Monday, November 28, 2011

Love's Abiding Joy

We are living in an increasingly joyless world. We are surrounded by pleasures of the flesh but our souls are in starvation for love, joy and peace. I was touched by the message from the film, Love's Abiding Joy, which I saw with Mary a few days ago. The subplot was about a rich mayor of a town who convinced a young, well liked and honest man to be the sheriff of the town. His main objective was to use the young man to do the dirty job of evicting those who were not able to repay his loans. He was obsessed with getting as much wealth as he can irrespective of how many livelihoods he destroyed. The film demonstrated the truth that human greed is the most dangerous infection that will destroy the fabric of our human societies.

The main plot was the struggle of the young man and his wife with their grief over the death of their newborn baby. The wife's father had just arrived to see his newborn grand-daughter only to find that she had died in her sleep the next morning. The couple struggled with their faith in God as they sought to find answers for their tragic loss. It was a moving story of how love triumphs in the end over sorrow and greed.

On Sunday, Mrs Persis Lim, in her message at Queenstown Lutheran Church, reminded us of the need to guard our joy. Indeed so many things in life can rob us of our joy if we have the wrong perspective of joy. Joy is not a feeling but, as Mrs Lim pointed out, “the person, purpose, power and plan of God in our lives.’ Indeed as we begin the season of Advent, we are to be the witnesses of the truth that Jesus Christ is the source of our joy. Hence we sing, Joy To The World, The Lord Is Come!”

Joy is not something that happens to us but something that we receive. Mrs Lim touched on the need for “receptive spirituality’ in order to learn how to receive the goodness, mercy and grace of God. John Main made the following observation:

“To live our lives well we don’t need to be depressed by the fact that the world is passing away, that civilizations do crumble. Nor do we need to be disturbed by the fact that the world is often a largely chaotic world.”

He drew attention to the fact that the challenge for each of us is to find true peace, adequate order and harmony in our chaotic world that is passing away. The solution is not to try to “escape the real world of untidy ends and chaotic beginnings” or to “construct an alternative, illusory reality of our own.” Our task is simply to hold Jesus in reverence in our hearts and to build our lives on the rock who is Christ.

The message of our Lord to me this Advent season is to abide in Christ each day so that the words of the psalmist may be real in my life:

“And in the shadow of your wings I sing for joy.

My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.” (Psalm 63:8)

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Let It Be

When I woke up this morning, the words, “Let It Be” came to mind. I realized that it was the title of a Beatle song and decided to google it. The song described how Mother Mary speaks words of wisdom, Let It Be, when one finds oneself in times of trouble. It also expresses the hope that there will be an answer when broken hearted people living in the world agree. For though they may be parted, there is still a chance that they will see that there will be an answer. Furthermore there is a light that shines till the next morning when the night is cloudy and we awake to the sound of music, Let It Be.

The mention of Mother Mary may distract some of us from the truth expressed by the song. The spirit of “Let It Be” teaches us the truth that God is in control. We struggle between wasting time and being “time-obsessed” with productivity. We alternate between feeling guilty about doing nothing to help God answer our prayers and feeling stressed by trying to save the world with our puny human efforts.

The words of Jesus recorded in Matthew11:28-29 comes to mind:

“Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”

I felt led to sing the song, changing "Mother Mary" to "my Lord Jesus" as this is more meaningful for me:

“When I find myself in times of trouble, my Lord Jesus comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be
And in my hour of darkness He is standing right in front of me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be
Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be

And when the broken hearted people living in the world agree
There will be an answer, let it be
For though they may be parted, there is still a chance that they will see
There will be an answer, let it be
Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be

Jesus is the answer, let it be, let it be
Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be
Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be

And when the night is cloudy there is still a light that shines on me
Shine until tomorrow, let it be
I wake up to the sound of music, my Lord Jesus comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be
Let it be, let it be, let it be, yeah, let it be
There will be an answer, let it be

Let it be, let it be, let it be, yeah, let it be
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be

The song helped me to remember to rest in the Lord and to watch Him at work – around me, in others and in myself. I have found that when “Let It Be" is the sound of music when I awake, it gave me a sense of peace for the day.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Tuning Our Hearts To Jesus

Learning to play the ukulele gave me an insight into our faith as followers of Christ. Before one can play the ukulele, one must tune the ukulele. I found the following “life shaping” prayer by Paul Wesley Chilcote resonating with my heart:

“GRACIOUS LORD, you sang all that exists into being:
give me a voice to sing your praise in all that I do,
a heart to seek harmony with all your creation,
and a spirit of gratitude and thanksgiving
to tune my heart to the keynote of my life,
my Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.”

For those of us who are not musically endowed, we need a tuner to tune our ukuleles. Likewise, we need the bible to tune our hearts to Jesus Christ who is the keynote of our lives. Another way of tuning the ukulele is to listen to the sound of each string if one has a musical mind. Similarly, we can also tune our hearts by paying attention to the prompting of the Holy Spirit. The primary objective of tuning our hearts is to live our lives in the will of God.

Unfortunately, the primary focus of our Christian faith and teaching is skewed towards DOING the will of God instead of BEING in the will of God. The bible tells us very clearly what the will of God is. For example, in 1 Thessalonians 5:18 we read:

“Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.”

On 11 November 2011, Mary and I had to learn to put this teaching into practice. I had gone to the Queenstown Library to borrow a book while Mary waited in the car for me. A few minutes later she heard a cracking sound and found that the window on the driver’s side breaking up for no rhyme or reason. She got out of the car and the whole window broke up and filled the driver’s seat with pieces of glass. It was a totally unexpected and unexplainable event that totally disrupted our lives for the rest of that day. We cannot be thankful FOR what happened. However, it was an opportunity to learn to give thanks IN an adverse situation.

Why do we need to be thankful in all circumstances? Firstly it is to remind us that we are in the midst of a spiritual warfare. Jesus tells us that in this life we will have tribulations - but we can be of good cheer for He has overcome the world. Secondly it is to prepare us for attacks from the evil one. A motorcyclist saw what happened and told us that we were very lucky! He had seen our car number and found that it added to 11 and that day was 11th November. He was noted, which we were not even conscious of, that Mary was wearing a red blouse and I was wearing a red T shirt! He was in effect telling us we are going to strike rich in the 4D lottery! We were tempted to go and buy a 4D ticket. It was a time to stand on the truth that Christ has already won the victory and the battle is not ours but the Lord’s.

Thirdly, it is to remind us of the grace and peace that is to be found in the surrender of all our lives to God. Finally, it is an opportunity to testify and give glory to God for His amazing Love. We were thankful that Mary was unhurt. We were thankful that we were able to drive to the Honda service centre at Mandai and back home in good weather. We were also thankful that the mechanic helped us to clean up the broken glass in the car.

Giving thanks in trying times and difficult circumstances is a simple habit but one that needs faith and practice to cultivate. Tuning a new ukulele can be a problem when we are not familiar with the instrument and we are afraid of breaking the strings. On one occasion I was struggling to tune the ukulele until I realized that I was turning the screw for the wrong string!

The experience taught me to listen to the promises of God by using negative circumstances that steal my joy as opportunities to tune in to joy of our salvation by giving thanks for Christ’s promise that He is with us in all circumstances. Giving thanks does not make one a saint nor is it a formula to get God’s blessings. It is to help us to live our lives from God's perspective so that we will be able to face the storms of life without fear and with the peace that is beyond human understanding. It is to empower us to live with the joy unspeakable and to sing the symphony of God's love with our lives.

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Lessons of faith from the ukulele

Learning to play the ukulele gave me new insights about prayer and our life with God. The ukulele is a very simple and portable instrument which helped me "to make a joyful noise and sing for joy to the Lord" in my time of personal meditation.

There are three simple practices one needs to learn in order to play the ukulele. Firstly, it is necessary to tune the ukulele especially when we are playing with others. Secondly, we need to master changing the chords. Thirdly, we need to learn to strum according to the rhythm of the song. Playing the ukulele is simple but not easy. It requires discipline, patience and perseverance. It is easy to learn the first few chords on the ukulele but regular and daily practice is needed if we want to develop these basic chords in order to expand one's repertoire of songs.

As I learnt to play the ukulele, it occurred to me that the six petitions in the Lord's Prayer give us six chords for God's song of grace in our lives. Prayer is more than just singing songs of praise TO God - it is singing WITH God the song of our lives which He has composed. The first three petitions of the Lord’s prayer are the three major “chords” which focuses our attention, firstly, on our identity as the children of God and to honour Him as our Heavenly Father. Secondly, it gives us a vision of God's Kingdom and to enthrone Him as our King. Thirdly, it spells out our mission to be His humble servants to do His divine will and to make Christ the Master of our lives.

The last three petitions are the minor chords which draws our attention to our dependence on God’s providence and to live a life of thanksgiving; our gratitude for God's pardon by living as a forgiven people with a forgiving spirit; and the reality of spiritual warfare and to live under God's protection. The Lord’s Prayer is a simple prayer to help us make a joyful noise to the Lord with our lives.

When we fail to master these six "chords" of God's music for our lives, we end up striving joylessly to work FOR God like the elder brother in the parable of the prodigal son. We swing between the guilt of not doing enough to earn our salvation and the pride of self righteousness of being "saved" for heaven.

As I learn to play the ukulele, I needed to cultivate the discipline of changing the chords with the right rhythm. In a similiar way, I am learning to "play" the "chords" of the Lord's Prayer so that the joy of our salvation may be seen in me. The Christian life is making a joyful noise in this unhappy and noisy world. We can learn to live according to the strum beat of God's heart rather than the drum beat of our materialistic world.

Richard Foster makes the important distinction between trying hard with the grace of God to practice the discipline of being present to Jesus and trying hard to bear fruit in our own strength. It is only by abiding in Christ that we are set free to bear the fruit of the Spirit.

With Christ we have a symphony of God's Love to be sung to the nations. It is the song that will conquer evil and shatter the spear and sword. It is in the song of praise in our lives that others will see Christ in us and be drawn to Him:

"Praise God with shouts of joy all people! Sing to the glory of his name; offer him glorious praise! Say to God, "How wonderful are the things you do!" (Psalm 66:1-3)

Praising God is something which we all can do even in the autumn or winter of our lives when we have Christ rooted in our hearts. We will not grow old if we "give up singing old dirges and risk living in a new key." So let us come before him with thanksgiving and sing joyful songs of praise with our ordinary and mundane lives!