Page 2 – Richard S. Hipps

I HAVE TOO MUCH STUFF

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“If you have two coats, one of them belongs to the poor”
— Dorothy Day

John Wesley was one of the wealthiest men in 18th century England but he undertook a vegetarian lifestyle while at Oxford in view of the paralyzing poverty of the underclass of his day. His reasoning is as convicting now as it was then: “How can I eat meat when others have no bread?” Wesley determined to live as simply as possible and earn as much as possible so he could give more alms for those living in hunger and poverty.

Does this seem extreme? Not if we take seriously what Jesus says he will say to those of us who spend our lives over-consuming and ignoring the needs around us:

Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or
needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?
He will reply, “I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for
one of the least of these, you did not do for me.”
(Matthew 25:44-45)

Pray for me. I want to begin practicing what I preach. I have been reading a lot about “minimalism” and I keep hearing God say to me, “Un-clutter your life Richard.” What I am seeking is this: A lifestyle that helps me question what things add value to my life. If I begin clearing the clutter from my life, I can make room for that which is most important. I plan on spending the next year unpacking what this truly means for me and making the necessary changes.

James Mulholland was watching a Christian from Sudan being interviewed on television. “How can our rich Christian brothers and sisters in America ignore the fact that we in Sudan are starving to death?” Mulholland thought to himself, “I’m glad I don’t have to answer that question.” At that moment the Holy Spirit tapped Mulholland on the shoulder and whispered, “You do.”

There are some who interpret the miracle of the feeding of the 5000 (Mark 6:35-44) in a more human and practical way. Could it be that what happened was that people saw Jesus take the little food he had and offered it to them? And, being deeply moved by his compassion and generosity, suddenly the baskets and packages of food that had been hoarded and hidden by hundreds were freely offered to those around them.

We may not think that’s much of a miracle but it is definitely a miracle when people turn from selfishness and decide to be gracious and generous. Over-consumption is not a Kingdom principle and when we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,” we are asking to be blessed with a spirit of simplicity and frugality. May we all look for ways to clear not only our homes but our heads and hearts in order to embrace a minimalist lifestyle that reflects the kingdom of God.

How much stuff can you give away in 2017?

-Richard

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UNWORTHY TO PRAY?

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I have read with interest much of the commentary surrounding President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to lead the prayer at his inauguration on January 20, 2017. Paula White, a Pentecostal “prosperity preacher,” does have some unorthodox beliefs and is twice divorced. She admits that she has made some poor decisions in life and has been less than perfect in her Christian witness. One Christian said, “I would rather hear a Hindu pray than Paula White.”

This all reminds me of something I read in Philip Gulley’s excellent novel called JUST SHY OF HARMONY. This book is about a pastor of a small-town Quaker congregation. One of the members of the church is diagnosed with terminal leukemia and the pastor and the congregation pray earnestly for her healing. However, healing does not come and she only gets worse.

Some of the church members are avid followers of a greasy televangelist named Johnny LaCosta. He is the kind of guy who pretends to be a vessel of healing if enough seed money is sown into his ministry. So, these church members collect an offering and send it to Johnny LaCosta requesting that he pray for their sick friend.

On television a week or so later, televangelist Johnny LaCosta prays for the woman and pronounces her healed of her leukemia. And, sure enough, the leukemia disappears and the woman recovers completely. When the Quaker pastor hears that the woman is indeed healed he becomes angry and refuses to acknowledge that Johnny LaCosta had anything to do with it. God would never work through such a fraud.

A member of the congregation loved her pastor enough to challenge his attitude. “You seem annoyed that she was healed,” she said to her pastor. “What would be wrong with God using Johnny LaCosta to heal Sally?” Sam, the Quaker minister sputtered, “First, God didn’t use Johnny LaCosta to heal Sally. God doesn’t use people like that.” “I think God can use anyone,” answered Miriam his church member.

Pastor Sam slowly had to confess that maybe God had actually done something miraculous through such an unworthy vessel as Johnny LaCosta. “I still think he is a Bozo,” Pastor Sam declared. “So do I,” said Miriam, “but God apparently uses Bozos too.”

Spiritual arrogance is such an ugly thing. When we think we are usable and others aren’t, we show that we still don’t understand God’s amazing grace. One day, hopefully, we will awaken to the fact that God specializes in writing extraordinary stories about very ordinary and sometimes odd, unworthy, people like Paula White. And me.

So it might be a good thing to go easy on all your Bozos. God just might do something through them to remind you that without Christ, you too don’t have a prayer.

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. (II Corinthians 4:7)

May we walk humbly with our Lord in 2017

Richard Hipps

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Now Is All We Have

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Patricia and I just got back from visiting Italy. It is one of our favorite places and we made some great memories in the process. I remember one day in particular, in Florence, in a restaurant, enjoying a good meal. As we sat there I felt the Holy Spirit say, “Be present, be in the moment, savor this time with Patricia.” Usually I want to eat and move on to other things. Pack as much into a day as possible. But not that day. That day I was deliberately recording a “holy” and “sacred” memory.

May I encourage you to believe that God is working not just in the religious parts of our lives, but in the everyday, mundane, common parts as well? God is sovereign in both the secular and the sacred. And, if we think about it, aren’t all moments in life “sacred?” G.K. Chesterton once said:

You say grace before meals. All right, but I say grace before the concert and the
opera, and grace before the play, and grace before I open a book, and grace
before sketching, painting, swimming, boxing, walking, playing, dancing, and
grace before I dip the pen in ink.

All of us need to come to attention, slow down, and reflect deeply on the ways God has shown himself in the simplest of pleasures. For instance, the next time you are at a sports event or concert, surrounded by thousands of people, food, cheering, craziness, stop! Think deeply about what you are experiencing in that very moment. Pause, look at your family, your friends, see the “sacred” in sharing a day with them. Take your eyes off of the game or the artists and observe the faces all around you. Be attentive to God’s presence in them. Then reach over and touch someone who means the world to you. Be fully aware of just how blessed you are. Be thankful, be present, be attentive.

Have this same attitude as you pull out of your driveway, or take out the trash, or pick up a pen or pencil to write. Every moment, every encounter, can be a “holy” moment, a “holy” opportunity, for deeper intimacy with God. Psalm 118:24 reminds us that, “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Take hold of it NOW. The past is history. The future is mystery. The only time we really have is now, just this moment.

I bought the Back to the Future Trilogy not long ago because I love those movies. The date punched into the computer in the DeLorean is 10-26-85. That is the day our daughter, Lacey, was born. In the movie, Marty McFly and the Doc whiz back and forth from the past to the future. The moral of these movies is that when you try to live in the past or the future, life becomes so much more complicated. Marty McFly finally learns that it is better to live fully, gladly, in the now.

Do you know what I have decided? I have decided to leave time travel to the movies and, these mental trips I make to the past and future, are going to take up less and less of my time. I want to be “glad” and “rejoice” in the now. Like that special day Patricia and I spent in Florence. John Lennon was right; “Life is what happens when you’re making other plans.”

Richard Hipps

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THE SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE OF WALKING

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One of the things Patricia and I enjoy most about living in Memphis is its fabulous Shelby Farms Park. Having just undergone a $52 million expansion, it is one of the most beautiful parks in America. It’s walking trails draw us several times a week. These late afternoon walks feed us spiritually.

Charles Dickens, my favorite writer, was himself an avid walker. He had a daily schedule. He was always in his study by 8am where he wrote until noon. At this point his wife would bring him lunch which he ate at his desk. After lunch he continued working until 2pm. Then, at 2pm, he would take a 13-mile walk through the English countryside. In the evening he would spend quality time with his wife and children (10 of them) prior to going to bed.

As a walker I find Charles Dickens’ daily 13-mile walk intriguing. Imagine taking a 13-mile walk each day (Patricia and I walk 5.2 miles). On his walks Dickens strolled through little towns and villages taking in the details of houses and people. Because he had a great memory for details he could retain much of what he saw and would later use it in the story he was writing at the time.

I too have been inspired and nourished when I walk. Nature is such a healing force. In today’s local newspaper (The Commercial Appeal, September 19, 2016) there is an interesting article on the Japanese philosophy of “forest bathing.” Forest bathing encourages one to slow down and contemplate nature with all of one’s senses as a way of promoting well-being. The article encourages us, when we walk in nature to, “absorb what surrounds us, the beauty of nature, the beauty of the world, from the smallest details, the pebbles under your feet or the branches and the bark on the trees, how the air feels and listening to the sounds surrounding us. It can be absolutely wonderful.”

One writer suggests, “Walking can nourish the soul in unique ways if you walk not just with your legs, but with your mind, heart, and soul. Walking and praying go together well too. Let’s remember, Jesus walked everywhere he went. Do you think he found spiritual nourishment going from place to place? Of course he did. Just listen to his sermon illustrations.

Get outside my friend. When I went through a period of depression years ago it was the singing of birds that welcomed me back to health. Nature drew the darkness from me. It will do the same for you.

Have a wonderful week (outside).

Richard

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OUR LAST ENEMY

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This week is the 20th anniversary of the worst terrorist attack in our nation’s history. I can remember exactly where I was and what I was doing on that sunny Tuesday morning back in September 2001. I bet you can too. Thousands began the day thinking everything was fine but died before noon. It scared us all as we silently thought, “That could have been me.”

Most of us don’t want to think about death or dying, not even Christian ministers like myself. We do funeral after funeral pushing back the thought that one day someone else will be reading Psalm 23 over our grave. Rev. Michael Spencer speaks for a lot of clergy when he says:

I’ll make it simple: I don’t want to die. I, a Christian minister and a person of faith, do not want to die. The thought fills me with fear, and I am ashamed at how little faith I have in the face of what is a universal and uncontrollable human experience.

I’ll die, no matter how I feel about dying, but I’m not at peace with the reality of death right now, and my fear of death is becoming a more frequent visitor to the dark side of my soul. I’ve never been a brave person, but bravery isn’t the issue anymore. It’s acceptance and faith that rests in God, rather than denial, avoidance and the terror of my fears.

Number one on my list of things I don’t like about Christians is the suggestion I should have a happy and excited attitude about dying. “Uncle Joe got cancer and died in a month. Glory hallelujah. He’s in a better place and if you love the Lord that’s where you want to be right now. When the doctor says your time has come, you ought to shout praises to the Lord.” Or this one. “I’d rather be in heaven wouldn’t you? The earth is not my home. I’d rather be with Jesus and mama and Peter and Abraham than spend one more day in this world of woe.”

Not me. Not by a log shot. I like this world of woe, and I really don’t want to leave it.

My attitude hasn’t held me back as a minister. I can do a good funeral. Probably some of my best moments in the pulpit have been talking about heaven and what the Bible says about death. But there always was this one thing: it was the other guy who was dead. Not me. So I automatically had a more positive attitude.

With the arrival of middle age, my fear of death has perched itself on my shoulder like a talking parrot. It waits until every other thought and concern has quieted down, and then it squawks as loud as possible: “You’re going to die, and there’s nothing you can do about it.” It particularly likes to show up when I am going to sleep at night. I’ll say my prayers, begin to doze off, and SQUAWK, “Just a reminder big guy, you’re going to die.” For a few moments, I live in panic, fear and despair.

Call me whatever unspiritual names you like, but I don’t want to die. Everything about me wants to be alive in this world. I don’t want to say good-bye to my wife, children and friends. I don’t want there to be a last sermon, a last day at home, or a last drive in the country. When someone says we were made for heaven, I say, “OK but that’s not the way it seems to me. I appear to be made for living in this body, in this world, and enjoying it. I haven’t heard a prospect for heaven yet that sounds better than eating at my favorite barbecue place, making love, or going to the ball park.

Now that’s the kind of confessional preaching I enjoy. Bone honest, personal, and what so many of us are already thinking. However, I have to say, I no longer share Rev. Spencer’s earth-bound thinking when it comes to death and dying. There was a time when I did but watching my own little child die changed me forever. Earth alone has lost its luster. Paul speaks for me when he says, “If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied” (I. Corinthians 15:19). There has to be more. And there is.

Thinking about walking on God’s New Earth with Jesus, Alexandra, and the saints from all ages fills me with so much hope. I pray it does the same for you. I pray it does for the thousands remembering loved ones they lost two decades ago on 9/11. It all boils down to this: we either believe Jesus is alive and the best is yet to come, or we don’t. Unashamedly, I have to believe it. My whole life has been spent helping others believe it. I’ve come too far with the risen Jesus to turn back now. I’ve bet my life, death, and future resurrection on the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. How about you? What are you betting on?

The last enemy to be destroyed is death (I Corinthians 15:26).

Richard

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GOD IS PAYING ATTENTION TO YOU

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I believe one of my highest callings is helping people hear the voice of God in the middle of their lives. Frederick Buechner says, “Any life, his or yours or mine, is a sacred journey into which God comes and speaks–and that’s what makes the journey sacred.”

Rachel Roberts, a member of my congregation, sent me the following email:

Just the other night, God reminded me of something that happened when Daniel (her son) was very little. I had quit my job to be able to spend more time with him and money was VERY tight. He and I had gone to the grocery store to pick up a few essential items and as we got to the checkout counter, Daniel asked me if he could have a roll of LifeSavers. Being his mother, I wanted to give him a treat but knew how limited our money was. I told him that maybe the next time we came to the grocery store we would be able to get them. (Another thing that made it so hard to turn him down was that he was so obedient and sweet about not getting what he had asked for). Anyway, a couple of weeks later, Steve (her husband) came home with a few groceries including a box of cereal. As I reached for the box to put it away, I noticed that the cereal company had some sort of promotion going on and guess what was in that box of cereal– a roll of LifeSavers! Incredible!

God reminded me of that event (recently) as I was thinking about the future–college bills, retirement, etc. I knew if God would take care of something so small and non-essential, he would absolutely take care of the things we need. Another thing God has done on numerous occasions is put what I have nicknamed, “Popcorn Thoughts” in my head. They are random, tiny, uneventful moments out of my life. The first time God did this was as I was praying about a particular situation and these thoughts just started coming fast and furiously. They are literally minuscule moments from my life, but God has used this to tell me that he knows EVERYTHING about my life–things that I have forgotten or haven’t thought of for years. NOTHING has escaped him. He knows and is intimately involved in every moment of my past, everything that is going on right now, and every moment of my future. He is so creative in the different ways he speaks to us! I just love him so much.

God’s omniscience should bring us great comfort as it has Rachel Roberts. God knows our words before we speak them (Psalm 139:4); he knows our thoughts before we think them (Psalm 139:2); he knows our prayers before we pray them (Matthew 6:8); he knows when we get up in the morning and when we go to bed at night (Psalm 139:2-3); he knows everything we are going to do tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, and every moment of every day until the moment of our death ((Psalm 139:16); he sees everything we do in secret both the good and the bad (Matthew 6:4); and, in Psalm 5 we’re told he even hears our sighs!

God knows all things, past, present, and future and he knows them all at the same time. He not only knows what was, and what is, he also knows what will be. More than that, he knows everything that could be but is not. Think about that. I like what Leighton Ford says; “God is love and his love is focused attention.” I don’t know where you are today in your relationship with the God of the universe, but this one thing I do know: he is paying attention to you! That’s what you call love, focused attention.

Richard

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I Can Face Tomorrow (You Can Too)

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Like so many of you I love the music of Bill and Gloria Gaither. Gloria wrote one song in particular in the 1960s when she was expecting her first child. At that time she and Bill were suffering through some terrible problems. Bill had been seriously ill and their music was being criticized for not being “spiritual” enough.

On New Year’s Eve, Gloria writes:

I sat alone in the darkness thinking about this rebellious world and all of our problems–and about our baby yet unborn. Who in their right mind would bring a child into a world like this?

But then something happened I can’t quite explain. Suddenly I felt released from it all–an unavoidable peace. The panic that had begun to build inside was gently dispelled by a reassuring presence and a soft voice that kept saying, “Don’t forget the empty tomb…Don’t forget the empty tomb. Then I knew I could have that baby and face the future with optimism and trust, for I had been reminded it was all worth it BECAUSE HE LIVES!”

Out of that experience Gloria penned the words that have lifted the chin and strengthened so many suffering and discouraged saints:

Because he lives, I can face tomorrow,
Because he lives, all fear is gone,
Because I know he holds the future,
And Life is worth the living, just because he lives.

On this 4th of July weekend I scan the headlines in today’s newspaper:

POLICE DETAIN 13 IN CONNECTION WITH AIRPORT ATTACK
BREXIT QUAKE REACHES U.S.
WALL STREET ANXIETY REMAINS POST-BREXIT
AIRPORT SECURITY IN SPOTLIGHT
TRUMP OR HILLARY?

Are we going to make it? Is the world coming to an end? What will life be like if Hillary is elected? What will life be like if Trump is elected? What if the stock market collapses? Will we ever get out from under the burden of our national debt? Is global warming going have the devastating effect on our lives that many scientists are predicting? Is North Korea going to start WWIII? Will radical Islam continue to grow and gain new converts? Will the EU survive?

As I sip my coffee and type these words, I keep hearing a sweet voice say, “Don’t forget the empty tomb…Don’t forget the empty tomb.” I think it’s time, dear ones, time to refocus and remind ourselves that “God’s got this!” He has begun a good work, CREATION, and he will finish his good work, RE-CREATION. We just need to hold on and enjoy the ride as much as we can. It’s going to be bumpy. Jesus told us it would. But, praise God, when we arrive we’ll laugh at what we thought would be “the end.”

Happy 4th Of July! Eat well, enjoy your family and friends, and don’t you ever forget the empty tomb.

Richard Hipps

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RESTING IN THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD

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I’ve come to believe three things in regards to God’s sovereignty and man’s free will.

First, I believe salvation begins and ends with God. We talk a lot about “our” free will as if it were the central issue of life. It isn’t. God is the central issue of life. Had God not chosen us, we would never have chosen him.

The second thing I believe about God’s sovereignty and man’s free will is that God does exactly what God wants to do because he is God. Free will? Sure. God’s! He is the only one who truly has free will. Our will is tainted, broken, deficient.

The third thing I believe is that our only real security is found in God’s free will and sovereignty. Isn’t that what Philippians 1:6 teaches? “Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Who began the work? Who will carry it on? Until when?

I read about a young man named Peter who, at age 28, was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Less than a year the doctors had given him. After the diagnosis Peter went home, looked at his wife, looked at his small children, and raised his eyes to heaven thinking, “Oh God, why is this happening to me?” He fell into deep despair.

Peter had always enjoyed hiking in the wilderness with friends and, in an effort to lift his spirits, his wife arranged for a day trip that would not be too strenuous. Off they went, he and a close friend, through a cathedral forest and across a rocky ridge until they came to a beautiful lake.

Sitting by the lake, Peter’s friend could sense his despair. “What are you thinking Peter?” the friend asked. Peter looked around and said, “Everything is wrong about this place: The mountains, the lake, the forest. It’s all so permanent. It’s been here for thousands of years. It’s been here so long, and I, I won’t be here much longer. My wife’s already making plans for us to be here next year and I won’t even be here a year from now.”

His friend said nothing. What could he say? Peter never did make it back to that place. Not because he was gone but because the mountain, the lake and the forest is gone. All of it blew into oblivion when Mount St. Helens exploded. And, to the surprise of all, Peter is in full remission, healthy and happy.

-Richard

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ANSWERS OR INTIMACY?

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Many of us begin our walk of faith thinking that the Bible is a book of answers but really it is a book of questions. Some people are in church not because they are looking for God but because they are looking for answers. I smile at church billboards proclaiming “We Have the Answers.”

As a pastor, I want to be careful when it comes to giving answers. Why? Because I believe we can learn more by struggling for the answer and not finding it, than we can from learning the answer itself. I don’t have all the answers. I don’t try to be “the answer man.” You’ll hear me say often, “I don’t know.”

Would you agree with me in saying (being the control freaks we all are) that we seek the security of a closed system that promises “answers” to life’s problems long before we’re interested in seeking a relationship with the God who withholds them? We study the Bible as a problem-solving workbook long before we approach it as a doorway to an awesome “your-ways-are-not-my-ways” God.

I believe we learn more by not finding the answers because, in our deficiency, we are most likely to experience God. “His strength is made perfect in our weakness,” the Bible says (II Corinthians 12:9). I have come to believe that people who carry around the answers to all of life’s questions are not likely to have a dynamic relationship with the living God.

April 14 is our precious Leigh Alexandra’s birthday. Alex would have turned 28 this year. After her death in 1993, Patricia and I read everything we could to comfort ourselves and others who have or will walk this same path. One book in particular has meant a lot to me. It is Jeff Leeland’s ONE SMALL SPARROW. The title comes from Matthew 10:29 where Jesus says, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.”

The book chronicles Jeff’s 10-month-old son’s struggle against a potentially fatal bone marrow disease. It invites the reader to walk through the tortuous medical procedures the child had to endure to live. On top of the child’s illness, Jeff Leeland’s insurance would not cover a bone marrow transplant and a disabled junior high school student donated his life’s savings of $60 which started an outpouring of generosity that snowballed to $200,000.

I am happy to say that the transplant was a success and Leeland’s son has grown up and enjoys excellent health. There’s a line in the book that sustains me even though our Alex didn’t survive and grow up. Jeff Leeland writes:

“When our boy was journeying through the valley of the shadow of death during his transplant, we no longer felt God’s hand. But it was then we felt his heartbeat. It was then we realized most deeply that he is a personal God who weeps, who is acquainted with every sorrow, who has ached with every pain.”

What’s he saying? No answer, but deep intimacy. Remember Job? If you count the questions in the book of Job, you’ll come up with 288! Many of the questions were from the mouth of Job. Others were launched from the lips of his “friends.” But surprisingly, when God finally speaks in the closing chapters, his “answer” to Job comes in the form of more questions, 78 of them!

Of the 288 question marks in the book of Job, 78 belong to God; he answers Job with questions. Isn’t that interesting? Perhaps God answers with questions to leave us humbled, awed, weak, speechless, and believing. Believing not because we’ve found an answer, but because we’ve found God!

Since that sad, sad, day in 1993 when Alex died, we have enjoyed an intimacy with Jesus that we never would have enjoyed had we simply been given answers. Intimacy with God is what it’s all about my friend. Questions are unimportant when intimacy overwhelms. I rest today not because of answered questions but because of an ever deepening intimacy with the God who saw our “sparrow” fall (and cares).

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Mystics, Clowns, and Artists

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How much do you use your imagination in your faith walk with Jesus? I have pondered these words of Malcolm Muggeridge for years:

Only mystics, clowns, and artists, in my experience, speak the truth, which as poet
and mystic William Blake keeps insisting is perceptible to the imagination rather
than the mind. Our knowledge of Jesus Christ is far too serious a business to be
left to theologians and exegetes alone.

Maybe Muggeridge is right and we are listening too much to theologians and exegetes and too little to mystics, clowns, and artists.
Our left brain can only carry us so far. At that point we must turn ‘right’ and allow the imaginative and creative part of our brain to take the lead.

In our understanding of God and his ways, we will always “See through a glass darkly” (I Corinthians 13:12). This leads us into the territory of mystery and, mystery can never be captured or contained in dogma or doctrine.

In the words of one of my favorite writers, Stephen Shortridge, “If you think about it, God is the ultimate artist, an impressionist not a realist, and on his palette are paradox, and contradiction and, paradox and contradiction are just as beautiful as all the other colors he uses to display his splendor.”

Easter reminds us that we need desperately to leave room, a lot of room, for paradox and contradiction. If we can’t accept God’s hand at work in the contradictions and paradoxes we experience, then our faith walk will not be mystery. It will be misery.

Even though Scripture tells us that God’s ways are not our ways, and his thoughts are not our thoughts, we still don’t believe it and rebel against it almost on a daily basis.

We want realism (doctrine, dogma, and self-righteousness) but God is an impressionist using a canvas of trials, uncertainty, and mystery to create his masterpiece of love, forgiveness, and mercy.

Imagine how life would be if we learned to appreciate paradox and contradiction as much as we do certainty. This is why I appreciate so much the way Mark ends his telling of the Easter story. In Mark 16:8, we read, “Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.”

Now, my precious friends, run with your imagination!

Happy Easter.

Richard Hipps

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