Monthly Archives: November 2010

"Are you He who is to come or should we look for another?" Matthew 11:3

God's prophets have a terrible arrest record. Many of them spent time in jail. Others were beaten, and some were killed. Most were unpopular with the people in general as well as the government. Being a prophet was a hard calling, a rough way to get a blessing. John the Baptist learned this first-hand. He was in jail when he sent the question to Jesus, "are you He who is to come or should we look for another?"

Remember, John was Jesus' cousin, had proclaimed "behold the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world," had baptized Jesus, and perhaps saw the Spirit descend upon Him as a dove and heard the words "you are my beloved Son" from heaven. If any man was in a position to embrace complete certainty it was John the Baptist.

At first he probably thought the arrest was a temporary detour. After all, the Messiah was here! He would scatter the brood of vipers and hack down all the trees that bore no fruit. But the snakes were still crawling, the trees were still growing, and John began to doubt.

A little time in the darkness will do that to the strongest of men, and no man was greater than John. Doubt turned into disappointment, disappointment into discouragement, and discouragement into despair. John began to wonder if his most cherished belief was misguided. He had to ask, "are you the One?"

Doubt, disappointment, discouragement, despair. Anyone who was spent time in any kind of darkness understands that progression. During this first week of Advent we focus on hope and anticipation. We light a single candle. What can we learn in this meager light?

First, doubt and its depressing cousins do not indicate the absence of light, but underscore the necessity for light. You must think carefully with me here. When you are at your lowest point, you will be tempted to fling away from faith, being convinced that all around you is darkness and darkness is all there is. At that point, you must decide if the core convictions you have learned about God are true. Here is the good news: because they are true, hope is your way forward.

Even at his nadir, John did not give up hope. Not completely. He wondered if his earlier convictions about Jesus were correct, but he also was willing to "look for another." He knew the light had to be there, even though he had trouble seeing it. You know the truth about Christ, and your challenge does not disprove it, but underscores your need for Him. Do not give up hope even during the most stygian darkness.

Second, even a small amount of light is sufficient to sustain your hope. During this first week of Advent we sing in a minor key (O Come, O Come Immanuel). We read of the prophets who promised God's intervention but did not know that promise would be kept centuries in the future. John's words capture our challenge perfectly. The light during this lone candle week of Advent is rather dim. But it is still light.

A candle in the depths of Mammoth Cave would appear to be overwhelmed by the cavernous darkness, but it would be sufficient for you to make your way through. If you are surrounded by darkness right now, cling to the glimmer of hope. God never leaves you without it. It may be faint. It may come in the form of a favorite carol. A card. A child's Christmas program. It may even be in this week's GraceWaves. Whatever the form, do not mourn its meagerness, celebrate its presence! God sent it to help you through today. Just look around, and you will see it.

We see through a glass darkly right now, and the first week of Advent is the time to face that uncomfortable truth squarely. God does not reveal His plans for you in whole but incrementally. He gives you just enough light to take the next step. Hope keeps you moving. The glimmer of hope is a promise of a future dawn. Jesus truly was who He claimed to be. Hope in Him.

Grace,

Dr. Terry Ellis

November 29, 2010

"And he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan." Luke 17:16

This Samaritan was a leper, one of ten who cried out to Jesus for mercy as He entered a village on His way to Jerusalem. Ten were healed. Only the Samaritan turned back and gave glory to God and thanks to Jesus. His response is a model for us this Thanksgiving in two ways.

First, he gave glory to God. He recognized a truth James expressed in his letter: "Every good endowment and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change" (1:17).

Every good gift you have, every gleam of grace, comes from your heavenly Father who loves, sustains, and guides you. You have nothing good from your own hand. Lincoln, in inaugurating Thanksgiving as a national holiday, warned "We have forgotten the gracious hand which has preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and have vainly imagined in the deceitfulness of our hearts that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own." He certainly could turn a phrase, couldn't he? Let's heed the warning and remember to be thankful to God this Thursday and every day of the week.

What is interesting to me today though is that thanking God is often the only Thanksgiving we engage in. Thank God, of course, but let's also acknowledge regularly that God usually operates through an agent. That's right. He seldom brings "the good endowment" to you without using a middle man (or woman), and that brings us to the second lesson from the Samaritan leper: he thanked the agent of the blessing. To be fully thankful we need to include abundant thanksgiving to all the people God has used to bless us.

William Stidger was a minister during the first half of the 20^th century, and during the dark times of The Depression sought for something positive and uplifting to share with his people. As he considered the matter, Stidger said it was like the Spirit of God spoke to him: "Why don't you give thanks to those people who have been a blessing in your life and affirm them during this terrible time?"

As he considered it, the memory came to him of a very dear schoolteacher, a wonderful teacher of poetry and English literature from years ago who had gone out of her way to put a great love of literature and verse in him, particularly the poems of Tennyson. It affected all his writings and his preaching.

So he sat down and wrote a letter to this now very elderly woman. In a matter of days he received her reply in the feeble scrawl of the aged. "My Dear William: I can't tell you how much your note meant to me. I am in my eighties, living alone in a small room, cooking my own meals, lonely, and like the last leaf of autumn lingering behind. You'll be interested to know that I taught in school for more than fifty years, and yours is the first note of appreciation I ever received. It came on a blue, cold morning, and it cheered me as nothing has done in many years."

I've always loved that story for the image of that elderly teacher and the joy that a brief note brought to her. It reminds me that the Greek word for thanksgiving or thankfulness is built on the same root as the word for grace. In thanking people you are "gracing" them. I am certain God smiles when we return some of the grace He gave us to the person He first used to "grace" us.

Be thankful to God this Thursday, and every day of course, but also be thankful for all the people He has used to make you who you are. By sharing thanksgiving, the blessing reverberates, and the grace is passed back and forth among thankful people.

Happy Thanksgiving. I am thankful for you!

Grace,

Dr. Terry Ellis

November 21, 2010

"So Joseph said to his brothers, 'Come near to me, I pray you.' . . . And he kissed his brothers and wept upon them, and after that his brothers talked with him." Genesis 45:4, 15

One of the greatest blessings of the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday (and Christmas to follow) is the gathering of family. Ironically, one of the greatest hazards of the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday (and Christmas to follow) is the gathering of family. That's right. As a pastor, I annually spoke with couples who had great fears about all the family members gathering under the same roof. The problems can range from the relatively benign (Uncle Jake leaving his spit cup by the couch and wearing camouflage to the dinner table) to the more serious (events that occasion police intervention).

Family gatherings can be comforting, comical, and even combustible. As odd as it may sound, families can interfere with genuine thanksgiving. In fact, more than merely being uncomfortable or inconvenient bad memories and soured relationships can be a source of tremendous pain.

The scripture for this week's GraceWaves comes from one of the most moving scenes in all of scripture. Joseph's brothers sold him into slavery. He had endured a terrifying ordeal but had ascended to the right hand of Pharaoh. All the while his brothers thought him gone forever and probably dead. During a famine in Canaan, they journeyed to Egypt for grain and probably were baffled by having to meet with such a high official. After concealing his identity, Joseph revealed himself in a scene of tender forgiveness and reconciliation. The brothers that were the source of his wounds became the source of his healing.

We can learn many lessons about family pain and healing from Joseph's story that might help you have a better Thanksgiving.

First, much of the pain in your life will come from the people closest to you. Family and friends are on your inner circle, and you have to be close in order to reach out and strike someone else. You can forget about a rude stranger, but you will bear the scars of a harsh family relationship for a lifetime. Your heart will ache when you recall a friend that is no longer a friend. Close relationships offer great blessings, but also the potential for great pain.

Second, your healing often comes through relationships. I walk very carefully through this minefield and ask you to pay close attention. Some people have suffered tremendous damage at the hands of a parent or sibling, and as much as we might want it to be so, you cannot always repair a relationship, and sometimes you do not need to try. However, often God will work on your heart and the heart of the estranged family member, and provide an opportunity for reconciliation. God did that for Joseph and his brothers, and Joseph likely would never have been whole without the story in Genesis 45. The same relationship that caused the damage is often the same relationship that provides the restoration. Your healing may come through the person that hurt you.

Third, because of the potential for reconciliation, cultivate a forgiving spirit. Joseph probably was not always open to this possibility, but God worked with him. Whether or not you ever get a chance for reconciliation, you still do not want to carry with you a burden of bitter disappointment and anger. Forgive, pray a blessing, and move forward, always open to the opportunity God may provide. As Paul wrote, "If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all" (Rom. 12:18).

Honestly, sitting down at the table next week is probably not the most opportune time to resurrect painful memories and try to settle old scores. You can, however, be genuinely thankful to God who mysteriously weaves His will into the fabric of a willing life. And you can always show kindness and grace. Those twin virtues are never inappropriate.

Grace,

Dr. Terry Ellis

November 15, 2010

"Think on these things." Philippians 4:8

Let's remember the journey we began in last week's GraceWaves. I introduced you to the idea of Thanksgiving Advent. We need more than one Sunday, or more than one devotional, to help us focus on the spiritual discipline of Thanksgiving. Last week I wrote about choosing to be thankful. Let's explore the way we make that choice.

The partial verse I quoted above comes after a list of wonderful qualities: "things that are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, gracious, excellent, and worthy of praise." Each one of these words is worthy of a specific study, and I have often taken that approach with congregations. However, we need to spend more time on the closing imperative: think on these things.

The word for think is often used in accounting. It refers to the practice of numbering, reckoning, or occupying one's mind with a particular topic. In this case, Paul wanted Christians to occupy their minds with all the blessings God surrounds us with.

That's where the choice comes in. Thanksgiving is not simply an impulse, a one-time-a-year celebration, or even a segment of your daily prayers. It is a way of life developed through disciplined thinking. You must carefully determine what you will think about.

You see, your mind is very much like a magnet. You will tend to attract evidence that reinforces your convictions. An elderly friend one time confessed to me that he literally collected stories from the newspapers about topics that outraged him, and kept them in a folder. Not surprisingly my friend often was generally irritable and scowling. He had drawn to him all kinds of evidence to reinforce his conviction that the world is highly unfair and society is heading toward general disarray.

This "magnet principle" applies to people who are dissatisfied with their jobs, a spouse, politics, children, a football team, the coach, the weather etc. etc. etc. They see what they are looking for, and ignore evidence to the contrary.

The Bible teaches us that we have a remarkable degree of control over our minds through the transforming presence of Christ. The word repentance literally means a change of mind, from bad to good, or even from good to better. This renewing of our minds (Rom. 12:2), through Christ, means that we can choose to occupy our minds with good and noble things, like thankfulness. I know it may sound trite to you, but counting your many blessings really does make a difference. Try it and you will be surprised what you discover.

Henry Ward Beecher put it this way. "If one should give me a dish of sand and tell me there were particles of iron in it, I might be able to look for them with my eyes and search for them with my clumsy fingers and be unable to detect them. But let me take a magnet and sweep through it and now it would draw to itself the almost invisible particles by the mere power of attraction. The unthankful heart, like my finger in the sand, discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings, only the iron in God's sand is gold."

Take care to "think on thankfulness" throughout this month. Trust me, this is another battle that does not stay won. You have to fight it again and again. But keep fighting! You will one day discover the ability to see so many things that are true and honorable, just and pure, lovely and gracious, excellent and worthy of praise. Your mind will "attract" those things. And you will be thankful.

Grace,

Dr. Terry Ellis

November 8, 2010

"Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." 1 Thessalonians 5:18

As the earth leans into autumn and the air breathes a bit cooler we approach one of the most wonderful times of the year: Thanksgiving Advent. That's not a misprint. I have come to believe that one day of Thanksgiving is simply not enough. As we have four Sundays to spiritually prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ, I think we need several weeks to reflect on all the ways God blesses us.

The first step in this important spiritual discipline is a simple commitment: choose to be thankful. Let me share with you the story of how I came to this conclusion.

Mother first started showing signs of dementia when I was in Murray, Kentucky. Her condition rapidly declined until I had to move her from her beloved Lexington to an assisted living facility in Murray. Because of the rushed nature of the move, I was not able to obtain a room for Dad in any nursing home in Murray. He would have to stay behind in Lexington for 1-3 months waiting for a place. Leaving him there and taking his wife away was difficult. It is the only time I saw Dad cry.

Several weeks after the move I received a call from a nursing home. They had a space, but it was only a temporary room, small and unadorned. But it was available. I went to see the room, and my heart sank. It was concrete block, institutional monochrome, windowless, dimensions maybe 9'x10'. I agreed to take it because I knew Dad would prefer most anything to being separated from Mom.

He was excited when I spoke to him on the phone. I told him of the Spartan arrangements and that it would be temporary until a regular room for him opened up. They couldn't promise how long it would take. Nothing muted his enthusiasm.

I made the four hour drive to Lexington, bringing with me the youth director at our church in case I needed any help along the way. We loaded all of Dad's belongings into the trunk along with his wheelchair and returned to Murray.

I was apprehensive when we arrived at the nursing home. What if he didn't like it? He would never let on, of course, but I hated the thought of his being disappointed. Life had been particularly hard for him the previous five or so years. He had endured numerous falls, the MS was worse, and the wheel chair had become a permanent part of his life. Surgery to remove a brain tumor had left him weaker. He also endured prostate cancer and glaucoma. I wanted him to at least have a nice place to live.

Wheeling him down the hallway of the nursing home I anxiously explained again that the room was very sparse, but that eventually there would be a larger one available. I brought him to the doorway. Standing behind I looked into the meager room with an unmade metal frame bed with support bar running over it. My heart sank a little more when I thought that I could have at least brought in some pictures or something to warm it up. I said again, "Dad, it's a small room . . ." He raised his hand, interrupted me and said, "But it's nice. I'm sure glad to be here."

Whenever I read a passage of scripture like "be thankful in all circumstances" (1 Thess. 5:18) I recall Dad's reaction to that little room. Paul's words in that verse usually raise objections. "How can anyone be thankful in all circumstances?" I was blessed to have a father who modeled for me the faith that enables that kind of gratitude.

Life can difficult in a thousand different ways and can turn your focus from the evidences of God's love and grace to every minor irritant, for our normal default setting is complaint. The good news is that you have a choice today and every day. Dad chose to be grateful. He provided a wonderful example. And for that I am grateful.

Grace,

Dr. Terry Ellis

November 1, 2010