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Chapter-a-Day

Teshuvah

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Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from there the Lord your God will gather you and bring you back.
Deuteronomy 30:4 (NIV)

As a parent, I always expected that somehow, in some way, my daughters would rebel. I hoped that I was wrong, but I’ve observed the human condition for too long to harbor any pipe dreams. As I contemplated the eventuality of their wandering — whatever that might look like — I came to a realization.

When it comes to what my young adult children do, the only thing I really control is my response.

I figured that I’d better give that some thought ahead of time. I’m glad I did. Yes, both girls had their season of wandering each in their own way, but those are their stories to tell. What I learned along the way was that my best example for parenting was Father God.

Deuteronomy has had some really tough chapters to slog through. It contains some of the most difficult and challenging of the ancient texts. But today’s chapter stands like a breath of fresh air because it gets at the heart of who God is and what God is all about. In short, God tells His Hebrew children that He knows they’re going wander. It’s not a matter of “if” but “when.” In light of this, He wants them to know teshuvah.

Teshuvah is a Hebrew word we translate into English as “return,” but like many Hebrew words one simple English word cannot contain its meaning.

Teshuvah is “return” as in go back where you belong.

It assumes something breathtaking:

You had a place.
You wandered.
That place still exists.
You are still wanted there.

Teshuvah has a rhythm.

First, there is an awakening. Something stirs. There’s discomfort. “Wait a minute. This isn’t who I want to be.” Clarity – not condemnation.

Next comes the turning. It’s not just a change in thought, it’s physical. You’ve reached second base and are as far from home as possible. You’re facing the centerfield fence. You physically make the turn toward third and the path home is right there waiting.

Then there’s naming. This isn’t a wallow in shame, but the moment of truth telling. It’s the first step of the Twelve Steps. “My life has gotten out of control. This isn’t manageable.”

The way is now open to repairing. Own it. Apologize. Make things right. You carry responsibility without drowning in it.

With that, you return home.

Today’s chapter lays out the theology of teshuvah. Jesus turned it into a love story we know as the Prodigal Son. As a young parent reflecting on how I should respond when my daughters wander, I took note of three things about the Prodigal’s father (aka Father God).

  1. He didn’t go to the distant land to condemn his son and drag him home.
  2. He was sitting on the front porch, eyes on the road, waiting for his son.
  3. He ran down the road to greet his son, and escort him home.

Not a bad example to follow, I thought to myself. Trust teshuvah. Love knows the way home. If I’m wise, I’ll even keep my mouth shut. Directions aren’t necessary.

One of our daughters lived in a commune for a season with a very diverse community of individuals from all over the globe. One day she shared with me that as her comrades shared their stories most of them had no home, no support system, and they lived perpetually on the brink of hopelessness.

They had no where else to go.

“I realized,” my daughter said, “that I will never know that reality. I always have a home I can return to where I am loved and will be cared for.”

Bingo. That’s what Father God wants His children to know with all their heart and soul.

Teshuvah.

Shalom.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

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These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
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Chapter-a-Day

Home Joy

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The two choirs that gave thanks then took their places in the house of God.
Nehemiah 12:40a (NIV)

It’s fascinating how things can so drastically change in the different seasons of life. Last night Wendy and I sat in the Vander Well Pub and enjoyed a drink together and debriefed about our day before dinner. As we talked about all of the things on the calendar in the coming weeks, I recognized within me an intense desire to have none of it, and to just be at home. That was a crazy thought. For most of my life, that desire barely existed inside.

I had a great home growing up that was safe and full of love, but I was an adventurous extrovert as a kid. Between all of the activities I was involved in throughout my school years, it was not unusual for me to leave the house at 5:00 a.m. and not get home until 10:00 at night. I kept weekends equally packed pursuing fun and always being on the go. College years were no different. I typically worked three jobs on top of classes and being constantly involved in campus activities and stage productions.

I have worked from a home office since 1994, back when no one worked from home. Our team didn’t talk about it with clients because they might think it was sketchy and diminish our reputation as a “real” business. For many years, I found myself venturing out to coffee shops and other public spaces every day to work. I needed the buzz of being around people and activity. I wanted the possibility of human connection even in casual, impromptu conversations with strangers. To be honest, home wasn’t always a joyful place for me to be in those years.

Life changes like the seasons. Yesterday I shared about the house that Wendy and I built ten years ago. Not only did Wendy design a beautiful and comfortable space to live, but I find in our home a Spirit of peace, love, and joy at all times – even the occasional contentious ones.

Today’s chapter is a bit like a homecoming at God’s House in Jerusalem. Nehemiah and the crew rebuilt the walls for the specific purpose of rebuilding and renewing the Temple worship prescribed by God in the Law of Moses. Solomon’s Temple had been destroyed and there had been no Temple, no offerings, and no sacrifices for some 150 years. With the walls rebuilt, the entire Hebrew community comes to Jerusalem. Two mass choirs with instruments march around the walls singing and playing in celebration. Everyone then ends their loud musical processional at God’s House. People bring the prescribed tithes and offerings, and the sacrificial system begins operation once again.

“Joy” is a recurring word in today’s chapter. In fact, the Hebrew root for “joy” (śmḥ) appears five times in verse 43 alone. The Hebrews had been through a season of exile. They were forced to make a home elsewhere, but the real home for their people and their community was always Jerusalem, God’s House, and the rhythms of life and worship that God prescribed and that had been at the center of their identity as a people for centuries. In today’s chapter, they are finally home. Joy flows.

Here I sit in the quiet of my home office. I was here all day yesterday from 5:00 a.m. until I met Wendy downstairs in the Pub at 6:00 p.m. I’ll be here all day working on projects and proposals again today. I’m okay with that. In fact, I downright joyful about it.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

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These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
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Chapter-a-Day

Refuge and Restoration

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Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and teacher of the Law, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to them all, “This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law.
Nehemiah 8:9 (NIV)

I don’t like to be confined into a row of chairs during worship. I like to stretch out and move. Wendy is the same way. During worship among our local gathering of Jesus’ followers, we will stand in the back. Sometimes, this means that individuals entering or walking by will stop to talk. So it was one morning when I turned to find a man weeping.

“I’m drunk,” he said, though he didn’t need to say it. He reeked of it.

I smiled and nodded.

“But you’re here,” I answered. “I’m glad you are.”

He didn’t need rejection. He was drowning in rejection. He needed a refuge. How much faith did it take to walk into a worship service drunk?

My new friend had it rough. The road of life had led him to some dark and difficult places. He’d make a lot of foolish choices. He’d been raised in faith, but he walked away and chose to forget. Then, he found himself needing refuge from his fears, his failings, and his addictions. He stumbled into a worship service.

I think today’s chapter needs to be viewed in a much larger context. The Hebrew people had spent over a century living in exile. Even after 70 years, when the first exiles returned, they had largely forgotten the faith of their fathers. Reading was uncommon, and copies of the Books of Moses were rare. They were just walking life’s journey without faith or guidance. By the time Nehemiah arrived and rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem, it had been more like 140 years since the exile began.

Now the walls are built. The gates are hung. For the first time in five generations the Hebrew people are together. They finally have refuge inside the city of their ancestors. The priest pulls out the Books of Moses and begins to read the Great Story from the beginning. Most of them are hearing the Story for the first time. They hear of God’s creation, His promises to Abraham, His provision for Jacob and the tribes, His deliverance of their ancestors from slavery in Egypt, His calling and covenant to be His people and what that meant.

There in the refuge of their home city, the people not only listen, but they hear God calling them home spiritually. He calls them to return to becoming the people, His children, that they were meant to be.

They begin to weep. This is all taking place by the Water Gate. The God who divides the deep and creates the universe. The God who divides the waters of the Red Sea to save them from their enemies. The God who divides the waters of the Jordan to usher them into His Promised Land. The God who washes, waters, bathes, cleanses, and renews.

Nehemiah reminds them that God is calling them out of the weeping of repentance and into the joy of restored relationship. For the first time in hundreds of years, since the time of Joshua, the people celebrate God’s prescribed festival of the tabernacles.

Both physically and spiritually, they have come back home.

Over the past year or so I’ve read a number of stories from people who have wandered home to faith. The stories follow a common theme. As young people they walked away from the faith in which they were raised. They were too intelligent to believe all that nonsense. They got educated, had careers, and wandered life’s road. But something happened along the way in the craziness of a world that has become increasingly unhinged. Drunk on fear and futility, they found themselves stumbling back home where they found a refuge, and where Life began to be restored within.

Just like Nehemiah and the Hebrews in today’s chapter. The restoration of the walls and gates led to a very different restoration. There is something spiritually universal in this story and in the experience of returning to the refuge of God’s grace and forgiveness, and finding there restoration of Life and Spirit.

In the quiet this morning, the words of an old hymn whisper in my soul:

Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling, 
calling for you and for me; 
see, on the portals he’s waiting and watching, 
watching for you and for me.
Come home, come home; 
you who are weary come home; 
earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling, 
calling, O sinner, come home!

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Promotional graphic for Tom Vander Well's Wayfarer blog and podcast, featuring icons of various podcast platforms with a photo of Tom Vander Well.
These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
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Chapter-a-Day

Dwell

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Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.
Colossians 3:16 (NIV)

Tomorrow is Saturday, which means that Wendy’s and my morning ritual of coffee and conversation will include the weekend edition of the Wall Street Journal. This always includes their “Mansion” section in which they do a spotlight feature complete with photo spread of an audacious mansion somewhere. Wendy loves her weekly trip down the rabbit hole looking at what people do with their mansions, the views, how they allocate space, how they decorate, and how the environment “feels.” My mind usually goes straight to calculating the maintenance costs and utilities on that much square footage.

While we will never know what it’s like to have a mansion at that level, Wendy and I have been truly blessed to enjoy some wonderful homes. In 2008, Wendy and I signed a purchase agreement with my parents to buy their place on Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. For over 15 years, much of our summer was spent traveling back and forth to central Missouri and hosting family and friends at the lake. This past December, that season of our life ended and we sold our lake home to friends here in Pella who will carry the blessing of that home forward for a new generation.

With summer now in full swing, Wendy and I have been having many people ask us if we regret the decision and how we are faring not being at the lake. I’m happy to report that it really was a divine appointment and God’s timing was perfect. One of the things that Wendy and I have rediscovered as our time and attention has shifted back to our home in Pella is just how much we love our house which I have always referred to as Vander Well Manor. There have been so many little projects and things that we’ve put off for years because we were spending so much time and so many resources at the lake. It’s been fun to truly dwell in our home this summer and fully enjoy it inside and out.

Today’s chapter is one of those chapters that is so full of instruction and spiritual truth that I hardly know how to focus in on one thing on which to meditate and blog about. When that happens, I typically wait for Holy Spirit to cause something to deeply resonate in my spirit. This morning, it was this phrase: “Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly…”

As Wendy and I have rediscovered the joy of truly dwelling at home, it provided a really powerful metaphor in the quiet this morning for what Paul is getting at as he uses that phrase. Along my life journey, my experience has been that relatively few people allow Christ’s message to dwell richly within them. I observe that Christ’s message pays a visit on Sunday mornings. It acts as a homey and inspirational message on a piece wall decor that fades into the background and is subsequently forgotten. To “dwell richly” has a much deeper connotation.

To dwell means to “live in.” Dwelling means residing, being fully present, and actively occupying. When someone dwells in a home, there is constancy and the perpetual impact of presence.

Which leads me to ask myself, are Christ’s words and message dwelling in me, in my life, in my marriage, in my home, among my friends, and in the community of our circles of influence? Is Christ’s message dwelling in me, not merely as wall decor, but actively occupying with constancy and perpetual impact of presence?

Tomorrow morning Wendy will show me photos of some mansion on Martha’s Vineyard or some such place and wax eloquent with her strong opinions regarding the space and decorations. I can tell you that the mansion will be empty, because there are never people in the photographs. Each week the photos are of a giant, opulent, perfectly appointed empty mansion in which no one appears to be dwelling. What a great metaphor for how I don’t want my life to be. If I have a great life and an earthly existence filled with all this world has to offer, but Christ and His message are not dwelling within, then my life is just an empty earthly mansion that I will have to give up one day.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
Chapter-a-Day

Best of: Dwell

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Today’s post, published back in November, resonated with my friend Matt. He wrote, “It was a reminder that God dwells in my heart. He takes up residence there. And my “property” is not for sale. He’s never moving out!”

If you have your own favorite chapter-a-day post that has stuck with you over time, please feel free to let me know. You can reply to this post or email me at tomvanderwell@gmail.com.

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.
Ephesians 3:16b-17a (NIV)

When I was young, I was always on the go. I remember in high school getting up at 5:00 a.m. for swim practice before school. I then had practice again after school before going to play rehearsal that would sometimes last until 10:00 at night. My mom complained that I was never home. To her chagrin, that never really changed. Once I had my drivers license, it only allowed me more freedom and opportunity to spread my wings and fly wherever I wanted. And I loved being on the go.

It’s funny how life changes. I find myself these days feeling entirely the opposite. I love to be at home. I love our bed, my office, our kitchen, and our living area and pub on the lower floor. I love working from home and being where Wendy is always. I confess that sometimes feel pangs of grief that I have to run an errand. I don’t just love our house. I love to dwell in our home.

In today’s chapter, Paul states that he’s praying for the Ephesians that “Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.” In Monday’s post, I mentioned the difference between growing up in the church and entering into a relationship with Jesus. But entering into a relationship with Jesus changes things entirely, because Jesus wants to dwell within me. I am His dwelling place the same way Wendy’s and my home is our dwelling place. The implications are life changing…

I don’t have to pray for God’s presence because He is always present in me.

Prayer can be an on-going inner conversation that I have with God at all times because He’s always present within me.

At any given moment I can be prompted, inspired, taught, convicted, challenged, soothed, encouraged, and/or motivated by the Spirit of Christ in me.

In the quiet this morning, I find myself encouraged by meditating on the fact that Christ loves to dwell in me the way that I like to dwell with Wendy in our home. Just last week I wrote about the shalom that God desires for all of us. This morning it strikes me that dwelling in my home is where I feel shalom even as Jesus’ shalom dwells within the home He has made in my heart.

Monday’s Chapter: Romans 15

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
Chapter-a-Day

Dwell

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I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.
Ephesians 3:16b-17a (NIV)

When I was young, I was always on the go. I remember in high school getting up at 5:00 a.m. for swim practice before school. I then had practice again after school before going to play rehearsal that would sometimes last until 10:00 at night. My mom complained that I was never home. To her chagrin, that never really changed. Once I had my drivers license, it only allowed me more freedom and opportunity to spread my wings and fly wherever I wanted. And I loved being on the go.

It’s funny how life changes. I find myself these days feeling entirely the opposite. I love to be at home. I love our bed, my office, our kitchen, and our living area and pub on the lower floor. I love working from home and being where Wendy is always. I confess that sometimes feel pangs of grief that I have to run an errand. I don’t just love our house. I love to dwell in our home.

In today’s chapter, Paul states that he’s praying for the Ephesians that “Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.” In Monday’s post, I mentioned the difference between growing up in the church and entering into a relationship with Jesus. But entering into a relationship with Jesus changes things entirely, because Jesus wants to dwell within me. I am His dwelling place the same way Wendy’s and my home is our dwelling place. The implications are life changing…

I don’t have to pray for God’s presence because He is always present in me.

Prayer can be an on-going inner conversation that I have with God at all times because He’s always present within me.

At any given moment I can be prompted, inspired, taught, convicted, challenged, soothed, encouraged, and/or motivated by the Spirit of Christ in me.

In the quiet this morning, I find myself encouraged by meditating on the fact that Christ loves to dwell in me the way that I like to dwell with Wendy in our home. Just last week I wrote about the shalom that God desires for all of us. This morning it strikes me that dwelling in my home is where I feel shalom even as Jesus’ shalom dwells within the home He has made in my heart.

Note: I’m taking the next two days off.
Back next Monday!
If you need a fix, here’s the link to Haggai. Only 2 chapters!
https://tomvanderwell.com/2019/10/21/haggai-oct-2019/

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Lost and Found

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[King Josiah] stood by the pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the Lord—to follow the Lord and keep his commands, statutes and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, thus confirming the words of the covenant written in this book. Then all the people pledged themselves to the covenant.
2 Kings 23:3 (NIV)

One of the common themes of all great stories is when the hero loses his or her way. We see it in Luke Skywalker in Star Wars Episode VIII as he has chosen self-exile. Ron Weasley similarly chooses out in the Deathly Hallows. Edmund loses his way and follows the White Witch in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. In The Hobbit, it is Bilbo who loses his way in the Misty Mountains where he happens to find a plain-looking golden ring in the darkness. Despite his insistence that he would never fall away, Peter denies that he knows Jesus three times.

Along my spiritual journey, I have come to embrace that losing one’s way is a common theme for a lot of us. As I look back on my own life journey, I can humbly point back to a period of time I call “the dark years,” in which I lost my way and made many regrettable choices.

In the Great Story told between Genesis and Revelation the theme of losing one’s way is recurring. From the Hebrew tribes “wandering in the wilderness” for 40 years to the exile of Israel and Judah in Assyria and Babylon to Jesus’ parable of the Prodigal Son, the tale of losing one’s way is a familiar one.

In today’s chapter, King Josiah reads the recently discovered Books of Moses to his people. We have no idea how long it had been since the story of Moses delivering the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt and God establishing a covenant with them had been read. It says in today’s chapter that the annual Passover Feast prescribed by God had not been celebrated “neither in the days of the judges who led Israel nor in the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah.” That’s somewhere in the neighborhood of 800 years.

Today’s chapter is essentially about coming home, the Prodigal’s return, and the hero finding his or her way back to the path. Luke shows up to deliver the rebel forces in stunning form. Ron returns just in time to save Harry. Edmund is redeemed and restored by Aslan. Bilbo finds his way back to Thorin and Company with the ring that will help him facilitate the overthrow of Smaug. Jesus restores Peter on the shore of Galilee with three affirmations of his calling. Josiah leads the nation in renewing their covenant with the God who delivered and established them.

In the quiet this morning, I’m reminded that losing one’s way is a very common story. Jesus told stories about lost coins and lost sheep as well as a lost child. The stories are ultimately not about being lost, but about being found. The Shepherd risks the entire flock to search for the lost sheep until it’s found. The Prodigal’s father waits patiently and expectantly on the porch to catch sight of his child’s return. The found book helps Josiah and God’s people to find their way back to God.

I once was lost, but now I’m found.

For the spiritual pilgrim, there’s both encouragement and hope in the revelation that God expectantly desires that I find my way back to Him.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

“I Will Bring You Home”

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"I Will Bring You Home" (CaD Zeph 3) – Wayfarer

“At that time I will bring you home….”
Zephaniah 3:20 (NRSV)

Here in the heartland of America, in the great state of Iowa, we have been experiencing an early spring. It’s March Madness, which is usually a time when we receive the final blast of winter’s fury. The state high school girl’s basketball tournament is mythically synonymous with “blizzard.” But not this year.

The temperatures have been unseasonably warm. The tulips are already shooting up from the earth. We’ve already used the grill on the patio multiple times. The sounds of Cubs baseball is becoming daily ambient audio here at Vander Well Manor, even if it is just spring training.

There is something exciting about spring. The death of winter gives way to new life in spring. We celebrate the journey from grave to empty tomb. Shivering in the cold yields to basking in the sun’s warmth. Resurrection, hope, and joy are kindled in our souls, reminding us that old things pass away and new things are coming.

How apt, I thought, that in this morning’s chapter we find Zephaniah’s predictions of doom and gloom giving way to hope and salvation. And, amidst the hopeful promises God gives through the ancient prophet is the simple phrase “I will bring you home.” That phrase has so much meaning for me in so many layers:

  • As I care for aging parents and grieve the “home” that I once knew.
  • As I watch our girls spread their wings and scatter to their respective paths and realize the “home” that I have so recently known and loved has suddenly gone the way of winter in an early spring.
  • As I come home from three long days working with clients to find Wendy waiting at the door for me with a cold beer, hot meatloaf, and a warm kiss; realizing in that moment the home that I am so blessed to experience each day, right now.
  • As I wax poetic in my annual giddiness for baseball season and ponder anew the game in which the goal is to arrive safely home.

“I will bring you home,” God says through Zephaniah.

[sigh]

  A Note to Readers
I’m taking a blogging sabbatical and will be editing and re-publishing my chapter-a-day thoughts on David’s continued story in 2 Samuel while I’m taking a little time off to focus on a few other priorities. Thanks for reading.
Today’s post was originally published in March 2016.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

The Source and the Purpose

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The Source and the Purpose (CaD 1 Sam 30) – Wayfarer

David replied, “No, my brothers, you must not do that with what the Lord has given us. He has protected us and delivered into our hands the raiding party that came against us. Who will listen to what you say? The share of the man who stayed with the supplies is to be the same as that of him who went down to the battle. All will share alike.”
1 Samuel 30:23-24 (NIV)

This past Sunday afternoon, Wendy and I were blessed to help host over 100 people for a backyard cookout along with one of our backyard neighbors. We grilled up a bunch of burgers and dogs and people brought sides and desserts to share.

Last night our home was invaded by about twenty or so high school sophomores and their three adult leaders. A few weeks ago we were asked if the young people could meet at our house on Wednesday nights during this school year. There was never really any question. We’re glad to have them. Wendy and I stuck around for a bit to be introduced to the kids before we sequestered ourselves. Wendy and I have talked about making Wednesday night a date night with some friends who have also volunteered their house for the Wednesday night youth gatherings.

In today’s chapter, David and his men return to their sanctuary town in Philistine territory having been told to do so by King Achish in yesterday’s chapter. While they were off mustering for battle a raiding party of Amalekites swept through, plundered their town, and burned it to the ground. The Amalekites also took all of their wives and children as captives. The first thing David does is consult the priest, Abiathar, to inquire of God whether they should pursue the raiding party. David is given the green light.

While they are in hot pursuit, about 200 of David’s 600 men become weary and choose to stay behind. The remaining 400 overtake the Amalekites, defeat them and return with everyone’s women, children, and all the plunder the Amalekites had taken on their raids.

At this point, the 400 men who completed the defeat of the Amalekites argue with David that the 200 men who stayed behind should not receive any of the plunder since they didn’t participate in the battle. David’s response is swift and strong. The victory, David says, belongs to the Lord, not to their military prowess. The plunder, therefore, is a gift from God and it is to be shared by everyone. David calls his men to think about their Level Three circumstances with a Level Four perspective.

Along my spiritual journey, I have slowly come to embrace the spiritual reality that everything I have belongs to God. Everything in my “possession” will be abandoned and left behind when this journey is over. Jesus is the Alpha point from which all good things flow and all the good things that have flowed into my life. Jesus is the Omega point to which all good things, including all the good things in my life, will ultimately return. I’m not an owner. I’m a steward. The belief that anything I have is really mine is an illusion.

This is why there was never really any question that Wendy and I would allow our home to be invaded every Wednesday night by a bunch of teenagers. We are so blessed with our house. It’s exceeding, abundantly, beyond what we could have once imagined. The story of building it is a God story that leaves us with no doubt that we were supposed to build it, that we were supposed to use it generously, and with it, we were to practice hospitality. It was built to be used, lived in, and shared.

This morning, in the quiet, I’m thankful for all of the blessings I enjoy including my wonderful home office where I sit and type these words, but I’m also thankful for learning to have perspective about the source of the blessing and what we are to do with it.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Pajama Worship

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Pajama Worship (CaD Heb 10) – Wayfarer

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. Hebrews 10:24-25 (NIV)

One of the things that changed for many Jesus followers during the COVID pandemic was our “meeting together.” Our local gathering, like most others, moved to produce weekly worship online. I don’t think I’ll ever forget delivering messages to an empty auditorium and a camera.

Like everything in life, there were both opportunities and challenges with staying home and watching worship online. I confess that it was nice to enjoy a lazy morning sitting on the couch in my pajamas. Likewise, I know a lot of families who took advantage of online church to consciously make it a family event. “When life gives you lemons,” as they say.

Our community has been back in regular meeting mode for a long time, though we’re still broadcasting worship online each week. Data from the Institute for Family Studies revealed that the number of regular attenders is down in every demographic while the number of “never attend” is up by similar percentages. There are a number of factors to this decline. Some have legitimate health concerns and a reason to continue being cautious. There are other reasons, however, including those who simply found that they prefer watching, on their couch, in their pajamas.

I thought about this as I read the author of Hebrews encouragement to “not give up meeting together.” For the author, the decline in regular in-person participation was very different. He is writing to Hebrew believers who had gone back to the Jewish synagogue and the sacrificial system of Moses. It’s why he has written so much, and so passionately, about the old system becoming obsolete as Christ ushered in an entirely new spiritual reality. Some couldn’t, or wouldn’t, make the change. They walked away and went back. Old habits die hard.

In the quiet this morning, I find myself mulling over both the opportunities and challenges I’ve experienced in the return to a new “normal.” Since in-person meetings opened back up again, Wendy and I have chosen a couple of times to stay home together and watch online. It was a bit of a sabbath from the routine, and it was good for the soul. We also have loved being able to watch online when we travel or are at the lake, and it’s kept us more connected when we’re away.

At the same time, I have personally found that there’s no substitute for meeting together in person. This is also true in business, as the work world has embraced video meetings as a substitute for in-person meetings. What I’ve observed is that there is so much relationship, connection, and conversation that happens around the meetings themselves. Just this past Sunday I caught up with so many friends who are going through different struggles and circumstances in life. I get to hug them, hear how things are going, and learn how I can pray more specifically for them and their situation.

I thought this morning about every personal interaction and conversation I had with individuals before and after our last meeting together. I made a list in my head, pictured the individuals, and considered what we talked about. I then asked myself if those interactions were beneficial for me, for my life, and my relationships, and whether I would have been missing something had I stayed home and watched on the couch in my pajamas. For me, there’s no doubt about the answer. Those personal interactions are as vital and life-giving as anything that happened within the meeting itself.

Things change, and I’m sure that COVID has changed life in ways that we’ll be sorting out for decades to come. Reading about these changes in the media, I observe that the take is often the way the media enjoys simplifying things into binary choices: good or bad. When it comes to people not returning to in-person worship I find it a “yes, and.” There are both good things and bad things that have resulted in the change. C’est la vie.

As for me, I know that spurring fellow believers on and being spurred on by them, encouraging and being encouraged, and loving and being loved don’t happen in equal measure when I’m sitting on the couch watching in my pajamas.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.