Goals For The Story

This week I have read two opposite views of how we can look at a New Year. Comparing them, reminded me that each of us has to determine how we will let the Lord work in us each year — and, in reality, each day.

I will give you the second one first. It is the Peanuts strip for January 2. Lucy and Charlie Brown, with coats and hats on, are out in the snow. Lucy does all the talking: “I hate this year! Everyone said things would be better, but they’re not! I don’t think this is a new year at all…. I think we’ve been stuck with a USED YEAR!!”

The first one was in an email that arrived in my inbox on New Years Day. The email recounted this piece of history: In many doorways of the Roman Empire there was a depiction of a god with two faces pointing in opposite directions. Janus was the god of transitions. He looked ahead and he looked behind--to the past and the future. He was a kind of doorkeeper, a minder of the gate. And so our calendar's first month, January, is named after him.

On January 1 of the new year we look behind, and we look ahead. We have an opportunity to decide how we will view 2013. Do you feel like you have been stuck with a used year, or do you see the new year as a transition? We can look behind and see where we have been, but mostly we need to look ahead and see where God is leading us. Where will God lead you in 2013?

As you know by now, we will go through The Story — the Bible story — this year. As we consider together as a congregation the rich, multi-faceted story of the Bible and how it all comes together as one dynamic story, we have an opportunity to see the Bible in new way. As we do so, we can experience our walk with God in new and powerful ways.

On December 30, I disclosed in my message that there are three goals I would like each of us to accomplish as we consider The Story together. Let me review them in writing for you:

(1) Know the Story. I hope that by the end of this year, you will have a better understanding of the Bible and how its various pieces connect to one another. I hope that when you hear the main characters of the drama that unfolds in the Bible mentioned that you will be able to place them in their place in Bible history. I hope that you will know the unfolding story of the Bible well enough that you could summarize it for someone in ten minutes.

(2) Read the Story. There is no better way to know the Bible than to read it. One way to do that this year is to read the corresponding chapter in the book, The Story, for each week’s message and study. Each chapter presents that week’s scripture in a story format. Beyond that, I hope you will begin to read the Bible as a regular practice in your life if you do not already do so.

(3) Live the Story. We will use two terms during this year to reflect on God’s Story: Upper Story refers to the great unfolding drama of God’s work in the world that is revealed in the Bible; Lower Story refers to how each of the characters in the Bible and how each of us live our lives in light of God’s story. I hope you will work at letting every part of your life reflect God’s work within you.

Don’t make this a “used year.” Make it a year in which you look forward to how God can use your story to continue telling his Story.

God’s Great Passion is to Be With You

Some movies start at warp speed. Case in point: Star Trek. From the opening scene to the end it barely lets you breathe. If you slip out for popcorn you were sure to miss something important. And yet, people did.

That’s not me. I don’t want to miss anything in the movie. I want to be there when the movie starts. Try getting to a movie at least 20 minutes early sometime. Never done that? Then next time you go to a movie look around and spot the person that is in the prime seat—dead middle, eye level with the center of the screen. That’s what 20 minutes early gets you. Popcorn and drink in hand, nothing will move this person from their secured spot for the duration of the movie.

That’s where you need to be for God’s story. Its opening scene also starts with a relentless pace that doesn’t let up. The first line reads, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).

Right off the bat we find the main character in the story is not you or me. It’s God. And the rest of The Story will unfold out of the nature and person of this character. Just ten words in and there is enough action to leave you breathless.

It doesn’t take long to find out what God’s great passion is. Birds? Nope. Animals? Not quite. Sun, moon or stars? Bright guess. No, in Genesis 3:8 we find that God is walking in the Garden with Adam and Eve in the “cool of the day.”

Sounds nice if you are in a hot, humid climate, doesn’t it? And yet the “cool of the day” is not the focus. God is, and he is near. He is right with Adam and Eve. And he is right here with us. His simple vision for his creation was to spend time with them every day, to take a walk with them. God’s supreme passion is to be with us.

Some of you have lived your life with the idea that God is some angry cosmic kill-joy who sits in the heavens and watches you, waiting for you to make a mistake so he can zap you. Or, you feel he is distant and doesn’t care or has simply forgotten you.

But from the beginning he has shown us this is not the case. He wants to be with you. He has not forgotten you. In fact, this might be the perfect time for you to go for a walk.