Going Home

Trekkie Alert!

In the series premier of Star Trek Voyager, the Voyager ship and crew find themselves in foreign space, needing 70 years in space travel to get home.  They're so far away that they don't even have voice or data communication with earth. 

For most of the Voyager episodes, life goes on.  The crew meets alien beings and encounters unique situations, just like in other Star Trek shows.  

But the Voyager crew is always aware they're in foreign space, and "finding a way home" is continually on their minds.

Voyager Arrives Home

Then, in the surprising series finale, the crew manages to get home, after only 7 years!  

Every time I watch this episode, I have a sense of joy when Voyager emerges into home space, amidst a fleet of waiting starships.   



As I watched the finale recently, I thought, "Why is this so good?"

I was reminded of my time in the military and how I felt about coming home for Christmas. 

But I think it's bigger than that.  The whole premise of Voyager is that they're working and living in foreign space, learning and growing...but their aim is to get home.

And...I thought about the Christian life. 

But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.  Philippians 3:20

A wise man once told me to "Embrace the journey."  That's not always easy, especially when bad things happen - money issues, relationship problems, health concerns, spiritual struggles, and death.

But what makes it a "journey" is that the "journey" isn't the final destination.  The journey brings experience, maturity, faith.  And then...sooner or later...it ends.

I confess that I often live like the journey, success in this life, is the main thing.   

At the Naval Academy, we always knew the exact number of days until Christmas break.  And once we turned in our last final exam, the semester was over.  Freedom!

Today, I'm just like God's people in the Old Testament - who lived in a foreign country, waiting for freedom, waiting to go home.

My prayer for this New Year is to "embrace the journey" and always remember the destination, that the journey will take me to someplace better, home.  Heaven is a promise and a hope that's sure.

Amen, come Lord Jesus. 

Why Do You Go To Church?

On the Christmas episode of The Middle, Axl Heck asks his mom, Frankie, why she goes to church.  

 
Frankie's first response is:

• You're supposed to go.
• To see my friends.
• I get to dress-up and sing.
• For the donuts.

Of course, Frankie gives a better response at the end of the show, and while waiting for her final answer, I considered the question.

I've often heard Christians give these reasons for attending church: "I want to be motivated and encouraged to do better this week, to be a better person" or "It's interesting.  I always learn something."

In the show, Frankie's final answer is that she wants to be part of something bigger and better than her ordinary and sometimes cruddy life, and that church makes her feel better.

While all of the above may be "true" answers for why people go to church, I would answer in a different way, and these verses come to mind:

Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good!  Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! Psalm 34:8 

Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it. Psalm 81:10b

I go to church with my fellow Christians to receive the Lord's gifts and to take refuge in Him.  God's in the business of giving.

• When we confess our sins together, I hear and receive God's forgiveness and peace, from the mouth of my pastor.
• When we proclaim our faith together, I experience the Communion of Saints.
• When we pray together, I have hope and certainty that He will answer.
• When we hear His Word read and then preached, I receive His grace.
• When we partake of communion, Christ's body and blood, I again receive His forgiveness and peace. 

Although songs, praise, worship, offerings are all a part of our church service, the truth is...He doesn't need my gifts. 

But I need His. 

And as an added gift, He's given me His church.  When we Christians "assemble together" we receive His gifts, and we're an encouragement and witness to each other, just by being there. 

A New Identity

Parents Weekend - Aug 1980

Just a few days after I turned 18, I entered the United States Naval Academy with the class of 1984.  And my life changed forever...

At the Academy, an incoming midshipman is a plebe, whose training is overseen by the upperclass midshipmen.  This begins in July and continues to mid-May.


And a plebe is the "lowest form of life" in Bancroft Hall - the dorm that houses over 4000 midshipmen.

Plebes aren't allowed to talk or loiter in the hallways of Bancroft.  When they have somewhere to go, plebes run down the center of the hall, saying "Beat Army, Sir" or "Go Navy, Sir" at every corner.  And, that's the easy part.

During the six weeks of plebe summer, my identity changed. 

The girl from Kentucky, who got straights A's and watched Kentucky basketball, who liked softball, track, cheerleading, knitting, and writing poetry - that person was no more.  

At first, life as a plebe was about surviving and staying out of trouble.  

But as plebe year continued, and even later...as a midshipman, as a Marine Officer, and as a wife, mother, friend...life became about serving, doing what needed to be done, not looking for praise - even avoiding the spotlight.

And that's the way of any type of "basic training."  A person gets broken down, shown his own weaknesses...and then is given a new identity and a new way of life.

From Reading Romans with Luther by RJ Grunewald:

The chief purpose of this letter [Romans] is to break down, to pluck up, and to destroy all wisdom and righteousness of the flesh. 

From the same book, and quoting Luther:

Christ wants our whole disposition to be so stripped down that we are...unafraid of being embarrassed for our faults and also do not delight in the glory and vain joys of our virtues. 

Reading that, I immediately thought of plebe year, and I realized that Romans is the basic training, "boot camp" letter of the Bible.

Romans shows us our own sin and our own need, and inability to keep God's law.  His law breaks us down.

...as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. Romans 3:10-11

Even when I read God's law, I can't "will" myself to not sin, and to obey, from my heart.  It's too much, and it's a foreign place to be.

But God makes it His work. 

We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. Romans 6:4

He forgives, shows me His grace, clothes me with Christ's righteousness, and gives me a new heart.

And after showing me my need, giving me a new identity, Romans further shows me how to live and serve others (Romans chapter 13 and 14) with the example of Christ (Romans 15).

To Paul and to Luther, this wasn't dry theology or a self-help manual.  This was life, experienced, thru knowing sin, guilt, and hopelessness...to knowing grace.  A new identity, lived in Christ.

Disobedient Children

My son Al just finished reading Romeo and Juliet, and one of our discussion topics was "The Penalty for Disobeying Parents."  

Our literature program had this to say:

The law of God is very clear about children who are incorrigible delinquents.  The penalty is death (Deuteronomy 21:18-21)...The Puritans in New England had a law that required the execution of disobedient children.  However, the law was never used, because there was no recording of a child being disobedient.  Thus, the law with its capital punishment ensured obedience.*

Those last sentences make a bold statement.  They claim that the Puritan children didn't sin, never disobeyed their parents, because of the law.  

Who knew?  The remedy for sin, that really works, is the death penalty.

But I don't believe those Puritan children never disobeyed their parents.  And it starts in Genesis...

And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”  Genesis 2:16-17   

And what happened?  Adam and Eve sinned...and death came to man.

We live in a fallen, sinful world.  And man is always looking for an answer.  Some people believe that by enacting certain laws and enforcing punishment, we can fix the world.  But the law can't and doesn't...

...For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.                                 2 Corinthians 3:6

and

...if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. Galatians 2:21 

The truth is, we're all deserving of death.  Not only do we sin, but we're not even capable of keeping the law.  We're all disobedient children.

Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?  Romans 7:24

That's why the good news of Jesus is Good News.  

Because God did and does the same thing that those Puritan parents did for their children - He shows mercy and love to His children, giving them righteousness that they didn't earn.  

He accepts the work of Christ on our behalf, on my behalf, and gives life.

The hope for this world is not perfect laws, perfect rulers, perfect government, perfect parents, perfect children.  That's not even possible.

The hope for the world is Jesus.  Jesus for me, for my sins.

 
*Smarr Publishers Survey of British Literature, Romeo and Juliet - Lesson 5, by Robert Watson 
 

Go Ahead - Drop Your Pack

After I was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the Marine Corps, I attended a 6-month course at Quantico, Virginia, known as TBS or The Basic School.

My TBS company staff, when planning our training schedule, anticipated lots of weather cancellations.  And we actually finished all our graded events well ahead of our graduation date.

After our last graded event, many of my fellow lieutenants were now saying that we could "drop our packs."  "Dropping your pack" was said somewhat in relief as "I made it" but was also a reality.  

Professional behavior and performance standards slacked-off during our "dropping your pack" days.

I didn't like it, and I just didn't get it, thinking it was never okay to drop your pack.

Until...

I was sitting in a Bible class recently, and Pastor showed the visual, By God's Grace, a picture of a person leaving a bundle at the cross.  He said that the cross was a "Baggage Drop-off."  

And I immediately remembered "dropping your pack."   

As sinful people, living in a sinful world, we carry around a lot of heavy "junk."  

We know that our hearts aren't right.

We have guilt from our own sin and our own inadequacies.  

We struggle to do good works, in an effort to prove to others and to ourselves that we matter.

We feel shamed and hurt from being sinned against.

We mess up our relationships.  

And on and on... 

It tears us down, it wears us out, trying to deal with it, make sense of it, make it lighter.  

And we resist "letting it go" preferring to wallow in blame, guilt, and self-justification.  

But Jesus...

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:4-6 

Living among us, Jesus was humble, vulnerable, and exposed.  He took our shame, guilt, and junk to the cross.  

And at the cross, He said, "It is finished."

So go ahead, drop your pack...stop worrying about trying to be perfect, to figure it all out.  It's been taken care of, and now...

Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.  1 Peter 2:16

A Christmas Bivouac

One December, when I was in the Marine Corps, my Battalion Executive Officer told me that I was in charge of our battalion's Christmas decorations for the base's decorating contest.* 

And I was mad.  All my Marines were too busy to help, the contest was in a few days, and I was five months pregnant.  

But what really made me mad was this comment - "Don't embarrass the Colonel" meaning my battalion commander.  That implied that winning wasn't a concern.

After stewing a bit, I redirected my anger and told my company clerk, "Call the other companies for help.  And get the command vehicle - we're going to scout out the other battalions' decorations.  We're going to win."

We decided to decorate our front lawn with a Christmas bivouac (pronounced biv-wack) - a Marine campsite.  We'd set up a few shelter halves, some lights, tinsel, a Christmas tree...

But word got around our battalion, and...

• A marine used sandbags to build a fireplace.
• Another marine "borrowed" concertina wire - (front above.)
• All sorts of trinkets and uniform items were donated as decorations.

• Two marines built a porta-potty, with an old toilet seat...and talked a civilian contractor into painting it.

I watched in amazement as the bivouac site took shape.  Our Marines had gotten the Christmas Spirit, and were enjoying working together and adding their personal touches. 

 

Although I was given credit for what happened, it wasn't really my doing.  Marines are always looking for amusement from the sameness of everyday life.  


And then again, I have to think, there's something about Christmas that touches the heart and brings joy, comfort, and hope.  The baby in the manger, Jesus, God incarnate...He may not be front and center in today's Christmas decorations and plans.  But deep inside of us, there's a longing and a knowledge and a hope, that just maybe, that baby is the savior of the world.


*The contest was sponsored by the base's recreation/morale department.  We won $125 for a battalion picnic. 

Writing Prayers

Four weeks ago, I finished The Devotional Challenge Book, by Pastor Bryan Wolfmueller.  The Devotional Challenge is a 16-week workbook that guides a Christian into the daily habit of hearing and praying God's Word.  

Although I've finished the workbook, the challenge continues.  I now use the book's teachings to shape my devotions. For each day, I've printed Bible readings (a chapter and a Psalm) and questions that help me pray for myself and others. 

Part of my devotional time is also spent writing a five-line prayer, based on the day's readings and my own struggles.  Week 15 of the workbook gives a "how to" on this.   

I initially thought that writing a daily prayer would be work and take too much effort.  But, I gave it a shot, and I've written a daily prayer ever since. 

The surprising part of putting my prayers to paper is...no matter that day's readings, or my struggles...I'm always confessing my sins, looking to my Lord for provision, rejoicing in Him, and praying to love and serve others.

Here's a few of my prayers with the readings for that day: 

Lord Jesus - my high priest,
You have been made perfect forever and live to intercede for me.
Help me to take all my sins to You and all my struggles,
Knowing in confidence that You answer and give me your peace,
As You are seated at the right hand of the Father and have sent the Holy Spirit to live with me.
From Hebrews 7 and Psalm 35  

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My savior, my Jesus,
You bore my burdens out of love for me.
Help me to love others and bear their burdens and not grow weary.
And as I walk by "this rule" to know your peace and mercy.
As You sit at the right hand of God the Father and are both one with the Holy Spirit.
From Galatians 6 and Psalm 45 

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Lord God, my Father,
You surround the one who trusts in You with steadfast love.
I confess that I am often like a horse or mule - needing a bit and bridle to stay near You.
I pray for You to forgive the iniquity of my sins.
In the name of Jesus who died for me and in the power of the Holy Spirit.
From Titus 1 and Psalm 32 

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For anyone who may be hesitant and think, "I'm not ready for this" - Pastor Wolfmueller dedicated the workbook "For the Catechumens of Hope Lutheran Church."  If it's doable for children and teens, it's doable for you.

And daily engaging with God's Word and writing notes and prayers, right beside the chapters and Psalms...it's good, it's worth it, I look forward to it every day.

Thank-you Pastor Wolfmueller.