On the Level Ground

Sometime over the last few months with periodic times of forced rest, I began to think about the concept of “rhythm”. Now many of you know that one of my favorite music groups is the Rippingtons. Check them out at http://www.rippingtons.com/ and yes they could be described at times as “elevator music”; but, they got their name when someone described their improvisations as really “ripping”! Most of the time they maintain the rhythm of the song from start to finish. It’s the creative departures or enhancements of that rhythm that make them unique and a great band to listen to.

Now rhythm is a key component of most music. Rhythm is something we watch in the natural realm—it’s called “the seasons”. The best golf swing as a good rhythm. Well, you get the idea.

Now let’s look at how you and I were made to function. Our heart has a rhythm which it maintains. When the heart gets out of rhythm it is a major medical problem. What about how we live our life? Some say that we were made with a need for a rhythm that includes times of rest. I recently came across an article on HomileticsOnline.com that provides some reflections on the Sabbath. Take a look at these thoughts.

“Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work – you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns” (Exodus 20:8-10).

For most of us the suggestion that we should or even could clear our calendars once a week brings cynical smiles and/or wishful sighs. A whole day devoted to rooting ourselves in time and place, a time set aside for quietly and carefully landscaping our souls instead of bulldozing our way through the personal, economic, and professional stumps we face the rest of the week sounds almost frivolous. But as we have increasingly lost the art of “Sevening,” our lives have become more and more wound up, wounded and wrecked. It is not just America’s urban zombies who live in overscheduled, overmedicated, overmediated states of existence.

There is a natural rhythm to life. To work without a Sabbath leads to a dysrhythmic life replete with all sorts of dysrhythmic diseases – like chronic fatigue syndrome, pain, depression and low energy. Our Sabbath-less culture suffers from “timesickness” – where we have no time to do the important things – only time for frenetic runnings to-and-fro.

For too many of us we are engaged in doing “good” things, maybe even for the right reasons; but, we a re neglecting to attend to the rhythm of our lives. I pray that each of us may become more sensitive to our need for Sabbath time. The Scriptures command us to keep the Sabbath holy and I pray that we find new ways of taking a Sabbath rest both on Sundays and also on the other six days when Sunday isn’t an option. I think we can be more fruitful for the Kingdom of God when we consciously choose to live within the rhythm that God intended when He created not only the seven days of the week; but, you and I as well!

I am sure that you have watched with awe the events unfolding in the Middle East. It has been inspiring to see what people are willing to risk to be free. Even as I write this people are dying in the nation of Libya and elsewhere so that they and their children may live one day with the blessing of political liberty.

We live in reasonable proximity to many sites which were significant in the American Revolution. Visiting these places where men “pledged their sacred honor” never fails to make me thankful for the freedom that we enjoy in this country. It is so pathetically easy to be critical of our own country that I fear that many forget that we live in a truly blessed situation. To be sure the evils of Sin infect every area of daily life. Yet, that would be true in any setting one could choose around the globe.

We enjoy political freedom in a democratically governed nation. But we also have the potential for a greater freedom! In culling boos from my library that are to become Amazon fodder I came across a book I purchased in seminary. The title say it all: Jesus Means Freedom by the German author Ernst Kasemann. One commentator wrote: “As long as long as the world we live in is hell for most, what Kasemann has written will never grow old.”

If it takes the blood of hundreds or perhaps thousands to free a nation, ponder the power of a man and his blood that has set the world free! The tyranny which we need to escape is even more sinister and pervasive than a Mubarak or a Gadhafi. As the writer to the Hebrews said in Hebrews 2:1-4

1 So we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it. 2 For the message God delivered through angels has always stood firm, and every violation of the law and every act of disobedience was punished. 3 So what makes us think we can escape if we ignore this great salvation that was first announced by the Lord Jesus himself and then delivered to us by those who heard him speak? 4 And God confirmed the message by giving signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit whenever he chose. (New Living Translation)

Jesus blood “set the captives free”. We do need to be on guard that we will be attacked by our old enemy with the purpose of robbing us of our freedom in Christ. Read about the “foolish Galatians” and their continued attempts to validate their salvation by works. If we presume upon God’s grace poured out to us in Christ we are also guilty of ignoring God’s saving work. Either error is ultimately a way of undercutting the work of the cross. We are free in Jesus Christ in places in our soul that earthly, political freedom can never touch. May we live in the freedom which God gives us through the One who shed His blood that we would experience real freedom.

Shalom,
Rev. Gene W. McCallips

As we move towards Fall, many other kinds of transitions seem to be on the horizon than just the weather. The economy continues to display an uneven attempt to recover from the difficulties of the past year. Life on the Gulf Coast has not returned to normal despite (or because of) the efforts of business and government to attend to the lives who have been disrupted twice within a five year period by both natural and man-made disasters. Individuals and families around us testify to the pain and confusion that comes as part of the human condition. We struggle to find the “bright side” of situations near and distant that attack our faith and drain our energies.

This summer we have also seen and heard extravagant efforts to reach our community with the Good News of the Gospel. Our vacation Bible School was one of the most exciting in recent years. Human creativity was on full display as a witness to the presence of the Creator in our midst. We heard music in a variety of forms on Saturday nights and Sunday mornings that likewise testified to God’s incredible capacity to breathe creativity and beauty into and through human lives. We are on the cusp of beginning a new, cooperative effort with our Lutheran and Presbyterian brothers and sisters in Christ in the area of youth ministry. We will search for other ways in which to share ministry in the name of Christ

So, we can focus on all that is uncertain or difficult in our lives and in the world around us. Or we can understand that these things are indeed a part of life and choose to celebrate how God is at work in us and through us. Which would you choose today and tomorrow?
The Apostle Paul had these words of instruction in Philippians 2:13-15 (New Living Translation) 13 For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him. 14 Do everything without complaining and arguing, 15 so that no one can criticize you. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people.
So, let me encourage you and each one of us to choose to keep our eyes and hearts open to all that the world around us displays. People may behave in “crooked and perverse ways”. But these same people were once cooing, gentle babies who would never have thought to be hurtful in any way. That gentle soul may be buried deeply beneath layers of pain and bitterness and deceit. And we need to help people be accountable for their behavior. At the same time, let me encourage you to open your lives more fully each day to how God may choose to use His creative nature through you. Your love may well make an eternal difference in the lives of those you know and those you have yet to meet. To God be the glory.

I remember seeing the cartoon about the two boys with a line between them. One boy says, “I dare you to step over that line!” I always thought to myself: “That’s stupid, why step over the line when you know you’re just going to get into a fight??” In reality nations, friends and foes alike draw lines all the time. Some people get very good at drawing lines that set up boundaries. Some folks grow uncomfortable when there are not lines or boundaries.

God made the world to have natural boundaries—for instance the edge of the ocean meets the land at the sea shore. As we get ready to go to a boundary area at Bethany Beach, Delaware, I wonder why we are attracted to boundaries and so enraged by them at the same time?
Perhaps it’s because we want both freedom and security? Boundaries (lines in the sand) can serve good purposes as well as become walls which divide neighbors and nations. We like some lines and find others too restrictive.

The prophet Jeremiah was nicknamed the weeping prophet. His messages were painful reminders of Israel’s waywardness. He writes in Jeremiah 5:22 (The Message): “Why don’t you honor me? Why aren’t you in awe before me? Yes, me, who made the shorelines to contain the ocean waters. I drew a line in the sand that cannot be crossed. Waves roll in but cannot get through; breakers crash but that’s the end of them.”

In the New Living Translation the beginning of the verse is just as painful: “Have you no respect for me? Why don’t you tremble in my presence? I, the Lord, define the ocean’s sandy shoreline as an everlasting boundary that the waters cannot cross. The waves may toss and roar, but they can never pass the boundaries I set.” Imagine the Creator of all things needing to ask “Have you no respect for me?”

As a parent, I can remember feeling that way because boundaries (OK…lines in the sand) that I had drawn were not being respected. Was I angry? Yes, but before I was angry, I was hurt! Even though God does not need us to be complete, I believe that He has made Himself vulnerable to us! Think about that! The awesome God who made the heavens and the earth, who set the line in the sand at the seashore can be pained by our rebellion.

Knowing that I can break the heart of the Almighty makes me more cautious about creating lines of separation, especially within the Body of Christ. It also makes me want to respect the boundaries that He has set for me in order that I might live a life which pleases Him and which He can bless. Shalom.

As we move through The Grand Sweep of reading through the Bible in 2010, I am constantly surprised and inspired to revisit stories from the Scriptures. Living in a college town has it’s good points and bad points. My daughter recently observed that it was good to be doing an internship over in Mifflin County rather than State College. She said that it was giving her a taste of the “real world”. I guess she meant that we don’t live in the real world here in Happy Valley. And for that, most days, I am thankful. Our economy has been insulated to a large degree from the current economic downturn. I recently visited with some folks who suggested that it was nice to have a lot of big city amenities while still being able to get around the area in 15-20 minutes.

Young people bring a certain enthusiasm and freshness to their encounter with life that is contagious. Solomon observed in Ecclesiastes 12:6-7 (New Living Translation) :6 Yes, remember your Creator now while you are young, before the silver cord of life snaps and the golden bowl is broken. Don’t wait until the water jar is smashed at the spring and the pulley is broken at the well. 7 For then the dust will return to the earth, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.

Good counsel to someone of any age. We are all here for just a little while compared to eternity. And remembering that God is “our refuge, a very present help in times of trouble” is important. Yet isn’t it more important to allow Him entrance into our thoughts, to frame and control our desires and to move us to a life of thankful, joyful service to Him and others—especially when everything seems to be going along just fine?

Even though we celebrate our day of independence from political tyrants with fireworks and hot dogs—we do well to remember that we are made in the Image of a God who thoroughly loves us and wants to walk with us in a constant conversation of love.

The sun was behind the clouds; but, the effect was still blinding! I had just gotten behind the wheel of the car after being examined by my retinal surgeon. Even with the extra dark “freebie” sunglass insert they provide, I was having trouble taking the luminescence of the mid-May afternoon.

I had made the mistake of reinforcing what was already on my chart. I told the nurse that I was a bit difficult when it came to achieving the level of dilation required for the exam.

”Oh yes”, she said, “I see here it says 2x on the drops” After the first set of regular drops, she administered a set of the extra strength drops. And then after her initial tests for eye pressure and the like she gave me another set of the extra-strength drops for good measure. She asked me if I had brought someone along to drive me home. “No”, I assured her, “I’ve always driven myself home.” I’m a typical Central PA male. “What’s a little fuzziness when you’re just going right home?” I thought.

I also thought that they would still have to give me something more, like they had in the past. Wow, was I surprised! These must have been the mega version of eye drops. The doctor’s light looked like a blazing sun. Otherwise the exam went smoothly and I was out the door quickly in comparison to previous visits.

Now I was behind the wheel and approaching the street. As I came to the stop sign, prepared to squint and go, a car dipped into the parking lot, cutting the angle of her approach so that I would have surely hit her had I pulled out from the stop sign. The car behind her followed the same path. “Good thing I’m watching what’s going on”, I thought, “Even if I can’t see!”

Then I began to think about the times that I cut corners when driving. And then, without asking for it, a flood of pictures came showing me that I cut corners all the time…and not just when I’m driving!

The recent debacle of corporate and governmental cooperation in the Gulf of Mexico seems to be a case study on what can happen when we cut corners. Without adequate planning and provision for the unexpected—disaster is always one slip or break away. I think of the beautiful beaches I saw in Mississippi and Dauphin Island, Alabama that are now littered with wildlife casualties of this accident.

How much different would that situation, my driving and everything else be if we took the Apostle Paul’s suggestion to heart when he wrote: “Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way.” Colossians 3:17 (The Message) ??

Oil rigs and their piping would be constructed to higher standards with adequate testing of all safety systems. Drivers (myself included) would not cut corners and cause accidents. In everything that we do, we would not cut corners to save time and/or money. Quality would be our goal because we would be doing everything “as unto the Lord”.

Yes, there would still be accidents. And reasonable compromises and decisions would always be made regarding making a Chevrolet vs. a BMW. But if no one cut corners dishonestly to serve their own selfish agendas…what a world it would be!

What is evangelism?  I guess that’s sort of an old word, huh? Maybe a little out of fashion? The images that come to most people’s minds are simultaneously, terrifying and shame producing. We see ourselves standing on a street corner and trying to force paper or Bibles into un-responsive hands and lives. We know that while God may sometimes still use mass-distribution techniques, we are not comfortable being part of them by and large. Nor are we convinced that such avenues are effective in our day for most people. Cold call salesman are now few and far between and primarily unproductive.

More troubling for most of us is the sense that we would not want to be caught dead peddling God in this fashion. It doesn’t take long for the guilt to set in and before we know it we have succumbed to a voice that is intent on telling us that we are not and never will be the person that God made us to be. The downward spiral can be devastating.

So if the culture around us had changed dramatically since we casually talked about the evangelistic efforts of our congregation (which we mostly limited to Fall and Spring “revivals” where we held evening services for the members) what are the best ways to reach our fellow neighbors, co-workers, friends and family members with the life-changing truth of the Gospel??

Listen to this song and Bill Hybels’ description of what it taught him.

We often make a whole host of assumptions about “pre-Christian” persons. Perhaps we set up barriers that we can’t see but that are abundantly visible to these persons when we describe them as “lost”. Are they “lost”? Indeed, if we want to retain biblical language then we can say that they are “lost”. But would it not be more important to frame our communications in ways that are tailored to the ears of those about whom we do care.

When I am convinced that I have discovered truth, then I am willing to share this truth and eager to see the resulting liberation and joy which it produces. When I choose to see the ones that I am speaking to as a pilgrim on a similar journey, I can use the same manner and enthusiasm that I would in sharing the latest iPhone app! And it will be received as a friend sharing something that is significant and helpful. Of course we need to make sure that we do not water down the claims of the gospel to resemble the latest new detergent or skin cleanser.

But when you remember your early days of exploring what it meant to be a Christian…did you understand that what Jesus offered and what he asked for would be so life-changing and life-centering. Most likely not. But you have grown to where you are now. And you and I will continue to grow in our understanding of the depth of God’s grace and the richness of the response proportionate to such Love. Let’s give those a bit behind us on the journey the opportunity for such growth as well!

It’s a privilege to be able to travel during the changes in the seasons. I remember my first trip to Mississippi following Hurricane Katrina. I was struck by watching Spring come, not in a matter of weeks; but, hours. Over the 17 or so hours of travel I witnessed the greening of the earth. On the return trip I got a dose of Central PA reality as I watched Spring recede as we moved north.
Yesterday, I traveled to Mt. Asbury United Methodist Retreat Center in Cumberland County for a continuing education session of helping churches with transitions in pastoral leadership. (Nothing to get too excited about—the Bishop and Cabinet want me to do one or two three-session meetings with incoming and outgoing pastors and congregational leaders for churches which have a pastoral transition after either a long pastorate or following difficult circumstances.) On my return trip I decided that I would avoid the hub-bub of the Harrisburg West Shore area @ 4:00 in the afternoon. Anyone who has ever lived in that area can tell you that you do not want to be on the road at that time if you can help.
I decided to travel the back roads as far north as I could manage. I had no PA map (got to rectify that one), no GPS (hey, I’m in Central PA!), No Google or Yahoo Maps. Man this is what it used to be like! Follow your nose. I know the mountain ridges run roughly East to West, So, if I keep making turns through the valleys that take me towards the mountains I can find the roads that split the gaps…no problem, right?
I passed under I-81 at the Newville exit and felt immediately free! I continued across the Ritner Highway (also known as US-11 as it ran from Carlisle to Shippensburg). I was headed through Newville and resisted the temptation to find a restaurant that we used to go to that made killer filled donuts! As I continued north towards Doubling Gap, I was reminded of the Cumberland Valley’s substantial width as I saw the sign “Doubling Gap-7 miles”. The road eventually wound up the south side of the gap, passing both Colonel Denning State Park and the Church of God retreat center . Take a look at this link for a view of the grand old building – http://campyolijwa.org/
I descended into Perry County and saw an ambulance and a man sitting by the side of the road near a well drilling rig. I prayed for him as I continued down into the valley. Farm after farm passed by and I began to wonder where I was in western Perry County. I knew the eastern part of the county pretty well; but, this felt unfamiliar and a little confusing.
In Landisburg, I picked up PA-850 and followed it until I intersected PA-17. Now I knew where I was! I took PA-17 into Ickesburg and turned left onto PA-74. Alas, the soft ice cream stand I remembered must have been on the south side of the village. I climbed the Tuscarora Mt. through a gap that afforded spectacular views. Hawks soared parallel with me on the Juniata County side as a descended again into the valley. I remembered a day when God’s hand of protection guided me through a 180° turn that I had somehow forgotten. I picked up PA-75 and was in Port Royal quickly. I decided though to take PA 333 along the western shore of the Juniata River in hopes of finding a soft-ice cream stand open that I remembered being in Mifflin. (Is there a theme here?) No luck again. So, I headed for Arch Rock and the intersection with US322.
Spring receded as I came north. Once again it was late winter. The yellow forsythia that I saw blooming in Cumberland County are a couple weeks away from showing their colors here in Centre County.
Sometimes it’s helpful to remember that we are all in different places too on our life’s journey. What’s blooming in one life, may not have even broken through the ground in another life—but it’s there waiting just the same. Sometimes we gain perspective on who we are by remembering as well. Our lives also feel like wanderings rather than direct, straight line trips much of the time. I found myself praying a lot about which way to turn at intersections. As I reviewed the map this morning, I think I probably heard correctly most of the time and really wonder about a couple turns I made. But who knows! Maybe I wasn’t supposed to have that ice cream!

Well, I guess the first step in a journey is often the most difficult. So here goes. We’d like to make this a pertinent part of our website. So, please make suggestions about what/how you’d like to see this blog used. Thanks!