Monday Morning Music Ministry

5-20-24

One of my daughters was very young when my father died. On hearing the news, she cried, “Oh, no! I never had the chance to tell him about Jesus!” Her beautiful naïveté illustrated a proper priority of love (and was misplaced, for he knew the Lord) yet her childlike expression taught me a lesson.

We always have the chance to share, or say, or do the important things. How often in life, however, do we take the chances?

My friend Christine Martin, a beautiful poet and writer and singer, has addressed this topic, and she is our Guest today:

Recently our pastor talked about having boldness to talk about God to others. He mentioned how easy it is for us to talk about the weather or politics or anything else, really, but how hard we make talking about God. It shouldn’t be that way. God literally saved our lives and we should be overflowing with gratitude, and want to share that with others.

I too struggle to talk about God sometimes. It can seem awkward or scary. We often talk ourselves out of it by thinking we might turn people away from God or say the wrong thing. This is the devil playing with our minds! When we talk about God, He gives us the right words to say. We do not need to worry about this. Our pastor encouraged us to pray about an opportunity to talk about God to someone; and he encouraged us to be bold.

I prayed for such an opportunity. Recently, locksmiths came to fix our doors, and were here for nearly three and a half hours. During this time I prayed that God would help me speak up about Him.

I had to make muffins for a get-together and although I didn’t need to make them in the morning, I decided to go ahead and make them so that I could offer some to the locksmiths. Maybe this could be a great way to talk about God…. All the while, I was praying that God would help me to be bold and say something about Him. Well, they left and I went to the window thinking maybe I could still go out and say something, but I saw that they were already in their van.

I said to myself, “Christine, you blew it.” Then I prayed, “God, please let them have forgotten a tool or something so they will come back and I can talk about You.” I glanced around the room to see if they maybe forgot a tool but I didn’t see anything. A split-second later, there was a knock on the front door. They were back!

God had answered my prayer and I was so excited and thankful and surprised at how quickly He answered and at how He answered. I opened the door and the locksmith was holding the key ring from my old house key. They had made me new keys and the old one didn’t work anymore and he asked if I wanted my old key ring. God gave me the courage to say, “Yes, thank you. By the way, if you like good food (since they loved the muffins) and music, our church is having a 5th Sunday potluck…” And that was the beginning of our Church conversation.

The man was interested and said that he and his mom were looking for a church. I was able to give him a card to our church with the address, and shared with him how welcoming they are and how they have really been a blessing to my husband Daniel and me. When he left with the card and I closed my door, I was so full of joy and thanked God for answering my prayer and giving me the boldness to open my mouth and talk about Him.

When we ask God for opportunities, He gives them to us, and when we ask God for the right words to say, He gives them to us. I have been discouraged as of late. You know, sometimes we get caught up in thinking that God isn’t hearing us or has forgotten about us. It just isn’t true. God hadn’t forgotten me and He was listening. He showed me that by answering my prayer in such a neat way. You will be amazed at the ways God works through you and in your life. Oh, what joy it is to serve a living God who is always at work!

I put my new house key on that old key ring, so that when I see it or hold it in my hand, I can remember that God answers our prayers, that He is still at work, that He has not forgotten me; and that He will give me boldness to talk about Him. What a great reminder. Who would ever have guessed?

God works in mysterious ways and He can use something as simple as a key ring to remind us of so much, to encourage us, and to open that door… to plant a seed in someone’s heart.

Thank you, Christine. I have another friend, Gordon Pennington, who is so gifted (and so prolific in exercising) the sharing of Jesus with strangers, that I have encouraged him to write a book – a “user’s manual” for witnessing to people. A “How-To” book can be useful, but as Christine has shown us, we always have opportunities… and God will set the stage and write the script for us!

(By the way, you may be encouraged, and follow Christine’s thoughts, through her website Tea Cups and Roses)

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Click: A Beautiful Bystander

7-10-23

My good friend Gordon Pennington, a remarkable and accomplished man, has moved on in his life from several successful careers — not abandoned but “graduated” — and today is a motivational speaker, conference guest, lecturer, organizer… and evangelist. In his latter role he is not connected to a ministry, nor associated with a movement – other than the movement to witness to people who have not yet accepted Christ. He is a recruit, a volunteer, and a worker in the pursuit Jesus would have us all to fulfill, the “Great Commission.” Winning souls.

Gordon has a remarkable gift for engaging people on sidewalks or waiting rooms or over coffee; comfortably making friendships; discussing their “situations”; and sharing the Gospel. Uncountable people have accepted Jesus – and most importantly have changed their lives and “stuck” with their Christian walk – because he exercises that gift. He does as all believers should do, in our own ways of course. The opportunities are always there.

How many of us respond to that prompting of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, to act on the command of the Great Commission? How many readers are yourselves in a good place because someone shared the Good News with you? How often do you feel that spiritual revolution in your soul that is as “new” today as when you first experienced it?

Have you had a “religious experience”? Experiential events are important in life, and often are vital parts of emotional, even intellectual, breakthroughs; but they also can be seductive. They can prove temporary. Life changes need to put down roots in our minds, hearts, and souls; not be mere refreshing breezes.

A challenge is the oft-stated and dispositive distinction drawn between Religion and Relationship. Christian denominations – and there are hundreds – can be caught up in divisions and disagreements, interpretations and inclusions (and exclusions!), rituals and rules. On the other hand, true Christianity (or “Mere Christianity” as the reliably brilliant C S Lewis defined it) is no more and no less than a relationship with Jesus.

That relationship – friendship, intimacy, trust – is all that is asked. A question posed not only by C S Lewis, but by Jesus Himself. No frills, no conditions, no membership requirements or quizzes! Belief that He is the Son of God, that He rose from the dead, that He loves you ineffably, beyond our ability to understand… but not beyond our ability to accept. And to embrace.

There are skeptics, or examples we know, of people whose faith wavered. Folks who have had bad experiences with religion (there’s that word again). Cynics because of religious experiences proven hollow, or religious people proven flawed. And there are hypocrites aplenty in, probably, every church we can visit.

But there’s always room for one more.

On the other hand, it is refreshing to discover new-born Christians (oh, yes: “Born-again Christians”) whose conversions and new lives, while genuine, did not change every single aspect of their old selves. It does frighten some converts – “Do I have to start wearing bow ties, mow a suburban lawn, and go to Sunday School picnics once a week?” Converts like Alice Cooper, Bob Dylan, Chuck Norris, and Robert Duvall looked the same and remained in their professions, even while the great Interior Decorator worked on the inside aspects of their lives.

Let us remember that Jesus “hung around” with some unsavory types — the people He most needed to reach. And remember that St Paul was determined to “be all things to all people” in order to interact with those who would not otherwise be in a place to hear the Gospel.

If you, or someone you know, has been curious to know Christ; or tempted to yield to cynicism about following Him – I invite you to think a little harder about the question, Have you had a religious experience?

And then I would remind you that Jesus Himself had a religious experience:

It was religious people who rejected, accused, tortured, condemned, and killed Him.

Keep in your mind the wide difference between joining a religion and becoming a follower of Jesus. Respect tradition, but always be open to questioning traditions and rules and social pressures that are empty or misleading.

We are well reminded to render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s. But never forget to yield to God the things that are God’s… and that includes your very soul.

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An example of a Christian’s change of heart being sui generis – important unto itself, not relying on arbitrary sets of external rules, or other peoples’ opinions – is the German punk queen Nina Hagen. After a life of drugs, rebellion, artistic experimentation, political extremes, and wild performance art… she met Jesus. She was baptized. She reads the Bible to audiences while on stage. Little changed in her outward self; she is however evidently much changed inside, where – after all – her Savior lives. Here is a clip from her Personal Jesus tour, singing an American Southern Gospel song.

NiNA HAGEN – This World Is Not My Home – Personal Jesus Tour, PARiS