We avoid suffering, or at least try to, as much as possible. We run to and cling to comfort. And much of our comfort is found in our stuff. Closets, garages, and basements bursting at the seams with all the stuff we’ve accumulated. Never enough. Always more.

What if the opposite of suffering isn’t comfort but glory? Specifically, sharing in the glory of Christ. Are we missing sharing in his glory because we are so comfortable? Are we suffering BECAUSE of our comfort (and all the stuff of our comfort), but we don’t even know what we are missing? Do we fail to see, know and share in his glory now because we are so satisfied in our comfort that we don’t even realize what we are missing?

Is the stuff part of the suffering?

Without warning
– a king is arrested
– tried
– convicted
– killed

Without warning
– the king is alive
– teaching
– restoring
– loving

Without warning
– a helper comes
– to empower
– to indwell
– to testify

Without warning
– the world is changed
– mercy is offered
– grace received
– life eternal

Without warning
– A king will return
– to remove sin
– and hardship
– and pain
– to make all things new
– to reign forever
– with those who call him King

A response to Acts 2:1-4 from The Message –

When the Feast of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Without warning there was a sound like a strong wind, gale force—no one could tell where it came from. It filled the whole building. Then, like a wildfire, the Holy Spirit spread through their ranks, and they started speaking in a number of different languages as the Spirit prompted them.

Eugene H. Peterson, The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2005), Ac 2:1–4.

Seen
by disciples
by multitudes

Visible
so all could know
you are alive

Appear today
Be seen in our neighborhoods
Show yourself now

I want to and will
but not through my physical body
but through my body – the church

I’m waiting for the church to make me visible
to reveal my heart and passion to the world
to speak words of life and touch your communities with healing

Appear today?
I will when my church stops playing at religion
and stops cozying up to power
I will when my church realizes it is not in their cleverness or accumen
but by my Spirit
I will when my people
look, speak, and act more like me.

Be my visible representation in the world.
Show them I am alive
and that I bring life.

Go – in my name – in the power of my Spirit
Show the world the real Jesus
not some cheap imitation
not some impotent guru
Jesus – the Christ – the Promised One
The Savior of the World

Yours are the hands.
Yours are the feet.
Yours are the eyes.
You are His body.

Christ has no body now on earth but yours.

BING – a new notification awaits
DO THIS – excuse me while I write this down
SEND – this email
LOOK – this detail up
It will only take a second
I imagine the frustration of being on the receiving end of this

But God is not distracted or even distractable
His power and glory sustains all creation
His work is ongoing in his creation
And His work is ongoing even in me

But even so, with all this work going on, He is
PRESENT and PRESENCE
Come, sit with me
Be with me
Drink from the Living Water
Lay down distractions
… to-do lists
…achievements to be done
And breathe
…with me
…in me
It will all be there waiting for you in a moment
But I am with you here and now, says the Lord.

You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue
you, Lord, know it completely.
You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
How precious to me are your thoughts,[a] God!
How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.
If only you, God, would slay the wicked!
Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!
They speak of you with evil intent;
your adversaries misuse your name.
Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord,
and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?
I have nothing but hatred for them;
I count them my enemies.
Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.

Psalm 139

Where’s my experience with you, Jesus?
Why haven’t you appeared to me?
They say they saw, show me

And eight days later, you appear
Very similar to the other time
the time with all my friends
Except this time with the words
“Touch me. Examine me.”
“See, It’s me, Jesus. I’m real. I’m here.”
with the loving admonition
“Don’t be unbelieving. Believe!”

Eight long days to wonder…
…Where was I?
…What was I even doing then?
…Why not wait until I was there?
…Why not appear to me then?
…This can’t be real.
…They must be making this up!
And then…

Eight days later
You show up
And appear again
to me
calling my name
I’m missing out no more
Jesus has appeared to me

John 20:24-31

John 20:24-31

Jesus Appears to Thomas

24 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus[a]), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”

But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

The Purpose of John’s Gospel

30 Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe[b] that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Here, try this strange, new food!
You first
Take a drink of this weird-smelling concoction!
You first
Go into that dark, musty abandoned place
YOU FIRST!

It’s always a bit easier to be the second person somewhere
To see the steps of the person who has been there,
To hear their story of survival
To know they’ve been there and were able to return to tell you all about it.

Even in faith, the call to follow Jesus can seem daunting, frightening even.

Love God with all your heart.
You first.
Loe your neighbor has yourself.
You first.
Seek first the kingdom of God.
You first.
Love your enemies.
You first!
Take up your cross and follow me.
YOU FIRST!

The challenge is that even as we look at Jesus and say “You first,” to him
He never says that to us.

Hey Jesus, seek first the kingdom.
Done.
Hey, Jesus, love YOUR enemies
I already have (and still do).
Jesus, take up YOUR cross.
Been there, done that, and I’ve got the scars to prove it.

Jesus never asks us to go somewhere he’s never been.
He never asks us to do something he’s never done or is unwilling to do.
Including love.
Jesus says, “Love me.”
“You first!” we reply.
“You got it. You love because I first loved you.”

You first said to Jesus becomes I have.
Will you?

Breathe deeply in my presence
Experience the shalom I want for you
not the anxiousness
not the hurry
not the flurry of activity
Shalom, wholeness, peace
Stay with me and experience the shalom of my presence.

You – God
have given – as a gift, freely, unreservedly
yourself – Godself, all of You, Creator, Almighty, Immanent
to me – who am I? why me?

So undeserved
Far too often underappreciated
Sometimes, even rarely acknowledged

You have given yourself to me
Who am I that you are mindful of me?

What can I do to keep this?
Receive it
What can I do to lose it?
Turn away from it
Why?
Because I made you in my image, to be with me, and I love you

You have given yourself to me
And even though there are many challenges
Worldly pleasures and concerns
vying for my attention
desiring the place that only you should be
whispering to me “more”
want more
need more
achieve more
be more

Your love says “enough”
you are enough
grace is enough
Christ is enough

Show me your grace, Lord
Lavish on me your love, Lord
That is enough for me