Death, Home & Life

Henry was one of the most godly men I've ever known. He served, with his
wife, as a missionary doctor in India for many years in their younger days.
He went with a team I led to London to join a much larger team in ministry
to Muslims in London for two weeks. At that time he was 70-some years old -
but you won't have known it by looking at or listening to him.

He had such a heart for people. But his heart, first of all, was for Jesus.
It was all very obvious to me... as well as to many others.

I just received news that he died this morning - his body succumbing to the
cancer sought to destroy it. He's home now. And Henry is more alive now
than he's every been.

I didn't think it would hit me this way. Henry was so ready to leave this
earth - not in a negative way at all... just ready to see Jesus
face-to-face. I'm happy for Henry but feel a heaviness... for his wife...
and for me. Henry was a man I deeply admired and wanted to emulate in
devotion to Christ, in discipline, in willingness to bring changes to his
life so that he could walk more closely to Jesus... to love others as he
understood Christ loved him.

I've missed seeing Henry around the past several weeks. I knew he was
dying. He was under hospice care. But I just didn't think that his death
would affect me this way. I don't want Henry to be gone. I'm not ready for
that. This world isn't ready for Henry to be gone. But I suppose God knows
best - what's best for Henry, for his wife, for me, for all of us. It's
best not just for Henry but for all of us. That's the way God works.

Thank you, Lord, for the time I had with Henry. Thank you for showing me
more of your grace and mercy in and through Henry... to see you a little
more clearly because of Henry.

Blessed is the Lord. Glory to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy
Spirit. As it was, so it is and so it shall be forever. Amen.

Hocus Pocus

The priest lifts the bread of the Eucharist out and perhaps above his head. He prays, reciting the words of Christ in Latin, "Hoc est corpus." ("This my body.") He breaks it and eats, taking into himself the broken body of Christ. Then he takes some wine and some water and pours a bit of each into a chalice, lifts the chalice and prays, reciting the words of Christ, what is translated into English as "This is my blood." He then drinks from the chalice, taking into himself the poured out blood of Christ.

Jesus said of the bread, "This is my body given for you..." Of the cup he said, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you." Christians believe that somehow the bread and the wine (juice) is the body and blood of Christ - more than just a representation, a symbol. Mystically, even though the they still look and taste exactly like bread and wine/juice.

At one time, pagans, too, came to believe that the bread and the wine became something else - body and blood. They, too began to recite the words "hoc est corpus" believing there was some magical power in the recitation of those words - an incantation. But like the game "Whisper Down the Lane," someone didn't get it quite right. The Latin became corrupted and what came out are the words we English speakers more familiarly know as "hocus pocus." The words are still used to today describe something mystical or magical - but often with a touch of cynicism.

It seems to be this way with many things that have originated in the Church. People who may indeed come "to church" but are not part of "the Church" frequently seem to come away from the Church with corruptions of what the Church does or teaches. Love - that wonderful determination to serve and care for someone regardless of cost to self - has been reduced to some kind of emotional "charge." Humility has become a nice personality characteristic but only if it doesn't keep you from getting what you want in this world. Justice has become a tool of political and financial convenience or promotion. Spirituality has nothing to do with one's own spirit being molded into the likeness of Christ by His own Holy Spirit - just a connection with the "All." Happiness has become the elusive goal of the earthbound who never realize that it is something like water. The more you try to grasp hold of it, the less of it you get - but if you simply prepare to received it (a container or cupped hands or an open mouth) you can then quench your thirst with it.

If only Christians would quit paying so much attention to what the rest of the world says is so important and real. Love God. Love your neighbor. And guess what happens. You can't just love your neighbor and forget about loving God. We're just not that good. And you can't just love God and forget about your neighbor. Love for God "spills out" to neighbors - even the enigmatic and troublesome ones.

We need to pay close attention to the Church - to what it has been teaching and practicing for 2000 years, despite what some in the Church have said and done during that time. If we would simply take into ourselves the brokenness of Christ and the spilled blood of Christ, if we would just love God and love others, what would happen? Perhaps something truly amazing and mystical and wonderful... hocus pocus! The kingdom of God here on earth.

Nothing except Christ

"For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and
him crucified." (1 Corinthians 2:2)

This is an absolutely astounding statement. It seems as if the only thing
that captured the aposotle Paul's heart was the knowledge of Christ and,
within that, the knowledge of Christ's crucifixion.

Today, so much of the Church seems to be interested in how to "grow" the
Church. We have evangelism seminars, discipleship seminars, even seminars
on how to run seminars! What about seminars on Christ? What about seminars
on the meaning of Christ's crucifixion? What about the meaning of our lives
because of the crucifixion of Christ?

So many Christians' lives - mine included - are full of "things." Our
curiosities and passions take us off in directions that, while seemingly
good, lead us away from the knowledge of Christ and him crucified. Michael
W. Smith has written a song, the lyrics of which represent the need of the
vast majority of the Church in America to confess, repent and pray:

I have built an altar where I worship things of men
I have taken journeys that have drawn me far from You
Now I am returning to Your mercies ever flowing
Pardon my transgressions
Help me love You again

And then the refrain

Lord have mercy
Christ have mercy
Lord have mercy on me

If we are going to know the joy and peace of Christ in a truly radical way
we must come to "know nothing... except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
Church leaders must give themselves to studying and meditating on Christ
himself - not methods, not strategies, not vision casting, not marketing.

The love of God is a radical love. It calls us to what will appear to many
as a radical way of life. Our job as Christians is not to convince anyone
of its validity or necessity, only to love God totally with every ounce of
our being and to love others as love ourselves. This is possible only if we
make our purpose and goal in life to love God as he has shown us in Christ what that means and to love others, again, as he has shown us in Christ. Everything else must be abandoned.

Are we willing to abandon everything we have gained according to this world
for the sake of Christ? Are we willing to turn off our TVs, put down our
magazines and newspapers and isolate ourselves for even just 5 or 10 minutes
a few times a week to purposely meditate on Christ's crucifixion? Are we
willing to take a first step towards that? Are we willing to at least cry
out to God to make us willing?

If we truly want to "know Christ and the power of his resurrection," then we
must be willing and even deliberate to embrace "the fellowship of sharing in
his sufferings" even to the point of "becoming like him in his death." That doesn't
necessarily mean we must literally be physically crucified like Christ was but it
does mean that we will probably have to die to many of our dreams, desires,
and hopes in order to "fix our eyes on Jesus."

Lord, have mercy... on me.