Grace

Them’s the Breaks…

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Well, when you plan to go see your daughter out of town and you leave work and forget your computer, you take it as a sign the Lord doesn’t want you to write what you were planning on writing. Or, you take it as a sign that you needed the weekend to focus on other things. Either way, there is no meaningful blog this week. Just me rambling about nothing.

So, y’all have a great weekend, and remember what this weekend is all about. A great shout of appreciation to those who gave all for our nation and freedom.

Maybe I’ll write that blog I was planning today next week.

Until next time, keep looking up…

My Lesson from a Battleship Sermon…

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So, I’ve often told folks that I never preach a sermon that I haven’t first preached to myself. In large part that’s true…but not always. It wasn’t necessarily true this week when, in the middle of a sermon I was preaching, the Holy Spirit convicted me on a deep, deep level on a matter I had not previously considered.

Going on a “Journey”

I had the blessed opportunity to preach on Thursday evening to the gathered body at the last “Journey” session for the Evangelical Methodist Church in Copperas Cove, Texas.

What is a “Journey” session? For all my former United Methodist (and present UM) friends, think Annual Conference. “Journey” is the time of year when EMC pastors and laity gather for meetings, business, worship and encouragement.

The theme of the evening was “Be Watchful,” and the passage of scripture around which the Journey session was framed was Paul’s departing speech to the elders from the church at Ephesus in Acts 20:

28 “So guard yourselves and God’s people. Feed and shepherd God’s flock—his church, purchased with his own blood—over which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as leaders. 29 I know that false teachers, like vicious wolves, will come in among you after I leave, not sparing the flock.30 Even some men from your own group will rise up and distort the truth in order to draw a following. 31 Watch out! Remember the three years I was with you—my constant watch and care over you night and day, and my many tears for you.

I chose as the text for my message Ephesians 6: 10 – 20:

10 A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. 12 For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm.

Bermuda Shorts and Battleships

I’ll do my best to make a long story short. The title of my message was “Wearing Bermuda Shorts on a Battleship,” with the point being that many people come to Jesus expecting life to be a cruise ship when, in fact, we are boarding a battleship. We have to have the correct attire for the occasion. We must put on the full armor of God to be prepared for life as a disciple, otherwise it’s like wearing Bermuda shorts on a battleship.

The full armor of God is, of course, Jesus Himself. He is our salvation. He is our righteousness. He is our peace. He gives us the gift of faith. He is Truth. He is the Word made flesh. We must clothe ourselves in Christ and we do so through prayer. And, that’s where the Holy Spirit convicted me in the middle of the message.

I was bringing the message to a crescendo (don’t you like that word?) with these words:

“Friends, we don’t strap on a Colt 45 and look for some evil to confront. Evil will find us on its own. Our battle is won or lost on the field of prayer. We cannot advance, let alone win the spiritual battle, if we are not empowered with prayer. We need to pray for each other. We need to pray for protection from the evil one. We need to pray that God would guard our moral lives and protect our people from moral failure. We need to pray for the strengthening of families in our church. We need to pray for love and unity within the church. We need to pray for wisdom to discern false teaching. We need to pray and not give up. But, we must never pray to be taken out of the battle.”

And, there it was…”we must never pray to be taken out of the battle.” I even repeated it twice for emphasis. In that moment, the Holy Spirit impressed upon me that praying to be taken out of the battle is exactly what I had done in 2019 when I left the United Methodist Church.

Jumping Ship

Between 2019 and 2024, the United Methodist Church was in a battle for its future. I like to believe that in 2019 after General Conference, I saw the handwriting on the wall…that the battle was already lost…so, what was the point of sticking around?

I prayed for a door to open so I could make my exit. Time to move on…time to fight other battles. Well, doors did open, and I thought those doors were answers to prayer. Perhaps they were answers to prayer because, well, God is just good that way, but as a result of the message I preached on Thursday evening I feel convicted that I left friends on the battlefield. To use the analogy of the message: I jumped ship. I abandoned a church I loved and friends I loved because I thought the battle wasn’t worth fighting.

I don’t mean to suggest that either side in the battle for the UMC was “good” or “evil.” What I am suggesting is that the devil got all up in the business of the UMC, and the division is a direct result of the devil having his way with us. We spent years fighting each other when who we should have been fighting was the devil. At least, that’s my perspective (with all due respect for those friends of mine who remain UM).

Now that I’ve had a couple of days to reflect on the Holy Spirit’s conviction, I think I need to apologize to my shipmates–I’m sorry I jumped ship. I got caught wearing Bermuda shorts on a battleship.

The Goodness of God & Coming Home

Yet, God is good! After almost a year of being spiritually homeless, the Lord (in July 2020) led me to the Evangelical Methodist Church. In His goodness and grace, He has shown me over the past three+ years that I have always been an evangelical Methodist, now it’s just official. I’m glad to be home. Yet another answer to prayer, for sure. He answers our prayers in positive ways even when we’re not praying for the right things.

So, I’ll do my best to fight the good fight in my new home. I’ll do my best to serve Him wherever He might lead me as a result of this new relationship. I’ll do my best every day to put on Jesus Christ (the armor of God) and board the battleship in the fight against the spiritual forces of wickedness. I’ll do my best to pray and never give up. I’ll do my best to never abandon my shipmates again. I’ll do my best to honor Him at every turn. I’ll do my best to be prepared for the journey that is faithful discipleship in Christ. I’ll try not to bring Bermuda shorts to a battleship.

I’m certain I may fail at some point. For those times, as in this one, I’ll ask for forgiveness, for mercy and for grace. I’m sure the Lord will extend all three, well, because He’s just good that way. I can only pray that others will, too.

Until next time, keep looking up…

I’m Just Asking…

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This has been a week that has been filled with questions…questions I’ve pondered as I’ve encountered situations, listened to conversations, spent time in prayer and watched the world stage.

I’m posting questions via this venue, not really seeking answers (though I invite you to comment if you like) but to offer others the opportunity to ponder with me, or to get others to think about what is happening in their own lives.

Deep Questions

Let me start with the theological questions I’ve been asking this week:

  • Is it possible to be totally abandoned to God?
  • What does total abandonment to God look like?

I know! You want me to answer those questions, don’t you? Well, I’m not going to answer them because I’m not sure I can. As I’ve pondered the questions this week, they’ve only raised more questions. Asking the questions doesn’t diminish my desire to be totally abandoned to the Lord, but even asking the question makes me believe that I’m not totally abandoned.

I know Jesus was totally abandoned to the Father’s will, but then again, he was/is Jesus. He is God! He knows the beginning from the end. Surrender/abandonment seems easy for Him.

What about me? What about we mere mortals? Can we not ask questions? Do we simply accept every situation, circumstance or event as a place God would have us be? Even when we make stupid decisions? Does the Lord lead us into hell, or rather, does He accompany us there because we’ve led ourselves there?

See? Answering questions with more questions. That’s kinda’ been my week. Hey! If you’ve got answers, leave them in the comments section below.

“End Time” Questions

Here are more theological questions I’ve been mulling over the last week or so, especially in light of world events:

  • Are we living in the “end times?”
  • Am I ready for the “rapture?”
  • Are there too many interpretations of the “rapture” to really understand it?

Yeah! I actually went there–end times stuff. All the chaos in the world has many people (Christians) believing that the end is near. As I ponder these questions, I have to remind myself that every generation, including the Apostle Paul’s, believed the end was near. I also have to remind myself of what Jesus said:

36 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.  Matthew 24: 36 (NIV)

Go study Matthew 24 – 25 for a more in-depth understanding of Jesus’s discourse on the end times, but with every answer be prepared for more questions. Questions like: “How self-absorbed must I be to believe that this generation is so pious that the Lord wants to ‘deliver’ us from the ‘Great Tribulation’ that is to come, when there were other generations of believers who suffered so much more persecution than we have or will?”

I refuse to answer that question, too. I’m sure some of you will attempt it. Go ahead. There is a comment section below.

Honest Questions

I haven’t only been mulling theological questions this week. I’ve also been asking myself these questions:

  • Why can’t some former United Methodists simply move on?
  • Why do some current United Methodists feel the need to continue to berate those that left the United Methodist Church?

These questions have been prompted by the fact the General Conference of the United Methodist Church is gathered in Charlotte, NC. Yes, it’s the postponed 2020 General Conference that is meeting in 2024. Seriously, only United Methodists could have a meeting in 2024 and call it a meeting for 2020.

Honestly, I haven’t followed the goings-on of General Conference very closely. Number one, I’m no longer United Methodist so it doesn’t really matter, but number two, who has got that much time? I only mention it because my Facebook feed has been packed with posts and comments from both current and former United Methodists who just can’t seem to let go of all that has transpired through the disaffiliations of the last four years.

I will offer this counsel to all my friends: Move on! If you are my friend and you are a former United Methodist, don’t feel the need to comment on anything that is happening at General Conference. What is happening is exactly what you knew would happen and is the reason you left the denomination. It is unnecessary to say, “I told you so,” or to cry, “Apostasy!” Move on! Look forward. Serve with faithfulness where God is calling you NOW.

If you are my friend and you remained United Methodist, don’t feel the need to complain about and berate those of us who left. Move on! Look forward. You’re getting the church you want because we’re not there. Go do what you believe the Lord is calling you to do. Don’t make yourself look less Christian because of your snide and condescending comments on Facebook.

The circumstances surrounding the General Conference have caused me to ask, “Can’t we just show one another grace?” But, hey? I’m just asking…

Trust me. These aren’t the only questions I’ve been asking myself this week. Just demonstrates how muddled my mind can get sometimes. With as many questions as I’ve had (with few answers), I still feel like I’m not asking the right questions.

So? What about you? You got questions? Better still…do you have any answers?

Until next time, keep looking up…

Meanderings from a Muddled Mind…

/ pastorlynnmalone / 2 Comments

So, motivation is key, right? Well, I’m not motivated to write this morning, but write I do because writing is a discipline and I NEED to be disciplined. That, and I might disappoint the 12 of you who read my writing regularly, and anyone who knows me knows I hate to disappoint anyone (though I so often do).

Writing helps me process things I’ve been thinking about. It helps to bring clarity to certain issues and it keeps me in practice for writing sermons on the (ever more) rare occasions that I’m invited to preach somewhere.

It becomes too easy to pull out an old sermon, dust it off and freshen it up, and preach it again. I don’t like doing that (though I have) because it seems to me that the Lord has something fresh to say, and I would hope (and pray) that He might actually want to say it through me.

Things that Muddle

There are a few things that I need to process, but I won’t process them via this venue. Too many of them are political in nature and doing so would probably alienate half (of the 12) the people who read. Processing them via this venue also might bring no clarity because this election cycle may be hopeless in trying to make sense out of anything that happens.

I really am befuddled that in a nation of over 350 million people that we are stuck with the two choices before us, and that we still have nearly seven months to hear all the foolishness that’s coming our way.

Another issue I’m processing is my increasing impatience with the way people drive. One thing I’ve learned over the past two and half years in the oil business is that people can’t drive. Seriously, people can’t drive! That’s probably one of the reasons insurance rates are so high in Louisiana.

And, drivers are so inconsiderate when they’re driving…but, I’m starting to process, so I’ll move on. I don’t want to come across as an angry curmudgeon, and if I continue that’s exactly what I’ll do. Let me simply say, “Please, drivers, put your phones down and pay attention. Someone’s going to get killed.”

So, moving on…

Heros

I’ve been thinking about biblical heroes and trying to process an understanding of what actually constitutes a hero. When I think about biblical heroes I think about the likes of Moses, David, Paul and (of course) Jesus. Others that come to mind are Joseph, Joshua and Esther. Every one of us could make a list and each list would be different, but surely those names would appear on everyone’s list.

As I’ve pondered the subject, though, I’ve come to the conclusion that there’s only one hero in the Bible, and that would be Jesus. Yes, there are many people in the Bible who did heroic things, but all of them (save Jesus) were broken, fallen people. I mean, really, Moses was a murderer. David was a murderer AND an adulterer. Abraham was a liar who was more than ready to put his wife out in front of an on-coming caravan to save his own skin.

I think about the Apostle Paul, without whom we wouldn’t have the New Testament and who is singularly responsible for the growth of the early church, but who was also responsible for jailing (and even killing?) the early followers of Jesus.

It was Paul who wrote “love is not boastful” (1 Corinthians 13: 4), but who also wrote, “I will boast, too…” (2 Corinthians 11: 19ff). The apostle who wrote “love keeps no record of wrongs” (1 Corinthians 13: 5) was the same apostle who recited a laundry list of wrongs that had been done to him (2 Corinthians 11: 23ff).

Paul came across as arrogant to some. Well, if he came across that way, he probably was that way. Arrogance is so off-putting and would not be at the top of the list of quality characteristics of a follower of Jesus.

I don’t mean to make “anti-heroes” of the biblical characters. I rather think that it means the Lord can make heroes out of us…that He actually wants to make heroes out of us. Our stores are no different than their stories (well, maybe we’re not all murderers?), and just as the Lord used them in His story, so He wants to use us in His story. As I’ve written in other places: It’s not about discovering where Jesus fits into our story, but about discovering where we fit into His story.

It’s His Story

Honestly, I’m still trying to discover where I fit into His story. I once thought I knew, but circumstances beyond my control (and a few within my control) only served to confuse me. But, I’m still searching because I believe He still wants to use me, even as broken, bruised and battered as I am. I might add old to that list, too. That’s okay, though. Moses was old when God used him. Abraham and Sarah were old when God used them. There’s hope for us all–even us old angry curmudgeons.

Sorry if I’ve given you a glimpse into my muddled mind. It only comes as a result of me having nothing to write about, but wanting desperately to keep the discipline of writing. Please don’t hold it against me, and might I ask you to pray that the Lord would give me something to write about next week.

So, what are you processing? Where do you find yourself fitting into His story? Why not share them in the comments with the other eleven people who read my blog?

Until next time, keep looking up…

God Does His Greatest Work in the Dark…

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Let’s see…

The Israel/Hamas War, the Russia/Ukraine War, the Taiwan threat from China, North Korean nuclear proliferation, Houthis attacking Red Sea shipping channels, inflation, racial tensions, a border crisis, a fentanyl crisis, drug cartels, human trafficking, increasing crime rates, gender confusion, a very divisive Presidential campaign, declining church attendance, decaying cultural values.

Have I forgotten anything? Probably so, but you get my point. Read the headlines (or more appropriately, listen to the news) and we get the sense that we are living in dark times.

There are plenty of reasons for concern about the world in general, and western culture in particular, but I’m want to remind us that our’s is not the first generation to face dark times, and if the Lord tarries, it likely won’t be the last.

What I do want to remind us is that though we live in dark times, God does His greatest work in the dark! Easter reminds us of that fact.

Stumbling in the Dark

So many of us stumble around in the dark, and we’re often afraid because we can’t see. When we’re in the dark, we grasp for something, anything to hold on to that will give us some stability, some comfort, some assurance that we can make it until we can turn on a light.

We’re unsteady, unsure, and we lack a certain amount of confidence, and all that makes us just a little leery. Not necessarily because we’re afraid of the dark, but because we’re afraid of what we can’t see in the dark. Sometimes, though, we have to move forward. We have to get to the place that we can turn the light on. We have to get up. We have to keep moving. In those times, we have to see with the eyes of faith. Easter is that which gives us our eyes of faith. 

For the disciple of Jesus Christ, the resurrection is THE central event of history. We may say that time is measured from the birth of Jesus Christ, but hope is measured from the resurrection. We come this morning to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and with it the victory of life over death, of good over evil, of grace over the grave.

This is our holiest of holy days, and it still reminds us that there is light even in the darkest of worlds, and that no matter what else may be happening in our lives, there is always hope. That is the power of the resurrection.

20 Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance.

John 20: 1 (NLT)

John’s Resurrection Account

The resurrection account is recorded in all four of Gospels, but not all four report it the same way. The Gospel of John shares it differently. John alone tells us that Mary Magdalene went to the tomb, “while it was still dark.” Just because John has Mary Magdalene going alone does not necessarily contradict the other three Gospels. Maybe John’s just telling that Mary went down before all the others got there.

John has been called a philosopher of sorts. John’s Gospel is full of symbolic language, and the words on the page don’t always mean what they say. With the phrase “while it was still dark,” we note that John is carrying on a theme that he started very early in his gospel—the contrast of light and darkness.

John introduces the theme in the opening paragraph of the gospel: 

“Life itself was in him, and this life gives light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it”

John 1: 4-5 (NLT

In John 3, a Pharisee named Nicodemus comes to see Jesus “after dark one evening,” and in John 6, he tells us of the time after “darkness fell,” that Jesus came walking on the water to his disciples.

Then, in John 8, the Pharisees bring a woman caught in the act of adultery to Jesus in an attempt to trap him. He refuses to condemn the woman (some have even indicated that the woman was Mary Magdalene), and then he says to the people:

“I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t be stumbling through the darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”

John 8: 12 (NLT)

It is little wonder that John would return to that theme and tell us Mary came “while it was still dark.” Whether he meant it literally or figuratively, we’ll never know for sure, and for his purpose (and for ours), I’m not sure it matters.

For Mary, it was dark, both literally and figuratively. Mary Magdalene was standing at the foot of the cross as Jesus died. She was there at the cross with Jesus’ mother, Jesus’ aunt, and John. When the rest of the disciples had abandoned Jesus, she was there, and she was there when they took his body down from the cross. It was a dark day. The sun may have been shining, but to Mary it was a dark day.

Mary loved Jesus. Luke 8 tells us that Jesus had cast seven demons out of her, and since that time she had been his follower. There is even some evidence that Mary Magdalene was the prostitute who washed Jesus’ feet with her tears and anointed them with perfume. Is it any wonder Jesus would say, “The one forgiven little loves little, but the one who has been forgiven greatly loves greatly.” Mary is not on the fringe of Jesus’ followers, which means that for Mary, as much as for any of Jesus’ other disciples, she was living in the dark days of grief.

Mary is probably wondering how things can get worse, and just about the time she does, guess what? Things get worse. Isn’t that the way life always is? Just about the time we think things can’t get any darker, they do! Mary gets to the tomb and she finds the body of Jesus gone. John has painted us a picture of the dark getting darker, but he also paints a picture of one who lives out faithfulness and hope, even in the midst of the darkness, and we discover what happens as a result.

Catch this! Mary went to the tomb. Despite her fear and despite her grief, Mary did something. She went to the last place she knew Jesus was. Even though she thought Jesus was dead, she went. She went because in the darkness she longed for light…some light…any light. She went looking for light. She had hope, even in the darkness.

You know what’s interesting? Think about when the actual resurrection took place. It took place in the dark! There was no one there to see it. There were no earthquakes or flashing lights. Someone shows up early in the morning and there’s just an empty tomb. The central event of human history, and nobody sees it.

Joseph and Mary were firsthand witnesses to Jesus’ birth, and even angels announced his arrival to shepherds. There were stars in the night sky that foreign astrologers could read, and an earthly king was mad enough to order a massacre of children, but with the resurrection, all we get is second-hand witnesses. It happened “while it was still dark,” but it happened.

Finding Light in the Darkness

Spiritually, the resurrection is our hope. We’ve all had dark times in our lives. When it’s dark and we can’t see what’s going on around us because of the grief and pain and doubt, it’s then we’re tempted to turn our backs on God, believing that God doesn’t care, or worse, believing it’s all God’s fault. We’re tempted to pull the covers over our heads and give up.

I remind you—Mary went to the tomb “while it was still dark.” In the midst of the darkness, she went to the tomb because she loved Jesus, and in the darkness he spoke her name, “Mary.”

So, he does with all of us. When in the darkness of sin, of addiction, of pain and loss, of grief, if we come to Jesus, he’ll speak our name—John, Sally, George, Margaret, Lynn. Mary shows us what faithfulness in the dark looks like. We find Jesus, or rather, we’re found by him, in the dark because we’re looking for him there. The tears vanish when we realize God did His greatest work in the dark. It wasn’t in the papers (I’m really dating myself with that reference), nor did it make CNN or Fox News. We can’t tell when it happened, we just know it happened. 

Life is funny. One day, we’re on a mountain and we can look and see for a million miles. But, as quickly as the sun comes, the darkness settles in, and we go from saying how blessed we are to “I can’t take this anymore!” Darkness comes. Mary was not afraid of the dark. Mary was unwilling to take Jesus’ absence as an answer to anything, and by staying in the dark, Easter dawned!  

I wonder who today is searching in the dark? Some of us remember a time when Jesus was alive. We felt his presence and knew his love. We ate with him and drank with him, and we shared life with him. But, something has happened. We lost a spouse or a child to death. Our marriage went south, or we lost our job. Perhaps we just fell out of love with Jesus.

For those of us in any of those situations we need to do what Mary did—go to the last place we saw Jesus. Was it in the Bible? Then read the Bible, even when the words make no sense.

Was it in prayer? Then keep praying even when it feels like our words are hitting the ceiling and falling back down on us.

Was it in church? Then keep going, even when we feel like we’re surrounded by hypocrites, and we’re just going through the motions.

Some today are in the darkness of broken relationships. Others are in the darkness of addictive behavior. Still others are in the darkness of grief and pain. So many of us are looking for a little light, any light in these dark, dark times. We’re here because we believe that there is still light.

Listen. Listen for the voice of Jesus calling our names. His light is shining because Easter has dawned.    When Easter dawns the light shines in the darkness and the darkness does not overcome it. It cannot overcome it. It never has and never will. Life and light makes our world new.

Easter comes out of the darkness.

Dark times come to everyone, even to Jesus. Darkness is not a sign that we have no faith. Darkness is the opportunity to show our faith. Darkness is the time to get up and face the fears of life head on. Darkness is the time for us to get up and go to the tomb. It is the time to recognize that Easter happened in the dark. When everybody was depressed and thought the work of God was a sham, God was doing His greatest work of all.

Easter is here, my friend. Easter is here.

Until next time, keep looking up…

Palm Sunday Ponderings…

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It is Palm Sunday. You know what that means? Yes, it is marked as the day Jesus made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem before His arrest, crucifixion and resurrection. It is such a pivotal moment in Jesus’s life that all four Gospel accounts mark the event (Matthew 21: 1-11; Mark 11: 1-11; Luke 19: 28-40; John 12: 12-19).

You know what else it means? It means that Lent is almost over! As I’ve mentioned before, this has been a challenging Lenten season for me and I can’t wait for Easter Sunday. The season began without much fanfare for me. I was quite willing to let it pass without much notice. The Lord had other plans. It’s been a good Lent, albeit a very challenging one.

The challenges of the Lenten season have been numerous, and this past week has been no different. The Lord has particularly challenged me in the area of prayer this week. I think I’ve discerned that in this season of the Church’s life, the greatest need is for prayer warriors.

The Church doesn’t need CEO’s and entrepreneurs. It needs prayer warriors. The Church has tried the CEO/Entrepreneur model (really since the 1970’s and the emergence of the Church Growth Movement). As was its purpose, the CGM got the Church a lot of megachurches. The CGM is proof that strategies work. It also go the Church a lot of Christian celebrities and celebrity pastors. I’m not knocking the CGM. I was on that train for a long time. I rode that train until it ran ME out of steam. Now, I think the steam is finally running out of that train for the Church.

Though the CGM got the Church a lot of megachurches and celebrity pastors, it also got the Church declining attendance and fewer disciples who are willing to take up their cross and follow Jesus in the way of surrender and sacrifice. There are some who will blame the free fall in church attendance on the Covid pandemic, but I suggest the pandemic only hastened what was clearly already taking place in the life of the Church. CEO’s and Entrepreneurs cannot sustain the Church. They were never intended to. Though megachurches do show up in many places around the world, they are a uniquely western invention.

The Church (and the world) are in desperate need of revival. Revival always starts with prayer, thus the greatest need of the Church in this culture is for prayer warriors. The Church needs leaders who pray–both lay and clergy. Leaders who pray will bring change to the Church, and the Lord will use the Church to change the world. That’s been His plan from the beginning.

Makes me ask the question “How many churches have a prayer ministry?” When I say prayer ministry, I’m not talking about a prayer group that meets and prays over the prayer requests that come into the congregation. I am NOT discounting the need for that type of ministry, nor am I denying there is power in that type of prayer. Unfortunately, most of those type of groups (and most of that type of prayer) are really just gossip sessions disguised as prayer groups. There is some value in praying for Aunt Sally’s ingrown toenail or Uncle Joe’s gout, but that is not the prayer that will change the world.

When I say prayer, I mean gathering for an intentional time of seeking God’s face…of the people of God asking God what His will is, asking the Lord for His vision, gathering to actually hear from the Lord. I mean the people of God coming together to confess their sin (individually and collectively) and to repent before Him publicly so that grace and forgiveness is sought and found so that the way is cleared for a fresh invasion of the Holy Spirit can bring clarity and direction to His people concerning His vision.

How about a prayer meeting where we pray for boldness to proclaim the Gospel? How about a prayer meeting where we pray for the Lord to put people in our path who need healing and salvation? How about a prayer meeting where we read one verse of Scripture and then sit silently for an hour pondering that singular passage to hear what the Lord wants us to hear?

Yeah! That would probably be too uncomfortable for too many people. But, hey! We’ll never grow until we get out of our comfort zone. Just as our physical muscles won’t grow until we push past what we think are our limits, so our spiritual muscles won’t grow until we push past what is comfortable and easy.

I’ve lived with a great amount of conviction over this Lenten season as I’ve reflected on my own participation in and leadership of prayer group gossip sessions. I need to repent for that. I hope I have repented for that. Prayer in my congregation won’t change until prayer changes in me. Revival won’t come to the Church until revival comes in me.

So, my prayer is for revival to come…to the Church and to the culture…but first, let revival come to me. Let me pray to hear the voice of God. Let me pray for boldness to proclaim the Gospel. Let me pray for people in my path who need Jesus. Let me pray for a revival in me. Let me pray for a transformation in my attitudes and desires and priorities. Then, perhaps I can begin to pray for each of those for the Church and the culture.

The Church and our culture…our world…are in desperate need of revival. So am I! The Church and our world are in desperate need of prayer warriors who will pray for the same. I pray I can become one of those warriors. Do you have the guts to pray the same prayer?

And you thought this was going to be a blog about Palm Sunday. Silly you!

Until next time, keep looking up…

The High Cost of Faith…

/ pastorlynnmalone / Leave a comment

There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. 36 Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— 38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.

39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised,

Hebrews 11: 35b – 39a (NIV)

Reading this passage in Hebrews this morning made me think, “Faith is not for sissies!” Faith is, in fact, hard work.

A quote credited to Ravi Zacharias also came to mind as I reflected on Hebrews 11:

“Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay. –”

R. Zacharias

Then I thought, “Guess what? Faith will take you farther then you often want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay and cost you more than you want to pay. Only it takes one in the opposite direction.”

We don’t realize where sin is taking us until we arrive and then it’s too late. Suprisingly, we enjoyed the journey, but the destination kills us.

Conversely, we know where faith is leading us and we anticipate our arrival. Often times, the journey is difficult and challenging, and we are often tempted to turn back…to take the easy road of sin…but, the hope of the future keeps us moving, and one day…one day…all the struggle, all the challenge becomes worth it.

Faith is hard work, but most things worth having require hard work. No, we’re not saved by our work. We are saved by grace through FAITH, for good works.

Keep working my friends. Keep struggling. Keep moving. Faith in Jesus will get us there.

Until next time, keep looking up…

Re-gaining Focus…

/ pastorlynnmalone / Leave a comment

Once again, I’m discovering that this Lenten season just keeps on giving. Or, perhaps it’s the Lent that won’t end. I’m just not sure. What I do know is that it’s been another week of discovering how out of focus my life has become. What clued me in to the fact that my life is out of focus? Well, the Holy Spirit, of course, but He did so through this little verse from Paul:

9 So we make it our goal to please him,whether we are at home in the body or away from it.

2 Corinthians 5: 9 (NIV)

“…make it our goal to please him…”

I confess that pleasing Him hasn’t always been my goal. Oh, I always hope that the things I was doing He would find pleasing. After all, I was doing many of those things in His name, but HE wasn’t always the focus.

There was a point in my life where the goal was “climbing the ‘corporate’ ladder” of the United Methodist system. In so doing, I thought He might find it (and me) pleasing. For the most part, I achieved the goal I was pursuing, but it left me flat…and dry…and empty…and doubtful. That’s because it was the wrong goal. I should have been pursuing Him.

I could run down a long list of “pursuits” over the years in ministry (and as a believer), but it would only lengthen the blog and end up making the same point as the previous example. Suffice it to say, this Lenten season has “brought those chickens home to roost.” I’ve lived with the dawning revelation that I have lost my focus on Jesus. It is a further exploration into the whole “working for Him or walking with Him” thing that I questioned previously here.

It came home to me in a profound way this week when I started feeling sorry for myself that I wasn’t getting more requests to fill pulpits. I love preaching and I do miss it, but the phone hasn’t been ringing much lately (not at all, actually), and it had me feeling rather down. Then, I read Paul’s words.

My goal is not to preach. My goal is to pursue Him. My goal is to please Him.

My goal is not to write. My goal is to pursue and please Him.

My goal is not to obsess over politics (Lord, have I been doing that!). My goal is to pursue and please Him.

My goal is not to sell a lot of oil (though I sure do need to!). My goal is to pursue and please Him.

My focus has been on all these things. He has just sort of been in the background.

“Lord, You guide me in my preaching, guide me in my writing, guide me in my selling oil and running a business.” That’s been my prayer. My focus has been on the performance and the completion of the tasks rather than on the One who makes all things possible.

My pursuits have been for selfish ends. Accolades, adoration, affirmation and good, old American profit. Hey, if He receives glory from those pursuits, then good for Him! Of course, the undertone was that it was all for His glory, but this week has shown me that it was really all for me. Darn this Lent!

I earnestly pray that He is giving me this Lent as a gift to re-gain focus on the right things. I say the “right things,” but there is only one right thing–Jesus Christ. He is, and always must remain, our true north. He is, and must always remain, our only pursuit, our only goal.

As He is helping me re-gain my focus on Him, He is also showing me the again the dangerous nature of sin. I guess that’s what happens. I was sinning without even knowing I was sinning. That’s because that’s what sin does. Oswald Chambers says, ‘One of the penalties of sin is our acceptance of it.” We get so accustomed to performing for Him that we forget to pursue Him. We think it’s our performance He finds pleasing when it is actually our pursuit of Him that most pleases Him. It is then that our performance can actually become sin…and we never even realize it.

Then, Lent comes, and we are reminded that we are sinful…that from ashes we come and to ashes we shall return…that we are called to “repent and believe the Gospel.”

I thank God that Easter follows Lent. I look forward to Easter. I look forward to the resurrection, when we’ll receive new bodies no longer stained by sin. Until then, I’m going to make Jesus the goal. May every activity of life flow from my pursuit of Him. I’ll pursue Him through prayer. I’ll pursue Him through Bible study. I’ll pursue Him through worship. I’ll pursue Him through Christian fellowship. All those will be the means. He will be the end.

I can’t wait for Easter.

Until next time, keep looking up…

Learning to Walk Again…

/ pastorlynnmalone / Leave a comment

Well, the challenging Lenten season continues. It’s strange really because I didn’t enter the Lenten season very seriously. For the first time in over 20 years I didn’t attend an Ash Wednesday service. If I’m totally honest I’d tell you that if it weren’t for Facebook I might have forgotten it was Ash Wednesday.

Logging on to Facebook I couldn’t help but know it was Ash Wednesday. I saw so many people posting pictures of themselves with ashes on their foreheads. Nothing like social media to feed our narcissistic tendencies…even when it comes to our sin, right? No indictment intended, but I just find it ironic that we feel compelled to show the world our piety by posting selfies of ourselves being pious. But, I digress…

Anyway, I didn’t take Lent seriously, but the Holy Spirit has challenged me all season long. He has challenged me concerning my love for Jesus (click here), and thereby, my love for others. I’ll confess that I can’t grasp the love of God that loves a Venezuelan migrant murderer as much as a Georgia nursing student (see here). I’ll confess that I don’t know that I want to grasp it, and that scares the hell out of me!

What I do know is that I would fight tooth and nail if someone (anyone) hurt one of my daughters. One of us would die. I don’t know that I could forgive that. With time and the grace of God, maybe. Yet, forgiveness is what the Lord asks of us, and that’s an awfully big ask. The Holy Spirit and I have been talking about it. We’ve not settled the issue yet, but this is still Lent. Easter is coming…it can’t come soon enough.

Not only has He challenged me on my love for Him, but He’s also challenged the nature of my surrender. I know that I have, too often, chosen my own way in service to Him rather than being attentive to where He was actually calling me. I may even be living that circumstance today. Part of my prayer each day is “show me Your will so that I might walk in Your way.” I think what I really mean is “show me Your will and I’ll choose whether to walk in Your way.”

The question He challenges me with is, “Are you surrendered?” I like to believe I am, but Him even asking the question causes me to wonder. True enough, He has been oh, so very gracious to me regardless. I can’t even imagine why I’ve been so blessed. How or why does He bless when I can’t answer a simple question, or know that I am surrendered to His will? ‘Tis mystery, indeed!

The Holy Spirit has also challenged me concerning the nature of joy. That’s right…joy. How so? Well, the Apostle Paul tells the Roman church, in essence, that joy comes through tribulation (see Romans 8: 31-39). I like to think I’m joyful, but the Holy Spirit has me wondering. I know that I “enjoy” life, but enjoying something doesn’t necessarily mean I am living joyfully. I know I’m grateful…grateful for all His blessings. I know I’m humbled…humbled by His grace.

Do I not know the depths of true joy because I’ve not endured the hardships of tribulation? Dare I pray for tribulation so that I might find out? Yeah, I’m probably not going to do that, and the fact that I’m unwilling to pray such a prayer causes me no little amount of heartburn. Darn this Lenten season!

I suppose the challenge of this Lent has me questioning my commitment to Jesus Christ and His Kingdom. It comes down to a question Jesus asked his disciples in John 6:

66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.

67 “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.

John 6:66-67 (NIV)

“You do not want to leave, too, do you?” I feel like in one sense that I have, in fact, gone away…I’ve turned back…I’ve fallen down. Abandoning full-time ministry feels almost like an abandonment of Jesus. It feels like I “turned back.” For me, I think it was a matter of ministry was “working for Jesus,” without “walking with Jesus.” There is a difference, you know?

I spent so many years working for Jesus that I quit walking with Him. Perhaps that is the thing that burned me out. I guess He’s just using this Lenten season to teach me to walk with Him again, since I’m not “working” for Him during this time. I am learning to walk again.

Let me say that if a person has a choice of working for Jesus or walking with Jesus, chose walking with Jesus every time. Intimacy with Jesus can easily get lost when we are working for Him. Walking with Him promotes the intimacy we need to actually do the work for Him…and I mean the work that He wants and needs us to do, not the work we want and think He wants us to do. The differences are oh, so subtle, but they are oh, so real.

And to think, I was going to let this Lenten season pass unnoticed. Perhaps all these challenges are my punishment for not giving something up for Lent.

Until next time, keep looking up…

“Do You Love Me?”

/ pastorlynnmalone / 1 Comment

Jesus, after the resurrection, encounters several of His disciples along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, and in the encounter He asks Peter, not once but three times the question, “Do you love me?” (See John 21)

So, that’s the question I’ve been wrestling with most of the week myself: Do you love me? I must confess that wrestling with that question has caused me no small amount of pain and not a little confusion.

My initial answer, like Peter’s, is “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” As with Peter, so with me, Jesus has been persistent in asking the question and with each answer I find myself a little more confused, and if I’m honest, a little more uncertain that my answer is truthful.

I’ve come to the realization that I don’t love Him the way that He loves me. That’s probably because I am unable to grasp how much He really loves me and unless I can grasp that, I can’t love Him that much. Of course, you understand that when I say he loves me that I mean “us”…all of us. He loves us deeply and passionately…so passionately and so deeply, in fact, that He was willing to die for us…to give His life for ours.

Consequently, His call to us is to love others in the same way He loves us. He calls us, like Peter, to pour ourselves out for others (“Feed my lambs,” “Take care of my sheep,” “Feed my sheep”). His love for us is shown by action, not by emotion. Our love for Him can only be seen in our actions toward others. Unfortunately, I’ve come to realize my love for Him stays on the emotional level. I love Him as long as I’m receiving some benefit from Him.

The entire conversation has caused me to question my motivations for leaving full-time ministry in 2019. That’s nearly five years ago now, and this week of reflection on this passage has brought it back up. I’ve wondered if my leaving full-time, vocational ministry is proof that I don’t really love Him. I’ve questioned whether my leaving was courage, or cowardice? I want to believe it was courage. I’ve come to think it was cowardice.

Loving Jesus is a heavy lift. It demands a willingness to “take up our cross and follow Him.” It demands forgiveness. It demands holiness. It demands sacrifice. It demands loving and caring for His sheep…his smelly, dirty, rotten, hard-headed sheep. Did I abandon His sheep? Have I failed to take up the cross? Did I count the cost and determine the price was too high? Was that my way of saying, “Lord, I don’t really love You”? Perhaps I don’t have the strength (or the courage) to do such a heavy lift. After all, I’m not Peter.

I suppose the season of Lent is for grappling with these kinds of deep questions. You might be surprised to discover that when you to get to the end of this blog you’ll not find a deeply compelling answer or a shocking revelation. I’m still grappling with the question. I don’t have an answer yet. Jesus really has backed me into a corner with His question.

All I know to do at this point is pray this prayer: Break me, Lord, until I love you. Let me hurt with the most awful pain until all I have left is to love You. Perhaps I don’t understand what I’m asking for, but perhaps You know best what I need. I know I want to love You the way Peter came to love You. I want to take up my cross and follow You. I want to be broken by You and I want to be broken for You because I want to answer Your question with a definitive, “Yes! Lord You know I love You!”

I can only thank Him that Sunday is coming! Lent can’t be over soon enough.

Until next time, keep looking up…