Peace

Be Careful What You Pray for (and other random thoughts)…

/ pastorlynnmalone / Leave a comment

I haven’t blogged in a while. My “blogging” had become little more than a regurgitation of sermons I was preaching, and well, honestly, that seemed like a waste of time, so I let it go. Maintaining margin in life demands that we must let go of some things. Posting an edited sermon (though it didn’t take a lot of time) was one of those things I could let go without affecting too much else. But…

Since I haven’t “blogged” in a while, a lot of random thoughts have just sort of piled up, so anyone reading this will get my thought vomit as I use today’s blog for what blogging was supposed to be in the beginning–a journal. Speaking of journaling, I used to be an avid journaler. Not so much anymore. Since I started a job in the “real world,” I find it difficult to find the time to journal like I once did. It makes me appreciate in a much deeper way those persons who do live in the rhythm of a regular spiritual discipline. Cudo’s to you, I say!

Okay, so random thought number one is to confess that I found it easier to establish a pattern of spiritual discipline when I was serving in vocational ministry. I’m not sure if that is because I had more time (I seriously doubt it), or I made more time (out of guilt or a sense of duty), or if I was simply more in-tune to the Spirit and that brought intentionality. Whatever the motivation then, I am challenged more to find and/or make the time to practice the spiritual disciplines.

One spiritual discipline that I haven’t relinquished is prayer. I still pray…a lot. One thing I’m praying for even in this moment is for my friends and former colleagues in Southwest Louisiana. They have been hit hard over the past several hours with rain and tornadoes. Of course, that rain and those tornadoes is on top of the hurricanes from last year from which people are still recovering. I pray for strength and hope to fill their hearts and lives, and for the merciless insurance companies to discover some amount of mercy as flood waters recede and recovery begins.

Speaking of prayer. Yesterday, I prayed what I thought to be a bold prayer–“I’m broken…Lord, break me more.” I suppose this is confession number two, but I’ve been a bit spiritually broken lately. I won’t bore you with details, but there has been a bit of unsettledness in our lives as of late, and that unsettledness has caused me to question the Lord on not a few occasions. I have dealt with some anger. I have dealt with some doubt. I have dealt with some confusion, and if I’m being totally honest, I’ve dealt with some fear, too. I just sort of laid that out before the Lord and said, “I’m broken.” Immediately, I knew my prayer had to be, “Lord, break me more.”

Well, be careful what you pray for!

Here’s what I heard in reply:

“You know, Lynn, one of your problems is that you are confusing your wants and your needs. What you want is for Me to be an add-on to your self-centered life, but what you need is for Me to totally eradicate your self-centeredness. You also know that if I give you what you need, it’s going to be painful, and I know you really don’t like pain that much. So, as long as you waver between what you want and what you need, you’re going to continue to be unsettled. When you’re ready, I’ll give you what you need. That, too, may be unsettling, but you’ll have peace, and that’s really what you’re lacking right now.”

“What you want is for Me to be an add-on to your self-centered life, but what you need is for Me to totally eradicate your self-centeredness.”

So, as is always the case, one prayer leads to another, and today my prayer has become, “Lord, give me peace.” Confession number three, I’m a little afraid of how He will answer that prayer, too. In some ways, I feel a little like Sonny (played by Robert Duvall) from the film “The Apostle.” I said in some ways I feel like Sonny…not all ways, but I do want to shout out “Give me peace! Give it to me, give it to me, give it to me!” If you want to see what I mean, you can watch it here.

So, I’m going to just leave it there for now. It might give you pause for contemplation. And besides, that’s about all the random thoughts I can handle for now.

Until next time, keep looking up…

A Little Irony at Christmas…

/ pastorlynnmalone / 2 Comments

Thomas Edison is credited with changing the way Christmas was lighted, not because he invented the incandescent bulb, but because he chose Christmas as the time to market the incandescent bulb. Edison’s marketing trick during the holiday season of 1880 was to display his invention as a means of heightening Yuletide excitement; he strung up incandescent bulbs all around his Menlo Park laboratory compound so that passing commuters on the nearby railway could see the Christmas miracle. But, Edison being Edison decided to make the challenge a little trickier by powering the lights from a remote generator eight miles away in an effort to gain a contract to provide electricity to Manhattan.

Did you catch the irony? Electric Christmas lights were a marketing ploy in the middle of the most marketed holiday ever. Two years later, in 1882 Edison’s partner Edward Johnson strung lights on his family’s Charlie Brown looking Christmas tree and the world saw the first electrically lighted tree. The practice didn’t catch on too quickly because it was too expensive for the average American to string lights on trees. Not until 1917 did electric lights become affordable for the average American, and they’ve been marketed successfully ever since. It’s okay, though. Lights are pretty, and they add so much to the season, and when we remember why we have lights we recapture the essence of the season, and we can handle the irony.

Irony at the Manger

There’s more than a little irony associated with the nativity, too. How ironic is it that the Prince of Peace should be born during a time known as the Pax Romana—a time known as the Peace of Rome? Yet, the Jews were an oppressed people living in an occupied land. Though there was no outright conflict in the world, there was unrest in the hearts of the people. They were, even in those days, restless for God.

And, how ironic that this One born the Prince of Peace would, himself, bring so much conflict among people? Consider that because of this peaceful manger scene every child under the age of two would be slaughtered due to Herod’s insecurity. Consider the scene in Luke’s Gospel when Jesus’ hometown folks sought to shove him off a cliff, and consider the attacks Jesus endured from the very Roman occupiers who demanded that Mary and Joseph travel to Bethlehem—attacks that took him to the cross. And, consider the conflict the early disciples endured because they followed this One we call the Prince of Peace. Oh! There is more than a little irony when we consider that Christ is the Prince of Peace.

Light brightens the darkness. Light, as the prophet Isaiah says, “will shine on all who live in the land where death casts its shadow.” And, the prophet says this light will shine in a day of peace. We hear a lot about peace in the nativity story. It starts with the prophet Isaiah who speaks of a resounding peace that comes amid the vivid imagery of the boots of tramping warriors and battle garments rolled in blood all of which will be burned as fuel for the fire to usher in the One who will be known as the Prince of Peace. 

According to Luke, a multitude of the heavenly hosts, the ones who appeared to the shepherds that night of Jesus’ birth, sang of “Peace on earth good will to all whom God favors.” And our favorite carols pick up the theme as well.

Silent night, holy night. All is calm all is bright, round yon virgin mother and child. Holy infant so tender and mild. Sleep in heavenly peace. Sleep in heavenly peace.

Somehow the image of a newborn child and our longing for peace go hand in hand. The baby Jesus, lying in a manger, offers a symbol of peacefulness and calm that speaks to our soul, especially when we consider the chaotic time in which we live. Jesus as the Prince of Peace in a chaotic world seems like a marketing ploy, like someone’s trying to sell us a bill of goods. When we consider 2020 and the pandemic, rioting and looting, cities ablaze, and of course, the election (and its aftermath), peace seems so unattainable. How do we look at a baby in a manger and see peace? How can we see light shining in the midst of dark, chaotic world?

Searching for Shalom

Too often, the term peace has been connected with the absence of war, or even the absence of conflict. If there is no war – there is peace. However, the word that is used in the Old Testament for peace is “Shalom,” and it means so much more than the absence of conflict. Shalom is used to describe the end of hostilities, but the word itself also denotes health and wholeness. It denotes harmony and completeness. To have shalom is to have a quiet life and a fulfilled life in every way. When you have shalom there is no feeling of harm or hurt. When you have shalom you are in a state of ease and safety. In a state of shalom there is no fear whatsoever, nor is there any worry. There is a sense of harmony and oneness. Everything is exactly the way it should be. Nothing is out of order. Your inner world as well as the outer world is in harmony. This is shalom – this is the peace that Jesus brings for He is – Our Prince of Peace.

Down deep inside, don’t we all long to have this sense of peace? Deep inside every one of us is a God-given longing that there would be a greater sense of shalom within ourselves, within our families, within our nation, and between nations. 

Isaiah felt the same way. Isaiah was an Old Testament prophet and he had the same longings. The year was 700 B.C. The Jews had been fighting for forty years. First, they fought with the Assyrians, then the Egyptians, then the Assyrians again, then the Egyptians again. An entire generation had grown up knowing war, with a spear in one hand and a sword in the other. From the time a kid was three years old, all they were doing was playing war games.

Can you imagine forty years of that kind of life? Isaiah was tired of it. He was tired of four decades of killing. He was tired of kids being trained to kill. He was tired of mothers and fathers and sons and daughters fighting with each other. Isaiah longed for peace; he longed for peace as much as a parched, dry, thirsty man longs for water, or a starving man longs for bread. Isaiah longed for peace because he had experienced so much war.

Isaiah longed for peace perhaps because he had read the book of Genesis, and he knew that God created us to be peaceful with each other. Isaiah knew that we were made in the image of God, and therefore we are made to be peaceful with each other.

Made for Peace

When God created Adam and Eve and humankind, it was not God’s intention for us to hurt each other. It was not God’s intentions for mothers and fathers, and husbands and wives, and blacks and whites, and Arabs and Israelis, and Russians and Americans, Muslims and Christians, to be at war with each other.

We are made in the image of God. We are made for peace.  That’s why, down in our hearts, every time we fight with our spouse, or our children, or even ourselves, we don’t like it. You and I have been made by God to be peaceful people. We always feel so much better about life when we are at peace with ourselves, family, and each other.

Peace with ourselves and with one another starts with peace with God. Here is where a little light begins to shine in the darkness. Though we are made in the image of God, sin has stained that image. Each of us, because of sin, has a problem with God. Our sin has separated us from God. The Bible says that we deserve punishment for our sin. Before we can have peace with God, something must be done about sin.

Guess what? Something has been done! God sent the Prince of Peace to deal with the situation. He sent the Prince of Peace to fix the problem. He sent the Prince of Peace to give us peace with God. 

The good news of the child who is born a savior is that he comes to a world we know and bears upon him the sins that we bear. God has entered into this life of ours and taken it upon himself, and in so doing, sets us right with Himself, makes peace. There is a caveat, though. The angels in the Christmas story were singing high above the shepherds and they sang, “Peace on earth to all whom God favors.” The angels did not sing, “Peace on earth for all people…Peace on earth, carte blanche. Anyone with a credit card can charge it.” Rather, the song of peace adds a crucial ingredient, “to all whom God favors”—that is, people who trust in Jesus Christ will find shalom.

Let me tell you about Robert Reid. Not the actor, but the missionary. Robert graduated from high school and then from Abilene Christian University with a degree in Latin. He taught at a junior college in St. Louis and ventured overseas on five mission trips before moving to Lisbon as a missionary in 1972. He rented a hotel room and began studying Portuguese. He found a restaurant owner who would feed him because he was unable to feed himself. That’s because Robert’s hands are twisted and his feet are useless. He can’t bathe himself. He can’t brush his own teeth. He can’t put on his own underwear. His shirts are held together by strips of Velcro. His speech drags like a worn out audio cassette. He can’t drive a car. He can’t ride a bike. He can’t even go for walk. Robert has cerebral palsy. But that did not keep him from becoming a missionary to Portugal.

Robert would go daily to the park. He would station himself there and with his twisted hands he would pass out brochures about Jesus. Within six years he helped seventy people come to know the love of God in Jesus Christ, one who became his wife, Rosa.

Robert could have been bitter because of his disease, but he wasn’t. Robert could have asked for pity, but he didn’t. Robert holds his bent and twisted hands in the air and yells, “I have everything I need for joy! Amazing!” Robert can do that because he has peace. Robert can do that because he has met the Prince of Peace – Jesus.

Peace can and does happen, even in a chaotic world. Peace can happen, even in us. Peace can happen in our marriages. Peace can happen in our children.  Peace can happen because we are made in the image of God.  We are made for peace and we long for peace and we then work for peace because the Prince of Peace is working inside of us. How ironic that we who seem to have such dark, chaotic lives have been called to be light in a dark world. How ironic that we who seem to so often lack peace are called work for peace in this world. Yeah, there’s more than a little irony in the Christmas story.

Until next time, keep looking up…

Lessons in the Walmart…

/ pastorlynnmalone / 2 Comments

Y’all! I’ve got to tell you a story. Prayer works. It really does!

Anyone who knows me knows how little I care for going to the Walmart and it’s only gotten worse since Covid (actually, I’ve not cared for going into any retail establishment since Covid, but that’s another blog). But, I had to go to the Walmart the other day, so…

Hurricanes have a way of changing a person’s plans. Mind you, I’m not comparing the damage done by Hurricane Delta to our home to the destruction she caused many in southwest Louisiana, but they can sure be challenging to all of us.

In the days following the storm, my honey decides that she wants to change up the room we recently renovated (let’s call it a re-renovation–forced, but still…). She decides to take out a wall and make a large den in that part of the house, which basically means we no longer need the new television, so having never even opened the box, we decide to return it.

So, I take off a couple of days last week just to catch my breath after a big project at work. It seems to be an opportune time to return the television that, yes, we should have returned much sooner, but you know how those things go, right? I load the television (in its original, unopened box), get the receipt from my honey and head to Walmart.

I pull into the parking lot and my anxiety level increases just from that simple exercise. I utter this prayer: “Lord, by Your Spirit, give me peace and patience so that I don’t say or do something that both you and I will regret.” Now, I’ve discovered that when I pray for patience, He never grants me patience, but gives me opportunity to practice patience. Well, the Lord answers prayer!

I walk into Walmart holding this bulky 52″ television and the lady at the door looks at my receipt and directs me toward the customer service counter. “No problem,” I say to myself, “that’s what I expected.” Of course, making my way to the customer service counter I discover six people in line ahead of me and one customer service rep (ever try social distancing with a 52″ TV in your arms across the front aisle in Walmart?). So, here comes the frustration.

One by one, the customers make their way up to the counter. Every time one completes a transaction, I pick up the TV and move six feet forward. Twenty minutes later and a change in customer service reps (must have been break time) I make it to the counter. I tell the lady that I’d like to return the TV, to which she looks at me and says, “You’ll have to return this in electronics. We can’t take it here.”

What? Before I know it, these words slip out of my mouth–“Why couldn’t someone have told me that twenty minutes ago? And, why didn’t the lady a the front door tell me to head to electronics?” And, no, the expression on my face was not my usual angelic self.

The patient lady simply said, “I’m sorry, you’ll have to go to electronics.” Not her fault, I know, but now I’m frustrated. All the way back to the electronics counter I feel the frustration rising and my mind is constructing ten different scenarios that have me waiting another twenty minutes to return the TV. Finally, I stop and remember the prayer I prayed before I walked into the store. My heart is at peace once again.

I make my way to the electronics counter and I see two customers. “Not too bad,” I think. One customer finishes her transaction as I arrive, and the other customer (with a basketful of groceries) pulls up to the counter, and I think, “Oh, no! Here’s the twenty minutes I was afraid of.” But, the lady only wanted to ask a question, so she was soon on her way.

I approach the counter, tell the cashier I’d like to return the TV, and she asks for the receipt. I give her the receipt. She looks at it and says, “We can’t take this back. We have a 30 day return policy on electronics.” (I suppose I should check the fine print on those long receipts, but really…I missed it by 10 days!)

Yes, my jaw dropped and the redness in my face grew. I remembered the prayer I just prayed a few minutes ago, and with all the sincerity I could muster, said, “But, ma’am, I haven’t even opened the box!”

“Why do you need to return it?” she asked.

“Because the wall we were going to hang it on was crushed by a tree, and we don’t need it anymore,” came my response.

She inspected the box all over to confirm that we hadn’t opened it. She looks at me and says, “A manager will have to make this decision.” Ah! So, here’s the twenty minutes I was afraid of. She calls the manager. A mere five minutes later a manager shows up, looks at the TV and says, “Take it back.”

Whew! I breath a sigh of relief. During those five minutes I envisioned having to sell a brand new, still-in-the-box 52″ TV on Facebook Marketplace for half-price just to get rid of it. And, I’m thinking of all the snide comments I’m going to make when the manager says he/she can’t take it back. As usual, I was worried for nothing.

The lady begins the transaction and asks if I have the debit card that was used to purchase the TV (otherwise, you get store credit). I did. I handed her my card, she looked at my name and said, “You’re Lynn Malone?”

“Uh, yes,” I replied.

“Are you from Chatham?” she asked?

“Uh, yes,” I replied.

“You know my mother and grandmother,” she said.

She proceeded to tell me their names, and yes, I had known her grandmother all my life, and I attended school with her mother. It’s a small world, really, and for five minutes we had old home week. I left the electronics department at Walmart feeling much less frustration, but more than that, I was grateful the Lord had answered my prayer that I would not say or do anything that would both he and I would regret. Trust me! Had I let frustration get the best of me, that story would have made it back to Chatham quicker than I could, and it would have diminished my witness, but more importantly, it would have stained the name of Jesus Christ.

Like most preachers, I have a knack for making short stories long, but that notwithstanding, I’ve pondered a few lessons since that trip to the Walmart.

One lesson is not to play “What if…” in my mind. What if there are ten customers in line and I have to wait thirty minutes? What if they don’t take the TV back? We created scenarios in our mind to cause worry over things that may never happen. Certainly, the scenarios that could have played out at Walmart are nothing compared to what many people face every day, but the human proclivity is to “What if” in the most dire circumstances. We cannot “What if” our way through life and expect to find the peace of God that passes all understanding in Jesus Christ.

Another lesson I learned in the Walmart is that this really is a small world, and that anywhere we go, there is someone who is likely to know us, or know someone who knows us. It’s that whole “six degrees of separation” thing, I suppose, but it is a reason to be kind and gentle in every situation. Of course, those are both fruit of the spirit, too, so there’s that…

A lesson I had confirmed is that the Lord does answer our prayers, and I’m grateful He answered mine that day. The problem is that we don’t often take the time to offer prayers. We get too busy to pray. One thing is for certain: the Lord can’t answer the prayer that isn’t prayed.

I also reminded myself of a lesson I’ve tried to teach the congregations I’ve pastored through the years: Pray before we enter the fray. Someone once said that the problem with life is that it happens so daily. We prepare ourselves for the challenges of life through prayer as we begin the day, or as we head into stressful situations. Yup! We pray in the middle of challenging times, but if we haven’t prepared for the challenging times through prayer, it may often feel like our prayers are bouncing off the ceiling. Pray…at all times…pray, but let each morning begin with that heavenly conversation. It will set the tone for the rest of the day.

Sorry I took such a long time to make a few weak points, but I never expected a trip to the Walmart to yield positive fruit in my life. Perhaps the catharsis of my sharing will help make us all more attentive to the grace all around us. We can experience God’s grace in every place…if we’ll just pay attention…even, in the Walmart.

Until next time, keep looking up…

The Controllables…

/ pastorlynnmalone / 1 Comment

nintendo controlLooks like we’re in this thing for the long haul (or at least until April 30th) so I suppose we just have to settle in and adjust to the “new normal.” I’ve heard and read that phrase many times since March 13th when President Trump issued the national emergency in light of the Coronavirus. I must say that I don’t like that phrase because there is nothing normal about the situation in our nation and in the world. I think it is an acquiescence to the fear that is in us to accept this “new” normal. What we are living in is abnormal, and I, for one, will be fighting with all that is in me to get things back to normal when we finally “flatten the curve” on this virus.

But, what do we do in the meantime? For as many times as I’ve heard or read “new normal,” I’ve also heard or read some pundit or article giving advice about living in the meantime. If there’s one thing I’ve discovered during this pandemic, it’s that everyone fancies him/herself an expert. I’ve seen or read a lot of non-medical personnel offering “expert” advice on medical issues. I’ve seen or heard a lot of non-financial folks giving financial advice. I’ve gotten a ton of emails and seen a boatload of promoted posts on social media from “life coaches” trolling for new clients offering their services in the face of the pandemic–they’re all experts, too!

Well, I figured that I’m an expert in my opinion, so that should qualify me as an expert. With that in mind, let me offer my expert opinion on how we live in the meantime. It’s really simple advice, but I’ve found it incredibly helpful to me personally. The advice is simply this–focus on the things you can control.

There are so many things that are out of our control during this time. Rather than spend time focusing on those things, why not focus on that which we can control? Just makes sense to me. It was best expressed in a meme I saw on Facebook:Important Control

I’ve decided that I’m focusing my time and effort on the important things that I can control, and as the meme points out, that’s a rather small area. So, what are those important things that I can control?

Control My Inputs

First, I can control my inputs. One thing we can’t control is the amount of time we have to spend at home. What I can control is how much time I spend in front of the television streaming Netflix or Amazon Prime. Certainly, streaming services have changed the way we watch television, but there’s no mandate that we have to sit and binge watch the entire series of Tiger King, Ozark or Narcos Mexico. After watching the entire season 2 of Narcos Mexico in the first week of the “stay-at-home” order, I discovered my mind becoming mush.

I can also control how much news I watch. Let’s not forget, folks, that CNN, MSNBC and Fox News are more opinion than news these days, and each has its own pundits who are driven more by agendas than basic facts. They’re also driven by advertising dollars, and they’ll do whatever they can to gain viewers. Fear sells, friends, and I can’t help but wonder if we’re buying too much of what they are selling, and it’s destroying us from the inside out. Rather than spending six hours watching news channels, why not watch President Trump’s press conference, your governor’s press conference and your local news, then make up your own mind about the facts?

Control My Attitude

Second, I can control my attitude. I can’t control the fact that “experts” base their models on “worst case” scenarios, and those scenarios are what get reported (see fear selling above) in the media, but I don’t have to succumb to the fear those reports often generate. I can choose to be fearful, or I can choose to be hopeful. After all, aren’t we who follow Jesus Christ, supposed to be the most hopeful of people? What does it say to a fearful world when the world see us reflecting the same fear?

I can choose anxiety, or I can choose peace. Part of my family was gathered last Sunday (we had already been around each other, so don’t judge!), and in our time together I shared a passage from John’s Gospel:

32 “A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.

33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16: 32- 33 (NIV)

I wanted my family to know that though we may be separated for a time that we are never alone, and that should bring us peace. So, I’ll choose peace because I can control that choice.

Control My Actions

Finally, I can control my actions. I can’t control when someone treats me rudely in the grocery store for getting too close to them, but I can control how I respond when they do act rudely. Of course, it helps to remind myself that when someone lashes out because I violated the six foot rule or didn’t wear a mask, that they are reacting in fear, and that their actions are a reflection of their character, not mine. What I can control is whether I respond rudely or with an apology. I pray my character would lead me to respond with an apology, and to be more aware of others around me.

I also can’t control what someone posts on social media, but I’ve come to learn that I don’t have to respond to every idiot on social media. It breaks my heart that followers of Jesus are often so blatant in calling one another out on social media. Have a different opinion than another sister or brother in Christ? Fine. Rather than offer your alternative opinion in an often condescending way, why not simply post your own thoughts in a separate post without mentioning names? And, if the disagreement is sufficiently pronounced, why not message the person directly, or better yet, pick up the phone and call them. It is not a helpful witness to the world for them to see us fighting among ourselves.

So, I’m just going to focus on the controllables in my life. I don’t think “controllables” is a word, but it sounds good to me. I can control my inputs, my attitude and my actions. They’re all incredibly important, and can make the difference in how I endure the uncontrollable nature of the coronavirus.

Until next time, keep looking up…