An Island of Peace within One's Soul

Howard Thurman possesses such an eloquent and significant way to engage his readers. "An Island of Peace within One's Soul." It's just a simple phrase; seven words. Yet it causes the follower of Christ to not only reflect but to put his/her life under self-examination. One is compelled to ask certain questions.

"Do I have an island of peace in my soul?"

"Is an island of peace set aside for the spiritually elite?"

"Is this another example of a feathery statement which has so many interpretations that it really has no meaning at all?"

I believe Thurman has touched on something that is often diluted by safe Christianity; the 'version' that doesn't require much risk and exists at the convenience of the believer.

How true it is that we exist to be transformed. We exist to be formed into the likeness of Christ. We have unfortunately been taught that peace is just an immediate (and automatic) byproduct of our acceptance of Christ. I'm not so sure.

An island of peace in a person's soul is something that must be worked at over time. It truly is about the stability of the Christian. As Thurman writes, "the only possibility of stability for the person is to establish this island of peace. Here one brings for review the purposes and dreams to which one's life is tied."

And within this island is a temple. The temple where God dwells. (hang in there with me.) And it is not the God of the creed, the church, the family, but the God of one's heart. How terrible it is when people never find their island of peace. As a result, they never find their true home.

Some of Thurman's thoughts could be taken as just one more example of the me, me, me approach to our faith. Some may criticize and say, "Our faith is not only about ourselves. There are wrongs to be righted, the poor to be fed, injustices reversed, and responsibilities to own up to."

But let's not neglect the importance of the nurturing of our own soul. Even in our noisy world, there is a door to God that is found through complete silence and a reflection that lays it all out before God. And it takes silence to discover and explore the island. I can't remember who said it but, "Find the door of your heart and there you will find the Kingdom of God."

I Rest This Day in God

"I do not seek the comfort of a guarantee that all my tomorrows will be safe and sure, that strength will be mine at a single time to carry all my need in the days ahead. This would be too much, too much for such a one as I.

I rest this day in God."

"I put in a single place all the pieces of my erring ways, the urgent thoughts both good and bad, together with my rights and wrongs. All in a single place they go. Here they lie where all is loss and all is gain, for they are mine. As for me-

I rest this day in God."

- Howard Thurman, "Meditations of the Heart"

A Calm Sea

In Matthew, the disciples climbed into a boat (very unlike the one above) and felt very secure. Why did they feel security? Because the sea was calm and quiet. You've experienced it before; gentle rolling waters lapping against the banks of a large lake. No thunderheads in the distance and no wind in the trees to cause any worry. But then the secure environment changed. The winds became stronger and the waves grew in size. Security gone.

Anxiety can be overwhelming. A difficult, present situation can keep us up at night. Sometimes it seems that there is nothing that we can do about it. We try listening to each breath and we only become more conscious that we are trying to make ourselves fall asleep. The television only places images in our mind that won't allow calmness to enter. Books can make us sleepy but they often serve as only a temporary fix. Before you know it, two hours have passed!

And who was asleep when the waves created anxiety and unrest on the boat? That's right....Jesus.

From a prison cell in 1944, facing certain death, Bonhoeffer wrote that only faith can sleep without a care, for sleep is a reminder of paradise. Faith has its security in God alone. The disciples could not sleep. The secuity was gone. That had little to hold on to. Theirs had been a false security that was only fear in a different dress. Such security does not overcome fear and soon disappears, for fear is only overcome by faith, which leaves behind all false securities, leaves them fallen and broken. Faith does not believe in itself, or in a favorable sea, or in favorable conditions, or in its own power, or in any other human power, but solely, completely in God-whether there are storms or not.

And the quote that just won't let go of me..."It is the only faith that is not superstition, that does not lead us back into fear, but rather frees us from fear."

First Baptist Church of Memphis has experienced a time of transition; a time of uncertainty. May we continue to place our faith in God alone and not in people or in a person. God has provided us calm seas but it is not the sea in which we place our trust. It is in God alone. And only through that type of faith can we rest with the confidence of Jesus. All other faith is merely superstition.

The Question Everyone's Asking

Where is God?

It's an easy question to answer when things are going well. It's entirely a different approach when things are going bad.

I'm one of these people who believe that every person, in their own unique way, asks the question, "Where is God?" In fact, I don't trust anyone who claims that they are immune from ever having the question enter into their mind. And one should never feel ashamed by asking it. Ultimately, it is simply a recognition that God is 'other' than us. He is transcendent. He is mysterious and cannot be contained by words or theories. So let's not beat up on the one's who ask it.

Truthfully, I am not consumed with the question of "Where is God?" Things are typically good in my life and I can easily accept the truth that God is not like me. Therefore, I do not quarrel much with God and can remain comfortable with the fact that the mess the world is in will ultimately be worked out in the end.

But I have asked it before...and so have you! So let's entertain the question for a moment. After all, it IS the question that everyone is asking. Even atheists have placed God in the camp of non-existence. They have placed him someWHERE.

Even C.S. Lewis wrote in his journal shortly after his wife's death from cancer, "Meanwhile, where is God? This is one of the most disquiting symptoms. When you are happy, so happy that you have no sense of needing Him, so happy that you are tempted to feel His claims upon you as an interruption, if you remember yourself and turn to Him with gratitude and praise, you will be - or so it feels - welcomed with open arms. But go to Him when your need is desperate, when all other help is in vain, and what do you find? A door slammed in your face, and a sound of bolting and double bolting on the inside. After that, silence. You may as well turn away. The longer you wait, the more emphatic the silence will become."

Wow, even C.S. Lewis! Double bolting???

So where is God? I can't answer it and if I thought I could, then I would be certain of one thing: that I am wrong. I would be better off trying to simply explain where God is NOT.

But I think Scripture help us out. Brian Jones, in his book Second Guessing God, brings out the point that before the Israelites entered the promise land, they also asked the question. The scene is the Jordan River and the characters are the many Israelites that had known nothing in life but wandering in the desert. The women, the children, the ones with disabilites...this is real world stuff. The blind must of heard the roaring river (it was the flood season) and wiped their faces and thought, "no way". The elderly were ready to hold hands with the young adults. They must have known that many would die; that this was another piece of the punishment puzzle that had been going on for decades.

But a miracle of God took place and here lies the importance. The water piled up (didn't dry up) many miles upstream in the city of Adam. The water dried up in front of them so that they could cross over but they were not actual witnesses to the wonderment of the water piling up in a different location.

I believe it is safe for us to take the above story and apply it to our own difficult situations. I am always reluctant to jump into 2008 so quickly. But I do believe that God is working for our good even though we may not see it, believe it, or understand it. Why must I see it, believe it, or understand it anyway? I am only disappointed by most things that I can see, hear, touch, feel, or smell. (I don't really know of ever being disappointed by a smell, but anyway...). So why not place all of our trust in the one person in our lives who is not confined and explained by our five senses?

God is always working upstream in our lives? And to consider the above story again, God loves to work generationally. Maybe my faithfulness is important because God wants to do something amazing through my children or my children's children. I can never fully know. But I can fully trust that God is working behind all the scenes of my life, working for the good, and providing me with what I need.

PROVIDEnce. God working upstream.

What A Difference a Couple of Years Can Make!

I know I write too much about hurricane Katrina. Maybe this will be the last. But I am amazed that now my family can now look back on it as a distant memory. This Christmas we gathered together and made the new house into a home. Surprisingly we all agreed that it felt quite normal, even more appreciated. Thanks be to God.