BeLOnGings

I left off last week, on the Highway of Holiness and with the song, Lord I Have Nothing. Pondering this, inspiration came for this week’s blog and title.

To end the suspense let me first give you the answer…..and then tell you how I came to this conclusion and was amusingly doubly confirmed in it.

Man’s number one addiction to which most of us are oblivious is this – “Doing the work of God.”

By that I mean we are addicted to our activities and achievements around our notion of God in contrast to Jesus words and actions arising naturally from his knowing of God.

Can you imagine what a world without organized religious ‘meetings’ would look and feel like? Jesus didn’t ‘go to meetings’ He met with His Father and then he met with people Father brought to him that day. 

Jesus had only one agenda – it was not to ‘achieve’ but to be ‘available’ to work in tandem with His Father as He revealed the plan moment by moment, encounter by encounter, for another ordinary day to unfold extra-ordinarily.

If we have any other agenda, no matter how noble it may appear it is an idol in our heart. When Jesus was told his mother had arrived to see him, he shockingly said, “Who is my mother?………whoever does the will of my Father in heaven.”

Oswald Chambers puts it this challenging way, “Beware of counterfeiting the love of God by working along the line of natural human sympathy.”

To show I have nothing against mothers, I follow my own mother’s example of beginning each day praying from Psalm 25

“Show me your way O Lord, teach me your paths, guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior and on you do I wait all this day long.” Waiting is not passivity. My mother was a doer until she died at 86, but it was a joyful activity that issued out of the relationship

Last week’s song went,

Lord I have nothing……… Lord I do nothing……….

If that voice in your head says, “…..But I HAVE to DO…..”  It’s probably a heart idol.

Lord I need nothing………….But to be with You

Where You are in heaven,

Where You are on earth……….

We were lead to postpone on earth the FREEDOM! retreat we’d planned for last week end. Father gave us something different to do. “Have a family fun night!” 

Early the next morning he woke me and said, “Last night you were on The Highway of Holiness!”.

“How could that be?” I thought, “Irish folk songs, jokes about bullfrogs, a game of everyone trying to ascend to the Master’s chair, no ‘ministry’ and precious little preaching?”   

Verse 10 of Is. 35. describes that Highway – a company of singing innocents free of religious shackles overtaken with gladness and joy!

One by one Father revealed to me the value of each person in that room, the significance of their contribution and how it all ‘fitted together’ as part of His story being told through our company, from Ajay’s reading from his ‘comic bible’ to his brother Ravi’s “naughty joke” his cousin Roy had told him last summer, to David’s song about coming out of Babylon, to Robin’s song telling us all we had to do was die……

There was only one contribution I was left wondering about…..

Gilbert had chosen to read a section from Lord of the Rings. It was the part where the hobbits have reached the Prancing Pony Inn in Brie, and Frodo gets concerned that an over exuberant Pippin is getting too carried away and is going to ‘blow their cover’ By way of distraction, Frodo then jumps up onto the table and begins to do his party piece with a song. The narrative describes how his hand begins fingering the ring….and then quite abruptly – Gilbert ended his storytelling!

Of course those of us familiar with the story remembered that the next moment the ring slips onto Frodo’s finger – and he disappears, made invisible by the special ring.

“What an odd place to stop the story!” I thought. Later I asked Gilbert “Why did you stop reading just before the story climaxed ?”

“Did I really?!” He exclaimed.”I didn’t mean to!”

.…as if the same force that slipped the ring on Frodo’s finger, had halted Gilbert in his tracks : – )

A few days later we were having breakfast with David, one of the household.

He had been attending a nearby church, a hidden gem, off a side street in a very rough neighborhood. The founding elder had died the previous week and David reported that the tone of the subsequent Sunday service had been more challenging than sentimental! The pastor’s wife had circulated around the congregation asking them directly one by one, “Why are you here?”.…. are you here out of sentiment or because it is something you think you have to do?…… or do you really want to meet with God?”

Before even sipping his coffee David immediately blurted out, ““You’ll not believe it, but I just learned – the pastor, his name is Floyd – Well HE just died too! – on Saturday!!”

…….the inspired thought came to me, ““Well of course he did!…Last Saturday – Frodo was supposed to disappear!”

Then I realized the two names, Frodo and Floyd, both have 5 letters (grace) and they have three letters in common.

F for Father,

o for ordained,

d for disappearance

….SELAH!

At one point during our family fun evening I was moved to pose the question.

“What does it mean to magnify the Lord?”

Do we think it’s about us doing something to make Him bigger? No!…. We can only enter into an awareness of how big He really is! “To magnify God means to allow Him to open our eyes to see how greatly and graciously present he is in everyone and everything that is around us – right here and now!”

There is nowhere were God is not, there is nothing that he is not in. God is not coming to have us fill pews at his meeting! He is coming to reveal to us how He has already met with us and completely filled our lives, far before the point of birth and far beyond the moment of our ‘disappearance’.

When the final divide between the ‘secular’ and the ‘sacred’, is destroyed then like the older brother we will awake from our religious stupor and realize the truth of our Father’s words,

“…..but all that I have is yours……and do you now believe – that I have it ALL?” 

Finally to the confirmations.

These thoughts crystalized as I was shoveling the ice off our driveway. Our new neighbor happened to return from walking her dogs. Not having spoken to her before I laughingly said, “I’m trying to get our driveway as clean as yours.”

She responded bluntly, “You should just leave it until the weekend and let the Sun do the work”

I was a bit taken aback and then managed the reply, “But the exercise makes me feel good”

“There you have it.” Father laughed, “The addiction in a nutshell.”

We could wait until the workweek ends, and let the Son do it…….but it feels so good doing the work (of God) –  ourselves!

A second confirmation came this morning as I read an article in a ‘ministry’ magazine about a very ‘successful’ front cover minister who now leads a mega church. In the interview at one point he laughingly confessed,

“I became addicted to seeing people come to Christ”

If we define success in the church the way the world does then we will emulate those who have ‘made it big’.

When John the baptizer, the greatest of the prophets, was asked if he was Elijah he said, “No” Then they pressed him further asking if he was the Prophet. “No.”

“Then who are you?”

John replied….I am nobody…..I have disappeared… so all that is left is – “a voice”

I believe heaven has a very different criteria for those making the front page of The Heavenly Post. He uses any and every ordinary little hobbit. His glory is revealed (to those who have eyes to see) – through the ones Father has ordained for disappearance….like the holy little man who made it onto our front cover this week : – )

 

 

 

 

Our two part series on Arising from TTT to TCC is providentially punctuated this week to reflect on the death of Billy Graham who crossed the finishing line last week, marking the end of an era.

Graham was a Moses type figure. My friend David discovered he actually died on the date in the Hebrew calendar when Moses was both born and died!  His passing signals the end of an old order……but also the beginning of a new.

It just so happened that evening our son Gilbert whose first name is Joshua got together with his friend Caleb. I believe these two characters in the biblical narrative represent those believers who overcome (their fears and doubts) to lead the way into the promised land of our immortal inheritance.

I read one tribute to Graham from a minister who wrote about the 15 minutes he was able to spend alone with the great evangelist. I reflected on this and was reminded that for each of our lives

“It is for God to determine success; it is for us to determine faithfulness.”     

I noticed that my own father was 45 days older than Graham and would have also turned 100 this September. Every time I remember him I see him smiling. My Father was called to be the smiling face of God to me, as Graham was called to be the gracious voice of God to millions.

I  was then reminded of the two marathons I have run;  New York in 1998 and Twin Cities in 2008.

My goal in both marathons was not a placing or a time. In New York it was to cross the finishing line with my friend Brian from Belfast and in Minneapolis to cross the finishing line with my son Joel. In both cases my goal was that I be in step with each one as we crossed that line together.

This I believe is meant to be our goal in life, no matter how high or low profile our calling may be, to at the end have so adjusted our step that we and God are one.

The voice of God as detailed in 1 Kings 19:12 is still and small and remains so….but to those who long to hear ‘the bridegroom’s voice’ (Jn.3:29) in the midst of the cacophony of other voices, that voice will become stronger and stronger .…..until it is the only voice we hear. Then we will not miss a step, walking in divine, down to earth love. 

At the end we will then hear that voice speak the words,

“Well done, good and faithful servant…..enter into the joy of your Lord.” 

Wondering about a picture for this blog I looked up from the computer and noticed my number 6712 from the Twin Cities marathon and chuckled…“That’s it!” I thought.

Father reminded me of a time in New Zealand when at the birth place of the church on the North Island of that land at ‘the uttermost end of the earth’ (from Jerusalem) we were lead to each day ponder Psalm 67 verses 1 and 2. (6712)

As we then flew to Christchurch on the South Island the man sitting next to us noticed we were reading the bible. He said, “Do you mind if I show you the verse God used to speak to me about leaving my engineering business in the north island to fly south to prepare for the new era we are now entering?” We said, “Please do.”

He turned to Ps. 67:1,2

“May God be gracious to us and bless us. May his face smile with favor on us. May your ways be known throughout the earth, your salvation among all nations.”

In Good Morning’ Dad we sing,  “I see your smiling face…..I hear your word of grace.”

Let us seek to be faithful as part of that company of faceless and voiceless overcomers who become the face and the voice of God to whomever he sends us, whether to one or to one million. 

 

 

 

The relentless quest for JOY in our society through the vehicle of sexual intercourse has now spawned 50 Shades of Freed, the latest offering from E.L. James, seeking to tantalize and capitalize once again through the sadomasochistic perversion of this wonderful God designed gift of physical love.

God-incidentally, this is both St. Valentines day and Ash Wednesday. Today there are two doors many people will choose to step through.

Those who step through the door of the ‘sanct-uary’ will receive a mark of ash on their foreheads, as a sign that they want to access more deeply the Passion of the Christ. Those who step through the door of the ‘sin-ema’ will receive a different mark in their foreheads as they are exposed to the lie behind all sin, that we will find what we are looking for through ignoring the ‘Makers Manual’ and like the lead character in the Fifty Shades trilogy called, ‘Christian’, follow our own dark passions.

You can only counterfeit something that is real and it is when we waken from this Christian’s ‘Grey’ world to the truth about what love is that we can experience God’s Jubilee (50) and really be FREED.

Last Sunday a couple we have known for years asked if they might come to our fellowship meeting for prayer concerning a rather tortuous journey they have been on to retain custody of a child they are in the process of adopting.

At one point as they told their story the usually stoic brother asked, his voice quivering with emotion,

“Why does this have to be so hard?”

Scanning the circle of a dozen folk whom we have grown to know intimately over the years, all listening attentively, I was aware his question had landed on a compassionate body of understanding ones as on a comforting cushion.

For example one brother’s wife disappeared 7 years ago with their 5 children. He hasn’t seen them since. Another has more recently lost his wife. Each one in the circle has had to walk a unique path of fiery trials in order to discover and experience some serious joy!

It is the redemptive power of God in the midst of our suffering that transforms the pain of separation or prospective separation into the occasion for the blossoming  of a living faith that yields real joy.

Both James and Peter tell us when faced with pain which door to enter through: “Consider it pure JOY…… when you meet fiery trials which prove your faith………for you end up really trusting in him…… filled with inexpressible and glorious JOY.” (PKV)

Even as a boy having barely begun the journey through this ‘vale of tears’ I was always deeply moved by the hymn that contains the line, “O joy that seekest me through pain.”

One verse goes,

“O cross that liftest up my head

I dare not ask to fly from thee

I lay in dust life’s glory dead

And from the ground there blossoms red

Life that shall endless be”

Although the photo above came to me as part of an innocent St. Valentine’s mailing from a ‘healthy wine’ company, I saw it’s connection with the sentiments of the hymn. Ironically the only way to life is through death….or rather through our entering into Christ’s death by giving our most loved ones up to God even as he demonstrated true love by giving up his most loved one for us. The only way to true joy is through facing and embracing the pain. This is what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

After flowing together in the Spirit for some time between wisdom, prayer, and song, our journey on Sunday came to a God given climax as I read a text Hilary and I had received just minutes before the meeting from a dear friend who despite all her brave efforts to save her child had just tragically lost her to drugs.

“I am humbled that God has chosen to take our daughter home. Mary Elizabeth Anderson August 1 1995 – February 8 2018 gifted 5 people with terminal illness with her organs, several of the recipients being children. I have always been proud of her beyond measure, and now even, more so!!!”  

With pure joy we wept our way through this closing song.

 

If you’d like to step through the door of Father’s House of Love into true FREEDOM! you can register for our upcoming retreat here.

Events | Paul Kyle

 

 

 

 

 

Over the years I have been often described as ‘prophetic’. One group even called me an “apostolic prophet”

I like to think of these as service assignment descriptions rather that claim them as personal titles. As those of you who read my blogs know and those of you who have spent much personal time with us know even better, learning to hear (and obey) God’s voice has been our number one desire over the years.

In the light of this I would like to share with you the last three things God has said to me……… DRUM ROLL dadadadadada…..here they come……

1. “Phone the plumber”
2. “You don’t need that third cup of coffee”
3. “Yes dear!”

“Hardly worthy of the Elijah List!” you might think

Well this morning I woke with the scripture,

“Even though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not love I am nothing.”(1 Cor. 13:1)

I just had the most scintillating conversation with a brother sharing the profound ins and outs of God’s messages in last Sunday’s Super Bowl played here in Minneapolis.  We could have talked on and on. I confess I am easily distracted from the ‘matter at hand’ by the latest exciting revelations. The muscle I need to develop to avoid this tendency to ‘drift’ (should that be surf ?) is the “Stop and drop, discern, decide and do” group.

The greatest danger for those of us graced with opened eyes and ears to continually experience God’s messages in the unfolding of events around us is that we become speakers about these ‘heavenly’ things and lose contact with the earth Jesus walked on and sanctified by a life of seamless loving action flowing out of that uninterrupted communion with the Father who is “love”

1 Corinthians 13 was so emphasized to me when we first moved to the States that we literally wrote it with a felt tip pen on our restroom walls, so that when nature forced us to sit and think, these 16 facets of love would be the object of our ‘throne room’ meditation. The hope was that we would emerge from the ‘throne room’ manifesting his ‘glory’ in the very next word and deed of ‘love’ in this human time/space continuum!

The American immigration issue has been spun into one of giving ‘the dreamers’ the opportunity to make their dream come true.

In the iconic American movie “Field of Dreams” ‘crazy’ Kevin Costner builds a baseball field in his corn fields in response to the ‘voice.’ When at one point he is ‘feeling the cost’ of the venture, he blurts out to the ‘voice’.

“Yes, but what is in it for me??” 

The distinction between the ‘Field of (earthly) Dream(er)s’ and the ‘Valley of (heavenly) Visionaries’ is the ‘me’ factor’

When Paul talked about being true to ‘the vision from heaven’ (Acts 26:19) he was referencing “the One” who he had met on the road to Damascus who said and still says to each of us through eyes of love, “Come, take up your cross and follow Me.”(Matt.16:24)

This ‘vision from heaven’  is earthy and practical. It is ‘The way of holiness’ (Is. 35) of self dying love that we can joyfully walk as we talk together, in the company of Christ.

I really should go now and phone the plumber and help Hilary move that box : – )

 

 

Last Sunday there were two major earth changing events taking place simultaneously.

In one realm many millions were transfixed in front of TV screens engaging in the Grammy awards. In  a different realm a few minions were leaping out of rooms yelling “Surprise!” to engage in the Granny Awards as miraculously our family succeeded in springing a surprise 70th birthday party for Hilary!

The currency of God’s kingdom is HONOR. The currency of the kingdom of ‘this world’ is Dis – HONOR.

The growing contrast between these two kingdoms, their cultures and currencies, became very evident to me as I read the Grammy reports the next day with the repeated “dissing” culminating in Hillary Clinton being told by host James Corden her Grammy was ‘in the bag’ for her star performance of “dissing” the president:

Hillary Clinton, Cardi B & More Audition for “Fire & Fury” – 2018 GRAMMYs – YouTube

Scripture says we are to “Honor the king.”  not because he is always right or good but because, “All authority comes from God.” (1 Peter 2:17, Rm. 13:1) 

According to the Merriam Webster dictionary “to dis” means “to treat with disrespect or contempt” The first known use of the word in this way was as recent as 1980.

Hilary and I now have between us 135 years of life experience with in-depth  involvement in hundreds of people’s lives. On reflection we have observed time after time that the word of God proves true when He says,

“He who honors me, I will honor” ( 1 Sam.2:30)

Those whom we have seen operating in this currency of honor, not just with showy words but genuinely from a pure heart, manifested in practical ways (1 Tim.5:17,18) have in turn invariably been honored by God. We reap what we sow. (Gal.6:7,8)

“Honor your father and mother that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God giveth thee…..This is the first commandment with a promise” (Ex.20:12, Eph.6:2)…… and God keeps his promises.

Gilbert back home again after a semester in Scotland in an Instagram post honored his mother who he has known intimately through years of homeschooling by speaking of her as a worthy “role model”. Sadly many without this advantage are left to imitate those who have been elevated to ‘Star‘ status by virtue of no real virtue but merely some innate gift, a lot of ‘luck’ and a shrewd promoter.

I’m posting below Abby’s tribute to her mum given at a gathering of friends in Ireland. It’s a tribute not just to Hilary but to ‘real’ honoring, to which we are bound to return in the kingdom age, once again giving “honor where honor is due“. (Rm.13:7)

“When I was at home in the summer my family was really into the enneagram. For those of you who don’t know, it’s a personality test… there’s 9 different personality types and based on an extensive test you come out as one of the 9.
Most of the holiday was spent comparing and contrasting who is what number and how they feel it mirrors them, and how they interact with people who are other numbers, etc!
My mum is a 1. I’ll get to what a 1 is in a minute but it took me the whole trip to finally actually do the test myself.
Mum kept saying “I’m prettyyyyy positive you’ll be a 1 as well”
And I thought “No way am I the same number as you!”
According to the enneagram website a 1 is conscientious and ethical, with a strong sense of right and wrong. 1s are teachers, crusaders, and advocates for change: always striving to improve things. Well-organized, orderly, and fastidious, always trying to maintain high standards. At their best they are wise, discerning, realistic, and noble. 
This is a pretty good description of my mum, don’t you think?
My mum is practical, organized and always realistic- thank goodness, since you all know my dad!
But I want to honor her tonight for her wisdom and discernment, always. Mum, you speak wisdom and help discern countless situations in my life – and I’m sure she’s done the same for many of you. I hope, someday, to be even half as wise as you are.
I want to honor you for the way you stand up for the weary and the ones who think they’re worthless. You speak life into and over them, and always what’s right and true.
I want to honor you for the way you fight against injustice and lies from the enemy, and instead show the weary a love from God that is just, and is true.
I hope to someday, be even half the advocate for others that you are.
I want to honor you for the way in which you are constantly championing the ones around you to be the best version of themselves, that your deepest desire is to see those around you know how much they are loved by God and for that to impact their lives, never settling for mediocrity or indifference.
I hope, someday to be half the challenger and truth speaker that you are.
When I finally did the test at the end of our trip… guess what…. I was a 1.
But now that I think about it, I couldn’t be more honored to be a 1, just like my mum, and I know if there’s an ounce of these Jesus characteristics in me, I’ve learned them all from her. Happy birthday mum.”

My only hesitation about Abby’s tribute was her self depreciation. She is everything her mother is – in Christ. May the flame burn even brighter in her hand than it has burned in the hand of her mother and her grandmothers – now it’s her turn…..and your turn!

“What we fail to honor – we lose”……….another great reason on this upcoming “Super Bowl Weekend” in Minneapolis to be circumspect about who and what we ‘throw a party’ for……for it is in taking practical steps to express value for those things and people that are truly valuable, that we will keep them alive and grow them in our hearts!

 

A number of years ago the question occurred to me: “Is your life a commentary on the movies or are the movies a commentary on your life?”

In other words is your life being shaped by the power of the culture around you or are you being informed through the culture around you about the new realty that is taking shape within you?

I watch few movies, but it is usually in a concentrated form during a long flight. As I flick through the many options I just go with the prompting of the Spirit (which is different from a religious or moralistic prompting) and see what God has to speak to me through ‘Holy-wood’ (He is Lord of all flesh that he has made)

This time on the way to Ireland I caught, “Arthur; The Legend of the Sword” only to see cast in the leading role the splitting image of our 2 year old grandson Winston (as in Churchill) whom we had just been with in New York.” The story in real life and on screen was the same, of how God forms us into noble warriors by having us face and overcome fiery opposition.

At the end of the movie where the evil uncle asks the freshly forged ‘savior’ “Who created you?” He replies, “You did…. and I bless you, for now I know the reason for the devil.”….. a powerful exposition of Is.45:7!

On the return trip the movie was “Wonderwoman“. Once again the story was of the world being saved through the human co-operating with the divine. “You Stephen, can only save the day. The Gods must save the world.” was a good line. Another that stood out to me was when the most obviously evil villain had been dispatched then the deeper evil in the form a ‘peaceloving’ creature emerged with the line, “I’m not what you expected – am I ?’

Again a profound insight into the deceptive nature of evil that needs to be uncovered and discerned first in ourselves and then in the world around us where we too quickly point the finger at the “bad guy” across the Pacific while munching our way to annihilation on our own “good guys” glyphosate. Unveiling the Glyphosate Conspiracy

A third movie I watched, ironically, half of it on the way out and half on the way back, was “Dunkirk”. Again a depiction of the battle we are all ‘born into’ and how good and evil co-exist in all of us. A diffident underage lad seeking to ‘do his part’ sneaks his way onto a fishing boat being utilized for the evacuation.  When in mid channel a rescued fighter pilot for the ‘good guys’ suffering from PTSD pushes the boy to his death that ‘true’ heroism is revealed in the brave heart of the lad.

The final flick I was reminded of – by the book (pictured above) that happened to be on our kitchen table this morning was a comic version of this Jonathan Swift (another Irishman) classic.

Once again the story focused on war and the transformation of the cowardly and deceitful Jack Black playing Gulliver in “Gulliver’s Travels” into a brave, advocate for truth, peace ….and the ordinary people.

The lesson in this one, “Don’t take yourself too seriously….even if you are called to save the world : – ))

Just a few reminders to me about The Real Story that is being written through our lives as we, mostly unwittingly, play our part in The Big Picture coming out of the “Holy – would”….becoming the “Holy – will.”

P.S. Sorry, but I couldn’t help noticing again the word count at the end of this blog – 549. You might remember that was the number I was given to wear on the 5k circular run in Belfast on Boxing Day. Yesterday I was chatting to Raine by her car, when I noticed her license plate:

That’s what I mean by ‘mostly unwittingly’.…..until God gives us wits (might that be Walking In The Spirit?)

You might want to reread the blog from December 31st 2017 for the really good news of The 549 Big Picture : – )

 

 

A final flow of grace on the Irish green Dublin Airport Bus get’s us through to the departure gate with a couple of hours to spare …..and an opportunity to write a belated blog before we fly back to our ‘other’ home. It’s not that there has been a lack of blog worthy material, simply of time and opportunity as Father has filled our days here with good people and godly appointments!

“Next Stop; The Green”

So spoke the pre-recorded Englishman as I rode the Belfast City Bus into the centre a few days ago.

A lot has changed in Belfast since I used to ride the bus once a month with my two brothers on a Saturday morning and get a thrupenny fare to “The Arches” where I was under strict instructions from my mother to ask the barber for, “Plenty off – and no hair oil.” Back then the buses had no stop announcements, no Smartcards, no doors!

Now across the road from where the barber’s shop used to exist, stands “The Searcher” sculpture depicting Professor Diggory and the magic Wardrobe from C.S. Lewis world of Narnia that is now a part of Belfast’s highlighting it’s historical claims to fame, from Georgie Best to C. S. and from ‘Van the Man’ to the Titanic….. of whatever ilk, all are now great for the tourist trade. If anyone had told me as a boy there would one day be a line of cruise ships docking in Belfast, I would have laughed!

En route to this TripAdvisor #1 tourist destination we have come via New York City and Glasgow, visiting two boisterous grandsons and one baccalaureate son. At both places Father has had another stop at “The Green” scheduled for us. Glasgow in the Gaelic is “The Green Place” and while in Brooklyn New York I found myself walking around Green Wood cemetery.

Green is the color of life – Resurrection life!

I wonder how may people are aware that this is the “Next Stop” – when EVERYTHING changes!!!

As believers we can focus on many good things, but I have found amazingly few focused on what we are told will be the next major turning point in redemptive history as set forth in the biblical account.

It took a headline in our local Minneapolis Star Tribune newspaper a few years ago on the death of Pope John Paul II to bring this powerfully home to me: The front page headline was a quotation from one of his poems:

“My Eyes are Fixed on the Resurrection”

“Set your hope fully”, Peter says, not on the church unity or world evangelization or social justice or revival, but, “Set your hope fully….on the grace that is to be given when Jesus Christ is revealed.”

The full manifestation of Christ that will occur concurrently with the resurrection, ( 2 Thess. 5:) should have our full attention. This was the preoccupation of the New Testament writers and believers.

When St. Mungo prayed 1500 years ago that Glasgow would “flourish through the preaching of the word and the praising of his name,” I believe he was knowingly or unknowingly pointing to this event which will lead to not only Glasgow but the whole world ‘flourishing” as death gives way to life and darkness to light through the word and praise of God being manifested through an incarnate company of “shining ones” coming forth at the appointed time.

In Daniel 12 it speaks of a time when “…many will go here and there to increase knowledge.”
A recent headline, “Knowledge Doubling Every 12 Months, Soon to be Every 12 Hours” together with the unprecedented world travel, alerts us to the fulfillment of this prophecy in our day.

The passage also speaks of, “Those who impart wisdom will shine like the brightness of the heavens and those who lead many to righteousness like the stars for ever and ever. “

We visited one of those ‘shining ones’ a few days ago. Physically trapped in a  wheelchair we found her circled by others both young and old drawn by her ‘glow’. She told us she thought she’d been called home a few weeks before, but regained her physical senses and earthly presence. A bit frustrated at her ongoing bodily limitations Father told her a little sternly “Just sit and shine!” The next day she received two handwritten letters telling her how her presence (“No! – The Lord’s presence!” she would insist) had transformed these two lives.

 

The photos?

Top; Round the corner from where we celebrated Hilary’s 70th in Donegal. Bottom; Another ‘shining one’

 

 

 

 

Last Saturday we attended a special wedding. All weddings are special of course but this was special far beyond the thrill of the two who were becoming one as they prefigured The Story of the Ages.

As part of the bridegroom’s speech this poem by C.S. Lewis, “What the Bird Said Early in the Year” was read:

“I heard in Addison’s Walk a bird sing clear:
This year the summer will come true. This year. This year.

Winds will not strip the blossom from the apple trees
This year, nor want of rain destroy the peas.

This year time’s nature will no more defeat you,
Nor all the promised moments in their passing cheat you.

This time they will not lead you round and back
To Autumn, one year older, by the well-worn track.

This year, this year, as all these flowers foretell,
We shall escape the circle and undo the spell.

Often deceived, yet open once again your heart,
Quick, quick, quick, quick!—the gates are drawn apart.”

This echoes another song* whose last verse goes,

“Now my eyes can see, now my ears can hear,

Now I fully understand I know why I am here.

God’s heart in Christ opened heaven’s door

And after all these years I’ve found what I’ve been searching for

My Father’s smile, Jesus embrace, The Spirit’s kiss, we’re face to face.

God and man at last are one; salvation’s work has now been done.

And the Father reaches out his hand to wipe away my tear

For the winter’s passed, the spring has come, and the King of summer’s here.” 

The service was held in the same space where 44 years ago Father gathered a group of young people to form into the Come Together in Jesus Name choir. Over the next few years this motley crew took the message to thousands throughout Ireland that our unity is not based on our agreement on doctrinal details but upon a living relationship with Jesus Christ. Behind the story the world was being told about Catholics and Protestants killing one another in “The Northern Ireland Troubles” there was another story being writ as the Spirit of God was being poured out indiscriminately, and miraculously transforming and reconciling people from the two ‘sides.’

But alas! – A Catholic and Protestant community that formed subsequently went the way of all flesh – and came apart!

Now here in the “Church of the Resurrection” the ‘Romeo and Juliet’ story was being re-enacted…..only this time with the happy ending – the two lovers representing the two denominational houses being united in life not in death!

Never were hymns about our Redeemer sung with such heartfelt gratitude!

A bus transported people from the both “families” from the ceremony at the Church (‘priests’) to the celebration at the (Belfast) Castle (‘kings’). The bus had ‘randomly’ been assigned the number 888. The numeric value of the name JESUS (in Greek) is 888

What God has joined together…..let no man put asunder!

I believe “This year”, “God’s heart in Christ has opened heaven’s door” – “the gates are drawn apart”

“Quick, quick, quick, quick”.…..let us pass through – together!

 

P.S. By way of confirmation…..I had just finished this blog when this email came in from my friend Collins who pastors a church in Massachusetts. Although it’s his response to last week’s blog it is remarkably relevant for this week’s!

“Today I preached on entering at the low door for 2018, the side door of the servant who humbles himself, and leaves the Great Gate for only the King to enter in by….but after entering by the low door, finds himself crowned with the King Himself. As Jesus did, entering the manger, and came to serve, so we , too, enter low, and are assured of exaltation as the delight of the Father for us. As Jesus is, so are we in the world. The gate truly is the low door, as we love and serve, as children enter into Father’s house.” 

P. P.S. St. Mungo has waited 1500 years. He didn’t mind another week’s delay before my telling his story : – )

*”King of Summer” from the album, “O Ireland”