When Life Gives You Pumpkins...make pie!!

I am not sure how long I have seen pumpkins go to waste. They seem to be good for one night and then simply discarded. One of the joys of having little children is they are more than happy with a little pumpkin. The kind you don't actually carve. We used markers and created faces on our little pumpkins and then all of a sudden they disappeared from the front porch and we were making pumpkin pie. No one ever suspected a thing. And we had what felt like hours of fun making crust and pumpkin goo. It was a night to remember and probably will as we find pumpkin around the kitchen for the next few weeks.

Have you ever seen a fairy?

I am always amazed when I pull children's books off of my shelf and begin to read some of the stories. One such book is a collection of short stories and poems for children. Michelle must have brought it with her when we were married because I don't remember it. Today i read 'The Fairy Who Didn't Believe in Children' by: Margaret J. Baker. I wonder how many other people have read this old story. It was a charming little story full of spirit and wonder. Tinders, the fairy seeks out those mythological creatures called children and at first is disappointed by what she finds. She grows to enjoy children however and even discovers the wonders of long division in the process. I think i will read this story to Hannah tonight. I am sure she will enjoy it, and who knows, perhaps one day she will find a fairy in our garden.

Citizenship

Were are you a citizen and what does that mean? Do you ever think of how your citizenship effects your every day life? How it allows you to experience certain rights or binds you to particular laws? Who made the decision for you to be a citizen? I just remember saying the pledge in elementary school.

Citizenship is an important part of life and Paul reminds the Philippians in chapter 3:12-21 what it looks like to be a citizen of the heavenly kingdom.

There were those who didn't believe they were bound by any law, be it scriptural, moral or civil because of they had freedom in Christ. Today we call these folk antinomian. It might sound a little extreme or far fetched but this is an increasing problem in the church today. It has in part produced a sizable section of the church who don't look anything like Christ. They are described as enemies. Paul hopes they will not be the example for the church, and says, "their god is in their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things." They seek what will satisfy in the short term, boasting of their meaningless conquests, and all the while looking to themselves for wisdom.

Paul's encouragement is to keep straining forward, to keep pressing in, to continue to advance. His call to them is costly but is not without reward. Don't look at the perishable but the perennial. They are citizens who are saved by Christ and will be gloriously transformed by God who has power over all things. Live a life reflective of the God we know and worship. Who is pleased to call us sons and daughters. The freedom we have in Christ is not liberty to do what ever we want because we have been saved, it is meant to give us life to live not as a person who is dead but alive.

We must imitate those who are mature and therefore learn from an imperfect person what it means to strain, press into, reach out and long for what is ahead. This is why Paul asks the Philippians to imitate him. It is why he is sending Timothy to be with them and why he hopes to make it back to them.

We must live as responsible citizens in relationship with a big God.

A Warning

Continuing in the book of Philippians, Chapter 3:1-13. Paul presents the Philippian church with a difficult issue in this passage. A group called Judaizers were telling them they must follow the law and therefore must be circumcised to follow Jesus.

His warning against this group is for their safety and to clarify how they are made right before God. As a Jew, Paul, had it all. He was a super Jew. There wasn't anyone who was better, his list of accomplishments here and in other letters, reads like an experts resume. Yet, it is all rubbish. If his righteousness depended on those things then they would be gold, but his righteousness came from God who isn't impressed with our accomplishments. Righteousness from God depends on faith.

The judaizers derived a sense of confidence in following the law. Paul argued confidence can't be found in our flesh, but in Christ alone. The question we must ask ourselves is where do we find our confidence? Some have said if we want to answer this question we should look at our checkbook. Some have said we should look around at how we insulate ourselves from harm. I think these are helpful. We place our confidence in money, things, jobs, people. Perhaps it is time to realize were we have piles of rubbish in our lives, and were we have life.

Crooked and Twisted

It has been a little while since I last posted an update on the book of Philippians. I hope to catch up a little now. I will begin with 2:11 and end with 2:30.

I am struck by Paul's words about the "crooked and twisted generation". I know I have often heard this type of language and have even used it, but I still find it difficult language. There isn't any good reason I find it tough, there is evidence of the crooked and twisted all around. I couldn't run from the reality of this generation if I tried. The truth is, my work has done nothing but show me more of the hurt, pain, destruction, and yes the crooked and twisted in the lives of people around me.

It is Paul's desire for the Philippians to see this as well. But to not just observe the perversion and darkness in the world, but to engage it. "...shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life,..." This was the behavior Paul longed for from this beloved people. This is a dangerous life to live, a life all to familiar to Paul, one of sacrifice and service. Yet, these are the attributes of a follower of Christ. We are called to look different, to live different. To engage the world differently. This is what it means to "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." To live not as you were, but as you are being made and have been made. New, by the power of the Holy Spirit, saved by the sacrifice and service of the Son and adopted into the family of our Father in heaven.

Our world is twisted and crooked, and it is our responsibility to care and to seek life for all those around us.

Eating Sand

No Emma, don't eat the sand... Gosh that's so cute I need to take a picture. Stop eating the sand... Would you just pay attention I need to get one more for mommy. Don't chew on the rocks... Just tip your cup a little, that's it, got it.

I am often reminded of my childhood when eating sand and dirt was just part of playing outside. Do you remember the thrill of sliding through the mud and the freshly planted grass seed after a good hard rain. There was just nothing like it. What about jumping in every puddle you could find as your parents were trying to find a good spot for a summer picture. I even remember helping my younger brother ignore our parents when we were supposed to be "staying clean". Especially before church, it was a weekly ritual to see how much dirt, mud and grass we could get on our pants. The best was when we got in the car without my mother seeing we had trashed our clothes until we got out at the church. It was also fun to bring bugs and small animals in the car with us. I even remember helping my brother get a snake in the trunk once.

Now it would seem, with four little children, I am going to have to experience all of these events over again. I can't decide if it is a good thing or not. Until I can answer for sure I will just keep taking pictures so I can prove later to my children that they preferred eating sand to just about anything else. I will also remember the many times a little dirt added so much to a summer day.

Green Tomatoes

Is it fair the leaves are changing color already? My eggplant is only the size of golf balls and my tomatoes may never get to be ripe and red. I do enjoy the fall, but to see the green go out of my yard and from all around me is just depressing. I know it will soon be replaced by a thick white blanket of frozen water, but it just doesn't seem right. Where will my flowers go and will they come back next year? Sure, I could have house plants, but it just isn't the same. The green can be nice but it is the orange, red, blues and purples I long for in the dead of the winter. I suppose for now I will have to be content with what little time I have left before I have to hibernate with the rest of the town. Perhaps I should get my furnace checked and put the glass back into my doors and windows. Or maybe I will wait just a little longer. The sun is out today you know.

Complete my joy

In the second chapter of Philippians, Paul begins with an encouragement, perhaps a caution, to be united. "So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind."

In our world today it is not fashionable to be united like this. We seek belonging and community, but we also seek to distinguish ourselves from others so we might get ahead and in doing so, display rivalry and conceit. Even when it looks like we are united because of some uniformity we find it isn't the case. Uniformity isn't what Paul is speaking about. In fact, Paul champions the necessity of the diversity of the body or the church and describes it as being of God's own design. This multi-ethnic, multi-gifted, multi-generational, multi-era church should be united and working together guided by Christ to be performing works of good will which edify not just the church but the world of lost people as well.

Perhaps, it is this understanding of unity Paul finds so joyful. Paul's appeal is forceful and tender. He longs for them to identify even the smallest amount of encouragement, love, fellowship and affectionate sympathy from the work of the gospel in their lives. For a man who has labored as hard and as long as Paul has, seeing the fruit of his labor brings joy into his heart. This fruit isn't produced by him, but happens were God produces it. What joy it must be and how encouraging it must be not just to Paul but for everyone who has worked so hard for the proclamation of the good news to see God changing and transforming the lives of people. Taking pagans and making a community of authentic believers in the living God.

Unified people do not all look the same, talk the same, enjoy the same things. Unified people are like minded in the mission, have the same love in them because they all believe in the giver and maker of love, and are of one spirit and one purpose. Paul continues to describe how we should live humbly and not look only at our own interest, but at the interests of others. It is this interdependent life Paul hopes to see. The type of life that hurts because we act intentionally and sacrificially. The type of life which reflects our confidence in the world to come and our place in it because of God's intentional sacrifice. The type of life which brings glory to our father in heaven. Let us not act out of 'rivalry and conceit, but in humility count others more significant than [ourselves]'.

Labor and Fruitfulness

As promised, the second installment of the book of Philippians. Chapter 1:12-30. Here we see Paul reporting news of his imprisonment, his hope for the gospel to be communicated and his feelings about some of the people preaching. This is also the section of Philippians were Paul tells them 'to live is Christ, and to die is gain'. This seems to be a difficult issue to Paul. He longs to be with Christ and yet his pastoral duties to the church at Philippi continue to fill his mind. Paul goes on to say, 'if I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me'.

It is this labor I am particularly interested in, not just because Paul did continue to live, but because of his ongoing theme attached to it of fruitfulness. He was so certain his labor would be fruitful, he considered it the alternative to dying and being with Christ. I am not sure I always think my labor is fruitful. At the same time I know the answer isn't to try to produce fruit. Fruit is the natural manifestation of Christ in us. Paul's response of certainty no doubt, came from his having Christ in him, and the assurances and promises this relationship bring with it. Therefore, it doesn't surprise me when Paul encourages the Philippian believers to, 'let [their] manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ'. To let the way they live, the 'manner', be evidence of the gospel transforming and renewing their lives at all times. Whether the way they live is out in the open or not. There is no concern for the private and the public, because there should be no difference. This manner should be a sign of the salvation they have is Christ. It should be this way with us. In a world were the manner of the believer reflects the lives of the pagan and not the God who is in us. Let the Spirit develop in us courage for times of ease and of suffering to stand up for the gospel. To stand next to our brothers and sisters in the faith and be the body of Christ in the face of our opponents and circumstance. Let us engage the conflict and not shy away from evil, in our own bodies, in the body of Christ and in the world.

Love and the righteousness of Christ

Beginning this week I am going to be adding a post a week about some piece of content I teach on Sunday mornings at First Alliance Church in Erie, Pa, during Sunday School or our community life group as it is called here. Today will be the beginning of the book of Philippians Chapter 1:1-11.

Paul’s prayer in chapter one is of particular interest to me.

“And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless on the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.”

The word ‘love’ pops out at me. Here love is very active and informed. Not mushy love; a communal, uniting, familiar kind of love. Laden with meaning, it caries with it this knowledge of spiritual truth and the ability to make good moral decisions. So that, the people of God would look more and more like Jesus and less and less like the pagan. An issue we struggle with even today. They would live transparently in the midst of an opaque world. Overflowing or filled with the evidence, fruit, that Christ has taken their sins and substituted them for his righteousness, ‘to the praise and glory of God’. To unite these people to each other and to Christ. To be the good work begun in each of them which is being completed in them by the God who created them and made them new.

It is a rich prayer for their day and for ours.

Pepper anyone

One of the activities I enjoy is gardening. Living in Erie has taught me to enjoy the sun, grass and even bugs while they are around because the winter will be long and very cold. I enjoy the process of growth and production. Seeing a tiny seed grow into a mature plant able to produce fruit or vegetable. This year I planted a few pepper plants. They were all supposed to be different colors and shapes and sizes. At first, they were all green and I thought I had been taken by the seed distributor, but I soon found out green meant it wasn't ripe. I also found out I had planted half a dozen orange pepper plants. So, today I pulled in the ripe peppers. I showed Michelle the dozen or so orange peppers I had grown and she suggested we can them. Ordinarily we would eat them, but my plants are not showing any sign of slowing down and I still have many more turning ripe. The canning process is very interesting to me having grown up in a house were we bought things canned but never canned our own. I always thought it was something for someone else to do and that it was so complex only skilled professionals could get vegetables in a can. I am very grateful for my wife who just looks at me as though I am the one who grew up in the middle of no where and then shows me how to put pepper slices into little glass jars so we can have orange peppers in the winter. It reminds me of the seasons we all have in life. The times of plenty and the times of very little. I am very grateful for the people who have walked with me in the hard times and reminded me of the changing of the seasons as we await another harvest.

the journey begins

It is hard to say the journey begins when you are in the middle of living life with 4 small children and a wonderful wife. Even so, the ground feels fresh and expectant. Twin baby boys have a way of making the days feel longer and two small energetic daughters have a way of brining the sunshine inside. Emma has started saying "hi" to everything she can... the dog, her dolls, the door, her blanket, people we pass when we are out. Ordinarily it isn't anything to smile about but when it is your daughter and you are observing her emergence into a speaking world... it's wonderful.

This is why I am beginning my blog. There are so many wonderful stories in life we allow to go untold. Can a few minutes and a blog make this world beautiful? I hope so. I am certain this blog will be full of me and I hope a lot of you. I invite you to share you journey with me as I share mine with you.