Within an hour after posting this picture, the Gulf Stream winds of western Scotland turned the heavens into a peaceful setting as the sun sat over the horizon. 

Sudden changes. Life is full of them. One moment it looks dark, threatening and scary. The next moment everything is different; calm, serene, even peaceful. It seems as if the world is at peace with itself. 

Jesus once said to His disciples, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” (John 14:27)  An early follower of Jesus named Paul once wrote of this “peace” that it passes all human understanding. 

In the midst of trouble and conflict and a capriciously changing world, those who take Jesus seriously have a certain air about them. They know that God is with them , no matter what happens in life. They are not alone. This air, this counterintuitive sense of peace mystifies the world but His followers know it as a glimpse of grace. 

Lord, in the midst of change and trouble, give me Your peace of mind and heart that passes all human understanding. Amen. 

On my last day in Iona I attended the morning prayer service held in the Abby. Built in the sixth century it was attacked by Vikings in 755.

Sitting in the damp stone Cathedral with the early morning light filtering through the windows as the day’s worship leader silently lit candles throughout  the worship space, I was enveloped by sense of holy wonder.  How many worshippers throughout the centuries sanctified this place with their prayers, chants and tears? Sitting there I understood the greatness of time and the brevity of our lives.  

The service itself was quite simple. A responsive reading called us to worship. Ahymn was sung. In a prayer of confession we acknowledged our contribution to the brokenness of the world. A liturgist read the day’s Gospel lesson, a reading from John.  There was no sermon. The Gospel has its own power. 

I remember something that sociologist, teacher and theologian Tony Complo once said in a series of talks entitled Affluenza. He said that before he went to seminary he thought that Jesus meant everything He said; you know, things like forgive, turn the other cheek, be generous, don’t be all “judged” and things like that. But thank goodness for seminary, he continued, because it was there that he learned that Jesus didn’t  mean any of that stuff. What Compolo was really saying is that too often preachers “tame” the Gospel lest it offend anyone and threaten job security! Yes, I do wonder if it wouldn’t be better to let the Gospel speak for itself in all of its stark offensive challenging rawness. 

We prepared to leave our time together with a prayer for specific areas of the world. On this day it was for various “minor” nations in Asia, the places we don’t hear much about until Anthony Bourdain takes us to eat. A hymn served as the benediction. And then there was a prayer for peace and the Kingdom of God to reign on earth as it does in heaven. 

As you leave the service you walk past markers from the sixth and seventh centuries. You have worshiped where they worshipped. You are a part of them, and they are a part of you. What you share in common is a glimpse of holy timeless grace. 

Lord God, for all the saints who from their labors rest, we give You thanks. Amen. 

“I want to be baptized but my church won’t let me.” That’s what a Chinese Christian hostess said to me late one evening in Edinburgh. It had been a long day. I was ready “to call it a day” but how could when just a few hours earlier I wrote a blog about the importance of investing in people?

“What do you mean, ‘They won’t baptize you?’”, I asked. “I told them I want to be baptized and they asked me ‘Why?’ So I told them that I believe in Jesus and I attend worship and I pray. They told me I failed the examination!  (She has a PhD. from Edinburgh, by the way!) So I started attending another church and everyone was real nice to me. So I told them that I want to be baptized but they said that they baptize only a couple of times a year. I had to wait. I haven’t heard back from them.”

As I heard her story I became sadder and sadder. What has the Church come to? No wonder people love Jesus but not His Church! In His Great Commission Jesus instructed His followers to “go into the world and make disciples of all people, baptizing them and teaching them to observe all that I taught you.” (Matthew 28) Baptism isn’t ours to give or withhold. It is God’s gift to give. Baptism is a visible sign of an invisible truth, as John Calvin wrote centuries ago. Faith development doesn’t begin or end with baptism. When a person is baptized it is an acknowledgement that God has touched their life. Followers of Jesus are called to walk beside them as together we grow in a deeper understanding of Who God is. 

I wish that I would have offered to baptize her that night, but I didn’t. God showed me a glimpse of grace in that woman’s faith, and I fumbled the ball. If the opportunity ever presents itself again, I won’t let it pass by. 

While walking on the island of Iona I came across sheep peacefully gracing in a field. They seemed oblivious to everything around them, including me! As I stopped to study them I was a bit envious. Their peacefulness seem to lie in knowing who they were and in whom they belonged. 

The 23rd Psalm or “The Shepherd’s Psalm”, is arguably the most familiar of all of the 150 Psalms; “The Lord is my Shepherd ….” The Psalmist knew that he belonged to Another and not to himself. He belonged to the Creater of the heavens and the earth, to the One Who created us—each one of us—in the Divine image.  Too often we forget who we are and more importantly Whose we are. We forget that we do not belong to ourselves but that we have been “redeemed” by Another. 

Our lives take on a deeper sense of purpose and meaning when we understand  as the apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans, “If we live , we live into the Lord, and if we die we die unto the Lord; so then whether we live or whether die, we belong to the Lord. (Romans 14:7). Remembering Who we belong to is a glimpse of grace. 

Lord, help me remember that in both life and death I belong to You. May all that I do, say or think be to Your  glory. Amen.

The clock tower of The Balmoral is a compass point in the Edinburgh skyline. The illuminated clock face tells revellers the hour of the night, whether it is early or late. 

In his letter to the Romans Paul wrote, “Know that this is a critical time. It is time to wake up from our spiritual complacency for our salvation is nearer than we first believed.” (13:11)

John Ortburg* once wrote that we need to be wise in filling the squares of the calendars that make up our lives. Too often they get filled with commitments that won’t mean much a year from now, let alone ten or a hundred years from now. The most important thing to put in the squares is God. “Seek first the Kingdom of God”, Jesus said, and see how well everything else in your life falls into plac: your personal and family life, work and social life. The older I become the more I see His wisdom.

The second thing that we need to fill our calendars with is People. Many years ago I added the spiritual discipline of not only planning the next day but saying a little prayer. “Lord, I know what I have planned but I don’t know what You have planned. Let me be open.” Then, I would not see others not as an interruption but as a possible glimpses of God’s grace. Time invested in others is time well-spent. 

The third item is Joy. Jesus told His disciples He came to plant God’s joy in their hearts. (John 15:11) Too many followers of Jesus are joy-challenged. I may be in that number more often than I wish to admit, but I am working on changing that.  Relax. Meditate. Go see a funny movie. Push a child on a swing or, better yet, swing with them. We only get one chance at life.

My glimpse of grace for today is this, Seek first the Kingdom of God, Invest in others, and add Joy to your life as well as to others. After all, we’re running out of time. 
*When the Game Is Over, It All Goes Back In the Box