Onward and Upward Part II

But what are we moving towards?

Which direction do we set out upon?

What does it mean for the griever to endure?

What or who has the final word?

I am confident that the answer is found in Jesus Christ.

Over the last couple of weeks I have been reflecting upon Isaiah 55:

10 “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth,

making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, 

11  so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. 

12 “For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. 

 13  Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall make a name for the Lord, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”

The Word of God is a multifaceted reality of Christianity. For today, suffice it to say that the Word is more than a concept or theological category. It is the person of Christ, the eternal Son of God, who beckons us onward and upward on the path towards redemption, restoration, wholeness. It is in and through him that we can endure the pain of the past and even the pain that lies ahead with the promise that he will one day wipe away the tears of his people. Today and in the days ahead, may we take “baby steps” of gratitude, hope, vulnerability, honesty and faith, as we hold fast to the One who holds us fast.

The Sower’s Song, by Andrew Peterson, has provided so much encouragement and perspective in the last year and a half. May it encourage you as your trajectory takes you onward and upward.

may we take “baby steps”

of gratitude, hope, vulnerability, honesty and faith

Onward and Upward Part 1

Last night, Emma and I (Scott) were processing the last year and a half and the loss that we have experienced and the people and places that we miss. As much as we would love to avoid loss, it is an inescapable, inevitable reality. The absence of a person or a place can at times be gut-wrenching and infused with sorrow. At other times, it may usher in a warm memory of a better season. Grief can be such a confusing thing. There are some nights when I lay awake wrestling with the past in my mind. As much as I yearn for silence, I often have to put on a podcast or music to drown out the internal dialogue.

The hardships of the past, the loss and grief that we experience, can often feel like an impassable, immovable obstacle. The easy path is to throw in the towel and dwell in the past. It is often hard to see hope or purpose beyond what lies in the past and therefore current circumstances. As much as we might like to escape, the reality is that it is inescapable. The novel Jayber Crow, by Wendell Berry (which I consider to be one of the greatest books ever written), is the autobiographical life story of a man named Jayber Crow who embarks on an exploration and reflection of all the stuff that life is comprised of. His thoughts on grief are as follows;

“New grief,

when it came, you could feel filling the air. It took up all the room there was. The place itself, the whole place, became a reminder of the absence of the hurt or the dead or the missing one. I don’t believe that grief passes away. It has its time and place forever. More time is added to it; it becomes a story within a story. But grief and griever alike endure.”

I think that there is something profound in this.

Friend, your past, your grief, your loss, do not define you.

It is formative.

It does shape you however, it does not have the final word.

Your story has not reached its conclusion.

This is something that I often must remind myself of. I can’t help but think of the movie What About Bob? (which I consider to be one of the greatest films ever made) and the self-help path of “baby steps” that the psychiatrist Dr. Leo Marvin sets his patient, Bob Wiley on. We must move forward.

We can move forward, one “baby step” at a time.

Rhythmic Chaos

Like most people, as we began a New Year, we had ambitions, hopes and plans, maybe even resolutions, that would reinforce daily rhythms and routines. Well, things beyond our control happened. Stomach bugs, colds, and to top it all off, COVID.

In the midst of it all and in between illnesses, we took steps forward. We successfully attended a worship service at the Lutheran church in our town with friends of ours and the kids want to go back. I (Scott) have managed to read nearly 6 books so far (3 of which are the first 3 of the Harry Potter series, which is amazing). Rachael continues be amazing at literally everything she does. Emma is continuing with piano lessons, Wes is learning guitar, and Declan is convinced he is Spiderman. So even though January has felt a little discombobulating, we are finding our bearing.

With the start of a new calendar year, we find the rhythms of the Christian calendar, birthdays, anniversaries, holidays etc., which can bring order into our lives. But a new year, which can have many starting points for different people, can also be marked by the absences of those who have passed away or other losses that have encountered us.

For our family, January 16 marked the day that my Uncle Russ passed away one year ago. Death is such a weird and complex and uncomfortable reality, reminding us of our frailty and finitude and how little control we have in this world. Uncle Russ was a devoted follower of Jesus, and a beloved husband, father, grandfather, brother, and uncle. In the above picture from my brother’s wedding in May of 2009, Uncle Russ is in the center, his twin and my dad, Roy, on the left and I am on the right. If you look at Uncle Russ’ face, you can tell he was a joyful person. I miss his smile and his laughter, and the trouble he and my dad would cause. I am grateful that he was my uncle and for the impact that he had in my life. Ultimately, I am comforted by Christ who defeated death and extends the gift of eternal life to those who call upon his name.

Regardless of where you find yourself early in 2022, I pray that you would take the following words to heart;

“Every day is special. Every day is a gift. Every day.” ”
— Jocko Willink

We can make long- and short-term plans and goals, and it is wise to do so. It is good to live an orderly life, but when things hit that are beyond your control, 

Friend, breathe. Even if your plans fall apart and life hits you in the most unexpected of ways, look to Christ. Look to your community. Know that there is someone who does care about you. Look to who and what is around you in the moment, and trust in the One who brings order out of chaos. 

EXPECTATIONS: Finding God in our best laid plans or attempts at plans.

EXPECTATIONS

Finding God in our best laid plans or attempts at plans.

How many of you feel like you plan or attempt to plan and yet nothing turns out the way you quite imagined it would be? Not bad, nor good, just different. That is what this season has felt like for the Frase Family. We have planned and planned and planned and are looking at our life and realizing it is not at all what we thought or expected it would be. We don’t live in the right town, we don’t have the right jobs, we even have a dog that looks somewhat similar to a fluffy horse. I do not mean to insinuate that we do not like and even love these things, they are just different than what our EXPECTATIONS were.

Learn

“Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans” John Lennon

This is what I continue to grapple with, my expectations. Are my disappointments because life is not good or I am just so entrenched in what I thought life should be that it stunts my ability to look up and see what good is happening right in the midst of this messy and beautiful thing we call life.

"The Gift"

This is a piece our friend Cari Dougan wrote. Cari is a kindred spirit and though we have only actually met once in this life our hearts continue to intersect and we have been long time fans of her words as a creative.

“THE GIFT”

“maybe, if you’re like me, this year has made you weary. you feel heavy laden, burdened & weighted by the heaviness of the world. the season. the polarized climate. sickness, isolation, the list goes on & on & on.

so much online, offline. lots of hate & lots to be angry about. so much entertainment that’s it’s coming out of our ears. is it entertainment, when it suddenly becomes necessity?

I knew there would come a time when the stark reality of Jesus’ abundance would grow thicker and increasingly different/foreign from the ways of the world. although intertwined in hope and perseverance, i knew there would come a time where i’d only be able to say that Jesus is the reason i’m alive. the reason of my strength & my hope.

Jesus says,

““come to me, all who are weary & heavy laden.
i will give you rest””

he asks us in the next verses to learn from him

““i am gentle and humble of heart. you will find rest for your soul. my yoke is easy, my burden is light.””

is it getting hard to carry? is the weight of the world something you simply cannot bear because you weren’t ever meant to?

i love that these verses are about trading loads in a sense. you are heavy ladened, burdened by it all. take my yoke & learn from my ways. my yoke is easy, my burden is light.

when the burden we take is now peace in our souls. when the burden still grieves actively, like a sympathetic heart break, each day, and with each new wind & for each new face. but the burden now lets us breathe. knows that it’s not ours to take. knows that we can love and be here and hope here & cry here. the yoke is light because the burden is shared. because God grieves. right now God grieves.

and the turbulence & hardship & gut swelling shame, the loss of light, the loss of who we are, the times it hurts to laugh, and it feels easy, so easy to cry. somehow, God gifts us beautiful and soft things in the midst of the rawness. like when waves sparkle in sunlight, how they only grow in beaming white when the tide is turbulent. how it reflects something more. somehow, i’m not sure how, probably the greatest mystery of my life- all things become new. and old things we lost, we find as we get older. treasured & fresh & brimming with nostalgia, melancholy.

trusting in jesus, it isn’t some magic thing. it requires us to glean from his ways. and one of his ways is patience in what the creator is spinning inside. knowing the inherent goodness, how it feels like a sob in the throat.

how its rest .. can set us free,

to experience this world, with a burden, as a gift within.

mary oliver once said “someone i loved once gave me a box full of darkness. it took me years to understand that this too, was a gift.”

the gift is that God doesn’t take us out of human experience or cheapens our freedom for the sake of perfection and control.

but gives us hope within. sets us free, because love must be free

hopes song is creaky & familiar.

- nature knows it well. whispering through leaves and laced spider webs, cobble stones, rivers & justice, fresh snow & new moon.

& if you find it swelling strong within you, this year & last year. though it sounds quite like grief, can’t you hear us singing together?”

If you enjoyed Cari’s writing go check out her beautiful book of poetry called ‘House of Hymns: A Collection of Poetry.” Give some love to those local artists. You can also follow her on instagram at @thecaricole to hear more of her words.

REST or RESOLUTION

In this season of hurry ups and making new years resolutions. Let’s take a moment to reflect upon the God, who slowed down to dwell with us. Who is our rest.

Rest or Sabbath is not about setting aside a day but an atmosphere that allows it to reside within us. Dorothy Bass in Practicing our Faith relates keeping the Sabbath as “a confirmation that we are not without help in shaping the renewing ways of life for which we long.” The Sabbath is a longing and yet also a choice of trusting that we are not alone in the world we are called too.

Rest is renewal.

Rest is community.

Rest is trust.

What are we being renewed by today, tomorrow, and every day?

Stay tuned for more about Rest in the coming weeks.

Faithful in the Small Ordinary Things

Do you ever feel discouraged with what you have or have not accomplished? Do you question whether you are on the right path, maybe wondering if you took a wrong turn somewhere? I (Scott) can be quite introspective which has its strengths but also can become a deterrent if I let it. In our most recent update (see the update section on our website) we shared a short and long-term vision of where we feel Jesus calling us. We feel excited and certain about it, but that doesn’t mean that doubt is absent. We ask ourselves, when will this become a reality? How will it become a reality?

I am a person that can be easily overwhelmed by all of the details that are essential to life and ministry which can lead me to reflect upon what I have and have not done, and find myself wondering,

“is this even possible? Am I even capable?”

I tend to look so far down the road that I lose sight of my current surroundings.

In the past few weeks, I have felt challenged, maybe even convicted of where my focus has been. Over Thanksgiving, we traveled to the Pacific Northwest to visit friends and family. I love this region and would move there in a heartbeat. I think that this region would be ideal for The Refuge (see most recent update). I can be so consumed with the haves and have nots and desires of my heart that I fail to see the three young children that God has entrusted Rach and I with, and the town that he has placed us in.

And let’s be honest,

washing dishes and doing loads of laundry for the millionth time is not exactly satisfying.

“Everyone wants a revolution, no one wants to do the dishes.”
— Tish Warren Harrison

Suffice it to say, I have lost sight of the present and all of the opportunities that it offers. This was one of those realizations that hurts.

But God, being rich in mercy and committed to the growth and wholeness of his children, cares enough to bring up the hard things so that our intentions and perspective may have the right orientation. I have been in this process of “relearning” how to love God, love myself, and love others, and if I can’t be faithful in those areas currently, will I be faithful in those areas, years from now? 

In the midst of at all, I am remained that even if at times I am faithless, the Lord remains faithful (2 Timothy 3:13). I leave you with the words of Douglas Mckelvey from his book, Every Moment Holy, which have brought encouragement to my heart, and I pray will speak to yours as well:

Be invested instead

child,

In simple obedience to your king,

and in long faithfulness to his call,

shepherding daily those gifts and task,

and relationships he has entrusted to you,

regardless of outcomes and appearances.

He will bring all things right in his way.

And in his time.

All he asks is your willingness.

Your heart is in his hands.

Your ways are in his hands.

Your days are in his hands.

Do you hear what I hear?

Of the many things that are synonymous with the Christmas season, one of the foremost, for me at least, is the music. You can’t go anywhere without hearing it. There are 24/7 radio stations devoted to it. Hearing the music can produce warm memories of family gatherings and the excitement of the season for some of us, but for others, there is nothing “Merry” about it. Some of us probably wish for a Google Maps navigation feature for this season that would allow us to bypass it all together in the way that one can bypass a congested traffic area. But alas, we find ourselves stuck in situations that cannot be avoided this time of year.

My grandfather passed away earlier this year and his absence has left an immense void in our lives. I was at the grocery store the other day and noticed the chocolate covered cherries that we always gave him for Christmas, and I felt that feeling in the pit of my stomach of the overwhelming sadness that he is no longer with us. We and others are painfully aware of the friends and family that have passed away in this last year. Their absence is tangible, maybe even more so than their presence, because of the intense longing for their embrace, laughter, and smile. 

A few years ago, at our church’s Christmas Eve service, I was brought to tears as we sang Silent Night. At the conclusion of the service, Rach asked if I was having an allergic reaction due to my red eyes. “No,” I replied (we still laugh about this). Rather I was struck in a profound way as I sang and heard about the beauty and mystery of the Incarnation. God, the very Creator and Sustainer of life, entering our brokenness, desperation, and suffering. God with us, especially when things aren’t “Merry.” Christ who suffered on our behalf, bearing our sins, who died and rose from the dead, in order that we may have a living hope that there is a resolution to the pain and loss we have experienced. Christ who came as an infant, will come again to make all things new. Until then, we have the assurance that he remains with us, especially in the valleys, holding close the broken and weary. It is our prayer that you would know this good news in a tangible way this season. More good news, we have each other. The greatest gift we can offer one another is simply being present in all circumstances. 

So, back to music. We put together an Advent playlist on Spotify that we pray will bring comfort, joy, peace, and hope as we remember the birth of Jesus and eagerly await the promise of his return.

Ears to Hear?

Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.

When is the last time you sat with someone and simply listened to their story? Not for the sake of interpretation or correction, or offering up unsolicited advice or even encouragement, but just for the sake of being present in someone’s life and for a few moments or longer, immersing yourself in their story. Have you shared in their pain? Have you shared in their joy?

There is something powerful when someone invites you into their narrative and when they feel heard.

In the Christian calendar, we find ourselves in the season of Advent, in which we devote time and space to reflecting upon the story of God, who entered our individual and collective stories in the person of Jesus Christ. Throughout the story of the Bible, particularly in the Old Testament, there is a theme of God’s people crying out to God especially in times of pain. A longing expressed for the wrongs to be made right.

A hope

for a resolution to the pain. A cry of “God, do you even care? God are you even there?” 

Well, herein lies the good news. God hears. God cares. While it may seem cliché or even difficult to accept or understand, I believe it to be true. Throughout Scripture, God’s hearing is directly associated with his redemptive action. In the New Testament, the cry of God’s people is answered in the person of Christ who entered our brokenness to bring us hope and wholeness. Christ who entered our journey and issues the call, “he who has ears to hear, let him hear.” Advent not only looks back, but forward to when Christ will return to make the wholeness that he alone offers complete. Until then, we cling to the promise of God’s presence and his story of hope. It is our prayer that in this season of Advent, that you would have ears to hear and a heart to believe this story. It is our prayer that today and, in the days ahead, that you would know the grace of God the Father, the love of God the Son and the comfort of God the Holy Spirit.

Lastly, here is one of my favorite albums, Behold The Lamb of God by Andrew Peterson and others, that tells this amazing story;

A Return to the Ordinary

The whole of Christianity is inherently extraordinary. The incredible realities of the triune God’s works of creation, redemption and new creation transcend our feeble finitude and understanding.

 So then, how do we live, how do we respond? How do we reflect what we profess to believe? How does the extraordinary intersect with the ordinary? 

Zack Eswine addresses this in his book, The Imperfect Pastor, which I highly recommend, even if you are not a pastor. Eswine reflects upon the story of Christ’s birth being announced to the shepherds in Luke 2:8-20 and the anticlimactic aspects of this narrative.

First, is the sudden, extraordinary appearance of the angels proclaiming the sign that the long-awaited savior has come, will be found in the most unexpected of forms and places. “But here the anticlimax begins… ‘You will find a baby,’ they said, “wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.’ The sign of God’s fame lay in the aroma of cattle and hay-the placenta of new birth, the cries and warmth of the ordinary life.”[1]                    `

Second is the response of the shepherds to the appearance of the angels, the announcement of the sign and the encounter of him. “And now the second anticlimax confronts us…after beholding and participating in this too-grand-for-words event, ‘the shepherds returned,’.”[2]

Have you ever noticed this part of the story? While this narrative emphasizes the beauty of God coming to us in Christ, the return of the shepherds to their flocks is no less profound. Sidenote: Have you ever considered why Christ’s birth was first announced to shepherds? Might be worth contemplating:) With this extraordinary event, the shepherds had experienced the potential for “celebrity opportunity,” however, “right here, God in his grace disrupts us. By means of the shepherds returning, God seems to seriously imply that seeing God’s glory, hearing his voice, receiving his good news, and beholding his love was never meant to deliver us from the ordinary life and love in a place-it was meant instead to provide the means to preserve us there.”[3]  Where “celebrity opportunity” is found it “does not remove the arrangements for neighbor love that still exist. Someone will still need to care for the sheep, create clothes for others, provide milk and food for neighbors…their [the shepherds] call to love each other and their neighbors, to eat, to wash clothes, to seek and ask for forgiveness from each other in ordinary moments, to attend to sickness, to celebrate birthdays, and to seek God would not go away.”[4]

The return to the ordinary. This is where some of God’s greatest work takes place.

[1] Zack Eswine, The Imperfect Pastor: Discovering Joy in our Limitations Through a Daily Apprenticeship with Jesus. (Wheaton; Crossway, 2015), 79-80.

[2] Eswine, The Imperfect Pastor, 80.

[3] Eswine, The Imperfect Pastor, 81.

[4]Eswine,The Imperfect Pastor,81

Ordinary

What is Christianity? What does Christianity look like? What should Christianity look like?

If you asked 10 people (Christian and non-Christian) to define Christianity, you would undoubtedly receive 10 different responses ranging on spectrums from skepticism to belief; from simple to profound; from questioning to confident: from doctrinal to ethical; from faith to works.

Have you ever encountered the phrases “ruined for the ordinary” or “radical obedience” used to describe Christianity or following Jesus? We have and honestly probably echoed these sentiments earlier in our ministry. Now, our view of the Christian faith, or maybe specifically the outworking of what we believe, has evolved into what we would call an ordinary Christianity. While the ideals of extraordinary and radical Christianity are attractive, how realistic are they? Is the call to follow Christ a call to the spotlight or to humble, quiet service behind the scenes? 

In the coming weeks, we will flesh out this concept of an ordinary Christianity a bit more. But suffice it to say for this week, our understanding of the outworking of our faith, in part, echoes the words of Jesus and James.

34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me… 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.”

- Matthew 25:34-36, 40

27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

- James 1:27

What is The Gospel?

What is the Gospel? Such a simple and yet complex question today in a world where the gospel often gets hijacked by extreme variations of subjective emotionalism.

A passage from Isaiah that was spoken to a people facing devastation and captivity, a time of hope deferred.

Jesus uses this very passage as his introductory sermon to his ministry in Luke. This is His work.

These are the words I want to leave you with.

HOPE looks like this…

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;
he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
to grant to those who mourn in Zion—
to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;
that they may be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.

Isaiah 61:1-3

This hope is the extension of comfort, healing, freedom, and transformation and not just an outward transformation of a headdress that is worn but the spirit is also altered by this good news. Who receives this hope, it is to the poor, the imprisoned, those suffering physically, mentally, and emotionally. Remember the extension of grace that is offered not because we are good people but because God sees the marginalized, the suffering, and the outcast and extends His hands toward us.

WHAT IS THE GOSPEL TO YOU?

Nowhere to lay my head (Part 2)

“In order to follow Jesus, we have to go through a carpenter’s shop in Nazareth”

These words of Zack Eswine, pastor of Riverside Church in St. Louis, MO, speak volumes of not only who Jesus is, but also who his followers are called to be. 

When we read through the Gospel accounts, we see a beautiful picture of Christ and his work of feeding those who are spiritually hungry, healing those who are sick, liberating those who are oppressed, touching the untouchable, cleansing the unclean, and forgiving sin. We see Jesus Christ, God incarnate, entering the brokenness of this world to bring wholeness and restoration to those who have the eyes of faith to see who he really is. Jesus Christ, fully God and fully man. The divinity of Christ is demonstrated in that he does things that only God can do. But we also see his humanity in the way that he interacts with people and creation, affirming the goodness of the world that was created through him.  

All of this is so important as the way of Christ indeed emphasizes spiritual formation, fostered through prayer, thoughtful and prayerful reading of the Scripture, hearing God’s Word proclaimed through preaching, and ultimately living out God’s truth in every aspect of our lives as the Spirit of God conforms us to the image of Christ. While all these things are absolutely essential to the Christian life, equally important is being in the world and getting our hands dirty, so to speak.

One of the things that I have been thinking about is the reality of Christ as carpenter. From the witness of Scripture and from what we know about Jesus’ world in the 1st century, I believe that we can confidently say that the majority of Jesus’ life prior to the beginning of his ministry, was spent learning and utilizing the trade of carpentry. It doesn’t get any earthier than that. What is fascinating to think about is that Christ spent this portion of his life using the tools to shape the same material that he would one day be crucified upon. Christ lived a fully human life engaged in the day-to-day tasks and concerns that we are all too familiar with. There is an aspect of the ordinary that is sometimes overlooked as we look to Christ to lead us to our true home.

While Christ gives us our bearing as we journey towards the point in history when all things are made know at his glorious appearing, he also gives us our bearing on how to be engaged in the world around us. 

We are called to love our neighbor, to love our enemy even. How do we show love to those around us? By showing Jesus to those whom we encounter as we live an ordinary life on this journey of faith. Providing a meal or shelter for those who are hungry and need a safe place to stay, taking an elderly neighbors garbage out to the curb for trash collection, sharing a meal, helping jump start someone’s car, even being involved in your kids’ sports leagues. There are countless ways in which we can demonstrate who it is that we follow when our actions are in line with the Master Carpenter who has shaped our lives.

Nowhere to lay my head (Part 1)

“18 Now when Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side. 19 And a scribe came up and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” 20 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”

— Matthew 8:18-20

At face value, this is such a puzzling way in which Jesus answers the scribe who expresses a desire, even a willingness to follow Jesus. But everything that Jesus says is laden with intention and purpose and should cause us to pause and think about every word he proclaims. 

I had never given much thought to this passage prior to a year ago when it had a profound impact on me and my family’s situation at the time. We were going through a season feeling totally uprooted from a community and place that felt like home. In a spiritual sense, we felt homeless. One day I was out walking and praying, and this interesting verse and the words of Christ struck a way that resonated deeply within me.

Jesus says that he “has nowhere to lay his head.” Now, does this indicate that Jesus was homeless? Homelessness is generally defined as a person or people without a regular, fixed, and secure nighttime residence. The gospels paint a picture of Jesus having accommodation, with the exceptions of his wilderness period and rejection at Nazareth. So then, what on earth did Jesus mean in his response to the scribe and to all who desire to follow him, or are attracted to the story/ reality of his person and work

I think it is a challenge, call, invitation, to leave familiarity and even comfort to embark on a journey to imitate Christ in his ministry of caring for the lost, the untouchables, confronting injustice, challenging those who proclaim to know God, yet whose works are contrary to their proclamation. It is a call to comfort the afflicted. It is a call to bear affliction, to die to ourselves and live for others as Christ gave himself for the world as we depend upon God the Father to sustain us, as God the Spirit conforms us to the image of Christ. Following Christ is a call to the home and rest that we all desperately long for. Like Abraham, we too are called to sojourn, as the writer of Hebrews says, “8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.”[1] 

So where do you lay your head? Where does your hope lie? The rest we long for, the home we seek, will evade us unless we are unwilling to say, “Christ, would you lead us and teach us; Father, would you sustain us; and Spirit, would you shape us. Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer. Amen.”

[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Heb 11:8–10.

Welcome to Thursday’s Thoughts!

This will be a new aspect of our ministry and website where we explore a variety of topics on a weekly basis. These topics will include reflections on Scripture, Christianity, the intersection of the Christian faith and culture, books we have been reading, even music that we are listening to. It is our hope and prayer that through this new feature you will be encouraged, challenged and comforted as we share our thoughts with you. We hope to feature some guest writers too!