Finding God in the Strangest Places

It has been a month since I’ve blogged. I’m getting settled into a new job and have been working long hours and many weekend days and nights. Last weekend the girls and I went to a church that had none of the perfect qualities that we might desire. My oldest loves worship. My youngest loves peers. I love intellectual sermons that challenge the heart. But for sometime I’ve known that God wants us to visit that church.

This church was the victim of an electrical storm so the scant sound system and overhead had “gone to glory” in electrical terms. The songs were long and not what we like for worship. Other similar issues were like this, and the guest speaker was a preacher who sounded like Tyler Perry’s Madea. Yet in the middle of all of this we were deeply touched by God. My oldest and I both felt like we were swinging in my grandmother’s swing at sundown on a summer’s evening. We haven’t felt such spiritual peace in months.

A couple of days ago I was with my mom and mentioned an older, poor preacher who came to town back in 1991 and his sermon spoke depths into my heart. Once again we were visiting a poor, poor country church that is commonly called “The Little Church” in our area. This man gave me some wise insight that continues to carry me today.

In my book And You Invited Me In there is a character named Miss Lois. She is a real person in my hometown. Family illnesses prevent her from attending church except on rare occasions. However, she reads and prays and has a closer walk with the Lord than anyone I’ve ever come across.

So what is the point of all of this? Finding God isn’t a matter of getting to Atlanta, San Antonio, Tulsa or Houston to get blessed in that mega-church where the pastor sells thousands of books. God is sometimes found in the hidden places. And it is there he has the greatest blessings for our lives. For a moment we might think “no, this can’t be God” but if we rest in Him we will soon find that He is moving mightily in the willing vessels, the pure heart and those who ask nothing but to be with him.

Your Grace is Enough…

…are the words to a popular Christian song. We sang it at CFO. As we sang I started thinking about grace being enough. You know it’s great to have grace extended to us, and (at those times) grace IS enough for us. Grace was and is all about the work that Jesus did on the cross. Yet in our neck of the woods we tend to enjoy meddling in other people’s business. Call it what you will, but we have an opinion on everything and how people need to do it. It might be the dress Sister Bessie is wearing. It may be the way our friends are raising their children. 

Does a worship service consist of three songs and a prayer, or is it an hour of rocking, jumping and swaying as we become deeply connected with the Lord? I personally don’t care much for Southern Gospel genre of music. Last night I went to a concert that was the Southern Gospel equivalent of Country Music’s Fanfare.  There in the middle of rose-scented talcum powder (no doubt applied with a fluffy puff) and Old Spice After-Shave, I found myself experiencing a little bit of heaven on Earth. I was caught up in the richness of harmony that’s sung (generally) with family.

In our Christian homes, sometimes there is a disruption of harmony. Family will be at odds over the silliest things…my closest friend’s sister-in-law was mad at her mother for four years because of dish detergent. Sometimes it is big: a child or sibling or friend announces (s)he is gay. Oh my…then we get all structure and legalistic on our dearest gifts from God. Then grace isn’t enough. At least grace from us—the grace that says “I’ll love you no matter what” to “until you change you can’t come home”. Maybe there’s even a hint that it would have been better had we died.

So if grace is enough, then grace is enough. Grace isn’t “love the shoes, love the dress” when we honestly hate it. That’s lying. Grace is laying down our expectations, desires, wishes and loving beyond reason. That’s what Jesus did, and it was enough.

I think if it was enough for Jesus, then loving beyond reason and when it is most difficult should be enough for us. And when you love beyond reason…heaven will open no matter where you are. Corrie ten Boom was able to tell the world: “There is no pit so deep that God’s love is not deeper still.” Grace isn’t subtly wrapped in rules or ultimatums. His grace is enough!

Ramblings from CFO

While I was getting ready for CFO—working with the name tags and door signs—I discovered I am a bit over-zealous in my organization. So over-zealous that I think I can’t work with people because they begin to cause me to want to tear my hair out. Name tags and doors signs are simple tasks, but I had to wait on someone else who had all kinds of things to do AND was working from someone else’s files. THEN I get to camp and soon discover that I’ve sort of “clicked” my life.

God showed me that in my over-abundance of work and things to accomplish, that I’ve mentally fast-forwarded through things like in the movie Click. I haven’t missed much, but I’ve wanted to hurry and sort of do a Scarlett O’Hara “I’ll think of it tomorrow.”

I’m enjoying the camp. It is a wonderful time to go “farther out” with God. I think there is one in every state. Check out the website: http://www.acfona.org/index.asp?pageId=47

Camp Farthest Out and other miracles…

In the late 1970’s I read about a camp—Camp Farthest Out or CFO—where people go to rest with their families and get re-connected to God. I think it was in a book that referenced Jimmy Carter’s sister, Ruth Carter Stapleton. I just remember thinking how I’d love to find this camp. Then in 1982 a friend called and asked if I wanted to help with the youth.

In the council ring meeting (leaders) on the first day I was at camp, I remember a man saying that his kids picked CFO over the World’s Fair in Knoxville for the family vacation, because they loved CFO. I see that playing out now with my own children. My oldest is a youth leader this year. My youngest is so excited she can hardly contain herself, and says she is looking forward to CFO more than the trip to Disney World with her sister in August.

What makes CFO so special is that the power of God is so strong and people are so surrendered and things happen. As a need arises, it seems that someone comes along with a prayer or an answer. There have been times I’ve gone to camp barely able to crawl there spiritually.

This year I have no expectations, but am simply thankful that I can attend. The Lord worked out a summer school substitute and an understanding principal. As well the Lord has provided a fenced area for the dogs and a person to come feed them (I could buy 10 acres of land for what the vet would charge to board 3 dogs and a cat for a week). As well my best friend for the last 30 years is coming. She is very sick—has Lupus and extreme hypertension–but is making the trip down from Virginia. The night before we leave we’re having a house full of teens come over and eat Southern cooking! That means ribs, collards, corn bread and sweet tea.

 (The family on Father’s Day 2008).

There are lots of other exciting things brewing. My youngest is now swimming for a YMCA swim team AND she has won ribbons. She is being called an inspiration by some of the brass at the Y. She is overweight, but gets in there and competes as if she was Olive Oyle. (Did you know that swim meets that are not school-based last for six hours!?!?!). Her sister got her into it and now they are both swimmers.

I’m processing many thoughts as I go along, but haven’t felt compelled to write. I’ve been reading a great deal and sorting through questions. However for now we’re off to camp and time alone and away with God.

More Thoughts On the Heart

In the summer I teach government. At the urging of a student I watched the movie Bobby. It was a such an inspiring film; hearing RFK say good things about our country. As a class we had previously watched a documentary about Watergate–and when Bobby died we got Nixon. At the end of the Bobby there is audio of his speech from April 5, 1968 (the day after Dr. King’s death). The speech was called “The Mindless Menace of Violence”. Here is the quote that struck me:

…When you teach a man to hate and fear his brother, when you teach that he is a lesser man because of his color or his beliefs or the policies he pursues, when you teach that those who differ from you threaten your freedom or your job or your family, then you also learn to confront others not as fellow citizens but as enemies, to be met not with cooperation but with conquest; to be subjugated and mastered….

As I’ve gone through my mail from people who’ve read my book And You Invited Me In, I’ve found that there’s a cry coming from the heart of people who are GLBT. It’s the cry of a broken heart. I know God has heard it, but many of us straight, conservative Christians have not. There is a common theme among those letters I’ve received. Words that come from the soul of GLBT brothers and sisters who cling to their faith in God and love for their conservative family. Here’s an example:

My life is pretty hopeless, I’m gay and I’m an abomination to God…I fear I will lose my family if they ever find out, and it would be more than I could bear. I’ve tried every way to change.

This is a person in deep pain. However, many times our conservative leaders make us believe that GLBT family and friends make a choice to live this life. It is as if they wake up one day and decide they want to hurt everyone in their life. Does this note sound like a person trying to cause hurt and pain? 

Our church leaders use words like “choice” or “political agenda” or “they will molest our children” to drive us to action against “them”, and before long we become afraid of them. Isn’t that what Bobby Kennedy spoke of in his speech? Through the hardness of our conservative beliefs haven’t we disenfranchised this group of people and made it an “us against them”?

I’m very disturbed today by a news item where a well-known evangelical leader said that a certain politician should not be quoting Leviticus because he “should not be referencing antiquated dietary codes and passages from the Old Testament that are no longer relevant to the teachings of the New Testament.”

I’m only taking one statement from a long interview, but how can this same minister then use Leviticus to say that homosexuality is an abomination? The word “abomination” makes love more difficult. This concept of “abomination” or “love the sinner and hate the sin” is retoric for placing chains around another human and making them feel unloved, abandoned…and when the ones on earth who are in charge of giving God’s love to another fail to do it THEN people don’t see Jesus. And we lose.

We know what we lost when we got Nixon. We’ve had nothing but lack of trust in our government for 35 years. What happens when someone loses trust in God? What happens when the GLBT person keeps hearing our crazy coined phrase of “love the sinner”? Because of those ideas and phrases we lose our family or friend, and they lose hold of God.

In I John 4:18 it says “there is no fear in love.” We must live our life where people don’t fear that our love is based on conditions. It is what Jesus was all about.

What About the Heart?

This is probably part one of a series of thoughts on the heart.

I’ve always been conservative, and keep more of a conservative leash on myself than most people would realize. On the other hand, in the last few years I’ve tried to listen to people on the outside to understand what they’re hearing from us. One thing that continues to pop up in commentaries and newscasts is that we conservative Christians are two-issue people: we’re pro-life and anti-gay. And when it shakes out, that’s about where we stand.

A decade ago the talking heads of conservative religion said that if you were pro-choice or homosexual you were the “doom of America”. Somehow that unbalanced train of thought continues today. What we don’t realized is that something happens when we make those our only issues…I’ll cover those in a minute….

First, Jesus was all about the spiritual. Pharisees and all those like them were going around making sure every mint twig was tithed and Koshered. Jesus ALWAYS spoke about a person’s heart–so we need to remember that in all we do. It was the giving heart of the widow in the “widow’s mite.” It was the heart of the Samaritan. Let’s put a new twist on the Samaritan for today.

There was a man in Hartford, Connecticut who was hit by a car and no one stopped to help. Many people passed him on the street and didn’t want to get involved. Surely there were many church people who drove or walked past. And God looked down and wondered what was wrong with their hearts that they could ignore someone in pain when all of them had so much–health, material goods, jobs, family, and so on.

I don’t know if America is going to fall or rise. If we fall, I can’t say what will be the magic bullet to kill the nation, but since Jesus clearly spoke about the condition of the heart we need to look inside an examine our ways. Because that’s probably why we’re sinking…

Therefore when we isolate a group and make them our scapegoat, then we disenfranchise this group of people. We make them non-people, and non-people become expendable. Once they’re expendable then you hear a grade school child say: well, it’s okay to kill a gay person. (And the child could not understand why I said it was wrong.)

If Jesus were to return today he wouldn’t ask any of my conservative fellows about the political issues of the day and how we changed the world by an amendment here and there. He’d ask if we treated our neighbors with honor–you know the neighbors who’ve just returned from a California wedding. He’d ask why we hadn’t been there to wipe the tears of our child we sent away because (s)he was “living in sin”. Jesus would ask how we could forget about this child’s pain because God never forgets about our pain. He never sends us away. That would be like the people passing the man in Hartford, and God isn’t like that…

Therefore, forget the outside…look at the heart, your own heart. Listen for the heart of the person you don’t understand. Listen for the cry of their heart.

Interpretations

Yesterday I was in church…well there aren’t many words to describe the way I felt in church. We had a guest speaker who was anything but inspiring. And as well after hearing him, I don’t think anyone would want to be a Christian. Seriously, it was all doom and gloom about the End Times. I have as much ability to stop End Times from happening as I do to stop a freight train. Therefore being scared isn’t they way to approach what is coming. It is sort of like going on a trip: you have to be prepared, and when the time comes then you will have what it take to make the journey.

When I was sharing this with my mother, and we began a discussion that even if we were smack-dab in the middle of evil we’d have to continue to show the love of Christ; then she related this story that I thought was interesting. The whole point to this is that if we knew the context of the scripture as it pertained to the culture, we would have a different take on it. And we were talking about the original Dr. Evil…

If Adolf Hitler lived next door to me, I’d have to show the love of Christ to him. I’d develop a relationship, and then wait for the Lord’s direction on specifics of what I might say or do. And then Mom said “I always had trouble with the verse from Romans.” (Romans 12:20 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.) She stated that it was strange that you’d make a person feel bad when you’re doing something nice. However, she told me what it meant back in the day…

Fire was important to life. If your fire went out, then you had to find coals and bring them to your location to start your fire again. Therefore, these coals are life sustaining. So when you give grace (undeserved favor/love) to those who don’t deserve it, then you give them/him/her life. Instead of making them feel bad, they would have life. People want to live, and grace gives life.

Grace is a command. Grace isn’t always fun, and doesn’t always work out pretty. However, God is in control and when you’re doing His will, you can’t go wrong.

But then…

…but then grace is difficult. As soon as I write something about grace, then someone close to me pierces my heart. The pain is great and instead of unconditional love, I’d rather have a ten minutes and a two-by-four.

Does it really matter what Ed McMahon thinks about you? Heavens no! However, it’s so difficult when someone you dearly love has been mean, disloyal, or has stabbed you in the back. But the essence (fragrance) of salvation is that we’re to love in spite of the pain and hurt. We’re to forgive and trust God to change the circumstances or even our heart.

What about those gay marriages????

What do you think about the earthquake in China? What about Dafur? What about the starving children in Myanmar? What about the Christians in Laos: the pastor who was killed and now his wife continues his church and preaches grace? What about a certain child I know who is dying and his parents don’t have the money for gas to get to the hospital? These are issues that also need our attention.

As a Christian I think we need to be about the Lord’s business, and that means letting those we love know how much we love them…and we need to love them in more than just words. I’ve often heard the scripture from James quoted: “faith without works is dead.” People used it to emphasize the need to cook meals, witness or whatever to show they were/are working for the Lord. Let me put a new twist on it…

If the foundation for our faith is what Jesus did when he died for our sins. Then our faith is based on unconditional love and grace. “The works” would be showing grace and forgiveness to others. Now is a time to show what Jesus is all about. Here’s what the world is hungry for…

The Amish who embraced the shooter’s family. The church in Colorado who embraced the shooter’s family. The woman in Rwanda who has befriended the man who killed her husband and children. This is what the world is crying out for…the very thing that by passes the mind goes straight to the heart and makes people want to be better to their fellow man.

It is my opinion that my faith is only undermined when I set conditions on love. My children are strong in their faith when I’m acting like the Amish with the shooter’s family. The world wants what I have when my actions are like the Amish with the shooter’s family…

In short, there will begin to be battles now that the California Supreme Court has stepped up to the plate. We conservative Christians can fuss and fight, and maybe win politically, but what will we lose?

NOW is the time for all of us who carry the name of Jesus to step up to the plate. Our acts of grace will go to the heart…think about it…practice it everyday…watch things change.

Book Review of “And You Invited Me In”

May 12, 2008

And You Invited Me In
“In the conservative church, our problem is not having enough grace. Grace is the name of our ship and why we are saved. Extending grace when it seems impossible what the book is about.”

By Jeremy Reynalds
Correspondent for ASSIST News Service

 ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (ANS) – It’s a tragedy that Cheryl Moss Tyler’s book “And You Invited Me In” would be considered controversial in most conservative evangelical circles.

That’s because it’s a very readable and eminently Biblical exhortation for self-described Bible believing Christians to show the love of Jesus Christ to homosexuals. Once I began reading “And You Invited Me In,” I couldn’t put it down. If you choose to purchase the book, and I strongly suggest you consider doing so, I believe that you’ll experience the same reaction I did.

Click here to link to and read the full review of And You Invited Me In by Jeremy Reynalds: http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/2008/s08050065.htm