It's been a few weeks since y'all have heard from me. We were in Marguaritaville, sunny Key West to see our son and his wife and then a week to "re-enter" the real world followed. What a beautiful escape! Key West is the home of Earnest Hemingway, and Jimmy Buffett, and every kind of Marguarita imaginable.
I confess I did not read the Bible on vacation. We even skipped church. I did pray for people as God popped them into my mind. But the disciplines I practiced were to relax by catching up with our kids, snorkeling, eating, a good book and plenty of beach time.
Coincidentally, our daughter-in-law, the photographer for the Key West Magazine, was doing a feature story shoot on "Keeping Faith in a Hedonistic Town," or something like that. It required that she interview and photograph the pastors in Key West about the faith of their Key West flocks, and attend a few worship services. Now she and our son don't attend church. However, on our Sunday there, she spent 2 1/2 hours at an AME worship service, and when we caught up with her afterwards she said it was cool, the energy and the Spirit. All of a sudden I really missed my church family. I was ready to come home. Interestingly, I also realized I missed the daily discipline of reading the lectionary with you all (yeah, I'm a Bible geek). And then, on Monday the 16th waiting in the airport for our fight home, we saw the news unfolding of the Virginian Tech shootings. Like the psalmist says, "clouds of thick darkness were all around me," as I was reminded we live in a world of evil and brokenness, not a tropical paradise.
How soon I had become disconnected from the world's pain and tragedy - it's heartbeat, and drifted from the heart of God. All I had to think about was shopping for souvenirs and what restaurant we'll eat in. I returned a bit restless. My flesh was relaxed but my Spirit was still hungry, my heart kind of dull. When you don't read the Word, that can happen to you. When you isolate yourself form the world's evil and tragedy, hedonism is contagious. That has upset me this week.
When we lose perspective on God's ways, God's purposes, and God's truth, we lose ourselves. How tempting it is to seek an escape from the very hard work of showing compassion and of taking a stand against injustice and evil, to pursue our own pleasures and protect our own positions of power. We are faced every day with choices as the dark clouds enter our neighborhoods, our businesses, our schools, and we can choose to follow Jesus' heart for peace and mission to the poor and grieving and exploited, or we can follow our own.
Daniel shook in his boots having to tell the King the truth about his dream: that the King was going to fall from his place of power and have to live with the wild animals, because of his hedonism. He challenged the king: 27Therefore, O king, may my counsel be acceptable to you: atone for your sins with righteousness, and your iniquities with mercy to the oppressed, so that your prosperity may be prolonged." Tough words to muster to your boss, huh?
John's words remind me that we DO know right from wrong - our hearts condemn us, but obedience to the truth is the problem: to obey God and love each other. How easy we can be led astray by "other spirits" that make false promises, keep us politically correct, that satisfy our flesh, and tell us we can play it safe, cut us off from others' needs.
Jesus did anything but that. He brought the spirit of truth not the spirit of error. He lived and stayed among the poorest, getting away for a time to be with God, not escape. He came for the poor and the exploited, bringing freedom not slavery. And like all the prophets before him, he was run out of town for preaching righteousness and justice and love. (Luke)
I loved my vacation. We all need to take breaks and I will take many more to places of beauty and paradise. But I will take the Word with me, and seek God in all places, so as not to waste away in Marguaritaville.
9For you, O LORD, are most high over all the earth;
you are exalted far above all gods.
10The LORD loves those who hate evil;
he guards the lives of his faithful;
he rescues them from the hand of the wicked.
11Light dawns for the righteous,
and joy for the upright in heart.
12Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous,
and give thanks to his holy name! (Psalm 97:9-12)
2 comments:
It's easy to lose track of God even in the everydayness of life while at home. The cares and distractions of life crowd out God-time, at least for me, and then I run on empty. I can run for awhile, but eventually the fumes aren't enough and I get lukewarm and lose sight of what is really important to God--time with him, prayer for others, seeing their needs, as opposed to just my own.
Your thoughts are well taken.
Yes indeed. After a long soak in the lectionary this week, and prayer, I feel so refreshed. I'm seeing God now in the vacation moments and His hand in my encounters in Key West. God can help us remember him when we missed him the first time. The Spirit lives in us and doesn't miss a thing the Father is up to. As a gift, God gives us memory and grace in it all.
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