Love Songs - Day 6 of Lent

OK, I know I'm a little behind on my blog post - forgive me.

Anyway, I wanted to let you know that for Day 6 of Lent I read the book of Song of Solomon. By the way, after reading this book I think the name is wrong which, of course, is probably why it is often called Song of Songs. Even that name doesn't really seem to fit. I don't think Song of Solomon fits because most of the songs in the book are actually from the woman not Solomon. I also don't think Song of Songs works because it isn't just a song but several songs.

Anyway, as I was reading this most interesting book I realized that over the years I have heard many sermons and teachings on marriage based on such passages as that found in Ephesians but rarely have I heard anything out of this book. Strange really, because the book is a manual on developing and maintaining a passionate and loving relationship. Of course, it is also very graphic which we Christians feel very uncomfortable with. Perhaps this is the lesson for today - learn to enjoy what the Lord has created as He intended it to be enjoyed.

Hey Jude - Days 5

This journey through Lent has certainly proved interesting and the first week isn't even over. One interesting aspect has been my choice of what books to read. Yesterday I read the book of Jude. I chose this book merely because I mentioned it in my previous post and had it on my mind. I also read it because it's Jude. I mean Jude isn't the book that you often hear someone quote their life verse from. I don't believe I've ever seen anyone holding up a poster board at a football game with "Jude 20" written on it. I suspect a good many church goers don't know where to find the book and many would probably begin in the Old Testament. I don't recall ever hearing a sermon from the book (although, after some thought I do believe I preached out of it once on a Sunday evening service - and any good Southern Baptist will tell you that that really doesn't count). Let's just be honest, Jude is a strange, little book. In just a few paragraphs there are a number of references to obscure Old Testament passages and even one reference to an apparently long lost Jewish story featuring the archangel Michael arguing with the devil over Moses' body. It's a book that, if one isn't careful, they can easily miss what is being said by getting lost in the details of the illustrations. In the end, Jude, in my humble opinion, is about contending for the faith. In doing so Jude makes it clear that we must be aware of those who infiltrate the church with false teaching but his main point is one of encouragement to believers. As Jude writes:

"But you, beloved, build yourselves up in your most holy faith; pray in the
Holy Spirit; keep yourselves in the Love of God, waiting for the mercy
of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life."

Reading Jude is a reminder that all Scripture is God-breathed. I'd like to encourage you to take some time to read some Scripture that perhaps you have personally neglected. There just may be something there that you need to hear.

A Southern Baptist Struggles with Lent - Day 4

Well, Saturday was the third day of Lent and my goal to read a book of the Bible each day fell short. Sure, I could blame it on having a house full of kids, errands to run, and spending a good deal of the day trying to figure out what was wrong with my sermon for Sunday morning. The truth of the matter is, I just never said, "OK, I need some time to go and read." Even if Saturday was busy, I could have found a few minutes to read Jude or Philemon. I mean really, how long do those take to read. Never the less, I never made it.

So, even though traditionally Sunday does not count in the 40 days of Lent, I read a book on Sunday. Even here, I cheated myself. I chose to read the book of Ruth. Now Ruth is a great book to read with its story of God's providence, love, and redemption but I was reading it in an attempt to kill two birds with one stone. You see, I was reading it because I wanted to keep to my Lent commitment and I read Ruth because it was my text for my Sunday evening sermon. Now, you might recall, that one of the reasons for reading a book each day for Lent is because I had fallen into that rut that many preachers fall into in which every time they are reading Scripture it is for the purpose of preparing another sermon. Well, here I was reading to further solidify my sermon.

The lesson here is that even as one practices a discipline of the faith there will be times that you really learn and grow. There will be times that you experience an intimacy with the Lord unlike you have ever experienced. Then there will also be times where it feels as though all that you have done is checked something off your to do list. The important thing is to learn from even the so called "lesser" moments (which in the end may be your best learning moments) and to perpetually be moving toward God.

I wonder what today's reading will reveal?

Lent and Tiger Woods - Day 3

For my reading today I chose the book of Colossians. It should be understood that during this process I have no reading plan. Other than a desire to read all 4 Gospels during Lent, for my 36 other reading selections I am randomly choosing which book to read when I sit down to read. I chose Colossians this morning because I had a Dallas Willard book nearby and I know that Dallas really enjoys Colossians 3. I know this doesn't sound very spiritual but it's what happened.

Anyway, prior to reading Colossians, I actually watched the big speech today by Tiger Woods. Now, I don't think I need to go into detail about what Tiger has done or what he said in his speech. I'm sure by now you know what he did and much of what he said today. I'm sure that you have said something about it or will say something about. As a preacher I almost fill compelled to address. After all, shouldn't I use this opportunity to address faithfulness in marriage, the sin of adultery, or perhaps even fatherhood and being a good role model? I could do that I suppose and maybe I still will. However, if I do use this very public downfall of a man as an illustration of some sort I pray that I'll remember the words I read today:

"Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person." Colossians 4:5-6.

A Southern Baptist Observes Lent - Day 2

I'd like to begin today with a quick clarification. I did not mean to imply yesterday that everyone who gives up something or practices the discipline of abstinence (that is not meant in the merely sexual sense of the word but in the technical sense of abstaining from any thing or activity) are only doing so for some other motive than to grow closer to God. Many honestly practice this discipline throughout Lent with the desire to know God and His grace and to use this time and this discipline to reflect on the suffering of Christ and rejoice in His resurrection and glory. My blog yesterday was more of a reflection of my personal experience (or lack of experience) with the observance of this season.

Now as for today, one of the reasons I choose to read a book of the Bible for each day of Lent was that I wanted to get away from picking apart a verse or two to find every detail in preparation for a sermon. Mind you this is something important that every Christian should do. However, it can also lead to a missing the forest due to the trees kind of effect if we (most specifically preachers) aren't careful. I wanted to take some time to read a book and really get a feel for the book as a whole. For instance today I read the book of Ecclesiastes. Typically, this book brings to mind "all is vanity" and a poem on there being a time for everything. Well, today when I read it I was constantly confronted with a desire to stop and just focus on one or two verses. Instead, I might have re-read those verses a few times but then continue on. In reading the whole book in a concentrated amount of time, I got a whole new feel for the book that I never had before. Ecclesiastes has this message of everything being a vain endeavor of life. To be perfectly honest, I've always felt that Ecclesiastes was a bit of a negative book. Today, I realized that the tone of the book is actually one of great freedom for the person who lives to fear God and keep His commandments. There is freedom when your life is lived for God and not for yourself (this is the vanity that the Teacher speaks of). It is exactly for this type of revelation that I choose to read a complete book of the Bible each day.

One final note as to why I am reading a book a day. By doing this I am obligating myself to stop, slow down, and to simply devote myself to hearing His Word. This isn't simply about completing reading assignments but about abiding in Him.

A Southern Baptist observes Lent

I have been a Southern Baptist most all my life and Southern Baptist traditionally do not observe Lent. So, I have never observed Lent. I've never been part of an Ash Wednesday service and I have never given up anything for these 40 days prior to Resurrection Sunday (that's Easter to all you laymen). I remember the first time I saw a man with ash on his forehead in college. Nearly made a fool of myself until one of my professors bailed me out (thank you Dr. Sansom, that's one more thing I'm indebted to you for). My point is that Lent has never meant anything to me other than it being the time that Catholics don't eat something and, well, I happen to like eating what they give up. Just another point in the protestant column as far as I was concerned.

Over the past several years I've begun to realize that there just might be some merit in various religious traditions. Often, if observed correctly, they can have much spiritual value to them. For example, I'm not a Jew, but I love celebrating Passover. There is so much to learn from this tradition. So much that speaks to us about God being the Deliverer. I've been known to add the observance of Advent into our Christmas traditions. Again, a tradition that isn't emphasized in Southern Baptist circles but never the less is one that can be very helpful in focusing on the true meaning of the Christmas season.

So, here we are at Lent. Over the past several years I have considered observing Lent in one way or another. To be honest, about the only thing I really knew about Lent was the act of giving something up. For some reason, I hear a lot of people giving up chocolate. I didn't realize that chocolate was such a vital part of life. Of course, you have people giving up meat, or caffeine, or something that they spend their money on regularly that they will then give the money they save to a charity. All of this is fine and well and I understand it all to a degree. For me though, it all seemed to be missing something. In many ways, it seemed that people were giving up things that, in all honesty, they needed to be giving up anyway. They were just using the motivation of Lent to help them do it. It's as if one was saying, "I need to lose weight and so I'll give up sweets for Lent. I'll kill 2 birds with one stone." Somehow connecting your weight loss with a religious motive is suppose to help.

For me though, I just wasn't getting it. I thought the idea was not so much to give something up but to get closer to God? To use the time and the circumstance you find yourself in by giving something up to become more aware of Christ? To prepare our hearts and minds to grieve at His suffering and to rejoice at His glory in the resurrection? I didn't think that this was simply a time to try to relieve ourselves of a bad habit that I wasn't able to get rid of a month and a half earlier when I made a New Year's resolution.

So this is my plan, and I intend to write about, so that people following along can help me be accountable just as they were in my adoption blog (www.raymersadoption.blogspot.com) when I was going through my "Great Coffee Experiment." I have put a great deal of thought into what would perhaps benefit me in growing closer to God at this stage in my life. I came to the conclusion that I need to read Scripture. Now, this may sound funny coming from a preacher but many preachers will understand. It is a danger in a preacher's line of work that because we spend so much time studying for the next sermon or the next lesson that we will be teaching that we often neglect our own time in simply reading God's Word for the sake of growing closer to Him and hearing from Him. I've been far too guilty of this lately. So, for the next 40 days of Lent I am going to read a different book of the Bible each day. Obviously, I will have some days where I may read a book like Philemon. Then there will be days where I'll read Jeremiah. I haven't decided what exactly I'll read other than I do plan to read all 4 Gospels. Today I am reading Mark. Throughout this time I plan to blog about my journey and whatever experiences that may come. I hope you will join me.

What is Love?

Earlier today, walking around one of the holy temples of consumerism, I looked up and hanging above one of the aisles filled with stuff, that has literally no benefit to anyone, there was a sign that read, "Love is candy."

I don't think any further comment is needed.

Happy Valentine's Day!

This just blew my mind...God is greater than I knew.

The following quote is from John Frame's "A Primer on Perspectivalism."

"God knows absolutely everything, because he planned everything, made everything, and determines what happens in the world he made. So we describe him as omniscient. One interesting implication of God’s omniscience is that he not only knows all the facts about himself and the world; he also knows how everything appears from every possible perspective. If there were a fly on my office wall, my typing would look very different to him from the way it looks to me. But God knows, not only everything about my typing, but also how that typing appears to the fly on the wall. Indeed, because God knows hypothetical situations as well as actualities, God knows exhaustively what a fly in that position would experience—if such a fly were present—even if it is not. God’s knowledge, then, is not only omniscient, but omniperspectival. He knows from his own infinite perspective; but that infinite perspective includes a knowledge of all created perspectives, possible and actual."