Packing up our toys

Posted on September 17, 2021 by Jill English Johnston

Ever watch a group of kids play when one of them gets angry? The angry kid just might pack up her toys and leave.

But if you criticize and attack each other, be careful that you don’t destroy each other.  

Galatians 5:15 (GW)

What is your definition of church? Is it an assembly of believers? A congregation? The body of Christ? A place of worship? The House of God? Our definition will determine the decisions we make regarding it.

Is church merely the place we go to worship each week? Maybe midweek worship or bible study? Is it the place we gather to be fed from the word, from scripture, from the Bible? Is it a place that equips us to be lights and salt to the world during the rest of the week? Is it a place for occasional fellowship, potlucks, community groups, activities and programs? Is it a social club where we hang out with like minded people and people we like?

If so, then what happens when we disagree with something or someone in our church? What if we don’t like a change that’s been made? Maybe in the worship music or format? Or what’s being offered or not offered for our children, our youth, ourselves? What if we don’t like a new staff member or volunteer? Or what if we have differences of opinion on certain issues? Or doctrinal or political disagreements?

If church is nothing more than a place that’s supposed to meet our spiritual needs as we see fit, then when a problem comes along, we might be tempted to pack up our toys and leave. We might move to another church, another place of worship. We might find someplace else more to our liking, our needs, or our theology. If the church is only there to meet our own needs, then we’ve set ourselves up for giving up, moving on, betraying, letting down, breaking faith, hurting others.

Stop judging so that you will not be judged. Otherwise, you will be judged by the same standard you use to judge others. The standards you use for others will be applied to you.  

Matthew 7:1-2 (GW)

From what I’ve experienced and seen lately, the church in America is very selfish, individualistic, and egocentric. It’s all about me. My comfort. My preferences. My theology. My liking. We lack commitment in anything but self. What’s best for me. What’s best for my family. What fits best with my form of beliefs, theology or doctrine.

Oh sure, we frame it as being “led,” or “convicted,” or “a check in my spirit.” Because it’s easier to walk away and start over somewhere else than stay put. It’s easier to leave than to do the hard work right where we’re at. The hard work of surrendering our rights and reasons. The hard work of commiting to pray for each other and with each other. The hard work of wrestling, struggling, and growing along side each other, even when, especially when, we don’t see eye to eye. To walk through the desert wilderness together. That’s hard! It’s much easier to go somewhere else.

If I’m no longer happy or content or satisfied, then I can pack up my toys and go elsewhere. Sort of like my favorite restaurant. They’ve changed their menu. Raised their prices. Took away my favorite dish. Or changed the server I always have. Guess it’s time to find a new favorite restaurant.

We must also consider how to encourage each other to show love and to do good things. We should not stop gathering together with other believers, as some of you are doing. Instead, we must continue to encourage each other even more as we see the day of the Lord coming.  

Hebrews 10:24-25 (GW)

But what if church is something more? What if it’s supposed to be community? Family? Truly the body of Christ, knit together, belonging to each other, part of each other. One heart. One Spirit. A people we invest in, commit to, love unconditionally, come along side, faithfully walk with through all the difficulties and differences? If we see church as something more, something greater, wider, bigger than ourselves, that might shift our perspective enough to not pack up our toys and leave so quickly. After all, don’t we follow a Savior who willingly laid down his life for us, his church?

Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 

1 John 4:11-13 (NIV)

What we translate as church in the New Testament is the Greek word ekklēsia which means “to call out from.” Such as, a people called out from the world. The English word we use as church comes from the Greek word kyriakos which means “belonging to the Lord.”

If we’re acting like the rest of the world, can we call ourselves the church, the called out ones? If we’re acting like the rest of the world, can we call ourselves ones belonging to the Lord? If we belong to the Lord, we shouldn’t act like or look like the world. If we belong to the Lord, we have his Spirit. And his Spirit bears fruit.

The fruit of the Spirit is love. Do we love well? And don’t give me that tough love stuff. Because God’s love is audacious. Extravagant. Lavish. It never fails. It never gives up. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Is our love for one another like that?

The fruit of the Spirit is peace. Shalom. It is more than absence of conflict. It speaks of being made right, complete, full, a wholeness that encourages us to give back with great generosity. Do we seek peace with one another, or do we stir up conflict or walk out in disagreement?

The fruit of the Spirit is kindness. Are we kind? Or do we feel the need to be the Holy Spirit in other people’s lives? Do we tear them down rather than build them up? Point out their speck of sin when we have logs in our own eyes?

The fruit of the Spirit is faithfulness. Are we faithful? Or do we bounce around from church to church, looking for what we consider the perfect place, the perfect people, the perfect program? Because the trouble with that, is wherever we go, there we are. And truthfully, the issue in packing up our toys and leaving may be that we’re the problem.

Anyone who is joined to Christ is a new being; the old is gone, the new has come.

2 Corinthians 5:17 (GNT)

 

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Be Still Series – Explore: Enjoying the Creation of God

Posted on September 15, 2021 by Jill English Johnston

When I was selling my books at one of our church’s artisan fairs, a friend stopped by and told me how she and her children were using Praise as a morning devotional. Of course that touched my heart, but it also gave me inspiration for the third book in the Be Still series. Explore would be designed as a devotional that a parent or grandparent could read together with a child.

I mentioned how a photo meditation book on the Psalms inspired me to combine Jon’s photos and my writing in a book together. As I assembled the content for Wonder, I perused other devotionals (there aren’t many photo devotionals, however) to give me ideas for layout and formatting. I did the same for Explore. Since I planned for Explore to appeal to children, I needed to make it fun and interactive. Many of the ideas were inspired by various children’s magazines. I included questions about creation and nature to explore, brightly colored photos to look at with accompanying questions, and also ideas and activities for more exploring of God’s amazing world that a child could do with a grownup.

I also wanted to include something for older children, so I wrote a companion devotional with recommended passages of Scripture to read along with a devotion, questions to answer, and more activities suitable for for older children to do on their own.

I formatted the first two books in the Be Still series in Microsoft Word. The program was a bit clunky because it didn’t like the large photos I inserted, but I managed to bully it into submission, save the content as a PDF, and upload it to Amazon Create Space (now known as Kindle Direct Publishing). However, Word would not work with my plans for Explore; I needed to find something else.

Given my production budget (and the fact my books weren’t quite flying off the Amazon shelf), my choices were limited. But I found a delightfully easy and reasonably priced program called Swift Publisher. It suited my needs for Explore quite well and I’m pleased with how it turned out.

The book can be purchased on Amazon at Explore: Enjoying the Creation of God and the Companion Devotional.

See all the books currently available by visiting my Be Still page.

All the books in the Be Still series are available on Amazon. Visit my author page Jill English Johnston.

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The Sacred Overlap by J.R. Briggs

Posted on September 13, 2021 by Jill English Johnston

Yet another book that my husband and I listened to on a road trip. This one also had a lot of pauses in the audio followed by lots of conversation. Briggs definitely struck a cord with us because of some challenges our church (and I would expect many churches) is currently facing. Challenges brought on by disagreements, differences, and division. As we listened to Sacred Overlap, we realized how relevant and needed the book is for our churches and ministries today.

In a country where many believers hop from one church to another or churches split because of dispute over doctrine, worship style, teaching, or any number of other reasons, Sacred Overlap provides a much needed reminder that often it’s in the space between our differences where sacred community is found.

In our culture, we frequently think of things in the either/or mindset. Something is either this or it’s that. It’s one thing or it’s another. It couldn’t possibly be both.

But Briggs introduces another way of thinking. The intersection between two things. The overlap. He submits the idea that there’s the possibility of both/and.

He opens with the reminder that when Jesus came, he tore down either/or thinking and lived out both/and. Jesus is both God and man and when he entered into our world, he brought the sacred overlap of both heaven and earth. He hung out with both saints and sinners. And he preached/embraced both justice and faith. Briggs talks about the many and/also activities Jesus engaged in, crossing cultural, social, political, and religious boundaries. He spent time in Judea and also in the hostile territory of Samaria. He dined with filthy lepers and also the filthy rich. He comforted the disturbed and also disturbed the comfortable. Just to name a few of his examples.

Briggs doesn’t leave us there. He then walks us through the many ways we can be both/and, the opportunities we have to engage in the and also. Places where we can join God in the sacred overlaps. If we truly want the Kingdom of God to invade the empires of the earth, if we want to be effective in ministering to and bringing hope to a hurting world, then we need to be willing to step into the space in between.

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Holy places: in sickness and in health

Posted on September 10, 2021 by Jill English Johnston

Finding the holy in places others may not see.

In a world where divorce is the easy way out, where one spouse abandons the other because he or she is no longer in “love” or isn’t “happy,” where broken marriages have become as common as throwaway containers, we can still find the holy places in a lifetime of love and commitment.

In the cozy living room of his Colorado home, the man’s eyes glisten as tells another story of his sweet bride. Married for over fifty years. A lifetime with each other. Raising their children, working hard, struggling through difficulties, building dreams, loving grandchildren, traveling, and enjoying life. Together.

Until.

She could no longer do so.

He continues to love her. When they stopped traveling and sold the RV. When he allowed her drive, but followed at a distance to make sure she didn’t get lost. When he installed locks on the doors so she wouldn’t wander out without him knowing.

He continues to love her. When they stayed in their home in the city because going back and forth to the mountain caused too much distress for her. When they consolidated their two homes into one because he could no longer safely care for her and she needed full time care.

He continues to lover her. When her conversations become a bit muddled, confused, distracted. When she forgets visiting family and friends. When she sometimes forgets who he is.

Never once does he blame her for the things he’s had to do. Instead, he says, “well, we decided it best to make this change.”

He loves her for better, he loves her for worse. He loves her in health and loves her in sickness. It’s definitely not what either planned or wanted. But he does it all for love. The most Christ-like love I have ever seen.

Finding Christ in places others may not see.

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Be Still Series – Wonder: Contemplating the Mysteries of God

Posted on September 8, 2021 by Jill English Johnston

A couple of years after moving to Texas, I began attending a Bible Study. When I first met Dawn, the one teaching the Bible study, my first thought was, I want to be her friend. She’s the type of soul that women are drawn to because she has a listening heart, a word of encouragement, and wisdom she’s gleaned from God’s Word and Spirit.

I say all this because the second book in our Be Still series was conceived at that Tuesday morning Bible study, which I still attend today (in fact, much inspiration for my writing comes during this time).

Dawn has a passion for the Word and for teaching and one thing we know, when she teaches, we’re going deep. In the spring of 2018, she led us through the book of Isaiah and I filled half a notebook. During one of our morning times together, as she has often done, she released us to spend time with the Lord. She lives on a lovely piece of property with plenty of live oaks providing shade from the warm sun. I took my notebook and Bible and found a quiet place at a picnic table. As I listened for the Holy Spirit and reviewed my notes, I began highlighting verses from Isaiah I had written down. Soon I had a long list that inspired the twenty-four devotionals for Wonder, that I later wrote during an upcoming road trip.

In April, my husband and I took said road trip from west Texas, through Arizona, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, and Colorado, visiting state and national parks along the way. Before we left, I asked for prayer at my Monday writer’s group, and our sweet leader and friend prayed for the Lord to “show up and show off” during this trip. I shared the prayer with my husband and it became our theme for each day. Lord, how will you show up and show of today. Flipping through many of the photos we included in Wonder, it’s easy to see how He answered.

The book can be purchased on Amazon at Wonder: Contemplating the Mysteries of God.

See all the books currently available by visiting my Be Still page.

All the books in the Be Still series are available on Amazon. Visit my author page Jill English Johnston.

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