Fragrance of Real Value

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May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice. Psalm 141:2

Oh, the sweet aroma of chocolate chip cookies baking in the oven, the inviting smell of freshly brewed coffee in the morning and the newly cut grass on a warm Saturday afternoon. Just as there are comfort foods, there are certain smells that touch the deepest parts of your soul.

McDonald’s fully grasps the power of smells. Fast food giant McDonald’s launched a new and rather quirky marketing campaign in the Netherlands. They have found a way to recreate the smell of their fries through a billboard. According to a company press release, “For decades, McDonald’s has seduced taste buds around the globe, making it one of the most beloved and recognizable brands out there. But the brand realized that there’s something just as memorable for consumers as their golden arches, products, or jingle: their smell.”

McDonald’s Netherlands placed a series of plain yellow and red billboards in Utrecht and Leiden that appear blank until passers-by are within a few feet and they are greeted by the distinct aroma of McDonald’s French Fries coming from inside the billboard. The billboards were strategically placed to trigger cravings close to a restaurant. “When every brand is targeting eyeballs, McDonald’s targets noses.”

Stijn Mentrop-Huliselan, CMO McDonald’s Netherlands, states: “McDonald’s is all about Good Times. We are well known for our distinctive brand assets that they are mostly visual. Smell has been proven to be more effective at sparking clear and emotional memories than images. With the inclusion of this next sense in our advertising, we found a new way to remind people of Good Times at McDonald’s.” (McDonald’s press release)

What value does the world put on a scent? For McDonald’s, it is worth millions if people are triggered to buy their food. For the wealthy, it may be a bottle of Clive Christian No. 1 which holds the title for the most expensive perfume that retails at $2,350 per ounce. However, far more extravagant is the value that God places upon the incense that comes from those who worship Him.

Living in a broken and ugly world we can become Christ’s aroma.  We become an aroma that attracts some to life but repels others. For those attracted, we become life.  “But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.” (2 Cor 2:14-15)

Living in a broken and ugly world we can become the incense of prayer. God hears the prayers of his followers who stand in the gap of hopelessness. What a beautiful and powerful picture of heavenly hosts holding golden bowls of the incense of prayers that may seem weak to us but are received by God as a sweet aroma.  “Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people.” (Rev 5:8)

Living in a broken and ugly world we can become the aroma of worship. Jesus facing the closing days of his earthly ministry, was preparing his disciples when Mary interrupted the dinner in an act of worship. Pouring a bottle of expensive perfume upon Jesus, it became a holy time of worship. A costly fragrance that would have lingered for days reminding house guests of Jesus.  “And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.” (ref John 12:1-11)

It would be the sweet smell of worship that would stir God’s heart for Noah. As Noah and his family walked out of the Ark to begin again, he would first stop and worship. It was through his act of worship that “The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.” (Gen 8:21)

Smells can bring comfort, disgust, and warning depending upon the source. Freshly baked bread will stir hunger while the smell of rotten eggs alerts us to a natural gas leak. Yet as incenses rise to God from our acts of worship and prayer, what a beautiful reminder of who we are in God. We can become the fragrance that permeates all of life for Jesus. An aroma of worship that reminds us of our hope and future in God. Are we the fragrance of life or death?

These words from CeCe Winans song, Worthy Of It All, “Day and night, night and day, let incense arise” remind us of prayerful worship:

“All the saints and angels bow before Your throne

All the elders cast their crowns before the Lamb of God and sing

Lord, You’re worthy

From the rising of the sun to the going down of the sun

Day and night, night and day, let incense arise

Day and night, night and day, let incense arise

You are worthy of it all” (CeCe Winans, Worthy of It All https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oKYx0PXz5I

Dear Jesus, help me to spread Thy fragrance everywhere I go. Flood my soul with Thy spirit and love. Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly that all my life may only be a radiance of Thine. (Daily prayer of St. Teresa of Calcutta)

Together we can become Christ’s sweet fragrance, bringing life to a broken and ugly world.

God is great!

 

God’s Gift of Time

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Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Psalm 90:12

If I only had a little more time! These words have echoed across centuries – just a few more minutes would help. Richard Swenson in his book Margin wrote, “Forty years ago, futurists peering into their crystal balls were still predicting that one of the biggest problems for coming generations would be what to do with their abundant spare time. I remember hearing this prediction often. In 1967, for example, testimony before a Senate subcommittee claimed that by 1985 people could be working just twenty-two hours a week or twenty-seven weeks a year. Exactly when they stopped talking this way I am not sure, but they did stop. No one sits around today trying to figure out how to spend their free time. On the contrary, the topic of conversation is usually how to get some. Virtually everyone I know is time desperate.”

Thankfully the world timekeepers have heard your plight and are working on a plan. Unfortunately, they are going to take time from you. Clocks may have to skip a second—called a “negative leap second”—around the year 2029. This will be the first time in history timekeepers have had to consider subtracting time from the clock. Daylight saving time doesn’t count since they take an hour but give it back to you in the fall. In an article in the journal, Nature said it is due to the planet rotating just a tad faster than it used to.

Duncan Agnew wrote, “This is an unprecedented situation and a big deal. It’s not a huge change in the Earth’s rotation that’s going to lead to some catastrophe or anything, but it is something notable. It’s yet another indication that we’re in a very unusual time.” (from an article by Seth Borenstein)

Seconds didn’t make a difference in life until atomic clocks were adopted as the official time standard in 1959.  Judah Levine of the National Institute of Standards and Technology wrote, “The fights are so serious because the stakes are so small.”

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) does a great job keeping America on time. Two people can look at their Apple watches and be synchronized. We take uniform time for granted now, unlike the 1800s. At high noon on October 18, 1883, William Allen united a nation, not politically but by setting their watches.  Until then every train station set its clocks by the sun so it could be noon in New York, 11:58 in Trenton, and 11:56 in Camden. It took eight years for Allen to convince the nation to adopt the time zones that we have today.

There is no question that trains and planes need to run on synchronized schedules, that stores should open on time, and that you know when to get to your meeting as scheduled. However, the writer of Ecclesiastes captured a more important time zone outside the NIST-designated time zones, God’s time zone. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 gives a great list of God’s time zones, “a time to.” Mabel Boggs Sweet, mother of writer Leonard Sweet put it wisely, “God’s clock keeps perfect time.”

Time may have been easier when people depended upon the sundial and they went to bed when it got dark. However as far back as 200 BC people complained about not having enough time. Roman playwright Plautus turned anger into poetry:

“The gods confound the man who first found out how to distinguish hours!

Confound him, too,  who in this place set up a sun-dial

To cut and hack my days so wretchedly into small portions.”

Even though He operates on eternal time, God created earth and life to be in time segments. “A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night.” (Psalm 90:4) I think God is pretty smart to give us training wheels for time as we prepare for what eternity time looks like.  Segments of time are understandable for our finite minds and beautifully lay the foundation for helping us appreciate the concept of eternity.

Ancient civilizations may have understood the value of time better than our modern world. They lived their life in segments of days, seasons, years, and finally death. Our modern civilization may have time down to the microsecond and even track those seconds perfectly but somehow in our micro timekeeping, are we in danger of losing the very value of time and far worse, the hope of eternity?

In his book The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, John Mark Comer writes, “When the sun set our rhythms of work and rest, it did so under the control of God; but the clock is under the control of the employer, a far more demanding master…I used to read biographies of great men and women from history who got up to pray at four o’clock in the morning—Saint Teresa of Avila, John Wesley, Charles Spurgeon. I would think, Wow, they are way more serious about Jesus than I am. True, but then I realized that they went to bed at seven o’clock! After nine hours of sleep, what else was there to do?”

Moses understood the blessing of time:

“Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures…Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” (Psalm 90:10a,12)

Peter understood the blessing of time:

“But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:8-9)

God understood the blessing of time:

[God] has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.  Ecc 3:11

Time! What a great gift from God. Time, may we use it wisely to savor the beauty of creation, listen well to the sounds of life, and pause just a little to reflect upon all the blessings of God.

God is great!

God of Wonder

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The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders; where morning dawns, where evening fades, you call forth songs of joy. Psalm 65:8

You are the God who performs miracles; you display your power among the peoples. Psalm 77:14

“Wonder is the heaviest element on the periodic table. Even a tiny fleck of it stops time.” Last Monday would seem to have proven Diane Ackerman’s quote when a large swath of the United States stopped what they were doing and looked skyward to take in the solar eclipse. April 8 was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for the 31.6 million people who found themselves living in the pathway of totality. This narrow corridor of about 115 miles wide through the heartland of America allowed residences and visitors to experience a few minutes of total darkness in the middle of the day. Eclipse totality happens in a particular spot on Earth roughly once every 400 years, give or take a year.

This unique phenomenon caused schools to be out for the day, workers to take longer midafternoon coffee breaks, and major networks to send their TV personalities to cities on the route of totality to report on the events. A common thought shared by the media personalities was what a great shared experience witnessed by the people. Others reported on this particular conspiracy or what this eclipse meant for the future of mankind.  However, what was missing in most of the commentaries was simply amazing wonder. Have we lost the sense of wonder? When did we lose our sense of wonderment?

Wonder began with the words, “In the beginning God created the heavens the earth. (Gen 1:1) God is a God of wonders and even a casual reading throughout the Bible showcases God’s wondrous acts. It is hard to read Scripture without being overwhelmed by the wonders of God.

Jesus lifted the little child on his lap and said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven,” This has layers of applications but I think one that is often overlooked is the beautiful reminder of keeping alive curiosity and questioning, just like children. “What was wonderful about childhood is that anything in it was a wonder. It was not merely a world full of miracles; it was a miraculous world.” (G.K. Chesterton)

Children are the keepers and givers of wonderment. The least little thing found on a walk with a child creates excitement and lots of questions.  The thing leads to a litany of why and how questions that flow into an easy conversation. “Childlike faith is opening our eyes to the wonder of seeing our God everywhere and whenever He shows us a new dimension, choosing to add that to our worldview. In doing this, our capacity increases and we grow up into His image. This kind of faith is okay with God’s revelation being a run-on sentence that at times seems like a contradiction.” (Chuck Ammons)

Monica Parker author of The Power of Wonder uses the term “wonderbringers,” finding anything that brings you wonder. “People who embody the wonder trait of curiosity tend to be more engaged, infuse more excitement into meeting new people, and are more likely to seek and build on what they learn about a person.”

Somewhere along this journey of life, wonderment is lost to the gritty details of life, the hurry-to-get-it-done lifestyle, and the curiosity of simply asking why. David captured the wonder of God as he wrote,

“All your salvation wonders are on display in your trophy room. Earth-Tamer, Ocean-Pourer, Mountain-Maker, Hill-Dresser, Muzzler of sea storm and wave crash, of mobs in noisy riot—Far and wide they’ll come to a stop, they’ll stare in awe, in wonder. Dawn and dusk take turns calling, “Come and worship.”   (Psalm 65:5-8 The Message)

There is no argument that the eclipse was a spectacular occurrence. However, what is even more stunning is waking up every day living with wonderment knowing God is a God of wonder and amazement. People begin to see us as the very essence of a dictionary definition of wonder, “arouses awe, astonishment, surprise, or admiration; a marvel.” Oswald Chambers wrote, “You will never cease to be the most amazed person on earth at what God has done for you on the inside.”

“We will not hide them from their descendants; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD, his power, and the wonders he has done.” (Psalm 78:4)

“They knew so much but forgot to wonder,

Busy with thoughts, their world went under.

And in losing wonder, she said with a sigh,

A universe of dreams passed them by.” (Lyra Brave)

LORD, let us be like children who live in a world of aliveness. May we awaken each day to the possibilities you have for us, to enjoy the spectacular as well as the mundane, to see with eyes open to the world you created. For we know “because of Your great love we are not consumed, for your compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

God is great!

Amazing God in all Circumstances

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Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 NIV

Do we worship an amazing God? When is God amazing? Amazing, as a word, has been criticized as one of the most overused words in English, but I think it is always appropriate when applied to God! There are not enough adjectives now to truly describe God.

So, when the headline “God is an Amazing God Says Pastor Whose Daughter Miraculously Survived Car Wreck” caught my attention the other day. The pastor’s daughter narrowly escaped a horrendous accident. A guardrail pierced the entire length of the car, leaving his daughter with only minor scratches on her hands and feet.

If you looked at the picture of the car, you could also say it was a miracle she survived. I do not belittle a grateful father for describing God as amazing. I am thankful that he could praise God for his daughter’s survival. However, I started to think, Is God only amazing when things are going well? If the outcome had been different, would God still be amazing?

In the same timeframe, the daughter of a family in Georgia was brutally killed. Laken Riley a young, aspiring nursing student at Augusta University was killed during a morning run around the University of Georgia campus. Describing the incident as a senseless and avoidable tragedy, her family would have reason to question if God was amazing. Yet her Mom, Allyson Phillips shared, “My family has faced the most devastating, unimaginable loss that anyone could ever be forced to endure. I would like to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for being with me and my family during this heartbreaking time.”

I don’t know the family but I could guess they would answer that God is amazing and maybe more so in the face of this tragedy. Mrs. Phillips went on to share, “I encourage everyone to have a personal relationship with Jesus. I give Him all the glory for getting us through this.” (Billy Hallowell, CBN)

“Jesus, as I wait today in this dark and desperate world where many dreams have died, teach me to trust even when I can’t understand, and help me, Lord, not to hide from life’s shadows and pain.” (Prayer from Lectio 365)

Finding answers as we struggle through pain, suffering, heartache, and doubt is never easy and many times, unanswerable. We all like answers that can fit into a brightly wrapped box adorned with ribbons and bows. Academically you can get a nice, concise answer on the ‘why did it happen’ but down in the depth of your soul, the only word you hear is, Why?

British pastor Pete Greig commenting upon the Matthew 27 account of preparing Jesus’ body for burial wrote, “During Jesus’ lifetime, countless people came to Him with requests—for healing, for teaching, for forgiveness, for presence, for answers and explanations. But now that He is dead there is nothing whatsoever to be gained by coming to Jesus. Quite the reverse: it’s risky, distressing, and pointless. And so, there is something particularly moving about the selfless devotion of the characters in today’s reading as they lovingly tend His corpse. It’s easy to worship when everything is wonderful, but far more powerful to do so when our hopes and dreams have died. It’s easy to be faithful when our faith makes sense, but faithfulness begins when our faith seems insane.”

Praise comes out of a heart that is nurtured in the intimacy of God as Father. It is through images of his tenderness and care that we can find the words to express our adoration and praise of God. David Roseberry writes “The Bible uses human metaphors and word pictures to talk about God. It must if we humans are to understand it! We are image-oriented people and tend to have difficulty relating to abstractions. Models help us understand how things work. This is true on a scientific level and a theological level as well. For example, if we claim—as the Bible does—that God is good, powerful, loving, and kind, we are speaking in the abstract. These statements can be accurate, but what do they mean to us? To others? But saying God is a good, powerful, loving, and kind Father helps us understand the idea. “(David Roseberry, The Psalm on the Cross)

It is in this intimacy of worship that David was able to write the Psalms. Jesus quoted Psalm 22 as he endured the agony of the cross. The words of this Psalm allowed his soul to worship God even amid his pain, humiliation, and suffering. “From you comes my praise in the great congregation; my vows I will pay before those who fear him. The poor shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the LORD. May your hearts live forever!” (Ps 22:25-26 NRSV)

Throughout the last several weeks as we journeyed through Lent, Good Friday, and ultimately the life-giving Resurrection, we reflected upon grace nailed to a cross.  It was in this grace that cost Jesus dearly, that the stranglehold of death and sin was broken. Hopefully, we have been reminded that as broken and sinful individuals, we could never, on our own, have the capacity to praise God. Only through God can praise come as He is the subject and object of our praise.

The first Archbishop of Canterbury of the Anglican Church was Thomas Cranmer. One of his lasting and maybe most impactful legacies was as the principal architect and author of the Book of Common Prayer. Cranmer understood that we are too broken and sinful to offer God praise, only through God comes praise.

“Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you, no secrets are hid: Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy Names; through Christ our Lord. Amen”

God is great!