Covenant Renewal

“Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” ~ Joshua 24:14-15.

It will not surprise people who know me to see this passage referenced again because I quote it, at least in part, often. It takes place after the Exodus, 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, and possession of the Promised Land. The Israelites were on the cusp of becoming God’s holy people in God’s holy land. The LORD whittled them down to a very dedicated, lean, and battle-hardened remnant of the multitude of freed slaves from five decades earlier. Their numbers are still substantial and more than sufficient to generate fear in God’s enemies but, even after repeatedly witnessing the LORD’s glory, some violated the covenant of Moses and their forefathers. So, Joshua reminded them of the sacred covenant that bound them to the Lord God. He required them to renew the covenant before beginning something unprecedented.

We also stand on the brink. A new and unprecedented year will begin with the promises of our LORD, unforeseeable encounters as we press on. Our weary eyes have seen people we know return to slavery, falter in the wilderness, and even die over the last two years. Our wilderness testing made us more resilient than we knew we were, and our faith in God grew. But we largely built our faith on experience and cannot confidently promise to be as strong in the face of the unforeseen, unless we fully rely on our Christ-changed nature and the Holy Spirit.

The people of God whom Joshua led into the Promised Land were ready for anything they'd already encountered, but they were ignorant too. Their ancestors were familiar with the gods of Egypt, but they were all dead. Now, a new generation met the gods of their enemies in the Promised Land. Their mysterious powers awed and frightened them, and some of the LORD's people even became infatuated with the gods of the uncircumcised and worshiped them. It's no wonder Joshua made the people renew their covenant and then erected stones of remembrance to bear witness against them in a breach. 

In the same way, I urge you to begin the new year with some form of covenant renewal. I regularly use the “Covenant Prayer in the Wesleyan Tradition” as a part of the first Sunday worship in the year wherever I serve as pastor. (UMH 607) It is a recommitment and affirmation before the altar that is a kind of Ebenezer stone of remembrance. Please make it the one New Year's resolution that you will not break, because you can count on being tested by new threats and temptations. In fact, the Enemy is far more likely to tempt you than to assail you. There will be hardships, but they have as much potential to strengthen your covenant as to weaken it. Lies and false gods, however, can corrupt your interpretation of the covenant and deceive your perception of the unholy. Therefore, we must be answerable to the covenant we made before the congregation, just as Joshua called out the whole people of Israel to bear witness. They heard each other say the words and could testify to it.

Besides a public, shared covenant proclamation, I urge you to join or start a small group for accountability and spiritual enrichment. It is vital to revisit the covenant with others weekly. Plan to make Sunday worship and small group participation an unbreakable habit in the coming year because it is not about you but the Lord. Moreso, it is not about you but the body of Christ occupying and fulfilling the kingdom of Christ. We cannot complete it without covenant devotion, a new birth in Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Let this be the year, no matter what comes. Let this be the year. Amen?

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

     There’s an old saying that “familiarity breeds contempt” and I believe Christmas carols are at risk of such apathy. We often sing them from memory and revel in their melodies as part of the season’s ambiance, like the smells of pine boughs and warm cookies, the taste of eggnog, and the sound of crackling fires and jingle bells. So, to counter inadvertent disregard for rich Christian hymnary, let us absorb the richness of one of the most popular Christmas carols of all time.   

Hark! The herald angels sing “Glory to the newborn King; Peace on earth, and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled!” Joyful, all ye nations rise, Join the triumph of the skies; With th’angelic host proclaim, “Christ is born in Bethlehem!” ~ Hark! the Herald Angels Sing | Charles Wesley 1739. v1

     Charles Wesley opens the hymn with a familiar image of shepherds cowering under the heavenly hosts. Therefore, we join the well-known rhythm and become lost in revelry. If so, we might not heed his first admonition to “Hark!” Let the abrupt proclamation alert us to the rest of the message. The angels said, “Listen! An unprecedented thing is happening. A helpless baby lying in a manager will change the world and all creation forever. The nations would join the angel’s triumphant proclamation, if only they would listen. We would join them, if only we would really harken to their Word. ’God and sinners reconciled’ because the Messiah was born in Bethlehem.” 

Christ, by the highest Heav’n adored; Christ the everlasting Lord; Late in time, behold Him come, Offspring of a virgin’s womb. Veiled in flesh the Godhead see; Hail th’incarnate Deity, Pleased with us in flesh to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel. ~ Hark! the Herald Angels Sing | Charles Wesley 1739. v2

    The child of Mary, wrapped in carefully prepared cloth, nursing in his mother’s arms, surrounded by farm animals, and guarded by a godly husband, was adored by all the hosts of Heaven. Their joy so magnificent that it pierced the thin fabric between heaven and earth, concentrated through a tiny portal bursting with light and then, briefly, as a vast display before astonished shepherds of the Temple flocks. The LORD, ADONAI, reduced to human form, even pleased to be so, is our God with us. 

Hail the heav’nly Prince of Peace! Hail the Sun of Righteousness! Light and life to all He brings, Ris’n with healing in His wings. Mild He lays His glory by, Born that man no more may die; Born to raise the sons of earth, Born to give them second birth. ~ Hark! the Herald Angels Sing | Charles Wesley 1739. v3

The evil king, Herrod, thought of destroying the unwanted heir, as if he could even do so. As the devil’s instrument, Herrod’s lies, oppression, and chaos could not withstand the providence of God. The Prince of Peace and glory of God’s perfect nature reigns! Infant Christ grew and became the perfection of our salvation. A baby was born to die and rise, and break the back of Satan to open the way home to the Father’s house. The cooing child in quiet stillness lay while all the power and might of the LORD rested within him like a seedling in winter soil. His birth provided for our spiritual rebirth and physical resurrection.  

Come, Desire of nations, come, Fix in us Thy humble home; Rise, the woman’s conqu’ring Seed, Bruise in us the serpent’s head. Now display Thy saving pow’r, Ruined nature now restore; Now in mystic union join Thine to ours, and ours to Thine. ~ Hark! the Herald Angels Sing | Charles Wesley 1739. v4

Rulers in the world seek His annihilation, but the people born of Adam long for his victory over the Enemy. The world’s meek and lowly fervently desire the end of lies, oppression, and chaos. Just as the least among men were the first to greet him, so too the humble, contrite, and faithful may still enjoy His glory now. Christ is ever present and His glory is the aura seen behind so much that seems commonplace. 

Adam’s likeness, Lord, efface, Stamp Thine image in its place: Second Adam from above, Reinstate us in Thy love. Let us Thee, though lost, regain, Thee, the Life, the inner man: Oh, to all Thyself impart, Formed in each believing heart. ~ Hark! the Herald Angels Sing | Charles Wesley 1739. v5

Wesley’s last verse is a response to the message we have harkened. Take away the visage of Adam’s sin that clouds our true nature. Replace it with that of the new Adam, Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior. Fill us with the love that only your Spirit can generate within. Remake our nature so that we will be You to all with whom we walk. 

Hark! the herald angels sing, “Glory to the newborn King!”

The Final Word

He spoke the Incarnation

And then so was born the Son

His final word was Jesus

He needed no other one" 

The Final Word ~ Michael Card

    The overarching theme of these weekly messages changed to encouragement around April 1, 2020. The great COVID busting hunker down that would be over in a month started looking like a journey of many months. Rising anxiety started a slow crescendo reminiscent of Ravel's Boléro. Circumstances dimmed the summer’s brief ray of hope and around November, the virus coincided with political vitriol to bring grief, sickness, and hopelessness to the Christmas season we celebrated online and in our homes. If the maestro had known his gradually intensifying orchestral works would become a theme song for our angst, he would have added a few more movements with undulating peaks and valleys. Once again, we find ourselves isolated, untrusting, frustrated, and hopeless at Christmas time. Many things differ from a year ago, but the stress and anxiety remain.  

     The encouragement I’ve sought to give is wide and varied, as I have endeavored to listen to the Spirit and write as I am led in the moment - usually Wednesday morning. It is a kind of public journaling exercise, which may explain why some of the recent messages seemed to be about encouraging me. Every wilderness wanderer of the Exodus suffered, even Moses and his team of leaders. The land of promise was geographically near, but God’s timing was unknowable. One simply had to remain faithful and monitor the pillar of cloud and fire. Thankfully, there are moments of inspiration and hope.        

     I have found that memories are vitally important to my faith journey. Looking back to other times of anxiety and strain and remembering God’s faithfulness and my resilience causes me to believe it can happen again. With the LORD’s help, I have reframed my circumstances, revised my expectations, and adapted. If I did so without the guiding light of the Spirit, I’d still be wandering in a wilderness encountered long ago. With the help of those memories, I can reframe, revise, and adapt again. 

     A series of youthful errors of judgement and their consequences led to a season in my mid-twenties that felt the same as the present times. That time in the 1980s was highly personal, and this one is global, but the feelings are the same. Anxiety, stress, isolation, and hopelessness drove me to my knees and my keyboard - it was a Smith-Corona electric typewriter! I wrote my questions and then attempted to write the answers. I often used short stories and poems to flush out the wounds and peel away dying flesh. I loved music, as most young people do, but I sought originality and richness in verse. The gifted poet and the songwriter often merge complex ideas into beautifully succinct phrases. 

     Michael Card is an artist whose influence on my spiritual life I cannot adequately express. His warmly styled, theologically rich songs enlivened my soul and filled in gaps that hindered by sanctification. I’ve quoted a brief phrase from a Christmas song he wrote in 1986 - “The Final Word” plays in my mind often these days. Because of it, I keep telling myself and others to have hope this year, because Jesus is God’s answer to all the questions. 

• When you don’t know who to believe, Jesus is God’s answer. 
• When you don’t know what is real, Jesus is God’s answer.  
• When you’re alone and broken, Jesus is God’s answer. 
• When the world lets you down, Jesus is God’s answer. 
• God created you for eternal life in God’s home. Jesus is the key that unlocks the door. 
• God made you for eternal life. Jesus bought it for you. 
• Change is inevitable. God is unchanging. 
  

    Michael Card is one of several voices through whom the LORD spoke in my past. Each was unique and critical to my maturity. I now see clearly from the future that my wilderness time was used to refine, nurture, and train me for now. Today’s wilderness is the same. The Spirit will use the voices, signs, and symbols around us to make us ready for the future. Thanks to the One who stepped out of eternity and into time, we can step out of time into eternity. Therefore, whatever we endure now is significant, even if it prepares us for life beyond the veil. 

    You may not write things out like I do, but I’ll wager you have other forms of relief and recreation (re-creation). You might not take comfort from poetry, literature, musical verse, but you have sources of inspiration. God will meet you where you are, like Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well. He understands your situation and how you got there, just like Jesus and the Samaritan woman, because Jesus is God’s answer. Jesus is your hope. 

CCLI Song # 228362

Michael Card

© 1986 Birdwing Music (Admin. by Capitol CMG Publishing)

Mole End Music (Admin. by Capitol CMG Publishing)

For use solely with the SongSelect® Terms of Use. All rights reserved. www.ccli.com

CCLI License # 1252648

If You Love Me, Feed My Sheep

"I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe." 

~ Ephesians 1:17-19

    I had the privilege of sharing my heart for ministry in the LORD’s name with a precious Christian sibling recently. I heard myself saying familiar words to me and seeing fresh significance in the eyes of another - Love for the LORD and His sheep is the taproot of my calling (John21:17). The conversation arose as a compassionate response to my recent expressions of burnout. I’ve regained my footing after sliding down the hill somewhat and I am again plodding my way up the slope of the institutional church in the 2020s. 

    Another Christian sibling recently responded to comments overheard between two pastors by saying, “I’m gonna stop this pity party by changing the subject.” It seems there are always people in a pastor’s world who just don’t understand the scope and stresses associated with the calling. Most are supportive in their own way, but many succumb to their assumptions about the role and its various duties. Believe it or not, there are lifelong church attenders who believe their pastor only works a few hours a week on Sunday morning. Others form conclusions about the character and personality of their pastor based on how well he/she aligns with their assumptions and cares for their peculiar wants and needs. 

        I wonder what you’re thinking about the previous paragraphs. Is this another “pity party”? Or do you feel sorry for pastors, even me? If so, then I have news for you. Your pastor is not feeling sorry for himself and doesn’ desire pity. Rather, he values understanding and appreciation because pastors are not service providers in the same way as your doctors, druggists, store, restaurant, and theater managers. While the pastor is charged with ordering worship and directing the temporal and spiritual life of the church, he/she is not a hired hand or overpaid & under-worked executive. 

     An authentic calling from the LORD compels the pastor to sacrifice and serve in the Spirit of Christ. The call is a burden to the pastor’s spouse and children, but it is not their shared calling. In fact, if you want to tempt the pastor toward sin, just try putting unrealistic expectations on his/her precious loved ones. Few things weigh more heavily upon the pastor’s heart than the suffering of their family because of his/her calling. 

     I fear I have touched some nerves by now and some readers will not read on. If so, it’s a pity because the truth, direct from Scripture, is forthcoming. First, know this: It is a statistical fact that clergy are quitting in larger numbers these days than ever before. There is a significant upswing in departures among younger clergy. Christian ministry in a post-Christian society is hard enough, let alone during a pandemic and all its consequences. Although the motives vary from pastor to pastor, it all boils down to questions like, “Is it worth it?” 

    The Spirit-driven pastor suffers and perseveres because of the truth in the passage from Ephesians above. When Christ the Lord invites a pastor to shepherd a portion of His sacred flock, an incomparable love drives him or her. The pastor's interaction with the flock and its members, no matter how difficult or blessed, is an act of love - love for the Lord’s sheep and, above all, love for Christ who said, "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." (John 10:11) The pastor must honor his/her Master’s devotion with obedient courage to speak and serve with truth in love. 

Still in the Wilderness

"See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland." ~ Isaiah 43:19

    I started preaching a series of sermons back in June 2020, when worship in the building resumed, that compared our exodus from lock-down with Israel’s Exodus from Egypt. The ordeal felt much like slavery and oppression, with strange limitations masked as liberties. Fear and frustration and the obvious consequences characterized those days. Fear kept people at home, while frustration led to distrust and angst. We all thought the lock-down would end the threat and then everything would go back to normal. Hopelessness of another kind confronted us. We felt nothing would ever be the same again, and no one knows anything for sure. 

    The sermon series extended about six weeks, but the wilderness journeys we discussed are much longer by years. Israel wandered for 40 years, and we now know the COVID journey will not end soon. The sermons seemed to enlighten and encourage, but the effects of the pandemic last longer than our memories. Therefore, it seems appropriate to revisit the subject, hoping to enlighten and encourage once again.

    Some say that it took three days for Israel to get out of Egypt, but it took forty years to get Egypt out of Israel. It is true for us today too. It does not take long to realize God’s love and accept God’s grace, but it takes years to give up control and let God be your Lord. God is so adamant that His people would have new life under His rule that God assured destruction for those who return to Egypt. “Woe to those who run to Egypt for help, trusting their mighty cavalry and chariots instead of looking to the Holy One of Israel and consulting him. In his wisdom, he will send great evil on his people and will not change his mind. He will rise against them for the evil they have done and crush their allies too.” (Isaiah 31:1-2)

    The second anniversary of the pandemic’s beginning is still a few months away, but we have already seen so much change that it seems longer. Like the Israelites, we have witnessed rebellion and destruction. God wiped entire clans out, leaving only a few remnant faithful. Graves and other monuments marked the long journey in the wilderness in tribute to the relentless march of time. Survivors have nothing to count on except change - unless they focus on the almighty glory of God. It is hard to accept, but the fallen, the judged, and the enemy’s strengths and weaknesses are all known to God and will serve as part of God’s unerring plans. 

    The people still had to fight the true enemy of new life in the Promise of God, even as they left Egypt behind - the enemy’s name is “comfort.” Their leaders quickly realized that, as much as they hated being enslaved, the people could at least count on an ugly comfort. Their days comprised predictable routines, familiar surroundings, food and shelter, and a predictable oppressor. When they entered the wilderness, the challenge of obeying and loving their new Master, and depending upon Him for all their needs, emerged. The people learned that faith requires discomfort; that embracing the wilderness requires courage to engage one’s fears.

    It’s hard to believe, but most of the people who left Egypt in those days would not make it to the Promised Land because they never realized that their need for comfort was far more oppressive than their Egyptian masters. The current wilderness wandering of our Christian family presents us with the same challenges and maybe even the same outcomes. Who will surrender to God’s authority and follow the cloud and pillar? Who will fight the enemy called comfort and courageously let go of those who will not? Who will embrace unpredictable change and adapt as needed, no matter how weary, like the Israelites who followed the LORD to the Promise?