Fear Not!

        If there is one thing I could say to all of my beloved family and friends, and to those of you who I am sure would be kindred spirits if we met, it would be this, “Fear not!”  

We are leaving a year that has not been like any other and we are preparing to enter a new one that is full of unknowns yet to come.  But first, we are about to celebrate Christmas.  We stop and remember. We go to Bethlehem and see the birth of this Savior who is Christ the King.

  Luke tells us that in the time of Christ’s birth, Caesar Augustus had issued a decree.  Sound familiar?  People had to stop their lives and make provisions to be registered in their towns of origin.  Easy for a powerful Caesar, not so easy for a backwoods carpenter and his very young and very pregnant wife.  So many unknowns, so many unpredictables, and many opportunities to be afraid.  How many times have I said this year, I didn’t see this coming or what if this is our new normal?

Mary and Joseph were just doing what needed to be done, trying to remain faithful all the while.  They did not know that they had just set out on the adventure of their lives.  Nothing would ever be the same. Changes were coming, things like salvation for sinners and hope for Israel and all nations.  This young couple kept on going without the knowledge that you and I have so many years into the future.  They did not know that everything would work out for their good.  They were fueled by faith. They believed in what they could not see; they trusted the Word of God.

The Word of God came to more than just Mary and Joseph that year, it also came to some tired, overworked shepherds in a field at night.  The words of God broke into these men’s lives, right where they were, to bring them a message they desperately needed, fear not!

Our fears are so misplaced.  We fear men, mandates, criminals, loss, the future. The list is as long as our own overgrown anxieties.   How often does God make the typical list of fears?  Not often.  We do not understand God; we have not remembered who He is and why He came.  

God knows we do not know Him as we ought.  Isaiah describes Him as “Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Is. 9:6)  He also knows our weaknesses and sins and fears.  Hebrews 4:15 tells us that “we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”  I am sure the shepherds were not up on their theology and had their own list of fears.  But, when they saw the glory of God their fears began to be placed in the correct category.  The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.

God tells them, “Fear not!”  Why? God had a message for them that would obliterate all of their fears.  Do you need this right now?  I know that I do!  God wanted to replace their fear with joy, great joy!  The nightly news hadn’t told them this, their facebook feed and the latest statement from the Governor hadn’t told them this, God did.  

God tells us, “Fear not!”  You have a Savior who has come!  Glory to God and peace to you, for He is pleased with you! For those of us that have believed in God’s only begotten Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, we need to be told again, fear not.  We need to raise our eyes to the heavens and see and hear and declare the glory of God in Christ!  We need to take hold of the truth that there is peace for all whom God is pleased with.  God is pleased in His Son Jesus and so He is pleased with all who are in Him.  Hallelujah!  And this Savior is for those who have yet to believe.  We who believe invite you, come and see this Christ! 

So, what did the shepherds do?  They talked about what God had told them, they shared in their joy with one another and they did not refrain from praising and glorifying God. Their fears had been changed.  No longer did they fear men or Governors or the future.  They knew Who was in control and what He was doing - saving them! 

Mary, who had a front row seat to all of this had a different response, one that is just as valid and needed.  She treasured all that she had seen and heard in her own heart.  How wonderful to read and remember all the faithfulness of God to His people!  How our own hearts and minds would become peaceful, would be at rest, if we imitated Mary.  How strong would we become in our own faith and how joyful would our own countenance be if we too were to treasure and ponder the mighty acts of God on our behalf?  We too should not fear and we too should sit and be in awe of all that God has done. 

So, fear not!  Rejoice! Glorify God with one another! Stop and slow down and remember all that Christ has done.  Treasure Christ in your hearts and trade your fears for peace.  Hold fast to all that is good, turn away from evil - the evil in our own hearts and in the world, and remember that He who has called you is faithful. Before the old year ends and the new one begins, remember to have a Merry Christmas.

Glory to God in the Highest, and on Earth, Peace Toward Men!

~ Your Fellow Sojourner

Sweet Hope

          We have been inundated with information, both bad and good. Our thoughts are swimming and our minds are racing.  We have seen and heard about the hurt, the pain, and the sheer exhaustion of many. Our hearts are breaking over the immensity of the problems before us. We ask, Lord, what can we do?  

There is so much need.  Not one person on this planet is without need, and no one likes being weak or helpless.  We don’t like to admit that we have weaknesses, but we often find ourselves in a state of weakness.  And everyone is weak right now, including ourselves.  

When we are weak we ought to rejoice, for it is then that God’s power is strongest.  He intends for us to lean on Him, worship Him, and rely upon Him.  He loves to help His own.  He is the good Shepherd of the sheep.  

      We sense our utter dependance on the Lord as we prepare to leave our homes and go to others in need.  We cannot do anything apart from Him. Like those who once were unclean but now are returning to the camp healed and restored, we return having been refined by our own trials.  Our desire is to worship our Healer in a spirit of thankfulness and then to turn toward a perishing world.  

Saying Grace by Norman Rockwell

Along with worshiping comes a commissioning. We are being sent on a rescue mission led by the One who saves.  Our hope is in the One who has gone before us, the forerunner of our faith.  

       We have been commissioned to go into the world to tell others what Christ Jesus has done.  We were sick, we were helpless, sinners lost beyond all hope, but Jesus rescued us and gave us life.  Now we are ambassadors for a good and gracious King.  

In our comings and goings, we will find countless ways to share our hope in Christ.  We can be a kind and patient hand, bringing comfort and help.  We can prayerfully listen.  We can laugh and sing with those who are rejoicing, and we can grieve with those who are weeping.  We can answer the searching questions of our friends and neighbors, our family and acquaintances.  And we have a home, a place to welcome others in. 

Will we be ready to invite others to taste and see that the Lord is good?  Will we prepare our homes to be safe places of hospitality, rest, worship and work?  Will we be ready to show Christ to a weary world?  Will we love our neighbors as we love ourselves?

Many of us may feel like Moses, unqualified and empty handed, unsure and fearful.  But God has given us all that we need.  We have seen Him and we know Him.  We can say that we have met with the living God.  We can say that we are His.

Raisins by Norman Rockwell

    So what do you have in your hand?  Whatever you have, God can use it for His glory and for the good of many.  Do you have a home, a car, a kitchen, a kitchen table, a porch, a lawn chair, a Bible or some time?  Then you have something!  We all have an opportunity to give a reason for our hope right now.  For “we who have fled for refuge… have a strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.  We have this as a sure and steady anchor of the soul.” Hebrews 6

We live under the care of the One who knows all things, who steadies us amidst a sea of troubles.  He carries our worries and anxieties so that we can be free to do the good works set apart for us before time began.  This is our time, our place, to live, work, worship and love to the praise and glory of our heavenly Father.  We have a hope that anchors our souls and sweetens every hard and bitter trial.  It is in the power of His hope and and His stabilizing love that we can do abundantly more than we could ever ask or think on our own.  He who calls us to this is faithful and He will hold us fast, both now and forevermore. 

Anchored in Hope, 

Your Fellow Sojourner

In Remembering and Returning, Part Two: A More Gracious Return

       We should be a people known for our patience and grace, and all the more in light of our current circumstances. As one Covid-19 survivor said, “Recovery is tricky, its full of a lot of bumps and bruises, its not a linear process.”  We must have grace with one another to falter and fail, to start and to stop.  We will make missteps, but steps we will make.  The key is that we will be moving in a direction, a direction toward community.
Each family, couple, and individual will take their own steps back into the world at their own pace, and this is good.  This is not a time to point fingers or to wag tongues.  This is a time to wait with great patience for one another.  We  ought to bear with one another and encourage one another. “We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves.  Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.” Rom. 15:1-2.  

One of the greatest ways that we can love one another is to move toward one another in an attitude of understanding.  Paul tells us in Romans 15 that we should adjust our attitudes and our actions in whatever way we can in order to provide a safe and secure place for our friends, neighbors and family to grow in joyful holiness.  We need to entrust our loved ones to the Lord.  He will sanctify and He will restore.  We need to let Him do His work in us and in others. 
Like astronauts returning from a space mission, we will need to acclimate to the pressure of the outside world again.  When astronauts return to earth after a space mission they go through a period of readjustment.  Everything is turned upside down, literally.  Everywhere they go, they must adjust to gravity pressing in on them again.  They know that they must move in order to recover, lying down will only impede their return to normal functioning.  
Astronauts come back to earth anticipating both a physical and an  emotional recovery.  Living in space changes you.  You gain a new perspective after looking at our world from space.  Spending some time away from a world where turmoil and suffering are constant, causes you to stop and reflect about life. You are faced with the question, what is really important? The answer, people that we love. 
This is a good time to look at our patterns for living and ask some hard questions.  How well have I loved others in the past?  How can I love them better in the future?  What should remain and what should go?  How can I prepare myself, my family, and my home to love others better?  
How should we return and welcome one another after we have been apart?  Paul has some answers for us. “May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.” Rom. 15:4-7

Our hope is in the words of Christ, let us speak them to one another.  We also have an example of endurance in Christ, let us be encouraged by Him together.  We should welcome one another with the graciousness of Christ.  
May the beautiful harmony that comes from our many voices, sound like one voice to the world around us, and may it be a sweet, sweet sound.  We do not have to worry if we will sound sweet to Jesus, He knows our weaknesses and He knows our frame.  He died for all of it, and He will never turn us out. His steadfast love for us is from everlasting to everlasting, before, during and after a worldwide pandemic; so, let us love one another. 

 ~ Your Fellow Sojourner

Resources to help with a more gracious return:

A look at our liturgies (habits that inform and shape our lives) before we go out into the world:

How can we implement these good patterns into our lives? 

1. Establish our personal, and familial times of worship - practice these regularly (Our liturgies of worship)
2. Establish an atmosphere of hospitality and worship, discovery and learning (Our liturgies of service, work, and hospitality)
3. Maintain a family calendar with important dates and then prayerfully add get togethers and other activities.  (Our liturgies of time and resource management)

A template for phasing in our re-entry (Take and tweak this as you will - always use wisdom and grace in making your decisions.): 

PHASE 1: Attend regular church/home group meetings (Even if they are held outside in the good clean air!)

PHASE 2: Visit grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles (Visit our beloved family members in a safe and caring manner. )

PHASE 3: Open up our home for hospitality

PHASE 4: Incorporate activities that do not disrupt or become burdensome.  We ALWAYS reserve the option to stop or ramp back an activity.

PHASE 5:  Seek to maintain a regular pattern of personal and family worship - meaningful and necessary work -  and social activities that seek to fulfill our vision and mission.

PHASE 6: Reflect weekly and monthly on our goals and phases 

In Remembrance and Returning, Part One: In Remembrance

      Many people are looking forward to returning to a life free of the recent Covid-19 restrictions.  We have all been affected by the virus, but no two people have been affected in the same way.  Everyone has their own story, their memories of this time. We have all had hard and fearful moments, as well as the encouraging and victorious ones.  Yet our commonality is in a future that will never be the same.  Our world is going through change, and with this change there are many anxious hearts.    

We have been sheltering within our homes even as a plague has passed us by.  This reminds us of another time when people gathered in homes to await the passing of deadly pestilence.  The Passover commemorates a time when God’s people prepared to leave a life of slavery in order to enter a land of promise.  

But, this was no ordinary exit.  The rescuing, redeeming God of Israel directed the exodus of His people in a particular way, that they might learn something about Him and remember this deliverance. 

The preparation involved a symbolic meal, full of tangible tastes and smells that pointed to a Savior.  The lamb shank reminds us of the sacrifices made on the night that God passed over, the bitter herbs taste of the bitterness of slavery that the Jewish people endured, and in the matzah bread, the leaven of slavery and sin is left behind, looking to the promise of freedom.  

We too have been called into a home to gather and to wait, to prepare for a time when we will take what we need for a journey, a journey of life giving freedom.  We have a reason to stop and remember.  We are a people that have been healed and we long to express our thanksgiving to the Passover Lamb.  We want to pause and remember, for we will tell this story again and again.  How was this time different from all others? 

As our families make preparations to leave our homes, we need to remember what God has done.  In His great love He has spared our lives, both physically and spiritually.  We have done nothing to earn this grace; we can only marvel at God’s provision and protection. 

       We know that we will soon be called to step into our world again. There are things that we are longing to do, places where we are longing to be, and people we are longing to be close to again. We have an unprecedented opportunity, to re-enter our culture, our neighborhoods and our workplaces with clarified vision.  This can be a time of renewal and of worship as we make ready to rise and walk through our blood stained doorposts.  

         As we return and remember, may we find both rest from our anxieties and strength for our future.  May we go out in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, in the love of God and in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

In Remembrance and Thanksgiving, 

Your Fellow Sojourner

The following is a worship resource to help you craft your own night of Remembrance and Thanksgiving in your home as you prepare to re-enter the world outside: (You may also contact me and I will send it to you.)
Poem: "Coronavirus and Christ"  - A poem by John Piper that can be incorporated into your time of remembering.

A Liturgy for Remembrance and Thanksgiving

You may light a candle as you begin your prayer.

Call to Prayer: Leader Prays

Our help is in the name of the Lord, the maker of Heaven and earth.  We have come to remember your goodness, your sacrifice and your gracious, pardoning love.  We want to remember how You have saved us, led us, and are calling us to return to You and give you all praise and thanksgiving. Amen. 

A Reminder of Why We Pray: Leader Reads

Tonight is not like any other night.  Tonight we stop and remember what has happened as a result of the Covid-19 Pandemic.  On March 11th, the pandemic was declared a world wide threat.  Our lives were changed from that moment on, yet God is faithful.  He has remained the same. As He was in the beginning, so He will remain both now and forevermore, Lord of all.  Just as the leper who was healed returned to thank Jesus for his healing, so we turn now to remember and to give thanks.  Let us pray.

Confession of Sin: Leader Reads

Our help is in the Name of the Lord; Let us confess our sins to God.

(This can be a time of personal confession, either aloud or quietly to one’s self.)  

Leader closes time of confession with the following prayer:

Almighty God, our heavenly Father: We have sinned against you, through our own fault, in thought, and word, and deed, and in what we have left undone. For the sake of your Son our Lord Jesus Christ, forgive us all our offenses; and grant that we may serve you in newness of life, to the glory of your Name. Amen.

May the Almighty God grant us forgiveness of all our sins, and the grace and comfort of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Reading in the Psalms: You may appoint a reader, invite everyone to read aloud, or read in turn.

Psalm 66

1 

Shout for joy to God, all the earth!

2 

    Sing the glory of his name;

    make his praise glorious.

3 

Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds!

    So great is your power

    that your enemies cringe before you.

4 

All the earth bows down to you;

    they sing praise to you,

    they sing the praises of your name.”

5 

Come and see what God has done,

    his awesome deeds for mankind!

6 

He turned the sea into dry land,

    they passed through the waters on foot—

    come, let us rejoice in him.

7 

He rules forever by his power,

    his eyes watch the nations—

    let not the rebellious rise up against him.

8 

Praise our God, all peoples,

    let the sound of his praise be heard;

9 

he has preserved our lives

    and kept our feet from slipping.

10 

For you, God, tested us;

    you refined us like silver.

11 

You brought us into prison

    and laid burdens on our backs.

12 

You let people ride over our heads;

    we went through fire and water,

    but you brought us to a place of abundance.

13 

I will come to your temple with burnt offerings

    and fulfill my vows to you—

14 

vows my lips promised and my mouth spoke

    when I was in trouble.

15 

I will sacrifice fat animals to you

    and an offering of rams;

    I will offer bulls and goats.

16 

Come and hear, all you who fear God;

    let me tell you what he has done for me.

17 

I cried out to him with my mouth;

    his praise was on my tongue.

18 

If I had cherished sin in my heart,

    the Lord would not have listened;

19 

but God has surely listened

    and has heard my prayer.

20 

Praise be to God,

    who has not rejected my prayer

    or withheld his love from me!

Psalm 67

1 

May God be gracious to us and bless us

    and make his face shine on us—

2 

so that your ways may be known on earth,

    your salvation among all nations.

3 

May the peoples praise you, God;

    may all the peoples praise you.

4 

May the nations be glad and sing for joy,

    for you rule the peoples with equity

    and guide the nations of the earth.

5 

May the peoples praise you, God;

    may all the peoples praise you.

6 

The land yields its harvest;

    God, our God, blesses us.

7 

May God bless us still,

    so that all the ends of the earth will fear him.

Thanksgiving to God: Leader reads

(This can be used as a time of giving thanks for what God has taught us and what He has delivered us from during the pandemic. )

Accept, O Lord, our thanks and praise for all that you have done for us. 

(Now can be a time of giving public thanksgiving to God as a reflection of His goodness, love and care during this pandemic. The Leader may than close with the following:)

We thank you for the wonder of life and all that it holds. We thank you for the blessing of family and friends, and for their loving care which surrounds us.  We thank you for how You satisfy us and delight us with good things.  Furthermore, we thank you for those disappointments and failures that lead us to acknowledge our dependence upon your mercies alone.  We thank you for Your constant care and protection.  Above all, we thank you for your Son Jesus Christ; for the truth of his Word and the example of his life; for his steadfast obedience, by which he overcame temptation; for his dying, through which he overcame death; and for his rising to life again, in which we are raised to the life of your kingdom.  Grant us the gift of your Spirit, that we may know him and make him known; and through him, at all times and in all places, may give thanks to you in all things. Amen.

Prayers of Dedication and Service: All may read aloud together:

A Prayer of Self-Dedication:

Almighty and eternal God, so draw our hearts to you, so guide our minds, so fill our imaginations, so control our wills, that we may be wholly yours, utterly dedicated unto you; and then use us, we pray you, as you will, and always to your glory and the welfare of your people; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

A Prayer of Service, by St. Francis:

Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.

Commissioning: Leader prays over the household

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?  As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:35-39

“Now may the God of peace Himself, sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit, body, and soul be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  He who calls you is faithful and he will surely do it.” 1 Thess. 5: 23-24

Blow the candle out and rise to sing.

Now you may sing a hymn or the Doxology (“Great is Thy Faithfulness”, “Blessed Is The One”, “Abide With Me”, “Amazing Grace” or any other song or hymn your family has particularly cherished during this time.)

So What Do We Do Now?

         None of our expectations are met 100% of the time.  We are interrupted every day and our plans often change, causing us to switch gears quickly.  Because we are a people that love control, we generally do not like change, especially sudden change.  When big changes or interruptions occur what do we do?  How do we cope? 

    Elizabeth Elliot has some good old fashioned advice for what to do when change comes, just do the next thing.  When interruptions come, our normal routines can save us.  When we have a normal rhythm to life, a routine that we can just fall into, we do not have to wonder at what we should be doing next.  

These daily routines can provide a comfort and help with what to do when our hearts are anxious and our thoughts are scattered.  Just doing the next thing gives us a productive direction; we see that life still continues with its necessary work and patterns.  It's like bringing your emotions and your mind back to a resting heart rate after a disruptive jolt.  

We are living in an unprecedented time, when our entire country and much of the world is having to change their regular daily habits for an unknown length of time due to the threat of the Coronavirus.  Our kids have questions, Chris and I have questions, yet we do not stop living our lives.  We continue to do what we normally do along with the exceptions that have been imposed on us due to the threat of this virus.  Some of our normal outings and gatherings have been canceled and so we are anticipating more time at home. 

World War II: Family at home in England. 

Some of my children have asked me what we are going to do now? I told them that we will continue to do what we normally do as a family but we will have more time together at home.  We will not be living like every day is a perpetual lazy Saturday morning.  We will cook and clean, do our school work and yes, we will have more time to be with one another, for better or worse.  But we have a rhythm, a hum in our home that we follow.  We know what to do next. 

There is great purpose in our work and great comfort in our rhythms.  If all that we do is to bring glory to God, then we should not question or wonder if washing the dishes or solving math problems or taking out the trash is worthy of our time.  The rhythmal heartbeat of our homes have great worth.  

This collective slowing down of our culture could help us to recover the beauty of normal rhythms in our homes. Interruptions happen so often that we do not know what the next thing to do should be, we are so used to coming and going that we have fallen into the new norm of rushing off to the next event or appointment.  We have become a collective society of dogs chasing after squirrels. 

Each family has a calling and commissioning unique unto to itself.  Let us go to the One who brought us together into families and ask Him, what are we to be doing in and through our homes?  How should we be living our lives together? We need to find our internal heartbeat again.

Brother Lawrence had a mission, a heartbeat for his every day life.  He learned that no matter the nature of the task before him, it could and should be done in and with the presence of God.  Brother Lawerence observed that “men invent means and methods of coming at God's love, they learn rules and set up devices to remind them of that love, and it seems like a world of trouble to bring oneself into the consciousness of God's presence. Yet it might be so simple. Is it not quicker and easier just to do our common business wholly for the love of him?"

    Is our every day routine done in the loving presence of God?  We can start small and ask the Lord to help us to put the first things first and in so doing, worship the Lord in the every day moments of our lives.  We have a liturgy that we follow in our homes whether we realize it our not.  

How would you describe your home-life liturgy?  What is your pattern of living and moving and being?  Do we have times of reading and listening to the Word? Do we have times to pray to the Lord and to pray for one another?  Do we have time to rest and meditate in the day or time to sing and listen to song?  Do we have time to share a meal together? Do we have opportunity to bless one another?  Are we feeding our own souls so as to better feed those around us? 

Chris and I have some steps that we have taken that have helped us to keep the main things the main things in our home. By establishing a regular pattern in our lives we can better identify the external things that threaten to reset our family's internal pulse. We have written down a vision and mission statement for our family.  When we are unsure about how to use our time, our vision and mission statement helps us to make decisions.  We eat dinner together every night that we are home.  We endeavor to have a time of Bible reading and prayer in the morning with whoever is here and we endeavor to have a time of Bible reading and prayer a couple of evenings each week.  We go offline for 24 hours every Saturday night.  Sundays are sacred - we go to church.  This is the scaffolding of our week.  Everything else fits in and around these foundational elements.  Having a basic regular plan helps to eliminate the emotional and spiritual fatigue that can come with the constant onslaught of options to fill up our time.  These norms help to establish an atmosphere wherein we can practice the presence of God with more consistency and peace. 

Home, Sweet Home by Walter Dendy Sadler

Just as making a home more useful and hospitable comes with living in the house for a while, understanding what your daily and weekly rhythms should look like comes with living as a family for a little while.  Eventually it becomes clear what the needs of the family are, then we turn to the Lord for help with how to meet our needs for ministry, work and rest.  

None of this purposeful living will remain over time by gutting it out and forcing change.  We desperately need God’s grace for real change to take hold.  Let us humbly ask God’s will, knowing that God gives grace to the humble.  We know we cannot do anything except by the spirit of the Lord.  No might nor power will save us from our bad habits and patterns.  Freedom comes by trusting the Spirit of the Lord and by following His leading for our homes.  In this individualistic society, we stumble and fall into selfish isolation all too often, missing out on the blessings that come from regular worshipful practices within our communities and families.  And so we pray along with the Psalmist, “Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands; yes, establish the work of our hands!” Ps. 90:17

 ~ Your Fellow Sojourner

Hold On

         Have you ever cried so hard you couldn’t see?  You were literally blinded by your tears. Our emotions can overwhelm and overtake us.  They can be more powerful than anything you can imagine. The Christian is not exempt from these overwhelming feelings.  

God calls the Christian to a life of great paradox.  In this life there will be sorrow but joy will come in the morning. I am called by God to let go of my life in this world, to lose it, that I might gain a better and more lasting one. I am also called to give up those that I love, even my own children.  This is hard, and that is an understatement.  

I am a stay at home mother of five.  I have not worked outside of the home for nineteen years.  Home is my hub and I have given my life’s energy to the love, care and nurturing of my children.  Yet, if I were to care for them and serve them only for them to live their lives a certain way,  I would turn them into possessions, controlling and manipulating them.  This is not love. They are their own people, created by God in His image to go and live the life that God has planned for them.  This means that they may not make choices that I would agree with or that would meet with my approval.  They must go out, away from me into the world.  But, they go out with many, many seeds having been sown into their hearts and minds.  These seeds carry the radical life changing gospel of Jesus.   

When gospel seeds sprout and grow, eternal truths come alive in the heart. These kernels of life-giving grace cannot help but bring about powerful change.  This is a mysterious transaction, only accomplished through the Spirit of God.

Sower With Setting Sun  by Vincent Van Gogh

         A sower’s work can be sapped of all love and joy if his eyes are only on the outcome of his sowing.  If a sower sits down in the dirt and watches over the seeds he plants, willing them to grow, he is a fool.  Any farmer will tell you, you plan, you plant the best seed you can, you fertilize and protect it and then you wait.  That is all that a sower can do.  The power of life is in the seed not the sower.  No one knows the particulars of how and when a seed will grow. But seeds can surprise you.  

A few years ago I threw out some rotting ornamental gourds that I had used for decoration.  Unbeknownst to me these rotting gourds found a fertile place to produce more gourds.  The next summer and fall a crazy looking vine began to grow from underneath my porch.  Completely unaided and unplanned, this vine produced beautiful ornamental gourds for several years.  Like my gourd vine, the gospel does crazy, surprising things.  

When I was a young woman of 22, Chris and I spent a week in Mexico.  One afternoon I attempted to share the gospel with a small group of people in a shady plaza.  I read off of a tract in halting broken Spanish and then pleaded with my translator to help me.  It was not a stellar gospel presentation.  The small group that had gathered to listen didn’t seem too impressed.  After I was finished and was turning to leave, an excited young mother came up to me and grabbed my arm.  She was pleading with me to stay and talk with her.  My translator explained that she had been standing behind me listening intently to everything I had said.  She told me that she believed what I was sharing about Jesus.  She wanted to know how to be a Christian and what she should do.  After I closed my gaping mouth, I asked the translator to help her connect with a local church.  The young woman hugged me and went off with joy in her step. God had placed me there to scatter the seed of the gospel, the power was not in my knowledge or ability!!  I sowed, He brought forth the harvest and Christ received the glory. 

In the Rye Field by Vassily Maximov

       I have often wondered if all that I am doing is enough.  What if I look back and no one is affected by my life?  What if I am throwing all of my seed into the wind?  

And my answer is, yes, that may be what happens.  I may look back and see people I love and care for walking in their own selfish path apart from the Lord.  I may see a lot of sorrow and pain.  I may not see many plants grow, bud and produce fruit.  Therefore, I must widen my lens. 

God is jealous for His own glory and will not share it with another.   Everywhere that I have walked and sown seed is from God.  He gives me what I have in my hand to do and who I have in my life to love.  He shows forth His love and power to save, change and heal, not me.  I have sown in sorrow, deep sorrow.  I have walked off of the field and prayed and hoped to see seeds turn into life. But this sorrow is not meant to last. There is a joy yet to come. 

Paul, that amazing missionary church planter says, “I planted… but God gave the growth.  So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.”I Cor. 3:6-7  This is our role, to plant not to produce life.  But does God care for the sorrowful sower?  

Christ’s heart was broken for His own people. “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!”Matt. 23:37  Paul also shares his own sorrowful heart, “I am speaking the truth in Christ, I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.  For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen.”Romans 9:1-3

         Christ and Paul sowed seed with sorrow in their hearts, but they did so out of a great and powerful hope.  They treasured a promise.  “Jesus said, Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands with persecutions, and in the age to come, eternal life.” Mark 10:29-30  The gospel sower gains an eternal family even as he or she loses a natural one.  One day I will see just how grand and amazing my family is! 

Two Peasant Women Digging in a Field With Snow by Vincent Van Gogh

Last week I sat in a pew with about 20 other people, all of different ages, backgrounds and family origins.  Nothing drew us together but Christ and His grace.  We are all gospel sowers, hoping to go and plant seeds that will sprout and grow in another’s heart.  Like Paul and like Christ, we go out carrying seed to sow and we hope and pray for a harvest to reap, first within our own homes and then out in the streets and towns.  We all have questions, fears and anxieties that we struggle with; we sow sorrowfully.

We come together to remind one another of the great things that God has done in us and for us, the things that gladden our heavy hearts.  We remind one another that the one, “who sows in tears shall reap with shouts of joy!  He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.” Psalm 126:5-6  One day I will stand in amazement at what God has wrought, leaving all of my wildest dreams and prayers in the dust.  

      The days may seem long and hard, but my gray hair, slowing gait and weakening eye sight are here.  It won’t be long before I too will see all that God is doing in the broadest, most eternal sense.  I need to renew my grip on the gospel plow even as I pray for a joy that cuts through the sorrow.  I am praying for Christ and His Spirit to fuel my steps as I plow through the rain and cold, the heat and rock hard ground. I don’t need anything for my journey, not the love and praise of family or friends, nor the false fulfillment of this world. I need the sweet freedom to love and sing and sow beyond this natural world and into the next. So fellow sojourning sower, keep your eyes on the prize. God is the One who has called you to sow, plant and water the good seed that He has given to you.  God’s purposes are ripening fast, hold on.

~ Your Fellow Sojourner