An Epitaph Worth Raising the Dead- Acts 9:36-39

Original Picture by Flickr user Cheryl

I'm guessing you're wondering why I used a picture of crochet hooks and a ball of yarn. If you knew my Mema, then you wouldn't wonder. Mema's favorite activity in the world toward the end of her life was sitting in a chair or lying in her bed and working her crochet. She made untold numbers of dish rags and coasters. Most of those were either given away to people she loved or given to someone else to sell for some charity or some other purpose. She never made a dime off of thousands of hours of labor and probably millions of feet of yarn as far as I know. She just enjoyed making them and giving them away. Every time we saw her toward the end of her life, she would tell us to pick another out and would ask if we knew of anyone else who needed one. After her stroke when it became obvious that she would die soon, she began talking in her hospital bed about all of her unfinished crochet projects that she was working on. All the while, her fingers were working as if she were still holding the hooks. I thought, based on the way she was acting and talking, that the projects she was describing were simply products of her imagination that she was cycling through in her last moments. It wasn't until later that I found out the colors she kept talking about and who they were for were actually at the house tucked in her closet.

Crocheting was not all she did to help people. At her funeral, we got to see a lady that we haven't seen for years. She was Mema's constant companion for I have no idea how long. I don't think it was because Mema particularly enjoyed her company, though. It was because the lady needed a friend and a safe place to stay during the day. So most days she was with Mema for most of the day. We got to visit with the preacher of the tiny congregation where she lived. He knew her better than we did because from the first Sunday he started driving to preach at the Big Sandy Church of Christ, he started staying at her house and taking naps in her guest room between services. She had a library of who knows how many books that she set up in her house so others could check books out before the town got a real library. We never stayed at her house during the summer that she didn't get at least 2-3 visitors during the day. Most of them were lonely people who were looking for someone to listen to them. So they stayed at her house all day every day. I couldn't believe it when I found out that Mema had started writing letters to people on our church sick list that she had seen in our bulletin. (Mema had never even been to the town I live in much less met any of the people in the bulletin. But she always insisted on reading the bulletins of any congregation where her family attended.) I wonder how many others she wrote letters to when there was no other way for her to serve them.

Now don't get the wrong impression. Mema had her rough edges! We all found at shortly after she moved in with my parents how stubborn she could be and how blunt she could be! She could drive you insane with some of her antics and semi-manipulative tricks! But in the end, there is nothing in the world that she wouldn't do for anyone. If she had the power to help, she would. Guess which things we remember about her now.

What will people remember about you when you are gone? Tabitha...and Mema, whatever their faults, served in such a way that when they died, people wept. And those they had served had tangible evidence that they could hold up and show to others to prove the service that had been performed. I wonder what would be held up by people if I died today?

Will we be known as people who are "always doing good and helping the poor?" I can't think of a better epitaph. Tabitha's friends said that about her and it moved Peter to raise her from the dead. But the truth is that Tabitha died again later. How glorious to think that both she and Mema will one day again be raised from the dead because they were both in Christ! And when that second resurrection happens, how glorious to hear the voice of God echoing the voice of those friends!

That's what I want at the end of my life. What about you? Of course the key is living now so the epitaph at death is already written. What will your epitaph be?

Playing to the Crowd- Matthew 6:1

I have always had a hard time walking in front of crowds. I have been told from time to time that I walk funny. I'm not sure if that is what started my "awkwardness" while walking in front of people, but, to this day, I can't walk through a gym without feeling like people are watching me, and then I immediately feel like I am walking funny and the harder I try to walk "normal," the more I feel like my gait is getting messed up!
Pretty silly, right?

At first glance, it is, but that self-consciousness is actually a pretty dangerous thing for me because I constantly have this sense that I'm on a stage. I used to do a lot of theater. Being aware that people are watching when you are putting on a show is a good thing. It helps you remember to perform well so people will enjoy the show and applaud. But my mind has trouble flipping that switch off so I can simply just live honestly when I am not on stage. Constantly having the sense that people are watching you when you are not on a stage is a bad thing. It causes you to remember to perform well so people will enjoy the show and applaud.

In chapter 6, Jesus turns from what it means to live righteously to what it means to practice religion. Isn't it funny, that when we talk about what it means to be a Christian, we usually start with the "religious" stuff like church attendance, prayer, Bible reading, etc. and then, we talk about the difference it makes in our day to day lives. It's worth a pause before we move on to notice that Jesus starts with how we treat and love people and only then moves on to talk about how we do "religion."

I'm just thankful that Jesus doesn't condemn me for having trouble turning my "stage mentality" off. He simply says to switch the audience that I am playing to. If my audience is people, then whatever praise they give me is about all I will get. But if I can center my thoughts on "performing" for an audience of One- the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords- then I will have reward in heaven, not just the reward of the praise of men.

For the Jew, the primary tenets of religion boiled down to three things: alms-giving, prayer, and fasting. Jesus addresses each of those individually based on this principle of performing for God and not man, and we will look at those in more detail in the coming weeks. For now, I want to give us a few questions to help us think about what our current motives are.

• When you are planning for "going to church," do you decide on your attendance based on people expecting you to be there or based on a desire to gather with the saints to build them up, to be built up, and to gather before God's throne in worship?
• Do you feel shame when you forget to bring a contribution to put into the plate on Sunday morning, but have no trouble driving or walking past individuals who are holding a cardboard sign? (I'm not making a blanket statement about what should or shouldn't be given or done, I'm just trying to get the conversation in your mind going.)
• Is personal prayer and study done (or left undone) more out of a sense of duty and/or guilt based on what a Christian ought to do, or out of a desire to spend time with God and hear from Him through His word?
• Does all of your serving of others only happen when there is a group with a plan, or are you constantly looking for ways to serve individually and spontaneously each day?
• When you are worshiping with the church, are you more conscious of being heard and seen by the people around you (am I off/on key? am I singing too loud? am I assuming the correct posture? do I blend in well enough to avoid attention?), or are you picturing falling down at the feet of God and praising/petitioning Him with no thought of how others might judge you?

This is not a scientific test. It's really based on some of my own struggles and meant to just get us thinking. Perhaps if we don't like the answers we come to on some of these, it would be good to spend time asking God to help us change our thought patterns so we can realize that He is the only audience that matters in any situation of life.

Here's what I want to ask you to do for the next several weeks. Sometimes, I think we just have a lack of imagination and a lack of role models in genuine living. I'd like to ask you- not the other who read this blog...you- to start commenting anonymously for the next couple of weeks about ways you are practicing religion and ways God has used you to serve. Since you will post it anonymously, the praise will go to God and not to you...which is the whole idea in the first place of our light shining before men..."so that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." Let's give each other reason to praise!