Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders.

Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying:

“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb

    be praise and honor and glory and power,

for ever and ever!”

Revelations 5: 1-6, 13

Father, may my voice join in as we shout, “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!”  How beautiful You are to show us your love for us in the exquisite form of a slain lamb!  How mysterious are your ways, beyond our comprehension!  Thank you, we praise You!  Amen

- Sue Parrott

Ugly Stump

There was a season in my life where God was doing some major pruning - from my job, to ministry, to relationships and friendships.  It came in different forms, this hacking off of branches within my life, from circumstances, to decisions of others, to close friends.  This pruning came in unexpected ways, and it felt relentless, and I felt betrayed.  It wasn’t like God was gently tapping me on the shoulder and saying, “Now this is going to hurt, but this is why I need to remove this…” 

I felt shame, for that which once was a full thriving vine was now a stump.

And it hurt a lot…, and my faith was rocked as I asked God WHY?!, and tears flowed as the wounds bled.  

I felt ugly, exposed and alone.

I turned to His Word, and read the popular verses in John 15:  I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.  He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

I was familiar with this, and understood the concept that in order to produce better and stronger fruits, such as the fruits of the spirit in my life, like love, joy, peace, pruning needed to take place, but, what I did not understand. - Why the pain?  I kept reading in John 15 and verses jumped out at me.  

This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

Greater love has no one than this:  to lay down one’s life for one’s friend.  You are my friends if you do what I command.

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit – fruit that will last – and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.  John 15: 8,13,14,16

God calls me His friend.  God chose me.  He is pruning me, so that I can bear greater lasting fruit.  But…what about the pain!?  This feeling of being an ugly stump left all alone?  Why?

Then I re-read …Greater love has no one than this:  to lay down one’s life for one’s friend.  You are my friend…  And I think about how there was a time in Jesus’ life where He felt betrayed due to circumstances, and the decisions of others, and from close friends. 

And it hurt a lot…, and He asked God why?!, and tears flowed as the wounds bled. 

He felt ugly, exposed and alone.

...Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?  (which means "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"   Mark 15: 34

Joy and pain go hand in hand to reveal God’s glory.  

Why? It is a mystery.

   The mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Colossians 1:26-28

 So my question of why does pruning hurt?  Just as I participate in Christ’s pain, I receive joy in the revealing of His glory.   Mysterious indeed, but I rest in that hope and wait for His glory to be revealed.

But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. 1 Peter 4:13

- Sue Parrott

Replacing Our Wardrobes

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. – Colossians 3:12-14 (NIV)

Have you ever been around someone who is starting a journey? Perhaps it’s a journey to lose weight, maybe a journey to stop smoking. Or maybe the goal is simply to live healthier all around. There is always the first phase of making the goal and getting excited to start. Then there is the second phase, or reality, as I call it, of actually going out and changing your habits to reflect your new journey. If you’re anything like me, the first phase always seems easier than the second.

                I entered my college years on a journey of renewal. I was the “Christian kid” in my public high school, but you wouldn’t have been able to tell if you spent any time with me. My lips were filled with filthy language, my attitude with anger and rage, and my lifestyle was probably not too far away from that of the Colossians in some respects. Though I had set a goal to stop using filthy language and change my lifestyle, I was still in phase one of my journey. It was not easy for me to suddenly change my habits, and I slipped up numerous times. Still to this day, I am so thankful for my roommates my freshman year, who put up with me and really lived by Paul’s words. At times, I’m sure they were “bearing with” me as I learned what it meant to truly follow Christ, and I can’t imagine how much gentleness, patience, and compassion that took. I can never thank them enough for showing me Christ’s love, by daily clothing themselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience…and bearing with me as I entered stage two of my journey.

   Here I am, almost nine years later, having finished Bible College and seminary, looking back on the progress I’ve made, knowing that I am, as my pastor would say, “radically flawed, and radically forgiven.” My college roommates demonstrated Christ’s love to me, and it’s that love that continually spurs me onward to daily replace my wardrobe; throwing out the old clothes of anger, bitterness, malice, slander, and filthy language, and replacing them with the new clothes of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.

As we approach Easter, remembering the humiliating death, and the glorious resurrection of Jesus, we can all be reminded that it is by his blood that we are made clean, dying to the old ways, and being resurrected with Christ in his new life. I’m convinced that we will never complete phase two of our journey until Christ’s glorious return, but through his death and resurrection, we are able to see who we were, and be reminded to daily replace our wardrobes. The journey never ends.

- Jake Houf

Persevere

One of Jesus' disciples asks, "Lord, teach us to pray". (Luke 11)

He begins by sharing what we know as “the Lord’s Prayer” which most of us are quite familiar with, but then Jesus continues with this:

Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’  And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’  

Luke 11:5-7

Sometimes in our intercession we encounter difficulties such as obstacles or silence in God answering.  It’s as if He is saying, “Sorry, you’re on your own, can’t help you right now.”  It isn’t easy to continue to trust that He hears and that He cares during that time of silence or apparent refusal to answer.

But God urges us to persevere:

 “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.  Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?  If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” Luke 11: 9-13

God knows how to give “good gifts” to His children.  Sometimes part of the gift IS the waiting!  Seems strange, but think about it...  Can you imagine what it would be like if we went before God, asked what we wanted, got it, and went on our way?  We would never grow in our spiritual life, or fully understand the relationship we have with God.

Just like in education when a child grasps a lesson and it becomes easy, the student advances to the next level to continue to develop the mind and achieve a higher understanding.  God allows difficulty and silence so we can learn and discover our weakness, causing us to commit our spirit to Christ and to crucify our will.  Then we receive newness of life, a further understanding and deeper relationship with our Father. 

Think about our example in Jesus of how to pray.

And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. Luke 22:44

Alone in the coolness of the night and the glow of the moon, at the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus was sweating, persevering in prayer.

And in His final moments on the cross, Jesus calls out His last prayer, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”  (Luke 23:46)

Through His trials and difficulty, His will was crucified and death was overcome! 

Tuck Me In

Lord, tuck me in, this world is cold.

Darkness has come.

The silent moon floats in the sky,

Casting deep shadows that reach for my heart.

I lie here, unprotected.

The chill of the air the only blanket for my soul.

I curl my shivering body tight,

As I wait for You, in the silence.

 Father, thank you for your gifts!  Thank you for the difficulties that cause me to persevere in prayer.  Thank you for your silence that allow me to appreciate your good gifts.  Thank you for teaching us, your disciples, how to pray.  Thank you for your gift of grace that was given through the intense trial and difficulty of the cross.  In Jesus Name, Amen

- Sue Parrott

I'll Pray for You

I recently watched the movie Entertaining Angels – The Dorothy Day Story.  I was mildly entertained by this movie until the very end in which the final scenes gripped my heart as I saw the passion that burns within my soul portrayed on the screen in a story of this woman who did so much for the poor and hurting souls. 

Near the end of this movie, Dorothy feels betrayed and abandoned by her team of workers as they shared they had reached their breaking point from being overwhelmed and under-resourced as they served food and sheltered the homeless.  She leaves them and enters a church, calling out to God, “Where are you!?” and continues to dialog in a prayer, pouring out her heart, broken, spent and confused.  She leaves the church, resigned to be done doing His work. 

Late at night, she returns to the shelter and happens upon a female patron who was an alcoholic, stealing the shelter’s stash of money.  Chasing her to the door, she blocks her way.  The woman grabs a cane and begins to beat her trying to get her out of the way.  Out of defense and anger, Dorothy grabs the cane away from her.  The woman falls and Dorothy holds it up to strike the woman, and she stops.  You sense the revelation inside of her and she begins to speak to the woman with gentle kindness and love, although the woman screams that she can’t mean what she is saying because she is unlovable.  Sobbing the woman relents and Dorothy simply holds her. 

During the commotion her team is awoken and they begin to come out.  After taking care of the sobbing woman, Dorothy addresses her team in a beautiful speech.  She apologizes for her pride and renews her commitment to love the unlovable.  She shares that their ideals of their mission is never going to look like what she or any of the team would like it to look like, and they will never be able to live up to those expectations, but that God will not hold that against them.  Instead they are only to be faithful and to do just their part in what God is calling them to do.

~~~~

 Dorothy Day put love into action.  She responded to God’s prompting.

Her story makes me think about how we sometimes comfort ourselves in the knowledge that if we fail to listen to God’s prompting within our hearts that God will use someone or something else to meet that need.

We see someone hurting, or in need, and we tell them, “I’ll be praying for you” and we may carry through with it and cover them in a prayer, but are we too quick to dismiss HIS prompting to do something? We think, “I would help them, but I just don’t have the time right now, or I’m doing enough, my plate is full or it’s not my place to step in.  I’ll pray that God will call someone to help them.”

And sometimes that is what God chooses to allow to happen, and someone else is blessed with the act of serving and touching their life in a meaningful way.

But…sometimes that is not what happens.  He called on you to act, to move.  And do not fool yourself… just as innocent people suffer the consequences from the actions of other people’s sin, so do innocent people suffer from our inactivity, from us not following God’s prompting in our hearts and minds. 

You not responding can cause further suffering on the hurting, those that feel unlovable. 

The reason God tells us so many times to love each other is because we learn that we, our beings, our very selves are lovable or unlovable from other people.  

  

“It is people who are important, not the masses.” 

-Dorothy Day

“Don't worry about being effective. Just concentrate on being faithful to the truth.” 

-Dorothy Day

I John3:16-18 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

- Sue Parrott