Obedience = Joy = Celebration

I love to have a good time and people who know me know that but never growing up did I think my desire and love to having a good time and making people laugh, living in joy was a discipline. That if I could really work this as a spiritual discipline God can and will be glorified.

The older I get the more that this rings true as well, we lose the innocence of childhood where there was a celebration over finding a penny, making a cool fort or seeing a friend during recess and that pure and unabashed joy in those simple things! As we grow older those sweet things, those sweet tastes of simplicity in celebration become clouded and gray and we become jaded. I was challeneged in reading this again that I need to come with fresh eyes and a fresh heart and that comes from being obedient to Christ and sitting with him and refreshing and renewing myself with him. That pure joy from childhood I can have now, that pure joy is the joy of Christ and that is attainable now! I love to celebrate and I love being joyful. I so often tell my students that idea of discipline = freedom and I think of that here that obedience = joy. As I obey and do all that Christ's calls for my life I will experience joy and not joy that the world knows but Christ's joy! What could be better!

I love the quote on page 195, " The decision to set the mind on higher things of life is an act of will. That is why celebration is a discipline. It is not something that falls on our heads. It is a result of a consciously chosen way of thinking and living. When we choose this way, the healing and redemption in Christ will break into the inner recesses of our lives and relationships and the inevitable result will be joy." That is what I want, I want to set my mind on higher things, I want to make the choice to seek Christ and HIS joy not the joy that the world wants me to have and enjoy Christ's celebration!

Joy makes us strong?

"Celebration brings joy into life, and joy makes us strong."  pg 191

Scripture tells us that the joy of the Lord IS our strength (Neh. 8:10)  IS our strength, IS our strength.  One week into the lent season I have been meditating on this "IS".  IS our strength? What does that mean?  How can the Lords Joy be my strength?  John records Jesus saying in John 15:11 "I have told you these things so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be made full."  Is this another way of Jesus saying, "I told these things to you so that my JOY may be in you and my JOY will make you strong!"
The Lords Joy=strength.  We know that only obedience produces pure joy (Luke 11:27-28) And Jesus is telling us in the John scripture that we cannot produce joy because we are incapable of obedience without His spirit. (John 15) We are but branches that apart from the vine can produce nothing! So here is my final equation.....

Jesus' obedience to the cross = PURE JOY
Jesus gives His Spirit to us = Jesus' obedience to the cross now lives in us.
Submission to His Spirit in us leads us to a cross = His PURE JOY in us.
Natural response = A life of celebration in response to Jesus' obedience to the cross!

Now that is my kind of math!

-Reid
 

Week of Joy

I loved the example shared on page 180 about the reason behind St. Francis's seeking guidance.  "He was seeking a way to open the windows of heaven to reveal the mind of Christ, and he took it as such-to the greater good of all to whom he ministered."  What an awesome encouragement, especially to our specific position in preparation to serving and being a part of God's work on the water this summer.  That our time invested now, alone, learning and growing deeper in an intense love relationship with Jesus is bringing glory to God and serving each barney, driver, trainee, fellow admin, dock hand, marina staff, random people on the water...I love and desperately need the reminder constantly that seeking guidance by the Word, by friends, mentors, and the Holy Spirit is a means of preparation and a active surrender into allowing God's work to be done through me. 

Out of the whole chapter on the discipline of celebration, the idea of obedience = joy has completely overwhelmed my melon.  The past week specifically I have been thinking and praying about freedom and joy.  The concepts of freedom and joy have been on my mind for the past few months specifically and to be honest I had begun to get a little disheartened by my continued struggle and, to me, what it seemed like no progress.  But in the past week alone, with the thought and challenge of practicing celebration on the forefront of my mind, God has prevailed! (As he always does...Thank you Lord that YOU do and I don't!) 

There are no words to fully represent the amount of joy I have experienced in celebrating the good news of the gospel over the past week!  There simply aren't, so I won't try.  All I want you friends to know is that the overall week has been a joy.  A true and honest joy!  Not out of response to the blessings in my life, although I am extremely fortunate and extremely rich in my life, not out of response to the gifts given to me by God, although I do have many, but solely out of the response of who God is.  His character was/is/and will be a reason to celebrate!  I also had the honor of watching and having a hand in a close friend choose to be obedient to a very difficult call on her heart.  The call was to have a very important conversation of truth, love, and righteous encouragement with her brother in a rehab. facility after recently being released from prison.  And friends, the joy she experienced walking away from that difficult conversation was true joy.   Obedience=joy.  Sharing in that moment of joy is something I will never forget.  The impact of withnessing her obedience is something I will not soon forget either.

From obedience comes joy.  "Only one thing will produce genuine joy, and that is obedience." (192)  From the decission to live a life of obedience to God, one may then experience true joy.

 "Joy is found in obedience.  When the power that is in Jesus reaches into our work and play and redeems them, there will be joy where once there was mourning.  To overlook this is to miss the meaning of the incarnation." (193)

Obedience = Joy. JOY. JOY!!!!

I love that Foster chose to end this study of disciplines with celebration.  What a fun way to encompass all the disciplines already studied and challenge them all into practice in my daily life.  Friends it has been such an honor to share in this study with each one of you, I value all of your time, energy, and heart put into this blog.  Thank you for sharing and I am stoked to serve alongside each one of you!

Confession

Team, after my last (and first) post I have been living undisciplined. I have not been keeping up with reading and then today realized that it had been a few weeks since I had picked up this book. The past few weeks have been busy... which destroys me to understand that when things get busy some of my favorite disciplines get set aside. Sorry team for not being active with you all on this blog.

I have been encouraged and challenged by you all over the past few months, and even went back and looked at last years blogs. So encouraged! God is going to do a Mighty Work this summer! I know it.

Reading over the confession chapter scratched at some old wounds and exposed some scars. Good-things from the perspective of looking up at the cross.

"We try to convince ourselves that God forgives only the sin; he does not heal the memory. But deep within our being we know there must be something more. People have told us to take our forgiveness by faith and not call God a liar. Not wanting to call God a liar, we do our best to take it by faith. But because misery and bitterness remain in our lives, we again despair. Eventually we begin to believe either that forgiveness is only a ticket to heaven and not meant to affect our lives now, or that we are not worthy of the forgiving grace of God." (147)

-um Foster did you write this to me?

I appreciate how he immediately follows it up with the next statement "We have not exausted our resources nor God's grace when we have tried private confession."

"A man who confesses his sins in the presence of a brother knows that he is no longer alone with himself; he experiences the presence of God in the reality of the other person. As long as i am by myself in the confession of my sins everything remains in the dark, but in the presence of a brother the sin has to be brought into the light." (148)

Looking back over the past few years, God has places specific people in my life at specific times to draw me closer to Him. In the most recent years after praying for these people to be revealed, He did!

" . . . found by asking God to reveal them to us. They are also found by observing people to see who evidences a lively faith in God's power to forgive and exhibits the joy of the Lord in his or her heart. The key qualifications are spiritual maturity, wisdom, compassion, good common sense, the ability to keep a confidence, and a wholesome sense of humor. . . Often ordinary folk who hold no office or title whatever are among the best at receiving confession."(153)

Reading this I'm brought back to response time! Camp councilors, Youth Pastors, Volunteers hearing young peoples hearts poured out in simple response to what He is doing. "By living under the cross we can hear the worst possible things from the best possible people without so much as batting an eyelash. If we live in that reality, we will convey the spirit to others. They will know it is safe to come to us. "(154) THEY SEE JESUS!

When in the midst of confession, I often wonder, "How are we allowed to experience this freedom?" His Body broken and His Blood shed. There is enough blood to cover it all!

Celebrate!

God works in some funny ways.

For the last week or so, I've been baffled over my experience with robotics on Saturday.  For some reason, things were just good.  I couldn't really explain it any other way.  And if you've had the unfortunate privilege  of being on the receiving end of one of my rants the last two months, you know at times it hasn't been so good.

But something was different this Saturday.  The students were kind (for the most part) to each other.  The lead mentor had some nice things to say.  Smiles were in full swing.  High fives all around.

The reason?  The difference?  The change?

Celebration!

"Common joys can be shared without sanctimonious value judgments." (p. 197)

Throughout the build season, many students and mentors had many varying opinions on various ways to accomplish X, Y and Z.  But this Saturday, finally, opinions faded into non-relevancy as the team celebrated success on the field resulting from a hard 6 weeks of working on the project.  This allowed everyone, myself included, to see their teammates as fellow guests at a party rather than enemies on a battlefield. 

"Our spirit can become weary with straining after God just as our body can become weary with overwork.  Celebration helps us relax and enjoy the good things of the earth." (p. 196)

Weary from overwork, our team enjoyed a celebration of the good things this season.

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In my own heart, I hear God calling me to be interested in seeing the best brought out in others, taking myself far less seriously.  "Another benefit of celebration is its ability to give us perspective.  We can laugh at ourselves.  We come to see that the causes we champion are not nearly so monumental as we would like to believe." (p. 196)

"Far and away the most important benefit of celebration is that it saves us from taking ourselves too seriously" (p. 196)

I pray that the celebration rooted in a joy brought forth out of obedience would not be lost, but sought after and found in relationship with Christ and the way He views those around me, as lost sheep He is romancing to His banqueting table, where the real party is at!

-Mike

One More Post - Cool Celebration Verses

These verses have been celebrating through my skull this week. They are from I Chronicles 16.

Sing to the LORD, all the earth;
proclaim his salvation day after day.

Declare his glory among the nations,
his marvelous deeds among all peoples.

Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;
let them say among the nations, “The LORD reigns!”

Let the sea resound, and all that is in it;
let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them!

Let the trees of the forest sing,
let them sing for joy before the LORD,
for he comes to judge the earth.

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
his love endures forever.

Cry out, “Save us, God our Savior;
gather us and deliver us from the nations,
that we may give thanks to your holy name,
and glory in your praise.”

Then all the people said “Amen” and “Praise the LORD.”

"That your joy may be made FULL..."

These things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full, complete, perfect. (John 15:11)

"When the poor receive the good news, when the captives are released, when the blind receive their sight, when the oppressed are liberated, who can withhold the shout of jubilee?" (p. 190)

This quote really cut me deep. I struggle so much with the discipline of celebration. I have so much trouble breaking out of the 'tyranny of the urgent' to focus on what is important and strategic and just celebrate. I try, but lots of times it just feels forced and hollow. And what I already kind of knew - but this quote makes unavoidably clear - is that the reason behind that is a lack of understanding of grace, of mercy, of who He is.

Sometimes I can hear Him say so tenderly - but firmly - "Pearl... Do you even know me?" If I really knew my Father, how could I think half the things I think - things about myself, about others, about God Himself?

In kind of a random way, this part made me think of Psalm 127:
Unless the Lord builds the house, the laborers labor in vein. 
Unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vein. 


....Unless God throws the party, the party-goers celebrate in vein. We can't keep propping ourselves up on superficial, forced celebration for the sake of appearances. If our joy is going to be made full, we're going to have to be securely attached to the Source.

God, draw me into a deeper understanding of who you are. Would I know how high, wide, long, and deep your love is that I might be filled up to your fullness.

_________________________________________________________________



"Celebration brings joy into life, and joy makes us strong." (p. 191)

This one hit me like a ton of bricks too because I didn't fully realize until I read this that I'd had the implicit assumption that joy actually makes us weak. I had to think about it for a while, but then I realized that that's probably partly because joy also requires a certain level of vulnerability. This brought me really strongly to the image of John leaning back on Jesus' chest, and how much pure joy he must have felt in that moment. Take heart! Just lean back on me - it's going to be ok. Prop yourself up on me and let that be enough. 


Joy makes us weak [in my flawed thinking] because I don't trust that His strength is stronger than mine. I don't fully believe I'm stronger leaning against Him than standing on my own. But His joy does make us strong. 

"But how are we to do that? [...] The spirit of celebration will not be in us until we have learned to be 'careful for nothing.' And we will never have a carefree indifference to things until we trust God." (p. 195)

Rejoice in the LORD, always. I will say again - rejoice! (Philippians 4:4)

"Far and away the most important benefit of celebration is that it saves us from taking ourselves too seriously. [...] Celebration adds a note of gaiety, festivity, hilarity to our lives." (p. 196)

This week (today, actually) I'm celebrating a full year of freedom from what I'm just going to have to describe as some pretty intense spiritual oppression. In a lot of ways, the enemy is launching a full scale attack, undermining the celebration: What's there to celebrate? Nothing changed. You're still caught in the same rut you've always been. Everyone else is so far beyond you - why can't you just get your act together? 

Luckily, that's where the voice of Truth inserts reality: (It's ok. It's over - the fight's over. None of that matters anymore. All that matters is basking in the light of your Father's face. Be encouraged!) Sometimes it's just harder to hear truth than others, but praise God that He IS the Way, the Truth, and the Life - He not only speaks truth to me but lives truth with me.


So I'm not sure any of that hung together, but it's what He's teaching me. I pray that our joy would be full this week (and always!) because our understanding of His love, His grace, and His nearness would also be full and deep.

I love you, team!

RAH - RAH to Mardi Gras -- CELEBRATION

Dear God,

How celebration works is beyond me. Who “works it” is the testimony of all things – every song, every sunrise, the oak in my front yard, a camper’s confession – EVERYTHING testifies that you SO loved this WORLD that you gave.

Everything testifies that you love this world NOW and GIVE yourself NOW.

Thanks God that creation is sustained by your compassion and sacrifice.

Your victory over the principalities and powers is the sweetest fruit, the stiffest drink, the kindest word, the most stunning view, the most intoxicating kiss.

Your victory is the deepest, ecstatic covenant. It is THE COVENANT.

Bellying up to the bar and tasting your kingdom this side of death is every heart’s obsession.

Toasting your victory over death and Hades and your ongoing victory over my small, self-centered, weak-willed world puts the FAT into FAT Tuesday.

Mardi Gras me into dance.

Mardi Gras me into ecstatic celebration.

Mardi Gras me to a cross where the working of your kingdom wrecks my kingdoms and makes a public spectacle to the principalities and powers that this world is eternally enchanted by the fiery wine of your mercy.

May the celebratory passion of your banquet table be the celebratory impulse of this soul/temple.

May your victorious celebration in and through me be crucifixion of me by the principalities and powers

May the end of me and the beginning of you be a firm, resolute RAH-RAH to your MARDI GRAS in this world.

Rehashing the hash!

Hey guys, i know our time of study has come to an end but i wanted to rehash some hash!  I had some events take place during the weekend that made me revisit the guidance chapter.  Read it through again and was encouraged.

"Spiritual direction takes up the concrete daily experiences of our lives and gives them sacramental significance." - (186)
Every little act becomes a sacred act of worship!  Brushing teeth? Watering flowers? Yes and Yes!

A spiritual director...can absorb the selfishness and mediocrity and apathy around them and transform it!  (186)

If corporate guidance is not handled within the larger context of an all-pervasive GRACE, it degenerates into an effective way to straighten out deviant behavior!  (187)

JINGLE BAM! JINGLE LAMB! Lord have mercy!

Sorry for the rant more or less great reminders for me!

Service Flows Out of Worship!

Hey Team!

I just got to start off by saying sorry for the lack of posting recently. If I'm being completely honest and "exposing the illusion", I have been quite behind on the reading as well. Which really bumms me out, cause there is something special about going through this study together. I have been consistently reading your posts. They have been a deep encouragement to me through the past few weeks, so thank you for your consistency and forgive me for the lack of mine.

In the worship chapter, the phrase that got to me was:

"The divine priority is worship first, service second. Our lives are a punctuated with praise, thanksgiving, and adoration. Service flows out of worship. Service as a substitute for worship is idolatry." (pg. 161).

This was so important to be reminded of. I think its easy to get caught up with serving, serving, serving (playing a role); that we forget that worship must come first (being in relationship with the Lord). Especially being a part of a ministry that operates through service, I can forget that worship comes first. And not only with Sonshine, but with my whole life! Do I choose to kneel in worship first every morning and out of that response go serve my family and community?

I love the phrase "Service FLOWS OUT of worship (sounds a lot like "ministry is a bi-product of relationship with God", huh?)

Love ya guys! Thanks for the posts!

The Spiritual Director

As we're all looking toward serving in a place of leadership this summer, and in many ways even now in the places where we live, I was really convicted by Foster's section on "The Spiritual Director." 

So often I fail at the humility that Foster talks about, especially in the capacity (almost said 'role'... and then I almost said 'position' - it's everywhere!) I'm serving at College Life right now as I meet one-on-one with the bible study leaders. A couple of quotes I loved: 

"In a word, he is only God's usher, and must lead souls in God's way, and not his own." (p. 184)

"A spiritual director must be a person who has developed a comfortable acceptance of himself or herself." (p. 186)

"Spiritual directors must be on the inward journey themselves and be willing to share their own struggles and doubts. There needs to be a realization together that they are learning from Jesus, their ever-present Teacher." (p. 186)

I am SO guilty, SO often of violating all of these. I try to lead people in the direction I think they should go. I lead out of my own insecurity, trying to prop up my self-worth on how I think it's "going." And because of all that insecurity, I feel the need to earn my right to leadership, to paint myself in the right light, so that they won't know how weak and vulnerable I am too. 

Because deep down, I'm afraid that there's been some kind of huge mistake and that I don't deserve to lead at all. Of course, the wonderful miracle is that I don't deserve it, but He chooses to bless me that way anyway, and only asks that I follow Him as the ultimate Director. 

And so now we're back to all the role-identity material we talked about at admin retreat. Am I Delta Ops Cor or am I Kristen Snow? Am I a growth group leader coach or am I a child of God? Is my worth in fleeting external states or enduring internal characteristics? 

I think I'm realizing more and more how much I need to consciously decide (and live by!) my answer to each of those questions on a daily basis.