What Will You Be Remembered For?

The Anointing at Bethany: What Will You Be Remembered For?
Matthew 26: 6-13 (NRSV)

6 Now while Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper,^{* 7}a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment, and she poured it on his head as he sat at the table. ⁸But when the disciples saw it, they were angry and said, ‘Why this waste? ⁹For this ointment could have been sold for a large sum, and the money given to the poor.’ ¹⁰But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, ‘Why do you trouble the woman? She has performed a good service for me. ¹¹For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. ¹²By pouring this ointment on my body she has prepared me for burial. ¹³Truly I tell you, wherever this good news^* is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.’

What will you be remembered for?

It is 2016 and we are knee deep in the presidential election year. The once long list of candidates has been narrowed down to a short-list of possible contenders for who will claim the coveted seat in the Oval Office of The White House.

While this is happening, on the peripheral, as is true at the end of a presidential term, political pundits and historians are beginning to speculate on what the outgoing president will be remembered for. That is - what significantly marked his tenure - good or bad, that 10 years from now, 50 years now, this generation and those to come, will all celebrate the one acclaim to fame. In other words, what will this person, the leader of the free world, be remembered for, as he makes his final trek toward the end of his time in the most powerful position in the free world? It could be something extraordinary like being the first president since Calvin Coolidge to visit Cuba or it could be something so plain and ordinary that the impact of it feels super extraordinary, like taking the time to pray for the nation in the midst of a tragedy? 

As we reflect on this journey that Jesus is making this week in his final trek to the Cross, to that place on Calvary where he died for you and me, it's important to stop and look at what the Savior was doing in his last days of his earthly ministry. The Gospel narratives record a diary if you will, of what Jesus was doing, where he went, who he saw, what he ate, and what his mood was like.

On the third day of what we call Holy Week, Matthew records that Jesus was in the town of Bethany, visiting Simon the leper, when a woman came to him with an alabaster box of some very expensive oil. She took that oil and poured it on the Savior's head as he was sitting at the table.  At the table in the house of a leper. An unclean person. Someone who was contaminated and contagious. Ceremoniously unclean. Yet the highlight of Jesus's time spent in Bethany at Simon's house, rests on the actions of this unnamed woman with the beautiful alabaster box. Her cup of oil runneth over on Jesus. She poured out all she had. Her Chanel perfume. Her Juicy Couture cologne. All of it.  And while we don't know if she understood the symbolism of what she was doing, Jesus sure did. She was anointing Jesus. She was part of this history-making narrative of preparing our Jesus for his brief stay on the Cross. God was using her to accomplish something so extraordinary with something that seemed very ordinary.

 Surprisingly, not even the disciples understood that this was an act of bestowing honor upon a king...and not just any king, but the king of kings. Their whole disposition and demeanor changed because for them, it was not an acknowledgment of a Divine honor, it was instead deemed wasteful. They weren't as mature in their faith as you would think. They knew Jesus. Followed him everywhere he went. But their eyes and heart were not always on Jesus. And so they missed it. Missed the anointing of their teacher, rabbi, our Jesus.

And all they could do was express their disagreement and their disapproval with what this woman had done. They saw it as a waste and declared that the oil could have been sold and that the money could have been used for the poor. While their intentions seemed genuine, their indictment against her was quickly corrected by Christ.

Jesus tells his disciples, his trusted comrades, the 12 who hung out with him day in and day out, that "truly I tell you. wherever this good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her." 

This woman did something remarkable, for Jesus, as he was journeying to the Cross. And it was noteworthy enough to the Savior that he declared that anywhere in the whole world that the Good News is proclaimed, that the Gospel narrative is told, that the accounts of Jesus' life on earth is shared. that this unnamed woman with a very named acclaim to fame will be remembered. She had done a good deed for Jesus. She had prepared him for his burial.


My question to you is what will you be remembered for this year as Jesus is making this tumultuous trek along that old dusty road to die for your sins and mine? What will you do, in a daring act to show and share the love of Christ, to proclaim that Jesus is your Lord and Savior, even if it's radical like the unnamed woman in the text, that Jesus himself will remember you for it?

It's so easy to rush ahead to begin thinking about our own personal agendas and to think about the ways in which we can celebrate ourselves, but our real challenge as followers of Christ, our real challenge is to consider how can we give up our own selfish desires in order to do something that will bring others to Christ, that will offer hope and wholeness, and that will cause Jesus to say "truly I tell you, what she has done, what he has done will be told in remembrance of him, of her?" Who can you serve today? Who can you pray for today? Will you choose faith over tradition today, that is, are you willing to do something different for Christ instead of holding on to "we've always done ...(fill in the blank) it this way.” At what cost are you willing to do something so amazing for Jesus that your act of kindness will be remembered for years to come?

Praising Through the Chaos

 This time of year the world gets loud. I mean really loud. Everywhere you turn, you can hear the volume of laughter, people’s voices rise and their echoes carry through the malls, restaurants and stores. Family and friends gather around big-screen TVs to watch their favorite college football games. Coaches yell from the sidelines. Referees shout above the booing of bad calls. And it’s just loud. And chaotic.  And in the midst of this time, the reason for the season, there is the anticipation of the arrival of the Christ child.

The world has done a really good job of creating all kinds of distractions so that we lose our focus on the hope of this season and instead get caught up in the chaos of this season. The chaos of noise, of revelry and rivalry, of consumerism and it seeks to drown out the sound of our praise for the newborn king. Chaos comes to silence our praise. Chaos comes to dampen our spirits. Chaos comes to discourage us and to make us give up. But as a people of faith, we have to adjust the volume of the chaos.

How then do we turn this chaos into a shout of praise? How do we remix its purpose so that chaos really turns into something useful? I’d like for us to consider the letters in the word chaos and see how we can remix it so that it causes us to break into a praise shout as we celebrate this season of Advent, which is the celebration of the arrival of Jesus Christ. In other words, it's about celebrating the birth of the Christ child rather than celebrating the "sixty percent off" signs in the mall.

 

C is for clarity. In the midst of the hustle and bustle of situations that can leave us disappointed, frustrated and searching for the newborn King, God wants us to have clarity in a time that can seem confusing. God is always within an earshot of your prayer or praise.

H is for hope. Our hope is in the Prince of Peace, Everlasting Father and the King of Kings. It’s so easy to be let down by broken promises and unmet expectations, but the hope of Christ will never let us down.

A is for assurance. We have the blessed assurance that God will never leave us nor forsake us. God is always present in our situations and He is just a praise shout away. Just like having insurance for your car or your home, we have something greater and unfailing - a non-expiring bond with God through God's assurance.

O is for omnipotence. God has unlimited power and is able to do anything but fail. This is our reminder in the midst of chaos that God can turn any situation around for our good. And even if the situation hasn’t changed yet, God can change us in it.

S is for steadfast. God’s love is unwavering. God’s plan and purpose for our lives is firmly fixed in place and God is positioning us for greater. Even if things look bleak right now, never forget that we serve an all-knowing and all-powerful God who is able.

Finally, I want to encourage you to look for the purple in the situation. Purple is a color symbolic of royalty and signifies that the King is coming. God is coming to your situation. God is coming to rescue you. God is coming to deliver you. God is coming to heal you. God is coming late in the midnight hour. Keep a purple handkerchief, scarf, pin or purple piece of cloth with you over the next 25 days and any time you find yourself in circumstances of chaos, pull out that purple so that it can remind you of God’s peace, of God’s purpose and of the clarity, hope, assurance, omnipotence and steadfastness that is available to you now and in all seasons. Remix the chaos and praise your way through!

JOY - Just Open Yourself to God's Presence

Joy for the Advent Season

Luke 2: 8-18
“In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹ Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: ¹¹ to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” ¹³ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, ¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!” ¹⁵ When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” ¹⁶ So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. ¹⁷ When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; ¹⁸ and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them.”

    

No matter where you are and what situation you are in, God wants you to have joy. During this Advent Season as we celebrate the birth of the Christ child, we are reminded that God sends the Good News of God’s joy to whoever is willing to hear it.

     Ask yourself if you are willing to hear it or have your circumstances gotten you so down that you are not willing? Do you think that you are too ordinary to experience this great joy that God promises for all people? Your bank account, level of education or your street address does not determine whether or not you will experience God’s joy. Joy is internal and is rooted in your relationship with God. Your joy, then, is a celebration of the revelation that God can and will allow ordinary, everyday people to have the manifestation of God’s joy.

                In our passage, we see this joy unfold with the shepherds. As you read this passage, find the “U” in their experience. Here are four things we can glean about experiencing joy:

(1) Unique – The shepherds were unassuming and unaware that they were in the proximity of the King of Kings. As some of the lowest-class members of society, just a step about the lepers, the shepherds were in a unique category, yet God still chose them to experience joy. Yes, they were in a unique category.  And so are we. Our unique category might be that we are in a low-paying job, transition of moving, or unemployed. But guess what? There are other Christians who are in the same unique category as you are and are still able to experience joy.

(2) Ushered In – The shepherds were ushered into God’s presence and glory. The light shone around them. It was a blazing light of God’s presence and power. That is God’s joy! Are you willing to join the heavenly host in praising God and saying “glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth peace among those whom he favors?” Not only do we have to change our attitude, but we have to change our talk – what we are saying and how we are saying it, in order to experience joy.

(3) Unity – The shepherds were together when the angel appeared to them and shared the Good News. They responded together. God’s Good News is not singular. It is for the community of believers and it serves as hope for the non-believers, too. Remember that your Christian witness can impact others. You have to be willing to move from your current situation in order to get to the joy that God has for you. Change up your routine. Take a different route home or to work. Sometimes God is trying to get you to stop doing the same old thing and be open to a new way and new opportunities that are sometimes within walking distance.

(4) Unstoppable – Once the shepherds heard the news, they were unstoppable. They evangelized and told the Good News to everyone who was within earshot. They were spreading the joy!

As you reflect on this devotion, in what way is God calling you to spread the joy this season?

Prayer: God, during this season of Advent as I seek to encounter you in new ways, help me to be open to your presence and your power. May I truly experience the joy that you promised through the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Take my unique situation and allow it to help me to spread joy to others. In the name of  Jesus.  Amen.

Do I Make You Feel Welcomed?

Romans 15: 7 “Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.” (English Standard Version)

Recently, while visiting a church where my husband was the guest preacher, I sat next to a young woman who had a high-level of energy and engagement during the praise and worship experience. I couldn’t help but to notice that she was eager and enthusiastic about being in the presence of the Lord. I could see it in the way that her body swayed, her hands clapped and her feet tapped in sync with the rhythm of the music. She would turn to me from time to time and smile. After a few minutes, she asked me a question that struck me and was a genuine cause for me to pause and reflect upon. She leaned over and said, “Do I make you feel welcomed?”

At first, I thought perhaps I misunderstood what she was asking. I repeated the question back to her to be sure. “You’re asking me ‘do you make me feel welcomed?’” She nodded affirmatively. I responded right away. Not out of impulse, but out of a true sense of answering her query. “Yes, you do make me feel welcomed.” She smiled even bigger and said, “Good. I work in customer service and I always want people to feel welcomed.”
I went on to engage her in conversation and asked where she worked. She told me that her job was at 45 and Guadalupe. I also learned that she had to work that afternoon after church and that it was her first time of working on a Sunday. But more than that, I learned that she was relational, invitational and intentional about extending hospitality.

Imagine if we all had that priority as we gather in God’s house. Do I make you feel welcomed? To simply lean in and ask the person sitting next to us, whether we know him or not, do I make you feel welcomed? To understand that gathering together in God’s house is about being in community. About a shared experience. About the opportunity to make a meaningful impact within the four walls before we seek to make an impact out in the mission field, beyond the four walls. More than greeting our visitors and guests and making them feel welcomed, what if this became the mantra for how we designed our worship celebrations, our ministry programs, our outreach efforts, our interaction with one another? Do I make you feel welcomed?

Now, before you say that ministry is not about customer service since we are disciples, not customers, then let me offer this. It’s not that we are modeling our ministry upon a business concept of customer service; rather, hospitality is a Christian core element that the business world has modeled. How do you get someone to “follow” your product or service? It begins with being relational.

There are lots of programs and resources developed to teach people how to share the love of Christ, how to evangelize, how to be invitational, and how to share your Christian witness with others. Perhaps we have overlooked the simple and most successful heartfelt method of turning to the person beside you and asking “Do I make you feel welcomed?”  
Well, by the end of the worship service, I had helped Dawn recall the main points of the sermon. I even wrote the third one in her notebook at her urging. We laughed together. We worshiped together. We participated in Holy Communion together. And we enjoyed the connection, all because she recognized an opportunity to do something so profound and so simple. The next time you find yourself at church, whether in the worship celebration or at a ministry meeting, consider asking the person beside you “Do I make you feel welcomed?” and watch what God will do!

Grieving in the Meanwhile...

Grieving the passing of a parent whom you love dearly is about the most exhausting pain you can ever imagine experiencing. Last evening I was talking with a dear friend and expressing to her the unending pain of what it means to be at four months without my mom. I don’t talk about it every day, but it does not mean that the pain has somehow dissipated or even become less frequent.  Honestly, it is like living a life sentence of pain behind invisible bars of anguish, and some days you simply don’t feel like being perky and “in the moment” as you scramble to figure out how to adjust to life without the person who gave you life.  

What I have come to learn and realize is that sometimes other people are not affected by the thing that pains you the most and therefore, they don’t have reason to engage you in conversation about it. My friend said to me, “…and meanwhile you grieve alone. And it hurts.”

Lamenting the “transition” of my mother is hard. I don’t ignore the need to grieve nor do I suppress it. In another recent conversation with a pastor who recently experienced the passing of his mother, he asked me “how are you grieving?” “Intentionally,” I answered. This is not the time to be strong and pretend like I am handling it well. I am human and within the human condition, there is a dis-ease within the mind, soul and body called suffering, and that suffering doesn’t care if you are in the store, or waiting at a red light, or sitting on the pew at church when it decides to redirect your thoughts. That’s what suffering is. It is the inability to control the emotional pain that has engulfed you, and yet you have to respond. Sometimes with buckets of tears, other times in silence.

I know that making the adjustment to not hearing my mom’s voice anymore, or sitting at the kitchen table for a cup of coffee or just laughing together about anything, will be a life-long journey. Grieving is a thread within the community in which we all live. Some people grieve the loss of a relationship, of an unrealized dream, a friendship that went sour and so on. It might not be immediately evident that the grieving process is happening, but it quietly causes a disruption in the everyday life of the person who is experiencing it, and it is an unraveling thread within our shared community.

The Apostle Paul tells us in Romans chapter 12 that we are to rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. The only way to do that is to remember that we are in community with one another and to be aware of the unraveling thread called grief. It is okay and perfectly acceptable to simply ask a person how he or she is handling this experience. It is okay to invite him out for lunch or coffee and just be present. It doesn’t make the grief suddenly disappear. Your presence is not meant to do that. Everyone grieves differently in her own way and in her own time. Your response opens a window of fresh air that is good for the soul of the one who is suffering!

Handling Your Doubters

John 10:31-39 (New Living Translation)

³¹ Once again the people picked up stones to kill him. ³² Jesus said, “At my Father’s direction I have done many good works. For which one are you going to stone me?” ³³ They replied, “We’re stoning you not for any good work, but for blasphemy! You, a mere man, claim to be God.” ³⁴ Jesus replied, “It is written in your own Scriptures that God said to certain leaders of the people, ‘I say, you are gods!’ ³⁵ And you know that the Scriptures cannot be altered. So if those people who received God’s message were called ‘gods,’ ³⁶ why do you call it blasphemy when I say, ‘I am the Son of God’? After all, the Father set me apart and sent me into the world. ³⁷ Don’t believe me unless I carry out my Father’s work. ³⁸ But if I do his work, believe in the evidence of the miraculous works I have done, even if you don’t believe me. Then you will know and understand that the Father is in me, and I am in the Father.” ³⁹ Once again they tried to arrest him, but he got away and left them.

    

            For anyone who has ever had to deal with doubters, you know how challenging the situation can be.  Most of us either know somebody who has been in this situation of being challenged every step of the way by people whose sole purpose seems to be to ridicule or to outright dismiss the authority of our role simply because they have a problem with acknowledging who we are. Maybe you’re in a leadership position at work or in an organization and there’s that one person who will seemingly stop at nothing to question not what you are doing, but the authority in which you rightfully do it. That’s the situation that Jesus encounters in this passage.  He is being attacked by a group of naysayers and non-believers who refuse to see Jesus for who he really is – the Son of God.
                Sometimes you might find yourself in a similar situation of being attacked for who you are. Here are three things that we can do to overcome these difficult situations:

1.       Expect that it will happen – This is not the first time that Jesus was attacked for who he is. In fact, this passage opens with the words “once again” which indicates that this has been on-going. Anticipate that you will encounter it and be prepared.

2.       Have an attitude of Endurance – Jesus could have easily given up, but he endured. He had a goal. He was headed to Calvary to fulfill God’s most important plan for humanity. He didn’t let their attempts stop him and neither should you. Press through the stones of name-calling, jealousy, and character attacks. Remember, the end goal is always bigger than the enemy’s goal.

3.       Look for God’s Escape Route – After a brief exchange, Jesus escaped the naysayers and the stones. We can escape our doubters by praying, studying Scripture and staying focused on God’s plan. When we know that we are doing what God has called us and positioned us to do, God will always provide a way.

Remember that the work you are doing is a part of advancing God’s plan for all of humanity. Be determined. Don’t let the doubters detour you from God’s divine plan.

From Barren to Bountiful!

Overnight this tree in our front yard started blooming. For weeks it was barren and it seemed that nothing was happening. But somewhere late in the midnight hour, God shifted the atmosphere and turned things around for our tree. It went from stark naked at dusk to these little vibrant popcorn-sized clusters of blooms.

 

This image is from yesterday's sunset. I love how the light peeks through this tree's situation and shines such a beautiful light. That's how it is with whatever you are going through. Maybe you're in a season where you feel like you are barren and not producing. It could be relationally, professionally, etc. Like this tree, we all go through those times where God has to remove some things from us. And in the process, we feel unproductive and barren. But it won't always look like that. God is preparing you to receive the bountiful blessing that's in store.

 

Think about it - how would this image look if the old, dried and crackling leaves were still on the branches as the new blossoms were coming forth? There wouldn't be enough room. Something would have to give.

 

If we can be like this tree and stand still and transparent before God, then our situations can change, too, late in the midnight hour. Get ready to bloom! Let God shine God's light on your situation and watch what happens!