Where is God? (A call for a life of balance)

This past Sunday our Senior Pastor told our congregation that the best thing for some people in our church community would be to skip church for a week.

His sermon centered on the theme of resting on God and just "being" who He created us to be.

Of course, we NEED church. We are the church. And we need each other. But the point remains.... we do, do, do and wonder why we are tired.


That is part of the reason I love our church. There is a lot of freedom. When we are singing songs, some weeks I am dead tired and I just need to lie down and let the words wash over my body and I have the freedom to do so.


I have found (or maybe better worded) been found by God within the context of church. And I have continued to encounter God countless times inside our church building.

But not always. If you are anything like me, you like to meet God in other places.

Because God doesn't live in my church, or your church, or any church. (Yes, HE is there, but NOT JUST there).

So what connects your soul to God? 

Is it going to Pittsburgh to watch a pirates game? Smelling the fresh cut grass and looking at the awe-inspiring skyline?

Is it going to Paris or another European city and being amazed by the cities of old?

Is it going to Starbucks and enjoying a really expensive cup of Joe?

Is it going for a walk in the woods, where you can scream and laugh and cry and no one else can hear you?

Is it in the delivery room watching your wife give birth to your first born son?

Is it serving? Maybe in a soup kitchen or cutting the lawn of an elderly couple.


 So what, now what?

I remember when I was in college and one of my professors said "whenever we present a problem (so what?), we should give a call to answer (now what?).

So, what do we do?

Do we abandonen organized church and become hippies living in the wild? NO!


I believe we need to have balance in our lives. We need to be able to encounter and connect with God for ourselves and within a community.

I go deep with God on my own but can go wider when I have friends to speak into my life. 

But Just because you are not hearing from/ connecting with God does not mean He has left you. It just means you need to try a new way to find Him.

God loves to play hide and seek like a loving father plays hide and seek with their toddler children. He hides in such a way to be found.

Let's go walking

A ministry that I am starting this summer is calling "Trail Walking with Jesus." My goal is to help you connect with God through one of my favorite places to connect with God: "The Rails to Trails."

We will be meeting at the Trail Head by Ace Hardware in Ridgway at 9am. You will need to bring a notebook and pen because as we walk I will pose a question for you to spend time by yourself to journal.

Final Thought

Summer is a great time to connect with God. To meet Him. I mentioned a few above but I want to give a few more ideas of how you can connect with God this summer.

• Read the Bible. But Ask God to teach you what you need to hear for that particular moment. 
• Go for a canoe or kayak ride. 
• Connect with a friend you have not seen in a while and ask him/her how they are doing. 
• Serve 
• Give away something to someone in need. 
• Try something new (something that scares you) and ask God to give you the faith to do it!

So these are just a few. You are different than I am. So JUST DO IT.

Because God has promised us in his word that when we "seek him, we will find him, when we seek him with all our heart."

Wait, Where is your Brother?

The Parable of the Prodigal Son. 

A familiar passage. Two Brothers living with their daddy.

The younger decides to be rebellious, asked for his share of the estate, and indulges in wild living. However, the money quickly fades away and so do his shallow friends and is forced to work the worst possible job for a jewish boy: Feeding the dirty, Unclean Pigs.

The Younger Son decides he would be better off as a servant in his father's household than working with the pigs. So he returns home expecting to work off his debt (he even memorizes his speech that he wants to delievery to his father). However, he is meet by the unconditional compassion of his father. FORGET THE SPEECH my Son who was lost is now found, he was blind but not he can see.

Meanwhile back at the ranch. The Older Son has been working his tail off for many years. He is in the field working when he hears music. "What,why is there music?," he must wonder. So the Older Son asked one of the servant what was going on. He then informs the older Son, Yes, your lost brother, your rebellious brother, your lazy brother, but yes your brother is HOME. We must celebrate.

But does the Older Son want to celebrate? Of course not! He has been working and this lazy son of gun comes home and gets the party?


 "Which of the two sons is truly lost?"

Is it the brother that rebels, realizes his folly, and returns Home or The brother that stays by his father side through thick and thin but refuses to welcome home his lost brother?


Remember this is a story!!!!!

 By the way, this is a story. So why is Jesus telling this to His First Century Audience?

His audience were two groups of people: 1) Sinners and tax collectors and 2) Pharisees (religious people that thought they had it all together).

The Younger Son was meant to symbolize the Sinners and tax collectors while the Older Son was meant to symbolize the Pharisees and teachers of the law.

And the Father was meant to symbolize God, our Almighty Father.


Who was lost in this story?

The easy answer? Both. The Younger Son for rebelling and the Older Son for not accepting his younger brother back into the family...

But 

Something stuck out to me the last time I read this story. A Story I have read over a hundred times.

Why did no one go get the Older Brother? Think about it this way. Imagine you had a relative from California. They have been gone for three years but now they have returned. Wouldn't you make sure you retrieved the brother?

Yet, He was overlooked. They killed an animal, cooked it, and already started eating and dancing by the time the older brother realizes what had happen.

I get it. The story is suppose to hold the Older Brother as the religious type who doesn't think they need Jesus because they can merit their own salvation. They have "Earned it!"

Welcome All?

No one went out to get the older Brother....yet he was so far away from God.

But that's what we need. When we are operating in a mindset of "I GOT THIS!" A mindset of Pride. The thing we need most is for those that have encountered the forgiveness and love of God to reach out and remind us of his goodness.

Arrogance does not work in the kingdom of God and is in need of a Savior. And sometimes those are the hardest people to include in our community. And to be honest they are the ones we give up on too quickly.

We say things like, "Fine, if they think they can do it themselves, let them try!"

So Jesus finished telling the story to two vastly different people group's. And they didn't love each other. And they didn't accept the other but they could.

What if they chose love?

What if the Pharisees said "We welcome you tax collectors in! You are not perfect but neither are we. You have rebelled but you are welcomed in!"

Or Maybe the Tax collectors started by saying, "I know Jesus seems to be more focused on saving us but we know you need that same grace. We welcome you into our community. We have a lot to learn from you about obedience to God's law."


HELP US JESUS!!!

 More times than not you don't see that happen! Why? Why are we so stubborn. We see the other group as immoral, corrupt, or at the very least misinformed.

Can you believe what Democrats believe about..... Or can you believe what Republicans believe about....

Or maybe its not political maybe it's religious vs non-religious people... or Rich vs Poor, or black vs white.. or even one type of Christian Religion vs another.

If I went into St Leos saying I have all the answers because I was raised in a Protestant church I would rob myself of learning what they have to offer.

Maybe its time to let down our shields. Maybe its time to stop thinking we have all the answers. But we can trust in the God who has all the answers. And welcomes ALL in. If God welcomes all who am I to exclude anyone from His love?

What are you chasing? (Shawn's Yellow Car)

 My Dog loves to chase the wind. Not literally but when he sees the effects of the wind, leaves flying across the street, he gears up and tries to chase them down. 

He also likes to chase down chipmunks, cats, and little kids. 

All to no avail. 

Just like Gunner, my German Shepherd/Black Lab, likes to chase after meaningless things I have notice we are prone to wander after meaningless things. 

The book of Ecclesiastes teaches this theme. "Everything is meaningless!" Man, Am I inspired for greatness!

The point: we try to find satisfaction in many areas.  Maybe you try to find it through Pleasure, wealth, popularity, power, possessions. Or maybe you try to find it through good things like Family Relationships, or doing good works for others, or your job. 

You see, we can do the right thing for the wrong reason if we are chasing anything but God and Him alone. 

Our church actually read a book a few months ago called, "Chase the Lion." In this book, we are told to Chase down our dreams. And this is very empowering because I believe God has given us dreams in our hearts and we should not be afraid and we should chase those dreams. 

But not without God. And Not without God being the primary Person we are chasing Down. If the idea of "chasing down God" dose not work for you maybe a better word is our Focus, our devotion, our passion. The One in which deserves our attention and energy.


Maybe I can share a story??

On Wednesday Night, God gave me a new idea to do with Tribe. 
 

I gave each person ten dollars with the instructions, "listen to God and use it to bless someone else."

The first place we went was Rite Aid. I saw a yellow toy car. It was 9.99. Perfect. God told me, "give it to a st Leo's boy." In the parking lot was Darien, a third grader at St Leos School. Figured he would love it but by the time I walked outside....he was gone! Did I miss my chance?

I was upset, thinking. "I missed it! I couldn't give a toy/gift to a kid during school because that would be favoritism. Hmm maybe God had someone else in mind.

We decided to walk to dollar general. As we are walking I saw four boys that went to SLS standing outside by Northwest Savings Bank. As I crossed the street, I asked God, "Who do you want to have this car?"

I knew I was suppose to give it to a kid named Shawn. Shawn is a handful to say the least. I love having him in my Kindergarten Gym Class but He pushes the boundaries. 

I gave him the toy as his mom came out telling me I didn't have to give him the toy. And I knew I didn't have to. I wanted to. And more importantly, as I told Shawn, "God loves you so much and He sees you as his treasure. He wants you to have this toy to show you his love."

He didn't care too much about my words (Remember he is 5!), he was fixated on the yellow car toy. 


What a fun story. It remembers me of a spiritual activity I did as a youth. It was called Treasure Hunting. In Treasure Hunting, you would pray to God about people He wanted you to pray for as His treasure. Maybe this is Treasure Hunting 2.0? 

Because it is through the generosity of God's people that people on earth see God move.


I don't know how you are feeling today. I don't know what you want in life? And to be honest I'm still working on all of those details myself. But in the meantime "Let's chase down God."

Let's follow Him. Let's seek His face. To what end? To manifest his love to others. Because Honestly what else really matters?

What's the catch?

So pretty cool God story from last night.

We went to the OutCry Tour in Pittsburgh yesterday. It is a Christian event with powerful worship....

And we had a few extra tickets. So we stood outside the arena and yelled, "free tickets! No gimmicks! Actually free!"

We were able to give away the tickets to a man and his two children. They were thankful and tried paying us but we refused. 

We told him we believed that God wanted us to give him the tickets as a blessing and you can't pay for a blessing.

Now, here's the cool part.... a worker from the arena has been watching this whole time and he walks over to check it out. 

The worker said, "I've worked with the penguins at this arena and the previous arenas in town for over twenty years and this is only the third time I've seen someone give away free tickets to ANY event."

There was no "come to Jesus" moment, there was no miraculous healing, yet this man encountered God.

This worker saw Christians giving generously. Refusing to receive payment for a gift. 

He saw that God is good and he is working through his church.

Yet, when we hear that something is free we think "it's too good to be true."

We become Skeptical declaring, "What's the catch?"

But when God came down from heaven to show us the love of the father by going to the cross it was a free gift .

We say the Gospel, Salvation, free relationship with God, it's all Too GOOD TO BE TRUE. 

We say, "Someone has to pay!"

And God says, "I'll pay!" 

Someone did pay for those tickets. We did. 


And when we gave generously we showed the world (or at least one person) the generosity of our Heavenly Father.

Here's a quick example from the Bible

In one parable of Jesus, everyone was upset because all the workers received the same wage despite working different hours. Some worked 12 hours while others worked just 1. 

The owner of the vineyard in the story ends the parable by saying an insightful statement: "Are you envious because i am generous?"

I share this story with you this morning not to brag, not to say, "LOOK AT US! WE ARE SO GENEROUS!"

Because to be honest, I struggle with this. More times than not the amount I tip is based on the service I receive and not out of generosity. I think "What can MY MONEY do for me?" Instead of "How can I use my money to help others?" 

OR probably better written, "How can I use the money God has entrusted to me to show others His generous love?" 


So here's the catch!

Here's Your homework..... 

Show someone the love the father today. Give an encouraging word. Leave a 20 dollar tip to your deliver driver. Don't wait and ask permission to be generous. 

In the words of Nike, "Just do it." 




 

Neil James slattery

What a crazy 24 hours.

At 8pm Tuesday night, jasmine started having contractions just a few minutes apart. So we rush down to Dubois to the hospital. Long story (which are better told in person) short. Our little miracle baby was born at 6:18am on Wednesday April 19th, 2017.


I say miracle because how else could a baby fit through that hole! But seriously after two miscarriages we decided late spring of 2016 to try a third time for a baby.

When we found out jasmine was pregnant, I was so scared. Could it happen again? Would we have to deal with another miscarriage. And I understand, I know some people have more difficulty than us but it was still hard because we knew God promised us a child.

But God came through. Because he's awesome. 


But I wanted to talk about his name. 

We chose the name Neil James slattery

James is a tribute to my grandfather. That is his name. It's also my brothers middle name. And my dad's saint name. 

But Neil? Why? Well, it's normal. In a world with people naming their kids crazy things it's nice to have an old fashion name.

But what does Neil mean?

The Irish name may be derived from words meaning "cloud", "passionate", or "champion".

Most authorities cite the meaning of Neil in the context of a surname as meaning champion.

One of favorite bible verses is romans 8:37, "we are more than conquerors through him who loved us."

I also saw this picture of my son kneeing at the cross where Christ was killed and defeated death. 

This idea of being a champion makes sense to me. I wrestled. Who doesn't want to be the champion?

But I have been ppraying/declaring that as my son grows he will know he is loved. Love by God. Loved by his community. And loved by his family.

I pray that as he knows he is loved and fully accepted just for being who he is.... a child of God.... that  he will be able to overcome anything Life brings his way. 

After all he is our champion. 

I think there is more to upload here but it will have to wait. It's time for my nap! 


We love you Neil! Thanks for gracing us with your presence. 

You will never let me down

 

I love Easter. I have started to realize that my favorite holidays are more weather related. It's wonderful having Easter this late this year. The sun was bright and baseball games were being played. 

 

And most of all its an important holiday (which means Holy Day). Sidebar: Don't get offended when someone tells you "Happy Holidays" in 8 months from now. Because Holiday really does mean "Holy Day"

 

Anyhow, as we wait for the arrival of my son this Monday after Resurrection Sunday I wanted to go back and read the "end of the story" from St John's Perspective.  

 

So This morning I read John Chapter 21. 

Jesus is alive. He already appeared to his disciples twice but had some unfinished business before His ascension into Heaven. 

So he goes down to the lake and He sees His friends doing a thing they loved to do. FISH

We think to ourselves? How could they go back to fishing? Their world was changed forever. Didn't they understand what was going on?

 

But the truth is we do the same thing! When something traumatic occurs in our lives it is actually healthy to run to a thing that brings us a sense of security. Something that makes sense.  This does not mean we are meant to stay in that place forever but it's good to have your place of safety and refuge. 

It is here that Jesus eats fish and bread with them and forgives Peter for his denial of Him. It is here that Jesus forgives him not once, but three times (one time for each denial).

 

 Do you remember the sequence? 

Quick review!

Jesus: Peter you will deny me.
Peter: Never, Lord.
Jesus: You will deny me three times before the rooster crows.
Peter: No, you are wrong.

Peter then proves Jesus right by denying him three times. 

This was a pretty traumatic three days from Peter's perspective. Not only did he deny his relationship with his Lord but also his best friend. Peter must have felt like he let down God. 

 

 

Have you ever felt like you let God down? Maybe you felt God calling you to do something for Him and you didn't deliver. Or maybe you had a situation similar to Peter where you denied knowing Jesus because it would not benefit you. 

The good news of the Gospel is two things.

1) We can never let God down because it wasn't about us earning his love in the first place. 

This idea of letting God down is rooted in pride and honestly a little bit of narcissism. I earned this. We need to be very careful in America. We tend to be people that value earning things. You know like the American Dream. 

The issue is God doesn't work like that. He is better than the American Dream. He gives of Himself freely to us. Our salvation was a gift. Our daily walking with him was a gift. 

If you think you have to earn a gift, then it was never a gift to begin with. 

We can't let God down, because He knows everything that is going to happen. He knew Peter would deny Jesus. In the same way, He knows our shortcomings. He knows when we are going to make a mistake. 

The amazing thing is: He takes our failures and "let downs" to bring glory Himself glory and works the bad things in our lives (collectively) for our good.

2) The Story of the Resurrection reminds us that God is willing to meet us right were we are.

The first disciples were not the "A" team. They were not the scholars. And many of them had troubling pasts. But God chose them. 

 

God chose Mary Magdalene to be the first person to witness the Resurrection. She was said to have been demon possessed at one point in her life. Talk about baggage.   

The disciples themselves ran back to the familar. When they faced the tragedy, they went to fishing. And we do the same. 

When we feel like we let God down we return to "old life" we once lived before we understood how amazing life could be with Him. But the amazing thing is God came running after them and He comes running after me.

 

 This story brings me hope because in my brain I know I can't let God down, but in my heart there are times when it feels like I did. Yet, I believe Jesus asks us the same question He asked Peter, "Do you love me?"

 

 

Then we can declare with a resounding: "YES, LORD, YOU KNOW I LOVE YOU." 

The Journey to the cross

The Message Bible Does a good job of describing Jesus' Journey to the cross. This is a selection I chose from Isaiah 53 (MSG)

• He was looked down on and passed over, a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand.
  
  
• One look at him and people would turn away. We looked down on him, thought he was scum.
  
  
•  But the fact is, it was our pains he carried- our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us.
•  We thought he brought it on himself, that God was punishing him for his own failures.
  
  
• But it was our sins that did that to him, that ripped and tore and crushed him- our sins!
  
  
•   He took the punishment, and that made us whole.
  
  
•  Through his bruises we get healed.
  
  
•  We’re all like sheep who’ve wandered off and gotten lost.
  
  
•  We’ve all done our own thing, gone our own way.
  
  
•    And God has piled all our sins, everything we’ve done wrong, on him.
  
  
•    He was beaten, he was tortured, but he didn’t say a word.
  

•   Like a lamb taken to be slaughtered and like a sheep being sheared, he took it all in silence. 

To identify with Christ is to bear his burden. To look inside at our own lives and ask "how am I being selfish?" "How am I being self-centered." 

Jesus told his followers almost two thousand years ago, the way in which we can idenify with Jesus. 

"Then he said to the crowd, "If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me."- Luke 9:23


I hate verses like this. I sometimes wish I could find some white-out and not think about certain commands from Jesus. But it's there. 

And this verse forces me to trust God. Instead of me putting my faith in myself to be a better person, and trying to advance myself in this world, I have to trust in God. 

The way of self-denial is the way we were created to be. Think of your life. When are you most happy? Is it when things come easily? No. It's when you put others before yourself. When you see others succeed and grow.

When we lay down our lives and trust in God we know that He will work all things for our good. 

It might not be "good" in the way we see it but to be honest sometimes we are more like 3 year old toddlers than we would like to admit. 

Which toddler (or teenager) or anyone wouldn't want to eat a whole package of Oreos? 

Which parent would be insane to give those to their child?

Or would a parent be a good parent if they let their child have unlimited access to the internet? Of course not. Or just a few cigarettes (what could it hurt, right?)


Yet, we look at God when something doesn't go exactly according to our plan and get upset. We think, "God hates me."  or "God let me down."

Could God have something better in store for you? You may not be ready. You might think this is the best thing for you in the moment but it's not. 

Remember, Jesus, tells us to pray to who? Our Father. 

He is a Good Father. 

Jesus went to the cross. And it seemed like the end. 

Think about Mary, his mother. She was promised that her son would be the Messiah. But now? He is on the cross. I wonder what was going in her mind. Fear? Doubt? Grief? Depression? Who knows?

Jesus died on Friday and rose on Sunday. 3 days. A long long three days for those closest to Jesus. We know the story, we know he rose again. But they missed it. 

And sometimes we do too. We see our struggle. We see our pain. We see our disappointment. 

Good Friday can last a long time. Yet God is there with us through it all. 

And he says, "When you get to the other side of this, you are going to be happy that you had to go through it because you are stronger now."

But this becoming stronger in the kingdom of God does not come by trying and persisting. It comes by surrendering. By laying down our lives so God can work through us. This isn't a popular way of saying it in 21st Century Western Culture but by "Dying." 

Jesus, who was and is God, had to physically say, "Not my will, but yours be done." We, who are not God, need to echo this same phrase.So when days are shinning and bright, we can praise God for his goodness. And when days feel like hell, we can praise God because we know He is on the move. And we know Sunday is just around the corner.

Happy Holy Week everyone!

Remember, you are loved!