I am doing a series on the Biblical Holidays for my Wednesday night Bible study. This week will be looking at the Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashannah). In preparation I was standing in the hall blowing the shofar. Someone ran out of the office and asked, “What is that noise?”

Have to admit the question and response of the individual was very relevant. When the last trumpet sounds what will you be doing? Will you rush outside and look up with anticipation? Or will you run to ask: what is all the racket?(Let’s be honest that time is much closer than we like to think. We are given just so much time before the shofar blows).

The desert father Anthony shouted out, “Pay attention to what I tell you: whoever you may be, always have God before your eyes; whatever you do, do it according to the testimony of the holy Scriptures; in whatever place you live, do not easily leave it.”

Dear God let us be a people who watch, who serve, who praise without distraction, who listen for your coming and stay put doing Your work without the inclination to run. Let the trumpets blow here we are your people, your servants, we are on the path!. Amen!

via WordPress http://halak.org/2015/05/13/what-is-that-noise/

This is a picture of me in the 70s getting ready for a parachute jump. I’ll never forget the excitement, the anxiety and the anticipation of hurling myself out and away. Looking toward the jumpmaster waiting for his nod and his word “go.”

I thought of all that this week after meeting with two people who are preparing to start a new church. Watching their excitement, listening to their anxiety, their concerns for a good launch. Hearing myself give that nod that word “go.” What are you waiting for the master said now is the time?

There is an apocryphal book called the Acts of John which contains a collection of stories concerning the Apostle John. Fragments of an early oral tradition about the “beloved disciple.” Very short but the text does contain this interesting episode called the “Round Dance” or “Circle Dance of the Cross.” No doubt used at one time as a liturgical song.

Take a moment to listen: “Grace leads the dance, I will make music. You shall all dance in a ring. I will lament, you shall all beat your breasts. I will flee, and I will stay. I will adorn, and I shall be adorned. I will be united, and I will unite. I have no house, and I have houses. I have no home, and I have homes. I have no temple, and I have temples. I am a lamp to you who perceive me. I am a door to you who knock at me. I am a way to you, a traveler. Join yourself now to my dancing.”

You can critique and argue over such a piece of historical writing. But most of all just listen to the words. What are you being encouraged to do for our Savior? Have you been called to “dance” to do something today for another? Have you been called to “stay” put and serve where planted? Have you been called to jump. Putting your faith in our Savior knowing there is no way it’s going to happen without His intervention? Point? Today you have an opportunity to share the Good News. Tomorrow may be too late. The Master says “go.”

“Come let us sing to the LORD: let us shout for joy to the Rock of our salvation.”

via WordPress http://halak.org/2015/05/12/jump/

Every year I buy something for the women of my church for Mother’s Day. Sometimes I get them tea, or pens, maybe a bookmark. But usually its the traditional carnations. I do this on my own and don’t make a big deal about the gift. Just my little way of saying “thanks” to the women in the church.

As a home missionary, church planter, counselor, shepherd, and preacher I will gladly admit this reality. Much of the Lord’s work just could not be done without women. They hold a hand, pray, sew, cook, build, teach, preach, and cradle.

In other words, I’m trying to say have a great mother’s Day moms, sisters, wives and fellow servants. Sorry I can’t give each of you a carnation to say “thanks” but I can pass on what Jeanne de Chantal, the seventeenth-century founder of the Order of the Visitation said, “No matter what happens, be gentle with yourself.”

Today take a moment to rest, to pause and recognize how much you are cared for and needed. Today be”gentle” with yourself and may the peace of the Lord Jesus Christ go with you all. Amen.

Okay now you know I can be a little different so just hang in there with me for a moment. But I believe the bees have a lot to tell us about prayer. Let me explain. In my front yard we have a bottle brush tree has been there for more than thirty years. Every year it explodes with these beautiful scarlet blooms. Now in this tree there is a hole and within that hole lives a bumble bee.

Now I don’t know how long bumbles live but there has always been one in that tree. Every year I will go and peer inside and often… there is a little insect face looking back at me. Then I discovered something.

After cutting the grass if I go sit next to that tree and am quiet I can watch her fly back and forth, going in and out. She doesn’t bother me and I don’t bother her but here’s the thing. Sometimes she will go in, turn around and rest at the door of her home. She will then start to beat her wings and there will be this hum this tiny little song of praise. (Now I know there is a reason for this. The bee is probably cooling off the home I’m sure there is a scientific explanation). But in that moment its almost like together we have this time of meditation. God’s creation and me.

French Mystic Madame Guyon said, “Praying scripture is not judged by how much you read but by the way in which you read. If you read quickly, it will benefit you little. You will be like the bee that merely skims the surface of the flower. Instead, in this new way of reading with prayer, you must become as the bee that penetrates into the depth of the flower. You plunge deeply within to remove its deepest nectar.”

Dear God, I pray for innocence. There is so much that is wrong in our world, there is so much sin. Let us have moments where we sit in silence and listen. Where we hear the hum of Your creation all about us. That we bow our heads humbly and give thanks for this life, for the opportunities to serve, to share with all Your creation large and small. Give us joy through praising You! Amen.

When all the path today don’t forget to hum!

via WordPress http://halak.org/2015/05/08/prayer-and-the-bees/

A church that we have helped with missions and they have helped us as well is going through some tough times. Their pastor retired then people couldn’t agree on the qualifications for the next shepherd and they have since decided to divide over these issues. Yes they voted to split.

You know I’ve been doing the work of the church a very long time. The thing God has taught me over and over is that churches resemble hospitals a lot! Full of wonderful people but often filled with wounded, hurt and angry individuals as well. Sometimes that pain, maybe even that sin causes multiple problems which hinders the mercy and grace of forgiveness.

My experience is that church splits are usually the result of people trying to manipulate people and events for their own reasons. Could be rule keeping, (we have to do it in a certain way in order to look a certain way) maybe someone doesn’t feel they are getting the respect they believe is due them, could even be over worship styles. My point? Pride and selfishness are always at the root of the divide no matter how you try to dress it up.

In James 4:1-3, “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but you don’ get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives…”

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ we must keep our focus on Jesus Christ. If we don’t then we start to look at the church as an organization for our own ends. As a fellow believer I hurt for you, for God’s work where you are. I pray you will know forgiveness, repentance and renewal. May the peace and grace of our Savior cover you all.

And now, “O LORD, assist us to be diligent in labor and wise in our dealings that we may one day hear the wonderful statement, “Well done, faithful servant; enter into the joy of your Lord.” Amen.

This week I celebrate 19 years as pastor of First Chinese Baptist Church. We’ve seen this church grow and go for our Savior. But let’s be honest I was and still am a poor choice for this church. A 3rd-4th generation American Born congregation that is somewhat diverse but still predominately a Chinese fellowship. What in the world was God thinking bringing a mid-west born white guy into this setting? What could I offer that would impact this fellowship? Answer: nothing?

But you know what? I think that is the answer. We must go where the only way for a miracle to happen is for God to bring it about. Not our talent, not our ability, not our resources but God’s!

Theologian Frederick Buechner wrote, “Who knows how the awareness of God’s love first hits people? Every person has his own tale to tell, including the person who would not believe in God if you paid him. Some moment happens in your life that makes you say Yes right up to the roots of your hair, that makes its worth having been born just to have happen. Laughing with somebody till the tears run down your cheeks…Whether you thank God for such a moment or thank your lucky stars, it is a moment that is trying to open up your whole life. If you try to turn your back on such a moment and hurry along to Business as Usual, it may lose you the whole ball game. if you throw your arms around such a moment and hug it like crazy, it may save your soul. How about the person you know who as far as you can possible tell has never had such a moment? Maybe for that person the moment that has to happen is you.”

Well FCBC we’ve been some exciting places. Hundreds of people have walked into the waters of baptism. Many have transferred their membership to heaven. Praise God! The places we’ve served, the resources given so people’s lives can change. Has been a privilege to serve here and if still within God’s plans a few more ahead. Let us never “turn our backs” on the opportunities God is giving us to stand with another to be the people that God has called here in Fresno no matter how “crazy” it feels or even looks. God bless you all!

I tried to watch the news this morning. Honestly I didn’t get very far before I switched the media off. The loss, the grief, the anger, the shootings, the storms it just seemed to pile up in seconds and I didn’t want any more. But..it does remind you and I as believers that we are needed.

Jacques Ellul wrote, “One thing, however, is sure: unless Christians fulfill their prophetic role, unless they become the advocates and defenders of the truly poor, witness to their misery, then, infallibly, violence will suddenly break out. In one or other ‘their blood cries to heaven,’ and violence will seem the only way out. It will be too late to try to calm them and create harmony.”

Are we failing? Have we stepped back and just let sin build up? Are we accountable to the Good News of going, of serving, of lifting another up? Obviously…the answer is no. Pray with me…Dear God today give me the opportunity to walk along side another. Give me the courage to speak out against injustice. Grant us a burden so heavy that it breaks our hearts and we must respond. Give us the courage to be enemies of hunger, poverty, violence and economic injustice. Hear our prayer and help us walk this path so others will know dignity, will know the love of a Savior. I/we pray this in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Every Sunday I have a children’s time when I select a topic to discuss briefly then after prayer I give them candy. (The most exciting part of the whole deal). For the last several weeks we’ve had a banner and I would put a symbol up for the various parts of the worship service. We finished with a benediction.

One of the children said to me, “That was great. I didn’t know all that stuff was in worship.” Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel stated, “I did not ask for success; I asked for wonder. And you gave it to me.”

Dear God you accept our worship whether full of thanksgiving, wonder, or plain surprise. Your love and mercy astounds me. May our worship today be one of gratitude, and may our love of you grow, and grow, and grow Lord and Savior. Amen.

While I was in seminary I worked at the Wolcott Baptist Mission. (The picture in this blog is of that little church. The children used some clay from the grounds to form and fire this sculpture for me). This was the best thing God could have ever done for me. It was my first church located in a valley about 25 miles west of Kansas City, Kansas. I was director, pastor, and fellow worker to a migrant community that moved into that area in the spring and throughout the fall to harvest melons, radishes, and cabbages.

To better understand the process I too would work in the field. Now I should pause and say that is really a lie. I did no work! I would attempt to labor alongside the kids but there is no way what I did could ever be described as work compared to those I hoped to serve. I would have to stop often, and sometimes crawl my way along watching them all leave me behind as they had a quota to keep. But they put up with me, were kind to me and for a brief time God blessed our efforts together. Most of all I learned some things about me!

Cesar Chavez said, “When we are really honest with ourselves, we must admit that our lives are all that really belong to us. So it is how we use our lives that determines what kind of men we are. It is my deepest belief that only by giving our lives do we find life. I am convinced that the truest act of courage, the strongest act of manliness is to sacrifice ourselves for others in totally nonviolent struggle for justice. To be a man is to suffer for others. God help us to be men!”

As you travel this path today look for injustice…maybe just maybe you have been closing your eyes. Ask for God’s forgiveness and look around seeking opportunities to labor alongside another in order to bring about change both in the situation and in yourself. Ask today for our loving Savior to guide your hands, your feet, to heal sore backs, to direct your stumbling feet. May my Jesus help you to bring healing to another today. Amen.

Do you remember April 30th 1975? I do. I was preparing to get married in June, to graduate from college and to enter Seminary. But…little did I know that when on that day North and South Vietnam were reunited it would have such ramifications for me personally.

That I would go on to reach out and help thousands of Hmong and Laotian refugees seeking to cross the borders into Thailand and then into America and hundreds of those same people would be my responsibility. That by the time ten years had passed I would get to know personally many of the men and women who struggled for freedom and were impacted by that day. Yes I do remember.

Psalm 144:12-15 “May our sons be like plants well nurtured from their youth: and our daughters like sculptured corners of a palace. May our barns be filled to overflowing with all manner of crops: may the flocks in our pastures increase by thousands and tens of thousands; may our cattle be fat and sleek. May there be no breaching of the walls, no going into exile: no wailing in the public squares. Happy are the people of whom this is so!: happy are the people whose God is the LORD!”

Dear God I have come to this realization, this reality, this fact! If our days do not begin and if our days do not end with You our efforts are in vain. So…this day my God bless our efforts to be a people of peace. As we travel this path let us lift another up, bring a refugee in, hold a veteran’s hand, just be there for those whose eyes have seen the terror of war. O God be merciful upon us today, this day. Amen.