Today I am preparing my heart for what passes as Sabbath these days. That will be tomorrow; So today I am making a list of thoughts I will be meditating on as I pass through my times of prayer on the morrow.
SABBATH THOUGHTS ON HOPE
inspiration
PREPARING OUR HOMES PT. 2
As 2024 began The Lord gave Cornerstone Church a directive we are calling the congregational sentence. It reads: “Prepare! Prepare! Prepare! Prepare you Spirit (come out of the decay of your strongholds). Prepare your Souls(Prepare to practice and feel compassion). Prepare your facility (your structures, infrastructures and plans). Prepare for the storm (Pray for action plan, Pray for a spirit of perseverance). Prepare your witness (know your gifts, earn the right to speak, build your relationships with those outside the church, build your example). Prepare your hope and faith (think hope, speak hope, act in hope). Prepare your love (love each other, love the people in your towns, love those who disagree with you, love through the doors that open).“
Over the course of the next several weeks these seven “prepare statements” will be broken down into 21 weekly devotionals. This is devotional number 8 in our series. It is entitled,
Prepare your infrastructures (your structures, infrastructures and plans)
There is a certain sense, when we talk about preparing our structures that we understand we are talking about very practical activities. We understand it means to clean our bathrooms before company arrives. It means to stock up on some extra groceries in expectation of guests. We can even understand the very practical nature of preparing our hearts to be more intentionally welcoming when guests arrive at our church door(make sure you introduce yourself to the new people). But what does to mean to prepare our infrastructures? What even is an infrastructure?
Infrastructure-the basic physical and organizational structures and facilities of a community.
In community/ church life there are three kinds of Infrastructures we are concerned with preparing:
1. SOFT INFRASTRUCTURE- THESE ARE OUR FINANCIAL SYSTEMS. IN PREPARING THESE WE ARE STRENGTHENING THE CONGREGANTS HEART OF GENEROSITY AND THE LEADERSHIP SYSTEMS CONCERNING STEWARDSHIP OR GIFT MANAGEMENT. AS WE PREPARE WE CONFRONT THE STRONGHOLDS OF POVERTY, SELF-CENTEREDNESS AND ENTITLEMENT.
2. HARD INFRASTRUCTURE-
THESE INCLUDE OUR CHURCHES FACILITIES, ACCESS AND COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS.
HOW EASY IS IT FOR OUR PEOPLE TO GET INTO AND OUT OF THE CHURCH BUILDING? HOW EASY IS IT FOR NEW PEOPLE TO FIND THEIR WAY AROUND THE BUILDING?
WHAT IF A PERSON CANNOT DRIVE OR HAS NO CAR? CAN THEY COME TO CHURCH ON SUNDAY? CAN THEY COME TO YOUR DLT GROUP? HOW?
HOW DO WE COMMUNICATE IMPORTANT NEWS IN OUR CONGREGATION? IS OUR METHOD EFFECTIVE?
3. CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE- THESE WE WILL DEFINE AS OUR EMERGENCY PROCEDURES. HOW DO WE FUNCTION IN AN INTERNAL EMERGENCY? HOW DO WE RESPOND TO AN EMERGENCY A COMMUNITY WIDE EMERGENCY?
WHAT ARE OUR SECURITY PROTOCOLS?
SHOULD OUR COMMUNITY EXPERIENCE SOME SORT OF DISASTER ARE WE PREPARED TO INTENTIONALLY HELP? HOW?
IN LIGHT OF THESE QUESTIONS WHAT QUESTIONS COME UP IN YOUR HEART? WHAT ARE YOU PRAYING FOR TODAY CONCERNING OUR INFRASTRUCTURES?
FOUR THINGS
As I have been in my place of contemplation during the days of my Mom’s hospice care, I have come to realize that as a minister I am focused on four things.
The first focus of this part of my work is prayer. By prayer I mean five to six hours a day of deep abiding prayer. It has become my call and when I miss one of my prayer sessions I feel it.
The second focus of this work is the study of the Word of God, the Bible, and teaching it.
The third focus of this part of my ministry, is congregational visitation. One of the directives I feel God has set for me is to sit with every congregational member in an order for the purpose of encouraging and giving spiritual direction. This is not hospital visitation or counseling it is not crisis intervention. I feel I will be writing more about my ideas concerning crisis visiting in the future. In fact I am making a note of it right now. Suffice it to say, that crisis visits are a part of my work but not a focus of it. My focus is just visiting and being in the lives of the church body. Being a rather severe introvert I am surprised by how much I am enjoying this focus of the ministry.
The final focus of my work just now is leadership development. My desire is to see a second tier of leaders raised up in Cornerstone to replace those aging out of leadership (including myself) and to fill the slots of growing outreach in the community.
As my coach says, “What you say ‘Yes’ to automatically makes you say ‘No’ to other things.” So this is what I need to say yes to. It is what I have been saying yes to during the last three years and as I launch into the deep beyond THIS NEW THRESHOLD, I feel like I will be saying yes to these four things in an ever increasing measure.
WHAT IS YOUR BURNING YES?
SHARE YOUR WORLD FROM MARCH 11TH
This week I am participating in SHARE YOUR WORLD as my blog community connection post. The questions and my answers for this week are below. When you have finished reading my answers feel free to go on over to Pensitivity’s blog and read her other subscribers.
THIS WEEK’S QUESTIONS:
1. What was your favourite pastime as a child? Pretending I was a superhero
2. Did you use colouring pencils, fibre tips, or wax crayons for your childhood drawings? I used crayons when I did draw or color, which was an infrequent occurrence. I was too busy pretending to be a superhero.
3. Did you use a paintbox or have a ‘magic’ book where you only needed to brush the page with water? I do remember these fantastic little inventions with my kids. I didn’t have one but I do remember having an etch-a-sketch.
4. What kind of books did you read as a child? I loved comic books! My Favorite was the Justice League and the Avengers.
When I was a bit older I would play hockey from school and stay home to read fantasy novels. I did that with the whole Lord of The Rings series and The Chronicles of the Unbeliever
MY GRATITUDE FOR THIS WEEK:
I am so grateful that my kids gave me and Brenda a day off from hospice duty yesterday to go furniture shopping and to see Dune II.
THIS NEW THRESHOLD
One of the things I do to “sharpen the teeth” of my leadership saw, is a monthly coaching session designed to help me talk through issues I am concerned about. In these sessions I do almost all the talking. The coach is my “thinking partner”. He helps me by asking questions regarding my take on the subject matter I am discussing.
These last two months the coach has asked few questions during our sessions. I have come ready to talk…a lot…. about…thresholds.
I realize that with the imminence of my mother’s passing, I am at one of life’s thresholds, one of those places where life changes from one thing into another.
From past experience I know threshold experiences can be jarring, even emotionally violent. Going back I can think of four or five threshold experiences: My Conversion
My marriage
My Father’s death, My divorce
Covid…
and now…this.
In the past I was mostly unaware that I was standing at a threshold. I was certainly unaware that with a little forethought I could have turned change into a self directed chance for the life God wanted for me and deeper fulfillment. I just kind of walked through the doors and let life play out in all its glorious confusion.
Don’t get me wrong with most of my thresholds I have ended up mostly where God wanted me to be. I am living the life He desires for me now. I think some of my thresholds were unnecessarily painful… maybe even entirely unnecessary. The past is past and the only thing it is good for is as a lesson. With this threshold I feel like I am Nemo at the edge of the reef getting ready to launch out into open ocean. There are many things I know this time that I have not known before. One of the those things is that as I near this threshold I need to be more intentional than ever before about how I intend to walk on the other side of the door.
WHAT ARE SOME LESSONS YOU HAVE LEARNED FROM YOUR THRESHOLD EXPERIENCES?
QUIET DAYS OF PLANNING
Mom slept for twenty eight hours, waking only once for the bathroom and a bowl of ice cream, all of which she did with her eyes closed and a great deal of protesting. Even washing her face with her PCA was difficult.
Last night at family prayer we discussed our next steps, what the future might look like. We always have two of us “on shift” now at the house as Mom’s health fails further. We reviewed the hospice protocols with everyone and talked through what Mom’s funeral will look like according to her pre-planning.
Today, Mom woke up at about 8:30 and has been a bit more more wakeful. She has eaten a few bowls of ice cream and an egg with most of a piece of toast. She is also drinking again. The PCA says that the back and forth is to be expected at this stage of the hospice journey. But it does seem with each occurrence she slips a little further away from us. Even her “wakefulness” is different from what it was a week ago.
Amanda and I are on shift today. I have been sitting quietly with Mom as she naps and have begun going through old pictures.
The time is drawing closer, I think when we will need to be putting these pictures together on memory boards.
It is a bitter sweet time as I rehearse memories, retelling myself and the kids the old stories of our family in this place we call the Vicarage. It is a sad time. It is a sweet time. It is violent with inevitability and quiet with a rhythm that feels so deep…so poignant. I sense this quiet planning time is some of the most consequential time I will ever spend.
MY SABBATH THOUGHTS THIS WEEK
HERE ARE THE THOUGHTS I WILL BE MEDITATING ON THIS WEEK DURING MY SABBATH
Preparing our Homes Pt. 1
Our congregation spent a month in prayer to come up with what we are calling the congregational sentence. It reads…
“Prepare! Prepare! Prepare! Prepare you Spirit (come out of the decay of your strongholds). Prepare your Souls(Prepare to practice and feel compassion). Prepare your facility (your structures, infrastructures and plans). Prepare for the storm (Pray for action plan, Pray for a spirit of perseverance). Prepare your witness (know your gifts, earn the right to speak, build your relationships with those outside the church, build your example). Prepare your hope and faith (think hope, speak hope, act in hope). Prepare your love (love each other, love the people in your towns, love those who disagree with you, love through the doors that open).“
During these next weeks these seven prepare statements will be broken down into twenty-one brief devotionals the congregation is praying into.
Today we begin talking about Preparing our facility ( structures, infrastructures and plans)
WHAT ARE WE PREPARING FOR?
This next step of preparation seems to be intensely practical and external. We are being asked by God to prepare our facility…our building(s). We are seeking to prepare our hearts, to make internal changes that will help us to be spiritually and emotionally ready for what is to come. This preparation is different. We are being asked to prepare our church building and our personal homes. For what?
- FOR GREATER USE- I don’t know all of what we will be approached for, but I do believe our community is going to need our building for public uses. We need to make sure our building is ready for increased usage
- FOR HOSPITALITY- This goes for both our homes and for our church building. The Scripture over and over calls us to show kindness and hospitality toward fellow believers and to strangers. We must prepare to have open doors.
- FOR SACRED DUTY- I guess this goes back to more of a mental and spiritual preparation, but we must never forget what God has given us a building and homes for. We have what we have so that we may share the good news, the story of Jesus Christ. We must always look for the God connection as we prepare our facility for use, hospitality and sacred duty.
- What does God really want to use our building and our homes for?
The Watches Of the Night
Praise the Lord, all you servants of the Lord
who minister by night in the house of the Lord.
2Lift up your hands in the sanctuary
and praise the Lord.
3May the Lord bless you from Zion,
he who is the Maker of heaven and earth. Psalm 134
Mom’s health is now at a place where someone is with her in her room or the next room 24/7. As I write, Brenda and I are working remotely with our ministries from the table just outside Mom’s room while she watches Jessica Fletcher from her hospital bed. She has just had her morning meds and is slowly falling back to sleep, which she does a lot these days.
I generally have the night watch. I sleep really well in the recliner at the foot of Mom’s bed (an ability no one else in my family shares).
Mom is usually up at least one time in the night if not twice. This has radically changed my sleep schedule and that has blessed me greatly. One of the things I have always wanted to implement in my prayer life was the Benedictine rhythm of prayer: Matins, Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers and Compline.
I have managed to implement the sessions but not in their proper time slots…that is… not until this season of life.
Mom’s nighttime schedule has made it very easy to get up and pray for Matins and Lauds. I have to say, spreading out the hours of prayer into more evenly spaced sessions has made the prayer-life balance so much richer. Life flows out of prayer, then life flows back into prayer. One of my hopes is that I will be able to establish this rhythm permanently and naturally into my life.
GETTING READY…WITH PEACE
Today is my sabbath. I will be spending some time thinking about the subject of inner peace. Here are some of the meditational thoughts I will be dwelling on.
Notes From the Vicarage 