BeLOnGings

 

Last week we visited our grandchildren in Brooklyn, New York. Once again we offered to babysit to give mom and dad a rare opportunity for a date night out….and once again little Winston sensed their  absence, and couldn’t be consoled! As I held him close to my heart in the dark of the kitchen, I realized that on the wall opposite was the same painting that had hung on the living room wall and that I had stared at last April as I tried then too to bring peace to the little one who was feeling the pain of separation.

The original, “Peaceable Kingdom” by Quaker painter William Hicks, I discovered  actually hangs in the nearby Brooklyn Museum of Art.

In the foreground it depicts Isaiah 11:6: “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.” In the background it depicts the leader of the Quakers, William Penn, and the first nations also at peace with one another.

St Paul said, ” I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision” (Acts.29:17)

The Pilgrim Fathers like the Quakers came to the New World with a vision they also believed was from God, It was said of them, “Some came for land some came for money but they came to pray,’Thy kingdom come thy will be done on this part of the earth and then from this part of the earth to the uttermost parts of the earth, as it is in heaven.”

Like little Winston, big America seems to be in a valley of troubled tears. Division and hostility are rife and we seem further now from being that expression of the peaceable kingdom of God on earth than ever.

Oswald Chambers speaks of the Vision, the Valley and the Verity. Whenever God gives a vision there must necessarily be the death of that vision as we try in our own strength to bring it to pass. Only when we have realized the truth of Jesus words,”Apart from me you can do nothing” will the vision be verified beyond the valley, for it is “‘Not by might, not by power, but by my Spirit.’ says the Lord Almighty” (Zech.4:6)

Winston cried and cried as I tried every trick in the Papa’s book! Then Nana appeared at the door and whispered, “Sing him something he knows!”

“Twinkle twinkle little star,                                                                                                                                                                     How I wonder what you are.                                                                                                                                       Up above the world so high.                                                                                                                                       Like a diamond in the sky.                                                                                                                                    Twinkle twinkle little star,                                                                                                                                        How I wonder what you are”

His crying stopped as he relaxed into that “peaceable kingdom” – called sleep.

The familiar song had done it….and Father unpacked for me the profound truth that lay hidden in this simple little nursery rhyme.

Twinkle twinkle little star….”Do everything without arguing or complaining so that you may become  blameless and pure children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation IN WHICH YOU SHINE LIKE STARS in the universe, as you hold out the word of life.”(Phil.2:15)

Up above the world so high……… “Since then you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts ON  THINGS ABOVE where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds ON THINGS ABOVE, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.” (Col.3:1)

Like a diamond in the sky.….. “You will be a crown of splendor in the hand of God and A ROYAL DIADEM in the hand of your God.” (Is.62:3) 

I then noticed the setting of the painting in my photo above……surrounded by bottles of ‘essential oils’ – God’s medicine cabinet that he has given us in creation….representing the oil of the Holy Spirit who alone brings  about the fulfillment – of this Heavenly Vision.

It is as we tune into the familiar song of the Spirit of truth in our hearts (Jn.16:13) that we come to peace and in turn become peace makers………..and a little child shall lead them.

 

 

 

The Queen’s latest portrait was recently painted by my Irish friend, Colin Davidson. We were both bemused that the “unveiling” was scheduled for November 8th the same day on which the next President of the USA would also be “unveiled” (Here’s the report by the BBC )

A few days ago my American friend Sherwood sent me A Letter to the American People from John Cleese a very funny piece – at least to those with a more British sense of humour…”No spellcheck – I did spell humour correctly for at least a percentage of readers!

Cleese’s punch line – “It’s time for the Queen to reclaim America!”

Skepticism about the American democratic system is at an all time high, and rightly so. In his landmark documentary Century of the Self Adam Curtis, describes how possibly the most influential man in the past hundred years is someone most people have never heard of. Edward Bernays was Sigmund Freud’s American nephew and the inventor of propaganda (now known as public relations)

Two world wars had revealed the evil that man was capable of. As people turned away from the bible for understanding they looked initially to psychoanalysis which proposed a solution through the repression of self. When this was seen to fail, attention turned to the expression of self in the Human Potential movement. Either way it was “The Self” that came to prominence with “personal fulfillment” now being viewed as the highest goal. We can see the further outworking of this narcissistic trend in the progression from the Baby Boomer “Me Generation” to the Millennials: “The Me Me Me Generation.”

The documentary demonstrates, how this has set people up for manipulation by the elites of business and politics (to which I would add religion) as the ‘fallen’ self’s basic instincts of fear and greed are tapped into in order to obtain the ‘engineering of consent’

A dose of external religion seems to do little to alter this propensity, as a few years ago a poll by Barna  demonstrated that there is no difference in marketing to the large ‘born again’ population in America than to the ordinary man in the street. This bears out the warning in the letter to the church of Laodicea which is manifesting in America today. Laodicea, from Gk.’laos’ “the (common) people”, prophetically anticipated this democratic era.

The essential message of Revelation 3: 14-22 is:

…………are being deceived.

Although it now appears that the American Experiment is failing, this has been necessary that the plan of God succeed.

This does not involve a queen reclaiming a lost empire but rather a King coming to establish an unshakable Kingdom. (Heb.12:28) That kingdom involves first an internal spiritual awakening that will I believe then find expression in due season in a new world order called “The Kingdom of God”

Shortly an “unveiling” will take place that all might, “look full in His wonderful face” as “the sons of God” are manifested and creation’s hope fulfilled. (Rm.8:19)

In His coming He will not take sides…..but will take over….. so that in the end “Every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord – to the glory of God the Father.” (Phil.2:10-11) 

This includes the men and women of power in this world and their propagandists. As it says in Psalm 2:

“Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the LORD and against his anointed…….

The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them……..

“I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain……..

“Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth…………..Serve the LORD with fear and celebrate his rule with trembling.”

Father and I are authoring these blogs together as I have little idea in my head from week to week where we are going next until, through another experience and resulting heart revelation, He makes it clear.

Just last weekend I was in Chicago singing at a wedding. Afterwards I realized how in that assignment I was being given a ‘Circles of Love’ blog to complement last week’s ‘Circles of Righteousness’ one, and a “befriending creation” illustration complementing last week’s “befriending Indians” theme and completing the two aspects of the prophecy we were given 22 years ago!

The story begins a few months back when I received the following email,

Hello Mr. Kyle,

My name is Gabriel Franken and I was a student and Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa in 2002 when you came and played for us there.

I have wanted for a long time to reach out and express my gratitude for your role in my spiritual life. You modeled for me a unique way of relating to and engaging in dialogue with God. I remember you telling stories about how God would speak to you which made the world seem positively charged with messages of Love from our God. This was unusual for me as, at the time, really the only way I understood that God spoke to me was through scripture. But you really helped enliven a fuller, more interactive relationship with God and that was very significant for me.

You also gently lead me through one of the first charismatic experiences with the Holy Spirit that I ever had. I’d stuck around after your show because I had enjoyed your music so much and I wanted to thank you. You asked if you could pray for me and then proceeded to ask for God’s guidance and protection as I traveled around the world. You had no way of knowing that I had just signed up for Semester at Sea, a study abroad program that circumnavigates the globe on a ship. When I asked you how you knew, you told me that God had simply given you a picture of me going around the world and God wanted to bless me in that journey.

That was an incredible journey that helped to shape my life. Thank you for praying and blessing me.

I was trying to remember your name the other day so that I could send you this letter and “Paul Kyle” just popped into my head. Probably not unlike the image of me going around the world popped into yours.

Gabriel went on to say how he had found Mary, the love of his life, and wondered if I might play at their wedding. Ben and I ended up doing just that, in Chicago one week ago.

At the reception the call came to move upstairs for the food, and we found ourselves left singing to an audience of 5 – two little girls dancing delightedly, their baby brother, bouncing in daddy’s arms, and one of the Mexican ladies from the catering company who kept passing through the room with a smile (and tears) on her face!

We were singing “Lord Jesus we enthrone you, we proclaim you are King…. Come Lord Jesus and take your place……..in this place….at this time,” and then moved into “Let your GLORY, let your GLORY, let your GLORY fill the earth….Father Son and Holy Spirit, let your GLORY fill the earth.” 

As I flew home the next morning I  looked out through the window and there was an unusual sight! (pictured above)  It looked like a rainbow – a sign of God’s covenant love.  But the strange thing was – it was circular! At first I thought it was the rare circular rainbow but later discovered (in Wikipedia) it was another unusual phenomenon called a GLORY!

It seemed that we were being sent a message (through our friend, Creation) that our prayer had been received as an “Amen” on earth to what has already been announced from heaven:

“The GLORY of the Lord shall fill (circle) the earth as the waters cover the sea.”(Hab.2:14)

God’s glory is his essential nature – which is LOVE (1.Jn. 4:16) In this sense Gabriel’s life was prophetic as he circumnavigated the globe to find his love. His full name means “messenger of freedom”and  speaks of Jesus (Gal.5:1) who has sought us out. His wife Mary (meaning “rebellious”) represents the bride of Christ – those who like Mary the mother of Jesus, once his ‘enemies’ now by God’s grace, carry Christ in them – “the hope of GLORY!” (Col.1:27)

I remembered boarding the plane in Minneapolis at Gate 16 and then de-boarded in Chicago again at a Gate 16! Beside me there had been seated a man with a teeshirt that said WM 32 (underneath I read it was from a Wrestlemania event in Texas!!!)

Father made sense to me of these confirmatory ‘signs’….a double portion of love (16 aspects of love in 1 Cor.13) manifested in this wedding where a (W)oman and a (M)an were coming together revealing God’s eternal plan in this covenant (32) of love – called marriage.

In Genesis 9 the rainbow was placed in the sky as a sign of the covenant of love God made with “ALL life on earth” (repeated 5 times!)  that it would never again be destroyed by (physical) water…. but rather, as it says in Habakuk 2:14, will be flooded by the Holy Spirit the agent of God’s glory that His promise to “restore ALL things“ (Acts 3:21) might be fulfilled.

 

P.S.My friend Pat in Florida originally from Chicago swears he will never live there again because ‘snow is part of the curse as a result of the fall.’ Well there was no snow in Chicago when we left it but plenty back in Minneapolis….. and if that isn’t proof enough that the curse over the Windy City is being reversed – consider the Cubs after 108 years : – ) 

 

 

 

Gareth from London wrote to me,

“Your blog on the Full Circle about C.S.Lewis, reminded me of Ps 23v3 – “He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.” The Hebrew for “path” in this instance has a root meaning of circle, so could be translated “He leads me in circles of righteousness” So sometimes when we think we are going around in circles, it could be that God is giving us another chance to learn or do it more “right!”

Many commentators have been drawing a parallel between Donald Trump and Andrew Jackson – Jackson being the first “populist” American president. He too was of Ulster Scot’s ancestry (After you have had coffee at Established and Claire’s cake at The Loft you can visit his ancestral home in Carrickfergus – a few miles away : – )

I cannot judge the man, however The Indian Removal Act which he was responsible for had tragic consequences. One native elder friend, Father brought into our lives, was Alvin. A long serving Methodist ‘minister’ he told us the story of how his believing grandmother had walked the “Trail of Tears”  as her people were forcibly removed from their homeland to a Reservation in what is now Oklahoma. It was a deeply moving experience when he taught us a “Jesus” lullaby in his native language that she had used to settle the babies when they would get upset by the trumpeting soldiers carrying out their duty on behalf of the “Christian” government – to “grab” more land.

A few weeks ago Gilbert’s car broke down. As I was driving to his aid I decided to listen to the radio, something I don’t often do. What I was meant to hear was an incidental piece of news – that Andrew Jackson’s picture was to be removed from the $20 bill (and replaced with Harriet Tubman’s)

” Mmmm” I thought, “So the architect of “The” removal, is now himself – being removed!”

Last week I mentioned another famous Ulster Scot who was a contemporary of Jackson’s  known as the ‘king of the wild frontier’ – Davy Crockett (You might remember Paddy had wakened that morning thinking of the very same man…….and humming Davy’s tune throughout the day!)

As I read the Wikipedia entry about Crockett I discovered a couple of interesting things. His Ulster Scot’s great grandmother was called Sarah Gilbert Stewart. Well Hilary’s mother was Sarah, my father was Gilbert, and both our mothers had the surname – Stewart. What a “God-incidence”!!!

Then I discovered that Davy Crockett was the only one in the Tennessee legislature who opposed The Indian Removal Act!

Here was a redemptive sign for our tribe…..where another one of “us” historically had proven to be the Indian’s Friend – not Foe!

I shared this exciting discovery at dinner time with the family. “Oh!” Kim, our American daughter-in-law said, ” The little Irish ancestry there is in our family line……is said to go back to – Davy Crockett!

The photo above is of Ben and Kim’s daughter Isla Kyle and  Mni Cloud in dress up and in an embrace as they are “best friends” Mni is a 6th generation descendant of Chief Little Crow, who lead the Dakota Uprising in Minnesota (1862). They live here together in the Big Green (Ps.23) House.

Isla is Scottish for island. Mni is Dakota for water. I guess Father put this friendship together!

The world of fractals shows us how each of our little lives are reflecting a much greater story, for the most part unknown yet sometimes known, as our Shepherd leads us in “Circles of Righteousness”

 

                                 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, last week’s blog proved to be quite “prophetic” didn’t it?

“The Donald” has lived up to his Scottish name and is now a ‘world ruler’ and the “Look out for me and my clachan” vote won the day with the ‘married white men’ demographic determining the election outcome!

One camp is exultant the other devastated. There is however only one important question:

What next?  

Let’s begin this blog where we left the last one ….with another verse from the Psalms:

“But NOW Lord, what do I look for? ……MY hope is in YOU.” (Psalm 39:7)

And let’s see what more, we can learn from history……..

When our family of 9 were about to set off for this New World 22 years ago we were given a prophecy.

“When the first Ulster Scots came to America they fought the Indians and fought creation. You will be friends with the Indians and be friends with creation.”

When we arrived, Father simply said “Make friends and be friends.” and over the years some people from the first nations here have welcomed us and become our closest friends, not by our design but by His.

Concerning friendship, Ohiyesa (pictured above) writes in The Soul of an Indian,

“Among our people friendship is held to be the severest test of character. It is easy to be loyal to family and clan, whose blood is in our own veins. Love between man and woman is founded on the mating instinct, and is not free from desire and self seeking, but to have a friend and to be true under any and all trials is the truest mark of a man. The highest type of friendship is the relation of ‘brother-friend’ or ‘life and death friend’ ….. It is without thought of pleasure or gain, but rather for moral support and inspiration. Each vows to die for the other, and nothing is denied the brother friend, but neither is anything required that is not in accord with the highest conception of the Indian mind.” 

This seems akin to the sort of friendship Jesus invites us into in John 15 – a more noble aspiration than the depiction of  “Friends” in the popular American sitcom of that title!

“It is easy to be loyal to family and clan whose blood is in our own veins”  Ouch! that hit home….”But I need to look out for me and my clachan!”

Our fear based reaction and the sectarian spirit that now grips America stands in contrast to the Lakota prayer, Mitakuye Oyasinin, which affirms “You are all my relatives.” 

Left unhealed I realize our fear based wounds will simply continue to wound.

So we have sought to come to America this time in humility as learners rather than teachers, as the wounded rather than the healers for I believe the very people we originally came to ‘civilize’ hold the key to our healing as broken children of the European “Enlightenment” that was actually a “Darkenment” of our experience of the Spirit.

Our native friends who have embraced Jesus have taught us that the main fault line between the Native Americans and the New Americans was spirituality vs. materialism. Jesus said the same thing in this way, “You cannot serve God and Mammon (material things)” (Matt.6:24)

Of course there are natives who have grown happily rich on casino earnings and newcomers who are deeply spiritual, but Ps.118:8 remains the test for each soul “Do I, in truth, trust in Creator/God or trust in man (including myself)?”

The native people did not at first seem to have any difficulty with Jesus. Ohiyesa quotes one elder,

“I have come to the conclusion that this Jesus was an Indian. He was opposed to material acquisition and to great possessions. He was inclined to peace. He was as unpractical as any Indian and set no price upon his labor of love. These are not the principles upon which the white man has founded his civilization. It is strange that he could not rise to these simple principles which were so commonly observed among our people.”

Ohiyesa comments, “I confess I have wondered much that Christianity is not practiced by the very people who vouch for that wonderful conception of exemplary living. It appears that they are anxious to pass on their religion to all others, but keep very little of it for themselves. ……even in the white men who professed religion we found such inconsistency of conduct. They spoke much of spiritual things while seeking only the material. They bought and sold everything;time, labor, personal independence, the love of woman, and even the ministrations of their faith! The higher and spiritual life, though first in theory, was clearly secondary, if not entirely neglected in practice. ” 

This blog is entitled Be-LOnGings because our deepest LOnGing is to Be connected. If we fail to make that connection with our Creator we will seek connection with ‘created things’ Any thing (including  religious things) that has supplanted God and become the primary object of our affection is what the bible calls a dead ‘idol’

“They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served created things rather than the creator who is forever praised. Amen.”(Romans 1:25)

We are meant as spiritual beings to find life in connection with God – who is Spirit.

….and being with you nothing else I desire.”(Ps.73:25)

I believe it is not just a commandment of the old covenant but a promise of the new covenant that God will keep and fulfill in us, “You SHALL have no other God’s before me.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

My experience facing the plumbing under the kitchen sink and Davy Crockett’s facing the Indians on “the wild frontier.” may not have been that different! We are both of Scots Irish ancestry and were ‘Born Fighting’ The problem however is that  blindsided by ancestral FEAR that goes all the way back to Adam we mistake who the real enemy is! As it says in Ephesians 6:12 “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood…or kitchen sinks” (P.K.V.)

Our name Kyle identifies us as a Scottish border family. By all accounts farm life on the border between England and Scotland was precarious. Living in the shadow of the English Empire we had a fear of lack and a fight to survive!

So despite a Reformed theology of new covenant grace through faith, in practice we too often have believed our fallen senses and walked by sight rather than faith as we face into what we perceive as a fearful world where we have learned to mistrust authority and with fierce independence look out for me and my ‘clachan’ 

This is well illustrated in a village actually named LACK, deep in the heart of the Ulster countryside where some of those Scots where ‘planted’ by the English. On our way to visit our friends Paddy and Breda we pass through Lack. As you enter you are greeted by a plaque proudly announcing “Best Kept Small Village 2007.” but also by red white and blue bunting and Union Jack flags that signal it is a bible believing Protestant island in this rural Catholic sea. Sure enough everything seems ‘neat and tidy’, but I feel an uneasy underbelly……. that says “We are under threat – but have things well under control”

I ponder Psalm 23. Although sheep graze in the surrounding fields the ‘vib’ of the village seems to contradict the ‘good news’ that “The Lord is my shepherd I shall LACK – NO-THING!……yeah though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will FEAR – NO EVIL!…. for YOU are with me.” 

A few thousand miles across the ocean these same dynamics are being played out in the American Presidential election. Many are fearful and angry and are expressing themselves in a vote for Donald (or Bernie!) for it has become obvious that the ‘establishment’ cannot be trusted. There is a mistrust of   BIG institutions – whether government, banking, religious, industrial or media – with corruption in these heartless ‘corpse’orations having been uncovered right to the top. More and more voices are being raised such as The Truth About Cancer, Wikileaks and Standing Rock, in protest at how ‘we have been duped!’ by ‘the powers that be.’ (or think they be :- )

(Below, for example, is a view from Dr. Mercola, a respected alternative health practitioner.)

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2016/11/08/dont-panic-politics.aspx?utm_source=dnl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=art1&utm_campaign=20161108Z2&et_cid=DM125027&et_rid=1744167456

So the Braveheart battlecry goes up again, “It’s time to take things back from the evil Empire and into our own hands and to look out for me and my clachan!”

(Even as I finish this blog I turn to check the BBC website and see an article “Belfast – The City with a Rebel Heart.”)

But this disillusionment is all part of God’s plan, for the heart of the human problem is expressed in the verse at the very heart of the bible, Psalm 118 verse 8, which says,

“It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.” 

(More next week…..no matter which ‘man or woman’ wins today’s election : – )

P.S. I sent a draft of this blog to Paddy and Breda to check that I had rightly read the spiritual climate of LACK. Paddy wrote back

” For no apparent reason, yesterday, in that pre sleep haze, I began to remember Davy Crockett and The Alamo! Now the theme song from tv, Davy, Davy Crockett, king of the wild frontier, is playing in my head.”

“Your reading of LACK is picture perfect, but without even basic services i..e. Shop, Post Office.”

Then they added this encouraging personal note!

“It’s interesting to remember that when we first came here, that, due to the information we were given, we had address labels printed which said, “off the Lack Road”, Bre looked at me and said “That’s a Word for us!” …and indeed it has been. We are enjoying a season of real delight in being together, it has to be Grace, because our health circumstances have not improved, yet, we are content, and convinced that a new season of Father’s purpose is just about to break out.

 

No prizes for guessing the question we were asked most often when back in the Brith-ish Isles?

“So what do you think of Donald Trump?”

A hard question to answer in a few minutes. Fortunately I had a quick one line response. “I am not qualified to vote – so I don’t feel responsible to make a judgement!”

Today our renewed Resident Alien cards arrived in the mail. As ‘aliens’ we are not entitled to vote. Since being lead to move here 22 years ago through the story of Abraham who was one of that company who “admitted they were aliens” (Heb.11:13) we have remained comfortable with this status knowing that our ‘true’ ‘citizenship is in heaven’.(Phil.3:20)

We understand that our responsibility in this place is to “Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.” (Jeremiah 27:19.) As European exiles, I believe seeking the welfare of our new ‘home’ begins by entering into relationship with those given the original mandate to care for this part of creation……but more about that later.

Back ‘home’ again in our land of exile, after 6 weeks at ‘home’ in our land of origin we see more clearly than ever the connectedness of these, our two ‘homes’

To understand America and ‘The Donald’, whose Scottish name happens to mean ‘world ruler’,  I believe you must first understand our ‘tribe’ – the Ulster Scots. One writer entitles his book,’The Other Irish” for when talking about the Irish in America everyone immediately thinks of the great wave of Catholics who came as a result of the Irish famine in the mid 1800s. A hundred years earlier however another breed of Irish from the North and antecedently from Scotland had arrived to play a pivotal role in the embryonic days of this ‘new’ nation. The impact of this people group in shaping the American psyche was enormous….as testified to in movies and books like,”American Sniper” about the life of Chris Kyle (No, not my younger brother : – )) or “Born Fighting” by Jim Webb.

This morning I was doing a project under our kitchen sink! As I entered that still place of the Spirit, I was able to observe myself and my reactions. Father then began pointing things out to me – about me!  I recognized a ‘defensive posture’ in my soul. “This is my project, just give me space and let me figure it out myself!!

As I turned from this to the truth, “And God is able to make all grace abound that at all times and in all things having all that you need you will you will abound in every good work.” ( 2 Cor.9:8) I started perceiving in the comments that came from different quarters no longer “threat” but “grace.” I also anticipated the hand of a benevolent God who was working all things (even the contorted pipes and rotting chipboard) together for good! (Rm.8:28)

Within minutes rather than hours the project was completed to everyone’s satisfaction. (Note Gilbert’s grin above – he actually did the lion’s share of the work : -).

I realized the job had ended up a joy! Why? Because I had stopped “fighting”and started “surfing” the wave of grace that awaits all who “trust in his unfailing love.” (Ps.147:11)

So what has this got to do with next week’s election?

You’ll see more clearly in next week’s blog : – ))