Canvas DGroup Journey

---

Being Hopeful, Being Attentive

To be hopeful means to try to be attentive to the world around you, to others.

Here is one version of being attentive to others from the novel Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

---

This is an important thing, which I have told many people, and which my father told me, and which his father told him.  When you encounter another person, when you have dealings with anyone at all, it is as if a question is being put to you. So you must think, What is the Lord asking of me in this moment, in this situation? If you confront insult or antagonism, your first impulse will be to respond in kind. But if you think, as it were, This is an emissary sent from the Lord, and some benefit is intended for me, first of all the occasion to demonstrate my faithfulness, the chance to show that I do in some small degree participate in the grace that saved me, you are free to act otherwise than as circumstances would seem to dictate. You are free to act by your own lights. You are freed at the same time of the impulse to hate or resent that person. He would probably laugh at the thought that the Lord sent him to you for your benefit (and his), but that is the perfection of the disguise, his own ignorance of it.

A month before Christmas, while we are waiting to celebrate the birth of Jesus, we think about four central Christian attitudes toward life: Hope, Faith, Joy, Love.  If we want to follow Jesus, we want to learn to look at the world this way.

Hope is expectant waiting, between the birth of Jesus and the time he comes again to create a new heaven and new earth.  Hope is knowing that this particular moment, any particular moment, something of the eternal is present.

The Psalms and the Prophets talk a lot about waiting on the Lord.  Here is the end of Psalm 33 with a common refrain of the Psalms, and then one of my favorite passages from Isaiah.

---

Our soul waits for the Lord;
    he is our help and our shield.

For our heart is glad in him,
    because we trust in his holy name.
Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us,
    even as we hope in you.   (Psalm 33:20-22)

---

But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
    they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
    they shall walk and not faint.   (Isaiah 40:31)

Waiting Expectantly

That’s the secret. The secret of waiting is the faith that the seed has been planted, that something has begun. Active waiting means to be present fully to the moment, in the conviction that something is happening where you are and that you want to be present to it. A waiting person is someone who is present to the moment, who believes that this moment is the moment.

Waiting Together

The whole meaning of the Christian community lies in offering a space in which we wait for that which we have already seen. Christian community is the place where we keep the flame alive among us and take it seriously, so that it can grow and become stronger in us. In this way we can live with courage, trusting that there is a spiritual power in us that allows us to live in this world without being seduced constantly by despair, lostness, and darkness. That is how we dare to say that God is a God of love even when we see hatred all around us. That is why we can claim that God is a God of life even when we see death and destruction and agony all around us. We say it together. We affirm it in one another. Waiting together, nurturing what has already begun, expecting its fulfillment – that is the meaning of marriage, friendship, community, and the Christian life.

— Henri Nouwen

A Blessing to Begin Advent

It is difficult to see it from here,

I know,

but trust me when I say

this blessing is inscribed

on the horizon.

Is written on

that far point

you can hardly see.

Is etched into

a landscape

whose contours you cannot know

from here.

All you know

is that it calls you,

draws you,

pulls you toward

what you have perceived

only in pieces,

in fragments that came to you

in dreaming

or in prayer.

I cannot account for how,

as you draw near,

the blessing embedded in the horizon

begins to blossom

upon the soles of your feet,

shimmers in your two hands.

It is one of the mysteries

of the road,

how the blessing

you have traveled toward,

waited for,

ached for

suddenly appears

as if it had been with you

all this time,

as if it simply

needed to know

how far you were willing

to walk

to find the lines

that were traced upon you

before the day

that you were born.

—Jan L. Richardson  

Real holiness somehow brings into my life this sense of opening up opportunity, changing things.  It’s not about my being made to feel inadequate, or looked down on.  On the contrary, somehow I feel a little bit more myself, through recognizing God active in the world.

It’s about enlarging the world, and being involved in the world.  A holy person is somebody who is not afraid to be at the tough points in the center of what it’s like to be a human being and, in the middle of all that, actually to see things and people afresh.

If you want to be holy, look at God. If you want to be holy, enjoy God’s world, enter into it as much as you can in love and in service.

What we think about God is a pretty big issue.

If people think about God these days, they often are concerned that he is this mean and vindictive power hovering out there somewhere, perhaps making up random rules for humans to follow and ignoring all the suffering in the world.

Yet, when in a tight spot, people may very quickly turn and reach out to a God and expect him to “fix things”. Or they may find comfort in a benevolent grandfather God who just wants us to be happy.

Of course, many may rarely think of God. Life is too busy and demanding to worry about that. And some are just determined to believe, and let everyone know they believe, there is no such thing as a God. Believing so goes against all reason.

What do you hear people say about God? How do others you know think about God?

We want to talk a bit about this on Monday.

What we think about God shapes how we look at others and the world.

The Big Picture

reshaping our hearts and minds to the attitude of Jesus

story, world view, way of seeing

Things We Do

intentional actions

practice

Community

the body of Christ

commitment to others – commitment with others

The Holy Spirit is Alive and Well and Working

the presence of Jesus at work in our lives

Looking Outward

seeing all people as eternal beings

being salt and light in the world, culture, society

Psalm 29

Ever since the first century, many Christians have read the psalms when they prayed.  Here is a simple and profound psalm of praise to the power and presence of God, reminding us of who he is.

---

Praise the Lord, you heavenly beings;
    praise his glory and power.

Praise the Lord’s glorious name;
    bow down before the Holy One when he appears.

The voice of the Lord is heard on the seas;
    the glorious God thunders,
    and his voice echoes over the ocean.

The voice of the Lord is heard
    in all its might and majesty.

The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars,
    even the cedars of Lebanon.

He makes the mountains of Lebanon jump like calves
    and makes Mount Hermon leap like a young bull.

The voice of the Lord makes the lightning flash.

His voice makes the desert shake;
    he shakes the desert of Kadesh.

The Lord’s voice shakes the oaks
    and strips the leaves from the trees
    while everyone in his Temple shouts, “Glory to God!”

The Lord rules over the deep waters;
    he rules as king forever.

The Lord gives strength to his people
    and blesses them with peace.

---

When Jalen was youth minister at Canvas, he would always begin his prayers with something like, “Thank you God for who you are and who you made us to be.”  A reminder that there is a God, that he created us, and that he made us to be someone particular.  That changes everything.

The history of the Israelites and God’s dealing with his people is centered on one thing: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one God!”  And that history lead to that God becoming human in Jesus, who calls us to follow him and be the person he created us to be.

One simple way to pray this week is to take a couple of minutes to read this psalm, be quiet for a moment, pray honestly, be quiet, read the psalm again.  Maybe one day, a couple, maybe once a day.

Psalm 27

This is a rather long psalm in two parts:

V. 1-6 is a statement about God. A statement of confidence and trust. V. 7-13 is a direct cry to God, a cry for his attention and help. The relationship of trust allows the speaker to boldly come before God.

That the speaker describes God as a fortress, a refuge, a shelter, and a rock, assumes that there is and will be trouble in this world and we need God’s help and protection.

---

Psalm 27

¹ The Lord is my light and my salvation;
    whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold^[a] of my life;
    of whom shall I be afraid?

² When evildoers assail me
    to devour my flesh—
my adversaries and foes—
    they shall stumble and fall.

³ Though an army encamp against me,
    my heart shall not fear;
though war rise up against me,
    yet I will be confident.

⁴ One thing I asked of the Lord;
    this I seek:
to live in the house of the Lord
    all the days of my life,
to behold the beauty of the Lord,
    and to inquire in his temple.

⁵ For he will hide me in his shelter
    in the day of trouble;
he will conceal me under the cover of his tent;
    he will set me high on a rock.

⁶ Now my head is lifted up
    above my enemies all around me,
and I will offer in his tent
    sacrifices with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make melody to the Lord.

⁷ Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud;
    be gracious to me and answer me!
⁸ “Come,” my heart says, “seek his face!”
    Your face, Lord, do I seek.
⁹     Do not hide your face from me.

Do not turn your servant away in anger,
    you who have been my help.
Do not cast me off; do not forsake me,
    O God of my salvation!
¹⁰ If my father and mother forsake me,
    the Lord will take me up.

¹¹ Teach me your way, O Lord,
    and lead me on a level path
    because of my enemies.
¹² Do not give me up to the will of my adversaries,
    for false witnesses have risen against me,
    and they are breathing out violence.

¹³ I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord
    in the land of the living.
¹⁴ Wait for the Lord;
    be strong, and let your heart take courage;
    wait for the Lord!

A gift, that costs us not less than everything

In the midst of the anxieties and obsessions that highlight the time in which we live, we might come to discover that relationship which makes us whole, that relationship with the unconditional presence and witness, forgiveness and affirmation that belong to God.

We discover all this, in short, in relation to the God of the Gospels, the God of Jesus, the God Jesus is.

The gospel of God, as the New Testament puts it before us, is good news about an eternal presence, an agency and intelligence wholly committed to who we are and who we shall become.

Jesus is wholly committed to our growth into what we are made to be, and to each person in our distinctiveness: patient, undemanding and massively demanding.

God offers us life, peace, presence to ourselves and to him; a gift that costs us not less than everything, yet in another sense costs nothing at all, because a gift is what it is.

Rowan Williams (slight paraphrase)

---

Wholly committed to him, who is wholly committed to us.

Discipleship Starting Points

Discipleship

Is NOT one good option among many other good options, merely a personal preference.

Is NOT an add on to our lives, something we need to fit into our schedule.

---

Discipleship is about

you individually and what God made you to be

the group of Christ followers he calls together  to share life

the everyday world in which we live and work, and those we meet there

---

It is rethinking what life is and what really matters,

and ordering your life around truth and reality in the light of God’s Kingdom.

It is learning to be who you were truly made to be, and finding where all your dreams, desires, and hopes were really pointing.

Psalm 4

¹ Answer me when I call, O God of my right!
    You gave me room when I was in distress.
    Be gracious to me, and hear my prayer.

² How long, you people, shall my honor suffer shame?
    How long will you love vain words and seek after lies? 
³ But know that the Lord has set apart the faithful for himself;
    the Lord hears when I call to him.

⁴ When you are disturbed, do not sin;
    ponder it on your beds, and be silent. 
⁵ Offer right sacrifices,
    and put your trust in the Lord.

⁶ There are many who say, “O that we might see some good!
    Let the light of your face shine on us, O Lord!”
⁷ You have put gladness in my heart
    more than when their grain and wine abound.

⁸ I will both lie down and sleep in peace,
    for you alone, O Lord, make me lie down in safety.   (NRSV)

---

The speaker cries out honestly to God expecting him to answer, to be gracious, and to hear his prayer.  He talks about being distressed (v. 1), literally in a tight place (a word Job uses many times to describe his troubles), and disturbed or angry (v. 4).  Two situations and feelings we can all relate to.

This prayer offers us at least two ways to face the troubles of life. The answer is found in remembering the bigger picture, the larger story,

Remember who God is, who you are, and what he has done.  The Psalm starts by using the general word for “god”, and then in v. 3 uses the name Yahweh (noted by the Lord in “all caps”).  Yahweh is the personal, covenant name revealed to Israel as God called them to be his people, and set them apart. 

Commit to being with the congregation of believers.  Vs. 5-6 reflect worship at the temple where the Israelites would come before the presence, the face of God, and in effect remember and renew their covenant with him.

When squeezed and distressed by life, we often forget, are blind to, or are distracted from the larger reality that should be shaping us and the way we look at the world.  God created us.  Jesus died and rose for us, and calls us to be like him.  When we regularly meet together to worship and fellowship with fellow believers, we proclaim and share that reality, and commit to live toward God’s kingdom.