Intro:
In my experience, a significant part of living as a child of God is being attentive to life. It is in listening carefully and prayerfully to all the various sounds going on inside and around, to all the various voices and calls, to all the various situations and circumstances, to the thoughts and emotions both within and without. And then trying to hear and see where God is working, what whispers are from God, how He is nudging or prodding or leading. It is sort of a “collect and synthesize” exercise, simply about being attentive to life and trying to see God in the middle of it all.
Now that is no way an alternative to being attentive to God in Scripture. Indeed, if we only do the listening to God through reflecting on life we are the people Paul describes in Rom 1: “20 For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God. 21 Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. 22 Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. 23 And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles.”
So as I talk about attentiveness to God in life, that must, absolutely must, be hand-in-hand with our attentiveness to God as He speaks through His word. In fact, it makes it more important to be in God’s word and grounded in God’s word or we will very quickly and easily “think up foolish ideas” and easily become “dark and confused”. The emotions we feel in life and in attentiveness to life are powerful, but they are not truth. The thoughts we think in life and in attentiveness to life are powerful, but they are not truth. God’s word is truth, and through God’s word we have the only tools for being properly attentive to God in our lives.
With that very clearly in front of us, let me return to the original thought, of being attentive to life, and I hope you will indulge me a bit as I share some personally and some corporately.
“Swirls”:
As I seek to be attentive to life, here are some of the “swirls” I identify and am listening to:
• repair
• “I am doing a new thing”
• Experiencing God’s glory
• Leadership Summit
• “the bottom 1/8th of the tank”; Sabbath and rest
• light on a hill
Repair:
Obviously, the single largest item has been the repair of our facility, which continues to near completion. And as we emerge from the crisis, the conversation is beginning to shift to the “what is God doing through this?” reflection. Ken and I had numerous conversations over the past few days along these line, as he and I continue to steward the completion, and we agreed that this event has been sort of a defining moment (if a “moment” can last for more than a year!). The Leadership Summit caused us to reflect on a few specific questions, like “how can we make sure we leverage this event for the glory of God and the growth of His Kingdom”; or “what would be the worst case scenario going forward”. The key questions, yet to be answered, are along the lines of “God, what are You doing/wanting to do through this?”
What does Scripture have to do with our repair? A lot, actually. In my study and reflection on God’s glory, I’ve been struck by the story of the building of the tabernacle in Exodus. It is a very long section of Exodus, it begins in chapter 25 and doesn’t end until chapter 40 (though it isn’t all about the building of the tabernacle, there are a few other incidents mingled in, that is the major theme of the whole section). Finally, at the end of chapter 40, here is what we read: “So at last Moses finished the work. 34 Then the cloud covered the Tabernacle, and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle. 35 Moses could no longer enter the Tabernacle because the cloud had settled down over it, and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle. 36 Now whenever the cloud lifted from the Tabernacle, the people of Israel would set out on their journey, following it. 37 But if the cloud did not rise, they remained where they were until it lifted. 38 The cloud of the Lord hovered over the Tabernacle during the day, and at night fire glowed inside the cloud so the whole family of Israel could see it. This continued throughout all their journeys.”
Now of course God didn’t need a tent. And He doesn’t need our church building. In fact we know and are reminded that the “church” is not the physical building but rather the people of God in community. But there is also a reality that a physical building matters, that there continue to be “holy places” and “sanctuaries” and, in the truest form of the word, “facilities”. God has chosen, throughout history and still today, to reveal Himself to His people as they gather together – and that “gathering together” obviously requires a physical place to gather. I love the first line of that Scripture – “at last Moses finished the work” – and I can’t wait until we can say the same. And I don’t have a promise from God that His “cloud” will settle and His glory will fill this physical place like it did in the Tabernacle, but I pray it will be so. And that leads into the second “swirl”:
“I am doing a new thing”:
We spent the summer in Isaiah 40-44, feeling the promises of God speaking to us, and leading into our church retreat at the beginning of September. That came directly out of Scripture, specifically Is 43:19 – “19 For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?”
It’s a powerful promise, one that I have watched take hold in people’s hearts and spirits. It is a potent vision, one of re-awakening, of new life, of power to engage life with purpose and joy, of God once again pouring His Spirit out among His people in a new way. We have begun to see signs of this, and we believe they are just beginnings and that there is much, much more. At our retreat we celebrated some of these beginnings, with a number of people sharing very powerful experiences of God, and of us collectively experiencing joy together, play together, a sense of freedom together, and that neat thing that happens as God moves which we might call re-energization or hope or optimism or faith – whatever we call it, it is about believing that God is present and acting and good and is doing good things among us. And it isn’t just about our retreat – we’ve sensed it and felt it in our worship together as well, as we’ve “raised the bar” of our expectations as a whole community including the call to come and spend 15 minutes each week preparing to worship, so that when we begin at 10am we are already settled, already transitioned from the many other things swirling around us, and we’ve chosen to ready ourselves to meet God in worship. Our worship teams have “raised the bar” as well, and have risen to the challenge to bring and lead and offering of worship that is carefully crafted and well rehearsed and bathed in prayer and listening to God. It is really making a difference!
We believe this “new thing”. None of us have been able to really “nail it down”, but we are ok with the process. We aren’t exactly sure what this “new thing” is, but we know it is coming and we know it will be good and we know that all of us are and will be a part of allowing it, engaging it, and responding to God as He reveals Himself in it and as He empowers us to obey and welcome and live out this new thing.
We can’t lose sight of this. We can’t slip back into old patterns. We can’t get in the way of the changes God wants to make in us, individually and collectively. Because the promise ahead is too good, and the cost of missing out – both to us and to a desperate world – is simply too great.
Experiencing God’s Glory:
The next swirl is a part of the previous one – all of these intersect and interact – but I mention it distinct from the previous one. It is the idea of “experiencing God’s glory”, and is a major theme of Scripture. This flowed out of the “new thing” God is doing, and we began to study it in September, took a little break for Thanksgiving and then last week when I was away, and I intent to return to it.
About as far as we got was starting to think about what it is, and what might keep us from experiencing God’s glory. We brainstormed some things that get in the way (flip chart), and I think the next step as we continue to explore this idea is to help us believe it is worth it. A couple of weeks ago I said this:
“There is something really fundamental here, which I have been feeling throughout the last few weeks of talking about God’s glory. It is hard to describe, hard to nail down, hard to articulate, because it is an expression of the very being of God, and that is too much for me to understand. God is so infinitely more than I can imagine or describe. He is so powerful. So holy. So big. So completely “other”. And when we talk about the glory of God, we are talking about a tiny glimpse of who God really is. He is a pillar of smoke and fire, a God who leads His people across a dry sea and who then unleashes that sea and drowns the mighty Pharaoh and his entire army. This fundamental thing is that God is God – huge and powerful and beyond my ability to describe or contain – and His glory fills the whole earth and the whole universe and all time. My vision of God is puny, reduced to a nice guy who can do great stuff sometimes when he chooses. But then we see God’s glory!
What is the result of seeing the glory of God? Remember I started with that question? What is the result? We feel small, and that is a good thing. Because we see a bit of who God is, and it is bigger than we usually imagine as we go about life day by day with our own needs and wants and desires clogging our thoughts and occupying our attention. The result of seeing the glory of God is a re-alignment of perspectives about what matters, about who is in control, about what makes life worth living.
That thought kind of scares us, so sometimes we shrink away from thinking about God like this. We are afraid that if we really are so small compared to God, then that will make us insignificant. But the opposite is actually true: as our understanding of God grows and we begin to see Him truly in His glory, then the fact that He loves us actually makes us more significant. What happens is that we are first overwhelmed with who God is, and then overwhelmed again that this God would number the hairs on my head, would count me more valuable than the birds of the air and the flowers of the ground, would send His one and only Son so that we could be forgiven and free.
The alternative is not good – the alternative to recognizing and seeing God in His true glory is that we then manufacture for ourselves a smaller, more predictable, more manageable God. And God does not want that for us! That smaller God is a lie, and that lie leads us down a dangerous road away from the true God.”
In this “swirl”, I believe God is stretching us and we have to be willing to follow. Our fears about what it might mean have to be overcome by our belief of how good it will be. When we study Scripture and see the times God reveals His glory, every time the result is good, every time the people involved feel an initial fear but then an incredible reality of how good God is and how privileged they are to have experienced God, and then they respond in powerful ways that shaped people and changed their world.
I don’t know how to manufacture experiences of God’s glory – there is no magic formula for this where we do “x” and “y” and it equals “experiencing God’s glory”. But I do know how to challenge and lead us to an openness, a willingness, a longing, and a preparedness. I hope you will embrace it with us.
Leadership Summit:
I started thinking about all these various “swirls” during the Leadership Summit this past Thursday and Friday. This annual event is something God has used in the past to encourage and energize and excite me. This year it didn’t very much, mostly because of the next swirl, but it was still a valuable time. It reminded me of the vastness of God’s Kingdom and that God continues to change lives, it reminded me that God is the hope of the world and that He has chosen to make the local church His dwelling and has entrusted His message to us and He has placed us in communities all over the world with a message to steward and to share, and thus by extension the local church is the hope of the world. These ideas swirl in with the “new thing” and the “glory of God” and the “light on a hill” swirls. And there were some really great sessions, which we will find some ways to share with you in the next few months.
“the bottom 1/8th of the tank”:
This is a more personal “swirl”, and it is a car analogy. This is today’s “Dustin”:
I do know how to read a gas gauge, and mine is in the bottom 1/8th of the tank. Maybe 1/16th . And here is the glorious part of this swirl: it is ok. It is ok with me and God, and thus far it is ok with me and you. I feel great grace and affirmation from you, great encouragement to make it through and then find restoration. There are important things going on here, and I don’t have to push them or drive them, in fact it has been ok even if I don’t engage with them because I don’t have much to give. The Leadership Summit was not a spiritual high, and that was ok because I have this affirmation from God and this encouragement from you that it is ok that I am weak at the moment. I know what I need – to finish this major repair project and then take a break. I’m not exactly sure yet how that swirl intersects with the others, but it is real and I felt I needed to share it.
Is there Scripture that would support this? Remember my earlier point, that attentiveness to life must be under the authority of Scripture. Yes, in many places. The principle of Sabbath underscores this, the many promises of rest and restoration by God, etc… They are many, and deserve mention.
Light on a Hill:
The final thread or swirl is this, in the words of Jesus from Matt 5: “14 “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. 15 No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.”
The swirl is this: we cannot be just a group that gets together and focuses on ourselves. The light of Christ cannot be hidden within these walls, it must be “placed on a stand” so that everyone can see. This repaired building is not just for us. The “new thing” will not be just for us. “Experiencing God’s glory” will not be just for us. The Summit reminded me that the church is not just for us. Even my weakness is an opportunity for God to shine His light. Our Elders continue to engage this conversation, and led a congregation-wide conversation this past Wednesday around this conversation. And it is deeply encouraging to me, that we continue to seek and ask and desire to serve and be a part of God’s great mission to redeem all of humanity from sin and into life.
Conclusion:
We are going to end a little differently today. I’ve had two main purposes – first to suggest that a vital part of being a child of God is living with an attentiveness to life that enables us to see and hear where God at work amongst all the “swirls” around us, and to then make sure that we allow Scripture to rule over our interpretation of what God is saying and doing. Second, to keep us thinking and praying and seeking God in the various “swirls” I have identified in our gathered life. Today we are not going to close with a song and then head out for coffee. Instead, I want to leave you with two very broad questions: As you are attentive to your life, what is God saying?; and As you are attentive to the life of our church, what is God saying your part needs to be? I’d like you to reflect on those, and then take it one step further: share your responses with someone else either right now or before you go to sleep tonight. Take the time you need, and whenever you are done the coffee and conversation is waiting in the foyer.
