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Difficult Passages and Deep Meanings: Ezekiel 1

This Sunday we are going to be exploring an overwhelming if not downright difficult vision. We are going to be looking at Ezekiel 1 and the vision that God gives to Ezekiel there. Why not take a moment right now if you can and take a look at the vision.

It is complex, startling, and seems very otherworldly. Ezekiel paints a difficult to see picture of wheels within wheels, beings that had a human shape with four faces and lots of fire.

The question I really want to pursue on Sunday is what does this vision mean? What do we do when we come up to something like this in the Bible that isn’t just difficult to picture but difficult to understand? And also what do we do with some visions like this that happened so long ago? How do they relate to a world with blogs, iPhones, and Pinterest?

Well, as we’ll discover this vision has just about everything to do with our everyday lives. This vision has so much to tell us about how our relationships work, how our hope works, and most of all, where God is in the darkness. So come Sunday we’re going to unpack this difficult vision. I’m going to attempt to also draw and illustrate what’s going on in it.

But here is a little cryptic teaser about how to discover the meaning and message of this vision beforehand.

           The message isn’t in the vision; the vision is the message.

I’ll unpack that statement on Sunday, but for today read the vision, try to picture it, wrestle with it, and come ready to discover on Sunday…and also be ready for some really poor drawing…

by Andrew Mills

Verbal Sparring Partners

Henri Nouwen, a favorite writer of mine, writes this: It seems that I am perpetually involved in long dialogues with absent partners, anticipating their questions and preparing my responses. I am amazed at the emotional energy that goes into these inner ruminations and murmurings.

Does anyone else struggle with this too? Replaying in your mind pretend conversations about how things could have gone? Creating new situations in your thoughts where you get verbal revenge, with a great response?

What I love about Nouwen’s quote is that he gets it right. When I look back on my life I’m amazed at the amount of emotional energy and time I give to these fake situations. I’m amazed at how much thought space these pretend situations, that flow out of real people, take up.

After realizing that, I’ve decided to give up the fight. I no longer want to have pretend verbal sparring with the difficult people in my life. I no longer want to replay how conversations could have happened or should have happened. I no longer want to give up that time and energy.

The question is how?

Because my guess is that if you’re like me you get stuck there. So the question is how do you let go? How do you give up the mental fight? How do you let your verbal sparring partners go?

The answer is easy but hard to live out.

It’s simple: start to bless them and pray for them.

Jesus teaches us that we should pray for our enemies. What he is teaching is not just about our posture towards others but where our time and thoughts should go. So now every time my mind starts to pick up that conversation, preparing answers, playing out situations, I stop and pray. I say,” God bless this person. God be with that organization. God give grace to that committee, group, or family member”. I start to change my thoughts for sparring to blessing.

And that one little change, changes everything…

So why not try it today. Seek to bless rather than rehearse verbal dialogues..

by Andrew Mills

Hearing Psalm 121

Over the summer we’ve been looking at different Psalms. To download the sermons in this series click here.

On Sunday we are going to be looking at Psalm 121. It is by far one of my favorite Psalms. In fact it became my favorite through an unlikely source…a hasidic Jewish reggae rapper named Matisyahu. Yes, I know an odd combination, but he sang about it and reminded me something about these Psalms. They are to be sung. They are to be heard. They are to be experienced. There is something powerful through speaking these promises aloud.

So before we even get to Sunday why not take a moment, relax and read out Psalm 121 aloud. See what you notice. Read it a few times. Let it settle into your soul. And then come Sunday we are going to not only read it, but also experience it through communion together. We are going to God and experience how our help only comes from the Lord. So to begin today – read it slowly, read it aloud, and let God speak to you through Psalm 121:

Psalm 121

A song for pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem.

1 I look up to the mountains—
does my help come from there?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth!

3 He will not let you stumble;
the one who watches over you will not slumber.
4 Indeed, he who watches over Israel
never slumbers or sleeps.

5 The Lord himself watches over you!
The Lord stands beside you as your protective shade.
6 The sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon at night.

7 The Lord keeps you from all harm
and watches over your life.
8 The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go,
both now and forever.

by Andrew Mills

What’s Your Name?

Naming someone is important and hard. Krista and I really debated and talked through naming our son. We wanted a strong name, and a courageous name, and one that we both loved. Not a name we liked, but one we loved. And that’s how we chose the name Hudson. Here’s Hudson learning to say his name and he loves to say it:

So the next time you see him, ask him his name he will grin, smile, and yell Hud-son.

But names are important. Right now Krista and I are back in the process of choosing names for a boy and a girl with our upcoming baby in November. Our girl one is picked, and but we’re still struggling with a boy’s name. The reason is that name’s last for a lifetime and we want it to be the right one.

But it got me thinking about the how God gives Jacob (which means deceiver) a new name in Genesis 32:28. God renames Jacob into Israel and changes his destiny. His change of name marks a course change and character change in his life. One deep encounter with God leads Jacob to no longer be a deceiver, and a cheat but a different person. A different person with a new name.

So my thought was this: What name might God give you? If you were to deeply encounter him today – what name or characteristic would he give to you to shape and change you? What names would you leave behind – like failure, cheat, liar, sinner? What name would he give you – cherished, faithful, courageous, loved? Or maybe something else entirley…

The point is we receive names from those around us. But the names that matter most are the names that God gives us. So maybe today spend a few moments, encounter God, and ask him – what is my name?

And if you have any boy suggestions – send them my way…

by Andrew Mills

Transforming not Transmitting Pain

I have one last quote to share before I move back to my regular blogging schedule and thoughts, now that I’m back from vacations. So here it is for a Monday morning.

“If you do not transform your pain, you will surely transmit it to those around you and even to the next generation. Suffering, of course, can lead you in either of two directions: It can make you very bitter and close you down, or it can make you wise, compassionate, and utterly open.” – Richard Rohr

The reality is we suffer. Life has struggles, ups and downs. But this quote reminds me it’s what I do in the struggles that counts. That’s why I like this quote, because it reminds me that what I’m going through doesn’t define me, my choices in the struggles define me.

So I like this quote because it reminds me that even out of bad things, God can bring something good…

by Andrew Mills

We need each other…

“We shall have to break our habit of having church in such a way that people are deceived into thinking that they can be Christians and remain strangers” – Stanley Hauweras and Will Willimon

I don’t have much to add other than its brilliant and true. We need each other. Christianity isn’t a faith done in isolation but in relationship with God and others. So next time you gather together, go and meet someone. Move past being strangers, and move into being true follower of Jesus.

by Andrew Mills

A quote to start your day…with you…

I am away this week. But I still wanted to keep in touch. So we’ll keep in touch virtually. So I’ve set up a few quotes to be sent out through the week. I hope they help you, challenge you, or drive you deeper with God. And then next week if you’ve commented I’ll get back to you. But for now here is the first quote:

 “You cannot become someone other than who you are until you know who you are. And you cannot know who you are until you accept who you are right now and in this place. For the time is now, not some other time; and the place is here, not somewhere else. And you are who you are, not anyone else” – Laurence Kushner

I love this quote because it reminds me that even though I want to be more Christlike, the starting point is here and now and who I am. It reminds me that to change who I am, I need to start with who I am.

The reason this quote gives me hope is because it reminds me I’m already at the starting point of change. That I don’t need to be someone else, or be in a different place to start changing. I just need to accept where I am, that God meets me there, and move on from there.

So today accept where you are…because Jesus meets you there…and follow him where he leads…

by Andrew Mills

Path’s that Lead to God: Listening

Take a moment and think about your relationship with God. How often is there silence in your conversation? How often are you bringing things to him? Does God though have space to speak?

As a youth pastor I once had a youth come to me and say that God isn’t speaking to them. That they want to hear God’s voice. I said, “Often it’s not that God isn’t speaking, but that we aren’t listening.” So after discussing we realized that in their life they woke up listening to music, listened to an iPod on the bus, sat in school texting, played on their phone on the way home, watched TV, and went to bed. The point is their life was so full there was no space to listen.

So for me a path that leads to God is creating spaces to listen for God. A Hebrew sage Solomon ibn Gabirol wrote,

“The beginning of wisdom is silence. The second stage is listening.”

So for me I realized that rarely do I not have music, sound, or noise on. In the car I listen to podcasts, at my office I listen to music, at home the Olympics are currently always on. So I started to create times to listen. Car rides just with me and God. Lunches outside with the breeze. Moments of silence in my life where I simply wait and listen.

And I think you can do the same. We need to be like Samuel where he says, “Speak Lord, your servant is listening” (1 Sam. 3:10). So what can you do to listen? What creates noise in your life that you can turn down? Because I do believe God is listening and we will hear it if we start to listen…

by Andrew Mills

Path’s that Lead to God: Creating

The maid who sweeps her kitchen is doing the will of God just as much as the monk who prays – not because she may sing a Christian hymn as she sweeps but because God loves clean floors. The Christian shoemaker does his Christian duty not by putting little crosses on the shoes, but by making good shoes, because God is interested in good craftsmanship. – Martin Luther

We were created in the image of God. Therefore we were created, as creators. God in his creativity shaped us, molded us, and breathed life into us. We too are called to do the same thing: to create, shape, mold, and breathe life into the world around us.

Some of us can do that through beautiful artwork. Others can build homes. Others can cook and create a scrumptious meal. The point is that we are each gifted and using the gifts God gave us can draw us closer to God.

In Exodus we read that God gifted people to use their hands, skills, and crafts to build his temple (Exodus 35:30-36:7). And through them working and using their gifts, they honored God, connected with God, and became like God through creating.

So for me one path that draws me closer to God is creating. I love to create pictures with words, phrases, and thoughts. I love to create delight through meals that sometimes are spectacular and other times a mess. I love to create through painting a picture as an expression of life. Prayer is not simply closing your eyes and thinking. Prayer is connecting with God, and one of the best ways is to honor the gifts God gave you.

So what can you create that draws you closer to God? Can you shape and mold wood to bring something to life? Are your cupcakes the best in the neighborhood? Or does the interplay of space and tone in music give your soul a boost? Do you love to create life through soil, water, sunshine, and seeds? Whatever it is ~ find a way to create and use it to connect to the God who gifted you…

by Andrew Mills

Path’s that Lead to God: Awareness

“We believe that the divine presence is everywhere”                                             – Rule of St. Benedict, Chapter 19

On Sunday we discovered how embedded in Psalm 84 is the idea of creating and walking paths that lead to God’s presence.

So today I want to share a few ways “paths” that lead me to God’s presence in my life. These are rhythms I seek to practice to help me connect with God.

The first is awareness. Jesus says in Matthew 24:23 “Pay attention” I just want to take that seriously.

The fact is that God is all around me. His presence is something I can’t escape from as the Psalmist says, “If I go to the heights of heaven, God is there. If I go to the bottom of the depths, God is there.”  So the point then is to become aware of his presence, that He is a part of my life. The point is to pay attention. I just need to walk around my life with eyes wide open to discover God.

To help this I’ve done this through a few simple but concrete rhythms. The first is when I start talking with someone I often pray: “God be with me.” I seek to remember that God is present in the conversation, so I look to him, seek his guidance, and hope to be found by God in the midst of that dialogue with another.

Other ways I try to develop awareness is I have random text messages sent to me throughout the day from echoprayer.com reminding me of God’s presence. I seek to see intrusions in my day as chances to get a glimpse of God. I remind myself that God has created the day, is a part of it, and wants to find me ~ so I need to look for him.

The point is we pray “Thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven”. So are we looking for God’s Kingdom all around us? Are we open to discovering him in conversations, connections, creations, and communities?

So one path that leads me to God is simply paying attention. Not rushing through conversations, seeing intrusions as possible connections, and believing God is around me to be discovered. What about you though? How do you pay attention and seek out God in your daily life?

To end, Iris Murdoch wrote:

“Prayer is properly not petition, but simply an attention to God which is a form of love”

So pay attention to God today…

by Andrew Mills