He Kissed His Hymnal and Slammed It Shut

I didn’t even see it myself. Someone told me after worship on Sunday how much it touched her heart. Just hearing about it, I was brought to tears and it’s been resonating in my mind. Often a serendipitous worship moment fills my heart with joy.

One of the many, many wonderful ministries of the church I serve is our Good Neighbor Fellowship. They reach out each month to 40 or 50 Birmingham area adults with mental challenges. I love to visit them at their monthly dinners, the annual Birmingham Barons game, and their Christmas party. I’ve never, ever seen such excitement when Santa walks in!

Since I came to Saint Mark last year, two of the delightful men from Good Neighbor Fellowship joined our church and they just love to come. They are part of a Sunday School class created especially for them and others with special needs. They come to Men’s Breakfast and sing in the Men’s Chorus at 8:30 each month. And they sing with joy and enthusiasm … though neither of them are actually able to read. They wave and they smile. And I remember how truly grateful I am to be a part of a church who strives to welcome all of God’s children with unconditional love. It blesses us all.

On Sunday, after we considered our commitment to become a Christian and many came to renew their vow to be a follower of Christ, we sang the old hymn “I Surrender All.” One of these dear friends had his hymnal open and sang his heart out. When he was done, he kissed the pages of his hymnal and slammed it shut.

I wish I had seen it myself, because for at least one person who told me about it, it was a holy moment. In his own way, he says yes to God and surrenders his heart to the holy one who created all of us.

God Before Us

I realized that I have not included one of my hymns on the list of publications found in the right column of my blog.

I composed the tune and text of "God Before Us" which emphasizes the immanence of God's grace.

The music can be found by clicking the link to the General Board of Discipleship Worship Website.

The text is below.

“God Before Us”

God, before us as we seek,

Yours the path, our guiding.

Word, our lamp and light of day,

Show your will abiding.

God, behind us as we walk,

Make our way unswerving.

Hands and lips in concert sing,

Into freedom serving.

God, below us as we fall,

Weakened knee, our binding.

Race ahead, we take our cross,

Strength in weakness finding.

God, above us as we reach,

Yours the earth our grounding.

With creation, lift our praise,

Guide our understanding.

Copyright 1994 by Stephen P. West, all rights reserved

Finding Your Voice

As I write, I am taking it easy on Labor Day. I really was planning on biking this morning, but the rain last night (and sleeping late after my daughter’s birthday party) compelled me to stay inside. So far, it’s been a good day. As I relax, at the same time I am thinking of how much I appreciate the opportunity to work, not just to pay the bills but to do something with my life that makes a difference.

Labor Day came about in the late 1800’s after a labor union strike where a number or workers were killed at the hands of the government. President Cleveland sought reconciliation with the union chief, and congress unanimously approved rush legislation to make Labor Day a national holiday. It had, however, for years been developing in various states as a reflection of the strength of the American worker.

The day has become a relaxing rite of passage at the end of summer, a great day to go shopping, a time to put away my new seersucker in the closet, and an afternoon to fire up the grill. This is what Labor Day is about, but there is so much more. It is about celebrating work as an expression of the human spirit.

Today, I am pondering Christianity’s unique understanding of work. For Christians, life is not about toiling hard to get the rewards you deserve. It’s not about success, achievement, or getting ahead. We operate instead from the larger vision of being part of the body of Christ. Our work reflects how we fit in to what the Spirit is doing in our broken world.

The word vocation comes from a root word meaning a “calling” or “summons”. For Christians, our occupation is not a choice but a response to the designs of the Holy Spirit, who imparts gifts on God’s people. I am reading a book by spiritualist Parker Palmer called “Let Your Life Speak,” the title reflecting a Quaker phrase. Christian understanding of work is rooted in the spirituality of the incarnation … our task is to be the hands and feet of Christ, an expression of God’s love in the world. Life is not just about working hard but about being the presence of Christ for others. In short, it’s about finding your voice.  It’s about living a life beyond desires for your own happiness and security, with a higher purpose in mind. Each of us find our voice in the world, and every voice needs to be heard.

The concept of a calling is not just for clergy. Each of us discovers joy when we let our soul speak its own truth. The Christian concept of vocation is at odds with popular attitudes about self-actualization and following one's dreams. Our vocation is a gift of God, not a goal to achieve.

How are you letting your life be an expression of God’s desires for you? How are you letting your life speak, unfolding the gifts and passions God has placed in you?

“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” – Galatians 2:20

One Small Step

I have been flooded with memories since hearing of the death of Neil Armstrong this weekend. I so vividly remember the first moonwalk, when I heard for the first time the words “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” These words, along with his very name, are now etched in the annals of history. The experience defined a generation and spoke a pervasive word to humanity.

To remember the first walk on the moon, you have to be about my age or older. I was four! My mother sat me down in front of the old black and white TV with the rabbit ear antennas and said, “Stephen, you need to watch this, it’s a day you will always remember.” I certainly do, and I remember it vividly.

I am humored by memories of our housekeeper, who came in and told me it was all a hoax, that it wasn’t real, just like the radio show about Martians had been fake (when I got older, I realized she was talking about the infamous “War of the Worlds”). I was confused, but my parents told me later that yes, it was indeed true, and I had been watching history in the making.

Throughout my life, my mind has floated back to that day in front of the television watching Neil Armstrong walk on the moon. When so often our lives are defined by our limitations (our abilities or lack thereof, our circumstances, our decisions), the first moonwalk reminds me that there is another way to look at life. Life is defined by our infinite possibilities.

What step are you called to take? Wherever you are in your life, one small step might lead to your own spiritual moonwalk on a whole new world of possibilities. It takes one small step to embark on this new path, this new walk, this new adventure.

Are you willing to take it? Perhaps you have spent much time and energy preparing to take that one step, and you know very well what it is but you are caught in fear. Or perhaps God has not shown you what step it is that you might be called to take. Wherever you are in life, I pray that you might have both clarity and courage to step off the ladder.

"We walk by faith, not by sight." - 2 Corinthians 5:7

It's Not Enough to Be Honest

We value honesty, and rightly so. It's a pretty good thing.

But I'm fascinated that though the scriptures compel us to speak the truth (after all, "bearing false witness" made it to the top ten "no no's"), speaking the truth is not just about being honest. Not really. 

You can learn a lot not only by what's in the scripture, but by what's NOT. Here's the astounding thing. When Paul lists the fruit of the Spirit in Ephesians, "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, and self control," honesty is conspicuously not included. Why? It's not enough to be honest.

I'm going to say something radical, perhaps even controversial. Honesty is not a uniquely Christian value.

I'm certainly not encouraging you to lie. George Burns said, "You've got to be honest; if you can fake that, you've got it made!" I'm not suggesting you be dishonest, but I am saying it is not ENOUGH to be honest.

Maybe we should watch out when we find ourselves saying "I'm just being honest!" Do we hear what we say? JUST being honest? If we are only being honest, we haven't gone far enough.

The call of the gospel is not to speak the truth ... period, end of sentence. The call is to speak the truth in LOVE. That's a bigger commitment than just being honest.

In Ephesians 4, where Paul writes of our call to speak the truth in love, he begins "I beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling ... with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."

Honestly, how can we ever be brutally honest?

Season your speech with salt. Spread the fragrance of Christ everywhere you go. Speak the truth, and often a deeply profound truth. But always speak the truth in love.

Meditation on My Broken Gourd Instrument

This morning, during my morning prayer, I felt an unexpected urge to spend time with my broken  gourd instrument. I didn't know why, really. It has sat on my shelf for a whole year, ever since I broke it moving here from my last ministry appointment.

A couple of times over the year, I have rummaged through my desk to find superglue, only to squeeze the tube and have nothing come out. Rather than fool with it further, I had tossed the glue back in my drawer and gone on with life. So there the gourd sat.

It's a beautiful, fully rounded brown gourd shaker that was a gift for use as hand percussion at the Academy and other worship experiences I lead. It's also in my study just for fun! It's from Cameroon. I can shake, thump, or rub it to make different sounds. People who look around in my study often reach for it, it's a natural hand magnet. I have missed shaking my gourd, but still it has sat there all year in two pieces, laying bare its brokenness.

But today, I was drawn to my broken gourd. I went to my desk and found the superglue again, and once again I routinely squeezed it and remembered I had been through this before. But this time, I did not give up so easily. I examined the glue, taking the top off. To my surprise, I found the reason glue had not been forthcoming is that I had not punctured the necessary opening in the first place. You know how it works, one has to take the top off and use the pointed end to get the whole thing started.

I thought, "really?" What does that say that it has taken me a year?

I mended my wonderful gourd and laid it on my small altar on the corner of my desk altar by the candle. And I meditated about my own journey of spiritual healing and the healing so many others desperately need in a world of distrust, competition, and unhealthy dynamics. How often do we lay in our brokenness when healing is so readily available? How often have I let something lie that needed mending, getting accustomed to seeing it in pieces rather than pursue the grace God has for me so closeby? How often have I just gotten so used to things being broken that I don't notice?

I think God has given each of us just what we need to find wholeness again. But we don't always approach the gift creatively. We rummage through the drawer looking for hope, some scripture or prayer or holy place, some relationship or conversation or means of grace ... but we throw it back when we find it doesn't work fast enough or without a little more effort. We get comfortable with leaving things broken and laying around, whether they are outer relationships or inner rhythms. And so we don't make the music we would love to make with life.

I'm glad I listened to the Spirit's nudge and glued my gourd today. And I'm glad it formed some great morning prayer time. I look forward to shaking things up now that I've got it together.

Don't Ask Yourself What the World Needs

"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and go do it, because the world needs more people who have come alive." - Howard Thurman

This week, I am living with this powerful quote in my heart and spirit from Christian spiritualist Howard Thurman, pictured to the left.

In today's culture of consumerism ("I am what I can have"), functionalism ("I am what I do") and rugged individualism ("I am whoever I want to be"), it is so counter-cultural to truly live with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in me. I have also spent so much of my life and energy doing, accomplishing, achieving, and building. Even in Christian work, which I have committed my life to, I can become lost in a swirl of getting it done.

During the second half of my life, I'm entering the journey of rediscovering what makes me come alive. I want to live from my center and be who God crafted me to be!

Lord Jesus, help me to let go of everything I want to do, and seek to let your life come alive in me. Let my doing flow freely from my being.