Faith at Work in a Hospital Room

As I stood in the hospital room with the family, around the body of one who had just taken their last breath on this earth, a nurse entered the room.

The wife of the deceased said, this precious nurse sang my beloved to sleep last evening when he was so agitated; she has a lovely voice.

The nurse embraced the wife. She leaned her forehead forward until their heads touched, and she began to sing:
   When peace like river attendeth my ways
   When sorrow like sea billows roll
   Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say
   It is well, it is well with my soul

   It is well, with my soul
   It is well, it is well, with my soul

The room was silent for a moment.

The widow had a couple of brief questions that the nurse answered tenderly with assurance. Then she left the room; there was other work to do.

I left that room thankful for the followers of Jesus who out of their discipleship have started so many excellent centers of healing and compassion. I was thankful that some of those centers have retained their mission and vision to address the whole person; body, mind, spirit. I am thankful for a nurse whose own walk with Christ is not constrained by a false bifurcation of work and faith, nor was her spiritaulity so sentimantilized to make it distracting - she was on point.

This experience leads me to pray for businesses and institutions; that their mission and policies would reflect values of human flourishing, and reject the silos of task, faith, work, home, etc. I am also led to pray for followers of Jesus, that faith would be integrated in every arena of life - as Abraham Kuyper once said, “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, Mine!" 

In that moment, in that room - the nurse was like Jesus, comforting the sorrow in Mary and Martha. And His comfort is Good.

May your business, your enterprise, your vocation be one in which the goodness of God and purpose of humanity is cultivated and celebrated.

Pursuing Impact or Pursuing God?

Phil Vischer the creator of Veggie Tales has a new project out called What's In the Bible.  World Magazine has a good interview with Vischer that would be well worth the read.  
Here are a couple of quotes. 

• "We're drinking a cocktail that's a mix of the Protestant work ethic, the American dream, and the gospel.  And we've intertwined them so completely that we can't tell them apart anymore."

• "I realized I'm not supposed to be pursing impact, I'm supposed to be pursuing God.  And when I pursue God I will have exactly as much impact as He wants me to have."

• "We have this American industrial thing where we want to build the McDonalds and Coca-Colas of evangelism and come up with formulas and systems that are guaranteed to work and it can be highly effective, but I don't know that it's highly Christian."

Kinds of Monks (Pastors, Christians, Leaders, etc)

I've started reading The Rule of St. Benedict (a required text for a class on Spiritual Formation). 
The opening chapter describes 4 different kinds of monks.  The description can extend beyond monks, and be applied in many venues. 

1) Cenobites - those who belong to a monestary and serve under the rule of an Abbott
2) Anchorites or Hermits - they have come through the testing, they have passed beyond the first fervor.  Thanks to the help and guidance of many, they are now trained to fight against the devil, . . . they are ready with God's help to grapple single-handed with the vices of body and mind.
3) Sarabaites - they have no experience to guide them, no rule to try them, their character is soft as lead.  They are loyal to the world and pen themselves up in their own sheepfold, not the Lord's.  Their law is what they like to do, whatever strikes their fancy.  Anything they believe in and choose, they call holy; anything they dislike, they consider forbidden.  (Benedict calls them "the most detestable kind of monks.")
4) Gyrovagues - they spend their entire lives drifting from region to region, always on the move, never settling down.  They are slaves to their own wills and gross appetites.  They are worse than the sarabaites.

Francis Chan

Had a meeting today with other pastors and we watched a video by Francis Chan. 
I took notes on a napkin and found the following provocative:

• we've got this church culture thing going, but it's not what scripture describes
• people want to save their own lives and hold onto scripture at the same time; it can't be done
• why would we experience the comforter (Holy Spirit) when we're comfortable?

Persevering

We are born into a time not of our choosing, given a task not always to our liking, and we will find God there or not at all, for God is nowhere else.

(The Little White Book.  Wednesday, Fifth Week of Easter.  The Diocese of Saginaw)