ACHIEVING ESCAPE VELOCITY

I view the next 40 days, not so much as a time of getting rid of some bad habits or just as a time to have close communion with God, but also as a time to recognize and relinquish life patterns that divert time, energy, and affection away from the Kingdom (especially as it manifests itself in the needs of others) to myself. It's amazing how much energy and willingness to serve I'm finding, since I'm not fighting against the gravitational pull of a TV, computer screen, or video game. "Cocooning" is not so compelling when soul-numbing activity has been eliminated.

I see Lent as a time to prepare my life to be poured out for the world around me, as Christ's was poured out for the entire world.

TRIP TO "THE HOLY LAND"

I'm still amazed how refreshing a two hour drive in total silence can be. Although not without its moments of bombardment from the enemy with inappropriate thoughts, I enjoyed the clarity in thinking and meditation.

The one-on-one time with my son, Tim was great. Had fun meeting and visiting with his roommates. The time with the FCA was awesome. I was energized just being in the room with so many sincere and gifted followers of Jesus Christ. The potential for kingdom impact in that room was immeasurable. I felt like I adopted a whole new set of kids.

One of my favorite parts of an Aggie home game is the pre-game flyover. I though it had to be cool to be a graduate of A&M and get to fly an F16 over your old school in front of a stadium full of former students. What an honor! What a rush! That's a little the way I felt standing in front of the Aggie FCA. I was thrilled that God gave me such a privilege.

On the way home, I got two twenty-once bottles of Mountain Dew MDX. It was about 11:00 p.m., so I decided that I would risk a heart attack rather than falling asleep at the wheel. I was tremendously blessed listening to Mars Hill Church in Grand Rapids. I had downloaded their Sunday service before Ash Wednesday and their Ash Wednesday service. I felt like I was taking part.

"From ashes you have come..." consider that you are a mere creature who owes your existence completely to God.

"...to ashes you will return..." consider that you are mortal. Quit living as if you are never going to die (physically).

The cross on the forehead reminds us that we are on a journey with Jesus. We haven't arrived and we are moving not only to the Cross but through to Resurrection.

Seeing that others have a cross on their forehead reminds us that we have company.

Wow! The Scripture readings and prayers were powerful.

A NEW PATH

For the first time in my life, I am going to take a Lenten journey. This is not a part of my ecclesiatical tradition, but I'm looking forward to the adventure. I see a need to clear a LZ for the Spirit to land noticeably and effectively in my life--to pursue, in Henri Nouwen's words, "the creation of boundaries that keep time and space open for God--a time and place where God's gracious presence can be acknowledged and responded to." (Lent and Easter Wisdom from Henri Nouwen compiled by Judy Bauer, Ligouri Press, Ligouri, Missouri 2005, p. 4.)

I'm using as a guide, a publication by the Mustard Seed Associates which you can read and download at the following site: http://mustardseedjourney.files.wordpress.com/2007/02/a-journey-into-wholeness-lenten-series.pdf . I will try to keep a daily log of this journey.

This evening I speak to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes at Texas A&M at College Station. I look forward to the two hour trip being a time of silence and solitude. I want to carve out more of this type of space, especially when I am at home. It's so easy for me to fill up time and space with electronic media at home. I guess that is what I'll be "giving up" for Lent.

More tomorrow.

GOING AROUND IN CIRCLES

We humble ourselves before the Lord. Because of overwhelming problems or unshakeable sins we realize how inadequate we are at handling life and living as a citizen of the kingdom of God and cry out to God.

God lifts us up. He gives grace to the humble, pouring mercy, hope, and power into our lives by the Spirit and Word.

We begin to walk worthy of our calling. We begin to love and live a little more like Jesus and see God’s grace pour from our lives to bless other people.

We move from dependency and gratitude to competency and contempt. We forget our inadequacies and begin to believe that people are being blessed because we are such competent Christians. We begin to look down on others who don’t seem to have grasped “the secret” of living a successful Christian life. We begin to feel entitled to more grace.

The walls fall in again. Circumstances overwhelm us. Sin won’t let go of us. God is disciplining His children. We can’t manage life. Loving and living like Jesus seems like the impossible dream.

We humble ourselves. We have hope in a God who is full of mercy and patience, so we cry out to Him again.

God lifts us up…

Can this cycle be completely broken in this life? I’m not sure. The key is keeping always before our mind that we can do nothing apart from Christ and apart from Christ we are nothing—to recognize that even at our best we do not love God or others to the extent that Christ did. We have every reason to be humble and no reason to feel competent.

SMOKE SCREEN

"..and the LORD said to Moses, "Tell Aaron your brother not to come at any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat that is on the ark, so that he may not die. For I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat...Aaron shall present the bull as a sin offering for himself, and shall make atonement for himself and for his house. He shall kill the bull as a sin offering for himself. And he shall take a censer full of coals of fire from the altar before the LORD, and two handfuls of sweet incense beaten small, and he shall bring it inside the veil and put the incense on the fire before the LORD, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is over the testimony, so that he does not die." ESV Leviticus 11-13

As I was reading this passage this morning, it struck me as interesting how the incense acted as a buffer between the manifestion of God's presence and Aaron. I'm not sure what all the ramifications are to this, but I do know that throughout Scripture incense and prayer go hand-in-hand (cf. Psalm 141:2, Luke 1:10, Revelation 5:8, 8:3-4, 18:13). I have always seen blood as the mediatorial (i.e. appeasing or atoning) substance in ancient Hebrew worship. Here, incense functions in that capacity so that Aaron can survive in the presence of God long enough to sprinkle the blood of the atonement on the mercy seat.

If this spurs any thoughts or insights, I would love to hear them.

WORSHIP KIT

You shall beat some of it [incense] very small, and put part of it before the testimony in the tent of meeting where I shall meet with you. It shall be most holy for you. And the incense that you shall make according to its composition, you shall not make for yourselves. It shall be for you holy to the LORD. Whoever makes any like it to use as perfume shall be cut off from his people." ESV Exodus 30:36-38

Why did God give such a stern warning against using the formula for making the holy incense to make personal perfume? Yeah, I know, “because it was holy.” But that is a lot like a parent saying, “Because I said so.” It doesn’t really explain why.

Ancient Hebrew worship of Yahweh was not only multi-faceted, but multi-sensory as well--

Sights...
Sounds...
Even smells...
Especially smells--
slaughtered animals,
roasting meat,
the sweet pungent aroma of burning incense

The sense of smell is arguably the most powerful of our senses.

The formula for the sacred incense was not a secret. Anyone could duplicate it. Someone might want to recreate the awesome experience of God’s presence at the tent of meeting in his own tent. The easiest and most powerful way would be to burn the sacred incense. I’m sure that it would be very effective (at least for a while) in evoking the memories and thereby feelings that he had experienced at the tent of meeting. It would also be very easy to mistake these feelings for worship. But over time, the aroma of the sacred incense would be associated more with events in the household than the events at the tent of meeting. And instead of bringing the memory of the sacred into the mundane, the memory of the mundane could overwhelm the experience of the Sacred.