rest

I have been reading through the Bible this year - I'm in Judges now - and I have been struck by the number of times the Lord instructed His people to rest in the first few books of the Bible. And the more I read about the necessity of resting, the more keenly aware I am of how much I crave true rest. I'm not talking about sleep here - although I certainly need more sleep than I've been getting lately - it's spiritual rest that I need.

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls" (Matthew 11:28-29). I've got a lot yet to learn from Jesus about finding rest for my soul.

spaghetti luncheon

Last Sunday, the seniors at my church hosted a Spaghetti Luncheon to raise awareness about their upcoming mission trip to Wales (Cymru if you speak Welsh). The kitchen prepared enough food for 350 people, and we ran out just as the seniors were serving the last tables in Fellowship Hall. As folks were eating, one of our seniors, Alexia, explained the rationale for our trip - only 5% of the Welsh people attend church regularly and only 1% are Evangelical Christians.

The Spaghetti Luncheon was success on many levels. First of all, we were able to raise awareness about our trip and cultivate a base of prayer warriors and financial supporters who will undergird our work. Second, we were able to remind folks about our church's longstanding tradition of sending the seniors on an international mission trip as the capstone of their experience in the Student Ministry. Third, the seniors had a chance to serve their church family in a very practical way. As one speaker remarked, it's always nice to see teenagers hard at work! Finally, we provided our congregation with an opportunity for intergenerational fellowship, something that many of us have been craving.

The seniors have chosen Isaiah 6:8 as their theme verse for the trip: "Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send?  And who will go for us?' And I said, 'Here am I. Send me!'" I am grateful that each of these 15 seniors has responded to God's call to go, and I look forward to seeing what God will do in and through their lives as He sends them to Wales.

10 years

In an ongoing effort to reorganize my filing cabinets, last night I spent a couple of hours going through drawer #3 of filing cabinet #2 - the divinity school drawer. As I looked back over my class notes, papers, sermon manuscripts, sermon evaluations, Greek and Hebrew quizzes, and exams, I thought about the 4 1/2 challenging yet rewarding years that I spent working on my Master of Divinity degree at Beeson. Reading through the comments that my professors wrote on my papers and sermon manuscripts and the observations my peers recorded on sermon evaluation forms was affirming but also a bit unsettling, because they prompted me to consider whether I have been a good steward of my gifts during the five years that have passed since I earned my degree. 

It was startling to realize that it has been a decade - ten years this month, in fact - since I sensed God was calling me into the ministry. How time flies. When I responded to God's call, I had no idea what He had in store for me - I simply recognized that He was asking me to prepare for something. While I was in seminary, I developed a pithy response to the inevitable question, "What are you going to do next?" My standard answer was, "God is dealing with me on a need-to-know basis, and apparently I don't need to know." And now in the spring of 2009, ten years after my call, God continues to deal with me on a need-to-know basis. I find that I am less comfortable with this arrangement today than I was five years ago, but undoubtedly God is still trying to teach me what it means to trust in Him with all my heart and lean not on my understanding. Direct my paths, Lord.

the science of generosity

Last night as I was skimming through the latest issue of Newsweek before I drifted off to sleep, I came across a fascinating article about giving. In "The Science Behind Our Generosity," Princeton bioethics professor Peter Singer explains how psychology affects what we give charities. For instance, people are more willing to help a single individual than many, and they are more willing to help someone if they are the only one around. Noting that 27,000 children die every day from diseases that are easily treatable or preventable, Singer laments that too many people are influenced by the bystander effect - we assume someone else will help those in need. The trouble is, too few people are doing anything at all to address global poverty.

Singer is the author of The Life You Can Save: Acting Now to End World Poverty, and on the book's website, www.thelifeyoucansave.com, he challenges people to take a pledge to give a minimum amount of their income (based on a scale) to an organization that helps people who are living in extreme poverty. In doing so, Singer seeks to "change the public standard of what is involved in living an ethical life in a world that contains both great affluence and extreme poverty." 

Will you take the pledge?

Tokens: Justice Songs

Last night my family (plus Chaney's lovely girlfriend) attended the Tokens program at Lipscomb University. "Justice Songs" was the title of this show - the fifth installment of the Tokens series. Previous Tokens programs include: "The Christmas Revolution" (December 9, 2008), "The Politics of Jesus" (September 9, 2008), "Jubilee: Land, Greed, and Grace in American Folk" (May 27, 2008), and "The Appalachian Longing for Home" (February 19, 2008). Each program was recorded live, and you can listen to excerpts from the four 2008 programs online, and a clip from last night's program will available soon.

Lee Camp, Associate Professor of Theology and Ethics at Lipscomb, was inspired to create Tokens after attending Garrison Keillor's New Year's Eve show in 2006 at the Ryman Auditorium. (Ironically, my family also attended that show, and we have a framed Hatch Show Print hanging on the wall of our den to commemorate the event.) A long-time fan of Keillor's Prairie Home Companion show, Camp wondered what would happen if someone took that format and tethered it to theology. After all, Camp observed, theology is often most succinctly communicated through music.

Since I've been spending a lot of time as of late pondering exactly what it means to "act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly before your God," "Justice Songs" hit the spot theologically for me. The evening featured so many memorable moments: Brother Preacher's meandering sermon that made me laugh until I had tears in my eyes (you've got to hear his line about Jesus' golden sombrero), Odessa Settles's powerful rendition of "Were You There When They Crucified My Lord," the skit by the Tokens Radio Players about the English Only amendment (Would you like to order a baby donkey roll?), a prerecorded interview with Will Campbell about his famous book Brother to a Dragonfly, the music of the Most Oustanding Horeb Mountain Boys, and a prerecorded interview with Brad MacLean about his work with death row inmates. And did I mention that Vince Gill, Sonya Isaacs, and Buddy Greene sang, too? The ensemble's rendition of Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind" was breathtaking.

You can see Tokens yourself on June 25 at 7:30 p.m. when Camp and company present "Stories We Live By." Go to their website www.tokensshow.com and get on their mailing list so you won't miss another show.