Dreams (Visions) Always Have A Casting Call

Have you ever dreamt the unimaginable only to be awakened by its possibility pulsating within?  Dreams can leave us confounded – suspended between our present reality and a starry-eyed fixation on what could be. Our inner thoughts or divine call can either get lost in an unsearchable cosmos or become a tangible actuality. Whether or not our dreams become is not based on the dreams intensity, yea all dreams have their genesis within but are not discernible until shared.

Hence, Dreams (Visions) Always Have A Casting Call

In January, we celebrate the world renowned Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday.  Rev. King etched the words I have a dream in the minds and hearts of people around the globe.  He had an unshakeable pulsating within, a dream of a world where every living person received equal and fair treatment. King understood the nobility of his dream, yet even more so recognized, if kept to himself, his “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character” would remain a fiction without hope. Subsequently, this speech emerged as one of the most prolific casting calls in United States history. People from all walks of life, known and unknown have made and are making Dr. King’s dream become.  

What dreams (visions) have you kept to yourself?

With a casting call (sharing) your dream (vision) can become.

In Luke 4:18–19, Jesus provides the greatest example in world history of a vision (dream) saying:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.”

Jesus courageously spoke this vision aloud. This dream, a nightmare to most of his original audience, pronounces hope to the downtrodden and judgment to the oligarchs. Jesus announces the dream in the synagogue then conducts the casting call on the beach, in towns and in the mountains, simply saying, “Come follow me and I will show you how to fish for people” Mark 1:16 and “Follow me and be my disciple” Luke 5:27 and Mark 3:13. Jesus’ first casting call netted twelve disciples but today his dream continues gaining followers and producing disciples. Jesus’ dream born above, seeps into the spirit of those on earth summoning us to “Come follow me”.  Seemingly meager, Jesus’ initial twelve has ballooned to billions, according to www.pewforum.org, “there are 2.18 billion Christians of all ages around the world, representing nearly a third of the estimated 2010 global population of 6.9 billion”.

Will you dare to speak aloud your dream?

Without a casting call, our dreams (visions) are deferred withering like raisins in the sun, festering like sores. Without partners living out the dream, our dreams stagnate sagging like a heavy load destined to implode.

Casting calls are the lifeline through which our dreams become.

Questions to ponder

1. Have you answered yes to Jesus’ casting call of “Come follow me and I will show you how to fish for people”?
2. Naming your dream and having a casting call could be your next step toward obedience to God.
3. What dreams (visions) are pulsating within you?
4. Think about the 10’s, 100’s, 1000’s, and more that await your casting call.
5. Your dreams (visions) might be the answer to someone's prayer

Much Love,

Pastor Singleton

I Am Love - I am loved!

You, my sister, you, my brother are loved!  Entering this New Year may the words, I am loved, resonate within your every thought. Along life’s journey, it seems both our experiences and some people have conspired to steal our ability to accept love. Instead of love being our companion, its absence dries our wells leaving us lost and longing for love’s reemergence.

Adversary is an unfamiliar and unwanted role for True Love;

hence, True Love is a relentless missile and you are its target.

This year accept the invitation to abandon any conversations insisting that you lack worth. In this moment embrace the truth, you are a person with immense value. Perchance, these three words have escaped your hearing, from my heart I say, I love you!  More importantly, with assurance that Jesus loves you, you can confidently affirm,   I am loved. Repeat with me, I am loved!

The coldest winter hibernates within the hollowness of the human condition.  

Yet, the love of the Savior slivers through the cracks and shortens our chills; unraveling the frigid blankets of our sin, addiction, anger, bitterness, confusion, depression and feelings of rejection. . .warming us with rays of His Light. Covered in forgiveness, filled with hope we can discard our wintry garments with anticipation of being clothed in the freeing power found in His spring of love.

We can refuse the love of Jesus, but we can’t deny the summer intensity with which God pursues us! Who alone loves us, accepts us, forgives and welcomes us after and during our every fall? Ultimate love, the love of and from Christ, is undeterred by our sins, our experiences, our defeats or our victories.   True Love stems only from the One inhabiting heaven and earth. . .the One with power over body and soul. Love triumphant consistently stoops to distant and destitute places lifting the lost to discover –       

I Am Love enabling each of us to say I am loved.

In the opening of the Parables of the Lost, we witness Love in action and have a glimpse of the willingness and desire of Jesus to make known His love for us.  In Luke 15:1 – 2, the relentless missile overlooks the complicity of our sin and the critics of our sin meeting us in our storms; feasting and fellowshipping with us, communicating I Am Love:

“Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus.

But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered,

“This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.””

Release yourself from the weariness accompanying any absence of love, knowing that Jesus welcomes you hoping to fill you with His love.  True Love is the missile, I Am is the name and your heart is the bulls-eye! Let today begin the season that you believe I am loved. Repeat with me, I am loved!

Every New Beginning Or New Achievement is Born in Death!

Entering a new year often stirs our ambitions and inflates our dreams and we write and utter amazing goals both of great dimension and small diameter. The New Year seems magical and without limitations; thus, we make daring resolutions and proclaim courageous I am gonna(s) . All the while our inner selves know we have traveled this road before with unimpressive results.

Hence, the reality of our resolutions is part hope, part doubt and part cynicism.

Every year many of our resolutions become mere Disney notions filled with low (to no) expectations that we will follow through this year.  I could share statistics of unfulfilled resolutions but I invite your reflection of – the many people you know (even consider yourself) from last year that haven’t:  begun exercising, lost weight, looked for a new job, saved any money, started a new career/business, quit smoking, begun volunteering, removed themselves from toxic relationships, etc., etc.? So, why am I making such venomous claims so early in our desire to believe we will _____?  Because I know, we (me included) can reverse our dismal outcomes.

Speaking of possibilities and the New Year, Howard Thurman says: “The individual stands in the midst of a stream of vitality, awareness, and fluidity, and is able, by an act in the present moment, to do for him (her) or for the context in which he (she) is operating, something that nothing else in the world can do”.

Yet, I must inject a sobering truth serum – reversal of our dismal resolution outcomes and our ability to take action toward “something that nothing (no one) else in the world can do” begins with our realization of:

Every new beginning or new achievement is born in death!

As we enter this New Year, we need not wear the bridle of low expectation. In fact, we must remain daring and courageous! But if our resolutions, dreams and goals are to become – embracing the requirement of our death (and burial) is imperative. Furthermore, if we are to nurture and birth “something that nothing else in the world can do”, forging to create fertile places (such as our spirit, mind, actions, sphere of influences, etc.) is an absolute necessity. I know we have this potential because the Ultimate Creator promised anyone who believes in me will do even greater works than I.

Why is death the beginning? A seeds greatest hope to become - is the soil where it is planted. We make resolutions, dream dreams, write goals then plant them in toxic soil. For example, when one resolves to become debt free, and precedes to max out a credit card then opens a different credit account because they did not have any money is an example of the need for death.

The challenges we face are not our resolutions but our resolve.

Making the resolution of financial freedom is noble but the first challenge is pronouncing death on the impulse for immediate satisfaction and an inclination to fulfill wants before meeting needs. Without a stalwart resolve, the seed of being debt free is suffocated and stifled by the old habit of financial recklessness.  If our dreams and resolutions are to crystallize, intense evaluation of: our habits, choices, the people we permit to influence us, our spiritual, emotional and physical wellness, etc. is urgent. Every new beginning or new achievement is born in death.

Resolutions, dreams and goals are seeds pregnant with possibilities requiring a death before they are realized. Jesus’ own death and life is the consummate example of the new life and the new beginnings that can be wrought from death. In the below scriptures, Jesus bears witness to the origin of new achievements and the consequences for overlooking them:

 “Besides, who would patch old clothing with new cloth? For the new patch would shrink

and rip away from the old cloth, leaving an even bigger tear than before”. Matthew 9:16

 “I tell you the truth unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone.  But its death will produce many new kernels – a plentiful harvest of new lives”. John 12:24

^“For those who want to save their life will lose it, and

those who lose their life for my sake will save it”. Luke 9:24

As we enter this New Year, let us focus on death not in a morbid sense; rather, as a precondition to fulfill our every resolution, dream, goal and promise. Let us commence to discovering, evaluating and pronouncing death on anything and anyone that is a hindrance to our new beginnings and achievements. I know we can fulfill our resolutions, dreams and goals but we must first pay the price.

Will your resolutions remain Disney notions or

become “something that nothing else in the world can do”?

Tragedy - Only Love!!

Luke 10:25-37 – You may have read or heard the story of the Good Samaritan over and over before but in reading this after a stream of tragedies – what struck me is that Jesus never focused on the actions of the robber. I want us to think for a moment on Only Love!

In the aftermath of tragedies many of us ask the question, “where is God?” Especially, in the midst of the deaths of innocent children, we ask, why do bad things happen? Death baffles us and senseless deaths such as the murder of these children enrages us; empties us; leaving us void, numb, and in need of any sensible conclusions. But amid our pain nothing comforts us nor does logic or rationale, offer any soothing reasons for barbaric actions.

In truth, we all are struggling to find God in the midst of the bloodshed, the tears, the bewilderment, and the funeral processions of the victims in Newtown, CT and the millions of nameless victims of acts of violence.  I do not have a complete answer because we will never completely know until that time when we stand face to face before God.  On that day will come the fulfillment of the psalmist refrain “We’ll understand it better, by and by”. Only when standing before our mighty and holy God will we know completely. 

In the meantime, we must proclaim and believe that in the mystery of death, there is the towering, intimate, compassionate presence of God.  God must not be deemed as a tyrant and orchestrator of such calamities, but God is to be known as our only source of hope, our only means through and out of these times of peril.

The Holy Scriptures remind us that we all live in a very broken world.  In Romans chapter 8, the Apostle Paul affirms this saying: “all of creation is waiting with eager longing…for the creation was subjected to futility; but one day the creation will be set free from its bondage to decay…but for now the whole creation is groaning in labor pains, groaning inwardly while it awaits for adoption the redemption of our bodies.” Thus we must wait in hope of reconciliation. 

There is nowhere in the world where the brokenness of creation is not witnessed; and pointing out the brokenness of the world around us may not help to ease the pain which surrounds these tragedies. But naming these acts of violence in Newtown, CT, the Birmingham courtroom, Homewood, AL, or those of professional football players and the innumerable other homicides and suicides happening everyday may help to remind us that we are not alone.  We can bear witness that illnesses, accidents, vicious events, hunger and poverty wreak havoc on humanity; claiming human lives prematurely, unjustly and senselessly aren't arbitrary but are affecting our neighbors.

Yet, merely knowing that such tragedy abounds does not lessen our own pain and grief, what is important for us to understand in the midst of this broken world, while each of us groans in pain and despair, God is with us.  God’s work of redemption is not yet complete.  

The hope that you and I are to believe in and embrace is that 

one day God will overcome all of the world’s brokenness. 

As the writer of Revelation proclaims to us in Revelation 21: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away…and in that time there will be no more mourning, no more crying, no more pain...God will wipe away every tear….and death will be no more”. 

You and I are called to try to live into that hope…even in the midst of the death of those 20 children under the age of 8.

We’re not alone. The families that lost these precious children, those courageous adults, even those left to mourn the loss of the shooter, none of them – none of us are alone. God promises never to leave us. The reality is that God too is devastated. God’s hope for creation was that we would love God with all heart, mind, soul and strength, and that we would love one another. We must believe that our pain is shared by God.  God knows what it is like to lose someone to a tragic death.  In our own tears, may we remember and know that Jesus also weeps. So, we don’t cry alone, the great God of the universe weeps with us.

The mystery of and goal of faith is to redeem our brokenness and encourage us to pursue authentic love. We will continue to encounter our own Jericho Road experiences and know of many more senseless tragedies.  But we must find comfort that God, the Ultimate Good Samaritan, comes alongside us whether we are in places filled with danger or places of comfort deemed safe, God arrives in our midst to both suffer with us and to facilitate our recovery. It is true God shares our pain and sorrow because God is love. 

God is with us and remains with us sharing our sorrow 

and offering us comfort and hope for a new day.

Such tragedies remind us of the uncertainty of life, we know not the time of our final breath; thus, we must learn that we can’t take life for granted.  No one knows how long she or he will live, whether our lot is 7 years or 70 years. Today, if we purpose to grow in loving God and our neighbor as God commanded; perhaps, we will experience some solace from the deaths of these innocent children and the heroic and courageous adults. Furthermore, as we like the Good Samaritan lend ourselves to relieve the suffering of our neighbors we are alerted to remember that all life is precious and that family, friends and even strangers are irreplaceable.      

We must learn to love, respect and appreciate one another while we are living.  In these moments, we are recipients of the cruel reminder that life can be short but we must seize today by embracing the fullness of the possibilities which God continues to place before us.

Our entry point to recovery from the devastation of senseless tragedies is through God’s gracious love consuming us, empowering us, directing us and leading us to love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength and loving our neighbor.

My Friends, we must come together. Let us not allow death-tragedy to win, but let us allow something good to come forth from the despair we feel. In short let us let us live each day guided by love, because only love can guide us through the valley of the shadow of death, only love will comfort us, only love will empower us, only love will restore our hope,                                                                                                                                                                                            only love. . .

Advent Thought: On the love of kings, football, culture and the sacred.

Are the lines between living in our culture and living for Jesus Christ blurred? This is not a new inquiry, clearly throughout the Bible a struggle persists between faithfulness to God (Jesus) and the degree to which one indulges the culture. For instance, Israel after experiencing other cultures (nations) governed by a king demands that they too be led by a king:

“Give us a king to judge us like all the other nations have.” Jesus replied, “Do everything they say to you, for it is me they are rejecting, not you. They don’t want me to be their king any longer”.” (I Samuel 8:5, 7)

Luke 19:45 – 46 describes another instance:  ^“Then Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out the people selling animals for sacrifices.  He said to them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be a house of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves.”

Lastly another example, Paul challenges us:  “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” (Romans 12:2)

However, Christians and not yet Christians continue to ask for a king; desecrate the sacred; and acquiesce to the customs of this world.  Exemplified through how we have made sports and celebrities King of our lives; the manner in which we give priority to the secular and subdue the sacred; and how we strive toward pursuits commended by the standards of this world. We are relentless in our desire to have the accoutrements of this world, we deify our athletes and worship the teams for which they play.

One morning while my youngest son and I were leaving Starbucks, we began a brief conversation with a few gentlemen as we walked out the door. One of the men asked me, who is your team (as if I had to have one and that I knew the choices to which he referred)?  Living in the belly of the SEC, this is not a surprising question but when I replied, I don’t have a particular team – he looked at me with such disdain: you would have thought I confessed to being a murderer or an adulterer.

His reaction troubled me! I began thinking, how often do I experience a Christian with such devotion and duty approaching me with a similar question, wondering if I had a relationship with Jesus Christ or was I entrusting my life to the devil? I concluded the answer was rare if at all.

Unfortunately, we (Christians) are more apt to privatize our faith

and publicize our idolatry.

What if we displayed such a zest and passionate love for Jesus as we do for football (and other priorities of our culture)? We might discover the following:

1.  More people would have the opportunity to enter into relationship with Jesus (because we would readily share we are on Team Jesus).

2.   There would be an increase in worship attendance and servant ministry (because we would readily give of our time and treasure).

3.   Worship at our churches would be Spirit-filled and vibrant (because Jesus would be the focal point and object of worship).

4.   No one would have to guess if we were Christians (because we would unashamedly demonstrate our allegiance to Jesus and the Gospel). 

5.  We would strive toward faithfulness in all aspects of our lives (because we would believe that Jesus can't be defeated).

As we continue through the season of advent, maybe our preparation is to evaluate:

(1) who do I uphold as the King of my life, (2) what/who do I recognize and value as sacred and (3) is my life conformed to the customs of this culture 

or to that which Jesus asks of me?

Much Love,

Pastor Singleton

"Fair-weather Fan"

Sports fans all around the world relish the time of the year when their favorite sport is played. Whether it’s professional, collegiate, high school or even the highly competitive toddler tee ball, fans can’t wait to cheer for their favorite team. Yet fans vary ranging from: face painted warriors; casual supporter; avid statistician (able to name every player and stats); old faithful (committed to their team win/lose); to what is commonly referred to as the fair-weather fan. Each of these fans shares a depth of appreciation for the game and has an allegiance to a particular team in the given sport. In fact, fan by definition is “an enthusiastic devotee, follower, or admirer of a sport, pastime, or celebrity”.

However, sports just like our lives has ebbs and flows, winning seasons, losing seasons and it’s in the midst of losing seasons where the what type of fan is discovered. We all are rah-rah cheerleaders when games are won but what happens during the three game losing streaks or after consecutive losing seasons. Typically these moments reveal the fair-weather fan, this fan is characterized by lack of loyalty, only supportive when the team is doing well, but mysteriously disappears when trouble or losing arises.

If we are honest, many of us who say “I am a Christian” are fair-weather fans. We claim full commitment to Jesus but: when life happens, when our security is threatened, when we are challenged to live our lives like Jesus, when we face illness, loss, disappointment, suffering, or pain, when we are faced with the choice of ease or difficulty, etc. we too discover what type of follower we really are, fair-weather.  

Perhaps, we are unable to bear witness to our own fair-weather proclivities, let’s look at Peter who like many of us (do) professes to Jesus his full commitment:

“Peter said, “Lord, I am ready to go to prison with you, and even die with you”.”     (Luke 22:33)

Peter adamantly rejected Jesus’ assertion: “Peter, let me tell you something. Before the rooster crows tomorrow morning; you will deny three times that you even know me” (Luke 22:34). But then life happened, threats came, death was imminent for Jesus and Peter realized that to truly follow Jesus could (and would) mean suffering, pain, even death and by cultural definitions, losing. So, when questioned about his commitment and faithfulness to Jesus – Peter wavered, Peter’s devotion mysteriously disappears exposing his and our fair-weathered nature saying: “Woman I don’t even know him!” (Luke 23:57), “No man, I’m not!” (Luke 23:58), “Man, I don’t know what you are talking about” (Luke 23:60).  

Discovering that indeed he was fair-weather: “Peter left the courtyard, weeping bitterly” (Luke 23:62), in need of greater commitment, deeper faith, and courage to remain devout as he encountered life and all the threats that come with being a follower of Jesus.

What can we learn from Peter and our own exposure as fair-weather followers?

1. Professing to follow Jesus is consent to and acceptance of danger even death
2. In the midst of our adversities lie our greatest opportunities
3. Faithfulness is evidenced by actions not words
4. Commitment to Jesus requires willingness to grow and sacrifice

The good news for us is unlike the seasonal-nature of sports, everyday (today) is our opportunity to spurn our fair-weather tendencies in pursuit of becoming spirit-driven faithful followers. The type of fan we become will not find measure in wins or losses; rather by our response to them. Will you choose to become a faithful follower or remain a fair-weather follower?

We can move from I don’t know Him to dying for Him–Peter did!

Much Love,

Pastor Singleton 

What Happens When Thanks is Giving?

“Somehow in thanksgiving I see clearly, if but for a fleeting moment, that much, much has come my way as a normal part of my dependency, without my being aware of it. It is in such moments that I may become literally overwhelmed by a profound sense of the love and the grace of God. The very roots of my own pride lie exposed to the scrutiny of God, and if I can bear it over and over again, the very will to pride of that kind may be destroyed in me; yes, destroyed by the sheer love of God. Perhaps, it is always true that the test of my thanksgiving is the humility which it inspires. Self-examination – thanksgiving – humility – let us experience them in our quiet time in the presence of God.”

Howard Thurman, Meditations of the Heart, pg.19.

In the above and below thoughts of Theologian Howard Thurman, we are encouraged to make Thanksgiving a daily practice and in doing so we can experience God at work in us. What a timely reminder as we consider this past year even over our lifetime – all for which we have to be thankful.  As you read the below, take note Thurman never mentions material or worldly things. When we are truly reflective, I imagine that we too will realize all that  consumes us throughout the course of a day, a week, a month, a year at times are trivial at best. Upon heartfelt and honest reflection we can conclude, taking time to practice thanksgiving everyday can be life-giving and more importantly continually molds us into the likeness of God. This day forward let’s make everyday a day of thanksgiving.

  

Litany of Thanksgiving

Howard Thurman, Meditations of the Heart, pgs. 147-149.

“Today, I make my Sacrament of Thanksgiving.

I begin with the simple things of my days:
Fresh air to breathe,
Cool water to drink,
The taste of food,
The protection of houses and clothes,
The comforts of home.
For all these I make an act of Thanksgiving this day!

I bring to mind all the warmth of humankind that I have known:
My mother’s arms,
The strength of my father
The playmates of my childhood,
The wonderful stories brought to me from the lives
Of many who talked of days gone by when fairies
And giants and all kinds of magic held sway;
The tears I have shed, the tears I have seen;
The excitement of laughter and the twinkle in the
Eye with its reminder that life is good.
For all these I make an act of Thanksgiving this day

I finger one by one the messages of hope that awaited me at the crossroads:
The smile of approval from those who held in their hands the reins of my security;
The tightening of the grip in a simple handshake when I
Feared the step before me in darkness;
The whisper in my heart when the temptation was fiercest
And the claims of appetite were not to be denied;
The crucial word said, the simple sentence from an open
Page when my decision hung in the balance.
For all these I make an act of Thanksgiving this day.

I pass before me the main springs of my heritage:
The fruits of labors of countless generations who lived before me,
Without whom my own life would have no meaning;
The seers who saw visions and dreamed dreams;
The prophets who sensed a truth greater than the mind could grasp
And whose words would only find fulfillment
In the years which they would never see;
The workers whose sweat has watered the trees,
The leaves of which are for the healing of the nations;
The pilgrims who set their sails for lands beyond all horizons,
Whose courage made paths into new worlds and far off places;
The saviors whose blood was shed with a recklessness that only a dream
Could inspire and God could command.
For all this I make an act of Thanksgiving this day.

I linger over the meaning of my own life and the commitment
To which I give the loyalty of my heart and mind:
The little purposes in which I have shared my loves,
My desires, my gifts;
The restlessness which bottoms all I do with its stark insistence
That I have never done my best, I have never dared
To reach for the highest;

The big hope that never quite deserts me, that I and my kind
Will study war no more, that love and tenderness and all the
inner graces of Almighty affection will cover the life of the
children of God as the waters cover the sea.

All these and more than mind can think and heart can feel,
I make as my sacrament of Thanksgiving to Thee,
Our Father, in humbleness of mind and simplicity of heart.”

From Howard Thurman