Rocks, Trees, and Little Birds

Tse Bit’Ai is the Dine’ word for Shiprock, which loosely translated means “Rock with Wings.” I teach at Tse Bit’Ai Middle School.
This morning, I spent 2 sweaty hours pulling weeds in a small, triangular area of the courtyard between the Church building and the Fellowship Hall.
Yesterday, some friends of ours visited our little church. I’d love them to come on a regular basis, but they are well rooted in a church on the Rez and I don’t want to be about stealing sheep from other folds. I work with Mary, and used to dance with her on a dance team at her home church. The family has eaten several holiday dinners with us. I often wondered how many of my northeastern friends could claim that they had “real Indians” at their Thanksgiving dinners? Anyway, I mention Mary and her family, because of an observation they made about the courtyard. When we were here nine years ago, this area was very lovely. Several trees and large bushes. When we moved back, it was overgrown with weeds and thistles, there were only 2 trees, one nearly dead, and it looked pretty sad.
One of the first things I did, when I realized that the LORD was going to allow us to minister here again, was to pull the large weeds that grew along side the church and put bird feeders and wind chimes in the trees. But every time I walked between the Church and home (we live in an apartment behind the fellowship hall) I felt overwhelmed at the extent of work that needed to be done. Yesterday, Al - Mary’s husband - commented on how much he liked at least part of the court yard. It is a sort of “rock garden”. There are large hunks of rock, petrified tree trunks, two Yucca plants (New Mexico’s state flower) and some cacti. Mary liked the wild flowers. I found out that some of the weeds were actually Navajo Tea, that grows wild in this area. I still want to upgrade the area. There are thistles and the kind of weed that “evolves” into tumble weeds. They have to go. (Isaiah 55:13 - Instead of the thorn bush, the cypress will come up, and instead of the nettle, the myrtle will come up.) I prayed that, as I was pulling weeds this morning. And as I pulled dead grasses and choking weeds away from the tree, I thought of how “all the trees of the field will clap their hands” Isaiah 55:12. I thought about just why I wanted the courtyard to look good. About how YHWH took Adam into the Garden of Eden, to cultivate it and keep it (Genesis 2:15) and how I want the people who come to this place to be blessed by it’s beauty and peace. But this morning I was noticing the beauty of each rock and wild flower. I hummed the hymn “On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand”, and thought of how the LORD said that if people didn’t praise Him, the rocks and stones themselves would shout with praise. Yeah, that is a little out of context, but as I weeded around the rocks, and dug out some buried rocks so that their beauty was more visible, I prayed that our little Church would be filled with song again, from people - not rocks. And I was blessed to see the sparrows and humming birds making use of the feeders I put in the tree. God knows each one of them, He knows each one of you, and He knows each one that is being called to come find Him at our little Church. Each widow and orphan. Each prisoner and lost sheep. Each laborer and prayer partner and scared warrior. As I was coming in to take a break and write this, I heard a sparrow chirping at the feeder. As he flew off, he lost one of his feathers which I picked up and put in our vehicle. It is hanging from our mirror along with our symbolic reminders that God loves the Dine’ and is able to “feed” the multitudes. It’s not an eagle feather, like the ones that hang from many Navajo mirrors. But it is a powerful reminder that God knows and God cares.

Rainbows, Thunder, and Sparrows

Last night we were blessed with an awesome, golden sunset that produced a glorious rainbow over the mesas. I always consider a rainbow a blessing, and this was the first one I’ve seen in a long time. A few nights ago there was a tiny, young sparrow on our window sill, sheltering himself from the wind I suppose. I know how he felt. There are several references to sparrows in the Bible. God knows. God knows and God cares…
And the God of glory thunders. It seems that the summer monsoons have arrived early this year. Blessings come, falling on thirsty desert ground. There is hope in the gathering clouds. But there are storms too. We dare not let up on the prayers. Recently a Bishop of the Free Methodist gave a speech which in part answers my friend Bridgett’s question about just what are Free Methodists? You can read the whole speech here http://test.freemethodistchurch.org/pdfs/GCDaily07/GC07_Kendall_PastoralAddress.pdf
“In the 18th century, the Wesley brothers sought simply to return to the doctrines, practices and ministries of the early church, the church of the apostolic era.
They did not innovate as much as recapture the Spirit of the first to be church. Under their anointed leadership the common people — the lost - were transformed by the grace of God. They were empowered to become change agents in their world. Such change provided the content of their mission to preach the gospel to the poor and reform the nation. Likewise, at its inception the Free Methodist Church sought only to recapture the spirit of
“primitive Methodism” and thus “save the church” from decline and death. As the early Free Methodists conformed to the Biblical standard of Christianity and preached the gospel to the poor, they also changed their world.”
A call to minister to the poor. A call to Holiness. An Isaiah 61 call to bind up the broken hearted and preach the good news to the poor. Yes LORD Yes!

Monday Morning

This morning I got up early and walked the land. It was still dark and pretty quiet. I turned on the lights in the Church so perhaps the commuters would take note. After the walk, I sat in front of the ministry complex and waited for the sun to rise. I can see the hospital to the east and the airport to the north. People coming and going. And I pray. My prayer for the ministry, for The Free Methodist Church at Farmington and for the Brokop family is wisdom, provision, and shalom. But this morning I pray for mercy. And I sing “Refiner’s Fire”. I pray for angels to watch over this place, to encamp around it. I open the Bible, the Contemporary English Version today, to Psalm 142 and read “I pray to you, LORD. I beg for mercy. I tell you all of my worries and my troubles and whenever I feel low, you are there to guide me.” One time, about 9 years ago, when we were living in the little building in the back, the building called the dorm, where our son is staying until he can get a place of his own, a stranger came knocking on our door. We could tell he wasn’t trouble, because old Bear, the mission dog (may he rest in peace) wasn’t barking at him. He came in, for a cup of coffee and in our conversation he said something I have never forgotten. He said pastors shouldn’t be so occupied with counting the sheep. Pastors who count the sheep end up falling asleep. Instead, pastors should be about feeding the sheep. That makes sense. Only I wonder about the lost sheep. Those wandering in the dark. If we don’t count the sheep, how do we know whose missing? There were only 8 of us in church this week. The enemy is whispering in my ears the words of David in psalm 142:4
“see, look, you won’t find anyone who cares enough to walk beside you…no one who really cares.” But I will sing out the hymns that come to my heart as I walk the land - Trust and Obey, Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus, and On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand. And I go back to verse three of Psalm 142 - whenever I feel low, you are there to guide me. Yes and Amen. It’s just 6:30 now. I’m gonna have a cup of coffee and go pull weeds. This place needs a lot of work.

Friday the Thirteenth

Not an "unlucky day", but a day full of mercy and grace!

FYI - contact information - The Free Methodist Church at Farmington
PO. Box 6132
Farmington, NM 87499
(505)325-4496

Things are looking up, as long as we keep looking up - forward and upward!

1 Corinthians 16:9

“For a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.”
Thank you brother Paul and St. Paul for these words.
This has been a hard week. Last Sunday was Pastor Art’s first official Sunday at the Free Methodist Church at Farmington. Starting with the reading of Psalm 29 in both English and Navajo, ending with apple pie in the fellowship hall, it went very well. But Monday we had to take Art to the hospital, where he reluctantly spent 4 days fighting an infection in his bladder and an inflamed prostate. And although he had every intention of preaching this Sunday, he ended up in emergency.
But he’s feeling much better as I write this, and more at peace. I guess the drive to Durango and the advice/explanation from a doctor who really seemed to understand what was going on helped him, as well as the 16 people who were in our little church today, lifting him up in prayer.
We know that God has graciously opened a door for effective ministry here. He has called us to this place for this time. And there are spiritual forces that are against us, as Wesley said in one of his commentaries, about this verse, “as there must always be where Satan’s kingdom shakes”. The Barney commentary says this is “proof that the enemies of God are alarmed because the gospel is advancing.” So many thanks to all of you who are keeping us in prayer. And glory to God who is stronger than any and all adversaries and whose loving kindness endures forever! This is just a little bump in the road. There are just a few pesky foxes nipping at our heels. We will trust in the LORD. Yes and Amen!

This is the inside of our little church. ofcourse, now the organ on the right has been replaced with Pastor Art's drums. The door leads to the children's church room. We're going to replace the picture with a cross. Our services begin with a reading from the Psalms. This week it was Psalm 29. We read it both in English and in Navajo. And all God's people say "Glory!"