Lesson from Job on anger

I am always surprised by the number and amount of anger people in church.  Although I have blogged on the fact that no one at church is expected to be perfect and it is of course a place for sinners; unless you are brand new to church you would think (or presume) that those attending are trying to get better...trying to create a relationship with God.

I am thus surprised by the shear number of people who come to church anger and despite a worship service in which we are encouraged to open ourselves to the spirit, we instead allow ourselves to stew to the breaking point - taking our anger out on others in the church or God. 

How can the church be a place for healing and a place for sinners to come and find God if in fact, it is a place full of anger and contempt?  That is what we need to work on...creating an environment within our Churches (universal) and our individual churches that is both inviting to all those who need a place to find God and safe enough for others to work through their relationship with God, even if that relationship is one full of anger. 

I am always reminded of Job because Job had EVERY reason to be angry and hate God, he had every reason to turn his head and walk away from the Divine and never believe again - and yet he didn't.  He stayed faithful to God and to what came his way.  He didn't let Satan win, he didn't let evil (or negative feelings) get in the way of opening himself up to the Spirit and allowing God to help him through his healing process.

When we enter into relationship with God - be it through praise and worship, be it through prayer and devotion, be it through yoga and meditation - we should be entering with open minds, open hearts and most importantly ready.  Even if we don't know what we are ready for - or even if we deserve that reward.  We should open ourselves to God as we would a beautiful present that is left at our door - we don't know what is inside but we ready to find out. 

If you come to the Creator full of anger then you will not be open to the healing that could come...if you come anger you will surely leave disappointed that you aren't in control of everything, especially God.  But if you enter into relationship with the Divine ready - you will be surprised the healing that can take place, the learning that can change and the grace that can transform. 

So come to God this week - not anger with your situation or the fact that you aren't in control of your life, but with submission - or perhaps shame - or guilt - or lack of trust - or fear - but come READY and you may be surprised what you find.

responding to God

For awhile now, I have been thinking about this - how do we respond to God.  You see, our baptism is just a sprinkling of H2O and a nice presentation if we don't ACT on the Spirit that moves within us.  Our life as a Christian - going to church and serving on committees - is just a facade if we don't ACT on the commandments that God speaks to us. You see, our faith is only a RELIGION - a SET of disciplinary rituals or a set of customs UNLESS we ACT.

In The Lorax we find a stone with the word "Unless" and at the end we find out it means that unless someone cares or more precisely, acts on those cares.  And that is true about our faith...for it doesn't become faith unless we actually act on God's call...unless we respond to God.

We can go to church on Sunday morning and still not be following God; but the same is true that we may think we are following God and find ourselves no where on Sunday mornings.  We need to respond to the Spirit that is flowing within us and the God who is calling us by name to follow - to understand - to believe and more importantly to ACT.

Action however, is not self-righteous or stem from our own motives. Action does not mean that we follow our wills but that we listen for Gods.  Acting and responding to God's call is about trust!  Trusting in something bigger then ourselves, grandeur then our imagination and more knowing then our own eyes.

And that is where it becomes difficult to respond to God - for you see it is difficult to trust God.  Let us face it, we as people (as humans) don't trust ourselves much let alone other people.  We are always second guessing others and being suspicious of their own behavior - why? Because we know what we, ourselves, are capable of and we don't expect better from anyone else.  But God calls us to live better, to be better and more importantly God expects better from us.

So, let us respond to God in our daily lives - knowing that God is our cheerleader, God is on our side and that God is waiting for us to in our faith respond.