Walking in Good Works

For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.

Ephesians 2:10

When I was growing up, we recited a prayer at the end of worship each week  that asked God, among other things, “to assist us with your grace, that we may . . . do all such good works as thou hast prepared for us to walk in.” As a small child, I loved those words, even though I couldn’t imagine exactly what walking in good works might look like.

As I’ve lived into that prayer, I’ve realized that good works aren’t so much events along the path of discipleship as they are the path itself. Scripture and prayer guide us. Worship draws our hearts to God. But good works form us.

As I act kindly, responding with caring to people’s needs becomes more natural, and I become kinder. As I give of my money and time, it hurts less to let go, and I become more generous. I may grit my teeth to be patient with someone, but I begin to grit them a shorter time, as God’s Spirit leads me to see myself in the other’s shoes.

I don’t put bumper stickers on my car. The only one that has ever tempted me reads, “Be patient. God isn’t through with me yet.” And the good works God gives me to walk in are how God continues to mold me.

God’s peace,

Katie

Transforming Learning

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Romans 12:2

As we are transformed by the Holy Spirit, Christians think differently. We think about different things, and we use a different framework for thinking. While it can be important to learn about the Bible and theology and, in my case, gardening, the point of learning is to be able to “discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Christians take learning to a different level by asking how it can enable us to become the people God has made us to be – and to do the particular things God calls us to do. (Yes, I know, sometimes, particularly in school, we have to learn things we can’t imagine will be of any use. And we may be right. Some studies only increase our patience and endurance.)

As my garden has grown in size and fruitfulness, I have learned a lot, but my purpose isn’t just to raise lots of great tomatoes (as good as those are). I learn and relearn things that transform me. Even if I do all the right things, the plant may not grow. Growth is up to God and the plant. But I can nurture. I can cooperate with God. I can be in awe of the complexity of how plants grow and the intricacy of God’s creation. I can experience how my life is related to all of life. I can, in some tiny, tiny way, become less of a drain on the planet’s food supply and more aware of those who don’t have a minimal diet. In knowing my limits and entering into what God is bringing forth from the ground, I find peace and joy that I take with me as a pastor.

What learning renews your mind and helps you grow into the will of God for you?

God's peace,

Katie

Building by Generation

According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it. Each builder must choose with care how to build on it. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ. 

1 Corinthians 3:10-11

Several years ago, I spent much of a day at a homestead that has been in a branch of my family since the 1800s. It is timber land, and I was walking through it with a forester, planning to harvest some very tall hardwood trees. Then the forester pointed out good places to plant new seedlings.

Suddenly I was overcome by the realization that my brother and I were about to harvest trees planted by people we had never met – and we were about to plant trees that would be cut down by people we almost certainly would never know. The land and its trees belonged to generations past, present and to come. We were temporary caretakers.

As Christians, we are building on a foundation laid down long ago by Paul and others who first proclaimed the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Now it is our turn to build. We don’t have to lay a foundation. That is sure and strong. And we don’t have to do someone else’s part, just the part – widely known or barely seen -- that is ours in the time and place we live. 

We have the opportunity to “choose with care how to build” on the foundation, or we can choose not to. But we each have gifts given to us by God, and if we don’t offer them, something is missing that Christ wants to give the world. So it is our turn to answer the question, “How does God want me to build for the sake of the Gospel and the world?”

God’s peace,

Katie 

Tedious Offerings

Whatever your task, put yourselves into it, as done for the Lord.

Colossians 3:23

When I began this blog, I asked pastors and others to offer scripture verses they wish had been more familiar to them in college. One respected colleague sent this one. A good choice because just about every situation comes with tasks or demands we would rather avoid, pastors included. And sometimes God uses them in ways we may not imagine at the time.

Thirteen or fourteen years ago, when I was on staff at a church near DFW Airport, where American Airlines has a hub, that airline had a plane crash in Arkansas. Suddenly I realized how many in our congregation worked for airlines and that, even though no church members had been involved in this incident, there might be a “someday.” 

So I spent a significant part of two days tagging everyone I knew worked for an airline in the church database and asking church staff and airline personnel to name others. Tediously entering material into a database is not one of those glorious occupations most pastors dream of when we answer God’s call. But I knew it needed to be done “just in case.”

A couple of years later, immediately after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, I could call and e-mail the airline people we knew about. As they responded, they let me know where they were and how they were, I gave them news of colleagues, and they identified other airline employees, so that we could widen the circle of caring. I was so thankful for those tags!

I knew I was working on the database “for the Lord,” but how many times do I, or you, miss the opportunity to turn an unwelcome task into a way to offer ourselves to God? In my case, lots of times.

God’s peace,

Katie

Tired Prayer

The Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes  with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

Romans 8:26-27

I don’t need a calendar to know it is mid-semester. Signs of sleep deprivation are all around. Bleary- eyed students mutter about papers and projects due and exams that are a large percentage of a grade. They are tired, in some cases exhausted – a word that literally means “drained.”

With weary brains and bodies, we may unable to form words for prayer. But we can pray by resting in God, by offering our tiredness and our inability to voice even our own needs, much less those of others. We can simply let ourselves be still in God’s presence.

Scripture promises that the Holy Spirit helps us in our weariness. When we are too exhausted to find words, the Spirit connects our trusting hearts to God and our prayer is perfected.

We may even fall asleep in the process, resting peacefully before God and letting God restore us.

God’s peace,

Katie

Cheering for Victory

As for me, I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

2 Timothy 4:6-8 

2 Timothy pictures Paul near the end of his life in a prison cell, awaiting execution – about to be “poured out” as a final offering of his life to Christ. He rejoices in his discipleship as if he has been a victorious athlete. He has “fought the good fight.” He has “finished the race.” He has “kept the faith.”

Yesterday with friends and family, I saw to some of the most exciting football I can remember. The players were giving it their all. They didn’t always succeed but not for lack of trying. As we watched them strain for excellence, we yelled with excitement when they moved the ball forward and with disappointment when they didn’t. We were not distracted.

It’s hard to imagine being as excited about following Jesus as those players were about their games? Could you or I possibly approach scripture with the concentration a kicker gives to the ball and goalposts?  

What about when we are in the audience? Can we cheer excitedly for someone who takes a step forward in discipleship or exhibits faithfulness in serving others?

Athletics can be a wonderful opportunity to push ourselves – or, more often, to watch others demonstrate the strength, grace and skill God has given them. It’s also a glorious image of what discipleship can look like.

God’s peace,

Katie

A Calming Place

O LORD, my heart is not lifted up, my eyes are not raised too high;   

I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.

But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother;  

my soul is like the weaned child that is with me.

O Israel, hope in the LORD from this time on and forevermore.

Psalm 131

I love this Psalm, but why, I have wondered, a weaned child, when a mother and nursing child seem the essence of intimacy? Then it hit me. A weaned child is not in his mother’s arms out of necessity. She is not there to satisfy hunger pangs. He does not need to be carried from place to place. She doesn’t have to have comfort, but, oh, she wants to be sheltered. In her mother’s arms, she can calm and quiet his soul.

Some days our hearts are naturally lifted up. Sometimes it is good to raise our sights high. We may be awed at times to contemplate things “too great and too marvelous” for us to comprehend fully. But when our hearts are heavy, when the tasks before us seem overwhelming, when we are weary, we are welcomed into God’s arms, into God’s presence, to calm and quiet our souls. Our prayer may be simply, "Shelter me."

Occasionally a toddler will stay in his mother’s arms for a lengthy time. More often, the child is there for a few, very important moments of reassurance and then is off to run and play. When our souls are battered, we may need to rest in God at length, but, even when a day is going well, it is good to let loving arms embrace us for a moment of reassurance.

God’s peace,

Katie

Holy Pleasure

It is good to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praises to your name, O Most High;

to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night,

to the music of the lute and the harp, to the melody of the lyre. 

For you, O LORD, have made me glad by your work; at the works of your hands I sing for joy.

Psalm 92:1-4

While preparing a Bible study, I read, “. . . there is nothing better for human beings than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live.” (Ecclesiasties 3:12) That sounds like embracing a life of pleasure for pleasure’s sake alone. But Ecclesiastes continues, “Moreover, it is God’s gift that all should eat, drink and enjoy the results of all their toil.” Enjoying – literally drawing joy into our lives – by appreciating the things and events around us is a gift from God.

Some streams of Christian thought worry that too much pleasure will lead us to center our life on earthly things instead of God. But scripture sees enjoyment as a way of connecting with God as we give thanks for God’s works. It is hard, if not impossible, to give genuine thanks to God if we do not delight in what we are thanking God for.

The writer of this Psalm sings for joy at God’s gifts, serenading with lute and harp and lyre. Celebrating God’s works can make each gift we receive – from a cool drink of water to a child at play to a glorious sunset – an occasion for worship. Delighting in a lunch we are about to eat, a game well played, or a subject that becomes clear to us after much struggle doesn’t take a long time, but it does require a moment of appreciating the gift and letting our hearts smile. What would our lives be like if we took “joy breaks” often? What if they became a way of life?

God’s peace,

Katie

Sanctified Distress

Since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

Romans 5:1-5

Most of us would like to be filled with hope, but we would rather avoid a path to it that begins with suffering. Paul does not suggest that suffering is sent by God to help us grow. We certainly do not need to seek out misery as an opportunity for self-improvement. Suffering will come to us at times through the actions and attitudes of others or through circumstances we cannot avoid. Scripture does not promise we will never hurt.

It does promise that, amid our sufferings, the Holy Spirit will be at work within us, building strength we will carry forward to other challenges. As we endure by God’s grace, we will develop character – a way of being in the world, an outlook of heart and mind – that relies on God’s grace and welcomes the Holy Spirit’s work. When we rely on God grace within us, we learn to look with hope for the good God will bring forth even in hard circumstances. Our sufferings become more about God’s track record than our own.

Scripture promises that God is always at work, even in the worst times, to remake us into the image of Christ. The hymn “How Firm a Foundation” puts God’s promise this way, “I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless and sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.”

God’s peace,

Katie