Perspectives Day #1 – Featuring Colonel Marlene Chase

Happy the Thankful Heart

By Marlene J. Chase

Thanksgiving was often a legalistic maneuver when I was growing up. One was to be grateful because it was the polite thing to do. Besides, you should be grateful because somewhere someone didn’t have what you had. If spinach was served for dinner, you were to be grateful because starving children in the developing world would do somersaults just to have a spoonful. If something bad happened, we were urged to be grateful because there was always someone worse off. Who has not been reminded of the man who complained that he had no shoes until he met a man who had no feet?

“Blow, north wind, blow,” my mother would quote with tiresome frequency, “thou art not half as cruel as ingratitude.” There were times when we thought nothing was quite as cruel as its positive counterpart.

A Faulty Focus

Perhaps these are the misconceptions of spoiled children. But lack of gratitude always comes from improper focus—looking at the gift rather than the giver. Thankless people covet the gifts God provides but seldom seek to know Him. If we were to fully grasp the truth of who He is in all his majesty, we would find a lifetime insufficient for expressing our gratitude.

We have all met people who appear to have nothing and yet are uncompromisingly grateful. Like Mattie who, after losing all her family and becoming ill herself, ended up in a sub-standard nursing facility. As corps officers in a small Kansas city, we took her to church every Sunday, for which she thanked us profusely to the point of becoming tiresome.

When someone complained about dandelions on the lawn, Mattie exulted in the lemony loveliness of their color and stooped to pick one as though it were an exotic orchid. When she became too ill to attend church and was confined to her bed, she praised God that she could glimpse the sunshine through her small, square window.

Alexandr Solzenhitsyn, Russian novelist, imprisoned for speaking out against an oppressive government, wrote, “Bless you, prison, for being in my life.” He looked beyond his circumstances to the One who charged his life with meaning. In embracing Christ, he found reason for lasting joy and gratitude.

A Natural Outcome

Gratitude is a natural outcome of living a life focused on the Provider of all good gifts.

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of all He created” (James 1:17-18).

If the nine ungrateful lepers who were cleansed had been focusing on the Giver of their health rather than on the gift itself, they would have experienced a thankful heart, blessing that would last forever. Their physical health came with no such guarantee. They didn’t bother to thank Jesus for healing because they were too absorbed with the gift and totally neglected the Giver. But the one who returned to give glory to God received a greater gift.

Paul sang hymns of praise in prison and joyfully thanked God from the bow of a shipwrecked vessel. “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances,” he wrote (Phil. 4:11). He had learned the secret of life—placing hope in the one true Constant in the midst of ungovernable and unceasing change.

A Constant Hope

Health, wealth, the love of family and friends can all be gone in an instant. In one day, Job lost his children, all his worldly possessions and his health. If his hope for life and living had been placed in these transient tangibles, he could not have said of God, “Though He slay me, yet will I hope in Him” (Job 13:15).

“Blow, north wind, blow. Thou art not half so cruel as ingratitude.” Blow, wind of God through hearts focused on the Giver of every good gift. The radiant Presence that settles within will make us triumphant over every cruel circumstance and bring us at last to God who is our constant hope.
***Marlene Chase is a writer, editor, speaker and author, and retired Salvation Army Officer. Her works can be found online via Amazon Books and other online sources.***

November 17, 2014 0

Dear Salvation Army, The Shunned

I have written a little bit about this topic before:
Officership, A Calling for a lifetime?

But…
It’s an assumed notion.
Something that we do not generally speak of in our Army, and yet it dates back to our founders, William and Catherine Booth. What of the shunned?

What do I mean by ‘shunned’ you ask?
In Booth’s day some disagreements led to the departure of family members from The Salvation Army. William considered this to be abandoning the cause. Our founding general in a very real sense shunned these family members and no one was to have anything to do with them. It didn’t just end there, however, for when family members (not Ballington Booth he is buried in New York) did not please the family with their choice of ‘leaving the work’, were in essence even shunned in death and were not allowed to be buried with William and Catherine Booth at Abney Park cemetery in London. Some of these members are buried in the same cemetery but there was explicit instruction as to not allow them to be facing William and Catherine.

I seriously doubt (I hope) that our Army “shunning” doesn’t go that deep today, but it is still present. It is in the unspoken glances. The momentary intake of breath when a former officer is seen. The look of uncertainty as to what to say. “How have you been?” “What’s new with you?“…these pleasantries just don’t seem to cut it.

Perhaps there is a disconnect between commonalities now…sometimes.
The accepted methods for “dealing” with those who have left the work varies. Some soldiers and officers are very compassionate and display grace and love and sensitivity in such situations. Others do not.

The Hypocrisy:
It is rather easy to chalk all who have left “the work” as abandoners of the faith. But are they? Do you really know this? Or, do we sometimes make hypocritical judgement of situations and circumstances that we know nothing about. I would call that ignorance at the very least.

Others would simply say “well they knew what they were getting into when they signed their covenant as an officer…” Well, “yes” and “no”. I am sure many who have signed the covenant have done so with the best of intentions. Many who have committed to the cause at that time thinking this was all that they wanted to do in their lives. There were some who, I am convinced, didn’t truly know what they were getting into even after the rigors of Officer’s training. You see the real world begins following the service of appointment. The real world doesn’t look much like the bubble that is training college. It isn’t the college’s fault…they do their very best to prepare us, but some training has to take place in situations that have many variables and consequences other than a grade in a class.

I think we ought to be careful of hypocrisy in our Army when we rush to judge those who have decided to make difficult life decisions that do not include Officership anymore. It isn’t black and white, right and wrong. Life, unfortunately has more color schemes than these. The assumed notion that all officers who have left or are leaving are due to sin issues or terminations is also hypocritical and ignorant. Opportunities come to some former officers and they choose to leave to pursue something else. There is life after officership believe it or not. There are other ministries as well other than the Army ministry.

We partner with pastors in almost all the communities that The Salvation Army is in…what if that pastor is a former officer? Can we say “well they weren’t truly called?” Um…no we can’t. In fact how dare we say something like that. Who are we to judge the lives of others, especially if their decision had nothing to do with sin or moral failures.

Questions:
Do we actively shun people who have left the work today?
Do we shun people subconsciously in the way that we act around them?
Have we closed the doors on people because of their decision to leave the work?
Is it our place to cast judgement?
Is there life outside of officership?
Is officership a calling for life to all?

I do not presume to have all of these answers… but I do know how I feel when I hear these very sad stories of officers who have chosen to leave for many different reasons and the lack of support and/or negative responses they have received which has felt like public shunning. Does it happen to all who have left the work? Of course not. Should shunning happen at all? Absolutely not…so why is it still lingering? Why do we glance a precursory judgmental stare at former officers? Why the stigma?

Sometimes I wonder if we have missed the point as we attempt to reach those who are marginalized when from time to time we are marginalizing former comrades and fellow soldiers of the army.

All I know is that if we conduct ourselves with grace, love, compassion and understanding even if we do not completely understand we can stave off this “shunning” persona in our Army…but it’s going to take some time.

Just something more to ponder in our Army world.
To God be the glory!

November 17, 2014 4

Pastorsponderings Passes 100,000 views!!

I am constantly blown away by the interest and readership that Pastorsponderings.org is receiving! It is truly humbling and I am truly honored.

Friday night we surpassed 100,000 views. Seriously, WOW! I am honestly blown away at how quickly we have reached this benchmark.

Thank you for following and reading Pastorsponderings.org! Please continue to share our little blog as we will continue to bring you relevant, thought provoking content!

Sincerely,

Scott E. Strissel.

November 15, 2014 0

Dear Salvation Soldier…shhhhhhh

“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” Ephesians 4:29

This is a call to deeper holiness, not a chastisement.
This is both personal and corporate.

How many times have I struggled with this problem?…I’m not telling…How about you?

In the Corps:
There is nothing that hinders corps growth more than loose lips and mindless gossip. Often it is also the hardest to remove as well. Why is gossip, slander and unkind talk such a difficulty? Why can we not control our tongues?

A number of years ago, we had a salty individual who came to our corps. This person would constantly say unkind things to us as well as behind our backs…and it got worse. New people began to come to our corps. Fresh faces, eager to learn more about Christ…then it happened. This individual looked back at the new couple and said, “who the hell is that“? Let me just tell you that there are no words that one can find to describe our shock and horror. We confronted this person. Asked them to apologize. This person refused and they couldn’t believe we had come to them asking for something that seemed outrageous in their opinion. Finally I called that person, they answered, I talked and told them it had to stop (there had been many more incidents), I was told in no uncertain terms where I could take my words and where to put them. This person has since left the corps altogether but not before driving away new members and potential members.

Brothers and sisters in Christ,
fellow Soldiers of our Army, the tongue is a mighty and dangerous weapon! We MUST be careful and aware of how sharply words can cut. Gossip, slander and biting attitudes can dissolve a corps fellowship faster than nearly anything else!

Remedies:
1) Don’t ignore it in your corps.
If we ignore this virus of words, it will not go away.
It will still remain and it will only increase because ignoring it actually gives it more power. Address it appropriately. Privately, if possible. Do so with other Local Officers and elders who are trustworthy and upright. (This is scriptural!)

2) Stinkin’ Thinkin’ or Edifying Thoughts?
“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.” Philippians 4:8

Do not even entertain stinkin’ thinkin’! Don’t allow it to be consumed into your life! Cut off the mindless gossip of others, or just walk away. Don’t let it gain even a small foothold in your thoughts and lifestyle. Whatever you consume in your thoughts becomes who you are!

If we are a body of Christ then we have to put to death these thoughts along with all of the other idolatrous, sinful things. (Colossians 3:5)

3) Accountability!
If you struggle with negative, unhealthy thoughts and speech, then talk to a trusted brother and sister in Christ! Talk to someone who will hold you to your promises and convictions, not someone who will placate you. Seek out someone who you can be challenged by and who will commit to holding you to your word.

4) Baby Steps…but don’t quit!
Sorry, Bill Murry’s performance in ‘What About Bob‘ just came to mind. “Baby steps, baby steps” We will not conquer this blight of negativity from our thoughts and tongues immediately. Certainly the Holy Spirit can alleviate this immediately, but more than likely we will have to work very hard at conquering this issue. We will have to take baby steps or small victories one at a time. Don’t get frustrated if you stumble now and then, but don’t use that as an excuse either! Remember we are called to this higher calling and if we are to be truly set apart then we have to submit everything to the will of Christ including our thought process and our tongues.

Dear Salvation Soldier,
Can we submit this sword (our tongues) completely for the cause of Christ?
We will face resistance.
We will face trials.
It will NOT be easy.
We will be tempted to share juicy gossip or respond with biting words.
But seriously, we need to just stop and SHHHHHHHHHH, when all we can think about saying will injure, cause harm and damage this vital fellowship of Christ.

Don’t overlook this dangerous foe!
Don’t underestimate it’s power on your corps either!
Something more for our Army to ponder today!
To God Be The Glory!

November 14, 2014 5

Dear Salvation Army, When Orders And Regulations Get In The Way…

Acts 151,2,7-11 “Certain people came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the believers:“Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.” ²This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question…⁷After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. ⁸God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. ⁹He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. ¹⁰Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? ¹¹No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”

I am not sure who these “certain people” were…but today I wonder if our “certain people” wear uniforms and act the part of the pharisee from time to time. I don’t wish to sound judgmental…truth be told, we have all played this role a time or two…and we’re not proud of it (I hope).

The Early Church
There were certain fundamentalists within the early church; rule abiders, standard bearers, orders and regulation holders. When new comers (Gentiles) came to the faith proclaiming to be Christ-followers, these traditionalists demanded they be made practicing Jews in every way including circumcisions (yowza!). You see, in order for these new comers to be accepted as members of the faith in the eyes of these traditionalists, they had to change everything about themselves. The law had to be upheld, and these stiff regulations followed to the letter. It was practically impossible for these Gentile followers to obey the law completely. In essence these “certain people” were setting them up for failure.

Grace & Law
^{8 “}God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. ⁹He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith.” (Acts 15:8-9)

Peter tells it like it is to those gathered in Jerusalem.
We are given the Holy Spirit…He purifies our hearts. We do not need additional ritualistic practices or outward performances to meet regulations of salvation. We have been saved through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. We have been purified through and through.

Do Orders And Regulations Get In The Way?
Yes. At times.
Sometimes, even in The Salvation Army, we can get so caught up in the law and the ritualistic practice of the law that we can lose sight of a grace that purifies and transcends common practice. Are new comers joining our Army? Do they understand this Army? Are we helping them to understand our forms of worship? Do we lose them because of lack of grace, compassion, judgement, appropriateness?

I am not advocating anarchy, in fact just the opposite.
Could it be that the grace of the Holy Spirit is all the law we need? I am not saying that we throw out our orders and regulations…but do we hold far too tightly to these? Have they become our “Jewish law”? In order for visitors to truly believe and worship as Salvationists, do they have to meet our requirements of dress and practice?

Sound Doctrine?…yes…Rigid Rules?…no.
Again we should be mindful, as Peter, Paul, Barnabas and James were in Acts 15 of the trappings of ridged Law abiding practices that strangles growth. The Apostles didn’t say that they were throwing out sound doctrines, but they did loosen the stiff regulations for Gentiles coming to the faith.

Questions:
Can new people & visitors truly come to your corps “as they are”?
Do we judge new comers based on their appearance and practice?
Have we lost potential soldiers and even officers because we rigidly follow our orders and regulations and “accepted” practices in worship (excluding foundational doctrinal beliefs)?
Do we really mean for new Christians or would be Christians to “come as they are” into our Holiness meetings and Salvation Meetings?
Are we exhibiting grace, love and compassion to the “whosoever”?
Have we ever discriminated (consciously or subconsciously) people because they didn’t fit OUR Salvationist mold?

Warning: Don’t Get In The Way!
Don’t be the “certain people” found in Acts 15.
Our world already contains enough judgement, condemnation and discrimination. If ~~the Church~~ The Salvation Army cannot be a beacon of hope, grace and holiness, then a I fear we will have lost our way and God help us if we turn away individuals because they aren’t “our kind of people“.

The Remedy:
If you have been a part of the “certain people“…I pray you can reconcile yourself once more to His grace and love. Ask Him once again to soften your heart. Ask the Lord to make you holy. True growth of our Army begins upon our knees in penitence as we seek to be inclusive of the whosoever regardless if they wear a uniform or look just like you and me.

Prayer: Lord make us holy. Set us apart for your missions here on earth. May we seek to love and to serve everyone regardless of their differences. Give us your eyes so that we may see others the way you see them. May we exude your grace, peace, love and acceptance of those who are so desperately in need of these qualities here on earth. May we be your people who will help usher in your kingdom here on earth today through our faith in action. In your name we pray. Amen.

-Something more for our Army world to ponder today.

Additional reading on this topic for your consideration:
Cookie Cutter Christians
Christians and Racism?
When Christians Get It Wrong

November 13, 2014 0

Life…emptying the ocean into a thimble…

I have this visual in my head.
It’s the image of me and the image of God…and they are so vastly different.
In this image, I am so very, very small.
I am barely a speck within this massive cosmic universe.

I am a thimble.

I cannot hold much.
What I can hold is quite limited.
What I can’t hold is very, very expansive.

It reminds me of a time when I stood on top of a large building in the city and looked down. Everyone was going about their day, unknowingly being watched from above. They looked so small from my vantage point. The cars and vehicles we plodding along and they almost looked like ants in a line. It never seemed to stop or slow down…it just…kept moving. The distant sounds of horns blaring and tires screeching could be heard, and it seemed suddenly quite silly.

Sometimes I wonder if this is how we look to God.
I wonder if He peers down at us…then again, where did we ever get this notion that He is looking down from somewhere? Could it be that He is right next to us…could it be that he is holding our thimbles in his hands? …(okay, now I’m silently humming “he’s got my thimble in his hands…”)

But in reality I wonder sometimes if we are so consumed in our lives with trying to cram every single thing into our tiny vessels.

We try to cram in success.
We try to cram in popularity.
We try to cram in things and money and cars and homes and happiness and love and acceptance and families and jobs and contentment and places and desires and dreams and politics and rights and wrongs and judgement and….you get it don’t you? That’s one long run-on sentence and yet, in a way, that’s what we’re doing to our lives.

Sometimes we do too much.
We pile our “stuff” too high.
We demand far more of ourselves than God does of us…

We think that doing “things” in some sort of right order is what honors God, and then pretty soon those things sometimes replace or unknowingly take the place of God because it all has to be in the right order and done in the right way and polished to a tee…and so we work really, really hard at something that should be about God but it becomes all about us…

And so….

I keep coming back to this image.

How many times am I attempting to pour the whole ocean into my thimble?

How many times am I attempting to do this insane, impossible thing?

How many times do I come away from this “work” feeling defeated and, in no way have I gone even a few inches from where I started?

News flash…
maybe we weren’t created to carry the entire ocean around in our thimbles.
Maybe that’s not how this whole thing works.

It’s like going to the beach.

My family and I went this past summer.
We live in the cold north and so going to the beach means traveling a long distance.
So we drove, and drove and drove…finally we got there only to have like three days to enjoy the beach…and so we soaked up the sun and the sounds and the sand for as much time as we could. We did all of the dumb touristy things. We collected shells and bought overpriced souvenirs and we attempted to take the beach back home with us by the bucket full and because it was also caked in the carpets of our van.

Question:
Do we attempt to fill our thimbles with the entire ocean because we feel it will suddenly disappear? Is this how we think about God?
I mean, if we don’t make this mad dash to overflow our thimbles with His infinite ocean do we fail at this holy life? Is that what being a Christian is all…about?

Are we like ants in a line as we go to church and carry our bibles and dress the part and look good “dressing the part”….

In a very real way have we lost the true meaning of what a “Christ-follower” is all about in this insane rat race of rituals and practices?

Are we attempting to empty the entire ocean into our thimbles when God doesn’t work that way? …and as we do these things are we becoming more and more frustrated, disillusioned and lost?

Matthew 10:10 says…
Can we just simply come to Him and experience life without trying to swallow it whole while pouring the entire ocean into these thimbles? Can we experience this abundant living by being content with what and who we are and what He is giving to us?

Jesus said that he had living water and if we drank from that water we would never be thirsty again…is that enough for us? Can we just sit by that well and realize that the ocean isn’t going anywhere?
Perhaps it’s time to stop the rat race.
Perhaps it’s time to stop attempting to fill our thimbles with the entirety of the ocean as we are never satisfied.

How’s your thimble?

Something more to ponder today.

November 12, 2014 0

Dear Salvation Army, A Salute To Veterans Of The Spiritual War…

In Flanders Fields
by John McCrae
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place, and in the sky,
The larks, still bravely singing, fly,
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead; short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe!
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high!
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Today many salute veterans who did not come back and those who simply endured the horrors of war. I do not wish to cheapen these remembrances today. It is not my intent either to draw any parallels…but there is a spiritual battle in this world still today that is ongoing. There are many who have fought the good fight and have been “Promoted To Glory”. I honor these dear soldiers today as well.

Some Salvation Soldiers have been sent to some very difficult places in our world to help share the love of Christ. Some of these salvation soldiers have given their lives for the cause of Christ. We honor you as well, you have fought this good fight.

We do not honor death.
We know that death holds no power over Christ and His followers.
We know that death has been defeated.
We know that true victory lies in Christ Jesus, the conqueror of sin and death.
We know that the dead in Christ shall arise…we are confident that no matter what evils that we may face, we know in whom we have believed and we can overcome through His name!

We honor life.
We honor the fallen who have gone on before us and have set an example for us to follow.
We honor the faithful who have exemplified holy living as their legacy and we have witnessed Christ through them.
We honor the martyrs who stood upon this faith despite the certainty of death.
We honor the lives of countless soldiers and friends who would stand in the gap for the poor, the hungry and the hurting.
We honor the doctors and nurses who have gone into villages and townships wrought with the AIDS epidemic and have cared for the sick and the orphaned.

Dear Soldier,
though today commemorates fallen soldiers and veterans of war, we too honor the soldiers of this army of salvation and that of the Christian world who have walked the path of selflessness and given up everything for the cause of Christ.

We do not celebrate death. We celebrate life, new life given to all of us through Christ. We celebrate the path blazed by the saints who have gone on before us. We celebrate as kingdom people declaring that kingdom to be here and now. We celebrate that we do not have to look forward to heaven “someday” but can help bring heaven to our world here and now.

I will fight on, dear soldier…will you?
I will fight to keep the banner of Christ held high through acts of love, grace, peace, hope, compassion, charity and reconciliation. I will fight to bring these qualities to those who have not heard or are unable to through their hardships of life. I long to fight along side you…if you will remain at my left and right. We cannot move forward into the fray without unity of this body. We cannot proceed onward without soldiers willingly equipped for the battles ahead.

Will you fight on?
Will you stay strong?
Will you stand firm?

Today we do not just remember…but we fight on!
Something more for our Army world to ponder today.
To God be the glory!

November 11, 2014 0

Dear Salvation Army, Rituals And Sacramental Living

Our founders, William and Catherine Booth got away from the observances of Communion and Baptism…did they go too far?

I know that this blog has covered the sacraments in the past…I’m will not shy away from such conversations.

The question still remains, did our founders go too far in regards to the sacraments? I am not disagreeing with our doctrinal stances, I wish to ask the question. I also understand that they weren’t condemning anyone who participates in communion or baptism, but has it become something of an elephant in the room?

RITUALS
One could argue that anything could become ritualistic and routine within worship practice. Thus, if our only argument against communion or baptism to be “ritualistic” in practice then perhaps we could look at certain practices we in the Army already participate in.

Can sacred moments in worship become routine and ritualistic? Yes. Have they become so in our services? Yes, at times.

A SEARCH FOR SIGNIFICANCE
If anything that we do within the practice of worship becomes something that it was never intended to be, should we cast it out? Or, should we bring it back into alignment? Whatever “it” may be?

When we have our altar calls and the Mercy Seat is open, do we make it less significant if it is over emphasized…every.single.Sunday? I do not wish to diminish its importance in worship, but has it, at times, become our surrogate “go to” for the sacramental life? Is the Mercy Seat and the “sacramental life” one in the same, or mutually exclusive? Are there other representations or manifestations of the sacred that we over look and/or ignore in the process?

Please do not misunderstand me, I do not wish to downgrade the importance of the Mercy Seat, but is there a danger of IT becoming ritualistic and thereby causing its loss of significance? Isn’t that partially why our founders moved away from the Sacraments in the first place?

“Outward Expressions of the Inward Change”
I believe that all of the external representations of holy or sacramental living are NOT as important as the inward relationship. This should not, however, eliminate the outward practices. It’s like a love relationship with a would be spouse or soul mate. You want the world to know that you are in love with that person and you want that person to know it too. So we express our love in many ways. We put our love on display for all the world to see. This is what the sacred should look like! It isn’t about appearances, or a statistic for Holiness meeting. It isn’t about anyone else but our relationship with the Lord in a corporate setting.

How are our outward expressions today, dear Soldier? Are they bound up in appearances and/or ritual practice? Have they lost some of its true meaning? Are we running the risk of having these become more about practice than about significance within our hearts?

Anything can become rituals devoid of meaning and significance if we allow them to develop as such. What kind of fruit are we producing from our spiritual walk with God? Can we be honest with ourselves as we reevaluate our priorities, our practices, the outward expressions of our inward change?

If we are called to be set apart and to live out holiness in our lives, how can we avoid the ritual, the mundane, the loss of spiritual emphasis?

These questions are worth pondering today in our Army world.
More to come…
To God Be The Glory!

November 10, 2014 9

Dear Salvation Army, Healing A Broken Mercy Seat…

IF…
If your Mercy Seat is broken, how can it be fixed?
If your the spirit of your corps is tattered and wounded, how can it be healed?

Eyes wander and rove the Mercy Seat.
A weary soul is kneeling down before that altar of submission and some within the chapel are wondering what they are kneeling for? What sins could they be confessing? What will happen next? Who will go up and pray with them? Someone might be smiling to themselves and thinking “it’s about time they confess their sins!”

Do you see what is broken with this Mercy Seat?
I don’t wish to imply this is happening everywhere, but sometimes I don’t think I’m too far off the mark.

To the wandering eyes and the gossip laden hearts, here’s a hint – it’s none of your business.
Shame on anyone who questions the motives of another’s heart in a pure attempt of seeking Christ at these sacred spaces. I fear that the cause of these broken Mercy Seats is the hardened hearts and calloused souls of those gathered in other seats around the chapel. This isn’t an indictment, this is just a cautious observation.

Hope & Sensitive Spirits:
I had numerous people write me yesterday describing how beautiful these places of consecration were in their home corps. How marvelous to hear of lives being transformed as we maintain this element of holiness in our services. This gives us all hope to hear. This provides an insight into repairing that which is broken in other places – sensitive spirits and hearts open to the wondrous workings of the Holy Spirit.

Healing The Mercy Seat Means Softening Our Hearts:
“I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.“—Ezekiel 36:26

Frequently, we can become desensitized to the workings of the Holy Spirit. We can also become desensitized to the formats of our Holiness meetings and/or the use of the Mercy Seat. Perhaps we have grown up in the corps we attend. Perhaps there are times where we are simply just going through the motions. Perhaps there are times when we have grown tired with our meetings and hearing the same people uttering the same prayers and the same testimonies. Perhaps we even wonder sometimes if we are just practicing worship but we are never really engaged in worship.

Is there a hardness in your heart today dear Soldier?
Is there a place within you that frightens you because you feel numb to it all?
Are you harboring a grudge or bitterness for someone else in your corps?

If our hearts are hardened our Mercy Seats could become broken.
If our hearts are not sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s leading anymore, then the Mercy Seat will simply gather dust and become an idle piece of furniture.

Oh, dear Soldier may our hearts be softened by the Divine!
May our spirits ever thirst for His fellowship!
May we stop looking at others as we used to when we belonged to our old patterns of living; but may we, instead, look upon others with softened hearts through the living, thriving love of Christ.

The Mercy Seat:
Is not just furniture.
Is not just a ritual or a surrogate for sacramental practice.
Is not just frequented by sinner, but also by saints.
Is not a place of weakness, but a place of great strength.

The Mercy Seat is the practice of softened hearts.
The Mercy Seat is consecration, reconciliation, salvation and holiness.
The Mercy Seat is about living holiness as a corporate body of Christ.
The Mercy Seat, dear Soldier is more than furniture, it is a matter of our hearts.

May we ever be sensitive to His holy moving.
May our hearts ever be softened first to the Lord and then towards others regardless of friend or foe.
Thus begins the healing of our Mercy Seats.

Something more for our Army world to ponder today.
To God Be the Glory!

(Cover Image: Felix UK, New Mercy Seat circa 1923)

November 7, 2014 3

Dear Salvation Army, Is Your Mercy Seat Broken?

Recently in our corps something happened.
No, it wasn’t another rousing chorus of “O Boundless Salvation”. It wasn’t another meal around the table, although those are rather nice.
Instead, there in the sanctuary of our corps, in the place where lives are changed and hearts transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit, in that very room…something was damaged – The Mercy Seat.

It happened because some corps kids were playing through out the building…scratch that. It happened because not “some” kids, but MY kids happened to be playing in the corps building (Why is it always the Officer’s Kids? Really??). They ended up in the sanctuary. Perhaps the lure of the microphones and musical instruments were too much. Regardless of how they ended up there, they were there. In the process of scaling the mercy seat, my eldest’s foot got caught on the lip of the seat and tripped. As he tripped, the mercy seat came with him. He tipped it over completely, and with it the top was pried off.

Upon inspection of the mercy seat, I quickly realized that it was not going to go back together without a little help from a hammer and some new nails. Currently, repairs are underway.

It’s a Metaphor…
It dawned on me last night while laying in bed, and it all began with a broken mercy seat. Perhaps in our corps we have lost what the mercy seat used to represent. Perhaps, it is broken today and in need of repairs.

Question: Is your mercy seat broken?
I don’t mean physically, but emotionally, tangibly, spiritually, is it still intact?
Does your corps still call people to penitence, repentance and reconciliation?
Or have we gotten away from holding each other accountable for fear of offending others? I don’t mean “accountability” in the sense of judgmental attitudes and condescending “I’m better than you” behavior, I mean is that standard and call to the mercy seat still available to all who would seek it? Is there an invitation to it?

My Fear:
I fear that we as an Army have gotten away from it in some places. If your corps still introduces people to Christ through the mercy seat, I applaud you. The mercy seat in and of itself isn’t magical. It isn’t really even about how nice it looks or how old it might be in your building. What matters is the emphasis of repentance, reconciliation, and holiness. The mercy seat could represent more than just that piece of furniture in our chapels…but do we emphasize it anymore? There are times when I wonder if, in the next ten years, will it still be a part of our Army’s identity? Will we have discarded it as some ancient Army relic of times gone by?

Is your Mercy Seat Broken?
Perhaps it has gathered dust from lack of use.
Perhaps it needs some revitalization and fixing today.
Perhaps, in order to revive this Army, we ought to seek it out…but more importantly we ought to seek out the power behind our faith.

I believe the Holy Spirit isn’t finished with us yet.
I believe that He longs for us to linger upon that mercy seat as we reconcile ourselves to Him once more.
I believe that in order for us to possibly regain our passion and fire for the world, we have to go back to it and start once more upon our knees.

I fear that if we do not repair these broken mercy seats, our Army will soon follow that same fate as well.

-Something more for our Army world to ponder today.
To God be The Glory!

(Cover image: Mercy Seat at Exeter Temple, UK)

November 6, 2014 32

Author: Pastor'sPonderings