4jlkelly

Category: Lent

  • Transgression. Day 6 of Lent. Stay in your lane.

    TRANSGRESSION. Day 6 of Lent. Stay in your lane.

    Stay in your lane. #lent #lent2015

    To transgress is the action of going beyond or overstepping some boundary or limit

    Michael Massa explained, “Transgression is to move against. We move against others because we are more powerful than others, or at least we think we are. Power is needed for protection, but it also gives us an ability to transgress that we would otherwise not have. Out transgressions can be / are forgiven, but to prevent transgressing – intentionally or carelessly – we need to continually be on guard not only against the power of sin, but also against our own power over others.”

    God made the boundaries in creation.  Jeremiah 5:22 “Should you not fear me?” declares the LORD. “Should you not tremble in my presence? I made the sand a boundary for the sea, an everlasting barrier it cannot cross. The waves may roll, but they cannot prevail; they may roar, but they cannot cross it.”

    God stated the moral boundaries in the ten commandments let’s call those the lanes on the highway.  He  gave man a  soul thermostat called conscious let’s call that the brakes and accelerator. Then Christ pronounced the summation of all the commands like this, “Love God. Love others.”  Love is the steering wheel.

    Love for God and for others keeps you from transgressing-moving out against others and overpowering them to get your way.

    Stay in your lane.

     

     

  • FORGIVENESS. Day 5 of lent. The Gospel of Grace.

    #FORGIVENESS. Day 5 of #lent.

    forgiveness

    A definition for forgiveness could be — giving up my right to hurt you, for hurting me. – Releasing your debt to me.

    We forgive because we have been forgiven by God (Ephesians 4:32). We forgive in obedience to God (Matthew 6:14-15; Romans 12:18). We forgive so we won’t become bitter and defile those around us (Hebrews 12:14-15).
    God is faithful to forgives us. 1 John 1:9
    Robert Muller said, “To forgive is the highest, most beautiful form of love.” Today I connected God’s love to His forgiveness.  I rested in how much God loves me instead of how often I disappoint Him.
    To lived loved we must be faithful to forgive our self as God has forgiven us.
    This statement from Brennan Manning is one of my favorites

    Because salvation is by grace through faith, I believe that among the countless number of people standing in front of the throne and in front of the Lamb, dressed in white robes and holding palms in their hands (see Revelation 7:9), I shall see the prostitute from the Kit-Kat Ranch in Carson City, Nevada, who tearfully told me that she could find no other employment to support her two-year-old son. I shall see the woman who had an abortion and is haunted by guilt and remorse but did the best she could faced with grueling alternatives; the businessman besieged with debt who sold his integrity in a series of desperate transactions; the insecure clergyman addicted to being liked, who never challenged his people from the pulpit and longed for unconditional love; the sexually abused teen molested by his father and now selling his body on the street, who, as he falls asleep each night after his last “trick”, whispers the name of the unknown God he learned about in Sunday school.

    “But how?” we ask.

    Then the voice says, “They have washed their robes and have made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

    There they are.

    There we are – the multitude who so wanted to be faithful, who at times got defeated, soiled by life, and bested by trials, wearing the bloodied garments of life’s tribulations, but through it all clung to faith.

    My friends, if this is not good news to you, you have never understood the gospel of grace.” ~Brennan Manning from the Ragamuffin Gospel

  • SEED. Day 4 of Lent. Scatter Grow Gather.

    #SEED. Day 4 of #Lent.  Scatter Grow Gather.

    SEED The sower by Garrett Walker

    There is a cycle in my life that follows this rhythm with each new season.
    Scatter. Grow. Gather.

    So when I think on a seed, just a tiny speck of matter.
    A bit of hope. A potential beginning.
    Symbolized by the Word of God, so a truth.
    Spoken to us if we’re listening. Ready to be ‘planted’ or acted upon. With faith and obedience, perseverance and care.
    God calls us to grow. But the process is strange.

    “Listen carefully: Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never any more than a grain of wheat. But if it is buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over. In the same way, anyone who holds on to life just as it is destroys that life. But if you let it go, reckless in your love, you’ll have it forever, real and eternal.” John 12:24

    To grow we can’t hold on to life just as it is. Seasons change.
    From the Father’s hands we are scattered.

    Relocated. Rearranged.  Re-positioned.
    Taken from one season and dispersed into another.
    Called forward.
    Reminded we can’t go back.

    In faith alone, we trust.
    We are a seed.  DUST. Fragile and frail.  A tiny speck of matter.
    We PROCLAIM Christ as our priority and trusting Him as THE WAY we are to go we believe in His faithful process.

    We die to self.  We let go.

    Of homes. And children. And expectations.
    Of old ways. The familiar. What was comfortable.
    Of leadership. Positions. People. And places.
    And it is dark and still and feels like death.

    There is denial. Then doubt. Dismay and grief.

    It is new. All so very new.
    And we are so weak here.

    Fragile. Frail. Afraid.
    A seed. Just a tiny speck of matter. A bit of hope. A potential beginning.  Grows. Spirit urges us out. And up.
    And as we surface something new begins.

    We grow.
    And the season cycles. In its highs and lows.
    As we bear fruit here.

    Gathered into a harvest for His glory.
    gathered harvest

  • SIGN. Day 3 of Lent. The Way.

    SIGN. Day 3 of Lent. THE WAY.

    chi ro tattoo peace SIGN #lent

    Directional signs are everywhere.

    Directional Signs.
    We watch for them. They get us where we are going.
    But sometimes we can think, “If I just change my circumstances – get out of this church, job, school- or change my relationships- get out of this marriage, friendship, work situation- I’ll finally be happy, free, satisfied.” We let our feelings ‘direct’ our movement out, around or away from a dissatisfying environment. We exit here. Go our way.

    Yet, wherever we go, there we are.

    We find the new direction just took us back to the same old place.
    Here we are again.
    Finding freedom is never about our outward circumstances.
    It is about becoming transformed within our circumstances.
    We have to know ourselves and know our God to find the way.
    And that journey takes some direction to learn what it means to be free from ourselves and transformed.
    Jesus says I am The WAY.

    #Lent day 3 SIGN mark with meaning 4jlkelly.wordpress.com

    Jesus recognized the dead end problem of “here we are again”.
    He came to make a way to replace our old self with a new self that is free. He says the way for you to be free from yourself is to think differently afterwards. Repent.
    But we first have to see the contrast of what we repeatedly try to do and what Christ is really asking us to do.

    Jesus calls us to think differently.

    We continually try to think different – by changing the content of what we think. Our thoughts are this-stop gossiping, start praying, stop cursing, start encouraging. We’re still eating from the tree of good and evil where we exchange evil for good. When we just think different all we are doing is trying harder. We get stuck in a vicious cycle. Driven to find a way out, we pursue an escape and the direction “out” lead us into the very thing that has us trapped. Then the cycle begins again and the continuing dynamic leads many into deeper bondage and dissatisfaction. Been there?

    Jesus says that self-effort is the dead end way.

    To think differently refers to the way in which we think.

    THE WAY in which we think is to renew our minds and be transformed in Christ.  But how do we think differently.
    We just abide in Christ and His Word.
    We seek first Christ.
    Focus on Christ as our priority not the circumstances or self effort.
    Then, mysteriously Spirit helps us change the focusing lenses over our eyes and the filters of our ears. When we see and hear things differently it becomes almost impossible to do things the same way-the dead end way- of before.

    Jesus spoke about THE WAY like this, “Repent.”
    Think differently afterwards because “the Kingdom of God is at hand.” Here. With you. In you. Around you. Here is the love and power of Christ.  I AM THE WAY.

    I AM with you. Always.

    The SIGN of that is simple. Peace.
    The Presence of Christ in me.
    Chi Ro encircled.

    Jesus Christ is THE WAY of Peace.

    Chi Ro the sign of Christ

     “I certainly still remember him; Therefore My heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him,” declares the LORD.
    “Set up for yourself road marks, Place for yourself guideposts;
    Direct your mind to the highway, The way by which you went.
    Return, O virgin of Israel, Return to these your cities.
    “How long will you go here and there, O faithless daughter?
    For the LORD has created a new thing in the earth–
    A woman will encompass a man.” Jeremiah 31:20-22

    “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.”        Isaiah 7: 14

  • Ash Wednesday. DUST from day 1 of Lent. Are you doing something religious?

    DUST from Day 1 of Lent.  Are you doing something religious?

    A

    Yesterday was Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent and I went to a local service. It’s what I call ‘High Church’, the serious service my Bible church raise sons moan is the up-down, up-down recite, recite, recite. But it’s where I grew up and it feels like home to me even though I’ve never been to Trinity Lutheran before. This church has been in the cultural district of downtown Fort Worth for 70 years.  The building has that sixties feeling about it in the Googie architecture style, showcasing a high up swept triangular roof, curvaceous outings paired with geometric shapes and the bold use of glass, steel and neon colors. The stain glass is a tide-dyed ombre of colors that’s picked up in the altar cloths embroidery on purple and the baptismal has doves, shells and fire carved into its wood like the iconic symbols I’ve seen on old peace posters.  And there are candles, waiting to be lit and I wait, still and silent, inviting Spirit to speak to my spirit.

    The entrance of the Cross arrives where the congregation stands as if a bride were coming down the aisle and yet it is our Bridegroom. His golden cross bore up in tender hands of a teenage acolyte. Light shines from the candles now and we stand for the confession of sins, a convicting list of self-indulgences I agreed I had done and then those commands I had neglected to do. My response, “Have mercy on us, O God.”  I was invited for the imposition of ashes; kneeling at the altar the mark of the cross was applied to my forehead with the just words from Genesis 3:19, “Remember, that you are dust, and to dust you will return.” I feel solemn and want to stay at the altar and pray but there’s a line behind me so I rise and sit and meditate, because today is just this-

    Remember. You are Dust. Dust.

    I stop trying to move ahead to the propitiation and resurrection, to the amazing grace and powerful love that transform me and stay here in Ash Wednesday. The readings are from Isaiah and Matthew reminding us of the fasting God requires and a caution to beware public piety. I smile, looking at the bold dark mark on the pastor’s forehead-our ‘religion’ couldn’t be more public today and the Homily asked the question I’m thinking, “Are you doing something religious today?” I ask myself that and know mysteriously that doctrine and experience are working out something very spiritual in my heart. These ashes placed on me have a meaning.

    Remember.

    I was remembering with a deep respect for my roots in the faith that came from “high church”.  I was reorienting my soul in this season of life that was grieving things from the past, old ways of family life and ministry, still disoriented with new ways of empty nesting and life without teaching and limited fellowships. Scattered again God had steadily been gathering my spirit like a pot over fire about to boil and today, Ash Wednesday, I spent the day remembering.

    Remember. You are Dust. Dust.

    You are Dust. Dust. Finite. Frail. Fragile. Failing.
    Dust. Gathered. Scattered.
    Dust. Formed. Reformed.
    Dust. Pruned. Protected.
    Dust. Dying. As we were meant to do. Dead to self. Alive to Christ.
    Dust. Returning to our place. In the Potter’s baptizing hands, dust becomes washed, wet, reborn.
    Clay.
    Purposefully crafted. An empty vessel. Filled. Water. Light. Love.
    Meant to overflow. Not indulge itself. Inwardly or outwardly.
    Remember now. Me you keep on following. Abide in me. Spirit filled. you are fruit. you overflow.

    There was a prayer; Merciful God, we return to you. Accompany our journey through these 40 days. Renew us that we may provide for those who are poor, pray for those in need, fast from self-indulgence and above all find our treasure in the life of your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

    There is a blessing given: Go forth into the world to serve God with gladness; be of good courage; hold fast to that which is good; render to no one evil for evil; strengthen the faint hearted and hurting; support the weak; help the afflicted; honor all people; love and serve God, rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit.

    Remember. You are Dust. Dust.